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Sail the Sea of Stars - chapter 5

 
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 20, 2016 11:17 pm    Post subject: Sail the Sea of Stars - chapter 5 Reply with quote

________________________________________

If you have pirate ships, you need a sea battle.
________________________________________


________________________________________


CHAPTER 5

SEEKING VENGEANCE


Beltherians: Human colonists of the planet Beltheria, one of Earth's original seven colony worlds. The Beltherian male is physically stronger than three normal men. They stand six foot six on the average, and they are built like Olympic athletes. The dense muscle tissue and bone cause them to weight fifteen percent more than a normal man of equal high and build.

The hair color varies among individuals, but it's always straight, coarse, and bristly. They usually cut it short, and it grows low on the forehead, forming a very impressive widow's peak. It gives them a distinctly werewolf-like appearance, an image they seem determined to live up to.

The eye color does not vary among individuals, because the Beltherians have been tampering with their own genetics over the past few hundred years. They've given themselves the night-vision of a predatory beast. Their irises are large and yellow — and they reflect light in the dark like a cat's eyes.

Very little is known about the physiology of the Beltherian female. The Beltherians are rumored to have reduced their female population to a slave race whose status in their society is that of property — bred for beauty, used for sexual pleasure, forced to produce children against their will.

All these biological enhancements in the male population have produced the most dangerous version of the human species since the dawn of man. They have renounced their own humanity, preferring to be something that combines strength, intelligence, and a purely egomaniacal nature. Mankind's history contains more than its fair share of shameful chapters. The Beltherians were writing a new one that eclipsed all those that went before it.

_______________*___________*___________*

The Beltherian captain crossed the boarding bridge, a thin metal ramp protected from space by a translucent tube of rippling force. He made his way through the bustling corridors of his own ship, and within minutes he was entering the bridge area.

Eight console stations faced a wide display screen, while two large gunnery stations flanked the bridge area on a slightly lower level. The gunnery stations were located further forward than the bridge area, and they were protected from space by two crystalsteel domes.

The Beltherian captain came up the wide stairway at the rear of the room, and he stood next to his command chair for a moment, gazing at the Rembrandt through a wall-sized port to his left. When he finally spoke, it was in the strangely complex Beltherian language, spoken so rapidly that the sounds seem to crowd each other. Translated, it went like this:

"Inform the lock officers to signal when secure."

"Yes, sir," The communications officer relayed the command into his headset.

"Signal all personnel to withdraw. We will disengage in one minute."

"Yes, sir. Locks three and four signal they're ready to secure."

The captain just nodded, and again the comms officer spoke into his headset. At the boarding bridges which joined the ships, the last of the outlaw raiders dashed across, transporting hostages and armloads of loot. When the bridges were finally empty, they retracted into the hull of the ship, and the airlocks were seal.

"Disengage grappling beams. Lateral acceleration, half speed."

"Yes, sir," said the helmsman.

Outside the port, the Rembrandt began sliding away.

"Signal all gunnery stations, stand by to destroy the Rembrandt," said the captain.

The pirate has no intention of letting the passenger liner's video monitor system survive to be used as evidence against them. So, the Rembrandt and her passengers were about to be blown out of existence. Through the view port on the captain's left he watched the passenger liner growing smaller against the star-filled background. Her hull was dotted with the varied shapes of a hundred lighted viewports. At many of them, the passengers crowded to watch the pirate vessel slide away, bearing abducted friends, parents, and children.

"We'll be clear in about ten seconds," said the navigator.

_______________*___________*___________*

Aboard the Candlelight:

Plunging into the Enrikson star system at twenty-three times the speed of light, the Candlelight decelerated like a race car streaking in for a pit stop. In mere seconds our velocity was down to well below the speed of light and still dropping. The gas giant rushed towards us like a like a Dizzy Dean fast ball aimed right our nose. Some of the people around me actually flinched when the gas giant's first moon shot by us. Gumjaw cut it so close on the pass that the moon's gravity was felt as a brief sideways tug. Standing in the observation deck, I lurched into the person next to me.

Then the next moon whizzed past on the opposite side of the ship, and we were all pulled back upright. Many of the people on the observation decks dropped to their knees to keep from falling down when the Candlelight shot by one moon after another. The ship's artificial gravity strove to muffle those ghostly tugs to left and right. Below me I saw the bridge crew swaying in unison like dancers in perfect sync.

