Koban 6: Conflict and Empire (6 page)

Bradley and Maggi were the first to reach Fred, and Maggi promptly sent Bradley to activate one of four med labs they had aboard, setting it for emergency trauma treatment. She leaped up two decks, through a gaping opening, to reach a kitchen level where food was sometimes prepared when a larger complement was aboard There she grabbed up rolls of paper products, and a Smart Cloth tablecloth. She’d been in Comtap link with Sergey and Carol, the next closest crew, and they arrived just as she swung down through the hole in the decks to join them.

They used the paper towels by the handfuls to apply pressure to the gaping wounds, to stem blood loss, and lifted Fred’s now unconscious form onto the tablecloth, to use it as a makeshift stretcher. Bradley was back from the med lab in minutes.

Throughout the process, Maggi had kept the Bridge informed of what had happened, and told them to continue the mission if able. Thad had promptly told them that Bill was the only person missing, and Fred the only one injured. The mission was continuing, and the damaged elements of the Ragnar fleet from Zanzibar would be hit next. Thad redistributed control of the remaining seven drone clanships, reporting that another one had been destroyed. The fourth drone lost was Maggi’s, because she’d been busy helping Fred, and it had largely completed its mission anyway, having only a single salvo of missiles remaining, and the less effective laser and plasma cannons.

Maggi said, “We’re stripping off Fred’s suit, and we’ll place him in the med lab in a moment. We have pressure on the left arm where he lost that above the elbow, and on the middle of his left thigh, where his leg vanished. Sergey picked up the left forearm and hand from below the elbow, where it was severed. That can be saved and reattached to save regrowth time. It’s been placed in a cooler compartment in another med lab. Fred’s med lad is using tourniquets to stop the bleeding until it sutures arteries and bleeders, and a large number of trauma nanites have been injected. He’ll be kept under, but even from his unconscious mind, a Mind Tap clearly revealed he was aware that his brother was gone.”

She changed subjects. “What are we doing at the other docks?”

“Here is what I’m seeing.” Thad opened up an image link via his Comtap, so the four working to save Fred could see what was happening, as reported by the ships sensors on Bridge displays.

Carol had questions. “Sarge, how did that Crusher see us to hit us? Has it moved to where it can do it again?”

“No idea how they saw us, since we haven’t detected long wave radio transmissions, and that low resolution detection method isn’t very precise even when it’s used. Thankfully, that Crusher is too busy to chase us right now. I think it could likely continue the fight, since just before we Jumped, the last images demonstrate my Nova didn’t destroy the sucker. My bomb must have made its exit mostly in a void, outside of a lot of solid metal. Exactly the opposite of the areas the Crusher tries to target with their disintegration bombs. The explosion didn’t come close to breaking it apart, but it must be in damage control mode right now.

“It may have a design feature like PU dreadnaughts and battleships, with a redundant Bridge and weapons station away from the core of the ship. If so, it isn’t done fighting yet. But it will be before we’re finished, provided it doesn’t Jump and run away. I don't think they’ll risk sending a Crusher against Federation ships or worlds ever again. They may have had their fill of our Novas for those monster sized ships.”

****

Captain Butala Halder, of the Emperor’s Trumpet, wasn’t on the Bridge when the urgent alert reached him from his Vice-Captain, reporting that eleven enemy ships had just made exits from Tachyon Space at Meglor, and they were using the huge Thandol docks as shields from the Trumpet’s weapons. He was in the nobility’s grazing area, enjoying a variety of fresh tender grass, and golden sugar spear shoots, with some of his lower ranking noble peers.

He was a competent leader, however, and reacted instantly. “VC Candar, recall any available crews of the ships that are still at the docks, and order the ship AI’s to switch all of their weapon systems online for them, to be ready to fire before they arrive. Move us around the docks to where we can target the enemy. The Decoherence launchers don’t need to wait for us to get around the obstructing docks, the warheads travel through Tachyon Space. Fire them when you have the enemy’s lowest-mass-density coordinates.”

