Under Siege, page 11
“That sounds good. What happens then?”
“Once they’re in place, those near the ships will begin monitoring them. If they can intercept the Novarite communications, that information will come back to us as well. We’ll drop some sensor buoys to act as recipients for the data, and depending on where the probes are in relation to the enemy vessels, they’ll choose which one gets the information, and then the sensor buoys will share it amongst themselves.”
He considered her plan and frowned. “The probes will need to know where we’re placing the sensor buoys if they’re going to send information to them. Don’t we need to drop them off first?”
“Yes, but that won’t take as long as you think. Using the independent quantum drive, we’ll be able to jump around the system and put sensor buoys in a number of locations just outside the jump limit. Hunter will be doing the same sort of thing, only much further out. Honestly, that’s kind of a wasted effort because ours will be getting much better data, but I suppose having redundancy is better.”
“When it comes to warfare, redundancy is mandatory,” he agreed. “We’ve only got three hours, so I suppose we’d best be at it.”
“You mean I’d best be at it while you go back and see how the computer is working at gathering and collating the data. I can handle this part by myself. Go have some fun.”
David smiled because it was going to be fun. He’d spent the last week learning how to use that computer in the various systems they traveled through, and it was a tremendous help doing the kind of work that Lisa was here for.
He headed back to the computer operations center, still thinking about how they could do the same sorts of things they were doing here inside the Confederation proper. Unlike the Novarites at Vesuvius, the Poseidon Group knew about the independent quantum drive and might have begun working on methods to make sure no one snuck up on them, but that wasn’t a certainty yet. The traitors had a lot on their plates, and he intended to use their distraction against them.
Or rather, his wife did. He was only an analyst, so he’d get to enjoy what happened at one remove.
Once he’d sat at the console, he quickly got the computer to pull the data they were receiving from the passive sensors and mapping out the system. Every time a ship was detected, an entry was made, and it would keep updating with any new data as soon as it came in.
As they’d already been collecting data, the system was somewhat populated, and he was impressed at the general map they were putting together. The sensors in use by Hunter wouldn’t have been able to pick up nearly the amount of data he was seeing. It wasn’t difficult to figure out which ships were small and which were large. That allowed him to begin making true estimates of the forces they were going to face.
The fight at Leaping Deer had been pretty serious for his Navy friends, but this one would be significantly harder. Not only were there a lot more ships, but they also seemed to be on the lookout for intrusion or attack. Worse yet, they were clustered deep inside the jump limit where Hunter would have to become quite visible before it could attack and would have difficulty pulling back if she went too deep.
While it was true that his friends could use the hyperdrive deeper in the system than might otherwise be possible, they’d have to switch over to the skip drive, and that was like a flashing neon sign. It was still faster than light travel, but anyone outside the group they were traveling toward would have warning they were there and know what to look for going forward.
He wasn’t certain how the Novarites would defend against something that could appear before they were ready, but where there was a will, there was a way. The enemy wasn’t stupid, and they would come up with tactics to counter what Hunter could do to them.
And that didn’t consider the fact that Jack might not come in shooting. He might decide it was better to attempt negotiations first. If so, all surprise would be lost.
Part of him thought that was a waste, but he knew it needed to be exercised where possible. One couldn’t just start shooting your enemies without giving them a chance to surrender. He didn’t expect the Novarites to give up, but offering them the chance to survive wasn’t something they could set aside. Humanity would give their enemies a chance to give up before they killed them.
It was interesting how the data blipped as Lisa jumped her ship from one section of the system to another. Everything would gray out momentarily and then come back from a different perspective. Thankfully, the computer was quite powerful and quickly picked up where it had left off and re-identified the ships that it had already tagged.
As they moved around the system, it began picking up even more ships they hadn’t seen the first time through. The Novarites weren’t only clustered around the planet. They’d also set up what certainly looked like a stronghold around the planet next in from Vesuvius. There were a lot of ships there.
In fact, there were even more than were clustered around Vesuvius itself. What were they doing? The planet wasn’t habitable, so there wasn’t any reason to be there in such force.
He brought up the information they had on the Vesuvius system and quickly determined that the planet they were using was something of a barren rock. Its high surface temperature made it uninhabitable, and it didn’t have much of an atmosphere. There was nothing attractive about it, and the presence of enemy ships there in such numbers was concerning.
David thought about that for a few more moments and then opened the communication channel to the bridge.
“What’s up?” Lisa asked when she answered.
“It looks like they’ve got a lot of ships clustered around planet number two. We need to know what they’re doing, so I’d make getting some probes into that vicinity a priority.”
She was silent for a few seconds. “I see what you mean. I hadn’t been looking at that particular area, but now that you’ve pointed it out, that’s very weird. Look how they’re clustered. They’re not strung out like ships might normally be in orbit but in five big groupings. Do you think they’re building space stations?”
