Call to Arms (Black Fleet Trilogy, Book 2) (12 page)

Jackson pulled in several of his senior staff and let them in on the plan to exit the system. Predictably, they were less than enthusiastic about something that their training told them was tantamount to certain death, but after the protests had died down he was able to make them see that there while there was nothing that could be done without significant risk, the data gathered about the Phage fleet had to make it back to Haven at all costs.

“Captain, we may need to fire the mains for at least a short burn just before we transition,” Singh argued. “While we’re carrying enough relative velocity, I’d be more comfortable getting on a course moving well away from the primary before attempting to engage the warp drive.”

“What are the no-bullshit odds of the star’s gravity interfering with our warp distortion fields?” Jackson asked.

“Off the top of my head, I’d have to say better than ten percent, which is significant,” Singh said.

“Even with the proposed flight parameters?”

“Especially so,” Singh said. “You’re wanting a short burst, in your words, but it doesn’t really work that way. By the time the distortion fields stabilize, and the ship has begun her transition, we will have already moved quiet close to the star. It wouldn’t be much of a stretch to imagine it could collapse our field and leave us stranded in the corona or upper chromosphere for the short time it would take for us to be incinerated. I’m sorry, Captain, but I just can’t sign off on the risk you’re asking us to take. Even without our proximity to the star, there’s a significant risk.”

“Well, then,” Jackson said, sighing as he looked at the ceiling. “That’s why we’re having this meeting. What other options can you give me that don’t include lighting off a large thermal bloom in the system by firing the main engines?”

“The short answer is none,” Singh said. “Not without exposing the ship to shear forces she was never designed to handle. If you give me some time, we can work to minimize the thermal signature of the mains, but we won’t be able to hide it entirely, and it’ll require a significantly longer burn than you would like to get us moving along on the new course.”

“But with the mains already online, if we’re spotted, we can just make a break for it,” Celesta said. “We should have plenty of time for a full burn and warp transition before they can get any of those Bravos close enough for a shot.”

“I don’t doubt that, but I was hoping to get out of this system without them knowing we were here,” Jackson said. “They’ll know about the drone, of course, but if nothing leaves the system that they’re aware of, it might not cause a reaction. The last thing I want is to force them to step up their own schedule and take this fleet to Terran space long before we’re ready.”

“I hadn’t considered that,” Commander Juarez said quietly. “I apologize, Captain. This entire time I thought you were simply trying to exit the system without risking an engagement for our own sakes… I didn’t full understand the ramifications our actions may have for the frontier worlds.”

“A fleet this big and diverse… They’re not gunning for a few under-defended colony worlds at the edge of Terran space,” Celesta said. “This is a full invasion force. So the question is this: do they have more knowledge of where our planets and colonies are than we’re assuming they do?”

“Let’s keep the speculation to a minimum for now and keep our focus on the task at hand,” Jackson said. “Commander Singh, I want a proposal for a main engine burn sent to me within the hour. If there’s nothing else, you’re all dismissed.”

It only took Singh twenty minutes to give Jackson a very thorough report of his proposal to light the mains and give them the nudge they needed to get on the correct course. He’d done his due diligence, and there were actually three separate proposals, each with varying degrees of risk, with all the necessary data he’d need to make his decision. He looked at the clock on the wall of his office. He had just under ten hours to finalize his decision before it was taken out of his hands completely by virtue of the Jacobson drone completing its mission.

By the time he’d decided, had a short sleep in his office, and made his way back to the bridge by way of the wardroom for a quick bite, the excitement was palpable. Sometime during the current watch, they’d get confirmation that their drone mission was either a success or a failure. They would be forced to leave the system no matter which it was, but the outcome would determine if it was sneaking out unnoticed or being chased by an enormous Phage armada.

“OPS, tell Commander Singh that he’s clear to begin prepping the main engines for his low-profile burn proposal,” Jackson said. “He is not to begin heating the plasma chambers without my command.”

“Yes, sir,” Davis said.

“I also felt that method gave us our best chance at accomplishing all of our goals,” Celesta said as he sat down.

