Part 10 (1/2)
”Are you advising me not to engage?” asked Sa.s.s. Arly's face darkened a little. A senior weapons officer could give such advice, but under all the circ.u.mstances, it meant taking sides in the earlier argument: something Arly had refused to do.
”Not precisely . . . no. But they've got almost as much as we have, on a smaller hull with different movement capability. Normally I don't have to worry about something that size - with all its mobility, it still can't take us. But this - ” She tapped the display. ”This could breach us, if they got lucky . . . and their speed and mobility increase the danger. Call it even odds, or a shade to their favor. I'd be glad to engage them, captain, but you need to be aware of all the factors.”
”I am.” Sa.s.sinak stretched, then shook the tension out of her hands. ”And you'll no doubt have a chance to test our ideas before long. If they're short-crewed and short on environmental supplies, surely they'll have a short FTL route picked out . . . it's been eighteen days, now.”
”Speaking of environmental systems,” said Hollister gruffly. ”That number nine scrubber's leaking again. I could take it down and repack it, but that'd mean tying up a whole s.h.i.+ft crew - ”
Sa.s.sinak glanced at Huron. ”Nav got any guesses on their destination?”
”Not a clue. Dhrossh is downright testy about queries, and about half the equation solutions don't fit anything in the books.”
”Just keep an eye on the scrubber, then. We don't want Engineering tied up if we're suddenly on insystem drive with combat coming up.”
Another standard day pa.s.sed, and another. None of the crew did anything but what she expected. No saboteur or subversive stood up to expound a doctrine of slavery and planet piracy. At least her relations.h.i.+p with Huron was better, and the other hotheads in the crew seemed to follow his lead. She was squatting on her heels beside the number nine scrubber, with Hollister, looking at a thin line of greasy liquid that had trickled down the outer casing, when the s.h.i.+p lurched slightly as the Ssli-controlled drive computers dropped them out of FTL.
Chapter Ten.
By the time Sa.s.sinak reached the bridge, Huron had their location on the big display.
”Unmapped,” said Sa.s.sinak sourly.
”Officially unmapped,” agreed Huron. ”Sector margins - you can see that both the nearest surveys don't quite meet.”
”By a whole lot of useful distance,” said Sa.s.sinak. Five stars over that way, the Fleet survey codes were pink. Eight stars the other, the Fleet survey codes were light green. And nothing showed in the other vectors.
”Diverging cones don't fill s.p.a.ce,” said Huron. She glowered at him; she'd hit her head on the input connector of the scrubber when the call came in, and besides, she'd wanted to be on the bridge when they came into normal s.p.a.ce.
”They could have, if those survey crews had been paying attention. This is one large survey anomaly out here.” Then it came to her. ”I wonder, Huron, if this was missed, or left out on purpose.” He looked blank, and she went on. ”By the same people who found it so handy to have an uncharted system to hide out in.”
”Who a.s.signs survey sectors?” asked Arly.
”I don't know, but I intend to find out.” Huron had already put the cruiser on fall stealth mode; Sa.s.sinak now tapped her own board into the Ssli biolink. Two more screens of data came up in front of her, high-lighted for easy recognition. ”But after we deal with this - and without getting killed. I have the feeling that their detection systems out here will be very, very good.”
The s.h.i.+ps they pursued had dropped out of FTL in the borders of a small star system: only five planets. The star itself was a nondescript little blip on the cla.s.sification screen: small, dim, and, as Huron said, ”as little there as a star can be.” In that first few minutes, their instruments revealed three large cl.u.s.ters of ma.s.s on ”this” side of the star - presumably planets or planet-systems toward one of which their quarry moved.
They were still days from any of them. Sa.s.sinak insisted that their first concern had to be the detection systems the slavers used. ”They wouldn't a.s.sume anything: they'll have some way to detect s.h.i.+ps that happen to blunder in here.”
Huron frowned thoughtfully at the main display screen, now a s.h.i.+fting pattern of pale blues and greens as the Zaid-Dayan's pa.s.sive scans searched for any signs of data transmission. ”We can't hang around out here forever hunting for it - ”
”No, we're going in. But I want to surprise them.” Suddenly she grinned. ”I think I know - did you ever live on a free-water world, Huron? Skip stones on water?”
”Yes, but - ”
”Everyone sees the splash of the skips - and then the rock sinks, and disappears. We'll make sure they see us - and then they don't - and if we're lucky it'll look like someone in transit with a malfunctioning FTL drive, blipping in and out of normal s.p.a.ce.”
”They'll see that - ”
”Yes. But with our special capabilities, they're unlikely to spot us when we're drifting. Suppose we get in really close to whatever planet they're using - ”
”It'd help if it had a moon, and if we knew which it was.” As the hours pa.s.sed, and their tracking computers reworked the incoming data, it became clear where the others were going. A planet somewhat larger than Old Earth Standard, with several small moons and a ringbolt.
”The G.o.ds are with us this time,” said Sa.s.s. ”Bless the luck of a complicated universe - that's as unlikely a combination as I've seen, but perfect for creating unmappable chunks of debris ...”
”Into which we can crunch,” pointed out Huron.
”Getting cautious in your old age. Lieutenant Commander?” Her question had a little bite to it, and he reddened.
”No, captain - but I'd prefer to take them with us.”
”I'd prefer to take them, and come home whole. That's what we have Ssli a.s.sistance for.”
