Wolves at the Gate

by Shane Van Aulen

  She immediately ordered a recall of all of her ships in the system who were hunting for the enemy. This included sending two ships to bring back the squadron that was guarding the bend route to human space near their starbase. She wanted to mass her force to ensure victory.

  Surprise was on her side as her fleet came out of the gravity well. Three human shuttles were detected near one of the gas worlds. These small crafts broke off their operations and ran for the expanse of asteroids that were caught between the gravity of the two suns.

  The fleet mistress ordered all ships to advance in formation following the tiny shuttles as they showed her where their hidden base was. Her advance scouts had easily found an entrance in the cluster of asteroids that led into an interior expanse.

  Moving her fleet up to the moon like asteroid that was partially obscuring the opening she then had her led ships shoot probes into the passageway. She had considered blasting a new opening with her spinal cannons on her battle destroyers and her star destroyer but her sensors reported that the asteroids were dense everywhere they had scanned.

  The probes made it no more than halfway down the immense opening before they were destroyed by blast from hidden energy weapons. The information they set back was insignificant but their destruction showed that it was not a safe run through the corridor.

  “Send in KD38 and KDC55,” The Grand Fleet Mistress ordered sending in a destroyer and companion destroyer. These ships were able to not only put up a good fight but would be able to take a hit from whatever surprises that may be waiting for them.

  As soon as the two warships entered the passageway anti-ship mines that were lying dormant exploded. The mines had been attached to asteroids lining the sides of the passage.

  “Mistress, both of our ships are reporting numerous hull breaches. The KD38’s impulse drives are offline, KDC55 is reporting that their bender drives and fusion drives are badly damaged and that they have lost half their crew,” her communication operator reported.

  “Order the fleet to halt,” she said having to consider what to do next. It would appear that even equipped with human maser units they still couldn’t detect and destroy these anti-ship mines. Something else had to be done to clear their way.

  “All halt, my lady,” the Ship Mistress announced.

  “Bring up the KBD-T2, Pir-Ly said wanting the Tor battle destroyer to move into the opening next.

  “Yes, my lady,” came the quick response.

  Sitting back the grand mistress slowly nodded as she waited for the Tor ship to move up and into position.

  “They are signaling that they are ready,” the Ship Mistress said as she and her Second floated between their maser unit and the communication station.

  “Have the KBD-T2 push the KD38 and send it deeper into the passageway,” she ordered as several heads turned and looked to her for a moment before returning they eyes to their controls.

  “My lady, they have acknowledged your orders and are moving up to the destroyer,” the Second said.

  She saw using the damaged ships to trip anymore trap as the best use for them. In their present damaged condition, they were all but useless. If she wasn’t in such a hurry to defeat this Star Wolf she would have taken the time to have the damaged ships pulled out of the tunnel. As it was the surviving crews had time to abandon their ships but their life pods would have to wait to be recovered.

  The Tor battle destroyer nudged the smaller and badly damaged destroyer pushing in further down the passage. Again, anti-ship mines along the sides of the tunnel exploded causing more damage to the already wounded destroyer. Reaching the halfway point, the destroyer finally had taken enough and exploded.

  “Have the KBD-Tor 2 push the KDC55 next,” Pir-Ly commanded in an impassionate voice. This time the ladies of her bridge staff didn’t even look away from their control panels.

  Once more the immense battle destroyer shoved the second damaged ship further down the passage. The companion destroyer was already badly damaged and as it moved down the corridor more mines exploded causing its final destruction.

  “KBD-T2 is signaling and asking for orders,” the communications operator informed.

  “Tell them to reverse engines, pullback and out of the passageway, the Grand Fleet Mistress instructed.

  “Yes, Mistress,” came a fast reply.

  “I want two destroyer escorts, a Vanguard sloop and another companion destroyer to enter the corridor and then make a full speed run to the other side. Behind them I want a standard destroyer, another companion destroyer followed by KBD-T2,” she commanded more than willing to sacrifice her lesser ships to clear the way for her big guns. Sooner or later they would run out of mines of this she was sure.

