In the end, it took nearly two more days, but all the Pirates in the System were either captured or killed. Along the way, DNI interrogations of some of the prisoners uncovered the fact that three more Pirate Freighters were waiting in the next System. Theseus and Loki raced off, with Shanonah lagging. The two Cobras Jumped through to the next System, catching the Pirated Freighters flat footed. None of the Pirates could conceive of a defeat at the hands of the forces available to defend Cotoni, so they were not expecting to be so massively outclassed by these two small ships. By the time FNS Shanonah arrived, the Freighter crews were all morosely drifting in their escape pods, waiting to be picked up.
Four days after that, Theseus, Loki, and Shanonah accompanied by three captured Freighters, arrived back in Cotoni System and began the long journey into Cotoni Station. Colin was relaxing at his Command Station when the Scans started picking up the arrival of a lot of ships at the Jump-Point from Sankarah. When he first saw them, Colin’s heart sank. The crews on both Theseus and Loki were exhausted. Colin wasn’t sure they had it in them to attempt to fight another big battle. Some time later, IDs for the arriving ships began to populate the 3D Situation Indicator, and Colin relaxed again, the arrivals were a large Federation Navy task force.
Chapter 16
As Colin watched the 3D Situation Indicator, he saw four Destroyers detach themselves from the task force and race ahead toward Cotoni Station. A short while later, two more began running toward the group he was escorting in to Cotoni Station. Suddenly, the two coming toward Colin disappeared, only to reappear only about thirty light seconds away. The Comms Panel on Theseus lit up, so Colin accepted the call. An Officer Colin didn’t know was on the other end with a grave look on his face. Colin could see he was a Commodore so saluted and waited.
The other Officer didn’t introduce himself, he only said, “It’s good to see you, safe Commander. You and your two Patrol Boats are required on Cotoni Station soonest. We’ll take over your escort duties here.”
Colin acknowledged the order and then cut the connection before opening one to Loki. When Suzanne came online, he told her about their new orders, then requested Theseus and Loki to sync and fly the profile back to Cotoni Station. When synced, the two ships flew as if they were one, in perfect formation. As soon as they were in formation, the Cobras peeled away from the ships they were escorting, then, when it was safe, went to maximum acceleration. The Commodore blinked as the Cobras flashed away toward Cotoni Station, feeling a slight shaking of his ship as they passed. He could see the formation was impeccable, and the speed, not to mention the maneuverability were unheard of.
On Cotoni Station, Admiral Dalkasan and Admiral Hanadon sat with some other Officers reviewing the Scan-Records from the recent battle. The Pirates seemed to be winning, then suddenly everything turned bad for them. They merely appeared to fall apart with ships being knocked out of the fight far too quickly for it to only be caused by the forces available to Hanadon when the Pirates arrived. Of course, they knew what, and more importantly, who, tipped the balance but try as they might, they could rarely tell exactly where the Cobras were during the battle, only where they had been. They had all seen the reports coming out of Cambridge, but nobody really believed anything this small could be this deadly. Now they all knew, if anything, the reports understated how powerful they were if anything. Dalkasan realized these two little ships would have a good chance of defeating a pair of Destroyers if they were on opposite sides of a conflict.
They were discussing this when Lady Conti swept into the room, looking every inch the Lady and dressed to fit the role she was in right then. Both Admirals rose to greet her, they knew this female had the ear of the Council Chair and was only here to make a point. When everyone settled again, Conti looked at the display and smiled a wicked smile.
She said, “Well Admirals, how do you like the performance of our new Patrol Boat class. Cambridge will be delivering the first two hundred as fast as they can build them. We have also signed contracts for them to do something similar for a new Destroyer class and a new class altogether, even bigger and stronger than a Destroyer.”
The two Admirals stood, completely dumbfounded by the news Conti was conveying to them. Two hundred of these little ships would go a very long way to alleviating the problems the Federation Navy had protecting their citizens. Conti had said “the first two hundred,” which suggested there were plans to build more. The Admirals wondered how they could crew so many new ships. They still hadn’t grasped the small crew sizes required for these Patrol Boats and hadn’t yet understood the implications of the Sixth-Generation AIs the Cobras and Taipans utilized.
