Flight of the Vigilant
1: Escape and Evade
Shuttlepod UES Vig-1, Outer Rigel System , 29th December 2155
"Good first command, Lieutenant!" Chief Harrelson noted.
Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Diana Grassington didn't turn to look at him -she was piloting the shuttle -but she allowed herself a snort of amusement.
"A coffee and cake run!" She said. "Hardly a command, Chief!"
"What counts is you got us and the ship back safe." He told her.
"From delivering a load of traditional Christmas puddings to a colony base." She replied.
"A new colony on the edge of known space." Harrelson pointed out. "Lieutenant, my family have been involved in StarFleet from the first, and before that with the Navy -the Royal Navy, mind! One thing you have to do with space, same as the sea, is to respect it, and never trust it!
"I watched you the whole time. You were never sloppy, never took the job less than seriously and you were alert.
"Nothing went wrong, sure. But if it had, you were ready to deal with it. The captain knows that, which is why he only sent me along, rather than using a more experienced officer to command the mission with you as second."
It occurred to Diana that, with the possible exception of Captain Kamura himself, there was nobody on Vigilant more experienced than the veteran seated next to her. Before she could think of a way to say so without implying that he was past it, the comms system crackled into life.
"Mayday! Mayday!" It was the Captains' voice. "Any ship that can hear us! This is United Earth frigate Vigilant, we are under attack from unknown vessels. Large fleet. Warn the Rigel colony! We…." The rest was a burst of howling static.
Diana swung the shuttle around and opened the throttle wide. "Get Dave up here!" She told Harrelson. As the Chief moved back to the passenger compartment, Diana tried to call the colony. The shuttlepods comm unit wasn't as powerful as a real ships' outfit, but the colony had a big enough receiver. All she got was more static.
The skinny form of Ensign David Brockman slipped into the co-pilots' chair.
"What d'you need, Di?" He asked.
He should have addressed her by rank, but protocol be damned at the moment.
"I need to know why comms are out and what, if anything, might coming up behind us!" She said. "The sensors on this tub are pretty basic, and you're the nearest thing to a Science Officer I've got!"
"OK." Dave bent to the screens in front of him. "Well, comms are out because we're being jammed, big time! And there is a massive fleet coming up behind us, fast! We'll be in sensor range soon, if we aren't already!
"Asteroid field to port, if you think it might help."
"Thanks!" Diana said, and put the helm hard over, to the accompaniment of some thumps, bumps and muffled oaths from the rear. She shot in among the asteroids at full speed, twisting through them until she reached the thickest point, then bringing the shuttle to a sharp halt. She sat back, shaking, and let out a long breath.
David, apparently unperturbed, noted. "If we had another coat of paint on this thing, we wouldn't have got through, you realise?"
"Do you actually have a nervous system?" Diana asked him.
"If by that you mean the part of me that's silently screaming, yes." He told her. "But screaming out loud in a small cabin would give us both a headache, so I'll save that for later."
Diana felt the urge to laugh uncontrollably, recognised it for what it was, and held it to a chuckle before activating the intercom.
"Everyone OK back there?" She asked.
The reply came in the measured tones of their Vulcan passenger, Dr Synak.
"A few minor contusions, and my grasp of Standard English has been expanded in an unexpected direction. Otherwise, all is well."
"Right!" Diana took another deep breath, got to her feet, prayed she wouldn't throw up, and opened the door.
-XXXX-
There were six of them, altogether. Herself, of course, all too aware of her gawky height, blonde hair and English Rose looks. Dave, skinny, dark of hair, pale of skin, with a great beak of a nose and restless, intelligent eyes. Chief Harrelson, stocky, grizzled, with a blunt face lined with experience and tanned from the sun of too many worlds. These she knew. The others not so well.
Midshipman Gerry Baker, still technically an Academy student, serving his half-year tour before deciding which branch to specialise in. He was tall and built on heroic lines, ebony-skinned and easy-going, but he hadn't been around long enough for Diana to know much more than that.
Corporal Freya Tomori, one of the half-dozen MACO troops assigned to Vigilant, was also an unknown quantity. The MACOs didn't mix often with the Starfleet crew, as they had no role to play in day-to-day ships operations, so tended to stay out of the way. Tomori combined the tall, rawboned build of a Norwegian mother with the dark hair and Asian features of a Japanese father.
