A Faded Star (4 page)

 Stokes did not hesitate before giving his answer; he
had been considering that exact point. “Mister Patho, if that is a lost Karn
ship, the condition they are in when any hostilities end is entirely up to
them. Nothing the Karn Navy had when the war ended could stand toe to toe with
Rampart, and I will not destroy a helpless ship. On the other hand, I will not
allow them to damage Rampart or threaten the well being of this crew.”

 Patho nodded slightly. “Thank you, sir. That is about
as much as anyone could wish for.” As Patho finished speaking, the tension
level on the bridge dropped noticeably.

 Hanlon watched the exchange between the tactical
officer and the commanding officer silently. She wondered, not for the first
time, how wise it had been to accept Karn officers and civilian applicants into
the Lashmere Naval Academy. The war had ended so recently that many of the old
animosities still ran quite close to the surface. Hanlon gazed at Patho's back,
watching the man work at his station. She glanced at her console, readouts
breaking her reverie. “Sir, Optics range in ten seconds." Hanlon said and
turned to Stokes. "Shall I put it on the main plot?"

 "Please do, Exec. Put up the tactical overlay as
well. Sensor data feed on the secondary plot."

 Hanlon tapped out the commands and then said,
"Aye sir. The main plot is updated." The plot snapped to show a
small, indistinct shape, flanked by tactical information and sensor readouts on
either side. "Looks like a pretty small ship, sir."

 "So it does, Miss Hanlon. Sensors, what kind of
size are we talking about here?"

 Kri looked across the bridge at Stokes and said,
"Can't be more than thirty meters long and roughly seven or eight meters
across. Significantly less than one percent our mass, sir."

 “No chance this could be of Karn origin, Miss Hanlon?”

 “I can't see how, sir. The Karn used ship designs like
our own. This ship doesn't conform to any known construction techniques. Not in
this star system at least.”

 Stokes nodded. "Mister Patho, launch drones as
ordered. Prepare a full combat drone launch just in case. Package combat launch
for the standard offensive and defensive mix. Set secondary weapons for
defensive intercept. Power up the main gun for offensive mid range engagement."

 Patho whirled in his station chair, engaging the
defensive and offensive on-board weapons that studded the hull of the Rampart.
"All weapons stations report ready, Sir." The breath he hadn't
realized he had been holding escaped, and a knot that had formed in his stomach
loosened, only to be replaced by a sense of loss. Something about a surviving
ship of the Karn Navy had appealed to him.

 "Very well, Mister Patho. Maintain weapons hold
unless fired upon. Sensors, are you getting any emissions from that ship that
might represent an attempt at communication?"

 Kri turned from his station and looked levelly at
Commodore Stokes. "Sir, this thing has a very low emissions signature. The
only reason we know it's here is because of the energy discharge that it created
when it arrived in system." He paused for a moment and looked over at
Simmons, who nodded at him before he continued. "Sir we think the alien
ship may have a problem, though. Optics resolution isn't quite there yet, but
the gravity slope drive he is using appears to be slightly out of sync with the
vector the ship is actually on. This probably means that his sublight drive
system is damaged, or at least very poorly maintained."

 "Very well, Mister Kri. Keep me informed, and if
you can make out any damage to the hull with optics, bring it up to the main
plot immediately. Distance to target, Mister Patho."

 "Coming into long engagement range now, sir. Ten
k-clicks out.”

 "Are we in comm range, yet?" Stokes looked
over at Halford Kri, who gave him a nod. "Good, encode for transmission
the following: Alien vessel, this is the Lashmere Space Navy Ship Rampart. You
have entered our sovereign space without permission. Please state your
intentions. Mister Kri include our language code and mathematical progression with
the transmission."

 "Aye, sir. Transmitting now." Kri glanced
again at Simmons. She appeared to be smiling at him. Stokes made a mental note
to review bridge protocol with Kri once this crisis was over. His thoughts were
interrupted by a new perimeter alert from the early warning net surrounding the
Lashmere system.

 "Sir!" Kri said, “Energy discharge. Massive
energy discharge. Bearing zero-three-two by zero-one-eight. Looks like another
faster than light arrival discharge. Range thirty-three k-clicks."

