the pirates of Deneb 5&6

 

Chapter 5

Admiral Chang read through my report quickly; his eyebrows went up once or twice and once he chuckled. I bet that was over Mad Indira. "Lt. Igadushta," he said "my complements to the Commanding Officers of all Imperial Navy vessels at the base and I will see them in the Situation Room in one hour. Thank you James, I'll talk to you later." We both left.

oOoOo

I jumped (pardon the pun), at the chance Admiral Chang gave me to accompany him in his flagship with one of the two Task Forces going to destroy the pirate base. Unfortunately Flag Lieutenant The Honourable Igasdushta was coming too; oh well, it was his job after all.

The composition of the two task forces was rather . . . mixed. In the holo-vids squadrons of sleek Imperial warships are ordered out to hurl themselves against the foe. In reality Admiral Chang had to make do with whatever ships he had to hand. Most large Imperial Navy fleet assets are concentrated to coreward facing the fractured Vargr Extents; which are a patchwork of ever changing statelets and shifting alliances. The majority of the remaining naval assets are out conducting anti-piracy sweeps. At least the admiral didn't have to worry about protecting the Deneb system. It had its own fleet of system defence vessels paid for by the planetary government. These vessels had no jump engines and couldn't leave the system but they made up for it by filling the space that would have been occupied by jump engines and jump fuel with weapons, armour and powerful manoeuvre drives. Even the entire Flayer Fleet would avoid Deneb like the plague.

oOoOo

Admiral Chang's day cabin was much smaller than the one in Arbellatra Station.

"I'm glad you're on board James." He said. His plain naval uniform was looking rumpled. I doubt he'd slept much.

"The situation we find ourselves in is most unusual for the navy." Admiral Chang continued, "Normally we know the details of the planetary systems we are jumping into, thanks to the scouts." He nodded his head to me, "but this time we know almost nothing so any insights you have will be welcome."

"Indira did include some system data in her report, typical ex-scout." I grinned. "I think it was a wise choice sending the second task force to that system."

"It's under Rear-Admiral Palalag." Admiral Chang said.

"She was a junior Captain during the war. A good officer." I replied

"Yes. She's a protégé of mine." The admiral continued. "Now, what can you tell me about unknown brown-dwarf systems like the one we are going to?"

"There won't be any gas giant planets as the dynamics of system formation prevent that. That's one of the reasons that Indira went to the other system; it has a gas giant, and it shouldn't" I said. "There will be half-a-dozen or less planets and they will be rocky and probably small. The Kuiper Belt will be proportionally much further out than a normal system."

"If this system is the pirate base" Admiral Chang pondered, "there must be a source of hydrogen fuel. Could they skim it from the brown-dwarf itself as its surface temperature is low?"

"Impossible Admiral. The surface temperature isn't the problem, it's the surface gravity. That will be anywhere from 30 to 300 gravities. No known ship could even approach, not even a special robot job."

"Where do you think the fuel comes from then, James?"

"The prisoners said that when they went from their ships to the base, the ground was dusty not icy and that they didn't see the star. I think that the base is on the world closest to the brown-dwarf, so close that it's tidally locked and so one half of the world is always in shadow. Over millions of years ices will accumulate in the shadow and they can be refined for hydrogen. The base will be near a deposit of ice."

"Thank you James" the Admiral said, "I'm calling a vid-conference with the commanding officers of the task force in 30 minutes. I'd like you to attend."

As there wasn't time to return to the quarters I'd been assigned, I went to an observation blister and looked out at the ships accompanying us. There were only two of them; the Springer an escort of the Gazelle class of which the pirates had one and the Anger, a Fury class escort similar to the Gazelle class but fully streamlined and able to perform well in an atmosphere. The flagship was a gigantic but obsolete battleship of the Dictator class, the Castro, interrupted in her journey to the breakers yard for a final voyage in imperial service.

I arrived at the briefing room just after Captain DuToit, the Castro's commander and went to the seat indicated by Flag Lt. Igadushta. Admiral Chang entered from a side door and we all stood. After gesturing us to our seats, the Admiral nodded to Igadushta who touched a control and two holograms sprang into life over the table; one human, one Vargr.

"Lt. Datoerr, commander of the Springer and Sub-Lt. Lakmamar, commander of the Anger." Admiral Chang introduced the newcomers, "this is Captain DuToit of the Castro, Flag Lt. Igadushta my aide and Mr Beecher my advisor. Gentlemen, I know you have just come off patrol and had little time to prepare for this mission. What is the condition of your ships?"

