Synchronicity War Part 1, The (3 page)

Shiloh monitored both the hit probability screen and the Tactical
display screen. The bogey’s vector was up to 55 kps and still climbing. The
range hadn’t dropped that much, but as the speed increased, the range would
start dropping faster and faster. At least the message drone seemed to be
undetected. Its speed was increasing quickly too. Another two and a half
minutes and the message drone would reach the optimum speed for a least time
jump to the star system where the support ships were waiting for the squadron
to return. Shiloh wanted to wait as long as possible so that the hit probability
would be as high as possible. On the other hand, the longer he waited, the
greater the chance that the message drone would be detected. The 344 could make
a microjump right now and get away from that alien ship, but then they would
need to spend time accelerating fast enough to reach their departure system
quickly. The message drone could get back faster and was therefore worth
protecting. Since it was being constantly updated with data from the ship up to
the point when it entered Jumpspace, the support ships would know what was
happening. The hit probability indicator reached 90%. With two lasers firing,
the odds of both missing were one chance in a hundred. The chances of both
hitting on the first shot were slightly better than four out of five. Shiloh
decided not to wait any longer.

“Helm, go to maximum acceleration now! Weapons … open fire!”

“Opening fire now, Sir!” Almost immediately he continued, “Two
hits! We got two hits! Lasers recharging. Ready to fire again in … five … four …
three …”

Shiloh watched the Tactical display. The bogey had changed
course. Its heading was swinging towards his ship. 344 hadn’t been hit by
return fire yet. Shiloh assumed that the bogey had fired and missed, or else
they couldn’t fire due to damage from 344’s initial shot. 344 fired again. It
was time for his ship to change course.

“Helm, pull up 90 degrees! Go vertical then commence evasive
action!”

The Helm’s response mingled with the Weapon’s officer’s
reporting of two more hits. Still no hits from the enemy vessel. Shiloh didn’t
think their luck would continue for much longer. He checked the status of the
message drone. It was still accelerating and apparently undetected. He checked
the range to the bogey again. Still dropping, and the rate of decline was increasing.
344 was pulling a higher acceleration than the bogey, but its initial velocity
might as well have been zero for all the good it did them. The bogey had a lot
more velocity to begin with, so even though 344 was gaining speed at a faster
rate, the bogey was still moving faster due to its initial head start. The only
thing that was working in their favor was the fact that by going vertical
relative to the system’s plane, 344 was beginning a whole new vector. The bogey
was moving fast ‘horizontally’ but not ‘vertically’. At some point the 3-dimensional
geometry would start to work in their favor, and the range would start to widen
again. A part of Shiloh’s mind took note of the fact that the bogey’s rate of
acceleration was still 1.1 kps squared. 344 was piling on the velocity at
almost twice that rate. One possible explanation for that discrepancy would be
that their hull had a lot of armor on it. The extra mass would degrade
acceleration performance. It would also explain why the four hits achieved thus
far didn’t seem to have any effect on the alien vessel’s ability to maneuver.
If that ship did have enough hull armor to reduce its maximum acceleration by
half, then 344 was in big trouble.

Shiloh checked the relative positions and time to impact of
the recon drones. The drone that would reach the target first was still a
minute and a half away from contact. The good news was that by following the
344’s vertical course change, the bogey was no longer accelerating horizontally,
and that meant that drone #3 had a viable intercept solution. A flashing red
indicator on one of his screens caught Shiloh’s attention. The Sensor Tech
confirmed it.

“We’ve got active scanning! The bogey’s gone to active
scanning!”

That was both good and bad news for Shiloh’s ship. Active
scanning meant that the bogey’s return fire was bound to be more accurate. The
good news was that the active scanning itself gave away their position even
more precisely than tracking it by reflected sunlight had done. There was no
way that 344’s two lasers would miss now, and in fact they would be able to aim
both lasers at exactly the same point, thereby doubling the energy trying to
penetrate the hull at a specific spot. Shiloh turned his attention to trying to
keep his ship from getting hit.

