Dalkasan, Devlaran, and Colin left FNS Kaval with Home Fleet for this exercise. Litu Harol would prefer to sit this out, he’d experienced FNS Harmon’s abilities. Still, Devlaran had sent his orders, when Commodore Gordon departed Sankarah, FNS Kaval was going with him. The prospect excited Harol. He expected to learn much from the Commodore and even see action. This was a better outcome to the fiasco at the Jump-Point than he expected. Meanwhile, Kile was at Headquarters languishing in a dead-end role while Admiral Dalkasan decided his fate.
Sankarah System
Once more, Colin’s Task-Force left a friendly Space Station to play with the local defense forces. The small group cruised far enough away then the Cobras moved in to dock with FNS Harmon. With docking completed, Harmon disappeared as she Micro-Jumped to a point, two light hours from the nearest Home Fleet asset. The Cobras undocked and moved into position for the first attack. Dalkasan sat in the CCC observing Colin and his team work. They were a well-oiled machine, passing information as it became available, choosing their next steps.
Dalkasan found himself amazed when he saw the quality of their situational awareness. FNS Harmon’s Sensors were proving superior to anything he’d ever seen. Two light hours away, Dalkasan saw every ship in the System.
Colin said, “Admiral, these Sensors helped the Pirates for a while until we captured the man who invented them at Lahoshar. His name is Dave Bach. Dave, come over here, will you? Let me introduce you to Admiral Dalkasan.”
With the introductions over, Colin continued, “Dave’s considered a hero on Cambridge. He and Jon Gibson who’s on Comms saved our President from a Pirate during the invasion.”
Dalkasan nodded. This was unprecedented. Colin Gordon had a talent for finding the best in people and bringing them to the front. He asked, “Why did you choose Piracy Dave?”
Dave replied, “I didn’t, Admiral. I grew up in Alliance territory. I wanted to leave, but if caught in Federation territory, the best I could hope for was a lengthy prison term. Captain Gordon took the choice from me when he captured us. I cooperated and then faced trial in Cambridge. They found me guilty and sentenced me to serve a term in the Navy. I’ve tried to do the best job, Sir, nothing less.”
“Hmmm, I suspect there’s more to this story than you’ve divulged. Even with that, I must thank you for these Sensors. They are a game changer.”
“Thank you, Admiral.”
Dave returned to his Sensor Station. Colin said “Let’s dance. We’ll take the pickets first to get Home Fleet’s attention. Then we’ll take those four Destroyers and eight Patrol-Boats patrolling over near the gas giant. The Cobras can position themselves for that while FNS Harmon attacks the pickets. Then we’ll pop in and knock them out of the fight.”
In the beginning, the exercise proceeded the way Colin expected, why shouldn’t it. Home Fleet had constraints. They had to have pickets on the Jump Points and guard multiple high-value targets. While Colin’s Cobras moved in toward the gas giant, FNS Harmon Jumped to the Jump-Point where he simulated his attack there. Those ships didn’t last long. What he didn’t expect was how soon reinforcements arrived. Two Destroyers and Four Patrol-Boats Micro-Jumped in just as he finished his attack on the pickets, so Colin turned his attention to the new threat. They lasted little longer than the pickets, then FNS Harmon Micro-Jumped to a position near the gas giant. When Harmon appeared nearby, the Destroyers there turned their attention on her. They made a simulated attack run which FNS Harmon shrugged off while returning fire.
The Cobras raced in from behind and fired with abandon, overwhelming the Home Fleet defenses. The ships from Cambridge had now taken twenty Home Fleet ships out of the equation leaving seventeen Destroyers and thirty-eight Patrol-Boats. This was the point where things turned in Home Fleet’s favor. Colin’s forces took so long to subdue the ships near the gas giant that the home team had time to Micro-Jump into position near the vessels from Cambridge. Commodore Devlaran brought every remaining Home Fleet vessel into action. It’s said, quantity has a quality of its own. With seventeen Destroyers and thirty-eight Patrol-Boats attacking FNS Harmon and the Cobras, Home Fleet pinned him in place. Over the following hours, Home Fleet wore the Red team’s defenses away, but not without taking heavy losses of their own.
