The Deadly Pact Read online

  ”Twenty-three are still combat operational. Her defensive fire has destroyed ten and knocked the rest out of commission. I still have them targeting her engines, but her on board computer has learned the automated patterns already. She’s intercepting almost everything I’m throwing at her.”

  “Oh, but for ten minutes of Aden Patho’s time,” Kri said.

  That got Hultz’s attention. He turned in his chair and looked back at Kri. “I’m doing the best I can, here, sir.”

  “Sorry, Mister Hultz. I know you are. You’re doing a fine job.”

  Holtz huffed to himself for a few seconds before returning his attention to his tactical console. He tapped madly at his keys and then said, “I got a piece of her, sir. She’s venting atmosphere. I might have hit the boat bay.”

  Kri looked at the tactical display. Computer estimates of damage flanked the wavering image of the fleeing Loki. She did appear to have taken a significant hit, but her power signature and drive strength were unaffected. “Hit her again, Mister Holtz. Take out her engines, please.”

  Holtz said, “Aye, sir. One errant stealth ship about to be brought to heel.”

  Simmons felt Loki jump violently beneath her. She held tightly to the command chair. A sudden change in tactics from Damocles’ drones had blown out her boat bay. A damage alarm shrieked and visual displays of the area showed the doors blown open and wreckage spilling into space. She checked the distance from the edge of the asteroid field. She was only a couple of hundred thousand kilometers away now. The density was already thinning. She was going to make it.

  It was too bad her communications suite was down from an earlier hit. She’d love to gloat to Kri how he would never catch her after she made this jump. Two hundred light years would take Kri a long time to catch up to her. She brought up her aft display and watched as her defensive cannons fired madly, intercepting the attacks from Damocles’ drones. She began inputting her jump coordinates methodically. She was waiting for the computer to verify her calculations when it beeped at her and said, “Damaged communication circuit bypassed. Limited communications are restored.”

  Simmons practically rubbed her hands together. Now to show Kri what a real scientist could do. “Comm request to Damocles.”

  The computer beeped, and a few seconds later Kri’s face appeared on her main plot. “Okay, no more games. We’re coming out of the asteroid field now, Marli. You can’t get far enough away to use your stealth systems, and you can’t jump without us following you.” Kri’s face took on an expression of fierce determination. “I’m ordering you to stop now.”

  “I don’t think so, Hal,” Simmons said. Her voice calm and smooth. Her wildly fluctuating emotions had started to calm once she had enough distance to make her jump without being disabled by the drones. She addressed her ship. “Computer, engage jump to predesignated coordinates.” The computer beeped, and she returned her attention to Kri. “Sorry, Hal but you lose this time. I’ll take some fond memories of you with me, but if you try to chase me down again, I will take stronger measures. Don’t doubt me on this. Computer execute jump.”

  Kri watched as his screen chopped back to the tactical display and then sat expectantly as Loki vanished through its jump ring. “What was her destination, Mister Dowd?”

  “I’m running the calculations now, sir.” The operations officer worked at his console for a moment before saying, “I’m rechecking. I think we may have a sensor error.”

  Taylor went over to help Dowd with the calculations. After a few minutes of them working together, Kri was reminded of the impatience Stokes had had for him on the Rampart as he and Simmons had tried to resolve the energy reading that had started the ball rolling on their current situation. He tapped his fingers against his thigh impatiently before choosing his words with great care. “Is there an answer forthcoming?”

  Taylor looked up from the console and said, “You had better take a look at this, sir.” The main plot updated to display a series of calculations. They were jump vector analyses. He ran mentally though the calculations, and the conclusion was astonishing. “That’s impossible.”

  “My thoughts exactly, sir. Nevertheless, there you are. She made a two hundred light year jump. Somehow, she figured it out.”

  “And she failed to mention her little discovery to the rest of us,” Kri muttered. “Fire up the interstellar comm. I want to try to get through to Lashmere. I hope everyone is okay.”

  “Aye, sir,” Dowd said.

