by Chris Hechtl
“We're coming up on point Alpha in five minutes,” Aengus said.
“Your call guns,” Captain S'th said, staring hungrily at the enemy ship. They were coming in on the ship's starboard side, low, at her four o'clock. They would be getting into her passive threshold soon she knew.
“Helm, prepare to execute Alpha One on the tick,” Thelma said as she looked up to the clock on the plot. “Two minutes from … now,” she ordered.
“Alpha One course loaded and ready,” the helm rating replied dutifully.
“Alpha One fire plan enabled,” the tactical officer replied. It was going to take twenty seconds to go from stealth to full battle stations in their present condition. Chief V'x'n had done his best to lower that by pre-charging some of the critical systems, but there was still going to be a lag.
“Helm executing Alpha One!” the helm rating said, kicking the ship over so her port broadside was facing the ship as she also kicked the ship's speed up to get in closer hard and fast.
“Alpha One engagement commencing!” Thelma reported as the systems came up and online one by one.
Belfast clearing for action. Passive thresholds have been met and exceeded. They have us,” Aengus reported.
“Fire!” the captain barked, moving forward in anticipation like a striking hungry cobra.
Her plan had been from the beginning to come in and hit the enemy ship hard in a brief and savage strike. Captain S'th wanted it over before the enemy could hit back. That was the normal thing for any captain to want; they were predators who struck from ambush. The best combat was in the brief savage first volley, killing the opponent before he could hit back.
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“Unknown ship detected nine million kilometers out on our starboard four, headed for us. She's yaw turning … Vampire! Vampire! I say again Vampire! Multiple missiles in space headed for us! ETA thirty point two seconds and counting, mark!” CIC reported.
“What the frack?” Captain Dan demanded, sitting up straight in his bunk. He'd just gone to bed and was a bit bleary.
“Battle stations!” his XO barked over the overhead.
“What the hell is going on?!?” the captain demanded as he untangled himself from his blanket, ripping it in the process. He didn't care; he needed to get to the bridge.
“Defense, Starboard Four! Fire as you bear! All defense guns fire! Get us some speed and get us clear!” the XO said desperately.
The captain caught part of that statement, but the overhead speaker in the corridor was a bit scratchy and intermittent. He jumped over a couple crew men, then went to all fours to bound through the ship. It was undignified, but speed was of the essence he knew.
He managed to get to the lift just as the broadside cut through the startled ship's meager defenses and went off.
An Antelope class destroyer was like a Cutlass class in that it had a boat bay midship that cut across from one flank to the other. It was an obvious weakness, which was why her spine above and below were heavily armored and reinforced.
That didn't protect other points however. An Antelope class was long and thin, not nearly as broad as a Cutlass. The first four missiles tore her shields apart. Two missiles were somehow engaged and destroyed by the point defense lasers midships behind the bridge, but the remaining four got through and hit her. Two hit midships in front of the boat bay and the top tower. The other two hit aft of the midships right in engineering.
The missiles were low-level nukes, designed to maim rather than obliterate a target. Her spine snapped in half, sending her engineering section spinning off into space. The captain's lift car was ejected into space.
Lieutenant Farlee managed to key the scrub sequence into the ship's computers before a piece of debris came off like a scab and ricocheted around the compartment turning it into a meat grinder.
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Marines boarded what was left of the pirate ship. Belfast only had four surviving Marines on board so they'd augmented their numbers with a draft from the sailors. The sailors were not comfortable with the job, but they grimly followed orders when they realized the XO was going over with them as senior officer.
“Not much left of the ship, ma'am. Her fusion reactor and drive are toast as is most of engineering, but you already knew that,” Lieutenant Parker reported from the enemy bridge once it was secure.
“This is a nasty turn of events for them,” Thelma growled, turning to the captain. “I guess we won't be taking it back as a prize.”
“Sucks to be on the receiving end, doesn't it? Good,” Lieutenant Nobe growled in agreement.
“We've got a half a dozen survivors here, ma'am; most are injured. Just about all of them are in shock, and ma'am, they aren't human,” Lieutenant Parker reported.
“Funny no one told us that in our visits,” Captain S'th murmured. “Very well. Get them over here, and we'll brig them.”
“Aye aye, ma’am. I'm doing my best to interrogate them now. One thing, they did manage to purge their databases so we won't get much there. I'll initiate a cabin search for offline databases as well as a compartment check when we've got the manpower. But I wanted to let you know ma'am, one of them mentioned they were headed to a base. Virgin's Holes,” she said.
“That name again,” Captain S'th said.
“Yes, ma’am. Now we know it is linked to a nearby pirate den, ma'am,” Lieutenant Parker replied.
“More than that, we think we know where it is,” Lieutenant Nobe said. All eyes on the bridge turned to the navigator. Ensign Aengus turned the camera that the XO was viewing from to cover the navigator as well. “We've plotted their direction and the ion trails in the area. They all lead here,” she said, pulling up the chart of the star system on the main screen and then showing them a top-down view. A red karat blinked at the edge of the system in a straight-line course from their location. “Based on their course and the ion trails, they were going here. We're running the vector now, but I can tell you know the closest star system is the same one that we noted in the neighboring star system,” she said, using her implants to expand the image to show the neighboring star systems. “If we're right, then they had to be heading here. I can't see that as a coincidence,” the navigator said, looking from the holographic image of the XO to the captain.
