Kelly Blake 3: Where the Stars Are Few and Far Between (21 page)

“Thank you, Mr. Handel, have one of our linguists look over the translators’ shoulders to make sure they don’t miss any military nuance in their translation, especially as it refers to this flotilla. Notify department heads, the ambassador, and Mr. Bennett that we will meet here as soon as we have an accurate translation.”

Thirty minutes later, the translators and linguists agreed on a translation and the meeting began. Kelly had the text put up on the monitor and gave everyone time to read through it.

“Well, what do you all think? Mr. Ambassador, would you begin?”

Ambassador Thorson stood up, walked around the table, and moved to the monitor.

“As our message was short and to the point, so is their reply. They welcome us and direct us to a point roughly halfway between this world and their home world, where we are to meet a flotilla from their Home Fleet, to be escorted to their capital city’s military spaceport. They accept us as honored guests and look forward to meeting with us and discussing topics of mutual interest.”

“That’s all pretty self explanatory. They want to meet us in open space to make sure we are what we say we are. They will probably send their shiniest and deadliest ships to impress us and convince us not to try anything funny. I assume this military spaceport is specified to isolate us, where we can be guarded and to keep the populace away. The rest is diplomatic boilerplate text.”

The ambassador sat down and Kelly nodded at his Ops chief. Lieutenant Commander Brown remained seated and referred to the pocket terminal in front of him.

“We agree with the ambassador’s assessment. They chose K’Rang words denoting honesty and clarity of meaning. They kept it simple. If the text is an accurate mirror of their intentions then I say they are nervous, probably due to their bad experience with the K’Rang, but they want this negotiation to be successful. I recommend that we leave now and arrive at this rally point before they do. We should lock all turrets facing forward and scan the area well for any K’Rang signatures. I don’t think we’ll find any as deep in their territory as it is, but if we do, it will be a possible sign of treachery on their part. I don’t think they are being duplicitous, but I’d hate even more falling into a K’Rang trap.”

Kelly asked if anyone else had anything to add. No one did.

He asked, “How many K’Rang linguists do we have in the Ops department?”

Lieutenant Commander Brown answered, “We have five good linguists that can act as translators and two passable ones that could translate, but not speak it.”

Kelly said, “Seeing as K’Rang will be our common language, the best translator will work for me, the next best for the XO, and the next for the Ops chief.”

Alistair held up his hand and said, “I’ll take number four, but I can translate K’Rang as well. Just don’t let the Angaerry know that.”
Kelly gave the order to move to the rally point at FTL power 5. It was time to do what they came here for.

* * * * *

The Virulent was sent to investigate why the Vociferous had not reported in for over a week. It entered the patrol box carefully and searched for any clues. The answer came to him as he detected a number of older frigates patrolling in empty space. The captain considered firing off his remaining missiles on the relics, but a little voice in his head said wait, something’s coming.

He held back at the fringe of his detection range and was rewarded two hours later, when the K’Rang Grand Armada dropped out of FTL in the front of the frigate screen. Lieutenant Commander Brown counted their ships in three lines by class. Cruisers populated the top row, destroyers the middle, and frigates and corvettes the bottom row. Lieutenant Commander Brown wondered what they were up to and marveled as they turned around and went back the way they came. They were at FTL power 2.3 when they left his long-range sensor screen.

He didn’t know what it was they were doing, but it couldn’t be good for the Fleet for about 300 K’Rang warships to be practicing close quarters FTL hops. He ordered his helmsman to make best possible speed for the 2nd Combined Fleet.

* * * * *

Kelly saw the Angaerry flotilla coming from max long-range sensor range. Six ships: two cruisers, two destroyers, and two frigates came in at FTL power 4. They dropped out of FTL in perfect file by twos formation. Kelly was impressed with the precision of their formation coming out of a FTL hop. It suggested that the reason they came in later than predicted was because they practiced a few times on the way.

He looked at the ships that were obviously fresh from the space dock and represented the peak of Angaerry technology. He concentrated on the cruisers first.

