“Something must’ve distracted the Pirates. The Navy couldn’t have driven them away yet. It’s too soon.”
Cambridge System (Near Sidon Station)
Two Cobras, FNS Theseus and FNS Freyja, arrived near Magni’s position. Soon after a Destroyer, FNS Salander and another two Cobras, FNS Vida and FNS Loki also appeared. Cambridge’s operational Cobras were all there now. The Cobras paired up ready to attack. Salander would work somewhat independently, providing more firepower when needed.
When ready, the Cobras went dark before departing at high speed. They followed three different vectors, each intended to aim their attack from another direction. Captain Hamilton considered the plan a good one so Salander would come when called. Hamilton understood, two Cobras can beat any Destroyer in a fight.
Theseus and Freyja made the first attack run. They rocketed past, pumping out Missiles toward the Pirates as they proceeded. The Patrol-Boats wanted to draw the Pirate’s attention. Meanwhile, Loki and Vida began a similar attack run seconds later but on the opposite side of the Pirate forces. The group didn’t use high-speed fly-bys because too much debris floated around near the Station. Worse, the Pirates had developed excellent counter tactics by then.
Missiles smashed into the Pirate Shields, stressing them with each strike. Magni and Forseti started their own attack run. These two Cobras intended to speed past the rear of the Pirate formation.
Missiles continued impacting on the Pirate’s Shields, causing severe stress to them. Loki and Vida made another attack run and fired the last of their Missiles. They hit the enemy’s Shields with everything they had available, including Rail-Guns and Lasers, as they passed.
The two ships were well past the Pirate formation when Loki lurched violently to one side, venting atmosphere from a Hull breach. Onboard FNS Loki, pandemonium reigned supreme. Suzanne Riley sustained critical injuries when her Command Chair broke loose from the deck mountings and flew across the CCC with her still strapped into it. The same event shook Suzanne’s XO up too, but he recovered and assumed command.
Damage reports flooded into the Secondary CCC. Loki barreled across Cambridge System away from the battle with FNS Vida flying beside her. Arthur Lang, Loki’s XO concluded his ship was out of the fight. Her Shields were down to 20 percent in most places and showed no sign of recovering. Loki had no ammunition left either, and her Captain was out of commission. Arthur opened a Comms channel to FNS Freyja.
“Freyja, Lieutenant Lang on FNS Loki. We’ve taken extensive damage, and Captain Riley has sustained critical injuries. Request permission to return to Cambridge Station.”
“Permission granted Arthur. We’ll see you when we return.”
“Thank you, Ma’am.”
Loki turned in a broad, curved trajectory toward the world of Cambridge.
Siobhan called Salander in to finish the Pirates. The Cobras were almost out of bullets, but the four remaining Pirates appeared worse. Salander cruised into the battle area, releasing a flurry of Missiles at the Pirates as she advanced. This proved too much. One by one, the Pirates sped up to Jump speed and Micro-Jumped away.
Sidon Mining Station
With the departure of the remaining Pirate ships from the Station environs, Aaron and Audrey stood the Station crew down so they could relax. Cambridge’s System Defense had overwhelmed the Pirates, and they ran. The Station had sustained damage to the Sensor nodes, but repairs only needed a few hours. Still, Audrey believed there were enough spares to restore the Sensors. For now, too much loose debris remained to send people outside in safety.
In the meantime, the Navy carried out Search and Rescue (SAR) duties. Three mining ships were on approach when the Pirates attacked. Since then, nobody had heard from them. The SAR Shuttles found two disabled vessels but not the third. They didn’t even see a debris field. Either it ran and hid, or the Pirates boarded and took it.
Mining ships only carried a crew of four. The rescue teams found eight live people including three injured on the recovered ships. Shuttles towed the damaged ships back to Sidon where high-quality medical facilities were ready to help the wounded. The Station also had ship repair facilities to repair the damaged vessels.
Meanwhile, the search continued for the missing ship. The remaining Cobras departed two at a time for Cambridge Station to rearm. Once, rearmed, they returned to the region surrounding Sidon Mining-Station, ready to continue the search. Two days later, the missing ship appeared from behind an asteroid.
