The Trafalgar Gambit

Chapter Thirty-Four

“Admiral,” Janelle said, suddenly. “Long-range scans are picking up fifteen starships entering the system from Tramline Three and advancing on the planet.”

Ted frowned. Five days had passed since the aliens had informed the humans that the issue of human factions would need to be debated. Five days, during which he’d waited, feeling ice prickling down the back of his spine. Five days…

He’d forced himself to do the paperwork, to read up on all the reports and pray the aliens listened to reason. But if they worked out what had really happened, they’d be furious and almost certainly go back to war. Humanity wouldn’t react very well to attempted genocide either.

“I see,” he said. He forced a calmness into his voice he didn’t feel. “Time to orbit?”

“Thirty-seven minutes,” Janelle said. “They’re really pushing their drives.”

And they came out of the tramline as close to the planet as possible, Ted thought. There were human researchers who believed it might be possible to fiddle with the exit coordinate, but nothing had actually been proven. They must be in a hurry.

“Bring the flotilla to combat stations, covertly,” he ordered. Thankfully, they’d researched the tricky condition during the journey to the alien world. His crew would be as ready as possible, without alerting the aliens that something was wrong. “And then signal the Ambassador. I want him to ask the aliens what’s happening.”

He settled back in his chair and forced himself to wait. There had been no shortage of starships making their way in and out of the system since they’d arrived, but most of them had been civilian or commercial designs. None of them had shown the urge to push themselves forward so hard there was a very real chance of burning out the drives. But the newcomers were trying hard to reach the planet, as if they were racing against an invisible deadline. Did the aliens have politicians who knew nothing of the realities of space travel, he asked himself, or was something more sinister afoot?

“The Ambassador states that he’s heard nothing, but he is going to ask for a meeting,” Janelle reported. “There’s nothing wrong where they are, apparently.”

“Noted,” Ted said, eying the status board. One by one, departments and compartments all over the ship were checking in, reporting themselves at battle readiness. The only thing they didn’t have was powered up weapons. Starfighters were hanging in the launch bay, ready to engage the enemy if necessary. Ted would have preferred to launch them at once, but it might have seemed a hostile act. Instead, all he could do was wait. “Let me know the moment they respond.”

The alien craft blazed closer, angling their approach so they were plunging straight towards the planet. Ted studied the mass readings thoughtfully, silently concluding that the aliens had ten frigates, four middle-sized starships and one larger craft of unknown design. It didn’t seem large enough to be a carrier, but that meant nothing. Even the bulk freighters the Royal Navy had converted into escort carriers held two squadrons of starfighters apiece, giving them a nasty sting.

“One of the probes picked up a great deal of chatter between the planet and the incoming ships,” Janelle said, suddenly. “They’re talking past each other.”

Ted frowned. One of the more annoying aspects of the speed-of-light limit was that even radio signals suffered from incessant time delay. It was quite possible to send a message to a starship five light minutes away, then have to wait ten minutes — at least — for a reply. In some ways, it was a blessing — he hated to think what the Admiralty would do if they could issue orders in real time — but it was also irritating. One person could send another message while waiting for the answer to the first one, confusing both sides. It was considered preferable to send compressed messages rather than risk a misunderstanding that could cost lives.

But the aliens, it seemed, were ignoring the problem. Instead, they were talking… no one could have a conversation like that, Ted was sure. They were dictating to each other, issuing orders and perhaps even threats, without even waiting for the other side to reply. The thought worried him more than he cared to admit. If the Russians had been prepared to upset one set of negotiations in hopes of ending the war on their terms, what might the alien War Faction be prepared to do?

“Admiral,” Janelle said, “the alien defence grid is coming to life.”

Ted swallowed a curse. The aliens might have given the flotilla some space, but he was too old an officer not to know that the distance between the carrier and the alien defences was meaningless. A safe distance would have been much further from the planet. Now… he found himself unsure what to do. If he brought his ships to full alert, he might panic the alien defences… and if he didn’t, he risked being taken by surprise if the alien newcomers proved to be hostile.

“Activate our defence grid, but hold starfighters in their tubes,” he ordered, finally. He would have preferred to avoid using starfighters anyway — the squadrons still hadn’t shook themselves down properly — but he might not have a choice. “And…”

“Admiral, I have Ambassador Melbourne for you,” Janelle said. “Do you want me to put him through?”

“Yes,” Ted said. He keyed his console. “Ambassador?”

“The War Faction is making its move,” Ambassador Melbourne said, without preamble. “It thinks we cannot be trusted at all, Admiral, and the Russian actions just prove we cannot even honour our commitments to protect their diplomats. They’re choosing to override the other factions and launch an attack on us.”

Ted cursed out loud. “And what are the other factions saying?”

“They’re still arguing,” Ambassador Melbourne said. “I don’t think outright defiance of the factional consensus has ever been a problem for them before.”

