"So he basically begged me to agree to send you to Newport this year, to represent the Devi."
He raised both his hands. "Now in reflection of your recent ordeal on Quagmire Bog, I refused to order you there and your participation is voluntary. I won't respect you any less if you refuse or if you go and not win, I want to make this perfectly clear, but I came here like this to ask you as a favor."
We jumped to our feet simultaneously and as one voice said, "Of course we’ll go, Sir!"
We stood almost simultaneously and I said, "We will do just that, Sir!"
He smiled warmly and there was open affection and a little pride in his eyes as he looked at each of us. "The tests are in every field of study in which you have already prepared and excelled and then the event culminates in a final challenge that is different every year and this time Admiral McElligott, several Academy commandants and I will personally supervise to make sure there won't be any Clusen shenanigans going on, if you know what I mean." He leaned forward. "What I say now is completely off the record and you must keep that to yourselves because I have a feeling Admiral Dent will act in similar ways and I hope you competing will draw him out and he'll make a mistake. A mistake I can use to end his career and perhaps close that darn Academy."
Mao had forgotten to eat. "Why don't you simply kick Dent out, if you think that way? You are Stahl, almost as powerful as God when it comes to all things Navy."
"I explained the same thing to Captain Harris not too long ago. It is because of exactly that reason, because of what I am. I cannot abuse my power and do things just because I can. That would make me as bad as Admiral Swybin or even worse. I must and I will live by our rules till the day I die. I do have lots of power as you say, and if I let it corrupt me, even by an iota, I have lost everything I worked for all my life. Like you, I live by our rules and stick to them."
Mao leaned forward. "You know, Admiral, you're all right for an Immortal."
The next day we had packed our bags once more and were ready for departure. Lt. Merkus had all the other remaining Midshipmen assembled and wished us luck, then to our surprise and without being told, the other Midshipmen cheered and chanted, "Go O-Team! Go kick Newport's ass!"
Harris met us at the shuttle deck from where we were supposed to take a long-range shuttle.
He shook his head. "Oh no, you are not going like this to Newport, not like this! My team, the team of the Devi in a measly shuttle, not on my watch!" He kept saying things like that, apparently more to himself than to us, and motioned us to follow him.
Captain Harris led us on a slideway and only now he actually addressed us, at least that's what I thought. He said, "This is personal, even after all those years I am surprised just how much this arrogant bastard and his nose in the air know-it-alls bother me, but now I am sending the Olafson Gang." He looked at us and grinned. "If you are only half as good as you were until now, they are in for a surprise."
I was not sure what to say to that but I tried. "Sir, I can only promise we will do our best."
"I know that Mr. Olafson, and that is all I ask. This is the Devi, the pride of the union and you are representing it. I can't let you go in a shuttle looking like that."
Harris didn't say much more and led us into a quiet, almost deserted area of the 25th deck which was the largest deck and housed most of the Devastator's larger auxiliary ships, such as destroyers, corvettes and the Thor gun boats.
We ended our little odyssey before a massive door and he had to use his Captain's authority code to open it. A big red sign flashed the words,"Restricted Area."
After we passed through that door and into a featureless anteroom he pointed at an auto-dresser in the corner. "All of you step in that thing and then follow through that airlock and meet me in the hangar behind. The auto-dresser is already dialed in."
The auto-dresser changed our standard uniforms into sleek, black-belted combinations complete with the latest SI Hypra Suntorch blasters in low-slung hip holsters, and black leather jackets sporting the Devastator flagship logo on the right arm. Har-Hi and my jacket also had the Wolfcraft Squadron patches.
We had black duckbill caps with the words USS Devastator embroidered in golden thread on the front. Those caps were usually issued only to senior officers and were the envy of all military and many civilians alike. They were an ancient traditional headgear hailing back to the seagoing navy of planet Earth over 3000 years ago. I knew that because Wetmouth explained the significance to us.
The boots were polished pseudo-leather with the latest all-terrain soles, also normally only allowed to be worn by officers of Full Lieutenant or higher.
