The question took Jacob off guard. “What?”
“Well, what if it isn’t us who took over the station. We could say another pirate group did it, or even better, the ones that were stationed here.” She shrugged. “Pirates wouldn’t care as much about the station, and we could hide some ships rather than showing them all straight off. At the very least, it would keep them off balance.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” Jacob reached over and brought up the original plan again. He studied the ships' formation, possibilities started lighting up in his mind. “You’re right! Al-shira, you’re a genius!”
She snorted. “Right. Whatever you say, Jacob.” She sighed. “As if something like that would make a difference.”
“No, really, I mean it. If they don’t know we’re here, that means the Wolfhound can take up position here. We can put Iriel’s squadron here, with the other two ships up this direction…” Jacob moved the ships and started assigning them courses, his fingers flying over the keys. Within moments, the attack plan was entirely shifted. “There.”
“Let’s see how it works, then.” Al-shira reached over his shoulder to hit the button to start the simulation again, and the ships jumped into motion. Red ships jumped in, green ships sprang on them, and for the next few minutes, they watched the simulated battle progress.
When it ended, Jacob jumped to his feet. “Yes!” He grabbed both sides of the projector and leaned over it, nearly cackling to himself. “All right, we lost the Defender that time, but if I can refine it a little more, we’ll be good. See, you’re a genius.”
Al-shira seemed amused by his excitement. “How long have you been working on that, anyway?”
“Way too long, I think.” He wavered slightly and fell back into his chair. Jacob rubbed his eyes. “But at least we have a shot now. We can win.” He opened one eye to glance at her. “So, do you still think I don’t need you as executive officer? Or are you going to wait until the next time I almost kill us all and you bail me out?”
Al-shira rolled her eyes and turned back toward the door. “Fine, fine. I accept the post under your spectacular leadership, Ensign.” She dragged the door open and glanced back at him. “Do you want some food before you collapse in a pile of mush?”
Jacob nodded. His stomach felt hollow. “Absolutely. Lead the way.” He followed her, his spirits lighter. We have a chance now. Now all I have to do is not mess it up. His smile grew as he shut the door and left the simulations behind. Just a few more days.
Chapter Twenty Two
Two days later, their plans were ready. The repairs were finished on all the ships and the plating was added. It had been a rush of activity, something that had left every repair technician and specialist exhausted, but the fleet was prepared.
Some of the Wolfhound’s time had been spent finding and towing a large asteroid, which shielded the station. All of the ships had received the extra plating and heat management systems, as well as rudimentary training for the crews. If there was ever a time to be ready for the enemy, it was now.
Which was why Jacob was in the destroyer’s hangar, speaking with a young spacer. The skiff was gone, out flying with the rest of the refitted boarding squadron, and in its place was a small civilian craft, meant to make small, risky cargo runs. The other spacers who helped crew it were waiting inside, having already received the majority of their orders.
The spacer in front of him, a man named Chris Spyro, was nodding enthusiastically. “I understand, sir. Get him to come here with whatever part of the fleet he's leading, make sure he arrives at the same coordinates, then try to avoid being discovered.” He gave Jacob a rakish smile. “Am I missing anything?”
“You remember the story, right?”
Spyro nodded. “We are carrying a message from one of the pirates. We were promised payment, but from the prisoner, not Dianton himself. We’re doing it for profit, but we’re only going to drop the message off, not wait around for the cash. Anything else?”
“Who took the station?”
“Captain Swenson went rogue and destroyed the Cruel Hand and the carriers. Ravager and Rand’s Ire are now trying to put together their own pirate gang to rival Dianton. The spacers are only going along with it because they have to. They’ll probably fold right back into line if Swenson and the others are killed.” The last part had been added to keep the pirates off guard and hopefully to make the pirates reluctant to fire missiles on the station. Dianton wasn’t one to burn what he could use, and a destroyer popping into the equation from nowhere could easily turn the tide.
