Black Fleet Trilogy 1: Warship (23 page)

"Will we even be able to target the enemy?" Jackson asked.

"Yes, sir ... but it'll be a lot closer than we would like before the shorter range navigation radars pick it up," Barrett said. "I'm working with OPS and Engineering to tie my station into their system now."

"Keep me updated," Jackson said, fighting to keep the resignation out of his voice. Finding out that they had even less warning than they had before wasn't welcome news. "Coms, is that cruiser still calling us?"

"No, sir," Lieutenant Keller said. "After our declaration of engine trouble they haven't responded."

"Very good. Commander Wright, you have the bridge. I'm going to be checking the damage firsthand," Jackson said, climbing out of his seat.

****

"When these compartments were breached the explosive decompression was enough to get them through the gap and out of the influence of the grav generator," Singh was explaining. "We hadn't increased back to one G after transition so that didn't help. It wasn't anyone's fault, Jack. It was an accident."

"An accident?" Jackson asked, incredulous.

"Yes," Singh said forcefully, "an accident. I've already looked at the damage to the truss for that emitter ... it didn't fail from any battle damage. This was a horrible, horrible coincidence. It likely would have happened even if we had flown to Xi'an and found nothing but a disinterested planetary governor and a boring few orbits before moving on. If anything this was my fault."

Jackson only then realized how personally the chief engineer was likely taking the mishap. "I didn't mean to imply—"

"I know that," Singh waved him off. "But I signed off on the drive against my better judgment. I could have insisted and sidelined the
Blue Jacket
once I realized we were bypassing months of testing and inspections after the clowns at Jericho Station had been climbing all over her. I didn't and now we know that was a lethal mistake."

"Sorry, Daya," Jackson said. "I suppose it's selfish of me to think all the guilt and regrets since this all started belong to me personally."

"There's plenty to go around," Singh agreed. "I'll let you know when we have a definite plan of attack. My gut tells me to lay new runs from the panel two sections back all the way to the turret. But if my guys tell me the lines are all still good and the junctions can be replaced that would be the quicker route."

"Thank for the tour," Jackson said, recognizing a dismissal when he heard one. "I'll be on the bridge when you determine what we should do."

He walked back the way he’d come, skirting around the worst of the damage and staying out of the way by moving back towards the lifts via the port access tube. Since most of the personnel and material were moving forward in the starboard tube the enormous tunnel was practically deserted.

That big bastard was out there somewhere ... waiting. Jackson knew that the alien ship had arrived at Nuovo Patria before the
Blue Jacket
had limped into the system. He could feel it in his gut. What he couldn't figure out was why it was waiting. That Eighth Fleet cruiser wasn't enough to pose any real threat to it even as badly as it had been damaged. So far as he knew the damn thing had already healed itself up and was sitting at full strength.

The only conclusion he could come to was that it was waiting for him. Or, more specifically, the
Blue Jacket
herself. He guessed that it had torn through two systems, at least two that he knew of, without ever encountering any real resistance. Then their single destroyer had fought it to a standstill on multiple occasions and had even punched a hole clean through it. It was probable that part of its mission profile during its sojourn into human space would be to analyze any potential threats. If it was sitting out there waiting for them it would only be because it hoped to capture the destroyer and either dissect it or (more likely) take it back to wherever it came from. Neither proposition sounded especially appealing.

****

"That cruiser is beginning to move," Celesta told him as he walked back onto the bridge.

"Direction?"

"It's breaking orbit," Lieutenant Barrett said. "It looks like they'll pick up some speed around Nuovo Patria before coming out to intercept us."

"How old is this information?" Jacksons asked.

"Just over four hours," Barrett said. "She's still broadcasting nav data on her transponder, so we're updating the plot as we receive it."

"Any messages from them?" Jackson asked over his shoulder to where the com officer sat.

"No, Captain," the officer said. "Still nothing but the automated transmissions from them and the com drone platform."

"They're more than a day from getting here at their current acceleration," Jackson said as he looked at the tracks crawling across the main display. "Keep track of it and alert me to any changes, but for now it doesn't factor in to our immediate plans."

"Aye aye, sir."

It was nearly four hours later when Jackson got the call from his chief engineer regarding the upper cannon turret. He had ordered the
Blue Jacket
into a wide, lazy arc that spiraled down into the system under minimal thrust. As a courtesy, he kept his transponder fully active so the cruiser would know that he wasn't trying to hide. In a worst case scenario the destroyer, even on three engines, could easily outrun the smaller ship and he had the advantage of the "high ground," able to use the star's gravity to assist his maneuvers while the smaller ship fought against it.

