By this time, the sensor operators and navigation calculated that the pirates were about three hours out. Shasi met me as I reached the mess and joined me for food. If pressed, I would have had to admit that I was feeling quite hungry anyway. As I ate my food, I could see her nodding in approval, so knew that as far as she was concerned at least, I was doing the right thing.
Once we’d both finished eating I simply asked, “Squad bay?”
She agreed so we went down there. When we arrived the Troopers who were present were either preparing themselves for the expected upcoming battle or helping some of the other crew members prepare for their part. Even before we entered this system, Olin was trying to identify Navy crew who he thought might be useful for defending the ship if we were boarded. Since then, he and his Troopers had been training those crew on Trooper tactics. There’d been a little grumbling at first, but there was none now, the crew were working hard, trying to learn how to defend the ship. They’d all come to realise this was to be a life and death struggle between us and the boarders. If we lost the upcoming struggle, most of us were probably going to be dead anyway. Those who weren’t would probably wish they were. We didn’t expect these pirates to be at all gentle with any captives they had, particularly not after the damage we’d already caused them.
Four hours prior to the pirate’s expected arrival time, everyone was at their assigned location, non-combatants to the core, Troopers and some naval personnel either to the squad bay or out watching to see where the pirates would grapple the ship. Our expectation was for the pirates to try and capture both the bridge and engineering first. In the short term anyway, taking the bridge would not really help them very much as the ship could not be controlled from there due to the extensive nature of the still unresolved damage. In addition to that, engineering had overrides for nearly all of the bridge controls. Really, the only things of use on the bridge were the sensor screens, and the ship’s command staff. Securing the bridge would, we hoped, tie up a sizeable portion of the pirate force not to mention, place them in a relatively small footprint where we could attack them with overwhelming force at our leisure. We also had quite a few traps and hidden mines on the approaches to the bridge. By now, the armoury in the squad bay was almost completely empty. All of our available weaponry and ammunition was either distributed or hidden in various locations around the ship so we could access it if something was needed.
I was really quite surprised when we first found ourselves in this situation at just how many weapons and how much ordnance was stored on this ship. Olin explained to me this was because FNS Destiny was usually away from her home port for years at a time. During that time, the only Federation planets they might call on were colonies who would be unlikely to have replacements or replenishments for much of this equipment. Those stops were only really useful to allow the crew off the ship for some leave and to allow FNS Destiny to replenish her stores of fresh food. His explanation made sense to me when he first told me and I was truly thankful for it now. Our hope was to add to our stockpiles of weapons or other useful items as we captured or killed any invading pirates.
INVASION
Olin and I discussed how we should go about protecting the ships command structure during the upcoming engagement. We both thought the Captain should split those officers who were still capable of fighting between the bridge, engineering and a mobile force intended to make the pirates lives miserable whenever and wherever possible. The mobile force could also act as a reserve if either of the blockades we’d set up looked like it was about to be overrun. This way, we hoped to have the ships most senior officers spread around the ship.
We hoped if all the officers in any one or even two locations were killed, captured or otherwise put out of action, there would still be someone in authority left to take command so the ship could make her way home after we managed to evict our attackers. They would all still be in the line of fire but, we hoped, not in a position where they could all be easily taken down. I thought Olin and I had covered all the bases, minimising the risks by keeping the officers separated and as safe as possible. After some discussion, we managed to convince the Captain that our tactic would be a not only a good idea but in fact absolutely essential so he issued the appropriate orders.
I found myself wishing we still had Shulari and the others who were injured by the recent mine blasts but of course, we didn’t. Shulari was a good officer as well as very intelligent. She would have been able to do a lot to stiffen the resistance at the engineering defences but she was unavailable, injured by the mines, for now, only being kept alive in a stasis pod. I found myself fervently hoping the medical staff would be able to repair the injuries she’d sustained when we were finally able to give them power to the medical bay once again as well as the freedom and security to work on her.
Olin and I were both tasked to be out in the ship with the third group, trying to herd or entice the pirates into the kill zones we’d set up during our preparations. Once we had the pirates where we wanted them, we planned to retire back towards our rallying point where we could gather our forces till they were needed. We would then decide on the best way to stop the pirates from taking over the ship. Until we defeated them, we could not repair the ship nor could the ship head for a safe port, we couldn’t even do anything to bring the ship under control. We still had no drives, no shields and no external weapons. Our missiles were all but expended and the lasers and rail guns were all off line. Until we were able to repair the power systems, at least those feeding the drives and steering thrusters, we were going nowhere except the direction we were already traveling as we tumbled through space on our ballistic course. Unfortunately, this was not the direction we wanted to be heading. The engineering staff were using the time they had available between resting and helping us prepare to defend the ship to make a list of likely candidate locations for the damage causing all these systems to be shut down.
I asked Olin, “Has anyone been to look at our two shuttles”.
He replied, “One was destroyed, I’m not sure about the other”.
“Were they armed?” I asked.