“Helm! Redline the engines and go to max evasion!”

Shiloh dimly heard the Helm Officer acknowledge his orders.
344 started to maneuver so violently that its crew began to feel it. Shiloh was
glad he was strapped in. Just then the ship took its first hit. The extreme
maneuvering saved the ship from taking the full brunt of the enemy laser.
Instead, they got a glancing blow that cut through the ship’s minimal armor as
if it wasn’t there and knocked out one of the maneuvering engine assemblies.
344’s acceleration dropped by eight per cent and the severity of the evasive
maneuvers declined slightly, but that meant the chances of getting hit again
had just increased.

“Two more hits!” shouted the Weapons Officer, his voice
beginning to get hoarse. “We did it! We got through their hull! Reading
atmosphere venting! Ready to fire again in three … two … one … Firing! Two more
hits! More hull penetration!”

The Tactical display showed the bogey’s acceleration
dropping for the first time by almost 0.2 kps squared. Shiloh also noticed that
344 seemed to be firing more frequently than the alien ship. If their weapons were
far more powerful, then it would take a lot more energy to recharge it after
every shot. So it was a race to see if the strategy of multiple shots with less
power could damage the alien vessel severely enough before their more powerful
but less frequent return fire crippled his ship. To his surprise, another full
minute went by without another hit from the enemy vessel. During that interval,
344’s lasers penetrated the alien hull three times, the results showing in
reduced acceleration. Just as Shiloh started to hope that they might get
through this with only minor damage, 344 took a direct hit. Both laser turrets
were knocked out as the beam slashed along the ship’s spine. Multiple
compartments experienced explosive decompression with instant death for the
occupants. Collateral damage included the severing of key control linkages
between the Bridge and the rear half of the ship, which meant they could no
longer maneuver the ship from the Bridge. 344 continued to accelerate but now
only in a straight line. This meant that the next enemy shot would hit her
again for sure. Shiloh’s Command Station screens lit up like a Christmas tree
with multiple red and yellow damage lights. He heard his Helm Officer call out.

“I’ve lost helm control! We can’t evade!”

The Com Officer said, “All com channels with the rear half
of the ship have been cut!”

Shiloh had to find a way to get the ship maneuvering again.
It was their only hope of evading another devastating blow. He thought fast.

He called out the Weapons Officer’s name, “Sykes! Get down
to engineering and tell the XO to take over Helm functions from there. Tell her
we need to start evading again, fast!”

To his credit, Sykes didn’t even waste time acknowledging
the order. He was already on his way by the time Shiloh had finished speaking.
Shiloh didn’t know how long it would take the alien vessel to recharge its
weapon. Sykes would have to detour around damaged areas of the ship and might
not get to Engineering fast enough, but he couldn’t think of anything else to
try. Conning the ship from Engineering was their only hope. He checked the
status of the drones again. The closest one was only seconds from ramming the
enemy. Those few seconds seemed to take forever, but eventually they passed and
the Sensor Tech gave an exultant cry.

“Direct hit!  Major hull penetration! ... sensors picking up
secondary explosions from inside the hull ... acceleration has dropped to zero!
We plastered her good, by God!”

The whole Bridge erupted with shouts of joy. Shiloh grinned
but said nothing. He understood their need to vent their feelings, but he felt
it was premature to declare victory just yet. There was no way of knowing if
that ship could still fire its weapon. With both ships apparently heavily
damaged, the winner would be the one able to get in one final, good hit. He
checked the drone status again. Drone #2 was about 34 seconds from impact. As
the cheering died down, the Helm Officer shouted out.

“We’re evading again! Sykes must have gotten the word to the
XO!”

That brought another round of cheering. Shiloh watched the
seconds count down to the second drone intercept, desperately hoping that the
alien ship wouldn’t fire for just a little bit longer. As the last few seconds
fell away, he looked at the direct video view of the enemy ship. It was too far
to see the ship itself, but the sudden burst of light in the distance at the
moment of impact was all he needed, to know that drone #2 had hit the target
dead on. Even the Sensor Tech’s report was more subdued than before.