"What's the verdict?" he asked Singh over a video link. Both were seated in their respective offices.

"As I suspected, the damage to the power junctions was simply massive, far too great to attempt a repair and have any confidence of it holding," Singh said, sipping on a cup of tea and wiping the black smudges off his face with a rag.

"So you need to lay in an entire run from section fifty-five all the way to the turret?" Jackson asked. "Do you even have the right size cable in a length that great?"

"I do not," Singh said. "We're cannibalizing it from the starboard laser banks. There's a continuous run of cable that's actually larger than what we need. It's also not damaged like the run on the port side since we never got those projectors working."

"How long are we actually talking?"

"A little over fifty meters would be ideal," Singh said.

"I don't imagine that this cable will be easy to extract from the starboard side," Jackson said, rubbing his temples again.

"I'm throwing manpower at it to solve that particular problem," Singh assured him. "It's secured in there tightly, but we'll get it pulled out in the next couple of hours. We should be able to test the cannons within the next six."

"Let's hope the enemy gives us that much time."

"You still think it's already in the system with us?" Singh asked.

"I'm absolutely positive that it is," Jackson said. "It probably is trying to figure out what we're doing skulking along the edge of the system. Once it discovers we're severely damaged I have a feeling it won't waste any time launching an attack."

"Well, here's to hoping you're wrong," Singh said, mockingly saluting with his tea cup. "I'll let you know once my crews have pulled that cable and I've had the chance to inspect it. Engineering out."

Jackson spent the next few hours chugging coffee and studying the sensor logs from their past engagement with the enemy ship, hoping something would pop out that he'd overlooked before. He was desperate to find some weakness he could exploit. The problem was that he already knew the ship was susceptible to kinetic weapons and, conveniently, the mag-cannons were all he had left that was functional on his ship.

Given the sheer size of the enemy, however, he wasn't that confident that another full salvo would be able to permanently disable it even if every shell impacted the same area. Idly, he pulled up another screen and began running the calculations on a plan that was nothing short of insane. As his caffeine-addled mind looked at the results, he knew that it had at least a sixty percent chance of working despite how unworkable it was. He saved the program he'd constructed on the secure bridge server and switched off his terminal. Lieutenant Davis would be coming on watch so he only had around six hours to grab something to eat and get some rest before he was expected back on duty. With a weary sigh, he hauled himself up out of his chair and shuffled to the hatch. Living on adrenaline and coffee for the last week had taken its toll on his body and even his joints ached as he walked down the corridor to his quarters.

Chapter 20

"Tactical, we've just been given the go ahead from Engineering," Jackson said as he slid back into his seat six and a half hours after he'd last climbed out of it. "Begin running a full diagnostic cycle of the dorsal turret. Have Armament load in some solid-core shells and we'll test fire both cannons."

"Aye, sir," Lieutenant Barrett said. "Beginning dorsal turret self-test now and requesting solid-core shells for both cannons, one each."

"Sir, that cruiser is accelerating again," Lieutenant Davis said. "Still not pushing too hard but it looks like they're responding to our maneuvers."

"Let me know when they're in range for two-way communication," Jackson said. "What ship is that anyway? Who's the captain?"

"The
TCS
Murmansk
," Davis said. "Captain Agapov commanding."

"Send any other useful information we have on the ship and her captain to my terminal," Jackson said. "Otherwise, proceed with our current course and weapons testing."

"Have you heard of Captain Agapov?" Celesta asked.

"No," Jackson said. "I haven't had much contact with Eighth Fleet. We've only been to Alliance space one other time. Most of our cruises are through New America and Britannia. You?"

"Never heard of him," she said with a shake of her head. "We never made it out this close to the frontier. But most Eighth Fleet COs I've been in contact with were a prickly bunch."

"That's been my experience as well," Jackson said as he watched the barrels from the dorsal cannons move left and right, pitching up and down as they did to verify their full range of motion. "I'll try to talk to him once they're within range, but I have a feeling we're going to be trying to avoid him."

"Another complication is something we don't need," Celesta said.

"I couldn't agree more, but unless I want to open fire on a Terran ship I don't have a lot of other options," Jackson said. "If my hunch is correct, the enemy will eventually come at us so the more distance between us and the
Murmansk
the better it is for them."

"Lucky them," Celesta remarked before turning back to the test data she had scrolling across her screen.

