Planet Killer (A Captain's Crucible Book 4) Read online

  35.1 had dispatched telemetry drones throughout Delta Avalon, but so far those drones hadn’t turned up any signs of enemy shipyards. Repairs had begun on the colony situated upon Tau Delta Avalon VI, a terraformed moon in orbit around the first gas giant. Jonathan thought it was a bit early to begin rebuilding, considering how relatively close the colony was to enemy territory, but he didn’t voice his concerns to the vice admiral. The United Systems hated to let a terraformed world go to waste, he knew.

  Specialized Builder vessels supervised the construction of orbital defense platforms above Tau Delta Avalon VI. The United Systems had provided three corvettes and two destroyers from Task Group 71.3 to guard the planet. Six private mercenary craft supplemented the task group, likely hired by the local interim government.

  It took a week to cross the system and traverse the outgoing Gate to Anvil Rappel. The Asiatic Alliance owned that binary star system; a fleet of twenty AA warships loitered near the destroyed colony on Anvil Prime, protecting their interests. As far as Jonathan could tell, no rebuilding of the colony had yet begun.

  On the system map presented by Jonathan’s aReal, he saw seventeen planets, some containing up to thirty-two moons, and an expansive asteroid belt. A red dot flashed on the representation of the third terrestrial from the sun. Curious... he enhanced that portion of the map, and saw that the telemetry drones had flagged the presence of a Raakarr shipyard on that world—no doubt created by the shipyard class of probe Barrick had once told him about, a device filled with microbots that could utilize a planet’s resources to duplicate themselves and construct a single Raakarr “dart” class of warship within a month, an insanely short amount of time, at least compared to the construction duration needed for a complete United Systems vessel.

  Apparently the shipyard had been completely razed by the first battle group, along with the vessel that had been under development. Curious as to whether any samples of the alien construction tech had been captured, Jonathan attempted to access the mission logs, but any further information was beyond his clearance level.

  The military base the Asiatic Alliance had allowed the United Systems to operate there had been destroyed as well during the alien incursion, and it appeared the United Systems wasn’t planning on rebuilding it any time soon.

  As in Delta Avalon, the previously hidden Gates had been moved back into place, and the comm nodes restored.

  So far, so good.

  After twelve days the fleet reached the Gate to Prius 3. Since no return Gate existed within said system, as it had been destroyed by the invaders, there was no way for the United Systems to know whether Battle Group 35.1 was still intact on the other side, or a Raakarr ambush awaited. As such, Jonathan had the Talon dispatch a telemetry probe inside to gauge the situation, since the alien probes could traverse Slipstreams just as easily as their ships.

  Barrick transmitted a message to Jonathan when the device returned intact. “Valor tells me the probe has detected two units belonging to 35.1, a smaller gathering of ships near the current Slipstream endpoint, and a larger fleet near the Slipstream to Vega 951. It’s safe to pass through.”

  Jonathan relayed the message to the vice admiral and the battle group members traversed the Gate one by one, severing their communications with the rest of the United Systems.

  They encountered the aforementioned smaller Battle Unit 35.1.2 immediately, whose ships included a Builder and two destroyer escorts. The Builder was constructing the return Gate to Anvil Rappel, which had been destroyed in the initial attack. The annular structure appeared about one-fifth complete.

  “Welcome, captains,” the comm officer of one of the destroyers sent, fleet-wide. “For a moment there, we weren’t sure if it was you, or a surprise flanking attack by the aliens.”

  That’s what happens when you send in an alien probe first, Jonathan thought.

  The fleet made its way toward the farther Slipstream that led to Vega 951, where the rest of Battle Group 35.1 waited on another Builder to complete the outgoing Gate. Because of the nature of the construction, only one Builder could work on a Gate at once. The Gate properties changed in an unpredictable manner as the increasing mass of the in-progress Gate influenced the time-space dilations of the wormhole, and the thickness had to be varied accordingly as the construction proceeded. If another Builder worked on a different Gate section at the same time, it would throw off the calculations for the both of them, resulting in an ineffective Gate.

