The Lost Stars: Shattered Spear (13 page)

When her response came two minutes later, Imallye did not appear to be impressed by Marphissa’s argument. “I know nothing about the so-called enigmas except that the Syndicate claimed that they existed. Since the Syndicate lied about so much else, that means little to me. I also know the damage your records show at Iwa, if those records have not been manipulated, could have been inflicted by weapons fired from ships such as yours, Kommodor. And I know that no matter what she calls herself or what flattery her minions offer up in describing her, CEO Iceni is fully capable of ordering such an attack. I do not see grounds for peace in such a situation.”

That sounded very much like personal animosity toward Iceni. Where had that come from?

Before she could touch the transmit command to answer, Kapitan
Diaz halted Marphissa with an urgent gesture. “My systems specialists inform me that there are intrusion attempts being made against our software. At least one of Imallye’s ships is trying to use the Syndicate unit net to break into our systems.”

“Is there any danger of their succeeding?” Marphissa asked.

“My specialists are certain they can maintain the firewalls. They say the intrusion attempts are using Syndicate-origin malware which is a few revisions behind that which our forces captured from the snakes at Ulindi, so our systems can easily spot it and stop it.”

“Good. I won’t let Imallye know that her efforts have been detected and neutralized.” Marphissa composed her expression once more before touching the transmit command and kept her reply even in tone as if nothing untoward had occurred. “Honored Granaile Imallye, I know little of President Iceni’s past. Like all of us who were forced to serve the Syndicate, she doubtless has her share of skeletons in her closet. I can only speak to who she has been since arriving at Midway. As a CEO, she worked for the people. As soon as a good opportunity arose, she rebelled against the Syndicate and destroyed the snake presence in Midway Star System. Since then, she has overseen reforms of the election system and the legal system at Midway to grant real rights to the people, and to protect the people and their rights from those in power. Whatever has led to your skepticism regarding President Iceni’s nature and motives, I ask that you become familiar with her record at Midway.”

Imallye smiled without visible humor. “I will become very familiar with it when I sift through the rubble of her headquarters in that star system.”

That sounded more like a promise than a threat.
To hell with diplomacy.
Marphissa drew herself up and gazed sternly at Imallye. “The only wreckage that will be produced if you attack Midway will be the debris from the remains of your ships,” she said coldly. “We have already driven off multiple attacks by the Syndicate. We have substantial forces,
very capable commanders, and the loyalty of our crews. They will fight for their homes and their families and destroy anyone who endangers them. We would, however, much rather fight alongside your ships against those mutual threats we face.”

“Indeed?” Imallye displayed that grim smile again. “I can’t help but wonder why such a powerful foe would come to me begging for peace and support against her enemies. Is Iceni trying to buy time to set up defenses at Iwa against me? Does she fear that Iwa will fall to me before she can snatch it up?”

Marphissa blinked, surprised by the statement. “There is nothing left at Iwa to fall, nothing to conquer. No defenses. I sent you the records of what we saw there. You know that every aspect of the human presence at Iwa has been devastated.”

“What I know is that, if your records are accurate and not manipulated, then Iwa is unoccupied, and therefore easily available to me as a base,” Imallye said.

“A base?” Marphissa failed to hide her incredulity. “When the enigmas can hit it again at any time? Iwa is a death trap!”

“And yet you are working so hard to keep me from going there.” Imallye’s image glared at Marphissa. “I don’t believe you. You work for Iceni, so you’ll say anything. And I know that if I leave myself exposed to Iceni at all I will end up with a knife in my back.”

“President Iceni does not want hostilities with you! Midway wants to free star systems from the Syndicate. We threaten no one!”

“As long as Iceni has a flotilla of warships, she is a threat,” Imallye said flatly.

And
Manticore
was part of that flotilla. Marphissa made sure her comm control was off before flinging an order at Diaz. “Kapitan, head for the jump point back to Iwa. Now. Maximum acceleration.”

