A Captain Harlock Story
The Arcadia drifted through the endless Sea Of Stars. The stand-down crew was on the bridge idly passing the time. Throughout the ship the crew were in their quarters or the mess. Life aboard the Arcadia was each to their own until action was required. What to many regular navy looked like a lazy crew were the quite the opposite. The Captain only demanded one thing: duty when it mattered.
The Captain, the feared or loathed, Harlock sat at the end of his state room table. Meme was at the divan, playing through hands of solitaire. The Captain, silent in his thoughts sat with crossed arms staring at the empty seat at the other end of the table.
Beneath him, around him, Harlock could feel the presence of his friend, the departed Tochiro. Every memory of the diminutive pirate, genius engineer who now was the computer of the ship itself, brought a wry smile and silent chuckle before turning sad from the pirate Captain.
He would raise a glass of red wine in Tochiro's honour.
Harlock entered the bridge and stood beneath the vast space array screen.
"Nothing to report, Captain."
Harlock nodded.
"It's good to have nothing," another bridge Mate said. "Let's me catch up on sleep!"
The ease of the crew was infectious. Harlock was about to return to his state room when the ships sensor alarms began flashing.
Instantly Harlock turned around and sat down in his Captain's chair, a large, ancient, throne.
"Vessel coming out of transit space – large signal."
"Distance… 2AU."
Harlock waited for the information to be presented to him. There was no need to ask questions of his crew: they knew their role and what was important for the Captain to hear.
"Bringing the vessel up on visual…"
The space array flickered and settled, presenting the grey turreted hull of a warship.
Involuntarily Harlock rose an inch from his chair.
Eileen he whispered.
"It is the ESV-"
"She's detected us and powering weapon systems."
"General Quarters." Harlock said.
Lights changed from yellow to red throughout the Arcadia. Alarms sounded. Throughout the ship the crew were rushing to their battle stations. Behind Harlock Meme entered and stood by his shoulder.
"Open communications to the vessel."
"Yes, Captain!"
The image of the vessel was replaced with the image of its Captain, an old grey bearded man who eyes barely showed beneath the rim of his navy cap.
Harlock stood.
"Captain Harlock," the old Captain said gruffly. "You are hereby ordered to surrender your vessel to the authority of the Earth Provisional Government."
Harlock smiled. "This Captain and his crew does not recognise the authority of the Earth Provisional Government. We are free men and women under the flat of the skull and bones. Earth is the home of our heart, but we will never surrender our freedom to the puppets of the Mechanica."
The old Captain sighed and smiled. "I never expected any other reply than that lad."
"It's good to see you again, Captain. And the Eileen, that she still flies."
"Aye, the ship I trained a hot-headed upstart First Lieutenant on if I recall. But times have been hard on her. She isn't the Queen of the stars anymore, still a Grande Dame."
It was true, that hot-headed upstart First Lieutenant had been the former incarnation of Captain Harlock, an age ago when he was in the navy and fought under the command of the wizened Captain now facing him.
"Captain Raglan," Harlock saluted, "Time has been good to you as well. We have no quarrel you and I. I welcome you aboard the Arcadia for a Captain's dinner with full honours. As you have heard of our reputation as a warship, you will have also heard of the quality of our mess."
"Indeed I have Captain. It is an honour that I must refuse. In another time I would have gladly come aboard the Arcadia and listened to the music of your companion – and played you a few hands of rum."
"Another time. My invitation remains open to you Captain, always."
"Thank you Captain," Raglan's expression turned grave, and heavy, "As you know now is the time that we must do our duty to our flags.
"Captain Harlock, fugitive and pirate, surrender your ship and crew, or be prepared to be engaged."
"We will not surrender." Harlock replied. His ship was now at full combat readiness.
"Then I have no choice. Good luck, Captain." Raglan saluted.
Harlock returned the salute. "And to you Captain. I could not have wanted to face any other Earth vessel but yours."
Raglan nodded. Harlock would have noticed the sheen in the old man's eyes.
The communication ended.
"Move into extreme gunnery range and circular pattern.
"Aye, Captain."
