Paravoid (Rust Bucket Universe)

by Atk. Butterfly

  "What did you give him besides captaining the Dust Bunny and being a marine?" asked George.

  Dave answered, "Well, I put him in charge of recycling for the first two weeks and for his last two weeks, he's in the medical department."

  "Medical?" George exclaimed.

  "Yes, medical. He'll have to examine anyone who reports in there for treatment and assist the doctor in any procedures."

  "You're cruel. Brut gets embarrassed at seeing anyone naked, especially if he has to so much as shake hands. If it was possible for him to blush, I think he'd be red-faced most of the time," George said.

  "That's precisely why I assigned him to medical. I'm trying to help him get over that embarrassment. I think being able to look at anyone who's naked from a clinical point of view will be the best thing for him to learn. He's got everything else down pat. If he can get this part down, he might yet manage to pull into the number one spot at graduation. It's a tight race as usual."

  ***

  The transport swept down into the atmosphere. Aboard her, the five hover artytanks were ready to shoot out of their hatches as soon as the transport reached the proper altitude for those to safely maneuver. Behind the Majel Remm, three fighters followed along practicing defensive techniques. Ahead, another fighter maintained the point to intercept any potential threats coming head on at the transport. The group of ships went in fast and hard until the transport reached the proper altitude. Then one by one, the artytanks popped out of the transport and zoomed off to practice for a while themselves.

  In orbit around the planet, the remainder of the squadron practiced giving high cover to the invasion group below them.

  "Captain, I've got something big on the sensors coming our way."

  Captain Vincent walked over to look at the screen and nodded when he saw it. "Notify the hangar to launch a fighter to investigate that. It appears to be an asteroid."

  "Sir, if that is an asteroid, it's mighty big to register on this screen at that range."

  Vincent said, "Yes, I agree. We still have enough time, it appears, to verify that and then warn rest of ships to take evasive action. Fighter sensor will give us a better image of that object. Notify transport now of possible asteroid hit on planet. It will take them longer to protect themselves."

  "Right sir."

  ***

  "Fighter One to Dust Bunny. Fighter One to Dust Bunny."

  "This is Dust Bunny, Fighter One, we read you."

  "Are you picking up the image on your screens yet?"

  "Affirmative. Is it really that big?"

  "Bigger. It's an asteroid, all right. There's a lot of small stuff coming along with it that's not registering, even at this range. In fact, I'm going to have to move real quick because it's almost to my position."

  Captain Vincent took a microphone and said, "I understand. Take care of your ship and crew first. Squadron will perform evasive action to avoid asteroids. Do not return here. We will be gone."

  "Understood, Dust Bunny. We'll rendezvous with you after you avoid the asteroids."

  "Dust Bunny to Fighter One, affirmative. All squadron ships, this is Captain Vincent. Take asteroid evasion precautions now. Invasion training is cancelled."

  ***

  Admiral Oden looked at the screens on board the Majel Remm. The information was being relayed from the fighter, to the cruiser, to the transport. It was a massive asteroid that they managed to get an image on for a short while. Dave realized that it was nearly as large as the one thrown at the planet Milik five years ago in the Malakin War. He knew that Captain Vincent was making the right decision in canceling the invasion landing practice.

  ***

  "Fighter One to Dust Bunny."

  "Dust Bunny to Fighter One. We read you."

  "The small stuff is scattered a lot more than what shows on the sensors. This field is really wide in all directions. Be prepared to get peppered. I doubt that any of us can manage to avoid all of this mess. It's really a big asteroid field."

  "Understood, Fighter One."

  ***

  "Navigation, have you plotted out asteroid's course? Will it hit this planet?" Captain Vincent asked.

  "I've got it plotted out. It's a miss on this planet. I'm still working out its course to see if it threatens anything inside the Union. Give me another thirty seconds, sir."

  Captain Vincent remained silent, giving the cadet in navigation enough time to make sure of his calculations.

