by Kal Spriggs
“Maybe. Maybe we’ll fix these two ships and fight out a last battle, finally finish our empires’ collapse.” Lucius sighed, “I hope that we could be friends.”
Lucius held out his hand.
“What do you say?”
***
Lucius and Maygar rode the lone operational shuttle to the Gebneyr several hours later. Lucius finally took the time to catch some sleep, though his mind had buzzed with partially formed ideas.
The hatch cycled open, with a hiss of escaping air. The rank fumes of stagnant air and the heavy metallic odor of the Ghornath filled the shuttle.
There were several Ghornath on the far side, not quite armed to the teeth, but close enough to make no difference. Lucius stepped forward, arms raised in the nearly universal sign of peace. “I am Baron Lucius Giovanni, Captain of the War Shrike—“
“Strike Leader!” The leader of the group barked, “You’ve been injured!” A number of the holstered weapons suddenly became aimed weapons.
“Not by the humans, Burbeg,” The Ghornath Strike Leader answered. His calm voice cut through the sudden tension as much as the words he used. “I was, indeed saved by them.”
“Oh.” There was the slightest disappointment in the Ghornath’s coloring. “In that case, welcome! As you can see, we have triumphed against the mutiny. The few remaining mutineers are prisoners. We have also contacted the loyalists who abandoned ship and we can recover them soon!” Burbeg’s rough voice shouted. Lucius had the sinking feeling that Burbeg shouted everything.
“Yes, so I understand, the humans have been most helpful.” Maygar’s hide might have shown the slightest green tint of humor. “Are you ready to hear my orders?”
“Yes, Strike Leader!” Burbeg braced to attention, still holding a pistol clenched in each massive hand.
“The humans will send repair teams aboard, assist them, and show them what areas need the most attention. Their resources are limited and their own ship has received damage, consider that when judging what needs immediate attention.”
“Yes, Strike Leader!”
“Good. Captain Giovanni and I will go to the bridge. Has Fleet Consul Feydeb returned aboard?” Maygar’s skin tone was neutral brown and Lucius reminded himself to ask about the senior officer's purpose aboard the ship.
“Yes, Strike Leader! He has returned to his quarters!” Burbeg paused for breath, “Strike Leader, do you wish an escort?!”
Maygar shook his head, “No, Burbeg, I will be fine.”
***
The Marines and the remaining crew had cleaned the worst of the gore out of the bridge. Even so, red stains remained spattered across consoles and control panels. The Strike Leader stomped around his bridge. He set one massive paw on the control couch. “I had not thought I’d return to command her.”
“It is a pleasure to be able to return your favor.” Lucius said. He rubbed his jaw. “Perhaps you could tell me about the ship, and your crew.”
Maygar shrugged, “Weapons Commander Burbeg is the remaining officer behind me.” A series of colors rippled across his skin, too quick to catch. “He was born after… He was born on one of the refugee worlds. He can be a bit impetuous.”
“As in?” Lucius raised an eyebrow.
“In truth, my orders to him were ‘disable the ship’s reactors, so the traitors cannot use the ship.’ He directed the crew to destroy both reactors to accomplish this task.”
“Ah…” Lucius’ eyes widened, “Perhaps a bit eager?”
Green amusement suffused the old Ghornoth’s skin. “Yes, a bit. Very talented, though. Extremely ingenious. If circumstances were different, he would be a Strike Leader himself... probably.”
“Not many ships to command, I take it?” Lucius asked. “Perhaps Fleet Consul Feydeb might know something about that?”
Maygar’s mirror eyes gave away less than his emotionless face as he answered, “He might.”
***
“You know, I’d have to say that whatever they ran into, I’m amazed that they got out of it.” Commander James Harbach stated. The chief engineer’s whining voice grated on Lucius’ ears. His nasal pronouncement of 'well' in particular set Lucius's teeth on edge. “Well, there appears to be two separate incidents of damage. The first was what knocked out the port engine, damaged the port broadside, and hit the communications nodule. The second was the internal damage. The sabotage destroyed the primary and secondary reactors and the communications nodule. Most of the other damage is dated before those two incidents.”
