The Black Sheep (A Learning Experience Book 3) (2 page)

Chapter One

Fighting broke out again in California as the Mexican Independence Front, with armoured support from Mexican tanks, attempted to push north against the United Farmers Alliance, who have been receiving support from Texas.  The Governor of Texas stated that she would not hesitate to support her fellow Americans in their struggle against the Mexican threat.

-Solar News Network, Year 54

Hoshiko didn't want to admit it, not even to herself, but she was bored.

She was the kind of person who always wanted to be
doing
something.  She'd
always
been a very active person, even as a young girl growing up on Stuart Asteroid.  Hoshiko had been first to take a spacewalk, first to explore the nooks and crannies of the asteroid without parental supervision, first to use a neural interface and plunge into a virtual world, first to lose her virginity and first to apply successfully to the Naval Academy.  The thought of just sitting in orbit around Martina was horrifying, yet she’d been stuck there for over six months.  There were only so many tasks for the squadron and she was privately surprised that morale had held up as well as it had.

Because we’re pretty much isolated out here
, she thought, as she paced her cabin and scowled at the near-orbit display. 
And there’s very little to do.

She glowered at the blue-green planet at the centre of the display, surrounded by hundreds of starships, orbital habitats and industrial nodes.  Martina was a shared world - there were over twenty different races living in near-harmony on the surface - and there was almost nothing in the way of planetary authority.  No one had been able to muster the authority to tell her she couldn't establish a naval base in the system, but no one had been able to meet her for more substantive discussions either.  She hoped, for their sake, that no one ever decided to view the system as a target - there was no unified defence force - but she knew the peace surrounding the planet wouldn't last.  Martina had no less than
nine
gravity points orbiting the local star, each one a money-making bonanza for a military power strong enough to demand passage fees. 

And they’ll get them too
, she reminded herself. 
Interstellar shippers will pay whatever it takes to get through a gravity point, cutting hundreds or thousands of light years off their trips.

She picked up the datapad containing the latest set of readiness reports, then put it down again unread.  There was no point.  The squadron had exercised regularly, both to ensure their skills were kept up to par and show off humanity’s military might to potential threats, but they hadn't fired their weapons in anger since a brief encounter with a pirate ship two months ago.  Her
real
problem was keeping her crews busy and entertained, ensuring they didn't slip into VR worlds or sneak down to the planet and desert.  There was a small human community on Martina after all, descended from men and women who’d been taken from Earth centuries ago.  An enterprising crewman could probably make a few local contacts and vanish if he wished.  Somehow, Hoshiko doubted the local authority would help to search for a missing crewman.

“And if Uncle Mongo wanted to punish me,” she muttered to herself, “he couldn't have found a better way.”

She glowered at the display, again.  The squadron was so far from Earth that everything they heard was second or third-hand, passed on by a handful of supply ships and freighters that had made their way to Martina, hoping to open up new trade routes into the sector.  Hoshiko didn’t blame them for trying - having dinner with the trader captains was one of the few highlights of her position - but so far their results had been very poor.  The sector didn't have anything unique or interesting ... and it
was
very far from Earth.  She was surprised the freighters kept coming.

Probably trying to buy more starships
, she thought, crossly. 
We can never have enough
.

Her intercom buzzed.  “Captain, this is Ensign Howard on the bridge,” a voice said, nervously.  He clearly hadn't managed to overcome his fear of interrupting his commanding officer, who would
doubtless
be doing important work in her cabin.   “We have five ships inbound to Martina at FTL speeds.”

Hoshiko frowned.  Ensign Howard was so young she was marginally surprised he wasn't still in diapers. 
Jackie Fisher
was his first assignment, right out of the Academy; he was simply too inexperienced to realise that few captains would be angry if they were disturbed, not even if it turned out to be nothing.  Better safe than sorry was a lesson the Solar Union had drummed into its citizens from a very early age.  Asteroids, even with modern technology, were hardly
safe
.

“Five ships,” she repeated.  Every day, there were hundreds of starships passing through the system.  She tried to keep her voice calm.  “Why do you think this is important?”

There was a pause.  “Captain, two of them read out as
Livingston
-class freighters,” Howard said, finally.  “The other three seem to be warships - and they’re in hot pursuit.  They’re practically right on top of the freighters.”

Hoshiko’s eyes narrowed. 
Livingston
-class freighters were unique to humanity, as far as she knew; there were only a handful in the sector, all of which were registered with the Solar Union.  Two of them flying in unison almost certainly meant a trade mission ... and, if that was the case, the pursuing warships were an ominous development.  She sent a command through her implants into the cabin’s processors, getting them to display the live feed from the gravimetric sensors.  Howard was right.  Five ships would not be flying so close together if three of them weren't trying to run the other two down.

“I’m on my way,” she said.  Assuming the freighters were heading for the base she and her crews had painstakingly established, they’d drop out of FTL within two hours.  “Sound yellow alert, then inform the squadron to prepare for combat manoeuvres.”

“Aye, Captain,” Howard said.

