by PJ Strebor
“What’s her secret?”
“Synthetic Nallgotate,” she said. “Very expensive to produce. Deception is covered from bow to stern in it. Engine thrust passes through baffles coated with the same product. It’s not perfect but she can maneuver without detection if the range is long enough.”
“Nallgotate?”
“A tiny quantity was discovered about a hundred years ago, on the planet Delos. It’s taken scientists that long to find a way of synthesizing it.”
Delos. “How many of these boats do you have?”
“For that answer, you’ll –”
“Have to ask the commander,” Nathan said. “Got it.”
“How are we looking?” the D-O asked.
“Good. About twelve hours to roll over and braking –”
“Not necessary,” the D-O said.
“But I’ll need to get a nav fix for the next leg.”
She smiled and shook her head. “We can stay on this heading for the next eighteen hours before needing a course correction.” She placed a hand on his shoulder. “Speed and size through a continuum, remember? We’re small enough and bloody well fast enough not to be influenced by hyperspace drift.”
“I guess I’ll have to think outside the monitor box.”
“That’s the way.” She held out her hand. “Stella.”
“Nathan.”
“Yeah, I recognized you. Welcome aboard Deception. Up for a coffee?”
“Sure.”
As they crab-walked down the corridor Stella threw out the odd fact.
“Only a regular deck and a half deep so we have a lower profile than a MAB. Standard reactor and small power consumption so we egress less frequently than a monitor does. Crew of twenty. Short duration missions only, so we don’t need a lot of space for provisions.”
On a boat with no ranks, except for Spotiswood, the small mess area accommodated everyone. Although moderately better than service swill, Nathan still loaded his coffee with generous quantities of sugar and milk.
Apart from Stella and Nathan only Max, the LB pilot, occupied seating. He sat apart, nursing his coffee, avoiding eye contact with the new arrivals. When he left Nathan asked, “What’s his story?”
Stella pursed her lips. “Lost his wife and kids to a headhunter attack. He’s not a big talker.”
“And you?”
She shrugged. “Something similar. Everyone on this boat has a reason for hating Pruessen.” Her mouth quirked. “Including you.”
A boat full of Pruessen-hating fanatics. Shiiiiit.
CHAPTER 8
Date: 16th July, 326 ASC
Position: Approaching the Poseidon Shoals.
Status: Alert condition one.
For five days Nathan studied Deception’s specs until he knew her like a lover. He also pulled Adroit’s records. Moe had indeed been posted to her as helm officer. Unless Spotiswood had fudged the records. Something else stood out. Winstone had no business being on a monitor, let alone in the Captain’s chair.
The infection is spreading faster than I’d feared.
The last communication from Adroit stated that she was responding to a distress call from the Brandon freighter, Geraldine. Then she disappeared.
Nathan egressed Deception to the same coordinates, just south of the Shoals.
After forty minutes of painstaking examination, Trudy, the tactical officer, made her report. “Stella, that’s two complete active sweeps of the area. I’ve got zero contacts. Not a trace of debris. Nothing.”
“Very well,” Stella said. “Nathan, you have the Conn.”
“Acknowledged.”
She disappeared into Spotiswood’s communications room.
What could have happened to Adroit?
If she’d been attacked there would be debris. If she’d been destroyed there would be a lot of debris. Finding nothing threw up a giant question mark.
In the one-hundred year history of monitor corps, no boat had ever been taken intact. A monitor Captain’s first priority, before the mission, before the preservation of the crew, before any consideration, was to ensure that the boat did not fall into enemy hands. On more than one occasion over the years, boats, and entire crews, had been lost to preserve monitor corps technical edge. Even with an incompetent like Winstone in charge of Adroit someone, the D-O, the senior engineer, someone should have destroyed her rather than seeing her captured.
What the blazes could have happened? And what of Moe?
His comm beeped. “Tel, Nathan.”
“Step into the comm room, please,” Stella said.
Nathan didn’t bother answering. He passed through the hatch without having to buzz. Spotiswood and Stella sat side by side. A united front, perhaps? Nathan took the only other chair in the small room.
“We have reliable intell on Adroit’s location,” Stella said.
Spotiswood watched him, remaining silent.
Nathan shook his head, blowing air out between his teeth. “Go on.” He strongly suspected that he wouldn’t be happy with the forthcoming report.
“As we suspected the boat was captured,” Stella said. “We don’t know how, yet. She’s being held on a planet north of the frontier.”
“And the crew?”
“They’re being interrogated at the same base.”
Drum roll.
“And the planet?”
Stella licked her lips. “Saint Joan.”
Juesssus.
He directed his next question at Spotiswood. “How reliable is the intell?”
“Beyond reproach,” the Commander said.
Nathan nodded, more to himself than his audience.
“Saint Joan, is a plague planet, Spotiswood,” Nathan said. “You knew that Adroit was there from the moment you stepped into my home. That’s why you wanted me aboard. The only person to have an immunity to the Derwent Plague might come in handy. Especially if this crew gets infected.”
Spotiswood shrugged. “You got me.”
“To be fair, Nathan,” Stella said, “intell suspected she might be there. We’ve just received confirmation.”
