by Ryk Brown
Tug checked his ship’s clock, which he had set to count down to his contact window. He had timed his journey so that he would be at his closest proximity to Ancot during the one minute contact window indicated by the algorithm he and Jalea had worked out before her departure. Communications were the most dangerous part of an undercover operatives work, as it was at that moment when you were most discoverable. He was quite sure, however, that Jalea would take great precautions to ensure her own safety, even if it was at the expense of others.
Ancot grew larger in his canopy over the hours. Now, after nearly seven hours, he was close enough to make out the continents on the surface. There was little traffic in the Savoy system, and with most of his systems powered down for hours, his ship was nearly as cold as space itself. If his ship had been painted black, it would’ve been nearly invisible in both the infrared and visual spectrums. He made a mental note to have the ship repainted upon his return, as he anticipated more missions such as this in the near future.
Finally, the time had come. Tug switched on his focused laser communications array and locked it onto Ancot City below. It was late in the evening there, and he would still be in the shadows behind the planet as he attempted contact. If Jalea was still alive and had something to report, he would get a response, of that he was sure. He set the beam area to include the entire city of Ancot, as he knew not where she might be located. At the exact moment that contact was to begin, he fired three hailing pulses, each one containing the proper contact request codes. Moments later, he received an acknowledgment pulse. He quickly fixed his array on the exact location of the pulse and tightened his beam to be less than three meters. Someone would have to be within that three meter circle on the ground below in order to exchange messages with him.
Tug sent another hail pulse and got an immediate response. The communications system confirmed the authentication code of the sender and then began to receive the sender’s burst transmission. Tug sent back a confirmation signal, followed by a message that indicated that they should continue following the same communication protocols. Once he received the final confirmation pulse, he shut down his array and continued to coast past Ancot.
Tug called up the data that had been sent to him via the burst transmission. The sender had used Jalea’s transmission code. This meant that either the message was true, or the sender had somehow managed to get the authentication code from Jalea. The latter was impossible, for it, too, was based on an algorithm that they had concocted prior to her departure. The algorithm was written down and held in her possession. If captured, she would have swallowed it, and the algorithm was to complex to commit to memory. The information sent had to be from Jalea; Tug was sure of it. He punched in the encryption code and decrypted the message. As he read the message, his concern deepened.
Tug coasted along for another three hours until he was close enough to the Savoy sun that his heat signature and jump flash would be lost in its brilliance. He powered up his ship and jumped to the void just outside the Savoy system, where he changed course for Darvano and jumped home.
* * *
“Captain, Comms,” Naralena’s voice called over the intercom on the desk.
“Go ahead,” Nathan answered.
“Sir, Karuzara Command reports Tug is inbound. He will be coming straight to our flight deck. He has urgent news and requests a meeting with you and Lieutenant Commander Nash. He also has requested that Mister Dumar be present as well.”
“Understood.” Nathan keyed off the intercom and rose from his seat. It had to be important for Tug to have called ahead, and that had Nathan worried.
“Naralena,” Nathan said as he came out of his ready room, “call the COB and have him meet us in the intel shack. Direct Tug there when he arrives.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Ensign Yosef, you have the bridge.”
Tug’s interceptor rolled to an abrupt halt in the middle of the hangar bay. He wasted no time, jumping down from the cockpit before the Corinari deck hands could roll out a boarding ladder to him.
“What the hell’s your hurry, Tug?” Marcus asked.
“Can you paint my ship black, Senior Chief?” Tug asked as he tossed his helmet to one of the deck hands.
“Sure, but why the hell do you want…”
“Then get started,” Tug instructed, “and after that, please get her ready for launch as soon as possible.”
Marcus watched as Tug quickly left the hangar deck, not even going to the pilot’s dressing room to change first. “You heard the man,” he hollered. “Find some black paint, damn it!”
Tug entered the intel shack and dropped his data chip on the table. “Intel from Jalea,” he announced.
“What does it say?” Jessica asked as she picked it up and plugged it into a reader.
“A Ta’Akar frigate will arrive in Savoy sometime in the next few days. It is coming from the Norwitt system. Jalea expects its next logical destination would be Darvano, so she tasked her comm-operator to send me this information.”
“So I guess she made contact with some hidden Karuzari on Ancot,” Nathan observed.
“Yes,” Tug acknowledged, “but there is more. Her suspicions were confirmed when a message from Takaran Command arrived in Ancot. Orders for the frigate that is due to arrive in Savoy, the Loranoi, to rendezvous with the battleship Wallach in the Darvano system.”
“When?” Jessica asked.
“It does not say when, exactly,” Dumar said as he read the data. “The transmission just says to ‘make best speed to rendezvous with the Wallach in Darvano at the earliest’.”
“Read on,” Tug said.
“It says something about exchanging their comm-drones,” Dumar said.
“Why would they need to exchange their comm-drones?” Nathan wondered. “Are they out or something?”
