Spitting out the rag in her mouth she took her arm with the medical sleeve and struck it on her left forearm as best as she could. It hurt like fiery needles but she did it again. The second time was the trick and she saw the small red lights of her sub dermal implants activate. Her bionic implants to her major muscle groups had deactivated after she had lost consciousness during her retreat from the lab. Now her enhanced strength returned and she stood up easily throwing off those that were still clinging to her.
“Computer, detonate fusion drives! Command code KBT348712,” she yelled smiling at her own death. This was a glorious death that all of Kardua would remember she thought except nothing happened.
“Computer, command code KBT348712, detonate the station’s fusion drives immediately!” she shouted towards the ceiling as she kicked one of her fallen officers away from her legs sending her rolling across the floor.
Looking to the computer station’s console, the former fleet mistress could barely see through the smoke but managed to spot its blinking blue lights that were signaling numerous malfunctions. She quickly realized that the computer’s voice interface must have been damaged yet thought that she might still be able to input the self destruct code manually.
At that moment her Third rushed her and tried to grab her around the waist. Reaching out with her remaining hand she grabbed her by the throat and tossed her off to her left, right into two other approaching Karduans.
Nearby, Mike could hear the Station Mistress screaming out her orders to explode the station and kill everyone. Scanning the smoke and dust filled room her saw several Blue bodies being tossed through the air. Tracking their source, he saw Bie-Tor run for a far control station that was lit up with blue blinking lights. After all of this time he knew Karduan systems almost as well as human ones. The control station was experiencing numerous malfunctions which probably saved everyone’s lives.
Running as fast as he could he activated his sole weapon letting the poly carbon blade spring to life in his hand.
Bie-Tor was fast, powered by her bionic implants and reached the control station before her stunned staff could do anything to stop her. Punching in the code she reached for the activation panel just as an extension sword’s blade came down and sliced off her left hand at the wrist.
As she turned in stunned pain and shock Mike back-fisted her in the face with his left hand sending her flying back the way she came. She landed several feet away and was once more grabbed by her surviving staff. Several of them started speaking all at once saying that they surrender.
Mike told them to stop their torpedo attacks and to deactivate their drone fighters at once. Behind him the raid team stormed into the control room weapons leveled.
“Call Captain Hope, tell him the station has surrendered and that we have Bie-Tor,” he said once he spotted Rufo.
Outside, the battle quickly came to an end as the long process of treating the wounded, repairing ships and processing prisoners was just getting started.
Two days later found Mike waiting in the hallway outside Captain Hope’s office. He wasn’t alone as Commanders Hutton and Richards as well as Lieutenants Dover, Cappillo and Daily were all present. Oddly no Templars were included in this special meeting.
Inside, Captain Hope was discussing their next move with Commander Hunter and Commander Bannon. Mike guessed that they were probably talking about the location of the Black Star and what they would have to do to recover that ancient Kazad made warship. If it could be found and brought into this fight than this might become the turning point of the war.
After a few more minutes of waiting and pondering the captain’s steward opened the door and invited them inside.
Hope and the two commanders were seated by his desk and looked towards them as they entered. Mike couldn’t help but notice that the Black Prince was now showered and clean shaven with a military haircut. He was wearing a duty uniform and looked every inch of a naval officer. Not everyone knew his secret and he wanted to remain just a navy commander to the general population.
“Gentlemen, please be seated,” Hope said waving his hand to the nearby chairs.
Mr. Lucas quickly passed out drinks but no food was served at this point.
“We find ourselves in a bit of a dilemma,” the ancient Captain said taking a sip from his coffee mug. It had a Harpers Military Academy logo on its side which made several of the officers smile with pride.
“How so, sir?” Lt. Dover inquired holding his drink without taking a sip.
“We have taken this system and the station but not without a cost, most of our ships have some kind of damage either from the mines, fighters or from the systems ships. The Star Wolf’s beta bender drive took severe damage and will take weeks to repair.”
“The Raven’s maneuver drive is shot to hell and we are dead in the water until we manage to replace it,” Cmdr. Bannon interjected looking glum over the subject.
“We also have a dozen captured ships that need to be crewed, repaired or need to have a level four diagnostic along with full shakedowns to insure they are in working order,” Commander Richards remarked having been busy crewing those ships from the freed prisoners as well as wanting to use some of these ships to fill out the 12th forces.
“The gathering of pertinent information from the prisoners’ interrogations, computer infiltrations retrieval and assessing all of this intelligence is going to take time,” Hutton added sitting back in his grav chair.
The growing of his new legs was coming along nicely though the station mistress had boxes of arm and leg mechanical replacements. These were taken from hundreds of Confederation servicemen though some had survived and would need them back. She also had a regeneration tank sitting around that seemed unused. Dr. Duarte had already called dibs on the tank and was looking forward to having a certain admiral be her first patient.
“So what’s our next move, sir?” Lt. Cappillo asked.
