"I don’t think he’ll do that, sir. We could drain and abandon the two transports."
"Their fuel would be like a daisy in a bull’s mouth, even if Colossus’s engines are running at normal efficiency, which I guarantee they aren’t. Plus to give himself any kind of meaningful reserve he’d have to take our fuel."
"Sir, I think you’re being… erm… a bit…" Hockley visibly search for the right words.
"Paranoid?" Crowe suggested calmly. "Possibly Commander, possibly. But I would make a couple of points to you. I’ve had personal experience of bringing back a smashed up ship. In that personal experience, headquarters doesn’t look kindly upon such skippers. So not bringing ships back at all, it’s not a career advancing move. Secondly that battleship is a wreck. Assuming she’s even repairable at all, she won’t be fit for service again in less than a year."
"I accept those points, sir, but this is speculation."
"Yes it is. I may be slandering Captain Lukeman, but I can’t shake the feeling, that he is about to make a bad decision."
Hockley’s face was expressionless, but behind his eyes Crowe could see wheels turning.
"Sir, am I correct in thinking that you are suggesting that an order to abandon Deimos be disobeyed?"
"Nearly Commander. Can you open the top draw in my desk and take out the envelope on top." Crowe waited for the Commander to remove the envelope. "That is written orders to get this ship back to Earth, any other considerations are secondary. Any orders by any other officer to the contrary are to be ignored. This is by my authority."
Hockley looked shocked
"Sir if this-"
"Court-martial? Yes, that’s why I’m giving orders on paper." Crowe waved towards the envelope. "If I’m wrong about this, that can be destroyed."
Hockley made no reply, he simply sat there staring at the envelope. The Commander could choose to arrest him, to give an instructions to disobey the lawful orders was mutiny, there was no other word for it. Certainly he wasn’t going to try to hide from that fact, not inside the privacy of his own skull.
"Sir," Hockley said quietly, his eyes still lowered, "If you believe this, why are we not leaving now?"
Crowe sat down on his bunk, studied the holo again for a long moment before replying.
"Because when you get right down to it, James," He paused realising that after four months of serving together, it was the first time he had used his second in command’s Christian name, "I owe our protection, to the men and women on those ships. But at the same time Deimos fought her way into Baden, and fought her way back out. There’s a new kind of war being fought out there, and this ship is better at fighting it than any other we have. That means we owe a greater responsibility, to preserve this ship for the next battle."
"What about you, sir?"
"I’m not important James, the ship comes first."
There was a tap at the hatch.
"Yes?" Crowe called out.
"Skipper, the shuttle is ready."
"All right."
Behind him there was a faint rustle of paper, he turned and saw Hockley tucking the envelope into his jacket pocket.
"Good luck over there, sir." He said, "Try not to get arrested; the crew need their good luck charm."
___________________________
"Welcome on board, sir." The petty officer saluted sharply, as Crowe pulled himself through the entry hatch. By the book, there should have been a side party to greet him, instead it was one man, in a uniform that looked like it had been slept in. Its wearer though, looked like sleep was but a distant memory. There were dark circles under the man’s eyes; a grubby bandage was wrapped around the knuckles of his left hand.
The PO closed the hatch behind Crowe, and there was sound of pumps drawing out the air inside the lock.
"I’m afraid I have to ask you to wait, sir, until the Captains of Mantis, Scorpion and Samaritan have come aboard, then I will take you all to the Captain." The petty officer told him. "On behalf of Captain Lukeman, I apologise for this."
"That’s all right PO, I’ve served on this class, I can find my own way." Crowe replied, the ship was obviously so short handed they couldn’t even spare a couple of hands to escort the arrivals. The one man they assigned to the job, looked like he would be swaying on his feet, if they had been in gravity.
"I’d advise you wait, sir, a lot of access ways are blocked off or open to space."
There was another series of clunks from outside, as another shuttle connected to the outside of the lock. The pumps went into action again and after a minute the light above the lock switched to green, the hatch opened and Berg pulled herself through. Crowe waited as Berg accepted the Petty Officer’s salute before pushing himself forward.
