The Battlestar Glory Ch. 12

(This is not a sexy story. It is a space war thriller.)

(This is not a sexy story. It is a space war thriller.)

Chapter 12: Last Stand

Chapter 12: Last Stand

From the log of War Admiral Norman North, 16 years, 10 months, and one day after Vitalics.

We've encountered another supply ship today. It was filled with almost exactly the precise kinds and amounts of parts we needed, as well as coordinates for what, I'm sure, will be another supply ship, two years down the road. These resupply ships are vital as we continue to be attacked by the Insects, and our numbers continue to dwindle.

Finally, though, after all these years, I think I have figured out who is sending us these shipments, how they know exactly what we need, and, maybe, just maybe, where our mysterious benefactor is located.

********

The War Admiral had assembled the ship's senior officers in the war room--Captain Wren, Admiral Dulin, Admiral Emsen, Admiral Harkness, Major Took, and Major Fortran. Once he was ready to make a full announcement, he would brief the rest of the fleet officers as well; but there was still one bit of evidence to uncover.

"You may be wondering why I've called you all here today," said the War Admiral. "For some years now we've been following the trail of a series of supply ships left for us." He pressed a button, and a series of dots appeared on the holomap. "There are some who say, and have said, that these supply ships are a trap, a way for the Insects to track our current whereabouts. I have never believed these rumors, and today I know, almost to a certainty, that they are not true. I can even prove it."

The officers looked at each other eagerly.

"There are three main questions to consider--who is helping us, why are they helping us, and how are they getting precise information on what our needs are. I believe I can now answer all three questions. Let's start with the first question, who is helping us," said the War Admiral. "It's either aliens, or humans. If it's aliens, it's no one we know of, and so speculating as to their identity would be useless. If it is aliens, by the way, it would have to be aliens who have learned to manufacture the kinds of spare parts we need."

"No, I always thought it was humans sending us these giant care packages in space, or at least humans working with aliens," said the War Admiral. "And if it were humans, than who? A private group or organization? Possible, but unlikely. They'd have to have tremendous resources. What does that leave? An interstellar government or agency. The League? I was about as highly placed in the military as anyone except the Chief of Staff, and I never heard of any secret bases or hidden manufacturing facilities. It's remotely possible a group like the Column could have been involved, but they usually didn't involve themselves in large scale military procurement."

"No, there's a much more likelier source. The Directorate. Our junior partner in our now defunct Alliance."

"The Directorate?" said Harkness. "They fell to pieces after Quick died. No offense, Emsen," he added hastily.

"Not the words I would've used," growled Emsen, who was a former Directorate officer. "But we did seem to have more than our fair share of problems after we lost Director Quick."

"How could the Directorate have been involved?" Wren asked. "Their fleet was contracting, not expanding, during the years leading up to the invasion. First there was that explosion that took out a chunk of their fleet, then all their older ships that were scrapped in anticipation of their new cruisers, and then the new ships that were filled with bugs and defects and never came online-"

"Yes, they did have a lot of problems," said North. "But I think it would be inaccurate to say that their fleet contracted. I would simply say that it wasreallocated."

"What do you mean?"

"I've reviewed the historical database, and while I can't prove it, I think it highly unlikely that all those mishaps were really mishaps. Would the Directorate really have been so foolish as to have put all those ships in one base? Wasn't it really convenient that when the base blew up, that they lost dozens of their finest vessels?"

"You think the explosion was faked?"

"I think the explosion was real enough, but I don't think there was anything left there to be blown up, except scrap metal," said the War Admiral.

"And what about the crews of those ships?"

"They're with their ships right now," said the War Admiral. "Somewhere out there," he said, pointing to the holomap. "There, along with the ships that were supposedly decommissioned, and the new ships that were supposed to replace them, and didn't."

"That doesn't make any sense," said Wren. "Why would they purposely take a huge chunk of their fleet out of commission, right before they'd be needed the most?"

