Homeworld (Odyssey One) (2 page)

The Gliese system wasn’t particularly likely to have any sort of life that would interest the Block, but the propaganda value of claiming some of the Earth-type planets closest to Earth itself would be of inestimable worth.

Sun thumbed open a comm to the lower decks. “Have the lander craft prepared and all maintenance checked. We will be orbiting our target shortly.”

“Of course, Captain.”

The
Weifang
continued to let off speed as they circled the red dwarf sun in a blindingly fast orbit. The relatively low energy output of the star let them cut in far closer to the corona than they’d dare in the Sol System. The tight corkscrew path used in extending their braking time was sufficient to bring them into an orbital insertion path for Gliese 581 D.

“Target planet ahead, Captain. We’re approaching on an overtake orbit now.”

Sun nodded. “Have we slowed enough to allow D’s gravity to capture us?”

“Yes, Captain.”

“Excellent,” Sun said, satisfied as he looked at the display screen that showed the slowly growing orb in the distance.

“We’re detecting objects in orbit, Captain.”

“Moons?”

“No, Sir, too small. Possibly smaller asteroids captured by the world. There are several,” the instrument specialist said, sounding puzzled as he spoke. “That is strange.”

“What is it?”

There was silence as the man leaned into his console, glaring intently at the numbers flying past his screens. His eyes widened suddenly and he pushed back, head snapping around. “Captain! They’re under power!”

“What?” Sun hooked a hand grip on the ceiling, pulling himself across the command deck to the instrument station. “Are you certain?”

“Yes, Captain. Objects are accelerating out of orbit, counter to the local gravity well.”

“Course plot?”

The man hesitated briefly, then looked over. “Intercept plot, Captain.”

Sun swore violently, knowing even as he did that it was a foolish thing to do. Thoughts of professionalism, however, were the furthest things from his mind as he kicked off, glided back to his own bolster seat and pulled himself down.

We chose another direction entirely from where the Confederation sent their blasted
Odyssey
! Are those aliens they found here as well?

The thought chilled him, just on the remote possibility that what they’d gleaned from the confidential reports they’d lifted from the Confederation’s files were, in fact, accurate. Few people in the upper hierarchy of the Block believed it entirely, though it was obvious that the Confeds had run into something that didn’t much like them in the depths of space. The existence of non-Terran life, intelligent life at that, was beyond debate now, but the idea of some apocalyptic horde of space Mongols seemed rather unlikely.

If it were true, however, the
Weifang
now had a distinct problem. More than that, it seemed that maybe the Earth was in more trouble than anyone at home seemed to believe.

If these are the same, then not only are they closer to Earth than we believed…they appear to have surrounded us.

“Sound combat alarms,” Sun ordered. “All stations to level two.”

“Yes, Captain. Level two alert, all stations.”

The alarms sounded in the distance, blocked by the airlock doors that sealed off the command deck as the
Weifang
prepared for war.

The drone ships reacted the instant they detected the approach of the red band. It was a reflex action over which they had no control. Fully ninety percent of their forces drew themselves from orbiting the world they were in the process of cleansing, taking a direct interception course towards the source of the irritation before they even finished analyzing the information.

They were almost within extreme strike range when they recognized that the figures were not what they were expecting.

It was a ship of the band, but not one of the immediate targets. The power curve being registered was even lower than the unknown ship that had so decimated their fleets in previous encounters. Brief consultations were made, probabilities debated, and it was decided that the ship in question had a high probability of belonging to the same source as the unknown ship now classified as
Drakr Yngat
.

The fleet went to high alert and spread their formation as they approached, weapons charged to full power, drives flaring brightly as they accelerated hard.

“Incoming fast, interception courses, Captain!”

“I see,” Sun said sternly. “Initiate evasive maneuvers. Are the CM capacitors fully charged?”

“Yes, Captain!”

“Direct full power to primary laser array capacitors. Maintain charging on all banks,” Sun ordered, eyes intently trying to burn a hole in the tactical display.

“Power diverted, full charging.”

“Lock in solutions for the lead elements,” Sun ordered, highlighting the closest half-dozen ships. “Clear the cannons, wait for orders.”

“Waiting.”

Sun didn’t want to start a confrontation. It was bad enough that the Confederation had gone out like American cowboys and started a damn war with these aliens. The last thing that Sun wanted was to give them any further reason to assault Earth.

Hopefully they won’t realize we’re even from the same world. The
Weifang
has practically no similarity to the
Odyssey, Sun thought hopefully. Though as he watched the alien actions on the plot,
he became more and more convinced that whether they recognized the
Weifang’s
origin or not, they were spoiling for a fight.

Even so, Sun refused to initiate the encounter.

“Helm, hard to starboard,” he ordered. “Turn us into the star, full counter-mass.”

“Yes, Captain. Full counter-mass to starboard!”

The
Weifang
leaned into a sun dive, showing her flank to the incoming ships as she accelerated to starboard. Sun watched the plot, counting off the seconds it would take for their signal to reach the aliens and return. Almost to the second, his instrumentations officer twisted with a report.

“They’ve altered their course to intercept, Captain. Speed increasing.”

