Chapter 05 GAME ON

COMMAND SHUTTLE 01

IN ORBIT AROUND STARBASE 5

1200 HOURS, WARGAME DAY

Admirals Adama and Clayborne stood at the table that had a holographic projection of the system and other tactically relevant items over it. The Command Shuttle was a small ship, approximately five times the size of a normal shuttle, warp capable, heavily loaded with communications equipment. The intent was it to be used as a backup for the Starbase commander for Command and Control in case there was an action near the starbase that the Admiral needed to get to. The preferred method was for an Admiral to be on a full-sized starship, but this was a backup in case no starship was nearby to take the Admiral to the fleet action. Today, it was being used as the coordinating damage control ship that Captain Jacobs had requested.

Clayborne saw that the Excalibur was hiding in the asteroid field just where he said he would. The cargo fleet was still in orbit waiting for orders to start. Time to start. He pressed a button marked for all ships for the exercise and said, "All exercise vessels, FleetEx commences now!"

Adama was looking at the setup. Jacobs had his fleet in standard fleet doctrine, heavy warship in front, cargo ships in line behind him. No surprise here, except he thought that Jacobs would have invented something unusual for this. No surprise except that there was no surprise. The cargo fleet departed on course towards Earth at what looked like half-fleet speed. Jacobs seemed to be playing it cautious. Well, he should, knowing that an ambush was upcoming.

BRIDGE

USS WISCONSIN

Jacobs looked around; the department heads took the suggestion to heart. Virtually every seat in the bridge was occupied by the second-in-charge of the department. Most of the heads were in support areas ready to step in if needed, but the ship was being run by second-stringers.

Jacobs looked to Lt. Maya, at the science station. "Maya, all sensors running?"

Maya nodded, "All sensors at maximum output. We have the asteroids on scanners now. No sign of Excalibur yet."

Jacobs turned to communications, being manned by Lt. Reeves, "Miss Reeves, how is the datalink?"

Reeves turned, "Excellent, we are exchanging data just fine with all ships."

Jacobs looked to Leonaidas, whose board had positions plotted of the suspected point of Excalibur and key waypoints. Leonaidas looked back, "They should see us by now."

BRIDGE

USS EXCALIBUR

Captain Jackson looked at the main screen. The computer generated an image from the data that came in. Jackson could see the Wisconsin leading a line of cargo ships right toward them. "Well, Paul, here they come."

Commander Paul Morrow was Jackson's Second-in-command. On the standard bridge, he walked all over the bridge, not having a particular station to sit at. He did not like the new design of the bridge, while it was a leap in technology, it was a step backwards in practicality. The new standard bridge design had half the people standing all the time, including the XO. The thinking was to have the XO the ability to walk around and look at displays up close to augment situational awareness. In reality, Morrow could see a lot of future broken bones in combat.

Morrow looked at the nav console, he would love a dedicated tactical display. "Looks like it, they are going rather slow though."

Jackson nodded. All the better to wait.

BRIDGE

USS WISCONSIN

Jacobs turned to look at the tactical display. They reached their first waypoint after only about ten minutes. All the waypoints were set by the Wisconsin's crew and transmitted to the fleet so everyone knew what was going to happen and when. Jacobs turned to Lt. Reeves and said, "Miss Reeves, send coded message to the fleet, passive sensors only."

Reeves nodded and sent the transmission. Very soon, all the cargo ships went to only passive sensors. Their communications already were on a tight beam, to reduce the chance of intercept by Excalibur.

BRIDGE

USS EXCALIBUR

Captain Jackson was looking at the main screen. He could see Wisconsin along with the cargo ships behind it, all moving towards him. Everything was going to plan. The fleet was going as the brief said it would. Straight on course towards Earth.

Suddenly, all the cargo ships' images had a yellow caution outline on them. Jackson turned to Morrow and asked, "What happened?"

Morrow walked over to the Science station, and looked at the displays that the Science Officer brought up. "Captain, looks like the cargo vessels just turned their sensors off. The Wisconsin is the only ship that has its sensors up on full. Our computer is showing on the main viewer that we no longer have positive data on where the cargo ships are."

Morrow shifted, "Our own sensors?"

"Still on passive only, to prevent detection."

