Operation Wolfsbane Read online

  “With all due respect to the admiral, I don’t follow the reasoning, sir,” O’Malley replied. “What is the theory here? That the enemy is using the Achaen Station in some way?”

  “A distinct possibility,” Hunter said. “We have to keep in mind this star system was the site of a brutal firefight in which multiple starships were lost. After all the scans and sensor sweeps and questioning of the survivors we still don’t know who was even fighting much less why. What we do know is over a thousand men and women vanished in the vicinity of that space station.” Hunter pointed at the screen as he spoke.

  “Perhaps the admiral is concerned whatever killed those starships might come after us at an inopportune moment,” O’Malley noted.

  Hunter nodded. “That’s my theory as well. If this mystery force gets wind of the fact the Sarn Star Empire and the Kraken Decarchy have mobilized against the Core Alliance, they might decide to join in, and if they’ve already attacked us once, there’s an uncomfortably high chance our old enemy will side with our new enemy.”

  “That’s the kind of thing admirals get paid to worry about,” O’Malley said.

  “Agreed, XO.”

  O’Malley’s commlink beeped.

  “Tixia to bridge.”

  “O’Malley here.”

  “We’re ready for you, sir.”

  A few minutes later, Commander O’Malley strode into fusion service six, which had recently been converted into a makeshift combination electronics lab and computer control station. A rat’s nest of cables, fiberoptic relays and power junctions were splayed across the metal floor in at least 160 directions. The wiring was connected to a bank of portable terminals and a power transfer console that had been disconnected from somewhere and reconnected to the network in much the same way an android’s head could be removed from its body and attached to just enough circuitry to function. From an electrical technician’s perspective, it got about the same reaction an unattached head might be expected to get.

  “Why are you building a new auxiliary control station in fusion six?” O’Malley asked, not really expecting an answer that he would understand.

  “Good morning, commander!” Zony Tixia chirped. “We’re running simulations and Spades wanted a location close to the reactor this time, so we took pile six off the mains and re-purposed it as a testing platform.”

  “Does the captain know you’re using a ten-story-tall fusion reactor as an experimental toy?”

  Zony grinned. “Nope. We don’t tell him about stuff like this until after we build it and get it working. He gets kind of impatient if there’s wires all over the floor and things aren’t quite up to speed yet.”

  “And that’s why you called me instead?”

  “That’s why you’re the exec,” Commander Yili Curtiss said from one of the overhead gantries. “You know the answer before we even ask the question.”

  Zony showed O’Malley to one of the chairs at the console station. “This is where all the results will be summarized as the simulations run. We aren’t going to make these modifications available as an additional flight mode until both you and the captain sign off.”

  “But you’ve already used this technology,” O’Malley replied.

  “That was different,” Curtiss said as she fiddled with the connections behind the electronics station. “We didn’t have a choice then. If we do this right, we’ll have a very powerful tactical advantage.”

  “How powerful?” O’Malley asked.

  “See for yourself,” Tixia replied.

  On the screen, a graphical representation of the battleship Argent rotated until it was aligned with a tunnel-like construct.

  “This is the theoretical model of the Barker-Type wormhole that we were able to replicate using the technology we discovered beneath the Lethe Deeps planetary defense base on Bayone Three,” Yili said. “It operates by connecting two points in four-dimensional space with a ‘tunnel’ or wormhole that exists in five-dimensional space. The result is that an object that travels through the wormhole can cover enormous distances as conventionally measured, giving that object an effective velocity several times the speed of light. It’s roughly the same technology in the jump gate network, but it has the added advantage of being extemporaneous instead of being confined to fixed points.”

  O’Malley watched as the little graphical Argent flew through the wormhole and re-appeared in normal space.

  Curtiss continued. “What we’ve done is create a spontaneous wormhole by combining the Barker-Type technology with our own navigational drive field. This creates what we’re calling a Sullivan Field. It allows our ship to navigate five-dimensional space without making any significant changes to our standard engine controls.”

  “Sullivan?” O’Malley asked.

  “My flight dynamics professor at the academy,” Yili replied. “It was his work on multi-phase drive fields that gave me the idea.”

  The little graphical Argent on the screen formed a bubble around itself that gradually changed shape to fit the wormhole. Then it flew through the tunnel again.

  “The practical upshot of all this is that we have a new flight mode: Conversion drive, or C-Drive. We can cruise at a relative velocity roughly 40 times the speed of light at 40% energy utilization.”

  “I beg your pardon. Did you say forty times the speed of light?”

  “That’s what she said,” Zony replied. “Don’t worry, sir. I had the same reaction.”

  O’Malley took a moment to try and grasp what he was seeing. “What’s our top speed using this mode?”

  “At 90% utilization, which is the highest rated velocity for this hull and engine type, we could see short bursts of up to 2000 times the speed of light. Star system to star system in between one and three days.”

  “And,” Zony added, “we can do exactly the same thing with communications by using the Barker-Type wormhole as a conduit and modulating frequencies to match a continuous linear drive field.”

