by Garion Swann
Once he arrived on the bridge, he quickly unlocked the helm console and took the seat.
"Right, here we go," Alex said to himself. He powered up the core using the automated sequence, something Grey despised. He was convinced he could do it better than the computer. Once it was ready, he diverted the power to the thrusters, retracted the stations docking arms and slowly edged the ship out of its docking bay. He thought of Grey who would probably be in the docking tunnel cursing him right now.
"Mr Harper, I see you finally made it to your ship, fly out on a heading of two-one-three and maintain course, three-quarters speed for now." Ashleen Turlen voice came over the comm.
"Heading out now," he replied.
"I'm patching you into the military frequencies, we'll give you instructions, don't worry we'll keep them away from your ship," she reassured him. Alex started diverting power from all systems he didn't need so he could have as much speed as possible, with the option of shunting it all to shield power if required. He was about to disable life support, but he wondered if anyone else was onboard. He enabled to internal comm.
"This is Captain Harper, if anyone else is onboard I am about to pull life support from all decks apart from the bridge, I'd advise you let me know you're onboard or find one of the emergency oxygen packs. They are behind the panels either side of the hatch ladders. Life Support will be disabled in one minute, you'll have about half an hour of air before you need to find an oxygen pack."
Alex drained power from all remaining systems but life support and emergency lighting that would give the ship about a thirty per cent speed boost with life support taken into account. After a minute nobody had contacted him, so he cut power to life support as well, it took a tremendous amount of power to recycle and pump oxygen to the ship. The lighting reduced to low levels as the power was put into the engines, Alex had the bare minimum of what he needed to survive, everything else gave him more chance of escaping if the enemies do get to him.
"The pirates have noted the Michelangelo, about twenty per cent of the force is veering off, including the Armageddon," said an unknown voice that Alex assume was a Captain or battle group commander.
"Second and Fifth battle groups intercept," Ashleen ordered. "Sixth and Ninth battlegroup, adjust course thirty degrees starboard, be ready to assist Second and Fifth if required. The military frequencies allowed Alex to access Trulen's sensor information he brought up the system map and saw the large group of enemy ships approaching him. He hadn't panicked until this moment, now that this was real and his ship would almost definitely be destroyed if they caught up with him he panicked. Why did he even agree to this he thought to himself.
Whole groups of the Trulen fleet started to disappear from the navigation map, the Second and Fifth battle fleet according to this were no longer there.
"Second battle fleet come in," Ashleen said. Nothing.
"Fifth battle fleet come in" Nothing.
"Any station, report on the condition of Second and Fifth battle fleet."
"They look, disabled ma'am, it seemed to happen in a wave, the all just powered down." Another voice replied. Alex was not sure what to do, they were the battle groups assigned to intercept the fleet coming after him. They were gaining on him fast, Alex instinctively increased speed to one hundred per cent, the Michelangelo's normal top cruising speed. The enemy ships were still gaining, but he'd given himself a bit more time.
"All ships, the Armageddon is emitted some kind of field that's having an EMP effect on ships systems, stay well clear. Michelangelo, return to Trulen as quickly as possible." Ashleen ordered.
"Don't have to tell me twice," Alex said to himself. He slowed the ship and turned it towards Trulen, then went to full speed, his engines were running at one-hundred-thirty-two per cent, Grey was going to kill him for doing this to the new engines. It was a good test though Alex thought. The enemy ships were now just slightly faster than the Michelangelo.
"All ships we need to take out that disabling field. Regroup, we go in force." Ashleen ordered. Alex felt a vibration, his engines had started to overheat, if he didn't drop speed they would blow and then he'd truly be dead in the water. He lowered the power back to one hundred per cent and the engines started to cool, the enemy ships were once again gaining on him and fast. The engines would not last long when running too hot, one of the most common causes of ship accidents was engine overheating. Alex thought fast, he couldn't outrun them he couldn't fight them with his weapons, it would be the equivalent of using a pea shooter against a fortress. On the screen he could see masses of the Trulen ships being disabled as they got near the Armageddon, they were trying to fire as many weapons as they could while staying out of range, but the range of the field seems to change. The Trulen forces had at least managed to identify where to field was coming from. Alex did note that the Trulen missiles, as that was all they could fire outside the range the EMP field, if they made contact were hitting the hull, not the shields. That meant the shields were down, this gave Alex an idea.
Alex dropped the throttle and spun his ship, albeit a somewhat slow spin, around to face the oncoming wave of enemy forces. He put the ship to full power once again, allowing the engine to heat up.
"Alex, what are you doing?" Ashleen said over the comm. He ignored it.
He got in range of the first enemy ships and diverted as much power as he could to shields, they absorbed the few hits the enemy ships could get on him at this speed. He needed more speed though, he then remembered the batteries. The ones used to kick start the ship, he activated them and was ready to dump all the power into the engines, he'd get one final speed boost and had to use it at the exact right moment. He could see the enormous bulk of the Armageddon up ahead, he could also look at the hundreds of Trulen ships that had fallen victim to the disabling field. Alex retrieved the oxygen mask from under the helm console and put it on, he disabled life support and all other remaining systems, plunging the ship into darkness. He pressed the button that shunted the power of the batteries into the engines he felt the increase in power as his ships accelerated, he had no idea how fast he was going as all the consoles had powered down.
