The Death Filament: Some Places Should Be Avoided Read online

  “How powerful is the blaster?” Embree asked

  “It matches up with the main blaster on this ship, Sir.”

  “How is that possible?”

  Randy turned to Shelly, “The two blasters are powered by a single reactor. The ratio of blasters to reactors on our larger warships is six blasters to each reactor.”

  Embree nodded at the top of the ship where a smooth, small bulge near the rear fins stood out from the hull, “What is that bulge?”

  “That’s where the force-field emitter is located, Sir.”

  Embree stared at Hummel and said, “I would suspect the force field would be a lot more powerful surrounding this small ship than a full-size warship.”

  “Three times more powerful, Sir.”

  Embree stared at the tiny ship and shook his head, “Why don’t we just stop building warships and just manufacture these.”

  “Sir, the ship is too small to carry missiles. The Command Team also believes it would not survive the blaster barrages of a Tronan Warship. It does, however, do a remarkable job as a scout.”

  “How fast is it?” Shelly asked.

  “About twenty percent faster than our warships, when using full power to the boosters.”

  Embree’s eyes narrowed, “How is that possible?”

  The First Officer said, “By using light weight polymers to construct the hull, it has a much higher power to weight ratio than our warships, Sir. That’s the other reason it wouldn’t stand up to a Tronan Warship, it has no armor.”

  Embree stared at them and saw the other two crews standing at ease outside their scouts. He smiled and said, “According to what I’ve read about this ship, there’s not much room inside them.”

  “Actually, they changed the hull configuration six times before settling on the final shape, Sir. It’s still small but it’s about twenty percent larger than the civilian model.”

  “They managed to put a small sleeping space at the rear of the bridge,” the First Officer replied.

  Shelly stared at the First Officer and said, “Do I know you?”

  The young woman smiled, “Yes, Sir. I was on one of the blaster teams on Delilah’s Sword during the battle at Heaven.”

  Shelly rushed forward and hugged her, “Emily! You look different!”

  “Age will do that, Sir. I’ve also married and changed my last name. Keeping my hair inside my hat also makes me look different.”

  Embree said, “Hair?”

  Emily reached up and removed her hat and pulled two pins out. Her long auburn colored hair spilled out down to the middle of her back. Shelly smiled, “You’re right.”

  Emily laughed, “Most people only see my hair.”

  Embree smiled and looked at Captain Hummel, “I have an assignment I want to send your unit out on. This will be your assigned home-vessel and I want to discuss it with your crews in my conference room two-hours from now.” Embree looked to his left and said, “Lt. Gholson, please show them to their quarters.” Embree looked at Randy, “Plan to meet two hours from now.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  Embree watched Lt. Gholson lead the six sailors away and Shelly looked at Embree with a frown, “What mission are you talking about?”

  “I need an answer to what we discussed yesterday.”

  “That will put those ships in real danger.”

  “I’m not so sure that’s true, Shelly. Our scanners are better than the Tronan’s and they moved inside five miles before we detected them.”

  “You’re assuming something that you have no way of knowing if it’s true.”

  Embree raised a shoulder, “We have to know, Shelly, and that is what these ships have been designed to do.” Shelly blew out a breath and nodded.

  • • •

  Captain Hummel and the crews of the micro-scouts were waiting in Admiral Embree’s conference room and Lt. Tommy Cranton asked, “Sir, do you know what the Admiral has in mind?”

  Randy shook his head, “No, I don’t.” Randy saw Embree and Shelly enter the door and said, “ATTENSHUN!”

  Embree walked forward and said, “As you were. Take a seat.” He went to the chair at the front of the room and began pressing buttons. An image appeared on the wall monitor of distant lights moving through space. Shelly sat at the back of the room and watched the proceedings. Felix entered the room and sat down beside her.

  Embree looked at the six officers and said, “I’m going to start playing the Recordings that Senior Captain Leonidas Piper recorded when he scouted Tronan Territory. Once you’ve seen all of them, I want you to be prepared to comment on your observations.”

  The lights began moving on the monitor and then the image changed to another group of lights moving through space. Randy looked at Emily and she shook her head. Image after image moved across the monitor and in every instance, it was large groups of light that appeared at long distance. Finally, monitor went dark and Embree looked at them, “Comments.”

  Emily shook her head, “Those ships are too far away to see anything.”

  Embree smiled, “Captain Piper’s mission, when he scouted Tronan Space, was to only determine their numbers and strength and get back with that information. He did an excellent job of getting an estimate of how many warships they have in their inventory but he refused to get any closer to them out of fear his ship would be detected.”

  “You want us to go and take a close look at the warships in the Tronan Fleet,” Randy stated.

  Embree nodded, “Why would I want you to do that, Captain?”

  “Our advances in warships over the last two years have been extraordinary. It’s been almost two years since the Tronan Destroyed Heaven and I suspect they didn’t send their best ships to investigate the loss of one warship. We have to see if there is a different warship than the one’s we’ve seen that might pose a real danger to us,” Randy answered.

