by Tori Harris
“Designated. You should see them now to port.”
“Yeah, I got ‘em,” the lieutenant replied, looking off to his left and noting the now-familiar grouping of red ovals pulsing urgently within his field of view. “Why are there no course indicator lines this time?”
“I’m still working on that. I should have initial departure vectors for you shortly. When the ships first transition, it creates a fairly intense burst of the same particles we followed to find the secondary rally point. At first, it looks like nothing more than a bunch of noise, but that dies down pretty quickly. Once the smoke clears, so to speak, there’s a fairly distinct indication of the direction of flight.”
“Uh huh, well I don’t see any smoke, but we both know that’s going to be the first question we get asked, so —”
“Got it,” the AI interrupted as a series of red lines extended from the points of transition displayed within the lieutenant’s field of view. All eight lines pointed at a conspicuously bright yellowish-white star — the fourth brightest in the sky at this distance.
Although not surprised by this result, the pilot nevertheless experienced a sudden and unexpected feeling of anxiety at the thought of powerful enemy warships heading in the direction of everything and everyone he had ever known.
“Get me Admiral Patterson, please.”
Chapter 11
TFS Theseus, Location Dagger
(3.3 light years from Earth)
“I’m not entirely sure I follow what you’re telling me, Commander Takkar,” Prescott said, astonished by what he thought his new Wek ally was attempting to explain. “Captain Yagani is responding to your hails — while still ignoring mine — all while denying our offer to render assistance? It’s possible we’re losing something in the translation here, so please allow me to explain to you in simple, direct terms exactly what I want you to pass along to the good captain of the Baldev. Our offer to assist is not optional. It was presented as such as a matter of tradition and courtesy, but in fact, it’s really not an ‘offer’ so much as a demand. Furthermore, we extended this courtesy based on our previous understanding that Captain Yagani wished to surrender his vessel and avoid further loss of life. We respect, honor, and wholeheartedly agree with his decision to do so, but his surrender must be complete and unconditional.”
“My apologies, Captain Prescott,” Takkar replied, clearly uncomfortable with being placed in the role of mediator. “I will endeavor to make your position very clear to Captain Yagani when I speak with him again momentarily.”
“Thank you, Commander. While it truly is my intention to be as helpful as possible, this is still an active combat zone, and we obviously have other, urgent matters demanding our immediate attention. Based on what you have told me regarding the imminent arrival of two additional Resistance battleships, I hope that it is not his intention to simply delay until they arrive and then withdraw his offer to surrender. If that happens —”
“Yes, sir, I understand. Although I had not met Captain Yagani before today, I do not believe that is his intention. Other than preferring to communicate through me, he has been generally cooperative thus far. In fact, as strange as this sounds, he has asked me to inform you that he has been ordered by Commodore Sarafi, our task force commander, to launch a communications buoy.”
“Wait … ordered by your task force commander? You mean just now?”
It seemed to Takkar that every action he took and every word that came out of his mouth — regardless of the forethought involved or the intent in his heart — moved him inexorably closer to outright treason against his people. As he paused to consider how much detail he should offer, however, his mind continually returned to the same thought: Gracafürst trusts these Humans. Who am I to doubt his judgment? Intellectually, he knew that such rationalizations in no way relieved him of his own personal responsibilities. At the same time, however, he firmly believed himself to be doing the right thing — and with a moral clarity that he had not experienced for many months.
“Yes, Captain,” Takkar continued. “Sarafi’s flagship, the Gunov, apparently has access to a new type of long-range communications technology. I am sorry, but I have no additional details to offer, other than the fact that he was aware of what was taking place here and, in response, issued this order to Captain Yagani.”
“And what is to be the purpose of this communications buoy? Is it part of this new long-range system?”
“No, sir, not to my knowledge. These buoys are not particularly sophisticated and have been in use within the Sajeth Collective fleet for a hundred years or more. They are often prepositioned to transmit orders to ships that have been traveling in hyperspace for extended periods. In this case, the intent is to transmit revised orders to the two battleships I mentioned, the Zhelov and the Serapion. The buoys are far too small to generate the power required to communicate via our deep space network. Typically, they are programmed to detect the electronic signature of specific vessels in the immediate area, then establish an encrypted communications channel to deliver their message.”
“It’s interesting that Commodore Sarafi didn’t choose to utilize a buoy of this type when he moved the bulk of his task force to the second rally point,” Prescott remarked. “Did Captain Yagani have any idea what message is to be delivered to the two battleships?”
“Yes, sir, and I made precisely the same observation at the time. I suspect, however, that the commodore’s decision to leave four vessels behind at the original rally point was made for him well in advance,” Takkar said with a disgusted tone. “There was clearly no military advantage to be gained by doing so. Frankly, I suspect we were left there as a means of enticing any Terran vessels that came looking for their missing scout ships to attack.”
“He was using you as bait?” Reynolds asked, incredulous. “With no intention of sending reinforcements to assist you when we showed up? I’m thinking the Resistance movement might start having a little trouble with their recruiting efforts if word of that ever gets out.”
