Chronicles of Sol: The Fall

Pirate Havens: Many an Interstellar nation has to deal with piracy. Especially those with prosperous trade routes, and given the length of these routes, it is almost impossible for a force to patrol these routes adequately. As such Pirate Havens often spring up near or along trade routes. These havens are outposts from which Pirates would raid lightly defended colonial targets or more commonly hit commercial ships. Anything they steal, they take back here. At least until they go sell it somewhere else for a profit. Given the clandestine and illegal nature of piracy, Pirate Havens are often located in areas where a base could easily be hidden. Debris Fields, Asteroid Belts, and Nebulas are all prime locations for a hidden base.

Countryman stepped into the lift. He was on the lower decks and had been for the best couple of hours. Nothing unusual for him, since he enjoyed spending time where he can making rounds of the ship. He often spent that time talking or even just listening to people. Actually, it was often listening more than talking, but it was important. Very important. As a leader, he needed to know his people if he was to lead them. He knew from history, that leaders who disconnected themselves from their people often ended up with skewed views of reality. That often led to mistakes, and even problems being ignored. He had no plans to let that happen, not to mention he was also constantly dealing with Williams and those who agreed with her. That was why two armored guards stepped into the lift with him. One going in first, and the other behind him. They were unfortunately needed because of Williams. Sure he was cybernetically enhanced, able to hit harder, and faster than the average human, and armed with a very powerful concealed weapon. That didn’t mean he was invulnerable. A particle beam to the chest was just as lethal to him, as it was to any other human, and he wasn’t going to put an assassination attempt past that woman. As such he always kept these two nearby when visiting unsecured sections of the ship. It was also why he never went anywhere without his uniform on. It was a form of light armor afterall.

Putting that aside, he had learned of a few problems that he could take care of easily enough. That was why he did this, by talking to people he was able to learn what they needed taken care of, and get it done. It also helped improve morale, since those under him appreciated an active leader who actually cared about their welfare. Something he did indeed care about. As that directly related to his most important concern, humanity’s continued survival. He had the short term covered, but in the long term they would need more ships. Producing those additional ships would require time, and materials they didn’t yet have. The key words being yet. Now that the Cathamari were dealt with that would soon change. Delta Four their current destination presented a few opportunities, but it wasn’t a place to spend too much time in. It was too close to Cathamari space. Certainly not a place to be building a fleet.

For that, he had a few ideas. There were a few star sectors, that according to the charts were largely unexplored, and unclaimed by major powers. The nearest was not far from the Valorian border, and the quickest route would require passage through Valorian space. A race he had plans to make first contact with, at first opportunity. Based on reputation, they were rather peaceful traders, and that hopefully meant it might be possible to trade with them. If so their territory would become a source of friendly ports. Something quite valuable. As friendly ports had their uses, but for building those extra ships a friendly port was not required. In fact it was preferred to do that in an isolated and uninhabited system. Hopefully one with an asteriod belt rich in key minerals such as titanium. The element was used heavily in the creation of Titan alloy, and since that was the primary material used in the construction of human vessels having a ready source nearby would aid in building new ships.

As for what kinds of ships to build he already had a few ideas. Large capital ships would be useful for certain roles, but at the moment all of those roles could be fulfilled by the Enterprise. However putting all your eggs in one basket wasn’t a good idea, so a sister ship to the Enterprise would be a good idea. The majority of the ships he wanted however would be destroyer-sized. Given that they likely would not be able to maintain a large fleet, he would need ships able to fulfill multiple roles. A destroyer could do that easily enough without being too large to be easily maintained. The main roles he would want them to serve in was escort and scouting duties. The Coto and Umikaze while good ships weren’t exactly what he was looking for in that capacity. They were built mainly as attack ships, not escorts. Not to mention they didn’t have much hanger space, and most scout ships had a small hanger for fighters. Fighters made excellent scout craft, and their small size made them harder to spot when compared to say a frigate or destroyer. As such in the Colonial Wars, and the Cathamari war, recon vessels would carry scout fighters. They were useful in certain situations, and could even help protect the scout if she was discovered. With FTL, they became even more useful. As the mothership could warp in, deploy scouts then depart the system. Then return to collect them at a preset rendezvous at a later date.

