It took me a moment.
“You mean there is a process involved, but to anyone watching it just happens?”
“Something like that. I can move myself and things, create things if the basic resources are available, make things vanish, and I'm a pretty good ground battle mage if I do say so myself.”
“How is any of that useful here?”
“Granted throwing a fireball at a spaceship is pretty pointless, but I can make missiles disappear, change direction, or make them explode in the wrong place. A pilot floating in space I can move onto a ship. I've even managed moving your small fighters away from danger as well. Not very far mind you, but far enough. I even used debris once to make a barrier between incoming pulses and a fighter, so the fighter survived where it otherwise would not have.”
“So you can make things?”
“We call it image magic. Most magicians tend to be specialist in certain aspects of magic. Battle mages are more general in what they can do, because they have to be able to adapt quickly on a battlefield, and do whatever is needed. Image magic involves fixing the shape and nature of an object in your mind, and willing it into being where you want it. If you drop by my quarters sometime, I'll show you how I've made my own changes.”
“Could you help speed up our accommodation changes?”
“I might be able to. But there is a limit to how much I can do. I've seen you exhausted after a battle, and it's much the same sort of fatigue. But just a single incidence of doing magic can have that result.”
“And if I want you available for combat, I need to make sure you're not wasted doing other things instead of being rested.”
“Yes. But I can do some things. Who do I talk to about your accommodation issues?”
“Me,” said Jane.
“When we finish here?”
“Sure.”
“Can you do the rift thingies the Imperator can do?” I asked.
“No. The one called Syrinx tried to explain it to a group of us, but none of us could do it. One problem is the magic path you take often makes other things more difficult. I gather she has trouble moving things, where for me moving things is easy.”
She must have seen my mouth move.
“What?”
“It’s a neat trick, moving ships from system to system without wasting large amounts of time crossing them first.”
“Which is why we did try to learn it. But for most of us mages, moving a ship from place to place is easier than opening doorways from place to place.”
“Why? I would have thought the doorway was easier.”
“System to system maybe. But the Imperator is moving ships thousands of light-years, and it's not just doors on each end, it’s a connection across space and time. The further you go, the more power it requires. From what Syrinx said, the Imperator has something unique about his staff which allows him to do more, even though he isn't a magician.”
“So no mage is able to do what he does?”
“Most mages can do considerably more than he can, but in the few things he can do, he can do them better. Mind you, I've heard a few of the Kelewan mages can move things further than we can. And one of them was able to move a small ship well across a system on his own. But there is only one mage who can do more than the Imperator can.”
“Who's that?”
“He's called Thorn, but no-one knows where he is these days. They say he could move entire fleets across vast distances by doing what we do moving things, instead of what the Imperator does with doorways.”
“So no use for us then.”
“No. I can shift a pilot across space to a ship with no problems. I can even move a fighter a short distance. But if I do it too many times, I'm going to collapse. And if I try to move something too big and too far, it could kill me.”
“Let's not be killing you anytime soon.”
“If I think it's too much, I won't do it.”
“Fair enough. Isn't there any way of training yourself to be more powerful?”
“We work on that through our lives, but most mages have limits. A few seem to be able to use other power sources than their own body energy, but so far it seems only a small percentage of battle mages can. And even then, they’re restricted by what is available to be used as a source.”
“Why?”
“Well assuming I could do it, and I can't, but assuming I could, would you like to arrive somewhere else with no shields, or no engine power?”
I cringed.
“No. That could be disastrous.”
“Which is why no-one is doing it.”
A thought popped in.
“Back up. You said the Imperator uses a staff?”
“Rumour has it it's not a staff, just looks like one. He can make it into a sword as well, if you can believe that.”
“But mages can use staffs, wands, or objects to help focus magic?”
“Sure. But we call mages like that failures. To need a crutch like that shows they can't apply their intent properly. So they use the object as a magnifier or focus instead of their mind.”
“So would it be possible to build an object which contains a specific magic, and draws its own power from a specific source?”
“Such as?”
“Ever since man started wishing they could travel to the stars, writers have been coming up with ways of doing it. One of them was called a 'jump drive', which did the same thing as going through a jump point, but from anywhere to anywhere within a certain range.”
I paused.
“Wishful thinking perhaps, but I was wondering if a magical device could be plugged into the ship technology to jump a ship to a specified location. Even if it was just a system at a time, it would speed up exploration and getting to threatened planets immensely. Especially when the only three people who can do it are not there or not contactable.”
“Not possible as far as I know, but if you want, I can send the idea off and see what other mages think. We do have mages from three different planets now, and who knows what one system of magic might do if combined with another. But even if it's possible, it might take either a fluke or true genius to make. And neither can be predicted.”
“Never hurts to ask the question.”
I saw Jane nod.
Thirteen
It took me five minutes to understand.