By the time Admiral Dalkasan called an end to the exercise, Colin knew although decimated, Home Fleet had won. If this were a real attack, Sankarah would’ve had problems without the Reserve Fleet as a backup. Even Dalkasan’s face was pale. The way Colin’s team fought was deadly for the other side.
As the ships made their way back to Sankarah Orbital, Dalkasan said, “Commodore Gordon, might I have a private word with you?”
Colin nodded as he rose from his Command Station and said, “Lieutenant Downer, you have the CCC.”
“Yes, Commodore, I have the CCC.”
Colin led the Admiral to his Ready-Room and to the comfortable chairs in one corner.
Dalkasan said, “Commodore when you arrived in the Federation, I had my doubts, but I admit I was wrong. After watching your performance, I understand why you are so potent during a fight. Tell me, is there anything you’d do different if this fight was real?”
“I would make several changes, Admiral. First, I wouldn’t attack a System this well defended with FNS Harmon and four Cobras without a potent backup force ready to help. The second change is that I’d have an escape plan so they couldn’t catch me.”
“Why didn’t you have an escape plan this time?”
“For this, escape was never the point. You wanted to test FNS Harmon and me, or my team. I had to show you what we can do.”
Dalkasan chuckled and said, “A mind reader too Colin. I must watch my thoughts when you’re close.”
Sankarah Orbital
After the exercise ended, Dalkasan activated Reserve Fleet to take over System security. He’d warned them this was coming, they were ready. Many people in Home Fleet looked on Reserve Fleet as poor cousins. During the exercise, the people in Reserve Fleet had watched the action. Most rooted for the men from Cambridge because they’d fought alongside them during the final stages of the Battle for Cambridge. They arrived to see the Pirates on the back foot, trying to fend off attacks from Cambridge’s defenders. Many Reserve Fleet personnel, thought Commander Gordon, and the others were ready to make a suicide run against the Pirates when the Reserve Fleet arrived.
Colin stood before the assembled Home Fleet Captains and First Officers. The trouble they had stopping FNS Harmon shocked them. Worse, she didn’t have her complement of fighters yet, with those, their casualties would’ve been higher.
Colin said, “You’ve learned something during this exercise. A determined enemy can and will cause you serious trouble. FNS Harmon is one Destroyer with four Cobras as a backup. With two ships of this caliber and the accompanying Cobras, Home Fleet is toast. You stopped us because we chose not to run. If this fight were real, we would’ve left before you cornered us and waited for you to stand down from Alert one. Over a few weeks, with resupply, we would decimate your ranks. Because you have a nice cushy job here in Sankarah, you’ve become soft and complacent. You have easy lives here. Your most onerous duty is when you’re assigned to picket a Jump-Point or Patrol near Faron, your gas giant. You must learn better tactics. The best way is to send elements of Home Fleet out to look for opportunities to train and even fight. I’ve spoken at length about this to Admiral Dalkasan so expect changes. Other units will come in to replace departing ships.”
After Colin finished, Admiral Dalkasan discussed his observations on board FNS Harmon. The Admiral clarified that Colin’s speech had his support. This caused a murmur of discomfort through the assembled Officers. They wondered what the future held if the Navy sent them away. They’d developed a liking for the soft life they enjoyed here in Sankarah. Dalkasan’s comments subdued the meetings on Sankarah Station. Most of Home Fleets Command Structure expected an easy victory against the ships from Cambridge. Instead, many of them would�
�ve died if this battle was real. As it was, the score left them with sixty-two percent casualties. Captain Harol wasn’t surprised by the outcome, he’d been on the receiving end when FNS Harmon arrived. On that occasion, Commodore Gordon succeeded in teaching Harol a lesson. The Admiral had beached one Captain, and Harol only kept his Command because the Commodore intervened on his behalf.
