Hero's Return, page 12
“We could just start manufacturing both versions,” Keefer offered.
“We could—but the emperor really needs the repair version. So the more of them we can give him, the better. And the portable manufacturing plant can only make so many at a time.”
The term “portable” was a misnomer. The nanite manufacturing plant was the size of a cruiser’s hyper generator, but it was self-contained and, using an anti-grav sled, transportable. It had come to Earth on a supply dreadnought.
“You’re right, of course. How long after you isolate the correct sample can we begin fabrication?”
“I don’t know. We don’t have the ‘recipe’ for this nanite. Once I identify the right one, it will have to be fed into the fabricator. The plant will analyze and determine if it can replicate it.”
An alert sounded, and Jenn turned back to the display.
“Got it. Now I can feed it into the unit.”
“Why did you insist on such a large sample from the princess?”
“Because we have an alternate source for the nanites.”
Keefer slapped his head with the palm of his left hand.
“The princess’s blood.”
“Exactly. I already have the rest of the sample running through a separator to filter out the different nanites. Once that’s complete, you should have enough for an initial dose.”
“How long for that to happen?”
Jenn typed commands into her computer, switching to another screen.
“Looks like at least another day.”
“Looks like we wait, then,” Keefer said.
The fleet doctor pulled out his comm pad. “I’m going to catch a shuttle back up to the Constellation. I should check on the emperor and make my rounds.”
“Keefer,” Jenn said the name hesitantly, “can I tag along? The techs can watch over all of this.”
“And you’d like to see him?”
“Yes. Is that so wrong?”
“It’s understandable. You don’t get to see a legend very often, let alone one who’s come back from the dead. Come on.
“You know,” Keefer said to Jenn as they walked out of the office, “I remember the first time I met him. I didn’t even know who he was at the time. Just some guy I caught hanging around one of my exam rooms as I was treating a patient. He was still just the crown prince…” Keefer continued, telling the story as they walked out of the building.
* * *
“What the hell was Chuck Anderson thinking?”
Scott Conners threw the tablet onto Julie’s desk and began pacing around the room.
“It was just a meeting, Scott,” Dorothy Evers stated. The commander of the Federation Fleet sat in the other chair, facing the desk. “A meeting between two fleet commanders.”
“It was way more than just a meeting, and Fleet Commander Nieqids is way more than just a Bear military officer. He’s a member of the Zenkarr Ruling Council. Chuck isn’t a diplomat. He should have had the Bear cool his heels till he could meet with me, or at least you, Dot.”
Julie cleared her throat. Scott turned to look at her, which was her intention.
“And you were just a Marine colonel, Scott. Until you weren’t.”
“That was Hazard’s doing,” Scott responded.
“And the way I read this—” Julie tapped her data pad “—all he did was listen. He didn’t make any commitments except to promise to bring this to my attention.”
“It’s definitely given us some insight into the Eesni and what’s going on with them,” Dorothy added.
“Putting that aside for a moment, what do you think about Chuck’s idea for changing defensive tactics, Dorothy?” Julie asked.
“It makes a ton of sense. We’ve tangled with these aliens several times now. Between that experience and the data we have on the Eesni attacks on the Teddy Bears, it looks like the Eesni hyper weapon has the same gravity well limitations as our hyper missiles. I’m embarrassed that I didn’t think of it. And that failure likely cost us several ships.”
“Don’t blame yourself for that,” Julie quickly responded. “No one else saw it, either. But I think it’s a good idea.”
“It is. And I think we can give it a wrinkle. A way to mousetrap an attacking Eesni force.”
Julie made a give-it-to-me gesture.
“Say we station a fleet deeper in the gravity well. A mix of supercruisers and Swarm ships to defend the planet. The Swarm have fought these guys at knife-fighting range, so we know what they have for short-range weapons.”
“Based on the reports I’ve seen, particle beam-style weapons,” Julie stated.
