With no remaining comm buoy’s on his fighter. Using them up as he moved back along the maze. Jack had to think for a few minutes before he finally followed the other TB’s to the back of the Maze loosing contact with the Red Pepper. He could not see wasting his torpedo’s since he was half way around the maze already. But a half hour later as he approached the foot of the Maze he had to smile when the tactical screen lit up with the fact that the first attack by the Recon Bombers had knocked the engines out on 2 Battleships with 8 more returning to the Station for repairs. The surprise to Jack was when he saw that the 2 battleships were tumbling. But that still left the open bay with only half the Battleships left in it as the recon torpedoes history showed the fleet not slowing down as it entered the maze.
Some ten minutes later the tactical screen showed every Battleship left in the open had a targeting icon on it leaving some 21 City killing torpedoes and 48 conventional torpedoes left. Signaling an attack hold Jack keyed his general Comm. “Your attention please. This is Admiral Turner. You do not see fit to feed the fleets that have actually killed the Republics external enemy the Spiders. While trying to destroy us at every opportunity. We see no reason to let you eat as well. You have 10 minutes to abandon your transports and the Staging Station before we start destroying every ship in the area and the Station. Admiral Turner Out.”
A few minutes later. “Admiral, I have movement coming down the corridors toward the Staging area and the Station is launching fighters.”
“I was wondering why we have not seen any yet. Not even patrols. Something tells me a Congressional appointee is in command of the station and could see no reason for fighter patrols even after the first attack.” Jack could only shake his head. “Well, they can’t reach us in time to stop us launching and disappear deeper into the cloud. How many ships do you read coming down the corridors?”
“A couple dozen Admiral is the best I can do at this range.”
“Oh that is to perfect.” Jack hit his comm. “TB flight, Actual here in 237, I am changing the plan. Half the squadron will attack firing their CK (city killing) torpedoes at the battleships and their conventionals at the transports and then beat feet as soon as they fire. The rest will hold for the reinforcements coming down the shoot and then fire everything before leaving ourselves. Any Questions? Squadron commander, make your targeting assignments.”
Six TB’s each grew 6 red lines to 6 separate Battleships. Then 8 yellow lines form each of the TB’s ran to 44 scattered transports and the fighter launch bays of the station. The rest of the TB’s remained dark.
Jack was starting to get anxious with no boats appearing from any of the Transports as fighters continued to launch from the Station and head out to the cloud until the last 2 minutes and then hundreds of boats and life bods started appearing from the transports and even the Station.
Jack sighed with relief and then took a deep breath and held it as the time ran out and suddenly 36 CK’s launched in mass followed with 2 conventional torpedoes streaking from each of the 6 TB’s in a single 12 torpedo salvo. Then 2 seconds later another salvo of 12 torpedoes streaked from the 6 TBs’ followed by two more salvoes as their magazine cycled to the next two torpedoes and then the next. At the end of 8 seconds, 48 conventional Torpedo’s followed the CK’s at a much slower rate of acceleration. Most of them headed for the transports.
Anti-fighter missiles also appeared that streaked toward the fighters as the TB’s unloaded all they had carried and then the TB’s were streaking away into the deep cloud. Many of the fighters did not even try to evade the missiles that only needed to distract the fighters long enough for the TB’s to escape. They did not have to and were not expected to kill the fighters but to Jack’s shock, most hit and did just that. The pilots not even knowing enough to enable their ejection seats auto releases after they launch out of the Stations fighter bays (Standard Opp. Procedures). Only a few saw the missiles and made the proper maneuvers to get away from them. Most that saw them acted like they had no clue what to do as they turned the wrong way or simply speeded up or slowed down. Making Jack almost sick as he watched some 40 fighters died with most of their pilots and then a few minutes’ later 44 transports get hit and start tumbling. Though he had to admit that most of the Transports were not that badly damaged if you ignored the holes in the engine sections. The 2 torpedoes that hit the station after its few operating Point Defense turrets took out 2 of them, closed down the 2 fighter bays with secondary explosions inside blowing a couple of the locks exposing the bays to vacuum with none of the bodies sucked out wearing shipsuits from what Jack could see from the recon torpedo sitting much to close to survive but it was still transmitting.
Before the fighters were taken out. Before the torpedoes hit the Station or the transports started tumbling. The big City Killing Torpedoes that had streaked away too fast to see beyond a flash in front of the TB’s hit their targets. Seconds after they launched Jack got quick glimpses of thousands of bright darts hitting the sterns of the targeted battleships close enough to be seen and then battleships started tumbling across the Bay as secondary explosions blew out turrets and created large holes in the hulls and out their sterns. Four of the targeted Battleships continued as if nothing had happened except now they only had one or two engines though a closer look revealed a few secondary explosions while 2 battleships were complete misses as they turned or sped up after the torpedoes were launched. Though they probably did not even know they were under attack as fast as the unguided torpedoes were traveling and no warning. Cities did not get up and move even if they saw the attacking ultra-hard darts coming so they had no reason to be guided if the targeting computer did its job. Jack decide that adding a targeting sensors to the CK torpedos was a good idea just in case future targets moved before they released their cloud of penetrators and made a note of it.
