Escape 2: Fight the Aliens (23 page)

“Star Traveler, tell me what we are seeing. First with planet four, later with the moon below us,” she said, her image sharing the comlink holo with Alicia, Frank and Stefano. “Relate your data to the images we are now seeing in our true space holos.”

“Do you wish me to describe matters as I perceive them with ship sensors or as bioforms perceive them?” the AI asked.

Bill smiled to himself. Their ship mind had a snotty side to it, which showed up now and then. It liked proving how much more precise it was than any bioform on the ship.

Jane sat back in her seat and folded hands in the lap of her Air Force ABUs, her shiny black hair moving loosely. Soon they would all change into vacsuits once they came within combat range of the station. “Both,” she said.

“As you wish,” the AI hummed low, its tone sounding puzzled. “The gas giant world lying in the fourth orbital position is composed of an iron-nickel and rock inner core. Above that core is a layer of metallic hydrogen. On top of that layer is a layer of liquid hydrogen and liquid helium. At the Frenkel line, things change to a gaseous state,” the ship mind said, its tone sounding like a professor of anthropology whom Bill recalled from a night class he’d taken a year ago. “Most of the atmosphere is hydrogen and helium, although its pale yellow color is due to the presence of ammonia crystals in the upper levels. Its mass is 78 times that of Earth or twice that of Jupiter. Its magnetic field is weak. Its orbital year is 458 days. It lies 1.1 AU distant from its star. Orbiting it are 49 moons, of which six are of dwarf planet size. Do you require details on every moon?”

“No!” Jane said abruptly. “Tell me about the Market moon ahead of us.”

“The moon ahead of this ship is a rocky world with an iron core that rotates, creating a magnetic field half that of Earth,” the AI said. “It is similar in size to Titan, the single moon of Saturn that possesses an atmosphere. However, this moon’s temperature is such that it possesses a dozen small seas that separate three land masses. Due to the young age of the system star, there was no life biota present on the moon until the arrival of Buyer society colonists approximately 1,231 years ago. Its surface gravity is 0.14 Earth gee, while escape velocity is 1.5 miles per second. It measures 3,075 miles in diameter. It is not tidally locked to planet four, which allows equal distribution of heat and weather events.”

“The
people
,” Jane said, sounding impatient. “Where are these 12,000 or so people located? Any information on Buyer compounds? Any weapons on the moon that could reach us in orbit?”

“There are 12,137 bioforms now present on the moon ahead of this ship,” Star Traveler said, his tone punctilious. “Of Buyers, there are 412 present. Most bioform population is concentrated on the northern land mass, atop the plateau landform that I am now annotating,” the AI said. Bill saw the Alien city location appear in his true space holo. “Buyers reside both within the northern city and at outlying compounds where habitats have been built to house Captives, staff and one or more Buyers. Those compounds are where shuttles are launched from, in order to receive containment cell globes from arriving Collector ships.”

“Yes, yes,” Jane said, sounding bothered. “Highlight any known Buyer compounds.”

“Highlighting in green,” the AI said.

Bill looked closely at the true space holo. He reached out and tapped his weapons control pillar. The land surfaces of the moon grew by tenfold. He counted 31 compounds. He looked over his shoulder to Jane, who had been doing the same with one of her control pillars.

“Captain, that’s not a lot of compounds for 412 Buyers,” he said.

“Agreed. Star Traveler, explain why so few compounds show on this image. There are far more Buyers than compounds shown,” she said, her tone sounding irritated.

The AI hummed in a tone Bill had learned indicated it felt put upon. “Captain Yamaguchi, please note that it is normal for dozens of Buyers to reside at a single compound. It makes financial sense for Buyers to collaborate on the space launch facilities at a compound,” it said. “Also, my datafiles from prior visits to this Market world only reflect those compounds that launched shuttles into low orbit to receive Captives. If a compound did not launch a shuttle, I would not know its location.”

“Star Traveler,” Bill interrupted. “Do any of these compounds possess weapons able to reach us in orbit?”