As they mulled Conti’s news over, a Commander rushed into the room and said, “Sir, you need to see this, it’s incredible.”
He adjusted the display controls, and the Scan-Data showed the Cobras departing their escort duties with the captured Freighters, forming into a tight formation and moving at unheard of speeds toward Cotoni Station. The formation remained perfect throughout. In the end, the trip from the Freighters to Cotoni Station took less than thirty minutes. It was a journey that would take any of the more conventional ships upwards on six hours. Dalkasan began to see how these little ships were so effective. With speeds like that, and if they could make themselves invisible to Scans, an enemy wouldn’t know where to shoot, and even if he did, they were moving fast enough that very little weapons fire could catch them.
Dalkasan turned to Hanadon and said, “Charkon, I think I would like to have a closer look at those little ships and meet the Captain who is tough enough to stay with Commander Gordon through what we just witnessed. It appears we made the right decision making that human our ally. I think he would be a deadly enemy.”
“Yes Sir, he would be a dangerous enemy, but Commander Gordon is a decent, caring person. If we didn’t want Colin as an active ally, we could’ve simply found a place for him, or helped him to go home. I think either of those options would’ve been a mistake on our part. Every step of the way, Colin has informed the people around him of his intentions and then taken the path he told us he would take. The Commander has already done more for the Federation in the short time since the crew of FNS Destiny picked him up than most people achieve in a lifetime.”
“Yes Charkon, you’re right of course. I’ll admit this much to you now, I had some reservations about Colin Gordon when he first arrived. How do we reward someone like that? What are his triggers? How do we retain the man's commitment? I haven’t spent very much time talking to Commander Gordon. I think that may have been a mistake. It’s time I began to rectify that oversite. Besides, I want a closer look at those Patrol Boats.”
“Yes Admiral, I agree with you, although my impression of Commander Gordon is that he doesn’t care about being noticed by Senior Officers, as long as we let him operate in the best interests of the people he represents. Taking a closer look at those ships should not be too difficult for us. We should give them the courtesy of giving a couple of hours’ notice, though, let them dress appropriately and tidy the ship a little. Those people have just been through several relatively Major battles so it will take them a while to bring everything completely back up to scratch.”
“Tell me Charkon, how much arm twisting did you need to do to convince him to help you when he came here with FNS Destiny?”
“None Sir, I told him what we needed, and Colin agreed immediately, just like that. That’s why we tried to do so much for him after he was injured during the operation. That’s why I sent those recommendations along when we sent him to Sankarah.”
The two Admirals lapsed into silence as they watched the Cobras approach the station and dock. Both were highly impressed by the speed and precision of the docking maneuver. Often, docking could be quite a lengthy process as the pilot gently brought the ship into correct alignment, sometimes requiring them to use the maneuvering thrusters quite extensively. Both the Cobras seemed to barely touch the thrusters, achieving perfect alignment fir
st go without the slightest hint of a wobble or even hesitation. When Admiral Hanadon checked the docking instruments, the interface mating took place with only the slightest kiss, barely registering on the instruments. Hanadon asked his aide to let Theseus and Loki know they would be receiving visits from a couple of Admirals in two hours. On both ships, the Captains looked at the message with some trepidation, knowing Admiral Hanadon was most likely one of the Admirals but wondering who the other might be. Colin immediately ordered his crew to make sure the entire ship was clean and tidy from top to bottom, then called his Command Team together. When Colin explained what was happening, Anne suggested Colin should meet the VIPs when they boarded the ship and give them a guided tour. Anne would take bridge duty with Ensign Wills in the Secondary Command Centre while Colin and Sam would greet the visitors.