  “All ships are moving into position,” the star destroyer’s ship mistress reported. It would still take the better part of a standard cycle to accomplish the moves but she knew the Grand Fleet Mistress liked to be updated at every point of an operation.

  When the ships were in their new line up and reported they were ready she then gave the signal to proceed. This time any thoughts of a slow and cautious advance were thrown to the wind as the four lead Karduan ships accelerated to their maximum in-system speeds to try and get through this gauntlet before they could be destroyed.

  As the ships passed the point where the last companion destroyer had been annihilated more anti-ship mines started exploding. The sloop and the destroyer escorts were the fastest and at first it seemed that they were out running the explosions. Unfortunately, the companion destroyer following them didn’t fare so well and was devastated by their blasts.

  Approaching the end of the passage they now came under fire from asteroid based energy weapons. The Wolf’s Den had taken turrets from wrecked and unrepairable ships and mounted them on asteroids along with ship batteries to power them. Remote controlled with ship space radars as targeting systems. This was the brainchild of Captain John Kirkland, the base commander.

  Now the two destroyer escorts and Vanguard sloop faced these fusion armed defense asteroids. The mines had done their work well and all three ships had damage. The energy blasts caused the two destroyer escorts cascade failures. One exploded and the other lost guidance and crashed into a large asteroid along the side of the corridor.

  The Vanguard though badly damaged managed to escape the tunnel of death and emerged out the other end. The young Ship Mistress looked upon the vast expanse of the interior of the asteroid cluster as they felt the pull of increased gravity.

  The asteroid field was located in a stable Lagrange point, the ship’s gravity dampeners automatically reset themselves to compensate for the increased gravitational field. The damaged ships dampener struggled to compensate so the crew could now feel the increase in gravity as they entered.

  Flying into this region that was amazingly cleared of asteroids she realized that it was easily able to accommodate hundreds of ships. Unfortunately, it appeared that there were almost that many ships waiting for her.

  Her main portal flickered in an out but she could see what looked like a fleet of Karduan ships facing her. In another moment, she realized what had happened to all of those squadrons that had disappeared over the last year.

  “By the Bright Lady! Signal the Fleet!” the Vanguard Ship Mistress ordered, “Tell them that there are dozens of warships here!” she yelled out in panic just as two destroyers opened fire on her damaged ship and obliterated it.

  “Mistress, we have lost contact with our Vanguard as it exited the far opening,” The Second reported.

  “But she made it and now we know their defenses. We should be able to clear the way of these guard asteroids with ease,” Pir-Ly said as if this was just a bothersome and meaningless task that lay before them.

  “What are your orders, my lady?” the Ship Mistress asked standing by the communications center.

  “Send the next destroyer and companion destroyer into the corridor and move them ahead of the battle destroyer. Their task is to eliminate all
of those asteroids that are being used as energy weapon platforms,” she instructed.

  “And the battle destroyer?” prompted the Ship Mistress.

  “Have it stay back until these defensive asteroids are destroyed.”

  “Yes, Mistress,” she replied as the communication operator relayed her commands.

  The destroyer KD71 and companion destroyer KDC67 moved further down the passageway. Having monitored the last ships advance they had already programmed in firing solutions to neutralize these weaponized asteroids. They had lost five ships so far to this Corridor of Death and they intended that those would be the last ships squandered.

  From the other side of the Corridor of Death, its designer Captain Kirkland waited aboard the IPS Half Moon.

  “So far so good,” he said monitoring the enemies’ progress through their tunnel.

  “Orders sir?” Commander Green, his first officer asked.

  “They are going to send those destroyers in to knock out the energy turrets near the mouth. So, prepare the Twin Sisters and we’ll give them another surprise. Also, clear any ships from the mouth of the corridor. Have them pull back just in case the Karduans try what I think they will,” John Kirkland said sitting back in his captain’s chair on the captured star destroyer.

