Star Force 12 Demon Star (4 page)

On the opposite side, Marines in battlesuits doubled as human forklifts, carrying steel crates full of ore, minerals and ice between the cargo airlocks and the factory. They set down the quarter-ton containers in rows and picked up empties to take back.

A couple of machinist’s mates in powered exoskeletons checked readouts on the factory and selected the right materials to lift and dump into the various hoppers, based on the needs of the moment.

While much of the specifics of what went on inside was mysterious, generally speaking, a factory could be programmed to produce just about anything, and it would tell those running it what it needed. If something wasn’t available, it might be able to substitute one material for another, but the more complex the item, the less likely that was to work. It was one thing to make a deck plate out of a different grade of steel or even change to aluminum or brass, but if you wanted, say, a nuclear warhead, only a few radioactive isotopes would serve.

I stepped into Adrienne’s field of vision and leaned my elbows on the back of the console in front of her as if standing at a bar. “Two beers, please,” I said.

She smiled. “Sorry, beer is low priority right now…but I have hydrofluoric acid coming out soon. Want some of that?”

“Is it drinkable?”

“Anything’s drinkable…once.”

“I’ll pass—and Adrienne, I get it. About needing hope that is. I’ll do all I can to see that relations work out with the Elladans. Other than not having beer, is everything on schedule?”

“Yes, Captain Riggs.” She smiled. “Just keep the ore flowing for a couple more weeks and we’ll be fine.”

“That’s basically what Sakura told me.”

“She’s a smart woman.”

I frowned. “Any idea why she can’t relax? Around me, I mean? We’ve been working together for long enough that she shouldn’t be so uptight anymore.”

Adrienne shrugged, only half listening as she continued programming. “You’ve never shown her the kind of attention that you’ve shown other women, like Kalu—or me. Maybe that’s bothering her. In fact, some women might never let a thing like that go.”

I fought not to roll my eyes. She gave me a look indicating that I’d better not even think about crossing such lines again. Before we’d really gotten together, I’d had moments with Kalu—and Adrienne had never forgotten it.

“That was so long ago. I mean, why would that bother anyone?”

“So you’re saying that you never once considered taking Sakura to your cabin? Just Kalu?”

This was going south fast. No matter what I said I was doomed. So, like every male in the same situation, I just let my jaw hang down and tried to come up with something to say, which of course made me seem even more idiotic. Paleolithic caveman grunts and groans were all that managed to come out.

“You’re so cute when you’re flustered. The great Captain Riggs, speechless. Listen, I believe you, but that doesn’t alter the fact that Sakura might secretly like you and you never gave her a second glance as a woman—not that I expect you to start now. You’d better not, in fact. But I sure know how I would feel. Cody, I think you’re a great captain. I am sure she thinks you’re a great captain, too. But as far as women are concerned you’re clueless, and you’d best just leave it at that.”

I decided to retreat while I still could. “Thank you, Lieutenant. You’ve been very helpful.”

“Any time, Captain,” she said. “Will you be taking lunch in the wardroom today?”

“I suspect I shall.” I imitated her British accent to try to lighten the mood, and I might have seen a slight smile in response.

“I’ll see you then.” She turned pointedly back to her work.

Walking back to the bridge, I felt a bit bored. Here we were, stuck far from the action, with nothing to do but make repairs. I found myself itching to move, to make progress toward our goal of going home, but told myself sternly that we needed to be fully ready.

Of course that is exactly when Murphy’s Law hit—or should I say Marvin’s Law?

“
Greyhound
is approaching our position at excessive speed,” Valiant said calmly. “The ship is being pursued by a group of nuclear missiles of unknown origin.”

“Marvin…? Valiant, connect me to Marvin, right now.”

“No response,” the ship’s feminine voice said calmly.

Thinking hard, I decided to assume the worst.

“Valiant, activate emergency fleet battle protocol and keep trying to contact Marvin.”

I scrambled to the bridge. By the time I was back in my chair, emergency lighting had dimly illuminated the entire ship. Crewmen were racing to their battle stations and the ship was pulling a hard turn to starboard.

Finally, my com light went on inside my helmet, which I’d crammed over my head. I opened the channel request.

