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It did my heart good to watch the children at play. They wandered about the art room, working on various proejcts of one sort or another. Heather, a little blonde girl whose hair was braided to the waist was whispering something in Amy, the other tutor's ear. They were both looking at me while they were talking and my suspicions were aroused. It was a day before my birthday, and my daughter was notorious for parties. No matter how much I fussed, it was that much worse. Turning eighty was going to be no small quiet matter, as I'd hoped.
There was a narrow-angle viewport, small enough so that any of the lightening storms that were so common to hyperspace would only briefly be seen, and large enough so that if they were planetside things could easily seen. At the moment, they drifted along, through hyperspace, at, she guessed, eighty percent of maximum. She, too, drifted to a long time ago when a starship was under her command.
"Carowline," Heather said,walking toward her. In her fist she held a big piece of clay which had been broken apart and re-formed repeatedly. She looked at me crossly and said, "I need five balls." Gingerly I took the ball, and plucked a piece off. As simply as I could, I rolled and prodded the ball into a tiny sphere. She frowned, ripping little pieces from the larger ball, not quite in frustraition, but darn close.
The view flickered outside; it was checkpoint Delta. We'd soon be slowing to sublight speed, and drop from hyperspace. There were a total of seven checkpoints, three more remaining. We dropped precisely as planned, and then jumped into the next gateway, being held open by a pair of Republic devestators. I smiled, looking at the serial number, Dev-2101. The last vessel I'd commanded was the Dev-1901, two hundred devestators ago, during the great Nizeral war.
That war was forty years ago. I was left a title after the war, a badge of honor with which I could travel the stars unhindered. I resigned from the Republic military, changed my name, and took my babies back to Earth. Once again I took pen to paper and began to write. The novellas of my youth revisited me like the old and dear friends that they were. My twins were raised in an atmosphere of peace and harmony. They knew of my past, at a proper age, although I never did reveal to them my name of orgin. Money was never a problem, my wealth from my title served us a very comfortable life. Both graduated from doctorate's level studies, and while both were citizens of the Republic, they had no experience in a war, for which I was so very greatful.
Which brought us to this vessel, the RSS Grand Adventure, a Colony grade vessel, the first since the war. My kids and I signed up, we were to go to a new world, and live the rest of our days in a remote colony, which, as far as I was concerned, was precisely what I wanted. Phillip and Rochelle, my kids, had yet to start any families, although both were dating currently. I enjoyed my singleness, it gave me a freedom.
Within twenty minitues we'd gone past the final checkpoint. The captain had called all hands to stations. My class had another thirty minutes, and most of the kids were really too young to understand, so I had the volume of the public-address system lowered. Amy looked whispfully as the escort ships lept into hyperspace. I walked over and gave her a hug in support. We were on our own.
The Explorer was over three kilometres long, and looked much like a transluscent torpedo. The head of the vessel, containing the bridge and living quarters of the officers was followed by twenty thick disks, sandwitched together, ending with an engine system. There was a hollow lift system going throughout the length of the vessel, and every morning I walked my way down one of the conduits for excercise. Eventually, the ship would get smaller, and smaller, as each colony was disgorged. At the point, the vessel's hyper-drive could send the much smaller mass back into Republic territory, albet a very long journey.
Each colony was autonomous of the Republic, although they were automatically considered to be an ally of the Republic. The politics of which was frightfully boring, and I believe I napped through the entire discussion in the large auditorium. My son thought it to be most interesting. The one thing I did manage to gleen was that all remote scans indicated that this region of space had no civilizations capable of travelling through space.
Which of course, surprised me, when I saw the brilliant flash of light arcing toward the colony vessel.
Twenty-four years of battle honed instincts tempered with forty years of working with young people blended seamlessly.
"Drill!" I cried.
Children scattered. Each one to a pre-arranged space on the wall, what was a little fox-hole for them to take naps in, each one actually a well-crafted escape pod. Twice, during drills, they had actually jettosioned the pods, to get the kids used to the feeling. At the main panel, Amy stood beside me.
"We don't have a scheduled drill today."
"That incoming missile says we do." I pointed toward the port. Each child's pod was now activated, under mine, or Amy's command, they would jettison. The missile struck, knocking me down, and Amy across the room. She was bleeding at a temple, as the second missile struck. I crawled toward her, grabbing a medkit from under the console. Amy was awake, just hurt, and looked stunned.
"Why? We have children aboard. Babies..."
"I don't know. I'm going to activate your personal injury field. Listen to me, you MUST look after the children. I'm leaving."
"Where?"
"The bridge." I said simply. She gave me a cross look. What business did I have on the bridge?
"Back in a flash."
I stepped out the doors, and into a nightmare.
Chapter Two
The hallway was littered with downed electrical lines, bio-packs from the ships replication systems, all sorts of equipment. No people. I heard the thunderous noise of the Grand Adventure's main guns firing, but without a viewscreen, that could mean anything. Down toward the hallway there was a grav-tube, as assuming that the power in the lifts was off-line it would be my easiest way to the bridge. Of course, that was assuming that I knew where the bridge was.
"Computer." I called out. The ship's computer, Claire, or Computer Linked Artifically Intelligent Reasoning Engramme would probably be still online.