“I’m not fully convinced, but nor do I have any better ideas, and we’re against the clock,” Jackson said. “No matter how many tricks you can play with the nozzle restrictors, we still need enough thrust to overcome inertia and get a few hundred thousand tons of starship moving in a different direction.”

“Standby!” Davis called out sharply, cutting off whatever Celesta had been about to say. “Data transmission coming in from the drone.”

“OPS, compile and archive the data,” Jackson said. “Coms! Tell Engineering they’re clear to ramp up reactors one and two and start main engines.”

“Nav! Make sure the helm has the corrected course for warp transition,” Celesta said.

“Yes, ma’am,” Specialist Accari said.

At Jackson’s request, the young spacer had been moved to split first and second watch for additional mentoring.

“Transmission has stopped,” Davis said. “Confirmation of detonation. Jacobson probe is destroyed.”

“Helm, engage new course,” Jackson said. “Modified acceleration profile delta. Tactical, what’s going on with our friends?”

“It looks like the detonation has gotten them stirred up, sir,” Barrett said. “We’re still being ignored, but all the Alphas are converging on where the probe was, and the three large constructs are accelerating away from the planet at a surprising rate.”

“Fuck.”

“Sir?” Celesta asked.

“I’d been hoping those three big ones were nothing more than stationary production facilities,” Jackson said. “But with that sort of acceleration, it looks like we’re seeing a new class of Phage ship.”

“I hope they’re logistical assets and not strategic,” Celesta said.

“As do I,” Jackson said. “Nav! How are we doing?”

“We’re accelerating away from the system within the predicted envelope, sir,” Accari said. “We’ll be clear of potential gravimetric interference from the star in less than two hours at current power levels.”

“Let me know the instant we are,” Jackson said. “Tactical?”

“Phage units are now fanning out away from the planet,” Barrett said. “The big boys have broken orbit and are moving toward the inner system at an impressive clip… around two hundred and fifty Gs.”

“What does your predictive model say about their behavior?”

“Not a whole lot as this is something completely new, sir,” Barrett admitted. “But both the computer and I agree that they seem to have started a systematic search pattern that’s progressively moving away from where our drone exploded.”

“That was a forty-thousand terajoule warhead we loaded on it,” Celesta said. “There won’t be anything left for them to analyze.”

“The byproducts of the nuclear explosion itself will linger,” Jackson said absently as he watched the main display. “If they have a complete profile of Terran weapons used against them so far, they might be able to figure out it was us that took a shot at them. All of our fissionable material comes from the same source in the New European Commonwealth right now.”

“We should be long gone by the time an analysis like that can be completed.” Celesta’s voice was full of uncertainty.

“That’s the idea, but we have no way to know that for sure,” Jackson said.

Time seemed to slow to a standstill as the destroyer continued to slink away from the enemy hoard. The mood aboard was tense, but Jackson could sense that in spite of this the crew wasn’t panicked or otherwise unable to perform.

“Course correction complete,” Specialist Accari called out just over two hours later. “We’re now moving away from the primary star at a declination of thirty-nine degrees off the orbital plane and at an acceptable forward velocity for warp transition.”

“Engines zero thrust,” Jackson said. “OPS, tell Engineering to shut down and secure the mains as soon as they throttle back.”

“Engineering is securing main engines from modified flight mode,” Davis recited off her display. “Commander Singh wants permission to deploy the warp nacelles.”

“Deploy,” Jackson confirmed. “Do not apply power until I give the word.”

He watched the status on the main display change as
Ares
was reconfigured for warp flight. Unlike on the
Blue Jacket
, where the forward warp emitters were visible, the small warp nacelles used on the
Ares
deployed from both flanks and couldn’t be seen from the bridge “view.” Since the emitters weren’t exposed in this new design, there also wasn’t any visible light emitted, but Jackson wasn’t taking the chance that the Phage might detect the minute gravimetric distortion they created while charging.

“Captain, all detectable Phage units are now heading back toward the inner system,” Barrett said. “They seem to be crowding in around the three unclassified constructs between the orbits of the second and third planet.”

