Star Man 2: Star Rise

by I. G. Roberts

  When Siobhan took Freyja into orbit around the planet of Conomar, orbital control was apparently feeling quite skittish. They settled a little but didn’t want to take any of the prisoners off the Navy’s hands, even temporarily. No one blamed them, but Siobhan had to take a hard-line approach with them, explaining they had a choice of taking some, the smallest number possible so the five available ships could safely manage the remainder, or they could have the lot of them dumped on the currently vacant continent. This was something the local authorities could not countenance so they agreed that if the Navy promised to take the prisoners away as soon as they could manage, Conomar would accept a few. By this time, Freyja’s Trooper contingent was certain of who the least dangerous of the prisoners were and shipped only those ones down to the planet, keeping two in the brig. They all knew Colin’s attitudes about Pirates and thought he would be in his rights to order these two marched out the airlock. While the Troopers didn’t expect an order like this from him if the prisoners behaved, they knew he wouldn’t hesitate if the prisoners caused any trouble. Then again, Freyja’s Troopers didn’t think their Captain would wait either under those circumstances.

  In the end, just over seventy prisoners were transferred to Conomar, and another two hundred were kept on the five available ships. They also recovered nearly three hundred bodies from around the site of the battle, there should have been more, but they never located them even though they spent more than a week searching. The last people they recovered alive were the Captain of Melia, Vrahal Cadaza, and his bridge crew. The Pirates were brought on board Theseus and placed in the brig, waiting for their first interrogations. From their perspective, the Pirates thought the brig was heaven, they were alive, for now at least, which is much more than would’ve been the case if they had chosen to continue the fight.

  After the last of the pods were recovered, and enough time spent recovering all the bodies they could find, the Federation ships turned to make their way to Cambridge. Both Siobhan and Colin took the opportunity to talk to the Conomar leadership when they were delivering prisoners. The world wasn’t attacked, so they felt blessed with luck and good fortune. Perhaps they were after all blessed with good fortune, from the little the Troopers could learn from their prisoner interrogations, the original target was, in fact, the planet. Before they arrived there, FNS Destiny and FNS Shurana arrived in the System, presenting much more attractive targets for them. They ran off after the two ships and were about to catch them too, but Theseus and Freyja appeared out of nowhere and upset all their plans. Colin didn’t know, and if he was honest with himself, didn’t care very much about the colonist's luck and good fortune, provided these people were safe and weren’t being preyed on by Pirates and Slavers, he was happy to allow them their beliefs.

  The small flotilla made its way toward the Jump-Point leading back toward Cambridge. The debris from the battle was already well clear of the routes between the System Jump-Points and the planet. Given the dispersal rate and their lack of ships suitable for cleaning it up, they concluded it would be safe to leave it to disperse naturally. When they reached the Jump-Point, they went through, and one at a time, the five ships exited Conomar System for the two-day Jump into FR2-955E. As each ship arrived there, it began scanning but once again, this System was completely empty. Finally, three days after entering FR2-955E, partly because of the damage to Shurana’s drives, they entered the Jump-Point event horizon for the sixteen-hour Jump into Cambridge System.

  Cambridge was quiet when FNS Theseus exited Jump which was exactly what Colin wanted. There were two Taipans near the same Jump-Point as him, two near the other Jump-Point, and two near the planet. The two Cobras remaining in the System were checking in and around the Kuiper belt, looking for more spy ships. Samurai, Thor, and Hiln hadn’t returned from their patrol yet, they weren’t even expected for several weeks. The two nearest, Taipans challenged the five ships not long after the last of them exited Jump. Of course, four were broadcasting Federation Navy IFF, and three of the four had been here in the past, but the challenge was standard practice. Colin answered for all four ships then proceeded to escort them all back towards the planet after he was given clearance. On the way, he contacted Commodore Nicholson to arrange repairs for Shurana and replenishment for both the Tangesha Ships. He told Sonya he thought she’d be having visitors soon after they made orbit. Her terse reply was that she certainly hoped so. Colin transmitted the logs from their patrol while he was talking to her. Sonya quickly scanned the highlights as she spoke to Colin. Her eyebrows rose as she saw they’d broken a ship in two, snapped like a pretzel before a shot was even fired. His actions were entirely justified, those four ships were firing on Federation Navy vessels at the time which automatically took Theseus and Freyja to weapons free status. She shook her head, this man never ceased to surprise her, just when she thought he must be running out of ideas soon, he would think of yet another way to cause damage to the Federations enemies with his ship. Colin even bought back another prize, another ship they could refurbish and modify for their own purposes. But he was still very humble and respectful. He really was an enigma to her, always in control but still insisting on rescuing the people stranded during a battle, even the ones he’d been trying to kill not long before.

