Chapter 629

Ship’s Training Mission for the Miadax Crew

The Crew of the Hunter continue their search for other pirates.

...”Yes, Sir. My boards are all green.”

“Very well. Look sharp. You might just get more shooting practice.”

“Yes, Captain. I stand ready.”

The Captain turned to his First Officer. “You shall be in command of the Bridge until further notice, whether or not I am present.”

“I am in command of the Bridge until further notice,” the First Officer repeated with an inquisitive look on his face, but the Captain ignored the look.

What is going on? I would think that he has been affected by the blow to the head he received as he came through the hatch, but he was leaving me in charge far more than usual before that happened. I know him, and he is always in the thick of anything that’s going on. He never shirks his duty, yet it is as if I am in training again, but that cannot be. I have far too much experience for him to do that. Screw it. I always give the day-to-day orders without checking with him, anyway, but he lets me know if he wants to change anything before I give them out. This is different, though. We are again going into a possible combat situation, yet he makes it clear that I will be in charge no matter what happens. Oh, shit. Stop overthinking the situation and get on with the job at hand.

“Science Officer, report. What do you make of this mountain chain?”

The Officer hesitated before, “Sir, I have encountered nothing quite like it. This whole asteroid field is also far more extensive than any I have ever seen in my career. As you surmised before, the field must have once been a minor planet or a large moon that collided with something in the distant past. I have no other way to account for the enormous size of the asteroid in front of us.

“It is as if a whole mountain chain had been ripped from where it once resided. As I said before, it is approximately a hundred kilometers long, a third that wide and approximately the same for its height. Scans show valleys and crags easily capable of hiding several ships unless we happen to be directly above relative to their position. With the upheaval that one would assume would occur when two planetoids collide, there could be caves or crevices formed that could easily hide the pirates – or maybe an entire fleet of them.

“There is also a high mineral content in that whole mountain chain, which further confuses our scans. Finding a single ship in that mess would be similar to finding the proverbial lost needle. Also, as I am sure you have already surmised, there are numerous places in this mountain chain where the enemy could set up heavy weaponry to defend his stronghold or encampment. Of course, the state of that weaponry could very well depend on such things as the time the pirates have been set up here, availability of heavy weaponry, personnel, and many other variables. Also, I might point out the obvious: unlike a mountain chain on a planet, this has four sides. In other words, it has a ‘bottom’ that adds another dimension to our search.”

The First thought for a moment before addressing his Bridge crew. “There is a possibility that the pirate ship we destroyed did not, or could not, report to its base during the engagement. If they have not set up some type of repeater system and are, indeed, in a cave or a deep valley, their communications might well be limited to line of sight, which might mean that they are unaware of our presence.

“I still do not understand the hatch being open, and perhaps we will never know, but it stands to reason they were involved in taking on expendables, but there is also the possibility they were moving bounty to another location. Either would almost guarantee the probability of a tender or other ship in the vicinity – yet we detected nothing, which brings to mind the possibility the pirate ship detected our scans abruptly as we passed through the asteroid field. Perhaps, the field’s density prevented his equipment from detecting us until we were almost upon him. So abruptly the Commander panicked at detecting a Federation warship practically in his lap and cast off without even permitting his crew time to close the hatch. Accordingly, the tender or other ship’s commander probably tried to do a disappearing act. Whatever happened, we cannot expect the next ship we encounter to be unprepared.

“Unprepared or not, we were outgunned in the encounter, but thanks to our Weapons Officer Trainee, we won in a very decisive way. We can only hope to surprise the rest of the pirates. That would seem to be impossible after the battle, but if they are hidden in some valley or cave, and with the suddenness of our arrival and the ensuing battle, they just might not have received a warning. As you most certainly know, explosions in space do not have the same effect they would have in an atmosphere, so they probably didn’t feel a concussion, and they, of course, couldn’t hear it in vacuum. Who knows if a signal would reach them in their lair, or even if the ship that attacked us was inclined to send such a message while involved in a battle?

“It stands to reason, however, that we might well be a surprise to the remaining pirates. With all the asteroid clutter and this rugged mountain range, we might well be upon them before either of us is warned, so stay alert.

“Weapons Officer, all weapon systems online, but do not fire until I give the order. There is always the possibility of asteroid miners being in this mess, too.”

“All weapon systems active, but do not fire until ordered,” the Trainee repeated.

“Helm, maintain docking thrusters only, but keep the evasion program ready in case we have to maneuver.”

“Continue with our momentum assisted by docking thrusters when necessary for maneuvering, Sir. Evasion program remaining on line.”

The Hunter drifted forward with a speed of twenty klicks per hour relative to the mountain asteroid, which took just over five hours to make one pass over the relative “top” of the asteroid. Their scanners would only account for detailed scans over the first third of the width due to all the crags and valleys in the jumbled up mess “below” them.

“Sir,” the First Officer said as he turned to the Captain, “any ideas?”

“Your ship, Mister. Carry on.”

The First stared at his Commander for a moment, the other with a grin just faintly touching his lips. “I could spend a week here just looking for the pirates and still not find them, and all the time, the Axis Alliance is wondering why we have not arrived. What I do here could very well affect your career, Sir.”

“We have a recording of the exchange, and we have eliminated a larger ship while receiving no appreciable damage. Also, that larger ship appeared to have superior weaponry. Realistically, we should have lost that battle, but ... we did not. Carry on, First Officer.”

What the fuck? When I made First Officer, he used to do this but would step in if I made a decision he didn’t like. That cannot be the case now. Besides, I would be amazed if he steps in, no matter what happens. It’s as if ... Shit, get your mind on the job at hand and quit wasting time worrying.

