The gymnasium had been built for use by a crew of a hundred. Of course, that meant it was designed to accommodate twenty or thirty people at any given time. It was spacious by spacer standards, especially for the seven of us: Marny, Roby, Sempre, Jala, Arijeet, Gunjeet, and me.
When I arrived, I found the crew lined up in familiar formation with Marny giving instructions as she had so many times before. I stood by and listened as she continued describing the function of the ship and the various duties for each of the different crew stations.
“Any questions?” Marny asked, finally.
“Why do you care that we exercise?” Gunjeet asked. “It is not your business.”
“It is in your contract, Mr. Gunjeet. And from this moment forward you will recognize me as Gunny or Gunnery Sergeant Bertrand when addressing me. Is that clear? You may respond with either ‘No, Gunny,’ ‘No, Gunnery Sergeant Bertrand,’ or ‘Yes, Gunny.’ I think you get the idea.”
“You can’t make me say that.”
I smiled. There was always one in the crowd who wanted a demonstration. I had no doubt Tabby was watching from the bridge. We all enjoyed this particular ah-ha moment for new crew. Even Roby had the good sense to wince as Gunjeet expressed his distaste for discipline.
“Gunjeet, you will show respect,” Jala said, quietly.
“Ms. Jala, you will not address the other crew when standing at attention,” Marny said. “Mr. Gunjeet’s discipline is my responsibility.”
“Yes, Gunny Bertrand.”
“Fantastic. So, we’ve just learned Gunjeet’s problem is not hereditary, as Ms. Jala is most respectful.”
Jala nodded while her son sneered at her.
“Mr. Gunjeet. Currently, you will do what I say because I am your superior and responsible for your wellbeing. If you prefer to ride in the brig, this remains your option. What will it be? Would you like to continue as crew?”
Marny had worked her way over to Gunjeet and now stood with her face only inches from his. She stared into his eyes provocatively, obviously preferring to provoke a test of wills early instead of drawing it out.
Gunjeet was fast. He drew a hidden knife from his vac-suit and brought it up. As expected, Marny’s response was similarly quick as she disarmed the lanky Pogona youth and twisted his arm brutally. A familiar cracking sound could be heard as bone broke and he howled in pain. Arijeet jumped from his position in line to aid his brother and was immediately dropped to the floor by Marny’s leg sweep. She followed the move with a quick punch to his chest, which left him gasping for air.
“My boys,” Jala said, crumpling next to the fallen brothers. Technically, Marny could have insisted she stay in line, but it was an understandable reaction.
“Captain, would you bring a med-kit? I believe Gunjeet is in need of medical attention,” Marny asked, standing and straightening her suit.
I located the kit and extracted a break cuff that could be slipped over Gunjeet’s broken arm. The arm would take a couple of days to heal, but I believed the lesson would likely stick for a longer period of time. If it didn’t, there wouldn’t be much hope left for the youth.
Chapter 17
Worthy Opponent
“That was not your target, Captain,” Marny scolded lightly.
“But I fragged it.” I raised my eyebrows, hoping that was sufficient defense. Marny had been drilling the entire crew on gunnery operation and discipline for days. Leave it to the Navy to have so many rules regarding weapons fire.
“Simulation hold. If I could have the class’s attention on the center screen,” Marny said. The gunner’s nest was a narrow, long room forward of the bridge and had six stations that controlled Intrepid’s eight turrets. This go-round, I was controlling one of two aft blasters.
In response to Marny’s request, our screens froze and our controls stopped responding. I looked down. I was about to be made an example of — again. We’d all discovered that Marny was no-nonsense when it came to ship’s weapons. There was a right way and anything less was to be dissected so the right way could be exposed.
“Mr. Arijeet, could you describe the primary characteristics of our aft blasters?”
