by Jeff Sims
…The last volley of missiles were ship busters. The enemy ship is completely destroyed. There are no survivors…
Ella said, “Power is down again throughout the ship. All systems are off-line.”
A few minutes later Ella added, “The containment unit on the secondary power generator has been severely damaged. The generator is in real danger of creating a run-away fusion reaction.”
Solear said, “Computer, analysis.”
…If the generator’s output is set to 20% it should avoid blowing up, at least for a while…
Clowy asked, “What if we go below 20%?”
…Creating too little power may have the same effect as creating too much…
Solear said, “Ella, set the power output to 20% and lock it there.”
Solear knew that sooner or later he would have to say it. He tried to talk himself out of it a couple times, but finally gave up. He sighed heavily and said, “Putat. Thank you. By pointing out the regulation to charge the ion cannon before jumping you have effectively saved the ship. If we live through this, I am putting you on the list for a commendation.”
Putat said, “Thank you, but we now have another problem. The passive scanner just picked up an image.” Putat displayed the image on the main monitor and said, “There is another Hiriculan warship in the system. Passive scan shows it at the three-hour light mark.”
Solear pointed to the monitor and said, “Three hours would physically put the ship on the far side of this tiny system.” He thought a moment and continued, “Therefore, they will see the light of the battle in 3 hours and will micro-jump here.”
Ella said, “It’s about a 7 minute jump.”
Solear said, “That means they will be here in just over 4 hours, actually more like 4 ½.”
Putat asked, “So what do we do now?”
Clowy answered, “Take a nap?”
Solear responded, “Tempting, but no. Really though, there is nothing we can do. We can only sit trapped in this bridge and wait for them to get here.”
Waiting for hours for the enemy to come and more than likely kill them wasn’t as fun as it sounds. There was precious little for the bridge crew to do in the intervening 4 hours. They had taken turns leaving the bridge and eating and showering, but that really didn’t take their mind off of what was to come.
Lexxi donned her enormous earphones and began rocking back and forth in her chair. Solear normally told her stop as soon as started rocking. It was annoying and disruptive. Usually, he would even threaten to have the chair welded in one position. However, this time he remained silent and let her rock. She needed the distraction and the rocking seemed to bother Putat more than it did him.
Rocking aside, Solear was frustrated beyond reproach. He had just defeated two enemy ships, but was no better off than before. He only had a smashed cruiser to show for his effort. He was stranded in a nowhere system with no chance of escaping or being rescued. Based on the travel times, Solear knew it would be a week before an Alliance ship would be able to come looking for him.
Solear looked at the monitor. He didn’t know how long a car battery lasted, so he had Putat activate the passive scanners once every 40 minutes. Now that it was getting closer to the 4 hour window, Solear changed it to every 10. The scan still showed the enemy cruiser on the other side of the system.
He laughed at the silent cruelty of the passive scanner. It takes a snapshot of the light and assembles it to make a cohesive picture. The area close to his location is in real time, but as the time delay increases, the accuracy decreases.
Normally, this isn’t an issue, but because this system is so small it will soon give him an erroneous reading. It takes light 3 hours to cross the system, but it only takes the enemy cruiser 70 minutes to complete a micro-jump to his location. Therefore, the ship will suddenly appear at his location roughly 2 hours before it disappears from its current location.
Exactly 4 hours and 24 minutes had passed. Solear figured that the enemy cruiser should be here any minute. The earlier battle had taken 7 minutes and he knew the enemy would wait and watch the entire battle before deciding what to do. So, 3 hours for the light to reach the other cruiser, 7 minutes for them to watch, 7 more minutes to plot a course, and finally 70 minutes to micro-jump means the ship should be here now.
Solear said, “Putat, leave the passive scanner on. We need to know when they arrive.”
Solear had given the command forcefully, as if the information would truly help them. However, it really didn’t matter. The ship would arrive at some point in the immediate future and either blow them up or force them to surrender. If they tried to surrender, the humans would kill the Hiriculan boarding party and then the enemy cruiser would blow them up.
Solear thought for the 264th time that he would like to able to communicate the humans. He really wanted to know what they were doing and how long they could survive in smart suits. He also really needed to know how many were alive.
Putat interrupted Solear’s silent musings. He spoke just above a whisper, in a quiet hushed tone that was very uncharacteristic of his normal speaking voice. He said, “The enemy cruiser is here. They are stationary at 4.6 million kilometers away. They are launching fighters.
Clowy said, “The maximum powered missile range of the missiles is only 120 seconds or 4.5 million kilometers.” Clowy smiled, clearly proud that she had remembered that fact.
Solear lowered his head and sat heavily back in his chair. He doubted the humans had any tricks left to repair the ship and their time was rapidly drawing to a close. The fighters would destroy the ship unopposed.
Lexxi removed her earphones and stopped rocking. She couldn’t hear anyone talk at a normal voice, but somehow she had heard Putat whisper.
Solear looked at his bridge crew and said, “Suggestions.”
Putat responded, “We really have no choice except to surrender and hope that the Hiriculans will rescue us. I would prefer to spend the remainder of my life on a satellite station instead of dying for no reason.”