"Hello, Caroline. How may I help you?"
"Fastest route to the bridge."
"Bridge acess is denied to non-officer personnel at this time."
I stood for a moment.
"Claire, identify who I am." I said
"Voice inflections indicate you are Caroline Angel Tigeress."
"DNA scan." Claire replied
"Scanning..." A hum was heard.
"DNA scan indicates you are the Lady Sarah Jackson, retired Republic military, current status inactive."
"Accept personell acess code, Jackson, four-three-two seven niner four seven. Alter all rank and addressing to the name Caroline Angel Tigeress."
"Personell acess code valid. Welcome aboard M'Lady." It said.
"Fastest way to the bridge."
"Initiating internal transmat grid, please step to the highlighted transmat tube on your left." Claire's lights dimmed to a dull red, and then a white spotlight on a transmat tube set off to one side. I hated transmats.
With no time to argue with a machine that was probably right, I slipped into the tube, my white cloak engulfing me as the capule closed up. That eerie moment of waiting until the jolt arrived took forever, as it usually did, but instead of the pain for the transmats of old there was nothing. I was simply looking at the bridge. This was the way to travel in the twenty-fifth century!
The only person alive on the bridge was the helmsman, and he was shakeing.
"Helm report." Thank goodness for Republic training. He snapped right out of it.
"Ma'am?" He looked at me walking out of the transmat tube.
"I said report, mister. Now."
"We are under attack by what appears to be some kind of bio-cybernetic ship. It has been firing a salvo of pure electrical energy at us which disrupts our shields as quickly as we can put them out. Numerous fires all over the ship, habitat ring fourteen is off-line, and colony six is severly damaged. We have manovering thrusters only and a secondary reactor is sixty-percent critical. Three-hundred casualties thus far. No attempts at communication have been sucessful."
"Weapons?"
"No missile racks, no torpedoes, cutting lasers and a primary disruption gun which is off-line." He looked at me with fear in his heart.
I smiled.
"Tractors?"
He looked at his console.
"Yes, Ma'am."
"Lock onto the opponent vessel with foreward beams, hold it steady."
He tapped at his terminal while I stepped over to the captain's chair. It was empty. I sat down in it and called to Claire.
"Reconfigure visual controls and terminal controls to Republic Vessel Saratoga, Dev-1901, battle mode, as she was returned in 2484."
"Very good, M'lady." Claire replied.
Dozens of indicators and sidebars on the main screen flickered and died. No doubt the helmsman though I was absolutly bonkers. Those things were there so that it would help whomever was in command to make an informed judgement. My instinct would suffice.
"They're firing." The helmsman called. "Hit. Colony five. Minimal damage."
As I'd hoped, they were turning their rescourses inward, trying to break free of the tractor beam.
"Helm, on my mark, break the tractor beam, swing one-hundred eighty degress around and lock with aft beams."
The helmsman tinkered with his controls.
"Ready."
"Begin."
For a second the beam broke, and as my opponent had no idea it would they were not prepared to make use of that window, so when the aft beams took hold, they froze the ship yet again."
"OIC to engineering." I said. The communication line opened.
"Engineering, here? Who is this?"
"This, engineering is your temporary Officer In Command, now listen to me if you'd like to live long enough to find out who I am."
"Yes ma'am." He replied. God, that man's face looked familiar. Old as heck, but familiar. Maybe we'd go have a pitcher of Glorr when this was all over.
"I'm told you have a secondary reactor that's going bad."
"Got it locked down."
"Get it un-locked down. I'm going to jettison it after their next salvo. At the point of jettison you'll incite it to overload."
"That's one helluva torpedo, ma'am."
"That's right." his name clicked. "Tekkie."
His eyes grew wide.
"Do I know you?"
"Long time ago. We went to the academy together."
"I see." He looked down at the panel.
"The reactor's going, overload in thirty-five seconds."
"Jettison."
"Helm, fire pressors, full power toward that reactor. Extend our shield array over it, pretect it from fire."
"Extension holding. Core approaching overload. We are currently fielding fire."
"Relese the extension."
BOOM!
The jettisoned core exploded, taking the opponent vessel into the next life.
Chapter Three
"Status, Mister..."
"Atalk. Ma'am. Lt Johnas Atalk. Sheilds at eighteen percent, primary and secondary reactors off-line. Forward lasers severly damaged. Colony five, minimal damage, colony eighteen minor damage. Serious damage to colonies."
"Very good. I am the Lady Caroline Tigeress. Under the athority given to me by Republic high command, I am seizing control of this vessel. Give me a listing of all officers capable of bearing command."
"You, me, I'm seventh. Commander Hawagashi, he's sixth. The Captain, Commander and Luff are dead. Medi-bay reports that Lt. Commander's Jacobson and Harolds are in medibay four, severe condition but expected to make a full recovery."
"Very good. It's important to keep command structure intact, atleast as much as we can during a wartime situation."
"Wartime?"
"We were fired upon. Alert all previously listed officers that I will excercise whatver I have to in order to get this beasty runnable. As of now, I promote you to Luff. Commander hawagashi is now the SIC."
"Tigress to Hawagashi, report to bridge."
...Definatly a work in progress, my current pet project.