Star Man 2: Star Rise

by I. G. Roberts

  Colin spoke to Carl, inviting him to dock Thor with Theseus so both crews could freely socialize and have a little more room to stretch their legs. Because of the number of guests who were coming, Colin had one of his now, near empty holds cleared and cleaned up so there would be room for everyone. After discussions with Anne and a little careful diplomacy with some government staff on the planet, they agreed on a cocktail party, with a lot of easy finger food and such, as a suitable theme for the gathering. When the Prime Minister, Haliban Saudra arrived with the Naval Commander, Cusi Dalmanon. Colin greeted them before he personally gave them a guided tour of FNS Theseus. After the tour had been completed, the two of them went off into a corner, talking quietly, but earnestly. The party continued as more people arrived. If anyone wanted a tour, one of the eight available line Officers would take small groups of up to four people at a time. In general, the party went extremely well, so when the last guest left, Colin was reasonably happy. He made his way to his quarters and quickly fell into a deep sleep. The next day, Colin met with Carl to discuss their next moves. Colin was worried there might be more Pirate ships heading this way and wanted to hang around for a little longer, perhaps a week or two, actively patrolling the system. Carl agreed, they didn’t need to move on immediately, and showing the flag here for a while would ultimately be good for Cambridge. They both realized they would need to recommend Lahoshar be actively visited, as often as possible but on an unpredictable schedule as more Cobras or other suitable ships became available.

  Later that day, they informed Orbital Control of their plans to patrol the system for a few days before returning to complete replenishment, then broke orbit. They hadn’t moved far when Colin ordered both ships to go dark again, followed by a sharp course change so any watching eyes wouldn’t know where they were, or what they were doing. This time, they planned to be gone from Lahoshar for only four days, then they’d return to do a final top up of their supplies before departing for Cambridge, at least, that’s what they told people on the planet. The two ships stayed reasonably close to each other during this time. As a pair, Cobras were much more than the sum of the parts, so it made sense to operate this way, especially when they were so far from home. As they patrolled around the system, they saw three Freighters, all of which were broadcasting the correct codes, so the two Warships didn’t molest them, they were looking for bigger fish to fry.

  Finally, the Cobras reappeared near Lahoshar, just as promised and entered orbit. When they made orbit, the Prime Minister’s office contacted Colin to ask if he would allow Haliban and Cusi to visit him before he departed. Colin agreed and handed them over to Anne so she could arrange a suitable time. When they arrived a few hours later, the Prime Minister didn’t beat about the bush.

  He asked, “Do you think Cambridge would be willing to sell us some of these ships to help us to defend ourselves? Do you know what the cost would be?”

  Colin thought for a moment before replying, “While I’m not able to make any promises, I can say the intent with the Cobra class was to make them available for sale to approved recipients. I imagine you would not have much trouble convincing the government in Cambridge to put you on that list. As to cost, I really have no idea, but there is also a smaller version of the hull without Jump Engines but with almost the same firepower. You would need to send someone there to ask, or I could relay a request for more information for you if you prefer.”

  Cusi looked briefly at Haliban and asked, “Commander, would you be able and willing to take my aide, Lieutenant Commander Suni Shimona with you. She knows what we need and is a Navy Officer so there shouldn’t be too many security issues with her. Haliban could have her briefed regarding budget and such, and then if we have any chance of being able to afford to buy these ships, she can come back here via Courier Boat or similar, and we could then find a way of concluding negotiations to everyone's satisfaction.”

  As she said all this, Colin noticed the Prime Minister nodding with a happy look on his face. Colin agreed to the proposal but told them he wanted to leave in two days, as soon as they’d loaded their remaining supplies. Cusi said Suni would be on Theseus before he was ready to depart. Thirty hours later a Shuttle rose from the planet. As it approached, it requested permission to dock with Theseus. When it docked, Suni asked for authorization to board, following the protocols to the letter. Colin decided he should go and greet her, so he made his way to the docking port where she waited. He noticed she looked a little overwhelmed when he arrived so he arranged for her duffel to be taken to her quarters then asked her if she’d like to see his ship. She agreed she’d like that very much, so Colin gave her a tour of FNS Theseus, showing her everything possible in the available time. On the way, he told her a little about the type’s capabilities and about the abilities of the Taipan. Suni was suitably impressed and asked a lot of questions. The tour finished at the CCC where Colin had each of the crew explain the capabilities of their control station.

