Demon Star Read online

  “Maybe the Whales have defenses against railgun salvos. They do have active detection systems going all the time. Perhaps they’re good enough to spot incoming clusters.”

  “But not the launching ships?” he said with a hint of disbelief.

  “The ships must be heavily stealthed. They might even have some kind of cloaking technology.”

  Hansen snorted. “That’s a pipe dream. No one’s ever come up with anything like that.”

  “Marvin’s working on it. I wouldn’t bet against him. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned in the last year, it’s that high technology makes the impossible possible. Look at the Ancients’ teleportation abilities.” I reached a finger up to point at the display. “The first missiles are about to impact.”

  In the holotank, tracks began winking out as they reached their targets. I zoomed in on one and looked at the associated readings of the energy yield, spectroscopy and so on. “Big nukes, as I suspected. Very dirty, too. Massive radiation, maybe specially enhanced, like the old neutron bombs.”

  “Valiant,” Hansen said, “can you project damage to targets?”

  “At this moment the battle has already occurred,” Valiant said. “There’s a ninety-nine percent probability that all of the nonmilitary ships have been destroyed. Military vessels will have received light to heavy damage. Ground installations vary from no damage to being completely destroyed. I’m still collating my analysis of the variables. Do you wish to prioritize processing power for this purpose?”

  “No,” I said quickly. “Repairs are still your top priority. Let me know when your analysis is complete.”

  “That was a nasty surprise attack,” Hansen said. “The Whales’ active sensors failed to detect their attackers. We need to find out why and configure our systems to give us warning within the next nineteen days.”

  “The Whales’ warning deadline?” I glanced at my XO’s thoughtful face. “You think they expect an attack at that time?”

  “Yes. I think they saw something coming toward them, nineteen days away. Maybe we need to look for it.” Hansen tentatively manipulated the holotank, moving its view outward and along the back-plot I’d calculated.

  “Somewhere in here would be my guess.” Hansen said, marking a stretched sphere that delineated a pretty large chunk of space. The area represented about one percent of the two-hundred-day distance out to Tartarus, or two days’ travel.

  I nodded. “Work on that manually to spare Valiant’s processing power. Get a sensor tech to help you if you want. Let me know when you come up with anything important. I’ll be in engineering or logistics. You have the bridge.”

  “Right,” he said absently, fiddling with the holotank controls.

  I left him there and strolled down to engineering, one of the ship’s two central spaces. Logistics, which held our busy factory, was the other. Sakura was standing in front of her bank of consoles with her arms crossed, looking unhappy.

  “How’s it going, Lieutenant?”

  “Never as well as I hope, sir, but not too bad,” she replied, without looking at me. “I hear there’s some action at the Whale planet?”

  “Word gets around fast. Yes, a surprise attack by the Demons—that’s what we’re calling the insectoids that live near the brown dwarf I’ve designated Tartarus. The battle is too far away to affect us, though.”

  Sakura grunted, still staring at her consoles and readouts. “It would be optimal if we didn’t see any action for at least a week, preferably a month. Right now we have ample materials and a lot of repairs to perform. Even Marvin seems to be keeping out of trouble. He’s consistently creating system improvements from onboard Greyhound, so at least I never have to meet with him in person.”

  She said this with real irritation in her voice. I knew she didn’t like the robot messing with her systems without her direct oversight, but I wanted Marvin to dig me up some evidence on who had tried to kill me several times, under cover of repair efficiency.

  “And you don’t want to disrupt things before we’re back to full strength,” I said. “I get that.”

  Sakura was definitely the classic engineer, the type who liked to keep organized and on schedule rather than wing it. In this instance, I was in wholehearted agreement. I hated the fact that my little force was less than one hundred percent ready.

  “My mark on the wall is when the Nano ships finish their first two replications,” I told her. “It may be a couple of weeks from now. Then we’ll decide to either have all four working on reproducing again, or to do something else.”

  Finally she turned to look at me with only a slight change of expression, perhaps a look of worry. “It would help me a lot if we could put a small factory aboard one of the Nano ships to use in making parts for Valiant and Stalker rather than reproducing more outdated frigates.”

  I almost told her that was impossible, and then I thought of something. “Nano ships will usually only accept one commander. If you think it’s important enough, you can give up an engineering tech to become a biotic component for the Nanos. That way, they’ll be able to directly access and script the factories the way you want them.”

  Sakura’s eyes narrowed. “The Nanos took heavy casualties in the last battle. Engineering techs won’t make good command personnel, and I’ll need them back here.”

  I shrugged. “Once they’re installed in a Nano, they’re difficult to remove without them dying. You think about it and let me know what you want to do, based on your needs as my chief engineer.” I forced myself to clap her on the shoulder just as I would any other officer, though something about the woman made that an uncomfortable gesture for me. Maybe it was because she never seemed to loosen up in my presence the way the others would.

  Sakura nodded, ignoring my hand. “I’ll think about it, sir. Will there be anything else?”

  That seemed to be a hint for me to go away.

