A dmiral Dorg, supreme commander of the Cainth military forces, entered his office, and everyone immediately came to attention. He looked around his command center for a moment and then said, “Rest; continue what you were doing.” He observed his staff going back to their consoles and noticed that their uniforms were perfect and that they were nervous in his presence. “That’s a good thing,” he decided. He stood watching his staff for a few more moments with his top arms crossed on his chest and his lower pair of arms behind his back. He looked out the window and noticed the cold Cainth winter howling outside. He actually enjoyed wintertime and could watch the blue ice shards blowing in the eighty-trigs-per-hour wind for drags. The tall, gray, leafless stone tree outside the window had so many ice shards sticking in its trunk and branches that they were sticking to each other; it was the ice shards that would give the gray tree the moisture it would need for the rest of the cycle. The shards couldn’t penetrate to the core of the tree because it was harder than most modern alloys. Anyone going outside into those conditions was required to wear armor unless they wanted to be cut to shreds by the blowing ice. The stone trees just rocked slowly in the howling wind and absorbed the ice into their bark. Admiral Dorg looked around his command center again and was pleased by the efficiency of his staff. He stepped into his private office, motioning for his adjutant to join him. He sat down and asked, “Tresk, do you have the plan set up?”
“Yes, Admiral,” Tresk said. “I’m in communication with the Glod commander and he’s going to star drive as soon as he receives the coordinates.” Tresk then sent the feed of the Glod ship to Dorg’s display.
“Is our ship in position?”
“Yes sir. It’s been there for three rotations, powered down except for environmental systems and passive sensors. It should be undetectable.”
“When is the human ship expected?”
“We expect it within the next rotation.”
“Did you make sure the Glod understand that whatever the Earth ship says when challenged that they will still attack?”
“I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that, sir. It’s the Glods’ nature to shoot first and then ask questions.”
“Even so, I want the Earth ship destroyed so we can see how far they’ve come in weapon development. I want them to have to use all of their weapons and defenses.”
It had been a hundred years since the Cainth admiral had destroyed the Earth cruiser. Before dying, the Earth ship had destroyed two Cainth destroyers and badly damaged a cruiser and a battleship. Dorg’s grandfather was one of those killed on the damaged cruiser during that battle. His grandfather was a high noble and was third in line for the leadership of his clan. His father, who was a young cub when Dorg’s grandfather died, had never forgotten or forgiven this new civilization for his death, and he had raised his sons to carry that hatred.
Dorg had worked his way up through the ranks until sixty rotations ago he became the overall commander of the Cainth armed services. He consolidated his position by promoting those he knew he could trust and established closer connections with the Glod Union. One of the first things he planned to do was to determine the capabilities of an Earth warship. He also knew that he couldn’t get his hands dirty because of political pressure from the rest of the Alliance, which thought the Cainth were overly paranoid about Earth, a once-peaceful civilization. He also knew the clan leaders would veto the plan if he told them. He made sure he could trust the ones who knew of the plan and he didn’t let anyone else know.
Dorg stood rocking back and forth on his legs while looking at the wall screen that showed the huge Glod cruiser. He admired the cruiser’s numerous weapons and wished his own ships were as powerful. It was 2,300 feet long and bristled with weapon ports. He knew that the Glod cruiser’s screens were stronger than his dreadnoughts and they were also faster. Then he thought about the so-called peaceful humans. “Peaceful my grump,” he thought. That ship had been the focus of two hundred warships and had not been easily destroyed. As a young officer, he replayed the recording of the attack and marveled at how the human ship had maneuvered to avoid concentrated fire. Now a hundred years had gone by and he knew that the humans had not been dormant in developing better weapons. “Of course we learned from that battle too and our ships are better than they were. But are we better than our adversary?” he wondered. He had to know. He decided to use a modern warship to test the human ship to determine how the humans would measure up to modern technology.
