This Corner of the Universe

by Britt Ringel

  “Paragon is decelerating, Captain,” Truesworth called out. After a minute, her speed stabilized and the sensorman could confidently surmise the freighter would traverse the asteroid field at .04c. The revised estimate for when Paragon would reach the point where Heskan thought it was most likely to meet up with a pirate ship increased to fifty minutes.

  The Narvi buoy lost sight of the freighter once it entered the Beta Field and Anelace’s passive sensors could only intermittently achieve sensor contact. Consequently, Paragon’s symbol on the tactical plot kept fading in and out. Each time Anelace lost the freighter’s position, the symbol would change from a solid red blip to a blinking red one. A dashed red circle around the blinking icon denoted the area of uncertainty where the ship’s position could be, given the last known location and how much time had elapsed from the last known position.

  Heskan wanted to pace the bridge. Over the course of ten minutes, he almost twice ordered his ship to power up and sail closer to reestablish contact. Each time before he could give the order, the blinking red blip would jump a short distance to somewhere within the uncertainty zone and glow steadily for a few seconds before blinking again. Upon each reacquisition, Heskan would bite his lip and curse his indecision.

  With thirty minutes remaining until Paragon reached the estimated rendezvous point, Anelace had lost contact for a full ten minutes. The uncertainty zone was expanding wider and wider. We’re not getting her back this time, Heskan thought as doubt settled over him. They could have already met with a pirate ship and we’d never know. Heskan counted down each second as the silence on the bridge became unbearable. They’re all looking at me, waiting for me to do something, even Mike. I’m sitting here and the bad guys are accomplishing their mission right under our noses.

  Ten more agonizing minutes passed. The freighter had been out of contact for twenty minutes now. When Heskan had formulated his plan, he had estimated that Paragon would need anywhere from twenty to forty minutes to join up with a pirate ship and transfer cargo to her. She could be finished resupplying and I’m still stuck here waiting for another ten minutes! Just sitting here is stupid. Heskan stared at the tactical plot and quickly recalculated the figures in his head.

  Two more minutes passed and Heskan kept quiet as he ran the numbers and estimations repeatedly. Am I afraid to act? Analysis paralysis. “Keep cool, folks. The fun starts soon,” he said with what he hoped was a confident and reassuring voice. I sounded like a teenager just now, how did my voice get so high and whiny? I have to act; it’s been too long. Heskan opened his mouth, paused and then closed it. No, dammit, stick with the plan.

  The final five minutes felt more like five hours. The uncertainty zone was quite wide now and the Paragon had been out of contact for half an hour. According to Heskan’s estimates, the freighter would now be three minutes from forming up with the theoretical pirate ship to offload supplies.

  Heskan leaned forward in his command chair, grateful that it was almost time to act. “Get ready to send the signal, Jack. Thirty more seconds.”

  Heskan saw Truesworth had a running timer counting down on his console display. It was unnecessary, as there was also a countdown on the main tactical screen, but Heskan would not begrudge his young ensign for the redundancy as he looked at his own console display to his right, his own timer ticking down the seconds to zero.

  “Sensors, send the signal and give me a full active sensor sweep on the capture point. Navigation, take us there, point one-C.” Heskan looked down at his ship’s status panel as Ensign Antipova declared that Engineering was bringing Anelace’s power plant up to full power. Heskan waited a beat and then pushed the button on his console that would call the ship to battle stations. As soon as the alarm was given, Antipova raced off the bridge toward Auxiliary Control.

  The alarm was unnecessary as the crewmembers were already wearing their shocksuits at their stations but it served to alert them that the waiting was over and gave notice to PO3 Deveraux to activate the AIPS defense screen. The crew, at the ready, responded immediately. Anelace’s AIPS formed around her within seconds, although the shield was severely weakened due to the high radiation environment. It would offer only minimal protection inside the Beta Field but even a compromised defensive screen could deflect or absorb a shot or two from the weapons Heskan thought they might most likely encounter.

