Scout Force

by Rodney Smith

  The Colonel turned in his seat, “Stew, set the stage for us.”

  The Intel Commander started. “Ed, the ship you shot up in the Scutum sector is a fairly common, inconspicuous K’Rang interstellar freighter. It’s fast, armed, and innocuous looking. We’ve found similar ships in the vicinity every time an Indigo Consortium freighter made a suspicious visit to planetary systems close to the frontier. We expect this is what you will encounter on your mission.”

  Colonel Kumar said, “Ed, we’ve built a scale model of the K’Rang ship and have been training our platoon to assault this ship. We also have several other common ship models we’ve been training on, but we have concentrated on this model.”

  Colonel Kumar motioned to a Marine in the back of the room and the lights dimmed. The curtains parted to reveal a long window overlooking a mockup of the K’Rang light freighter in a large room. The model hung suspended in the air above the floor and Kelly suspected that the room was an anti-gravity chamber.

  Col Kumar motioned again and the far window panels turned into large monitors. The video appeared to be night vision view from a helmet cam. The view was of a group of people in a small space. Kelly assumed it was the inside of an assault pod. As he looked out into the room, he saw an object move up behind the ship model. It was obviously a mock up of an assault pod and docking collar. The lights went off in the ship. The pod and docking collar came up on the port side.

  Colonel Kumar said, “Captain, at this point you have just employed the EMP device and all unshielded components in the K’Rang ship have just been fried. You will move against the K’Rang ship and the assault collar will extend to lock with the hull. Explosive cutting charges will open a gap into the hull and the assault party will move into the ship, disabling all personnel on board. Because we won’t be able to separate out the courier, we have worked out the procedures to capture all occupants. Major Valicelli, would you take it from here?”

  “The key to taking the ship will be getting the assault party into the ship as soon as possible after the EMP hits them. We need to hit them while they are confused and spread apart in the ship. If they get organized or band together, it will be more difficult and our chances of capturing them all alive will be reduced.”

  The Colonel said, “Ed, you’ll need to have your best helmsman at the controls for this. You’ll need to come in fast, employ the EMP, and come up on the port side, just above the winglets there, to line up with the best spot for breaching the hull. It will be tight, but our simulations show it won’t be that hard. The simulator at Antares Base will be announced as down for maintenance for a few days so your helmsmen can practice.”

  Timmons looked at Kelly and said, “Kelly, that will be your task. Pick our best helmsman and train them to the task.”

  “Aye aye, Captain. Our best helmsman is Petty Officer Samson. She’s not the flashiest, but she is the most consistent.”

  “Excellent, work with her in the simulator. Colonel, I think we’ve got the approach and docking covered.”

  “Good, now if you will watch the monitors. We have cameras in the ship and on the platoon leader.”

  The monitor on the inside camera showed five persons in various locations in the ship. The lights were out and the camera's night vision features were operating, giving the scene a green tint.

  A circle on the port side interior glowed white hot then turned to vapor. The light was so bright it momentarily blanked out the cameras. The Marines rushed into the cabin and all five persons fell to the deck, stunned by disabling energy charges. The Marines expertly secured the five individuals and moved them out of the ship into the assault pod. The assault collar was disconnected and the loose contents of the cabin flew out of the hole into the notional space.

  At this point the assault pod moved away, the lights in the chamber came up, and the Marines disembarked from the assault pod.

  “The colonel said, “What do you think, Captain?”

  “Well, Colonel, it’s quite impressive. I noticed that the occupants of the ship made no attempt to fight back. What happens if they aren’t so cooperative?”

  A voice from the back of the room said calmly, “We don’t require their cooperation. They're coming with us, no matter what they do.”

  Col Kumar motioned the woman in the assault suit to come over and join them.

  “Gentlemen, allow me to introduce 1LT Mary Chen.”

  Kelly swallowed hard. 1LT Chen was gorgeous. She stood about 5’7” and filled out her assault coveralls very well. LCDR Timmons looked over at him with a bemused look on his face. Kelly looked back and just shrugged his shoulders.