“Captain Marvin here.”

“Marvin where were you?” I demanded. “No, never mind that. Do you realize that you have enemy missiles on your tail?”

“Yes.”

“Do you realize that they’re carrying nuclear payloads?”

“Yes.”

“Enough to wipe out my entire fleet if they were to go off in close proximity?”

“That would match my own estimates of their potency.”

I recalled stories of my dad beating his command chair to a dented wreck after talking with Marvin. Today, I understood his state of mind.

“Please,” I said, “tell me that you have some kind of plan to rid us of these missiles that does not cause the loss of all biotic life in this region of space.”

“Yes.”

“Yes…as in you have some kind of plan? Or yes you’re going to tell me?”

“Yes.”

“Marvin if you say yes one more time, I swear…”

“Captain Riggs, Hansen here. These missiles—they’re like the ones we’ve been observing from long range. They’re very fast but they do have an obvious weakness. Due to their extraordinary speed, they lose the ability to maneuver efficiently. If they do not catch a target immediately, as in the case of
Greyhound
, Marvin may be able to continue to dodge the missiles long enough for them to be intercepted.”

“You mean
Greyhound
has to play the role of the hare in this situation?” I asked, frowning.

“Exactly, Captain.

“Great work, Hansen,” I said. “Marvin did you catch that?”

“The resources necessary in order to fully understand how my functioning as prey animal will solve the current problem would no longer allow me to continue to provide evasive actions and maneuvers.”

“Marvin…”

“My assigned mission was to analyze and assess all alien technology,” he continued. “Especially technology of military origin and design. I’m continuing to study the missiles from the Demon planet. They’ve exhibited not only speed but stealth capabilities.”

“Marvin…”

“I shall make a pass near
Valiant
so that her more advanced system sensors can further extrapolate my findings.”

“Wait! Marvin? A pass near my ship? With nuclear warheads?”

Just then, outside the port windows, several missiles shot by in a blur. This must have been what fighter pilots used to call a fly-by, which would upset their officers to no end due to their recklessness. Of course, they weren’t trailing live nuclear warheads around. Marvin was definitely making me understand things from the officer’s point of view.

My helmet crackled. “Riggs? Hansen again. I believe if Marvin were to pilot himself into the gravity well on the far side of the largest asteroid, even as slight as that rock’s pull might be, we might get out of this. The missiles following him may be forced to crash into the rock due to the length of time it would take them to correct trajectory and continue to follow the robot back out into space. We could also have some point defense in order to shoot them down in case they are able to rise back out of the asteroid’s gravity.”

“Let’s try it,” I said. “Get a couple of Nano ships into position. Marvin, you heard Hansen’s plan. Go for it.”

The Nano ships had the best chance of surviving any nuclear fallout should anything go wrong. I hoped for all our sakes nothing would.

“Valiant, keep me appraised of the situation. I am heading to the command center.”

“
Greyhound
will be entering the gravity of the asteroid on the far side in less than ten minutes,” the ship answered.

Upon arriving at the command center, we observed through the Nano ships’ communications relay as the scene unfolded. Marvin was ducking and weaving
Greyhound
through space and the missiles had to make much wider corrections each time in order to continue following and with each correction they would lose a little ground. Finally the Nano ships were in position on the far side of the largest asteroid and Marvin made his descent towards the surface.

For a brief moment we could see nothing but exhaust flares reflected in the resulting dust clouds as the missiles followed
Greyhound
towards the surface. Then an explosion occurred as at least one of the missiles impacted the asteroid and sent up a cloud obscuring our sensors.

At first, there was no sign of Marvin or
Greyhound
. But one of the three missiles became visible above the nuclear cloud. It just hovered there as if seeking a target. The other two must have temporarily disabled its tracking by detonating.

And then, just as suddenly,
Greyhound
pulled straight up out of the cloud and back into space. The missile reacquired
Greyhound,
but it was too late—the Nano ships were waiting.

As the final missile began to accelerate from the radioactive dust cloud, the Nano ships fired. The explosive backlash rocked the ships, even though they were supposed to be at a safe distance.

“Marvin! Are you okay?”

“No.”