  Suni turned to Colin, and asked, “May, I come here and sometimes observe during the voyage, please. This is a beautiful ship, I hope we will be able to buy some for our System Defense.”

  Colin agreed she could watch as they were heading home but warned her she wasn’t to interfere or interrupt if they got into a fight. He explained she had no authority on this ship. She nodded, telling him she understood, and he found himself believing her. While they were talking the Sensor operator reported a ship with unique IFF codes had just entered the system. A while later he said the ship turned around and left. Colin was not at all happy about this development. He didn’t have full magazines, and he had no way of filling them in a hurry. Cambridge was a four-day journey away by the most direct route. He came to a decision and contacted Cusi on the planet. He told her about the ship that appeared then ran away and asked if there was a Courier available to send a message back to Cambridge in a hurry. She immediately put him in touch with the Lieutenant commanding the only available Courier Boat. He transmitted the message he wanted to send to Cambridge, along with the logs from FNS Theseus and FNS Thor to be carried back to Cambridge as quickly as possible.

  Courier Boats were the fastest ships available within the Federation Navy, though the Cobra and Taipan class ships were not very far behind them. When he had the necessary information, the Courier made the least time course for Cambridge as requested. Cusi knew better than to tell any of the politicians about the incursion. Orbital Control hadn’t seen the ship, so she thought it better to leave them ignorant for now. Besides, she’d seen the look in Commander Gordon’s eyes when he called to ask about the Courier Boat. He was going hunting, the message he sent was nothing more than an attempt to put a fail-safe in place, at least, she hoped, she trusted that would be the case.

  As soon as he could, Colin announced their departure to Orbital Control. Once Theseus and Thor had clearance, they moved out of orbit then made their way towards the next scheduled Jump-Point. The trip out was uneventful, except for Suni pleading with Colin to stay and defend her people, in the end, he had to ask his Troopers to remove her from the CCC because she was too distracting. He understood her point but didn’t have time to walk her through every decision he made, especially not then. When they reached the Jump-Point, both ships disappeared from Sensors, first Thor, then Theseus about ten minutes later. On board FNS Theseus, Suni was becoming frantic. She believed Captain Gordon was abandoning her people to the Pirates. Finally, he had time to talk to her, so Colin had her escorted to his office for a confrontation that couldn’t be avoided. When Suni arrived, it was obvious she’d been crying, so Colin sat down and patiently explained to her that Lahoshar was most definitely not being abandoned yet and it wouldn’t be happening till FNS Theseus and FNS Thor were both out of bullets. He explained they were still on the outskirts of the system, but nobody in the system outside of themselves knew it. The questioning look she gave him spoke volumes.

  Finally, she spoke, “I would like to apologize to you Captain, for the things
I said, and for those, I didn’t. I was completely out of line and should have trusted you not to abandon us so quickly.”

  Colin replied, “At the risk of appearing to criticize you, I must say, you need to keep a lid on your emotions especially if you’re commanding a Warship. Commander Dalmanon sent me a precis of your record, you have a lot of potential, don’t waste it, learn to control your emotions, especially when you are in the CCC of a Warship.”

  She replied, “Yes Sir, I can see what you’re saying, and you’re right of course. I will try to do better in the future, I promise.”

  Colin nodded then dismissed her.

  Chapter 6

  The Courier Pilot pulled out all the stops, burning through the intermediate Systems as fast as his Courier Boat could go. Before he departed from Lahoshar, Commander Gordon convinced him it was possible to enter Jump at two percent above the maximum published Jump Entry Speed reasonably safely. The Commander explained to him his ship would just emerge further into the system, saving some transit time. The Courier pilot was lucky he took the Commander’s advice. On the second Jump after leaving Lahoshar, his ship emerged well past a Pirate who was lying in wait for any unsuspecting vessels that might transit through the deserted system. By the time the Pirate even knew a ship had exited Jump, the Courier was too far away and moving far too quickly to be caught.

