Chapter 57

Sir Henry knocked at the open door of the Admiral's Quarters on "Vector" and entered as McCock waved him in to a seat.

McCock extracted the chip and placed it into the box file on the table in front of him and then looked enquiringly at his Intel Officer.

"A courier headed for the Chens from the direction of Old Earth is two hours out and coming fast. I waited for five minutes to be sure of it. He certainly knows exactly where he wants to go and that means a prior set up RV — last minute orders, my guess."

"A new chapter begins" nodded McCock, placed his head set and made a link to the bridge,

"Good day to you Peter, you have heard? I find it amazing how quickly bad news travels in a warship. Send out a general notice to all of the group and have everybody on ten minutes notice to move. McCock clear."

"Henry, put the view up onto the bulkhead."

Sir Henry went to the desk com set, made several entries and the stood back as the overview of the Chencon armada was projected. The courier made a splash of light in the lower part of the projection. Sir Henry noted,

"He is in the epsilon band and the fleet is in the delta so the vertical separation must also have been prearranged."

"Agree ... Henry, I don't want the vid of Settlement playing into my ships. Shut down the new vid link from U93 to U99. I don't want my crews in a state of shock just at the time I need them to go to action stations. I'll make announcements as necessary."

McCock thought for a few minutes running things rather fruitlessly through his neurones because of ignorance of enemy intentions. He spoke into his mic

"Felix, scramble "Shriek". I want her to take that courier on its way back. Put "Shriek" out at extreme Period range from here in the epsilon layer in direct path back to Old Earth and ready to match velocities with the courier. Plan on disabling his nodes and boarding him with armoured EVA suits. Get "Shriek" to tow a UVA and park it in cosmic over her in case we need to com; I don't want "Shriek's" beam pointing any where near that fleet."

"That constitutes a hostile act, Sir; just for the record."

"Noted, Felix" laughed McCock "but at that range only we will know about it."

"True, I'll get onto it. Fly ops clear."

Sir Henry was the user of interrogatory looks this time.

"If we get lucky and get something it might help us formulate some plans. Can you get Yin Sung over to Trudie at the Mansion so we can link with him. He can be put up there for as long as we need him on standby. I'll join you in CIC; I'll take the tac-nav-com position. Trojan, you heard? Good, some eats in a couple of hours."

McCock disabled the projection as he passed the com set.

McCock watched his screens showing a small tanker alongside the courier as it lay alongside the apparent Chencon flagship. The courier had expeditiously moved into the immobile fleet and joined hatches. Sir Henry remarked,

"That's a bit odd; why not use the Boat Bay?"

"He's not intending to stay long?" suggested McCock.

"Yes, probably; I expect couriers just drop off their message and move on."

"That's the other thing; you'd expect just a simple exchange of messages and then away or into the Boat Bay."

Several suited figures moved from the tanker to the hull of the courier working around the fuel line and connections.

"Curiouser and curiouser. That process is automatic unless there has been a breakdown which is decidedly rare and usually the line either doesn't lock into place or the reaction mass doesn't pump."

They watched in silence for another ninety minutes during which the fuel line was disconnected and the EVAs remained for a further quarter hour before rejoining their tanker which then returned to its supply division.

The tube from the courier was withdrawn and after some minutes the thrusters were seen to be warming up. McCock toggled a com link to "Shriek",

""Shriek" Commodore, the couriers thrusters are coming on line."

"Thank you Commodore, I've got the same picture," said Algy Hardman "while I was waiting, I did a bit of fiddling to pass the time. Over."

""Shriek", Algy, why am I not surprised to hear you? McCock clear" and broke the link;

"Henry, I didn't think "Shriek's" 'puter could do that. Have you got at it?"

"Not me, Aggy. Felix and Algy. Your original programme couldn't but when the 'kiddy' 'puter became available, they upgraded. Remember, the so called 'kiddy' 'puter was only deficient on the offensive side of things and it was rather a small size, for a ship of the line, that is. I gather Felix and Algy both have a 'thing' about "Shriek"?"

"A bit like Slow has for EVA. I had to stop her from personally making a physical inspection of the missile tube covers; sneaky bit was going out in second watch thinking no one would be onto her but I'd seen her on the bridge at eight last dog and recognised the signs. You know she gets a quiver when she's excited?"

"Can't say I've noticed, Aggy. I'll pay more attention nex ... hello movement."

The courier used thrusters to clear the delta into epsilon where he raised sail and accelerated towards Sol. They watched the image diminish, flipped to Period using a wedge sweep to follow it. "Shriek" wasn't showing on U99's Period but the vid from the extra UVA showed her and the approaching sails of the courier. "Shriek" had spread her sails and was accelerating so as to match velocities. Both watchers expressed shock as the courier exploded nearly beneath the 'spare' UVA. McCock and Aggy watched as "Shriek" did a skew turn over manoeuvre to reverse direction while retaining some momentum toward the debris.

"Ooh. That is clever" Sir Henry remarked.

"That one is not in the book" McCock confirmed.

They watched as "Shriek" raced back the way she had come from, making another conventional turn over to halt her close to one side of the separating fragments and using her thrusters to close on the larger pieces. Two EVAs emerged to clamber over the cutter and lash the pieces to the hull. They re-entered the hull and "Shriek" moved through the layer. Once through Algy commed