“Mary, transfer CAS control to the AI now.” For all the danger they suddenly found themselves in, Adam’s voice remained calm and steady. “Primary weapons systems are on-line and at your disposal.”
“Enemy ships are launching missiles at us,” noted Glen. “Multiple warheads detected on motion sensors, coming at us from all directions.” He shook his head with dismay. “Several fighter wings are forming up to follow them. We’ve got enemy targets coming at us from all over the place.”
The hull began trembling around them as Kaufield transmitted the necessary authorization codes that the rail gun crews were waiting for, prompting them to open fire. Rapid fire projectiles rocketed outward from the new gun ports aligned in multiple rows on the dorsal and aft hulls, easily cutting down the incoming missiles. The fighters were another matter, however, with pilots who kept their hot engines at full throttle so that they easily evaded the majority of the Pathfinder’s return fire. The vast majority of the enemy fighters, at least fifty strong, flew in close and opened fire on them. Abruptly, their weapons fire inexplicably disappeared and, mere seconds later, the fighters themselves exploded in a shower of colorful fire bursts as they unexpectedly collided with a powerful, invisible electromagnetic shield.
“Navigation instruments have confirmed planetary orbits in the habitable zone on this side of the sun,” Mary reported calmly, watching the statistics update as rapidly as she read them. “A new map is compiling, along with current data on enemy ship positions.”
“At least we have confirmation that our new shield emitters work,” noted Kaufield, breathing a huge sigh of relief. He watched the motion sensors carefully, noticing a second wave of fighters change course and beat a hasty retreat to a safe distance. Instead, three of the larger, blocky warships turned sharply and moved toward the human starship. There was no attempt to pull close enough to board them this time – instead the larger ships launched another wave of missiles and opened fire with their biggest guns. It was quite clear that their intentions were to destroy the Pathfinder outright – capture was no longer an option. And yet, once again the enemy weapons fire impacted harmlessly against an unseen shield, repelled in a manner that was disquietingly similar to the disintegration of bullets when fired at Adam’s personal defensives. Seated safely behind those defenses, Kaufield smiled with grim satisfaction.
The warships continued their bold charge forward, joined almost immediately by a new wave of fighters, expecting the rail gunners to resume firing on them. But Kaufield was familiar with their tactics, with the strategic moves that he had first observed more than ten years ago. It was quite clear to him that the three vessels, approaching from different directions, intended to absorb the return fire from the Pathfinder’s guns and ram them outright. Surprisingly, the Captain chose to hold the starship steady and motionless, watching the enemy targets come in with his fingers dancing swiftly over the weapons console. He dropped the electromagnetic shield first, a powerful defense yes, but not nearly enough to repel a collision with even one massive warship. Then he activated a second weapons array, one that – up until now – had never been used before. The commanders of the enemy battle cruisers must have felt elation as they closed in rapidly on the enemy vessel, its rail guns still inexplicably silent…
…right up until the moment their ships began to come APART.
It happened to the closest cruiser first. Kaufield’s latest surprise began with a small triangular-shaped corner here and there drifting away from the larger vessel, as though cleanly sliced free by a massive, unseen blade. Then the escort fighters began to fly apart too, many of them and all at once. It was as though an invisible army of swordsmen had suddenly appeared in the midst of the fleet and begun to expertly carve up the ships. As the trio of larger warships continued to shrink their perimeter around the Pathfinder, the destruction increased exponentially. Kaufield nodded with satisfaction as he watched the overhead monitors, where it was blatantly clear that the starship’s new laser array was busily carving up the enemy fleet. The Kuth were of course expecting conventional, projectile-based firepower. Instead they found themselves completely horrified upon realizing that the humans had, at some point, fully harnessed the massive output from the starship’s burning singularity and used it to augment her weaponry.
