A Galaxy Unknown (11 page)

"There are two possibilities that I can think of," Jenetta said tranquilly, apparently unperturbed by Gloria's emotional outburst. "We could rig a space mine that would detonate with a proximity trigger, or we can attack them directly with the ship. Charley, do we have the components needed to put together some space mines?"

"Not really. We
might
be able to rig something with a couple of torpedoes, but it'd be tricky, and we might blow ourselves up just trying to prepare it. We lost our best chance for building such a bomb when the Raiders first attacked us and the last two link-sections broke away."

"What do you mean?"

"The stern most link-section, the one right next to the gun section, was loaded with Dithulene-35. It's the catalyst for Corplastizine, the plasticized explosive used by miners. We had enough of the two compounds to destroy a small moon. A minute explosive charge, mounted on a vial of Dithulene-35 and then strapped to a brick of Corplastizine, is all you need to make a serious bomb."

"Too bad we don't have any Corplastizine now. We could use it."

"But we do. We have about eight-hundred metric tons in the link-section nearest the main ship."

"You mean," Jenetta said, shocked by what she had just learned, "that we were sitting on an eight-hundred metric ton bomb when the Raiders attacked?"

"Not at all, Captain," Charley said evenly. "The Corplastizine was sited in the front cargo link-section, while the catalyst was intentionally located in the very last. Being separated by more than six kilometers of other cargo made it all but impossible for them to come into contact with each other. And if we did experience a problem, we could just jettison the link containing the catalyst."

"That would be perfect then. What else can we use to detonate it?"

"Not much; that's what makes Corplastizine so safe to transport, store, handle, and use. Its stability has been embraced by most mining operations, so it's come into wide spread use during the past decade. Unlike other forms of plastic bonded explosives such as C-4 and Semtex developed back in the twentieth century, it doesn't require a blasting cap to initiate detonation, nor can fire or explosion detonate it. Only by vaporizing the proper catalyst against the Corplastizine can a cascading detonation effect be produced. If we had the Dithulene-35, we'd have instant destruction on a scale that you have to see to believe. One kilo of Corplastizine can produce the equivalent explosive effect of a kiloton of TNT."

"That means that we have the equivalent of an eight-hundred-megaton bomb aboard. That's certainly enough to do the job. Can you reproduce some Dithulene-35?"

"No, it's an extremely complex compound, and can only be fabricated in a proper lab. I can synthesize a substitute catalyst, but it won't initiate the cascading effect. It will only ignite the surface material. Unless the Raider ship happens to come into direct contact with it just as it explodes, it won't do anything more than get their attention for a few seconds. In fact, in the vacuum of space, any high-explosive yield will only give you a bright flash unless you can get the explosion to occur while the bomb is in almost direct contact with their hull."

"Yes, and that's unlikely to occur without either a proximity trigger or contact trigger. I guess the only option is to attack them with the ship and use our torpedoes."

"Captain," Gloria said, "the Vordoth can't possibly maneuver well enough to attack another ship effectively; and besides, they'd see us coming and avoid us. If they are, in fact, a Raider warship, their acceleration and speed has to be substantially greater than ours, and they can easily remain out of range."

"Maybe— and then again— maybe not. Charley, have you prepared the three sections as we discussed? I'd like to drop one off and see how the Raiders react."

"They're ready whenever you are, Captain."

"Okay," Jenetta said thoughtfully. "We'll detach the rearmost section first, then release two more, one at a time on my command. Also, ready the foremost connection so that we can detach the entire cargo section as one unit. I want three tugs standing by, ready to launch as soon as we drop our envelope. They're to lock onto the main cargo section and engage their engines to full power, maximum speed Sub-Light-50, following the ship's original course. Are the four torpedo tubes loaded, Gloria?"

"Loaded and ready to fire, Captain," Gloria said. "We just have to disengage the safeties."

"Okay," Jenetta said, clapping her hands once, "let's get rigged for action. Clear the cargo section of all non-essential personnel and seal the ship."