  Carlon hadn’t told Colin the reason for his visit, or why he was in company with one of the few Tangesha owned Jump-Capable Patrol Boats. As much as his curiosity piqued him, Colin knew he’d be told if, and when there was a need for him to know, so all he could do was wait. The big thing he didn’t know yet was that he’d already answered, the question FNS Shurana was bought here to help answer. For his part, Sophon Carlon sat at his command station on board FNS Destiny feeling very lucky his crew rescued Colin. It was over two years previously, and since then, he’d done more to protect and preserve the Federation than most did during their entire lives. In Conomar System, these powerful little Patrol ships Colin commanded, turned up in the nick of time to save both Destiny and Shurana. It seemed, every time the Tangesha people encountered this human, they ended up in even more debt to him. Carlon knew Colin didn’t see it that way, but all the same, it was the way most Tangesha saw things. He opened a channel to FNS Theseus, to ask Colin if they could talk sometime after reaching Cambridge.

  On board FNS Theseus Colin was eating, mostly because both Sam his XO, and Anne ganged up on him to make him when the call came in from FNS Destiny. His two senior Officers consented to let him take the call so taking one last mouthful, he went to his office to see who wanted to talk to him. When his screen lit up with Captain Carlon’s face a thrill of pleasure ran down his spine, it was good to see his friend and mentor safe and well.

  He said, “Hello Sir, what can I do for you?”

  “Well first, you can stop calling me Sir and start calling me Sophon, or Carlon, especially when we are talking privately. We hold the same rank you know, and you’ve earned the right to use my name.”

  “Okay Sophon, to what do I owe the pleasure of this call?”

  “Colin, I really need a chance to talk to you about several matters, and it would be better if we could have those conversations in private, away from others. Do you think you could arrange this?”

  Colin considered the request for a few minutes, he hadn’t had enough time to visit his house since buying it, except for the day he picked up the key when he went to have another look at his purchase and spent an hour looking the place over again. He liked the home even better the second time around but needed to furnish it before he could move in. Colin dreaded wandering around looking for the furnishings and all the other things needed to make his house a home. A woman's touch was what was most needed, or at least the help of someone with better ascetic sensibilities than he had. Colin had no illusions about his ability to furnish a house and make it comfortable and an enjoyable place to be. He knew a few women he thought might be willing to help him out. He would have to ask.

  Colin replied to Carlon, “I do have a place th
at I think would be suitable, it’ll probably take a few days to get ready. I’ve only recently taken possession of the property and haven’t had a chance to move in yet, or even buy any furniture. How long are you planning to be in Cambridge, would a couple of weeks’ time be okay? If you need this meeting to happen more quickly, there are a couple of other places we could get together.”

  “We’ll be here for quite some time, so a couple of weeks will be okay. I expect to be quite busy for the first few weeks anyway, talking to various people within your Navy Command and your government.”

  “Okay then Sophon, I’ll give you my Comm code when we arrive on the planet, and you can contact me when you’re ready. We’ve been working fairly solidly for a couple of months now, so the ship is due for a little maintenance and the crew for some leave.”

  “Thank you, Colin. That sounds like a plan.”

  With the call completed, Colin sat back in his seat, wondering what Carlon wanted to speak to him about. He was only a Commander, so he didn’t think he had all that much influence. Colin knew people listened to his opinion but thought that was only out of respect. He still didn’t grasp the impact he was having on the people around him. Till he appeared on the scene, the Federation Navy had begun to calcify, to became very dogmatic as an organization. Already, Colin’s exploits and his successes were making people sit up and take notice. Of course, there were those who disapproved, individuals who saw him as a dangerous upstart. In many ways, they were right, he was dangerous. Where they were wrong, was that he wasn’t hazardous to the Federation or its institutions, only to its enemies. He was encouraging younger Officers to be innovative, to think about better ways of doing things. He had no ownership of the old stultifying ways so was quite happy to turn them on their head. Even better, his detractors needed to be very careful in the way they tried to undermine him. Although he didn’t go running to his supporters himself, preferring to fight his own battles, he did have some very powerful friends. Even Admiral Dalkasan and the head of the DNI could see the benefits of the things Colin was achieving. They didn’t have the time to read every report arriving on Sankarah, but they did read the ones that came from Cambridge.

  The five ships arrived at Cambridge Station and prepared to dock to the military sections. Additional Troopers were already in place to deal with the influx of prisoners. DNI thought they should be able to extract a lot of valuable intelligence from this batch. DNI had been able to talk to more Pirates in the two years since Colin arrived in the Federation than they’d managed over the twenty years before. These interrogations were instructive, eliciting more up to date information about the magnitude of the threat. DNI were piecing together a much more accurate, and disturbing picture of what was going on in the territories controlled by the Pirates. In their own territories, they were still far too strong to be able to attack head on, mostly because of previous budget cutbacks for the Federation military. The balance was slowly shifting in the Federations favour now. Already, some Admirals were trying hard to pressure Headquarters to begin authorizing raids into the Pirate territories, but it was still too soon for that. The Federation had been sitting on its hands for too long because till recently, the government hadn’t seen the magnitude of the threat the Pirates presented. Unfortunately, those same Admirals were partly the reason for the current state of the Federation Navy. Those Admirals had been stifling innovation, not spending the money they had efficiently but mostly because they hadn’t accepted the fact that the Peschal Alliance was growing into a credible and dangerous threat.

