by Jay Allan
“Shiloh, by now you’ve probably seen the evidence that 319 was attacked. The chances of finding survivors seem slim based on the exterior damage that we can see from here. 323 and 299 will be rendezvousing with us soon. I have a nagging suspicion that 319 is being used as bait. If that’s correct, then we may also be attacked at any moment. If you haven’t already done so, I want you to launch a message drone with all of the data collected so far. If my hunch is correct and we are attacked, you are ordered to immediately, repeat immediately jump back to our staging point and make sure the Base knows what happened. Do NOT under any circumstances come to our aide. I’m instructing the remainder of the Squadron to come together and join us asap. It’s my intention to leave this system as soon as we’ve finished recovering survivors, if any, and have downloaded 319’s datalogs. Your primary mission is to get word back to Base. If you’re attacked, you have permission to jump out of here as quickly as you can. Good luck to us all. Torres out.”
Shiloh didn’t hesitate. “Com. Launch the message drone now and acknowledge the SL’s message.”
The response was immediate. “Message drone launched, Sir, Squadron Leader’s message has been acknowledged.”
“Understood.”
He walked over to the Command Station and met the XO’s gaze. “You heard?”
She nodded and was just about to say something when they heard the phrase that Shiloh had been dreading.
“Sensor contact bearing 089 by 022!”
Johansen switched one of her Command Station screens to the same display as the sensor tech was watching.
“Can you determine distance, course and speed?” asked the XO.
“Not yet, Sir. Only one of our recon drones has detected a faint reflection of sunlight off a metallic surface, and we’d need at least two drones to triangulate an approximate distance, course and speed. The other two drones are scanning the general direction of the reflection. We may have a better fix momentarily, Sir.”
Johansen looked at her Boss. “Skipper, I recommend we go to General Quarters,” she said quietly.
He didn’t hesitate before nodding. After the XO sent the ship to General Quarters, Shiloh said, “XO, I’ll take the Con.”
As she turned to get up, she said for the benefit of the Bridge crew, “Skipper has the Con!”
When Shiloh sat down in the Command Chair, he took the precaution to strap himself in, just in case the ship had to maneuver more violently than the inertial compensators could handle. He took a good look at the screen displaying the sensor contact. It showed the three recon drones—one in the center and the other two in the upper and lower right corners, a green triangle that was equidistant from the three drones representing the 344, and a red flashing line extending from one drone to the upper left side of the screen. The alien vessel was somewhere along that line. If one of the other two drones could also detect a reflection, the screen would show a second line from that other drone, and the intersection of the two lines would indicate the position of the alien vessel. Without that approximate position, there was nothing that 344 could do. The screen also showed the message drone gradually moving away from the ship on a course that could take it dangerously close to the alien vessel, depending on where that ship might be. If the alien detected the message drone and tracked its course backwards, it would have a pretty good idea that another ship was lurking in the vicinity. While he was waiting for a second drone to get a fix on the alien, Shiloh realized that he should inform Squadron Leader Torres of their situation.
“Com, I’m recording a message for SL Torres and the Squadron. Transmit it as soon as I’m done.”
“Aye, aye, Sir.”
“Commander Torres, we have detected an unknown and presumably hostile vessel. The bogey’s range, course and speed have not yet been determined. I don’t believe that we’ve been spotted yet. It’s my intention to attack the bogey as soon as we have a better fix on its position. A message drone has been launched but may be detected, which is why I’m going to distract the bogey with our own attack. 344 may have to maneuver without warning. I recommend that the rest of the Squadron establish a new com link with you, using your recon drone near the 319 as a temporary relay. If my attack is successful, I will follow your previous instructions and head back to our staging point without further delay. End message.”
