A Planned Improvisation (18 page)

“Maybe ours use a different method of targeting,” Iris pointed out.

“And sometimes we shoot from the hip, so to speak,” Park added.

“That’s true,” Arn agreed. “The ship we shot down here was by a ground-mounted missile launcher. It was a heat-seeker, but the crew who shot sighted the ship visually first.”

“Perhaps we rely too much on computer-assisted targeting,” Morth allowed, “but in ship-to-ship battles that can’t be avoided.”

“We got our first one entirely on automatic,” Iris recalled. “We’ll have to compare systems.”

“I’ll be glad to take back what I can,” Morth told her, “but the point is the dark ships are attacking everywhere, especially systems aligned with Dennsee or otherwise inclined toward the acceptance of Earth as a full member world in the Alliance.”

“Then Rebbert’s coalition must stand firm,” Terius commented.

“Some of us remain loyal, sir,” Morth replied. “My own Merralon is allied with Dennsee secretly at this time. That is why I was chosen to come here. A captain from one of the more well-known members of the faction might have been intercepted and getting here was vital. Dennsee’s coalition is in danger of crumbling and Lord Rebbert is doing everything he can to hold it together. That’s another reason he is not here with me. He wants you to know that several former members of the faction have already publically split themselves off.”

“Who?” Dannet demanded.

“None of the core members,” Morth replied. “None of our real friends, but those worlds who joined us for their political gain are seeing opportunities either among the Premm faction or at least by being unaligned. The Premm representatives are lobbying for a final solution to what they call the Earth Question and Dennsee’s coalition is the only real voice against them.”

“Do we have any idea of where these dark ships are coming from?” Park asked. “It seems to me that if we give them some trouble in their home system they might find being friends with the Premm to be more than they can afford.”

“I would gladly lead my own task force against them, sir,” Morth told him, “but we have no idea of where to go. We believe they are allies of the Premm from outside the Alliance of Confederated worlds.”

“And the Premm live on the periphery of the Alliance,” Arn pointed out. “Would it be safe to assume these dark ship people live near the Premm?”

“It is likely,” Morth admitted, “but it does not necessarily follow. Premm trade ships travel freely throughout the entirety of Alliance space. There’s no saying just where the dark ships call home, but even if their home world or worlds were in a volume of space near the Premm worlds, we’re still talking about thousands of stellar systems through which to sift for them. It’s not something we could do within our lifetimes.”

“Is there no way to trace a spaceship’s progress through Other Space?” Arn asked.

Morth laughed bitterly, but Sartena answered, “None I’ve ever heard of. Once a ship enters Other Space they are literally nowhere relative to this universe.”

“Oh,” Arn shook his head. “Ships make so much radio noise when they break out, I thought there must be a way to trace them. Wait, I’ve heard you and others project a ship’s destination. How do you do that?”

“Ah,” Sartena breathed. “It’s part guess, part observation. You cannot turn in Other Space. You can only determine distance you will travel relative to the point of departure, so we can observe ships entering Other Space and know which way they are headed, and then guess where the next most likely system is along that vector. However, that doesn’t stop a ship from going only a light year, turning and then traveling on to her real destination. That’s a fairly common tactic if you do not want anyone to know where you came from or are going.

“Most ships on honest business rarely engage in that sort of trickery,” Sartena went on, “unless they are merchants trying to hide the sources of their goods. After basic training, I never had to plot a course like that.”

“Ah, then our guesses as to the location of Owatino are probably correct,” Arn commented.

“Possibly,” Sartena shrugged, “but you could have just asked me. Or Dannet for that matter.”

“It’s hardly a secret from a member of the Alliance,” Dannet added, “Even a provisional member.”

Park snickered for a bit and then changed the subject back, “So how certain are we that the dark ships and the Premm are allied? Do we have any hard proof?”

“No hard proof,” Morth admitted as though he had been hoping no one would ask. “In fact, it is all surmise based on circumstance.”

“Must be some really powerful circumstance,” Park commented.

“Or some half-assed surmise,” Arn added. “What are we basing the conclusion on then?”

