Steele's Demon Star

by Dietmar Wehr

  “My God. How can that be possible?” asked Lavrov.

  Hara turned to Steele. “I’ll let you explain the reasoning behind that conclusion, Mac.”

  “Thank you, Admiral.” He turned to Lavrov. “The analogy that is used most often with wormholes is a rubber sheet where there are two metal spheres some distance apart. The weight of the spheres causes the rubber sheet to stretch, and therefore, each sphere is sitting in a depression. Those circular depressions are the gravity wells that all star pilots and navigators are familiar with. Going back to the rubber sheet analogy, if the two spheres were close enough, the rubber sheet between them would form a depressed trough. That trough represents a wormhole. This particular wormhole that we’ve just surveyed covers a distance that’s roughly three times larger than any other wormhole surveyed so far. When I saw that number, I asked myself why didn’t the black hole create wormholes with super-giant suns that are a lot closer? The answer that popped into my head is maybe it did. And since there are lots of super-giants that are closer, that implies that there are lots of wormholes radiating outward from that black hole. If there were some way to find and survey all those wormholes, then that black hole system could become the ultimate wormhole nexus; a traffic hub that could open up vast volumes of space to exploration. Finding and marking all the wormholes that radiate outward would be a very difficult challenge.”

  “It would? Why?” asked Lavrov.

  “Well, for one thing, deploying the standard buoy won’t work. The black hole’s gravity is so strong that the buoys can’t hold their position. We’d either have to build bigger and more powerful buoys or use something else like maybe a manned station. Without something to pinpoint a wormhole’s location, a ship that tries to survey that system might not be able to find its way back. The other problem is deciding where to look for wormholes. When the K arrived here in AG38, we already knew that there were at least three wormholes because survey ships had found them coming from the other end. Knowing what systems the other ends were located in meant we could draw a straight line from the other system to the center of this system’s sun and figure that the wormhole was somewhere close to that line. We stumbled across this particular wormhole while on our way to an adjacent section of this system where we did, in fact, find the fifth wormhole based on where the nearest super-giant stars were. If it hadn’t been for that accidental discovery, this wormhole might never have been discovered, and I can’t help wondering how many more of these black hole wormholes there are in systems we think we’ve fully explored. That’s one of the implications of this black hole. If it leads to other black holes, which I think is plausible, then they might very well have wormholes that eventually lead back into human-explored space with connections that we don’t yet know about.”

  Lavrov looked suitably impressed. Hara put her data tablet down and leaned back. “This discovery is a very big deal. That makes control of this star system even more important than it otherwise would be. If King Pierre knew what was on the other side of this wormhole, he might be willing to go to war with us again over it. I say that because I think we’d be willing to do that too. So, we can’t let him find out.” Before she could say more, Steele indicated that he had something to say. “What is it, Mac?”

  “I was able to stall Commodore Sogard for as long as I did by promising him that we’d share the probe’s data with him.” Lavrov expression changed to a frown, but Hara’s did not.

  “Considering that you were expecting routine data with nothing particularly remarkable about the other end, I don’t have a problem with you making that promise at the time. Clearly, we can’t let that promise tie our hands. He doesn’t know that the probe has returned so if he comes back and asks about it, we lie to him and say the probe is still missing, clear?”

  “Clear,” said Steele.

  Hara took note that he looked troubled by her decision. “You’re bothered by the fact that we have to renege on your promise, Mac?”

  “I guess I am, Admiral.”

  “Well, don’t be. It’s not unusual for ship captains to be overruled by higher authority. That happens all the time. The fact that you’ve been ordered to lie absolves you of responsibility for the deception. If you knew then what you know now, would you still have promised him the data?”

  “No.”

  Hara nodded her approval. “Exactly. And if he had demanded the data as the price for letting the Diamond K remain at the wormhole, would you have any qualms about holding the data back now?”

  Steele grinned and shook his head. “Not at all, Admiral. I see your point. A promise made under duress is not morally binding, and even though I made the offer, I did feel that I had to offer him something to keep him at bay. That’s a form of duress in my mind.”

  “Me too. I noticed that your report didn’t make any recommendations on what the K should do next. The question that the top brass are going to ask when they learn about the black hole is why you didn’t take the ship into the black hole system for a better look. I’m guessing that you don’t think that’s a good idea right now.”

  “No, Admiral. I think doing that now would be too dangerous as far as not being able to find the wormhole again to come back. Now that I’ve had more time to think about it, I think I should take the K back to Caledonia, let the top brass know what we’ve found and recommend a crash program to design more capable survey drones and buoys before coming back. Sending multiple Mark 2 probes could probably survey that black hole system as well and faster than a single ship could. I would not want any manned ship to go through there until reliable buoys that will stay on station around the wormhole are designed and deployed so that a ship can find its way home.”

