Heirs at War (The Marmoros Trilogy Book 2)

by Peter Kenson

  The relief was immediate as the laser abruptly shut off and the gig stopped rocking under the force of the blasts. Ensign Marisse edged the gig in even closer and the rest of the assault group sprang across the gap bringing with them the flexible extension of the Li-Matsu airlock.

  The Li-Matsu system is the standard mechanism for providing an airtight passageway between two ships in deep space. The link cannot be totally rigid because, however much the two pilots try to align the velocities of their respective ships, there will always be some slight movement of the one relative to the other. So the Li-Matsu system is like an expanding, flexible, corrugated hose, fitted on the inside with handholds for people to pull themselves through under the zero gravity conditions existing between the ships. Once connected and locked to the other ship, the Li-Matsu system has a very comprehensive set of stress meters fitted, to alert the pilots long before the limit of flexibility is reached and allow them to either disconnect the passageway or to rematch their velocities.

  As the crew connected the Li-Matsu tube behind them, Mikael and the others directed their fire to burnout the locking controls of the inner door. The internal walls of the airlock were not as heavily armoured as the external hull and the control panel quickly gave up the unequal struggle against the laser beams. As with most airlock doors, this one was designed to fail shut so the bosun and one of the burlier crewmen grabbed the manual controls and began to force the door open.

  A rush of air hit Mikael as the door slid open and the raucous noise of the vacuum alarm quickly died away as the sound lost the medium it needed to carry it. The passageway beyond the door was empty and Mikael led the charge towards the bridge. The next set of bulkhead doors had sealed themselves because of the vacuum alarm and had to be forced open but they encountered no opposition on their way forward until they reached the concourse outside the bridge.

  As Mikael rounded the corner, a bolt of concentrated power flashed past his right ear and splattered off the bulkhead behind him in a shower of sparks and molten metal. He threw himself to the ground and rolled left as another bolt passed over his head. There were two marines, he saw, outside the entrance to the bridge, armed with nasty looking pulse rifles and clad in full space armour. Behind him the remaining members of the assault group set up a barrage of fire but it was largely ineffective against the heavy armour of the marines. Only the little airlock laser mounted on the gravsled showed any signs of damaging the armoured suits.

  Mikael was coiling himself up ready to rush the last few metres towards the marines when all of the passageway lights went out. In the blackness, the beams of those lasers which were operating in the visible spectrum made a spectacular if deadly display. Joel’s team he quickly realised, were signalling the success of their attack on engineering by switching off the life support systems throughout the length of the frigate. The red emergency lighting came on but only lasted a few seconds before somebody in engineering overrode the automatic controls.

  Shouting to his men to hold their fire, he rushed the nearest marine, bending low to crash his shoulder painfully into an armoured midriff and twisting to grab the pulse rifle as they tumbled to the floor. Unfortunately the marine was both stronger and heavier than Mikael who found himself being forced onto his back with the marine bringing his full weight to bear on the pulse rifle pressing against his windpipe. Slowly he could sense the blackness closing in around him when suddenly the weight of the marine vanished off his chest. Mikael allowed himself a couple of gulps of air from his tank before looking up to see the bosun standing over him with a worried look on his face.

  He accepted the proffered hand to haul himself upright and looked around. Both of the marines were obviously dead; one had a smoking hole in his armour, and the one who had been kneeling on top of him had his neck twisted at a very unnatural angle. The door to the bridge had already been forced and through the opening Mikael could see the rest of the assault team rounding up the frigate’s bridge crew. The marines had obviously been the last line of resistance.

  He switched his suit radio to the tactical channel. “Captain to commander Alpha.”

  “Captain, this is the Chief. Engineering’s secure but the lieutenant’s down. Took a blast full in the chest. It doesna look good.”

  “Okay Chief. The bridge is secure. Restore life support to the bridge and engineering sectors. Secure your position in engineering and start sending out patrols to round up the rest of the crew. I’ll send somebody down to help you as soon as I can.”

