by Chris Hechtl
Her shields went down, absorbing and blunting half the damage. Some of the damage was lost to the void, but some ripped and tore at her massive sublight engine thrusters and stern. A lot of the energy ripped at the ship's armor.
However, the battlecruiser was a Tauren ship, and Tauren ships were built tough. They were built with massive layers of armor for just such a contingency. The surface of the port stern of the ship was blazed away by the nuclear fire. With it went grav pods, weapon emplacements, sensors, and communication antenna. But none of the energy managed to get into the angled armor and into the bowels of the ship to gut it.
The ship was shaken harshly however, knocking just about everyone off their feet and doing internal damage just the same.
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“Where the hell did that come from?” Captain Gutt snarled as he picked himself up and got to his bridge station on Black Corsage. “Report!”
“They must have left a booby trap,” Lieutenant Raz said. “We're not seeing any enemy ships on any active sensors,” she reported as she fired on the last of the missile pods. They were spent objects, little threat, but killing them made her feel just a little bit better.
“And you are just the booby to not see it!” the captain growled, coming over to cuff the Satyre. The Satyre winced, ducking away from a second cuff. “Damage report!” the captain roared, turning away from her.
“Dorsal and ventral hits. We have some venting and internal damage. Unknown crew losses at this time,” DCC reported. “We've lost some shield integrity in our stern on both sides as well as all around. Weapon systems …”
“We lost some point defense guns,” Lieutenant Raz admitted. “And some fire control relays,” she said hastily. “We're still checking now.”
“Find whoever did this. I want them to pay for hurting my ship,” the captain hissed.
“Workin' on it, cap'n, sir,” the lieutenant said, bobbing a hasty nob.
“Work faster!” the captain growled.
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Admiral Ishmael swore as he saw the damage reports. Black Corsage had taken two hits, as had Black Death. He was lucky the weapon fire had been distributed across his force and not directed at one ship. Had the weapons fire been more concentrated, or, if the enemy had dropped more than four platforms to attack him, things could have gotten ugly.
Black Death was a Tauren built ship however. She was slow on the helm but had incredible armor, stacked in angles and layers to shrug off such damage and allow her to keep fighting. She'd get her revenge, he vowed, clenching and unclenching his fists.
“Damage control parties are getting what repairs they can do underway, sir,” Captain Baker stated.
“We must be getting close if they leave defenses like this. They obviously know we are here and are trying to slow us down,” Admiral Ishmael growled.
“This will delay our jump by at least a day or more, sir.”
“No. No it won't.”
“Sir, we need to make good on this damage. If we don't and something unforeseen crops up in hyper, we may not be able to address it until we get out. If the enemy is on the other side, we'd be walking into an ambush with damaged ships,” the captain warned.
The admiral grimaced as the shot went home. His ears went back and his jaw worked as he growled and drummed his fingers against his thigh for a moment. Finally, he grunted and nodded once. “Very well. Skip the cosmetics, I understand chicks dig scars,” he drawled. That earned a laugh from the bridge crew. Even the captain cracked a smile at it. “But I want us underway again as soon as possible,” he ordered.
“Aye aye, sir.”
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After the pirates jumped Zeng He moved back in to the jump point. “We've got what we needed, right?” the captain asked.
“Aye sir. No need to pick up the weapon pods, there aren't any left,” Lieutenant Sore Tooth said wryly.
“Good enough. We knew that going in. You got what you needed from the sensors though, right?” Captain Zeb demanded.
“Aye sir. All locked with multiple copies.”
“Good. Nav, plot our course into hyper. We've got a race, and I don't intend to be the one who comes in last,” the captain said.
“Aye, sir. At their observed speed, we'll get there weeks before the enemy does,” the navigator replied.
“Good. It will give our tactical people time to chew on the observations Miss Sore Tooth and Zeng He recorded,” the captain said as his ship readied to jump into hyperspace.
“Sir, should we alert the natives? Let them know it is over?” the comm rating asked.
“Why? We don't know if they'll come back this way. I say let them hide under whatever rock they've found until the pirates are dead or gone for good,” the Veraxin captain replied.
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The liberated Conestoga was fortunate to arrive in Tau-1929 a week after the ships had departed. Low on fuel and provisions, the ship made its way to Samos orbit.
“You had better stay here,” Governor Los said. “You just missed the Horathian fleet. Lucky you.”
“Are you serious?” Captain Trog asked nervously.
“Yes. We went bush; they locked onto the navy ship and passed us by completely. We were lucky,” Governor Los replied.
“Yeah, but perhaps not so lucky for the navy,” Captain Trog said nervously. “I think, to be safe we will go back to Lebynthos,” he said carefully.
“Suit yourself. My money is on the Federation,” Governor Los replied twenty minutes later. “Don't count them out just yet,” he said.
“You know something we don't?” Governor Farnsworth interrupted acidly.
“I see you survived too. Nice, you old crotchety bastard,” Governor Los said mischievously. “To answer your question, I've got faith.”
