At their closest, Earth and Jupiter were only about thirty-five light-minutes apart. A mere six hundred thirty million kilometers or so. But that could only happen when both planets were on the same side of the sun and lined up perfectly in their orbits. Even if the two planets had been that close when Dauntless began her hunt, neither of them was going to stay still. Planets had to be intercepted, chased or cut off, as they raced along their orbits. In the case of Jupiter, the gas giant had been moving around the star Sol at better than thirteen kilometers per second since long before the first human raised a wondering gaze to the night sky, and might still be doing so when the last human had gone to whatever fate awaited the species.
In this case, Dauntless faced a long, curving route through space adding up to one and a half light-hours before she would reach Jupiter. She would have to accelerate part of the way, then brake at the end so as not to overshoot her target, reducing her average velocity to about point one six light speed.
“It will take us just under ten hours to get there,” Desjani told Geary. “Which would be fine, except that the guy we’re chasing has a ten-hour head start on us.”
“He can’t have gone as fast as we will,” Geary said.
“No. Even if he could accelerate at the same rate we could, which I seriously doubt, he would have to limit acceleration to keep from compromising his stealth so badly that even the sensors in this star system could spot it. But once we get within a light-hour of that guy, we will be able to see him no matter what.”
Geary settled into his seat on the bridge of Dauntless, gazing at the curving tracks on his display. Two showed brightly, that which Dauntless would follow, and that which was estimated to be the track of the craft they were hunting. Around those two long curves, a crazy quilt of dim arcs marked the projected movements of numerous other spacecraft and natural objects. Some of those arcs were changing as he watched, moving away from the bright line of Dauntless’s vector, marking course changes by spacecraft that had projected Dauntless’s path and wanted to stay well clear of the mad people from the stars and their powerful warship. “What are we going to do when we catch them?” he asked Desjani.
She gave him a puzzled look. “Tell them to turn over our two officers or die.”
“What if they refuse? They’ve got Castries and Yuon as hostages.”
Tanya waved one hand in a nonchalant manner. “And I’ve got a platoon of Marines.”
“You don’t think this might require more… subtlety… than Marines usually employ?”
“Fleet Marines are trained in hostage-rescue ops,” Desjani insisted. “And, personally, I think heavily armed Marines in full battle armor is just the kind of subtle approach this calls for.”
“Tanya,” Geary said carefully, “the people who kidnapped Castries and Yuon will see us coming. We can’t surprise them. We don’t have a stealth-configured shuttle or Marine scout stealth armor.”
She glared at her display. “What approach does the Admiral prefer?”
“There are a lot of local law-enforcement craft near Jupiter. Police, Space Guard, and some specialized investigation and enforcement outfits. A kidnapping falls into the category of routine procedure for them.”
Desjani kept her eyes looking front, but her frown deepened. “We’re supposed to depend on them? It will take them six years just to get bureaucratic clearance to talk to us.”
“If that happens,” Geary said, “we will act.”
She finally looked at him again. “Promise?”
“Yes. But I need to ask them for assistance before we act unilaterally.”
“Fine. We’ll ask, they’ll stall, and we’ll handle things.”
He had a strong suspicion that she was right.
They were six light-minutes from Jupiter, less than an hour’s travel time away, when a symbol popped into existence on the bridge displays. “Got him!” Desjani exulted, adjusting the battle cruiser’s course to achieve a perfect intercept.
“He’s awfully close to Jupiter,” Geary said.
“Yes, but we’ve got him now. We can track him wherever he goes.”
Geary judged the positions of the various law-enforcement spacecraft at or near Jupiter, then decided on a simple broadcast. “This is Admiral Geary on the Alliance battle cruiser Dauntless. We have a solid track on a stealth craft operated by criminals, which is carrying two of our officers who were kidnapped on the surface of Earth. I am attaching our tracking data for your use. I request all possible assistance in intercepting the craft and rescuing our two officers. To the honor of our ancestors,” he added in the formal ending that seemed both necessary and appropriate. “Geary, out.”
He waited impatiently as the minutes crawled by. It would take six minutes for his transmission to be received by the ships near Jupiter, and even though Dauntless was currently closing the distance at a velocity just under point two light speed, it would still take at least five minutes for any answers to cover the distance back to Dauntless. How long would the police and Space Guard ships debate what to do before they replied to him?
As it turned out, he saw the movements of a number of those ships before the replies began coming in. Some were positive, as from Lieutenant Cole of the Sol Space Guard cutter Shadow near Callisto. “We are moving to intercept the criminal vessel. Kidnapping is a crime under Sol System law, no matter the origin of the victim, so this falls under our jurisdiction. We are informing our superiors but require no special approval from our chain of command to take action.”
Others were more cautious, as from Senior Officer Bular on Police Pursuit Craft Twelve of Jovian Orbiting Habitat Sparhawk. “We are moving toward the craft you have identified but have requested clarification from our headquarters. We will require approval from them prior to taking any action against the craft you say is involved in criminal activity.”
And some were along the lines of the reply from Inspector Toyis of the Special Ganymede Bureau of Investigation. “We regret that we are unable to respond to your request at this time. Your request for action has been forwarded to our head office, where it will receive full consideration. You will be notified when our head office has reached a decision. If you are no longer in Sol Star System at that time, our head office will not attempt to forward its decision but will maintain it on file for ten standard solar years. When inquiring about the status of your request, reference Standard Application For Assistance, Forwarding And Consideration Form 15667 Revision Twenty Five, Serial 3476980-554-3651.”
Desjani stared at her display after that message ended, looking as if she didn’t know whether to laugh or be angry. “Admiral, after we finish with the kidnappers, is it all right if we destroy the head office of the Special Ganymede Bureau of Investigation?”
“I’m tempted, but no,” Geary said. “Permission to destroy their head office will probably require some sort of special form, and we can’t hang around waiting for their reply to our application to annihilate them.”
“They probably do have a form for that,” Desjani agreed, then indicated three ships weaving orbits about another moon of Jupiter. “Did you see the reply from these guys?” She tapped a control.
Geary saw a lean, hawk-faced man’s image appear before him. “This is Commander Nkosi of the Special Quarantine Enforcement Division. We are in receipt of your request but are unable to assist. Our orders require us to maintain positions enforcing the quarantine of Europa. No exceptions are authorized. If the criminal craft comes close to one of my ships, we will act if we can do so without leaving our assigned region.”