Star Man 1: Star Bourne

by I. G. Roberts

  By then, we had the communications system all set up, ready to do what we needed, which was for it to begin transmitting our logs in the order I’d chosen, and also to start screaming for help almost as soon as we exited the jump. Navigation was able to predict an expected approximate location of the planets so had done some preliminary profiles we planned to use so we could begin course changes as soon as we entered real space. The burns to affect those course changes would use less than one percent of our available reaction mass which had the potential to save a significant amount later, so I quickly authorised them. As the final hours counted down we all sat, tensely waiting to see what was in store for us. Our final plan was to set FNS Destiny up to perform a slingshot manoeuvre combined with some limited aero braking as we swung around the fourth planet. If we could make this work, we expected to end up on a trajectory allowing us to pass closely and slowly enough to Cotoni Station for us to be able to come to a stop relative to the station with only minimal use of the remaining reaction mass. Our worst case meant we would be traveling slowly enough for the station tugs to snag us as we went past.

  The countdown timer ticked over to zero and the ship gave a slight shudder as we passed back into real space, now in the Cotoni system. The transmitters requesting help began transmitting our pleas almost immediately while Navigation started trying to pin down the exact location of the fourth planet. Seconds later the helm fired the maneuvering thrusters, altering our direction of travel by five degrees to port to put us on a course towards the presumed approximate location of the fourth planet. If Navigation was too far out, we would probably need to make a large course change later but we’d decided making this course change would be worth the risk. The sensors were able to locate Cotoni Station fairly quickly so we immediately began transmitting our logs towards the station using the laser comms. If we found any Naval vessels close enough, we would also transmit the data to them.

  About twenty minutes later, we received an acknowledgment from a patrol boat that started heading in our direction as soon as he received our request for help. Many Patrol boats are not jump capable and did not have the ability to perform subspace communications due to the enormous power requirements both of these functions had. There are Patrol boat classes that are somewhat larger than normal. These boats are in fact jump capable but are generally used for missions such as scouting ahead of a larger force or sometimes to patrol into nearby systems. I requested the communications technician to patch me in so I could compose a message to the Captain of the approaching Patrol boat. I sent a video and voice message to the Patrol boat explaining our predicament. I told them we were being pursued by a vessel we estimated to be somewhat larger than we were. I confirmed it was in fact armed and had fired on us as it pursued. I also told him our intended course to allow him to rendezvous if he decided to. I attached some relevant data, such as scan data of our previous encounters with this particular pirate, to a message packet at the end. I thought he was likely to be at least a few light minutes away from me so didn’t expect any kind of immediate answer. Shortly after I sent the message to the Patrol boat, the subspace receiver lit up. Someone with a lot of available power had received our message and was now wanting some clarification.

  The people who’d opened the subspace channel identified themselves as Cotoni Station Naval Control before requesting us to identify ourselves. I asked the communications technician to transmit FNS Destiny’s Identification codes. About thirty seconds later, they asked to speak to the Captain. This was where things might get a little tricky but I had no choice but to respond so I asked the communications officer to patch me into the subspace channel.

  As soon as the com-tech nodded, I opened the channel and spoke, “Cotoni Station Naval Control, I am Colin Gordon, currently in command of FNS Destiny after all ships officers were either killed or critically wounded while defending the ship against pirate action.”

  I then had the com-tech attach a data packet to my message detailing the current status of every officer. After this message was sent, there was about ten minutes’ silence while the people at the other end digested the information I’d sent to them. While we waited the Patrol Boat acknowledged my message and informed me he would be within a few light seconds of our location within the next thirty minutes. We of course, acknowledged receipt of that message and thanked him for his assistance. I realised this was getting complicated, with me having to keep track of two conversations at the same time.

  Another message came from Cotoni Station Naval Control, “FNS Destiny, this is Cotoni Station, please advise your current status.”

  We’d already prepared a precis of our status so I opened a channel and said, “Cotoni Station, FNS Destiny, current status is as follows, we have a damaged hull though we have been able to close up most of the holes. We are critically low on reaction mass, current course and reasoning follows. We are low on ammunition having only twelve missiles remaining, rail-gun rounds at twenty-six percent capacity. All heavy lasers and all but one, point defence laser are fully operational. Shield capacity is currently at ninety-two percent. We currently have forty-eight captured pirate prisoners in custody, thirty-three other passengers, some rescued from a disabled pirate ship, some rescued from demolished colony on Zafar. Details and names of the people we have rescued plus the other status points are in the attached data packet.” Again, as I finished talking, the com-tech attached the relevant data packet when I finished speaking.

  While I waited for some kind of response from either the Patrol boat or Cotoni Station, I kept a wary eye on both our count down timer and the jump point, waiting to see if our friend was still following us. We estimated the pirate, if he chose to follow us into this system, would down jump one hour and fifty-five minutes after we did. This meant we should know if he was still following us within the next twenty to thirty minutes. Finally, navigation had a fix on the fourth planet and began calculating the necessary additional vector changes. Eventually, they told me their estimate of the fourth planet’s position was accurate enough that we would not need to make additional course changes for at least a day and even then they would only be minor, perhaps as little as only one or two degrees.

