It was unfortunate, he reflected, that his work would be so detectable after the fact. If he had more time, a better plan could be implemented, either by invading the control software itself or by exploiting a variety of people to aggregate the access he needed. Unfortunately, that might not even work. The security of the building was intended to block exactly that kind of invasion most strongly. Cutting the power was almost an amateur move and, by that same token, the brute force approach to defending against it was assumed to be more than sufficient. He also worried about the threat the Karn could pose if they were able to gain control of the Behemoth and return to Lashmere with it. The railgun it mounted was powerful enough to destroy the planet.
That was a risk Cobb was unwilling to allow for one second longer than necessary. He loaded the heavy coil onto a dolly and then into a small delivery truck he’d rented for the next few days under an alias. The subterfuge would be easily discovered by any competent investigator, but that was irrelevant. If he was right, Intelligence would be begging him to return once he’d managed to show them the importance of the information he carried.
The van loaded, he turned his attention to his upcoming appointment with Elise. He didn’t relish the idea of using her, but it was an operational necessity, and he was quite short on options. The small engine sputtered to life, and he drove the short distance to Elise’s apartment.
Elise answered the door and invited him inside. “Hi, Theo. How have you been?”
“Fine, thanks. How have you been?”
“Oh great. I just got promoted. Sensor analyst grade one. They have me in the computer lab, now.”
That was fortuitous news. The computer lab was only one door away from the mainframe. “Congratulations. Keeping an eye on the invaders in Karn, I suppose?”
“You know better than to ask me that, Theo,” she said with a wink and a smile. She turned and sat on the small sofa in her living room. “Do you want to order in or go out?”
“Oh, I think we should definitely order in.”
“Great,” Elise said brightly.
The two spent an enjoyable evening, mostly talking about the Woduur invasion. Eventually, Cobb made his move.
“Well, it’s late. I think I had better get going. Thanks for taking the time to see me, Elise.”
“Theo,” she said, before looking down for a moment. “You don’t have to go.” She took a small step towards him.
Cobb swept her into his arms and kissed her passionately. Hours later, Cobb sat up next to her in the bed. He had listened to her even breathing for the last ten minutes. He was positive she was sound asleep.
He carefully slid from the bed and gathered his possessions. He also walked into the living room and pulled the security card from her purse. He tucked the card into his pocket and returned to the bedroom. She lay there, peacefully sleeping. Cobb wondered if he would ever truly feel regret for what he was about to do. He hoped he would.
He turned and walked out of the apartment as quietly as possible.
Elise opened her eyes and tapped at the comm sitting on her nightstand. It connected a few seconds later. “He has it. He just left.”
Chapter 11
Stokes watched the main plot update with Victorious’ new position.
“Our first hop is complete, sir,” Bendel said. “Cooldown for next jump is ten minutes.”
“Let me know as soon as we have the Woduur on sensors,” Stokes ordered. He clasped his hands behind his back, fighting the urge to bare his teeth. “Miss Woodard, let’s use this time to work on the simulation for jumping near a red giant star.”
“Aye, sir,” Woodard replied. She started to work on her console. The new simulation took only a few minutes to start. “I’ve input the general parameters for a fairly average red giant. The gravitational distortion has to be above a certain threshold to mask a jump ring.” She worked the simulation for a moment, and a green band appeared around the simulated star. “This ring represents the zone in which our jump rings would be masked from our own sensors.” Another ring, yellow, this time, appeared. “This ring represents my estimate of where the Woduur sensors won’t be able to detect us.”
“It looks good so far, Lieutenant,” Stokes observed.
“It’s about to look bad, sir.” Another ring appeared much deeper and colored red. “This is the ring where our ships can’t survive.”
“What are you basing your assumptions on?”
“Temperature, radiation and gravity,” came the prompt reply.
“So, what we need to do is make the yellow ring bigger than the red ring,” Stokes said.
“Yes, sir.”
