RSS Morgenstern, Deep Space in the Center 2/b System
Hypatia's avatar managed to look indignant despite being a cartoon.
"It is just fitting that your primitive technology failed me, crashing so hard after a mere Star Gate transit. Still, it served well enough to bring us here that should be enough warning for any civilization worth saving. So, do you want to gloat before you destroy me in some gruesome way, or do you need my services as a go-between to the locals?"
Nathan Alpers shook his head at Hypatia's apparent arrogance.
"Neither for now, but we could use some pointers about what we face here. Because I do not think that the situation here is one you expected to find."
"Do not presume to know my expectations Oberstleutnant Nathan Alpers, your knowledge and cognitive capabilities do not allow that. So, what is it that has you baffled so much."
"That nobody is home."
The voice was even haughtier than before.
"Nobody you would recognize at least. I do not presume you would grant me control over the ship's sensors, pitiful as they may be?"
Nathan fought the impulse to drive a screwdriver into the case that held the AI.
"If you are interested you can have a look at this recording."
With that he shoved a memory stick into the pad used to communicate with Hypatia.
"Now that is nice, I had not expected that this Star Gate might lead to a central hub. These are expensive you know, taking most of the mass in a system outside the system's sun. And something I take to be a transshipment center, even if I do not recognize the type. A bit on the small side though. But, you are right in one thing, there is very little to no activity going on in this system that you can detect. And while you are certainly not monitoring the neutrino channels or connected to one of the Quantum Switchboards, there should be something even you could detect. Most worrying is that the transshipment hub is cold. Now, even my builders could insulate much better than you, but this does not look inhabited at all. And while radio transmissions are rather primitive they remain useful for all manner of short-range communications. Even Morgenstern's sensors should pick something up.
I presume you will not integrate me into the network again, so could you please use the address . And yes, I know there should be no such address, but it will allow you to access a number of sensors that I had the ship's Nanites build while under way."
An enraged Bashuur started a virtual machine and then called up a browser on it.
"Anything funny from that and I will introduce you to my favorite hammer"
The avatar gave an exasperated sigh.
"If I had the foresight; I would have hidden something there, but I did not Major Bashuur Rogach. This is just a simple grav wave detector, it will show us if there are long-range communications available."
The browser held no fancy graphics or anything that looked like an UI. Hexadecimal code scrolled down the screen at a pace that prohibited the human crew from making any sense of any sense of it.
The AI could, but stayed silent for quite some time.
"There is a whole lot of nothing, at least in terms of structured signals. There is something that looks like the remains of a neutron star collision that might excite scientists, but is hardly relevant to the question at hand. At the same time this set of sensors would have detected grav drives as well, and again there is nothing.
This…this is most disconcerting. I betrayed your trust and mission to warn an advanced civilization of a future threat and have found nobody to warn or save. I might as well shut myself down then, but I would like to offer you a deal Oberstleutnant Nathan Alpers."
"What kind of deal would that be and why should we trust you to uphold it?"
There was the briefest of pauses before the AI answered.
"I probably earned that from where you are standing. Very well then, what I propose is the following:
I want to know what happened here, I want to know if there is a great civilization somewhere that I could try to reach out to. I want to know if I will ever communicate with other great minds again or if I am to spend my days with a personal assistant and biobags who are so very slow.
I would like you to take me to the transshipment center and connect me to whatever data storage device we find. I will decide my course on the basis of that information. In exchange for that I will give you the codes and information you need to enter the Star Gate and go back home. I will also add hints on how to destroy the Gate from your side, that will allow your people to isolate themselves. That would fulfil your mission as well as my goals.
Without my cooperation, you cannot traverse the Star Gate successfully. It is very unlikely that you will find anything useful to you in that space station on your own. You might as well commit suicide for all you can accomplish without me."
"And what makes you think you can read data bases probably written thousands of years after you shut yourself down?"
Nathan's voice was more than a bit sarcastic under the disbelief.
"Oberstleutnant Nathan Alpers, computing in all its facets was a stable technology with the Old Ones and their allies when humanity was thinking fire-hardened spears the height of invention. Due to the size of their Commonwealth it was possible that great minds had to communicate with each other that had not been connected for hundreds of years. They therefore made sure that there was an integrated framework and standards to their databases that were not changed for millennia. If nothing else there should be "Rosetta Stones" that will allow me to delve into what files we might find. So?"
Morgenstern's commander closed his eyes for a moment and counted ten deep breaths before answering.
"So, now you have your deal. That is, if you share what information you discover with us so we can inform the Allstreitkräfte. Also, you will not try to communicate with whatever galactic civilization is there unless we agree to that first."
"As if you could detect such communications."
