"That's all fine, Astra. I'm willing to risk it just this once. And even, to make it personally interesting for you, I'll add another condition: if Corwin ton Ugar really does have a flawless understanding of painting and points out the fake, I promise to give you whatever beautiful evening dress you choose on Unatari and also any jewelry you want to go with it."
Astra started dreaming and smiling, then sighed curtly:
"Unfortunately, I cannot answer you in kind, Prince George. I gave everything I had to the last credit to the creators of the series Jeanne the Star Traveler on Crown Princess Likanna's advice. To be honest, after that I even overspent a bit and went into the negative, buying things on the promise that your Highness would pay. This bet doesn’t look very even to me, so from my side I promise to behave myself in the future as only a true Princess would: irreproachably, nobly and with exceptional dignity."
"You'll turn back into a cold porcelain doll?" I snorted with a grin. "No, thank you. That phase is already over. I'm happier with the joyful, fun girl that you never know what to expect from. The only thing I want for that ethereal beauty is perhaps to be a careless little bird in the little things but understand the importance of truly serious actions."
"Agreed! But where will your Highness find a fake painting to give Corwin?"
I guffawed and answered that I would paint it myself. Astra became immeasurably surprised, but all the same agreed to quickly finish her masterpiece and even put a new canvas on the frame for me, as I had no idea how that was done. I spent no more than fifteen minutes making my creation, half of which was wasted being taught by Astra how to mix paint.
"It's done. I call it 'Delicate flower in the thick of a silent forest'" I pointed to the surface smeared with green paint with just one little dab of pink above the green blotches.
"Your Highness, you never told me that you studied painting," my companion was staring in surprise with wide eyes at the green abstraction. "To be honest, when you asked for help with the paints, I thought you were an amateur."
I laughed joyously in reply:
"I just wanted to trick you a little bit. Of course I studied for many years with very famous modern artists. What else is there to do in the Throne World?" I laughed and, having gotten out my communicator, called a shuttle for Princess Astra. "Just remember the conditions of our bet: you have three hours to talk to the captain, during which time there must not be a single hint out of you to Corwin ton Ugar! Let him show us how competent an expert he really is!"
When Astra set off for the exit with the painting in her hands, I called the captain of One-Eyed Python:
"Captain Corwin ton Ugar, Princess Astra asked my permission to deliver you some surprise she promised. I agreed and didn't even send Phobos with her this time, though I would still like to remind you of my promise."
"I also remember your promise, Crown Prince," he said, slightly tensing up and giving a forced smile. "Your Highness, I place a high value on your trust and as an officer I swear to you that I won’t even lay a finger on your beauty."
* * *
I wasn't able to get any rest. An alarm signal started sounding sharply just as I lied down.
"My Prince! Our observer in the Kej system reported that two minutes ago around thirty small-class Alien ships jumped in our direction."
"What?" I mumbled, trying to make sense of the message from my half-asleep state. "And what of the rest of the Alien ships?"
"They're still in Kej," the officer reassured me.
I took a seat on the bed and looked at the time. I had only been able to sleep for forty minutes, but now that wasn't important in the slightest. The Aliens have gone on the attack! But it's really weird that they only sent small ships and such a small part of their fleet, though they could have sent many more. Why? I felt inside that the fate of my fleet was directly dependent on me finding the right answer to that question. I called Bionica and asked her to bring me some coffee. I started staring at the screen showing a map of the Swarm star systems.
The route the Aliens were taking looked preposterous. Thirty small ships could pose a serious threat to any Imperial fleet except the Perimeter Sector Eight Fleet. We'd chew them up and spit them out without even noticing, and the Aliens probably knew that perfectly well. Why were they sacrificing their ships? What was it that I was not seeing? Why did over one thousand Alien ships stay in Kej?
The other system neighboring the Aysar cluster, Lobj, was empty. The Alien ships did not detect my scout there. I even considered the possibility that my scout and the Alien fleet had crossed paths and not seen one another but, at this point, five hours had gone by. That was how long a warp jump from the Lobj system to the Aysar Cluster took, and the Alien fleet had not yet arrived from there...
