A Galaxy Unknown (25 page)

"The helm is active, Captain."

Jenetta smiled sadly, sighed, and said, "That concludes tonight's game, contestants. I hope that you've enjoyed your brief participation half as much as I have. I regret that you won't be going home with any cash or prizes, but as a consolation, we'll arrange for an all expense paid stay at the prison colony on Saquer Major as soon as we reach a Space Command base. You're welcome to rest there on the deck while we wait for word from my other teams."

Holding her broken arm to keep it from swinging, Jenetta began to pace the bridge deck slowly. It was almost a full four minutes more before the doors opened and a chubby little man in a cook's uniform entered the bridge.

"Gunny Rondell says to tell you that the crew has been put to sleep and the ship is ours. Mr. Browne holds Engineering."

"Excellent, Jergen. Tell Mr. Higgiby to come aboard. Have him inform us when the cargo bay door is sealed."

"Yes, Captain, right away," the chubby little man said before hurrying out.

"Commander Michaels, prepare to take us out as soon as the cargo bay is sealed. Mr. Kellogg, send the coded message to the other ship."

"Aye, Captain," both men said.

Jenetta took a good look around the bridge for the first time then. Her attention had been so focused that she hadn't consciously realized just how enormous it was. It was easily twice as large as the bridge of the Vordoth, which she had thought was enormous until she became comfortable with it. She could instantly identify the functions of the various workstations from the equipment panels and monitors at each, but the configurations aboard this new ship were unique. Moving to the command chair, Jenetta climbed into it. She delicately placed her broken arm on her lap and leaned back to wait.

"Mr. Higgiby reports that everyone is aboard and the cargo bay door is sealed, Captain," Mr. Kellogg said from the com station about five minutes later.

"The computer confirms that the ship is sealed," Lt. Commander Michaels said, as he looked at the helm display.

"Very good. Get us the hell out of here, Commander."

The current image on an enormous curved viewscreen that filled the front bulkhead wall of the bridge was a view from the bow of the ship. A small inset, presently in the upper right corner, but which the helmsman could move anywhere on the screen, showed a rear view from the stern. Lt. Commander Michaels called out the steps as they were taken.

"Depressurizing airlock seal, releasing docking clamps."

"Airlock ramp is automatically retracting. Ramp is retracted."

"Easing back with maneuvering thrusters."

The large image on the viewscreen automatically shifted with the small one so that the larger image was the view from the stern.

"Which way, Captain?" Lt. Commander Michaels asked.

"Ninety degrees to larboard."

"Aye, Captain," he said as he engaged the starboard bow thrusters. "Turning to a course two-hundred-seventy-degrees relative, zero degrees declination.

When they were clear of the ships on either side, Lt. Commander Michaels said, "Reverse apogee achieved. Thrusters forward."

The large viewscreen image again became a view from the bow, while the small inset showed the stern view. As the ship began to glide slowly forward, Jenetta could see the other battleship beginning to back away from the dock in the stern view insert.

"Uh, Captain," Lt. Commander Michaels said. "I don't see an exit."

"Damn," Jenetta said. "The doors are closed. Newman, can you fire a couple of torpedoes?"

Hurrying over to the tactical station, Newman said, "Affirmative, Captain. What do you wish to target?"

"That flat area at the end of the tunnel dead ahead is actually two enormous doors that disguise the port entrance. I need you to blast a hole large enough for us to pass through. Fire when ready."

"Aye, Captain. Firing."

Two torpedoes raced away from the ship at an incredible velocity and entered the tunnel. Reaching the doors in just two seconds, they exploded with phenomenal fury. One door was knocked completely out of the port, the twisted hunk of metal hardly looking like a door anymore as it tumbled away into the darkness. The other door stubbornly clung to the track on its outer hinges, but only about twenty percent of it remained as an obstacle, the portion near the tunnel center area having been bent out and away. There was now almost enough open area for both battleships to exit the asteroid side by side. The habitat's outer wall had lit up with flashing red lights before the first door had even disappeared from sight.