  “Aye, sir, activating the Twin Sisters,” came his weapons officer’s reply.

  “Good,” he said looking to his holo-map of the area.

  He saw that all of his non-combatant ships had pulled back to the far end of the expanse. There Captain Hope had previously all but blasted a back door to be used for just such an occasion as this. There he had also sent his own task force under his wife, Commander Martha Kirkland. “Let me know when the Ajax and her task force are ready.”

  “Yes sir,” came the comm. officer’s response.

  “Now we wait for their next move,” Captain Kirkland said having carefully planned the defense for the Wolf’s Den since he became its commander a year earlier.

  Mike couldn’t believe it as the Goliad crossed the final phase line. He was now at the FEBA or the forward edge of the battle area. The enemy fleet in the past three hours hadn’t moved from their original positions. For the old battle frigate and its crew, it had been an eternity waiting to be discovered, fired upon, chased down and destroyed.

  He knew that beyond the moon was an opening in the asteroid field that looked as if it were a corridor through the floating rocks and ice. A mining company had long ago spent a considerable amount of time either blowing or moving the asteroids out of the way to allow ships to pass into the interior of the field.

  Now that entrance and tunnel were mined and held other interesting and lethal obstructions. He was sure they had kept the Karduans temporally preoccupied as well as stuck.

  “Range to target,” he asked breaking the silence of the bridge that was like a graveyard on a winter’s night.

  PO2 Baker from the fire control station was the first to respond.

  “We are at optimum range, sir,” she answered with a slight tremble to her voice.

  Collins nodded, “Then it is time to get to work!”

  “Aye, sir!” Ensign Pitt said with a sigh of relief from the helm.

  “Any word on the Confederation channels?” Mike inquired.

  “No sir but the Karduans seemed to be having trouble getting through the corridor to the interior of the asteroid field,” Specialist Ryan reported.

  “I’m not surprised,” he said, “thrusters all halt, ready torpedoes, passive weapons lock on the rear battle destroyer. We are going to fire two Blitzens at her fusion drives, then change targets to the next ship in line and work our way across their rear. Everyone understand?”

  A chorus of “Yes sirs” and “Aye sirs” quickly answered his question.

  Touching a sensor on the arm of his chair he opened a direct channel to engineering.

  “Chief, power up the engines and be prepared for full impulse speeds,” he ordered.

  “Aye sir, we’ll be ready,” CPO Schmidty said already prepared for the upcoming action.

  Closing the channel, he took his own advice and got to work.

  “Switch to an active weapons lock, fire torpedoes,” Mike ordered.

  “Torpedoes one and two away,” Petty Officer Baker announced.

  “Move to the next target, the auxiliary carrier,” Lt. Collins instructed. He was about to wait for a report of hits or misses from the hypervelocity torpedoes, he had too many targets and too little time for that.

  “Locked,” Baker said.

  “Fire, and move to the next target in line,” he said.

  “Torpedoes, three and four launched,” the fire control officer reported.

  “Adjusting heading,” Ensign Pitt said angling the ship’s nose to make it easier to aim. It wasn’t really needed as the torpedoes would go where they were told but every second saved could mean the difference.

  “Firing torpedoes at the standard destroyer,” Cindy Baker said focused on her panel.

  “Move to the next target and fire,” Mike needlessly said knowing she was doing just that.

  “Torpedoes away,” she called out this time sending two more Blitzens towards

  “Next ships, if you’d please,” Mike said and then looked over to the maser unit. “Petty Officer Curtis, any word or detection yet?”

  “No sir,” he started and then said, “No wait! The first two torpedoes have hit the battle destroyer right in the ass!”

  Specialist Ryan let out a small yell of victory. Pitt smiled and Baker just kept firing torpedoes.