  Hara considered that for a few seconds before responding. “I’m inclined to agree, Mac. Keeping the K here would risk losing that data if she got caught in the middle of a firefight. Sending her home now would get her out of harm’s way. As your corporate boss and as the senior ranking HRCN officer in this system, I’m ordering you to take the Diamond K home as soon as you’re back on board.”

  “Yes, sir. Should I transmit a copy of the probe’s data to your flagship before I go?”

  Hara’s first impulse was to say no to avoid any risk, regardless of how small, of the data being captured by Sogard, but she resisted that impulse. “Yes, send it over. Captain Lavrov, I will want that data encrypted over and above the usual security encryption. I’ll set the encryption key from my Command Station when it’s ready. That way, access will be limited to me alone.”

  “Yes, Admiral.”

  “Good. I think we’ve covered everything, Mac. I’ll have my situation report for HQ transmitted to the K to carry back. Now that we’ve figured out what we’re doing, I’m anxious to get it done. I’ll walk with you back to the hangar bay.”

  When the two of them had reached the shuttle’s boarding ramp, Hara turned to Steele and said, “If they send the K back here, play it safe and leave your transponder off. And don’t worry about finding me. Just stay at the edge of the system and Vanquisher or another cruiser will contact you, okay Mac? And try and bring back some reinforcements too, will ya?”

  Steele laughed. “I’ll try. Good-bye, Admiral.”

  “Good-bye, Mac.”

  As she returned to the Bridge, she felt the familiar weight of responsibility settling on her shoulders. Her orders were to prevent the RSN from seizing control of AG38 but not at any cost. If Sogard did the smart thing and returned to Socorro to get reinforcements, she might find herself outgunned and outnumbered. Given how important access to the black hole wormhole was now, the criteria for deciding whether to stand and fight or withdraw was suddenly a lot less clear.

  Chapter Seven

  Sogard looked at the tactical display with a critical eye and nodded. All six destroyers were now back in a tight formation which was headed back to the disputed wormhole. The squadron was still over a million kilometers away from Diamond K’s last known position, and it was already being
hit by targeting radar and a fairly powerful radar at that.

  “Can they pick us up at this range?” he asked the Tactical Officer.

  The TO hesitated before answering. “Hard to say for sure, Commodore. Based on the strength of the radar signal alone I’d say no, but if their receiving equipment is more sensitive than ours are, the answer could be yes.”

  Sogard gave him a look that conveyed his annoyance on not getting a definitive answer. Rumor had it that the new Ragnarok-class of destroyers that were almost built had radar gear that was more sensitive and could, therefore, detect radar return signals at a greater range, but Excalibur and her sister ships did not. For detecting ships of heavy cruiser size, the highest range his equipment could see them was approximately 600,000 kilometers, and his squadron wouldn’t reach that point for another eight minutes. By then, their velocity would be down from 1500 KPS to 333. If he elected to continue deceleration at 250Gs for another 140 seconds, the squadron would be a zero velocity at a range of 400,000 kilometers from the wormhole. That would be far enough to make laser hits unlikely and give anti-missile defenses plenty of time to lock onto and fire on any incoming missiles barrages. The fact that his destroyers had only a limited ability to co-ordinate their anti-missile fire was something that he tried not to dwell on. If he was only facing two heavy cruisers, then the odds of winning a missile duel were on his side, especially if Vice-Admiral Hara made the mistake of having each of her cruisers fire on a different target. He, on the other hand, would make sure that all six of his ships fired on the same target. But what if she doesn’t make that mistake? Then the odds don’t look so good, do they Eugene? He reassured himself that if every officer took all ‘what ifs’ into consideration, no one would do anything. Sometimes you had to ignore the what-ifs and roll the dice. The Com Officer’s voice put an end to the internal debate over what ifs.

  “Incoming comlaser, Commodore. It’s a text message.” Sogard frowned over the implications that HRCN ships could aim a comlaser that accurately at this range. So, their radar is that good! He was about to tell the Com Officer to put the message on the main display when the lieutenant beat him to it.

  [Vice-Admiral Hara to Commodore Sogard. Your six destroyers have been detected. What happened to the other six you said you had? Be advised that I have four, not two, heavy cruisers in my formation. If any of your ships approach within 200,000 kilometers of my ships, they will be fired upon. End of message.]

  Sogard whipped his head around to look at the Com Officer. “Did we pinpoint the source of that transmission?”

  The worried officer shook his head. “Not precisely, sir. It was a burst transmission that lasted less than a second. All we have is an approximate location.”

  “Then make sure you pinpoint which cruiser Admiral Hara is on the next time she sends a message, Lieutenant.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Sogard got up and stepped over to the Tactical Station. “She says she has four heavies now, but we only detected two before,” said Sogard. The TO nodded.

  “That’s right, Commodore. We did only detect two. I suppose it’s possible that two more heavy cruisers arrived between then and now, but I find that unlikely. It’s also possible that she had all four, to begin with, and had them lined up so that the one in front was blocking radar waves from hitting another one behind. That tactic wouldn’t work at short ranges, but we never got that close, sir.”

