Battleship Trafalgar

Naval Shipyards, Caelus IV

Five days, six hours, and forty-seven minutes it had taken for the Trafalgar to finally make it back to the shipyard. It was not under its own power. Five of the shipyard's tugs had managed to tow her home.

Chase had just finished his sixth debriefing with the Admiralty and various members of the Cluster government administration. Whilst no one could quite seem to agree on whether his actions had been correct, they ruled that he had complied with his duty as a naval officer and that no clear diplomatic solution had been on offer.

The diplomatic corps, however, had strong words about how maverick he had been to offer an exchange of worlds, whilst Admiral Harris had declared it a genius move.

Chase had been assigned leave whilst the Trafalgar underwent repairs. Shipyard techs believed it would be up and running within two weeks since Dryden had refused his leave, leading the repairs himself—a move that surprised Chase.

Chase was having a coffee in the main mess hall. He was people-watching, and the station was busier than usual. He noticed everyone in the cafe was getting to their feet and saluting; It didn’t take long to realise why the Fleet Admiral had walked in; he reassured the nervous junior officers and made eye contact with Chase.

“Mr Chase, join me, won’t you?” Harris said when he got closer.

“Of course,” said Chase, picking up his mug and walking beside the senior officer.

“It doesn’t take much for me to get excited, but this... this is going to be one for the books. This is going to be one for the ages.” he clapped Chase on the back of the shoulder and walked over to the large viewing platform situated outside the cafe overlooking the shipyard’s repair facilities.

“If you look in that sector there,” Harris said, pointing a finger in the direction to the left of the shipyards. “Any minute now,” he said, a grin on his face. “This will show them.”

Chase looked out. He could see that a dozen or more ships were being worked on at the moment, and the shipyards had a remarkable view of stellar phenomena. The stars were much clearer than they looked on any world Chase had ever lived on. He was unsure what the Admiral had been wanting to indicate but did not want to seem impolite to the man who was in charge of his immediate future.

Then he saw them. Two ships dropped out of hyperspace and came into orbit of the shipyards, Chase immediately recognised ENS Yorktown and ENS Constitution, two of the most famous ships in the fleet, usually reserved For The Defence of Earth, followed immediately by ENS Dauntless, the flagship herself.

“Don’t worry,” said Harris. “Thirty-seven of Earth’s latest warships off the production line are right behind them and this is just the start. Ever since the initial attack on Hemera, they’ve been travelling to reach us.”

The crossing from Earth took three or four weeks. They must have disembarked the moment they got word of the attack.

“Thank the Gods they sent them when they did,” said Chase.

“Oh, that’s not all,” said Harris. “When Marengo Station went up, they realised something more was afoot and sent another forty ships.”

“They’ve sent seventy-seven ships in total?” asked Chase, his jaw slack. That was unheard of.

“The biggest armada ever put to the stars,” said Harris, pride booming. “And we’re going to need them. Whoever these bastards are, they got lucky. But next time we’ve got to be prepared for them. We are going to show them the might of Earth’s armada and push them back from the cluster. We tried to be reasonable, but there’s no negotiating with these hostiles, and with the Trafalgar fully operational, we still have the advantage.”

“Finally some good news,” said Chase.

“Oh, you better believe it. The repair crews have been able to upgrade most of the systems to modern specifications, and they believe they’ve got an even better improvement on the engine’s restart time,” replied the Fleet Admiral.

Chase returned Harris’s enthusiastic grin.

“Now that will make a difference,” he said and sipped his coffee.

“The others should be here by the end of the week,” said Harris. “We’ll have another assignment for you. However, I’m sure you’ll get to see them when you return. Trafalgar’s going to be one of our most important ships going forwards. This has only just begun,” said Harris.

And he was right. Whatever happens next, the Cluster war was just beginning.

***

It had taken three weeks, but repairs were finally done. Chase found himself spending the evening walking the Stations lower levels. It was quieter down here and he had been looking to clear his head. His mind was still on Captains Wessex, his mentor who had taught him so much, and Wellesley, the Trafalgar’s Captain who had died so long ago.