So he enlisted the aid of the Glod to make that determination. It really wasn’t hard to get their help. The Glod were not part of the original invasion two hundred years ago because their planet was so far away, but they would have gladly taken part if asked. Among the Alliance members, the Glod were, like the Cainth, very warlike and took great pride in being feared. The only thing that kept them in line was the knowledge that the other 820 members of the Alliance would combine against them if they tried to exercise their warlike behaviors against other members. They had one of the largest fleets in the Alliance, and their ships were considered the best technologically. Dorg knew that his fleet could not match theirs. The Glod ships were larger and faster and had stronger screens and armaments. Their weapons were the best in the Alliance. When Dorg approached one of the Glod’s ambassadors and suggested the importance of finding out the capabilities of Earth’s warships, he had a very receptive audience. Dorg found himself to be physically quite a contrast when he was sitting across from the huge Glod. Dorg was tall for his race at five feet four, but the Glod ambassador stood seven feet six and weighed more than five hundred pounds of hard muscle. His long orange hair hung in a braid down his back and his eyes were vertical slits with green pupils in a light red face. Glods were bipeds and their bodies were hugely muscled. They each had a yellow ridge that ran along the edge of their hairline from ear to ear, and when it turned orange it warned of impending rage. Dorg knew he was no match for a Glod warrior; their history was replete with constant combat between their nations. They were also recognized as the fiercest drop troops of all the Alliance races. They were huge but also quick. When the Glods were armed with their traditional four-foot swords, which they handled almost faster than the eye could follow, most races gave a wide berth to avoid doing anything that might lead to a duel. The thing that brought the Cainth and the Glod together was their temperament. They respected each other for their warrior culture and the aggressive mentality of their races. A Glod would win a hand-to-hand fight but would not come away without injury when facing a Cainth warrior, armed with the three short swords and throwing knives that they deftly used with all four arms. The Cainth had evolved to be able to use all four arms independently. They were once tree dwellers and their arms made climbing and life in trees easy. One pair of arms would hold onto the tree even when they slept, while the other pair would hold their tools. They were deadly in hand-to-hand combat because of their deft use of their four weapons.
Dorg looked at the Glod and said, “I appreciate your willingness to help me with this project, Ambassador.”
The huge Glod waved his hand and said, “I’m more than happy to do it. We are a warrior culture, and if we don’t find someone else to practice our skills on then we end up fighting each other. The Alliance prevents us from really practicing our fighting skills, so we look for any opportunity to use them. I think that we are a lot like your own race in this.”
“You’re right.”
“How big a ship would you need?” the ambassador asked.
“I think a heavy cruiser should be sufficient,” Dorg responded.
“I’ve got just the ship for what you’re planning. I’ll give you the commander’s link and you can set it up directly with him. I’ll let him know that I’ve approved the action.”
“Thank you. It’s important that we not be tied to the event,” Dorg said.
“Don’t worry about that; our ships are always having run-ins with other vessels, and this should be treated as just another minor skirmish to scream about. Do you want the Earth ship destroyed or just damaged?”
“If it can be destroyed then there will be less evidence to tie us or you to the attack.”
“How big is the ship you’re planning to attack?”
“It’s a destroyer class.”
“You probably don’t need a heavy cruiser. That’s a little overkill, don’t you think?”
“I don’t want to run any risks. I’ll show you the recording of their ship from a hundred years ago. The heavy cruiser will be fine.”
“Do you want our recording of the attack after it’s over?”
“No. We’ll have an unpowered ship present to record it ourselves.”
The ambassador then gave Dorg the link to the Glod commander’s com.
That conversation had been twenty rotations ago. The Glod ship had arrived on station and was waiting to be told when the Earth ship arrived. The Cainth Navy had determined that an Earth destroyer would pass through the sector planned for the attack every ten rotations. It was due to arrive today or tomorrow. Dorg thought, “It should be a very interesting eighteen drags. It shouldn’t take a full rotation.”