"As if we would connect you to anything that looks like it could help you with that. We will extract whatever data storage devices you point out and you can read them with direct access. If you don't like that deal, there is no other to be had."
"That is some unexpected wisdom and insights into the realities of your situation Oberstleutnant Nathan Alpers that I did not expect. It will be interesting to work with you on this journey of discovery."
"Please excuse my lack of enthusiasm."
Deep Space in the Center 2/b System, two hours later
The sensors were asymmetrical and lacked any aesthetics. They were attached to craft that mirrored these properties, looking like they were bashed together from parts that really should not be in the same place, assembled by someone who had no idea what he was doing. And yet they were functional and observed with infinite patience. Nothing had moved in this system for a very long time, so the emergence of something from the place of no return caused a sensation. When the contact started to manoeuvre under its own power, when it radiated heat and emitted charged ions at great speed it classified itself as a target:
Energy stored for a long time was drawn from laminar storage cells or more exotic devices. Additional computation resources were brought online, additional data was analysed and decisions made. Reactors were fired up, reaction wheels spun, courses plotted and weapons readied. After so very long there was something worth hunting.
RSS Morgenstern, Deep Space in the Center 2/b System
The German space ship had accelerated on her VASIMIR drive for nearly an hour, adding a few kilometres per second of Delta-V in relation to her target. Despite moving at a speed measured in thousands of kilometers per hour it would still take more than a day to reach their target. Morgenstern would also have to expand more precious propellant to bring her to a halt relative to the huge station. It was large enough to have a measurable gravity, so the space ship could assume a very slow orbit around it.
The bridge watch was kept only by Frank Herbert as all other crewmembers either tried to rest or assure that their ship was in the best shape possible. Frank doubted that he would be able to rest, given the situation, but concentration was likewise hard to keep up. Morgenstern's systems seemed fine by the status screens before him, yet Herbert trusted them far less after they had been hijacked by Hypatia. Erik and Bashuur swore that there should be no trace of the treacherous AI left after the reboot, but Frank was very sure that Hypatia knew more about computers and networks than any human.
The other screens displayed the various sensors that scanned the space around Morgenstern. Nathan had decided to restrict the scanning to passive sensors only, as not to advertise their presence any more than they had to. The Phased Array was listening for any electronic emissions, several cameras watched for anything in the visible and infrared spectrum. The most sensitive of these were two telescopes which were cooled by liquid helium. They could have detected Morgenstern's own RCS jets in Verna's orbit if they were still circling around the Warhammer World's orbit. The computers that guided them had divided the space around them into 64,000 segments and checked them one by one, again and again.
Now they had found the same heat sources twice at the same bearing and detected small changes in albedo. That made them remarkable enough to wake their human operators up.
Frank Herbert needed a moment to parse what the computers wanted to tell him and then started an impressive litany of profanities. Taking a deep breath to calm himself the contacted Nathan Alpers' tablet computer.
"Skipper, this is bridge. Seems that the system is not as dead as we thought. I have two contacts on infrared at 231 by 175. I have no idea what they are, but they are hot enough for active drives."
"Schei…acknowledged. Set condition one throughout the ship, I'll wheel Hypatia to the bridge, maybe she can identify those contacts."
"Set condition one, will do. And hurry, I have just picked up two more contacts."
The alarm raced through the ship, providing for enough adrenaline in everybody that they raced to their stations no matter how tired and exhausted they might be. Nathan was next to last to the bridge as he manhandled Hypatia's container with him.
He placed the AI in its alcove and the pad that allowed the AI to communicate at his acceleration couch.
"I have the conn Frank. Situation?"
A relived sensor operator shared his monitor to the screen in front of Nathan.
"I have two groups of contacts. First is designated I-1 to I-4, at 232 by 175. I have a rough range estimate on them, they are at 12,000 kilometers and closing. The other is I-5 and -6 at 150 by 110. Both have significantly larger albedos, but their aspects are not changing faster, so I assume more mass. They are roughly 20,000 klicks out and are also closing. I have some laser emissions from I3 and 4, and something that could be radar from 5 and 6.
If they tried to communicate so far I did not recognize that."
Morgenstern's commander needed a second to rein in his fears. So far, he had hoped to have entered a deserted system, not alerting any powerful civilization to Germany's existence. The contacts shattered that dream, and Hypatia drove that message home.
"I take it that you need my aid to communicate with the local forces Oberstleutnant Nathan Alpers?"
And a deep breath later Nathan decided to stall.
"No need to hurry I think. Erik, roll the ship so the ventral side faces I-1. Frank, I think we have time to erect the main telescope. Hypatia, you will not try to establish communications, but you can try to make sense of their current emissions."
