Ep.#5 - "Rise of the Corinari" (12 page)

“Possibly.”

“Can it be done in time to intercept that drone?”

“Doubtful,” she admitted. “And certainly not with enough time to retest them.”

“What if we purposefully jump short, just to be safe?” Nathan suggested.

“You’re assuming that the effect will always be the same, and that it won’t be compounded when we jump greater distances.”

“Bad idea, huh?” Nathan admitted.

“Quite,” Abby agreed. “The only way we could possibly intercept that drone now is if we replace all the emitters with replicated ones. That way they’d all put out a uniform amount of energy.”

“Will that work?” Nathan wondered.

“It has a better chance of working than trying to calibrate them,” Abby told him.

“How many emitters are we talking about?”

“Another thirty-seven emitters.”

“Can we manufacture and install thirty-seven emitters in, what, twenty-eight and a half hours?” Nathan asked, looking at his watch.

“We never stopped producing them, sir,” Abby told him. “In case any of them went bad or got damaged in combat, we thought it would be wise to have some spares. We have about a dozen spares already, and it only takes about an hour to make one emitter, and we have two micro-fabricators to work with. If we have installation teams working nonstop and have the new emitters brought out to them as they are made, we might make it.”

“Let’s get on it then,” Nathan sighed. “Naralena, contact the Yamaro and tell them to pump out emitters as fast as they can.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Josh, as soon as the Prime Minister’s party departs, adjust our orbit and rendezvous with the Yamaro again. I want us parked as close as possible to her.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Naralena, get Lieutenant Commander Kamenetskiy on the comm and put him through to me,” he ordered as he headed into his ready room.

“Yes, sir.”

By the time Nathan made it to his desk, Vladimir was already on the comms.

“How did the test go?”
Vladimir asked over the comms.

“Fine, if you like nearly jumping into the planet’s atmosphere at ten percent light.”

“
Shto?
”

“Listen, Vlad, can your guys install thirty seven more emitters in twenty-eight hours?”

“
Impossible. Why?
”

“Abby didn’t seem to think it was impossible.”

“
Of course she did not. She has no idea how difficult it is to do such things, or how dangerous.
”

“Dangerous? How is it dangerous?”

“
You mean other than working in vacuum? The Darvano sun is different than ours. It is stronger, puts out more radiation. It limits the amount of time that workers can spend outside the ship to only a few hours per day. Any longer and they risk overexposure to radiation that could be fatal.
”

“What if we had more men?”

“
The work requires two people to perform, and it takes them about two hours to replace one emitter. They can work three hours, maybe four. We would need maybe sixty people in order to complete the work so quickly.
”

“What if we kept the ship between the workers and the Darvano sun?” Nathan wondered.

“
Da, that might help, I think. But it will be more difficult in the darkness.
”

“We’re going to park up close to the Yamaro. Maybe she has some exterior lighting we can use.”

“Maybe. But I only have twenty men that are qualified to do such work under such conditions.”

“I’ll get you more,” Nathan promised, “as many as I can.”

“You must do so quickly, Nathan,
” Vladimir urged. “
By the time they arrive and are ready to go to work, the men I have will probably have already reached their maximum exposure time.
”

“Understood,” Nathan told him. “Get your guys ready, Vlad. We’ll rendezvous with the Yamaro in a few hours. I want you ready to go to work.”

“We will begin installing the spare emitters we already have immediately,
” Vladimir promised. “
If you are able to rotate the ship to keep the work teams in the dark, it will help.
”

“Will do. Thanks.” Nathan switched off the comm-set on his desk. His chief engineer and his band of volunteer Corinairan technicians had their work cut out for them, and it was dangerous work at that. Then again, stopping that comm-drone before it was able to deliver word of their presence in the Darvano system to the Ta’Akar command would probably buy them a few months to better prepare. Nathan was sure of that, and preparation was essential at this point. They couldn’t continue reacting to events; doing so had nearly depleted the Aurora of ammunition, crew, and even spirit. They needed to take control, to go on the offensive.

