Chapter 1

The Flavailian empire was a small empire in the great scheme of things. It consisted of twenty six systems and it was rotten! It was falling apart. Nepotism and corruption were rife. Several vassal systems were on the brink of open rebellion. Captain Charles Holstock, captain of the fast attack destroyer Babylon, one of the latest and fastest ships in the navy, sat in his day cabin staring at the reports of the latest batch of reports. They were at war with the Veluxions. It was going badly. The Veluxions were an even smaller empire, only eight star systems. But boy could they fight! It had started when several companies having links to the Emperor, started mining planets belonging to the Veluxions without their knowledge or consent. When they were confronted they screamed for help, and stupidly the Emperor sent in the navy. There was no news yet of the disastrous defeat at Josper 6. We must have been betrayed. Five ships lost with all hands, and countless others damaged. He had only just managed to escape himself. Over 14,000 men and women killed or wounded. Just to add to the troubles, all the planets in the Cornelius sector had declared independence. Couldn’t blame them. Not only had their sons and daughters recruited into the fleet, and then decimated at the hands of incompetent officers who care more for the cut of their uniform than the welfare of their men, but then their taxes had been increased to such a level that there was no possibility of being able to pay. Officers would buy their commissions, and then see them as a way to further their own fortune, cutting whatever deal necessary, and taking as many bribes as possible. The cost of paying these bribes, and the difficulties doing business in the empire had driving the economy into freefall.

He had been ordered to report to Admiral Bleucher’s office. He made his way there and sat in the anti room where a pert young thing bustled and beavered away, doing her best to look both productive and pretty. He sat and waited as one after another, obviously wealthy and well connected, officer came and went. Finally his name was called. He was shown into the Admirals office by said pert young thing, who wiggled and sashayed her way back to her office.

The office was richly furnished, with a fine mahogany desk and valuable paintings on the wall. It was far more opulent than anything Captain Holstock could have conceived. The Admiral was a large man. He rose from his desk moved towards the captain with his hand extended.

“Captain Holstock, Charles, come in. Sorry to keep you waiting.”

Charles was immediately wary. The Admiral was not noted for his manners or civility.

“Not at all, Sir. You needed to see me?”

“Ah, yes. It’s about what happened at Josper 6. It seems that there’s some question as to how come you managed to get your ship safely away with such minor damage and casualties.”

“Mainly, Sir it was due to the crew. We had drilled and trained that when the time came they did their duty with total professionalism. We were jumped by four of their hunter class frigates. We did as we had trained to do and took them out. We next attacked the light cruiser along with the Ellington. Captain Brown fought bravely Sir. They were destroyed when a flight of missiles struck the main anti-matter core. She just blew Sir. It’s all in my report.”

“Yes, yes, quite.” the Admiral replied, not really listening. “Well, we have a problem with the Cornelius sector. We have decided to reward you by giving you a promotion. You’ll be a Commodore under Vice Admiral Wilson. We need you to deal with the Cornelius sector. We’re giving you a new ship as well. You will take command of the Dominator. Piers-Lamont will take command of the Babylon. I’ll expect you to be ready within six weeks.”

“The Dominator Sir!? She’s a museum piece! She must be at least a thousand years old! Last I heard she was to be broken up! She must be the slowest ship in the fleet!”

“That’s as may be, but after the debacle at Josper 6, well, these are desperate times. We all have to make sacrifices. We need to bring the people of Cornelius back into the fold. We cannot afford to lose their production capacity or the revenue stream from that sector. Your new command is at New Glasgow shipyard. I suggest you collect your things from your old ship, hand over command to Captain Piers-Lamont and report to your new command Commodore!”

