The Peacekeepers. Books 7 - 9 (The Peacekeepers Boxset Book 3)

by Ricky Sides

  “Fire when ready,” ordered the captain. “We’d best keep our distance until we deal with that ship. There’s no telling how big the secondary explosions will be, so we need to be careful that we aren’t destroyed along with them.”

  The gunner sighted carefully and activated his main forward laser. The beam of energy lanced into the side of the ship, boring into the cargo hold. The explosive red pulses raced down the beam. In less than five seconds, secondary explosions were beginning to detonate inside the hold of the ship.

  Now the gunner turned his attention to other ships. As he sighted on what he thought would be a troop transport, the gunner was already selecting his third target. He was just firing at the suspected troop transport when there was a blinding explosion. Something big had detonated on the munitions ship. The blinding flash of light had just registered on their senses when the shockwave hit. The Arizona was severely buffeted for a moment, but then the shockwave had passed. Staring at the ship in amazement, the gunner saw that most of the upper superstructure was gone. The force of the explosion had obliterated it. Several of the neighboring ships had suffered damage that ranged from severe to moderate. Two of the ships closest to the munitions ship appeared to be sinking.

  “Fire at will, Gunny,” Namid quietly reminded the amazed gunner.

  “Right, sorry,” he responded and then he opened fire on three ships in rapid succession.

  “Here they come, Captain. They are making a run to attempt to drive us away,” Namid reported as several ships broke away from the fleet to engage the Arizona.

  “Come about as if we are running for the bay, once we are far enough from the rest of the fleet that they can’t add their firepower to the attack, come about and engage the pursuing ships,” the captain ordered.

  “Aye, Captain,” responded Namid. Turning to her gunner friend, she said, “You’d better be sharp or else you’ll miss an excellent opportunity.”

  “Do I ever let a good shot slip by me?” asked the gunner.

  “I’ve never executed this maneuver before, nor have any other patrol ship pilots,” Namid responded.

  “Alright, Namid, I’ll be ready. Just keep it between the navigational buoys. I’d hate to run aground at our speed,” the gunner said.

  Namid brought the Arizona about in a gentle turn. She was deliberately giving the pursuing ships plenty of time to draw closer to the ship before making her run toward the bay.

  The pirates closed half the distance to the Arizona before Namid increased her rate of acceleration. The Arizona shot away from the pursuing ships at an incredible rate of speed. The gunner’s eyes widened in alarm when he saw Namid’s hand flick out and activate the toggle switch that would raise the ship a few feet above the surface of the river. He knew the maneuver was utilized to execute turns, but he could easily see that they had insufficient room to execute a turn before running into one of the banks of the river. Namid’s other hand killed the forward momentum drive and she spun the Arizona on its axis.

  “I can’t believe you just did that!” exclaimed the gunner, but he fired as he saw the pursuing ships heading for them.

  The momentum of the Arizona prevented the pursuing pirates from closing the distance. Meanwhile, the gunner was well within lethal range for his laser weaponry. He utilized it to good affect. In rapid succession, he sank two ships, but then Namid had to spin the Arizona back around to make sure they weren’t approaching an obstacle.

  “That was impressive Namid. I see you took Jim’s request to heart,” Captain Wilcox observed.

  “Of course, you know I’d fly through hell for the Admiral, Captain,” Namid responded.

  “So would I,” Jack said with a grin. “Just don’t execute that maneuver unless you’re certain we won’t run into anything while we’re flying backwards.”

  “Coming about for a direct attack, Gunny,” Namid advised. Then she said, “I always check my airspace, Captain.”

  This time, the Arizona engaged three ships that were still attempting to drive her away from the enemy fleet. The peacekeeper aircraft sank one ship, and turned to fight another when the remaining vessel turned tail to run. Namid held the patrol ship steady so that the gunner could finish off the ship he was currently engaging, but the moment he said, “Done!” she turned and pursued the fleeing vessel.

