A Galaxy Unknown 10: Azula Carver (39 page)

"The other ships will perform a flyby at maximum range every six hours to ensure we don't lose sight of our mothership.
Nelson
will go first,
Sepik
next, then
Atrato
. And continuing in rotation until we hear from the
Ganges
."

"And what happens if more Denubbewa ships are found on the
Ganges
course?" Commander Pashick of the
Sepik
asked.

"Then we'll probably go after the larger and better armed targets first and come back for the uncompleted one later. But I can't make that decision until we have the facts. Any other questions?"

When no one spoke up, Boyd said, "Okay,
Ganges
, good hunting. Report in once a day at the end of the first watch."

"Aye, Captain," Oster said.

~     ~     ~

Three days later, Captain Oster of the G
anges
sent a message before the end of the first watch.

"Message to Ronna Boyd, Captain, GSC Destroyer
Calcutta
. Begin message.

"Captain, your hunch was right. I've located three motherships along the course the uncompleted mothership is traveling. I shall await your arrival, unless you wish me to return. My navigator will append our location to this message.

"Leslie Oster, Lt. Commander, GSC SDB
Ganges
. Message complete."

~

Upon receiving the report from the
Ganges
, Captain Boyd sent an immediate reply telling Commander Oster to hold his position. She then informed the other ships of the
Ganges'
report and ordered them to proceed to the new RP at full speed. She also sent a message to the Second Fleet HQ informing them of the
Ganges
report. In that message she told HQ that the
Calcutta, Nelson, Sepik, and Atrato
were presently underway to the location of the three motherships and they intended to destroy the three motherships, along with as many Denubbewa warships as possible.

~     ~     ~

Upon reaching the RP, the crews were anxious to engage the Denubbewa immediately, but Captain Boyd ordered the
Ganges
to drop a Distant DeTect Buoy first. Like the WOLaR bombs, it would be ejected while the ship was traveling at Light-9790. But unlike the WOLaR bombs, the DDB would be ejected from the ship at a distance of several billion kilometers. It would provide information useful in navigation during the initial bomb runs because it would give the position of each mothership.

Temporal envelopes could stretch slightly, but once the gap between the ship and any other object exceeded fifteen-point-two-eight centimeters, the envelope around the ejected object dissolved and the envelop around the ship closed. Once outside the envelope, the object was immediately back in normal space at a dead stop.

Since there were only four SDBs in the small task force, they could only attack two motherships per run, with five WOLaR bombs being dropped by each pair of ships on each pass. If any of the motherships moved after the first attack, the DDB would help them correct their approach on the next run. The ships would attack almost simultaneously, then immediately turn and attack again from the opposite direction.

In addition to the WOLaR bombs, each bomber would also drop two sensor buoys— one before they dropped their bombs, and one after. If accurately timed, the sensor buoys would appear in normal space within a thousand kilometers of the targets.

~

When the
Ganges
returned from its task, the
Nelson and Sepik
were already lined up for their run, with the
Nelson
as the lead and the
Sepik
as the bomber. The
Ganges
immediately fell into position behind the
Atrato
and began the work of synchronizing its tactical station and helm with the lead ship. When the ships were ready, they informed Captain Boyd.

"Okay, we're ready to go," Captain Boyd said. "The
Nelson
will take a run along the left flank while the
Atrato
, two seconds later, takes the right. Your navigator and helmsman should have the track you're to follow. Following the run, you'll swing around and attack again.
Nelson
, regardless of the effect of your first run, you'll attack the third mothership on your return run. We'll be watching the sensor data and inform the
Atrato
which of the first two ships it should attack on the return pass.

"We'll kick off in 60 seconds from— now. Good luck. Let's send those bots to hell."

~

The
Nelson
and the
Sepik
disappeared in a synchronized blur as the helmsman applied power when the countdown reached zero, and the
Atrato
and
Ganges
disappeared two seconds later. From that point, the computers were actually flying the ship and dropping the sensors and bombs because the required nanosecond timing was too precise for humans.

As the crew aboard the
Calcutta
watched the attack on vid screens throughout the ship, the
Nelson
's target seemed to jump, then great holes appeared in the hull, but it maintained a sort of integrity. The
Atrato
's target seemed to break almost in half, but the pieces clung together. There was no doubt that the ship was incapable of further FTL flight.

"
Atrato
," Captain Boyd said, "hit the
Nelson
's first target on your return pass."

"
Atrato
acknowledges," Lt. Commander Moodigon said.

~

The bombs dropped by the
Nelson
on its return pass had better effect on its target than those of its first run. The third mothership, which had not yet begun to move after the first pass of the SDBs, broke into four pieces when the five WOLaR bombs exploded within its interior, but the pieces stubbornly clung together in a loose fashion, despite the many thousands of small explosions in what had been the interior. It was speculated that the lesser explosions were from the small missiles that Denubbewa warships carried on their hulls.

The
Atrato
's return pass successfully broke the back of the first mothership targeted, and the pieces began to drift apart as small explosions also filled the void. There was no doubt that the three motherships weren't going anywhere soon.

As the four SDBs returned to the RP, everyone was watching the vid screen images transmitted by the sensor buoys.

"Good work, people," Captain Boyd said. "Those ships are done for. I don't even see a single surviving warship, as was the case with previous attacks by our forces. I guess using five WOLaR bombs instead of three has made all the difference. But just in case there are any cyborgs picking themselves up, dusting themselves off, and trying to get their warships moving, let's hit the motherships that only received one pass so far."

"Three WOLaR bombs or five, Captain?" Lt. Commander Thakett asked.

"Five," Boyd said. "A little extra power now might save us further effort."

"Aye, Captain," Thakett said.

"The run will commence sixty seconds from— now."