  The bridge crew were standing there unsuited so the airlock must have been sealed behind them. Cautiously Mikael cracked his face plate and took a breath of fresh, untanked air. With the bosun by his side, he walked over to the group of prisoners. “They all look very young,” he thought silently, “…or maybe I’m just getting old.”

  “Who’s the senior officer here?” he asked out loud.

  The group looked at him sullenly as one of the young officers drew himself up and saluted. “Lieutenant Freihaft, sir.”

  Mikael returned the salute. “Are you in charge here, Lieutenant?”

  “Yes sir. The Captain was outside supervising the repairs to the engine manifold. He’s still in radio contact, sir, but he didn’t have a jetpack on and he’s drifting away.”

  “We’ll pick him up in a minute,” Mikael assured the young officer. “Meanwhile, as Officer in Command, I have to tell you that we have control of the engineering section as well as the bridge and have shut down life support in all other sectors. I must ask you, therefore, to instruct your remaining crew to surrender as I do not want any further casualties – on either side.”

  Lt. Freihaft hesitated for a long moment then briefly dropped his head in acquiescence.

  “Traitor,” one of the group hissed as they glared at him. “I warned the captain you could not be trusted.”

  “Silence!” Mikael ordered as he turned towards the comms panel, already under the control of Ensign Targa.

  “Comms, give the lieutenant here a broadcast channel and then see if there’s any word yet on Lt. Bennetton.”

  As the order to surrender went out over the tannoy, Mikael turned to the bosun. “Secure the bridge area, Chief, and then find some secure accommodation for the prisoners.”

  “Aye aye, sir.”

  “The rest of you find your normal posts and familiarise yourselves with the controls. They may look different but they will do basically the same job. Just make sure you know what a button does before you push it.

  “Comms, contact the jolly boat and tell them to come home. And give me an intercom channel.”

  “Aye sir.”

  “Bridge to Engineering. This is the Captain speaking.”

  “Engineering aye, sir,” the Chief’s voice replied.

  “What’s the status of the repairs to the engines, Chief?”

  “As far as I can determine, sir, the external work on the manifolds has been completed. There’s some internal work on the control panel that I want to double check but I should be able to start bringing the engines back on-line in, say, 15 minutes, 20 max.”

  “Well done, Chief. Keep on it.”

  “Sir, there’s a message from the jolly boat,” Ensign Targa reported. “They’ve recovered the escape pod from the Cleo. It took a bit of a battering and the First Lieutenant’s a bit shaken up but he’s otherwise okay. The surgeon’s checking him over now, sir.”

  Mikael felt a wave of relief flow over him and could see it mirrored on the faces all around the bridge. The Exec was a popular figure on board the Cleopatra. That thought triggered another in his mind.

  The prisoners were being ushered off the bridge by the bosun and two of his mates when Mikael stopped them.

  “Lt. Freihaft, this frigate is not listed on any of our records so she’s obviously fairly new. Will you tell me her name, please?”

  “Yes Captain, this is the Federation frigate Dominator. This was her maiden voyage.”

/>   “Thank you, Lieutenant.” Mikael signalled the bosun to continue and turned back to the bridge. “Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome aboard the Dominator, the latest addition to His Imperial Majesty’s fleet. Prepare to move off as soon as we have the engines back on-line. We have a couple of freighters to find.”

  Chapter 8 - Dominator

  The situation on the Arctic Fox was one of continuing confusion. The initial panic had died down as the emergency lighting kicked in but Rachel could still hear raised voices through the bulkhead. She had tried to look in on the bridge but had been quickly shooed away by the captain as the crew struggled with control panels ablaze with flashing red lights.

  It had been a huge relief when Suzanne had contacted her, although concern for her own safety was soon replaced by worry about the Cleopatra. She forced her way onto the bridge to update the captain about the attack but since then there had been no more news. The ship’s comms systems were under repair and there had been no further contact from Suzanne. Rachel was sure she still lived as she had kept the faintest tendril of thought linked to Suzanne’s mind but that was all she had.