Chapter Ten

~ July 13
^th
, 2267 ~

While Gloria and Charley hurried out to perform their assigned tasks, Jenetta climbed into the command chair on the bridge to contemplate the upcoming action. Gloria rejoined her after unlocking the torpedo auto-load system, removing the trigger safeties, and visually checking their state of readiness. Almost another twenty minutes elapsed before Charley returned to the bridge. He announced that the tugs were manned and ready to launch, the cargo section was clear of all other personnel, and that all airtight doors had been closed.

"I have an announcement for the crew," Jenetta said, and accepted the small wireless mike that Charley passed to her from the com operator.

"You're on, Captain," the com operator said.

Jenetta took a deep breath and released it slowly before saying, "Attention crew of the Vordoth. This is the captain. By now most of you know that something is up. It is my belief that we're being followed by a Raider warship. I suspect that it was the source of the fighters that attacked us, and is currently relaying our position and course so their forces ahead of us can prepare another trap. We cannot elude the ship behind us, so we must disable it. We've cleared the cargo section and closed all airtight doors. I intend to separate from our cargo and use the main ship to engage the Raiders while several tugs continue on with our freight. Gunners should be at their posts. All others should find a secure location, settle in, and hang on. Captain out."

From his post at the security station Gunny Rondell watched Jenetta solemnly. She had given him his instructions for the attack while they were waiting for Charley to clear the cargo section. Her proposed maneuver had to be the most audacious battle tactic he'd ever heard. Old freighters have no business attacking modern warships. But— it might not be too late to stop it. He could refuse to comply and then attempt to take command of the ship. If they abandoned the cargo, perhaps the Raiders would let them escape. He glanced around the bridge trying to decide how many, and which, crewmen would side with him in a mutiny. The First Officer and the Chief Engineer seemed committed, or at least resigned, to the plan. That made a successful takeover more doubtful. If one of them showed the slightest lack of support for Carver, he might pull it off. Damn, there wasn't enough time to speak to the other bridge personnel surreptitiously and determine whose support he could count on. If he'd thought that she'd pull anything as crazy as this, he would have begun plotting a takeover the first day. Should he risk it anyway? The merchant services didn't impose the death penalty for mutiny, but unless the action could be defended and adjudged appropriate, incarceration was sure. He decided to play along for now, but would be ready if an opportunity presented itself.

Without rising from her chair, Jenetta looked in Rondell's direction and nodded. He needed no further instruction and released the first cargo section. All eyes turned towards the huge viewscreen at the front of the bridge as it presented a CG image from sensor data. At first, the bond between the ship and cargo section seemed unbroken, but then the unseen temporal field that enveloped the ship at FTL speeds reformed without it. As normal space and time reasserted its control over the single cargo link, it fell away behind the freighter so quickly that it seemed to just disappear.

When the distance from the cargo container passed just beyond a billion km, Gunny Rondell said, "The contact has slowed, Captain."

"He's curious," Jenetta said quietly to Gloria. "He wants to know why we lost it."

The distance between pursuer and pursued widened beyond the DeTect range of their equipment and the image that had seemed like a sensor ghost disappeared from the screens temporarily. When it suddenly reappeared, Gunny Rondell said, "He's back, Captain. The contact is moving considerably faster than us now. The computer estimates their speed at Light-211."

"They must be trying to close the gap," Gloria remarked. "It'll take them almost four minutes at that speed."

Once the contact reached a point one-billion-ten-million kilometers behind the Vordoth, it slowed to Light-150 to maintain that distance.

"Well, there's no longer any doubt that he's tailing us, and no doubt that we can't outrun him," Jenetta said before lapsing into silence to ponder the situation further while Charley and Gloria hovered near the security station and kept a close eye on the sensor data.

Jenetta waited another twenty minutes before telling Gunny to release the next container. This time the tailing ship didn't slow its forward motion as it bypassed the container.

