Spinward Fringe Broadcast 0: Origins

by Randolph Lalonde

  I found I was always researching the crew members, ship systems, our capabilities, and every few hours I had questions for one of my officers. As a former technician I had a place to start, some idea of what I was talking about. As an officer I knew how to point my questions to get the answer as quickly as possible and not distract my crew from the variety of tasks they had to perform.

  The new arrivals were all there because they wanted to be. I could see it, walking the ship as Alice whispered all the crew requests and details that needed to be ironed out. I may have looked like I was inspecting the ship, but I was more interested in seeing how everyone worked together. The trained staff who had just come aboard were more interested in helping the newly enlisted than turning their noses up at them, and I even saw one of our original team show one of the new arrivals a few improvements she had made. The crewman looked pretty surprised and even more impressed.

  When I arrived on the flight deck, where a great deal of fine tuning was being done on the fighters we had been given -- three groups of used but well repaired Valkyrie Interceptors -- Minh-Chu pulled me aside. “Do you know that all these pilots and mechanics are volunteers?” he asked, obviously surprised.

  “From what I understand everyone volunteered. Playbacks of our last few scenarios leaked out while we were busy training here. I think the Admiral actually expected us to pass their test.”

  “Most of these pilots have more flight time than I do, but they listen to everything I say, one is even modifying his ship so it's more like the mods I flew with in the scenes.”

  “Well, that's what happens when you log a few thousand hours in simulations then wipe the floor with the academy instructors on a hacked connection. We're the Fleet's new bad boys. Don't let it go to your head. We have to be better than ever to live through whatever the Admiral has planned for us. Something tells me that she won't be pulling punches just because her daughter is on board.”

  “What do you think she has planned?”

  “Well, we're in a separate battle group in a newly refitted ship. They haven't resurfaced her either, so I'm assuming that our ship looking a lot older than its systems might play into our strategic placement. Whatever it is, I'm thinking it'll lead us into a very dangerous situation pretty early on.”

  “Is it true that we've been refitted as a gunship? The gun crews have been loading ammunition materializers bigger than I saw in the infantry. They got that technology to work just in the last few years. Our cannons will never run out of ammunition as long as there's power for the materializers. How many turrets do we have anyway? I counted at least ten materializers.”

  “The final refit has us loaded with twenty eight rail turrets, and all of them are retractable and hidden, only one beam weapon though.”

  “Why did we only run our drills with eight?”

  “It's the original compliment of cannons for the ship. There were some things we couldn't modify. I also don't think they wanted us to know about it in case we failed the final scenario.”

  “Good point. Well, I know which direction to go if I need cover.” Minh chuckled. “Twenty eight variable-load rail cannons on turrets that never run out of ammunition. I thought these Valkyries were heavily armed for their size. A pair of rail guns, two particle cannons and a rocket launcher with enough room for forty eight missiles. There's even retractable exterior clamps for extra heavy weaponry. I don't think they're outfitting us for espionage.”

  “I know you'll find a way to hide when you have to. Knowing Fleet Command, they'll find a way to use that too.”

  “Well, a small cloaking field on each ship may help. Think you could ask for me?”

  “Put in a requisition. I'll forward it on.” I replied with a grin.

  “Oh, put an extra couple slashes on your collar and you're Fleet's man now, I see how it is.”

  “I'll see what I can do, but a requisition would still help.”

  “Sure, as soon as we get back from whatever Fleet has us doing. I'll ask for energy shields and a cup holder while I'm at it. That way I might get the cup holder.”

  “There's a transmission from Fleet Command Captain and they need you on the bridge,” Alice chimed in so both Minh and I could hear.

  “Looks like things are about to get started.” I said. “Are you ready?”

  “We're fully loaded and just fine tuning. Good luck Captain.” Minh said with a sidelong smile.

  “Good luck Commander.” I stopped at the main hatchway for a moment. “Commander Buu,” I called out.

  “Yes sir.” He shouted in response. It was an image that is still so clear in my mind, him standing there with one hand on the hull of his Valkyrie fighter.

  “May your life be interesting!” I shouted before continuing on to the bridge.

  When I arrived on the bridge I checked the transmission from Fleet Command. Our orders were in and we were out of time. After reviewing them as quickly as possible I forwarded them on to the officers. I knew that within minutes, briefings would begin all over the ship. And I knew we would be greeting the Triad Consortium fleet in our own very special way soon after.

  Chapter 6

  The Defence

  The ship was adrift amidst a field of compressed waste and old hulls that were in queue to be recycled. There was always a heavy trash drift near the station, forever changing shape as different materials were added. With our power plants idle and our systems running on cold capacitors we looked like just another piece of flotsam.

  Hiding in plain sight was a tactic the original team used all the time, one of our specialities, and it made all the new members of Fleet aboard feel like this was somehow familiar. It was no mistake. Fleet Command knew exactly how to put us to good use.

  Minh-Chu and his entire wing of twenty one fighters were individually hidden as well. Looking to the thermal, electromagnetic, and visual scanner results projected in the middle of the bridge, I could see that none of us were emitting detectable levels of energy. There was no way to separate us from the trash.

