“Much better than expected” said Alex.
Chapter 36. Kiev over Chelora 0930, 12 August
“So there you have it” said Phil after concluding his outline of the plan for the preliminary recon and surveillance phase of operation Bitter Woods. He looked first at LCmd Sheldon Brice and then at LCmd Meg Songa. He had met Sheldon before but not Meg.
Sheldon had always struck him as a solid officer. Not physically because he was really quite lean, though daily workouts in the gym had buffed him up. No, what had impressed Phil the most was his sound judgement and the fact that he didn’t panic. Phil liked that.
Meg was the political appointee but at least she had some combat experience behind her. Phil was prepared to give her the benefit of the doubt for now.
Both junior officers were still taking it all in, pondering the tasks ahead and the ramifications of all the material presented to them in the last half hour.
“Do you have any questions?” asked Phil.
Meg smiled and spoke. “So basically we’re on our own for the first three weeks, which includes six days of transit and then we should link up with the support group. When exactly should we expect the Resolute and how will they communicate with us without disclosing their location?”
“Good questions” responded Phil. “Rihan…”
“We’re not sure when the Resolute will rejoin you because we don’t know what they will find at Qwantum” advised Rihan. “The plan right now is for them to arrive in your AO (area of ops) on the 27th but that may crib or slip. They will send a signal before they warp from Qwantum. It should reach you before they physically arrive and it will have the coordinates for a rendezvous.”
“That will work” said Meg. She still had a puzzled look on her face though.
Sheldon jumped in with his own question. “So until then we divvy up the sleth systems, drop off surveillance probes and sit tight. No contact or engagement whatsoever?”
“That’s right” said Phil.
“What if we see a high value target of opportunity like undefended enemy transports?” added Sheldon.
“Leave them” said Phil forcefully. “If you engage you let the rogan know we are interested in this sector. We want total operational surprise when we launch the main op.”
“OK understood” said Sheldon.
“So do we operate independently until the Resolute arrives?” asked Meg.
“Yes” said Rihan “But if there is a need for coordinated actions then Sheldon will be in charge.”
“Right” said Meg trying hard to hide her disappointment. She wasn’t successful. Sheldon noted it too. He simply nodded his acknowledgement to Rihan.
“And once the Washington arrives with the Support Group Commander Suzuki will be in command till the Resolute arrives” added Rihan. Both frigate commanders nodded back. “Make sure you are fully provisioned prior to departure at 1400. Apart from resup you are now on lockdown. No comms or traffic.”
“Anything else” asked Phil. All he got was a shake of the head from Meg. “OK, good luck to both of you.”
Chapter 37. Dyritka 1340, 12 August
Finally the interminable briefings were over. Aras had begged off the invitation to lunch with the deputy manager. ‘He was not surprised, nor disappointed’ thought Aras. ‘Oh well, it doesn’t matter.’
It had taken him less that ten minutes to setup his comms accounts on the terminal in his new office and there it was the reply from Slaag. He opened it. ‘Need to meet. Discreet location required. Just the two of us. Arriving morning of the 14th.’
Aras was surprised not that Slaag had responded so quickly but that he must have left already without waiting for a response from him. ‘Have I misjudged him?’ he asked himself. ‘Is this a trap?’ He pondered that a bit. ‘No, if it were a trap, he would not have bothered with the message. I’d be dead already. Something’s afoot that I don’t know about…something that has motivated Slaag to take action.’
Aras checked the news headlines. The only thing of note was the report about the Ballin and how they had launched an attack in the Fritwa sector but had been defeated by the 1st Fleet. If the report were true then it would be a long time before the Ballin posed a real threat. ‘Maybe they weren’t beaten. Maybe the 1st Fleet has been destroyed. Most unlikely.’ He couldn’t see anything else to warrant this behaviour. ‘But then it wouldn’t be public knowledge, would it? Mmm…’
He would find out soon enough. What he needed to do right now was find a discreet location. He spent the next fifteen minutes searching for the right location. He reviewed the five options he now had and selected two of them that were within an easy ten minutes of each other. He saved the coordinates of both and transmitted the first to Slaag. He would send the second and abort the first ten minutes prior to their scheduled meeting just as an insurance policy.
Chapter 38. Resolute to Qwantum 1730, 12 August
It had ben anther disappointing day in the battle lab with Chen. Dave knew he could not trust Chen to fight the ship. They would be arriving tomorrow. He had to make the decision now and convey it before they came out of warp. So he asked Charles to his office and closed the door.
When they both sat down Dave said “we need to have a heart to heart Charles. I won’t beat about the bush. I cannot entrust the command of this ship to you in combat. Your ship fighting skills are simply not good enough. Maybe with more practice you will get there but I cannot risk the lives of everyone on this ship nor jeopardise the mission.”
Chen gave a weak smile. “I think we both know that that is unlikely Captain.”
Dave was taken aback by his admission but nonetheless relieved. He was about to say something when Charles continued. “I know my strengths and ship tactics isn’t one of them. However, I am a good shot with a pulse rifle and I want my chance to be blooded. I don’t need to command the force but I would like the opportunity to lead a small group in physical combat. Give me that and I will stay out of your hair.”
