Simmons bolted into the lift and slapped the key for the command deck. Once the lift was in motion, she quickly started stripping her power armor off, leaving her in only a skin-tight pressure suit. She was just stepping out of the armored boots as the lift stopped. She ran the few meters to the bridge.
Halford Kri’s face was displayed there. He’d used the remote override to turn on the main plot. His features registered shock as Simmons ran through the hatch at the aft end of the tiny bridge wearing nothing but her undergarment.
“Marli, ah, you’d better surrender now. I have my broadsides in range. If I fire, you will be destroyed.”
Simmons glanced at the tactical display. The Damocles was five thousand meters from her port beam with a full broadside aspect. Damocles was matching her acceleration, maintaining the geometry of the situation. She looked back at the display and said, “Looks like you have me this time, Hal. Want to power down your guns before you blow me out of space?” She tried to soften the words with a smile.
Kri wasn’t fooled for a second. “I don’t think so. I’m sending a pair of pinnaces over to take you into custody. Unlock both of your airlocks. If you make the slightest attempt to evade me, I will take you down. Am I clear on this point?”
“Sure. I understand. I’m going to turn off the comm, though. Your tactical officer is staring at me.”
Kri started to say, “No, Ma-,” the comm switched off before he could say anymore.
Simmons resisted the urge to scream. Once again, Halford Kri had her at the end of a gun. She was getting thoroughly tired of being in this position. She turned to the tactical console. Her fingers danced across the keys. Why hadn’t she programmed that remote override out? No time to worry about that, now.
The tactical program was already on and had four recommendations in varying levels of severity. She could ram Damocles’ exposed flank with the two drones she had under her control. That would disrupt them for plenty of time for her to get into stealth. She could turn and fire her main gun at Damocles, not sufficient to do any significant harm, but it would probably give her a chance to get away.
The third option was to make a radical turn in an attempt to run under Damocles and, while the ship tried to reorient, she could open range sufficiently to get into stealth. The final option presented by her tactical program was to dive into the atmosphere, streaming a few hundred kilometers below her. The Damocles couldn’t follow her, and the heavy blanket of air would shield her somewhat from Damocles’ shots.
“Blast it, why does he have to make everything so hard?” Her fingers tapped out a series of commands, slightly modifying one of the computer’s suggestions. “Put me through to Damocles.”
The screen switched back to Kri’s face. “Listen, Marli; I’ve let this game play out far enough.” He turned and said, “Open fire, Exec. Fire for effect.”
Just as the power surged to Damocles’ broadside, the drones rammed into the broadside weapons bay. The drones were so close; there was no chance of defensive fire. The resulting explosion was spectacular. Two of the energy projectors in the broadside were ripped from their mounts and shot away from the damaged flank.
Loki spun and rocketed away on a ninety degree heading from Damocles. She quickly managed to get the planet between her and Damocles. “Computer, begin startup on the point to point drive.” The computer beeped at her in acknowledgment. She touched the transmit key again. “Hal, I’m not kidding. Do not follow me again.”
“I’m going to sit in the front row of your courts-martial.” For the first time since she’d met him, Marli saw true rage painting Kri’s features. The normally easy-going officer’s face was blotchy red, and his eyes narrowed to slits under knotted brows. “You’re going to get everything you deserve once I catch you.”
“Empty threats are just that: empty. You won’t catch me again. I’m going to make sure of that.” She shut off the comm channel before Kri could do any more posturing. She rolled her eyes. Turning her thoughts to her next task, she tapped out a quick series of calculations. “Computer, what is the current fuel status?”
“Ninety-one percent of maximum.” The computer responded in its toneless voice.
“Excellent. Complete jump to the following coordinates.” The computer beeped at her, and she took two steps forward to shove the jump interlock into its socket at the helm station. She turned and watched as the jump ring closed behind her and said, “Goodbye, Hal.”
Kri sat in his command chair, looking over the damage report. Two of his broadside cannons were completely destroyed, and his port armor plating was badly damaged, mostly from internal explosions after being rammed by the drones.
“Exec what’s the end point of Miss Simmons’ jump?”
“She jumped into deep space, sir. The closest system to her end point is about thirty lightyears away. I don’t understand. Why would she jump to the middle of nowhere?”
“She may think she can jump away before we catch up. If she can pull that off, we might lose her.”
“No way, sir,” Hultz said. “Not only can we catch up, but I can still track her if she makes a second jump. There’s no point to her move.”
Taylor said, “Sir, I know she isn’t the most tactically minded person, but surely she can see the inevitable. We have much greater endurance, and there’s no chance she can get outside of the range at which we can track her.”
Kri looked at Simmons’ new location. Something about the move bugged him, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. “Begin plotting intercept jumps, Exec. We’ll just have to run her down. This time, I’m not going to negotiate with her. She’s endangered the Damocles and its crew. Mister Hultz, prepare a maximum offensive barrage. No fancy stuff. Just bore in and take the Loki down this time.”