  A tense few minutes passed. Kri hadn’t had time to dwell on the fate of Lashmere while he’d been chasing Simmons across this nameless system, but now he had time now to ponder the fate of his friends and family.

  “Interstellar comm responding, sir,” Dowd said. “On the main plot, sir.”

  Admiral Misato’s face appeared on the display. “Captain, I’m glad to see you and your crew arrived safely. What’s your status?”

  “We’re fine, sir. We had a few casualties, but the ship has been fully repaired from its battle damage. If I may ask, sir, what happened in Lashmere after I left?”

  “We beat them soundly, Mister Kri. The crabs are still leaving the system, but I don’t think they’ll come back against us easily. Our casualties were surprisingly light. Search and rescue operations are still underway, but we may have lost as few as thirty percent of the crews on damaged and destroyed ships.”

  Kri nodded and said, “That’s good news, sir. What about Admiral Stokes and Captain Patho?”

  “They’re both fine, don’t worry, Captain.” Misato looked away from the screen for a moment and said, “Give me five minutes, Lieutenant. I’ll be right with you.” His attention returned to Kri. “Sorry, Captain. We’re still picking up pieces here. Report on the status of Loki.”

  “Of course, sir. I’m transmitting a full log of our sensor readings for analysis, but the short of it is she got away.”

  “From the Damocles? I find that difficult to believe, even with the stealth systems she carries.”

  “Somehow she managed to escape. I don’t know how, but she made a two hundred light year jump.” Kri watched as Misato’s face lurched into an expression of complete incredulity. “She must have figured out how the Alliance sent the crabs three hundred light years. I have complete sensor readings of her jump, but we still don’t know exactly how she did it. I’m hoping, with more detailed analysis, we can figure it out.”

  “Very well, Captain,” Misato said. “I’m transmitting orders for you to remain on detached duty at your discretion until you’re able to capture or destroy Loki. You are not, under any circumstances, to allow Miss Simmons to escape you again. Is that clear, Captain?”

  “Yes, sir. I’ll advise when I’m departing this system in pursuit.”

  “Understood. Misato out.”

  “Now all I have to do is figure out how to catch someone who can jump ten times as far as I can in a single jump,” he said to himself.

  Chapter 3

  Stokes’ dress shoes made clicking sounds as he strode briskly down the hallway at Lashmere Naval Command. He opened the door to the conference room and saw Admiral Misato was already there. He nodded and said, “Good morning, sir.”

  Misato nodded and said, “Mister Stokes. What’s the status of our fleet?”

  “We have thirty-one combat effective ships, including five battleships. The stealth fleet lost only two ships during the battle, but thirteen of them are down for repairs. Both Captain Patho’s and Commander Fuchs’ ships are both fully mission ready.”

  “What’s the status of Victorious?”

  “We suffered minor damage. The shipyard is running at full capacity repairing all of our damaged ships before we begin rebuilding the fleet, sir,” Stokes said. Admiral Brand had prioritized the most severely damaged ships first. In the three days since the battle with the crabs, the Navy had had its hands full. Several ships had needed to be towed back to space dock, and others had been so severely damaged that Stokes had decided to pull the crews
off and let the ships be remanufactured rather than being repaired.

  Misato nodded. “I’m glad our casualties were so light, Admiral.” Misato’s eyes rested briefly on the bright red ribbon Stokes wore on his uniform. Its presence signified the Crimson Star. The medal would only be worn in a full dress uniform. Misato cleared his throat and continued, “We need a plan to locate Behemoth.”

  “We’ll need to find a way to model what happened. Until we have a better understanding, we won’t know where to start looking,” Stokes said.

  Misato said, “If the rules hold true for Behemoth, we can at least extrapolate where they might have gone. Their exit vector can be plotted.” A ship entering a jump ring must be on a heading exactly towards the point where it would emerge. The ship’s orientation, however, could be manipulated, so a ship emerged facing any direction the plotter of the jump desired.

  “That should give the scientists a good starting point, sir.”