“Drone #2 made a direct hit … I’m reading major pieces of
debris scattering in all directions … energy emissions are now zero.” He looked
over at his CO. “I think we’ve killed that ship, Skipper.”

Shiloh nodded. “Yes. I’m inclined to agree with you. We’ll
let drone #3 impact the wreck, anyway. Helm? I want you to transfer to
Engineering and take over helm functions from there. Tell the XO we can stop
evading, and I want us on a course for a jump back to our departure system.
Also tell her to send a complete damage report to the Bridge by runner if the
com system isn’t repaired by then. Com! Any word on casualties yet?”

The responding voice was heavy with regret. “Preliminary
reports say 13 dead and 8 more injured. Repair teams are working on the damage.
No estimate yet of when we’ll get com links back up with the other half of the
ship. There may be more casualties that haven’t been reported yet. I’ve asked
Chief Watson to send a runner to check on casualties from the areas we can’t
contact, Sir.”

“Good thinking. Send a signal to any of our ships you can
reach, telling them that we appear to have won the battle and are leaving the
system as soon as possible. Wish them luck.”

The Com tech acknowledged the order.

“I’ll address the crew now … Intercom … ship-wide.”

“Attention all hands. This is the CO. I know that only some
of the crew can hear my voice, but I wanted you to know that even though we’ve
taken damage and casualties, the alien vessel that we engaged appears to be in
far worse shape and is currently drifting in space, apparently unable to
maneuver or fight. We’re going to hit it one more time with a recon drone set
to ram. I doubt there’ll be any survivors on that ship after that happens.
We’re not going to stick around to find out. We’ve been ordered by the Squadron
Leader to make sure that HQ knows what happened to the 319 and to us. We’re
going home asap. First stop will be at our departure point where we’ll top up
our fuel from the supply ships waiting there, and then we’ll resume our journey
home. The rest of the Squadron will hopefully follow us by a few hours. I’m
keeping the ship at General Quarters for now. As soon as we enter Jumpspace,
we’ll stand down from General Quarters. You all deserve to pat yourselves on
the back for your efforts in getting us through this. I’m proud of this ship
and its crew. That’s all for now. End message.”

He settled back in his Command Chair and felt the adrenaline
fatigue begin to hit. Even the impact of the final drone was anti-climatic.
There was less visible light from impact #3 versus #2. When he asked the Sensor
Tech if there were any signs of life on board the alien vessel, the answer was
a definitive ‘No, Sir.’ The message drone entered Jumpspace a few seconds
later. It would arrive near where the support ships should be and notify them
that 344 was on its way back.

Just over 10 minutes later, the ship entered Jumpspace. With
the com channel links restored to the rest of the ship, Shiloh ordered the crew
to stand down from General Quarters. When the XO arrived back on the Bridge to
finish what remained of her duty shift, Shiloh said, “Your duty shift will be
over soon. I’ll cover the rest of your shift for you until Michaels takes
over.”

The XO looked at him with sadness in her expression. “Commander
Michaels was killed by that laser hit we took, Sir.”

Shiloh sighed and said nothing for a few seconds. Finally he
spoke, “Michaels was a promising officer. The kind of officer I have a feeling
we’re going to need very badly before this is all over. Okay, Angela. You take
over now and cover the first half of Michaels duty shift. I’ll take the second
half in addition to my own. By the time you relieve me again, we’ll have
reassigned personnel to cover the gaps. Do you need a few minutes break before
you take over here?”

She thought about it briefly before nodding.

“Then go ahead and take a break. Have a coffee and a bite to
eat, and I’ll see you back here in a little while.”

“Thank you, Sir.”

She left, and Shiloh was alone with his thoughts. The more
he thought about their close brush with death, the more worried he became. He
doubted that this would be the last time Humanity encountered that alien race.
He had a terrible feeling come over him that this had been just the opening
skirmish of a much larger conflict, Humanity’s first interstellar war.