Sixty seconds later, the
Nelson
and
Sepik
began their run. Two seconds later the
Atrato
and
Ganges
followed.

Where the WOLaR explosions had mostly been inside the motherships on the first passes, they were clearly visible on the third pass because of the incredible damage already sustained by the motherships. Following the third pass, the motherships didn't look much like ships anymore.

"What now, Captain?" Lt. Commander Moodigon of the
Atrato
asked. " Do we perform any salvage operations?"

"Negative. We'll watch and see if we need to make any additional runs and then use the
Calcutta
's tugs to push the mothership pieces into the nearest sun. We're not going to lose another Marine to those cyborg bastards if I have any say in it. Whatever intel the scientists got from that uncompleted mothership before it came alive with cyborgs will have to serve."

~     ~

There wasn't any need for additional runs because no warships were seen in the twenty-four hours following the bombing runs. Boyd didn't know if the warships usually found inside the motherships were destroyed or if they had never been there in the first place. But it didn't matter. The three motherships would never be home to a warship again.

"The job here is mostly done," Captain Boyd said to the other four commanding officers during a five-way vid conference. "But there's still that uncompleted mothership to take care of. We know it doesn't have any warships in its belly, but we have to destroy it before the Denubbewa can put it into service. The
Calcutta
will stay here for as long as it takes and clean up the mess so no one can salvage anything. I want you four to go intercept that mothership that's on its way here and lay five or ten WOLaR eggs in its belly. Lt. Commander Moodigon, you're senior. You'll have command. Report to me after you've finished our work out here."

"Aye, Captain."

~     ~     ~

Two days later, Lt. Commander Moodigon sent a message to Captain Boyd that said, "The mothership is not where it should be based on previous speed and course. I believe it may have learned of our attack from one of the three motherships we destroyed and subsequently changed course. We're beginning a new search."

Captain Boyd sighed. She had hoped they were done with this assignment, but it had started to seem like it would never end. She notified Moodigon that the
Calcutta
would continue to clean up the battle site unless the four SDBs needed the destroyer. She told him to keep her briefed daily on the search efforts.

~     ~     ~

It took almost two weeks working three full watches each day for the
Calcutta's
two tugs to drag the major pieces of the Denubbewa ships to the nearest star and push them into a position where the star's gravity would do the rest of the work. Anyone foolhardy enough to try to salvage anything once the star had started to pull it in was foolhardy indeed and would be lucky to escape with their lives.

Captain Boyd had breathed a sigh of relief when she was at last able to have the
Calcutta
join the search, but they had barely arrived at the start point for their search when the
Sepik
announced it had found the mothership.

All four of the other ships immediately headed to a new RP from where they would launch their attacks.

~     ~

It took two days for the five ships to converge at the RP, and they didn't waste any time preparing for the attack. The mothership was traveling FTL at just over Light-467, so the
Sepik
had twice verified it's precise course and speed. Dropping WOLaR bombs on a moving target was a little trickier than on a stationary target, but if the target didn't alter their course at the very last second, it didn't present a major problem.

As before, the four SDBs aligned their ships and then linked their tac and helms so each pair would operate as one ship when they began their run. The
Nelson and Sepik
took the first pass and the mothership immediately dropped out of FTL as its temporal envelope dissipated. The ship was badly damaged by the attack and wouldn't be going anywhere again unless it was being towed.

As soon as the mothership lost its envelope, it was back in normal space at a standstill. When the
Atrato
and
Ganges
began their run, most of the variables were gone and all five of its WOLaR bombs were placed exactly where intended. Thousands of small explosions occurred within and among the broken pieces of the hull after the
Ganges
laid its eggs.

After completing their pass, the
Nelson
and
Sepik
had separated their connection and moved to a point where they could view the final pass without interfering with the attack route. They sent their images to the
Calcutta
so the destroyer crew could see as well.

"
Calcutta
," Lt. Commander Thakett of the
Nelson
said after the
Atrato
and
Ganges
WOLaR torpedoes had finished the mothership, "did you notice those objects floating in the detritus that looked like pieces of Denubbewa warships just before the second pass?"

"Yes," Captain Boyd said. "We were just discussing that. Perhaps that's why we didn't see many warships in the detritus of the three motherships we destroyed. They may have come to meet this uncompleted mothership and offer assistance. When we saw those small explosions, I thought at first that an armory had been hit, but they might have been from small missiles mounted on Denubbewa warship hulls. I guess we'll have to wait around for a while to see if any of the warships come to life before we start the cleanup."

~

After twenty-four hours of watching for any movement in the detritus and seeing none, the tugs began the cleanup by dragging or pushing everything larger than a shuttle into the gravity well of a nearby star. When there was nothing left worth salvaging, the five ships were finally able to head for Quesann.

~     ~     ~

"I'm happy to announce that the uncompleted Denubbewa mothership we brought to the Crondezzo system for study has finally been destroyed and its remnants pushed into a star," Admiral Moore said at the regularly scheduled meeting of the Admiralty Board. "That makes four motherships that were far closer to Quesann than we ever imagined. Although this chapter with the newest invaders to come into our territory has ended, it by no means ends the conflict. Admiral Holt's decision to put the fleet on alert was a good precaution. We don't know if those three motherships destroyed by the
Calcutta
task force intended us as a target, but the imminent danger seems gone for now.

"With each discovery of more and more Denubbewa motherships in Region Two, we've learned that their presence in GA space is far greater than we ever suspected. We have no idea how many remain in Region Two, and we have no idea how many are in Region Three. We've begun compiling statistics from all sources regarding missing vessels in Region Three, and the numbers are staggering. How many should be attributed to the Raiders or other pirates and how many should be attributed to the Denubbewa, we don't know, but it's obvious that we have a major problem. I hope Admiral Carver returns. We need her ability to think outside the cube and help us with these problems."