“It could have been towed in a double envelope since the hull is sheathed in Dakinium,” the tac officer said.
“I’m assuming a hostile takeover from within,” Gavin said. “And as far as we know, only Space Command has double-envelope capability. If the Denubbewa managed to overcome our people and move the station, it would have to be with the mothership’s original single-envelope propulsion.”
“If we get within ten kilometers, the Neutrino Measurement Sensor would reveal its presence,” the helmsman said.
“If we get within ten kilometers, the enormous size of the station would be obvious by the absence of light from numerous stars,” the tac officer responded.
Gavin sat back in his chair and stared at the large monitor at the front of the bridge. “If we were anywhere within a million kilometers, the absence of light from distant stars would be noticeable.” Now that the Ares had dropped out of double-envelope travel, the image of space on the bow monitor appeared normal, except for the fact that the space station wasn’t where it should be.
“Com, notify the crews assigned to the Scout-Destroyer in the docking cradle and the five CPS-14s in the bays to man their ships. We’re going to commence a search.”
“Aye, Captain,” the com chief said.
“Tac, prepare a search pattern for seven participating ships. We know the station was here twelve days ago, and the maximum speed of a Denubbewa mothership is less than Light-500, so set the maximum search distance to sixteen days’ travel at its maximum speed. We should be able to find it within four days.”
“Aye, Captain.”
“Nav, you have the bridge,” Gavin said as he stood up. “Com, summon the XO to my office.”
“Aye, Captain,” the navigator and the com chief said almost in unison.
~
The doors slid open as soon as Eliza approached the captain’s office a few minutes later.
“Come in, Eliza,” Gavin said as she reached the doors.
“I heard the news, Captain. Are we preparing to search for Grumpy?”
“Yes. It can’t be too far away. It doesn’t have double-envelope travel.”
“It’ll still be difficult to locate. We can pass right by it and never see it. The Neutrino Measurement Sensors are almost useless over ten kilometers, and the navigation computer can only be relied upon to identify a ‘hole’ in space when we’re not traveling faster than light.”
“I know, but what alternative to FTL do we have?”
“None, I guess,” Eliza said.
“We know the maximum speed of that ship and we know it was at this location twelve days ago, so we’re going with the maximum possible range for our search grid.” Gavin took a deep breath and released it slowly before saying, “The station must have been taken over by Denubbewa coming through the CJ Gates. Commander Kalborne would never have taken it upon himself to move the station unless it was in imminent danger.”
“I agree, but if he wasn’t responsible for the move, why hasn’t he left someone behind to point the way to the ship?”
“He may not have been aware we were on our way to assist and needed all his resources inside the station and available. It depends on when they lost access to communications.”
“Or there may not be anyone left to communicate with.”
“That’s a possibility— but not one I’m willing to consider just yet,” Gavin said. “Assemble the commanders of the other six ships that will participate in the search and we’ll brief them on the situation and the search-pattern routes we’ll follow.”
“Yes, sir.”
~ ~ ~
“Not a chance, sir,” the Marine PFC who was functioning as a message runner said to Marine Captain Samuel Lee. “There are too many cyborgs holding the corridor where the Gate room is located, and they have RPGs. We can’t even get close to the room anymore.”
No electronic communications were being used because it was common knowledge that the cyborgs could pick up every word transmitted. Captain Lee was the senior officer in command of all Marine forces and he had set up his command center about a kilometer from the front lines in this part of the space station.
“Have any of the cyborgs progressed beyond RPGs?”
“Negative, sir. Lt. Evaridge believes they can’t bring larger weapons through the Gates.”
“At least not until someone thinks to break them down and then reassemble them once they get here.”
“The L.T. thought we had a chance of recapturing the Gate room when the only weapons the cyborgs had were lasers. But she doesn’t think we can take it now that they have rocket-propelled grenade weapons unless we also get better weapons. And we may not even be able hold the corridor there much longer.”
“At least our forces were able to destroy most of the Gates before the cyborgs got a foothold in those other Gate rooms. The three we’ve surrounded are the only ones still operational. We just have to keep them corralled until more forces arrive.”
“Uh, is there really a chance we’ll be reinforced, sir?”
“I expected reinforcements long before now, so they should arrive at any time. The day we deployed, the Ares was headed in the other direction. I’ve learned they were on their way to the base commanded by Commander Christa Carver.”
“Was that station under attack also, sir?”
“I don’t know. But if the Ares was able to handle the situation there and Captain Gavin received Commander Kalborne’s message, it should be on its way here by now. Marine, grab the pile of MREs you came for and get back to your squad. They need you back there.”
“Yes sir, Captain.”
~ ~ ~
“This situation is insane,” Commander Burl Kalborne, Captain of the Scout-Destroyer Ottawa and temporary administrator of the SC base known as Grumpy, said to his XO. “I can’t even get recent information from Major Lee unless he sends a runner.”
“I understand, sir, and I agree,” Lt. Commander Maria Sanduska said, “but we have no choice. We’ve been told that the cyborgs pick up every single electronic transmission. Outside the ship, no one can even record a message on a viewpad because they might be able to intercept it as it’s being recorded.”