“No, that’s not it,” Jessica disagreed. “If that were the case, wouldn’t they use the word ‘replace’?”
“Yeah, or refurbish, or replenish—not exchange,” Nathan agreed.
Mister Dumar’s eyes squinted tighter for a moment. “Captain, I think I may know what is going on, and I am afraid it is not good.”
“What is it, Mister Dumar?” Nathan asked.
“I have been wondering about something,” Dumar began. “I could never figure out how news of the Ta’Akar attack on Taroa managed to reach the Darvano system so quickly. Taroa is nearly eight light years away, yet the footage of the attack arrived only three days later.”
“How do you know the date of the attack?” Jessica wondered.
“On one of the videos, there was a woman clutching a boarding pass at the spaceport. It was probably overlooked as she was running away from danger so the image was only there for a moment.” Dumar called up the video footage and played it back for them. “There.” Dumar stopped the video and zoomed in on the date. “I was able to enhance the image and make out the date on the document. At eight light years away, it should have taken a comm-drone twenty-nine days to get from Taroa to Darvano, longer if it went through Takara first, which it normally does. These images got here in only three days.”
“You’re saying that the Ta’Akar have newer, faster comm-drones?” Nathan asked.
“It is the only explanation,” Dumar insisted.
“But it would take far more energy than that provided by all four of the anti-matter reactors on this ship to travel at such speeds,” Tug argued. “Three days from Taroa to Darvano? That would require a speed of one thousand times that of light. For that you would need…”
“A zero-point energy device,” Nathan said.
The room fell silent.
“You know, I wondered how those ships in Korak knew to look for us so soon,” Nathan commented. “We weren’t there more than a day when they came out into the asteroid field to find us. It should have taken five or six days for a message to travel from Taroa to Korak.”
“That would also explain the message about exchanging the Wallach’s co
mm-drones,” Dumar explained. “Perhaps the Loranoi is carrying a surplus of the newer drones and is tasked with meeting up with warships still carrying the older versions.”
“It makes sense, Captain,” Tug agreed. “Upgrading the efficiency of their communications network, at least between warships and command, would be the highest priority. The drones used by the various systems can be replaced one drone at a time during normal comm runs.”
“There is something else, Captain,” Dumar warned.
“What, more good news?” Nathan quipped.
“Mister Willard’s mission report from Savoy stated that the sergeant major at the spaceport said something unusual.” Dumar picked up his data pad and started scanning through the reports. “Ah yes, here it is. He said ‘I am sure you are anxious to get the refit started.’”
“He wasn’t talking about comm-drones, was he?” Jessica observed.
“No, I suspect he wasn’t,” Nathan agreed.
“Captain,” Tug said, “if they have managed to create zero-point energy devices small enough to be installed in comm-drones, they must surely have created larger versions as well.”
“But I thought the latest propaganda videos said those things were still months away.” Jessica pointed out.
“I suspect they were a purposeful deception on the part of the Ta’Akar,” Dumar stated. “It would be in keeping with their methods.”
“Captain,” Tug began in a considerably more serious tone, “if the Ta’Akar are allowed to install the zero-point energy devices in even half of their warships, we will not stand a chance against them.”
“Why?” Nathan wondered. “We still have the jump drive.”
“The shields on Ta’Akar warships are quite formidable, Captain,” Tug told him. “With that much power available, it would take an army of ships to wear them down—not to mention their energy weapons. If powered by a zero-point energy device, I cannot begin to imagine the destruction their next generation of energy weapons might yield.”
Nathan looked at Tug. “Then what do we do?”
Tug did not have an answer at hand, as he was just as worried about the new developments as Nathan. “I do not know,” he admitted.
Nathan looked at Jessica, who shook her head in despair. He looked at Dumar, who looked equally dismayed. Nathan took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as he searched his mind for an answer. Finally one came.
“We have to attack,” Nathan announced.
“Attack what?” Jessica asked.
“Anything and everything,” Nathan said. “They have the zero-point thingy. I got that. They can blow us out of the sky. I got that as well. But they can’t be everywhere at once, can they?”
“Of course not,” Jessica said.
“Well, we can. We can jump in, attack, and jump out. We can take out comm-drone platforms, bombard ground installations, harass their warships, maybe even cripple a few. We just have to keep out of their cross-hairs and avoid taking a direct hit from a ship with a ZPED.”
“It is a valiant idea, Captain, but just one good hit on the Aurora and the war would be over,” Tug concluded. “It is just too risky.”
“Then what do you suggest?” Nathan asked.
Tug looked at Dumar, his old friend. “The head of the dragon.”
Chapter Nine
“Gentlemen, I’d like to thank you all for agreeing to meet with us on such short notice,” Nathan began, taking well-placed pauses to allow the various interpreters in the room to catch up. He looked at the faces of the various generals, political and industrial leaders, and of course the Prime Minister and his interpreter, Mister Briden.
