by Jay Toney
Empty areas of space are dangerous. Pirates, hunters, slavers, and worse preyed on helpless starships that wander into the unpatrolled regions of space. But, it is a better alternative than trying to fight off the Alliance warships chasing them.
Natasha hurried through the complex calculations needed to travel through hyperspace. She made the adjustments to the course projection. The new course had them just kissing the outer edge of the star's corona. It could be done with some risk. "We can enter hyperspace in 10 minutes," Natasha told Doc.
The Queen Anne's Revenge's energy shields snapped on, and warning sirens sounded. The Badger fired its main guns at the cruiser. Both the battleship and cruiser fired a full salvo of missiles. Ten missiles locked onto Doc's starship.
Natasha fired the missiles in the aft launchers. Two missiles launched heading to intercept the Alliance warships. Jadsia activated the ECM and point defense cannons. "We don't have 10 minutes," Doc told Natasha.
Natasha would have to shut down the sublight engines to rotate the ship and fire another salvo of missiles. She couldn't afford to do that. The AI randomly cycled through the ECM frequencies in an attempt to confuse the incoming missile guidance systems. Four rockets flew off course. That still left six missiles for the PDC to engage. It is too many. She estimated that at least two of them would get past the starship's defenses.
The Chimera and Badger fired another full salvo at them. The Queen Anne's Revenge still needs eight minutes before it reaches the jump point. Natasha calculated every possibility for their survival. Every solution is the same. They couldn't survive two missile barrages. There is only one option left. Natasha didn't need to calculate their odds of survival. She already knew the answer. Their survival chances are between zero and one percent. It is better than their odds of survival against the Alliance battleship and cruiser.
The PDC engaged the first missiles. Two are destroyed, four rockets got through the defenses. Doc and Jadsia braced themselves for the missile explosions. Natasha engaged the hyperdrive.
****
"Captain Mason, need I tell you what will happen if that ship makes it to Avalon? Tell me that you have a jump vector on the Queen Anne's Revenge."
"I am sorry Fleet Admiral. We are unable to compute a course. A jump to Avalon from their last position is impossible. It appears that their jump was random. They are dead or at the very least, lost forever."
"They better be. If the crew of the Queen Anne's Revenge survives, we will be tried as traitors and executed as examples for the public. At least, I will have the pleasure of watching you hang first. Senior officers are always executed last.
Set course to Avalon."
****
Somehow, the Queen Anne's Revenge survived the transition to hyperspace. Natasha isn't entirely sure where they will come out of hyperspace or even if they would. At the last second, she hurried through the final calculations guessing at variables she didn't have enough time to calculate. That they made it into hyperspace alive is a miracle itself.
The cruiser stayed in hyperspace for twenty-one days. A light flashed on the helm console signaling that the ship is near the end of its journey. At the appointed time, Natasha disengaged the hyperdrive and extended the cruisers velocity dampers. The ship exited the higher dimensions of hyperspace and transitioned to normal space.
The viewscreen cleared and then filled with stars. The starship is beyond the heliosphere of any star system. Space, at least the area of space that they are in isn't empty. The voids beyond the stars are filled with dust and gasses left over from the creation of the galaxy. Eventually, the material in the voids would condense and form new stars and planets.
Occasionally bright flashes of light lit the deflector shields when large particles collided with them. Some of the more substantial material got through the deflector shields creating a bright streak of light from the superheated dust speck and showers of sparks from grazing the armor plating.
Natasha reduced power to the engines and let the velocity dampers do the majority of the braking. She used the astrometrics information from the sensors to start triangulating their position. Until she knew their precise location, she couldn't calculate their next jump to hyperspace.
"Where are we?" Doc asked Natasha.
"I do not have our precise location, but I believe we are about 4.5 light years spinward of Avalon."
"How did we get here?" Doc asked the avatar.
Natasha turned red with embarrassment. It is the first genuine emotion that Doc saw on the synth. Randolph must have been tinkering with her personality matrix again. She looked down at the floor and said softly so that he could barely hear her, "I didn't have time for precise calculations, so I guessed at some of the variables. It shouldn't have worked. We all should be dead. I am sorry. I had no other alternative."
At first, Doc is speechless. Then he said, "You had me going there for a second. Nice joke. For a second, you almost had me convinced that you really made a guess," Doc said to the avatar.
"It was not a joke. Nor was it a single guess. It was several," Natasha said to Doc. "I didn't have enough time to do the precise calculations needed for 1,327 of the variables that I used for the hyperspace calculations. So I guessed or entered random numbers." Natasha's avatar sent a list of the variables and their values that she guessed at to Doc's comp with a precise side by side list of what their values should have been. They weren't even close.
"I am sorry. My avatar has been acting peculiar for the last 27 days. I sent a report to Randolph listing its errors and behavior idiosyncrasies. He reviewed the list and assured me that I have nothing to worry about. He told me that my avatar is operating within expected parameters. I'm not so sure that it is. Perhaps I should deactivate it," Natasha said to Captain Roberts.
"No, don't deactivate her. If she hadn't guessed at the calculations and entered hyperspace when she did, we all would be dead. Keep an eye on her though," Doc said to the AI.