The CAS drive was cranking out electrical juice like never before, powering dozens of tight-beam lasers that were so thin and so powerful that they literally sliced some of the larger, more persistent warships in half. Bodies and unsecured, internal objects sprayed out into the void of space from suddenly open, stacked decks on warships that were literally cleaved into smaller pieces. Those that weren’t hardest hit took additional damage from follow up hits as Kaufield made certain to target their engine systems and cripple the enemy vessels’ ability to maneuver. Without weapons capability and major loss of power to most of the Kuth ship’s systems, the enemy attack on the Pathfinder faltered once again. Additional warships previously moving into position to join the attack promptly altered course and dropped out of the fight. Other ships from the enemy fleet, however, continued creating a perimeter around the human starship, more and more of them appearing on the motion sensors with each passing second.
“Good God, it’s like shooting ducks in a barrel,” gasped Glen as he watched the clouds of smoldering debris from the fighters and warships on the overhead monitors. “They never had a chance.”
“Which is why we’ve got to get out of here and take fighting out of our narrative,” grunted Kaufield regretfully. “Even so clearly demonstrated, our superior firepower won’t even intimidate most of them… especially the leaders hiding on the ships at the back of the line. They’re protecting their new home this time, a home they spent thousands of years building. I predict they will come at us until they win or lose, regardless of the cost.” He risked a brief glance in Mary’s direction. “How is that map coming, Lieutenant?”
“Thirty seconds,” she replied crisply.
Kaufield tied his personal comm-channel into the AI-program’s communications interface. “Enemy vessels,” he stated brusquely and with grim determination. “You have just seen an example of our offensive and defensive capabilities. None of you will be harmed unless you try to engage us. I strongly recommend that you return to your home planetary or orbital docking facility. Failure to do comply with all demands will be dealt with in the same manner as our recent engagement.”
“Do you think that will work?” Glen wondered out loud.
Kaufield shook his head in response. “No,” he said. “Not yet anyway.”
“Mapping is completed,” said Mary with a relieved smile. “Feel free to begin short-range transit hops.”
Swiveling in his seat, Kaufield immediately began tapping empty spots on his laptop screen, unexpectedly bouncing the Pathfinder back and forth around the battle field in a flurry of quick PTP transit bursts. “We’ve demonstrated what will happen if they fight us… now we have to work to minimize loss of life long enough for Thomas and Adam to complete their work.” In response to his touches, the starship vanished from its current location, only to reappear an instant later somewhere else on the battlefield. Each press of his forefinger to the screen launched the Pathfinder to a brand new destination – the CAS system’s response to the repeated transit requests was mind numbingly swift.
Next on the Captain’s agenda was a lengthy, winding curve that began very low in the plane of the habitable zone and gradually bent upward through the throngs of ships comprising the enemy fleet. Following the course changes set by Kaufield, the Pathfinder executed a rapid-fire series of three dozen transit hops. Missiles in flight that were actively tracking them instantly hesitated upon facing a large starship that appeared and then disappeared almost as quickly as it arrived at each new destination. With no target to follow longer than a brief second or two, the heat seeking missiles foundered, completely ineffective. Some of them acquired new targets and curved back toward friendly vessels, embarrassing th
e Kuth even more as fighter pilots were left with no choice but to shoot them down.
Out in space, the Caucus leadership and all of the military might at its command hesitated, uncertain as to what to do next.
*
Adam and Thomas Roh were both sitting on rolling chairs in the communications center near the three major workstations that allowed direct access to the Pathfinder’s central mainframe. The two brothers were also surrounded by and holding active laptops, studying the data flowing across each screen briefly before shifting their gaze to anything else that beeped or chimed for attention. Behind them, next to the large metal casing of the mainframe, Kra Wonin was calmly speaking firmly but declaratively into a transceiver, warning all Yakiir warships in the system to stay well away from the Pathfinder.