"Maybe they saw the ambush at Vitalics coming, and knew that even with those ships they'd be unable to defeat the Insects," said the War Admiral.

"So instead, they established a base far off in unexplored territory," said Major Fortran. "That's pretty outlandish, to think they'd just abandon their own people."

"I agree," said the War Admiral. "And that's the part I haven't fully figured out yet. But keep in mind that our benefactors have also shown that they have advanced technology, alien technology. The particle cannon that sends us these shipments, for one."

"So?"

"If aliens are providing this technology, maybe they have their own agenda. One that may coincide with ours on some points, but not others," said the War Admiral.

Emsen shook his head. "It still seems farfetched to me."

"When Steven Quick died, his handpicked deputy Tel Sutter took over. A competent man, by all measures," said the War Admiral. "Do you really think he'd allow your defenses to crumble as they did? Let me give you another piece of information. I did a check of the Directorate crew we have in the fleet. Most of the Directorate sailors with us have less than 20 years experience, as of the day we left Orotis."

"So what?" said Emsen.

"So before the war, I saw statistics showing that the average term of service for your sailors, like ours, was about 40 years. Just by coincidence, all the accidents and mishaps stripped your fleet of its most experienced officers." North tried not to make it sound like an insult; he was just presenting the facts. "More conclusive was a private conversation I had with the late Captain Alada. You may remember him, he was Admiral Kulf's deputy on the day of the attack."

Emsen nodded.

"He told me that Kulf had received orders to withdraw even before the attack had occurred. In other words, even before the Directorate knew the attack was coming, or knew anything about the size, shape, and composition of the attacking force, they had been given the same marching orders that we have been following--to retreat, and head off into unknown space." The War Admiral paused. "I admit, this is third hand information--I'm reporting what Alada reported that Kulf reported hearing from Director Sutter. But if it's true, it supports my theory that the Directorate knew what was coming, and planned for it."

Emsen tried to absorb all this "But... if this is true... why don't they come and help us with their ships? They've been letting us get slowly pecked to pieces for years!"

The War Admiral nodded. "The short answer is I don't know. They may be waiting for some predefined event to happen before they come out into the open. They may be developing new technology, as we were trying to do, or are building up their forces. Or there may be another reason entirely. But I am now reasonably convinced that our allies are human, or largely human, and that they are Directorate forces."

"And how does the Directorate know exactly what kind of spare parts we need?" Took asked.

"Someone on one of the Directorate ships has been working for them as an informer, of course," said the War Admiral. "I've spent a number of years trying to track this person or persons down. But it's been difficult. Whoever has been leaking information to the Directorate hasn't been using any of our comm systems to transmit information about our status. It's still not clear to me how they're getting the information out. The only thing I'm able to answer, as of this day, is who."

"Who is he, and how did you track this person down?" said Wren.

"Are you more interested in the who or the how?" said the War Admiral, giving a wry smile. "After the first resupply ship led to the second one, I could see the pattern forming. That was when I created the 'common list'. Remember that, Captain? It was supposed to be a wish list of everything we needed, a sort of 'help wanted' list of spare parts. The ostensible purpose of the list was to enable ships in the fleet to exchange parts and function more effectively. The real purpose of the list was to provide a piece of cheese to attract a rat, or rats, into our trap."

"For you see, there were different versions of the list. All were stored in theGlory's database, but if you were on theBlue Luna, and requested the list, you'd get one version; if you requested it from theAlways Ready,you'd get a second version; if you requested it from theAmory Til, you'd get a third version. And so on. The actual versions wouldn't differ by very much--usually there would be one key item added to each list."

"-And then, when we located another supply ship, you could tell, just by seeing what parts we were sent, which ship had leaked the information," said Wren. "Clever! But why didn't you find out the location of the spy years ago?"

