“Sensors, there are supposed to be two vessels within a million kilometers of us, use intel, Kismet, anything to get these expensive pieces of equipment to find them!”
“Commodore, if they’re not broadcasting it is next to impossible to find them in open space.” The officer of the deck adds.
“I’ve been told that we should be able to find them via ansible echoes, if we access the Exchange, but our response time will be in the range of seconds before they start running.” Thanks Sergeant Rickman, and thank you Kip for forcing me to listen.
“Oh! Yes, I can do that. I can do that! It would be more effective if ASP-1 Kitty would access the exchange instead, as her ability to stealth is much greater than ours.” The signal O-5 says excitedly.
“You heard her, Kismet, Kitty, make that sympathetic link happen.” I’m staring at a projected comms interface on the large viewfinder when the schematic changes to a multi-system view. Looks like we got a hit, but it’s half a lightyear away, maybe more. An undisclosed waypoint perhaps.
“Nav, get me all the data on that Station Ansible and tell me what rock they parked it on.” She nods and starts fiddling with the nav projector at her station. This is the most promising lead we’ve had in weeks and I‘ve been dying to spoof this Corvette and Kitty as a smaller freighter and escort for weeks.
The display develops different links and signals as the electronic and aether wizardry of Kit spoofs, redirects and subdues various signals.
“Sir, Kitty reports that all repeaters within 10 lightyears register us a freighter and four fast fighters. Sergeant Rickman reports Dash and Twilight stations have intercepted comms on our location. Response ETA ten minutes.” Sensors shows the message responses as a web on the viewer and the various response times—the lowest is ten minutes.
“Kitty, rig to reflect a 100 ton Family small freighter. Castillo IFF. Deck, inform Flight that we need extra crystals loaded and wired to enhance shields ASAP. Kismet, Kitty, remote pilot as fighters escorting ASP-1. We will be 30 ly away, ready to jump back with weapons primed. Initiating jump out in five.” I flip a panel and push the button for yellow alert battle stations.
I sink slightly into Kismet and feel as the Marines and Pilots start coordinating possible boarding parties and breaching bridges. Various assault prep messages and the countdown for warp filter in as I reach out to the void to snag a moment of peace.
Kip pulls me out before we jump and then we wait.
“Commodore,” Kitty says, “We are being hailed.”
“Answer as normal.”
“Engaging repeater, respond as normal, Commodore.” Hate you Kitty. I pull down my jumpsuit and summon my hat from storage to put on a freighter captain vibe.”
“Captain Solari, I see you’ve had jump troubles. We’re coming aboard to investigate.”
“Just an aborted jump, captain. No need to come aboard. We have the parts and expertise to fix it. Thank you for your concern.” I smile while I try to blow them off.
“Despite your assurances, the Families have a responsibility to ensure your ship does not become debris in a transit lane. Prepare to be boarded.”
Sensors and Nav are displaying the relevant data for Kitty and then the ‘Family’ ship shows some of their cards: three other ships arrive. They relay an IFF ping and Kismet returns a Castillo sub family.
“You’re a little far out of your pond, little Castillo.” I snort at that, definitely a Family mover and shaker.
“Yeah, well, Prospect 6 has platinum, and the Castillos need it for the integration gear we’re trafficking. Without a jump fault, you’d never have known I was here.” I roleplay. For some reason when I’m creative storytelling I have an Old Jersey accent.
“But now we do, and now you owe.” The staticky voice calls.
“Nah, friend. You catch us in system space or prospect space, this is a fair and semi-legal exchange. Out here, it’s piracy. I can probably log that report before you kill me.”
“If your signal even gets out.” The voice snarles.
“Commodore! Jamming signals and shots fired!”
“Jump in 3, obliterate Engines, Bridges, and weapons in that order.”
We make the second jump in twenty minutes and the bridge crew looks a sick but managing. I make Kip populate the viewer and I see the new situation. We lost a shuttle and the others are holding. Kitty is trading up, but she is obviously stalling.
Kismet takes advantage of the surprise and sends plasma at five detected engines and explosive warheads to the same number of bridges.
“Helm, Ripple ram that Fast Frigate and deploy a breaching bridge.”
We execute a third jump and just bury a grappling corridor into the larger ship. The front display now shows a series of hull cameras and Marine suit cameras and the process of boarding the frigate.
“Kismet, tell me you can keep them from scrubbing their logs.”
“It’s easier if one of the Marines jacks into the Bridge.”
“You heard the lady. If you can spare the time to hook up to a terminal, please do so.” There is more going on than I am comfortable with, and the amount of motion is beginning to illicit a need to move within me and it is more than just a mote annoying.
If I were aboard Kitty, I would be participating in raiding the frigate, but we would be horribly outmanned to do so. If it were just the expeditionary fighter and my team, we would be crippling ships and towing them to a nearby star to irradiate them after disabling their shielding.
“Five more ships just jumped in, they’ve launched torpedoes at us.” Sensors says amongst furious menu manipulation.
“Alright, friends. Safety off. Deploy disco balls and prep chaff. Engage as necessary save A-M torpedoes.”
