Captain Morgan: Bigger problem
"Target is launching shuttles Captain. Unknown types."
"Have all turrets target them. If they open fire, cripple them."
The turrets on the Excellon began tracking the shuttles, and when they turned to face the Excellon, three turrets were tracking each. The shuttles closed into their range, and shots came out from each. Each shuttle mounted one of the ion guns, but they had the power to fire three-round bursts. Four of the bolts hit the Excellon's shields, reducing the weakened forward shields more.
"Captain, forward shields are down to forty percent."
"Turrets, open fire."
The dorsal and two left turrets targeted the shuttle on the left, and the ventral and two right turrets took the one on the right. Their beams flashed out, invisible in vacuum, but rendered on the screen by the computer. Two of the beams missed, but the remaining four beams hit, and the shuttles were ruined under their caress.
"Shuttles are no longer maneuvering Captain. Enemy ship is still moving, but impulse readings are down to roughly one-fourth impulse. It's still thrusting Captain, but not doing much else."
Captain Morgan smiled for a moment. "Cheng, are those armed shuttles ready to fly?"
"Um, yes they are Captain."
"Good. I want them launched, and target the main ship. Our lasers are going to do a lot of damage to it, and I want that ship. We'll keep track of the two fragments, and help keep them out of any possible fire arcs." Turning to the rest of the room, "I want four boarding teams set up. Team one and two will secure those shuttles. Teams three and four will be fully armed. They will be leading the way into the nose that got snapped off, and I want them able to tackle anything in their way. They will only be going in after the first two teams are finished though."
The security teams began getting their gear together, and the two armed shuttles were launched. They approached the nose section from the broken part, and began firing their ion guns at any locations that seemed to have lights, or had active power readings as detected by the Excellon. The shuttles proceeded around the nose, but stayed away from the area that had the ion gun, because it would ravage them if it fired.
The boarding teams were ready, and they boarded their shuttles, wanting to find out who or what had been piloting those shuttles. They proceeded to the shuttles cautiously, and carefully made their way onto their hulls. Using armored space suits with thrusters, they jumped from their shuttle to the enemy shuttle, and used the thrusters to guide them on target. Making their way around the hull until they found a location to enter the shuttle, they went inside. Using their suit lights, and small glow-globs, they made their way into the shuttles, and began checking them for anyone that might be on board.
But on each shuttle, the scene was the same. Two members of a new race were on board, in two positions. The rear of the shuttles was a large cargo hold, but they were empty. When each team reported that their shuttle had been safed, they set the two bodies in the piloting section of one of the shuttles, and put demolition charges in the other. If anyone still on board the other shuttle tried to do anything with it, they could simply detonate the charges.
For the shuttle with the four bodies, the boarding party barricaded themselves in the piloting section, and kept a close eye on the other shuttle, which was visible through the window. The remaining boarding party took over the controls of the second Excellon shuttle, and guided it back into the Excellon's boat bay, where the assault team was waiting. One of the armed shuttles came back as well, and both shuttles were loaded up with the boarding parties. The three shuttles then proceeded towards the nose section, and the armored boarding units deployed from their shuttles. Landing on the hull of the nose section, they began making their way towards where the nose had been snapped off, figuring that there would be some way to get inside from there. Proceeding to one area that was relatively straight and had intact walls, they decided to set up a temporary airlock here.
A temporary airlock was a necessity in space boarding actions. If a temporary airlock was not used, as the team gained access to more areas, those areas would vent air into the vacuum of space, and soon the entire ship would be without air. If you were trying to recover people, or fragile cargo, this was a very bad thing. As a result, a temporary airlock had been developed. This was little more than a simple door mechanism. However, since it was impossible to design a door that satisfied all hull configurations, so two more parts had been developed. The second part was a chemical that would stick to anything in vacuum, allowing a boarding party to create a location that would illustrate where the door would go. From there, the door could be moved into position, and the third item was created. This was a chemical that stayed liquid in vacuum, for a few seconds. The liquid was guided so that it would go between the door and the illustrated location. This would create the airtight seal. By using two people, one on each side, a single airlock door could be installed in one minute.
The assault teams detailed four of their people to this task, while the remainder was posted at the entrance at the end of the hall. By creating two doors in this way, a new airlock could be created. Adding in extra air tanks would allow the assault team to keep the ship pressurized from the many times an assault team would have to enter and exit the ship. By stationing one of their people at each door, this prevented anyone from opening both doors out of ignorance.
In the meantime, the team's demolition experts were applying a paste of high explosive to the door that led further into the ship, and the rest of the teams were readying their weapons. When the airlock group reported they were ready, and the demolitions team reported they were ready as well, the team leader selected gave the order. A sharp detonation occurred, and the door was no more. There were some shifting shapes in the darkness beyond, and glow-globs were thrown.
Glow-globs were designed to stick to anything, allowing a team to create a light source wherever they were. They lasted for two hours, and at the end stopped giving off green light and gave off orange light for fifteen minutes. That orange light was the cue for someone to replace them before the light was lost. The components inside were designed to be broken to allow the chemicals to mix, and the gloves on an assault team were coated with a chemical that kept the globs from sticking to them.
Two of the shifting shapes began firing on the assault teams, and they returned fire. Their lasers made the air glow as the beams poured their energy outwards in a line. One of the shapes was caught by one of the beams, and the sizzling sound of frying meat was heard. The other though, pulled out something shaped like a pistol, and aimed it at the assault team. Out from the end came a pulse of energy, which slammed into one of the assault team, frying part of his armor. But the assault team's armor was designed to be heaviest in front, and of all the locations on the front, the chest armor was the heaviest. As a result, the only effect on the trooper inside was to merely shock him slightly.
The rest of the troopers saw what happened, and returned fire on the one that had shot. Five beams caressed the target's skin, and explosions occurred as the moisture within the skin was flash-boiled by the heat. The steam exploded out of the target's body and the being hit roared in pain. Surprisingly, the being did not attempt to find a good place to shoot from, but instead chose to rise up and pull out a knife. Yelling in fury, the being charged the troopers.
Several of the troopers were surprised by the attack, but none hesitated, and the beams were dialed up to a higher strength, and five beams again fired. This time though, instead of simply causing the water to be vaporized, the beams cut too fast for that, and the being charging them was cut to pieces by the beams. The other one got up and charged also, apparently trying to get revenge on those who had killed the first. But charging several people that are waiting with long-range weapons pointed at you isn't a course of action that leads to long life. Beams fired again, and this one was cut to pieces as well.
Proceeding further into the nose section, the troopers came across others who acted in the same way. They would fight for a little, and then charge into hand-to-hand combat. But each time they charged, they died, and within thirty minutes the assault team leader was reporting that there were no more hostiles on board the nose section. Regrouping at the temporary airlock, the assault team leader began exchanging command of the nose section with the standard team leader.
The Amemnon was doing something unusual in the meantime. It was turning around so that the second cargo module was facing the nose section. Captain Morgan was curious about the ship, and he knew that there was no way for that ship to be spaceworthy in the amount of time they had. As a result, he had decided to carry the pieces of the ship with him, where they could be reassembled at the Starbase, and analyzed to their heart's content.
In the meantime, it was time to deal with the tail section. The armed shuttles continued their dance around it, targeting any active power signatures with their ion weapons, preparing it to receive the troops. The shuttles came back around, and began deploying their troops again. This time though, the defenders were more prepared. The first wave of troops was thrown back, and the second wave was attacked slightly. But that seemed to be the limit of the defenders' attack capability, and the assault teams began moving forward again, this time investigating anything they found with laser fire. Most of the engineering section was still full of steam from the coolant leak, so they simply set a vent into there, and waited for the gas to disperse.
In that process, the ship was cleared of more resistance, and when the assault teams reported that the tail section was secure, Captain Morgan told the engineering department to get the tail section ready to be loaded on board the Amemnon. The antimatter fuel in the tail section was emptied, and the smaller fusion plants on board were shut down to prevent any accidents from happening. The shuttles were also loaded on board, and the Excellon and the Amemnon turned their attention to getting back on course. They had succeeded in their mission, and one less ship was available to the slavers.
They continued their route, but ran into no more trouble. The entire crew was in a state of euphoria, as they had managed to go up against one of the slavers' vessels in a straight up fight, and won. But a report from the Chief Engineer was about to change that. He told the Captain that he would like to brief the senior personnel on certain things his teams ha discovered while going over the slaver ship. Commander Verrin was there by communications link.
"Captain, I don't think you're going to like what I've found out about the enemy vessel. First of all, those guns in the wings and the one in the nose are identical. The only reason that the one in the nose was rapid-firing and the ones in the wings weren't is that the batteries for them were removed. I don't know why, but the nose gun had a battery near it that can store up to ten shots worth of power. I am figuring that the wing guns would normally have a battery like that too.
"Second, the shuttles were only carrying one gun each. They are normally designed to carry two each, and each of them normally has a battery with them as well.
"Third, most of the interior of that ship was covered with rust or oil. This tells me that the ship wasn't maintained that well.
"All those things together tell me that this ship was not a top-line ship. It was barely held together, the weapons didn't work properly, and it wasn't maintained."
"So you're saying that this ship does not represent the full potential of what the slavers can build?"
"Essentially yes Captain.
"Fortunately though, there appears to be no sign of any sort of shielding system, and the hull isn't even armored. This could be where they never realized the advantages, or chose not to use them."
"So the general consensus on the slaver ship is that it has lots of weapons, but almost no defense. What about the computer system?"
"We're currently going over the computer recovered now, but it is taking a while. We're probably going to need the Starbase's assistance to crack the secret though."
"Good. In the meantime, see what you can do to give me more information on the slaver ship, without tearing it up too badly. Is there anything else any of you want to add?"
"Well Captain, when we transferred the slaver ship, we emptied its antimatter tanks. I'd like to get a portable fusion unit into the hulk to start seeing how much of the hulk I can get back on-line. After all, you did say that we needed another ship out here."
Several officers looked at each other at the comment, and a mild chuckle ran around the table. The very thought of using a slaver ship to hunt other slavers seemed like a very good idea to them. Several officers began getting ideas too, about how they could improve the slaver ship.
Captain Morgan saw the grins on the various faces around the table, and said, "Now I know that several of you want to get to work on the slaver ship, to improve it. But don't forget, that ship alone was a dangerous match. I also want you looking over the Excellon, seeing how she can be improved as well to fight a slaver ship like that in prime condition. In the meantime, we'll go with Commander Verrin's idea of naming the various classes seen. So Cheng, I want you and your teams to go over our captured Pirate-Alpha, and see what can be used to improve the Excellon. I also want you to go over the ship, and see where we can improve on it.
"Tactical, I want you to get on the sensors. I want to be able to tell exactly what type of Pirate variant we might face next, and how deadly it will be. What level of batteries, types of guns, and if there have been any changes to their armor or shield status. Also, I want to know if it's carrying anything in its main hold, and what it is.
"Ops, I want you to start looking over the Exellon, picking out anyone who might be willing to crew the ship.
"Security, I want you to put together plans to board a ship like that. This one was empty, but if we catch one with living beings on board in the main hold, I want you to be ready to board their vessel and rescue them.
"Commander Verrin, I have the most important task for you. Assuming we can get that ship running, I want you to think up a name."
The two ships continued on their cruise, and stopped off at the colony of Omidron four. The colony of Omidron four produced various fabrics from the many creatures and plants that grew there. They even produced fabrics from minerals that existed there, including a variant of asbestos that was far more effective, while having practically no dangerous effects on humans.
Omidron four was dependant on other colonies for its raw materials, while it produced the uniforms and outfits that were worn by many. Other fabrics produced were used to help crops by providing a surface for the young seedlings to grow on, while still other varieties were used as a form of tubing. The colony would take in custom orders from the starbase, and by the time a ship came around, any plants needed were grown, and the fabric was ready and waiting to be collected.
As the Excellon settled into its orbit, and the Amemnon began the steady process of transferring supplies to and from the colony, the engineers from the Excellon were meeting with the engineers who had been working on the captured Pirate. They were sitting in the main mess hall, talking about what they had seen, and what could be done with it.
"So I'm telling Wilson here, that ship needs a decent shield system. We should go with a modified type twelve system with six section overlay."
"You idiot, a six section creates a cube effectively, and the shape of that ship means that a cube will be too darn big in terms of shield area and cross-section. We should be using a twelve section instead, which means it will use fifty percent less power because we'll be using a smaller surface for the shields."
"Twelve sections? Do you have any idea how much 'fun' it's going to be trying to program the shield control and rigging up the generators to handle twelve different shield sections? Each edge between the shields has to be taken into account, not to mention corners, and with your design it will be twenty edges that the poor control has to deal with. Mine will only have twelve edges!"
"How about a two-lobed shield design?"
Several heads turned back to see who had thought up that crazy idea.
"I'm serious. By having an upper and lower, or bow and aft shield, we will only have a single edge to worry about. There will be extra surface area to deal with, but that is a matter of pumping out the necessary power."
The other engineers looked at her, and continued their arguments, with her included in it. To any outsider, it might have looked like they were going to kill each other, but this type of discussion was their preferred method of arguing, as they could let off energy, and have a fun technical and mathematical discussion at the same time.
The decision was finally made to use a 6 sided shield configuration, with an unusual twist. Instead of the standard top, bottom, front, left, right, and aft shields, the whole system was rotated forty five degrees, allowing the forward part of the ship to effectively be protected by two shields. With the side 'wings' of the enemy ship swept forward, this configuration provided a lot more protection than a standard cube shield arrangement would. The novel idea was passed around to the various engineers, and as they discussed the shield arrangement, they began thinking about ways to improve the Excellon's shield system as well.
Now all the Engineers had to do was sneak six shield generators into their section of space, without any starfleet 'blind beancounters' (their name for the accountants who try to measure the amount of material used to weld together the doorframes, while ignoring the fact that the ship was thirty feet longer than originally designed). But they were engineers, and to them everything was a problem to be solved. It was usually solved through loud arguments while viewing the world through the bottom of a glass, but they loved to solve problems.
As for the new crewmembers that had come onboard the last time they were at Starbase 121, there was a lot of talk going on. They had been transferred out here, expecting a boring assignment, where Starfleet would not care about what they did. Instead, they found themselves on board a warship, fighting against unknown aliens. The few who were actual discipline cases were introduced to the concept of discipline under fire, and learned very quickly. Now that they were safe, for now, they talked to each other trying to come to grips with the fact of the aliens who were out there. They shared how they had been scared, and how they had come to grips with it. There had even been one person who was a pacifist on board the ship, and she was starting to modify her beliefs slightly. She did not like the idea of killing other beings, but since these other beings seemed determined to kill casually and repeatedly, she was starting to think that pacifism with a ready fist was more appropriate out here.
Returning to Starbase 121, Captain Morgan and his crew were celebrated by all the people there. The Engineering crews started getting to work on a totally new computer system and a different mind-set of how to assemble a starship. The first engineers who went planetside were mobbed by the local engineers who wanted to know everything about the alien ships discovered. After several hours, after the first engineering crews had returned, and the ideas were being passed around the various taverns, the serious thinking began going on. Several teams were already connecting the main computer found in the ship to the Starbase's computer in order to crack its secrets. The starbase computer would copy the alien code, and then it would try to figure out what different items did.
It would take weeks to figure out everything, but the local engineers were working on a substitute. Since they had no idea what the computer's details were, they were copying a standard computer core with a plug and play interface program into the alien vessel. This would allow the engineers to have a basic computer running, allowing people to have a chance to work in a shirtsleeve environment, but still having several of the necessities for working on a starship. Other work crews were hard at work trying to reattach the forward boom of the alien ship, but with the massive melting that had occurred when the Excellon's lasers had hit it, a decision was soon made to simply replace the material with Federation grade structural supports.
After a couple minutes, it turned out the pirate vessel had better structural support per volume than a Federation ship. So all those structural beams that were being put in were four times the size of the Pirate ones, causing the passages between the nose and tail to become a very tight squeeze. The material was also sent to the starbase, for the engineers to take a look at it, figure out how it worked, figure out how to make it, and possibly figure out how to improve on it.
The bodies recovered were also undergoing an examination. There appeared to be heavy bone plates on the forward part of the skull, and their immune systems appeared highly evolved, given the rate at which the defending cells still moved and reacted to various chemicals that were applied to them.
Even more of a surprise, there was very little difference between the DNA of these aliens, and humans! In spite of several hundred light years distance, a different evolutionary path, there was roughly a 96% similarity between the aliens and humans. It was even possible for humans and these aliens to interbreed! The doctors and evolutionists were having a tough time trying to figure that one out, and the main theory so far was that humanoid life forms were inherently superior to other life forms, and would out-evolve anything else. It was a bit speciesist, extremely hollow, but no other reasonable explanation based on statistics or theoretical models seemed to work. The second theory was that some race had seeded various planets with the appropriate DNA at some recent point in history. If it had happened too far back, the DNA would have undergone too much evolution and change for the DNA to be this close. The final theory that was proposed was similar, in that some race had seeded the races a long time ago, but had been keeping an eye on them over the millennia, putting down any possible competing strands of DNA to keep that certain breed of DNA 'pure'. If a race had done that, then it was possible the race was still around, manipulating the other races for its own ends.
