Exercise
© 2024 by Walter Reimer

Thumbnail art by  rabbi-tom

Deceptive Practices


Admiral k’Jan mentally reviewed the last action and chided herself for not seeing it earlier. Changing a ship’s ID signal ordinarily would not have worked; a Terran warship’s power signature was far too dissimilar to a Kashlanin ship’s. As soon as the fake Wrathful had been subdued, she’d advised the rest of the ships under her command to be wary.

A shlan’s eidetic memory could be useful in questioning a possible opponent, since most of the captains knew each other.

The comms had been jammed again on all frequencies with a deep, gravelly voice intoning something in Terran Basic:

“You . . . are alone.
You are alone . . . in the dark.
All around you, predators . . . circle.
They . . . are coming . . . for you.”

This was followed by an unpleasant collection of noises that the computer identified as possibly music, which went on for far too long for anyone to be comfortable with it before it returned to old episodes of Tell Me What You’re Doing and a montage of various pieces of Kashlanin music.

It was effective, and slightly irritating.


***


“Are you sure this will work?” Varan asked in a dubious tone. Using an ancient collection of Terran music hadn’t been expected to be intimidating, merely irritating. Still, she had reason to be pleased.

While the communications were blanketed, one of Ravager’s sensor technicians had succeeded in co-opting several of the sensor emplacements, enabling the attacking force to get intermittent glimpses of the defending force’s movements.

The captain of Biter gestured an enthusiastic affirmative. “It should. It’s rarely been tried before, but we’re familiar with the ship design and capabilities.” She grinned, showing teeth. “And we will have the tactical maneuvers you supplied us.”

Varan chuckled.


***


A three-ship formation made its way along its patrol route, describing a polar orbit around the system’s primary. Apart from the occasional jamming and sensor ghosts, none of the attacking ships had been detected.

“Captain,” the Mauler’s Sensor Officer said, “I’m seeing some odd readings aft of us.”

“’Odd?’” she asked.

“Yes, Ma’am. Very close, and very intermittent.”

“Ernnh. Please ask Begom to drop back and ask if they see anything.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” The message was relayed, and the cruiser suddenly started firing at a spot several kilometers astern of Mauler. Biter, one of the attacking force, wrecked Mauler’s engines before running, trading blows with Begom before another attacker slipped out from behind the cruiser’s sensor empennage and destroyed it.

The third attacking cruiser crippled the defending cruiser Saber before it, too, succeeded in escaping.


***


“Well done,” Varan said to Biter’s captain, who grinned at her. “Of course, we can only do this once.”

“True,” the vir said, “but it serves the purpose of making the defenders nervous. They will be jumping at shadows,” and she showed her teeth as she smiled. “Circling around them like predators.”

Varan grinned back before turning to her Command-Second. “Yes, Tabin?”

“Several of the force’s communications and sensor personnel have been discussing an idea,” he said.

“I’m open to suggestions from any source,” Varan said.


***


Another trio of defending warships attacked each other, momentarily deceived by their ID transponders suddenly switching to attacking force IDs. All three sustained heavy damage before the deception was discovered.


***


Admiral k’Jan resisted the urge to grind her teeth. So far g’Raf was exploiting her knowledge to whittle away at the defending force, which still outnumbered the attackers. The base, while damaged, was still in the defenders’ hands.

“Captain!” the Sensor Officer said. “Multiple wakes in hyperspace, on intercept vectors.”

“Another deception?” the Captain asked, glancing at k’Jan.

“Possibly, but order mobile forces to intercept.” As the Captain relayed the order, the Admiral put a hand to her chin and thought, Aka, let’s see what other tricks you have, g’Raf . . .