Tramp Wars: The Enemy

by Larry Roberts

  One reason why the Queen had spent hard earned credits on first the 5inch 38 turrets and then the new 3 inch guns was because they were good at taking out other ships weapons and pirate assault boats at long range before they could get close enough to take out the 5 inch hull guns that were still good against ships at close range if the long range 5 inch turret guns were not enough. The ship had heard too many stories of just that happening in the Outback were they were headed.

  The Pirates primary targets in the opening stages of taking a Tramp ship like the Star Queen was knocking out the ship's defense weapons along with taking out the engines. One reason most pirates only used 3 inch guns to attack transports they wanted to take was that the 3 inch shells would not penetrate the average transport hull while taking out their weapons mounted on the hull. Destroying perfectly good loot was the only sin most pirates recognized.

  Mark looked back at the 5inch 21’s and the 3 inch 70’s with their barrels flashing from the middle of their gunshields. At least they had gunshields. The 3 inch gun he was gunner at did not even have that. Talking about feeling naked. Mark swallowed again. He had thought about adding a shield but then Tom didn't think they needed the extra weight cutting down the boats maneuverability any more than the heavier weight of the 3 inch gun already was in spite of its much heavier and longer ranged punch. Starting to regret that decision already as he watched the mass of 20mm plasma balls now streaking past the Queen from the rapidly approaching pirate. Even though at that range the only thing the 20mm’s could hurt was a man in a suit with no protection sitting in the gunner’s chair of a 3 inch gunmount. Worst yet, he realized that the cruiser was obviously not worried about damaging the Queens cargo since it had been firing its 5 inch guns at the Queen for quite a while. Not the usual pirate. This was getting more ridiculous by the minute.

  “Ok, when are they going to fire the Torpedo’s” Mark said to himself.

  “When the Captain orders them to. Now shut up and keep your eyes open, we have incoming boats already but they disappeared off the ship's sensors.” Mark swallowed. He had forgotten to push Tom’s private channel and the Vox. had done the rest. Nor had he realized that the ship had stopped dead in space as it turned to face the Pirate ship.

  “Mount 20quad 6. You ready back there or not.” Came the pilot’s voice again.

  “Hell Wayne, I have been ready since the damn lock dumped its air. Hanging out the damn ass we don’t need to wait until we are out of the lock.”

  They weren’t supposed to deploy the stern gun ahead of time just in case the shuttle did not launch. They did not want someone accidentally firing off the gun mount inside the lock. But few paid attention to the rule even though it had happened a time or two. Luckily the bulkheads of the lock were thick enough to shrug off 20mm shells if they didn’t hit any vital equipment.

  “Well next time report ready after we get out of the lock.”

  “Ya, sure anything you say boss. But then why doesn't the nose gun have to report?”

  "Because I can see his fat ass sticking out the damn turret in the front of the bridge. Now shut up and report next time."

  A 5inch 21 plasma ball streaked past Mark close enough to feel the heat through his face plate. Tapping the inter ship. “Shit, that was close. Damn it 5-21s, watch where you are shooting. You almost took my head off.”

  “Na, just trying to make you look better with a close shave gunboat.”

  Mark started sweeping the area toward the gun flashes from the Pirate ship with his targeting sensors under magnification. He had to smile. At least the 3 inch gun mount had better long range sensors than the 20 quads he was used to. Not finding anything resembling a boat he punched up the tactical in his helmet and started slewing his gun mount around to the side of the Queen where he would have attacked a ship from if he was the one attacking with a boat trying to get close enough to take out the enemy weapons and then land on their hull to deliver its load of pirates to start the process of taking the ship. It only took a few seconds to spot what he was looking for. Keying the intership Comm. “Bandits at 3 o-clock, Mrk. 130. Targets 4, 100 miles. Firing.” As soon as he had spotted the targets he started doing the calculations and lead readings as he talked. As soon as he said firing, Mark jerked his trigger sending a good 10 rounds at the lead target. And then waited the half a second to see what happened. Half his shots hit and he immediately sent another burst out, fine tuning the spread of his gun.

