Fracture (First Colony Book 8), page 15
“Therein lies the rub,” Jon replied. “The drone reconnaissance from Phoenix Station through the space gates shows that the NEC doesn’t match the planetary profile for the planetary missions General Gates was on. Believe me, I was just as surprised as you are. Regardless, it’s our job to have a look.”
Lieutenant Andy Watkins was one of his two tactical officers. His relief was currently off duty. Like most tactical officers Jon had ever worked with, Watkins had a highly analytical mind. His brows were often furrowed as if he was lost in deep thought.
“I’ve been going through the mission objectives, as well as the plans proposed to achieve those objectives, and there’s something I’m struggling with,” Watkins said. Jon nodded for him to continue. “It would take too long for us to fly and recon the whole star systems ourselves. I noticed that the briefing from CDF Intelligence wants us to assume there's some sort of Krake presence in the star system.”
“That is correct. We are to operate as if there are enemy ships in the area,” Jon replied.
“If we take a slow and measured approach, then we minimize the risk of being detected by the enemy, but you intend for us to move quite a bit faster than that,” Watkins continued.
“I can see where you’re going with this,” Jon said. “We can't avoid the enemy. If they’re there, as soon as we start poking around, at some point they’re going to detect us—even this ship. What we can do is minimize the risk, and that's the plan I put forth. It's the plan we are going to execute.”
There were about twenty seconds of enduring silence on the bridge and Jon continued. “The CDF spared no expense when they put this ship together. We have a lot of equipment on here that’s going to be used, and much of it isn't going to come back with us. I intend to use everything at my disposal to achieve our objective. We’re not going home empty-handed. One way or another, we’re going to find out what happened to Trident Battle Group.”
“I understand that,” Watkins replied quickly. “Trident Battle Group would’ve gone straight to the planet once they'd gone through the space gate.”
“We’re going to do the same thing, but we’re going to take a different route. My best guess is that they could’ve spent two or three days maximum before whatever happened to them happened,” Jon said, enjoying the discussion. This was what got people working the problem instead of just thinking about it.
“So, the question is,” Oscar said, joining the conversation, “where has Trident Battle Group been for the past three months? If they had communications capabilities, they would’ve responded to any one of the comms drones that've been sent through the space gate. I don’t see how all communications capability across the entire battle group could malfunction at the same time, so we can rule out equipment failure.”
“If they fought a battle with the Krake, we should be able to find wreckage,” Watkins added.
“That’s the idea. That’s why we're going—” Jon began, but an alert appeared on the main holoscreen, indicating they were on their final approach to the space gate. “We’ll continue this later. Right now, get back to stations.”
There were three other space gates deployed throughout the star system in addition to the one at Phoenix Station. They were powered by their own reactors and had three CDF destroyer class warships along with missile-defense platforms just in case anything hostile came through the space gate while it was active.
Jon transferred his authentication to the space gate protection detail, and they activated the gate for him. Major Joseph Lovelace, commanding officer of the Ardant, sent them off.
Jon watched the live video feed on the main holoscreen. The space gate, even in its smallest iteration, was large enough to accommodate a CDF destroyer but could expand to accommodate a heavy cruiser. The CDF destroyer was about four times the tonnage that the Raven class scout ship was, so they had plenty of room to fly through.
Jon noted that the approach vector Corporal Wente executed would put them through dead center, and the pilot in Jon heartily approved. There was nothing quite like being dead-on balls accurate.
They transitioned through the space gate and beamed a transmission back through it. Jon switched the live video feed to the aft sensors, hoping to glimpse their home universe before the gateway was closed. He peered at the main holoscreen but couldn’t find the gateway.
Jon had almost expected to feel something as he went through the space gate, but there wasn’t anything. They were simply at one point in space and then were in another, much like walking through a doorway.
Jon turned his attention to the task at hand.
“Specialist Vandercamp, set Condition Two throughout the ship,” Jon said.
