Worlds at War (A Captain's Crucible Book 5) Read online

  Bridgette stood, and left the tent.

  twenty-seven

  Jonathan sat in his office, contemplating everything Bridgette had revealed to him during her debriefing with himself and Robert. The commander was still in attendance, seated across from him. Bridgette’s hologram had vanished only moments ago.

  “Do you want to go to her?” Jonathan asked, despite her reassurances before disconnecting that she was all right and just wanted some quiet time.

  “No,” Robert said. “I’ll see her tonight after my shift. If there’s anything I’ve learned over the years as a married man, it’s that when my wife says she needs some time alone, she means it.”

  Jonathan nodded slowly. “She seemed exhausted. I respect her for taking the time to report what she learned so soon. Though a part of me worries the Neanderthal has somehow misled her.”

  “You don’t think the disintegration bombs will harm the Elder ship?” Robert asked.

  “I’m not certain they will, no,” Jonathan said. “I’d hate to expend all that effort securing one, only to find out we’ve been had. Though I suppose it’s the only hope we have at the moment. None of our other weapons can even dent its damn hull. The question is, how are we going to get one?”

  “That’s the question of the year,” Robert said.

  What Bridgette had revealed was almost unbelievable. How the Elder had collected dinosaurs. How the Neanderthals came to be in the service of the alien race. How the Elder considered themselves “protectors” of life, but had gone on to judge humanity unworthy of this galaxy.

  The most important part was what she had revealed at the end: how to destroy the Elder ship.

  Apparently she knew precisely where the disintegration bombs were stored aboard the scavenger vessels. She had drawn a quick blueprint of the ship for them, with a promise to flesh it out in more detail later. Though Jonathan had to wonder if that blueprint would be applicable to all scavenger vessels. Surely they had different classes of ships. Then again, all the ships actually looked identical when viewed from the outside. The nanobots were obviously running the same build program.

  A cannon fired those disintegration bombs, and if they could remove it from the scavenger ship, Bridgette suggested the Raakarr, as descendants of the Elder, might be able to jury-rig the weapon and its firing mechanism to one of their own vessels. It was a small hope, but it was all they had.

  “I’m going to tap in Wethersfield,” Jonathan said. “Let’s see if we can get Valor to confirm a few things.”

  Jonathan contacted the liaison officer aboard the Raptor and explained the situation.

  The Artificial replied several moments later: “Barrick says even if you can supply the cannon, and ensure that it’s free of infectious nanobots, Valor doesn’t know if they will actually be able to mount the thing. Even if they can, there is no guarantee the interface will work properly. They might be able to fire the disintegration bombs, but the weapons won’t activate. Or the weapons might activate before launching and disintegrate the involved ship. Because of that, Valor outright refuses to install the cannon on the Raptor. But one of the dart ships would make a suitable candidate.”

  “That’s fine,” Jonathan transmitted. “Hmm. Actually, a dart ship you say? Shouldn’t we be putting it in something more powerful? Like a capital ship?”

  “I’ll have Barrick ask Valor.” A moment later: “Barrick says Valor is adamant. He doesn’t want to risk destroying any of his more advanced warships. We can always order him to do it when the time comes, of course.”

  “No, it probably doesn’t matter,” Jonathan said. “I can understand Valor’s reasoning. I wouldn’t want to install a weapon like that on my most powerful ships either. We’ll make do with a dart ship when the time comes. Thank you, Wethersfield, Captain out.”

  He sat back and looked at his commander.

  “So, have you considered how we’re actually going to get our hands on those bombs and the launcher yet?” Robert said.

  Jonathan glanced at his tactical map. The Elder ship’s destination hadn’t been Jupiter after all: it had halted in the asteroid belt halfway between Mars and Jupiter next to Vesta, third largest asteroid in the solar system with a diameter of five hundred kilometers. The rock was rich in magnesium and iron pyroxenes. Several privately owned corporations had once run mining operations on the asteroid to harvest those minerals, but the quarries had been destroyed during the Elder invasion.