  The signal sent from Anelace to the capture point buoy hidden in the Beta Field raced along at the speed of light. Two and a half minutes after being sent, the buoy received the transmission and went into full active sensor mode itself, immediately relaying any sensor contact’s information back to Anelace.

  The buoy’s active sensor emissions took ten seconds to hit the Paragon and the pirate ship stationed just .1ls off her port side. The round trip of the buoy’s active emissions was twenty seconds and relaying the information back to Anelace took an additional two minutes and four seconds as the corvette had traveled slightly closer during that time.

  Heskan raised his fist in triumph as the tactical display updated. Paragon’s solid red blip was within 4ls of the projected rendezvous point. A second, red blip, this one labeled as Unknown-1, was immediately adjacent to Paragon.

  Holy crap, it worked! If I had moved Ana a half hour ago like I’d wanted, they may have detected us and the trap would’ve failed. There’s a huge lesson to be learned from this, Heskan, but now isn’t the time to chew on it.

  “You did it, sir,” Riedel called out as the tactical screen updated. Selvaggio and Truesworth exchanged smiles.

  “Tally-ho,” Vernay said wickedly, using an ancient hunter’s phrase.

  Chapter 12

  Heskan tried his hardest to remain outwardly calm. Dammit, I’m grinning like an idiot. Stop it, Heskan! You’re the captain and the crew is looking to you for example. The hard work is still ahead of us.

  “We’ve only just begun, folks, maintain your bearing. Jack, tell me about Unknown-One.”

  Truesworth continued to work at his console a full ten seconds before replying. “Aye, Captain. No active beacon from the ship and the buoy’s optics can barely see her. She’s much smaller than the freighter. Ana estimates she is a ketch-sized civilian ship. That’s about all I can tell with all of this sensor disturbance in the field.”

  Riedel stepped next to Heskan and said, “It’s all we need, really. Running without an active beacon is a serious offense. We can impound her for that violation alone.”

  Truesworth’s hands continued to dance along his console. “Both ships are still at relative rest.”

  “Why aren’t they running?” Selvaggio asked.

  “I’m pretty sure the pirates outside both of those ships, transferring cargo via EMU, wouldn’t appreciate that,” Vernay said.

  Heskan nodded, “Yep, right now it’s a fire drill over there to get their loaders back inside and the ships secured. Give them a couple minutes and then we’ll see them bolt.”

  Vernay turned to face her captain. “The question is, sir, do they panic and run together or do they split up?”

  Heskan smiled at his forward-thinking weapons officer. “What would you do, Stacy?”

  “If I’m tunnel-capable, I’d split up the ships inside the Beta Field and then whichever one we don’t chase, point it at the Narvi tunnel point and go hell bent for leather to it. The Paragon is dead to rights, she’s too slow to make it but if that ketch is fast enough, she could have a chance to escape.”

  Selvaggio interjected, “Probably not though. We’re too close and Ana is greased lightning. We don’t even have to catch them; we just have to enter our weapons envelope.”

  “Course change from the ships, Captain,” Truesworth called out.

  SENS updated the information. Both red icons were coming about, finally settling on a course pointing them toward the Narvi tunnel point. Velocities of both ships increased.

  “Paragon is leveling out at point one light. Unknown-One is at point one-three and increasing, sir.”

&n
bsp; Heskan looked toward Riedel. “That’s awfully fast inside the belt. I guess they figure Anelace is a bigger threat than a collision inside the Beta Field.”

  “She is,” Riedel confirmed. “Diane, keep us on an intercept course with them. How long until each ship clears the Beta Field?”

  Selvaggio answered before Truesworth, “If we changed our heading, Ana will be clear in twenty-five minutes.”

  “At point one light, Paragon will be clear in twenty minutes. Unknown-One will clear the field in thirteen minutes, assuming she stays steady at point one-five. That’s her speed now, sir, and it looks like it’s steady.” Truesworth’s hand glided over his console and the updated times to clear the asteroid belt appeared next to each ship’s ID tag on the main screen.