Jackson thought a bit. He could turn on his own sensors and light up everything in the star system, but that would also give away his position. Not that there was anything Jacobs could do about it anyway. Jackson's plan was simple, concentrate on the Wisconsin first and disable it, then mop up the cargo fleet. All he had to do was wait.

BRIDGE

USS WISCONSIN

Jacobs looked at the tactical board and saw that all ships had turned their active sensors off. Once this had confirmed to have happened, he looked over to Weapons, now being manned by Lt. Eva Mendez, and said, "Miss Mendez, launch the probe."

Out of the torpedo tubes a probe launched and moved in front of the Wisconsin by just a few hundred feet. Once there, it held position with the Wisconsin. Mendez reported, "Probe away and holding station. Ready to activate."

Jacobs nodded, looking to Lt Maya he said, "Maya, activation program please."

Simultaneously, the Wisconsin shut its active sensors down and the probe started transmitting. Santini and Grimm had modified the probe to emit the same signals as the Wisconsin would normally. Once Maya confirmed that the transfer was done, and no new signals popped up, she turned to Jacobs and said, "Transfer complete, we are receiving data from the probe. The signal has been aimed toward our direction, I'm sure that if they are in that asteroid field, that they won't receive it by accident."

Jacobs smiled, "Very good, everyone. How long until the next waypoint?"

At the Nav station, Hornblower answered, "Two minutes."

CARGO SHIP 1

Captain Shoron looked at his small bridge. It was tiny compared to the large Starfleet types, but it served him well. So far, the plan was going well. Looking at the only Starfleet person on board, he asked, "Only three of your security types on each ship? At least I have four. You are going to defend against platoons beaming over?"

Ensign Kenn nodded. "I am security, but the others on the ship are what we call Badgers. That is why they are wearing the black uniforms."

Shoron asked, "What about you? Why are you in the normal uniform?"

Kenn answered, "I'm in training to be a Badger. They undergo an extensive training program beyond Security."

Shoron curiously asked, "What do they train you in?"

Kenn explained, "Weapons of every type; particle, energy, projectile, edged, even hand-to-hand combat. Also advanced tactics, this includes other races."

Shoron was curious, "Such as who?"

Kenn continued, "Well, Andorian for example. We are trained in your combat using your ritual Ice Miner tools. I'm also trained in some Romulan and known Klingon techniques."

Shoron was impressed, "All this and you're not a Badger yet?"

Kenn shook his head, "To keep it simple, that is still before me yet. I'm just starting."

Shoron thought a bit. "What is Captain Jacobs' plan to keep the shuttles being taken over?"

Kenn said, "Well, the whole plan is to keep any boarding from happening. Because no plan survives first contact, the backup is to have Badgers on board. Because the shuttles are small, he thought it better not to have Badgers there, but to place a transporter jammer on board. It more than covers the whole shuttle. Sir, if I may ask…"

Shoron nodded his approval, Kenn asked, "How many of these fleet exercises have you been involved in?"

Shoron thought a bit, "As Captain, only one other. In my merchant career, five."

Kenn continued, "And how did you fare?"

Shoron shook his head, "Not well. We usually end up as cannon fodder as Starfleet proves just how great the next generation of starship is. Also, I think that Starfleet overrates the battle point value of the armed cargo ships. Sure, we have a phaser on board, some shielding, but not enough. I think that your ship could take on all eight of these Liberty class vessels and disable them using classical gunboat tactics. Then you add in the ability of your boarding parties and it's not a question on if you can, but how fast."

Kenn heard this all before, during his first time in the Badger training program. That was one of the proverbs that Bauer was drilling in them, 'Never overestimate your abilities, never underestimate your enemies.' Being Senator Jameson's nephew, he heard a great deal of the politics behind the scenes. He decided to test something. Everyone on Wisconsin was big on proving what was true, Pastor Octavian mentioned it was a Biblical principle, 'Prove all things, hold fast that which is good.' Octavian said it was the essence of science. Well, let us start proving some things. "Captain Shoron, the BPV is used by Starfleet for many various applications, what is wrong with it?"

Shoron explained, "It works well I suppose for starships, but us cargo vessels it does not consider that we spend proportionally more of our power for shields and movement. Significantly more. With some of the largest cargo vessels, they use their power in structural integrity fields."

