by Danny Brown
At his word, the two Smitz drones detached from the hull of the Colt and orientated themselves in the best defensive positions to protect the life of the destroyer.
Seeing the nearly three dozen missiles lighting up the void, the enemy went active with their sensors, which allowed them to see through the Colt’s haphazard stealth.
Jeri imagined the fear on the faces of the pirates as they realized just how badly they screwed up.
To the horror of the Colt bridge crew, forty-eight missiles launched in response to their thirty-two. If the old cruiser was dilapidated, she was not yet showing it.
The enemy ship was out of position, and most of their missiles would have to make drastic course changes to be on the proper vector for the Colt.
“Captain!” Emilia cried out. “The enemy missiles, they are behaving quite oddly.”
Jeri got up and went to her console to look at what she was observing.
“I think these are old missiles from the Zikar Empire. See how each group of four are in a cluster? They are playing follow the leader,” said Emilia.
“Can we defeat that many of them?” her captain asked.
“I believe so, Captain. Activating lasers now.”
The Colt had two long range lasers mounted on the bow like all Centaur class destroyers. These were weak at point defense, except with dumb targets. And what they had facing them were dumb targets. If they got lucky and eliminated the missile designated as the “leader,” the other missiles in that pack would become harmless projectiles.
The sound of the ships laser batteries could be heard loudly on the bridge.
THRUM THRUM THRUM
They destroyed six missiles from six clusters. Only one of which was a “leader” missile, but the other three rockets in that pact shut down immediately. Taking out nine missiles out of play from a distance was not bad.
Usually, something was cheap for a reason. And for these particular weapons, they were built a long time ago around a very peculiar doctrine, one that did not stand up in conflict. Once officials within the Zikar Empire reflected on the poor performance of the missiles and how easily they were defeated, they were immediately retired and replaced with a pricier alternative that would not lose them capital ships.
Most people would thing that retired missiles would be dismantled and perhaps recycled, both a standard course of action. But the military leadership there, ever cost-conscious, stored them in warehouses “just in case” rather than destroying them. In time, those bins disappeared from memory. And disappeared meant some enterprising person on the inside sold the missiles off to the highest bidder. And so the pirates obtained weapons that would work well against civilian targets, but not so well against military ones.
However, it could launch a lot of them. And quantity has its own quality. At least that was how the penny-pinching pirates saw things.
“Captain! We have missile strikes!” Emilia said referencing the Colts missiles.
“How many got through?” Jeri asked.
“Half of them, sir! Their point defense must have been in shambles! Sir, the cruiser was holed! It looks like we scored two direct hits, one near the bow and the other mid ship. Also, what remained of their point defense has been destroyed,” Emilia answered. “Their missiles entering our point defense range now.”
Just then, they unleashed a nightmarish hell as the four-point defense batteries on the two Smitz drones added to six of the eight-point defense batteries mounted on the Colt that were in a position to point toward the incoming missiles. With ten rapid fire batteries filling the void with laser fire, the thirty-nine remaining missiles quickly dropped to thirty.
Then to twenty-two.
Fifteen.
Nine.
Five.
One.
Klaxons had sounded a split second before the last missile bypassed the two Smitz drones spewing out their ECMs and slammed into their stern.
The destroyer jumped violently upon impact, the jolt of the impact tossing De Vitis across the bridge, along with everyone else. He scrambled back to his console, blood coming down his forehead. Both Emilia and Rachel were hit hard and struggling to get back up. Seeing this, he pushed a button to call up the CIC. “Report!” cried De Vitis.
Jackie regained her balance and sat at her console, then gave the captain his report in a calm voice. “The missile hit near our engine room, knocking out reactor number three. Engineering is saying it is non-repairable. They also are shutting down reactor number two before it melts down. I have no estimate as of yet for repair. There were five killed and twenty-three seriously injured. An emergency containment was automatically and successfully deployed over the damaged section, but will need immediate attention.”
“And the cruiser?” Jeri demanded.
“Offering their surrender,” Jackie responded.
“XO, contact Amori and tell him to get his butt off my ship and get over there now!” Jeri said.
“Yes, sir!”
“And XO? No field trip this time,” Jeri added.
“Yes, sir.”
Jeri was happy with himself that he holed a pirate cruiser on the first salvo, and they then offered their surrender! Primarily he was happy about making a difference. He made a difference for the almost two hundred survivors found on that asteroid. He made a difference in the ships that would not become victims on his watch. And the prize money would not be bad either! Probably not top dollar for a wrecked second dynasty cruiser with barely any upgrades, but it was a hull.
##
“They offered no resistance, Captain. The pirates were fully compliant. Their engineer says the ship may be flyable after the repair crew has completed necessary repairs. Much of the damage was to control systems and not to the reactors themselves. It turns out there were only two operational reactors. They did not receive damage in the missile exchange, just a casualty of inadequate maintenance Simply amazing they trusted their lives to this death trap. Our teams searched the entire ship and secured all the prisoners.”
