Operation Wolfsbane

by Shane Lochlann Black

  The Sarn vessel was at an extreme disadvantage. Doverly’s F-90 was more maneuverable and more heavily armed, if that was believable. If the fight were a straight-up one-on-one contest that would be one thing, but if there was anything in the universe the former two wing of the Bandit Jacks was good at, it was chasing a big target that was trying to get away instead of shooting back.

  The commander realized she now had a speed advantage. Jack Two accelerated out of the gunship’s wake and acquired a six by six weapons lock on the enemy vessel’s engines. In a matter of moments, the Superjack was flying backwards nose-to-nose with its adversary.

  Doverly opened her hailing channels before maneuvering her fighter to a range of less than 100 feet. She could actually see the face of the human pilot at the gunship’s controls as the two combatant ships raced through M-Ceti Four’s atmosphere.

  “Sarn warship, this is Argent Jack Two. You are hereby ordered to land immediately, or the next one goes right through your pilot’s helmet. Acknowledge.”

  Thirteen

  Step by step, Jason Hunter advanced towards the main deck of the Achaen Science Station. As soon as he had eyes on the floor he surveyed the entire area. There wasn’t any further movement. Only a few of the consoles were functioning. There were auxiliary lights in operation at the far end of the deck. Hunter retrieved the ATMAS and scanned the area. No life signs. No energy readings. Nothing unusual.

  “Argent, this is Hunter. I’m on the main deck of the Achaen Station. Do you have a sensor lock on the station interior yet?”

  “Stand by, sir,” came the snappy reply from Commander Tixia. She performed a standard sweep with Argent’s powerful surface warfare scanners. Some of the information made sense. Most of it didn’t.

  “I have a fix on you, sir. I can confirm your ATMAS readings. No atmospheric disturbances and no kinetic readings. Whatever voices you are hearing are not producing any sound that can be measured physically.”

  Hunter only half-heard the report from her signals officer. Floating in space at one end of the station’s main deck was a circular wall of energy. It looked like a hole had been opened in the mid-air. Beyond, the captain could see what looked very much like a pastoral scene. Green grass. Clouds. He scanned the phenomenon with his handheld. The electromagnetic sensors indicated it was there. The kinetic and mass spectrometry sensors indicated it wasn’t.

  “Argent, this is Hunter. There’s some kind of doorway here. It looks like a passageway to another place. Can you confirm any unusual energy readings on deck one?”

  The captain waited a few moments.

  “Argent, are you reading me?”

  “They can hear you, captain. But it will be some time before your crew is able to understand what has occurred here.”

  Hunter whirled, weapon in hand. He hesitated. What he saw was not what he expected.

  The man raised his hands. “I am unarmed.”

  Jason lowered his blaster.

  The man had long white hair and a white beard and was dressed in what Hunter could only describe as some kind of tribal outfit. He wore a leather vest and leggings, and his boots were wrapped with some kind of animal skin sewn into long strips. It was clear there was a hat somewhere that went with this outfit. He looked human. He was roughly the captain’s height and build but was considerably older, perhaps sixty or so. He was disarmingly unimpressive, but the captain knew he was in the presence of an enormous intellect. Hunter took a breath to speak.

  “I will answer all your questions in time, captain. I must say I am surprised your species waited this long to return here and find out why your fellow explorers chose to abandon their posts.”

  “My species?”

  “You and I are not from the same world, but we do share one thing in common.” The man began to make his way across the main control deck. He spoke and walked rather leisurely, despite the fact he was at an apparent disadvantage. “You may call me ‘Gin,’ pronounced the same as the distilled beverage humans enjoy from time to time. Among some, I am a student of war. For others, I am a teacher.”

  “What happened to the crew of this station?”

  “Why, they answered the call to battle, captain. Just like you. The portal behind you is a doorway to many adventures where men like yourself can prove their merit and test their mettle. We are keenly interested in those kinds of men. We offer them prizes, you see. We seek the truth. They are our guides.”

  “You offered them.. prizes?” Hunter’s voice took on an annoyed tone. “I’m not following you.”

  “Behold,” Gin said as he gestured grandly. A human woman of perhaps nineteen years of age appeared on the main control deck. She wore a sheer gown of crimson and gold that did a splendid job of accentuating her shape. Brunette locks spilled across her shoulders and back and her eyes were blue enough to make Hunter stop breathing for a few moments. “If you could lead an army of rough men in a rain-soaked assault on a torchlit castle and carry her off as your bride, would you?”

  The girl stood there on bare feet delicate enough to make it appear she was nearly weightless. The look on her face reminded Jason of pirate captains and sunrise through pretty curtains in unfamiliar rooms. He didn’t answer right away. The call of battle stirred something inside him. The girl stirred something more. His imagination began to dance before he was able to quiet his mind.

  “Ahh, you are imagining yourself leading a small company by dark of night, aren’t you? It’s in your blood. You yearn for the sting of battle. It nourishes you the way wisdom nourishes a man of letters.”

  “She isn’t real.”