"Carol," He greeted her with a smile. "good you see you in the flesh again." He embraced her for a moment.
"Oof. What was that for?" Berg looked somewhat surprise at the friendliness of the greeting.
"For shooting those missiles off our ass." Crowe replied. "Thanks for that."
“You’re welcome, sir. We won’t cut it so fine next time."
Crowe gave a half laugh and turned as the airlocks pumps started to sound yet again, after a minute Captain Agostini of Samaritan came through. Last to arrive was Commander Baird of Scorpion.
"Thank you for your patience." Said the Petty Officer. "I’ll take you now to the Captain."
The journey into Colossus was a sobering experience. The three visitors in their clean uniforms, looked completely out of place among the ragged crew of Colossus. Everywhere Crowe looked, he could see tired and defeated men and women, working to keep what was left of their ship going. The ship itself was hideously battered, power cables and communication runs dangled from their mounts, steel bulkheads crumpled like tinfoil, burnt out circuit boards scattered here and there. Worst of all, time after time, they past sealed hatches with red lights glowing above them, indication that the sections beyond were now open to space.
"Thank you for coming, all of you, thank you." Lukeman said as they entered Colossus’s wardroom. If he’d felt out of place before it was nothing to what Crowe felt now. Lukeman was wearing a scorched Captain’s jacket, over an engineers uniform that was slightly too large for him. His left hand was visibly trembling before he moved it out of sight behind his back. He knew that Lukeman was somewhere in his forties, but right then he looked at least twenty years older.
"I apologise for my app… appearance, I’m afraid officers row took a direct hit, I’ve had to make do with whatever was to hand. Please take a seat, all of you. Time is pres… pressing, and we have much to decide."
Crowe chose a seat opposite Lukeman, out of the corner of his eye he noticed Berg studying him carefully. He waited for Lukeman to start to tell them how important it was to make sacrifices to save Colossus.
"As you all know, Colossus suffered a major fuel leak during our last jump, which forces us to make some difficult decisions." Lukeman started.
"How much fuel does Colossus have?" Crowe voice was flat, without any emotion but his eyes didn’t leave Lukeman’s face.
"I will come to that." Lukeman replied, a frown creasing his face. "It’s important for us all to understand the overall situation, and the options that are open to us at… at this time."
Crowe rested his chin on hands, but otherwise remained silent.
"As you all know, Colossus suffered very serious damage at Baden, that damage has now been compounded by the rupture our number two fuel tank." Lukeman look embarrassed. "I must admit, errors were made aboard this ship. My engineers didn’t balance our fuel across the undamaged tanks, almost all we had was in the tank that burst. In answer to your question Captain Crowe, we now have only three percent of capacity."
"That’s not enough to reach Earth." Captain Agostini said.
"Not even close." Lukeman agreed. "We need fuel, and worse, we need a lot of it."
"Do you have a proposal?" Crowe asked.
"My first instinct, w
as to drain the tanks of the other ships. Unfortunately this falls far short of operational realities."
Crowe sat back in his seat, Berg was continuing to watch him carefully.
"You don’t intend to take from other ships, sir." He said.
"No." Lukeman replied with a shake of his head. "Or at least not from our ships. The two merchant ships could be drained and scuttled without any great rep… repercussions; but that would not provide even nearly enough and they are the only expendable ships."
"We could abandon Colossus." Crowe said in a neutral voice.
"Yes, but we’re not going to. This ship took four years to build, meaning she could not be replaced in less than another four." Lukeman replied his voice growing in strength.
"Colossus may already be beyond practical repair," Crowe commented. "I’ve seen what those big missiles can do to a ship structure."
"My engineers do not believe that our core structural strength has been compromised." Lukeman replied, his voice betraying his growing annoyance.
"Are they qualified or experienced enough make that determination?"
"That doesn’t matter!" Lukeman shouted. "We are not aban… abandoning this ship!"
"We may not have a choice." Crowe snapped back.
