by David Smith
As they made ready to leave, Dave contacted ASBeau on the Bridge of the scout-ship. ‘Are you all set to go ASBeau?’
‘Ready as we’ll ever be Commander. I’ve got your flight data, I’ll take . . . hey . . . I don’t even know what this ship is called?’
Even in the twenty-third century, sailors were a superstitious bunch, and not to name a vessel invited the very worst luck.
Dave paused. ‘Well, she’s small and fast and kinda bird-shaped. How about Falcon?’
‘Yeah! Cool. I’ll take the Falcon out to the most likely intercept point and do a drunkards walk to locate the Imperial fleet. Soon as we do, we’ll check their headings, and if we’re not spotted, we’ll report back immediately.’
‘Ok ASBeau, if all else fails, meet us at the back-up rendezvous point and we’ll decide our course of action from there. Don’t take any unnecessary risks’ Dave warned ‘we need you as Tiger’s eyes and ears. Good luck, Hollins out.’
He switched the main view-screen to a camera view and watched the scout disappear in a relativistic flash.
His next call was to Commander Romanov down on the Engineering Deck. ‘Is Tiger ready to go, Olga?’
‘All systems are green, Commander, you may leave when ready’ she replied calmly.
Dave closed the link. ‘You heard the lady, Crash, take us out ahead one-third, engage warp at our earliest opportunity, warp-factor six’
‘Aye sir! Ahead one third.’
Dave sat back in his chair. He’d planned everything he could as carefully as he could, but there was still one concern that he had deliberately avoided raising in front of the majority of the crew. In the back of his mind was a gnawing certainty that they were about to enter into battle with this universe’s version of themselves.
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Two days later, Dave was in his quarters when he took a call from the Bridge. Falcon had returned.
Dave rushed to the Bridge and threw himself into the Captains chair, and on cue, Shearer put the incoming call on the main view-screen.
Dave was anxious and got straight to the point ‘Is it Tiger?’
ASBeau sighed and confirmed it. ‘Yes sir, we got a probe close enough to pick-up their IFF. She’s transmitting as ISS Tiger, under the command of one Captain Emmanuel LaCroix.’
‘Did they see you?’
‘If they did, they made a good job of pretending not to. I’m happy that we still have the element of surprise’ said the Tactical Officer before adding ‘Does it make a difference that it’s . . . well . . . us?’
Dave had thought long and hard upon this point. ‘No. We can’t afford to let that matter. If we do there’s a chance it might work against us. As far as we can allow ourselves to be concerned, that’s just another Imperial cruiser.’
ASBeau hesitated for just a fraction of a second before agreeing ‘Aye sir! Transmitting bearings, heading and speed data now. Good Luck sir!’
ASBeau cut the comm-link and Dave ruminated. He knew from what had gone on before that if this Imperial cruiser was this universes version of Tiger, it wouldn’t be him in command. In this universe they’d already established that Dave Hollins was the leader of a rebel up-rising. But if they had to fight, all the other members of the Bridge crew might be faced with the possibility of having to kill ‘themselves.’ He just prayed their professionalism would win through.
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Chapter 11
Tiger lay silent and cold in the path of the oncoming Imperial fleet. They’d shut down everything that emitted any sort of radiation, and with the thin coating of LOAVEs covering her hull, she was as near to invisible as it was possible to be.
The group of Imperial vessels were travelling directly towards them at the fastest speed of the slowest vessel, between warp five and six. The twelve transport vessels were gathered in a tight box formation following the ‘other’ Tiger, and astern and to either side of the box were the scout and the towing vessel.
The plan was simple. Tiger was to lay in wait, and when the enemy flagship came to its closest approach they were to launch two torpedoes at the secondary hull. At this range it would be nearly impossible to miss, and a hit would almost certainly put the ship out of action.
With the biggest warship crippled, the other ships would have to be corralled and it was in this that the biggest danger lay. If the fleet scattered, Tiger would be forced to attack the transports to prevent them escaping. Being much more lightly built, and very densely packed with troops, heavy casualties would be inevitable.