There was still no second sighting. Shiloh wished he could attack now with the 344’s lasers, but the faintness of the reflection was too imprecise to allow for much chance of a direct hit. A near miss would only alert the enemy vessel to 344’s presence. He had to have at least two sensor sightings to have a realistic chance for a laser hit. Three sightings would improve the odds even more. The fact that neither the 344 nor the other two drones had seen any reflection suggested that the alien vessel’s hull was at an angle relative to the sun such that no reflections were being bounced in the general direction of the other drones or the frigate. That implied that the alien wasn’t maneuvering and therefore hadn’t detected them. If it detected something, it might change its course and/or speed and perhaps even its orientation relative to the sun.
Shiloh suddenly had an idea. He decided to take over direct control of the recon drone that was farthest from the bogey. He ordered its onboard A.I. pilot to broadcast an omni-directional signal lasting a fraction of a second, hoping it would be just enough to get the alien’s attention and cause it to begin maneuvering. The ploy worked. No sooner had the drone transmitted the signal than the bogey began to maneuver AND rotate its hull orientation. Its hull’s irregular surfaces caused sunlight to bounce in new directions, and both the frigate and one of the other drones caught the reflection. Sensor data was quickly analyzed by the tactical A.I. The range to the bogey was now determined to be 144,000 klicks away. Speed was only about 13 kilometers per second, but it was accelerating at a very respectable 1.1 kps squared in the direction of the signal from the drone. Shiloh glanced at the screen showing the Tactical Officer’s primary display. The Tactical A.I. was projecting a laser hit probability of 61.8% but as more sensor data came in, the hit probability was getting better. At the rate it was changing, it would reach 90% in a few seconds. Shiloh had another idea. He asked the Tactical A.I. to plot possible intercept courses for the recon drones versus the bogey. Only two of the drones were close enough AND fast enough to intercept the alien ship if it maintained its present course and acceleration. One of the two drones had been the one that sent the signal. Shiloh ordered all three drones to attempt to intercept and ram the alien ship. Even though the third drone would not be able to catch up to the alien ship if it continued its acceleration, it provided insurance against the chance of the bogey reducing its speed. Shiloh looked at the hit probability display. It was approaching 90%, but the rate of increase was slowing as the law of diminishing marginal returns kicked in. Theoretically it would eventually hit 100% if enough sensor data was accumulated or the target got close enough, but at this distance, the best probability that Shiloh could hope for in a reasonable length of time was in the low 90’s. 344 had two standard laser turrets, designed primarily for use against unarmored pirate and smuggler vessels. If that alien ship had any kind of hull armor, his lasers might need multiple hits to penetrate it. That was another good reason to try to ram the bastard. Even hull armor would have difficulty in mitigating the damage caused by the kinetic energy from a collision at the kind of speeds that both the bogey and the drones would be traveling. The effect would be similar to what happened when tanks fired armor-piercing, kinetic energy shells at other tanks. The kinetic energy at the point of impact was so great that the impacting metal rod instantly turned to a jet of super hot gases that punched through even the densest armor like a hot knife through butter. If 344’s lasers didn’t cripple that ship, then Shiloh hoped the ramming drones would.
Without turning his head, Shiloh called to his Weapons Officer. “Weapons!”
“Sir?” replied the officer with a tense voice.
“When I giv
e you the word to open fire, I want you to keep firing until I order you to stop or until the target is destroyed. “
“Understood, Sir!”
Shiloh monitored both the hit probability screen and the Tactical display screen. The bogey’s vector was up to 55 kps and still climbing. The range hadn’t dropped that much, but as the speed increased, the range would start dropping faster and faster. At least the message drone seemed to be undetected. Its speed was increasing quickly too. Another two and a half minutes and the message drone would reach the optimum speed for a least time jump to the star system where the support ships were waiting for the squadron to return. Shiloh wanted to wait as long as possible so that the hit probability would be as high as possible. On the other hand, the longer he waited, the greater the chance that the message drone would be detected. The 344 could make a microjump right now and get away from that alien ship, but then they would need to spend time accelerating fast enough to reach their departure system quickly. The message drone could get back faster and was therefore worth protecting. Since it was being constantly updated with data from the ship up to the point when it entered Jumpspace, the support ships would know what was happening. The hit probability indicator reached 90%. With two lasers firing, the odds of both missing were one chance in a hundred. The chances of both hitting on the first shot were slightly better than four out of five. Shiloh decided not to wait any longer.
