“But Fleet people aren’t stupid. Before long, crewmembers would begin to wonder why all our recal stops were in uninhabited systems and why they weren’t getting liberty. Even before that, there would be questions about why we hadn’t reprovisioned -- why they still had to eat reconstituted ship’s rations. Sooner or later, probably sooner, we’d be forced to tell them.”
To-Ling frowned. “So what do we tell them, sir?”
“The truth, Commander. Almost all of it.”
“May I have your attention, please?” Kas’ voice reverberated throughout both ships. “I have an important announcement that concerns everyone aboard Vir Rekesh and Starhopper, Fleet and civilian. As you all know, Starhopper has just returned from contacting Empire diplomatic personnel. You also know that it is necessary to negotiate passage for us through the independents.
“But news of our mission has leaked to the media. They, in turn, have spread the word throughout man-settled space. They have also fueled a plague hysteria.
“Now, we know that a cure has been found. If it had not, all of us would be sick by now and most of us would be dead. Unfortunately, the people of the Empire and the independents don’t know it.
“We’re almost ready to begin our run home. Passage has been negotiated. However, due to the excitement over the plague we are not going to be allowed to approach Prime or, indeed, any inhabited system. The course we have been given is roundabout and ends in an uninhabited system near the Empire/Alliance border. Moreover, we will be quarantined when we get there until the authorities are convinced the plague is no threat. So, it’s going to be a long, boring trip.
“Captain Ler-Traken of Starhopper managed to get a promise from a diplomatic Fleet Attaché to try to get us reprovisioned, but I’m not going to lie to you. At the moment most of settled space considers Vir Rekesh and Starhopper to be plague ships. If we try to deviate from our approved course, we might very well be attacked and destroyed by our own Fleet.
“Now that would be bad enough,” he continued, “But there’s more. Our course has been negotiated. That means any competent astrogator can backtrack the course and locate this system -- and us.
“I’m not going to belabor the obvious. We have to get out of this system as quickly as possible. A battle group from the Glory or one of the other independents could be on its way here right now. I’m sure that even you civilians realize that a warship with only a tenth of a crew is not an effective warship.
“So, I’m calling on each of you, civilian or Fleet, enlisted or officer, to do your utmost to get us underway. I have been given an estimate of three to four days to get us ready to boost. We can do better than that. I want to boost in forty-eight hours.”
He flicked off the intercom, then immediately flicked it back on. “I almost forgot to mention something. Most of you know that battle cruisers carry planet-busters. We have two of them aboard. Just in case we have to fight and are overwhelmed, I intend to make certain those weapons do not fall into the wrong hands. Therefore, as soon as we break orbit we will jettison both of them into this system’s sun. No matter what happens to this ship, or us, those planet-busters will not be allowed to threaten our homes and our loved ones. That is all.”
He flicked off the intercom and turned to To-ling. “What do you think?” he asked.
She shrugged. “I think we’d better be on our toes. We might make your forty-eight hours. And most of the crews will be too busy trying to cause any trouble. I would not have expected trouble for at least forty-eight hours anyway. But once we enter Jump, most of them will find themselves with time on their hands. Time to compare notes and begin bitching and egging each other on.”
He nodded. “That’s about the way I figured it. Okay, let’s pass the word to the officers and petty officers to slack off a bit on the discipline and concentrate on getting us under way.”
The previously busy atmosphere aboard Rekesh took on an edge of urgency and became noticeably more frantic. Every officer and petty officer, as well as most of the civilian techs, was exhausted and groggy from lack of sleep, but they made Kas’ forty-eight hour deadline.
The civilian techs were a pleasant surprise. Oh, there was some bitching and a few hysterics that demanded to be immediately returned to Prime but for the most part, once they realized their lives were also at stake they attacked their jobs with frenetic enthusiasm. In addition, they had taken his idea and developed it further. All of Rekesh’s weaponry could now be controlled by the two gunnery officers, assisted by four enlisted Gunners at secondary stations away from the bridge.
