Hunt for the Saiph (The Saiph Series Book 3) (15 page)

Kenichi took his seat. “Tactical. Report.”

“Sir! Three minutes ago, sensors detected the arrival of an Alonan communications drone. Less than a minute later, Waypoint 4 went to battle stations. Our threat board is clear, but as per SOPs,
Sorcerer
has also gone to battle stations.” Kenichi’s brow furrowed as comms announced:

“Incoming priority signal from Waypoint 4, sir! It’s Commodore Chand.”

“Put it through.” Kenichi spun his chair ninety degrees and activated his small holo cube, it flickered briefly before the image cleared into the pointed features of the commanding officer of Waypoint 4.

“Commander Sutou, I’ll get straight to the point. The Alonan communications drone carries a plain language message indicating Balat is under attack from four cruisers of unknown origin. The drone belongs to the
Kuna
.” Chand paused, then pursed her lips. “The drone confirms the
Kuna
was destroyed.”

Kenichi recalled the specs for the
Kuna
class frigate. For a small ship, it could pack a heavy punch, but against four cruisers, it would only end in crushing defeat.

“I’ve dispatched a drone to reach Force Leader Palas before he arrives at Pars, I’ve requested his immediate return. I’ve launched drones to BatFor 2.3 and Central Command, they carry details of my intentions.”

Kenichi raised a quizzical eyebrow. “Your intentions, Commodore?”

“Your orders are to take the
Sorcerer
to the Balat system. Rendezvous with our Dupin surveillance platform and download its take. If there are no further indications of hostiles in the system, you are to proceed into Balat close orbit and ascertain the condition of the colony.”

Kenichi listened in disbelief. “Commodore. You must realize if the
Kuna
managed to get a drone away to Alona, then their own navy will respond in force. The
Sorcerer
emerging in the outer system to download Dupin data is excusable but if the Imperial Navy finds me sneaking around Balat then it’s conceivable they will mistake us for the destroyers of the
Kuna
.”

In the holo cube, Chand’s cheeks flushed as she fixed Kenichi with a steely stare. ”Unless I am much mistaken, I am in command. These are my orders. You will carry them out expeditiously and to the letter or you will suffer the consequences, Commander!”

Kenichi swallowed. “Aye-aye, Commodore.”

Chand cut the link, leaving Kenichi staring into blank space trying to figure a way out of the danger Chand was directing the
Sorcerer
toward.

#

BALAT - SYSTEM 23890 - 22 LIGHT YEARS FROM ALONA

The first phase of
Sorcerer’s
mission went off without a hitch. Emerging at the edge of the system, the Dupin platform was exactly where it was supposed to be. Minutes later,
Sorcerer’s
whisker laser lock was secured and the Dupin’s data was transferred into her memory banks.

Kenichi waited with barely concealed impatience as the tactical section carried out an initial analysis of the surveillance platform’s data before finding what they were looking for. Kenichi and the entire bridge crew sat glued to their seats as the events of barely three hours ago replayed on the main bridge holo cube.

The footage started peacefully, the
Kuna
in sedate orbit around Balat, high above the gathering storm clouds, which obscured the colony from visual sensors but not from the array of electromagnetic and thermal ones. Without warning, four ships appeared and shaped a course for the
Kuna
. In the display’s sidebar, Kenichi saw the energy readings from the
Kuna
rise sharply, but not as sharply as those of the four intruders. The missiles, too small to be seen by any human eye, were automatically highlighted in the holo cube as they left their parent ships.

The
Kuna
returned fire, a paltry effort, as the first enemy missile struck the
Kuna,
the intruders pressed forward and soon energy armament flashed between the intruders and the minnow-sized target.

