Cradle of War (A Captain's Crucible Book 3) (12 page)

J
onathan listened to his own breathing as he waited patiently for Barrick to update him. Each breath sounded relatively loud, thanks to the amplification induced by the confines of the helmet. A built-in noise canceler muted the sound somewhat; there were various settings to the canceler, and it could actually silence the noise entirely, but then he wouldn’t hear his own voice.

After several moments Jonathan turned toward Barrick and said: “So, are we in Vega 951?”

“Otter says we are most certainly in Vega 951,” Barrick told the captain. “But the Gate you built? It’s gone. There is, however, debris consistent with the structure in orbit around the wormhole.”

Jonathan nodded. “Doesn’t surprise me. When the fleeing Raakarr passed this way, they decided to leave us a little parting gift by destroying the Gate.”

NAVCENT would have to dispatch a Builder to the system as soon as possible, otherwise Robert and the rest of the fleet would have to spend
another
six months in Vega 951 to construct their own return Gate.

“Any sign of the Raakarr yet?” Jonathan asked the telepath.

“Otter says the system appears empty, so far,” Barrick replied.

Jonathan recalled the planetoids that orbited in relatively close proximity to the Slipstream: the perfect spots for an enemy to wait in ambush. “Even so, we should proceed to Prius 3 as soon as possible. Some or all of those six enemy ships could easily be hiding—”

Barrick raised a hushing hand. After a moment: “A Raakarr laser ship has emerged from behind the nearest planetoid. Two vessels are providing escort. I believe you call them ‘dart’ ships. They are currently four million, five hundred thousand kilometers away.” He paused, then glanced at Jonathan. “One of the ships is sending us a message.”

After a minute, Barrick continued: “The three ships belong to the Elk faction, of course. Their commodore is calling for our surrender. He promises leniency if Valor gives up his human prisoners.”

Jonathan studied the six aliens in the command pit. There was no physical indication that the Zarafe had received a message of any kind. The crew remained completely motionless; if they were debating the contents of the transmission, then they were doing so solely in their minds.

“Valor has to refuse.” Jonathan turned to Barrick. “He’s going to refuse, right?”

“I don’t know,” Barrick said.

Jonathan glanced at the combat robots, then he tapped in Chief Galaal on a private line. “Chief, be ready to stage Operation Chaotic Breakout.”

“We’re ready,” the chief returned. “Just give the word.”

Jonathan waited several tense moments.

“So what’s going on?” Jonathan asked.

“Valor is deliberating with the bridge crew, as far as I can tell,” Barrick said.

Jonathan tried to consider the situation from the alien captain’s viewpoint. It was essentially Valor’s last chance to renounce the path he had chosen. If he refused to surrender, and traveled through the Slipstream to Prius 3, there truly would be no going back for any of the aliens.

Jonathan continued to wait. He was ready to trigger the last-resort operation that would see his party fight their way to the hangar bay, when the blue filaments in the bulkhead changed to red.

“What’s happening?” Jonathan asked.

“Otter says Valor has decided to refuse,” Barrick replied. The relief was evident in his voice.

Past the point of no return, then. Good.

“Chief, stand down,” Jonathan sent over the private connection.

“Standing down,” the chief replied.

“Valor has instructed his communications officer to play along,” Barrick said. “We are feigning surrender.”

“Is it making a difference?” Jonathan asked.

“Hard to tell, yet,” Barrick replied. “The enemy vessels are still on approach.” He paused. “Valor just ordered an advance probe through the Slipstream.”

“Will the enemy Raakarr detect that?” Jonathan asked.

“Probably.”

Jonathan instinctively reached for his face, wanting to touch his lips in that nervous habit of his, but his fingers bounced off the helmet. He lowered the glove, feeling somewhat sheepish.

Jonathan waited another minute, but then he couldn’t take it anymore.

“What’s going on now?” he asked, feeling powerless.

“We’re still waiting for the probe to get back,” Barrick replied. “Meanwhile, the Elk have sensed our deception, and are accelerating toward our position.”

Jonathan missed the tactical display. The Dragonfly could generate a workable one, but not while it was locked up in the hangar bay.

He tried to envision the layout of the battle space in his mind: the
Talon
near the Slipstream; the three Raakarr vessels approaching from the planetoid.

