Chapter 349

Selina and Diana's Mission

... The AI, its voice somehow different, said, "After assessing the new data and performing a risk assessment, I have determined that there is a near certainty that we will not be returning to the station. We should release a message torp containing the information we have recently obtained."

Diana shrugged. "That will be up to the Mission Commander, but I doubt if she will be quite so negative or eager to send off one of our precious message torps. Besides, we already knew there was a supply base here. The only additional information of note is that a fleet has apparently warped in. We, at a minimum, need the exact coordinates of the base and a much more detailed description of the fleet's size and what its members consist of. Otherwise, we're just basically sending a message that says we're in trouble. We knew that would happen before we left the base, hence Command having asked for volunteers for the mission."

Later, a somewhat refreshed Selina handed Diana a cup of stim, put her own into its holder and slid into the command seat. "Anything happen while I was taking my beauty nap?" she said while blowing on her hot drink.

"Nothing except a fleet warping in, and we also had a brief pulse from the planetoid we think the base is located on," Diana said, deadpan.

Selina's head snapped around as she stared at her Second. "You are not kidding, correct?"

"Absolutely not, and before you even say it, your sleep was of paramount importance at the moment. However, the AI wishes to speak with you."

"I ... withdraw my comment," it said. "I agree with your assessment, Second."

Selina raised an eyebrow as she glanced at Diana.

"Just a minor disagreement," Diana assured her commander.

"So what is this about a fleet? I suggest you bring me up to date," Selina said as she swallowed a chemical stimulant.

Diana, assisted by the AI, gave the mission commander a detailed account of events that happened while she was asleep.

"Orders, Commander?"

Selina thought for a moment before replying. "Retrieve the remotes and we shall proceed toward our objective. AI, set all message torps to continuously record all instrument readings and voice exchanges. Have one torp prepped and ready to launch at all times. If you find you have computing capacity that is not being used for the moment, use that to plot a continuous update of an evasive route to the nearest open space large enough for torps to warp out of the system."

"Affirmative, Commander."

"All systems?"

"Optimal, Commander," Diana responded.

"AI, slow our approach by fifty percent, and from this point on, enhance your search for enemy surveillance." Then to her Second, "We have found six small surveillance installations so far. Obviously the number of pickets, and probably their sophistication, will increase as we near the base. From now on, we will assume nothing is safe until we prove it; even then we shall endeavor to remain suspicious of everything. We have air for four more weeks and consumables for at least that long. The only other restraint on this mission is that we must deliver our package and destroy the base. If we manage to damage or irritate the fleet to some extent, that will be a bonus. Should that massive capital ship have to remain out of the war long enough to divert to another base for supplies, that will give our Commander a slight reprieve which might affect the war's outcome. We will destroy that base, or we will not be going home."

"Yes, Commander," the AI and Diana voiced as one.

Days blended together until neither of the women consciously knew or even thought about how long they had sat glued to their screens, constantly evaluating data and assessing the sensitivity of the enemy pickets they found as they crept forward. Again and again they snuggled to a rock, deployed remotes and shut down everything while first one, then the other slept for two hours. Neither had thought more than fleetingly of a shower, and their sense of smell had become desensitized to the odor of unwashed bodies in a closed environment. There was no time to bathe. Any time they could spare away from their consoles was time they spent on the bunk in exhausted oblivion.

"I hope you are keeping track of our route in, and in detail," Diana said to the AI, "because we will probably follow it in reverse after we manage to deliver our package and have any hope of getting out of here alive. And ... when we leave – if we get to – we will be doing it in a hurry."

"Indeed, I have, but as I have already noted, collisions between the millions of asteroids produce new trajectories by the minute. Doubtless, some of my route markers will be affected by those random collisions..."

"Just do the best you can," Diana responded, fighting not to add a sigh.

Finally, the time came when they settled against an asteroid and deployed their remotes, not daring to show themselves because they were now within line of sight of the small planetoid that apparently housed the base. Their craft was outfitted with the latest stealth, but they weren't going to take any chances that they didn't absolutely have to.

"My goodness," Diana exclaimed as she snatched a quick glance at her commander before returning her stare to her screens, "What is that monster, anyway? I didn't know a ship could be that big."

Selina sat back in her seat. "I am also overwhelmed with what we are observing. Describe what you see and I will do likewise when you finish. With our voice recordings of our impressions, and our video, in addition to the instrument readings, our first message torp will contain a better overall description for our commanders to consider, should they decide to attack this fleet."

"Well," Diana began, conscious that there would probably be high-level brass listening to her description, "I, uh, see a ... ship that is beyond anything I have ever seen or have heard described before. Conservatively, it has to be more than a mile long. There are numerous support and defensive craft, most prominently, two frigate class and four corvettes. All four ships are much larger for their class than is common for anything I've ever seen or heard of. The frigates are almost a quarter of a mile long, and the corvettes more than half the size of the frigates.