“Good. Stick to the script, and you’ll be fine.” Jacob smiled back, though inside he felt uneasy. Too much depended on this part of the plan. If they come out at a different spot, or decide to give the station a bit less room, we’re dead. Jacob gave the spacer’s hand a firm shake. “Fly well.”
The young man saluted, a motion that was horribly sloppy but so eager that Jacob could not call him on it. Then he ran to the hatch of the ship and climbed in. As Jacob watched him go, he felt a twinge of envy. All he has to do is fly and make a few transmissions. I’m the one who has to run the rest of the show. He dismissed the thoughts and made his way back up to the briefing room.
When he walked through the door, he found Al-shira at her station and Singh’s replacement at his console. Another petty officer was at the helm, making sure the Wolfhound stayed in position. The asteroid drifted directly ahead of them, shielding both the destroyer and the station from the incoming fleet and hopefully hiding Wolfhound’s presence entirely. The Defender and the Talon were waiting at their assigned coordinates, and Iriel’s squadron had moved to their positions as well.
Jacob took his seat at the commander's station. His hands ached to take the controls to the DE rigs and brake sails, but that wasn’t possible for this battle. Not when he had an entire fleet to worry about and coordinate. How did I get into this? He sighed and looked over at Al-shira. “How is everything going?”
“The spacers jumped out on schedule. Hopefully we'll see the pirates coming back on schedule.” She looked at him sideways. “You ready?”
Jacob heard the challenge in her tone and smiled. “As ready as I’ll ever be, Ensign.”
An annoyed look crossed Al-shira’s face, but she was smiling when she turned back to her station.
As Jacob looked over the controls to the commander’s station, he felt distinctly uncomfortable. It was odd to see the images of his small fleet outlined in green, to think several hundred people on multiple ships were depending on him to survive. Don’t get distracted. He waited, tense, for the moment the pirates would appear.
Five hours later, just as he was wondering if the timing had been faulty, Al-shira spoke up. “Signal from Singh, sir. He says the sensors he set up are going crazy; something big is going to jump in soon.”
“All right. Sound the call for battle stations, and alert Reefhome Station to prepare their torpedoes. We don’t want anyone getting caught off guard.”
Al-shira nodded, her expression turning serious as she worked. An alarm rang throughout the ship, and Jacob felt the muscles along his back begin to knot themselves tight as he leaned forward. This is it.
Jacob smiled as twenty-two enemy ships came screaming into existence, right where he'd hoped. Like all riftjumps, there was no real visible sign of the impending change; one second the area was empty of ships and the next the tactical image was displaying the whole pirate fleet in red, wireframe images.
The formation of the pirate fleet was more or less how Jacob had expected. The Bloodthorne had taken the forward position, flanked by two of the larger frigates in the fleet, the Executioner and the Just Revenge. Behind the enemy flagship was a small pocket of warships including all five troop transports and three of the seven corvettes. The remaining frigates and corvettes had taken up positions above, below, and on either side of the pocket, while the three torpedo boat carriers had come in at the rear of the fleet, ready to launch their attack craft with enough
distance to start torpedo runs on Reefhome Station.
Unfortunately for the pirates, rather than a short, empty path to a relatively undefended civilian station, there was a giant, rocky asteroid in the way.
The combination of confusion, panic, and surprise was perfect. The riftjump had created a storm of dark energy currents that guaranteed anyone attempting to sail in the center of that space would have trouble maneuvering, but that fact didn’t stop the pirates from trying. Sail rigs flickered to life on every craft, and as the ships started to twist in evasive maneuvers, Jacob could imagine the frightened and enraged transmissions shooting between the various craft. With a small smile, he touched a particular communications channel that Al-shira had set up long before the pirates had appeared.
“Talon, Defender, make your runs. Hit a frigate or a corvette if you can, but stay clear of the Bloodthorne.”
“Acknowledged.” The short, gruff response from Ashford was all that preceded the maneuver. Both ships had been positioned above the pirate fleet. Now, as the dark energy currents howled around them and the pirates tangled themselves in a mass of confusion, both ships lit their DE sail rigs and swooped down. The tactical screen lit with multiple flashes as they dove, and Jacob smiled as a stream of railgun shots struck one of the corvettes at the center of the pack.