  The Colonel said, “1LT Chen is one of our best special operators. I can’t give you any details, but this won’t be her first boarding party action.”

  1LT Chen said, “Gentlemen, I am very good at this type of action. My platoon are all hand-picked and volunteers. I've worked with almost all of them before.”

  Timmons said, “1LT Chen, I wasn’t questioning your competence. I only wanted to know what you would do if the K’Rang decided to put up a fight.”

  “Sir, I and my platoon have trained against every possibility. It makes no difference if the K’Rang resist or not. In fact, if they do it makes our job that much easier. If they resist, we stun them all and bring them back onto your ship. I assure you that if you employ the EMP weapon and quickly move the assault pod into place, we will snatch the courier onto your ship.”

  Timmons and Kelly returned to the spaceport to catch the return flight to Armstrong. 1LT Chen and her platoon would join them at Antares Station in a week’s time. Tammy met them at the top of the ramp and talked to them while the other passengers boarded. Being the senior passengers they boarded last and were off. They both quickly fell asleep and woke up only when wheels touched down on Antares Base. Upon debarking, they realized it was past closing time for the messhall and they hadn’t eaten. They retired to the Officer’s Club and had dinner in the main dining room. They ordered quickly and sipped on their wine while waiting for their meal.

  “Kelly, I know you are going to be sharing your cabin with 1LT Chen, but I wouldn’t recommend making a move on this one. She could probably put you in sick bay real easy.”

  Kelly shook his head. “I knew that was what you were smiling about after she walked into the conference room.”

  The captain was still chuckling when their salads were delivered. They launched into their meals and conversation dried up. They finished up and made their way back to the Vigilant, checked on the ship and crew and turned in for the night.

  The next few days went by quickly. Kelly spent most of it in the simulator with Chief Blankenship, running the helmsmen through their paces. Petty Officer Samson was clearly the most consistent, but Kelly trained all of them on the task. By the end of the week, only seconds separated the best from the worst. They were as ready as Kelly and Chief B could make them.

  At the end of the week, the ship was loaded and ready for patrol. They lifted off from Antares Base on a dreary, rainy day and quickly punched up through the clouds into the sunlight. They were docking at the station within the hour and were met at the airlock by Captain Hasselrode.

  “Ed, Kelly, come on. The admiral wants to see you while the yard is fitting the two modules.”

  Kelly and Timmons followed Hasselrode through the ever more familiar inner corridors to the admiral’s office in space.

  Captain Hasselrode had them wait while he went in first. In a few seconds, he opened the door and motioned them in. 1LT Chen and her Platoon Sergeant, Gunny Smith, were already there.

  The admiral motioned them into chairs. “Glad you're all here now. You’ve all been briefed and trained and ready to go. I just want to impress on you how important your mission is. The K’Rang are up to something. We need to know what it is. The information this courier is supposed to be carrying should let us know what that is. Close the trap quickly. The courier must not be allowed to destroy what he is carrying. Be quick,
be accurate, and leave no evidence behind. It is critical that you leave very little trace of the K’Rang ship behind. 1LT Chen, make sure the antimatter explosive charges are set before you break loose.”

  “Aye aye, sir. We’ll get it done.”

  They left the admiral’s office to return to the Vigilant. On the way they learned that 1LT Chen was in her third year in the Corps and recently returned from a two-year combat tour with the 1st Assault Landing Group. She had been the Midshipman Captain at the Fleet Academy. Her father had been a career Marine NCO and won the Galactic Medal of Honor at the Battle of Taurus, posthumously. Mary Chen was impressive.

  They went on board the Vigilant. Gunny Smith and Chief Watson took off to billet the platoon. Kelly took 1LT Chen to show her where she’d bed down.

  Kelly grabbed one of her bags and told her to follow him into his cabin. “Come on in. That’s your bunk up there. There is stowage here in this cabinet and in the fold down bunk. If you’re shy, privacy won’t be an issue. I’m supposed to be on watch every other six hours. My watches usually go on for longer than that. You’ll have all the privacy you’ll need whenever I’m on watch.”