  While the trailing 3 boats suddenly spread up and out, the one he had hit hesitated as they took care of damage or picked themselves up off the deck. That is if one of his shells had not hit the cockpit itself. Whatever? The boat never even started to change course. Marks second salvo of 15 rounds hit with most of them on the target, the big 3 inch rounds tearing the boat apart from the bow back, leaving flame filled hulk tumbling from gasses jetting out hatches. Smiling in satisfaction. He would like to see the 20mm’s tear a boat apart like that even at close range instead of a hundred miles away and less than a hundred shells.

  The Captain’s voice came on the line. “So much for plan A. Gunboats go after the attacking boats. Hull guns stay on the Cruiser. That is an order. Stay on the Cruiser. Torpedo crews stay under cover until I order you to deploy and fire. I want you to shove your whole spread into that damn Pirate at point blank range. To close for him to maneuver or time to take them out with his point defenses. Take off all your safeties. Just make sure you have a lock before you fire. Hull guns, that means you have to take out their guns so the torp crews have a chance to deploy and fire. Good luck.”

  “Ok?” Mark thought to himself. The ship had never waited to deploy the torpedo launchers before. This was getting crazier by the minute.

  The Queen continued to turn toward the pirate cruiser to keep them from hitting the cargo holds and damaging cargo as the gunboats deployed away from the ship. The battle had degenerated into a close range gun fight all too quickly.

  The Gunboat turned and accelerated away from the Queen toward the pirate boats as the Queen pointed toward the Pirate ship. Mark had been shooting toward the side and wound up trying to keep from falling out of his seat as the boat turned while accelerating forward. Pulling himself back up he pushed the cruise train button and the gun whipped around to point forward allowing him to settle back into the gunner’s seat and tighten his belts down until he could barely breathe. Then he whipped the gun around toward a rapidly approaching boat off their bow. One of the mates of the boat the pilot was targeting with his 4 fixed 20mm guns in the bow along with the two 20mm's from the bow turret.

  The Pilot’s target was wildly maneuvering not giving the pilot much to shoot at while the enemy’s wingman a good 10 degrees off the bow, with no one shooting at him, was coming straight in for the kill. Mark lined up on the wingman and started his calculations with the help of the sights. He had found out long ago that the computer could only do so much. It was lousy for figuring out what would happen in the future unless the target simply refused to maneuver. Mark new better. He aimed above the target at a point the target would be if the pilot started to maneuver his boat as soon as he saw the gun flashes coming at him. And 9 times out of ten, the first maneuver would be up simply from reflex. Taking into account the time his plasma balls (called shells) would take to get there, Mark pulled the trigger and sent a good 20 rounds downstream. By the 5th round the boat was already pulling up. His shells reached the enemy boat just in time to plaster the belly of the boat knocking large 3 foot diameter holes across the boat's belly as his shells followed it up. He guessed wrong about which way the pilot would turn as soon as it was hit but it did not matter, by the time the boat tried to turn out of the stream of shells, it had been hit a good dozen time and internal explosions started lighting up the insides sending assault troops and equipment out of the open hatches as it turned into a fireball. Mark was falling in love with his new mount.

  “Hey I was going to shoot at that one.” Came Tom’s cry.

  Mark tu
rned around to look down past his feet at Tom through the open hatches. Taking a deep breath after finding he had been holding his, he gave him the finger. "Well shoot at the other one." Mark smiled as Tom raised his hand and gave Mark the finger back and then a huge explosion flashed on Tom’s side of the boat and he was gone. Ramp and all. One of his loaders was flopping at the end of his safety line but only half his body was there.

  Turning to where he thought the streak had come from Mark suddenly saw the Cruiser only a few mile away. Most of its guns flashing away at the Queens open gun mounts. One of the Queen’s twin gun turrets was knocked out all ready with a hole in the side that could only be from a torpedo hit. Most of the open hull guns seemed to have been knocked out as well in spite of their shields.

  Mark suddenly realized that it was far from a fair match, with the pirate cruiser packed with well over a dozen open hulled 5 inch 21cal guns insight on just that side of the ship with dozens of 3 inch turrets. Even though half had been knocked out that still left a hell of a lot of shells headed for the Queen.