After careful calculation, Sa.s.sinak's plan took them ”through” the outer reaches of the system in a series of minute FTL skips, a route that taxed both the computers and the Ssli. With a last gut-wrenching hop, the Zaid-Dayan Zaid-Dayan came to apparent rest, drifting within a few kilometers of a large chunk of debris in the ring, its velocity not quite matched, as would be true of most chunks. Their scans began to pick up transmissions from the surface, apparently intended for the incoming slaver s.h.i.+ps. At first, some kind of alarm message, about the skip - traces noted . . . but as the hours pa.s.sed, it became clear that the surface base had not detected them, and had decided precisely what Sa.s.sinak had hoped: something had come through the system with a bad FTL drive, and was now somewhere else. In the meantime, the alarm message had activated beacons and outer defenses: Sa.s.sinak now knew exactly where the enemy's watchers watched. came to apparent rest, drifting within a few kilometers of a large chunk of debris in the ring, its velocity not quite matched, as would be true of most chunks. Their scans began to pick up transmissions from the surface, apparently intended for the incoming slaver s.h.i.+ps. At first, some kind of alarm message, about the skip - traces noted . . . but as the hours pa.s.sed, it became clear that the surface base had not detected them, and had decided precisely what Sa.s.sinak had hoped: something had come through the system with a bad FTL drive, and was now somewhere else. In the meantime, the alarm message had activated beacons and outer defenses: Sa.s.sinak now knew exactly where the enemy's watchers watched.
One of the moons had a small base, on the side that faced away from the planet, and a repeated station placed to relay communications to and from the surface. A single communications satellite circling the planet indicated that all settlement was confined to one hemisphere - and by the scans, to one small region.
”A big base,” was Arly's comment, as scans also picked up weapon emplacements on the surface. ”Their surface-to-s.p.a.ce missiles we can handle. But those little s.h.i.+ps are going to cause us trouble; they've got only one or two optical weapons each, but - ”
”Estimated time to launch and engagement?” Sa.s.sinak looked at Hollister.
”If they're really battle-ready, they can launch in an hour, maybe two. n.o.body keeps those babies really ready-to-launch: you boil off too much propellant. Most of the time they like to fight from a high orbit, or satellite transit path, in systems like this with moons. I'd say a minimum of ninety standard minutes, from the alarm . . . but will we pick up their signals?”
”We'd better. What about larger s.h.i.+ps?”
'There's something like the slaver escort, but it's cold ... no signs of activity at all. More than two hours to launch - at least five, I'd say. But it's still twenty-three standard hours before the incoming s.h.i.+ps arrive, if they hold their same trajectory and use the most economical deceleration schedule. We may see more activity as they get closer.”
But except for brief transmissions every four hours, between the incoming s.h.i.+ps and the base, little happened that they could detect from s.p.a.ce. Sa.s.sinak insisted on regular s.h.i.+ft changes, and rest for those off-duty. She followed her own orders to the extent of taking a couple of four-hour naps.
Then the s.h.i.+ps neared. For the first time, they drifted apart; the escort, Sa.s.sinak realized, was taking up an orbit around the outermost moon, alert for anything following them or entering the system. The slave-carrying trader began braking in a long descending spiral.
Taking the chance that the attention of the base below would be fixed on the incoming slaver, and the attention of the escort s.h.i.+p above on anything ”behind” them, Sa.s.sinak ordered the Zaid-Dayan's insystem drive into action: they would ease out of the ring-belt, and intercept the slaver on the blind side of the planet, out of sight/detection of the escort.
All stations were manned with backup crews standing by. Sa.s.sinak glanced around the bridge, seeing the same determination on every face.
One of the lights on Arly's panel suddenly flashed red, and a shrill piping overrode conversation. She slammed a fist down on the panel, and shot a furious glance around her section, then to Sa.s.s.
”It's a missile - Captain, I didn't launch that!”
”Then who - ?” But the faces that stared back at her, now taut and pale, had no answer. Yes, we do have a saboteur on board Yes, we do have a saboteur on board, Sa.s.sinak thought, then automatically gave the orders that responded to this new threat. All firing systems locked into bridge control, automatic part.i.tioning of the s.h.i.+p, computer control of all access to bridge . . . and the fastest maneuver possible, to remove them from the back-trail of that missile.
”They know something's here, and they know it's armed - so if we want to save those kids on the slaver, we'd better do it fast.”
Red lights winked on displays around the bridge, scans picking up enemy activity, from communications to missile launch.
”Oh, brillig! Of course they saw it, and just what we need - !” Huron gave her an uneasy glance, and she grinned at him. ”But life is risky, eh? If we go for their armed s.h.i.+ps, we'll lose the kids for sure, and if that slaver has any sense and a peashooter, it could plug us in the rear. So - ” The Zaid-Dayan Zaid-Dayan surged, suddenly freed of its stealth constraints, and closed on the slaver. They were just over the limb, out of line-of-sight from both the escort and the base below, although the missiles launched would be a factor in a few minutes. The slaver vessel, cut off from radio communication with its base, could have chosen to boost away from the planet, or try a faster descent . . . but whether in confusion or resignation did neither. Nor did it fire on them. ”Huron!” He looked up from his own console, when Sa.s.sinak called. ”You take the boarding party - get that s.h.i.+p out of here, safely into the next sector. I'll give you Parrsit: he's good in a row, and Currald's sending half our ground contingent - ” She quickly named the other boarding party members. Huron frowned when she named the two Wefts. surged, suddenly freed of its stealth constraints, and closed on the slaver. They were just over the limb, out of line-of-sight from both the escort and the base below, although the missiles launched would be a factor in a few minutes. The slaver vessel, cut off from radio communication with its base, could have chosen to boost away from the planet, or try a faster descent . . . but whether in confusion or resignation did neither. Nor did it fire on them. ”Huron!” He looked up from his own console, when Sa.s.sinak called. ”You take the boarding party - get that s.h.i.+p out of here, safely into the next sector. I'll give you Parrsit: he's good in a row, and Currald's sending half our ground contingent - ” She quickly named the other boarding party members. Huron frowned when she named the two Wefts.
”Captain - ”