The Alien Invasion

Part II: Interlude

Part II: Interlude

The Story of the SubshipNautilus

The Story of the SubshipNautilus

Despite the enormity of the League's defeat at Vitalics, where the fleet had been destroyed, a very small number of ships had managed to escape, and of those few, one or two actually had managed to make their way back into the heart of League space (which quickly was becoming occupied territory). One of those few was the deep space cruiserArgon, under the command of Captain Augustus Hu. For several days theArgonhad been evading Insect patrols, making its way deeper and deeper into League space. But wherever they went, it seemed that the Insects weren't far behind.

Captain Hu was looking for an even match, where his ship could take on one or perhaps two smaller Insect ships. But most of the Insect ships they had encountered on extreme scanner range were large groups that theArgonwould have no chance against. After a few days of abortive engagements, a single blip showed up on the scanners; it seemed theArgonwas finally going to get its chance.

"Contact!' said the scanner officer. "One ship, small contact, destroyer sized."

"Close for battle, maximum speed!" At this point Hu, throwing caution to the wind, almost didn't care if it was a trap. They had been running for several days now and the weight of their disgraceful defeat at Vitalics hung heavily on his shoulders.

"Scanning...." Then, almost incredulously. "It's one of ours, sir. A fast attack destroyer!"

"Hail them!"

In seconds a friendly face appeared on the holocom.

"Captain Andersen, of theSwordflash," said their captain. It turned out that theSwordflashhad been one of the handful of ships assigned to barrier patrol along the rim of League space. Their ship was one of the few that hadn't been sent to the Vitalics armistice, which is what had enabled the fast attack destroyer to survive. When Captain Andersen of theSwordflashhad heard what had happened at Vitalics, he had ordered his destroyer to head back to August. But when theSwordflashgot there, they found August already occupied by a large Insect fleet. TheSwordflashhad barely escaped. Now they were roaming around, looking for opportunities to attack single enemy ships much like theArgonwas.

"We're happy to see a friendly face," said Andersen. "We didn't know anyone had survived Vitalics. Did any other ships survive...?"

Hu shook his head. "Not that I know of. We may have been the only ship to escape." That thought sunk in for a moment. Their ships could be the last surviving ships of the once proud Alliance fleet. Hu cleared his throat. "Captain Hu, I think we should use this opportunity to join forces," he said.

Hu agreed, and they quickly conferenced to settle on their first target.

While theArgonand theSwordflashwere planning their first joint attack, the experimental subshipNautiluswas making its first strike.

TheNautilus....

********

Rewind, to the day August was invaded.

High above Sarney Sarittenden, in orbit around August, were a series of advanced battle stations, as well as a civilian transit station and a military shipyard.

The military shipyard was almost totally abandoned. Almost. All the external docking ports on the shipyard were empty. But that didn't mean the shipyard was entirely empty. The shipyard had several internal hangars, meant for the most specialized and highly classified projects that were being worked on. When War Admiral Norman North broadcasted his warning about the Insect Invasion, Captain Robert Hollister activated his comm in the now abandoned command office in the military shipyard. "Report."

"48 crewmembers have reported," said the voice of his first officer. "We may get one or two more, but I think the rest are still on leave on August."

"We'll have to leave without them, it can't be helped," said Hollister, rapidly pressing keys on a local terminal as he talked.

"Sir, we're going to launch with a skeleton crew?" said the XO, Lieutenant Haverford.

"That's not my first choice, but the bugs could show up at any moment. This is our only chance to get the ship out intact," said Hollister.

"We're not even sure that the technology has been repaired."

"Is the work crew still on board?" said Hollister, still typing.

"Yes."

"Keep them there. They're coming along," said Hollister.

"But sir, they're civilian contractors," said the Lieutenant Haverford..

"They have specialized knowledge of the technology," said Hollister. "We need them." He finished typing. "I'll be at the ship in four minutes. Be ready to leave the minute I step aboard." He raced for the corridor-

Three and a half minutes later Hollister entered the crowded bridge of the Experimental League ShipNautilus. "We thought you weren't going to make it, sir," said Haverford.

