****
Jastek asked Kanpardi the inevitable question. “Is your plan being followed Gatrol? There was little time to inform the hammer balls, and they have poor equipment inside for your pilots to use, and nothing but air for supplies.”
“My second in command, Telour, was in a Clanship watching as the Humans departed. His wave detector points the direction. He gave commands to three of my hammer pilots that were able to Jump the direction where he instructed. Telour Jumped with them and will tell them when he senses the time to end their travel.”
Hardrol was critical. “The hammer pilots have no supplies, and limited air. They will not survive a long flight. You have thrown away three of our strongest weapons when the pilots die. They will stay in a Jump Hole to die, or emerge in the space between the stars and die there.”
Kanpardi gave a snort. “I plan better than Tanga clan does, Hardrol. That is why Telour flies the Clanship with them. He can speak to them in the Hole, even if talk goes slowly, to tell them when to exit. He knows how long they can live and will command that all of them exit together if the travel is too long. He can give them supplies if they must stop before they reach the human ship’s destination, and then Jump again for the final location.”
With a snort of derision, Hardrol offered rebuttal for that claim. “If they must stop before the place the Humans ran to for shelter, the waves Telour’s detector follows will spread too wide and will be gone. We still risk the hammers for little chance of success.”
“If Telour was replaced by your aid, Parkoda, the risk truly would be too great.” Kanpardi offered the insult in return. “However, just as Telour was smarter than Parkoda on Koban, his ability will help him succeed this time as well. It is a simple matter to look along the line of the Jump from here to where they exit if forced to do so early. Telour will use the ship’s navigation system to see what settled Human world lies on that same long straight line. Or the Humans may have gone to a place close enough for Telour to reach them before hammer air is gone.”
Hardrol persisted in trying to find fault with Kanpardi’s leadership and planning. “The hammers keep their Normal Space speed. They will leave Telour’s Clanship behind when they exit the Jump together.”
Sniping was all Hardrol had left to do, because it was probable that he would not remain as Tanga clan’s representative on the council. His decisions had lost them more than material, which wasn’t considered serious when slaves could make more. Tanga had lost the eggs of combat survivors in the new war. The historical record of the conquest of the Humans would tell this. That Tanga had stumbled on this first new step along the Great Path. That would be a small setback in the fullness of time for long-term Krall racial goals, but not easily forgiven in Krall culture.
Kapdol, although from a minor clan, spoke up to explain to Hardrol something he expected even a novice to grasp. “The hammer pilots can loop back, as they did with the human fleet, and slow until Telour’s Clanship can match velocity to supply them. Even if they die first, he can speed up and dock with them to place new pilots aboard.” He looked to Kanpardi, “There are additional warrior pilots with the Clanship for this purpose?”
“Yes, of course.” Kanpardi accepted the support, thinking how he would reward Kapdol’s Dolbrin clan for that help, perhaps a larger role in some future raid.
Jastek had one final question. “When will we know if Telour found where the Human fleet has gone?”
“When he returns, we will know.” If he returns, Kanpardi thought. The three hammers were hard to kill, but were to be destroyed if unable to return. The Clanship that furnished them with guidance information might reveal itself by transmitting to the balls, even if stealthed. It was not as hard to kill. In addition, Telour had a message to give to the humans, if the hammers did their intended work.
****
Mauss breathed a sigh of relief five days later, when the fleet emerged in the outer Rhama system. The brief spatter of White Outs was not as tightly clustered in time as they were on reaching K1, but the globular formation was intact, minus the ships that had not survived the battle.
The Indomitable was a hard loss to take, as were a battleship, two battle cruisers, a heavy cruiser, and eight destroyers. Thirteen ships was nearly twelve percent of Mauss’ total force, but the ships and lives lost were considerably less than the thirty eight percent of ships killed in the first attack on K1. This raid was a success, and the fleet could probably return to K1 soon, with a month or two of repairs here at Rhama. If they had similar results the next time, the Navy could seriously curtail the Krall’s ground attacks.
