Star Man 1: Star Bourne Page 11

  Warships have the ability to undertake micro-jumps within a star system provided the start and end points for the micro-jumps met certain criteria. FNS Destiny had this capability but in our situation it wasn’t of much use to us. Micro-jumping required obscene amounts of power and tended to put a lot of stress on the jump systems as well so was usually only used during an emergency. The other problem was that if we micro-jumped we would require several hours to recharge the jump systems before we could enter another jump point or micro-jump again. By this stage, we were only four hours from making our jump. This would give nearly nineteen hours before we were likely to actually see any action. The Captain gave us duty stations for entering jump but for the most part, we went off to continue with our other preparations. I left with Olin to check on the preparations for stowing food, water and ammunition around the ship. As it turned out, fairly sizable caches of food and other supplies were already hidden around the bridge and engineering with the rest being widely dispersed around the remainder of the ship. These caches were hidden as well as we could manage. Only a few people knew where each cache was and even fewer new the location of all of them. We used this high level of security because we could not afford to lose many of our caches to the pirates if it could be helped.

  We also began to conceal mines of our own in many locations around the ship but for safety reasons, we chose not to arm them till a boarding was imminent. We had to reinforce the side of the bulkhead behind each mine to ensure we didn’t open a way for the pirates to escape our kill zone after the mines were detonated. Nor did we want to open a path that may allow the pirates to attack our flank or rear. Reinforcing the compartments behind our mines required them to be evacuated. This of course meant we had to find other places to locate the people, the equipment and the stores from those compartments. We also made those compartments into armoured rooms with some mines and other booby traps in them as a backup measure. If the pirates found their way into one of those rooms, we wanted to be able to make sure they couldn’t escape from those compartments into other parts of the ship. Weapons were distributed to all crew members who knew how to use them but we only intended to use most of these crew if we needed to make a last stand. Losing many of these crew would be a heavy blow to FNS Destiny because she was not a warship and consequently was not manned as such, she simply didn’t have enough redundancy among the crew for us to be able to lose too many.

  We decided we should make sure everyone ate a good meal by about one hour before we exited the jump. In addition to that, everyone on board was given a small package with enough food and water to last about one day. They were all instructed to keep this with them at all times and replenish it immediately if they ate anything from it. As we closed on the jump point, as many of the crew and passengers as possible were ordered to sleep. We needed everyone rested and fed before we entered the next system. The remaining crew were kept busy with preparations for the ship’s defence. During this time, I managed a couple of hours of sleep but wanted to be awake when we entered jump. I woke to an implant ping one hour before jump. The ping included an invitation to the bridge so I could observe the star-ship’s operation as we prepared for, then entered the jump. I climbed out of my bunk then went to the mess for food before heading for the bridge.

  When I arrived on the bridge, the Trooper on duty directed me to a spare acceleration couch. Those of us not already strapped in, did so as the warning was sent out over the ship’s network for everyone to secure for maneuver and jump. All over the ship, people secured any items they thought may shift with resultant damage or injury, then strapped themselves into acceleration couches at their station or to their bunk if they were off duty. Our plan called for FNS Destiny to enter the jump point tail first. This was important because we needed the main drives oriented in that direction when we exited at the other end.

  As the countdown timer approached zero the Captain began, “Helm, main engines to zero thrust.”

  The helmsman worked on his control panel then responded, “Main engines to zero thrust sir.”

  I noticed the pervasive rumbling of the main drives die down till it was only a faint hum.

  The Captain then said, “Helm, set thrusters, aft ventral forty percent, forward upper forty percent, for ten seconds on my mark.”

  “Thrusters, aft ventral to forty percent, forward upper forty percent, for ten seconds, set.”

  A few seconds later the Captain said, “Mark.”

  I heard and felt a rumbling followed by some relatively minor G forces as the thrusters ignited and started to pitch Destiny end over end in a carefully choreographed dance.

  The helmsman said,” Thrusters nominal Sir.”

  When the thrusters cut out after ten seconds he continued, “Rotation at twenty degrees per minute.”

  The Captain replied, “Set up to stop rotation. Thrusters, set forward ventral forty percent, aft upper forty percent, ten seconds, on my mark.”

  “Thrusters, forward ventral to forty percent, aft upper to forty percent, ten seconds, set.”

  The maneuver took nearly nine minutes before it was time to stop the rotation. Both the Captain and Helmsman watched the countdown timer.

  At eight minutes and forty-nine seconds, the Captain said, “Mark.”

  The thrusters started up again and once again I could hear the rumble and feel the vibrations and G forces.

  After the thrusters stopped the Captain asked, “Navigation, how is our attitude and drift.”

  The reply a few seconds later was, “Attitude, two degrees’ declination forward, drift 0.01 degree per minute to port.

