Crucible: Records of the Argos

by Michael J. Farlow

  On Earth, we would have been hampered by the ancient rules of engagement that said you could only shoot when fired upon. There were no rules of engagement out here, and I made that evident to one and all.

  Argos led the two-ship formation with Dreng close up in echelon right. I kept her close so that Wizzy could extend our more advanced Naskapi-based stealth system, which would allow both ships to fire unseen. Reinen and his crew had no warning as we flew by launching missiles and firing everything we had. The only preparedness Reinen had was the raised shields he had up before we got there. He would not have survived that pass otherwise.

  Even with active shields, the frigate took a beating and was slow to respond. So slow in fact that we had the opportunity to turn and fly in again without opposition and make a second pass. It reminded me of a Hornblower novel I once read where the gunner, Quist, I think it was, exclaimed, “One in the beak and one in the gizzard and not a shot in return!” That might have made me feel good, except I knew Hornblower took a beating after that.

  Even so, I was feeling pretty good until the frigate opened fire with everything that she had in every direction possible and started to maneuver. I was still feeling good until we got a narrow focus laser message of distress from Tiana in Dreng.

  “Argos, Dreng here. We took a lucky hit on our port side, which burned through several old shield and stealth plates. I’m afraid we can be seen and are weak there.”

  “Roger, Dreng. Move closer on our starboard side. We can be a physical shield for you.” I remember my father talking about that same sort of maneuver in one of his first fights with the Arkon. I think the other ship was the corvette, Condor, and he was in the frigate, Ajax. Dreng closed up on Argos for the added protection.

  Reinen must have realized that he was up against one or more opponents that he didn’t know much about nor cared to learn more about because he pointed his ship in the general direction of his distant corvette companion and started accelerating. He didn’t, however, shift to stealth mode, nor did he shift to FTL. That could only mean his systems were damaged. We entered a tail chase. That was okay for Argos, but Dreng was having a hard time keeping pace.

  “Dreng, this is Argos actual. Follow as best you can, but don’t try to keep pace. We’ll need your help when the corvette shows up, and things slow down. We’ll handle this fight. Argos, out.”

  I wondered what Tiana was thinking, and half expected her to ignore me. But one look out the starboard viewscreen showed me she heard as the Dreng drifted backward and then out of sight as Argos accelerated.

  Falcon could be flown and fought by one person. She was designed to do that. The only reason we ever flew with two or more crew was for mutual training.

  “Sif, Amini, get to the old bridge and fight Argos from there. I’m launching Falcon.”

  No words were exchanged; they knew what to do. They even called Doc after them as they climbed through the upper hatch and closed it behind them. Speeding through the short checklist, I launched Falcon and sped away from Argos to overtake the fleeing frigate. Amini and Sif continued to fire on the frigate and received fire in return. The Arkon captain knew a thing or two about shooting in the blind and scored more hits on Argos than any of us liked. However, that stopped when I pulled up to the frigate on a parallel course about a quarter of a mile to the left or port side. I learned my lesson when engaging the corvette not so long ago. No ion wake for me. I decided to try something else first.

  “Arkon warship. You are surrounded. Cut your engines and prepare to be boarded.” Our two ships were far from surrounding the frigate, but he didn’t know that. And I wasn’t even sure what we would do if he did surrender. I suppose we could send Sif over with some battle bots — which actually might work.

  Not hearing anything, I gave the command again with the same results.

  “OK, I warned you,” I said with a smile as I gave him two blasts with the Falcon’s plasma cannon after it trained to the right and locked on.

  The reaction was more or less as expected. The frigate peeled off to the right and accelerated with Argos and Falcon following and continuing to fire. The thought of capturing the frigate gave way to “we have to get this over with” as we got nearer to the closing corvette.

  “Oh, Nicky.”

  “Not now, Wizzy, we’re in a fight.”

  “No kidding, that’s what you call a fight?”

  “Wizzy, I’m busy!”

  “You’re about to be busier.”

  “What?”

  “I said you are about to be busier.”

  I felt a tingling of trouble. “Busier? How?”

  “That pesky little corvette will be here in about two minutes.”

  “How is that possible?”

  “It appears that while the frigate can’t go FTL, the corvette can.”

  “Oh, shit.” I’d forgotten about that.

  “My thought exactly. What do you plan to do?”

  “Continue the chase. Let Tiana and Amini know what’s about to happen.”

  “Done. May I make a suggestion?”

  “I wish you would.”

  “Both Argos and you throttle back, cease fire, close up, and sit tight. Have Dreng hold back.”

  I was about to ask what that would accomplish when the smartass AI’s idea bloomed into my mind. Either that or he put it in my head through my implant. No, I figured it out… I think.

  The plan was simple. Sit in place in stealth mode. Play like we ran away when we saw the corvette, and the threat was over. Chances are the senior captain of the frigate would call on the corvette to help make repairs, and when they were engrossed in work, we would hit them both — nice smooth plan. And you know how plans generally work.

  It looked like it was working. Both ships drew close to each other and a shuttle flew from the corvette toward the frigate. But just as it was about to enter the frigate’s flight bay, it stopped, turned, and made a hasty retreat back to the corvette.