“Helm, go to maximum acceleration now! Weapons … open fire!”
“Opening fire now, Sir!” Almost immediately he continued, “Two hits! We got two hits! Lasers recharging. Ready to fire again in … five … four … three…”
Shiloh watched the Tactical display. The bogey had changed course. Its heading was swinging towards his ship. 344 hadn’t been hit by return fire yet. Shiloh assumed that the bogey had fired and missed, or else they couldn’t fire due to damage from 344’s initial shot. 344 fired again. It was time for his ship to change course.
“Helm, pull up 90 degrees! Go vertical then commence evasive action!”
The Helm’s response mingled with the Weapon’s officer’s reporting of two more hits. Still no hits from the enemy vessel. Shiloh didn’t think their luck would continue for much longer. He checked the status of the message drone. It was still accelerating and apparently undetected. He checked the range to the bogey again. Still dropping, and the rate of decline was increasing. 344 was pulling a higher acceleration than the bogey, but its initial velocity might as well have been zero for all the good it did them. The bogey had a lot more velocity to begin with, so even though 344 was gaining speed at a faster rate, the bogey was still moving faster due to its initial head start. The only thing that was working in their favor was the fact that by going vertical relative to the system’s plane, 344 was beginning a whole new vector. The bogey was moving fast ‘horizontally’ but not ‘vertically’. At some point the 3-dimensional geometry would start to work in their favor, and the range would start to widen again. A part of Shiloh’s mind took note of the fact that the bogey’s rate of acceleration was still 1.1 kps squared. 344 was piling on the velocity at almost twice that rate. One possible explanation for that discrepancy would be that their hull had a lot of armor on it. The extra mass would degrade acceleration performance. It would also explain why the four hits achieved thus far didn’t seem to have any effect on the alien vessel’s ability to maneuver. If that ship did have enough hull armor to reduce its maximum acceleration by half, then 344 was in big trouble.
Shiloh checked the relative positions and time to impact of the recon drones. The drone that would reach the target first was still a minute and a half away from contact. The good news was that by following the 344’s vertical course change, the bogey was no longer accelerating horizontally, and that meant that drone #3 had a viable intercept solution. A flashing red indicator on one of his screens caught Shiloh’s attention. The Sensor Tech confirmed it.
“We’ve got active scanning! The bogey’s gone to active scanning!”
That was both good and bad news for Shiloh’s ship. Active scanning meant that the bogey’s return fire was bound to be more accurate. The good news was that the active scanning itself gave away their position even more precisely than tracking it by reflected sunlight had done. There was no way that 344’s two lasers would miss now, and in fact they would be able to aim both lasers at exactly the same point, thereby doubling the energy trying to penetrate the hull at a specific spot. Shiloh turned his attention to trying to keep his ship from getting hit.
“Helm! Redline the engines and go to max evasion!”
Shiloh dimly heard the Helm Officer acknowledge his orders. 344 started to maneuver so violently that its crew began to feel it. Shiloh was glad he was strapped in. Just then the ship took its first hit. The extreme maneuvering saved the ship from taking the full brunt of the enemy laser. Instead, they got a glancing blow that cut through the ship’s minimal armor as if it wasn’t there and knocked out one of the maneuvering engine assemblies. 344’s acceleration dropped by eight per cent and the severity of the evasive maneuvers declined slightly, but that meant the chances of getting hit again had just increased.
“Two more hits!” shouted the Weapons Officer, his voice beginning to get hoarse. “We did it! We got through their hull! Reading atmosphere venting! Ready to fire again in three … two … one … Firing! Two more hits! More hull penetration!”