Alex's aim was to shear off the field emitter with his ship. The Michelangelo was large enough that it would be difficult to miss and bulky enough that the pirates would have a hard time shooting it down in time. Alex had left the manual flying controls enabled so he could make course adjustments, using the optics he located the emitter and aimed his ship at it so his cargo section would scrape it off the ship. At speed he was travelling at it was likely his ship would break apart and he would be blown into space but it was a risk he was willing to take. With the Trulen ships dropping like flies he felt this was the only choice.
Alex made some last minute corrections as the Armageddon grew closer, it soon covered the whole view from the window. He made one last course correction looking out the window rather than the optics.
The cargo bay and engines were torn off the Michelangelo as it impacted the field emitter of the Armageddon, at the moment of impact Alex was thrown forward, and everything went black.
Grey had limped as fast as he could, forcing his way into the Trulen command, Dean recognised him and approached him quickly. Grey had arrived at the moment to video optics on Trulen showed the Michelangelo colliding with the Armageddon. Grey didn't really take in the next few minutes he just stared in silence. Not only had his pride and joy the Michelangelo been flown into another ship, but it had also been flown by his best friend, who was now most likely dead.
"The ships, they're coming back online!" Ashleen shouted to the station. She hit the transmit button as fast as she could. "All fleets, open fire on the Armageddon, take that bitch out."
The disabled ships that surrounded the Armageddon were powering back up, with Trulen ships all around there was nothing the Armageddon could do but take the brunt of seven hundred ships worth of firepower.
"Armageddon, this is Marshall Ashleen Trulen, of the Trulen fami
ly station. I order you to surrender or be destroyed." The response was immediate and a voice that Grey recognised immediately.
"I'll never surrender to you, if I go down I take you all with me," Lady Jean screamed.
The remainder of Lady Jean's fleet that had not chased the Michelangelo converged on the Trulen fleet and were soon overwhelmed. The Trulen ships continued the fire on the Armageddon, with every impact there was hope it would be the last hit, but it still took more and more. Eventually, a hull breach was opened up and the Trulen ships, of which about two hundred had now been destroyed or disabled, focused their fire on the breach. Moments later a fireball engulfed the Armageddon. Once the explosion had faded, all that was left of the feared ship was a burning wreck. The Trulen fleet grouped into formations and worked on the rest of the pirate fleet. Both sides were taking heavy losses, Grey was convinced the Trulens were losing the battle. Just in time, the other Trulen ships arrived to help, these were the fleets that patrolled the outer perimeter. They included the TSS Illustrious and Fortitude, Trulen's Colossus class carriers. Once they were in range, and their squadrons of fighters opened fire the pirate ships were in chaos. The mighty ships opened fire with the many weapons that bristled their hulls. The pirates broke formation and tried to run making it easy for the remaining Trulen ships to pick them off one by one. It took about fifteen minutes for the battle to finish, what was left were thousands of wrecks of both Trulen and Pirate ships.
"Remainders of inner fleets, form up on first fleet commander return to base and escort rescue ships that are being dispatched. Outer perimeter fleets patrol the inner perimeter and capture any surviving enemies." Ashleen ordered, she closed one channel and opened another.
"TSS Galen, search the Michelangelo for survivors."
Grey's head spun at the hint of Alex surviving.
"You really think he's survived?" Grey limping up to Ashleen.
"Who are you and why are you in a restricted area?" she asked.
"You didn't answer my question!" Grey shouted.
"Sorry ma'am he's with me, this is Grey, he's Alex's chief engineer." Dean defended Grey.
"There may be a chance he survived, the cargo bay took the brunt of the impact, and it sheared off, the rest of the ship is intact," Ashleen said.
"Thank heavens, he'd better survive so I can beat his ass for doing that to my perfectly good, and brand new might I add, engines," Grey said, the excitement in his voice clear.
"I remind you, it's a slim chance," Ashleen said, she then proceeded to walk away.
Chapter Fourteen
Grant, Jenny, Grey and Mark were waiting at the docking bay when they saw Galen dock seven hours after the battle with Lady Jean had ended. As the door opened, they all watched with intent, people were disembarking the ship, some running with medical beds to get the injured to the hospital. Grant counted eighteen beds none of which had Alex on it. He grabbed the attention of the next Doctor to come off the ship.
"Hey, was that the last stretcher," he asked.
"Um, yeah I think so," he said, not sure what else to say when Grant didn't respond he walked away.
"Does that mean?" Jenny said, as usual showing no signs of emotion in sad situations.
"I guess so," Grant said.
"At least he died doing something honourable, he saved who knows how many lives by getting rid of that field emitter," Mark said.
"Wait, is that Doc Tamber?" Jenny said pointing to the docking port. They looked to see Doctor Tamber walking slowly with a wheelchair.