I checked for the .45 and made sure it was where it belonged. Har-Hi did the same with his knives and sword.
Wetmouth tugged on her wig and mask as she left the dresser and adjusted the duckbill cap. Decked out like that, we all went through the airlock.
Harris stood next to a brand new Barracuda Class destroyer; it still sported the NX hull designation for an experimental craft. He made us stand at attention and personally checked each of us, adjusted little things on our new uniforms and finally stepped back with an approving nod. "I want them to know that you come from the Devastator and you won't arrive in a lame D12 shuttle. Rank has its privileges and I use it to authorize you to take that ADCAP-Barracuda destroyer, it is the newest and fastest of its class and only a few have been issued so far. It will show them at Newport that I trust my senior Midshipmen with a ship of their own."
He gestured to the lowered boarding ramp underneath the belly of the sleek and fast-looking ship. "Mr. Olafson, at least temporarily, this is your first real command. Please bring her back in one piece if you can."
The prospect of my own ship even for a brief time was like a rush to me. "Bring her back in one piece. Aye, Sir!"
"She is fully-stocked and armed and coded to you. Her stores are packed with munitions and supplies; the tanks are full. You have an excellent navigator in your little crew, so find your way to Newport and be there in 10 days."
Krabbel shrieked. "I just realized he means me! I am a good Navigator! Please Eric, let me be the Navigator!"
Captain Harris pointed his flat hand to the Barracuda. "Get your show on the road Mr. Olafson, and your ship out of my hangar."
This Barracuda had an elongated flattened cylinder with four oversized ISAH pods attached to its aft. The hull tapered to a flat chisel bow just below the bridge section. It was 154m long and 44m wide at the back and only 12m wide at its nose. Even sitting on its landing gear it looked fast. It had accommodation for a crew of 200, plus it had room for 60 Marines and was heavily armed and shielded. All in all, it was a prime example of the latest Union Fleet Mil Tech.
The small bridge had all the usual duty stations but much closer together.
I stood there for a long moment brushed my hand over the command seat and a melodic voice chirped, "This is ADCAP Barracuda in Type IV configuration. Command Officer Olafson, Eric recognized. Welcome aboard Captain, all systems are in standby mode and fully operational."
I did not want to be vain, but I could not help myself wishing the machine would say that just one more time. I cleared my throat and said, "Take your stations and Mr. Shaka, would you mind taking her out?"
"The only thing I would mind right now is dying and missing the chance to do just that, Captain." He sat down behind the control with a deep sigh of pleasure.
"Mr. Krabbel, plot us a course to Newport!"
He scurried to his seat and his arms flew over the controls. "Plotted and on the board."
"Mr. Cirruit, engine status?"
Cirruit stood by the engineering console and it was as if he had managed to grow a few inches. "My engines are primed on full standby and ready!"
"Ms. Elfiatra, request launch permission."
"Completing communications right now, Sir, we are cleared for launch. Hangar evacuated and hangar doors are opening!"
Shaka flew a tight loop around the Devastator'
s pole axis and accelerated, almost reaching the red line values of the engine readout and we slipped into quasi-space and went superluminal.
He lifted the large virtu helmet and he smiled, elated. "This fish is fast!"
"Don't fly too fast, my friend. We have 10 days and I would like us to arrive not a minute sooner." Then I got up from the command seat and said, "Har-Hi you got the con."
He slipped into the command chair while I went to the door.
"Where are you going?" asked Wetmouth, sitting at the small science station.
I couldn't help but grin from ear to ear. "I am going to check out the Captain's quarters and make my first official log book entry!"
She too smiled behind her mask. "Aye Captain!"
The Barracuda was like a silver flicker fish to the biggest tyranno when compared to the Devastator but it was still a full-sized destroyer. It had a galley, crew and officer's mess, sickbay, even a small lab and science department, and an array of weapons. A destroyer's role in modern space warfare was to engage enemy carriers and gunboats, attack space fortifications and support capital ships with protection against fighters, bombers and enemy destroyers.