Kenichi found himself willing the
Kuna
to break orbit and flee into fold space, but the brave little frigate held its ground as it faced the waves of missiles and whipping energy fire. The battle was concluded in minutes. The
Kuna
took hit after hit until finally she simply exploded in a ball of blinding light and expanding gases. Then the inevitable happened. The intruders, without pause, formed up directly over the colony. The holo cube displayed the missiles as icons flushing from tubes but this time targeting the planet’s surface. The storm clouds dissipated as the heat of thermonuclear explosions ripped through the atmosphere.

Kenichi counted fifteen detonations starting at the heart of the colony and spreading out in an even circular pattern, destroying the colony with surgical precision.

As the rain of missiles on the planet stopped, the Dupin’s sensors swept the area of the colony and the surrounding areas and caught the four intruders breaking orbit, powering away from the decimated colony before disappearing into fold space. Their mission apparently complete and peace seemingly returned. The clouds rolled in and re-covered the planet’s surface.

Breaking the silence Kenichi, despite his dry throat, said, “Holo cube off. Tactical. Bomb Damage Assessment?”

“BDA is 100 percent. In my estimation, the colony has been… totally destroyed.”

”And the ships’ weapons capabilities?”

“Initial analysis shows the ships are the size of large cruisers, but their missile capability is comparable to a Bismarck class battleship. They appear to use lasing and grazing techniques similar to ours but the throughput is well above what we can achieve. I need more time to get a closer look. Honestly, sir I can’t give you the answers you want just now.”

“Honesty appreciated, Lieutenant. Engineering, what do you have?” Kenichi asked, well aware of Kendricks’ second-to-none knowledge of engine design.

“They’re definitely using Saiph gravity drives, sir, and from the power readings, they’re running at almost maximum efficiency. At least ten percent more so than our most modern ships.” Kendricks paused. “Even the Persai’s best is not this good. There’s no doubt, sir, these people have formidable engineering.”

“So… these cruisers have more firepower than a Bismarck battleship and engines more efficient than any from the Commonwealth. Kendricks, have you seen anything like this before? Anything that might give us a clue as to who these people are?”

“Sorry, sir, can’t say that I have.”

A wave of unfamiliar indecision washed over Kenichi. Despite his feeling that taking the
Sorcerer
any closer to Balat would achieve little, Commodore Chand’s orders were explicit.

“OK, people, let’s go take a closer look at Balat. Navigation, plot us a fold.” The screaming of the collision alarm drowned out his words.

Young’s fingers flew across her board. “Sir. I have four… correction, six ships bearing down on us…It’s the Alonans, sir! Two cruisers and four destroyers. Weapons are powering up.” Her eyes were glued to her display. “Vampire! Vampire! Vampire! Missile separation. Impact in twenty seconds.”

Kenichi spat his orders like machine-gun rounds. “Tactical! Weapons free on all defensive systems. Navigation! Cancel my last. Plot us a course home and fold when ready. Communications! Get the ready-drone downloaded and away.”

“Ten seconds. Anti-missile missiles away. Laser Defense Clusters firing.”

“Hold on, people, this is going to be rough!” Kenichi grabbed the chair restraints, knowing he couldn’t secure them in time.

On
Sorcerer’s
outer hull the small high-intensity lasers that made up
Sorcerer’s
area denial weaponry fired from their pods positioned the length of the destroyer. A swathe of coherent light cut into the approaching missiles. High-speed anti-missile missiles joined the fray, destroying more of the incoming barrage. Inevitably,
Sorcerer’s
defenses were breached.

The kiloton yield Alonan missile exploded a scant 200 meters from
Sorcerer’s
armored bow, ripping through the first layer of ablative armor like tissue paper. The second layer slowed the progress of the shock wave, but it still wrecked the forward sensors, Grazer One, and Number Two plasma turret.
Sorcerer
staggered under the impact but Commander Kendricks’ engines didn’t let them down as
Sorcerer
powered on through the expanding plasma cloud.