Harbach sighed. “Frankly sir, I don’t see how they survived so long without power. Their air systems are in terrible shape. The temporary fix we put in place has kept the atmosphere from getting worse, but it still has a dangerous level of toxins.”
“Perhaps it is, but that isn’t a question right now. The Ghornath have respirators and your repair teams are all suited up, anyway.” Lucius rubbed his jaw for a second in thought, “I’m not liking your best estimate on repair times.” Lucius had met both Commander Harbach and his assistant, Lieutenant Meridan, in his cabin. Lucius was very familiar with the chief engineer's experience and eccentricities. The Lieutenant had worked under Harbach for the past year. That was longer than any other engineering officer had managed, which said a good deal for his knowledge and his patience.
“Captain, that ship is nearly fifty years old. It hasn’t seen a shipyard in at least five years...“
“Five years?” Lucius demanded, “The Ghornath haven’t had any shipyards for twenty years, where did they find one to take the Gebneyr?”
Commander James Harbach shrugged, “How should I know? Well... it might be more than five years. It might be as many as ten, but not any more than that.” He pointed at his data-tablet. “You know, it has seen a lot of damage in the time since. Some of that damage has been there for years. Some of the primary systems have run continuously for years, the secondary systems scavenged for parts for the primaries!” The engineer threw up his hands and his nasal voice climbed an octave, “It’s a mess, all of it!”
Lucius rose from his chair, “You can fix it, correct?”
“Well… yes, of course I can.” Harbach held a hand out to either side and jiggled back and forth. That annoying habit and his pot-belly had earned him the nickname ‘Jimmy Wiggles.’ “But I also need to work on the War Shrike. You know, I can’t do both at once. Frankly, I don’t trust anyone to do most of these repairs without constant supervision—“
“Commander, need I remind you that time is not on our side. Sooner or later someone is going to wonder what two large vessels are doing in orbit over this moon.” Lucius’ voice was stern.
“Captain, need I remind you that I can only do so much—“
“Uh, Captain?” The assistant engineer interrupted, “I think the time estimate is a little long. I could—”
“Don’t interrupt me, Meridan, or—”
“Harbach, shut up.” Lucius snapped, “Lieutenant Meridan, what is your suggestion?”
The Lieutenant gave a nervous look over at his superior, but spoke up, “Captain, I think we could cut down on the work time if we split the work crews. Lieutenant Commander Harbach wants to directly oversee several projects that don’t require as precise a tolerance as he says.”
Lucius raise and eyebrow, “Such as?”
“Well, sir, like the fuel regulator for the fusion reactors we’re mounting in the Gebneyr . Tolerances within the milliliter of hydrogen input will be sufficient for a substantial amount of time—”
“That’s absurd!” Harbach’s voice was shrill He threw up his hands, “You might as well say that the fuel consumption doesn’t matter! The fuel inefficiency will be catastrophic!”
Lieutenant Meridan continued on, “Captain, at worst, the reactors will consume fuel at twice the rate they should. I majored in engineering, but you don’t need a degree to do the calculations, even at that kind of fuel consumption, the Gebneyr will have eleven days of fuel on her tanks.”
&nb
sp; That was one of the weaknesses of many warships, they rarely carried fuel for longer trips, not without external fuel pods or refueling auxiliaries. Ghornath warships, due to their single system nation, typically had smaller fuel reserves than most. Lucius nodded, “How much time will that cut from the refit schedule?”
“Each of those regulators is scheduled in at four hours a piece, with Chief Engineer Harbach overseeing production to his exact tolerances, and we’d need eight of them.” Lieutenant Meridan didn’t dare to look over at his boss any more. “I’ve got a dozen other fixes that will save us time, short term, and get these ships up and running.” His voice dropped back to not much more than a murmur, “That’s not including the break time he’s scheduled in for himself.”
“I see.” Lucius turned his eyes to the former professor’s puce-colored face. “What do you think of this?”