Bionica came in with coffee, and I asked the synthetic blonde to get me someone to talk to. I needed a smart conversationalist who could quickly analyze potential strategies and find errors in my thinking. Really, there weren't many who could play that role better than the android girl of incredibly advanced intellect, and in that regard Bionica did not let me down:
"My Prince, how did the Aliens get to Kej, Aysar, Lobj and Khe? Looking at the map, these systems aren't connected to any others under Alien control!"
"Clearly, there are systems under Alien control that the Swarm does not know about, which is why they are not shown on the map. And there are not beacons like we know them in these systems, so our navigators also cannot detect them." I replied, finishing the android’s thought and giving myself a sharp slap to the forehead.
That was it! There were systems not shown on the Iseyek transport network map. The Aliens were figuring out, and were even sure, that their big fleet in Kej was being observed and that my cloakers were informing me of their every move. That's why the Aliens only sent a small group, so I wouldn't consider it dangerous and would move to attack it. But the little flotilla from Kej was just bait – something to keep my ships occupied. And meanwhile, another, much larger group of ships was on its way here from a system unknown to either the Iseyek or humans, and the Aliens were sure their hidden fleet would manage to wipe mine out.
"Bionica, you are a miracle worker!" I pecked the blonde on the cheek and started off quickly back to headquarters. My assistant followed me there. However, in the hall, on our way, I stopped sharply, struck by a sudden thought. "Bionica, does it seem to you that there might be something we're still not taking into account? The Aliens gave our fleet ample time to recharge, though they easily could have started operations earlier."
"Perhaps they were expecting the mined ships to make a bigger impact? Or maybe the damage we did from the bomb attack in Kej was more serious than we thought."
"No, no, it's something else. They could have sent that little group of ships earlier, or even several groups to keep us busy in battle and not let us recharge. But the Aliens didn't do that. They gave us enough time to recharge our ships. In two and a half hours, the fleet will be completely ready for a jump to Lobj, allowing us to wriggle out of their trap once again."
"That means that the Aliens are totally sure that the Sector Eight Fleet will not jump to Lobj," the android girl suggested, and we immediately both looked at one another.
Bionica was the first to open her mouth to make the next logical step, but I cut her off:
"Yes, that can only mean one thing: in the next hour or two, another Alien fleet will come to the Lobj system and cut off our only escape route!"
Fifty minutes went by, and my theory was totally confirmed. A message came in from Ghost-3, in charge of observation in the Lobj star system:
"Crown Prince Georg royl Inoky ton Mesfelle, important information. A very large Alien fleet has arrived to the Lobj system warp beacon! Around three hundred ships: eight Behemoths, up to thirty Sledgehammers and other kinds of cruisers, as well as two hundred fifty destroyers and frigates.”
And that was it. We had fallen into the trap.
* * *
The meeting wa
s chugging along at a fevered pitch. A map of the Aysar Cluster system and all neighboring systems in the transport network was being projected on the whole wall. There were black markers showing us known enemy forces. Orange markers were the Imperial Sector Eight ships, which were split between three systems. Next to the main group of orange dots was a big black question mark and a countdown timer. There was one hour and seventeen minutes before an unknown number of Alien ships would be arriving to the Aysar Cluster.
Admiral Kiro Sabuto was leading the staff officers group, suggesting potential fleet strategies. Opposing them was Admiral Kheraisss Vej with a whole group of Iseyek analysts of all three types and very exotic coloring, who had come to Joan the Fatty on the extreme occasion. The Iseyek were playing the Alien ships, and they were managing to turn the Sector Eight Fleet into ashes time and time again. My two wonderful assistants and I played the role of referees and experts in the tactical game. And what made me especially happy and even surprised is that none of the soldiers expressed the slightest doubt in Nicole Savoia or Bionica's authority or skills. The critical situation that had developed somehow weakened their earlier rank-based objections.
