Ark Royal 2: The Nelson Touch (37 page)

“Maybe there
is
a war going on,” Shallcross suggested.  “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

“The enemy of my enemy is my enemy’s enemy, no more, no less,” the Rhino quoted.  “
The Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries
.  I
love
that book.”

“I thought everyone who read it ended up in jail,” Captain Fitzwilliam said. 

“I’m fifty,” the Rhino said.  “Plenty of time for me to run afoul of the law somewhere.”

He cleared his throat, loudly.  “I will not pretend to be a diplomat, Admiral, because the last time I tried to be diplomatic I ended up causing a mess.  What I will suggest is that we should be very careful.  Faction Two might have some reason to work with us, but they will almost certainly have an agenda of their own, an agenda that might not match with ours.  We would be well-advised, I feel, to handle the situation with extreme care.”

Ted leaned forward.  “An agenda that won’t match with ours?”

“We know nothing about how the aliens organise themselves,” the Rhino said.  “Faction One might just be ... the High King or something along those lines, with Faction Two intent on overthrowing them and becoming the High King themselves.  Or Faction Two might want to stab Faction One in the back, despite them being embroiled in a war against us.  Or Faction Two might actually be intent on keeping the war going as long as possible, then stabbing both us and Faction One in the back.  Or there might be several different factions.”

He shrugged.  “I’ve been in wars that were effectively civil wars,” he added.  “One side would often try to cosy up to us, then attempt to convince whoever was on the ground that their rivals were actually terrorist fuckers who needed to die.  We were lured into disposing of a set of enemies for them, while we made new enemies for ourselves.  It never pays to leap into the situation without knowing just what’s waiting for us first.”

“I see,” Ted said.  “But this isn't something as simple as a tribal war?”

The Rhino looked at him.  “How do we know that, Admiral?”

Captain Fitzwilliam cleared his throat.  “We could send a squadron of frigates through Tramline Four,” he said.  “There's a world there that probably should be reduced as soon as possible, judging from the energy signature.”

“Frigates alone wouldn't be enough,” Shallcross said.  “We’d need the entire fleet.”

“Except the world might be owned by Faction Two,” Captain Atsuko pointed out.  “We’d just offend them too by attacking their world.”

“We don't know that,” the Rhino said.  “The fleet enters the system and attempts to make contact – at least we know how we can start opening channels now.  If they talk back to us, we can build up a working language fairly quickly.  And if they don't, we can engage the system’s defences and smash its infrastructure.”

Ted frowned.  Target Two – as the analysts had named the world – was definitely an alien industrial node.  Instead of a habitable world, the aliens had set up their operations in orbit around a gas giant, leaving the rest of the system alone.  The drones had already picked up orbital industrial stations, cloudscoops and even a small shipyard.  Fitzwilliam was right, he knew.  Target Two needed to be smashed as quickly as possible.

But what if,
he asks himself,
it belongs to Faction Two
?

He sighed.  An alien power evaluating human space probably couldn't tell the difference between British, American, French and Japanese planets, let alone their starships. 
Ark Royal
was unique, but the other carriers followed the same basic idea, even if there were differences in size and weapons mix.  It was quite possible that the aliens had never realised that humans had national groupings ... and, if they attacked Faction Two, it was equally possible that the war might get worse.

“We don’t have any other promising target right now,” he said.  He had no idea why the aliens had given them so long to ransack the planet, smash the deep space facilities and perhaps even commit genocide, but he had a bad feeling about it.  “The other tramlines lead to empty systems, as far as we can tell.  Tramline Four is the most promising target.”

“The aliens will know that too,” Fitzwilliam pointed out.  “They could have set an ambush for us.”

“An ambush that relies on us doing precisely what they want us to do,” Captain Bellerose said.  The Frenchman, who had said nothing up to this point, snorted rudely.  “How could they be sure we would use Tramline Four?  Right now, we could simply withdraw through Tramline One, get home and declare victory.  They would be more inclined to block our escape than divide their forces in the hopes of setting an ambush.”

“There simply isn't another promising target,” Fitzwilliam countered.  “We're not here to occupy territory” – the Rhino snorted – “at least not permanently.  Target Two isn't just a promising target, it’s the only one we have.  They would be able to make a very good guess about where we would be going.”

“We can't afford to leave it untouched either,” Shallcross pointed out.  “That’s a facility supplying our enemies with everything they need to wage war on us.  Either we open communications with Faction Two there or we destroy it.  We don’t have any other choice.”

“No,” Ted agreed.  “We will attack Target Two as soon as possible, then swing back here, recover the Marines and pull out completely.  If we manage to make open contact with Faction Two, then we will have some idea of just what is actually going on.”

“Or what they want us to know,” the Rhino said, pessimistically.

Ted nodded.  “In any case, we can't stay here much longer,” he added.  He looked over at the Rhino.  “When we come back, I want your troops and men ready to pull out at once.”

“Yes, sir,” the Rhino said.  “Do you wish to leave the transports here?”

“Yes,” Ted said, after a moment.  “But I want them to go completely dark.”

He looked from face to face, then smiled tightly.  “We’ve learned a great deal today,” he added, softly.  “Perhaps, just perhaps, we’ve also learnt how to make contact with our enemies and actually talk to them.  And who knows where
that
will lead?”

***

“Captain,” Amelia said, as James returned to the bridge.  “All systems are fully functional; all weapons tubes have been reloaded.”

“Excellent,” James said, as he took the terminal and glanced down at the report.  “We are to advance on Target Two.”

Amelia smiled as she sat down facing him.  “Very good, sir,” she said.  “And the alien attempt at contact?”

