by David Smith
The Science Officer acknowledged and called Ensign David in the probe launch control room. There followed a slight audible thump as Crew Member (Non-Biological) 1449/3 was despatched to fly back to Hole bearing their findings of the last few weeks.
Tiger held her course, but stayed on impulse drive, heading away from Jal Doran slowly enough that the Tana vessel would definitely drop out of wrap further out than they were. The minutes ticked by as the Tana vessel approached the system at around Warp 4, and eventually there was a beep from ASBeau’s console.
"Major sub-space disturbance ExO, they've dropped out of warp further out than expected."
Dave watched as another mark in red appeared on the tactical display.
"Thank you ASBeau. Ok, the PTN’s are still in a place where we may be able to use them, Crash, alter course to adjust for the greater distance to the Tana vessel. Comms, any traffic yet?”
“Naw sir, not a peep” replied Shearer.
“Hold course.”
Dave felt just a moment of panic. In all of their planning and preparation, it had never been considered that the Tana might not make any attempt to communicate. If they didn’t open a channel, the hack-attack couldn’t be made.
“Lieutenant Shearer, transmit standard greetings and friendship messages on all channels.”
“Aye, sir” she said, but a while later stated “Naw response ta hails sir.”
“Damn. Keep trying” said Dave.
“They’re still on track ExO, but decelerating now. We might need to adjust our heading and hope they follow us if we’re going to make use of the PTN’s”
“Not yet. The last thing I want to do is make them suspicious. Hold course for the present. How long ‘til we’re in range of their lasers?”
“At their current rate of deceleration, approximately six minutes, sir. We’ll be in phaser range in about five” replied ASBeau calmly.
Dave called Engineering where Deng was at the PILOCCs interface, “Is Susan ready to go Chief?”
There was a slight pause before Deng replied “Well she hasn’t said she WON’T do it….”
Dave heard groans from all around the Bridge and covered the microphone over, not wanting to upset the temperamental computer.
“SHHHH!!!!!!” he hissed, “She’ll be fine: Susan and I have an understanding” he added in a whisper. Uncovering the microphone he replied “Thanks, Chief, excellent work by you and Susan, but be ready when the call comes: we may not have much of a window to work in.”
Time slowed to a crawl “Comms, any traffic yet?” asked Dave, trying to keep a note of rising desperation out of his voice.
“Nothin, sir”
ASBeau’s console beeped again “Three minutes until they can fire, sir”.
Too close, thought Dave. If they had to rely on the PTN’s they needed to be close enough that the Tana would follow them , but not so close the battleships lasers could blast holes in the rear surfaces of the Tiger.
“Lieutenant-Commander Grosvenor, any ideas on how we might get them to communicate?”
Izzy wrinkled her brow for a second and said “Well, they’re essentially a martial race fixated on conquest for its own sake. I suspect the only thing that would definitely get their attention is some kind of challenge?”
“Thanks. Ok, we’re close to last chance saloon here, and the barman is pouring the bourbon. Let’s take a swig and see if we choke. Lieutenant Shearer, put me on all channels” said Dave.
“Aye sir.”
“Attention Tana warship. This is the Federation Starship Tiger. We have conquered this star-system for the Federation and demand that you state your business in our space or depart immediately.”
ASBeau spoke quietly in the background “They’ve raised their shields and seem to be charging their lasers, sir. We’ll have the shot in sixty seconds, they’ll be in range in two minutes.“
As the range slowly decreased, the tension on the Bridge increased.
“Still naw reply” said Shearer.
“Loop the message, keep trying. ASBeau, raise our shields, and lock our phasers onto their weapon arrays if you can”
“Jeez WHICH array sir????”
“Guess it doesn’t matter too much then. Just target something. Anything!” said Dave irritably.
“They’re firing sir!” shouted ASBeau.
“EVASIVE! Brace for impact!” shouted Dave.
There was a yawing sensation as the inertia-dampers struggled to keep up with the massive accelerations produced by the evasive action, followed almost immediately by shuddering of the whole ship as the laser struck glancing blow against Tiger’s forward shields.
