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31




“They want us to hold short in a higher parking orbit,” Traci said, as disgusted as Hammond had felt hours earlier. “They must be awfully spooked.”

“Owen also provided us with information on the vehicle,” Bob said. “The satellite calling itself ‘Sentinel’ appears to be a variant of the Qiang-class deep space defensive platform. It is constructed around a one megawatt solid-state laser, powered by a compact fission reactor and propelled by twin ion engines.”

“I know all about it,” she fumed. “We called it Beijing’s TIE Fighter. ‘Defensive’ my tired ass.” Old hands had grudgingly admired the Qiang-1 hunter-killer satellites, likening them to the A-10 Warthog, the legendary attack jet built around a thirty-millimeter cannon. “It’s a weapon, plain and simple, the same kind they planted all over the asteroid belt.”

“I am quoting from the information in my historical database. I was not implying any particular fondness.”

“Then your database should have some mention of the Belt War. China tried to claim sovereignty over the belt by parking a bunch of those things near a dozen or so M-type asteroids. Nobody could ever prove it, but they even mined the space around a couple of the bigger ones.”

“You refer to the loss of the private vessel Seward’s Folly. That incident precipitated the Belt War.”

“In reality they started it earlier than that; used an early prototype to cripple a civilian ship that got too close to a rock they wanted. Then they attacked the Space Force cruiser sent to search for the civvies.”

“The Borman Incident. It is surprising that hostilities didn’t escalate sooner.”

“That’s because we made them look bad.” A grin played across her face as she recalled the history. “You remember the corvette that escorted us out of Earth orbit? Their CO’s a bit of a legend. He was fresh out of the academy back then and outsmarted them good. Took out their flagship heavy cruiser just when it looked like they had him cornered. China tucked tail and behaved themselves for a few years, and the politicians called it a win. In reality they were consolidating forces, planning their next move. A sophomore mil-science cadet could’ve told them that.”

“They have a reputation for tenacity and long-term thinking.”

“Long-term thinking’s one area where they have us beat,” she admitted reluctantly. “Which brings us to our present situation.”

“This does pose a dilemma. We are not equipped for combat.”

“True, but that doesn’t mean we’re out of options. What can we use for protection?” She needed a sounding board, and this was a good opportunity to test Bob’s reasoning.

“The micrometeor shield offers some protection, but the ship itself is not hardened against such a concentration of energy.”

“The question is how far are they willing to take this? What’s the probability that they’re bluffing?”

“I rate it as low. The Qiang platform’s very presence indicates commitment and forethought. Bringing it here took considerable effort.”

“One might be inclined to think the UNSEC mission was just cover,” she said tartly. “They could give a damn about Jack. They’re establishing control over a strategic choke point.”

“A curious move, as they did not know where the wormhole could lead when they launched their vehicle. What might their strategy be?”

“That’s what I’m wondering. They obviously think it has strategic value, like they’re guarding the entrance to a trade route or something. They fought wars over that kind of thing in the past, when it was mules hauling goods through mountain passes.”

“As you said, they may have been consolidating forces, anticipating their next move.”

“And this is the move,” she said, following his reasoning. “They don’t understand the wormhole any better than we do. They only know it’s significant, so they want to control access.” She stroked her chin, considering their options. “Now, what are our advantages?

“Large delta-v changes. We can reach high velocities, though with limited maneuverability. The pulse drive’s plasma exhaust could be used against the Qiang platform if we could get close enough.”

“Good thinking, but we’re not going to be able to get close enough to torch it before it can blast us. We need a different plan.” She tapped her fingers against her chin, examining the slowly closing plots between Columbus and the UN ship. If they broke off now and ceded ground to this Sentinel, they might as well turn for home. The time for half measures was over.

“We will have to make a correction burn to enter the new parking orbit soon. Perhaps we should discuss this afterward?”

