... and they are us
Page 17
Jer Bentax wasn’t looking either wistful or amazed any more. “What is their fleet strength?”
Zed sighed, wishing he could postpone what he had to say. “We have a battleship, three frigates, several tenders and a host of scouts and fighters. Their fleet is over five hundred ships. The Creednax consider ships our size a destroyer, and a small destroyer at that. Their cruisers are three times our size, and they have four of those available. They also have two of their battleships; monsters four times our size. I’m not even mentioning the dozens of frigates and corvettes and other vessels. A large number of those ships are support units: tugs, supply ships, fueling ships et cetera. At best, they only have about two hundred and fifty fighting ships.” Somebody gave a stunned laugh.
“And we’re going after them for what reason??” It was one of the pale faced squadron commanders.
“Imagine, if you can Lieutenant, a mobile and armed battlestation like QX’an tril Station, supported by a fleet the size of theirs. Can you imagine that there is any force in the universe strong enough to oppose them?” The lieutenant’s mouth was hanging open. “That’s why we have to do what we can, or basically abandon this whole arm of the galaxy to the Creednax. Dramul will be overrun, as will Chamdar, and eventually Earth. The Dramul have been watching the Creednax for millennia. An insectoid arachnid race, Creednax consume worlds, stripping planets of all biological life, along with all useable minerals. All they leave is a dead husk of a world.”
“They will wipe us out on the first pass. How are we ever going to fight them?” A fellow commander had his hand on the young lieutenant’s shoulder, and was talking to him in low rapid whispers.
Zed gave him a sour smile. “I’m still working on that.” He looked around the room. “We need more answers before we can make a valid decision. Answers to questions like, where are they now, what are their weapon and shield capabilities, and how are they deployed?” There was dead silence in the room. “On a lighter note, the Bow-Wave Lounge.” He gave them all what he hoped was a friendly grin. “Located in the edge of the ship, is now open for business. I might remind supervisors to tell your troops not to come to work drunk or hung-over. They will be sent to the Medical Bay to be detoxified, and I can guarantee that the procedure will not be pleasant. Am I correct, doctor?” The grin Helen Sutherland gave him bordered on pure sadism, and Zed shuddered. “Thank you. That answers my question.” Although he knew that Helen Sutherland, the head of his Life Sciences Division, was a warm and compassionate doctor, he also knew that the first few detoxes she performed would be pure agony to the recipients. It would cut down on the amount of drunkenness better than any number of mindless lectures. “Captain Johansen.” He gave Katherine a small bow and all the smile he had left. “Frigate Chesapeake is rearmed and awaiting orders, as is the frigate Constellation. The frigate Constitution is under construction. Departure is up to you.”
“You’re so kind.” Her words were bitter, but her eyes were sympathetic. “Bridge crew to your posts, and as soon as you get there sound departure alarms. We will get under way as soon as the frigate captains return to their vessels.”
The bridge seemed even darker and quieter than normal, despite the fact that there were now three times the number of people, and the majority of the once empty chairs were now filled. Kat reached over and touched Zed’s shoulder, smiling at him gently, then turned to face the forward screen. “Departure angle. Take us out, Lola.”
The screen swung, showing Dramul and its single remaining moon dead astern. “Engaging sub-light drives in three, two, one…” In the space of two heartbeats Dramul dwindled to a speck and was gone.
“View forward, please.” The screen swung showing the familiar black of space.
“Engaging supra-light drive in four, three, two, one…”
CHAPTER 11
The Bonhomme Richard & the kittens:
The first few nights in the Bow-Wave were rowdy affairs, with several small fights and more than one person passed out at the bar. After a dozen detox cases had processed through the sick bay, the amount of overindulging dropped dramatically. Now Zed and Kat sat sipping tea at a small table in front of the fire while the other half dozen couples seemed to disappear in the big, dimly lit room. Recorded strains of a Chamdar quartet playing strange instruments floated in the background. To Zed they sounded hauntingly like Dave Brubeck.
“What’s so special about this QX’an tril Station?” Kat was looking at him seriously, breaking the promise she had made to herself not to bring up work subjects while they were trying to relax. “Don’t all stations have drives?”
“Nope.” Zed stared into his empty tea cup. “Thal’ark Station had the empty space designed in, but the drive technology was never there. QX’an tril Station, on the other hand, is supposed to have the drives, but either they are broken or people have forgotten how to use them.” He looked up into Kat’s green eyes. “Imagine being able to load ten thousand troops into a monster station and putting it into orbit around Earth, landing the troops while the supporting fleet suppresses local resistance.” He saw his First Officer shudder. “My feelings exactly.”
Katherine was silent for a long time, just staring out the window into space. “Do we have any chance at all?”
