Beyond the Shroud of the Universe Page 21

  “No, it’s not,” Calvin said. “So, if the ally is in the next system and they see us, we might not have any choice but combat.”

  “That certainly sounds like we’re heading toward a worst case scenario,” Captain Sheppard said.

  “I think the worst case scenario would be a mixed force of Jotunn and their ally’s ships,” Calvin said. “If the Jotunn don’t have jump modules, like we suspect, we could use their ally’s maneuvers against them and jump back and forth between universes while we attack. It would take a while to destroy a Jotunn vessel, but we could do it.” He shook his head. “If there are some of the ally’s ships there, though, they’ll be able to jump back and forth with us. I’m not sure how such a fight would end up, but it would make fighting the Jotunn at the same time a lot more complicated.”

  “We would have to fight the ally’s ships first,” Captain Sheppard said, visualizing the fight in his head. “Maybe even fight them in their own universe where the Jotunn couldn’t get at us.”

  “I think we’d probably want to,” Calvin agreed; “the problem would be making them stay in a single universe to fight, without jumping back and forth. We’d be handicapped if we had to stay in one universe and they didn’t. We’d have to chase them down where we could use our lasers; they’d never let any of our missiles hit them.”

  “I had an idea on that,” mumbled a voice from the end of the table.

  “What?” Captain Sheppard asked. “Who said that?”

  “I did, sir,” Lieutenant Bradford said. “I’ve been giving a lot of thought to fighting the ally’s ships, and I have an idea or two on how we might do it better.”

  “By all means, Lieutenant, tell us what you’ve got.”

  “The only reason our missiles are ineffective against the ally’s ships is that they jump to the other universe to avoid them, right?” Lieutenant Bradford asked. The CO nodded, so the lieutenant continued, “So, we just need to keep our missiles from flying past them. We need the missiles to wait in place for them and blow up when they get back.”

  “Okay, how do we do that?” Commander Dacy asked. “The missiles use all of their fuel accelerating to attack speed. How are you going to stop them when they don’t have any fuel remaining?”

  “We can’t,” Lieutenant Bradford acknowledged.

  “I don’t see how that’s helping, then,” the operations officer said in exasperation.

  “We can’t stop the missiles,” Lieutenant Bradford said, “but we don’t need to.” He turned back to the CO. “All we need to do is either stop the warhead or jump the missile, like they do. For the first option, if we can make some sort of ejection system for the warhead that slows it down significantly, that might work, especially if the missile was chasing the ship from behind and the closing velocity was less. For the second, I was wondering if we could make a scaled down version of the jump module and attach it to some of our missiles. I don’t know if the ally has a different type of jump module on their missiles that allow them to jump back and forth, but if we could design something like that, we could really be effective against them. That way, when their ships jump back and forth, our missiles can jump back and forth too, and they can track them no matter where they go.”

  “That would certainly be helpful,” the CO said with a nod.

  “It would be really cool if I could get that to work,” Lieutenant Bradford said. “Since they don’t appear to have shields, our missiles would do even more damage than normal to them.”

  “That’s great,” the Vella Gulf’s executive officer, Commander Russ Clayton, said, “and I hope you figure it out. The problem is going to be staying alive. Have you come up with anything to defend against the torpedoes they’re shooting at us?”

  “It’s a very similar problem,” Lieutenant Bradford said. “We want to keep our missiles from flying through the ally’s torpedoes when they jump to the other universe. We either need an ejection system, like I discussed earlier, or maybe some new programming that loops our anti-missile missiles in from behind the torpedoes where the velocity differential won’t be as great. Both of these options have the potential for success.”

  “One question,” Captain Sheppard said.

  “Yes sir?” Lieutenant Bradford asked.

  “What are you doing sitting here talking about it when you should be on a laptop or at a terminal somewhere, making it work?”

  “Oh! You want me to leave and work on these ideas?”

  Captain Sheppard turned to his XO. “XO, why is he still here?”

