Index: Suspended animation | Different times | Some assembly required | More pew for your credit | The Lennart Manoeuvre | Cloak and Railguns
Lennart, Cosette, Tim Ocean, Josh The Posh, and the colonists who volunteered to fill in the empty crew spots on the Revenant – they had all gathered around the unfinished vessel.
They were joined by the men and women who, only half an hour ago piloted fuel laden ships, intended to replenish not only Kren’s reserves, but satiate the thirst of his warship’s engines. Quite angry, and not only because their vessels had to be destroyed – the “Smokers” knew that soon they might not even have a home to return to.
Counting the two dozen starship trained and quite capable colonists, who would woman some posts on the Revenant, these veteran space wolves volunteered to fill in the blanks. Between them and the crew of Josh’s vessel he had all, but filled every vacant position.
The FSS Nelson had taken more than just ‘a scratch here and there.’ Her entire drive section was almost blasted apart by that stealth Aleska corvette. Lennart’s faint hope that he could siphon some of her fuel quickly evaporated after he witnessed one gaping hole in Nelson’s main fuel tank. Due to the damage, Josh’s crew were forced to ditch most of their fuel reserves mid FTL or risk exiting into normal space in the form of an ever expanding, debris cloud.
Aleska weapons fire was originally intended to cripple their main drive section. They fired overcharged particle-beams and the Clanners most definitely weren’t aiming at the fuel. Prudent as they were, these pirates wanted to loot both her cargo and replenish their own fuel reserves, yet something went wrong.
Was it purely the gunner’s fault, targeting system error or a power transfer malfunction? Josh promised to upload all of their scan-data into the Revenant’s mainframe; Lennart would thoroughly examine these files and look for an advantage he could use, but later.
Tim’s people couldn’t complete their work, not until Revenant’s reactor upgrades and extra engines were installed. Most of them were now piloting power armors and driving trucks full of system components. Some of the farmers halted their field work completely and were aiding with the unloading of Josh’s now life-saving cargo. While these hardy workers were rushing to complete the most important task – preparing their colony’s new warship for battle, her captain spoke to his new crew.
It didn’t take long for Lennart to explain the overall situation they all were in. Terrans understood perfectly well that sacrifices were to be expected. After he gave everyone a couple of minutes to gather their faculties, the captain turned his attention to Tim and asked:
“I am told that some of you possess certain specialist skills, which would be of great use during this crisis. Not to assume anything, but are you a great gunnery officer or...” – Lennart left the question hanging, and while everyone else was quietly discussing, examining their starship system qualifications, Tim chuckled:
“Guns? Yes, I am good wiff guns – I do sell them after all! That, however, is not my greatest skill – as a spaceship system operator, shield systems are.” – Answered calmly and without using any of the usual “biker talk” Lennart was now accustomed to.
“Main shield operator, you say.” – Lennart’s otherwise tiny smile turned into a vicious grin.
“Have you heard of something called ‘rapid field emitter manipulation’, Mr. Ocean?”
“Rapid? How rapid are we talkin’? Cos dis ship’s emitters ain’t super new, you know.” – Cautiously asked Tim and after waving his hand over the PDA, displayed a schematic of IMS Revenant’s emitters.
Well aware of what the weapon trader pointed, Lennart continued and with the same tone of voice, the boyish grin never leaving his face.
“Sometimes frying one of your ship’s emitters to achieve victory is a necessary sacrifice. Especially when time is a factor or you know that multiple tons of loot would fill your vessel’s cargo hold after said battle. I will give you the file containing all of my calculations, Mr. Ocean. Now, about those guns...”
“Seems I am exactly the gentleman you need, captain.” – Fixed his monocle Josh the Posh and continued after clearing his throat:
“After carefully comparing my starship qualifications with everybody else’s, it is clear that I possess the greatest amount of experience – twenty long years of service aboard the CN corvette IMS Ork. Moreover,” – he gave the turrets a quick glance – “my gunnery specialization with light cannon is level five and torps, level three.”
Lennart’s eyes widened; to achieve high levels of skill like these, Josh had to have had served under some pretty competent captain. Not only that, but having twenty years of service in the colonial navy on your file was something any space wolf could happily brag about.
“It seems that we are lucky to have you around, sir.”
Lennart shook Josh’s hand and then returned Cosette’s look. She and her personal security team stood nearby, held their assault snub guns all professional like.
“Mon Capitaine, I and my team will keep the Revenant safe from attackers or engage in boarding operations ourselves. Every single one is a veteran, with thirty years of combat service in one of the FFL’s (Légion étrangère) space trooper regiments. You will find us capable and more than willing to inflict deadly harm upon these Aleska, these supposed ‘masters of space combat’.”
She’d fixed her long hair into a bun, one hand resting on the handle of her weapon. Helmet locked on the belt of her lightly armored, exoskeleton outfitted spacesuit, Cosette and her platoon strong security team all sported the same RXO snub guns.
Lennart was told that all stormtroopers, even those who were part of the famous I-sec rapid response teams, carried these weapons into battle. Fitted with excellent heatsink, this compact, tubular-shaped weapon had three rotating barrels, similar to those of more standard railgun designs. Capable of unleashing bursts with pinpoint accuracy, Cosette’s RXO was an older model than what he’d seen on G-net’s holo feed. The MK1 came factory equipped with slots for extra large power packs and, of course, the standard holo-scope.
Every piece of their equipment showed some wear and tear; tiny dints, scratches and such, signifying that it served these soldiers well for many, many years. This gear was, of course, well-maintained; he could easily spot spare power packs and extra medisprays filling every conceivable magslot on their suits. Lennart studied the legionaries rough faces, looking for any signs of doubt or hesitation and when he found none, saluted them.