"Hmmm, I think they might have noticed that we're leaving without proper clearance," Jenetta said, grinning. "Better take us to Plus.05, Commander."

"But Captain, we're still in port."

"Yes, and we need to get the hell out of this port, fast."

"Aye, Captain, going to Plus.05."

The ship began to speed up appreciatively as the forward motion was set to fifty-meters per second instead of using the slowest of maneuvering speeds, the normal procedure while a ship was still in port.

"Captain," Lt. Commander Michaels said, "a line of tugs is moving to block the exit."

"Yes, I see them Commander. Ito, open up on those tugs. We can't afford to hit them with the ship. They could damage us."

Ito, sitting at a fire control station, opened fire with the bow laser weapons. One of the tugs immediately disintegrated. Space tugs, especially those designed for deep space operations, were normally built with a standard titanium outer shell, but the inner hull layer was probably only aluminum. The ship's powerful laser had most likely stuck a fuel cylinder after burning through the hull like it was tissue paper. The remaining tugs turned tail and headed for cover with their sub-light throttles cracked opened as much as they dared in the confines of the spaceport. They knew their bluff had been called.

Kellogg, manning the communication station announced, "Everyone is awake now, Captain. They're all trying to scream orders at the same time. A number of ships are reporting that they've released their docking clamps and are preparing to back away from their airlocks."

"Time to throw caution to the wind, Commander," Jenetta said calmly. "Take us to Plus-10."

Lt. Commander Michaels twisted his head in a funny way and said, as he exhaled his breath, "Aye, Captain, Plus-10."

The entrance to the tunnel raced at the ship as the speed increased to ten kilometers per second. Because of the ship's size, the slightest miscalculation in their course could mean destruction, but not getting out of there fast also meant destruction. A second later, they rocketed through the tunnel cleanly.

"Excellent job, Commander. Now open it up. The Indians are hot on our heels."

Lt. Commander Michaels began building the envelope as he applied full power to the sub-light engines. The ship surged ahead as he said, "Time to envelope, one minute thirty-eight seconds. Did you say Indians, Captain?"

They were gaining a comfortable lead, so Jenetta smiled and said, "One of my brothers was a fan of twentieth century video dramas called ‘westerns'— fictionalized accounts of encounters between Native Americans and settlers or cowboys in the western United States during the nineteenth century. In a number of them, Native Americans on horse-back would chase small Cavalry detachments."

"Ah, yes. I've heard about them."

Newman, still at the tactical station said, "A ship is emerging from the space port, Captain. It appears to be the other battleship. Confirming that, Captain, it's Captain Yates."

"Excellent. Keep an eye on the space port opening so we know what's coming out after us."

"Captain, it just blew up!" Newman said loudly.

"Captain Yates' ship blew up?"

"No, Captain, the spaceport blew up; the whole space port; the whole damn asteroid!"

Chapter Twenty

~ August 11
^th
, 2267 ~

"Commander, all stop!" Jenetta ordered.

"Aye, Captain, all stop."

"Mr. Kellogg, did the computer record the explosion?"

"Aye, Captain. The computer should automatically log all imaging."

"Can you replay it on the forward viewscreen?"

"I think so, Captain, give me a minute while I figure out the process. The other ship has stopped a few kilometers off our larboard."

"Open a channel to Captain Yates, please."

Kellogg, at the communications station, deftly punched a few keys. A second later, the image of Captain Yates filled the front viewscreen.

"Yates here, Captain."

"Stand by, Captain Yates. The asteroid has exploded. We've stopped to investigate. We'll send you the images since you don't have adequate crew for everything."

"Standing by, Captain."

Forty-five seconds later, Newman said, "Here it is, Captain," and the image appeared on the front viewscreen.

Everyone on the bridge watched as the second battleship emerged from the asteroid and accelerated quickly away. The hollowed out planetoid suddenly appeared to turn white and swell to ten times its size before winking out a few seconds later.