  “I’m leaving, sir!” Lieutenant Bradford said. He jumped up sprinted out of the room.

  “I had another idea,” Calvin said.

  “You did?” the CO asked.

  “Yes sir,” Calvin said with a smile. “Being laid up gives you a lot of time to think. My thought was that, at least until Lieutenant Bradford works out something better, one stopgap method for fighting the ally would be to change the way we do business.”

  “What do you mean?” the operations officer asked.

  “Normally, we fire our missiles in a salvo, which helps us defeat our traditional adversaries’ defenses. In this case, though, it makes it easier for our new enemy to avoid them. If we fire our missiles sequentially, they won’t be able to jump back and forth as quickly. They will have to stay out of the universe longer…which we can use to our advantage.”

  “What do you mean?” the operations officer asked.

  “One idea would be to set up a coordinated strike between the Gulf and the squadron,” Calvin said. “How about this? The Gulf ripple fires some missiles while the fighters are fairly close to the enemy ship. When the enemy jumps out of our universe, the fighters fire their missiles. Hopefully, the enemy ship jumps back in as the fighters’ missiles arrive, and it doesn’t have a chance to avoid them.” He sat back with a smile. “Boom.”

  “I like that,” the CO said. “Ops, have your folks work with the squadron planners and develop some tactics for a coordinated strike. Until we have something better, it’s at least worth a try.”

  “Yes sir,” Commander Dacy said. “We’ll put that together when we’re done here.”

  Captain Sheppard nodded. “Good. Hopefully, we won’t need it, but if they’re in the next system, I want to have something new to try against them.” He paused, then asked the operations officer, “What are your thoughts on system entry?”

  “If I may, sir,” Calvin interrupted, “I also had some thoughts on that…”

  Bridge, TSS Vella Gulf, Epsilon Indi System, November 8, 2021

  “Ahead dead slow,” Captain Sheppard ordered.

  “Ahead dead slow, aye,” the helmsman repeated in a muted voice.

  The atmosphere on the bridge was tenser than any time Captain Sheppard could remember; the crew was even more nervous than when the ship had gone behind the enemy lines against the Drakuls. It was the unknown, he thought; the Drakuls were evil and the odds were high, but at least they knew what they were getting into then. Here, there were so many things that could go wrong…it was even worse because they had stopped to mount the ship’s stealth modules and were now over a full day behind Nightsong. Although necessary for their deception plan, Captain Sheppard begrudged every minute spent mounting the equipment; it gave Nightsong additional time to set his plans in motion.

  “Give me a systems check,” Captain Sheppard said.

  “Engines ahead dead slow,” the helmsman said. His voice was so tight the CO could barely hear him. “Stargate entry in two minutes.”

  “General Quarters set,” the duty engineer said. “Stealth modules operational and active.”

  Captain Sheppard knew the stealth modules would fail when they made the jump through the stargate; they always did. Just about anything electronic was disrupted for a brief period traveling through the portal; the stealth modules would have to be re-engaged on the other side. The ship would be visible to anyone watching the stargate for a brief period; there was nothing they could do. Thei
r only hope was to enter the system as slowly as possible, which minimized the electromagnetic pulse a stargate emitted when a ship transited. The faster the ship was going, the bigger the pulse. By going dead slow, he hoped their transition into the next system wouldn’t be noticed.

  It was a risky plan. If they were noticed, they would be going too slowly to maneuver effectively. They would be sitting ducks. And he absolutely hated the term ‘dead’ slow.

  “All defensive missile systems and lasers not covered by the stealth modules are manned and ready,” the DSO reported. Since the stealth modules blocked the weapons’ ports, the CO knew they would have to forego half their offensive and defensive weapons systems. Not only would they be sitting ducks; they would be nearly unarmed sitting ducks.

  “All offensive missile systems and grasers not covered by the stealth modules are manned and ready,” the OSO added.

  “Fighters manned and ready,” Lieutenant Commander Sarah ‘Lights’ Brighton said.