“It’s too bad we don’t have any recon drones capable of warp flight,” Jackson said absently. “OPS, tell Engineering I want the warp drive charged and online. Nav, when you get a green indicator on the drive you are clear to transition out of the Zulu System.”

“Aye, sir.” Accari kept his focus on his displays.

A few moments later, the ship shuddered slightly as the warp drive engaged, and they left the Phage fleet behind. A short twenty minutes later, the ship shook and bucked again as she emerged back into real-space.

“First warp transition complete,” Lieutenant Davis reported. There were some hushed celebrations on the bridge that Jackson allowed as his crew was elated they’d survived the “warp hop.” Though he would never show it, he was as relieved as they were.

“Okay, everybody.” Jackson stood and raised his hands to get them back on task. “That was the dangerous one. Now that we’re clear of the Zulu System’s boundary debris, we can more carefully plot our course back to Terran space. OPS, tell Engineering to bring all primary and redundant systems back online and fire the mains. Nav, begin calculating our exact position and start plotting me a course back to the Xi’an System from here. Commander Wright, you have the bridge.”

Chapter 7

“Position confirmed,” the chief sitting at the nav station reported. “We’re now in the Xi’an System.”

“Tactical, start full active scans of the system,” Celesta said.

“Ma’am, we have three CENTCOM transponders squawking in-system,” Lieutenant Keller reported from the com station. “Generic codes, no ship registry or unit designation.”

“Can you determine ship type?” Celesta asked.

“No, ma’am.”

“Activate our transponder, standard hail,” Celesta ordered. “Tactical, try to get me at least a class type on those ships, and continue scanning the system. OPS, have the
Ares
configured for normal flight.”

“Ma’am, we’re getting a request to stop active scans,” Keller said after they’d been in the system for a little over an hour. “The message came in on standard encryption with the correct time increment.”

“Tell them we will comply when they provide command authority,” Celesta said. “Until then, keep scanning.”

“I’m getting the initial returns on two of the ships, ma’am,” Barrett said. “Eighty percent certainty that they’re CIS Prowlers. The third seems to have disappeared.”

“Which means it has active stealth capability,” Celesta said. “Cease active scans—low-power anti-collision radar only. Coms, let me know if they bother replying. I’d still like to know exactly who we have in this system with us.”

“Ma’am, incoming message coded for you,” Keller said.

“Is it addressed generically to the CO? Or did they ask for Captain Wolfe by name?”

“No, ma’am… it’s an encrypted message specifically to Commander Wright,” Keller said. “Forwarding it now.”

Her interest piqued, Celesta entered her credentials and pressed her thumb to the display so that the computer could get a biometric reading. As she read, she could feel her expression morph from one of mild surprise a blushing red anger, her fists clenching tightly at her sides.

“Helm, stabilize our flight.” She worked to unclench her jaw. “Attitude thrusters only. Maintain zero thrust, and heave to… We will have a ship coming alongside to dock shortly. OPS, please inform Commander Juarez to expect a CIS Broadhead at our starboard airlock, and send a runner to wake Captain Wolfe and inform him he will have a visitor.”

“Aye aye, ma’am,” Davis said.

****

“Do you wake up every morning and think of new and interesting ways to fuck up my world, Wolfe?” Agent Pike stomped across the flexible gangway from his small Broadhead and onto the
Ares
.

“Nice to see you too, Pike.” Jackson crossed his arms. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“We should probably speak in your office… alone.” Pike’s face showed none of the sardonic wit Jackson had come to associate with the man when he was in his real persona, or at least what he assumed to be his real persona.

“Follow me.” Jackson nodded his head toward the hatch.

He led the CIS spook through the ship, until coming to a lift that would take them straight up to Officer Country and the command deck. The
Starwolf
-class ship was mercifully shorter in both length and height than the
Raptor
-class had been, so they were stepping into the well-appointed office mere minutes after leaving the starboard airlock.

“Just so you know, I’ve got two more Prowlers in the X-ray System trying to figure out what to do with your dead Alpha.” Pike closed and locked the hatch. “Hell of a shot.”