There are things senior mission commanding officers typically might say or might give an operationally-specific order to do in the field in the interest of better ensuring mission success, there are those things that every such junior officer hopes will be ordered, and then there are those things one suspects could be ordered, but deep-down hopes never will be. . .unless it was absolutely necessary. The THX-1140 unequivocally fit the latter-most possibility. There had never been rumors of that order being given—thank goodness, although that didn't mean there weren't hopes for some kind of 'mock' test at some point just to satisfy that lingering itching curiosity about what 1140 really could do on an inanimate target—like a particle rifle to a blank steel plate. No matter, Aaen told himself. He was nervous-exited to see the 114 in action, though at least a little unsure as to how well it would function with so much damage to the Station. The 114 was considered to be like a pseudo-secondary weapons array. A failsafe, as it were—one that had never been said to have failed. Well. . .we'll see.
He looked around, paying particular attention to the lights. Nothing had changed just yet. Maybe the order hadn't been carried out yet? He asked himself, watching as another large fleet of metal hulks soared toward the Station. This may be it, Aaen told himself, more eager now for the chief of operations to carry out Admiral Jensen's order.
"I need more power to the secondary weapons array, Engineer!"
"Hurry!" the Admiral snapped, her tone indicated she was as nervous-scared as Aaen sensed at least two-thirds of the bridge crew. He eyed the readouts on his computers—the maneuvering thrusters were still online. . .and somehow Translight was still online. Barely! The power levels were fluctuating every few seconds. Changes were patternless. Let's hope we don't have to fire that up just yet, Aaen silently hoped. The meters were dropping and climbing so fast. . .
"You've got every spark of power we've got left to spare!"
"Whatever you're going to do, chief, do it fast! They're nearly in weapons range!"
"Roger that! ADMIRAL! CRM-1-1-5, activated!"
A series of beeping and chirping sounds came from the left-wing—the lights quickly, gradually faded into darkness, and a mechanical groaning sound rolled through the Station that sent sharp chills up and down Aaen spine from the base of his skull to his waist. His arms from the elbow-down felt cold for a moment, then the feeling normalized. My computer screens! Aaen watched more wide-eyed as the engine and navigational readouts were swept away and replaced with a more sharply colored series of tactical readouts, and a targeting reticule similar to Hammond's screen!
The main viewscreen showed images of a whole battery of cannon arrays and torpedo launchers emerging from sections of the hull (the deck subtly vibrated, he noted) that Aaen didn't know existed! And they were larger and meaner-looking than what Ensign Sorenson had been firing!
Two security officers to Aaen's right fired their rifles on stun. That pirate won't be getting up again for a while, he grinned on the left side of his face. The look normalized as he focused on the readings in front of him. The meter on the right side of his screens indicated he had a queue of five class-fourteen high-yield torpedoes, each, and a rechargeable cannon array. He looked up, then left. The Station was bearing its next set of teeth—the next order still had to be given. There was only one on the Station who could legally give that order.
"Ranger's docked!" the Captain announced.
"Does everyone have a supply of torpedoes and a cannon?" Admiral Jensen asked worryingly. She looked around to find nods and thumbs-up gestures.
"They're coming!"
"Okay! All-hands on the bridge: establish weapons' lock!"
Aaen felt scared—not for himself, not anymore. . .but for the pirates. The size of each torpedo on his screen told him that there was enough boom still about to be shot at the pirates. . . Aaen nodded at the Admiral.
She faced forward. "Ensign Henderson! Transmit an order to surrender."
The order was quickly carried out. He turned around, "No response."
"Fine. All stations! Fire-at-will!"
The deck shuddered as almost blinding bursts of light and beams of fire shot ferociously at their targets. The Pirates maneuvered sharply in formation, but the torpedoes were sharper and found their targets, exploding them into massive and violent jagged spreads of debris. Some of the debris tore through the neighboring ship's hull. One formation suffered severe plasma leaks from either the hull or from a nacelle. Another formation looked like a collection of pieces of Swiss cheese. Another formation—consisting of ships large enough to dock with the Station—was blown apart with each ship tumbling on a seemingly derelict spin. The torpedoes' shockwaves spread in every direction. After the first volley, the pirates' had already taken at least moderate losses, Aaen estimated.
