“They are launching fighters Captain. I count two fleet Carriers coming around the bend out of the corridor into the Bay.”
Jack rubbed his eyes and opened them again to see the remaining Battleship hulks the Red Pepper was rapidly closing on ahead of them being torn apart into scrap by hundreds of 24 inch beams hitting the ships puking lifeboats. This fleet seaming to have no problem targeting the already dead hulks. That is except for the Red Pepper spewing massive amounts of Plasma from a dozen knocked out gun turrets fore and aft.
Shaking his head as he looked at a screen showing the refugee ship carnage and the life boats being destroyed almost as soon as they launched. “Where the hell did they come from and why was I not told?” Looking around. “Winslow! Where the hell are you? Why didn’t you tell me about these ass holes? Winslow?”
A figure in the back corner of the bridge stood up and waved. “Here Admiral. I am still installing the sensor package in this console. We haven’t had the X-Sensors activated for an hour now as I jerked them out of the Flag Bridge. Talking about one scary place out there in the middle of all that shit flying around.”
“Shit. How long before… Never mind. Do we still have the X-comms?”
“No sir. I took everything out of the Flag Bridge. My only portable X-comm went with DD-1701”
“Damn it. Just keep at it and get me Comm’s as soon as possible and then the damn sensors.”
Winslow looked up at the overhead shaking her head and then buried herself back inside the console.
“Damn it. I need to see what is going on out there. I am headed for the Flag Bridge where I can see something with my own eyes Captain Clancy, You have the bridge. Silent running. Keep the plasma flowing like a good derelict and prepare to repel boarders just in case. Pray we make it to the cloud. Which by the way. How fare are we from the cloud Navigation?” Jack was already walking toward the hatch.
“If we keep accelerating at this rate, we are 76 minutes away Admiral.”
Jack looked at the course plot of them cork screwing toward the dying squadron and the cloud beyond as the ship slowly spun like a bullet.
“Admiral.” Captain Clancy turned toward Jack. “If you want us to look like a hulk we need to cut our thrust from the plasma. Permission to kill the cores?”
Jack stopped at the hatch and turned to the Captain. “Actually Clancy, I think it is the Plasma spewing from half a dozen places around the ship that is making us look like a dead out of control hulk. They have never even heard of plasma conduits so they have to be thinking that the whole ship is flooded with plasma fires and no one could possibly be alive. All we can hope is that they keep targeting the damn hulks around us as we pass by.”
“So what is with (prepare to repel boarders), shit.”
“Just to keep the crew spread out and busy and ready just in case I am wrong and we have to abandon ship which is a waste of effort if we can’t reach the damn cloud first. Hopefully the new fleet’s fire will stay concentrated on the squadron ahead of us and we make it before they are destroyed and they need a new target.”
Jack left the bridge followed by the Lieutenant until Jack stopped placing a hand on her chest. “No Lieutenant. Stay here where it is sa…” Jack swallowed. “Where you can keep me informed of what is going on with the ship while I take a quick look around.”
“Like hell I will. I am coming with you.”
Jack turned to the Marine next to the hatch. “Keep her from leaving the bridge even if you have to stun her.”
The Marine saluted as he disconnected his back clamp from the bulkhead and stepped into the hatch. “Yes Admiral. The Lieutenant will not leave the Bridge.” The Lieutenant stared daggers at Jack as he walked down the passageway before the hatch closed.
--------------------------------
Jack walked onto the empty Flag Bridge a few minutes later and flopped down in the Command Chair as Chump (C3PO) sat a cup of Tea down on the arm of the chair. Jack looked around the deserted Bridge. Jack could see the fleet plastering the battleship hulks ahead of them and was suddenly hoping that they continued to not only ignore the Red Pepper but continued to be damn good shots and not hit them as they passed by the wreckage they were no longer pointed at. But then as badly as they were now cork screwing across the Bay, they just might start heading for the enemy flooding into the bay the way his luck had been running.
