by Dietmar Wehr
To Koenig’s surprise, there had not been any sign at all of the Jab fleet by the time Excalibur emerged from hyperspace into the New Shangri-la system. Dejanus has a pre-recorded warning ready to transmit as soon as they were back in normal space. It would take almost nine minutes to reach the fleet, but that would still be faster than the ship acting as a courier. By this time, the ship had accumulated a lot of velocity, and since it was highly unlikely that Admiral Rostov’s 7th Frontier Fleet would end up moving in the same direction as Excalibur now was, slowing down so that the ship could maneuver seemed like a good idea. The astrogation AI was instructed accordingly.
Both Koenig and Dejanus were expecting to get a response from Rostov after a 20-minute delay, and when 25 minutes had passed without any messages, Koenig began to wonder what Rostov was doing. If the fleet was in the process of boosting out of orbit, which it should be doing by now, Dejanus needed to know the fleet’s trajectory so that Excalibur could rendezvous with it. Was it possible that Rostov hadn’t received the message, that a junior officer had taken it upon him or herself to wait to give the admiral the message if the admiral was asleep or in a meeting? Koenig started to get angry. He and the crew had put up with very uncomfortable, even dangerous conditions, in order to give Rostov as much time as possible to prepare for the Jab attack, and that effort now looked as though it was wasted. Just as he was about to suggest to Dejanus that they send another message, they heard the com AI’s voice.
“A message from Admiral Rostov has been received. Replaying now.”
“Rostov to Dejanus. 7th Fleet will withdraw from this system. Rendezvous data to follow. Message ends.”
“Astrogation data has been received and passed on to Astrogation AI,” said the com AI.
“Let’s see the rendezvous trajectory, Astro,” said Dejanus in a deceptively calm voice. Koenig was conflicted. Rostov had taken the strategically rational decision, which would also affect fleet morale negatively. If the Jabs treated the New Shangri-la colonists badly, Rostov might be vilified regardless of how strategically correct his decision was.
The new data appeared on the main display as two trajectories. One curved away from the planet. That would be 7th Fleet. The other was the trajectory that would bring Excalibur to the fleet, travelling in the same direction and at the same velocity. The astro AI then added a dotted line representing the path the fleet would need to take to line up for the first jump to the nearest star leading back to UETO space.
Dejanus frowned as she looked at the new data. “That doesn’t look right. Why isn’t the rendezvous more parallel to the jump vector, Astro?”
“If the jump destination was the Omicron star system, which would be the logical choice, the rendezvous trajectory could and should be more parallel. The data supplied by Admiral Rostov only makes sense if he intends to jump the fleet to the blue giant star designated as Alpha9.” The display zoomed out to show the layout of star systems within 25 light years, which was the distance to the Alpha9 system—with its massive blue sun—from the New Shangri-la system.
“What the hell is he thinking?” said a clearly perturbed Dejanus.
The astro AI must have thought she was asking him and replied. “A successful jump to Alpha9 would shorten the elapsed time to reach the Base at Roark’s Drift by 29.9 hours.”
“But look at the distance!” she said. “Even with a blue giant, that’s one hell of a risky jump. Has anyone successfully made a jump like that, Astro?”
“Not with a target star of that size. A slightly longer jump was made successfully to a super-giant that was 10.3 times more massive than Alpha9’s sun.”
“Which meant the gravity well was ten times wider too,” said Dejanus with disgust. “Damn, this just doesn’t feel right!”
When it was clear that she was finished speaking, Koenig said in a low voice, “We should acknowledge the admiral’s rendezvous order.”
After a few seconds of silence, she turned to look at him. “Yeah, I know we should, but I don’t really feel like acknowledging it, so here’s what we’re going to do. Astro, you will modify our vector to match the admiral’s data. Com, you will wait exactly five and a half minutes from the point when we received the reply before sending the acknowledgement signal. We’ll let the Admiral wonder what we’re thinking during that time. Maybe he’ll get the message that I don’t like this plan at all.”
Koenig wasn’t thrilled with it either.
It took over two hours for Excalibur to slide into her designated slot in the fleet formation. Even as she was doing so, Dejanus opened a com channel to Corregidor, the fleet flagship. Rostov took his time answering her call.
“Rostov here. Make is fast, Commander, I want to begin our turn to line up for the next jump.”
“That’s what I wanted to talk with you about, sir. My understanding of the estimated jump error probability is that it’s unacceptably high, and therefore I’m naturally curious as to why we’re going to attempt a jump that risky.”
When Rostov replied, his tone was borderline condescending. “I guess Excalibur hasn’t gotten the latest astrogational upgrades yet. Corregidor has, and AstroComp is calculating a jump error probability of less than 5%. That puts it into the grey zone where a jump is allowed if there are extenuating circumstances. I’m sure you’d agree that we have that now. If your scouting report is accurate,” he paused for a couple of seconds, “and I’m sure it was, then humans and the Jabs are at war, and that gives me the latitude to take this risk. Was there anything else you wish to bring up at this critical time, Commander?”
