by PJ Strebor
Nathan checked his plot. If the throbbing of his back was anything to go by, the other ship had to be military. “Trudy, is she pinging?”
“Negative.”
At this range he couldn’t risk using thrusters.
“The buffers are almost fully charged,” Stella said. “If you want to ingress.”
“If we do that, they will detect us. That will end our mission.” And any chance of rescuing Moe.
Nathan sat back and absently rubbed the bump on his right eyebrow.
“Stella, discontinue the recharge and cut all power to the boat. Including life support. Leave me passive sensors only.”
“I’ll have to run that past the commander.”
He turned a hard eye on her. “Fine, do that. But cut all power first.”
She appeared to be in two minds as to her next actions. As command pilot, in the absence of the Captain, his word was law. Where the hell is Spotiswood?
“We’ll have that ship sitting in our laps in three minutes. Stealth boat or not, Deception will show up on the ship’s sensors at close range. Shut down all power. Do it now.”
Stella nodded once. All power emissions ceased, the lighting went out, to be replaced by the familiar green, iridescence glow from the overheads.
In the dim light Nathan hovered over his tactical display, as the vessel moved closer. Finally he got a good look at her.
“She’s a Pruessen destroyer. She’s slowing. Aaaand, stopped. Her shields are down.” Nathan chuckled. “I suspect she’s here for the same reason as us. Recharging.”
“That’s what I call a hell of a coincidence,” Max said.
“How long do you think she’ll take?” Stella asked.
“There’s no way of telling.”
“Should we risk reengaging life support? We won’t last long without it.”
“I’ll play it by ear.”
Three hours passed, the chill of the boat no longer subtle. The air thickened, smelling of stale body odor. Nathan had ordered every non essential crewmember to their racks to conserve what little life support remained.
One ping from the destroyer would find them. Just one of her array of torpedoes would be sufficient to end their mission and everyone aboard.
He had run through the options without finding a solution to their potentially lethal dilemma. On a monitor he would order everyone into V suits. That would solve any life support issues. Deception carried no V suits. On a monitor, he could push them clear of the destroyer’s sensor envelope with her mag maneuvering plating. Deception had no mag plating. Apparently, Nallgotate and mag plating were incompatible. On a monitor, he stood a slight chance of fighting his way clear of the enemy warship. Deception’s three torpedoes and popgun pulsar couldn’t stop an enraged grandmother.
Risk thrusters at this range?
Nathan’s vision began fogging over his focus waning. His desire to sleep pressed down on him as each minute dragged by. He tucked the thermal blanket around him but it did little to stop the cold hurting down to his bones.
What do I do?
From the tactical station a beep. Trudy, face down on her console, didn’t respond. Nathan struggled to his feet and checked the tactical readings. The destroyer’s shields were active. Nathan tensed as she crawled forward. At any moment she could either spot Deception or collide with her. Nathan felt nauseous and began to sway. The destroyer opened a perforation into hyperspace and was gone.
“Stella, bring…” The D-O slumped over her console. He staggered to her station, shaking her awake.
“Wh-what?”
“Power up all systems.”
“She’s gone?”
“Yeah.”
Within seconds the bliss of clean air and heating returned.
CHAPTER 11
Date: 24th July, 326 ASC
Position: Traversing Imperial hyperspace. Approaching the planet Saint Joan.
Status: Alert condition two.
“That’s your plan?” Commander Spotiswood didn’t appear to be impressed.
“It needs some tweaking,” Nathan said, “but it’s a good starting point.”
“You’re going to land on Saint Joan, wander up to the base’s front door, walk in and rescue the crew?”
“Something like that,” Nathan said. “Like I said, I’ll tweak it as I go.”
“Your place is at the helm of this boat, not wandering around on Saint Joan.”
“As you know,” Nathan said, “I’m the only one who can wander around on a plague world.”
“It’s far too risky.”
“I need to try.” He set a cold eye on the Commander, who shrugged.
“Get anything from the database?”
Nathan rolled his eyes. “I had no idea …” he shook his head. “That’s an, ah, impressive array of diverse information you have there, Commander.”
I did indeed glean much that I was not supposed to see.
“Get everything you need?”
“Yes.” And a lot more besides.
“Good.” He tapped a single command into his computer. “Level one clearance revoked.”
His comm beeped. “Nathan.”
“We’re coming up on the barrier,” Stella said.
“On my way.” He turned to the hatch. “Will you be joining us today, Commander?”
“I’ve got things to do.”
“Riiiiight.”
Max and he had turned a corner and had gotten to know one another during their arduous journey. A good man with a tragic past. They could relate to each other’s tragedies. His hatred of Pruessen rivaled Nathan’s. Max surrendered the helm, shaking his head. “Minefields. I hate minefields.”
Nathan had no reply for such a succinct observation.
“We’re getting an automated signal,” Trudy said. “Do not approach Saint Joan. Contaminated by Derwent Plague. It’s on auto repeat.”
Could have used that on Delos.
Nathan’s back throbbed. Ahead, a patchwork of danger. Not a dense field but enough to give anyone pause. According to the commander’s intell, the mines would lock onto and pursue any vessel attempting to scan them. So sensors couldn’t be used to navigate a way through.
