Eric Olafson, Midshipman 15

Part 15: ABOARD THE HYPERION

Here I was treated like a part of the crew. Aboard the Hyperion the only difference between enlisted personnel and officers was more or less only the rank pin on your collar. Captain Zezz treaded and acted the same around the lowest First Class Starman as he did around his bridge officers. He told jokes with them, participated in games and on board sporting events and most unusual. The ship used only one mess hall. Officers and enlisted ate in the same place. There wasn’t even a specific seating order. Even the Captain sat down wherever there was space and not at a separate Captain’s table. I also noted the fierce pride and love every crew member expressed about Zezz and their Hyperion. Men went out of their way to make him proud. One day I noticed two First Class Star men scrubbing an already clean looking corridor and I asked them what they did to be punished that way and they looked at me like I was insane and one of them explained to me that nothing but a spotless corridor would do, it’s how the Captain would like it, and they went on with great effort.

I did not have much free time. When I was not on duty, I was studying books or using the simulator, but every now and then I did have a few hours of leisure time. I used the excellent swimming pool facilities of the ship or used an unoccupied gym to practice my sword play. A Petharian Sergeant who belonged to the ships Marine contingent, his name was Throok often sparred with me and instructed me in the ancient fighting technique of his four armed society. They used swords that looked very much like oversized dinner knifes, with long handles and bean shaped serrated and incredibly sharp blades. Gripping the long handles to maximize the fulcrum effect on the blade, Petharian warriors used two at the same time. It was complicated and very stylized. Every attack had a name and a number and it was not unusual to go through all of the 3000 attack and 4000 defense moves in a single training session. I could of course only handle one blade as I missed the second arm pair. Even just using one sword was exhausting because the weapon was heavy and I barely felt my arms when we were done. He spoke little and told me next to nothing about his kind or his family, but he kept on showing up for training and patiently showing me their moves.

A security officer from Earth and master of Terran martial arts called Kung Fu dazzles us with spectacular fighting moves. Almost like an aerial dance, he too taught a class and I wished I the day had more hours so I could train with him more intensively.

The Hyperion did routine duty and most of it appeared to be boring, but I enjoyed every moment and there was not a minute time to get bored. Zezzh did run regular drills and the time it took for a ship to get ready for battle was diligently recorded. Fleet standard for a Battleship was 8 minutes and 9 seconds. That was not much time for a ship and a crew of that size to go from All Green to All Red. From Zezz I learned there was an unofficial contest between all Captains of the Fleet to beat these times and Captains would often exchange and compare the times for bragging rights.

The Hyperion’s best time was 2 Minutes and 16 seconds. Zezzh said that this was acceptable and put the Hyperion near the Champion time of 2 Minutes and 1 second, recorded aboard the USS Shetland.

We just finished such a drill and my battle posting was the OPS station on the bridge. The Alarm had caught me twenty decks down, in a swimming pool. Thanks to Auto Dressers that automatically switched to emergency mode during alert and a complicated Inter Ship transport allocation program, I made it in two minutes and four seconds. As the acting XO I reported an overall ship readiness time of two minutes and fourteen, a new ship record. Zezzh was pleased.

He addressed the crew and promised a party to be held in one of the big Cargo holds. He didn’t finish his address as the Sensor Operator interrupted him. “Sir, eight Shiss Mehgar Class Cruisers under full shields and weapons appeared on the scanner horizon.”

Reports came in moments later from a colony within our patrol area that had been attacked with high casualties and damage.”

The situation seemed clear and straight forward. Shiss raiders had crossed the line and attacked a Union Colony. They had taken a chance and went much deeper in Union space. Most likely because the Colonies and Outposts near the border were better defended. Now the eight ships high tailed it back to Shiss territory. It was unfortunate for them to run into the sensor bubble of a Union Battleship.

