by Ricky Sides
At regular intervals around the fort, there were both small and large window-like openings. The small openings were situated low on the walls, but well above the waterline. These one hundred forty-six openings in the lower level were originally designed for the cannons housed at the fort, and iron shutters had covered them. The larger openings were spaced considerably higher on the wall, and directly above the small openings.
The reconnaissance mission flown by the drones had mapped out numerous heavy machinegun positions in both the lower level embrasures and the larger openings on the upper level. Tim thought that the larger openings were unfinished casements that would have housed additional cannons. He knew that construction had stopped on the fort before it had been completed. He also knew that prior to the night of the quakes, it had been a National Park and that under the stewardship of the National Park service, efforts at renovations had been undertaken.
Trying to take the embrasures from the ocean side would prove costly. The pirates knew how to set up good defensive positions. They had cleverly set up their machinegun posts in such a manner that the guns could easily help cover each other if they came under attack. It would be next to impossible to attack one position without coming under fire from several others.
Tim had been well aware of all these facts as he had worked with the other captains to lay out a sound plan for taking the fort, while doing their best to preserve as much as possible of the historic structure.
***
Captain Alfred Petronellie was a cruel Italian who had risen to power among the pirates by virtue of his ruthlessness. Alfred had formed a small hardcore militia a few years prior to the night of the quakes with the deliberate intentions of becoming what the peacekeepers termed marauders. Their plan was to take what they wanted from others in the wake of a breakdown of law and order. They were driven by a survival of the fittest mentality. At the height of the disasters, preceding the quakes, their militia activated to take advantage of the chaos. The group quickly discovered that to keep their loot safe, they needed to keep it in a remote area, which made accessing new victims problematic. One day, a few months after the night of the quakes, Alfred and his men traveled for hours to a remote village with the intentions of securing food and other valuables. Much to their disgust, they discovered that a band of pirates had recently landed at the village and carried away everything of real value. This set Alfred to thinking about the advantages of becoming a pirate, and the more he thought about it, the more he realized that there were many advantages.
Petronellie and his band of men traveled to another small coastal city. At the waterfront, they discovered a small wooden pleasure boat in which they put to sea. Their first victims were other seafarers aboard a small cargo ship who stopped to aid them when they feigned distress. Thus began a ruthless career of one of the most brutal pirate bands that sailed the Western European coastline. Eventually, Captain Petronellie caught the eye of Bran Lynch, who had valued the man’s organizational skills. During the planning for the invasion of American waters, Captain Lynch decided to send the ruthless band to the Florida Keys area where they were to occupy Fort Jefferson. His orders were to organize the defenses in such a manner that the fort would become impregnable. To that end, Lynch had ordered every major captain of the fleet to contribute weapons and ammunition, which were loaded aboard Petronellie’s personal fleet of seventeen ships that he had acquired over the years. Lynch’s grand plan called for the occupation of all of the islands of the Florida Keys, but Fort Jefferson was the linchpin. In Lynch’s eyes, the people who controlled Fort Jefferson controlled the Gulf of Mexico.
As other ships made it to the island, they were to offload their cargos of food, ammunition, and additional weaponry.
At first, everything had gone smoothly for Captain Petronellie. They had taken Fort Jefferson unopposed, and proceeded to set up their defenses. Day after day, the men had worked at a feverish pitch as they sought to set up their defenses. That had been an anxious period for the men, who were afraid that the Americans would discover them before they had established their defenses. Had that happened, the pirates would have been in a bad position, but the lower tier of machinegun emplacements had gone online, and the upper tier followed without so much as a flyby on behalf of the Americans.
Then, things had started to go bad for the pirates. First, the cistern that was supposed to contain fresh water had been contaminated by seawater seepage. That meant that the island fortress had no supply of drinkable water. Therefore, the captain had ordered barrels set up to catch rainwater from several runoff collection points inside the fort, but it hadn’t rained a drop since they’d come ashore, and the captain was beginning to wonder if it ever rained on the island. He knew that a portion of the plan had involved the arrival of a ship that was transporting portable water purification units, which would provide water for the men garrisoned on the island. Those units had been scheduled to arrive the previous week, but so far, the ship bringing them hadn’t arrived.
Now, Captain Alfred Petronellie found himself waiting for the return of the peacekeepers, who had already eliminated a considerable number of the guards carrying shoulder fired missiles, and then turned their attention to the ships at anchor. He’d watched angrily as the aircraft attacked the fleet of ships. When his men began firing their machineguns at the aircraft they saw attacking the ships, the captain ordered them to stop wasting their ammunition and prepare to defend the fort.
Alfred wasn’t terribly concerned about being stranded at the fort. He knew that eventually, other ships of the fleet would arrive, but he was concerned about the air power, which was certain to turn on the fort as soon as the ships had all been disabled.
“Here they come, Captain!” one of the pirates shouted
Staring out at the area above the ships, Captain Petronellie saw the drones rise straight up into the air. They then flew directly toward the casements where the defensive guns were housed along the south side of the wall. The captain thought the drones were making a suicide run at the gun emplacements with the intentions of ramming them. “Fire!” he shouted.