The Captain's quarters were small and everything had a sterile and factory-new look. On a small bookshelf behind the Captain's desk, were the five books that were standard in any Captain's room aboard any Union ship: The Bible (or other religious book), Trafalgar, Captain Uhru's Memories, Moby Dick and The Adventures of Captain Herron (arguably the most famous Captain of Union Fleet history).
On the work desk was a large, leather-bound paper book and a holder with an old-fashioned writing pen. It was an almost sacred tradition on all Terran ships to keep a handwritten log, a tradition that had been extended to the Union Navy after its official formation. Of course, the Computronic would record every word spoken on the bridge and keep every bit of sensor data, but this handwritten record was tradition and it was part of every Captain's duty to write in it every day. The logbooks of every ship that ever went to the stars were kept in a special archive on Earth as a testimony to man's conquest of space.
Above the table was a small visual sensor that would record my writing and add it to the main log. In case of a catastrophic event all the Computronic's recordings, along with a copy of the logbook records, would be launched in a small capsule and travel to Earth.
I opened the book and turned to the first page and wrote my first log entry. I recorded the names of the crew and the purpose of our journey. To me, it was a very solemn and special moment.
Just as I finished my first entry, the alarm sounded and Har-Hi's voice came over the intercom: "Captain to the bridge and all hands to the battle stations!"
The Captain's quarters were on the same deck as the bridge and it took me only a few moments to reach it.
Har-Hi got up from the seat. "Captain, we are receiving a distress beacon signal from the USS Paracelsus. It appears we are the closest Union ship."
I sat down. "What is the nature of the distress call?"
Elfi turned. "Automated beacon, no response to hails."
"How far is the Paracelsus from our current flight path?"
"Three point five light years, Captain," Mao responded.
"Wetmouth, coordinate with Mao and give me a sensor report. Shaka, come to a full stop. Elfi, contact Fleet Command."
Wetmouth sat next to Mao and dedicated her side of the console to science. She then reported. "Preliminary sensor analysis complete. We are detecting a large mass close to the Paracelsus. Sensor data is inconclusive but it appears to be a wanderer."
"I encountered something like this before, a free-floating asteroid?"
"Yes, a celestial object not bound to a star system but wandering in intergalactic space, there are many known dark planets, asteroids, dust clouds, moons, large ice chunks that have been catapulted out of their original system by a collision or similar event. The object we believe is near the Paracelsus is some sort of rock formation, a very large asteroid or planetoid most likely."
Elfi said, "I've got Fleet Command for you, Sir."
She opened the connection and I said, "This is Midshipman Olafson, currently in command of the Devastator Auxiliary Ship 45-12, Barracuda class destroyer. We are en route to the Dover System and received an automated distress call from the USS Paracelsus 3.5 light years from our current position. Our sensors are picking up a large rock mass in its vicinity, I am requesting permission to investigate."
On the main screen, a white-haired man appeared. "This is Commodore King. Sector command, we received your transmission and verify receiving the distress call as well. The situation map shows you are indeed the closest ship. You have permission to proceed with your investigation. The USS Paracelsus is an unarmed hospital ship under command of Captain Perma. The Paracelsus was on its way to Colony Planet Gregory to assist in a disease outbreak of epidemic scale. Proceed with caution and record all actions. Keep us informed. We will send additional units to assist."
I acknowledged and said, "Mao, full shields. Krabbel, set a course. Shaka, get us there but slowly and drop out of quasi at least 30 light minutes away. Mao and Wetmouth, you keep your eyes on those sensors. Hans, stand by for damage control."
The Paracelsus hung dead in space. It was a new UNI design ship, wedge-shaped and white instead of the regular Navy gray. The wanderer turned out to be a rugged-shaped chunk of rock and ice of roughly 2000km in diameter.
I leaned forward. "Energy or life form readings?"
