by Peter Kenson
"Excuse me, sir." One of the junior Comms Officers came up and saluted. "A signal came in for Grey Wolf as soon as we reopened the comms links. You can take it on that terminal over there, sir."
Grey Wolf nodded his thanks and walked over to the terminal. He tapped in his identification code and placed his palm against the sensor for verification. After a brief delay, the screen cleared and the message flashed up.
"To: Grey Wolf. From: Alpha Leader. Alpha 1 in position and waiting. Alpha 2 due to arrive in six hours. No contact from Beta group yet. Aldebaran shuttle due liftoff in 35 hours."
He cleared the screen and turned away, thinking furiously. The Alpha group would be assembled and ready in time, but where the hell was the Beta group.
"Take a signal," he ordered the Comms Officer. "To: Beta Leader. From: Grey Wolf. Imperative you report status and position, immediately. Repeat, immediately."
The young officer hurried away and he turned back to Captain Siccardes.
"Captain, how much longer will we be manoeuvring out here? I want to get down to the planet's surface."
"Well, strictly speaking, you should wait for the music to stop before you leave the dance, but if you're really in a rush, I can request clearance from Parm Control and have my barge take you straight down if they agree."
"Yes please. Make the necessary arrangements. And keep me in touch while I'm down there. Relay all messages to the Chancellor's Office. Is that understood?"
"Yes, Counsellor."
***
The system of Parm was a simple and uncomplicated one in cosmological terms. There were three planetary masses orbiting a fading red giant that had obviously seen better days. Radiation output from the star had fallen to such an extent that only the innermost planet was habitable and in Galactic terms, the system had only a very limited life span ahead of it.
However, the fact that in a relatively few million years, their sun would finally collapse into itself and turn their entire planetary system into a black hole, did not deter the original colonists of Parm, nor the hundreds of thousands who subsequently followed them there. For in traces on the inner two planets, and in vast deposits on Parm III, they had found Biridium, an essential element in the manufacture of the type of lightweight armour commonly used for spacecraft.
With energy weapons of all types preeminent in deep space naval engagements, it became vital to develop an armour, which, in addition to its normal properties, would dissipate the incoming energy over the whole surface of the ship, rather than let it concentrate on one particular area of the hull. There were many compounds available which were superconductors at the temperatures normally prevailing in deep space, but most of them rapidly lost their superconductivity as the temperature rose even a few degrees. The result was that, the more energy which hit a ship, the less effective its armour became.
Biridium, however, changed all that. Using small amounts of Biridium, armour could be constructed which retained its super- conductivity across temperatures ranging from near absolute zero to well above normal room temperature. Unfortunately, until the discovery of Parm, Biridium was in exceedingly short supply and, even now, Parm is one of only three sources able to supply it in significant quantities.
News of the discovery of Biridium on Parm caused a massive influx of prospectors, miners and mining engineers, all seeking their fortune in the ground. Close on their heels came the traders and entrepreneurs, all seeking their fortune by supplying the prospectors, miners and mining engineers. Certainly, many individual fortunes were made, lost and made again in those early days before the big trading companies moved in and stitched it all up between them.
The situation was stable then for a long time, until, in the midst of the Canine Insurrection, a group of mercenaries took control of the entire planetary system and rebuilt its space defences to a state of virtual impregnability. When the confusion died down, the Trading Houses found that their stranglehold on Parm had been replaced by a different and even tighter grip. The Barons argued loudly and bitterly that the Emperor should send in the Navy and restore trade on normal i.e. their terms. But many of them had compromised themselves badly during the Insurrection and the Emperor was not well disposed towards them. When the announcement came of the discovery of the third source of Biridium, well within Imperial control, the Emperor simply turned his back on Parm and ignored it.
The mercenaries settled down in Parm and elected themselves to the Ruling Council. They were wise enough to take over the Administration intact so that life for the inhabitants of Parm, continued much the same. Trade with the Empire fell right away, of course, but there were plenty of other willing buyers of Biridium, and the economy continued to prosper. Just to keep their hand in, they indulged in a little piracy in the local space lanes, but not so much as to draw the wrath of the Imperial Navy down on their heads.
Secure behind their defence screens and with control of the supply of a strategic mineral, the new rulers of Parm had no pressing need for allies. They received many overtures from the rulers of the neighbouring Systems but rejected them all except Vostov. Even that was a loose alliance. Vostov needed Parm for its Biridium much more than Parm needed Vostov. Nevertheless, each felt a certain kinship to the other, partly because of the similarity in their style of decision making and partly their preference for direct action. Over the years, they combined on several joint ventures which proved profitable to both, and the proposed attack on Serta was the latest of these.
The Chancellor of Parm and Chairman of the Ruling Council was Colonel Dak Hendrick, the grandson of the original mercenary leader, and it was to his office in the main Administration complex, that Wolfram had himself shown as soon as he landed.
"Ah, Counsellor. I was told you had arrived."
"Colonel Hendrick. Thank you for receiving me so promptly."
"Not at all. I appreciate that there is some urgency in your mission. You certainly made good time getting here."
