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.”