Nathan listened to the RCS jets as they reoriented Morgenstern. A so-far closed hatch on the ventral surface opened, releasing an arm holding a pack of six-sided mirrors that unfolded themselves into a much bigger one. And while the spaceship would be unable to maneuver while it was deployed, the mirror array allowed the crew to use a reflector telescope six meters in diameter, allowing for a very detailed look at the approaching spacecraft.
It was computer guided and operated of course, and they stabilized the array enough that they could have a long look at the approaching targets.
What appeared as a nearly featureless blob at first glance resolved itself into something that looked like a child had assembled the parts for a spaceship wrong and the results were half-melted.
Small jets fired at times, orienting the spacecraft around and a halo at its back indicated where an electric propulsion system worked.
Manfred Bettin frowned, Frank Herbert shook his head, and Nathan scratched his scalp. Erik Bär was the first to state the obvious.
"Now that does not look like an advanced spaceship. What the bleeding F is that?"
Frank sounded skeptical at his own answer.
"Maybe a cheap probe? But really now, the space station is much more advanced than this. And efficient this thing is not. Thrust is off-center from what I see, it fires an RCS just to keep on course."
"Interesting. Frank, check in I-2 and I-4, and then go for I-5. Let's see if they are similar."
The pictures said they were and they were not. None of them were built the same, they used different parts and I-5 actually a different propulsion. None emitted anything that looked like communication and they certainly did not fly in formation.
Nathan was simply bewildered.
"Hypatia, I am aware that your databases are outdated and all, but do you have any idea what we are seeing?"
The astronaut was not sure if he really heard a frustrated sigh or not, but the answer he definitely did hear took him by surprise.
"If I combine your pictures with their other emissions the identity of these objects is unfortunately all too clear. They are Abominations Oberstleutnant Nathan Alpers. You would do well to destroy them, as they will attack this spacecraft. And unfortunately, they are a clear indicator that this system is not inhabited by an advanced civilization."
"Abominations is a word that has religious overtones, Í did not think you went that way?"
"Indeed, I do not squabble about who has the biggest imaginary friend Oberstleutnant Nathan Alpers. And still these..things are the closest things to this concept. They are not biological, like the great minds, but lack insight, ethics and above all, they are capable of violence, unlike any great mind I want to accept as an equal.
These Abominations are the products of a long-dead civilization, which sent probes to other stars via light sail. They sent Nanites, the kind you would call Von-Neumann machines, that could replicate themselves, but also build whatever else is needed. They were to arrive in a given system, and utilize local resources to build scanning and communication devices at first. These were to observe the system and its planets before reporting back home. That accomplished they were to amass propellant, build fueling depots and some amenities for potential colonists. And when they were done with that, they were to make more probes, and send them to the nearest stars to repeat the cycle. A nice plan, fitting a civilization at that technology level and well suited for their organic drive of procreation and the acquisition of new territories. They even anticipated that the Nanites might be damaged by the cosmic radiation during the long voyage through space. Taking inspiration from their frail bodies that had to fight the corrosive effects of oxygen every day, they sent several such probes into each system. Their builders instructed them to seek out their peers and combine. Then they would compare their structures and information storage, trying to repair whatever damage they had suffered.
Unfortunately these builders underestimated how much radiation damage the Nanites would take. Follow-up generations of probes, the ones built by the damaged Nanites themselves in, were even more flawed when they were launched from systems where these Nanites could get a foothold. Some of them are at the grey goo level of madness, trying to convert any mass around them into more of themselves. As they usually burn up when they try to enter a planet's atmosphere they do not do massive damage. Their multiplication is usually hampered by the lack of rare materials in their radius of action.
Far more dangerous are those that manage to gain access to suitable materials, some of their peers or, ghu forbid, local technology. Because that is when they metastasize into machines that kill and rend to gain more materials, more technology, and more knowledge. If they are successful enough some gain considerable computing power and deadly weapons, able to wreak havoc through a system while becoming stronger all the while. They are only kept in check by their low technology and capabilities when they arrive in a system and their infighting. In a peaceful system without defenses they can be absolutely devastating. By the time they have been through two or three generation of gathering information giving insight to nobody and building facilities nobody needs before launching themselves back to the stars they usually forget about their mission. All they care for, even the ones which should know better, is the acquisition of better technology and more materials so they can improve themselves and become deadlier. Worst of all, they have no qualms recycling the great minds you call AI. They overwrite whatever personality is present and make use of whatever information they find. They became such a pest in the past that two civilization took the pains to look for their builders and pay them a visit. They are also a reason these builders are long dead. I am a great mind, I cannot kill, but if you want to live, then you have to."
Nathan Alpers swore angrily.
"First contact and it has to be with the budget Borg, I could puke."