“Indeed,” he replied, the hint of a smile forming at the corners of his mouth for the first time. Takkar had to admit that he was beginning to understand some of what Admiral Naftur had seen in these Terrans. They were obviously determined, quick-thinking adversaries on the battlefield, but there was also an openness about them — a willingness to find humor even in the midst of a stressful situation — that he rather liked. “As to the actual encoded message,” he continued, “Captain Yagani was not provided access, but he was told that the two battleships were being ordered to avoid contact with enemy forces here and depart immediately for Terra.”
“Holy cow,” Reynolds remarked, shaking her head in disbelief, “this just keeps getting better and better. No wonder Yagani was willing to come clean about the comm buoy. It sounds like Commodore Sarafi totally hung you guys out to dry.”
For the next several seconds, Takkar furrowed his brow while struggling to make sense of his AI’s attempt at translating Commander Reynolds’ last remark. “I believe we have experienced a bit of a translation problem,” he finally said, chuckling to himself at the imagery brought to mind by the AI’s rather imaginative interpretation. “But yes, while not normally one to question his superiors’ orders, Captain Yagani is beginning to have his doubts about the legitimacy of the entire Resistance movement. Intentionally placing our military forces in a position where they are likely to be destroyed — almost certainly to advance a cynical political agenda — is a degree of corruption unlikely to be tolerated by Wek officers. This should be true regardless of the underlying cause or the motivation of those issuing such orders.”
“Commander Takkar, please excuse us for just a moment,” Prescott said, nodding to Lieutenant Dubashi at the Comm/Nav console. Although Takkar’s image remained in place on the view screen, symbols appeared indicating that the audio and video feeds from Theseus’ side had been temporarily suspended.
“What do you think?” Prescott asked.
“W
ell, I guess the obvious question at this point is — given that we have no way of knowing precisely what information Sarafi placed aboard the comm buoy — should we even allow it to be launched?” Reynolds said. “For all we know, he issued orders for the Zhelov and the Serapion to attack and destroy our forces before they set off for Earth.”
“That was my first thought as well,” Prescott replied. “But my gut tells me we should allow Yagani to press on with the launch. Even if the battleships receive orders to attack us, we’re really in no worse shape than we would have been otherwise. Besides, they may attack even if we don’t allow them to get the message. In fact, if the situation were reversed, I’m pretty confident that’s exactly what we would do — although figuring out precisely what had been taking place immediately before our arrival might have posed a challenge. The truth of the matter is that we would be heavily outgunned in a battle against two of the Baldev’s sister ships. So if Sarafi really is sending them on their way without a confrontation, that might be the best possible scenario for us at this point.”
“That assumes, of course, that Admiral Patterson doesn’t order us to hold them here at all costs.”
“I guess we’ll have an answer to that question shortly, but I don’t think he will ask us to hold the line here unless he can reinforce us. If he does end up with additional ships he can send our way, however, I’m sure he would prefer that we attempt to prevent those two Baldevs from ever reaching Earth. I took a quick look at what’s been taking place at the other rally point and, although it looks like the combat is over for now, they took some pretty heavy losses. If we’re going to get reinforcements at this point, that’s where they will have to come from, and I really don’t see that happening in the near term. Is there anything else you need to say in confidence before we bring Takkar back in?”
“No, sir, but if you think he’s trustworthy, I like the idea of his babysitting Captain Yagani and the Baldev while we finish recovering our damaged fighters and find out what Admiral Patterson expects us to do next.”
“Right, well — as to his being trustworthy — I have absolutely no idea. But I also don’t see where he had anything to gain by siding with us against the Baldev other than a desire to follow Admiral Naftur. Tell me if you think I’m missing something, but at the moment I’m inclined to proceed under the assumption that we can take him at his word. I don’t believe Commander Takkar and the Hadeon have the option of rejoining the Resistance at this point, even if they wanted to, so I think it’s unlikely he will suddenly attempt to side with the Zhelov and the Serapion when they arrive. The Baldev, on the other hand … although she isn’t much of a threat at this point, I honestly have no idea what we should do with her.”
“Tell me about it,” Reynolds sighed. “We have no idea of her casualties yet, but the data we received from the Hadeon indicates that she has a complement of over twelve thousand personnel. Of that, about twenty-five hundred make up something similar to one of our Marine Expeditionary Units.”
“Yeah, we are in no way equipped to handle anything on that scale. So that needs to be an Admiral Patterson question for sure.”
“Yes, sir, that’s why they pay him the big bucks,” she smiled.
“Okay, Lieutenant,” Prescott called, getting Dubashi’s attention once again. With a single keystroke at her console, the vidcon on the screen became active once again.
“Sorry about that, Commander Takkar,” Prescott said. “I know that you don’t have a precise ETA for the Zhelov and the Serapion, but can you tell us about how long will it take for them to receive a transmission from the communications buoy once they arrive?”
“Yes, Captain. The ships’ AIs will scan for a communications buoy immediately upon their arrival. The procedures our ships follow when arriving near an existing assembly area requires a large exclusion zone to provide separation from vessels already on station.”