Kenn asked, "Have you asked them to change it?"

Shoron nodded, "I have, a lot of us have, but they refuse."

Kenn pressed, "Why not?"

Shoron looked at this human with skeptical eyes. He was only an ensign, maybe it is time to let him know how the real universe was. Shoron's antennae spread wide open, "It is because if they did adjust it, they would have to admit that the cargo vessels are far more vulnerable than everyone believes. The armed services committee approached that subject a few years ago and it was shot down."

Kenn asked again, "Why?"

Shoron's eyes narrowed, "You may not like it."

Kenn stated, "I just want the truth."

Shoron nodded. "Very well, the committee shot it down for various reasons. First, they would be admitting that space is far more dangerous than what the central worlds think it is. Second, they would also admit that cargo vessels are more vulnerable than what they say. Third, it would raise the notion that Starfleet is unprepared for what really is out there."

Kenn baited, "Really? I find that hard to believe."

Shoron explained, "Starfleet used to be well prepared, but the last few years were terrible. The head of that committee is a Senator named Jameson. He is a huge jerk. I could use some human terms but nothing comes close to my Andorian…. Adjectives."

Kenn asked, "What's wrong with him?"

Shoron's antennae swung wide again, "His whole universe view. He just does not think that it is dangerous out here. To be honest, it is not Starfleet's fault totally, it is largely the committee's and his fault. He does not want an arms race out in the stars. He wants everybody to see that we are peaceful. It was a fight to get the latest phasers put on these Liberty class ships. Most cargo ships do not have phasers, they have the either the old phase cannons or even worse, particle beams. Back on Andoria, if you were weak, you invite an attack. We should be having a starship follow us along everywhere we go, or better arm the cargo vessels. We would even pay for it; we just want the Federation Council to approve us being better armed. Just last month we had some Norsican pirates attack one of our ships and take some of the crew hostage. This was well in Federation 'safe' space."

Kenn nodded his understanding. He knew a lot about what his uncle's views were, and recently saw that they were a mistake. Kenn asked, "What do you think about the plan?"

Shoron eyed the Ensign suspiciously, and then decided to speak his mind openly. "At first, I thought it was a joke or something. All of us against that battleship, hopeless. When I was first contacted, I thought the wargame was going to be that cruiser of yours attacking the battleship and us. That would be more fair, more realistic. When I learned of that battleship being the attacker, it did not make sense, but I have been theoretically killed before. You watch out for your Captain, somebody is trying to make him look bad, that is the only explanation for this. I like his plan, I like him, even for a pink-skin. His plan may work, and I hope that it does. One thing that will happen regardless of the outcome today though…."

Kenn asked, "What's that?"

"Respect. The other Captains and I like your Captain. He is not going to take this sitting down. I like that he thinks beyond the normal tactics of a straight gunboat fight. We would rather have him guarding us than that battleship."

"Why?"

"Because he knows he is outgunned and is still going to win. Not just put up a fight that is worthy, but WIN. Those kinds of people are survivors. They never give up; they also will not leave us behind."

The Navigator turned and interrupted, "Waypoint two in ten seconds."

Shoron turned to the matter at hand, "Very good. Come to course 340 mark 78 at my mark. NOW! Set maximum fleet speed once turn is completed.

The whole convoy made its turn at one time leaving the probe to continue its way. Shoron now ordered, "Helm, bring us to station keeping on the Wisconsin's starboard side, 1000 meters."

The fleet after the course change and acceleration, all started moving to their relative positions around the Wisconsin. They formed a large sphere around it and continued their new course.

COMMAND SHUTTLE 1

The command shuttle was somewhat between the cargo fleet and the Excalibur. It was off to the side of the cargo fleet by several thousand miles and all the interlinks between all vessels was working flawlessly. One of the rules in the wargame was that even under simulated blackout, a ship still maintained a subspace link with the Command shuttle. Adama inwardly smiled at the change of course and formation of the Wisconsin group. Clayborne nearly went ballistic. "WHAT IS GOING ON?"

Adama pointed out, "Looks like they've changed course."