He considered that before shaking his head. “I don’t think so. Well, maybe one of them is a space station if they’re looking to stay there long-term. Maybe they’re constructing shipyards.”
“Shipyards? That doesn’t make any sense. Look how far away they are from the innermost asteroid belt. That’s a long way to carry raw materials. Why would they do something like that?”
“Why would they keep most of their ships at Vesuvius or even deeper in the system? They’re afraid of someone coming in from the jump limit. That makes any shipyards they construct at the belt vulnerable.”
“I see what you mean, but I’m still not convinced. Let’s see if I can find anything moving between the asteroid belt and the second planet.”
While she was doing that, he also consulted what they were picking up in the system and quickly identified a number of large asteroids that seemed to have been redirected deeper into the system. At least they were on a course that led from the asteroid belt and would terminate in the vicinity of the second planet. That only strengthened his thoughts that those were shipyards.
“Yeah, I’m seeing something interesting,” Lisa said slowly. “There are some asteroids that look like they’re being relocated, so I suspect you’re right. Jack won’t be pleased to hear that.”
“No, he won’t, but on the plus side, they won’t have had time to build any ships, so that just makes them big, juicy targets. We’ll have to make a trip in to take a closer look at both Vesuvius and the second planet. Probes are okay, but we need to plant some sensor buoys in good locations to keep a very close eye on everything. If we can manage to slip some of your satellites into orbit around Vesuvius, that would be helpful as well.”
“I’ve got that on my dance card,” she confirmed. “We don’t have time to get started with that right now, but we really should do it before Jack comes in all fat and sassy. Once they see an enemy ship, they’ll be a lot more paranoid. As much as it might annoy our dear admiral, he’ll have to let us do our work first.”
That made David smile. It was going to annoy Jack, but she was right. They needed to see what was going on in as much detail as possible, and planting sensor buoys close to the enemy was mandatory.
“Do you think there’s a kingdom spy ship out here?” he asked.
“I do. They wouldn’t have allowed the Novarites to escape completely because they don’t sound like the kind of folks who let their enemies slink away to plot revenge. No, they’ll come in and blow the living snot out of the system at some point. Unfortunately, I doubt that will be anytime soon, so we’ll have to do it for them.”
He pursed his lips. “Maybe instead of coming in to demand the Novarites surrender, Jack should appear in the outer system and begin scanning for hidden ships. There will be a lot of false positives with asteroids moving around, but it would be something to do while we’re planting our sensor buoys and probes.”
“I’ll run it up the flagpole and see if he salutes,” she agreed. “In the meantime, let’s gather as much information as we can so that we can present him with as detailed a report as possible. He needs to know what he’s facing and what we suspect. It’s possible we could destroy the shipyards—if that’s what they are—before the enemy knows what we’re doing, but the mobile ships are a different matter.”
“Agreed. Let’s get this done so we can go meet him and figure out what the best course of action is. If there is a ship from the kingdom watching, what will we do about them?”
There were a few seconds of silence before she responded. “If we can figure out where they are, I think we should play their own game on them. They won’t be able to see us any more than we could see them without using this advanced detection technology we’ve come up with. I could get some drones aboard the ship and disable it. Once that’s done, we could drop in for a little chat.”
That sounded dangerous, but it would be nice to get the drop on one of their potential foes before they became enemies. Though he had to admit, disabling their ship and taking them prisoner was a hostile act.
“I’m not convinced that’s the best approach to take, but I’ll think about it while we get our work done. There has to be a way we can open communications with them without revealing all our secrets or committing acts that might be seen as overtly hostile. I’ve got a few ideas, but they just need to percolate for a bit.”
“Understood. I’ll let you get back to what you’re doing and complete laying the sensor buoys so we can launch the probes. When we’re done with that, let’s get back together and have a little chat about what we think is best going forward before we jump back and talk to Jack. I don’t want to come in with some half-baked idea. We need to know what’s best and present it in a way that gets us the support we need.”
“I’m on board with that. You do your thing, and I’ll get a complete tally of the enemy ships and what they’re doing. Chen out.”
He got back to work figuring out where the enemy ships were and what they were doing, but his mind was still on the possibility that there was a kingdom scout somewhere in the system doing pretty much the same thing they were doing. What were the odds they would actually be able to detect that vessel? What were the odds that it might spot them first?
This was like playing a game of chess without being able to see your opponent or his pieces. They were making moves that they thought made sense, but everything could be turned on its head in a moment if they made a mistake or were just unlucky.
Well, that was both war and spying. They couldn’t change what they couldn’t change, so they’d need to do the best they could with what they had. He’d focus on the vessels he could see, and they’d deal with any hidden enemies when they presented themselves.
11
Amanda frowned as she examined their sensor readings. Hunter had popped into the Vesuvius system a good distance away from the jump limit, so the resolution was crap with their passive sensors, but it was still good enough for her to see that they had a real problem. There were a lot more Novarites than anyone had expected.
