Ramming Speed

Ramming Speed

  By Mark Henrikson

  Copyright 2012 Mark Henrikson

  “We know where they are,” the ship’s intercom bellowed as fleet Admiral Tridget belted out his motivational words. “They’re in the area around the Stelon system: core forward, back, up and down somewhat.”

  Captain Hastelloy simply rolled his eyes. The Admiral had no clue where the enemy was, yet he boldly pressed on with his now two hour long speech to the men as they ventured into harm’s way once more.

  “On this great day we now take the fight to our enemy,” the speakers barked. Hastelloy pictured the young admiral beating his chest as he blasted his words to every starship in the attack fleet. “We’re going to smoke them out, and once we’ve introduced them all to their maker, we’ll return home to a hero’s welcome and hear a collective cry from our people, Mission Accomplished. That is all.”

  The sweet rapture of silence once again graced Hastelloy’s ears. He closed his eyes and soaked in the barely audible hum of ion engines coursing through the deck plates. All too quickly though, Commander Gallono broke the welcome quiet.

  “The new admiral certainly has a way with words,” Gallono offered.

  “Talking for two hours means the Admiral has a way around words but never manages to find the right ones,” Hastelloy countered with far more resentment in his voice than he intended.

  Hastelloy moved to temper the remark, but was preempted by a soft-spoken alert originating from the armrest display of his command chair. “Looks like the Alpha have come out of hiding of their own volition. Command reports enemy space folds are forming nearby.”

  He looked up at the fleet tactical display on the main screen with great concern. The Alpha wouldn’t approach an organized fleet of this size without a well thought out attack plan. Hastelloy held onto that notion as he observed a single ship materialize through the event horizon of a space fold. It was well out of the fleet’s weapons range and just hung there like an abandoned orphan.

  “Gallono, can you identify the class of that ship? I don’t recognize the configuration.”

  “We haven’t encountered this type of Alpha craft before,” Gallono replied. “It’s odd. I don’t see any weapons systems onboard the ship but I do detect massive generators throughout the vessel. Whatever that ship does, it consumes an incredible amount of power.”

  Hastelloy strummed his fingers on the chair’s armrest. His collector class ship was also unarmed because it was not expected to see combat. The Lazarus’ sole purpose was to collect forces if any ships were destroyed so they could be regenerated later. The Nexus device that accomplished this consumed all the ship’s energy leaving nothing to operate any weapon systems. What could use so much power on that ship, their own version of a Nexus device perhaps? He didn’t have long to ponder the question before a more immediate problem presented itself. Hastelloy’s heart sank as he watched thousands of Alpha war ships appear through various space folds.

  “Looks like that orphan has some family after all,” Hastelloy commented. “They outnumber us four to one. If Admiral Tridget has any sense about him an order to withdraw should be imminent.”

  “That could be a problem, “Gallono interjected. “I’m reading an enormous mass density field coming from that mystery ship. In a few seconds this whole sector is going to look like a massive planet to our sensors. We can’t space fold if our sensors think a solid object is between us and our destination. We have no way to retreat.”

  Hastelloy cursed under his breath. The Alpha just took the Novi to school in the most basic military maxim of finding a way to turn an opponent’s greatest strength into a weakness.

  For over a thousand of years Novi fleets were free to engage their enemies without fear of death thanks to the presence of the Nexus; only ships were lost, never lives of the crew. How frustrating that must be for the Alpha Hastelloy pondered. Even when they managed to win a battle, as long as the collector ship escaped the conflict, the Alpha soon saw the exact same officers again, and again, and again.

  The Nexus allowed Novi crews to be utterly fearless in their fighting. Now, for the first time in a thousand years, the threat of death was real for both sides. This of course gave the Alpha a profound advantage since their crews already knew and embraced the fear of dying. In contrast, Hastelloy had a sinking feeling the Novi crews would be paralyzed by it. The Novi’s biggest strength was now transformed into a debilitating weakness.