  "Sir, it's going to hit one of the inhabited worlds."

  Vincent asked, "Well, which one?"

  "Echo, sir."

  "Communications, sound man battle stations. Navigation, give helm a course. Put us in range of that asteroid. Notify squadron to continue to evade asteroids. I don't think there is enough room for more than one ship to attack that asteroid," Captain Vincent said quickly.

  The lights inside the ship changed to red. Alarms sounded for a few moments as the communications officer intoned calmly, "Man your battle stations. This is not a drill. Man your battle stations."

  "Captain Vincent to torpedo section. Begin using plot coordinates from navigation to fire torpedoes at large asteroid threat. Missile section, fire missiles at large asteroid threat. All gun stations, prepare to fire on large asteroid when in range."

  "Missile section to Captain. Is the Thunderhead missile to be used, sir?"

  "Is it armed?" Captain Vincent asked.

  "No sir. We don't have any warheads for it."

  "Then do not fire it. Use only missiles with warheads," replied Captain Vincent.

  The Dust Bunny was too large for most of the personnel to notice the slight vibrations as torpedoes and missiles launched from it, unless they were right next to the sections where the weapons were located. Then the vibrations weren't so slight.

  ***

  "Admiral, Dust Bunny is attacking the asteroid. They've ordered the rest of us to continue taking evasive measures."

  Admiral Oden ignored the Majel Remm's captain, who sounded unsure of the situation, and left it to her to decide what she was going to do. This was a training exercise in which the cadets were supposed to put their past training into use. She wasn't learning anything if she didn't make decisions on her own. That was one of the reasons she was in a command position. It was something she needed improvement on. He couldn't influence her decision unless she fell apart completely.

  "Captain Cale, all compartments are secure," came over the intercom.

  The captain looked unsure of herself for a moment and then finally said, "Helm, perform evasive maneuvers as we were instructed to do." She turned and looked at Admiral Oden to see if there was a hint of what he felt about her decision on his face.

  Admiral Oden continued to sit back in the shadows in one of the spare seats. His face remained stony and unreadable leaving it to Captain Cale to make all her own decisions.

  The transport pulled against the gravity of the planet and made progress as its powerful engines kicked in more thrust. Almost abruptly, the transport suddenly revealed that it had legs as it achieved escape velocity and angled up towards space.

  "Helm, take us to the backside of the planet, so we're protected, and put us in a position to take a shot at that asteroid when it goes by," she suddenly said as inspiration hit her.

  Dave couldn't help but smile when he heard her arrive at the best solution to the problem on her own. He decided then that she needed immediate validation of her actions and said, "Well done, Captain."

  He watched her finally begin to relax into the responsibility of being captain for the first time since he'd boarded the Majel Remm.

  "Notify the Dust Bunny of our intent," she then said to her communications officer.

  ***

  Except for the Dust Bunny, with its heavier and more numerous weapon systems, the squadron formed up on the backside of the planet, using it to shield them from the oncoming asteroids. The other ship captains, hearing Captain Cale's notification to the Dust Bunny, realized that s
he had the best idea and followed along. The ships gathered into a formation that would allow each of them to throw the maximum firepower they possessed at the large asteroid when it passed by the planet.

  ***

  On the other side of the planet, the Dust Bunny was still throwing everything it had at the oncoming giant asteroid, scoring hits with great frequency. Still, some of the torpedoes and missiles were destroyed by smaller asteroids in front of the oncoming giant.

  Captain Vincent said, "Helm, put us on a course in front of asteroid and match speed. We will ride ahead of it until we succeed in breaking it up."

  "Yes sir!"

  ***

  The Dust Bunny presented its rear to the asteroid. That kept it from firing all of its weapons at the asteroid, but permitted it to avoid being hit by most of the asteroids in the oncoming field. Only a few small asteroids continued to pepper its hull, but any damage those inflicted was almost negated by the fact that both were travelling in the same direction.

