The Lost Patrol (30 page)

-51-

The third jump brought them close in stellar terms. For accurate sensor readings, they were still too far out to make hard and fast assertions about what they saw.

Maddox called another meeting. He knew Patrol doctrine suggested otherwise. Too many meetings often caused a crew to lose confidence in their captain. Thousands of Patrol case studies showed that crews wanted decisive leaders.

At the meeting, Maddox showed several holoimages. The first showed a nearby Chitin armada much like the one they’d seen two and a half light-years back. Thousands of Chitin vessels headed for the red giant system.

The captain showed a second holoimage of the actual star system. Nuclear explosions continued there. It was difficult to be certain, but many, like Ludendorff and Dana, believed these explosions occurred deeper in the system than those seen earlier.

“Is that conclusive?” Maddox asked.

“No,” the professor admitted. “Given our scanty original data, one should not be insistent. I do give it a high probability, though.”

“Explain your reasoning,” Maddox said.

“If you would show your next holoimage, I’d be happy to oblige.”

Maddox nodded to Galyan.

The last holoimage showed energy readings instead of actual images. These energy readings weakened as one followed them toward the galactic center.

“I think we’re seeing the exhausts of Swarm motherships,” Ludendorff said. “Galyan, if you will.”

A fourth holoimage appeared that had not been part of Maddox’s original presentation.

Galyan spoke up. “These images are six thousand years old. These “motherships” as the professor names them, carried the entire Swarm force that attacked and destroyed the Adok System. The energy readings we presently view compare favorably with the Adok readings six thousand years ago.”

“Does that make sense?” Maddox asked.

“That is an interesting question,” Ludendorff said. “Your question implies the normal technological advances occurring in our present human societies. That hasn’t always been the norm. A close study of ancient human history shows a decided lethargy regarding technological advances. The real jump occurs with the rise of Western Civilization. Then we see an explosion of inventions that brought humanity to the modern world and eventually led to the Space Age. The key precepts of Western Civilization still guide Commonwealth civilization.

“Now,” the professor lectured, “the same does not have to hold true for alien civilizations. It would be quite possible for a society to reach a certain technological level and remain there for thousands, maybe even tens of thousands of years. I suggest that is what we’re seeing with the Swarm.”

“We don’t know with one hundred percent certainty that the readings approaching the red giant are actual Swarm ships,” Valerie said.

“True,” Ludendorff said. “But the probability is high enough that I definitely believe those ships belong to the Swarm Imperium.”

“So…” Maddox said. “What are you suggesting?”

“That we are witnessing the crisis point between the Swarm and the Chitins,” Ludendorff said. “Notice, both species appear to be constantly reinforcing that star system. The question is: what makes that system so important to both of them?”

“Let me see if I understand,” Maddox said. “The Chitins and the Swarm are feeding tens of thousands of spaceships into that system. The constant nuclear explosions imply they have warred for at least the last three years with constant battle attrition.”

“Yes,” Ludendorff said. “Frankly, this is amazing. This is the first known instance of such a stellar war at sub-light speeds. It implies massive industrial power poured into one star system at a slow, sub-light speed. Given what we’ve seen of the known Chitin star system, the others around the red giant system also seem to be Chitin-held.”

“So?”

“I would suggest these other star systems are also pouring Chitin spaceships into the red giant system,” Ludendorff said. “The coordinating power this suggests is staggering. Who rules the Chitins? Can a ruler impose his or her will on a star system light-years away at these slow travel speeds? The answer appears to be yes. I find that incredible.”

“How far into the red giant system have the Swarm driven?” Maddox asked.

“If you would go back to the holoimage,” the professor said.

Maddox nodded. Galyan switched holoimages.

The professor picked up a clicker and stood, aiming it at the holoimage. “The most constant nuclear explosions occur in this region. If you’ll notice, over here is the gas giant. That means the Swarm haven’t yet reached the gas giant. Thus, I would suggest the Swarm has pushed three quarters of the way into the system. The
bloated
red giant star occupies what would have been an otherwise deeper system.”

“Is the red giant system what Shu came out here to see?” Valerie asked.

