Spinward Fringe Broadcast 0: Origins

by Randolph Lalonde

  “My kingdom of rice and noodles for energy shields,” Minh said, shaking his head.

  “We're working on it. Some of the technology we just got our hands on while we were rescuing you, combined with the more basic schematics you sent up while you were on the planet, may get us to the point where we just need a few special parts and a week or so in dry dock. For the time being, we reinforced the entire hull by running all the generators as hot as we could and supercharging the hull. As you know, when you supercharge ergranian steel it can increase in size or become more dense. We mixed the energy types so the hull is a few millimetres thicker, a few of the pitted sections have been repaired, and it's a little over seven percent more dense. Being in close orbit around a star helped too. The surface of the hull reacted better than I could have hoped to the heat and light. We should be able to sustain several hits from some of those particle beams, especially since we're abandoning the outer hull during combat until we have energy shielding in place.”

  “That's a lot of work,” Doctor Lang commented.

  “We didn't waste any time. Between developing our own version of the Triad's cloaking suit that we could replicate quickly using materializers and hand made components, reconfiguring the materializers on the outside of the hull to emit a plasma shield, the repairs, building a temporary bridge in the forward engineering section and coordinating your rescue with Alice -- who was a little less than consistent -- we were on four hours of sleep a night or less. It really didn't help that Alice's plans and methods kept on changing, evolving, and at one point all of her safeties were just gone and she didn't care how many people died while she was getting you out. I've never seen an artificial intelligence go rogue like that.”

  “It was a last ditch strategy,” I explained as we ran down the main hall to the forward engineering section.

  “Well, I hate to say it, but we started making real progress after that. The gamble we took by drifting at speed in a deceleration pod wearing nothing but vacsuits to protect us for a few hundred thousand kilometres paid off because of her. We did lose Gavin and Krysta though.”

  “You drifted at speed?” I couldn't imagine moving at thousands of kilometres per second in nothing but a vacsuit. Just hand thrusters to guide your trajectory. Even with a deceleration pod, it was a terrible risk.

  “It was the only way to get to you undetected.”

  The doors to the new bridge parted and I stepped inside.

  All the stations were there. Rudimentary control panels were set up in a circle around the captain's seat, which was very basic. Everyone was using personal holographic command displays instead of interactive holograms. At the front of the nearly empty chamber there was a large holographic projection that displayed the situation graphically and tactically.

  Some of the bridge staff were missing, and I could only assume that they had been killed when the original bridge was destroyed. Jason stepped in to help with communications. Minh took over the pilot's seat after taking in the situation. Oz stood beside Sergeant Ashbey, who was serving as first officer, and I stood beside Doctor Anderson, who was in command.

  “Good to see you on board Captain. You have good timing.”

  “Thank you. How are we doing?”

  “I was just tracking some of the larger escaping ships. It seems someone on the command carrier arranged one hell of a breakout.”

  “That's a long story,” I looked at the holographic display and saw that the Vindyne ships were scattered, but so were the escapees. Many of the ships that had departed early were starting to get picked off by small groups of fighters, small gunships, and Marauder Corvettes. The guns on the Command Carrier weren't firing at all, and the other two smaller carriers were on their way out of the area. "Do you think we could cover them if we gave them a departure route?”

  "We could. There are a few other ships from the planet fighting up here as well. If we gave them a zone to protect, we'd probably save a few of those ships.”

  "Make it happen Acting Captain. You know the situation better than I do at this point.”

  “Yes sir.”

  As Doctor Anderson carried out my orders, sending a broad message to all ships to follow a certain flight path away from the super carrier and towards a small, nearby moon, I took a look at the larger holographic display. There were many ships on their way up from the planet, anything with a weapon on board was coming to assist in the fight.

  “We have Gai-Ian ships reporting in for tactical coordination with us sir. There are dozens of them, some older than our hull,” Jason said from the communication station.

  “Patch anything with a local transponder into our strategical network. Make sure they're all marked friendly and they can see each other as well as the escape route that we've plotted,” I hastily ordered. Jason and the other communications officer started marking the ships and they appeared on the main display. The ships escaping from the super carrier were starting to fall in line along the marked course. “Repeat the message to defend that escape trajectory on all channels every thirty seconds. Once we're in position have all port and starboard side gunners switch to flak rounds, the rest will have to pick off targets with explosive rounds.”

  “Yes sir.” Replied Ensign Stevens from tactical.

  “How are our shields doing?”

  “Refractive shielding is up to twenty eight layers. We're starting to take beam weapons fire from the Marauders, and a little from a gunship but most of it is being refracted back out,” reported Corporal Chavez. She looked nervous.

  “Try to refract the beam fire to enemy targets, but remember, your main objective is keep it from striking our hull.”

  “Yes sir, plasma shielding isn't on line yet.”

  “That's the second time I've heard about plasma shielding,” I said more to myself than anyone else. I brought Ayan up on the communicator. “I don't know how you installed plasma shielding, but is there any chance we could get it on line? There's a destroyer that's turned in our direction. She's twice our size.”

  “We were just about to power up and start the hull emitters, stand by.”