“How many prisoners are we talking about?” Jeri asked. He was worried because, with a full crew plus marine contingent, that light cruiser could have upwards of eight hundred on board.
“We took around one hundred and seventy alive. Another hundred, give or take, were thought to be in the compartments opened to space,” Commander Amori said.
Jeri’s breath caught. They were operating an old relic with a skeleton crew! God, that thing was a death trap! The Colt was just as ancient, but Jeri at least had her fully crewed with professionals and was properly maintained.
“Very well, Commander. I am sending a shuttle with a prize crew along with some engineers. We are going to make sure that thing has operational weapons, get her patched up, pack her full of the rest of the pirates and bring her home!”
“Yes, sir!”
The two reactors on the cruiser would make for a long ride home as neither was working properly, giving the ship barely a third of the velocity it was capable of achieving. In the end, the engineers decided it was best to run it at half that for safety. Nobody complained.
It turned out none of the pirates’ long range lasers worked. Their railguns had been removed, probably sold off. Half of the point defenses had been in a “non-operational” state. The cruiser had no Smitz drones. And that salvo of missiles was their last. They were banking all or nothing with that first missile salvo. If that was not bad enough, an examination of the hull revealed catastrophic issues caused not by the Colt, but by decades of neglect. It was a wonder the ship did not come apart.
Both ships slowly trekked back to the pirate base to collect the rest of the marines, pirates and those lost souls they rescued.
Chapter 9
Anderson Station
Office of Rear Admiral Josh Waters
“Afterwards, we set charges and blew what remained of the pirate base and headed back here,” Captain De Vitis finished.
“Four systems, and nothing. Then we send you
to Kappa-Gamma-4 and something,” Josh commented.
“Well, yeah, but we also had those new Mark-4b probes,” Jeri said. “The stealth tech they were using was half a century old, but easily fooled our old Troy’s. While we’ve scanned this system before, we haven’t scanned it with proper equipment.”
“Just proves we have to go through them all again, and not just once, but on an ongoing basis. While your catch is good, the situation is not good, not at all. Listen, what I’m going to share with you is confidential, but I think you need to know.”
Jeri’s interest was piqued, looking at Josh with a curious eye.
“We think there is a mole within the Federation,” Josh said.
“Josh, that would not be news. You know how massively big the Federation is? I’d be shocked if there wasn’t a leak, a mole, or something,” Jeri responded.
“No Josh, it is bigger than that. I think there are elements within the Federation that are supporting the pirates.”
“Awe come on, you mean like a conspiracy? With that scum?”
“Yes,” his friend replied. “I do. Evidence started surfacing a few years ago.”
Years, Jeri thought. Geez.
“The piracy is more widespread than people have been led to believe,” Josh admitted. “We think there are rogue elements in the Federation that wish to foment not just civil unrest, but possibly civil war or a separatist movement. What has not reached the news is just how widespread piracy has become. How Federal patrols are conveniently rescheduled to be somewhere else. How many military transports with particular goods have gone missing. And ships. Jeri, that cruiser you brought back had been mothballed fifty-two years ago. It was reported to have been recycled, cut up sixteen years ago. Sixteen years! What other ships are missing? I’m not saying the pirates aren’t a problem, they absolutely are and need to be dealt with. What I’m saying is whether it is for money or power or some group is arming themselves to set up their own little kingdom, we have a real problem on our hands!”
“Well, at least the pirate kingdom is a bit smaller today,” Jeri said. “Over eight hundred captured, twenty-one hundred killed.”
“That’s a small group, but yeah, at least we got ‘em. There is another worry though.”
Great, Jeri’s heart sank.
“The data your XO retrieved was limited, but definitely pointed in the direction that this was a ‘cell,' not an independent group. In it was routes and manifest for shipping, from which we have tied to all of the survivors you rescued. Also, we found a list of future shipping targets for them. This list was not broad. It was handed to them in a beautiful, edited form that, when compared to the list I have, was handpicked juicy targets,” Josh said.
“A mole,” Jeri responded.
“A mole.”
##
“Wish the ship had this selection of food!” Marko exclaimed.
“Oh, you are just a foodie, aren’t you?” remarked Emilia.
“Well…..yeah! I am! Hey, have you had that chicken thingy? You know, orange and pink, with a side of that brown stuff?” Marko said.
“Well, if we aren’t out to impress the ladies with such large words like ‘thingy’ and ‘brown stuff’! I think that would describe half the food on the Colt,” Rachel laughed.
“Well said,” Marko responded. “You know, my brain just shuts off when I go on leave. I know we are stuck here on a station in the middle of nowhere, but they have movie theaters, sports, just about anything you want!”
“Anything you want?” Rachel quipped.
“Ah well, yeah!” Marko said proudly.
They all laughed.
“Did you read that after-action report on the pirate base?” he asked.
“Yeah, intense stuff,” Emilia answered.
“Did you read the parts about our favorite XO’s involvement?”
The ladies both nodded their heads.
