Star Man 2: Star Rise

by I. G. Roberts

  In the bunker, Julia and the others watched on the monitors as the Pirates ransacked the house. Watching them made Julia angry and frustrated because she knew she could do nothing about it. After a while, Julia couldn’t look any more at the wanton vandalism and went to another room to escape. Lisa followed her, and she saw Julia sitting alone on one of the beds silently sobbing to herself.

  Gently placing an arm around Julia’s shoulders, Lisa said, “It’s okay Julia. You’ve been so strong for all of us up till now, you’re allowed to have some release, God knows, you deserve it. But always remember, you can lean on me as well. We’re friends remember, we support each other.”

  After a few minutes, Julia brought her emotions back under control and said, “I’m sorry Lisa. I don’t know what came over me. It’s just that Colin loves this place. When he’s home, we sit outside, looking at the sea and just talking to each other. He has always been so kind to me. Although Dave never treated me like one, until Colin captured us and freed me, I was legally a slave, a man’s property. Colin and others have put a lot of effort into teaching me what it means to be free. I want him to be able to come home to his house and have it just the way he left it.”

  “Well Julia, you’re not to blame for what’s happening here. When we’re out of this mess, wait and see, you’ll be surprised how many people are willing to help you fix this house up.”

  Cambridge System

  When Colin finally rendezvoused with the remaining ships from System Defence, he learned they were out of ammunition so had been sitting quiet, hoping he would turn up with some reloads for them. Colin gave the Cobras and remaining Cruisers one set of coordinates and the remaining Taipans a different set. The Cobras and Cruisers could Micro-Jump and begin immediate replenishment while the other ships would need to make a slightly more sedate approach before they could restock their weapons. When all the ships were fully loaded again, Colin planned to take the fight back to the enemy.

  In the end, it took all the ships nearly two days to complete replenishment, but Colin used the time to talk to the other Captains and thrash out a plan to take the fight back to the Pirates. The plan called for the Cobras and Taipans to pick two ships and make wave after wave of attacks on those ships. The Pirates were pinned against the planet for now which meant they couldn’t really give each other quite as much support as they really should have been doing. The idea was to smash one or two ships and then go on to the next ones. It was hoped they could draw a decent number of ships away from the planet to pursue the smaller System Defence ships. The Destroyers would become involved then, helping to smash any enemy formations.

  The plan went into effect, and within twelve hours, twelve smashed hulks were orbiting the planet where there used to be Pirate ships. As the attacks on the orbiting ships continued, they all broke orbit and began climbing the gravity well to pursue their attackers. This was partly because whenever one of the Pirates launched anything at all toward the planet, it would quickly come under violent attack. The same happened if they fired on the Station or the Shipyard. The only hope the Pirates had was to try to mass and decide the battle away from the planet.

  More than one of the Pirate Captains was unhappy with Suhmarlin Hazilsor by this point, but he had his ways of enforcing discipline, ways that were never pleasant for the victim, and often fatal.

  Harmon, Capital City of Cambridge

  Lieutenant Kevin Stark of the Cambridge Marines was lying out of site on the side of a hill overlooking the Shuttle Station for the city. His twenty-four troops were arrayed around him, spread out so they couldn’t all be taken out with a single lucky shot from a KEW or artillery shell. They were all volunteers and were the most highly trained and deadly Troops in the Federation of Sentient Peoples. Every one of them also carried a significant load of implants in their bodies, implants designed to make them stronger, faster and deadlier than anyone else. There were only 210 Cambridge Marines in the entire Federation though the Corps was being grown as new recruits were identified. Right then some of them, about a quarter of their number were deployed elsewhere.

