by Tim Morrison
Chapter 7.4
Catching a TGX – TGX-2 Flight Wing -9 BA
It was a boarding run that awarded the now Lieutenant Gya command of her own TGX. The crews had been diving deep into Michelab space beginning to finally press home the victory as Clan Michelab began to lose territory on an almost daily basis. The fighter wings had begun making deep runs on capital ships, even landing in the hostile ships to then make raids and capturing them from within as the TGX-2 stood off, ready to barrage fire if the ship made any hostile actions.
One one raid, as they closed on their target, the fighters scattered from a mainframe pulse that was at extreme range. Sensors painted the target and identified it as the TGX-4, from Clan Faniruf.
“She's burning badly, look at the damage, her entire left side is torn open.” Gya reported as they swept along the hull of the stricken ship.
“We didn't do that, nor did our TGX.” Sergeant Wakin said as they spun around to check for weapon points or active hotspots that needed to be disabled.
An explosion made the ships scatter again and they saw what looked like weapons fire inside the ship as bodies were flung into deep vacuum.
“I think they're fighting each other.” Sergeant Haybo said as the fighters spun around the aft end of the ship, where the eight drive ports were, all feathered and none lit.
“Then we're going to the bridge.” Gya said and adjusted her controls to line up with one of the four docking bays on the gigantic but badly damaged ship.
“Lieutenant, this is a TGX. We got thousands of crew on board, we can't just walk in there.” Wakin said, astonished, but followed her lead and also adjusted for a landing.
“Just you watch us, Sergeant. This is Wing leader Desinlo. We are landing on board TGX-4 to take command. Next message will be from the bridge.”
“What in Helva's name is she doing?” Ryo said as he heard the signal from the comm.
“All six fighters have gone inside the TGX-4 bay, Sir. They are out of comm range now.” Tactical reported as the ship shuddered from a mainframe blast fired by the stricken but still dangerous battlecruiser they were approaching.
“They are going to get themselves killed.” Kalen said as he watched the displays. “All guns, target power relays on the TGX-4 – knock out mains power to guns, precision aim only. If you can't hit the target, do not fire.”
“That ship is already burning, one stray shot from us...” Ryo said, watching as gun crews began to fire singly at specific targets on the stricken ship to assist the small team that had now landed on board.
“We won't miss, Commander. I just hope that young lady of yours knows what she's doing.” Kalen replied as the ship rocked from another mainframe blast that glanced off the armour.
Gya pulled off her flight helmet as the ship came to a halt and indicated pressure was outside. She was up and on the deck as the other members of the flight team also hopped out of their birds, then the six of them dashed across the bay and into the cross corridor leading towards the heart of the ship.
Weapons drawn, they ran towards the main grav chute as the ship was rocked by an explosion from the aft quarter. “Bloody Helva, that might have been a fuel blow. This ship is not going to survive, Desinlo!” Haybo said as they reached the primary conduit, to find it sealed with zero pressure reading on the other side.
“Spiral corridors, lets go, we need deck 25 and we'll secure this tub.” Wakins said as they turned and ran down one of the two spiral corridors that weaved round the central shaft to provide alternate access to every deck on the gigantic ship.
“Hostiles up ah-” Sergeant Magna shouted then was felled by a shot through her head and chest as a security team ahead opened up against the invaders.
Gya and Wakins felled the soldiers then moved onwards, reaching deck 25 without further incident.
As they prepared to storm the bridge, they heard what sounded like an argument, then a single shot, and a thump as a body hit the desk, Gya walked onto the bridge weapon drawn, to be presented with a bloody scene.
Most of the senior officers were dead, and some of the junior officers also, but a few remained standing, and one of them held the still smoking weapon that they had heard the discharge from. He looked at Gya as she walked in, then dropped the gun and raised his hands.
“On behalf of the crew of the TGX-4, we surrender to Clan Camelin.” He said, then knelt, as did the other officers who were still alive.
Gya looked at Wakins. “This was almost too easy.” She said, then walked over and they disarmed all of the survivors on the bridge, kicking weapons clear and making sure there was no chance of a problem.
The ship shuddered as a low rumbling explosion rolled along it, and the lights flickered.
