Shell Game, page 27
part #15 of The Last Hunter Series
While his staff was working, Jack called down to the bridge to speak with Amanda. He suspected the idea that his staff had been presenting had come from her, and he wanted to get her insights and perhaps perform a bit of professional development for his young officer.
“Bridge,” Amanda said. “What can I do for you, Admiral?”
“My staff just presented what I suspect was your plan to me. Am I on target?”
“I may have given my ideas to the tactical team. Why, sir? Is there something wrong?”
“It’s too aggressive. I know that shocks you to hear, yet there we are.”
She chuckled. “I do tend to be direct. What are you thinking instead?”
“Like I told my people, it has to be a balance. We can’t go too deeply into the gravity well without dealing with the Locusts they’re sending out for us. Also, if we’re too aggressive, they’ll just pull back into position and hold. That ruins our opportunity to capture or destroy the Locusts. There are still too many of them here for us to risk being pinned down, so you have to present a juicy enough target that they will overcome their reticence and come after you. Whatever the exchange is, it has to work out in our favor, or we might as well just leave for Earth now.”
“We won’t be in any real danger, sir. With the control codes that Derek stole, the Tardans would have to come out and meet us personally, and that would be a losing proposition for them. So long as we don’t allow their warships to get too close, that shouldn’t be a problem.”
“That’s assuming the control codes don’t have something in them that allows someone deeper in the system to supersede them. You’re making an assumption that what worked the last time will work the next, and that’s dangerous. I’m not saying that it won’t turn out exactly like you’re thinking, but if you allow yourself to fall into the trap of believing that past equals present, you’ll eventually get burned. Right now, that’s the kind of configuration we have to avoid.”
There was some silence on the other end of the line. She was thinking over what he’d said, and he had no inclination to interrupt her. This was how young officers learned. They got situations thrown at them by seniors or real life and then had to think through all the permutations of what was going on before they decided on a course of action.
“I see what you’re saying,” she said at last. “Derek should be finished moving the last of the Locusts we captured out of the system in the next half hour. Once we’re done with that, we need to find a plan that puts our ship in a position that they think is advantageous for them to attack while still giving us an out. We can use hyperspace deeper in the system than they expect, and they have no experience whatsoever with the skip drive. Both of those will give us an advantage, but not close to the asteroid belt. My suggestion is that we go to the innermost area where we can use the skip drive and then begin playing Pied Piper.”
Jack felt one of his eyebrows rise. “How so?”
“Derek sends out signals to lure any of the Locusts that he can out to join us. They have to respond to that type of provocation.”
“Unfortunately, I think that the most likely response will be pulling in tight rather than coming after us. They’ve already seen that we have the ability to control their Locusts. They must know what we’ve done, and they’ll be planning ways around that if they can. An interesting idea, but I don’t think your plan will work.”
“Then what about if we split up? If we send Aries around to the other side of the system to do exactly what I just suggested, but Hunter is flying solo, then someone may decide that we are vulnerable and that it would be worthwhile to attack us.”
He thought about that. It was an interesting idea, but he had his doubts about whether it would work. Even so, they were running short on potential plans of action. Her idea to use the skip drive as a surprise was definitely a good one. The only problem that he could see was how to deal with the enemy if they became cautious.
Maybe he was overthinking it. The easiest way to keep someone from pulling into their shell was to bomb the living snot out of them. They had hyperdrive-capable antimatter missiles. They already knew where many of the Tardan formations inside the asteroid belt were. If they could arrange some long-range strikes on those locations, they might weed out the more cautious elements of the enemy forces. The antimatter explosions were significant and could damage or destroy multiple vessels with one strike.
The problem was, they didn’t have very many of the things. Every one they used now would be one they couldn’t use in the future. Even so, they’d gotten control of a number of motherships and could salvage the hyperdrives from them. That, too, would take time, but it would make the upcoming battles significantly easier.
Just like everything in life, it was a matter of give and take.
“Maybe,” he allowed. “What kind of range do you have on those antimatter hyperdrive missiles? Could we sit out at a safe distance and bomb some of the formations of Tardan military vessels with impunity?”
“The professor indicated that he believed they would be effective out to a hundred million kilometers but we only tested to fifty. That’s about two-thirds of the distance between the habitable zone of a planet and the star at the center of the system. We can easily sit out at a range that the skip drive will work and hit the targets we’re aiming for. The question will be just how much damage we’ll cause at the other end. Antimatter is a powerful destructive force, but there are limits to it. We’re talking about dropping missiles into a formation, but what happens if they don’t actually hit one of the ships? How destructive would that be for a near miss?”
“I don’t know, but it sounds like the kind of information we’d rather know before we absolutely have to use them, don’t you think?”
