Call of the Wolf: Prologue

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Kuiper Belt, 2135, Battlecruiser Hyperion

The Elder Karpov was in 1972 on a special mission, and now the younger  Karpov took command of the fleet. He also had a special mission in mind, but he would only take his flagship. He had grown fond of the Hyperion, a fine battlecruiser, and he saw no reason to move his flag to the Apollo. He had all his regular bridge crew, and had become familiar with the crew of Hyperion, so he stayed with the ship. He had also taken his elder brother’s suggestion to heart while he was away, to see if they could get a better idea of what was going on with the Kroth in the Kuiper belt and Oort cloud. The James Webb telescope had returned some disturbing images, but a closer recon was needed. Rather than assign someone to the duty, the younger Karpov decided to take it on himself.

He waited until Admiral Cook’s squadron reached Titan, and then summoned Cook to explain what he was planning. The two men sat down for a meeting in the Stateroom aboard Hyperion.

“Welcome Admiral, I need to brief you on something, and notify you that you’ll be taking command of Titan Sector watch until I return.”

“Return sir?” said Cook, a thick-chested man with a square forehead beneath a graying flattop, with chestnut eyes. “Are you returning to MARSCOM?”

“No, Hood, Sherman, Thomas and Grant have that region well in hand. I’m taking Hyperion out on deep recon.”

“Your entire squadron, sir?”

“Just this ship. So effective, 12:00 hours today, this squadron, TF Altair, will be commanded by Commodore Devon Buford, and you will assume temporary command of the outer fleet—yes, the entire fleet beyond the Main Belt. Hood will command the Belters and inner squadrons. Anything you think we need to nail down here before I leave? Now’s the time to discuss it.”

“Well sir, where exactly are you taking Hyperion?”

“The Kuiper Belt, to begin with, and then anywhere my nose leads me, possibly even into the Oort cloud. We need a closer look at what’s going on out there. James Webb can’t tell us the whole story.”

“But sir, a single ship out that far, and in regions known to be Kroth haunts? That’s a big risk, and after all, you are the Earthforce Fleet Commander.”

“Yes, and for another 50 minutes or so. I know it’s a risk, but I need some first hand knowledge and there’s only one way to get it. Any other issues with things as they sit now?”

Cook ran a hand through the brush top of his hair, still uncomfortable with the Fleet Grand Admiral taking a mission like this alone.

“Sir, I think you should reconsider this.”

“I have. I’ll be taking Phantom with me too, so I won’t be alone out there. Her comm and radar suite will come in handy and she’ll have 300 Marines aboard. Anything with our present dispositions that bothers you?”

Cook folded his arms, realizing that Karpov’s mind was made up and he had better get in the saddle. “Ganymede sector,” he said, passing the test Karpov was giving him here. He had deliberately left Ganymede light. There were no ships posted there at all, and the sector was watched only by small fighter patrols out of Gany and Callisto. “That sector needs a TF assigned.”

“And how would you fix that?” Cook had seen the problem, now Karpov wanted his solution.

“Sir, I’ll have Titan Base Station here with plenty of  fighters, and over 100 more on Titan itself. That’s good of coverage for this sector, so I would send Altair over to Ganymede, and with that entire squadron.”

“Can you hold here with just your group?”

‘’I’ve got a pair of battlecruisers, five cruisers and five destroyers, sir. We’ll be fine covering Titan.”

“Very well, then make it so, and the next fleet orders come from you, so you’d better get to your shuttle. If you think you need help, call Hood or Grant. They can get out here in plenty of time.”

“As you wish, sir. I will notify the fleet that the flag is with me aboard BCG Ares. And sir, luck of the Irish to you.”

“Roger that, Admiral. Take care, and good luck. I’ll keep you informed of our status hourly.”

* * *

Karpov detached Hyperion from the Altair group and prepared to get underway. Fedorov had been programming a long ride at full power into Hyperspace. Instead of a series of short pulse jumps, this would be a full transitional maneuver, meant to cover very long distances with a sustained period in Hyperspace. To make the maneuver they would be getting up high over the ecliptic, and then burning the helical plasma engines full out. Karpov expected to get 0.5 Light Speed and shift well over the Kuiper belt and into the Oort Cloud beyond. Then they would fall out of that shift, brake, and sit still, posing as just another icy body in the cloud. They would listen for several hours before they started any active sensor sweeps. Karpov would investigate any contacts, and Fedorov would have an escape shift ready should they run into anything more than they could handle.

It was an eerie feeling traveling in hyperspace. The stars were all stretched to thin white lines racing past the nose of the ship. You were everywhere, and nowhere at the same time, and only the ships Astrogation systems could bring you back to Space Normal again where you could finally take stock of where you had gone.

When they fell out of the shift, they had soared past the big Kroth base at the moon Triton orbiting Neptune, well beyond three known Krothi Divisions of 30 ships each. They had also soared past the whole of the Kuiper belt and on into the inner edge of the Oort cloud, a region of stillness and ice for another light year or more. If they had continued on to its outer edge, they would have been half way to Alpha and Proxima Centauri, the closest stars to Sol, but that would have taken them years.