The cruisers were fighter and missile defense ships. The bow and stern were fitted with vertical launch system missile boxes. He counted 112 cells total. Behind the forward cells were stacked twin-barreled large caliber rail gun turrets. Along each side were two medium caliber twin-barreled rail gun turrets. The stern carried a single twin-barreled large caliber rail gun turret above what appeared to be a hangar. The destroyers were smaller versions of the cruisers, with single rail gun turrets fore and aft, a single twin barreled turret amidships, port and starboard, and a stern hangar. The frigates had a single large caliber rail gun turret forward, a hangar aft, and single twin-barreled rail gun turrets amidships port and starboard. The engines on all three were standard gravity well/anti-matter engines, a generation behind the K’Rang and the Fleet and two behind the Orion.

The six ships pulled up to the Orion and they were hailed. A video image of the Flotilla commander came up on the big screen in Ops. Another Angaerry stood beside the commander, probably his translator. Kelly sat next to Ambassador Thorson and each had his designated translator seated next to him. He authorized his video and audio to be transmitted to the flotilla commander.

The Angaerry commander began by introducing herself and welcoming them to the Angaerry Republic. Her name was Flotilla Commander Jotil Lenkva. Kelly introduced himself and the ambassador. He saw a relaxation in the posture of Jotil Lenkva when Kelly’s translator translated Galactic Standard to K’Rang. Unfortunately, there was a slight mistake in the translation that was not corrected out of Angaerry courtesy, and it would be some time before Kelly learned that Jotil Lenkva was female.

Flotilla Commander Jotil Lenkva invited Kelly to accompany her back to the home world as their honored guests. If he would hold position, they would form an honor guard on either side of him, then proceed together. Kelly watched as the Angaerry made a wide circle around them and lined up on either side of him in their two-line formation. The commander came back on the screen and said they would begin an easy acceleration, and if they went too fast to let her know.

Kelly watched the speed creep up past FTL power 1 to 2 to 3 to 4 and then 5. Kelly still had power to spare, but could see a strain on the Angaerry commander’s face. Kelly suggested they drop down in speed so as not to strain his engines, as he had a long trip back to GR space. The Angaerry commander nonchalantly replied that he should slow down to a speed he was comfortable with and they would match speed. Kelly killed audio and ordered a speed of FTL power 4. As the Orion slowed down, Kelly could see a visible relaxation in the flagship’s crew in the background of the video feed.

* * * * *

Admiral Levi asked Lieutenant Commander Brown to dock the Virulent with his flagship and make a personal report of what he saw. A nervous helmsman made a flawless docking with the carrier Stefan Cel Mare. Lieutenant Commander Brown was met by a Marine captain and escorted to Flag country.

They came to a door and the Marine captain knocked and was told to enter. Lieutenant Commander Brown entered while the captain closed the door behind him, remaining outside. Vice Admiral Levi came out from behind his desk, greeted Lieutenant Commander Brown, and moved to a small conference table, where a Fleet Captain sat.

“Mike, sit down, this is my Ops chief, Dave Jimenez. Tell me what you saw and where.”

The captain turned on the table’s built-in holographic projector and Brown plugged in a data device. He adjusted the scale so he showed the current position of the 2nd combined fleet and the K’Rang Grand Armada activity. The significance was immediately apparent. The K’Rang armada was lined up parallel with and pointing right at the 2nd Combined Fleet.

Admiral Levi paced the room for a few minutes then turned back to the display.

“Mike, how many ships did you count?”

“Sir, I saw a total of 270 ships. 100 cruisers, 80 destroyers, and 90 frigates and corvettes.”

“Could you tell what speed they were travelling?”

“No, sir, they sort of surprised us. When they turned around and left, they were accelerating through FTL power 2.3 when I lost them on my sensors.”

The admiral turned to his Ops chief. “Dave, do you see what they are preparing for?”

Dave Jimenez answered, “I believe I do, sir. The only thing a line formation like that is good for is mass firing of every missile you have at one time. They plan to drop in on our flank, fire everything they have and saturate our defenses. It’s a rough calculation, but I count greater than 10,000 missiles in that formation. That’s if they don’t load all offensive missiles. If they go with a full load of offensive missiles, we’re talking 15,000.”

Admiral Levi said, “Don’t forget our friend in the Eridanus sector. He's about the same size as this K’Rang Fleet. If they both come at either the 1st or us, they can wipe one of us out, reload, and then turn on the other. We need some way to bust this guy up. Thank you, gentlemen. Dave, I need to go see Admiral Chang with this data.”