  As the Dust Bunny and the asteroid swept past the planet, the rest of the squadron added in its own firepower at the giant asteroid as the force continued its attempt to break it up. Still, there wasn't enough damage inflicted yet on the asteroid to prevent it from being a major threat to Echo.

  ***

  "Captain Cale, do you have anymore ideas?"

  Captain Cale listened to the radio as other ships' captains came to her for advice after her one moment of inspiration led her to position her ship behind the planet. There were still many small asteroids going by as the Dust Bunny and the large asteroid moved out of visual sight.

  The cadet at her helm said, "Captain, I think I can get us inside the asteroid field once it passes us. We could catch up to that asteroid and shoot at it again from the back side."

  She replied, "Yeah, we'd be going the same direction as the asteroids. I don't guess we'd pick up too much damage. Okay, do it as soon as it clears in front of us." Then Captain Cale picked up a microphone and said, "Majel Remm to squadron ships. We're going to move out when the asteroid field clears enough, turn into it, and chase the asteroid from behind. You're all welcome to join in."

  Once she said that, her relaxed posture became more evident as she realized that she really could command.

  ***

  It was almost an hour later when the asteroids going by were few enough and far between that Captain Cale felt it was safe enough to expose her large ship. When her ship pulled out from the shelter of the planet, the rest of the squadron followed at the same time. Almost immediately, the Majel Remm turned towards the receding asteroid field and picked up enough speed to overtake it.

  Slowly but surely the squadron ships approached the large asteroid from behind in a plate formation that would give them each an angle of fire on the threatening rock. Within another hour the squadron ships were once again in firing range. They each fired at the asteroid as soon as they had clear shots at it.

  It was several hours later when cracks appeared in the large asteroid. The squadron continued to fire at the asteroid to break it up completely into as many smaller pieces as possible.

  A few hours after that, some of the large asteroid veered off onto a new course as the squadron's fire caused pieces to carom off one another and spread out. Their sensors finally told the cadets that the pieces were small enough that they would most likely either miss or burn up on entry into Echo's atmosphere. There was a multitude of cheering on all the ships once that became known.

  ***

  "Dust Bunny to squadron. Well done, squadron. Dust Bunny will outrun asteroid field and then turn for edge and rejoin you at your present position. Helm, proceed to outrun asteroid field and rejoin squadron," Captain Vincent ordered.

  The Dust Bunny kicked itself ahead of the asteroid field, bumping aside a few very small asteroids that caused insignificant damage to the hull in the form of small nicks and dings. Behind it, the rest of the squadron slowed to hold their present position, letting the asteroid field move away from them. Some of the fighters docked on their warships. Two fighters remained outside them to wait for their ship, the Dust Bunny, to return.

  ***

  The Dust Bunny almost reached the edge of the asteroid field before the field caught up to the ship again. It was something that was difficult to estimate. Because of their composition, many of the asteroids didn't show up very well or at all on the sensors until the ship was extremely close to them.

  Captain Vincent, like the rest of the personnel on board, felt the sudden impact of an asteroid on the rear of the cruiser as a rumbling vibration. He and others on the bridge checked their instruments and discovered that one of the engines was damaged enough that they dared not use them. If they did, the cruiser might run out of control rather than going where they wanted it to go. There was even the danger of one engine ripping itself apart and damaging the others, leaving them helplessly adrift in space.

  After determining their condition, Captain Vincent signaled the rest of the squadron. "Dust Bunny to Academy Squadron. We have taken an asteroid hit on an engine. We cannot return at this time."

  Captain Cale instantly replied, "Majel Remm to Dust Bunny. Squadron will proceed to catch up with your ship to assist with repairs." She turned to her crew and said, "Navigation, plot an intercept course to the Dust Bunny and give it to the helm. Proceed when you have the course, helm." Flipping on her transmitter again, she ordered, "Academy Squadron, follow me!"