Speaking of fighters, he was quite happy that the time spent on refitting that captured cruiser had also given them the time to fill up the empty fighter racks in the hangers. The Enterprise now had her full complement of fighters. They had decided to stick solely with the versatile X-1204, rather than build some of the other fighters she would have received if not for her early launch. The result of this production run was a complement of sixty X-1204 space superiority starfighters. Perhaps not the most balanced complement, but the fighters were modular, and multi-role. They could fulfill most tasks required of small ships. Although the ships did lack the firepower to be effective against most capital ships. That was a minor problem in the scheme of things. Especially given the main roles he envisioned those vessels fulfilling. Besides if they really needed something to fulfill a bomber role, the X-1205 could easily be outfitted for that. Just in case, he had the parts for it stockpiled since they had the chance. The Assualt shuttles were afterall designed as a modular multi-role platform. They could be a transport, a gunship, or a light bomber depending on loadout. Not to mention he had three hundred and forty of those versatile shuttles. With the rest of his hanger space filled up with other shuttle craft types, and dropships.

Of those other ship types, he had light personnel shuttles. They were smaller shuttles designed for a pilot, co-pilot, and six passengers. They were lightly armored, and armed only with a single pair of light particle cannons. Shuttles of this time were intended to ferry crew between nearby ships, and were not intended to face combat. The ships were only armed due to a policy that required all military ships to carry at least one weapon. Enterprise carried about twenty of these, along with ten of a more heavily armored variant that was intended for officer use. Both types were quite small, and quite fast as well. Although he likely had more of those than he needed.

He also had a number of heavy cargo shuttles, although he had a few of those outfitted with mining equipment. Those would be critical to his plans to build a fleet, and he had fifty of those. They were well armored, reasonably maneuverable, and armed with three medium particle turrets for self-defense. Since they were designed for moving heavy cargo from planetary ports to capital ship, and vice versa they were reasonably large. Large enough to fit a Scorpion in its hold. Which made them the largest and heaviest auxiliary in his inventory.

The Dropships on the other hand, sat between the cargo shuttles, and the 1205 in terms of size. They were designed to carry missiles and had four quad particle turrets for protection. They were designed for delivering a large number of troops to the surface quickly and efficiently. Their hold was large enough to carry half a dozen tanks, and a platoon of armored infantry. He had about twenty of those. They were not all that important to his plans, but their size made them useful for more than just delivering troops. He figured he could use a few of them to aid with mining operations. Something they would be doing a bit of in the system they were coming up on.

All in all, he had five hundred auxiliary vessels. A good force for a ship that was not a dedicated carrier. A force he had plans for when he entered Delta Four. The system according to long-range scans had deposits of Erudite, a potentially valuable mineral. He was going to need to send out mining teams to collect the mineral, along with anything else they could stockpile. Of course while the charts listed the system as uninhabited he was not going to trust that. The system was ideal for a pirate haven, and not far from Valorian space. He wasn’t sure about trade routes, but he suspected there may be a few in the region. As such there may be some activity of a clandestine nature in the system already, and if so he was going to need to know about it.

For that reason, he intended to send the 1204s out on recon after they entered the system. They were to scout the debris fields near their entry point for signs of alien activity. He had sixty fighters which would normally be divided into four or six ship squadrons depending on the mission. For this he would split them into two ship formations, a lead, and wingman. Doing so would allow the fighters to be split into more groups, and allow them to cover more ground. The faster they scouted the area, the better. He could have sent along a few light shuttles, as they were fast enough to serve as scouts, but he felt it better not to risk those lightly armored, and barely armed shuttles.

Once the area was secure, and they had found deposits, he would set up in a defensible location. The fighters would be retasked with patrols, and the Coto and Umikaze would be tasked with eliminating any remaining threats. He would also start sending out mining teams. Each team would be granted two cargo shuttles outfitted with mining equipment, a dropship, and a 1205 in gunship configuration. The cargo bay on the dropship would be useful for storing extra ore, while both the dropship and the 1205 were well armed. They could protect the more vulnerable cargo shuttles from hostiles. He also planned for them to remain relatively close to the patrols, allowing for rapid response from the fighter patrols. Just in case however he wanted two squadrons held in reserve on the Enterprise, and he was only planning to send out ten mining teams. Not their full complement. It would be easier to protect them if only ten were out at a time, but it also allowed them to stagger the mining schedule. He could split them into two shifts that way. Two rotating shifts, but the plan was also open to be changed depending on how things worked out.