"Okay, it looks like he's accepted that we're breaking up," Jenetta said. "I imagine they're attributing it to damage from the earlier attack. Let's take it to the next level."

"What
is
the next level?" Gloria asked. "So far all we've done is turn over cargo containers full of valuable ore. They may believe that we're breaking up, but they haven't moved in for the kill."

"I never assumed they would. We're going to have to take the battle to them. That should be something they'll
never
expect if they're a Raider warship. I doubt that any warship captain would anticipate an offensive attack from an old freighter in transit. Helm, drop our envelope. Gunny, release the third rearmost section and then detach the main section from the ship."

Acknowledgments flowed back to Jenetta from both the helmsman and Gunny.

"Charley, send out the tugs. Helm, using maneuvering thrusters only, drop us down under the cargo body, then turn us 180 degrees and move us back to a position just behind the third cargo section that we detached. I want that single cargo section to stay between us and the ship that's following us, until they close to within a million kilometers. Don't use the sub-light engines unless I tell you to. We don't want to light up their sensor grids."

"Aye, Captain."

"We're not going to fool them, Captain," Gloria said. "The returned blip on their scanners will be much larger than the one returned from the containers they passed before."

"I'm hoping they'll just think a larger section has broken off. There will still be a six kilometer long section moving away from us on our former flight path, and that has to be returning a
major
blip on their screens."

"But they'll see that the main cargo section has slowed."

"The logical action for us to take if we really were losing link-sections would be to drop our envelope and investigate. They'll think we're doing that. I just hope they're so bored with following us that they won't question why we've engaged our sub-light engines instead of merely stopping to resolve the problem. Perhaps they'll believe that we want to continue putting as much distance as possible between ourselves and wherever those fighters came from. Anyway, if they don't question it, they'll drop their envelope to maintain their distance from the main cargo section."

The underbelly of the cargo section could be seen on the large monitor at the front of the bridge as the tugs locked onto it and began to accelerate away. One tug hauled from the front while the other two locked onto the top of the steel link framework with the electromagnets in their landing skids. Once they attained fifty-thousand kps, they would hold that speed until they received additional orders. The helmsman brought the freighter to a stop just short of the container left behind and then raised up behind it. Only a close-up view of the backside of that single cargo link-section, with its four cargo containers locked solidly in place, could be seen on the front monitor. With the ship in position, the bridge grew deathly quiet. It was almost as if everyone on the bridge was afraid to make the slightest noise for fear that the trailing ship would hear him or her and detect the ambush.

* * *

"Helm, all stop!" the tactical officer screamed when an alarm sounded on his console aboard the Raider destroyer Satan's Own.

Captain Garth Goshan twisted his bulk to look at his tactical officer and ask calmly, "What is it now?"

"It's the freighter, sir. She's dropped her envelope and engaged her sub-light engines."

"Match her speed."

"Aye, Captain," the helmsman said as he keyed in the changes.

Captain Goshan stared at the enhanced image on the front viewscreen. The ship seemed to have lost another cargo section. She must have slowed to check out the problem. "A reasonable action," he mumbled to himself, "but why has she engaged her sub-lights? No matter. We can return and retrieve all the separated containers once we take the freighter at the new ambush point."

* * *

The crew spent the anxious minutes staring either at the large front viewscreen or their new captain. Jenetta's heart was racing like never before, but she forced herself to look perfectly calm as she relaxed in the command chair and sipped from a mug of coffee while glancing up occasionally at the large screen at the front of the bridge. She knew that the appearance of imperturbability would help keep the crew calm and focused.

As Gunny Rondell gazed at Jenetta, he wondered if her equanimity was real or show. She seemed as cool as any commander he'd ever served under and he wondered if she realized just how dangerous the situation was. He'd missed his opportunity to stop this earlier, and now had to follow through as though he believed they really had a chance of surviving. The others on the bridge showed sensible signs of fear, but managed to remain calm as they concentrated on their tasks.