_______________*___________*___________*

Aboard the pirate vessel:

The captain quietly gave the order. "Gunners, prepare to fire."

"Uh . . . Captain?" said the tracking officer. With a puzzled expression, he was peering at a blip on his scope.

"Five seconds," said the navigator.

_______________*___________*___________*

Aboard the Candlelight:

The gas-giant loomed up with terrifying speed, and the Candlelight soared over a section of the rings like a jet fighter making the strafing run. Then we grazed the edge of the dense atmosphere, and Gumjaw rotated the ship a few degrees while he goosed the drive up a notch to hold her in line against the planet's monumental gravity. The Candlelight surfed across the hazy surface a frightening speed, leaving a wake in the gaseous atmosphere and a shock wave that would travel thousands of miles in every direction.

We were still decelerating at furious rate as the gas-giant dropped behind us, and we streaked over the planet's rings again when the tracking officer called out, "Enemy in sight, dead ahead!"

"Give the gunners the coordinates — "

"Done, sir!"

_______________*___________*___________*

Aboard the pirate vessel:

"Captain?" repeated the tracking officer in an urgent voice, "There's something odd here — "

"We're clear, sir," said the navigator.

"Gunners — " began the captain.

"Captain, wait!" shouted the tracking officer.

_______________*___________*___________*

Aboard the Candlelight:

We sailed across the outer edge of the planet's rings and plummeted in among the four widely separated starships.

"FIRE!" roared Captain North as we sailed right through the gap between the Rembrandt and the loot-bearing ship, directly in the line of fire. On all twelve gunnery decks our keen-eyed sharpshooters made good use of the two second fly-by. The Candlelight's plasma cannons poured several tons of superheated metal into the pirate ship, skillfully zeroing in on the vessel's weaponry. For an instant the Candlelight and the outlaw vessel were linked by bright threads of glowing metallic plasma. The hull of the enemy vessel was dotted with angry red wounds where the weapons had been an instant ago.

The Beltherian vessel turned to flee while the Candlelight slid on past.

Gumjaw did frantic things to the control yoke, causing the ship to turn on its axis like a race car in a skid. The artificial gravity compensated for the titanic force of deceleration as Gumjaw completed the ship's rotation and brought her to a dead halt in space, facing the Rembrandt and the fleeing outlaws. In seconds she was surging forward again while all three of the other ship's fired on her. Most of the plasma bolts were stopped by the Candlelight's primary and secondary defense shield, but some of them got through. The Candlelight's hull glowed white-hot at the impact points. The loot-bearing ship slid around behind the Rembrandt and fled, under the cover-fire of the two support ships.

Chief Gunner's Mate Sid McWilliams made sure every gunner knew that the fleeing ship being protected by the other two was undoubtedly the one containing the hostages and the plunder. And that meant the Candlelight would have to let it go. The two ships protecting it must be dealt with first before a more careful handling of the loot-bearing ship could be managed.

Captain North leapt from his chair and started pacing back and forth along the level walkway at the rear of the bridge, his face a mask of barely controlled anger.

" Mr. Kellogg, get us around those two vessels! We need a clear shot at that lead ship."

The view through the bridge dome was spectacular. The beams of brilliance which criss-crossed space between the Candlelight and the enemy ships were like bolts of lightning. They left ghostly trails that faded slowly.

Gumjaw accelerated, pressing the smaller vessels back, causing them to slide left and right to block his efforts to get around them. Both the outlaw ships were traveling backwards to bring their primary weaponry to bear on the Candlelight.

"Captain," said Answorth at the tracking console. "The leading ship seems to be accelerating somewhat sluggishly. We must have damaged her engines on our first pass."

Captain North smile faintly, but his eyes were narrow slits. "Good. We'll need the extra time."

The loot-bearing ship was a bright dot of light located well ahead of the two backwards-flying vessels that were protecting it. The leading Beltherian vessel was trying to reach the velocity necessary to kick in its hyperdrive engines. Just a few seconds lead at hyperdrive speeds would put the outlaws many light-hours ahead of us.

Gumjaw's face was a portrait of hellish determination, cut from stone and dotted with sweat. His head was motionless, but his eyes darted back and forth between his console displays and the view ahead. His knuckley hands were fused to the complex control yoke.

