Gallant looked at Roberts, doubtfully.
“I’ll look into it, sir,” said Roberts.
Gallant couldn’t be sure, but he definitely didn’t like secret activities. He said, “OK. If it’s really harmless, I don’t wish to interfere. However, be on guard and make sure it remains harmless.”
Was there, or was there not, something more involved?
CHAPTER 23
Saturn
Ten days after leaving Jupiter, the Warrior approached Saturn. Although only one-eighth of Earth’s density, the pale yellow gas giant was nearly one hundred times larger and surrounded by 150 moons. Just over 1.2 million kilometers from the planet was its largest moon, Titan. The ice moon had its own methane-rich atmosphere and when the sun’s ultraviolet radiation struck the atmosphere, it rained liquid methane. The aliens’ origin was believed to be a planet of the red dwarf Gliese-581, located 20.5 light years away, but because the Titan moon served as the aliens’ main population center in the Solar System, the United Planets had nicknamed the aliens “Titans.”
Rhea, the second largest moon, also had a tenuous atmosphere. The moons Pandora and Prometheus acted as gravitational shepherds to confine the planetary rings and prevent spreading while the moons Pan and Atlas caused waves within those rings.
The rings themselves appeared like grooves in a vinyl record. The most prominent rings were thick, composed of ice and impurities, with particle sizes ranging from dust to ten meters. There were also faint rings further out from Saturn with wide gaps between them.
The Warrior began collecting information about the strength of the Titan fleet in the area and the development of its colonization. The bridge crew was aghast at the incredible infrastructure the aliens had developed on so many of the moons. It was going to be a challenge to operate in such a heavily populated and trafficked environment, but the stealth and cloaking technology allowed the Warrior to penetrate deep into the alien territory unobserved.
The Titans had built their main military headquarters on Pandora. It had a layered defense with satellites, minefields, and overlapping fields of fire from fortresses with scores of missile launchers guarding the approaches. The obstructing strong points were a hazard to navigate.
The CIC tech reported, “The Titan industry and population infrastructure, as well as military strength show a number of energy emission sites, indicating communities and industries in hundreds of locations. Our population estimate is between ten to fifty million for Saturn’s moons. These estimates don’t correlate with a long term civilization on Saturn, unless there are billions more underground. But they would need a huge underground industry, as well. My guess would be they have inhabited Saturn’s moons for less than a century.”
The Warrior stayed behind the Titan ships as she moved through rings. This allows them to disguise their wake while Gallant focused his attention on surveying the region to find a location for their new support base.
They set up a relay communication station, designated Base Kepler, on a remote moon away from most of the alien’s bases. It provided secure shelter for recharging the stealth batteries. It was designed similar to their base at Jupiter.
***
When she arrived at Jupiter, the Warrior had been a novice. Now, she was a veteran. Ten days of hard work as they journeyed from Jupiter had improved their training. Constant drills and the repeated instructions were applied with tempered discipline and good humor. It had made a positive impact on the crew.
While Gallant planned the deployment of tapping devices and explosives for this planetary system, he found Clay constantly prodding him to do more.
One day, Gallant poked his head into the crew’s mess to see how they were reacting to the new activities. The mess hall was fairly crowded having just completed lunch service. The crew was relaxing by playing games and telling tales. Music played softly in the background and several video games were underway on one of the rear tables. There was a wide disparity in the crew’s dress. Some were in uniform while others wore special gear for engineering room repairs, or weapons tube maintenance that required exterior protection. One weapon tech was wearing fire-retardant dungarees. The noise level was high—giving the impression of a controlled madhouse.
“Good day,” Gallant said loudly over the racket.
The conversations stopped as they turned toward him. Several crew members started to rise, but he said, “At ease.”
A moment later, he asked, “Can I join you for a few minutes?”
There was a spattering of “Yes, sirs,” while they made room for him at one of the center tables.
Muffled noises were heard as food plates were shoved aside.
Gallant was glad to see lots of interested faces.
“How are things going with you?” He asked a nearby petty officer.
“It’s different, sir. Lot’s different from my last ship. We mostly patrolled against raiders near Mars. I never expected any of this.”
The chatter in the mess grew appreciably.
Gallant sat down and connected a tablet to the console screen at the head of the compartment.
“This is Saturn,” he said, as the screen came alive with the huge image. “And this is our preliminary assessment of the layout of the enemy installations.”
“Wow," was the general reaction.
He said, “The Warrior is now ready to flex her muscles.”
This caused a lot of chatter.
A heavy set man with sleepy eyes leaned forward to get a better view. He asked, “Where are we going to be operating, sir?”
Gallant recalled talking with this engineering petty officer several times before. He responded, “Good question, Gonzales. See that mid-sized moon close to Saturn? It’s called Pandora and is the military headquarters of the entire operation. We’re going to be conducting tapping and bugging operations on several of the moons and bases in this planet’s system, but Pandora is the prize jewel. It is also the hardest nut to crack because it is located in the densest part of the rings.”