Aboard the Eileen, Captain Raglan was issuing similar instructions to his crew. Both Captains knew each other well. Raglan had been Harlock's first ship Captain and taught him many of the naval arts aboard the Eileen before transferring to his own command during the war that had seen Earth defeated and occupied. Harlock had rebelled and continued the fight for a free Earth despite being painted as a pirate and enemy. He was still free, and commanded the Arcadia, a warship advanced and powerful. The Eileen may be a battleship but she was old. A Grande Dame indeed, not upgraded by the real powers who ruled Earth, fearing a powerful navy. The Eileen was larger, with more guns and ship missiles, she was also slower, and lacking the advanced computics of Tochiro's genius.
"Range reached, Captain."
Harlock nodded. The array showed the Eileen, turrets pointed towards him.
"Begin the spiral. All batteries on ready for my command."
"She's firing, Captain!"
A single brilliant scarlet lance that raced across the bow.
I will hate having to sink you Captain. There is no honour to destroy a grande ship like the Eileen. As you said, we must do our duty to our flags.
"Prepare a spread of torpedoes. The Eileen is an old ship and I know the tactics of her Captain well. Forward batteries, lock for climb and descent against the spread."
"Entering the first band."
Harlock closed his eye, the other lost when he chose is life as an outcast. It was time.
His eye flashed open.
"Huete!"
One, two, three, four, five, six torpedoes launched out of the prow of the Arcadia behind the Skull and Crossbones ram. The two fore-turret triples fired their yellow beams in sequence; one turret below, another aimed above the Eileen. All the weaponry was timed to arrive at the target together. If the Eileen moved up or down it would be struck by one of the triples, if it stayed level it would have to deal with the torpedo spread.
The attack was a standard tactic known across the navies. Still, it was effective. The Eileen launched its own similar attack of four torpedoes: two above, two below, and its four triples aimed directly along the Arcadia's path.
"10 seconds to impact, Captain."
"8 to target."
The Arcadia's weapons were faster, another advantage to make up the overall difference in firepower and armour.
"9 / 7"
"8 / 6"
"7 / 5"
Harlock remained silent. He could see that the Eileen was rising, preferring to take is chances against his triples than the more powerful torpedo warheads. It was what Harlock would have done as well.
"6 / 4"
The two barrages passed by each other.
"5 / 3"
"4 / 2"
"Port, 5 degrees," Harlock ordered evenly.
The ship turned, the pilot intently ready to react to any order.
"3 / 1" said simultaneously.
"2 / 0"
The Arcadia turned towards the torpedos and his anti-missile defences which began firing hundreds of man-sized laser bolts as soon as they came to bear.
On the array flashes and fire rippled along the Eileen as it was struck by a triple.
"1"
The Arcadia was ahead of two torpedoes which passed by her stern. The anti-missile screen destroyed the one ahead in a bright bloom of orange.
The fourth was struck and detonated just off the port broadside tossing the pirate ship sideways.
Harlock relaxed his grip on the chair. The first volley was always the tensest.
"Reload proximity torpedoes. Both triples at level impact zone."
Turret weapons fired faster than torpedoes. The ratio depended on crew and weapon size. The Eileen was a 1/3 vessel. One torpedo spread for every three turret volley.
"Eileen maintaining its spiral."
"Maintaining facing."
She intends to keep her distance and rely on her armour and attrition, Meme spoke.
Harlock nodded.
"We'll play the game for a few rounds."
The triples fired.
The death spiral continued. Dazzling lances flashed between the ships. Captains made decisions, gave orders. The range slowly closed. As the torpedo spread closed to pass the Arcardia's proximity warheads detonated, also destroying the Eileen's missiles.
Hits were made. Harlock remain stoic in his chair. The Eileen was still packing its punch. He smiled.
"Turn directly to face, hex pattern spread. Triples directly ahead."
The Arcadia turned sharply. The torpedoes launched out, 1/2 speed, when the Eileen would not be firing any in response. The triples flashed out.
All four of the Eileen's triples fired back down the line directly at the prow of the Arcadia. The passing beams rippled and distorted each other throwing all but one of the Eileen's triples off target.