->K/ Breaching engagement authorized, Pilot o’ mine?/<-
->M/ Fuck ‘em up, Buttercup./<-
And instantly, Kitty makes a mess of a small boy and lasers another’s engines with a continuous beam as she jukes.
“Focusing arrays deployed, 92% of incoming torpedoes have been eliminated. Remaining 8% should be manageable.”
“OOD, order the shuttles back. Comms, keep the Marines on speaker. Engineering, give me enough power to make our lasers into a fucking light lance.”
The whole crew pauses as the entire ship whines as all three disco-laser arrays super-charge at the same time and then proceed to obliterate all incoming projectiles within fifty thousand kilometers. Kismet and Kitty kick me some warnings, faults, and a surprisingly short ETA on cleanup.
“Commodore, Engineering is reporting that our Warp array is down, and several laser conduits have been isolated for resistance faults. Our Aether reserves are just below 50% and our weapons inventory is at 80%.”
“Thanks OOD, what’s the ship recovery picture looking like Sensors?”
“Most of the smaller attack craft were obliterated. Sergeant Rickman and Kitty managed to shut down a few with an overload of some kind. The Fast Frigate is currently 40% contained and Kitty is keeping their AI and comms systems from doing much of anything.”
If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
/Sorry about the damages Kismet, I heard that threats were making it through and didn’t properly assess the risk./
\While the 8% of incoming missiles and torpedoes would likely have taken up to 50% of our shields, those fighters had the capability of doing more. Amusingly, however, if you had taken the time to assess the risk of your maneuver, you wouldn’t have been able to act in time to enact it. You also saved a considerable amount of possible damage by engaging the Frigate within their shields. Kitty drew much more fire than we did because of it.\
Blarg, the kid’s first good fight and I use her as bait. It feels like shit that she got hurt because of it.
/Major, try and take the command staff of the Frigate into custody./
\Copy, Commodore. We’re getting bogged down having to breach bulkheads, but we’ll get there.\
/Don’t the exos have cutting torches on them?/
\Three of the four are damaged, and the one that works is cutting into engineering. Unless you got some smaller tools I don’t know about, we have the slow way.\
/I’ll send two your way, see if they can do the job./
\Corporal Strauss, Commodore is sending you a pair of cutting tools.\
\Ready to receive, Commodore.\
I bring up my shop and log into the restricted items area of Merc Arms. I buy two Titansteel plasma sabers with the ‘Hell Yeah’ overcharge function and proprietary extended life batteries, then send them to Corporal Strauss.
/Don’t use overcharge unless the armor on your hands is rated for 4k Celsius. Those are controlled items, Major. I expect them back in my hands by the after action brief./
The Major copies and I move on to an arguably more important task: Checking on Kitty.
->M] Hey Kit, how you feeling?[<-
->K] You get to be bait next time. I hurt and I’m tired of keeping this ship’s systems is stasis.[<-
->M] I would definitely take that deal if I can find a new Captain for Kismet. Not that I was crucial in that fight like you were, but humans typically need their efforts corralled in stressful situations. [<-
->K] Yes, I’ve read about many historic battles from Earth. We should talk about using my capabilities better. [<-
->M] I’d love to, Kit. See you in a few hours? [<-
->K] You’re helping repair the damage you caused, so you better. [<-
Oof, hitting me right in the guilt. Her shields are powerful, but they didn’t operate how a ship of the line’s shields operate so she ended up taking damage between full defense periods. In an all-out firefight, she’s your girl. In a rumbling brawl, her power conduits can’t maintain that level of defense after the capacitors are spent. I have an idea or two to ask her about mitigating that vulnerability—besides killing them before its and issue—but I have no idea what went into designing her systems in the first place.
Commanders aren’t the most useful people immediately after a battle, but are still in need of the sweet, sweet intel. Luckily ship AI and combat armor monitoring suites don’t require the troops to do a lot of communicating with HQ while they’re busy trying to capture an entrenched enemy.
I lost two Marines in quelling the security force, two exo suits are hard down, and half the platoon is wounded to some degree. One shuttle was completely destroyed, Kitty and two others need hangar-level repairs. This action would have been cheaper all around if I’d just ordered the Merchant Pirates obliterated. So why didn’t I?
The Fast Frigate we are capturing is a military hull with a civilian outfitted interior. Astorian Elemental Metal Works is an offshoot of the Imperial Navy Shipyard, a pet project of a former Master Chief that was one of the original crew stranded on Astoria with the Empress at the very beginning. As such, this ship is well equipped with expensive toys that only a Merchant Prince or Princess would be able to command. Capturing a Merchant Prince connected to Moscorp would be a huge win for the Marshal service and some solid leverage with the merchant house I’m taking it from.
We’re still a few weeks out from the Conclave of Five Families, Three Protectors, and me that I have demanded, with the backing of the Empress, become the interim government while the Brony systems pull their muzzles from their asses. I can guarantee that we’ll be talking about this altercation at the meeting.
***
“Shouldn’t the XO be here as well Ma’am?” the Engineer, Commander Varma, asks.
I asked all department heads and department chiefs to my quarters to discuss moving the Frigate, and the way forward with the Kismet.