On the bridge, Kenichi clung to his seat’s armrests, as others were tossed from their seats and landed heavily against equipment and the deck. The navigator, though tossed from side to side, was securely clamped to his seat. With a single keystroke, the
Sorcerer
vanished and reappeared moments later in the peaceful space surrounding Waypoint 4.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Tilting at Windmills

TDF POLARIS - OUTER MARKER

MESSIER 54 - 50000 LIGHT YEARS FROM EARTH

The unarmed courier ship entered normal space a bare 100,000 kilometers from Emperor Yalo IV spaceport and within scant seconds her computers screamed their warning. The defenseless ship was being locked up by multiple fire control systems. Sitting calmly in a jump seat in the cramped flight deck, Admiral Ai Jing could feel the tension in the air. His coming to the Alonan home system was a gamble he knew could go horribly wrong if there was an itchy trigger finger aboard any of the Alonan warships the tactical display showed maneuvering to surround his ship.

The nervousness in the young Communications Officer was apparent as he spoke. "Incoming signal from the spaceport, sir. Message reads: Commonwealth vessel, you have illegally entered Alonan space. Power down your systems and prepare to be boarded. Failure to comply will be taken as a hostile act and you will be fired upon. There will be no further warnings."

"Communications. Transmit in the clear, please. To Commanding Officer Emperor Yalo IV. From. Admiral Jing, Chairman of the Commonwealth Combined Joint Chiefs of Staff. Admiral Jing requests an urgent personal audience with Emperor Paxt.”

The reply came back swiftly. "You are ordered to return to Commonwealth space and inform your admiral his request will be forwarded for consideration."

Jing knew it was time to play his ace in the hole. "Communications. Open a video link to the station."

With a wary glance back at the admiral, the comms officer complied and a few seconds later the forward holo cube flickered to life, revealing the impassive face of an Alonan colonel. "Commonwealth ship. I shall not repeat my order..." The colonel’s voice faltered as he realized that instead of a lowly courier ship’s communications officer, he was looking directly into the face of Admiral Jing, the human who had led the Commonwealth fleet, which was responsible for saving the Empire from certain destruction at the hands of the Others. His head reflexively bowed in supplication and his voice became deeply respectful. "Admiral Jing, forgive my tone. I was unaware you were aboard. My standing orders are to allow no Commonwealth vessel access to the home system. Even if the vessel carries the savior of the Empire. Please accept my apologies."

"Your diligence to your duty does you honor, Colonel. Nevertheless, I must speak to the emperor as a matter of urgency on a subject that I fear, if not resolved, may lead to war between our two great nations."

"A moment please, Admiral."

The colonel’s face disappeared from the holo cube to be replaced by the emblem of the Imperial Navy, the stylized winged beast, its talons grasping the sword carried by the very first emperor. As the seconds became minutes, Jing forced himself to relax, but as the wait reached eighteen minutes, even Jing could feel his concern building. Was his last-ditched attempt at averting war a waste of time? Were the Alonans going to deny him an audience with the emperor? The urgent movements of the comms officer caught his eye and then the holo cube came to life and the face of the Alonan colonel filled the cube.

"Admiral, my orders are no Commonwealth vessel be allowed entry into Alonan space..."

Jing felt his hopes for a peaceful resolution to the burgeoning conflict drain away.

"However, there are no such orders referring to individual members of the Commonwealth. As such, I am transmitting your ship docking instructions. Once docked, I have arranged for your immediate transfer to the INS
Topa,
which will carry you onward to Alona where you may make your request for an audience in person."

The normally inscrutable Jing could not quite keep the tone of relief from his voice. "Thank you, Colonel. I am in your debt."

The colonel's face reddened slightly but he said nothing, simply bowing his head before the link was terminated.

Well, we are still in one piece, now all I need to do is get to speak to the emperor
, Jing thought as the small craft began its approach to the spaceport.

