Excalibur's Quest

by Dietmar Wehr

  “Romeo13 is at jump velocity and has now jumped away,” said the tactical AI. “Gravity cannon are locked on to Romeo11 and a Mark 14 missile is loaded in missile tube one.”

  “Fire,” said Koenig calmly.

  “Two cannon hits. Romeo11 is breaking up. Missile has fired and will hit target in thirty-three point three seconds.”

  Koenig nodded with satisfaction as the last remaining red icon on the tactical display flared and dissolved upon impact. “Let’s get the ship close enough over the colony to see what Jab ground forces are left, Astro. The crew can stand down from Battle Stations too. Whatever ground forces are still there won’t be a threat to Excalibur. XO to the Bridge.”

  Vasily was on the Bridge by the time the ship was close enough for visual observation of the colony. As soon as the cloak was shut down, the display switched to optical data. The colony’s buildings looked to be intact. That was all Koenig could tell with his own eyes. The tactical AI’s report filled in the rest.

  “Armored ground vehicles are stationed around the colony as well as at strategic points within the settlement.”

  “Can we aim our cannon accurately enough at the armored vehicles to avoid collateral damage and casualties?” asked Koenig.

  “Affirmative, however the normal power settings for the gravity cannon will penetrate all the way through the planet with a high probability of negative consequences that cannot be predicted at this time.”

  “Shit,” said Koenig quietly. Right now, he would rather have an old-fashioned graser weapon that wouldn’t hollow out the planet when the gamma-ray beam hit, but Excalibur no longer had any graser turrets.

  “What about firing the cannon at minimal power levels?” asked Vasily.

  “The minimum operational power level would generate a gravity beam that loses effectiveness at a range of three hundred seventy-seven kilometers. If Excalibur fired from that altitude, penetration of the gravity beam into the planet would be minimal. However, several of the armored vehicles have been identified as mounting graser weapons capable of hitting Excalibur at that range. They may be powerful enough to damage Excalibur.”

  “Then what about firing at a slightly higher power level that will reach the surface from here without causing penetration damage to the planet?” asked Koenig.

  “The gravity cannons were not designed for variable power settings. There are three power settings; full power, minimum operational power intended for testing purposes and zero power.”

  “Wonderful!” said Koenig in disgust. “We have orders to cleanse the planet of Jab forces and don’t have any weapon systems with variable power settings.”

  “The Mark 15 warhead’s explosive potential can be turned down,” said the tactical AI.

  That was news to Koenig, and when he looked at Vasily, it was clear that she hadn’t known about it either.

  “That’s interesting, but I’m not sure if it helps us. What kind of damage would the x-ray laser beam do to the surrounding buildings if we dialed it down to the lowest level and aimed at one of the vehicles in the center of the colony?”

  “If all the lasing rods were aimed at the same target, the area of destruction would measure eight point nine meters in diameter, with unavoidable collateral damage; however, the lasing rods can be independently aimed at different targets, and a single rod’s area of destruction at minimal power settings would measure three point four meters in diameter.”

  Koenig saw Vasily nod and smile. “Just big enough to incinerate a Jab armored vehicle,” she said.

  “Can the rods be aimed accurately enough to avoid collateral damage?” asked Koenig.

  “Generating zero collateral damage with certainty is not possible. The rods can be aimed accurately enough that the risk of collateral damage is four point seven percent for targets within the colony settlement. For targets around the periphery, the risk of collateral damage is zero point zero one.”

  “That’s acceptable. How many Mark 15 missiles will be required to knock out all armored targets?”

  “Two warheads can allocate one lasing rod to each target with three surplus rods that will aim into open space.”

  “Fine. Get two Mark 15 missiles ready with minimum power settings on the warheads. Fire when ready,” said Koenig.

  “Both missiles have fired. Detonation in three…two…one…now. All armored targets have been destroyed. No obvious collateral damage has been inflicted,” said the tactical AI.

  Koenig and Vasily exchanged grins. “Com, contact the colony and tell them that all Jab armored vehicles have been destroyed. If there are any Jab soldiers left, advise them that TOSF warships control this system and that they are to surrender immediately. Astro, take us down deep enough into the atmosphere over the colony that people on the ground will be able to see us.”

  When communications with the colony leaders was established, there was some confusion among the dozen or so Jab soldiers as to whether they would surrender or not until they saw Excalibur pass in front of the sun and recognized that it was not one of their warships.

  Over the next 24 hours or so, the colony recovered from the occupation, and the surrendered Jab soldiers were disarmed and placed under guard. Koenig had informed the leadership that this system would become a forward base once again and that the Jabs would be pushed back to their side of the Rift. After deploying the FTL communications pod near a nickel-rich moon and activating it, Excalibur took up a sentry position over the colony planet, cloaked and waited.

