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Lieutenant Casper, age 26, sat down in the bridge of his first command: the Hound class frigate Estelle. She was not a pretty ship, or a fast ship. She was an expendable ship. But Casper knew that she was a ship the the Hegemony desperately needed in its fight against the Tacs. The Sinter and Harvest systems had already fallen; Mare was under siege. The great Hegemony stronghold of Corvus would be next. Corvus, where Casper's whole family had lived and died. Casper ran his hands over the antiquated chair controls. 'Did my mother sit at controls like this, or were they different?' he thought. 'Did she order that last charge or had she already died?' Hearing footsteps on the deck plating he shook himself from his thoughts.
"Welcome aboard sir!" In front of him stood Mr. Garvis his first officer, a thick, burly man with burns down one side of his body. "Engineering reports engines are green and reactor is prime. Damage repair says that the yard did a great job resetting the bulkheads and that everything is ship shape. The crew of the Estelle awaits the command of the Hegemony."
"Very good Mr. Garvis. I think we'll take her out for a quick shakedown cruise, maybe catch us a pirate. What do you say to that?"
"Permission to speak freely sir?"
"Granted."
"I say that we would all be dead sir. I've served in the Estelle for years and she can give as good as take. I was aboard when she and the Rome took down a Hyperion about to strafe the old Onslaught Agincourt. But if we head out alone we don't stand a chance against anything short of a Dram."
Casper smiled. "Mr. Garvis that was exactly what I wanted to hear. Tell the crew that I know exactly what this ship can do and what it can't. What I need from them is to serve to their utmost and we'll see the end of every fight. And always speak freely."
"Aye sir, I'll let them know. Good to know we don't have another young fool about to throw the ship headlong into a Wolf. No disrespect to the late Swath, or course..."
A blossom of white fire greeted Casper's eyes from the view screen as the Buffalo's reactor lost containment. The freighter had tried to pretend it had nothing to do with the Tacs, but scans of its cargo revealed large amount of antimatter and laser focus optics. The will of the Hegemony had been carried out.
Two months had passed for the Estelle under Casper's command without too much adventure. She and her crew had been assigned to the Gamma Mu light patrol squadron, also known as the "Smoking Bastards". In the first few engagements they had "let" the Estelle take point with the Talons but Casper was no fool. Rather than rush in headlong he always sidestepped the target, circling just out of range until the rest of the GM's arrived and they all closed in for the kill. After the first month all the commanders in GM threw a party for him: he had officially passed the average time without being wrecked for a green Hound commander.
A cheer came up from the crew of the Estelle. Another battle over and more importantly another share of prize money for each of them. The only way the Hegemony found that it could man ships as dangerous as a Hound was to offer a share of the scrap reward to the captain and crew. Most only stayed on until they were rich enough to be set.
"All hands stand down! Job well done." Casper said into the shipwide communicator.
Garvis seemed to be the exception to the rule of greed: in his fifties rather than twenties he had seen enough action to make him wealthy enough to buy his own ship, and yet he still stayed on the Estelle. Casper signaled for Garvis to stay as the other men left the bridge to get out of their suits. "Jim" Casper asked "why are you still here?"
"Well last time the Estelle got wrecked I saw it coming and had already sealed up and pressurized my suit. Its amazing what a few extra seconds get you."
"I mean why are you still on this ship? You must be rich by now! Why not buy yourself a commission on a nice safe capital ship or even just retire?"
"Well sir I've just been serving on Hounds for a long time. Never really thought about leaving."
"Its all anyone talks about in the galley and you don't think about it?"
"Well how about you sir, how did you end up with this post? You've obviously gotten real training at the academy; most Hound captains rise up from the lower ranks."
Casper sat silent for a few seconds. "Family tradition really. My great-grandfather got started on a Hound and made it to Vice-Admiral. To be honest with you it was the only post where I could get my own command. The prize money helps too. Now stop dodging the question, thats an order."
"I made a promise to a dead shipmate. Once I get around to fulfilling it, then maybe I can think of leaving."
A loud beeping broke out from the communications terminal. "Estelle, this is Hermes. Respond, alpha priority."
Casper flipped a switch on his chair. "Hermes, Estelle here. Establishing secure link."