Finally, Dr Synak, of the Inter-Species Medical Exchange. Like all Vulcans, he was on the tall side, with a gaunt, wiry frame and a thin, harsh-planed face. His face was unlined and his movements vigorous, but he could be anything between twenty and seventy years old. He'd been serving as a medical practitioner on the Rigel colony until a qualified Human doctor had arrived, but the Vulcan hospital ship that was to have picked him up had been diverted to a major incident on another colony. The High Council had asked Vigilant to transport Synak to join his ship, hence his presence on this shuttle.
"OK," Diana said, "OK. Vigilant is in trouble, maybe destroyed, and we're stuck here in an unarmed, sub-light shuttle with no shields and a big hostile fleet in the area. Chief Harrelson, as the most experienced member of the crew, I request you take command."
"Request denied, Lieutenant." Harrelson snapped. "You're the ranking officer here. Do your damned job!"
His tone was the cold shower Diana needed. She'd been acting on instinct and adrenalin up to now. Harrelsons' reaction shocked her into starting to think.
"Right then, on your own head be it, Chief!" She retorted. "Dave, let me know when that fleet is out of sensor range. Once it is, we head back to Vigilants' last known position. She may be just crippled, there could be survivors. Even if the worst has happened, we still need to retrieve the Disaster Buoy, because it will have the log in it.
"After that, we have to try and make our way to where we can contact friendlies, while avoiding contact with hostiles. Any thoughts?"
"I'll take a look at the engines." Baker said. "I'm kinda good with things like that. I might find a way to get a bit more distance or speed out of them."
"I'll check on supplies." Harrelson said.
"I might be able to help on tactics." Tomori added. "MACOs are trained in escape and evasion."
"Thanks." Diana said. "Let's get going."
-XXXX-
Vigilant was lost with all hands, that much was painfully clear. The main hull still held its shape, but had been holed so often and so badly that it looked like lace. Both nacelles had been sheered off, and the single phased-plasma cannon floated free of the wreckage. Nearby floated the remains of the ships' other shuttle, blasted to smithereens.
"They obviously didn't want any survivors." Harrelson said. "Wonder who they were? Orions, maybe?"
Diana shook her head. "The Orions are crooks. Pirates, smugglers and traders. The Syndicate isn't an empire. The fleet that went past us was an invasion fleet, not a raiding squadron.
"Dave? Shed any light?"
"Well, not all that wreckage is from the Vigilant." Was the reply. Too much of it., and some of it isn't UE standard. This set-up isn't that precise, but I'd say that there are at least two other ships there. Both alien. A frigate and a corvette, I'd guess. Looks like our guys got some licks in!
"I've got the buoy, by the way. How do we haul it in?"
This is a cargo shuttle, remember?" Harrelson told him. "There's a handling arm out back, if the Lieutenant can get us close enough -and she can – I can pull it into the hold."
-XXXX-
The log made grim viewing. The hostile fleet had dropped out of warp dangerously close to the Vigilant and attacked immediately. There were at least a hundred and fifty vessels. Crude-looking, but fast and heavily-armed, nothing bigger than a destroyer apart from some that hung back from the fight. The Vigilant had been swarmed, and despite taking out two enemy ships, she had gone down under a hail of missile and disruptor fire.
"She wasn't built for that kind of fight." Harrelson said. "A frigate is supposed to hit and run, not stand and hold.
"So, what now, Lieutenant?"
"Now we head for the nearest friendly ship, station or planet we can find." Diana said. "Somebody, somewhere, needs to see this log!"
"The nearest world is the Vulcan colony on Kanolos Beta III." Synak said. "That is some three years away at light speed."
"We don't have the fuel for that." Dave pointed out. "Why not head back to Rigel and take a look? There's worse things than being a PoW. Like being dead!"
"These guys don't take prisoners, Dave." Diana told him. "You saw what they did to that shuttle! But they may have moved on by now…."
"No." This was Tomori. "Those ships that were at the back of their fleet? They were drop-ships for ground assault. That was an invasion fleet. If I had to guess, the Rigel colony is going to be a beachhead or staging area for a bigger assault. Not only will that fleet still be there, they'll probably be waiting for reinforcements!"
"Shit!" Diana said. "Any more bad news, anyone?"
