Galaxy of War II Read online

  We’ve been messing around with this long enough. Let’s make a selection and send a couple flight suits on their way.

  Taking the Battleship Captain thing a little too serious, I see.

  Klemperer chuckled, shaking his head.

  “Children,” Cyrus said. “Do you want to spend more time parsing this, Commander?”

  “No, but maybe we ought to send flight suits to two different locations. We might be ahead of Aeon’s deployments, you know.”

  “But only attack one, if there are probes in both systems, right?”

  “Yeah, Cyrus, that’s what I would suggest. They’ll be more likely to think they’ve hit paydirt if we only attack one.”

  I suggest Carringolton and Shoeintia. They’re in the same galaxy, not too far away, and their Boron deposits are substantial enough for us to be interested.

  “How long to jump to each?” Cyrus asked.

  Fourteen hours for Carringolton, eighteen hours for Shoeintia.

  “Objections, Commander?”

  Klemperer shook his head. “Sounds good to me.”

  “Samson, program and launch two pilotless flight suits from the secondary bay, please. Kip and James, monitor and help as needed.”

  “You got it, boss,” Kip said.

  James chuckled. “What he said.”

  “Want to give me the dime tour?” Klemperer asked. “I haven’t spent much time on a Razor.”

  “Sure, I could use a walk,” Cyrus said.

  They left the bridge, Cyrus leading the way, showing Klemperer the points of interest.

  “Happy to have one of these, Cyrus? Thought you’d try to hold out for the next New Jersey-class ship.”

  Cyrus smiled as they walked. “Yeah, I’m good. This is a nice ship. It has some advantages over the New Jersey class, you know. The sensors probably saved our butts.”

  “Think Ecason really had a hand in the design?”

  Cyrus shrugged. “Maybe. Wonder if they tortured him to do it, or if he was okay with it?”

  “I’ve never heard that Ecason was a traitor.”

  “He had the ruling party of the Central Authority pretty upset at him,” Cyrus said. “I like to think he didn’t want to.”

  Both flight suits launched.

  Thanks.

  “They’re away?” Klemperer asked.

  Cyrus nodded. “Want a beer? There’s a nice place on the way to the engine room.”

  “Yeah.”

  The men took a right at the next intersection.

  ***

  Elizabeth came into Ecason’s room after a while. “You okay?”

  He turned towards her. “No, but I’ll get over it. Sorry. I knew it would hit me like that.”

  Elizabeth sat on the bed next to him, her hand going to his shoulder. “You can talk to me about that, you know.”

  “I know.” He sat up. “I’d better see if I can talk with XC22475. He needs this information.”

  They left Ecason’s room, heading back out into the lab. “I’ll try the communicator again.” He sat in front of the unit, speaking into his PA, then picking XC22272’s contact. The indicator said he was available. “Look, he’s back.”

  “Are you gonna call him?”

  Ecason nodded, putting in the page. “Might take a few minutes. He rarely comes right away.” They walked away from the communicator, heading for the coffee machine.

  The lab door opened with a clank.

  “Here comes somebody,” Elizabeth said.

  XC22475 appeared. “He’s back, but in quarantine for now.”

  “How does he look?” Ecason asked.

  XC22475 sat down next to him and Elizabeth. “Terrified.”

  “We need to show you something,” Elizabeth said. “Right, Ecason?”

  “What? You’ve made progress on the cloaking device?”

  Ecason shook his head. “No, I had a message from my wife that I forgot about. It’s got the procedure for infection testing.”

  “I’ll show him the document and the video,” Elizabeth said. “You can go elsewhere.”

  “What’s the matter?” XC22475 asked.

  “The video of his wife is troubling to him,” Elizabeth said.

  “I can handle it,” Ecason said.

  Elizabeth shook her head. “But why put yourself through it? Go into your room, or to another part of the lab. I’ll give the information to XC22475.”