Several formations circled around and regrouped, forming an arrowhead-like formation, firing in a wave!
Lieutenant Harrison picked up his handset. "Everyone, brace for impact!" the announcement rolled through the Station as numerous horrifically violent explosions pummeled the Station like a carpet bomb. Aaen watched in shock as dense particle beams hammered the central core reactor and the sound of more struggling bulkheads.
The bridge crew struggled to stay upright as the Station groaned, shifting relative position under the intense pressure from the explosions. Aaen pulled himself upright and then watched as the rest of the bridge crew helped each other back up. Aaen noted he was out of torpedoes. And his cannon array had been devastated by a direct torpedo spread. It was just a huge, jagged piece of sparking metal, now. He looked around frantically. "My weapons are down! Can anyone else still fire?"
A lot of heads were turning at the back of the bridge, some crew members responded with verbal acknowledgments.
"Restoring primary bridge systems!"
A few beeps later, Aaen was happy to see his engines were still online—barely.
"Admiral, we've taken heavy damaged to the outer hull, and some sections of the secondary hull after that last barrage!"
Aaen's gut sank again at the announcement from Damage Control. The looks on the faces of the rest of the bridge crew as far as Aaen could see indicated most of them were thinking and feeling the same thing. And Aaen was particularly curious about the fact the Pirates weren't coming around for another pass. Magellan was badly damaged, and leaking atmosphere from all over! He noted. There were holes almost all through the hull and the power grid was humming a struggle. The lights didn't come back online. His gut told him they were lucky to still have enough power for their bridge computer stations and the main viewscreen! Focus! Aaen told himself.
"There are only four pirate ships left! They're ignoring the Station and forming up around Maddog's ship!"
Aaen reasoned, they're trying to protect him as they launch their attack. The Station's too badly damaged to be of interest to them.
Aaen stood up and looked left, leaning on his palms atop his station, "Admiral! They're going to use the Vortex data!—" Aaen emphatically reminded her, but she waved him off.
"Do we have weapons capability, at-all, Sorenson?"
He turned his head disappointingly and disappointingly responded, "No. Everything's down. We can't even launch Runabouts!"
Aaen noted a look of profound stress on Admiral Jensen's face. She combed both of her hands through her hair and kept her hands on her head in a silent panic. "Options? Does anyone have any ideas?" she asked in a silent panic.
There's still one! Aaen thought. "Admiral!" he called to her directly, "We've lost weapons. We can't launch shuttles, and our supports are disabled." The notion of what he was going to say next made his palms chill against his stations.
"What are you suggesting we do, Commander?" Captain Williams asked directly with comparable emotion as Aaen.
"I'm detecting an energy build-up in Maddog's ship! They're opening a Vortex!"
Aaen took a deep breath and then said, "Lieutenant Malcolm! Is the tractor still online?"
"No, sir. Tractors aren't even showing up as being part of the Station, dang it!"
Aaen nodded acknowledgment. "Okay." he looked at Admiral Jensen, "Then there's only one other option,"
"What?" Admiral Jensen asked sharply. "What can we still do?"
Aaen determinedly replied, "We still have engines. We can pursue them."
"But we don't have weapons! What good does pursuing them do if we don't have weapons?" Sorenson asked.
All speech on the bridge ceased as though what Aaen was alluding to had become evident. The lights came up to about one-sixth of maximum illumination. Aaen noted Admiral Jensen looked at him stressed. "Do it."
Aaen was quick with the controls. The small fleet of pirate ships was quickly approaching a glowing white orifice directly in their flight path.
"What are you suggesting we do, Commander?" Admiral Jensen asked. "We don't have weapons anymore,"
"Technically, we do."
"Vortex is nearly open! We're coming up on the projected event-horizon!"