  The five scavenger ships had landed on the surface of the asteroid and were likely gathering elements to facilitate repairs of the mothership. He supposed those scavengers would be working to restore the most critical areas of the Elder vessel first, such as the nanobot beam. That the Elder ship hadn’t created more scavengers from the asteroid told Jonathan that said beam was still offline for the time being, which was a very good thing.

  The mixed human and Raakarr fleet was currently on an intercept course for Vesta. They were a day away.

  Connie had assured him that the Cobra modifications to the Avengers fleet-wide would be completed by then, enabling the fighters to engage any super-suits that might participate in the battle. Jonathan wasn’t sure the fighters would be needed, at least in the initial attack run against the scavengers, but it was good to have that as a reserve option if the Elder decided to throw super-suits into the mix.

  “We’ll have to lure one of those scavengers from the asteroid.” Jonathan lifted his aReal glasses a moment to scratch an itch on the bridge of his nose. “Then disable it, and cut the weapon free of the hull.”

  “We’ll need to make sure we get the loading mechanism, and the bomb inventory,” Robert said. His eyes were defocused, as if examining something on his aReal. “According to the quick blueprint Bridgette has drawn, both should be available in the adjacent compartment. If we want to cut out the whole compartment, including the external hull beside the cannon, we’re talking dimensions of at least ten by ten meters, with a depth of twenty meters—assuming their hull is as thick as ours. Won’t be the easiest extraction in the galaxy.”

  “No it won’t,” Jonathan said, examining the blueprint. “We’ll probably need two crews. One working on the outside, and a boarding party to cut away the necessary bulkheads from the inside.”

  “MOTHs and combat robots?”

  “I’m thinking so,” Jonathan said. “Though maybe only the latter will be necessary on the outside. Maxwell, I want you to work with Miko and the MOTH LC to come up with an appropriate overall strategy. I’ll send you any ideas as they come to me.”

  “Affirmative,” the Callaway’s AI replied.

  Jonathan’s eyes drifted to Earth on his tactical display. Red dots indicated the scavenger ships were leaving the planet in large groups and heading toward Vesta. The raw materials aboard them had probably been fully restocked, and they were ready to help repair the Elder. Apparently whatever NAVCENT had come up with to deal with the scavengers while they were on the surface hadn’t worked, because their numbers seemed exactly the same as before Jonathan had left the planet: roughly a hundred of them.

  The human and Raakarr fleet would reach the Elder ship before those incoming scavengers, but only by a few hours.

  That didn’t leave them much of a margin for error.

  A flashing indicator on his display indicated a call from Lazur.

  Jonathan connected the comm officer. “What is it, lieutenant?”

  “Captain, Admiral Zang is tapping in,” Lazur said.

  “Put him through,” Jonathan told the comm officer.

  The hologram of the admiral appeared in the room. The clean-shaven Zang was standing, as if looking down on the captain. His features were hard, and Jonathan had the impression he was looking at a strict disciplinarian.

  Jonathan quickly activated hologram sharing so that Robert could see him, too. As a courtesy, he reversed the share so that Zang was aware of the commander in return.

  “If it pleases you, Captain, Commander,” Zang said, noddi
ng slightly to each of them in turn. The translation icon flashed in the lower right of Jonathan’s vision. That meant the AI was translating and replacing the admiral’s words in realtime, using the timbre and pitch of Zang’s own vocal cords so that it appeared he spoke English natively.

  Jonathan noted the phrase “if it pleases you.” Zang had only started using the words after the captain had been placed in charge of the combined fleet. It was apparently a matter of social etiquette, indicating the admiral’s respect for and acceptance of Jonathan’s authority, as apparently all SKs used words to that effect when addressing superiors.

  As long as he obeys me, I don’t give a damn how he addresses me.

  Jonathan inclined his head. “Good day, Admiral. What can I do for you?”

  “If it pleases you, we would like to interview the humanoid prisoner aboard your vessel when you are done with him,” Zang said.

  Jonathan muted the connection. “So he already knows we have a humanoid prisoner.” Though he spoke, because of the “mute” setting it would appear that he and the commander were merely sitting there. Zang would know he had been muted by the odd behavior, of course.