  “Okay,” Ecason said. “I think we have what we need to do the test, so I’ll round that up.” He walked away, as Elizabeth brought up the document, showing that and the video. They read and watched the video silently. XC22475 stood when the video was over.

  “I need to test my brother right away. Ecason!”

  “Coming,” Ecason said from the other side of the lab. “I’ve got a thermometer rigged up to show the oscillation.” He had a small device in his hand.

  “Perfect,” XC22475 said. “I reminded him about the Vitamin D supplement after we talked before.”

  “When was that?” Ecason asked as he walked up.

  “When he came out of the jump to C1121-B. He’s been on that since before he left. He’s probably okay, but let’s find out for sure.”

  “Good.” Ecason handed the test device to XC22475, showing him how it worked. “You can let him do this to himself if you’re afraid of being in the same room with him.”

  “He’ll insist that we do it that way,” XC22475 said. “We’re going to release you guys, at least inside the bunker. We’re sorry for what we did.”

  “My science team too?” Elizabeth asked.

  “Yes,” XC22475 said. “We need you to help us take this planet back.”

  “That’s the right idea,” Ecason said.

  “I’ll remove the transmission blocker, so you can communicate with your team via their PAs.” XC22475 took the test device and left the lab.

  “Do you think they’ll really let us go?” Elizabeth asked.

  Ecason shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s possible our attempt at taking the planet back will be the death of us.”

  “That thought has already crossed my mind.” Her PA beeped. “The transmission block is off. I’m going to chat with the Captain. He wasn’t on the ship when it was destroyed.”

  ***

  JJ and Nolan were in the New Jersey lab, looking at specs for the Zephyrus shields.

  “Do you think Drake’s idea will work?” JJ asked.

  “It’s a better idea than the one I had, but it will use a lot of fuel. Enough to cause extra planning.”

  “Really? Why?”

  “We’re using the shield to apply enough resistance to slow us from Mach 25 to Q speed. There will be other side-effects with doing this.”

  “Like what?”

  “It’s going to give us a hell of a shake,” Nolan said. “Might rattle things loose. We’ll need to look very carefully at that issue. At least we’ll be dealing with it on the way down, when we won’t have a full load of fuel in the cargo bay.”

  “You think we’ll have problems with the radiation shields coming apart?”

  “I don’t know,” Nolan said. “We’ll need to bring Deacon into this.”

  “Geez, should we be going with your original idea instead?”

  Nolan shook his head. “We don’t know if that will work. I don’t have any doubt that this will work.”

  “Okay,” JJ said. “I think we can test this in the lab. Just got an idea.”

  “Good,” Nolan said. “We’ll obviously have to test this with the Zephyrus at a far-away location.”

  ***

  Captain Clarke wolfed down a sandwich, then took off walking towards the bridge.

  Those five Razor ships met with Stuart Cain’s ship. They took off after about five minutes.

  Where to?

  Into the neutral corridor, heading for the Clan Zone. There was another ship there for a moment. Clan ID.

  Ra
zor?

  Nope, it was one of their mainline battleships. I don’t have the data to track it yet, but I got the ID code and looked it up. It was launched back when both sides were still honoring the treaty.

  Can you track it?

  I need about thirty more seconds to get their impulse engine profile.

  You’re slipping, Butch.

  Hardly. This ship is different than a Razor.

  Better?

  In some ways. There, got them. It’s just patrolling the neutral corridor.

  Well, at least somebody is.

  Should I notify anybody?

  Chairman Vermillion and Simone.

  Done. You’re almost back to the bridge. It’s good that you walked. Your heartrate came up nicely. You need to make a point of walking more. It’s a great stress reliever.

  Thank you, Doctor Butch. Any more advice?

  No. For a human you’re pretty together.

  Thanks, I think. At least you don’t bite the hand that feeds you.

  Fido probably does.

  Trey rolled his eyes, going onto the bridge. Sondra and Skip were there.

  “Hello, Captain,” Sondra said.