Mauss spoke to the orbital transfer station to send Gauntlet and other ships with wounded there. Gauntlet was carrying the largest number of survivors and injured from the Mace and DS-42, but there was ample space for a dozen other ships to dock there as well. She sent damaged ships to the two large orbital repair docks, to await repair crews. Invincible would lead most of the fleet elements into orbit around Rhama. There, shuttles would meet them in the coming days. The first would pick up wounded, and then the crews would go to debriefing sessions before receiving leave.
As Invincible approached Rhama, Mauss was sitting in the wardroom with Captain Codry and her First Officer, Lieutenant Commander Dawkins, enjoying real Earth coffee. They were chatting about what they would do for leave over the next few weeks, before starting plans for the next attack on K1.
The idea of leave was instantly forgotten when an alarm sounded and all three women heard a chilling Link from Josie.
“Attention. Four White Outs with enemy signatures have been detected. Three are consistent with the mass of an Eight Ball, one with that of a Clanship.”
Mauss and the other two officers leaped to their feet. Mauss ordered, “Emergency alert all ships, sound Battle Stations, weapons hot now under AI control. Tell us where they are and what course for the Eight Balls?” They were running for their respective command posts. Mauss’ post was in the bowels of the ship, close to the battle center, the other two officers headed for the Bridge.
How did they know where we went? Mauss asked herself. It was obvious these came from K1, so they either guessed right, or had a way to follow them. She would bet heavily on the latter, probably something similar to the advance warning waves in Tachyon Space.
How many will be arriving after them? Was her next thought.
Josie had the data she had requested. “They emerged close to the fleet’s own exit region. The Clanship has low velocity relative to the system primary; perhaps twenty miles per second closing with the star, just less than two AU’s out. The Eight Balls each have velocities in Normal Space approximately the same as all of the balls had when we last saw them, close to eight hundred miles per second. One ball is traveling towards local system north at a distance of two point two AU’s, two have velocities roughly towards system center at two AU’s away.”
“How many of the heavy ships have plasma chambers hot?” The lasers were nearly instantly ready, but heating plasma chambers took time, and the ceramic tubes of the cannons had to be preheated to avoid cracking.
“No plasma chambers are hot, but all are heating under emergency protocols. Some may possibly fail. However they have not proven effective against the Eight Balls.”
“Determine the targets of the balls, and if any of the four enemy craft make a Jump.”
“Mam, the two balls inbound towards system center could alter course to target any of the fleet ships. The ball moving at right angles could Jump to system south, below the planetary plane to target them as well…” The AI’s voice paused briefly, something they didn’t do often. “The Clanship just entered stealth mode, right after it transmitted on a standard Krall frequency. The north bound ball has Jumped, destination unknown.”
“Warn all fleet elements to watch for a ball to White Out south of the system plane, moving north. If that happens, calculate a possible target as soon as possible. Connect me to the orbital transfer station’s manager
or commander, whatever title Rhama gave him or her.”
“Commander James Nelson is in charge. Please standby.”
In less than a minute Mauss heard a man’s voice. “James Nelson here, Admiral Mauss. What do you want us to do?” He obviously was aware of the Krall presence.
“I recommend you start an emergency evacuation as quickly as possible. Has the Gauntlet and the other ships with wounded off loaded their patients?”
“Yes Mam. There are numerous shuttles here for them already. Should we use those to take them down now?”
“Gentle Sir, I suggest you pack those shuttles with as many bodies each of them can hold as quickly as possible and get them away from the station. Then get every shuttle you can find and direct them to dock there to take people away with maximum speed. You have escape pods, so fill them right now, and wait to see if you need them. I believe the Krall may destroy the station.”
He sounded puzzled. “The whole fleet is here. Can’t you stop only four of them?”
