Nobody in Flot 1 had valid military IFF squawks. All the military vessels in the Badlands had IFF codes that were assigned to them by their government through classified channels, and these codes changed on a daily basis. Any military ship approaching the supply base would be interrogated by base sensors, and its own sensors would respond with the appropriate IFF code. The ship would then continue inbound and establish voice communications.
Without the appropriate codes, the only way to attempt a covert approach was to go in subspace. It might work, but as the ship closed on the base, more base sensors would scan the nearby space more often. If detected, the subspace ship would not know it until the base or nearby ships orbiting the base opened fire on the general area where the ship was discovered. Since ships in subspace had no shields nor could fire weapons, a few direct hits could be devastating. Getting the entire squadron in via subspace was problematic at best. Besides, Hawkins wanted the base to send out calls for help and wanted the OrCon/Goth force to answer the call.
An hour later, Tactical spoke from her station. “We are being scanned.”
“Very well,” Rafe replied.
Tactical kept up her report. “There are two freighters in orbit. They look to be getting underway in a hurry. They were unloading so they won’t run away and supply the GorCons later. No naval vessels.”
That was excellent news. Navy ships would only add to the base’s defenses and complicate the attack. The supply ships were of no interest to the attackers. They would be allowed to run in peace. Minutes ticked by. Tactical kept the update going. “We are being warned off.”
“Very well.”
Two minutes passed. “They are now threatening action if we continue to close.” The distain in Tactical’s voice reflected how seriously she took the warning.
Raferty was equally nonplussed. “Noted. Send them a demand for surrender or face destruction.” He waved his hand in the air. “Blah, blah, blah. You know the verbiage. We need to at least go through the motions.”
“Aye, aye,” Tactical responded. Everyone knew it was a waste of time but it was part of the ritual. The base would ignore the surrender demand and respond with threats. The flotilla would continue to close and the battle would commence.
“No response,” Tactical reported. “But they are requesting help across the comm spectrum.”
Raferty nodded absently. A general call for assistance was to be expected. Goth naval vessels would respond to the call, the only variable would be how long it would take those ships to arrive at the base. Hopefully the OrCon/Goth squadron would hear and would be close.
Minutes ticked by. All pirate ships reported ready. All departments aboard Predator reported ready. Tension slowly built on the bridge. The bridge crew rechecked their instruments, ensured their personal breathing apparatuses were strapped to their bodies, and strapped themselves down in their chairs.
“In range in five minutes,” Tactical commented as she strapped herself in.
Hawkins was the last person to strap in. He brought up three floating screens around himself. He slipped his left leg over the left armrest of his captain’s chair and assumed an air of mild interest as he studied his screens. As always, bridge personnel glanced back to view the command section at the rear of the bridge. Their captain was in a relaxed posture reviewing his screens, and their tactical and intel officers were stabbing air on their floating screens as they made adjustments in a calm, deliberate fashion. The bridge people smiled at each other. The situation was obviously under control.
“Incoming,” Tactical remarked. The metal shields slid down over the large bridge viewports. Now a view of the outside was only available on computer screens via the many ship cameras.
The floating missile batteries in orbit above the base had opened up with a barrage of missiles. The five ships of the reinforced Alpha Squadron responded with defensive fires. Cries of “Predator, Predator, Predator!” echoed throughout the ship as the first wave of interceptor missiles departed the tubes. Rafe smiled.
Wolfpack responded with offensive missiles to destroy the floaters. Waves of missiles converged on each other. Dozens of collisions occurred but many pirate missiles broke through the curtain of base missiles and honed in on the floating platforms. Ten base missiles going in the opposite direction got through the pirate missile defenses only to fall prey to pirate decoys and guns. None impacted the attacking ships.
Hawkins spoke on his command channel to all flotilla ships. “They’ve made their first mistake. All ships slow down. We’re going to walk in.”
The base commander was probably a supply officer with minimum tactical training. He would have an operations officer or security officer who would have advised him or her on the best defense, but the commander had clearly ignored the advice. He or she had positioned the floating batteries as far out as possible so as to engage the approaching enemy at the earliest opportunity and at the farthest range from the base. But this also meant the base surface fortifications could not add supporting fires as they were still out of range so the incoming attackers had only to deal with the orbiting batteries. The pirates slowed down to allow ample time to destroy the unsupported floating batteries. Since the attackers had to deal with less than half of the base defenses, they could methodically eliminate the floating fortifications with no interference from the surface defenses. Alpha Squadron handled the incoming barrage as Wolfpack fired offensive missiles at single targets. The unmanned floaters were controlled from the surface, and the operators, not feeling threatened, maintained offensive missile fires while using only the guns and decoys on the floating platforms for defense. If the orbiters had been kept close to the surface and been supported by the surface weapons, this strategy would have been effective as the surface weapons could have provided defensive fires to protect the floaters while the floaters were on the offense. Now the Goths were counting on offensive fires from their floaters to damage the attackers to such an extent they would break off the action, or be easily handled by the surface batteries once the surviving attackers had gotten into range.