Tre Wansung breathed a huge sigh of relief as Vir Rekesh broke orbit and headed for the jump point, Starhopper matching her moves.
Kas suppressed a grin. “I don’t think I’d relax yet, Commander Wansung. We’re still almost two days from the jump point.”
The young Commander flushed, and then grinned. “Yes, sir. It just feels good to finally be under way again. I was beginning to feel like I was on a space station instead of a ship.”
Kas started to snap a retort when he realized that he felt better, too. He contented himself with ordering max boost -- which was not particularly impressive. A ship in space may be weightless, but it is not massless. It was no mean feat to accelerate the ship’s multi-megaton mass at all, much less to accelerate it quickly.
He did permit himself a smile as he ordered the planet-busters launched on their self-destructive orbit into the system’s sun. At least the Fleet would not have to face those monstrosities in the hands of an enemy. Of course, what Pankin or the Emperor might have to say about him throwing away perfectly functional weapons . . . well, he’d deal with that if, no, make that when, they got to their destination.
Kas and To-Ling had double-checked Lieutenant Commander Raskin’s orbital computations. They agreed that the planet-busters should hit the sun’s photosphere an hour and twenty-seven minutes before they jumped.
Given the speed of light and their own no-longer-trivial acceleration away from the sun, that meant they should have a few seconds to see at least the beginning of any effect the bombs might have, but they should escape into jump ahead of any wave fronts generated by them. They hoped.
Once underway Kas sent the crews of both ships to alert stations. From this time on, they would be at alert stations anytime they were not actually in Jump. It wasn’t exactly standard procedure, but then, these were not exactly standard conditions.
Despite their theoretical safety margin, Kas was fidgeting, eyes glued to the countdown timer as the time approached for them to be able to see the effect, if any, of the planet-busters’ impact on the sun.
A shout from the helmsman interrupted his worrying. “Ship emerging! Two . . . Three . . . Six ships, sir!”
Kas cursed and swung to his panel, clicking the controls to forward sensors, rather than aft. There they were, six blips. Two were noticeably larger, and he was unsurprised by the Gunnery Officer’s cry of “Empire pattern warships, sir! Two are destroyers!”
Kas forced himself to remain calm. They were incredibly lucky. Whoever the admiral commanding that flotilla, and whatever his origins, he could not be expecting to find Kas’ ships charging directly toward him at a significant fraction of light speed.
No, he had certainly been expecting to have plenty of time to form his command into an attack formation, then to spend perhaps days looking for Rekesh and Starhopper.
His surmise was confirmed by the ragged formation that was becoming even more disorganized as the ships’ captains detected a half-kilometer-sized ship bearing down on a collision course and keyed emergency maneuvers.
He swung his command chair. “Gunners, fire everything we’ve got. They’re confused, and we’d better keep them that way!”
The hull beneath his feet thrummed as Vir Rekesh erupted in weapon discharges. Heavy lasers, particle beams, and even projectiles slashed out toward the new arrivals. Kas tried to judge the effect, if any, of their fire, but as suddenly as it had begun, the
universe disappeared, and they were in the nothingness of supralight. Kas glared at now-useless sensors. “Damage reports . . .” he began. Then he noticed Con Vertring, the Assistant Operations Officer, speaking urgently into his headphones. Of course. Any officer worth ten minims would be collecting damage reports as soon as they jumped -- or even before.
“Ops,” he continued, “route damage reports and all sensor scans for the last five minutes to my cabin. XO, if you’ll join me, we’ll try to figure out what the Sheol just happened.”
A frosty smile rose to To-Ling’s lips. “Of course, Commodore.” They hurried to the flag cabin.
“The first thing to find out is whether Starhopper made it,” he began. “I hope we had some sensors trained on her!”
To-Ling shook her head. “I doubt it, sir. Almost all our sensors were trained on the sun, so we could observe and record what happened. If anything.”
Kas frowned. “Yah. If anything. Okay, let’s try to piece this thing together. Whoever that was,” he waved an arm vaguely, “His timing couldn’t have been worse from his point of view. Or better, from ours. I . . .” he paused as his earpiece came alive with damage reports.
He breathed a huge sigh of relief. Damage was minimal. Their enemies had managed only scattered, disorganized fire. It appeared that only those who had not waited for orders had opened fire.
Rekesh’s hull had not been breached, but a sensor array had been damaged and a beam projector turret was off-line. The few personnel injuries were due to accident and excitement among the civilians. No one was seriously hurt.
To-Ling was hearing the same reports over her earpiece, and one of her rare smiles testified to her relief.
Kas took a deep breath, released it gustily. “As I was saying,” he began, “we were incredibly lucky. But now, we know for certain we’re being pursued and our course is on record. This trip may end up being the longest pursuit and running fight in spaceflight history.”
To-ling frowned. “I don’t know, Commodore. We need to review those sensor scans.”
Kas nodded. “Of course. We will have to review them second by second. Most important, I want to know whether Starhopper made it. Then, we have to know how much damage, if any, we inflicted on the enemy. The more damage, the longer before they can pursue.”
The small woman nodded, irritated. “Those aren’t the only scans we need to review. Don’t forget about those planet-busters. If we’ve triggered a nova, we may not have to worry about pursuit at all.”
“Damn! I’d forgotten about that.” He smiled. “Somehow, battles seem to drive little details like novas out of my mind.”
The tight-lipped smile surfaced again, and they huddled over the viewers, slowing them until they could be certain they had missed nothing.
Chapter 15
“I’m just not sure about Starhopper.” Kas cursed disgustedly. “If only we’d had even one sensor on her . . .,” He sighed. “There were only a few laser bolts I could trace toward her, and perhaps one missile. We’ll just have to wait until we emerge and see if she’s there.” He slammed his fist on the desk. “I hate being deaf, dumb and blind in Jump!” he complained.
Another of To-Ling’s thin smiles rewarded him. “Hardly an original sentiment, Commodore. I doubt there’s a military commander in known space that hasn’t felt the same way.”
Kas relaxed and grinned. “Yeah. Well, that doesn’t make it any less true. All right,” he continued in a businesslike tone, “It looked to me like we took out one destroyer and possibly one of those corvettes. How about you, Commander?”
She nodded slowly. “I agree about the destroyer, Commodore. I don’t think any of the corvettes was destroyed, but two suffered heavy damage, and I don’t think any of them came through undamaged.”
Kas grinned and nodded. “Well, we were certainly lucky. If we hadn’t been going so fast, they’d have had time to at least get their shields up.”
To-Ling shrugged. “Perhaps. You don’t suppose their admiral happened to be on that destroyer, do you, sir?”
Kas’ grin widened. “Even I wouldn’t count on that much luck.” He sobered. “All right. Now for the big question. How much time did we buy ourselves? How long will it take them to mount a pursuit?”
The small woman frowned. “There are so many variables, I’m afraid even our best estimates will be no more than guesses.”
Kas nodded. “True. But I have to make decisions, and we have to make plans. So, we start with the most pessimistic of our estimates, and then set up contingencies to cover variations. Agreed?”
To-Ling nodded. “Of course, sir.”
“Very well. We agree that we got one of the destroyers. The most pessimistic scenario would be if one of the corvettes was also destroyed ...”
To-Ling frowned “I don’t follow, sir. It seems to me that the most pessimistic scenario would have all of the corvettes survive.”
Kas shook his head. “No. A damaged corvette would slow them down more than a destroyed one. They would have to spend time on damage control, make emergency repairs, rescue and care for wounded, and so on. A destroyed ship means just a quick scan for survivors before continuing with their mission.”
Her brow cleared. “Of course, sir. All right, we have one destroyer and one corvette destroyed. Naturally, we have to assume their admiral is aboard the surviving destroyer.”
Kas nodded. “Now we have to try to decide how badly each ship was damaged.”
She shrugged. “Even being pessimistic, battle cruisers mount heavy weapons, and corvettes are lightly armored. Any hit by one of our weapons certainly caused major damage.”
“True. All right. We have one destroyer and three corvettes remaining. All suffered at least some damage, and we agree that one of the three corvettes is in pretty bad shape. The destroyer took several hard hits, and I think one of our missiles took out several of her weapons emplacements.”
To-Ling’s eyes narrowed as she called up her memory of the encounter scans. “Yes, sir. However, she still has plenty left. And I don’t think her engines were damaged.” She frowned. “I thought I saw a heavy laser hit near her bridge . . . but I wouldn’t want to place any bets on it.”
Kas nodded. “Perhaps. But we’ll assume you were wrong. So, we have a damaged destroyer and three more-heavily-damaged corvettes, with an intact command structure. Anything else?”
To-Ling sniffed. “Yes, sir. The fact they showed up there tells us they knew our location. Which means they probably also know our course.”
Kas nodded again. “Of course. Moreover, since we’re taking the long way around, that also means they will probably be able to catch us, cutting straight across this damned big curve of a course they’ve given us. Sheol, they might even have time to go back to wherever they came from and get fresh ships.”
“I doubt that, sir. Unless they came from somewhere very close, by the time they returned to base, explained, and got everything sorted out to return, turnaround would take months. However, you’re right about them having time to catch up and hit us again. The big question is ‘where?’”
Kas grinned. “Ah! The jackpot question. If you have any psi abilities, Commander, especially in the field of precognition, I’d be glad to hear about it.” She favored him with another of her half-smiles.
As for the effect of the two planet-busters on the system’s sun, the issue was still in doubt. They had realized that if the missiles triggered a nova, the wave front of the explosion would propagate at the speed of light. This meant, of course, that they must be jumping just as the wave front arrived at the jump point. A few seconds too early, and Kas would not be sure the missiles had been destroyed. A few seconds too late, and Rekesh and Starhopper would simply become part of the rapidly expanding ball of incandescent gases.
What they had hoped to record was the last few moments as the missiles encountered the photosphere and the antimatter containment failed. They hoped to record the disturbances that would occur in the seconds, or even mic
roseconds before a possible nova explosion. Kas had theorized that by analyzing their sensor scans and comparing them to scans of past novas, they would know what happened in that system just after their jump.
The results were somewhat disappointing. Though the sensors’ last few moments revealed large solar disturbances, there were distinct differences between their scans and those of past novas. No, Kas decided, they couldn’t count on a stellar cataclysm. This battle would be fought with conventional weapons.
Despite Kas’ preoccupation with unanswered questions, life rapidly changed from the adrenaline-charged pressures of battle to the unending tedium of a ship in Jump.
To keep from dwelling on the unknowable Kas devoted himself to crew problems. On the theory that he should start at the top, he summoned Roi Tremling to his office.
When the man arrived, Kas had him escorted back to his own quarters, demanding he shower, shave and put on a fresh shipsuit before returning.
Returning sullen and glowering, he found both Kas and To-Ling awaiting him. In an apparent rage, Kas thundered at the man for some ten minutes before getting to business.
“Commander To-Ling,” he grated, “I realize that the Wardroom is not my domain. But I cannot believe that the other officers willingly tolerate this officer’s lack of hygiene and manners.”
To-Ling was stone faced. “They don’t, sir. But he is senior to all of them. Even me.”
Kas waved a dismissing hand. “You are President of the officers’ mess. As far as I am concerned, a staff officer’s commissioning date is irrelevant.
“I am specifically giving you permission to deny this officer entry to the wardroom if you consider him unfit to associate with Fleet officers. You are to permit him entry only if his hygiene is satisfactory. And if his manners offend you, you have my permission to eject him.”
Tremling’s head swiveled from one of them to the other. Suddenly he snorted. “Don’t think I don’t know what’s goin’ on here,” he said in a surly tone. “I don’t have t’put up with this. You’ve got no right . . .”
Death Ship Quest Page 23
