by Ernest Filak
The young officer was too tired to register anything than his duties.
“I like math,” was the only thing he said.
A time for joy and sadness was yet to come. There would still be time to drink to the souls of his friends from King Edward. For the time being the midshipman acted automatically, like a machine. He thanked the bosun for the coffee and returned to his computers.
Bosun Paul Dubchek took a last look around the room and crossed a corridor to get to his kingdom of tracking.
“How is the kid doing?” Buggy asked him.
“He’s in the making,” Dubchek said. “It was a damn beautiful salvo. All four turrets hit the target. Too bad number three got destroyed.”
“But all those guys from King Edward… we were so much more in the luck.”
“J.J., luck has nothing to do with that. We just have a first class skipper, that’s all,” Dubchek expressed his opinion of their supervisor.
“You’re fucking right here,” Buggy agreed. “What do you think the old man is planning? Are we back in the game?”
“You’re from the machine room. You should know better.”
“I’ll tell you something in secret,” J.J. Buggy lowered his voice to a whisper. “Our heart is weakening and we can’t do much with this pile. A subspace flight is quite a feat and our bucket has gone through a lot.”
“The old man knows all that,” Dubchek tried to allay his friend’s fears. “I bet a hundred that he’ll set the course for Trident.”
“I don’t take it. I owe you too much already.” Bosun Buggy caught sight of a second class specialist sitting in the corner in his headphones who was changing the settings of potentiometers. “And what is this one up to?”
Dubchek shrugged his shoulders.
“He thinks he’s found something but the radar doesn’t show anything. There’s some background white noise, maybe local anomalies, I haven’t got a clue what.”
“Shouldn’t you send him away? His watch is over.”
“Maybe that’s his way of decompressing? I don’t really mind and if an officer picks on him, I’ll think of something.”
“Your section, your methods,” Buggy didn’t fully approve of an extra crew member being present. “I wouldn’t really like anybody getting under my feet under the pile dome. Anyway, enough of the chit chat. My watch is about to start. I’m off to make sure they haven’t messed things up.”
“Good luck, J.J.”
“Take care, Paul. Come round for a drink later.”
Paul Dubchek walked up to the specialist who was still fiddling with the dials. He checked the strength of the amplifying signal. The dial was set to the maximum. Even if there was something in the outer space, it was far outside the range of the ship’s detectors. The sailor in headphones suddenly jerked as if something caught his attention. He set the reception beam to selective choice and pressed his headphones to his ears. He smiled and nodded as of his inklings were confirmed. He pressed the record button and waited for the computer to respond.
“Anything?” Bosun Dubchek asked.
Before answering, the specialist collected the printout with the data from all the passive detectors and handed them to the bosun. Mass indicators went three percent beyond the norm for this section of space. The gravitron also pointed to some deviations but they were still within statistical error. In other words, there was no cause for alarm, at least from the point of view of the computer. If this wasn’t the case, alarm signals would already be blasting and signatures of identified units would be flashing all over the screens. But second class specialist Jack Loris had a nose for surprises.
“I think somebody is coming, Bosun.”
“You realize that we have left the subspace exit channel behind us?” the bosun asked. Raising the alarm on the basis of unconfirmed data could lead to an unpleasant conversation with the captain. “This is data from bow detectors.”
The specialist replied looking rather insulted.
“I know,” he said.
Dubchek kept the sailor in uncertainty for a while, but the man didn’t seem to be changing his mind.
“All right,” he sighed. He couldn’t ignore this kind of information. “Give me the interpretation.”
The specialist sent all the data to the main panel and displayed the information.
“The main argument to support the fact that we have visitors is this,” he pointed to four pins on the magnetic map. The whole area was covered in pins but the ones Loris pointed to were a bit longer and the computer flashed them yellow. There were many more yellow or even orange pins everywhere, but they quickly disappeared when the data influx was updated.
“Why these four and not the others?” Bosun asked.
“Because these ones remain there all the time and the other ones are just background.” The specialist connected the four dots with lines. They created the shape of a rhombus.
“Have you checked the distances between them?” Dubchek asked.
“It’s standard approach procedure,” the sailor replied and then allowed himself a joke. “Somebody wants to fuck us, Sir.”
Dubchek double checked the readings. Everything was all right.
“So tell me my good fairy: who is it?”
The sailor zoomed in on the central section. Somewhere deeper in space there should be more units belonging to this team. Of course provided the ships stuck to the rules and used textbook maneuvers of Earth space fleet. The readings didn’t really show anything else at this point, even though the region had heightened interference.
“If I were to make a guess,” Loris suggested, “I would risk saying that on the basis of harmonic research it’s a whole separate team, if not one of the Fleet’s.”
“Which one?”
Every registered unit left a characteristic trace. Phase piles, despite being mass produced, affected their surrounding space in a slightly different way. On the basis of their characteristics it was possible to identify not only the type but also the name of the unit.
