Troika - A victory for the Tavor

2095.07.01 Personal Log:
The night was young and cold, as it always is. Budget constraints limited darkening glass only to the command deck. Everywhere else on the ship either faced the blackness of space or a sterile titanium panel. It was always night while on tour, unless you were lucky enough to be assigned to the bridge.

Quarters are cramped on smaller, light battle ships, enough to make even a normal crewman claustrophobic. I had just ended a double shift. I opened the solar screen to see the marvel of the night. The sun's light barely glistened to the far right of the tiny window. The trawlers and mining bots were almost out of visual range. It wasn't a sexy assignment, guarding a mining operation. But it did have action. Rhenium was far easier to find in the asteroid belt than it was on Earth. If we were going to survive this war our fleet needed rhenium. And the mining operation needed protection.

I was finally trying get some shut eye when the engines fired up, making the whole ship almost convulse. Then the warning siren. "General quarters. General quarters. This is not a drill." I really wish the XO would find something else to say to get our attention. "All hands to battle stations. This is not a drill."

I'm glad I was mostly still in my uniform. I was finishing with my shoes when I caught one last glance at the window. The ship had maneuvered so that, for only a moment, my broad side window revealed the enemy. Thanks to my ocular prosthesis I could see it was a Brutus Magnus class. A gleam of light could be seen in the distance. It was approaching fast. It turned out to be a second missile already on its way. I only knew that because the first missile screamed past my tiny window only a few meters away. It was a much more effective way of waking me up than the XO's scratchy voice. Some new recruits stumbled on their way to their stations when the second missile impacted on the hull.

They wanted the rhemium. We could hold our own against a Brutus Magnus. The Tavor class is also a light ship but formidable. And Kirk is our Captain. He and many others recently transferred from an embattled (and victorious) Relentless class to flesh out the capabilities of the newly launched ship. It was his first mission commanding the Tavor but he had earned our respect. I knew him, I didn't know the ship. At least we weren't facing an Intrepid.

At my station there was the usual organized chaos. Commands being thrown all about. Coordinates, firing solutions, mobility calculations, targeting all happening simultaneously. A voice broke through the noise.

"Captain, another ship is approaching!"

"Identify."

"It's an Intrepid, sir!"

Silence. Two ships vying for our resources. The Magnus and the Intrepid are both F.A. ships but that didn't necessarily mean they were coordinating. It's a good thing there aren't any ceiling fans on the command deck. No doubt I would be assigned clean up duty.

Combat chatter resumed, but with a noticeable apprehension. Then the name was heard. The Intrepid was captained by Sebastian. Rumor was he retired, or he was dead. It was a miracle any solar system captain could live long enough to retire. It was common for captains to be killed in combat. Obviously neither were true for him. Now the three ships would engage for control of the rhenium.

The captain of the Magnus knew what we were up against, too, and evidently the two Free Africa ships were not allied this day. The Magnus went straight for the Intrepid. A flurry of missiles bombarded the massive carrier, but Sebastian knows how to survive. Active Defensive Armor is extremely effective. And with the ability to deflect attacks he would not so easily be deterred. After all that, sensors registered a lot of thermal stress on the Intrepid, but minimal damage.

We were able to launch an assault at the Magnus, which was now caught in the crossfire between its two opponents. The Tavor and Intrepid closed in, putting us all into closer proximity. The Magnus continued to take fire while it tried to limp away. But Sebastian is a hunter, and he would not be denied his prey.

Because of my low rank I had never been on the bridge in previous skirmishes. I had never before witnessed the awesome destructive power of the Intrepid's infamous cannon. This time I could see it for myself. I don't know if it was mere luck or if he is really that good, but Captain Kirk managed to move us out of range for the Colossus blast. This put us in a perfect position to avoid certain destruction and then move in for the kill. The Brutus Magnus, however, didn't have a chance. Even the notorious delay wasn't enough time to escape. It was almost like witnessing the birth of a small sun when the blast finally annihilated its target. The combination of tragedy and beauty can be a humbling sight.

But the Intrepid drained her power in the massive strike. It was the opportunity we needed. We maneuvered closer to our remaining foe.

The captain gave the order. "Ready the nukes".

It was unbelievable. Even after the damage it dealt and suffered, the Intrepid was still able survive a nuclear strike! We knew the captain could bring us through the fight, at least with our previous ship. The Tavor may be a smaller version of the Intrepid but she could not have survived what just failed to destroy the enemy. The Intrepid simply refused to be destroyed. It's at times like this where officers earn their reputations or die.

One might think pulling away and firing from a more manageable position would be the most sound decision. But the captain did precisely the opposite. We maneuvered close enough to see the windows of the enemy ship. The Intrepid continued to evade our attacks but the captain was ready for whatever Sebastian threw our way.

Intrepid attacked. The Tavor also has impressive armor, which we used to its full potential. The Reactive Armor absorbed most of the damage and returned the blast back to its origin. Finally, the Intrepid fell. Her last assault was her own undoing.

Some of the new crew roared in cheers. The captain put a quick end to it. The rest of us knew better. He immediately ordered us to gather any survivors from the wreckage. We typically send them to prisoner processing. The Terran Republic doesn't bother with "re-education" as the other factions typically do. Instead we have to deal with the problem of boarding and housing for a growing POW population. Occasionally, however, we discover a few defectors from new prisoners, and more from those who've been held for several months.

This time there are escape pods unaccounted for. Bodies being vaporized from the sheer heat of destroyed ships is not uncommon, but escape vehicles are a different matter. It's been 12 hours since the battle and we have yet to find evidence of Captain Sebastian's remains. Perhaps we'll meet him again. If there is a next time the captain's name will instill a moment of frightful silence on the enemy crew, not ours. For now, I need some sleep.