Retreat And Adapt (A Galaxy Unknown) (10 page)

"Yes, I'm looking forward to the position and delighted to be working with Jen again."

Turning towards Jenetta, Admiral Vroman said, "I understand you're having some trouble in Region Two."

"That's why I wanted Barbara and her team. We don't yet know what we're facing. Let's take the tour and we can talk along the way."

They wrapped up the tour back at the Admiral's bridge and Jenetta delighted in showing Vroman the Sim technology that made the walls seem to melt away. He took it pretty well but got a bit nervous when the deck almost completely disappeared. Jenetta signaled the tac officer to restore the deck after Vroman reached for one of the command chairs and hung on.

"That's something I wouldn't use very often," Admiral Vroman said. "I felt like I was going to fall right through those thin grid lines."

Jenetta smiled slightly and said, "It does take a bit of getting used to, but we were never in any danger."

"On some level I knew that, but on a different level all logic fled."

"Gavin, out," the captain said. Then turning towards Jenetta, he said, "I just received a message via my CT. Captain DeWitt and her people are aboard, and the equipment they're bringing has all been stowed."

"Excellent." To Admiral Vroman, she said, "Guess it's time to go, Thad. Thanks for your hospitality. I hope to see you again soon."

"You're always welcome, Jen. I hope you locate the two missing ships and that everyone is alive."

"Thanks, Thad. That's our hope as well."

~ April 28
^th
, 2286 ~

"General quarters— general quarters — all hands proceed to your assigned battle locations," suddenly blared from the overhead speaker in Jenetta's quarters in the middle of the night. At the same instant, an identical message began to reverberate in her head thanks to her CT. The strobe mounted on the overhead was flashing alternating colors of red and white as she sat up in bed and gave the order for the room to illuminate. She was trying to rub the sleep from her eyes while she slid to the edge of her bed when the com chimed. She stopped what she was doing and leaned over to raise the cover. The face of Captain Gavin immediately filled the screen. Her screen was on blackout so Gavin was only seeing a previously recorded image.

"Jen, we're approaching Flordarya. It's surrounded by what appears to be warships."

"Surrounded?"

"There're at least five, all about the same size from what we can see from here, spread out in roughly geosynchronous orbit around the planet. It appears they've taken up positions over the major cities. I've cancelled our FTL envelope and we're sitting at almost maximum DeTect range, so the data is still sketchy. The ships could be innocent transports or even small single-hulled freighters, but my tac officer says the return signals suggest otherwise. Given that two of our DS ships are missing, I decided to play it safe."

"Good call. I'll be on my bridge in five minutes. Carver out."

Jenetta leaped off the bed and yanked her clothes on. As she raced out of the bedroom, she discovered her steward standing in the sitting room with a steaming mug of coffee extended at arm's length. Jenetta took the cup and told her steward to get down to a Secure room immediately, then ran into the corridor. She didn't instruct the Marine security team to leave their posts because they wouldn't have gone willingly. Besides, on all new DS warships, destroyer and above, special four-point connection harnesses had been installed at all guard post positions. They were built into the bulkheads, and normally almost invisible. Like a seatbelt in a car, they were instantly ready for use, or could be released with a tug on a quick-release buckle. Once released, they would retract back into the bulkhead structure until needed again. They left a Marine's arms completely free so he or she was always ready for action. Located next to the harness area was a locker where the Marine stored the duffel containing his or her personal body armor when they reported to their post. They would probably never need it, but it was there if they did.

Jenetta raced onto the admiral's bridge and climbed into her command chair. The large monitor at the front of the bridge was displaying an image of the captain's bridge. Gavin was in his command chair reading a report from a monitor mounted to the chair near his right hand. Jenetta stabbed lightly at a contact point on her left-hand monitor that would allow an image of the admiral's bridge to be seen on the captain's bridge.

"Any change in status, Larry?" Jenetta asked.

Gavin looked up and said, "No change, Admiral."