"Combat effective, sir." Replied the Vargr Lieutenant, "there is an intermittent fault on the starboard turret. We will continue to search for the cause while enroute in jumpspace." That was a job I didn't envy. One normally exited the ship only in the direst of emergencies while in jump. Anything that punctured the jump field bubble would just dissolve into the otherness of jump space.

"Fully combat ready, sir." Said Sub-Lt. Lakmamar, "our only problem is that the washing machine's thrown some kind of a fit.¹" Our laughter eased the tension in the room. The tension returned with Captain DuToit's next words.

"Minimally mission capable, Admiral."

"If you'd be kind enough to give us the details Captain." Said Admiral Chang gravely.

"As I had already explained to you sir, the ship's main weapon, the spinal meson cannon had been dismantled to provide spare parts for the Deneb system defence fleet. However the removal of that much mass allows her a maximum of 4.7 gravities acceleration in dire emergencies. She's an old ship, sir." The Captain felt a need to come to the defence of his ship.

"I know Captain," said the Admiral, "my grandfather served aboard her sister ship Stalin in the Solomani Rim Campaign. Forgive the interruption, do go on."

"Yes, sir" replied the Captain.

As Captain DuToit resumed his litany of woes that his old ship suffered from, I realised that if the whole Flayer Fleet were there the battle might be a damned close run thing.

A/N¹ My apologies to Alistair Maclean and his novel 'Ice Station Zebra'.

 

Chapter 6

It's often said that being in jump space is incredibly boring. One week cut off from everything, in your own little bubble of normality, bobbing along in the bizarreness of jump space. There's literally nothing to see in jump space and you have to get along with your fellows with no outside influences or distractions. As a passenger the crew will make every effort, provided it comes to less than the cost of your ticket, to keep you amused. Crewmembers take advantage of the time to do routine maintenance, but even so full time spacers take up some kind of hobby to while away those 168 hours without going mad.

This trip was different. The entire crew was feverishly at work repairing, cannibalising and jury-rigging systems to get Castro in the best shape possible for the forthcoming battle. I offered to help before I was drafted into it, but I have to confess to feeling very guilty over the relief I felt at being ordered, on pain of being flung into the brig, not to assist in work on the hull surface. Admiral Chang not being about to lose his planetary system advisor.

Fortunately we didn't lose anyone to jump space. The sick-bay was kept busy however dealing with minor cuts and abrasions. Those with broken bones were filled full of quick-heal and sent back to work next day, the potential future side-effects being of small moment in our predicament.

Twenty four hours before our estimated arrival time (bearing in mind we could be up to sixteen hours early), the Captain put the crew back on normal watches to give them time to rest. I couldn't sleep; my brain was tired, but my body wasn't. I'd been spending some time with Admiral Chang and Captain DuToit wrestling with computer simulations of possible arrangements of the unknown system we were going to. I wandered down to the Officers Mess.

As I entered I could see that a brave attempt had been made to make the room inviting and a place to relax in. There were fabric wall hangings, 'native art' from planets visited by the ship's officers and a trophy head mounted on one bulkhead. I'd never seen the creature before and with the number of horns it possessed I wasn't keen on meeting a live one. Most of the chairs were standard navy issue 'chairs, lounging, officers pattern'. They were ergonomically designed for the average biped; which meant that they were equally uncomfortable whatever your species. From the eclectic variety of cushions the chairs bore each officer had personalised his chair for individuality as well as an attempt at comfort. The different shapes, colours and designs clashed horribly but the room seemed more homelike for that. One cushion must be a souvenir of Deneb, at least it was in the same colours and random spiral patterns that Krystal considered high fashion. I wouldn't team puce with parma violet myself but everyone's taste differs. The silver sparkly bits were just grotesque though.

The half dozen officers who were present were as varied in dress as their room's décor. Some were in uniform, others whose next duty was some time away using the traditional informality of the mess to wear a startling variety of costumes. One of them I assumed was the owner of the cushion as she was wearing the latest fashion freak from Deneb, the trouser skirt. One leg encased in tight legging the other in a much pleated culotte type skirt. I didn't think it went with the nipple guards.