  The ambassadors were understandably nervous at the lack of information, so to keep them occupied, she instructed them to reach their contacts on the council at Sorinto and inform them of the attack. What she wanted to do more than anything, was to contact Jeren. Just to hear the sound of his voice in her head would have been a comfort but she forced those feelings to the back of her mind.

  It was a surprise then, when Ambassador Mahagama sat down beside her and put a fatherly arm around her shoulders.

  “Please forgive the familiarity, my queen, but you looked very sad. Were you thinking of someone special?”

  “I think under the circumstances, I might overlook this impertinence, Ambassador,” she smiled. “And yes, I was.”

  “You know that I don’t approve of that young man, or of the situation that the two of you have got yourselves into. But that situation can’t be changed and my views are of little importance in these matters. Why don’t you talk to him? I know that you’re still in contact with him.”

  A tear trickled slowly down her cheek and she hastily brushed it away. “Thank you, Ambassador. I want to very much, but Jeren cannot help us at this time and I will not add to his worries.”

  “He may not be able to do anything for us physically but, if he eases your mind, that is surely worthwhile.”

  Rachel turned and looked at Mahagama as though she was seeing him for the first time. On impulse, she leaned in and gave him a swift kiss on the cheek.

  “Thank you for your kind thought but I will not ease my mind at the expense of tormenting his. When we get through this, I will tell him about it. But for now, we must put our trust in the resourcefulness of Captain Boronin and pray for his success.”

  ***

  The success of that resourcefulness was evident as Mikael sat in the captain’s chair and surveyed his new command. All around him the bridge crew were busily taking over the various stations and preparing the frigate for departure. In that respect they were fortunate that the layout of the Vostovian frigate’s bridge was very similar to that of an Imperial frigate. All of the key stations were fairly standard which made the process of bringing the ship under control much more straightforward. There were a number of seats that were unmanned, of course. The frigate required a much larger crew than the Cleopatra and they had suffered a significant number of casualties in the attacks.

  He looked over the casualty list displayed on the screen by his elbow and mentally began re-assigning crew to cover the gaps. They had lost 3 dead and 5 wounded in that first attack by the frigate and suffered another 10 casualties, including Lt. D’Mina killed, during the boarding operation. The electronics officer, Erik van Gelst, and 6 of the crewmen would be in sickbay for several days but the others had been patched up by the surgeon and returned to duty. However, out of a complement of 8 officers and 67 men, that left them seriously short in several areas, particularly as some of the crew had to be assigned to guard duty for the prisoners.

  The Chief was busy down in engineering and the First Lieutenant was still on the jolly boat. That left Ewan Targa at the comms panel and Fleurie Marisse at the helm as the only two bridge officers and both were fully occupied bringing their systems on-line.

  Status reports were coming in fast and furiously now from all sectors and Mikael listened with half an ear as each report was acknowledged. The airlock where they had forced their way in had been patched over but the Cleo’s gig had to be abandoned as a result of the battering it had taken during the attack. This was not a total disaster as both of the Dominator’s boats were undamaged in their launching bays. The Cleo’s jolly boat, once it had unloaded its cargo of wounded crewmen, had gone back out to retrieve the frigate’s external working party who had been cut loose from their tethers, together with those members of the boarding party who had mistimed their jumps.

  Mikael touched a stud on the control panel by his side. “Bridge to Engineering.”

  “Engineering, aye sir.”

  “How long before we can get under way, Chief?”

  “The engineering panel’s fully under control now, sir. Life support has been restored to all sectors and we’ll be bringing the main drives on-line immediately. She’ll be ready to go when you give the word, Captain.”

  “Very good. Now, can you jury rig an IFF signal? The Juno and the Jupiter will be arriving any time now and I’d hate them to take an unfriendly attitude towards us.”