Taylor and Hultz both acknowledged their orders and turned to their tasks. Kri watched the plot and Damocles executed four clean jumps, quickly making up more than half the distance on Loki. Conditions were ideal. Damocles was making nearly thirty lightyears per hop.
“What’s our estimate of her soonest jump capability, Exec?”
“We’re giving it another thirty minutes, minimum, sir,” Taylor said. Her jewel green eyes caught the reflection of the panel in front of her as she spoke. “Do we want to pause and watch her next jump or keep going, sir?”
“No, keep going. We can be on her in another three jumps. She shouldn’t be able to get away from us this time.”
“Aye, sir,” Taylor said and began giving orders to complete the next jump. Damocles’ point to point drive was working flawlessly, and the minimum cooldown periods seemed to be sufficient so far. Kri watched the timer countdown on their last jump impatiently. Simmons had made him look like an incompetent for the last time he swore to himself as that final jump ring was forming. Damocles emerged into another point far away from any planetary system of note.
Hultz flashed out a full system active scan as soon as Damocles cleared the ring. “Sir, I have Loki on my sensors. She doesn’t have her stealth system on at all.”
“What?” Kri asked, incredulous.
Taylor brought the tactical sensor overlay up on the main plot. “Sir, it looks like she has her point to point drive fully spooled up and ready to make another hop as well. Look at her energy readings.”
Kri ground his teeth in frustration. “Why the hell is she just sitting here waiting for us? Fine. Send a comm signal through to Loki, Mister Dowd.”
“Aye, sir,” Dowd said.
A moment later, Simmons’ face appeared on the forward display. “Glad to see you managed to catch up, Hal,” she said. “Sorry I can’t stay. I have another engagement I absolutely must attend to, and you know how I hate to be late.” Sarcasm dripped from her words. “For the last time, you can’t outthink me, and you can’t chase me down. Why do you think I’m here, waiting for you?”
Kri had had enough of being taunted. He stood up from his command chair and shouted, “I want a full tactical assault on Loki. Blow it out of
the sky, Mister Hultz. Helm, ahead emergency flank.”
Hultz said, “Aye, sir.” The helm dinged, and Damocles began to shake violently as the engines were pushed well beyond recommended operating power.
“Time to weapons range, Exec?” Kri’s voice was still coming out harshly, but he could see that the Loki was drawing close. He settled back into a seated position.
“Ninety seconds, sir. Sir, Loki is forming a jump ring.”
“Dammit! No!” Kri clenched his fist on the arm of his command chair, the soft padded material bunching painfully under his fingers.
Simmons’s voice came out of the speakers again. “Hal, how much fuel do you have left? Where is the nearest gas giant you can refuel at?”
With that, Loki maneuvered through its jump ring and vanished from the sensors.
Kri turned to face his exec. His face a mask of barely controlled rage. Taylor took an involuntary step back from him when his eyes came to rest on hers.
Sir,” his executive officer stammered out, “Sir, we are at one-third fuel capacity.
“Kri took a long, deep breath and tried to get his anger under control. “So? That’s plenty. What’s the range to the closest suitable gas giant for refueling?”
Taylor’s face was fixed in an expression of consternation. “Well, sir, you see, um, we’re just under two hundred lightyears from the closest gas giant that might do the trick, and that’s directly back the way we came. Even if we override the interlocks we can only make it another seven hops with our onboard fuel. A hundred ninety or so lightyears at the most.”
Simmons plan suddenly became clear to him. He’d chased her deeply into a region of space that was devoid of any way to refuel.
Damocles was stranded.
Chapter 9
Hanlon stared at Tolon for a long moment while her mind tried to grapple with its last statement. “Consume? What do you mean by that?”
Tolon raised up slightly on its long legs before saying, “We survive and propagate our species by consuming the outer surface of planets that have useful materials. In order to continue this process, Leader has determined it will be made impossible for New Dawn to leave unless the Ulef are allowed to accompany it.”
“Um, well, I don’t know, Tolon. The Lashmere system doesn’t really have an expendable planet for you to… use in that way. Perhaps we could use some ring ships to bring you raw materials?”
“That may be possible, but the requirements of our species are quite extensive.” Tolon paused for a few seconds before continuing. “It may be that Leader will accept something less than ideal in exchange for supplemental materials gathered by humans.”
“Tolon, that’s not the kind of deal I can make.” The Lashmere system had five planets in it, one of them a massive gas giant that had a variety of moons. “What about a moon? There are a number of them orbiting the gas giant in our system. And don’t you have a home planet of your own?”
“That may be acceptable. The Ulef can withstand radiation many times higher than a human can tolerate. We should be able to survive in such a place. I will speak with Leader. As to the subject of a home planet, it is true, the Ulef once had one. It is no longer possible for the Ulef to maintain a permanent presence on a planet.”
Hanlon felt a surge of relief mixed with curiosity about Tolon’s enigmatic answer to the question of their home planet. A whole planet would probably give the Lashmere government an apoplexy. One of the moons of Oculus, the gas giant, would at least not change the shape of the Lashmere system. “We need to find a way to communicate with the Lashmere government. I should have had Aden leave one of those nifty stealth ships he had. Oh well. How long would it take your people to make the transit to Lashmere, Tolon?”