  The Gunboat’s torpedoes streaked away from his boat headed for the Cruiser as the pilot put the Gunboat into a hard turn. Mark looked up just in time to see a Pirate boat start across above the gunboat. Jerking his hand around the gun mount followed. As his sights raced onto the Pirate boat, Mark pulled the trigger without thinking and let the rounds stitch the underside of the boat as he followed it, opening up great holes across the bottom and then sides as the boat rotated and finally into the boats engines.

  But as he fired, Mark watched one of the boats gunners turn what looked like a twin 20mm gun mount down toward Mark as it passed. The Shells stitching down the side of the Queen’s Gunboat into the open hatch beside him before one of the pirate boat’s engines exploded sending a wall of flames out of the pirate boat's hatches engulfing the gunner and his mount.

  The boat streaked away shedding vapors, parts and men as magazine fires raged through the boat. Turning around Mark checked his crew. Two kids a couple years younger than him hung at the ends of their safety lines parts of their bodies missing where 20mm shells had hit them. The two crewmen left (one of them a young girl barely of age with this being the first month she had been on the crew) were still running reloads out and throwing them into the 3inch gun’s magazine. His sight said he had 30 rounds left in the 50 round magazine. At 2 rounds a second he could easily out shoot his loaders.”

  Top gunner, I need replacement loaders on B-Gun. Now.” He was already lining up on the cruiser turrets as the pilot continued to maneuver. “Come port Pilot. I need a clear shot with mount 32 gone.”

  The ship finally came into sight and Mark pulled the trigger sending rounds into the row of 20 mm gun turrets down the cruisers side as it prepared to dock with the Queen. “Hold on the torpedo launch just a few more seconds Captain and I should have the 20mm’s out of your way.” The 20mm’s at point blank range would decimate the torpedo crews before they could finish setting up their launchers to fire their torpedoes. The damn Mk. 16 dumb torpedoes’ had to be aimed at the target unlike most modern torpedoes that could be launched from dumb fixed packs able to turn into a target after launch. But then the Mk.16's were cheap enough for the Star Queen to afford to buy enough of them to matter. If they could just get them deployed, pointed and launched.

  Mark worked his way down the row of 20mm turrets as the Gunboat continued to turn and slide. His auto gunner failing to keep the mount pointed at the same target no matter what the Gunboat did proved annoying at first. But then Mark realized he knew what the pilot was going to do before he did it, allowing him to accurately take out turret after turret even though he could not explain how he knew. Allowing him to train the gun where he knew the target would be as the pilot jerked the boat around almost faster than Mark could keep up with.

  The Pirate Cruiser kept sliding sideways toward the Queen as Mark worked his way down the row. The 3 inch shells making short work of the small single barreled 20mm turrets on the pirate ship. The turrets the Quads at the back of the Gunboat could not seem to penetrate. Though the pirate's 20mm’s had no problem penetrating the hull of the Gunboat. A string of 20mm rounds stitched the side of the boat and into the cargo hold. A fire started as one of the magazines were hit.

  The Gunboat turned away showing Mark the side of the Queen. The Torpedo launchers appeared as the last of the lifeboat hatches opened. “God, No! Not yet. I still have several gun turrets to take out.”

  Suddenly the Gunboat was not the main target as soon as the torpedo launchers were seen. 20mm shells started raining down around the launchers as the pirates remaining 5 inch hull guns blasted craters in the hull around the torpedo crews.

  As the Gunboat turned back to present Mark with a target he watched as one of the launchers was hit and torpedoes started exploding in the open hatch throwing men in outgassing suits rocketing from the open hatch.

  Mark pulled the trigger to take out the last of the pirate's 20mm turrets and then walked his way down the remaining 5 inch open hull guns sitting out on the pirate’s hull sending their crews flying in all directions mostly in pieces. Another couple of seconds and the Queen would have a chance Mark thought as he saw the first Torpedo streak across into the Pirate ship at point blank range. Suddenly Mark was tossed out of his gunner’s seat. Something hit his helmet knocking it off his head as his world went dark. He stupidly tried to hold his breath, as if it would do him any good.