“I don’t suppose there’s any way we can interface our aReals with their computer systems to get some sort of battle space display going?” Jonathan asked.

“I’m sure I don’t need to tell you,” Barrick said. “That our systems are incompatible. And even if we could somehow interface, their data is represented in a manner that only a Raakarr mind could understand. A three dimensional point cloud.”

“But you can understand it,” Jonathan said.

“I am unique.”

Jonathan shrugged. “Well, it was a nice dream.”

A minute later Barrick announced: “The probe just returned... Otter says the Slipstream definitely leads to Prius 3 and not the Elder galaxy. There was no Gate there either, nor at the Slipstream to the next system. And once again there were two Raakarr comm node equivalents loitering by the entrance. Those have been taken care of. The probe also launched EMP pulses toward the farther Slipstream, to eliminate two more in orbit there.”

Jonathan found himself momentarily speechless. Those should have been
human
comm nodes, not Raakarr. And the Gates should have been intact.

“What?” was all he could manage.

Apparently Barrick mistook his surprise for something else, because the telepath further explained: “I know what you’re thinking. The EMP is going to miss, because the positional information of the farther comm nodes is out of date. But trust me, even though the visual information from those two is more than twenty minutes old, Otter tells me their orbit is highly regular and predictable. The EMP pulse
will
hit them, a mere moment after the probe becomes apparent to their sensors.”

“No no, the targeting isn’t my concern at all,” Jonathan said. Was Barrick simply pretending to misunderstand, so that Jonathan would believe the psi-shielding worked? “Those should have been human comm nodes there. And the Gates... they can’t be destroyed. Are you sure the probe wasn’t mistaken?”

Barrick frowned behind his faceplate. “The probe has been programmed to differentiate between the heat signatures of human comm nodes and Raakarr, based on previous encounters, and data shared between the rest of the Raakarr fleet while the
Talon
was still with them. So the odds of the probe being mistaken are fairly slim.”

“But if that’s true, that means...” Jonathan swallowed. “Tell me the colony on the second planet in orbit around the third sun is intact.”

Prius 3 was a tertiary star system, with two suns in close proximity, and a third orbiting an average distance of nine hundred million kilometers from the other two. The satellites in orbit around the third sun were pseudo planets more than anything else. The United Systems had raised a dome colony on the second such planet, Prius 3A, which was a barren, atmosphereless world akin to Mercury, replete with light and dark sides.

“The colony world is on the dark side, is it not?” Barrick asked.

“Yes it is.”

“Well,” Barrick continued. “The dark side is facing us. And according to Otter, the probe detected no indications of a surviving colony, at least not from the Slipstream opening.”

“The probe has to be wrong,” Jonathan said flatly. That colony had once been home to more than two hundred thousand people. He hoped they had evacuated in time. Then again, if they had no warning...

“Otter tells me there is debris in orbit,” Barrick replied.

“Debris?”

“Yes. The material is consistent with a United Systems vessel. Or two.”

That would be the corvettes assigned to Prius 3A.

“I don’t believe it.” Jonathan slumped slightly. He was counting on those corvettes to escort them deeper into United Systems space. “When we pass through, I want to launch our own telemetry drone immediately. I need to confirm the readings for myself.”

“That will be difficult,” Barrick said.

“Why?” Jonathan was growing more suspicious by the moment. “Valor is going to refuse?”

“No,” Barrick replied. “There are mines outside the Slipstream endpoint.”

“
Mines?
” Jonathan asked. “Of human make?”

“No. Raakarr. Wait... I take that back. I had Otter clarify. They aren’t mines, but Raakarr fighters. Immune to the EMP weapon in the probe.”

Jonathan still wasn’t sure he believed Barrick, but he supposed he had no other choice at the moment. “Valor can’t just launch a few disposable probes to clear a path on the other side, like we’ve seen the Raakarr do before?”

“Not against fighters,” Barrick said. “But if they really
were
mines, then yes.”

Jonathan regarded the telepath uncertainly. “This ship doesn’t carry any fighters?”

“That is correct,” Barrick said.

“The prison ship T300 was in control of several fighters when we first encountered it in the Elder galaxy,” Jonathan told him. “I don’t suppose the
Talon
can assume control of the waiting fighters?”

“Apparently the probe already tried to do so,” Barrick said. “But the Elk changed something—I’m guessing the Raakarr equivalent of human authorization codes.”