The Commander sputtered, “Well... This is ridiculous. This… this idiot doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He hasn’t spent nearly enough time considering the cumulative failures he will build into the engineering systems by cutting corners like this!”
“We don’t have to leave the systems like that. We can do repairs of the systems over time.” The Lieutenant sighed, “It just doesn’t make sense to spend four months doing everything perfect when we can get it good enough in a lot less time.”
“I see.” Lucius stroked his jaw, staring at Harbach for a long moment. A fix that would let them get operational in a short time would be better than one that took months. Given time to do full repairs, they could bring those systems up to full efficiency. “We’ll implement your plan, Lieutenant. Get to work on it.” Both Engineering officers rose, but Lucius raised a hand. “James, stay here a moment.” Lucius waited for the Lieutenant to close the hatch behind him before he spoke. He looked up at the taller engineer, “I’ve cut you a great deal of slack, in the years you’ve been here.”
The engineer interrupted with a shrill protest, “I get things done! This fool will leave you—”
Lucius slammed a hand on the desktop. The crack startled Harbach into silence. “Enough! You get things done, but you try to make things damned perfect! That may work for an engineering professor, it does not work for an engineering officer. Sometimes ‘good enough’ is all I ask.”
Lucius sighed, “I need you, James. I really do. I need you at one hundred percent. The margins of survival are… they’re not good.”
“I’m doing my–”
“No, you are not doing your best. You’re afraid, and you’re not thinking straight, so you’re going back to how you did things as a professor.” Lucius shook his head. “Frankly, James, you’re a teacher, you’re not meant for this kind of life. But that’s what you have, and that’s where we are. As soon as we find a safe haven, I can put you off, I’m sure with your skills-“
“I’d like to stay, please.” Harbach's said.
Lucius paused, “Why? You’ve never shown anything but disgust with the military.”
Harbach slumped a bit. “I—I just don’t have anything else. I hated teaching. I hated my students. They didn’t care, they had no passion, they had no drive!” The engineer’s face twisted in bitterness. “They wanted me to pour information into them like they were plants, receiving rain. They didn’t want to work for it. It was hell.” He shook his head, “They didn’t know what it was to learn, and they hated me for making them work.” His face took on a look of smugness, “I had a thirty percent pass rate in my classes.”
Lucius stared at him, and spoke slowly, as if to a child, “To me, that means you failed seventy percent of the time.” He shook his head. “I see, among other things, we disagree on teaching too.” He looked at the bitter man in silence for a while, “What do I do with you? You’re terrible as a department head, you know?”
The Chief Engineer waved a hand, “I’ve kept this ship flying, and you know it! My knowledge and expertise—“
“Has persistently been a pain in the ass.” Lucius responded. “In any case, for the time being, I’m assigning you to oversight of the areas that specifically require your expertise. Lieutenant Meridan will take over in Engineering.”
“I won’t work under—“
“You won’t be working under anyone but me.” Lucius said. “But you will do as I say, James Harbach, or I will vent you out the nearest airlock, is that clear?”
Lucius watched Harbach's face go from bright red to pasty white. The other man nodded, finally.
“Very well, you're dismissed,” Lucius watched him leave and wondered how long until the engineer's next problem. Unfortunately, personnel issues lay with many other areas besides his engineering department.
The War Shrike’s full crew was just over a thousand; the Gebneyr ’s was six hundred and forty. His present crew, split between the two ships, was four hundred and fifty. Seventy of those were Ghornath, the rest humans from his own ship.
Those depressingly low figures meant twelve to eighteen hour shifts for his recently promoted officers, huge gaps in some vital places and a low number of people to make the repairs he needed.
He sighed again as he picked up the next report.
***
July 31, 2402 Earth Standard Time
Faraday System
Unclaimed Space
Lucius stepped into the crowded sickbay and moved down the rows. He paused now and then to give a word to the wounded as he passed. He felt like a man twice his age, though he kept cheer and warmth in his voice. He congratulated some on their recovery, told others they’d be cared for, and made promises that he hoped he could keep regarding their futures.