“You’re not wrong, sir. If nothing else, that would certainly pull people out of their shells to come after us if they were so inclined. They might try to hide their ships better and send the Locusts to defend, and that would be good enough, wouldn’t it?”
“I think that it would be. Why don’t you work out the details of how this might work with your people and send something new to my staff. I’m willing to give this a try simply because we’ll get valuable tactical information out of it. I want to liberate this system but I won’t risk our ships to do it. Let’s see if your plan gives us a path to victory that we hadn’t anticipated.”
“Will do, sir. Bridge out.”
He leaned back in his chair and thought about the plan they’d come up with. It was a good one, even though it might not work out the way they hoped. It had the benefit of keeping them outside the range at which they would be trapped while still letting them strike at their enemies. Better yet, the enemy would have to respond in some way, or they could just pound them into wreckage. That would be the case if they had an unlimited supply of those missiles—which they did not—but the Tardans didn’t know that.
It would be interesting to see how it played out, and he was looking forward to the chance of giving these bastards a little more payback. If they could manage to free DuPont, so much the better, but he would accept thrashing them severely before they departed if that’s how things played out. The endgame was coming up fast, and as much as he wanted to free the system personally, it might make more sense to come back at a later time.
The next portion of the battle would be up to Derek and Amanda. Between the two of them, he was confident they could pull out a win if that was how the stars were lined up for them. It was their time to shine, and then they could move on toward Earth and end this once and for all.
38
Lisa let the Marines lead her into the station when Patrick called. He’d indicated that he had released the knockout gas into the life-support system, so there shouldn’t be anyone left to cause any trouble. Still, assumptions got people killed, and she wasn’t going to take any chances, even if the Marines would’ve let her. Which they weren’t.
As she didn’t trust the plans that Albertson had given them, she stopped in one of the handy offices Patrick had mentioned to see for herself. Working inside a vacuum suit was difficult but not impossible. She’d certainly done enough hacking while wearing one to at least get through the process without making mistakes.
The security systems in the computers were very similar to the ones she’d already dealt with when hacking the secret police. That wasn’t a surprise since she imagined someone had provided those to the group. It allowed her to make some very educated guesses at where the weak points were and to circumvent any trouble.
She still went through everything as if there would be surprises, and she wasn’t shocked when she found a few. If someone became blasé about hacking, then they would trip themselves up, and she had no intention of doing that. It was much better to take as long as it took and do the job right than to be caught and lose the data one was after.
What she had was a map of the station—one that included the prison level and some basic data about it—she passed that on to the Marines. Patrick had returned and was standing beside her while the armed men and women discussed what she’d found.
“What are we dealing with?” Patrick asked.
“They’ve got an entire level dedicated to their prison. Unfortunately, it looks like it uses an isolated life-support system, so your knockout gas won’t have gotten there, and the guards are still going to be awake.”
He grimaced. “I can’t say that I’m shocked. How difficult will it be to get in, and what kind of guard force are we dealing with?”
“There’s no information on how many guards, but it looks like the level is only serviced by one of the larger lifts. My guess is that it used to be some type of storage area, and it was renovated to become a prison. The area just outside the lift is a security checkpoint, which also seals off the prison from the station’s life-support system. Everything inside is isolated, and it looks like the only way in is through the checkpoint.”
“I suppose it’s too much to hope for that they don’t know that we’re here yet. If I tried to bluff my way in, they’d probably shoot me. This sounds like a much more difficult proposition than we anticipated.”
That’s not a bad idea. There are still a few things that would make it dangerous, but good thinking.
“Regex said that since this is a makeshift facility, the levels probably aren’t isolated with armor. We should be able to drill a hole between the rest of the station and the prison and pump in something to knock them out. Once that’s done, we can proceed.”
Patrick shook his head. “It’s a good idea, but now that they know we’re here, I’d wager that the guards will have something on that protects them from the knockout gas. We’d probably be able to take out the prisoners, but it won’t inhibit the people with guns. I could be wrong, but I don’t like risking my life on guesses.”
He wasn’t wrong. The plan had gone pretty well up to this point, but now that they’d run into a negative resistance, they would have to overcome it in such a way that it didn’t hurt or kill any of her people or the prisoners. Also, she really wanted to go through the computers to collect all the relevant data because every bit of information they had about the Poseidon Group would assist them when it came time to overthrow the organization.
“Even if the level is isolated, there is still some of the original infrastructure there,” she said slowly. “You can close off the life-support system, but the maintenance tubes that service every single level still have to still be present. Admittedly, they’ve probably sealed them off, but they aren’t worried about people breaking in from the rest of the station. Their precautions have to be mostly aimed at keeping the prisoners in. Yes, isolating the entire level means that they’ve taken at least a few steps toward being overrun if something happens to the rest of the station, but just because they have their own life-support system doesn’t necessarily mean that’s anything other than a gesture toward security. If they wanted to go the whole way, they’d have done more.”