  “Wizzy, what just happened?’

  “The corvette turned on its long-range sensors as the shuttle departed. Argos and Falcon are OK, but I’m afraid they picked up the Dreng with her damaged port side. They aren’t far away.”

  “Crap. Wizzy, warn the Dreng. Argos, let’s hit them now before they can get to Dreng. I’ll hit the corvette. You go for the damaged frigate.”

  “Roger, Falcon,” was all the response needed.

  The two Arkon warships had been coasting in space when they hit their engines and headed for the Dreng. Falcon and Argos took a curving path to intercept the now fast-moving ships and ended in a tail chase again. For Falcon, that lasted only a few minutes, and I was on the corvette and started pouring everything I had at her. Argos had a longer chase to make.

  To every man, there has to come some luck, and it was my day to be lucky. Wizzy failed to mention that corvettes are not only smaller than frigates, but their structure and systems are also generally less robust than a frigate’s. In this case, my opening volley damaged the small ship, and she did not or could not engage stealth, just like the frigate. That gave me a distinct advantage. I could see her, but she couldn’t see me. And I was wise to the ion wave thing, remember?

  To her captain’s credit, he fought well with what he had, but not as well as the previous corvette captain I faced. I got knocked around in my chair again as the corvette scored sporadic hits, but I was faster and had more powerful weapons. It was almost not fair. It took me three passes before I scored a plasma hit on the aft section of the corvette, and she erupted in a ball of orange light, spewing gasses and fragments into space. Now for the frigate.

  In the engagement with the corvette, I lost track of the other ships.

  “Wizzy, what’s happening with Argos and Dreng?”

  “Argos is closing on the frigate and has engaged her with missiles. But I estimate that the frigate w
ill be on top of Dreng before Argos can finish the job.”

  “Is there anything you can do?”

  “Me? Like what?”

  “Use your superpowers. Maybe you can screw with the frigate’s controls or weapons or something.”

  “Hmm, I never thought of that. Can you be more specific?”

  Me, be more specific to an ultra AI? How does that work?

  “I don’t know. Maybe you can start a fire on board the frigate. Divert the crew’s attention or something. Talk to their AI, if they have one.”

  “That would be an interesting experiment. Let me see. Hmm… Arkon ships have AIs, limited as they are, and I am close, given my physical position in Argos. What if I transmitted a signal to the frigate AI and had it say, turn off everything?”

  “I hope you aren’t asking me, Wizzy.”

  “No, of course not. I can do this. I think. Watch and learn, my simian friend; prepare to be dazzled.”

  I waited a minute or two as I closed on the frigate and watched it start to open fire on the Dreng. Argos continued her fire, although it was lesser than mine would be in Falcon.

  “Wizzy! What are you doing? I’m not dazzled yet.”

  “Ah, my first attempt to contact the AI didn’t work. I’m boosting the signal now. Umm, good, better, there we are. What a dumb AI! Hardly smarter than a small dog or cat, not nearly as smart as you, and that’s saying something.”

  “Do something Wizzy. Dreng is taking hits!”

  “I’m trying. I don’t think anyone or any AI has ever done something like this before. Give me a break!”

  Suddenly all fire from the frigate stopped, her engines shut down, and she began coasting again. That’s when Argos closed the distance and continued to fire. The frigate had no shields, no stealth, and no signs of self-defense. She flew apart in thousands of different directions. Unfortunately, some of those flying parts impacted Dreng and put her out of action for a while. Wizzy sent over some repair bots to help.

  “That was amazing, Wizzy! How did you do that?”

  “This may surprise you, ape boy, but I am not sure. There is nothing in the AI manual that suggests how to do this. I just concentrated, pictured the Arkon AI in my mind, and then told it what to do. I did use a lot of power, however. More than I’ve done in the past. Then again, the AI was nothing special compared to me, of course. I’ll have to think about this.”

  When Dreng could move, we turned toward Kiber to check on the three cargo ships we left behind and the enemy small craft. To our amazement, none of the small craft were around, and the surface was not being arbitrarily attacked. As it turned out, the three lightly armed cargo ships captured several of the small craft and managed to destroy a few more. The others just fled.

  All in all, not a bad day. We stopped a potential devastating punishment attack on the people of Tye, took out two warships, captured or scared away the pestering small craft, and while we took hits, we didn’t lose a ship. Did I say we were lucky? Given our experience in the region, or lack of it, we managed to put a significant hole in Gurko’s business. He had to come out now, didn’t he?

  Chapter 17

  A day later, and for the first time since we arrived in the Tye sector, we were invited to meet with the Resistance at one of their sites. Amini and I took the repaired Shuttle 2 to a remote location in the planet’s interior. We were surprised to see Tiana there to greet us as the shuttle ramp lowered.

  “Welcome, my friends!” she said with genuine warmth and darkened stripes. “The leadership is looking forward to meeting you. Please follow me.” She didn’t bother to say that she was also now part of the leadership of the Resistance.