#

THE IMPERIAL PALACE - ALONA

Admiral Jing absently looked out of the floor-to-ceiling windows upon the vast expanse of the ornate gardens surrounding the emperor’s palace, which was situated like an island of some past world in the sea of advanced industrialization that was Bozra, capital city of the Alonan Empire. In an attempt to hide the apprehension he could feel gnawing away at his stomach, he forced himself to appear relaxed and give the outwardly impression of a man admiring the view. The thick glass deadened the noise of the sprawling city in the valley below into an almost-imperceptible dull drone. The soft whoosh of the large doors opening into the throne room caused Jing to turn away from the colorful garden vista and face the impeccably presented captain of the Imperial Guard.

"Admiral Jing, the emperor is ready to receive you now."

Jing took a small breath and straightened his uniform. With a grateful nod to the officer, Jing walked through the doors and into the imperial throne room. It was just as Aaron Beckett had described. The rows of large windows on either side of the room allowed the light to flood in and the deep pile carpet quieted the sound of his boots as he approached the raised dais at the far end of the room. Emperor Paxt sat rock-still on his seat, flanked by Grand Admiral Raga, commander of the Imperial Navy and the Empire’s foreign minister, Minister Hozal.

Halting at the bottom step of the dais, Jing brought himself to attention and gave the emperor a deep bow from the waist, Alonan style. Straightening, he gave a respectful nod to Admiral Raga and Minister Hozal in turn. Minister Hozal opened the conversation.

"Admiral Jing, it is an honor to meet you in person at last. Your actions and those of the men and women of the ships you commanded, will not soon be forgotten by the Empire, no matter what unpleasantness has led to the current state of affairs between the Empire and the Commonwealth."

Jing moved his head slightly and addressed the emperor directly. "With the emperor's permission, it is this very state of affairs I wish to address today, Minister."

With a barely noticeable flick of his wrist, the emperor gave permission for Jing to continue.

"Your Majesty, I stand before you today at the express order of the leaders of the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth believes these words should be heard from a soldier who stood shoulder-to-shoulder with soldiers of the Empire in its defense. A soldier like myself and not a civilian diplomat who has not once used his own body to protect others.”

"Indeed, a wise and considered move by the Commonwealth to send you before us, Admiral but... It could also be mistaken for a shrewd political gambit designed to use our cultural respect for our own military and for you to veil the Commonwealth’s true intentions," Minister Hozal said.

"That could be true, Minister, however I promise on my honor as an officer that my intentions here are to prevent what seems to be the inevitable slide into conflict the incident surrounding Balat has put us in."

"That incident, Admiral, cost the lives of 25000 colonists! One 185 fine sailors! Are you denying it was the Commonwealth who carried out the attack?" said Admiral Raga.

The emperor held up a hand and Admiral Raga lowered his head in silent apology for his outburst.

"Whoever was responsible for the attack on Balat, I promise you it was not the Commonwealth, Admiral Raga. We have all lost people, Admiral. Civilian and combatants alike, and it is my job and yours to ensure we give our leaders the best intelligence and advice we can to help them make the best decisions and right now I don't think you have the best intelligence on which to base your advice." Jing was ready for another outburst from Raga but a raised hand from the emperor forestalled anything the admiral may have wanted to say. Jing took the emperor’s intervention as permission to continue.

"Your Majesty. However regrettable the loss of life at Balat was, it once again reiterates a lesson that history has taught us again and again and we so often forget. When two nations do not trust each other, this lack of trust can very quickly turn into open hostility. Hostility very rapidly becomes a move toward armed conflict..."

This time, the emperor's raised hand was not enough to stop Raga as his nostrils flared and the veins on the side of his neck popped out. "Trust! You dare talk of trust! My ships searched the Balat system after your cowardly attack and guess what we found? A surveillance platform! One of your surveillance platforms, Admiral. I ordered searches of the Kathan and Opero systems and we found yet more surveillance platforms. Your precious Commonwealth is spying on the Empire, Admiral and we can prove it! I dare you to deny it."