Something else we taught them, Ted thought. The Russians acted alone. Why not the War Faction?

He paused. But they did attempt to prevent the Peace Faction from making contact…

“Please inform them that I intend to take all necessary measures to protect my ships,” Ted said, shortly. “And ask them to keep their ships out of the engagement if the shit hits the fan.”

“Understood,” Ambassador Melbourne said.

Ted tapped his console. “Commander, move us away from the planet, then launch starfighters,” he ordered. He had no idea how the remaining factions would react to humans killing aliens anywhere near one of their worlds, even though the War Faction had started the engagement. “Warn all ships that they are to only engage hostile targets.”

“Aye, sir,” Commander Williams said. She sounded rather more than a little dubious. In the middle of a high-speed engagement, separating friend and foe could become a little tricky. “I think some of them might be more hostile than others.”

“I know,” Ted said. If the War Faction wanted total war, how many other factions wanted a limited war, or a territory grab, or anything else between a war of annihilation and peace? “The sooner we put some distance between us and them, the better.”

He watched, grimly, as the flotilla moved away from the planet. Long minutes ticked by, then the War Faction starships altered course, aiming to intercept the human ships. Ted gritted his teeth, wondering if he dared fire first. What would the fence-sittings take as a hostile act? Or use as an excuse to come down against humanity? The war had been a great deal simpler before the humans realised there was a way to talk to their enemies.

But we were also losing, he thought, gloomily. If we can get some of the alien factions on our side, we might have a chance to survive.

“Captain,” Janelle said. “All starfighters have launched; I say again, all starfighters have launched.”

“Order them all to fall into CSP formation,” Ted ordered. On the display, blue icons fanned out around Ark Royal. Ted traced their patterns with his eye for a long moment, hoping that Prince Henry and the other young pilots survived, then turned his attention back to the overall situation. “And launch a ballistic probe towards the enemy starships.”

“Aye, Admiral,” Janelle said. She paused. “We only have a couple of probes left.”

“We won’t have any if we lose this battle,” Ted said. The beancounters would definitely throw a fit when they found out how many probes he’d expended, but he found it rather had to care. “Launch the probe, then put the results on the main display.”

“Aye, Admiral,” Janelle said.

“And send a signal,” Ted added. The researchers — he thought of Polly and felt an odd pang - thought the aliens responded better to bluntness than diplomatic weasel words. “Tell them to break off or we’ll open fire.”

“Aye, Admiral,” Janelle said. There was a long pause. The seconds ticked past the moment the aliens could have responded and retreated into the distance. “No response, sir.”

“Shit,” Ted muttered. He’d hoped they could communicate now, but the War Faction clearly wasn’t interested in talking — or anything, beyond victory or defeat. The other aliens were doing nothing, but watching. “Show me the live feed from the probe.”

He sucked in his breath as he saw the enemy fleet. On one hand, it was weaker than he’d expected, unless the War Faction had invented a brand new weapon. The Royal Navy had come up with quite a few weapons that could end the war if they were ever put into production and deployed and the aliens, he had to admit, were revoltingly ingenious. But on the other hand, he’d expected the aliens to commit a much larger force against Ark Royal. If there was anyone who had good reason to know how tough the ancient carrier was, it was the War Faction.

“Admiral,” Janelle said. Her voice was calm, but there was a hint of alarm running through her words. “The enemy are launching starfighters.”

Ted nodded. So the fifteenth ship was a carrier, then. Larger than an escort carrier, according to the probe, but nowhere near as big as a modern carrier or Ark Royal. Four squadrons of starfighters zoomed out into space, then hurled themselves towards Ark Royal’s covering fighters. They seemed remarkably confident that the carrier’s fighters couldn’t leave their posts and engage the enemy starships.

And they might be right, Ted conceded, reluctantly. He wouldn’t have hesitated to take the risk of thinning his fighter cover with a veteran crew, but Ark Royal’s pilots were too green to be fully trusted. And yet it might not matter.

“Alter course, bring the mass drivers to bear on their ships,” he ordered. It was time to try something new. “I want to execute a full scattershot in” — he checked his console — “five minutes.”

Janelle looked up from her console, frowning. “Admiral,” she said carefully, “it is unlikely that will affect the enemy starfighters.”

“It doesn’t have to,” Ted said. One of the major downsides of mass drivers was that smaller ships could dodge their projectiles, if they had time to react. It would be a great deal harder for them to avoid the tiny scattershot projectiles. Even if they missed completely, the aliens would have a nasty fright. “Aim for the ships, then prepare to fire.”

“Aye, Admiral,” Janelle said. “Weapons locked on target.”

Ted nodded, then diverted his attention to the display monitoring the alien world. So far, nothing seemed to have happened, one way or the other. Their defence grid was armed, sweeping space with active sensors, but they weren’t launching fighters or missiles at either side in the coming battle. Ted gritted his teeth, understanding far too well why the aliens would prefer to stay out of the fight. They didn’t seem too concerned about the prospect of the War Faction living up to its name.