  I set my command hologram to view the field and it appeared on the main holodisplay. My personal display contained two visual representations of the ship's position, another broader view of the entire combat area, ship system details, communication summaries and the command controls, but everything was much more streamlined. With Alice controlling its functions, she could assist in carrying out my decisions and prioritizing information.

  “Set the main display to the expected arrival coordinates and encompass the starboard side of the station.” I commanded. The ship computer rotated the main holographic image so my viewpoint started at the station's centre and looked out towards the core of the galaxy to the point in space we expected the Paladin to drop out of hyperspace.

  Oz stood beside me, and I looked over the rest of the bridge staff who were reviewing the status of their systems, glancing up at the main hologram in the middle of the bridge occasionally and collectively holding their breath.

  Without thinking I squeezed Jason Everin's shoulder, one of the people who I knew from the simulation team who was qualified as a communications and intelligence officer. “Deep breaths, just keep your mind clear until there's an enemy transmission to decode.” I said quietly.

  “Yes sir,” he replied, trying to disguise his tension with a half smile.

  In the space of a heartbeat our circumstances became very real. The Paladin decelerated out of hyperspace, dispersing the white and red particles that covered the ship during faster than light travel, and appeared in front of the Third Fleet. The Fleet made a hole in its centre for the allied ship to move through. After a few seconds I realized my hands were balled into white-knuckled fists. I shook them open and sat down in the Captain's chair. “Easy, the Triad Fleet should be right behind. Silent running.”

  Seconds passed, then minutes, and hearing Sergeant Everin's console come alive with incoming enemy transmissions was a temporary relief to the tension on the bridge. Too temporary. The digital noise was f
rom the Paladin, the signal that preceded a ship's arrival. I always thought I could hear hints of voices under the signal, but it was a trick of the ear, ghosts our imaginations conjured while trying to make sense of the noise. “Enemy comm. noise.” Jason said as he started working his holographic and key command console with blinding speed. “Decoding. Looks like ninety four layer ten twenty four bit encryption. We'll be unscrambling their transmissions over five minutes behind using the codes we already have to start from.”

  “Just keep working and remember to patch into the station's cypher database as soon as we can start communicating with fleet again. They might be able to provide us with more up-to-date codes.”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Computer, start a countdown on all ship displays coordinated with the arrival counter on my command console and label it 'Triad Arrival.' Base the counter's value on when we first started receiving transmissions.” The count-down started on everyone's display at seventeen seconds, floating just off to the side of whatever task they were doing.

  On the main display I could see the Paladin forming up with the rest of the Third Fleet alongside several other carriers half the size, fifteen destroyers, a five kilometre long command ship, and over a hundred smaller ships. The Paladin began launching wings of fighters and small gunships.

  My eye wandered to the half of Freeground Station I could see on the display represented semi transparently. At the current magnification I couldn't see specifics, only the general shapes of habitat rings, platforms, extensions and construction frames. Even though it was my home and I'd grown up seeing its image it had never looked so beautiful or so fragile. It hung in the darkness like a luminescent metal flower.

  The seconds counted down to zero and the digits disappeared. The Triad Consortium attack fleet appeared right in front of the Freeground Third Battle Group. Both sides opened fire immediately, and even from where we sat we could see flashes of light through the window. The main holographic projection switched to tactical mode and Sergeant Everin looked up from his display.

  The Triad fleet was easily twice the size of our forward defences, and the Third Fleet began a planned retreat to draw them towards the station. The immediate combat status appeared on my personal command screen and I made it too small for anyone else to see. The cost of the engagement was mounting by the second.

  “Wormhole distortion detected! A second enemy fleet is about to arrive!” Sergeant Everin marked the projected arrival point on the main display and returned to deciphering enemy communications.

  “Command expected this. It's why we're here.” I said just as much to myself as to everyone else.

  “The communications we can understand indicate they're pre-plotting fighter launch sequences. There must be more than one carrier coming in.”

  “Nice decrypting Sergeant.”

  The marked point was right between where we were hidden and the station and I stood up, looking at nothing else. Five Triad carriers came out of hyperspace just outside the engagement area. “They don't come light, do they?” I said. “Continue holding, we need to give them time to launch fighters. Recheck the loads on our rail cannons. We'll only get one good shot at this dirty little trick.”

  “Gunners all report one hundred twenty rounds of munition seven loaded. They're ready to switch to piercing and explosive shells after their initial barrage.”

  “Good. Get ready to fire everything on my command.” I could see the first waves of fighters and smaller gunships launching from the Triad carriers and waited for the second group. It came seconds later.

  “Their launch crews certainly are efficient,” Oz said from just behind me.

  “With the credits the Triad has, they're probably all automated.” I said as I watched the third wave launch. “They can probably afford combat androids.”

  “Or they're mass produced genetically altered clones. Messy but effective.”