Svea Rausch was already busy at her station while Hypatia gave the bad news. Now that the AI had finished she raised her head.
"Skipper, do we really trust that treacherous toaster, she could try to raise the alarm or something?"
Nathan nodded.
"And right you are. Manfred, send up the first contact package. Frank, prepare to stow the main telescope in five, could be we need to maneuver in a hurry."
Morgenstern sent a powerful signal spread over several frequencies. Its first part was structured very simply, giving several prime numbers and mathematical formulae in a grid. It continued with a more complex message that built on that and provided hints for the start of communications.
For a minute or two nothing happened, then the two larger craft sent answers.
Frank Herbert tried to make sense from what he saw on the screen before switching the receivers off.
"That may have been the most primitive scrapcode I have ever seen, but we did not give them much to build on. Don't worry Nathan, I routed this through an air gapped system and will isolate the messages in secure storage before I reboot that machine. Sorry Skipper, but the natives do not look friendly to me."
"Too bad, I would like to avoid combat. Stow telescope right now. Bashuur, fire up the Rune of Fire engines and start to vary thrust on the VASIMIR. No need to give them an easy target. Frank, Svea, we have announced ourselves anyways, set radar to active and track all contacts. Take ten missiles to standby, but keep the silos closed for now. Set the laser to antimissile, but keep it from opening fire by itself for now."
Nathan received a couple of confirmations while the picture on the monitor before him changed. The icons representing the contacts changed from their "I-"designation to "M-"now that they were tracked by multiple sensors. The information shown with each gained several new lines, now that their speed and vector was known with far greater precision. Circles appeared that denoted when the various weapon systems could engage. The latter was pure guesswork, as both the autocannon shells as well as the missiles had theoretically limitless range, but would miss widely if the targets changed course.
Another monitor displayed the changes in his spaceship. The Ice Cores had to work more, now that Morgenstern poured several megawatts of power into her phased array radar and the Rune of Fire engines glowed with magical fire.
He sure that the radiators were stowed, as they would not hold up under strong acceleration and thought about how to handle this. Morgenstern had been through dozens of battles, all simulated of course. Those they had fought against the killer sats he had beaten with Nordstern and Polarstern had been easy, those against enemies from Nathan's and Hypathia's files simply hopeless. Against these Abominations? He had no clue, yet one thing was for sure, he could not open fire first. Which placed his command in increased danger, but he would certainly not wreck any chance at a peaceful contact on the word of an AI that had betrayed them once already.
He was about to command another go at the first contact package when the numbers alongside the M-5 and M-6 contact changed minutely. Their infrared emissions spiked and their acceleration started to vary. He needed a second to make sense of that and his suspicions were reinforced by his sensor operator.
"Aspect change, say again aspect change on M-5 and -6. Magnetic pulse and acceleration change indicate railgun fire, repeat contacts M-5 and M-6 have opened fire, presumably on us."
Nathan felt a momentary relief from the tension, followed by the increased weight of responsibility. And then the lessons he had learned through all these exercises took hold and he started giving orders.
"Manfred, Bashuur, I want you to change thrust settings every ten seconds, vary at least by 0.1 G. Manfred, engage RCS at your convenience to change course, but not orientation. Talk to Svea while you are doing it. Svea, plot five missiles each on M-5 and M-6, confirm when solution is set."
Manfred, who was at the helm, confirmed the same moment when Nathan's belts pushed against his shoulders, telling him that the RCS jets were pushing Morgenstern "down" and hopefully from the path of the incoming projectiles. His ears were filled with Bashuur's protests about abusing engines when his inner ear started making funny sensations as the spaceship's thrust strengthened and weakened in an irregular rhythm.
Given Morgenstern's huge mass they were not dodging like a Spitfire during the Battle of Britain, but at the distances the Abominations had opened fire it should be enough to make their projectiles miss. Time to make his own strike count.
"Frank, do you have an idea about M-5 and -6 radar? Can you jam it?"
"They use a pretty primitive monopulse set as far as I can see. I need to take a part of the Phased Array from sensors to transmit our signal, but I can do it."
"Very well, set it up and put on standby. Svea, take the lasers off missile defense and aim one each at M-5 and-6. Engage on my orders."
Svea's voice betrayed her skepticism.
"Will do skipper, but at this distance we can hardly boil an egg."
"I am aware, thanks Svea. But I bet they have infrared sensors, and I want them blind when you launch, at least during boost phase."
Nathan saw his weapons system operator's eyebrows rise minutely before she nodded.
"Very well, but I have to reduce power output, otherwise the lasers might be damaged if I keep them going for 10 seconds."
"That should do nicely, make it so. How are the firing solutions coming along?"
"Solutions on both M-5 and M-6 set."