“Too bad. So how is Valor going to handle those fighters then?”
If they’re real.

“The particle cannon is charging as we speak,” Barrick explained. “Valor plans to fire the conical beam the instant we emerge on the other side. With luck we’ll take down most of the waiting fighters, assuming they haven’t moved too far from their previous positions, as recorded by the probe.”

“I think the odds are fairly high that they have,” Jonathan said. “Though some of them are probably racing toward the Slipstream at this moment, intending to travel through and attack us for disabling their comm nodes. If they’re lucky, they’ll get here before we finish charging the particle beam.”

“According to Otter, they’ll never reach the Slipstream in time,” Barrick said. “The enemy fighters weren’t
that
close to it.”

“What about any slugs they launch?”

“Those won’t reach either, but you’re right, we will have to be careful of slugs when we emerge,” Barrick admitted.

“Well, at least lasers and EMPs can’t travel through Slipstreams, so we’re safe on that front,” Jonathan said. “By the way, you never did say what rank and rating Valor held before he took control of the
Talon
. Nor that of his bridge crew.”

“That’s because I don’t know,” Barrick said.

“You’re telling me you have no idea how qualified they are to run a starship?” Jonathan said.

Barrick’s grin seemed slightly sheepish behind his faceplate. “Maybe they have really good training AIs.”

“Great,” Jonathan said. “We could be crewed by deck swabbers.”

A minute passed.

Barrick spoke: “The probe has docked, and the particle beam is fully charged. We’re proceeding through the Slipstream.”

J
onathan compressed his lips anxiously.

“We’re through,” Barrick said. “According to Otter, we had to initiate an emergency climb to avoid the incoming slugs launched from the mag-rail equivalents on the fighters. The
Talon
released its particle beam at the same time, and took out sixty percent of the fighters with one shot.”

“Not bad,” Jonathan said. “Except now we have to wait two minutes for the beam to recharge.” He set a timer on his aReal.

The bridge rumbled slightly.

Before Jonathan could ask, Barrick said: “Remaining enemy fighters are making a strafing run. We’re taking fire from their lasers.”

“The
Talon
has no other point defenses?” Jonathan asked. He suspected as much from the previous engagements, but wanted confirmation.

“No,” Barrick said.

“So we’re sitting ducks until they complete their flyby,” Jonathan complained. “Mag-rails on the fighters, but none on the ships.”

“Yes. Unfortunate.” Barrick glanced upward as if receiving a mind message. “The squadron has passed. Valor has ordered the
Talon
to accelerate to full speed. The enemy fighters are still turning around, struggling to compensate for their previous momentum.” He paused. “Otter says Valor just cut all thrust, and he’s swiveling the
Talon’s
nose, bringing the conical beam to bear on the fighters.” An instant later: “He’s fired slight braking thrust. Allowing the fighters to approach.”

The timer on Jonathan’s aReal reached the two minute mark.

“The
Talon
just fired,” Barrick said. “And apparently eliminated another five fighters. He’s ordered the
Talon
back to full speed, putting some range between his ship and the fighters while the weapon recharges. It looks like the plan is to pick the enemy off one by one like that: accelerating out of range while the cannon recharges, then slowing down again until the pursuers enter firing range... wait... the remaining fighters have turned back. They’ve realized the pointlessness of the pursuit and are retreating toward the wormhole.”

“Good,” Jonathan said. He sighed. “My first battle as a non-participant. I didn’t think I’d be able to handle it.”

“We’re braking again,” Barrick said.

“What? Why?”

“Apparently we’re going to pursue them,” Barrick said.

“Why not let them go?” Jonathan said. “We’ll lose valuable time that could be better spent putting distance between ourselves and the Slipstream. There are other enemies approaching from the other side, remember. And besides, it’s the right thing to do. Always show mercy to a defeated opponent. Tell Valor.”

Barrick responded a minute later: “Valor says if we destroy them now, that means less fighters we’ll have to worry about in future engagements.”

“And that’s where we disagree on military doctrine,” Jonathan said. “Tell him it’s not worth it. We might sustain more damage. We were lucky to emerge relatively unscathed during the initial flyby. That might not be the case if he persists.”

Barrick took a few seconds to reply. Then: “Valor says he will teach you Zarafe courage.”