The Directorate Destroyer Moscow came out of the silver-blue flash of its star drive breaking into normal space and began its three-million-mile patrol. The 250-foot-long Directorate ship moved smoothly through space with its hull glowing bright white from its clear armor coating and the discharge of its Coronado power cells. Most of the thirty-five crew members were asleep. Captain Alexander Kosiev slouched in his command chair and watched the sensor screens showing the space they were traveling through. He would often glance through the viewport to see more than a billion stars, some of which were billions of light-years distant, yet it was stark and lifeless where he was traveling, and the nearest star was four parsecs away. This patrol was mind-numbingly boring and there really wasn’t much to do. His ship would jump half a light-year and read its sensors while it cruised for three million miles, then jump another half light-year. This process repeated itself throughout the entire patrol, and so far the Moscow had never found anything that warranted any attention, much less action. Captain Kosiev’s assigned duty was to patrol the twenty-light-year limit that bordered the Cainth Empire between Earth Base six and seven and make sure no one crossed it from either direction. So far no one had ever come close. Still, they couldn’t take any chances. He glanced over at the electronics screen and it remained blank. The sheer emptiness of space where the Moscow was traveling made Kosiev wish he could see his home again. He took the bag of popcorn he had asked his quartermaster to bring to the bridge, opened it, and then took a few kernels and started munching on them. “It’s a wonder that I don’t weigh four hundred pounds with all the popcorn I eat,” he thought. The lights were low on the small bridge, and the various control boards that lined the walls provided most of the low-level light. The lights were almost like the stars that could be seen through the viewport. The sheer immensity of the universe he could see outside his ship humbled him; it made him feel small. The deep blackness of space made those distant stars shine like brilliant diamonds, and Kosiev recognized one of them and knew that humans were still in caves when the light of that star had left to arrive at his current location. “Someday I’m going to visit that star,” he thought.
He would often discuss with Lieutenant Mikado, his sensor officer, the places he would travel were it not for the twenty-light-year limit the Alliance had imposed. “Sir, I just don’t understand how Adam Douglas discovered the principles of the star drive,” Mikado said. “Our technology was so primitive at that time and you have to admit that being able to jump around the universe with no loss of time was a major discovery.”
Kosiev liked passing the long hours with this type of discussion; it helped keep the bridge crew alert. He chewed a few more kernels and said, “It really wasn’t a quantum leap in genius. He developed an instrument to measure the resonance of space around him. It was then a certainty that he would uncover the fact that no spot in the universe has the same resonance on the frequency reader he was using. He never got the same reading anywhere he went. Once he developed it so that he could measure the resonance and vibration of stars, then the hard part was over.”
Mikado leaned back and asked, “Why do you say that? Reading the resonance of stars or galaxies doesn’t give you a star drive.”
“That’s true, but once he turned his viewer that gave resonance readings on a star, he made two huge discoveries; one was that that particular resonance frequency of that distant star was being read in real time. There was no loss of time because of distance, unlike the speed of light, where in some cases light took centuries to reach Earth from the star it left. The second discovery was building a field that would contain one of his devices that could vibrate the field at any resonance he chose, which led to its immediate disappearance; then simple logic was all that was necessary to make a star drive.”
“How do you get that?” Mikado asked. “It took him another ten years to finally build a drive.”
“Yes, but he had to eliminate all the other possibilities before he could understand it,” Kosiev said. “He learned that every place in the universe has its own unique resonance frequency and that anything that resonates at the same frequency as another place will immediately leave normal space and time and, for lack of a better term, instantaneously jump to the place that resonates the corresponding frequency. Of course the jumper must be surrounded by a field resonating at the frequency of the place targeted for a jump. If you remember, he built a small field and resonating device and put in the coordinates of the table on the other side of his lab. Once the resonance matched, the small device immediately appeared on the other table.”