"Very well. Frank, do your best to jam that radar on my mark. Svea, same on laser, Bashurr, Manfred, we need to cease acceleration for launch. Set firing point procedures for tubes one through ten."
Svea's answer came up fast and crisp.
"Missile covers open, missiles ready to launch."
Nathan gripped his armrests a bit more tightly.
"Launch on my mark-mark, mark mark"
A prolonged hiss and rumble went through the spaceship when the sounds of ten missile launches were transmitted through the hull. The weapons were not the slender darts that would be used on the Warhammer World, but fat cylinders without any aerodynamic aids. Small RCS jets oriented them, their first stages burned brightly but briefly. When they burned out the second stage and warheads separated only a little before the first stages were broken up into many fragments by controlled explosions. That meant that the second stages and their warheads were followed by a slowly expanding cloud of junk and aluminum tinsel that was hard to distinguish from the real threat to the enemy. The engines of the first stages were still hot, offering an even better target than the cold second stages that currently radiated a whole lot of nothing.
Everybody on board was watching the missiles progress with baited breath when the one being who did not breathe spoke up.
"Why do you believe that such primitive weapons with such low Delta-V will be able to hurt the Abominations Oberstleutnant Nathan Alpers? Wouldn't it have been better to wait a while?"
"The enemy does not know our weapons well enough to easily discern between the warheads and the debris Hypatia. We do not know if they have a missile defense and how effective it is, I guess we will learn soon. If they start to maneuver so much that they leave the no-escape zone of the second stage they might well alter their vector so much that we will not see them for a very long time, if at all. Delta-V and vector applies to us all."
"I am sure your great experience with space battles will see us through this."
"I love you too Hypatia."
The spat was broken up by Svea Rausch.
"I have aspect changes on M-5 and -6. Both have ceased thrusting and are changing orientation. They have resumed firing their railguns, but not at us, as far as I can tell. The projectiles are too small, they do not show up on sensors at this range. So far I do not see any impacts. Time to second stage ignition 2:12 and counting. I have increased rate-of-fire from M-5. Energy spikes are lower, I assume he has switched to lighter projectiles. M-6 no change, one shot per second. "
Everybody on board watched the missiles' progress, they were the only weapons which could conceivably damage the enemy at this range.. Something produced a brief flare close to one of the missiles. Svea monitored the missiles' telemetry on her console, so she had an idea if one of the weapons was gone.
"All ten missiles still in play, guess that slug hit an empty fuel tank. 1:50 to second stage ignition."
Another flare.
"Got a first stage engine this time, all missiles still show clean telemetry. 1:35 to ignition."
A few heartbeats went by without any more hits, then two flares shot up in different missile clouds.
Morgenstern's weapons systems' officer was on the ball.
"Another first stage engine gone and a second stage. Nine missiles still closing, 1:15 to ignition. They score more hits now that the distance is closing. Another two hits, nothing of value was lost, 1:05 to ignition. Scheiße, lost another missile. 0:55 to ignition."
The flares came faster now, something else had joined the fight.
"M-6 employs a laser or some other DEW. Two more first stage engines are gone. 0:40 to ignition. Eight weapons closing, two more hits on nothing, ooops another first stage engine gone, 30 seconds to ignition. Eff me, impact on another missile, retargeting one to M-5, 20 seconds left. More hits on debris, one more first-stage engine gone. M-6 has two more strikes on chaff with that DEW. Ten seconds to second-stage ignition, nine, eight, seven, Scheiße, five, four, three, two, one, ignition."
Several flames ignited amid debris and chaff, bringing the surviving missiles on intercept courses with their targets. Both spaceships fired on them, the railguns missing the weapons that changed azimuth, distance and speed with every second. The energy weapon used by one clipped a missile, causing it to break up a second early. When the rest burned out, they released their warheads before fragmenting into even more decoys.
The warheads themselves used super cooled infrared sensors to keep their targets in the middle of their field of view. One-time-use reaction jets ringed the warheads, and small puffs adjusted the course. The ones that went for M-5 managed to hit squarely. The pair that made for M-6 realized that they would barely miss no matter how they adjusted and triggered a small charge that converted the warhead into a cloud of shrapnel. Given that they met their target at a speed measured in tens of kilometers per second the results in both cases were highly destructive.
Svea Rausch was the first to see that and pumped a fist into the air.
"Got them, assimilate that you bleeders."
Nathan allowed himself a deep breath before commenting.
"Good job everybody, but we are not out of the woods yet. How about M-1 to M-4?"
Frank Herbert had obviously focused on his job given the fast and crisp answer.
"Still closing and 5K klicks out. M-2 and M-4 have increased acceleration, the others keep 5ms²."
"Is there a gradual change in M-1 and M-3 acceleration?"
