STINC #4 — The one about Spaceships and War
This is the fourth in a series of “first chapters” I call, Shit Things I Never Completed. You can find out more about them here.
Lucy Holland was still 5 AU from the nearest starbase and the three ships on her tail were closing fast. With all three engines she’d have made it with ease, but with one engine down and a massive loss in fuel, it was going to be a coin flip whether they caught up with her before she ran out of fuel. And that’s if the ship made it there at all.
After performing some mental gymnastics with her velocity, acceleration and the required deceleration before the starbase, she concluded that there was simply no way to out-run her pursuers without also overrunning the base. Travelling in a vacuum meant space ships could reach tremendous speeds, but unfortunately the laws of physics meant accelerating and slowing down were still problematic for their fragile human cargo. Technology had improved, but our biology hadn’t.
“C5, can you bring up a chart of the local belt system?”, she asked.
The droid behind her bleeped a response and a three-dimension map of their region of space appeared in her HUD.
“Ok, just shy of a 5 AU to Starbase Alpha 2. We’re doing one million clicks per hour. So that’s 27, 28 hours tops. 10G negative burn will get us to zero in about an hour. C5, do we have enough fuel to halve that?”
“Maximum burn on two remaining engines would reduce velocity by 400 metres per second squared and would bring us to a stop in 12 minutes 49 seconds. It is worth noting that your current model compression suit is only rated to 20G sustained for a maximum of 10 minutes. Without gravity stabilizers, the 40G you will experience will almost certainly cause internal organ damage as well as loss of blood and oxygen flow to the brain resulting in permanent brain damage and most likely death”.
“I’m aware of that C5. Tell me, are the ships following us likely to have gravity stabilizers?”
“Two ships are model T39X close range fighters not designed for extended acceleration. The larger of the three is an LR Cruiser and is fitted with gravity stabilizers as standard, capable of upwards of 100G sustained deceleration.”
“Ok, so full stop in 13 minutes means the T39s will overshoot or need to do an early burn at t-minus… 30 minutes?”
“Unless the pursuing pilots have an equal disregard for their own lives”.
“Yes, but let’s focus on the positives, C5. The cruiser can out-brake us, but under full braking, a ship that large is going to have a hard time manoeuvring, surely?”
“That is correct. The cruiser is fitted with eleven rear mounted engines and relies on relative thrust differential to produce torque for turning. It features smaller manoeuvring thrusters for use during docking and landing, but they have limited ejection mass and are not designed for use during combat.”
“So, you’re saying it steers like a boat?”
“Your analogy is correct Captain”
“Ok, so providing we brake late enough, and the fighters don’t do anything stupid, we’re in with a shot”
“Except for your near-certain death from asphyxiation, brain anoxia or internal haemorrhaging.”
“Yes, except for that”
“And the assumption that the pursuers need to be at zero relative velocity at Starbase Alpha 2. They may choose simply to shoot at us on the way past.”
“Yes, except for that too”
“And that the cruiser, whilst not as agile, is heavily armed and could destroy us easily anywhere within one hundred thousand kilometres”
“C5, this isn’t helping”
“On the contrary Lucy, my design is intended to provide all relevant facts in high-risk situations. The chance of us successfully docking at Starbase Alpha 2 is close to zero”
“Eyes on the prize, C5, eyes on the prize.”
Lucy Holland was a decorated Captain in the United Coalition Navy. “Navy” was something of a misnomer given she’d spent her entire active career in space. The Navy, however, was originally founded on Earth and only later merged with forces from Mars and Ganymede, so the name had stuck.
The Coalition itself was borne from the first Sol Wars, a war that raged for decades between Mars and the outlying colonies. Earth, for the most part, had stayed out of the conflict. Earth, with its military might, stood on the sidelines ensuring that the conflict didn’t spread beyond Mars and the Galilean moons. Thanks to the protection of Earth forces, the mining colonies of the belt, the science stations on Luna, and around Venus and Saturn were largely unaffected by the war. Trade routes still flourished, scientific discoveries were still made, and the Human race explored the galaxy unabated, all thanks to Earth and her Navy colleagues.
Towards the end of the war, when Ganymede itself was practically destroyed, and Mars crippled and unable to sustain itself, Earth stepped in and brought the warring parties to the table. Lucy, as part of the Earth fleet, had flown dozens of missions from the base at Luna all the way out to the Belt colonies and even Jupiter itself. She was awarded countless medals and honours for her contributions, although many, whilst celebrated privately, publicly “never happened”. Her efforts, along with thousands of others, helped prevent the spread of the Sol War. Their individual contributions aren’t featured strongly in the history books, but without doubt, those courageous pilots, and their crews were perhaps the only thing that stopped millions of deaths becoming billions. Not only had she earned a fist full of medals, but she had been invited into the room when the Hirayama Treaty itself was signed, by far the proudest moment of her life.