  Anelace cruised at .1c. Heskan had judged that increasing her speed was an unnecessary risk to the ship and her crew. She would catch her prey well before the tunnel point and increasing speed inside the Beta Field would not substantially change that. Heskan stared at the tactical plot. So far, so good. Better than good, in fact. This is optimal. If both ships stay on that course, I’ll barely have to maneuver. They should have split up. Sent Paragon to the tunnel point so we’d have to chase her and keep that pirate ketch in the Beta Field so we’d eventually lose contact with her. Was this “mistake” made in a panic or am I missing something?

  The bridge crew of Anelace monitored the tactical plot as each ship’s icon crawled toward the empty space past the Beta Field. Thirteen minutes later Ensign Truesworth announced that Unknown-1 had cleared the asteroid field. “She’s increasing speed, sir.”

  “Let me know what she stabilizes at, Ensign.”

  Seven minutes later, Paragon left the asteroid field and accelerated toward the Narvi tunnel point. Finally, five minutes after that, Anelace broke free. Heskan quickly ordered the ship to her sprint speed, her drive system pushing the sleek corvette toward .33c. The unknown ship had reached .25c before her velocity leveled out while Paragon could only manage a paltry .19c.

  “Captain,” Truesworth said, “we’re getting our first, good look at Unknown-One. She’s a civie... Ana is labeling her as a civilian ketch.” He tapped on his console and the tactical display listed estimated intercept times. If all ships remained on their current courses, Anelace would overtake the freighter in six minutes and thirty-five seconds. It would take an additional twenty-nine minutes to catch the faster pirate ship, still well in advance of the eighty minutes the pirate ketch needed to reach the Narvi tunnel point. After classifying the pirate ship as a ketch, Anelace’s computers began to provide the ship’s specifications.

  In Terran space, ships could be broken down into two major types, military and civilian, with civilian ships outnumbering the military ships by an order of magnitude. Military ships were further split into two categories, so-called Black Space ships and System Defense ships. The difference between them stemmed from the intended area of operations for the category of ship.

  Black Space ships were designed to operate in the “deep, dark” of space. They rarely sailed alone, usually traveling in a squadron with at least two other ships. These were the ships that holo-movies were made about… the dashing captain commanding a heavy cruiser facing incredible odds yet still winning the battle. The Brevic navy classified these ships by order of tonnage as frigates, destroyers, cruisers, battleships, dreadnaughts and, most recently, carriers. Each class was often further broken down according to its mission and capabilities. Destroyers designed for stealth and with enhanced sensor detection capabilities were called scout destroyers, cruisers with greater than normal weaponry and a flag bridge were called heavy cruisers and so on.

  System Defense ships were littoral in nature. These ships were usually much smaller and designed to operate in a single star system as nearly all of them lacked a tunnel drive. “Defense” might be considered a misleading term as these ships had neither the offensive nor defensive capabilities to stand up to a Black Space ship. Even a frigate could best a System Defense ship unless outnumbered. The usual mission of an SDS was the policing of a particular system. The Brevic Navy labeled these SDSs as cutters, gunboats, patrol crafts and fast ships. Corvettes were technically fast ships but slightly larger and were historically called corvettes because of this distinction. Anelace was a corvette but still bore the official fast ship designation “FS-776” on her hull.

  The other major type of space-going vessels was civilian ships. Encompassing everything non-military, the number of categories of civilian ships was enormous. The ketch category was used to describe a small vessel with two standard drives. A sloop was a similar, often smaller craft but with only one drive, while a schooner was the general term used for a civilian ship with multiple drives plus tunneling capability. Typically, ketches and sloops were private recreational ships. Schooners were most often, but not always, commercial ships built as specialized courier ships, high-end, low capacity passenger ships and other similar employments. A sloop, with its single drive, ranged anywhere from thirty to sixty meters long. Ketches were roughly equivalent in size or smaller than Anelace’s one hundred six meter hull. A schooner usually picked up where a ketch left off and could span several hundred meters.

  Heskan analyzed the bridge’s main screen. The ketch was on the small side, much smaller than even Anelace. His eyes moved to Paragon’s position on the plot. Anelace had exited the Beta Field only 1lm behind Paragon. “Jack, open up communications and broadcast it on the general civilian frequency.” After a moment, Truesworth replied, “You’re on, Captain.”

