The Contest (Part 2)

Month 9 Day 9

(Shore Leave Day 10)

1349 Hours

Bugalu

Previously:

“We are go,” Bugalu stated.

“We are go,” Captain Burke repeated.

The lighting in the game room became a bit more yellow, and the consoles all came to life.

Bugalu’s main screen lit up with a starfield, a band of faint lights – probably asteroids – running from top left to bottom right. His left earphone told him, “SS Firebrand, you have come to these coordinates in response to an SOS of unknown reason from an unknown source at this approximate location. This area is known for pirate bands and unfriendlies of several species.”

His whole team would have heard that. “Mac, can you find any ships?”

“How many do you want?” she answered at once. “There’s one – er, maybe 2 – ahead at about an AU, 3 at 345/350/-83 at 1.2 AU, another at- oh, here, see for yourself.” Several circles appeared on his main screen to indicate the ships she had located; the number of colored lines in each circle indicated the number of ships in each location, with other notations indicating distance, speed and direction. The group of 3 had been identified as a known pirate band, headed for what they hoped would be easy pickings, like all the rest. Most of the rest. The Captain’s team is out there someplace.

Bugalu rammed the ship forward. “Raise shields. Prepare for battle.”

“Aye,” YD responded as the shields went up.

“Ready,” Beth answered.

“Good work on the display of ships, Mac,” he added. “Can you give me more speed?”

“On it,” she answered, and the speed gauge started inching upwards almost immediately. “Don’t overshoot it.”

“I’m the helmsman, remember?”

“More ships,” she said, and his main screen expanded into a holographic half circle with more circles popping up.

The opposite ends of the holograph would actually be directly behind him, so he was seeing 360 degrees in 180 degrees of space. Some of the new circles, he noticed, were so distant, they barely showed up as a tiny dot. For now, he ignored all but the closest circles, as those would soon be within range.

Bugalu magnified the circle they were headed for until he could make out what looked like2 blips, so close to each other, they might even be touching. “Beth, any life signs ahead on that ship? Or pair of ships?”

“I’m not seeing any, but if they’re shielded, there’s still hope. Or it’s an unknown species.”

“Fleet,” YD stated.

The circle on the screen now identified the double-blip as the Samson, a heavy duty fleet cargo ship.

“Power in sick bay is flickering,” Beth reported.

Something clattered against the deck. Bugalu’s expanded screen grew staticy, the shapes it held uncertain. “Mac, someone’s trying to jam us.”

“On it,” she answered, punching buttons and flipping switches. A few seconds later, she began pulling the front panels off her console, tossing them behind her as she traced wires and fiddled with circuits.

“What in space is going on over there?” came through Bugalu’s right earbud.

“Don’t get distracted, Smythe,” Capt Burke stated. “We have our own problems.”

“Those pirates have beaten us to the Samson,” Bugalu stated. “And a group of four is approaching fast from the west. I’m guessing 1 to 2 minutes to reach range. Any life signs yet, Beth?”

“Not from the Samson, although it still has power and probably automatic defenses. The pirates are mostly human. Ish. A couple Schiss. Possibly a Whooz.”

A Whooz? Prisioner or crew member? Hard to know. Even the pirates probably aren’t sure.

“Range.” YD stated.

“What?” Already?

“You’re welcome,” Mac stated absently, still fiddling with the insides of her console. His screen was clear and sharp again.

“Send a warning shot at the pirates. The next group, too,” Bugalu instructed, and beamed his ship’s ID to Samson. It was unlikely the beam would be read by any ship other than the Samson, but it wouldn’t take any of them long to figure out his ship was not friendly to them.

The pirates didn’t waste any ammunition responding, but piled on more speed. The next closest group sent a shot toward the Firebrand, but it lost power before it hit and wandered off track; they weren’t within their range yet.

“The group that fired at us consists of hotheads,” Beth stated.

Hotheads wasn’t the official name, but the nickname fit. The D’orte were a warrior race, seemingly ready to battle over anything. Their scientists only produced equipment that would aid their warriors in battle. Their home world, reportedly, was barely out of the stone age, but they were known and feared in their section of the galaxy.

Bugalu dumped some of his speed and his chair rolled forward, slamming him into his console. “Ow!” he heard from his own team.

“Mac, check the inertia dampers.”

“No kidding.”

“I won’t have time to warn you of my maneuvers.”

“I’m on it,” she returned.

The pirates had started to brake, but would over-shoot the Samson by a good bit. The hot-heads were getting closer. “Dog, you are free to fire at any unfriendly you can hit. I’m going into an irregular orbit around the Samson.” He started braking, and his chair didn’t roll, but his head was still pushed forward.

“More damp on the inertia,” Mac muttered to herself.

Bugalu could see shots from the Samson, as well as some from the Firebrand. They were soon joined by shots from the pirates and the hotheads, and a few smashed into the Firebrand’s shields. Bugalu caught the Samson in a tractor beam as he slipped past it, which produced a huge jolt in his ship as it attempted to drag a misshapened mass that was more than double his own. “More power to the tractor beam!”

Sparks flew from the engineering area as Mac pulled out 3 circuit boards and quickly rearranged them. “Got it.” She turned to do something else.

The Samson stopped lagging behind and seemed to come willingly. Bugalu added speed and put the Firebrand into a corkscrew orbit around the cargo ship, changing the size of the corkscrew at irregular intervals. Now he could take an occasional moment to aim and fire a gun himself, though he wasn’t sure he actually hit anything.