An automated ship-wide broadcast was announced to all fifty crewmembers. Condition Two indicated that a threat was probable but not present. Although a certain amount of crew readiness was expected, it wasn't as much as full readiness in a combat situation. They would be at Condition Two until they left the star system.
“Lieutenant Watkins, I want passive scans of the system. Corporal Wente, plot a course for the NEC. Lieutenant Rutland, begin our deployment of the heavy decoys,” Jon said.
The heavy decoys were equipped with a small scanner array that was capable of doing active scans. They'd been enhanced with a subspace communication module that would allow them to send and receive data in almost real time—at least within the three-to-five-minute window they had for a subspace communication channel to remain active. Jon planned to use the decoys' scanning capabilities as a way of getting an active blueprint of the star system much quicker than if he had to rely on only the ship’s scanners.
Jon noticed Specialist Vandercamp watching him and bobbed his head in an unasked question.
“I finally get it, sir. The heavy decoys. You’re going to use them to throw the Krake off our track,” Specialist Vandercamp said.
“That’s the idea,” Jon replied.
“Sir, I realize my expertise is mainly around space gate operations, but would you mind if I asked another question, please?”
“No worries. Ask away.”
“Our scanner array on the ship is much more powerful than on the heavy decoys. Wouldn't we just use our own scanner array and then, in the event that the Krake detect us, activate the heavy decoys' limited scanner array? With the subspace communicator, we can activate the scanners on the heavy decoys within seconds of the enemy detecting our active scan pulse.”
Jon shook his head. “It would be too late by then. Even our own combat AI on any warship would advise us to focus on the first initial scan burst. I suspect the Krake would see right through it if we took that approach. What I intend to do is coordinate using the scanners in the heavy decoys. I want active data once we’ve deployed all of them.”
Specialist Vandercamp frowned for a moment, thinking about what Jon had told her. “I see. That’s much better than what I was thinking.”
“Nonsense. You can't know what you haven’t studied yet. Would you like to shadow Lieutenant Watkins at tactical?” Jon asked.
Her eyes widened and gleamed all at once. “I would appreciate that, sir,” she replied.
“Captain,” Oscar said quickly, “I’d be happy to have Specialist Vandercamp join me and go over some of the tactical approaches we’ve decided on for this mission.”
“That’s fine,” Jon said, and Specialist Vandercamp scurried over to sit with Oscar.
Then, they waited.
They spent the next twelve hours making slow but steady progress toward the NEC. Their course wasn’t a straight shot to the planet because they were deploying the heavy decoy drones. Once they were ejected, they’d travel to a predefined set of coordinates using corrective thruster capabilities and momentum from the Raven.
Jon had just gotten to the galley to have a quick bite to eat before heading to the bridge. Lieutenant Watkins and Specialist Vandercamp joined him.
“Sir, how’d you get selected for this mission?” Vandercamp asked.
Watkins closed his eyes and looked away for a moment, and Jon merely chuckled.
“Did I say something wrong?” Specialist Vandercamp asked quickly.
“Not every CO enjoys having someone ask how they got their current command posting,” Jon said, smiling. “But I don’t mind. I have a lot of experience.”
“Salvage runs on Vemus ships,” Watkins added quickly.
Vandercamp’s eyes widened. Then she nodded. “Is that it? Meaning no disrespect of course, sir. But is that the only reason? I’m keenly interested in how the CDF selects people for their posts.”
Jon leaned back in his chair and sipped his coffee. “Isn’t that enough?” he asked and then set his coffee mug down on the table. “It wasn’t just the salvage runs—at least that wasn’t the only reason. Do you know how many people were assigned to the Trident Battle Group?”
Vandercamp frowned in thought. “Well, there were eleven ships—two heavy cruisers, eight destroyers, and one converted freighter that was used as a carrier. The crew was mostly CDF, but they did have civilian specialists on board.” She paused for a moment and then shook her head. “A few thousand? I’m afraid I don’t know.”