  “All communications systems in standby,” the communications officer said. The CO didn’t want anything transmitting upon entry that would give them away…but he wanted the ability to try to talk his way out of trouble quickly if it was needed.

  “All sensor systems in standby,” Steropes added from the sensor station.

  “Making the jump,” the helmsman mumbled a few seconds later…

  Bridge, TSS Vella Gulf, HD 69830 System, November 8, 2021

  “System entry,” Steropes said. “Passive systems only coming online.”

  Even Steropes’ voice sounded muted, thought Captain Sheppard. “Roger,” the CO said. “Stealth up when able. Jump to the Jinn Universe when able.”

  “Stealthing…now,” the duty engineer replied. “Making the jump…now.”

  Bridge, TSS Vella Gulf, Anti-HD 69830 System, November 8, 2021

  “System entry into the Jinn Universe,” Steropes said. “Still using only passive systems.”

  “Stealth coming on,” the duty engineer said.

  “Well, what do you think?” Captain Sheppard asked, unable to contain himself. “Did we make it through without them noticing?”

  “Unknown,” Steropes said. “There was nothing by the stargate that would have picked us up, but I cannot say for sure.”

  “Did you pick up anything that might help us figure out what’s going on there?”

  “I’m still analyzing the data, sir, but it doesn’t appear any Jotunn ships, or those of their ally, were in orbit around Golirion or are here in the Jinn Universe. There were a number of Aesir ships near the stargate to Jotunn space, including at least one super dreadnought; their focus appeared to be in that direction. They were stationary, though; the ships were definitely not in combat.”

  Captain Sheppard could hear a collective release of breath around the bridge, and the tension eased noticeably. “So, whatever it is Nightsong has planned, it hasn’t started yet.”

  “No sir,” Steropes replied; “it doesn’t appear it has,”

  “Want me to jump back to the other universe, sir?” the helmsman asked.

  “Contact!” the DSO called. “I’ve got engine harmonics, and lots of them, from in-system.”

  “Can you identify them?” Captain Sheppard asked.

  “No sir, I can’t,” the DSO replied. “They look like engines, but they aren’t in the database, nor are they like anything I’ve ever seen before.”

  “Solomon, are you seeing them?” the CO asked the ship’s AI.

  “Yes, I see what the DSO is looking at, and I agree they are probably engine harmonics, but they are dissimilar to all known systems.”

  “Any ideas, Steropes?” the CO asked.

  “Long range photos coming in now on the front screen,” Steropes answered. “This picture is from the vicinity of the asteroid belt between the second and third planets.”

  The front screen lit up to show a fuzzy image of the asteroid belt. Although the belt was “dense” by astronomical standards, with over 1,000 asteroids larger than 100 miles wide, and over 200,000 larger than half a mile wide, the average distance between asteroids in the main belt was still over several thousand miles. While the small scale image showed the belt as somewhat of a smear, the larger scale photos only showed a single asteroid. As the image focused in, Captain Sheppard could tell the asteroid in question was different than the rest.

  “Steropes, is that asteroid…brighter…than normal?”

  “Yes sir, it is,” the Psiclops replied. “I believe we are seeing a number of motors from behind.”

  “So, there are unknown ships operating in the asteroid belt?”

  “We are too far away to tell for sure,” Steropes said, “but I believe the ships are attached to an asteroid.”

  “Attached to an asteroid?” the CO asked. “Why would they do that?”

  “Initial analysis indicates the ships, if they are indeed ships, are pushing the asteroid in the direction of the third planet.”

  “Are they trying to hit the planet with it?”

  “It is too early to tell,” Steropes replied. “We will need to get closer and gather more data.”

  “Helmsman, all ahead full,” the CO ordered. “Let’s find out what’s going on here.”

  CO’s Conference Room, TSS Vella Gulf, Anti-HD 69830 System, November 8, 2021

  “Although we are still too far out to be sure,” Steropes said, “and a little variation in power could make a big difference, it appears the Jotunn’s ally is accelerating the asteroid toward an impact with the third planet in this system. By the time the asteroid gets there, it will be going at a significant velocity, and the damage will be substantial.”

