“Launching,” Garibaldi acknowledged, and a pair of icons representing the second and third mines appeared on the Tactical plotter. “Mines two and three are away.”
“Good,” Middleton nodded, seeing that their present trajectory would take them dangerously close to their third target—another Cutter. He decided against modifying the plan and instructed, “We’ll reach launch position for mine number four in thirty seconds.”
“Thirty seconds,” Garibaldi confirmed, and after that interval had elapsed he declared, “launching mine four—she’s away.”
“Helm,” Middleton said promptly, “alter course and ensure that our engine flare remains off-line from these first three ships.”
“Understood,” Toto rumbled, and the Prejudice initiated a series of short, powerful bursts from her engines as the silent warship slowly established an intercept vector with the two Cruisers at the heart of the slaver formation.
“I am intercepting comm. chatter,” Hephaestion reported. “The Prejudice’s decryption programs appear to have cracked the pirates’ surprisingly effective security systems.”
“Is there anything actionable?” Middleton asked as he kept his eyes fixed firmly on the ship’s stealth systems, which were beginning to require significant inputs from him in order to maintain.
“Nothing yet.”
“Inform me if that changes,” Middleton said shortly as he re-routed power from the ship’s camouflage and EM suppression systems to the heat transference mechanisms—mechanisms which they still did not understand well enough to describe.
The Prejudice was uniquely, as far as Middleton was aware, capable of shunting what would otherwise be simple waste heat back into its Total Conversion power core. The net energy gain of doing so was dubious as far as their minimal equations suggested, but what was certain was that by shunting waste heat back into the power core the Prejudice left precious little in the way of a detectable wake.
Even after the many issues they’d had since boarding the sleek little warship, if Middleton was being honest with himself he had to admit that it was the perfect ship. The Prejudice was fast, she was sneaky, she had long-range guns capable of dishing out damage on the level of a Cruiser, and in addition to all of that she was surprisingly durable and required a tiny crew to operate.
He shuddered to think what might have happened to the Spineward Sectors if the Raubachs had managed to put this class of ship into mass production—Hades, even a handful of these ships would have changed the balance of power in Middleton’s home Sectors.
“Approaching the first Cruiser,” Hephaestion reported, perhaps unnecessarily.
“We’ll reach the launch zone in twenty seconds, Chief,” Middleton relayed to Mikey via the com-link.
“Mines five through eight are ready to go,” Mikey replied.
“Good,” Middleton acknowledged, and as the countdown reached zero he said, “launch mines five through eight.”
“Launching,” Garibaldi declared, and a few seconds later all four mines appeared on the Tactical plotter. Meanwhile, the first four mines had all successfully attached themselves to the hulls of their target warships—which was as good of a start as Middleton could hope for. “Mines five through eight are away.”
“Adjust course to—“ Middleton began, but he was interrupted by Hephaestion.
“Point transfers inbound, Captain,” the young Tracto-an reported.
“Confirm identities,” Middleton instructed, knowing that the Stalwart were very nearly scheduled to arrive—assuming they experienced nothing unexpected in terms of delays.
“Confi—“ Hephaestion began, only to stop mid-word before his voice hardened, “Imperial signatures detected, Captain: I’m reading eight Imperial Lupine-class Destroyers. Repeat: new arrivals are Imperial Destroyers and they are moving to intercept the slavers.”
“Helm: cut engines,” Middleton commanded, and Toto powered down the Prejudice’s engines. Doing so made it easier to maintain the stealth suite, which just became far more important than mining the second of the slavers’ Cruisers.
“Incoming transmission on hailing frequencies,” Hephaestion reported.
“Put it on.”
The image of a sharp-cheeked, black-haired man in his forties wearing the greys-and-blues of an Imperial Officer’s uniform appeared on the main viewer. “This is Captain Jonathon Stuart of the Imperial Navy. By order of Admiral DiCaprio, I am here to execute an arrest warrant for the slave-trading organization known as ‘Green from Red.’ All ships presently located in this star system are instructed to strike your reactors, heave to and await inspection teams.”
