The enemy formation moved past the rock sixty minutes later and continued in pursuit of the destroyer and toward Gammatiga. Two OrCons ships laid down laser crossfire around the rock searching for ships in subspace, but the beams hit nothing. There was no ambush set up within the rock’s vicinity. The pirate ambush ships were floating quietly a couple hundred kilometers away. The enemy had scanned the area but had not picked up the stationary silent ships. The pirates listened as the OrCon/Goth force moved through the area near the rock and continued toward Gammatiga.
The OrCon ships were just outside sensor range of the base but within sensor range of the single destroyer withdrawing before them. They knew the destroyer was keeping the Zeke force well informed. But where was the Zeke force? The Orion force pressed onward as they moved into an abeam formation so all ships would have a clear field of fire forward.
Admiral Stavka had taken his place in his command seat and all his computer screens were up and running. He kept a running commentary with his ship captains and his staff. “We will prepare to meet the enemy at Gammatiga. They wouldn’t have put out a picketing destroyer if they weren’t nearby. It is possible they want to continue loading supplies until the last possible moment before running from us, or they may elect to make a stand here so to make use of the base’s defenses. Regardless, we must prepare for a worst-case scenario. Ensure your ships are ready for combat. Continue scanning in all directions.”
A heavily accented voice came on line. “This is Admiral Kaufmann. My ships will remain here before getting within the sensor range of the base. Once you have pushed the destroyer back to the base and we are out of her sensor range, we will move to a different position without the enemy’s knowledge. We will keep you informed. Do you wish to leave your support ships with us?”
“Affirmative,” replied Admiral Stavka. “Thank you for covering them.”
The tone of his voice did not sound thankful. He still chafed over the Ulatar attack. He had been set up. Rather easily, too. He should have listened to the Goth destroyer captain talking over the combat net. He should have investigated further. But his flotilla had been scanned while deep in enemy territory by an unknown entity. This demanded some response. With Goth pushing, it had turned out to be the wrong answer. Stavka shook his head. He had known the Goths were on their own agenda, but he had never suspected they would set up an attack on a defenseless noncombatant settlement. He would never trust the Goths again and would love to get some degree of payback on them, but he couldn’t come up with a method to do it. The fact was, he needed them more than they needed him, at least for now.
The Goth force of two light cruisers and three destroyers slowed and fell behind the advancing OrCon force. The two OrCon support ships maintained position behind the slowing Goth ships. The Goths floated in position well beyond the floating rock and toward Gammatiga. They waited for the OrCons to continue to push that lone Zeke destroyer back to Gammatiga. When Emerald was out of scanning range of the Goths, they would move to a different position.
Predator was as quiet as a tomb as she floated in subspace. Crewmembers now gave their duties their undivided attention. Combat systems were checked and rechecked. Instruments were constantly monitored. Commands were given in a whisper. Nobody talked needlessly. Nobody joked. The upcoming fight was different than the Potenka battle. There had been no warning for that little dust up. Their participation in that fight had been on them quickly and over just as quickly. No time to give it a great deal of thought. Now there was plenty of time to consider the immediate future. Combat was imminent. This was a veteran crew with boundless faith in their captain, in their ship, and in themselves. They had won every fight they had ever engaged in. The fact they were still alive was testimony to that. Losing pirates were soon dead pirates. There were no prisoners taken in their battles. But things happened in combat, sometimes good things, sometimes bad things. This veteran crew knew without a doubt that they were better than their opponents. They knew that was always true. But luck could be a fickle bitch, and luck had a way of overriding skill and expertise. But, hopefully, not today.
The bridge was utterly still as everyone waited for the order to move. Captain Raferty Hawkins leaned forward in his command seat and stared at Madison Hopkins as she manned the white phones. Maddie was pressing the headphones to her ears and had her eyes closed in concentration. All eyes on the bridge were on her.
She spoke quietly. “They’re fading. They have definitely passed the rock.”
“Let’s move,” commanded Rafe as he settled back in his chair. He presented a picture of calm confidence, a man in command of the situation.
Eli turned back to his helm station and his fingers moved over his controls. While still at Gammatiga, Tactical and navigator Arky Smith had plotted the course from their expected subspace position to the rock, and then checked and rechecked their calculations. They had sent the results to the other three ships and had them check and recheck the calculations. Once everyone was satisfied, they had fed everything into the navigation computers of the four ships. Now that course was activated and Predator crept forward through subspace on this course. At the same time Tactical sent a one-word code at low power to the stationary corvettes next to Predator. They also began to move forward in formation. The four ships moved in unison, slowly and silently, toward the large solitary rock a couple hundred kilometers away.
The computer took them to the side of the rock away from Gammatiga and ensured the ships matched the speed of the rock so as to remain behind it as they emerged from subspace. The rock was several kilometers long, wide, and high so the pirate ships could easily hide behind it. The four ships stabilized behind the rock while maintaining formation. Predator sent a one-word code to indicate she was coming out of subspace. She emerged alone from subspace and immediately began passive sensor listening. All was clear on this side of the rock. Predator sent another one-word code and the three corvettes came out of subspace in perfect formation.
