Chapter 17

Sandor stood on the video panel set into the floor of the briefing room; the images captured by the Time Radar of the Gamilon Home Fleet's destruction were playing under him, as well as battle footage from the Earth fleet's battle. The bridge personnel as well as the Black Tiger pilots were gathered around the sides of the panel, eagerly waiting for Sandor to begin his presentation.

As the video ran, different ships highlighted, and their outlines zoomed to the forefront of the image, while the battle footage continued to run behind them. A total of six different silhouettes filled the forefront. Each of the silhouettes was vaguely shaped like a wolf's head, in that they all had elongated noses, larger rounded hulls at the back of the nose, and upper fins that gave the illusion of ears.

Sandor cleared his throat, and walked to the exact center of the display panel with practiced precision. "After examining the Time Radar images, we have been able to determine six distinctly different ship classes in the enemy's fleet. They are in descending size: carrier, battleship, escort ship, boarding craft, large fighters, and fighters."

The battle footage disappeared from the video panel, to be replaced with a close up of the enemy's carrier. Sandor took a few steps off to the side to give his audience an unobstructed view of the computer rendered ship as it slowly spun to show all sides of the ship. He pointed towards the ships wide, flat nose section, "The upper front hull of their carriers serve as both a launching and landing platform, that enables it to land or launch virtually any type of fighter or shuttlecraft. We are still not sure exactly how many fighters they can hold, or if they each hold a wide variety of craft. At the base of the runway, are oversized loading doors, more than large enough for any of the fighters we have seen them deploy so far. The doors are armored, but because of their size, they take a while to open or close, during which time the inner ship is very vulnerable. Like most carriers, theirs are also very weak in defensive armaments, relying heavily on its own fighters for defense and offence."

Wildstar, Row and the Black Tiger pilots each nodded at Sandor's assessment while studying the carrier design. Each of them was already busy coming up with different attack strategies they would be eager to try out at the earliest opportunity.

The carrier was then replaced with the battleship, which had a more streamlined design, with gun turrets placed along the nose and upper hull sections. "Their battleships make use of some form of deflective armor, so anything other than a direct hit is not likely to do significant damage. Their shock cannons are not as powerful as ours, but do have a longer range. The nose of the battleship is a projected plasma weapon, it has a short range, and is not as powerful as our Wave Motion Gun, but it doesn't need to be. I haven't been able to find any major weak spots in its design, so we just need to hit it hard with our shock cannons.

"This is their escort ship," the image once again changed, this time showing a much smaller and much more streamlined ship. In design it seemed to be a cross between a battleship and carrier, containing a flat nose with a runway, and a turret on the upper hull. "It doesn't really fit into a traditional escort or destroyer design, but they seem to be deployed as escorts. They really aren't one ship type or another, but a blending. They have a limited fighter capacity, and weak offensive and defensive cannons, but they can fire kinetic missiles from their fighter launch bays."

The image cycled again, this time to show an even smaller ship, with a pointed wedge shaped nose, and a two barreled turret on the upper and lower hulls. "This ship was a surprise. It is about two to three times larger than our own Cosmo Hound, but is well armed for it's size. It is mainly a troop transport, capable of landing on a planet to rapidly deploy its troops, but it is also designed to ram and puncture a ships hull, and deploy its troops as a boarding party to attack the ship from within. From what little we could see, these are frequently suicide missions that the crews undertake with pride.

"This fighter is a complete mystery to us," Sandor gestured to the plane he had dubbed the large fighter. It was only slightly larger than the regular fighters, in that its central hull was greatly widened. "They are armed with a single laser. While they are significantly larger than the other fighters, we have no idea why or what is taking up that space. They may be carrying ECM suites, but there is no data to support that theory."

The final ship outline came to the forefront, the one representing the enemy's fighter planes. "Their fighters seem to be equal to our own Cosmo Tigers. They can be equipped for a variety of different capabilities, like ours, instead of having several different specialized planes like the Gamilons. They are equipped with both lasers and an assortment of missiles or torpedoes. In a dogfight, it will come down to pilot skill, our planes won't give us a technological edge."