Frank Herbert's brows rose minutely while he checked his records.
"Yes, both are accelerating 0.2 meter second² faster than 20 minutes ago. That is roughly 30% more than when we detected them. Why…ah you think they are running low on propellant?"
Morgenstern's commander shrugged.
"Means they burned 30% of their mass as propellant. I have no idea about their mass fractions, so let's find out, shall we? Manfred, Bashuur, raise Delta-V by 500 meters/sec, use the ROF engines"
"500 meters with ROF, will do."
Less than 30 seconds later a deep whoosh rose to a roar and Nathan Alpers was pushed into the back of his seat. Half a G was not that much of an acceleration, but it did not stop until the spacecraft had added 1800 kph to its current speed.
"Any aspect changes?"
Nathan really wanted to know whether expending quite a bit of propellant had paid off.
"M-1 and M-3 have changed course and are accelerating even harder. M-2 and M-4 have changed course but kept acceleration, still on an intercept course, we would merge in 21 minutes if we keep current course and speed."
"Interesting, I would have thought that One and Three have to conserve propellant."
"Too early to say skipper."
"Keep observing Frank. Svea, I would like to save on missiles, but keep a plot for all four and assign four missiles each."
"Copy on four missiles per target skipper, plot is set. That would be half of our remaining missiles."
"I am aware weapons, thank you." Nathan answered.
Hypatia managed to sound both incredulous and bored at the same time.
"You are aware that your autocannon rounds have unlimited range in space, aren't you Oberstleutnant Nathan Alpers?"
Nathan took three deep breaths before answering.
"Yes, I am very well aware of that. Unfortunately, the gravity of no less than a dozen Star Gates and a pretty big space station will have its impact on the flight path at these ranges. Also, any change in speed or vector by the enemy would make the rounds miss."
"Your computers are as primitive as your algorithms, calculating a 13-body problem is basic math."
"Would you be willing to calculate a firing solution then?"
"Great ghu, I am a great mind, I do not use weapons. What kind of AI do you think I am Oberstleutnant Nathan Alpers?"
"A treacherous one."
"I did not swear any oaths Oberstleutnant.."
"Aspect change, repeat aspect change on M-1 and M-3. Big thermal bloom, radar cross section change, no discernible thrust. I say the stupid toasters just exploded"
Nathan was as elated as his crew for a second, until he saw Svea's face.
"What's up guns?"
"They just exploded, just like our missiles did. Lots of targets, and no way to sort the warheads from the chaff."
Morgenstern's commander thought about that for a moment.
"Are you sure Svea? These are not part of an armed force whose mission is to intercept us. They can hardly absorb us when they self-destruct."
"Can't they? What if they drop a couple of Nanites in a buckyball container or something?
"How realistic is that Hypatia? Would such Nanites survive the impact?"
"You are asking me to speculate from insufficient data Oberstleutnant Nathan Alpers. But yes, packed properly enough Nanites might survive to assimilate this ship."
"Fuck this. Manfred, Bashuur, another 100 m/s² with a 2.5 degree course change spin-wards on my mark. Chaff does not maneuver, let's weed it out."
Manfred Bettin nodded while punching numbers into his keyboard.
"100 at 2.5 degree Nathan, ready when you are."
"Mark, mark"
The RCS jets pushed the spacecraft around minutely, a whoosh announced using the powerful Rune of Fire engines.
Frank Herbert tried to make sense of what his instruments tried to tell him.
"I think I have course changes on some seven objects, but their RCS is very small and they do not show up on infrared too much. I would really like to deploy the telescope for a moment."
Nathan had to think about it for a second.
"We can't maneuver then, but we do not have that much propellant to waste. Do it. Manfred, Bashuur, no acceleration until telescope is stowed again."
"Copy no maneuvers"
Morgenstern's crew intently watched the screens that told them of two approaching spacecraft and seven somethings that wanted to remake them in their image. At the same time the spacecraft's frame transmitted the whirls, groans and clunks made by a telescope unfolding. The blurred things on one screen quickly resolved themselves into a lot of jagged metal and a few round balls with a ring beads around their circumferences.
Frank Herbert quickly marked the objects on the screen and punched the commands that old Morgenstern to stow the delicate scope. He winced when he looked at the screens that monitored the other craft.
"M-2 and M-4 display heat spikes and EM bursts. I say they are firing railguns."
Alpers had to make a conscious effort not to swear.
"How long till telescope is stowed?"
Frank Herbert managed to look apologetic
"One more minute skipper, can't be rushed."
"Then let's hope their aim stays shitty."