  “I’ll propose it to the Mooreland Science Academy,” Misato said. The Mooreland Science Academy was the premier research institute on Lashmere. Many of the discoveries that allowed the point to point drive to work had been researched there. “I think our next order of business is salvage of the derelict ships floating throughout the system and bringing them in for resource recapture and rebuilding of the fleet.”

  Stokes said, “I agree. Until we know the crab fleet’s intentions, we must rebuild our strength as soon as possible. There is something we need to do first, sir.” Misato quirked an eyebrow and gestured for Stokes to continue. “We’ve got to go out and find as many bodies as possible to return them to Lashmere for proper burial. I’m not sure how I would feel about serving aboard a ship whose materials were partially made of the bodies of our fallen Marines and sailors.”

  Misato shook his head ruefully. “Franklin, you obviously got a full night’s sleep. You’re running circles around me today.”

  Stokes shook his head slightly and said, “Not really, sir. You’ve been neck deep in logistics since the crabs left Lashmere. I’ve had time to ponder how things went.” Stokes’ eyes took on a haunted look as the memories of exploding ships filled his thoughts. Casualties had been light. Less than thirty percent of the sailors who’d entered the massive battle had died. Gathering up escape pods had dominated the hours after the crab armada had broken off. We may benefit from recovering crab bodies as well. We may be able to find out more about their physiology than we were able to gather from the shot up ones retrieved from the destroyers Rampart engaged.”

  Misato said, “I also want to apprise you that Captain Kri followed Simmons and Loki to an adjacent system, but she was able to evade him.”

  Stokes quirked an eyebrow at Misato. “Oh?”

  “Somehow she either managed to jump 200 light years or she made it appear she jumped two hundred light years. Either way, I’ve given Captain Kri orders to continue his pursuit.”

  “That sounds good, sir. I’m sure Captain Kri is up to the task. I did have one other thing I wanted to ask you about.”

  “What is it?”

  “I know I’m in command of the entire fleet, but I wanted to dispatch one of the stealth corvettes on a covert mission to gather intel from Xalcek.”

  “I half expected you to send them off to try to find Hanlon and Drogue,” Misato said.

  Stokes had taken the news of Hanlon’s loss much harder than he’d thought he would. They hadn’t served together for an extended period, but her way of looking at the world around her had made an indelible impression on his memories. “Sir, we don’t actually know that the crabs have kept any of the survivors from the expeditionary force alive. As much as I would like to believe they are safely tucked away in a crab POW camp, we don’t know enough about the crabs to know what their treatment of prisoners may be like. We may find out later that those who died aboard the expeditionary force ships were the lucky ones. Additionally, much like looking for Behemoth, without a place to start looking, I’m not sure there’s any reason to do it. The Alliance may have knowledge of where the crab home world is. If there are survivors from the expeditionary force in their custody, that will make a good starting point to look for them.”

  “I think it’s a good idea, Admiral,” Misato said. “The stealth fleet was built specifically to engage in covert actions both in and out of battle. Intelligence gathering is one of their primary functions.”

  “I’ll detail Patho and the Gorgon to Xalcek tomorrow morning, sir.”

  “Very well, Admiral,” Misato said.

  “Have we considered how the Alliance will take the news that we’ve defeated the crabs?”

  Misato cocked his head at Stokes. “Have we beaten them?” His voice came out with a harsh edge. “Sorry. They left with more ships in their fleet than we have currently. Despite the fact we forced them to leave the system, I seriously doubt they are defeated. One of Patho’s priorities will be to find out anything he can about their fleet strength and to retrieve any tactical analyses the Alliance may have made. Make sure he specifically looks for classified databases and high level reports.”

  “I will, sir,” Stokes said.

  Misato stared pensively at the tabletop for a moment before looking up to see Stokes waiting attentively. “Sorry, Admiral. I’ve only managed about three hours sleep since the end of the battle. There is one last thing. The report Commodore Erickson filed when she got back here from the defeat in L262 indicated that Drogue managed to get his hands on part of the Alliance database. The information was lost along with the rest of the expeditionary force. Make sure Patho tries to get a full download if at all possible.”