"Can you enlarge the image and play back the last few seconds frame by frame?"

"Can do, Captain."

The image of the Raider hideout filled the front screen as the individual frames changed every three seconds. They again saw the second GSC battleship emerge from the station and accelerate away just before the station went up.

A voice behind Jenetta said, "Did we do that, Captain?"

"We didn't fire on them, Gunny."

"Could it have been the eight-hundred metric tons of Corplastizine that we booby trapped with two torpedoes?"

Lt. Commander Michaels' eyes went wide. He swiveled in his chair and shouted, "You did
what
?
When
?"

"We brought a little present with us on our reconnaissance mission," Jenetta said calmly. "When we were caught, we tried to detonate it, but they hit us with something that killed the power on the tug and our little
present
didn't blow."

Lt. Commander Michaels exhaled a long breath. "I'm rather glad it didn't, Captain."

"So am I, right now. But back then, we expected to be killed anyway."

"Captain," Gunny said, "is there something wrong with your arm?"

"It's broken, Gunny. That lieutenant(jg) on the floor over there fired at me and I dove out of the way. It broke when I landed wrong."

"One of the guys on my team was a Space Marine
corpsman
. I'll get him up here to take care of it."

"Thanks, Gunny. And maybe you can take these officers down and lock them in the brig."

"Right away, Captain."

Gunny stood the three dazed officers on their feet after releasing their legs. Each was still shaking noticeably from the effect of the shocks and was incapable of offering any resistance. He herded them off the bridge while dragging the fourth by his feet. The unconscious lieutenant(jg)'s head was going to be sore from more than just the effects of the stun weapon when he woke up because the tracks for each doorway protruded slightly above the gravity deck plating, and Gunny wasn't being any too gentle with the man that had almost killed his captain.

"Get me Captain Yates again," Jenetta said to Mr. Kellogg.

"He's on, Captain. I've been feeding them the images of the station through the com signal. He can hear you."

"Captain Yates, hold position. We're going back to take a look and then we'll return."

"Aye, Captain. The Chiron will be standing by."

"Chiron?"

"That's the name of this ship according to the brass commissioning plate mounted on the rear bulkhead near the entrance to the bridge."

Jenetta turned around. "Yes, I see ours. We're aboard the Prometheus. Commander Michaels, take us back to the vicinity of the asteroid."

"Aye, Captain."

Pieces of wrecked ships and habitat continued to tumble outward from where the asteroid had been just minutes before, in addition to the large pieces of inner and outer shell from the hollowed out asteroid itself. The bridge crew aboard the Prometheus agreed that the destruction was all but complete.

"Okay Commander, there's nothing that we can do here. Take us back to the Chiron," Jenetta said.

"Aye, Captain."

"Captain Yates, are you still there?"

"Here, Captain."

"We're on our way back to you. I think that it'll be easier to manage our prisoners if we have them all confined on one ship, so I'm going to send some shuttles over to transfer your group here to the Prometheus. Have the men below load up some ‘oh-gee' sleds and start bringing them to the flight bay."

"Aye, Captain."

"As soon as the prisoners are transferred and secured, I'll send you some more people to assist with operations and then we'll be heading for the Periseras Cloud Formation."

"Periseras, Captain?"

"Yes, we have some friends waiting there."

"GSC?"

"No, four freighters that I was attempting to get through Raider space. We'll be able to get more crewmen there to help with the prisoners and the ships."

"Aye, Captain."

"Carry on, Captain Yates. Prometheus, out."

"Aye, Captain. Chiron out."

"We've moved alongside the Chiron and come to a full stop, Captain," Lt. Commander Michaels said. "Uh, you did say that you were a GSC officer, didn't you, ma'am?"

"Yes, I am. NHSA, class of ‘56."

Lt. Commander Michaels looked at her intently. "‘56? You don't look old enough."

