Duty, Honor, Planet: The Complete Trilogy

by Rick Partlow

  “They’re small,” Vinnie told him, sighing like a teacher lecturing a slow student, “launched out of the Gauss cannon coils and then they have a quick burnout solid-core fission drive to take them the rest of the way. They have a small fusion warhead surrounded by lasing rods; when the warhead goes, the rods blast the immediate area with gamma-ray lasers. Takes out any mines, smaller blockade ships, etc… He’s trying to clear the mines before we head through the gate.”

  “Launching ADM’s,” Pirelli announced, and a section of the main viewscreen showed dozens of small missiles shooting from the weapons pods so fast they could barely be seen. “That’s the last of them, Admiral.”

  “Helm, take us to the wormhole at one point five g’s,” Patel instructed.

  One and a half gravities seemed gentle compared to the high gravity deceleration they’d just experienced and McKay was able to keep his attention on the screen display. Six enemy ships were insystem, four of them arrayed around the gate that should lead them to Novoye Rodina. Two of the four were accelerating to intercept the Sheridan, the flare of fusion pulse drives at their tails.

  “Admiral,” Pirelli said sharply, “one of the ships heading for us is a rammer. He’s trailing the lighter…same tactic they used with the Decatur.”

  “Are the AD missiles going to hit them before they reach us?’

  “The first two waves are past their position...” Pirelli reported, checking a sensor readout. “The third…is in range and detonating now.”

  A series of flashes on the screen simulated the warheads exploding less than a light-second from the Sheridan, a halo of light surrounding each detonation signifying the ignition of the gamma-ray lasers surrounding each warhead.

  “Looks like positive hits on the two ships,” Pirelli said. “Not sure of the damage yet.”

  Then without warning, the lead ship, a pirated and converted freighter, was consumed in a huge fusion explosion that expanded into a glowing spherical cloud of gas and debris. A brief cheer erupted on the bridge. “Got her!” Pirelli exclaimed. “The grasers must have ignited her hydrogen fuel stores!”

  “What about the rammer?” Patel demanded.

  “Can’t tell yet, sir,” Pirelli informed him. “The explosion is masking her…no, wait! I’m getting her Eysselink signature now…she’s activated her drive field.”

  “Come on, Admiral, earn your pay,” Vinnie hissed. McKay glanced at him; he’d never known Vinnie to show nerves in the face of danger, but the man seemed rattled. McKay could sympathize. It was one thing to keep your head and your nerves in check when the bullets were flying and the adrenaline was flowing; it was another thing entirely to sit and wait while simulated icons on a screen decided whether you lived or died from thousands of kilometers away.

  “No one has any experience fighting one Eysselink drive ship against another,” Villanueva mused from the pilot’s seat. She turned to Vinnie. “What would you do?”

  “Long term,” he said after a moment’s consideration, “I’d develop a Shipbuster missile with an Eysselink drive. Short term…I’d try to use the gravimetic sensor emitters to destabilize her drive field.” He shrugged. “Couldn’t hurt.” McKay’s head snapped around and his mouth nearly fell open.

  “Admiral,” McKay broadcast over his ‘link to the bridge speakers, “Vinnie had an idea. Would it be possible to use our gravimetic emitters to destabilize the rammer’s drive field?” Vinnie glanced at him wide-eyed, looking like he wanted to shush him.

  “Pirelli?” Patel threw the question to his Tactical Officer.

  “Theoretically it’s possible,” she allowed. “I don’t know what range we would have or how much damage we can do with the reconfigured laser focusing fields…”

  “Pirelli, here’s what I want you to do,” Patel said with an intensity born of inspiration. “On my signal, deactivate our drive field, target her with the emitters, hit her with two volleys of Gauss cannon fire, then reactivate the field.”

  “Aye, sir,” Pirelli acknowledged. “Helm, prepare to deactivate the drive field.”

  “Ready when you are, Angie,” Sweeny said with a grin. She glanced at him sharply, then smiled in return.

  “Bogie is two minutes out at current acceleration,” Pirelli announced. “I estimate another minute before our emitters would have any effect.”

