Hold the Star: Samair in Argos: Book 2

by Michael Kotcher

  Which, Peredes mused, was his prerogative. The fat, smelly toad was nasty piece of work. He had to be hiding something.

  But that was something for another time. Peredes hadn’t been given any orders to hunt that crew down. He had no intention of attacking a ship in another nation’s star system. Wars started over things like that. And while the sensors had indicated that the battlecruiser was in lousy shape, it wouldn’t take much for that ship to rip this convoy and its escorts to pieces. His frigates were tough by the standards of the Argos Cluster. They were outfitted with heavy lasers, a pair of grasers in the forward chase armament, and a pair of side missile launchers. But they were no match for even a decrepit battlecruiser. If that ship was playing possum… Peredes shook his head. He couldn’t risk it.

  He waved his hand dismissively. “Keep an eye on them, sensors, but I’m not going to worry about them right now. They’re someone else’s problem. Communications, where’s my channel to the station?”

  The comms officer looked over to him. “Ready, Marklan.” He pointed to Peredes, signaling he was on a live mike.

  “Seylonique Orbital station, this is Marklan Peredes Turco aboard the frigate Adroit. I have six freighters in convoy looking to sell cargoes. In addition, we are looking to recruit workers and spacers for back in Ulla-tran. Please advise with docking instructions.”

  Chapter 20

  “What the hell are they doing?” Kamerov said quietly, watching the two local warships suddenly change course away from the fueling station. Legacy and Ravage had been chasing the two ships for a while now, and suddenly, when they were almost in range, the two ships divert course away from what had to be their only help against the two Republic warships.

  “I’m not sure,” Duncan Harth replied, watching his own display. It was damned peculiar, that they would turn away. Perhaps there were no defenses there at the station after all. But then if that was the case, why would they lead Harth there to begin with. It wasn’t as if there was only one vector that those ships could take. They could have flown in any direction, so why take that one? Was there something on the station that they wanted the Republic ships to stay away from? Something valuable? If Legacy and Ravage turned away now, it would take a while to turn back around and get back to the station.

  Back to the station… Why had he chose that particular phrasing, even in his own mind? Then he had it. “Helm, alter course to two-five seven, raise us up perpendicular to the plane of the ecliptic.” That would turn the two ships up and to an angle, putting both the station and the two warships “below” his ships. But, they would all be on the same plane when they decided to spring their trap.

  “They’re not going for it, Skipper,” the tactical officer announced. “They’re turning away, heading up perpendicular to the plane of the ecliptic.”

  “Damn!” Skygexx swore, pounding one fist on the arm of his command chair. He’d gotten too cute, he realized. He’d waited too long and now it was a bit too late. “Contact the station. Order them to launch.”

  “Multiple contacts coming from the station, Captain,” Drommen called out. “Starfighters, looks like a full squadron of them. Twelve. Fifteen. Twenty contacts, all on an inbound vector.”

  Harth checked his display. They were too far away for visual confirmation, but the sensors were starting to bring out more details. The ships were small, one-man craft, and looked to be little more than an ovoid shape with a few protrusions for the engines and weapons. They weren’t emitting high enough power readings for shields, which was a small favor, and they were too small to carry heavy missile loads. But with all these fighters joining up with the other two warships the odds just suddenly shifted.

  “Battle stations,” he ordered. They’d been stood down to normal cruising operations all the while, and perhaps he should have maintained a higher state of readiness. But there hadn’t been anything in range and he didn’t want his crews to be worn out.

  “Shields up!” Kamerov called. “All weapons crews to stations.”

  “Comms, get me the Ravage,” Harth ordered. A second later, Lieutenant Tran’s face appeared on the display before him. “Tran, we’ve got trouble.”

  “I see it, Captain,” the corvette’s commander replied. “We’re showing those fighters coming out from the station. They almost managed to catch us in a pincer. Five more minutes and we’d be stuck.”

  “We’re still stuck,” Harth said. “Unless we’re willing to just run until the fighters are too far away and their fuel levels make them turn back.”

  Tran frowned. “If they’ve got any sort of missile load out, we might not be able to get away, even if we do run, Captain.”

  “I know,” he said. “And it doesn’t look as though they’re very interested in just letting us pass.”

  “No, sir,” Tran said, a slight smile spreading on his lips. “And I don’t think I’m much interested in running away.”

  “We are here uninvited, Tran,” Harth reminded him, suppressing his own urge to smile. “We came here looking for that freighter, not to get caught up in fighting local space defense forces.”

  “Captain, you’re playing demon’s advocate right now,” the lieutenant replied, his voice serious. “I know that. But are you really going to tell me that you think that’s all these forces are? Local space defense forces? You don’t think that they’re affiliated, even peripherally, with those pirate forces we saw in Ulla-tran?”

  Harth nodded. “I do. But then, the locals in Ulla-tran weren’t affiliated. There’s just happened to be the system where the pirates happened to show up.”

  “Granted.” Tran said. Then he shrugged. “I’m with you either way, Captain. You know that. It’s your call.”

  Harth nodded. “Yeah. How is your ship?”