  Gin gestured again and the girl was gone. “She is as real as any maiden. But she is incomplete without a protector. And it should be noted you attacked my offer not by questioning the need to fight, but by challenging the authenticity of the reward. You are what you are after all, captain. You did not win that rank or the medals you wear by avoiding confrontation.”

  “Stop trying to bait me into your sideshow and tell me what happened to the science team.”

  “As I said before, captain. They chose battle. They could not resist their true nature.” Gin stopped a few feet from Hunter and the portal. “Imagine for a moment an intelligent man. He has spent his life in search of knowledge and precision. Given the right tools he could construct wonders you and I could never understand no matter how many lifetimes we spent studying them. But to a man of mathematics and calculation they are toys, as obvious as wet socks. What if that man could engage in warfare using only his intellect and share in the spoils once only reserved for the brutes?”

  “So you offered a cupcake in a sheer gown to each of our scientists and they ran off to war?”

  “In a manner of speaking. They went right through that doorway there. Some returned to your past. To days of knights and roses. Others were not so romantic. But they all shared what we share. It is the challenge that we seek. It is what they needed. They did not go mad, nor were they consumed by some wild alien disease. They were offered an opportunity. One chance to reach for glory and fortune. Many of them gladly laid down their books and papers, even if failure meant death. It burns in the heart of every one of you.”

  “Who is we?” Hunter’s voice now took on the unmistakable edge of impatience.

  Gin walked to the bay window and clasped his hands behind his back as he took in the magnificent view of Achae Three. “My people came to a great understanding a thousand years ago. We realized that one of our key tools for discovering superiority was struggle. A wise member of our tribe explained it in terms of his relationship with his wife of many years. She was a fiery mate. He spent much of his youth contending with her seemingly chaotic flights of fancy. He was hopelessly in love and it took the mightiest of efforts to finally tame her. It was not until she bore him a son that he heard the words that changed his life and the destiny of our people. His wife’s mother took him aside and said ‘my daughter was the anvil upon which you were forged into the father of my grandson. N
ever forget what she sacrificed for you and for him.’”

  The words gave Hunter pause. He didn’t answer right away. In fact, what Gin had just said brought a number of difficulties in Jason’s life into clearer focus. It also began to answer one of the nagging questions about the Atlantis Sector. Was it possible Skywatch forbade anyone from returning here knowing they would succumb to a warmaking instinct? Was it really that simple?

  “We realized how much of life is resolved by adversarial means. The more we pursued it, the more we realized that conflict produces truth. Our fathers sought to drive out cowardice. What better way to expose it than to place it in danger? We found our citizens often disagreed on matters of daily toil. We established adversarial tribunals where the more clever could seize upon weakness and leave behind only the truth. One beast pursues another in a wild hunt. Either the pursuer dines or it starves. Either the pursued escapes or it dies. Or the pursued might turn the tables and kill the pursuer in self-defense. Which will be victorious? Which is the stronger? Which survives? My people waged war for centuries until it could produce no truth but that war itself was that which must be destroyed. We survived, but we still recognized the value in what those conflicts produced. Now we have an entire galaxy of contenders, including the humans of the Core Alliance. The opportunities for discovery are impossible to count.”

  “And now you send humans to war? You persuade them to fight to see if they are the stronger? Engaging them in conflicts you know to be destructive?”

  Gin turned to answer. “We invite humans to war, captain. We needn’t force them. Both they and we know that war is only destructive if you measure value in bombs and buildings. Those things can all be replaced. Truth cannot. The most ambitious of your number was a colorful man. He returned to a time in your history called World War Two. He launched a mission behind enemy lines he called ‘Operation Wolfsbane.’ He meant to bring a great weapon to bear against tyrants. To hear him speak of it... it was thrilling.”

  “You sent a member of the science team into the past? The past on Earth? You realize you may be altering the future, don’t you?”

  “He did not travel through time. That was far from necessary. We only need make him believe what he sees. From there, it is a simple matter to inspire a man to conquest.”

  “So these wars are illusions? Just games of the mind?”

  “Since you are human you must be aware of your ancient past, when tribal magic and contests of the mind separated the mystical from the mundane. There is a planet not far from here that is covered in swamps and beasts. Poisonous flowers and carnivorous trees grow from the muck. It is there the shamans dwell in tiny mud-soaked huts. They do not search for green meadows and sunshine. They venture into the mind, where greater treasures await. Perhaps if you continue your mission you will encounter them. I can guide you to the simple. They will show you the complex and will train you to navigate it as surely as your vessel travels the stars. There you will connect again with your true essence, and once you do, you will care not a whit how or why it happened.”

  “I’m not half the spectator you are, Gin. Nor am I in search of tribal rituals. I’m a Skywatch officer. We’re not fighting for truth. We’re fighting to survive. We’re fighting to preserve freedom for the citizens of the Alliance.”

  “And if you survive you will have truth besides. You are one of only a handful of men with the integrity to resist a bride of crimson and gold. You choose the principles of your Alliance over personal gain. A worthy leader of men indeed. It will surely be a great conquest. Mighty riches of wisdom will emerge if you are victorious!”