  “Admiral Tridget has ordered the fleet to space fold back to the Stelon system. What should I do?” ensign Valnor, the helmsman, asked with fear oozing from every pour of his body.

  “Gallono, inform the command ship of your findings concerning the fleets inability to retreat,” Hastelloy ordered. “Then see if you can squeeze any more speed out of our engines. We’re going to need it to keep up with this fight.”

  “What good will collecting lives in the Nexus do if we can’t escape with them?” Valnor shrieked, his voice cracking with hysteria. The first evidence of paralysis through fear was on display front and center on his bridge. Hastelloy moved quickly to shut down this panic attack.

  “Valnor, I don’t have time to say this nicely so I’ll just have to do it with all the rough edges still attached.” For effect Hastelloy sprung to his feet and stated with all the force of an enraged drill sergeant, “Stop pissing yourself and act like a man who has his balls attached. Sit up straight! The only way we die here today is if we lose this battle, which is made infinitely easier for the Alpha if you shut down. Now do your duty.”

  Valnor shook his head, sat up straight and gave a crisp reply, “Aye Captain.”

  With that matter resolved, Hastelloy directed his attention to Gallono. He was about to issue orders to his first officer but was cut off by the sight of the man with his hands wrapped around his groin. “Dare I ask Gallono?”

  “What do you mean captain? I’m just checking that I attached my balls properly this morning. I’m pleased to report that I did,” Gallono stated sardonically as he gave a reassuring wink to the young helmsman.

  Hastelloy let out a soft chuckle to lend his approval of the effort to lighten the mood. He would have returned the banter if the situation weren’t so dire, but there was a job to do.

  Hastelloy evaluated his tactical display. “The Alpha are beginning to engage our ships. The troop transports at the rear are coming under heavy fire. Get us into Nexus range, Valnor.”

  The helmsman complied as Gallono chimed in, “Admiral Tridget just canceled his order to space fold out of here and informed the fleet that we are now trapped. He’s issued orders for all ships to engage the enemy at will.”

  “Well that was an inspiring pep talk for the troops wasn’t it,” Hastelloy said with a roll of his eyes. Never in all his years of military service had Hastelloy heard such a profoundly stupid order from a superior officer. The only chance the fleet had was to form up and come at the enemy with a shared defense and focused counter attack when the opportunity presented itself. Telling everyone to start shooting at random ships would accomplish nothing except a crushing defeat. It was clear Admiral Tridget had succumbed to his fear just like Valnor, except no one was there to slap him back to reality.

  The Lazarus arrived in time to collect everyone onboard the relatively defenseless troop transport ships. As Valnor turned the ship about and headed back to the command ship, the proud vessel burst into an expanding ball of fire that quickly dissipated leaving a gnarled debris field where the ship once hovered.

  Hastelloy wasted no time lamenting the loss of Admiral Tridget and his nonexistent leadership. As captain of the collector ship, he was next in line to command the fleet and he knew what needed to be done. He spe
nt a few seconds working up a fleet deployment profile on his command consol. Then he opened a communication channel to reach every speaker on every ship in the fleet.

  “This is Captain Hastelloy. The Admiral’s command ship has been destroyed. I am assuming command of the fleet. I just transmitted new orders; fall back to your assigned positions immediately.”

  Hastelloy was heartened to see the fleet respond to his command in rapid order on the display. “I will keep this brief but to soldiers like us few words are just as good as many. We are the fifth fleet of the Novi. We are liberators of the Stelon system, and vanquishers of an entire Alpha sector fleet in battle. Our foe is not worthy of your fear; they have not earned it. THEY are the ones pissing their pants for they are facing the legendary fifth fleet. They may have numbers but we have each other. Fighting together as a unified force is how we will win this day. Believe in yourself, and believe those around you. It is a distinct honor to lead you in battle. This day will be ours!” With that, Hastelloy closed the channel.

  Hastelloy swore he could almost hear the manly battle cries coming across the vacuum of space from the fleet. He let a confident grin cross his face knowing he could still channel his inner barbarian to get