Dave was struck by several things. First, this was the most Charles had said at one time since they had met. Second, he boldly confirmed that he was a glory hunter and third, apparently showed no emotion whatsoever towards the prospect of physical combat. It was the latter that concerned Dave the most. Dave was struggling to tag what irked him. ‘It’s his coldness’ he finally realised.
‘It’s not fair on whoever he leads’ thought Dave. ‘But better that than expose the whole crew.’ “All right” said Dave “but you will have to hand over the XO role to Ivan. We can assign you to Special Duties.”
“Agreed” said Charles as he gave another of his weak smiles and extended his hand. Dave reluctantly shook it.
Part 2
Into the Unknown
Into the abyss you go, not knowing what you’ll find
Nor if you have the means to cope let alone prevail
You quell your fears and still your mind
and search for the clue that will unveil
the key to the mystery that confronts you,
the key to the success that eludes you
Chapter 1. Resolute to Qwantum 0520, 13 August
Dave Warner had woken at 0520, ten minutes before the alarm was scheduled to go off. He’d meditated and exercised. At 0610 he entered the officers’ mess. It was empty save for the presence of Cranky Jack, who was only just setting up the servery.
“Sorry Sir” apologise Cranky as he hurried himself to complete his task.
“It’s all right Cranky I’m early.”
“Won’t be a minute Sir. What did you want?”
“Just some juice and cereal today.”
“You should have something more substantial. Don’t you think?”
“Nah” replied Dave and gave Cranky a smile that reassured him.
It was a full ten minutes later before his junior officers began arriving. Seeing their commander about to finish his breakfast, they too hurried to complete theirs. His departure from the Mess only added to th
e pressure.
Dave exited his cabin, after cleaning his teeth and made his way to the elevator. As he passed the officers mess entrance at 0635 he saw bodies moving at speed back to their cabins. “It’s all right Crystal” he said out loud so the others could hear. “You don’t need to rush on my account.”
“Yes Sir” replied Crystal. It had little effect on the pace of her movement or on the others nearby. Dave smiled as he shook his head lightly.
He arrived at the command centre at 0637 a good twenty three minutes ahead of schedule.
“Good morning Sir” said a surprised Val, who had the watch.
“It is, isn’t it?”
“I suppose it is. Everything here is fine, nothing to report and on schedule to exit warp at 0715.”
“Good” said Dave as he took his commander’s seat. He began by scanning the ship’s status. He knew there would be nothing out of the ordinary but it occupied his mind.
A couple of minutes later Crystal came hurrying in. She was scheduled to take over the watch at 0700 and would normally have reported there for the handover at 0655. She got the same report from Val and then took over the watch ten minutes early. She busied herself checking status. Every few seconds she would look at Dave in an attempt to scrutinise why he was here early. She knew it was not his usual form.
Dave noticed and smiled. “You didn’t need to hurry on my account Crystal.”
“No Sir, of course.” She paused for a moment and then added. “If you don’t mind me asking Sir, why are you here early?”
“A bit excited I think.”
“Sir?”
“It’s not every day you get the opportunity to go to a place that no other human has ever seen. Don’t you think?”
“Oh! Yes I suppose. Hadn’t really thought about it that way.”
“I would be surprised if anyone on this ship has had that pleasure.”
“Pleasure?”
“Yes pleasure.”
“We’re going into enemy territory.”
“True. But we’ve done that before.”
Crystal looked genuinely puzzled. “One star system’s like the next.”
“No, don’t agree.” Dave paused. “I remember the first time I got to see the Allurian falls on Simesta. Seventeen kilometres down. Wow!”
There was a real look of wonder on Dave’s face that Crystal had never seen before. It came to her in that moment that she had only known Dave for two and half years and almost all of that time he had been under incredible strain. Yes, she had seen him overjoyed after he fell in love with Rihan. But always he had carried the burden of command in troubled times. Right now he looked as though he didn’t have a care in the world. Despite his age he looked positively boyish at this moment. There was real enthusiasm on display.
She smiled at Dave. “Well maybe we will get lucky here then.”
Dave nodded but he didn’t reply. In his inner eye he was still back on Simesta. Crystal saw the detached look and knew ‘he was off’ in his own thoughts. She left him to it and busied herself with the prep sequence for coming out of warp.
Ivan walked in and sat in the XO’s seat on Dave’s right. That brought Dave out of his thoughts. He turned and smiled at Ivan. “Feels right?” he asked.
Ivan grinned. “Yeah it does.”
Chen came in a few minutes before warp out. Crystal had already completed her pre warp out checks. All the other command staff were seated. There was a palpable stillness. Dave had his eyes closed in contemplation, as was his practice just before warp out. Chen thought it unusual but gave no indication of a reaction. He sat in one of the observer chairs.
Ivan engaged eye contact with him but all he got in return was a slight nod. To Ivan, Chen looked his usual impassive self, unperturbed by the new seating arrangements. For that he was glad. He had feared there would be some ill feeling on Chen’s part. ‘He’s a hard person to read’ thought Ivan.