“Yeah, that’s all we’ve seen. A little more powerful than our heavy lasers, but with a longer cycle time. And the Eesni shields are a little stronger. They won’t come deep into the gravity well to take on a force like that.”
“Especially since they’ve already experienced the Swarm needles and the plasma casters of their cruisers,” Julie said.
“Exactly. So we can defend the planet.”
“But won’t that put it in the same situation the Zenkarr faced when we did the same thing to them in their home system?” Scott asked. Since the conversation had shifted away from the perceived diplomatic blunder to one of tactics, he’d stopped pacing and returned to his seat.
“The Eesni would have our force pinned deep in the gravity well,” he continued.
“But this time it would be the Eesni on the end of a long supply line, not us,” Julie replied, warming to the idea.
“We might have a new wrinkle that will keep that from happening,” Dorothy said. “First off, none of the ships defending the planet will be hyper-missile capable.”
“You’re thinking of having a second force to jump in on top of them?” Julie asked.
“Both mine and Chuck’s staffs floated that idea and ultimately rejected it. We can definitely hurt them, doing that, but not without getting hurt ourselves. Chuck’s use of his destroyers was textbook. Jump in, launch missiles, and haul ass. But because they have not only faster-than-light weapons, but also have FTL sensors, the Eesni were able to target and attack the destroyer force before they could jump away.”
“Is there any way to improve the reboot time for hyper jumps?” Scott asked.
“I’ve tasked the engineers with that, and they’re looking at various options,” Dorothy answered.
“Can’t our scout ships do that?” Scott asked. “Jump into a system and immediately jump out?”
“They can. Designers installed a second hyper generator on them that lets them do that,” Julie answered. She turned to look at Dorothy, eyebrow raised.
“And the engineers are looking into that,” the admiral answered. “The problem with that plan is exotic matter.”
Julie nodded. “We don’t have enough of it. Neither the Lizards nor the Cats had the ability to make the stuff. There’s a small plant that’s part of the Jupiter facilities we’ve put back in service, but it’s barely able to keep up with what we need for hyper-missile production.”
“Correct. It’s sorta a ‘what comes first, the chicken or the egg’ situation. We can have the missiles and ships that might get hammered using them, or ships that can dart in and out that don’t have missiles to shoot,” Dorothy explained. “But there are two other alternatives.”
“Let’s have them,” Julie ordered.
“First is only installing a second set of hyper-generator capacitors instead of a complete second hyper generator,” Dorothy began. “I freely admit, I don’t understand all the engineering. I’m a ship driver, not an engineer. The delays in recharging the hyper generator are twofold. One, the time to recharge the generator’s capacitor, and two, there is a cooldown time for the generator.”
“Which one is longer?” Julie asked.
“Charging the capacitor bank. Those are the times you and I know from our training for how long it takes to be ready to jump again.”
Julie nodded.
“The cooldown time is about half of that,” Dorothy added.
“That’s still too long. According to Chuck’s report, the first volley of Eesni missiles took out the missile destroyers well before that.”
“There may be a way to get around it. The engineers theorize that the generator would still open a portal even if they hadn’t completed a cooldown. Assuming they had power, of course. They might not open another, but they’re pretty certain it will open one.”
“So a missile ship could jump in, launch its missiles, then jump back into hyperspace?” Scott asked.
“Yes, with a chance that it would be stuck in hyperspace,” Dorothy answered, “but the ship would survive to be recovered by undamaged ships.”
“Since I’m sure you authorized testing, how long till the first ship is ready to try it?” Julie asked.
“Another two weeks. We’re using one of the unmodified destroyers we use for picket duty.”
“I’d like to be there for that,” Julie said. “When you started this, you inferred there were two options. What’s the second?
“That one is still in the early planning stages, and believe it or not, it was Connie’s Marine space fighter pilots who brought it up.”
“Well, that likely means it’s a winner,” Scott said.
“Since it was originally your idea, I figured you’d think so,” Dorothy said.
“My idea?”