Dave was waiting for the cue from Dolplop to begin their attack when O’Mara abruptly shouted ‘Hold fire, she’s light!!’
Dave didn’t have clue what she was talking about. ‘What??’
‘Tiger . . . the OTHER Tiger . . . is only showing a mass of around one-seventy kilo-tonnes!’ O’Mara said. Realising that no-one understood she added ‘She’s like our ship was! The hull’s been thinned down to the absolute minimum!’
What she was telling him suddenly hit-home. The other Tiger had been subjected to the same mass-reducing scheme as their own ship had been. The previous Engineering Officer had skimmed eighteen thousand tonnes of hull plating off the ship in order to make her fast enough to set a class speed record. With such a paper-thin hull, the impact of a torpedo would undoubtedly be catastrophic for her. It would be like using a steam-hammer to crack an egg-shell.
‘Oh crap!!’ said Dave, thinking furiously. He had only seconds to play with and made his decision by instinct.
‘Change of plan, everybody. Janus target the engines on the Bode class scout, but detonate the torpedoes a hundred meters short. Dolplop, get everything up and running, I want them to know we’re here. Crash, soon as they pass, get us alongside the other Tiger and match speed and heading.’
At that moment Dolplop gave the agreed cue, ‘Bingo!’ and Janus opened fire.
Two torpedoes speared out into the darkness, racing towards the unfortunate scout vessel. She was running with shields down and didn’t have time to react before the torpedoes exploded. The flash of sub-atomic particles smashed into her hull with enough force to physically spin her around, and more than enough to cripple her engines.
‘Shearer, broadcast on all Imperial frequencies!’
A small light flashed on the console on the arm of the Captain’s chair to let him know he was broadcasting.
‘This is the Starship Tiger . . . uh . . . flagship of the rebel alliance fleet. All ships in the Imperial fleet are to drop to sub light speed on our command or face the consequences.’
Janus said ‘They’ve raised shields and are arming phasers and torpedoes sir. They’ve got every sensor on the ship looking for us but can’t get a lock.’
Quietly in the background Shearer added ‘Loodsa chatta on lawcal comms. Al the transports ar rekwesten ordaz. Thair wayten fer a lead from Tygah.’
Time to play the trump card.
‘ISS Tiger, power down your shields and weapons, you know you can’t fight us. You can’t target us, but we have you in our sights. If you fire, we will destroy you.’
‘Incumen comm-link frum Tygah, sir’
‘On screen please, narrow our camera angle to me only.’ said Dave taking a deep breath.
An image formed from a brief burst of static and Dave had to take a second look. Sitting imperiously in the Captain’s Chair of ISS Tiger was . . . the Captain.
Dave could scarcely believe his eyes, and blinked. It was definitely him, Captain Emmanuel Dominique LaCroix, in the flesh. Like all Imperial staff they’d met, the uniform was recognizable, if different. Sleeveless, adorned with a gold-sash and extensive gold-braid. A dagger on one hip, a phaser on the other. A row of unrecognisable medals, decorations and ribbons on one breast. But still definitely a Starfleet uniform.
The Bridge was different too. Darker, with sharp pools of light thrown onto consoles, making them stand out but hiding the rest of the bridge in shadows. Behind the consoles, sat horrifically
recognisable faces. Immediately behind the Captain and to his right sat the huge imposing figure of Israel Joynes. His uniform seemed too small for the man-mountain, making him look bigger still. Perhaps because of that, he’d dispensed with the dagger most Imperial Crewmen carried and in its place hung a huge and threatening antique cutlass.
Behind the Captain and to his left was Sharon Shearer, dressed in what appeared to be a fleet uniform bikini and thigh-high boots. Her sash was draped across her gently curved hips but was little more than a belt, revealing huge expanses of velvety smooth and lightly tanned skin.
In front of her sat ASBeau, dressed in the same manner as the Captain and Joynes, but sporting a pair of dark sunglasses even in the dim light of the Bridge. Nearest the front and only just in view were Dolplop, identical to his other self, and a brunette Latina Dave didn’t recognize.