“Two thousand, two hundred and ninety people,” Jon said, and Watkins and Vandercamp went quiet. “Nearly twenty-three hundred, to make it easier. That’s a lot of people. That’s a lot of families and friends. Sisters,” he said, his mouth going dry, “and brothers.”
Jon swallowed hard. There wasn’t a day that went by that he hadn’t thought about his brother. If it hadn't been for Patrick, they might never have found a way to kill the Vemus. His brother had been all he had when he’d first come to the colony. He had close friends now, but he and his brother had been close.
“I suspect Colonel Cross was aware of this when she sought me out for this mission. After my brother died on the Vemus ship, I made sure no one else was left trapped on any salvage run. Granted, this is a bit different than those missions. I want to find them because if they did make the ultimate sacrifice, their families have a right to know what happened to them. You’re part of that now,” Jon said, and his two younger companions sat up a bit straighter. “It’s time for us to get back to it. We’ll be passing the NEC soon.”
Jon stood up, and Watkins offered to clean up after them. He left the galley and headed to the bridge.
Oscar stood up from the commander's chair. “All clear, sir,” Oscar said and went to his workstation.
He and Oscar were close friends, but on the bridge and while they were on duty, they followed CDF formal address.
“Thank you, Lieutenant Rutland.”
The computing core on the Raven could rival that of a heavy cruiser. They had quite a bit of data storage, which would allow them to record the entire mission. The CDF had learned the value of going back over every piece of data they could collect that could potentially give them more insight into the Krake.
The image on the main holoscreen was of the NEC, and they could see the small cluster of an asteroid field that orbited the planet beyond the second moon. Jon had the high-res optics deployed so they could get detailed images of both the planet and the asteroid field. CDF intel suggested that the Krake space gate would be located near the planet.
“Anomaly detected,” Lieutenant Watkins said. “The data analysis of the image shows what could be an enemy ship. It matches the profile of a Krake destroyer.”
“Where?” Jon asked.
“Near the asteroid field. I’ll put it on screen.”
An image appeared on the main holoscreen. It was enhanced with the cyber warfare suite's AI analysis of the high-res optical feed. It could pick out the details much quicker than any of the crew could.
“Compare this image to what we have in our records and put it on screen,” Jon said.
A sub-window opened on the main holoscreen showing the various profiles of a Krake destroyer. These images had been captured when the heavy cruiser Vigilant had engaged the enemy.
“A ninety percent match,” Oscar said.
“Good enough for me. I want that ship designated as alpha,” Jon said. “Has the computer detected any CDF ships?”
“Negative, Captain,” Lieutenant Watkins replied.
Jon suspected as much but had to ask anyway. “Scan the data for any other ships in the area,” Jon said.
“Yes, Captain,” Lieutenant Watkins replied.
The two images minimized to a much smaller sub-window, and the main holoscreen went back to a star-field view with the NEC featured prominently. Jon’s gaze drifted toward the current image of the enemy ship. All the reports he’d read indicated that the Krake destroyers had superior speed when compared with a CDF warship. The Raven was built for speed and stealth, but he didn’t want to put it to the test against the Krake destroyer. If it came to it, the best he could hope for would be that they had enough of a head start to get away from them and escape the universe through an egress point.
Jon glanced at the others on the bridge and saw more than a few of them looking at the image of the Krake destroyer. Jon decided to remove it but left the designation and location highlighted on the main holoscreen.
For the next few hours, the Krake destroyer didn't move, remaining in orbit around the NEC. The planet was going through a severe Ice Age that reached almost to the equatorial line. Any living thing that couldn’t adapt to the severe cold temperatures would likely die. Jon looked at it and shuddered. God, he hated the cold weather, but he loved working in space. He made a point to go to New Earth, but more than half his time was spent serving at the lunar base and Phoenix Station.
