Star Man 2: Star Rise

by I. G. Roberts

  In the meantime, Keg had a lot less luck. When he arrived outside the Commandants office, he ran into an officious Lieutenant who thought her conversation with her friend about the previous night's dinner was more important than Navy business. When Keg tried to gain the Lieutenants attention, she Jumped to her feet and standing nose to nose with him began screaming in his face, threatening all sorts of dire consequences for him daring to interrupt her. For Kegs part, it was all he could do to stop himself from yawning into her face. When stupid Officers behaved like this, it invariably made him want to go to sleep. The Lieutenant was so loud and obnoxious that the Commandant heard the commotion in her office down the corridor.

  Commander McMillan poked her head out her door to see what the cause of the commotion was. When she saw the Lieutenant Lambasting Keg, Leanne decided it was time to intervene. While Keg was irritating at times, Commander McMillan knew he was never deliberately obnoxious or disrespectful, and if he did ‘interrupt’ the Lieutenant, he would have had an excellent reason. She stepped out, but the Lieutenant was in full flight with her tirade and didn’t notice. The Lieutenant it seemed, was one of those Officers who didn’t think the enlisted personnel were essential. McMillan made a note to put an annotation on the Lieutenant’s file about it and arrange some counseling for her. The Commandant moved closer till finally the Lieutenant noticed her and stuttered to a halt, her face turning even more red as she did so. For his part, Keg hadn’t said a word and was only standing there with a mildly bored look on her face.

  McMillan said, “Lieutenant, I will talk to you later. Now, go calm yourself down. Mr. Gibson, you come with me.”

  Both the Lieutenant and Keg, simultaneously replied, “Yes ma’am.”

  Keg followed the Commandant into her office where she asked him what the ‘discussion’ was about. Keg was a little uncomfortable because he wasn’t the type to tell tales, but he really didn’t have a choice. He relayed his reason for coming to the Commandants office and admitted that he did interrupt the Lieutenant when she was in the middle of a conversation, though he was trying to be respectful when he did so. Leanne went and asked her staff to find the notification that should’ve been received. Twenty minutes later, it was discovered in the bottom of the Lieutenant’s In-Tray.

  If nothing else, Leanne McMillan was a good Commanding Officer, so she set two of her staff to making the necessary arrangements.

  In the end, with the Ensign and his two offsiders, and some help from Commander McMillan’s people, Wheelers project was up and running in less than twenty-four hours. Dave and Keg both quickly realized that the supplies, a lot of supplies were being moved off planet. The information they had was quite vague, but a lot of materiel was being moved to places called alpha through to gamma. They didn’t know where any of these places were, and beyond the usual curiosity, didn’t care. They both knew what this was about and they both approved. Dave found himself wishing he was out there, ready to fight if someone came knocking on the door. Since being brought to Cambridge, he had found a few friends and in turn developed an attachment to this society.

  Chapter 19

  FNS Magni

  Kirkor Wolf was in a sound sleep when he was woken by the Duty Officer. At first, he felt annoyed, but he quickly brought that under control, there was no point in being angry, the call wouldn’t have been made without good reason. Wolf made his way out to his office where the NCO in charge of his Troopers was waiting.

  When Wolf asked the Trooper what he wanted the reply was, “They’re going to Cambridge. The bastards are going to try to overwhelm our defenses, and I don’t think the System will be able to stop them.”

  Wolf stared at the Trooper for a minute then said, “Magni, patch me through on secure Comms to Captain Camon on Kurama please.”

  When Captain Camon came on the line, Wolf said, “Lani, I know where they’re going. They’re going to Cambridge. We need to find help. I don’t think Cambridge could stand up to this, especially not if they hit both our Jump-Points simultaneously.”

  “My analysts have come to the same conclusion Kirkor. We must make a fast run for Cotoni as soon as we can. We must seek help. Our two ships will not make much difference for the people of Cambridge. We will go there of course, but first, we must follow through with our plan and go to Cotoni.”

  “You’re right of course Lani. Once the last of them is gone from here, we do a speed run to Cotoni. The Pirates won’t enter Cambridge for at least two weeks. We can be in Cotoni in about five days.”

  FNS Theseus

  Colin watched his Scanners as the last of his little convoy Jumped into the System. He was going back to Cambridge in a much better frame of mind than he had any right to expect. When they left Cambridge, the hope was they could load Fortitude up with whatever munitions would fit on her and bring those back. Now, as frustrating as the slow progress was, it was worth it in Colin’s mind because they had a Super Freighter loaded with munitions in addition to Fortitude and they had two Destroyers as well. All Colin needed to do now was to make it safely back to Cambridge with their riches intact.

  Anne entered the CCC and said, “It’s quiet, Sir, perhaps too quiet, like the lull before the storm.”

  “Yes Lieutenant, I’ve got that itchy feeling between my shoulder blades. For a while, I put it down to the value of our convoy, but I’m beginning to think differently now. Theseus, when we enter a System between here and Cambridge, we need to be entering Jump at one percent above the theoretical maximum. Now we’re underway, the Super Freighter can manage that. Could you transmit this to the other ships, please? Do it now because I’m expecting some argument over my choice here.”

