Gliese Chronicles: Thin Margin

Authors note: This is the first story of a planned series entitled 'The Gliese Chronicles' that details some major events of Earth's first intergalactic colony around the star Gliese 687 C, a red dwarf located about 23.6 light years from the solar system in the constellation Scorpius.

THE GLIESE CHRONICLES: BY THE THINNEST OF MARGINS CHAPTER ONE

"Captain, the crew are beginning to wonder if we're ever going to stop practicing this same maneuver over and over again."

Captain Neenah Casperson looked at her First Officer with a frown. "When I think they can do it automatically, do it without thinking, do it when they are so exhausted it doesn't seem to matter anymore."

I knew it had to be that way. Our enemy was seemingly unforgiving, unrelenting, and more than capable of destroying my ship with minimal effort. An enemy that had no face, no form, no culture, and unknown to the human race. At least it seemed that way. They had come from outside the Gliese planetary system--beyond the present limits of human exploration—from the immense expanse of intergalactic space.

My ship was one of the smallest, yet most modern ships in the fleet, actually one of a kind. Designed for stealth and speed while armed with weapons that could disable or destroy a vessel much larger than herself. I thought it ironic, the weapons it carried had been designed for an entirely different purpose—the destruction of asteroids or comets that represented a danger to one of the three inhabited planets of the Gliese system.

The majority of my crew were green, most of them just out of their specialty schools, with no previous combat experience. Not a surprise as our culture had never been at war and this invasion had been short, but deadly. Only my First Officer and Engineering Officer had seen combat before-- though none of them as much experience as myself. I had been as tough on my fellow officers as the rest of my crew of twenty enlisted as we began our first mission. I turned to, Morgan Stanford, my First Officer.

"Secure from general quarters. The bridge is yours, Mr. Stanford."

"Aye captain. The bridge is mine."

I walked aft to my quarters, hearing the announcement to secure from general quarters from the nearest speaker. The crew was improving steadily, almost to the point where I thought we might come out of an engagement alive, with the ship in one piece. I entered my quarters, opened the command console, and reviewed the data showing how quickly the cloaking shield had come down, the weapons aimed, fired, and the shield returned to operation. I smiled—ten seconds. My target was eight seconds. So close, maybe close enough.

I had been amazed I had been given command of this ship, but after a while realized it was because I had been able to survive when others had not. By being both aggressive and cunning, with the right degree of caution thrown in—some said I was a natural-born leader. They were wrong-- I had simply been able to gain enough experience to know my enemy and their tactics well enough to defeat them by surviving. Still, the behavior of the enemy force was bewildering, baffling, and illogical in a way that defied my understanding. Was it a matter of communication—they not understanding our intentions, rather than a desire on their part to be aggressive?

Now, my job was to do the same for my crew, have them survive, while inflicting as much damage to the enemy as possible.

I remembered the meeting that resulted in my promotion to Captain, jumping ahead in the rank structure, and the man most responsible for it. It had been a contentious meeting of the Gliese Federation officials, Space Command officers, and various specialists with expertise in an array of engineering and the physics of energy and inert projectiles. Morgan had been the main driver of my promotion by declining to accept command of the ship I was now responsible for. I had at first been selected to be his First Officer.

The faces of the others in the room were still vivid in my mind when Morgan told them he would not take command of the ship. The room went completely silent, faces with shocked expressions. Then, questions as to why he would not do his duty to protect the citizens of the system were put forth—some with frustration, others with anger. His logic was flawless, even I was amazed as I sat listening. No one was more surprised than me when he was asked who he thought was best qualified to command the ship. He put my name forward.

The enemy, unknown and unseen by me, at least as individuals, had changed everything over the last nine months. After almost seven hundred years of colonization in the Gliese system evidence of an alien civilization had emerged—at first, there was excitement at the prospect of interacting with another life form. Initial contact by a small ship had shown it might be difficult. Then, after another attempt a month later, when several large alien ships were observed, excitement turned to dismay. Again, efforts to make peaceful contact had resulted in the complete destruction of the ship and loss of its crew.

