Theogony 1: Janissaries (27 page)

Bridge, TSS
Vella Gulf
, Tau Ceti System, May 25,
2019

“Vipers are approaching the fourth planet, and systems are
online,” said the operations officer. The sporadic power spikes had continued
for several hours, but due to the random nature of the source, Arges hadn’t
been able to triangulate it. It was coming from the direction of the fourth planet
or its small moon, but he was unable to determine which. He had asked Captain
Deutch to launch a couple of Vipers with sensor gear. That way, the next time
the power source activated, he would be able to triangulate the source of the
emission.

“Very well,” said Captain Deutch. Looking at the helmsman,
he asked, “Our position?”

“We are holding at 125 million miles from Planet Four, as
ordered,” replied the helmsman. “Engines are online and being used to stay in
the same relative position.”

“Vella Gulf
, this is
Viper 02,” radioed Lieutenant
Steve ‘Gecko’ Smith, the Weapons System Officer for the flight. “
We are
approaching the planet, but do not see anything abnormal yet. We are not
picking up any energy readings at this time.
” At that distance, radio waves
would have taken over 11 minutes to make the journey from the Viper to the
Vella
Gulf.
With the Psiclopes’ faster-than-light communications system, it was
almost instantaneous.

“
I’m starting to pick up readings of large concentrations
of metal on the other side of the moon. The metal appears to be processed.
We’re coming over the horizon where we ought to be able to see it. There is
enough...I’ve got radars tracking us...VAMPIRE, VAMPIRE, MISSILES INBOUND!
”
Gecko screamed.

“Their links show missile launches from the moon of the
fourth planet!” called the defensive systems officer from the Security position.
“Six missiles launched...five are tracking on
Viper 02
, and one appears
to be targeted on
Viper 03
...”

Onboard
Viper 02
, Tau Ceti System, May 25, 2019

“Break right!” yelled Gecko as he released two decoys. He
looked at his display. “What the fuck did we do to you?” he muttered as five of
the six missiles turned to guide on him. He smiled as one of them attacked the
thermal flare that he had released. The missile detonated, and the blast
destroyed the flare...and one of the other missiles that were tracking them.

The pilot of
Viper 02
, Flight Lieutenant Ken ‘MOSA’
Smith, had the throttles of the little ship at maximum and was flying as
straight away from the missiles as possible. Any maneuvering only let them
catch up with him more quickly and shortened the time that Gecko had to defeat
them. He jettisoned the four missiles the ship was carrying to get rid of the
unnecessary mass and saw that he was now accelerating at 655 G’s, which was 5 G’s
higher than what the fighter was rated for. MOSA hoped that the missiles
tracking him would run into the ones that he dumped, but that wish went
unanswered. Space was just too big.

“Three missiles still tracking us,” said Gecko with tension
in his voice. Even though the fighter was accelerating at over 650 G’s, the
missiles were accelerating at over
100,000 G’s
, and they were catching
up fast. He put the defensive laser on automatic, and it began trying to target
the missiles that were rapidly overhauling them. “Break left!” Gecko yelled as
he fired out another round of decoys.

MOSA turned the ship hard left and was rewarded with one of
the remaining missiles changing its targeting to the decoy. The other two kept
coming.

“Fifteen seconds to impact!” cried Gecko as MOSA rolled the
craft back level, and the laser began firing again. “Ten seconds!”

“Nine!”

Before Gecko could say “Eight!” the fighter’s laser hit the
missile that was closest to them, and the missile exploded. The fighter’s
sensors were unable to track the remaining missile, and Gecko momentarily hoped
that it had been caught in the explosion.

But it hadn’t, and as the sensors cleared, Gecko saw that it
was almost on them. The laser began firing again.

“Three seconds!”

“Two!”

“One!”

“
GLUCK AB
!” Gecko transmitted as the missile closed
on them.

Bridge, TSS
Vella Gulf
, Tau Ceti System, May 25,
2019

“
Viper 02
has been destroyed,” said Steropes as the
sensors on
Viper 03
detected the 25 megaton nuclear explosion. He had
taken over for Arges, who had become very pale at the beginning of hostilities.
“I do not think there will be any survivors.”