Then, all of the outlines disappeared, to be replaced by a similar image of the fortress that the Yamato was searching for. It was immense, built on a scale far larger than any of the previous ships. It vaguely resembled an upside down cone, with a large box attachment jutting out from the bottom. Along the sides of the fortress, were a series of domes that completely obscured the inner hull, they were fewer at the top, increasing in number for each row along the way to the bottom. Some of the domes were transparent, revealing the cities that were contained within them, but most of the domes were opaque, leaving the observer no idea what they contained. Each of the domes was held in place by a metal arm that held them out from the central hull. The central hull, what could be seen between the domes, included docking bays, sensor suites, what were possibly weapon emplacements, and an assortment of other unidentifiable features.

Sandor took another step forward, and gestured to the new image with his pointer. "We got this image from the Andromeda, it is what we had assumed to be their primary battle fortress, however my analysis does not support that conclusion. Although we cannot be sure, since it did not open fire on any of our ships, the fortress does not have enough weapon emplacements to adequately defend itself." The image zoomed in to a small area between two of the domes that revealed a landing strip. "Most of the ship seems to be dedicated to landing bays, and various scanning equipment. In addition, each dome seems to be equipped with its own atmospheric systems."

"If it isn't a fortress," Wildstar interrupted, "then what is it?"

"In my opinion, this is a mobile research lab. It is some sort of worldship, it goes around collecting various specimens for study, like a menagerie or zoo. Each dome would represent a major exhibit, and they doubtless have an untold number of facilities within the primary hull."

"Why would they need to do that?" Yumi asked.

"They could be using it to study us to find our weaknesses or to devise attack strategies," Knox offered.

That was a thought that no one wanted to entertain. Wildstar asked, "Wouldn't an enemy be more likely to do that type of research before starting their attack?"

"Yes," Sandor said, again taking the center stage. "I think there is definitely more to it. They are studying us for a reason, and it may or may not be the same reason they are attacking us, I don't think the two are necessarily the same reason. It may be that they are attacking us because of something they hope to find in their research."

"Everyone needs to review this information, and be prepared to use it," Wildstar said. "Venture has plotted a course that should bring us into contact with the enemy tomorrow. In the meantime, go over the data, and get plenty of rest."

"Are any of your loved ones missing?" IQ-9 asked, disturbing Kei's contemplation of the stars from the Yamato's aft observation deck.

Kei couldn't help thinking it was a strange question for a robot to ask. He must be programmed for compassion, although there was no reason for it to be so inquisitive. Without turning from the view she asked, "Why do you ask?"

"People don't come here alone unless they have something to think about," the robot answered while moving up beside her. He also put his hands on the rail, giving the appearance of looking thoughtfully out at the stars.

She half smiled. It was true, she had come out to think and loose her self in the view. She had needed to go somewhere to think, and tending to her bonsai plants was not as reassuring as it had once been. Working with her pet plants was getting to be too much like her work in hydroponics, so she had wanted something different. She still didn't feel much like talking about it. "Is that why you are here?"

"Yes. I swore I would not allow any harm to come to her, and she is missing." The robot carefully lifted his hands off the rail, and clinched his metal fingers into fists.

A simple answer, yet why did it come as such a complete surprise to her? "I'm sorry. A female robot?" She said, although her voice sounded lighter than she intended.

"Do not make fun of me." IQ-9 answered, with a genuine rise of anger in his mechanical voice.

"I didn't mean to…"

"I have feelings!" the robot shouted, "I may be a robot, but I am no different from you." He then quickly backed up and rushed back out through the door.

Stunned, Kei continued to look back at the door, more than a little shocked at the robot's reaction. Definitely not how a robot should be reacting. Maybe she should inform whoever was in charge of maintenance about it.

This was a mistake, Adam Row thought as he and Yumi watched Wildstar go through his evening exercise session through the protective glass. It wasn't that Wildstar was not impressive, because he certainly was, as he jumped in the air and rolled across the ground to dodge simulated laser blasts before bringing up his own pistol to return fire. It was one of the most rigorous training exercises that the pair of them had ever seen. Row considered himself a good marksman, but he definitely realized he was not in his captain's league, nowhere near it. He silently resolved to increase his own workout. Chances are, he figured, Wildstar's experience had led him to this intense workout, and Row did not want to be caught unprepared.

Yumi for her part was equally impressed, but apparently for different reasons. "Isn't his form perfect?" she said when Wildstar hit his target after a leap. Her eyes never left Wildstar for an instant, closely watching his every movement.

The remark reminded him once more what a mistake it was to bring Yumi to the ship's gym; watching her lust over the captain was not his idea of a good date. If he was to turn it around, he needed to find something else to do. They had already been to the aft observation deck, and unfortunately he had not been able to get any time in the holography room. There really weren't that many options left on the ship.