A light-furred Vargr officer in a stylish blue kaftan was sitting on his, I presume, favourite chair as it had a cushion with horrible purple, orange and lime green stripes. What humans saw as garish and clashing, Vargr, with their more limited colour sense, saw as pleasingly mellow. "Mr. Beecher" he said, "why are you wearing that environment suit?" I saw the other officers wince slightly but I took no offence as Vargr are proverbial for their lack of what we humans think of as tact. I realised that I must be creeping him out a great deal as Vargr use their phenomenal sense of smell to pick up emotional cues that humans use body-language for which would be visible through my light suit.

I looked around the group and said "That's a long story. Mind if I join you?" I was quickly asked to do so; story telling in jump space is a long established spacer tradition going back to the days of the Vilani Imperium.

"I was part of a scout mission to the planet Enaaka¹; has anyone heard of it?" I asked.

"It's called The Fungus World, isn't it?" replied the young lady with the trouser skirt.

"That's right" I continued, "It has over 700 different classes of fungi, compared with Deneb's six². There are millions of known species and it's certain that we've only seen the tip of the iceberg, as much of the surface has only been mapped from orbit. Many species are valuable, many others are very dangerous and some fatal. The mission I was on was . . . . you don't have the clearance . . . ."

"We all have Blue level clearances" said one of the male officers.

"Sorry" I replied, "I don't think any of you have Imperial Interstellar Scout Service clearances. What I can tell you is that there have been rumours of existing remains from the first unsuccessful Vilani colonisation attempt. The mission I was on was attempting to find if there was any truth in those rumours."

"Is there?" several voices spoke at once.

"Sorry, that's classified." I replied.

"That means there is" asserted the Vargr.

"You might very well say so" I said, with a touch of smugness, "I couldn't possibly comment. In any case, the teams were doing a grid search in an area that the sensors had indicated as anomalous. Daylight on Enaaka is rather dim as there is almost always total cloud cover except at the poles. There's almost no axial tilt so there aren't any seasons, the sun is a hot one, the temperature and humidity are pretty fierce and there is a drizzle of rain most of the time in the forest. The total cloud cover evens out the temperature between latitudes as well as by day and night. Some of the fungi are tree analogues and the tallest can grow up to 30 metres so it's pretty shady under the forest canopy and most of the land surface is forested. That makes overflight useless for searching so we used crawlers for travel and most searching had to be done on foot. The prevalent colours are blues and greys but there are patches and splashes of vivid exotic colours almost everywhere you look. One type of groundcover fungus called Shimmerfoot by the locals, it gives off flashes of wonderful bioluminescence when it's walked on. All the teams were wearing full-pressure suits with life-support packs so we were completely protected from the local environment. Much to the amusement and derision of the locals who wear filter masks with goggles to keep out the fungus spores and moisture-repellent clothing. There must have been a pothole or something that was concealed by the ground cover fungus. I stumbled and half-fell onto a patch of ghastly purple coloured stuff growing on a fungus-tree trunk. When I looked down and noticed that where the purple stuff was in contact with my suit, my suit was dissolving, I felt a certain amount of concern. That's scout code for 'I was scared spitless.'" I explained as the young officers chuckled. "I'm sure there was a slight shaking to my voice" I continued, "as I screamed ‘SUIT BREACH’ at the top of my lungs. My team-mates rushed up, scraped the purple crud off my suit and sprayed the exposed skin with fungicide. I wasn't taking as much notice as I should have been as the dark red lines that appeared under my skin were hurting a great deal and spreading at an alarming rate. They called down a shuttle from our orbiting survey craft on the double but I was unconscious when it arrived. I learnt later that the ship's doc had taken one look at me and slipped me into an emergency freezer capsule as fast as he could. For the entire trip to a base hospital I was frozen in suspended animation. I spent over a year in hospital and although I was cured my immune system is shot."

"Snarf!" said the Vargr "That's rot-scented luck."

"Do you have to wear that suit whenever you meet someone?" the female officer asked.

"If I'm only going to meet a few people, I can cope with pills" I said "on Castro or Arbellatra Station I thought I'd be on the safe side and wear the suit. A couple of years ago I spent another three months in hospital recovering from a disease normally confined to a species of Denebian house-plant. Now as I've told you the story of my life, lady and gentlemen, perhaps you'd be good enough to introduce yourselves."

A/N¹ The planet Enaaka was detailed by William H. Keith, Jr. in the first issue of the excellent but sadly now defunct, MegaTraveller Journal. Thank you Mr. Keith.

A/N² For comparison Earth has eight classes of Eumycetes.