by PJ Strebor
“Captain, all forward weapons on the light carrier are scrap.” Rudi couldn’t keep the elation from his voice, which actually squeaked a little.
Nathan established a secure comm link with Moe. “I know you’re tempted, and to tell the truth, so am I. But engines only. All right.”
“You’ve got to tell me why.”
Nathan sighed. After what they’d both witnessed over the years, the temptation to obliterate the enemy boats may prove to be too great a temptation for his friend.
“There is a deep cover Athenian operative on the light carrier. So if we kill the other boats and not his …”
“It’ll send up a red flare.”
“Right.”
“Shit.” Moe remained silent as she closed with the first badly-damaged attack boat. “All right, but you owe me three E boats and I’m going to call in the debt one day down the track.”
Nathan snorted. “Fair enough.”
He switched back to an open channel.
“Sir, no weapons showing on the first one,” the T/O reported.
“Very well.”
Twenty minutes later, having disabled all three of the E boats, Adroit cleared the Scaren Archipelago and ingressed to hyperspace.
Put a bug on my boat, will you?
CHAPTER 32
Date: 1st September, 326 ASC
Position: Imperial Pruessen Navy base Virtus. Pruessen Empire.
Oscar Draeger exited the lift on the sub-basement level deep beneath the base. Only he had access to this lowest level. The bare, dimly lit area smelled of dust and neglect. As the head of Pruessen Naval Intelligence, he took no chances. Draeger punched the code into his hand-held reader causing a section of the wall to open. After he stepped through it closed behind him. The small room contained only one item. The altar of worship. He knelt before it and waited while his breathing slowed to a pace that a physician would consider near death.
He felt them building within him. His Gods. Although their bodies were hundreds of light- years distant, their minds reached deep within his. Within his mind the room slowly transformed until the Council of Nine stood before him. Although it was a projection into his mind the effect felt no less overpowering. All tall, with long black hair, amber skin and mesmerizing green eyes. All equal to one another, but Chantico spoke first.
“Isaac.”
“Yes, my Lord Chantico. I live to serve.”
“We sense an abnormality in the spiritual ether.”
“And it’s centered on you, Isaac.” Lady Xilonen’s harsh tone tore through his mind like a blade. He fought against the pain but it doubled him over.
“Enough,” Chantico snapped. The pain disappeared instantly.
All equal to one but no one disobeyed Chantico. The last God to do so, had perished over two hundred years ago.
“We have not forgotten your service to us over these many years, Isaac, but we are concerned.” As usual Lady Toci became the voice of quiet reason.
“I live to serve, my Gods,” Oscar said. “But I have detected no such disturbance.”
“That’s because you are mortal.” Lord Nagual made a good point.
“May I speak, frankly?” Isaac asked.
“Of course you may,” Lady Toci said.
“My Gods, you say the disturbance in the spiritual ether is centered on me?”
“We all feel it, Isaac,” Lady Toci said. “We are in disagreement as to its exact nature but I believe your young protégé is at the heart of it. Orson.”
“My lady, I have done as you commanded,” Isaac said. “He is still only an associate.”
“In name only,” Lady Xilonen said. This time she restrained herself and the pain was tolerable. “We sense his power growing, a power that disturbs us greatly.”
“As with all of your servants, he lives only to serve,” Isaac said.
“And the aggression and arrogance?”
“I will purge him of those impediments, my Gods.”
“Very well, Isaac,” Lord Chantico said, “we will leave it there for now. There is something that we have all felt in recent times. An even more curious anomaly.”
“Yes, my Lord, I have sensed it too. I believe it to be Nathan Telford. The one we have been watching over the years.”
“We want him, Isaac,” Lady Toci said. “On his knees before us.”
“I live only to serve your glory,” Isaac said.
CHAPTER 33
Date: 1st September, 326 ASC.
Position: Imperial Pruessen Navy base Virtus. Pruessen Empire.
Commodore Oscar Draeger met Orson on the way to his personal transport. His protégé carried a small duffel bag for his mission.
He stopped and looked intently at Orson who stared back with unblinking eyes. Am I making a mistake with this one? Time will tell.
“In orbit above this base is an Associate,” Draeger said. “What ship is he on?”
Orson nodded and closed his eyes. Shortly, his forehead furrowed and sweat dotted his upper lip. He had completed the training but couldn’t locate the Associate fluently. It would come in time but for now required a major effort. Finally he breathed out with a slight moan.
“The transport ship Westensee.” He wiped his upper lip and forehead with the sleeve of his shirt.
“Good. Keep practicing.” Draeger continued to appraise him. He could send an experienced Advocate but wanted to see what Orson could do with a significant challenge. The Commodore sensed his excitement and his burning ambition.
“My personal transport is the fastest craft in Tunguska. Use it to locate him, then let the
E boats do the rest. Ensure that he’s taken alive. If you can take the monitor intact that will be a bonus. All clear?”
“So, he’s that important?”
“Yes.”
“Very well, sir. This Telford is as good as yours.”
CHAPTER 34
Date: 2nd September, 326 ASC.