The ship’s Astrogation computers were trying to give Fedorov definitive position data, and in making an initial scan of their surroundings, they quickly obtained three contacts.

“Sir, three contacts, two reading as Kroth ships, both heavy Cruisers, bearing 33 degrees and at 107 million kilometers. The third contact is much closer, bearing 63 degrees at 19.6 million Kilometers.”

“Then let’s come to 63 degrees and investigate that closer contact, designate Bear-1, the cruisers as Bear-2

“We’ll be breaking with a full fusion engine burn and gravity assist for the next 30 minutes,” said Fedorov. “That’s the soonest we can make a heading change.”

“Alright,” said Karpov “those were contacts made with our systems in passive mode, correct Rodenko?”

“Yes sir.”

“Then we’ll stay EMCON until we finish breaking. I wasn’t expecting company this soon, especially in the Oort cloud.”

Thirty minutes later Fedorov announced they were clear to maneuver, and Karpov turned on 063 degrees. That heading was taking them into a group of large icy bodies, and the Bear-1 contact seemed to be drifting in their midst, also silent, and making no sensor emissions that Rodenko could read. He was just getting returns on their hulls.

The initial contact had been made by the Astrogational sensors that could operate in Hyperspace. They had been looking forward on a wide arc to see if any large obstacle was a threat to them dropping into Space Normal. As they needed a stretch of empty space to brake, the sensors scanned ahead and obtained data on asteroids, comets or anything else big enough to reflect energy directed at it, then having this look at the space in the emergence field, these sensors switched off as braking began. Now the ship was running dark, with no active sensors in Emission Control Mode, EMCON. Two Kroth Heavy cruisers were a clear and present danger, and it wasn’t long until that danger confronted them.

Rodenko identified small craft launching and bearing on their position. He then detected the telltale signature of active Krothi sensors.

“Shuttles?” asked Karpov.

“Fighters, sir, and an AEW craft.

“There’s a damn carrier out there with those cruisers,” said Karpov. “They’ve seen us and now they’re trying to get a target fix good enough to prosecute. And we don’t have any Hellcats out there in front of us this time. Fedorov, program a short pulse jump. If we get fired on, I want an option to be somewhere else.”

“Any particular heading?”

“063. Take us to Bear-1. It’s much closer, yet we can’t ID it this far away. I think we’d better get a bird up and see if we can refine that contact. Its too damn close for comfort, and just far enough out to frustrate our optical systems”

“Blackbird One launching now sir,” said Nikolin. Then Rodenko interrupted.

“I have incoming! It reads as the Kroth Long Lance, eight missiles.”

“Very well, activate all ECM and jammers. We’ve no choice now, and I think they obviously know where we are if they could fire that salvo. Damn. I didn’t expect trouble this soon.”

“Sir!” said Rodenko again. “Bear-1 contact is engaging the Long Lance salvo with heavy beam fire. It just cleared the board, all vampires killed.”

Karpov smiled. “That’s a comfort. Mark Bear-1 Neutral instead of unknown. I’m going to assume they may have thought those missiles were coming their way. Let’s return fire on those Krothi cruisers. It will show Bear-1 we’re on its side. Eight Zircons, Samsonov. Target one of the Kroth cruisers.”

The missiles were fired, but to Karpov’s great surprise, Rodenko reported they had also been targeted and destroyed by long range beam fire from Bear-1. That was a surprise he had not anticipated.

“Our neutral contact is treating both sides the same,” said Karpov. “What do you make of this, Captain Fedorov?”

“Odd,” said Fedorov. “Let’s see what our scout can discover.”

Nikolin was in direct contact with the scout shuttle, and they reported Bear-1 was painting the Krothi fighters with targeting sensors, but nothing similar was directed at the shuttle.

Karpov was trying to decipher what was going on here. He was assuming that Bear-1 might have detected both Hyperion and the Kroth cruisers, but what if that wasn’t the case? All they would have seen were fast moving missiles, and they targeted both groups, destroying them all.

“The Kroth fighters have seen our bird,” said Rodenko. “They’re engaging.”

Karpov zoomed his tactical screen and saw the red icons indicating missile fire from the fighters. Once again, the mysterious Bear-1 began directing an energy weapon against those missiles, and all were destroyed. The fighters then broke off and turned away.

“Fedorov, I want to get close to Bear-1. Can we jump in there and still have enough room to brake?”

“Sure. I can take us into long range optical range and it will only need a five minute brake.”

“Please execute that program when ready.”

Fedorov sent that data to the Phantom, and then initiated a short pulse jump that would take the two ships in under 18,000 kilometers from Bear-1. They dropped back into space normal and started braking. Dead ahead of them, about 500 kilometers off, they could see a dense field of icy snowballs interspersed with a few smaller dark objects. Bear one was not underway. It was just sitting right at the edge of a field of drifting debris and ice, emitting no signals that Rodenko could read.

