The Burden of Command, page 3
part #14 of Empire Rising Series
As soon as Resolute’s active sensors powered up, they began to release megajoules of electromagnetic energy towards the area of space the anomaly had been detected in. It took three minutes for the energy to reach the anomaly and be reflected back. “Confirmed Captain, we’re detecting debris consistent with a damaged freighter,” Lydia reported. On the bridge’s main holo display, a computer generated image of the debris appeared. The nose section of a freighter was immediately recognizable. Around it was a slowly expanding ball of torn and twisted hull fragments.
“No other contacts being picked up,” Jake reported. “No sign of whoever did this.”
“The mining facility has replied to our query,” Lieutenant Hitoshi reported from the COMs station. “They have nothing unusual to report.”
Jake looked up in time to see Domingo frown. Mining facilities typically had advanced sensors to allow them to survey a system for prime asteroids to be mined and also to track rogue asteroids that might threaten to collide with them. “Query them again,” Domingo requested. “Send them the exact coordinates of the anomaly.”
“Aye Captain,” Hitoshi replied.
“Bring us to a halt relative to the debris,” Domingo requested. “I want to launch a drone and investigate. If we can, I want to know when the attack happened.”
Over the next forty minutes, Jake watched the tactical console carefully as Resolute closed with the stricken freighter. There was a small chance whoever had attacked it was trying to sneak away in stealth. If they were, they were successful, for Resolute’s active sensors didn’t get a whiff of anything untoward. When they reached the wreckage, Lydia launched a sensor drone and carefully guided it through the debris. Everyone on the bridge waited for her report.
“The computer has finished its analysis,” Lydia eventually said. “As best as we can estimate, the freighter was attacked less than three days ago. There are several hull fragments that have residual heat emanating from them. The heat appears to be from laser beams. Assuming whoever carried out the attack doesn’t have weapons more powerful than Resolute’s, they can’t have been fired more than three days ago.”
“And I think we can rule out some new alien threat,” Captain Domingo said. “It looks like most of the freighter’s cargo has been hauled off. There is far too little debris here otherwise.”
Jake nodded. Everyone knew what that meant. Pirates. For more than a decade, pirate activity had been increasing in The Wilds. That was the large area of space that had been abandoned by the Karacknid Empire. Hundreds of worlds formally under the control of the Karacknids were now free and struggling to rebuild their culture and economies. As best they could, the Empire and her allies were trying to help many of them. Yet ,neither the Empire’s economy nor Navy was strong enough to help all of them. Partly as a result, some species had turned to prey on their neighbors. At the same time, The Wilds had become a rich picking ground for pirates from other species. More than a few Humans had forsaken the Empire and sought to make their riches in The Wilds. Whilst most operated as independent traders bringing all sorts of commodities to the newly freed worlds, others had turned to less noble activities. Over the last couple of years however, reports of piracy had been coming closer and closer to the Empire’s borders. Reports of pirate activities were now even slowly moving down along the eastern flank of the Empire as well. That was why Resolute was carrying out her current patrol.
“What else do we know about the freighter?” Domingo asked.
“The drone did find this,” Lydia replied as the holo image zoomed in on a small hull fragment. “There is a partial name written on it. I think the freighter was either called Victoria or Victory. Our records have both freighters operating in this sector of the Empire.”
“What were their most recent cargos?” Domingo followed up.
“Victoria was carrying point defense plasma cannons to Fort Epsilon, Victory machine parts to Excalibur,” Lydia answered.
“Then I fear we are looking at the remains of Victoria,” Domingo said. “At least if I was a pirate, I know which shipment I’d be after.”
“If it is Victoria, it makes the Teal Trading Industries mining station’s silence even more curious,” Gonzales said. “Victoria is a TTI registered ship. Surely if it got into trouble with pirates, they would have reached out to the station.”