  -------------------------------

  Deep under the Main Military Base on the Earth class Moon called England to the locals, (England 21 to the Empire, there were 34 other starsystem States called England and that did not even count the ones that were called New England, 171 of those), Captain Summers raised her eyes in surprise as she walked into the large office behind Vice Admiral Edwards. She had never met the Supreme Admiral before though she had seen and heard as much as anyone about the man responsible for winning the War with the Russian State. A plaque on the hatch and then the desk said. “Supreme Admiral of the Realm A. J. Ridgeway. With 5 stars above the name.” The large office seemed to be surrounded on three sides by a huge three dimensional star map making it look bigger than it was.

  She immediately realized the map was the central section of the 200 light year thick, dead of most light, impassable barrier stretching across 3,000 light years of this part of the galaxy’s arm known as the Void (even though it was anything but a void).

  If you wanted to cross the void to the outer arm of the galaxy or back through towards the core worlds without crossing 200 light years of an incredible large number of lost unpredictable black holes that could suck you in without warning, invisible meandering dark dead stars and seeming billions of dead rough planets, masses of proto-planets with uncountable trillions upon trillions of asteroids and rocks covering cubic light years to collide with and uncharted gas clouds covering thousands of cubic light years that could rip the hull right off a speeding transport; you did it threw one of the five fingers crossing the center or around the outside, adding thousands of light years and months to your trip.

  Five narrow fingers of visible stars crossed the center of the void like a hole through a donut. English traders had colonized the center of the 5 fingers settling on 23 stars at the narrowest point at the middle of the 5th finger that made a relatively strait crossing. Realizing that the one central impossible to bypass heavy metal star system’s value even though the red sun could not grow green earth plants to support humans. You could bypass the Imperial State of England 21 but it was a long dangerous flight. The other 4 fingers cork screwed across the void in random directions curving back upon themselves time after time without quite touching, taking over three times and as much as 10 times the distance to cross in their meandering paths. They were scattered around the center crossing averaging some hundred light years away from England’s. Two of them containing Mazes, even experienced Captains got lost in for months, some never to be heard from again. With a third crossing res
embling a wild raging river with rapids and shoals and sink holes that seemed to shift weekly requiring every ship going through the crossing to have a special locally trained pilot.

  No, the English had a monopoly and they knew it and in some ways took advantage of it but realizing it also came with some responsibilities. They realized the growing Out Back beyond the crossing was not a safe place to fly unless you were prepared with certain standards all ships had to meet before continuing through their Crossing. Resulting in a growing number of Tramp Camps of crews who’s ships failed the inspections with no money to return to Civilized Space of the Inner Empire. Though the outer Empire was all but none existent after a thousand years of the Wild Outback pirates taking over planetary system after system, England 21 was no long a thousand miles from the Outback but only a couple dozen and knocking hard on its door.

  Shrugging her shoulders at a map which she had seen copies of since she learned how to read. She realized it was focused on the French Crossing giving her a good idea as to why she was there. The Captain came to attention as the Vice Admiral that had brought her (being her superior), saluted while she simply stood at attention beside him.

  The Vice Admiral said. “Admiral Sir. As you requested. This is the Intelligence officer and author of the report written a year ago I have been telling you about. The expert in the Outback Pirates. Her report predicts everything the pirates have done over the last 9 months in the French State's star systems including the number of pirates reportedly killed (which she says is mistaken), our losses down to the ship, the length of the peaceful lull when we thought we had won, the number of supposed transport ships going through the French systems (she says were mostly pirates moving into the system in preparation for their attack) and now as she predicted, the sudden massive attack on the French system, the tactics and taking down the Comm station within hours of when she predicted after the first transport was taken in the French home system." The Vice Admiral studied the Supreme Admiral for a few seconds. "She has been incredibly accurate on everything that has happened. Her report says the Pirates will win, destroying the fleet, capture all the transports and orbital facilities and strip the planet of most of her industry and tens, if not hundreds of millions of slaves. It looks like they are close to destroying the fleet and winning the first stage of the battle sir.”