The Clones of Mawcett (33 page)

“Are we on our own, Sir, or will more ships be coming to aid us?” Lieutenant Kerrey asked.

“Right now we're on our own, but other ships are being diverted in support of this operation. Space Command informs me that this task force will comprise sixteen ships in total, unless something else comes up, and we should have the entire force assembled by the time we find the Raider base. There's only one other ship in the fleet that can match our speed, so right now we're far ahead of any other GSC ships proceeding to this area. We'll remain in this vicinity until we spot the Tsgardi ship, or until we decide that they must have chosen another destination. Any more questions?” When no one spoke, the Captain added, “Dismissed.”

* * *

The Prometheus, joined after several weeks by an older battleship, the Bellona, remained in position for a full month. Named for the Roman goddess of war, the slightly smaller warship was a bit slower than the Prometheus, but was nevertheless a formidable warship. Like the Prometheus, it was the first ship constructed in its class so it had the honor of having the class designated with her name. Three heavy cruisers and ten destroyers also arrived during the weeks that Prometheus sat waiting, but there wasn't any sign of the Tsgardi ship, nor were any sightings reported by the arriving ships.

The task force was now in place, except for one ship, and the captains of the Space Command vessels began to hold a series of meetings aboard the Prometheus to plan the assault on the, as yet unlocated, Raider base. Gavin, as the senior officer, was the designated task force commander. 

A week later than the last of the others, the final ship assigned to the battle-group arrived. Chiron, brother ship to Prometheus, had been traveling for months at top speed to join the task force at the RP. The might of this combined group made it the most powerful Space Command force ever assembled and little could stand in its way. Even three times the number in Raider ships should not prove a match for the task force, when the skill and training of the Space Command crews were factored in with the strengths of the warships.

Jenetta was working in her office when a small group from the Chiron came aboard the Prometheus. When her computer interface announced that Captain Kanes was requesting admittance, she pushed the com screen down on the report she was reading, said “Come,” and jumped to her feet. “Good afternoon, sir,” she said as he entered. “I wasn't aware you were aboard.”

“Sit, please, Jen,” Kanes said. “I just dropped by to say hello.”

“Yes sir,” Jenetta said, sitting back down. Kanes sat down in the chair facing her desk.

“I understand that the Prometheus hasn't had any luck in finding the Tsgardi vessel?”

“Not as yet, sir.”

“If they were headed this way, they should have been spotted by now.”

“Yes sir, although they might have had mechanical problems that resulted in a delay.”

“We have to face the fact that they may have had a different destination entirely. I've kept the task force here for as long as I can. I have to release it now to Captain Gavin so it can begin searching for the Raider base. I'm sorry, Jen. I was really hoping that we would find your sister before we had to engage the Raiders.”

“Yes sir. Thank you. I understand, and I know that Christa will understand also; even if she's already inside the Raider base.”

Kanes looked down at the floor for a few seconds before making eye contact again. “We can't not attack the base if we locate it; not just to save one person, however special she might be. Hopefully, the Raiders will surrender without a fight, but I don't think so. Most know that murder and kidnapping charges will be preferred against them and that they face a possible lifetime of confinement at the penal colony on Saquer Major when the cases are adjudicated.”

“Then we'll have to hope that they prefer a lifetime of confinement to a swift and immediate death.”

It was decided that the three battleships would each spearhead a separate search effort for the Raider base. Before Raider-One was found, no one would have thought to look for a pirate base inside a hollowed out asteroid because the effort required to create such a base seemed just too enormous to be seriously contemplated. In hindsight, the solution was the only practicable one. Despite the vastness of space, somebody would have noticed the assembly of a large force of non-SC warships in Galactic Alliance space. Of course, in the past, no one ever imagined that the Raiders had such a large fleet of warships, which is another reason that no one contemplated the construction of such a base.

The force divided into the three groups and began investigating all asteroids in the sector. It took almost three weeks before the Bellona found an asteroid that provided confusing information. Sitting on the very outside edge of an asteroid belt, the enormous, ugly, black rock appeared to be composed of ferrite ore and carbon, yet the readings from sensors represented just forty percent of the anticipated mass for its size. The Bellona continued on past the asteroid as if nothing was wrong and then contacted the rest of the task force. Within forty-eight hours the entire SC warship force had assembled near the asteroid. Having deployed two communication jamming satellites to block IDS communication signals immediately after transmitting an encrypted signal announcing its find, the Bellona had never moved so far away that her sensors weren't constantly scanning the rock, searching for anything out of the ordinary.

With Prometheus, Chiron, and Bellona sitting twenty-five thousand kilometers off what they felt had to be the area on the asteroid where the hidden doors would be located, and the other ships encircling the asteroid from a similar distance, Captain Gavin broadcast a message on all RF communication frequencies in the microwave spectrum.

“Attention, Raider base. This is the captain of the Prometheus and the commander of the task force now surrounding your base. You have five minutes to respond. I urge you to contact us, or you face complete destruction.”

The seconds ticked off slowly as they waited for a response. The captain even allowed a full extra minute before nodding to the weapons fire control officer. A second later a single torpedo was fired at the asteroid. As it reached a point one-hundred kilometers from the asteroid, a dozen phased array lasers suddenly uncovered and opened fire. Either the gunners weren't very skilled, or perhaps the weapons weren't very accurate, because the torpedo nearly reached the asteroid before being destroyed. The laser fire conclusively proved that the task force had found the base.