Many of the fifty heavy machineguns facing south opened fire, but many of the gunners hadn’t heard the order to fire their weapons. However, the rest joined in as they realized that the captain must have issued the order to fire.
As they made the mad charge at the walls of the fort, eight drones were hit and destroyed, but the remaining drones accomplished their mission, which was to gain entry into the southern section of the wall. They hadn’t been flying at the guns, but rather were flying toward the unoccupied casements. In both the lower and the upper tiers, drones soon fought gun crews who struggled to turn their weapons around to face the threat they found inside the walls with them. The casements were interconnected via walkways, so that once the drones were inside one casement, they had only to turn and advance toward another. The fighting was intense for the first six minutes. Slowly, casement by casement, the drones defeated the men manning the gun emplacements.
During this attack, the drones were specifically targeting personnel, and were deliberately attempting to leave the weapons intact. Tim wanted to seize as many of those weapons as possible. It was hard for the peacekeepers to obtain good machineguns. There were enough located at the fort to fill in many gaps in the peacekeeper defenses.
The peacekeepers won the battle for the southern wall, but it was an expensive victory in terms of losses, as they lost another seven drones taking that section of the fort. Taking the section didn’t mean they’d be able to retain it. The enemy was quick to turn some of the weapons along the northern wall to face the south. Then the fighters flew up to the southern wall. Firing through the large open casements of the southern wall, they were able to take out a substantial number of the northern wall armaments. Unfortunately, most of the machineguns were destroyed in the process, but clearing that wall would save lives during the next phase of the battle, so the weapons were expendable.
For
two minutes, the fighters battled it out with the pirate gunners. Their bullet resistant airframes gave them a modicum of protection, whereas, the men in the casements had none. More than one fighter suffered a ruined canopy, and when they were hit in that manner, the pilots had to bug out, but they survived to return to Key West where they could be repaired.
At the end of those two minutes, the fighters went for altitude and flew over the southern wall. They then maneuvered their fighters so that they could begin working the southern sections of the east and west walls. Targeting the casements, they caused the gun crews to attempt to turn their guns back toward them. Many of the gun crews had turned their weapons to face the south in anticipation of the drones coming around the southern corners and heading for them. When the fighters flew into the courtyard, they had a period of a full minute with no enemy weaponry trained on them. The gun crews they targeted with their conventional and laser miniguns never had a chance. Then, someone fired a missile at one of the fighters, but the man firing rushed the shot, causing the missile to pass harmlessly over the top of the canopy. The errant projectile passed through one of the large open casements and flew out to sea. The fighters went for altitude and flew away to the west and east of their respective walls.
While the fighters were engaging the enemy from the courtyard, the APCs flew up beside the large open casements of the southern wall and the doors opened. The strike teams of the patrol ships surged out of the APCs and entered the upper tier. The seventy-seven men of the seven strike teams spread out and checked the bodies of the enemy, and then began to move toward the east and west walls. One of the men saw a puff of smoke from the northern wall. He shouted, “Incoming missile!” and as one, the strike teams who heard the warning dove for cover. The missile struck the wall between two of the upper casements. The resultant explosion blew a deep hole in the wall, but it didn’t penetrate beyond a couple of feet. Thus, the resultant brick and mortar fragments were forced along the path of least resistance, which was back out into the courtyard.
In the aftermath of the explosion, a single rifle shot fired. “Got him,” reported a sniper. All along the southern wall, the strike team snipers waited patiently for more of the enemy to attempt to launch their missiles. They also shot anyone they could see in order to keep them from turning their undamaged machineguns on the southern wall. Three times, snipers killed men attempting to get into position to fire missiles at the peacekeepers before they could manage to launch their projectiles. Two more missiles were fired, but the pirates firing them were justifiably nervous. Their shots were erratic. One passed harmlessly through an upper tier casement and the other went over the top of the wall.
The rest of the men followed in the wake of the drones, which swept around the corners and began their effort to take the west and east walls. As they had done on the southern wall, the drones attempted to take out personnel and leave their weapons intact, but that wasn’t always possible. These pirates had had more time to prepare, so more of their gun emplacements were already facing the drones.
Inside the Peacekeeper, Pol winced as the pirates shot down drone after drone. Noting his reactions, Tim said, “I’m sorry about your drones, Pol, but better them, than the men behind them.”
“I know, my friend. I just hope we can recover some of the lasers. Some of the components are getting hard to locate,” Pol stated.
“When this is over, we’ll make every effort to recover all usable equipment, but it won’t be over when we defeat this group. Others may attempt to come here. We’re going to have to maintain a presence in Key West for a while. We also have the northern fleet with which to contend. They’ll be in Washington tonight. We need to wrap this up and head for D.C.”
“Captain, the Havana is calling. They are engaging several pirate ships that just entered the Gulf. They are asking if you can send word to the Miami fighters so that they can give an assist,” Patricia informed Tim.