The Refugee battleship hulks were still getting plastered as they approached the cloud as well as the life boats all across the Bay. The wave of fighters spreading out across the Bay making Jack want to cry with frustration watching the engines from lifeboat after lifeboat wink out as gunfire streaked into each of them one at a time, some of them blowing as the plasma batteries were pierced. Picking up his tea with the spoon and tea bag still in it he started to take a sip and then looked down at the cup. “What the frick? You left the sweetener in the packets Terrell?”
“Admiral Turner.” Chump said. “Steward Terrel has been reassigned to the Sickbay to help with casualties. I am following instructions left by the Steward to assist you. Do you need more sweetener for your Tea?”
Jack lifted the spoon out with the sweetener packs that were floating around in the tea on the spoon. “You are supposed to open the packets and dump the sweetener in and not put the whole packet in.” Jack handed the cup to the bot. “Try again. I thought you down loaded a cook book?”
“Yes Admiral. It simply said add sweetener to desired tastes. Steward Terrel said you like 3 sweetener packs. I will take the packs out and open them.”
“No make me a new cup of tea. Throw this mess out.”
C3PO turned and threw the cup across the bridge hitting the trash receptacle with the cup but the contents of the cup flew all over the deck. Looking down at the mess of tea, tea bag and sweetener packets scattered across the deck. “Throwing tea out is messy. I will call cleaning bots immediately and get you a new improved cup of tea Admiral.” The bot headed for the hatch.
The Tactical screen came up as he activated it and he was shocked to see DD’s suddenly coming fast out of the corridor finger of the Maze into the Basin. “What the Fuck! Get me the damn DD’s on the Comm.”
Jack watched the DD’s start arching around toward the Battleships that had come out of the next Corridor as they streaked past the hulks now spewing lifeboats that were being targeted as well.
“By your Command Admiral Turner.” Came the mechanical voice in Jack’s left ear. The side Chump was on.
Jerking around to his left Jack saw Chump stepping up to the Comm console and start tapping the screen and then stop as he turned around to face Jack. “I cannot activate any outgoing transmissions Admiral Turner. The ship is under Silent Running Blackout conditions.”
“Well then override them.”
“I cannot override the bridges Orders Admiral Turner.”
“Damn it! I am the one that gave those orders. Now get me a Comm to those damn DD’s.”
Chump stared back at Jack without moving. “That would not be advisable Admiral Turner, as it would give our position away to the Enemy. The ship and you are depending on stealth to stay alive at this time.” Chump headed for the stern of the bridge. “I will get you your improved cup of tea Admiral.”
Jack hit is chair’s Comm to the bridge. “Captain Clancy, I need a Comm to those damn DD’s now. The fools are going up against Battleships with only 8 inch guns that have not even been upgraded damn it.”
“Sorry Admiral but we have no outside laser Comm’s left. The hull has been blasted clean of even most of our smaller Point Defenses.”
“What the hell. Then fix them and get me a Comm.”
“Very well Admiral but we are looking at an hour at least and the battle will be over by then. You sure you want to risk the lives of everyone on this ship if they spot us working on the hull?”
“Damn you. Half the ship’s crew is on those DD’s.”
“Yes they are Admiral and you trained them well. They know how to a
ttack battleships.”
“Not with the weapons they have on those DD’s. They should not even be in sight of a fucking Battleship let alone attaching a whole fricking fleet of them. Now get me those Comms up as soon as possible.”
“We can fire a Message Torpedo to transmit the orders when it gets well away from the ship.”
“Well then do it but I still want those damn Comms back up as soon as possible.” Jack recorded orders for the DD’s to get the hell out of there.
Jack watched the Battleships start firing at the DD’s as they arched around to come at the fleet from the sides. Within the first minute Jack saw the first of them take a hit and stagger around for a few seconds and then continue to Jack’s disbelief, though it was much slower than the rest. Its more vigorous maneuvering seaming to save it from further hits as it fell behind the other DD’s. It took another 3 minutes with the DD’s much closer to the enemy battle fleet before the Tactical screen showed a Stealth Message Torpedo streak away from the ship. Another DD took a hit and this time stop maneuvering. The now drifting DD was quickly hit several more times until it blew up and the DD’s had yet to fire a single shot at the Congressional fleet. Then Captain Clancy’s voice came over Jacks Comm. “Message Torpedo Ejected and running true Admiral. I included a Sit-rep and logs for New Home. After it transmits your orders it will head up the Maze.”