“Lieutenant, we have to stabilize this ship or it's going to tear itself apart!” Haybo said.
Gya looked at the officers. “I want all of you to assist us to save this ship. This is not about loyalty, or fealty to a clan, this is about saving your own skins. If you don't want to help, get out that door and don't poke your head back in here, I'll blow it off.”
Within minutes the fragmented officers and the fighter pilots were at the ship's consoles bringing up what they could of the broken systems.
“If I'm reading this right, TGX-2 is twenty thousand kims away and closing. No weapons fire detected. We are still firing though!”
“Shut down our guns, no power to any weapons at all. Play dead so they don't cut us any more open than we already are.” Gya ordered and the two crew at the reactors shut down and diverted power away from gun control.
“Do we have any power to thrusters or manoeuvring at all?” She asked, watching the static-filled readouts.
“Engines are cold, they've been cold for hours according to this. Did you people mutiny?” Came the question from navigation.
“Yes, we refused to follow the Clan leaders when they told us we were going to strike a liner and resort. We never wanted this fight, and we were conscripted into it. We began to fight back, and most of the damage you see is from us fighting the senior officers. Almost all the enlisted crew here were involved in the mutiny.” One of the officers explained.
“We'll sort that out later. Shut down all fuel flow, and begin to close all airtight doors. We have to isolate everything and begin to stop the fires before they hit main trunk lines.” Gya said.
“I'm not getting anything from central. Is the primary computer online?” Wakins said.
One of the officers shook his head and indicated a blackened door. The central door was open leading the the computer core and it looked like an explosion had occurred inside.
“The Captain threw a grenade in there when the Computer advised him that the action he was planning would result in loss of almost half the crew. That triggered us to rise up.” Another officer reported.
“What in the worlds happened here?” Haybo mused as they fought to stabilize the ship using the crippled automatics.
“Without central control, a lot of the automatics will close, but we won't be able to open them except manually. This ship's over a kim and a half long, and half again as wide. That's a lot of space to cover. We're going to have a lot of dead crew if we can't find a way to get this coordinated.” Gya said into the air.
A sound made her turn and she saw a work gang standing at the open door to the bridge, tools held in a slightly menacing but not quite threatening manner.
“You the Commander?” One of them said.
“I'm the new Commander, Clan Camelin. We're taking command.” Gya replied.
The entire crew relaxed. “Thank the Gods, at least somebody with half a a brain is on board now. I've got two hundred crew ready to get this boat stabilized, Commander. You tell us what to do and we'll get it done. We are ready to follow your lead.” The Deck Chief said.
Gya saw through the corner of her eye as Wakins put his gun back in the holster, then turned to the officer on comm. “Put me shipwide, we need to get this settled now.”
“Atten
tion crew of TGX-4. My name is Desinlo, I am from Clan Camelin. We have assumed command of this vessel and are working to maintain stability and repair the ship. Secure your stations, and secure your areas. Move to safe zones and assist in repairs. We will rescue you if you are trapped, help us by helping yourselves. Bridge out.”
She turned to the deck crew bosses who were now gathered just inside the bridge.
“We need engines back online, and we need to stop all venting before we end up losing the air plants. Reactor control is good, but we have cold drives, which means no fuel, and possibly no fusion activity. Start in the core and work back and forward, two teams, check every compartment you find. Every able crewman should be ready to assist, otherwise, they made their choice, and deal with it as you see fit.”
The bosses nodded and the crews scattered to begin slowly searching and securing the ship. The officers and pilots left on the bridge made quick work of clearing the bodies, then checking and fixing what damage could be done to make the controls function better.
“Half the command consoles are offline, waveguides have been severed due to the firefight in here. Watch it!” Sergeant Wakins said as he pushed another officer out of the way just as the console erupted a shower of sparks and flame.
“We're going to need to rewire the primary waveguides to bypass the damage. Anybody know where spare cable is?” Gya asked as she doffed her flight jacket.
“Lieutenant, we don't have time for that sort of maintenance!” came the response.