“Tactical, put a plot up on the main holoscreen, and I want to see the locations of the heavy decoys we've deployed,” Jon said, then added, “Keep the alpha on the screen as well.”
Less than a minute later, the main holoscreen showed a star map. Thirty blinking white dots appeared like a string of pearls across the star system from a distance of Gigantor’s orbit, which was over seven hundred million kilometers from the star.
Jon peered at the main holoscreen. With the current deployment of the heavy decoys, they had just enough coverage for the star system's interior planets. However, if Trident Battle Group had had to retreat to the outer system of planets, they might still be able to scan them, but it would take longer and increase the risk of the Krake detecting them. If Trident Battle Group had fought the Krake here, then why would they have let the CDF retreat at all?
Jon pressed his lips together and furrowed his brow in thought. There was no sign of any CDF ships near the NEC, so he could pretty much rule out them taking any sort of refuge on the ice planet. Jon couldn’t imagine Colonel Quinn abandoning all his ships without leaving any sort of comms drone out in the system. Whatever was there to find would be away from the NEC and probably wouldn’t be beyond Gigantor’s orbit.
Jon looked at Oscar. “I think we’re ready to kick over a few stones. What do you think?”
“Agreed, Captain. We’ll need just a few minutes to bring up the sub-comm network,” Oscar replied.
“Very well. Do it.”
Jon leaned back in the commander's chair, feeling his elbows push into the contours of the padded armrests. He opened a broadcast channel to the ship. “Crew of the Raven, this is the captain. Since we haven’t found any sign of Trident Battle Group, we’re about to execute the next part of our plan. There's one enemy ship located near the NEC. When all the scanner arrays are brought online, the active scan pulses will no doubt alert the enemy to our presence. That was always the plan. Our gamble is that the enemy will pursue the heavy decoys, giving us a chance to investigate anything we detect. If we don’t find any trace of Trident Battle Group, we'll head to the nearest egress point and go home. Be ready.”
He closed down the broadcast comlink and looked at Oscar.
“Ready to scan, Captain.”
“Execute,” Jon said.
Active scan pulses utilized a range of different detection methods by scanner array. Any intelligent species monitoring the system would be able to detect an artificial pulse such as the one occurring at that moment. What the Krake destroyer was no doubt detecting was the presence of thirty active scan pulses throughout the interior of the star system all at the same time. The Raven was the snake in the grass, slithering undercover.
“Tactical, have the new data points detected put immediately on the main holoscreen,” Jon said.
“Yes, Captain,” Lieutenant Watkins replied.
Jon fixed his gaze on the main holoscreen. All the while he hoped—well, he hoped they detected something, but it would be better for them if it was close to this position rather than across the star system. If they did detect something worth investigating across the star system, they’d likely have to return at another time, unless Jon was of the disposition to risk another trek across the star system, hoping the Krake would overlook them a second time. It was too soon to tell about that.
The advantage of leveraging the heavy decoys equipped with subspace comms was that it essentially gave them an entire scanner array network that delivered data in real time. This was a huge tactical advantage. With each passing second, the main holoscreen updated the star field with various detections, but they all seemed to be relegated to normal astral bodies, such as meteors with high metal content.
A second enemy ship was detected in the asteroid field near the NEC.
“Captain, we’ve detected another anomaly. It’s a metallic mass that’s not located near anything else. The AI has put together an image that looks like partial ship wreckage, but it could just be the angle,” Lieutenant Watkins said.
“Does it match any of the known CDF ship signatures?”
“Negative, Captain. However, it appears to be our best lead,” Lieutenant Watkins replied.
“Enemy ships are on an intercept course for two of our heavy decoys,” Oscar said.
“Very well, kill the scans for now. Initiate thrust maneuver for the decoys and arm the self-destruct for the two the Krake are so keen on investigating,” Jon said. His orders were confirmed. “Corporal Wente, plot a course to the anomaly. Best speed,” Jon said.