"What are you saying?"
"Admiral, I'm saying I can set a collision course with Maddog's ship,"
Several crew members suddenly stopped their work and sharply turned in their seats at Aaen with a look of skepticism, others looked shocked at what they had just heard.
"But we've taken so much damage, how could the Station sustain a deliberate collision with a ship that size?—"
"Admiral," he pointed at the main viewscreen, "for all we know every ship we've been defending ourselves from were all drones! They might be rendezvousing with who they're working for on the other side of the Vortex! This might be our only chance to stop what could be a larger-scale assault force from attacking us!"
"The Vortex is opening!" Lieutenant Hammond boldly announced, concerned.
"—Admiral?" Aaen asked. She looked at him blankly.
"Do it."
Aaen scrambled with the controls. "Ensign Bryce! I need all power we've got left to the thrusters!"
"Put all auxiliary and emergency power into the thrusters! HURRY!" the Admiral commanded.
Aaen maneuvered the Station around so the pirates were centered in the main viewscreen. "Forward thrusters!" And they were moving, gradually picking up speed. The eerie sound of more struggling bulkheads as the Station picked up speed.
"We're catching up! Fast!"
"Auxiliary and emergency power levels are dropping quickly!" Ensign Bryce announced frantically.
"Plug in the core reactor! Tie it in directly with the thrusters! I'm gonna need EVERYTHING WE'VE GOT LEFT!"
"Do it!" Admiral Jensen commanded.
As the order was carried out, the deck vibrations were building . . . and becoming stronger. Aaen had to hold on especially tight to his stations to stay steady in his seat! Magellan's thrusters were comparably as powerful as the Orions' sublight engines! With auxiliary and emergency power tied-in, and then the Station's reactor, itself—
"Commander! You've got everything we've got left! Admiral, we're running on minimal life-support on all decks!"
"Understood!"
"Alright, everybody! Cross your fingers!" the pirate ship was quickly getting larger in the main viewscreen. The vibrations and rattling were so strong and intense that Aaen could barely clearly see the main viewscreen anymore! An eerie groaning metallic struggle was gradually becoming louder—
Admiral Jensen struggled against bridge stations lining the center walkway to get back to her chair.
"We're closing in on Maddog's ship! Two-thousand meters! . . . Sixteen hundred!—The Vortex is open! I'm reading numerous ships on the other side! Can't tell who they are, or their course because of damage to the long-range sensors! The pirates are fifteen-hundred meters from the event horizon!"
"Distance to Maddog's ship?" Captain Williams asked.
"Fourteen-hundred-meters—URGH!—and closing! FAST!"
Lieutenant Malcolm snapped, "We're gonna destroy the Station!"
The sound of a thundering explosion rolled through the bridge. Aaen's left-most computer showed a structural failure on one of the outer rings. "The thrusters are putting out so much thrust they're almost pushing through weakened sections of the hull!" he declared. What's left of it!
"—One-thousand-meters!—"
Maddog's ship was directly ahead and to starboard, Aaen noted. The surrounding pirate ships sped up, broke formation and flew out of sight.
"Maddog's escorts are gone! Looks like they've retreated!"
Aaen looked left at the Admiral. She looked at him and struggled to lean over her armrest. She covered her face with her hand from the nearly blinding light from the Vortex and yelled, "DO IT!"
Aaen used what maneuvering thrusters were left to move the Station to port, gradually coming alongside the target. Small hull fragments were breaking off the outer docking ring! The Station's falling apart! C'mon, Magellan, HANG ON! Aaen thought determinedly. His chest swelled with determination as he grinned, slamming the starboard thruster control!