  I nodded at Oz's supposition. “Just one more wave,” I didn't have to wait long before I saw another mass of fighters and other small ships appear on the main display. “Ahead full! Begin firing sequence and get me a firing solution on the nearest carrier. Prioritize her sensors with the beam weapon, and launch bays with both torpedoes.” I commanded.

  The dead silence that had threatened to smother us was gone. The hum of the ship's systems and burning of the massive ion engines thrusting harder than ever added to my enthusiasm. The bridge crew of fourteen officers were hard at work. “Bring refractive shielding online, and focus our energy shield on the bridge. Be ready to counter-charge the ablative layer of the hull.”

  “We've got to look like a flare on their sensors,” Oz said with a chuckle.

  “If we're lucky it'll be the last thing all those fighter pilots see,” I commented as I watched the orientation of the ship shift as the rail guns pointed towards the groups of enemy fighters, bombers and gunships. We fired our specialized railgun rounds. Munition seven was restricted for a reason; they were micro nukes made to detonate in a long dispersal pattern. In less time than predicted, nine seconds, all the rail guns had fired their one hundred twenty rounds. The deadly projectiles drifted towards the multitude of enemy ships, emitting no detectable radiological, magnetic or thermal signal and too small to track individually on most sensors. They wouldn't do anything against the hull of a carrier, but it would be a different story with fighters and gunships.

  I held my breath as the shells closed the distance between the hundreds of fighters headed towards the station and our fleet.

  The carriers began firing beam weapons at our ship, but our refractive shielding redirected the energy and light components of the beams while our thick ablative hull absorbed the impacts of the tiny charged particles.

  I kept watching the progress of our nuclear shells. I couldn't look away. The enemy ships began turning suddenly. They realized what we had fired, but only too late. I couldn't help but bring my fist down on the arm of my chair as I saw thousands of points of light wipe out or disable all the fighters, bombers and shuttles the carriers had launched. Six waves by the time the shells went off, their entire offensive compliment. I wasn't the only one. Most of the bridge crew couldn't help but cheer momentarily as the bulk of the Triad fighter cover for the engagement was destroyed. All that read on our sensors was a mass of ruined hulls where the small crafts had been. The smallest of the craft had been vaporized.

  The fight was far from over. The Sunspire was headed towards the carrier group, still rotating slowly, giving our rail cannon turrets even access to targets and preventing any overheating. “Prioritize rail cannon fire on any incoming torpedoes or other projectiles. Don't let anything through. Fire the beam weapon at any sensors you can lock onto, we just need to keep them blind long enough to use the nearest carrier as cover.”

  “First torpedoes are away sir.” Tactical reported.

  “Target their weapon emplacements and fire both tubes until we get to one thousand kilometres, then load tube two with a high-focus nuke and hold it. We can deal with any beam weaponry they've got and maybe redirect their fire back at them once we're close enough.”

  The first of the defensive screen of fighters began heading towards us from the nearest carrier and I smiled, flicking a switch on my chair. “Are you still awake out there old friend?”

  “Barely. Need some cover?” replied Minh-Chu. A second later the field of debris behind us lit up as our screen of twenty one fighters came to life and fired their engines to close the short distance between them and the enemy.

  The first wave of enemy fighters was destroyed in seconds thanks to our own squadron and the assistance of our railguns. They had come at us straight on, leaving themselves in the open. It was unlikely the next enemy squad would make the same mistake. Our fighters took up position behind the Sunspire to keep pace and stay out of the way until we needed them.

  As we drew closer to the nearest carrier, its size was becoming apparent. It seemed to stretch on forever to the right and left, ove
r eighteen kilometres long with dozens of beam emplacements and large rail cannons. We were closing on the four hundred kilometre range, and all the beam weapons on our side of the destroyer were firing. Most of them didn't carry any particles, and our twelve layer refractive shielding was redirecting all of it away from the ship.

  There were only two rail cannons left that were large enough to damage us, but that was two too many. “I need those rail guns destroyed.” We were close enough for our next torpedoes to travel so fast that the chance of hitting before the enemy perimeter defences could destroy them were very high, but I had other plans for our torpedo bays at this range, so I opened communications with Minh once more. “Take out those rail cannons,” I commanded, knowing I was sending his wing into the most dangerous zone on that side of the enemy ship.

  I turned to Oz then. “Fire the nuclear torpedo right into their launch bay, set it off deep.” He knew there was no time to argue, we were closing on three hundred kilometres. “Helm, reverse thrust and turn us sideways as soon as the torpedo is away. Take us along her starboard side,” I opened a line to engineering. “How are our power systems holding out?”

  “Generating forty percent of capacity, storage cells are all holding at ninety seven percent. We have enough to run another ship our size.” Ayan replied.

  I was more than a little surprised. “Hull integrity?”

  “No serious damage yet, seems the Triad didn't expect anyone to use refractive shielding since it was phased out a century ago by most corporate outfits.”

  “Can you give me another eight layers? I think it's time we cause some real damage.”

  “Yes sir!”

  I looked to Ensign Fielding and she nodded. “We have enough refractive layers to redirect their beam weapons right back at them sir.”