When Colin finished his ship wide broadcast, Theseus said, “Thank you for the praise just then Captain. It means a lot to me to be acknowledged like that at the same time as you are praising the crew. It indicates you think of me as part of the crew and that pleases me.”
“Theseus, you are part of the crew. But you are also much more. You are the ship that keeps us safe in space and during a battle. You are our friend and our protector. I won’t always verbalize praise for you, but never doubt my appreciation of everything you do for us.”
Later, as Colin walked around FNS Theseus, he could see the crew were proud of their achievements. This ship already had impressive battle honours, and this crew had only added to them. Some of the crew were taking the opportunity to relax, Colin knew they wanted to go onto the Station and stretch their legs a little, and he wanted to give them the opportunity. Colin realized, this ship, and her crew had done their part in defending the System, the crew deserved a break. They would be here for at least another five or six days. Colin went back to his office and asked if the crews of Theseus and Loki could be permitted to have a couple of days to relax on the station. The Station authorities quickly consented, telling Colin the two crews were welcome to unwind on the Station. Colin called his XO in to give him the good news, and a little work setting up the rosters then settled back to think about their trip home.
In the outer System, the Destroyers had linked with the incoming Patrol Boat and relayed her reports from Hikanol. If Hikanol was this bad, then everyone expected Sibmarin to be at least as bad, or worse. The Patrol Boat had been pursued across the System adjacent to Cotoni by five Pirate ships, but he was running fast enough after Down-Jump to be past them before they knew he was there. After that, it became a long stern chase. The Patrol Boat Captain left it for as long as he could before decelerating hard just before entering Jump. He said that when his Boat entered the Jump, the Pirates were not decelerating yet. Colin considered this news, concluding they needed to go out there and deal with the Pirates. He was about to contact Hanadon when his Comms Panel lit up. Colin answered the call to find Hanadon looking back at him.
Hanadon said, “I hate to ask this of you, and I won’t order it, but I would consider it a favour if you could go and do something about those Pirates in the next System. We need to kill or capture them, but by the time we can get our Destroyers there, they’ll be long gone.”
“It’ll take us about an hour or two to undock, but we’ll do it, Sir. Could you station about four Destroyers out near that Jump-Point, please? We’ll see if we can herd them back here. The Destroyers would probably appreciate the target practice. Oh, and tell the Destroyer Captains to check the IFF before shooting, it might be us coming through the Jump-Point.”
Hanadon laughed then replied, “We’ll do all that Colin. I’ll speak to you after you return.”
After the call had been completed, Colin contacted Loki to tell them about the upcoming task. Suzanne just nodded. She is an incredibly brave woman and had no qualms about the mission because she trusted the Cobras, and her CO. Since embarking on this cruise with Commander Gordon, Suzanne had learned so much about how to win a fight while minimizing the risks. She’d learned how to use her ship's strengths, and hide her weaknesses. They all needed a rest, but they were all part of the Federation Navy and had sworn to defend the Federation and its people against all enemies.
Two hours later, both Cobras had undocked and were driving hard for the Jump-Point. As soon as their Jump-Drives were charged and ready, they Micro-Jumped closer to the targeted Jump-Point, just far enough away to let them recharge the Jump-Drives before they reached the Jump-Point. When the two Cobras arrived there, they took up the formation and entered Jump together and as fast as they dared. At the other end, Theseus and Loki exited Jump nearly halfway across the System and immediately began scanning, looking for the Pirates. It didn’t take more than a few hours before both Cobras located the Pirate ships, now running from the Jump-Point the Cobras had entered this System through, towards a second one on the other side of the System. Theseus and Loki carefully laid a third of their missiles directly in the path the Pirates were following and then sat back to wait. The lead ships were only a few kilometres from the missiles when Theseus and Loki fired the engines. The missiles leapt toward the Pirate ships and began bartering down their Shields almost immediately. The Pirate ships tried evading but quickly found themselves being herded toward the Jump-Point they were running from. Try as they might, the Pirates simply couldn’t get any kind of lock on their attackers. Some hours later they were approaching the Jump-Point and made the fateful decision that to make the Jump would be the only way to escape.