Middleton could not help but roll his eyes at hearing the tired old ‘inspection teams’ line regurgitated yet again by a self-assured Imperial.
A moment after Stuart’s broadcast ended, another image appeared on an adjacent screen. The image was of a square-jawed woman with tattoos covering nearly all of her face. Her hair was twisted into thick, matted lock which displayed little regard for the concept of gravity as their owner sneered, “We had a deal, Imp: I hand over the information and you issue us an official pardon!”
“The Imperial Fleet does not bargain with slavers and terrorists,” Captain Stuart smirked. “But, as a gesture of goodwill, I would advise you to forward whatever information you might have thought was worth trading in exchange for your freedom. Such a gesture would surely be viewed in as positive light when it comes time for your sentencing.”
The slaver woman glared, “Imperial scum!”
Stuart smirked before severing the connection, and his image on the viewer was replaced by the Tactical overlay of the nearby space.
“The Imperials are moving to outflank the slavers,” Middleton said, calling up possible escape trajectories which the pirates might use given their significantly slower Cruisers’ acceleration compared to that of the much faster Imperial Destroyers. “The Cutters might scatter and escape and one or two of the Corvettes could probably get away too, but the slaver Destroyer and Cruisers are trapped.”
The countdown to the Stalwart Battleships’ arrival had just gone into the negative, which meant they should be arriving any minute—again, assuming nothing untoward had delayed them.
“We wait for the Stalwart to arrive,” Middleton said as the Imperial Destroyers surged forward while the slaver ships pulled back as one, “and hold position here while the slavers and Imps go at each other. Three battleships against either group would be a winning proposition, but if the Imps and slavers join forces while they’re still fresh then things won’t be nearly as advantageous for us. The deeper the Imps drive the slavers into the system, the better our chances are to pin all of them down with our Battleships’ long guns.”
The Imperial warships split into three groups, with four Destroyers holding the center of their advance and two pairs of Destroyers splitting out wide along the orbital plane of the star systems’ four planets. The slavers, predictably, began to break to the polar north of the star system which prompted the four central Imp Destroyers to split into two pairs, with one pair hugging the orbital plane and the other burning at maximum speed to maintain position on the fleeing slavers.
Minutes passed as the faster Imperial warships tightened their grip on the enemy ships’ positions, and soon the first volleys of turbo-laser fire erupted from the Imperial guns.
Only the occasional hit registered, but the Imps were correctly targeting the Cutters and Corvettes first since those were the only ships that could escape if they broke formation.
A Cutter’s engines went down, and Middleton watched as the overlapping sensor grids of the pursuing Destroyers inched further and further from the Prejudice.
Another two minutes and he could re-engage the Prejudice’s engines in order to pursue the Imperial Destroyers.
But only one of those minutes elapsed before Hephaestion reported, “Hyper footprints detected, Captain—it’s the Stalwart Battleships.”
“Established a p2p with
the Duty and initiate automatic relay protocols,” Middleton commanded. “Put the Commander on as soon as you’ve set up the link.”
A few precious seconds passed before the young man reported, “Link established.”
“Commander,” Middleton said after seeing the surprised look on the Commander’s dark features, “we don’t have time to explain: maintain absolute comm. blackout until I order otherwise. Understood?”
The Commander’s eyes narrowed, “We detect Imperial signatures in this system.”
“Yes you do,” Middleton nodded, “and I’ve already got a plan. I’m transmitting the details to you now; I need to use the Duty’s transceiver array to convince the enemy I’m aboard your ship.”
The Commander seemed skeptical, but eventually consented, “We will maintain comm. blackout.”
“Good,” Middleton nodded, “Middleton out.”
“I have remote access to the Duty’s transceiver array, sir,” Hephaestion reported after several more seconds elapsed.
