The Landfall Campaign (The Nameless War) (37 page)

“
More importantly what are you doing here?
”

“
I was serving as first officer on
Cerberus
. I heard about them sending a ship out here, so I expressed an interest.
”
Vincent took a sip from his drink.

“
You volunteered?
”
Willis said and shook her head mockingly.
“
Oh Vincent.
”

“
Didn
’
t think it was a Q-Ship though. Thought it was going to be an auxiliary cruiser.
”
He gave a slight shrug.
“
Someone decided to go down a different route.
”

“
We
…
well the Admiral, was expecting a more conventional ship. He was
…
disappointed.
”

“
Yeah, the welcome did lack warmth,
”
Vincent replied dryly.
“
Thing is Headquarters is alarmed by these attempts to seize ships. If the Rizr get hold of a working version of our jump drives, even a commercial one, that would give them a dangerous improvement to their mobility. Headquarters thought an auxiliary cruiser would be too slow, too weak and just present them with another target. We
’
ve been training on
Deceiver
for two months Faithie. I think a Q-Ship can work out here.
”

“
I
’
m glad to see you Vincent,
”
Willis paused.
“
Deceiver
though,
”
she shook her head.
“
We have two couriers that we
’
ve been using for recce missions. They aren
’
t configured properly for reconnaissance work, so they
’
re limited to flyby missions on the main Rizr bases at Sickles One and Two. There is a definite build-up of forces of warships, support ships and troop transports at both locations. The Admiral thinks they
’
ve also managed to establish a fuelling depot somewhere between Sickle Two and here, which would allow them to move a major force here, but that
’
s speculation. We don
’
t have the recce capability to search the systems that a depot could be set up in. Basically he thinks the Rizr are going to try a major move to take Dryad, and I agree with him.
Deceiver
was probably a good idea when they came up with it. It might have scared them off a few months ago, but now that
’
s unlikely.
”

“
You really think they
’
re going to attack?
”
Vincent replied.

“
We do, as does Admiral Melchiori of the Frontier Squadron.
”

“
Is that why the
Antarctica
is here?
”

“
Yes,
”
Willis nodded.
“
Each time his squadron heads out to the Aèllr frontier two or three days later one of his cruisers comes back for
‘
repairs
’
.
”
Willis gave Vincent a wry smile.
“
Sometimes he has to look pretty hard to find a problem worth sending a ship back for. It means we have at least one semi-modern ship around most of the time without breaking the Council
’
s instructions too flagrantly.
”

Vincent nodded and set down his cup.

“
I suppose we
’
d better get on with some real work.
”

Willis reached to turn on her computer terminal and hesitated.

“
Vince, what happens if they recognise your ship before they get inside your effective range?
”
she could hear the concern in her voice but with him, she didn
’
t try to conceal it.

“
Well Faithie,
”
he replied slowly,
“
that
’
ll be an interesting day. I
’
ll try to hang in there long enough for you to ride to the rescue.
”

“
Well Vince, let hope that doesn
’
t happen. In the meantime, welcome to the wrong end of the priority list.
”

___________________

19
th
April 2067

The battle was already a lost cause. A number of bad moves in the opening stages had resulted in heavy casualties early on. After that he
’
d raised his game but the damage had already been done and the reality was that all he could do was delay the inevitable. As Vincent looked down the only options he could see were a last stand or surrender.

“
Concede,
”
Vincent said as he reached over and knocked the king onto its side, before adding:
“
y
’
know lieutenant, when I was your rank it was thought polite to let your C.O. win occasionally.
”

Lieutenant Denvers smiled politely as he started putting the chess pieces away.

“
I wouldn
’
t want to be accused of giving anything less than one hundred percent sir.
”

“
Good reply.
”

Vincent stood up and made his way over to one of the wardroom
’
s armchairs. One of the few things he missed was being able to spend time in the wardroom. As a ship
’
s captain he could now only enter on the sufferance of his officers. Lieutenant Denvers only managed to get half the chess pieces put away before another pair of off-duty officers took them from him.
Deceiver
wasn
’
t by any means a hotbed of chess enthusiasts but it killed time, and on board
Deceiver
time was one thing they had more than enough of.