Suddenly I knew exactly why George Murdock and Miriam Young loved their Scimitars the way they did. And why the Imperator chose to fly BigMother, which was the same design but made longer, instead of a titan.
As specs, the Scimitar was crazy. The body of a hundred plus year old escort carrier design, mated to a gigantic turret set which doubled the depth of the ship, and should have made it a nightmare to fly. I mean, whoever came up with this was simply insane. Except when I said so, Jane had informed me the original modification to BigMother had been done by a higher being, and the Scimitars were just copying it.
Higher being or not, what wasn’t copied was the sheer genius of the mechanics behind how the ship flew. The specs showed the ship was over powered for its size, and it showed a great deal more maneuvering thrusters than a normal ship would have.
But what they didn’t show was the brilliance of how they were balanced, and the fact most of that extra power was dedicated to just thrusters. If I hadn't already flown a titan, I simply would not have believed a ship this large could be flown like a fighter. But unlike the titan, which had so many huge turrets they had to be AI controlled to be effectively used, this ship was almost completely fought by the pilot.
Not captain, pilot.
Granted, there was more to take control of than even Crusader had. There were more torpedo launchers, but they were still linked to one button, and configurable to fire in sequence, all together, or in groups. There were more of the same forward and aft firing anti-fighter missile launchers, configurable the same as the torps launchers. And even more of them around the ship as part of the point defenses, of which there was considerably
more than the destroyer had.
The fixed front guns were in the nose, and were quick fire battleship guns, using a barrel midway between cruiser and normal battleship guns. They fired a seventy five percent battleship pulse twice as fast as conventional turrets did.
But the true fixed armament was two sets of ten battleship guns set in a ring, mounted on the forward section of the wings which made up the deck zeroes. These could also fire all at once, in groups, or in single one by one continuous fire. And be linked with the nose guns for single trigger firing. The rings were configurable like fighter guns, so the pilot could choose exactly how far in front of the ship all the pulses from both sides converged.
The topside had mainly cruiser and point defense turrets, and Mosquito launchers. The sides added capital ship missile launchers between the launch tubes, as well as a significant amount of point defense.
And underside was the gigantic four barrel titan turret, with its six three barrel battleship turrets. The titan and three of the battleship turrets could be slaved to the main guns to deliver a truly staggering broadside.
The original design had been sleek. The added on underside turrets turned the ship into an ugly duckling, and it should have handled like a tortoise on sleeping pills.
But it didn't.
It flew like a fighter.
And it needed a fighter pilot to get the best out of it.
Thirty minutes in the simulator and I realized exactly what the Imperator had done.
The cunning bastard had known exactly which ship I was most suited to, and had pushed me towards it as fast as he could without being obvious.
Even if the rescue of Slice hadn't come along, he'd have had Claymore meet up with me somewhere. I knew Eric was a fighter pilot, but he'd only been on this ship because the Imperator had no-one else ready for it.
At an hour in, having finished tweaking things and now flying combat simulations, I came to the conclusion I'd not been failing upwards at all, but had been headhunted for the job I was most suited for.
Sure, I had no senior officer training, no experience as a squadron commander, let alone as a wing commander or CAG, and fuck all idea of what I was doing when not being a fighter pilot, but damn me if this wasn’t the sweetest ride I could ever hope to have.
And that was without my external vision while flying.
Jane had to open up my simulator and haul me out bodily to get me to lunch on time. I’d lost track of time, lost track of everything, being zoned in to fighting this delightful ship.
I found myself in the pilot's mess without memory of how I got there. I chose a random chair from the gaps at the various tables, and sat, unmindful of being the CO and being aloof from the troops.
People smiled at me, a lot, and I wasn’t sure why until I overheard a question and answer.
“What's up with the skipper?” asked Vulture.
“He's just come out of the simulator,” answered Jane.
“Oh.”
Which summed it up. I popped up a mirror only I could see, and sure enough, I was wearing a grin about double the size I thought was even possible on my face.
Kat put food in front of me, and I mechanically ate whatever it was. Eating returned my face to its normal appearance, and people stopped smiling at me.
As I waited for dessert, I looked around the mess, and decided I’d be eating here most of the time, but instead of there being a captain's table, I'd continue to sit at random places. I might be captain, but I was really just a pilot, the same as all of these people were.
I'd just finished my apple crumble when Claymore popped up a screen only I could see.
I rose, nodded to the lunch companions I hadn't spoken to, calmly leaving the room.
Once outside, I started running.
Fourteen
We were no longer alone.
Claymore had the same screen up when I thumped down into the captain's chair. It showed a Trixone fleet entering scanner range in the next system. Thirty six ships, in three fleet formations, with the now expected two battleships in each.
We were substantially out massed and out gunned.
On paper.
In the gung-ho department, they didn’t stand a chance.
I sighed. Gung-ho only got you so far.
We were still several hours from the jump point, with them being at least another hour after our arrival, giving us the chance to set up an ambush.
“Claymore.”
“Sir?”