But those arguments could wait; as it meant that several of the existing chemicals that were used against humans would work against this new race. They would have to be altered slightly, and only non-lethal items would be used, but knockout gasses, tear gas, and paralyzing gasses would probably work against them just like humans. Unfortunately, given their better immune systems, the rest of their bodies were probably built on a similar scale, meaning the concentration of the gasses would have to be much higher. Still, if assault troops used environmental suits, or stayed inside space suits, it wouldn't matter how concentrated the gas was.
Those findings were transmitted up the chain to Starfleet headquarters, and the latest orders from Starfleet were received. As of the time the message was sent, Starfleet knew about the attacks, and had heard of the new alien species. The voice message from Admiral Hunter was long, and full of confusion.
-Starfleet Headquarters to USS Excellon-
"We have reviewed your report about the sightings of the new alien species and have decided as follows:
"The Tuilasin, Secongo, and the Veichlonga, um, Veichlongoso, um, the Veich are to be detained at the starbase until we have managed to send an expedition to their homeworlds. The Prime Directive requires us to evaluate their civilization to prevent our interaction with them from interfering in their natural evolution. While at the Starbase, every effort will be made to simulate their natural environment and technology available.
"The unknown race that you have discovered is another matter. We want you to cease any potentially hostile interactions with them, and begin to open diplomatic channels with them. We at Starfleet Command believe in peaceful cooperation with other races, but in the event a conflict become unavoidable, this unknown race will be allied with us and will be able to handle any combat, should it occur.
"As for the various crewmembers you requested, we will be able to dispatch them within a couple months. Apparently their commanding officers have been unsatisfied with their attitudes towards Federation foreign and domestic policy, and have been attempting to transfer them off. As a result, you will be getting approximately one hundred and eighty new ship's personnel in the next three months. We anticipate you reiterating their loyalty to Starfleet, and returning them back to proper Starfleet ethics as soon as possible.
"Unfortunately, your request for a second Vectron class starship has been declined for now. Since we anticipate a lessening of conflict out in your volume, we see no need for any additional ships to be posted to your location."
Attached to the message was a section about recent technological developments by the Starfleet Science Department.
Commander Fontanyard has made excellent progress in his work on the new structural field generators. His exact words were, "We anticipate designing new classes of ships able to take advantage of them, and get away from the blocky style of current ship designs. Soon our ships will be the envy of every race currently known, as their elegant forms sail from star to star, bringing the banner of peace to every man, woman, and child everywhere."
Doctor Ventradin is showing excellent progress in developing a new matter transmission system that will allow us to send cargo and even people between one starship and another, without resorting to clumsy shuttlecraft and the loading and unloading process involved. We will soon be able to build sealed cargo transfer facilities, even on the most inhospitable of planets, and allow people to work in regular uniforms instead of needing heavier clothing to work. She said, "I foresee a future where there are no shuttlecraft or starships needed in the future, as we will be able to simply use a matter transmitter to travel from planet to planet. Starship accidents will be a worry of the past." When questioned about the limited range the transmitter currently has, she replied, "We have proven the basic theory is sound. From now on, all that remains is improving our technology to handle the theory."
Commander Froushkin is currently working on a new type of beam that is designed to produce a cascading reaction in whatever it is aimed at. The beam is designed to cause a chain reaction through the lighter elements in rock, allowing large chunks to be broken down easily and cheaply, allowing us to reach the more valuable ores below. He said, "With this phased energy system, mining in the Federation will never be the same. We will no longer need leaky equipment or dangerous explosives, just a single projector pointed towards the ores we need. As the rock is cracked apart, low-level gravity plates will be used to drag it out of the way. The whole operation can be overseen by a single person sitting in comfort miles away, promising a new era of comfort for Federation citizens."
Lieutenant Morster's project on antimatter transport pods is proceeding well. Her plan is to use automated probes to allow a starship in orbit to be refueled by small robots. Small sensors are place in the nose to allow the probe to automatically find and connect to the proper location in a Federation starship. "With these refueling torpedoes, ships are spared the danger of losing a person during an antimatter refueling accident. A ship can arrive in a star system, get refueled while waiting, and be on its way within hours, instead of days as is needed for current antimatter refueling operations. Also, by using on-site refueling, fuel tanks for starships can be reduced in size, allowing more room for the people on board to enjoy."
Captain Morgan looked up from the report. 'How in the world do they manage to say all of this with a straight face' he wondered. Briefly wondering at how the people could be so eager to design more comfort into warships, he turned back to the report from Starfleet Command.
"Return them to the technology and environment they were used to! They were being treated as slaves on board an alien vessel. How do they expect me to figure out what their native technology was? Their homeworlds! One of the beings doesn't even know what race he is, let alone where the homeworld is. Besides, most of them have taken Federation exams, and have done well. In fact, I want a few of them on my ship."
But still, Starfleet Command had to be obeyed, and he began to think about how to get around that order. The only information he had on their native environment was in the alien ship, so he could argue that their native environment was on board a warship. It was a long stretch, but all he really needed to report was that a suitable environment had been found for them.
The one bit of good news he received was that he would be getting the new personnel. With them, he would be able to swap out crews here faster, or even get a few combat specialists onto the other colonies to stiffen their resistance a little before the raiders arrived next time.
The key bad news though, was that he wouldn't be getting another ship. Without that ship, he would have to limit his patrols to areas near the convoy route he would be setting up, and that would tie him down too much. If he had another vessel available, he could roam free in the region, poking his nose into everything. Without it, the pirates would be able to mass their forces against a known force at a known location and path, allowing them to decide when and where to engage him. Still, he could always try to get the alien ship repaired, and use it as the flying scout vessel.
Even worse, since Starfleet will 'anticipate a lessening of conflict', that meant the fifteen megaton missiles would not be available for him to request. Without them, the only option he had was to use the variable yield missiles, and dial them to full power. But he had made a career out of using the best out of whatever weapons were available, and this time would be like the others.
The starbase engineers had made good time with the alien structural members though, and had begun replacing their crude attachments with solid beams made from the same material. Even better, they were already starting to make replacements for the Excellon's main beams, and the results were estimated to provide four times the structural strength, in exchange for a fifty percent increase of the mass of the internal structure.
The team studying the engines was making slower progress, as the materials used in the engines was requiring several new areas of materials science to be defined, let alone explored. Not only that, but the massive amounts of waste heat generated would not be wanted on board the Excellon, as the raider vessel had actually parked half of its impulse engine outside the ship in an attempt to get rid of the heat. Although a few items were noted that could be used, the sheer heat produced made the drive practically impossible to directly copy.
For the ship's main reactor, the matter / anti-matter reactor was outwardly the same, but on the inside was a slight difference. Instead of using an electrical screen to spray the antimatter in, the pirates used a physical barrier made of an isotope of lithium to keep the reaction going. Initial tests showed that by injecting the material directly at the screen, instead of letting it collide randomly, allowed the reactor to handle higher power levels in the same amount of volume. Of course the coolant system was scaled up, and a coolant that had higher temperature storage was used, but the reactor system was similar to current Federation designs.
As the engineers dug further into the ship, they began to realize that this wasn't a warship, merely an armed freighter! Even more astounding, was that this freighter was just as good as a top-line warship from the Federation. Some people began running estimates of what a full-power warship would be like, and the results were not good. In any one-on-one match up, the Vectron class starships were destroyed, and finally at three to one odds was a single starship able to return to the starbase.
But if similar improvements could be made to the Vectron class starships, then the odds significantly favored the Federation ship. With the shields protecting it from the ion guns, a Vectron class starship could perform hit and run attacks, if the pirate vessel could be convinced not to follow. With the nuclear missiles on board, it would be easy for them to detonate nukes to their rear as they departed, or even used them for long-range attacks to weaken a pirate vessel initially.
Several engineers there began drawing up plans, intending to create a schedule to refit the Excellon with the advanced systems. This time, they might actually ask the Captain before starting the refit process. Then again, they might get too excited, and start the process as they usually did, with lots of excitement and energy.
Captain Morgan was unaware of their enthusiasm though, and kept on with his plans, seeking ways to turn possible disadvantages into advantages into advantages. The large ion weapons were the key. With their high power levels, he estimated that only twelve to thirteen hits were needed to punch through the forward shields, ten for the side shields, and eight hits for the rear shields. If there was some way he could either strengthen the shields or dissipate their hit over several shields, he could reduce the rate at which his ship would be burned through. He would need some way to insulate himself against their shots, but targeting systems for both ships used similar technology, i.e. using electromagnetic sensors to target.
Wait! If he literally used a surface coating that did not conduct electricity at all, then potentially he could handle many ion shots on his ship, without any effect at all! But he still would need a way for the sensors to poke out, and that would require them to be exposed to the ion bolts. But the idea was there, and he began composing a message to Commander Faithen, his Chief Engineer. Paul figured that this sort of question was right up the Cheng's alley, so he did what any leader would do - delegate to the right person.
In the meantime, he had another item to deal with. The ion weapons had enjoyed three seconds more firing time against his lasers, and he wanted to know if the extra time was due to better weaponry, or better targeting equipment. If it was because of weaponry, then the Excellon might be refitted with a few ion guns. If it was because of better targeting systems, then those systems could also be added to the Excellon, giving them equality in ranges, instead of waiting those three seconds extra while the enemy ship got to fire first. Passing that on to his Chief Engineer as well, Captain Morgan finally was able to get enough done so he could get some sleep.
Commander Verrin was in her quarters, thinking of names. She was trying to think of a name that symbolized someone that had been fighting for the wrong purpose, and later was given a chance to fight so he or she could defend people, not enslave them. 'Reformed' seemed a bit vague, while 'Paladin' was more of a being that fought to defend from the beginning. 'Liberator' had the right sort of ring to it, but a synonym could serve her better. Telling the computer to bring up a thesaurus, she began scanning through the entries.
Ensign Baker watched as the scanner records began adding more pictures to her simulation. She was charting nebulae, subspace distortions, solar activity, rogue planets, and many more pieces of interstellar debris and activities with her combined sensor display. Parts of it were out of date, but each time the Excellon went on its route, she would be able to fill in more gaps. Even better, if they managed to have the new sensor system installed, the volume of data she could view would more than double.
Excitement filled her to the core, for the reason she had joined Starfleet was to explore, but her activities had always been at odds with Federation guidelines. They had wanted her to submit the proper forms to explore a given system, with her expected results listed beforehand, and her explorations were limited to those lines of research. But she liked to poke her nose into things! If she saw something interesting, she would poke and prod it until she was finally satisfied, and found something else. As a result, whenever people had seen her coming, they would try to hide themselves, or wind up being on the receiving end of a blond green eyed Inquisitor, who seemed to have less patience than was shown during the Salem witch hunts.
Her social life hadn't been much better, as whenever she had found a guy, she would go all out during the first few months, and then stop afterwards. During that time, the guy would be overwhelmed, and her sudden leaving would leave him a bit startled, and almost empty. Guys that had dated her before tried to warn anyone she was interested in, but the experience usually left everyone drained.
But still, here was a mountain of data, and news of a new type of subspace phenomenon. If she could figure out how to predict it, and what was causing it, then she would be able to submit that to the Federation science Board, and they would have no choice but to reward her for her efforts. 'After all,' she thought, 'who else could they chose?' But so far the information wasn't yielding to any pattern yet, and this was a mystery to her. Which meant that it did not stand a chance. She would study it every day, gathering data, until it yielded its secrets to her.
Elsewhere though, events were occurring. A harsh warlord was taking his wrath out on several of his underlings, for the lack of communications with several of the prizes under his command. They in turn took out their wrath on the slaves present, as they did not dare speak back to their leader. The slaves, scurrying away from their 'masters'' wrath, began wondering what had happened. Rumors began circulating among the beings, and all of them were wondering what the cause was for the extra anger. Some rumors said the leader was simply bored, while others hinted that several of the raiding vessels had gone out and not come back. That last one was doubted by all openly, but secretly hoped for, because every slave there wanted to be free, or at least know that someone was trying to destroy the slavers. But their tasks remained unchanged, and they kept at their work, afraid to show the slightest hesitation among the slavers, whose anger was barely under control.
In the meantime the warlord retired to his room, where the more favorable of his females and the slaves he had captured were there to entertain him. The stable of slaves present was changed frequently, as broken bones were common to those who 'waited' on him. With his rage at the prizes not talking though, he ignored the slaves, and simply sat there and brooded. He had to maintain control over the others, and any potential weakness by him would be like blood in the water to those under him who wanted his job, those of his neighbors who were wanting to expand, and those over him who wanted to place another in his location. He had to do something dramatic to demonstrate his authority, and he brooded, thinking over what would be a proper triumph. A few hours later, he smiled, as an idea had formed.
Commander Wilson looked over the results of Captain Morgan's expedition so far. He had managed to recover two of the freighters stolen, and ten of the shuttles captured as well. Even better, one of the alien ships had been captured, with two of their shuttles taken as well. With the small shipyard and medium repair yard present at the base, his crews were finishing the repairs to the remaining damaged shuttles, and the energy absorption mesh would be ready to go soon after.
In fact, it could even be possible to start equipping the various shuttles he possessed with one of three types of weapons. By simply copying the alien designs, he could start installing ion weapons on each shuttle, while changing the mount slightly would allow him to install laser weaponry. The final option was a missile launch system, with four missiles mounted near the hull, and a small turret to aim and fire them with. He decided to get a couple engineers started on various designs, as his calculations were strictly off-hand, and not the results of a proper design team.
He also called up the results of the Potenton repairs, and was happy at the results. The life-support systems had been refitted to Federation standard, while the computer core had started yielding up it secrets. Although there was no mention of where the ship had returned to its hideout, there were a few records of the aliens bragging about recent battles, and the linguistics section was already working on them. With Ved's help, they estimated only a couple more weeks would be needed for the full translation, but a rough version would be available in about five days.
While that was being done, he noticed a transfer alert on his messages. It seemed that Captain Morgan had requested some reinforcements out here, and they would be arriving in about a month. Unfortunately, there weren't any ships to assign them to. Captain Morgan himself would only have positions open for around forty people, while there were over one hundred people coming in. They would effectively need their own ship to travel in, and he began looking over the records for any ships that they could use to travel in.
He saw one notation, and started laughing. Calling up the message program, he began composing the letter to the supply personnel at the base, recommending that they use a single ship to transport the necessary personnel to Starbase 121, instead of having multiple modules do the job. By sending them on a starship, their skills would be kept sharp, and there would be very little idle time for them to lose their devotion to Starfleet.
That was what he wrote in the message. To himself though, he was chuckling, as he was trying to imagine the reaction of Captain Morgan when they arrived. He knew that official requisitions never worked, so sometimes it was best to use someone else's desires to accomplish goals.
The next couple of weeks passed mildly for the Excellon and her crew. They went to the different colonies, picked up and dropped off supplies, and generally tried to reassure the colonists that they were looking out for the remaining raiders. Several of the colony administrators began wanting a few more shuttles of their own, as since the raiders had died down, it obviously meant they had moved on somewhere else. Captain Morgan had to be very diplomatic with them, telling them that he could not give them armed shuttles due to Federation laws, and unarmed shuttles could not be handed out either, because of their low population sizes.
Even more fun was trying to convince the administrators that the pirates could still be around, as with the number of colonies in this region, combined with the fact that the base was still out there somewhere, there was sure to be a return of pirates soon. The area was obviously a close group of easy pickings, and no pirate would give up on a prize raiding ground such as this.
Tetarin V had been doing some wonderful work since they had last visited, and the new sensor array was ready to be installed. The bulky components for the Excellon to use were brought up in orbit, while the other prototype satellites and their plans were loaded into the Amemnon. The Excellon stayed there a couple days to install one of the sensor systems, to make sure it worked properly then left, as Captain Morgan intended to have the remaining sensors installed on their journey. Arriving at the next two colonies, Vizder 7 and Borak 1, they unloaded the first sets of scanners, allowing the colonies to extend their detection range by twenty-five percent. These colonies received the scanners as they were the most isolated, and they would be able to further extend the sensor network in their direction.
Returning by a different route, the Excellon passed by Pidora 2, and enjoyed a bit of relaxation in the hot springs there, while the shuttles loaded the silicates that had been boiled to the surface by the springs. The silicates were crucial to both computer systems and surfaces that could not tolerate carbon-based lubricants.
Finally arriving at Starbase 121, Captain Morgan received notice that his new recruits were arriving in a-
"Training ship! Why are they sending important personnel out in a training ship? That's the sort of vessel you use for cadets at the Academy, not for seasoned officers. Unless they want me to use that ship to turn them back into proper Starfleet officers and crew, then that ship will be almost useless out here.
"But it still does have decent sensors, so I could use it as a recon craft, and possibly equip it with a few missiles and laser systems so it has a chance to sting a freighter before it is forced to retreat. Hopefully, it will do enough to slow down a pursuer, or at least drive them off. It will definitely give the people on board a training lesson, that's for sure. Not to mention live-fire exercises are the second best training for a fight. The best way is a fight, but I'd prefer not to expose them to a lot of combat in a mere training ship."
Looking over the various training ships available, Captain Morgan began making plans on how to use each type, as Starfleet Command hadn't specified which type of ship was being sent. For the ships that had better science instruments, he would have them looking for distortions in nebulae. For ships with higher speeds, they would be fast scouts. For ships with higher small craft capacity, he would use them to scan planets rapidly. He kept on in the night, working over the designs and plans for them as well.