They’re not human, he reminded himself, savagely. There wasn’t a human power that had survived the Troubles that would allow the murder of its ambassadors to pass without making more than a minor complaint. Ted had been expecting a diplomatic offensive, perhaps even a demand that the sole surviving Russian was handed over for punishment, but nothing had happened. The aliens, it seemed, considered their ambassadors expendable.

It might make sense, he told himself. The aliens believed in consensual thinking. Sending ambassadors to a foreign power might risk losing the ambassadors to that power, if the ambassadors were talked into accepting a different point of view. And the aliens bred so rapidly that child mortality had to be terrifyingly high. The aliens weren’t evil or malicious, even to their own kind, but they were disconcertingly lax in places. They had an oddly uncaring attitude to their own lives that worried him. It wasn’t that they were prepared to throw away their lives just for a tactical advantage, more that they simply didn’t worry if they lived or died.

He shook his head, pushing the thought aside with an effort.

“Order the starfighters that they are to engage when the enemy craft cross the red line,” he ordered, “assuming the aliens don’t open fire first.”

He drew it out on the display. “We can’t hold fire past that point,” he added. “If they’re coming that close they mean business.”

It wasn’t a pleasant thought. The aliens might not have any concept of personal space, according to the ambassadorial reports, but they knew better than to deliberately court a collision. Two starships ramming each other would have been disastrous, as would ramming a starfighter into a modern carrier. But then, it wouldn’t have mattered if one starfighter had rammed Ark Royal. The armoured carrier would just have shrugged off the impact and kept firing.

“Aye, sir,” Janelle said. She paused. “They will cross the red line in two minutes.”

Ted nodded and braced himself.

“Engage as soon as they cross the red line,” Commander Rose Labara said. “I say again, engage as soon as they cross the red line.”

Henry nodded to himself, keeping a watchful eye on Rose’s fighter. He remembered her as a combative pilot, one of the ones who would start a fight merely if someone looked at them the wrong way. In hindsight, she was just the sort of personality type to start a fling with her superior officer, believing it would be meaningless. The certainty of death, sooner rather than later, would merely have added spice to the relationship.

But she’d clearly felt something for her former commanding officer, Henry had to admit, although it surprised him. Starfighter pilots weren’t the type to settle down, at least until they’d sown their oats and completed their time in the cockpit. The lives they led told against it, he’d learned very quickly. It was easier to find a prostitute in Sin City or a companion in Luna City than try to balance married life with a carrier where one could die at any moment. And he was sure Rose had done just that in her earlier days…

And now she was in mourning. And leading her pilots out to do battle with the aliens.

Henry sighed and redirected his attention towards the oncoming storm. For once, humanity had the numbers advantage, although he knew that meant nothing. The pilots Rose had had to take in hand simply lacked the polish of Academy graduates; Henry had been astonished, envious and terrified when he’d realised they hadn’t even passed the final exams. Five days of heavy exercising in the simulators had convinced him that the raw material was there, but the discipline was lacking. They would get there, given time. But he suspected time was about to run out.

He scowled. The alien tactics made no sense. It looked as though they were trying to rush the carrier, a pointless exercise if there weren’t infinite reserves. Their forces would probably punch through the CSP and strafe the hull — the Admiral’s insistence on letting the aliens fire first unless they crossed the red line would make certain of it — but it wouldn’t get them anything. Unless they had a nasty surprise up their sleeves…

Which they don’t wear, he thought, dryly. Perhaps they’re just so desperate to restart the war that they’re trying to goad us into firing on the other factions. But the more distance we put between ourselves and them, the less-likely that is to happen. We’re not going to accidentally fire on the good guys…

“They will cross the red line in thirty seconds,” Rose said. Everyone could already see it from their displays. “Lock weapons on target; prepare to engage.”

And the game, if game it is, becomes serious, Henry thought. But what are they doing?

“Red line in ten seconds,” Rose said. “Choose your partners…”

Henry felt his stomach clench. It had been easier before he’d been a captive, he realised, easier to deal out death against a faceless and monstrous enemy. Now…

They want to restart the war, he thought. What were they doing? Were they planning to sacrifice themselves in the hopes of convincing the other factions to rejoin the war or did they merely intend to carry on without their former allies? Did they intend to force the humans into firing first or were they merely taking advantage of the situation to get closer before they opened fire? Or were they planning to break off at the very last minute?

They could have engaged us already, if they’d chosen to open fire, he thought. We’re well inside their engagement range and vice versa.

And yet they didn’t know about the red line. How could they?

But it didn’t matter, he told himself, until after the war had been brought to a formal end, when historians from both sides could fight and refight the war at leisure. They have to be stopped.

“Enemy craft are launching missiles,” Rose said. “All starfighters; engage. I say again; all starfighters, engage.”