Ella and Clowy slowly nodded. Solear noted that weren’t necessarily in agreement with Putat, but just acknowledging the inevitable.
Lexxi shouted, “It’s not fair” and banged her fist on her weapons console. She bruised her hand, but didn’t care because the panel suddenly lit up. She looked down and shouted, “Main power back on-line.”
Ella said, “Main power is showing only 50% capacity, but is temporarily being supplemented by power from the ion cannon reservoir.”
Solear shouted, “Where did we get the extra power?”
Ella replied, “Unknown. The secondary is still generating only 20%. Computer?”
…Main power is still off-line. Secondary power is still at 20%. There are no other energy sources…
Solear said, “I don’t care where they found it. We will take it.”
Lexxi looked at her console and shouted, “Shields are scrolling up. Shields are now at 99.4% strength and holding.”
Putat spun back around and activated his panel. He announced, “Active scanners are back on-line. We have internal communications.”
Ella said, “The sub-light propulsion system is back on-line.”
Solear said, “Putat, establish a connection with Colin O’Neal.” A second later Solear was connected and asked, “Colin, we are under attack by a third enemy warship. Do you have any recommendations?”
Colin yelled, “Give em hell Captain.” It appeared that he wanted to say more, but the communication system broke again and the transmission was cut.
Solear noted that there were other humans around Colin. The other humans raised their hands and appeared to cheer. He had seen at least 10 humans in the room, possibly more. This confirmed his earlier suspicion that several, perhaps many of the humans had survived.
He didn’t understand the answer, so he said, “Computer, please give possible interpretations of the Earth saying ‘Give em hell’.”
…86.4% Kill your enemies and desecrate
their bodies such that their souls cannot reach eternal salvation…
…81.2% Fight without pause or concern despite all odds…
…79.2%...
Solear interrupted the last translation. He said, “Computer, stop. We get the general idea. It looks like the humans still have some fight left in them. Let’s see what we can do.”
Lexxi silently repeated ‘Give em hell,’ clearly filing it away for later use.
Putat commented, “Deny your enemy eternal salvation. That seems a little harsh, even for humans.”
Solear nodded and responded, “Sometimes the humans’ colloquialisms defy proper interpretation.”
Solear tried to think of possible maneuvers to avoid the fighters and engage the enemy cruiser. He only had one decisive advantage over the Hiriculan cruiser; the Sunflower can fire 2.7 missiles for every 1 the enemy ship fires.
However, based on the arrival time of the enemy cruiser, the enemy captain had certainly stayed long enough to watch the entire battle before jumping. He imagined that the enemy captain also knew this fact and would continue to stay well out of missile range. Plus, since they weren’t in the gravity well of the system, the enemy could micro-jump at the first sign of trouble.
Solear feverishly worked on the problem – how could their missiles hit the enemy before they jumped away? Solear smiled when he thought of a potential solution that would make even Lorano proud. It just might be possible to hit the enemy ship before their fighters arrived.
Clowy looked at her monitor strangely and said hesitantly, “Proximity alert, I think.”
Solear answered, “The enemy fighters are still a few minutes away. Is it a sensor glitch?”
Clowy checked again and said, “Maybe. Wait, now we have another alert, and another.”
Solear looked around the room for any insight. They were completely alone in this system, the odds of another Alliance ship appearing to save them were beyond astronomical. Further, they had loaned all of their fighters to another ship. In summary, there was nothing here that could have activated the alert.
Clowy said, “I am detecting transponder codes on the scanner. They are Alliance fighters.”
Putat yelled, “From where?”
Clowy checked again and said, “There are now 10 Alliance fighters. Their transponders show they are from the Sunflower.”
Clowy started crying, but quickly wiped her eyes and added, “They are forming into a ½ squadron and are flying toward the enemy fighters.” She paused to dab again and continued, “They are forming into a wedge. It looks they are going to try to a clear a path straight through the middle of the enemy fighter formation.”
Putat had regained his normal speaking voice. He said, “That is not possible. We don’t have any pilots on board.”
Solear ignored the comment for the moment and said, “Lexxi, what is the status of the missile launchers?”
Lexxi said, “I have a green board, well, except for number 10. The 9 launchers show ready to fire.”
Clowy said, “Our, apparently, fighters have succeeded in surprising the enemy fighters and forcing them to scramble. We have a clear lane and are not under immediate attack.”
Solear said, “Ella, do we have enough reserve power to create an external hyperspace field?”
Ella checked and said, “Yes, barely. It will drain all reserve power though.”
Solear responded, “Lower the shields and create a hyperspace window at location 142.68.”
Putat was about to shout something but Solear put up his hand indicating to him to stop.
Ella responded, “The hyperspace window is steady at 600 kilometers off our left side.”
Solear looked at his monitor and said, “Lexxi, program the missiles to align themselves for a straight line course through the hyperspace window and directly to the enemy cruiser. Fire when ready.”
Lexxi programmed the complex trajectory and fired the missiles. The first 5 missiles sped directly through the hyperspace window. The 4 missiles fired from the starboard side had a slightly longer trajectory because they had to circle the Sunflower. They followed the port side volley into hyperspace four seconds later.