“Stella, all crew prepare for evasive maneuvers.”
After she made the announcement Nathan pushed the throttles to the red line and brought Deception hard about in a tight six-gee turn which pinned him to his chair.
“Ah, Nathan,” Stella began, “aren’t you going the wrong way?”
Nathan resisted the urge to shake his head. “We need to pick up speed before we go through the barrier. The quicker we make it through, the better.”
“Oh,” Stella said quietly, “I see.”
Once his speed climbed to full ahead he turned the boat back toward Saint Joan. By the time they arrived at the minefield the speed had reached flank.
“Stella, drop the shields.”
“Do you think that’s advisable?”
“No, I’m doing it for fucking fun. Drop the shields.”
After a short grumble she complied.
Preferring not to divulge his carefully hidden talent, he continued to examine his passive sensor readouts. With the rest of the bridge crew engaged, he closed his eyes and reached out with his senses.
Yes, there was a way through, but if he made the slightest miscalculation, their fragile boat would be fired upon. He skirted the first mine, only meters from her sensor envelope. Two more ahead. Slipping between them he maneuvered around three more before clearing the minefield. Using bow thrusters he slowed the boat before achieving high orbit above the planet Saint Joan. Intell gave the coordinates for the base on the far side of the planet. He parked Deception into geosynchronous orbit above it.
Nathan’s family began on this world. Prior to the end of the last war it had been home to his clan of independent traders and many others. Then the plague got loose on their world. Leaving family behind on the infected planet the surviving Telford family members had fled
south to freedom.
Having navigated through the mine field Nathan logged the flight path into the nav com. He then activated his own, personal program, before handing the helm to Max.
“Be careful,” Max whispered as they passed.
“Remember, Nathan,” Stella said, “you have only twelve hours, then we turn that base into a mushroom cloud.”
“Well, I had better finish up my business well before then, shouldn’t I?”
A grim smile was her only reply.
Still no sign of the Commander.
If I know that two faced prick, he’ll be on the bridge as soon as I leave.
***
To avoid the possibility of detection, Nathan took the landing boat to the far side of the planet before commencing planetary insertion. The LB passed through the planet’s ionosphere before breaking into a sunny orange skied atmosphere. Skimming across the endless savannah only meters from the hard deck, Nathan set course for the base. He passed many towns along the way. All structures were crumbling wrecks, gradually succumbing to thirty years of neglect.
He had little intell on this base, so to avoid the possibility of being detected by early warning sensors, he brought the boat in low under any possible sensor screen. The Commander thought he was being overly cautious but Nathan couldn’t take the chance of being discovered. Surprise was his only advantage. He set the boat down in a clearing, a hundred clicks from the base. The heat settled on him as he dragged the EVA rig from the boat. After checking out his only viable means of planetary transportation, he set the landing boat’s autopilot to return it to Deception and made sure that all hatches remained open. The hard vacuum of space would cleanse the plague from the LB.
As the boat lifted off on a reciprocal course, Nathan stepped into the EVA rig, strapped in and snapped the controls into place. Although designed for use in a vacuum environment, the boat’s senior engineer had a few days to modify it for atmospheric flight.
Activating the anti gravs he took her up a thousand meters and surveyed the lay of the land. Saint Joan’s vast prairies stretched across the flat landscape to the horizon, a dirty green savannah teeming with life. There off in the far distance a wide valley cut a green and orange path through the flat expanse.
At the valley’s opening, Nathan dropped to the deck. He steered the jury rigged transport through a broad valley, flanked by impressively rugged ranges. A giant eagle swooped close, curious, but not aggressive. An ear shattering squawk before it flew away. Nathan could only hope the majestic bird wasn’t warning him of a territorial infringement.
He continued on toward a base about which he knew so little.
CHAPTER 12
Date: 24th July, 326 ASC
Position: Deception, in orbit above Saint Joan.
Status: Alert condition two.
Max did a systems check. Damn, Nathan’s got guts. I hope he doesn’t get himself killed. Nathan had pushed, gently, to encourage Max to open up about the loss of his wife and three kids in a headhunter attack. Nathan had lost his entire bloodline. Despite Nathan’s resistance he couldn’t help but like and even admire him. To lose everyone at such a young age must have been incomprehensible. To do so and turn out to be the man he had become, that was the true miracle.
Behind him the hatch to the Commander’s lair opened.
“Report,” the Commander said.
“Nathan is confirmed on the surface,” Stella said. “He should be at the base within the hour.”
An unaccustomed pause from the Commander. “Load the torpedo tube.”
Another pause. “Commander?”
“Helm, prepare to target the base.”
Max turned to face him. “Commander?”
“Am I speaking in tongues, people?”
“You gave Nathan twelve hours,” Max said.
“I changed my mind.”
“Commander,” Stella said, “surely twelve hours isn’t too much to –”
“What is our mission? Huh? To deny the enemy technology that could swing the balance of power. Yes?”
“Max, after this is done, you can take the landing boat down and pick him up. If he isn’t too close to the blast zone.”
Silence lingered.
