Fleet Action (22 page)

The crowd seemed to immediately sober up and drifted away back to their stations.

"Here's what all the excitement is about. I thought you should know in case anything happened."

"Anything happened?"

"We could take a hit to this bay and our entire team gets wiped out. I want someone off this deck to know what we've just found out I want you to remember the message but you are to immediately, and forever, forget how we found out"

Jason nodded in agreement

Vance pointed to a two dimensional screen. On the right side was what Jason assumed was phonetically translated Kilrathi, on the left long series of white blocks, and occasional words in English which were partial translations of the message.

"When Geoff left he went back amongst other reasons, to have ConFleet send out a false message which stated that our primary matter-antimatter assembly plant on the moon had been destroyed due to an accidental detonation. As a result no new weapons would be delivered for several months. The message of course was a complete fabrication.

An hour ago we picked up this message from Kilrah to their Hari base and cracked part of it."

Jason leaned over to look at the screen.

Most of the message was untranslated but one line highlighted in red leaped out at him . . . "Remove target 2778A on moon of nak'tara from primary strike list Accident has destroyed target, . . ." there were several lines untranslated . . . "shortage in antimatter weapons produced from 2778A expected, will update."

Jason looked back up at Vance.

"They took the bait. We broadcast the false message on a code we knew they had already cracked. Their listening post, most likely right in their embassy office picked it up and passed it back to Kilrah. Nak'tara means Earth. It means that whatever it is they're preparing out there in Hari is being aimed for an attack straight at Earth. Damn it, the bastards are getting ready to strike."

Jason leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes for a moment. He could understand the elation of Vance's crew. Their job was to get information and they had just pulled out a gold nugget of information unlike anything found in years. They had reason to celebrate. But it meant as well that the armistice was nothing more than a sham. Though he had assumed it to be so from the beginning, there had always been a small part of him that had hoped against hope that maybe the peace was real after all. This was a dark proof that shattered the dream.

Damn all of them, the Kilrathi, the political leaders back home that had led them into this fix, damn all of them.

"Think we should lift off and get the hell out of here?" Jason asked. "We could punch our way through the picket screen.

Vance shook his head.

"And bring back what? One partially decoded message as proof. The peace party crowd would say it was cooked up to restart the war. A lone burst signal does not an ironclad case make."

"They could be moving at any time now. We should be alerting ConFleet, they'll believe us."

"Son, ConFleet will believe us, but they're the only ones. You've got to remember this as well. We don't exist as far as the government is concerned. There aren't more than half a dozen people off this ship who even know we're out here. How do you think it'd be presented if we go rushing back home and stand up to announce that we parked this ship clear on the other side of the Empire in clear violation of the armistice? The real truth of what we found would be lost in the screaming and protests not only from the Kilrathi but from some of our own people as well. It'd also blow the cover on this D-5 system. That's one of the problems with intelligence. If we make public what we've found, the Kilrathi will figure out just how capable our surveillance is and change their procedures and it might be years before we can break it back down again."

Jason nodded. They'd need something hard, clearly recorded visuals, and even then some people would claim it was a fake out. Hell, the Kilrathi would most likely have to start kicking down the front door before anyone would act.

"So we just sit here and wait."

"Too bad this planet screens us from your friend Paladin. Maybe he might have something by now," Vance replied. "Hell, we're stuck here, unable to move and one ship out to scout. I doubt if he's even got within a hundred light years of their base."

Standing up to stretch, Prince Thrakhath growled softly as he continued to look at the screen which showed the latest intelligence report.

The intelligence report from Jukaga matched that of what his own military chain of command had stated. Jukaga most likely knew that Thrakhath had his own lines of communications, and since the incident took place within a military command district he would find out about it almost immediately.

Someone, almost undoubtedly from the Confederation, had penetrated right into the very system where the new fleet was being constructed. The translight radar sweep could only have been done by a very well outfitted spy ship, as no smuggler could afford to carry such equipment. Beyond that, the ship had been using Stealth masking. The fact that the humans had either learned the secret of Stealthing or captured such equipment was stunning. They were on to something. The question now was whether the information had gotten back to the Confederation and their fleet command. No burst signal could possibly cross such a distance. The spy ship had sent out three burst signals so far, all of them aimed towards the Paghk System, where a suspected ship was still being hunted. But no burst signal had come from that system to relay the message on.

No, Confleet did not yet know.

He turned to a holo projection, ordering up a map of the Paghk system, and then ordered a projection of jump lines and systems back to where the spy ship had been sighted. Next he ordered in a display of where the spy was now located, the position of ships in pursuit and where nearby ships might be located to move in to aid the chase. Finally he ordered a projection of jump lines from the Paghk system back towards the Confederation ship.

The holo field was a maze of blue lines, blinking lights representing ships, and steady yellow lights representing the array of stars which were terminus points for the jump lines.

He studied it intently, shifting, moving in the focus, calling up more data, formulating plans, then shifting the field yet again to examine another part, a side screen scrolling out data on the various ships available.

Yet this was no simple intercept operation. There was a political consideration as well, involving Jukaga, and just what he might be doing in regards to this new situation. As he studied the holo projection Thrakhath developed his plan.

He was interrupted by a paging call. It was the Emperor on an open line.

"It is time that we leave for the ceremony," the Emperor said and then clicked off.

"We've picked up a threefold increase in signal traffic within the last six hours, chief."