It was almost a full hour later when the rails on the cannons had fully charged and they picked out their test target: an irregular moon with nothing of interest on it orbiting the tenth planet, another uninteresting lump that was skimming along the very outer edge of the star's influence. The moon was over two hundred million kilometers away so they'd never see the impacts, but the point of the test was just to ensure the operation of the cannons.

"Firing solution confirmed and the rails are charged, Captain," Barrett said.

"Fire," Jackson said, averting his gaze from the blast he knew would be coming. Two
booms
rang through the hull as the two dorsal cannons fired in quick succession.

"Shots away," Barrett said. "Analyzing data now." The
Blue Jacket's
navigation radar was tracking the rounds to verify that they were fired at the expected speed and course.

"Engineering," Jackson said as he held the intercom switch down. "How did it look down there?"

"Gun number two is pulling a bit more current that it should be, but it's still within acceptable limits," Singh said. "We can make some adjustments and fire another test round—"

"Negative," Jackson interrupted. "Button everything back up. I want that new power cable secured. It doesn't have to be pretty, but it has to stay put. Weld the brackets to the damn deck if you have to. We're reloading the dorsal turret and going hunting."

"Sir," Davis said. "The
Murmansk
has just gone to full power and turned onto a direct intercept course."

"I guess they saw our test shots," Jackson said.

"At least they'll be in com range sooner," Celesta offered.

"I can't wait," Jackson said with resignation.

****

"Captain Agapov, it's a pleasure to talk to you," Jackson said. "Thank you for agreeing to this video communication." Jackson was sitting at his desk and looking at a man who appeared to be in his late fifties and was almost a caricature of what people thought of when they heard the name Warsaw Alliance, even down to the thick, well-manicured beard (something that was completely against Fleet regulations.) He had to wait for a few minutes for the signal to reach the
Murmansk
and then another few for the response to come back.

"Captain Wolfe," Agapov said, his Slavic accent quite thick. "We have much to talk about. Let us set aside the fact that you have appeared in the system unannounced and unscheduled, apparently to savagely attack one of our moons, and discuss the standing order from CENTCOM to apprehend you on sight. In fact, I shouldn't even be talking to you. My orders state the only command personnel on the
Blue Jacket
I should be talking to is a Commander Wright."

"I suspected as much," Jackson said when it was clear the other captain had finished speaking. "I'm guessing your orders come directly from an Admiral Winters. There are obviously some issues with CENTCOM I need to have straightened out, but none of that matters right now. I have strong reason to suspect that a powerful alien ship is in this system as we speak and has definite hostile intentions. We've been fighting it since we discovered its trail of destruction beginning in the Asianic Union. I would respectfully suggest that you return to orbit over Nuovo Patria and stand ready to fend off any attack on that planet."

"Yes ... the communication from CENTCOM indicated that you may have suffered a break from reality," Agapov said slowly. "Trust me when I say that the only surprising thing to arrive in this system in the last week has been you. Please make this easy on all of us, Captain, and heave to. We will allow you to depart your ship on your own when we dock and the
Blue Jacket
can be brought into orbit with Commander Wright on the bridge. Otherwise, we will be forced to apprehend you and risk the lives of both our crews."

"You're as stubborn and short-sighted as I'd feared you would be, Captain," Jackson said pleasantly. "As you are no doubt aware, your ship cannot run down a
Raptor
-class destroyer. Given the circumstances, I cannot allow you to board this ship and will make sure you never come close enough to try. For your own safety, and that of your crew, I repeat my suggestion that you return to Nuovo Patria until we subdue the enemy or are destroyed ourselves."

"You arrogant, crazy bastard!" Agapov said, his face turning an even brighter red than it had been with his ruddy complexion. "I will not be talked down to by some Black Fleet swine—" The video cut off abruptly, leaving only a few seconds of static before the terminal automatically closed the screen. Jackson frowned, unsure as to what that meant. As he was about to call to see if their equipment had failed he felt the harsh rumble of the
Blue Jacket's
main engines coming to full power.

"
CAPTAIN TO THE BRIDGE!!
"

Jackson sprinted from his office, dreading what he would find when he got back to the bridge.

"It came out of nowhere!" Celesta said as he ran onto the bridge like a wild man. "It took out the
Murmansk
in one shot!"

"Range!" Jackson said as he took his recently vacated seat.

"Five hundred and eighty-six thousand kilometers," Barrett said. "It's coming about onto an intercept course and is accelerating at one hundred and fifty G's."

"OPS! Were you able to see how much of the damage we inflicted is still there?" Jackson asked.

"The computer is cleaning up the images we were able to collect, but at this range it won't be much," Davis said.