The corvette was modeled in a style similar to the defeated Cruel Hand, and fared little better than her sister ship had under the concentrated fire. The teardrop shaped central section took two solid hits from the Talon’s guns, each of which opened up small craters in the hull. The Defender’s barrage was even more devastating. Four railgun shells smashed their way into the port wing of the pirate craft. The enemy ship shuddered slightly, and then a brilliant explosion consumed the far half of that wing.
Then both ships sailed right through the heart of the enemy formation, provoking a disorganized volley in response. Unfortunately for the pirates, the pirate crews had little time to aim and prepare their shots, and most of the railgun fire sped uselessly wide. The shots that came close failed to pierce the point defense turrets on the defending craft. Only a single shell exploded on the ventral surface of the Defender. The hit didn’t appear to do much damage, and neither of Jacob's ships paused before flying straight out the other side of the formation into the space beyond.
The dark energy storm started to subside, and Dianton’s pirate fleet began to maneuver more effectively. The corvettes, frigates, and flagship dove after the ships that had attacked them, swooping after them as fast as their DE sails could accelerate. The transports and carriers on the other hand, rose slowly and moved forward to climb over the asteroid that was obstructing their path to the station.
Jacob watched the pirates maneuver and smiled. His smile died when two small specks suddenly appeared, racing away from the Bloodthorne at a speed no ship could match. He opened the channel again. “They launched missiles. Keep your eyes open. Taylor, they’re probably heading your way.”
“We’ve got ‘em, Jacob. Don’t worry so much.” The confidence in the former Gunnery officer’s voice softened the edge of Jacob’s worry, but his heartbeat continued to accelerate as the warheads drew closer to the fleeing craft. If just one of them gets too close, he’s dead.
At the last moment, the Defender pulled up out of the dive, plasma lances lashing out from the point defense turrets. One of the missiles exploded violently under the barrage, filling space with shrapnel and shock waves. Neither reached the frigate. The remaining missile shot past the Defender, and when it started to curve back toward the fleeing ship, a cloud of anti-missile flechettes intercepted the projectile. A heartbeat later, the warhead was dead in space.
The Defender’s new course took it away from the Talon, and Jacob could only feel admiration for Taylor as he watched the ships separate. That was perfect. It made the whole thing look natural, like we hadn’t planned it ahead of time. A beeping sound alerted him to a new problem, and he paused to look at a different section of the battle.
The carriers and transports had begun their climb over the asteroid, and in a few more moments, the bulky craft would have a clear line of sight to the station. Jacob nodded and struck another communication signal light. “Reefhome, you are clear to launch. Just make sure you get all of them.”
“We will, Command. Just nail the rest of them. Launching now.”
A flurry of activity lit up the station, right around one of the lesser-used hangars in its side. There Turley and Yorkshire had rigged up makeshift launchers for all the captured torpedoes, though they had been cautious when they said that the launchers would work. As small blips flew from the hangar bay, Jacob smiled again, glad they had succeeded. Then he turned his attention back to the rest of the battle.
The pirates had split their forces. The six remaining corvettes separated from the frigates and the flagship, continuing in a steep dive to catch up to the Talon. The Bloodthorne and the frigates curved around to follow the fleeing Defender. Both groups of pirate ships were pouring on every ounce of energy they could, flaring their DE sail rigs and accelerating to catch their prey.
Jacob waited as the pursuit continued, allowing the two groups to separate a little more. Then he lifted his eyes from the tactical screen and met Al-shira’s gaze. “Take us in. Let Iriel know they’re coming.”
Al-shira nodded, a grim smirk twisting her features as she gave the officer at the Helm a quick order. He lit the Wolfhound’s DE sail rigs and the destroyer moved, slowly accelerating out from behind the asteroid that had shielded the station from the pirates. As the ship came around the edge of the rocky obstacle, the pirates and their targets exchanged a barrage of fire.