"The old dog has learned some new tricks" Harlock admired. Raglan was a wasted man serving the Earth Provisional Authority. He should be plying the Sea of Stars just like Harlock, a free man.
The beams smashed against the prow; but that was the Arcadia's most heavily reinforced point. The Skull and Crossbones was blackened but not penetrated.
"Eileen turning away."
Keeping her distance.
"Direction?"
"Starboard south."
So she won't mask her forward turret with the retreat.
"Two three pair spread level and below, triples level."
The next triples exchange was in Eileen's favour, racking the bow alongside the torpedo bays. The Eileen was trying to remove one of the Arcadia's advantages.
The Arcadia had its turn with the next spread. The Eileen continued to dive beneath the Arcadia's horizon to get beneath its turrets whilst keeping all four of its own ready to bear. Three torpedoes were aimed at the Eileen. Two were blown out of the stars by its anti-missile screen. The third struck to the side of the second fore turret. A solid hit. The Arcadia rocked as more beams struck its bow.
"Roll."
Space has no limit on direction of facing. The Arcadia turned over on its centre keeping its heading until it was upside down and its masked turrets free to fire again.
The Arcadia concentrated its fire on the damaged turret using its spreads to box the Eileen into the path Harlock wanted it to take. The focus paid dividends. After two more volleys the second fore turret exploded and smoke began pouring out of the large wound.
The Arcadia was not without its damage. Beam pitmarks and near torpedo misses made half a dozen smaller smoke trails. Damage Control crews rushed to the worst areas to put out fires, vent air and close bulkheads.
The distance had closed considerably.
The Eileen could not, did not want to dive deeper or turn away and mask its weapons now that it had lost a turret. Harlock's direct approach had forced it into a close fight. The inverted Arcadia would soon pass over the Eileen at a right-angle.
"Match direction and dive."
The nose of the Arcadia, its Skull and Crossbones dipped, coming directly to face down on the Eileen. The ship listed bringing it inline as torpedoes and beams raced between them. Secondary weapon systems now in range added their rapid-fire weight.
"Prow hull integrity 75%. Damage to tube 4; it can still fire but at 1/5."
"Eileen rising. 25 degrees."
They closed faster.
Does he intend to let me ram? Never. Raglan would not sacrifice his crew that way.
The damage mounted.
"All torpedoes ahead, point-blank."
The crew on each bridge were close enough to make out the extent of the damage they had caused with their own eyes.
The next volley, or the last if they maintained course and collided, the prow ram of the Arcadia ready to snap the spine of the Eileen, was devastating. The Arcadia's torpedoes, down to five, were barely out of their launch bays before they struck. Two were destroyed in time, three blasted a two hundred metre gash in the Eileen's flank. The triples punched out through the other side.
The Eileen had been breached.
Harlock and the bridge crew watched as dozens of tiny figures were sucked out of the wound on jets of air and debris.
There is no worse way to die Meme said.
Sucked out in the cold vacuum of space.
The Arcadia did not escape lightly either. A torpedo blasted apart its starboard sponson. Beams blew through decks, incinerating everything and everyone in their path.
"Casualties to medical bay."
"Damage Control to decks 5, 6 and 9."
The Eileen had a crew compliment of nearly a thousand at full roster. At best the Arcadia only had a dozen score of pirates to man its stations. Each loss was a hard blow to the ship.
The proximity alarms wailed.
"Hard to starboard!" Harlock would not end the Eileen by ramming it. She deserved to go down fighting, or take the Arcadia in the true duel of Captains.
The ships raced past each other, secondary batteries blasting apart armour and debris.
"Bring her about." Harlock stood. The next volleys would decide the engagement and he would face them standing, just as Captain Raglan, his mentor, would.
"Captain! More ships entering the area!"
"On screen!"
A dozen ships of all sizes had exited transit-space. Six destroyers, two light and two heavy cruisers, a light carrier and a battle cruiser.
The array screen was taken over by an image of a humanoid shaped, tupee wearing, mechanical man.
"This is Count Mek. Both your vessels have been identified as pirates in league with the criminal Captain Harlock. Prepare to be destroyed!"