Jonathan raised his hands in exasperation. “It’s not about courage! Ah, forget it.” He leaned against the bulkhead, and watched his aReal count down the seconds until the beam was ready for its next discharge.

“The fighters are spreading out,” Barrick said. “They’ve realized they won’t make the wormhole before they are in range of our particle beam. Some of them are turning back at steep angles. The
Talon
is firing... three more fighters taken down.”

The
Talon
spent half an hour hunting down the last few fighters in that manner. Two of them managed to escape through the wormhole. Luckily, the ship took no further damage.

When the last of them was gone, Barrick said: “Valor wants to know what you think of his command abilities now. He’s gloating, I think.”

In response, Jonathan muted Barrick and addressed Chief Galaal instead; he knew the MOTH was listening because his name was on the guest connection area of the aReal, alongside the names of everyone else in his party. “Chief, instruct the four combat robots guarding the Dragonfly to take shelter inside the craft. I’m going to have the AI launch the telemetry drones.”

“Will do, Captain,” Chief Galaal returned.

Jonathan tapped into the Dragonfly’s AI. “Dragonfly 1, activate the telemetry drones and attempt to make contact with the comm nodes in the system.”

“Aye, Captain,” the AI responded. “By the way, the combat robots are safely aboard.”

“Thank you,” Jonathan said.

A moment later the AI responded: “The telemetry drone is unable to contact any comm nodes. The alien hull is likely interfering. Either that, or there are no compatible comm nodes out there.”

“Prepare to launch telemetry drones on my mark,” Jonathan sent the Dragonfly.

He intended to dispatch the drones thirty thousand kilometers on either side of the
Talon
to increase the chances of reception. It was possible the hull was interfering as the AI said, however previously Barrick had been able to contact them via the onboard comm node alone, so that might not have been the problem. Even so, Jonathan wanted to get his own sensor reading on the system, and he couldn’t do that while the drones were locked up in the bay. 

“Aye, Captain,” the AI responded. “Ready to launch.”

Jonathan turned toward the telepath. “Barrick, have Valor evacuate the atmosphere of the hangar, and open the bay doors.”

“Valor asks why,” Barrick replied. “Given that I have already relayed all the details of the system to you.”

“Tell Valor to vent the atmosphere and open the hangar bay doors,” Jonathan repeated.

“Valor doesn’t see the point—”

Jonathan took a step toward Barrick. “Tell him!”

Barrick paused. Finally: “He will do as you ask.”

Jonathan switched channels: “Dragonfly 1, inform me when the hangar doors are open.”

A moment later the AI replied: “Hangar bay doors are open.”

“Launch telemetry drones,” Jonathan said.

The AI echoed his orders.

He waited a few minutes. “Well?” He sent the AI. “Do we have a comm ping yet?”

“Negative,” the Dragonfly’s AI answered. “There do not appear to be any comm nodes in the system. However, I am detecting what appears to be debris consistent with such nodes above Prius 3A, and near the farther Slipstream. There is more debris directly surrounding both wormholes. Likely the remains of the Gates. I am also detecting intact alien probes in orbit around either Slipstream, however they appear to be deactivated.”

“And the dome colony on Prius 3A?” Jonathan asked.

“It is non-responsive. Maximum zoom on the thermal band reveals no heat radiation from the dome whatsoever. It appears that the colony, and the military base it housed, is destroyed. Debris consistent with two United Systems corvettes resides in orbit.”

Two hundred thousand people.

Keeping his back pressed to the bulkhead, Jonathan bent his knees at a ninety degree angle, and hardened the rear portion of the leg assemblies so that the spacesuit would hold his weight. Then he relaxed his muscles, effectively sitting down. His right knee throbbed slightly from the effort of momentarily holding that position, but the pain quickly subsided as he settled in place.

“Did you hear all that, Rodriguez?” Jonathan said.

“I did.”

“Thoughts?” Jonathan asked.

“The Raakarr obviously came this way,” Rodriguez replied. “Some of them, anyway. They were days ahead of us, remember.”

Days ahead, because of the detour I made.

In the Elder galaxy, he should have flown to the closer Slipstream like his crew counseled. Instead he had chosen the farther wormhole, wanting to directly follow the Raakarr, not trusting the Elder. And now there was an alien fleet on the loose out there, wreaking havoc along the United Systems border territories.