  That turned out to be the hard part of the mission. It would take about two weeks for the FTL device to fully expand itself enough to become operational. Only then could Koenig send a message back to HQ that Roark’s Drift star system was cleared of Jabs ships, and only then would the CSO send a freighter with things the colony needed. Reinforcements, in the form of Curtana, might arrive sooner, but there was no way to know for sure, and that meant waiting and watching.

  Nine days after the liberation, the waiting paid off. Koenig woke to the tone denoting a call from the Bridge.

  “Koenig here. What’s happening?”

  “Long range detection is picking up a bogey heading in-system from the direction of the Rift. TacComp has designated it as Romeo14. Range is still over eighty-nine million klicks, Commander.”

  Koenig recognized the voice as belonging to 3rd Officer Chen. “Do we have an ETA yet?” he asked.

  “Romeo14 is accelerating. Assuming turnover with a zero velocity by the time it gets here, ETA is one hundred seventy-seven minutes.”

  “Thank you. I’ll be on the Bridge shortly. Koenig out.”

  As he got dressed, Koenig wondered how to deal with the bogey. He was as certain as he could be that it was a Jab ship sent in response to the report carried back by the Jab freighter, and that it was intended to replace the ships that the Tong had destroyed. He didn’t want to let it get close to the planet. That would open up options for the Jab commander that Koenig couldn’t permit, such as bombardment of the colony. No, Excalibur would have to intercept Romeo14 before it got there. And just to be sure of what was coming this way, the interception would take place in a way that allowed Koenig to confirm visually what kind of ship it was before he took action. Excalibur would have to swing around in a big arc and come up to Romeo14 from behind.

  As he entered the Bridge, he heard the tactical display ping for an update. Even as he approached the Command Pod, he could see more than one red icon. Romeo14 wasn’t the only new arrival.

  “Three more ships have just entered detection range, Commander,” said Chen.

  “I’m willing to bet there’ll be—” Another ping interrupted Koenig’s reply and a fifth red icon appeared. He let the sentence remain unfinished. It was obvious that more ships were arriving and that they were heading for the colony planet.

  “What’s the probability that these bogeys are NOT Jab ships, Tactical?”

  “TacComp calculates only a one point four percent probability that all five ships are n
ot Jab warships,” said the AI.

  “That’s good enough for me. I’m going to assume that these are all Jab ships and proceed accordingly. What tactical approach would you recommend?”

  “Recommend flyby attacks with gravity cannon as shown on the display.” The main display zoomed in to show a green line intercepting each of the five bogeys. All five ships were far enough apart but along the same general line of advance that Excalibur could make the necessary course changes in time. Each flyby would silhouette the Jab ship against the sun at the critical firing point. Koenig realized what the meant.

  “If we’re going to fire visually, then we’ll be turning off the cloak. What’s the risk that the Jab ships will see us?”

  “The cloak will only have to be off for one point nine seconds in order for the gravity cannon to be aimed correctly. It is highly unlikely that Jab crews will be able to react fast enough to fire on Excalibur before the cloak is re-engaged,” said the AI.

  Koenig didn’t like that approach. “What about being detected visually by the other bogeys while we’re attacking the first one or two?” Before the AI could reply, the display pinged again, and a sixth red icon appeared. It was far enough off to one side of the general line of approach that Excalibur’s projected path was not quite able to get as close to number six as the rest.

  “Risk of visual detection by enemy ships will increase for each ship attacked; however, all six Romeos are far enough apart that their grasers would be ineffective and inaccurate if they fired at those ranges. Romeo19 can not be intercepted directly at close range. Excalibur can still get within gravity cannon effective range for multiple shots.”

  “If only they would rendezvous first before approaching the planet,” said Chen.

  Koenig shook his head. “Not that likely to happen. They still think they control Roark’s Drift, so arriving strung out like this is not a problem for them. But if there was a way to get them to bunch up, that would make things a lot easier for us. If we attack Romeo14 with cannon, we’ll be able to cut it to pieces, but the other ships may not realize that something has happened to it quickly enough to make a difference. On the other hand, if that ship vanishes in a miniature sun from a Mark 14 warhead, the other ships can’t help but notice. Tactical, I want a trajectory that will allow a Mark 14 missile to zero in on Romeo14 visually without the need to use terminal radar guidance for final course corrections.”

  “Requested trajectory is on the display.”

  Koenig watched as the display zoomed in to show Excalibur firing a missile from a range of less than a hundred kilometers just as Romeo14 passed in front of the sun. With the missile’s acceleration of 4,181Gs, the missile would reach the target in 2.2 seconds while visually tracking the target. Even if Romeo14 was scanning with radar and detected the missile, stopping it with anti-missile fire in time was unlikely. And the best part was that Excalibur didn’t have to shut down its cloak in order to fire the missile.

  “Fine. Astro, let’s get to the firing position as quickly as possible, but I want our firing point velocity to be one percent light maximum.”