“How long will it take you to nail it down fully?” Lieutenant Parker asked.
“Give me a shift to run the sims, check a few things, then double-check my work,” the navigator said. “I want to be sure.”
“Do it,” the captain said with a human style nod.
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Captain S'th went over the data once more the following day. CIC had a high confidence in their determination of where Virgin's Holes star system was. Based on what they had in the Encyclopedia Galactica, there was an M class star there. Lieutenant Nobe had filled in the blanks and was certain they could jump the 6.1 light years fairly easily despite their damage.
It took her an hour to get over her indecision and admit to herself that she was going to take the plunge. The humans had an expression—in for a penny, in for a pound. She knew she was already in trouble for what had happened in the neighboring star system. Scouting the pirate den was a risk, her ship might not survive it, but it might go a ways to get her out of trouble with the Admiralty.
“I've decided we're going to the den,” she announced formally to the senior staff. “I don't make this decision lightly,” she said.
“What about the ship, Captain?”
“Our ship will be fine. I intend to pull everything useful off the pirate ship. Order the prize crew to grab everything. I want DCC parties to pick her clean of anything usable. Have someone who has some ONI experience salvage what we can of their computer databases,” the captain ordered.
“It might help with the repairs,” Chief V'x'n said grudgingly.
“Good. Once she's been picked clean, we'll send her bones on a one-way trip to the sun,” the captain said with a look to Lieutenant
Nobe.
The Neochimp nodded. “A sun scuttle would take weeks, but I feel confident about it, ma'am,” the woman said.
“We should send the bastards who crewed that ship in with it,” Lieutenant Parker growled. She'd seen some of the stuff on that ship. They'd kept trophies, some scalps, some skulls. “We're going to have them aboard … unless we turn them over to the natives,” she said suggestively as she turned to the captain expectantly. The captain signaled a negative. “I thought not.”
“Now now. Let's not get too bloodthirsty,” Thelma teased. “That's my job. Besides, some of them might be useful to ONI eventually,” she said.
“No, lets. By all means, lets. I've seen what some of these buccaneers do. It isn't pretty,” the XO said, shaking her massive head.
“Agreed. The worst of them will be tried and dealt with. But not by us,” the captain said. “Until then we brig them.”
“Are we turning them over to the locals, ma'am?” Chief V'x'n asked.
“No. Tempting, but no. The Admiralty pointed out that could be a problem. The natives might want to administer summary justice, but they'd be exposing themselves. They might even just hold the pirates and then turn them over to the next visiting ship, which would allow them intelligence about us and our operational patterns,” the Naga captain said. “We'll hang onto them. If they want to live, they'll talk and keep talking.”
“Some of them parse out what they know a bit slow for our tastes, ma'am. They know the longer they talk the longer they live,” Aengus said.
“I know. We'll deal with it,” Captain S'th said. She turned to the Veraxin chief engineer. “In the meantime chief, I want that ship picked over and ready to depart within a day.”
“We may not get everything we'd like to get, ma'am. I don't even know if some of the parts are compatible yet,” the Veraxin warned. “We don't even know if they are usable either.”
“Do it fast and dirty. When in doubt, cut it out and sort it later on this end,” the captain ordered. “Make all the exterior repairs you can. You won't get a chance in hyper.”
“Joy,” the Veraxin buzzed. “Make jury-rigged repairs with questionable components to take an unknown jump into a hostile star system. What could go wrong?” he demanded.
“Stow it and get to work,” the captain ordered coldly as she swiveled all six eyes onto the bug.
“Aye aye, ma’am,” the Veraxin buzzed.
“Ma'am, what happens to the intel if we get lost or worse?” Lieutenant Parker asked.
“We are going to update the messenger buoy in this system before we depart with our complete logs and information. Everything. It won't get to the right hands until someone comes around, but it is insurance,” the captain said.
The XO nodded. “And fuel?”
“I think we are okay there. It is just a six-week hop,” Aengus said. “I've run the numbers. We'll need to refuel when we come back here, if we come back here or in the next star system however,” he warned.
“We better hope we don't bring company with us when we do,” the XO said.
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Belfast arrived in the star system five and a half weeks later, far out beyond the normal heliopause and then immediately went into stealth mode. She ran silent and dark, a black void in the infinite void, sucking in information with her passive sensors.
The infinite void wasn't quite a void though. The star system had a thick heliopause and a lot of gas from a nearby nebula that was slowly being sucked in by the star's gravitational forces.
As they crept ever closer into the star system, it wasn't too hard to identify the various craft in the star system, nor the center of all activity which seemed to be an old refueling space station orbiting as Class II gas giant. The station had been used as a trade depot, gambling site, and refuge before the pirates took it over.