"Yes, indeed Colonel. The Ragnar has quite a turn of speed."
"So I understand. I should like to take a closer look at her, while she is here; if you will permit, of course."
"Certainly, Colonel. We should be honoured. I shall ask the Captain to make the arrangements with your staff."
Wolfram knew full well that Parm had nothing to match the Ragnar and that, rather than just a tour of inspection, the Colonel would dearly love to take over the ship; lock, stock and barrel. He felt reasonably confident that the Colonel would make no overtly provocative move before the operation against Serta was concluded, but he made a mental note to warn Captain Siccardes to be on his guard.
"Thank you, Counsellor. Now before we get down to business, there are some messages waiting for you. You may use my console."
There were two messages for Wolfram. One was from the Beta group leader: they had been delayed on their way to Andes but would still rendezvous with Alpha group in time to catch the Aldebaran shuttle. The second message was much longer and contained a full report of the incident at Floreat spaceport. Wolfram read it through carefully, his face darkening visibly as he did so.
"Not bad news, I trust," enquired Colonel Hendrick, who had been observing his visitor closely.
"Not good news, but not totally unexpected either," Wolfram replied cautiously. "It seems that the Centre has already managed to get one of its top agents onto the Aldebaran. Well, we knew they would try, so that's hardly a surprise. However, one of my people on Floreat recognised this man and, acting on his own initiative, tried to take him out of the game."
"Tried? I take it that means he failed."
Wolfram nodded. "So now, we not only have an agent of the Centre on board but he will have been alerted to the fact that he has been recognised."
"What is the name of this agent?"
"Held. Lord David Held."
"Hmm. I've heard of him. He will cause trouble for you if you're not careful."
"That's why we're using two groups on the Aldebaran. The sole re
sponsibility of Beta group is to neutralise any opposition. I'll send them the details of this Lord David Held, before they board the shuttle."
"And the other group: what's their role?"
"Alpha group has two objectives. Their first and prime objective is to secure the person of the Princess. Their secondary objective is to take control of one of the lifeboat stations and launch the lifeboat so that we can pick them up with the Princess."
"What if anything goes wrong? What's the contingency plan?"
"That's where you come in. If they fail to escape in one of the lifeboats, then their orders are to use the Princess as a hostage and barricade themselves in a cabin until we can get them out. That will require an act of piracy on your part. The Aldebaran will have to be boarded and you will have to take control of the ship."
"That's easy to say. The Aldebaran is several times bigger than anything we've tackled before. She must have a crew of over a thousand."
"Fifteen hundred, actually. But you won't have to deal with them all. Think, man. You've tackled ships like this before. Not so large, maybe, but the principle's the same. Take control of the key points and you've got the ship. Take the bridge, the engine room and the life support control centre: probably you'll only need the life support system. Threaten to cut that off and they'll fold. They'd never get 1000 passengers suited up in time."
"It's still a hell of a risky operation. There'll be casualties. And what's in it for us?"
"The Princess. You know we must have the Princess before we can move against Serta. But if you want a sweetener, think of the strongroom. A liner of that size, with 1000 passengers on board. There must be some tidy pickings there."
Wolfram could see the other man's face brightening as he turned over the possibilities in his mind.
"That's true, of course. And if we should accidentally damage the engine room, then she would be stranded. There's a Salvage Company we sometimes deal with on Quental, who might be persuaded to have a deep space tug in the vicinity. The salvage value of a liner like that, would run into billions.
"I'll get my operations staff to have a look at the possibilities. Do you have the plans of the Aldebaran?"
"They're in the Ragnar's central computers. I'll have them sent down to you."
The communications console on the Chancellor's desk beeped at them urgently, signifying that there was a priority message waiting. Colonel Hendrick strode over to the desk and studied the screen.
"It's for you," he said. "From Vostov."
Wolfram identified himself to the console and the message was displayed on the screen.
"To: Grey Wolf. From: President, Vostov. Priority Red Message Starts Reports coming in of corvette Cleopatra believed despatched to your area from Star Base Runnymede. Mission objective unknown. Sabotage of main weapons systems attempted. Success unknown. Priority Red Message Ends."
Colonel Hendrick, who had been looking over Wolfram's shoulder, pursed his lips and whistled tunelessly.
"Well, that changes the situation somewhat; if the Imperial Navy's involved."
"On the contrary, Colonel, there's no need to change anything. We don't even know for certain that this corvette is heading this way and, if she does show up, the Ragnar can deal with her, leaving you to concentrate on the Aldebaran. The Ragnar is more than a match for any corvette even if her weapons systems are working."
"But if we attack one Navy ship, they'll send a Task Force to the area."
"Maybe, but not in time. If this corvette is coming from Runnymede, she can't possibly reach this area for several days yet. If then, we don't take her out until the last possible moment, the Naval High Command could never respond in time. A large part of the Imperial Navy is occupied in chasing Rigellian shadows. By the time they get any reinforcements to this area, we shall be in Serta, and you will be safe behind your defences again."