Commander Wilson was working as well, attempting to figure out where he now stood. He had been loyal to Starfleet, and had been transferred out here about six months before Captain Morgan had arrived. He had been ordered out here to curb the amount of barter and unofficial trade the colonies were doing, and had anticipated a successful campaign against the inefficiencies involved. As time had gone by, he had managed to get the obvious bartering and exchanges down by ninety percent.
However, as the months had gone by, he had become confused. His requests for supplies had always been quick and responsive in and around Earth space, but out here, the typical response had been, "we'll send it on the next freighter". Since the freighters only came around once every month, he usually wound up waiting for whatever he needed. Even more so when the part was rare, and he would have to wait several months for the freighter with the proper part to arrive. As a result, he had started to order extra parts that were above and beyond what was needed. At first, he had tried to rationalize his disobeying Starfleet orders by saying that the parts were merely in case he needed them in an emergency.
Over time though, he had realized that he was doing exactly what Starfleet Command had sent him to stop. He was stockpiling supplies, supplies that could have been put to use elsewhere. Looking over at the other trade figures, he realized that the Administrators of the colonies had also started up their barter again, and he had no way to effectively stop them, as he was doing the same thing.
So he had decided to do what he could. His base had several shuttles, and he wanted to reduce supplies being stored needlessly. So what he had done was start to loan out the shuttles to the colonies, unofficially, in order for them to get whatever they needed directly from each other, instead of trying to hide the goods on the freighters. This way, there was no need for them to actually perform any illegal activities, apart from the barter itself, and since the shuttles had still belonged to the Starbase, the colonies had not been violating any laws concerning excess spacecraft.
But the shuttles started disappearing. Since they were being used so often for barter shipments, he had figured that a few colonies were keeping them so engage in a higher scale of barter, even of actual trade with each other. However, that theory had been under attack when the colonies had started complaining that the shuttles had not been arriving. He had been forced to try to use the shuttles remaining to cover for each other, but with each shuttle that went missing, his job became harder and harder. Eventually, he was all but lying in his reports, showing that the missing shuttles were undergoing overhauls, when everyone at his starbase knew that the shuttles were nowhere to be seen. If Starfleet Command had sent an investigator then, he knew it would be a simple matter to count the number of shuttles listed in overhaul, and look at the empty boat bays, and know that something was wrong. Each day he had been worried that someone was going to do the math, and have him arrested and sent to a penal colony for his actions.
As the months went by, Commander Wilson had grown more and more relaxed in his position, and even decided to test Starfleet Supply. He knew that he was going to get into trouble for the supplies and shuttles, and he had started to not care any more. He ordered a few things that could be explained easily, even though they were fairly massive. Also, he began adding in smaller items, explaining that the large transport could fit them into the space left over. In that way he had ordered a hydrogen processing plant, the antimatter plant, and several other large items to his location, not to mention the other parts that were needed for routine operations. It seemed that Starfleet Supply had cared even less about his situation than he did, and that mood had started to infect the rest of the base, causing small discipline problems, lack of work being done, and similar problems.
Then Captain Morgan had arrived. At first, he had feared that Captain Morgan had arrived, in an obvious warship, to arrest him and bring him to trial. As a result, he had projected the outward appearance of a rule-obeying Starfleet officer, while inside dreading what would happen if he had come aboard and asked to see the shuttles. Fortunately, he had been an actor in Starfleet Academy, and had been able to project the image properly.
There had been no request though, and Captain Morgan had actually tried to go out and look for the shuttles. Getting curious, Commander Wilson had pulled Morgan's record, and several of his senior staff as well. Seeing not a well-groomed Starfleet crew, but a group of what would be termed misfits, he almost shouted in relief. It was obvious from the records that this crew was not here because of him, but because of themselves. Their Captain was the only exception to the group, but he had been put in command of the ship not because he subscribed to the Starfleet belief of everyone getting along, but because he believed the universe was dangerous.
Even more amazing, was that Captain Morgan seemed to relax when at the Starbase. Most Captains seemed determined to exert their control whenever possible, to remind others that they were in charge of a ship that went places, and those assigned to stationary locations like a starbase were the has-beens, people who were on their way out of Starfleet, or were considered useless in a 'true' command position. It was true that most Starbase personnel were assigned there were merely waiting for their term of enlistment to finish, but that did not mean all of his people were there to goof off until they left.
Then again, Captain Morgan's record was a good indicator of why he would feel that way. He was one of the people who was considered on his way out of Starfleet, or was considered useless. He had been passed over for prestigious posts because he had believed that there were dangers out there, and the Federation had needed warships to survive. Others had not believed that, and had managed to derail the usual promotion schedule for him. But his own stubbornness in doing his job, in spite of the obstacles put in his path, had been enough to keep him steadily advancing, although the promotions were grudgingly awarded. Finally, someone had thought up the way to get rid of him. The answer had been to give him what he wanted, and send him where both Starfleet and he wanted to go, to the Frontier.
So now he, a rule-breaker, and Captain Morgan, a tradition-breaker, were out here trying to defend over two dozen colonies from a race that seemed determined to conquer everyone in their path. Even worse, judging by the tone of the messages from Starfleet Headquarters, was that they were on their own. Starfleet believed in peaceful coexistence with other races, but here was a race that only believed in coexistence when it was them in control, and everyone else as slaves. From everything seen, they were the only chance Starfleet had of surviving the next few years.
Even though he was confined to a Starbase, Commander Wilson could still do a few things to help Captain Morgan. In fact, when the 'training ship' arrived in a few more weeks, Morgan should get a very nice surprise. He idly smiled as he tried to imagine Captain Morgan's most likely response. Turning back to his terminal, he began wading through the day's paperwork, getting items needed ordered, and approving the various modifications that people were asking for. He even toyed with the idea of ordering a few missile cells, and the vertical launch bays for them. Together, he could create a space-based missile platform that could be used to defend the Starbase if the aliens tried to attack. But that was sheer paranoia, as the aliens would be more likely to hit a colony that was closer if they started their raids again.
The three ships cruised through space, their drives propelling them far faster than light. Two of the ships would have been recognized as freighters, once. Now they bore the claw marks of their new owners, showing that they recognized only the authority that could demand it by force. The third vessel was also covered in claw marks, but where the freighters had possessed markings of the claw itself, this mark showed extra detail, as though describing to the universe that it, and those who came from it were the ones who would control whoever they met wherever they went.
Their destination was as yet unknown to those who would watch, but one could not help but pity their targets. Even worse is what the beings that controlled those ships planned for when they reached their target, for they had been stirred to wrath, and would not rest until they had drenched their anger in the blood of their opponents.
The Excellon set out again, escorting the Amemnon on its convoy mission, heading to the different colonies, picking up and dropping off a little at each colony. As they traveled, they maintained the same single warp bubble as last time, using its own appearance to hopefully lure any slavers in so they could be dealt with. They had managed to do this once before, and had netted a slaver ship, and they were hoping for big game again. The Amemnon had shields and a conductive mesh on its hull and the cargo pods, so it could survive a few shots, and the Excellon had a little mesh as well. Not only that, but its shields had been redesigned to allow a slight bit of leakage. If they ran across a single enemy slaver ship, they would be more than a match for it, they hoped.
The colony noticed the blips on the sensor grid, and wondered why the Excellon was early, as there were three blips there. But the wonder gave way to worry, as the blips refused to identify themselves or even respond to the hails from the colony. An optical telescope was swung to look at the blips, and when the image appeared on the screen, their blood froze.
For they had seen the images of the Slaver ships, and here was one of them, along with two of the six remaining freighters that had been stolen. The administrators had seen how much loot a single freighter was willing to claim and steal, and here were two of them, not to mention how much loot a Slaver ship itself was willing to steal.
Warming up the subspace communicator, they sent out an emergency distress call, sending it to every colony in range, in the hopes that someone out there would hear it in time to respond. Included in the message was a description of the ships involved, and their viewed capabilities. The message was set up as a loop, and every time the message looped, the new information was added to it.
It just so happened that the Excellon was in range, but barely. Lieutenant Vessen was on duty when the call came in. He had been enjoying the privilege of night watch standing, where he was the only person in charge of the whole ship. Of course Lt Commander Faithen would sometimes stay up in the Engineering section, but he was responsible for the overall well-being of the ship. He looked up as the communications petty officer gasped.
"Something wrong?"
"Sir, we're receiving a distress signal from Ritzak five. They report they have detected three vessels coming in, one Pirate class and two of our freighters."
Turning to the conning officer, a young ensign standing there he told her to lay in a course to Ritzak five but not to execute it yet. Moving over to a ship's phone, he dialed up the Captain's stateroom. When the Captain picked up the phone, Lieutenant Vessen explained the situation, and heard just two words concerning his course change and speed increase, "Do it."
Hanging up the phone, Lieutenant Vessen told the conning officer to carry out the order, and picked up the phone to dial another number. Getting the Main Engineering number, Lieutenant Vessen explained the situation to Lt Commander Faithen, as they needed to get full power from the main power plant. It took only a few minutes, and then the Excellon was moving through space at its top speed of warp five, trying to get to Ritzak five in time to do something.
The Amemnon was told to come out of warp, and stay in that location, so when the Excellon had finished its current assignment they could rendezvous and return to their convoy route.
Nuclear fire ravaged the skies above the colony. Administrator Waldeck had known that Federation charter would not allow obvious weapons, but there had been some designs that could be used. One of the uranium storage containers had been redesigned with a few high explosives on the outside, and the net result was that the colony had made a few command-detonated nukes. Although they only had a twenty kiloton yield, the Pirate and the freighters were staying well-clear of the planet so far. Every time they had moved in, a nuclear charge had been set off, causing massive waves of EMP, not to mention the thermal effects from the blast as well.
Unfortunately, the enemy slaver was a thinker as well as a fighter, and he launched his shuttles. A dozen armed shuttles charged towards the planet, with orders to destroy any items they found in orbit. The first two shuttles were destroyed as their ion blasts set off the explosives a little too close, and the remaining shuttles were a little more cautious, using their sensors to spot a nuke, then blasting the area with ion bolts until the object detonated.
When the last bomb in the planet's orbit had been cleared away, the three ships moved in again. The Pirate began using its ion guns to take out local power centers, and the mayday signal was stopped as power to the subspace transmitter was cut off. When the last power centers had been cut off, the shuttles began landing on the ground, and unloading two dozen heavily armed slavers each.
The colonists tried to stop them, by hiding behind barricades and firing their weapons. Unfortunately, the Slavers attacked in mass attacks, and while one or two of them might be hit, the others would overwhelm and kill anyone who tried to resist. Even worse though, were the Slavers who were deliberately not killing colonists, as they were planning to turn the colonists into more slaves.
It only took fifteen minutes, and by then the slavers had complete control of the colony, and had herded the survivors into the main gathering hall. The Slavers had thought about keeping the colony, but since the colonists had hidden the radiation filter and the medicines deep in the mines, and turned up the ventilation, the radiation was starting to rise, and the Slavers knew they had around ten hours before they had to leave.
Even better, from the Slavers' perspective, was that there were no other ships within twelve hours of the colony, so they could take their time, in picking the choice specimens from the colony, and sending them up to be stored in the freighter holds. And so the grisly spectacle began, with two Slavers going through the crowd, selecting one person at a time for inspection. Overall muscle tone, health, and reactions were all measured, and each person was either selected or rejected for transport and storage. For those that didn't quite measure up, there was another option for them. After all, the Slavers did prefer their meat fresh.
The ones selected for food would be sent up first, so the cooks could get ready preparing a feast for when the three ships were to leave. For the others, the cargo bays were cleared, and basic food stock was selected, so the slaves could be kept alive on the way back. There were a few slaves currently on board, as someone had to teach the others how to be properly respectful of their new Masters.
Ensign Felson sat in the cockpit breathing heavily. She had watched the dance of the shuttles bringing the slavers to the planet, and first few shuttles returning. She had wanted to do something immediately, but now was her chance, and she selected one of the freighters. According to the reports, the freighters were far more vulnerable to ion blasts, so her shots would be more effective if she targeted a freighter. Most importantly though, was that the freighters could carry up to 200 people in their rear modules, while a Pirate class vessel could only carry 100. If she could cripple a freighter, that would be 200 more people that would be saved. Lining her ion gun on the warp nacelles, she began firing.
The Warlord of this group bared his teeth in approval as the first shuttles began coming in, loaded with slaves and loot. The nuclear explosions in orbit had told him that these creatures wanted to fight, unlike the weak and pathetic others that lived in this region. He had recognized that the nuclear explosions would kill his ships, and battle against stupid bombs was not an honorable way to die.
He had sent his shuttles out to destroy the bombs, and after the warriors had realized that getting too close to the bombs was dangerous they began destroying them from a distance. All but two did that though, as those two warriors had died fighting, with a weapon in their hands and a yell in their throats.
When the last bombs had been cleared away, he had been wanting to join them in processing the loot, but had decided instead to take his choice from the slaves that came up, as his quarters were a little cluttered from all the other loot he had seized, and he needed a few beings to wait upon him. A warrior fought, instead of cleaning the floors. He had much menial work that needed to be done, and he wanted a few choice slaves for that purpose.
As he was imagining his quarters, with his trophies cleaned, and the walls properly painted, a buzzer sounded, destroying his wonderful dreaming.
"What is that t'falk noise for?"
"War Leader, the Glutton reports they are being attacked by a shuttle with an electron gun."
"Tell those frelk'ha to send their shuttles to deal with it. Remind them that a warrior does not call for help like a mih'vo, they deal with it themselves."
"Yes War Leader."
Sighing, the War Leader flopped back in his chair. He had volunteered for this assignment because he wanted to bring honor and glory to himself, allowing him to become the new Warlord, instead of the simpering worm that currently sat in the chair. Ever since a few freighters and one Hawk class vessel had stopped talking, the Warlord had been agitated. Simply because another War Leader and a few t'falk LootMasters had stopped talking was no reason to get worried. They had been in this region for many years, and there had been nothing that could have opposed them. The Lootmasters had probably taken their loot and moved outwards, seeking new ground to prey upon.
But the Warlord had undoubtedly sensed his mood, which was the best reason why he had been assigned these Lootmasters to accompany him. They seemed to either question his every order, or ask him for orders for everything. It seemed as though these two had been chosen to cause him as much trouble as possible, and dishonor himself in the eyes of those on his ship. But his orders were being obeyed, and Lootmaster Kor'mok was slowly turning his ship to reduce the effect of the electron guns, and his four shuttles were being launched from the planet to deal with the Tonk fly bothering them.
Ensign Felson watched four shuttles change course for her. All of these shuttles were of the alien design, while the standard Federation designs seemed to be still loading 'cargo' from the planet. She fired a few shots at the incoming shuttles now, more in an attempt to scare them off than actually hit them, and was rewarded as they began dodging and weaving slightly, but still coming in. She looked at the freighter that she had fired at earlier, and gasped. It was heading towards her as well! Apparently the commander of the freighter wanted to deal with the person who had been firing at him earlier.
Recording their positions and courses, she began edging back towards the surface of the planet's moon, trying to avoid being shot. She needed those shuttles a little closer for the plan to work. Firing a couple more blasts to keep their attention on her, she ducked back around the moon, hoping the plan would work.
The lead shuttle of the four chasing seemed to have larger patterns on it, and the image of a leader was reinforced by the conversation that took place between the four shuttles. "This is Talon Leader. The kill is mine. I will pursue, cripple and kill it. The rest of you will follow but only to record my battle. This is to be a fight between me and whatever filth is in the other shuttle, and all of you are to stay out."
There were various mumbled agreements, and a few veiled complaints about the leader grabbing all the glory, but the other four agreed, and followed the leader around the moon, at a respectful distance. Suddenly, over the channels they heard, "What is, no!" At the same time, the Talon Leader's shuttle was seen to flare brilliantly, and then parts of it seemed to explode.
Suddenly, they saw what their leader had seen as well, and they knew they were dead. But they were warriors, and merely because one would die is never a reason to retreat. Pushing their drives to the limits, they charged in at the four shuttles waiting for them, and the massive ship behind them.
Captain Morgan smiled as the trap was sprung. By bringing his ship behind the planet's moon, he had been able to mask most of his warp signature, and coming out of warp close to the moon had managed to save an hour off their travel time. On the way in, he had set up his trap, and he smiled as the laser turrets crippled the third of the four shuttles. The last one seemed to be determined to ram the Excellon, but it was directly in front, and the turret lasers were swinging around, trying to damage or destroy the shuttle before it rammed. The Excellon's shields were up, but having a shuttle ram them before a battle could easily turn the tide.
The last pilot cried out as the last of his fellow pilots were shot down by the shuttles and the large vessel. These beings had used a foul trap and attacked like cowards, and his fellow warriors would be denied entry into the warrior's hall. But he still could avenge their souls, and he pushed every bit of power to his engines, and aimed himself at the larger vessel. If he could damage it enough with his attack, the other warriors behind him would be able to defeat this ship of cowards. Letting out a roar, he bored in.
Captain Morgan saw the vessel accelerate, and smiled as he saw its path. Turning to the main weapons officer, he said, "Fire main lasers."
The last pilot wondered as the large vessel turned towards him, and he snarled as he imagined the beings onboard trying to ram him as well. But his vision was suddenly wiped out in a bright light, and he barely had time to realize his mistake as the spinal lasers from the Excellon all but vaporized his ship.