“But then he was stuck,” Mikado said. “It would move no further than the width of his lab. It was five years later on a trip to the orbit of Jupiter to work on the engines of mining equipment that he tried his little experiment again, and the device disappeared out of the ship. He had an ‘Aha’ moment and discovered that the sun’s gravity prevented the device from resonating over any distance within Jupiter’s orbit. He actually modified the field around the ship he was in and scanned the resonance of Neptune and actually jumped the ship to its orbit and then back to Jupiter. It probably would have taken many more years if he had not made that trip to Jupiter.”
Kosiev nodded and said, “But he did make the trip, and now we jump from star to star. He also learned that it was impossible to jump into a planet or star because just like the sun, its gravity would force the jumping ship out of star drive.”
Mikado thought for a few moments and said, “Where do you think ships go when they jump? They don’t stay in normal space.”
“No one has ever really answered that,” Kosiev said. “But there are some theories. The current theory is that it’s really not space at all; sort of like null space or no space. Some of our higher thinkers believe that every place in the universe is in contact with every other place in that ‘no’ space, sort of like it was at the moment just before the big bang when the universe was the size of the smallest atom just before it exploded. The resonance of each place is still locked up atom sized in ‘no’ space because unlike the physical universe, the resonance frequency space didn’t expand and is still the size of that small atom and when you match the resonance frequency of somewhere else you’re actually not moving any distance at all in null space. That’s why it’s instantaneous when you emerge back into real space.”
Mikado leaned back in his chair, stared at his console, and finally said, “Every advanced race eventually makes the same discovery, which is why the Alliance has so many members. Maybe someday we’ll be able to go out more than twenty light-years.”
Kosiev looked out at the stars, “I hope so, I really do.”
Mikado then leaned back in his chair and said, “It’s also strange that every race we’ve encountered so far breathes oxygen. I wonder what the odds are of that happening strictly by accident.”
Kosiev took another mouthful of popcorn and said, “It’s a big universe, Mr. Mikado; perhaps our galaxy is easier for oxygen breathers to evolve in.” Then he laughed and said, “Maybe an oxygen breather set the ball rolling millions of years ago.”
They still had six more days before they arrived at Earth Station Seven, and Kosiev was looking forward to three days of rest and relaxation. Most of his ship’s crew was sleeping, leaving only Lieutenant Mikado (his sensor officer) and Ensign Smith, his helmsman, on the bridge. The background hum of the fusion reactors had a calming effect and helped most of the crew to fall asleep. Even when off the ship, most of his crew had a recording of that hum playing in their rooms; it just didn’t feel right when it was missing.
“Sir, there’s something peculiar here,” Lieutenant Mikado said.
Kosiev stopped, his hand full of popcorn a few inches from his mouth, and said, “What’s that?”
“I’m getting a small return from our Coronado screen about sixty thousand miles off the starboard side.”
Kosiev put the popcorn down and got up to take a look. He saw the small blip on the sensor display.
Since the invention of the Coronado power cell, it had found wide usage in weapons development. One of the developments was the Coronado screen, where the entire surface of a warship would be covered with Coronado power cells and then covered with a hard, clear armor. The cells would be powered by four fusion reactors, and when the cells were charged they would emit an extremely low power energy field as it bled off excess power that would extend out six hundred thousand miles. The bonus of using this field for sensors was that it didn’t use any extra power. The emitted field had such little energy that it was hard to detect more than fifty miles from its source. Anything that entered the field would cause a disruption that would be detected by the processors controlling the field. The other benefit of having the ship covered with power cells was that they would also absorb and store energy from any star they passed, which made use of the fusion reactors to charge them unnecessary most of the time. One of the primary design functions of the cells was that if a ship was attacked, the screen would be contracted to within three hundred yards and then would solidify into a protective force field. Each of the cells would discharge energy into a pattern that totally surrounded the ship. Anything that struck the screen would be instantly burned out of existence. Even then the power cells would absorb the energy from that destruction, replacing the energy that was used. It was like shortening the flame on a welder. The tighter it was pulled in, the hotter the flame. As the screen pulled close to the ship it became impenetrable. The only thing that could come through the screen untouched was another Coronado screen. Ships could actually dock without lowering their screens. The other design function was that the power cells could be discharged into an unbelievable energy beam. The intensity of the beam and its length were controlled by the weapons console.