A feeling of cold dread went through me. I wasn’t sure what I’d tell my father if I ever got back to Earth with the news I’d lost Marvin.

“What’s wrong? Are you damaged?”

“The loss is a terrible one,” he said. “One of my Microbe colonies has been destroyed and the other may suffer severe mutations. Fortunately, I was prepared for this and my third colony is shielded within a lead sphere. Overall, despite the difficulties, I’d have to say my experiment was a success.”

Microbe colonies? That sounded like Marvin all right. He’d been fascinated by microbial life since the first day he’d constructed himself.

Shaking my head, I breathed out a sigh of relief. “Congratulations, Lieutenant Hansen, you saved the day.”

I gave Hansen a much deserved salute. He returned one sharply, along with a smile that I had rarely ever seen.

“I guess I did sir—but no, I stand corrected. I guess
we
did, sir. It was a team effort.”

“You see?” I asked. “You do have the mind of a commander.”

Hansen moved back to the holotank. A look of concern shadowed his face.

“Anything else to report?” I asked him. “Now that one more near catastrophe is over?”

“It’s Ellada, sir.”

I joined him at the holotank.

“Ellada got hit by a sneak attack at the same time as Trinity-9,” Hansen explained. “But we saw it later of course…”

“Poor bastards,” I said, looking over damage readouts.

“You were right,” Hansen told me. “A warning wouldn’t have helped them.”

“What about your theory concerning a larger attack?” I asked.

He pointed at a pulsing red icon. “It’s fuzzy, but there’s a Demon fleet out there, coasting in, aimed at Trinity-9. Marvin picked up his missiles from that same outlying squadron of ships. There are at least three hundred big mothers—battle cruisers or battleships I’d say.”

“Three hundred?” I grunted as if punched in the stomach. “How far out?”

“A month or more from the Whales, slightly closer to us, on an angle. They’ll pass us some distance away, but it wouldn’t be difficult for some of them to peel off and fly by here—to attack us or at least do a recon in force.”

“How long until they can get here? To us, if they saw us, I mean.”

Hansen cocked his head. “You mean if Marvin hasn’t totally screwed us all? At current speed, just over eighteen days.”

“So that’s not what the Whales were warning us about, I guess. As far as Marvin is concerned, I completely agree with you regarding what he did. It was reckless. But at the same time if it has provided us with intel that could prevent those stealth fighters from getting past our sensors, he may have indirectly saved us all—as much as I hate to admit it.

“The Whales may know something we don’t, sir. Probably best to be gone before the time limit they gave us runs out. That way we’re safe either way.”

“Agreed.” I fiddled with the holotank until it displayed the whole system again. “The Demons have been on their way for months, if their speed is comparable to their stealth attackers. Three hundred ships isn’t a fleet, it’s an invasion. They mean to wipe out the Whales or even conquer them.”

My XO turned to face me fully, looking down on me from his superior height with a frown. “I guess we’ll have to pick a side soon. Either that or let the situation choose for us.”

-4-

The next two weeks passed quickly after I ordered everyone to go on double shifts. That not only got things done faster, but it kept everyone too busy to do much more than work, eat and sleep. Marvin’s fly-by with the nuclear missiles, if nothing else, got everyone motivated and working without complaint. We’d flown through the ring right into a war zone, and I was sure that it was only a matter of time before we would have to choose sides—or they would be chosen for us.

I had Marvin install several new RQTEA units. They were quantum radios, or “ansibles” for short. We placed a unit on
Stalker
and one on
Valiant
. We already had matching units on
Greyhound
and in my suit.

Marvin grumbled a bit, as apparently certain parts for the devices were made of exotic materials and took a lot of time to produce in his tiny factory, but I insisted. The value of faster-than-light communication devices was obvious. They also might provide backup if normal coms went down.

With the Whales’ mysterious deadline and the Demon invasion coming up, it was imperative to get going soon. Did I want to get into the fight? Yes and no. I disliked the thought of casualties, but even more, I hated to miss out on a chance to make some allies and do some good in the universe. Despite what I’d said to Hansen, everything we’d observed indicated that the Demons were the aggressors and the Whales were fighting a defensive war for survival.