//------------------------------// // Chapter One // Story: Horse Play // by Alden MacManx //------------------------------// 30 March 2284, 1800 hours CRST ISAEC Hurin Tascheter (EC 28) Equuleus sector, range from Camelot 1,750 light years. Captain Sir Jamie Brennan Somers, Commanding Officer of the Hurin Tascheter, was handing off the duty watch to his Weapons Officer, LCDR Carolia Hartens, a human from the South Continent of Brigadoon. “You have the deck and the conn, Weps,” he said, formalizing the watch relief. “I have the conn, aye, Captain. Have a good night,” she said in reply as she took the command console, the displays changing to the Brigadoon syllabary from Standard Terrestrial English, as well as the chair changing to Carolia’s ergonomics. “I hope to, Weps. More reports from Headquarters to wade through about the Ratzis. Maybe something useful will be in the pile,” Jamie said with a faint smile. Many years of experience in Star Fleet and other forces led him to believe there would be nothing new, just like the past six weeks of patrol out here in the boonies of the ISA, watching for Ratzi activity. The Ratzis are a species of intelligent warlike rats that Captain Somers himself had stumbled across six years before, when they attacked a remote colony in the Ursa Minor sector shortly before a scheduled port visit by the Hurin. The Ratzis reproduce by cloning, only the highest ranks being direct copies of the founder of the species several centuries ago. Lower ranks are ‘dumbed down’ to varying degrees, depending on their determined position in the hierarchy. Their initial attack, after first contact, laid waste to much of the planet Brigadoon, destroying Ramirez Station in orbit and killing many on the ground. It took a determined push by the ISA to drive the Ratzis off Brigadoon, and for the past five years, the search was on for more Ratzi colonies, the object being obliteration. Ratzis do not negotiate, they take. In this war, no quarter is given nor taken. Jamie went not to his stateroom right away, but to the Wardroom, for dinner. Many of the off-duty ship’s officers were there, the cooks that day having prepared a rather good beef roast for the more humanlike species, as well as equivalents for other species. Present at the Captain’s table were the Chief Engineer, Commander Beauregard Alton (Beau) Davis, a Saganized human from Dogpatch; Commander Minagawa Seiryuu, the Executive Officer, a Saganized human from Earth; Lieutenant Commander L’Dan M’Ranx, the Assistant Chief Engineer, a Saganized Baastari (humanoid house cat) from Baastar; and Commander Sardon, the Science Officer, a Sasquatch from Tau Ceti II. After pleasantries, the five got to digging in to the beef, except for Sardon, who is a vegetarian, like all the Sasquatch are. Yeti are carnivores, Sasquatch are not. “A question for you, Captain,” Commander Seiryuu asked. He was young for his rank, but in Jamie’s almost seventy years of service, he was known for spotting and training potential Commanding Officers. Those that pass Jamie’s tutelage generally move on to flag rank. Jamie himself could (and has) taken flag rank, but he prefers to be an Exploration Cruiser captain rather than a desk-bound admiral. “Go ahead, Luke,” Jamie said, using the Commander’s true name, not the one he took when his Sagan powers erupted, enabling the red-headed man’s transformation into a blue dragon. “What I want to know is, if we do find any Ratzis out here, should we report in or attack first before reporting? It’s going to take several days for any backup to arrive this far out,” Luke asked. “All depends on what we find, Luke. If it’s small, we wipe them out and move on. If it’s not small, hide, sneak, and call for reinforcements. The battlestarship Gilgamesh can make it here in three days at ahead flank if I give the word,” Jamie told his exec. Jamie knew of the battlestarship’s capabilities, having commanded that ship during the early parts of the war. Luke smiled shyly as he said, “Times like this makes me wish I was still Science Officer aboard the Sinbad,” referring to his previous assignment aboard a smaller scout ship, to the amusement of the other officers at the table, who have been attached to the Hurin for some time already. Luke himself has only been aboard the Hurin now for ten weeks, reporting