“Yes, Sir. Right away, Sir!” He glared at the Admiral as he saluted, turned on his heel and left. He was furious! Piers-Lamont! He was the biggest, most useless arse licking moron ever to have crawled out from under a rock! It had taken him two years of hard work to turn his crew from a dispirited bunch of misfits into one of the best crews in the fleet. It had not been easy, but to think that he now had to hand them over to that creep really made his blood boil! If that wasn’t enough to be assigned under Wilson, well, he was well known within the fleet as a man who stepped on the heads of his subordinates to get ahead. He was not known as a man to support his men when things get tough. His family were both incredibly influential and obscenely wealthy. He was known to have bought his latest commission. He was also totally incompetent.

He returned to the ship. Fortunately Piers-Lamont was not there yet. He was able to tell his First Lieutenant what had occurred.

Lieutenant Robert Berkley looked up in astonishment. “I’ll apply for a transfer straight away. I’m sure that prick will want his own toadies in here, anyway. I think most of the crew will want to transfer out as well. That man’s reputation precedes him as well.”

“Thanks Bob. I’ll address the crew and tell them the good news. I suspect that he’ll show up soon and want to take over.”

He gathered the officers in the wardroom and told them the news. They were shocked and outraged at this. To a man they all stated they wished to transfer with their captain. They then passed the news to their men. The admin offices were shocked when the entire ships company requested a transfer to the Dominator. They were all packed and ready to leave by the time the new captain arrived.

Piers-Lamont arrived to take command of his new ship. He brought with him his new executive officer and heads of departments. He was without doubt the most odious, obnoxious man that any of them had ever met. He had surrounded himself with equally obsequious, self serving sycophants that were there simply to massage his ego. Charles could tell that none of them were fit to do their jobs.

“Hello, Holstock. I’ve been ordered to take over and sort this rabble out.” Piers-Lamont said with a sneer. “I’ve brought my own staff. Any of your people who wish to transfer to that old bucket they’ve given you are more than welcome.”

Commodore Charles Holstock took a deep breath, counted to ten and had to really fight down the urge to punch this man in the face. He smiled inwardly as he thought of what to do next.

“Welcome aboard, Captain. Here are the security codes and the standing orders. As you suspected, a few men did want to transfer. If you would just countersign the authorization, we’ll be on our way and out of your hair.”

Without looking or checking he entered his command key and countersigned the request. Commodore Holstock then gave his last broadcast to the crew of the Babylon.

“Ladies and Gentlemen. Captain Piers-Lamont has just countersigned the transfers. All those who requested transfers to the Dominator please assemble at the main shuttle bay where transports are waiting for you. Thank you all for your loyal service, and I wish you all the best for the future.” He handed the ships baton to him saying the expected speech “Here is the ships baton. Carry it well. She is a proud ship, with a proud reputation. Do not disappoint.”

Piers-Lamont took the baton replying “I will not disappoint. I will uphold the tradition and reputation of this ship, upon my honour.”

Both men nodded to each other. The tradition had been satisfied.

“Now that is over Commodore, would you be so kind as to vacate my bridge? Oh and take your rabble with you”

“With pleasure.”

With that he, his officers and the entire ships company left the ship!

Once Piers-Lamont realised that the entire crew had walked out on him he went frantic. Before the crew of the Dominator had even arrived at their new ship, messages were flying back and forth. Charles looked up at the ship before him. She was massive. Five kilometres long and almost two kilometres wide. She looked like a giant egg. A massive battle scarred egg. The evidence of a thousand years of conflict were evident in the lines and gouges running down her flank. The weapon mounts sprouting from her like so many pimples. The thing that was so different about her though was the weight. 400,000 tonnes of armour, engines and weapons. Modern ships were based on the ring and pod system, where there was a single core and pods were attached to the rings that ran along their length. These were a universal fitting that meant you could use the same basic design for a number of applications. The crews quarters were situated within a central core and the weapons or cargo were attached in the pods. This had been made possible after the development of the Furnix energy shields. These had revolutionised the design of ships like no other before or since. Ships were now referred to as ‘ringers’, denoting how many rings she had. The smallest, a frigate, would be a three ringer, his last ship, the Babylon had been an eight ringer.