Nathan switched the comm-set back on, pressing the button that hailed the comms-station. “Naralena, get me in touch with Commander Taylor on Corinair,” he instructed, “and see to it that Chief Montrose is also on the line.”

* * *

“Attention on deck,” the guard at the door to the briefing room announced. Everyone in attendance stood at attention as Nathan walked briskly into the room.

“As you were,” he ordered as he made his way to the head of the table and took his seat. “First, I want to thank you all for your tireless efforts over the last twenty-eight hours. Your dedication and that of your teams are why we were able to pull off the impossible and install all of the new emitters in time.” Nathan paused and took a breath before continuing. “Unfortunately, as you all know, I cannot offer a break just yet, as we have a mission to perform. We need to locate and destroy the comm-drone that will be arriving in the Takaran home system in less than a day. If we are successful, we could gain at least two additional months before a Takaran battle group comes knocking at our door. That’s time we desperately need to prepare.” Nathan stopped and looked at the faces at the table. “Any questions?”

“How are we going to catch a drone moving at FTL speeds?” Josh asked.

“Good question, Mister Hayes,” Nathan said. “Ensign Willard?”

Ensign Willard leaned forward in his chair as he spoke. “The drones accelerate up to between ninety and ninety-five percent the speed of light before they go into FTL. This is how they achieve FTL speeds of nearly one hundred times light. They are designed to drop out of FTL when they encounter a hail from a Takaran ship. Once they are out of FTL, they listen for a valid message exchange signal. If the signal passes authentication, the drone will decelerate and begin a message exchange with the hailing ship, returning to FTL once the exchange is complete.”

“What if there is no valid message exchange signal?” Jessica asked.

“If no exchange request is authenticated within approximately five of your minutes, the drone will automatically accelerate and go back into FTL to continue its journey,” Ensign Willard explained. “It is during this period that the drone will be vulnerable to attack.”

“What if we miss?” Nathan wondered. “What will the drone do?”

“As far as I know, drones are not programmed to take any evasive maneuvers, Captain,” Ensign Willard explained.

“That seems a bit hard to believe,” Jessica stated with suspicion.

“FTL traffic within the Pentaurus cluster is restricted to either Ta’Akar warships or Ta’Akar controlled transports,” Tug interjected. “They do not feel the need for such programming.”

“I don’t know,” Jessica said. “One of the first things you go for in an armed conflict is the enemy’s lines of communication.”

“Yes, under normal circumstances I might agree,” Tug granted, “but given the technologies available in the cluster, it is nearly impossible to target something moving at ninety percent the speed of light.”

“He’s right,” Nathan stated. “Without the jump drive it would be impossible to intercept the drone.”

“So, we just keep telling the drone to drop out of FTL and shoot at it until we get lucky. Is that the plan?” Jessica asked.

“Basically, yes,” Nathan answered. “Sooner or later we have to hit something.”

“I’m afraid it will have to be sooner, Captain,” Ensign Willard insisted. “The drones are programmed to ignore all hails after the third interruption. It was necessary in order to avoid unusual delays in delivery due to malfunctions. There were several cases where a drone kept dropping out of FTL due to errant radio waves. A two week journey ended up taking two months, resulting in all manner of problems. They never figured out exactly how the errant emissions where causing the malfunction, but the three dropouts per flight subroutine effectively eliminated the problem and therefore was never removed from the standard programming package used in the drones.”

“So,” Nathan responded, “three strikes and we’re out.” Other than Jessica, Vladimir, Ensign Yosef, Abby, and himself, everyone else in the room looked puzzled.

“If you mean three chances are all we get, then yes, Captain, you would be correct.” Ensign Willard agreed.

“So we jump out to where we expect the drone to be, transmit a signal to get it to drop out of FTL, and then what?” Jessica asked. “We’ve got no rail gun ammo left to speak of.”

“I can engage the drone using my interceptor,” Tug explained. “The energy cannons do not require ammunition, only energy, of which there will be an ample supply, thanks to the new reactors installed by the Corinari.”

“How will we locate this drone?” Vladimir asked. “It will be traveling faster than light. By the time we see it, it will already be gone.”