Dejanus ignored his implied criticism. “May I suggest that one ship take the risky shortcut to warn Trinity Base while the rest of the fleet takes the usual path back, sir?”
Rostov’s response was immediate. “No, you may not. This discussion is at an end.”
“Signal from FlagAstro of a fleet course change, Commander,” said the astro AI.
Dejanus sighed. “Okay, Astro. Execute the signal.”
The turn took another 21 minutes, and by the time the fleet flagship was beginning its line up of the pre-jump trajectory, the fleet had received a signal from New Shangri-la that a large concentration of unidentified ships was dropping into orbit. The Jab fleet had arrived, and Dejanus’s warning was now confirmed.
With a long, risky jump like this, Dejanus would have expected Corregidor’s astrogational AI to take at least ten minutes to aim the ship as precisely as possible to the distant star’s center. She was therefore surprised and somewhat alarmed when the flagship signaled to the rest of the fleet that they could start to match her trajectory after only half that time.
“Goddammit, what’s the rush?” she said to Koenig who was the only other human on the Bridge. “There’s no possible way the Jab fleet can catch us before we jump, even if we take another hour to do it. Why not take a few extra minutes to get the most accurate trajectory possible?” When it became clear that Koenig had nothing to say, she continued. “Astro, I want you to check the flagship’s alignment with Alpha9 while we match vectors. Let me know if you think the flagship’s vector could be better.” That extra task delayed Excalibur’s alignment, and therefore she became the last ship in the fleet to signal her readiness for the jump.
“Fleet Commander on Tac2, Commander,” said the com AI.
Dejanus switched channels to her Command Pod. “Excalibur Actual speaking,” said Dejanus in the formal form of address that ship COs normally didn’t bother with.
“What’s taking your Astro so long to get aligned, Commander?” Rostov didn’t bother to hide his annoyance.
“Just double-checking the overall jump trajectory, Admiral.” Dejanus thought she heard Rostov swear under his breath, but it could have been her imagination.
“You tell your Astro that if Excalibur isn’t aligned in the next two minutes, I’ll order him replaced and transferred to a cargo hauler. FC out!”
The astro AI managed to get the ship aligned within the deadline to n
o one’s surprise. With all ships in the fleet now aligned perfectly with the flagship and jump velocity attained, the order was given to enter hyperspace.
It was 131.3 hours later when both Koenig and Dejanus were on the Bridge again watching the jump chronometer countdown to the second when the ship should drop back down into normal space. Koenig watched the countdown clock hit zero and then start counting up again. After ten more seconds, Dejanus began shaking her head. She had a horrified expression on her face.
“We’ve missed. That bastard has killed us all.” She took a deep breath before turning to Koenig. “No point in either of us staying on the Bridge now. We may all die from starvation before the ship runs into a random gravity well. If, by some miracle, it happens while we’re still alive, the AIs will tell us. I’m going back to my quarters and getting drunk. I suggest you do the same, Wolfe.”
Chapter Two:
Koenig woke to the persistent sound of a call from one of the Bridge AIs. “XO here. What is it?”
“The ship has dropped back into normal space, Commander,” said the astro AI in a voice so calm that Koenig thought he was still asleep and dreaming.
“What?” In his half-asleep state of mind, he wasn’t quite sure if he had heard what he thought he had heard.
“The jump has ended, XO.”
With the realization of what the AI was saying, Koenig suddenly became fully awake. “Has the CO been notified?”
“An attempt was made to call her, but she is not answering our hails.”
“Keep trying. I’ll be on the Bridge momentarily. Begin scanning for other ships!” As he ran to the Bridge, he realized that he hadn’t asked the AI where they were now. For all he knew, they might have dropped into the home system of the Tong.
He arrived at the Bridge and immediately got settled into the Command Pod. “Any signs of other ships yet?” he asked quickly.
“Not yet,” replied the tactical AI. “Shall I turn on our running lights?”
Koenig almost said yes but realized that giving away their own position might not be the wisest thing if they really were in hostile territory.
“Not yet. Astro! Where the hell are we?”
“Preliminary triangulations of known quasars indicate that this star system is 987 light years from the New Shangri-la star system.”
The answer was so stunning that Koenig’s stomach threatened to heave. He started shaking his head. “Nooo. That can’t be right. We’ve been in hyperspace for 89 days. That’s roughly 16 times longer than the time needed to get to Alpha9, which was 25 light years from the New Shangri-la system, and 16 times 25 is only 408. How can we be more than twice as far away?”
The astro AI hesitated, something that Koenig had never seen before. “I have no explanation for the discrepancy. Spectral analysis of quasars and other marker stars is exact. Their identification has zero margin for error. The triangulation calculations are easily verified. AstroComp has run the computations ten times with the exact same results. It may be that elapsed time on board ship was distorted by previously unsuspected effects of long duration jumps.”
