“It’s all right, G’Fleuf.” She returned, ignoring the wormy odor of G’Fluef’s meal as she concentrated on mopping up the last dregs of her thick soup with a piece of bread, and then popping it into her mouth. “I’m still trying to wrap my head around the idea of who and what my family really are.” She chewed meditatively. “Mia, could I please get a cup of klah?”
“There are four hundred and eighty seven different variations for klah.” The voice of the AI replied calmly. “Of those, three hundred and ninety one are potable by humans, while two will take the finish off of our hull.”
Kelsoe sighed. She had slept well for eight hours, but it was shaping up to be another nerve wracking day. “Klah,” she repeated, “hot, sweet, and slightly cinnamon flavored, preferably potable by humans.”
“That would be the Andulurian recipe.” Mia submitted softly as a steaming cup appeared on the table.
Kelsoe sipped, and smiled. “Perfect!” She murmured with pleasure.
“Your father liked this particular variety of klah also.” Mia’s voice was thoughtful. “If you would like, I could begin selecting favorite items from his menu for your meals.”
It was a roundabout way of getting to know her father, but it was all she had. “That sounds good, but keep the spice level below the ‘blister paint’ level please.”
Mia let out a small laugh. “As you wish Captain. After you have finished breaking your fast, I have scheduled you for classes in ship handling and navigation. That will give me a chance to see how good an education you’ve gotten, and I can fill in the blanks.”
“But…” Kelsoe frowned. “G’Fleuf taught me all I need to know.” She hated the fact that her voice had climbed an octave, and she was beginning to sound like a spoiled little girl. Beside her the small tentacled creature was looking at the table, saying nothing. Finally he looked up.
“On Wecarro schooling begins full time at the age of six, and continues for the next sixteen years. Do you think that I’ve had the chance to teach you THAT much?”
“No.” She grumbled in reply.
“It won’t be that bad, Kelsoe.” Mia reassured her. “Beside the wardroom there is a small interface chamber. On one side of the room is a couch, and on the other a small but very effective exercise machine. You stretch out on the couch and I teach your brain directly. Once an hour I will wake you enough to spend an hour on the exercise machine, after which you will go back to the couch, and so on and so on for eight hours, six days a week. That will train your mind and keep your body in shape, but to your waking mind it will all seem to be a dream.”
“Do I have a choice?” She protested.
“No.” Mia and G’Fleuf replied in unison.
Her favorite part of the educator, as she began to think of the room, was the martial arts workouts. Taking tactile kinesthetic biofeedback to a whole new level, she fought her teachers in real full contact sessions. Kelsoe began to take things more seriously when she woke from her first session in the educator with bruised ribs and a purple contusion on her cheek, along with other hurts scattered on her body. It therefore came as a surprise to her eight days later when she actually felt reluctant to leave her training session when Mia interrupted her. In her shower she looked down on herself with undisguised wonder. The nondescript, soft young woman was gone now, replaced by a lean, well-muscled starship Captain. Her black shipsuit, when she slipped it on, had been modified to fit her new form snugly. She felt ready to tackle the world.
The command chair squirmed under her as it adjusted to her weight while on the screen a welter of red dots appeared, all seemingly headed straight for her. More dots appeared as she watched.
“That is the advancing Vonuborg Armada.” Mia said calmly. “Shields are up and stealth systems fully engaged. The Staarkand Task Force, all twenty six remaining ships, are three hours behind us. I’ve been slowing down occasionally and dropping out of stealth so they don’t lose us.”
“Are we being too obvious?” Kelsoe commented, trying to look at things from every angle.
“Perhaps,” Mia replied, “but the Task Force has no choice but to follow us, after the humiliation we dealt them.”
Kelsoe snickered. “When the Vonuborg see them, the Task Force Commander is going to die of embarrassment.”
“Better a little embarrassment, than annihilation.” G’Fleuf added dryly. Kelsoe hadn’t heard him enter the command deck.
“Point taken.” Kelsoe replied, and then to Mia. “Who has the better detection systems?”