By now, Olin had learned to recognise when I had an idea forming so he just replied, “Yes. What do you have in mind?”
“Well, perhaps we can destroy one or both of the pirate shuttles before they dock with our ship. Or if we can’t do that we may be able to thin the pirate ranks a lot before they actually get on board. That will make things a lot easier for us here on the ship”, I replied.
Olin looked thoughtful for a few moments before saying,” Actually Colin, that is a quite a good idea. It will also remove a secure location for them to regroup as well as any stores they are not physically carrying with them when they board our ship. Our shuttle is not heavily enough armed or armoured to engage in a toe to toe fight with them but once they are down on the hull, a lot of their weapons will not be available to them, especially if we are firing across the surface of the ship and hit them in the engines.”
He stopped and thought for a minute before continuing, “We might cause further damage to our hull when we hit them but I expect the damage around any likely landing site is probably bad enough that it is worth the risk.”
He then contacted the Captain on a secure link to let him know about my latest plan. Once the Captain authorised us to proceed, we quickly rounded up a crew to go inspect the remaining shuttle, carry out the pre-flight check and load as much in the way of supplies, including air as we could fit. While they were doing the necessary checks and loading the supplies, we rounded up a shuttle crew to carry out the mission. As soon as we had a shuttle crew together we briefed them, explaining what we wanted them to do. After the briefing, the shuttle crew went down to the remaining shuttle to start their own checks for damage. We all knew we would not be able to recover them till after we’d evicted our boarders so we wanted to make sure they would have enough supplies to sustain them till we could bring them back on board.
By the time t
hey were ready to launch, we’d managed to get enough supplies on board for them to be able to stay out there for about a week. They would not be particularly comfortable but they would be relatively safe and in the short term at least, would not die of thirst, hunger or suffocation. Olin made it very clear, they were not to engage in any suicidal heroics, we wanted them back. He told them to stick to the plan. At the end of the day, we didn’t want to lose a shuttle and crew needlessly, but we had a real opportunity here to even the odds. After they finished the mission we launched them for, they would be able to help the Captain by providing some additional external situational awareness while we tried to repair the ship and bring her back under control.
When the shuttle crew finally reached the shuttle, they very carefully re-checked it for damage, thankfully finding none. They then checked all the supplies the crew had loaded for them were safely stored taking the time to identify where everything they might need in a hurry was stored. They followed this with the standard pre-flight checklist. A few minutes after completing their checks, our shuttle launched. They’d already identified a location where they could hide and proceeded to make their way to the location and snuggle themselves into position between the nacelles for the main engines. These were massive structures at the rear of the ship where the engine outlet nozzles were located. This area was bathed in deep shadow where the shuttle would essentially blend in to the surrounding structure. We could do this at the moment because we had no main drives, they were out of action. If the main engines were operational, the shuttle would not have been able to access this location but then, we would’ve simply run away from our pursuers. If, as we expected, the pirates did a fly around of the ship looking for what they considered to be the best landing place, we hoped they would not see the shuttle in that location because of the shadow, clutter and residual heat from the main engines. Once in place, the shuttle could clamp onto the ship and wait till it was safe to make the planned attack.
As soon as the shuttle launched, a team was sent out through the shuttle lock with some debris. They attached the debris in and around the area where the shuttle was normally located so it looked as though the shuttle had in fact, been destroyed. We hoped the debris would do two things, first, we wanted to convince the pirates the shuttle was destroyed, and second we wanted to stop them from docking in that bay. After the shuttle docking bay was disguised, all we could do, was to wait. We’d done all the planning and made all the other preparations we could think of. All in all, we had been planning and rehearsing for the coming events for over four weeks now. We did actually have a third shuttle but it was locked in a hold and could not be launched in time to make a difference to the outcome.
As we watched, the pirate shuttles continued to draw closer till both our observers and passive sensors could see them begin to methodically fly around the ship, looking for any traps we may have set as well as for good places to attach to FNS Destiny’s hull. We didn’t really mind this because the longer they took to board the ship, the more time we had before lives were in jeopardy from fighting them. Although we thought we had covered everything, we all knew no plan ever survives first contact with the enemy simply because the enemy also gets a vote. We were absolutely certain the incoming pirates were highly skilled in undertaking hostile and opposed boarding’s, they were after all, pirates, it was how they made their living, they had lots of opportunity to practice.
On the other hand, they would be attempting to board a Federation Navy deep space explorer ship. The crews on these ship’s, were considered among the elite within the Federation. Becoming a crew member on one of these deep space explorers was not easy. They were heavily screened before being accepted. After that, the training these people needed to undergo was both intense and brutal. One comparison within Earth bound militaries would be with the special operations communities. The main difference being the training for the crew of FNS Destiny was heavily slanted in the direction of teamwork to keep the ship running and simply getting on with the rest of the crew over the long cruises. During those cruises, they couldn’t achieve much separation from their crew-mates. Many candidates dropped out or were washed out during the training process because it was so tough.