"No, that won't work either," replied Space Lieutenant Nicole Savoia, repudiating yet another of Admiral Kiro Sabuto's ideas. "For Master of Tesse and Bride of Chaos to turn around, accelerate and warp out, you would need no less than two minutes. Even if the fleet comes out as far as possible from the Lobj warp beacon, the Aliens have enough small ships, including the high-speed Meteors. Admiral, our calculations have shown that Meteors are capable of approaching and capturing heavy battleships in less than two minutes. Also, right after coming out of a warp tunnel, our ships' energy reserves will be practically empty. The fleet cannot enter another warp tunnel as usual, even if it is a very short one that doesn’t leave the star system."
Just a second... I came alive and asked Captain Oorast Pohl what would happen to a ship if there wasn’t enough energy for a full warp jump. The military man began smoothing his mustache pensively, before giving a detailed answer:
"If the tunnel was open in the same star system and did not cross paths with any large cosmic obstacles, then the starship would simply come out at a random point in space. If the warp tunnel was connecting two different star systems or passed near stars, planets, their satellites, comets or asteroid belts, the result could be tragic: an object with a high mass would inevitably draw the ships toward it, and they would be destroyed by slamming into the massive obstacle at a high speed."
I sat down at a new spot behind the console and thought it all over again, considering the distribution of forces on the big screen. Then, I requested the attention of the humans and Iseyek gathered:
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I have come to a decision. We really do not know the Aliens' plans. Maybe they don’t know of the Swarm's betrayal and are trying to push our fleet to the Uf system, so they can send their beacon-cloakers after us and prepare a fully-fledged invasion. And maybe they do know about the Swarm’s actions and want to trap our fleet here in the Aysar system and destroy it. In any case, the path through Lobj is the only way to salvation. But defeating the Alien fleet in Lobj with the forces we have now would be extremely difficult. There are too many frigates and destroyers there, and it's best to take them on with stealth bombers. Unfortunately, almost all our cloakers are still in the Kej system. That is why our very first mission is to gather all our ships from Kej and Aysar together for a joint attack. The cloakers need time to get here from Kej and recharge their batteries, so our second mission is to make sure they have that time and not to lose any ships in the meantime. As far as we know, another Alien fleet will be arriving to the Aysar Cluster soon. Of course, we will watch it and maybe even try to clip its wings a bit; in any case, it isn't the priority mission. Preserving our starships for the main battle in Lobj is much more important... If the enemy comes to Aysar with a very large fleet, the Sector Eight Fleet will need some seven hours here in the system to avoid the battle. That is why we need enough spots."
Seeing that they didn't understand the term, I explained it:
"Twenty of our frigates are now turning on the most energy-draining systems like shield restoring modules or main propulsion engines to burn through their reserves. Then they will start making warp jumps to the edge of the Aysar system. They don't have enough energy to set up a fully-fledged warp tunnel, and the starships will start to come out god-knows-where, in random places. The frigates will work overtime to collect those random coordinate sets, by making repeated jumps with insufficient battery power and sending their position to us as they come out. We need a few hundred such spots where the Perimeter Sector Eight Fleet can hide, periodically changing position in the system to hamper the Aliens’ positioning systems. As soon as our ships are ready, the whole fleet will open a warp tunnel simultaneously and leave to the Lobj system. Yes, the enemy there is very strong, but we should manage!"
Everyone stayed silent for some time, digesting my words. The only sound was Bionica, squeaking out clarifications of my plans for the praying mantises. Admiral Kheraisss Vej tilted his head to the side and asked:
"My Princcce, what if the flee-eet Alien from Aysssar alssso to want jump after we to sssyssstem Lobj? Are we not be like, how people say, 'between the rock and hard place?'"