“I’m afraid I am the bearer of bad news,” Nathan continued. “Our intelligence asset on Ancot has informed us that the Ta’Akar frigate Loranoi is due to arrive at Ancot sometime in the next few days. Furthermore, orders have been received by the garrison on Ancot for the Loranoi, instructing her to proceed with all due speed to a rendezvous with the battleship Wallach. This rendezvous is to take place here, in the Darvano system.”
The room filled with a sudden burst of frantic discourse between attendees, most of which was in Corinairan. However, it was obvious to Nathan that the impact of his news was as expected.
“Has this intelligence been verified?” a translator for one of the generals inquired.
“No, sir, not as yet,” Nathan admitted.
“Could this not be a ruse?” Mister Briden wondered aloud.
“We considered that possibility,” Nathan said. “We are taking steps to confirm this information, but we thought it best to apprise you of the situation.”
“How do you intend to make such a confirmation?” Mister Briden challenged.
“I will take the new jump interceptor out and attempt to locate the Loranoi,” Tug explained.
“How can you possibly hope to find a single ship, traveling faster than light, over such a vast area of space?” another translator inquired.
“Our intelligence also indicated that the Loranoi was traveling to Savoy from the Norwitt system,” Nathan said. “If this information is accurate, we should be able to locate the Loranoi along the route from Norwitt to Savoy.”
“And the Wallach?” Mister Briden asked. “Can you locate her as well?”
“That may not be possible,” Tug admitted. “We have no information as to her last port of call; therefore, we will have to search every imaginable route.”
“Surely the mighty Aurora can handle a single frigate,” a translator for one of the Corinari generals stated. “After all, did she not defeat the Yamaro?”
“The Yamaro was of an older design and was known to be underpowered,” Tug asserted. “No offense to Captain Scott, but the Aurora did not defeat the Yamaro; the mutineers surrendered her.”
“But the Campaglia,” another translator spouted, “she was a battleship as well, and a formidable one at that.”
“Yes,” Nathan agreed, “but we were lucky. We had jumped inside her shields by accident. There was no time to take evasive action, and we were forced to ram her.”
“But you also filled her with torpedoes, did you not?” the translator argued. “Were not they the cause of her ultimate destruction?”
“Yes, but…”
“The point is, Captain, that the mighty Campaglia was destroyed and the Aurora survived…”
“Barely!” Nathan interrupted. “The Campaglia was a powerful ship, yes, but she was caught by surprise by an unknown enemy. I’m not so sure we’ll have the same advantage this time.”
“Why not?” Mister Briden inquired indignantly.
“We have reason to believe that the Ta’Akar have already begun using the zero-point energy device in their comm-drones,” Tug explained, “resulting in increased speeds, possibly as fast as one thousand times the speed of light.”
Again the room filled with chatter as generals quickly recalculated the message transfer times resulting from comm-drones traveling a thousand times the speed of light. The looks on their faces revealed the depth of their concern.
“We believe this is why the Loranoi is to rendezvous with the Wallach, in order to exchange the Wallach’s older, slower comm-drones for the newer, faster versions,” Tug added.
“We also have cause to believe that they may have started to upgrade their warships, refitting them with the zero-point energy devices.”
The reaction was explosive this time, and it took several minutes for the room to settle down to the point where discussion could continue.
Cameron watched in silence as she had since the beginning of the meeting. After witnessing the Corinairans argue and debate amongst themselves for several minutes, she finally had enough. “Nathan,” she said, leaning closer to him in order to be heard. Tug also leaned in from Nathan’s opposite side in order to hear her. “These people are never going to come to any consensus.”
“How do you know?” Nathan wondered. “You can’t even understand what they’re saying.”
“I d
on’t need to,” she insisted. “Just look at them; look at their body language. I doubt there are two people amongst the lot of them that are in agreement over anything you’ve presented.”
“She is correct,” Tug added. “The generals are screaming for action. The politicians are worried about global panic and the collapse of their governments. The industrialists are counting the profits to be made. And the civil security authority is worried about a resurgence of the anarchy that occurred after the Yamaro’s attack.”
“You have to say something,” Cameron told him. “You have to pull them together somehow.”
Nathan looked at her with surprise.
“Yeah, I know,” she said. “I can’t believe I said that either. But the fact is, it’s time for Na-Tan to speak. These people need to act, not react.”
Nathan looked at the men in the room. Their faces were reddened with anger as they shouted at one another about what to do, about what was to become of them. He surveyed those in attendance. There were numerous politicians, each representing either a major nation of Corinair or a minor world within the Darvano system. There were also several of the most influential industrialists, two Corinari generals, and the chief of civil security for all of Corinair. He was unsure how things would go if matters called for any kind of a vote, but he had little choice. The Aurora and the Karuzari could not defend the Darvano system against two warships without the help of the Corinairans, and the Corinairans were practically helpless without the Aurora.