Viper 03,
Tau Ceti System, May 25, 2019

“We’ve got a missile headed toward us,” said Bullseye, the
WSO of
Viper 03
. He launched a spread of decoys. “Break right!” he
called, and
Viper 03
’s pilot, LT Carl ‘Guns’ Simpson, turned the fighter
hard to the right.

The missile neither followed them, nor did it attack the
decoys. It continued in the direction that it had originally been heading, away
from where the
Vella Gulf
lay waiting, as it continued to accelerate at
over 120,000 G’s. “Where the hell is it going?” asked Guns.

“No freakin’ clue,” replied Bullseye, “but wherever it’s
going, it’s getting there
fast
.” He watched the missile’s trajectory for
a second. “Hey Guns,” he said, “let’s go follow it and see where it’s going.”

Guns turned the fighter onto the vector of the outbound
missile. After about 30 seconds more, Bullseye was unable to track it any
longer as its motor went out. Guns started calculating the amount of fuel that
he had left. “Umm...how much longer do you want to follow it? We’re getting
kind of low on fuel...”

“Not much further...” he stopped as his sensor registered a
gate activating. As fast as the missile was going when it hit the gate, the
activation was significant, and Bullseye was easily able to pinpoint the
position of the gate. “OK, we’re good,” he continued. “I figured it was headed
for a gate, and I wanted to get the position of it. Let’s get back to the ranch
before something ugly comes through it.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice!” agreed Guns as he turned
the fighter back toward the
Vella Gulf
.

* * * * *

CO’s Conference Room, TSS
Vella Gulf
, Tau Ceti
System, May 25, 2019

“What’s our status?” asked Captain Deutch. He had called his
staff to his conference room in order to work out a plan of action. All of the
department heads sat at the table, while their assistants sat in a ring behind
them.

“We have put ourselves between the moon and the gate,” said
the operations officer. “If they try to get another message out, we will shoot
it down. We are also jamming all of the communications frequencies as well. The
base shot a couple of missiles at us, but they were easily destroyed by our
counter-missiles. It appears that the base only has six launchers, which will
not be enough to breach our defenses, unless they get
really
lucky.”

“Keep our defenses up and don’t get cocky,” ordered the
commanding officer. He looked to Steropes. “What can you tell me about the base
on the moon?”

“Based on an analysis of the missiles,” said Steropes, “I
believe that the moon harbors a Ssselipsssiss base, probably one of their
secret research bases.” The sudden onset of hostilities had been more than Arges
could deal with, and he had retired to his room to meditate. Steropes had taken
over as science officer.

“What the hell’s a Ssselipsssiss?” asked the operations
officer.

“The Ssselipsssiss is a race of bipedal lizards,” replied
Steropes. “They are extremely aggressive in nature and are omnivorous. Not
omnivorous as in, ‘they eat both plants and animals,’ but omnivorous in that
they can eat nearly any sort of flesh bearing animal, regardless of species or
indigenous planet. Most creatures can only digest matter from their home
planet. The Ssselipsssiss are from a very hostile planet. Their digestive
systems can handle almost anything.”

“Including us?” asked the communications officer.

“Yes,” confirmed Steropes, “including both your race and
mine.”

“Another race that wants to eat us?” asked Captain Deutch.
“Is there a race in this universe that
doesn’t
want to eat us?”

“There are a few,” said Steropes taking the question
literally, “but not that many. The good news is, if they do indeed have a base
here, they will be relying on stealth, not an overwhelming military presence.
That is the Sselipsssiss way; they build a base in a star system with only one
entry point and guard it from the other side so that no one else knows about
it. The gate we came through is so far from this system’s star, I’d bet that
they don’t know about it. They probably think that this is a pocket star system,
and the only way into it is through the gate that they sent the missile
through.”

“OK,” said Captain Deutch, “so even though there aren’t a
lot of troops and ships on the fourth planet’s moon, the odds are that there is
a military presence in the next system, and we will probably have company
soon.”

“That is an accurate assessment of the situation,” said
Steropes.

As Steropes was speaking, the door to the conference room
opened, and the assistant intelligence officer came in. He seemed excited as he
crossed to the intel officer and began talking to him in hushed tones.

“Is there something that we should all know?” asked Captain
Deutch. “Would you care to share?”

The intel officer nodded. “They just finished analyzing the
data from
Viper 03
, and it appears that we have a great opportunity.” He
looked at his assistant. “Tell them!”