"It's a long story, Commander. I'll tell you sometime, and show you my GSC ring, but right now, I have to make a call. Mr. Kellogg, would you try to reach the freighter Vordoth on commercial frequency 25932.8?"

"Aye, Captain." After eight minutes, Mr. Kellogg said, "I have the Vordoth, Captain."

"Thank you, put it on the front viewscreen."

The familiar image of the Vordoth's bridge appeared, with Gloria sitting in the command chair. Even at the speed of IDS communications, there was a four minute lag between send and receive.

"This is the freighter Vordoth responding to the GSC Battleship Prometheus. Over."

"Vordoth, this is Carver. I'm on my way back. Over."

Eight minutes later, Jenetta saw and heard, "Captain? Is it really you?" Gloria couldn't contain herself and let her emotion show as she said effusively, "I'm so happy to hear from you. I thought that we'd never see you again." Realizing that people on both bridges were watching, she managed to get herself under control before adding, "Uh, we were just preparing to get underway, ma'am. The Nordakians have completed their repairs. Over."

"Lieutenant, did you carry out that last instruction I gave you? Over."

"Aye, Captain, I sent the detonate code within the past hour, as you ordered. Um— was that alright?" she asked haltingly. "Over."

"Yes, just fine. Good work. We expect to be joining you in about seven hours. Ask the Nordakians to stand down until we arrive and we'll give them an escort to Obotymot. Over."

"Aye, Captain. I'm glad to see that GSC showed up. Over."

"Uh— they haven't arrived yet. We sort of repossessed a couple of battleships from the Raiders. They owed me a ship anyway, after destroying our tug. We just— traded up a bit. Over."

"What were the Raiders doing with GSC battleships, ma'am? Over."

"The Raiders stole them from a shipyard where they were under construction. Anyway, we have them now and I'll return them to GSC after we get the Nordakians safely to their destination. I'll tell you more when I see you in seven hours. Prometheus out."

"See you soon, Captain. Vordoth out."

The brief communication had taken forty minutes to complete.

"Mr. Kellogg, can you get Gunny Rondell on the com."

"Aye, Captain. I'll find him."

The crewman that had once been a Space Marine
corpsman
arrived on the bridge and walked directly to Jenetta. "Gunny says that your arm is broken, Captain."

"Yes, can you put a splint on it?"

"Can do, Captain. I found a med kit."

After examining the arm gently with a small sonar sensor, he wrapped an air splint around it. As he rigged an arm sling for her he said, "It's just a simple break, Captain. You're going to have to cut down on the hand to hand combat for a while, but you should be completely healed in a few months."

"Thank you."

"No, it's me that needs to thank you. Thanks for saving my life. The guards told me that I was to be sent to the mining colony on Poqdrawk, so I never expected to see my family again. Thank you, Captain. If there's anything that I can ever do for you, you have only to let me know."

"Just give my regards to your family."

"Will do, Captain Carver."

"I have Gunny Rondell on the com, Captain," Mr. Kellogg said.

"Put him on my chair's left viewscreen."

The image of Gunny Rondell filled the small viewscreen as Jenetta swung it to face her.

"You need me, Captain?" Gunny asked.

"Gunny, I'd like to consolidate all the prisoners onto this ship. Can you shuttle your team and Mr. Browne's team over to the Chiron and start transporting them back? We have about four hours before they start waking up so we need to be done by then. Lock them up in a couple of empty cargo bays. Put the officers and biggest bruisers in the brig, and put restraints on as many of the other large prisoners as you can. We should have at least forty-seven sets left after the six sets that we've already used. All of the restrained prisoners can be put into one bay, with the others in a second. That way we can concentrate most of the guards on the second group. The restraints will keep the first group in line."

"Aye, Captain. We'll get started on it right way."

"When you're done, leave eight more men on the Chiron to help out. They're a little short-handed over there. We'll get everything squared away when we meet up with the Vordoth in a few hours."

"Aye, Captain."

"Thank you, Gunny. Carry on."

"Aye, Captain."