The 23 untargeted or that had been missed Battleships, with the still maneuverable Battleships that had been hit, turned as one and headed for the Station.
Jack watched the surviving fighters retreat to open space after seeing their buddy’s fighters exploding. The fighters darting around wasting Mass and energy and evidentially not having a clue what to do but terrified of being targeted themselves. Jack thought he saw a fighter streaking through the cloud leaving an emergency beacon behind from a pilot that had ejected even though his fighter had not even been targeted.
Jack watched the Squadron Commander pick targets for the conventional torpedoes of the remaining TB’s including Jack’s, concentrating on the bigger transports and then they sat and waited for the Battleships to arrive. Many of the Battleships scattered around the bay that had their engines knocked out started sprouting lifeboats making Jack smile. The crews not even having time to try to make repairs.
Suddenly the remaining battleships that were not tumbling or simply drifting, started firing everything they had into the cloud around them. Even the Guns on the Station started firing into the cloud. The short range point defenses joining in even thought there was no possibility of them damaging anything even if they hit something at the range the TBs were at. Though the Transports ringing the station were not as lucky.
But it took Jack a good minute before Jack stopped telling himself not to run. Not to flee and hide. Another 10 minutes before he could relax as he realized that they were just shooting into the dark and started enjoying the show.
A minute later a transport blew up as one of the Station’s monster guns hit it. And then Jack realized that many of the transports were not only growing 24 inch holes from the Battleships but from the thousands of smaller 5 inch weapons firing wildly across the Staging Bay as well. While he could not see on the recon torpedo’s screen, the damage the thousands of pinpoint streams of Point defense guns were probably doing to the thin hulls he could see their streaks toward the transports. Then he noticed that many of the lifeboats were drifting as he realized that some of the smaller explosions were in fact lifeboats.
Jack had watched the tr
ansports being destroyed at the other end of the Maze a few days before but still he was shocked at the devastation the Station and Battleship guns were doing to the transports. All of them still full of cargo destined for The Rock. While the thin transport hulls only grew holes the size of the beams, the cargo inside the holds offered plenty of mass (some of it volatile) for the beams to import their energy into the cargo and blast huge holes out of the sides of the transports scattering cargo that had not been hit directly out into space around the ships. The battleships still sliding through the ring of transports to get close to the Station to defend it were soon adding to the carnage.
Jack hoped that at least most of the Transport lifeboats made it to the station safely as close as they were but then Jack realized that many of the weapons of 5 inch or smaller not having any better targets to shoot at were actually targeting the lifeboats instead of simply accidental hits. Jack simply sat and watched dumbfounded as lifeboats kept disappearing and transports themselves started falling apart into large chunks or simply started tumbling resembling Swiss Cheese more than ships.
“How many transports have they destroyed?” When he didn’t get any answer, Jack turned around to see his sensor operator working on a mass of modules across the back bulkhead of the cockpit. Pieces of modules scattered around her. “Shaking his head he started tapping his main screen. Bringing up the records of the passive scans of the bay before the battle had started. They showed that well over a hundred transports had been there at the beginning with less than 30 that looked space worthy any longer.
Then an hour later after there was no longer anything that resembled a ship smaller than a battleship left around the Station, the firing slowly stopped. Even the Battleships that had lost their engines out in the middle of the bay were now looking like Swiss Cheese. It took another hour before the reinforcement battleships arrived back from the Maze creating a dome around the Station and the staging area. Every one of them firing every gun they had into the cloud as well until they joined the fleet around the station and their guns stopped flashing. Making Jack smile as well as nervous.
“I am switching our conventional torpedoes to concentrate on the Station’s weapons, launch bays and docks now that the show is over, Actual. Time to fire and get out of here.” Came the Flight leader’s voice.
“Well Eagle leader. It has been a nice fireworks show but as you said. Time to go. Starting to get a bit boring anyway. You’ve seen one 24 inch gun streak, you have seen them all. Good shooting and good luck. On your Command, Actual out.” Turning around. “Winslow! Get your butt belted in. We are attacking. And check the targeting. I don’t care what you have been working on all this time. We miss and I will take it out of your butt before we get back to Red.”
“Eagles. Firing in 15 seconds. One last weapons Check. Eagle One out.”
On the count of Zero Jack’s 6 City Killer torpedoes flashed off the TB’s wings and streaked past the closest Battleships, past the Station and up the assess of 6 Battleships sitting stationary on the other side of the ring of battleships. The majority of the thousands of tightly grouped diamond hard penetrating darts from each of the CK’s at a fraction of the speed of light, gutted the Battleships from stern to bow. The idle power fusion cores the only thing that kept the 6 ships from fusion explosions as the cores were jettisoned automatically unless they took a direct hit and their plasma added to the destruction inside the hull. The mass attack taking out some 35 Battleships this time with their mass of darts flying directly up the butts of the Battleships across the dome of outward facing Battleships from the launching TB’s scattered around them before they could react.
Then the conventional torpedoes started slowly launching 2 at a time from the weapons bays of the TB’s as the 35 Battleships died leaving more than twice that many still alive.