“There are two; both have the designation sixty millimeters. They are the second heaviest weapons aboard the ship and have the largest field of view, with the ability to cover the entire aft field of view and up to twenty degrees forward. When engines are at full burn, the gunner’s responsibility is to pick up aft…”
“Thank you, Mr. Arijeet. Mr. Gunjeet, in reviewing Mr. Hoffen’s last attack could you offer any positive criticism?”
“No.” Gunjeet responded sullenly. His attitude wasn’t new, although he seemed to enjoy working the gunner’s station.
“Ms. Sempre?”
“I don’t know if I can,” Sempre replied. While she had quick reflexes, Sempre’s skill on the guns wasn’t great, although she showed improvement. So far, the Pogona boys both showed considerable raw skill.
“It is permitted, Sempre,” I said. “We learn more quickly with examples.” It didn’t seem fair that I should have to encourage someone to pick on me, and I’d already seen what Marny was going to hang me on.
“Many apologies, Liam Captain, but by following your target into a covered zone, you exposed our flank and provided an unobstructed shot for these two ships. Had we been in combat with a single or even multiple ships that were concentrated forward of the meridian, your actions would have been reasonable.”
“Very good, Sempre. Your analysis is spot on.” Marny highlighted a ship that had just cleared the corona of the engine’s burn. “Captain Hoffen very likely experienced what is commonly referred to as tunnel vision. Once locked on, the predator that lives within us all filters out extraneous information and utilizes all senses to defeat its single objective. This instinct can be overridden with training.”
“This is dumb,” Gunjeet muttered. “He killed that ship.”
I wasn’t naive enough to believe he was defending me, but I had to admit it felt good that someone understood what I was doing.
“AI, please show simulation of the top three likely outcomes if Captain Hoffen had returned to his own firing lane.”
On each of our vid-screens, the small portion of battle played out three different times, with slightly varying results. In each case, instead of following the ship, I released it when it crossed out of my firing lane. Two of those times, Sempre picked it up with a mid-ship blaster and finished the job. The third time she missed and it peeled away.
“She missed. That’s proof enough for me,” Gunjeet said, smugly.
“Tell me, Mr. Gunjeet. Which is better, a strong offense or a strong defense?”
“Easy. Offense.”
“The correct answer is that it depends,” Marny said. “In a battle of attrition, however, the opponent with the strongest defenses will prevail. By leaving our flank open, Intrepid received considerable damage to a starboard engine. In the simulations, however, the aft gun provided a successful deterrent and the damage was limited.”
“Gunjway,” Gunjeet muttered. The term was a Felio derogatory term, referring to a neutered male.
“Mr. Gunjeet, if you ever wish a seat in my nest, you will keep a civil tongue,” Marny said.
Gunjeet turned away, not saying anything, focusing instead on the gun controls, obviously surprised we’d heard the term before.
“Again,” Marny said and restarted the battle simulation.
“Which of the crew are ready for combat?” I asked.
As was our practice, available officers sat for lunch at 1200. We’d been sailing for six days and were a few hours from the Tamu gate. Marny gave us daily updates on the crew’s effectiveness on weapons, just as Roby had kept us up to date on the continuing repairs by the otherwise bored Norigans.
“We would not be ready against a professional Naval ship,” Marny said. “We lack discipline of fire. Gunjeet has by far the best shoot-down record with accuracy in the low teens. Sempre’s
accuracy is in the low twenties but she is conservative in her shot selection. Arijeet is somewhere between the two.”
Jala carefully placed a basket of steaming rolls on the table and smiled as she heard her son’s name used positively.
Tabby and I both consistently scored in the mid to high twenties, which was the percent of shots taken to recorded hit. The number was skewed as hits were recorded for any shot within forty meters of a fast-moving target. Harassing a ship was nearly as valuable as hitting it outright.
“We’ll likely have a test coming up at the Tamu gate,” I said, “although the gate squatters might give us a pass, given our size.”
“I’ll have Sempre, Gunjeet and Arijeet seated on approach. The crew will be on simulated turrets, but they won’t know this. I need to see how they each respond to combat. Tabby, I have an open chair if you’d be willing to join us.”