Analysts worked through every action taken during the exercise, dissecting what went right and what didn’t. Everyone agreed, the Harmon class Destroyer was a game changer. The older warships became obsolete overnight when Cambridge launched FNS Harmon. Everyone knew the Federation Navy wasn’t resourced to update its Destroyer Fleet fast enough. The proceedings continued for days. Colin reached a point where he couldn’t keep going so he slipped away to head back to his quarters on board FNS Harmon.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
DEFEATED
FNS Brina
Kashir Zhavan lay on the cot in her quarters. By now, she’d remembered her Queens orders. Queen Taveli said go no further than Brondar. But Admiral Zhavan took her Task-Force further, much further. The intensity of the fire in her heart had reduced now she’d made the time to calm herself, but she still wanted revenge on the Pirates. After hours of tossing and turning, exhaustion overtook Kashir, and she descended into a fitful sleep.
The Pirates still posed a mystery. The Federation knew little of their origins, or where the Pirates hid between raids. For Zhavan, this lack of knowledge was maddening, she grew more impatient with every day’s delay. After leaving Brondar, the Kislarans captured two Pirate ships and saved thirty slaves from short, brutal lives. While searching the captured ships, Zhavan’s team found a wealth of information. As the analysts found each piece of data, Kashir examined it, trying to find something pointing her toward a real target.
Data from the first ship suggested a place called Hangelore, out past Cambridge somewhere, though they couldn’t find the exact coordinates. Security staff interrogated the prisoners from that vessel, but they said they’d never been to Hangelore. They claimed Hangelore’s owner charges high prices for everything. If a ship’s owner can’t pay, he takes the ship, her crew, and the owner as his own. Hangelore was a place to avoid unless you had plenty of money or no other choice.
The second ship sustained more damage than the first, and the computers didn’t work when the Kislarans captured her. The Pirates tried to wreck the computers when the Kislaran Troopers boarded but only caused minor damage. This vessel required plenty of work to make her spaceworthy enough to send her and the freed slaves to safety. Admiral Zhavan didn’t want civilians on her Flagship when they invaded Hangelore.
Kashir didn’t understand defeat, she intended to win. Civilians might impede the crew during a critical time. They needed to complete repair work and bring the vessel’s computers up to gather intelligence. Data in those computers might mean victory for the Kislarans. With the Pirates subdued, Kislaran technicians boarded the prize to begin repairs. After several weeks of work, they started the computers. Zhavan’s technicians couldn’t fix the damaged computer storage arrays and couldn’t recover the information they held. Technicians still copied vast amounts of accessible data to mobile storage arrays and transported them to Zhavan’s Flagship for analysis.
On FNS Brina, analysts examined the treasure trove of information coming from the prize. They worked through the data, categorizing it to make later analysis easier. While she’d disobeyed orders when she left Brondar, Kashir Zhavan still held a profound sense of duty. She planned to send the results of their work back to a Federation world for action, along with notice of her plans to attack Hangelore. They soon found references to Hangelore in this new data. These discoveries infuriated Zhavan at first, but as she examined more data, evidence pointing toward Hangelore’s location surfaced. Kashir’s excitement mounted as her technicians identified the first of the five coordinates for a Jump-Point leading to Hangelore. Because objects in Space don’t stand still, the coordinate system includes three spatial coordinates, time, and a vector representing direction and velocity.
Meanwhile, repairs on the captured ship proceeded well. When this one departed, Zhavan hoped to take her Fleet to Hangelore. Impatient to move on, Kashir drove the analysts to distraction as she asked for constant updates. They found the second coordinate two days after the first. This increased Zhavan’s excitement, and her impatience. Each coordinate simplified the search, and the time needed to find their target. Two coordinates still left a three-dimensional search area, but without time or velocity, the search volume was vast. An hour after locating the second coordinate, the analysts found the third which again left a large volume of Space to search. Zhavan herself found the vector part two days later while examining data but the time part continued to elude them for another two weeks. It was unfortunate that the data organization within the memory cores resulted in these five essential elements being kept at separate addresses. Linkages exist when the computer core is intact, but in this case, the damage had broken those links. The analysts spent considerable effort tracing the linkages, reconstructing corrupted data and then finding the information they sought.