  “Jesus, sir,” Vinnie said quietly to McKay in the shuttle. “Way to leave my ass hanging in the wind if this doesn’t work.”

  “But if it does work, you’ll be the hero of the day, Vinnie,” McKay countered, grinning widely. “By the way, when we get back---assuming we live through this---I think it’s pretty well past time to make you Major Mahoney.” He looked between Vinnie and Villanueva, still grinning. “Then you two can date without feeling guilty.”

  Villanueva covered her mouth to suppress a bubbling laugh, but Jock didn’t even try; he guffawed loudly until Vinnie, red-faced, elbowed him in the ribs. “Stop braying, you damn Aussie jackass,” he said, “or I’ll field-promote you to Lieutenant just so I can bust you to Sergeant again.”

  “The rammer is one minute out,” Pirelli said. “Ready to hit her with the emitters, sir.”

  “Drop the drive field,” Patel told Sweeny. “Tactical, activate the emitters and open fire with the Gauss cannons.”

  “Aye, sir, firing now.”

  On the screen, the computer simulated the beams of directed gravimetic energy as shimmering lines connecting the Sheridan to the ramship…and where they touched, there was a flickering in the blue halo that represented the ship’s Eysselink field until it winked out entirely. Then the streams of tungsten penetrators from the ship’s accelerator coils cored the defenseless ship like an apple, piercing her light hull armor as if it weren’t even there.

  Burning oxygen shot out of the huge holes in the ramship’s hull as the streams of projectiles trailed down the length of the vessel and finally punctured the drive pods…

  “Reactivate drive field now!” Patel snapped, leaning forward in his chair, knowing what was coming next.

  Sweeny had just hit the controls and hadn’t even had time to speak the confirmation when the ramship’s containment fields failed and its antimatter fuel contacted the bare metal of the storage field projectors.

  There was a fiercely bright light, like a star had ignited in space ahead of them, and the optical viewers blanked out as their filters were overloaded; and then they were past the conflagration and heading for the exit gate.

  Patel sat back in his chair with an exhale of relief that was inaudible over the cheers of the bridge crew. Sweeny and Pirelli shared a nod of congratulations, both of them grinning with triumph.

  “My regards to Captain Mahoney,” Patel said with a slight upturn at the corner of his mouth. “Maybe we can keep you all on board after all.”

  Valenzuela shot Vinnie a grin and Jock slapped him on the shoulder, then tried to fake an apologetic look. “Oh, sorry, sir…I shouldn’t have touched your august personage.”

  “One minute to the gate unless you care to decelerate, Admiral,” Sweeny told him.

  “I think we’ll take this one at speed as well, Helm,” Patel said, shaking his head. “Pirelli, the minute that gate is activated, I want a full spread of Area Denial missile shot through it…make sure they detonate before we get there, though.”

  “Got it, sir. I recommend we decrease to one half g acceleration now.”

  “Do it, Helm.”

  After so long boosting at over one gravity acceleration, McKay felt like he might float away when the push decreased to a half g.

  “Activating emitters now,” Sweeny said. “Gate is opening.”

  “Launching missiles,” Pirelli said as two dozen of the weapons streaked out of the electromagnetic coils and disappeared through the wormhole.

  “Gate entry in thirty seconds,” Sweeny said.

  “Here’s where we find out if you live to be a major,” Jock said aside to Vinnie.

  “Oh, sweet mother,” Ca
l Orton whispered from the copilot’s seat, crossing himself.

  Darkness consumed the Sheridan once more and when the light returned it was also all-consuming, the spheres of fusion explosions lighting up space all around them. And in the midst of it all, a pair of warships bore down on them, so close they could see them on optical alone…

  And then the drive field was up, as a chorus of voices began shouting status reports until Patel had to yell: “Silence on deck!” and they all ceased, leaving the bridge in an unnatural stillness.

  “Tactical!” Patel looked to Pirelli.

  “The AD missiles ignited several mines,” she reported quickly. “We have two bogies within a hundred kilometers. I think we took a Gauss round to the bow, but it didn’t penetrate the armor. Drive field is up and we’re good for now, but sensors are detecting at least one ramship within two light seconds. The primary here is a G5 main sequence star, there are three terrestrial planets and one large gas giant with five moons---we’re about two light seconds from the gas giant. It matches Mironov’s description of the system that holds Novoye Rodina.”