 Stokes kept his surprise from showing only with
effort. "Alright, Mister Kri. Let's take a look. Split the main plot to
display both target areas."

 "Aye, sir. Sir, incoming transmission from the
alien ship. Text only. It reads as follows. Rampart, am need help, mechanical
broken." Kri paused, apparently puzzled by what it said next. "Sir,
it says, ah..." Kri trailed off.

 "Go ahead, Mister Kri. I won't hold you
responsible for poor translation."

 Kri bobbed his head in assent. "Sir, it says
Rampart must assist in removal of my bad following things."

 Stokes looked over at Kri. "Good enough, I think
we can presume that this second energy discharge is someone following the first
ship. Let's designate the new energy source a potential hostile. I don't want
us getting pulled in to some kind of conflict. Miss Hanlon, take over comms. We
will need instructions from command regarding this situation. Begin with a
sitrep and request instructions. Include that we are assuming that the second
energy source is another ship, probably hostile to the first." Without
pausing, he turned to Simmons and Kri. "Mister Kri, I want you
concentrating on the first ship, Designate it alpha. Miss Simmons, I want you
to begin an analysis of the second energy source. Presuming it is a ship,
designate it Beta."

 Hanlon, Kri, and Simmons let out near identical
aye-sirs in unison. Stokes felt a sense of satisfaction at seeing the bridge
crew responding so well to the situation. As they began working on their tasks,
Stokes turned to Aden. "Mister Patho, repackage our combat drones into
three groups. One third of them close combat intercept. Take the other two
thirds and break them into defensive formations to augment our on-board
interceptor batteries. Vector them to intercept both alpha and beta. Update our
defensive fire pattern for multiple engagement envelopes."

 "Sir, I recommend using the salvo firing patterns
for multi-target engagements. They have a higher effective intercept rate when
the computer can't track individual incoming shots."

 "So, what you're saying is that we are going to
take some hits, Mister Patho?" Stokes watched as an uncomfortable look
spread across the tactical officer's face. "Don't worry. I agree with your
assessment of the situation. Reset for salvo fire. But be ready to switch back
to single fire if it looks like the intercept computer can handle the volume of
incoming fire. I don't want our brand new flagship to get any holes in
it."

 Patho visibly relaxed before returning to his panel to
implement the new firing orders. "New defensive fire parameters input. I
have the single fire package on standby. Drones launching." The thrumming
of launching drones filled the bridge for the second time that day.

 "Good. How does beta look, Miss Simmons?"

 "Sir, looks like two ships. At least as large as
Rampart. Vectors appear to have diverged. One is on intercept for alpha, and
the other is on its way here. To us."

 "Very well, Miss Simmons. If alpha was going to
attack, it would have by now. Update target designation to beta one and beta
two. Mister Patho reorient all secondary weapons for defensive and offensive
fire on beta two. Helm, come about to bring the main gun to bear on beta two.
Miss Hanlon, transmit the following to beta one: This is the Lashmere Navy Ship
Rampart. You have entered sovereign Lashmere space. Please state your
intentions. As before, include our language code and mathematical progression
with the transmission.”

 Hanlon nodded to her console, not even bothering to
look up from her work and said, “Transmitting now, sir.”

 Marli Simmons said, “Sir I am getting a strange energy
reading from beta one. I don't think it's a weapon, but I'm not sure what it
is.”

 “Let's take a look, Miss Simmons. Secondary plot.”

 Simmons updated the display and pointed out the energy
reading she was concerned about. “It's just there, sir,” she pointed, “The “F”
shaped energy wave that appears to have a hook at the bottom. The energy
distribution looks highly directional. The only reason we can see it is it must
be directed specifically at us.”

 “Could it be some sort of sensor system?”

 “That's one possibility. The other thought I had is it
may be some kind of communication signal, but without knowing the base carrier
wave, I'm not sure how to decode the information.”

 “Keep at it, Miss Simmons.”

 “Aye, sir.”

 “Mister Patho, what's the range to beta one?”