“Let’s put up the topside skinny sensor antenna,” Hawkins said in a light tone.
Rafe had to hand it to the Edinburgh designers of the Clan class destroyers. The ship had an extendable sensor antenna at the top and bottom of the ship so the ship could sweep its surroundings while remaining under cover. A simple idea in this age of super technology, but an idea that paid great dividends.
Predator slowly eased close to the rock, stabilized, and then rose slowly. She stopped just below the top edge of the rock. A sensor antenna extended from the roof of the bridge and moved straight up. It reached its limit of five meters. Predator now inched upward the last few meters so the tip of the antenna extended above the top of the rock.
“Contact,” stated Tactical. She was on the passive sensor station and now sent the display to all bridge computers and the three accompanying corvettes that remained below Predator behind the rock. The sensor display showed that the two enemy support ships were the closest enemy ships to the rock but had halted several hundred kilometers away toward the Zeke supply base. Just beyond them was the five Goth ships spread out in a half moon formation facing the Zeke base. The ships were staggered up and down to ensure complete coverage to the front of the formation toward Gammatiga. All seven ships were floating motionless in space. Beyond the Goth escorts, the OrCon flotilla continued to advance toward Gammatiga. Well beyond this force and on the edge of sensor range was the lone Zeke destroyer, Emerald, as she continued to retreat to the Zeke supply base.
“They are out there a ways, aren’t they?” Rafe remarked; then he frowned as he looked at the range to the two support ships. He quickly did a rough calculation. Assuming the support ships and their Goth escorts remain in their current position, his force should be able to get a quick attack from the rear on the support ships before the Goths can intercept them, but it would be close. He turned to Tactical. “Run the numbers for an attack. I did a rough estimate and I think it would be close.”
Tactical nodded and turned to her stat
ion. A moment later she turned around. “Assuming current distance remained the same, if we depart the rock at maximum speed and fire at maximum range, some missiles of our first salvo should impact the shields of our targets before the escorts can react with enough defensive fires to get them all. But if the escorts react fast and fire at their maximum range, they would intercept all subsequent salvos. We get one free salvo of twenty-four missiles. If we concentrate on one target, we would ensure its destruction. If we hit both targets, the results become problematical. Depends on their shields and whether they get any effective laser shots off in self-defense.”
Rafe nodded and stared at his computer screen with Tactical’s numbers on it as he considered his options - time and distance and simple math. All of the squadron’s ships would have the tactical situation on their own screens now, and they were quietly waiting for a decision. Rafe was a gambler by nature and would shoot at both ships in an all-or-nothing bid for destruction of the enemy supply source. He reached toward his pad to activate his command net when Madison Hopkins voice stopped him. She spoke up from her station as she manned the sensors now. The ship was getting the sensor feed from the Emerald as the base was just beyond Predator’s sensor range. “Something happening at Gammatiga.”
So as not to expose any of her ships, Captain Mallory had deployed her forces behind the planet and was monitoring the sensor feed from Emerald through the base system. The base’s meager planetary defenses consisted of four offensive missiles batteries on orbiting platforms, which could be maneuvered to meet an incoming threat. These platforms were integrated into the defense plan. As Sky had monitored the sensor images from Emerald, she saw the distance from the rock to the two support ships was too great for the pirate ambush as envisioned in the plan.
“We need to put a change in the plan,” she spoke to Commander Cassidy. “The OrCon support ships are too far forward of the rock. We’re going to move out in a show of force. Hopefully, they will move back in response.”
Sky spoke on her command net, “We’re moving out. Spread formation once we get around the planet. Key on me. The outermost missile platform will be our limit of advance. We will not, I say again, will not engage in combat. I anticipate a show of force only and a return to this spot. Let’s move.”
The Zeke flotilla moved out and circled the planet to establish a line abeam on the near side of Gammatiga closest to the OrCons. An abeam formation was established and the ships waited for the oncoming enemy.
Rafe switched his screen to get the big view now and looked on in disbelief. Emerald had stopped her retreat forward of the base and the remainder of the Zeke force was moving out from behind the planet to join her. Rafe frowned and turned to Baby Doll, “When did this become part of the plan?”
“They’re making it up now,” she replied as she and Tactical started running likely scenarios on their computers taking into account the Zeke move.
“They go toe-to-toe with the OrCons, they get their asses kicked,” Tactical said without looking up from her screen as her fingers flew over her keypad. “Having the base defenses on their side won’t alter that outcome.”
The Zekes established a battle line forward and waited. The two opposing forces were one hour apart and, assuming the OrCons would continue to close on the stationary Zeke force at their current speed, they could exchange missile salvos in thirty minutes.
“What is this?” Admiral Stavka spoke in surprise. He watched in disbelief as the Zekes established a line forward with their few ships. The retreating destroyer, Emerald, joined the line, and the orbiting missile batteries shored up the flanks.