“Let the Kuth do the dirty work for once,” Wonin stated bluntly, using every authorization code that he could possibly remember. “As you have seen, you will die if you try to intervene.” Next to him, Snee Vasten recorded everything that his colleague was saying so that he could replay it on Kuth military channels too. Wherever the Yakiir humans served, the goal was to let them know that they were no longer alone. Noriana Roh was seated next to them, patiently observing the process as she waited for her turn to work.
“Some of the enemy ships must be trying to penetrate the rail gun umbrella,” noted Thomas coolly, reacting to the sudden trembling in the surrounding metal hull. “Testing them is never a good idea. When you get hit by a rail gun, you know you’ve been hit!”
“The AI program has control of our remote unit,” Adam responded with a small smile. “Rail gun perimeter is holding, but if ships continue to try and breach it the gunners will eventually need to reload.”
“Not before we complete our task, I hope.” Thomas watched their course coordinates change repeatedly as the Pathfinder began a rapid series of transit hops, spurred by repeated taps on Kaufield’s touchscreen control. Using his implant link, he signaled Kaufield to pause with the evasive maneuvers for a precious few seconds. “I’m releasing the docking clamps on the supply shuttle and cutting her loose. Her remote control functionality is fully active and I’m firing her thrusters now.”
Outside, the badly damaged supply vessel that had once rammed a Yakiir warship detached cleanly from the starship and leaped forward, her engines accelerating the small craft to full velocity in seconds. The AI program, watching on motion sensors, instantly detected the presence of a new green ‘friendly’ target and immediately issued a directive to several of the forward, ventral rail gunners, ordering a hold even if Kaufield requested that they resume fire. Free and clear, the smaller vessel roared safely out in front of the larger Pathfinder, guided by its remote control systems.
“The supply ship has left our outer defensive perimeter,” Thomas reported to his brother confidently. “Several fighters are shooting at her and she’s taking damage. The automated distress call has been issued.” He studied the latest images from the ship’s navigational telescopes and shook his head. “The number and pattern of ships holding position around the star’s corona has not changed – they have six hundred ships in place, specifically designated to protect it. Everyone else on this side of the sun appears ready to attack.”
“Those commanders stationed around the star’s outer perimeter have no choice,” piped up Kra Wonin. “Their job is to protect it from quashing at any cost.”
“I hadn’t expected there to be so many other ships in addition to those protecting the sun,” Adam countered, studying the action on his own motion sensor readout. “Thomas, we’re ready to launch the Canary probes. I’m going to let you handle the invisible one while the Kuth waste time trying to chase the other five. Don’t release control of the probe to the AI program until we have confirmation from Noah.”
“Affirmative.” Thomas complied with the order, activating a preset sequence designed to launch six of the starship’s valuable Canary probes.
They watched half a dozen additional green targets separate from the center of the motion sensor screen. One of them was also circled in green, a designation that he had chosen to identify the invisible, remote device that would carry out the majority of their attack plan. Shadows and mirrors, distraction and reaction, the hub of their entire strategy centered entirely on confusing the Kuth with the Pathfinder’s presence just long enough to deal them an unexpected defeat. In the background, the mainframe hummed with powerful electronic activity as the artificial intelligence dwelling inside analyzed billions of constantly changing contingencies in seconds. Noriana Roh remained seated there with her own laptop, watching and assisting with on-the-fly analysis.
Adam smiled grimly. “Here’s hoping that your new software, along with my adjustment to the Kuth hardware, works just as well as it did when we tested it last night.”
Kra Wonin had completed transmitting a second round of messages to his Yakiir colleagues, hoping that they would follow his recommendation and remain completely out of the fighting. The Kuth were stunned and surprised by this sudden, unexpected visit to their prized, supposedly secret foothold system. But Wonin knew their Caucus leaders well enough to realize that their instinctive response would be swift and deadly. “What are you going to do?” he asked with understandable interest. “How can you hope to stop them?”
“We’re going to move this solar system,” Adam told him, pausing just briefly to flash Wonin a wry, lopsided smile. “Well, we’re going to move most of it anyway.”