Bendel, who had approached the science console to observe, said, “May I make an observation, sir?” When Stokes nodded at him, he continued. “What if we make a sequential jump. One ship at a time, rather than all ships departing at the same time?”
Woodard nodded. “That would reduce the initial energy, but it would take a lot more time for us to make the jump. We have thirty-eight warships, three salvage rings and the stealth corvettes. Each one would have to make a complete transit and give a short buffer on each end for the space-time deformation to be completely over. I estimate we’d need roughly forty minutes for all of the ships to make it through.”
“Well, that’s way too long unless we can get some distance between us and the Woduur. What kind of change are you programming in for distance from them?”
“No real effect. I presume the Woduur are tracking the jumps the same way Captain Kri is doing, sir. I think it’s the safest assumption at this point.”
Stokes nodded. “Fair enough.” He was about to continue when his tactical officer spoke.
“Sir, we have the Woduur on the sensor net. Distance is twenty lightyears. ETA at current speed is four hours. They’ve slowed again.”
“Very well, Lieutenant.” He turned his attention to Woodard. “Keep working on your simulation. Collaborate with Mister Bendel. I want a wide margin of yellow around that simulated star.”
“Aye, sir,” Woodard said, her face settled into an expression of concentration as she focused her attention on the science console.
“What’s our next destination, Exec?” Stokes asked.
“We’re headed vaguely in the direction of Ulef space, moving to galactic south and west of Lashmere.”
“Are we in interstellar comms range of Lashmere?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good. I want to try to get through to Lashmere Command again.”
A few minutes later, Admiral Misato’s sharply featured face appeared. “Admiral Stokes, I’m glad to see you still on the move. What can I do for you?”
“Admiral, we’re working on a strategy to evade our pursuers. I don’t want to say too much, as I’m concerned our conversation may be compromised, but if I can affect an escape, I will reunite with my old exec from Rampart where she is now. Do you understand me, sir?”
A flicker of comprehension flashed in Misato’s eyes. “Understood, Admiral. I agree with and approve of your decision. I’ll let Admiral Coffee know of your intent. I must advise you that an assault against the Woduur has resulted in a sound defeat of our ground forces. We’re trying to regroup near Ollerfield for a second strike, but the Woduur ship is remarkably well defended. I hope you have better success than we’ve had.”
Stokes nodded grimly. “I plan to, sir. Best of luck to everyone there.”
“Thank you. Is there anything else?” Stokes shook his head. “Very well, then. Misato out.” The screen switched back to an exterior view.
Stokes sighed. “Exec, we need to start rotating the crew. We’ve been at battle stations for nearly ten hours. Set port and starboard watch stations to get the crew some time to rest.”
“Aye, sir. If I may, perhaps I should take first watch. With the Woduur so far away, I can comm you if they speed up again.”
Stokes nodded. “Very well, Exec. I’ll take a short rest and relieve you in three hours.”
Bendel nodded, his pale, wispy hair waved slightly with the movement. “Aye, sir. See you in three hours.” Stokes turned and strode from the bridge.
Three hours passed in the blink of an eye. Stokes awoke to the strident sound of the alarm he’d set just before dozing off. He rolled off his bunk and pulled on a clean uniform.
The bridge was exactly as he’d left it, albeit with half the watchstanders relieved for the battle stations rotation.
“What’s our status, Exec?”
Bendel turned to face his commanding officer. “The Woduur still haven’t sped up as far as we can tell. We’ve completed six hops and refueled twice since you went off watch, sir.”
“Good. Pause here and begin repair operations for all ships. We can always pause the operation if we need to evade the Woduur again. Do you have them on long-range sensors?”
“No, sir. We haven’t had them for more than two hours. They seem to have given up on following us. We did pick up another signature that might have been a ship when we arrived.”
“What was it, Exec?” Stokes asked.
“I sent a pair of recon drones to investigate. They should be in the area in another thirty minutes or so, sir.”
“Very well. Put the drone sensor data on the main plot.”