The two ships ahead of us had reached the highest speed they could achieve in their backwards positions. The Candlelight started closing the gap, passing through the inner-most shields of the enemy vessel — which meant they were passing through our own shields. Now all three ships were completely unprotected.

The really dirty fighting now commenced.

Suddenly one of the outlaw vessels made a desperate maneuver to get away. It turned around and tried to veer off to port. When it did, the Candlelight's gunners poured plasma into the fleeing ship's engines. An inboard explosion blew the vessel in half. Shrapnel rattled against the Candlelight's unprotected hull as the gutted ship rolled aside, surrounded by thousands of ragged fragments.






The other ship, more cautious, slid sideways without turning and tried to let us pass. They were relying on our eagerness to pursue the leading ship which contained the hostages.

Captain North wasn't fooled. "Stand by for full acceleration, Mr. Kellogg." Then he spoke into his headset. "Mr. McWilliams? They'll try to snipe us from behind when we go past. Finish them off. Now!"

Captain North saw one eagle-eyed gunner nail the outlaw vessel's bridge, dead on the nose, turning it into a white-hot wound in the ship's hull. The other gunners poured plasma into the glowing hole, and the ship was reduced to a drifting hulk, lit from within by strobing flashes of uncontrolled energy. The derelict ship tumbled slowly aside, filled with fireworks as we accelerated past. It was a sight both beautiful and tragic at the same time.

Captain North's composure succumbed to the heat of the battle as he turned to the helmsman and barked an order with uncharacteristic venom.

"Mr. Kellogg! Do not let those bastards get away!"

Gumjaw punched the engines up to full power, and the ship surged forward with so much power the artificial gravity couldn't quite keep up. Everybody on the bridge and the two observers decks were pushed backwards. Shouts of alarmed filled the air as the people on the observers deck stumbled backwards.

"Mr. Lewton!" the captain shouted into his headset. "Give me those power by-passes right now!"

The bridge and observation decks were plunged into darkness, lit only by the console read outs. Every non-essential function on the ship was cut out of of the power system. On the gunnery decks, the weapons consoles went dark as their power was diverted to the sublight engines.

The chase was on!

The Candlelight desperately needed to get inside all five of the defensive shields that protected the outlaw vessel. This was the only way it could precisely place a plasma cannon shot that would disable the ship's engine. Even the innermost shield (a sphere of force located 500 meters out from the ship) would deflect the plasma bolt enough to defeat its purpose and possibly destroy the ship and all the hostages. The Candlelight had to get inside the innermost shield of the pirate vessel before the Beltherians could engage their hyperdrive and escape.

"Coming up on shield five!" Freeman Answorth announced with more volume than necessary. Everybody was caught up in the moment.

"Give us visual on that, Mr. Answorth," said North.

Answorth's fingers raced each other across the buttons on his tracking console, and a two of the twenty-by-twenty foot display screens rolled out from the sides on their tracks towards the front of the bridge dome. When they reached the front of the room they stopped with a thirty-foot gap between them, framing the star-filled view ahead.

The Beltherian ship was a bright dot, smack in middle. The two display screens were filled with a view of the space that perfectly matched the portion they would otherwise have been blocking. It was like looking through sheets of transparent material. There was, of course, one big difference — each screen had a vertical grid-pattern of green lines to represent the approaching force shields of the enemy vessel. There was also a horizontal grid pattern of red lines to represent a hypothetical plane in space. The red-lined grid showed the Candlelight's forward motion, as if we were flying above a giant neon checker board.

Meanwhile the green-lined grid of the enemy ship's force shield loomed up before us like a wall, expanding on the screens until —

"Passing shields five!" Answorth announced.

In the space between the screens, on the ship's prow outside, we all watched a line of blue fire boil across the Candlelight's forward section when it poked through the outlaw vessel's outer shield. The line of eerie radiance traveled up to the bridge dome, slid across the transparent crystalsteel around us, and engulfed the sail overhead before it passed on out of sight.

"Mr. Leamon," said Captain North, "how long before that ship can go into hyperdrive?"

"At present rate of acceleration," said the science officer, "I'd say less than two minutes."

Captain North spoke to the chief engineer through his headset. "Mr. Lewton? Is she giving us all she's got?"