  With Excalibur underway, the interception would occur in 69 minutes. Koenig decided to wait to take over control until Chen finished his duty shift in 58 minutes. Only then would he send the ship to Battle Stations.

  By the time Koenig settled into the Command Pod and ordered Battle Stations, it was clear what Excalibur would be up against. There were now eleven red icons approaching the planet in a long, jagged string formation. That many ships worried him. Unless they bunched up in a relatively tight group, there was no way that Excalibur could attack them all before they reached the planet.

  With the ship at Battle Stations and the crew briefed, there were now only seconds left before the firing point. The tactical AI would control missile targeting and launch timing. Koenig kept his eyes on the tactical display. The AI counted down the seconds.

  “Missile launch in five…four…three...two…one…now.”

  Koenig watched a green v-shaped icon leave Excalibur and move with increasing speed toward the red triangle. The two merged with a flash.

  “Target destroyed,” said the AI.

  Koenig unmuted the ship-wide com channel. “Koenig to crew. One down. When I see how the rest will react, I’ll decide on our next move. That’s all for now.” He wanted to ask the tactical AI if there was any reaction yet from the other Romeos, but knew the question was premature. Romeo15 was almost a light minute behind Romeo14 and wouldn’t see the explosion for another 34 seconds. The rest of the pack were even further back. The last one, Romeo24, was 31 light minutes behind. Now that he thought about it, he wondered if the Jab ships even knew where everyone else was.

  “Shut down the cloak,” he said suddenly. “Can we tell if any of the remaining Romeos have their running lights on or are actively scanning?”

  “Romeo15 and Romeo16 do not have running lights on. The others are too far away to be able to determine if their running lights are on or not. No radar emissions are being detected,” said the AI.

  “Re-engage cloak. Astro, bring our velocity to zero. Until I know what they’re going to do, there’s no sense in us moving any closer.”

  Not surprisingly, Romeo15 was the first one to react.

  “Romeo15 is decelerating,” said the tactical AI.

  “Good,” said Koenig under his breath. As soon as Romeo16 detected the explosion, it too began to decelerate, albeit not as quickly as Romeo15. TacComp confirmed Koenig’s suspicion that 16 was attempting to rendezvous with 15 by catching up to it. That would be the logical thing to do and would be what he would do if he were commanding Romeo16. He checked Excalibur’s velocity. It was down to less then 987 kilometers per second and dropping fast. He had an idea.

  “If Romeo15 comes to a complete stop and the others rendezvous with it, how long will that take?”

  “Minimum time to rendezvous is one hundred eleven minutes.”

  “Astro, what velocity would we need to maintain in order to have all eleven Romeos silhouetted against the sun at that point?”

  “One thousand, five hundred ninety-seven kilometers per second.”

  “Then bring us up to that velocity and trajectory. How long until Excalibur is within Jab graser fire effective range?”

  “Maneuvering orders acknowledged. Excalibur will enter enemy effective graser range in forty-six point six minutes.”

  “Okay, that’s enough time to give the crew a break. Stand down from Battle Stations. Koenig to crew. Here’s the situation…”

  Chapter Seventeen:

  The ship was once again at Battle Stations. It wasn’t within effective graser range yet but would be soon, although with the cloak still active, Koenig wasn’t really worried about graser fire. Not only could the Jabs not detect Excalibur, they’d have a hard time aiming accurately at this range even if they could. It was now very clear what the Jabs were doing. Romeo15 had come to a complete stop, and the other nine ships had already pulled up beside it or were in the process of doing that. What Koenig hoped for was that they’d be in a position where multiple Jab ships would be lined up one behind the other from Excalibur’s point of view. That way gravity beams could disembowel more than one target with the same shots. He was realistic enough to understand that there was no incentive for the Jabs to line up that precisely and that he’d be lucky to get three ships in a row in the first pass. After that, Excalibur would swing around, away from the enemy formation, and attempt to get into the same relative position again, this time moving parallel and at the same velocity as the enemy instead of on a flyby vector.

  The first engagement would be the riskiest. Excalibur had to get relatively close in order for the optical sensors to be able to distinguish individual targets quickly enough for TacComp to calculate the best time to fire before the ship zipped past and lost the silhouette against the sun. Koenig was counting on the Jabs focusing on what lay ahead and not on what might be beside them for at least the few seconds Exc
alibur needed to aim, fire and then re-cloak. With the tactical plan in place, the ship would once again be controlled by the AIs for the actual battle.

  The sidebar chronometer was counting down to the de-cloaking point with only seconds left to go.

  “Here we go,” Koenig muttered to himself. Events would be happening so fast that the AIs wouldn’t have time to report verbally. Koenig would be able to follow the action from the tactical display and the sidebar data. The timer hit zero. He watched as the cloak shut down, the two cannon turrets took aim and…fired.

  “Three tar—” The rest of the AI’s report was drowned out by a shockingly loud vibration through the hull, deck and the Command Pod console.