Nowhere to Run (13 page)

The large White Ship emerged into normal space and just as it launched four missiles, the satellite had eight beam barrels emerge from its surface and fire four intensely bright beams and two wide beams at the Union Ship. The four beams hit the Union Ship and blew through its hull. One of the beams penetrated two reactors and the White Ship disintegrated into a giant explosion. The two wide beams burned the missiles streaking at it and exploded them fifty miles away. The Slaver Warship wasn’t so lucky. Two missiles hit it and blew it into pieces that were blown away from the center of the blast.

The scanner recorded the event and sent it to the Obelisk on Euclid. It immediately sent the recording to every Union Ship operating in the Slaver Civilization. The Slavers had built a computer that was fast enough to fire before being hit. The war had taken on a new intensity and the Slavers were getting the initiative moving in their favor.

• • •

Doc watched the recording and contacted Ian, “Did you see that new satellite?”

“I just saw the recording.”

“I’ve got something I want you to see; I’ll send it to you through the Obelisk.”

The recording arrived and Ian watched it and said, “Where did you get this?”

“I asked Moe to send me anything that the scanners had sent that was out of the ordinary. This is what Moe sent me.”

Ian stared at the ships placing satellites in orbit above one of their major planets and said, “Those satellites are being constructed somewhere else.”

Doc smiled, “I’m surprised you saw that so quickly. Yes they are. Those ships being used to place those satellites did not come from any of their main planets. They came from somewhere else. That led me to ask another question.”

“Where are the FTL Destroyers being modified?”

“Exactly; none of them are being built or modified on the main planets. That means their main ship building facilities are not located on the planets we’ve discovered. They have to have a massive facility somewhere else.”

Ian looked at Violet and she said, “That satellite fired faster than anything they’ve used to date. That must mean they’ve improved their combat computers and miniaturized them.”

Dee said, “Then it would also make sense that the new Giant Ship Killers also have that new computer.”

Doc said, “I’ve asked Drey and Nise to scan all the information that has been sent to the Union from our scanners and here is something that might not have been noticed. The new Ship Killers have been jumping away for a few weeks and then returning. Not all of them at one time but they are systematically leaving and then returning. I suspect it’s to have their computers replaced with the new model in that satellite.”

Ian sighed, “That means they have resolved their problem with aiming the needles. This will make all their ships dangerous.”

“I’m going to attempt to take out that satellite.”

Ian shook his head, “No! I won’t run the risk of losing you.”

“Ian, if we continue to avoid combat with them, they are going to find us faster than you can believe. Nise timed the satellite’s response to the older model and it was about a half a second. The Sigma’s can emerge the top of its hull into normal space and get off a beam or missile in less than a tenth of a second. We need to fire a Higgs Beam at that satellite and see if we can hit it before it can respond. Otherwise we might as well all go home and wait for them to show up.”

“We should let someone else try it. You are too important to risk.”

“Well, let me see. You have a Sigma. Umm, I have a Sigma. Dom has one but he’s back getting his ship serviced on Euclid. Gary is also on Euclid. I guess that means that it’s either you or me. I think that eliminates you for the very reason you just used to prevent me going.”

Ian looked at Violet and she nodded. Ian said, “How can you target that satellite and get off a beam in a tenth of a second?”

“That satellite is in a geostationary orbit. I don’t need to target it. I’ll have its coordinates already entered in the firing computer. I just have to get in, fire, and get out.”

“What if that satellite can disrupt space?”

“Then we emerge with the Skinner Field active and leave in a big way.”

“Do you think the Higgs Beam will arrive before the satellite can fire?”

“If half a second is its fastest time, as long as we are inside half a light second, we should be able to hit it.”

Ian shook his head and said, “I’m going to be there when you do it.”

“No, that isn’t a good idea.”

“Why not?”

“We don’t know if they have any other sneaky tricks up their sleeves. Just get Moe to send you a live feed from the Scanner.”