Ludendorff appeared perplexed. “Are you suggesting the Spacer knew about this war?”

“What?” Valerie said. “Oh, no, no, I didn’t mean that. The bloated comment made me wonder. The red giant wasn’t always a red giant. Likely, millions of years ago, it was a much smaller, denser star. It grew outward at some point in the past. I’m wondering if Shu came here because of what the ancient mummified Builder taught the first Spacers. Could the mummified Builder have thought of the red giant as it used to be— as a smaller star?”

“You’re speaking in a conflicted manner,” Ludendorff said. “First, you say the red giant has been like this for millions of years. Then, you wonder if the mummified Builder thought of it as the star it used to be. You can’t have it both ways. In my opinion, the red giant has been like this for a long, long time.”

“
You
believe that,” Valerie said. “But you don’t
know
that’s the truth. Aren’t the Builders supposed to be ancient?”

Ludendorff shrugged.

“Look,” Valerie said. “All I’m saying is that maybe Shu came here to see something the red giant covered up when it expanded to its present size.”

Silence filled the briefing chamber.

“That’s an extremely negative thought,” Ludendorff said.

Valerie became stubborn. “Didn’t you tell us before to keep an open mind to all possibilities?”

Ludendorff scowled. “How dare you throw that back at me?”

Maddox cleared his throat. When that didn’t work, he took out his long-barreled gun and rapped the butt on the table.

Everyone turned to him.

“This is a briefing,” the captain said. “We are open to all suggestions. Thus, I want my personnel and guests to maintain a friendly attitude toward each other.”

“I’m a guest then?” Ludendorff demanded.

Maddox gave him a wry grin. “Unless you’re saying you’re part of the crew, under my direct authority.”

Ludendorff looked away.

“In any case,” Maddox said. “We shall know soon enough. It’s time to prepare for the final jump. We’ve scouted. Now, it’s time to go in.”

“Where do you plan to go exactly?” Dana asked.

“Precisely,” the captain said. “That is the final topic of discussion. Where is the best location for
Victory
to jump? We want to investigate the Chitin-Swarm War as best we can, but without engaging in any combat ourselves.”

-52-

The starship jumped to the red giant system. In relation to the stream of known Chitin spaceships,
Victory
appeared on the other side of the red giant ninety degrees away from the stream of likely Swarm vessels.

According to Maddox’s orders,
Victory
arrived at a Neptune-from-Sun distance from the bloated red star.

As soon as they completed the jump, Maddox strove for equilibrium. The effects of the anti-jump serum helped retard ninety percent of Jump Lag. The Kai-Kaus additions kept the ship systems running at eighty-seven percent capacity. That meant, however, that neither the crew nor the ship operated optimally the first few minutes coming out of jump.

Thus, Maddox strove to move. Finally, he staggered upright, looking around. No one else was moving yet.

“Lieutenant,” he slurred.

Valerie jerked where she sat.

“Galyan,” Maddox said in a more normal voice.

The holoimage flickered but otherwise didn’t move.

Maddox headed for the sensor station. Before he got there, the sensor operator straightened.

“I’m fine, sir,” she said.

The main screen came online. Maddox backed into his command chair, sitting down while focusing on what he saw.

The red giant pulsated, filling half the screen.

“Switching view,” Valerie said.

“Sir,” the sensor operator said. “I’m detecting an alien scan.”

“Are our shields up?” Maddox asked.

“Yes, sir,” Lieutenant Smith-Fowler said. “They’re at ninety-one percent capacity and rising.”

“Oh, oh,” Valerie said. “You’d better look at this, sir.”

For the next few minutes, Maddox watched and listened as his bridge crew kept feeding him incoming data. He rapidly built up an image of the situation.

Approximately ten thousand Chitin destroyers curved around the red giant, heading for the main conflict. The outer layer of the ten thousand spaceships was five hundred thousand kilometers from
Victory
. Whoever or whatever ran those warships realized
Victory
was out here and scanned to find out what she was.

Those ten thousand spaceships were a small portion of the vast number of vessels. The Chitins alone had hundreds of thousands of spaceships. The number staggered Maddox’s imagination. It made the Commonwealth’s war against the New Men seem like a day in the park.