Domingo frowned. “It is curious. But we have pinged them twice. Unless we’re going to land some marines to search their memory banks ourselves, that’s all we’re getting out of them. Perhaps it was an inside job. If some of Victoria’s crew mutinied, then maybe the freighter didn’t get a chance to send out a SOS.” From her tone however, Jake guessed Domingo was dubious of her own suggestion.
As he continued to study the debris, an idea came to him. Quickly, he began to carry out an analysis of the slowly expanding ball of debris. “Captain, look at this,” he said as he adjusted the main holo display to show his analysis. “If the pirate ship sent in shuttles to retrieve the freighter’s cargo, they would have had to clear channels through the debris to safely get it out. I’ve identified four channels. They all head back to this point. I believe this is where the pirate ship sat while its crew collected as much plunder as they could.”
Domingo slapped a hand on her thigh. “Good thinking Lieutenant. If that is where the pirate ship sat, we can get a good estimate on where their next destination was.” As she spoke, Domingo’s hand danced over the console in her command chair. The holo image zoomed out to show the rest of the Cambria system. Two lines appeared from the point Jake identified to the two nearest shift passages. They were the most likely destinations the pirate ship had wanted to go to from the position it had chosen to stop beside the damaged freighter. The image changed again to show a star map of the local systems. The two shift passages Domingo had identified were highlighted. “Seti Five,” Domingo said as she chose one of the shift passages. “That would allow the pirate to head towards The Wilds. They’re probably taking whatever cargo they captured out there to sell to one of the former Karacknid worlds. Set course for that shift passage. Maximum military power. If they’re only a couple of days ahead of us, we should be able to catch them.”
As Resolute’s bridge officers turned the cruiser and powered up her reactors and engines once again, Domingo gestured for Jake to come over to her. “Good work Lieutenant,” she said when he approached. “I’m relieving you of duty for now, however. Go back to your quarters and get a shower. Then you can return. I don’t mind you stinking the place up when there could be an imminent threat. But I’d rather have my officers clean.”
“Yes Captain, I’ll go right away,” Jake replied as his cheeks redden.
“Oh, and Lieutenant,” Domingo said as she flashed him a smile. “I’m looking forward to seeing the video of your bout. I hope you didn’t embarrass the Navy too much.”
Jake reddened even more as he turned and fled out of the bridge. His pride at the Captain’s praise quickly turned to embarrassment. He hadn’t thought the Captain would have taken a personal interest in his fight. Having Captain Domingo watch him get beaten to the floor and momentarily knocked out was the last thing he needed.
Chapter 3
In volume one, we examined the early years of the Empire’s history and followed how our great Empire arose. Now in volume two, we will detail how the Human Empire came to dominate the sector of the galaxy that Humanity now considers its own.
-Excerpt from Empire Ascendant 3015 AD.
IS Resolute, 29th July 2508 AD.
Jake’s initial excitement at chasing the pirate ship that had attacked Victoria faded after two weeks of fruitless hunting. There had been no sign of the pirate ship in the Seti Five system, nor in Seti Six. Now Resolute was slowly cruising through the Magellan Three system with most of her systems powered down. Jake was watching the passive sensors closely. He knew from talking with his fellow Lieutenants in their mess hall that most had given up finding the pirate ship. Captain Domingo had not, however. After racing through Seti Five and Six, they were now moving much more slowly in stealth. If the pirate ship was out there, she was hoping it would do something to give itself away.