  Stark’s platoon was going to raid the Shuttle Field and kill everyone down there. For now, they were waiting till nightfall because all the shuttles were being brought back to one place for security reasons since the orbiting Pirate ships had left to pursue Captain Gordon and his merry band of cutthroats. A grin slowly spread across Starks' face as he thought about the man. They had met, once, when Gordon first arrived in Cambridge. Stark was operating in deep cover as a Trooper on security at the departure immigration checkpoint on Cambridge Orbital. The immigration officer who was on duty seemed to take great pleasure in stopping the shuttle passengers from boarding. By the time Colin Gordon arrived at the head of the line with Lieutenant Fraser, Stark was ready to shoot the official himself, but then Gordon calmly asked Fraser if the authorities would mind if the official were shoved out the airlock. Stark decided he liked this new man right then and there.

  For now, though, he needed to focus on planning the approach. The Marines needed to kill every last Pirate down there, preferably silently and without raising the alarm. They wanted the Pirates to find a sea of bodies in the morning.

  FR2-955E

  Dalkasan’s task force arrived in the System and immediately began active scanning, sending tachyon pulses out looking for any lurking foes. Shortly afterward, they found the Freighters waiting quietly near the Jump-Point into Cambridge. A squadron of Destroyers was sent ahead to investigate the Freighters only to find they were already under Federation control. When Dalkasan was told they had been captured by Commander Gordon and Commander Riley, he chuckled quietly to himself. There were seven Freighters, so Dalkasan scraped enough people together to make up prize crews for them and attached them to his supply ships. The reports from the Troopers who secured the ships suggested there was a lot of valuable cargo on board, cargo that may be needed on Cambridge when this was all over. With all the necessary arrangements in place, the three Cobras entered Jump for the final approach to Cambridge ahead of the main body of the task force.

  Cambridge

  When the Magni, Forseti, and Kurama arrived in Cambridge, they were immediately challenged by a single Taipan. After they had identified themselves, the Taipans Captain was pleased to hear more reinforcements were on their way and would begin arriving in a matter of minutes. About halfway across the System, the rest of the surviving System Patrol Craft were preparing another attack on the Pirate fleet, now down to only thirty-two ships. In the Shipyard, there was another Cobra that was completed to a point where it could’ve been used if there had been a crew available, but it sat idle for want of someone to fly it.

  Commander Gordon’s arrival had bolstered the defense of Cambridge considerably, but everyone, not least of all Colin, was becoming fatigued by then. He was considering the best way to stage the next attack when the FTL Comms panel indicated an incoming message. It was text only, but when Colin saw it, a feral grin spread across his face. The much-needed reinforcements were here, and they were led by none other than Admiral Dalkasan himself. Colin sent a message to the rest of his dwindling force to back off for the present and then initiated a call to the incoming force so he could request orders. Sonya was still in stasis and Henry was not contactable, any attempt on his part to communicate was likely to result in a KEW falling on his head, so that left Colin and Carl as the most Senior Officers in the System, till then at least.

  Colin had been using the Destroyers he had available sparingly till now but for the upcoming attack, had set them a course where they would slingshot around Cambridge and descend on the Pirate force with a huge delta-v. The Destroyers would start spitting two stage missiles out in front of them as they were clear of the planet and then let the missiles coast along in front after the first stage had burned out. The second stage was to be fired at the last minute, at the same time as missiles would be arriving from the Taipans and Cobras. The ensuing explosions as the weapons impacted on t
he Pirate’s Shields would blind their Sensors, Colin hoped for long enough to allow the incoming force to be able to Micro-Jump into position. The tactic would almost finish the munitions that Colin brought back from Cotoni, so they would be out of bullets and could only stand by and watch while the Task Force from Cotoni finished the job.

  The AI’s ran the calculations, and Colin requested that Dalkasan Micro-Jump his force to a specific location so that when the Pirates could see again, their Shields would be severely degraded just as they saw the new threat to their survival. When Dalkasan saw what Colin wanted, he quickly understood the implications and approved the plan. Timing was everything for this, so the Captains in the task force were all making sure they were ready for the Jump.