“Sir, not what’s coming your way. We just fought three of these weapons at K1, and they are apparently unstoppable. Get your people out now, no delay. I’ll see that you have as much warning as possible if we see they have you targeted. I have other calls to make, good luck. Admiral Mauss out.”
“Josie, instruct all of the ships at the repair docks to get away from them. I expect them to be targeted.”
“The Captains of each of them have all confirmed that they are recalling crews. They will cast off as soon as they have them recovered.”
“Tell them that Admiral Mauss orders them to button up and leave immediately if an Eight Ball has the docks targeted. Losing the ships along with the docks and some of their crew members will not help our war effort.”
“Eight Ball White Out, south of the system.” Broke in Josie. “Course altering towards the main transfer station.”
“Tell Nelson, and warn our ships docked there. They need to get away. How much time?”
“The Eight Ball emerged a hundred fifty thousand miles from Rhama, and is accelerating. It should arrive in just over ninety seconds. It is adjusting course for a direct hit.”
“Damn. Link me to Captain Caruthers, on Gauntlet.” She knew it was too late.
“Ready, Mam.”
“Captain Caruthers, Mauss here. Do you see the ball?”
“We do. I can’t get my people off, and from a near stop I probably can’t get clear in time. Plasma isn’t ready, not that it does any good. It was a good fight and I feel honored to have served and fought with you Admiral. Goodbye and good luck. I’m going out to meet the enemy.”
“I understand. The honor was mine. We will carry on the fight as long as we can. Goodbye.”
****
What none of the humans knew was that the hammer pilot had informed Telour that his air was not going to last long enough for the Clanship to match speeds and recover the pilot. They could not let the hammer fly off for the humans to eventually track down and capture. The Gatrol’s order was explicit. The hammer must be destroyed, for clan and the Path. He continued acceleration.
****
From Invincible’s distant perspective in a much higher orbit, what looked like an explosion of confetti raced away from the station, as escape pods and shuttles fled to safety. Gauntlet separated, and engaged her Normal Space drive too close for comfort to the huge orbital structure. She started south, towards the onrushing Eight Ball at the full eighty-four real gravities a battleship’s mass permitted. There were not many seconds available, but at eighty-four g’s she still made it from a standing start to over six thousand miles per hour, and was several miles out when she launched escape pods, and fired all of her laser pods that could bear on a point dead ahead of her. The defiance was magnificent.
The impact happened at such a high velocity that the incoming small Eight Ball wasn’t actually visible to the human eye, but the two opposing masses had an impact that rivaled a nuclear explosion in the energy invested. The combined velocities and masses easily exceed the binding energy of the partly collapsed dense crystal of the Eight Ball, as Telour intended. The battleship and Eight Ball became a small nova of vaporized heavy elements, expanding in a gaseous sphere that retained much of the momentum of the ball towards the station.
Fortunately, the expansion rate of the fireball was great enough that much of the material missed the station. What did strike had greater than stellar heat, fused the surface of the station’s skin, and ruptured all of the many view ports on that side. However, the heat and particle sleet did not penetrate very deeply. Most of the people not directly on that side of the station survived to brag that they had lived through the “Rhama novae.” A brag that would soon lose its allure.
The other two hammer balls had been boarded by pilots later in the attack on K1. They had a little more breathing time remaining. They decided they had another few passes they could make before bad air forced a withdrawal.
That was time enough for them to destroy both of the repair docks, which they did at slower and safer velocities, shrugging off the laser, and eventually plasma fire of the Navy. They were unable to “catch” any of the nimble Navy ships that knew how to avoid them. One ball also picked off a civil cargo ship that had been in a parking orbit, awaiting a place at the repair dock, with a minimal crew aboard. Then the two balls Jumped to the outer part of the solar system, as revealed later by their gamma ray bursts when they made their White Out.