  “I’m not going to war, sir. We do everything we can to avoid it.”

  “Oh, but you are going to war. Once the fire lit in their eyes, the men and women who once performed trifling experiments in this metal prison gathered weapons and painted their faces with their bloodlust. You are only here because you seek an advantage against enemies that even now surround you and your species on all sides. What will you take home to them? For which Captain Hunter will your women yearn? The one of words or the one of deeds?”

  Jason couldn’t answer. He wasn’t here to impress a woman. And yet he was finding it difficult to keep from imagining the crimson and gold bride.

  “Come now, captain. You know what lights that fire. You know the only question you seek to ask when you return to your people with the bleached skulls of your enemies decorating your spears is ‘which of you is worthy to bear me sons?’”

  “Do you think all men are mindless savages?”

  “I know which your women choose.”

  “We’ve advanced beyond bloodlust.”

  “I hope you’re wrong, captain. The enemies that seek to carry your skull home to their women are not as sophisticated. Like all wars, the one you are about to fight will end with the truth. A mighty fleet gathers, and their mission is as clear as it is murderous. If you remain here, you will have all of mankind’s greatest conquests to explore. If you return to your people, you and your gallant crew may be the only thing standing between death and a fighting chance. Which will it be?”

  “That’s no choice at all.”

  “Your words are exactly what I expected to hear. Farewell, captain. Though it be fleeting, I wish you glory.”

  A moment later, Hunter was alone on the main deck. Behind him, the portal swirled. Beyond it was the torchlit castle Gin spoke of. Somewhere inside, perhaps the bride of crimson and gold was waiting to be rescued. Elsewhere beyond the portal, some member of the science team was undoubtedly on a mission to complete Operation Wolfsbane.

  He could still hear the whispered voices. Perhaps they were beckoning him to other destinies, but Jason Hunter had more urgent matters.

  “Hunter to Argent.”

  “Captain? We lost your signal. What is your status?”

  “Contemplative. Tell Yili I’m ready to transport back. Set a course for Rho Theta space and stand by to engage conversion drive. We don’t have a second to lose.”

  Fourteen

  Rebecca Islington and Josiah Winchester arrived on Saratoga’s war deck to discover a scene like neither officer had ever even imagined much less seen in person. The tactical display that dominated the far wall of the room displayed no fewer than a dozen star systems ranging from Gaelphos at the far upper edge all the way to Core Six at the bottom. In the center was the uneven line formed by Raleo, Proxima, Rho Theta, Prairie Grove, El Rey and Dante’s Twins. The reason it was so prominent was because it was positively encrusted with fleet indicators. The Skywatch designators were all blue in color, while the Sarn and Kraken units were different shades of red.

  Commander Islington had never seen so many ships deployed, even in her Academy exercises. Her attention gravitated to Rho Theta, where sure enough Task Force Nine was one of the primary designators. The avatar representing the battleship Constitution was an encircled star on the display, indicating she was the flagship for a battle group. Inside were smaller avatars for her escort of five cruisers and even smaller dots for her screening vessels, including DSS Minstrel

  Not far from TF Nine was Task Force 67. This one was yellow in color, indicating a Proximan battle group. At its center was the His Majesty’s battleship Cuta. On Rho Theta Four was a green avatar indicating ground forces, which meant the long-awaited D Corps had arrived.

  Despite the unbelievable firepower those three avatars represented, they were lost in an ocean of other vessels and battle groups. Far to one side was a unique task force avatar. It had a white circle around a blue star, which Islington suspected meant she was a fleet-level flagship. Upon closer inspection she discovered it represented DSS Song of Heaven and her group. She was the only carrier Islington had seen so far that included a second capital ship in her formation. Alongside the grand old lady of Skywatch was the mighty heavy battleship Kingsblade. A royal pairing indeed.

  “Look at Prairie Grove,” Islington said with a tone of wonder. She pointed at the display. “Three battle
groups. I’ve never seen that many ships deployed anywhere but Core Prime.”

  “Incredible. When we declare war we aren’t kidding, are we?”

  “Major ground campaigns on five planets. Two of them in M-Ceti space? Four systems being contested in the Kraken Frontier? How did planets that far from the first engagements get involved?”

  “Must have triggered some kind of mutual defense treaty or something,” Winchester replied. “It looks like the Sarn have more allies than we do, at least so far.”

  “We need to get those shadow ships located and plotted here. If they have any kind of numbers and they manage to hit us at Rho Theta about the time we’re trying to make a move into M-Ceti space, we’re going to be in it and deep.”

  “The admiral told us to ignore everything we’d been told about the buildup. I guess he wasn’t kidding.”

  “We better start thinking about our role in all this, XO,” Rebecca said. “I want a complete structural and control readiness check and I want to review our shift personnel to make sure we have ratings where they belong if we get called into action. We’re not going to be freelancing like we were with Perseus. This is going to be regimented and it’s going to be a mile by mile slog. I want Minstrel to be in the fight down to the last thrown punch, affirmative?”