The ship could still be destroyed if enough energy was directed at it. But that would be difficult with a ship that could move as fast as this one was capable. When the screen was at full power much greater speeds could be achieved, because the random molecules of matter scattered throughout universal space would be absorbed by the screen, offering less resistance. Before the use of power cells, ordinary force fields directed the particles around a ship, which was like traveling through water. There weren’t many molecules in open space, but at extremely high speeds there were enough to offer stiff resistance. The power cells simply consumed those molecules, converted them to energy, stored the resulting power, and thereby eliminated the resistance.
“What is that?” Kosiev asked.
“Sir, it’s about the size of a cruiser, but it’s not moving or registering any power, at least none that I can pick up at this range.”
“Can you determine what it’s made of?”
“Yes sir. Most of it is high-strength alloy.”
Kosiev raised his eyebrows and said, “Is it inside the limit?”
“Yes it is, sir.”
“Sound general quarters, all hands to battle stations. Ensign Smith, change course to intercept that object. Pull in the screen as we approach it. We’re going to take a look; take us in at one-third speed.” The alarm klaxon began wailing, the bridge lights went to full combat power, and sailors jumped from their beds and ran to their duty stations. Moscow was getting ready for war, and Kosiev was proud of the crew and their efficiency. In less than forty-five seconds all sections had reported in and all systems were manned. The bright Directorate ship changed course and flew toward the object on its sensors.
On board the Cainth cruiser the navigator said, “We’ve been detected. The human ship has turned and is coming towards us.”
“How did they see us?” the Cainth commander asked.
“I don’t know. I didn’t detect any sensors, but somehow they see us. They’ve turned directly toward us and are picking up speed.”
“Contact the Glod ship immediately and begin the operation.”
On board the Glod ship the commander saw the coordinates of the Earth ship appear on his screen and heard the Cainth commander say, “Jump now. Jump now. We’ve been detected.”
All of his bridge crew heard the message and grew excited at the upcoming attack. They were ready for action at battle stations and had been so for two rotations. “Enter the location and jump,” the commander ordered.
“Sir, we have a star drive breaking normal space forty-five miles off our port side,” Mikado said.
“Change course, take us away from that entry point,” Kosiev ordered, and Ensign Smith turned the ship and moved ninety degrees away from the star drive disturbance. Kosiev looked at his display and saw the distinctive silver-blue flash that a ship makes as it breaks into normal space. Moscow completed its turn and started picking up speed as it moved away from the entry point of the Glod cruiser.
“What kind of ship is that?” Kosiev asked. “It has to be ten times our size!”
“Sir, there’s nothing like that in our records,” Mikado answered. “I’ve even compared it to all the ships from all of the Cainth invasions and nothing matches.”
Kosiev turned to Ensign Kelley, the communications officer, and said, “Get a message out to Earth station and tell them we’re avoiding confrontation. How far are we now from that ship?”
Mikado looked at his console, “We’re eighty miles away and maintaining that distance at one-third speed, sir.”
“Maintain that distance and speed. Don’t let them get close enough to hit us with a beam to prevent us from using our star drive. Have you been able to detect anything about that ship’s armaments?”
“Yes sir. Their screen came on right after they entered normal space, however, our sensors determined that they are heavily armed with both missile and energy weapons before their screen cut off our vision. The power of their screen is quite strong. It’s about the size of a medium Cainth battleship and they are matching our speed; so far they have not attempted to communicate,” Lieutenant Mikado said.
Ensign Kelley said, “Sir, they’re sending us a message.”
“Put it on audio.”
“… will drop your screens and prepare to be boarded,” a voice said in standard Alliance. “If you resist, you will be destroyed.”