aboard when the ship entered a refit phase prior to the current deployment. The previous Executive Officer, Commander Wilma Flaherty, had detached to take command of the destroyer Polaris. “Don’t let it get to you, kid,” growled Lieutenant Commander M’Ranx. “If we felt you didn’t have what it takes, you wouldn’t be sitting where you are now.” M’Ranx was Chief of the Boat when the Hurin first met up with the Ratzis, and even commanded the ship for a while when Captain Somers was assigned to the Gilgamesh in the early phases of the war. “Y’all got that raht, Master Chief,” Commander Davis chipped in with in his characteristic Dogpatch drawl. Only the old timers aboard the ship referred to L’Dan as ‘Master Chief’, except the Chief Flight Officer, Lieutenant Annelise Khaball. She called L’Dan, in the privacy of restricted company, ‘Father’. Everyone else called Lieutenant Commander M’Ranx ‘the old bastard’, but not to his gray furry face. Not more than once, that is. “Everyone set for casualty drills tomorrow?” Jamie asked. Beau leaned back in his chair. “Oh, hell yeah, Cap,” he drawled. “The Master Chief and ah done come up with some truly fiendish drills. We all may have a buncha rookies aboahd now, but by the tahm we get back home, they won’t be rookies no moah.” L’Dan smiled after swallowing a piece of beef. “Oh, yeah. When we get complaints later about how unreal they seem to be, I can just point to the records of the actual events. The universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it’s stranger than we CAN imagine.” Sardon, who had said little during dinner, chose to speak up. “Thus, proving just how evil you two can be, when it comes to being teachers,” he said in his deep rich voice. No matter what inducements he has been offered, Sardon would not sing in front of ship’s company. L’Dan has been trying now for many years. “Evil? Me? Ah’m not evil, Space is. Ah just know how to out-trick it,” Beau said in reply, to L’Dan’s nod as the Baastari sipped some wine. “As does the Master Chief.” 31 March 2284, 0400 hours CRST “Bridge to Captain Somers” Jamie’s eyes snapped open as he lay in his bed. “Captain here. Go ahead, Bridge.” “Captain, this is Lieutenant Khaball. Picking up a Ratzi ship on long-range sensors, vector zero-nine-seven plus twenty-three, velocity one point six. Thirty-second course projection has it heading to a K-class star, catalogued as Equuleus seven-three-seven-zero-nine. Range to ship is five light-years. Pursue or shadow, Captain?” the duty officer asked. “Shadow it, Lieutenant. Close to three light-years distance, activate stealth measures. I want to see where they are heading out here, and what they have there,” Jamie ordered. “Close to three light-years and shadow. Activate stealth measures, Bridge aye.” Jamie decided it was a good time to get up, shower and dress as he felt the faint vibration of additional ZPE generators coming on line, to handle the increased speed and stealth screening requirements. After completing his morning chores, he headed not to the wardroom, but the upper decks snack bar before going to the bridge. He fixed himself a warm buttered croissant and ate it on his way to the Bridge, taking a mug of coffee as well. He waved the crew at ease as he entered the Bridge, proceeding to his office, where he called up the ship’s computer avatar, Hurin. Hurin is based off a character from Kitsu history, a famous explorer in their pre-technological days. “Hurin, what is in the database about this Ratzi ship’s destination?” Jamie asked. “Not much, Captain. It has never been surveyed by any probe from any of the ISA’s members, just several telescopic surveys. It is of spectral class K, and has eleven planets, six of which are of a gas giant nature. It can be guessed that there is at least one planet in the life zone, but no hard proof,” the red foxlike holo-avatar said as it ‘paced’ in front of Jamie’s desk, its leather coat flapping some in a non-existent wind. “How about surrounding stars? What’s known about them?” Jamie asked. “Equuleus seven-three-seven-zero-nine is at the edge of a loose cluster of stars. The only thing of note about the cluster is that it does harbor a star magic node closer to the core, but that’s it. It’s too distant from the ISA core for more than a notation. I’m sure it is in someone’s Someday