The normally unflappable Wonin snorted loudly. “You’re going to do what?” He looked sharply over Thomas’ shoulder and watched the moving green blips on the motion sensors, two of which flickered unexpectedly and vanished as they succumbed to enemy fire. “You’ll never succeed… they’ve got this system protected with entire fleets of ships. We are one vessel, and they will place even more assets onto the battlefield if needed.”
“Their ships might normally be effective against conventional attacks,” pointed out Thomas with just a trace of sarcasm. “But we are acting in an extremely unconventional manner. In effect, we’re using strategic tactical programming and superior technology to outmaneuver an overabundance of flying blunt objects.”
“It’ll work,” Snee Vasten predicted. “Everything else that these people have done certainly has.”
“Ships that have received the distress signal from the supply ship are now infected with the AI’s program virus,” reported Thomas crisply. “Their communications systems are activating and automatically relaying a copy of that transmission to other ships in the vicinity. Estimated time to entire fleet infection is three minutes, twelve seconds. Vessels guarding the sun are being prioritized to the top of the stack as ordered. Estimated time until each of them is infected is forty-nine seconds.”
The two brothers waited patiently as the seconds continued to tick by, watching the red blips depicting the enemy ships around them circle helplessly at safe distances. The Pathfinder’s location continued to fluctuate, hopping back and forth through a series of multiple transit hops that continued to make the large starship a nearly impossible target. “Kaufield’s got them scared of our new weapons and our ability to transit rapidly across shorter than usual distances,” Adam stated warily, remembering the canister-like devices he had observed mounted atop all of the exterior access hatches. “For cat’s sake Thomas, exactly when did you and Glen have time to perfect lasers?”
Thomas flashed him a wary smile. “The technology has been around for decades. Until the CAS system was perfected, we’ve simply never had a dedicated energy source powerful enough to supply them with the juice they need.” An alert bleeped on the laptop he was holding, signaling him that new telemetry was available. “All ships assigned to protect the sun are now infected with the supply ship’s virus,” he grinned proudly. “They’re broadcasting a beacon on Beta Twelve Niner, an emergency channel that is different and isolated from the other vessels. That should do for your purposes.”
Adam nodded g
rimly in response, his fingers touching the comm-channel. “We have just defined you a perimeter for the force field Noah,” he said, doing his best to contain his excitement. “The center of the energy sphere should be the core of the star. Its outer perimeter should stop exactly ninety kilometers from the inside edge of the transmission source from all those ships surrounding the star… you can track each of them using the Beta Twelve Nine channel.” He waited and watched nervously, the void in his belly telling him that something would go wrong. But nothing did and he heard back from Noah much more quickly than expected.
“Force shield is in place, Adam. You may proceed.”
“Confirmed. I’m transferring control of our remote device to the AI program.” Thomas leaned back in his chair and simply sat there for a moment, stunned. “Nothing can stop us now,” he predicted with awe.
*
“Evacuations are in progress on all worlds with human populations,” announced Noah suddenly, although it was completely unclear as to where he was obtaining his information from. “There have been some confrontations, but the Kuth slave owners are backing off as they realize that they’re quickly losing every fight. Some of them are volunteering information as to where other humans are imprisoned.”
“One of these days I’m going to have to find out more about you,” Kaufield told his alien friend with a shake of his head. “Aside from the technology you’ve shared with us, your people are still a complete mystery.”
“And isn’t it better that way, Captain?” asked Noah with a wink.
“Sometimes I’m not so certain about that.” Kaufield’s attention shifted to Mary. “How is that map coming?” he asked her curiously.
“It’s done,” she told him almost casually. “The virus spread by the supply ship is already beginning to shut down the weapons functions on all ships in this system. Those very same ships inadvertently relayed the virus to various planet based defenses. All enemy weapons systems are powering down.”
The Pathfinder Trilogy Page 75