  “We're in position. Switch to the ammunition loads the Captain specified and bring our fighter cover in the line. We want to make sure that any of the enemy ships can't use those transports as cover,” Doc commanded. “Set our trajectory positive nineteen degrees by positive fourteen degrees and slow us down to drift at fifty kilometres per second.”

  The professionalism Doc conducted himself with on the bridge was different from his bedside manner in medical. It spoke of experience and it was hard not to find it intimidating. He was just following my orders, but he was very specific in what he wanted, clear, and didn't leave any loose ends for the crew to guess on or to improvise. As soon as the orders were given, he went back to working with the command hologram in front of him, checking the changing details of our situation, giving orders to stations silently, and projecting different strategies.

  I heard all the power plants in the ship ramp up and run at maximum power for the first time. “The shields are ready sir.” Ayan said, I could hear her grinning. “They're not efficient, but we'll be a much harder target.”

  I brought up an exterior view of the ship on my personal command unit and projected it just in front of me.

  “On your word Captain,” Doc said.

  I could see on the main holographic display that the destroyer -- twice our size -- was closing into firing range. “Flip the switch Doctor,” I ordered, not knowing exactly what to expect. I had never seen anyone use a plasma-based shield before. They were normally in use on older mining vessels to protect them from micro-meteors and other small debris.

  On the small display of the ship exterior I saw our hull materializers begin projecting a plasma field around the ship. They came to life one by one from aft to fore, and when the entire ship was covered, the plasma lit up like a firestorm.

  At first it looked like a roaring inferno, a miniature sun drifting above a line of mi
xed transport, freight and other ships. Then the rudimentary shield projectors focused the energy and the plasma became much denser. The flames were gone, leaving just a transparent blue haze over the First Light.

  The destroyer was almost in range as Doc stepped down. “It's time for you to take your place, Captain.”

  I wordlessly walked over to the command chair and sat down. The command hologram appeared all around me, displaying the tactical view, the statistical view, damage report summaries, power readings, system tolerances, communication highlights and navigational details. It was like I had never left. “Thank you Doctor.”

  “Just keeping it warm for you sir. I'll be in medical.”

  I looked at the disposition of the destroyer and focused in on its transponder information and power readings. It was the Incinerator B31-209. Just over two kilometres long, she had only twenty percent more mass than we did, and that told me a great deal. The rest of the transponder information was locked out and it was headed straight at us.

  It began firing its forward beam emplacements. I looked out to see it through the transparesteel section of the hull and saw nothing but wall, having forgotten that we were in the center of the ship. It was amazing how, even though it was the least efficient way to view a situation, I still wanted to see things through a window.

  “The destroyer will collide with us in the next eighty seconds if we don't increase speed,” Minh said from the helm.

  “Hold until the fifteen second mark, then go to full thrust just long enough to get out of her way.”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Tactical, command all gunners to target the destroyer's broad side with heavy flak load ammunition. We need to tax her energy shields. Minh, turn us so we make a slow pass port to starboard side, we want to give our gunners as much time to hit her shields as we can. Rotate the ship so we can spread whatever damage that destroyer returns to us across the entire hull. Plasma shields need time to regenerate section by section.”

  "How do you know so much about plasma shielding?” Oz asked me as he checked our course and coordinated the fighter groups.

  "It was in the history component of combat engineering in the academy.”

  "History component. I shouldn't have asked.”

  The destroyer seemed just inches away on my exterior display, and Minh fired the engines hard, I could hear the generators behind us groan under the power drain. The First Light turned ninety degrees, bringing us right alongside the enemy destroyer. We began to rotate as the enemy's starboard beam weapons began firing. Our refractive shielding redirected the energy from the beams right back at the Incinerator, and our plasma shields absorbed most of the accelerated particles.

  Our gunners returned fire, throwing millions of rough metal chunks of flak at the enemy ship's shields. The Incinerator had a surprise for us, however. Her torpedo ports opened up, marked with red on my tactical display. I had just enough time to flip the ship wide communicator on. “Brace for impact!”

  All three tubes launched and the torpedoes exploded just as they passed through our shields, causing a massive directed shock wave just centimetres from our hull. The inertial dampeners couldn't handle all of the concussive force and we were shaken so hard that I was nearly dumped out of my seat. Some of the bridge crew were thrown to the floor, including Oz, who rolled back to his feet in a heartbeat.

  “Outer hull breaches from section twenty nine to forty eight, emergency bulkheads are sealing off those sections in the first five decks. We have bowing in several more sections, but the ship's core and two thirds of the outer hull are intact,” Oz reported.

  “Steady! If we don't take care of this bastard he'll be able to kill all the escapees in minutes. Rotate the ship to expose unaffected turrets. Recall all fighters to focus their fire on the shielding on her starboard side. Once we're past, turn us about. Keep us on target!” I watched as my commands were carried out. “Load three turrets with explosive shells. When her shields are overloaded, I want them to target her weapon emplacements.”

  Ayan was on the comm. “We lost two turrets in that blast. Three more gunnery crews have sealed themselves in their compartments to avoid super heated areas of the hull.”