“Remember the missile packs used during the Iris System battle? Think bigger.”
Scott started to say something, then stopped, mouth hanging open.
Julie leaned back in her chair. “Of course. And that would solve other problems besides fighting the Eesni. We wouldn’t need as many ships defending various star systems if we developed that technology.”
“And not just for hyper missiles,” Dorothy added. “We could develop missile pods for the missiles we’ve developed based on the Zenkarr design. We could deploy those in orbit around planets and orbital facilities.”
“Both options are important, Dot, but I want you to push this missile pod idea hard,” Julie ordered.
“Aye, aye, ma’am.”
“Okay, let’s get back to the Bear admiral’s visit. Scott, you’re my diplomatic advisor. What do you think?”
Scott leaned forward, propping his elbows on Julie’s desk.
“It ties together a lot of speculation on our part.”
“Like?” Julie asked.
“Why, if the Eesni are so superior to the Zenkarr, didn’t they just roll over the Bear fleet guarding that region and take what they wanted decades ago? Why are the crabs so silent when we ask about the Eesni? The system they took away from the Zenkarr is a really crappy one, but it’s the best in that region of space. So why take it now, after all these years?”
“Because they could?” Dorothy offered.
“Based on everything we know, they always could,” Scott responded. “The Pyrassuns told us the Bears lost a fleet comprising four nodal forces when they pressed into Eesni space, but the Zenkarr deterred the Eesni with a single nodal force.”
Dorothy began to speak, but Scott raised a hand.
“Let me finish this thought. Everything in this part of space revolves around controlling habitable star systems. The basis of Zenkarr’s military and foreign policy for two thousand years was controlling sections of space that contained those types of star systems, and they walled off the Cegvath to keep them away from it, then fought the Crabs to keep it.”
“And based on what we’ve seen and heard, the Cegvath are technologically superior to the Zenkarr,” Julie pointed out. “So, how did they manage that?”
“For the same reason one Bear nodal force deterred the Eesni,” Scott responded. “Because a larger threat distracted the Crabs.”
“The Eesni?” Julie asked.
Scott nodded. “We don’t have any proof, but it fits. That’s why I sent Snake out to talk with Red. But all you have to do is look at a star chart.”
The Federation’s de facto foreign minister pulled out a computer tablet.
“May I?” he asked Julie, raising the tablet.
She nodded, Scott tapped in commands, and a 3D map appeared on a wall screen. It showed the region of space coreward of the Zenkarr Empire.
“This,” Scott said, walking to the display and tracing a finger along a squiggly line of stars, “was the old Zenkarr border.”
The diplomat tapped some commands into his tablet, and the border appeared, the left side highlighted in blue and the right in red.
“The blue section is the known Bear border with the Crabs, and the red is the Eesni border.”
Julie stared at the display, and the point Scott was about to make became obvious.
“The Cegvath and the Eesni share a border,” she stated.
Scott nodded and tapped the screen.
“They have to. Look at all of these star systems beyond the Zenkarr border.” Scott used an index finger to circle a large grouping of stars. “Someone has to own them.”
“Because if not, the Zenkarr would have claimed them,” Dorothy said.
“Right,” Scott stated. “And we know how territorial they are. They’d have claimed them if they could. So someone else owned them, either the Eesni or the Cegvath.”
“Scott, you’re thinking the Cegvath have been, or are still, in a cold war with the Eesni?” Julie asked.
“The evidence seems to fit. Now, they may be the best of buddies, with diplomatic agreements and peace treaties. But I don’t think so.”
“There could be another possibility.”
Scott and Julie both looked at Dorothy.
“We know from what the Cats have told us, and from captured Zenkarr archives, that the farther you move coreward, the older the stars get. That means older and more advanced civilizations. The Eesni and Cegvath could be facing an even more advanced race coreward of them and have allied together.”
“Huh,” Scott uttered and retook his seat. “Neither I nor my staff thought of that possibility, Dot. That’s very insightful and would put a totally different spin on things, if true.”
