Steele's Demon Star

by Dietmar Wehr

  “Stand by for the Grand Admiral’s shuttle to dock,” came the announcement over the loudspeakers. Sogard forced himself to relax. If the shuttle was close enough for that announcement to be made, then there should be enough time for the briefing and still make the deadline.

  “Shuttle is now docked.” Sogard nodded to the officer, in command of the Marine honor guard, who called his men to attention. As the ship’s docking hatch opened and Grand Admiral Bochette stepped through, the Marine officer brought his ceremonial sword up to the traditional salute position. His men raised their right hands to their foreheads in a perfectly synchronized movement as if they were all robots obeying a single electronic command.

  “Grand Fleet arriving,” said the loudspeaker.

  “Welcome aboard, Grand Admiral,” said Sogard as he saluted. Beauchamp returned the salute, and everyone relaxed.

  “Thank you, Commodore. I won’t keep your task force in orbit past the King’s deadline. I just want a few words with you and your captains. I presume they’re all tied in electronically?”

  “Yes, sir. They’re online right now. Allow me to escort you to the conference room. Lieutenant, you may dismiss the honor guard.”

  When Beauchamp entered the conference room, he saw that all six destroyer captains were electronically present via video connections. Their faces were displayed in two rows on the room’s main display on the far wall. Beauchamp took the seat at the end of the oval table so that he could clearly see the display and vice versa. Sogard took the chair to Beauchamp’s right.

  “Before I begin, I want to make sure that this conversation is not being overheard by anyone below the rank of captain,” said Beauchamp.

  Sogard nodded. “I’ve already made sure of that, sir, and I’ve also made sure this meeting isn’t being recorded as per your instructions.”

  “Very good, Commodore. I know that all of you have received your official written orders. I’m here to give you your unofficial verbal orders. The Strategy Planning Board thinks that the HRCN will send ships to control Alpha Green Thirty-eight sooner or later since that particular super-giant is closer to Caledonia than it is to Socorro. The King has made it clear that he wants his Royal Navy to get there first. He has also made it clear that he does not wish to initiate hostilities with the HRCN at present. I, therefore, want to make it crystal clear that if you should encounter HRCN warships in AG38, you will not fire first.” He paused and leaned forward before speaking. “The King has not said that his Navy should back down if there is a confrontation with warships from another power, whether it be the HRCN or someone else. If your ships get there first, you will be expected to stand your ground even if that means they fire first. Naturally, if that happens, then you are free to respond in kind.” He turned to look at Sogard. “Be as aggressive as you feel the situation warrants as long as you don’t fire first. For the first time since the start of the last war, the Royal Navy has the quantitatively superior force, and we should make sure our HRCN counterparts understand that fact and our determination to exploit it for all it’s worth. I hope I’ve made myself clear.”

  “You have, sir,” said Sogard. The six captains echoed that response.

  “Good! Then my mission here is complete,” said Beauchamp as he stood up. “Good hunting to you all. Commodore, please walk with me back to my shuttle.”

  When the two of them reached the docking hatch, Sogard looked around to make sure no one was nearby and said in a low voice, “Does the King know about your verbal orders, Grand Admiral?”

  Beauchamp stared at him for a few seconds before responding in an equally low voice. “Grand Admirals are permitted and expected to exercise their initiative when the situation warrants it. Does that answer your question, Commodore?”

  “Yes, sir, it does.”

  “Any more questions?”

  “No, sir.”

  “Then I’ll be heading back down. Remember, Commodore, be aggressive.” Beauchamp turned and stepped through the hatch onto his shuttle without waiting to see if Sogard had any response. Minutes later, the Grand Admiral’s shuttle was on its way back to Socorro.

  Chapter Four

  Steele was asleep when the Bridge called. Having gone to bed with the SGB7 system empty of other ships as far as the instruments could tell, it was disturbing to be woken up in the middle of his sleep cycle.

  “Steele, here. What is it, Bridge?”

  “We’re being hit by low power radar waves, Skipper. The direction they’re coming from is consistent with a ship that’s arrived from Socorro.” Steele could tell that the XO was nervous, and he understood why. Admiral Hara’s cruisers hadn’t arrived yet and weren’t expected for at least another 36 hours. The Diamond K was sitting stationary near a newly discovered wormhole while it deployed marker buoys around it and its sensors monitored the wormhole’s energy output as part of the mission to collect as much data on it as possible.

  “Great. Just what we need,” said Steele. “I’ll be on the Bridge shortly. Bring the ship to Condition Two but no active scanning.”

  “Condition Two but no active scanning, yes, sir.”

  Steele was dressed and on the Bridge in less than three minutes. By then the ship had settled down to Condition Two, a state of alert but not at battle stations.

  “Any change in status?” he asked.