“Any signs of braking?”, she asked C5, when they were 20 minutes out from Alpha 2.
“Negative, all three ships are still under full acceleration burn”, said C5
“Ok let’s run through some checks and get ready to flip this pile of crap”
“Affirmative. Running diagnostics, and prep-… Correction. The two T39Xs have both spun for deceleration. It appears you were right Lucy; they have decided not to attempt to out-brake us”
“And the cruiser?”
“Still in pursuit. My projections indicate that they will likely brake shortly after us, once they are able to assess our approach vector. They will approach to within firing range and will likely destroy us. I estimate within 6 minutes of Starbase Alpha 2.”
“Well, at least the residents will get a nice light show with their supper”
“They will unlikely see the explosion as we will still be approximately 11 thousand kilometres away”
“Well aint that a shame for them… Hey C5, what’s the local law enforcement like at Alpha 2?”
“Most regional Starbases are patrolled by a network of autonomous drone ships as well as a smaller fleet of manned craft. Alpha 2 is reported to have approximately 500 such drones.”
“How fast can they accelerate?”
“The drone ships are capable of accelerating in excess of two thousand metres per second squared. But they will not be able to reach us before the cruiser, nor would they provide much protection for its attacks”
“That’s ok C5, connect us to Alpha 2 security…I have something else in mind.”
With 12 minutes to Starbase Alpha 2, C5 calmly announced, “Commencing flip and burn in 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. Mark.”
Although she was ready for it, Lucy still felt like she’d just been pushed off a cliff. In a fraction of a second, she’d gone from twice her body weight, to weightless and then thrown back into her seat again. It was like being hit by the same truck twice.
“2G. 3G. 4G”, counted off C5, slowly.
“Time to intercept?”
“I expect the cruiser to begin braking in approximately 2 minutes 30 seconds. 5G. 6G”, C5 continued counting.
“Ok. Final checks on the data please C5.”, she grunted.
“Everything is in order, ready for delivery on your order. 7G. 8G. 10G”
“Alpha 2, this is Captain Lucy Holland of the Destroyer UCS Stanton. In approximately two minutes, you’re going to see a small flash on your scopes. That’ll be me exploding.”
“12G. 14G. 17G.”
“I’m being pursued by 3 unregistered ships. Two T39Xs and an LR Cruiser. No active comms. No markings.”
“20G. 24G. 28G”
“Oh, yeah, and I’m delivering a package to you”, she paused, struggling to keep her breath, “Attention Rear Admiral Dawkins”.
And with that Captain Lucy Holland spoke her last words and blacked out. She never heard the response from Starbase Alpha 2 and would never know the outcome of her the most important mission of illustrious career.
Seconds later the pursuing cruiser began it’s flip and burn, slowing, but still closing in on Lucy’s small fighter. Within another three minutes, the LR Cruiser was entering torpedo range.
“LR Cruiser. This is droid designation C5–4902N. We are a Coalition vessel on a critical recovery mission. You are in violation of article 32 dot 1 dot B of the Hirayama Treaty. You must break off your pursuit. Your actions have been recorded and will be reported to the relevant authorities”.
Before C5 could finish, the cruiser closed the remaining distance and immediately fired 16 high yield nuclear torpedoes. There was no warning, no bargaining, no request for surrender. Just the immediate and unconditional expectation of termination.
“Impact in 3 minutes”, C5 reported to Lucy, even though she was unconscious, “Shutting down inessential systems. Redirecting power to shields”.
The 16 torpedoes sped towards their position, the LR Cruiser closing slower, but somehow more ominously. Even if their small fighter’s countermeasures managed to fend off the torpedoes, there was little chance of fending off the cruiser once it approached.
“Impact in 1 minute”, said C5. Moments later, the immense g-forces caused Lucy’s heart to finally give out and she flatlined, “Farewell Captain. It was an honour. Redirecting all life support power to shields”.
The next 60 seconds to a human would’ve seemed a blur chaos and action, but to a machine, it was a slow deliberate dance to stave off the inevitable defeat.
