The Theseus Knot
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| The Theseus Knot | |
|---|---|
| Product information | |
| Type | Short story |
| Author | Colin Donnelly, David McCulloch |
| Pages | 18 |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | BattleCorps |
| First published | 23 June 2006 |
| Content | |
| Era | Star League era |
| Timeline | 18 February 2585 |
The Theseus Knot is a short story by Colin Donnelly and David McCulloch that was published online on BattleCorps on 23 June 2006. It was also published in print in the third BattleCorps print anthology, Weapons Free, in 2012 as simply "Theseus Knot".
[edit]
| “ | The SLS Minotaur and the FSS Kligenthal were engaged in joint combat over Panpour against Taurian raiders—that is, until the Kligenthal was destroyed. Damaged and adrift, the Minotaur seems headed for the same fate... | ” |
Plot summary[edit]
During the Reunification War, the recently overhauled but nevertheless aging Aegis-class Star League heavy cruiser SLS Minotaur fights alongside House Davion's newer Congress-class FSS Klingenthal, pursuing a trio of Taurian Pinto corvettes in the Panpour system. Only the Klingenthal is fast enough to keep up with the enemy ships, but it suddenly suffers a catastrophic explosion and is helpless when the Taurian ships turn to destroy it. DropShips from the Minotaur rescue a few survivors, who are immediately reassigned to man the understaffed Minotaur.
Commodore Theodore Rasmusen, CO of the Minotaur, notes that the Taurian ships had already begun to turn before the explosion crippled the Klingenthal and, after debriefing survivors, suspects sabotage. Due to combat damage he cannot report this to the friendly fleet sitting at the jump point and bound to jump out to Tentativa via a reasonably safe transmission; for a lack of other options he decides to use the Minotaur's Lithium-Fusion battery to reach the jump point from a nearby pirate point. En route the Minotaur experiences similar malfunctions as the Klingenthal had, and Rasmusen surmises they are being sabotaged, too. He pieces together information from the survivors and divines that the saboteurs were among a contingent of troops carried aboard the Klingenthal bound for the convoy's flagship at the jump point; because of a change of plans, the rendezvous was postponed, the personnel were not transferred to the flagship and so the Klingenthal was sabotaged instead. Rescued from the destroyed vessel, they are now active aboard the Minotaur.
With the ship failing around them, Rasmusen and his crew finally corner the saboteurs and overpower them before the damage is irreversible. Rasmusen is confident that he will be able to rescue the convoy yet, by arriving at the jump point in time and informing them of the looming Taurian trap.