It was clear that the Stalwart Commander had taken his time in deciding whether or not to grant Middleton access to the array, but Middleton didn’t care at this point. The Imperial Destroyers had already faltered in their pursuit of the slavers, and Middleton knew he needed to give them a nudge to continue on their present course.
“Open a hailing channel routed through the Duty’s array,” Middleton said, “we need to remain absolutely hidden throughout this exchange—and, hopefully, throughout this entire encounter.”
“Understood, sir,” Hephaestion reported knowingly, “channel open.”
Middleton schooled his features, “This is Captain Middleton of the AG Battleship, Stalwart Duty. To all Imperial vessels: you are ordered to surrender immediately and unconditionally or we will open fire.”
Captain Stuart’s image returned to the viewer just as the Duty and her sister ships initiated a close-formation pursuit vector of the Imperials, “I am here to execute a lawfully authorized Imperial arrest warrant against the pirate syndicate, Green from Red. On whose authority do you demand our surrender?”
Middleton ground his teeth before replying, “On the authority of the Alliance Gorgonus, whose constituents you have repeatedly abused and persecuted while hiding behind precisely the same variety of ‘lawfully authorized’ orders which you now claim to be acting on. I have advice for you, Captain Stuart, though I very much doubt you’ll like it: if I were you, I’d tuck tail and run before you come under the range of my guns. Your current quarry will doubtless send a few volleys your way as you do so, but trust me,” he leaned forward grimly, “that would be eminently preferable to what I have in mind.”
Captain Stuart sneered, “I’m not familiar with that design of warship, and my family motto happens to be ‘test the unknown, do not fear it.’ So I fear I must decline your generous offer to accept my surrender, Captain Middleton. I hope you’re not too disappointed.”
Middleton smirked, “I’m going to be honest…I would have been disappointed with any other answer.”
Stuart’s eyes flashed with what looked like a moment of uncertainty before he cut the line, and Middleton returned his attention to the Tactical plotter. If he was careful—extremely careful—he might be able to deploy the rest of his mines on the second-nearest pair of Imperial Destroyers. Pursuing the nearest pair would expose his engine exhaust to at least one other pair of the Imperial warships, which would defeat the entire purpose of a stealthy approach.
“Helm, lay in a new course,” Middleton instructed as he issued digital commands to the Stalwart Commander aboard the Duty, “the stealth suite is at maximum so you’ll need to observe the proper protocols.”
“Understood,” Toto acknowledged.
The trio of Stalwart-crewed Battleships drove forward as the Imperial Destroyers came about, leaving the way clear for the slavers to flee. But Middleton had other plans for them.
“Remotely detonating mine number one,” Middleton declared, and several seconds later the sensors detected a crippling explosion aboard the first pirate Cutter. “Detonating mine number two,” he intoned, and again after the requisite time had elapsed the report of mine two exploding appeared on the Tactical plotter. “Put me on the hailing frequencies,” Middleton instructed, and Hephaestion quickly nodded in acknowledgment. “Slaver fleet,” Middleton said imperiously, “this is Captain Middleton of the Stalwart Duty. Prior to your arrival, this star system was seeded with high-grade grav-mines—mines which are now stuck to the hulls of each of your ships. For the sake of your crews, I hope that I have sufficiently demonstrated both their existence and their efficacy, though if further demonstrations are required I will be happy to provide them. However, I will not detonate those mines if you come about and pursue the Imperial Destroyers which, until a few minutes ago, thought themselves to be the predators and you the prey. I await your reply, but if I do not receive it in one hundred seconds I will be forced to detonate another round of mines.”
He made a slashing gesture to Hephaestion, who terminated the recording and said, “Message is away.”
Eighty seconds later the reply came via the tattoo-faced woman, “We have no quarrel with the Alliance Gorgonus; we only want to leave in peace.”
Middleton sighed as the slaver ships continued on their previous course, prompting him to gesture for Hephaestion to re-open the channel, “I see that a further demonstration is in order. I first detonated two mines, and now I will detonate three. The next time I will detonate four, and so it will continue until finally I destroy every last ship in your formation. Come about and engage the Imperials or you’re already dead—Middleton out.”