  FNS Dolarsu

  Captain Daron looked at the order that just came through from FNS Theseus and shook his head. Daron had heard that Commander Gordon tended to think outside the square. This, in Daron’s opinion, was plain dangerous. He decided to try to talk some sense into Commander Gordon before someone died from this madness. When the Comms channel opened, Commander Daron went through the usual pleasantries.

  Before he could launch into an attempt to change Colin’s mind, Colin said, “I wondered who would be the first to protest my orders. Before we go any further, let me ask you these two questions. First, do you know why I’ve issued the order to enter Jump at one percent above the theoretical maximum? The second question is, have you ever read any of the reports from the various studies into Jump physics.”

  “No, Sir, the answer is no to both those questions.”

  “Well Captain, let me explain. On multiple occasions, we have Down-Jumped into a System to be confronted by a mine field or waiting Pirate ships. In case you don’t know, mines are an insidious weapon that can be placed somewhere, and if a ship comes too close they explode, perhaps damaging or even destroying the ship. Even your Destroyer would struggle if you blundered into a minefield. Individually, mines are a very inexpensive weapon, but they are also indiscriminate. There have also been a lot of cases where a ship has Jumped into a System only to be attacked before they could raise their Shields, hell, Captain Carlon used that tactic against the first two Pirate ships that were pursuing us. By entering Jump a little faster, we will exit further into the System, hopefully away from where any surprises are waiting. Trust me on this, we have put large ships, including a large Freighter through Jump at this speed without incident.”

  Daron realized he should have thought this through a little more before making the call. He’d made himself look stupid in front of this hero. Captain Daron realized Captain Gordon wasn’t just in a hurry to make it back to Cambridge. The embarrassment was palpable.

  Finally, Daron said, “I’m sorry, Sir. It’s just something that has always been drummed into all of us, the maximum is the fastest you can go into Jump. Otherwise, you could end up lost forever.”

  “I know Captain, trust me when I tell you, I have conducted a risk assessment and this is just the least risky of some options we can take. There’s no need for you to
be embarrassed. I was expecting the call from at least one of you.”

  “Yes, Sir, I understand.”

  Cotoni System

  FNS Magni and FNS Kurama exited Jump into Cotoni System. They were immediately targeted and then challenged by a pair of Destroyers that were guarding the Jump-Point. Only when they had adequately identified themselves, were the two Cobras were permitted to proceed toward Cotoni Station. As Captain Wolf watched the Scanners, he found himself surprised at the number of Warships in the System, the place looked like someone had kicked a hornet's nest. While Cotoni was usually well protected, Wolf couldn’t remember the System having this much strength. He set up an FTL Comm channel to the Station and began downloading sensor data. He knew the Admiral would need the data to be able to decide what to do.

  Hanadon was eating breakfast when his aide bustled in to tell him the news of Magni and Kurama’s arrival and the data they had sent. He knew that Admiral Dalkasan needed to be involved, so he sent a message to Dalkasan’ office requesting an urgent meeting. Hanadon had barely finished doing that when another message, informing him that a battered FNS Vasta had just exited Jump into Cotoni System. While Hanadon was happy to see Vasta back, he would have preferred it if she wasn’t damaged. It looked like the Pirates had been very busy indeed.

  Magni and Kurama streaked into the System at maximum acceleration before suddenly decelerating and Micro-Jumping to a location near the Station. They both requested permission to dock and five hours after entering the System Captain Wolf, and Captain Camon were being escorted to a meeting with the Admiral. When Wolf and Camon arrived at the conference room, they were surprised to find both Admiral Hanadon and Admiral Dalkasan waiting for them.

  Dalkasan asked, “These Scans, they are accurate?”

  Wolf replied, “Yes, Sir. They’re as accurate as we could make them.”

  “And you believe that both fleets are heading for Cambridge, sixty Warships plus their fleet train?”

  “It’s the only logical place for them to go, Sir, on those routes at least, and our prisoner interrogations confirmed it. If they time it right, they’ll be able to attack Cambridge through both Jump-Points simultaneously. Sir, there is no way that Cambridge can stand for long against an onslaught like that.”

  “No, you’re right of course, they can perhaps slow the Pirates down, but the attackers will reach the planet. Going on your numbers, even if we left within the hour, we couldn’t reach Cambridge before the Pirates had secured the Jump-Points and perhaps captured the planet.”

  Wolf replied, “Sir, they won’t have captured the planet, not that quickly. Cambridge has a very advanced civil defense system in place and a large, well-armed militia. It will take a lot longer than a few weeks to conquer the planet. Our defenses will do a lot of damage to the Pirates, but we won’t be able to stop them.”

  Dalkasan replied, “We’ll just have to go and kick those Pirates out of Cambridge then, and pray they haven’t done too much damage before we arrive.”

  FNS Thor

  Carl Fraser was sitting in his office updating the ship’s log and writing reports. The Sentry duty they were undertaking in FR2-955E was a vital but boring task that thankfully they could leave behind them in another three days. When the Alert One alarm sounded, Carl saved his work then ran to the CCC to see what was going on. One glance at the screen showed the time for boredom was over. There were ten unidentified ships already in the System and racing in the direction of the Jump-Point to Cambridge where Thor and Forseti were keeping watch, and more were Jumping in while they sat there. Carl watched as the number of ships grew to twenty and still they came through the other Jump-Point.