His curiosity was satisfied when Janus whispered ‘Hey, that’s Delgado!’ Dave hadn’t recognized her as he’d only seen her picture in computer files. Lieutenant Marianne Delgado had been Tiger’s Helmsman before Crash and had disappeared in mysterious circumstances. It appeared that she had stayed with the ship in this universe.
Beyond Dolplop, Dave could just about make out Lieutenant Verity Selassie, who filled and over-filled her skimpy uniform near to bursting point.
Dave tried to ignore all these distractions and focus on the Captain, trying to gauge what his reaction would be. If he fought, his ship would be destroyed without a shadow of a doubt, and everyone in view would die with her.
LaCroix peered at his view-screen, sizing up his opposition.
‘David Hollins. We meet at last’ he sneered.
‘Not my by choice Captain LaCroix. Please comply with our instructions: lower your shields and power down your weapons, or we will open fire. We know your hull has been severely weakened and we also know you can’t get a lock on us with your torpedoes’ Dave replied calmly.
LaCroix looked furious and Dave guessed his mind was racing. He’d obviously not told command about the issues with Tiger’s hull, and was probably wondering who the spy in his crew was. He was also waiting impatiently for ASBeau and Selassie to get a lock on the mystery assailant so he could open fire if he needed to. And he was definitely trying work out what interest the leader of the rebellion would have in trying to disarm him rather than simply blow his ship to smithereens. Trying to buy himself some time, LaCroix tried to bluff.
‘We could open fire, but I have standing orders that you are to be captured alive if at all possible. Stand your ship down and I will guarantee safe passage for your crew.’
Dave called the bluff. ‘Feel free to open fire. If you keep firing completely randomly for a few days you may get a lucky hit, but even then, our shields are as strong as yours and our hull is intact. In the meantime, we could destroy your ship with just two or three well-placed torpedoes.’
Dave could almost hear LaCroix’s teeth grinding.
‘BASTARD!’ he screamed and cut the comm-link.
‘He’s opening up his warp-drive, sir! Do I fire?’ shouted Janus.
Dave hesitated and the moment was lost.
‘He’s gone sir’ said Janus almost in relief.
‘Do we give chase sir?’ asked Crash.
‘No, let them go. It’s the transports that we’ve come for.’
‘Do you think we can keep that many ships under control on our own? What if they break up the fleet, and make a run for it? We could never catch them all’ said Crash.
Dave pondered for a moment and said ‘Shearer, general broadcast again, please.’
The light on his console blinked on again.
‘Imperial Fleet, this is Dave Hollins . . . er . . . Chief Executioner of the Rebel Alliance. Your escort vessel has abandoned you. You will power down all weapons and drop shields immediately or be destroyed. You are to continue on course, and we will take station astern of you. Any deviation from course will be met with ultimate force.’
‘Of course, if you should disperse the fleet and try to run we will not be able to catch all of your vessels. I would imagine that one or two might possibly escape. Sadly, the ones that don’t will be completely destroyed and every living soul aboard will die in the horrific conflagration that results when photon torpedoes explode inside a tritanium hull. I hear that Marines battle-armour is very tough, and it may survive the initial blast but it’ll be heated white hot which will just slowly roast the individual inside to crisp over a matter of an hour or so. Or the survivors may get really lucky and just get sucked out of the ship through a hole in the hull. If that’s the case you’ll just freeze or suffocate in the icy darkness of space. Unless you don’t breath out when you’re sucked out of the ship, in which case you will explosively decompress, guts, blood, organs and stuff flying everywhere. Nasty. Your choice.’
Dave breathed a sigh of relief as one by one, the transport vessels complied with his instructions.
‘Shearer, contact ASBeau. Tell him to get back to Todot Hahn as quickly as possible, and tell the Sha T’Al we’re on our way. They need to find us a place where we can lock down about fifty thousand prisoners.’
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The journey back to Todot Hahn was slow and uneventful. By the time Tiger placed her prizes in orbit the Sha T’Al had come up with a solution for what to do with fifty-thousand captured marines.