  For once, Admiral Oden left his seat in the shadows and went over to take a look at the courses and distances involved. He was curious about how long it was going to take to catch up with the damaged fighter-cruiser. He discovered that it was going to be a long chase, taking the next three days at least.

  Out among the ships, the two fighters easily kept up with the warships. Only the need to dock for supplies and rest was a problem, since the fighters were too small to carry everything they needed for deep space patrols. Consequently, they would alternate with some of the fighters inside the fighter-destroyers as the ships proceeded to chase after the damaged Dust Bunny.

  Chapter 6

  Over two days' travel away from the squadron, a passenger ship was being threatened by a pirate, now emboldened into preying upon shipping again, because of the capture of the pirates who killed a crew. Ships' captains wouldn't be afraid of surrendering again, knowing that the pirates they faced would be more reasonable in their treatment of crew and passengers. The passenger ship didn't resist as the pirates matched speeds before a couple of pirates boarded her to take control of the helm.

  "This is the Captain speaking. All passengers are to remain in their staterooms for the time being. We are being boarded by pirates. Do not try to resist the pirates. They will not harm you so long as you do not resist. The Navy has been alerted to our predicament and is sending ships to our rescue. Again, this is the Captain telling you not to resist or attempt any foolish heroics. I have been assured by the pirate captain that no one will be harmed, provided we cooperate for the time being. That is all."

  The pirates made their way directly to the bridge of the space liner and took over the helm, navigation, and communications. They contacted their ship and changed the course of the liner to move it to a location where they would have enough time to rob the passengers and make arrangements for a suitable, untraceable ransom to be paid by the liner company and relatives of the hostages.

  ***

  "Admiral, we just got a message for you from naval headquarters."

  Admiral Oden got up from his seat in the shadows and went over to the communications panel. He looked at the message and said, "Pass it on to the ship captains. They all need to know what we're headed toward. Notify headquarters that we're chasing after a damaged ship and have no other choice than to go that direction."

  "Yes, sir."

  He returned to his seat and wondered how come so many things seemed to be happening on this particular voyage. It was the first time for the space training with more than
one ship and it appeared to be the first time they were involved in far more than one incident. Even as much as one incident before was a rarity. On past voyages, he practically had to go searching for something to give the cadets some chance of adventure and excitement. This particular time, it seemed to be finding them with acute regularity. He was glad that the cadets were as good as they were.

  ***

  The Dust Bunny continued to travel along at high speed through space. Both in and outside the ship, cadets worked feverishly to make repairs on the engine that received the most damage. However, it became apparent after a day of futile efforts that they needed the salvage ship to make the repairs.

  With reason, Captain Vincent was depressed. It was to be expected in someone with his lack of experience. Sergeant Delgado soon heard of his depression from some of the other cadets. She found Captain Vincent in his quarters and asked to talk with him. He invited her in.

  "I understand that you're depressed. Is there anything I can do for you?" she asked.

  "If you could, I would gladly let you. As it is, I will have to face Admiral Oden and admit that I broke his ship. I cannot even fix it. It is my responsibility because it happened while I'm captain. No one else can do that for me," he said.

  "Is that all you're worried about?" she asked.

  "It is not enough? Is there more I should worry about?" he asked.

  "I don't mean that. Besides, you know the admiral fairly well already to know that he's a more than fair man. I guarantee you that he's busted up more than enough ships in his time on the bridge so that you're way behind him on that score. He's not going to be upset," she said.

  "How can you be so sure? I should have ordered us out farther before turning. It is all my fault. Besides, did he not break his ships in combat?"

  She answered, "Well, as far as I remember, he did break most of his ships while in combat, but that's not the point. The point is that you made reasonable decisions and took reasonable precautions. Not only that, but your efforts directly saved a member of the Union from serious destructive forces. I think that more than offsets any damage incurred to this ship. I'd say that you're well into the positive status as far as this goes. You also took every reasonable step afterwards to fix your ship. You don't have a thing to be ashamed of or depressed over."