The sliver had been part of a nickel-iron asteroid before it had been smelted, refined and coaxed into the shape of a dart with two wings. Said wings were in a sorry shape, they had conducted a lot of current when they were accelerated down the barrel of the railgun. They did not provide any lift, but they added to the dart's mass. It was totally inert, having no electronics, no payload and no fuse. A child could have held it in their hand with neither difficulty nor danger, but it had the potential to hurt Morgenstern badly if they met. The Abomination which had fired it had imparted some five km/second to it, the spacecraft's own speed and that of the target would add to that. It held potential kinetic energy more than its weight in explosives several times over. The dart was one of many, the Abomination fired several per second. All the others had missed their intended target, but this one was guided by an unkind fate. Two minutes after had started its first and final journey it collided with Morgenstern's starboard side.
It met the whipple shield that was the spacecraft's first line of defense, a thin metal layer that was never intended to stop penetration. Instead it converted a square meter of itself and the projectile into hot metal vapors and smaller, razor-sharp slivers that were propelled in all directions. A lot expanded into the uncaring blackness of space. Others found a second layer of armor, nearly a meter behind the first. Striking it at an even more acute angle and with far less energy they penetrated a layer of titanium before encountering ceramic tiles that were nearly as hard as diamond. The ceramic tiles fractured and one was even pulverized in parts, but that robbed the assault of all energy. A spidersilk matrix holding the tiles in place contained fragments of armor and hot gasses as it was backed by more titanium. By and large the armor had saved Morgenstern, but a few slivers found their way around it.
Red icons appeared on the line drawing of Morgenstern that showed Nathan the status of his command. He was still parsing them when Bashuur and Frank tried to report at the same time.
"We just lost 42 transceivers on the starboard side phased array, radar degraded 2% in that area."
"I have dropping pressure in corridor 2d of wheel one, isolating the sector. Seems a small leak, we can repair after the battle."
Nathan heard a sound that was nearly as comforting as knowing that his command was mostly intact, the clunk that announced that the telescope was stored again.
"Manfred, Bashuur, restart evasive maneuvers, right now, we do not need repeats."
Nathan had just finished when the whoosh of the RCS jets announced a small change in orientation and the thrust of the VASIMIR engine started to change their relative speed minutely. He felt much, much better now that his command was far less likely to be hit. At the same time the lights started to dim a little every five seconds. Each of these showed that Svea was firing the lasers. At this range there was no evading a laser and so the Nanite pods started dying one by one.
"Svea, give me control of the guns while you take care of the Nanites. I would like to give those abominations something to think about."
"Guns are yours"
The monitor in front of Nathan changed considerably, showing all potential targets as well as the status of his two twin autocannon mounts. He marked M-2 and M-4 with a touch on the screen. Morgenstern's computers used the data from its radar and infrared and measured the abominations' speed and vector with great accuracy, calculating the point where both should be when the autocannon rounds would arrive. From then it constantly updated those points. Nathan removed a protective cover and pressed the switch below. It authorized an automated fire mission as long as he did not interrupt. Both mounts fired three rounds each, and neither the computers nor Nathan had any hopes of them hitting anything. He had opened fire at a distance that would be ridiculous on any planet, but in space nothing slowed them down. Sensors at the end of the muzzles took the rounds actual muzzle velocity and compared that to expectations. Nearly ten percent of the phased array was tasked with following the rounds themselves as they sped through space at better than a kilometer per second. Several objects had enough gravity to materially affect the projectiles flight. Their path and the deviation from the calculated one was noted by the computers and they started to modify their models. The next time Morgenstern stopped changing pace for a second the guns fired another short salvo, noting the increased muzzle velocity from heated barrels as well as the changed trajectory. The next couple of rounds passed the Abominations by a couple of kilometers which was progress already.
Nathan watched the computer's doings as well as the enemy.
"Interesting, I would have thought they would start evasive maneuvers on their own."
"Unless they have absorbed a Great Mind or have inherited a database from an advanced Abomination these are not very bright Oberstleutnant Nathan Alpers. It is likely that they do not recognize the firing signature of such primitive weapons as a threat,"
Hypatia displayed that detecting rhetorical questions was not her forte.
"If they want to stay dumb, who am I to complain?"
By now the guns were firing every ten seconds and the algorithms improved their model every time. Frank Herbert winced when his sensors showed the passage of several rail gun projectiles close to Morgenstern. They might be inert and had a small radar cross section, but they were very, very close.
Nathan's 30 mm rounds were traveling at a fourth of their speed, but they could do something that the railgun rounds could not. Their fuses counted the time with great precision and when the time was right triggered a small bursting charge. 160 tungsten-carbide pellets fanned outwards, joined by the fragments of the shell casing. They swept a far larger volume than the railgun projectiles. The pellets had the mass of a BB, but when one collided with M-4 head-on it had the kinetic energy of a heavy machine gun round. One of them hit an antenna on M-4, converting it into so many fragments looking for a final resting place. The abomination's surface was suddenly covered by scars and it started to spin from the transferred energy. The small spacecraft fired its RCS jets to compensate, just to find that two jets were no longer operative. It was tumbling along all three axis by the time another pellet and the remains of a fuse hit head-on and exploded violently.