“None possess weapons with orbital reach,” the AI said quickly. “However, short-range gas lasers are present at every compound. Along with heat-seeking anti-ship missiles. They are intended to discourage other Buyers from stealing the Captives stored at a compound.”

Jane signed to him to
Be quiet
. “Star Traveler,” she said. “Your ship sensors are outstanding in their ability to detect infrared and far infrared emissions from heat sources. Any habitat location on that moon will emit heat. Please display the number of heat-emitting habitat locations that your sensors can now detect.”

“Displaying,” the AI hummed low.

“Damn!” Chester said from Bill’s left. “That’s a lot of outlying habitats.”

Bill agreed. A total of 97 heat-emitting habitats now showed on all three land masses of the Market moon. While a few might belong to scientific teams, he thought these 97 were mostly Buyer compounds. In fact, the 31 previously displayed by the AI were included in the 97 locations. That meant there were an average of four Buyers per compound. Not the dozens suggested by the ship AI. Also, there were three compounds located within the northern city cluster of buildings, roads, heliports, green zones and whatever else 12,000 Aliens liked to have when they colonized a raw moon. He wondered if the moon’s low gravity meant there were a lot of arthropods in residence. Jane had schooled him on evolutionary biology during their return to Earth from Kepler 443, explaining how large insects could only evolve on worlds with low gravity and a high oxygen level in their air. He’d nodded and listened and thanked her for her sharing. But all that he really cared about when it came to Aliens was how vulnerable they were to his weapons.

“Good,” Jane said. “And I see from my system graphic that the six local spaceships are now above planet three. Which means we face just two Collector ships and an armed Traffic Control station.”

“That is correct,” Star Traveler said.

Bill noted from his system graphic that they were getting closer to the orbiting Traffic Control station, which appeared as a silver sparkle in the true space holo everyone saw at their own duty station. While well beyond ship laser range, still, it was time to prepare for combat.

“Captain, fellow captains,” he called. “Time for everyone to put on their vacsuits.”

Jane looked his way, her expression preoccupied. Then her mind processed what he’d just said. She nodded quickly. “I agree with my XO,” she said over the encrypted neutrino comlink that connected all four ships. “Everyone, get suited up. And change your vacsuit comlink frequencies to the number I gave you. I’m pretty sure Diligent was never aware of this frequency. It’s what we relied on during our prior space battles.”

The three other captains acknowledged Jane’s order.

Bill leaned over, grabbed his vacsuit from the back of his Ship Weapons station seat, stood up and began pulling the tube suit on. To his right other crew were doing the same.

While he would never make fun of his Alien crewmates, still, watching an eight-legged worm pull on a tube suit was second only to watching a silver scaled kangaroo work at pushing her thick tail out against the suit’s memory fabric. Which did extend from her rear, but slowly.

“Bill,” called Jane from where she now sat encased in the clear skin of the vacsuit created by some Alien designer. “What do your sensors say about the Traffic station ahead?”

He looked at his ship weapons holo. He tapped the control pillar in front of him to make a rotating holo graphic of the boxy station appear in front of him and the other crew.

“Captain, the Traffic Control station is the size of this ship,” he murmured as his eyes tracked on sensor details. “There are two CO² gas lasers on top of the block out there, with two lasers on its bottom, or south pole end. Plasma batteries are arranged equatorially, with four blisters showing, each able to cover 90 degrees of arc. Uh, my sensors tell me there is an area near the top with a super-large magnetic field. That could indicate the presence of maglev railgun launchers of MITV torps. There are also three equatorial arrival bays for visiting shuttles and transports. I count one transport from one of the two nearby Collector ships now docked at the station. Which I take to mean that ship’s crew are boozing it up on the station!”

She flashed dark brown eyes his way. Her oval face looked command serious. “No evidence of an antimatter projector? I know our friend did not list that weapon for the station, but I like having data on the enemy cross-checked.”

Bill waited for a comment from the mouthy AI. Nothing came. “No evidence of an antimatter projector. While the station is big enough to host a particle accelerator for antimatter production, I see no evidence of such a weapon system.”