The selection process, coupled with the training ensured our crew were tough, resourceful and resilient. They would not give up if they experienced a setback, they would not let the pirates beat them easily, they would make the pirates bleed for every millimetre of the ship they captured. No, capturing FNS Destiny would not be an easy task for these pirates. If they defeated us and took the ship they would pay a heavy price in blood. Really, the best these pirates could hope to capture would be a broken ship full of corpses and even then, a lot of those corpses would be their own.
We’d already put quite a few measures in place we hoped would allow us to significantly thin the ranks of the pirates before they were able to overwhelm us. These included mines buried inside some of the bulkheads along passageways we thought the pirates would need to follow, booby traps, sealed passageways and other barriers. We also planned to give the pirates someone to chase into the part of the ship where we wanted them. The addition of our shuttle, now hiding outside was yet another one of those deployed countermeasures, at least so we hoped this would be the case. We expected we would probably be able to take out at least one of the shuttles before they could unload all their troops though we hoped to destroy both. We thought if we could destroy these two shuttles, we would be able to seriously limit the quantity of supplies such as food, water and ammunition the pirates would have available to only what they were able to carry on board with them.
We hoped with this one act, we could put a serious crimp in their numbers, and their capability before they even reached the Destiny’s interior. They would need to set up a supply dump with what they’d been able to carry aboard and guard it, further limiting the available troops for offensive operations. Of course, a pirate supply dump on the ship would also give us another target to attack when their attention was focused elsewhere. The other benefit of destroying the pirate shuttles was the pirates would then be forced into a position where they could not reasonably destroy FNS Destiny. If they destroyed our ship, then they would die as well. This could of course would be a two-edged sword. I thought they would also become far more desperate and hence, more dangerous.
While we waited for the pirates to choose a spot to land on the ship’s hull, my mind started to wander a little once again. I began to reflect on the name of this ship. FNS Destiny, was that an omen of some kind? Was I destined for something I could not even imagine at this point, or was I destined to die here? Was it all coincidence? In all honesty, I didn’t know then, I still don’t. What I did know was right then, we, the people on board the ship were in a world of hurt. We were in a crippled ship and we were about to be boarded by pirates who we thought, most probably outnumbered us by at least two or even three to one.
I am not a particularly religious man, but I began silently praying to myself, praying that I would survive and eventually be able to find my way home to my partner Katherine, and our children. I wanted to see my grandchildren, assuming my kids had started a family before I died. I wanted to smell the eucalyptus in the air around my home and feel Earth’s gravity under my feet. I wanted to go to a good Italian restaurant. I wanted to eat the foods and drink the wines I enjoy so much.
For the first time since I regained consciousness on this ship I started to feel real fear. Up till then, I was operating in ignorant bliss. I’d been far too busy, learning about the new environment and helping to defend the ship and her crew to really have time to think about my personal survival. Even when we were fighting the pirates on Zafar, I didn’t feel the fear I was feeling now. This was when I really started to miss my home and my family. After a few moments of this, I recognised it for the self-pity it was so I mentally slapped myself, told myself to stop it and started to pull myself together. The fear was still there but, with a lot of determination
and shear bloody mindedness, I managed to bottle it up securely in a dark recess of my mind so it could not stop me from thinking and acting or doing the things I knew I I needed to do. I knew I could release the fear if I needed to, a little bit at time when I needed it to speed up my reflexes or become a little more aggressive.
Around me, a group consisting mostly of ship’s crew, were quietly waiting. Till a few minutes ago they’d been quietly talking to each, other mostly bitching about this and that, letting off steam. It was clear to me were battling the same demons as I was, fear does this to people. When I talk about fear in this context, I am not talking about people being frightened, everyone is frightened at times like this. There is no doubt in my mind, this crew were as brave as anyone. When I look back, they were as brave as any crew I have ever served with since joining the Federation. Bravery is about putting the fear away and doing what must be done, no matter what. I studiously ignored the bitching because it was just the individuals releasing some of their tension. Eventually, I overheard one of them tell his companion he would die for this ship and her crew.
I was quite shocked at his comment, I decided now was a time when I needed to say something, so I said, loudly enough for all of them to hear, “You know, the people from my world are very warlike. Not so long ago, we had two global conflicts. Those two conflicts took place closely enough together that people who served in the first one as relatively junior officers served in the second as Generals, and Admirals. These two conflicts were only 21 of our years apart.”
I noticed they were all listening to me by now, so I continued, “One of those men who served as a General in the second conflict was a man named George Patton. This man was very controversial. He was portrayed by the media as an aggressive officer even with his own men, but he was also a very good leader. He famously gave a speech to a graduating class of officer cadets at one of his country’s military academies. He said, and I quote as closely as I can remember it, ‘Some say there is no greater honour than to die for your country. I disagree, it is much better to make sure some poor bastard on the other side dies for his.’”
Star Man 1: Star Bourne Page 16