The ship was accelerating slowly away from Dryad Three. With one engine shut down completely and radar reflectors deployed,
Deceiver
had the profile of a small jump-capable in-system transport, exactly the type that had so far proved the most attractive to Rizr raiders. For nearly a month
Deceiver
had trudged from planet to planet within the system. Twice they
’
d left the system and come back in, to simulate an interstellar transport arriving. Each time they reached a destination, they would pause just long enough to change the ship
’
s radar profile and take up a new identity. Yet for all their efforts, there had been no encounters with the enemy. Not that the Rizr weren
’
t still active. Since
Deceiver
’
s
arrival another slow boat had been destroyed. However a separate Rizr protected cruiser narrowly avoided destruction at the hands of
Hood
and
Onslaught
when it jumped in on a transport that they were escorting. The range had been just long enough for it to escape before the two Earth ships were able to cripple it. By contrast, boredom remained the biggest enemy on board
Deceiver
.

As Espey sat down, the ship
’
s second-in-command, Lieutenant Commander Mamista, came in and looked around for a moment before spotting his commander. Vincent was happy enough with his first officer but Mamista was definitely the poster child of the wartime fleet. In terms of rank he was more than five years ahead of where Vincent had been at the same age. He was also an example of the strange logic of bureaucracy. He
’
d been a member of the crew of the
Mississippi
when that ship made the first violent contact with the Nameless, but now he was at Dryad, on the far side of human space.

“
Sir, may I join you?
”
he asked. Vincent nodded toward the chair opposite.

“
What is it?
”

“
We
’
ve just received a warning that the Dryad detection grid has picked up another Rizr protected cruiser arriving at the edge of the system.
”

“
What
’
s the lag?
”

“
It
’
s closer in than usual, sir. It
’
s three and a half light hours from us,
”
Mamista replied.
“
Hawkings Base won
’
t receive the transmission for another two hours.
”

“
If we
’
re seeing its arrival then if it
’
s planning on coming in-system, it
’
s probably made its move.
”

“
Yes sir,
”
Mamista agreed.

“
And if it hasn
’
t dropped in on us then it
’
s gone someone else. Damn it!
”

“
Yes sir. There
’
s something else that might be more serious. Communications overheard a conversation between two tug pilots at Dryad Five. One of them clearly mentioned a decoy warship.
‘
Decoy warship
’
were his exact words.
”

“
Please tell me there was at least commercial encoding.
”

Mamista shook his head,
“
Someone in orbital control heard them as well and told them to shut up.
”

“
When was this?
”

“
We got the transmission about forty minutes ago sir.
”

“
Hell
’
s teeth. Did that Rizr cruiser hear it?
”

“
If it
’
s jumped then it likely missed the transmission. If it hung on though, then it could have heard and even if they missed the original conversation, then the shout from orbital control will definitely have raised a flag. Sir, I think you
’
ll have to speak to the Admiral. If the Rizr find out that a Q-Ship is in the system they could just stay at stand-off range and shoot transports rather than try to take them.
”

“
And if that happens we
’
ll have succeeded in our mission to stop them from taking a human jump drive, but for us personally it
’
s a problem,
”
Vincent said half to himself.
“
Because
Deceiver
only works as a concept if the Rizr keep attempting to take ships intact.
”

“
Of course sir,
‘
decoy warship
’
can be taken two ways. A ship that is armed but doesn
’
t look like it is…
”

“
Or an unarmed ship that looks like a warship,
”
Vincent finished for him.

“
That is the more appropriate interpretation,
”
Mamista replied.

“
In English yes, but once it
’
s translated, that distinction might not be so clear.
”

The main alarm gave a sudden whoop.

“
Battle stations! Battle stations! All hands to battle station!
”
the intercom barked. There was a crush of bodies as everyone in the wardroom dived for the hatch.

“
Report!
”
Vincent shouted as he entered
Deceiver
’
s
bridge.

“
Rizr protected cruiser has just jumped in, approximately thirty thousand kilometres beyond the red line,
”
shouted back the duty officer.
“
We are currently twenty thousand kilometres inside the mass shadow.
”

Vincent started pull on his survival suit. Around him the rest of his crew were doing likewise.