  Embree nodded, “You’re absolutely right. If they have a more powerful warship, we could lose the next time they show up. I need you to go and take a close look at the ships in their fleets.” Randy stared at the Admiral as he said, “Lieutenant, show them our current tactical position.”

  Felix stood up and walked to the front of the room. He took the monitor controller and pressed several buttons on the front console. An image appeared on the wall monitor and everyone looked at it. Felix turned to the group, “Our fleet is currently holding position in normal space just outside Tronan Territory just above the Death Filament.”

  Tommy raised his hand and Felix nodded to him, “Death Filament?”

  Embree said with a stern expression, “That’s what we’ve named the major filament that runs from Tronan Territory toward our sector of the universe. Anything that moves this way is either going to die or cause massive loss of life in our sectors.”

  Felix nodded, “As I was saying, we are currently a thousand light years from Tronan Territory and we have more than a hundred stealth probes between us and the Tronan. If we detect them moving this way, we must determine if we will take them on here to delay them or run back to our space. The probes we’ve placed will hopefully give us ample notice to allow us to make that determination. However, we need to know what we’ll be up against to make an informed decision. The Computer tells me that you can carry enough provisions to stay out four to five months; is that right?”

  Randy nodded, “We can stretch it to six months if we’re forced to do it but four months is what our ships are designed to carry.”

  Embree nodded to Felix and he returned to his chair, “I’ll have your ships provisioned from my stores and include concentrated food pellets. You will leave tomorrow for Tronan Space. I would caution you not to use your communicators except in dire circumstances. You will stay out for six-weeks and then return. I recommend that if you gather the information we need prior to six weeks, broadcast a micro-burst signal telling all of your ships to immediately return.” Embree stared at them and after a long moment of sil
ence said, “I hope all of you understand that you must not allow your ships to fall into Tronan hands and avoid having them scanned. If self-destruction is called for, then so be it.”

  Randy nodded, “We understand our duty here, Admiral. Admiral Oliver covered us before we shipped out.”

  “Sir, are we allowed to defend ourselves?” Tommy asked.

  Randy’s head jerked around to Tommy as Embree looked at him, “What did Admiral Oliver tell you?”

  “Only if there is absolutely no risk of being seen by another Tronan Vessel,” Tommy answered.

  “I’m changing that directive. You will not use your weapons under any circumstances.” The six officers stared at Embree and he said, “It is imperative to our survival that the Tronan not learn about our ability to take out their ships. There will be plenty of time when they invade to fire your blasters. This mission is not the time. Run and if there’s no escape, destroy your ships.”

  Randy looked at Tommy with a frown and said to Embree, “Yes, Sir.” Embree stood up and the three Scout crews came to attention. After the three officers left the room, Randy looked at Tommy, “Lieutenant, if you ask any questions during a meeting in the future that limits our possible actions I will bust you back to cleaning toilets for the rest of your career. You got that?”

  “But, Sir.”

  “There is no but! We all know that using our weapons must be avoided at all costs; but one of us might be in a situation where we could destroy a single ship pursuing us. You’ve just removed that with your big mouth. If you have any questions in the future, you will ask me first!!”

  “Yes, Sir. I’m sorry.”

  “You should be! Go and see to the provisioning of your ships; dismissed!”

  The two crews left the conference room and Emily looked at Randy, “You were a little tough on him.”

  “I should have thrown him out of the service, Em. I don’t question his skills but his mouth is going to get him and possibly some of us killed.” Emily shrugged and followed Randy out of the conference room.

  • • •

  Tommy showed the landing bay crew where to load the stores and muttered, “He didn’t have to embarrass me.”

  Roger Stone, his First Officer said, “Sir, I was close to strangling you when you asked that stupid question.”

  “WHY?”

  “You know Admiral Oliver allowed us to use our weapons because he was involved in our training and grew to trust our judgement. Admiral Embree doesn’t know anything about us and his decision was the only one he could make. Sometimes I wonder how you disconnect your brain when you open your mouth. The Captain should have kicked you out of the service for putting his command in more danger.” Tommy stared at Roger and lowered his head. “You were just showing off in front of the Admiral and didn’t consider the consequences of your idiotic question.”

  Tommy sighed and nodded. “You’re right. I’ll keep my mouth shut in the future.”

  “Won’t happen.”

  “What?”

  “You’ve made enough mistakes in the past with running your lip and you’ve not learned yet. Why should this be different?”

  Tommy sighed, “Because I’ve endangered the other crews and you. If I start to raise my hand in the future, snatch it down.”

  Roger nodded and said to a midshipman, “Those go in the cabinet next to the entry port.”

  • • •

  The next morning, the three scouts were loaded and Randy activated his communicator, “Prepare to lift and exit the landing bay. Are there any questions?” His question was greeted with silence and he said, “Tommy?”

  “Sir, I’m really sorry about yesterday but I would like to make a suggestion.”

  Randy rolled his eyes, “What is that?”

