TRUTH SEEKER
CHAPTER 2: PIRATES
"Welcome onboard the Faal Corum," the commander spoke as he shook Farin's hand, "I'm Hraal."
"Pleased to meet you," Farin responded, "Explorers certainly are smaller than they look."
Commander Hraal looked around the Hangar Module, half of which was crammed full of production lines and various design labs. Much of the remaining space was used for fighter and frigate docking holds, with the result that one could only walk on narrow platform corridors.
"All I can say is that Explorers aren't luxury vessels," Hraal shrugged, "Now I must return to the bridge to oversee the hyperdrive test."
The commander walked off towards the bridge, leaving Farin to gawk at all the machinery around him.
"Cramped place, isn't it?" Cara commented as she walked up to Farin, "It's amazing how they managed to squeeze just about every production device into one module."
"That's not all, Explorers even have auxiliary production and docking facilities," Pyra added as he climbed through the Clee San's airlock, "You ought to be thankful we docked in the hangar module, heaven knows what it's like in auxiliary dock."
"I can imagine," Farin muttered as he wondered how all the machines could work without crashing into one another, "Amazing that the design was finalised within days."
"When the need arises, anything is possible," Pyra replied, "Aaraan and the rest will stay onboard to recalibrate the sensor arrays for deep space scanning."
"Then let's head somewhere for the hyperdrive test," Farin suggested as he walked to the turbolift.
Onboard the Mothership Station:
"Sir, all sensors have targeted the Kuun Lan and Faal Corum," reported a Somtaaw engineer, "Faal Corum reports that Clee San has docked and is secure. We're ready for the hyperdrive test."
"Excellent," Khontala replied, turning to Karan Sjet beside him, "Karan, allow me to thank you on behalf of all Somtaaw."
"Please, there's no need to, you were originally intended to maintain control for at least another two hours," Karan reminded, glaring at the meek and bruised Naabal Kiith'sa behind, "This is perfectly legal and within Daiamid regulations."
"I was referring to your generous offer of a carrier fleet at the end of the jump," Khontala explained, "To have a carrier fleet monitor the Explorers' quantum waveform upon exit is certainly far beyond our expectations."
"It's the least I can do as compensation for what you and your Kiith have had to go through. In fact, I am considering bringing up this matter before the Daiamid. I'm sure they'd be all too willing to grant an extended use of the Mothership Station…"
"No, you've done enough," Khontala said, "As it is, you already did us a big favour by giving us manufacturing rights to the Heavy Neutrino scanning array for such a low cost."
"Alright, that's enough gratitude," Karan laughed, "Let's get back to your hyperdrive tests, shall we?"
"Of course," Khontala replied as he opened communications with the Kuun Lan and Faal Corum, "Attention Kuun Lan and Faal Corum, you are clear for hyperdrive test, you may engage when ready."
Onboard the Faal Corum:
"All hands stand by for hyperdrive test," the announcement blared over the intercoms, "Destination: outskirts of the Coruc-Tel System."
Farin felt the floor shudder slightly as the quantum waveform warped the command ship into hyperspace. The vibrations dissipated after a few seconds, indicating that they had entered hyperspace without incident.
"I've heard that the Explorer class is using the fastest hyperdrive developed by Kiith Sjet," Farin said as he sat down in the viewing gallery, watching the streaks of hyperspace on the viewscreens around him.
"To be exact, Faal Corum goes all the way to 175 000 times the speed of light," Pyra confirmed, "Up to a maximum duration of eight hours. It's at least eight percent faster than the previous model. The only Hiigaran ship that's faster is the Kuun Lan, which can hit 177 000 c."
"That's certainly top of the line," Cara commented, "But I think we're already outdated. Last I heard, the Naabal are set to build a carrier that can maintain 178 000 c for ten hours."
"No wonder they were so anxious to chase us out of the Mothership…" Farin mumbled, "But I've some doubts about Khontala's whole space mining idea. We're sending Explorers out beyond Hiigaran space and all we've got for defence are Blade Mk. 5s? Back on that Sjet fleet, even Mk. 7 was easily matched by those new Raider interceptors…"
"You forgot the Seeker class," Cara reminded, "I was overseeing the flight trials, and they pack quite a punch."
"But armour-wise, it won't stand up for long," Farin muttered, "Pity we can't afford the Blade upgrade programme."
"Quit complaining already, we're a mining Kiith, there's no need for so much firepower," Cara replied, "Anyway, our objectives are to jump to the Eos asteroid field once we've tested the Clee San's hyperdrive."
"Eos?" Farin questioned, "The asteroid density there is too great for any sort of mining activity. Besides, we're a science vessel…"
"Well, Kiith'sa's orders are for us to do a deep scan of the region," Cara continued, "Apparently there've been multiple reports of anomalous ghost signals in the area, but standard sensors can't scan that far…"
The floor shook violently as the alarms went off, the wails echoing through the corridors.