Clayborne yelled, "I CAN SEE THAT BILL, what is Jacobs up to?"

Adama shook his head, "I'm not sure, he didn't brief me per the rules. I'd say he's exercising command authority!"

Just then a beep signaled a message. Adama pushed a button and on the table was a message with Jacobs sitting in his ready-room, "Admirals, I have some pre-made messages that will be sent at various times to explain what is happening, all according to the rules of wargames. In the brief Admiral Clayborne, you said to set a course for Earth, we did that. In my judgement, that course intersects an asteroid field near the edge of the system. Since, according to wargame rules, we expect to go to warp outside the system, I determine that where we exit the system isn't that important. From our present course, at exit of the system at warp 5 would cause a delay of only three minutes for the cargo vessels arrival at Earth. This is insignificant and I took the liberty as fleet commander to change course."

Clayborne yelled, "HE CAN'T DO THAT!"

Jacobs' message continued, "The authority I use is that granted any escort commander and since the course ahead takes me where I think a possible ambush is at, I exercise the privilege as commander to change course at the expense of three minutes of arrival time. Jacobs out."

Adama could not suppress a smirk, which he covered with his hand. Clayborne continued, "EXCALIBUR IS OUT OF POSITION FOR AN AMBUSH!"

Adama nodded in feigned thoughtfulness and said in his raspy voice, "I'd say that's Excalibur's problem to overcome."

USS EXCALIBUR

TWO HOURS INTO THE EXERCISE

Jackson was watching everything on the bridge. They still did not have a confirmed position on the cargo vessels, but Wisconsin kept coming at them. He was coming slowly though, only at a quarter of the maximum speed that the cargo fleet was capable of travelling. Jackson thought that Jacobs was just buying time.

Morrow was thinking differently. Something was not right, but he could not put a finger on it. One advantage being the XO was that he could pace from station to station on the bridge and look at each station and try to figure things out. Something was not right. Jackson looked at Morrow, "Paul, what's wrong?"

Morrow shook his head and responded in his English accent, "Something's not right sir, and I can't think what it is."

Jackson pointed at the main viewer showing Wisconsin still coming at them, with the cargo vessels in line behind. The cargo ships were still outlined in yellow. "They are still coming at us though. Still coming right for the trap."

Morrow thought, "Sir, two things bother me. First, we are assuming that those cargo ships are with the Wisconsin. Second is that we are assuming that Jacobs is going to lead his fleet into our ambush."

Jackson was getting irritated, "It's probably nothing."

Morrow pressed by asking, "Would you lead a group of cargo ships into an ambush?"

Jackson thought a bit, he was so focused being the attacker he was not thinking about what Jacobs would do. He did have the most powerful ship in the Federation, what would he do if he oversaw the fleet? "I never thought. I guess I'd be doing what he is doing, having all his sensors on looking for any problems."

Morrow started seeing his two concerns coalesce into a big concern. "But he isn't using all his sensors."

Jackson turned to the science station. His science officer pointed at a display showing the emissions coming from the Wisconsin and stated, "He's running with normal sensors."

Jackson looked at Morrow, "Sure he is."

Morrow realized, "No he isn't."

Jackson said, "He's using everything that we would!"

Morrow shot back, "What about the cargo ships? Why not use them? Where are they, really!?"

Jackson retorted, "They're with the Wisconsin."

The bridge crew were used to this. Morrow and Jackson during battle simulations often got into heated debates. They solved their problems, but usually after a bit of loud talk. Morrow walked over to the navigation station. "Put up a tactical view on the main viewer."

A tactical view of the system came up, along with the Wisconsin group and Excalibur's position. Morrow now said, "Put up the last confirmed position of the cargo vessels." And that spot came up very close to Starbase 5. "Now put up a range circle on where they could be if they went at their maximum speed." The circle was huge, easily a third of the system was covered by it.

Jackson started to see the problem now. The range circle that the ships could be in encompassed all the inner planets, and even one of the outer planets on the far side of the system. They could be hiding anywhere. Jackson came out of his chair and walked to the main screen, dumbfounded.

Morrow was surprised as well. He remarked, "I didn't think it was going to be that big."

Jackson pointed at the screen. "Where would they go?"