“Probably the Staarkand Task Force, by a hair, and they will be looking for us a whole lot harder than the Vonuborg, who don’t expect a thing to be out here.” She paused. “What are your ideas, Captain?”
Kelsoe bit her lip. “Shut our systems down and drift right through the Vonuborg Armada, and right out the other side. How do we stand for weapons, besides the paint missiles and the bang-flashes we used to cause confusion earlier?”
“I’m glad you asked.” Mia replied in a satisfied voice. “Our weapons are the equivalent of that cruiser following us.”
Both of Kelsoe’s eyebrows went up. “THAT wasn’t in the training I received.”
“It will be in your courses next semester.” Mia remarked smugly. “I can’t teach you everything at once, you know.” Kelsoe sighed.
“How about a little music, for our first battle?” Kelsoe asked innocently.
“What do you have in mind?” There was a definite hesitation in the voice of the AI.
“Ohhh, how does something stirring and martial sound? Something filled with pomp and circumstance, with lots of drums and horns.”
“Are you insane??” Mia groaned. Kelsoe held up her hand, thumb and index finger a half inch apart. Her smile was wide. Mia groaned again. “It’s a good thing in space no one can hear you scream. I’ll let you know that you are JUST like your father. I thought that I’d gotten away from that martial music stuff.” She almost spat.
“Like father like daughter.” Kelsoe replied nonplussed, as the Wyvern slid closer to the vast hostile Armada. Her eyes got wider as they neared the massive ships. “I’ve changed my mind.” She whispered. “No music would be good.” She shrank down in her seat, as if that and the silent command deck would help her hide. “Gods they’re big. Which one do you think is the flag ship?”
“According to the Vonuborg psychology, bigger is always better. The ship we’re coming up on is by far the biggest and baddest. Look at all the missile ports and energy weapon batteries. This one ship has more firepower than our entire Task Force put together.”
She stared open eyed at the two mile long horror. “Is there a weak spot?” Kelsoe asked in a feeble voice, leaning forward in her seat and staring at the great warship, fascination finally overcoming her fear.
“Here!” Mia murmured, highlighting a spot on the rear of the hull, just ahead of the engines. “This is a refueling port, is less shielded than the rest of the ship and leads more or less directly to the fuel tanks.”
Kelsoe squinted. “Are their shields up now?”
“No.” Mia returned hesitantly, and Kelsoe blinked in surprise. Nobody flew through contested space with their shields down, unless they were insanely over-confident of their own abilities.
“Do we have something like a mine that we could attach to her hull, right about there, and detonate when we’ve gotten clear?”
“I was afraid you were going to ask that. Yes we do, but it is a very powerful device.”
“Look at that thing out there.” Kelsoe snapped. “That is a VERY big ship. It will take a VERY big device to even slow it down. Send out the mine, and that’s an order.”
Mia grumbled. “Yes Captain. The limpet mine has been deployed. The shielding on the mine itself will prevent its detection, but I recommend that we move away to a safe distance.”
“How far?” Kelsoe was chewing a fingernail now.
“Would a light year be too far?” Mia asked artfully.
“Funny.”
“The limpet mine is now attached to the dreadnaught, Captain. I…” She paused. “The ships in the Armada have raised their shields. Apparently the Staarkand Task Force is now in detector range.”
“Is there a command and control ship in this Armada?”
“Negative Captain. All control is retained in the flagship.” Mia replied as the Wyvern slipped quietly through the Vonuborg Fleet, taking station several light seconds to their rear.
Kelsoe watched as the Vonuborg Armada reconfigured, moving the warships to the front while the support and supply ships stayed to the rear by a full light minute. “Which one of those supply ships would be the fuel tanker?” Kelsoe mused, staring at the strung out dots of light.
A glowing ring appeared, highlighting three fat-bodied starships far behind the van of the Armada. Kelsoe smiled. “Drop us back to those tankers. When the battle begins let them fire a few shots, and then detonate the mine, and take out those tankers at the same time. We’ll see how the Vonuborg ships do with no fuel.”