“Very well Captain. How long before the torpedo broadcasts its messages to the DDs?”
“Three minutes Admiral. It will be next to the squadron ahead of us and should prove interesting as the fleet has stopped firing at the squadron of hulks.”
“It will have to do. See what you can do to veer us away from the Squadron using the forward plasma jets or divergent thrust from the stern but don’t be too obvious about it.”
“Already doing that Admiral. We will miss them by a good hundred miles already with a slightly more direct line to the cloud. And Admiral, Lieutenant Winslow says that it would be faster to hook up the X-Comm and the X-sensors back in the Flagg Bridge than having to finish with the new installation on the Ship’s Bridge.”
“Have Winslow finish preparing the console for the X-comm to get it going there and have the Lieutenant bring the sensor equipment back out here to plug in. Thank you Captain. Out.”
Jack watched another DD that was hit stagger away from the others only to be targeted by hundreds of beams until it exploded. The Torpedo transmitted its message and then after a couple of minutes, hundreds of 24 inch beams suddenly started pummeling the enemy hulks the Red Pepper had been headed toward. The number of beams increased until what looked like half the fleet was firing at the squadron of hulks. What was left simply fell apart into smaller and smaller chunks as the life boats that looked like they would escape back to the Station were taken out by the approaching fighters.
Jack watched in sudden anxiety hoping they would not start targeting the Red Pepper simply because it was there or see the damn repairs he had ordered on the hull.
Then the DD’s turned into the enemy fleet instead of away from it and started firing their 8 inch guns into the sides of the Battleships bringing up the rear of the fleet. The last 6 battleships taking the brunt of half a hundred DD’s firing 16, 8inch shots a second from each of the Destroyers. The DD’s unenhanced 5 inch guns of little use against Battleships. The 6 targeted battleships quickly stopped firing and started slowing to fall behind the fleet as their turrets and engines were knocked out on the side of the attack. Two of them exploded into balls of fusion destruction. The fire of half the DD’s suddenly changed to other Battleships randomly farther up the fleet with seeming no coordination between them while half continued to target the original BB’s.
Another of the original 6 targeted battleships exploded as an 8 inch round finally penetrated to one of the fusion power cores.
Another core went up a few seconds later before the squadron zipped through the survivors. The 20 feet of armor along the leading edge designed to protect the DD’s crews from 16 inch guns also protecting them from the radiation of fusion explosions as long as they were outside the fireballs. The DD’s with the dozen practiced Commanders from the Red Pepper that had stayed in the Squadron whipped around to fly backwards to fire at the back sides of the new targeted BB’s as they streaked away jerking from side to side to avoid the defensive fire.
Another Battleship exploded.
Jack kind of noticed the dozen DD’s that stayed in a coordinated pack but what he saw was the majority of the DD’s taking off on their own strafing runs against individual Battleships and then streaking away at full throttle to put distance between them before turning around and attacking a different Battleship at random from a different direction. Exposing their less armored ass to enemy fire even if they were wildly maneuvering. No coordination or attack plan other than shoot at the damn Battleships. The independent DD’s were taking out a lot of turrets and engines but doing little other damage to the fleet of Battleships even though a couple did fusion into fireballs more from luck than intent.
Jack’s orders to disengage from the battle was transmitted but was ignored as the DD’s continued to attack.