“Thank heaven we can use our CTs aboard ship since the hull is Dakinium-sheathed. I’d be ready to do something drastic if our cranial transducers weren’t usable. Has there been any word from the Ares?”
“No, sir, not yet. And I’m beginning to wonder if there will be.”
“Captain Gavin won’t desert us. He might be as occupied with cyborgs as we are.”
“I wasn’t thinking that he hadn’t tried. I was thinking that maybe the cyborgs have managed to block all transmission signals. We know they’ve managed to prevent us from opening the port’s entrance doors. Perhaps they’ve cut the antenna we need to get the signal outside the mothership’s Dakinium hull.”
“Space Command Base perimeter,” Kalborne said.
“Yes, sir. Outside the Space Command Base perimeter.”
“You might have a point, XO. Any suggestions on how we can we find out if that’s the case?”
“I don’t know, sir. We have no idea if any of the cyborgs managed to escape the containment areas we’ve established. And our engineers can’t wander around looking for where a break might have been made unless they’re accompanied by at least a full squad of Marines.”
“Well, there might be another way.”
“Sir?”
“Send a runner to one of the CPS-16s to inform the captain I want to speak to him.”
“Uh, yes, sir.”
~ ~ ~
The piers and platform area where the four CPS-16s were docked was secured by two squads of Marines, so runners could travel between ships without worry.
The runner sent by Lt. Commander Sanduska had to wait to enter the CPS-16 Alamo until the airlock was opened and he was passed by the Marine guard stationed there. In order to ensure that no CT communications could be overheard by the cyborgs, the airlock doo
r remained closed whenever possible.
The runner hurried to the captain’s office first and knocked. When there was no answer, he proceeded to the bridge. The captain was seated in the command chair.
“Excuse me, sir,” the runner said. “Captain Kalborne requests that you come to his office.”
“Inform him that I’ll be right over, Private.”
“Yes, sir.”
The runner was gone in a flash as Lieutenant Gorcy assigned the helmsman to perform as watch officer in his absence. Although all ships were docked at piers located along the platform, they still observed the regulation that all ships’ bridges must be manned 24/7. When docked, the bridge crew was permitted to talk among themselves and even move around the bridge occasionally.
Lt. Gorcy stopped by his office for a moment to check his appearance, then left the Alamo.
~ ~ ~
“Lt. Gorcy is at the door,” the annunciator in Kalborne’s office said.
“Come,” Kalborne said.
When the doors opened, Gorcy walked to Kalborne’s desk, braced to attention, and said, “Reporting to the captain as ordered, sir.”
“At ease, Gorcy. I’ve got a little mission for you.”
“A mission, sir?”
“Not aboard the station. I want you to leave the immediate vicinity of the station and send a message to the Ares. We should have heard back from them by now. I think the cyborgs might have done some damage to our connection link to the exterior hull antenna arrays. I want you to go outside and send a message, and then wait for a reply. If you can’t raise the Ares, try contacting any ship at the former battle site. There should be a number of vessels still there.”
“The battle site is four days away by communication, sir.”
“Is there a reason you can’t wait outside the station for a reply?”
“Uh, no, sir. I just thought you might want an update sooner.”
“Until you get a reply, there’s not much to report.”
“Yes, sir. Will someone be opening the port doors?”
“The cyborgs have definitely interfered with their operation. You’ll have to go through them.”
“Though them, sir?”
“Using a double envelope.”
“Yes, sir. That’s as I suspected, but I wanted to make sure you didn’t intend for me to make a hole.”
“They’re sheathed in Dakinium, Lieutenant. I doubt if you could make a hole, even with a WOLaR.”
“Yes, sir.”
“That’s all, Lieutenant.”
“Yes, sir.”
Gorcy braced to attention, turned on his heel and left the office, silently cursing himself for looking like a fool in front of Commander Kalborne with his comment about making a hole.
As the door closed behind Gorcy, Kalborne smiled and shook his head once, remembering the times he had looked a bit foolish in front of a commanding officer. His nervousness in the presence of senior officers finally ended when he made commander.
~ ~ ~
When Gorcy returned to the bridge of the Alamo, he immediately made a ship-wide announcement that the Alamo was leaving port within minutes and that the ship should be secured.
All over the ship, crewmen began stowing loose gear as noncoms took head counts of the people in their charge. When all hands were accounted for, that information was reported to the bridge.
“Tac, is the ship secure?” Gorcy asked after confirmation came that all hands were accounted for.
“Aye, Captain. The ship is secure, and the docking ramp has been retracted.”
“Helm, release the docking clamps and back us away from the docking platform.”
The helmsman released the docking clamps that held the ship to the pier and engaged the larboard and bow thrusters just enough to begin moving the ship gently away from the docking pier.
“Backing out of the slip, Captain.”
“As soon as we’re clear, swing us around so the bow points to the port doors.”
“Aye, Captain.”
When the ship was well clear of the pier, he disengaged the larboard thrusters and slightly increased the thrust from the starboard bow thrusters to slowly turn the ship ninety degrees while still backing it away from the platform.