Ian signed and said, “I’m going to trust your judgment on this. Contact me afterward.”

“Will do.” Doc looked at Dee, “Have you decided how you want to go in?”

“I have but it’s not going to be the standard attack pattern.”

“Do tell.”

“I’m going to jettison a FTL Missile and jump to the opposite side of the satellite from the place the missile will appear in normal space. We’ll fire from that location just as the missile enters normal space.”

“Why are you doing it that way?”

“I’m not buying into the half second limit.”

Doc looked at the recording of the destroyed Union Warship and said, “You think it deliberately waited to give it time to fire.”

“I think it deliberately waited for it to completely enter normal space. I may be wrong but I’d rather make a mistake being cautious.”

“Drey, are you ready?”

“I am.”

Doc looked at Dee, “Once we jump, we’re going to need to be in direct mental contact with our computers. I’ll do the jumps; you need to handle the firing.”

“I’ll be in your mind as well, Doc. We’ll be operating together on this one.”

Doc smiled and said, “Jump in five, four, three, two, one, and now!”

• • •

The FTL Missile emerged into normal space and energized its Skinner Field just as two beams vaporized it. Drey brought his forward Higgs Projector into normal space and fired on the satellite as the ship left normal space. The Higgs Beam hit the satellite and collapsed a hundred foot hole all the way through the center of the huge structure. The reactors overloaded and a massive nuclear blast erupted and the shockwave moved out at one third of the speed of light. It blew into the planet’s atmosphere, vaporizing the handling facility and two hundred square miles around it.

Doc immediately jumped away a moment before three Ship Killers arrived and disrupted other space around the planet. Doc saw the fast response of the giant ships and was thankful Dee had come up with her plan. “That was close!”

Dee nodded, “There’s only one way those ships could have arrived so quickly.”

“They’re directly connected to the satellite.”

Dee nodded, “There’s no way the older model could deal with this.”

• • •

Doc stared at the display watching the giant Slaver Ships scanning the planetary system. Nise said, “The response time of that satellite is actually slightly over a tenth of a second.”

Doc looked at Dee, “Send this information to Cole. We might have to stop building the older model and only build Sigmas.”

“That will greatly reduce the number of ships we’ll have for defense.”

“They’ll be little more than targets against those new ships.”

Dee nodded and sent the information. She listened a moment and said, “We’ve been ordered back to Euclid.”

Doc looked at her quickly, “Why?”

“Something to do with our armaments.”

“Euclid can’t order us to do anything.”

“This order came from Ian and the King.” Doc stared at Dee and she shrugged and said, “I’m not joking. All Union Forces are being recalled to Euclid.”

Doc shook his head, “I hope Moe hasn’t changed his mind.”

“This isn’t coming from Moe and he’s not discussing the reason. However, Ian is in command and we are forced to follow his orders.”

“Contact him and see what’s going on. This seems radical.”

“I can’t; he’s not responding to any inquires.” Doc stared at Dee and she tilted her head slightly. Nise said, “It makes sense that he is not communicating.”

Dee and Doc were startled by the response. Dee said, “Why do you say that?”

“If the Slavers have more powerful computers, they might be able to compromise our communications. Most of the time we don’t use Moe to communicate with ships here in their civilization.”

Doc looked at Dee and she blew a breath out, “The only way to find out what’s going on is to go back.”

Doc scowled and turned to his panel, “I’m jumping four times before I jump back. Scan and make sure we aren’t being followed.” Dee nodded and Drey disappeared from normal space. Doc remained silent all the way back to Euclid. Something big was happening…but what was it?

• • •

“Admiral, how is the exodus proceeding?”

“Actually, it’s doing better than I thought possible. I never thought the numbers on our main planets that are leaving would want to go.”

“What do you mean?”

“More than seventy percent of our main worlds are sending seventy percent of their populations to the farm worlds. A survey was done and we found that the vast majority of our citizens don’t like living underground and never seeing the sun.”