  Chilton, the XO, nodded. “Radar signal strength is increasing. TacComp estimates it’ll be strong enough to detect us in approximately three and a half minutes.” He pointed to the main display and the tactical situation shown on it. A dotted red line intersected the Diamond K’s icon. The source of the radar was somewhere along that line, but TacComp didn’t have enough data to calculate where. Steele reviewed in his mind his options. He had given precisely this scenario considerable thought and had discussed it with the XO and the other officers. The K was not doing anything illegal, and therefore, there was no reason to try to hide or run away. If a Royal Socorran Navy ship was approaching, it was reasonable to assume that they would talk first and not just open fire.

  “Turn on our transponder and begin active scanning along that bearing. Com, stand by to record a text message that we’ll send by comlaser.”

  Commodore Sogard leaned back in his flag officer’s chair on Excalibur’s Bridge as the Destroyer approached the wormhole where the flashing red and green lights of marker buoys had been detected. Someone has gotten here first and found this system’s wormholes. I’d bet a year’s pay that it was the HRCN. How nice of them to do the preliminary survey work and deploy the marker buoys for us. That’ll save a lot of time. The question now is, are they also guarding these wormholes? I think we’re about to find out. Any further thoughts were interrupted by the tactical officer’s report.

  “We’re being hit by radar pulses, and I’m picking up a transponder ID, Commodore. The ship is the Diamond K. She’s not listed in our database of HRCN warships. The radar is not, I repeat, not targeting type.”

  “Probably a privately-owned vessel. I would guess that they’re under charter to survey this system. Let’s see if they try to contact us. Has our radar picked them up yet?” asked Sogard.

  “No, yet, Commodore, but TacComp estimates we’ll see them in another eighty-nine seconds.”

  Before Sogard could say anything, the com officer spoke up. “Comlaser, Commodore. I’m sending the message to the main display.”

  [Diamond K to unidentified vessel. We’re a commercial ship hired to survey this system. Request communications and identification. End of message.]

  “Are we close enough for voice and visual yet, Com?” asked Sogard.

  “I think so, Commodore. I’ll try to establish a channel.”

  Steele was wondering why the other ship hadn’t responded yet when the main display switched from tactical to a slightly distorted image of a man’s head and shoulders. He was wearing a Royal Socorran Navy uniform, and Steele recognized the very-closely cropped hairstyle that RSN officers typically had.

  �
�I’m Commodor—ogard in command of the—6th Task Force.” Steele looked at his com officer to convey the message that the Lieutenant should try to clean up the audio static. “This star system—claimed as being under the jurisdic—his Royal Majesty, King Pierre! You are ordered to—our survey activities immediately. Over.”

  Steele cleared his throat before speaking. “I didn’t quite catch your name, Commodore. I’m Captain Damascus Steele. We don’t want any trouble with the RSN and will obey your request.” Steele made sure he put extra emphasis on the word ‘request.’ “We’ve pretty much finished the preliminary survey of wormholes in this system and were planning on sending probes into this wormhole to get a recording of the turbulence. If you allow us to continue with that work, we’d be happy to share our data with the RSN. Over.” The image on the display was less distorted now, and the Commodore’s voice was also more clear.

  “The name is Commodore Eugene Sogard, Captain Steele. It’s good that you’re willing to obey my order because that’s what it is. I’ll consider your offer to probe this wormhole, but in the meantime, I have two questions for you. Who hired you, and are there any other ships in this system? Over.”

  Steele noticed that the lag time between replies was shrinking quickly. A glance at the sidebar data confirmed that the Commodore’s ship was less than one-third of a light second away now.

  “We were hired by the HRCN, and to the best of our knowledge, there are no other ships in this system at present. Over.”

  Sogard had already opened his mouth to reply when he decided to take a moment or two to ponder Captain Steele’s reply. The admission that the HRCN had hired his ship was surprisingly candid. Either the Captain was a fool who didn’t understand the value of denying information to a potential enemy, or it didn’t matter if Sogard knew who had hired Steele’s ship because the HRCN didn’t have any plans to take control of this system. Or he knows damned well that HRCN ships are on their way and is trying to be clever about misdirection. Sogard decided he wanted to know more about Steele and his ship.

  “Tell me, Captain Steele, are you currently active in the Caledonian Navy and I also wish to know what kind of vessel the Diamond K is. Over.”

  “I’m a reserve officer now, Commodore Sogard. The Diamond K is a Mercury-class freighter that’s been fitted out for wormhole survey work. We carry unmanned drones for mapping wormhole turbulence. Over.” Steele hoped his voice wasn’t betraying his sudden apprehension over deliberately giving the Commodore the impression that the K was simply an unarmed freighter built in the Stellar Alliance and not a Socorran-designed freighter. Admitting that would probably tip the Commodore off that the K was a captured Q-ship.

  “Stand by, Captain,” said Sogard as he muted his microphone. “Ask TacComp to display the schematics of Mercury-class freighters, TO.”

  “Yes, sir. I’m sending that to your secondary screen, Commodore.”

  Sogard looked down at the screen on his chair’s left armrest. Mercury-class freighters were a Stellar Alliance design; a fact which Sogard found very interesting. Why not use a Caledonian freighter design? Could it be that the Diamond K belonged to a Stellar Alliance-registered company that had been awarded a contract from the HRCN? That might explain her captain’s willingness to admit who had hired that ship. He re-activated his mic before speaking.