  The Captain gave orders to the helm to correct the attitude and drift then waited patiently while the operation was completed. The Captain then ordered the main engines to full thrust. This was to slow us from our current twelve- hundred kilometres per second velocity to something as close to ten kilometres per second as we could manage. The Captain had left this part of the maneuver till the very end as he wanted to keep our pursuers as far away as possible when we entered the jump point. As the main engines spooled up, the inertial dampeners began to strain as they worked to minimise the impact of the deceleration on the people on board the ship. Without the inertial dampeners, we would have all been crushed by the magnitude of the acceleration and deceleration this ship was capable of.

  When the maneuvering was finally completed, the Captain said into the ship wide intercom, “Secure from maneuver.”

  This was the signal that allowed people to undo their restraints and move about again. The Captain then asked his executive officer, Shulari for a damage report.

  Lieutenant Commander Shulari Kasal, the Executive Officer (XO), checked her panels and queried departments from all over the ship before replying, “No damage reported. No injuries reported Sir.”

  The Captain then turned to Horlon, the master navigation officer, “Navigation, prepare the jump drive.”

  A few seconds later the reply came back, “Jump drive warming now sir, ready for jump in ten minutes.”

  All we could do now was wait till the FNS Destiny reached a point in space where the jump drive could work and she would sip into the jump corridor. The warm up phase was a time when the jump system computer calculated the optimum field pattern for the ship during jump.

  The Captain acknowledged this by telling Horlon, “You may jump when ready Mister Horlon.”

  Horlon replied, “Understood sir, will jump when ready.”

  We waited as the countdown timer crawled to the time when we could jump. None of this crew had ever gone into a jump point tail first before. The theory insisted the ships orientation didn’t really matter but till we were successful, we couldn’t know for sure. When we reached the jump point the jump drive activated, the external screens blanked, mostly because there was nothing to see and I felt a slight lurch in my gut, but that was all. I noticed a lot of relieved expressions on the faces of the bridge crew.

  We were safely in the jump corridor no
w. Although our sensor operator did notice the pirate ships speed up just before we entered the jump they were unable to do anything to us till after we exited at the other end. Even after speeding up, our pursuers were still nearly six hours behind us and could not catch us till well after we all exited at the other end. Our velocity was still close to fifteen kilometres per second when we finally had to cut the main engines for the jump so we entered the jump a little faster than planned. When we were safely in jump, the Captain turned to his XO and told her to call the second officer up to the bridge.

  The Captain wanted the more senior officers to all be well rested when we exited the jump point at our destination so the most experienced people were available to deal with any issues as they surfaced. Once the standby bridge crew all arrived and were settled in, Carlon ordered the rest of his senior officers to eat and sleep while they could. Because I wasn’t crew, I had no duties so I thought I would take the advice the Captain had given his officers. I was about to head down to the mess for a light snack when Captain Carlon caught my eye and motioned for me to follow him. I noticed the XO, Shulari, who I hadn’t met yet, coming along as well so I just smiled and nodded to her. She acknowledged me in return as we all walked towards the Captain’s office. When we arrived at his office, the Captain ordered the three of us some food followed by introducing Shulari to me. That was when he told me her name.

  The pleasantries over, Carlon explained that even though Shulari hadn’t been at the planning meetings in person, he had kept her in the loop. She’d had plenty of opportunities to make her fair share of contributions to the final plan. I was actually quite pleased about this. I told them how pleased I was because I already knew she was both well-liked and well respected by the ship’s crew. The last thing I wanted or needed was to have her upset with me because that could only make the successful execution of our coming task so much more difficult. We spent a pleasant half hour, mostly talking about what was likely to come while eating a little food till I excused myself to go catch a little sleep. As I walked out the door, Shulari followed me.

  She asked, “You don’t mind me having an input to change your plan?”

  I chuckled a little at her question before replying, “Hell no. I don’t profess to be any kind of expert in this environment. Where I come from, we don’t have anything close to the capabilities of this ship. My part of the plan was really just the high level overview. We needed all the considerable experience of all this ship’s officers to fill in the blanks and make it work. I don’t know which parts of the plan were your contributions but I both like and respect Captain Carlon. If he trust’s you then I see no reason to contradict him. I hope we can respect and get on with each other. I would like to assure you I do not wish to undermine you or displace you in any way. I will always be happy to help you so please feel free to ask if you think I can be of assistance.”

  She smiled at me as she thanked me for my sentiments. I think she may have been a little wary of me at first because she also made a comment to me about my command presence. She told me the Captain had told her about it, how I impacted the people around me but she hadn’t really believed it till after we met. I started to wonder about my manner. I wondered what I was doing that seemed to make such an impression on these people, I had never received comments like this in the past. The XO was not the first senior officer on this ship to make this type of comment. I thought I would need to watch myself because the people around me, especially the senior officers, may start to feel threatened by my manner. It had already happened after the landing on Zafar when I had a memory lapse and forgot to return the weapons I’d been issued. On that occasion, both the Captain and Olin were initially worried I’d kept the weapons deliberately, perhaps intending to somehow take over the ship. After that, Shulari smiled at me before she and I went our separate ways. I went down to my quarters where I lay on my bunk, falling into a deep sleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow.