While the choice was perhaps a mistake in hindsight, he refused to second guess himself. He had done enough of that in the past.

“What the Raakarr have done here should count as a failure of the Elder’s test,” Rodriguez continued, interrupting his thoughts. “Attacking our colonies for no reason, without provocation.”

Jonathan considered that. “Maybe. But remember, we don’t even know what the rules of their game are. What constitutes unworthiness in the eyes of the Elder? And here’s an angle you probably haven’t considered: maybe the Elder
want
us to fight. And maybe they’ll eradicate whichever of us loses the resultant war.”

“Losing makes us unworthy, then?” Rail asked over the comm.

“Like I said, we don’t know the rules,” Jonathan told her. “They said we have to prove ourselves worthy of the planet killer. Does that mean fighting without it? Or using it strategically? Perhaps not using it at all? Or maybe simply keeping the Elk faction from forcibly taking the planet killers from us?”

“I hate aliens,” Rodriguez said.

Jonathan laughed. “I won’t disagree there, Captain.”

Barrick interrupted their discussion. “Valor asks that you recall your telemetry drones so that we can proceed at full speed toward the next Slipstream.”

“Dragonfly 1,” Jonathan said. “Return the drones to cove.”

“We should head to the ruins of the dome colony on Prius 3A,” Sil Chopra said over the comm. “And search for survivors.”

“Ordinarily I would agree with you,” Jonathan said. “But unfortunately time is of the essence at the moment. We can’t tarry. An enemy fleet is out there, ravaging our other border colonies. We have to inform Central Command of the threat as soon as possible, and do what we can to mitigate it.”

“But surely NAVCENT knows of the threat by now,” Chopra said. “An invading fleet wouldn’t be able to destroy every comm node in time. Nor every ship in a given system, not before they fled to the next one.”

“We don’t know that for certain, not yet,” Jonathan said. “The invaders may have initiated some sort of stealth attack. And what about the valuable data we carry, and the specimens? NAVCENT definitely doesn’t have those. And you’re forgetting we have three more ships in pursuit. If we spend several days detouring to Prius 3A, we’re only giving our pursuers time to catch up. Besides, if the colonists didn’t evacuate in time, we both know it’s unlikely the Raakarr left any survivors. Those who escaped the particle beams would have died of radiation poisoning a few hours later anyway. The lack of oxygen from the dome failure would have compounded matters.”

“It sounds more like you’re trying to convince yourself, rather than me...” Chopra said.

“Perhaps I am,” Jonathan admitted.

“Several sentient AIs might have survived,” Dragonfly 1 interjected.

“They’ll have to fend for themselves for the moment, I’m sorry,” Jonathan told it.

“Drones have returned to cove,” Dragonfly 1 said a moment later.

Jonathan hardened his resolve and then stood up fully once more. “You can tell Valor to close the bay doors and get under way whenever he’s ready.”

The bridge crew set a course for the far Slipstream and accelerated. The expected arrival time was three days.

Since there was nothing of interest transpiring on the bridge, Jonathan made his way back to the party’s shared berthing area. The two combat robots escorted him and Barrick, along with two of the darkness-clad Raakarr. The filaments lighting the passageways had returned to blue in coloration.

Barrick parted ways some distance from the destination—he quartered in a different area of the ship apparently, which suited Jonathan just fine. The telepath’s description of the compartment made it sound like a sick bay of some kind.

After passing through the airlock and into the shared berthing area, Jonathan discovered that one of the waiting combat robots had already erected a psi-shielded tent for him; Jonathan went inside, removed his helmet, and ate some of the vitamin-laden gruel the Raakarr had provided for them.

Jonathan called a meeting of the crew shortly thereafter. He had everyone pull up the map of Prius 3 on their aReals, and they discussed various ways of ambushing the pursuers, should the enemy come.

They all agreed that the best course of action at the moment was simply to run. Jonathan wasn’t entirely pleased with that conclusion, and found himself missing the tactical input of Maxwell and Miko.

But discretion was the better part of valor, as Robert was so fond of saying.

The pursuing laser ship and its two dart escorts entered Prius 3 half a day later. The enemy mirrored the
Talon’s
trajectory, heading directly toward the inner Slipstream. Their commodore once more called for Valor’s surrender.

The Zarafe captain didn’t bother to respond.

Yes. Discretion. The better part of valor.