At twenty-five thousand kilometers from the asteroid, the GSC ships were outside the effective range of the asteroid's lasers. Although a laser pulse can travel a few hundred thousand kilometers before light-speed lag makes its effectiveness negligible, numerous other factors such as beam distortion from vibration, target motion, and finite sensor resolution are at work. Extreme distances didn't always stop a gunner from trying, but damage at this range is sufficiently rare that experienced gunners usually didn't bother. Unfortunately, the GSC arrays were equally useless against the asteroid. The ships had to either move in closer or rely on torpedoes to press their attack.

When no word came from the asteroid during the next five minutes, the captain gave the order to fire a volley of five torpedoes. Two were destroyed by fire from the asteroid, but the other three impacted the asteroid's walls. The effect was paltry. It was obvious that torpedoes weren't going to open a hole in the asteroid anytime soon. Gavin called a meeting of his senior officers to discuss the situation. Kanes and his top four people, who had transferred to the Prometheus when the Chiron arrived, also attended. A vid conference link was established with each of the ships in the task force, and the other senior staffs were able to participate. The large monitor in the bridge deck conference room was a patchwork of images being received from conference rooms aboard the other ships.

“As you all know,” Gavin said as the conference began, “we've ascertained that the asteroid does house the Raider base, but our torpedoes have had minimal effect on that hunk of rock. Although deadly against any ship, our torpedoes practically just bounce off that thing. We have to develop a strategy for penetrating a seemingly impenetrable fortress. We're too far away for laser fire to be effective, and if we move closer we'd be putting our own ships in peril from the asteroid's guns, without any expectation of immediate results. I'm open to any suggestions.”

The officers looked at one another, or down at the table as they thought. Their weapons weren't designed to penetrate kilometers of rock. All had expected the Raiders to flee as soon as they found their base under attack.

“We have a new weapon,” Captain Kanes offered, “that might be able to crack that thing like a hard boiled egg, but it will take four months or more to get it here.”

“What is it?” Captain Gavin asked.

“It's still classified 'most secret' so I'll have to get permission from Supreme HQ before I can more fully explain its explosive capability, or even guarantee that we can use it. But basically, it's an advancement on a weapon developed in the late twentieth century for warfare on Earth. That weapon was called a 'bunker buster' because it would plow through multiple layers of reinforced concrete before exploding, the idea being to penetrate to the lowest levels of subterranean fortifications before detonating. I know that the weapons research people have been looking for a place to properly test it.”

“Based on what we've just seen,” Captain Gavin said, "we'll need at least four to guarantee that one makes it through. What would happen if the gunners fail to shoot any of the weapons down?

“Well–– based on the expected yield reports that I've seen, we might have a situation like that of Raider-One after Commander Carver delivered her little present. There might be very little of that base left if four torpedoes with the new warhead all made it through successfully. We might not even be able to even identify which ships were inside before the attack.”

“It sounds like a weapon of last resort then,” Captain Hyden of the Bellona said.

“Yes, but if the Raiders won't surrender, it may be our last resort. We can't keep sixteen warships here indefinitely, and we can't just turn around and head for the barn now that we've found them.”

“Sirs,” Jenetta said, “if the new weapon is as powerful as suggested, we should only fire one at a time...”

“Don't be ridiculous, Commander,” LaSalle said derisively, interrupting Jenetta's proposal. “the Raider gunners would all concentrate their fire on the one torpedo and its chances of getting through would be significantly reduced.”

“I was thinking that we send three or four regular torpedoes along with it, to act as diversions. If the Raiders knock the special one down, then we send five more, again with only one of them containing the new warhead. Our first goal should be to breach the walls, not knock down the castle.”

“That sounds like a sensible idea, Commander,” Kanes said.

“I agree,” Gavin said, nodding his head slightly.

LaSalle scowled, but said nothing. She had spoken up too quickly and Carver had made her look like a fool in front of everyone viewing the teleconference when she expounded her idea.

“Sirs,” Jenetta said, “if this asteroid is like Raider-One, then the weakest point has to be the main doors. Instead of ten or twenty kilometers of rock, we would only be trying to break through a few meters of metal and the composite materials used for camouflage. I have to believe that the torpedoes would have had more of an effect if we had really identified the door area. We must be attacking the wrong point; perhaps one deliberately designed to mislead. I suggest that we fire a number of torpedoes at the asteroid from different points and then use the resulting seismal information to determine where the tunnel doors actually are.”

There was silence in the room for minute. “You think that we've been deceived into attacking a point where we couldn't possibly break through?” Gavin said thoughtfully. “It's possible. With the doors closed, the asteroid just looks like a big chunk of black rock.”

“Even if we're attacking the wrong point,” Captain Powers of the Chiron said, “we still may not be able to crack open a hole in the asteroid once we identify the entrance.”

“Captain Kanes,” Captain Gavin said, “find out if we may have the new weapons for 'testing' against that asteroid. That'll give the Raiders four months to surrender, or us four months to find another alternative. Commander LaSalle, coordinate with our other ships to fire a series of torpedoes for the purpose of collecting seismic data that our science officers can use to identify the asteroid's tunnel into the port and its weakest points.”