Morrow looked and pointed, "I'd think they'd run. Double-back and go towards the sun, if they could get behind the sun, they could hide even from our active sensors. They might even be able to make it out of the system because of the rules not to use warp drive."

Jackson turned to the helm, "Set course for the Wisconsin, full impulse."

The Excalibur's massive impulse engines sprang to life and the ship started moving, lumbering at first, but gaining speed all the time. On impulse, it was surprisingly fast for such a massive ship.

Morrow thought aloud. "How do we know he's there?"

Jackson asked, "What do you mean Paul?"

Morrow said, "He's already got us questioning where the cargo ships are, what if he's not where we think he is?"

Jackson said, "But we have him on sensors."

Morrow corrected, "Not really sir, all we have are his sensors. It could be just a probe. Ancient submarines used devices to mimic their own ships called 'noisemakers'."

Jackson nodded understanding, "We'd have to go active ourselves, giving away our advantage."

Morrow observed, "Our advantage is only is if he is where we think he is."

Jackson thought aloud, "The old question, battlefield information. Fog of war. I see what you mean, Science Officer, all sensors to full, tell me where the Wisconsin group is."

The science officer started scanning, then said, "They are heading out the north pole of the star system, currently on course 340 mark 78."

Jackson looked at the plotted position. Even at max impulse it will be close to the edge of the system. Jackson said, "Helm, adjust intercept course, best possible speed. Navigation, will we get them in time?"

The navigator checked, "Intercept point is 30,000 miles past the border."

Commander Malcom Reynolds, the wargame observer, decided to remind Jackson, "Captain, remember that any engagement must occur inside the border of the system. Any ship that makes it past the border able to warp has succeeded."

Jackson snapped at Reynolds, "I know that, Captain! As observer you just stay quiet!" Reynolds was a commander in rank but Captain in position of the USS Serenity. The Serenity was one of the new Miranda- class light cruisers, the Reliant being a sister-ship. Reynolds' ship was currently at Starbase 5 scheduled to leave just after this wargame was over. Him being a ship's captain, he was tapped to be a referee for this wargame. Reynolds grew up in an agriculture colony, and had an old-time way about him. He graciously nodded his head and stepped back to stand near the turbolift.

Jackson pressed the com button, "Engineering! I need more speed!"

The engineer came back, "Well, sir, we are putting as much power as we can to maneuvering. If we have time before we engage, I can cut power to the weapons, we can power that back up when we slow down.

"DO IT!" Jackson could see that the possibility of him losing was real now. All without firing a shot. Jacobs did it again, he cowardly avoided battle for his own good. In this case, Jacobs would have won a game, but in real life, would get destroyed by the attacking battleship.

The extra power diverted to the impulse helped the ship's speed increase. Jackson looked to the navigation and asked, "Intercept point?"

"Inside the border, by 50,000 miles. We should have enough time to power back the weapons, but barely. All our shots will have to count."

Jackson sat fuming in the command chair. He hated being caught like this. Morrow's next observation did not help his mood any, "Looks like suddenly we're playing his game now."

BRIDGE

USS WISCONSIN

Lt Maya announced, "Excalibur just went active. They are in that asteroid field we suspected they were going to be at."

Jacobs turned and said, "Time that they went active?"

Lt. Maya said, "Right now, 1415 hrs. They went active with everything. Now I'm picking up that they have changed course to intercept us."

Jacobs smiled, "Let Mr. Hotchner know that he won the pool." During the planning, everybody took bets on when the Excalibur was going to turn on its active scanners. It helped formulating alternate plans. The most optimistic was 'never' and the small fleet just would leave the system unchallenged. Pessimistic ones were also 'not fooled' and that was factored in. Jacobs asked the Nav station, "Mr. Hornblower, intercept point?"

Hornblower was working the numbers and said, "Just outside the system border."

Commander Ed Straker was watching from the turbolift enclave, "Congratulations, you guys will make it!"

Jacobs stood and walked to Leonaidas station smiling, "Not yet Ed. We still have a long way to go." Commander Straker was the Captain of a new experimental class of ship, the Shadow class and his ship was the lead ship in that class. It was experimentally sheathed in stealth materials to foil being sensed. It also was a ship designed to sense signals, sensor emissions, warp trails, any form of technology.