  The Courier arrived in Cambridge System three and a half days after departing Lahoshar and was greeted by two Taipans that asked him to stop for inspection. He transmitted a message from Colin, and the two Taipans took up position to escort him to Cambridge Station. By the time the courier arrived there, he’d already transmitted the encrypted request from Colin to Commander Nicholson and in doing so, stirred up a hornet's nest. As soon as he’d docked at the station, he had security knocking on his hatch. He exited his ship with a hand carry that Colin entrusted to him, carefully locked the hatch behind him and was escorted to the planet and then directly to Commodore Nicholson’s office.

  When she finished reading the report, she looked up and asked, “Have you seen this Lieutenant?”

  He just nodded, not trusting himself to speak.

  She commented, “Commander Gordon has a talent for drawing trouble to himself. Now we can’t go and leave him without backup can we, especially when we might be able to bag a few more Pirates? Does Lahoshar have anything to help him?”

  The Lieutenant only answered, “No ma’am, there is an Officer on board FNS Theseus who was coming here to enquire about buying some of these new ships.”

  Sonya asked, “Tell me, how long did it take you to get here from Lahoshar? Did you encounter any trouble along the way?”

  He replied, “I took about three and a half days’ ma’am, Station to Station, Commander Gordon convinced me to enter Jump at two percent above the permitted maximum. It saved my life because when you do that, you exit the Jump a lot further into the system, so I completely missed a Pirate who was waiting near one of the usual exit corridors.”

  Sonya dismissed him, saying “Yes, that sounds like something he’d know about. Very well then, you shouldn’t head back without an escort. You can stay at the Visiting Officer’s Quarters (VOQ) while we make some arrangements.”

  The Lieutenant made his way to check into the VOQ so he could sleep. He was exhausted because there hadn’t been time to catch more than a few catnaps on the way to Cambridge. As soon as he left, Sonya sprang into action. She needed to send help to Colin, and quickly. She called her staff in, asking for options. They tossed ideas around for two hours, knowing they were under the pump, there simply wasn’t any time to mess about. Luckily, they now had six Cobras and eight Taipans available. Right then, all three of the Cruisers were in the system as well. She knew she had to buy the people of Lahoshar time to purchase their own ships and that meant Sonya needed to send the ships she could afford to help, now the Pirates had taken an interest in the system. She did have a Super Freighter available just then if she could convince the Captain to help. It’ had arrived two days previously, delivering a load of military hardware. She contacted the Captain to see if he’d be willing to carry out another delivery. She decided she’d send four Taipans and two Cobras if she could find transport along with a load of munitions for them and replenish the entire task force. The Captain agreed, provided he had a proper escort, both ways. The escort was something she could promise, she needed to get all the ships back here, except the four Taipans and two Cobras she intended to send as a stop gap.

  Commodore Nicholson sent orders to all the ships she planned to send to Lahoshar, telling them where and when to assemble. The hardest part would be to load the Taipans on the Freighter, so she set one of her staff the task of coordinating that action. Not long after, Sonya received a call from the President of Cambridge. He asked if it was true she planned to send ships to Lahoshar. She confirmed it, there wasn’t a lot of point lying but sweetened things for him by telling him that once the situation was stabilized there, the government of Lahoshar would have a representative in Cambridge to talk about buying some Taipans or Cobras. He seemed much happier with this news, yes, there was some risk that the Pirates might attack Cambridge while some of the ships were somewhere else. Still, the fleet here was not being stripped bare, there would still be eight ships available to defend the system, which was more than they had even a year before. He didn’t have any authority to stop her, so made a snap decision to come on board and look willing, asking if he might be able to send a small group to Lahoshar to talk to them about what Cambridge could offer.

  The Navy in Cambridge pulled out all the stops. Within twenty-four hours after the arrival of the Courier, the four Taipans and a significant amount of munitions were loaded on the Freighter. The Courier skipper undocked and joined the fleet for the trip back to Lahoshar. This trip was expected to take nearly five days, simply because the Freighter was much slower than the Courier could travel, but all the Captains were fully briefed on the capability the ships had to enter the Jumps at a slightly higher speed than conventional wisdom dictated.

