Dark Space (30 page)

   Towering over her by nearly
two feet, Ralath nodded slowly. “Perhaps, if we all manage to make it out of
this encounter alive, you will have the opportunity to expound on that further.
Until then, we have much preparation to do before the fleet arrives.”

   “And if your sensors can’t
penetrate the clouds without being detected,” Shawn began.

   “We will not know if my
people are here until after the battle has begun,” Ralath finished. “A force
that large cannot possibly hope to be obscured by Tevis’s storms. Once our
ships have entered the system, they will have already committed themselves to
the fight.”

“Someone once said that ‘if
we continue to develop our technology without wisdom or prudence, our servant
may prove to be our executioner.’ Much to the discredit of the human race, it’s
never something you think about until it’s pushed right down your throat—and
that’s exactly what happened at Hellnastor.”

-Admiral
William Graves (Ret.)

Admirals
and Generals: The Men Who Fought, the Men Who Won, 4
^th
Edition

Quoting
General Omar N. Bradley (deceased, Old Earth 1981 AD)

   “Captain Ralath, all major
systems have been repaired.”

   Shawn, who’d been standing
idly by for the last hour, watched as Ralath acknowledged the ship’s interim
commander of engineering.

   “Very good. When can we be
underway?”

   The engineer handed a small
data pad to the captain, one that Shawn noted was likely a manifest of the
repair work done. “As soon as ordered, sir.” With a nod from the captain, the
engineer turned and quickly left the command center.

   “Commander Kestrel?”

   Shawn gave the captain a
surprised look. “Yes?”

   “We are ready to depart
Tevis. Are you and your people ready?”

   Shawn turned to see Melissa
give him a nod. Doctor Uudon, having strapped himself into another vacant seat,
looked almost terrified at the thought of going through the turbulent
atmosphere once again. “As ready as we’ll ever be. How sure are you that the
Kafaran fleet is out there?”

   Ralath turned to the view
port and the coming storm beyond. The brackish yellow cloud layer had become
denser in the last twenty minutes, and flashes of light from within it signaled
an electrical storm was imminent. “I give the odds at sixty percent
probability, Commander.”

   “Sixty percent?” Shawn
balked. “That’s not very reassuring.”

   “Then perhaps I should say
ninety percent? Would that quell your uneasiness?”

   “Would it be a lie?”

   Ralath grunted. “Without
question. Even sixty percent is … optimistic at best.”

   A flash of lightning shot
out from the clouds in the direction of the ship. Although it was still too far
away to pose a danger, the
Tangled Web
nonetheless shook as the thunder
wave overtook the vessel.

   Staring at the clouds,
Shawn wondered where the next bolt would come from, and if it would finally strike
them. “We can’t stay here.”

   “Agreed,” the captain
grunted, then turned to Major Fralok at the helm console. “Plot a course back
into space. Try to keep us parallel to anything we might encounter out there.”

   “Yes, sir.”

   “Sensor officer, do not
begin scanning until we are within five units of the upper edge of the
mesosphere. I want to keep whoever is out there in the dark until the last
possible moment.”

   “Yes, Captain.”

   Ralath then turned to
Shawn. “Commander, take your seat. If the current weather patterns hold true,
the ride back into space will be as eventful as the one leaving it.”

%%%

   “Captain!” the science
officer shouted over the roar of the ship’s engines. “We are within five
units!”

   True to the captain’s word,
the ride back through Tevis’s storm clouds had been a bumpy one. While all the
crew had managed to keep their positions, the damage reports coming into the
command center betrayed the stress the vessel was under. One of the main drive
engines was on the verge of failure, and a half-dozen maneuvering thrusters had
burned out completely. There had been a hull breach near the stern, but Shawn
was too far away from the captain to hear how much damage the ship had taken—or
if anyone had been injured.

   “Begin a full scan!” Ralath
yelled as he gripped his chair tightly.

   “There is some interference
from the storm. I’m attempting to isolate signatures.”

   “Quickly, Lieutenant! We
are near the edge!”