Glancing up from his console for a moment, Jake studied the holo display. It was currently showing a star map of the northeastern section of Humanity’s territory. On it, every report of pirate activity from the last year was marked. Domingo was studying it intently, clearly looking for some kind of pattern. Jake understood her desire. Having deviated from their assigned patrol route, she no doubt wanted some measure of success to justify her decision. As First Lieutenant Gonzales had explained back in the Officers’ mess hall, if it turned out another freighter was attacked along the route Resolute was supposed to have been patrolling, Domingo would get the blame from the Admiralty. Jake thought that unjust, yet he understood how it might look back on Earth. As it always did, the map of his species’ territory intrigued Jake. His eyes were first drawn to the line of fortified worlds that stretched across the Human Empire’s northern borders and matched up with the borders of the Varanni Alliance. More than ten thousand warships were spread out across the twelve border forts. A third as many again would currently be patrolling beyond the border forts in The Wilds; either watching the Karacknid systems that were approximately three hundred light years away, or escorting supply convoys bringing aid to the more friendly alien worlds within The Wilds. There were few reports of pirate activity directly adjacent to the border forts, but as one went progressively into The Wilds, they quickly increased. To the East in the opposite direction of Varanni Alliance space, they intensified even more. Only here and there, were there small bubbles where no pirate activity had been reported. Jake knew that they represented small observation outposts the Imperial Navy had set up to monitor the eastern Wilds in case a Karacknid attack fleet ever tried to outflank the border forts. As his eyes moved out of The Wilds and down the eastern edges of the Empire’s space, the pirate reports became fewer and fewer. Yet, they didn’t disappear altogether. Even the Magellan Three system had one report, though it was over nine months old. Jake knew no pirate would be smart enough to return to a system they had recently been spotted in. Yet, nine months was a long time. It was entirely possible the same ships that had attacked the freighter they had discovered had been responsible for the attack nine months ago.
Thoughts of both attacks led Jake to clench one of his hands into a fist. Few survived pirate attacks. Those that had, brought back harrowing accounts. Whether alien or Human, pirates showed little mercy to their prey. Those whom they could identify as being able to generate a large enough ransom would be separated and at least their basic needs met. The rest would either be killed or brought into The Wilds and sold as slaves. More than one alien species there was willing to buy Humans and use them as cheap labor to help kickstart their economies. Three years ago, an Imperial Navy raid on the planet Gonxico had freed over a thousand Human slaves. The Imperial battlecruiser squadron that had discovered the Humans had destroyed the few small orbital stations the Gonxians had built, in retaliation. The Imperial government had been very clear to all the alien civilizations in The Wilds; owning Human slaves was not acceptable. At least one other species had been cut off from all economic aid after they had been discovered using slaves. As much as Jake hated the idea of any alien civilization purchasing Humans to use for labor, he did understand it. Many of the species within The Wilds had suffered hundreds of years of Karacknid oppression. They were desperate, and the Humans often had skills or knowledge they desired. The pirates on the other hand, they deserved no mercy. They did it purely for profit, or worse, the twisted pleasure they got from attacking and domineering others. Since attending the naval academy, Jake had often wondered how he would face his first real engagement. His first deployment as a Sub Lieutenant on the dreadnought Hercules had been entirely uneventful. If Resolute caught up to the pirate ship, it would be his first real test as a tactical officer. Though he was confident in his abilities, he wasn’t a fool; he knew facing the Karacknids or even the Daralians would be an intimidating prospect. Yet if they had to fight a pirate ship, that would be different altogether.
“Passives have just picked up something interesting,” Lydia reported.
Jake almost jumped in his command chair. He had to fight to not let out a groan. He was stiff from his first training session with Sergeant Samuels. Quickly, he glanced over to Lydia’s sensors console. There was no way his thoughts could have summoned a pirate ship out of thin air. Yet there was a contact report flashing on her console. It lasted for just a couple more seconds, and then vanished.
“What do you make of it?” Captain Domingo asked.
Lydia shook her head. “I’m not sure Captain. It was a very small energy reading. Certainly not anything large enough to be a ship’s reactors or engines. Though, its location is interesting.”
On the holo display, a small dot began to flash. It was coming from the midst of the planetary ring around the system’s seventh planet. Information on the planet’s ring began to scroll along beside the image. Jake saw that though dense with large asteroids, the ring was very stable. The perfect place to hide a ship.
“That energy reading,” Captain Domingo queried. “Is it the kind of stray emission one might get from an open cargo bay door.”
“It’s certainly possible Captain,” Lydia replied.
“Keep us in stealth, alter course to put us onto a heading to intercept that contact,” Domingo ordered. “And launch two stealth recon drones. Slot them into orbit around the seventh planet. Send everyone to their duty stations as well.”
