(Posted on 03-24-2001)
Darkest Hour
An EV/O Tale
The war between the Voinians and the UE government has raged for decades. It is now 2195, and untold thousands have died. Despite early victories on both sides, (such as the UE destruction of the Voinian prototype dreadnought and the Voinian destruction of Outpost Alpha), the war has turned into a bloody stalemate. The renegades have used the breathing room to re-equip and organize, and the Strands have declared a large "Forbidden Zone" while they sort out their internal conflicts.
Chapter 1
The Sidewinder, an aged Arada, reverted to realspace on schedule. Her captain, Adam Sanderson, surveyed the control boards contentedly.
"All quiet," Ben Quigley, his copilot said. "Freeport sends regards and a priority docking clearance."
"Must want the cargo pretty bad," Adam said, half out loud. "Thats the tenth load of machinery in as many months. And a bonus for every one."
"Theyre industrializing Freeport, Adam," Ben suggested. "Think of it! Were creating futures for millions! Were helping make history here!
"Can the sweet rhapsody, Shakespeare, and lets land," Adam said. "Youre making me sick. Lock onto landing beacon, switch to autopilot. Lock down for landing."
Their contact on Freeport, a rather ugly specimen of humanity, flipped Adam a credit chip. "Thanks again," he said. "Listen, you up for another?" he asked.
"Same stuff, different dates?" Adam asked.
"No, no," the man replied. "We need a shipment of technical equipment from First Centauri. You up for 50,000 credits? You guys have been the most reliable of the bunch weve been hiring."
"Just a second," Adam said. He whipped out his pocket organizer, and pressed a few keys. "I dunno, it isnt exactly on our way "
"Seventy-five thousand," their contact blurted. "Half now, half on delivery."
Sanderson might have been discussing batting averages. He raised an eyebrow. "OK, youre on. How soon?"
"Two weeks," the man said.
"Youre not a spacer," Adam snorted. "Cant do it in less than three."
The man sniffed. "Well, if it isnt worth your while "
"Its physics," the captain laughed. "Were quite a few jumps from FC, friend. You couldnt hire an Adzara that could make it in time. Its too far!"
"All right," the man sighed, piously. He flipped them a data chip. "Heres your info. Hurry up and leave."
"By your command."
Eight days and as many jumps later, Sanderson and Quigley sat in the First Centauri spaceport bar. "Shipll be loaded soon," Ben said. "Ready to go?"
"Newest lesson of life, Spunky," Adam pointed out. "Never rush a spacers beer."
They made their way back to the ship, eventually.
"Ready on systems check," Ben said a few minutes later.
"Punch it," Adam ordered.
The Arada soared skyward. They cleared space without incident. A few moments were all that required them to clear orbit.
The comm system came to life. A female voice. "Attention Santiago, this is UE Interdiction Patrol 17. We have information that you are smuggling illegal goods on behalf of known renegades and insurgents. Heave to and prepare to be boarded."
"Renegades and insurgents," Adam laughed. "That's almost redundant." He pushed the hyperspace button, and the Arada was lost to view.
Chapter 2
"They're not going to like you for this," Ben said, as they jumped into Sol system.
"I got 75 grand riding on this, buddy," Adam replied, as he re-engaged the hyperdrive to fling them into the next system. "And anyway, I'm sure we can be civilized about it."
The Santiago bounded in and out of the next five systems without incident, until they ran out of fuel, as scheduled, in Huron. "Santiago to Huron, request landing clearance, code 2."
(Note to the unschooled in space terminology: Code 1 is a standard, normal priority landing. Code 2 is a no-fuel call. Code 3 is a damaged ship. Code 4 is a landing with a cargo destined for that planet. Code 5 is an unspecified emergency call - the highest priority.)
"Code 2 received, Santiago," Huron replied. "Be advised a Freighter convoy is transiting the system - heavy traffic. Bay 99 is yours - don't hit anything on the way in."
"Copy, Huron." Ben said. "Santiago out."
Spaceports rarely used things like glideslopes or radio beacons. Spaceships are relied upon to land without incidents. Some captains sensibly make their way to berth - others go to max power to get there as soon as possible. Accidents did not often happen, though. All ships were advanced enough to know not to destroy themselves.
Suddenly the alarms hooted and the Santiago shuddered to a halt. Two small objects hurtled past the ship's bridge. "We're under attack!" Ben shouted, as he looked at the screens and powered weapons.
"Belay that, you idiot!" Adam yelled over the din. He reached over and switched the alarms off. "That was the collision avoidance system." He keyed the comm system. "Huron, this is Santiago, we just got buzzed by a pair of flitters; it set off our collision avoidance gear. Condition still Code 2."
"Understood, Santiago," Huron control said. "We're sending out a patrol now."
"Flitter?" Ben asked.
"Yeah, it's a fairly new toy I've heard about. Kind of the space equivalent to a jet ski. A guy in a space suit is basically holding on to a small gravitic engine. He's encased in a transparisteel shell, so the space dust doesn't kill him. Kick the throttle and off you go."