“Sire the launchers are already online but we can’t yet get usable mass detection targeting coordinates for them, or use radar for missile guidance with the docks blocking us. I ordered the helm to move us even before I called you, and we’re headed to where we will be able to see them via line-of-sight very soon. I have all missile bays, lasers, and plasma cannons armed for use.”

The Vice-Captain now sounded nervous. “The enemy made their White Outs much closer to the docks than the safe margins we allow for ships without gamma ray suppression. The mass of the docks, and the many ships attached to them, are distorting our gravitational mass detection measurements of the voids within the targets. We can’t even identify the precise location of the ships, let alone where the internal low-density voids are located. If the warheads emerge inside them, and their trigger circuits are damaged on exit, the enemy will have a sample of an undetonated warhead to study.”

Captain Halder hadn’t realized how close the enemy ships had emerged to the docks, placing those obstacles between themselves and the only full time active protection for this planet, the Crusher. The Emperor’s Trumpet was positioned in a normal parking orbit for a ship its size, and until today, there had never been cause to worry about an attack on the docks. Just as there had never been a concern for a sneak attack on Wendal. The Empire had grown too complacent with their tight control over their own people and subservient species.

“I’m on my way to the Bridge, keep me informed of your actions.”

“Yes, Sire.”

He was in an elite grazing area, where fresh forage was grown. The large compartment providing users with a sun-filtered view of the outside universe, the planet and docks in this case. It was located near one of the huge pyramid’s corners. He had a hurried walk to reach a nearby transport hub station, in order to travel deeper into the vast ship, to reach the centrally located and armored Bridge.

The battle might be over before I arrive
, he thought. With so few ships, this had to be a small smash and flee raid by the Federation. That was quite prescient of him, if a bit short sighted.

He saw two bright actinic flashes flare from two separate, multiple miles long docks, which was quickly dampened by the active filtering of the transparent hull segment, which suggested something had been used on the scale of a small nuclear weapon. He broke into a lumbering run, seldom seen in a high rank noble, and never for this extremely formal Captain.

There were lesser flashes observed, where laser and plasma beams struck ships undergoing repair or refurbishment, and more fragile dock infrastructure was being hit. He soon saw smaller flashes and debris sprays, from what had to be the slower missiles reaching their targets, which were the docked warships. Meglor was completely unprepared for an attack like this, located so deep inside Empire territory.

Rushing along a wide corridor to the closest transport hub, Halder’s trunks and tentacles were brusquely waving, and he startled every Thandol into getting out of his way even before they saw his insignia of rank. He didn’t socialize with these lower ranks, and of course never ate with them, so he wasn’t identifiable on sight.

He needed more information from his Vice-Captain. “Candar how is it that we didn’t see these eleven unknown ships coming? They’re obviously from the Federation, and they didn’t spend the many months required to travel here in the undetectable first level of Tachyon Space. They would have needed to depart even before their attack at Wendal.”

“Sire, they masqueraded as three Smashers, in formation in third level travel, and our monitors observed their back trail past many star systems, originating deep in the Thack Delos security sector. They appeared to be like many similar past arrivals, warships coming here for repairs or refurbishment. It is similar to the penetration method used at Wendal, but for three Smashers this time, not a Crusher scale deception.”

It was clever mimicry, but Halder didn’t feel the slightest hint of respect for their ingenuity and daring. He wanted them destroyed, and traced back to where they really originated. His quick mind suddenly caught an anomaly in the report.

“What happened to the twelfth ship? Where is it?”

“Sire? We detected only eleven White Outs, and reports from four dock control stations confirm that there are only eleven attackers.”

“They needed four ships to mimic each Smasher trail. Find the missing one immediately. It may be the flagship for this attack group, and it could be holding station in Tachyon Space.”

“Yes, Sire.” He buggled his acknowledgement in an uncertain mix of tones from his left trunk. The Vice-Captain wasn’t an expert on the Tachyon Space monitoring craft that traced ship movements in the Empire, but he knew the ships they detected all had to be moving, in order to create a detectable tachyon wake.