“Aye. Count me in, Gunny,” Tabby answered.
“Red berry juice, Captain?” Jala asked, quietly sliding between Tabby and me.
“Yes, thank you. What are these rolls? They’re delicious,” I said. The puffy yeast rolls had been filled with a creamy mix of vegetables and crispy protein cubes. I didn’t recognize the seasoning, but found it pleasant enough.
“A recipe Gunnery Sergeant Bertrand shared with me. I believe the flavor you are experiencing is rosemary. I found a package of dried needles. I hope they weren’t too far aged.”
“It is delicious, thank you,” I said. “This evening, we will be arriving at Tamu gate. I would like you on the bridge.”
“Yes, Captain,” she replied demurely, bowing her head.
“On an entirely different front, we might have an issue with our escort contract,” I said. “My contact has requested a meeting and walkthrough of Intrepid. He’s talking about canceling our contract as we’re too much of an unknown.”
“Can they do that?” Tabby asked. “Shouldn’t we have a penalty built in?”
“Yes, they can and no on the penalty. We’re competing against established escort services.”
“You make it sound so tawdry,” Marny quipped and I had to replay the words in my head before I rolled my eyes at her.
“It’s sordid business. That’s for sure,” I said. “I’m hopeful I can be convincing when we meet. Otherwise, we’ll be looking for a cargo run to Tanwar. Although, that’s not ideal.”
“Why’s that?”
“We blew our bond,” I said. “That’s a black mark on our record. Shippers aren’t willing to consider unbonded cargo with us. They’re afraid we’ll dump and run like we did with the shipment for Goboble.”
To say I was nervous about our approach to Tamu gate was an overstatement. I had nervous energy, but I was confident in Intrepid’s capabilities. What we couldn’t shoot down, I felt reasonably certain we could outrun. Such was the design of a General Astral Frigate.
“I’m admitting Jala to the bridge,” Ada said. There had been considerable activity on the bridge as we closed the final hundred thousand kilometers to the gate. In the end, however, only three of us remained: Ada, Marny, and me — Jala making a fourth. Roby and Jester Ripples were in the engine room, and the gunnery crew in the gunner’s nest. We’d closed the armored hatch between the remaining Norigans in the crew mess and the forward observation lounge, just in case we took fire forward. It felt like we were being overly cautious, but as Marny drilled into me time and time again, there’s no time for preparation after things get dicey.
I gestured to the port side bulkhead where there were two open spots. “Jala, please take a seat at one of the empty stations.”
“Your view is beautiful,” Jala said as she sat, straight-backed in the chair, crossing one leg over the other.
“Agreed.”
“Cap, I have two ship signatures at thirty thousand kilometers,” Marny said. “Both cutter class. Single turret.”
“Standard Genteresk chasers,” I said. “Care to guess if Belvakuski’s cruiser is on the other side?”
“Unlikely. It would put her at risk of detection by Abasi. I’d expect her to stay in Santaloo. Although, if she’s expecting us, that would change my answer.”
Marny was repeating what we’d talked through several times in the past few days. The most likely scenario was playing out. The two, smaller ships would give way due to our size and we’d go through unhindered.
“Ada, slow to stop at ten thousand kilometers.”
“Aye, aye, Liam,” Ada replied and gave a bit more juice to the engines to slow us.
“Do you think they’ve seen us?”
“Aye, Cap, they know something’s out here. Those cutters would have sensors similar to Tuuq’s. I’d imagine they’re not getting a strong read beyond our location. What’s your plan, here?”
“I’d like to heave-to and observe. Tell folks to get comfortable, we might be here for a couple of hours,” I said.
“Aye, Cap. SOP. Hurry up and wait. Good lesson for us all.”
As Marny and Ada communicated my change in plans to the crew, I turned to Jala. “Thanks for joining us on the bridge. There’s some possibility we’ll need to communicate with the crew of those ships. Our translators do a fine job, but I’d like your take on things if they’re Genteresk, as I suspect they are.”
