Retreat And Adapt (A Galaxy Unknown) (37 page)

"What are they doing to us? We get a dozen injections a day and they take blood three times."

"I'm not a doc. I don't know what they're doing, but lately I've felt really funny in my belly. Does my belly look bigger to you?"

Kilburn looked at her abdomen. "Yeah, it does."

"Shit. I think they've impregnated me. And they didn't even buy me a nice dinner first."

~ February 7
^th
, 2288 ~

"They're not there, Lieutenant," the tac officer on the bridge of the
Gambia
said.

"None of them?" Lt. Amanda Hess said.

"Not a one."

"Damn," she said under her breath. Tapping her Space Command ring, she said, "Captain."

Commander Wilson Teffler rolled over and tried to focus on the chronograph mounted on the bulkhead. He stopped, rubbed his eyes and looked again. It still said 0404. He reached over and lifted the cover of the com unit. "Captain."

"Captain, the mother ships are gone."

"All of them?"

"Aye, sir."

"Dammit, dammit, dammit. Of all times for this to happen. The Admiral is arriving
tomorrow
. No, she's arriving
today
."

"Should I notify the
Duluth
, sir?"

"Yes, we'll have to initiate a search right away, but it's Captain Singh's call. I'll be on the bridge in ten minutes, but start the ball rolling."

"Aye, sir. I'll take care of it right away."

"Teffler, out."

"Hess, out."

Commander Teffler arrived on the bridge nine minutes later.

"The
Duluth
has scheduled a senior officer's conference for 0500, sir," Lt. Hess said.

"Fine. Com, alert Lt. Commander Lawrence that he's to be in my office by 0459." Walking towards his office, he said, "I'm available until 0500 if you need me."

"Aye, sir," Lt. Hess said.

Teffler plopped into his chair and stared at the blank bulkhead monitor. He was still sitting there when the computer announced that Lt. Commander Lawrence was at the door. "Come," he said.

"Good morning, sir. I hear we have a problem."

"Yes, indeed. I was just sitting here wondering how they could possibly have known that Admiral Carver was coming today."

"That doesn't seem reasonable, sir."

"No, you're right. It isn't reasonable. I'm just frustrated that we've been sitting around here on our backsides for months, watching those mother ships do nothing, and they pick today to pack up and leave."

"I doubt they're leaving, sir."

"I meant leaving this RP, XO. They're not leaving GA space. They came here for a purpose. I suppose we're lucky it took them so long to assemble their forces. It gave our side some time to prepare. I have no idea what Admiral Carver has up her sleeve this time, but I can't wait to kick some Denubbewa butt. We lost a lot of good people over that
Salado
incident, and I've been itching to get some licks in ever since."

"We'll find them again, sir. Their FTL speed is limited."

"Yes, we will. But right now it's time for Captain Singh's conference broadcast."

Teffler activated the monitor and the screen filled with images broadcast from the captain's offices aboard the other ships. At exactly 0500, Singh looked up from what he was doing and said, "Good morning, though there's little good about it. By now you've probably heard that the four mother ships we've been tasked to watch have disappeared. At this time we don’t know if they left singly or in a group. I've just spoken to the watch officer aboard the
Ares
and informed him that the mother ships have departed the RP. He'll notify Captain Gavin and Admiral Carver at the appropriate time. I informed him that we're commencing a search immediately. While we hoped we'd never need them, we do have search plans ready in case this happened. We've already sent assignments to each of your ship's tac officers and navigators. Each ship can depart this location as soon as you're ready. Any questions?"

When no one spoke up, Singh added, "Okay, let's go find those mother— ships. Singh, out."

* * *

"Loretta," Admiral Moore said, "You said you wished to make a comment for the record during this closed meeting?"

The Admiralty Board was meeting in closed session because of the topics being discussed. Only the admirals and their senior aides were present. Even clerks with top-secret clearance were denied access at this level.

"Yes, Richard. Thank you. My comment pertains to Project Gazebo. Many months ago, when we first learned of the new weapon being proposed by Admiral Carver, I stated that the weapon was unfeasible because it was impossible to drop a bomb with any accuracy while traveling at almost three billion kilometers a second. I firmly believed that the idea was foolhardy but couldn't offer an alternative at the time, so I didn't oppose Admiral Carver's ordnance request. Since that time it's been proven that Admiral Carver's idea was unworkable. The head of her Weapons Research and Development section, Captain DeWitt, and her team were unable to
drop
a bomb with accuracy greater than a million kilometers because targeting was impossible at Light-9790. The weapon was a complete failure— at that point.

"However, Admiral Carver came up with a new idea for targeting that uses two SD's working together. A lead ship performs the targeting and signals the release of the bomb being carried to the target by the second ship. The Weapons R&D people are to be congratulated because they have successfully established a consistent drop radius of just fifteen meters. That's no less than astounding and is almost beyond belief because we're talking about timing the event in nanoseconds. I applaud everyone involved with this project and I'm glad my initial opposition to this project did not prevent work from progressing on it.

"As a result of the success of this project, new questions have been raised regarding the potential hazards of ships traveling in Transverse Wave envelopes coming into contact with other ships. Testing conducted when Light-9790 was still in development proved that the ship would pass through any solid object without damage to either the ship or the object. Unfortunately, no tests were ever conducted where the double-envelope ship passed through an object with a single envelope in place or an object with a double envelope in place. That testing will take place as soon as it can be arranged.

"I can say that a panel of physicists who have recently examined the issue at length concur that if two ships, both of which had active double-envelopes in place, happened to collide, the effect would be the same as a collision between two ships where neither had a double-envelope in place. The panel was split as to what would happen if a ship with a double envelope attempted to pass through a ship with a single envelope. Half believe there would be no effect and half believe the results could be disastrous.