With that, he sent the detonation codes for mines four and five, and soon the report of the second Cutter being destroyed outright registered on his sensor feeds. The first and second mines attached to the Cruiser, meanwhile, exploded and caused massive damage to that ship’s forward hull—including, it seemed, to its gun deck.
Thankfully the slaver formation faltered and slowly, but surely, it began to come about.
“Good,” Middleton muttered, knowing that his bluff was almost certain to be exposed with the next round of explosions—which would have been the last round, since he only had three more mines planted on their ships. “Even if they don’t rush to engage the Imps, they’ll cut off those Destroyers’ possible escape paths and make our job that much easier.”
The Stalwart Battleships drove further into the star system while the Imperial Destroyers split apart from their previous arrangement of pairs. The Destroyers opened fire on the AG Battleships several seconds before the Stalwart Commander’s people returned the favor. Predictably, the Imperials’ accuracy was higher—but by simple dint of overwhelming firepower, the AG capital ships landed more hits by nearly two to one.
“Six hits on the Battleships, eleven on the Imperial Destroyers,” Hephaestion reported as Middleton fought to balance the power demands of the Prejudice’s stealth suite. “The Stalwart are breaking formation,” Hephaestion reported as the Stalwart Commander correctly implemented the suggested course of action which Middleton had drawn up for him.
If the Stalwart permitted the Imperials to outflank them, then the Imperial Destroyers could regain the hyper limit while constantly hammering away on the AG warships. The best case scenario in such an exchange was for the Stalwart warships to prove too resilient for the long-range, relatively limited firepower of the Imperials, which would give Captain Stuart cause to flee the system. The worst case scenario was that the Imperials, through some combination of well-placed shots and equipment failures aboard the Prichtac-built warships, actually managed to knock one of Middleton’s capitals out of the fight.
If that happened, eight Imperial Lupine-class Destroyers would be more than a match for two slower Battleships since they largely lacked attendant escort ships. They did have four gunships assigned to each Battleship, but Middleton wanted to keep those a surprise for the time being—especially since the Destroyers could
maintain range even on the fast, powerful gunships once they saw them coming.
The best outcome for this battle was one where several—though, unfortunately, not all—of the Imperial warships were taken down while the Prichtac-built, Stalwart-crewed Battleships sustained only minor damage before the majority of the Imperial squadron retreated.
If Middleton was lucky, he might even be able to capture one or two of the precious Imperial-built warships.
“Five minutes to mine deployment,” Toto reported, and Middleton quickly confirmed the uplift’s numbers.
“Steady as she goes, Helm,” Middleton acknowledged.
The Imperials exchanged another round of fire with the AG Battleships, and this time the numbers were closer to even with eight hits for the Imps and nine in return for the Stalwart.
“Destroyer Six has suffered damage to its primary hull,” Hephaestion reported with satisfaction, “it’s rolling and breaking off from the attack.”
As it happened, Destroyer Six was one of the two which Middleton had originally targeted. It was no accident that the Stalwart had focused their fire on that ship and its wingman; Middleton had hoped to drive those ships back toward the Prejudice and her mines, which he had clearly succeeded in doing.
“New time to mine deployment: three minutes,” Middleton reported approvingly. “Chief, is your launcher ready?”
“It is,” Mikey acknowledged, “but I’d really like to get back to the engine room; the stealth system’s drawing a lot of juice and we’re starting to encounter some anomalies within the grav-plate controls.”
“Understood,” Middleton said grimly. “We’ll launch these last four mines together.”
“Good to hear, Cap,” Garibaldi quipped.
Middleton held back the handful of retorts he wanted to issue to his longtime friend, instead focusing on balancing the Prejudice’s stealth systems.
The Middle Road (Spineward Sectors: Middleton's Pride Book 7) Page 17