It was probably nothing more than pirates, Hoshiko told herself as she checked her uniform in the mirror before striding out of her office and down towards the bridge.  But she couldn't help feeling a thrill of excitement anyway.  The pirates wouldn't be expecting to run into
nine
heavy cruisers, not at Martina.  There wasn't even a formalised out-system patrol force to fend off pirates who might come calling.  Even the ground-based defences weren't as formidable as they could have been.

She stepped through the hatch and walked to her command chair.  No one saluted - yellow alert protocols insisted that crewmen had to watch their consoles at all times - but she saw a number of backs stiffen as Ensign Howard practically leapt out of the command chair and snapped to attention.  Hoshiko gave him an approving smile, then nodded towards the tactical console.

“I have the bridge,” she said, firmly.

“You have the bridge, Captain,” Ensign Howard said.  “Intruder ETA is now 97 minutes ...”

“Assuming they drop out at your predicted endpoint,” Hoshiko said, cutting him off.  She didn't blame the ensign for assuming the unknown ships were heading for the base, but there was no way to be sure.  “Squadron status?”

“Yellow alert,” Ensign Howard reported.  “Combat datanet is standing by, ready to activate; tactical communications net is up and running.  No signals from the planet as yet.”

“Unsurprising,” Hoshiko said.  She took her seat and studied the tactical display for a long moment.  “Take your console, Ensign.  Let’s see what’s coming our way.”

She heard the hatch opening again behind her, but said nothing as her XO, Commander Griffin Wilde, stepped into view and took the seat next to her.  Wilde wasn't a bad man, she had to admit, yet he was easily twice her age - he remembered living on Earth before his parents had emigrated to the Solar Union - and he had almost no imagination at all.  Hoshiko had a feeling that Wilde had
actually
been assigned to the squadron to keep an eye on her, or at least try to dampen her more ambitious schemes.  But if that were the case, it was hardly necessary.  The opportunities she’d hoped would appear, when she’d led the squadron through the gravity point for the first time, had never materialised.

“Captain,” Wilde said.

Hoshiko turned and gave him a tight smile.  He even
looked
old, with grey hair, although she’d seen his medical report and knew he was physically fit.  Choosing not to make himself look like a young man was a statement, just as much as her refusal to alter her looks was a statement, although she didn't understand it.  Some men, she’d been told, were just born old, without the mindset that would allow them to have fun.  She didn't understand that either.

“Commander,” she said.  “We may be in for some excitement.”

She leaned back in her command chair, watching the reports flowing in from the remainder of the squadron, as the unknown ships came close.  Tracking did their best, but apart from estimates regarding the size and power of the warships they weren't able to add much else, certainly nothing solid.  Hoshiko rehearsed the engagement in her mind, contemplating the different weapons mixes they might face and waited.  At least, now there was a prospect of action, she could wait patiently.

“Captain, they’re altering course slightly,” Ensign Howard said.  “They’re now angling directly towards the station.”

“Understood,” Hoshiko said.  She contemplated, briefly, detaching two of her ships to take up a different position, but decided it would probably be futile.  A few seconds in FTL would put the incoming ships millions of kilometres from the waiting ships.  “Hold position and wait, but prepare to move us when they arrive.”

“Aye, Captain,” Lieutenant Sandy Browne said.  The helmsman had been running tactical simulations of his own.  “Drives are ready and free; I say again, drives are ready and free.”

Hoshiko nodded, then waited as the last minutes counted down to zero, knowing that there were too many uncertainties.  There was no way to
know
the ships were heading for the base, for her squadron; they could easily be planning to skim around the planet’s gravity well and try to lose their pursuers.  Or they could be planning to plunge into a gravity point at speed, hoping to escape through sheer nerve.  They’d be vomiting on the decks, if they survived, but it might be their only hope.  Did they even
know
there was a human squadron at Martina?

“Contact,” Ensign Howard said.  “They just dropped out of FTL.  Two freighters,
Livingston
-class; I say again, two freighters,
Livingston
-class.”

“Raise them,” Hoshiko ordered. 

She took a long breath, knowing they had bare seconds before the warships arrived and announced themselves.  Thankfully, there shouldn't be any problems establishing communications with human ships ... unless, of course, something had wrecked their communications systems.  The Tokomak had done their best to ensure that everyone spoke the same language, at least during interspecies communications, but even they had never succeeded in making the handful of artificial languages universal.

And a good thing too
, she thought, remembering her lessons at the Academy. 
Those languages were carefully designed to dampen individual thought.

Three red icons popped into life on the display.  “Contact,” Ensign Howard said, again.  This time, he sounded almost panicky.  “Three warships, unknown class.  Database comparison suggests they’re light cruisers.”

“Sound Red Alert,” Hoshiko ordered.  “Raise shields.  Charge weapons.”

She frowned as more data flowed onto the display.  Most alien races used starships based on Tokomak designs, knowing them to be reliable even though they were hard to modify or rebuild.  They were, quite simply, the most prevalent ship designs in the galaxy.  Even the Solar Union, which was ramping up its own design and building process as fast as it could, still used thousands of Tokomak-designed ships.  But facing a whole new design ... there was no way to know what she might be about to encounter.  If humanity could invent a weapons system that smashed battleships as if they were made of paper, who knew what another race could design and put into operation?