Commander Riley was doing much the same on Loki. She had a little longer to prepare because the Admirals were going to visit FNS Theseus first, but Suzanne still set her crew to scrubbing the ship from top to bottom with her Command Staff supervising. In reality, neither of the two crews had very much work to do because both ships were kept spotless anyway. They had four days after capturing the Pirated Freighters to clear away almost all the detritus that tended to accumulate during a battle. All that would be happening now was to make sure nothing was missed.
At the appointed time, Colin was waiting just inside the hatch so when he was notified that the VIPs were approaching, he only needed to step outside onto the Station and invite his guests on board. Everything went as planned, but Colin was very surprised when he saw Admiral Dalkasan was, in fact, one of the VIPs. The Captain and XO snapped off the best salute they could manage. The two Admirals returned the courtesies and Colin invited them, and their retinues on board FNS Theseus where he gave them a tour of his Command, explaining how she was able to move through space so quickly and where Theseus’ incredible maneuverability came from. Along the way, Colin introduced the party to Theseus, the AI, and while he was careful not to divulge all her capabilities, Colin did tell them enough for them to become very interested indeed.
Dalkasan said, “We watched your flight in when you were ordered to the Station, I’d like to complement your pilot on a magnificent piece of flying.”
“Sir, may I speak to you privately about that? I’d like to limit the audience to you and Admiral Hanadon.”
Dalkasan nodded then spoke to his aide, suggesting the rest of them talk to Lieutenant Commander Harland while he had a private chat with Colin. When the others left, Colin led the two Admirals into his office to brief them more fully on his ship’s capabilities.
When the party was inside Colin’s office, with the door firmly closed, he said, “Sir, this ship has a capability that we haven’t advertised at all yet, we’re still trying to understand the full implications ourselves. Fundamentally, the AIs on these ships have the capacity to undergo a process we call Syncing. The AIs on the two ships effectively become one, at least on some level. When they do that, they can fly the two ships as a single entity, at least they can if the ships are close enough together that light lag isn’t a problem. The AIs achieve the Sync by using a couple of high-speed data channels. During our flight in, what you saw was the effect of the Synced AIs flying the ships here on the least time profile. We used the capability during this battle, and during other battles as well. In all cases, this process does far more than just allow you to effectively have a ship that is twice as powerful. Two Synced ships are probably five or six times more effective than a single ship on its own. Quite honestly, even without Syncing, two of these ships are probably three or four times as effective as one ship operating alone.”
Dalkasan said, “So the crew, even the Captain are effectively obsolete?”
“No Sir, most definitely not. The AI does not have quite the amount of original thinking required to be able to fight multiple battles. Also, the ship requires maintenance, and quite a lot of that needs people. We prefer to think of the AI as a very powerful, and useful member of the crew.”
Dalkasan was nodding as Colin said all this. He could clearly see what Colin was trying to tell him. The two Admirals spent the next twenty minutes talking to Theseus, the AI about various aspects of operating and fighting the ship. After the twenty minutes was up, the Admirals looked at each other and Dalkasan nodded.
Hanadon said, “You were right to keep these capabilities quiet Commander. Your ship is magnificent, I’d like to keep her here, but I think you most likely want to go home soon anyway. Accompany us while we inspect Theseus’ sister ship. I’m interested to know if Loki’s AI has a different personality.”
Colin said, “Yes Sir, Theseus, could you ask Loki to make sure the Captain knows not to discuss any capabilities you didn’t hear us talk about in front of the others, at least not in public. Also, inform her we will be with her shortly.”
“Yes Commander, Loki is now aware of your requirements.”
As they rounded up the balance of the Admirals party and headed back towards the docking port, Admiral Hanadon asked, “Do you need anything from us Colin, other than rearming your three ships?”
“Yes Sir, we need as much ordnance as we can carry home. We’ve been using it more quickly than we can replenish our stocks recently and our stocks aren’t as full as they need to be. We’re manufacturing more, but that has been a relatively slow process. Better yet, let me take one of our captured Freighters and load us all up with anything you can spare, that’s if you have enough at least.”
“I think we can do that for you, this is a supply hub for the entire region, so our stocks are extensive. The Freighters are not a problem, do you only want one?”