“No Premm world has been attacked,” Morth replied. “No Premm faction-supporting world has been attacked. Some of our allies have been approached by Premm agents and warned against supporting Earth as a member of the Alliance. Members of Lord Rebbert’s faction who have distanced themselves have not been attacked subsequently.”

“How were they warned?” Arn asked, then clarified, “the members of
 
Lord Rebbert’s faction who reported that, I mean.”

“Obliquely,” Morth replied. “They were not literally told ‘Join us or die,’ but there were such consequences implied.”

“Nice planet you got here, Guido,” Park mimicked a stereotypical movie gangster. “Planets burn, y’know?”

Even Morth chuckled. “Not even that directly, but you have the right idea.”

“The Premm are the ones whose religion commands them to destroy Earth, is that correct?” Terius asked.

“They believe your world must be cleansed in atomic flames,” Morth replied. “They believe that will save it, not destroy it.”

“You will have to pardon me,” Terius replied dryly, “if my viewpoint as a native of the planet differs on that bit of theology.”

“Park how soon can we get more starships built?” Arn asked suddenly.

“That’s hard to say,” Park replied. “They’re still rebuilding the yards at Questo. When we left there was an area that could be used but it was out in the open. So far, building materials and food are all that’s being shipped there so while they have the raw materials for maybe three ships’ hulls. They’ll be nothing but shells until the rest of the manufacturing facilities are back up and all three assembly lines are running again. A few months, probably.”

“I can facilitate the shipping of whatever they need,” Terius told him, “if they are ready for it.”

“They’ll all tell you they are ready,” Park replied, “but they could also use some help getting the city rebuilt there. Don’t just send the materials, send construction workers.”

“It may be best to not announce your success at building a star drive,” Morth interjected.

“And why the hell do you say that?” Arn demanded. “It seems to me that if all these attacks started when we launched our first successful test probe, the real goal is to keep us from putting the drive in a ship. If we prove we’ve done that, the attacks could stop, having failed to accomplish their mission.”

“You seem to have forgotten that Earth is not the only victim here, sir,” Morth reminded him. Earth may be the target of the Premm, but most of their faction couldn’t care less about this world. They only care about their own worlds and what they can get out of the Diet for them. Right now it is politically expedient to oppose Lord Rebbert’s faction. We have quite a few like that in our faction like that too. They don’t care about our cause, just for what they will gain so long as we remain a power within the Diet.”

“Politics as usual then,” Park translated. “After two hundred and fifty million years you would have expected some natural evolution on that count, but we’ve heard all that before. I doubt announcing our success would really make much difference.”

“Lord Rebbert fears that the news could increase the severity of the attacks. Already quite a few worlds are considering succession from the Alliance as a way to declare and prove their neutrality. We could be plunged into an all-out civil war.”

“We could anyway, it sounds like,” Park told him, “but with only one working starship holding off might not be a bad idea.”

“I can’t believe so many scientists are coming here all of a sudden,” Arn admitted to Park two weeks later over their usual morning coffee. Now that the wet season had ended, port repairs and improvements were on schedule and they were able to watch the progress on a daily basis.

“Could be their last chance to see the place,” Park pointed out sourly.

“And they want to be at Ground Zero when it happens?” Arn countered.

“From the news they bring us, it doesn’t sound like there are many safe places in this region of the Alliance at the moment,” Park replied. “It’s getting pretty nasty and the fact that Rebbert is only sending us letters at the moment rather than
 
finding excuses to visit in person only confirms how tough it must be out there.”

“What’s the latest news from Questo?” Arn asked. “I hear you spoke to them last night.”

“Early this morning,” Park corrected him. “They are ready to start building new ships in their one completed outdoor assembly line, but are still repairing the damaged ones from that last attack.”

“Dammit,” Arn swore lightly. “We need starships so we can follow attackers back to their homes if need be.”

“We need defending ships in this system more,” Park pointed out. “We’re back up to an even dozen ships now though and there are only three more we are likely to be able to salvage.”

“I want
Rescue
equipped with a star drive,” Arn told him.