  Back at Lahoshar, FNS Theseus and FNS Thor, sat quietly behind one of the Jump-Point, waiting for hostile ships to appear. They waited for a little over eight days, patiently sitting there. In the end, they stayed in the system a little longer than planned, simply because Colin had an itch between his shoulders. He knew, without any doubt, the Pirates would be back. With each passing day without the Pirates appearing in the system, he had one less day to wait for the resupply he so desperately needed. Finally, eight days and six hours after the departure of the Courier, the first Pirate arrived in the system. Ten minutes later, he was followed by another, then another, till eight Pirate ships formed up for the long drop in to the planet. As each new ship appeared, Colin became more convinced he wouldn’t be able to stop all of them, not with their depleted munitions status. He could see they were going to have to play cat and mouse with these Pirates. The question was, which would be the cat, and which the mouse. At the time, Colin thought he’d have perhaps another two or three days to wait till he had any chance of help arriving. Colin did know one thing, though, if these people won through to the planet, it would be an expensive victory for them. Colin sent a message to Lahoshar via FTL to let them know what was coming their way, then opened a Laser-Comms channel with Thor to see if Carl had any ideas.

  When Carl came on the line, Colin though he looked a little overwhelmed. Colin couldn’t blame the man for that, he felt pretty overwhelmed himself. They decided to trail behind the Pirates for a while, to see if any chinks appeared for them to exploit. They followed the enemy ships from a distance for nine hours when Colin’s Comm-Tech reported they just caught some side splash from a Laser Comm Signal. He thought it might be a watcher reporting to the Pirates though the message was encrypted and he didn’t have the decryption codes. Colin sat and pondered the problem, considering what options were available to them when he had an idea. He handed over command to Sam and left the CCC to make his way to
engineering. Colin spent another four hours talking to engineering before concluding his idea might work. After leaving Engineering, Colin went to his office, where he initiated a Laser link with Thor and spoke to Carl about his thinking. As he explained the plan to Carl, Colin could see the incredulous look on his face. There was no surprise there, but if it worked, they might be able to get the eight ships to separate into smaller groups, giving them a better chance of stopping at least some of them. Finally, Carl agreed, trying Colin’s idea was better than doing nothing. The two Cobras peeled off and raced ahead. The manoeuvre they were going to try wasn’t the safest and required split-second timing and precision flying. The two ships had to be exactly abreast of each other because they were going to buzz the Pirates to see if they could shake them up a little. Colin hoped the Pirates wouldn’t be able to see the Cobras, but would really feel their passing.

  When the two Cobras were far enough ahead, they slowed, then reversed course. They gradually built up their acceleration till maximum, being very careful to maintain the exact relative position to each other, this was only possible because of the capabilities of the AIs controlling the ships. Both Cobras continued their stealth all the way in. When they passed the Pirate ships, the Cobras missed the nearest one by less than a hundred metres. The ship they were closest to, named ‘Eversor’ bucked wildly, twisting in space, being pulled and swung around. Before it could compensate, it rammed the nearest ship ‘Trucido,' damaging it as well. Inside both ships, the number of casualties was extensive. In Eversor, the Captain’s neck was broken, killing him almost instantly. Most of the bridge crew were injured though the helmsman had strapped himself in, so he was eventually able to bring the ship under control. All the ships in the flotilla felt the buffeting to one degree or another. When Eversor rammed Trucido, all her missile tubes were severely damaged, and Trucido lost most of her Sensors and a lot of the Shielding on one side. Both ships now had vulnerabilities the two Pythons could exploit with their available weapons. The Pirate Fleet’s Commander ordered all ships to spread out. He didn’t know what happened there, but he was aware that if it happened again, they needed to be further apart. By spreading out like this, he made things a little easier for the two Cobras although he couldn’t know it at the time. One other impact of the Cobra’s passing was that all eight Pirate ships were slowed by varying degrees, causing their formation to become much more ragged.