It was not to be. After judging the incoming missile barrage, Hawkins switched two Wolfpack ships to defensive fires to ensure protection of the attacking force and allowed the remaining three ships of that squadron to handle the floating batteries. O’Hare concentrated on one floater at a time. Missiles hammered each floating battery in turn as all ships continued to slowly close on the floating platforms and the base. Pirate missiles impacted on the floaters’ shields and exploded with no noticeable effect. But each impact reduced shield effectiveness, and it was only a matter of time until a shield panel failed. Soon a shield collapsed and missiles poured into the gap to smash against the metal launchers. Explosions ripped through the floating structure. There was no atmosphere so no resulting fires, but the destruction was easily seen on high mag video. As each floater was reduced, the incoming missiles dropped correspondingly and Raferty switched ships from defensive to offensive support, and the remaining floating batteries were destroyed at an increased rate.
Soon all the floaters were drifting wrecks. The attackers suffered no damage. The base commander had allowed the entire attacking force to engage and destroy an unsupported portion of his command, and now the outcome of this battle was not in doubt.
“Send a surrender demand again,” Raferty stated in a calm voice. He didn’t have much hope of the event happening, but he would try. After all, the proprieties must be observed.
A few seconds later, Tactical answered. “No response. They’re still screaming for help and probably sending out sensor data on a discrete freq.”
The attackers continued to close on the base. As they entered the engagement envelope of the surface batteries, a swarm of missiles erupted from below.
Rafe talked over his command net. “Let a few get through to hit the shields on all ships. Renegade, time for you to take a hit.”
The flotilla responded with interceptors, decoys and gunfire as missiles c
losed on Flot 1. Missiles got through the defenses and hits were achieved on the shields of several ships. The corvette Renegade shook under three hits. All hits were taken on the shields, but Renegade vented oxygen from her port engine nacelle, then ignited it. The resulting flame looked like a compartment had been opened to space due to a missile hit. The corvette slewed to starboard and slowed down but maintained her firing. The Goth base sensors and video would show a hit on the port engine of the ship.
The fight continued as the attackers assumed the same roles as they had used against the floating fortifications. The surface batteries were more extensive than the floating batteries and several hits were achieved on the attackers. All hits were taken on the shields but the corvette Outlaw seemed to take a hit in its starboard engine with a resulting reduction in speed. Gradually surface batteries were destroyed and incoming fire lessened. A series of explosions rippled across the base infrastructure.
“They’re blowing their supply depot,” Tactical remarked.
A tidal wave of explosions rolled through the rows of warehouses and storage tanks. Several holding tanks discharged drinking water into drainage ditches while other large tanks filled with flammable liquids went up in sympathetic secondary explosions. Fires now ate at a large rectangle on one side of the base. Black and gray smoke spread from the rectangle over the remaining buildings on the base. The Goth base personnel had ensured their supplies would not fall into pirate hands. Hawkins had never thought there was a realistic chance of getting the supplies so he was not disappointed. More importantly from his point of view, the supplies would not go to the OrCon/Goth squadron.
Hawkins watched the smoke blow over the entire supply base. Realistically they should break off the attack as the supplies could no longer be taken. But that had never been the primary goal of the raid. The attack was intended to draw the OrCon/Goth squadron to this location to support the supply base. That squadron must be too far away to respond in a timely manner. Hawkins could think of no other reason for the non-response. The Goth contingent of that combined squadron would surely run to assist their comrades and the OrCons would want to secure a supply source. Rafe frowned. The attempt to draw the enemy to his force seemed to have failed. Continuing the attack would be a risk to his ships and a waste of munitions with nothing to gain.
Raferty keyed his command net. “We’re pulling out. We’ll back off by squadrons. Wolfpack, come off while Alpha provides covering fires.”
In response, the five Wolfpack ships began to slide back while switching to defensive fires using interceptor missiles. As they moved back, Alpha Squadron began to follow. Renegade and Outlaw moved at a reduced speed and maneuvered sluggishly to simulate their supposed loss of engine power. It was likely the base sensors would record this, and the information passed to responding units who would assume they could run down the crippled ships and destroy them.
The ships gradually moved out of range of the surface defenses while covering their supposedly crippled ships. Raferty knew a sensor feed from Predator had information flowing to the Zekes. They would see the attack was done and Flot 1 was departing. The Zekes would move from their high guard position to the briefed rendezvous point. The combined force would then move to a blocking position along the likely route to Rosstrappe. It was possible the enemy force would proceed there once they received word of the destruction of the Harper’s Reef supply base. The relief convoy would be coming to them and it was the only answer to their supply problem. Hawkins could only hope Flot 1 and their Zeke allies could position themselves across the route and engage the GorCon squadron before the relief convoy could arrive in the area. Nearby this blocking position was the Nomad asteroid belt. Once the fighting commenced, they would move to the asteroid belt, and use the cover there as an equalizer against the superior firepower of their enemy.
Hyatt Renaldo spoke from the communications station with excitement in his voice. “Zekes calling. They have contact with the GorCons. Zekes are running with the bad guys chasing.”