  “That won’t be a problem for me, sir. In two years in the 1st ALG I got over any notions of modesty.”

  “Great, when I’m not on watch, I sleep. Don’t make a lot of noise and we’ll get along fine. I’ll let Wanda know to set you up on the terminal.”

  “Who is Wanda?”

  Kelly said, “Introduce yourself, Wanda.”

  “Hello, 1LT Chen, welcome to the Vigilant.”

  1LT Chen’s eyes went wide followed by a big smile. “Great, you have your own AI. How are you, Wanda?”

  “I am fine, Lieutenant. I have already set up a partition for your files. Do you have any information you would like me to retrieve for you? You’d best do it now. We don’t have connectivity once we leave port, like the bigger Fleet ships do.”

  “No, thank you, Wanda, not at this time. I have a data pod in my bag. I’ll upload it once I unpack.”

  Kelly looked at 1LT Chen, “I have things to do before we depart. I’ll leave you to unpack and get settled. The head is in there. If you need a shower, I’ll be busy for the next hour. I’ll want to answer some messages before we leave, so I’ll be back in an hour to do that. Until then, the cabin’s all yours. No one will disturb you.”

  “I’ll go check how my platoon is settling in first.”

  Kelly left to get coffee in the galley before walking around for his pre-departure checks. He started in the bridge and worked his way astern. The bridge crew was going over navigation data with Chief Watson and conducting diagnostics on the main systems. The captain was in his cabin. Some of the senior NCOs from the assault platoon were getting settled in with the chiefs. The galley was working up the evening meal. They would eat before departure. Half the crew and half the platoon would eat in the first sitting, the other two halves in the second.

  Kelly checked the two storage bays. The port storage bay had a large cell constructed of metal bars and a small cell. The large cell could hold up to ten, the smaller was enclosed and soundproofed, just large enough for a good-sized man or a medium-sized K’Rang. They would do.

  The Starboard bay was packed with 23 marines and two corpsmen. Petty Officer Kumar was in the middle of them, swapping war stories. 1LT Chen was inspecting to make sure her people had gotten settled in. Kelly motioned Kumar to come on out to let them get sorted out. There would be time enough for acquaintances later. 1LT Chen looked up, saw Kelly motion Kumar out, and gave Kelly a look like “corpsmen will be corpsmen.”

  Kelly continued his inspection. Sensors were squared away as usual. He checked to see that the new EMP control panel was installed properly and functioning. Chief B was there to inform him that she had checked it out personally and it was operating nominally. It couldn’t be tested in space dock, but all indicators were green. They’d never know it would work until they fired it for real. Kelly tried to imagine how they would accomplish this mission if it was a dud.

  The departure was routine and uneventful. The Marines settled in quickly and got into the rhythm of a ship on patrol. They had all spent time on Fleet ships and they knew enough to stay out from under foot. The captain gave them the port storage bay, not devoted to cells, as workout space.

  Kelly stopped in during one of his walks around on watch. LT Chen was engaging in what looked like Tai Chi on steroids. Many of her movements were a blur followed by absolute stillness. It was beautiful to watch. She was wearing a thin black tank top and some very short, form-fitting black shorts. It was definitely not regulation. Her outfit left little to the imagination. He could only imagine its effect on her platoon, both the male and female members. Mary Chen was quite a woman. She was definitely testing his professionalism.

  “How’s it going, LT Chen?”

  She stopped her routine and picked up a towel to wipe her face.

  “My people are ready, sir, almost too ready. How long do you think it will be before we meet up with the courier’s ship?”

  Kelly walked over to the cell and tested the bars. It gave him something to look at other than Mary Chen.

  “We will be near Secundus in another two days. Then it’s up to the Manchu Warrior and the K’Rang courier. If he shows up in the area we’ll know it.”

  “Good. I hate waiting.”

  Two days later, they entered the Fomalhaut system. They parked the Vigilant in the system’s asteroid belt and monitored for the Manchu Warrior’s movement out of Secundus. They waited two days, watching traffic into and out of the system. They checked the registry and background of every ship moving in the system. No ship appeared in any way to be other than what they were supposed to be. None were engaging in any unusual behavior. If there was K’Rang surveillance in anticipation of the Manchu Warrior’s departure, it was very low key.