The Clanship Jumped there as well, fought to match velocities with each as they slowed down, eventually relieving the two nearly asphyxiated pilots. On one of the hammers, Telour replaced the pilot, and transferred food, water, and extra oxygen tanks for the fresh new operator. Telour furnished that pilot with computer coordinates for K1, fed from the Clanship’s navigational computer, and sent the hammer back to base.
Telour gave the last hammer ball a temporary pilot, who accelerated it on a new course at a velocity certain to exceed the binding energy of the collapsed matter shell if it hit a human ship. However, that was unlikely to happen. The Clanship remained docked with it for almost an hour, monitoring the projected track.
Then, using the towing method of using a very large Jump Hole radius, Telour micro Jumped both the Clanship and the ball deeper into the human system, performing a White Out at one hundred seventy three thousand miles from Rhama. Then he made the broadcast Kanpardi had instructed him to send. It was short and to the point.
“Humans, we will not accept new attacks on our bases from space. You now know we can follow your ships back to your worlds. We will teach you another use for a hammer ball. Think how hard this lesson would be if it arrived at half the speed of light, over your home world.”
He then undocked his Clanship from the empty ball, and Jumped for K1, as over thirty thousand tons of unstoppable collapsed matter dove towards Rhama. At two thousand nine hundred sixty six miles per second, one hundred seventy seven thousand miles per minute, or over ten million six hundred seventy thousand miles per hour. Rhama was about to experience an event that would exceed the dinosaur’s extinction on Earth, sixty five million years ago.
****
Admiral Mauss listened to the broadcast, stunned at her ultimate failure, ignoring Josie’s calm voice as it described the track and velocity of the oncoming juggernaut. There was no ship in position to intercede in so short a time to try to save the planet, as Gauntlet had defended the orbital station.
She experienced a brief selfish thought. Her life had been devoted to the Navy, and her career was over. There was no doubt in her mind that the Navy’s lead role in the war was finished. She had done her job so well that the Krall would not permit her, or a successor, to repeat even that small measure of success. She had only slowed the Krall, not crippled them.
She couldn’t stop her lifetime of strategic thinking. There were counter measures for the Eight Balls; she had seen Gauntlet explode one before it did the damage it had intended to deliver to the transfer statio
n. There would be other ways to trigger that self-destructive explosion, short of a heavy ship ramming them. An ultra-high velocity railgun slug of depleted uranium might work, triggering a release of a ball’s binding energy at some small crack created on its surface. However, that would not be tried now.
President Stanford, or it would surely be her successor when she lost the election, would yield to public pressure. The Hub government would not risk Earth, or any heavily populated world for a naval attack that could not guarantee victory, nor block Krall retaliation.
Sick at heart, she watched helplessly as death, for probably tens of millions of people, approached Rhama, the dense ball shrugging off the futile laser and plasma beams that deflected from its near impervious skin. Only the planet’s mass could oppose it now, triggering a blast that would unbind the energy used to compress its matter as it penetrated deep into the crust.
The white flash of the silent blast, dimmed by electronics on the Admiral’s screen, blossomed against the night side of Rhama. It was oddly beautiful in its horror.
Mauss fervently wished she had been in command of Gauntlet, vaporized in a heroic blaze of glory.
14. The Blues Brothers (Koban)
The two eight year olds were hunting. It was Carson’s turn to play bait, and Ethan was in the spider hole, jazzer ready, the grass covered lid held open on one side about two inches. Carson had bagged a skeeter earlier with a jazzer, as it hovered over Ethan as the bait. They had propped the skeeter corpse up with sticks now, as if it were feeding on its victim. The only time a skeeter held its wings still was when feeding or asleep, so it presented a plausible scene.
The boys were after larger game now. A squadron of five wolfbats was circling ever lower. The bats commonly let skeeters claim the blood reward earned when they stunned some prey or another. However, after allowing a suitable time for sucking blood, the wolfbats would swoop down to drive the smaller fliers away and claim the flesh of the kill for themselves.
Koban: The Mark of Koban Page 31