  Harmon

  Stark’s Platoon waited till after midnight before beginning their final approach. For now, they were on a total Comms blackout, so they had no idea how the space forces were fairing. The campaign to defend Cambridge was a brutal one, and the casualty rate was far too high. The Marines were entering the Shuttle Station on one side, and the plan was to sweep through, killing every Pirate they encountered as they passed. Forty shuttles were resting on the hardstands, far more than the base was intended to safely accommodate.

  Soon the Marines began their grizzly work. They were outnumbered five to one, so the plan was to try to even the odds considerably before they were discovered. All the shuttles near the outskirts were closed and locked, but if there were anyone on board, the shuttle would have to be cleared. Many of the shuttles were empty, the crews opting for the more comfortable accommodation on one side of the base. As the Marines made their stealthy way across the base, they used silent weapons to kill anybody who was unlucky enough to cross their path. The death toll among the Pirates mounted with no alarm being sounded yet.

  Soon there were seventy Pirate dead littering the field around the shuttles. All the sentries had been accounted for and only the residential accommodations needed to be cleared. These held a lot of the shuttle flight crews who were considered high-value targets. The sentries outside the quarters were quietly disposed of, and the Marines entered the building, half through the back door, half through the front. Again, the Marines went about their grizzly work, but this time, they were in a confined space where discovery was inevitable. When it happened, all attempts at stealth were abandoned. Of course, the enclosed spaces inside the building were a two-edged sword, allowing the Pirates to hide from the Marines then try to hit from behind. Two Marines went down after being shot from behind, and the attackers were quickly disposed of.

  The Marines cleared the ground floor first, then made their way up to the floor above. Once again, they worked their way from room to room, on three occasions finding captured humans sitting naked and chained together, presumably awaiting transport to one of the Pirate ships to begin life as slaves in the Peschal Alliance. During the operation, the Marines found five children and eight young women, all of whom were naked and chained. The chains were quickly removed, and Stark sent some of his people off to find some clothes for the freed prisoners.

  As soon as they could, the Marines along with the people they had rescued, left the Shuttle Station behind. Dawn was just breaking when the Marines went to ground. By then, they were several kilometres from the shuttle station in the rugged country. For much of the journey, the people the Marines had rescued were carried, both to speed things up and so the Marines could make sure that no sign of their passing was left behind.

  Back at the Shuttle Station, all was quiet, till Pirate Troops started arriving to be taken somewhere or other. Most of the shuttle crews were dead, as were the maintenance personnel and nobody from outside the base had heard a thing. Similar raids were made on all the big Shuttle Stations around the planet, there were, after all, only three, so the Pirates went from having complete superiority to only having limited air cover overnight.

  Cambridge System

  The operation against the Pirates in Cambridge System went like clockwork. When the weapons from Colin’s last attack hit home, Shields were stressed to the limit. Another Pirate ship was completely destroyed, and two others crippled, unable to make any sort of headway to escape the System. When they Pirates could see again, after the radiation from the explosions cleared enough for their Scanners to work, the Pirates were confronted by a new force of ten Destroyers. This was when they broke, scattering in all directions, running as hard as their ships could go. Dalkasan’s Destroyers began launching missiles and yet more Pirate ships were destroyed and damaged. In the end, fifteen ships, all those still capable of a Micro-Jump escaped. Unfortunately, Suhmarlin Hazilsor’s ship was one of the escapees. He had learned something from this operation. He had underestimated the Naval presence at Cambridge and the capabilities of the new Patrol ships, he would not do so again.

  Cambridge

  With the Pirates in space running for their lives and the Navy once more firmly in control of the orbitals, the Cambridge Militia and other troops on the planet began attacking the Pirates who’d been left behind on the ground. Soon large numbers were surrendering, but the Pirate troops were in so many places, it was impossible to account for all of them so some went bush, trying to hide from the Federation, knowing they would be imprisoned or executed if they were captured. Some of those escapees died from exposure or were hunted by the locals.