“Regardless of the reason, it explains why our new Crab friends have been resistant to provide information about the Eesni. They either don’t want to provoke an unfriendly neighbor or they won’t sell out an ally,” Julie stated.
“That’s why I sent Snake out to meet with Red,” Scott said.
“How long has he been gone?” Julie asked.
“Nearly three weeks now,” Scott answered. “And yes, that has me worried. It should have only taken him four days to reach the star system he was meeting Defender of the Crimson Lagoon in.”
Defender of the Crimson Lagoon—or Red, as he insisted the humans call him—was the Cegvath assigned to interact with humanity. Scott and Julie had negotiated with him on a non-aggression treaty and the division of star systems that the Crabs could now expand into. He’d never acknowledged what his actual title or position was in the Cegvath government, but his ability to negotiate and sign agreements indicated to Julie that he wielded a great deal of power.
“Can we get a message to him? Recall him home for consultation? If nothing else, he needs to know about Hazard.”
“He was riding on a Cat trading ship, so I’ll reach out to them,” Scott stated.
“What about the Zenkarr?” Dorothy asked.
“Yes.” Julie leaned back in her chair. “What about the Zenkarr? That’s another reason I want Snake back. No disrespect, Scott, but I want our intelligence expert to deal with the Zenkarr.”
“None taken, Julie. I’ll readily agree that Snake is likely better for that than I am.”
“Helping the Zenkarr isn’t going to sit well with the fleet or our allies,” Dorothy said.
Julie chuckled. “That’s why we’re not going to help the Zenkarr. We’re taking action to ensure the safety of Federation colonies. If Nieqids is correct, and the Eesni are staging their raids out of this captured star system, then taking it away from them should make continuing those raids difficult.”
“So you’re not thinking of taking and holding the system?” Dorothy asked.
“Oh, hell no. We’d have the same issue as the Eesni. Trying to defend a star system at the end of a lengthy supply line. If we do anything—and that’s a big if—we will kick the Eesni out of the system and destroy the infrastructure. That should slow down Eesni attacks.”
I will not bring up the part the Cegvath will have to play in this, Scott thought. I’m worried that, since they can expand into the territory we forced the Bears to give up, they’ll pull forces away from their border with the Eesni. That will let the Eesni do the same and give them additional forces to deploy against us.
“If there’s nothing else, we all have a lot to do,” Julie stated.
* * * * *
Chapter 8: Good News—Bad News
Pegasus System
United Federation Space
Empire Date: Feb 1049
Aiden Doheny paced back and forth in her space cabin, frustrated.
I’m not sure whether Julie is being cute or isn’t saying anything because of security, Aiden thought.
Ten days ago, she’d led the convoy of supply dreadnoughts into the Pegasus Star System. Families of spacers who’d remained in the Sol Sector and volunteers with their families who joined the new Federation filled the eight modified warships. The stop in the human star system had been to drop off some of those civilians, who’d be staying on the planet Pegasus, and to refuel the ships of the convoy.
But families and volunteers weren’t all the convoy contained. Six of the dreadnoughts pulled along two manufacturing ships, one large and one small, belonging to the alien race known as The People. Designed to build anything their race needed to support its nomadic wandering across the universe, the ships would now help rebuild Earth’s shattered economy.
Aiden hadn’t been in the system six hours when she heard the first of the rumors. The dreadnought Superb, heavily damaged in the treacherous attack on Emperor Hazard, had finally entered the space dock orbiting Pegasus for repairs. Workers had found something as they cut away the mangled forward section of the ship.
Much as she’d tried, Aiden couldn’t find out what the workers had found. Either people didn’t know, or someone had sworn them to secrecy. And Aiden knew who that someone was, which only deepened the mystery and elevated her hope. Because shortly after the discovery, Dorothy Evers aboard the battle carrier Constellation had shown up, and she hadn’t been alone. Scott Conners and Kyle Kane had arrived, as well, aboard diplomatic ships.