As the missing ship approached Sidon, the controllers experienced a wave of relief. When Audrey called them, intending to guide them into the right docking bay, she didn’t receive a response at first. She wondered why; perhaps something had damaged their Comms array. Then, she heard a female voice on the Comms channel.
“This is Commander Siobhan Fraser of the Federation Navy. To the incoming mining ship, stop and prepare for boarding.”
On board FNS Freyja, Siobhan watched the incoming ship as it ignored her order to stop and continued heading toward the Station. This didn’t smell right to Siobhan. Siobhan hoped the vessel’s Comms array had been damaged. The only other reason for them not answering hails was if they were buying time.
Mining ships include a Prime-Mover and a Cargo-Pod. A Prime-Mover accommodates the crew and drives, the Cargo-Pod carries the payload. These components coupled together using mechanical couplings controlled from inside the Prime-Mover. The designers fitted an external emergency decoupling mechanism near the linkages to create an efficient design.
Sidon Mining assigned each Prime-Mover three Cargo-Pods. One is at the mine site, loading ore. The Prime-Mover hauls the second between the mine and the Station. The third is at the Mining-Station unloading. Cargo-Pods are large enough to hold explosives or many troops.
Siobhan ordered FNS Freyja’s Trooper contingent to undock and board the vessel. Freyja’s Shuttle moved in above the offending ship but didn’t dock. Instead, the boarding team deployed to the couplings between the Cargo-Pod and the Prime-Mover.
The Troopers disconnected the Pod and activated emergency thrusters. This separated the ship into two parts. After the Cargo-Pod separated from the Prime-Mover, the Shuttle picked up the Troopers from on the Pod. Meanwhile, the Troopers on the Prime-Mover gained entry into the Cabin. The original crew remained, two dead and the other two dying. The Troopers stunned the Pirates and restrained them. They transported them back to Cambridge for processing.
On the Cargo-Pod, the Troopers had just boarded the Shuttle when people in Space-Suits came boiling out of several access hatches. The Shuttle pulled away, leaving the Space-Suited figures stranded. Somebody fired at the Shuttle with light man-portable weapons, but the Shuttle’s outer Hull was armored. The incoming projectiles barely scratched the paint. FNS Salander took over the job of containing this batch of Pirates.
For the Pirates, the raid on Cambridge proved expensive. Out of sixty ships that entered the System, fifteen escaped, leaving six stranded in Cambridge. The Federation forces had incarcerated ten thousand Pirate ground troops and five thousand ship’s crew. Cambridge’s government intended to repatriate many to their home planets but would execute a few.
Cambridge Shipyard
David surveyed the damage on FNS Loki as they guided her into the slipway for repairs. They had only fixed this ship a week ago. FNS Loki had returned, damaged again. Captain Riley sustained severe injuries when her seat broke loose from the mountings. This shouldn’t have happened.
David heard a noise behind him. He turned to find a young Officer he remembered meeting with Commodore Gordon.
“Hello, Ensign. What can I do for you?”
“I came to look at the damage to FNS Loki Mr. Salomon. We must understand the reason for that damage. Sir, we must inspect the Captain’s seat and mountings. It shouldn’t fail like that. We may need to change the design to stop it happening again.”
“It’ll be an hour before we can approach FNS Loki without protective clothing. Dock workers
need to secure her in the cradles and re-air the compartment. How is Captain Riley?”
“I’m not sure, Sir, she’s in Hospital. They aren’t releasing information about her injuries. Do we know what happened yet?”
“Ensign, an internal explosion may have caused this damage. See how the explosive force peeled the Hull Plates outward. I’m not sure yet, but a closer inspection will help.”
The two men stood watching while workers secured FNS Loki. With the vessel secured, they reintroduced air to the chamber. They needed to take care, everything was at ambient temperature for Space near the shipyard, two point seven kelvins. Somebody who touched an exposed surface with unprotected skin caused cold burns.