“Aye, sir,” Bendel said.
Lokin said, “Sir I have been considering an idea.”
“Let’s hear it, Mister Lokin.” Stokes was genuinely curious what the weapons officer might have in mind.
“Well, I’ve had a lot of time just to sit and watch the Woduur slowly approaching. I decided to look over the sensor data from the battle in Lashmere.”
Stokes’ heart missed a beat. The memory of seeing so many of his fellow sailors killed was a sharp and painful wound. “What have you found, Lieutenant?” his voice was a touch harsh.
If Lokin noticed, he didn’t give any indication. “Aside from a lot of evidence that Miss Woodard has the right of it with her theory about the Woduur weapon, I also was watching how the Woduur ships reacted to different kinds of damage. I hoped I could find a way of tuning our weapons to have a higher degree of effectiveness against their hulls. I think I have a good tune for the main guns and broadsides that should bring our effectiveness up, hopefully by about fifty percent over what we saw during the battle.”
“That is good news, Lieutenant.” Stokes started to feel a glimmer of hope. If he could just find a way to survive while in range of their weapon, an increase in effectiveness would be exactly what he needed to send the Woduur packing.
“Well, that’s not the good news, sir,” Lokin said.
Stokes suddenly focused on the man’s face. He was grinning from ear to ear. “Is it, then? What else do you have?”
“The Woduur defense is focused almost exclusively on an energy type attack. Look at this, sir.” Lokin brought up a series of images captured from the battle. “This,” he went on, highlighting an area of a Woduur ship that was in the process of being shot by an energy weapon, “is a shot from a main cannon. Most likely from one of the assault cruisers. Now, watch this.” The image advanced slowly, showing the shot refract from the burnished silver skin of the Woduur ship with virtually no damage. “This kind of damage is what we’ve seen from even our most powerful weapons.”
Stokes nodded and said, “Okay, Lieutenant, let’s see what you’ve found, then,” Stokes was growing slightly impatient, and the weapons officer’s dramatic presentation of his findings was not helping his overall mood.
“Ah, yes, sir.” A second image appeared on the screen. “This is an impact from some debris blown off of a different ship. It’s hard to make out because the debris is moving so fast, it must have been blown off one of the ships while it was maneuvering.” The image advanced a few frames, and a huge gouge appeared in the Woduur ship, then a gaping hole in the silver skin of the ring ship. “As you can see, the impact had a remarkable effect. The physical impact caused purely mechanical damage to their ship. I propose we retrofit all of our remaining ships with railguns like the one we put aboard the Behemoth.”
Bendel said, “I reviewed the same sensor readings, sir. I think Mister Lokin is on to something, here, sir.”
“Alright, gentlemen. Work up a retrofit for all ships, and we’ll get it done as we’re able. For now, I want all ships repaired to current spec. We can add new design modifications once we have something more like a safe harbor.”
“Wherever that is,” Bendel said.
Stokes was about to rebuke Bendel’s statement when Woodard said, “Sir, the drones have something.”
“Put it on the main plot, Lieutenant.”
“Aye, sir.” The plot updated and showed a small ship, unlike anything Stokes had seen. The ship was a wide delta with a pair of towers along the long edge. The leading edges were studded with weapons and sensors.
“What is it, Lieutenant?”
“Not sure, sir. I’m running it through the computer, now.” She worked at her console for a moment and then said, “I have a recognized hull configuration from the Alliance database. It’s a group called the Etyrni.” She struggled to form the odd word.
Bendel said, “Sir, I’m getting a comm request.”
“Very well. Run it through the language processor.”
“Aye, sir,” Bendel said.
A few seconds later, the plot showed a very human-like alien. The ears were high on the sides of the skull, and the hairline was quite far back on the being’s forehead. Otherwise, she looked entirely human. She was wearing a brightly colored coat over a blouse that was embroidered in complicated patterns. She also wore a heavy gold chain with a huge glittering red stone hung from it.