The shuttles came out again from behind the moon, but they did not open fire this time. They were plotting targets for the Excellon, and they carefully recorded the positions of the vessels. Behind them, the vertical launch cells of the Excellon were opening, and missiles began blasting out. But instead of heading in at top speed, the missiles were overloading their engines initially to get a high velocity, then drift in unpowered. When the Excellon arrived and began to open fire, all they would need was a radio signal to detonate.
Waiting a couple minutes, the Excellon came out from behind the moon, and began locking onto the Pirate class vessel. Since they were still out of laser range, he did not go active with the sensors, but the passive sensors were busy gathering data. Unfortunately, they could not tell what type of Pirate it was or how many people were in the cargo holds, but they could see shuttles lifting off from the planet. Realizing what was in the shuttles, Captain Morgan called up a tactical plot showing their locations, vectors, and the shut down missiles.
Seeing two of the missiles getting close to a freighter, he ordered them to detonate at the closest point of approach. Twin nuclear detonations should get their attention quite well. In addition, he ordered a fire solution on the Pirate, with four nuclear missiles targeting it, with each missile at full power.
The War Leader relaxed as the shuttles began carrying up the first courses for his feast tonight, then gasped in shock as the ship's sensors picked up the new contact. The vessel was bigger than his personal ship, and he could see the sensors detecting what would obviously fire control emissions coming from it. He now knew why the other ships had disappeared, but he bared his fangs, as he would prevent that ship from getting him.
Yelling out commands, he ordered the Lootmasters to have their freighters join up with him, as it was honorable to attack a larger opponent with multiple warriors. The glory would be shared, but this battle would be told often over victory feasts, and there would be more than enough glory for everyone there.
Suddenly two nuclear explosions occurred near one of his freighters, and the Lootmaster reported that his vessel was gushing atmosphere, and his ship was effectively out of the fight until they could get into suits. Seeing the loss of firepower from that vessel, the War Leader totaled his current assets; one warship with three electron guns, but one of them was missing its storage cell, and one freighter with a total of ten small electron guns. If he could use his ship to hammer from long range, he could distract the large ship enough for the Lootmaster to get his ship into close range, and cut loose with all ten electron guns. Yelling his orders to the Lootmaster, he ordered top speed, and to charge all weapons and storage cells.
Several other nuclear explosions occurred, but they were too far away to do significant damage, although a couple warm spots on his ship's wings were reported. The Lootmaster reported only one significant explosion, and that had merely damaged the cargo pod of his ship. Both ships were still in good fighting condition, and they accelerated to meet their foe.
Captain Morgan watched as the remaining missiles detonated, and frowned. They had detonated too far from their targets to do any effective damage, and the two remaining ships were heading in. Wanting to see what sort of armament the freighter was equipped with, he had it brought up on the main viewer. Seeing the two sets of ion guns, he knew that he better not let the Excellon get too close. But that ship was equipped with a commercial engine, so it could go long distances, but the Excellon could easily outrun it. Of course the Pirate would make things interesting, and he watched as the first ion blasts began coming out from it.
The War Leader watched as the unknown vessel slowed down, and snarled at it. It was obvious the cowards were afraid to face him, even with their larger vessel, and he yelled the command to open fire. The wing guns volleyed their shots, and the bow gun fired it single shot, and the electron pulses raced out. A total of eleven pulses were fired, and he watched to see how accurate his gunners were.
Captain Morgan watched the pulses hit the shields, and spared a glance at the energy mesh readings. Of the eleven pulses fired, eight had hit the forward shields, but the shields were still holding at forty percent strength. Without the leaky modification, the shields would have been down to thirty three percent strength. The energy that got through though, hit the mesh and was conducted to special batteries and power flow systems. Because of that little bit of power, the energy mesh itself was able to provide enough power to restore one percent of the shields. Of course, that was a very low efficiency, but the scientists had assured him they were working on an improved version.
Still though, the Pirate was closing fast, and he watched as it approached close enough to use the spinal lasers effectively.
The War Leader watched as some sort of bubble around the target ship absorbed the electron pulses. Some of the power had managed to hit the ship, so that was good, but that bubble had apparently managed to stop his entire first strike. That tactic was what they had designed these hawk class vessels for, and this vessel seemed designed to counter. But that bubble was produced by onboard equipment, so obviously some of the room inside had been taken up by the equipment. He ordered a change to one side, and the ship banked hard as the helmswarrior instinctively maneuvered the ship to the side.
Captain Morgan watched in delight as the alien ship turned hard and exposed its large surface area. Whoever was over there had forgotten that in a space fight, you don't need to bank a ship in order to turn. Deciding to take advantage of it, Captain Morgan ordered, "Fire main lasers."
Again, in space, there is no way to see a laser in operation. The viewscreen provided a simulation of the lasers streaking out, but there was no simulation done on the slaver ship. The lasers had been trained on its nose, and the target's very movement allowed the beams to cut through the hull in a line extending from the nose to the tail. Atmosphere gushed from the seam, and the engines had a small explosion occur as they were badly damaged by the laser.
The War Leader gasped in shock as the reports came in. This ship had some sort of weapon that was gutting his ship from one end to the other. All of his defenses and tactics relied on absorbing an opponent's electron bolts with onboard systems, but this type of weapon required a different set of defenses and tactics. In fact, the best sort of defense against this sort of weapon was armor, designed to reflect and refract the photons hitting his ship. Other options for the armor would be something with a high thermal threshold, so it took a lot of time and energy to melt each unit of armor. That time could be put to use maneuvering his ship, to prevent the beam from resting on one part of the armor for too long.
But he had only a few moments for that series of thoughts as the air was escaping from the bridge quickly, and in a few minutes everyone there was unconscious from the vacuum. After that, it was only a matter of time for the moisture in their bodies to boil off.
Captain Morgan watched as all activity on the enemy Pirate stopped suddenly, and smiled. Even though the main lasers were hard to aim properly, whenever they hit a target, they always did a wonderful job. Getting in closer, he ordered the armed shuttles to disable all electrical activity as before, to make sure the Pirate didn't turn around and attack them, as they still had two other freighters to deal with.
The closer freighter had apparently seen what had happened to the Pirate, and was trying to get in close to use its guns before it too was destroyed. But proceeding in straight towards the Excellon was a mistake. Although it was out of the fire arc of the main lasers, the other lasers were able to track it well, and it only took a couple more seconds before both electron gun sets were cut off from the ship. The shuttles again crippled it, before following the Excellon towards the planet. Here though, the remaining six shuttles and the freighter waited, determined to die before retreating an inch. The shuttles were ready for combat, and the freighter had managed to patch the biggest holes in its skin.
Deciding to not bother with closing against the shuttles, Captain Morgan asked for a close-up of the freighter. Seeing the larger electron gun on top, he told the lasers to shear that gun off first. They had managed to recharge their forward shields, so the two shots fired by the large ion gun only did fifteen percent damage before the turret lasers were able to cut it and the smaller cluster of guns off the freighter.
With its weapons removed, the freighter was unable to influence the fight that followed. For the shuttles were still active, and they came in at their top speeds. Three alien shuttles and three Federation shuttles sped in toward the Excellon, firing their electron guns the whole way in. The alien shuttles became the highest priority for the laser turrets, as they carried two electron guns each while the Federation shuttles only carried one each.
The battle around the Excellon turned into a wild melee, as the six attacking shuttles swarmed around, trying to get a shot into a weakly defended part, while the four defending shuttles tried to pick off an attacker here and there. During the whole time, the Excellon's laser turrets were firing, in an attempt to take out an enemy shuttle by chance or skill.
Eventually, all six enemy shuttles were taken down, and Captain Morgan looked at his security chief. "Begin landing your troops. I want that colony secured, and if possible, I want prisoners. Ved can translate their speech, and we have a brig to store them in until we rendezvous with the Amemnon."
Lt Commander Vergan turned on her heels, and began barking orders for her security details. They were to go down and secure the colony, in case any of the slavers were still alive down there. Once that was done, or the colony's security force had taken over, they would be returning to the Excellon to take care of the ships and shuttles still in orbit.
The four armed shuttles from the Excellon dropped through the atmosphere, and began depositing their troops near the main colony buildings. The soldiers steadily moved forwards, checking out each room, and clearing it. The first sign of resistance came when they began approaching the largest building. Two shots were fired towards them, and they ducked low, staying behind cover. Knowing they had to get inside that building, as none of the colonists had been found yet, Vergan began ordering his troopers to advance in a leapfrog fashion, with one team covering another while they alternated advancing.
Several more shots were fired, and the Federation security troops returned fire, with the shuttles above firing electron pulses to try and keep the slavers' heads down. Finally, the troopers were at the doors to the main building, with a couple teams watching the windows in case any of the slavers tried to jump out and circle around.
Using a small override control, the doors were opened, and several concussion grenades were thrown in, to keep anyone inside from wanting to get close. Tossing glow-globs next, the troopers began moving into the building, trying to find all the intruders. With their night vision systems, they could easily see with and without the glow-globs, but they had tossed them in to make sure that any Federation personnel wouldn't attack them out of panic. They began moving from one room to the next, and the first attack came swiftly.
Two troopers were checking out a room, examining the corners, when suddenly two of the slavers dropped from the ceiling lights, and began grappling with them. The power suits the troopers were wearing allowed them some strength enhancement, but the slavers had reflexes and flexibility on their side. The two troopers attacked were slow and clumsy against the slavers, and they knew they had to do something to change the balance.
Fortunately, the next two troopers saw what was going on, and one of them tossed in another concussion grenade, causing the two slavers to fall to the floor from the blast. The troopers had been protected by their armor, and they quickly went to work securing the prisoners. Remembering how the slavers had been very strong, the usual restraints were tripled up to make sure neither of the slavers escaped.
Armed with the knowledge that the slavers might wait in the ceilings, the process of clearing the rooms took a little longer, and after several dozen more slavers were captured or killed, they finally arrived at the main gathering hall, and were shocked. Every one of the colonists still alive had been herded in here, and from the way they were huddled around each other, what the slavers had done wasn't pretty. A few of the colonists that had been selected for food had bites taken out of their muscles, and the medical personnel had made up crude bandages for them trying to stop the blood loss with pressure pads and tourniquets. Other colonists had been selected for strength, and their limbs showed stress from where the slavers had tried to pull them apart to see how tough they were. The result was that all of them had limbs dislocated, but the doctors and medics had been able to pop them back in properly. The final group though, had been selected for the slavers' 'entertainment'. The men selected had several deep cuts in their bodies from where the slavers had fought them and won, while the women were huddled together, afraid of anyone touching them because of what had happened to them. The troopers who saw the colonists first were horrified at the thought of what had gone on in the room, but then the feeling became one of rage.
While the troopers were expressing their rage in different ways, the medical personnel were escorted to the hospitals, in case of any more slavers, and they brought the injured patients with them. It took several hours for all the wounds to be closed up, and the patients stabilized, but the doctors and nurses worked wonders, even as tired and injured as some of them were. Even the nurses who had been 'tried out' by the slavers managed to shake off their cobwebs and do their jobs. But their actions were more robot-like than anything else, as their eyes still showed the horror of what had happened.
The security detail for the colony was finally assembled, and they spread out through the tunnels, checking them for any remaining slavers, and picking up the radiation filters and medicines as well. When the colony was finally pronounced secure, Lt Commander Vergan gave a report to Captain Morgan.
Everyone else on the bridge had become accustomed to Captain Morgan being a rock of solidity, but that day they saw the magma that lay beneath. He said nothing, but his eyes burned with inner fire, and everyone there grew afraid. It wasn't because they were worried about him lashing out at them, but because of the rage that was all too evident. They had heard through the grapevine how the Federation planned to make peace with these slavers, and the thought of making peace with these slavers was too horrible to contemplate. After all, if they did try to make peace, the traditional Federation way of allowing for a race's unique characteristics meant that certain colonies would be selected to be the prey of these slavers.
But the rage passed, and Captain Morgan was again in control of himself. Looking around, he saw people working at their posts, and smiled, because their calm actions reminded him that he would have to fight the slavers, but not become one of them. He also remembered the other ships in the area that had been crippled, and the ground troops were recalled to take control of them.
The clean up on board the ships went well, although there were a few trouble spots. Several times a trooper would go almost berserk when fighting one of the slavers, and the others would have to restrain him or her from killing the slaver with bare hands. Whenever they found a group of ex-slaves, they would put them in a safe location (usually the shuttle they came in), and keep on going. Several times, shuttles would detach from the ship being taken over, and would deposit the liberated slaves on the colony.
There were even a few 'entertainment' slaves kept, including a few that looked similar to the slavers. When a translator on board the ship explained that these were the females of the slavers, and that the slavers considered their females and slaves in the same category, the troopers were shocked again. Several of them had grown up with the concept of all beings being created with equal rights, and the thought of someone treating member of their own species, let alone members of another species, as slaves was making them almost numb to further shocks.
At the end, Captain Morgan totaled up what had been recovered. One Pirate Beta vessel, with open stomach; two freighters, with a total of fifteen small electron guns and one large electron gun, six alien shuttles, and three Federation armed shuttles. Nodding to himself, he thought, 'Not a bad day's work'. But the thought of what the colonists had gone through went through his mind repeatedly. Even more important was what one of the colonists had said about the nuclear mines that had been in orbit, and the few hours they had bought for the colonists to get underground and for the Excellon to arrive.
He knew that the mines were highly illegal, but they had worked. Unfortunately, the radiation from the mines in orbit would show up for a long time, and the next ship that came by would be able to spot what had happened easily. But fusion warheads were much cleaner, and the Excellon still had 110 missiles in its vertical launch bays. Thinking slowly, knowing he was violating Federation law about arming colonists, Captain Morgan ordered, "Deploy ten warheads from our vertical launch missiles. They will be transferred to the colony to function as mines in orbit."
Several people on board the bridge gasped at the order. They knew that Federation law prohibited colonies from owning weapons, and that Captain Morgan's orders was completely illegal. The weapons officer was the first to speak up.
"Captain, we can't do that. It goes against Federation law to let colonies have weapons of any kind. If we let the colony have weapons, then we're no better than the pirates we're hunting."
"Lieutenant I know that. I also know that those mines they had placed in orbit were the only thing that slowed down these slavers enough for us to arrive in time. I don't like arming colonists any more than you do, but if we are to get anywhere in time, the colonies need something to slow down or stop these pirates. Unless we can get orbital laser platforms in, using our missile warheads as clean mines will work in the meantime."
"What if the colony tries to rebel after the pirates are driven away? They will have top of the line weaponry to hold off ships with."
"That makes it even more important that we provide the weapons. Since they are ours, we can record their control codes, and if the colony later decides to rebel, we can always drop in, disarm or detonate the mines remotely, and put the Federation back in control. The other option is watching the colonists put more of those fission warheads in orbit, with the radiation they cause, and not have them under our control."
Lieutenant Ilhar quieted down at that commented, and but off his retort as he thought about the obvious problem, and the two solutions. No matter what they did, the colonists would soon have more mines put in orbit, and that was a serious problem. They could either provide the mines themselves, or the colonists would build them. If they provided the mines from their missile warheads, the explosions would be clean fusion explosions, and they could always disable them later with the control codes. But if the colonists built their own warheads, they would be dirty fission bombs, and there would be no way to disarm them later.
The real problem in his mind was that if they provided the warheads to act as mines, they would be violating Federation law. He knew that he had been posted out here because he wasn't properly Federation, but he had always tried to obey Federation law wherever he went. Now he was faced with a situation he had never expected, and his fundamental beliefs were being assailed by the fact that mines were needed to keep the slavers away. He had a simple choice, but it was not an easy one. Either violate his deepest-held beliefs, or watch the pirates slaughter Federation citizens.
The internal struggle barely showed on the outside, and after a few seconds, he nodded his head. He would get the warheads removed and reconfigured as mines. Captain Morgan could only see a hint of the struggle that occurred on the inside, and he knew that he would have the Chief Engineer talk to him later, to help him accept his decision.
Already the salvage crews were reporting back with their news, and it was fairly good. One of the freighters was damaged, but the other contained enough parts to get it flying again. They could attach the pods to the freighter that could still move, and store the other nose and the Pirate in its cargo holds to be returned to starbase 121.
The missiles were jettisoned and their warheads removed, and the Ritzak colony members began the process of hooking the warheads up to their mine control system. The power plant was being repaired in the meantime, and soon they could report back to starbase 121 what had happened, and what the slavers had done to the people here. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that the people back there would be horrified by what had nearly happened, and would try to get help from the rest of the Federation.
The best art was that the two freighters that had been recovered were among the earliest ones captured. The Gervon had disappeared at the earliest outbreak, and the Halmat was a little more recent. Some people had looked funny when they realized they had recaptured five freighters, but Captain Morgan reminded them that they had recovered half of the recent disappearances earlier, not half of the total amount. Now with four freighters recovered out of eight originally stolen, and nineteen out of twenty shuttles accounted for, they were definitely making an impact on the local slaver operations.
With the Gervon following them, Captain Morgan led the ship back to where they had left the Amemnon, intending to escort both freighters back to the starbase, and then continue the rounds. After all, if he sent the Gervon back by itself, the freighter might get recaptured, and that would tip off the slavers as to how much firepower was being wielded to stop their activities. As long as the Excellon was able to remain an unknown force, and able to surprise the slavers, they would have a chance.
But when they returned to where they had left the Amemnon, everyone grew quiet. For the Amemnon was gone.