  Wormhole physics were still a big unknown: scientists experimented on un-Gated Slipstreams in an effort to understand them, but even a century and a half after their discovery, humanity still lacked the understanding of the underlying science. It was too bad the Raakarr didn’t want to share their knowledge.

  Give it time, Jonathan thought. At some point, we’ll either manage to steal the tech, or buy it. We’re good at that. Probably won’t understand how it works, but that’s okay.

  He consulted the map of the tertiary star system. Two of the suns orbited each other in close proximity, while a third orbited their combined center of mass much farther out. Pseudo planets surrounded that third star; the dome colony on the Mercury-like second planet had been destroyed, along with the United Systems military base. No rebuilding had begun. A large, slow-rotating asteroid, labeled Hercules 951-A, was marked in red, indicating that another alien shipyard had been discovered there, and also had been razed by the first battle group.

  When 35.2 reached the outgoing Slipstream, Admiral Wilhelmina Ford of the USS Renegade, Battle Group 35.1, assumed command of the combined fleet. Jonathan still reported to Vice Admiral Levieson.

  In a month’s time, Battle Group 34.1 and Task Group 72.4 joined them, adding their numbers to the fleet, and transmitting the latest updates from NAVCENT. In the following weeks, Navy Central Command dispatched further comm nodes through the Gate to give periodic updates, but there was no way to send answering briefs until the return Gate was completed.

  At one point during the long months of waiting for Gate completion, Jonathan, growing impatient, suggested sending the Talon through to act as a scout, but Levieson rejected the notion, worried that the ship might be lost to any Raakarr mines placed on the other side. The Talon had a couple of probes that were equivalent to telemetry drones, but once again Levieson didn’t want to risk alerting any alien presence on the other side, not until they were ready to attack in force.

  “Will you at least allow Valor to send a probe through when the Callaway and her fleet are scheduled to arrive three months from now?” Jonathan said.

  “I’m leaning toward the no side,” Levieson said.

  “They’ll be stuck there for a month, not knowing we’re waiting for them on this side.”

  “I know,” Levieson said. “I’ll take it up with the admiral, but I already know what her answer is going to be.”

  “I forgot,” Jonathan said, unable to hide his sarcasm. “You don’t want to risk alerting any aliens there.”

  “It’s a valid concern,” Levieson said. “And what if Commander Cray and the survivors of Task Group 72.5 don’t arrive? What then?”

  “They’ll be there,” Jonathan said.

  “All right. But consider another question. Let’s say we did allow the Talon to send a probe three months from now. How do you know the Callaway wouldn’t attack that probe? As far as they’re concerned, it could belong to any Raakarr ship. Hell, Battle Group 35.1 almost did the same when the Talon sent its probe through into this system.”

  “It’ll be a quick run,” Jonathan said. “In and out as quickly as possible.”

  “It’s best to err on the side of caution, Jonathan, for both scenarios.”

  “All right,” Jonathan said. “I’m just worried about us flying through blind.”

  “Oh, we’ll have eyes on the other side,” Levieson replied. “Don’t you worry. When the Gate is complete, then the Talon can launch its probes.”

  “All right,” Jonathan said. “Even so, I have t
o admit, I hate having to rely on their technology. If they lie, and lead us into a trap... I still think your negotiators should have gotten them to teach us how to create telemetry drones that could traverse Slipstreams without a Gate, at the very least.”

  “I’m told they tried everything to get the Zarafe to share even just a tiny bit of tech like that,” Levieson said. “But the Zarafe pointedly refused. That small problem about wanting us to give them a planet killer all to themselves... but maybe you can convince them to give us something.”

  “If the best negotiators in the fleet couldn’t do it, what makes you think I could?”

  After Jonathan finished the call, he contacted Barrick. “What can we do to get ourselves the designs for Raakarr Slipstream-traversal tech?”

  “Barring giving them the designs of a planet killer in exchange?” the telepath said. “Nothing.”

  “Can we steal them?” Jonathan asked.

  “Given that I don’t have access to their AI,” Barrick said. “And if I did, I wouldn’t know how to use it, that scenario seems highly unlikely.”