Jacobs continued, "I think you are still going to have an interesting time. We will hope to get you back to Starbase 5 on time."

Straker chuckled, "Not to worry, they won't leave without me." The two Captains took an instant liking and respect to one another.

Maya announced, "Excalibur just increased its speed slightly."

Hornblower added, "Intercept point now 50,000 miles inside the border."

Jacobs nodded, looking across to the weapons he asked, "Miss Mendez, move the probe to block the approach of Excalibur." Turning to Lt Reeves he said, "Miss Reeves, let's jam them."

The probe turned and shot through space, and its output suddenly changed from normal sensors to a jamming signal.

Jacobs asked Hornblower, "How does the geometry of the probe work out?"

Hornblower updated the plot, "It's going to work out as planned within our parameters. It's a go in five minutes."

Jacobs looked at the bridge from Leonaidas' position, speaking over his shoulder he said to Leonaidas, "That should frustrate him a little bit."

BRIDGE

USS EXCALIBUR

The viewscreen was showing the starfield while the Excalibur lumbered at full impulse. There really was not a lot to see at this point, except stars not moving. The science officer announced, "We lost their position again, we are being jammed."

Jackson turned to face the science station, "From what?"

The Science Officer asked, "Can I put up a tactical?"

Jackson nodded, the main viewscreen showed a tactical plot. On it was the updated position of the Wisconsin group, The Excalibur, their courses, and the intercept point just inside the border. Also on it was the probe moving to be in the way of the Excalibur. The Science office said, "That probe they used to decoy us is now jamming our sensors. It is not a thorough jam, but effective enough. We cannot see anything along that quadrant, and the more it moves to block us, the worse it is. We do not have a good position on the Wisconsin, just a bearing to it. Soon we will lose it altogether.

Jackson, frustrated asked, "How long until we clear the probe?"

Navigation answered, "One hour fifteen minutes."

Jackson thought aloud, "Nothing to do until we clear the probe. I do not want to waste time to intercept the probe."

Morrow was next to him. "We have a very good idea where he is and where he is going. It's now just a waiting game. If you waste time to destroy the probe, we could lose them outside the system."

Jackson asked, "So we should be able to intercept him? Would anything keep us from intercepting?"

Morrow shook his head, "No, the probe is more of an irritant. It really is not a distraction. Once we sail past it, we go up to the Wisconsin and engage."

Jackson thought a bit, things were not going as planned already. "Paul, could anything complicate our plan more?"

Morrow's brow was furrowed with him deep in thought. "I don't know, we're playing his game for sure. I've been trying to figure out why he went here. There is nothing up here, no comets, asteroids, dust clouds, nothing. I would've escaped the system using the sun as cover."

Jackson looked and started thinking too. "We still have him outgunned, the only thing he has is to run. He's just trying to escape. In a real-world event, we'd eventually intercept and blow him to smithereens."

Morrow said, "But what if he's playing a real-world scenario now?"

Jackson asked, "What do you mean?"

Morrow continued, "I'm not sure what he would do, but he successfully got us off our game and on his. He had a couple of steps planned out ahead of time, he had to know that this was not even going to slow us down. Why do it? Harassment?"

Jackson pronounced, "It's irrelevant. We clear the probe, and we catch Wisconsin and administratively destroy them."

Morrow thought aloud, "Unless they change course."

BRIDGE

USS WISCONSIN

Jacobs looked at the clock and turned to Lt Reeves, "Miss Reeves, coded signal all ships. Course change now in one minute. Course will be 170 mark 315. Planar formation."

Precisely on the time that Hornblower specified, all ships swung around to a complete course change, and changed formation so that the Wisconsin was in the center. Jacobs looked at the tactical display and saw that the formation was complete. He asked Hornblower, "How does our arrival time look?"

Hornblower answered, "They will be able to sense us one minute before we merge with them."

Jacobs nodded. "And what if we do our own jamming?"

Hornblower continued, "Time lowers to 45 seconds, but weapons lock will be unavailable for much shorter than that. I'm counting in all countermeasures from all the ships. It would of course be worse if it was just us."