“Faith he says.”
“Right now, we all need a little bit of that and luck,” the Tauren captain said.
Chapter 44
Tau-1252 Capital
Other changes were afoot in Prometheus as well as the other ships. Lieutenant JG Z'k'th'ss'th was promoted to full lieutenant. The Naga was reluctantly given command of sublight frigate number 5 when the ship was kicked free of the yard for hopefully the last time in a while. Shelby reluctantly allowed the ship to go to the Tau-1929 jump point in favor of one of the other ships that had been on the clock longer. She had other problems to deal with, namely the governor and the civilian population as word finally began to leak of their possible impending doom.
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Fred shook his head as Phoebe reacted to the news of the pirates coming pretty much as he'd expected. His wife was in full flight mode, even trying to pack.
“We're not going anywhere,” he told her again as she ran around the condo throwing things into bags.
“Phoebe!” he said, exasperation in his voice as he stepped in her path. She tried to get around him, but he caught her with one arm and pulled her off her feet to land in front of him.
She began to struggle as he held her. “Let me go! Don't you see! We need to pack! We need to get on the first ship and … and …”
“And what? Run? They'll keep coming after us,” he said gently.
“So …?”
“The commodore said we're not running. We're standing,” he said firmly.
She stared at him, aghast at that. “Can't we run? I mean, why fight at all?” Phoebe terrified, looking at him beseechingly. Fred hugged her.
“But … but …,” she began to sob as fear and terror tore through her.
“Have faith, love. The navy will get it done,” he murmured to her, stroking her back and head as she got some of the fear out.
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Ayumu wrung his stinging hands out. He was proud of himself but even prouder of the navy. He was scared. He didn't know who wasn't and knew that anyone who said they weren't was a liar, but it didn't bother him anymore. He knew they'd come through it.
He had q
uickly completed his apprenticeship in the electronics and had made his way up to Journeyman on the government station before he'd been yanked out and moved to an electronic assembly line. He hadn't known what they were putting together or why the pace was so grim and frantic until the grapevine had dropped the bombshell about the pirates coming for them.
He'd found gears, both mental and physical, that he hadn't known had existed. He had cuts and burns all over his hands from putting parts together, some of his fur was singed by the soldering iron, but he couldn't be more proud of what he was participating in. Proud and scared he thought, but just plain tired he thought with a mental chuckle.
They'd allowed the off-shift team to see a video of the weapon test to show them what they'd been working on. It had been too damn cool for words. He'd cheered when he'd seen the target disintegrate and melt under the fire.
He was seriously considering joining up if they survived.
Surviving his mother's wrath though … that, he was a bit less sure of surviving he thought as he dived back into work.
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Shelby grimaced as she shook hands with the Tauren governor. “I'll be honest,” she said as she motioned for the Tauren to sit across from her. “I've been putting this off, hoping that things would turn out differently,” she said.
“So it is true?” the governor asked. “A pirate fleet is coming here?” she demanded.
“Not a fleet. But a task force. It is led by the enemy's flagship, the Black Death,” Shelby said.
“They'll destroy us. I mean …,” the governor's eyes were wide in fright.
“Not necessarily,” Shelby said as space behind her lit up with weapons fire.
“What is …?” the governor's eyes cut up and over the human's shoulder to look out the large window that ran the length of the room.
Shelby looked over her shoulder. “What? Oh,” she said with a self-depreciating smile as she watched the balls being released into the void. “Gunnery exercise. Our people need practice,” she said. “Killer tomatoes right off. Wow, someone must be in a mood,” she said.
Which was true, she thought. What she didn't mention was that she'd arranged the meeting to happen during the gunnery exercise and had even waved the usual safety codes so it could be easily seen from the window behind her. Usually the exercise was run in the gun range safe from anyone coming around.
The governor wasn't the only one witnessing it she knew. Miss Trejo's branch of Knox News had covered each of the five ship launching ceremonies, and were now on hand to see something a bit more exciting. Undoubtedly it would make the news and growing star system internet.
Which was very good, she thought privately. She needed that when the bombshell was finally dropped publicly.
“Killer tomatoes?” the governor asked, rising from her seat to stand near the crystal-clear wall to look outside.
“The red balls. They are some of the hardest to hit in the void because red blends so easily with black. The further out they are the harder they are to see,” Shelby explained as she rose out of her seat to stand next to the Tauren.
“You aren't running?” the Tauren finally asked.
“Hell no! We just got here!” Shelby snorted. “Besides, we just paid off our lease, remember? We're sticking it out. We don't abandon friends.”
It was a typical gun exercise she knew. Due to the range concerns, it was being held at an angle away from anything important. Even the energy beams on low power could do harsh things to an unwary ship in their line of fire.
Every few minutes someone released a thick skinned two-meter diameter flexible plastic ball with a mix of water and air inside it. The ball was released on the sun side of the ship. In the sun the temperature was up to 300 degrees, boiling the water and air to expand both. If the ball floated into the shade it super cooled and contracted. Red balls were called killer tomatoes since they were harder to see in the depths of space. They therefore had the highest points. The test was almost purely visual so the gunners had to be on top of their game. Under the first layer of plastic was a refractive coating to deflect some of the energy of the weapons.