“Sir,” the tac officer said, “the port doors are still closed.”
“I’m aware of that, Tac. We’ll be going through them.”
“Aye, sir,” the tac officer replied nonchalantly.
“We’re clear of all ships and piers, Captain,” the helmsman said after a couple of minutes.
“Very good. Begin building a double envelope, Helm.”
Two minutes later the helmsman said, “Envelope built, Captain.”
“Very good. Take us out, Helm.”
“Departing the station,” the helmsman said.
As the Alamo exited the base, the image on the front monitor, until then a dark and dreary image of the station’s interior hull, was suddenly filled with stars. Gorcy smiled. It was nice to see the stars again.
“Captain, the station is gone,” the tac officer said.
“What do you mean, gone?”
“It was there a few seconds ago, but as soon as we emerged, it disappeared.”
“Helm, what’s our speed?”
“Dead slow, Captain. Basic maneuvering speed used in ports and space stations.”
“Navigation, can you identify the space station?”
“I have an object blocking starlight some distance away.”
“Give the helm a heading to that object.”
“I have it, Captain,” the helmsman said a few moments later.
“Take us there.”
“Aye, Captain.”
With a top speed roughly thirty times that of the space station operating under its own power, the Alamo caught up with the station within seconds.
“It’s the base, Captain,” the tac officer said. “Someone has established an envelope.”
“Navigation, can you determine its course?”
“Aye, Captain. It’s been computed.”
“Send its course and our present position to the com. Com, I’m going to my office. Prepare to send a Priority-One message to the Ares with the new coordinates attached.”
“Aye, Captain.”
~
“Captain Gavin,” Gorcy said after initiating the Priority-One message and identifying himself, “our base has been invaded by cyborgs who entered via the CJ Gate booths. They’ve established a foothold and we’re barely hanging on. We need immediate assistance. The cyborgs have managed to engage the envelope drive so the base is no longer where it was originally parked. Our current coordinates and course are attached to this message. I’ve been ordered to stand by for a reply before returning to the base, no matter how many days that takes. For now, we’re following along as we wait for word from the Ares.
“Lieutenant Gorcy, Captain of the CPS-16 Alamo. Message complete.”
~ ~ ~
Gavin was working in his office when he was alerted to receipt of a Priority-One message. After completing the retinal scan, he listened to the audio-only message received from the Alamo, one of the CPS-16s sent to support the base identified as Grumpy. Gavin immediately contacted the navigator on duty and gave her the coordinate information.
“How long will it take to reach the space station?”
“I’ll have that info for you in— one second, sir.” After entering the information into the computer, the navigator said, “Assuming we’ll be traveling at our maximum speed and the base will also be traveling at its top speed without a course change, we’ll catch them in six hours and twenty-three minutes at Marc-One.”
“Send the course and rendezvous information to the helm console.”
“Aye, sir.”
Next, Gavin contacted his XO, Commander Eliza Carver. She was already on the bridge because it was second watch and she was the watch commander.
“Eliza, I’ve just received a message from one of the CPS-16
ships assigned to Grumpy. The base has been hijacked by cyborgs and the engines have been engaged at maximum power. Our navigator and helm have the new information for a rendezvous. Proceed to that location with all haste. Notify the ships involved in the search to cancel their activity and head to that location as well, continuing on the reported course until we all reach Grumpy. We’ll coordinate our activity when we catch up with the base. That should be in less than seven hours.”
“Aye, Captain.”
“Also, notify Commander Rob Delanci of the Scout-Destroyer Purus that we need all the support he can spare from the battle site. Two CPS-16s are really all that’s needed to watch over those mountains of wreckage. Give him the coordinates we just received and tell him to have the ships contact us when they arrive at that location. Let him know the base is probably moving at roughly Light-500.”
“Aye, Captain.”
“That’s all. Gavin out,” Gavin said and then recorded a vid message to the captain of the Alamo in which he stated they had been searching for the base using the last known coordinates and now expected to reach it within seven hours. He forwarded the message to the com with orders to send it immediately. He then sat back in his chair and thought about the situation.
So far, they had really only fought the Denubbewa in ship-to-ship engagements. Once they learned that the Denubbewa weren’t friendly visitors but rather that they were in G.A. space to conquer it, Space Command had always had the advantage in those encounters. There had been one brief encounter between the G.A. and cyborgs where the action took place aboard a Denubbewa mothership. Space Command engineers and Space Marines had entered a mothership under construction, believing it to be empty. Two engineers violated standing orders and went exploring a few days after entering the ship. Venturing into an area not yet cleared, they awoke a small army of cyborgs in a storage area. Marines were sent in to investigate and briefly exchanged fire with the cyborg soldiers. The Marine lieutenant in command was killed, and the engineers and Marines pulled back and returned to their ships. The taskforce then attacked and destroyed the motherships under construction. Most of the pieces were then dragged to a nearby sun and pushed towards it so gravity would eventually pull in what was left of the Denubbewa vessels and complete the destruction.
The Invasion Begins Page 8