She faced forward, composed her expression, then hit transmit again. “Honored Granaile Imallye, you are mistaken. I ask again that
you familiarize yourself with the situation at Midway before you reach a decision. The enigmas are real, and they are resolved to destroy any human presence. Please accept President Iceni’s offer of peace.”

Manticore
was pivoting around under the push of her thrusters putting out their full force, her bow nearly lined up with the vector back to the jump point.

Forty seconds into the maneuver the combat systems specialist called out a warning. “
Vengeance
began altering vector fifty-nine seconds ago!”

“He started maneuvering before he could have seen our moves,” Diaz said.

“I had a hunch that conversation was at an end,” Marphissa replied.

“All hands brace for full acceleration!” Diaz warned a moment before
Manticore
’s main propulsion lit off and hurled the heavy cruiser out of her orbit. High-pitched whines of complaint issued from the inertial dampers as they tried to keep the strains on the crew and the ship’s structure from tearing both apart.

“
Vengeance
lit off her main propulsion fifty-nine seconds ago! Estimate the battle cruiser is accelerating on an intercept with our previous orbit.”

Diaz, back pressed against his seat by the acceleration, still managed to shake his head. “Anticipating what
Vengeance
would do bought us a little advantage starting out. But we can’t outrun a battle cruiser. They’ve got a higher thrust-to-mass ratio than we do.”

“Maybe we got enough of a head start,” Marphissa said. “And we were already fifty-nine light seconds ahead of them. Maybe that will be enough.” She didn’t believe that, but she still nursed an irrational hope.

“We’ll know for sure when the vectors steady down,” Diaz said. But from the way he said it,
Manticore
’s captain didn’t expect to see good news when that happened.

Caught flat-footed by the sudden maneuvers, the nearest of Imallye’s warships, the HuK
Mahadhevan
, had been left behind when
Manticore
bolted. The HuK began pivoting to join in the chase, then abruptly stopped.

“None of Imallye’s light cruisers or HuKs are pursuing us,” Diaz said. “It looks as if
Mahadhevan
started to but then received orders to stay in orbit.”

“Imallye doesn’t need the HuKs or light cruisers if that battle cruiser catches us,” Marphissa said angrily. “And a prolonged chase would run through the fuel cell supply on the HuKs and leave them in trouble. She’s probably leaving the light cruisers here to keep an eye on that planet, which may not be as securely under her control as she implied.”

An alarm pulsed on Marphissa’s display, accompanied by a red flashing symbol. “Hull stress is exceeding safety parameters,” the senior specialist reported.

“Kommodor?” Diaz asked.

Marphissa took a moment to think, breathing deeply, and weighing the need to maintain the highest possible acceleration against the certain disintegration of both ship and crew if the hull or the inertial dampers failed. She nodded to Diaz. “You may reduce acceleration to stay within safe limits, Kapitan. Do not reduce it even a tiny amount below that level.”

Rather than order a specialist to do it, Diaz brought up the thrust controls on his own display and carefully lowered the output from
Manticore
’s main propulsion until the red symbol shaded into a cautionary yellow. “We can hold this as long as our fuel cells hold out, Kommodor.”

Both the heavy cruiser and the pursuing
Vengeance
had steadied out on their vectors.
Manticore
’s projected course was a very long, shallow curve that would bring her back to the jump point for Iwa, the time until that arrival still slowly diminishing as the heavy cruiser continued to accelerate. Behind her,
Vengeance
’s projected path was another shallow curve, this one aimed to intercept
Manticore
’s course far ahead of where both ships were now located, and far short of the jump point that would allow the heavy cruiser’s escape.

“Assuming both units continue operating main propulsion at their current rates, maneuvering systems project intercept of
Manticore
by
Vengeance
in fifteen point three hours,” the senior specialist reported in an admirably calm voice.

Marphissa tried to relax even though the acceleration leaking past the inertial dampers was still pushing her back against her seat. Her display showed the same information the specialist had reported. Her attempt to stay as far from
Vengeance
as possible while meeting Imallye’s demands, and her anticipation of the battle cruiser’s attack, had bought some time and space, but not nearly enough.