"We are not alone," Jadsia said to Captain Roberts. She activated the tactical display and put the sensor information on it. A cluster of blue symbols appeared at the top edge of the screen. Natasha added a tag showing their speed and heading information. The spacecraft, whoever they are, are heading directly at them at .17c.
"Any transponder information?" Doc asked Natasha.
"Even if they just located the Queen Anne's Revenge on their sensor scans and turned off their transponders, the transmission lag wouldn't show it for another hour. There are not any energy signatures to suggest that the spaceships just jumped into this area of space. Whoever they are, they are operating with their transponders intentionally turned off," Natasha answered Doc.
That meant pirates, slavers, hunters, or worse. Doc didn't want to meet up with any one of them. He didn't have enough crewmen left aboard to defend the cruiser. He is starting to regret his decision about marooning most of his crew on Antares. But, if they remained aboard the Alliance would arrest his crewmen and women when he returned to Avalon to complete Nathaniel's education. They would be placed into re-education centers, mind wiped, or worse. A lucky few of his most skilled crewmen might be conscripted into the Alliance military.
"Change course and put us on a direct heading for the Avalon star system," Doc ordered Natasha.
"The hostiles are changing course to intercept us. Their drive plumes suggest that they are increasing their speed to catch us, Jadsia informed Doc. The icons on the tactical display changed from blue to red, and their velocity increased to .23c. Whoever they are, they are not going to let the Queen Anne's Revenge go without a fight. Natasha's avatar increased power to the cruiser's engines.
Natasha couldn't make the next jump to hyperspace until the calculations are complete. She couldn't start the
calculations until she has their exact location. The fact that they are moving at nearly a quarter of the speed of light made the calculations more difficult. The alternative is to sit still and let the pursuers raid them.
If they are pirates, they might have a chance, but slavers would leave Doc's cruiser empty. He and his crew would be sold to the highest bidders for cheap labor. Hunters are worse. The people they capture are sold for food. Most of the insectoid and reptilian races that surrounded human-occupied space sought Terrans and other humanoid species for food. To them, our warm blood is a highly sought-after delicacy.
"They are still closing on us," Jadsia said. The cluster of symbols moved behind us during our last course change. The icons closed the distance to missile range.
Natasha fired two missiles from the cruisers aft missile tubes. There are not enough crewmen aboard to reload the missile tubes in time to be used again. They are the only missiles that can be fired from the aft missile launchers.
Doc watched the missiles track towards the cluster. Two symbols turned from red to black and disappeared from the tactical screen. The rest of the icons spread out making them more difficult to hit. Now they faced seventeen starships. At least, they had an idea of how many vessels there are. They couldn't tell what class they are until the vessels came within visual range.
Natasha cut power to the drives. Then she spun the ship on its yaw axis to face the enemy. Targeting reticles covered four of the enemy starships. She fired a full salvo of missiles from the front tubes. Then she fired the thrusters again to rotate the starship back to its heading and resumed accelerating.
Moments later, four icons turned black and vanished. The people pursuing them aren't pirates or slavers. With the loss of six starships, pirates or slavers would have broken off from their attack. There isn't enough profit to continue trying to capture the cruiser. They are hunters, and they are gaining on the Queen Anne's Revenge.
Doc didn't have anything left to use to slow the approaching ships down enough for them to make their escape. "How much longer before we can enter hyperspace?" Doc asked Natasha.
"I've just begun making the necessary calculations. It will take at least 30 more minutes to complete them," the AI informed Doc.
30 minute is too long. The starship would be boarded before the AI could complete her calculations. After that, it wouldn't matter. The fight would be short-lived, the cruiser would be searched, stripped of anything of value, and commandeered into their service. The crew would be captured and placed in holding cells until they are sold. The people who died in battle would be the lucky ones. Most of the aliens who bought and consumed humans preferred to savor their food, keeping them alive as long as possible. They spent weeks, sometimes months slowly eating away at their captives.
Doc couldn't think of any way to slow the hunters down long enough for them to make their escape. "We can fight them off with our Marauders," Bill suggested. At most, they only had four pilots. That isn't enough to stop 13 spacecraft filled with hunters out for blood. Besides, anyone who left the Queen Anne's Revenge to fight the hunters would be as good as dead, if they are lucky.
"We can do what Captain Thornton did to us to slow them down, but we will have to hurry," Nathaniel said to his father.
His son mentioning Thornton's name got Doc's full attention. Blast him for saying that name. If anyone other than his son mentioned that name in front of him, he'd cut their tongue out to prevent them ever for saying it again. Later, if they survived Doc will have Natasha wash his son's mouth out with soap for using foul language in his presence. Nathaniel continued, "We can remove warheads from our missiles, rig remote detonators to them. Then load them aboard some of our escape pods, and then jettison them. We don't have any nukes or antimatter warheads, but our conventional warheads should still do the job."
It is a good idea, better than any Doc could think of with the time they have left, but it didn't excuse Nathaniel for uttering the name of the man who murdered his mother. Doc slammed his hand down on his comm unit controls opening every comm channel on the ship. "Jane, get everyone together that you can and start removing the warheads from our missiles. Rig remote detonators to them and jettison them in our escape pods. Hurry! You have 15 minutes."