"I had to purge the memory banks of all information relating to theNautilus. We can't let it fall into the hands of the Insects," said Hollister. "What's our status?" he asked, settling into his command chair.

"Navigation, shields, and ship systems operational."

"And the cloak?"

The cloak.

TheNautiluswas an experimental ship, the League's only ship which could travel cloaked, totally undetected by other ships. TheNautiluswas modeled after the old water navy submarines, with a long, slender, oval shaped hull that had only a small projection on top. It was a "dual torpedo" ship, meaning it could fire energy torpedoes from the single launcher at its forward tip, or a metal homing torpedo from its limited supply. As a prototype, the ship had a limited capacity and operating range; most of its cramped interior was taken up with machinery used to maintain the cloak.

In its first field test, the cloak had operated for nearly twenty minutes without fading, after which it became visible. The technicians thought they had figured out what went wrong; now was the time to put it to the test.

Lieutenant Haverford said, "They think it's fixed, but the techs won't know for sure until they test it-"

"Open the external bay doors," Hollister commanded.

The external doors of the internal bay slowly grinded opened.

The view of the outside was not encouraging. An entire Insect fleet was approaching.

"Is the cloak ready?" Hollister said.

"A few more minutes," said the XO.

They didn't have time for this. The Insect fleet was coming into effective weapon's range. The bugs started attacking the orbiting battle stations first. They launched a wave of missiles and opened fire with lasers. The battle stations responded.

Hollister watched the battle quietly from his vantage point, powerless to intervene. So far the Insects were ignoring the space dock, as a lower priority target, but sooner or later the bugs' attention would turn to them.

"We're not even sure that it will work," said Haverford desperately. "The latest repairs to the cloak haven't been tested."

The sounds of explosions around them grew louder as the nearby battle stations absorbed the punishment the battleships were lashing out at them. Several of the Insect battleships seemed to orient on the military space dock, their enormous turrets pointed, it seemed, directly at their ship.

"We'll find out very quickly if it works," said Hollister. The Insect battleships loomed closer. They were pounding the battle stations, but they get now getting close to the space dock. Too close. "We need that cloak now!"

"Ready!" cried Haverford, checking a display. "But if this doesn't work..."

"Attention all hands," said Hollister. "Prepare to dive. Dive dive dive!" This nomenclature had been imposed by Hollister. Technically the cloak made theNautilusdisappear or "submerge" from the visible spectrum, and Hollister, with his historical romanticism of the ancient waterborn counterparts, had insisted on using this terminology for cloaking. Fortunately, the admiral hadn't found out.

"Diving!" cried Lieutenant Haverford. There was a hum and the interior lights subtly changed in color.

"Are we cloaked?" Hollister asked.

"I think so," said Haverford.

"You think so?"

"The instruments say the cloak is operating within normal parameters," he said. But Haverford's worried look betrayed his uncertainty..

Hollister took a deep breath. They had no choice. "Thrusters: all ahead."

TheNautilusslowly worked its way out of its internal bay. There, ahead of them, less than five miles away, was the looming image of a line of Insect battleships. They were in direct line of their enormous turrets. If they were going to open fire, it would only take a single volley at this range to turn theNautilusinto scrap heap.

TheNautilusexited the bay, slowly moving into space. As it flew directly by the line of Insect battleships, Hollister was suddenly conscious of the fact that he was holding his breath. When cloaked, the ship wasn't even shielded; all it would take would be one volley....

TheNautilusslowly passed the front line of Insect battleships. None of them even appeared to notice the ship. A ragged cheer went up from the crew of the sub.

"Rear view image," Hollister said. The image shifted to the orbiting stations behind them.

Most of them were in pieces or convulsed with explosions. The cheering immediately died down. The stations had fallen; August was defenseless.

"What... what do we do now?" the XO asked.

If they decloaked and joined the battle, they might get a shot or two off; but the Insects would quickly destroy them. TheNautilushad been designed for surveillance, and quick strikes at isolated targets; not general fleet engagements, and certainly not without external support.

"I really don't know," said Hollister.

********

Fast forward: the present.

TheNautilushad finally found a target to strike, and was closing in, fast.

"Steady... steady..." said Captain Hollister. "Range?"

"Five miles, and closing," said navigation.