While she wasn’t a tactical officer anymore, she still had the instincts of one, so she began assessing the threat level and found it to be pretty darn high. The number of Novarite vessels was at least five times as much as it had been at Leaping Deer, even including the late arrivals that they’d dealt with one group at a time. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t be able to do that now.
With very few exceptions, the Novarite vessels were at or inside the orbit of Vesuvius itself, quite some distance away from the jump limit. If they were to take Hunter in on an attack run, the enemy would be able to see them coming, and even though they’d have surprise when they popped out in front of any specific group, it wouldn’t take the enemy long to devise a stratagem to deal with them appearing from out of nowhere.
And that’s what jumping out of a skip would look like to them. As the process was faster than light—though only just—anyone they chose to attack wouldn’t be able to see them coming, but there would be a few seconds where they weren’t able to attack before the Novarites reacted as the energy from the skip bled off. That’s where the enemy would kill them.
She was on the bridge, sitting at her console as the admiral made his own assessment. He’d instructed them to devise a plan of attack on their own, and the three of them would go over what each of them felt might be the best option once they were ready. As far out as they were, the odds of detection were very low, and they’d have an opportunity to gather a lot more data before the attack actually began.
In fact, since Lisa’s ship was planting sensor buoys much closer in, they’d be able to refine the data they were getting now and hone the attack plan into something better than it would otherwise be.
That was good because, as things sat, she didn’t think they could win with just one battleship. It might not even be possible with two. The Novarites were dug in and waiting for an attack, and they had weapons capable of destroying a battleship if they got lucky or their volume of fire was high enough. Surprise wouldn’t help them this time, and this battle would be a slugfest.
“What are the two of you thinking?” Admiral Romanoff asked. “Amanda, let’s start with you.”
She turned to face her commanding officer and grimaced. “It’s not pretty, sir. They’ve got a tremendous number of ships, and many are big. They’ll have antimatter beams out the wazoo. Since they’re located so deeply in the system, that means we’ll have to come after them using the skip drive, and it will give them time to unload on us. That’s a recipe for disaster.”
“Tell me something I don’t already know. With this set of circumstances, how can we change our attack plans to be more effective?”
“I’m not sure that we can. If we could lure them out to where we could use the hyperdrive, we’d have a much better chance of destroying them, but with them turtled up, I don’t see that working. They know someone is coming—or at least they’re preparing for it—and they won’t come out if they don’t have to.”
“Why are they behaving this way when they weren’t doing so at Leaping Deer?” Derek asked. “What’s different now?”
“It may be that they suspect the kingdom followed them and are present,” she ventured. “If they happened to see one of the kingdom ships, that would certainly put them on the defensive. Or it may be that the leadership here is more paranoid. Until we get eyes deeper into the system, we won’t even get to know what the tactical situation is, much less their motivations. I’m not sure that we gain anything from trying to guess why they’re doing what they’re doing. We just have to accept that that’s the way it is and act accordingly.”
“That’s good thinking, and you’re absolutely right,” the admiral said. “It doesn’t matter why they’re doing what they’re doing, only that we have to overcome the limitations they’re placing on us. It’s a bit difficult to see, but it looks like there is some activity near the second planet. Any idea what’s going on there?”
Amanda shook her head. “The resolution is too poor. They’ve obviously got a number of ships in orbit around the second planet, but it can’t be for any kind of occupation. It’s an uninhabitable rock that is inimical to life. Whatever they’re doing is in space.”
“Maybe they’re using it as a rally point in case the system is attacked,” Derek said. “A reserve to reinforce where necessary.”
“That’s as good an explanation as any we can make without getting more data,” the admiral said. “So, Amanda doesn’t have a good idea for attacking without getting ourselves shot up. What about you, Derek?”
“I’m afraid my assessment pretty much mirrors hers. Vesuvius will be a tough nut to crack, and we may need more ships to do it. It might be best to think of our intrusion here as a scouting expedition. Depending on what we find, we can see about bringing in Scorpius to assist. The cruisers with us aren’t going to make a difference.”
“Other than helping us plant sensor buoys,” Amanda said. “Having them go to other locations around the periphery of the system is saving us a lot of time.”
“True enough, but they won’t be useful in a fight, so I think it’s best if we make plans that only utilize the battleships. Sadly, my assessment pretty much matches yours. We could make an attack, but it would be extremely risky, and all it would do is alert the Novarites that we’re here. Right now, they don’t know our capabilities, and I’d like to keep it that way until it’s too late for them to do anything about it.”
The admiral sighed. “This is disappointing, but I suppose it’s not all that surprising. We’ve had our fair share of luck during this invasion, and now we’ve come across a problem that can’t be solved with just our ship. We’ve finessed a number of victories using unexpected techniques and technology, but now we’ve run into a situation where that won’t work. This will be a brute force fight, and we need to gather as much information as we can before we bring India into this.”