“So, she’s all sorts of bad to the bone, kicking butt and taking names, sees all kinds of awfulness that I cannot even sort out, then returns to duty without so much as a hint that any of it bothered her!” Marko was worked up at this point. “It all just seems a bit much to me, what those pirates were doing. What is even wackier is that even some of the marines I’ve spent time with are most definitely not okay. And to boot, it was primarily Jackie that had them spooked! I heard one of them saying she took down three PAUs by herself! These marines look at her with some no small amount of awe!”
“What’s wrong, Marko? Feeling threatened by a woman?” Rachel jested.
“Ha. Ha. No, really, is this woman some sort of experiment run by the Federation? Is this what they are going to try to turn us into! I don’t ever want to be so cold, so indifferent to the suffering of others!”
“What are you going to do about it?” Emilia asked.
“Put in for a transfer,” Marko answered. “This is crap duty anyway, then having to work on the bridge with this psychotic XO. She scares me. Emilia, I know you went to school with her, doesn’t she frighten you?”
“Sometimes. She used to be a lot different back then. We used to hang out and laugh. We were friends.”
“And now?”
“Except for that one time in the officer’s mess, she ignores me,” Emilia answered with a sad voice.
“Well, at least we got some prize money from this little trip!” Rachel said, hoping to change the subject. “I’m going to use mine for a down payment on a new house when I get out of the service. Maybe a little for partying now. Got to have some fun! What are you two going to use yours for?”
“Parents. This money is a Godsend for the medical bills that have been drowning them,” Marko said. “Getting out from under that burden will help my folks tremendously.”
“I knew I liked something about you! Even if you can be a bit of a womanizer at times,” Emilia said playfully.
“Yeah well, I do have a heart,” he answered.
“Well, I’m going to invest my share. My folks always told me to save for the future, so I figure if I put it away now, I won’t miss it,” Emilia said.
The three went on at some length, sharing their plans.
##
Emilia enjoyed her friends, though she knew her circle was too small. However, it was downright eerie working with Jackie, having been close to her at one time only to be held off at such a distance now.
The old Jackie would love our little group.
The two of them had so much fun back in their academy days. It was like a cruel cosmic twist of fate that of all the ships in the fleet she could be assigned to, it was the one her former best friend served on. To see her day in and day out, to see what she had become. She was cold. And Emilia wondered if perhaps there was indeed some secret government program to turn folks into cold killers. She had gone through the after-action report at least a dozen times and could not believe what had taken place down there, the atrocities, the marines reactions and professionalism in that sort of environment, and Jackie. Her sweet little unassuming friend that sticks out of a crowd like a pixie. Looking at her, someone would think her to be frail, easily one of the weakest on the Colt. But she had heard the rumors from the marines, and read the after-action report. Her friend was among the elite fighters of the Federation. She handled the pirates with bravery, saving many lives. But she also had shown no remorse for the lives she took, and at least appeared indifferent to the human suffering witnessed in that hell hole. Emilia shivered.
Enough reflecting, time to file a report. After all, what good is a spy if you do not report in occasionally. While concerned about her friend, she would leave Jackie out of this report. Just pirate stuff this time.
Dear mom, she typed. Then she deleted it. Time to be formal.
To Naval Intelligence, Admiral Ziolkowski...
##
The children were playing in the next room, singing
Circle for the dead,
Bodies covered in red,
Live to be fodder,
We are
Orlando’s martyrs,
It all ends now,
We all fall down.
It confounded Jackie, the simple rhymes the children made up in this hell hole. Their minds always seemed to find a unique way of processing what was going on.
Her family, along with several other families of the Askirti household, hid in the basement of a factory. The acolytes and the household servants who had served them so faithfully had banded together. Henry and Jackie had always treated them with honor and respect, never looking at them as something smaller. It seemed to be paying dividends now, at least Jackie thought so. In their time of trial, they had all pulled together, and met everyone’s needs. The children got the most food, and the medicine also went to them first.
They had felt so safe in the basement. It was so unexpected when the blast against the southern wall happened, revealing a large mechanical creature come in through what used to be a part of the wall.
A breachmaster! Jackie thought. She was familiar with them and what would follow. The large automation was armed and would have a team of armored soldiers behind it. The breachmaster opened fire immediately, killing two instantly, and troops filled into the space coming from directly behind it.
So much confusion! Their secret sanctuary was found out, but how? Jackie and her husband ran immediately for the children while the other adults stayed to face off with the massive machine and the enemy troops it brought in. Just as they were reaching the room with the children, two small explosions went off, collapsing two tiny sections of the ceiling. Immediately, troops dropped through the ceiling into the chamber.
The enemy never hesitated, they immediately opened fire.
##
Jackie woke up with a start. She was sweating, but not shaking.
Another dream. Another sad memory of home.
She closed her eyes, squeezing them as hard as she could at the memory, trying to shake it off.
Why can’t I dream of my husband? Or holding my children for the first time? Why is it always the bad memories?
At least she didn’t have to calm down with highlights, she reflected. Could have been a lot worse. But still. Here, fifteen years later and those around her are going on with their lives! So many around her are making plans, doing things for themselves, trying to make a life for themselves.