  “We can even transport people with this,” Yili said. “Actual teleportation from point to point without matter conversion or energy deconversion. We have to keep the ranges limited, of course, because people can’t survive a very strong drive field like the ship can. But we can easily go several thousand miles. We can transport from ship to planet surface and back pretty easily.”

  O’Malley leaned back in his chair. It was a lot to take in all at once, but the strategic and tactical ramifications were not lost on him.

  “What about our star wing?”

  “Any vessel at least as heavy as a gunship can make use of this technology. Fighters are out. But Mackinacs, corvettes, paladins and T-Hawks are all eligible.”

  “Why can’t we use fighters?”

  “Their drive fields are tuned for inertial protection, not long-range engine efficiency. We can convert them, but the minute they get back into close-quarters combat they’ll be torn to pieces by the hull stress.”

  “This is incredible, engineer,” O’Malley said. “I’m overwhelmed. I thought it would be at least another 100 years before we could perform these kinds of system-to-system jumps without gates. Now we can explore beyond the edges of our star maps in intervals of a few days.”

  “Sir, with your permission, I would like to present this technology along with my recommendations for its use in ship-to-ship and ship-to-surface engagements before we move in on the Achaen Station,” Yili said.

  “It could give us an important level of protection and a big advantage, sir,” Zony added.

  O’Malley didn’t hesitate. “I agree. I will brief the captain. Be ready to present your proposal first thing tomorrow.” The XO patted Zony’s shoulder as he stepped away from the console. Two technicians stood at attention as he passed through the hatch and left the reactor control room.

  “Every time we talk about this I feel like I’m trying to explain electricity to a primitive tribe,” Yili said as she entered commands into the electronics console. “I know the XO is an accomplished guy,
and he knows his stuff when it comes to engines and metallurgy, but whenever I get out into the theoretical weeds, I always look up and find out I’m all alone.”

  “All we can do is try to make it understandable. I was there when you invented all this and I’m still not sure I understand it!”

  “Yeah but you’re a natural,” Yili said. “It comes from all those frequency and resistance calculations you used to do for fun in your dorm barracks.”

  “I knew you’d figure out my secret eventually,” Zony teased.

  “It helps when you’re the only humanoid in the building who hear mosquitoes whispering,” Yili replied.

  Three

  Lieutenant Colonel Lucas Moody was renowned for his reactions to treacherous enemy activity. He and his fellow officers had graduated from Skywatch Academy with stellar marks precisely because they all shared a set of important values. One of those was recognizing the fundamental difference between an enemy and an adversary.

  The Sarn landing party that had just gained easy access to the Triton base was most assuredly not classified in the latter category. Moo and the Proximan Lord-Captain Gael Oakshotte had taken up observation positions only a couple dozen yards behind and 20 feet above the southwest entrance to the heavy manufacturing facility. The Sarn entered the place like they had raised families there. Moo fumed. He knew there was more going on in and around Mycenae Ceti Eight than met the eye, but he wasn’t prepared for the fact a Core Alliance facility had been so casually invaded by a potentially dangerous enemy.

  The two Alliance officers had instructed their respective crews to remain behind so they could get an idea what was happening first. Then Moo had equipped himself with the necessary equipment to destroy the Triton Base if necessary, including four satchel charges.

  Both human and feline knew they needed a plan, and a rather good one if they were going to prevail against a squad of heavily armed regular Sarn soldiers. While Oakshotte was at least a physical match for the much taller reptilian enemies, Moo was at somewhat of a disadvantage, at least when it came to hand to hand combat. Although the colonel was fairly muscular and heavier than an average marine, against a seven-foot bipedal reptile born to withstand the fury of an active volcano he faced some profound limitations. Neither Moo nor Oakshotte had rifles. The feline was armed with his sword, of course, which Moo had recently learned was somewhat more than a simple metal blade in the hands of a Proximan warrior.

  “We’ve got to stop them,” Moo growled. “There’s no telling what they are going to do if they get their hands on the equipment in there.”

  “Can they operate the communications array?” Oakshotte asked in a rumbling basso whisper.

  “It’s possible. If they can just walk through the perimeter security like that, I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole place is compromised. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if the so-called refugees we discovered weren’t some kind of advance team left here to make sure the humans don’t get control of this place again.”

  “That is a very interesting theory, Lookah Moo. I have been wondering about the story we’ve been told about why they were still here after all this time.”

  “The captain would caution me not to jump to conclusions,” Moo replied, “but the circumstantial evidence is starting to pile up. We’ve got to find a way to get in there.”

  “Come, let us see if there is a second entrance we can make use of.” Oakshotte moved quickly for a large humanoid cat, but he managed to make little noise as he descended the uneven grade to the canyon floor. The southwest wing of the Triton facility was surrounded on three sides by formidable gray rock walls that reached as much as 100 feet above the exterior metal decks. The central structure was less occluded by barriers, which was likely the reason it supported most of the base antennas and sensor equipment. Moo had noted the presence of a directional beacon assembly on the roof when they first landed. That meant at some point there had been some kind of orbital communications facility. If those birds were still in orbit, it would give the colonel a number of options, not the least of which was the possibility of establishing contact with the Descartes gate and getting a message either to the captain or Skywatch Command. Somehow, he had to alert his superiors to the fact a Sarn landing party was loose in a sensitive facility.