TheNautiluswas closing on two Insect transport ships escorted by a destroyer. TheNautiluswas bearing down on the destroyer first, since it was the only ship which could fire back.

"Two miles, and closing."

"Cut velocity by 50%."

"One mile, and closing... One half mile... one quarter mile...."

"Prepare to surface... now!"

"Surface, surface!" cried Lieutenant Haverford, as a klaxon sounded. An outside observer would've seen a shimmering effect as the ship slowly surfaced into the visible spectrum, a few hundred feet behind the destroyer.

Alarms yammered on the Insect ship as theNautiluswas picked up on their scanners. Insects scrambled to their battle stations-

"Fire!"

Two energy torpedoes streaked out of the sub and hit the destroyer amid ships at point blank range. The Insects hadn't even had the chance to raise their shields. The well placed shots detonated the ship's energy core, and in seconds the ship exploded into a fireball.

"Emergency power! Hard astern!" cried Hollister, gripping a railing as the ship desperately turned about to avoid the miniature supernova in front of them. The screens flared bright, white light for a moment, and there was a shudder as the shockwave hit, and then all was quiet.

"Damage report!"

"... small hull rupture on deck 2, must be a piece of debris," said the XO. "The cloak is temporarily offline."

Now that the warship was destroyed, the cloak wasn't so crucial. Probably some of the exterior lining used by the cloak had been damaged. Well, they had spares in stores, that could be fixed. Hollister, blinking away the rapidly diminishing white circles in front of his eyes from the explosion, stared at the two unarmed transport ships slowly trying to get away. The rest would be a mopping up operation.

********

Captain's Log, 57 days after I-Day

LWSNautilus

Captain Robert Hollister, Commanding.

We've been on our own for nearly two months now. After hulling those two Insect transport ships vessels, we suited up a team to go outside and inspect the damage we took from the explosion of the Insect destroyer. We repaired the sensor webbing over the hull and quickly made the cloak operable again. The cloaked seemed to work fine after that--we say "seemed to" because we have no way of knowing for sure whether and how well it's working. But our hull is very sensitive to damage--any damage to the hull necessarily damages the cloak, since the cloak requires an intact sensor web around the ship in order to operate effectively.

The first engagement taught us a number of tricks and tactics, foremost of which was not to get closer than a half mile to our target--too close, and the sub gets damaged by the resulting explosion. We don't have very much shielding to protect us as a regular ship of the line does. Since then we've made two more attacks that have been very successful. First we took out a lone supply ship enroute to the Whenfor system; then, several days later, we took out another escort ship and two medium sized transports.

Crew morale is good, under the circumstances, but no one can forget that we're going to be locked together in tight conditions for some time. By its very nature theNautilusis crowded; most of the space on the ship is taken up by the prototype cloaking generator. Our shields are practically non-existent, and our sole weaponry consists of a "dual" torpedo launcher; capable of launching both guided missiles, and energy torpedoes. We have only eight of the former, and they're invaluable; unlike energy torpedoes, which have to be fired in direct line to an unmoving target, guided missiles can follow and track.

The crew is holding up well, but there is simply no personal space on board this ship; we have to rotate and share bunks, and in fact we had to lay out some air mattresses on the floor of the torpedo room. The prototype is rated for a crew of 72; we left space dock in a hurry with a skeleton crew of 64, which include ten civilian techs who were not regular members of the crew, but it's still crowded. Even eating must be done in shifts, as our tiny mess hall can only hold 15 (crowded) or 20 (very crowded) at a time.

And that brings me to one of our main problems: food. TheNautilusis certainly not large enough to have a food station aboard, though we do have a standard oxygen regenerator; that means that we must put down periodically for food, and, eventually, fuel. As nearly the entire Alliance has been occupied, getting resupply is hazardous, at best. With our food stores already down 25%, I've set a course for one of our distant resupply stations on Karis; perhaps the Insects haven't reached there yet.

********

"There it is, sir," said the scanner officer, magnifying the image of Karis and the surrounding area on the holoviewer.

"Lifesigns?"

"None."

As it should be. The satellite was fully automated, in orbit around a lifeless rock. There was seven planets in the Karis system, but only the second was inhabited. This station circled the outermost planet, which was not much more than an icy moon on the fringes of the system.