"Aye, Skipper, and then some. We've even cut off the circulation system down here in engineering. It's getting pretty warm down here, sir." Jimmy Lewton's voice didn't sound very happy.

"Shield four, coming up!" Answorth announced to everyone at large.

Captain North's expression was all fatherly concern as he said quietly, "How hot is it down there, Jimmy?"

"One hundred and two degrees, sir. And rising."

Captain North grimaced. Then he said, "You have my permission to take off your shirts."

"Thank you very much sir . . . but we've already gone a bit beyond that."

Captain North didn't ask Jimmy just what he meant. Perhaps he found the mental image a trifle undignified.

The Candlelight passed through shield four, and another line of blue fire rolled over the ship.

"Mr. McWilliams," said North, speaking into his headset to the chief gunners mate. "You'd better pick your best man for this. It's going to be close."

"Aye, sir."

On the gunnery deck one, McWilliams turned to Farley Smith, who was seated at gunnery console twice the size and complexity of all the others.

"The job is yours, Smitty."

"Well . . . much as I hate to admit it, Mac, I don't think I'm your best choice."

"Really? Who would you suggest?"

Smitty wore a lazy grin as he wagged his thumb back over his shoulder at someone behind him. "How 'bout young Hawkeye?"

"Ah-ha. The resident big mouth, huh?" said McWilliams. Smitty just nodded. "Hmmm . . . maybe you're right." McWilliams called out to a young man seated at the very last weapons console in the semicircular row which faced the wall-sized port. "Okay, show-off! Here's your big chance."

Ernie Fields (Gunners Mate Third Class) looked like an undernourished seventeen-year old. He suddenly grinned as if he'd just won the lottery while he scrambled out of his gunnery chair and hurried over to take Smitty's place at the console which controlled one of the Candlelight's two biggest plasma cannons.

Smitty step aside and gave the younger man a reassuring smile as he said, "Don't blow it, Hot Shot."

"Do I ever?" said Ernie as he practically injured himself in his haste to straddle the skeleton-like chair. The other gunnery mates began to crowd around the big console.

"Passing shield three!" announced the PA. Blue fire hit the wrap-around port and washed on by.

"What weight should I set the charge at, Sid?' said Ernie. McWilliams stepped up to the console and tapped at the keyboard.

"Give it about . . . ten kilograms. But you've got to place it perfect, boy. And I mean perfect. You hear me, Boy?"

"Nothin' to it," said Ernie, cocky as a Mississippi gambler as he wiggled around on the chair like his butt itched.

On the bridge, Answorth spoke into his headset. "Passing shield two!". The line of blue fire swept across the bridge dome, but it went by at a noticeably slower rate than the first three.

"They're almost up to speed, Captain," said Hank Leamon, turning to give the Captain an apologetic look.

"How much longer?"

"Maybe . . . thirty seconds."

On the display screens, the green-grid wall of the Beltherian ship's primary shield drew closer with agonizing slowness.

"Mr. Lewton," North spoke to the chief engineer. "Stand by to power up that cannon."

"Got my hand on the switch, Captain," Lewton said in the Captain's headset.

"Twenty seconds," said the science officer.

"Sid?" the captain spoke into his headset again. "It's going to be very close."

"Aye, sir."

On the two big screens at the front of the bridge, the green grid crawled right up to the Candlelight's double prow.

"Ten seconds," said Answorth.

"Stand by, Jimmy," said North.

The line of blue fire sparkled across the double prow oh-so-slowly. The big plasma cannon was mounted forward of the bridge dome, thirty feet lower. The dancing line of blue radiance tip-toed up to the muzzle of the huge gun . . . and then seemed to hesitate.

The glow of the pirate ship's engines brightened visibly as its hyperdrive went into effect.

"There she goes!" said the tracking officer.






The Beltherian ship was frustratingly close. The blue fire that was caused by its innermost shield inched closer to the plasma canon and slowly . . . crossed . . . the muzzle.

"NOW, JIMMY!" shouted North.

The weapon's console in front of Ernie Fields blazed with electronic life as Chief Engineer Jimmy Lewton activated the power to the massive cannon. A magnified image of the pirate vessel leaped onto the screen. Seconds after the scope screen lit up, Ernie yanked the control yoke six inches to the left and four inches downward. Ernie squeezed the trigger just as the cross-hairs flashed across the image.

