“Nav, course correction; I want the Icarus to be on a pursuit course of the Ushin target,” Celesta ordered. “Using the least amount of acceleration possible I also want to close the range to ten million kilometers by the time they begin their course change to push for the planet.” The planet they planned to meet over once again was on the far side of the system so the Ushin, with their plasma thrust engines, would have to respect the gravitational pull of the primary star more than she would with the Icarus’s improved reactionless drive. Given what she’d seen of them so far she felt confident that they would fly on an arcing course that would allow them to intercept the planet’s orbit and then chase it without requiring any extensive engine burns for a drastic course change.
“Course calculated and entered, ma’am,” the chief called out from his position next to the young specialist at the nav station as he pointed to something on the display.
“Helm, you’re clear to execute new course,” Celesta said. “Tactical! Assume a defensive posture … I want our weapons primed for rapid deployment and a constantly updated firing solution for the Shrikes running. OPS, tell CIC they’re now chiefly responsible for our sphere of awareness. Retract the towed array but continue monitoring with the passives, all frequencies, all directions.”
“Aye, ma’am,” Adler and Accari parroted each other.
“I’m not going to do anything provocative, Mr. Ambassador, but I refuse to be caught with my guard down so far from home.” Celesta leaned in to where Cole was sitting. “I have no intention or desire to pick a fight with the Ushin cruiser.”
“I have complete faith in your ability to execute our mission and ensure the ship makes it back to Terran space safely, Captain Wright,” Cole said just at the perfect volume level to ensure the crew heard it but still appear that he was trying to have a private conversation. “It’s why I specifically requested the Icarus for such a vital mission.”
Celesta just grunted and leaned back into her seat. She knew for a fact it was Admiral Pitt that had pulled the Icarus off the line at the request of Admiral Marcum and with the approval of President Wellington, not to mention against her strident protests, and the ambassador had little to do with the decision. Marcum was trying to provoke rash action from the Ushin or at least throw them off balance during the negotiations by arriving in a ship they’d surely recognize from the previous engagements.
While she’d not been around too many actual ambassadors Cole seemed to fit the mold she’d constructed in her mind given her brief interactions with the old Confederacy’s diplomatic corps. He was always on, always performing and maintaining character. The little throwaway comment meant to bolster the morale of her crew seemed to be something he did instinctually.
“Coms, please call the XO to the bridge. OPS, begin turnover to second watch,” she said, ignoring the ambassador’s comment. “We’re going to compress the watch schedule so that first is back at station and settled before we’ll likely see any further action from the … objective.” She avoided using the word target in front of the ambassador, but it was still how she viewed the cruiser ahead of them.
Celesta’s limited rack time was interrupted well before she intended to get up by the intercom in her stateroom and her personal comlink chirping out an alert. It only took a second for her brain to fully engage after being roused from a deep sleep and she silenced her comlink as she swung her legs over to the floor.
“This is Wright,” she said loudly.
“Captain, the Ushin cruiser has begun broadcasting a greeting,” Commander Barrett’s voice came over the intercom. “They’re still two and a half hours from their first projected course change given no change in velocity.”
“How long until we’re actually supposed to be here in this system?” Celesta asked, struggling to do the math in her still-fuzzy head.
“About thirty-two hours, ma’am.”
“Send no reply,” she said, standing up and stretching. “Continue to pursue and monitor the cruiser and have CIC begin breaking down the broadcast to see if it’s as innocuous as a simple greeting or if there’s something piggybacking on the carrier. I’ll be up in a few minutes. Wright out.”
Less than ten minutes later Celesta stormed onto the bridge. “Let me hear it,” she said sharply. “Go ahead and get the first watch bridge crew up here while we’re at it.”
“Coms, call up first watch,” Barrett said while prodding the second watch OPS officer to begin the playback.