  Four months later, the return Gate to Anvil Rappel was finally completed, restoring full communications with NAVCENT. As was the Gate to Vega 951. No enemies emerged during that time.

  With the Gate finished, Jonathan received an order from Levieson.

  “All right, it’s time for the Talon to send a telemetry probe through,” the vice admiral sent.

  “On it.” As Jonathan hurried to the bridge, he tapped in Barrick. “We’re finally going to dispatch an advance probe. Tell Valor to get ready.”

  Jonathan reached the bridge, and one of his escorting Centurions took up a position outside, while the other joined him as he stood between Barrick and Wethersfield.

  On the tactical map overlaying his vision courtesy of the Leviathan, Jonathan watched a red dot launch from the Talon. The dot quickly turned blue as the CDCs of the surrounding ships marked it as a friendly, like the Talon itself. Also like the Talon, it was a lighter shade of blue than the other vessels, as if its “friendly” status was only temporary.

  The dot penetrated the Slipstream and vanished. While Jonathan waited for it to return, he thought to himself:

  Come on Robert, be there. Be there.

  The dot returned.

  “So, what do we have?” Jonathan asked eagerly. He was unable to link his aReal to the alien technology, of course, so he couldn’t access any data from the probe.

  “Otter tells me the Gate is clear.” Otter was one of the Raakarr bridge crew that Barrick used to interface with the aliens.

  “Yes yes,” Jonathan snapped. “But what about the Callaway and the rest of the task group? They’re waiting for us, correct?”

  “I’m sorry, Captain,” Barrick said. “There’s no sign of the Callaway or any other survivors of Task Group 72.5. There’s no indication of any Raakarr either, for that matter.”

  “They have to be there,” Jonathan said. “They would have finished the return Gate in the Elder galaxy by now.”

  “Unfortunately, Captain,” Barrick said. “They’re not.”

  Jonathan felt his heart sinking. “Is there debris?”

  “No,” Barrick replied.

  That was somewhat encouraging, at least. “The Raakarr must have driven them into hiding.”

  “Maybe,” Barrick said. “But like I mentioned, there are no signs of any Raakarr. No thermal signatures anywhere within the interplanetary space, nor upon the planets themselves.”

  “Oh, they’re there all right,” Jonathan said. “Hiding, no doubt. Probably at least one shipyard, too.”

  “So, what do we have?” Levieson transmitted.

  “Apparently the Gate is clear,” Jonathan said. “And the probe didn’t detect any thermal signatures indicative of shipyards or vessels anywhere in the system.”

  “The Raakarr are hiding,” Levieson said.

  “My thoughts exactly.”

  “Task Groups 72.5 or 12.5.2?” Levieson asked.

  “No sign of either.”

  “I’m sorry, Jonathan,” Levieson said.

  “Don’t be,” Jonathan told the vice admiral. “They’re out there, somewhere. I know they are. Assuming...” He hesitated.

  “What is it,” Levieson said. “Speak your mind.”

  “Assuming the Zarafe haven’t lied to us about the probe results. Or Barrick himself.”

  “The aliens I might understand,” the vice admiral said. “I’m sure they, Zarafe faction and Elk alike, would like nothing better than to forcibly take our planet killer. But Barrick? Why would Barrick lie?”

  “Trust me when I tell you he has his own agenda,” Jonathan said. “So what’s next, vice admiral?”

  Levieson paused. He was likely taking up the matter with Admiral Ford. Then: “We send a final update to NAVCENT regarding our status, and request confirmation to proceed with the mission.”

  That confirmation came twenty-four stanhours later. The Talon had kept one probe active on the other side of the Slipstream, with orders to return if anything out of the ordinary transpired. The alien vessel launched its last probe through to verify that the original was still intact on the other side, and when it returned with confirmation that nothing had changed in the destination system, the combined fleet, sixty warships strong, plus five support ships, passed through the wormhole into Vega 951, leaving behind twenty members of 34.1 and 72.4 to guard the Prius 3 system.