“So now I have to take this boat forty light years into enemy controlled space, rescue the crew and make our way out.”
“Exactly,” the commander said.
“And with time pressing, I will have to take Deception through some of the most heavily congested shipping lanes in the Empire to get there.”
“See, Stella, I told you he’d catch on quickly.”
For her part, Stella did not look either impressed or happy with the situation.
“Stella,” Nathan said, “give us the room.”
She glanced at Spotiswood who nodded.
Nathan knew the spook had a hidden agenda and could only guess at what that might be. For the moment he would try to match skills with a professional, to whom self-interested treachery came as naturally as breathing.
“I need every scrap of intell on the region of space north of the Rio Grande.”
“I’ll download to your panel all the maps and intell we have accumulated over the years.”
“Nope, not good enough,” Nathan said. “If I’m going to put my head on the chopping block I want to know who’s swinging the axe.”
Again, Spotiswood’s knowing smile set Nathan’s jaw to aching.
“What exactly do you want, Nathan?”
“Level one intell access.”
The commander chuckled. “Not going to happen.”
“Fine,” Nathan said, rising from his chair. “If you change your mind I’ll be in my quarters.”
“We need to get onto Adroit’s trail. Return to the helm and take us across the frontier.”
Nathan tried to emulate Spotiswood’s crooked smile. “Not going to happen. If you want to go on a suicide mission, fine. But you can get yourself another driver.”
Spotiswood mood darkened. “Level one clearance is …”
“Don’t worry commander.” Nathan smirked. “I won’t use it to find ou
t what happened to your humanity.”
Spotiswood snorted. “I liked you better when you were a kid. Less of a mouth on you back then.”
Nathan did not need to threaten him. If Spotiswood didn’t give him what he wanted, Nathan would not get Deception to, what Hawkeye considered to be, the target site.
“Years ago an Admiral, I forget his name, tried bargaining with me,” the Commander said. “He’s a Captain these days, assigned to a dead end job in southern quadrant.”
“And you could do the same to me? I have no doubt about that. But I need level one access to accomplish this mission successfully. And, you know, not get everyone killed.”
“Very well.” Spotiswood nodded. “But you’re playing a very dangerous game. Don’t push me too hard. You won’t like what happens when I push back.”
Nathan sat down, leaned back in his chair and tried not to sigh. He could scarcely believe the commander agreed to his terms so readily. Now all he had to do was devise a way to penetrate the Pruessen defense network, work his way through whatever unknowns blocking his passage, and plan a way to get onto the base and rescue the crew. The clock was ticking.
CHAPTER 9
Date: 17th July, 326 ASC
Position: Traversing Imperial hyperspace.
Status: Alert condition two.
For a full day Deception had been in violation of the most strictly enforced statute of the League of Allied Worlds. Crossing the frontier into northern space defied all conventions. The League considered the area north of the frontier to be a quarantine area. Although the plague had been released over thirty years ago, the fear of contagion remained as strong today as it did then. If Deception and her crew were discovered, Nathan doubted that even Athenian Intelligence could cover up their violation. The Commander seemed unfazed by the possibility and Nathan got the impression that the crew held similar views. They had probably, as a matter of routine, crossed into Pruessen space on so many occasions that it seemed to them to be pedestrian.
Nathan sensed danger ahead, but couldn’t identify it. He rolled the boat over and began braking Checking his star charts he could find nothing ahead but clear space. As the spot on his spine began to burn with increasingly harsh pain, he pushed the throttles into the red. Behind him he heard the hatch to Spotiswood’s lair open.
The Commander hovered by his shoulder for a moment, before leaning into his ear.
“What’s up,” he whispered.
“I’ve got a bad feeling,” Nathan said.
“Yeah, I’ve heard about your feelings.”
Of course you have, asshole.
“There’s a rogue comet which passes through this space,” the Commander said.
Nathan shook his head. The rogue had passed this area a week ago.
“Trudy, are you reading anything ahead?” Nathan asked.
“Not a thing,” the T-O replied.
Since a vessel in hyperspace couldn’t scan into normal space, Nathan suspected that the danger lay there.
The heat on his spine screamed danger.
“Commander, have the Senior Engineer give me more engine power. Take the reactor fifteen percent over the red line.”
Spotiswood didn’t hesitate to ask Nathan why, he just issued the instruction.
He knows about my Prep. How the hell could he know? I’ve been really careful to cover it up.
The additional engine power helped but Nathan knew with an odd certainty that it wouldn’t be enough. However the danger manifested itself, Deception would strike it in twenty three seconds. Then he remembered that he wasn’t flying a monitor.
Cutting engine power he rotated the boat and hit the emergency forward thrusters. His first maneuver threw the Commander to the deck. The jolting deceleration rolled him toward against Nathan’s chair. He regained his footing and brushed his clothes.
“Jezzus, Nathan, a little warning next time.”
Nathan ignored him and concentrated on the time. Ten seconds. The pressure on his chest eased as the thrusters ran dry. Nathan rolled the boat over and pushed the throttles to maximum. This time Spotiswood held onto the back of his chair. Five seconds. As the boat lurched to full stop the heat on his spine stopped burning. Whatever the danger, he’d barely managed to miss it. Still, the mystery remained.