“It’s too early to say. They are too far away,” the specialist conceded.
“All right,” the bosun made up his mind. “Go take a shower, freshen up and I’ll see you back here in half an hour.”
“Yes, Sir.” The specialist left.
Dubchek reached into his pocket and took out a chip with programs that were not really legal but had already turned out to be very useful in many situations. HES Judgment had AutoUpdate software. But before the Admiralty approved of anything, a newer version was already quietly circulated. The bosun had a brother who worked in IT for InCorp and shared a thing or two thanks to his contacts. Of course such actions were strictly prohibited. The bosun himself prosecuted his subordinates who broke the rules. There was always the risk of the program getting infected by a virus.
He pushed the chip into a cache slot and activated the catalogue with a touch. He chose zoom from the menu and analyzed the area with anomalies once again. It took him less than a minute to confirm his earlier assumptions.
He immediately reported to the command center.
☼☼☼
HES Judgment Command Center. A dozen hours later.
Commander Tony Cassino could sense the excitement among the crew of his ship. Their waiting period was soon to be over. The I-prostesis of his leg was working fine, although every once in a while he felt some pangs that he decided to get used to.
“Everything seems to suggest that Bosun Dubchek was right,” Jim Kato turned to his supervisor. “Looks like the whole Sixth Fleet is flying at us.”
“Not only that,” Cassino said. “It has been assigned extra reinforcements. Uroboros must have stepped on somebody’s toes in the headquarters.”
They watched in silence as their combat computer assigned concrete names to particular vessels as soon as it recognized their characteristics. In the last few hours HES Judgment kept changing position to approach the oncoming formation from the right angle. Each of the brief starts of the drive brought with it h
eightened risk of being detected, but they seemed to have been lucky so far.
“How far do you want to let them come?” Kato asked.
They have been passed by four scouting units that were still clearly focused on the Hadesian System they were getting closer to.
By that time the forces of the Earth had not conducted any serious fighting among the numerous forces. If anybody got involved in fighting, they were mostly individual vessels. The separatist movement had never been that strong before. Uroboros was an exception in this respect. Cassino thought that this must have been the first time in history when such strong forces were gathered in one area at the same time.
At the lead of the oncoming fleet was Battle Force, a squadron of destroyers of the main forces. Their strike force were two CV class carriers, each with forty jet fighters on board. They were brand new units, the first two Earth space carriers, never tested in combat before. True leviathans of space. They used to be featured in professional press during their construction period, though specialists could never agree as to whether they would ever catch on in the modern battlefield. Their design was obviously inspired by the vessels that used to roam the seas in the olden days, but open space combat was a completely different thing. Nobody knew whether the credits that had been spent on them wouldn’t turn out to be the worst investments of the Admiralty. One carrier cost as much as four armored ships and could only operate in one spot, whereas four armored ships could be sent into four different places in the galaxy. That constituted one of the arguments against them.
“Do you want to get even closer?” Kato repeated his question.
“No. Let’s not tease the one in charge of the formation. We don’t know how they would react,” Cassino decided. Then he turned to the communications man. “Please send a non-coded message to the head carrier. HES Judgment sends its welcome to the Hadesian System.”
“Sir,” Midshipman said after a few seconds. “We have an attempt at contact from the other carrier.”
“Connect me from my spot.”
The stern face of a highly-ranked officer appeared on the screen. According to the rules and regulations Cassino was supposed to be able to recognize all the faces of the commanding officers, but this time his memory failed him.
“You took your time, Captain,” the stranger didn’t wait to issue further commands. “Please pass on the key to the central computer. We’re taking over your ship.”
“I object!” Cassino was indignant.
“I’d rather you didn’t. The prize crew is on its way.” The officer disconnected.
At the same time the tactical officer stepped in.
“We have been tracked. One impulse.”
“Who sent it?” Jim Kato asked.
“We can’t see it but it’s an object somewhere below us.”
“Do you understand any of this?” Kato turned to the commander of the ship.
“It’s simple,” Cassino had his emotions under control. “We thought we would give them a surprise but it’s the other way round. They must have detected us before but decided not to react.”
“But there are no other ships under the plane of the ecliptic,” Kato couldn’t agree with his friend’s reasoning.
“Maybe they have introduced something else apart from the carriers?”
“What?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe an equivalent of submarine boats?” Cassino entered his access key into the panel. Kato followed suit. It took a fraction of a second to send the data.
From now on they formally stopped being the commanders of the armored ship. Only one thing remained. Commander Tony Cassino broke the plastic key in half. He smiled at his friend.
“Let’s go meet the guests.”
Before he got off his chair, which required a certain effort on his part, the crew of the command centre stood at attention honoring him. Commander Lieutenant Jom Kato stood upright, just like in the best years of his military academy.
