Toronaga - A Little Late (A Sunderbans Short) Complete!

Toronaga - I

3216, Spring
Wilderness
Kahadria
HRMS Toronaga

A Ky freighter slowed to sublight speed as it entered the system. The Toronaga was an old ship. She spent her first years as an ambassadorial liner, serving on the eastern and southeastern borders. Decades later, she shuffled marines from place to place. Early in the war, she was to sent to help evacuate systems. One time, as she entered a system, she encountered a Mostrel light cruiser. More than a match for Q-ships. But the captain and crew proved themselves worthy of their calling. The cruiser, heavily damaged, withdrew upon sight of additional Ky warships.

All that was behind her now. It had been over forty-seven years since her launch, almost twenty since she began transporting troops, and just over ten since she was reactivated into the Merchant Marine. She was a good ship, but an old ship.

Tierrak stood up from the captain's chair and mused. His eyes narrowed as he gazed at the star system on the viewscreen. "Tactical!" he ordered. Lt. Caralsov, the navigator, responded. Tierrak grumbled as he studied the display. "Captain," he spoke into the communication device on the chair. "We have entered the system."

A deep slow voice responded to the message. "Right, I'll be there shortly."

Tierrak stepped over to the Nav. station, leaned over and looked at the viewscreen.

"What is it, Sir?" Carosov asked.

Tierrak said nothing.

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Five minutes later, Tierrak stood as the huge burly captain stepped onto the bridge. "Status!" He belted out.

Tierrak responded. "Ship's systems are normal, we are entering the system, ahead of schedule, but we see no activity and have received no communication from the station."

"Hmmmm.... Have you hailed them?"

"No sir."

"No? And your reason for this?"

"Sir, I believe we may be off course."  The captain raised his eyebrows.

"And what leads you to believe that, Tierrak?"

"The system does not appear to have the proper number of satellites and we have not detected the station." Captain Kartarac moved over to the nav station.

"Bring up our flight path on tactical, Caralsov, from the stop prior to our last. Let's see what our navigational computer sees."  The screen flashed and displayed the information that was requested. The captain nodded.

"Ah..."

Tierrak looked over the display. "I don't see anything amiss." The captain belted out a hearty laugh.

"Ah, my mate, what do they teach you in these schools now? It's right here." As he walked over to the main viewer. "Look at our flight path. It is correct up until our last stop. Now, this system," pointing to their current location, "is Kahadria. Here," he continued, pointing a bit up and to his left, "is Taragan, our destination. We are indeed off course, commander."

"Kahadria?" Caralsov blurted out. "In the Wilderness?"

"Yes, Kahadria." He turned around. "Have you run a deep scan yet?"

"No, captain." Replied Caralsov.

"Good, don't. We must run silent, use passive means for scans now. Execute a slow turn, 180 degrees using thrusters. Then we will need to slip out of here quietly. Tierrak, you will take the weapons station, should the need arise. In the meantime, go over the ship's records, make sure you check our maintenance logs also. Chakyar, take the  drives down to minimum levels until we are turned around. Just enough to keep us moving. We need to look like a rock and not a ship trying to sneak away."The captain moved to his chair and sat down.

"Tactical onscreen, maximum range, passive sensors. Tierrak, look for hyper-light and sublight signatures."

"Captain!" Chakyar called. "The main computer is showing a malfunction in the drive modulator. I can reduce the power level as you ordered, but should we need them for more than that, they won't work beyond point nine."

"Tierrak, move quickly."

"Aye sir. If it is what I am thinking, I may have to take the main computer system down and completely reload it."

"That will take some time." He paused for a moment, thinking. "If there is not any other way, then that will be our course of action. Let's just hope that someone does not drop in on us." And then under his breath, "Even though, that is what's likely."