It wasn’t a wildly difficult problem for the automated systems to calculate. The most complex aspect of it was how much acceleration would slow as the velocity of both ships climbed ever higher. Relativity was unforgiving. As
Manticore
moved at ever-higher fractions of the speed of light, the warship’s mass would inexorably increase as well, making it harder for the same amount of thrust to push the ship even faster. If
Manticore
could somehow get close to the speed of light, the ship’s mass would grow so huge that it became impossible for any amount of thrust to keep accelerating her.

But such an effort would burn far too much of the heavy cruiser’s fuel cells, and in any event,
Manticore
’s velocity would be limited by another consideration. A ship could only enter jump if it were going at point two light speed or less.
Manticore
would have to limit her maximum velocity so that she could brake back down to point two light speed by the time she reached that jump point.

But
Vengeance
wasn’t planning on jumping, so the battle cruiser wasn’t worried about braking his velocity. And this was exactly the kind of situation that battle cruisers were built for, with massive main propulsion that let them accelerate faster than any other warship despite the large mass of a battle cruiser. The price for that was in far less armor than battleships, and not as many weapons as a ship that size could have
carried. But battle cruisers carried plenty enough weapons to annihilate most of the warships they could chase down.

Diaz leaned close to Marphissa and spoke in a very low voice. “What is our plan, Kommodor?”

“Right now, I am praying for a miracle,” she murmured in reply. “Captain Bradamont taught me how to do that.”

Kapitan Diaz hesitated, licking his lips nervously. “Kommodor, Captain Bradamont has also instructed me. She told me that the situation is never hopeless as long as you can still move or fight.”

“I agree. But I am not seeing any alternative at this point to moving until we are caught by
Vengeance
, then fighting until we are destroyed. Help me find an alternative, Kapitan. We have fifteen hours until we are within range of the battle cruiser’s weapons.” Marphissa nodded to herself. “And if that happens, I intend engaging
Vengeance
and inflicting so much damage that Imallye’s battle cruiser will pose no threat to anyone afterward.
Manticore
will be destroyed, but Imallye will deeply regret the price of her victory.”

Diaz nodded as well. “Yes, Kommodor. My ship will not fail you.”

Marphissa turned her head to look at him and forced a smile. “Not your ship, nor its commander, nor its crew, have ever failed me, Kapitan Diaz, and I am certain that they never will.” She had let her voice rise in volume so the words carried, wanting the specialists to hear them as well. Word would have already spread through the ship of
Manticore
’s apparently helpless situation. Anything that would help morale, no matter how little, was important right now.

And Diaz deserved the public praise as well.

He flushed slightly, nodded again, then sat back and began tapping in internal comm connections. “I will speak with all of my officers and senior specialists to let them know that recommendations would be welcome.”

The next several hours passed with increasing slowness, as if relativity
had already placed an iron grip of time’s rate of progression on the perceptions of those aboard
Manticore
. Marphissa had to use a down patch to get some sleep so she would not be exhausted when
Vengeance
finally caught
Manticore
. The rest of the time she spent running simulations of different attempts to avoid that intercept, each attempt only succeeding in bringing about the clash a little sooner. After a while, Marphissa abandoned that effort and began gaming out the battle between her heavy cruiser and
Vengeance
, trying to work out the best possible means of inflicting maximum damage on the battle cruiser before
Manticore
was destroyed. The results of those simulations were also discouraging, but she worked away at them stubbornly.

“Kommodor?”

Diaz’s voice roused Marphissa from a dark reverie of dying warships. She glanced around the bridge, noticing that everyone was quieter than usual as they contemplated the apparently inevitable, then focused back on Diaz. “Yes, Kapitan?”

“Senior Specialist Beltsios has an idea, Kommodor.”

Marphissa roused herself fully, tapping her controls to bring up a virtual window showing Beltsios. “What do you have, Senior Specialist?”

“Kommodor,” Beltsios said, speaking clearly and carefully, “I understand that you were informed of attempts by Imallye’s forces to plant malware in our systems.”