   Shawn watched as the
younger Kafaran worked at his controls with a fevered pace. “There are several
ships in orbit, sir. I’m detecting at least three Meltranian warships.”

   Shawn eyes turned from the
sensor officer just as the
Tangled Web
broke through the clouds into
open space—directly in front of the gaping maw of a Meltranian isotonic cannon.
“Down! Take us down!” he yelled.

   Major Fralok complied
instantly. The
Tangled Web
lurched down, quickly sailing under the Meltranian
warship with inches to spare. As it did, bolts of green weapons fire sprayed
around the ship like heavy rain. Luckily, Shawn mused, every one of them
appeared to have missed.

   “Nice job!” Shawn said,
stepping toward Fralok and slapping him on the shoulder.

   The Kafaran scowled at the
gesture. “Your praise is unnecessary. The blasts were not directed at us,
Commander.”

   Shawn narrowed his eyes at
the major. “The fleet?”

   But it was the sensor
officer who responded. “Captain Ralath, I have Imperial warships on my screen.
They have engaged the enemy in sectors ten, eleven, and fifteen.”

   “Major Fralok, adjust our
heading. Let’s see them.”

   The
Tangled Web
turned quickly to port, and everyone on the bridge was promptly treated to the
view of a mass of Kafaran ships of every class engaging the outnumbered
Meltranians. Shawn watched as three destroyers quickly went to work on the
Meltranian collector the
Tangled Web
had nearly collided with.

   Swarming around the vessel
easily three times their size, the Kafaran warships were pummeling the
Meltranians with everything they had. Bits of bone-like spires flaked off the
enemy vessel in droves, but the enemy warship seemed to pay them little mind.
Quickly turning, it took aim at a Kafaran battle cruiser that had strayed into
its line of fire. There was a brilliant flash as the isotonic cannon
discharged. A split second later, the Kafaran warship took the full brunt of
the blast in its port side. The blast ripped open a gash nearly a hundred yards
wide and half as tall. The aftermath was no different than any other encounter
with the devastating weapon.

   “All power is down on the
Avius
,”
the sensor officer called out to Captain Ralath. “No life signs present.”

   Every light that had
speckled the surface of the half-mile-long boulder-shaped warship had winked
out, and the purple glow of the massive rear thrusters had likewise quickly
faded away. Knowing they hadn’t the time to mourn—not that Ralath would have
anyway—Shawn didn’t wait to see what the captain did next.

   “We need to get to that
unidentified object near the fifth planet,” he said, rushing to Ralath’s side.

   “Sensor officer, what is
the status of the enemy vessel near the fifth planet?” the captain asked
without acknowledging Shawn’s request.

   “Several of our warships
have engaged the Meltranian vessel and have drawn them away from the planet.”

   “And the unidentified
object we detected earlier?”

   “It appears undamaged,
Captain. Two of our destroyers are in weapons range of the object, but it has
made no aggressive actions toward them.”

   Ralath grunted an
acknowledgement. “Communications, advise the destroyers we are en route to
their location and to keep a weapons lock on the object. They are not to open
fire unless provoked into doing so.”

   The young officer at the
communications station on the starboard side of the bridge responded quickly.
“Yes, sir.” 

   Navigating the unfolding
battlefield was easier than Shawn had initially thought. Most of the combatants
were near the gas giants, far out in the periphery of the system. Although
outgunned, the Kafarans were holding their own against the smaller number of
Meltranian warships. Only a squadron of enemy fighters had passed close enough
to the
Tangled Web
to cause alarm, but Ralath’s expert gunners had made
short work of them. As the warship neared the unidentified object, the sheer
size of it quickly filled the forward view ports.

   “We’re well within ten
units, and there is still no indication they are aware of our presence?” Ralath
asked the sensor officer.

   “There is no movement from
the target.”

   “Energy readings of any
kind?”

   “The resonant output of the
object is similar to that of the Meltranian vessels, but there are some minute
differences.”

   Ralath absorbed this
information before speaking again. “Can you define the nature of the
anomalies?”