"We have you. Gamma Mu is to return to base and integrate into the Corvus Battle Fleet. It looks like the Tacs are finally invading the system."
A week later the Tacs brought the battle to the Corvus fleet. Electronic countermeasures were launched by both sides to block scanners; the scanners filtered the worst out but outside of a short range nothing could be reliably determined. Estelle and Hermes hunted as a pair, burning their engines hard to secure and repair a distant sensor array. Casper sat uncomfortably in his vacuum suit, wishing he had bought a more comfortable model. The whole crew had been wearing them for 6 hours as the enemy could appear at any second.
"Five minutes until deceleration burn sir." Garvis said in a voice distorted by his mic.
"Good. Make sure that the repair crews are ready to launch. I don't want us to be out here any longer than we need to."
The sensor array, a construct as large as the Estelle and with powerful scanners, came ever closer and was finally alongside. Tense minutes passed as the repair crew launched from the Estelle and finally docked.
"This is Repair. Everything is in good order. A few tweaks and we'll be up and running."
"This is Estelle, roger that. Hermes," Casper said "are you reading anything out there?"
"Negative Este-" the communicator cut short.
"This is Corvus Command. Hermes and Estelle are to finish repairing the sensor array and then advance to sector beta seven. The comm relay there is down - communications with the Agincourt and Dominator must be regained for them to receive combat coordinates. Command out."
A static filled silence rang across the comm channel between the Estelle and the Hermes. Finally the captain of the Hermes exclaimed "Two capital ships?! How could they lose two of those beasts?! How are we expected to beat off the Tacs without heavy fire support?"
"We aren't" Casper replied "but we do need to clean up their mess it seems. Cheer up Hermes, at least beta seven is far away from the front."
"Repair here, everything is up and running. Returning now."
The Estelle accelerated into the void, her sight enhanced by the scanner array. No words were said on the bridge. If it weren't for the danger lying just beyond sensor reach, the trip would have been boring. As it was, every man and woman knew just how dangerous it was to be in a Hound during a major battle.
"Sir!" cried out Wong, the young woman running the sensor suite. "I am reading a Tempest on intercept course. Coming in on mark six high!"
"Hermes, are you getting this?" Casper called out.
"Roger Estelle, keep cool. We're going to take this one by the numbers. Standard trap and pincer."
The Estelle and Hermes veered apart; the Tempest came for Estelle. A blue arc pierced the black sky as a graviton beam lashed out. All through the ship a horrible noise rang out. Plating began to heat and break, but the armor as a whole held. If the Tacs had one weakness it was their arrogance when it came to technology; the graviton beam was designed to cut shields more than armor and was not a good match against a Hound.
"Take us around and close in! Fire main guns at will. Keep the helm right at that Tempest but use the lateral thrusters to keep her pinned between us and the Hermes."
Estelle fired back. Her hull vibrated as the chaingun spat out ammo. The Tempest closed farther, ignoring the hail of fire under its impressive shield.
"Garvis" Casper said on a private channel between them "why is it getting so close? It could dance circles around us with those beams. And why hasn't it fired its missiles?"
"Arrogance sir. Why waste ammo on a lowly Hound?"
The hull gave a shattering cry as the forward armor started to give. The chair console showed that damage control was already fighting small fires. Privately, Casper couldn't help but agree that one on one, a Hound stood no chance against the magnificent Tempest. Luckily, this was not a one one one fight.
The Hermes came roaring in from behind the Tempest. Too late it realized the peril of its situation. Its strong but narrow shield couldn't protect both rear and stern; its light armor was no match for the high explosive rounds coming out of the Hermes. As it swung its shields around to protect its engines Estelle's own fire struck home, scoring the front armor deeply. The Tempest turned to run, trusting that its unmatched speed would save it from the crossfire.
"Burnout." Casper thought to himself, praying for a lucky hit from the Hermes to knock out the Tempest's engines. "Come on, burnout!"
His wish was granted as the bright blue flames of the Tempest's engines flared and then died. Hermes and Estelle circled on either side of the doomed ship, pouring in fire. Its rear section broke off completely. Suddenly, three new blips appeared on scanners and curved towards the Hermes.