  “Nae bother, sir. The frigate had its own IFF system so I’ve switched that off and reprogrammed the signal to mimic the old Cleopatra. It’s no ideal because it won’t match with the electronic signature of the boat but it should make them stop to think before they open fire.”

  “I hope you’re right. I may be able to persuade the admiral that the loss of the Cleopatra was an unfortunate incident but to lose two ships in one day might be regarded as carelessness.”

  “Aye, sir. Mind I reckon this little beauty’d have the legs of those two clod-hopping frigates.”

  “Let’s not put that to the test, Chief” Mikael chuckled. “Standby to move as soon as we’ve recovered the jolly boat.”

  “Aye, sir. There’s one thing you should know, though.”

  “Problem?”

  “It’s no a problem as such but she’s carrying far more power than I’d expect for a ship of this class.”

  “Well we know she’s fast. We’ve seen her in action.”

  “Aye, but that’s because she’s got over spec’d engines for a frigate, sir. They are drawing some of the excess power, just because of the size of the brutes, but most of that extra power’s not being routed through the main drives. We’re tracing the cabling now to try to find exactly where it is going.”

  “Well sort it out before we get underway, Chief. It must be going somewhere and I’d like to know where before it turns round and bites us in the ass.”

  “Aye sir.”

  “Message from the First Lieutenant, sir”, Ensign Targa reported from the comms station. “The jolly boat has recovered all the floaters – 3 of our crew and 16 prisoners.”

  “Very good, Comms. Tell the pilot to dock the jolly boat in the cargo bay. The Dominator’s boats are occupying both the normal docking stations.

  “And pass the word to Number One. The captain of the frigate should be in that group of prisoners. Ask him to isolate the captain and bring him directly to the bridge. Secure the rest of the prisoners in with the others.”

  Mikael started to settle back in the command seat as one of the electronics crewmen came over.

  “I’m sorry, sir, but I think you probably ought to take a look at this. We’ve been checking out all of the bridge stations and there’s a control panel here that I don’t recognise. The lieutenant’s still down in sickbay so I can’t check it with him, sir.”

  “That’s okay Barnes, show me what you’v
e got there.” Mikael followed the crewman across the bridge.

  “It’s right here by the warp generators, sir. It looks as though it’s part of the defensive shielding but I don’t recognise any of the controls.”

  “Hm, me neither,” Mikael admitted. “That is not a standard piece of kit in our navy and I’ve not seen anything of that description in any of the intelligence briefs.

  “Have a word with Lt. Coulter in engineering. He’s trying to trace some unknown power circuits. If his power circuits feed through this board, that may give us a clue as to what it’s used for.”

  “Aye aye, sir.”

  Mikael turned away as the First Lieutenant emerged onto the bridge with a somewhat dishevelled prisoner being manhandled by two of the bosun’s mates.

  “Lt. Bennetton reporting for duty, sir.”

  “Welcome back, Number One,” Mikael replied warmly. “I’m glad to see you made it. You had us worried for a minute there.”

  “It did get a bit exciting for a while, sir. The pod got caught in the blast as the Cleo went up and I was shaken around a bit. But the doc says it’s only a few bruises.”

  “Still it was a job well done. Now who’ve you got here,” Mikael said indicating the prisoner.

  “Well he’s wearing a commander’s bars so he must be the CO of the frigate but he’s not co-operating, sir. Won’t even tell us his name. However, I did overhear one of the other prisoners address him as Commander Grafint.”

  “So Commander…. Grafint is it? My name is Lieutenant Commander Boronin.”

  Mikael flinched but stood his ground as the prisoner lunged at him, only just being restrained by the two guards. Both of the bosun’s mates were big men but the prisoner had obviously been giving them trouble all the way up as all three of them were breathing heavily. He stopped struggling only when Frank drew his needlegun and pointed it directly between his eyes.