“We convey our greetings to the emissaries of the powerful Terran Empire,” the message started out in a monotone, droning voice that was obviously artificially generated. “We regret all misunderstandings and wish to open negotiations again. Eagerly we await your response.”
“That’s it, ma’am,” Barrett said. “It pauses for twenty point two-two seconds and then repeats. They’re still broadcasting it and CIC is looking for any repetitive patterns that appear incongruous with the message loop since the carrier frequency is being continuously pumped out.”
“Get Ambassador Cole up here too,” Celesta said, frowning. “He needs to hear this as soon as possible. In the meantime, maintain our posture; no return transmission of any kind. Nav! Update our acceleration profile; I don’t want to close on the cruiser any more than we already are. Maintain our interval as best you can given the data from the passive array. OPS, give her a hand with an updated estimate from the tactical computers.”
“Aye aye, Captain,” the ensign at OPS said.
The ambassador arrived mere minutes later, impeccably dressed and groomed and looking fresh as ever despite having just gone to his quarters four hours prior. Celesta was duly impressed and that must have been telegraphed in her expression when Cole walked up to where they were huddled around the OPS station even as bleary-eyed first watch crew began filtering in.
“Despite being an insufferable diplomat, Captain, at one point I actually worked for a living,” he said with a genuine, self-deprecating chuckle. “Once upon a time I served as an enlisted spacer on a Fourth Fleet frigate … the old habits die hard. I can be dressed and out the hatch in less than two minutes given the proper motivation.”
“I see,” Celesta said neutrally, once again revising her opinion of her VIP passenger up a tick. “Well, Mr. Ambassador, it seems your Ushin friends have decided to try and make contact first. Play the message, Ensign.”
Cole listened to the message in its entirety four times, his frown deepening each time it repeated. “And there were no other messages? No text embedded in the transmission?” he asked, obviously unhappy.
“Not that CIC has been able to mine out of the signal yet.” Celesta shook her head. “You seem … displeased. Were you expecting more in the initial contact attempt?”
“Since the specific content and raw data of the aliens’ communication attempts are highly classified allow me to enlighten you, as I’m sure you’ve not been privy to it,” Cole said. “Before I do, please understand that I’m not actually authorized to tell you any of this. But … we’re out here, and CENTCOM and the Federation are not. I think it might be prudent, under the circumstances, if you had all the pertinent information so that we can approach this problem together.”
“Understood,” Celesta nodded. “Nothing you say here goes past this bridge. Everybody got that?” A chorus of affirmatives and head nods within earshot of the captain followed.
“Very well,” Cole sighed. “This message has me suspicious in that the Ushin don’t even speak like this in real time. Their grasp of our language is much more firm and nuanced; this sounds like some of the very early attempts when the translation matrix was undeveloped. Why? Why the sudden reversion to the poor grammar and improper syntax?”
“How big of a difference are we talking about?” Commander Barrett asked.
“My last conversation with an Ushin representative was during the battle in the DeLonges System when they offered us over two dozen planets in exchange for military intervention on their behalf,�
� Cole explained. “Their emissary spoke flawless Standard with a definite New American accent, which makes sense given that it was a Fourth Fleet exploration vessel that Tsuyo contracted to come out here when first contact was made. This message is reminiscent of those first clumsy attempts at two-way communication.”
“And you feel there’s no logical explanation for this?” Barrett asked.
“None that I can see,” Cole said. “Granted I don’t have much insight into Ushin culture so I can’t say for sure how compartmentalized they are with regards to sharing information amongst themselves, but to think there were two distinct groups talking to humans that didn’t have the same data available flies in the face of what I was told during the last meeting.”
“I would say that makes an obvious answer pop out,” Celesta said. “We haven’t been dealing with the same group of Ushin every time. Either that or there’s a faction operating outside the authority of their government.”
“Or the battle over DeLonges was a setup and the Ushin ships and delegation were actually Darshik,” Accari said absently before looking around. “Pardon my interruption, Captain.”