Jake could feel his excitement growing once again. If the Captain’s hunch was right, then it meant there was more than one pirate ship hiding in the planetary ring. Transferring cargo made sense. There was growing evidence that some, if not the majority, of the pirate activity near Humanity’s border was coordinated. Having a small, armed pirate ship that could hunt down freighters, take their cargo, and then deliver it to a larger pirate freighter to transport the goods on to a more distant buyer made a lot of sense.
As Resolute slowly cruised towards the planetary ring, the bridge descended into silence. Every officer was waiting with bated breath to see if they had found their quarry. “Both stealth drones are in position,” Lydia reported an hour later. “They will be coming around to pass the contact location in the next thirty seconds.”
Jake felt himself inching forward in his command chair towards his tactical console. He knew it was silly, but he didn’t care. He was excited. When the stealth recon drones crisscrossed past one another just below where the contact had been identified, their passive sensors peered up towards the planetary ring. Resolute had to wait until the drones completed another half orbit of the planet. Then, they transmitted an encrypted message using their laser COM arrays back towards the cruiser. A minute after Lydia’s announcement, an image appeared on the holo display. Jake grinned at it. Three ships were visible!
“They’re well hidden from ships out in space,” Captain Domingo commented. “Clearly, they aren’t expecting anything to be in orbit below them. Now, I want suggestions, how are we going to bag these three birds?” When she turned to her officers, she too had a wide smile on her face.
In response to her request, Jake’s mind began to whirl. A number of options came to him. Tapping fiercely on his tactical console, he simulated a number of them. He wasn’t going to open his mouth unless he was sure he had a concrete idea to share. In the space of two minutes, he settled on two possible scenarios. He didn’t get to suggest them, however, Second Lieutenant Julia Ahoka beat him to it. “Our sensor drones,” she said. “We can use them to flush the pirates out.”
“Go on,” Captain Domingo said as she nodded at Julia.
“If we match their orbits, we can move them close together. Then, we can activate their engines as they come around into sensor view of the pirates. We should be able to make them look like an Imperial destroyer, for thirty seconds at least. That ought to give the pirates a real fright. They’ll break out of the planetary ring and try to flee. The planetary ring hides them from our sensors, but it also hides Resolute from theirs. We could sneak right into missile range and grab them as they come out.”
Domingo claps her hands together. “A sneaky trick, Lieutenant. I like it. Let’s run some simulations and prepare some backup tactics in case they don’t flee, or they detect us or the sensor drones before we are ready.”
Joining in with his fellow officers, Jake helped run the simulations and work out possible responses to what the pirates might do. The most difficult part was going to be tracking and engaging each pirate ship, for they would most certainly flee in separate directions. Domingo also wanted them to give the pirates a chance to surrender. If there were slaves or prisoners on board, she wanted to rescue them if possible.
Half an hour later, every component of Ahoka’s plan was in place. “Activate the drones,” Domingo ordered. It took just three seconds for the laser COM message to be relayed to the stealth recon drones. As soon as it did, a new contact flared into existence on the bridge’s main holo display. At high speed, it began to orbit around the system’s seventh planet. To their credit, the pirates’ reactions were quick. Within twenty seconds, three new contacts appeared as the pirate ships pushed their reactors to full power. Resolute’s passive sensors easily detected the energy spikes. Then, the gravimetric sensors began to pick up the ships as their engines were activated.
“Tracking three contacts,” Jake instantly reported. “Four missiles targeted at each one. Plasma cannons trained on them as well. Once they clear the planetary ring, I’ll target their engines.”
“Hold fire until my mark,” Captain Domingo reminded.
“First pirate ship is breaking through the planetary ring,” Lydia said as a small freighter came out from behind a large asteroid. Its engines were flaring as it tried to get away from the two sensor drones. Closely behind it, two more ships appeared. One was a large freighter while another was smaller than the first ship. They were heading in three completely separate directions.