"In one breath you call me clever, and in the next you chide me for not being quicker?" said the War Admiral, looking mildly amused. "It wasn't that easy. As you know, our benefactor never sent us exactly what we needed; that would have been too obvious. Furthermore, as it turned out there were actually two spies, both requesting slightly different versions of the list, and it took me time to adjust for that factor as well. After our last resupply ship arrived two years ago, I had narrowed it down to two ships--a battlecruiser, and a fast attack destroyer. But that only helped in limiting it to 500 odd suspects. I created another set of lists, and this time watched to see more closely who was accessing the list on those two ships and when. ID's can be forged, of course, and a number of people on both ships, for legitimate reasons, accessed the list, but after a bit more detective work I have deduced the identities of both spies (for there are two)." The War Admiral pressed a button on the comm. "Bring them in, gentlemen."

Two Directorate officers, both lieutenants, entered the war room. They were flanked by two marine guards. "Thank you for coming, gentlemen," said the War Admiral. "You may be wondering why I brought you here, but, since I called you together, it's much more likely you have already figured it out. Let me introduce you to my officers: Lieutenant Robert Talley, communications officer on the battlecruiser Charon, and Lieutenant Ulanda Carela, communications officer on the fast attack destroyer Zebra. These are our spies."

The spies, if that is what they were, blinked. They looked puzzled.

"You can drop the act," said the War Admiral. "You may or may not have committed a treasonable offense, but if you come clean, now, I guarantee you will avoid the death penalty."

"We were not committing treason, sir," said Talley, stepping forward immediately. "We were operating under the direct orders of Admiral Kulf."

The other officers gasped. Until now they hadn't been as sure as the War Admiral about his latest hunch.

"And what were the Admiral's orders?" North asked pleasantly.

"To broadcast, on a monthly basis, our situation report."

"Including the parts we needed?"

"Including those, sir," said the War Admiral.

"Do you know to whom or why you were making these broadcasts?"

"We--there were three of us, although one of us was lost, shortly after we left Orotis--presumed they were to allied forces," said Talley. "They have kept us supplied. And the order came from Admiral Kulf himself."

"So you keep saying," said the War Admiral. "Nevertheless, you work not for Admiral Kulf now, but for this fleet. The organization you belonged to, the Directorate, no longer exists. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir."

"Now, how did you transmit your information?"

Talley was silent.

"You've already told us almost everything," said the War Admiral reasonably. "Can you just nod your head, then? Good. Did you use these?" He lifted up two small green devices from the floor underneath the table. Part of the device was a flat panel, and part were a series of complicated looking controls and buttons. The layout and organization of it made it seem like it was of alien design. "Well, Mr. Talley?"

Talley nodded.

"Of course I had your quarters searched when I discovered your identities," said the War Admiral. "We found the secret panels in both your quarters. How does the device work?"

"I can show you how to send messages, but I don't know how it works," said Talley. "It must be transmitting, but I've never been able to detect a signal. It doesn't even require any outside power to work."

"Do you ever receive any messages from it?" said the War Admiral sharply.

"No," said Talley.

"Do either of you have anything else that's helpful to add?"

They paused, considering, and shook their heads.

"You're dismissed. You're relieved of your duties and will be placed under guard until I decide how to deal with you."

They filed out, and the door hissed shut behind them.

"Incredible," said Wren, staring at one of the alien devices.

"Are you starting to believe my hunch now?' said the War Admiral.

"I always believe your hunches. Sir," she said.

"I think the next step is to have one of these taken apart. Since we have a spare, we have the luxury of experimenting with one," said the War Admiral.

"For what purpose, sir?" said Dulin.

"If it is a directional signal, perhaps taking it apart can tell us where it's transmissions are directed to."

"But if we can't even detect the signals that that thing sends, do you really expect to find out where it's directed by its inner design?"

"No," said the War Admiral. "That's why if it fails, I have a backup plan."

********

They met again two days later. The technical team had taken one of the devices apart but couldn't even figure out how it worked, much less where it directed messages to. When they put it back together and had Talley demonstrate its functions, he couldn't even get it to work again.

