CHAPTER FOUR

“Commander, we just picked up something on our long-range scanners. It appears that it is a possible distress signal.”

 “From one of our war ships?”

 “No Sir, it is coming from the area where we left the research ship Tonga.”

 “That is impossible! There equipment wasn’t that strong to begin with, and by now all their systems would have begun to break down.”

 “Sir, normally I would agree if this was a simple automatic distress code, but this is a priority one signal, which could not have been sent by deteriorated equipment.”

 “Look into it but keep a clear channel for any messages from the fleet.”

 The Commander turned to the officer at the research station on the ship.

 “Get me everything you can find on those ships we left behind years ago, starting with the Tonga.”

 “Yes Sir!”

 The Commander went over to the communication officer’s station.

 “I Need the age of that signal and a time/space location of where it originated. I Doubt any of that will make a change in our standing orders, but it must be reported.” The Commander ordered, then returned to his chair.

 Once the information is gathered and sent into H.Q., the response was quick and berating.

 “You are an idiot! To even trying to receive such a ridiculous message could very well put not only your ship, but all ships, in danger! Commander, you have been on thin ice for a while now due to your poor decisions, If we were not still in the heat of battle, this would have been your last. I Suggest you tune you communications to the matter at hand, and block any and all other messages. When this conflict is over, you are to report to the Director of ship operations office for your full reprimand!”

 H.Q. ended the transmission abruptly.

 “Well, that went about as expected. I never signed up for war duty, you were the ones that pressed me into this duty, if I recall correctly," the Commander mumbled.

 “Your orders sir?”

 “They have not changed; H.Q. has been intending to fry my behind for years now. I am a Research Commander, and this is a research ship, so strapping a couple of missile launchers, and fusion cannons, on her does not change our purpose.”

 He paused a moment,

 “Especially, when we have an opportunity to right a wrong committed long ago. If anyone has a problem with that, they can, file a report to H.Q. In the mean time I need everyone to stay sharp.”

 The commander had requested additional detailed information from the communication officer.

 “Sir, I have the information you requested, I am transferring it to your station.” The Communication officer stated.

 The Commander ordered Lars, the research officer, over to his screen. The two of them went over the detailed file on the ships that got left behind all those many years ago.

“According to the official report, only three ships were left behind near earth. The Freytag acknowledged the return signal too late and burned up in the outer atmosphere trying to catch up with it’s mother ship. The Exon, managed to acknowledge the return signal as well, but their ship had been disabled and would have required a tow ship to get them back. As you are aware our recall did not allow for that. They tried to establish a holding station in the lower atmospher, but all scans several years later showed it calapsed and no life signs were detected." The research officer pointed out.

 “So, that just leaves The Tonga.”

 “Yes Sir. The Tonga was the largest and newest of the three ships. It also had the most experienced crew. It also was equipped with the, then new, emergency plan x program. The report shows that for some unknown reason, the crew never acknowledged the return order. There did not appear to be any equipment failures at the time.”

 “What do we know about the crew?” The Commander asked.

 “The engineer/pilot was a Private Pennington. A very skilled pilot, known for his attempts to push his equipment, but also resourceful and had a knack for improvisation. The weapons/communications officer, a Sargent Smith, also highly skilled. Known to be brash and cheeky, but was another one that could seem to get more of his equipment than what it is designed to do. The Captain was Captain L. Majors. A well experienced, decorated Captain. Could have had many higher assignments, but reportedly liked the freedom of simply running a research ship,” Lars reported.

 The Commander laughed.

 “That was the ‘Official Report. Let me tell you a little about those that served on those ships. Most were chosen because of their not conforming to discipline. If it weren’t for their far superior talents, they would have either been in the brig, or simply discharged.”

 The Commander paused and looked around the room.

 “Lars, I served with all those members of the Tonga at one time or another. They are just as your report described them, and some. I am convinced that if anyone could survive and repair their ship enough to give them a chance to get home, it would be those three. I also believe that this will be my final assignment of any kind, so, I would rather go out as an officer trying to save lives, rather than take them.”

 The Commander stood up and adjusted a few things at another station, then went back to his chair,

 “So, It appears that the signals we received were more than likely from the Tonga.

 “Sir, I am losing the distress signal”

 The Captain and Lars rushed over to the communication officers station.

 “Is it weakening on their end?”

 “No Sir, our equipment does not indicate that, it shows an interference from another source.”

 “Try to isolate that source!” The Commander ordered.

 “It is being highly masked, but it appears to be coming from the general direction of Alpha Station.”

 The commander thought for a moment, Suddenly anger covered his face,

 “The Admiral is trying to block their signal!” The Commander shouted.

 “Pilot, bring us about to mark 6.117x56.99x12.07”

 “Andrea, put defenses on full, and try to negate that static pulse.” The Commander ordered as he rushed back to his command chair.

 He opened up a channel to the whole ship.

 “This is Commander Ratmire. I am about to disregard a direct order. This will more than likely bring us under friendly fire. All that wish to remain loyal to H,Q, you have five minutes to reach and launch the escape pods.”

 The Commander looked at his bridge officers.

 That goes for you as well, many of you have very bright futures, that you will be throwing away if you stay with me.”