  “I think we should send a single microburst if we find a different warship in the Tronan Fleets. That would allow the two other ships to back off and not run a risk.” Randy thought about it and Tommy continued, “Each of us could be assigned a different frequency for the microburst so we would know which ship had made the discovery.”

  Randy looked at Emily and saw her shrug. He said, “I will also have a recall frequency that will notify you to immediately stop what you’re doing and return to the fleet. Tommy, you’ve made a good suggestion. First Officer Kline will send you your frequencies.”

  “I do have one other question, Sir.”

  Randy took a deep breath and said, “Go ahead.”

  “Do we make an active scan of an advanced ship we might find?” Randy was silent and Tommy continued, “If we focus on the fleets that are actively involved in invading a planet, the Tronan should have no idea if we make the scan. They might attribute it to the forces on the planet they’re invading.”

  “There must be a space battle taking place for that to work,” Randy responded as he thought about the request.

  “I know, Sir.”

  Randy thought about it a few moments and said, “Gloria, what do you think about Lt. Cranton’s idea.”

  “Sir, collecting data on any new Tronan Warship is something that would make a huge difference in developing a strategy on how to defeat it.”

  Emily said, “She’s right, Captain.”

  Randy nodded, “You may make an active scan but only if you are certain you will not be caught doing it.”

  “Thank you, Sir.”

  “Those are good suggestions, Lieutenant. Prepare to lift in five minutes. Run your final system checks and follow me out.”

  Chapter Four

  Randy activated the air-thrusters and took the small scout out of Heaven’s Gate’s landing bay. As soon as it exited the bay, Emily switched the air-thrusters over to the dark matter conduits and the three ships activated their stardrives. They left normal space and saw the giant filament directly below them. They moved quickly toward it and began picking up speed just above it. Entering a filament moving as fast as this giant from a stop would be a shock. They were at full speed when they entered the filament and the filament’s fast moving stream still forced them back in their chairs.

  The scouts disappeared into the distance leaving the fleet far behind. Randy looked at Emily, “This filament has to originate in a massive black hole.”

  “It’s as large as the 440 filament in our sector and it may be moving faster than the 440.”

  “We’ll be in Tronan Territory in less than twenty-minutes. Shut down our exterior lights and notify Tommy and Gloria that we will observe communication silence from this moment forward.”

  Emily pressed some buttons on her console and nodded as the three scouts flew at incredible speed toward the Tronan Empire. They arrived at an intersection an hour later and Randy saw Gloria’s ship move off the Death Filament and take a smaller filament. Three hours later, Tommy’s scout left the huge filament at another intersection. They passed several intersections and Emily looked at Randy, “What are you waiting for?”

  “I think if we remain on this filament, we will eventually encounter some Tronan Warships. This has to be a filament they use a lot.” Four hours later, he was proven right.

  • • •

  The ship’s Computer announced, “Captain, we are approaching a rather large filament intersection and I’ve detected a huge number of large ships approaching on one of the filaments that cross the one we’re on.”

  Randy pulled the stealth handle back on his console and the fins on the front of the scout changed their orientation slightly. Randy said, “The fins are detecting scanner frequencies ahead.”

  “Shutting down our boosters and only using the dark matter thrusters,” Emily announced.

  Randy moved the scout to within forty-light minutes of the intersection and moved the scout out of the filament. He stared at the passive scanner monitor on his console and said, “Computer, I want an analysis of the ships moving into the filament ahead of us.”

  “I won’t be able to get a detailed look at them from this dist
ance, Captain.”

  “At this point, I just want to know if they are all the same size. I also want to know if any of them are using a more powerful scanner than the others. Can you make that determination?”

  “Yes.”

  Randy nodded and watched the scanner monitor as the huge blips on the monitor approached the intersection.

  • • •

  The scout was holding position just above the giant filament coasting toward the intersection. It was traveling at a high speed but far below the speed of light outside the filament. It would take a month to arrive at the filament intersection at their current speed and they should be invisible to the ships moving toward the intersection. The pitch-back coating on the scout absorbed the light from the filament below it and did not reflect it. They waited as the ships came rushing toward the intersection.

  “Captain, the ships moving toward the intersection are a Tronan War Fleet,” the computer announced.

  “Continue your passive scans.”

  Emily looked at her console’s small monitor and said, “There are some ships among them that are larger than most of the others.”

  “Where are they located in the formation?” Randy asked.

  Emily stared at her monitor and looked up, “It appears they are in the center of that formation surrounded by smaller warships.” Randy nodded and Emily asked, “What are you thinking?”

  “I may be wrong but I don’t believe those larger vessels are advanced warships.”

  “Why not?”

  Randy looked up from his console, “Would you place your most powerful ships in the center of a formation or out on the edges?”

  Emily shrugged, “You know the answer to that. That must mean the larger ships are some sort of transports those ships are defending.”

  Randy nodded and looked out of the forward viewport. He looked up and said, “Computer, the fins are moving at an accelerated rate. What’s going on?”