Nathan engaged the hyper generator, opening a perforation into normal space. At dead slow speed he crossed the barrier from hyperspace and egressed the boat.
“Holy shit,” Trudy said. Raising her head from the tactical display she stared at him.
Nathan shifted uncomfortably and adjusted his harness.
“How did you know?” Trudy asked.
“He’s got good instincts,” the Commander said. “Leave it at that, Trudy.”
Nathan checked the space ahead. An enormous asteroid field covered their flight path. Rechecking his star charts, Nathan confirmed that he should be seeing nothing but empty space.
“Trudy, run a full spectrum scan on the field.” Nathan glanced over to the tactical station. Trudy was already making her analysis. Slumping into his chair, he rubbed the back of his neck. Like any good T-O, she’d make her report when she had finalized her evaluation. Nearly five minutes passed before she looked at him.
“Rocks, lots and lots of rocks,” Trudy said. “The volume of the field is almost the same as the rogue comet, and the mineralogical composition is identical. I’m detecting radiation in small doses spread across the field.” She blinked and rubbed her eyes. “My best estimation is that someone, for some unfathomable reason, destroyed the comet.”
“Commander,” Nathan said, “how up to date is your intell.”
“Generally there’s a time-lag of a couple of months,” he said.
“Hmm.” Nathan rubbed at the bump on his right eyebrow. “Once this comet leaves this area it passes through major shipping lanes. So it’s logical to destroy it out here. No shipping lanes out here. Informing the population may be seen as redundant.”
“Or they may have sent out an alert and the intell hasn’t filtered down to us yet,” the Commander said.
Nathan nodded then examined the area of destruction. The comet had been hit hard and exploded, scattering rubble over an enormous area.
“How long to get around it?” Spotiswood must have been thinking along the same lines as he.
“Too long.” He looked at the spook. “You might want to strap in.”
Nathan examined the space ahead. Masses of asteroids, some as small as a grain of sand, some as large as a destroyer. His shields could deal with the smaller ones leaving the more lethally sizeable rocks for him to avoid. The sooner he worked his way through the obstruction the better.
Breathing deeply he focused on the task at hand, pushed the throttles to full ahead and closed his eyes. With his Prep warning him of danger he made his way through the field, pitching and turning the boat, easily avoiding any dangers. In time the field thinned out. Nathan assumed he’d arrived at the center of the disturbance, which meant that he still had a way to go. Ahead two giant boulders collided. Nathan’s back flared as the collision altered their course. Large fragments glanced off one another and fell into his path. He avoided the first one comfortably but the second one seemed to have a mind of its own. Sliding Deception under the tumbling asteroid he passed so close to her that his proximity alarm blared.
Finally he passed through the last of the field and into clear space. Wiping sweat from his forehead and the back of his neck, he checked the elapsed time. Six minutes. Only six minutes within the field, yet the stress level had made it feel like hours. Checking his navigation plot he set course and ingressed to hyperspace. Once the boat read full ahead he set his panel to auto and stood.
“Stella, I’m taking a break,” he said. “I’ll be back in four hours.”
“Very well,” she said.
CHAPTER 10
Date: 19th July, 326 ASC.
Position: Traversing Imperial hyperspace.
Status: Alert condition two.
Using his Prep to warn of danger Nathan avoided crossing paths with the shipping which clogged the shipping lanes leading from the empire to Midway. He continued to be amazed with Deception’s abilities. But even an advanced stealth boat needed to recharge her buffers. He’d been braking for only twenty-two minutes to bring her to dead stop, prior to egression. North of the major shipping lanes, empty space surrounded them. Nathan reached out with his senses. No danger awaited them on the other side.
Opening the perforation into normal space Nathan egressed the boat through at dead-slow speed.
“We are secured from hyper,” he reported.
“Scans show clear space,” Trudy said.
“Very well,” Stella said.
For three days Nathan had navigated through Pruessen space. Deception’s remarkable stealth talents continued to impress him. Luck had been with them.
He rubbed at his fatigued eyes. Sixteen hours without a break. He needed to put his head down, while the reactor recharged the shield buffers for the next leg of their journey.
He stood but with the low overhead couldn’t stretched the kinks out of his back. Leaning over Stella’s workstation, he said, “I’m going to get some sleep. Please call me, when recharge is complete.”
“No problem,” she said.
In his quarters Nathan fell onto his rack and slept for what appeared to be only minutes. His comm beeped. “Nathan.”
“We need you on the bridge.” Stella’s tone spoke of urgency, fed by anxiety.
Wiping sleep from his eyes he checked the time. He had been asleep for nearly two hours. Max stepped from the helm station as Nathan approached.
“We have a contact,” Max said. “She egressed from hyper a few minutes ago.”
Nathan checked his readouts. A ship, in this part of empty space, moving toward them. Had they been detected? Or was this just an enormous coincidence? Perhaps their luck had finally run out?
“She’ll be on top of us within four minutes,” Trudy said.