She shook her head, resolute in her decision. “No. If velocity is our advantage then it’s time we used it.” She reached for the engine control pedestal and began warming up the fusion drive. “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead. We’re going all the way.”


“I have completed my assessment of the Qiang weapons platform. It is a formidable adversary, but it is also heavily dependent on strictly defined constraints.”

“That doesn’t do them much good out here,” Traci said. “Not when signal return times take half a day. How are they controlling it from so far away if there’s no crew on the mothership?”

“Its operating system is based on a rudimentary AI. It is able to maneuver and prioritize its targeting decisions based on preprogrammed rules of engagement.”

She considered how they might have programmed such a platform for this kind of mission. “It’s been broadcasting warnings but hasn’t lit us up. They’ve probably set a kill zone that’ll have it open fire if anything strays inside that bubble.” Considering the paucity of potential targets in the vicinity, she knew its attention would be focused entirely on Columbus. “That doesn’t leave us much maneuvering room.”

“It does not. However, the time delay could play to our advantage if we can somehow confuse it.”

“My thoughts exactly. We need to find a way to spoof the thing, or blind it.” She considered the equipment aboard Columbus. “What about our comms laser? Maybe we could pump enough power through it to cook something important.”

“That is a possibility. However, increasing its output to the level necessary is likely to damage the emitter. We would be left with lower bandwidth radios.”

“One shot is all we need. If we can’t get past that thing, then comms with Earth are the least of our worries. We don’t need to punch a hole in the thing, just blind it.”

“The Sentinel’s electronics are of course hardened against the space radiation environment. However, its sensor and targeting arrays are housed behind a nonconductive sapphire glass fairing on the satellite’s service trunk.”

“Transparent to EM energy,” she said. “Same reason we make aircraft radomes out of fiberglass. We wouldn’t have to burn through, just deform the dome enough to screw up its radar returns.”

“Time is the critical variable. It is almost certain to detect our laser emission before we can focus enough energy on it.”

Traci tapped her fingers on the arm rest as she studied the comm laser’s specs. The emitter’s limits were rated in power over time: the higher the output, the less time it had before burning out. Theoretically it could produce nearly three times its normal output but it wouldn’t tolerate that amount of energy for long. The heat energy they’d create on their target would also be felt by its source, their advantage was that electromagnetically transparent composites could tolerate a lot less than a laser emitter. “You’ll pardon me if I hang on to that ‘almost certain’ part. It may not be much but it’s all we’ve got.”

“Perhaps not. I have been considering other possibilities. We will need a diversion, a way to ‘spoof’ Sentinel as you said.”

She perked up. “What are you thinking? Can you hack Sentinel’s brain?”

“It utilizes quantum encryption, so direct access is not possible. However, I have found a back door into UNSEC-1’s operating system, which should have a limited datalink with Sentinel.”

“They’d have needed to integrate it with the mothership, wouldn’t they? Even if just enough to run health checks during transit. And it would’ve been drawing power from the ship’s electrical bus. Can’t do any of that without a feedback loop.”

“UNSEC-1 is constructed around a Russian Zarya-class control module which uses VXWORKS, an older operating system equivalent to Unix. It is unencrypted.”

Her eyes sparked at the possibilities. “That’s the first good news we’ve had in a while. Think you can open that back door?”

“Does the Pope wear a funny hat?”

“Cute. The control block’s OS might be ancient, but Sentinel’s AI is still talking to the ship. It’s going to see what you’re up to. It’s dangerous to underestimate your adversary.”

“That is quite true, which I have learned during our many chess matches.”

She couldn’t be sure if that was a compliment or an insult. “Glad I could be of assistance.” She returned to the navigation display. “You get to work on that; in the meantime I’m taking us closer to the UN ship. I want you to have near-instantaneous comm with it.”

“That could draw unwanted attention from Sentinel.”

“I’m counting on it.”