 Aden said, "Looks like the drones are coming into
his weapons range. I'm getting an energy surge from both beta one and beta two.
Sir, they are firing on the drones and alpha. Weapon intercept time eleven
seconds."

 "Weapon analysis, sensors?"

 "Sir, looks like directed energy pulses. Our
interceptor charges should be effective against them." Interceptor charges
from both the Rampart and the drones she carried were simple waves of focused
particle energy designed to disburse more powerful energy charges like a
refracting lens.

 "Good. Miss Hanlon-” Stokes was interrupted as
the Rampart shook from the first hit getting through to the hull. Stokes
continued, “Hanlon, update command on our situation, tell them that we have
come under attack from an unknown hostile force, and we are defending
ourselves."

 Kri said, "Sir, beta-one has altered course to
intercept us. It looks like they decided alpha isn't a threat, and we are.”

 Stokes nodded to himself. The tactical situation was
developing far faster than command could be updated. The ship shook again from
another hit to the hull. He took a deep breath to collect his thoughts before
giving further orders. He knew his next actions would be closely inspected for
errors in judgment and compliance with procedure. Satisfied that he had given
the matter a suitable ten or fifteen seconds of thought, he glanced up to see
that almost the entire bridge crew was looking back at him. "Focus on your
jobs. We'll see ourselves through this one way or the other." Stokes put
on the impassive face of command he had long since perfected. "How does
the intercept pattern look, Mister Patho?"

 "Sir, beta one and two are firing on the drones,
but not much is getting through. The interceptors even on salvo mode are enough
to intercept better than ninety percent of the incoming fire. Recommend we
switch to single fire and let the on board computers run the intercept
algorithms."

 "Agreed. Reset main battery for maximum offensive
engagement. I don't want to run the risk of either of these guys getting out of
the system and reporting what's going on here."

 Aden Patho tapped a pair of controls. "Main
battery is charging, sir. Ready to fire in twenty seconds."

 "Very well, Mister Patho. Fire on beta one at
your discretion."

 "Aye, sir." Patho paused for the slightest
moment. "Firing." The main gun rang out with a shriek of discharging
energy. Rampart lurched from stem to stern and every energy source on the ship
momentarily flickered as she fired her first warshot in anger. Lights came back
to full brightness after only a barely perceptible time period. On the main
plot, the energy reading on beta one flickered for a moment and then went to
zero. "Target destroyed, sir. Main gun recharging, ready to fire in twenty
seconds."

 The second ship twisted suddenly and began to open
range on the Rampart. The thrust the ship was generating was far in excess of
what the Rampart was capable of. Stokes started forward in his command chair.
“Flank speed, helm.

 “Aye, sir,” the helmsman replied instantly, while
dialing the engine command to flank. The answering chime from the dial
indicated the engine room had received the order.

 “Mister Patho are you going to get a shot?”

 “No, sir. I'm trying to chase him down with the
drones, but he turned too early. The main gun will not be charged before he's
out of effective range.”

 “Order the drones to attack his engines.”

 “Aye, sir.”

 The main plot showed the developing situation in
excruciating detail. The alien ship was out-accelerating the Rampart by almost
two to one. The drones chasing it were scoring hits but nothing vital seemed
helm began.

 Kri said, “Sir, some kind of debris or something is
separating from the alien ship. It is coming directly back toward us. It may be
from damage the drones are inflicting.”

 Hanlon shook her head. “No. Look at the spacing
between the objects. Too regular to be debris from battle damage. They may be
some kind of mines. Sir, I recommend evasive maneuvers to avoid whatever those
objects are.”

 Stokes nodded. “Helm, begin starboard roll with a
radius of three hundred meters.”

 “Starboard roll with a radius of three hundred meters,
aye sir.”

 The Rampart began to corkscrew around its base course.
The change in vector was enough that any object would pass inside of the
corkscrew pattern the ship was making. The maneuver also allowed the alien ship
to pull further ahead.

 Kri said, “Sir, the objects are maneuvering to
intercept us. I recommend a more radical course change to avoid them.”

 Stokes studied the plot for a moment. “Helm, begin
point to point drive calculations for the following coordinates.” He then sent
a group of numbers to the main plot.