“Are we supposed to reconnoiter that base, sir?” asked a dark complexioned young man.
Gallant recognized him as a CIC tech. “Yes, Jackson, that and more.”
One crewman with a half-finished synthetic food bar in his hand commented, “There are a lot of aliens here.”
“Would you guys like to know what’s here?” asked Gallant.
“Sure would, sir.” The enthusiasm caught on. The crew was beaming with excitement.
“May I ask a question, sir?”
“Sure,” said Gallant.
“What’s going on?”
“What are you referring to?” said Gallant.
“I mean, we go in we drop some stuff, we come out, but we don’t shoot anybody. Why not?”
“Oh, well, as you may notice we’re pretty well out numbered here,” said Gallant. “If any shooting starts, we might not do so well.”
That produced a chuckle.
“Yeah, but we have the cloak for protection.”
“That’s true, but to shoot we have to drop the cloak, and even so, they would know where the shooting is coming from the minute we shot. No, ours is a game of stealth.”
Gallant said “I want you to know, I will take every reasonable precaution, but our job is to be aggressive and penetrate deep into the enemy’s most highly guarded places. We have great new technology to keep us hidden, but we’ve already found that it’s not infallible. We’re going on this mission with our eyes open. We will take advantage of everything that helps us obtain intelligence on the aliens’ intentions and movements. We’re going to steal every piece of data that’s not bolted down.”
The sincere words made a deep impression on them.
He allowed them to discuss things openly amongst themselves which resulted in a great deal of second guessing of tactics and strategy, but by far the favorite topic was when they would get back home.
“By the way, I’m forming a trouble squad for a dangerous mission. L
et me know if there are any takers.”
“Huh, sir. What’s the deal? What have you got in mind?”
“You’ll see.”
As he was leaving, he heard whispers, “The old man’s hunting for bear.”
Gallant’s ears perked up . . . Old man?
CHAPTER 24
Trailing
Saturn’s rings were less dense in the vicinity of the moon, Titan, but Gallant approached it with caution nonetheless. He had completed a number of sorties through enemy territory already and it should’ve been old stuff, by now, but, of course, it wasn’t. Each excursion was fraught with its own unique sets of dangers. If he were looking for ease and safety, he would have stayed several hundred million kilometers away.
After a few swift observations, he selected his target. “That cargo ship has a huge mass and a broad beam. It’s moving slowly and it has a wide turning radius. It appears to be heading in the right direction, so I think it’ll create a significant enough turbulence to hide our wake if we follow close behind it. We’ll sneak up on her stern and follow her through the rings. Once we’re past the satellites, and sensor arrays, we should be close enough to the moon to conduct our operation.”
“Set course and speed to follow close behind the cargo ship,” ordered Gallant.
“Aye aye, sir,” said Lieutenant Clay, who was the current Officer of the Deck.
CIC was looking over the cargo ship carefully and logging its characteristics.
“Bridge, CIC; We designate this target as Kilo-one.”
“Very well,” said the OOD. “CIC, bridge; Keep a sharp watch for any rapid maneuvers by the target. Also, keep a careful watch on our wake and inform me, immediately, if any other ships show an interest in it.”
“Aye aye, sir,” responded CIC.
Gallant entered CIC and examined the complicated traffic pattern. He had the navigator plot a course through the rings—past the satellites and orbiting fortifications. He hoped he could use Kilo-one to get them most of the way there. If not, he would have to find another ship to trail. The CIC analysts were diligently plotting the tracks of every ship along their general direction.
The Warrior was a fine ship, but Gallant had noticed a slight imperfection in her handling at slower speeds.
He spoke through the public address system, “Shipmates, today we are going to investigate the enemy’s base on Titan. For us, there are now two types of spacecraft; the Warrior and . . . targets,” he paused to allow what he expected would be a few chortles.
He continued, “We can expect trailing operations to be trickier than those we experienced around Jupiter because of the tremendous number of sensors and ships in the area, as well as the denser rings of Saturn. These rings will expose our turbulence wake despite our stealth technology. We’re going to whip the turbulence problem by trailing close behind enemy shipping and letting their wakes disguise ours. This will become the ultimate test of our stealth capabilities. It will also test our ship handling skills to travel at high speeds close to enemy ships.”
He paused again and then said, “We’ll take the Warrior close to the dark side of this moon and launch the Wasp carrying Mr. Gabriel and myself. We'll land on the moon and perform an EVA to plant a bug at the alien’s communication junction manifold. But we’ll be back aboard before anyone is the wiser.”
There was an audible “Aaaahhh,” from the crew, no doubt from their collective hearts beating faster.
Gallant murmured, “This should prove to be a memorable mission.”
He turned and nodded to the OOD. He said, “Proceed.”
Clay set the Warrior’s course to follow Kilo-one.
Clay told the bridge crew, “We’ll creep up on him. Stay alert.”
CIC maintained a track on the target and plotted all the nearby shipping to ensure none passed close enough to interfere with the Warrior.
