Of Men and Spiders

Justeen glowered from her seat on the bridge. She'd long known the title "captain" was mainly for show. She didn't really have any say in where or how this ship operated. She was just a glorified guard dog, watching over Drake's assets.

When she'd first been appointed captain of the Raven's Roost, a literal warship, she'd envisioned herself leading raids and battling the core patrol, but it turned out that while the ship was loaded out with all the guns an engineer could fit onto every square inch of the hull, the engines and shields were less impressive. Rather than refit the older model to keep up with newer ships in the stars, it had been relegated to guard duty, and she was its most recently appointed keeper in what was likely a long line of keepers.

That had been insulting enough, but when something finally happened, and every other ship from the hub got called away for some big plan, she and the Raven's Roost had been left behind, still on guard duty. Sure, she knew this ship was a great deterrent; that was the whole point, but it was a little too good at its job, and there was never an opportunity for her to prove herself.

Most of the crew seemed to realize she wasn't in the mood for chatter, as the bridge was uncharacteristically quiet. Meanwhile, Captain Justeen sat and drummed her fingers on the arm of her chair.

That was why when one of the com's officers began speaking to someone, it immediately caught Justeen's attention. A moment later, he turned and addressed her. "Ummm, Captain? We've got an incoming who's refusing to respond to hails."

That mildly perked Justeen's interest as it wasn't a common occurrence, but it wasn't unheard of either. She answered anyway. "Probably just a comm issue. Are they a regular?"

The comm officer looked back to his console and then back. "It's not one we have recently on file."

That made Justeen sit a little straighter. "Has there been any response to hails? Even static?"

The com officer shook his head. "No, Captain, nothing."

Justeen thought for only a moment. "Alright, get a firing solution, enough guns to neutralize it in a single salvo if it tries anything stupid; meanwhile, contact the hub and have them send out a shuttle full of guards to do a quick inspection."

After another moment, the master gunner spoke up. "Umm, Captain, they stopped just short of our firing range."

At that distance, it wouldn't matter what firing pattern they used; the ship could skirt the edge of any ordinance they discharged before it could cross the distance. Justeen turned to the helm officer. "Move us a little closer, just within firing range."

The helm officer nodded. "Aye, captain."

A moment later, the master gunner spoke up again, clearly frustrated. "They're moving to match our pace, staying just out of our range."

This sounded like bait. Usually, Justeen would have one of the faster ships go and engage while she moved up to cover them if things went sideways, but she was mostly on her own at the moment. The other available gunships were small fry, meant more for dealing with personal vessels than full-sized combat ships.

After a moment's thought, she came up with a solution. "Pull back; we can keep them at bay indefinitely. Meanwhile, connect me with Drake's ship; let's see if he's got anyone to spare in the neighborhood."

Before she could get a response, her first mate spoke up with a sense of urgency evident in his voice. "Captain, we've got something incoming via jump. It's big!"

This was too much of a coincidence. Justeen barked out her orders. "I want all guns ready to unload on whatever it is the moment you get a solution, but wait for my order! Have all the smaller cargo ships pull back into the hub and dock. I don't want any of them getting caught in the crossfire! Offer a bonus to any ships with enough guns to make a difference to act as backup, but hold them in reserve."

A moment later, an entire battleship emerged from its jump. Justeen didn't bother to wait and see its intentions. "Open fire!"

As the ordinance raced toward the larger ship, Justeen's mind raced. In open space, a shootout between her and the battleship would not end in her favor, but she had options here. "Helm, pull us back to within the hub's shields! I want the gunships and volunteers to move up beside us and focus on detonating the battleship's ordinance before it reaches us! Coms, get ahold of Drake's ship now! Let them know we need reinforcements immediately!"

The first mate wasn't done giving bad news. "Captain, we got more incoming, smaller this time, but there's several of them!"

Justeen dug her nails into the armrests in frustration. The hub's shields should be able to withstand considerable punishment, and with their aid, the Raven's Roost had the advantage against even a battleship in a simple slug match. But these other ships might tip the balance again.

That was when the Com's officer spoke up again. "Reinforcements on their way, ETA twenty minutes."

Twenty minutes? They must have been positioned close, having that kind of ETA. Had Drake been waiting for just such an ambush? Justeen glowered. She disliked playing bait even more than being a simple deterrent, but now wasn't the time to complain. They only had to hold out twenty minutes? That should be easy enough.