"Harpoons! Point defense guns, deal with those missiles!" Casper cried out. The Tempest erupted in silver fire. "Bring us in tight with the Hermes and try to help."
Machine gun fire broke out from the Hermes; one missile was destroyed. But the Estelle couldn't get close enough and its short range point defense could not reach in time. Two of the deadly harpoon missiles impacted into the Hermes. The shock waves shook the plating underneath Casper's feet.
"Hermes, do you read?" Silence. "Hermes, this is Estelle, do you copy?"
The comm channel burst into life. Casper could hear flames and a small explosion. "***! We're alive over here, but barely. Completely lost the forward guns and are dead in the water. Casper, get over to beta seven and get that comm station online! If we don't have those capital ships here pronto the whole fleet could get wiped out. Don't worry about us, we'll have engines up in a few minutes, but we won't be able to help without guns."
The Estelle vented flux and made full burn on her engines. Just as the Hermes was to leave sensor range Casper saw its engines fire. It would make it home unless another ship came calling. Casper realized that for the first time he was that most horrifying thing for a Hound captain: alone. Not only that, but the forward armor could not be repaired in the middle of a battle, and ammo counts were on the short side. A minute passed, then another. Nothing lay in sensor range and Casper slowly adjusted back to the terrifying boredom of flight through a combat zone.
"Comm array ahead sir." said Garvis. "Slowing burn."
"Good. Launch the repair team."
"Sir! Wasps!" cried Wong. And indeed, six of the sleek drones were bearing down on the Estelle. They were faster and would swarm the ship, cutting away at its hull without mercy. "We might be able to run!"
Garvis looked sharply at Casper, waiting for him to speak. Casper made up his mind in a flash, accepting that the Estelle would be lost, and possibly him with her.
"All hands, this is the captain. A squadron of Wasps is bearing down on us. We can run, but if we do they can catch us anyways. We are going to stay our ground and get this comm array working! Fire straight and get ready to launch lifepods. Good luck to all of us."
Casper woke in a hospital. It was dark and sleeping on a chair next to his bed was Garvis. He went back to sleep.
In the morning he ate breakfast with Garvis outside, under the shade of a tall willow tree. "Jim" he said "how did I get here?"
"Well" said Jim Garvis "after the Wasps tore open the hull and the reactor lost power they didn't pay us any more attention. Hard vacuum dealt with the fires. A day later a salvage crew came along and sliced up the hull, got us out."
"How many made it?"
"About half."
Casper looked around more closely. "This is a state of the art hospital... I really can't afford this."
"You'd be surprised. They gave us quite a bonus for taking down that Tempest. As for getting half of the capital ship support to the battle, our performance was 'As to be expected from a Hegemony ship'".
"I'm guessing we won?"
Jim grimaced. "Pyhrric victory. Next fleet is going to smash us if they send anything like this. At least we gave them a damn good thrashing."
"Well I guess now would be a good time for you to get out of a Hound, huh?"
"Oh don't worry about that, I got myself a nice cushy berth as first officer on a Medusa we just captured."
"A Medusa! How the hell did you manage that?"
"Well I had to pull a few strings, its true. But its amazing what money will do and I have plenty of that. Also, its new captain got knocked out doing something stupid with a Hound and I stepped in to manage the refit. Apparently the brass think I'm useful."
A few second later what Garvis said worked its way through Casper's brain. "Its captain... you can't be talking about me?!"
"Heh. That I am. That took a little bit of string pulling too."
"But why do that for me? I think of us as friends, but this is too much!"
"Promises. Your mother was the best damn officer I ever served under and a dear friend. She's the only reason these burns are on only half of my body, pulled me out of the fire herself. I was off the ship recovering when that damn pirate blasted her to oblivion. So I've been waiting for you Casper. Got to make sure you had a chance, if only to get even with Maria for saving me."
"Why" Casper sputtered in shock "why wouldn't you tell me this sooner?"
"Well I had to make sure you knew what you were doing, didn't I? Plus if you got all weepy on the ship the crew would find out and you'd never get anything done."
"Thanks for that." Casper said with a roll of his eyes. "Hey Jim?"
"Yeah?"
"Lets never fly a damn Hound again."