After another too short sleep cycle, Traci floated into the command deck and settled into her position at the pilot’s station, a bulb of coffee in one hand and a half-eaten protein bar in the other. She dimmed the lights, adjusting her eyes to the dark as she finished her breakfast. Outside, the hazy ring of diffracted starlight defining the wormhole’s perimeter appeared, as did the position strobes of UNSEC-1 in the distance. Somewhere out there was Sentinel, camouflaged against the black with no such lighting to give it away. She tapped an icon on a nearby interface panel, signaling the AI that she was out of crew rest.

“Good morning, Bob. Any progress overnight?”

An azure light pulsed to the rhythm of his synthetically serene voice. “Yes. I have gained access to the Zarya module’s datalink.”

“That fast?”

“This is what you brought me for, is it not? There are over three million lines of code in the control block’s operating system, which was scrubbed to remove the types of openings we were looking for. Though given the rushed vehicle assembly, they did overlook certain vulnerabilities.”

“What did you find?”

“I searched all user accounts, then attempted to predict their passwords using existing records. I was able to find one with access to the environmental control logic, belonging to a member of the UNSEC governance board.”

“And who would that be?”

“Administrator Cheever. Her password is ‘let.me.in.’ It has not changed in some time.”

She nearly spat out her coffee. “Classic.”

“That was my reaction as well.”

“Environmental management, you said? Makes sense that would be the thread they left open. It’d eventually have to be integrated with Magellan’s medical module if it was going to take Jack home.”

“I thought so as well, though it would be preferable to find a back door in guidance or power regulation.”

Traci sipped from her coffee as she thought. “Monkeying around with their life support would be a lot more distracting with people aboard,” she agreed. “What can you see?”

“The empty crew compartments are partially pressurized with nitrogen at 7.35 psi to maintain structural integrity and thermal equilibrium. Breathing oxygen is stored in reserve tanks to be mixed with the nitrogen at a standard atmospheric ratio of twenty percent at fourteen psi. The electrical bus is drawing power from the drive reactor at twenty-eight volts. Thermal control is provided by a two-phase ammonia coolant loop channeled through externally mounted condensing radiators.”

“Pretty basic. Same setup they used on the ISS,” she said. “Zarya is the heart of the ship’s circulatory system. If its environment controls are out of whack, it could take a lot of stuff down with it.”

“Thermal management appears to be the most obvious target for mischief.”

“Wouldn’t take much,” she thought, “just mess around with the coolant flow. Shut down a pump or gum up a couple of splitter valves and you’ll see efficiency drop real fast. That’ll force it to reduce power throughput until it can fix the problem.”

“At which point we will introduce new problems.”

“Create a cascade?” she asked, sporting a devious grin. “Got to admit it’s a little frightening that you’d think that way, Bob.”

“I would not dream of doing such a thing to us. After all, I am dependent on Columbus functioning as much as you.”

“Not exactly reassuring. Just remind me to stay on your good side.” She studied UNSEC-1’s schematics for several minutes as she considered their options. “What about access? Can you establish a datalink with it?”

“I am monitoring their control center’s frequencies. ‘Reading their mail’ as you would say. It is not a continuous stream, as one would expect over such distance. Their ground control monitors the mothership’s telemetry stream and uploads commands only as necessary. The Sentinel AI provides local control.”

“Would it recognize commands being transmitted from us?”

“If we position ourselves along the UNSEC vessel’s line of sight with Earth, it will not be able to distinguish the source. The Sentinel is another matter. We should assume it will be able to differentiate.”

Her brow knitted. “We’ll have to work fast then.”

“Agreed. That is why I suggest we explore another angle.”

She perked up. “I’m listening.”

“Accessing the UNSEC vessel’s operating system will require a considerable percentage of my attention and our current plan is likely to render our comm laser inoperative. I propose a different course of action, utilizing Magellan’s MSEV.”

“How so?”

“This is an opportune time to mention that learning chess with you has been both illuminating and productive. I believe we have an opening to apply the ‘overload’ tactic.”


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