He would not have too long to wait before he knew how things would proceed either. Seeing as they were only a few minutes out from the Delta Four star system. The lift finally reached deck one, and he allowed his processors to ramp down, returning his perception of time to normal. Stepping out into the short, dimly lit corridor that led both to his office, and his bridge. Specifically the upper command level, rather than the lower level for the rest of the bridge crew. The entrance to that was on deck two. He made his way to the armored door to the bridge, which was being guarded by another pair of guards. They nodded to him, and admitted him on to the bridge. The other pair stayed with the lift, and headed down after he entered the bridge their job done.

Minutes later the Enterprise, the Coto, and the Umikaze dropped out of warp on the edge of the Delta Four system. It was an unusual trinary star system that was marked with gravitic anomalies. Those anomalies resulted in unusually dense debris fields, and vast asteroid fields. The system lacked large planets, but as confirmed on long-range sensors it did have a few small planets and a handful of dwarf planets. The entire system was engulfed in a dense dust cloud, which severely reduced visibility, hampered sensors, and disrupted shield generator systems. In many respects, it sounded like a great place to bunker down for a while. They didn’t use shields, and the detection issues could be solved by making use of fighter patrols. Something he already planned to do. The biggest factor of interest was that the system prevented faster than light drives from functioning properly. As such ships traveling the system would be restricted to sublight speeds. All of this combined to make the system a very attractive place to be. It was like the system was tailored to give him an unparalleled advantage against any attacker.

As the crew reported the ship secure from warp speed, he took a glance at the screens on his personal monitor. It was attached to the arms of his chair, and gave him access to a wide array of useful data. He noted the positions of both the Coto, and the Umikaze. There had been some positional drift, and they were out of position. Thankfully not too far out, only a couple hundred kilometers. Practically spitting distance in the void. He also noted something else. Something his operations officer noted as well.

“Contacts!” shouted Misaki at the ops console. He had seen them as well. Twenty-nine ships on outbound vectors. They were in loose scattered formations if you could call those groupings a formation. If anything they seemed to be in their own little groups. Four ships here, two ships over there, and three ships in that group over there, and so on. Perhaps there were more, but not in sensor range of the Enterprise. Something she quickly elaborated on. Then she mentioned that some of them had changed course, and were now on intercept vectors.

“Sound General Quarters, and scan those ships. I want to know what we are dealing with,” ordered Countryman. Idly he noted the blue alert status lights switch to yellow. General Quarters was the second highest stage of alert a warship could be ordered into. At this very moment, crewmen were reporting to their battle stations, the armored viewport hatches were closing, emergency bulkheads were dropping into place, and all weapons were warming to standby modes. The gun ports would remain closed, and the turrets stowed, but they would be ready for use at a moment's notice. In effect, they were battening down the hatches and getting ready for a possible battle. The only stage of alert that was higher, was Battlestations. Often also referred to as Red Alert.

“They are all fairly small ships, the largest one is about three hundred meters long. They are armed with a mix of laser, ion, and particle weapons. Nothing big enough to punch through our armor, and I’m not reading any active shields either. None of them look to be a threat,” said Misaki. She paused then said, “Markings on the hulls seem to indicate pirate vessels.” She blinked, “The nearest one just sent us a message.”

He signaled to her to let them hear it. Thankfully it was a multilingual burst, and they sent it with a few they knew, “Pretty brave of you to come here, stranger. Heave to and prepare to be boarded.”

He sighed, it seemed that these pirates weren’t that smart, or emboldened by their numbers. If he had to guess it was likely the second. He doubted they really knew how much the Enterprise alone outmatched them. Especially given that their hull was naturally shielded against sensors, and with the dust cloud disrupting sensors complicating things? They likely couldn’t tell what his ships had. Countryman leaned forward, “Battlestations!”

The alert lines, then turned a bright blood red, and sirens sounded for a moment. “Target the lead pirate, and fire a beam across her bow. Then open a channel.”

A brief beam lanced out from the lateral beam array and grazed the hull of the lead pirate ship. The intense particle stream melted a line in her armor from stem to stern. The damage was fairly minimal since this was simply an aggressive warning shot, and nothing more. The moment the channel was open, he spoke “Actually I think it is pretty brave of you to challenge a clearly superior foe. Stand down or be destroyed.”

They did not stand down.