The Stilettos

ADVENTURER: T-PLUS 8 HOURS 39 MINUTES 
  Thirty-seconds before the Adventurer could jump, the stilettos arrived. They’d traveled 1.8 million kilometers in eighteen minutes with an average velocity 166 kilometers per second. The fire-control systems of the fourteen unmodified missiles concluded they could not engage and sailed on behind the Adventurer. The two modified missiles concluded they could intercept the fleeing Adventurer and fired their terminal engagement systems.  
  The two EMP blasts hit the Adventurer in quick succession. Breakers on the few circuits that they had left on popped and reset causing the systems to reset or restart. Throughout the ship, outside the shielded engineering compartment, electricity arced across exposed metal surfaces causing showers of sparks and arcing as the electricity generated by the burst dissipated throughout the ship. Air in the other spaces ionized leaving a tangy scent of ozone. Most of the ship was so severely damaged already, the effects of the bursts were spent without further ill effects on the ship.

ADVENTURER: T-PLUS 8 HOURS 39 MINUTES 
  “Ty, what was that?” Anderson asked. 
  “The terminal charges of two stilettos. We need to go NOW,” he shouted. “Chief, I don’t know how they did that, but we gotta move hard.” 
  Her hands flew over her console. “You’ve got it,” she shouted back at him. 
  Ty grabbed the flight stick and commanded a one-second level two push out of the engines. The Adventurer surged forward for an instant. He switched to the jump controller, saw that the Beta Hydri was centered in the jump targeting reticle and squeezed the jump trigger. 
  The two penetrators sailed harmlessly behind where the ship had been.


THE AATARR: T-PLUS 8 HOURS 40 MINUTES
  The timer indicating when the missiles should have attacked the Adventurer counted to zero. There were no explosions. The commander deflated then turned to the tactician and asked, “It must have jumped even with those modified missiles. Did we get a Remora notification of a jump?”
  The man’s face at first shook no. Then his face scrunched up in a frown as he stared intently at the displays. “It’s inconclusive sir. Remora sent no jump data from the Adventurer.”
  “What!?”
  The tactician held up a hand to forestall any other comment, ”Yet, there has been a gravity field discontinuity event that indicates they did jump.”
  The commander glanced sharply at the tactician, who replied with a startled shrug. The commander’s neck muscles rippled as he clenched his jaw and fists in an effort to come to terms with the information.
  “This changes things doesn’t it,” the tactician said.
  The commander let out a large sigh, “Most profoundly, I must send a message to the fleet immediately that Republic warships can now jump without Remora knowing about it.”
  He turned to go to his stateroom, completely lost in thought as he began mentally composing a message to fleet command.

IMPERIAL PALACE: T-PLUS 9 HOURS
  The Emperor sat as still as if death had taken him, staring at the display of the last still image they had of the fleeing the Republic ship. No one else in the room dared move or speak as he sat staring at it. He sat at the head of the table showing more emotion than he’d shown in years. His cheeks were flushed, spasmodically he rapped the table with his knuckles. Anger smoldered in his eyes. The rest of the people sat motionless around the table fearing even to breath as they waited for him, or Ramon, to do or say something.
  Ramon himself was outwardly impassive, but inwardly he smoldered too. The escaped ship had caused the death of his latest play thing, the tantalizingly blue-eyed, blue haired Lucretia Alvarando. No one had taken anything from him like that. He was determined to get revenge. The incompetent Jellis had insisted that she be sent out to make the final installations. He’d pay too. Worst of all, now, he’d have to find someone else.
  They all looked in disbelief with their gaze switching from display screen on the wall opposite the Emperor which showed the Adventurer before it jumped away and the order of battle display, with red lines through eleven ships and a yellow line through one denoting the losses and crippled ships respectively. They were mute testimony to the disaster that had played out in real-time before their very eyes. Compounding the disaster was the message from the Aatarr on station in the Sol system warning them of the ship’s ability to jump without triggering a Remora notification.
  Trays of cold, partially eaten and uneaten meals were scattered on the table. They sat with bloodshot eyes and waited.
  The Emperor spoke, “All of you out, except Mr. Mellendes.”
  There were several stifled gasps around the table. The Fleet Admirals looked impassively at each other not daring to betray what they were thinking and not daring to get involved in the exchange between the Emperor and his chief assistant.
  Ramon stood without saying a word as the rest stood and filed out of the room.
  “Yes, Your Highness,” Ramon answered with polished servility after they’d left.
  The Emperor continued, “How do you explain what has happened?”
  Ramon saw his opening. He paused a moment to organize his thoughts and desired outcomes. Then he spoke, “There were three breakdowns and two factors your highness. The first breakdown; our intelligence services underestimated the Adventurer’s resilience to this upgrade of Remora. Testing on the captured asset was clearly inadequate. I fear your Highness, we may need to delay deploying of version two of Remora until we conduct further tests. The second; the commanders of the various vessels involved were lax in their combat discipline in dealing with the Adventurer. The third; the commanders were also lax in utilizing data from Remora.”
  “And the factors?”
  “The commander of this Adventurer was one step ahead of our ships’ commanders throughout the engagement, which was in no small measure now attributable to the fact that he could jump without Remora knowing about it.”
  “And your corrective actions, Mr. Mellendes?”
  “The Ministers of Intelligence and Technology will be called to account for their failures today. The commanders of the ships have paid for their mistakes already. Admiral Bedring’s successor will address the training oversight that has been allowed to occur. We must notify the fleet that this has occurred and that they need to adjust mission plans and operational tempo accordingly.”
  The Emperor nodded. Ramon smiled inwardly, three competitor’s for the Emperor’s ear removed in one action. He felt that despite the losses of ships and men, it was a good day after all. The Emperor held up a hand to keep the man in his place. “I have one more assignment for you.”
  “Yes, your Highness.”
  “Negate this commander who did this today. Find out how this was done. I do not see how the fleet would deploy this capability to an obscure escort vessel first. Contain the spread of this information. Use our resources in the Republic to discredit him where possible or lead us to him if necessary and remove him. It must be done quickly. If the rest of the fleet learns what he knows… Understood? This is a personal assignment I give you.”
  The man bowed obsequiously. He focused his anger at the unknown commander and began to contemplate ways to get to him.
  He answered the Emperor, “My honor sire, is to do your bidding in this matter.”a