  “Helm,” Patel said, turning to Sweeny.

  “We’re running star patterns and constellations, should have a location in a few minutes. I’m detecting multiple gates in close proximity as well.”

  “Accelerate to one point five gravities. Take us closer to Novoye Rodina,” Patel ordered. “I want to make a pass within optical range, get some details. Keep us ahead of those ramships though.”

  “Accelerating to one point five g’s, aye,” Sweeny repeated, sliding a finger along a holographic projection to feed power to the Eysselink field. “Making course for a flyby of Novoye Rodina.”

  The viewscreen showed the Protectorate ships beginning to fall behind as the Sheridan accelerated. The Protectorate vessels could probably make two or three g’s, McKay knew, but they couldn’t keep it up for long.

  “Bogies are launching Shipbusters at us, sir,” Pirelli reported. “Four…no, six. Accelerating at ten gravities. They have to know they can’t hurt us with the drive field on, sir.”

  “They may know that we can’t hurt them with the field on, Commander,” Patel reminded her. “And it will be chancier for us to make an attack of any sort with a whole row of Shipbusters lined up and waiting for our field to go down.”

  As the ship swung around to make a run by the Protectorate homeworld, McKay could see the gas giant appear on the screen’s optical cameras. A dull orange, it had a clearly visible ring and as he watched, a rocky, asteroidal moon passed across its mottled face.

  “A lot of the gates seem to be near the orbits of gas giants,” he said to Patel over his ‘link. “That must be significant somehow.”

  “Convenient source of energy and material,” the Admiral speculated. “Or perhaps the large gravity well has something to do with it. The science geeks can figure it out after the dust settles.”

  McKay had to smile at that: Patel had graduated from MIT with a Masters in Theoretical Physics before going to Fleet Officers’ Candidate School. Most starship captains had a scientific background, but McKay happened to know that Patel was a dissertation away from his PhD---and likely would remain a dissertation away until he retired and had time for research.

  Assuming we live long enough for him to retire, McKay had to remind himself. He fervently wished he were on the bridge; it felt incredibly claustrophobic in the shuttle cockpit. He knew it was purely psychological, that he was in instant contact with the bridge any time, but he also felt isolated down here in the shuttle bay, away from the place decisions were made.

  “Admiral,” Commander Sweeny said, “we have the report from the star analysis. We know where we are: 59 Arietis…and it’s a long way from home, sir. We are 210 light years from Earth.”

  McKay shaped a silent whistle. It would take them, he calculated, over two years to get home using the Eysselink drive…if they had enough antimatter, which they didn’t.

  “I guess that settles that,” Patel murmured half to himself, apparently having done the same math in his head. “We’re taking the wormholes home or we’re not getting home.”

  “Yes, sir,” Sweeny agreed. “It’s going to take us 40 hours to reach optical range of Novoye Rodina at our current acceleration sir.”

  “Give it another…say, four hours, Mr. Sweeny, then take us down to one g acceleration. The ships pursuing us will be low on fuel by then and won’t be able to keep up their current acceleration any longer. McKay, when we slow to one g, I’m going to release everyone from the shuttles and landers until we get closer to the planet. No point in squatting in there for two days.” Patel grinned. “And I know how you miss standing behind my command chair, ready to jostle my elbow…”

  “Something has been bothering me, D’mitry,” McKay said to Podbyrin as they faced each other over a chess board in the Russian’s quarters. They’d been released from the shuttles hours ago and McKay had decided to pay a visit to the man while he could, since he’d been unable to look in on him in person while baby-sitting Mironov.

  “Is it the fact that I am about to take your rook?” Podbyrin asked, fingers working in anticipation as he waited for McKay to complete his move.

  McKay frowned, realizing the box he’d been lured into. “No, though that is bothersome. What’s bothering me, D’mitry, is all the Protectorate ships we’ve been running into.”

  “Well, you have been getting closer and closer to Novoye Rodina,” Podbyrin said with a shrug. “Did you not think you would meet Protectorate forces along the way?”