"Target is launching shuttles Captain. Unknown types."
"Have all turrets target them. If they open fire, cripple them."
The turrets on the Excellon began tracking the shuttles, and when they turned to face the Excellon, three turrets were tracking each. The shuttles closed into their range, and shots came out from each. Each shuttle mounted one of the ion guns, but they had the power to fire three-round bursts. Four of the bolts hit the Excellon's shields, reducing the weakened forward shields more.
"Captain, forward shields are down to forty percent."
"Turrets, open fire."
The dorsal and two left turrets targeted the shuttle on the left, and the ventral and two right turrets took the one on the right. Their beams flashed out, invisible in vacuum, but rendered on the screen by the computer. Two of the beams missed, but the remaining four beams hit, and the shuttles were ruined under their caress.
"Shuttles are no longer maneuvering Captain. Enemy ship is still moving, but impulse readings are down to roughly one-fourth impulse. It's still thrusting Captain, but not doing much else."
Captain Morgan smiled for a moment. "Cheng, are those armed shuttles ready to fly?"
"Um, yes they are Captain."
"Good. I want them launched, and target the main ship. Our lasers are going to do a lot of damage to it, and I want that ship. We'll keep track of the two fragments, and help keep them out of any possible fire arcs." Turning to the rest of the room, "I want four boarding teams set up. Team one and two will secure those shuttles. Teams three and four will be fully armed. They will be leading the way into the nose that got snapped off, and I want them able to tackle anything in their way. They will only be going in after the first two teams are finished though."
The security teams began getting their gear together, and the two armed shuttles were launched. They approached the nose section from the broken part, and began firing their ion guns at any locations that seemed to have lights, or had active power readings as detected by the Excellon. The shuttles proceeded around the nose, but stayed away from the area that had the ion gun, because it would ravage them if it fired.
The boarding teams were ready, and they boarded their shuttles, wanting to find out who or what had been piloting those shuttles. They proceeded to the shuttles cautiously, and carefully made their way onto their hulls. Using armored space suits with thrusters, they jumped from their shuttle to the enemy shuttle, and used the thrusters to guide them on target. Making their way around the hull until they found a location to enter the shuttle, they went inside. Using their suit lights, and small glow-globs, they made their way into the shuttles, and began checking them for anyone that might be on board.
But on each shuttle, the scene was the same. Two members of a new race were on board, in two positions. The rear of the shuttles was a large cargo hold, but they were empty. When each team reported that their shuttle had been safed, they set the two bodies in the piloting section of one of the shuttles, and put demolition charges in the other. If anyone still on board the other shuttle tried to do anything with it, they could simply detonate the charges.
For the shuttle with the four bodies, the boarding party barricaded themselves in the piloting section, and kept a close eye on the other shuttle, which was visible through the window. The remaining boarding party took over the controls of the second Excellon shuttle, and guided it back into the Excellon's boat bay, where the assault team was waiting. One of the armed shuttles came back as well, and both shuttles were loaded up with the boarding parties. The three shuttles then proceeded towards the nose section, and the armored boarding units deployed from their shuttles. Landing on the hull of the nose section, they began making their way towards where the nose had been snapped off, figuring that there would be some way to get inside from there. Proceeding to one area that was relatively straight and had intact walls, they decided to set up a temporary airlock here.
A temporary airlock was a necessity in space boarding actions. If a temporary airlock was not used, as the team gained access to more areas, those areas would vent air into the vacuum of space, and soon the entire ship would be without air. If you were trying to recover people, or fragile cargo, this was a very bad thing. As a result, a temporary airlock had been developed. This was little more than a simple door mechanism. However, since it was impossible to design a door that satisfied all hull configurations, so two more parts had been developed. The second part was a chemical that would stick to anything in vacuum, allowing a boarding party to create a location that would illustrate where the door would go. From there, the door could be moved into position, and the third item was created. This was a chemical that stayed liquid in vacuum, for a few seconds. The liquid was guided so that it would go between the door and the illustrated location. This would create the airtight seal. By using two people, one on each side, a single airlock door could be installed in one minute.
The assault teams detailed four of their people to this task, while the remainder was posted at the entrance at the end of the hall. By creating two doors in this way, a new airlock could be created. Adding in extra air tanks would allow the assault team to keep the ship pressurized from the many times an assault team would have to enter and exit the ship. By stationing one of their people at each door, this prevented anyone from opening both doors out of ignorance.
In the meantime, the team's demolition experts were applying a paste of high explosive to the door that led further into the ship, and the rest of the teams were readying their weapons. When the airlock group reported they were ready, and the demolitions team reported they were ready as well, the team leader selected gave the order. A sharp detonation occurred, and the door was no more. There were some shifting shapes in the darkness beyond, and glow-globs were thrown.
Glow-globs were designed to stick to anything, allowing a team to create a light source wherever they were. They lasted for two hours, and at the end stopped giving off green light and gave off orange light for fifteen minutes. That orange light was the cue for someone to replace them before the light was lost. The components inside were designed to be broken to allow the chemicals to mix, and the gloves on an assault team were coated with a chemical that kept the globs from sticking to them.
Two of the shifting shapes began firing on the assault teams, and they returned fire. Their lasers made the air glow as the beams poured their energy outwards in a line. One of the shapes was caught by one of the beams, and the sizzling sound of frying meat was heard. The other though, pulled out something shaped like a pistol, and aimed it at the assault team. Out from the end came a pulse of energy, which slammed into one of the assault team, frying part of his armor. But the assault team's armor was designed to be heaviest in front, and of all the locations on the front, the chest armor was the heaviest. As a result, the only effect on the trooper inside was to merely shock him slightly.
The rest of the troopers saw what happened, and returned fire on the one that had shot. Five beams caressed the target's skin, and explosions occurred as the moisture within the skin was flash-boiled by the heat. The steam exploded out of the target's body and the being hit roared in pain. Surprisingly, the being did not attempt to find a good place to shoot from, but instead chose to rise up and pull out a knife. Yelling in fury, the being charged the troopers.
Several of the troopers were surprised by the attack, but none hesitated, and the beams were dialed up to a higher strength, and five beams again fired. This time though, instead of simply causing the water to be vaporized, the beams cut too fast for that, and the being charging them was cut to pieces by the beams. The other one got up and charged also, apparently trying to get revenge on those who had killed the first. But charging several people that are waiting with long-range weapons pointed at you isn't a course of action that leads to long life. Beams fired again, and this one was cut to pieces as well.
Proceeding further into the nose section, the troopers came across others who acted in the same way. They would fight for a little, and then charge into hand-to-hand combat. But each time they charged, they died, and within thirty minutes the assault team leader was reporting that there were no more hostiles on board the nose section. Regrouping at the temporary airlock, the assault team leader began exchanging command of the nose section with the standard team leader.
The Amemnon was doing something unusual in the meantime. It was turning around so that the second cargo module was facing the nose section. Captain Morgan was curious about the ship, and he knew that there was no way for that ship to be spaceworthy in the amount of time they had. As a result, he had decided to carry the pieces of the ship with him, where they could be reassembled at the Starbase, and analyzed to their heart's content.
In the meantime, it was time to deal with the tail section. The armed shuttles continued their dance around it, targeting any active power signatures with their ion weapons, preparing it to receive the troops. The shuttles came back around, and began deploying their troops again. This time though, the defenders were more prepared. The first wave of troops was thrown back, and the second wave was attacked slightly. But that seemed to be the limit of the defenders' attack capability, and the assault teams began moving forward again, this time investigating anything they found with laser fire. Most of the engineering section was still full of steam from the coolant leak, so they simply set a vent into there, and waited for the gas to disperse.
In that process, the ship was cleared of more resistance, and when the assault teams reported that the tail section was secure, Captain Morgan told the engineering department to get the tail section ready to be loaded on board the Amemnon. The antimatter fuel in the tail section was emptied, and the smaller fusion plants on board were shut down to prevent any accidents from happening. The shuttles were also loaded on board, and the Excellon and the Amemnon turned their attention to getting back on course. They had succeeded in their mission, and one less ship was available to the slavers.
They continued their route, but ran into no more trouble. The entire crew was in a state of euphoria, as they had managed to go up against one of the slavers' vessels in a straight up fight, and won. But a report from the Chief Engineer was about to change that. He told the Captain that he would like to brief the senior personnel on certain things his teams ha discovered while going over the slaver ship. Commander Verrin was there by communications link.
"Captain, I don't think you're going to like what I've found out about the enemy vessel. First of all, those guns in the wings and the one in the nose are identical. The only reason that the one in the nose was rapid-firing and the ones in the wings weren't is that the batteries for them were removed. I don't know why, but the nose gun had a battery near it that can store up to ten shots worth of power. I am figuring that the wing guns would normally have a battery like that too.
"Second, the shuttles were only carrying one gun each. They are normally designed to carry two each, and each of them normally has a battery with them as well.
"Third, most of the interior of that ship was covered with rust or oil. This tells me that the ship wasn't maintained that well.
"All those things together tell me that this ship was not a top-line ship. It was barely held together, the weapons didn't work properly, and it wasn't maintained."
"So you're saying that this ship does not represent the full potential of what the slavers can build?"
"Essentially yes Captain.
"Fortunately though, there appears to be no sign of any sort of shielding system, and the hull isn't even armored. This could be where they never realized the advantages, or chose not to use them."
"So the general consensus on the slaver ship is that it has lots of weapons, but almost no defense. What about the computer system?"
"We're currently going over the computer recovered now, but it is taking a while. We're probably going to need the Starbase's assistance to crack the secret though."
"Good. In the meantime, see what you can do to give me more information on the slaver ship, without tearing it up too badly. Is there anything else any of you want to add?"
"Well Captain, when we transferred the slaver ship, we emptied its antimatter tanks. I'd like to get a portable fusion unit into the hulk to start seeing how much of the hulk I can get back on-line. After all, you did say that we needed another ship out here."
Several officers looked at each other at the comment, and a mild chuckle ran around the table. The very thought of using a slaver ship to hunt other slavers seemed like a very good idea to them. Several officers began getting ideas too, about how they could improve the slaver ship.
Captain Morgan saw the grins on the various faces around the table, and said, "Now I know that several of you want to get to work on the slaver ship, to improve it. But don't forget, that ship alone was a dangerous match. I also want you looking over the Excellon, seeing how she can be improved as well to fight a slaver ship like that in prime condition. In the meantime, we'll go with Commander Verrin's idea of naming the various classes seen. So Cheng, I want you and your teams to go over our captured Pirate-Alpha, and see what can be used to improve the Excellon. I also want you to go over the ship, and see where we can improve on it.
"Tactical, I want you to get on the sensors. I want to be able to tell exactly what type of Pirate variant we might face next, and how deadly it will be. What level of batteries, types of guns, and if there have been any changes to their armor or shield status. Also, I want to know if it's carrying anything in its main hold, and what it is.
"Ops, I want you to start looking over the Exellon, picking out anyone who might be willing to crew the ship.
"Security, I want you to put together plans to board a ship like that. This one was empty, but if we catch one with living beings on board in the main hold, I want you to be ready to board their vessel and rescue them.
"Commander Verrin, I have the most important task for you. Assuming we can get that ship running, I want you to think up a name."
The two ships continued on their cruise, and stopped off at the colony of Omidron four. The colony of Omidron four produced various fabrics from the many creatures and plants that grew there. They even produced fabrics from minerals that existed there, including a variant of asbestos that was far more effective, while having practically no dangerous effects on humans.
Omidron four was dependant on other colonies for its raw materials, while it produced the uniforms and outfits that were worn by many. Other fabrics produced were used to help crops by providing a surface for the young seedlings to grow on, while still other varieties were used as a form of tubing. The colony would take in custom orders from the starbase, and by the time a ship came around, any plants needed were grown, and the fabric was ready and waiting to be collected.
As the Excellon settled into its orbit, and the Amemnon began the steady process of transferring supplies to and from the colony, the engineers from the Excellon were meeting with the engineers who had been working on the captured Pirate. They were sitting in the main mess hall, talking about what they had seen, and what could be done with it.
"So I'm telling Wilson here, that ship needs a decent shield system. We should go with a modified type twelve system with six section overlay."
"You idiot, a six section creates a cube effectively, and the shape of that ship means that a cube will be too darn big in terms of shield area and cross-section. We should be using a twelve section instead, which means it will use fifty percent less power because we'll be using a smaller surface for the shields."
"Twelve sections? Do you have any idea how much 'fun' it's going to be trying to program the shield control and rigging up the generators to handle twelve different shield sections? Each edge between the shields has to be taken into account, not to mention corners, and with your design it will be twenty edges that the poor control has to deal with. Mine will only have twelve edges!"
"How about a two-lobed shield design?"
Several heads turned back to see who had thought up that crazy idea.
"I'm serious. By having an upper and lower, or bow and aft shield, we will only have a single edge to worry about. There will be extra surface area to deal with, but that is a matter of pumping out the necessary power."
The other engineers looked at her, and continued their arguments, with her included in it. To any outsider, it might have looked like they were going to kill each other, but this type of discussion was their preferred method of arguing, as they could let off energy, and have a fun technical and mathematical discussion at the same time.
The decision was finally made to use a 6 sided shield configuration, with an unusual twist. Instead of the standard top, bottom, front, left, right, and aft shields, the whole system was rotated forty five degrees, allowing the forward part of the ship to effectively be protected by two shields. With the side 'wings' of the enemy ship swept forward, this configuration provided a lot more protection than a standard cube shield arrangement would. The novel idea was passed around to the various engineers, and as they discussed the shield arrangement, they began thinking about ways to improve the Excellon's shield system as well.
Now all the Engineers had to do was sneak six shield generators into their section of space, without any starfleet 'blind beancounters' (their name for the accountants who try to measure the amount of material used to weld together the doorframes, while ignoring the fact that the ship was thirty feet longer than originally designed). But they were engineers, and to them everything was a problem to be solved. It was usually solved through loud arguments while viewing the world through the bottom of a glass, but they loved to solve problems.
As for the new crewmembers that had come onboard the last time they were at Starbase 121, there was a lot of talk going on. They had been transferred out here, expecting a boring assignment, where Starfleet would not care about what they did. Instead, they found themselves on board a warship, fighting against unknown aliens. The few who were actual discipline cases were introduced to the concept of discipline under fire, and learned very quickly. Now that they were safe, for now, they talked to each other trying to come to grips with the fact of the aliens who were out there. They shared how they had been scared, and how they had come to grips with it. There had even been one person who was a pacifist on board the ship, and she was starting to modify her beliefs slightly. She did not like the idea of killing other beings, but since these other beings seemed determined to kill casually and repeatedly, she was starting to think that pacifism with a ready fist was more appropriate out here.
Returning to Starbase 121, Captain Morgan and his crew were celebrated by all the people there. The Engineering crews started getting to work on a totally new computer system and a different mind-set of how to assemble a starship. The first engineers who went planetside were mobbed by the local engineers who wanted to know everything about the alien ships discovered. After several hours, after the first engineering crews had returned, and the ideas were being passed around the various taverns, the serious thinking began going on. Several teams were already connecting the main computer found in the ship to the Starbase's computer in order to crack its secrets. The starbase computer would copy the alien code, and then it would try to figure out what different items did.
It would take weeks to figure out everything, but the local engineers were working on a substitute. Since they had no idea what the computer's details were, they were copying a standard computer core with a plug and play interface program into the alien vessel. This would allow the engineers to have a basic computer running, allowing people to have a chance to work in a shirtsleeve environment, but still having several of the necessities for working on a starship. Other work crews were hard at work trying to reattach the forward boom of the alien ship, but with the massive melting that had occurred when the Excellon's lasers had hit it, a decision was soon made to simply replace the material with Federation grade structural supports.
After a couple minutes, it turned out the pirate vessel had better structural support per volume than a Federation ship. So all those structural beams that were being put in were four times the size of the Pirate ones, causing the passages between the nose and tail to become a very tight squeeze. The material was also sent to the starbase, for the engineers to take a look at it, figure out how it worked, figure out how to make it, and possibly figure out how to improve on it.
The bodies recovered were also undergoing an examination. There appeared to be heavy bone plates on the forward part of the skull, and their immune systems appeared highly evolved, given the rate at which the defending cells still moved and reacted to various chemicals that were applied to them.
Even more of a surprise, there was very little difference between the DNA of these aliens, and humans! In spite of several hundred light years distance, a different evolutionary path, there was roughly a 96% similarity between the aliens and humans. It was even possible for humans and these aliens to interbreed! The doctors and evolutionists were having a tough time trying to figure that one out, and the main theory so far was that humanoid life forms were inherently superior to other life forms, and would out-evolve anything else. It was a bit speciesist, extremely hollow, but no other reasonable explanation based on statistics or theoretical models seemed to work. The second theory was that some race had seeded various planets with the appropriate DNA at some recent point in history. If it had happened too far back, the DNA would have undergone too much evolution and change for the DNA to be this close. The final theory that was proposed was similar, in that some race had seeded the races a long time ago, but had been keeping an eye on them over the millennia, putting down any possible competing strands of DNA to keep that certain breed of DNA 'pure'. If a race had done that, then it was possible the race was still around, manipulating the other races for its own ends.