The War Admiral had dealt lightly with both officers. His waving of the death penalty in front of their faces was merely an inducement to talk. The officers obviously felt they were doing the right thing, and they were acting under orders, however dubious in nature. Still, if they had reported what they had known years ago, they might have saved the entire fleet much hardship and losses. The War Admiral formally reprimanded both of them and had them reassigned to other areas unrelated to communications. There would be no further unauthorized messages coming from his fleet. The War Admiral was grateful to have been resupplied all these years, but he also felt that he, and the fleet, were being used as pawns, and that was about to change.

"So now we know how the information is getting out, and we have a hypothesis on who is aiding us, what do we do now?" said Dulin.

"We track the transmission to its source, of course," said the War Admiral.

"How?" said Dulin. "The signal that these devices produce is untraceable."

"We'll have to use some intuition," said the War Admiral. He pressed a button and a holomap appeared, showing the locations of the resupply ships. "Do you notice anything about the location of these cargo ships?" He pressed another button, and a line appeared connecting all the contact points. Then it became clear.

"It's like... almost like points on part of a circle, slowly curving in," said Wren.

"Correct," said the War Admiral. "Which suggests that they are either trying to keep us away from something outside the circle, slowly and subtly steering us away from that area," he said, pointing with a light wand. "Or, they're trying to keep us at a constant distance from the center of the circle," he said, pointing again.

"Which is it?" said Dulin.

"I've given the matter some thought," the War Admiral smiled. "At first glance, you'd think our benefactors might be located outside the circle, trying to distract us, and keep us away from them. But that only makes sense if you believe they never want to make contact with us." The War Admiral paused. "I don't believe that. I believe at some point, at a time that suits their purpose, they will want to make contact. But if we're many years away from their base, even at top speed, we won't be able to come to them in a very prompt manner."

"What about their particle cannon?" said Fortran.

"What about it?" said the War Admiral. "It's a one-way ticket. They can only use it to send supplies to us, not to send us to them. No, if you believe that they want to keep us relatively close nearby, it makes sense that they're inside the circle, not outside, somewhere here," he said, pointing at the rough center.

"But that assumes that is the center," said Dulin. "We've only found a handful of supply ships, the shape of the path may change over time."

"And even if that area of space is the center, it would take us almost two years to get there at top speed, and even then we wouldn't have a precise location," said Wren. "We could spend another two years searching once we got there."

"I realize there is a lot of guesswork involved, and once again I'm asking you to trust my hunches," said the War Admiral. "But we have no choice but to try." His tone grew more grim. "Each encounter we have with the Insects causes losses on our side. They have thrown so many resources at us that we cannot keep avoiding them. It may not suit our benefactor to help us now, but we can't keep going on like this. It's the best lead we have so far, and I say we follow it."

At the meeting of the fleet captains later that day, the War Admiral heard similar objections. But, after all they had been through together, the captains agreed to the change in course.

"It won't be easy to find them," said the War Admiral. "If I'm right, they're well hidden. And if I'm wrong, we can say goodbye to further resupply, since we're not heading towards the area of the next resupply ship. But I think that's the best chance we have."

********

From the log of War Admiral Norman North, 18 years and 5 months after Vitalics.

What have I done?

Ever since we changed course two years ago, it seems we've been encountering more and more Insect ships. It seems like they've been tripling their attacks against us. And then, ominously, the attacks stopped for several months. But we noticed that there were always enemy ships on the edge of our sensors. A full battlefleet assembled, but didn't attack. They simply ghosted us for weeks. We tried to lose them but couldn't. And then, two days ago, they attacked, only it wasn't one full battlefleet, but three.

This time, they waited for overwhelming reinforcements. The attacks have been nearly constant. We've lost four ships in the past week. Two months ago we reached the general area of space where I projected our benefactor would be located, but we haven't stumbled across them; we've been too busy fighting for our lives. Right now we're trying to-

********

The War Admiral stood up the minute he heard the klaxon, and ran to the bridge. Captain Wren, wearing a bandage on the side of her head, walked around the debris from the fallen bulkhead to meet him. "Sir, they're attacking again."