The Battle of Sauron by John F. Carr & Don Hawthorne

Author:John F. Carr & Don Hawthorne
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780937912256
Publisher: Pequod Press

Chapter Eighteen

I

Beyond the condition of the wrecked battleship or her slaughtered crew, the true horror of the Wallenstein was learned only after Pathfinder Cyborg teams had examined the irradiated derelict, to find that she was no derelict at all.

“The first clue,” Diettinger told the High Command Council, “was that no vessel in Wallenstein’s condition could have made the trip from Tanith to Sauron. For that reason, I instructed the Pathfinders to pay careful attention to conditions in the drives and engineering sections of the wreck. Their report is presented in detail in the briefings before you.

“To summarize: The Wallenstein arrived in the Sauron System with an Imperial Alderson Drive installed, and jury-rigged to make a single Jump from one of the nearby star systems to Sauron.”

The First Citizen looked up from his briefing. “But the Wallenstein was at Tanith…”

“Yes, First Citizen. After capturing the Wallenstein,”—Diettinger ignored the half-dozen sharp intakes of breath at his near-blasphemy; no Sauron ship had ever been captured—“the Imperials must have installed several such packages in various systems along one of the routes from Tanith to Sauron and literally ‘pushed’ the Wallenstein wreckage through the intervening Alderson Points until it arrived here.”

Panades, one of the other Sauron norms on the High Command Council and charged with civilian oversight on naval matters, was shaking his head. “To what possible purpose?”

“I should have thought that would be obvious, Councilman Panades: To let us know they were victorious at Tanith. To let us know they have crushed the last line of defense between Sauron and the fleets of the Empire. To let us know they are coming, and soon. The gesture is not without precedent.”

“I know of no such action since the beginning of the war,” Panades dismissed the idea, but Diettinger was ready for him.

“Ancient Earth, First Citizen,” Diettinger ignored Panades. “Theocratic Egyptian society regarded domesticated Earth cats as semi-divine. Hittite invaders slaughtered hundreds of the animals and threw them over the walls of besieged Egyptian cities to drive defenders from their posts and generally panic the superstitious populace. The ploy later evolved into the ‘Dead Horse’ tactic, wherein siege engines were used to launch rotting corpses of draft animals into besieged cities to spread disease and panic.”

“Are you suggesting that Sauron should consider itself under siege, Fleet First Rank?” One of the other Council members interrupted, his tone full of cold malice at so treasonous a notion.

Panades frowned. “No, that can’t be right, Fleet First Rank. Obviously, the Wallenstein’s captain lost his nerve at Tanith, fled the battle there and was ambushed along the way. Critically wounded, her commander—Lucan, was it?—this Lucan must have fought his way through to a Jump Point to get here. He must therefore have been ambushed only one system away, at Dropshot, perhaps, or Wayforth, or one of half a dozen others.”

Diettinger’s gaze hardened. “Leaving aside for the moment Vessel First Rank Lucan’s impeccable record, and assuming that—despite all logic—you are correct: What difference does it make?”

Councilman Panades looked up, surprised by the near-insolence of Diettinger’s question.

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