Vance nodded wearily, looking through the report handed to him by one of his assistants. He was exhausted. Against all rules of proper procedure, he had put his people on eight hour on, four hour off duty shifts. He knew exhaustion was cutting into their performance, that it'd be best to give everybody a day off to unwind, but it was getting too hot. Earlier in the day they had made a quantum jump in cracking Fleet Code A, bringing the translations up to nearly sixty percent. It was increasingly revealing the full extent of the conspiracy, ranging from continual updates of military actives and deployments around Earth, but also a thousand other details down to spare part requests, and shipping orders for the transport fleet that was slipping deep out into Hari space, hauling the millions of tons of supplies needed to build a new fleet from scratch. A signal earlier in the day reported the transfer of more than a thousand pilots, their plane maintenance crews and the fighter craft off of carriers in drydock, and thus supposedly deactivated to the reserves, to the new fleet.

Something was definitely up. The Kilrathi were acting, but on what, and for what reason? And now the signal increase.

"We're also getting ship to ship communication increase within this system. Two light cruisers have moved in along with one heavy cruiser just detected."

That made Vance sit up and take notice. He looked at the report that the analyst pointed out on the screen, a real time translation of the messages, broadcast on a low priority code racing across the screen.

"They're setting up for an intercept from the looks of things," Vance said "Send a messenger down to Captain Bondarevsky, tell him to come here at once."

There were times when security got on his nerves. All communication lines between the fighter bay and the rest of the ship had been sealed off based upon the near infinitesimal chance that a member of the ship's crew, and one of his own people might collaborate in trying to get information off the ship.

The analyst turned and started for the door while Vance punched over to his head of Alpha team security, informing the captain to let the analyst pass into the ship and return with Jason.

A side channel suddenly leaped into activity on the display screen, originating from inside the system they were now occupying. It was one of the standard Confleet bands. But from where?

The D-5 had already locked on to it, a reflected signal skipping over the horizon of the planet, the message breaking up. "Just what the hell is this?" Vance whispered, turning more of the computer's power loose from other activities to focus in on the signal and enhance it.

It was an audio signal, and he turned on a speaker.

"Green one, Green one, this is Green two over."

"That's Paladin!"

Vance turned to see Jason coming up behind him.

"Green one, where the hell are you, am under attack, over.

"Where's it coming from?" Jason asked.

"Looks like from directly on the other side of the planet. Getting some skip through the atmosphere, wait a second."

He typed in a quick order and the D-5 turned one of its antenna array to aim at the small moon of the planet which was nothing more than an oversized rock orbiting half a million clicks overhead.

"Getting a reflection signal from the moon as well, give me a second here . . ." and he punched in another command.

"There, got it. Triangulate the signal as coming from near directly behind us, thirty five million clicks back."

"Straight back towards the jump point towards Hari," Jason said, turning to look at a holo map of the system which one of Vance's assistants activated, a blinking yellow dot showing where Paladin must be.

"We're getting in the clear attack signals from the Kilrathi cruisers, one of them is launching fighters," the assistant announced.

"They're moving in to cut Paladin off," Jason said quietly, looking at the map which was now showing the enemy ships in the sector. Several corvettes were already moving to set up a picket across the jump point leading out towards Confederation space while the cruisers positioned themselves for an easy kill.

"Either they found him out before he got the information, or after he picked it up; it's one of the two," Vance said quietly.

"Why are you telling me this?" Jason asked, suddenly aware that Vance was staring at him in a coldly detached way.

"If he doesn't have the data, and we go up to try and save him, our cover is blown and we'll have to get the hell out. For that matter I wonder if we can get out now considering the hardware they've brought in here."

"Are you suggesting that I do nothing and let them blow Paladin and Ian apart?"

"The mission comes first, Captain."

"And suppose he does have the data we need?"

"I haven't heard it yet, and frankly, son, his chances of finding them were slim to none to start with when we sent him on alone."

Jason looked back at the screen.

"Green one, Green one, am under attack, where the hell are you?"

Jason closed his eyes and tried to focus his thoughts, while. Paladin's insistent call for help echoed across the deck.

"Green one, Green one, this is Green two over."

Paladin, exasperated and filled with a frustrated rage, punched the channel off and slammed his fist down on the console.

To have come so far back and now to be cut off. The next jump point out of this system was blocked, and already half a dozen ships which had been pursuing him for days were coming through behind, a fact made worse by the more than fifty patrol craft and three cruisers currently in the sector. The heavy cruiser was already launching its squadron of fighters which would close with him within the hour.

The game was up and Bannockburn was about to get fried. As soon as he had jumped, the pickets waiting on the far side plastered him with high energy radar bursts and then threw on laserlocks he simply couldn't shake.

Just before they hit him he'd try one more burst signal, feeding every erg of power he had into it, but the chance of it reaching Confed space at this range was remote and made even more implausible by the fact that it was dicey at best if someone had a listening array focused on this region. If only he knew where Tarawa was he could transfer the info off and the they'd have the power to punch a signal through, plus they would also know where to aim it for an intercept.

"Damn it all to hell, if I get out of this I quit," Paladin snarled. "I'm heading back to Scotland and I'll be damned if I ever let my two feet get off the ground again.

"Ian, you'd better launch now. I'm glad that the Admiral managed to get a jump capable Ferret tucked into this ship's cargo bay. I thought he was a wee bit crazy trying that out. I'm ordering you to break off and try and make it through the jump point. I'm loading the information into your fighter's computers now. You've got to get that information back to Confed territory. Tarawa's either gone or bought it."