  “Hm. And that’s just the kind of sneaky tactic this woman is capable of. She managed to surprise RSN forces during the war a couple of times if I remember correctly. By the same token, she might be counting on her reputation for surprises to run a bluff. If that’s what she’s up to then, she’s outmaneuvered herself by letting us get close to two hundred thousand klicks range. I wasn’t planning on getting that close anyway and when we do get to our radar range, which will be when by the way?”

  “Ah, another three minutes, sir.”

  “Then we’ll see if she has two or four heavy cruisers and if she’s hiding the second pair behind the first two again, they’re going to have a hard time defending the front two against our missile attacks, won’t they?”

  The Lieutenant grinned. “Yes, sir, that’s right.”

  Sogard slapped his right hand down on the Tactical Station console in a gesture of conviction before turning back to his Command Station. The next three minutes passed quickly, and when Lieutenant Kyle Abernathy spoke again, his voice had a hint of nervousness.

  “Radar contact, Commodore! Four ships, repeat, four ships! TacComp has tentatively classified all four as heavy cruisers.”

  Sogard swore under his breath. This was the kind of situation he had feared. The enemy had just enough strength to make any combat engagement highly risky. Unless his first few missile volleys got incredibly lucky in terms of penetrating Hara’s missile defenses and then causing the right amount and type of damage, his six destroyers would be overwhelmed and crippled. That was his professional opinion, but he wasn’t sure if the King would see it that way as opposed to just looking at the six versus four quantitative ratio. And because of that, Sogard didn’t think that withdrawing completely was an option that he could seriously consider. Sending for reinforcements, however, was very much an option worth considering. In fact, the more he considered it, the more he concluded that it was the only option available to him now. Five destroyers would stay on this side of the Admiral’s line in the sand, and the sixth ship would head back to home base with Sogard’s request for reinforcement by more massive ships; preferably battlecruisers but even a few heavy cruisers would be enough to tip the scales his way. He turned to the Com Officer once more.

  Hara conducted the mental exercise her father had taught her to calm her mind as she waited for Sogard’s either verbal or physical response to her ultimatum. The 200,000-kilometer line in the sand had been chosen very carefully. It gave Sogard’s squadron enough room to come to a complete stop before reaching that line, thereby keeping tensions from ratcheting up and it also had the benefit of improving laser accuracy if the Commodore should be so foolish as to cross the line and dare her to fire on his ships. All other things being equal, she preferred not to do that, but she had already made up her mind that she would give the order to fire if her line was crossed. She heard the tactical display ping to denote a status change.

  “One of their destroyers is veering off, Admiral,” said the TO. Lavrov turned to look at her with a puzzled expression.

  “Commodore Sogard is doing the smart thing and sending a request for reinforcements back to the King,” said Hara in a calm voice.

  “That’ll take the reinforcements twenty-six days minimum to get here,” said the Helm Officer.

  “And if we ask for reinforcements, they can be here in twenty-three,” said Lavrov.

  “But asking for reinforcements would mean sending one of our four cruisers back, leaving us with three versus their five. That’s just about as even odds as you can get. The Commodore might just be willing to risk an engagement and roll the dice,” said Hara.

  Lavrov stood up and turned to look at Hara. “He might do that if he had orders to force a confrontation or if he was hell-bent on covering himself with glory, but if neither of those conditions applies, then he’d be stupid to risk it when reinforcements could conceivably shift the odds in his favor again,” he said.

  “I agree,” said Hara, “but I can’t count on him doing the rational thing. We have three days to play with. Let’s wait twenty-four hours to make sure that his destroyer really has left the system and isn’t just trying to sneak back if I send one ship back as well and then I’ll see if we can find a way to finesse him.” As she leaned back in her chair, she made a mental note to request that any call for reinforcements include at least one battlecruiser that had a separate Flag Bridge for the Squadron Commander. Neither Vanquisher nor the other heavy cruisers were equipped that way which meant she had to share the ship’s main Bridge with the Captain. And while he had his fully equipped
Command Station, all she had was a chair with minimal instrumentation sitting awkwardly behind him.

  It didn’t take 24 hours to confirm via long-range detection that the RSN destroyer had left the system. By then Hara had come up with a maneuver that she hoped would allow one cruiser to head home without Sogard knowing it. She waited another hour just to avoid making Sogard suspicious of the fact that her cruisers were moving right after his destroyer reached super-luminal velocities. With the orders given, she waited to see if and how the Commodore would react.

  Sogard was having dinner in his quarters when the Bridge called. “Is something happening?” he asked.

  “Yes, sir. Two of Admiral Hara’s heavy cruisers are accelerating away from her formation. They don’t seem to be heading back to Caledonia. Their initial trajectory looked like they might be heading to the Echo Two wormhole, but that trajectory is now starting to curve back toward our position. Commodore, there’s a chance that they might be trying to flank us.”