Jack’s heart was pounding out his chest as the last conventional Torpedo left his bay and he finely slapped the throttles to max. Feeling like he had a big red X painted on his back. He had barely turned some 90 degrees onto a new course to get him out of the area when hundreds of 24 inch tightly packed beams started filling the space he had been sitting in for two hours.
Cringing as he looked back over his shoulder at the mass of beams that continued to slice the cloud behind him where he had been, Jack could only shake his head swearing his butt felt hot enough to burn.
Then the scream came over the comm. “Eagle 5 is gone. The Bitches just vaporized him.”
“Shit ass hole they almost vaporized me.” Came another voice.
“Shut up. He wanted to see if he hit something. The rest of us didn’t. We followed procedures and orders he didn’t. Take that as a lesson and don’t be stupid yourselves. Now form up so we can head for the barn and do it all over again. Next time we don’t wait around to fire Conventionals in the same salvo. The Conventionals are somewhat stealthy in the cloud. The damn CK’s are not and point a damn finger at us every time. Remember that next time. Fire the CKs and move then fire the Conventionals. Fire and move. Fire and move. Move between each salvo. You all got that now?”
“Yes sir.” One said unenthusiastically.
“I asked you a fucking Question. Don’t make me shit on you when we get back to the Barn. Do you understand me ass holes?”
Even Jack yelled. “Yes Sir.”
Jack did a quick 180 turn around and headed back to check the damage not wanting to completely trust the tactical and the recon torpedoes. Besides he had an idea he wanted to check out and he had already come the long way around. Time to use a short cut and see if he could beat the rest of the squadron back to the other end of the Maze.
As Jack slipped around the edge of the Bay, the undamaged or partially damaged Battleships kept a constant stream of laser shots going out into the cloud. And then the fusion cores that had been jettisoned by most of the battleships hit by the CK’s started exploding as their containment batteries were exhausted. Dozens of Battleships were damaged, some severely, by what amounted to over a hundred fusion explosions amongst the closely packed ring of battleships.
As Jack made his way around the cloud a couple of new battleship squadrons slipped out of the Maze and headed for the hulks tumbling around the Staging Station. A Station that now had large chunks blown out of its Command decks, Gun turrets, Cargo Bays and Repair docks since most of the conventional torpedoes of the last attack had been targeted on it and not the junk transports still being taken out by their own guns. Transports that had not been allowed near the Station unless they had business. Though now the transports docked to the Station looking little better than the ones drifting outside the partially intact screen of Battleships by the time the torpedoes’ had finished with them while hitting the station. The Station’s point defenses not even seeing the Torpedo’s through all the wreckage around the station before they hit.
Skirting the cloud around the Staging area Jack made for one of the dead end fingers that lead off into nothing that was easy to take if you did not know better as it looked like an obvious exit path from the bay but wasn’t. He made for the most central finger that was famous across the Navy. The line of rough shallow holes in the cloud next to it made the Corridor finger looked like it was a giant hand giving the Maze the big Bird of all Fingers. Jack knew it lead deep into the center of the Maze where he hoped to slip across the cloud to where several of the corridors met according to the map his rank had authorized him to see. It looked like a damn good spot to set up an ambush where he could take out a whole squadron without risk in one of the Maze’s most used corridors on a future mission.
Jack slid out into the Frickyou Corridor and started making time getting up to a good speed without the need to waste energy fighting the cloud as the battleships behind him continued to tear up space around the Station.
Sliding past the first bend making up the series of lined up knuckles that the finger had gotten its name from. Jack glanced over his shoulder as a huge explosion back toward the Station caught his eye and then
turning back as his heart tried to jump out of his chest as he threw the stick over and rammed the TB into the nearest cloud fighting to keep control until he could get the Scoop coils going again. Wondering why Winslow was so damn slow on adjusting the scoops and suddenly realizing that she had not touched the scoop trim controls the whole trip down the side of the cloud costing them fuel and time and why he had to trim one engine to run harder than the other because one scoop was bigger than the other. Realization only lasted for a fraction of a second as what he had seen washed those and any other thoughts out of his mind.
It took him a good 10 minutes to get back to the Corridor and nose the TB up to the wall. His breathing rapid, his heart pounding.
In front of him down the series of caverns making up the knuckles sat a line of ships attached to a very long docking tube that looked like it ran for miles along the side of the corridor. On the tube with their stern hatches docked to the tube stood what looked like a hundred DD’s like soldiers lined up at attention.
“Winslow. Tell me the damn dock is deserted.”
“What?” Winslow looked up from the piece of equipment she was working on while strapped in and looked at her screen. “Oh. Give me a minute Admiral.” It took her more than a minute working at the screen but finally she spoke. “So far I am not reading any life signs close by. Though to make sure we would have to fly down the line of ships fairly close as thick as their bow and side armor is, with them parked so close top to bottom.” Frowning as she worked. “Damn outdated crude junk sensors. Give me another hour to finish what I was working on and I will be able to till you anything you want to know about the damn station and those ships from a lot farther out than here.” Snorting as she sneered. “Until then you are going to have to get a lot closer.”
Battleship Destroyer 2 (Battleship Destoryer) Page 102