But they couldn't simply dock with the satellite. It had defense systems of its own, defense systems which could only be deactivated if the proper code was transmitted. As of yet, however, Hollister wasn't quite ready to transmit the code. Not yet.

"What do your scans of the planet show?" Hollister asked.

"No signs of activity."

Luckily, the inhabited planet in the Karis system was on the other side of the sun. Later, if and when they resupplied successfully, they could go and see if the Insects had arrived there yet.

"We're in effective weapons range of the station," announced Lieutenant Haverford.

"Status of the cloak?" Hollister inquired.

"No change."

Good. That meant the cloak was functioning normally.

"Transmit the signal," said Hollister.

TheNautilustransmitted the proper IFF code. The station sent an immediate response, and sensors showed that it powered down its defensive systems.

"Shall we surface, sir?" the XO asked.

Hollister paused. When they surfaced into the visible spectrum, they would become vulnerable. But if there were a trap here, he couldn't see what it was. He nodded fractionally.

"All hands, surface! Surface, surface, surface!" A klaxon sounded, the lighting brightened and there was a small shudder as the cloaking field disengaged and theNautilusreemerged into the visible spectrum.

"Maneuver us into docking-"

At that moment there was motion on the viewscreen. A ship, coming up from the planet's surface.

"An Insect ship!" cried the con officer, checking the readings.

"Class?"

Con checked the readings. "Heavy cruiser... no, a battlecruiser!"

"Dive!" cried Hollister immediately.

"Dive, dive dive dive!" cried the XO. There was a pause that seemed to last for an eternity. And then, the lights dimmed, and the proper indicators glowed green.

"Course reset, 114 mark two, full power!" Hollister snapped. He didn't want to be anywhere near their last visible position when that heavy cruiser reached orbit. Indeed, the cruiser was streaking directly towards their former position, but as it got closer it slowed, then stopped.

"It's probably not sure what to do," Haverford said, watching it on the viewscreen.

The heavy cruiser violently released a barrage of weapon fire, surging first in one direction, then another.

"They're firing blind," said the XO. Energy bolts streaked not far from them, parallel to the stern. "Sir, shall we set an escape course?"

"No," said Hollister.

"No?" Haverford asked. "Sir, if you're thinking of taking that on..."

"We can't leave. If we do, we won't have the advantage of surprise anymore," said Hollister. "Right now the bugs don't even know that we, this ship, this technology, even exists. But that ship saw us submerge out of the visible spectrum. Once they report back to their home base, they'll start an intensive search for us."

"But they're bound to find out about us sooner or later," said the XO.

"Better later, than sooner," said Hollister. "Con, do a passive scan of that ship. Look for weak spots."

"Aye sir."

"Sir, we've taken out destroyers and light escorts only," said the XO. "Ships that can be taken out in one shot. If we strike that battlecruiser, and don't take it out in the first shot, we've had it."

"Perhaps," said Hollister, eyeing the large Insect ship. It had stopped firing now, and was moving in slowly expanding circles relative to its present position--a standard search pattern. But the bugs would undoubtedly get weary of that soon, and leave to report their findings. Time was running out. He turned to the Weapons Officer, Ensign Riga. "Any luck?"

Riga activated a three dimensional representation of the Insect battlecruiser. Using a remote pointer he said, "If we hit them here, in their engine section, that should cause an explosion."

"Surely it can't be that easy," said Haverford.

"Like everything else on that ship, it's armored," said Riga. "But two or three torpedoes, at close range, should be able to do it."

"We can only generate two energy torpedoes at a time," said Haverford. "What if they aren't enough?"

"We can instantly switch over to the hard missile torpedoes," said Hollister. "Weapons, how long does it take to switch the launcher mode from energy torpedoes to hardwired ones?"

"Five seconds."

"That should be sufficient," said Hollister. "Conn! Maneuver us under the enemy ship and into firing position. I want to be exactly a half mile, no more, no less, when we fire. Weapons! Lock onto the vulnerable part of their ship. If we hit the wrong part of that battlecruiser, this whole exercise will be worse than useless."