The simplest way to protect a JumpShip from being
seized by boarding parties is not to be there when they attack.
As soon as a JumpShip arrives in-system, the crew should
waste no time in rigging out the "sail" and beginning to recharge
the Kearny-Fuchida drive system. When transferring cargo or
taking on supplies, the ship's own DropShips would be used if
possible. Special specific codes and prearranged signals
should be used as standard operating procedure during
communications between the DropShips and JumpShips prior
to the docking procedure. That way, the crew of the JumpShip
can learn well in advance whether or not everything is as it
should be aboard the DropShip. Codes for both normal and
emergency systems will give the JumpShip crew valuable time
to react appropriately.
If warning that a DropShip full of hostiles is approaching can be given, the defending crew can initiate a preplanned sequence of events in order to repel the boarders.
First, if at all feasible, the JumpShip should furl its sail and jump outsystem as quickly as possible. When the incoming DropShip is one of the jump vessel's own, this option is unpopular. Especially considering the price of DropShips, and the lives of their crew.
If it is impossible or unethical to simply abandon the DropShip, the JumpShip's crew must prepare to fight. The first line of defense should be the docking bay. One school of thought states that the defenders should attempt to use the access way between the DropShip and the JumpShip's cargo/docking bay to limit the number of attackers the defenders will have to face. Other tacticians say that the roomy docking bay provides the defenders with enough space to establish overlapping zones of fire originating from places within the bay and from access ways leading into the bay. Since most docking bays have thick, reinforced bulkheads (which guard against damage to the ship if a DropShip collides with the JumpShip during docking maneuvers). the docking bay is perhaps the only place in the entire ship where high-damage weapons could be used.
Given good luck and prior planning , the defenders may not only be able to save the JumpShip by making a stand at the docking bay, they may also be able to capture the enemy's DropShip. in more than one case, the attackers have been put on the defensive when the JumpShip crew made a fast assault through the open docking port into the hostile DropShip. This is, however, a touchy tactical problem. It is best left up to seasoned crews.
If the docking bay defense fails to repel the boarders, the crew should fall back in an orderly fashion to the next defensible position. An orderly withdrawal while under fire is a difficult procedure at best, even when accomplished by a series of leapfrog fire-and-move jumps. This operation resembles the procedure for clearing rooms already detailed, only in reverse.
Often an intersection or bend in a passageway provides the next best defensible position. At an intersection, the branching corridors provide lanes of fire for a ready-made crossfire. A blind turn in a passageway means that anyone coming around the corner will expose himself to fire from guns which have been all but bore-sighted on the angle.
As discussed above, the bridge and engineering sections of a JumpShip are the most vital areas of the vessel. They should be the last lines of defense. Most of the fighting in such places will be hand-to-hand, or will be conducted using low-power weapons like stunners and dart pistols, since neither side will be especially willing to damage or destroy the valuable and rare systems located there.
Classic Example
One classic example of JumpShip boarding operation is the case of the Raidan, an Invader class JumpShipwhich was seized in October 3024. On October 21, 3024, the Raidan was making a scheduled stop at Elgin in the Tikinov Commonality of the Capellan Confederation (now part of the Sarna March of the Federated Commonwealth). As the ship lay on station at the zenith point of the system's sun, she detached a Leopard class DropShip to make a delivery of machine parts to the planet. The Raidan rigged out her collector and began to recharge her K-F drives while awaiting the DropShip's return.
Unknown to the Raidan's crew, select members of the mercenary company Le Mat's Maulers had seized the DropShip. They returned it filled nearly to overflowing with the better part of an infantry company.
As soon as the docking bay crew had opened the locks between the two vessels, Le Mat's troops swarmed into the JumpShip. Having had no warning that their vessel was in danger, the crew took almost five minutes to react. By then it was too late. The boarders deployed rapidly throughout the vessel, capturing the engineering section and most of the crew's quarters before the startled crew could make a defense.
After several short firefights in the corridors, the boarders took control of the bridge in a bloody melee. The operation took twenty-seven minutes from start to finish. Out of eighty-four mercenaries, twenty-one were killed or seriously wounded. Among the dead was Captain Gaston Le Mat himself. Forty-eight of the seventy-five crewmen aboard the Raidan became casualties of the attack. The remaining twenty-seven crew members were released unharmed, except for injuries sustained during the battle, on the Marik world of Augustine, where the balance of Le Mat's Maulers was encamped with the company's 'Mechs, waiting for the spaceborne pirates to return.
Le Mat's seizure of the Raidan is an excellent example of the way boarding operations are supposed to work. The mercenaries were divided into several teams, each with a specific task to accomplish. Once the operation was underway, each team secured its area as quickly as possible.
Obviously, not all operations will go as smoothly as the capture of the Raidan, but with careful planning, proper training, and a substantial amount of good luck, a wellorganized good luck, a well-organized boarding party should be able to capture that most valuable of all space vessels, a JumpShip.
Harrison Coulter is a correspondent and investigative reporter currently working out of the New Avalon offices of BattleTechnology. Prior to becoming a journalist, he served six years with the New Syrtis Fusiliers, 3rd Infantry Support Battalion. The last two of those years, Coulter was a gunner aboard a Maxim Heavy Hover Transport Vehicle.
DISCLAIMER
It is neither the policy of BattleTechnology nor the personal habit of correspondent Harrison Coulter to condone or advocate the theft of property or piracy of space vessels. The foregoing article is presented merely as an overview of the problems faced by combatants in a zero-G environment.
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