Jacobs looked at the main viewscreen, "Thank you Mr. Hornblower. Miss Mendez, adjust the probe's position as necessary to make that 45 second schedule. Leo, let's see if we can pick them up on the scopes."

Both Leonaidas and Jacobs came forward and the scopes were raised in place. Both started looking around for the bright spot that would be the Excalibur. Straker wondered what those controls were, "What are you doing?"

Jacobs motioned him to come over and explained, "These are direct links to some telescopes we have outside the hull. It's an advantage we have if sensors are not working. Of course, at the distances we're talking about right now, the light has been travelling for over an hour."

Leonaidas added, "And our speed combined with their speed, it could push the blueshift clear into the ultraviolet. We'd never see them until they slow down."

Jacobs backed out of the scope as Straker came up. "It's always something. Here, Ed, look through this. Maya, what about the blueshift?"

Maya did the complex relativistic computations in her head, "I'm sorry, Captain. You won't be able to see it until our relative closure speed slows."

Jacobs nodded, turning to Straker who was looking through the scope said, "We're not going to be able to see the Excalibur. Looks like I need a refresher in relativity."

Straker backed away with a grin, "I'm going to have get me one of these. Thank you, Josh.," Straker walked back to the turbolift enclave. Jacobs and Leonaidas stowed the scopes and returned to their stations.

Jacobs thought back to the simulations in forming the battle plan. The worst-case scenario that everyone agreed on was that the Excalibur shoot to disable the Wisconsin, ignoring the cargo ships. The Cargo ships would wear down the shields of the Excalibur, but not quickly enough. After the Wisconsin was disabled, the Excalibur could turn and destroy or capture the cargo ships one by one.

Then the simulations turned to see exactly how long the Wisconsin could last. If the Wisconsin started classical starship tactics, it could last a while, but who knows what the Excalibur would do to the rest of the fleet. It could very well disable half the fleet and then the game was lost. If Wisconsin did a straight-on cavalry charge into the Excalibur, things got interesting. Basically, if Wisconsin stayed at the fleet speed while in weapons range, the Excalibur would shoot phasers once at maximum range, then have time to recharge and shoot everything at point blank range. If the Wisconsin accelerated just outside phaser range, the Excalibur probably would not shoot until point blank range. This reduced the overall damage on Wisconsin. If Wisconsin did not charge its phasers, but put all the power it could into reinforcing its shields early, it could weather the first blast with some damage, still maneuver and still have warp engines. The key would be to protect the warp engines. As they were brainstorming this, Jacobs asked a simple question, 'What if we could start the engagement with Excalibur with it's weapons uncharged?' That started the geometry puzzle that they had carefully constructed.

Jacobs looked at the tactical screen. The estimated position of Excalibur was closing fast to the probe. The time for engagement was going to be very soon.

COMMAND SHUTTLE 1

The various course changes of the Wisconsin group had caused the shuttle to change course itself to be able to have good telemetry for the engagement. Adama could see what was coming up, but Clayborne was having fits that the engagement was not going as he thought it would. Clayborne was in another one of his rants right now, "…. And Jacobs is now attacking with a cargo fleet? What's he thinking about? There's no way he could survive!"

Adama looked up and quietly said, "Admiral Clayborne, I thought you set this up to be a fair exercise."

Clayborne stopped for a second and had to be careful what he said. "All he had to do was make it to the border. Why's he attacking? It's insane!"

Adama observed, "Admiral, what would happen after he got to the border?"

Clayborne said, "He wins the game."

Adama said, "What if he's not playing the game? He already changed the conditions."

Clayborne yelled, "Are you saying one of your Captains has gone rogue? We can't have them changing conditions!"

Adama quietly said again, "Our Captains are trained to analyze a situation and react appropriately. He hasn't gone rogue. What he is doing is protecting his fleet."

Clayborne pointed, "No he's not, he's putting them in danger!"

Adama looked up right into Clayborne's eyes and spoke. "If this wasn't an exercise, what would you do?"

Clayborne blinked and thought hard, "I'd try to run as far and fast as I could."

Adama pointed to the Excalibur, "That ship could run your fleet down, and destroy it. Even at warp it could do that. So, Admiral, how do you protect the fleet?"

Clayborne pointed, "I wouldn't attack a battleship!"