"I got some news, but not so bad." Baker volunteered. "I took a look at the engines. I can rig them so they pop out less ionic mass, but at higher speed. Kinda like thinning the mix on an old internal combustion engine? Takes us longer to accelerate, but we get the same speed for about half the fuel. Gives us the juice, just, to reach the Vulcans."
"It will also," Dave remarked, "leave a thinner ion trail in case anyone from that fleet decides to come and look for survivors or escapees. One for the midshipman!"
"Which leaves the question of food." Harrelson said. "We got half a hold full of produce the people on Rigel gave us in return for what we delivered. If we turn the heat in the hold way down, we can keep it fresh, but not forever. Plus we got emergency rations for a full crew for six months. However you cut it, we're gonna get hungry!"
"Hmm. If we come across a Class M planet on the way, it could be worth detouring to pick up food." Diana said. "But we'll think about that, when we come to it. The shipping lanes get thicker as we get nearer Kanolos Beta, so there's always a chance we'll find a freighter or maybe a Coalition vessel first.
"Either way, we don't really have a choice. Let's get going."
-XXXX-
Shuttlepod UES Vig-1, Interstellar Space, 14th March 2156
Diana was sick of the taste of Rigellian potatoes. Not that they were bad potatoes -the Rigellian soil chemistry imparted a slightly spicy flavour you didn't find in Terran vegetables -but three months of them with the single meal they took each day left her craving for rice or pasta, or even bread!
She wasn't the only one, either. Dave was having all he could do to choke them down, and even Gerry was grimacing each time he saw them. The Chief was stoic, Synak didn't seem to care what he ate and Freya had told them that nothing could be worse than MACO food.
There were other problems. The shuttle did have washing facilities, and thanks to the advanced recycling system, there was no lack of water -the air scrubbers even extracted the minute amounts of moisture from every exhalation. Everyone did their best, but there was not much to be done about clothes. Diana was increasingly aware both of herself and her crewmates, so it must be torture for Synak, whose sense of smell was keener. Especially since Vulcans were known not to like the smell of even clean Humans!
They were bored as well. Even the stars don't hold much interest when you're ploughing through them at the crawl that was light speed. The shuttles' computer had a small selection of games, videos and books, and they had a deck of cards, but there was only so much of those entertainments that could sustain the interest of people with naturally active minds. They hadn't started to bicker yet, but it would come, if Diana couldn't think of a way to head it off.
She was at the helm – the only job that had to be done for the whole day, even if it was just sitting there -when Freya settled her long frame into the seat beside her.
"Hey." She said. "The boys are playing poker again, so I thought I'd leave them to it. I'm not much on cards and I can't meditate all day like Synak. Mind if I sit with you awhile?"
"Mi casa, su casa." Diana told her. "Makes a change to talk to a MACO, you don't usually mix with the rest of us. What is that? Some kind of ground-pounder versus flyboy kind of thing?"
"Uh-uh." Freya shook her head. "Small ship protocol, they call it. When you've got a frigate, or even a destroyer, the whole crew are either working or sleeping, right? Not much downtime and no social spaces except the mess hall. On the big Warp 5 ships, they work a three-shift system, and they've got a gym and a lounge as well as the mess hall. So there's people about to hang with and talk to, right? But on the mall ships, well, we get orders to stay in our quarters and not get underfoot. Don't want to get in the way of guys with jobs to do, and they don't want to see us sitting around idle, it pisses them off."
"Guess you're right." Diana said. "Never thought of it like that. So how'd you become a MACO anyway? I mean you personally?"
"Born to it I suppose." Freya said. "My dad was a MACO -he was on Enterprise when Archer went looking for the Xindi. Mom was on the crew, that's where they met. So I was always going to be Starfleet or a MACO. When it came down to it, I'm a good shot, I can kick ass and I have a knack for tactics, but no head for all the tech stuff you need for fleet. So here I am, making my folks proud!
"What about you? You're English, right? You try to hide it, but your accent gives it away."
Diana sighed. "Not trying to hide the fact I'm English, just the kind of English I am! Allow me to introduce you to the Honourable Diana Grassington, daughter and second child of Lord Harry Grassington, 57th Baron Drakemore, and Lady Amelia!"
"Oh, wow!" Freya laughed. "Do I curtsey now?"