As he ordered one of the four monitoring ships permanently based at Meglor to enter Tachyon Space, he knew it would hold in place there, in order to communicate with the active monitor ship already there. That caused him to think about the reason why the second ship needed to enter to talk. It was impossible to communicate with a ship in Tachyon Space unless you were also in a Jump Hole. The modulated low energy tachyon waves of the communication couldn’t be detected otherwise. That is, it couldn’t if you were using the Empire’s current best technology.

The supposed Federation ship, suspected of holding in place in Tachyon Space by Captain Halder, wouldn’t be able to communicate with the other eleven ships in Normal Space. It was a plausible assumption, but mistaken in this case. Comtap technology actually
did
work between Normal and Tachyon Space, but the Sneaky Bastard happened to be in Normal Space, using advanced stealth and gamma ray suppression on its entry. Nevertheless, Halder’s wrong idea served a useful purpose shortly, when the presence of the twelfth ship was confirmed. Not that this success benefited the Vice-Captain very long.

The destruction of the docks was proving to be catastrophic, and when the unpowered Empire’s Tentacles suddenly exploded, Halder realized his own ship was at risk. The humans were using the same weapon they used at Wendal to destroy the Emperor’s Pride. It employed a similar delivery method, but relied on brute force to destroy the target, with the resultant collateral destruction of nearby objects by the high velocity fragments generated.

The Decoherence bombs were considerably less messy, and the Empire was left with subject species and property that they could assimilate. The humans were mimicking the destructive pattern of the Krall, a technique that had so repelled and frightened the Thandol that they avoided allowing the Krall from learning the Empire existed. Humans were using the same blunt force methods.

Captain Halder was less than a third of the way to the Bridge when VC Candar reported the destruction of three of the enemy clanships via Decoherence hits. They had micro Jumped to where the Emperor’s Trumpets’ mass detectors could easily sense their internal mass concentrations. One was promptly disabled via the normal internal targeting of low mass voids within the target, and the other two required what were termed
Adjacent Hits
when there are no safe low-density internal voids detected. All three were rapidly disabled, and their crews presumably killed.

VC Candar, in a surprise to him, reported that his superior’s suspicion of a hidden twelfth human ship had just been confirmed. Their gravity based mass detectors had just found an unseen enemy ship, within the cluster of ships attacking the docks.

“We found the twelfth ship you predicted Sire, I’ve ordered it destroyed. There is an unusual anomaly, because it…” He was about to say that the anomaly was that the ship was invisible to their electromagnetic sensors. He never completed that report because a Nova II abruptly made an exit from Tachyon Space, emerging only partially inside the massive armored shell surrounding the Crusher’s Bridge, the remainder appearing mostly within a corridor leading to that central mass. Nevertheless, the Bridge and crew inside were instantly pulverized by the blast from one side.

The Nova’s launch from the Sneaky Bastard had been slightly off target, due to the disruptive internal pressure wave, caused by the near simultaneous arrival of a Decoherence bomb, ten decks higher. However, even off target, the explosion was adequate to destroy the central portion of the Crusher, although not powerful enough to break up the vast warship.

In the brief confusion of the mutual damage, the Bastard’s crew was able to recover, and micro Jumped themselves and the surviving drones to the other side of Meglor. On the Emperor’s Trumpet, Captain Halder struggled to establish contact with the Lieutenant, who was on duty in the Alternate Command Center.

That backup control room was a half-mile away from the Bridge, in one of the spires of the pyramidal shaped craft. The internal transport car carrying Halder had halted when the ship’s power had failed briefly, before the distributed computer circuits containing their main Artificial Intelligence, designated Ship Manager, reorganized power distribution from backup sources and rerouted command and control to the ACC. The Captain was finally able to get the AI to respond to his security codes, coming as they were amid thousands of other calls, from a seemingly insignificant transport car, located within the labyrinth web of the ship’s internal transport system.