  When they replied to our previous messages, both the Patrol boat and Cotoni station re-established communications with us almost simultaneously. The Patrol boat was now close enough to be able to establish near real time communications with us using electromagnetic signals such as laser and radio. Our com-tech thanked them for their assistance and informed them I would be speaking to them shortly, as soon as I finished talking to Cotoni Station. In the meantime, Cotoni Station was giving me instructions on course and speed which closely matched what we were doing anyway so I immediately had the helm implement their instructions. This meant more work for Navigation on FNS Destiny but we needed the station authorities to see we were willing to cooperate. They then asked me if we could patch them through to the Patrol boat so they could effectively communicate with him via subspace. I looked at the com-tech and he nodded so I replied that we could before asking them to stand by while we established the link. A short time later the link was established and Cotoni Station was able to talk directly to the Patrol boat. In short, they asked the Skipper of the Patrol boat what he could see, if he could observe the damage we had described yet.

  He confirmed everything we’d told them, at least the details he could see so they informed him FNS Shanonah, a Destroyer should be with us within about an hour but if necessary, he was to help us to defend ourselves till she could arrive. I started to feel a little more certain I might actually be successful helping the passengers and crew on board FNS Destiny to reach safety, either by transferring them to another ship or at least by surviving till we were eventually able to reach the station ourselves. By our calculations, the pirate would probably only have a maximum of about ten minutes at optimum fighting range before we had heavy duty help in the shape of FNS Shanonah. Of course, in ten minutes, he would still be able to dest
roy us or at least do us a lot of damage if we did nothing at all but of course we would be fighting back, making his life as difficult as we could possibly manage. We might even be able to keep him far enough away to give us a reasonable chance. The timer continued to count down towards our pursuer’s expected emergence time. While we were waiting, I had our com-tech transmit some additional sensor data to the Patrol boat so they would have an idea what to look for.

  I asked Helm and Navigation to work out how to flip the ship end over end so she was facing the opposite direction. They set to work with their calculations while I sat quietly thinking about our progress. The Sensor operators told me that while we were coasting like this, it would take a little time for the pirate to find us after he emerged from jump, because we were not on a direct course to the station and were effectively a hole in space. We could hope he might take one look at what was in the system and turn tail but who knew what he was thinking, I only knew I certainly didn’t.

  Finally, the countdown timer ticked over to zero, no pirate appeared. I found myself hoping this meant he’d given up the chase and gone home but of course that was not to be the case. He’d simply decided to become a little bit more cautious. Fifteen minutes after his expected arrival time, he finally appeared, carrying quite a bit less velocity than we were when we entered the system. Clearly, he’d decided he would poke his nose into the system and have a quick look around before deciding on his next move.

  For some time, he seemed to have some trouble locating us, or at least this seemed to be the case for the first ten minutes because he just coasted in system, on his original trajectory, without any change to velocity. Ultimately, this delay put him well behind the eight ball because it took us further away and bought FNS Shanonah closer. We thought he would be unlikely to be able to destroy us in the time he had left before FNS Shanonah was expected to arrive. He certainly would not be able to escape the system, not if he didn’t turn and run almost immediately. The worst he would be able to do, unless we were very unlucky indeed, would be to inflict some further damage on us. For our part, we had ourselves, our escort and FNS Shanonah on her way. I thought to myself, FNS Destiny might be able to pin yet another pirate, or at least a part of one to her honours list. Still, my preference was for him to turn tail and run, someone else could chase him down if they wanted. I just wanted this cruise over so I could deal with my own problems.

  As we watched the pirate, I idly wondered if the Federation had a custom similar to some militaries on Earth where the crew would paint a symbol or pictogram on their ship or aircraft for each victory against an enemy. On reflection, I thought that would be an interesting thing if people from the Federation did the same thing, it would suggest some commonality between the different people. Finally, our pirate seemed to find us, perhaps we were hard to find, or perhaps he wanted to assure himself he was not in any immediate danger if he decided to come after us. In any case it was over ten minutes before he lit off his main drives and recommenced his pursuit, now on an intercept vector.

  As soon as he did, I contacted the Patrol boat to let him know I was about to turn the ship so we were facing the pirate and able to bring our missiles to bare, as he approached. I took the time to explain to him how this change would allow us to aim our missiles at him as well as set up the rest of our weapons for optimum configuration. The Patrol boat skipper moved his boat away from us a little to give us enough maneuvering room. I gave the order and over the next twelve minutes, FNS Destiny flipped end over end till she was moving tail first through space but now facing towards the pursuing pirate.

  When that manoeuvre was completed, I suggested to the Patrol Boat skipper that he should snuggle in close above the hole in our hull so his, and our shields could overlap and reinforce each other, at least near where he was located. A Patrol Boat is far too small to take on a ship the size of our pursuer on his own so when I contacted him we began working out ways we could combine our firepower to pose a credible threat for the pirate. If FNS Destiny still had even half our missile storage capacity full of missiles, we could have really ruined the pirate’s day all on our own but we were nearly out so we had to come up with other options. I asked Engineering to modify our missile launchers again so the missile engines would not fire when we initially launched our missiles. The missiles themselves were already modified so we could feed targeting data to them before firing the engines remotely.