“I don’t think I can protect more than one Freighter plus FNS Fortitude if we run into trouble on the way home so one would be good Sir.”
They arrived at Loki’s dock to find Commander Riley waiting outside with her XO. She escorted them all to her office near the CCC.
When everyone was comfortably seated, Admiral Dalkasan spoke up saying, “Commander Gordon, Commander Riley, I’ve been watching the Scan-Records of the Battle of Cotoni. Rarely in my career have I seen so many examples of selfless bravery, combined with brilliant tactical planning and execution. Until these two ships entered the fight, the local defense forces were losing badly. It was only a matter of time before they would’ve been defeated in detail. But then you arrived in System with your small convoy. You didn’t hesitate to come to the assistance of the locals, turning the battle from one our people were slowly losing to one that we won convincingly. Captain Nahala has sent a report that says you two and your ships were the deciding factors. You will both be receiving awards, and your crews will be receiving unit citations, once we decide on precisely what we’ll be doing there. Is there anything else we can do to help you, anything either of you wants, or needs?”
Colin looked at Suzanne then said, “Sir, I would like it on record that the tactics we employed during this engagement were almost entirely Commander Riley’s. She took a disparate group of tactical information and forged it into a solid tactical plan that we used to great effect.”
As Colin said this, Suzanne went red with embarrassment. She had never met an Admiral before, now she was sitting in her own office with two of them, and her CO was giving her almost the entire credit for their recent success. Suzanne’s respect for Colin went up several notches, too often a CO would take the credit for a subordinate's good work, but her current CO was handing her credit she didn’t really believe she deserved. At this point, Loki interrupted the meeting to inform the people there that a Patrol Boat had just Jumped in screaming for help on every frequency. There were currently no ships near her, and she was redlining her engines suggesting she was being pursued. The four Officers looked at each other for a second before Admiral Hanadon asked Loki if he could be patched through to the Operations Center. When the connection was made, Hanadon issued orders for four Destroyers to Micro-Jump to a location out near the incoming
Patrol Boat. They were to render whatever assistance the Patrol Boat required. The Admirals took their leave then so after Colin and Suzanne walked them to the exit, he was left alone with her.
Suzanne turned to Colin and said, “Commander, I would like to thank you for giving me credit there. A lot of COs would’ve taken the credit for the plan. You would’ve been with your rights to share credit with me, but you didn’t. Why was that?”
“Simple really, all I did was approve your plan, and it was your idea we carried out. In my time, I’ve seen people who wanted to take credit for someone else's work, hell, I’ve even been the victim of it. I’ve found that when you’re in a leadership position, you need to look after your people. If you take care of them, they’ll take care of you. As well as that, if I took credit for your work, I’d feel like a thief, as if I stole from you. Suzanne, I’m human, and I’m far from perfect, but one thing I am not, is a thief. We’ll talk again soon, for now, though, I need to return to Theseus, in case we’re needed, things are not stable in this System quite yet, I want to be ready if we’re needed.”
Suzanne nodded as Colin turned to head back toward Theseus. When Colin arrived back at his ship, he made a ship wide announcement, telling them how pleased everyone here was with their performance during the recent engagement.
Then Colin decided to add his own words, “Ladies and gentlemen, I could not be prouder of this crew and this ship. During the recent engagement, you all performed with outstanding professionalism and bravery. When we went into the last battle, we were outnumbered badly, I did not hear a single complaint. Nobody shirked their duty, and in the end, we, and FNS Loki were the deciding factor. This has been acknowledged by Captain Nahala who was commanding the force out there. It has been recognized by Admiral Hanadon who is in overall Command in Cotoni System, and it has been recognized by Admiral Dalkasan, who is in Command of the entire Federation Navy. I would also like to acknowledge the part our AI, Theseus, played in all this, without her unique talents and abilities, we would only be a very fast and maneuverable Patrol Boat. Always remember, Theseus is our edge.”
Star Man 2: Star Rise Page 32