  “Well, Captain Steele, your cooperation is appreciated. When would you be able to send your survey probe through the wormhole? Over.”

  Steele tried not to let his relief at having gotten away with his misinformation show. “Within the hour, Commodore. We were just in the process of retrieving the two drones that were finished emplacing the marker buoys. As soon as their both back on board, we’ll program and equip one of them to map the wormhole turbulence, drop two marker buoys on the other side and then come back here. Over.”

  Sogard took his time responding. He couldn’t see any reason why he shouldn’t let the Diamond K proceed. If Captain Steele were so stupid as to try to run away without sharing the probe’s data, Excalibur would show him the error of his ways.

  “You may proceed with your probe, Captain Steele, with the understanding that we will expect you to share the probe’s data with us. I trust that will not be a problem? Over.”

  “Not at all, Commodore. Our contract with the HRCN did not explicitly forbid sharing our data, and therefore, I’m willing to do so. Over.”

  “Fine. I’ll contact you again when your probe returns. Sogard out.”

  Steele waited until the com officer confirmed that Diamond K was no longer transmitting to the other ship before quickly walking over to the Tactical Station.

  “It’s too bad the Commodore didn’t tell us the name of his ship, Skipper,” said the XO, who was manning the station under Condition Two.

  Steele sighed. “Yeah, and I didn’t want to risk raising his suspicions by asking for that information. I doubt very much if his ship is the only Socorran Navy ship in this system now. He did say he was commanding a task force which implies at least two but probably more ships. Can we say anything about his ship from the background image behind him?”

  Chilton looked dubious. “Maybe but I think it’s a long shot. I’ll replay his transmission on the main display with the sound off.”

  As the image began to replay, Steele and Chilton looked closely at it. When the replay ended, Steele looked at his XO who shook his head. “I don’t recognize anything. I’ve never been on the Bridge of any Socorran Navy ship, Skipper.”

  “Me neither but I have an idea. Do we, by any chance, have visual recordings of the Bridges of captured Socorran warships in our database?”

  “I’ll check,” said Chilton. A few seconds later, he was smiling. “Yes, we do! When our Navy upgraded the K, they also upgraded TacComp’s database with the standard version that all HRCN ships carry including visual records of inspections of captured Socorran ships. This first one is for a heavy cruiser.” Sogard’s face disappeared from the main display to be replaced by a still image of a warship’s Bridge. It was much larger than what Sogard’s Bridge looked like.

  “No, that’s not it,” said Steele. “What’s the next one?”

  “Light cruiser,” said Chilton. That Bridge didn’t look familiar either.

  “No. Next?” said Steele.

  “Ah, the rest are all either light or heavy cruisers, Skipper. They’d be more or less the same as what we just saw.”

  Steele nodded. “Which means Sogard’s task force flagship is smaller than a light cruiser. That has to mean it’s a destroyer, and I can’t see a Commodore commanding anything less than four destroyers, can you?”

  “No, sir. My guess would be six at least.”

  “I agree, and that implies that all the other wormholes in this system have at least one destroyer standing guard now. Admiral Hara is going to have her work cut out for her when her four cruisers get here.” And I hope she gets here soon.

  Chapter Five

  Hara was chatting with the Tactical Officer when her flagship Vanquisher dropped down to sub-light velocities in the AG38 system. It was the Helm Officer that brought her attention back to the tactical display.

  “Diamond K’s not alone, Admiral.”

  Hara looked at the display with a frown. There were eight icons on the large screen, and only one of them was the green that represented a friendly ship. One of the other seven was a light blue representing an unarmed commercial vessel. The other six were flashing white that indicated they were not squawking their transponders and had been detected only by the new system. And the K was very close to one of them. All six of the unknown ships were moving at very low velocities that suggested to Hara that they were patrolling wormholes. That would also explain why the K was virtually stationary as well. She was glad she had ordered her four cruisers to enter FTL with their transponders off. Her squadron’s arrival might still be detected from the ripples in the ether as the FTL drives powered down but at this range that wasn’t a sure thing either. Even a
s she was looking at the main display, three more white icons appeared that she knew where the rest of her squadron.

  “Com, send an IFF comlaser to the other cruisers along with a text message to remain in passive mode and rally to the flagship,” said Hara.

  After her order was acknowledged, she turned to the TO. “Those stealthy ships have to be warships, and the RSN is closer to this system than any other navy with at least six ships. The question is what class of ship are they? Do we have any intel on what King Pierre has been doing with his Navy since the war ended?”

  “What we know for certain is that the RSN didn’t downsize at all the way we did. New warship construction tapered off as ships under construction when the war ended were completed, but there was a lag of about five months before any new construction commenced. Unconfirmed reports say that the RSN is building a brand-new class of destroyers that are both larger and better armed than the old class. It’s too soon for any of the new class to be in service yet, Admiral. We know that King Pierre likes to keep his heavy cruisers and battlecruisers close to home. If I had to guess, I’d say these six are destroyers.”