  “Core the stern, and be prepared for a strafing run. I’m going to take us past the ships and fly away to the north in order to make them think we’re leaving. Then we’ll swing wide and approach from the rear again,” Namid instructed Gunny.

  “Roger that, Namid,” responded Gunny. The man loved working with her. She was a superb pilot who intimately understood the need for the gunner to be in on such maneuvers so that he could take full advantage of the targeting opportunities.

  Moments later, the Arizona swept over the left side of the pirate armada. The gunner laid down a barrage with his laser minigun while simultaneously targeting soft targets such as fuel drums on two ships with his main laser.

  ***

  In the Gulf of Mexico, the battle was winding down when Patricia received word that the northern pirate fleet was now within sight of the capital. She relayed the news to her husband as he studied the charts of the area. Tim was about to order the fleet to fly north for the capital at best speed to reinforce the peacekeepers in the city when Patricia received a message from the Miami base that another flotilla of pirates had just sailed round the southern tip of Florida.

  “How many ships are in this group?” Tim asked in resignation.

  “There are twenty, but one of them appears to be a troop ship. The Miami base says they intercepted a weak transmission that apparently gives us their target. These ships are supposedly heading for Havana, Captain.”

  “Advise Ramon, he’ll need to warn their base. It’s possible that others are already en route for the city and we missed them. Tell him I’m keeping the southern peacekeeper element here until I know there is no longer a threat from the southern pirate fleet. Then advise Jim and Pete of this development. Tell them we’ll get there as soon as we can, but they may have to hold out tonight,” Tim instructed.

  “Yes, Captain,” responded Patricia.

  Tim knew they were rapidly running out of options. They had been fighting on low power reserves for hours. The truth of the matter was that they needed some downtime so that their batteries could recharge. To make matters worse, the weather was turning foul. It was beginning to look as if a bad storm was brewing. He had already sent the fighters to the camp at Key West because the weather was so bad, but now he was considering ordering them to fly on to the Lake Charles base.

  With no modern weather monitoring anymore, there was no warning when hurricanes entered the Gulf of Mexico, but the Cubans had advised him that their people were preparing for a bad storm. The oldest among the Cuban population had a good sense of when the hurricanes were approaching, and they had warned the Cuban peacekeepers in the past. Tim couldn’t afford to ignore the warning.

  The moment that Patricia told him she had relayed his messages, Tim said, “Contact Cowboy. Tell him I said the orders have changed, and they are to proceed to the Lake Charles, Louisiana base. In the morning, I want every available fighter from that base sent to D.C. Tell him the weather conditions here are worsening, so I want the fighters sent north where they can do the most good.”

  “Will do, Captain,” Patricia replied.

  ***

  Bran Lynch was standing on the deck of his ship, when the munitions ship was hit by the Arizona. He felt the massive concussive force rock the ship, and saw men standing in the open blown off the deck of his ship. Fortunately, he was standing beside the wheelhouse at the time. The structure sheltered him from the worst affects of the shockwave.

  When the ship stabilized, Bran entered the wheelhouse and studied the east side of the fleet as best he could. He readily saw the damage from the massive explosion. Almost immediately, his radioman was besieged by incoming calls from the captains of
the fleet, demanding to know if they were going to turn and leave. For the past two days, there had been a great deal of disenchantment in their ranks. Many captains felt they had lost too many ships in this venture. They were ready to call it quits and return to Europe, where the victims didn’t have the capability to resist them. They pointed out that they would rather take on the British than continue to prosecute this war against such a deadly and determined foe.