Solear said, “Lexxi, load the left side with 5 shield busters and the right with 4 ship busters and fire when ready.”
The first missile volley entered hyperspace and traveled for four-tenths of a second. The gravity produced by the enemy cruiser’s shields forced them back out of hyperspace and the first five missiles exploded against the middle of the ship’s hull.
Exactly 4 seconds later the remaining 4 missiles exited hyperspace and hit the exact same spot. The kinetic energy of the missiles was far lower than normal because the missiles had only accelerated for a few seconds before impact. However, it was enough.
Putat said, “Captain, all 9 missiles scored direct hits. Their hull has been penetrated. They can no longer jump, at least for the moment.”
Solear asked, “For the moment?”
Putat answered, “The damage doesn’t look severe. They may be able to repair it.”
Ella said, “The enemy ship is starting to move.”
Solear said, “Computer, can they escape?”
…Our missiles will be able to reach the enemy cruiser if they are fired in the next 48 seconds…
Fourteen seconds had passed since the last missile volley. If the humans could reload on the 1 minute mark, then they should have 2 seconds to spare. Solear stood up and began to pace. He was on his fifth lap when Lexxi said, “Missiles ready, launching.”
Solear said, “Computer, time from last fire.”
…56 seconds…
The 9 missiles went through the hyperspace field and began chasing the enemy cruiser. The cruiser banked hard to the right and launched defensive missiles. The defensive missiles and anti-missile fire stopped 6 of them, but one shield buster hit the already damaged area and opened it a little wider. Then a ship buster missile went through the opening and exploded. It was followed closely by a second and final ship buster missile.
The back-to-back explosions ripped a huge hole in the middle of the ship from the inside-out. The hole stretched from nearly the top to the bottom and was about ½ of the entire width of the ship.
The enemy cruiser then tried to make a course adjustment and the front section, including the bridge, jerked mightily and was torn from the back half. The front section continued to spiral away in space while the rear section slowly came to a stop.
Then the bridge section broke free from the front of ship. Solear said, “Computer, record the course and speed of the enemy bridge section. Send out a buoy to mark the location. Please show its path on the monitor.”
…Course and speed recorded. Buoy now marks the location. The course is now displayed on the monitor and the speed is .04 light with a degradation rate of .000275. The general direction is toward Dunron, but the section will miss by approximately 1 million kilometers…
Lexxi asked, “Captain, why are you so interested in the bridge section?”
Solear replied, “Well, the bridge crew is more than likely still alive. They should be able to enter their cryogenic stasis chambers. Eventually, someone may be able to rescue them.”
Lexxi replied, “How long will it take them to reach Dunron?”
Solear said, “A fair guess would be about 1.6 million years. The stasis chambers can theoretically keep them alive indefinitely. However, at absolute minimum power, the secondary generator will only last for 150 years before it loses power and de-thaws them.”
Solear plopped down in the captain’s chair and put his hands over his eyes. He hadn’t said what was really bothering him. Now that the euphoria of battle (or whatever it was that he had felt) had worn off, Solear felt suddenly sad and hollow.
Yes, the Hiriculans had fired first and without warning or provocation. However, in retrospect, their ion cannon shot wasn’t at full power. Further, they had given Solear multiple chances to surrender. Instead, he had fought. He had ordered th
e ship to fire and ultimately destroy 3 ships and a killed a total of 152 beings.
Solear said it again. For all intents and purposes, he had just ordered the murder of 152 Hiriculans. Well, only 147 because the 5 Hiriculans on that rapidly disappearing bridge section were probably still alive. Technically, the total number was 167 if one included the 20 enemy pilots in the total, though Solear hadn’t actually killed those beings.
Still though, he reasoned the number didn’t matter. This time it was different than their previous battle in Influenla. This time he couldn’t hide behind a misunderstanding with the human pilots or blame their aggressiveness for this outcome. No, this time he had decided to fight and was directly responsible for his enemies’ deaths.
Solear could have ordered the ship to surrender. Certainly any other captain in the Alliance Navy would have done so. Solear tried to justify his actions that he was just acting in accordance with his secret orders to protect the identity of the humans, but he was having trouble believing himself.
That was why the survivors in the bridge section were so important to him. By letting the officers live and giving the Hiriculans the opportunity to find them, he was in some small way atoning for his actions.
Lexxi brought the captain out of his brooding by saying, “Captain, two of our fighters are targeting the bridge section. The first just fired 3 shield buster missiles. The second fighter just launched one ship buster.”
Solear said, “How long?”
No one immediately responded, so the computer said,
…Based on current trajectories, the missiles will impact in 4.5 minutes…
Solear said, “Are the external cameras still working?”
Putat responded, “Yes Captain.” Putat correctly guessed the captain’s next question because he said, “I am displaying the feed on the main monitor.”
Solear watched helplessly as the missiles slowly tracked down the bridge section. Exactly 4.54 minutes later the first set of missiles exploded against the shields and opened the hull to space.
Two seconds later a ship buster missile entered the hole and exploded next to the secondary power generator. The resulting explosion was slightly different than the others they had recently seen.