The trouble was the Swarm. Those big motherships looked exactly like the ones that had obliterated Galyan’s homeworld. The Swarm stream seemed endless from here, reaching as far as the sensors could read. At this point, that was many billions upon billions of kilometers away.

“What is this place?” Valerie whispered.

Maddox focused on Smith-Fowler. “I want to know the instant enemy munitions, rays or missiles head for us. We cannot afford to trade combat fire with anyone. Our vessel is less than a mite in this destructive orgy.”

“I am greatly saddened,” Galyan said, in a more robotic voice than he’d used for quite some time. “This is painful, Captain. I remember six thousand years ago. The Swarm are killing the Chitins. This is wrong. This is evil. We must help the Chitins. I cannot bear to watch this any longer.”

“Galyan,” Maddox snapped. “Come stand by me.”

“Captain?” the holoimage asked.

“Obey me, Driving Force,” the captain said.

The holoimage floated near the command chair.

“Look at me,” Maddox said.

Galyan did so.

“You belong to Star Watch. We’re your home. I need you now more than ever.”

“You need my assistance?” Galyan asked.

“One hundred percent,” Maddox said.

Galyan’s eyelids fluttered. “Yes, I understand. I am here to obey your orders, sir.”

“Good. I want you here so I can ask your advice when the time comes.”

“I can give you my advice right now, sir.”

“We’re not here to throw our lives away,” Maddox said. “We’re here to make sure humanity survives the Swarm. Do you understand?”

“Computing…” Galyan said. “I am computing…”

“Sir,” Smith-Fowler said. “I see missiles heading for us.”

“How many?” Maddox asked.

“Thirty thousand, sir,” Smith-Fowler said, his voice cracking.

“How long until the first missiles reach us?” the captain asked.

Smith-Fowler stared at his screen.

“Lieutenant,” Maddox said calmly. “I do not appreciate my officers taking time to sight see. If you could tear yourself from watching the display, I’d like that answer now.”

Smith-Fowler tore his gaze from his screen to stare at Maddox.

The captain waited.

“Yes, sir,” Smith-Fowler said hoarsely. “The time of arrival is…twenty-nine hours, sir.”

“Thank you,” Maddox said. “The missiles aren’t urgent for a while. We can still take a look-see.”

The captain turned to Valerie. “Have you found anything unusual?”

“Not yet, sir,” Valerie said. “According to my readings and those I’m receiving from the science teams, there are no inhabited planets, asteroids or space stations in the system.”

“That doesn’t surprise me,” Maddox said, as if someone had told him it was going to rain for five days in the tropics.

“Galyan, why are they fighting?”

“Computing…” Galyan said softly.

“Driving Force Galyan,” Maddox said. “I require your attention.”

The holoimage spun around to face him.

“Why are the Swarm fighting?” Maddox repeated.

“The Swarm fights to conquer or destroy its enemies.”

“Why do the Chitins fight, do you think?”

The eyelids fluttered. “That is unknown, sir.”

“Why did the ancient Adoks fight?”

“To protect their star system,” Galyan said.

“No,” Maddox said. “They fought to protect their homeworld.”

“Yes,” Galyan said. “That is correct.”

Maddox studied the main screen. “What are the Chitins fighting so hard to protect, I wonder? Lieutenant Noonan, pass the word along. I want to find out what the Chitins are protecting. I want to know now.”

“Yes, sir,” Valerie said while madly tapping on her board.

***

As the science and sensor teams searched for the answer, Maddox watched a battle farther out in the system.

Masses of missiles engaged with one another. Multiple nuclear detonations obliterated those nearest the explosions. The rest continued to accelerate for the enemy.

“Those are hardened missiles,” Galyan said. “The Swarm did not possess those against the Adoks.”

Maddox rested his chin on his fist with the elbow on an armrest. Layers upon layers of missiles tried to claw past each other. Behind the missile barrages waited spaceships. The Chitins used particle beams. The Swarm had lasers. Little survived the thousands of beams.

“Carnage,” the captain said, “carnage on a monumental scale.”