Koenig felt his initial exuberance upon hearing the news of the end of the jump come crashing down into despair. Excalibur’s food supply was not infinite. When it was clear that they had missed Alpha9, Koenig had taken a careful inventory of the available food and calculated that, even with severe rationing, they only had enough to last 233 days more or less: almost eight months. Three months worth had been used up, leaving 144 days worth. It would take far longer than that to make their way back across the intervening 987 light years in a series of small jumps, assuming there were no critical system breakdowns along the way. Excalibur had never gone for eight months without shipyard maintenance. On the face of it, finding a solution to the food problem seemed like an impossible task, but at least they weren’t still lost in hyperspace. He had to focus on the immediate concerns, which were determining if there were any threats in this system and finding the rest of the fleet.
“Have passive sensors detected any ships or EM transmissions?”
“Negative, XO,” said the tactical AI.
Koenig really wanted to tell the AI to turn on the ship’s running lights so that other ships from the fleet could find them, but that was a decision for the CO. “Give me inter-craft, Com.”
“Inter-craft is open, XO,” said the com AI.
“This is the XO.” Koenig heard his voice over the Bridge’s loudspeakers and knew the rest of the ship was hearing him too. “The ship has dropped out of hyperspace. So far, no signs of either the rest of the fleet or of any alien presence. We’ll keep all of you posted on new developments. CO to the Bridge.”
After what seemed like a long pause, Koenig was about to call Dejanus to the Bridge again when he heard her raspy voice over the intercom.
“I missed the first part of your address, XO. Why am I needed on the Bridge?”
Koenig wondered if Dejanus had been drinking again, although that didn’t seem likely as it would have implied a stockpile of liquor far greater than he would have believed existed. Her foggy mental state might just be the result of the food rationing. Everyone was showing signs of both physical and mental sluggishness.
“We’ve dropped out of hyperspace. I’d like to turn on our running lights with your permission.”
“Oh, thank God!” There was a pause, and Koenig waited. “I assume no signs of locals…wait, you already said that. We have to see how many other ships stopped here too, so yes…turn on our lights. You can even go to active scanning if you think it’s safe to do so. I’ll be on the Bridge in…twenty minutes or so. I need a shower.”
Koenig heard the click that told him Dejanus had cut the connection. “Turn on the lights,” he said.
Koenig had some good news for Dejanus when she arrived on the Bridge less than 20 minutes later. She waved him back down when he started to get up from the Command Pod.
“We think we’ve found two other ships, CO. They’re a long way away, almost 13 light minutes, which is why it took so long to see them. We’re sending them comlaser signals, but it’s too soon to expect a reply. This system looks dead. No habitable planets found so far. I’ve ordered Astro to bring us to a dead stop. The sun here is a red giant, and I think we’re close enough already.”
“That’s good, Wolfe. That’s very good. If we’ve found two ships, there are bound to be more, and we’ll need all the help we can get to make it home. This calls for a celebration. I’m suspending the rationing for 24 hours. Why don’t you head to the Galley for some food, and spread the word while you’re at it. I’ll take the con for a bit. Bring me back something; I don’t care what as long as it’s solid food. Now go.”
A half hour had passed by the time Koenig had gotten something to eat, notified all the crew about the lifting of the rationing and picked up two sandwiches for Dejanus. By that time, messages had been received from the two ships, and several more had been detected as well. Koenig was shocked as how spread out those other ships were, but it made sense that even the tiniest deviation from the flagship’s trajectory, something measured out to ten decimal places, would have resulted in separation of up to hundreds of millions of kilometers after a jump that long. The scary part of that thought was that some ships had deviated their flight path so much that they hadn’t hit this star’s gravity well and were still in hyperspace. He said a silent prayer for the poor souls who were in that situation.
With the ship back in normal space, Koenig, as the XO, made sure that the rest of the crew went back to their normal routine and duty shift assignments. Morale was already starting to show improvement. When Dejanus called him back to the Bridge, the first thing she said when he walked in was, “We’ve received a message from Corregidor. Something strange is going on. The message orders all ships to rendezvous with her, and once every ship has been accounted for, all COs are to come over for a face-to-face conference with the Acting Fleet Commander. Does that mean that something has happened to
Rostov? And what’s with the face-to-face? Isn’t a video conference good enough? I don’t like this, Wolfe. The fleet’s in deep enough shit as it is without some kind of change of command, not that I have a lot of respect for Rostov’s judgement, but I don’t know of anyone on Corregidor that I would consider a better candidate as Fleet Commander.”
“I agree. Better the devil we know than the devil we don’t know.”
After another 18 hours, when only 18 out of the 21 ships making the jump had been found and brought back together, the call came out for the COs to come by shuttle to the flagship. All attempts by Dejanus to initiate a video channel with Rostov were refused. With so many shuttles coming over to the flagship, its hangar bay wasn’t big enough to handle them all at the same time, and the first shuttles to arrive had to drop off their CO and then leave the hangar bay to make room for later arrivals. Dejanus was the last to arrive.
