ON THE TRAIL
or
Is there a doctor in the sector?
Scott Kellogg
- XXXIII -
Welles E655632-3
"The Vixen is still with us!" announced Miakr looking into
the navigation equipment. "Two more jumps left to Zylath."
"Any contacts?" asked Niedrsha.
"Uuuh... well we've got some neutrino emissions, I think,
but..."
"Here, Miakr, let me see." Miakr stood and moved away for
Jietlshaiepr. "Hmm. looks like about five emission sources:
three strong emitters, two small. They're at extreme range.
Largest contact: one thousand tons, seven point five gigawatt
reactor. The other two large contacts are four hundred tons
each, nine gigawatts... must be warships. The last two are only
two hundred tons, five hundred megawatts."
"Viepchakl! A nuclear explosion!" The thousand tonner was
hit. Picking up communications."
The radio buzzed with static.
"Interference from the blast." Jietlshaiepr stated tensely.
"It'll clear in a moment... Identification coming up... I make
the two four hundred tonners out as Imperial SDB's... The one
thousand ton reads out as a type CD droyne cruiser. The two
hundreds are type AD droyne free traders."
Niedrsha hit the intercom, "Battle stations! All hands to
battle stations! Red alert! This is no drill!"
"Static's cleared." said Jietlshaiepr forcefully.
A small squeaky voice came over speaking droyne. The small
creature whistled and cried shrilly.
A male human voice cut in speaking english, "Attention alien
vessels, that was a warning, you will surrender now or be
destroyed."
A female human voice announced. "This is the Spindleman
from the League of Suns calling droyne vessels. We are coming to
your assistance."
The human male voice broke back in. "That won't help you.
It will take them four hours to reach you. Surrender now,
batwings, or be destroyed."
The woman came back on line, "Spindleman to unidentified
SDB's, you are ordered to cease fire.
Shtam came over the intercom, "It has to be the pirates!
But, what are they doing in system defence boats? How did they
jump in system?"
Niedrsha looked Jietlshaiepr in the eye, "You're in command,
Jiet. We go in?"
Jietlshaiepr slammed her fist into the console. "Intercept
course, all ahead flank! Miakr, program the Vixen to attack
those SDB's!"
"I'm on it." Miakr started feeding in attack orders and
target selections.
"Attention, fighters, immediate launch. Kfoks, you Tuerz
and Stuzzel intercept and attack pirate SDB's."
Acceleration piled on the ship straining the inertial
compensators. A thud ran through the ship as the Flamboyant's
gig slipped into space.
"Flamboyant one away." announced Kfoks.
Two more shocks jolted the ship.
"Flamboyant two away." called Tuerz.
"Flamboyant three away." grumbled Stuzzel. "We can't take
on SDB's in these fighters! It's crazy! We'll never hit 'em!"
"Cut the chatter Flamboyant three." called Kfoks annoyed,
"Throttle up to attack acceleration!"
The three flew off in formation. Seconds later the Vixen
confirmed that it had the correct targets locked and sped off
hot on the tails of the fighters.
"The droyne are returning fire..." growled Jietlshaiepr. "I
read one SDB has been hit twice... Blast their armor! Didn't do
any thing I can read... Well, the Spindleman won't be much good,
I read her out as a standard type S Scout... She's got some guts
taking on two ships four times her size."
"This is Flamboyant one, we will be in range in three
minutes."
Jietlshaiepr read off "The SDB's are firing again...
Viepchakl! I hope the Droyne're still there in three minutes...
The missiles were shot out of the sky but one laser hit on the
cruiser... I read outgassing... Possible loss of fuel, The
droyne ships can't seem to lock onto the SDB's well enough...
All their shots are missing... The SDB's too maneuverable... We
have to get in there fast... Time to range mark?"
"Ten minutes, thirty five seconds." answered Niedrsha.
Jietlshaiepr turned to the intercom, "Gunners stay sharp,
range in ten minutes."
She jerked to attention. "Two more contacts bearing in...
One has a one point five gigawatt reactor... One hundred tons...
The other... five hundred megawatts... two hundred tons... Must
be a freighter... The one hundred tonner will intercept droyne
in two minutes. The two hundred tonner... in twenty seven... I
read the one hundred tonner out as a tech nine SDB... the two
hundred tonner is... a Fanzheinz class free trader..."
Jietlshaiepr turned to the communications station, "Lasercom
transmit... Spindleman come in, this is the gunned escort
Flamboyant, just arrived in system... come in... we are offering
assistance to distressed droyne convoy... request target
verification."
"Spindleman to Flamboyant. Assistance accepted. What
information do you require?"
"Target identification, I have multiple contacts: Two
droyne traders, one droyne cruiser, two four hundred ton SDB's, a
one hundred ton SDB, and a Fanzheinz class free trader. Request
identification of hostiles."
"Flamboyant hold... have no knowledge of any SDB's in your
area, must be considered hostile... Fanzheinz unknown... will
attempt communication for verification... proceed with caution.
Good luck. Out."
"Flamboyant to Flamboyant flight leader... Kfoks, alter
course to... one five dash zero niner... intercept one hundred
ton SDB bearing in on convoy... identified as hostile... Over."
"Flight leader to Flamboyant... Acknowledged... Target in
sight.... Flight leader to two and three, arm weapon systems.