A tac officer was always on duty on the admiral's bridge, ready with answers in an instant. He had a direct connection to the lead tac officer on the captain's bridge to allow them to coordinate all functions. As Gavin and Jenetta talked, the other crewmembers assigned to the admiral's bridge entered and manned their consoles.

"Okay," Jenetta said as she buckled her seat belt, "once most crewmen are at their posts, let's move in to a hundred thousand kilometers."

Gavin checked a monitor and said, "We're at ninety-eight-point-two percent of full readiness and climbing fast."

"Okay, let's go see what the situation is."

* * *

"Admiral," the booming voice of a Tsgardi tactical officer announced excitedly through the ceiling speaker, "our DeTect systems have just reported the approach of a large ship."

Admiral Kelakmius of the Tsgardi Defense Command was just sitting down to have dinner in his cabin. He stood back up and pushed his chair back, then hurried over to the intercom control on the bulkhead. "What kind of ship?" he said calmly.

"It's still too distant to be sure, but it's coming on fast and appears to be a warship. We'll have better data shortly as it gets closer."

"A warship? What makes you think it's a warship?"

"It's too large to be a single-hulled freighter and too fast for either a freighter or passenger liner. If it's a warship, it's almost certainly Space Command. The Territorial Guard warships don't venture this far outside the original Milori Empire."

"Space Command? What would they be doing here?"

"We'll get better data as they move closer."

"Sound general quarters— no— wait. Do
not
sound general quarters. If they are Space Command, we must not put them on alert."

"What action
should
we take, sir?"

"I'll be on the bridge in a couple of minutes. Just standby until then." Kelakmius glanced over at the table where his fresh zeepaza was wiggling and squirming over bright yellow relliso leaves. By the time he returned, the zeepaza would probably be dead and the relliso would be wilted and tasteless. Damn all Spaccs. Why did they have to show up now, of all times?

* * *

"Tac, any change in status?" Jenetta asked of her tac officer as they approached the planet.

"The ships are still in geo orbit, Admiral. We're starting to get a little better data now that we're closer. All five ships appear to be exactly the same size." After a short pause, he added, "Admiral, the ships appear to be Tsgardi destroyers."

"Tsgardi?"

"Based on the return data, that's what the ship identification system is reporting, although it's only showing a seventy-eight percent accuracy at this time. Wait, the accuracy indicator just jumped to ninety-two percent."

"Could they be new ships the Flordaryns are building for home system defense?"

"The configuration is one that was discontinued some forty years ago."

"That would indicate that they're Tsgardi System Defense ships because that's all they had left after the war. Have they gone on alert?"

"There's no indication of activity."

"Perhaps they haven't noticed us. Com, are you picking up any local chatter on the frequencies the Tsgardi use?"

"Negative, Admiral. Everything seems peaceful on all military channels."

"Get me the Planetary Council Headquarters."

"Aye, Admiral. Working on it."

* * *

"The ship is almost definitely Space Command, Admiral. It looks like a
Prometheus
-class battleship, but there are some slight discrepancies. It might be a new class."

"Great. We're sitting here in these old rust buckets while Space Command's newest class of battleship bears down on us. Those little scout ships took out most of our fleet while never losing a single ship. How could we ever stand up to a new battleship?"

* * *

Twenty seconds later, the com chief on the admiral's bridge aboard the
Ares
said, "I have the Council President, Admiral."

"Put him on my left-hand monitor."

"Aye, Admiral. He's there."

Jenetta looked at the image of the Flordaryn. He didn't appear distressed at all. "Mr. President, there appears to be five Tsgardi destroyers in orbit around your planet."

"Yes, Admiral Carver, we know," Jenetta heard through her CT. "They've come looking for help."

"Help? Help with what?"

"Their ships are breaking down and they have no one to fix them. While we were being held as slaves, they tried to have us train some of their people to be engineers, but few could even master the use of a screwdriver."