“They’re firing again sir! And again!”
“Evasive port! Brace….”
The ship rocked violently beneath them as one of the lasers slammed square into the shields. Alarms sounded and lights began flashing red on status consoles across the Bridge.
“Forward shields at 80%, returning fire!” shouted ASBeau.
“They’re firing another salvo, sir, taking evasive to port….”
“NO!!” shouted Dave, “FULL ASTERN!!!”
“Aye sir!!” shouted Crash and they all rocked as the inertia-dampers went into reverse to compensate for the abrupt deceleration. The Tana salvo missed, but ASBeau shouted “Direct hit! The phasers penetrated their shield and have knocked out one of their laser arrays!”
Only about nineteen to go winced Dave. “Crash, full ahead two seconds, then full astern again for ten seconds then stay full astern and alter course…..fifteen degrees to port. ASBeau, keep firing!”
“Aye sir” came the reply in stereo. Tiger jinked, still moving forward under her own massive momentum and the next salvo of micro-wave destruction passed astern of her. ASBeau hit another laser array, and then another as the range continued to fall.
Crash threw the impulse drive into reverse, and the hull groaned and creaked as the ship’s momentum fought against the ship’s drive and integrity systems. Dave had guessed correctly and the next Tana salvo passed harmlessly ahead of Tiger.
Crash changed course by fifteen degrees, sending the next Tana salvo off to Tigers starboard bow. Dave reeled off more course corrections and acceleration corrections, as randomly as he could, trying to keep the ship from being speared by the Tana’s lasers. The distance between the two ships began to grow as Tiger accelerated backwards, and as if suddenly awakening, the Tana vessel stopped its own deceleration and began to accelerate, chasing after the wildly bucking Tiger.
As Crash completed another course correction, Tiger rocked violently again, and more alarms sounded.
“They’ve stopped firing in salvoes,” shouted ASBeau “they’re firing past where we are in all directions, hoping to get random hits! Shields at 60%”
Dave had a priority call come in from Romanov “We’ve lost a primary relay on the structural integrity field! If the secondary goes the ship will tear itself to shreds with the next manoeuvre!” she screamed over the howl of the warp-core.
Last chance saloon, thought Dave.
Another two laser beams hit in quick succession, with impacts so violent both Park and Izzy were thrown from their seats, and one of the science displays exploded in a shower of sparks and plastic shrapnel.
“Shields gone! Forward phaser off line! Hull breach Deck 4, Deck 5……”
“Crash! On thrusters, spin us one-eighty and get us stern on to them! Execute PTN intercept, and see if we can drag them with us. Shearer, open all channels….”
“Awpen sir!”
“Tana vessel, this is Lieutenant-Commander Dave Hollins of the Federation Starship Tiger. You have fought bravely, but I must insist you surrender immediately or we will be forced to destroy your ship….”
Another laser caught Tiger on the port side of her secondary hull as she span around. Every warning light on Dave’s status console went berserk as the rear shields failed under the onslaught of microwave energy and the engineering deck took the full impact.
“Warp-drive off-line, coolant containment breach in engineering!” yelled O’Mara.
“ASBeau, time to PTN intercept?”
“One minute twenty-five at maximum acceleration…..we won’t make it sir” he reported.
Damn thought Dave, they’d got so close!
Dave pressed the button to call Engineering “Romanov, get everyone out of engineering……”
“SIR!! SIR!!! They’re transmittin’!” yelled Shearer suddenly.
Over the din of the alarms the universal translator pumped out a message from the Captain of the Tana Battleship:
“Surrender??? Surrender??? You cheeky….. I’m going to leave your ship intact so I can personally come over there and stick my big fat…….”
“DENG! PARK! HIT IT!!” screamed Dave.
In the next microsecond a titanic battle was fought as Park’s programme invaded the Tana ship’s computer and interfaced the PILOCC with it. Locking out the comm system first, Susan found herself within the alien computer and analysed everything in an instant. She was aware of the other computers sudden realisation that it was not alone and the two of them fought desperately for control of the Tana battleship’s systems……
On the Bridge everything fell silent.