The assistant, Lieutenant Marlon Adams, cleared his throat.
“There’s a replicator there!” He was nearly jumping up and down in excitement.

“Calm down,” ordered the CO. “Tell me what you’ve found.”

Lieutenant Adams took a breath. “We analyzed the sensor data
from
Viper 03
, and there is a return that is consistent with a Class 2
replicator. We have a Class 1 replicator onboard the
Vella Gulf
; the
Class 2 is bigger and will allow the replication of anything up to about a fighter-sized
vessel.”

“That would be helpful,” remarked the CO. “Unfortunately, I
doubt they’re going to just
give
it to us. We also have to remember that
we are probably going to have company from the next system soon.” He looked at
Steropes. “What are the odds that we can take it from them?”

Steropes looked up from the sensor data that he had taken
from Lieutenant Adams. “The odds are very good that we could take it,” he said.
“I doubt that they will have many troops at a secret research base...probably just
a handful to operate the defensive systems. Their main defense is stealth. If
we hadn’t entered the system through a gate they didn’t know about, we probably
wouldn’t have been in a position to catch the power surges from the base. I
don’t know what they were testing, but it was something that must have used a
lot
of energy.”

“Do you have any ideas on what they were testing?” the CO
asked the intel officer.

“No,” the intel officer replied. “All we know is there is
some kind of warehouse or hangar with a Class 2 replicator and a bunch of blast
doors that hide the entrance to their subterranean base and defensive systems.”
He paused, leafing through the photos that
Viper 03
had taken before it
was forced to turn away. “There’s also this thing, but we don’t know what it
is.” He showed them a picture of a tall, shiny, metallic-looking object. “This
artifact is located about 100 miles away from the base.” He showed a close-up
picture of the monolith. “There is a lot of scoring on it, as well as a few
holes that go all the way through. We’re still trying to figure it out.”

“Can I see the photos?” asked Calvin. He took the two photos
and consulted briefly with Bullseye, who was sitting behind him. Rejoining the
group at the table, he said, “I know what that object it. It’s a space fighter
target. The scoring that you see is from laser hits. Some were more powerful
and went all the way through.”

“Hmmm...” said Steropes, “I think I know what this facility
is. The Ssselipsssiss have always had good laser technology for their fighters
and warships. This must be the research facility where they develop it. That
would be consistent with the data. The replicator they have there would be to
produce fighters to mount the new weapons they’re developing there. This is a
serendipitous discovery. If we could capture the replicator, it would probably
have the patterns not only for their developmental weapons, but their newest
fighters as well.”

“There’s no doubt that it would be great to have the
database,” said the CO, “but they obviously sent that missile through the gate
for a reason, and that was probably to summon help. I doubt we have much time
to go down and pick up the replicator before that help arrives.”

“We won’t be able to land a shuttle next to the base,” said
Steropes. “The Ssselipsssiss have turned on a disruptor field at the base. The
troops would have to land about ten miles away and walk to the facility. They
wouldn’t have a problem getting through the field; it only exists to disrupt
the electronics of spacecraft, causing them to crash.”

“This is too good an opportunity to pass up, Skipper,” said
Calvin. “The technology we have is pretty outdated. Getting the database would
give us information on both new weapons and new fighter-type spacecraft.”

“We can’t get caught here,” replied the CO. “If a force
comes through the gate that we can’t beat, we will have to flee and leave your
men on the surface of the moon. Are you prepared for that?”

“I hope they don’t get left behind,” said Calvin, “because I
will be down there with them; however, it’s worth the risk and we need to make
the effort. Besides, if we don’t eliminate the base, they’ll be able to tell
which direction we go when we leave. They may not be able to find the gate
immediately, but they’ll have a pretty good idea in which direction to look.”
He paused, thinking. “We have a bunch of space mines we can use at the gate the
missile went out. That might at least slow down whatever response is coming.”

“I agree with Calvin,” said Steropes. Most of the other
heads around the table were nodding too. “It is indeed hazardous, but the
potential rewards outweigh the risks. My recommendation would be to try to
assault the base.”

“OK,” said Captain Deutch, “We’ll do it. Let’s get the
troops down there as quickly as possible. Mine the gate and give me any other
defensive ideas you can come up with.”

* * * * *