The plasma cannon spit out a stream of star-hot metallic plasma that went streaking away from the Candlelight. It socked itself into the fleeing ship's hyperdrive engine and vaporized the inner mechanisms. Instantly the Beltherian ship's speed was dragged down by relativistic effects. Gumjaw had to do some fast work to prevent the Candlelight from actually ramming into the drifting ship. We shot past it and then turned to face the vessel as we match its reduced speed.

"Bull's eye!" screamed Ernie Fields. "Pay up, Smitty!"

"What? I didn't bet — "

"Back to your stations!" bellowed McWilliams. The gunnerery mates bolted for their now-reactivated weapons consoles.

On the bridge, Hank Leamon turned from his science console. "Skipper, they're definitely on emergency power only. They won't be able to activate more than twenty per cent of their weaponry."

As soon as he said it, the pirate ship opened up with its depleted defenses. The Candlelight was positioned far enough away to be protected by all five of her shields. Each time our own guns fired, the Candlelight's computer would drop our shields for a microsecond, in sequence, as the plasma bolts sped away.

"Mr. McWilliams," said North, "stand by for a broadside."

"Primed and ready, sir," said the chief gunners mate. The other decks reported ready in rapid succession.

"Fire!"

The plasmabeam cannons blasted away at the enemy ship's starboard defenses while Gumjaw made the Candlelight slowly circle the drifting vessel. Its hull was being punched full of holes, but the compartments aboard the ship that were opened to space were being sealed from the rest of the ship by interior bulkheads and self-sealing hatches. By the time the Candlelight came around behind the pirate vessel the return fire from the starboard side had ceased.

"Stand by to rake it astern!" said Captain North. Gumjaw was turning the Candlelight on its axis to keep us facing the Beltherian ship.

"Fire!" said North, with noticeable enthusiasm. He was obviously enjoying himself. Every person on the bridge wore an expression of savage satisfaction.

More plasma bolts went punching into the gunnery positions on the Beltherian vessel. As we rounded the ship's stern, the enemy's portside batteries opened up, and the Candlelight's gunners bore down on the source of each shot until it was silenced. Soon the last gun position had been reduced to a smoldering wound in the outlaw vessel's hull.

"Cease fire, cease fire!" ordered the captain. The pale ghostly trails of the last shots faded away while Captain North studied the damaged ship. It was dead in space.

"ATTENTION, COMBAT CREWMEN!" came the booming voice of Captain North on the PA. "IT'S YOUR TURN, NOW. STAND BY TO BOARD."

At the Candlelight's main airlock complex, the assembly of combat crewmen cheered in response to the captain's words. They were eager to take on this hated enemy.

"Alright, Mr. Kellogg," said the captain. "Hard over. Bring us along side."

Gumjaw manipulated the controls, and the Candlelight began moving slowly sideways, closing the distance between her and the other ship. The Candlelight's own port-side wing passed beneath the pirate ship as the two vessels slowly closed the gap between them.

"Grappling beams away," ordered the captain. Ten beams of Technicolor energy shot across to the pirate ship. The grappling beams hauled the two vessels towards each other, cancelling any slight differences in their speed or direction. They also lined up the compatible air locks for boarding.

It wouldn't be long, now . . .


________________________________________


_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


Last edited by Bud Brewster on Sun May 06, 2018 1:28 pm; edited 8 times in total
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Gord Green
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Joined: 06 Oct 2014
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 21, 2016 1:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just love military space-opera!

Beltherians are a logical version of Klingon/Romulans and make a good antagonist.

The first person / narrative seemed a bit confusing in spots, but editing the raw manuscript should clean that up.

All and all.....I'm looking forward to the rest!
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Bud Brewster
Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)


Joined: 14 Dec 2013
Posts: 17016
Location: North Carolina

PostPosted: Sun Aug 21, 2016 11:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Thanks!

Actually it's fairly common for a novel to be a first person narrative which includes events the main character describes but didn't experience himself.

Sail the Sea of Stars just has more than the usual amount because it's an important event in history, not just a personal experience, and David states in the prologue (which I'll add today, since you've convinced me it's needed Very Happy ) that he researched the event using many different sources, and then turned all the raw data into an entertaining narrative.

The only time I switched back and forth often is the part in the chapter above where I was switching frequently between the Candlelight and the Beltherians.

I'm glad you're enjoying it. Very Happy

_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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