“That’s okay, Lieutenant,” Celesta waved him off. “Your theory is as valid as the others. The reality is that we have no idea—”
“Captain!” a shout made everyone jump. “The Ushin ship just exploded!”
“Cause?” Celesta barked, striding quickly back to her seat.
“Unknown,” Lieutenant Commander Adler said.
“CIC is analyzing the sensor logs now,” Accari said.
Celesta’s eyes narrowed as she quickly ran through options in her mind. She felt in her gut that the Ushin ship wasn’t destroyed by any internal malfunction: it was hit with a ship-to-ship weapon by another ship they weren’t aware of. Assuming that, did that enemy ship know where they were? The Icarus was flying silent, but blind without active sensors and she knew from hard-won experience that the Darshik could sneak up behind them without the passives detecting them.
“Did we detect anything anomalous prior to the Ushin ship being destroyed?” she asked.
“No, ma’am. Nothing that—”
“The exception report,” Barrett interrupted Lieutenant Commander Adler. “Captain, we had a recorded visible light anomaly that at the time was inconsistent with the transition flash of any ship in our database. Given events I have to consider that there is an enemy ship in the system that we’re unaware of.”
“Shit,” Celesta swore in an uncharacteristically outward display of frustration. “Tactical, full active sensors and bring all weapons online. OPS, sound general quarters, set condition 1SS.”
“Active sensors coming up,” Adler said as Accari’s voice echoed through the ship, calling her crew to prepare for imminent combat action. “The transmitters were cold so there will be a slight delay.”
“Understood,” Celesta said. “Just get me a clear picture of what’s around us as fast as you can and be ready to shoot at any target I—”
“Contact!” Adler cried. “It’s close and coming fast, coming at us off the port bow! Auto defense is engaging!” There was no time for any orders from Celesta as the Icarus’s tactical computers took over and began firing the forward, port laser batteries at the incoming ship before she could even have her tactical officer give her an exact range to target or its speed and bearing. The moment seemed to stretch on for eternity, the muted whine of the Icarus firing her laser batteries preceding the horrendous crash that sent alarms blaring on the bridge and alerts scrolling across the main display.
“Glancing blow by a Darshik plasma lance!” Accari shouted. “Hull breeches in three forward compartments, pressure hatches engaged.”
“Enemy ship has veered off sharply and is disengaging!” Adler yelled to be heard over the alarms. “Moderate damage to their port flank by our lasers.”
“Helm! Come about to pursue!” Celesta said, her fists clenched. She was furious that yet another operation she’d been in command of had so quickly devolved into an absolute cluster fuck including her ship being damaged again.
“Transition flash detected,” Accari said. “Close too … Tactical, confirm that target no longer appears on sensors.”
“Confirmed,” Adler said. “Unknown ship executed a warp transition deep within the system.”
“Unknown?” Celesta scoffed. “We can’t even confirm that was a Darshik ship?”
“Tactics and weapons were similar, ma’am, but the ship matched no known configuration and the measured power output was an order of magnitude higher than any of the cruisers. We weren't able to get a valid reading on engine output for some reason.” Accari went down the list CIC had sent up of the initial analysis of the engagement. “There’s no conclusive—”
“That will be all, Lieutenant,” Celesta cut him off. “Damage control report, if you please.”
“Outer hull breaches in compartments 9F, 9H, and 11H.” Accari turned to his other display. “Emergency pressure hatches closed and are holding, zero casualties, zero injuries. The affected systems are forward spectrometer array number one, secondary particle analysis collector, and the primary Link transceiver stack. No estimates for repairs as of yet.”
“All systems we can do without for the moment,” Celesta said. “Tell the backshops I want everyone to stay put. We’ll deal with that when we’re not expecting another attack at any moment. Helm, all ahead flank. Let’s not present an easy target.”
“Engines ahead flank, aye.”