"In the past few days we have lost so many ships, we can not afford to sacrifice more. Any ship that can be saved must be!"
"Sir, could we not leave her here, for later recovery?" Commander Baird asked.
"No!" Crowe and Lukeman replied sharply as one, before looking at each other. Crowe sat back surrendering the floor.
"That isn’t a possibility Commander, on that point it would appear myself and Captain Crowe agree. If the Nameless came across her, the amount of military intelligence they’d gain would be catastrophic. Abandoning the ship would mean scuttling her."
"What about leaving a small crew aboard-"
"It would have to be a couple of dozen just to keep life support going. If the Nameless came across them… we would leave men and women, with a choice between self immolation and falling into the hands of an alien race."
"Or slow death, if the fleet couldn’t send a recovery force." Berg added.
"Then what do you intend?" Crowe asked.
"I believe there is only one course of action open to us." Lukeman said. "We need to send a ship to fetch fuel and return here; Deimos is the only one of our ships that is both big enough to carry enough fuel, and armed."
"What!" Crowe’s chair hit the deck. "You want to send my ship, out its own! Where in hells name are you planning on sending my ship!"
"Captain you are out of line!" Lukeman protested.
"Am I! Am I? Well tell me, where am I supposed to be going?"
"Junction Station."
Crowe turned away from the table and walked back and forth across the wardroom, his fists clenching and unclenching.
"The reason, the whole bloody point, of us getting so far off the commercial track, was to avoid contact with the Nameless. Now you want to send my ship, on its own, with depleted ammunition, directly onto the main route between Baden and Earth." He said through gritted teeth.
"Captain Crowe, the Nameless cannot possibly have reached Juncti-"
"Says who?" Crowe cut him off. "Was it the people that said it was impossible to make realspace re-entry, inside a mass shadow? Or was it the same people who said Baden was totally safe? Or was it the ones who said the Nameless are no threat." He finished bitterly.
"Captain I still have authority here. Sending Deimos is a risk yes, but an acceptable one."
"Acceptable for who? The ones who are going, or the ones who are staying here?" Crowe snarled.
"Captain I do not have to stand for this! I am sen…senior officer present and this is my order!"
"It’s an idiotic order!" Crowe snarled back. "My ship is one of only six-"
"Five, sir." Berg cut in. "Oberon didn’t make it. Sir, for the record, I agree with Captain Lukeman, we have to at least attempt to salvage Colossus."
Crowe looked at her with an expression of betrayal.
"Your ship’s big advantage is that it has flak guns," she didn’t look happy to be siding against him but continued, "Deimos is a brittle ship though, the first solid hit will at least disable you. If we can retrofit ships like Colossus with flak guns -"
"We’ll become more than a target." Lukeman finished.
"I’m sorry Skipper, but we have to think long term, not just what we’re facing right now. This ship is useless in the short term, but perhaps important in the future."
Crowe’s face went expressionless. If Berg was siding against him he wasn’t going to win this one.
"Captain Lukeman, are there any other alternatives to Junction?" Agostini asked, "I would share Captain Crowe’s reservations about this mission. Heading for Junction would be a serious case of asking for it."
"There aren’t any alternatives to Jun… Junction, closer than Earth." Lukeman replied.
"What about taking spare fuel from the rest of our ships," Said Commander Baird, "it wouldn’t get Colossus all the way but it would get us closer to Earth."
"It would also mean that none of the ships would have any fuel reserve." Replied Crowe as he righted his chair and sat down heavily. "We’d have no safety net, any contact with the enemy would be fatal, we wouldn’t have the fuel to run or fight."
"In that case, sir, I have to agree with Captain Lukeman." Baird said carefully to Crowe.
"I’m not a combat officer," said Agostini quietly. "It seems like a very dangerous course to me." He shrugged. "I don’t… don’t have experience of this."
"Which is why we need the fuel from Junction." Lukeman said. "I know there are risks, Capt… Captain Crowe, but we are getting this ship back to Earth. While you are away Samaritan will carry out repairs to Colossus. I am wi… willing to over look your insubordination Captain Crowe, we’ve all had a tough time, but that is an order."