As they eased across the end of the mountain range and prepared to make a pass on what could be considered the “bottom side,” the First Officer again reminded his Bridge crew to be ever vigilant. “Weapons Officer, don’t forget to increase magnification when we pass over those rugged valleys. If you need a longer scan, speak up, and we will stop our progress until you have completed scanning the area. The same for you, Science.”

“Sir?” the Science Officer said. At the First’s nod, the Officer went on, “Chances are they will detect us before we detect them.” When the First nodded, the Science Officer went quickly on. “Suppose we glide over one of these canyons, such as the one below us now, with all the deep valleys and high crags interspersed below us. Their motion sensors will instantly detect us, and since they are not moving and we are, our sensors would not respond to them, and we might not detect them visually, either. With a full blast of their weapons, they might well override our shields and destroy us with the first volley. Especially with the way our screens depleted so quickly under fire before.”

“I see what you mean. Science, shift ninety percent of shield power to the side nearest the mountain range.”

“Sir, ninety percent of shield power to the mountain range side of our vessel.”

“We will hope that we are not attacked from our weakened side, but prepare to redistribute shield power should we be, Science.”

“Affirmative, Sir. Be prepared to shift shield power as needed.”

Five hours later, they had made their second pass with everyone remaining at high alert the whole time. “Helm, bring us to rest relative to the mountain chain. We will take a rotating break as per procedure.”

Helm and Navigation got up to use the facilities while the Science Officer slid into Helm’s seat. There was no pressing need for navigation just now.

After the rest, they were served a combat meal along with a booster for the basic stimulus they had been forced to take already.

Crap, this is taking too long, and chances are the pirates will get off the first shot if we keep on with this, and I do not want to be a test target for those powerful guns. Fuck it. We have a full complement of missiles, minus the four we used for testing and in the battle. We will use some of them.

“Helm, move us out five klicks and center us over what seems to be the top side of the mountain range,” he ordered while pointing to the big screen.

“Out five clicks and center over the top side,” Helm returned, his voice expressing a hint of curiosity.

“We are in position, First.”

“Very well. Weapons, fire two of our smallest missiles at a target of your choice with the intention of causing as much vibration throughout that thing as you can.”

The Trainee scanned what seemed to be the deepest and most rugged mountain valley he could see on his screens at present. “Sir, this entire mountain range is large enough to have a microgravity that just might help us. If I shear off that mountain peak there,” he said as he put his pip on a tall but relatively slender spire of a mountain, “the microgravity should cause the resulting boulders to fall, albeit slowly, toward the valley below. However, even though the gravity is minuscule, momentum remains in full force. The sheared-off boulders will almost certainly ensure a landslide that the pirates’ equipment should notice even if they are ensconced in a cavern or something similar.”

“All right, Weapons. Do it, but keep your weapons trained on the valley below and be ready.”

“Affirmative, Sir. Fire on the peak but keep ready.”

It only took a moment for the Trainee to set up a spread of two missiles and lock on a peak. He did something at his console and two missiles loaded with high explosive were on their way. A few seconds later, there was a flash, and a gout of rock and dirt squirted upward, but a much more massive amount of debris began its slow fall toward the valley below. As the mass fell, it crashed into the side of the mountain to begin a snowball effect. By the time the mass of boulders, dirt and debris began to arrive at the “bottom” of the local mountain, there was a lot of it. Although everything was in vacuum and therefore there could be no sound, per se, there was a lot of vibration transmitted through the rock.

They waited, expecting to see pirate vessels boil out of a crevasse or cave, but when the boulders and most of the dust had finally settled, there was still no sign of the pirates.

“Well, shit,” the First Officer mumbled to himself, but the Captain who was sitting at his console heard and grinned.

“All right. We will do it again. Helm, move us forward as before. Stop at the next valley or big crevasse and let the Weapons Officer have some more shooting practice.”

It was their fifth try a standard day later at what could be described as the ‘bottom’ of a mountain when things finally changed. Apparently, the pirates, secure in an underground fortress, were not aware of anything that had been happening relatively near them recently. Even when the avalanche came down, their sensors had duly reported the vibration, but most of the pirates assumed that it was only a natural landslide that had caused the shaking. Hastily, they left their pressurized and secure area to board their ship, not wanting to be trapped in the cave should more of the mountain come down on top of them. Cautious, just in case, the big pirate ship’s Captain ordered two small but armed tenders to exit and escort them out of the underground facility. Moments later, the pirate ship eased out of the enormous cavern, but since it was not directly beneath the area the Weapons Officer had sheared off, their sensors did not immediately detect the Hunter, the First having gone back to passive scanning only. As luck would have it, the two ships discovered each other at almost the same instant.

The First Officer was well aware of the rules of engagement, and those rules were explicit and emphatic about warning before firing. But ... he was faced with a simple fact of survival. If the pirate ship were similar to the one they had just fought, then the Hunter was outgunned.

“Science, standard order,” the First snapped.

“Standard warning order initiated,” Science said as he pressed the button.

“Weapons Officer, Fire and keep firing,” the First ordered even as a bolt of energy hit their ship, the shields screeching as if they were alive. A split second later, the Weapons Officer, having already brought his laser/particle beam weapons online, locked his pip on to the area where the engines should be on the pirate ship and pressed the firing toggle. The beam resulted in a bright flash and a halo surrounding the area where the weapon contacted the other vessel’s shields for a couple of seconds, but otherwise, there was no obvious result of the strike. The officer kept firing, but tried not to outpace his recharging capabilities.