“Our Bear appears to be asleep,” said Karpov.

“Until someone fires a weapon,” said Rodenko. It was rare for him to comment like that, but Karpov nodded.

Karpov saw that their scout shuttle was now just 175 kilometers from the contact. He ordered it to get closer and transmit visuals to Hyperion. The shuttle approached to just inside five kilometers and hovered. Bear-1 was as silent and still as the ice field behind it. There were no emissions, and nothing was fired, but the images sent to Hyperion were stunning.

“What the hell is that?” said Karpov when the picture filled their high-res forward viewing screen. Everyone on the bridge made an audible sound, not of alarm, but of awe. They were looking at a massive ship, easily a kilometer in length and built like a letter T where the top cross bar had its ends pulled aft to create what looked like a pair of horns that ended in sharply defined points. The base of the T aft was wider, segmented, and Karpov imagined its big engines were there. The ship was silver and still gleamed in spite of the wan sunlight this far away from Sol. He could barely make out what looked like a symbol or insignia on the hull, and strange glyphs.

“What’s that written on its side?” said Karpov.

“I’ve got the computer working on it,” said Nikolin, but at this point, I can only tell you it’s no language from Earth, but those aren’t Kroth characters either.”

Karpov did not think either the shuttle or his ship could have approached this close to the contact if it was of the Kroth.

 “Can you decode that, Nikolin?”

“No sir, there are too few characters, and the usage assumptions based on our languages may not make any sense to that language, whatever it is. The computer says the characters are unknown, and the sample is insufficient to make any kind of translation.”

“Fedorov, you’ve seen the Grey’s ships up close and personal. Is that what we’re looking at here?”

“Not the ships I was on,” said Fedorov. “They were spherical.”

“Nikolin, could those be characters of the Greys?”

“No sir. I have 112 sample characters in the database from Grey contacts in the past, including the video Captain Fedorov brought back. It’s not the Greys—at least not those characters. I get no matches.

“So what we’ve got here is of another unknown race,” said Karpov. “Neutral in this conflict from its actions thus far, but it doesn’t seem to want us to carry on with any fighting here. Is there a Marine on that shuttle?”

“Yes sir,” said Nikolin. “Pilot, copilot on sensors, and one Marine as the WSO or Wizzo.” That was the Weapons systems Officer, even though this shuttle was not armed with any missiles, just CIDs.

“Order the shuttle to see if they can find any docking section or entry hatch on that thing.”

The shuttle moved closer, to within 100 meters of the contact, and reported what looked like a possible entry portal. “It would need an EVA mission to reach it from the shuttle sir,” said Nikolin. “There’s no docking spar like we have.”

“Have them run an EVA mission and see what they find.”

Karpov was panning the video looking closely at the hull of the contact. He could see nothing that looked like a weapon, though he knew this thing had been able to shoot down 16 hypersonic missiles and high performance missiles from fighters, so this ship was armed, and he had no doubts that it carried weapons that could target other ships as well.

“How big would you say that ship is, Rodenko.?”

“I’d read it at about 1000 meters, sir. Almost four times our size.”

“Damn big. At least it doesn’t seem to mind us getting in close. He zoomed back out to see what the Kroth were doing, but there were no further contacts. He considered the possibility that the Kroth were out here investigating this contact as well, then we just appear.

The single Marine on the shuttle had gone EVA, tethered on a long cable. He drifted closer to the alien ship and slowly reached its hull. Extending a gloved hand, he was able to stop easily without rebounding from the effort. Yet the instant he touched the hull it seemed to turn transparent in the slightly recessed area he was investigating.

His helmet camera was recording everything, and Karpov could see right inside the ship’s hull, into what looked like a corridor. There was something on an inner wall there; images, many more characters. He had Nikolin order the Marine to hold steady and see if he could get a clear image of that, and then return to the shuttle. No hatch had opened and there did not seem to be any way to enter, but at least they had something more by way of information.

“Nikolin, have the computer analyze that video and see if it can extract any more characters.”

That was what happened, for the video had contained another several hundred characters, enough for the Quantum computer to start analyzing the language and looking for a way to translate it to English, the default language in Earthforce. With an AI language Module installed it was perfect for decryption and code breaking tasks.

The EVA concluded, and Karpov ordered the shuttle to dock with Hyperion. There had been no response of any kind other than the sudden transparency of that potential entry area. When the Marine withdrew, it again assumed the solid and opaque silver metallic appearance as before. The ship was a sleeping mystery until Nikolin made his report.

“Sir, I have the results of the Quantum Computer’s translation of those characters. It has identified an alphabet! You’re not going to believe this, but here is what it found.

Nikolin handed Karpov a decrypted transcript of the video captured characters on the interior wall of the alien ship. Karpov studied the message. He didn’t realize it at that moment, but they had just discovered a fragment of a distant alien empire.

Karpov was thinking they might tow this ship home, but he realized it was not a derelict, but was obviously under alien control, unless it was something like a massive drone.

It wasn’t.