“Remains a mystery,” James admitted.  “We may never know what they had in mind.”

He looked up at the system display, carefully working out angles in his mind.  Four hours, more or less, until they intersected Tramline Four.  Maybe a little longer, if the Admiral wanted to try to avoid appearing at a predicable location.  Or maybe it would seem a waste of effort.  The aliens would have a rough idea where they were going to arrive even if they didn't have Target One’s system under observation.

“You should probably get some rest,” Amelia offered, after a moment.  “They won’t come for us until after we’ve crossed the tramline.”

“I’ve been resting since we fought our way into orbit,” James countered, dryly.  “It’ll look very bad on my service record.”

Amelia smirked.

“Captain,” Lieutenant Commander Daniel Lightbridge said, “we have course directions from the flag. We are to depart, along with the rest of the fleet, in ten minutes.”

“Then set course,” James ordered.

He looked down at the status display as the starship prepared to leave orbit.  The XO had done an excellent job, he had to admit, of keeping his starship ready for war.  As she’d said, all of the Old Lady’s missile tubes were fully loaded, ready to deal out death to any aliens who came into striking distance.  The mass drivers were ready, the point defence systems were online and the damaged blisters had been completely replaced.

Pity there’s no replacement for the lost starfighters
, he thought, grimly. 
We need to start bringing cross-trained pilots with us
.

But he knew the Admiralty would never agree.

Time ticked away slowly as the fleet made its way towards the tramline.  There was no sign of any aliens, although James knew better than to take that for granted.  The aliens could lurk within the system as effectively as any humans, perhaps better.  Their stealth systems were still alarmingly good at long-range.

“Picking up signals from the frigates,” Farley said.  “Local space seems clear on the other side of the tramline.”

“Good,” James said.  He tried to consider just what the aliens would do, assuming they knew the fleet was heading to Target Two.  The probes hadn't located any major alien presence in Target Two’s system, but that meant nothing.  A solar system was just full of places to hide, even an entire fleet.  “Keep a careful eye out for unexpected surprises.”

***

Ted braced himself as the task force moved through the tramline and jumped five light years into the next system.  The display blanked, then reformatted itself, displaying the system primary, the gas giant the aliens had turned into an industrial node and the live feed from the frigates and drones that had preceded the carriers through the tramline.  There was no sign of anything remotely threatening, apart from the system’s orbital defences.  It worried him, for some reason.  Either they’d forced their way into a place the aliens considered impregnable or they were flying into a trap.

“Launch probes,” he ordered.  “I want a complete sensor shell spread out two light minutes from the fleet.”

“Aye, sir,” Lopez said.  “Drones launching ... now.”

“Order the Chinese to advance towards the planet,” Ted added.  Captain Wang had been petitioning for the job as soon as they’d started to plan the operation, so Ted had agreed, with only a few minor reservations.  If the aliens
were
plotting an ambush, there was a very good chance the Chinese would accidentally spring it before the carriers put their necks in the noose.  “Remind them that I don’t want any heroics.  I merely want them to survey the outer edge of the alien industrial node.”

He sucked in his breath as the drones raced outwards, eventually confirming that there was nothing within several light minutes of the fleet.  Ted felt cold ice slipping down the back of his spine; something was wrong, but what?  Why hadn't the aliens attempted to block their advance?  Given their speed advantage, they could have landed a few blows then retreated before Ted’s forces caught up with them.  Could it be he was heading towards precisely where they wanted him to go ... or were they distracted elsewhere?

The thought chilled him to the bone. 
What if the aliens are attacking Earth right now
?

“Transmit the contact package,” he ordered.  There was no point in trying to hide.  They were making enough electronic noise to ensure that they could be detected from right across the star system.  “Let’s see what answer we get.”

“It will be at least half an hour before the message reaches them,” Lopez warned.  “And a full hour before we get any reply.”

If they do reply
, Ted thought, grimly.

“Understood,” he said.  There was nothing they could do about the laws of physics, at least until someone came up with a way of sending messages faster than light.  Some of the scientists might talk about creating artificial tramlines, but Ted would believe it when he saw it.  The power it took to expand the tramlines alone was quite significant.  “We will just have to wait.”

He settled back in his chair as the fleet moved away from the tramline, surveying the data as the drones and frigates relayed it back to the analysts.  The planetary system had two gas giants, he realised, although one of them didn't seem to have received much attention from the aliens.  There were still no traces of any life-supporting worlds, which didn't really surprise him.  The aliens seemed to follow the same basic logic as humanity when it came to settling other worlds; they concentrated on the life-supporting planets first, then started to develop the rest of the system.  So far, there was no trace of any alien terraforming program, but that proved nothing.  Their biology would predispose them towards habitable worlds rather than trying to terraform Mars-like worlds that would require the infusion of vast amounts of water.  But there was no shortage of water in space ...

“No response,” Lopez said, when eighty minutes had passed since they’d transmitted the message.  “Not even an uncomprehending response.”

Ted gritted his teeth.  If they were right, the facilities ahead of them might be controlled by Faction Two ... and firing on them would bring Faction Two into the war on the wrong side.  But if they were under Faction One’s control ... there was no way to solve the problem without actually talking to the aliens and the damned creatures refused to talk!

“Continue towards primary target,” he ordered, finally.  “And transmit the standard warning ...”

“
Contacts
,” Lopez snapped.  “Multiple contacts.”

Ted swore out loud as red icons flared into life on the display – no,
two
groups of red icons.  One directly in front of them, the other on a course that suggested they’d been lurking behind the tramline.  The aliens had set a trap ...