Damn. They intend to force a conflict, and no matter what else, they have us well outnumbered.

He counted up the plot again, noting that there was an even dozen of the enemy ships and they all massed just under the tonnage of the
Weifang
herself. Optimistically, he knew that there was just no way he was fighting his way out of this.

“Main thrusters, flank power!”

“Flank. Yes, Captain!”

“Helm, Navigation, give us a best speed exit from the star’s gravity. Cut us as close to the corona as you can!”

“Yes, Captain! Plotting new course.”

The trick was going to be getting his ship slung around the star before the alien ships could get a solid lock on him. From the briefings he’d been given, he knew that the
Weifang
wouldn’t stand a chance against a direct strike from their lasers, not if the reported power levels were accurate. Unlike the Confederation, the Eastern Block Alliance hadn’t sunk nearly so much capital into laser resistant armor.

It was odd, to his mind, to be honest. The
Weifang
and other ships of the Type 99S class, indeed the majority of the Block space force, didn’t rely on lasers nearly as much as the NAC did. The much vaunted adaptive armor of the NAC was far more effective against their own ships than against the Block.

That, and apparently against these monsters,
Sun supposed grimly as he watched the plots.

“They’re splitting apart, Captain!”

“What?” Sun snapped, refocusing on the alien icons.

They were indeed splitting off into two groups, one accelerating away on a reciprocal course even as the second group continued to close with the
Weifang
.

He stared for a moment, lips turning up slightly as he cocked his head and furrowed his brow. It wasn’t until he glanced at the
Weifang’s
own projected plot that he got it.

Sun swore again, this time as softly as he could.

They move to intercept us as we break from the star. Clever.

Whatever they were up to, they had also split their forces, and that meant that he now had to worry about six less enemy vessels in the immediate encounter.

Cut the odds in half, though six to one is still hardly what I would call favorable.

“Captain, pursuing group is closing to under one light minute.”

“Begin evasive actions,” Sun ordered. “Keep our bow to the corona. Seal all heat shields and prepare for damage control.”

“Yes, Captain!”

Sun tested his straps, knowing that there was a good chance he was going to be relying upon them for real quite shortly. Satisfied that they were secure, he thumbed open the ship-wide intercom.

“All crew, prepare for emergency maneuvers,” Sun said as calmly as he could manage. “Secure all items. Report to acceleration stations. Prepare for combat damage control.”

With her bow angled as deep into the red dwarf star as they dared, the
Weifang
was accelerating faster than the ship had ever quite managed in the past. They weren’t breaking any speed records; they’d already done that on the trip to Gliese 581. But they were certainly building speed faster than they ever had before.

“External temperature climbing. We’re beginning to see internal spikes,” Sun’s man at Damage Control reported. “Permission to adapt armor for heat reflection?”

“Granted. Forward armor only.”

The Block had managed to reverse engineer (or possibly outright steal) first-generation adaptive armor from the Confederation. Sun wasn’t certain which, but it was useful enough for some things. Heat reflection was one of the default settings, along with best general deflection and a few basic camouflage modes. Certainly not in the league of the latest Confederacy toys, but useful.

“Yes, sir. Forward armor adapted,” the man said, pausing for a moment. “Internal heat is dropping.”

“They’re still closing, Captain. Fifty light-sec—” The instrument officer’s report was cut off when he suddenly started swearing wildly.

“Shi Ang Fa!” Sun snapped, eyes wide.

“Apologies, Captain. They have fired on us,” Shi said, his voice a little shaky.

“And that was cause for your outburst?”

“Captain, you’ve read the reports on these aliens? The power levels of their weapons?” Shi asked.

“Of course.”

“They underestimated.”

“What?” Sun snapped his head around to stare at the man.

“The instrument reading on the energy of that laser is at least twice the reported numbers,” Shi said. “Probably more. It’s difficult to be precise because I’m relying on the reaction of already ionized particles as it passed through space this close to the star. Captain, we can’t survive a single strike.”

Now it was the Captain’s turn to swear, though he did it under his breath as he considered his options.
Running hardly seems a palatable option. They’ve accurately predicted my plan, and taken steps to intercept me from two separate angles.

The second group was relying on the first to drive him like cattle. Sun eyed the plot as the light seconds closed slowly, about one second every two minutes and opening. The
Weifang
was building Delta-V faster than their pursuers, but it wouldn’t be enough to entirely evade contact since the enemy was already within extreme engagement range and still closing.

“Even armor, best heat deflection!” Sun ordered sharply.

“Armor evened, Captain!”

“Take us into the corona!” he told the helmsman. “Navigation, plot a high speed close orbit with breakaway that takes us clear of both groups.”

“Plotting, Captain.”

He could feel the unease on the Command deck from his last order, and didn’t blame them, but Sun was gratified to find that no one questioned the order. Certainly it would be suicide to take the
Weifang
into the corona of Sol. She’d survive considerably longer sitting on the surface of the sun itself than trying to plow through the corona, in fact.

This wasn’t Sol, however, and he just hoped that meant they might have a decent toss of the tiles here. Gliese 581 was a red dwarf, a star that expended considerably less of its
energy as radiant heat, and that lower energy level might just give them a chance.