  Captain Clarke nodded. “Anything going on?”

  Skip turned towards him. “Nope, all quiet. Nothing more from the Razor sensors yet, either. We’ve got their output broadcasting to this ship and the Spitfire now.”

  “Excellent,” Captain Clarke said. “AIs on speaker please.”

  Thank you, Captain Clarke.

  Wonderful, Junior is here.

  Good. She’s been abusing me. Us males have to stick together.

  You’re using the term male loosely. Very loosely.

  “You guys done?” Captain Clarke asked.

  Hey, I didn’t start it. I didn’t even engage.

  You did start it, just by existing.

  “Knock it off, little sister,” Sondra said.

  “Make yourself useful, Butch. I want to see everything we know about that main-line Clan battleship. Enlist your friends.”

  Oh, you’re sending for some of my friends?

  Hahahaha. Well, at least he knows.

  “Oh crap, what now?” Sondra asked.

  “Don’t worry, it’s not after us. It met up with Stuart Cain’s ship in the Free Zone just now.”

  Found it.

  A picture came up on the main video screen.

  “That doesn’t look at all like a Razor,” Sondra said. “Looks like the older Clan battleships.”

  “What do they call this one?” Skip asked.

  The Clan doesn’t name their ships the way we do. This little number has the class AVC22-3. The call number for the one I’m tracking is 395.

  “What does that mean?” Skip asked.

  Simple. It’s ship number 395 of that type.

  “Why’d they name the Razor ships?” Sondra asked.

  They were designed for export to the Central Authority Zone. There are a limited number of Razors in the Clan arsenal. They’re called AVC25-2 class.

  “Can you give us an approximate quantity for each type?” Captain Clarke asked.

  We don’t know what quantity of Razors they have. They have seventeen thousand of these battleships.

  “So they’ve got a number similar to our Centurion ships,” Sondra said.

  That is correct, and the first half of them use Samson drives.

  “Okay, how much info do we have on their capabilities?” Captain Clarke asked.

  We only know their capabilities as of five years ago. Things started to go crazy in the Clan Zone after that, and most of our information exchanges ended.

  “Give us what you have, Butch. We all understand that.”

  Fine. The AVC22-3 class has advantages and disadvantages relative to the Razor ships. Their main advantage is durability. They can take a lot of abuse. Lots more than a Razor ship. On the downside, they aren’t as fast as a Razor ship. That’s probably how some of the defector Razors were able to escape back to our Zone.

  “Weapons?” Captain Clarke asked.

  The AVC22-3 has the same plasma cannons and shields as their export Razor ships. They wouldn’t be a match for our Razor ships, after the upgrades we’ve done. Of course that assumes that the Clan hasn’t improved their battleships in the last five years. I would engage these ships with caution.

  “Do they have burst-mode plasma guns?” Skip asked.

  The documentation does not mention those. I think there is evidence that the Central Authority developed that capability. We’ve only seen it on Central Authority Razors. We’ve never seen it on the deserter ships.

  “I hope this isn’t making you guys feel better,” Sondra said. “They’ve got as many of these ships as we have Centurion ships. Even if all of Aeon’s Razors were on our side, we could not win a war against the Clan.”

  It’s probably worse than that, unless they shut down production of the AVC22-3 five years ago.

  “They might have, given the collapse of their society,” Captain Clarke said. “Butch, can you develop tracking capability for these ships?”

  I need more time for that. The ship that met Stuart Cain’s Razor is still visible to me. I can track its impulse cruising, but I need a good look at it going into a jump.

  “It hasn’t jumped yet?” Skip asked.

  “Doesn’t surprise me,” Captain Clarke said. “It’s patrolling. It probably doesn’t jump that often.”

  I agree. Don’t worry, I’ll keep watching. We’ll get the profile eventually. If not from this ship, from another. I’ll see them coming out of a jump now that I know the profile of their impulse engines.

  “You’ll also have to do this with the later variants that don’t have Samson drives,” Sondra said.