“Stella?” Stern, uncompromising.
“Very well.” Remorse, acceptance. “Loading tube with fifty megatonne nuke.”
“Helm, put us over that base.” An uncomfortable pause. “Max?”
“Aye-aye, Commander.” What a prick.
Max adjusted the controls to reposition the boat. The boat moved but not by his command. “What the hell?”
The boat came about on a heading toward the mine field. Max hit every override control but the boat ignored him.
“SMC,” Max said, “disengage from current course.”
“Authorization code required,” the computer replied.
Authorization code? For a moment Max felt only bafflement. Then he remembered who’d been the last person to sit at the helm. Nathan hinted that the commander had given him a very high security clearance.
“Max, what the hell are you doing,” the Commander shouted.
You cunning bastard. Max smothered his smile as he turned to face the Commander.
“I’m not doing a damn thing, Commander.”
CHAPTER 13
Date: 24th July, 326 ASC
Position: Planet Saint Joan, Pruessen space, the quarantine zone.
It took Nathan just over an hour to breach the rise in the flat landscape. On the other side the base loomed. He dropped immediately to the ground, unstrapped and discarded the EVA rig. With the comfortable breeze gone the heat struck him. Hot he could handle but the humidity soaked his clothes within minutes.
The base looked old, maybe dating back to before the last war. Not large but of course that could mean that the bulk of it had been constructed underground. Nathan ducked behind a tall stand of reeds as a figure rounded the building’s corner.
Intell said that guards patrolled the outside of the base. An hour on an hour off. Nathan still found it hard to believe. Outside guards, on a plague world? Someone at this base had to have a serious security fetish. Another guard approached from the opposite direction. Both were clad in dark blue V suits with light armor. Nathan followed their actions with his monocular. They met and conferred before stepping to a keypad by the hatch. Nathan zoomed in closer and read the four digit code as one of them punched it in. The code having been lodged, the hatch slid open. Nathan sprinted the short distance and made it to the hatch in time to peer through the clear round port hole and into the bay. The guards appeared to be in a vacuum chamber, their bodies suspended from tethers. A few seconds of vacuum exposure ended, atmosphere returned and they removed their helmets. They disappeared from the chamber through a side hatch. Two more replaced them.
Back behind cover Nathan watched as two new guards emerged. One went right, the other left. He checked his timepiece. Ten hours forty seven minutes remained before zero hour.
Sprinting to the hatch Nathan punched in the code. After the hatch slid aside he ducked inside and tried to open the exit hatch. The handle didn’t budge. Red lights flashed as the computer prepared to activate the vacuum chamber. That would kill him. He pulled at the handle frantically but it wouldn’t budge. You’re on a Pruessen base, dummy. Turning the handle in the opposite direction opened the hatch. Quickly stepping inside he had just sealed the hatch when the vacuum chamber engaged. He wiped sweat from his face with the sleeve of his light shirt.
“Now what?” he whispered. Reconnoiter.
Stepping through another hatch, he checked the room. No sensor pickups. Good.
Nathan considered his situation for a few minutes. Can I just stroll around the base? Can I pass for part of the base personnel? What’s my role? How many people are on the base? If there were only a few people, how do I explain my presence? Tick tock, Telford. He didn’t want to do anything stupid but he couldn’t sit in the room doing nothing. Time to check things out
. He considered his appearance. Loose white pants with a lightweight shirt. Rummaging around, he found a clean towel and hung it loosely around his neck. A snigger slipped out. Stop it. He couldn’t help it. It came as his usual response to a highly stressful situation. He took a deep breath.
Opening a hatch, he stepped into a corridor. No challenge was made. His pulse rate steadied. He jogged to the right, maintaining a steady pace. As he passed closed hatches he took note of the stenciled signs on each one. Infirmary, storage, admin, senior mess, junior mess, head. he really wanted to see a sign that said: Athenian prisoners held here. Still no sensor pickups.
The corridor hit a T-junction and Nathan turned right. Two uniformed personnel stared at him as he approached, their eyes curious. As he jogged by he grinned and said, “Good morning,” and kept going. Their answering ‘good mornings’ put his mind at ease.
He came to a flight of stairs and followed them down. Prisoners were, after all, traditionally held in deep, smelly dungeons. That’s what all the novels said. He chuckled at the thought. Stop it.
The extensive lower level contained only storage, maintenance and machine areas. After jogging around the entire basement area he took another flight of stairs up. Another corridor, another uniform. He nodded as he passed the officer.
“You there,” the officer yelled, “stop.”
Nathan continued on for a few steps then casually looked over his shoulder.
“You,” the officer repeated, “stop, and come here.”
Nathan adopted a mask of annoyance. He jogged up to the officer, continuing to run on the spot.
“Yeah,” he said, “what?”
“I haven’t seen you before. Who are you?”
Nathan deepened his irritation. “I haven’t seen you before. So who the fuck are you?”
A haughty look, offended, his chin rose. “I am Commander Schmidt, military commander of this facility.”
“What a coincidence. My name is also Schmidt. Doctor Hans Schmidt. And I’ve got work to get back to. So I’ll see you around.”