  “Freighter Paragon and unidentified civilian ketch three light-minutes off our bow, this is BRS Anelace. By authority of Brevic Military Regulations and the Brevic Rules of Interstellar and System Commerce, I hereby order you both to heave to. Prepare to be boarded for a ship’s inspection per ISC Rule 4505.25.” Heskan motioned to Truesworth to cut the channel and then looked over to Riedel. “Think we’ll get a response, Mike?” The first officer considered the question briefly and shook his head.

  The transmission would take a minute to reach Paragon and three minutes to reach the ketch. A minute or two to respond and then the return trip back to Anelace meant the quickest possible response would come in four and eight minutes, respectively. By that time, we should know a lot more about that pirate ship, Heskan thought.

  “Captain, we have a much clearer picture of that ketch,” Truesworth said after a few minutes. “Definitely a ketch and not a sloop. It looks like a Fearson design. She’s been modified, one second, sir.” Truesworth again went to work on his console. The main screen split into two halves. The left side maintained the tactical situation; the right showed a fine resolution near real-time picture of the ketch. Anelace’s military optics were easily able to enhance and augment the image, only 3lm away.

  The picture exposed the unmistakable image of a civilian ketch. The stern view of the small ship, about half the size of Anelace, revealed a severely modified hull with laser mounts crudely installed on each side of the ship. Anelace’s computers regarded them as first generation “B-pack” lasers. These lasers, routinely used by licensed, independently owned freighter escort vessels, were the best non-military lasers available. They had enough power to punch through an armored hull though suffered from the limited range, about 5ls, that generally restricted all light lasers. They were slightly inferior to the Lyle Dual GP pulse laser in that they could not sustain their fire the way Anelace’s lasers could without overheating; however, their punch was similar.

  “Not exactly a fair match,” Heskan noted.

  Vernay, who had been uncharacteristically quiet over the last half hour, added, “No, sir. She’s got nothing but lasers so we can chew her up at range with our Kruger and they wouldn’t be able to even fire a shot back at us.” The Kruger Mk 237 mass driver had twice the range of the lasers.

  That’s assuming that I can keep it from closing on us. It’s not easy to get within mass driver range but still stay outside of the las
er envelopes, Heskan thought. “Let me know if that ketch rotates its bow toward us, Jack.” If the ketch used its thrusters to rotate the bow of the ship to face Anelace, her momentum would still carry her toward the tunnel point but allow her lasers’ firing arcs to be unmasked and pointed at Anelace. Even worse, if Anelace closed the distance to fire her mass driver on the ketch, the pirate ship could use its drive system to quickly and dramatically reduce its speed, thus causing the corvette to overshoot and wander into laser range. Extreme speed skirmishes were a difficult dance that required years of experience, timing and luck to execute correctly. Too often even veteran combatants miscalculated, causing their ships to either streak past each other outside of any weapons’ range, or worse, blunder into point blank range with each side being battered severely by every gun brought to bear. This huge potential for error was one of the main reasons why most military naval battles were fought at .2c speeds or slower, as ship computers were better able to analyze and react with the precise control needed during an engagement.

  The time had come and gone for each ship to respond to Heskan’s demand to heave to. He was not surprised by the silence. Both ships had limited options, which were only narrowing as his ship closed the distance. Anelace was now two and a half minutes from intercepting Paragon.

  “Jack, there’s no signs of weapon mounts on Paragon, right?” Heskan asked. After Truesworth answered in the negative, he turned toward Lieutenant Vernay. “Stacy, I want you to use lasers to disable Paragon’s main drive.” They were more accurate and had a faster rate of fire.

  “Aye, sir. Targeting solution locked, we’ll fire one burst from each turret when we reach five light-seconds and follow up as necessary,” Vernay replied.

  “Thank you. Jack, open a channel to Paragon.” Heskan waited and then projected a confident voice, “Freighter Paragon, I advise you to pull your people away from your ship’s drive system. We will fire upon it in roughly…,” he checked the tactical display, “two minutes.”