  As soon as one of the ships were docked, the prisoners were offloaded to Troop Shuttles and transferred to the planet. Theseus and Freyja stood off to let the ships from outside Cambridge dock and unload first. While he was waiting, Colin ordered Vrahal Cadaza brought to his office. When Cadaza arrived, Colin sat quietly, regarding him for a while, long enough for Cadaza to start fidgeting from the discomfort.

  Finally, Colin said, “We’re in Cambridge now. You’ll be handed over to DNI when we dock. I’ve already submitted a report detailing your voluntary surrender and the way you’ve acted in good faith all along. I expect they will keep you separated from most of the other people we picked up in Conomar. I think you are probably a reasonably honourable person, but you won’t be going home for a very long time.”

  Vrahal stood stoically throughout. He knew who this man was now. He couldn’t believe he was standing alone in front of Colin Gordon. The Peschal Alliance had posted a huge reward for this man’s head. Vrahal could see it was a head that would be tough and probably deadly, to try and collect. The man was clearly dangerous, at least to people like Vrahal, but he could see a spark of compassion in his face as well. This man did pick all the pods up just as he promised, and on this ship at least, his people were treated reasonably well, certainly better than this ship’s crew would be dealt with on a Peschal Alliance ship. The Alliance had a policy that all prisoners were fair game, subject to bashings, starvation or any other cruelty their captors chose to heap upon them. People, Vrahal among them, on some Peschal Alliance ships wondered if this policy made sense. Recently, it was becoming increasingly difficult to capture Federation ships intact, and they didn’t capture as many slaves when they raided a colony either. People in the Federation were beginning to believe they had nothing to lose by fighting back.

  Finally, Vrahal replied, “Thank you for keeping your word and picking us up. At least we’re still alive, the ones who survived the battle anyway. The wounded, what will become of them?”

  “The ones who haven’t already died from their injuries have already been given medical treatment and will receive more if and as required. When they’re well enough, they’ll be transferred to the prison with the rest of you. We’ll probably execute a few of the people who we believe cannot be redeemed but the rest of you will undergo retraining in the hope you can be turned into useful members of society eventually. In the end, this will be for the Courts to decide, I bring prisoners here and hand them over to the justice system.”

  The conversation was finished, and two guards entered and escorted Vrahal back to the brig. The man realized he had a lot to think about, but at least he could reassure the other Peschal Alliance people in the brig that there were no plans to engage in mass executions. Being executed was something the prisoners all worried about, and that could make them unstable or encourage them to do something desperate and stupid. Vrahal’s opinion was that dying a glorious death would be a grossly overrated experience, but then, he’d never had anything he considered important enough to be worth dying for.

  Theseus docked, and her prisoners were taken to the planet and prison. Colin worked through, arranging resupply of his ship and leave rosters for his crew. The Trooper contingent was rotated down to the surface of Cambridge with a new one brought on board to replace them. Some of the crew were also rotated off Theseus to take up other duties after their leave was over and new crew members were sent to replace them. The new crew included a young Officer who was here to learn. Her name was Susan Wills, and she was officially designated as the Third Officer and would be taking on some of the XO’s and second Officers workload relieving them a little and opening the possibility of those two taking some of the Captain's workload in turn. Since the Cobras became operational, experience showed they needed the additional Officer because the Officers were nearly all making mistakes near the end of a long deployment. Colin asked Sam and Anne to bring the new girl up to speed. They intended to leave Susan in charge of FNS Theseus while she was in the dock. The experience would be a good one for the Ensign, organizing the crew and making sure the watch was maintained.

  A week after FNS Theseus docked, Susan found herself the sole Officer in charge of a Warship. The idea was quite intimidating, but at the same time exciting, even if the ship was firmly clamped to the dock and the crew was only at half strength, Susan was still the nominal Captain, for a couple of weeks anyway. Susan was at the Academy seeming to struggle while trying t
o complete the Basic Officer Training module when Commander Gordon and Lieutenant Fraser demolished the spy ring that was destroying young Officers careers. Suddenly, her grades improved, and not just by a little either. Almost overnight, Susan’s grades were improved by an average of thirty to forty percent. All the trainees with improved grades were subjected to a comprehensive assessment to see if past grades were the result of tampering. Susan went from being in the lower half of the class to the upper half so fast it made her head spin. Now, she was serving on the same ship as her heroes. Susan wanted to do the best job possible so when the real Officers returned they would not need to do too much to take the ship out again. She desperately wanted these people to be happy with her performance, they were already taking on legendary status in the Federation. Every spare moment was spent reading the manuals, trying to understand what needed to be done. The ship’s AI helped a lot as well, keeping Susan informed of what was required as time passed and new issues arose requiring resolution.