Read Online Koban 6: Conflict and Empire by Stephen W. Bennett - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Stephen W. Bennett
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and debris sprays, from what had to be the slower missiles reaching their targets, which were the docked warships. Meglor was completely unprepared for an attack like this, located so deep inside Empire territory.
Rushing along a wide corridor to the closest transport hub, Halder’s trunks and tentacles were brusquely waving, and he startled every Thandol into getting out of his way even before they saw his insignia of rank. He didn’t socialize with these lower ranks, and of course never ate with them, so he wasn’t identifiable on sight.
He needed more information from his Vice-Captain. “Candar how is it that we didn’t see these eleven unknown ships coming? They’re obviously from the Federation, and they didn’t spend the many months required to travel here in the undetectable first level of Tachyon Space. They would have needed to depart even before their attack at Wendal.”
“Sire, they masqueraded as three Smashers, in formation in third level travel, and our monitors observed their back trail past many star systems, originating deep in the Thack Delos security sector. They appeared to be like many similar past arrivals, warships coming here for repairs or refurbishment. It is similar to the penetration method used at Wendal, but for three Smashers this time, not a Crusher scale deception.”
It was clever mimicry, but Halder didn’t feel the slightest hint of respect for their ingenuity and daring. He wanted them destroyed, and traced back to where they really originated. His quick mind suddenly caught an anomaly in the report.
“What happened to the twelfth ship? Where is it?”
“Sire? We detected only eleven White Outs, and reports from four dock control stations confirm that there are only eleven attackers.”
“They needed four ships to mimic each Smasher trail. Find the missing one immediately. It may be the flagship for this attack group, and it could be holding station in Tachyon Space.”
“Yes, Sire.” He buggled his acknowledgement in an uncertain mix of tones from his left trunk. The Vice-Captain wasn’t an expert on the Tachyon Space monitoring craft that traced ship movements in the Empire, but he knew the ships they detected all had to be moving, in order to create a detectable tachyon wake.
As he ordered one of the four monitoring ships permanently based at Meglor to enter Tachyon Space, he knew it would hold in place there, in order to communicate with the active monitor ship already there. That caused him to think about the reason why the second ship needed to enter to talk. It was impossible to communicate with a ship in Tachyon Space unless you were also in a Jump Hole. The modulated low energy tachyon waves of the communication couldn’t be detected otherwise. That is, it couldn’t if you were using the Empire’s current best technology.
The supposed Federation ship, suspected of holding in place in Tachyon Space by Captain Halder, wouldn’t be able to communicate with the other eleven ships in Normal Space. It was a plausible assumption, but mistaken in this case. Comtap technology actually did work between Normal and Tachyon Space, but the Sneaky Bastard happened to be in Normal Space, using advanced stealth and gamma ray suppression on its entry. Nevertheless, Halder’s wrong idea served a useful purpose shortly, when the presence of the twelfth ship was confirmed. Not that this success benefited the Vice-Captain very long.
The destruction of the docks was proving to be catastrophic, and when the unpowered Empire’s Tentacles suddenly exploded, Halder realized his own ship was at risk. The humans were using the same weapon they used at Wendal to destroy the Emperor’s Pride. It employed a similar delivery method, but relied on brute force to destroy the target, with the resultant collateral destruction of nearby objects by the high velocity fragments generated.
The Decoherence bombs were considerably less messy, and the Empire was left with subject species and
Rushing along a wide corridor to the closest transport hub, Halder’s trunks and tentacles were brusquely waving, and he startled every Thandol into getting out of his way even before they saw his insignia of rank. He didn’t socialize with these lower ranks, and of course never ate with them, so he wasn’t identifiable on sight.
He needed more information from his Vice-Captain. “Candar how is it that we didn’t see these eleven unknown ships coming? They’re obviously from the Federation, and they didn’t spend the many months required to travel here in the undetectable first level of Tachyon Space. They would have needed to depart even before their attack at Wendal.”
“Sire, they masqueraded as three Smashers, in formation in third level travel, and our monitors observed their back trail past many star systems, originating deep in the Thack Delos security sector. They appeared to be like many similar past arrivals, warships coming here for repairs or refurbishment. It is similar to the penetration method used at Wendal, but for three Smashers this time, not a Crusher scale deception.”
It was clever mimicry, but Halder didn’t feel the slightest hint of respect for their ingenuity and daring. He wanted them destroyed, and traced back to where they really originated. His quick mind suddenly caught an anomaly in the report.
“What happened to the twelfth ship? Where is it?”
“Sire? We detected only eleven White Outs, and reports from four dock control stations confirm that there are only eleven attackers.”
“They needed four ships to mimic each Smasher trail. Find the missing one immediately. It may be the flagship for this attack group, and it could be holding station in Tachyon Space.”
“Yes, Sire.” He buggled his acknowledgement in an uncertain mix of tones from his left trunk. The Vice-Captain wasn’t an expert on the Tachyon Space monitoring craft that traced ship movements in the Empire, but he knew the ships they detected all had to be moving, in order to create a detectable tachyon wake.
As he ordered one of the four monitoring ships permanently based at Meglor to enter Tachyon Space, he knew it would hold in place there, in order to communicate with the active monitor ship already there. That caused him to think about the reason why the second ship needed to enter to talk. It was impossible to communicate with a ship in Tachyon Space unless you were also in a Jump Hole. The modulated low energy tachyon waves of the communication couldn’t be detected otherwise. That is, it couldn’t if you were using the Empire’s current best technology.
The supposed Federation ship, suspected of holding in place in Tachyon Space by Captain Halder, wouldn’t be able to communicate with the other eleven ships in Normal Space. It was a plausible assumption, but mistaken in this case. Comtap technology actually did work between Normal and Tachyon Space, but the Sneaky Bastard happened to be in Normal Space, using advanced stealth and gamma ray suppression on its entry. Nevertheless, Halder’s wrong idea served a useful purpose shortly, when the presence of the twelfth ship was confirmed. Not that this success benefited the Vice-Captain very long.
The destruction of the docks was proving to be catastrophic, and when the unpowered Empire’s Tentacles suddenly exploded, Halder realized his own ship was at risk. The humans were using the same weapon they used at Wendal to destroy the Emperor’s Pride. It employed a similar delivery method, but relied on brute force to destroy the target, with the resultant collateral destruction of nearby objects by the high velocity fragments generated.
The Decoherence bombs were considerably less messy, and the Empire was left with subject species and
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