"Emergency alert, the hyperdrive is malfunctioning, stand by for immediate return to normal space!"
Another shudder gripped the Faal Corum as the inertia dampers were overwhelmed. Farin could hear the Explorer's superstructure shriek as it was stressed to its limits. Thankfully, the massive vessel held together as it made the transit to realspace.
"The hell is wrong with this hyperdrive," Farin muttered, "Talk about top of the line…"
"I don't think it's the hyperdrive, Farin," Cara mentioned as she pointed to the viewscreen, "Kuun Lan's dropped out along with us."
Before Farin could say a word, the Faal Corum shook as impacts rained across its hull. Klaxons began wailing again as the ship went to red alert for the first time.
"Scramble alert! All pilots to their ships now!" Hraal's voice boomed through the ship, "We are under attack by Imperialist and Raider strike forces!"
Farin wasted no time getting to a viewscreen to see what was going on. It turned out that the Imperialists had deployed gravwell generators in the area to drag both Kuun Lan and Faal Corum out of hyperspace. Now they were completely surrounded by a full Turanic Raider carrier fleet accompanied by several Taiidan assault frigates.
"Hostile forces this deep in Hiigaran space?" Farin exclaimed incredulously, "We're barely a light year from Hiigara!"
"Obviously the martial Kiith have been slacking off," Cara sighed, "I hope help arrives soon, this attack fleet looks substantial."
Farin watched the interceptors launch from both Faal Corum and Kuun Lan. They were accompanied by a few of the new Seeker class Recons and charged to engage the enemy fleet. Thankfully, the gravwell generators had overloaded from the strain and powered down. That meant they could jump out anytime they wanted to, that is if the hyperdrives had not sustained damage from the interruption.
When the Somtaaw fighters came within range of the Raider interceptors, the technological gap became all too apparent. The Blades were easily outmanoeuvred by the Imperialist-enhanced Raider interceptors, which had no trouble tracking the outdated Blades with their new targeting systems. Bullets fired away in many directions, forcing the Blades to go evasive. The only thing keeping the Somtaaw strike craft alive was the fact that the Somtaaw pilots were experienced veterans from the Homeworld War.
Thankfully, the Seekers were more than capable of slipping around the Raiders' firing arcs. The slower interceptors stood no chance against the highly agile Recons, which were having an easy time dispatching the enemy fighters. However, since the Recons were few in number compared with the Raider interceptors, they would be inevitably overwhelmed once the missile corvettes came within range.
Faal Corum shook as the assault frigates opened up their mass driver turrets, sending slugs of depleted uranium slamming into the command ship's hull. Vibrations went through the superstructure as the Explorer's heavy rail guns came online, returning the hurt inflicted by the frigates.
Then Farin saw the Somtaaw fighters pulling back from the main battle. His worst fears were confirmed – Raider missile corvettes had entered the fight, their tracking missiles proving too much for the outdated Blades and even the new Seekers. As the Somtaaw strike craft were forced to retreat, the Lord class attack carrier approached with its escort fleet of ion array frigates.
"That's it, we're heading back to the Clee San," Farin announced as he ran to the doors, "There's got to be something we can do to help!"
"Captain, I hope you haven't forgotten that Clee San's completely unarmed?" Pyra asked as he and Cara followed their captain, "We'd just be sitting ducks out there!"
"Don't worry, I think I've got an idea," Farin reassured, a smile forming on his face.
Onboard Turanic Raider Carrier Rogue:
"Since when did the Hiigarans build more motherships?" the captain asked, "I've never seen such ship designs before."
"Whatever they are, they're putting up a good fight against the assault frigs," informed one of the pirates, "Sensors are picking up heavy rail guns on those ships."
"Quite a change in design philosophy," noted the captain, "I'd love to get my hands on one of those ships."
"Should we send in the Thieves?"
"At once, make sure cloak is on," advised the captain, "What's the status of our main weapons?"
"Ion cannons fully charged and ready," came a reply from the other side of the bridge, "Frig captains standing by as well."
"Let's give these Hiigarans some pain… fire all weapons!"
Onboard the Clee San, docked with the Faal Corum:
Farin was climbing through the airlock when another quake cost him his balance. He took a heavy tumble to the floor and swore loudly. Aaraan came running towards him.
"Captain, you alright?"
"Nothing serious," Farin muttered as he got to his feet, "Aaraan, have you familiarised yourself with the sensor arrays?"
"Sort of, we were recalibrating the scanners while you were away," Aaraan replied, "Rea and Darum are still working on it, and Ishbar's reprogramming the algorithms."
"Sorry to trouble you, but can you recalibrate the sensors to transmit instead?" Farin asked.