“Thank you for your service, legionaries!”
The twenty five strong unit stood at attention and saluted him back, their boots stomping the ground as one.
“I suspect capturing the corvette might be a long, arduous process.” – Still smiling, Lennart then addressed the “Smokers.”
He projected the holo of an Aleska raid ship from his PDA before continuing:
“Therefore, to compensate you for your loss, we will have to convince the crew of one of these in their most futile pursuit of... breathing.”
The grizzled, steeled by constant strife people exchanged smiles and joined the uneven choir of hesitant chuckles.
“Now, we all have a lot of work to do! I am sure that even with half our tanks full of fuel, we can still pull it off. What we got, the pirates now have even less! They must be really careful and stay quiet, still even. Lurk not casually around, but look for ships by use of their sensors alone.”
“Captain, we can use our skill in creating sensor ghosts to deceive them.” – Silvia’s soft voice instantly reminded him of her original idea.
Something they spoke of ever since he accepted her colony’s offer to work for them and captain the Revenant.
“Do you have all the scan-data ready, Silvia?”
“Yes, we coded through the night and have the bulk of it ready. Following your recommendation, the original data matrix was modified to better emulate cargo containers. I took the liberty and asked our computer specs to add the scan signature of high quality H2 fuel into the matrix.” – Silvia smiled and showed him a data crystal, then secured it in one of her suit’s pockets.
“While some of our junior medics will accompany me on board, I think that none other can better use the sensor ghost matrix than myself. I am the senior data modification specialist on this colony after all.”
Lennart successfully concealed his troubled expression by projecting another holo from the PDA before his face. You couldn’t convince a Terran woman to stay behind and not beside her man, even if you dropped a tactical nuke on her! He was not blind and after that short date they had, it was beyond crystal clear what Silvia’s feelings for him were.
Didn’t take him long to dig up all the important information on human birth and mortality rates, reports from just after Lord Mahimm’s 1969 invasion. The death toll was devastatingly high! Not to mention the many millions who vanished forever, either sold into bondage or as food to the Jaern cannibals.
Humanity would forever suffer a horrible number disparity between the two sexes. No matter how many children were born each star-year, humans died still in greater numbers. For him as a military man, the obvious solution was less casualties and more enemies killed on the field of battle. Said blood-less victories would ensure that others, less prepared or lacking proper arms and training people could survive, live to see another day.
Silvia, being a Terran woman and a medical doctor – her duty to life was double. Securing a husband and making sure he stayed alive, so they could bring more little humans into this galaxy. Therefore Lennart was preparing himself mentally for the inevitable day when he had to accept the marriage vow. How quick he got accustomed to all these new things, the captain did not ask himself – he had no time to reflect upon all of this now.
Just as before, during Mahimm’s invasion, things happened fast, too fast mayhap. The roguish charm he intended to cultivate and then apply in his search for a wife was apparently no longer a requirement. These days a man had only be just that – a proper, masculine man, with big balls of brass. No honeyed words needed to be uttered, no serenades and certainly no visits to overpriced, fake gourmet restaurants.
Face again sporting another boyish smile, he promised to himself that she’ll get all that charm and proper attention – that woman deserved every bit of it. Not counting the fact that she saved him, her entire life so far was a selfless service to others.
Lennart gave Silvia one long and this time much calmer look which she responded in kind. Asking one of the workers a few days earlier, he learned that she had been on not two, but four unsuccessful husband searches. Which, for a woman living here out on the Fringe border colonies, meant that the future of a lonely “auntie” awaited her.
That was why Silvia looked so sad and happy at the same time, when she first spoke with him. Something deep inside Lennart’s heart twisted, yet did not break. Instead he focused better and concentrated; his stern, military mind attacked then defeated the task laid before him.
He enlarged the Aleska raid ship’s holo, asked Silvia to project Revenant next to it and began extrapolating, explaining various details of his new plan of attack. Soon everyone became absolutely infatuated by his words; if any of them had something to add, they did so quickly and the tactical conclave continued.
Lennart was not raised to be indecisive, nor was it in his nature to tiptoe around a problem – he assaulted said trouble head on! Yet, by fully committing to an attack, one should also use every conceivable advantage, be it visible or invisible. He aimed to not only openly assault, but also deceive the pirates, therefore put them in a favorable position for him to destroy.
Piece after piece, all of his original ideas fell into place and most of his volunteer bridge officers dashed off to prepare. Left alone with Cosette’s legionaries and the merc gunship pilots, Lennart focused his attention on them.
“Now gentlemen, we will need those heavy fighters of yours for the last part of my plan to succeed. Have you ever attacked a pirate raid ship and deployed shock troops, all at the same time?”
Cosette’s face suddenly assumed the most vicious expression Lennart had ever witnessed a woman of her statuesque beauty and fitness display. She quickly projected a couple of tactical deployment routines with her PDA, overlaid atop his still active holo. The merc gunship pilots did the same and after a couple of minutes both teams ironed out their tactical approaches, became accustomed with each other’s capabilities.
One hour after he gathered everyone around the IMS Revenant the planning phase was finally over. Now it was time for vigorous action and hard work! Before he could run inside his new starship and find something do to or someone to help, Cosette looked him in the eye. She and her legionaries had exchanged silent nods with the gunship pilots beforehand.
Shouldering their guns, the star troopers saluted him again and then walked inside the ship, while their commander said:
“We trust you, Mon Capitaine and my troopers – they trust your Plan.”
***
Dear reader, if you liked this story, you might enjoy my published work.