Excalibur's Quest

by Dietmar Wehr

  It very quickly became clear that the ten Jab ships were in the process of coming together into a close formation even as they moved towards the colony planet. That too was expected, but Koenig had no intention of waiting for it to happen before firing. The longer he and the other COs waited, the greater were the chances of something going wrong. Excalibur would be in firing position before Romeo1 finished its rendezvous with the others.

  “Firing position in ten seconds,” said the tactical AI.

  “Zoom in tactical,” ordered Koenig. The display now concentrated on only Excalibur and Romeo1. Excalibur was about to pull up parallel to the Jab ship at the 10km distance. “Are Curtana and Tizona clear?” he asked. The last thing he needed was to accidentally hit either of the other two swordships, which might be directly on the other side of Romeo1.

  “Neither ship is in the line of fire,” said the astro AI.

  “Firing position has been achieved. Awaiting order to fire,” said the tactical AI.

  “Fire,” said Koenig quietly. He was surprised at how calm he was.

  “Romeo1 is breaking up,” said the tactical AI. Koenig

  “Let’s do the same thing to the next nearest target,” said Koenig. By the time Excalibur was in position to fire at Romeo2, Curtana and Tizona had also ripped their first targets to pieces. Koenig was surprized that the Jabs hadn’t reacted in any visible way. The seven remaining ships were still on their same trajectories. Was it possible that they hadn’t noticed three of their ships falling behind? With the cloak active, there was no way to tell if the Jabs were actively scanning with radar. Perhaps their fleet commander was still trying to determine whether they were under attack or whether three of his ships has suddenly suffered catastrophic malfunctions.

  “Firing position on Romeo2,” said the tactical AI.

  Koenig gave the order to fire.

  “Target is breaking up.”

  Koenig was about to order the AIs to concentrate on the next nearest target when he noticed the Curtana seemed to be moving toward that same target after cutting its second victim to pieces.

  “Is Curtana moving to target Romeo3?” he asked.

  “Affirmative. Romeo3 is Curtana’s closest target,” said the tactical AI.

  “Why is Torriega’s tactical AI not directing that ship the other way, where there are three more targets, letting us take care of this one?”

  “Unknown.”

  The AI’s curt answer made Koenig frown. This was exactly the kind of screwup that he had instructed his AIs to make sure would not happen, by generating a consensus among all the AIs as to how situations like this would be handled.

  “Okay. We’ll let Curtana handle Romeo3. Keep us out of the line of fire.” Koenig tried to stay calm but the urge to vent his frustration and anger was difficult to overcome. He watched as Curtana and Tizona tried to pick off the last four Jab ships, which had finally figured out that they were somehow being attacked and were maneuvering evasively now. That made point-blank attacks more difficult. Koenig’s heart almost stopped when the Romeo7 icon seemed to merge with Tizona’s icon due to a last second evasive maneuver. The range must have gotten down to less than a hundred meters at the closest point. By the time his heart settled down again, the battle was over. All 10 Jab ships were drifting debris clouds. Koenig ordered the cloak shut down and contact re-established with the other two swordships. They were sufficiently far away that there was a slight time lag. When the video channels were established, it was clear that both Torriega and Hanson were quite pleased with themselves.

  “They should call this the Roark’s Drift Turkey Shoot!” said Torriega.

  “Damn right,” said Hanson. “Although when Romeo7 zigged when it should have zagged, I thought we’d had it!”

  “Are you two finished?” asked Koenig in a clearly annoyed tone. Both commanders lost their self-satisfied grins. “Commander Torriega, did your tactical AI recommend going after Romeo3?”

  “Ah, no. It wanted to go after number six, even though three was closer. I ordered it to concentrate on the closest target. What’s wrong with that?”

  Koenig noticed that there was no ‘sir’ or ‘Commander’ at the end of his sentence as protocol normally required. He decided not to make an issue of it this time. “What’s wrong is that the AIs had already figured out how to divvy up the targets so we could finish the battle as quickly and efficiently as possible. By Curtana going after Romeo3, Excalibur was left hanging in the wind on one flank without any targets, while Tizona had three targets to worry about. What if those other three Jab ships had gotten their act together and concentrated on fighting Tizona while you were going after Romeo3 and were too far away to support her?”

  “Well they didn’t go after her, so no harm done, right?”

  Koenig took in a deep breath and counted to ten. “This kind of thing better not happen again. If she had suffered damage and casualties, you’d have been relieved of command by now, Commander. Keep that in mind next time you overrule your AIs. Curtana can now go back to Alpha2 to resume her sentry mission. Tizona and Excalibur will head back to Roark’s Drift. This conference is over.” He cut the channel before Torriega could respond.

  On the way back to the planet, Koenig composed a report of the battle, including Torriega’s action, to be sent to Corrigan. HQ’s reply came four hours later.

  CSO to TFL. Congratulations on your victory. Keep up the good work. Your comments on Curtana CO’s actions have been noted. Hope you read him the riot act. Light cruiser Hauteclere and resupply ship Savannah will be arriving there in approximately 7.7 hours. Hauteclere is now part of Task Force. Savannah has her own orders. Let HQ know when you’re ready to leave for Jab home system.