“I greet you, honorable warriors of Lashmere. I am Ektezul of the Etyrni Empire, captain of the good ship Juggling Leili. To whom do I have the honor of speaking?”
“Hello, Captain. My name is Admiral Franklin Stokes of the Lashmere Naval Ship Victorious. If I may ask, how do you know of us?”
“We have had the fortune to meet with your Captain Halford Kri of the Lashmere ship Damocles. Do you have time to meet with us for a drink, Admiral Franklin Stokes?”
“A drink?” Stokes asked, uncertain of how to respond to the odd request. “I’m sorry, but I can’t. I must advise you, I am being pursued by a small fleet of hostile ships.”
“And you run from them?” Ektezul’s voice carried a tone of sneering contempt.
“I’m afraid so, Captain. They are Woduur ring ships. I have no defense against them.”
“Why not just offer them a deal? The Woduur always want to make a deal instead of fight. Pathetic merchants. I admit their ships are powerful, but it is always possible to convince them to take something in trade for what they want.”
Stokes was sure his eyes were about to roll from the front of his head. “Pathetic merchants? They’ve been hounding us without remorse since we met them. I intend to find a way to fight them and destroy them.”
Ektezul looked shocked. “Destroy them, Admiral? That may be a poor idea. The Woduur trade with everyone. They only attack if sorely provoked. I must ask, what is it you’ve done to elicit such behavior?”
“Nothing,” Stokes said. What could the Woduur truly be after?
“Oh, I doubt that, Admiral. They’ve told you what they want, surely. Woduur are tricky and will take advantage of you if you’re witless, but they hold to all deals they make. The only true danger they pose is being taken advantage of. I don’t even know why I’m telling you this. Your fleet is made up of their ring ships.”
Stokes stared hard into the image displayed on the plot for long seconds while his mind tried to grapple with what Ektezul had said. “Well, I’m not sure.” He wracked his brain. The past couple of days were a total blur. Then he managed to pluck the memory he needed. “They did tell us they wanted to maintain control of all of their technology.”
“Admiral, are you saying you have unlicensed Woduur technology in your possession?”
Stokes gl
anced at Bendel, who returned a puzzled expression. He looked back at the vaguely feline being on the screen. “Our ancestors left us this technology. It’s ours, no matter what the Woduur say.”
“Don’t equivocate, Admiral,” Ektezul said. “What are the restrictions on build speed? Technology level? Pretty high from the look of your ships.”
“We have no such restrictions that I know of,” Stokes said.
The image shifted rapidly as the other captain leaped from the chair she was sitting on. “None? Impossible! You lie to me, human!” Her voice blared out of the speakers. “No Woduur would release unrestricted manufacturing tech. How did you get it? Did you steal it?” A slow curve appeared on her lips and then she said, “Where did you get it from?”
“I already told you, Captain, we inherited it from our ancestors.” Stokes was starting to get a grasp on the situation, but he still needed more information. “Now, I’m going to ask some questions, Captain. Why would the Woduur just make a deal with us? They’ve murdered thousands of my people. All they seem to want to do is kill my people.”
“That is odd behavior from a Woduur. There’s no value in a corpse. Except maybe for food. It’s not how the Woduur usually operate. Their ring ships are on my sensors now. Why don’t we wait for them to get here and we can make a deal? What do you think?”
“The only reason I’ll be waiting for them is because I’m ready to destroy them.” Stokes heard the anger in his voice.
“You humans are a truly odd lot. I still think you’re lying to me, but I’ll try to accept your words for now. If you’re going to run away again, you’d better get started. Their ships are quite fast.”
Stokes nodded. “It was interesting meeting you, Captain.”
“So it was. If you really do have unrestricted access to their manufacturing technology, meet up with me or one of my people at this system. I’m sending you coordinates now. Ask for me or, if I’m not there, talk to Keltupelek. We’ll make it worth your while to share that tech with us.”
The Battle for Lashmere Page 9