"That's an odd way to word it," Celesta said, leaning in. "Do you really think they were able to effect repairs from such heavy damage this quickly?"

"This ship doesn't repair itself in the conventional sense," Jackson said quietly. "It
heals
itself ... and quickly. The outer hull appears to be organic."

"Why wasn't I aware of this, Captain?" Celesta nearly hissed.

"An oversight on my part. I kept it to myself to prevent a widespread panic before we knew what we were actually dealing with and then forgot to brief you once I'd had time," Jackson said, realizing he'd made a mistake in not bringing his XO into the loop right away.

"I see," she said icily.

"I apologize, Commander," he said quietly but forcefully. "It was a simple mistake that ultimately doesn't mean anything in our current situation. Get over it. We've got a bit of crisis going on right now and I need you focused."

"Of course, sir," she said, still obviously not happy but conceding that the conversation was quite low in priority at that moment.

"Tactical, can you get a firing solution with the sensors we have left?" Jackson asked.

"Negative, Captain," Barrett said. "I can track its progress, but I can't resolve it enough to allow the computer to begin running pinpoint firing solutions."

"So ... we have to let it get closer and hope that we can get a good lock and fire before it hits us with another of those plasma bursts," Jackson said, rising to pace along the bridge.

"Target has slowed its acceleration," Davis said. "It's now approximately two hundred thousand kilometers astern and has matched its velocity to ours."

"This is an interesting development," Celesta said. "It's changing tactics on us. Why?"

"I suspect it knows how badly we're damaged," Jackson said. "I also think it wants to take the
Blue Jacket
intact. If it has been watching us since we entered the system, it probably figured out we're no longer able to leave. It may be trying to just run us down until we run out of propellant."

"What
is
our propellant status, Lieutenant?" Celesta asked Lieutenant Davis.

"Less than twenty percent remaining," Davis said. "We've been expending it at over four hundred times our usual burn rate due to so much time at full power. We also lost a considerable amount when engine four was destroyed."

"Understood," Jackson said. "We won't need much. This will be over quickly. Coms! Send a flash message to Nuovo Patria to prepare for a possible attack and to launch com drones to CENTCOM informing them of the threat and the loss of the
Murmansk
."

"We're being jammed, sir," Lieutenant Keller said apologetically. "I've been trying to raise someone on the planet since the enemy reappeared. It's a barrage jam on all frequencies so strong we've had to attenuate our receivers to prevent damage."

"It's adapted again," Celesta said. "Just like the new tactic of pacing us."

"Yes, but it doesn't learn very quickly," Jackson said. "A high-power barrage jam is a crude method to suppress a radio signal. Its very existence lets you know you're being jammed. Maybe the operators on Nuovo Patria will be smart enough to know what that means and send a drone anyway. Coms ... a little more forthcoming with developing information pertaining to our current engagement, if you please."

"Yes, sir. Sorry, sir."

"Helm, adjust our current course to maintain this heliocentric arc," Jackson ordered. "I don't want to lead it down into the system if it's content to follow along out here. We'll adjust when it does, but we won't allow it to push us into a rash decision."

"Helm answering to new heading now, sir."

They led the enemy on a circuit around the system for over ten hours at a leisurely pace with no change. Jackson had even ordered a few velocity changes to try and force a reaction, but the enemy would simply accelerate or decelerate with them. All the while the barrage jamming was in place so they couldn't even receive an automated signal from the planet or the com drone platform.

He knew that the enemy was likely building a profile that would help predict human behavior based on the interactions they'd had so far. Unfortunately that meant the aliens knew far more about humans than the crew of the
Blue Jacket
knew about them. The crew had taken to calling the ship "it" and referring to it as a singular entity because it was so unnerving to face a silent enemy that seemed to be only motivated by killing as many humans as it could. The fact that there could be a full crew on the behemoth chasing them was somehow more terrifying than thinking of the ship as a singular, unstoppable titan.

The problem was that the enemy's new tactics seemed to show they were at least somewhat aware to how humans reacted to prolonged stress. The slow speed chase was fraying nerves, causing lapses in concentration, and making them more prone to rash action. Jackson had caught himself more than once on the verge of ordering the
Blue Jacket
to spin and perform an emergency deceleration to see if he could get the other ship within range of the mag-cannons. Rationally he knew there was no way the ship could perform the maneuver without the alien matching them and having enough time to hit them with another of those devastating plasma bursts. But that didn't stop Jackson from considering the order just to get the waiting over, even if it resulted in the destruction of the ship.