"Those ships are never supposed to leave their solar system. That was in the terms of their surrender."

"They've brought them to us here because we refused to go there. This is the only way we'd agree to fix them."

"You've put me in a very delicate position, Mr. President. I had told them that if any Tsgardi warships ever left their home system, we'd destroy them on sight."

"They claim they need the ships in good working order if they're to protect their home system and had no other alternative."

"We're going to approach the planet, but no closer than twenty-five thousand kilometers to any Tsgardi warship. Tell them that if they make the slightest provocative move, we'll blast them to space dust."

"If they do move, it won't be very far or very fast, Admiral. Their FTL drives and Sub-Light engine systems are all off-line. All they have available is their deuterium thrusters."

"How long have they been here?"

"Several GST weeks."

"And their claims of needing service are genuine?"

"More than genuine. I'm amazed they even reached us. If we were more than eight light-years distant, they probably wouldn't have even tried to make the trip. These ships are the oldest they had. They were unfit for real combat, so they kept them home as a basic security force. You have little to fear from these ships."

"It's not the ships I fear; it's their torpedoes. Even the oldest ships can fire the newest torpedoes."

"They arrived with just five torpedoes apiece, and we required them to offload the missiles to a storage barge before we'd begin work. We also disabled their laser arrays. I don't think they know that yet."

"That was a very prudent measure."

"We didn't want there to be any
accidents
while they were here that could be used to cover up kidnappings with claims that the missing people had been vaporized in a laser array accident or torpedo explosion."

"How much longer will it take to complete the repairs?"

"My chief engineers say that a proper overhaul would take several GST years but they estimate we can make the ships reliably space worthy again in nine to ten more GST months."

"I can't assign any of my ships to stay in orbit that long to ensure your safety."

"I think we're safe enough, Admiral. They have no offensive weapons, and if they do anything to harm any of our people, they know we'll never work on their ships again. Since we're the only ones who would even consider working on their ships, they have to comply with our demands."

"Tsgardi don't necessarily think very far ahead. Their leaders do, but the average Tsgardi warrior doesn't correlate the current situation with something that might happen as far away as dinnertime."

"We know the culture all too well, Admiral, and we thank you for your concern, but if the Tsgardi ever try to enslave our people again, they'll learn we're not as trusting as we once were, or as defenseless."

"I'm glad to hear that, Mr. President."

"We look forward to welcoming you and the delegation you're escorting. When can we expect you?"

"The delegation leader will be responsible for making all arrangements, so she will no doubt be in touch very soon. At present, she and the other delegates are in a Secure room. We took every precaution for their safety when we spotted the warships in orbit around your planet."

"As you can see, the situation is not as bad as one might expect."

"Are there any Tsgardi on the planet?"

"No, we refused to let them land. The population might react badly after so many years of slavery and the loss of so many family members. Fully half our engineering people refused to work on their ships."

"I understand. It will take many generations for the memories to dim."

"If ever. Many people have written books about their years in captivity. Some of the tales are quite graphic and even stir the blood of people who were least affected during the occupation."

"I suppose that's why I was so surprised to hear you had agreed to repair their ships."

"Truth be told, I was afraid to refuse them. They are quick to anger and might have attacked us before Space Command could arrive to assist."

"If you'd like to terminate your agreement, I could ensure this group would never bother you again."

"Tempting, Admiral, but we've always prided ourselves on meeting our commitments, and we did commit to doing this work."

"May I ask how the Tsgardi intend to pay for your services?"

"They have already paid us. The form is precious metals and stones. As you know, most Tsgardi have strong backs and weak minds, so mining is a very suitable occupation and they are quite good at it. We, uh, doubled what we would have charged anyone else to make up for past treatment we endured at their— paws."

"Very well, Mr. President. I'll be contacting them myself very soon. Now that I know the situation, I'm better positioned to deal with them. The leader of the trade delegation will be making arrangements with your office for the trade discussions. Thank you for your time."