Past the Redline

Throttle Fifty-Seven

“ChaOS, I need to know a few things real quick,” Diana said.

“I’m ready,” her AI said.

“First, can you plot which asteroid will be hitting the planet first? I need numbered lines here.”

ChaOS was quick to provide. The system plot gained six lines ranging out from the planet’s surface out into space. The lines were curved slightly, to account for the trajectory of the asteroids as well as the movement of the planet through empty space. Interestingly, none of them looked like they’d be impacting within the hemisphere with the capital.

A purposeful miss? The Federation likely wanted the city intact. Or intact-ish.

ChaOS numbered the lines from one to six based on their time of impact. The nearest was close to the Federation fleet. The next was the next closest, and so on. The last to hit would be the asteroid furthest from the current location of the fleet.

“Plot out a path the fleet would need to take to cross by each asteroid,” Diana asked.

ChaOS did so. It was a slight turn initially, then a sweeping circle. They’d have plenty of time to reach all six spotted asteroids before they ever reached the planet.

“Now, how long before the first Bolgian response arrives at the first asteroid? Then adjust the map accordingly, assuming the Federation wants to intercept the Bolgians.”

“Understood. I believe I see what you’re picturing.” The lines adjusted. Not by very much.

“What did the Bolgians send to the first asteroid, exactly?”

“One frigate, two corvettes,” was ChaOS’ instant reply.

The asteroids were relatively large, but a single warship laying into them wouldn’t have too much difficulty breaking one apart, she didn’t think. The Bolgians had fired plenty of missiles earlier. A few of those now could probably blow up one of the asteroids if they weren’t intercepted, and breaking the rocks apart would likely be enough to mitigate the damage they’d do to the planet.

Worst case, they were still far out enough that a ship could land on the surface and thrust to the side. A warship might have enough power to divert the course of one of the asteroids enough that it would miss the planet entirely.

“Okay, I think that’s their plan, to force the Bolgians to send out more and more ships to respond to the asteroid threat. Intercept those, and then move on. If the Bolgians send a sizable enough fleet, they can just divert course to somewhere else or even back off. The Bolgians are going to lose whatever advantage they might have from being on the defensive. Wanna bet the Federation ships are faster on average too?”

“The Bolgian armada does seem to generally prefer heavier vessels,” ChaOS said.

Diana nodded. “I need a direct line to Admiral Xiltic. Send him all of this.” She waved to the projection. “In the meantime… I think I might have an idea. Can you show me where the jump rings we’re meant to be using are?”

The locations appeared as green rings on the edge of the system.

“Plot a course. One that’ll bring us close to one of the asteroids while heading over to one of the gates.”

“This path would be the shortest in terms of nearness to the asteroid and distance to a jump ring,” ChaOS said as a dotted line appeared. It slipped right past the third asteroid and onwards to a jump ring that was hidden in-system.

Diana nodded. “Perfect.”

“Mistress, the admiral is on the line.”

Diana nodded and switched to the channel. “Hey,” she said. “Did you see what ChaOS sent you?”

“We’re arguing about it now,” the admiral says. “Some of my compatriots are suggesting that it’s a trap, others are reluctant to trust your advice, and still others are demanding that we split the fleet apart further to respond to the threat.”

“What about you?” Diana asked.

“I don’t trust you, nor do I trust the Federation. Based on the forces involved, this proposed enemy plan has some merit, but it is mutable enough that the Federation could change tactics at a moment’s notice.”

“How about this,” Diana said. “Do what you’re already doing. I’m going to take care of the third asteroid.”

The admiral was silent for a moment. “That’s on a nearly direct path towards a jump ring.”

“Yes, it is,” Diana agreed. “The Federation will probably think that we’ll be doing you a favour on the way out, or that we’re not stupid enough to try and take on any more than a couple of corvettes with what’s essentially a dozen rag-tag racing ships.”

The admiral’s response was flat. Diana didn’t even know what species he was, or if he was really a he, but she still had the impression that the commander wasn’t terribly amused. “We can’t expect more from you. Taking out two corvettes will still irritate the Federation. Stopping the asteroid would forgive some of your accumulated sin.”

Diana snorted. “Yeah, sure. We’ll see what we can do.”

She flicked the line off, not caring if it was an insult to do so or not. “Abatrath!” she said a moment later as she hopped onto what had become the all-racer chatterbox line. “We’ve got a destination. Get your fur-covered behind up here.”

“I’m leaving the planet’s atmosphere now with my remaining crew. As are a few other racers, and not thanks to your diplomatic skill. What plan do you have, and how can I sell it to the others?”

The line’s constant chatter had died down a little. Somehow, Diana realised, she had become the centre of attention. She liked it. “The Federation is going to drop big rocks on the planet, probably to kill everyone. We’re going to intercept one of them. It’s guarded by…” she paused to check and make sure. “Two Federation corvettes. But the main Federation fleet might be sweeping around to protect their big rocks, so we’re going to need to be quick about it.”

“I see,” Abatrath said. “Two corvettes. We likely outgun them. We certainly will outnumber them ten-fold. It won’t be the most honourable of battles, but nor are the Federation’s actions. This is acceptable. Give me your coordinates, we’ll form up behind you.”

“Sure thing,” Diana said.

She moved the Hercules around so that it was a bit further from the planet. Her angle of flight was keeping her more or less along the same axis of flight around the world below.

All she had to do now was wait.

It was a strange part of warfare in space that so much of it involved waiting. When the distances were written in scientific notation, there was often plenty of time between actions. It gave one plenty of time to relax and think, but it was also something of a creeping horror.

The Bolgians continued to shift their fleet around, keeping to the same split formation, but it was becoming clear that they intended to go out and meet the Federation fleet at some point. If they sent out the bigger number of craft on an intercept course (and it seemed as though they intended to meet the Federation on the path between the fourth and fifth asteroid) then they could use their smaller fleet as the anvil to the larger’s hammer.

The Federation, of course, could respond by splitting off and attacking the fleet remaining around the planet. The Bolgian fleet would still outnumber them, but whether or not they’d outgun the Federation was another story.

Diana would do her part. The plan she’d outlined to the others wasn’t the whole thing. She had a far riskier, far more foolish plan in mind.

“ChaOS, how quickly could we deploy phase three?” she asked.

“Mistress, why would we be deploying phase three now?” the AI asked.

“Just asking,” she said. “It might come up. Also, can you scrounge up what you know of the Federation’s shields? I might need an EMP specifically attuned to take theirs down.”

“I am worried. Also, I’m afraid that I don’t have enough knowledge of the Federation’s shield systems to create something like that.”

Diana shook her head. “Then we’ll just ask. What’s the name of that racer who came in with a Federation frigate? Wanna bet they never decommissioned the shield system on that thing?”

Decommissioning guns was one thing, removing all the emitters for a ship’s shields was another.

“My worry is growing, Mistress.”

“Aww, come on, ChaOS, this’ll be a walk in the park. A big flaming park, with landmines and shells raining down on it. But hey, if we pull through, we’ll be proper legends, ChaOS. I’m planning something that I bet hasn’t been done before. Or at least, not in a long while. It’ll be spectacular.”

Diana paused for a moment, then grinned as she had another idea.

“Also, we’re going to need some sort of jack that can transport a virus into a ship’s main systems.”

“The Federation warships don’t allow broadcasts into their cyber-systems. Likely for good reason.”

Diana shook her head. “No, no, don’t worry. We’ll be connecting this one physically.”

“Mistress, that does not sound possible. At all.”

“Just watch.”