Flagship (12 page)

"I'll be back shortly," he said, and walked to the airlift. A moment later he opened the door of the Officers' Lounge, where he knew he'd find David Copperfield and the Platinum Duke engaged in another card game.

"David," he said, "I don't want to distress you, but I think you might want to spend a little quality time in your bulkhead."

The little alien didn't say a word, but simply placed his cards on the table, got up, and scurried right out of the room.

"And you might want to start laying bets on whether we survive or not," added Cole to the Duke.

"If we live through this," replied the Duke, "I'm going to spend the rest of my ill-gotten gains and buy you a sense of humor."

"If we're still alive tomorrow, I promise to laugh at one of your jokes," said Cole.

"I'll hold you to that."

"Just not the one about the minister and the dancing girl, please."

Cole left and returned to the bridge.

"They're all on their way to the bay, sir," said Christine.

"Correction," said Val's voice. "We're all here."

"Fine. Christine, connect me to the bay, and to Moyer, Perez, Flores, and Briggs. Oh, and to Vladimir Sokolov's ship."

"Don't bother about that," said Val. "Sokolov's with me."

"All set, sir," said Christine.

"Okay," said Cole. "Val, the four shuttlecraft leave the ship on my signal and go immediately to the fourth moon of Malagori VIII. I don't want you to go into orbit, but to land on the far side. I want the four small ships to do the same. I know we're masking our transmissions, but I want all eight craft to maintain a total communications blackout."

"What then, sir?" asked Dan Moyer. "Our understanding is that the prisoners are on the fourth planet."

"They are, but with the Class M Navy ship patrolling the planet we can't possibly get through. Your eight craft will remain on the moon until the
Teddy R
can draw the ship away. Pilot tells me there's a wormhole between the fifth and sixth planets that will let us out near Benadotti some nine light-years away. Once we lure the Navy ship into it,
then
I want you to leave your moon and do whatever has to be done to free the Octopus and his men. Christine has programmed their location into your crafts."

"Okay," said Val. "We free them. Now what? The Navy ship's either going to catch you or it isn't, but it's not going to stay away too long."

"In fact, you're going to make sure of that," said Cole. "Once you're there and the prisoners are freed, I want you to set off every alarm they've got—local, subspace, whatever—before you leave." He paused to make sure there were no questions. "We've programmed the coordinates of the MacGruder Wormhole into each of your ships. It'll let you out almost four hundred light-years away from here. Once there head to the third planet of the Delamere system and wait for us—and if we're not there within, say, six hours, assume we're not coming, turn over command of your mission to the Octopus, and good luck to you. Now get going."

He cut the connection, then watched on the main viewscreen as they took off and made their way to the fourth moon of Malagori VIII.

"ETA?" he asked.

"About twelve minutes, sir," said Jacovic.

"We'll give them twenty," said Cole. "Who's in Gunnery? No, strike that; it doesn't matter. We'll aim and fire from here."

"I doubt that we can do them any damage, sir," offered Jacovic.

"We just want to annoy them," replied Cole. "Any chance we can knock out their transmitter?"

"I doubt it, sir," said the Teroni. "Both the transmitter and antenna are very well protected in the Class M."

"All right," said Cole. "It's probably faster than we are, but I don't think it's so much faster that we can't reach the Benadotti hole first. Besides, we know where we're going and they don't."

"Once they realize we might be leading them away, won't they just turn around and go back?" asked Christine.

"Pilot says it's almost impossible to make a one-eighty in a worm-hole," said Cole. "He's never been wrong before. This would be a very unfortunate time for him to make his first mistake."

"Once we emerge, we're still in a very awkward situation, sir," she said. "They'll be able to narrow the distance until we're within range."

Cole turned to the Teroni. "Tell her, Commander."

"That is why Val is setting off all the alarms," said Jacovic. "Given a choice between racing back to defend Malagori V against an attack and protecting the prisoners or chasing the
Theodore Roosevelt
, they will choose the former."

"If everything goes according to plan," added Cole.

They waited in silence until twenty minutes had passed. Then Cole instructed Wxakgini to approach Malagori V.

"No subtlety, no subterfuge. Just approach it directly, and make sure we're always a lot closer to the Benadotti Wormhole than they are."

"Will you require evasive maneuvering if they start firing on us?" asked Wxakgini.

"Only if it doesn't conflict with my first order, which is to keep closer to the wormhole. Beyond that, take your orders from Commander Jacovic. He's been through this kind of thing often enough."

"Thank you for your confidence," said Jacovic softly. "But in fact I have never been in an analogous situation."

"We'll let that be our little secret," said Cole as the
Teddy R
began approaching Malagori V.

"Are we getting near that damned hole?" asked Cole as they passed the sixth planet of the Malagori system.

"It's about equidistant between Malagori V and VI."

"They have to have spotted us by now," said Domak.

"Of course they have," said Cole. "That's a Class M ship. Trust me, if we can see them, they can see us."

"They why don't they
do
something?" persisted Domak.

"Because they don't know how many of us there are, or what directions we might be coming from."

"Then why will they chase us?"

"I suppose we'll just have to irritate the shit out of them," said Cole with a smile.

"That means he has a plan," said Sharon's voice. "Of course, if he dies of a heart attack right now, none of us will ever know what it was."

"Sir?" said Christine.

"Yes?"

"They're asking for us to identify ourselves."

"No answer."

"Why aren't they shooting?" asked the Duke, who had just arrived on the bridge.

"Because we're a Navy ship. Not one they can instantly identify, though they will before much longer."

"They're asking again, sir."

"Can you make an answer break up, or simulate static, or anything like that?" asked Cole.

"A ship as sophisticated as a Class M will see right through it, sir," answered Christine.