  “We’re looking better. Still have only one missile, so I told me crews to forget the launchers for now and concentrate on other systems. Shields are up to ninety percent, and we’ve got all but one point defense laser cluster back online. Hull’s patched up, but we can’t take too many hits.”

  “Understood. All right, we’ll take them,” he said. “We’ll turn back and go after the warships first, deal with the fighters as they close in. Keep an eye out for missile swarms from those fighters, though I don’t think they’ll be able to manage more than one or two salvos.”

  Tran looked dubious. “I don’t think we can handle more than one or two anyway, Captain.”

  He eyed his former exec. “This is nothing new, Tran. You’ve done this before. Just keep it together.”

  The lieutenant straightened on the display’s pickup. “I’m fine, Captain. Don’t worry about me. Ravage will hold up her end.”

  “I know she will,” Harth replied. “Now, follow us. We’re going after those warships. Target the corvette first. I want to peel away that destroyer’s escort and then we’ll take them apart.”

  “Understood, Captain.” And the call ended.

  “Helm, alter course. Turn us to intercept the warships. Tactical, once they’re in range, engage the corvette for now.”

  “Engage the corvette, aye, sir,” the tactical officer replied.

  “They’re turning back to chase us, Captain,” Kufazik reported.

  Skygexx nodded. It looked like the dog was finally turning back toward the rabbit, but it was a little too late to trap him properly. So be it. Those Republic ships couldn’t be allowed to leave. He squared his shoulders, refusing to show fear. “Helm, alter course, bring us on an angle to bring us back toward the fighters.”

  “We’re going to have to reduce velocity, Captain,” the helmsman reported, working his controls. “Our current course is taking us almost directly away from Commander Sokann’s squadron.”

  “Understood, helm,” Skygexx said, a bit testily. “Just follow my orders.”

  “Aye, sir,” the zheen replied. The destroyer flipped end for end, with Wrath doing the same. Both ships accelerated all out to halt their advance and begin to bring them on their new course
. Within moments, with inertial compensators screaming under the strain, the two ships began accelerating again all out toward the intercept point.

  “Sixteen minutes to intercept, Captain,” Kufazik reported.

  “Very well,” Skygexx replied. “Ready missile tubes, target the corvette. Once we’re in range of our energy weapons, take it out. Helm, be ready for evasive maneuvers, once we’ve made the first salvo, break starboard and climb, rolling ship to present undamaged shields.”

  “Aye, sir.”

  “They’re coming for us, Captain,” Drommen reported. “It looks as though they’re still trying to pincer us between the warships and the fighters.”

  “Smart, seeing as that’s really the only option they have with any chance of succeeding,” Kamerov said drily. Then he sobered. “But it doesn’t mean they won’t hurt us.”

  “They’re going to concentrate on Ravage to start,” Harth predicted. “She’s the weaker link and with her damage, she won’t be able to stand up to an attack as well as she normally could. Order Ravage to close up on us and to fall back slightly to our stern. We’ll have to cover her with our own point defense and heavier shields.”

  “Aye, sir. Sending now.” A moment later, the corvette obeyed, dropping back slightly to conform to orders.

  Ten minutes to contact. At their current rate of closure, they would be in range of the two warships a full two minutes before the fighters could get into range. That wouldn’t be a big window, Duncan knew that, but the more damage he could inflict on those warships, the greater the odds would be in his favor once the fighters got into range.

  He looked up. “Hail the approaching ships again.” Kamerov looked over to him in surprise. “As I said, we’re imposing ourselves into their star system uninvited and we’re not at war with these people. If we can get them to back off without any bloodshed, that’s better for everyone.”

  The executive officer looked doubtfully at his captain, but then nodded to the comms officer to obey. A moment later, the officer gave Harth the thumbs up.

  “Attention all local space defense forces, this is Captain Harth of the Republic warship Legacy. Break off your attack and stand down immediately. We have no wish to get into combat with your forces, we have no wish for anyone to die. We are here to locate a ship; a bulk freighter they may have come through this system. We have no other interest in your system. I repeat, break off your attack run and stand down.” He pressed the mute command.

  Kamerov was shaking his head. “I don’t think they’re going to go for it, Captain.”

  Harth sighed. “I don’t really expect them to, either. But I had to at least try.”

  The two ships roared along at maximum acceleration, changing course to follow the two local ships on their new heading. Duncan could feel himself starting to get enthusiastic about the whole affair. There was a degree of patience that a Naval officer needed to develop in order to be able to do the job. Distances in space were immense and ships could only close the distance so fast. Sometimes it could be hours or days before ships could actually reach effective combat range, but they could see each other for all that time. So sitting at action stations for hours or days would not in fact make sure the crew was ready to fight, but it would ensure that the crews were exhausted and prone to mistakes. But seeing the enemy out there, knowing that a confrontation was imminent, was still a rush. Duncan had spoken to other Republic officers about that and had gotten similar responses. He was fighting pirates, scourge of the spaceways, rapists, robbers and killers, even though these ones didn’t seem to be hurting anyone. That just meant that they weren’t hurting anyone right now. And the fact that they immediately moved to try and trap and destroy his ships only served as justification that these weren’t peaceful citizens looking to defend their star system.