“You just watch me, if you're going to do something right, do it properly, or not at all.” She said, pulling a length of cable from a storage cabinet and with the help of two of the deck crew that were helping with repairs, spliced and rerouted power to the damaged consoles faster than anybody they had seen before.
The consoles powered up and diagnostics rang true, then they began to pull real data from the massively damaged ship.
“How did you do that so quickly, M'a'am?” One of the deck hands said as Gya wiped her dusty hands with a cloth before rolling her sleeves back down.
“Six cycles of working inside the TGX-2. Waveguides and cabling in the core was all they would let me do because it was the most protected part of the ship. This...” She indicated the cabling, “I know better than most.”
She went from console to console, running a diagnostic on each one and making fast field repairs with the help of the deckhands who stood back and just handed her the tools as they were used to repairs at a slow but steady speed. Gya was almost running as she made basic but key repairs to the bridge console, bringing the command heart of the ship back up to a basic functional level.
“Disconnect all waveguides to the system core, bypass it and run it though auxiliary sensor control. It's not the core, but the consoles won't know the difference in the basic signals.” she ordered the two deckhands, then slid under one of the consoles and pulled out a mass of cabling which she threw out the door and quickly weaved a replacement length of silver fabric into place, bringing the final console linkage up and the bridge came to life again.
Gya stood up, her collar now damp with sweat as the air system was not running properly and it was getting warm in the bridge, but the consoles were all online, status was coming in, and they had basic control over the massive ship again.
“Ma'am – TGX-2 is signalling, they want a hard dock.” Came the message from Comms. Gya walked over and told them to acknowledge and then prepared to greet her Father as he walked on board the stricken battlecruiser.
After the TGX-2 had hard-docked to the stricken but stabilized TGX-4, Commander Camelin came on board, followed by a security detail and was met by some of the pilots from his wing. They walked him to the bridge, where he looked at the devastation all around and then looked at Gya, who was standing there waiting.
“Commander Desinlo, Commander Camelin is on deck.” One of the officers said.
“Commander?” Ryo said, amused.
Gya shrugged. “They put me in charge, I guess when you command a ship, you get to be Commander.”
“I agree, that you do, Commander Desinlo.” Ryo said, then took another look around the smashed bridge. “Status of your ship?”
“The crew mutinied against the Clan Faniruf officers. Well, the Michelab officers, they had replaced the Faniruf senior officers weeks ago. This was all caused by the mutiny. We came in time to stop the ship destructing, and the crew is pleased to have somebody on board who wants to look out for their interests, Sir. I think you have another TGX under our flag.” Gya reported.
“Correction, Commander. You have a new command.” Ryo said, as she noted he was still standing at a position of attention.
“Sir?” Gya said, very confused.
“I do not have the time to command two battlecruisers. This ship is going to need major repairs, best done at Tara, where the major facilities are that are friendly to our flag. It needs a leader, and you have already proven yourself with this crew. I can and am issuing a field promotion, Commander Gya Desinlo. Take this ship and bring it home to Tara, then refit it for active duty.” Ryo said, then saluted her.
Gya looked around and the other officers and her flight team were also saluting her.
“But ... what about Captain Kalen?” she finally asked.
“I still need him on board, you can have Cato, and just about any other officer you may require, they all need some command experience as well.” Ryo said.
Gya nodded, having now already put on the mantle of leadership for this broken ship, she would do her duty, and she would do it well.
It took three weeks to patch the hull enough for stable neospace flight, then the TGX-4 lumbered it's shaky way out of the combat zone and into neutral space around the central system of the Confederacy. Limping into high orbit days later, it finally gasped to a halt and Gya had every major system shut down on board. Now the real repair work could commence, as teams of engineers ascended to the ship from the orbital yards and began to slowly repair and refit every single centimer of the hull. Before that happened, every single part of the ship was evacuated and vented, so that no pockets of resistance survived. The ship was firmly in the control of Clan Camelin, and Gya intended for it to remain that way.
Major repairs took the longest time, as hundreds of square mets of new hull plating was manufactured for the ship and then mounted onto the hull and secured into place. Massive damage had been done to the left side of the hull, with both fuel tanks, the entire port armour frame laid bare, guns torn off, and the landing bays both exposed to vacuum.