But those arguments could wait; as it meant that several of the existing chemicals that were used against humans would work against this new race. They would have to be altered slightly, and only non-lethal items would be used, but knockout gasses, tear gas, and paralyzing gasses would probably work against them just like humans. Unfortunately, given their better immune systems, the rest of their bodies were probably built on a similar scale, meaning the concentration of the gasses would have to be much higher. Still, if assault troops used environmental suits, or stayed inside space suits, it wouldn't matter how concentrated the gas was.
Those findings were transmitted up the chain to Starfleet headquarters, and the latest orders from Starfleet were received. As of the time the message was sent, Starfleet knew about the attacks, and had heard of the new alien species. The voice message from Admiral Hunter was long, and full of confusion.
-Starfleet Headquarters to USS Excellon-
"We have reviewed your report about the sightings of the new alien species and have decided as follows:
"The Tuilasin, Secongo, and the Veichlonga, um, Veichlongoso, um, the Veich are to be detained at the starbase until we have managed to send an expedition to their homeworlds. The Prime Directive requires us to evaluate their civilization to prevent our interaction with them from interfering in their natural evolution. While at the Starbase, every effort will be made to simulate their natural environment and technology available.
"The unknown race that you have discovered is another matter. We want you to cease any potentially hostile interactions with them, and begin to open diplomatic channels with them. We at Starfleet Command believe in peaceful cooperation with other races, but in the event a conflict become unavoidable, this unknown race will be allied with us and will be able to handle any combat, should it occur.
"As for the various crewmembers you requested, we will be able to dispatch them within a couple months. Apparently their commanding officers have been unsatisfied with their attitudes towards Federation foreign and domestic policy, and have been attempting to transfer them off. As a result, you will be getting approximately one hundred and eighty new ship's personnel in the next three months. We anticipate you reiterating their loyalty to Starfleet, and returning them back to proper Starfleet ethics as soon as possible.
"Unfortunately, your request for a second Vectron class starship has been declined for now. Since we anticipate a lessening of conflict out in your volume, we see no need for any additional ships to be posted to your location."
Attached to the message was a section about recent technological developments by the Starfleet Science Department.
Commander Fontanyard has made excellent progress in his work on the new structural field generators. His exact words were, "We anticipate designing new classes of ships able to take advantage of them, and get away from the blocky style of current ship designs. Soon our ships will be the envy of every race currently known, as their elegant forms sail from star to star, bringing the banner of peace to every man, woman, and child everywhere."
Doctor Ventradin is showing excellent progress in developing a new matter transmission system that will allow us to send cargo and even people between one starship and another, without resorting to clumsy shuttlecraft and the loading and unloading process involved. We will soon be able to build sealed cargo transfer facilities, even on the most inhospitable of planets, and allow people to work in regular uniforms instead of needing heavier clothing to work. She said, "I foresee a future where there are no shuttlecraft or starships needed in the future, as we will be able to simply use a matter transmitter to travel from planet to planet. Starship accidents will be a worry of the past." When questioned about the limited range the transmitter currently has, she replied, "We have proven the basic theory is sound. From now on, all that remains is improving our technology to handle the theory."
Commander Froushkin is currently working on a new type of beam that is designed to produce a cascading reaction in whatever it is aimed at. The beam is designed to cause a chain reaction through the lighter elements in rock, allowing large chunks to be broken down easily and cheaply, allowing us to reach the more valuable ores below. He said, "With this phased energy system, mining in the Federation will never be the same. We will no longer need leaky equipment or dangerous explosives, just a single projector pointed towards the ores we need. As the rock is cracked apart, low-level gravity plates will be used to drag it out of the way. The whole operation can be overseen by a single person sitting in comfort miles away, promising a new era of comfort for Federation citizens."
Lieutenant Morster's project on antimatter transport pods is proceeding well. Her plan is to use automated probes to allow a starship in orbit to be refueled by small robots. Small sensors are place in the nose to allow the probe to automatically find and connect to the proper location in a Federation starship. "With these refueling torpedoes, ships are spared the danger of losing a person during an antimatter refueling accident. A ship can arrive in a star system, get refueled while waiting, and be on its way within hours, instead of days as is needed for current antimatter refueling operations. Also, by using on-site refueling, fuel tanks for starships can be reduced in size, allowing more room for the people on board to enjoy."
Captain Morgan looked up from the report. 'How in the world do they manage to say all of this with a straight face' he wondered. Briefly wondering at how the people could be so eager to design more comfort into warships, he turned back to the report from Starfleet Command.
"Return them to the technology and environment they were used to! They were being treated as slaves on board an alien vessel. How do they expect me to figure out what their native technology was? Their homeworlds! One of the beings doesn't even know what race he is, let alone where the homeworld is. Besides, most of them have taken Federation exams, and have done well. In fact, I want a few of them on my ship."
But still, Starfleet Command had to be obeyed, and he began to think about how to get around that order. The only information he had on their native environment was in the alien ship, so he could argue that their native environment was on board a warship. It was a long stretch, but all he really needed to report was that a suitable environment had been found for them.
The one bit of good news he received was that he would be getting the new personnel. With them, he would be able to swap out crews here faster, or even get a few combat specialists onto the other colonies to stiffen their resistance a little before the raiders arrived next time.
The key bad news though, was that he wouldn't be getting another ship. Without that ship, he would have to limit his patrols to areas near the convoy route he would be setting up, and that would tie him down too much. If he had another vessel available, he could roam free in the region, poking his nose into everything. Without it, the pirates would be able to mass their forces against a known force at a known location and path, allowing them to decide when and where to engage him. Still, he could always try to get the alien ship repaired, and use it as the flying scout vessel.
Even worse, since Starfleet will 'anticipate a lessening of conflict', that meant the fifteen megaton missiles would not be available for him to request. Without them, the only option he had was to use the variable yield missiles, and dial them to full power. But he had made a career out of using the best out of whatever weapons were available, and this time would be like the others.
The starbase engineers had made good time with the alien structural members though, and had begun replacing their crude attachments with solid beams made from the same material. Even better, they were already starting to make replacements for the Excellon's main beams, and the results were estimated to provide four times the structural strength, in exchange for a fifty percent increase of the mass of the internal structure.
The team studying the engines was making slower progress, as the materials used in the engines was requiring several new areas of materials science to be defined, let alone explored. Not only that, but the massive amounts of waste heat generated would not be wanted on board the Excellon, as the raider vessel had actually parked half of its impulse engine outside the ship in an attempt to get rid of the heat. Although a few items were noted that could be used, the sheer heat produced made the drive practically impossible to directly copy.
For the ship's main reactor, the matter / anti-matter reactor was outwardly the same, but on the inside was a slight difference. Instead of using an electrical screen to spray the antimatter in, the pirates used a physical barrier made of an isotope of lithium to keep the reaction going. Initial tests showed that by injecting the material directly at the screen, instead of letting it collide randomly, allowed the reactor to handle higher power levels in the same amount of volume. Of course the coolant system was scaled up, and a coolant that had higher temperature storage was used, but the reactor system was similar to current Federation designs.
As the engineers dug further into the ship, they began to realize that this wasn't a warship, merely an armed freighter! Even more astounding, was that this freighter was just as good as a top-line warship from the Federation. Some people began running estimates of what a full-power warship would be like, and the results were not good. In any one-on-one match up, the Vectron class starships were destroyed, and finally at three to one odds was a single starship able to return to the starbase.
But if similar improvements could be made to the Vectron class starships, then the odds significantly favored the Federation ship. With the shields protecting it from the ion guns, a Vectron class starship could perform hit and run attacks, if the pirate vessel could be convinced not to follow. With the nuclear missiles on board, it would be easy for them to detonate nukes to their rear as they departed, or even used them for long-range attacks to weaken a pirate vessel initially.
Several engineers there began drawing up plans, intending to create a schedule to refit the Excellon with the advanced systems. This time, they might actually ask the Captain before starting the refit process. Then again, they might get too excited, and start the process as they usually did, with lots of excitement and energy.
Captain Morgan was unaware of their enthusiasm though, and kept on with his plans, seeking ways to turn possible disadvantages into advantages into advantages. The large ion weapons were the key. With their high power levels, he estimated that only twelve to thirteen hits were needed to punch through the forward shields, ten for the side shields, and eight hits for the rear shields. If there was some way he could either strengthen the shields or dissipate their hit over several shields, he could reduce the rate at which his ship would be burned through. He would need some way to insulate himself against their shots, but targeting systems for both ships used similar technology, i.e. using electromagnetic sensors to target.
Wait! If he literally used a surface coating that did not conduct electricity at all, then potentially he could handle many ion shots on his ship, without any effect at all! But he still would need a way for the sensors to poke out, and that would require them to be exposed to the ion bolts. But the idea was there, and he began composing a message to Commander Faithen, his Chief Engineer. Paul figured that this sort of question was right up the Cheng's alley, so he did what any leader would do - delegate to the right person.
In the meantime, he had another item to deal with. The ion weapons had enjoyed three seconds more firing time against his lasers, and he wanted to know if the extra time was due to better weaponry, or better targeting equipment. If it was because of weaponry, then the Excellon might be refitted with a few ion guns. If it was because of better targeting systems, then those systems could also be added to the Excellon, giving them equality in ranges, instead of waiting those three seconds extra while the enemy ship got to fire first. Passing that on to his Chief Engineer as well, Captain Morgan finally was able to get enough done so he could get some sleep.
Commander Verrin was in her quarters, thinking of names. She was trying to think of a name that symbolized someone that had been fighting for the wrong purpose, and later was given a chance to fight so he or she could defend people, not enslave them. 'Reformed' seemed a bit vague, while 'Paladin' was more of a being that fought to defend from the beginning. 'Liberator' had the right sort of ring to it, but a synonym could serve her better. Telling the computer to bring up a thesaurus, she began scanning through the entries.
Ensign Baker watched as the scanner records began adding more pictures to her simulation. She was charting nebulae, subspace distortions, solar activity, rogue planets, and many more pieces of interstellar debris and activities with her combined sensor display. Parts of it were out of date, but each time the Excellon went on its route, she would be able to fill in more gaps. Even better, if they managed to have the new sensor system installed, the volume of data she could view would more than double.
Excitement filled her to the core, for the reason she had joined Starfleet was to explore, but her activities had always been at odds with Federation guidelines. They had wanted her to submit the proper forms to explore a given system, with her expected results listed beforehand, and her explorations were limited to those lines of research. But she liked to poke her nose into things! If she saw something interesting, she would poke and prod it until she was finally satisfied, and found something else. As a result, whenever people had seen her coming, they would try to hide themselves, or wind up being on the receiving end of a blond green eyed Inquisitor, who seemed to have less patience than was shown during the Salem witch hunts.
Her social life hadn't been much better, as whenever she had found a guy, she would go all out during the first few months, and then stop afterwards. During that time, the guy would be overwhelmed, and her sudden leaving would leave him a bit startled, and almost empty. Guys that had dated her before tried to warn anyone she was interested in, but the experience usually left everyone drained.
But still, here was a mountain of data, and news of a new type of subspace phenomenon. If she could figure out how to predict it, and what was causing it, then she would be able to submit that to the Federation science Board, and they would have no choice but to reward her for her efforts. 'After all,' she thought, 'who else could they chose?' But so far the information wasn't yielding to any pattern yet, and this was a mystery to her. Which meant that it did not stand a chance. She would study it every day, gathering data, until it yielded its secrets to her.
Elsewhere though, events were occurring. A harsh warlord was taking his wrath out on several of his underlings, for the lack of communications with several of the prizes under his command. They in turn took out their wrath on the slaves present, as they did not dare speak back to their leader. The slaves, scurrying away from their 'masters'' wrath, began wondering what had happened. Rumors began circulating among the beings, and all of them were wondering what the cause was for the extra anger. Some rumors said the leader was simply bored, while others hinted that several of the raiding vessels had gone out and not come back. That last one was doubted by all openly, but secretly hoped for, because every slave there wanted to be free, or at least know that someone was trying to destroy the slavers. But their tasks remained unchanged, and they kept at their work, afraid to show the slightest hesitation among the slavers, whose anger was barely under control.
In the meantime the warlord retired to his room, where the more favorable of his females and the slaves he had captured were there to entertain him. The stable of slaves present was changed frequently, as broken bones were common to those who 'waited' on him. With his rage at the prizes not talking though, he ignored the slaves, and simply sat there and brooded. He had to maintain control over the others, and any potential weakness by him would be like blood in the water to those under him who wanted his job, those of his neighbors who were wanting to expand, and those over him who wanted to place another in his location. He had to do something dramatic to demonstrate his authority, and he brooded, thinking over what would be a proper triumph. A few hours later, he smiled, as an idea had formed.
Commander Wilson looked over the results of Captain Morgan's expedition so far. He had managed to recover two of the freighters stolen, and ten of the shuttles captured as well. Even better, one of the alien ships had been captured, with two of their shuttles taken as well. With the small shipyard and medium repair yard present at the base, his crews were finishing the repairs to the remaining damaged shuttles, and the energy absorption mesh would be ready to go soon after.
In fact, it could even be possible to start equipping the various shuttles he possessed with one of three types of weapons. By simply copying the alien designs, he could start installing ion weapons on each shuttle, while changing the mount slightly would allow him to install laser weaponry. The final option was a missile launch system, with four missiles mounted near the hull, and a small turret to aim and fire them with. He decided to get a couple engineers started on various designs, as his calculations were strictly off-hand, and not the results of a proper design team.
He also called up the results of the Potenton repairs, and was happy at the results. The life-support systems had been refitted to Federation standard, while the computer core had started yielding up it secrets. Although there was no mention of where the ship had returned to its hideout, there were a few records of the aliens bragging about recent battles, and the linguistics section was already working on them. With Ved's help, they estimated only a couple more weeks would be needed for the full translation, but a rough version would be available in about five days.
While that was being done, he noticed a transfer alert on his messages. It seemed that Captain Morgan had requested some reinforcements out here, and they would be arriving in about a month. Unfortunately, there weren't any ships to assign them to. Captain Morgan himself would only have positions open for around forty people, while there were over one hundred people coming in. They would effectively need their own ship to travel in, and he began looking over the records for any ships that they could use to travel in.
He saw one notation, and started laughing. Calling up the message program, he began composing the letter to the supply personnel at the base, recommending that they use a single ship to transport the necessary personnel to Starbase 121, instead of having multiple modules do the job. By sending them on a starship, their skills would be kept sharp, and there would be very little idle time for them to lose their devotion to Starfleet.
That was what he wrote in the message. To himself though, he was chuckling, as he was trying to imagine the reaction of Captain Morgan when they arrived. He knew that official requisitions never worked, so sometimes it was best to use someone else's desires to accomplish goals.
The next couple of weeks passed mildly for the Excellon and her crew. They went to the different colonies, picked up and dropped off supplies, and generally tried to reassure the colonists that they were looking out for the remaining raiders. Several of the colony administrators began wanting a few more shuttles of their own, as since the raiders had died down, it obviously meant they had moved on somewhere else. Captain Morgan had to be very diplomatic with them, telling them that he could not give them armed shuttles due to Federation laws, and unarmed shuttles could not be handed out either, because of their low population sizes.
Even more fun was trying to convince the administrators that the pirates could still be around, as with the number of colonies in this region, combined with the fact that the base was still out there somewhere, there was sure to be a return of pirates soon. The area was obviously a close group of easy pickings, and no pirate would give up on a prize raiding ground such as this.
Tetarin V had been doing some wonderful work since they had last visited, and the new sensor array was ready to be installed. The bulky components for the Excellon to use were brought up in orbit, while the other prototype satellites and their plans were loaded into the Amemnon. The Excellon stayed there a couple days to install one of the sensor systems, to make sure it worked properly then left, as Captain Morgan intended to have the remaining sensors installed on their journey. Arriving at the next two colonies, Vizder 7 and Borak 1, they unloaded the first sets of scanners, allowing the colonies to extend their detection range by twenty-five percent. These colonies received the scanners as they were the most isolated, and they would be able to further extend the sensor network in their direction.
Returning by a different route, the Excellon passed by Pidora 2, and enjoyed a bit of relaxation in the hot springs there, while the shuttles loaded the silicates that had been boiled to the surface by the springs. The silicates were crucial to both computer systems and surfaces that could not tolerate carbon-based lubricants.
Finally arriving at Starbase 121, Captain Morgan received notice that his new recruits were arriving in a-
"Training ship! Why are they sending important personnel out in a training ship? That's the sort of vessel you use for cadets at the Academy, not for seasoned officers. Unless they want me to use that ship to turn them back into proper Starfleet officers and crew, then that ship will be almost useless out here.
"But it still does have decent sensors, so I could use it as a recon craft, and possibly equip it with a few missiles and laser systems so it has a chance to sting a freighter before it is forced to retreat. Hopefully, it will do enough to slow down a pursuer, or at least drive them off. It will definitely give the people on board a training lesson, that's for sure. Not to mention live-fire exercises are the second best training for a fight. The best way is a fight, but I'd prefer not to expose them to a lot of combat in a mere training ship."
Looking over the various training ships available, Captain Morgan began making plans on how to use each type, as Starfleet Command hadn't specified which type of ship was being sent. For the ships that had better science instruments, he would have them looking for distortions in nebulae. For ships with higher speeds, they would be fast scouts. For ships with higher small craft capacity, he would use them to scan planets rapidly. He kept on in the night, working over the designs and plans for them as well.