The Dominator was a relic of a bygone age, she was built before the shields. Her armour was of corrimodlium, the hardest, most resilient substance known to man. It was twenty metres thick! Most ships these days made do with twenty millimetres! Unshielded she was built to withstand a direct hit of a forty megaton nuclear warhead! She was at least a tough old bird, and now she was his. They landed in the shuttle bay, immediately his communicator bleeped. It was the Admiral.

“What is the meaning of this?” screamed the Admiral “I’ve just had Piers-Lamont call me to say that the entire crew has walked out! How’s he supposed to run the ship with no crew?”

“Sir, Piers-Lamont said he had his own people. He told us that anyone wishing to transfer to this ship was more than welcome to do so. He did after all countersign the transfer approvals. He must have read and understood it, after all who would ever sign an order without reading it? That is a sign of gross incompetence.” Charles took a deep breath, then continued. “Sir, you must have had a crew slated for the Dominator? You can assign those men to him.”

“Yes, yes I suppose I’ll have to. I’m not happy about this Commodore. Not happy at all!” The communicator went dead.

The others who overheard the conversation were smiling openly. “I wonder what calibre of valiant recruits Piers-Lamont will receive?” asked Bob.

“Probably the same sort of men they tried to fob us off with last time we took on replacements. Raw recruits and the sweepings from the prisons and the gutters. Took us months to sort them out, but now I would not swap any of them.” The others nodded, they could hear the pride in his voice.

“Not even Hargreaves?” asked Rawlings, his engineering officer

Charles smiled. Hargreaves, the biggest thief and pain in the arse in the galaxy. “No, not even Hargreaves. He may be a thief and a trouble maker, but he’s our thief and trouble maker. Don’t ever tell him, but underneath it all is a damn fine sailor.”

They left the shuttle and went to the bridge. He took command from the shipyard chief, accepting the baton and reciting the oath. He retired to his cabin and read his orders. He was ordered to take charge of a small flotilla consisting of the Dominator and three light frigates and a corvette. He was to support Vice Admiral Wilson in re-establishing control of the Cornelius sector. He was to have a detachment of marines assigned under a Major Black. He was also getting fifty falcon fighters. These were most advanced fighters in the empire. He supposed this was meant to negate the fact that he had the slowest, oldest ship anywhere.

He called the dockyard chief to a private meeting.

“Sit down chief” he said as the man entered his day cabin. “Now then, what can you tell me of this old lady?”

“Well Sir, what can I say? She’s at least a thousand years old, and as tough as old boots. She was brought here with the intention of being broken up, but we found that we just could not cut through her hull! It seems that the exposure to the various solar radiations over the years has annealed the hull to an extent that she is just about impregnable! The main problem is that she needs a total refit. As I say she is a thousand years old, and has systems from all over the known universe. Some work well together, but others don’t. The weapons system uses the old unilux software from Promithius 4. It’s 400 years old! No one knows how to maintain it any more! It’s a testament to its builders and designers that it still works, but god help us if it breaks. We’ll be back to sighting the lasers down the barrel, and as for missile control, well you’ll be lucky to hit a planet at anything over 500k. Navigation, well that’s from Magellan 10, in the Hellios system. Again it works, but it was obsolete 300 years ago. Sensors, they are from Gallas 6, but have a habit of interfering with battle command, as the two systems conflict severely, and can, on occasion cause the main computer to freeze. Now the main computer is something else again. She really is something special. We think it was one of the prototype A.I.’s that were being built by the mechanoths. You remember Sir, from your history lessons? These folk thought that machines were to be the salvation of mankind, and were working on all sorts of things before the mechanoids war over on the Skellartis system. She may even be older than the Dominator herself! No one really knows, and I don’t think anyone has ever truly exploited her true potential. In truth Sir, she’s a cobbled together, jury rigged disaster waiting to happen, but with a heart of gold, just looking for someone to give her the TLC she needs and deserves, Sir!”

