Episode 124

"They’re finally here... right, Teiro?"

Taro was currently busy staring a hole through the bridge’s main viewer, his eyes wide enough to swallow saucers. He was half-convinced the data screaming from the comms was some kind of elaborate prank. He stood there, frozen, until Marl’s voice snapped him back to reality with the grace of a cold bucket of water.

"I—I know that! Koume, you reading me? Looks like our uninvited guests finally pulled into the driveway!"

Taro hollered over to Koume, who was busy poking at the electronic guts of the ship. He took a deep breath, then another, trying to convince his heart to stay inside his chest.

[I HEAR YOU LOUD AND CLEAR, MR. TEIRO. I AM EN ROUTE TO MY STATION. THE ADDITIONAL EQUIPMENT IS SITTING AT A NINTY-FOUR PERCENT OPERATIONAL RATE. WE ARE GOOD TO GO FOR THE 'SNEAKY TRICKS' PORTION OF THE EVENING.]

"Booya!" Taro pumped a fist. If they were going to pull off their secret trump card, the Plum’s communication array had to be firing on all cylinders. "All right, nothing left but to actually do the thing. Marl, give everyone the heads-up."

"On it," Marl said, her fingers dancing across the console. "Flagship Plum to all RS1 vessels. The EAP fleet has made contact with the enemy. All hands, battle stations! I repeat, this is the Plum—"

As Marl handled the fleet-wide broadcast, Taro patched himself through to EAP General HQ.

"RS1 to EAP 1. We’ve got word from EAP 4 that they’re trading paint with the bad guys. Give me the breakdown."

"『This is EAP 1, loud and clear. Sending the data packet now... Teiro, is this it? Is the big one finally starting?』"

"Yeah... probably. The Enzio guys are in a rush. No reason for them to play footsie and send their ships in one by one."

"『Fair point. We’ll proceed under that assumption.』"

"Good luck. Keep the data link open and don't let it drop."

Taro cut the line with Lin and started scrolling through the incoming data.

Frontal breakthrough formation in Area A4. Tons of standard Cruiser-class hulls... wait.

"Is this a diversion?" Taro muttered, drawing on his surprisingly vast experience in 'getting shot at.' He threw the star map onto the main monitor. Area A4 was smack-dab next to Star Nipori. No sane tactician would invade from there; the stellar heat would turn their ships into glowing infrared beacons. It was like trying to sneak into a house while wearing a suit made of neon flares.

"Sorry I’m late, Mr. Teiro! What’s the damage?"

Koume came tumbling onto the bridge, scurrying toward her operator station. Taro watched her scramble up her custom-built wooden ramp and hop into her seat.

"Party’s just getting started," Taro said, nodding at the map. "Enemy's knocking on the door at A4. No idea how many, but I doubt it’s the whole parade. The real question is where the main force is hiding... anyway, you're on the sticks, Koume."

[LEAVE IT TO ME, MR. TEIRO. DATA LINK: HARD-WIRED. SIGNAL LOSS: ZERO PERCENT. I MUST SAY, THIS FASTER-THAN-LIGHT COMMUNICATION GEAR IS SIMPLY DELIGHTFUL.]

"Well, we did break several laws of physics and logic to cram it in here. Okay, everyone! Move to Area B2. Eyes peeled, sensors hot. If you see anything that looks like a ship, we run away as planned. If it’s quiet, we circle back to A4 to help the EAP guys."

Taro hammered commands into BISHOP. Marl took over the fleet comms, leaving Taro to sweat over the math.

[LINKAGE OVERDRIVE: ACTIVATED]

The bridge dissolved into a psychedelic blue smear before snapping back into reality. The moment they arrived, Koume’s fingers became a blur on the scanners while Marl checked the ship’s vitals.

[WIDE-AREA SCAN: NO CONTACTS, MR. TEIRO. MOTION SENSORS: QUIET AS A GRAVE.]

"Same from the rest of the fleet," Marl added. "Unless there are stealth ships playing hide-and-seek."

"Got it... ugh, what a pain." Taro rubbed his chin. If they rushed to A4 now, they’d save the EAP fleet a lot of trouble, but if they fell for a trap and missed a hidden enemy, they’d be toast.

[UPDATE: EAP 4-22 AND SHIP NO. 24 HAVE TAKEN MODERATE DAMAGE. ENEMY E04 HAS BEEN TENDERIZED. THE EAP 1 FLEET IS MOVING TO AREA D3. THEY ARE ATTEMPTING A CLASSIC PINCER MANEUVER.]

"Hmm... screw it, let’s wait a beat. All ships, spread out! I want every piece of space junk in this sector scanned twice!"