Captain Kosiev turned on his com and answered, saying, “This is the Directorate Ship Moscow and we are inside our territory enforcing Alliance rules. You have entered our space without permission and I will not let you board my ship. I have contacted our Alliance ambassador to inquire as to who you are and what you’re doing here.” Captain Kosiev knew that every ship had standing orders to self-destruct before allowing the Alliance any access to Coronado technology. He could not allow his ship to fall into the Alliance’s hands.
“Then prepare to die,” the voice said, and the ship fired ten heavy high-speed missiles.
“Sir, do we want to show them the capability of our screens?” Lieutenant Alverez, the weapons officer, asked while watching the huge missiles coming from the strange ship.
“No, I don’t, although I think they’ll learn if they get into range to discharge their energy weapons at us,” Kosiev answered.
“Then why don’t we just destroy the missiles and run or just jump away?”
“Because I have a feeling that if we don’t stand and fight, then someone else is going to be attacked, later and if we destroy those missiles the next attack will have more than just one ship and more than just ten missiles. If we jump out, then we also avoid our duty to defend the twenty-light-year limit.”
“But that ship is at least ten times our tonnage, and each of those ten missiles is just about half as long as our ship. Do you think that this is an attempt to determine our strength, captain?” Ensign Smith asked while adjusting Moscow’s acceleration.
“Yes, I do, and I believe that other object we detected is a ship sent there to record whatever happens. It’s aces to deuces that the object we saw first is a ship powered down and doesn’t think we can see them. I also believe that if we call in additional ships that the next attack will be even greater and might be further inside the twenty light year limit.”
Mikado watched his screens as the missiles came closer and said, “What are your orders, sir?”
Kosiev knew that the time of peaceful coexistence was about to end. He could avoid risking his ship and jump away from the attack, but then he would leave the invader inside Directorate space, and that was just not acceptable. He decided that if peace were to end now then he would do his best to make sure that whoever planned this attack would not get any information. It ticked him off that he was being attacked without doing anything to provoke it. It was just another example of humans being attacked for no justifiable reason.
Kosiev stared at the main screen and asked, “How long till missile impact?”
Mikado looked at his board and replied, “Twenty seconds, sir, at our current speed. We could probably outrun them at three-fourths speed.”
Kosiev looked at his helmsman and said, “I don’t want to show them our maximum speed. Mr. Smith, go to half speed and head towards that first object we detected; at that speed how long before impact, Mr. Mikdado?”
“Forty-five seconds, sir.”
“How long before we reach the first object?”
“Forty-two seconds, sir.”
“Good, I don’t have to use full speed.”
On board the Glod ship, the Earth ship appeared to leap forward at an amazing speed on their sensor displays, then abruptly change course and make a hard left turn. The Glod commander was stunned and looked at his navigator. “Can we match that speed?”
His navigator looked up and said, “Sir, there’s not a ship in our fleet that can come close to moving that fast, much less change course that quickly. The only way we are going to come close is to cut the corner of his turn and angle toward his new course.”
“Then he could’ve run away from us at any time. Why didn’t he?”
“He might be doing that now, but our missiles should be hitting him within forty sems.”
“Why hasn’t he fired at the missiles?” the Glod commander wondered out loud. “He might have been able to knock down some of them.”
“As slow as they’re catching up to him, he could have probably got them all,” the navigator replied. “Perhaps the humans don’t want to reveal their armaments.”
The Glod commander was nervous. He had never seen a small ship that was so much faster than his own. Large ships were always faster because they had more power in their screens to overcome resistance. The small ship also made that left turn in one-third the time it took him to alter course to cut the corner and continue the pursuit. “Maximum power to our screen and go to maximum speed; try to get into beam range. I don’t want them to jump away,” he ordered.