"Want to get out of here, how about a trip to the ship's gardens?"

"Nah," she answered. "With my room mate, I'm kind of sick of plants right now."

"Hmmm, all right then, how about we con some ice cream out of the cook?" Row asked with a smile.

Finally she took her eyes off Wildstar and looked at Row with a matching smile. "Sure, that should be fun."

"Sandor, may I speak with you?" Kei asked.

Sandor didn't recognize the young woman who had found her way into his laboratory, so she was one of the new crewmembers. He couldn't even begin to imagine what she could want with him, all he really wanted to do was get back trying to solve the mystery of the enemies' ability to appear out of nowhere. Still, he supposed that some level of politeness was required. "I'm really very busy right now, but what did you need?"

The young woman, Kei, felt even more uncomfortable, torn between the need to report the problem and the desire not to bother Sandor. Better to get it over with now, than to bother him again later, she supposed. "I think there is a problem with the robot, IQ-9."

Sandor couldn't help giggling at that. IQ was always something of a flirt. He remembered the first voyage to Iscandar, IQ had looked for, and taken advantage of any opportunity to take a peek under Nova's skirt, and had even caused a bit of trouble when he proposed marriage to her. It had taken IQ some time to fully deal with the fact that Nova would never return the love he felt for her.

"I see," Sandor finally said, "Has he made some sort of unwanted advances towards you?"

A look of confusion crossed Kei's face. "Um, No. He just seems to be acting strangely. I bumped into him on the observation deck, and he said something about something missing, and then seemed to get really angry with me."

"So that's it," Sandor said. "I should have seen that one coming. It's nothing to worry about, IQ just has the same grief and sense of helplessness about this situation that we all do."

"You mean he really has feelings, someone he knew was taken hostage?"

Sandor nodded. "Of course, only his feelings are industrial strength. It will just take him a little time to adjust."

"He did seem to feel personally responsible for whoever this person is."

"The woman in question is Nova, the captain's wife, and I guess we all feel a little responsible. The ships that allowed the enemy to escape were my designs, and the scanners that have so far been unable to detect the enemy are also my design. If I had designed them better, none of this would have happened. That is why I have to figure out how the enemy is able to hide their presence from us."

Kei sighed, there was definitely too much needless guilt going around. "If the rumors are true, you could ask them tomorrow?"

Turning back to his monitors that were showing all of the available clips of enemy ships appearing out of nowhere, Sandor said "Somehow I doubt they will be willing to talk."

Shrugging, Kei asked, "Are you making any progress?"

Motioning to the monitor, Sandor said, "Take a look for your self."

"All the ships seem to be appearing out of a single plain."

"That's right," Sandor said, "Which means they are probably not using a SMITE device, or individually mounted cloaking fields. A form of dimensional cloak is still possible, but our subspace sonar would have picked that up. Do you think they could be using some form or teleportation gate?"

"I have no idea, that is not my area of expertise, I just work with biology and life sciences."

The door closed firmly behind Row as he returned to the room he and Jordy Venture shared. Venture was laying back on his bunk, looking back over the only magazine they had happened to pack, not really reading it, but just gazing into the pages.

"If you take Yumi out for a date, be sure to avoid the Gym areas. Nothing there but trouble," Row declared.

Venture couldn't help but to laugh. "OK. Date didn't go well, I take it?"

Row forced a smile. "Could have been worse, I suppose, but she just wasn't into it."

"Well, better luck next time," Venture said leaning back on his bunk, as Row collapsed into the desk chair. "You going to work on your letters to home?"

"No, I'm too depressed, I'll work on them tomorrow, after we find the worldship."

"Do you really think we will be able to find it and recover our people?"

Row nodded. "From the data, the finding part will be easy."

"I don't think our captain will stop until we do recover our people," Venture said.

"Is that a good or a bad thing?"

"I don't know. It depends on how he goes about doing it."

Derek Wildstar looked out the front window of the captain's cabin, although it still didn't quite feel like it was his. He glanced over at the face of Captain Avatar to draw support, and it did help a little to remember his old captain. The hardest thing was that he couldn't help thinking that Nova should be standing beside him, looking out at the stars like she had done so many times in the past.

Yes, tomorrow would be a big day. Possibly the day that would decide the fate of Nova and his children, himself, and so many others. It had to go well. He wasn't sure he knew how to live without her. He did know, that if they had been harmed in any way, then the enemy would pay dearly for it, he would see to that.