Over the next few weeks several asteroid mining operations were found to have been destroyed—their finished metals missing, with much of their infrastructure taken as well. These mines were located in the asteroid belt beyond the most distant planet in the system. This suggested to me the aliens were in need of mineral resources. But why? They had their ships, if anything it, seemed food or energy would be a greater need and that would mean coming to habitable planets with organic life.

I had felt the loss of the second ship personally as the ship was unarmed-- commanded by a friend. Space Command had no designated warships--there had never been a reason to develop weapons except to intercept rogue asteroids or comets. The recorded verbal messages intercepted by Space Command from the alien ship to ours revealed they had no interest in peaceful coexistence. They wanted resources and expected to get them on their own terms. The message was clear and unambiguous—prepare to defend yourselves or suffer the consequences, or at least it seemed that way.

I sat at my desk and went over those first days again in my mind.

It started over a standard year ago and all of the engagements had occurred beyond the fringes of our planetary system. We all knew it was just a matter of time before our home-worlds would be threatened and offered no mercy. Preparations for defense were hastily mounted. This ship had already been almost two-thirds complete when it was modified for combat missions at my suggestion.

The largest of our ships had been modified with laser cannons modified from their intended purpose of asteroid destruction. These were mounted in fixed positions on the hull and there were only two cannons per ship with a total of four ships. The first engagement seven months ago was hardly an engagement at all-- despite being at relatively long-range. The alien ships had shields that the lasers were unable to penetrate. Once the power supply for the cannons was exhausted by repeated, rapid bursts, the enemy vessels lowered their shield defenses and counter attacked with powerful lasers of their own. Destroying each ship in turn as the shields weakened under the onslaught.

There were but three survivors of that engagement, they had been able to dive into a small escape capsule as the ship disintegrated around them. They remained hidden in the debris field for two standard days before sending a distress signal to be rescued as smaller alien ships collected scattered pieces of wreckage. Three survived out of a crew of two hundred five, the news devastated the home-worlds, and near panic ensued as the details were released to the public.

I was present at the third engagement of our two medium-sized ships, modified from freighters-- their cargo holds filled with energy generators linked to a single cannon slung on the underside of each ship. Like all of our ships, a force-field protected the ships from solid debris, but not from energy pulses. A jury-rigged system for protection from laser fire was installed on an experimental basis in the hopes it would afford some protection- the system worked on the ship I was aboard and failed on the other. The other ship was lost with all hands; at least the jury-rigged system had allowed for visual operations at a closer range offering an opportunity to observe the enemy vessels.

The engagement also involved smaller ships with the hope they would be able to make strafing attacks. These five smaller ships engaged in the battle early and all were lost within minutes. It had been terrible to watch as each disintegrated in a bright flash.

I cringed as the images entered my mind-- streaks of laser fire, bright flashes as engines exploded, pieces of ships scattering in all directions. We had finally been able to inflict indirect damage on the enemy--pieces of our destroyed ships penetrated their shields-- striking their ship.

The ship I was on took damage, returned fire, and then fled as the captain realized it was better to gather intelligence from the encounter rather than perish like the others. It turned out to have been a wise decision as we still knew almost nothing about their capabilities. All we knew at that time was we were losing ground rapidly. I was brought back to the moment by a voice.

"Captain, a message from Space Command. It's encrypted, for your eyes only."

"Thank you, Parsons."

I watched as the young woman left wondering if she would live to be my age-- twenty-seven standard years. It seemed unlikely. I strode to my console, entered my security code, then another code to authenticate receipt of the message. I read the message and felt my stomach churn. Battle orders. I had two standard days before engaging the alien fleet.

I acknowledged receipt of the orders and decided it was time to inspect the ship again. There was hardly another person who knew her better. I had helped in her design, had selected her weapons and weapon load. The development of stealth technology was key to her success. If it worked as envisioned, it would provide me with an edge we had never enjoyed before. It was a big 'if'.