“Good,” she said, looking ahead at her true space holo. “We are now just 83,000 miles out from the station. Do you think—”

“Incoming neutrino call,” Star Traveler said, his tone brisk.

Bill felt tenseness across his entire body. Encased in his vacsuit, he knew he could survive any weapon hit on the
Blue Sky
other than an antimatter beam. But he knew he could not cope with the loss of Jane. He shook his head.
Time to focus! Now it began
.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

“Calling ship
Hard Shell
,” came the British English voice of Flight Wing. In Bill’s comlink holo, which showed the images of Alicia, Frank and Stefano, there now appeared a fourth holo image. It portrayed a creature who resembled a dragonfly with four yellow wings. Two faceted red eyes fixed on the fake Diligent image of Jane.

“Responding,” Jane said. “We will arrive shortly at your station. Was there Buyer interest in our cargo of Captives?”

“Intense interest,” the flying arthropod said, its mouth parts lifting up and down as it spoke. “Your four ships should be prepared for many shuttle visits and energetic negotiations.”

Jane smiled. Which expression the ship AI would translate to an emotion-icon that reflected how the species of Diligent Taskmaster showed humor. “That is welcome news. While I insist on quality prices for our Captives, it will be a relief to reduce the oxygen demand on our ship’s Greenery Chamber. Sixty bioforms in addition to my crew are beyond the normal ability of this ship’s atmosphere recycling.”

The front and back pairs of yellow wings fluttered rapidly, so fast Bill could not see the beat of each wing. The wing motion reminded him of how hummingbirds could hover in place, their wings a blur. And this dragonfly Alien seemed to be hovering above his control pillar. “This station can supply globes of pure oxygen, if needed,” the Alien said. “The price is modest.”

Jane lifted a hand in a No Matter gesture. “I’m sure you can assist us if needed. More immediate is our need for the crews on our four ships to visit your food and entertainment habitats. I see one of the Collector ships has already sent you a transport. Do you have room for other visitors?”

“We do. Two other bays are available for visiting transports,” the dragonfly said, the beat of his wings slowing. “We accept payment in barter trade or
solidars
for any services used by your crews.”

“Understood,” Jane said. “The ship
Black Fur
will be first to send you a transport. Which arrival bay should our transport enter?”

Bill listened intently. Stefano’s ship
Seafloat
had originally been named
Black Fur
. The visit by its transport was a vital part of his sneak attack scheme.

“The
Black Fur
transport should enter Arrival Bay Three, which is the one now emitting an ultraviolet strobe flash,” the flyer said. “When will your ships be ready to receive Buyer shuttles?”

“They are ready now,” Jane said. “The captain of each ship will, as usual, conduct his own price negotiations. As will I for my ship. We accept payment in
solidars
and Nokten crystals. Barter trade is not acceptable for such valuable Captives.”

“Of course,” the dragonfly said, lifting a rod-like arm fitted with three twig-like fingers. It tapped a pillar control panel in front of it. “I am sending the Captives Available signal to all Buyer compounds. I expect half or more of the Buyers below to send shuttles for bargaining and Captives purchase.”

Bill felt relief. That could be 50 or so shuttles coming up from the scattered compounds below. He looked to Jane, signing to her
Ask about compounds with captives
. She squinted, then gestured back to him
Understood, will do
.

“Flight Wing, that is a large number of Buyers,” she said. “Are the Buyer compounds so empty of Captives that they are hungry for our mammals?”

The creature’s wings sped up. “Not empty. My records and contacts from Buyers indicate 37 compounds do not contain Captives. The other compounds have two or more bioform Captives.”

Jane nodded slowly, her manner casual. “Are any of the 37 compounds without Captives likely to send up shuttles?”

“Who knows?” the dragonfly said. “You and I will discover the answer when shuttles arrive at this station. Already my station sensors report seven shuttles lifting from the moon.”