"It can't be done in that time," Jane argued with Doc.
"We have hunters inbound! You have 14 minutes left before they board our ship," Doc told her.
"Hunters? Damn it all to hell! I'm on it," Jane didn't waste the two seconds it would take to close the comm channel. Everyone on the bridge heard her shouting orders to her staff and gathering the tools she needed to do the job. "Damn it, Randolph! We don't have the time to gather every tool that you think that we might need. Just grab a basic kit and come with me," Jane yelled.
The hunters reduced their acceleration and matched speed with the Queen Anne's Revenge. The tactical display showed that they are just beyond the range of the cruiser's particle beam guns. They are close enough for the optical sensors to provide images of the enemy spaceships. Jadsia briefly scanned each vessel and put its image on the main viewscreen. Most of the spacecraft are converted freighters. Some of them are troop carriers salvaged from the last war or found adrift in space. The hunters began launching shuttles full of raiders towards the Queen Anne's Revenge.
"Shoot them!" Doc ordered Natasha.
"The hunters are out of weapon range," Natasha informed Doc.
"We might get lucky. If nothing else, our gunfire might slow the hunters down," Doc told Natasha. The avatar got out of the helm seat and sat at the weapons console. Her fingers danced over the controls. The starship's gun turrets rotated to target the approaching raiders and bolts of red energy shot towards the shuttlecraft and starships.
"How much longer?" Doc broadcast to Jane over his comm.
"We are finishing up with removing the warheads. I need a few minutes to rig the detonators and get them into the escape pods,"
"We are almost out of time. The hunters have already launched their raiders," Doc informed Jane.
Natasha made minor variations to the turrets, randomly changing their aim. She continued firing the particle beam cannons in rapid succession. Natasha got lucky with a few shots. Five vessels burned brightly for a few seconds then were reduced to dark hulks.
Eleven escape pods launched from the Queen Anne's Revenge and headed towards the hunters. Several of the smaller spacecraft surrounded the escape pods, hoping for easy prey. Jane waited until a majority of the raiders were within the blast range of the warheads and detonated them. There wasn't much of a shock or thermal wave from the warhead detonations. Energy doesn't travel far in the near vacuum of space, but the explosions sent shrapnel from the escape pods in every direction. Most of the shuttlecraft were either destroyed or heavily damaged from shards of steel tearing through them.
Nathaniel took Natasha's place at the helm controls and began making preparations for the jump to hyperspace. The AI fed the coordinates he needed to his viewscreen to make the transition to hyperspace. Nathaniel made a few changes to the calculations. Then he transferred the coordinates to the navigation computer and engaged the hyperdrive.
The Alliance
The Queen Anne's Revenge exited hyperspace three light days out from Avalon III. It was unusually close to the inner planets for any starship to exit from hyperspace. Usually, Natasha calculated their course so that the cruiser would exit a minimum of seven light days from their objective. Doc is sure that Nathaniel had something to do with it. Unless he wanted to reenter hyperspace to travel to a neighboring star system, and then plot a new course back, he is stuck with it.
Natasha cut the drives, flipped the ship, and then she decelerated at full power to reduce the strain on the velocity dampers. There is no way to conceal the Queen Anne's Reveng
e's location and course with the size of its drive plumes. The starship would be visible on everyone's sensor scans.
"Broadcast our transponder codes," Doc ordered Natasha. This is the first time in a very long time that he is using the Queen Anne's Revenge's recognition codes. Usually, he concealed the starship's identity by using the signal for a super freighter, or he used no transponder codes at all. Now he wanted everyone in the solar system to know that Doc Roberts is coming home.
"It is hard to see through our drive plume, but our sensors are picking up several spacecraft, possibly hundreds of them, approaching us," Jadsia informed her captain. She split the main viewscreen to show the tactical display and the rear view. Most of the rear view is obstructed by the jets of energy released by our drives. Several symbols covered the screen with tags showing the names of spacecraft, their speed, and their heading information.
Two more icons appeared on Jadsia's sensor screen. She didn't need their transponder information to identify them. She is pretty sure that she knows who they are. Jadsia tentatively identified them as the Badger and the Chimera, a battleship and a cruiser. The warships are decelerating at minimum power to catch Doc's starship before it enters orbit. Their drive plumes are barely visible with the Queenie's optical sensors. The starships are too distant for them to show on the tactical display. Jadsia added them to the edge of the tactical display manually, including what information she has from the database.
There is little doubt that the warships are in a hurry to intercept the Queen Anne's Revenge. The information that Doc has about covert military operations across the border could prove devastating to the Alliance hierarchy. "Reduce deceleration to 13 gees," Doc ordered Natasha. So far, the spacecraft approaching Doc's cruiser made no hostile moves. They could have stayed hidden and waited for the Queen Anne's Revenge to sail into their path if they intended to attack him. Instead, they are broadcasting their transponder codes and did everything possible to ensure that they are visible to his starship's sensor scans.