"It's him!" Grey almost shouted, "It's Alex, with Doctor Tamber!" he said ecstatically.
"He survived, how did the bastard survive?" Jenny asked.
They all watched as Doctor Tamber pushed Alex down to where the others were waiting for him. He had a bandage around his head and a few more on his arms.
"Grey, you know there's a ship to fix right?" Alex said as he approached his astonished friends.
"We'll talk about that damn ship of yours Harper, mark my words. I mean they were new bloody engines!" Grey said to him but smiled. They embraced for a moment, Grey had been distraught at the idea of losing Alex.
Alex had handshakes and hugs with the members of his crew that had come to see if he was okay, he spent time talking to most of them. He remembered being flung forward, but nothing more after that, the next thing he remembered was waking up on the Galen with a very sore head. Doctor Tamber said he was concussed but had no other issues apart from cuts and bruises, she also added he was lucky to survive in such good condition.
Dean came over to greet Alex, they shook hands.
"Well done for surviving, Alex. We were all amazed when the Galen's Captain said you have survived, we all assumed the worst," he said.
"I didn't expect to come out alive, to be honest, I didn't really consider what would happen to me at all, their shields were down, so I took an opportunity," Alex explained.
"Turns out that emitter was using nearly all the power on board so they could not have shields. Whatever that emitter was it's dangerous, now that the technology exists people are going to make better versions of that. With the ability to come out of jumps at full speed we may have a whole new type of war on our hands." Dean said, apparently he'd been talking about this a lot in the last few hours. These sorts of new advancements will have a lot of governments and companies like Trulen worried.
"The Michelangelo is not salvageable, even trying to tow the ship would rip it apart." Dean stopped talking when he saw Alex's face drop, the Michelangelo had been his home for many years, it represented his childhood dream of having his own ship, and now it was lost.
"You have the utmost thanks of everyone aboard this station Alex. You saved so many lives taking out that emitter, nearly giving your own. I'm not sure how to thank you, but this may help. I did a bit of research, and it turns out the Armageddon had bounties from a lot of governments. I managed to convince Ashley Trulen, granted it didn't take much convincing, to hand the money over to you, as we would not have been able to do it without you.
"Here's the total amount of the bounties." Dean handed Alex a pad. Alex's eyes widened when he read the figure. He read it several times to be sure.
"Fuck," Was all he could say.
"I thought that might be your response. Also added onto there is a payment from Trulen, as well as a discount on any large purchases you happen to be making at our shipyards, have a look at the other file attached." Alex opened it and saw some blueprints for a ship.
"The Harper class?" he asked Dean.
"We may have recently renamed it," Dean said with a smile.
"It's two weeks away from being complete, and what you have there plus our discount will cover it with some to spare," Dean said.
"Thank you, Dean, that's incredible. I can't accept it though it's too much, Trulen has done so much for me.”
"Alex, shut up and take it. You and your crew deserve it." Dean said, with a slight sternness.
Captain Alex Harper stepped on the bridge of the Michelangelo Two. The first of the Harper class of trading ship. The ship was one of the most advanced trade ships to come out of Trulen shipyards. It was twice the size of its predecessor, had nine decks and a crew complement of one hundred and twenty-three. It featured the latest in engine technology that allowed it travel significantly faster and featured top of the range defences, with automatic missile tracking, adaptive shields and deployable countermeasures. Inside the ship, itself felt like being on the bridge of a battleship. The Captain's chair was raised slightly on a central podium, in front of him a single console for the helm, two more consoles at the side for engineering and operations. There were spare consoles on the bridge that could be customised to serve any role. On the ship, there were additional crew facilities, which included a gym, three comfortable lounges and two canteens. The extra space allowed for larger quarters, and a favourite amongst most the crew, they only had to have two to a room rather than four as they did the previous ship. Alex quarter
s were just as impressive as the rest of the ship. It felt like an apartment, with a large sitting area, enough space to entertain lots of guests, a separate kitchen and double bedroom with ensuite.
Grey moaned a little about the robustness of the engineering systems he wouldn't have as much to fix. Alex joked with him that he'd expect better engine efficiency.
Everyone one of the forty remaining Michelangelo crew had said good things about the new ship while still missing the old ship. They had taken on extra crew members, although not many as there were not many people who wanted to travel to their next destination.
"Jenny," Alex said sitting in the extremely comfortable Captains Chair.
"Aye," she replied.
"Are we ready to get underway?"
"You bet we are," she said, itching to fly the new ship.
"Grant, how's our power looking."
"It's incredible, there's so much to spare," he said, he'd been like a child in a sweet shop looking through all the systems, he'd already sorted the CMS mark two.
"How's our new security chief?" He said walking over to the Janie who was seated at one of the spare consoles.
"Looking forward to getting underway, Captain," she replied.
"Then why don't we?" he said returning to his seat.
"Grey," he spoke into the comm. "How's the engine,"
"Purring," he replied. Alex smiled.
"Then let's do it," he said standing up a large grin on his face.
"Set course for Europa, set course for home."