After numerous anxious minutes, the crewman at the Vordoth's science station said nervously, "Captain, the Raider ship is nearing a point one million kilometers aft of us. It's slowed to match the speed of the main cargo section, but it's closing fast on our position here."

"He's so sure that we're not a threat, he's ignoring the inconsistency," Jenetta said to Gloria with a grim smile.

"Sensors indicate that it's about the size of a GSC destroyer," the science station crewman said.

"Very good," Jenetta said calmly. "Gunny?"

"Confirmed, Captain. I have them on the plot."

"Helm, using thrusters only, gently nudge us lower than the container section. Just enough so that Gunny Rondell has a clear shot with the torpedo tubes. Gunny, as soon as you get a lock on that ship, fire torpedoes one and three. They'll have torpedoes also, and a lot more tubes than we have, so we need to get them before they can figure out where we are and get a lock on us. "

Both men said, "Aye, Captain."

As the Vordoth sank slowly behind the cargo section, Jenetta watched the front viewscreen intently. Gunny Rondell amplified the view to maximum sensor magnification, and a CG image of the approaching ship leapt onto the viewscreen. The image lacked sharp definition at this distance, but it was definitely a destroyer, and it bristled with armament. Announcing from the security console that he had a lock on the target, Gunny Rondell lightly depressed two illuminated contact switches. The heat trails from the torpedoes were clearly visible on the forward viewscreen's enhanced image as the deadly missiles left the Vordoth and accelerated rapidly towards the approaching ship.

"One and three away!" Gunny announced.

* * *

The sudden shriek of the imminent threat warning alarm on the bridge of Satan's Own caused Captain Goshan to sit up straight in his chair and look anxiously towards his tactical crewman.

"What is it?!" he asked, slurring the words in his eagerness to get them out.

"Torpedoes, Captain. Someone's locked onto us and fired. There are two of ‘em."

"From where?"

"They're approaching from dead ahead."

"Eject counter measures. Helm, hard to port. Full power."

"Aye, Captain," the young helmsman managed to squeak out as he twisted the joystick and punched in the speed variable. His eyes were wide with fear and he had trouble swallowing because of the enormous lump that had suddenly materialized in his throat.

* * *

The Raider ship didn't seem to spot the two torpedoes until they had traveled over three-quarters of a million kilometers and were closing rapidly on its position. But then it altered course violently to larboard and expelled counter measures designed to confuse the targeting systems of the torpedoes. Jenetta's eyes widened and she re-swallowed her heart as both torpedoes lost their lock on the escaping ship and began flying in circles around the zigzagging counter measures. The torpedoes were still trying to kill the counter measures as the Raider ship disappeared from view. The bridge crew of the Vordoth watched in horror as the counter measures went cold and the torpedoes lost track of even
them
.

"Damn Falcon Mark III's," Jenetta muttered nervously. "That's another reason why they went out of production. It doesn't take much for them to lose their target."

"What do we do now, Captain?" Gloria asked.

"That depends on our friend out there. We've had our only free shot. It'll be tough to sucker him again. Gunny, any sign of that destroyer?" Jenetta asked.

"He's still headed directly away from his previous track," Gunny said, watching the plot screen on the security console. "No wait, he's turning around, Captain. He's reversing course and accelerating rapidly back."

"I guess we're not through here yet. Prepare to fire torpedoes two and four, Gunny."

"Aye, Captain, I'm ready."

* * *

"Tactical," Captain Goshan said calmly, "Do you have a location on those torpedoes?"

"They're off the plot, sir. I didn't record any explosions so they must have exhausted their fuel and gone ballistic after being distracted by our counter measures."

"Where the devil did they come from?"

"It's almost a certainty that they came from the freighter we're following, sir. Our intelligence data does state that they have four bow tubes."

"Bow tubes? How could they fire torpedoes at us from bow tubes? Unless…"

"Sir?"

"Give me maximum sensor magnification on that cargo link-section that's fallen away. Put it up on the front viewscreen."