  Finally, Carl said, “Thor, could you set up secure Comms to Forseti please, I’d like to talk to Captain Tobin.”

  Seconds later, Tobin was on the line saying, “This doesn’t look good Carl. When should we go back and warn Cambridge?”

  “Cambridge will need five or six hours to get a full mobilization underway, Roger. The Pirates won’t be ready to depart here for the Jump into the System for at least twenty hours. Cambridge needs to call for help which means a Courier is going to have to come back through here. Damn. We should’ve had a Courier here with us, the numbers just don’t add up. If we leave for Cambridge immediately, the Pirates will have this Jump-Point locked down before we can send someone back through. One of us could go looking for help, but that will reduce the number of ships we have available to defend Cambridge. Damn!”

  Carl thought for a few minutes, then continued, “Roger, we need to send for help. I’m senior here and can’t go so I’d like you to do a speed run to Cotoni. Take the fastest route, do not limit your Jump entry speed to the published maximum, you can make a successful Jump at up to two percent above that. You’ll just exit further into your target System. Limit your Jump entry speed to say one or one point five percent over the published maximum. Micro-Jump across intermediate Systems if it is safe to do so. Tell Admiral Hanadon what you have seen here and request any assistance they can provide. I’ll go and warn Cambridge.”

  “Carl, you should go on this run.”

  “No I shouldn’t, and you know it. I’m transmitting your orders now Commander so you can’t reasonably be accused of anything. Roger, I know this is hard for you. Your job is likely to be dangerous enough, don’t worry about that. Go on, get moving, the sooner you leave, the sooner you can return. Remember, Colin Gordon, and Suzanne Riley are out there somewhere, keep an eye out for them. Do you have enough supplies to make it to Cotoni?”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  Within minutes Forseti was accelerating away from the Jump-Point, bound for Cotoni System. Carl watched till it was evident the Pirates hadn’t seen her, then began issuing the orders that would send Thor home to Cambridge.

  Cambridge

  Sixteen hours later, Thor Down-Jumped into Cambridge System. Immediately after entering the System, Carl ordered the two Taipans that were on sentry duty near the Jump-Point to pull back and go dark, explaining to them what was on its way. Thor then began accelerating hard for Cambridge while his Jump-Drive recharged. An hour later, when the Jump-Drive had sufficient charge, Carl initiated a Micro-Jump to a location trailing the planet as it orbited around the System Star. From this place, Thor had near real-time communications with Headquarters, with only a four second round trip delay for the signal. Carl initiated a Comms link and waited while the staff there located Commodore Henry Fraser. Even though these two were father and son, they both knew better than lean on that relationship at a time like this. While Carl waited for Henry to come on the line, he began sending his Scan-Data to headquarters for analysis.

  As Carl waited, Thor continued to close on the planet, starting at 0.7c and gradually decreasing at a rate intended to place it in a parking orbit four hours later. The Comms lag was falling all the time they waited so by the time Henry was available half an hour later, the lag was noticeably shorter than was originally the case, allowing a slightly less disjointed conversation.

  When Henry came online, he said, “Report.”

  “Commodore, I have to report, a large force, comprising more than twenty-five ships has just entered FR2-955E. I say more than because there were twenty-five when we left and it looked like there were more to come. Sir, I sent FNS Forseti to Cotoni to request help. I thought one more Cobra won’t make a lot of difference in the early stages and a new ship coming in later might make a lot of difference to the outcome. If Cotoni, or even Sankarah, can send us reinforcements, we will have a much better chance in the long run. Sir, I believe we have less than twenty hours, perhaps as little as seventeen, before they arrive in System, at least, that will be the case if they start transiting as soon as they have gathered a sufficient force at the Jump-Point.”

  “You’re right of course, Captain. You arrived in System, what, three hours ago? Yes, your calculations are reasonably correct I think. Okay, Carl, I want you here at Headquarters as soon as you make orbit. I’ll wake the Presid
ent and initiate the emergency.”

  Cambridge Presidential Residence

  President Edward Constantin was woken from a sound sleep by one of his staff. The President knew immediately that if they were waking him, then something bad was going on.

  His wife stirred beside him, asking, “What is it, Edward.”

  “I don’t know dear. Go back to sleep. I’ll let you know later after I find out.”

  He rose from his bed, donned a dressing gown and followed his aide from the room and to his office.

  He could see a flashing light on the Comms Console, so he sat at the console and pressed the button to open the channel. He could immediately see Commodore Fraser on the other end with a worried look on his face.

  The Commodore said, “I’m sorry to wake you, Mr. President. It’s bad new I’m afraid. We have a sizeable force heading our way, and we are expecting it to arrive in less than a day. We need to invoke the emergency arrangements as soon as possible.”

  “You know, Commodore, it will take me a little while to get all the people I will need for this together, though I know that you at least will be accessible. Very well, I’ll start waking people. I’ll call you back when I have a time for the meeting.”