  “He can’t have built all these ships in just the last few years,” McKay mused. “Most of them have been pirated freighters, even insystem ships he must have taken over the last few decades---ships we thought the Belt Pirates had grabbed. So if he had them, why didn’t he use them when he attacked Earth?”

  “The answer to that is simple, McKay,” Podbyrin tsk’ed. “The more ships he brought with him to Earth, the better the chance that one of them would mutiny and surrender. General Antonov, as you may have gathered, is not a trusting man. It is one thing to leave a few ships in an isolated system when the captains do not have the coordinates of the wormholes that lead to Earth. It is another to show them the Promised Land and expect them to launch fusion bombs at it if your plan doesn’t work.”

  “So the men he brought with him to Earth were his most trusted officers,” McKay mused. “And they all died. I wonder how he’s been able to maintain control since then?”

  “Through fear and intimidation, I am sure,” the Russian officer responded with a snort. “As always. And who would not be intimidated? He still has his scientists, and they control the biomechs. The man can make people for Christ’s sake…and when some of them are as good looking as Yevgenia, well, you can buy many men’s loyalty with that sort of reward.”

  “Yevgenia?” McKay frowned. He’d heard that name before, but he couldn’t remember where.

  “Yes, that was his sex toy…that blonde thing on his ship. You told me she killed your Sergeant with a grenade. He named her after his wife…she died in the war with the Chinese, along with the rest of his surviving family.”

  “Where have I heard that name before?” McKay fretted, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. He was sure he’d never known that the biomech woman had been named…

  “Yevgenia…” He hissed the word. “His wife. His family…they died in the war.” His eyes went wide. “Oh holy shit!” He keyed his ‘link, calling ship’s security. “This is Colonel McKay, where is Mr. Mironov right now?”

  “He complained of stomach pain, sir,” came the answer, “so we sent someone to escort him to sickbay. Let me check on the man I sent with him.” There was a pause that seemed way too long to McKay. “Uh, sir…Kowalski isn’t answering his ‘link. Let me check the monitors while I contact sickbay.” More moments passed, but McKay was already standing and heading for the cabin door. “Sir, Mironov never reported to sickbay…I haven’t been able to locate him yet.
”

  “We injected him with a transponder when he was captured,” McKay snapped, stepping out into the corridor. “It’s in your system’s file on him…find him now!” He glanced both ways along the corridor, trying to decide which way to go, which way made more sense…shuttle bay one direction, engineering and life support another.

  “The transponder code is in the file, sir,” the security officer confirmed. “But it’s not responding. It’s not currently active.”

  “Send out an immediate shipwide alert,” McKay ordered. “Make it a personal alert, over the ‘links…every ‘link except Kowalski’s. I want him found now. And I want engineering and the shuttle bays locked down; no one gets in but me or my people, not even security, you got it?”

  “Yes, sir, Colonel,” the security officer responded quickly. “Doing it now.”

  Engineering, he decided, breaking into a run down the corridor. “Vinnie, Jock,” he called over his ‘link, “Mironov’s in the wind…get to engineering now!” Not waiting for a response, he touched his ‘link’s call button again. “Admiral Patel, this is McKay.”

  “McKay,” the Admiral’s voice buzzed in his ear. “I just heard the alert…what in the hell is going on?”

  “Mironov is missing sir, and I may be totally off the reservation here, sir, but…I don’t know how it’s possible, but I think somehow Mironov is Antonov.”

  “What?” McKay winced as the Admiral’s exclamation rang in his ear.

  “Like I said, Admiral, I may be nuts, but I think we should find him now and I’ve ordered that engineering and the shuttle bay be locked down until we can…”

  “Colonel McKay,” another voice interrupted over the line. “This is Lieutenant James from Security, sir. Engineering isn’t responding. I’ve sent security to lock it down but…”

  McKay was rounding a corner, heading for the lift station when the Earth normal gravity that one g acceleration had been providing abruptly cut out, leaving him floating helplessly toward the ceiling. Yelping in surprise, McKay covered his head with his arms and took the impact on his shoulder; thankfully, the ceilings and walls were fairly well padded.