  “Good job so far,” I said. “I’ll do my best to give you all the time you need to put our ships back in order. Thanks for your hard work.” With those platitudes delivered, I took my leave.

  Next stop was our logistics chamber and the factory, Adrienne’s territory. I hoped I could keep from saying something stupid again and just play captain…

  I stepped through the smart metal doors that were in place to dampen sound and provide a vacuum seal when creating more delicate equipment. Adrienne was seated at her console facing the chugging, clunking manufacturing device, her furrowed brow showing me she was hard at work keeping the parts flowing from the production end. I did my best not to think of smart towels and long showers.

  On the opposite side, Marines in battlesuits doubled as human forklifts, carrying steel crates full of ore, minerals and ice between the cargo airlocks and the factory. They set down the quarter-ton containers in rows and picked up empties to take back.

  A couple of machinist’s mates in powered exoskeletons checked readouts on the factory and selected the right materials to lift and dump into the various hoppers, based on the needs of the moment.

  While much of the specifics of what went on inside was mysterious, generally speaking, a factory could be programmed to produce just about anything, and it would tell those running it what it needed. If something wasn’t available, it might be able to substitute one material for another, but the more complex the item, the less likely that was to work. It was one thing to make a deck plate out of a different grade of steel or even change to aluminum or brass, but if you wanted, say, a nuclear warhead, only a few radioactive isotopes would serve.

  I stepped into Adrienne’s field of vision and leaned my elbows on the back of the console in front of her as if standing at a bar. “Two beers, please,” I said.

  She smiled. “Sorry, beer is low priority right now…but I have hydrofluoric acid coming out soon. Want some of that?”

  “Is it drinkable?”

  “Anything’s drinkable…once.”

  “I’ll pass—and Adr
ienne, I get it. About needing hope that is. I’ll do all I can to see that relations work out with the Elladans. Other than not having beer, is everything on schedule?”

  “Yes, Captain Riggs.” She smiled. “Just keep the ore flowing for a couple more weeks and we’ll be fine.”

  “That’s basically what Sakura told me.”

  “She’s a smart woman.”

  I frowned. “Any idea why she can’t relax? Around me, I mean? We’ve been working together for long enough that she shouldn’t be so uptight anymore.”

  Adrienne shrugged, only half listening as she continued programming. “You’ve never shown her the kind of attention that you’ve shown other women, like Kalu—or me. Maybe that’s bothering her. In fact, some women might never let a thing like that go.”

  I fought not to roll my eyes. She gave me a look indicating that I’d better not even think about crossing such lines again. Before we’d really gotten together, I’d had moments with Kalu—and Adrienne had never forgotten it.

  “That was so long ago. I mean, why would that bother anyone?”

  “So you’re saying that you never once considered taking Sakura to your cabin? Just Kalu?”

  This was going south fast. No matter what I said I was doomed. So, like every male in the same situation, I just let my jaw hang down and tried to come up with something to say, which of course made me seem even more idiotic. Paleolithic caveman grunts and groans were all that managed to come out.

  “You’re so cute when you’re flustered. The great Captain Riggs, speechless. Listen, I believe you, but that doesn’t alter the fact that Sakura might secretly like you and you never gave her a second glance as a woman—not that I expect you to start now. You’d better not, in fact. But I sure know how I would feel. Cody, I think you’re a great captain. I am sure she thinks you’re a great captain, too. But as far as women are concerned you’re clueless, and you’d best just leave it at that.”

  I decided to retreat while I still could. “Thank you, Lieutenant. You’ve been very helpful.”

  “Any time, Captain,” she said. “Will you be taking lunch in the wardroom today?”

  “I suspect I shall.” I imitated her British accent to try to lighten the mood, and I might have seen a slight smile in response.

  “I’ll see you then.” She turned pointedly back to her work.

  Walking back to the bridge, I felt a bit bored. Here we were, stuck far from the action, with nothing to do but make repairs. I found myself itching to move, to make progress toward our goal of going home, but told myself sternly that we needed to be fully ready.

  Of course that is exactly when Murphy’s Law hit—or should I say Marvin’s Law?

  “Greyhound is approaching our position at excessive speed,” Valiant said calmly. “The ship is being pursued by a group of nuclear missiles of unknown origin.”

  “Marvin…? Valiant, connect me to Marvin, right now.”

  “No response,” the ship’s feminine voice said calmly.

  Thinking hard, I decided to assume the worst.

  “Valiant, activate emergency fleet battle protocol and keep trying to contact Marvin.”

  I scrambled to the bridge. By the time I was back in my chair, emergency lighting had dimly illuminated the entire ship. Crewmen were racing to their battle stations and the ship was pulling a hard turn to starboard.

  Finally, my com light went on inside my helmet, which I’d crammed over my head. I opened the channel request.

  “Captain Marvin here.”

  “Marvin where were you?” I demanded. “No, never mind that. Do you realize that you have enemy missiles on your tail?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you realize that they’re carrying nuclear payloads?”

  “Yes.”

  “Enough to wipe out my entire fleet if they were to go off in close proximity?”

  “That would match my own estimates of their potency.”