* * * * *

Admiral Chang looked at Admiral Levi’s data and drew the same conclusion. Admiral Haddock-Halloway whistled when he saw it and said, “We’re screwed. One attack and we just lose combat effectiveness if we are lucky. If not, we lose it all. One would be bad enough, but if this fleet and the Eridanus guys hit us simultaneously, it’s all over. Our grandkids will be learning K’Rang standard.”

Admiral Levi said, “We have to find some way to break this guy and the one in Eridanus up. Sir, can you have your guys bring that plot of Eridanus sector up? Good, now do you have their patrol plot?”

The admirals looked at the plot and a plan began to germinate. The Eridanus sector looked somewhat like a hammer with a broken handle. The broken handle contained the four Human systems. The K’Rang fleet consisted of three battle fleets with roughly 100 ships per fleet. They patrolled in a split racetrack pattern. The top fleet, would patrol up from the handle’s middle to the head while the bottom fleet would patrol down the handle’s middle to the bottom. The middle fleet ran the complete length from bottom to top. The first two would meet in the middle, but be separated and unable to support each other at the ends. Every third lap by the third fleet would leave either the top or bottom with only one battle fleet. It was time to take advantage of that weakness.

* * * * *

Kelly, wearing his dress uniform, followed direction from the military spaceport as to vector and speed on approach. When they saw how large the Orion was, it caused a few panicked moments. They asked Orion to circle while they moved a group of small ships out of the way. Finally they were cleared to land. They were guided into a double parking space and waited while the sensor section checked the atmosphere. Sensors reported nitrogen gas in slightly higher concentrations then internal ship atmosphere, but breathable. Kelly had engineering assist the spaceport services personnel with fabricating adapters for water and sewage. Power was incompatible, so an auxiliary engine was run to maintain power.

An official looking vehicle pulled up alongside the Orion. Kelly grabbed Ambassador Thorson and both their translators and went to start the diplomatic process. He left the ship in Connie’s hands, with strict orders not to admit any Angaerry. Their first live Angaerry approached them.

Kelly decided to let the Ambassador take the lead.

The Angaerry approached and spoke in fluent K’Rang, “Welcome, I am Kurin Dunit, First Secretary to the Minister of Diplomacy. Whom do I have the honor to address?”

Kelly sized up the functionary in front of them. He (he assumed it was a he) was typical of the diplomatic class: officious, pretentious, and imminently proper. He stood a head shorter than Kelly or the ambassador. Ambassador Thorson introduced himself and Kelly to Kurin Dunit through his translator. Kelly bowed slightly when he heard his name in K’Rang. Kelly spoke a little K’Rang, which he had forced himself to learn on long patrols aboard the Vigilant, but he kept that to himself.

Kurin Dunit invited the four to accompany him to the Palace of the Republic. He asked that they leave all weapons behind, even ceremonial ones. He also asked them if they would submit to a brief medical examination before leaving the confines of the spaceport. It would be conducted by medical scanner and would not be invasive in any way. The ambassador got consent from all before agreeing.

They were taken to a small medical facility, where they each were asked to step on a raised platform for the test. Kelly volunteered to go first, stepped up on the platform, and ducked while they raised the top piece to accommodate his taller frame. When they ran the scan, a purple light surrounded him. Kelly assumed it was an ultraviolet beam to kill any bacteria on his uniform. The operator spoke rapidly to Kurin Dunit in Angaerry. Kurin Dunit congratulated Kelly on being disease free. Feeling no ill effects, he stood aside for the ambassador to go next.

In just a few minutes they passed medical screening. Kurin Dunit directed them into a ground car. It was a tight fit, getting them all in a ground car designed for a smaller race, but they managed. Kurin Dunit apologized for the tight fit and promised to find a more spacious car for their further trips.

They left the spaceport and turned onto a broad tree-lined avenue toward a series of multi-story buildings in the distance, taller than those surrounding them. The two to three-story commercial and residential buildings along the route were mostly neat brick and wooden structures, reflecting the easy availability of clay and wood from the surrounding verdant forests. They passed a harbor with numerous cargo and fishing vessels of unique Angaerry design moving in, out, and about. As they came closer to the tall buildings, broad fields of flowers in bold colors flanked the street. The Angaerry people walked along the streets shopping, going about their business, and some even sightseeing. They appeared to be happy.