"All right. Tell them we're on a secret mission, we have top priority, and what the hell are they doing here?"

She just stared at him for a moment.

"Just do it," said Cole. "If it makes them think for half a minute, we'll be thirty seconds closer to the Benadotti hole."

She did as instructed. There was no response for almost a minute, and then they demanded identification again.

"Jacovic, where do we stand?" asked Cole.

"We're considerably closer to the wormhole now than they are," responded the Teroni. "I would say that we can reach it in approximately one minute, and the Navy ship is almost two and a half minutes away."

"Let me know when we're thirty seconds from it."

"Sir, they're warning us off," said Christine. "They want us to leave the system."

"Tell them we have every right to be here in the Shoemacher system," said Cole.

This time she asked no questions, but did as he said.

"That ought to buy us a few seconds," said Cole.

As they waited for a response, Jacovic caught Cole's eye and nodded his head. "Thirty seconds, sir."

"Good," said Cole. "Christine, the next time they send a message, let's have it on visual and audio and respond in kind."

"Incoming," she said a moment later.

A square-jawed square-shouldered middle-aged man wearing a captain's insignia suddenly flickered into sight.

"I am Trevor Gladstone, Captain of the
Midnight Star"
he said. "This system is off-limits to everyone. You have consistently refused to answer us, and when you
have
answered they have been obvious lies. I will ask you one last time: who are you, and what is your business here?"

"Captain Gladstone, this is Wilson Cole, Captain of the
Theodore Roosevelt
, and my business here is to free the prisoners you are holding on Malagori V. Will you peacefully release them in my custody?"

Gladstone's eyes narrowed as he studied Cole's image. "By God, you
are
Wilson Cole! I demand that you surrender your ship to me, sir!"

"That's funny," said Cole. "I was going to make the same demand of you." He glanced quickly at Jacovic, who held up ten fingers.
Ten seconds.

The
Midnight Star
broke out of orbit and began approaching the
Teddy
R.

"Commander Jacovic, open fire," said Cole, and Jacovic sent four Level 5 pulse torpedoes at the Navy ship.

"Jacovic?" repeated Gladstone. "The Teroni Fleet Commander? What the hell is going on?"

Cole smiled at Jacovic. "Your reputation precedes you."

"Incoming laser and pulse fire, sir," announced Domak.

"Mr. Odom?" said Cole. "How are we holding up."

"We're good for a few more blasts," said Odom's voice, "but we can't withstand a sustained attack, not against a Class M's firepower."

"Maybe we'd better fall back and regroup," said Cole for Gladstone's benefit. He gestured to Christine to shut down the communication.

"Pilot, get us into that wormhole, top speed, and get us out the other end as fast as you can!"

The
Teddy R
jumped forward, and was inside the Benadotti Worm-hole in a matter of nine seconds. The
Midnight
Star
took up the pursuit, and entered the wormhole less than two minutes later.

"I need instructions for when we reach the other end," said Wxakgini.

"Just keep going as fast as you can," said Cole. "If there's any garbage out there—meteor swarm, dust cloud, anything like that— head for it."

The ship swayed gently.

"It feels like we're slowing down," said the Duke.

"There's no fast or slow in a wormhole," replied Cole.

"But I heard you order him to speed through it."

"Force of habit," said Cole. " Wormholes are a wonderful shortcut, but once you're inside them you go at the speed
they
want you to go. Hell, the longer we're both inside it, the more time Val's got to effect a rescue."

They emerged eight minutes later, twenty-nine light-years from Malagori, and reached maximum speed instantly.

The Navy ship burst out of the hole two minutes later and took up the pursuit, firing its awesome weaponry as it went. The
Teddy R
shuddered twice as its shields suffered direct hits, but nothing got through its defenses and it continued speeding through the galaxy—and then, suddenly, the
Midnight
Star
came to a sudden halt, circled around, and headed back toward the wormhole.

"It's done!" said Cole.

"Are you sure?" asked the Platinum Duke.

Cole nodded an affirmative. "They didn't stop chasing us when they came out of the hole because Val hadn't effected the rescue yet. But once she did, she set off all the alarms. That's why they turned around and went back. But when they get there, they aren't going to find any prisoners. Our ships should make the MacGruder hole, which is on the far side of the star, before the
Midnight Star
can even reach Malagori V, which is on this side." He smiled. "Good time of year to effect a rescue."

He walked over to Wxakgini. "Is there another way to get to the Delamere system without either taking the MacGruder Wormhole or traveling through normal space?"

"There is always another way, just less direct."

"Can we make it in five hours?"

"I must think and compute," said Wxakgini, closing his eyes.

"You, or the navigational computer?" asked Cole.

"There is no difference," said Wxakgini, and Cole concluded that he was probably right. The pilot was silent for almost a full minute, and then opened his eyes again. "We can traverse an as-yet-unnamed wormhole to the Beethoven system, and from there seek out the Yamaguchi Wormhole. It will let you out within reach of the Delamere system, and you can travel through normal space for the remainder of the voyage. ETA will be six hours and forty-three minutes."

"How long before we're out of the Yamaguchi Wormhole?" asked Cole.

"Five hours and thirty-seven minutes."

"Okay, do it." He turned and saw that everyone on the bridge had been listening. "We can contact Val and the others in five and a half hours, when we get out of the wormhole. I told them to wait six hours before writing us off."

"So we pulled it off!" said the Duke.

"In theory," said Cole.

"What are you talking about? Val got the prisoners, and we got out with our asses intact."

"We don't know for a fact that their guards didn't kill every last prisoner when they saw the ships and shuttles coming in for a landing," replied Cole. "We don't know if we lost any of our people. Let's wait seven more hours before we celebrate."