 Silence filled the bridge for quite a while. Eventually Andrea spoke up.

 “Sir, we swore allegiance to follow you to death in war, to follow you into prison for trying to save some of our own, would equally be an honor.

 ‘Thank you all, but I must tell you that even if we are successful, I doubt that Prison will be an option.”

 After the five minutes had elapsed only four of the ten escape pods available were launched.

“Pilot, once the pods are clear, set a course for the location of that distress call.”

 “Attention all stations, we are about to break our patrol pattern and jump to full speed. Ready all stations, for we will surely draw fire from our enemies as well as our own ships. Our goal is simply to defend ourselves. I doubt we will be pursued, but we must be prepared in case that does happen.”

 “Pilot, is the course laid in?”

 “Yes Sir.”

 “Escape pods clear?”

 “Yes Sir.”

 “Very well, lets move!” The Commander ordered.

 The large Carrier ship banked thirty degrees, then instantly went Macro-velocity. There move caught their enemies by surprise on two counts, First, they had no idea an enemy ship of that size and capability was so close to its boarders. Second, it had no idea why its own ships were firing at it as well as it was leaving enemy territory.

 “Sir our defenses are holding, but we cannot keep taking this much of a beating for much longer.” The weapons officer Andria shouted.

 “Options?”

 “A Rancor pulse?” She suggested as a possibility.

 “No good. It has to broad of a spread. It could end up disabling or distroying some of our own ships.” The Commander responded.

 “But Sir it is our own ships that are inflecting the most damage on us!” Andria argued,

 “NO! give me another option!”

 “I have no other suggestions,” Andria said as the ship rocked violently.

 “A Cuttoffe beam,” Lair called out.

 “A what?” The Commander asked.

 “A Cuttoffe beam, It was used in the test facilities when these ships were being designed. It was a safety precaution. It basically shuts down the power source for their weapons for two minutes, both our ships and those of our enemies are of the same design, we just hit all of them at once,” Lars stated.

 Another round pounded their ship.

 “Do it while we still are in one piece!” The Commander ordered.

 “Pilot as soon as the bombardment stops, divert all power to the engines and drive this ship like there is no tomorrow,”

 “Yes Sir!”

 For the next ten minutes, the biggest threat to their ship was that their engines might explode.

 “Commander!” The pilot called out in a panic tone.

 “I see the read outs, cut the engines. Engineers, I need those crystals cooled down as soon as possible,”

 “Lars what is our statis?” The Commander asked.

 “It appears that the Cuttoffe beam did it’s job. At least as of now we are not being pursued. Lairs responded.

 “Commander?”

 “Go ahead Chief.”

 “The main crystals took quite a beating. I can my team on it right away, but the longer that we can run at about thirty five percent, or less, the sooner we can get them back to full power.”

 “We will do our best chief. Right now, it appears that we are not being pursued. However, I know the Admiral back at H.Q. will not sit back and do nothing for long, so, the sooner you have them restored, the better.”

 “Yes Sir, we will work around the clock.” Chief replied.

 “Communications, what are you getting on the Tongs distress signal now?

 “It is still pretty weak. However, from what I can tell it is not an old signal. Never the less, there are many parts of it that are hard to make out. It is almost if they are working with inferior equipment. The signal is a…variation of a sub-magnetic razon pulse,” the communication officer stated.

 “Hum, I see,” the Commander responded.

 The communication officer smiled. She figured the Commander really had no idea what she had just said.

 “I will keep you informed Sir,” she added.

 “Good,”

 The Commander then turned in his chair.

 “Lars, we need more information on the capabilities of the Tonga, I know the basic design, but it appears that her crew has gotten creative and has managed to modify/supplement some of her equipment. If we are going to be able to rescue them, we have to know what they have done.”

 “Sir, wouldn’t the easiest way to do that is to ask them?”

 “Yes, but not knowing their circumstances, it may not be possible to do that directly. See what you can find out about that model of project x that their ship was fitted with and see if that gives you any clues.”

 “Yes Sir.”

 Lars doubted that would be any help, but he need to start somewhere. He worked for many hours and finally worked out a number of theories,

 “Commander, based on my research and basically a few educated guesses. I had to make several assumptions.”

 “Lars, I trust your abilities, and yes I know you had very little to go on. Let me assemble the rest of the officers and discuss what you have come up with.”

 “I am sorry Sir, that may have to wait, our sensor have detected three warrior ships approaching from deep space at high speed.” Andria told him.

 “Can you identify them?”

 “No Sir, they are still too far away.”

 “Approximate time until they are in range?”

 “Two to three hours, Sir”

 “Everything remaining as they are, how long before they could engage us?”

 “Best guess, ten, maybe twelve hours tops,” Andria replied.

 The Commander now addressed his bridge crew,

 “Crew members, it appears it has come time for us to do a little creative strategizing. I want each of you to take your own approach as how you would deal with this upcoming situation. Detail out what you think needs to happen. We will meet back in less than two hours to discuss your plans. We may only have one shot at this, so don’t hold back,”

 The officers were taken by surprise at this request, at the same time, they knew the talents of their fellow bridge members, and knew it would take something very special for them to survive.