“Why do you wait?” Jala asked. “Intrepid is a much larger ship; can you not simply ignore them? They would be foolish to attack.”
“We have flexibility in our plan,” I said. “And I have experience with these particular gate campers. They’re waiting for a weaker ship to come through the wormhole so they can attack and board. According to our agreement with Abasi, we have the authority to intervene on behalf of a ship in distress.”
“And you would like to intervene?”
“Cap, we have ships coming through from Tamu,” Marny said. “Heavy freighters with armed escorts. Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum are backing off.”
My holo projector displayed a convoy of eight, three of which were fast attack craft deployed moments after transition from wormhole space. The ships accelerated on line with Fan Zuri and took no interest in either the pirate cutters or Intrepid. Although it wasn’t clear to me if they could resolve Intrepid now that we’d slowed to a zero delta-v with the wormhole anomalous space.
Minutes turned into an hour as Dee and Dum returned to their positions.
“Marny, when did those ships move in relationship to that last convoy’s arrival?” I asked. “Did they have advance warning?”
After a moment, Marny replied. “That’s affirmative, Cap. They started moving fifteen seconds before the convoy transitioned.”
“Let’s take the crew to a relaxed posture. I’d like to wait this out a bit longer.”
“Copy that, Cap. We’ll go to a three-minute standby.” Three-minute standby would keep people at their posts, but the crew could shift out to stretch their legs or visit the head as long as they could return within three minutes. Only half the crew could be out at any time.
Forty minutes later, the two pirate ships moved away from the Tamu wormhole again. Just as before, a grouping of freighters arrived. In the lead were two beefy freighters that appeared reasonably armored and armed.
“How long will we stay out here, Liam?” Ada asked when we reached the three-hour mark.
“Let’s give it two more hours,” I said.
“Do you really think any reasonable captain would bring a convoy through the wormhole without protection?” Ada asked.
“I don’t, Ada,” I said. “Last time, those cutters attacked a much bigger ship that had been damaged while fighting on the other side of the wormhole.”
“Copy that,” Ada said. “I’m not sure why I’m impatient sitting here. It is not much different than sailing, but it just feels like we’re not going anywhere.”
Marny chuckled. “Maybe because we aren’t.”
Two hours passed without another group moving through the gate. Ada was right, it was a long shot, but we’d had some time to bu
rn. We could afford to hang out for another twenty hours, but I was also anxious to resolve the issues with our convoy contract.
“All hands, this is the Captain,” I said. “I’d like everyone to return to their stations. We’ll be setting sail shortly. All stations check in for immediate departure.”
I had a short delay from engineering, but didn’t push it. Finally, all stations checked in.
“Ada, take us in, but keep us on silent running,” I said, standing. “I’ll be back in five minutes.”
“Aye, aye, Liam,” Ada said, giving me a concerned look.
Briskly, I walked off the bridge and headed aft. Instead of turning toward our quarters at the first intersection, I continued to the upper engine room where Roby and Jester Ripples were.
“What’s up, Captain?” Roby had difficulty talking around the last bite of one of Jala’s stuffed biscuits he’d jammed into his mouth. He looked at me guiltily.
“Liam Hoffen, aren’t you sailing the ship?” Jester Ripples asked, bounding up to me and climbing into my arms.
“Headed back to the bridge in a second, Jester Ripples,” I said. “I was hoping I could get help from my brain trust back here.”
Roby slugged down a drink of water and swallowed hard. A flash of annoyance coursed through me as I noticed how the surfaces were covered with several days’ worth of crumbs and debris. I pushed the problem aside.
“Sure,” Roby said, brightening at the compliment. “What can we do?”
“I need it to look like Intrepid is having engine troubles right before we go through the wormhole,” I said.
“How big of a problem do you want?”
“Just to be clear; I don’t want any real problems,” I said.
Corsair Menace (Privateer Tales Book 12) Page 21