"Ok, but if you don't take out the corvette cleanly, then the whole attack is off. I'm not tangling with a Navy ship. Parm's defences are the best, but I'm not about to draw the Imperial Fleet down onto us. The corvette is your responsibility. Agreed?"
"Agreed."
CHAPTER 11
The intercom was buzzing noisily by his left ear. Wearily he rolled over and pushed the stud.
"Captain here."
"Mr. Bennetton's compliments, sir. You wished to be informed when we reached the rendezvous point. Mr. Bennetton says to tell you that there are no other ships on the scanners, sir."
"Thank you. Please inform Mr. Bennetton that I shall be on the bridge directly. And pass the word for the Surgeon to join me there."
Mikael hauled himself out of his bunk and shook his head to try to dispel some of the fuzziness he felt there. After the explosions in the Computer Hall and the Port Laser Turret, he had been on his feet continuously, dealing with the damage and casualty reports, and supervising the jury-rigging of new control systems to replace those damaged by the sabotage.
The Port Laser was a total loss but the Starboard Laser was still operational, even if only under manual control. There was no hope of jury-rigging a new control system there, but the Electronics Officer had teams of technicians working their way systematically through all the other computer systems, replacing boards and other components which had been damaged by the smoke, and putting each system through a series of exhaustive tests as they went.
The main navigation computers had been the first to be restored to full functionality and Mikael had kept the Cleopatra heading for the first rendezvous point at her best operational speed, while the other repairs and tests were carried out.
He glanced across at the wall display. It had only been three hours earlier that Anton had finally ordered him off the bridge and into his bunk, saying that he was medically unfit to command the ship until he had some sleep. He had refused to take anything to help him sleep, for which foresight he was very grateful now. It was hard enough to wake up from a natural sleep: it would be ten times worse if he had been drugged.
He had not realised, when he lay down, that they were so close to the rendezvous point. They must have made good time there: and there had been something else in that last report. What was it that Frank had said? He knew it was something significant but his mind would not clear sufficiently for him to focus on it.
Suddenly he snapped fully awake. There were no other ships on the scanners. That was it! They had beaten the Andromeda to the rendezvous after all. The realisation cheered him so much that he felt happier than at any time since they had left Runnymede. There was a good feeling about the Cleopatra. Saboteurs may have tried to cripple her, but she had a strong heart and she would not let herself be beaten that easily.
He found himself whistling as he decided that a shower and a clean change of clothes was called for under the circumstances. He pressed another button on the intercom.
"Steward. Bring me some coffee in here. And make sure it's hot this time."
***
By the time he reached the bridge, the shower and the coffee had done their work and Mikael felt ready to take on all-comers. He was a young officer in command of a fighting ship and the pride that he felt as he strode onto the bridge through the Captain's entrance from his day cabin, could not have been greater if the Cleopatra had been a battle cruiser.
"Captain on the bridge." The familiar shout went up and his Exec came hurrying across to report.
"All systems green, sir. Still nothing on the scanners."
"Very good, Frank. But let's not be caught napping when the Andromeda does show up. Bring the ship to Action Stations."
"Aye aye, sir. Do you wish to take the ship?"
"Yes, I'll take her. And ask Electronics for an update on the status of the computers."
As the alarm bells rang, Anton, who had been waiting at the side of the bridge, came over to him.
"Well, it looks as though that bit of sleep has done you the power of good."
"Yes thank you, Tony, it did. You were quite right as usual. Mind you, t
he news that we'd beaten the Andromeda here helped too.
"How are your patients coming on?"
"There's only Senior Technician Michaelson left in the sickbay now. All the others have returned to normal duties."
"And Michaelson?"
"Took a piece of shrapnel in the right thigh. I've removed it but he's still a bit weak. It will be a couple of days yet before he'll be fit for duty."
"We were lucky. It could have been much worse," Mikael said, some of his good humour evaporating. "I have still got to send messages to the relatives of the Port Turret crew."
They both knew that he wasn't obliged to send messages of sympathy to the relatives of dead crewmen but, in the short time that he had commanded the Cleopatra, Mikael had taken particular care to talk to each of his men and find out something about them. It was one of the things that endeared him to his men and engendered the strong personal loyalty which the men of his command had shown him on every ship on which he had served.
Frank came over to the Captain's command position. "Ship cleared for action, sir. 2 minutes 35 seconds."
"Thank you, Frank. Carry on."
The Electronics Officer was next. "All Operational computer systems, with the exception of the Laser Fire Control system, have been overhauled and are fully functional. We're working our way through the Maintenance and Admin systems now, sir."
"How much longer till you're finished?"
"Well, once the Operational systems were clean, I took the liberty of standing down half the team. They'd been on the go continuously, sir. Taking turn and turn about now, I reckon it will be another 18 hours before we've finished. I hope that was all right, sir."
Mikael thought for a moment before replying. "Yes, that was the right decision: tired men make mistakes. It's better to have the job done thoroughly. And just to be sure, when you've finished the Admin systems, start again on the Operational ones, but slowly this time. Double check all of your tests. I don't want anything else going bang when we try to use it for real."