Justeen watched as the new arrivals her first mate had spoken of popped into visual range. They were a hodgepodge group of ships. Some had a bit of noteworthy firepower, but none came close to matching the threat of the battleship. Soon, they were flying circles around the hub, firing in a way that was obviously meant to overload the station's shields. It would probably work, but then the Raven's Roost would still have its own shields to fall back on. It was hard to say if they'd be able to hold long enough if the reinforcements took too long.

-

Roberts sat back and let his officers do their thing. They knew their jobs well enough to perform without his interference unless something unexpected happened. By all estimates, they should be able to get through the base's shields with time to spare. Then, his ship could easily outrun the aged warship opposing them, allowing Lucy to do her thing.

But of course, then the unexpected happened. "Um, Captain? We've got more incoming. Looks like a whole battle group. We won't be able to take them all in a fight."

That wasn't good news; there weren't supposed to be any reinforcements closer than an hour away, but their objective wasn't to stand and fight. Just take down some shields and run. "What's the ETA? Will we have their shields down in time?"

The first mate was looking at some readouts from his station. "Maybe... but it'll be close."

Roberts sighed. "Very well. Either way, once the reinforcements show up, we run. We're not sticking around for a sustained fight with a whole fleet."

The first mate nodded. "Aye, Captain."

-

Justeen watched as the minutes ticked by. The stations' shields showed signs of strain as small holes appeared under the sustained fire they were enduring, and it was just a matter of moments before they fell. Of course, the battleship had the advantage of being able to rotate to spread out the damage. With the smaller ships circling the hub, that option wasn't available to them, but they had their own advantage, which should appear any moment.

-

Roberts's first mate was keeping a close eye on the enemy reinforcements. "ETA one minute."

The captain looked over at the master gunner. "How are the hub's shields holding up?"

The master gunner shook his head. "They're just about to crack. It should only take a few more salvoes."

Doing a little math in his head, Roberts didn't like how things were adding up. "Tell the smaller ships to disengage and retreat now. We'll fire off a few more salvos but leave as soon as the first vessel begins to appear. I do not want to get bogged down in an unwinnable fight."

-

Seeing the hub's shields start to buckle, Justeen issued new commands. "Move our ship forward. I want to intercept all incoming fire from that battleship! Rotate our ship after each salvo to spread the damage!"

The helm officer looked like he wanted to argue, but he changed his mind. "Aye, Captain."

After the first full salvo, they began spinning in place, though it was hard to tell unless you were looking out the viewports.

The second salvo hit them squarely before their first shields had recovered, and they kept spinning. The firepower that battleship had was immense!

When the third salvo hit, alarms started blaring, and Justeen started questioning her life decision when her first mate started shouting about incoming friends. The sight of several large ships emerging from their own jumps peppered some of the still-functioning screens. Immediately, as if that had been the sign they were waiting for, the battleship disengaged.

Justeen had her coms officer put through a call to the new arrivals. "Pursue the battleship! I'll follow behind as quickly as possible to offer support in the event of an ambush."

As the recently arrived captain assented, Justeen sat back and grinned. They probably wouldn't catch the battleship in time, but fighting off a fully armed battleship with a small fleet at its side without the hub's shields falling in the process should finally get her some of the attention she deserved. Maybe she could finally get a position more befitting her ambitions!

As an afterthought, she nodded to the coms officer again. "Oh, and send our gratitude to the volunteers who helped. Tell them we'll send news of their aid to Captain Drake for him to review, and they'll each be reimbursed according to their contribution. For now, anyone who helped will have access to room and drinks on the house as an initial token of our gratitude."

The coms officer nodded. "Aye, captain."

-

Lucy acknowledged the update, turned off her coms, and then turned to Charlotte, seated beside her. "They're offering us free room and drinks. Isn't that nice? How about we go say thank you!"

Charlotte nodded in that slightly stiff manner of hers. "How did you know they'd let you fight at their side even if your codes were outdated."

Lucy shrugged. "A little misdirection. Having Bernard fly in and distract them by being silent just when we were putting through our codes, then knowing they'd want all the help they could get with few questions asked once Roberts showed up. It was a bit of a gamble, but less of one than assuming my father didn't have another nasty surprise waiting for us."

This time, Charlotte shook her head. "I still do not understand how you humans survived long enough to achieve spaceflight."