  It had taken all of Bran’s power of persuasion to keep the captains in line with his plans. He had reminded them that there was no reason to assume that the peacekeepers would simply let them sail away unmolested if they broke off their attack. Lynch pointed out that the peacekeepers could just as easily pursue them, picking them off one by one, unless they were soundly defeated. Now he made a transmission in the open so that all of the ships of his armada could hear him. Captain Lynch reminded the captains that they had killed all of the little drones, taken out all of the fighters, and severely damaged the big ships. He then said, “We are standing on the verge of victory and you fools want to quit. Well then, I say to hell with you. Leave if you will. I can finish these people off with my own fleet. I don’t need to split the treasures with you.” He let that sink in for a moment, and then he said, “My mate is waiting to write down the names of the captains who want to stay for a share in the treasure. Sound off or leave. It makes no difference to me because the more of you who leave, the bigger the split for us that stay the course. So decide, but decide now.”

  For a long three seconds silence answered his challenge, but then the first captain announced his plans to stay for a cut of the national treasures of America. He was followed in rapid succession by a host of others. Soon it became apparent to Lynch that the emergency had passed, and the fleet would stick together.

  Lynch made a mistake in transmitting that set of messages in the open. All across America, Peacekeeper bases heard the transmission and recorded it. The recordings were brought to the attention of the base commanders, who listened irately, as the captain spoke of defeating peacekeepers and splitting the treasures of America. The Detroit base commander was having dinner with Bob Reager and Mick Ryan who were respectively, the President of Reager Industries, and the President of the Detroit auto manufacturing facility. When the message was delivered to him, the base commander excused himself to listen to it. He then returned to the two men and told them he would have to leave them, because of an emergency that had arisen.

  Both men had seen the video that Jim had released that morning, and they were naturally curious. Bob Reager said, “I hope the war isn’t going badly.”

  “I’m afraid it is, Bob,” the commander said. Then he played the recording for them. Both men blanched at what they heard.

  Mick Ryan was the first to speak. He asked, “Commander, do you have thirty men with flight experience that you can spare?”

  “What have you got in mind?” the commander asked.

  “We have thirty APCs waiting to be delivered to the peacekeepers. They are unarmed of course, but they might be of use in evacuating your people,” Mick pointed out.

  “Yes indeed they would. They’d also be handy for transporting personnel to the capital. You’re willing to let us take possession of them before you’re paid?” the commander asked.

  “This is an emergency, and I’m an American. Right now, I’m an irate American. Who the hell do these pirates think they’re dealing with?!! Yes, Commander. Just send the men to pick up the APCs. I know you peacekeepers will pay for them when you can, but we need to avert a catastrophe,” Mick said.

  “Reager Industries would also like to help. We’ll sell the peacekeepers enough materials to replace your loses at cost. Our board has already voted on the matter, but I’ve yet to be able to reach the council with the news,” Bob Reager explained.

  “Gentlemen, on behalf of the council, I thank you,” the commander said. He then excused himself and went to get the right people moving on the plan.

  ***

  Pete and Jim were inspecting the fortifications when they heard a loud explosion. A moment later, the shockwave swept through the area with such force that it knocked several men off their feet.

  Moving to the wall, they looked out into the river. Far in the distance, they saw smoke rising into the sky. They knew that Captain Wilcox had to have destroyed a munitions ship for such a powerful shockwave to hit the city. “I’m glad they hit it out there,” Pete stated. “Just imagine what that would have done had it been just offshore in the river.”

  The two men returned to their battle preparations. They had already arranged for several surprises. They were interrupted when Lieutenant Teresa Connors sent them a message stating that she had recorded a series of messages being sent by the enemy. Jim asked her to play that set of messages. He and Pete listened via the hat radios that they still utilized, even though they were no longer aboard the Peacekeeper. Now their hats were tied into the communications system of the Valiant. When the message concluded, Jim thanked Teresa.

  “He’s smart,” Pete observed. “He knew exactly how to manipulate them, but the question is, can we use anything in that set of messages against them?”

  “We could transmit to the fleet that we already moved most of the national treasures. That might make them more willing to leave. We could even promise them safe passage back to their territory,” Jim observed. “But I’m against that option. If we let them go, they’ll just come back later. Now they know how to defeat us. All they need do is acquire EMP weapons and sufficient missiles to stop us cold.”

  “Pol will have to come up with a solution to that EMP vulnerability,” Pete stated.