"You all remember what happened when Admiral Carver tried to take the
Colorado
to maximum speed during its space trials. The ship formed a second envelope a second before a massive short circuit fused all the circuits on the ship's main grid. They went flying through space out of control at Light-9793.48 for almost two weeks before the ship's Automatic Collision System shut the drive down.

"When we were attempting to make Light-9790 practical for everyday use, we discovered that we had to create both envelopes simultaneously. We've been trying ever since then to find a way to build the second envelope on top of the first but without success. Half of our physicists believe that if a ship with a double envelope flew through a ship with a single envelope, the envelope incongruity would short circuit the electrical system in both ships. It could even cause the envelopes to cancel, at which time the ship with the double envelope would reintegrate within the other."

"The ship would be merged with the ship it was passing through?" Admiral Hillaire said.

"This is all supposition and conjecture. Reintegrating within another ship is obviously the worst scenario. It's something that half of the physicists feel
might
happen, not what
will
happen."

"Then with ships that have managed to build their envelope, the bombs are as useless as torpedoes and laser arrays?" Admiral Bradlee asked.

"Loretta is only stating what the physicists have speculated might occur," Admiral Platt said. "It may happen, or it might all remain just textbook theory without any basis in fact."

"Still, I think we have to be very careful when employing this new technology until we know for sure what will happen or could happen," Admiral Woo said.

"Admiral Carver should be nearing the RP of the enemy mother ships as we speak. This information is just in and won't reach her for about forty days. She may know the true story long before she receives a copy of this report."

"Then I pray the conjecture about reintegration of our ship inside an enemy ship is erroneous," Admiral Moore said.

* * *

"Come," Jenetta said when the annunciator system responded to Captain Gavin's presence at the office door.

Gavin entered and walked to where Jenetta was sitting on a sofa in her informal area.

"You look depressed," Gavin said.

"I feel like we were invited to a party and the invitation contained the wrong date."

"I know how you feel. You prepare yourself for the confrontation and possible loss of life, then feel an emptiness when it doesn't happen. It's not a sadness that we don't have to kill today or see our people killed, it's just a disappointment that the event has been postponed and we'll again have to steel ourselves and brace for battle when we find the enemy. But find them we will."

"I know. To stay focused, I've been trying to think of all the possible reasons why they've left the RP now."

"And your decision?"

"No decision. Just a list of possibilities."

"Have you considered that they might have headed back towards unclaimed space?"

Jenetta looked up at Gavin solemnly. "Maybe I didn't think of
all
the possibilities."

"It is possible."

"Yes, it is. And if they did head back towards the border, it might take awhile to find them because the early search patterns areas are all inward towards the populated centers of Region Two. If the searchers fail to find them there, they'll search laterally. Searching back towards the border will be last. Have a seat, Larry."

After Gavin had taken a seat in a comfortable chair facing the sofa, he said, "What will you do if we find them heading back towards the border?"

"You have to ask?"

"Just wondering if I'm right."

"I'll do the same thing I'd do if we find them heading
into
Region Two."

"You won’t just let them leave?"

"No. They destroyed two of our ships and murdered their crews. I don't think for a moment that if we find them heading towards open space it's because they're leaving forever. If anything, they're simply falling back until reinforcements arrive. I don't intend to let them leave and then wait for them to attack again. We tried that with Maxxiloth, and I have no doubt the consequence would be the same here. If we locate them, I intend to prosecute this undeclared war to its fullest extent. When the legions back home, wherever that is, fail to make contact with the ships they sent, they'll understand that the GA is not the pushover they're expecting. That message must resonate loud and clear."

"Then we offer no quarter?"

"No more than they offered us. I once told someone that it's an immutable fact of war that you must be just as brutal as the enemy if you're ever to see an end to a conflict. We didn't invite the Denubbewa here and certainly did nothing to precipitate their attack. So we'll give them as good as we've gotten, if not better, and keep on giving it to them until they beg for mercy or they're dead. And I sort of hope they don't beg for mercy."

* * *

"Something's different," PFC Vincent Kilburn said.

"Different how?" Corporal Beth Rondara asked.

"They haven't been in to take any blood today. They've only injected stuff into us."

"Yeah. I hadn't noticed. My tummy is really upset today."

"You're getting big."

"It's too fast for a normal pregnancy."

"I wonder who the father is?"

"I assumed it was you."

"Me? I've never touched you."

"Not you directly. I assumed they— milked you— somehow."

"I don't remember anything like that happening."

"They had to get the sperm from somewhere."

"Maybe it's from their species."

"Oh, God. I hope not. It's bad enough they've cut off our arms and legs, cut out our vocal cords, and implanted something into us that makes us telepathic. A half-breed baby would be the final straw. It would be like those experiments the Nazis did during World War II on Earth."

"I don't know anything about them. What did they do?"

"During the trials for war criminals following the war, it was learned that the Nazis experimented on Jewish concentration camp prisoners for a number of things, including injecting them with deadly diseases to later test possible vaccines and experiments that examined ethnicity."

"So you think they're injecting us with deadly diseases to see if we're immune?"

"They might be looking for something they can release on all planets to kill the human population but which is harmless to their race if they later decide to colonize that planet."

"Bastards."

"Literally."

"What?"

"They probably don't know who their parents are."

"That's not what I meant. I mean, it is, but it isn't."

"I know."

"So, you think you're having a half-breed baby and I've been injected with deadly diseases?"

"It all fits, but I could be totally wrong. Perhaps the father of the baby is one of the other Marine or Space Command males that were aboard the
Salado
with us. And perhaps the injections and blood work are to understand our physiology."

"Or perhaps they're trying to determine what it would take to make us like them?"

"That's also a possibility."