A final deafening groan filled the bridge as the two hulls viscously, violently collided. Most of the bridge crew were thrown from their seats for several feet onto the deck. The vibrations and shuddering piqued as Aaen struggled to climb his chair back to his station, watching in horror as pieces of the Station broke off and tumbled into space as the bridging arms connecting the outer and secondary rings gradually dug into the target. The hull fragments tumbling into space were blinding as the target ship became disfigured beyond recognition. Aaen watched his computer screens abruptly blackout as sparks from the pirate ship's secondary hull turned into large, booming explosions. The explosion's shock rolled through the Station as the pirate ship drifted off course. Smoke billowed from the floor as the joining bridge to the secondary ring started to collapse under pressure. Metallic screams flooded the bridge as the Vortex collapsed; the metallic sounds drowned out the alerts. Aaen collapsed again from the floor vibrations. . . .
. . . .The deck vibrations calmed. The shuddering stopped. Aaen stayed still as he found himself lying on his back, dizzy from being tossed to the floor from the mayhem. After he came to, he gradually climbed back up to his seat and looked around.
The bridge was dark—and silent. The main viewscreen had blacked out.
"Is everyone okay?" Admiral Jensen asked.
"I'm good!" Aaen replied. The rest of the bridge crew responded similarly, among gasps from those still getting their bearings. Aaen noticed Hammond's computer was the only one he could see was still online.
"Lieutenant Hammond, report. . . Lieutenant?" Captain Williams asked.
"Aye. Maddog's ship's adrift. Minimal power readings. I'm detecting an escape pod launching! One lifeform on-board!—It's Maddog!"
"We're receiving a transmission from his escape pod!" Lieutenant Harrison announced.
"Put it on speakers!" Admiral Jensen said.
A grainy and distorted message played, "You may have . . . won . . . a victory today, Union. . . . Make no mistake . . . .You haven't seen the last of the Orion Pirates. . . .There will be a 'next time' . . an . . time comes . . . You will regret what happen . . .'ere today."
A trio of beeps sounded. "He stopped transmitting."
"What are we going to do about the pirates on that ship, Admiral?" Captain Williams asked.
"They've managed to restore partial main power. They're leaving the sector following Maddog's course and speed."
"Leave them. We've stopped their plans to attack," said Admiral Jensen.
"Just before the Vortex closed, the ships I detected earlier moved away from the Vortex. If they were working with the pirates, they left pretty quickly when they realized the pirates weren't coming."
Admiral Jensen looked at Aaen, "Aaen can we get back on Translight?"
Ensign Bryce snapped, "Most of the bridge stations are down. I'm trying to get some power up here to get them back online. . . There!"
Aaen eyed the new readings on his computer screen. "Yes! If we can put get more power in navigation and the structural integrity field, we can get back. Ensign Bryce?"
"Just a sec. . .! Try that."
Aaen adjusted the power levels on his computer screens for the Translight coils. "Laying a course for point-of-origin. . . Course set!"
"Ensign Bryce, double check the structural integrity field generators."
"We've got enough power for one more Translight jump," he confirmed.
"Lieutenant Harrison, send a message to Command about our current condition, and request assistance for our support ships. Tell Command we're on our way back for repairs."
"Yes, Admiral."
"Message from Sickbay, Captain! The wounded are stable. All are expected to make full recoveries."
"Understood." The response was followed by a gasp of relief.
"This is Lieutenant Watson, down here in Engineering! Everyone down here is pretty banged up but we're okay. The main reactor core is back online. We're ready to get back whenever you are, bridge."
"Thank you for the update, Watson." Admiral Jensen responded.
"'Er, no problem, Admiral. Translight standin' by."
Admiral Jensen turned to Aaen, "Commander. Activate Translight."
Aaen nodded, grinning, "Activating Translight in three. . .two. . .one!—"
*****
Steve H. told Jordan Foutin, "You are the next Tom Clancy. You really are a gifted writer."
DANIEL STORM, a Jordan Foutin eBook, is available for $8.99 at any of these fine online retailers:
smashwords.com (Remember to like and share!)
apple iBooks (This link is best viewed on iPhone or iPad)
Make sure to buy your copy today, and like and share!
Make sure to like the official StormTeam Simulations Facebook page for the latest, including when DANIEL STORM will be available on Amazon.com for Kindle eBook and softcover! Coming soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment