"Inexorable Hunters"
Chapter XIII "Awake the dawn"
_________________________________________________________________
“Come.” I groggily state towards my cabin door. As the door slides up the ambient light from the main flats forces my second eye lid to squint. I finally make out the shadowy image of my executive officer after a couple of minutes.
“Come in Croc, what brings you at this hour, need to get into my private reserve of nipnor.” I jest
“Sir” the cold dead sober tone in his voice immediately shakes off all the lingering effects of the celebrations that are probably still on going with the Klingons. Croc moves across my cabin and sit in one of the chairs in my privy chamber. I immediately get fully off of my bunk and head towards my desk. Croc shuffles in his seat, starts to stand then finally decides to sit. I take a large draw from my glass of water and wipe my mouth with the back off my paw.
Mutt, “Ok Croc cut the damn kids gloves approach you know better, tell me what the hell is going on, and why you are in my cabin at this hour instead of drinking it up with the boys.”
Croc hits his comm claw and orders Crim to patch data stream 700708 to the Commanding Officer privy chamber, as the green triad of the Lyran Empire crest appears on the screen I pop a couple of headache tablets and down them with another draw of water. The screen goes to static and jumps at first; it then breaks in with the logo of the Dark Storm Fleet quickly followed by the gothic crest of the Concise and then On7of9.
“This is the last command entry of the Concise Battle Flotilla commanded by Admiral On7of9, the initial take down of the Kzinti ship yards in Kavraa system was perfectly executed, and all units are commended for honor in that mission and the battle on going. I have officially transferred Command to Commander SiManx of Relentless with orders to retreat to Lyran space. Any units receiving this are to make every effort to assist in SiManx’s retreat it is vital to the Empire…. The”
The tape goes static and resumes advanced three minutes and twenty-four seconds On7 again appears this time with a large cut in his forehead and his right eye socket is badly injured he continues.
“We were totally misinformed on the defense strength of Kavraa system; this miscalculation has cost our Empire a great price that I solely assume responsibility for. This mission was doomed before we even left the Gar’field’eon asteroid field. The alliance knew we were coming the only thing that makes sense is that we missed a spy on the Long-shi-so listening post. I blindly lead our forces into the trap they baited. We were outnumbered at least two to one, the Federation and Kzinti filth are a…”
The tape jumps another ten minutes and twelve seconds On7 appears again behind him his bridge is a tangle mess of wires with emergency force fields keeping the bridge pressurized, he is looking very dazed at this point he continues despite the obvious pain he is suffering.
“Emergency power restored, life support failing, SiManx has jumped to warp speed and is leaving the system, again any and all available ships must help them escape. Those bastards are in pursuit of…”
The audio cuts out and back in long enough to hear On7 say the word “Hydrans.” On the screen behind On7 a barrage of photons heads straight towards the Concise, the screen goes static… then black.
I sit back in my chair and look at Croc. “How many escaped?”
Croc swallows hard and reads off the list if you can call it that from memory. “Relentless, Vanquisher and a severely damage Vantage.”
Mutt, “How the hell could we be so blind? You can count the number of ships on one damn paw.”
Croc “Sir” again Croc’s voice is easy for me to read, after all we have been friends for twenty some years and this sir was you have not heard the worst of it.
“Ok Croc cut to the chase, what the hell did the Hydrans do?”
Croc replies “Your insight still serves you well Mutt; approximately three hours after the Concise group was destroyed the LDR was attacked in a full scale invasion.”
Unintentionally I interrupt “A Hydran invasion, where? What the hell is going on this here Croc?”
Use to my interruptions Croc waits until he knows I have cease “Mutt” he quickly continues “The Hydrans, launched a major assault on Siamois IV it quickly fell with very little resistance. With these insults the reunification with the LDR should go a lot quicker.”