“So you think we should check out the maintenance systems? I’m willing to give it a try.”
She shook her head. “Actually, I think you’d come up with a much better distraction. We can kill the lift that leads to that level because there won’t be any loss as they’re going to expect us to make a frontal assault from that direction. If we can use misdirection to keep their eyes pinned there and go in another way, that would be better.”
Patrick looked over at the Marines, who had a tablet out and were crowded around it, discussing what was on the screen. “I think we’d best leave how we attack them up to the professionals. While I’m decent at sneaking around, and I’ve killed my fair share of people, something like this requires more. If the Marines could focus on keeping their attention pinned down, it might give us an opportunity to sneak in behind them.”
“That’s exactly what I was thinking,” she agreed. “If the Marines can make a credible push toward making them think an attack is coming through the lift, then we could use the maintenance shafts to get as close as we could and try to breach their zone in another area. If they’re taking fire from behind, that will make their lives a lot more difficult.”
“What’s to stop them from calling for help? Maybe they’ve already summoned assistance.”
Lisa grinned. “I killed the communications array first thing. They won’t be calling for anyone. Let’s take a look at what we’ve got to work with and see if we can arrange a little surprise for them.” She held up her hand. “Actually, how long is this crap going to be in the air? I’d like to get out of this suit.”
“It’s fully neutralized itself by this point.”
“Don’t you think you should’ve said something before now?”
“We were busy talking about other things. It slipped my mind.”
“I’m standing here in a vacuum suit, and you’re telling me it slipped your mind? Somehow, I’m not sure I believe that.”
He laughed. “Even so, that’s the way it is.”
She turned to the Marines. “You can get out of the vacuum suits.”
With that information relayed, she began stripping off her own suit, glad to get out of the confining garment. The cool air hit her face, and she sighed. “I really hate being in those things. You can’t touch your face, and you sweat like crazy.”
Once she had it off, she sat down at the desk and brought up the schematics for the station. “See how these two maintenance shafts used to service the prison level? If they were being cautious, they’d have locked those down, but probably only by putting some type of barrier in place and an alarm system. Once they’d walled it off, they probably forgot about it. After all, they probably never expected someone to attack their station. Going through there might be the best way to handle them.”
Patrick leaned over her shoulder and stared at the diagram. “True enough, though it’s not going to be straightforward or simple. We have absolutely no clue what they’ve done inside the prison level. If it were me, I would’ve put anything critical far away from this potential weak spot. They won’t have them leading directly into the cells, that’s for sure.”
“Probably not,” she agreed. “Even so, I believe we’ll be able to handle this problem. We need to send the cutter back to your ship to get the rest of the people here to assist us. Also, if you’ve got any equipment that can drill a hole without making a lot of noise, that would be helpful.”
He nodded. “I’ve got just the thing. Sometimes, it’s necessary to pump poison or knockout gas into an area without letting the target know that you’re doing so. I’ll take the cutter back and pick up the rest of the crew. They can utilize the station’s sensors to keep an eye on what’s going on rather than my ship’s systems. It’ll take me about half an hour to make that happen, so I think you should have the Marines demanding their surrender now. If we keep them waiting too long, they’ll be looking for an attack from an unusual direction. We want their attention firmly planted on the lifts.”
Once he’d departed, she walked over to the Marines. “We’ve come up with a plan, but I want to run it past you guys first.” She proceeded to explain what they had in mind.
The young man in charge of the group nodded when she’d finished. “I think that’s a good plan, but you’ve got your groups reversed. Yes, we need to have somebody prodding them to make them think we’re coming in through the lift, but when the attack takes place, it needs to be us going through the maintenance shafts. You’re welcome to follow, but we’ll leave the rest of the crew watching the lift to make sure that nothing happens. With it disabled, the guards won’t be able to change levels easily, and if we plant some cameras, they can warn us if there’s a breakout in progress.”
Lisa nodded. “The goal is to take out the enemy without them being able to harm the prisoners so having you come in with us through the maintenance shafts should allow us to at least secure the prisoners before the guards do anything hasty.”
She dispatched a couple of the Marines to make their way through the maintenance shafts to be sure what they were dealing with. She wasn’t at all shocked when she received word that they were blocked off by makeshift bulkheads that had been welded into place. That wouldn’t be easy to get through, though it could be done. She’d leave the specifics of that plan to the Marines while she focused on making certain that any security systems the guards had installed didn’t trip them up.
The next phase of this operation would be ticklish, and she needed to be very careful. One mistake could result in a lot of innocent people losing their lives, and she didn’t want that on her conscience.