  “Consider it done, sir,” Stokes said. He looked across the table at Misato. The senior admiral’s shoulders were slumped, and he was clearly exhausted. “If I may, sir. Why don’t I head up to operations and take over for you for a few hours? Your staff can keep me up to speed. You won’t do anyone any good if you collapse at your desk.”

  Misato gave Stokes a weak smile. “You know, Franklin, I think I’ll take you up on that.”

  Stokes stood, extended his hand and said, “I’ll see you tomorrow morning, sir.”

  Misato shook and said, “See you then, Admiral.”

  Aden Patho came to a stop outside Admiral Misato’s office. He knocked and opened the door. Inside, Admiral Stokes stood with a wave of his hand. “Come in, Captain. Please, take a seat.”

  Patho sat on one of the offered chairs and leaned back. “Thank you, sir. If I may ask, where’s Admiral Misato,” he asked.

  “He was kind enough to lend me the use of his office for the day. I called you here to brief you on your new orders. The official packet will arrive tomorrow morning.”

  Leaned forward in his chair. “Where am I headed, sir?”

  “You’re going to the Xalcek system. We want you to gather intel on the crabs from the Xalcek database. You’re specifically ordered to go in under stealth and covertly infiltrate the Xalcek home world. Their military command should have a great deal of information about the crabs. Specifically, we’re looking for the location of their home planet and, perhaps more importantly, any insight the Alliance has on their motivations.

  “Lashmere Intelligence is eager to begin building predictive models to help us anticipate what the crabs are going to do next. The more you can get, the better.” Stokes paused for a moment. He rubbed the back of his hand across his eyes. “The only way we can find out where any survivors of the expeditionary force may have been taken is to find out where the crabs live. The Alliance may not know, but they definitely know more than we do.”

  Patho stood and moved next to Stokes. He put his hand companionably on the admiral’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, sir. If she’s alive, I’ll find her.”

  Stokes stared into the other man’s eyes for a long moment before giving him a slight smile. “I know you will, Aden. We have to bring all of our people home.”

  “With your permission, I’d like to head to my family’s home. I ha
ven’t heard from them since the battle, and I want to let them know I’m okay.”

  Stokes frowned at the request. “I’ve no objection, of course, but haven’t you tried calling them?”

  “Yes. I haven’t been able to get in touch. To be honest, I’m a little worried. You know how bad the riots were when Commodore Erickson was loading the selectees from the Karn region on the Behemoth. Communications in that area may just be damaged, but if they were hurt, I want to make sure they’re okay.”

  “Very well, Captain. Your departure is at your discretion. I do expect you to leave the system by the day after tomorrow at the latest unless I hear from you.”

  “Yes, sir,” Patho said. He stood to attention and left the office.

  The train ride south felt like it took a week. At each stop, his anxiety grew about what may have happened to his family. Despite the way they’d treated him since joining the Lashmere Navy, they were still his family, and he cared deeply for them. When the train crossed into Karn territory, Patho saw the devastation the riots had caused. Shattered storefronts and homes dotted the areas around the few stops he had to wait through on his way to his home town of Ollerfield. There were piles of debris and forgotten belongings everywhere he looked.

  His anxiety gave way to genuine fear as the train continued south. After what felt like the most crushing wait of his young life, the train stopped at the Ollerfield station. Patho snatched his overnight bag from the rack and bolted off the train. Startled passersby jumped out of his way as he skidded around a corner and saw the café where he’d met with Asher more than a year ago. The café, itself, was gone, burned to the ground. In stark contrast, the patio where he’d sat with Asher looked almost exactly the same. Some of the chairs were overturned, but it was as though a giant hand had come and scooped the small coffee shop out of the ground, leaving only a charred foundation and stubs of once thick timbers.

  He stood, staring at the sight for a long moment when a man stopped and spat on the ground at his feet. “Ebrim scum,” the man said. He was a few centimeters shorter than Patho and far less muscular. He stared at Patho with hate filling his dark eyes. “I hope you people are proud of what you’ve done to us.”