"I am reading neuro-electric impulses of an estimated 85 life forms aboard the Paracelsus. The ship is on emergency battery power only. The antimatter cores are gone. They ejected their containment coil and all the AM."
"Any battle damage?" I asked.
Mao adjusted the visual sensors of his weapon sights. "We're still too far out for the visual sensor to pick out details but I am not detecting any debris."
I didn't like the situation one bit. There was something that stopped a state of the art starship, 440 times bigger than our Barracuda destroyer. True, the hospital ship had no offensive weaponry, but its shields were equal to an Ultra battleship. As far as I knew, there was nothing so deep in Union space that could attack and overwhelm such a ship.
Hospital ships were designed with strong shields and engines so they could survive an attack and flee. The Paracelsus should have survived any initial attack and then hightail away from any aggressor and use GalNet to call for help. It also bothered me that it happened in deep space. According to Captain K'Tngnk, it was very unlikely to run into trouble in deep space. Yet this was the second time I had responded to a distress call aboard a relatively small spacecraft approaching a Union ship near a rock in space. The Seneca had been attacked by a disguised Kermac raider, but that was much closer to Kermac space. We were far from any potential hostile civilization, but then huge animals migrated through a cave tunnel from one planet to another, thousands of light years apart, without anyone inside Union space detecting it. While I was musing and contemplating our next steps, I was looking over the technical readouts of that hospital ship.
"Hold our position, Shaka. Don't let us drift any closer. Wetmouth, please launch a probe and have it scan that rock and the ship closer up. Mao activate all weapons and load the sniper cannon with five-kilo loads."
"Probe launched." Wetmouth said.
"Weapons active, sniper cannon loaded," came the response from Mao. Otherwise, it was very quiet on the bridge.
I was on the edge of my seat now, watching like the others. The telemetry of the probe came in and displayed on our main screen.
Then there was a sudden flash from the asteroid surface and the probe no longer transmitted.
Wetmouth reported with a calm voice, "There is now a detectable energy source on the surface of the wanderer. Energy signature is clearly alien, multi-dimensional and strong."
"Mao, target that source and fire!"
The Barracuda had two Translocator Sniper Cannons; small load Transloca
tor Cannons designed for long-range precision shots.
Our long-range visuals were at maximum and we saw the bright energy bubble expanding where the five-kilo antimatter bomb exploded.
Mao reported. "Captain, I am now detecting a small vessel detaching from the surface. Mass and size calculation makes it no bigger than a Wolfcraft, but the energy signature is 100 times that of a Wolfcraft. Energy signatures are transdim in character and alien."
Wetmouth immediately added, "Object is shielded and shields are similar to our transdim shields as our sensors are unable to penetrate past them and our Translocator Bombs cannot penetrate those shields!"
Mao followed again, "Whatever it is, it is on an intercept course and it is making a run for us."
The Barracuda shuddered just as Mao completed his sentence. I was almost lifted out of my seat, but the emergency restraints activated and pulled me back.
Har-Hi's said, "Direct hit of unknown energy weapon. Primary shields at 50%. Another hit like this and we are down to secondary shields."
I switched my chair to battle mode and said, while the dome-shaped omni-sight helmet lowered around me, "All right, whoever this is wants to play rough. Let's show them what a Barracuda can do!
"Shaka, go into full virtu helm, evasive action. Elfi, report our findings to Fleet Command. Mao, switch to graviton bombs and place dual loads to each side, as soon as you sense their shield weakening fire Translocator Bombs at their drive section! Simultaneously launch Loki Torpedoes in proximity fuse mode."
The Barracuda shuddered again.
Lights flickered but did not go out. Cirruit had left the bridge and went to Engineering. His symbol blinked and I activated his channel with an eye-blink. He said, "Primary shield projectors are completely destroyed. Secondary Shields holding at 40% for now."
Har-Hi reported. "Alien ship intercepted; Loki Torpedoes with counter measures of sorts, they simply vanished!"
Eric Olafson Series Boxed Set: Books 1 - 7 Page 46