  Robert shook his head. “The moles run deep in the United Systems. They’re like termites. I’d say it was probably someone embedded in NAVCENT.”

  Jonathan sighed. “That, or one of Zang’s ships spotted our Avenger capturing the super-suit. A fine-toothed comb of the battle log would pick it up. Especially with the help of an AI.”

  “Do we let him have the captive?” Robert asked.

  “I don’t think so,” Jonathan said. “The Sino-Koreans aren’t known for their gentle treatment of prisoners of war. The last thing we need now is to further piss off the Elder by mistreating one of their ‘honored’ servants.”

  “How do we know the Elder won’t consider Bridgette’s invasive psi procedure mistreatment?” Robert asked.

  “We don’t,” Jonathan said. “And you’re right, they probably do. But I don’t want to make matters even worse.” He unmuted the connection and addressed the admiral. “I’m willing to share everything we’ve learned from the captive. That will have to be good enough.”

  Zang merely stared at Jonathan, smiling widely. He was obviously having his own conversation with advisers at that very moment.

  Finally the admiral spoke once more: “Very well, if it pleases you, transmit the data. We also wish to see any information you’ve gleaned from the super-suit as well.”

  “There’s not a whole lot on that front, at the moment,” Jonathan said. “But I’ll send you what we have.”

  “Perhaps we might be of assistance in reverse engineering the super-suit,” Zang said.

  Jonathan forced a smile. “We have it under control.”

  He transmitted the transcription Maxwell had made of Bridgette’s debriefing.

  “I will have my best men review this,” Zang said. “In the meantime, if it pleases you, summarize for me: what did we learn?”

  Jonathan summarized what Bridgette had told him, and explained the plan to steal a cannon and its complete loading system from a scavenger.

  “A bold plan,” Zang said. “However, I want my men involved in the operation. We will send a platoon to support your boarding party. If it pleases you.” He added that latter phrase seemingly as an afterthought.

  “I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Jonathan said. “Our combat specialists like to run self-contained operations, and don’t integrate well with third party units.”

  “If the United Systems does not comply with this,” Zang said. “We must part ways. You will deal with the alien threat on your own.”

  Jonathan frowned. “The future of humanity is at stake, and you’re threatening to part ways over something so small as having a presence on a combat mission?”

  “Not so small,” Zang said. “To us it is a big deal. Decades of mistrust between us cannot be so easily set aside. We must have equal representation in the boarding party. And to clarify: the future of the United Systems is at stake, not the future of humanity. You know that the seat of the Sino-Korean government is not on Earth.”

  “You’ll lose billions of Sino-Korean lives on Earth,” Jonathan said. “You’re bluffing. And you know of course that the Elder will probably come after your colony world next, right?”

  Zang didn’t say anything, but merely sat there smiling.

  Jonathan muted the connection.

  “I think we should let him send his little team,” Robert said.

  “I’m inclined to agree,” Jonathan told the commander. “I just don’t like his methods to force his will on us. He’s not too happy I’m in command, obviously.”

  “The MOTHs won’t be all that thrilled about babysitting a bunch of SKs aboard an alien ship,” Robert said.

  Jonathan shrugged. “The SKs will probably be able to take care of themselves. They’ll only send their best, I’m sure. They’ll want to make a good impression on us, after all.”

  Jonathan unmuted the connection. “Your team can come, Admiral. But to be clear, my MOTHs will be in command. Your troops are to operate in a support capacity only. Is that understood?”

  The admiral’s existing smile deepened slightly, as if he had expected that outcome. “Thank you, Captain.”

  Jonathan raised a finger. “You didn’t answer my question. Do you understand that my team will be in charge of the mission?”

  The admiral inclined his head. “I do. And I look forward to many fruitful joint operations between us in the future.”

  “As do I,” Jonathan said. And he meant it, for the most part.

  Assuming of course our species actually survives this.

  twenty-eight

  Jonathan continued to bring the fleet closer to Vesta, the threat of the incoming hundred scavengers behind them weighing heavily on his mind.

  We mess this up, we die.