File for exploration,” Hurin said. “But nothing now. Well, we are an exploration cruiser, so we may as well explore it,” Jamie sighed, thinking of options. He had one, but he was reluctant to use it. Hurin sat down in a holographic chair across from Jamie. “I know that look on your face, Jamie. You’re thinking about using the lurt to do a quick scan, even at range. Veronica’s a good lady, for a Mephit.” ‘Lurt’ being the short form for Long Range Telepath, or LRT. “Not to mention being an utter fangirl over me, even after being aboard for a year now.” Thirty years before, Jamie, then commanding the exploration cruiser Haastoren, discovered the Mephit home world and gained them membership in the ISA. Many Mephit who have left their home world regard Jamie with particular respect. Some, like Veronica, carry it to extremes. “Don’t ask her directly, then. Relay the request through Sardon or George Jurgens. That will contain her enthusiasm,” Hurin advised. George Jurgens is the communications officer, an older Ulrongh who’s been aboard the Hurin for some years now. “Sounds like a plan to me. How long until we get within scan range of seven-three-seven-zero-nine?” Jamie asked. “At current speeds, about seven hours. That will still give the Ratzis a two-hour time advantage over us, if we wish to remain undetected.” Jamie chewed on that datum as he sipped some more coffee. “Being undetected is the better plan of attack. Knowing the Ratzis, once they spot us, they will swarm our way. We may have a speed advantage, but odds to bodkins they have a numbers advantage.” “Unless it’s a new colony. Neither us nor the Ratzis have ever been out this way, according to my database. Unless this place is something that only the upper echelons of Ratzi society know about, and we have not interrogated anyone from the upper five tiers yet. They suicide before interrogation,” Hurin reminded Jamie. “Plus, we’ve never been able to CyberTap their complete database. If we could get a read on this, we’ll get one big boost.” “That’s true, Hurin, but we won’t be able to get close enough to get a good read before they spot us. Looks like it’s hurry up and wait time,” Jamie sighed, sitting back in his chair. “Send a data package back to Camelot and ensure the Meesers are brought up to speed as well.” The Meesers are a member species of the ISA, being developed from a lab rat accident a bit more than a century ago. Little intelligent white mice that have phenomenal genetic memory capability and a penchant for speaking a rather antiquated form of Standard Terrestrial English. What one learns get passed on to his or her descendants. Several hours later, the Ratzi ship dropped out of stardrive in the target system, fading from the Hurin’s sensors until they got a lot closer. Scans showed no other stardrive traffic within five light-years, so the Hurin slowly moved in to the fringes of the system, attempting to learn what was going on there. Jamie ordered two probes launched, both of which were heavily stealthed and equipped with magic-powered sensors, magic being the one force Ratzis could not screen against, or even comprehend, from all the gathered data on them. Unfortunately for the ISA, good mages with potent offensive and defensive capabilities are extremely scarce. Information gatherers are more common, and the Hurin had three aboard who work in the Sciences department. Within a few hours, data started coming in. Sardon met with Jamie in his office. “Captain, first reports are in. The Ratzi base is a very small one, essentially the same as an outpost we would leave on a T-type world for research purposes. There is a grounded cutter-type ship there, and the ship we tracked appears to be a supply tender. The planet itself can be considered a T-type, but only just. “What is quite interesting is that we are detecting traces of magic using life forms inside the station, of a type not in the database. Definitely not native to the planet, either,” Sardon reported. “Send in the Marines?” Jamie thought out loud. Sardon called up some overhead pictures of the site. “If we act fast enough. These unknown life forms will be a complication.” “I’m sure it’s nothing Major Ryudan can’t handle. Let’s get him up here, shall we?” Jamie said before keying the intercom. “Major Ryudan, report to the Captain’s office.”