Adama walked around the table and stood next to him and quietly said, "If you created a fair match, why not? Fair match would be even odds, but we both know that the BPV is skewed against cargo ships. You set Jacobs up to fail, why?"

Clayborne yelled, "It's a fair match?"

Adama pointed out, "Then why not attack, your conditions, if fair, should be 50-50 on winning. Admiral, when you set this up, what was your scenario for the Wisconsin to win?"

Clayborne was quiet. Adama pressed, "You don't have a winning scenario for the Wisconsin. You wanted them to cruise into that asteroid field and get blown out of the water by the Excalibur. You set up the scenario to be on the surface an even fight, but that's not right and anyone with real experience out in space can see that plainly."

Clayborne suddenly smiled. "Wisconsin could have won by exiting the system the opposite way."

Adama recalled, "You were furious when they took a different course. I'm still waiting to hear the winning scenario for Wisconsin."

Clayborne said, "The battle point values are the same. That makes it even."

Adama thoughtfully nodded his head. "We will see. It looks like the two groups are almost ready to engage right now. It looks like Jacobs is doing something again."

Clayborne looked at the holo display. The ships were just coming in range where the Excalibur would be able to sense the Wisconsin group. The Wisconsin formation was spreading out significantly. Clayborne thought, 'What is he up to now?'

BRIDGE

USS EXCALIBUR

The science officer turned, "Captain, I'm starting to be able to burn through the jamming. Getting some contacts. Right now, there are eight contacts."

Jackson turned, "Where?"

The science officer said, "Equally spaced around the probe. We are just getting bearing information, no distance."

Jackson asked, "Assuming they ran, how far would they be?"

Morrow answered, "Intercept time would be an hour. Sir, why are we picking them up now?"

Jackson pointed, "He's scattered his fleet running from us. They are going outside the jamming area of that probe."

Morrow shook his head. "Sir, if they are that far away, we shouldn't be picking it up, their bearings are still too close to the probe's jamming."

Jackson shook his head, "No, I think you are overestimating the probe's capability. Science officer, what do you think?"

The science officer looked at the two. "It is very close. I'm not sure what we are picking up, but they are contacts, we'll know in three minutes as we pass the probe."

Jackson turned, "See Paul, they are running. We'll be able to have them on scanners very soon."

Morrow pointed out, "Sir, nothing has gone as we planned. I have a bad feeling about the setup. Why is he doing all of this? Why is he moving that probe back and forth slightly?"

Jackson waived his hand, "Jacobs' is trying to mess with our heads. Listen here, he left my classmate high and dry and ran off to do his own thing. Once we get within range, we will waltz right up and blow him out of the sky."

Morrow asked, "You are assuming that we can disable him as fast as you think we can."

Jackson was starting to get frustrated, "An Enterprise class is no match for us. Remember when we were building this, all those simulations? I think the longest that an Enterprise class lasted against us was three minutes."

Morrow shook his head. The Captain had his mind made up that this vessel was all-powerful. Just as they were getting close to the probe, the Science officer said, "Sir, the geometry bothers me about this."

Jackson and Morrow looked at him, Jackson being the first to ask, "What's bothering you?"

The Science officer said, "As we get closer, the interference field should mask the contacts again, but it's not. The contacts are moving away from the probe at an even faster rate. Now I'm starting to pick up more contacts."

Jackson looked at the screen. It's shaping up like a very classical disc formation. The Wisconsin is in the middle probably. He'll blow the Wisconsin up, but at that range, it will take forever to get the others, Jacobs may just succeed getting half the fleet away, but there will be losses.

The Science officer suddenly yelled, "We're breaking through the interference, contacts close on the bow! Intercept in 45 seconds!"
Jackson turned to the main screen. What was once a ball of static, had been replaced with stars and the Wisconsin cargo fleet. Very close. And closing very fast. Jackson yelled, "RED ALERT! SLOW TO 1/3 IMPULSE NOW! CHARGE ALL WEAPONS! SHIELDS UP"

He realized, he didn't have enough time, the range was closing too fast. His Science Officer reported, "Wisconsin is accelerating. Their weapons are charged."

Jackson was furious. He's going into a fight with unarmed weapons, and he's not going to get the first shot!