Our long-range scans had determined the enemy fleet was actually quite small- three large ships, four mid-sized ships that were larger than our freighters, and six smaller ships—thought to be for short-range operations. So, all in all, a total of thirteen ships--these ships had already cost the colonies forty ships and their crews and damaged morale as nothing else could have.

The urgency of the orders was not lost on me. The enemy fleet had now approached the outer-most planet of our system. Intelligence officers suspected they were lingering--being cautious as they approached our home worlds, gathering their own intelligence en route. It made perfect sense to me. You don't take a risk when your whole world is at stake, and for all we knew that was the case.

I walked down to the engineering section and found Lieutenant Richard Moss at his console checking readings.

"Dick, I need you to run diagnostics on the visual targeting system. Make sure it's performing to specs. Let me know your findings. How long before you can do it?

Dick looked at me with a frown, "Captain, I should be able to get it to you in about an hour. I'm not happy with the readings on the laser generators right now. Seems to be a power loss somewhere."

"Okay. That definitely needs to be handled. We may need those lasers soon."

"Something I should know?" His face serious.

"We have orders. I need to have everything working. Understood."

"Aye, Captain."

I turned to leave.

"Captain."

"Yes."

"Are we going in even if the lasers aren't one hundred percent?"

"Yes."

I saw the expression on his face grow grim. He understood. I turned and walked down to the weapons bay. I entered the bay and looked in all directions. It was the largest single section of the ship, comprising over half its total volume. It had to be to house the array of torpedoes we carried, each type designed for a specific purpose and operational distance.

I remembered the arguments surrounding the ship and my recommendation it carry torpedoes. Most of the top brass wanted laser and electronic-based weapons to be the main offensive weapons. I had insisted that the ship have both physical and energy weapons. Their argument was that it would require a larger ship-- mine was that a smaller ship with greater flexibility was superior to larger ships with narrowly focused weapons systems. I had also pointed out that energy weapons could be integrated more easily as they could share power sources with other ship systems and were more compact—they took up little space if installed. I had won the argument, though it had been close.

I was approached by Weapons Specialist Hughes, an Ettorean male. He was slightly taller and heavier with a shock of curly black hair that topped a wide, almost perpetual grin.

"Captain, something I can do for you?"

"Hughes. When was the last time you ran a certification check on the torpedoes?"

"Four hours ago Ma am. All of them checked out. Then I ran a check on the laser cannons. They're fully operational too. Though there was some variation in charging of the capacitor circuits."

"Good. Any other problems I should know about?"

"No ma am. I just hope we can put these babies to good use."

I smiled. "So do I Hughes, so do I."

I walked to the bridge to observe the activities of the crew, including my First Officer. I was generally pleased. The crew had started to work well together despite their brief three months together. Discipline was good, as was morale. A surprise, given the state of affairs. I had made an effort to increase morale by involving the crew in the naming of the ship. Officially, the ship was designated 'ADS 136'-- short for Asteroid Defense Ship 136. I was now ready to announce the winning name based upon the final vote by the crew. I stepped to my command chair, sat down, donned my headset, and toggled the onboard command channel.

"Now hear this. This is your captain speaking. The final results of the contest to name our ship have been tallied. I am proud to announce that ADS 136 is now to be called 'ADS Avenger'. That is all."

I watched as smiles crossed the faces of the bridge crew. I was sure the remaining crew members were doing the same. Now, I hoped the name of our ship could prove to be an omen. It was time to call the officers together to inform them of our orders. Since we were already on a course to intercept the alien fleet there was no need to order a course or speed correction. I toggled the comm channel again.

"Attention. This is the captain. Officers should report immediately to the bridge coordination room. That is all."

I watched as Morgan turned the com over to the helmsman. That done, I started to the coordination room with Morgan following behind me. We found our seats and waited for Ross, and Shana Webb, Electronic Warfare and Communications Officer. It was several minutes before they arrived and once they were seated I proceeded to brief my officers on the mission. Not that there should have been a question as to what it was.