  As the crew of FNS Destiny had previously done, I wanted to let the missiles drift through space in the pirate’s general direction till he was almost at point blank range then we would fire all of the engines simultaneously. He would have almost no time to react to the threat. We’d made those changes to all twelve of our missiles. Once again, I arranged for the missiles to look to the pirate ship as if they would miss it, even if they managed to detect them. I intended to launch the missiles at the maximum velocity we could achieve without igniting their engines. This would leave them moving away from FNS Destiny towards our pursuer relatively speaking though technically speaking, they would still be moving in the same direction as FNS Destiny relative to the system star though much more slowly.

  The Captain of the Patrol boat and I discussed how we might tackle the pirate and came to an agreement that he would fire a full spread of missiles at a specific time. Close to the time when the Patrol boat’s missiles would be close to ours and nearing the pirate, we intended to fire the engines on ours so suddenly, the pirate would need to shift from only tracking the Patrol boat’s spread of twelve missiles to having to track our additional twelve as well. The patrol boat Captain intended to fire another full spread as quickly as he could so the pirate would be kept fairly busy dealing with all the missiles we threw his way. I was planning to also be firing a constant stream of rail-gun projectiles, the intention being that they would start arriving at the pirate a few minutes before the missiles and would already be causing stress to the shields by the time our missiles arrived and started detonating against them.

  With just a little luck, we would be able to make him bleed, even if only a little bit, though even then, I didn’t think we would be able to stop him completely. Really, I didn’t even think we could convince him to run away from us. I just hoped that perhaps our ordnance might keep him out of optimum firing range for long enough till FNS Shanonah arrived and could get him off our backs. At the appropriate time, I ordered a full spread of eight missiles ejected towards the pirate then the remaining four as soon as the auto-loaders were able to load them into the missile launch tubes. Now all we could do, was to wait till the appropriate time then attempt to turn the pirate’s day into a really bad one. I asked the com-tech to open the subspace channel to Cotoni Station then requested they patch us through to the FNS Shanonah. I wasn’t sure which direction she was coming from, when she would arrive or what she intended to do when she did arrive so I wanted to make sure she was fully aware of where we had ordnance and where it was going.

  A little while later the duty officer on the bridge of FNS Shanonah answered so I told him what we were doing right then and why. I also told him I had no need to know anything at all about what he was doing before he arrived, and I didn’t. As long as he didn’t jump into the path of my weapons, I really did not care where he intended to be. I did not want to have to deal with being directly responsible for the death or even injury of any Federation naval personnel. He acknowledged the information we had given him so now, if anything went wrong, if one of our missiles or rail gun projectiles hit the FNS Shanonah then there was a record that they had been given advance warning so a ‘Blue on Blue’ incident, should I hoped, not occur.

  Once again, we settled in to wait. I noticed our com-tech seemed to be having a quiet little banter going on with someone he apparently knew on the Patrol boat, but it was strictly short range directional comms so I didn’t bother to make a fuss. Later, after our encounter with the pirate was over, he told me he was talking to an old shipmate not that it mattered to me as long as he
did his job. I still had no idea where the FNS Shanonah was or even precisely when she would arrive so I could only hope she arrived early enough that the local authorities would not be picking up the pieces of what was left of us.

  Eventually, the pirate entered the point where we could fire missiles at him at extreme range. I immediately gave the order for the rail guns to open fire. A few minutes later, the Patrol boat fired her first salvo of missiles. Meanwhile, FNS Destiny continued firing rail gun projectiles, with every third one containing a high explosive warhead. These warheads acted a little like the tracer rounds on human built machine guns except that in this case, our indication occurred when the projectile actual hit the target, or its shields and exploded. The Patrol boat fired a second salvo of missiles only a few minutes later then began reloading. These first two salvos would we hoped, draw some blood, but of course we could only wait and see.

  Because of a combination of the physics of the situation, and the Patrol boats better missiles we actually had a slightly longer range than the pirate so by the time he was in a position to fire on us, we expected him to already have his hands full dealing with what we’d sent in his direction. We knew we had weapons free because the Patrol boat had already challenged the pirate when he turned towards us, telling him to identify himself and his intentions or be fired upon. The pirate had chosen to ignore the challenge and refused to communicate with either us or the Patrol boat. We were of course, continuously relaying all of this to Cotoni Station via the subspace communications system for the record. About ten minutes after we started firing, some of our rail gun rounds began impacting on the pirates forward shields. We could see the flares of light as the rounds exploded on hitting the shields. The kinetic energy alone from these rounds was enough to produce a spectacular light show but the rounds with the high explosive warheads were truly a sight to behold. The pirate started to change course so some of our rounds would simply miss but as soon as we saw the change, we adjusted our aim. About then, the pirate reached the optimum location for our missiles so we sent updated targeting data to the missiles and then ignited their engines.