“We jump just ahead of it and off its course slightly,” Nathan explained. “As soon as it passes us, we’ll be able to see it.”

“Our optical and radar suites are sophisticated enough to track the drone as it passes us by,” Ensign Yosef explained. “It will measure the range of the drone while in close proximity, and the optics will track the bearing to the drone as well as measure the Doppler component of the signal. All of this information combined will yield enough data to predict the drone’s position even over extended ranges.”

“Very good,” Nathan remarked. “Then all we have to do is jump in ahead of it and transmit the dropout signal using the codes and frequencies provided by Ensign Willard. The drone drops out of FTL and Tug chases it down in his interceptor and destroys it. Sounds easy enough to me,” Nathan stated enthusiastically. As he looked around the table at each of their faces, it quickly became apparent that they did not share in his enthusiasm.

“Captain,” Abby interrupted, “may I remind you that we have yet to test the new emitters?”

“Sorry, Doc,” Nathan said. “Your first test is going to have to be en route. We’re out of time.”

“I wouldn’t recommend that, Captain.”

“Is there any reason to think that they will not work?” Nathan asked.

“No, but…”

“Then I’ll give you one short jump on our way out,” Nathan interrupted. “If it works, the next jump will be about four light years.”

“Captain,” Tug began, “I will need someone to feed me navigational information. I will be much too busy with piloting and targeting to do it myself.”

“I could take second seat,” Josh offered.

“No, it is much too dangerous,” Tug insisted.

“It’s not like the drone’s gonna shoot back at us,” Josh argued.

“I will be chasing a target at ninety percent the speed of light, firing high energy cannons. I can think of few things that are more dangerous,” Tug told him.

“He’s right, Mister Hayes,” Nathan insisted. “Besides, I need you on the helm.”

“Yes, sir,” Josh answered.

“I could pilot the ship,” Loki offered.

“No, you’re going to be too busy calculating navigational tracks for both the Aurora and Tug.”

“Oh yeah.”

“Ensign Yosef, you’ll be responsible for locating the drone and calculating its position as needed. Abby will be running jump plots and operating the jump drive.”

“What am I doing?” Jessica wondered.

“You keep your eyes on that threat board, Jess,” Nathan urged. “We’re going to be coming awfully close to Takaran space, and we’re essentially unarmed at the moment.”

“What would you like me to do, Captain?” Vladimir asked.

“Same thing you always do, Cheng.” A smiled crept across Nathan’s face. “Hold her together so we can get the job done.”

* * *

“Comms, alert all hands. We’re about to get underway,” Nathan ordered as he entered the bridge.

“Yes, sir,” Naralena reported from the comm station.

“Mister Hayes,” Nathan continued, “are we ready for departure?”

“Aye, sir. All systems show ready,” Josh reported.

Nathan took his seat in the command chair at the center of the bridge. “Jess?”

“Threat board is clear, Captain,” Jessica reported. “And Tug reports his interceptor is powered up and ready to go.”

“Very well. Helm, take us out of orbit,” Nathan ordered.

“Aye, sir. Breaking orbit.” Josh fired the main engines, bringing them up sharply in order to quickly accelerate out of orbit over Corinair. Unlike the previous trip where he was trying to provide a smooth ride for the visiting dignitaries, this time they were on a mission and time was critical.

The Aurora surged forward as her engines roared to life, sending a low rumble throughout the ship. The image of the planet below them fell away rapidly as they climbed up and away.

Nathan turned to Naralena, sitting at the comm station to his left and slightly behind him. “Comms, notify the Corinari that we are departing.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Ensign Willard,” Nathan said, “I trust that your calculations have been fed to our navigator?”

“Yes, sir,” Ensign Willard assured him, “both the standard comm-drone route between Darvano and Takara, as well as my estimate of the drone’s current position along that route.”

“Very good,” Nathan responded. “Let’s hope your estimations are accurate.”

“I had your navigator check them, just to be sure,” Ensign Willard assured him. “Even your physicist checked them over.”

“I took the liberty of plotting some jumps at various points along the area of the route where we expect to find the drone,” Abby explained.