  “What about the Bree Saw Yenn?”

  “She is nearby on station. If we need support, I can always call in reinforcements,” Oakshotte replied.

  “Good, because we’re probably going to need them.” Moo drew and activated his TK12 heavy pistol. “I’d rather not get a firefight started in here. The lizard in charge left at least four of those walking snakes back at the ship.”

  “They can call in reinforcements too,” Oakshotte replied. “We must be cautious.”

  Moo wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from the towering humanoid cat. He had seen how Oakshotte’s lieutenant carved up what must have been a Kraken scouting party with nothing but a piece of sharpened metal. He also considered himself fortunate to have been one of the first to see a Proximan turn aside energy weapon fire with the same sword. Moo was going to be telling stories about that little incident in every bar from Magellan to Antares the moment he got liberty. There was no telling what the Lord-Captain had up his furry sleeve.

  By now the entire Sarn landing party had moved inside the facility. Moo was hesitant, as it would be unusual for an experienced officer to lead an entire squad into a structure without posting at least one guard to make sure they weren’t about to be ambushed. At the same time, the colonel wasn’t about to wait around for his enemy to remedy his mistake. He moved quickly to the pressure hatch and peered through the transparent composite window. None of the Sarn soldiers were visible. The lights were still operating in all three of the chambers that were visible from the outer hatch. Moo slipped to the other side and Oakshotte moved up to the hatch controls. He deftly deactivated the seal and nodded to the colonel before opening the hatch. The portal slid aside soundlessly and the two allies slipped inside.

  The air inside the base was considerably cleaner and warmer than the planet’s natural atmosphere. Moo glanced at the ceiling corners to verify the personnel systems were operating.

  “Life support is still on-line. I would expect they will try to deactivate it at some point to make things tougher for anyone trying to re-take the facility.”

  “Agreed. Are those the surveillance consoles?”

  “That they are.” Moo and Oakshotte crossed the outer chamber and activated the bank of monitors just inside the airlock control chamber. In moments they were able to locate and evaluate the enemy squad. They had moved to one of the storage facilities not far from the central computer control facility.

  “Why would they be snooping around in storage?” Moo asked rhetorically. Oakshotte ducked as a metallic sound echoed in a nearby passageway. By the time Moo reacted, a Sarn face was already visible in the door’s port. The pressure mechanism activated and the huge reptilian alien stepped through. Oakshotte’s full weight slammed the creature into the nearest metal wall. A mighty struggle ensued. As the Sarn’s hands ripped free, its weapon flew across the room. Oakshotte planted and twisted his weight using his hip as a fulcrum. The Sarn stumbled back. A single shot from Moo’s pistol struck it square in the back and the heavy creature landed hard on the deck. Another sound echoed in the passage and Oakshotte drew his sword.

  Moo scarcely had time to react before the big feline confronted another Sarn fighter in the passage. A weapon fired and blasted sparks, smoke and ozone into the airlock control. Oakshotte’s blade flashed as he sliced the air with it. A wedge of bright energy rocketed down the passageway and punched into the creature’s chest. Its weapon slipped in its clawed hands as the scaled alien slumped into the corner.

  “How can I learn to fire energy blasts from the edge of my sword?”

  Oakshotte chuckled and patted the colonel’s shoulder. “I will train you, Lookah Moo. Perhaps you will learn better than your captain!”r />
  Moo moved quickly to one Sarn body while Oakshotte searched the other. The two officers discovered standard landing party equipment and at least one commlink.

  “Perhaps we can use this to track them without the surveillance banks?” Oakshotte offered.

  “That’s an excellent idea, Lord-Captain, but first we need to get to computer control. I want to know if they’ve gotten a message off this base.”

  “You’re concerned about fresh troops?”

  “That and the fact they could be monitoring fleet operations here and beyond the Descartes Gate. Remember, that World Burner of theirs is in this system. The very last thing we want is for this place to end up being a spotter for that thing.”

  “If they have full control of the orbiting communications satellites, they could target any ship coming through the gate,” Oakshotte said.

  “They’d be sitting ducks,” Moo replied. The look on his face said it all. The two officers moved swiftly towards the nearest cephalon console.

  Four

  Captain Jocelyn Vice had caught herself contemplating the seeming inevitability of historic events again. This time, she was standing on the Black Prince’s observation deck watching the magnificent gleaming profile of the heavy battleship Constitution as she settled into her place among the ships that would become her new battle group. Admiral Powers called it “Task Force Nine.” That was the polite name for the formation. In reality they were sharpening a sobering weapon. Constitution was to anchor a battle line of five cruisers: Fury, Saratoga, Montpelier, Black Prince and Spruance. Although Francis Teller’s ship was technically classified a “light” cruiser and Saratoga was essentially a missile platform rather than an assault ship, the fact was Rear Admiral Buford Tucker had just been handed more firepower than had been assembled in one place in ten years at least.