  Mike nodded looking at the holo-map.

  “More Hits! This time to the carrier and to the destroyer,” Curtis announced.

  “Cease fire, we may need those last torpedoes,” he said just as the Goliad was rocked by an energy hit.

  “Long range particle hit from the battle destroyer’s aft turret,” the maser station reported.

  “Hit to our frontal armor plating, minimal damage,” Ensign Pitt informed. The distance made a significate hit by a turret based weapon unrealistic but it did send them a warning of what may come.

  “Mister Pitt, bring us about, it’s time to get the hell out of here,” Collins ordered knowing that their element of surprise was now over.

  “Sir, torpedo hits to a companion destroyer and a second standard destroyer,” PO2 Curtis said as the battle frigate came about.

  “Full impulse,” Mike said as the Goliad was again struck by a long-range energy weapon.

  “What do you mean, that our rear-most ships have come under attack?” Grand Fleet Mistress Pir-Ly demanded as she looked to her central portal as the screen changed from a picture of the asteroid tunnels entrance to one of the back of her fleet.

  “My lady, we are getting reports from six of our ships including the KBD 011 that they have taken multiple hypervelocity torpedo hits to their fusion drives,” the Second reported from next to the communication station.

  “From where?” she asked still in disbelief.

  “Mistress, we have identified a single ship as the source - a human battle frigate,” the Ship Mistress revealed from across the bridge and safely away from her and her patar.

  “Just one ship!” Pir-Ly declared in anger.

  “Yes, my lady,” the Second answered and continued, “They must have cut their power and drifted in over the last few hours. The ships of our rear-guard report that they thought it was just another asteroid that this system seems to have an abundance of.”

  The Grand Fleet Mistress was furious and wanted to order the execution of all of those ships’ space radar operators and their ship mistresses but that would have to wait.

  “Dispatch two of the Tor destroyer escorts and two of their Vanguards to hunt that frigate down and destroy it,” she commanded confident that one old frigate getting lucky would not stop her fleet from victory. The House of Tor’s ships were brand new and would easily catch the old frigate.

  “My lady, damage reports are c
oming from the ships of our rear,” the Second announced preparing her for the bad news.

  “Not now!” she said uninterested in hearing the failure of her rear-most ships. “Order the destroyer and companion destroyer in the passageway to continue their advance to the end. Have the KBD-T2 move up to the middle of corridor and then hold their position in the tunnel.”

  “Yes, Mistress,” the communication operator said acknowledging her commands and then relaying her orders.

  The destroyer and companion destroyer exchanged energy blast with the asteroid based turrets ahead of them. The weaponized asteroids lacked the armor that the Blue warships had and that allowed the two Karduan ships to silence them. Though both ships had taken numerous hits in return they now saw that there was nothing left to stop them from reaching the exit opening.

  Still believing this they were unprepared for the Twin Sisters.

  In 1836 at the Battle of San Jacinto, Texas General Sam Houston’s forces surprised attacked the much larger Army of Mexican General Santa Anna. At that battle, the Texans had but two cannons that had been donated by the good people of Cincinnati. These cannons were called the Twin Sisters which helped Sam Houston win that day and free Texas.

  When Captain Kirkland was preparing for this day he had salvaged two large particle turrets from a wrecked Karduan star destroyer. It took time to repair them and when they did they wondered what ship could possibly carry them?

  The old star captain revealed his plan to make them part of the entryway’s defenses. Carving out housing from two large asteroids in the passageway they placed the large cannons within them. One wrinkle was that they did something different than the other energy weapon emplacements. For their Twin Sisters, they faced them to the rear of the asteroids so that they would fire as the enemy ship passed them by. This allowed them to remain undetected as well as in the perfect position for an ass shot into any passing ship entering the expanse.

  As the destroyer and companion destroyer fought their way past the forward-facing energy weapon platforms they had failed to detected theses hidden Twin Sisters.