Rumors of Salvation (System States Rebellion Book 3) (18 page)

“Are
you serious?” asked the man after the required delay. “No, there’s been no news
of anything like that! I can’t believe what you’re telling me. I just talked to
General Masterson this morning, and he seemed fine.”

“Tell
me something, Captain. Was Masterson in charge of the city evacuations? If so,
do you think he could have acted more aggressively in your opinion?” asked
Molitor.

When
the 34 seconds were up, she saw the army captain’s eyes open wide with
realization. Clearly she had guessed right.

“Oh
God! He did seem to be taking the whole situation less seriously than I thought
he should have! It took us hours to convince him to order the evacuations. None
of us could understand his attitude, and now that I think of it, Admiral Chenko
wasn’t enthusiastic about the evacuation either. We’ve got to stop them. Who
else has been compromised?”

Moltior
gave him the names of the half a dozen top Federation politicians that Rollens
had volunteered. She warned him that any compromised person they tried to
arrest would very likely turn violent and would display unusual speed and
strength. She also told him that she could provide several electro-magnetic
pulse devices that would deactivate the implants. She was prepared to load them
onto a shuttle that could be sent down via auto-pilot. She wasn’t going to risk
any of her crew becoming contaminated. The Captain could keep the shuttle. The
Captain thanked her, and after telling her where the shuttle should land,
signed off with a promise to report back to her later.

It
was over five hours later before she heard back from the army captain. Coral
Sea, meanwhile, had maintained its position outside Earth’s hyper-zone to be on
the safe side in case more Empire ships arrived. When the Captain’s face
re-appeared on the display, she could see that he had a bandage over the left
side of his forehead.

“You
were right about their strength, Commander,” he said in an apologetic voice.
“General Masterson managed to seriously injure one of our security personnel,
plus this,” he pointed to his forehead, “before we could subdue him. Who would
have thought a man his age could move so fast! It took some doing, but we arrested
everyone you mentioned and confirmed that they were all implanted. We
discovered some others who were implanted too. Everybody in a position of
authority is being checked for implants now. By the way, your shuttle landed
okay, and we’ve already tested the pulse equipment on Admiral Chenko. It worked
just as you predicted. In fact, the Admiral’s on his way here, and he’ll want
to talk with you when he gets here. Over to you, Commander.”

“I’m
standing by, Captain. We’ll keep this channel open. Thanks for the update.” It
didn’t take long for the Admiral to appear. He looked considerably older than
the last time she saw him.

“Commander
Molitor, I want to express my personal thanks for bringing that pulse
equipment. I thought that nightmare was never going to end. Captain Fernandez
has told me what little he knows about your situation. What else can you tell
me?”

“Well,
Admiral, the shipbuilding operation on Midgard has been evacuated to Excalbur,
where the SSU Brain Trust is located. We’re in the process of modifying former
rebel ships with some new weapon technology that we think can beat the Empire.
Unfortunately, the Empire has the new Ether detection system. We tried to get
here as fast as we could, but technical problems delayed our departure. I’m sorry
we couldn’t get here in time to prevent the bio-attack, Admiral.”

Chenko
nodded. “I’m sorry too, Commander, but all you can do is all you can do. I
regret to report that the bio-weapon is spreading out of control. Our
projections indicate that ninety per cent of Earth’s population will be dead
within ten days and ninety-eight per cent two weeks after that. The damn thing
won’t kill us all of course. There are enough isolated places that some people
will survive, but civilization will disappear from this planet. Other planets
too, unfortunately. When I was still under the control of my implant, I ordered
five ships that were on Earth to carry infected cargo to as many planets as
they could reach. Majestic is continuing to send its own ships to bombard planets,
but it’s counting on secondary distribution via commercial freighters to do
most of the damage. Those ship commanders have all been implanted too, so
they’re not going to stop as long as they’re still alive. I wish there was some
way we could intercept those five ships, but they’ll get to their destinations
before anyone can stop them. Over to you, Commander.”

Molitor
was shocked by the news, but it all made perfect sense. Freighters could spread
the bio-weapon much farther and faster than sending Empire cruisers to every
one of the over 500 colonized planets in existence. It suddenly dawned on her
that Chenko clearly didn’t know about the improved hyper-drive technology that
Rebel ships had. Coral Sea could definitely beat at least one, maybe even two
ships to their destinations. If Leyte Gulf got here soon enough, it might be
able to intercept two more, and Gambier Bay might be able to get the fifth
ship, but it would all depend on where those ships were going and how long it
would take them to get there. Any interception effort would have to be planned
very carefully.

“Admiral,
there’s a chance we can stop those five ships. There’s one secret that I don’t
think the Empire knows about yet. The SSU made a major breakthrough in FTL
technology right at the end of the war, although too late to prevent defeat.
Coral Sea can cross interstellar space four point six three times faster than
your standard hyper-drive. We can beat one ship there and intercept it and
maybe get to a second destination before that infected ship arrives. Four more
Resistance ships will be arriving here over the next few weeks. They can be
redirected to try to stop the other three. Your people will have to figure out
a deployment plan that has the best chance of stopping the infected ships. I
estimate Leyte Gulf will get here in about fifteen days or so. Not sure about
when the other three ships will arrive. Over to you, Admiral.” The 34 seconds
between messages now seemed twice as long as she anxiously waited for his
reply.

“That’s
the best news I’ve heard in a long time, Commander! I’ll get my staff to work
on the optimum deployment plan. I just hope the bio-weapon doesn’t wipe us out
here at HQ before we can figure out the answer. We’ll get back to you,
Commander. Chenko out.”