“OPS, have a Jacobson drone prepped,” Celesta said, almost as an afterthought. “Full sensor package. I want to drop it and let it scan the wreckage of the Ushin ship while we press on. Nav, adjust our course to flatten back out and maintain our orbit in relation to the primary star; I no longer want to approach the target planet. Helm, come onto new course when you get it, no change in engine output.”
“Aye aye, Captain.”
It was another tense three hours before Celesta began to think that the Darshik ship had taken the chance to extend and escape rather than try another of their intrasystem “hops” and take another pass at them. It was a tactic that Terran ships were incapable of duplicating and the ability to jump around within a star system had been used against her before quite effectively when the Darshik first appeared in the Xi’an System. She wanted to stop and dig into the data from the engagement but she couldn’t risk breaking her attention for the time it would take to begin poring over the CIC data dump.
The adrenaline of combat and the strain of waiting for a second attack were taking its toll, and she almost felt lightheaded as she watched the main display constantly shift as the tactical computer categorized and labeled radar returns while the Icarus roared around her orbit at full power. She looked over at the master status and saw the RDS had already pushed the destroyer to nearly seventy-five percent of her maximum sub-luminal speed. There was no way in hell the enemy ship would be able to move in with their energy lance unless they were already closing from behind.
“Helm, zero thrust … steady as she goes,” she ordered quietly.
“Engines to zero thrust, aye,” the helmsman said. “Maintaining current course and speed.”
“OPS, tell Engineering that they’re clear to begin coordinating damage control parties,” Celesta said. “Tell Commander Graham that I want hull integrity at one hundred percent and tested before any of the technicians are allowed in to begin checking their equipment.”
“Aye, ma’am,” Accari said.
Slowly the crew began to uncoil as their velocity and fully active sensor array made it virtually impossible for the unknown ship to simply appear again and take a swipe at them. Celesta had relieved Barrett and told him to grab some food and rest. As he walked off the bridge the look he gave her said he understood that she was very much displeased that an exception report had been glossed over while the ship was in such a dangerous position. She would talk to him about it after her temper had returned to a low simmer. It wouldn’t do
any good to just unload on him at the moment, and since Commander Barrett was not a sloppy or incompetent officer she had to assume that any action, or in this case inaction, on his part was due to her flawed leadership.
Things were balanced on a razor’s edge now, even more so than when they faced the Phage. That particular enemy was easy to figure out at least. These Darshik had motivations that made little sense and the Ushin were an even bigger mystery. There was no telling whose side they were actually on and at no time since they’d begun their association with the alien species had anything remotely positive for humanity come out of it.
“What do you feel our most prudent course of action should be, Captain?” Ambassador Cole said from her left. She’d almost forgotten the man was sitting there as quiet as he’d been.
“As soon as we wrap up our analysis of the Ushin wreckage, recover our drone, and Commander Graham clears the ship for warp flight we’ll push back for Terran space,” Celesta said. “I don’t feel there’s anything more to be gained by staying here unless you have anything else you’d like to share?”
“No, ma’am,” Cole said. “Without an Ushin delegation to talk to I’m simply a passenger. In fact, I should probably get out of the way. I will be in my quarters if I’m needed.” With that he stood gracefully and strode off the bridge. She watched his departing back for a moment before pushing all thoughts of him from her mind and moving her display around so she could actively monitor the damage control crews as they dealt with the breaches in the forward compartments.
For some strange reason her thoughts flitted to Jackson Wolfe and the Aludra Star, a sturdy but underpowered ship that her former mentor was about to take into the teeth of the Darshik blockade of the Juwel System. For a moment she considered taking the Icarus there since her mission was now null and void given the absence of an Ushin party to negotiate with. On a whim she opened a new window on her display and began running the calculations as to whether the Icarus was even outfitted to make the trip or not. A destroyer didn’t have especially long legs and they were already pushing into her safety margin with this now-pointless trip.
Iron & Blood: Book Two of The Expansion Wars Trilogy Page 7