When they arrived in Cotoni System, the Pirates found they were outgunned and outclassed by four Destroyers, all of which were targeting them. The Pirates decided surrender was their only palatable option. Not long after the Pirates surrendered, Theseus and Loki arrived back in the System, and after exchanging pleasantries with the CO of the Destroyer flotilla, drove back toward Cotoni Station while the engineering teams carried out some maintenance on the ships. These two Cobras were being worked very hard during this cruise. Theseus’ Chief Engineer, Louisa Cameron paged Colin, asking for a meeting. Colin invited her up to his office. When she arrived, Colin pointed to a seat, then sat nearby, so he was facing her.
Colin asked, “How can I help you, Lieutenant Cameron?”
“Sir, we really need some down time, the sooner, the better. We have nearly thirty percent of our Shield-Nodes are showing signs of imminent failure, and our primary drives are badly in need of realignment. Environmental needs checking as well. Frankly, I’d be surprised if Loki didn’t need a fair amount of maintenance as well. We’ve been working Theseus very hard, we just need to give her some TLC.”
“How long?”
“Sir?”
“How long will you need to do the work?”
“I think a maximum of about seven days, Sir.”
Colin mulled over the news then said, “Okay, do whatever you can to shorten the time, but if you need seven days, I’ll give it to you. The last thing we need is to lose Shields or have the drives fail at a critical time. Can I do anything to help?”
“I don’t think so, Sir. If anything comes to mind, I’ll let you know.”
“Very well, keep me informed Lieutenant.”
Louisa rose and left, heading toward Engineering. As she made her way back, Louisa was much happier. When she requested the meeting, Louisa expected there would be a need to argue her case. Instead, the Captain only asked for the details of what was required and how long it would take. Back in his office, Colin opened a channel with Loki and requested to speak to Captain Riley.
When Suzanne came online, Colin said, “Hello Suzanne. Has your Engineering staff mentioned anything about maintenance requirements for Loki?”
“No Sir, they haven’t said anything. Why?”
“My Chief Engineer contacted me a short while ago to tell me Theseus needed a fair amount of work. Apparently, we have some Shield issues, and the primary drives need realignment. We’ll be staying at Cotoni Station for around seven days before returning home. If you need any work done on Loki, this will be an excellent opportunity.”
“Very well Sir, I’ll let my Engineering staff know. Thank you for the information.”
“We’ll talk again to you after we dock. See ya later.”
After both Cobras had docked, Colin received a message from the Admirals, they wanted to talk to him, and Suzanne as well. He contacted Captain Riley to give her the good news and stopped by Loki’s dock on the way to pick Commander Riley up for the meeting with the two Admirals.
On the way, Suzanne said, “I spoke to my Chief Engineer. You were right Colin, Loki needs some downtime for maintenance as well. We don’t have as many problems as Theseus does, but then, Loki is a much newer ship, and she hasn’t been worked as hard as Theseus yet. Frankly, I’d rather have all our ships in the best shape we can man
age, especially the Cobras.”
“I’d have to agree with you there Suzanne, I want both our Boats in the best possible condition before we go home. Who knows what we’re going to meet along the way. We’ll be taking a big load of munitions back home with us, we’re going to need to protect that load. C’mon, let’s see what the Admirals want with us.”
FNS Hidacki
The Chief Engineer sat in front of Captain Sydnasi as he said, “We’ve done just about all we can here Sir. I’m sorry to say, we’re running short on spare parts for the Shields and Point-Defense turrets. We do have about eighty percent of those systems repaired but can’t do much more, not out here. We need to try for home whenever you’re ready. We just can’t complete our repairs till we reach a good yard, the nearest is at Cotoni Sir.”
“Very well, I’ve been working on some ideas to get out of here anyway. How soon till we can leave?”