The com signal ended and the screen briefly changed to the GSC logo. Apparently, the Raiders had found it amusing to leave the original image in the system. Or perhaps they had intended to impersonate an SC battleship to convince commercial vessels to heave-to for inspection.

"Commander Michaels, would you turn on all larboard exterior lighting to assist the transfer operation."

"Yes ma'am."

"Mr. Kellogg, can you put up the larboard view on the front viewscreen so we can watch the shuttle operations."

"Aye, Captain."

The front viewscreen changed from an image of distant stars to show the Chiron, illuminated by Prometheus' powerful larboard lights. Without an atmosphere to diffuse the lighting, the natural bright-bronze coloration of the tritanium armor plating was highly contrasted against the bespeckled black background. Six shuttles moved through the spot-lights on their way from the Prometheus to the Chiron about twenty minutes later. It took numerous trips to transfer all the prisoners, but in two hours the transfer was complete, with the eight additional crewmen having been left on Chiron.

"Captain, Gunny reports that all prisoners have been transferred and put into the cargo bays as you ordered," Mr. Kellogg said. "The ship is sealed."

"Thank you, Mr. Kellogg. Notify the Chiron that we're getting underway."

"Aye, Captain."

"Commander Michaels, turn off all exterior lights except for navigation lighting and take us to Periseras, please."

"Adjusting course for the Periseras Cloud Formation, Captain," Lt. Commander Michaels said. "We should arrive there in about five hours at top speed."

"The Chiron acknowledges and will follow to larboard and aft, Captain."

"Thank you, Mr. Kellogg." Jenetta climbed down from the command chair, saying, "I haven't had a cup of coffee in weeks. I'm going to see if I can find a food synthesizer that'll brew me a hot cup of Colombian, Commander, and maybe get a little rest. You have the ship."

"There should be a beverage synthesizer in your briefing room, Captain," Lt. Commander Michaels said.

"I'll check."

All ship's officers, upon reaching the rank of Lieutenant, are assigned quarters with attached offices of varying sizes. The captain's bridge briefing room functions as his or her second office. With doors on both sides of the bridge, Jenetta was unsure of which led to the briefing room, but she had a fifty-fifty chance so she walked to the larboard side first. The door failed to open as she reached it, and she had to stop short in order to avoid crashing into it. She waited for a couple of seconds, then shifted to the left, and then to the right. Her movements were to allow the optical sensor an opportunity to get a good read on her body position so it'd know she was facing the door, waiting for admittance, rather than just passing it. But the doors remained closed.

Stretching out her right arm, Jenetta waved her hand near the override sensor. The doors slid open noiselessly to reveal a large, lavishly decorated office with a wooden desk that seemed large enough to serve as a landing pad for a space tug. An ‘oh-gee' chair covered in deliciously-soft dark brown leather floated in front of a SimWindow behind the desk, and two similar overstuffed chairs faced the desk. A long, comfortable looking sofa, finished in the same soft brown leather used for the chairs, sat patiently waiting for occupants against one wall. The walls themselves were paneled with real oak, finished in a light honey color, not the synthetic product that only simulated wood. The light brown carpet that covered the entire deck felt like it was ten centimeters thick.

"Wow!" Jenetta said to herself after the doors closed. "I wonder if this was original, or if it was modified by one of the Raider captains?"

A beverage synthesizer on a sidewall caught her eye and she moved to it. Unaware of how long it had been since it was last used, Jenetta touched the ‘clean' icon on the small control panel. The dispenser immediately performed a quick self-cleaning operation which included purging all the chemical lines. Jenetta waited patiently as water and liquid poured from the drip spout. Since all liquids were recycled aboard ship, there was no waste of water. When the machine completed its cycle, the ready light flashed momentarily. To prevent the small waste of chemical ingredients, it would not perform another self-clean operation for at least twenty-four hours no matter how many times the operation was called for. Only a ship's engineer, or an inveterate hacker like Jenetta, could override the machine's computer instruction set.