Zed actually chuckled. “We may, and it’s all thanks to the incompetence of both the Dramul and the Chamdar.” At her look of total incomprehension, he continued. “OK, who were the last people the Creednax fought?” She frowned.
“The patrol the Dramul left to guard the station?”
“Right. So if they meet other human ships, how are they going to assume they will behave?”
Kat’s face lit up. “The same way!”
Zed grinned. “Exactly. So we send a single ship to attack their fleet, a frigate maybe. It fires a few shots at one of the cruisers, and runs like hell. Maybe we could even rig it so that the ship is bleeding air when she leaves. It will make her look an easy target. She limps back, the Creednax cruiser following hot on her tail to where the rest of us are waiting; maybe powered down in an asteroid field. The Creednax show up and we hit them with everything we have. Afterward, we can study the Creednax ship and weapons before we think about engaging them again. If we are very very lucky we might be able to pull the scam off a second time. The third time we sting them they will be sure to charge with everything they have. When they do we will hit them from the rear and try to take out one of their heavies before we run away. If we can damage their fleet enough with hit and run attacks, they may withdraw and leave the station, finding the cost of the battle unacceptable.”
Kat tapped on the teacup with a fingernail, making a soft ringing sound. “It sounds like a good plan, but wasn’t it von Moltke that said "no plan survives contact with the enemy"?”
“You’re right. In that case we go to PLAN B.”
She was smiling now. “And what is PLAN B?”
Zed gave her a lopsided grin. “I have no idea.” In fact he had the beginnings of PLAN B sitting on a back burner in his mind, but the scenario was so grim he didn’t want to tell her; not yet, not while there was still hope.
“Defensive shields up.” Captain Katherine Johansen’s voice was calm and unworried, but still she was taking no chances.
“Shields up, Captain. The computer’s voice came in as a smooth counterpoint. “Exiting supra-light drive in four, three, two, one…” The stars flickered, and in the distance the people on the bridge could see a handful of silver confetti hanging bunched in space; Alina DeThomaso’s construction site. “Engaging maneuvering thrusters, ahead slow.”
“Thank you Lola.”
“You have a call coming in from Captain DeThomaso.”
“Put it on the screen please.”
Alina’s smiling face greeted them. “What are you doing here? Have you called it quits with the Dramul and Chamdar?”
Zed chuckled. “No, Alina, we finished our business there.”
“So soon? I thought that…”
&nb
sp; “It’s been three or four months, Captain. We can go over the details when we all meet. How is the Formidable coming?” The woman’s grin widened and the view on the screen shifted to view the floating warship. A svelte seven hundred fifty meters long compared to the Dawn’s eight hundred and fifty, the Formidable was a sleek deadly killing machine. Black as space, her hull was a flattened bullet shape, flaring only slightly at the aft end to accommodate the radical new drive. No longer did a warship have to shift from sub to supra-light drives. The Formidable could smoothly transition from a crawling ten meters a second to many times the speed of light in a single heartbeat. The black hull, looking more than a little like a shark, was completely free from any bulge or projection. The only break to the unrelieved black was the name Formidable on the side, in dark navy blue. “Holy gods!” Zed whispered in awe. “How far along are you?”
There was a note of pride in the woman’s voice. “Not including the auxiliaries, eighty three percent. The self-repair systems were the hardest, and only came on-line last week.”
Zed frowned. “What’s so hard about creating a bunch of silver basketballs?”
Alina laughed and leaned back in her seat. “That’s so last-millennia Fleet Captain. We use nanites for self-repair on this ship. Microscopic, tens of billions of them are built into the very hull and deck of the ship. Not only can they repair the ship, but they can repair people, if they are injured.”
“I think that we need to talk, Captain DeThomaso. You’ve done an incredible job, but I have one question. Do you happen to have a Chamdar or Dramul frigate hanging around that hasn’t been broken up yet?”
Alina frowned, turning off-screen, and Zed could hear her talking softly. “We only have a single Dramul frigate and half a cruiser left unsalvaged. Why?”
“I need a single operating Dramul or Chamdar frigate.”
“I’ll have the nanites start repairing it right away, however, it’s pretty battered. You and Mike did a thorough job chewing up the Dramul fleet.”
“That we did. Get your nanites going, and then bring your ship aboard. There should be sufficient room in the main hangar. The construction bay is filled with my other frigate and auxiliary craft.”
“As you will, Fleet Captain. It’s good to have you back.”
“It’s good to be back. See you soon.”
“Engines at station keeping, Fleet Captain. The Bonhomme Richard is maneuvering for docking. Shall I assist?”
“Maybe you should. Alina doesn’t have much experience with docking, but be subtle when you ask. Captain DeThomaso has a thin skin.”
“I understand Fleet Captain.”
“Bridge crew dismissed.” Kat sounded relieved, now that they were parked and Lola was handling the docking maneuver.
“Tell me, Lola, are there any more new ship designs that fit the mold of the Formidable?”
There was actually laughter in his mind.
Zed steepled his fingers and stared unseeing into space.
< Yes Zed.>
< Oh, all right. I’ll offer her the olive branch and see what she does.>
< Not at all…>
Alina walked into the conference room, followed by two others: a wide shouldered young man with thick dark hair in a marine cut, her second in command, and a tall dark skinned man with wide shoulders she introduced as Alders Maet, the commander of the Support and Construction Ship, Jeanne d'Arc. Alders was also the boss of the construction crew. Alina remained impassive as Zed introduced the other members of his staff, raising an eyebrow only once as Zed introduced an awed looking Sindiix Tran.
“Allright, Captain. This room is secure. Tell us all about that killer you’ve created out there.”
She gave him a small nod. “The real brains behind the Formidable is Alders, so I’ll turn the explanation of the details over to him.”
The big man began to stand, but Zed waved him to his seat. “The Formidable is a warship like you’ve never seen.” The man’s voice was a deep warm rumble. “Capable of ten times light speed, she can be pushed to eleven in a pinch.” There were a few gasps. “Unlike this beast.” He grinned around him. “The Formidable can be completely cloaked. Impervious to all means of detection, she can slip in and out of any situation at will.”
“If she has engines, she emits heat. What about her heat signature?” Zed was leaning forward, his elbows on the table. Alders frowned.
“I warned you that this wasn’t your usual group of staff meeting officers. These people are sharp.” Mike Flaherty was grinning.
Alders face hardened. “I’m sorry sir, I don’t know, but I damn well will find out.”
Katherine laughed out loud. “Good man. Continue.”
For the next two hours they sat and listened, or gazed at holographic breakdowns of the new warship. Breaking for lunch, Alina had a look of bliss on her face when she entered the oversized dining hall of the Rose of the Dawn.
Thoroughly stuffed, they went back to the conference room where Zed took over, explaining in detail his plan of attack. Two more hours later Alders approached Zed as the dazed staff members, finally exited the room after a full day of work.
Alders looked embarrassed as he began. “I need to ask you a favor, Fleet Captain Yates.”
Zed smiled gently, and looked up into the man’s brown eyes. “My name is Zed.”
“All right, Zed.” Alders Mael attempted a smile in return. “I need to borrow your Hydroponics officer. Hydroponics is a hands-on subject and none of the manuals say much about growing plants. The Formidable also has, in addition to the hydroponics area, a small garden for the enjoyment of the crew. Not much over an acre, we don’t know the first thing about planting a garden, or hydroponics.”
A full acre for a flower garden?? Zed was stunned. In a starship?? “We have four people working in Hydroponics right now. We could probably spare two for a short while. I’ll speak with my Hydroponics Officer.”
Alders smile actually widened. “Thank you sir, Zed.” His smile faded. “By the way, you were right. The Formidable does leave a small, but noticeable heat trail. I’m sorry I didn’t catch it earlier. I’ll see what I can come up with to minimize it.”
Zed slapped the big man’s shoulder. “You didn’t design the Formidable, and forewarned is forearmed. Thank you for telling me.”
Zed caught up with Alina just before she entered the BOQ room she was sharing with Mike Flahe
rty. She stopped and turned when Zed called her name.
“I need to speak with you, alone, before you go back to your ship.”
“Yes?”
Zed gave her a level look. “It’s about my Plan B. How soon will the Formidable be ready for combat?”
The former NASA pilot gave him a hard unreadable gaze. “Two or three weeks for all weapons and defensive systems. Another week for trials. Your request for a frigate set us behind.”
“It couldn’t be helped. Do your trials on the way.” Alina’s jaw tightened. “Don’t get your tail in a knot. Your ship may be the only thing that can save us in the end.” The American woman’s face smoothed. “We’ll talk tomorrow or the next day. In the meantime, after your dinner, have Lola show you the way to the Bow-Wave. It’s a new lounge at the very edge of the ship, and a good place for relaxing.” Zed thought for a moment. “I believe the music of Ray Charles is on the agenda tonight.”
“Ray Charles?” Alina’s dark eyes lit with excitement. “He is a favorite of mine. We will definitely go.”
Zed caught the ‘we’ in the sentence. “I am sure you both will enjoy it.” He gave her a little bow. “This isn’t like the old NASA regime, is it?”
She smiled. “Not hardly.” Looking up, she raised an eyebrow. “Sindiix Tran is an interesting choice for a staff officer, my friend.”
“I thought so too. Katherine isn’t so sure. Sindiix seems to have formed this attachment to me.”
“Ahhh. That could make things… interesting.”
“Tell me about it. I’ll see you later.”