“We can leave anytime you like Sir. Just give Engineering the usual amount of notice.”
“If that’s the case, expect we’ll be leaving within twenty-four hours.”
The Chief Engineer rose and left, planning to have his people prepare for departure, so they were ready whenever the Captain was.
FNS Vasta
Captain Silmar Cadapon listened as his department heads related a litany of problems on the ship. The casualty count was far too high when FNS Vasta exited the Jump-Point. Cadapon knew he’d screwed up, and he was aware that if they ever made it home, the ability to command a ship would be most likely to be taken from him. The entire episode was a disaster from beginning to end. The only thing Cadapon could do to improve his reputation a little was to bring Vasta home without any extra damage and without increasing the number of casualties.
Repairs were still ongoing, but they didn’t have the spare parts to restore the ship to anywhere near her full capability. FNS Vasta had lost a lot of Shield-Nodes, and a lot of Point-Defense down one side during the engagement, so they probably couldn’t win against the Pirates if all five ships were still waiting. Sooner or later, Vasta would have to move closer to the Jump-Point to see if they could escape in that direction. The problem Cadapon had right then, though, was that for the first time in his life, he had no idea what to do, worse, he was too proud to ask his staff for ideas, so Vasta would sit there till he decided what was required.
Cotoni System
Colin and Suzanne sat across the dining table, listening while Admiral Dalkasan talked about the problems he faced just then. They both understood the difficulties of protecting all the Federation worlds, there were simply too many of them in total. A lot were relatively young colonies, and they hadn’t yet built up the infrastructure, or the funds to adequately defend themselves.
When he finally wound down, Colin said, “I understand what you mean Sir. I’ve been thinking about the problem for a while now and believe a sizeable force of Cobras will help a lot. The only issue is they don’t really have the capacity for cruises longer than about two months, and even then, with one major engagement, they’ll have to run somewhere for supplies. That problem could be alleviated a lot if the Federation designed and built a fast, Armed Freighter. The intent wouldn’t be to send it in to fight, just to make it costly to attack. If it were over shielded and had insane numbers of Point-Defense turrets, it would be a hard nut to crack, especially if it is accompanied by two, or perhaps four Cobras. You should remember; two Cobras could probably give one of your current Destroyers a run for its money. While we don’t claim to have won the Battle for Cotoni, the Cobras unique capabilities were a potent factor that helped the Federation to victory here.”
Hanadon piped in, “Commander, you might not be claiming the victory, but I can tell you, all the people who know, and that includes the surviving Captains from our local System Defense ships, are saying the battle was lost till you arrived. My Patrol Boat crews are all asking when they can have ships like yours, and I don’t blame them. The simple fact is, the Cobra performance is a game changer.”
Colin had no reply to that statement.
Dalkasan asked, “What is the best way to use these new Patrol Boats of yours?”
Colin looked at Suzanne and nodded, so she replied, “In pairs Sir. As a pair, we can split an enemies fire and their Point-Defense. With our speed and maneuverability, we’re also very hard to hit. Even when an accurate shot is going to hit us, we have very dense Point-Defense capability and a high probability of destroying it. Then if our Point-Defense misses, we have very strong Shields, and they can take a lot of punishment. Sir, these ships will work very well to help defend a System and interdict neighbouring Systems. They will also work well in a fleet support role. Cobras are not well suited to long patrols on their own, but they can be used that way with the right support, or if there are resupply bases along the way.”
Dalkasan had noticed the interplay between the two officers and correctly surmised Commander Gordon was giving his young protege a chance to look good in front of them. The conversation continued for some time along the same vein, with Colin giving them some answers and Suzanne the others. They discussed the technologies used in the new ships, especially the Sixth-Generation AIs and Colin could see they were finally beginning to understand the implications of such a powerful and capable AI in a warship.