  He had Miko plot a course around the rock, giving a wide berth to the Elder ship and the five scavengers there. The individual ships in the fleet made micro corrections to avoid the few asteroids that came close to their paths, but otherwise the journey proceeded without incident: for the moment, the Elder paid the allied fleet little heed.

  Let sleeping giants lie.

  Only once so far had the five scavengers shuttled from the asteroid back to the Elder vessel, ostensibly to transfer whatever raw minerals they had gathered to the mothership before returning to the surface of the rock.

  The fleet had assumed a triple-decker half-crescent formation. The Sino-Koreans formed the top layer, the Raakarr the bottom, and United Systems the middle. Each layer was separated by three kilometers, and the ships were spaced between one and three kilometers apart along the length of the half-crescent, with the more numerous Sino-Koreans stationed closer together than the less numerous United Systems and Raakarr vessels. The Callaway was positioned in the lower starboard side of the United Systems layer, while the flagships of the Sino-Koreans and Raakarr, the Baxian Shan and Raptor respectively, resided on the opposite corner of their own layers.

  “Ops, do we have an update on the Elder repair situation?” Jonathan asked.

  Ensign Lewis looked up. “We do. The repairs to the nanobot beam weapon in the forward section seem about eighty percent complete. When I zoom in on the external camera, I can see the surface ebbing and flowing as if it’s alive. The nanobots are working hard to restore that section. Given the rate of repairs we’re seeing, I’d say they’ll have it working in six to ten hours.”

  “Six to ten hours,” Jonathan said. That was a little after the hundred pursuing scavengers were scheduled to arrive. “We’re cutting it damn close here.”

  Bridgette tapped in a few minutes later. The aReal identified her position as outside cargo bay seven.

  “How did it go?” Jonathan asked her. He had sent in Bridgette to interrogate the humanoid again, this time with the goal of extracting information pertaining to any weak spots in the hulls of those scavengers.
/>   “Not good,” she replied. “I couldn’t penetrate Marin’s psi defenses at all. He opened his mind to me that first time, and I guess I surprised him with my psychic strength. I suppose he’s not going to make the same mistake a second time. His mind was completely closed off to me. Maybe I just need more rest to recover from my initial session. I can try again in a few hours if you want.”

  “I hate to ask this of you,” Jonathan said. “But please try again when you feel up to it. Anything else we can learn about disabling these scavengers will be of benefit. Captain out.”

  The fleet passed Vesta at a distance of one hundred thousand kilometers, then looped inward, coming in from the side opposite the Elder. Jonathan had Miko pick out a scavenger that had landed on a southernmost crater as their target.

  At the thirty thousand kilometer mark, Jonathan gave the order for all save nine members of the fleet to decelerate and come to a halt. It took five minutes to fully decelerate, bringing the crescent formation another three thousand kilometers toward the asteroid.

  The Salvador, Reign of Terror, and Dagger pulled away from the fleet during that time, along with three Raakarr dart ships and three SK destroyers. Deciding upon the number to send had been tricky. Jonathan needed enough to ensure the success of the mission, but not so many as to overly alarm the targeted scavenger.

  Jonathan had shuttled the MOTHs he had chosen for the mission from the Callaway to the Salvador. Chief Galaal and LPO Johnson had more than proven themselves in previous engagements, and Jonathan wasn’t about to stop relying upon them now just because they had unknowingly participated in a clandestine operation against his wishes. Jonathan placed the blame squarely upon the deceased Artificial Vance for that.

  The breakaway fleet continued toward the asteroid. The targeted scavenger hovered a hundred meters above the wide crater in the asteroid’s southern pole, its gravimetric beam sucking up minerals. The remaining scavengers were dispersed far and wide across the surface, with only two others visible on the current hemisphere, which told Jonathan the scavengers were seeking out minerals specific to different parts of Vesta. Earlier he had checked the geological survey results recorded by the mining companies, and saw that the pyroxenes in the sections mined by the scavengers all had varying concentrations of magnesium, iron and calcium, among other minerals. Jonathan guessed that those minerals probably required the least amount of energy for the nanobots to break down and reform.