"They won't figure out right away that our fleet even did leave the Aysar star system. For at least a few minutes, it will just look like we jumped off to another set of coordinates. Though, admiral, you are totally right! We'll have to have our bombers leave a couple megatons of fun to keep their fleet entertained. Even if we don't kill any of them, we'll burn out the sensitive radar equipment, so the Aliens will need time to repair before they can even realize we're gone."
Admiral Kheraisss Vej made an imitated bow, then asked a very unexpected and extremely frank question:
"My Princcce, is all posssible for work, your plan. But I, as admiral Iseyek, to have interest in order to underssstand full. Princcce George last battle to use three Safa purposssely and is know trap? Never Princcce is to send Safa. But, when send you, three is fast explosion."
Everyone in the room went silent, somewhat shocked by the frankness of the question. I decided not to obscure the truth and answered honestly:
"Admiral, you passed the Truth Seeker check, so you have a right to know. No matter how regrettable it may be, there are traitors among the captains and officers of our fleet, and their goal is the complete annihilation of the Sector Eight Fleet."
Everyone around gasped in concert, struck by the information. Popori de Cacha appeared next to me, showing that the topic was of utmost importance to him. I, though, continued calmly:
"There are many possible reasons to make a certain person or Iseyek choose to walk the road of treason. One of them, though, is that some captains of your race have received clear orders from the Swarm to act to that precise end. In battle, these ships were to stab us in the back, and that is why I chose precisely them to disarm the trap."
Silence came over the hall, then the admiral spoke:
"Is very justiccce, essspecccially after the bad in Kej. I to understand and accept this choice, Princcce Georg. Though, if is not all traitor killed, I would to suggest to send to Tria, and there we eat. All crew is no to support for traitor-cap-i-tain."
"Very well, Admiral, that's exactly what I'll do. Florianna will give me the full list, and the Iseyek deemed traitors will be sent to the Tria to become food for the hungry landing troops. If there are human traitors, their interrogation and judgment will be carried out by Popori de Cacha and the Truth Seeker. Your mission then, admiral, is to find suitable replacements for the captains and officers that did betray us."
* * *
After it was confirmed that all my fleet's cloakers had successfully made it out of the Kej system together with the scientists rescued from Kej-V, I ordered the Aysar system station mined and the whole fleet to move away from it. I also ordered samples collected from IT, the b
eing that was now taking the place of some of the beacon equipment. If it was a previously unknown species of Alien, and still alive as well, it would no doubt be a valuable trophy, and I would have to take it with me and have it studied.
Also, at the very last moment, an idea came to me not to simply remove the fleet but to check if there were any enemy cloakers around us in advance as well. After all, the less the Aliens knew about our preparations, the higher the chance all our operations would succeed became.
That was why I ordered all fleet ships to imitate acceleration toward the Uf system, supposedly to return to Iseyek territory. I had a basis to suppose that the Aliens really did not know about the, let's say, "complications" in the relationship between Crown Prince Georg royl Inoky and the Swarm. In that case, the enemies would suppose that the Sector Eight Fleet, warned that Alien forces would soon arrive in the Aysar system, was retreating straight to the Uf system. Alien cloakers had already shown their readiness to capture valuable battleships in the past by holding them until the main forces arrive. Why should it be any different this time?
A few minutes later, the two slow battleships started lagging markedly behind the rest of the ships, and I gave an order:
"Surprise-26, prepare for a megaton bomb attack on our battleships!"
As expected, the order gave the captain certain apprehensions:
"Prince Georg, this is the captain of Surprise-26. I request that you provide your identification code and confirm the order to attack allied ships!"
I sent my electronic code to confirm my identity and confirmed the order:
"I repeat, launch a megaton bomb at our battleships. I’ll explain: you won't get through their shields with your bomb, but the explosion could uncover potential cloaked observers. All frigates, attention! Immediately after the blast, if any enemy cloakers show up, capture them in warp disruptor and webs! One minute to action! All ships, cover sensitive equipment, and prepare to stand by in three seconds!
Beyond Death (Perimeter Defense Book #2) Page 17