For a few seconds, Jing said nothing. If the Empire had truly discovered the surveillance platforms that were run out of Waypoint 4, then denying any involvement in their construction and use would only prove an obstacle in any future talks.

"I admit that the Commonwealth did deploy surveillance platforms in those systems..."

"A-ha! I told you, Your Majesty, the Commonwealth cannot be trusted." Raga said elatedly.

"I would ask however, Admiral Raga..." continued Jing in a convivial tone, "if a bordering nation, one who had completely closed its systems to you, refused any kind of contact beyond a single diplomatic mission which operated under blanket restrictions on its movement, a nation which in the past had already shown its willingness to use covert techniques to secure the purchase of restricted military secrets, what would you have done?"

The veins were visible on Raga's neck again as he spluttered an angry retort. "What we did was for the protection of the Empire, nothing more! It was you who left the Empire open to an attack by the Others. If you had told us of them we would have been better prepared..."

Jing cut him off in midsentence. "You have no idea how much I personally regret not informing you of the Others’ threat. However, was it not Commonwealth men and women who put their lives at risk to come to your assistance? We had nothing to gain by helping you. If the Commonwealth wanted you destroyed, then we could simply have left you to your fate. Instead, good sailors died defending Alona." Jing could feel the anger stirring in him but he could not stop it. It had been simmering within him a long time and now it burst forth like lava from an erupting volcano. "And where was your gratitude? I was only doing my duty, but what of the families of those sailors who never came home? How was I expected to tell them their husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters died defending people who never once said thank you for their sacrifice? Three years, Admiral. Three years and not a word. Well, Admiral Raga, I'm here now. What do you have to say to those families whom you have led to believe that their loved ones died for nothing?"

The throne room had not witnessed a tirade of this kind in living memory. Doors were flung open as members of the Imperial Guard burst in, weapons drawn, ready to defend the emperor but the sight which greeted them caused them to falter in their headlong charge. Emperor Paxt slowly rose from his throne and stepped down from the dais until he stood directly before Admiral Jing. To the entire room’s astonishment, the emperor bent his knee and bowed deeply to the human admiral. Following the emperor's lead, every Alonan in the room bowed and averted their eyes. The emperor spoke without raising his head.

"Admiral Jing. Please accept the Empire’s deepest apologies for the failing on our part to honor the families of the fallen. It is a shame on our honor that it takes an outsider to remind us of our duty. They are all heroes of the Empire and as such their names will join those of the fallen who fought and died so the Empire may survive. Each and every family will receive a personal letter of thanks from myself. Again, I ask your forgiveness for our failing."

Jing was flabbergasted at the turn of events. His anger subsided as the more clinical part of his brain regained control. "Your apology is accepted, Your Majesty, and please accept mine in return for my outburst."

Regaining his throne, the emperor smiled briefly as the guards retired from the room. "Perhaps it is good at times to allow our true feelings to show, Admiral."

"You may be correct there, Your Majesty." Jing said with a smile of his own.

Minister Hozal took this as his cue to join the conversation. "I assume you have a proposal which may avert any future... er... misunderstandings, Admiral?"

Jing was glad to get back to the original subject. "Indeed, Minister. The Commonwealth proposes we introduce a system whereby the Empire and the Commonwealth each station observers in the other’s systems to monitor fleet movements and war games above a certain size. These military observers would be allowed unfettered access to any system and, within reason, any military base or ship within said system. The idea being that both the Empire and the Commonwealth can keep tabs on each other’s military. If neither one side nor the other can make secret preparations for hostilities without the other noticing, the threat of conflict is vastly reduced. We saw something similar on Earth in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries and it helped keep the peace for over eighty years."

Hozal cast a glance at Raga, who gave a barely perceptible nod of approval. The emperor similarly gave his silent approval. "Your proposal has merit, Admiral and is certainly worthy of more discussion. Perhaps a short recess would be in order to allow the emperor to consider it. Would it be convenient for you to return tomorrow?"