The commander of the Cainth cruiser saw the human ship turn and accelerate straight toward his position. It was going to be on top of him in seconds, and he could look at the plot on his screen and see that it would be there before the Glod missiles could strike the human ship. Then he realized what the Earth ship was doing. “Holy groad, they’re going to run those missiles into us.” He stood from his chair and yelled, “Power up all systems immediately Get the screen active, prepare all missiles to launch, get us underway, now!”
“Sir, the object we’re approaching is a Cainth Cruiser. She’s powering up her screens, and her weapons just came online,” Lieutenant Mikado said.
“Are her screens strong enough to handle the ten missiles chasing us?”
“No sir, I don’t think so, but I’m not sure,” Mikado said. “They aren’t at full power and it will take a minute before they are, but it may be enough to stop the missiles. It will also take some time for their star drive to spool up.”
Kosiev said into his com, “Helmsman, I want you to fly right by that cruiser, close enough so that our screens overlap, and weapons, I want you to hit their screen with a low power beam when we come into range to prevent them from jumping.”
“Sir?”
“I think that our screens are stronger, especially since their screen isn’t at full power. We should punch a hole in their screen with ours. The missiles chasing us will then lock on them as we fly directly over the top of them. The beam will prevent their star drive from being able to resonate.” He then said into the com on his chair, “Weapons, extend our screens out to one thousand yards.”
“Aye aye, sir.”
Ensign Smith altered course slightly and barreled down on the Cainth cruiser at over two thousand miles per second.
On board the Cainth cruiser, the captain sat and grabbed the arms of his command chair as he watched the small ship coming straight at him on his display. “How much longer until we can jump?” he yelled. Then he saw the small ship’s screens expand to twice its size. As the ship flew by he felt a jolt throughout the ship.
“Sir,” his engineering officer yelled, “their screen just overlapped ours and we’ve lost screen integrity. Our star drive is at full power, but they are hitting us with a beam that prevents our screen from resonating.”
“Launch all missiles now!” the captain yelled.
Thirty missiles launched at the Earth ship as it passed just before the ten Glod heavy missiles hit the Cainth cruiser amidships and blew it apart.
On board the Glod cruiser, the commander watched as the Earth ship destroyed the Cainth cruiser. “I guess that’s the ship that was supposed to record everything that happened here,” he thought. “They obviously didn’t do a good job of hiding.” Then he saw that the Earth ship had turned and was coming straight at him with thirty missiles chasing it.
“Evasive maneuvers,” he yelled into the com, “fire all weapons at the Earth ship. Destroy those missiles with energy weapons, fire missile batteries three and four, and ready batteries seven and eight.” He didn’t care if he was ten times larger, and it appeared that the small ship obviously didn’t care either, which made his nervousness turn into fear.
The Glod Cruiser turned away from the rapidly approaching small white ship and began firing it’s weapons. Immediately the Earth ship’s screens turned yellow as seventy primary lasers of the Glod cruiser lanced out at them while twenty Glod missiles were homing in. The twenty missiles struck and there was a huge flash that engulfed the Earth ship.
“How are the screens holding, Mikado?” Kosiev asked. “And how long before those missiles behind us impact?”
“The screen is holding up fine, sir. Only four of their missiles hit us simultaneously, which was not enough to damage us and actually added power to the screen. The screen is starting to enter red, but at the current rate of beam strikes we should be fine for sixteen more minutes. This should be over before we get into real trouble. Some of their beams are missing and have knocked out five of the missiles chasing us. Most of the missiles are directly behind us and are shielded by our screen. They won’t catch us until we pass that ship ahead of us.”
“Expand our screen another thousand yards to better shield those missiles behind us, and hit that ship with a low power beam to prevent it jumping away.”
“Sir, the screens on that ship ahead of us are at full power, and my readings indicate they are much stronger than the Cainth screens we just encountered. The missiles chasing us will probably not get through it,” Mikado said. “With our screens extended as they are it would be risky to have them overlap with that other ship’s screen. It might allow their beams to get through”
Kosiev thought about what he should do. Then he made up his mind. “I didn’t want to use our weapons in this encounter. My hope was to make it look like these two ships destroyed each other.” Then he spoke into his com. “Lieutenant Alverez.”