“Did you learn this from G’Fleuf?” Mia asked, sounding slightly amused.
“Naw.” The young woman replied, her attention on the screen as the red dots moved about like pieces on a three dimensional chess board. A few moments later a much smaller cluster of blue dots appeared on the bottom of the tactical display, indicating friendly forces, the alignment of the blue dots reconfiguring immediately to meet the new threat. “This is just common sense, really. The faster a starship goes the more fuel she burns. Now the Armada will have to slow down whether or not it wants to, and we can get to Wecarro with our warning.”
“Very very good, Captain.” Mia said in a respectful voice.
Kelsoe wasn’t listening, however, as she stared at the tactical display in a horrified fascination.
“Look!” G’Fleuf pointed a short tentacle. “The Sararkand Task Force is turning to skirt the edge of the Armada, thank the stars.”
“The first elements of the Fleets are engaging.” Mia said softly. On the view screen flashes of megaton range weapons appeared, like lightbulbs popping in the distance. “First blood!” Mia exclaimed. “A Vonuborg destroyer and frigate are adrift and powerless.” The screen lit with a blinding flash, and Kelsoe blinked. “A Task Force destroyer has been obliterated, and another ship damaged, but still under way.”
Kelsoe swallowed the bile in her throat as the flashes continued. It seemed to the young woman that every single ship in the small Task Force was firing every weapon they had. Another Fleet ship disappeared in a ball of coruscating fire, and suddenly Kelsoe couldn’t take the slaughter any longer. “Fire the mine, and take out that flagship. We need to give the Task Force a chance to get away.”
“Firing missiles.” The AI paused, waiting. On the screen a Vonuborg frigate spun crazily, venting air in a long silver stream from a jagged rent in her side, her crew dying. “Detonating the mine in three… two… one… now!”
The blast from the multiple explosions blanked the screen for several long moments, and when the scene of the battle reappeared things had changed drastically. Kelsoe rubbed her eyes. “What the hell happened to the Vonuborg Armada?” She stared at the scattered ships.
“I told you that it was a big explosion.” Mia said softly. “It appears that the blast ruptured the fuel tanks on the dreadnaught, acting much like a chemical rocket and driving it sideways into an escorting destroyer with such force that it broke the destroyer’s back. The blast itself appears to have damaged the dreadnaught’s drives, and damaged a nearby cruiser. In the support vessels, the three tankers have been obliterated, along with two other support ships. One other is drifting, and her condition is unknown. The Task Force is accelerating away at best speed, but appears to be followed by a Vonuborg frigate.
Kelsoe frowned. “That won’t do.” She declared in a grim voice, her eyes hard. “Can you take out that frigate?”
“I shouldn’t even bother to answer that question.” The AI quipped in a snippy voice. “Of course I can take that frigate. I assume that you want us to do it stealthily?”
“You assume correctly. Can we leave a shielded drone here to tag alone with the Armada, and maybe send us occasional updates?”
The saucer trembled slightly. “Drone launched. I only have one more drone readily available, and it will take time for me to construct another. They are quite complex, you know.”
Kelsoe rolled her eyes. “Thank you, Mia. I appreciate your effort.”
The AI was silent for several long moments. “I was being a little snobbish, wasn’t I?”
“You might say that, Mia, but I won’t hold it against you.” Kelsoe let out a small snicker. “Follow that frigate please.”
“Yes Captain.” Mia replied formally, as a swarm of rescue vessels began to launch from the Vonuborg warships, all heading for the stricken destroyer. Three other destroyers were accelerating hard to protect the remaining support ships, in effect shutting the barn door after the horse had escaped.
Following a zig-zag course, the remaining twenty three ships of the Staarkand Task Force fled from the now stationary Armada, back into the black of space. Damaged and bleeding air, a frigate and a destroyer were obviously struggling to keep up with the rest of the ships even as they fell further and further behind, while the Vonuborg frigate stalked them like a hungry wolf. “The frigate is now in range of our weapons, Captain.” Mia murmured, barely louder than the air handlers. “Sensors indicate that they are preparing to fire on the damaged Staarkand ships.”