“Good. Regarding the other compounds with Captives. What is your price for the location and Buyer name for those compounds?” Jane said, pushing the issue that she knew formed the second stage of Bill’s plan to combat the Buyers.

The Traffic Control coordinator blinked his red eyes. “Such data is not normally shared with Collector ships. Buyers speak to other Buyers. Collector ship captains speak to other ship captains. That is how things have been for more than two thousand years.”

“True,” Jane said. “No matter. I prefer to save my
solidars
for the exhilaration gas habitats which I enjoy visiting. As you know.”

Bill gave thanks for Jane’s time spent discussing the history of Diligent’s prior visits to this station. The critter had been a regular visitor, before leaving on other segments of his seasonal round to primitive star systems. Now, she was reaffirming to the dragonfly that the person speaking to him really was Diligent.

“That I recall from your prior visits,” the critter said, his British English becoming incongruous to Bill when married to an intelligent, greedy dragonfly. “However, such information can be accidentally transmitted to your ship on neutrino frequency 97.3. In return for a donation of 60
solidars
to assist me in the repair of malfunctioning equipment.”

Jane chuckled. “Done! When I come aboard in my transport, meet me and I will convey my donation to you personally.”

“Acceptable,” the flying insect said. It looked aside, then back. “My neutrino sensor reports your ship is within 12,346 miles of this station. Your four ships should assume a parking vector close to this station. It will reduce your transport travel time.”

Better and better
, Bill thought.

“Agreed,” Jane replied. “The ship
Hard Shell
will take up station in your orbit at a distance of 900 miles. The ships
Black Fur
,
Green Skin
and
Riches Sought
will assume similar orbital positions. Now, I end this conversation as I see the shuttles you mentioned rising to meet us.”

The dragonfly slowed its wing beat. “When you visit this station, I will greet you at your arrival bay. Your donation to my efforts at assisting trade between Buyers and Collector ships is deeply valued.”

Jane smiled, though it looked strained. She knew as well as Bill that the moment of intense violence was approaching. “We arthropods need to seek unity in our efforts. The
Black Fur
transport will depart for your station shortly. Until later.”

The holo image of the dragonfly vanished. Leaving their fellow ship captains.

“Stefano,” Jane called. “Launch your transport once we arrive within a thousand miles of the Traffic Control station. Then have your Weapons Chief be ready to fire as directed by my XO.”

“Understood, Captain Jane,” the SEAL responded, his manner combat focused and professional. “Cassandra is ready. Bob is navigating us just fine. Give us the targeting data and we will perform.”

“I’m sure you will,” Jane said, shifting to focus on the other two captains. “Alicia and Frank, same orders for you folks as I just gave to Stefano. Except for the transport stuff.”

Alicia looked curious. “What’s happening with this transport of Stefano’s? Why is it going to visit the Traffic Control station just when shuttles are coming up to our orbit?”

Jane gestured Bill’s way. “That’s a secret of my XO. When the three of you are called by Buyer shuttles, negotiate with whomever speaks to you. Argue over price. It won’t last long. We want the maximum number of shuttles up in orbit and close to us. Bill will give you targets and firing solutions.”

“Ready,” Frank said, his thick black eyebrows joining as he frowned.

“Awaiting our target rich environment,” Alicia said melodiously.

Stefano just nodded. “Very ready.”

“Signal incoming,” Star Traveler hummed. “On neutrino frequency 97.3. Data on the 58 Buyer compounds with Captives has now been received. The 37 compounds without Captives is clear by comparison with infrared heat emission data.”

“Excellent. Put the data in our Library archive.” Jane looked his way. “XO, how are we? You ready?”

“Ready,” he said. “Doing my final check.”

As their four ships arrived within 10,000 miles of the Traffic Control station, which resembled a hexagonal block of metal spotted with laser and plasma battery blisters, Bill began a check of his station and the Command Bridge. To his left sat Chester the admiral, seated attentively before his Liaison control pillar and half arc of four holos. To his right were control pillars for Fusion Power, Magfield and Stardrive Engines, Collector Pods, Life Support and Navigation. Seated or standing before the pillars were Bright Sparkle, Time Marker, Long Walker, Wind Swift and Lofty Flyer at the far end of their station lineup. Behind them Jane sat elevated on the command pedestal, with a ring of holos and control pillars surrounding her. On either side of her pedestal were flexmetal seats occupied by Learned Escape and Builder of Joy. Everyone watched status holos floating in front of each pillar. Which was what he should also be doing at his Ship Weapons station.