  I recalled stories of my dad beating his command chair to a dented wreck after talking with Marvin. Today, I understood his state of mind.

  “Please,” I said, “tell me that you have some kind of plan to rid us of these missiles that does not cause the loss of all biotic life in this region of space.”

  “Yes.”

  “Yes…as in you have some kind of plan? Or yes you’re going to tell me?”

  “Yes.”

  “Marvin if you say yes one more time, I swear…”

  “Captain Riggs, Hansen here. These missiles—they’re like the ones we’ve been observing from long range. They’re very fast but they do have an obvious weakness. Due to their extraordinary speed, they lose the ability to maneuver efficiently. If they do not catch a target immediately, as in the case of Greyhound, Marvin may be able to continue to dodge the missiles long enough for them to be intercepted.”

  “You mean Greyhound has to play the role of the hare in this situation?” I asked, frowning.

  “Exactly, Captain.

  “Great work, Hansen,” I said. “Marvin did you catch that?”

  “The resources necessary in order to fully understand how my functioning as prey animal will solve the current problem would no longer allow me to continue to provide evasive actions and maneuvers.”

  “Marvin…”

  “My assigned mission was to analyze and assess all alien technology,” he continued. “Especially technology of military origin and design. I’m continuing to study the missiles from the Demon planet. They’ve exhibited not only speed but stealth capabilities.”

  “Marvin…”

  “I shall make a pass near Valiant so that her more advanced system sensors can further extrapolate my findings.”

  “Wait! Marvin? A pass near my ship? With nuclear warheads?”

  Just then, outside the port windows, several missiles shot by in a blur. This must have been what fighter pilots used to call a fly-by, which would upset their officers to no end due to their recklessness. Of course, they weren’t trailing live nuclear warheads around. Marvin was definitely making me understand things from the officer’s point of view.

  My helmet crackled. “Riggs? Hansen again. I believe if Marvin were to pilot himself into the gravity well on the far side of the largest asteroid, even as slight as that rock’s pull might be, we might get out of this. The missiles following him may be forced to crash into the rock due to the length of time it would take them to correct trajectory and continue to follow the robot back out into space. We could also have some point defense in order to shoot them down in case they are able to rise back out of the asteroid’s gravity.”

  “Let’s try it,” I said. “Get a couple of Nano ships into position. Marvin, you heard Hansen’s plan. Go for it.”

  The Nano ships had the best chance of surviving any nuclear fallout should anything go wrong. I hoped for all our sakes nothing would.

  “Valiant, keep me appraised of the situation. I am heading to the command center.”

  “Greyhound will be entering the gravity of the asteroid on the far side in less than ten minutes,” the ship answered.

  Upon arriving at the command center, we observed through the Nano ships’ communications relay as the scene unfolded. Marvin was ducking and weaving Greyhound through space and the missiles had to make much wider corrections each time in order to continue following and with each correction they would lose a little ground. Finally the Nano ships were in position on the far side of the largest asteroid and Marvin made his descent towards the surface.

  For a brief moment we could see nothing but exhaust flares reflected in the resulting dust clouds as the missiles followed Greyhound towards the surface. Then an explosion occurred as at least one of the missiles impacted the asteroid and sent up a cloud obscuring our sensors.

  At first, there was no sign of Marvin or Greyhound. But one of the three missiles became visible above the nuclear cloud. It just hovered there as if seeking a target. The other two must hav
e temporarily disabled its tracking by detonating.

  And then, just as suddenly, Greyhound pulled straight up out of the cloud and back into space. The missile reacquired Greyhound, but it was too late—the Nano ships were waiting.

  As the final missile began to accelerate from the radioactive dust cloud, the Nano ships fired. The explosive backlash rocked the ships, even though they were supposed to be at a safe distance.

  “Marvin! Are you okay?”

  “No.”

  A feeling of cold dread went through me. I wasn’t sure what I’d tell my father if I ever got back to Earth with the news I’d lost Marvin.

  “What’s wrong? Are you damaged?”

  “The loss is a terrible one,” he said. “One of my Microbe colonies has been destroyed and the other may suffer severe mutations. Fortunately, I was prepared for this and my third colony is shielded within a lead sphere. Overall, despite the difficulties, I’d have to say my experiment was a success.”

  Microbe colonies? That sounded like Marvin all right. He’d been fascinated by microbial life since the first day he’d constructed himself.

  Shaking my head, I breathed out a sigh of relief. “Congratulations, Lieutenant Hansen, you saved the day.”

  I gave Hansen a much deserved salute. He returned one sharply, along with a smile that I had rarely ever seen.

  “I guess I did sir—but no, I stand corrected. I guess we did, sir. It was a team effort.”

  “You see?” I asked. “You do have the mind of a commander.”

  Hansen moved back to the holotank. A look of concern shadowed his face.

  “Anything else to report?” I asked him. “Now that one more near catastrophe is over?”

  “It’s Ellada, sir.”

  I joined him at the holotank.

  “Ellada got hit by a sneak attack at the same time as Trinity-9,” Hansen explained. “But we saw it later of course…”