Repair crews entered the ship, taking care to record the damage. Staff removed the Captain’s seat, and mountings then sent them to the lab for examination. While staff progressed the inspection, Ensign Brown followed David Salomon around as they inspected the damaged parts of the ship. It was plain, an explosion had occurred inside the compartment. Brown and David Salomon couldn’t tell whether an external warhead penetrated before exploding or an explosive was already in there.
CHAPTER NINE
REPAIRS
Cambridge Naval Headquarters
Anne walked into Commodore Gordon’s office, came to attention and saluted.
“Lieutenant Anne Fraser reporting as ordered Sir.”
“At ease Lieutenant Fraser. Is Lieutenant Thompson settling in as Theseus’ new XO?”
“Yes, Sir, Aaron is an excellent Officer.”
“And Sam, Captain Harland, how is he?”
“In shock, Commodore. Sam never expected a Captaincy so fast.”
Colin considered the news for a moment then said, “There will be several Officers receiving a Captaincy over the next year. The government contracted five new Cobras and four Destroyers to strengthen System Defense. Those ships are over and above our current strength. We’ll retire the Cruisers as we commission the Destroyers. We intend building up massive war stocks of munitions, so we have much more to fight with if we’re attacked again.”
“So, the politicians understand now, only strength will make us safe?”
“They received a big fright. Several politicians will struggle to hold onto their jobs at the next election. Watching them squirm while trying to distance themselves from their past parsimonious attitudes is entertaining. The guilty can’t gain any traction though because the news media is reminding people of past words and deeds. Now, Anne, I need an aide to keep me in line. You’ve always done a superb job fulfilling that role for me. Will you take on the job again?”
“Oh yes, Sir, I hoped you would ask. That role is rewarding and will help my career. Now we’ve decided my role, what’s your current schedule, how busy are you?”
“I’m swamped Anne, but until now, I’ve run from one thing to the next, struggling to stay ahead. My schedule isn’t fixed yet, but I’m sending you what I have. Stick with me and build the plan as we go.”
“I can do that. The information you sent me shows you meeting people from the Destroyer design office in thirty minutes. You allowed two hours for that. This afternoon you scheduled another meeting with your team, do I need to know anything else?”
“Not yet, I’ve sent you everything I have.”
“So, Sir, is there time for you to brief me on your duties, I want to prepare for mine?”
Colin laughed for the first time in several days. Anne possessed just the right amount of sass. She understood how to lighten his mood when needed. He wondered why Anne liked working with him so much. Neither showed interest in a romantic attachment, at least not with each other. Colin held no interest in romance until he was sure Katherine no longer wanted him. While considering this, Colin zoned out for a few minutes. He only re-engaged after Anne snapped her fingers in front of his face. Colin’s attention returned to Anne.
“Are you okay, Sir? I lost you for a few seconds there.”
“I’m sorry Anne, my mind turned to Katherine and the family, I’m missing them.”
“You’ll see them again Sir. It’s been a long time. It’ll take a while longer yet, but you will make it home, I promise.”
“That’s my hope.”
“Enough, Sir, we need your A-game here, the job is too important.”
“Keep talking Anne, you’re doing me good.”
“I’m sorry Sir.”
“No reason for you to be sorry, I didn’t intend to appear facetious or sarcastic.”
“Let’s go to the meeting then.”
Anne followed Colin into the conference room where a large group of the key people for the new Destroyer design waited. The Officers stood as Colin entered, but he waved them back
He said, “Good afternoon everyone, thank you for coming. This is Lieutenant Fraser, if she tells you something, assume it’s me talking. If you wish to meet me, contact Anne, she’ll handle my schedule. I promise, the Lieutenant will not mess with you, none of us can spare the time. Anne will pass anything on she can’t handle herself. Lieutenant Fraser is a combat Officer, the same as me. She has as much patience for bullshit and petty games as me. One other thing, we’ll tag up once a week to keep track of what’s happening. You each have three minutes to explain progress on your part of the project. If a problem surfaces needing our help, inform us. You may work problems among yourselves without bringing them to this meeting unless the problem is a killer that might delay schedule. I’m an accessible style of guy, so I’ll try to help anyone who needs it. Please, don’t bring me problems you can solve yourself. I excel at unblocking obstructions or finding help for somebody who doesn’t understand the way forward. Be aware, there’s only one of me, and I’m not superhuman, I need to eat and sleep sometimes. Lieutenant Fraser will put me over her knee and spank me if I don’t.”