Mutt “Go old Croc you can always see some good in a bad situation. Have the command team assemble in my battle room make sure Warp and TT are there along with the Klingon command structure. I am sure they already have heard of these events through their own agencies but no harm in making sure. Get together with Strongbad and have a full brief ready to go in twenty minutes”
Croc gets up and looks me in straight in the eyes. His expression says it all.
“I know Croc; have Warp bring HohHoch to me here directly I will tell him of his brother’s actions and fate myself they deserve that courtesy.”
Croc, “Thanks Mutt.”
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Moncton’s Bridge
“Status report Mr. Cavack” Wraith demands taking up his command chair after a much needed power nap following the encounter with the Lyrans. He wonders if he stayed would his ship have met the same fate as the Kzinti’s no use in lingering in the what ifs but he knows he made the right call on this one.
The young Vulcan female turns towards her Captain and comes to a ridged posture.
“Relax Cavack” Wraith states winking at Komodo
Cavack, “Sir all repairs are completed as much as possible by ships staff with current supplies and equipment now depleted. We will have to put into space dock for a period of three days eleven hours to rectify outstanding repairs like the missing deck plates on the saucer.”
Wraith, “Very good” he turns towards the helmsman and inquires, “How long to star base 413?”
“At current speed Sir Seventy- one point four hours”
Wraith sinks back in his chair “Increase speed to optimum running speed lets see if we can’t get that time line down some.”
“Aye Captain” replies the helmsman.
Once again in the quiet Wraith finds himself reflecting on that last battle and all the events leading up to the encounter. Something here just does not add up, his captain’s intuition is making a burning sensation in his mind that just will not let him go.
“What the hell were Lyran’s doing on the Vootar and why where Capital ships going to get them?” Wraith states aloud still deep in thought.
“Sir?”, Cavack inquires.
“Mr. Cavack I want the entire battle film in my ready room ready to go, something just does not feel right.” Wraith orders.
Cavack, “Feel Captain?”
“Intuition, experience Mr. Cavack, Number one join us in my ready room.” Wraith hops out of his chair and heads towards his ready room with Komodo and the young Vulcan in tow.
“Computer replay time frame 2332 to 2348 and magnify sector C5” Cavack demands.
Wraith looking at the screen with piercing eyes “Stop. Freeze frame 2338 and magnify sector C5 to C11, look immediately after the ESG burns off, on that section of the Vootar. Computer play one eighth speed and resume.”
Komodo, “That looks like an escape pod Captain.”
Wraith, “Just what I was thinking Number one, but who in the hell would have been in it? Cavack did our sensors pick up any other life forms on that ship besides the twenty-four Orions, the Tholian?”
“Well Captain excluding the two Lyrans that is all the sweep picked up.” She answers.
Wraith,” Lieutenant Cavack what are the possibilities that your sweep could have missed read or did not read all life forms?”
“Misread any that I found Sir 99.786 percent unlikely, not detecting I would speculate 50 50 chance as the scan was very quick and I was not able to penetrate every compartment on the ship, as a pirate vessel Sir I think the likelihood of them having cargo holds that would be resistant to initial level one scans would be high.” Cavack answers
Wraith “Ok so it is possible that we may have missed a life form. I want both of your best gut feeling or in your case Lieutenant you most logical speculation on what would have launched in that escape pod, someone that would have wanted it to look like debris after that ESG strike on the pirate. As we can tell in the replay it definitely launched.”
Komodo, “Sir I would bet if we found that pod there would be a good chance it would contain a life of some sort depending on the condition of the pod and whether it sustained damage in the fight. I am sure the Lyrans would not have noticed it either.”
Cavack, “I concur with Commander Komodo’s assessment of the events and according to schematics that class of escape pod has enough supplies to sustain life for three Earth weeks when in ideal working conditions.”
Wraith hits the intercom, “Helm reverse our course, take us back to the site of the where the Vootar was destroyed, Officer of the watch bring the ship to yellow alert.”
Topic: Inexorable Hunters (Read 8497 times)