The repairs to the Havana had been completed before the peacekeepers left Key West to execute their mission against Fort Jefferson and the ships at anchorage there, but Tim had asked a favor of the Cuban captain. He had requested that the Havana and her fighter escorts patrol the area near the southern tip of Florida, which was the most likely route to be utilized by other pirates heading for the fort. Captain Marino had agreed, and Tim had authorized the replacement of the Cuban drones in gratitude.
“How many ships are they facing?” Tim asked.
“They are sending a video feed now, sir. Transferring it to the main viewing monitor,” Patricia stated efficiently.
Tim stared at the monitor in frustration. Stretched out on the surface of the sea he saw approximately sixty ships. Thinking for a moment, Tim said, “Tell Captain Marino help is on the way and then put me in the command channel.”
Patricia relayed the message to the Havana, and then switched the channel to the one Tim had requested. “Ready when you are, Captain,” she said.
Tim spoke decisively into the microphone as he said, “The Havana and her escorts are fighting another convoy of around sixty ships that are probably making for this island. I need the California, the Nevada, and the Colorado to join the Havana. Don’t worry about your strike teams. I’ll see to it that they all get back aboard my ship. All fighters from those states will accompany the patrol ships. Withdraw your drones, but let others take their positions first, so we don’t leave gaps in the advancing lines. I’ll be contacting the Miami base and have their fighters redirected to the Havana as well. The moment we have ended the resistance here, we’ll join you.”
A short time later, the peacekeeper assets heading on the latest mission, left Fort Jefferson and flew to rendezvous with the Havana, which was picking off the ships one by one, by isolating them with massed strafing runs. Once the pirate captain turned to avoid the fighters, he soon found himself without the benefit of the firepower of the rest of his armada.
Inside Fort Jefferson, Captain Petronellie realized that there was no way he could win the battle against the peacekeepers. He sought terms for surrender, but a strike team leader informed him that the terms must be unconditional. He didn’t like the sound of that at all, so he refused to surrender. Instead, he organized his men in a desperate mass charge at the west and east sides of the fort. His reasoning was that if they could pin down large numbers of peacekeeper ground troops, then maybe they would be willing to negotiate terms of surrender to his liking, but the pirates hadn’t counted on the superb training of the strike force personnel they were facing. The infamous Captain Petronellie was one of the last to die in the twenty-minute battle that ensued. Eight peacekeepers were wounded during the furious fighting. Three were seriously wounded, but thanks to their ballistics clothing and hard body armor, none suffered life-threatening injury. The wounded were carried to the south wall where they were picked up by the APCs and transported to the Peacekeeper.
It took the peacekeepers another half hour to search the lower tier and eliminate a few pockets of resistance. Then they turned their attention to securing the valuable assets inside the fort.
Inside the Peacekeeper, Tim turned to Pol, whom he knew would be upset at the loss of so many drones. He said, “Pol, I think this is your finest hour.”
When Pol turned a questioning stare his way, Tim added, “Even with the air support we could provide with the ships and fighters, the ground losses we would have suffered without your drones would have been staggering. The drones made it possible to take the fort without losing peacekeepers in the process. I primarily attribute this one sided victory to the drones. And in case you don’t know how they feel, just look and see what the strike teams think about the matter,” Tim said in closing as he pointed to a monitor.
Pol looked at the monitor that Tim had indicated and his eyes widened in surprise. As he watched the scenes unfolding, his eyes grew misty with emotion. The strike teams had been busy with the damaged drones. Working in teams, they had carried the drones into the open courtyard inside the
fort, and arranged them in neat rows for pickup by the Peacekeeper. Only when the last of the drones had been salvaged, did the teams begin to gather the machineguns.
“I’d say they make their feelings on the matter plain for all to see,” Tim said with a smile.
“Will we pick them up soon?” Pol asked. When Tim nodded, Pol said, “Then with your permission, I’ll get to the cargo bay. I think I saw a couple that we can repair as we fly to the next armada.”
“By all means, Pol,” Tim answered. In a loud voice, he then asked, “Drone operators whose birds are down, do you want to help Pol attempt emergency repairs on some drones before the next engagement with the pirates?”
“Hell, yes. I mean… Sorry, Captain, but yes, I want to help!” said one of the drone operators.
Pol smiled at the men who had jumped to their feet. “Then, let us see if we can repair some of the damage to our friends the drones,” he said, and then he led them out of the control room.
“Helm, land near the drones in the courtyard, but beware our forces in the area. Patricia, announce our intentions to land to begin recovering drones and weapons. Tell the fighters to remain vigilant. All drones are to land and lock down on the patrol ships. I want them charging for the next battle.”
Chapter 17
The pirate fleet approached the coastline of the United States, sailing over post-disaster submerged Cape Charles, and then altered course for the Potomac River. The original plan had been for the peacekeeper battle group to meet the enemy armada in Chesapeake Bay, but having lost the fighting capability of the Valiant, and so many drones and fighters during the last engagement with the enemy, Jim reconsidered the plan. Now, he felt it best to wait until they were entering the mouth of the Potomac, which would force the enemy into tighter formations; thus, the peacekeepers could more readily maximize their damage with fewer assets.