  Cambridge Orbital

  FNS Theseus glided into the dock with Cambridge Orbital and gently docked. With the docking complete, Colin breathed a sigh of relief. The Battle to liberate Cambridge had been a close-run thing. If Admiral Dalkasan hadn’t arrived when he did, Colin’s force quite simply had nothing more to give, they were spent with no ammunition left to shoot at the Pirates. Nobody could have possibly believed an attack of this magnitude was possible. Sixty Alliance ships had entered the System to invade and only fifteen escaped in the end, the rest, either destroyed or captured by the Federation Forces. Nearly half of the System Defence Fleet was out of commission, either destroyed or requiring extensive repairs. Admiral Dalkasan’s task force was mostly off patrolling the System, rescuing crews from stricken ships and keeping the few remaining Pirates busy trying to evade the Federation Destroyers and Patrol Boats.

  Colin turned to his Third Officer, Ensign Susan Wills and said, “Well Sue, Cambridge is relatively safe again. You did well, hell, we all did well, far better than we had any right to expect. Now, will you be okay to stand a six-hour watch while I go and try to catch a little sleep? Mr. Harland and Ms. Fraser are already resting, so you’ll be on your own for a while.”

  “Yes, Sir, I can do that. Theseus will help me, God knows she’s done so in the past. I had a little sleep straight after that last battle was over so you should go and rest Sir.”

  “Thank you, Sue. Wake me if I’m needed at all, and that includes if the Admiral wants to talk to me.”

  “Yes, Sir, I will.”

  Colin left for his quarters, his head swimming from exhaustion. He knew he was no longer capable of making good decisions and desperately needed sleep.

  Cambridge

  Henry Fraser watched as the ground troops finished clearing Harmon. The government was using the Pirate prisoners to build temporary prison camps for themselves. As more were captured, the existing detention facilities were being stretched to the limit. DNI were working overtime, interrogating and grading the prisoners as quickly as they could. The Pirates who were slaves themselves and who were considered to pose a low threat level were allowed to stay in tented cities that were springing up. Overall, there was a lot of movement as some Pirates were moved out of the more secure facilities to the tent cities when they were classified as being a relatively low risk while others were moving in the other direction. While Cambridge was technically responsible for these prisoners, many would eventually be transferred to their own home worlds where they would be subjected to Federation law.

  Cambridge Orbital

  Colin had managed a full eight hours sleep befor
e Theseus woke him. It seemed Admiral Dalkasan wanted to see him as soon as he was ready but agreed he should be allowed to sleep for a while longer when Anne told him that her Captain had been awake for seventy hours. Colin still wasn’t fully rested, but he was at least functional now. With the threat from roving Pirates gone, most of the effort was now on trying to recover the damaged, drifting System Defence assets and their hopefully live crews. Samurai had made her slow way back and been placed in the shipyard for repairs. Several crippled Taipans and Cobras had been found, and tugs were heading out to retrieve those ships.

  When Colin had showered and donned a clean uniform, he checked his message bin and found the Admiral wanted a face to face meeting. Colin checked the CCC to find Anne standing the watch. After a few words with her about Theseus status, Colin left to visit the Admiral aboard his flagship FNS Sundara.

  On arrival, Colin was shown into the meeting, where he found Commodore Fraser already there, along with several other Officers, most of whom, Colin had never met. As soon as Colin entered the compartment, all the other Officers, including the Admiral and Henry Fraser, rose to their feet, saluted and then started clapping.

  When the commotion died down, and everyone was sitting, Dalkasan said, “Commander, you continue to collect honours. Once again, you’ve done more than anyone to protect Federation citizens. Once again, you’ve faced impossible odds and prevailed. Most people would’ve given up before I arrived, but you didn’t. You pulled the remaining forces together and continued fighting the enemy. I’m sure, if you had more potent assets here, you would never have needed our intervention. Congratulations on a job well done.”