  PREY VS PREDATOR

  My alarm roused me from my sleep hour before our planned jump emergence. I climbed out of my bunk before quickly showering, dressing and going to the mess for food. When I arrived there, I found both Olin and Shulari in conversation at one of the tables while many of the Troopers including Ani and Shasi were sitting at other locations around the compartment. By this time, the Troopers had all come to accept me as one of their own, I think mainly because of the events on Zafar. When they saw me enter, they smiled and waved to me. Of course, I smiled and waved to them in return. As I moved about the compartment, I could sense a tension. Thankfully it didn’t seem to be directed at me this time. I quickly realised, everyone was feeling concerned about the upcoming emergence, none of us really knew what to expect.

  After selecting my food, I turned and headed over to where Olin and Shulari were sitting. They greeted me as I sat at the table then we quietly ran over our parts of the coming operation while we ate. Olin and Shulari stayed till I’d finished eating, then we all rose to leave. Shulari asked me to walk with her to the bridge as the Captain had invited me to observe the down jump from there and had asked her to pass on the invitation if she saw me.

  On the way she asked, “What are you expecting to happen after down jump.”

  “I’m not really sure”, I replied, “hopefully nothing. If all goes well there won’t be any mines or anybody waiting for us when we emerge from jump. When we exit, we will just reverse direction then be able to disable the two pirate ships we have chasing us before they know where we are. Once we have done that we can head towards the other jump point, trying to avoid any pickets as we go. Of course I really do not expect things to be quite that easy. In all honesty, I expect we’ll be very lucky indeed if we get through the down jump unscathed. Overall, I think we should be OK. We just need to divide and conquer. If there is a ship lying in wait near the jump point, we will hopefully be able to destroy it before the other two arrive. If the exit is clear of pirates, we can try to take down our pursuers near this jump point. If we can manage that, I expect we will have less pirates to deal with at the other end.”

  Shulari mused, “Divide and conquer, I like your terminology. I think the Federation may learn as much from humans as humans can learn from us. You have a fresh way of looking at the problems we face here in the Federation, a unique perspective. We tend to try to use overwhelming force and suffer when we don’t have that advantage.”

  I replied, “Some humans employ a similar philosophy. The nation that I am from doesn’t really have the resources for that so we find it necessary to do much more with much less. We get around our lack of numbers with high levels of training and the best equipment we can afford. Some other countries can and do have that philosophy, using overwhelming force but we have had cases where smaller, apparently weaker countries have been able to effectively defeat a much stronger foe. Of course, that usually comes from liberal application of political pressure in addition to the fighting.”

  She simply told me not to underrate myself.

  I was blushing as we reached the bridge. Shulari had paid me quite a complement, or at least that is what I thought it was. Since then, I have never had any reason to change my opinion of her intention. When we entered the bridge compartment, she headed to her duty station while I strapped into a spare acceleration couch.

  Twenty minutes before down jump the Captain ordered the ship to alert two. This order caused most of the crew to be in the correct place for the down jump as well in the correct places to deal with any of the likely subsequent events we’d identified during our planning sessions. Ten minutes before down jump, the Captain ordered the main drives and shields to stand by, ready for activation on down jump, then ordered alert one. This allowed some of the critical components in these two systems time to warm up, and giving the reactors enough time to spool up to full output ready for whatever was waiting when we exited. Our strategy called for every bit of power we could generate for both the main drives and shields when we exited the jump point so we
would be in a position to protect ourselves as quickly as possible. This same strategy also caused the tactical system to bring the point defence, as well as the ship’s main weapons on-line. Ten minutes later, I felt the slight jolt in my stomach as we exited the jump corridor into real space. The Captain immediately began barking out orders to his crew.

  “Navigation, Jump engines to standby.”

  “Jump engines to standby Sir.” From navigation.

  “Point defence on-line.”

  “Point defence running sir”, from tactical.

  “Tactical, shields to full power.”

  “Shields to full power Captain”, from tactical.

  “Helm, bring the main drive to full power as quickly as you can.”

  “Mains on-line, Mains spooling up to full power Sir.” From the helm.

  Of course, the bridge crew already knew what needed to be done so they were already following the Captain’s orders even before he gave them. I began to feel the rumble as the main drives caught and the increasing deceleration as they began to spool up to full power. The inertial dampeners began to compensate as the sensors that controlled them sensed the deceleration. Even if the main drives could be bought to full thrust instantaneously, which they couldn’t, physics dictating this as impossible, doing so would cause significant structural damage to the ship and serious problems for the crew. Such an act would probably even cause a large number of deaths among the crew and passengers. The inertial dampeners would simply be unable to compensate for the sudden change in acceleration quickly enough.