As the conversation continued, it turned toward the planned new Destroyers. Colin didn’t know very much about the proposed new Destroyers, or for that matter, Destroyers in general, but he did extrapolate some of the likely capabilities based on his experience with the Cobras and the limited understanding of the capabilities of the Destroyer class. It was clear, that if similar design principles were followed for the new Destroyers as were used when the Taipans and Cobras were developed, the new ships would be the most powerful and deadly in known space. Any two competently handled Cobras could most likely take down a current design Destroyer. The new type would probably be almost as fast, and almost as maneuverable as the Patrol Boats but with much more Point-Defense and significantly stronger Shields. But given the proposed new design was nearly one hundred metres longer than the current Destroyers, it would have more firepower as well.
Colin concluded one of those ships, would be a very hard nut to crack, especially if it was accompanied by some Cobras or Taipans. He thought four would be about the right number. Such a combination would have made short work of the fifteen Pirates that attacked Cotoni System only a week or so ago.
FNS Hidacki
Captain Sydnasi walked around every compartment in his ship, at least every compartment that wasn’t open to space. The crew had done a tremendous job patching his ship up, and Sydnasi was proud of them. Now it was time to take them home, at least, that’s what he hoped to do. When the Captain reached the bridge, he sat in his command chair and ordered the navigation crew to plot a course back to the Jump-Point and then told the Helmsman to lay in the course as soon as it was available. Sydnasi sat back to patiently wait for his people to do their jobs. When Hidacki returned to the Jump-Point, she would be returning ready for a fight and ready for the Pirates they all thought were waiting. Sydnasi had every intention of destroying those Pirates when he found them again. All the crew believed that those four remaining Pirate ships wouldn’t stand a chance against Hidacki.
FNS Hidacki turned in space and started toward the Jump-Point. The Jump engines were charged and as soon as they reached the required velocity, the ship Micro-Jumped to a location near the Jump-Point leading back toward Cotoni. When they exited the Micro-Jump, the Scanners were on full active made, and the Shields immediately began coming up. There were only two Pirate ships at the Jump-Point, waiting to ambush the next unsuspecting ship to transit into the System. Hidacki caught the Pirates flat-footed, and they quickly learned that payback is a bitch as a blizzard of missiles and other ordnance left Hidacki’s launchers. The two Pirate ships were completely obliterated before they could even turn to engage Hidacki. In all, the engagement took less than five minutes. Although t
he Federation vessel looked for survivors while they waited for the Jump-Drives to recharge, there were none to be found. Two hours later, FNS Hidacki slipped into Jump Space, heading home toward Cotoni.
Cotoni System
Colin toured his ship to gauge how the maintenance was progressing. FNS Theseus had been back at Cotoni Station for five days now, but the repairs seemed to be progressing very slowly. The Chief Engineer told Colin they would need an extra day or two to finish the work. Colin didn’t like the news, but understood, the job would take as long as it took, and, if he was honest with himself, Colin wanted the work done correctly.
Suddenly, an announcement came over the Public-Address system, “Captain to the CCC.”
Colin immediately turned and sprinted to answer the call. He knew that Theseus would let the crew there know he was on his way so didn’t bother to manually acknowledge the call. When Colin arrived at the CCC, he found Sue Wills staring at the Scan-Displays.
When he went to look, he asked, “What do you have Ensign?”
“A ship just Jumped into the System, Sir. It’s FNS Hidacki and somethings wrong. I can’t put my finger on it, but she seems to have some problems, she isn’t following the least time course, or at least, she appears to be having trouble turning onto one.”
“Very well Ensign, keep an eye on things while I call someone. Our new Sensors may be picking up things they can’t see yet.”
Colin left the CCC and made his way to the Captain's office. When he arrived there, Colin asked Theseus to contact Admiral Hanadon. Colin told Theseus to let the Admiral know that FNS Hidacki had returned and looked like she was having problems. Once he’d given his instructions, Colin sat back to wait for a response. In the end, Colin only needed to wait about five minutes till Admiral Hanadon returned the call.
Star Man 2: Star Rise Page 33