“That’s not going to happen,” Park shook his head. “
Rescue
is too powerful a symbol to the survivors at Questo. I won’t take her away from them. Besides Ronnie’s using that drive in her tinker-toy downstairs.”

“Some tinker-toy!” Arn snorted. “That thing is huge!”

“Wait until she mounts the wings on it,” Park laughed. “But it’s supposed to be large. It’s going to be a carrier of sorts. Only three attached fighters, but still… Something like that with a star drive… well, maybe we can sell them to allies once we put them on an assembly line. I’m worried about her though. She’s not getting enough sleep. Between the carrier, doing some local repairs and her study of the remains of that dark ship you shot down here, she only sleeps when she can’t keep her eyes open any longer.”

“Any way to slow her down?” Arn asked concernedly.

“Hit her on the head maybe,” Park shrugged, “or bring Velvet back from Questo. Of course that might just make it worse. When those two get into a joint project neither one of them sleeps.”

“How soon before that carrier can fly?” Arn asked.

“A month maybe,” Park replied. “So far there’s only one prototype fighter being worked on though.”

“The Alliance has bigger carriers, I recall,” Arn remarked.

“Much bigger,” Park nodded, “and each one carries several ships the size of
Phoenix Child
. But according to Dannet, they steer like a cow and move even slower.”

“Did Dannet actually say that?” Arn asked.

“Well, no,” Park admitted. “It took me a while to translate, in fact, but that’s what it came down to. Ronnie’s will move like a shark in comparison and her fighters will be able to zip in and out of a ship formation to rip it apart.”

“If they work as advertised,” Arn added.

“Ronnie can’t predict new breakthroughs any better than any other engineer,” Park pointed out, “but she knows what a given craft ought to be able to manage given the mass and the engine installed. The trick is going to be keeping our pilots from overpowering the artificial gravity, although with such small ships that may not be an issue. How are repairs going on the rest of Pangaea?”

“Terius tells me that life is nearly back to normal in most cities,” Arn replied. “Given Mer building technology, they found it easier to build homes and office buildings, et cetera, in new locations rather than clearing the rubble first. Questo was the only place utterly smashed, fortunately, so the other affected cities will just have new parks running through them when the rubble is cleared away. Evidently most folks are back to their old jobs now and construction workers are back to the rubbled areas.”

“I would have thought they would still be in shock, what with all the deaths and injuries,” Park commented.

“Are we?” Arn countered. Suddenly both their torcs chimed.

“Hello?” they each answered their own. Park found himself facing Garnor Theems again, but, out of the corner of his eye, noted Arn was speaking to Max Bains, who was currently the governor of Collins Base on Luna.

“Park,” Garnor reported calmly but urgently, “Seven ships just broke out near Saturn. Drive signatures indicate dark ships.”

“What’s their ETA?” Park asked.

“If they’re coming to Earth,” Garnor considered, “one and a half days. Two at the outside.”

“What do you mean, ‘If they’re coming to Earth?’” Park asked. “I doubt they’re just passing through.”

“Of course not,” Garnor laughed in spite of himself. “But they ignored Collins base last time. That could be their objective.”

“Could be,” Park agreed, “but we’re not giving them a chance this time. Scramble the crews of
Phoenix Child
,
Independent
,
Selati
,
Starblade
and
Face of Therens
. We’ll launch as soon as fueled and cleared by the engineers. Who’s up at Collins Base?”

“
Defense
and
Hallius
,” Garnore replied.

“Okay,” Park nodded. “Leave them up there. Also alert all other ships on Earth to
 
be in orbit ready to go to Luna’s defense if need be.”

“Aye aye, sir,” Garnor confirmed and signed off.

“I wonder if I should conscript
Rescue
too,” Park wondered.

“Using who for the crew?” Arn countered. “I wish Ronnie’s carrier was ready to launch.”

“I wish I’d never heard of the Premm or any of their friends,” Park told him, “but no one grants that sort of wish. What did Max have to say?”

“From what I could hear, pretty much the same as what Garnor told you,” Arn replied. “Seven ships this time. I think they’re taking us seriously.”