Raferty was immediately on his command net to his ships. “Execute the escape vector. The Zekes will drag the bad guys to us. We will rendezvous with the Zekes in six hours and begin a merry chase.”
Flotilla One moved at a reduced speed as they were supposedly limited by their two crippled craft. The Zekes would be moving on a closing course to the pirates with the enemy two hours in trail of them. If the plan worked as briefed, the Zekes would gradually outrun the enemy’s sensors at the same time they would rendezvous with the pirates. The faster Zekes would keep going past the slower pirates burdened with their two damaged ships. The OrCon/Goth force would lose the Zekes but have the pirates in their sights. They would switch to pursuing the pirates who would happen to be going in the same direction of the Zekes. They would catch the pirates near the Nomad asteroid belt and move to destroy the slower, outnumbered force and, at the same time, they would hope the Zekes would not let their erstwhile allies be destroyed without lending assistance. In fact, they would get exactly what they desired.
Chapter 43
“We must hold onto them,” Admiral Stavka commanded from his chair on the flag bridge.
Nobody responded to the obvious statement. Captain Korlov nodded absently as he continued to review the sensor feed from Harper’s Reef supply base on the computer screen at the chief of staff station. Their combined squadron had caught the Zekes on sensors but the Zekes had clearly seen them and were speeding away. Korlov assumed the enemy would move to a rendezvous with the pirates who had just finished their attack on Harper’s Reef.
The data feed from those supply depot sensors showed the pirate attack in detail. In Korlov’s opinion, the commander of the supply base had blown his stores too soon. Their Goth escort had signaled Harper’s Reef they were on the way to support the base against the attacking pirates. They had given a time of arrival. The timing would have been close, but Korlov believed they would have arrived in time to drive the pirates off and secure the supplies for themselves. He realized the base would have taken a beating in the meantime. Perhaps the base commander didn’t want to absorb the punishment or did not believe the relief force would arrive at the time promised. The only good thing to come from this was the damage done to two pirate ships. He had watched them limp away on the base sensor feed. Korlov turned off the video. It was all in the past now. It was now time to shape the future.
“We will hold the Zekes on sensors for several hours,” he spoke to his commander. “They must be moving to a rendezvous with pirates. I hope they are. The two groups together might get brave and we can end this.”
“Agreed.” Stavka spoke quietly as he scanned his own computer screens. “The Zekes could have run long before they actually did. Probably they would have provided a blocking force to delay us so the pirates could continue their attack on the base. If that fool base commander hadn’t blown the supplies, the pirates would have been forced to continue the attack to destroy the supplies themselves so as to deny us. The Zekes may have felt obligated to put up a fight against us, and we could have taken them then and ended this. But now the Zekes get to run since there is no attack to cover and thus no reason to engage us.”
Korlov nodded toward the Admiral. They had had identical thoughts on the matter. Stavka nodded back and the topic was now closed.
“Keep on them. I am going to call my counterpart and see if we are in agreement as to a course of action.”
“Yes, Admiral.”
Stavka moved from the flag bridge to the empty briefing compartment behind it. He sat at the head of the table and called Light Admiral Kaufmann. The Goth commander answered immediately.
Stavka had no desire for small talk or negotiation. “We are pursuing the Zekes and would appreciate your support in accompanying us.”
“Of course,” replied Admiral Kaufmann. “I believe they will rendezvous with pirates soon enough, and we can take both of them at that time. There is a relief convoy coming from Rosstrappe but we may be able t
o bring this to a conclusion before they arrive on station.”
Admiral Stavka was not overly surprised at his counterpart wanting to close this out before reinforcements arrived. Apparently, Goth senior officers were as zealous to cover their mistakes and get glory and credit as the senior officers in his navy. Stavka concluded it was probably the same in all navies. Besides, destruction of a pirate squadron would be a considerable achievement in any navy. And that destruction would render Kaufmann’s failure to protect the OrCon supply ships as moot. Yes, Light Admiral Kaufmann was motivated to bring this to a successful conclusion, hopefully with no outside help from his fellow commanders.
Stavka continued in a more relaxed manner now that he knew the Goths were in total agreement with bringing this to a quick and successful conclusion. “The pirates and Zekes probably have an ambush plan or some other supposed surprise. Have you any ideas on that?”
Kaufmann absently scratched his chin in thought. “There is the possibility of more pirate ships joining them. We do not know the exact number Hawkins can draw on, but it can’t be too many more than the ten we saw in the Harper’s Reef attack. Don’t see outside pirates joining in so any reinforcements would be few in number.
“Could be a subspace attack but that would give them a very short advantage, and then our numbers and firepower would take over in any prolonged fight. I wish they would do that. It would be violent but it would be straightforward and, hopefully, short in duration.
“The enemy could play hide and seek using a planet and its moons. There are a couple of candidates in the area they are going toward.” Kaufmann paused and then continued thoughtfully. “There is also the Nomad asteroid belt. With the continuous movement of asteroids, hiding in there would be challenge, but they are just crazy enough to do it. Give me a second.”
Allies of Convenience: Pirates of the Badlands Series Book 1 Page 22