Commander Wilson was working as well, attempting to figure out where he now stood. He had been loyal to Starfleet, and had been transferred out here about six months before Captain Morgan had arrived. He had been ordered out here to curb the amount of barter and unofficial trade the colonies were doing, and had anticipated a successful campaign against the inefficiencies involved. As time had gone by, he had managed to get the obvious bartering and exchanges down by ninety percent.
However, as the months had gone by, he had become confused. His requests for supplies had always been quick and responsive in and around Earth space, but out here, the typical response had been, "we'll send it on the next freighter". Since the freighters only came around once every month, he usually wound up waiting for whatever he needed. Even more so when the part was rare, and he would have to wait several months for the freighter with the proper part to arrive. As a result, he had started to order extra parts that were above and beyond what was needed. At first, he had tried to rationalize his disobeying Starfleet orders by saying that the parts were merely in case he needed them in an emergency.
Over time though, he had realized that he was doing exactly what Starfleet Command had sent him to stop. He was stockpiling supplies, supplies that could have been put to use elsewhere. Looking over at the other trade figures, he realized that the Administrators of the colonies had also started up their barter again, and he had no way to effectively stop them, as he was doing the same thing.
So he had decided to do what he could. His base had several shuttles, and he wanted to reduce supplies being stored needlessly. So what he had done was start to loan out the shuttles to the colonies, unofficially, in order for them to get whatever they needed directly from each other, instead of trying to hide the goods on the freighters. This way, there was no need for them to actually perform any illegal activities, apart from the barter itself, and since the shuttles had still belonged to the Starbase, the colonies had not been violating any laws concerning excess spacecraft.
But the shuttles started disappearing. Since they were being used so often for barter shipments, he had figured that a few colonies were keeping them so engage in a higher scale of barter, even of actual trade with each other. However, that theory had been under attack when the colonies had started complaining that the shuttles had not been arriving. He had been forced to try to use the shuttles remaining to cover for each other, but with each shuttle that went missing, his job became harder and harder. Eventually, he was all but lying in his reports, showing that the missing shuttles were undergoing overhauls, when everyone at his starbase knew that the shuttles were nowhere to be seen. If Starfleet Command had sent an investigator then, he knew it would be a simple matter to count the number of shuttles listed in overhaul, and look at the empty boat bays, and know that something was wrong. Each day he had been worried that someone was going to do the math, and have him arrested and sent to a penal colony for his actions.
As the months went by, Commander Wilson had grown more and more relaxed in his position, and even decided to test Starfleet Supply. He knew that he was going to get into trouble for the supplies and shuttles, and he had started to not care any more. He ordered a few things that could be explained easily, even though they were fairly massive. Also, he began adding in smaller items, explaining that the large transport could fit them into the space left over. In that way he had ordered a hydrogen processing plant, the antimatter plant, and several other large items to his location, not to mention the other parts that were needed for routine operations. It seemed that Starfleet Supply had cared even less about his situation than he did, and that mood had started to infect the rest of the base, causing small discipline problems, lack of work being done, and similar problems.
Then Captain Morgan had arrived. At first, he had feared that Captain Morgan had arrived, in an obvious warship, to arrest him and bring him to trial. As a result, he had projected the outward appearance of a rule-obeying Starfleet officer, while inside dreading what would happen if he had come aboard and asked to see the shuttles. Fortunately, he had been an actor in Starfleet Academy, and had been able to project the image properly.
There had been no request though, and Captain Morgan had actually tried to go out and look for the shuttles. Getting curious, Commander Wilson had pulled Morgan's record, and several of his senior staff as well. Seeing not a well-groomed Starfleet crew, but a group of what would be termed misfits, he almost shouted in relief. It was obvious from the records that this crew was not here because of him, but because of themselves. Their Captain was the only exception to the group, but he had been put in command of the ship not because he subscribed to the Starfleet belief of everyone getting along, but because he believed the universe was dangerous.
Even more amazing, was that Captain Morgan seemed to relax when at the Starbase. Most Captains seemed determined to exert their control whenever possible, to remind others that they were in charge of a ship that went places, and those assigned to stationary locations like a starbase were the has-beens, people who were on their way out of Starfleet, or were considered useless in a 'true' command position. It was true that most Starbase personnel were assigned there were merely waiting for their term of enlistment to finish, but that did not mean all of his people were there to goof off until they left.
Then again, Captain Morgan's record was a good indicator of why he would feel that way. He was one of the people who was considered on his way out of Starfleet, or was considered useless. He had been passed over for prestigious posts because he had believed that there were dangers out there, and the Federation had needed warships to survive. Others had not believed that, and had managed to derail the usual promotion schedule for him. But his own stubbornness in doing his job, in spite of the obstacles put in his path, had been enough to keep him steadily advancing, although the promotions were grudgingly awarded. Finally, someone had thought up the way to get rid of him. The answer had been to give him what he wanted, and send him where both Starfleet and he wanted to go, to the Frontier.
So now he, a rule-breaker, and Captain Morgan, a tradition-breaker, were out here trying to defend over two dozen colonies from a race that seemed determined to conquer everyone in their path. Even worse, judging by the tone of the messages from Starfleet Headquarters, was that they were on their own. Starfleet believed in peaceful coexistence with other races, but here was a race that only believed in coexistence when it was them in control, and everyone else as slaves. From everything seen, they were the only chance Starfleet had of surviving the next few years.
Even though he was confined to a Starbase, Commander Wilson could still do a few things to help Captain Morgan. In fact, when the 'training ship' arrived in a few more weeks, Morgan should get a very nice surprise. He idly smiled as he tried to imagine Captain Morgan's most likely response. Turning back to his terminal, he began wading through the day's paperwork, getting items needed ordered, and approving the various modifications that people were asking for. He even toyed with the idea of ordering a few missile cells, and the vertical launch bays for them. Together, he could create a space-based missile platform that could be used to defend the Starbase if the aliens tried to attack. But that was sheer paranoia, as the aliens would be more likely to hit a colony that was closer if they started their raids again.
The three ships cruised through space, their drives propelling them far faster than light. Two of the ships would have been recognized as freighters, once. Now they bore the claw marks of their new owners, showing that they recognized only the authority that could demand it by force. The third vessel was also covered in claw marks, but where the freighters had possessed markings of the claw itself, this mark showed extra detail, as though describing to the universe that it, and those who came from it were the ones who would control whoever they met wherever they went.
Their destination was as yet unknown to those who would watch, but one could not help but pity their targets. Even worse is what the beings that controlled those ships planned for when they reached their target, for they had been stirred to wrath, and would not rest until they had drenched their anger in the blood of their opponents.
The Excellon set out again, escorting the Amemnon on its convoy mission, heading to the different colonies, picking up and dropping off a little at each colony. As they traveled, they maintained the same single warp bubble as last time, using its own appearance to hopefully lure any slavers in so they could be dealt with. They had managed to do this once before, and had netted a slaver ship, and they were hoping for big game again. The Amemnon had shields and a conductive mesh on its hull and the cargo pods, so it could survive a few shots, and the Excellon had a little mesh as well. Not only that, but its shields had been redesigned to allow a slight bit of leakage. If they ran across a single enemy slaver ship, they would be more than a match for it, they hoped.
The colony noticed the blips on the sensor grid, and wondered why the Excellon was early, as there were three blips there. But the wonder gave way to worry, as the blips refused to identify themselves or even respond to the hails from the colony. An optical telescope was swung to look at the blips, and when the image appeared on the screen, their blood froze.
For they had seen the images of the Slaver ships, and here was one of them, along with two of the six remaining freighters that had been stolen. The administrators had seen how much loot a single freighter was willing to claim and steal, and here were two of them, not to mention how much loot a Slaver ship itself was willing to steal.
Warming up the subspace communicator, they sent out an emergency distress call, sending it to every colony in range, in the hopes that someone out there would hear it in time to respond. Included in the message was a description of the ships involved, and their viewed capabilities. The message was set up as a loop, and every time the message looped, the new information was added to it.
It just so happened that the Excellon was in range, but barely. Lieutenant Vessen was on duty when the call came in. He had been enjoying the privilege of night watch standing, where he was the only person in charge of the whole ship. Of course Lt Commander Faithen would sometimes stay up in the Engineering section, but he was responsible for the overall well-being of the ship. He looked up as the communications petty officer gasped.
"Something wrong?"
"Sir, we're receiving a distress signal from Ritzak five. They report they have detected three vessels coming in, one Pirate class and two of our freighters."
Turning to the conning officer, a young ensign standing there he told her to lay in a course to Ritzak five but not to execute it yet. Moving over to a ship's phone, he dialed up the Captain's stateroom. When the Captain picked up the phone, Lieutenant Vessen explained the situation, and heard just two words concerning his course change and speed increase, "Do it."
Hanging up the phone, Lieutenant Vessen told the conning officer to carry out the order, and picked up the phone to dial another number. Getting the Main Engineering number, Lieutenant Vessen explained the situation to Lt Commander Faithen, as they needed to get full power from the main power plant. It took only a few minutes, and then the Excellon was moving through space at its top speed of warp five, trying to get to Ritzak five in time to do something.
The Amemnon was told to come out of warp, and stay in that location, so when the Excellon had finished its current assignment they could rendezvous and return to their convoy route.
Nuclear fire ravaged the skies above the colony. Administrator Waldeck had known that Federation charter would not allow obvious weapons, but there had been some designs that could be used. One of the uranium storage containers had been redesigned with a few high explosives on the outside, and the net result was that the colony had made a few command-detonated nukes. Although they only had a twenty kiloton yield, the Pirate and the freighters were staying well-clear of the planet so far. Every time they had moved in, a nuclear charge had been set off, causing massive waves of EMP, not to mention the thermal effects from the blast as well.
Unfortunately, the enemy slaver was a thinker as well as a fighter, and he launched his shuttles. A dozen armed shuttles charged towards the planet, with orders to destroy any items they found in orbit. The first two shuttles were destroyed as their ion blasts set off the explosives a little too close, and the remaining shuttles were a little more cautious, using their sensors to spot a nuke, then blasting the area with ion bolts until the object detonated.
When the last bomb in the planet's orbit had been cleared away, the three ships moved in again. The Pirate began using its ion guns to take out local power centers, and the mayday signal was stopped as power to the subspace transmitter was cut off. When the last power centers had been cut off, the shuttles began landing on the ground, and unloading two dozen heavily armed slavers each.
The colonists tried to stop them, by hiding behind barricades and firing their weapons. Unfortunately, the Slavers attacked in mass attacks, and while one or two of them might be hit, the others would overwhelm and kill anyone who tried to resist. Even worse though, were the Slavers who were deliberately not killing colonists, as they were planning to turn the colonists into more slaves.
It only took fifteen minutes, and by then the slavers had complete control of the colony, and had herded the survivors into the main gathering hall. The Slavers had thought about keeping the colony, but since the colonists had hidden the radiation filter and the medicines deep in the mines, and turned up the ventilation, the radiation was starting to rise, and the Slavers knew they had around ten hours before they had to leave.
Even better, from the Slavers' perspective, was that there were no other ships within twelve hours of the colony, so they could take their time, in picking the choice specimens from the colony, and sending them up to be stored in the freighter holds. And so the grisly spectacle began, with two Slavers going through the crowd, selecting one person at a time for inspection. Overall muscle tone, health, and reactions were all measured, and each person was either selected or rejected for transport and storage. For those that didn't quite measure up, there was another option for them. After all, the Slavers did prefer their meat fresh.
The ones selected for food would be sent up first, so the cooks could get ready preparing a feast for when the three ships were to leave. For the others, the cargo bays were cleared, and basic food stock was selected, so the slaves could be kept alive on the way back. There were a few slaves currently on board, as someone had to teach the others how to be properly respectful of their new Masters.
Ensign Felson sat in the cockpit breathing heavily. She had watched the dance of the shuttles bringing the slavers to the planet, and first few shuttles returning. She had wanted to do something immediately, but now was her chance, and she selected one of the freighters. According to the reports, the freighters were far more vulnerable to ion blasts, so her shots would be more effective if she targeted a freighter. Most importantly though, was that the freighters could carry up to 200 people in their rear modules, while a Pirate class vessel could only carry 100. If she could cripple a freighter, that would be 200 more people that would be saved. Lining her ion gun on the warp nacelles, she began firing.
The Warlord of this group bared his teeth in approval as the first shuttles began coming in, loaded with slaves and loot. The nuclear explosions in orbit had told him that these creatures wanted to fight, unlike the weak and pathetic others that lived in this region. He had recognized that the nuclear explosions would kill his ships, and battle against stupid bombs was not an honorable way to die.
He had sent his shuttles out to destroy the bombs, and after the warriors had realized that getting too close to the bombs was dangerous they began destroying them from a distance. All but two did that though, as those two warriors had died fighting, with a weapon in their hands and a yell in their throats.
When the last bombs had been cleared away, he had been wanting to join them in processing the loot, but had decided instead to take his choice from the slaves that came up, as his quarters were a little cluttered from all the other loot he had seized, and he needed a few beings to wait upon him. A warrior fought, instead of cleaning the floors. He had much menial work that needed to be done, and he wanted a few choice slaves for that purpose.
As he was imagining his quarters, with his trophies cleaned, and the walls properly painted, a buzzer sounded, destroying his wonderful dreaming.
"What is that t'falk noise for?"
"War Leader, the Glutton reports they are being attacked by a shuttle with an electron gun."
"Tell those frelk'ha to send their shuttles to deal with it. Remind them that a warrior does not call for help like a mih'vo, they deal with it themselves."
"Yes War Leader."
Sighing, the War Leader flopped back in his chair. He had volunteered for this assignment because he wanted to bring honor and glory to himself, allowing him to become the new Warlord, instead of the simpering worm that currently sat in the chair. Ever since a few freighters and one Hawk class vessel had stopped talking, the Warlord had been agitated. Simply because another War Leader and a few t'falk LootMasters had stopped talking was no reason to get worried. They had been in this region for many years, and there had been nothing that could have opposed them. The Lootmasters had probably taken their loot and moved outwards, seeking new ground to prey upon.
But the Warlord had undoubtedly sensed his mood, which was the best reason why he had been assigned these Lootmasters to accompany him. They seemed to either question his every order, or ask him for orders for everything. It seemed as though these two had been chosen to cause him as much trouble as possible, and dishonor himself in the eyes of those on his ship. But his orders were being obeyed, and Lootmaster Kor'mok was slowly turning his ship to reduce the effect of the electron guns, and his four shuttles were being launched from the planet to deal with the Tonk fly bothering them.
Ensign Felson watched four shuttles change course for her. All of these shuttles were of the alien design, while the standard Federation designs seemed to be still loading 'cargo' from the planet. She fired a few shots at the incoming shuttles now, more in an attempt to scare them off than actually hit them, and was rewarded as they began dodging and weaving slightly, but still coming in. She looked at the freighter that she had fired at earlier, and gasped. It was heading towards her as well! Apparently the commander of the freighter wanted to deal with the person who had been firing at him earlier.
Recording their positions and courses, she began edging back towards the surface of the planet's moon, trying to avoid being shot. She needed those shuttles a little closer for the plan to work. Firing a couple more blasts to keep their attention on her, she ducked back around the moon, hoping the plan would work.
The lead shuttle of the four chasing seemed to have larger patterns on it, and the image of a leader was reinforced by the conversation that took place between the four shuttles. "This is Talon Leader. The kill is mine. I will pursue, cripple and kill it. The rest of you will follow but only to record my battle. This is to be a fight between me and whatever filth is in the other shuttle, and all of you are to stay out."
There were various mumbled agreements, and a few veiled complaints about the leader grabbing all the glory, but the other four agreed, and followed the leader around the moon, at a respectful distance. Suddenly, over the channels they heard, "What is, no!" At the same time, the Talon Leader's shuttle was seen to flare brilliantly, and then parts of it seemed to explode.
Suddenly, they saw what their leader had seen as well, and they knew they were dead. But they were warriors, and merely because one would die is never a reason to retreat. Pushing their drives to the limits, they charged in at the four shuttles waiting for them, and the massive ship behind them.
Captain Morgan smiled as the trap was sprung. By bringing his ship behind the planet's moon, he had been able to mask most of his warp signature, and coming out of warp close to the moon had managed to save an hour off their travel time. On the way in, he had set up his trap, and he smiled as the laser turrets crippled the third of the four shuttles. The last one seemed to be determined to ram the Excellon, but it was directly in front, and the turret lasers were swinging around, trying to damage or destroy the shuttle before it rammed. The Excellon's shields were up, but having a shuttle ram them before a battle could easily turn the tide.
The last pilot cried out as the last of his fellow pilots were shot down by the shuttles and the large vessel. These beings had used a foul trap and attacked like cowards, and his fellow warriors would be denied entry into the warrior's hall. But he still could avenge their souls, and he pushed every bit of power to his engines, and aimed himself at the larger vessel. If he could damage it enough with his attack, the other warriors behind him would be able to defeat this ship of cowards. Letting out a roar, he bored in.
Captain Morgan saw the vessel accelerate, and smiled as he saw its path. Turning to the main weapons officer, he said, "Fire main lasers."
The last pilot wondered as the large vessel turned towards him, and he snarled as he imagined the beings onboard trying to ram him as well. But his vision was suddenly wiped out in a bright light, and he barely had time to realize his mistake as the spinal lasers from the Excellon all but vaporized his ship.
