Pay Me, Bug!

Chapter 39

WHEREIN the Woods are Led Down the Garden Path

Tracking down the Alo Minh would prove to be a difficult task, especially if--as Commodore Mavis now suspected--her captain didn't wish to be found. She had a six- or seven-hour head start, which meant that she was probably out of the range of standard sensors. Even with sensor beacons placed throughout the system there were more blind spots than not, which meant that finding a single ship in an entire system required a fair amount of coordination.

Mavis paced the bridge, delivering orders in a crisp, clear voice. "I want the location of every one of our ships in this system. If they are planetside, I want them in orbit and standing by. I want all available communications relays listening for the Alo Minh's signature key. I want that information triangulated as soon as possible. If the Alo Minh's key isn't confirmed within the next three hours, we'll assume it has ejected the key and it will be classified as a rogue ship."

Katryn Valdyrs replied with an "aye, sir" and began relaying orders. Twenty minutes later, various forces around the system were standing by and the communications beacons were listening for any sign of the Alo Minh.

Once again Mavis found himself waiting. It seemed to be the most significant part of any crisis--the time when most mistakes were made, he reminded himself. Wait for the information, act on the information you get.

Mavis waited.

An hour and a half later a comm relay reported receiving the Alo Minh's signature key. Twenty minutes later, a second reported receiving the same. It took another forty-five minutes for the third, and then they triangulated the ship's last known position.

The presence of the beacon was a promising sign.

"We have projected their course, sir."

Mavis shook himself out of his thoughts and turned to Ando Fargus. "Report."

"There is a fair amount of delay between the Alo Minh and the third beacon, and between the beacon and us, but even taking that into account I think we know where they are." Fargus pointed to the large holographic tactical map hanging over the bridge.

Mavis frowned. "That's not as far away as I expected."

"Yes," Fargus agreed. "They're moving slower than we thought."

"What is the closest ship to their position?"

"The Damascus," Fargus said. "But not by much... and we could reach their position before Captain Ison if we opened up our engines."

"Good," Mavis said, nodding. "Order navigation to lay in a course to intercept the Alo Minh. I want all possible speed."

"Aye sir," Fargus said. "We estimate it'll take about four hours."

Information, decision, action--and then, as always, more waiting.

Three hours later, the Centurion's communication and sensor arrays picked up traces of the Alo Minh's signature key... but there was no trace of the Alo Minh. This made Mavis very unhappy.

"Where is she?" Mavis demanded.

"I'm... not sure," Fargus admitted. "We should be picking up signs of their fusion drive, at the very least. Unless they're running with their shields up..."

"No," Mavis said. "Their screens would block their signature key."

The signal grew stronger as the Centurion closed the gap, but there was still no trace of the Alo Minh.