“That's another warship, ma'am. And there are some big neutrino signatures out there,” CIC warned. “We have identified it as Black Corsage, ma'am,” the rating reported. “We've so far identified eight other warships in the star system.
Captain S'th realized they had an El Dorado in front of them, but she didn't have the forces to engage the enemy ships let alone invade. It bothered her to leave it behind her, but that was what her ship's job called for, to scout and then get the information back into the hands of others to do something about it.
“We're not going to do anything, ma'am?” Loise asked.
“No. Not at this time. We're not going in deeper, not with that much opposition. We are going to leave a spy satellite, most likely more than one. We're going to remain in silent running and go back the way we came. Make sure sensors plots every ion trail. Get not only a direction but a fingerprint if possible. I want us to jump only when most of the ships and the station are obscured by the planet,” Captain S'th ordered.
“That's a tough call, ma'am; there is a lot of traffic. We can't account for all the eyes in space,” Lieutenant Nobe warned.
“I know. Tell them to do their best. And,” the captain's mandibles flexed, her species version of a grimace. “Have them scan that station with passives. Record at our best resolution. I want everything in the electromagnetic and gravitational rainbow covered.”
“We need to get closer to get more detail, ma'am. Passives suck with this soup around us,” Loise warned.
“Again, tell them to do their best,” the captain said. “ONI can always adjust and overlay the material to build a final picture. They can extrapolate a lot from that, even a 3D model.”
“Do we know what to look for, ma'am?”
“A general layout. I doubt we'll get a map of the interior or headcount, but I'll take guesstimates at this point. I doubt we'll be able to tell what the station was originally, but there is always hope. I'm also interested in any ships currently docked. We'll have to weed out the sheep from the wolves later,” the captain said.
“Yes, ma’am. I guess the ONI spooks will be busy.”
“Definitely,” the captain replied.
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Virgin's Holes
Admiral Ishmael called a meeting of the pirate lords as they got more and more restless. “I be lookin' at the warships they brought with them,” the Neolion growled. He flicked his hands then wiggled his whiskers. “Small fry all,” he growled. That earned a growl from the group. All eyes were on him in anticipation. “I've decided to go after the federation convoy,” he said once the lords had quieted. Thunder wracked Captain Layafette's ears in the chamber as the lords growled and roared, thrusting swords and fists into the air. “We need to hit them, hit them hard, and hit them fast before they dig in somewhere.”
“We be going out as a fleet,” the admiral ordered. He scanned the group. He could see a few reluctant faces. “Be it an order from me, so any who be damaged get their ills fixed now,” he growled.
That made Captain Gutt straighten his shoulders. “I want none to be laggin' behind, but if they be then they be labeled cowards,” the vice admiral snarled, eying the group with his eye.
“Heard that, Gutt?” Captain Patch mocked.
“Stow such banter,” the admiral growled. “We be mates and shed blood together as one,” he growled. “We be leavin' on the mornin' tide. The admiral raised his stein. “The toast is victory!” he growled, hefting the stein then chugging it.
“AR!” the group roared, following suit.
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Twelve hours later Belfast watched warily from her position as her neutrino detector picked up a string of ships on a heading away from the station. “They've got to be departing the star system but in such numbers?” Ensign Sawyer asked, shaking her head. “Someone is in for a world of hurt,” she murmured.
“It looks like just about every warship and most of the support ships have left the base, all headed to another jump point,” CIC reported. “On that heading we project the jump to be to the Tau-49436 star system,” the Veraxin rating reported. “The computer puts the proje
ction at around 59 percent,” the rating added.
“That's a big ship whatever it is. Tauren from the one look we got of her,” the JTO said as she pulled up the images they'd manage to gather from the recon drone they'd snuck in past the base. “Pity it was on the other side of the system so we couldn't get a better look. Do they paint all their ships black?” Loise asked, looking up to shake her head.
“It looks that way,” Aengus said. “With pirate skulls and sculptures on the bow for fun too it seems.”
“Lovely,” Loise drawled.
“It looks like … nope, they did leave someone home to mind the store while they are gone,” Aengus said. “We're picking up fighters launching from the base. They are giving the ships some sort of escort or send-off,” the A.I. reported as fresh icons were painted on the plot.
“I know it's tempting to take that base out now, ma'am, but …,” Thelma shook her head as she turned to the captain.
“I know. I'd like to throw a rock at her, but with those fighters, they'd be able to pick it up and destroy it. Plus, they'd know we're here, which would mean surprise would be spoiled,” the captain said. “No, we wait and watch,” she ordered.
“Aye aye, ma’am,” Thelma replied as she turned back to her station.
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“So now we have a hard fix on this pirate den. Pity we can't do anything now,” the captain said as the senior staff assembled.
“Ma'am, if they are so dangerous, can't we just blow the damn place sky high? To smithereens?” Lieutenant Parker asked. “Just go in, hit them fast and then jump out before they know what hit them? We could hit them with a KEW, and they'd never know it if we set the shot up right,” the Neogorilla implored.
“Tempting, but we know they have more people there as hostages, plus, data on their activities. Our prisoners have let slip about other pirate dens so we know this isn't the only one,” Captain S'th replied.