"If you do, I'll get Gerry to throw you out of the airlock!" Diana promised. "Trouble is, the English aristocracy don't breed for brains. They breed for an utter lack of fear and the ability to stick on a horse as if you were born there. Now I'm fine with the horse thing, I was always athletic, but somehow I got an IQ just this side of genius. Did really well at school.
"That drove Mummy frantic. She couldn't see how her bluestocking daughter was going to make a decent marriage!"
"Bluestocking?" Freya asked.
"Old word for an intellectual woman." Diana explained. "Anyway, Mummy was all set to pack me off to a finishing school, to make a 'proper' lady of me, when Daddy put his foot down and asked if I wanted to go to University. When I told him I was more interested in science and space than in traditional academics, he suggested the Academy. I passed the exams and got in. Mummy was furious, but for once Daddy told her to pipe down.
"He told her he was a 'beef-witted English squire' and so was Peter – that's my big brother, who's very sweet, but a bit dim – but that I had some brains and he was damned if he'd see them wasted on some other half-wit with a title.
"'Off you go, darling,' he told me, 'Work hard, have fun, and bring something nice for your mother when you come home'. He says just the same thing every time I leave; he said it just before I joined Vigilant."
She fell silent. She'd never said as much to anyone before, but something about Freya made her feel safe to confide. The silence wasn't awkward, though. Then Freya leaned forward.
"I'm no expert," she said, "but I think there's something on the sensors, dead ahead. Should I go get Dave?"
"Please." Diana said.
Dave settled himself in and studied the readouts.
"It's a ship." He said finally. "But I've got no idea what kind or who it belongs to. A little bigger than an NX. There's a power source, but I can't tell what kind. Not a singularity like a Vulcan ship, or matter-antimatter like ours. No life signs. I think it's adrift. Can't tell much else, except the life support systems seem to be similar to ours in terms of environment.
"Should be in visual range soon."
The ship was indeed around 230 metres long - a little longer than an NX-class ship. The main hull was long and slender, coming to a point at what seemed to be the bow. The stern, by contrast, was a glowing green globe. Just forward of the globe, there was a kind of collar around the hull from which three equally-spaced pylons extended. These sloped out toward the bow, and supported nacelles with rounded rear sections and pointed forward ones.
"It seems to be operational, but adrift and un-crewed." Dave confirmed. "Some kind of computer activity on board….We're being scanned!"
"Any hostile activity?" Diana asked.
"No weapons active as far as I can tell….Wait! There, amidships! I think it just opened a shuttle bay!"
"Are we being invited inside, I wonder?" Diana said.
"Or baited into a trap?" This was Harrelson, who with the rest, was crowded into the doorway to watch.
"Hold on, we're being hailed!" Diana said.
The voice that came from the speaker was a clear and measured tenor. "Vigilant crew, this is Deep Space Vehicle Four. I have become separated from the System and require assistance to return. My reading of your logs indicates that you are also in need of assistance. Perhaps we can come to a mutually-beneficial agreement?"
"Are you the captain?" Diana asked.
"Negative." Was the reply. "I am a Limited Artificial Intelligence responsible for co-ordinating the ships' functions. You may designate me Zen. My programming is prescriptive and I cannot perform fully without instructions from an organic commander. This includes offensive and defensive operations. You may dock your craft in the bay I have opened and come to the bridge, where we can discuss the matter more fully. I will await your arrival."
"Opinions?" Diana asked.
"If it's a trap, it's an over-complicated one." Freya noted. "That ship could have destroyed this shuttle, or crippled it and dragged it into that bay – it must have a tractor beam or grapple. No need to invite us on board, armed and aware, unless it doesn't mean us any harm."
"We still need to be careful." Harrelson put in.
"You're both right." Diana said. "But remember, this is what Starfleet is for, making contact with new species. I think we need to board and take a look."
"Logically, we have little choice." Synak noted. "Should we try to leave, that ship could easily catch us. Also, in our current state, we are unlikely to survive to reach our destination."
"He's right." Harrelson said. "A lot of the Rigellian food couldn't be frozen -we had to ditch some of it, you remember – and we haven't come anywhere near a planet we could forage from, even if we could spare the fuel to divert there."
"OK." Diana decided. "We're going in!"
Supressing a feeling of trepidation, she moved the shuttle toward the open port.