"There are twenty destroyers, and they fit their class designation for design and size. There are a number of other escort craft of varying sizes and designations, but I will leave that up to the AI to decipher and send with the technical data, because they have interspersed themselves with numerous craft from the base as the smaller ships are resupplied.

"The enemy base is established both upon and apparently within the small planetoid which is roughly one hundred and twenty miles at its largest diameter. It, like the other millions of asteroids, was probably formed because of the collision of two very sizeable planets. Consequently, it and the others we have observed as we made our way through this system, are rugged misshapen chunks of rock and minerals. Because we are limited to passive scanning, we are unable to determine its exact makeup, and more importantly to us at the moment, how the base is structured inside the planetoid.

"The monster vessel and the two frigates have anchored themselves to this planetoid with tractor beams, and multiple energy beams are moving supplies from the base to the larger vessels. The smaller ones are being resupplied by tenders.

"Passive scanning has revealed many heavy weapon arrays, with most of them concentrated around the base. These weapon arrays seem to be divided equally between pulse cannons, missile launchers and beam weapons. In addition, there are numerous weapon mounts on nearby asteroids. So far, we have been able to bypass these arrays on the asteroids as well as numerous pickets, without their sensors detecting our craft, but our vessel is small, it has the latest technology for its stealth systems, and we have been very cautious, indeed.

"However, to get closer to the planetoid, we will have to move away from our cover, since the base has apparently removed the asteroids from the surrounding environment out to approximately ten miles. The next few hours will be a supreme test for our stealth equipment."

Diana looked at her commander, wondering if she should add her assumption to the facts she had just given.

"I have little to add to my second's assessment of the situation. We have included the coordinates of the open area where the fleet warped in. However, it is only logical to assume the enemy will have mined the surrounding area with friend or foe technology. Such a minefield might be devastating to an invading force. So far, my AI has not been able to find another area reasonably close to the planetoid that is totally free of asteroids for the space that would accommodate a fleet warping in without danger of impinging their warp fields with one or more of the asteroids. Numerous areas exist farther out, of course, but those are so distant that the enemy would have ample time to prepare a strong defense.

"The large ship – might I refer to it as a Dreadnought? – would, in my opinion, be in itself a vicious adversary to one of our whole fleets. With its escorting armada, I am afraid it might very well be the turning point of the war in the enemy's favor. We will make every effort to destroy the base, which should, at least, delay this monstrosity from entering the war by several weeks. I say delaying from entering, because I am almost certain it is a new vessel that has yet to see action. I base this assumption on having never seen or heard anything concerning a vessel this big, and also on the amount of munitions that the base is disgorging toward it."

Turning back to Diana, "Do you wish to add anything, Second?"

Diana shook her head, "Uh, not at this time."

"Very well. Description ends. AI, insert the recording of our description as a heading for the voice recording of our mission and mark the section as urgent in the torp's memory."

"Affirmative, Commander."

Turning to Diana. "Eat and then sleep for two hours. When you return, I will do the same. The next several hours will be critical to our mission – and to our survival."

Selina, alert as the result of a couple of hour's rest, stimulants and the danger that hovered near, retracted the remotes. After glancing at her readouts yet again to make sure the stealth functions were operating at their maximum, she eased their little ship away from the rock they were hiding behind. With the barest amount of energy, she glided away from the planetoid. Back a hundred miles or so, she gradually worked her way around to the opposite side.

"Too bad there isn't some type of diversion to draw their attention away from this side of the planetoid," Diana said.

"Perhaps there already is," Selina answered. "With all those tractor beams locked to the planetoid and those seemingly endless lines of supplies snaking their way out of those gigantic airlocks to the ships, surely most of their attention is engaged in sorting all that out."

"Hmmm," Diana said with a grin, "maybe you're right. There also seemed to be a large number of shuttles moving to and from the base. Suppose they're allowing the crews shore leave? After all, the base is hidden very well, indeed, and who would even think of attacking such a large force without a full armada to back them. An armada that would show up hours or even days before they managed to get through all the debris in this system. So, maybe the base has become just a wee bit complacent. And ... I imagine that the crew that is stationed on the base might want to ... interact with personnel from the ships, too, huh?"

Finally, they were on the opposite side of the planetoid, both searching. After a time, Diana exclaimed, "There, just to the left of those jagged peaks. Isn't that a crevasse," she said, putting her finger on Selina's screen to point out the dark line in a slightly lighter background.

"Without an atmosphere there is no light scatter to help us see it more clearly, but it does appear to be quite deep."

"Should we risk a pulse to check it out?" Diana asked.

Selina hesitated. "It should be safe enough, but ... we have succeeded in coming this far without making a mistake; let us not become overconfident at this point. We have to approach the planetoid anyway. This place is as good as any. Our stealth will either allow us to approach without the enemy detecting us, or it will not. Time to find out.

"I am not going to risk engaging our inertialess drive as we approach. For this distance, our docking drive will be sufficient. With a small amount of impetus we shall drift the last ten miles to the planetoid. Shut down everything except our forward screens, our docking drive, our stealth systems and the AI. We will not freeze nor starve for oxygen in that short time span."