With Lucy gone, C5 was freed of the obligations that come with transporting a living creature and switched into full defensive mode. C5 shut down the engines, flipped the ship 90 degrees downwards and applied full thrust. The ship lurched and creaked as the massive change in force nearly tore the ship apart. If Lucy were not already gone, the force would’ve killed her instantly. The 16 torpedoes adjusted their trajectory accordingly, their pursuit unwavering. C5 fired off several heat decoys, all available radiation chaff and warmed the ships limited, but effective, point defence systems.
The first two torpedoes took the bait and lurched after the decoys and exploded on impact, but the interconnected AI systems of the others were quickly alerted to the scheme and resumed their pursuit. The point defence systems quickly took out a further two, the explosions created a wave of destruction that took out three other torpedoes close behind. The remaining torpedoes, responding to the new threat, slowed ever so slightly and moved apart to evade any further chain reaction.
With 30 seconds to impact, C5 began an automated set of manoeuvres that shook and rattled the ship in every direction. To the naked eye, it looked as if a fly was trapped in a spider’s web and was chaotically trying to escape. The reality was that C5 had calculated the millions of possible outcomes and had plotted the most likely path to avoid destruction. The chances were still close to zero, but it was better than letting the bad guys win.
The point defence systems streamed bullet fire in every direction as the AI-driven torpedoes ducked and weaved. Relative to each it appeared they were weaving a pattern around the small escort craft, but in reality, they were all still hurtling towards Alpha 2 at thousands of kilometres per minute.
C5 managed to take out another 2 torpedoes with the point defence systems and then launched the remaining countermeasures. The opposing AI now knew to ignore the countermeasures and stayed focused on the fleeing craft. One torpedo exploded off the port side of the ship, knocking the ship into a spin. Rather than correct it, C5 used the spin to add additional chaos to the defensive manoeuvres.
In a little over 45 seconds and against all the odds, C5 had managed to take out most of the torpedoes. Before the last defence turret ran dry, C5 had stopped another three. With 14 torpedoes down, C5 calculated the odds of survival had crept ever so slightly above zero. If it were possible for an android to feel hope, C5 would’ve felt a twinge of it just then.
The two remaining torpedoes had done the math and concluded what C5 already knew. The fighter was now without defences. With no defence turrets, no countermeasures and no missiles of its own, C5, the ship and its deceased pilot wouldn’t last the next 15 seconds.
The two torpedoes, with the advantage of AI and FTL communication systems were able to coordinate and launch together towards the ship at the same time. Both torpedoes were behind the fighter; one slightly above and one slightly below. What the AI couldn’t have counted on was that C5 was more than just a missile guidance program. Whilst not sentient, or even close, C5 had observed more than enough human behaviour to pick up some tricks of its own.
As the torpedoes zeroed in, with only a matter of seconds until impact, C5 dropped the contents of the small fighter’s cargo unit. It didn’t hold a lot. There was a toolbox, a spare space suit, some boots and the rucksack Lucy had carted around with her since the academy. But it was enough. As the first torpedo clipped the toolbox it immediately triggered the AI to commence its detonation sequence. Thousandths of a second later, the circuits lit up, the detonator triggered, and the explosive payload ignited. Within one-hundredth of a second, the fissile material inside the lead-encased warhead was forced together, the atoms smashing against each other releasing the power of a small star. Another hundredth of a second and the torpedo had vaporised, the explosion triggering the exact same set of events in the second torpedo no more than 50 metres away.
The two explosions combined would’ve destroyed the fighter had it been even a metre closer or if every single available ampere of energy wasn’t at that exact moment sent to the rear shielding. In that fraction of a second, C5 had calculated the precise distance required to fool the torpedoes, the exact time the explosion would reach the ship, the exact level of shielding required to deflect the blast, the exact amount of power required to do so, and the exact amount of time before the shield generator would burn out from overloaded circuits. In the time it takes a human to blink, C5 had made a billion calculations that mean it, Lucy, and the ship were still intact in the face of 16 nuclear missiles.
Unfortunately, seconds later, the cruiser crept into range and immediately fired its main rail gun. The gun, a giant magnetic accelerator was already fully charged and effortlessly sent a 50kg slug of steel across empty space at a small fraction of the speed of light. Moments later, before C5’s sensors had even detected its presence, the slug sliced through the hull of the fighter, through its reactor core and out the other side. In the next hundredth of a second, C5, Lucy and the small fighter vaporised into dust and atoms.
The LR Cruiser adjusted it’s heading to port, banked away from Starbase Alpha 2, and continued on its journey to places unknown.
So far I’ve written another 10 chapters of this story. I’m hopeful I’ll actually finish it, so I’m not going to tell you what happens in the rest of the story.