Dave opened his eyes, looked at the holo display and the counter running down – just over a minute to go. Crystal stood on the floor in front of the holo, hands on hips, ready to go. Her jet black hair was pulled back tight in a long pony tail. Her lean athletic figure was taught like a coiled spring ready to be unwound. Dave nodded and beamed at her. Like a lance it pierced her composure and she found herself smiling back but with a shake of her head.
“All right folks” she said “coming out in 1 minute.” She then went through a well-worn procedure, scanning around the centre at each of the staff beginning with John on battle systems, Chase on ops, Jasmin on comms. They each in turn acknowledged that they were ready with a nod. She ended at Dave who again smiled at her. She shook her head again and even managed a short chuckle. “Engage cloaking. Coming out in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.”
John looked intensely at his display, searching for the enemy threats that he was sure would be there. Even if they were cloaked and couldn’t be detected by enemy electronic scanners they could still be observed by visual scanners. It was imperative they nailed down such threats in the shortest possible time.
“One enemy cap, three frigates and two fighters over Q2” he called out “plus three light shuttles - all around Q2 – as of around four hours ago. Nothing out here right now.”
“Lots of traffic on Q2 and I mean lots” said Jasmin. With an air of confidence she added “I would lay odds there’s some sort of military operation going on. Oh!” and she paused while she checked her workstation. “There is one broadcast from out here.” She worked at the controls and then announced. It looks like it is emanating from this object.” She activated its icon on the holo display and highlighted it. “Looks like it’s heading, very slowly, towards the gas giant Q4. Whatever it is it’s not big. Can you confirm that John?”
“Yes, very small like a sat.”
Crystal turned to Chase “what about the gravity?”
Chase who had been tasked to analyse the gravity fields responded “There is definitely an increase in gravity from Q4.” He checked the original report from the Phantom. “It’s even stronger than they reported.”
Dave chimed in with his own question “Are we still able to warp from out here?”
“I’m pretty sure we are but I’ll ask Gunter to confirm” replied Chase.
“Do that now, please.”
“Guess what?” asked Jasmin in an excited voice “That sat is broadcasting a recording on multiple channels. Some of these are being jammed but it appears to be frequency hopping. I am still downloading but the first part looks very interesting. On screen now.”
They watched as the image zoomed in on a dot of light moving across what looked like a planet. As it zoomed in they realised it was a ship. It followed the ship on its path around the planet. But then it became obvious that there was a much bigger planet ahead.
“I bet that’s Q4” said Ivan “and this is one of the moons.” Dave nodded but kept his gaze fixed on the recording. The ship accelerated and then seemed to launch a missile. The recording tracked the missile as it headed to Q4. It disappeared into the gas giant. The recording stayed fixed on the point of entry. The time counter was ticking over at an accelerated rate. Then it slowed. There was a brief pulse of light and then the video feed cut. A few seconds later there was another. This time it had focussed back on the ship, which had now banked sharply away from Q4. The recording zoomed in and overlayed on it was a radar signature along with some text.
“That’s in rogan” said Jasmin. “I’ll get onto it.”
As the recording continued to zoom in John announced “I bet that’s a rogan frigate.”
“No a corvette more likely” contested Crystal.
At that moment the recording stopped. All eyes turned to Jasmin. She kept them waiting for a minute. “OK, definitely rogan. On screen now.” She then used her controls to zoom in on the frame she had displayed on the big central screen above the holo. “That bit is the date and time. Just before midnight on the 23rd of July this year. This bit is the location. Qwantum system, Q4. An
d this bit” she added triumphantly “says that the digital signature is of the IRS Fustus.” She looked up looking very pleased with herself.
“That is incriminating evidence if ever I’ve seen it” announced Crystal.
“Yes but why haven’t the rogan ships put that sat out of commission?” asked Ivan.
“Because it’s too close to Q4” answered Chase. “Here, take a look at this.” He manipulated his controls and the holo displayed a light blue transparent sphere around Q4. The sphere was bent out of shape at each pole and became more and more opaque the closer it got to Q4. “That’s the gravity field and this…” he said as he hit another control “is the point of no return.” A much smaller, dark blue, sphere now appeared. Here’s our sat, it will soon be within the danger zone and getting sucked in closer all the time. It will eventually be snuffed out.”
“Moreover, check this out” added Chase. “Here’s Q3‘s orbit from the charts and look at its current position.”
The orbit from the charts was drawn in a clear red line which should have gone through the centre of Q3. But it was now instead going through its outer edge.
“It’s being pulled towards Q4” said John in a quiet manner.
“What’s the rate of variation?” asked Ivan. “Is it accelerating?”
“We’ll need more readings over time to determine that” said Chase. “But it doesn’t look good even if it stays the same. This will have a knock on effect to Q2. Their days of living in the habitable zone are numbered.”
“So the recording, if it’s to be believed, confirms a device was used to bring about this anomaly” said Dave “and that it was most likely initiated by the rogan themselves, probably because there’s some kind of resistance on Q2. Can we can be sure this was a PME?”
“It has the same effects” said Chase.
Audacity (Warner's World Book 5) Page 9