“She’s implicated party in my investigation, but the Chief of the Boat and the XO have less authority with the ship systems, and are subsequently less dangerous to the crew at large. That said, CoB, if you end up being my problem, I’ll skip merrily while I escort you to the Hephestus Penal Station.”
“Will you hold my hand Commodore,”
“I’ll even buy you a snow cone you salty goat.” I get a snort out of him and a few other Chiefs. The officers look uncomfortable.
“I need a skeleton crew for the Frigate, and there are a few ways to do this. I can ask Kismet to run an algorithm, or I can ask the lot of you to put a list together. This will only be until the Conclave, and half of that time I hope to have the ship cold and dark around my gas giant in Brony 1 with a supply team telling me what to save, what to sell, and what to transfer for safe-keeping.”
“Didn’t we annihilate their engines?” Varma asks.
“We ended its ability to A-M warp permanently. That system needs a shipyard to fix. The short range jump drive is aether driven and appears to be a few days to fix, max.”
“If the fix is that easy, then why gather us here for a meeting?” The CoB asks.
“She wants us to tell the crew about their new and horrible watch rotations.” The Navigator groans as he slumps back into my sofa.
“Ding ding ding. Granted, Kismet can likely be run with fewer people than that Frigate can be, but we still need the coverage here. I’ve got an idea for a morale boost after the Frigate is parked, less an incentive for doing a good job, but a consolation for never getting a full complement of shuttles.
“So, Commander Varma, how do you feel about Commanding a Frigate for a month?”
He looks around the room, seeing that only the Supply Officer has a comparable rank, and he’s the senior officer eligible for command. He sighs.
“Baby Eng can do the job here, but you’re looking at a chief for engineering on the Frigate. Most likely enlisted on the bridge too.” I can see him working through a manifest in his head.
“I’m either about to simplify your task or horribly complicate it. I only really care about qualifications in engineering, piloting, and supply. Tag some Marines if you have to, and rank means more to you than it does to me. You have until the short range jump drive is repaired to make your choices Commander.”
The ship’s leadership chats as they stand and meander out of my quarters, not looking particularly happy about how the last day has shaped up.
“Major, stay behind if you would.” I connect a peripheral to my arm and start a surface-level synch with Kismet, specifically my room and the bridge, and info blackout my room.
The Major can tell something is up and reaches for a sidearm that isn’t there. “Either this is very serious or you’re about to kill me.”
I chuckle, “The former. I want security at the shuttles and any passage we arrange between this ship and the Frigate. If either the CoB or the XO ever insist on leaving this ship, for any reason, shoot them enough times to ensure they don’t. They have been informed they are under review and are not to leave the ship. If you can apprehend them without risking any people or equipment, that’s up to you.”
“Have you ever shot someone like that Commodore? I won’t have my men and women carry out an order to kill their fellow man for someone who doesn’t know the cost.”
“Major.” I say, transitioning to a tone I embody when I’m ready to do what’s necessary. I open a drawer in my desk and pull out a thin black necktie and walk toward the man. “Not counting ship to ship combat, I have shot and killed forty three people with a pistol that were not wearing armor, stabbed thirteen people to death, and strangled two people who I thought were friends with this fucking tie, until the life faded from their bulging, desperate eyes.
“You will do as I order, not because I won’t do it, but because it is your job to be a multitude of places at the same time when I cannot. I would prefer that none of the people under my charge had to be at risk, body or soul, of the damage that the Frontier inflicts.”
He looks down at the blood on the tie, a darker crusty splotch on the fabric, and stairs straight into my eyes. “Unless you actually intend to measure dicks, you can acknowledge your orders and get out of my stateroom.”
“Sir, yes Sir.” He replies, cuts a crisp about face and marches out.
When the door shuts behind him I return the tie and retrieve the bottle of amber liquid I have stashed in a wall cubby and disconnect from Kismet.
“I did not expect him to push back on the shooting thing.”
“Humans want to believe the best of their crewmates, Commodore. It is natural to want to resist shooting them without just cause. I did not expect you to share as much as you did. Though the tie was a nice touch.”
As for feedback, I was not expecting that. A lesson on compassion and a pat on the back for making my experience personal for the man. “Do you think something’s wrong with me? Should I have been afraid or worried in that exchange?”
“Something is wrong with Humanity as a species. From Andromeda’s race catalogue, only a few hyperaggressive, selfish races prone to in-fighting has left their home planets before killing themselves off. Your detached willingness to do what is necessary is reminiscent of Villains from your Movies, but the dedicated purpose fits with both hero and villain tropes. My projections after meeting you indicated a greater than eighty percent likelihood that you would develop as a ruthless Knight Errant.”
Shit, Kismet, making me feel all soul naked. If there was a lawman or gunslinger version of that trope it would be way too close for comfort. I will admit that I do like running with a small crew than this whole military detachment think that I’ve got going on now. No use pining over what was or what could have been, well not until I have a good talk with Penny about this ‘experiment’ in a year or so.
Time to collect ourselves from this skirmish and prepare for another government meeting. I wonder if it’ll feel different being nominally in charge of said meeting. I wonder if Petra and I can avoid spitting on each other.