“Yes sir.”
“Would it be possible to fire our port-side energy beam into their screen as we pass so that it would impact only the screen and not the ship’s hull?”
“I think so, sir. I need a reading on the distance so I can set the length of the discharge.”
Kosiev looked at his helmsman and said, “Our screen is extended two thousand yards. Can you fly by that ship’s screen at exactly three thousand yards?”
Ensign Smith looked at his captain for a moment and said, “I’ll set the proximity indicator at that yardage and have it beep if we get more than twenty yards closer. I’ll do the best I can, captain. He’s attempting to evade us, but he’s not fast enough and he can’t maneuver as fast as Moscow.”
“Weapons, set the range for 3,050 yards, and fire a pattern only large enough to cover three hundred yards of that ship’s hull. Do your readings indicate that we can penetrate the screen?”
Lieutenant Alverez looked at his sensors and said, “Captain, I think so. I can’t say how long the opening will last after the hit.”
“How far behind us are the missiles, Mikado?”
“Ten point four seconds, sir.”
“Smith, slow our speed so that the missiles will arrive less than one-tenth of a second behind us as we pass that ship. Prepare to fire when our fire control says we’re even with their ship, then go to full speed.” As the Moscow flew closer to the Glod ship, Kosiev said, “Weapons free to fire.”
The Earth ship was now traveling at a speed of eighteen hundred miles per second and closed on the Glod ship at an incredible rate. The Glod commander saw that his weapons were having no visible effect on the Earth ship except to turn its screen bright red, and he also knew that the small ship was traveling too fast for him to avoid it. “Engage star drive and jump immediately,” he ordered.
“We are being hit by a low-power beam that prevents our screen from resonating,” the navigator shouted. “It won’t hold a frequency.”
The Glod commander watched the small human ship glowing bright red as it bore down on his ship and thought, “If one of their small ships can do this, their larger classes must be incredible.” He turned to his communication officer and ordered, “Open a channel to the Cainth admiralty,” but it was too late. The Earth ship was too close. It’s not like any member of the Glod to feel terror, but that’s what touched him now. He watched the Earth ship flash by and fire an energy beam that hit his screen amidships and demolish three hundred yards of it; it then accelerated away faster than anything he had ever seen. Just before the twenty-five remaining Cainth missiles struck his ship, his last thought was, “I hope my people discover just how dangerous this so-called peaceful civilization is before it’s too late.”
Captain Kosiev looked out at the wreckage of the huge Glod cruiser and knew that no one survived the missiles when they hit. There were giant holes blown the entire length of the ship and explosions were still going off. Kosiev looked at Ensign Kelly and asked, “Did you detect any transmissions from either ship?”
Kelly watched the explosions on the ships main screen and said, “No, Sir.”
Kosiev commed Earth Base Seven and reported the destruction of two ships in his sector. The Alliance ambassador stationed there came on the com and asked what had happened.
“Ambassador Krem, my sensors picked up two explosions inside the patrol route of my ship. I jumped to the site of the blasts and found two ships destroyed inside our twenty-light-year limit.”
“What kind of ships, captain?”
“The remains of one looks like a Cainth cruiser. We have no records of what kind of ship the other one was. We will remain at the site until the Alliance sends someone to investigate.”
“Thank you, captain. We’ll have someone there shortly.”
Captain Kosiev sent a beamed message to Fleet Headquarters on Earth with videos of the attack detailing what had happened. “I hope they support my actions,” he thought. “One thing is certain; whoever planned this is going to have a hard time figuring this one out. Maybe today we’ve bought more time.” He sat down in his command chair, picked up his bag of popcorn, and continued eating the kernels as he watched the stars outside his ship. “Looks like we won’t make Star Base Seven on schedule,” he thought and continued to watch the distant unblinking stars.