  “Yes, but that may not be possible for the older sections of the fleet. New versions might be designed with adequate shielding, but retrofitting the fleet would be next to impossible. Even if we laminated the hulls to triple their current thickness, I doubt the shielding would be adequate. What we really need is tri-hulled ships, such as the Constitution.”

  “It sounds as if you’ve been doing some research on the topic,” Pete observed.

  “I have, and what I learned was disturbing. I think we’ll face such weapons again, Pete,” Jim said.

  “I hope you’re wrong, because they sure wreck havoc with our battle strategies.”

  “I hope I’m wrong. Hell, anything is preferable to a weapon that knocks our fleet out of the sky like those EMP weapons,” Jim explained.

  “There go our ships,” Pete said.

  Turning to face the direction in which Pete was staring, Jim saw the Valiant, the Constitution, and the APCs all head out toward the oncoming fleet. Soon, Jim saw lasers flashing and heard the sound of hundreds of deck guns opening fire at the peacekeeper ships. For ten minutes, the meager peacekeeper fleet fought the enemy, but then they broke off and flew back to their assigned places. Then, Jim saw the Arizona fly past one side of the enemy flotilla, executing a brilliant strafing run as they did so. The Arizona soon flew past their position, and disappeared to the north. “She’ll bring her about in a wide turn and return to harass the enemy flank,” Jim stated speculatively.

  “Shall we launch our first surprise attack the moment they begin to attempt to disembark from their ships?” asked Pete.

  “I thought you’d never ask,” Jim stated with a wicked grin.

  “You’re in rare good humor for a man in such dire straights,” Pete quipped.

  “And you’re acting awfully spry for a man with a bad ticker” Jim retorted.

  If any other man had said that to Pete, he would have been angered, but when Jim said it, Pete just smiled and said, “You’re right. You know, Jim, I’ve always heard a man gets better right before he dies. I never paid much heed to that until I had a personal reason to take notice. The past few days, I’ve felt reinvigorated. I’ll tell you something, Jim. Something that I’ve already told Maggie and Lisa. If something happens to me, I want you to know that I think Evan would make a fine match for Lisa. I love that girl as
if she were my own flesh and blood. I love Maggie more than any woman I’ve ever known. I love Evan, and I love you like a son, despite the fact that you’re too old to be my son, but if I have to die soon, I couldn’t be happier. I’ll be dying with my old vitality intact. The worst way to go, as far as I’m concerned, is a little at a time, confined to home, or restricted in numerous ways. I want to die just as I’ve lived my life. Free of restrictions and as a man.”

  “What’s all this talk of dying, Pete?” Jim asked with a concerned expression on his face.

  “Actually, I’d rather ask you a question, Jim. Do you approve of Lisa as a match for Evan?” asked Pete.

  “Yes. Yes, of course I do, Pete. I thought I’d told you that already,” Jim stated.

  “You’ve never said so directly. You just said you thought they needed time, and I agree that they are still too young,” Pete stated.

  “Well, Pete, Lisa is an adorable girl who obviously loves Evan. I think she’d make him an excellent wife,” Jim clarified.

  “Despite the fact that Maggie says the odds are she’ll never bear children?” Pete asked.

  “What the hell is wrong with you, Pete? You know damned well why she’s looking at that prognosis.” Jim stated angrily.

  “So you’d like my daughter as a daughter-in-law?” asked Pete.

  “Have you gone deaf?” asked Jim.

  “No, I just don’t like asking favors, so I’m stalling for time,” Pete stated.

  “Is that it?” Jim asked. He relaxed then and with a smile he said, “Well don’t stall too long. We need to be ready for the enemy when they get here.”

  “If something happens to me, would you look after Maggie and Lisa for me?” Pete asked, surprising Jim, who would never have expected him to need to ask that question.

  Jim looked crestfallen. His shoulders slumped in disappointment as he asked, “Do you really need to ask me that question? After all that we’ve been through together?”