“Slow ahead!” he ordered over his command net. “Scan our flanks and forward for subspace activity.”
His flag staff monitored all the flotilla’s ships and reported negative scanning results. There was nobody lurking nearby in subspace.
Admiral Stavka continued to be uneasy, “There is something going on here. Do we have eyes on the pirate destroyer that ran from us at Potenka?”
“No, Admiral,” replied the watch officer. “We have the Zeke force only. Twenty-nine minutes to missile range.”
The Admiral paused in thought. Several officers on the flag bridge continually glanced in his direction. The Admiral knew the Zekes were not stupid so there was something here, he could feel it. Something just beyond his grasp. What were they up to? He concluded that stopping and waiting wouldn’t solve this puzzle.
“Continue to close. We’ll fire at max range. Concentrate on the heavy cruiser. Continue scans in all directions.”
On his own bridge below the flag bridge, Captain Korlov frowned yet again. He agreed with both the Admiral’s instructions and his concerns regarding the current situation. The Zekes must have something in mind to balance the odds. They were not stupid. Korlov was just as uneasy as his commander.
“Keep scanning, especially subspace. This is ... uncomfortable.” Korlov thought this was an unusual choice of words, but accurate. His bridge crew looked at him briefly before returning to their duties.
With the movement of the Zekes out to the front of Gammatiga, the stationary Goth escort force and the two support ships would remain on the edge of the Zeke sensor range. The Goths started to slide back toward the rock with the two OrCon support ships leading the way. With the appearance of imminent battle, this force was moving back and putting distance between themselves and the expected battlefield while trying to get out of sensor range. The two support ships were now coming toward the pirates behind the rock.
“Thank you, Captain Mallory,” Hawkins said quietly. Obviously, the sensor feed she was getting from Emerald had shown her the location of the support ships and their escort. She correctly surmised the ships were too far forward of the rock for the pirate attack to have enough time to ensure their destruction and still escape without fighting the Goth escort, so Captain Mallory had moved her force out and pushed forward. The appearance of this Zeke force had the desired effect of having the support ships retreat back toward the rock to ensure the same distance from the Zekes was maintained.
Rafe made a quick decision. He hit his command key, “We’ll let them come as close as they want. Once they stop and set up again, we’ll hit them. Fire on the support ships only.”
Chapter 29
Predator’s bridge crew watched the two support ships move closer to their hiding spot. The bridge was silent. The movements of the quarry would establish the time of attack but it was very near now. Tension rose slightly but the prevailing mood was expectation. The attack became easier with each passing moment as the two support vessels came closer. The pirates would leave their cover, hammer the two supply ships, and escape before the Goths could react.
The two support ships came back toward the rock. At the halfway point between the rock and their original position, the two ships stopped, turned, and settled into a stationary posture again. The Goth escort set up again between the two support ships and Gammatiga. It was time for the pirates to move.
“Execute the attack plan,” Rafe commanded to his bridge and over the command network.
The sensors had already fed all data to the firing computers, and a firing solution had been arrived at before the ships moved. The four pirate ships lined up behind the rock and then rose as one. As soon as the missile tubes were clear of the rock, missiles went downrange. Each ship discharged all tubes twice. Any further salvos would be easily intercepted by the escorts.
“Predator, Predator, Predator!” shouted the bridge crew. Rafe smiled as he knew the same ritual was going on throughout his ship and on the other three ships as well. The four ships dropped back behind the rock, turned one hundred eighty degrees, and fled while keeping the rock between them and the Goth escort.
As soon as the pirate ships cleared the rock, sensors on both the support ships and the Goth escort picked up the vessels and activated the ship shields. The Goths were not in an automatic firing mode so the crews had to identify and then manually fire on the target
. A few precious seconds were lost as the crews allowed their fire control computers to return fire at the pirates who were already down behind their cover.
The incoming pirate missiles met no interceptors, but both support ships’ close-in laser systems automatically began to fire at the incoming targets. Each ship destroyed three of their attackers but the remaining missiles all impacted on their two targets. The first salvo hit the shields. But these were merchantmen with weaker shields than those of warships. The missiles impacted on both ships’ shields in rapid succession. One ship absorbed five hits on the same rear shield section and the section collapsed. Missiles flowed through the opening to hit the hull. Explosions racked the rear section of the ship. These quickly burned through the oxygen of exposed compartments and sputtered out. Pieces of jagged metal floated away from the incinerated, blackened hull. The ship lost all control and slowly began to spin away as navigation lights flickered out with the loss of power. Escape pods began to separate from the hull as the crew scrambled to survive. The second ship took six missiles on the rear shield section that collapsed. The second missile to impact the hull caused a massive explosion, probably penetrating the magazine where the resupply of missiles and gun ammunition was stored. No escape pods were launched. The remaining missiles aimed at that ship flew through a massive pile of debris floating in space.
It took only a few seconds for the view of the attack to reach the OrCon force.
“Our support ships are being hit!” shouted a sensor operator on the flag bridge.
Allies of Convenience: Pirates of the Badlands Series Book 1 Page 14