Eight Shiss cruisers, even the feared Mehgar Class was no real match for a Union Battleship and they knew it, changed course and tried to outrun us. Six month ago it would have worked, but the Hyperion had new and faster engines and was catching up. The standard procedure was to hail and ask them to surrender so it came to a surprise to me as Zezz ordered his new Translocator Sniper canons to take aim and to take them out. Sniper Translocators were the latest and newest weapon development of the Union. These canons could only fire very small loads, siphoned twice the energy of the big batteries, but they had ten times the range of any previous TLC. Translocators had one major flaw; they could not be fired while the ship was in Quasi-space. With normal TLC’s it was possible for an enemy who travelled FTL to escape. The usual procedure to intercept was to launch Wolfcrafts or Loki Torpedoes and engage the enemy with Energy weapons to force them to drop out of Quasi-space and then engage with the main batteries as soon as they were in range. The tactical officer had have his firing solutions ready and fire the Snipers the very microsecond we dropped, or the enemy would be so far out of range we would never catch them.

The Plutonian was as good as Zezzh said he would be and six micro loads detonated inside the fleeing ships engine rooms. Even a very small Anti matter explosion inside the engines was devastating. Two of the Mehgar, lost their Quasi Space bubble instantaneous and both ships were instantly converted in pure energy. The others managed to drop controlled into Real Space, Zezzh still did not hail the ships but ordered his tactical officer to continue.” Take out their Command Decks. Leave me one or two for boarding and pound the rest to ashes.”

Zezz got up and barked.”Mr. Olafson, I am going to join the boarding party. Care to tag along?”

This was highly unusual. A captain joining marines boarding an enemy ship, it was more than that. It was against the rules as far as I knew. “Yes Sir”

He waited for me until another officer showed up to take my duty station. I never found it easy to keep up with the fast Lizard, but now it was almost impossible. I had to run, really run to keep up. There was no chance and no breath to ask him questions. Decks fourteen and fifteen were Marine Country and they all waited for him, all already wearing Destroyer Suits, with Deep space packs. The Captain didn’t even slow down as he virtually jumped into an auto dresser. I had to look around for another one, but one of the marines grabbed me and more or less stuffed me into another unit.

Moments later I stomped out wearing the heaviest, most advanced individual armor developed by Union Tech. We all looked alike and only identifiable by tactical symbols superimposed over the others inside my helmet. All suits were currently colored dull white and would chance colors adapting to their surroundings as soon as we went into battle mode, except Zezz’s. His suit was deep purple, just as his throat and on his upper right shoulder was the logo of the Union Marine Corps, but below it the number 33.

He stood there for a moment, listening to something. Then his voice came over the Suit Comm. “Eighty T Klicks away there are two Shiss Raider. Engines and defenses crippled, but filled with the cowardly Red Throats that raided that Colony. If you manage to capture a few Green Throats alive for questioning it would be a success and the official reason for this boarding action. I would not be disappointed if none survives. Give them no quarter.”

His Marines cheered in a throaty rough manner. He gave the final seal check order and then the air lock opened and like a swarm of angry snapper fish, 200 Marines, 100 Cerberus Robots, me and the Captain left the Hyperion, the Pulse engine on my back humming at top output. Eighty thousand kilometers through deep space was not much, but a great distance in my mind and nothing I really wanted to do, but I had little choice and thankfully the suit was in swarm mode and followed the lead, so I had little to do. The swarm split into two groups. This was not something a Union Fleet Officer needed to know or do. Boarding action was for marines. I wondered what happened to the usually so laid back and easy going Captain Zezz. Was it the fact we attacked other Shiss? His own kind?

We split in smaller groups of twenty, each led by a Marine Sergeant, except mine. I was in the same group as the Captain and he had taken the lead command. The Shiss ship was a six hundred meter unit and like all Shiss ships based on the shape of an Egg. The dull end was the aft section and had the Engine pods. Of the original six pods, it had only four left and they were mostly twisted shapes of scrap metal.

As my boots made contact with the ship’s hull, its size became perspective and it looked huge. It was an awesome sight and frightening at the same time. The descending marines and robots looked like insects. Now I noticed the turret not far from where I had come down. It was a weapon turret and it as firing. I only knew because the dual gun muzzles kept glowing in a fast pace. There was no way I could see the energy bolts with the unaided eye, but that cannon aimed at fired at marines still on the approach. Why I had been missed I could not say, but I was close. The fire power an individual had at disposal when wearing a fully equipped destroyer suit was incredible. I flew across the smooth surface and my augmented large suit hands bend the left barrel like butter. The suit automatically extended vibrating monofilament claws from the tips of the suits hands and with it, I tore a hole into the armor of the gun turret and released a dozen pellet grenades into the breach, as I jumped back the suit activated the boot thrusters, not a second too early. The grenades exploded and lifted the turret out of its socket.