Of course, there was no guarantee of success, even if they didn’t make a mistake. The fortunes of war were such, that any one of a million random events could thwart them.
“Anything new on radar?”
CIC responded, “No, sir.”
Gallant said, “We’re committed to this course of action. Let’s prove we can trail this ship as close as necessary.”
As they reached position directly behind the target they adjusted speed to close to within a distance that gave them a ten second window to react if the target abruptly changed speed or course.
As they trailed Kilo-one their turbulence merged with that of the cargo ship.
They passed close to a second sensor array without detection.
Kilo-one seemed indifferent to the large rocks it was passing, as though it knew them all, intimately. For the Warrior, however, they presented a serious navigational hazard.
Kilo-one moved through the faint rings that were common at this distance from Saturn and passed between a pair of 1 km rocks that were traveling at nearly the same speed as each other. It was the ‘nearly’ that presented a problem because as the Warrior made its approach to pass, the rocks moved closer together.
Gallant looked at the CIC analyst and said, “Well?”
After a quick calculation, he responded, “We’re OK, sir.”
The Warrior followed its target and the process kept the bridge crew on edge.
“Bridge, Kilo-one is executing a turn to starboard,” bellowed a CIC analyst.
The OOD order, “Helm, all stop,” halted the engine drive and let the ship’s momentum carry them forward.
“Aye aye, sir.”
A short distance ahead of the Warrior, her contact completed her turn. As the target straightened out her course again, the OOD ordered, “Helm, ahead one third, come right to new heading 120, mark two.”
The course change brought the Warrior back into position behind the contact.
Countering the target’s maneuver was not just tricky—it was dangerous. Given the proximity of the two ships, a collision was possible. In addition, the maneuver would also leave a bewildering wake turbulence that might stir up a curious patrol ship, possibly revealing the Warrior.
As they trailed the contact, the OOD was careful to maintain a constant distance.
“Distance to target is now standard length. We’re getting indications that she has settled on her course and speed. The contact is moving in a routine manner without a suggestion of detecting us.”
“Well done,” Gallant said, “We completed the maneuver and they don’t have a clue we even exist.”
Kilo-one increased speed at one point for a short distance and then slowed dramatically as it approached its parking orbit. The Warrior slowed and moved away, careful not to stir up too significant a wake.
“We have company,” said Clay, as another vessel passed close, producing some apprehension.
“How many contacts do we have within one million km?” asked Gallant.
“There are twenty-seven contacts within that radius, but fourteen are underway,” reported CIC.
“What’s the bearing to the closest?”
“Bearing 090, mark two.”
Gallant studied the chart and ordered the Warrior to follow behind the new target which was designated Kilo-two.
After trailing the ship for several minutes, the Warrior found the repetitive operations of the target to be of considerable advantage. They attempted to collect individual ship characteristics and signatures for their database with the belief they might follow the same ships multiple times.
The tactical situation was becoming clear. After surveying the best landing position for the Wasp, the Warrior parked in a stationary orbit.
“What is the disposition of the military patrol ships in this region?” asked Gallant.
The OOD said, “Sir, there are a half dozen warship that have begun to move and rendezvous over the north polar coordinates of the moon.” He showed a plot of two views superimposed to make clear which ships were moving.
“Could we have spooked them?”
“No
t likely, sir.”
After several more minutes, that assessment proved correct. The warships left the area on an unknown mission.
“That was good training for us. We’ll be doing a lot of trailing and analysis in the future.”
With the Warrior parked in orbit over Titan under stealth mode. Gallant got dressed in his pressure suit for the Wasp mission.
“Send Gabriel to the flight deck. I’ll let you know when we’re ready for launch.”
“Yes, sir.”
Gabriel made his way to the hangar bay and together they climbed in the ship and prepared for launch. Gallant strapped into the command chair and pulled the neural interface over his head. He connected to the AI flight controls and started the engines.
Gabriel gave him a thumbs-up, eager to embrace the adventure.
“Bridge, Wasp; we’re ready for launch,” said Gallant.
The OOD said, “Wasp, bridge; launch vehicle.”
The acceleration thrust the two passengers against their seats as the craft left the Warrior.
“Activate stealth mode,” ordered Gallant.
“Aye aye, sir,” said Gabriel, as he pulled on his neural interface and formed a mental image of the stealth controls while Gallant piloted the craft.
Soon the tiny vehicle approached the moon in stealth mode.
“Give me a detailed operational status.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll get a fix now, sir.”
Gabriel appeared nervous. However, he was making every effort to be alert and do his job.
When the Wasp landed on Titan, it came to rest on the surface at the edge of a plateau. Its two occupants prepared for an EVA. Gallant ambled to the access hatch on the side of the ship. They gathered the bugging device and exited the ship. Bouncing along the surface, they made their way toward their objective, a communication distribution station.
The sun hit a nearby boulder which cast a long shadow across their path. Gallant looked up into space searching to see if they had any unwanted company.
Henry Gallant and the Warrior (The Henry Gallant Saga Book 3) Page 13