“Do we have enough farm worlds for our populations?”

“There’s more than enough to move everyone if they all chose to go. However, we are keeping the ship maintenance facilities operational.”

“How long will it be before we can start searching for the enemy home worlds?”

“If we’re willing to stop defending the main planets we could do it now but I don’t think it could be done politically. The citizens wouldn’t stand for it.”

“Has there been any problem with the slaves on the farm worlds?”

“Not yet. Some of the colonists have asked the slaves to become part of their community and are offering to pay them to work in the fields.”

“How is that working?”

“There are some rough edges to be ironed out but all in all it seems to be happening smoothly.”

“Is that a good idea?”

“You’re the political expert, First Councilor. I don’t know what will be the fall out of this new movement.”

The First reached forward and pressed a button on his console, “Hub, have you looked at the long range implications of freeing the slaves on our farm worlds?”

“Actually, it increases our chances of survival.”

“In what way?”

“If we kept the slaves in bondage, all it would take for us to lose would be a general rebellion. By assimilating them into our communities, they have a vested interest in the survival of their planet. We’ll see if it can be done without the slaves giving vent to their hatred of us.”

“We don’t have facilities for the slaves in the cities.”

“That can be resolved in time. This is not an overnight change. It’s going to take years to make it work but it is a step in the right direction.”

The First thought a moment and said, “We just don’t have enough facilities on the farm worlds for the slaves and our populations.”

“Consider moving some of our populations to planets that don’t have an intelligent species on them. There are hundreds of thousands we’ve charted over the centuries and we can expand to them.”

“That is not something we can do now. We can’t defend the ones we have.”

There was a pause and the Hub said, “We must resolve this conflict first and then we can move forward with the expansion.”

The First looked at the Admiral, “Over building our main planets was probably a mistake. We need to make sure we don’t make that error again.”

The Admiral shrugged, “That will be something you will have to make happen. I’m just a warrior.”

The First smiled, “Who has caused the greatest change of anyone in our history. Don’t sell yourself short.”

The Admiral thought a moment and said, “Why do you think those White Ships are attacking us?”

The First stared at him and shrugged, “I don’t know.”

“I’ve thought about this a lot. The first time we communicated with them, we attacked them. If you look at our civilization, we’ve conquered every species we’ve ever encountered. That enemy asked why we did that during the initial contact.”

The First thought a moment and said, “We had to conquer every species in order to feed our main planets.”

“Do you think they might be able to figure that out and see that they would be next?”

“What are you saying?”

“I don’t really know; I just can’t help but think about what I would have done if I were in their place.”

The Hub Computer said, “You would have been forced to attack us in self-defense. That’s the logical conclusion.”

The First stared at the Admiral and said, “And now?”

“That will depend on how the slaves are assimilated into our society. If that happens, we won’t need to conquer anyone.”

“But we’re being attacked by them!”

“How is that any different from what we’ve done in the past? We fired on them as soon as we made contact. I just can’t help but wonder if that was a mistake.”

The First leaned back in his chair and said, “We didn’t have a choice then.”

The Hub Computer said, “Things change.”

The Admiral nodded, “I’m more worried about the Black Civilization in that other galaxy.”

The First’s eyebrows narrowed and he was forced to admit the Admiral was making a good point.

D
oc walked off Drey with Dee in tow and picked up speed as he saw Cole and Ian standing next to Dom’s ship. Cole saw him coming and said, “Uh oh! You better handle this.”

Ian turned and said, “What took you so long?”

Doc said, “What’s going on! Why didn’t you communicate with us? This is not a good idea to recall all our forces, especially at this moment!”

“I didn’t contact you because I’ve been too busy organizing the modification of our ships.”

“Modification?”

Cole said, “Come with me.” Cole started walking away from the hanger and Doc and Dee followed him out to the firing range. They arrived at a heavy blaster and Cole turned on the reactor powering it.