Stolen story; please report.

Whilst he had been commended for his actions, he couldn’t help but try to think of what he could have done differently, how he could have saved them.

It had taken him ninety minutes, and he realised upon seeing a bar complete with an old world hanging sign that he had circumnavigated the entire station. He found Wokoma at the bar and walked over; she was nursing a drink, not wanting to rush out of there.

“How you holding up?” he asked.

“Yeah, fine,” said Wokoma in a way that indicated she was distinctly not fine. “Have you been talking to Harris?” she asked.

Chase nodded. “Yes, I have.”

“And we’ve got orders to depart?” she asked.

He wasn’t sure quite how she had known that.

“Yes, most of the upgrades have been completed,” he said.

“And we’ll be heading out in the next day or so?” she asked.

“Why?” he said.

Wokoma’s face fell, looking at her pint glass. “The fleet’s almost here. It’s due to arrive within the week.”

Chase nodded. “I had heard. They are calling it the largest armada ever put to the stars. When everyone checks in, that would be a sight to see, certainly, but you don’t seem like the type to get overly upset about that. I never took you for a starship spotter?”

She looked up from the table. “My sister lives on Earth. We’ve not seen each other since I was twenty-one,” explained Wokoma.

Chase did the maths. That hadn’t been recently. Wokoma wasn’t quite as old as him, but if not late twenties, then early thirties at most.

“And you’d been hoping to see her before we shipped out?”

“I know we don’t always get the opportunity, but with all the repairs and upgrades to the Trafalgar, it seemed like it would be on the cards,” she said.

“I’m sorry,” said Chase. “If you want, I could speak to Harding, and see if I can swing you some leave,” he offered.

“That is remarkably gracious of you,” said Wokoma, “but if the Trafalgar ships out, then it will take a while for me to catch up. No, I’ll be at my post. Where you need me.”

“We can do without you for a few days. It’s your family,” said Chase.

“It’s fine. She’ll be in the cluster for the foreseeable. I’m sure we’ll be able to meet up before too long. We’ll most likely be back here at the shipyard after this mission, anyway,” said Wokoma.

Chase nodded. They would probably be used for some precision strikes, get beat up and brought back for repairs, rinse and repeat.

“Well, as long as you’re sure,” he said. “But if you change your mind, the offer stands.”

“Thank you,” she said. “Seventy-seven ships. Can you believe that?” Her eyes went wide.

“You are a starship spotter, aren’t you?” he asked with a chuckle as he flagged a drink down from the bartender.

“Guilty as charged,” she said. “And these are not the tired old relics either—hot off the production line, the latest warships that Earth has constructed. Can you believe it?”

“Of course, I can believe it,” said Wokoma. “This is an emergency situation; they’re not going to send us the dregs of the fleet.”

“They’re sending everything short of what’s necessary to defend Earth and Alpha Centauri,” replied Chase.

“Wow,” said Wokoma. “That’s unthinkable.”

“The largest armada put to the stars.” They clinked glasses.

“Agreed,” Chase signalled to the waiter to send over another drink. “If you’re not taking leave, I might have to stick around to see it myself. The shipyards have an artist coming in to paint the scene,” he said.

“What, you mean, like those old naval paintings from the nineteenth century of ships at sea?” asked Wokoma.

“Exactly,” said Chase.

She smiled at this. “Largest armada put to the skies,” she added. Her drink came, and they clinked glasses.

“To getting back out there then,” said Chase.

“Bring me the next challenge,” said Wokoma. “We are going to push those bastards out of our cluster.”

“You’re damn right,” Chase agreed. Their glasses knocked together, and they drank.

The ships were still at least five days away. He had checked in with the communications logs, he was also hoping to get a glimpse of them arriving. A few had started vessels had come in over the last day or so, mostly older ships that had already been on their way before any of this started. The crews had been almost disbelieving when they first disembarked, but shock soon passed as the reports and recordings started coming in. This had manifested people’s desire to defend their territory, and Chase was ready to take the lead.

But first, there was someone he needed to see…