He used the Star Watch Intelligence side of his brain to analyze what he saw. This was much more mathematical than the type of fighting humans generally engaged in. One force smashing against an almost equally large force. He had read a little history in his time. He recalled an ancient conflict called Word War I. One particular battle site reminded him of this one. The Battle of Verdun had been a bloodbath that changed the character of the French Army twenty years later during the German invasion of France in 1940.

His reading regarding Verdun was nothing like this head-on collision of two merciless forces. The Battle of Verdun had been of short duration compared to this. Yet, the attritional battle had almost shattered the French Army of the time.

The Chitins and Swarm did not break. Each side simply sent more reinforcements. How many light-years did the farthest Chitins have to travel to get here? The Swarm had been fighting like this for over six thousand years, at least. What did their High Command think? Or was there some queen in a great planetary hive directing the interstellar imperium?

Humans would never survive such endless brutality. Did that mean the Swarm or the Chitins were destined to rule the galaxy?

If Maddox had anything to say in this, it would not be so.

Why did the two insect species wage such ruthless war in this star system? There had to be a reason. If this just happened to be a marker for where the two empires happened to meet…

The idea of a purposeless war on this scale chilled Maddox.

“Sir,” Valerie said.

The captain looked up from where he sat.

“Doctor Rich thinks she’s found the answer,” the lieutenant said.

“What?” he asked.

“If you’ll look at the main screen, sir,” Valerie said.

Maddox did so, lifting his chin off his first.

The lieutenant focused on the red giant. “Given the Chitins’ fleet maneuvers and the central vectors of the Swarm assaults, this seems to be the area of desire, the one the small insects protect and the big ones want to reach.”

Maddox observed superimposed curved lines sweeping around the red giant to a spot hidden from view in
Victory’s
present position.

“Dana doesn’t know what the object is,” he said, “just where it is?”

“Yes, sir,” Valerie said. “She’s requesting probe launches—”

“Probes won’t work out here,” Maddox said, irritably. “The Chitins will destroy them. She means for us to make another jump, this one within the system.”

“You’re probably right, sir,” Valerie said. “But at least we know where to go.”

Maddox nodded slowly. The mystery of the importance of this battle likely lay on the other side of the curvature of the giant star. It appeared, as well, that this thing was near the star’s surface in a relative sense. It would seem to be a Mercury-from-Sun distance from the star’s surface. That surface was a cool 5000 degrees Fahrenheit, a balmy temperature as stars went.

How near should the starship appear to this unknown thing? If they were too far out, it would put them nearer the military action. Too far in, and it would put them close to the endless Chitin reinforcements.

“Galyan,” Maddox said. “Do you have a recommendation?”

The holoimage studied the main screen. “Yes, Captain,” Galyan said. “I would jump to these coordinates.”

“Just a moment,” Maddox said. He went to his chair and had Valerie call Ludendorff. The professor appeared on the main screen as he worked in a sensor chamber.

“I’m thinking of making another jump,” Maddox said.

“Splendid,” Ludendorff said. “It’s what I would do if I commanded a ship like this.”

“Yes,” Maddox said. “Where would you jump exactly?”

“What did Galyan suggest?”

Maddox told him.

“Hmm,” Ludendorff said. “That is sound, as far as it goes, but too cautious. You know my take. Go in deep. Get a close look and a recording. Then, jump far out so we can think it through.”

“If we do that,” Maddox said, “the Chitins will certainly recognize our ability for what it is and react accordingly next time.”

“Why would that matter?”

“Being ready for any eventuality and all that,” Maddox said in an offhanded way.

“I see,” Ludendorff said. “You think you know what’s out there.”

“In fact,” Maddox said, “I do think that.”

“Well, my boy, don’t keep me in suspense. What is the prize?”

Maddox shook his head. “Not yet, Professor, I need to make one more preparation.” He motioned to Valerie.

The lieutenant cut the connection, staring at him as he headed for the exit.

“Sir,” Valerie said.

“Hmmm?” Maddox asked, facing her.

“What’s hiding around the curvature of the red giant?”

He gave her an unreadable stare and the faintest smile before heading once more for the exit.