On my mark, open fire. Load high explosive missiles only. This
isn't worth a nuke."
The speeding SDB bore in on the convoy not noticing its
small pursuers neutrino traces. Still out of range of the droyne
guns, she didn't bother to evade but bore in on an arrow straight
course: nice and easy to track and lock on.
"Flamboyant flight: fire!"
Two missiles streaked away from the Vipers. The gig's laser
lanced out unseen in the vacuum. The SDB shook under the shock
of its turret ionizing under a storm of X-ray photons. One
missile zeroed in closing the gap homing on the startled SDB. A
brief flash lit the SDB against the stars. Hydrogen burst into
the vacuum obscuring her outlines for a moment. She tumbled a
moment, quickly stabilized, but the engines fired erratically and
quit. Still moving under the momentum of the attitude jets, it
began to tumble again slowly.
Jietlshaiepr read the sensors "It's reactor is fading...
looks like you blasted the fuel tanks. Good shooting."
Kfoks voice beamed over the radio, "Piece of mutton,
Flamboyant. She didn't even evade."
"That missile hit was mine of course." sighed Tuerz, "Stupid
didn't get a proper lock on a non-evading target."
"How are you so sure you hit?" growled Stuzzel, "We fired at
the same time."
"I know it was mine because it hit."
"Shut up!" barked Kfoks, "Flamboyant, what's the I.D. on the
Fanzheinz?"
"Spindleman to Flamboyant, Fanzheinz refuses to answer
challenge. Must be considered as hostile."
"We're on it." answered Kfoks. "Flamboyant flight bear two
seven dash two five."
Jietlshaiepr studied the sensors: "One droyne trader's
engines are out... the other's fuel is hit... The cruiser's
engines are damaged but she's still maneuvering... One SDB lost
some fuel too... The Vixen should open fire right about now..."
The Vixen swooped into battle range at six G's maneuvering
wildly. Missiles belched from her bay and turrets streaming out
like a cloud of bats swarming from a cave. The SDB's lasers
leapt out to stem the onslaught, but the defenses were swamped.
The turrets of one vaporized instantly as they were lost in a
flare of nuclear fire. The missile racks of the second were
shaken and bent by the introduction of high explosive.
The droyne cruiser's lasers swept out seeking the enemy.
Missiles flew past as the SDB's evaded, but the lasers struck
home leaving the first SDB's missile racks all but smashed.
The pirates returned fire at the new arrived menace. Lasers
and missiles zeroed in on the twisting Vixen. Robots however do
not appreciate near misses or close calls. The engines of
destruction swept on impotently.
Another salvo of missiles blazed forth at the pirate SDB's.
The ships turned to flee as they streamed in like sharks to a
kill. The monstrous bulk of the missiles flew on into the
vacuum, save the best for last. The Vixen's nukes slammed into
the fleeing pirate. Her turrets became slag as they were
irradiated, buckling armor plates around them.
Simultaneously the Fanzheinz class free trader turned and
ran on the same heading.
Kfoks voice came over the communicator, "Flamboyant, this is
Flamboyant flight. Target vessel now running. Request permission
to pursue."
"Negative, flight leader." answered Jietlshaiepr. "They are
on a rendezvous course with enemy SDB's. Not even the Vixen can
do much against their armor. Get back here, the droyne may
require assistance."
"The pirates are still firing at the droyne convoy." She
continued, "Why? Don't they know they've lost them? They've
disabled the second trader's engines and I can't tell what they
did to the cruiser."
The Vixen flew on in hot pursuit loosing missiles as she
ran. The missiles crashed through the pirate's armor silencing
the last of their guns.
"Miakr, call back the Vixen, their on the run and she can't
seem to disable them."
"Right, here she comes. Good girl! She chased 'em off."
Jietlshaiepr punched the radio, "Droyne convoy, this is
Flamboyant... Repeat, Droyne convoy this is Flamboyant, do you
require assistance?... Droyne convoy come..."
A tiny voice broke through a wave of static, "This cruiser
Chekbas droyne is. All ships droyne damaged been have. Drone
medic of Trader Kivas killed been has. Wounded aboard are.
Medic aboard have you?"
"Viepchakl," she thought, "how much do I really know about
droyne anatomy?"
"Affirmative, we have a doctor aboard. I may require
assistance with droyne physiology. Do you require assistance
with damage control?"
"Cruiser Chekbas: maneuver drive damaged, two laser
batteries destroyed. Trader Kivas: computer destroyed, maneuver
drive damaged. Trader Shoolist: hold destroyed, maneuver drive
damage repair complete. Streamlining trader's both destroyed."
"Acknowledged. We will aide the Kivas. Estimate rendezvous
and docking in... two minutes. Be prepa..."
"Oh, Shiviepchakl..."
The neutrino detector suddenly started going mad. Twelve
readings of nine gigawatts, one reading of six hundred.
Densiometer crosscheck... Confirmed... Targets closing...
Twelve four hundred ton SDB's... One forty thousand ton ship of
the line....
~~~~~~~
Here we leave the crew of the Flamboyant...
Next time, we take up the trail of Dr. Malenkoviepr. We get a little
heavily into some *serious* weirdness in chapter 3 entitled:
"You know something's happening,
but you don't know what it is...
Do you, Mr. Jones?"