Todot Hahn had several continental land-masses, most of which had numerous off-shore islands. Aware that the Imperial forces would almost certainly try to smuggle weapons off their ships, they took no chances. They cleared an island that lay almost exactly in the centre of the largest ocean on the planet, and had dumped all of the excess food supplies from the Tana battleship there.
Andy Carstairs began using Tiger’s transporters to shift the prisoners down onto the island six at a time. Once he’d cleared one ship, he sent a crew over to that ship to begin using her transporters to speed up the process. If the Imperial personnel wanted to get up to mischief they would have to swim around a thousand kilometres first.
Chief Belle oversaw the clearance of the Island, but voiced her concerns to Dave. ‘They’re mostly marines, but not all of the Imperial forces are stupid. Eventually, they’ll work out a way to get off that island.’
Dave agreed ‘Yeah, they will. But it’ll take them a while, and there’s no way they can shift big enough numbers to give the Sha T’Al a significant problem for a couple of weeks. By that time I intend for the Sha T’Al to be long gone.’
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Dave met with Elder Jalai, and after a round of diplomatic discussions, he was invited down to Todot Hahn to meet with the local Council of Elders.
Jalai had explained that the Council were elected as the most learned and perceptive of the planet’s population, but in this instance, there were only three members of the Council left on the planet, the rest having evacuated with the majority of the population.
Elder Dalan was the oldest Sha T’Al on the planet and had stayed behind as felt he was too old to start afresh anywhere else. He’d devoted his entire life to creating some of Todot Hahn’s most striking civil structures and decided he would stay with them to try to prevent their destruction. Elder Canassi was a female and was renowned for her strength of character, and her intuitive reasoning. The last Councillor was Elder Paurin, the youngest of the three by some years, and only elected to the council after the evacuations had finished in order to provide any council decisions with a third and decisive vote.
Jalai stated that the older two Councillors had elected Paurin as he had been seen as an obvious future leader of the Council and would undoubtedly have gone on to achieve great things if circumstances had not prevailed against him.
Ironically it was the youngest of the three, Paurin who was the worst afflicted by the prionic disease. Dave entered the Council chamber to find the three remaining Council members sat on a raised platform that held seats for more than a dozen people. Dalan and Canassi were sat b
olt upright, but Paurin was slouched over to one side, his breathing audibly laboured.
Dave entered the chamber and sat in a single chair on the lower floor with Jalai standing behind him.
After a brief pause Elder Dalan addressed him.
‘Welcome Commander Hollins. Please forgive us if our reception has been less than whole-hearted: Our dealings with Terrans have invariably been disastrous.’
Dave had expected such a sentiment. ‘I understand your concerns, but I hope our actions to date have demonstrated that we are not aligned to the Empire. We, like yourselves, seeking nothing more than safety.’
‘And yet you bring with you one who is undoubtedly one of the chief architects of our suffering?’
‘By chance and not by design. And while she is undoubtedly a contributor to your suffering, she has convinced me of her genuine regret. Even now, she is working on ways by which we may alleviate that suffering’ Dave contended.
There was a pause as the Elders looked at each other. Dave wondered if they were telepathic to some extent, as no words were spoken.
‘Our concerns are not related to your political affiliation. Our dealings with individual Terrans have also been exercises in deceit and betrayal. We have no proof that your stated intentions will be matched by your actions’ said Canassi calmly.
Dave nodded. ‘Of course. I will leave it to your conscience as to what course of action to follow. However, I would suggest to you that the actions I propose, and that Elder Jalai has already disclosed to you, cannot adversely affect your situation. What I cannot suggest is how long you have in which to decide. My crew have defeated the immediate threat to you and captured a significant fleet of modern transport vessels. We can only speculate how the Terran Empire might respond, but I can’t imagine they won’t send another fleet to attempt the same task.’
Dave continued ‘We will gladly instruct you in the operation of the captured vessels to assist you should you decide to evacuate Todot Hahn, but I cannot advise where you should go. That is a matter to be settled between yourselves and your population. My only certainty is that you can’t stay here.’