  “What do you mean by, ‘substantial?’” the CO asked.

  “Are you familiar with the Chicxulub asteroid?”

  “Isn’t that what killed off the dinosaurs on Terra?”

  “Yes it is,” Steropes replied. “An asteroid hit the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico 66 million years ago, leaving a crater nearly 110 miles in diameter. The impact led to the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs as well as a majority of the world’s Mesozoic species. Not only did it devastate a huge region in the area of impact, it also cast up a poisonous dust cloud that blocked the sunlight for some time, probably years. The lack of sunlight killed the plants, which in turn starved the dinosaurs.”

  “How big an asteroid are we talking about?” the Gulf’s XO asked.

  “It is estimated the asteroid that hit Terra was about six miles in diameter,” Steropes replied. “The impact of such a blow would have released the energy equivalent of 100 trillion tons of TNT. The asteroid you can see on the screen is over 10 miles in diameter, almost twice the size of the one that hit Terra; when this one hits, it will be devastating.”

  “I know what they’re doing,” Calvin said.

  “Oh?” Captain Sheppard asked. “What is that?”

  “The Jotunn said they had initiated Ragnarok, right? If you remember, Nightsong said that, in addition to a major battle and some other natural disasters, Ragnarok ended in the submersion of their world in water. At some point in its travel, the ally must intend to jump the asteroid into our universe so they can hit Asgard with it, causing tsunamis that will fulfill the Jotunn’s prophecy of submerging the planet.”

  “And this is their Ragnarok?” Captain Sheppard asked.

  “Yes sir,” Calvin replied. “I looked it up, and the prophecy is fairly specific on some of the events. The sun becomes black while the earth sinks into the sea, the stars are supposed to vanish and flames touch the heavens. If an asteroid hit the planet like we’re talking about, it would bring about all of these events.”

  “Okay, I understand the Jotunn want to get Asgard back from the Aesir,” Captain Sheppard said, “and they probably intend to wipe out the Aesir as part of their plans, but why would they bother with running the asteroid into Asgard? Just to make it look like some ancient prophecy is coming true? Why bother? Wouldn’t it make more sense if they jumped it int
o our system and slammed it into Golirion, killing all of the Aesir?”

  “If I may answer that,” Steropes said, “hitting Asgard with the asteroid is very much in line with their racial psyches. The Jotunn believe in doing what they say and in fulfilling promises. If they were somehow able to destroy the Aesir, but Asgard was never destroyed by water, their prophecy would remain unfulfilled and their racial destiny would seem somehow incomplete; they would never have their ‘happily ever after.’ If they are able to pull this off, then all of the Jotunn will believe the prophecy was right all along, and their destiny is complete.”

  “And, if the end of the prophecy is near,” Calvin said, “that means the Jotunn must be expecting to initiate the final battle the prophecy talks about too. That battle was supposed to result in the death of a number of major figures on both sides, so they must be planning to have it here, and have it soon.”

  “That also makes sense,” Steropes agreed.

  “I guess the main question I have,” Captain Sheppard said, “is, ‘Do we really care?’ If the Jotunn’s ally jumps this asteroid into our universe and hits Asgard with it, what damage will it cause on Golirion? Do we care about what they’re doing enough to stop them?”

  “In most cases, sir, no we would not,” Steropes replied; “however, I believe the Jotunn’s ally has made a mistake.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, sir, it has been noted on several occasions that time in this universe runs a little differently than in ours. While we always end up in the same place when we jump back and forth, it has been noted that the inhabitants have changed slightly. I do not believe our enemy has taken this into consideration. Depending on when they jump the asteroid into our universe, there is a good chance that Golirion will not have cleared the area of space they intend for the asteroid to travel through in its journey to Asgard.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I think what Steropes is trying to say, sir,” Calvin interrupted, “is that the Jotunn’s enemy fucked up; they’re going to hit Golirion with the asteroid rather than Asgard.”