“Whisper in the squadron CO's ears, and can they report to the bridge at their earliest convenience.”
“You mean right now?”
“That is what it means, yes.”
“On it.”
Jane walked in just then, sauntering across to her chair as if nothing was happening. She sat, and a PC popup popped up, requesting permission to install a new feature. I looked in her direction, she pointed to her eyes, and grinned. I accepted it.
A new main menu item labeled 'vision' was added, in which was a toggle of On and Off. It was currently off. I turned it on.
I immediately had a full cam vision for all around the ship, going out about five kilometers. I sat there soaking in the view, not even bothering to remove the menu overlay. I could see the holes still in the side of Unassailable, and where the patches were on Blossom. Every detail of an Excalibur three slowly overtaking us was visible as if I was standing right next to it.
And an option began flashing. I selected it, and my vision shifted into the next system. More limited now, but I could see the fleet coming towards the comnavsat. Not in detail yet, but before they jumped, I’d be able to study their formation, and be ready for whatever they did.
Closer examination of the menu revealed I had access to pretty well every comnavsat in the network. I selected the one near Orion, and spent a moment looking at the new battlestation not far away. The one over the planet we'd been defending before being sent to rescue Slice showed me Fearless still down in the atmosphere. A side link took me to the external view from the dropship I’d first flown, showing me Team One conferring with some of the locals. Amanda shot a look at the dropship as if she sensed being looked at. I slid back to Fearless, and gazed at Grace sitting in her captain's chair looking bored.
I switched back to the ship cams, and back to normal vision.
“What a rush,” I mumbled.
Jane grinned at me, and I gave her a thumbs up. She was continuing to upgrade my vision, and this time I’d not felt any discomfort at adding so much. Maybe it was because I’d been in titan mode before, and this ship was so much smaller. So any shock factor was now assimilated by my system.
And I'd just had a glimpse into Jane's world. She could see all of it if she wanted to, and I had no doubt part of her was sampling every single comnavsat so fast, it was no wonder we had a heads up on when an enemy appeared at long range.
My musing was interrupted by my squadron CO's entering the bridge, and I rose, waved them into the ready room, and followed them in. Jane came in behind me, and shut the door. We sat at the conference table. The navmap appeared on a wall, showing the system we were in, and the next one.
“I was wondering when they'd show up again,” said Vulture.
“What's the plan boss?” asked Hawk.
“How about we disabuse ourselves of the notion I'm an experienced fleet admiral, and get real with the fact I'm a pilot like you are, with less actual experience than any of you.”
They looked surprised.
“I had a revelation earlier. The Imperator had me allocated to piloting this ship from day one, and even without yesterday's rescue, he had plans for getting me here. The rank goes with the ship more than the command, out of military necessity. But let's not fool ourselves. We've all had only a few hours in the simulators for our current ship, none of us have actually fought them, and our pilots are still getting up to speed on the new Excalibur variant. This is not a normal situation. I have the command because I was put in command, and I
have the senior ship, but in no way am I pulling rank because I have it.”
I ran out of breath. They stirred, but said nothing.
“So, this is not a democracy, but let's assume a session like this is a planning session, where rank is put aside, and experience says what needs to be said. Everything is put on the table, we attempt to agree on a strategy and tactics, and the last word is mine because it has to be. Anyone have a problem with that?”
I looked at them in turn, and one by one they shook their heads. They obviously did, but I wasn’t going to let them off the hook. Jane however was smiling. I went on with the obvious, in order to get a discussion started.
“The obvious tactic is to ambush them as they jump in.”
“Jon's done that a lot,” said Jane, “so they may be expecting it.”
“Can you show us what he's done already?” asked Knüppel.
Jane took us through each of the Imperator's jump point defense formations. I let the four CO's comment, encouraged them into venturing opinions, and slowly we started to become a team. Several options were put forward, and we adjusted them into something which could adapt to whatever formation the plants chose to jump in with.
We really didn't have the firepower needed, but at a jump point, with the enemy coming in blind and us knowing exactly when they jumped, and having split second timing for firing, we still had the advantage.
With a rough agreement in place, Jane left to setup a simulation so we could practice it as a force. The pilots left to brief their squadrons. I had Claymore recall the CAP, so they could join in the simulation, and be rested before the battle began.
I thought about bringing Slice in on things now, but decided not to. His ship was going to have to be well back from the fight, and involving him would only give him ideas. Or so I thought, given his attitude earlier. I didn’t like having to have Jane lean on him again, but it was a card I could play, at least until his ship was back up to combat capable.
Reseated at my desk, I started recording a vid for the Imperator. I told him how the small fleet was now organized, and what we planned to do when the plants came through. I assumed he knew about what was coming at us, and just gave him the plan outline. My guess was, if he wasn’t in battle himself at the same time, he'd be watching us.
Legend of Dreamwalker (The Hunter Imperium Book 5) Page 7