Coral
Sea received the deployment plan digitally five and a half hours later along
with a text message. Molitor felt her eyes tear up as she read it on a data
tablet.

Chenko
to Molitor. HQ has been infected now. Staff dropping like flies. I’m feeling
sick too. Our orbiting comsats will broadcast the plan continuously in order to
inform your other ships what to do when they get here because none of us will
still be alive by then. Good luck. End of message.

By
the time she finished reading the message, her Astrogator had already put the
deployment plan up on the main display. The five infected ships were heading
out in widely divergent directions and to far away destinations. The shortest
trip would still take just over 13 weeks, and the longest trip, 18.5 weeks.
Coral Sea and Leyte Gulf were virtually certain of arriving at the target
colonies first and intercepting those two plague ships. The plan had the latest
dates that the other three carriers could arrive at Earth and still beat the
plague ships to their target systems. Based on when the shipyard on Excalibur
thought those last three carriers would be ready, there was a chance that they
would make it here in time, but it would be close. All five carriers were to
return to Earth orbit for rendezvous after their interceptions were completed.
Coral Sea’s target was Dresden. Without needing to be ordered to do so, the
Astrogator had the course for Dresden calculated and transferred over to the
Helm Station. Molitor gave the order to head for Dresden.

Day
144/2556

Coral
Sea

Dresden
star system

Molitor
jumped in surprise as the tactical display pinged for attention. The Ether
detection system had just spotted the emergence of a ship from hyper-space. It
was still outside Dresden’s hyper-zone. Coral Sea, on the other hand, having
arrived over a week ago, was deep in the zone and less than a thousand
kilometers from the planet. The colonists had been warned about the plague
ship, but it was up to Molitor’s ship to make sure the plague ship didn’t land
or drop anything on the colony.

It
only took a few minutes to confirm that this new ship was headed straight for
the colony. Chenko’s deployment data included the ship’s name and the name of
her skipper. Molitor would wait until the Black Moon was too deep within the zone
to get away before attempting to contact her C.O. She didn’t want that
implanted officer deciding to retreat in order to infect some other colony. If
he tried to run, Coral Sea would be able to get close enough to fire her lasers
accurately, and the Black Moon would be disabled. Its crew and passengers, if
any, would be told to take to lifeboats, which would be carefully steered to a
remote area on the planet where they would be quarantined until either the
people were all dead or had survived long enough to prove that they weren’t
infected. That was the best case scenario, but Molitor was sure that the
implanted commanding officer wasn’t going to be that co-operative. With almost
40 million colonists on Dresden, there was no way Molitor was going to let a
ship or lifeboat land anywhere near the inhabited areas.

The
next two and a half hours passed very slowly. Coral Sea was now hovering
directly over the part of the planet where the colony had spread out. Black
Moon was now less than a million kilometers away, close enough to get good
accuracy from her superluminal lasers, and since the freighter was coming more
or less directly at Coral Sea, even her standard x-ray lasers had a chance of
hitting it if they were fired enough times. She decided it was time to contact
the ship.

“Black
Moon, this is Commander Rachel Molitor of the Resistance warship, Coral Sea. We
know that you’re carrying cargo contaminated with a bio-weapon. You will not be
allowed to land anywhere near the Dresden colonists. You are ordered to
decelerate to zero velocity. I’m prepared to use deadly force if you do not
comply with my instructions. Captain Fernandez, I know that you’ve been
implanted with a mind-control device. We have the ability to neutralize that
device if you can find a way to surrender your ship. Don’t try to retreat back
across the hyper-zone boundary. I’m not letting you infect some other colony
either. Deceleration to zero velocity is your only acceptable option. This will
be my one and only warning, Captain. If you wish to communicate with me, I’ll
be listening.”

“They’re
trying to veer off!” The shout from the Detection Station came right on the
heels of her message. Clearly Fernandez’s implant had instructed him to try to
break out past the hyper-zone before he had heard the rest of her message.

Molitor
turned to look at her new Weapons Officer. “Okay, Guns. Get S1 and S2 turrets
ready to fire,” she said in a calm but low voice. This would be the first test
of the superluminal lasers under a real combat situation.

“Both
Supers are charging,” came the reply. “Accuracy at this range is only sixty-six
percent, Commander.”

“Can’t
be helped, Guns. If we wait, they’ll convert their vertical vector to a
horizontal one that’ll be even more difficult to hit. The chances of both
Supers missing on the first shot is only eleven per cent. As soon as they’re
charged, go ahead and fire. Recharge and continuing firing until you hear
otherwise.” She turned to look at the Helm Officer. “Close the range, Helm. Max
acceleration.”

With
her orders acknowledged, she leaned back and waited. Coral Sea might be a
warship now, but she had started out as a freighter, and her ability to
accelerate was still the less powerful capability of a freighter. Accelerating
from a dead stop was not going to improve the tactical situation much, but it
couldn’t hurt either. What worried her more than anything else right now was
the long time it took to charge both superluminal lasers. If they only had the
one turret, it could be charged in half the time, but with two, each laser was
only getting half the available power. She knew from field tests that charging
one would take roughly 34 seconds and charging both at the same time would take
68 seconds. In theory, firing once every 34 seconds was really no different
than firing two lasers every 68 seconds, but 68 seconds seemed like a long time
to wait for stuff to happen.

“Ninety-five
percent charged,” said the W.O. “Firing in…three…two…one…now!” The Bridge
lights flickered for a fraction of a second. At this range, it was impossible
to know for sure if they actually hit the target, but the tactical display
sidebar showed that Black Moon’s acceleration dropped by 25% which seemed to
indicate some damage to maneuvering engines. “Both turrets are recharging!”