  “Ten seconds to missile range. Thirty to turbolaser range,” the tactical officer said.

  “Fire as you bear,” Harth ordered.

  Missiles sprang forth from the heavy cruiser’s tubes racing toward their target. The weapons crossed the void between the two formations quickly closing the gap. Ironhide and Wrath’s lasers and point defense opened up trying desperately to shoot down the ordnance coming at them. They managed to blast a dozen of the weapons before they got into range. One of the missiles wandered off course, flying off undirected into open space. The other seven got through, homing in on Wrath, who twisted frantically to try and escape the incoming storm of death, weapons firing continuously.

  But it wasn’t enough. Four of the missiles were torn apart by defensive fire. Three of the missiles exploded against the corvette’s shields, shredding them. The corvette reared as though it was in physical pain. The explosions tore through the hull of the ship, as atmosphere blew outward. Following up on the missile salvo came the coherent light of the Republic energy weapons which ripped apart the small ship in a single salvo. One of the grasers punched through the forward hull boring straight through, severing one of the ship’s power conduits. The fuel ignited and in an instant the ship’s reactor blew. One second there was a damaged corvette struggling vainly to survive, the next was an expanding ball of gas and particulate metal.

  A cheer erupted on the bridge of Legacy at seeing the utter destruction of the enemy vessel. Kamerov immediately snapped at them, ordering them to focus, but Duncan smiled. It had been a very good bit of gunnery, managing to take out a ship like that in two salvos.

  “Very good work, tactical,” Harth congratulated them. “Target the destroyer.”

  Skygexx was still reeling in shock. The Republic ships had torn through Wrath as though it was made of tissue paper and glue. The corvette’s electronic warfare suite had been next to useless against their missiles and their shields hadn’t stood up worth a damn. In two salvos, well technically one, a corvette carrying eighty people, eighty good officers and crew of one of Verrikoth’s marauders had been simply wiped out.

  And it would be another twenty seconds before Ironhide would even be in range to do anything about this. He’d known that Republic tech was better than anything that could be found out here in the Argos Cluster, but he hadn’t thought that his own gear was that bad. He shook his head slowly in disbelief.

  “All right. Supercharge our forward shields,” he ordered. Clearly what they had wouldn’t be enough and now both of those ships would be focusing all that fury down on Ironhide. His destroyer was a lot tougher and bigger than Wrath, but the destroyer was little more than half the size of the heavy cruiser and nowhere near as well armed. He had to hold things together long enough for Commander Sokann to get his fighters in range.

  The tactical officer nodded, working his console. Skygexx saw the shield icon on his display glow a neon green and he nodded in satisfaction. A few seconds later, he saw that the Republic ships had fired again, this time energy weapons only. The ship shuddered under the pounding.

  “Shields are holding, but we’re losing strength,” the tac officer reported. “Down to eighty percent… seventy-two percent… sixty-four.”

  “Roll the ship,” the captain ordered. “Helm, put an s-curve into your approach, I want to try and spread out their fire among multiple shield vectors.”

  “Aye, sir,” the zheen at the helm replied, his voice sounding almost sullen. But he did his job with smooth efficiency, his hands manipulating the controls.

  “In range, Captain!” the tac officer almost shouted.

  “Let them have it for the first salvo, tactical,” Skygexx ordered. “Then for the second, shift fire and throw everything at the heavy cruiser. I don’t want them to think we don’t love them.”

  Chuckles erupted from the various officers on the bridge.

  “Incoming fire,” Kamerov said, sitting at tactical. “Shields are holding at ninety percent.”

  “Hold missiles,” Harth ordered. He checked his ammunition readouts. Magazines were at sixty percent, which still was a fair amount, but there was no telling how many more ships were out here in the Cluster that Le
gacy was going to have to deal with. If his suspicions were correct, then the pirates were sending ships to Byra-Kae and they’d have their hands full. Legacy would need every edge to deal with that many cruisers. “Energy weapons only.”

  “Aye, sir,” Kamerov replied, nodding in understanding. He depressed the firing key and the Legacy’s heavy lasers and turbolasers opened up. “They’re rolling. I can’t get a clear shot on any one shield vector.”

  “That’s all right,” Duncan said. “We’re going to be passing them in a few moments anyway and we’ll have to come back around. When we pass them, Exec, hit them with a full broadside.”

  “Aye, sir.” Kamerov had a smile on his face. He’d scored several hits on the destroyer already, but they were managing to keep his fire from concentrating anywhere. But his firing solutions were firming up the closer the ships got.

  “Order Ravage to swing wider,” Duncan ordered. “I want them to put pressure on the destroyer from another attack vector, give them more things to think about.”

  “Aye, sir,” Petty Officer Khovik said from the comms station, sending the message.

  “Captain, fighter squadrons are firing missiles,” Drommen reported suddenly. “One missile each, all of them are targeted on us. Flight time, fifteen seconds. Destroyer is altering vector, she’s moving to open up the range between us.”