Position: Planet Northrop, Northern Quarantine Zone.
Status: Stock replenishment.
Moe sighted down the shaft of her bow, lined up the wild pig and fired. The arrow flew true and tore through the pig’s heart. It staggered for a moment before collapsing to the ground.
“Pork chops tonight. Yum,” Petty officer Zameer said around a broad smile.
Moe and Zameer tied the pig’s legs together before sliding the pole between them.
“On three,” Moe said. “One, two, three.”
They grunted as they hoisted the two hundred kilogram beast onto their shoulders. By the time they reached the camp Moe’s shoulder felt numb. She wiped sweat from her eyes.
“We’ve got another one for you, Sanchini,” Moe said.
Petty Officer Sanchini’s usual sour mood had not been improved by being detailed to the landing party. She’d been a butcher’s apprentice in civvy life and was the only one of Adroit’s crew with the experience to skin and dissect the meat professionally.
“Please tell me this is the last one,” she moaned.
“Yep. There’s no more room in the cold storage locker for any more.”
Moe checked in with the supply officer, who scanned the unusual native vegetation picked by his team.
“How’s it looking, Fish?”
“Good,” Lieutenant Keirn said. “I’m detecting nothing out of the norm. Cookie should be able to fashion something out of this without poisoning us.”
“We can only hope.”
Moe touched her right ear as her comm beeped.
***
Nathan paced the briefing room, restlessness eating at him. His damaged hand prevented him from participating on the hunt, forcing him to send Moe. Not that his D-O would let him leave the boat. ‘The Captain’s place is on the boat,’ she’d said on numerous occasions. For two days the landing party had been scouring the planet. Adroit sat above the southern polar region, the magnetic interference providing a fine cloa
k. Deception awaited them at the rendezvous point. His main concern was that at any time an enemy patrol could arrive, forcing him to abandon seven of his crew on the planet, including Moe. He had already lost her once and the thought of it happening again tore at his heart.
He keyed his L-M. “Okuma – Telford.”
“Okuma.”
“How much longer?”
“And hello to you.” Despite his concern Nathan snorted. “A couple of hours and we should be good to go. Hey, I bagged a good-sized pig.”
“Good going. Cookie is torturing that poor deer you got yesterday so the crew will eat well tonight.”
“Just as well. Two days without food wasn’t fun.”
“Yeah.”
Nathan knew he was taking a dreadful chance, but something had to be done since they’d ran out of food. With resupply imminent, the food stocks on Saint Joan had been badly depleted.
“Get back here as quickly as you can. All right?”
“Shall do.”
“Adroit, out.”
Nathan stepped onto the bridge and slumped into his chair.
“Anything to report, Grace?” he asked his D-O.
“Nope, and that’s the way I like it. How much longer?”
“A couple of hours.”
“Good. The sooner we’re out of here the better I’ll feel.”
CHAPTER 35
Date: 2nd September, 326 ASC
Position: The Scaren Archipelago, Northern Quarantine Zone.
Captain Reinhardt strapped into his chair aboard the courier boat. He would join up with another E boat squadron within a half day. Then he would continue the pursuit of Hans and the Athenian warship. That could prove difficult since Hans had obviously discovered the tracking device. He’d been assured that someone would meet him at the rendezvous with the E boat squadron. Someone who could help locate the fleeing enemy vessel.
“That’ll be a good trick,” he murmured. “Perhaps he’s one of Oscar Draeger’s spooks.” No one spoke openly about the Intelligence Special Services Division, not if they wanted to stay healthy. But Oscar’s people had garnered a reputation for doing the impossible. Four years ago one of his spooks talked the Talgarnos into unconditional surrender. A very neat trick, indeed.
His comm beeped. “Reinhardt.”
“We’ve clear the archipelago sir,” the courier boat skipper said, “and will be transiting to hyper momentarily.”
“Good. Best speed to the rendezvous.”
If this spook of Oscar’s was half as good as his rep, Hans would be in for quite a surprise.
CHAPTER 36
Date: 9th September, 326 ASC
Position: Traversing Y space. Pruessen space.
Orson still found it difficult to believe that the courier boat had covered nearly half of northern space in only eight days. He’d passed Midway yesterday and would catch up with the E boat squadron tomorrow.
Y space technology was well beyond his understanding, but it made hyperspace travel seem like a dawdle by comparison. Scientists on both sides of the frontier had been struggling to find a way into Y space for centuries, without success. He had little doubt that the technologically backward Pruessens couldn’t have achieved this massive breakthrough without help from his masters.
Orson had traveled on courier boats before, and found them to be horrid, cramped little boats compared with Draeger’s special boat. Not only did it come equipped with a working Y space generator, but it was decked out in a style befitting someone of Draeger’s rank and position. A good sized bed and ample facilities for long haul assignments.
Orson lay back in his bed and stared at the overhead. “Luxury.”
The mission should be fairly straightforward. He already had a fix on Telford and had set his hounds on the monitor’s scent. No matter what sneaky tricks Telford got up to, he could find nowhere to hide from Orson.