DD’s started blowing up or tumbling away dead while battleships continued to drop out of formation or explode. Almost at an equal rate. Only there were a lot more Battleships than Destroyers. Then the fighters started returning from destroying life boats and started attacking both DD’s while ignoring the lifeboats that were ejected by both the tumbling battleships and the DD’s. Though many were hit by 5 inch guns or random fire by 24 inch shells. Though now that the DD’s packed with point defenses that had no other targets, concentrated on the fighters that started dying by the dozens for each lifeboat destroyed. But Jack new that there was a critical ratio of attacking DD’s and defending fighters and Battleships that once the number of DDs to Battleships dropped below the critical point, the attack runs on the closely bunched up fleet would be suicide.
Then the Comm’s were fixed and Jack transmitted orders again for the DD’s to get the hell out of there. Only now the enemy had a fix on the Red Pepper. Half of the Battleships started concentrating their 24 inch guns on the Red Pepper instead of the DD’s attacking them and within minutes the Red Pepper started receiving hits as a thousand beams streaked toward the ship. The long range and the crystal coated shell the ex-slaves had covered the hull of the Red Pepper reflecting 99.9% of the beams energy hitting the ship, the only reason the Red Pepper was not destroyed in the first few minutes.
The Captain turned the Red Pepper to point at the enemy fleet in the distance as he killed the plasma that was now serving as a targeting beacon. The Enemy fire hitting the Red Pepper rapidly diminished without a beacon to target.
Jack continued to watch as the Destroyers kept going after the Battleships. The fleet no longer going after the thousands of life boats while half their 24 inch guns continued to shoot at a hulk that simply transmitted a message that had identified itself as the Red Pepper and an Admiral Turner (the Congressional fleet wanted dead,) as he ordered the DD’s yet again to break off their attack and retreat. Ignoring the fact that the DD’s were their real menace as Battleships continued to die at an increasing rate that still favored the Battleships. And then in desperation Jack ordered all the DD’s to mass with the original squadron that had continued to take out Battleships but again he noticed no difference in the wildly maneuvering DD’s.
Jack watched in horror as the DD’s dwindled in numbers even though the fire from the battleships hitting the Red Pepper greatly diminished over the next 30 minutes. The Red Pepper’s hull taking thousands of hits during that time eviscerating the bow of the ship with some beams penetrating as far back as the upper tank deck. The protective Crystal coating started to wear thin allowing beams to slice narrow slashes down the hull. The whole time Jack watched from the Flying Flag Bridge where he was only one simple direct hit from being killed.
Jack locking the hatch to keep from being dragged off after walking
the Lieutenant with the Sensor modules off the bridge shortly after she arrived. Going back ignoring the storm of laser streaks surrounding and hitting the Red Pepper while he watched with his own eyes as DD’s died across the bay bringing tears of helplessness running down his cheeks as he sat strapped into the Command chair and the Flag Bridge around him was blown away and reduced to scrap. The 24 inch tightly packed beams somehow missing his command chair.
Finally with none of the lone Destroyers left in the battle with thousands of lifeboats headed for the cloud and not the Station and the wildly maneuvering DD squadron moving too fast to count, the Red Pepper slid into the cloud. Leaving most of the passive sensors blind except for registering the energy from the laser hits of both 24 and 8 inch guns that were identifiable by their size as to whether they were from a Battleship or Destroyer. Jack’s eyes still giving him a much better feel for the battle than what the ship could give him in the small screens attached to his Command chair on a Flag bridge that was no longer there. He could see the engine exhaust from thousands of Lifeboats as well as the Battleships and DD’s and knew that as soon as all the DD’s were destroyed, the fleet would eventually take out the thousands of lifeboats trying to escape.
And then suddenly he saw the engine exhaust trails from hundreds of new fighters entering the fight and knew it was all over but the dying as the cloud grew thick enough to cut out his sight of even the engines of the Battleships. Leaving only explosions to tell him how the battle was going.
The size of the fusion explosions penetrating the cloud only giving a clue as to whether a Battleship or Destroyer had died most of the time. With the big battleship explosions few and far between the many smaller detonations that had to be DD’s or lifeboats. He did not notice bright blueish white beams that joined the fight as unlike the hundreds of yellowish white beams, few of the blueish white beams went beyond the ships they hit.
Battleship Destroyer 2 (Battleship Destoryer) Page 126