“The voyage would take roughly zero point one two standard years,” Tolon responded.
“Okay, just exactly how long is that?”
“I presume you are familiar with the structure of the galaxy in which we reside?” Tolon asked.
Hanlon chuckled. “Let’s just say I have a good idea of what it looks like.”
Tolon, clearly not detecting her sarcasm, said, “The galaxy rotates on an axis at the center of which is a large black hole. The average time of all stars that orbit that black hole has been calculated. That number is then divided into smaller, usable units that are universal to all sentients, so we have a common point of reference. The rotation is divided by one million to achieve the largest common unit of time, usually referred to as an age. That is further divided into hundredths which is a standard year.”
Hanlon did some quick math in her head. “So, one of your standard galactic years would be somewhere between a little less and a little more than two years on Lashmere.”
Tolon said, “Yes, Captain Hanlon. That is approximately correct. Your knowledge of galactic rotation surprises me after your earlier statement.”
Hanlon rolled her eyes. “You don’t have sarcasm, do you, Tolon?”
The Ulef bounced in place for several seconds and then said, “The word sarcasm is difficult for our translator to grasp. It seems to mean saying something but meaning its opposite. How can effective communication exist in such a manner?”
“Let me tell you, Tolon. Sarcasm is the best kind of communication there is. I suggest you and your people learn how it’s done. It will make you much more popular with other people.”
“Why is that, Captain?”
“People like someone with a sense of humor.”
“The Ulef have senses of humor.”
“Really? Tell me a joke, then.”
“It would be impossible without a common frame of reference,” Tolon said.
Hanlon sighed. “That’s a letdown. For a moment there, I had such high hopes for you as a species. No jokes? Not really a way to live in my opinion.”
Tolon said, “The requested materials have arrived.”
Hanlon turned her attention back to New Dawn and said, “How long will repairs take now that you have the materials you need for the computer core?”
The animated face widened its eyes and said, “Repair estimate is approximately one point two days.”
“Great. What are we going to do in the meantime?” Hanlon asked rhetorically.
Tolon said, “Perhaps we should complete an inspection of all vital systems.”
“Good idea, Tolon. New Dawn prepare a route through the ship that will allow us to inspect all vital systems.”
“Captain, this is a request that cannot be granted. Portions of New Dawn’s interior are unreachable.”
“How much of the ship can I get to from here without a pressure suit?”
“Less than five percent of the interior of New Dawn can be accessed by an unprotected human at this time, Captain.”
“Why?”
New Dawn’s eyes shifted back and forth several times before it answered. “A part of the interior structure has been used to maintain the most vital systems in minimum working order.”
“Look, New Dawn, I am getting tired of having to drag every single piece of information out of you. I need you to give me complete answers when I ask you questions.”
“The heuristic processor and quantum predictive processors are part of the primary interface system that is currently being repaired, Captain. A substantial improvement in human interface capabilities is anticipated once those systems have been restored to full functionality. Until then, please exercise patience with the current interface.”
“Oh, fine, now you tell me your important parts are broken,” Hanlon retorted. There was no anger left in her voice, though. The ship was more than five thousand years old. It was pretty remarkable that it still worked at all. “Put up the list of materials needed for power systems and neural wave transmitter repair, please.”
“The list is now displayed.” The materials were shown in two columns. One for power and one for the transmitter.
“Tolon we need all of these materials, and then we still have to get the faster than light sys
tem working again before we can even consider relocating to Lashmere.”
“It will be difficult to convince Leader to release these materials.”
“But you do have them.”
“We do. I must tell you, Captain, Leader grows increasingly suspicious of your motives.”
Hanlon took a few seconds to order her thoughts before responding. “Are you in constant communication with Leader?”
“In a way, Captain. Leader can focus and become aware of my perceptions and also have a general idea of my emotional state.”
Hanlon gaped. “So, you mean Leader can watch the world through your eyes if it wishes to?”
“That is so, Captain. You can be assured that Leader has focused most of its attention on what we are doing here.”
Hanlon whistled between her teeth. “I guess you guys don’t really have a sense of privacy, do you?”
“We are aware of the concept, but it is not something we find to be of use or need. There are very few secrets among the Ulef, Captain.”
Hanlon caught the meaning almost immediately. Tolon was warning her not to mention the existence of the control module that Leader had in its possession. “That’s remarkably strange, Tolon. I am quite surprised.”
“Why is that, Captain?”
“Well, my people need time to be alone. Some of us need a lot of time to be alone. The ability to spend time in introspection and ponder whatever is important to us is integral to our development as a people.”
“It is not so for the Ulef. If we wish to discover or consider something, the more of us who join in similar lines of thought, the better. Our minds work together to focus and gain increased insight as we work together.”
Hanlon chuckled. “Well, good to know. Too bad humans can’t focus that way. It sounds like a rather remarkable thing.”
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