Starhold by J. Alan Field Read Free Book Online

question.
    “Trap?” replied Knox tentatively.
    “Trap,” said Adams without hesitation.
    “Trap,” agreed their captain. “They could have destroyed that station a hundred times over, but they haven’t. And another thing—I’ll bet anything they could be jamming the station’s distress call, but they’re not. No, they wanted a warship to play with.”
    “And here we are,” mumbled Knox.
    Pettigrew sat back down in the captain’s chair and pondered for a second before calling Chief Engineer Mullenhoff. “Commander, that idea we talked about earlier, is it ready to go?”
    “Yes, sir. We’ll do what we can to produce the effect you requested. I think it will be convincing.”
    “Good,” said Pettigrew. “Coordinate with the helm and take your cue from that station. Pettigrew out.”
    Parker Knox had been in on the planning for this maneuver, so he knew what was coming. Taylin Adams and the other bridge staff stared expectantly at their CO.
    “Ms. Nyondo,” the captain addressed the lieutenant at the helm. “I want you to access the engineering library and prepare to execute pre-programmed flight maneuver Uritski Able. Here’s what we’re doing everyone: when Lieutenant Nyondo executes this program, the computers will fire up the engines to a full burn, as if we just can’t wait to get at the enemy. We’ll go charging toward them at top speed and then the engines will cut off abruptly, simulating an engine crash. When that happens, engineering will start venting the appropriate gases to convince our friends out there that we have indeed blown out our I-drives.”
    “Why the deception, sir?” asked fire control officer David Swoboda.
    “I want to lure them away from the station in case things get nasty. It will limit collateral damage. Besides,” the captain grinned, “deception is good. A voice from the past tells us to ‘create confusion and use this confusion to further our own goals.’”
    Knox glanced at the bookpad lying beside the command chair. “Scott Fitzgerald?”
    “No, Mr. Knox, it was a fellow named Sun Tzu. Lieutenant, are you ready?”
    Nyondo quickly reviewed her console. “Aye, Captain.”
    “Execute.”
    The Tempest engines flared as the ion drives slowly climbed to maximum capacity. With Nyondo monitoring at the helm and Mullenhoff in engineering, the sequence ran flawlessly as the heavy cruiser steadily gained speed. The large warship took about four minutes to achieve flank speed, which was redlining the engines to the discomfort of the engineering staff. Eighty seconds at maximum velocity and then—nothing. The computer shut down the I-drives just as instructed and Tempest’s momentum slipped away into the darkness of space.
    Nyondo concentrated on her controls. “We’re drifting, Captain. Losing system plane lock, should I correct?”
    “Negative, Lieutenant. Just let her go. We want to look like we’re in trouble—big trouble.”
    Minutes crawled by as the crew watched and waited. Routine chatter was conducted in hushed voices around the edges of the bridge. The hostile ship continued to rake Uritski Station for a brief period, but the rate of fire decreased and then totally stopped. Pettigrew ordered comm officer Davis to begin broadcasting a distress signal, including the ‘fact’ that Tempest’s I-drives had been damaged.
    “They’re thinking it over,” Pettigrew said, sitting in the command chair with hands clasped, fingers interlocked. “They think we’re playing possum, but maybe, just maybe we’re not.”
    Adams looked up from her station. “Playing what?”
    The captain grinned. “Possum, Ms. Adams. A marsupial native to Earth, which has been transplanted to many human worlds. When confronted with a dangerous situation, this animal will feign death to trick an enemy into passing it by.”
    The Commander scrunched her face. “I’m a Tezrinan, sir. I didn’t see a lot of passive wildlife growing up. Most of the animals on my world are too