“Lock weapons on target, and then let’s see what our friends plan on doing about it.” Kelsoe whispered, her white-knuckled hands clenched on the armrests of the command chair, where they had been since the beginning of the battle. “Put the Staarkand Tactical frequency on the speaker please.”
“… have to keep up!” A deep male voice nearly shouted.
The younger male voice who replied sounded tired. “We would if we could, Captain Ristani. Our main drive is down by sixty two percent, and the Frigate Grazer is in worse shape yet. They’ve been reduced to repairing hull leaks with universal tape.”
“We’ll have to leave you then.” The voice of Captain Ristani said softly, and not unkindly. “The survival of Task Force Seven depends on it.”
“Understood Captain Ristani.”
Kelsoe both heard and felt her knuckles pop as she gripped the command chair. “Take out that frigate.”
“Aye, aye.” Beam and missile struck the rear of the Vonuborg frigate at almost the same instant, the heavy energy beam punching a hole through the shields, and the missile transiting the hole to strike the hull of the warship only a moment later. The frigate seemed to swell for an instant before it vanished in a blazing ball of actinic fire.
“I thought that you said your weapons were inoperative, Captain Velo. That was fine shooting.” The older captain said in an impressed voice.
“Ahhh, I’m sorry sir, but we didn’t take out the frigate. Our main beam weapons are out of commission from battle damage, and we’ve fired our missile batteries dry. The Grazer has no weapons left at all, not even her point defense lasers.”
“Sooo,” the voice of Captain Ristani sighed, “it appears that the guardian angel Admiral Bacheva told us about is still with us.”
“Sir?”
“Who do you think stopped the Vonuborg flagship, and took out those fuel transports, in addition to the frigate that was about to have you for lunch?” There was a dry chuckle. “They’re probably listening to us right now, but I would feel much better if I could see them.” The voice paused. “Continue to use evasive maneuvers Captain Velo, and meet the rest of the Staarkand Task Force at the Aleph-null 287 rendezvous point as soon as you can. If the drives of the Frigate Grazer fail, tow it if you can, and if not then evacuate the crew to your destroyer and scuttle the ship.”
“Yes Captain.” The younger voice replied solemnly.
“Godspeed Captain.” There was a sharp click as the connection terminated.
“Do we know where this Aleph-null 287 is located?” Kelsoe asked in a subdued voice as the majority of the Staarkand force pulled rapidly away, disappearing into the void.
“No.” Mia replied. “Not yet.” She hummed a little tune, as Kelsoe waited impatiently.
“Got it!” Mia announced. “You would think that the Fleet would have better security and encryption on their navigational data. Shall we beat them there?”
Kelsoe bit her lip. “I don’t think so. We know where the recall point is located now. Let’s shepherd these two lost sheep back to their flock.”
Mia sighed. “As you wish, Captain.”
Thirteen hours later the shaky drives of the Staarkand Frigate Grazer sputtered and failed, leaving the small battered warship drifting in space. “Can the destroyer tow them?”
Mia chuckled. “At only thirty eight percent of normal power, the destroyer will be lucky to make it to the rendezvous point at all.”
“Can WE tow the frigate?” Kelsoe asked in a dubious voice.
“Yes, Captain.”
“Put me through to the Tactical Frequency please.” Kelsoe suppressed a smile, imagining the expression on the Captain’s face when he heard what she was going to say. “Audio only.”
“You’re on.”
Kelsoe swallowed. “Captain of the Staarkand Destroyer Sword of the Primus, this is the Survey Ship Wyvern. We are preparing to take the Frigate Grazer in tow. Follow us at your best speed to Aleph-null 287. Frigate Grazer, prepare to be towed. Wyvern out.” The saucer trembled for a moment as the larger ship began to gather way, and then the destroyer began to fall behind. “Mia, you might slow us down a little so that the destroyer can just keep up.”
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