The expressions on their faces were serious and calm. We all knew how dire the situation had grown. There were only so many ships available to be modified or built given the estimated time of alien arrival and if we could stall their advance it would give the colonies more time to prepare. If something didn't go our way soon our worlds would be plundered and in all likelihood left barely habitable. I looked at all of my officers and proceeded to provide an overview of the mission.

"Are there any questions?"

"Captain what happens if the cloaking shield doesn't work under combat conditions?" Webb asked.

"We go in cloaked. If they detect us and we have an opportunity to escape we will back off and evaluate the situation. We can't afford to lose this ship because the system develops a glitch. We try to identify the problem, fix it, and engage again. The element of surprise, our best advantage, would be lost otherwise."

There were no other questions and I ended the meeting. Morgan looked at me as we headed back to the bridge.

"Nice to field-test technology under combat conditions isn't it?"

I knew he was being sarcastic. I smiled, "Is there any other way to know for sure it works?"

He grew a smile, "No captain, I guess not given present circumstances."

Morgan returned to the bridge and I went to my quarters.

I dared not explain to my officers what I had in mind, as I was sure it would have unsettled them. Hell, it unsettled me--I was going to put us right in the middle of all the trouble in the world. If the stealth system didn't work our chances of success were slim to none—much, much closer to none. I was sure they knew it and why they didn't ask.

I returned to my quarters to prepare for Morgan, at least that was something joyful to think about, not that it didn't raise the specter it would be our last time together. We had met two years ago while I was on leave visiting his home planet of Ettera. I found the city of Soho to my liking with its narrow, winding streets sheltered by large trees, mild climate, and well-kept buildings. Only the people seemed different, particularly the women, not unfriendly, but somewhat reserved. Later, Morgan would tell me it was because I was an off-world woman and to not take it personally—they treated all non-native women the same way. I remembered our meeting.

I had been wandering the streets looking at the shops to find a little something to take back with me. I caught the tip of my boot on a raised stone in the walk and fell forward, my arms outstretched to break my fall, my hands grasped onto something soft. It was Morgan's shirt. I almost pulled his shirt wide open as he stepped in to catch me.

I found myself in his arms, as I struggled to regain my feet while looking up. I was looking into the most gorgeous eyes I had ever seen, below them a bright smile.

"Whoa, there lieutenant!" his deep voice calm as he held me steady with strong arms. I quickly regained my feet, trying to regain my composure, I felt my face flush warm.

"Sorry, Commander," as I felt myself almost come to attention.

"Relax lieutenant, there's no need to be formal here. We're both on leave, so let's leave the formalities behind us shall we?"

As I stood looking at him my eyes wandered down and then back up. He was incredibly handsome in his uniform, filling it out as few men did--at least in my experience. I swallowed hard and forced a smile.

"Yes, of course. I'm lieutenant junior grade, Casperson."

He smiled. "Okay, let's try this again. I don't need your rank and serial number, but a first name with the last would be nice. Relax, remember?"

"Neenah Casperson," I smiled, this time feeling a little more relaxed, his easy manner and smile holding sway.

"Morgan Connell, at your service. I assume you're with ADS 42 that arrived in port yesterday?"

"Yes, this is my first visit to this planet, it's lovely in the city."

"Yes, Soho has its charms, as I'm sure you have as well," he smiled broadly.

I had been hit upon so often in the past—but this was one of the smoothest I had ever experienced.

"Morgan, are you putting the moves on a junior officer?" I smiled sweetly.

He laughed, "Absolutely."

There was no doubt he was confident. I liked that in a man, but what should I expect, he was an officer. He looked to be no more than perhaps four or five years older than me, young for someone holding the rank of Commander in the asteroid force-- it would put him in command of a small vessel and crew. I had a decision to make--I decided to be bold.

"Well then, what do you propose we do?" I replied with confidence to see how he would respond.