The spider drone scrambled up the machinery and scurried along the main switching core to its very center, then settled itself tight against the pipe and held on firmly with all six legs. There it awaited its orders.
Although Velmeran made a joke of pretending impatience and suspicion for his summons back to Alkayja Base, he still believed that it must be important. Starwolf carriers traditionally returned to Home Base only at need, perhaps once every hundred years for overhaul. A direct summons was almost unknown, although far less unusual than it had once been. As soon as the Free Trader
“I may have missed something,” Valthyrra remarked, her camera pod watching the main viewscreen over Velmeran’s shoulder. “How are we supposed to get Keflyn back?”
Velmeran glanced at her. “Back? Who said anything about getting her back? I was just hoping to get her off this ship before she realized the flaw in her little plan.”
The camera pod afforded him an impatient stare.
“She has a small achronic transmitter in one of her bags,” he explained.
“If the mission had been less important, I might have believed you.” The ship paused, and her camera pod shot up in a habitual gesture of surprise or alarm. “Incoming ships. Three of the beggars, and by their size they can only be Fortresses.”
Velmeran’s first thought was that the Union had finally decided to bring Kanis in line. The colony and its flaunted independence had been a very sore point with the Union for centuries. But why Fortresses? The immense warships now only traveled it groups of three, too tall a task for any one Starwolf carrier even with the new missiles that cracked their quartzite armor. The Fortresses were not especially useful in planetary invasions in themselves, but they could keep a lone Starwolf carrier from breaking up an invasion.
“Move to intercept,” Velmeran ordered. “Buzz past them just out of range. We want to lure them away. How soon can the Vardon be here?”
“Five hours, even if they covered the entire distance in a series of long jumps,” Valthyrra answered. “Is there any chance that we can chase them away?”
“The idea is to delay them for now,” he answered. “If we can harass them in a series of hits and runs, we might be able to keep their attention on us long enough for the Vardon to get here.”
The Methryn rushed directly at the trio of Fortresses, still moving very quickly into system at more than half of light speed, flying in very close formation of barely fifty kilometers apart. Since the vast ships were themselves twenty-five kilometers in length and wider than a Starwolf carrier was long, they made a very impressive sight indeed. Only the development of the energy-plasma missile that could peel the quartzite shell right off of these invincible monsters, together with the incredible destructive power of the Starwolves’ conversion cannons, had made it possible for the Kelvessan to fight these immense engines of war.
Even so, carriers and Fortresses had fought only five times in the past twenty years, to the destruction of two of the larger ships. The Fortresses had countered the Starwolf advances by flying and fighting only in groups of at least three. The Starwolves could have pressed the issue by attacking the Union ships in their own battle groups, and Velmeran had sometimes thought that he should. But the Fortresses were a force to be considered even for the Wolf fleet, and he had no wish to engage these ships except under circumstances entirely of his own choosing, when he could press every advantage. At the same time, the Union was very reluctant to press these very expensive machines into battle situations where they could be destroyed, and they could usually be bluffed into withdrawing by a Starwolf carrier taking a determined posture. But once a trio of these ships were entrenched in close orbit, a lone Starwolf carrier was usually the one to retreat.
The Methryn continued her determined rush at the enemy ships, a swift run that Velmeran hoped would be taken as a prelude to the launch of the missiles that would crack the quartzite shields of the Fortresses. She would have made a very inviting target, except that she was still well out of range. At the very last moment, just before she would have come under fire of hundreds, if not thousands, of powerful cannons, she turned sharply and shot away at an angle. The Fortresses turned as one to follow.
As the Methryn retreated, a simple, brief signal was broadcast from the Fortresses, intercepted by the slender antenna that the spider drone had put through the door of the transport bay. The signal was received by the small transceiver that had been left in the shadows of the bay, relaying to the little automaton a message that would not have otherwise penetrated the ship’s shielded hull. Deep within the interior of the carrier, the drone responded to that message in an abrupt and violent manner, exploding with tremendous force, taking out a length of the main switching core, the one vulnerable link in the Methryn’s power grid.
The entire ship was plunged into a moment of darkness as the entire main power network failed. The Methryn’s engines and defensive shields powered down, and even the ship’s atmosphere and gravity were lost. On the bridge, Valthyrra’s camera pod sank slowly to the deck as her entire computer network went down. After a moment the ship’s emergency backup systems came on line, restoring a minimal environment control and lights. A few seconds later, backup generators powered up to restore Valthyrra’s main functions. She at least was self- contained, but even she could do nothing with a dead ship.
“Valthyrra, what hit us?” Velmeran asked. He watched as Consherra abandoned her station without a word, hurrying to main engineering.
“Nothing hit us,” she replied absently. Her camera pod was returning slowly to position as her primary attention remained elsewhere, exploring her self-diagnostic network. “Something internal failed. My main switching core seems to be down. That is damned peculiar.”
“Why?”
“Because it is a relatively new unit,” she explained. “That unit is not prone to sudden failure, and it was inspected recently with no sign of any problem. Chief Engineer Tresha is inspecting the damage now.”
“An explosion has shattered the main link of the switching core,” Tresha herself reported immediately. “The explosion has every appearance of having occurred externally, although there is nothing anywhere near that could have caused such an explosion. I would say that it looks very much like sabotage, if I thought that anyone could get on board this ship.”
It had happened before, although certain measures had been taken on board all Starwolf ships since Lenna Makayen’s successful penetration of the Methryn twenty years before. Velmeran frowned. “I would not rule it out. The main question I have now is, how soon can you have main power up and running?”
“We are already clearing out this unit,” Tresha responded. “We have no ready replacement for the unit, but we can rig a makeshift connection that would give us at least three-quarters full power without certain redundant safeguards. No less than twenty minutes.”
“Get to it. I will find you that time,” Velmeran ordered, nodding to Valthyrra to close the line. “Sweep out this ship with your sensors for intruders, although I am sure that you will find none. Nothing biological could have sneaked past your routine sweeps, but a small automaton is something we never considered before now. Right now, we have another problem.”
“Afraid so,” she agreed. “Should I prepare the packs?”
“Would twelve packs do a damned thing to stop three Fortresses?” he asked in return. “How long before those ships intercept us?”
“About ten minutes, allowing for their present determination. They will be close enough to open fire in only five minutes.”
“I do not think that they will,” Velmeran said. “Keep one thing in mind. All Fortresses have a receiving slot in their lower hull the right size for a Starwolf carrier, with grappling arms and docking probes. For the first time in history, the Union has a disabled carrier within reach, and they will not refuse the prize. We cannot stop a capture, but we might be able to prevent a boarding long enough to get power back. They will be able to attempt boarding at any one of six airlocks along our lateral groove. That means two packs with heavy guns each, ready to move into the docking probes as soon as the seals are made. Other crewmembers will have to go secretly out onto the hull, to plant explosives that will free us from the grapples.”
“Will that work?” Consherra asked, returning from the engineering station. “We could put all of our transports out and have them tow us long enough to get power back up.”
“It would take at least ten minutes to set that up, and then they would begin shooting at us to prevent our escape. We have to entice them to capture us.”
“Tresha says that she has found the remains of some type of small probe in the debris,” Valthyrra reported.