  As we followed Tiana, I couldn’t help but be impressed. This was no backward jungle camp. It was a real town with new buildings going up as we walked by. True, none of the buildings were as high as the tall trees around them, but that was part of their defense. You can’t attack what you can’t see, and way out here, nobody was even looking. Nonetheless, even our arriving shuttle was quickly covered by a camouflage tent of twisted rope and entwined foliage. I almost ran into Tiana when she stopped alongside a long, low, nondescript building.

  “Why are we stopping?”

  “This is it, our leaders’ meeting hall.”

  I think I was expecting something a little bigger and more impressive. Every city I had ever seen, large or small, had their most important building glamorized in some way with tall, oversized doors, a raised letter brass plaque, and stone carvings on the walls or nearby. Not this place. I took that to mean the leaders I was about to meet were less impressed with themselves than they were about the people they represented and their survival.

  We entered the building and were immediately met by a dozen or so men and women of various ages. Some looked like the workers we saw along the way as we walked. Some looked as if they had come from monied families, at least in the way they carried themselves and some of their slightly more refined clothing. And yet others looked like they just recently graduated from school. I had never seen such a diverse bunch in a government or leadership gathering. I was impressed.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, may I present Captain Nickolas of the Argos and his second in command, Amini.”

  Captain Nickolas? I guess she came to that conclusion since some people in this sector of space had only one name. But Nickolas? Maybe she thought that was better than Captain Nick. Amini and I nodded our heads as we were ushered to a round room with chairs placed in a wide circle. No table, I noted.

  No sooner than we all sat down, a young man I guessed to be about thirty stood and walked to the center of the circle. I later learned he was called Zanta. He slowly turned and greeted the group, then focused on Amini and me.

  “I welcome our new friends to this gathering space, Amini and Captain Nickolas…”

  “Just Nick, please,” I responded, followed by a few chuckles around me after I spoke.

  “Nick, it is. These two friends and their associates have done more for us in a short time than we can thank them for. When we first became aware of them through Larona, we were skeptical, at least some of us were. At the time, we had some suspicions about her, which we now all know to have been accurate, much to our disappointment. You may not know this Nick, but after your alert, we verified that Larona was a long-time spy for Toor and has now taken his place under Gurko. We thank you for the information.”

  Our suspicions were confirmed. I only wish there had been a safe way to tell these people earlier.

  Zanta continued.

  “She is taking every opportunity to regain Toor’s losses and then some. The port entry fees have doubled, and our black market is under serious threat from her forces. Thanks to you, our people have tasted a little of the freedom they lost long ago, and they want more. More people are fleeing the cities and joining us in places just like this one. In fact, this is the newest retreat, and we are still building as you saw on your way here. Thanks to the storage sites you led us to, we have supplies for a long while but not forever.”

  The speaker ended his opening presentation and yielded the center floor to a blond-haired woman, Tiana.

  “Thank you for your words, senior leader, and thank you all for allowing me to bring our new friends here. I have had the honor to work with them and fight with them. And I trust them all with my life — even the Arkon Red known as Sif.”

  There was a buzz of low talk at the mention of an Arkon Red.

  “Yes, an Arkon Red who I and others fought with at sites 20 and 35.”

  More buzzing went on around the room.

  “They gave me and us the Dreng, a weapons improved cargo ship that once belonged to Toor. I used that ship to help fight Gurko’s forces, as many of you know. As a result, it is plain to me that if we are to regain our freedom, we need to help our new friends and help ourselves. Their one ship, while impressive, is not
enough. Even with Dreng, we need more ships and more people.”

  I was grateful and impressed that she did not mention the Falcon. We couldn’t avoid letting her see it from the Dreng when we defeated the frigate. I asked her not to mention it, and she promised.

  The meeting continued for almost an hour, with every person going to the center floor and sharing their views. In the end, and without words from Amini and me, they all agreed to work with us and step up their efforts to defeat Gurko and return freedom to Tye. Amini and I were both relieved and impressed. Relieved in that we didn’t have to make a plea for help and impressed with the leaders coming to their own conclusion regarding their need to join the fight.

  Before the camouflage netting was removed from over our shuttle in preparation for our departure, Tiana ran over to us.

  “Thank you for coming. I know you didn’t have to say much, but it was important for our people and leaders to meet you and see you are real. Before you arrived, I received information that among the storage units that you showed us were warship replacement parts, including weapons. We are sending them to the three cargo ships we already have and hope to have them operational soon. Here is a tablet that shows when and where we can rendezvous with the ships to make the upgrades. Any help you can provide with these ships would be appreciated — like maybe Mr. Wizzy?”

  Amini and I both laughed, and we knew Wizzy would love to play with the ships.

  A day and a half later when we were in FTL with Dreng headed for a rendezvous with the three Resistance cargo ships, I told Wizzy what would happen.

  “Are you kidding? What am I, a space dry dock?”

  “No, Wizzy, you are much more. You are a truly amazing and magnificent being far above our poor plane of existence. After all, how could a bunch of ignorant humans possibly create the kind of fighting ships that are needed without you? You are indispensable beyond words.”