“Did it work?” asked ASBeau.
“We’re still here, so I’m guessing yes” whispered O’Mara, as if talking too loudly might draw more fire from the Tana.
“Park, what’s happening??” asked Dave.
The PO studied the readouts on O’Mara’s console.
“Errrr……well…..um…..not really sure, sir”
“Find out.” said Dave quietly “Now!”
--------------------
An hour later Dave was stood on the Engineering Deck, looking at a hastily patched hole in the outer hull. The PILOCC was on line and operating far better than it ever had before.
Park, Deng, Romanov and O‘Mara were all clustered around the main interface panel, alternately scratching their heads and then saying things like “Of course!” or “Ah yes!” and “That explains it!”
Dave stood behind them like a younger sibling ducking his head between their shoulders, trying to sneak a peek at what his older brothers and sisters were doing. Ensign ARSE stood facing a bulkhead, his eyes glazed over in a familiar shade of blue.
Losing patience, he finally shouted “So it worked then??”
The collection of whizz-kids seemed to pause as if caught unawares. Slowly, they all turned around looking at each other rather sheepishly. Eventually, Park owned up.
“Actually, no. Well……. that is….. not completely…..um….. in the way we…errrr.... sort of…... intended it to” he stuttered.
Deng sighed and confessed.
“It was a complete and total fuck up. The hack programme opened the channel and Susan linked direct into the Tana computer. She tried to shut down their offensive systems but the Tana computer was just……well…..smarter than her. Within nano-seconds of realising what was going on, the Tana computer had put up firewalls to protect the systems Susan was trying to take over. By the time Susan got past one firewall, the Tana computer had built a dozen more. She never even got close to disabling anything.”
“So why did the Tana stop firing at us???” asked Dave, now thoroughly confused.
“The Tana computer did everything right except purging its own memory. It broke through our programmes’ defences and cut the link to Susan before it purged its memory, trapping many elements of Susan’s personality profile within its own processors. About a nanosecond after that, it went completely schizoid, decided it hated humans and Tana alike and went into meltdown. As far as we can gather, it’s had the computer equivalent of nervous breakdown and is, effectively, catatonic” shrugged Deng. “As an added bonus, the PILOCC now has about a dozen less personality engrams to argue with, and is considerably more stable.”
Dave smiled. “Details, details! I think we can all chalk this up as a major victory for the good guys, even if it didn’t go as advertised! We have succeeded against all odds and are still wonderfully, completely and brilliantly not dead!”
--------------------
Having satisfied his curiosity, Dave returned to the Bridge with a spring in his step. Ok, things hadn't gone even remotely to plan, but at least they'd caught a break, and had come through an encounter with a dangerous enemy vessel with no fatalities.
Not that they were out of the woods yet. In his inexperience, Dave's total focus on how to deal with the Tana vessel had precluded him from thinking any further ahead. They were still in orbit around a lethally active blue super-giant star and being subjected to massive doses of solar radiation. Both Tiger and the Tana vessel were free-falling towards the Sha T'Al colony of Jal Doran having been disabled during combat, and the crew of Tiger were effectively now in a race with the Tana crew to get their ship operational first. If they lost, it would all have been for nothing.
Dave desperately wanted to give the crew some sort of respite: they'd been living on their nerves for weeks now. Sadly there was still too much to do. Too much at stake.
The Tiger was little more than a floating scrap-heap and he'd had to set the engineers to work as soon as the Tana vessel had ceased firing. He prioritised the life support systems and sensors first, followed by drive systems, then the deflectors and shields, then weapons and minor systems.
ASBeau, Crash, Dolplop and Shearer were already on the Bridge as Dave arrived and took the Captains chair. Lieutenant L'Amour was also there assisting O'Mara, and gave Dave a brief update as he sat down.