The shuttles came out again from behind the moon, but they did not open fire this time. They were plotting targets for the Excellon, and they carefully recorded the positions of the vessels. Behind them, the vertical launch cells of the Excellon were opening, and missiles began blasting out. But instead of heading in at top speed, the missiles were overloading their engines initially to get a high velocity, then drift in unpowered. When the Excellon arrived and began to open fire, all they would need was a radio signal to detonate.
Waiting a couple minutes, the Excellon came out from behind the moon, and began locking onto the Pirate class vessel. Since they were still out of laser range, he did not go active with the sensors, but the passive sensors were busy gathering data. Unfortunately, they could not tell what type of Pirate it was or how many people were in the cargo holds, but they could see shuttles lifting off from the planet. Realizing what was in the shuttles, Captain Morgan called up a tactical plot showing their locations, vectors, and the shut down missiles.
Seeing two of the missiles getting close to a freighter, he ordered them to detonate at the closest point of approach. Twin nuclear detonations should get their attention quite well. In addition, he ordered a fire solution on the Pirate, with four nuclear missiles targeting it, with each missile at full power.
The War Leader relaxed as the shuttles began carrying up the first courses for his feast tonight, then gasped in shock as the ship's sensors picked up the new contact. The vessel was bigger than his personal ship, and he could see the sensors detecting what would obviously fire control emissions coming from it. He now knew why the other ships had disappeared, but he bared his fangs, as he would prevent that ship from getting him.
Yelling out commands, he ordered the Lootmasters to have their freighters join up with him, as it was honorable to attack a larger opponent with multiple warriors. The glory would be shared, but this battle would be told often over victory feasts, and there would be more than enough glory for everyone there.
Suddenly two nuclear explosions occurred near one of his freighters, and the Lootmaster reported that his vessel was gushing atmosphere, and his ship was effectively out of the fight until they could get into suits. Seeing the loss of firepower from that vessel, the War Leader totaled his current assets; one warship with three electron guns, but one of them was missing its storage cell, and one freighter with a total of ten small electron guns. If he could use his ship to hammer from long range, he could distract the large ship enough for the Lootmaster to get his ship into close range, and cut loose with all ten electron guns. Yelling his orders to the Lootmaster, he ordered top speed, and to charge all weapons and storage cells.
Several other nuclear explosions occurred, but they were too far away to do significant damage, although a couple warm spots on his ship's wings were reported. The Lootmaster reported only one significant explosion, and that had merely damaged the cargo pod of his ship. Both ships were still in good fighting condition, and they accelerated to meet their foe.
Captain Morgan watched as the remaining missiles detonated, and frowned. They had detonated too far from their targets to do any effective damage, and the two remaining ships were heading in. Wanting to see what sort of armament the freighter was equipped with, he had it brought up on the main viewer. Seeing the two sets of ion guns, he knew that he better not let the Excellon get too close. But that ship was equipped with a commercial engine, so it could go long distances, but the Excellon could easily outrun it. Of course the Pirate would make things interesting, and he watched as the first ion blasts began coming out from it.
The War Leader watched as the unknown vessel slowed down, and snarled at it. It was obvious the cowards were afraid to face him, even with their larger vessel, and he yelled the command to open fire. The wing guns volleyed their shots, and the bow gun fired it single shot, and the electron pulses raced out. A total of eleven pulses were fired, and he watched to see how accurate his gunners were.
Captain Morgan watched the pulses hit the shields, and spared a glance at the energy mesh readings. Of the eleven pulses fired, eight had hit the forward shields, but the shields were still holding at forty percent strength. Without the leaky modification, the shields would have been down to thirty three percent strength. The energy that got through though, hit the mesh and was conducted to special batteries and power flow systems. Because of that little bit of power, the energy mesh itself was able to provide enough power to restore one percent of the shields. Of course, that was a very low efficiency, but the scientists had assured him they were working on an improved version.
Still though, the Pirate was closing fast, and he watched as it approached close enough to use the spinal lasers effectively.
The War Leader watched as some sort of bubble around the target ship absorbed the electron pulses. Some of the power had managed to hit the ship, so that was good, but that bubble had apparently managed to stop his entire first strike. That tactic was what they had designed these hawk class vessels for, and this vessel seemed designed to counter. But that bubble was produced by onboard equipment, so obviously some of the room inside had been taken up by the equipment. He ordered a change to one side, and the ship banked hard as the helmswarrior instinctively maneuvered the ship to the side.
Captain Morgan watched in delight as the alien ship turned hard and exposed its large surface area. Whoever was over there had forgotten that in a space fight, you don't need to bank a ship in order to turn. Deciding to take advantage of it, Captain Morgan ordered, "Fire main lasers."
Again, in space, there is no way to see a laser in operation. The viewscreen provided a simulation of the lasers streaking out, but there was no simulation done on the slaver ship. The lasers had been trained on its nose, and the target's very movement allowed the beams to cut through the hull in a line extending from the nose to the tail. Atmosphere gushed from the seam, and the engines had a small explosion occur as they were badly damaged by the laser.
The War Leader gasped in shock as the reports came in. This ship had some sort of weapon that was gutting his ship from one end to the other. All of his defenses and tactics relied on absorbing an opponent's electron bolts with onboard systems, but this type of weapon required a different set of defenses and tactics. In fact, the best sort of defense against this sort of weapon was armor, designed to reflect and refract the photons hitting his ship. Other options for the armor would be something with a high thermal threshold, so it took a lot of time and energy to melt each unit of armor. That time could be put to use maneuvering his ship, to prevent the beam from resting on one part of the armor for too long.
But he had only a few moments for that series of thoughts as the air was escaping from the bridge quickly, and in a few minutes everyone there was unconscious from the vacuum. After that, it was only a matter of time for the moisture in their bodies to boil off.
Captain Morgan watched as all activity on the enemy Pirate stopped suddenly, and smiled. Even though the main lasers were hard to aim properly, whenever they hit a target, they always did a wonderful job. Getting in closer, he ordered the armed shuttles to disable all electrical activity as before, to make sure the Pirate didn't turn around and attack them, as they still had two other freighters to deal with.
The closer freighter had apparently seen what had happened to the Pirate, and was trying to get in close to use its guns before it too was destroyed. But proceeding in straight towards the Excellon was a mistake. Although it was out of the fire arc of the main lasers, the other lasers were able to track it well, and it only took a couple more seconds before both electron gun sets were cut off from the ship. The shuttles again crippled it, before following the Excellon towards the planet. Here though, the remaining six shuttles and the freighter waited, determined to die before retreating an inch. The shuttles were ready for combat, and the freighter had managed to patch the biggest holes in its skin.
Deciding to not bother with closing against the shuttles, Captain Morgan asked for a close-up of the freighter. Seeing the larger electron gun on top, he told the lasers to shear that gun off first. They had managed to recharge their forward shields, so the two shots fired by the large ion gun only did fifteen percent damage before the turret lasers were able to cut it and the smaller cluster of guns off the freighter.
With its weapons removed, the freighter was unable to influence the fight that followed. For the shuttles were still active, and they came in at their top speeds. Three alien shuttles and three Federation shuttles sped in toward the Excellon, firing their electron guns the whole way in. The alien shuttles became the highest priority for the laser turrets, as they carried two electron guns each while the Federation shuttles only carried one each.
The battle around the Excellon turned into a wild melee, as the six attacking shuttles swarmed around, trying to get a shot into a weakly defended part, while the four defending shuttles tried to pick off an attacker here and there. During the whole time, the Excellon's laser turrets were firing, in an attempt to take out an enemy shuttle by chance or skill.
Eventually, all six enemy shuttles were taken down, and Captain Morgan looked at his security chief. "Begin landing your troops. I want that colony secured, and if possible, I want prisoners. Ved can translate their speech, and we have a brig to store them in until we rendezvous with the Amemnon."
Lt Commander Vergan turned on her heels, and began barking orders for her security details. They were to go down and secure the colony, in case any of the slavers were still alive down there. Once that was done, or the colony's security force had taken over, they would be returning to the Excellon to take care of the ships and shuttles still in orbit.
The four armed shuttles from the Excellon dropped through the atmosphere, and began depositing their troops near the main colony buildings. The soldiers steadily moved forwards, checking out each room, and clearing it. The first sign of resistance came when they began approaching the largest building. Two shots were fired towards them, and they ducked low, staying behind cover. Knowing they had to get inside that building, as none of the colonists had been found yet, Vergan began ordering his troopers to advance in a leapfrog fashion, with one team covering another while they alternated advancing.
Several more shots were fired, and the Federation security troops returned fire, with the shuttles above firing electron pulses to try and keep the slavers' heads down. Finally, the troopers were at the doors to the main building, with a couple teams watching the windows in case any of the slavers tried to jump out and circle around.
Using a small override control, the doors were opened, and several concussion grenades were thrown in, to keep anyone inside from wanting to get close. Tossing glow-globs next, the troopers began moving into the building, trying to find all the intruders. With their night vision systems, they could easily see with and without the glow-globs, but they had tossed them in to make sure that any Federation personnel wouldn't attack them out of panic. They began moving from one room to the next, and the first attack came swiftly.
Two troopers were checking out a room, examining the corners, when suddenly two of the slavers dropped from the ceiling lights, and began grappling with them. The power suits the troopers were wearing allowed them some strength enhancement, but the slavers had reflexes and flexibility on their side. The two troopers attacked were slow and clumsy against the slavers, and they knew they had to do something to change the balance.
Fortunately, the next two troopers saw what was going on, and one of them tossed in another concussion grenade, causing the two slavers to fall to the floor from the blast. The troopers had been protected by their armor, and they quickly went to work securing the prisoners. Remembering how the slavers had been very strong, the usual restraints were tripled up to make sure neither of the slavers escaped.
Armed with the knowledge that the slavers might wait in the ceilings, the process of clearing the rooms took a little longer, and after several dozen more slavers were captured or killed, they finally arrived at the main gathering hall, and were shocked. Every one of the colonists still alive had been herded in here, and from the way they were huddled around each other, what the slavers had done wasn't pretty. A few of the colonists that had been selected for food had bites taken out of their muscles, and the medical personnel had made up crude bandages for them trying to stop the blood loss with pressure pads and tourniquets. Other colonists had been selected for strength, and their limbs showed stress from where the slavers had tried to pull them apart to see how tough they were. The result was that all of them had limbs dislocated, but the doctors and medics had been able to pop them back in properly. The final group though, had been selected for the slavers' 'entertainment'. The men selected had several deep cuts in their bodies from where the slavers had fought them and won, while the women were huddled together, afraid of anyone touching them because of what had happened to them. The troopers who saw the colonists first were horrified at the thought of what had gone on in the room, but then the feeling became one of rage.
While the troopers were expressing their rage in different ways, the medical personnel were escorted to the hospitals, in case of any more slavers, and they brought the injured patients with them. It took several hours for all the wounds to be closed up, and the patients stabilized, but the doctors and nurses worked wonders, even as tired and injured as some of them were. Even the nurses who had been 'tried out' by the slavers managed to shake off their cobwebs and do their jobs. But their actions were more robot-like than anything else, as their eyes still showed the horror of what had happened.
The security detail for the colony was finally assembled, and they spread out through the tunnels, checking them for any remaining slavers, and picking up the radiation filters and medicines as well. When the colony was finally pronounced secure, Lt Commander Vergan gave a report to Captain Morgan.
Everyone else on the bridge had become accustomed to Captain Morgan being a rock of solidity, but that day they saw the magma that lay beneath. He said nothing, but his eyes burned with inner fire, and everyone there grew afraid. It wasn't because they were worried about him lashing out at them, but because of the rage that was all too evident. They had heard through the grapevine how the Federation planned to make peace with these slavers, and the thought of making peace with these slavers was too horrible to contemplate. After all, if they did try to make peace, the traditional Federation way of allowing for a race's unique characteristics meant that certain colonies would be selected to be the prey of these slavers.
But the rage passed, and Captain Morgan was again in control of himself. Looking around, he saw people working at their posts, and smiled, because their calm actions reminded him that he would have to fight the slavers, but not become one of them. He also remembered the other ships in the area that had been crippled, and the ground troops were recalled to take control of them.
The clean up on board the ships went well, although there were a few trouble spots. Several times a trooper would go almost berserk when fighting one of the slavers, and the others would have to restrain him or her from killing the slaver with bare hands. Whenever they found a group of ex-slaves, they would put them in a safe location (usually the shuttle they came in), and keep on going. Several times, shuttles would detach from the ship being taken over, and would deposit the liberated slaves on the colony.
There were even a few 'entertainment' slaves kept, including a few that looked similar to the slavers. When a translator on board the ship explained that these were the females of the slavers, and that the slavers considered their females and slaves in the same category, the troopers were shocked again. Several of them had grown up with the concept of all beings being created with equal rights, and the thought of someone treating member of their own species, let alone members of another species, as slaves was making them almost numb to further shocks.
At the end, Captain Morgan totaled up what had been recovered. One Pirate Beta vessel, with open stomach; two freighters, with a total of fifteen small electron guns and one large electron gun, six alien shuttles, and three Federation armed shuttles. Nodding to himself, he thought, 'Not a bad day's work'. But the thought of what the colonists had gone through went through his mind repeatedly. Even more important was what one of the colonists had said about the nuclear mines that had been in orbit, and the few hours they had bought for the colonists to get underground and for the Excellon to arrive.
He knew that the mines were highly illegal, but they had worked. Unfortunately, the radiation from the mines in orbit would show up for a long time, and the next ship that came by would be able to spot what had happened easily. But fusion warheads were much cleaner, and the Excellon still had 110 missiles in its vertical launch bays. Thinking slowly, knowing he was violating Federation law about arming colonists, Captain Morgan ordered, "Deploy ten warheads from our vertical launch missiles. They will be transferred to the colony to function as mines in orbit."
Several people on board the bridge gasped at the order. They knew that Federation law prohibited colonies from owning weapons, and that Captain Morgan's orders was completely illegal. The weapons officer was the first to speak up.
"Captain, we can't do that. It goes against Federation law to let colonies have weapons of any kind. If we let the colony have weapons, then we're no better than the pirates we're hunting."
"Lieutenant I know that. I also know that those mines they had placed in orbit were the only thing that slowed down these slavers enough for us to arrive in time. I don't like arming colonists any more than you do, but if we are to get anywhere in time, the colonies need something to slow down or stop these pirates. Unless we can get orbital laser platforms in, using our missile warheads as clean mines will work in the meantime."
"What if the colony tries to rebel after the pirates are driven away? They will have top of the line weaponry to hold off ships with."
"That makes it even more important that we provide the weapons. Since they are ours, we can record their control codes, and if the colony later decides to rebel, we can always drop in, disarm or detonate the mines remotely, and put the Federation back in control. The other option is watching the colonists put more of those fission warheads in orbit, with the radiation they cause, and not have them under our control."
Lieutenant Ilhar quieted down at that commented, and but off his retort as he thought about the obvious problem, and the two solutions. No matter what they did, the colonists would soon have more mines put in orbit, and that was a serious problem. They could either provide the mines themselves, or the colonists would build them. If they provided the mines from their missile warheads, the explosions would be clean fusion explosions, and they could always disable them later with the control codes. But if the colonists built their own warheads, they would be dirty fission bombs, and there would be no way to disarm them later.
The real problem in his mind was that if they provided the warheads to act as mines, they would be violating Federation law. He knew that he had been posted out here because he wasn't properly Federation, but he had always tried to obey Federation law wherever he went. Now he was faced with a situation he had never expected, and his fundamental beliefs were being assailed by the fact that mines were needed to keep the slavers away. He had a simple choice, but it was not an easy one. Either violate his deepest-held beliefs, or watch the pirates slaughter Federation citizens.
The internal struggle barely showed on the outside, and after a few seconds, he nodded his head. He would get the warheads removed and reconfigured as mines. Captain Morgan could only see a hint of the struggle that occurred on the inside, and he knew that he would have the Chief Engineer talk to him later, to help him accept his decision.
Already the salvage crews were reporting back with their news, and it was fairly good. One of the freighters was damaged, but the other contained enough parts to get it flying again. They could attach the pods to the freighter that could still move, and store the other nose and the Pirate in its cargo holds to be returned to starbase 121.
The missiles were jettisoned and their warheads removed, and the Ritzak colony members began the process of hooking the warheads up to their mine control system. The power plant was being repaired in the meantime, and soon they could report back to starbase 121 what had happened, and what the slavers had done to the people here. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that the people back there would be horrified by what had nearly happened, and would try to get help from the rest of the Federation.
The best art was that the two freighters that had been recovered were among the earliest ones captured. The Gervon had disappeared at the earliest outbreak, and the Halmat was a little more recent. Some people had looked funny when they realized they had recaptured five freighters, but Captain Morgan reminded them that they had recovered half of the recent disappearances earlier, not half of the total amount. Now with four freighters recovered out of eight originally stolen, and nineteen out of twenty shuttles accounted for, they were definitely making an impact on the local slaver operations.
With the Gervon following them, Captain Morgan led the ship back to where they had left the Amemnon, intending to escort both freighters back to the starbase, and then continue the rounds. After all, if he sent the Gervon back by itself, the freighter might get recaptured, and that would tip off the slavers as to how much firepower was being wielded to stop their activities. As long as the Excellon was able to remain an unknown force, and able to surprise the slavers, they would have a chance.
But when they returned to where they had left the Amemnon, everyone grew quiet. For the Amemnon was gone.