“Thank you for everything you have done,” Cassino spoke into the intercom to address the whole crew of his ship. “I’d like to ask the officers to make sure all personal weapons are returned to the magazine. The Star Troopers are required to report to the main lock. Those in charge of the sections are invited to join me in the galley. Until the situation is explained further, the ship is under the command of the Sixth Fleet. I would like to ask all of you to immediately carry out the commands issued by your new supervisors. Cassino. It’s over.”
He saluted to the personnel of the command center and walked out into the corridor. After a while Kato caught up with him and they walked together towards the main lock. On their way they walked by very content sailors.
“What are you laughing about?” Cassino turned to his friend who was beaming. He himself was in a pretty sorry state. The thump of his leg hurt more than usual.
“You made it!” Kato’s opinions were very definitive and he couldn’t hide his joy. “You are certain to be promoted to become Captain soon.”
“Idiot!” Commander scolded him. “Remember that the ship changed its IFL code and we imprisoned its rightful commander. What is more, we can be charged with manslaughter.”
“What are you talking about? He was nominated by Black, who turned out to be a traitor.”
Cassino shook his head at the naivety of his deputy.
“Everything can be interpreted in so many different ways. Do you mind if I ask you a question?”
“Go ahead.”
“If you were an admiral, would you trust an officer who deprived his direct supervisor of command?”
“Well….” Kato hesitated before answering.
“See, my friend,” Cassino put his arm around his friend. He no longer had to stick to the strict rules his position demanded, “if somebody has the courage to doubt the first man after God even once, he can always do it again. The first time is always the most difficult one. And every year new legions of young cadets, who trust their commanders, leave the walls of military academies. There are not enough vacancies for all of them. Even worse, there are not enough vacancies for those with connections, for friends and family. A ship like ours is a real treat for them. I bet there are already people fighting for it. They’ll bring out the biggest guns at us and accuse us of everything they can. They’ll do anything to leave us out. And it’s going to be enough. Even if we get our reputations cleared one day, the helm of this ship will have been in somebody else’s hands for a long time.
They walked the rest of the way in complete silence.
In the main hall of the lock Star Troopers waited in line. They presented their guns perfectly, even though the magazines were still in the belts. Green lights were lit up over the main lock and two side ones to announce the arrival of guests. Both officers walked up to the line separating the inside section of the ship. Cassino turned to his friend in a last gesture.
“I’d like to thank you, Jim.”
“Don’t mention it. It was a pleasure to serve with you and I do think you’re wrong. If you haven’t deserved the promotion, I don’t know who has.”
Cassino didn’t manage to answer. All three gates opened at the same time and a squadron in blue combat uniforms stormed in through them. The Marines immediately took over the sector, not paying any attention to saluting Star Troopers. The barrels of their guns were looking for targets.
They Marines split into small teams and ran inside the vessel, following their plan to secure the whole ship. A group of officers of the Fleet appeared in the main air lock. An officer wearing a white captain’s hat was leading the way. He stood in front of the line following the protocol. He saluted to the symbol of Earth and the inscription HES Judgment below it.
“I request permission to enter on board the ship,” he stated formally.
“Permission granted,” Cassino replied.
The Captain crossed the line.
“Hello, Commander,” he extended his hand. “I’m here to take over command of the ship.”
&nb
sp; Cassino couldn’t even utter a work. His throat was tight. He knew this was something he could have expected but he still felt terrible. In silence he and Tony took the broken keys off their necks and handed them over to the Captain.
“The ship is ready for the takeover,” he finally managed to say, but he couldn’t recognize his own voice.
A Marine came up to the Captain and reported something to him. The officer gladly accepted the information.
“All right, please escort both officers to the flag ship.” Two more Marines approached them and stood on both their sides.
“The Admiral would like to speak to you in person,” he explained and pointed to the open gate of the airlock.
In this way the service of Commander Tony Cassino and Commander Lieutenant Jim Kato on board of HES Judgment has come to an end.
Chapter XIII
The Second Planet of the Hadesian System.
“Your turn, Pavel,” I hear Alex’s voice coming out of the darkness.
It was so nice to lie here that for a moment I completely forgot where I was.
“I’m coming,” I say.
I get up from the hard floor and untangle myself from the foils surrounding me. It’s cold. I don’t feel like walking in the dark. We have one battery and a few light bulbs at our disposal but we limit the use to special occasions. My rounds don’t really count in. I lose sense of time and I’m not even sure if it really is my turn or if perhaps the commander of the revolutionaries issues orders as he pleases. To hell with him. Lack of trust in your supervisors is worse than the darkness but I can’t even be bothered to protest.
I reach out my hand and lean against the rough wall. Those bastards from Uroboros didn’t even bother to even out the plaster. I can feel the bumps on the surface with my fingertips. A step forward, a shuffle, another step.
Victor is the first one to check up on. I prod him with my leg.
“Everything all right?”
“Leave me alone,” the sounds of popping bubble wrap mean he’s turning to the other side.
I wish I could kick his ass. I crouch down instead.