The RS1 Fleet fanned out. Scanning from different angles was the only way to catch a stealth ship with its pants down. Jamming was like a flashlight—it only worked if you were looking directly at it. By hitting the sector from a dozen different directions, they could peek behind the enemy’s electronic curtains.

[DETAILED SCAN: NEGATIVE. SYSTEM STATUS: CLEAR.]

Taro squinted at the BISHOP monitor. "So, we're clear? For now?"

"I hate this," Marl groaned. "Not knowing where the enemy is makes my skin crawl."

"Tell me about it. How much longer until our Sleeping Beauty wakes up?"

[ETTA ONLY RECENTLY ENTERED HER SLUMBER CYCLE. SHE REQUIRES THREE HOURS. IF YOU WAKE HER EARLY, I BELIEVE WE WILL HAVE A REPEAT OF THE 'INCIDENT.']

Taro winced. The Incident.

A few patrols back, Taro had decided to wake Etta up because a sensor had twitched. It was a disaster. Not only was she as useful as a wet noodle in terms of scanning, but she had also gone into a full-blown, frothing-at-the-mouth berserker rage. Taro had come away with enough bruises to look like a human eggplant. According to Phantom, a Sonarman’s brain was basically a high-voltage transformer; if they didn't get their nap time to process the data-load, they tended to explode. Or make Taro explode.

"Even if she wakes up in three hours, she’s going to be a total nightmare... Hey, Koume. You think this timing is a coincidence?"

Koume went silent for a long moment.

[DATA INSUFFICIENT. HOWEVER, THE PROBABILITY OF INTENTIONAL COORDINATION IS STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT.]

"You think Enzio was waiting for her nap time?" Marl asked. "I mean, she is one of theirs..."

"I don't know if she was brainwashed or just really loves a schedule, but Etta hits the hay at 21:00 sharp, no matter what," Taro said. "Is there a leak somewhere?"

The fact that they were harboring Etta was a state secret. To the Enzio Alliance, they were just up against a fleet with a suspiciously good sensor suite. It was a stretch to think they knew exactly who was behind the screen.

"Koume’s right, we can't be sure," Marl said, tilting her head. "Besides, I doubt this fight will be over in three hours. If they were going to exploit her absence, wouldn't they wait for the climax?"

"True," Taro muttered, crossing his arms. "Well, if we have a spy, I'll deal with it later. For now—ugh, looks like enemy reinforcements are prepping to drop into A4. Let's move!"

Taro scowled at the screen and ordered his fleet to regroup.

A few moments after Taro’s ships vanished into streaks of light, something changed in the void. Caught in the distant glow of Star Nipori, several dull, metallic hulls began to shimmer. They deployed their retractable engine thrusters with fluid precision and began to glide through the dark.

"Retreat! Move it or lose it!"

The EAP 4 Fleet Commander was screaming into his headset. He was sticking to the script: trade a few shots, look busy, then get the hell out of dodge. The frontal pressure wasn't even that bad, but the Drive Particle readings suggested an enemy tsunami was about to crash down on them.

"Commander, Ship No. 24 is dead in the water! Their engines are blown!"

"Dammit! Get them out of there! Eject the pods!"

"Drive Particle levels are spiking! Reinforcements could drop in any second!"

"I know! RS1 is on the way!"

According to EAP 1, Taro’s fleet was already burning thrusters to get to them. They were still a ways off, but they just had to hold the line a little longer.

"Where is the main force? Still no visual?"

"Negative, sir! The jamming is too thick! We’re blind!"

"How?" the Commander hissed. "We heard the Enzio Expeditionary Force was crippled, but they still outnumber us two-to-one. What are they playing at?"

The Enzio fleet had been halved thanks to Taro’s psychological warfare and "terrorist" pranks, but they were still the bigger dog in the fight. While Enzio was busy chasing ghosts in their own territory, the EAP was stuck babysitting trade stations to keep the corporate bigwigs from wetting themselves.

"Commander! RS1 is almost here!"

The Commander let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He watched the sensor screen, tracking the Drive Particle ripples from RS1's incoming Space Reservation. Everything looked fine—until he noticed something that made his blood run cold.

"Wait... where are the Enzio reinforcements? They reserved their space way before RS1 did, didn't they?"

The enemy reinforcements were a no-show. Yet, the Space Reservation signatures were still being maintained. Which meant...

"............SON OF A— IT’S A FAKE!" the Commander roared. "Get EAP 1 on the horn! Now! Tell them the enemy’s actual destination is somewhere else! It’s a Space Reservation feint! Don't fall for—"

But the operator didn't even get the message out.

At that exact microsecond, a massive new Space Reservation signature flared to life. Right in the middle of the fleet’s rear flank.