“Thank you for not abandoning us,” the governor said. “I'm almost wishing you would. Just let us hide … but that isn't what you do, is it?”
“No,” Shelby said slowly. “I honestly thought we'd see a lone ship first, not this,” she admitted with a grimace. “It is a bit to take in even for us. I won't lie to you and say we've got it in the bag, but we are going to make them regret ever stepping foot in this star system. That I can promise you,” she said.
“Thank you for that,” the governor said softly. “For me, for my people, and for all the people they've hurt over the centuries. Thank you.”
“We're just doing our duty, ma'am,” Shelby said as she leaned against the back of the table edge and watched the fireworks with the Tauren.
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Ensign Pan was in charge of overseeing the deployment of the target balls. Getting them out of the airlocks with the suits was a pain in the ass. The crew on the outer hull also took great pains in giving the balls some English as they launched them, sometimes throwing themselves off the hull to be yanked back by their safety straps when they got a bit too eager. There were running bets on whose ball would be the hardest to hit.
Every enlisted and noncom got a shot, the best scores got top billing and some extra perks. Those in the tactical department had to show their proficiency.
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Miss Trejo stared at her new anchor desk and studio. It was awesome, just as she'd envisioned it. Clean modern lines, equipment … plenty of space. She was glad of it. She was even glad to have the sixteen people Nellie had hired to fill some of the roles in the news channel. They still were running in the red. There weren't that many ads, but that was okay. They'd make it up eventually.
It was so unfair that she might lose it all though. Terribly unfair, especially after everything she'd had to sacrifice, all the indignities she'd weathered to get to that point.
There was a slim, ultra-slim chance the navy might pull off the impossible. A miracle. She dealt in reality though; she had to tell it to her audience straight.
Nellie checked her headset and then checked the teleprompters. Not that Rachel needed them, she had her implants.
Oscar swung himself down from the light truss above and then spun his ballcap around as he went behind the number three camera. Nellie scowled at him but he was oblivious. Instead Nellie just shook her head and went to the booth.
Oscar checked to make sure each robotic arm with a camera on the end was ready to go. He gave Rachel a thumbs-up and then cleared out for the booth as well.
Rachel nodded, settling herself. When the light changed to yellow, the final countdown began. When it turned green, she nodded slightly and then smiled her trademark smile. The smile didn't quite reach her eyes however. “Good evening ladies and gentlemen, this is Rachel Trejo of Knox News reporting to you tonight. I bring you grave news. For several weeks, the Federation Navy has been aware of an approaching Horathian pirate task force centered around their flagship approaching this star system. The last report was that the ships had entered the Tau-1929 star system and were on a direct heading to the Tau-1252 jump point.”
She silently counted to five before she continued. “That's the bad news,” Rachel said, adjusting herself slightly. “Now I'm going to tell you what the navy has been doing over the past several months to get ready for their arrival. I have Lieutenant Junior Grade Widgeon Black on,” she said, turning to one side. The cameras switched to a different robotic arm feed to show a different angle. Lieutenant Widgeon Black appeared on the screen. “Lieutenant Black, welcome to Knox News again,” the reporter said.
“Thank you for having me, Rachel,” the black Neolab replied with a polite nod.
“Let's get into it, shall we? Now, we know just about every warship is on its way to the Tau-1929 jump point. What else is going o
n?”
“Well, Rachel, as some of your viewers know, we've been working on defensive works projects for several months now. We've doubled our efforts to get more into space …”
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Ensign Slatterly was in heaven. She'd finally moved into the ONI offices in the naval base and had proper computer support. She only had a couple enlisted for staff, but at least she had the glorious servers to play with.
It had come at something of a cost though, with everyone frantically getting ready for the invasion the A.I. had been retasked to other more pressing duties.
Her own priorities had shifted due to the incoming invasion. She had never been good at processing tactical data however, so she left it to the various tactical departments. She just oversaw the disbursement of the information to all commands.
She did get the occasional call for information about the various ship classes of the enemy, including the Tauren battlecruiser. After the fifth request, she copied all the information and sent that as well to all tactical departments.
She set up her priority list and moved a few things around. Data that was still being crunched was either tabled or processed as is for what nuggets she could glean from them. One of them ended up raising a flag. One of her priority jobs was to find out as much as they could about the enemy commanders. Who they were, their history, their psychology, the works.
Therefore, when some of her back-burner material came forward, she at first ignored it … until she finally broke down and took a quick look so she could file it and put it to bed.
What she found was eye opening. So eye opening she sicced her staff, Boni, and any A.I. in the area looking for any other files while she called a conference with the commodore to report their findings the following morning.
“What is so important that you went nuts about it, Fara?” Shelby asked as she took her seat in the conference room. There were no other senior officers; everyone else was busy.