  The next day, during the second day watch, the Manchu Warrior left Secundus. A large slow ore carrier was no match for the Vigilant. The Vigilant stayed among the asteroids for an hour after it left, scanning. When they found nothing out of the ordinary, the captain put the Vigilant on a parallel course to place them ahead and 300,000 km to starboard of the Manchu Warrior’s path. It wasn’t hard to follow someone when you were faster and knew where they were going. The captain’s plan was to stay well within the Vigilant’s sensor range of the Manchu Warrior, but outside of any one else’s.

  They shadowed the Manchu Warrior, uneventfully, for three days, until it made its first port call at Donaldson in the Altair system. It transferred a load of magnesium to the Crabtree Smelter. It picked up a load of silver ore and moved on to the next stop, Tarsus, in the 6822 system. This time, the Vigilant moved out ahead of the Manchu Warrior and maintained a 300,000 km spacing below it all the way into the 6822 system.

  The Manchu Warrior dropped its load of silver ore at the smelter on the Indigo Consortium’s asteroid in the system’s asteroid belt. It picked up a load of processed silver and moved on.

  This time the Vigilant followed 300,000 km behind the Manchu Warrior. Once again, nothing out of the ordinary happened. The ship stopped in at York Station above the ice planet York. It dropped off a pod of water to replenish the station’s supply, stayed for two days shore leave, then left without taking on any cargo.

  The next port of call was Refugio in the 6633 star cluster in the Serpens Cauda Constellation. It had large platinum deposits and a smelter, so the cargo was predictable. It was also the Manchu Warrior’s closest approach to the frontier. The Vigilant took a position 300,000 km ahead of the path of its quarry and preceded it into the Refugio system.

  The star charts of the constellation and cluster showed the area between Refugio and the frontier to be barren space. If this was where the meet was to take place, there would be no convenient asteroids to hide behind. The Vigilant would have to hide in the star cluster and find something there to use as a vantage point. Kelly put Wanda to work searching the charts.


  The captain called Kelly, Chief Watson, and LT Chen into his ready room.

  “Okay, I think it’s almost show time. LT Chen, if you have any last minute preparations, you should take care of that in the next two days. Chief, get the crew ready for combat. We may not have as easy a time as last time. Kelly, check out the EMP device. If we get jumped out there I want to be able to employ it if necessary. Get with Chief B. Make sure her people are on their toes. We don’t want any surprises. If anyone can find us something to hide near, behind, or under, between this planet and the frontier, I would be most grateful.”

  “I’ve got Wanda working on it, sir. Nothing shows up in the star charts. Maybe we’ll get lucky with some transient cosmic body moving through the area. I don’t know if this system has a Kuiper Belt like Earth’s solar system.”

  “Yes, that would be helpful. A bunch of Pluto-sized ice planets or comets would be useful. That’s all.”

  Chief Watson stayed behind. Kelly and LT Chen left. Kelly returned to the bridge, saw Chief Billings sitting in the starboard bridge command seat. He looked at his watch, realized he had been off watch for two hours and was very tired. He went back to see if Chief B was up. She was.

  “Chief B, start running a diagnostic on the EMP device every watch. I’m going to get some sleep. When I wake up again, I’m going to check all the wiring from the device to the control box and everywhere else it is connected. The captain wants to be damn sure it will work when we need it. We may need to fire it more than once if we get into a scrap.”

  “Aye aye, sir. I’ll put it in the watch log. If you don’t mind the company, I’ll run the wiring with you.”

  “Sure Chief, see you in about six hours.”

  Kelly went back to his quarters. He had lost track of when LT Chen was on and off watch, so he went in as quietly as he could. They had managed to miss each other so far in the patrol.

  She was in. She was asleep and snoring slightly. She was also naked, at least from the waist up. The blanket covered the rest of her. He stripped down to his skivvies and crawled into his bunk. He’d shower when he got up. In a few minutes he was asleep and dreaming about LT Chen.