The holo in front of him showed a schematic of the ship’s giant teardrop, with weapon locations noted and ID’d. The lasers, plasma batteries, MITV torpedoes and antimatter projector all showed Green Operational. But on the schematic one chamber was blinking Yellow Ready.
Ahhh, yes
.

“Long Walker, open the Collector Pods Chamber and eject our stealthed drones and spysats,” he called to the fleshy worm.

“Ejecting spysats and drones,” moaned the eight-legged critter who had shown himself totally alert at his Collector Pods station. His friend turned two black eyes his way as his circular, tooth-filled mouth opened and closed as he spoke. “Drones are targeted for the north and south poles of the moon below. Spysats are moving to geostationary orbit below us.”

The drones and spysats were part of the tactical approach he and Jane had agreed on during the 30 hours of their approach to the station. The transport entry to the station was another part of their sneak attack scheme. He looked to his left where his system graphic holo now showed seven shuttles approaching from the far side of the moon. Sixteen more shuttles were also lifting off from the land mass below them, including craft from the three compounds lying within the northern land mass city. He tapped the top of his weapons control pillar, activating the Tracking element of his Fire Control software. A touch of his finger on the tiny shuttle forms inside the graphic holo caused each shuttle and its origination point to be inventoried in his Fire Control system. Another tap and numbers appeared next to each shuttle, ranging from one to 23. As three more shuttles lifted up from the southern hemisphere land mass, the numbers increased to 26. Light blue arcs now connected the tail of each shuttle with its compound origin. Those locations were added to the 31 from Star Traveler’s memory. The new locations matched Flight Wing’s compounds with Captives and those without. He tapped the Weapons Prep portion of his pillar top to ensure the first charge of antimatter was being fed into the
Blue Sky’s
antimatter projector. As more shuttles lifted from distant parts of the moon, new blue arcs appeared as they lifted up to the geosync orbital track of the Control Station, the two visiting Collector ships and their four ships. Suddenly shuttles were coming from all directions. A number appeared in the corner of the true space holo, counting down the mileage to the station. At 1,192 miles he tapped the Send/Link function of his Weapons pillar and spoke.

“Stefano, Frank and Alicia, I’m sending you all my Fire Control targeting data on the approaching shuttles,” he said. “Stefano, you targets are all shuttles coming in from the west. Alicia, yours are those arriving from the east. Frank, you handle shuttles from the north. I will take out shuttles coming from the south hemisphere of the moon and those coming up from directly below.” He tapped the Fire Control portion of the pillar top. “I’ve highlighted those directions in different colors. Tap the top of your own Fire Control section and your Weapons control pillar will be automatically cross-linked with mine by way of our encrypted neutrino comlink.”

In the comlink holo, all three captains turned and spoke to their Ship Weapons crew person. Stefano looked concerned.

“XO, what about the two Collector ships that will be within 900 miles of us?” Stefano asked quickly. “Which of us has them as targets?”

“I do,” Bill said hurriedly, noting how they had all arrived at 900 miles out from the station. The first seven shuttles were now within 300 miles of his position. Stefano’s transport was hovering before Arrival Bay Three. “You three focus on taking out every shuttle within reach of your lasers. Fire when I give the word.”

“Can we use antimatter against them?” called Alicia.

“Yes! Use any ship weapon that will get the job done,” Bill said, feeling peeved that the Ranger woman had asked such a question. “Remember, your plasma battery range is 400 miles while your antimatter projector is good for a coherent beam out to 4,000 miles.”

A click sounded from the ceiling. “Incoming call from shuttle
Rough Stone
,” Star Traveler said.