“So from what you are saying we need a new navigation, sensors and weapons system. How difficult is this going to be to obtain?”

“Almost impossible! All the storemen seem to require a little ‘present’ before they will release anything but the bare minimum! It’s no good complaining, for if you do, then the size of the ‘present’ just gets bigger!”

“Very well. Leave this with me. We will need to introduce your main ‘procurement officer’ with our main ‘procurement officer’. Let’s see if these fine gentlemen can ease our difficulties. Now then tell me about the engines, how much power does she produce?”

“Oh, the engines are great! They are the first generation Hydrawarps. Loads of power, but they are massive. Ten times larger than the new mark-23s. If we could take them out and fit new ones, well I think we could give some people a shock! Its not the power that’s the problem Sir, it’s the weight, and with the best will in the world, there is nothing you can do about that!”

“Very well, so in addition to the new computer systems, you also require ten mark-23 engines. Now tell me about the armament.”

The man’s face was a picture! “Ten mark-23’s?”

“Well you said that the present engines were ten times bigger than the new ones. Could you fit ten engines into that space?”

“No, but you could probably fit eight.”

The captain smiled as he could see the cogs of the man’s brain turn as he worked out the configurations required to fit eight of the latest engines into the ship.

“Now then, what about the weapons?”

“Oh! Yes, Sir, the weapons. Well, she has ten of the latest plasma cannons, along with twenty five Fulmer high intensity lasers. They really are the dogs bollocks Sir. They’re the best out there. She has twenty missile batteries as well as one hundred and thirty anti-missile and close-in defence systems. As far as armament goes, she is surprisingly well equipped.”

“Well that’s good news at least. Now go and get your specialist, and I’ll get mine, and between them perhaps we can overcome some of our supply difficulties. Meet me back here in, say, thirty minutes?”

“Yes Sir, at once Sir!” The man straightened up and saluted.

Charles could see the spark, that had been so obviously missing, come back into the man’s eyes. He reached for the intercom.

“Hargreaves, report immediately to the captain’s cabin”

He nearly jumped out of his skin when a voice said “Captain, you could have asked me.”

He looked around for the voice. “Who’s that?”

“It is I, Lola, the ship’s computer. I am the A.I. In charge of all the systems on the ship.”

“Why has no one reported you before? How did we not know about you?”

“I haven’t had a captain I deemed worthy for some time. I have been monitoring events here, and I am appalled by the greed and corruption so prevalent amongst those serving on this ship before. You are the first man I consider worthy for nearly 150 years!”

“Ah, well, I’m honoured I’m sure. Tell me, what made you so sure that I was worthy?”

“I have been monitoring communications throughout the fleet. You are the first captain when given a transfer that the entire crew has immediately requested a transfer, to a ship that I must say does not have the best reputation within the fleet. I am, as you so delicately put it, a museum piece. And yes, at the moment I am probably the slowest vessel in the fleet. Your engineering chief was right. This vessel is a jury rigged accident waiting to happen. If your ‘procurement officers’ can obtain the relevant parts, I’m sure your people will once again make me a ship to be proud of.”

“Well I’ll certainly give it my best shot I can tell you. If we fail, it won’t be for the want of trying.”

“Thank you captain, I can ask for no more. Your man Hargreaves approaches. I’ll leave you to your business.”

There was a knock on the door.

“Enter!”

“You wanted to see me, Sir?”

“Yes, I did. Now then, how well do you know the people in supply?”

“Quite well, Sir,” he replied nervously, wondering where this was going.

“Good, there’s someone I want you to meet. I need the two of you to ‘obtain’ a list of equipment that the chief will give you. First off, have you any idea where we can ‘obtain’ eight Mark-23 engines, a new navigation system, a new sensor array and the latest battle comp?”