  “Are their guns still running?”

  There was a pause. “They are.”

  “Then tell them to load explosive rounds and target weapon emplacements. Other than that, are we sealed?”

  “We are. The outer hull took all the damage. Other than the gunnery crews, they were supposed to be evacuated.”

  “Good. How much power can you spare for our beam weapon?”

  “Not much, about one point four percent.”

  “What if we cut the engines?”

  “Well, then about twenty percent or more, but that exceeds the beam weapon's maximum load.”

  “Then burn it as hard as you can. Signal tactical when you're ready to switch the power from engines to weaponry.”

  “Affirmative.”

  I watched our ship turn to stay alongside the Incinerator and our fighter groups attack the starboard side shielding as hard as they could. Our own plasma shielding was only mitigating half of the particle damage from the enemy ship's beam weapons. Our hull was marked with long scars as we rotated the ship.

  “Sir! Our dorsal aft shields are down! They hit one of the main materializers dead on!”

  “Keep that section pointed away from them. We'll only survive one more pass here, so let's make it good. Launch standard load torpedoes and get ready to cut the engines.”

  The torpedo bay was ready and I watched as they struck the Incinerator's shielding after closing the distance in seconds. Our forward section took some proximity damage from the explosion, but there were no personnel there during combat. The power reading on their starboard shields finally dropped to zero and started climbing back up very slowly. “Cut the engines!”

  A second later tactical reported. “Engine power has been diverted to--”

  “Cut them to pieces! Fire torpedoes when ready! All gunners switch to explosive rounds and target shield emitters and weapon emplacements.”

  “Do you want the fighters to follow our attack strategy?” Oz asked.

  “No, order them to stay and protect the convoy.”

  “Yes sir.”

  The Incinerator's hull held up to the assault for a few seconds, then started opening up everywhere. Our gunners were targeting their weapon emplacements, shield emitters, and any soft spots they could find while our beam weapon carved five meter wide gaps into their comparatively thin hull.

  “Hail the Incinerator. I think it's time I have a word with her captain.” I waited for an active comm signal and addressed the enemy commander. “You have thirty seconds to signal your surrender,” I closed the channel.

  “Sir the fighter squadrons are reporting that the bulk of the forces are leaving the field. There are still a few Marauders and gunships in the area trying to attack the convoy. They're marked as part of the Incinerator's battle group.”

  “I think the commander on that ship took my demand personally. Bring us about to a forward facing against their starboard side and angle our main deceleration engines to face the open sections of their hull. It's time to break their back.” I opened a channel to Ayan. “Redirect power to our deceleration engines so they fire at just below tolerance.”

  “Jonas, what are you doing?”

  “I'm bringing this to an end before we lose anyone else.”

  “Yes sir.”

  I could tell she didn't approve, but she wasn't looking at the tactical display.

  “Sir, I understand why you want to do this, but weaponizing the forward engines and firing them at this range, that's the kind of thing that could set off a reaction we might not survive. If the stakes were lower I’d be all--” I stood up and interrupted Oz.

  “That's what we have to do to scare off the rest of this destroyer's battle group. If we don't, that ship will eventually out manoeuvre us and she'll have an entire bro
ad side of weaponry to fire. Then her support ships will focus their fire and we'll have no chance of getting out of this alive.

  “Cease firing on the Incinerator. Commence firing on any enemy ships that come in range. Explosive and flak rounds at discretion.” I reopened communications with the Incinerator. “Last chance,” I said, leaving the channel open. I didn't hear anything, not a sound as I counted to ten. I left the channel open as I turned to the pilot. “Fire forward engines, full burn. Stabilize our position with the main thrusters.”

  I watched the exterior view as our engines fired within fifty meters of their starboard side. The heat from our ion engines tore through the openings in the enemy ship's hull, reduced entire sections of the interior to molten, twisted metal, burned through blast doors, and turned anything other than metal to dust or less in seconds. “Reduce aft engines to one quarter and stop firing foreward engines,” I said as I watched what was left of the Incinerator list lifelessly away. She had buckled in the center. Her engines and all other systems went dark, and the power readings on my control console indicated that life support was gone. I could see tiny spikes in power as emergency escape vessels launched from what was left. The reactor in the center of the ship, and a sixth of the interior, had been completely destroyed.

  “The last of the ships have escaped from the super carrier sir, and a corvette is headed after them. She should catch up in under a minute.”

  “Head straight for her, full burn. Start firing weapons as soon as we're in range. Have engineering reinforce our shields if they can.”

  I watched as our ship moved up the line of escaping ships, firing on smaller attackers as we hurtled towards the lone Marauder corvette that had begun pursuing the last of the escapees. I looked to Jason who nodded and hailed the smaller ship. “To the captain of the Marauder, my terms are simple. You will abandon ship in the next sixty seconds or be destroyed. If you set your auto destruct I will ensure that every escape craft you launch is destroyed. If the Marauder is left sabotaged in any way, I will order my fighters to kill every escape vehicle with Vindyne markings,” I closed the channel. “Power up the beam weapon. Ready standard torpedoes and have gunners load flak ammunition. Fire when she's in range.”