  The ships of the battle group entered in four single file columns, with the individual craft in each column separated by one kilometer from the vessel in front of it. The intention was to obfuscate their heat signatures to any watchers deeper within the system—with luck, it would appear that only four United Systems ships had passed through the Slipstream, not sixty.

  Jonathan had Captain Chopra relay the external view from the Stalwart to him, and he watched as the stars outside changed when the Talon entered the Gate. They were once more in the blind, cut off from communications with NAVCENT.

  He stared at those empty constellations, and then pulled up the system map to study the planets.

  Where are you, Robert?

  An answer entered his mind. It was a thought he hadn’t entertained until that moment. But he had to face the reality... there was a chance Robert and Task Group 72.5 were still stranded in the Elder galaxy. Something must have happened to them there. Either that, or they had in fact returned, and the Elk faction had captured their fleet.

  I should have never left them.

  ten

  Jonathan gazed at the familiar layout of Vega 951 on his aReal. Three terrestrial inner planets, three gas giants in the mid to outer regions of the system, and eight pseudo-planets that orbited the outskirts beyond the third gas giant. Three Slipstreams: 1-Vega, which led back to Prius 3, revolved around the Vega 951 star in an eccentric orbit that weaved in and out of the seventh and eighth pseudo-planets; 2-Vega, on the opposite side of the system, which led deeper into Raakarr territory; and situated halfway between 1-Vega and 2-Vega was the third and last Slipstream, which, in an odd deviation from the usual flawless Elder planning, opened directly into the Tau Ceti sun. Some theorized that 3-Vega was an experimental Slipstream whose endpoint had never been reset to ordinary space, others postulated that the Elder used it to harvest hydrogen and helium from the core of the Tau Ceti star. Whatever the case, 3-Vega was useless to the battle group.

  The celestial object that was currently the closest to the fleet was a large asteroid, labeled 951-671 by Jonathan’s aReal, roughly half a day away, that had been captured by 1-Vega’s weak gravitational pull. When Jonathan had returned from the Elder galaxy in the Talon, three Raakarr ships had emerged from behind that asteroid and chased the Talon into Prius 3.

  On the tactical display overlaying his vision, Jonathan witnessed several yellow dots emerge from individual ships as the fleet launched telemetry drones. It was a literal swarm, with at least a hundred drones in that yellow mass. Dashed blue lines indicat
ed the estimated trajectories: the drones were on a course to map out all the celestial bodies of the star, including the moons of the gas giants, the pseudo-planets, and the larger asteroids, with a telemetry drone destined for 951-671 half a day away, for example. Eight drones made for Vega 951 itself, to ensure that no enemy vessels were hiding their infrared signatures in the thermal wash of the main sequence star.

  “Valor wants to know what the fleet is going to do next,” Barrick said.

  “The answer is simple,” Jonathan said. “We wait. The admiral isn’t going to fly across open space to the next Slipstream, not while enemy ships could be lurking behind any of the planets along the way.”

  “And if we find any of these enemy ships?” Wethersfield asked.

  Jonathan glanced at the Artificial. “You’ve been privy to most of our communications. What do you think is going to happen, AI?”

  “I haven’t been privy to all of them,” Wethersfield replied. “You don’t always use an open line when communicating to Valor via Barrick. And your voice doesn’t penetrate beyond your helmet.”

  “We’re on a mission to bloody the noses of the Elk faction,” Jonathan told Wethersfield. “So I’ll let you guess what’s going to happen if we find any ships.”

  “Valor has something else to say,” Barrick interjected.

  “Go ahead,” Jonathan replied.

  “You say Admiral Ford isn’t going to fly across open space to the next Slipstream,” Barrick said. “Well, Valor insists that staying here is the equivalent of open space. There are no gravity wells or anything else we can use to our advantage. The gravity from the Slipstream itself is too weak. And we can’t flee through the Slipstream, either. Well, the Talon can, but Valor means everyone else.”

  “Touching that Valor cares so much for our well-being,” Jonathan said.

  “I think he only cares about seeing the Elk colony destroyed,” Barrick replied.

  “Oh I know,” Jonathan said. “I was being sarcastic. Tell Valor to share the Slipstream traversal tech with us if he’s so worried.”