Gya took charge of what repairs she could, slowly reworking entire sections of waveguide and electrical conduit in and around the bridge, repairing hundreds of mets of silver fabric that allowed for the superconductive elements to function the entire length of the massive ship, while teams worked to fully rebuild the destroyed central computer.
Over a period of ten months, the TGX-4 began to live again, the crew would finish a section, it would be tested, and then brought to operational status. Engines slowly came online, all weapon ports were rebuilt, armour covered the entire hull and all the tubing and duct work was remoulded into place where smashed pipework and vented rends had been before.
Gya made sure that none of the old computer core was left, the entire thing was stripped out, even the undamaged parts, and a full new core was put into place. As she told one of the techs “How would you feel if you woke up, only to have a thought in the back of your mind that you had been betrayed by your Commander?” No memory units remained of the original TGX-4 core.
Gya had also spent a considerable amount of time on the ground, in the Palace, having long talks with the Lord Emperor over the state of the war, and giving him ideas and advice on disparate military strategy. He had access to hundreds of military advisers, but not many who had actual combat experience in an ongoing Clan War.
She also enforced the Tara truce, including disciplining her own officers when they were caught attempting to
sabotage a Michelab ship in orbit for repairs. As she later put it. “When we stop following the simple rules of warfare, we lose the grip on civilization that binds us together. We have to have rules that we live by, even in war, or it becomes a slaughter. We are Clan Camelin, and we do not slaughter.”
Gya was 22 when she captured the TGX-4, and 23 when it launched, fully refit, to join the fight on behalf of Clan Camelin. Now with her being a full Commander, and the newly promoted Captain Sylva Cato as her XO, the TGX-4 was ready to see action.
The ship had been refit as a support vessel, as Gya felt more at ease in that type of role. She felt that backup was much better than front line, so the TGX-4 had been fully rebuilt to now be a floating refit and repair facility. Four docking bays able to handle two N'Gouras each, strip and rebuild their outer shells in a matter of days, multiple bays ready to hold, launch, repair and rebuild waves of Superiority fighters to support the fight. The TGX-4 was a carrier and a repair dock all in one place. Michelab had no idea how dangerous that could be, until it mattered.
With the TGX-4 dropping out a million kims from the battle, it sat back, not able to directly engage, but as ships were damaged they would flick out to the TGX-4 for repair, and be back in the fight. The battle turned in Clan Camelin's favour quickly, waves of fighters swept down to assault the Michelab refractories. The battle was won by Clan Camelin, and the legend of the Ice Princess and Captain Bitch began to spread.
Gya never faltered, and Cato was very aggressive in her duties. Gya never stepped away from the bridge in a crisis, and never seemed to get upset, she remained calm, poised, and snapped orders with a commanding voice that never changed tone or timbre. She was as cool as an icecap, which quickly earned her the title, along with her steel grey eyes and hair which she kept coloured to an ethereal blue.
The very pale blue hair made her look even more white than before, which added to the almost supernatural presence that she had. On the bridge, it was control and never a panic. If an officer began to panic, they just had to look at their Commander, who never faltered, Gya's calmness kept the bridge running smooth and the ship ran cleanly.
Sylva Cato gained her reputation early on as well. She took no quarter from anybody and allowed for nothing to go wrong. When it invariably did, she came down on those responsible like a helva-born clustercat. The crew began to refer to her as Captain Bitch and Cato revelled in it. She had many talks with Gya about her attitude, and she had decided that if Gya was going to be calm and unemotional, then Sylva would be the emotion for them both. Together, they got the crew running like a well-oiled machine and the TGX-4 became one of the best support vessels in the entire combined fleet.
Five more cycles of war flooded the Confederacy. The major clans now were only Michelab with it's massive production and refinery zones, and Camelin, with the military might and tactical strategy required to keep Michelab off guard. It still took many cycles to finally wear the other clan down to the point where they finally began to withdraw and fall back. Millions of citizens had died, on both sides, the toll of war was always the civilians, and even though Clan Camelin had made every attempt to keep the civilians on the Michelab worlds out of the battles, at times they became unwitting targets when a planet needed to be bombarded or conquered by force.