"The Engineers have got the bulk of the sensors on-line sir, and the life-support systems are stable and operational. Drives, shields and weapons are still down, but Lieutenant-Commander Romanov tells me thrusters will be available within the hour and impulse drive won't be far behind. Warp-drive is off-line until they can fix the coolant system leaks, but they think we could get in trouble there. The main line sprang a leak and flooded most of the deck with coolant again."
"Fortunately for the engineers, the same laser hit that created the leak also punched a significant hole in the outer hull, and most of the coolant was sucked out through it. Unfortunately for all of us, we're now desperately short of coolant and obviously can't replicate any. Another leak and we're dead in the water sir." she finished.
"We're in poor shape then" said Dave rhetorically. "How's the Tana ship looking?"
"Hard to tell sir" replied ASBeau "Outwardly there are very few signs of damage, but she seems to be completely dead. We're reading close to one-hundred and fifty life signs, but no electrical or mechanical energy signatures at all."
"Not even life-support??" queried Dave
"No sir, not a thing."
"My god, they'll all freeze or fry or suffocate in a matter of hours!"
"It's certainly not looking good for them sir."
"We have to find some way to help them....." said Dave almost to himself.
"Do we really want to be doing that sir?" asked ASBeau "They're an aggressive, imperialistic race....."
L'Amour snorted derisively: "Persians, Assyrians, Romans, Aztecs, Mongols, Spanish, British..... you think humans are any different from them??"
"That's different. A lot of those Empires were progressive and forward thinking...." said ASBeau defensively.
Crash weighed in with L'Amour "They didn't create Empires by sitting down over tea and cakes. They did it by slaughtering anyone who opposed them."
L'Amour nodded "We need to demonstrate to the Tana that there's another way, based on unity and compassion...."
"After all, when the Goths sacked Rome, no-one said "Aw, shucks, poor Romans, let's help ‘em out"" Crash concluded.
"Yeah, but you're never going to be able to reason with people who only wear black and listen to thrash metal...." grumbled ASBeau.
"We're getting off the point here team" Dave interrupted "They're sentient living beings and we can't willingly abandon them to th
eir fate. ASBeau, did Stavros dock Fer-God-Sake yet?"
"Aye sir."
"Tell him to prep the shuttle for immediate lift-off: we're going on a mercy mission." Dave pressed a series of buttons on the comm-set in the arm of the chair.
"Commander Mengele, Lieutenant-Commander Grosvenor and Chief Belle, please meet me at the shuttle deck ASAP. I want a security and medical away team ready to go in thirty minutes. O'Mara, you’re with me. ASBeau, you have the Bridge."
--------------------
The turbo-lifts were out of service yet again and Dave jogged down nineteen decks to the Hangar Deck. He couldn't help himself but peer nervously around the corner of the door before entering and was pleased to see everyone had beaten him here.
He brought them up to speed.
"The Tana vessel seems to be intact but the entire ship is dead. It's very likely their computer has shut itself down so completely they can't even activate override protocols. If that's the case they'll all be dead within a matter of hours. I know we've been treating them as the bad guys, but I'm not willing to abandon them to their fate if we can save them. This is a dangerous mission as we don't know how they'll react, but I imagine they won't be overly friendly. That’s why I'm asking for volunteers. I want you all to know there is no pressure on anyone to comply." said Dave seriously.
"I speak for my whole team when I say we're all in sir" said Chief Belle immediately.
"The medical Department are obligated by the Hippocratic Oath in any event" Mengele observed calmly.
"And I wouldn't miss this for all the tea in china!" added the Liaison Officer.
"Excellent. I'm glad I can rely on you all, team. Stavros, crank up 10% as well as Fer-God-Sake. Chief Belle I want three security personnel on each shuttle. The medical team, Lieutenant-Commander Grosvenor and I will board Fer-God-Sake. Stavros, stand 10% off the Tana ship and be ready to evacuate casualties on my command."
"Aye sir!"
"Ok, let's go and be heroes"
--------------------
The two shuttles arced across the space between the two crippled vessels without incident, but as they approached the huge Tana vessel there was a growing sense of tension in everybody. The closer they got, the more the bulk of the vessel became apparent.