  Both ships arrived on time. Koenig was surprised to see Teresa Henriques’s face on the video screen when the light cruiser came into communications range.

  “Hauteclere reporting for duty with the Task Force,” said Henriques with a smile.

  “Another swordship is welcome, Commander. Who’s conning Sting now?”

  Henriques’ grin grew even bigger. “You know her. Eriko has been promoted to full commander, and Sting is now her ship. Did we miss anything here?”

  Koenig realized that the cruiser and support ship would have already been in hyperspace when his report on the battle reached HQ. He brought her up to speed, but did not go into details about Torriega’s screwup.

  “Damn! I wish I’d been here soon enough to participate in that battle. It sounds like it was fun.”

  “A lot more fun than Excalibur’s previous one. What are Savannah’s orders by the way?”

  “She’s carrying a small assembly unit that will start to gobble up Jab debris to make bigger assembly units. She’s also got supplies and defensive equipment for the colonists. When she’s done unloading everything, her orders are to head back home. Can I ask what your plans are for Hauteclere, Commander?”

  Koenig took note of the fact that even though Teresa was technically senior to him in terms of service seniority, she accorded him the respect due a superior officer as per his position as the Task Force Leader.

  “As soon as the second relay seed and the raw materials needed to make it operational are ready, Excalibur will take them to the Jab home system. I’m hoping that Durendal will be able to send back a report on what’s going on in the New Shangri-la system before I leave.” He paused, made a quick decision and resumed speaking. “When Excalibur leaves this system, you’ll be deputy Task Force Leader while I’m gone. We’ll discuss contingency plans for the kind of scenarios that might take place before I can re-establish communications and tactical control from the Jab home system.”

  “Are you sure you want me, Commander? I don’t have as much combat experience as Nakatomi, Torriega or Hanson.”

  “I’m sure. Your experience as CO of a heavy cruiser and your service seniority make you the obvious choice.”

  “In that case, I accept the assignment.”

  The next day, th
e two of them met face to face on Excalibur. They spent an hour discussing scenarios with the tactical AI, including how Koenig wanted the Task Force to react to those situations. He also outlined how he intended to move his chess pieces around the board when the relay was operational in J1. Knowing the transit times between J1 and New Shangri-la and between New Shangri-la and Roark’s Drift, it would be easy to figure out when the path between the two human colony systems would be empty of Jab traffic. At that point, Koenig would order Henriques to lead all three swordships, including Torriega’s Curtana, to New Shangri-la to rendezvous with Durendal and then liberate that colony planet from Jab occupation. When that was accomplished, Koenig would order two ships at a time to move forward to J1 and join up with Excalibur. When all five ships were together again, they would conduct a massive raid on Jab infrastructure and space-based assets, as well as destroy any Jab warship within reach. The hope was that this massive show of force would make the Jabs realize that they had better agree to a cessation of hostilities or risk being quarantined on their home world indefinitely.

  Before the relay seed and raw materials were ready, Koenig had a chance to watch the assembly unit deployed by Savannah begin converting Jab debris into useful material. The assembly unit itself wasn’t big enough to build a new light cruiser all at once, but that wasn’t its function. The robotic maneuvering units, which it controlled, towed pieces of Jab ships into one end of the unit, which then proceeded to build bigger robotic units that could tow or push larger pieces around. Or if necessary, they could cut large pieces into smaller ones with a relatively low-power gravity cannon. Once there was a steady stream of debris going in one end, the assembly unit began building a larger version of itself, one that would be ten times wider when it unfolded itself. That would be phase two. Phase Three would be a third assembly unit that would be ten times wider than the phase two version. The phase three version would then be big enough to build light cruisers or small freighters. Once the robotic tugs managed to corral and bring back all of the large debris pieces, which were still moving around the system at the same velocities as the Jab ships had when they were destroyed, there would be enough raw materials to build the equivalent of two dozen Javelin-class light cruisers. Koenig didn’t think the TOSF would actually do that because there wouldn’t be enough officers and technical personnel to man them. That’s why it would make sense to build much bigger ships. A Scimitar-class, super-heavy cruiser contained ten times the mass, but it only needed two and a half times as many officers and three times as many technical and support personnel. Koenig had even heard rumors back on Earth that some of the planning staff were pushing the idea of an even larger warship, one at least twice as massive. It was intriguing to fantasize about conning a super-super-heavy cruiser, but Koenig wasn’t going to hold his breath waiting for it.

  At last the relay seed with the raw materials it would need to become operational were ready and stowed away in Excalibur’s hangar bay. The relay at New Shangri-la still wasn’t online, but Koenig couldn’t justify waiting for it any longer. He gave the order to head for J1.