His destination was the fair-haired commander at the end. Lucius could no more have not spoken to each of his men as he passed than he could have cut off his own hand, so it took him some time to reach him. He knew that some part of him welcomed the opportunity to delay the conversation he expected.
“Hello, Reese. I hear you’ve made a rapid recovery.” Lucius’s voice was slightly hesitant. He saw that Reese picked up on it and the other man's face clouded over.
“What’s this rumor about us not going back to Nova Roma!” Reese snapped. “You have to quash these things! Tell me, when do we return?!”
Lucius shook his head, “Reese, the War Shrike’s been hammered, we’ve barely held on, we’re in no shape to go anywhere yet.” He couldn’t meet the younger man’s eyes.
“Look, Lucius, I can’t stand the thought of... well you know how bad it will be if the Chxor break through. You know what will happen to Alanis if they take Nova Roma. The way people have spoken, they think it’s foregone. I know you, I know you can stop it. I know you can make a difference. We have to go back!” Reese burst into a coughing fit, his blue eyes clenched in pain.
“Reese...” Lucius began.
“Look, I know I’m no damned good right now. But we need go back. I know you took me on because Alanis wanted me safe. She wanted me on the best ship and we’re it! We-”
“Reese, there’s nothing to go back to.” Lucius interrupted. “I haven’t told anyone yet, I had to tell you first.” His voice was low. “The Chxor broke through Nova Roma’s defenses yesterday morning. The Senate surrendered just before noon. The Chxor executed the Imperial family in a live broadcast. They’ve claimed to have arrested and executed ninety percent of the nobility and all of the senior houses.”
“Alanis is dead, Reese. I wish it weren’t so. I wish there was something I could do. If I could push this ship there to stop it, I would,” Lucius said.
“No.” Reese shook his head. “No, we still need to go back! You don’t know she’s dead!”
“Reese, I hope she’s alive, but you know what life will be like under them. Give it five years and she’ll wish she was dead. Give it ten as a slave—”
“The only way we can be sure...”
“I won’t kill the rest of the men for a forlorn hope!” Lucius snapped. “We’ll have enough problems surviving on our own. I won’t throw the
ir lives away for nothing. You aren't the only man who has lost someone they loved. Half the crew has family and friends on Nova Roma. Do you think they feel any better?”
“Get out.” Reese turned his head away. “Just get out.”
“Reese…” Lucius sighed. “Look, if you want to talk...”
“You abandoned your sister and my wife because you’re a coward, and I never want to see you again. Your father was a traitor, I see you inherited that.” Reese’s voice was hollow. “Get out or I’ll kill you.”
Lucius stared down at the other man. He felt an ache in his chest. The weight of command seemed to increase a bit. The uniform seemed to constrict a little tighter around his throat.
Lucius shook his head and turned away.
***
CHAPTER II
August 3, 2406
Faraday System
Unclaimed Space
“Attention inbound craft,” the patrol ship announced, “this system is the property of the Colonial Republic, if you do not turn aside you will be intercepted and destroyed by CRA Fleet assets.”
Lucius smiled a part of him wondered if anyone in the Colonial Republic could ever be so courteous. It didn’t matter. The Colonial Republic had not claimed the system. He switched his communications to tight band and made a circuit of communications between himself, the patrol craft and the jury-rigged contraption on the Gebneyr. He also activated a second line. This broadcast everything from the first to the planet. “Very interesting, tell me, I assume you have a task force within easy hailing distance, at least a couple dreadnoughts, correct?”
The speaker showed no sign of hesitation, “Four dreadnoughts as a matter of fact, escorted by a number of destroyers and light cruisers.”
“Ah, now, please explain to me why the Colonial Republic Liberation Forces would be using dreadnoughts.” Lucius said with a smile. “As they have never used them in combat before, and they don’t have the shipyards to build any?”
The speaker on the patrol craft didn’t answer for a moment. “Attention inbound craft, turn aside from your course immediately or you will be attacked by all craft in-system.”