"I think we can, but why…"
"Just do it, I've got something I want to try out," Farin replied.
"We'll get on it then," Aaraan said as he ran off to inform the rest.
Farin turned around to see Cara and Pyra climbing in, the airlock closing behind them.
"What's the plan, Farin?" Cara asked.
"Cara, I need you to come with me to the bridge," Farin ordered, "Pyra…"
"I know my duties, I'll do my best to keep this ship together," Pyra replied as he made his way to the drive section. Farin gestured to Cara and the both of them were running for the bridge.
A minute later, Farin jumped into the command chair while Cara took up her seat at her console.
"Pyra, I need you to divert all non-essential power to main drives and the sensors," Farin spoke into the intercom, "Can you do that?"
"No problem, but for no longer than five minutes," the engineer warned, "Clee San's circuits aren't designed for military-style power rerouting."
"Just do what you can," Farin ordered, "Aaraan, how's it going with the sensor array?"
"We're just about done, the array should be able to transmit now," came the reply.
Farin nodded and disabled the tractor beams remotely. As expected, Commander Hraal opened communications immediately.
"Captain Farin! Surely you're not thinking of going out there right now!"
"I'll keep this ship in one piece, just keep your mind on the battle," Farin replied calmly as he manoeuvred the Clee San out of dock.
"No way! If Khontala hears about this…"
"We'll be fine," Farin snapped as he shut the channel unceremoniously. Cara chuckled.
"You're really going to piss the Kiith'sa off. Clee San's a pretty expensive ship you know."
"We won't get a scratch if everything goes according to plan," Farin reassured, "Now Cara, I need you to lock onto the Raider communications frequencies. Try to recreate an…"
"… An opposing signal?" Cara finished, "You intend to scramble their communications long enough for us to reorganise and retaliate?"
"It would give us a fighting chance," Farin grinned as the Clee San approached the Hangar Module exit, "You ready then?"
Cara wasn't listening, for she was already tapping furiously away at her console. Farin took a deep breath and swung the Clee San into outer space.
Alarms began sounding almost immediately as enemy fire flashed all around them. Farin yanked at the controls, sending the frigate into a dive and away from the Faal Corum's broadside where enemy fire was most intense.
"I've got a lock, recreating signal now…"
The Clee San shook as a Raider interceptor strafed them. Farin swore and wished there was something for him to shoot with. To his relief, a flight of recons glided in and dispatched the interceptor.
"Signal recreated, beaming now!" Cara yelled as she banged her console hard. There was a high pitched electrical whine as the sensors array powered up for the first time, spewing its signal in all directions.
Sure enough, the Raider interceptors suddenly broke formation and flew in random directions. The Raider pilots had probably panicked from the unexpected loss of communications and ship position updates that allowed their fighters to maintain position at high speeds. The sudden chaos gave the Somtaaw fighters a chance to strike back, the recons and even the outdated Blades dashing around to dispatch the lone fighters.
"Energy spike detected!" Cara reported, "Look out!"
Farin barely had time to fling the Clee San to one side just as an aqua ion beam sizzled past them. Apparently, the Raider ion array frigates had noticed them and were proceeding to attack the unarmed ship.
"Pyra, you finished the hyperdrive recalibrations back at the Mothership I hope?" Farin asked as he keyed in a set of coordinates.
"It's mostly finished I guess. Why do you ask?" the clueless engineer enquired.
"Looks like we'll be testing the hyperdrives a little earlier!" Farin cried as he initiated the jump sequence. The Clee San shook like a leaf in a tornado as the imperfectly-adjusted hyperspace module pulled them into hyperspace, dropping them back to normal space behind the Kuun Lan.
"Farin Somtaaw!" exclaimed the alarmed and shocked engineer, "You've just violated the number one safety protocol in spaceflight!"
"Whatever…" Farin said as he swerved the Clee San towards the Kuun Lan's Hangar Module dock.
"Hyperspace signatures detected," Cara reported as her console displayed the new information, "You're not going to believe this – the Naabal fleet's coming to our rescue."
"Come again?" the captain's jaw nearly dropped open when he saw the Naabal carrier fleet emerge from hyperspace before them.
"Then again, it seems like a compulsory thing," Cara finished as the sensors registered the Sjet fleet exiting hyperspace as well, "Anyway, you know you're going to be in deep trouble for what you just did?"
"Don't worry, Kiith'sa's probably back at the Mothership Station," Farin coolly replied as he pressed the flashing communications button before him.
"FARIN SOMTAAW!" Khontala's voice blasted through the small bridge with all the force of a dozen ion cannons, "WHAT IS THE CLEE SAN DOING OUT THERE?"
"Oh crap…" Farin whispered meekly as Cara struggled to contain her laughter.