  Koenig took the unusual precaution of ordering Excalibur to drop out of hyperspace well away from J1’s gravity threshold. The Jab’s home system sun looked tiny on the visual display as Koenig stood beside the Command Pod that was occupied by SubCommander Walther Conrad, Excalibur’s new XO. The ship was not under cloak, which was necessary for the com AI to be able to scan all EM frequencies to see what, if anything, they could pick up at this distance. Koenig noticed that Conrad was tapping his fingers on the armrest with obvious impatience. He, on the other hand, was not in any hurry. They would only get once chance to do this right, and taking a few extra hours of preparation was a small price to pay to do just that.

  “Do we have enough data for a tactical display of the system yet?” asked Koenig.

  “Affirmative,” said the tactical AI as the display shifted from an external optical view to a computer-generated representation of the entire Jab system, including all planets and anything else that pre-war visits by TOSF ships had noticed. That included two orbiting shipyards, one around the Jab home world and the other orbiting a gas-giant’s moon.

  “What are you picking up, Com?”

  “Some civilian transmissions as well as some coded message traffic that ComComp has classified as military but is unable to decode. Not able to pinpoint the source of that coded traffic, Commander.”

  “Okay. Have you AIs reached a consensus on where we should deploy the relay seed?” asked Koenig.

  “Affirmative. The proposed location is on the display now.”

  A flashing yellow dot had appeared over what Koenig thought of as the sun’s north pole at a distance of 233 million kilometers. That location made sense given that there was nothing there that would attract ship traffic, nor was it lined up with any nearby star that would cause ships to jump from there or emerge from hyperspace there.

  “I like it. How long before arrival if we head directly there, Astro?”

  “Minimum time for a zero-velocity arrival is thirteen point five hours, Commander.”

  “Good. Let’s get moving under cloak. Enjoy your shift, Walther and try to stay awake, okay?” Both men laughed as Koenig headed for the door.

  When Koenig arrived back on the Bridge 13 hours later, the tactical display had a lot more red icons on it. They were Jab ships moving around the system, arriving there or about to leave it. Analysis of the traffic revealed that there was activity on half a dozen moons around the system’s only gas giant. Since this system did not have an asteroid belt, Koenig surmised—and the astro AI agreed—that those other moons provided almost all of the metals needed by the shipyards.

  “Have we detected any ships heading for the bridge to New Shangri-la?” he asked.

  “Negative.”

  “Fine. Then we’ll deploy the relay seed and raw materials as planned.”

  An hour later, the task was done. The relay device had all the metal it needed floating nearby and was already in the process of using those metals to finish building itself. Koenig ordered the ship to take up a position inside the Jab home world orbit, where there was virtually no ship traffic to collide with and where the detection system would be able to clearly see if ships were on their way to the New Shangri-la system. The relay device became operational much more quickly than was usually the case, and Koenig sent a message to all three of the other relays letting them know that he was back in the information loop and asking for data on Jab ship movements.

  Durendal advised him that another ten ships had been detected passing through the New Shangri-la system on their way to Roark’s Drift. The New Shangri-la system itself was being garrisoned by 13 Jab warships, all of which were in orbit around the colony planet. Henriques had already been warned of the coming Jab fleet and when to expect it. There was nothing to do now but wait. Koenig found it hard to stay calm knowing that three of his ships were soon going into battle, and there was nothing he could do to affect the outcome. He forced himself to stay off the Bridge when the Jab fleet was due to arrive at Roark’s Drift. Any after-action report from Henriques would take another 89 minutes to reach him.

  When he was awoken by the call signal, he realized that he had fallen asleep during those 89 minutes.

  “Koenig here.”

  “Conrad on the Bridge, sir. We’ve received a message from Hauteclere.”

  “Read it to me, Walther,” said Koenig in a quiet tone.

  “Yessir. Henriques to TFL. Ten Jab warships arrived on schedule. The Task Force conducted an attack as per your instructions. All ten ships have been crippled and effectively destroyed. No damage or casualties suffered by the Task Force. The new debris pieces are already being corralled for future salvage. HQ has been advised.”

  Koenig’s relief at the good news was so powerful he actually felt light-headed for a couple of seconds.

  “Very good, Walther. I’ll be on the Bridge shortly.”

  When he go
t there, he asked to see the New Shangri-la star bridge from J1 all the way to Roark’s Drift, plus Jab ships that might be in transit. The number of jumps from J1 to the New Shangri-la system was high enough that there could still be Jab ships in transit that had left J1 before Excalibur had arrived. And if there were any in transit, they would arrive within the next 72 hours. Nakatomi’s latest report had revealed that there were no Jab ships heading the other way to J1. So, all Koenig had to do was wait another three days; then he would be as certain as he could be that the star bridge across the Rift was empty of Jab traffic. And once he was certain of that, he would order Hauteclere, Tizona and Curtana to make a fast dash for New Shangri-la, where they would link up with Durendal, and then, finally, liberate that system from Jab control. A quick check confirmed his hunch that the newest Javelin would be arriving at Roark’s Drift in roughly another five days. He would instruct Henriques to leave orders for that ship to remain there as backup. If five swordships weren’t enough to accomplish the mission, then he doubted if one more would make the difference.