The Tactical display showed the bogey’s acceleration dropping for the first time by almost 0.2 kps squared. Shiloh also noticed that 344 seemed to be firing more frequently than the alien ship. If their weapons were far more powerful, then it would take a lot more energy to recharge it after every shot. So it was a race to see if the strategy of multiple shots with less power could damage the alien vessel severely enough before their more powerful but less frequent return fire crippled his ship. To his surprise, another full minute went by without another hit from the enemy vessel. During that interval, 344’s lasers penetrated the alien hull three times, the results showing in reduced acceleration. Just as Shiloh started to hope that they might get through this with only minor damage, 344 took a direct hit. Both laser turrets were knocked out as the beam slashed along the ship’s spine. Multiple compartments experienced explosive decompression with instant death for the occupants. Collateral damage included the severing of key control linkages between the Bridge and the rear half of the ship, which meant they could no longer maneuver the ship from the Bridge. 344 continued to accelerate but now only in a straight line. This meant that the next enemy shot would hit her again for sure. Shiloh’s Command Station screens lit up like a Christmas tree with multiple red and yellow damage lights. He heard his Helm Officer call out.
“I’ve lost helm control! We can’t evade!”
The Com Officer said, “All com channels with the rear half of the ship have been cut!”
Shiloh had to find a way to get the ship maneuvering again. It was their only hope of evading another devastating blow. He thought fast.
He called out the Weapons Officer’s name, “Sykes! Get down to engineering and tell the XO to take over Helm functions from there. Tell her we need to start evading again, fast!”
To his credit, Sykes didn’t even waste time acknowledging the order. He was already on his way by the time Shiloh had finished speaking. Shiloh didn’t know how long it would take the alien vessel to recharge its weapon. Sykes would have to detour around damaged areas of the ship and might not get to Engineering fast enough, but he couldn’t think of anything else to try. Conning the ship from Engineering was their only hope. He checked the status of the drones again. The closest one was only seconds from ramming the enemy. Those few seconds seemed to take forever, but eventually they passed and the Sensor Tech gave an exultant cry.
“Direct hit! Major hull penetration! … sensors picking up secondary explosions from inside the hull … acceleration has dropped to zero! We plastered her good, by God!”
The whole Bridge erupted with
shouts of joy. Shiloh grinned but said nothing. He understood their need to vent their feelings, but he felt it was premature to declare victory just yet. There was no way of knowing if that ship could still fire its weapon. With both ships apparently heavily damaged, the winner would be the one able to get in one final, good hit. He checked the drone status again. Drone #2 was about 34 seconds from impact. As the cheering died down, the Helm Officer shouted out.
“We’re evading again! Sykes must have gotten the word to the XO!”
That brought another round of cheering. Shiloh watched the seconds count down to the second drone intercept, desperately hoping that the alien ship wouldn’t fire for just a little bit longer. As the last few seconds fell away, he looked at the direct video view of the enemy ship. It was too far to see the ship itself, but the sudden burst of light in the distance at the moment of impact was all he needed, to know that drone #2 had hit the target dead on. Even the Sensor Tech’s report was more subdued than before.
“Drone #2 made a direct hit … I’m reading major pieces of debris scattering in all directions … energy emissions are now zero.” He looked over at his CO. “I think we’ve killed that ship, Skipper.”
Shiloh nodded. “Yes. I’m inclined to agree with you. We’ll let drone #3 impact the wreck, anyway. Helm? I want you to transfer to Engineering and take over helm functions from there. Tell the XO we can stop evading, and I want us on a course for a jump back to our departure system. Also tell her to send a complete damage report to the Bridge by runner if the com system isn’t repaired by then. Com! Any word on casualties yet?”
The responding voice was heavy with regret. “Preliminary reports say 13 dead and 8 more injured. Repair teams are working on the damage. No estimate yet of when we’ll get com links back up with the other half of the ship. There may be more casualties that haven’t been reported yet. I’ve asked Chief Watson to send a runner to check on casualties from the areas we can’t contact, Sir.”