“Repair and regroup,” Hope stated and continued, “We will sit right here as this station still has operational repair facilities. I’ve ordered the Templar ships to fall back to Blue Rock and escort our transports, freighters and the Spider back here. This station still has six Spider class repair ships as well as a space junkyard full of parts and damaged ships.”
“Mistress Bie-Tor even has some panels to repair the Wolf’s and the Raven damaged stealth plating. If they don’t have enough we can always make more though it will take time,” Commander Hunter commented.
“How long do you think we will be here?” Commander Hutton asked.
“At least six weeks,” Bannon informed and added, “It can’t be helped but the 12th will gain at least eleven or twelve more ships to help fill out her ranks.”
He was spinning a silver lining but everyone was thinking about the enemy fleet searching for them.
“What about the enemy and our mission?” Mike inquired having kept quiet.
“The enemy doesn’t know we've taken this station or that the Templars have gone to war. The Templars are gong to bring back some mines they had in storage so we can replenish the field at the bender point. Both Blue Rock and Sargasso Station will position captured Karduan ships to report that nothing is wrong and that they haven’t seen us,” Captain Hope explained having given it much thought.
“If any ships show up for repairs we will let them in and capture them or destroy them overwhelming firepower,” Cmdr. Bannon remarked.
“If it is an enemy fleet we could let them cross the minefield and then activate it once they reach the middle to weaken them before going to battle,” Commander Richards suggested.
“We still have the element of surprise and that will give us the advantage if it comes to a fight,” Hope pointed out.
“What about the mission to draw the enemy away from the Wolf’s Den and the recovery of the Black Star?” Mike pressed not liking the idea of being trapped in this system with only one stable gravity well.
“Captain Kirkland and the Wolf’s Den h
ave had the time they’ve needed and should be ready to deploy. As for the Black Star it is located even further into Karduan space. To stand any chance of recovering her we will need more help,” Captain Hope replied.
“How are we going to get help way out here?” Martin posed.
Hope nodded knowingly before he answered.
“Commander Hunter will run diagnostics on the Star Tiger for two more days and then he will head to the star base at Nova Orbis. He has the fastest ship now that the Star Wolf and the Raven are both under repair. I’m hoping the 34th Attack Fleet is there. When the Star Wolf is fully operational we will rendezvous at Austro Prime. This will give us four task forces comprised of the Wolf Squadron, the Templar Squadron as well as the 12th Defense Fleet and the 34th Attack Fleet.”
“What if the 34th doesn’t want to help? After all we are kind of an independent operation,” Mike asked playing devil’s advocate.
“Good question, that is why Commander Hunter is going back. After all he is an active duty command officer as well as for other reasons. He will have Admiral Sir Egbert Norton-Underhill orders as well as my full report and the cry-crystal recording of our actions. Commander Bannon is compiling all the intelligence we have gathered since we started this Wolf’s run and will be sending it along,” Hope explained pausing and smiling before continuing. “Gentlemen, we’ve punched a huge hole in the enemy’s lines. If we can exploit it, we could wreck havoc behind their defenses destroying key production and agricultural facilities. The Karduans will now have to pull their forces from other areas to reestablish their front lines hence weakening those areas for other Confederation attacks.”
Many of the officers sitting there nodded seeing the opportunity to put a real hurting on the enemy.
“It could still be a hard sell,” Lt. Daily commented wondering why the 34th hadn’t been seen and if they would support this effort now.
Again Captain Hope nodded and gave them a rare smile.
“Agreed, that’s why I’m sending Lt. Collins along with the Star Tiger,” he announced.
The officers sitting about the room all shifted a little in their seats at the news.
Mike looked to his former headmaster.
“Sir?” he said questioningly.
“You’ll be going as the admiral’s and my personal representative,” Sir Randolph stated.
“What does that mean?”
“You’re going to have to convince those in charge and be able to answer their questions about our forces that Commander Hunter can’t,” he explained knowing that the young officer would rather stay here with his comrades in arms and help prepare for the next fight.
“Yes, sir,” Mike responded not happy about the assignment but understanding Hope’s reasoning and his orders.
“I’ve said it before that this war is far from being over,” the ancient captain remarked his eyes glinting like those of his namesake.
Epilogue - Part One - “The Traitor”
Confederation Navy specialist and traitor to humanity Scotty Darden awoke with a splitting headache in the torture chamber of the lab. Crawling to the closest wall for support he slowly pulled himself from the floor and to his feet. He quickly found that it was all most impossible to breathe through his nose as a clot of blood plopped out when he tried and it started to bleed again. His nose was so broken that he was sure that it could never be fixed correctly. He was worried that his boyfriend Tommy-D wouldn’t be able to recognize him with his face so badly damaged.
Staggering out into the main lab his worries quickly changed as he surveyed the carnage. There were Karduan guardswomen’s bodies laying all over the place. Some were clearly shot while other looked as if they were crushed. Halfway to the exit it looked as if some one had half roasted a cow and even with a broken nose it smelled so bad that it forced him to drop to his knees and puke his guts out.