“Perhaps when I bring my masters Telford and the monitor, they will finally reward me.”
Part of Orson doubted that would ever happen. But either way, Telford was his.
CHAPTER 37
Date: 11th September, 326 ASC
Position: Traversing hyperspace. Northern Quarantine Zone.
The boat trembled and hauled over to port before regaining her equilibrium.
Nathan stepped onto the bridge and sat next to his D-O.
“We grazed something in normal space,” Grace said. “Something big, that’s not on the star charts.”
“A rogue asteroid?” Nathan asked.
“Maybe.”
A sense of urgency pulsed through Nathan’s mind.
“Helm, bring us about,” Nathan said. “Full emergency braking. Take us back to the location of that anomaly and egress.”
“Aye, Captain,” Moe said.
Grace shot him a curious look.
“I’m playing a hunch,” he said, by way of explanation.
It took two hours to backtrack to the location of the near disaster, egress and run down the signal.
“She’s within visual range, now,” Willet said from tactical.
“Transfer to my station, Ensign,” Grace said.
Locking onto the image she ran the ship through the database that now included all the stolen intell from the Saint Joan base.
“Jezzzusss, she’s a big brute,” Nathan said.
“She’s the latest addition to the Naval Transport Wing of the Pruessen Navy,” Grace said. “She has a displacement of eleven million tonnes. She’s called the Odenwald.”
“Is she armed?” Nathan asked.
“Forward and stern high yield pulsars plus two forward mounted torpedo launchers.”
A hundred possibilities ran through Nathan’s mind.
“She hasn’t spotted us yet,” Grace said, “but when she does she’ll scream for help.”
“Can you block her signal?” Nathan asked.
“Not from this distance.”
“Helm, hold position, then report to the briefing room.”
A minute later Moe took her seat to Nathan’s left.
“Thoughts?” Nathan said.
Moe and Grace looked at one another and shrugged.
“I’m having a thought,” Nathan said. “The reason we don’t run the blockade is that they could damage us. Take out our hyper generator, or damage our stealth capability. Any damage to the boat would increase the chances of our capture. But, out there is a very large armed transport ship, undoubtedly equipped with a huge boat bay. We could take her, then park Adroit inside her. If we do that we’ll be in good shape to cross the bulk of Pruessen space without hindrance. Now, thoughts?”
“Can we take her?” Grace asked.
“Yeah,” Moe said, “that’s not a problem. Taking her undamaged could be an issue. If we can then your idea has merit.”
“Remember what Admiral Waugh did on Truculent?”
Moe smiled. “Yeah, that could work.”
CHAPTER 38
Date: 11th September, 326 ASC
Position: Northern Quarantine Zone.
Status: Adroit at alert condition one.
Under full stealth mode Adroit closed with Odenwald. She got almost on top of the freighter before they were spotted.
“Her shields just went up,” Rudi reported from the tactical station. “All weapons coming online.”
“Grace, now.”
The alert one alarm throbbed through the boat. Nathan donned his helmet as did the rest of the crew. The final alert one protocol.
“She’s coming about,” Rudi said, “attempting to bring her forward weapons to bear.”
“Moe, go get her,” Nathan said, over the secure channel.
“Why, certainly Stanley,” Moe said from the combat sphere.
Moe swung the boat around in a tight maneuver and locked onto Odenwald’s stern. Adroit bucked as six type thirteen torpedoes sprung from her tubes. They followed the programmed coordinates aroun
d the transport and detonated simultaneously.
“Her shields are weakened but still up, Captain,” Rudi said.
Moe waited until the tubes were reloaded and fired another spread.
“Shields are down, Captain.”
Two more torpedoes streaked from the boat and detonated to either side of Odenwald. A wash of weapons countermeasures discharge washed over her to either side of her sensor array. She would be blind until repairs were made. On his first combat deployment he’d seen the legendary Admiral Waugh employ the same tactics.
“Marines, you have a go,” Nathan said.
“Aye, Captain, we’re departing now,” Lieutenant Noffke said.
Two landing boats, each containing ten combat droids and a marine, swung wide of the enemy’s stern pulsars and approached her port and starboard airlocks. Odenwald began coming about until Moe raked her port side with non-focused pulse fire. Not enough to damage her but enough to warn her off.
The landing boats docked with the transport. The boat’s pilots would use their universal tumblers to unscramble the locking code of the enemy’s outer hatch.
If Odenwald is fitted with an energy dampener, this will be a disaster.
Oddly, Nathan sensed no such threat from the enemy vessel.
“Noffke aboard, Captain,” the marine officer reported.
“Sinnott aboard, Captain,” the marine NCO said.
Two marines and twenty battle ‘droids against whatever awaited them. This might be a transport, but it was a military transport. They would have to have armed personnel aboard. A repel boarders party at least.
Nathan followed their progress on his readouts. To each side of the ship twelve gray signals indicated the ‘droids, and one green for each of the marines.
“Rudi, do you see any sign of armed personnel aboard Odenwald?”