Jacob winced as waves of railgun shells exploded in the space between the friendly ships and their pursuers. With such a dense pack of ships to shoot at, most of the shells the Talon and Defender fired were intercepted easily by the enemy defense turrets. Conversely, only the fact that the point defense cannon and detection grids were focused directly behind them kept both ships from being ripped to pieces. The Defender took another hit that pierced armor, leaving a smoldering crater in its prominent dorsal ridge, while the Talon took a glancing blow dangerously near its sail rigs.
Then the last of the asteroid was out of the way, and Jacob nodded. He triggered the link for Isaac. “Guns, target the Just Revenge and the Executioner. That should hurt them.” Another tap switched his link to Laurie. “Countermeasures, focus sailjammers on the corvettes.” He paused to tap the signal for the Talon. “Ashford, can you still reach the jump point?”
“Almost there, Ensign. We’ll make it. How about the station?”
The concern in the sergeant’s voice was balanced by an equal amount of strain. In the background of the transmission, Jacob thought he heard electrical wiring crackling, with a few disturbing pops and hisses. “They’re fine. Call out if you need help.” As he spoke, Jacob felt the deck vibrate softly as the destroyer’s gun decks spoke. On the tactical screen, he watched with satisfaction as a wave of railgun shells sped off toward the pirates, who apparently remained ignorant of the threat behind them. Worry ran through him as he realized the long range guns had fired a little late, but then he caught on as the faster shells started to catch up to the slower, heavy railgun fire. Nice plan, Isaac. Darts marking the last remaining sailjammers in Delarouge’s inventory streaked away as well, closing on the diving corvettes.
From their reactions, the enemy ships didn’t seem to have any idea of the danger until the last moment. A jerk of movement that could have been the beginning of an evasive maneuver twisted the Executioner slightly, and a few point defense cannon lit the space behind the frigate with purple fire, but it was too late. The Executioner was a hundred-meter frigate shaped roughly like an axe head with two curving wings sprouting from the flat sides. It took most of the first volley on its armor. Four heavy shells consumed the starboard wing and the central DE sails in a single devastating blast. Three more shells from the second volley tore through
the lower back of the axe head and nearly snapped the craft in half. By the time the third volley reached the ship, the frigate’s sails had flickered out, and the remnants of the Executioner floated listlessly forward in space, still twisting slightly in the remnants of an evasive spiral.
At the same time, the Just Revenge came under equally savage fire. While the heavy guns had been firing in unison, Isaac had set the long guns on to shoot one after another, providing a near continuous stream of high speed shells on the target. A shorter eighty-meter craft, it looked more like a stubby assault boat or corvette than a frigate. Its central hull was a blunt rectangle, with a curved end for a prow, and DE sails located at the midway point stuck out from the ventral and dorsal surfaces. Wings holding torpedo ports and railguns curved out from the aft portions, showing how focused the designers had been on a forward attack vessel.
None of which helped the pirate craft as the shells hit home, one after another. Shells drilled through the lighter rear armor as frantic streams of plasma tried to chase the incoming fire. Explosions tore through the interior of the craft, and the plasma turrets snapped out of existence as a boiling cloud of plasma tore through the main hull. In a few short moments, the Just Revenge was dead in space, a drifting hulk that trailed a dissipating wash of plasma and wreckage.
Bursts of light engulfed the corvette group. DE sail rigs flickered out, jammed by the emissions from the sailjammers exploding behind the lighter ships. Unable to maneuver effectively, the corvettes continued downward, leaving the crews aboard them scrambling to restore power to their propulsion systems.
As if to cap the sudden catastrophe, explosions sprayed color across the tactical screen above the asteroid. Jacob smiled as the torpedoes launched by Reefhome Station struck home, blasting into transports that had been completely unaware of the danger. While the torpedoes were not moving nearly as fast as they would have been when launched from a warship, the projectile weapons were more than adequate to destroy the frigate class ships completely. Each impact crumpled the enemy craft as if they were made of tin foil, smashing through armor and hull plates with brutal efficiency.
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