The group chuckled at Colin’s last comment. None of them could imagine the Commodore taking orders from anybody. Everybody had heard of Colin’s method for ‘unblocking obstructions.’ The Officer who wouldn’t approve the Cruiser upgrades was one example.
“Are there questions?”
The Officers in the room shook their heads. Colin encouraged a reputation for not suffering fools and idiots. Everybody understood, if you played the game Colin’s way, he was a staunch supporter. If you didn’t, the Commodore allowed you to whither on the vine or plucked and discarded you. Colin’s gaze swept around the room, making sure everyone there understood his message; he saw they did.
“Okay, no more unpleasantness, who will explain our progress?”
Doug Corbett sat listening to Colin’s speech and already understood the Commodores personality. Doug decided, he was the best qualified to answer Colin’s question.
“Sir, I’ve had a many successive Engineering Officers working on ship designs for years now. I wanted to give my people a break from the mundane. This presented an opportunity for them to do something interesting. We’ve almost finished the core Hull design, but need time to define the weapons mix and power requirements. Our AI’s working on that now Sir.”
“Have you seen the new technologies the Federation has developed?”
“Yes, Sir, we did and plan to incorporate them, or as many as possible. That’s why the Hull design isn’t yet finished. We must change the Hull, so the new technologies work.”
“When can we make components and begin assembly?”
“If we’re smart about it, we can start now, Sir.”
“Okay, send me the data for anything that’s ready. Let’s begin manufacture. Assembly can start as soon as we finish a large enough construction bay. Are there any other comments?”
Nobody spoke, so Colin ended the meeting, and everyone departed for their own work areas.
Back in his office, Henry followed the reports on the battle near Sidon Mining Station. He decided Colin needed a briefing, so he understood what happened to Captain Riley. Henry asked Sarah to find Colin and bring him to the office.
Colin arriv
ed, and Henry said, “Hello Colin, how are the Destroyers going?”
“The Destroyer designs are going well, Sir. What’s happened? You didn’t call me in to ask about progress on our newest ship design.”
“I can’t get anything past you, can I? I asked you here to tell you, Suzanne Riley sustained severe injuries during a battle. They’re bringing her back to Cambridge in a Stasis-Pod now.”
Colin sat, processing the information. He liked Suzanne, even considered her a friend. A few moments later, Colin shook his head to clear the negative emotions.
“When will we know Sir?”
“Loki will dock in four hours. Don’t expect news, good or otherwise, before tomorrow.”
“Please, Sir, inform me when she’s well enough for visitors. I’d like to see her.”
“I’ll do that Colin.”
“Thank you, Sir. Now, since you asked about progress on the Destroyers, I’ve authorized them to make parts for the first one.”
“Already?”
“Yes, Sir, engineering has worked on ship designs for years. It was a training exercise, to keep people sharp when they had time. When you asked them to begin the work, the job was already seventy percent finished.”
“Colin, I need not tell you, we need these ships, the old Destroyers are bordering on obsolescence. Worse, the cost to upgrade them further is reaching a point of economic madness.”
“We’ll have them as soon as possible Sir.”
“I know Colin, I know.”
“If you don’t need me any longer Sir, I must meet my staff in an hour.”
“Okay, Colin. I thought I should tell you about Commander Riley.”
“Has anyone informed her partner yet?”
“I’m not sure; after you’re gone, I’ll ask. If nobody has told him, I’ll make sure I do. Oh, is Anne settling in okay?”
“Anne is doing well Sir, she is a capable woman.”
Colin left, picking Anne up as he passed on his way to the training-school. The two Officers boarded an Air-Car for the trip. Travel by Air-Car is much faster than travel on the ground. Air-Cars are a Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) vehicle, similar in size to an SUV. They are expensive to buy, run and support, so people often won’t use them in Cambridge.
Star Strike: Book 3 of the Star Man Series Page 11