"Deimos will have to retreat, if they contact the enemy." Berg added.
"Yes." Lukeman replied reluctantly. "If you sight the Nameless, you have permission to retreat."
"Alright, Deimos will go, but this is a mistake Matthew." Crowe replied, his anger still obvious, he hadn’t even glanced at Berg when she spoke. "I will tell you this, if I pick up even a trace of the Nameless on passives, I will be out of there in a flash. I will not piss away a working warship to save this collection of spare parts."
Crowe didn’t pause to acknowledge Hockley and the side party’s salute at the airlock, instead he brusquely motioned for the Commander to follow. Once out of sight and sound of anyone else, he turned on Hockley.
"Lukeman never had any intention of taking fuel from us." He said.
"That’s good new-" Hockley started to reply.
"No it isn’t!" Crowe cut him off sharply. "Instead he’s made a worse decision; we’re going to Junction."
"The squadron-"
"No. Just us."
"Oh." Hockley said. Then after a pause added, "What are your intentions, sir?"
"To go to Junction and get fuel, if we can." Crowe replied tersely. "Refusing to abandon your ship is one thing Commander, but refusing to take that ship into action…" Crowe shook his head, "that we can’t do."
"But, sir, we still haven’t fixed the electrical problem, we can’t take a hit in our current condition."
"One more reason to bug out at the first sign of trouble." Crowe replied flatly.
"Sir, what about the population of Junction?" Hockley asked.
Crowe put his hand over his face.
"Bugger! I hadn’t even thought of that." He muttered. "We’ll have to see what the situation is. One thing’s for sure, we can’t take them all off."
___________________________
The jolt ran through Deimos as they emerged back into realspace, right at the edge of the Planet Phyose’s mass shadow. Crowe watched the main holo intently as the first radar returns came in, nothing unexpected appeared. But even so he fel
t extremely exposed. If there was someone unfriendly in the area, the spike of radiation released by the jump portal would have announced their arrival. Their engines immediately went to one hundred percent normal, even so it would still be eleven very long hours before they reached Junction.
Humanities expansion into space following the end of the Contact War had mostly been organised by the various national governments. But part of human nature is a tendency for some to want to strike out on their own, and be beholden to no one. Most of these independent groups had been religious, either seeking to get closer to God, or further away from the unbelievers, the rest were a collection of rebels, idealists and misfits. Each one with their own scheme and intended destination. Most never got off the ground, both metaphorically and literally, the rest came a cropper one way or another, with Battlefleet usually obliged to bail out the survivors. But amidst this litany of failure, Junction was the one successful independent.
The Planet Phyose was a gas giant, roughly two thirds the size of Saturn. The planet had two notable features, firstly a thick series of rings with a high concentration of water bearing asteroids. Secondly and far more important, an upper atmosphere, largely composed of the hydrogen isotopes, used as fuel by fusion reactors. It was possible for specially fitted ships to skim the upper atmosphere to gather Hydrogen, which, with a minimum of purifying, was ready for use. Initially, this wasn’t of much more than scientific interest. The transport costs of moving the fuel back to Earth, made it uneconomic. Then Landfall was discovered, and the Planet Phyose was very close to the most direct route from Earth.
Junction Station was the brainchild of a Canadian called Alex Gibbons, a highly successful corporate banker before he caught the space bug. He spotted the potential of Phyose as soon as the discovery of Landfall was announced. He’d sunk his entire fortune into pulling together both the equipment and people needed to set up an outpost.
Other independent outposts had failed, because many attempted to live largely separate from the rest of humanity, others could not attract a second wave of capital and people to sustain growth. Junction on the other hand, existed to serve the traffic between Earth and Landfall. Despite a huge profit margin on their fuel, Junction was still the cheapest place in Human space for commercial starships to fill their bunkers, plus with so many ships coming and going, Junction had no problem getting the materials and people it needed. Now fifteen years after its foundation, Junction Station was the home to over three hundred people.
The Nameless War Page 21