When they found the time part, Zhavan mood turned euphoric. Her analysts took far too long to find this information in her opinion. Deep in her heart, Zhavan knew they worked hard, but her impatience was palpable. With the entire coordinate set identified, Zhavan called her staff together to decide on a way forward. She’d chosen their path but considered their council worthwhile. They entered the coordinates in the navigation system and found Hangelore. The problem was, this world lay far from their current position out past Cambridge. Their Task-Force needed weeks to travel there. This realization struck home in Zhavan. She wished Commodore Gordon had come with her. Zhavan knew she’d been an amateur to handle him that way. His ship though was both beautiful and terrifying. The Sensor Techs carried out extensive Scans when FNS Harmon came close enough, and she bristled with weapons. Even her power readings were enormous. For the first time since leaving Brondar, doubt assailed Zhavan. She sank into indecision for hours before assembling her Captains to discuss a way forward. For the first time, Zhavan intended relating her plan to take the Task-Force and attack the Pirates in their lair.
FNS Disna
After Admiral Zhavan met her ship Commanders, Captain Fana Koral paced in his Ready-Room as he considered options. The Admiral had identified her target, and they were going to war. Fana didn’t mind going to war against the Pirates. Until Brondar, Kislara was a backwater. Because Kislara lacked a direct threat, most delanot remained ignorant of the danger, becoming complacent because they believed themselves safe. Captain Koral never considered himself ignorant. Even as a child, he knew the delanot must take responsibility for their own protection. Koral believed Kislara must help to defend itself and the Federation against outside aggression. He joined the Navy because of his belief. Koral’s most immediate problem was that he needed to decide what to do and his crew needed to prepare for future action. He held no illusions that the attack on Hangelore might prove easy. Koral expected to attack a well-defended world.
Fana’s only choice was to train his crew hard so when FNS Disna entered Hangelore, he’d made his people ready for whatever happened. Koral sighed and called Sevarn Lamana, his First Officer to plan a comprehensive training schedule.
When Lamana entered, Koral said, “Sevarn, we’re going to war. Admiral Zhavan is planning an attack on a major Pirate base. We must prepare our crew for whatever comes. Your primary job over the next few weeks is to run training exercises to hone our skills. We have four weeks before going into battle and need the crew ready before then.”
“I’ll put a training schedule together, Captain. Do you have preferences? Should I concentrate on specifics?”
“The obvious ones. We need to shorten the time needed to bring the ship to Battle-Stations, various damage scenarios, the usual. We don’t know what we’ll find after we enter Hangelore.”
; “I’ll start now Captain.”
“Excellent Sevarn. One thing; these drills should surprise you and me too. We must hone our skills, so we react the right way when surprised.”
Lamana nodded and left to prepare, his mind racing with ideas. It was impossible to make every drill a surprise for the Captain and First Officer, someone needed to place props and simulate specific scenarios. Sevarn started with a few simple exercises, testing the crew’s skill levels. Within hours, the first Battle-Stations alarms rang through the ship. People scrambled to reach their assigned locations and report. This first drill showed the crew response times were pathetic. The crew must halve those response times before they went to war. The first exercise achieved Sevarn’s goal and pointed to areas needing improvement. Within the next few days, the range, and frequency of drills increased. After each one, the Captain and First Officer met to thrash out improvements. Sometimes, they descended on a department to terrify staff into working harder. The Captain had to discipline several crew members for ignoring the alarms, but most understood the reasons and responded well. The drills included real and simulated decompression events, fire in various parts of the ship, failed weapons and anything else that came to Sevarn Lamana’s inventive mind.
There was plenty of grumbling, and the Captain wasn’t immune. Interruptions to his sleep patterns made him grumpier each day, and he’d ordered the First Officer to start these exercises. Captain Koral decided his First Officer was an evil genius, prone to torturing his charges. Sevarn suffered as much as everyone else under the intensive training regime. Alarms disturbed his sleep as often as the Captain and crew. Performance improved as they neared their destination, even with the grumbling and fatigue. The first goal was to cut the response time needed to reach Battle-Stations by more than half. The crew improved on that goal. In fact, they improved on every goal the Captain set and their confidence soared. Two days before the ship arrived in FR-892S, Disna’s Captain called a halt to the training. The crew needed time to rest before going to war.
Star Strike: Book 3 of the Star Man Series Page 30