Someone I didn’t know said.” Well done, Soldier.”

My group entered through that breach and into the ship itself. The Shiss fought nail and tooth, able to go toe to toe with a Nul, but as famous their fighting skills were, their technology was inferior to Union Tech, and it became apparent, they needed concentrated fire of several weapons to collapse Union shields and then still there was the tough armor. Boarding was a messy, chaotic business. My suit Computronic tried to keep my HUD and Communications as uncluttered as possible, still there was the overall wire frame display of the enemy ship’s deck layout, green and red signals, energy read outs, scanner results and squad orders. The Marines and robots worked like a well-oiled machine and more or less ignored me. I was an added asset, almost like an observer, but I fought myself down the smoke filled corridors. The Shiss barricaded every junction and resisted to the last. In all this I wondered why we did this. There was no need, the ship was crippled and the Shiss could go nowhere. Why did no one offer them to surrender?

It was over after what seemed hours of constant fighting; checking the time I realized we had boarded the ship only 57 minutes ago. We had reached the alternative Command Deck of the ship. It’s main command deck; the bridge had been destroyed by a TL load. Captain Zezz had fought like an unleashed demon, using his boarding chain sword more than his blasters. He held a struggling Shiss Officer with his upper arm pair while he used his lower arm pair to systematically rip pieces of the armor the other wore.

Union Techs swarmed the command center moments later and begun to attach equipment to the alien ships consoles.

Only after two marines took the captured Shiss officer from Zezzh did he calm down and brushed back his helmet. His face was alien to me and I was certain I could not begin to read the emotions displayed, but there was a wild, savage glow in his eyes. His small black tongue flickered back and forth. Now he noticed me and made a sound like a submarine blowing air. “It is the second time I had the fortune to see you fight, Mr. Olafson. We certainly showed that cursed breed how costly it is to raid Union Colonies.”

I looked around shivering at the bloody carnage. “Yes Sir we certainly did.”

“Let us go back to the Hyperion and see if we can assist the raided Colony.”

“Yes Sir.”

This time I had no trouble following him and as we flew back he said. “You question my actions, don’t you?”

“Sir I am not...”

“I told you we are past those things and I begin to know you. You would not be part of my bridge crew, even temporary if I thought you don’t question what happened.”

“Well Sir, I did wonder why we boarded those ships and why you participated. It is not very common I think for a Captain to lead a Marine boarding action.”

“I told you about the 33rd Colony lost. About the injustice done by Caste Shiss to those with Purple throats.”

“Yes Sir I remember and I did follow up a little on that, but...”

“I know personal feelings and vendettas have no place on the bridge or should be the reason for command decisions of a Captain. Yet when it comes to Colony raiders I can’t dismiss my history or my emotions. These Red throats raided the Colony not for riches or plunder as pirates do. They do it to drag the Union into a war. There is nothing I hate more than the lofty White Throats, but another war against the Union would mean the end of the Shiss Empire and cost the lives of many on both sides. You see the Red Throats attacked without the consent or the knowledge of the Shiss High Command. They want to overthrow the White Throats and restructure the Caste system with the Reds on top. Since they lack the political and military muscle to do it openly, they try to drag the Union in. Proof to this I could only find by boarding.”

We had reached the Hyperion and tractor beams collected us and dragged us inside. He added as we passed the Energy curtain. “There are regulations yes indeed and I agree it is highly unprofessional for a command Officer to leave the ship, especially during any sort of hostile situation. I am sure once you become a captain you understand that there are times you must act following your convictions and feelings and not what the printed regulations say.”

I nodded not really knowing what to say.

He stomped towards the next Auto Dresser but turned and added. “As I said I know personal feelings and vendettas have no place, but knowing it and following it are different matters.”