  Understood.

  “All right, thanks,” Captain Clarke said. “Don’t let this worry you too much. The Clan isn’t in a condition to attack the Central Authority Zone. They’ve got their hands full trying to control their own assets.”

  That’s a good way to look at it, Captain Clarke.

  Aeon just successfully sent a delegation into the Free Zone. I’ll remain worried, if you don’t mind.

  Sondra nodded. “Yeah, what she said.”

  ***

  Kaleb entered the bridge, walking to Simone, who was sitting in the captain’s chair. “You got the briefing from Captain Clarke?”

  She turned towards him. “Yes, I just finished reviewing it.”

  “What the hell is Aeon doing?”

  “Always what we least expect,” Simone said. “We’ll have to watch this carefully. If he can convince the Clan to come into a war against us, we’re done.”

  “I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Kaleb said, “and I know Stuart Cain well. Not surprised he tipped us off.”

  “Admiral Boeraton is probably with him. He’s a dangerous fellow to everyone around him, regardless of which side he’s on.”

  “Protect number one,” Kaleb said. “Heard that about him before. Wonder if he’d screw Aeon over?”

  “Aeon is killing off his good people because they won’t agree with him.” Simone stood, stretching her legs. “It might be in our interest to figure out who’s running the Clan Zone and make an overture. We’d be a better ally to them than Aeon would. They’ll figure that out in a hurry. If Aeon is successful in locking down our zone, guess where he’ll go next.”

  Kaleb shook his head. “We’ll be lucky if they stay out of this. They’ve been holding Ecason captive, remember?”

  “Well, somebody there is, Kaleb. I think it’s interesting that his captivity started around the same time that the Clan’s hierarchy appeared to collapse.”

  “You’re suggesting that the
Clan government didn’t take him prisoner?”

  “Yes, that’s exactly what I’m suggesting,” she said. “Funny, I haven’t spoken that to anyone. I don’t even remember thinking that before.”

  “Silver?” Kaleb asked.

  Don’t blame that one on me. I’m studying the concept now, to see if it holds merit above just a hunch.

  “Thank you,” Simone said. “I hope Butch can crack the jump profile of the AVC22-3 ships.”

  Kaleb nodded. “He’ll have to do that twice, since they cut in their own drives somewhere in the production process. They might still be in production, you know.”

  “How did they get Razors into production so fast?” Simone asked. “Even if Ecason got on them right after he disappeared, five years is a short time. Really short. We haven’t figured out what’s going on here.”

  “Maybe they were already working on the Razors before they captured Ecason.”

  “No,” Simone said. “Unless they were working off his concept, and why would they do that?”

  “Looks can be deceiving, Simone.”

  “I need to spend some time thinking about this.” Simone got up. “Going to my stateroom to clear my head. Kaleb, you’ve got the ship.”

  He nodded, as Simone left the bridge.

  ***

  Elizabeth was dozing in her chair, Ecason busy looking at data from his time in the other universe. The lab door opened.

  “Somebody’s here?” Elizabeth said, stirring. “I dosed off.”

  “It’s okay,” Ecason said, smiling as XC22272 came in with XC22475. “You passed the test.”

  XC22272 nodded. “Yes, I’m not infected. I’m sorry about how we treated you.”

  “Let’s just move forward,” Ecason said. “What did you find on C1121-B?”

  “There was no arrival protocol, which didn’t surprise me. We’ve had the plague on this planet, and I’ve read accounts of it on other C prefix planets. Basic societal structure breaks down.”

  “Did you go down to the surface?” Elizabeth asked.

  “No, I stayed in orbit. I grew up on that planet, and know many people there. I started calling them.”

  “Were they all dead?”

  “Most were dead,” he said, choking up for a moment. “Sorry. Two were obviously infected. Their minds were being controlled. I might not have been able to pick it up in somebody I didn’t know. That isn’t what sold me that it was your creatures, though.”