"They look as fast as Adzaras," Ben said, admiration in his voice.
"Don't fool yourself, kid," Adam laughed. "It's the size that makes you think that. A shuttle can out run 'em."
Their scanner beeped. "Damn," Sanderson said, looking at the scope. "It's our UE friends. That was fast!" He punched the comm. "Huron, this is Santiago, sorry to bother you, but we're declaring a Code 3 - we'd like a priority landing - something's gone wrong with our engines. I think maybe one of those flitters may have hit us."
The response was immediate. "Cleared to land, Santiago. No problem - follow beacon 19 at your best speed."
Ben looked quickly at the engine diagnostics. The circuits read boringly normal. "What?"
"You want to stay for tea with them?" Adam asked, pointing at the scanners, powering up the engines as if he were nursing his ship along. Patrol 17 it was, sure enough, with six F-35 Mercury fighters closing fast. "Mercuries! I should have that kind of luck." Mercury fighters were a relatively new part of the UE inventory. They were almost as fast as Crescent Fighters, and packed a trio of improved Blaze-X cannons. The carrier-borne version even had a copy of the Crescent quick-jumping technology.
A ship-to-ship transmission came through on tight-beam, so nobody else could eavesdrop. "Santiago, heave to. This is UE Patrol 17."
"Brace yourself, Ben. We're about to have a malfunction," Adam said. He pulled the throttles back to their stops - and the Santiago jumped ahead like an Adzara.
Huron grew larger and larger, and then, with a lurch, the Arada hit atmosphere. The ship's computers took out most of the turbulence, though.
Seconds later the Santiago was over Bay 99, lowering into the pit. Almost as soon as they touched down, Sanderson killed power to the ship's systems. "See if they can find us now," Adam commented.
They walked down to the boarding ramp and out of the ship. Adam jogged around to the rear of the ship, a worried look on his face. A man came in the entry gate towards him.
"All right, Cap'n?" he asked as he made all appearances of examining his ship. "I heard you had problems. My name is Fred Hatfield, Huron Space Services."
"Well," Adam said, as he scratched his head. "Right after we got buzzed, we started having feedback divergence in the trinary power loops - and it overloaded the primary force cowling - we couldn't slow down without killing power. We thought we'd been hit."
Fred nodded, understandingly. "I suppose it could have been an internal malfunction," he supplied helpfully. He handed a datapad to Sanderson, who swiped his credit card through it. In response, the automated fueling system in the bay moved forward and latched onto the Arada's fuel port.
"I guess I'd better go in and check the flutter coils and the fluidic compenstators," Adam decided.
"Good idea," Fred said. He nodded confidently.
"Thanks for the fuel," the captain added.
"Welcome," Fred said, and sauntered back to wherever he came from.
Ben met him at the boarding ramp. "How do you do that?" he asked.
Adam checked to see that Fred was out of earshot. "He ate up every word of that gobbledygook I fed him," he said. They looked at each other and burst into hysterical laughter.
"Seriously, though," Ben said, back in the cockpit. "How do we get back out?"
"Fairly simply," Adam replied. "Since they're after us, I figure we have something they want. They talked first, so I guess what we have is fairly irreplaceable. They talked on tight-beam, so they don't want anyone else to know they're looking for. Patch into starport sensors and tell me when they're on the other side of the planet."
"Some industrial machinery, eh, Adam?" Ben smiled.
The moment arrived and Adam goosed the engines to 110% rated capacity a gift from an outfitter in the Rim. The Santiago screamed towards the heavens, leaving behind atmosphere and planet in seconds.
The Mercuries had been caught flat-footed but that advantage didnt last. The F-35s were a good 110 AU/h faster than the Arada, and they used every erg of energy to close the gap. Close behind them was a UE Light Carrier another new addition to the UE fleet.
"So thats how they kept up," Adam frowned, seeing the mothership keeping pace. "They hitched a ride!" The lead Mercury closed to range only to have the Santiago corkscrew violently downwards and to port. The ship swung rapidly 270 degrees to port three-quarters of the way around. The lead pilot cursed, as her initial impulse had been to curve left as well. Now she and the Arada were heading in nearly opposite directions.
Her wingman, though, had realized the Aradas tactic, and had swung right, so that he was on the Aradas tail.
"Hes good" Ben observed.
"Well, theyre not giving out medals for second place, thats for sure," Adam said, and wrenched at the controls again.
The Arada initiated a new turn to starboard, this time, and the Mercury pilot grinned, and turned a few degrees to port, preparing for the upcoming maneuver.
A second later the Arada made a hard turn starboard, curving around halfway. The Mercury pilot tightened his turn , preparing to come out right behind the Aradas new course.
But halfway through the turn the Arada reversed course back forty degrees so that they were again on opposite headings!
The pilot cursed, and jerked his controls explosively. The Mercury flipped on its own axis, and engaged the afterburners.
But the Santiago had gone to hyperspace.
(This message has been edited by moderator (edited 03-24-2001).)