   “No. I cannot. There are no
analogies in the ship’s computer.”

   Seeing his curiosity
piqued, Shawn nodded to Uudon. “Doc, come over here for a second.”

   Nearly pushing Shawn out of
the way, Uudon peered down at the sensor readout screen.

   “Do you have the ability to
isolate the T-band wavelengths?” he asked the Kafaran officer.

   The Kafaran began tuning
his instruments without a verbal acknowledgement. On the screen, the feedback
from the sensors changed subtly. What was once a gently oscillating curve was
now nothing but jagged lines. “Yes. Yes, that’s good,” Uudon murmured to
himself as he studied the waveform. “Now, increase the output of the sensor
array by sixty percent, and filter out all non-linear particulates.”  On the
screen the jagged lines moved closer together until at last there was a wide,
flat band stretching from one side of the monitor to the other. “Enhance the
photonic palette of your array.”

   “The what?” the sensor
officer asked in confusion.

   Sensing a possible
breakdown of the translation, Uudon was forced into using layman’s terms.
“Gamma rays. I want to overlay any of them on top of this readout.” A moment
later, a tight beam of white bisected the display screen. Evidently pleased
with himself, Uudon leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest in triumph.
“There. You see?”

   Shawn looked again, and
again saw nothing—at least, nothing he understood. “See what?”

   “This is definitely the
object that received the boosted transmission from Torval. You can see it
here,” he said, pointing down to the thin white line.

   “I’m afraid I still don’t
get it,” Shawn said as Melissa walked up behind them.

   Uudon released a sigh of
frustration. “The wider band is the carrier,” he said as he circled the image
with his finger. “It’s like a highway devoid of all traffic.” He then pointed
to the white line again. “This is the signal, the vehicle traveling down the
highway.”

   “You mean this …
thing
is receiving a signal right now?” Melissa asked.

   “Absolutely,” Uudon said
with a nod. “From the modulation of the carrier band, it’s possible that
multiple signals are coming in all at once … possibly going out as well. It’s
exactly what my instruments recorded on Torval when the received signal was
retransmitted.”

   “But, no life-forms on board
it?” Shawn asked the sensor officer.

   “None that we can detect,”
the Kafaran replied. “There are several sections that are heavily shielded.
They may contain a great number of things.”

   “Or nothing,” Melissa
replied.

   “It’s never
nothing
,”
Shawn said. “Expect the worst.”

   “Hope for the best?”
Melissa replied with a casual smile.

   “All I ever hope for is the
mundane. Anything else is a bonus.”

   Ralath moved to the
opposite side of the sensor console. “Any way inside the station?”

   Looking up to another
monitor, the sensor officer adjusted his instruments. “There appear to be
several docking hatches near the central core. However, they are entirely
incompatible with our systems.”

   “Large enough for us to fit
through if we force them?” the captain asked.

   The sensor officer shook
his head. “Not the ship, no. But definitely a squad of troops.”

   “Communications,” Ralath
shouted over his shoulder. “Inform the destroyers that we are proceeding toward
the station. They are to keep a weapons lock on it at all times, and fire if
anything perceived to be a weapons emplacement materializes.” Not waiting for
an answer, the captain continued to issue orders. “Major Fralok, take the ship
toward the closest hatch on the enemy station. Weapons officer, stand by on the
particle cannons.”

   “That’s a little overkill,
isn’t it?” Shawn asked in surprise. 

   “The weapons are for our
safety, Commander Kestrel. When we are within a quarter of a unit, I will
detach demolition troops to open the doors.”

   When the ship was in position,
Ralath gave the order to open one of the ship’s forward airlocks. Shawn,
Melissa and the rest watched as two fully suited Kafarans—each carrying enough
explosives to launch a hover car into orbit—glided away from the
Tangled Web
using small thrusters attached to their suits. The bridge was utterly silent as
the two floated toward the still-unidentified station. Anyone on the station—if
it was manned at all—still had yet to demonstrate they were aware of the
pending boarding operations.