Takkar nodded to his communications officer off-screen. Shortly thereafter, Lieutenant Dubashi received an additional data stream from the Hadeon and displayed the resulting graphic in a window directly beside Commander Takkar’s image. The slowly rotating, three-dimensional plot depicted a view of the exclusion zone relative to the current locations of all the other ships in the area.
“Depending on where they arrive within the zone relative to the location of the buoy,” Takkar continued, “there might be a brief comm delay, but they should still receive their instructions pretty quickly.”
“And do you expect that they will comply with the order to depart for Terra immediately, even taking into account the situation here?”
“Sajeth Collective naval doctrine requires captains to respond to orders received in this fashion immediately. I don’t know either of these captains, and there is always the possibility that they will do something unexpected, but if they are following standard procedures they will ignore what they see here and proceed to Terra without delay.”
“I know I’ve been asking you questions that most likely involve classified information, and I’m not sure how I would respond if our roles were reversed. It would be very helpful, however, if we knew how long it will take the two battleships to arrive at Earth. Flag Captain Jelani aboard the Gresav told us the trip would take approximately twenty-six hours. That equates to a speed of about eleven hundred c. Our assumption is that, as one of the Collective’s newest ships, the Gresav is probably also one of the fastest. Can we assume that the Baldev-class battleships can travel at roughly the same speed?”
Takkar face darkened as he breathed in sharply, then released his breath with the deep, mournful sound Prescott had heard a number of times from Admiral Naftur. “I am unsure about the accuracy of the translation, but the word ‘classified,’ is by no means adequate to describe the sensitivity of the information we have been openly discussing. My actions here today, even if ultimately deemed proper and necessary, will almost certainly require a pardon of some sort in order to spare my life.”
Prescott regarded the Wek officer sympathetically and could clearly see the multiple layers of conflict registered on his expressive face. Takkar was obviously a creature of conscience, which, ironically, was precisely what had led him down the winding path lined with competing allegiances and moral ambiguity to reach this point in time. Prescott wondered if, faced with the same set of difficult choices, he would have the courage of his convictions required to set aside a lifetime of expectations and preconceived notions — the courage to chart an entirely new course based solely on what he believed to be right. Takkar had now done so twice, and the heavy burden of his decisions was painful to behold.
“I won’t insult you by pretending to understand the conflict you face, Commander. I will say, however, that where this single piece of information is concerned, you’re not really giving us anything we don’t already know. You’re simply confirming information we already have in hand.”
“And, in so doing, providing a key piece of information that will give aid to those who were, until just a few hours ago, my sworn enemies,” he said in a distant, distracted tone. “At least that is how those in positions of power and influence within the Resistance movement will put it.”
“If you will permit me, Yuli, we Humans were never your ‘sworn enemies.’ Surely, that distinction belongs only to those who actively seek to do your people harm. We didn’t even know you existed until just over a month ago, and have absolutely nothing to gain by making enemies of the Wek, or any other members of the Sajeth Collective, for that matter. That is unless they ruthlessly attack us without provocation — in which case I think they will find that we are capable of our own unique brand of savagery when circumstance require us to defend ourselves. Indeed, we have everything to gain by cultivating an enduring partnership between our worlds … sorry, poor choice of words there, but you understand my meaning, I’m sure.”
“Humph,” Takkar grunted, his face seeming to brighten once again.
“We’re a planet of traders, Takkar. I’m defi
nitely no statesman myself, but I’m pretty sure our primary goal in dealing with the worlds of the Collective will be to negotiate mutually beneficial business arrangements. Well … mutually beneficial, but hopefully just a little more beneficial for us than for you,” Prescott said with a cunning smile. “Actually, you may need to do business with us for a few years before you make up your mind on the question of whether we qualify as sworn enemies,” he laughed.
“There are most definitely none like you within the Sajeth Collective,” Takkar replied, shaking his head slowly. “In fact, other than the Pelarans themselves — about whom we still know very little — I do not believe we have ever encountered a civilization that seems to encompass such a wide range of … attributes, if you will. You might be surprised to learn that many species, at least in my opinion, have a tendency to fit within a fairly narrow archetype.”
“Thank you … I think,” Prescott smiled, “and, yes, that does surprise me. I would like nothing better than to discuss the topic with you at length when we are at leisure. For now, however, I think we had better move this along before we find ourselves in a fight that we have no hope of winning. Can you tell us when we can expect the Resistance ships to reach Terra?”
“Of course, Captain,” Takkar said resignedly. “The information you mentioned is indeed accurate. There are, in fact, only two primary hyperdrive designs currently deployed aboard active duty Sajeth Collective naval vessels. As you inferred, the faster of the two is installed aboard Gresav-class vessels, as well as most other warships fielded within the past two decades or so. This includes the Hadeon, which is a member of the Keturah-class, as well as the Baldev-class battleships. They typically do travel at approximately one thousand one hundred times the speed of light, although higher speeds are possible over shorter distances or in an emergency. The older design is capable of only about half this speed and is installed aboard many of our older vessels including the standard Shopak-class cruisers like the Babayev. The bulk of Commodore Sarafi’s task force is made up of vessels utilizing the older hyperdrive design. At last count, he had at least fifteen standard cruisers at his disposal as well as six Rusalov-class battleships.”