Finally getting control of himself after dry heaving for several minutes he looked around him for something to wipe his mouth on or to drink so he could wash the foul taste from him. Instead he saw two objects that caught his interest. The first was a human pistol laying nearby a stack of armored hull plating. It was a weapon that he could use recognizing it as the same pistol that the pirate Alexander once carried.
The second was a severed hand a meter or so away from the fallen pistol. Walking up to them he scoped up the pistol and then moved on to the hand. As he approached it he could clearly see that it was a Blue hand from a female. Looking around for a body he failed to find the owner unless it was one of the burned bodies. Standing over the hand he stared down at it and now knew who it belonged to. One one of its fingers it had a vine like blue metal ring wrapped about it. The ring was very distinctive besides it was on the hand that had beaten him so very often.
Picking it up he continued to stare at it and started to laugh. He didn’t know why he was laughing. It shouldn’t have been funny after all she was the only thing that kept him alive and insured his future survival but still he laughed. Laughing his head off he wandered out of the lab stepping over or on the dead bodies without thought or care.
Walking into the hallway, he found seemingly nothing out of the ordinary except for the bodies in the doorway. Darden’s head hurt and he staggered a little bumping into the left wall. As he leaned there getting his bearings an explosion went off sending a tremor through the station. If he had to guess he would have said that it was from somewhere across the plaza from either the guard area or the prison wing. Neither thought was good news to him but it did help to wake him up as he went into survival mode.
Small arms fire could be heard from the adjacent corridors and he knew he had to find a place to hide. Hurrying as fast as he could he reached the Station Mistress’s office and found the door locked. This was not unusual as it was always locked when she wasn’t there.
Hearing human voices yelling nearby, followed by weapons fire he started to panic. Bringing his hands to his face he realized he was still carrying Bie-Tor’s severed hand. Waving the hand rapidly in front of the door to trick the sensor he was rewarded with a seemingly loud swoosh as the door slid open.
Running into the room the door closed behind him. Looking about the area he tried to find a place to hide but other than behind her desk there was no place to take cover. Moving behind the desk he waved her hand over the console and activated its computer system.
The system was still locked but he knew the code and tapped the screen punching in the access pattern. The security viewer came on and he could see that corridor outside of the office’s door was now full of freed prisoners. Some of them were armed with tools while others had either Karduan or Confederation gauss rifles.
Scanning the office around him, he saw the white sword that the Confederation spy had given to the station mistress. For a moment he thought of taking it but he didn’t know how to use such a thing and was already armed with the pirate’s pistol. Looking to the monitor he saw some of the prisoners take off their slave collars and place them on the office door. He didn’t need to guess what was going to happen next and ran for the arched doorway that led to the gardens.
Safely making it inside the plush gardens, he then heard and felt the explosion which blew open the office’s outer door. Running down the garden pathway he desperately looked for a place to hide.
Moving through some purplish looking bushes he found the sleeping place of the Dog. It was a small packing crate that had a cage door attached to an open end. It was so small that a man the size of the Dog would have had to crawl in backward and sleep on his hands, elbows and knees.
Darden knew that the mistress took some great pleasure in putting her Dog away during the night cycle. He had to admit that he did too. It had been great to see such an officer put so low and the fact that knowing he was the Black Prince made that memory now doubly wonderful.
Shouts pulled him back from his reminiscences as he moved away from the crate and searched for a better hiding place. If the Black Prince lived, h
e would want revenge as well as every man who had been a prisoner of the Karduans on this station.
Hearing them close in on him he dove into the center of a large red bush with black berries. He hunkered down as he avoided the men searching the gardens.
“He has to be in here somewhere!” someone shouted.
Another voice yelled, “Find the traitor!”
Scotty tried to pull himself deeper into the bush as another former prisoner ran by.
“We should set the place on fire,” an angry voice called out.
Darden didn’t know what to do another than trying to become one with the bush. It was at that moment that the itching started. It was just one scratch but then there was another and another until he could stand it any longer.
“I found a Blue’s hand and a human blood trail!” someone declared as men from all over the garden moved to that location to see it.
Scotty knew that this was his only chance to try and get away or at least escape this damn itchy bush. Pulling himself out he was still scratching and looking for another hiding place when someone spotted him.
“There the bastard is!” a loud yell sounded alerting his pursuers to his location.
Darden ran as fast as he could, stomping his way through the garden’s various alien vegetation. Behind him he could hear the sounds of people chasing after him as they screamed various obscenities.
Reaching the mediation area near the office door he found himself cut off by a group of angry men. Looking back the way he came he saw that a second group of madmen had caught up with him.
Grabbing the 8mm Starburst pistol from his belt he aimed it at one of his pursuers and pulled the trigger much to his disappointment. The weapon failed to fire and he quickly turned it to its side and looked at the round counter which indicated a big fat zero.
Wolf's Run: The Chase of War (Star Wolf Sqaudron Book 2) Page 54