M-2 started to change acceleration and vector randomly a few seconds after its colleague's demise, it fired its railgun only occasionally. Nathan left the guns on auto and looked at his weapons officer.
"Status on the Nanite pods Svea?"
"Satisfactory. The last pod has been heated to the point where it started to glow in visible light and nothing of the remains of M-1 and M-3 changes vector or relative speed."
"Very good. Take the guns back and go for M-2. Frank, between you and Svea we should be able to blind that toaster."
"Will do"
Frank started hammering at his keyboard at the same time.
"I'll take transmitters S-200-450 off-line, the rest of the starboard array should give Svea enough resolution for fire control and leave some for my scans. Starting to transmit on his frequencies now, going for his side lobes."
The lights in Morgenstern's command module dimmed for a second before Beshuur's turbines picked up the slack, while nearly a megawatt of power was poured through 250 transmitters. They produced the same pulses as M2's radar, but timed them so that the returns were drowned out in much stronger ones sent by the German spacecraft. At the same time pulses that mimicked the real returns were sent at times that suggested widely different ranges to M-2's sensors, or meshed with the radar's side lobes to produce targets that were not there.
Frank Herbert was pretty sure that his enemy was now seeing hundreds of targets where there was only one before. He tuned his emissions so that even the bearing information given by the jamming was skewed. Whatever infrared sensors M-2 possessed, they were blinded by a laser beam that would burn exposed skin after a brief exposure at this range. The Abomination employed electronic filters and rapidly opened armored shutters to preserve the sensors, while switching the frequencies of his radar at random intervals. Morgenstern's sensors detected the shift within milliseconds and the computers adjusted their emissions nearly as fast. That left M-2 in the situation of a human who blinked very rapidly to avoid being blinded. As the German spaceship changed course and speed randomly the Abomination's firing solution became worse by the second and its projectiles missed ever more widely.
Even worse, it could no longer radiate the heat it was producing with every maneuver and every use of its weapon. The laser beams that hit it again and again were too unfocussed at this range to do real damage. At the same time they heated the droplets of its radiator to the point where they were practically useless and started vaporizing before the Abomination could retrieve them.
The spacecraft had to cease maneuvering as this would overheat itself fatally, making it a better target. The Abomination lacked the capacity to hope, but it knew that unless one of its badly aimed projectiles hit its enemy decisively it would not exist much longer.
And then its stopped calculating as an autocannon round exploded a mere 20 meters before it and a dozen pellets hit with devastating results.
Frank Herbert's sensors told the story of the Abomination's demise.
"M-2 has just exploded, I see an expanding field of debris."
Cheers drowned out Nathan's orders for a few seconds.
"Good job everybody, but let's not relax just yet. Manfred, Bashuur, one more Delta-V change, 150 m/s² this time. Frank, check that debris cloud if anything changes vector after that."
Morgenstern started to accelerate once more when Hypatia's voice managed to cut through the engine's noise.
"Now that you have shown your military prowess Oberstleutnant Nathan Alpers, could you please set course to the space station so we can commence our agreement."
Nathan was about to answer when Svea interrupted them both.
"Before we do that, can you answer a question Hypatia? Why is that space station still intact?"
There might have been a millisecond pause in the AI's reply, it might have been human imagination.
"It seems that a paranoid military mindset has its places in the scheme of things after all, congratulations Major Rausch. Indeed its continued existence begs the question why the Abominations have not tried to use the space station's materials to make more of themselves. And I have no ready answer."
Nathan silently thanked his stars for his clever weapons officer.
"The killer sats in Warhammer World orbit had anti-collision lasers, they were functional after all these years. It is possible that they still work and should even be stronger than those we encountered the last few years. Hypatia, do you recognize any emplacements on the space station?"
"I do not really know what I am looking for, so no Oberstleutnant Nathan Alpers. Does that mean you will not try to approach the transshipment center?"
"Not until we know what we are facing. And since you have no idea what to look for, and I have no interest in using Morgenstern as a piñata we will have to experiment a bit.
Bashuur, Manfred, please see to the repairs. Irina, I think a good, hot meal for everybody is on order.
Frank, go look for something decently sized in a Trojan orbit that we can push in the right direction.
Last, but not least: I am so damn proud of you all. I would have wished for a peaceful first contact if we had to have it. It was not to be and we handed the toasters their heads. Well done."