"I've asked my CAG to put together a strike force of her best pilots, eight fighter pilots and three shuttle pilots. The fighters are going to attack the protrusion. With any luck we can disrupt the jamming signal so we can figure out what is going on over there. As for the shuttle pilots, I intend to send over a platoon of marines to scour the ship for their boarding party and to help extract the vice president."
"What do you need from me?" Nelson asked without hesitation. "Anything short of my engineering crews are yours."
"Nothing now, Travis. But if you could, have your fighters on standby in case we stir up a hornets nest."
Nelson nodded. "What about my marines? I could have a couple platoons over there in the next thirty minutes."
Wellard stroked his chin in contemplation. "Keep them on standby too. Ideally near the shuttles. If my teams run into any trouble, yours can head over to help. As of now, the Providence's lower shuttle bay is under our control, so have the shuttles land there."
Nelson looked back at his XO, who was already transmitting the orders to both the CAG and the sergeant. "Will do, Vince. Just let me know."
"Will do. I'll contact you in ten minutes either way. Wellard, out."
"Captain, the CAG and sergeant both report their teams will be ready in fifteen minutes," Lewis said.
Nelson smiled. "That's some good news. Send a message back to the Endeavor and let them know too. They might need backup earlier than they suspect."
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Lewis asked after sending the message. "I mean, the ship is hardly in fighting shape. I understand being on standby to protect the Providence, but wouldn't it be wise to keep the extra people here to work on fixing the electrical issues?"
"So they can die of electrocution over here? No, I think we should leave that work to the engineering crew. I trust Brown to get things back in line before they become an issue."
"And if he doesn't?"
Nelson glared at his XO for calling her out in front of the bridge crew. He would have to have a long chat with her once the situation was under control and they were well out of the line of fire. That is, if they survived the situation at all. But he knew she was just voicing the same concerns the rest of the bridge crew had, even if they didn't have the stones to say the words themselves. So he figured it was a good idea to answer it once so the rest of the crew could know and move on.
"Then we go to battle with what we have available. If that means we can only support the Endeavor with conventional weaponry, so be it. I know we're vulnerable in our current state, but I'll be damned if we leave the Endeavor to deal with the incoming threat on their own."
Lewis' lips narrowed into a line and Nelson was sure she was about to object, but she silently nodded. The rest of the crew seemed content with the answer, even if they barely bothered to speak up higher than was necessary to handle their jobs.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Atroxxin Sector
Ready Room, NECS Endeavor
"Our target is a small protrusion on the side of the Providence," Commander Thompson said to the fighter pilots seated in the chairs opposite her stage.
"It doesn't look small to me," Fireball said. The rest of the room broke into murmurs with his words as if quietly agreeing with his assessment.
"No, it's not," Tegan admitted. "That just means we have a bigger target to hit, which is good considering every attempt to lock onto the structure have failed. That means we are on manual targeting this time around."
Lancer grinned and glanced over at Switch. "You should probably sit this one out then."
The group of pilots burst into laughter that was quickly contained by the CAG.
"Sounds like a serious mission. But why are we going out shorthanded?" Fireball asked. "Seems like we should be sending the farm at this one."
Bobcat nodded. "Normally I would agree with you, but we believe we may be stirring up a hornets nest by even trying. The ship has ten different fighter bays, not counting the two large ones on either side. The good news is our boys control one of the larger bays, but that still leaves close to one hundred and fifty fighters unaccounted for. The rest of our pilots are suiting up now and will be on standby as a precaution."
Tegan wasn't sold on the explanation the CAG gave her that the rest of the pilots were best being held back. Considering the lack of communication with the other ship, she believed the Providence was best treated like an enemy combatant than an unsure ally. At least the rest of the ship would be prepared in case things went wrong.
But, she suspected they needed to keep the front to make it look like a reconnaissance mission to anyone why may be watching. If they went in guns blazing, certain factions in the government may believe them to be defectors looking to unseat the current administration. This was without the knowledge of the attack by the York and Dachshund earlier.
"Captain Nelson of the Achilles is putting his fighter pilots on standby as well. So you will have plenty of support in case things go belly up," Thompson added.
"Let's hope we don't need it," Switch added.
"Agreed," Thompson said.
"This all makes sense, but what about the shuttle pilots? Doesn't seem like their type of mission."
"And it's not. Their job is to escort three platoons of marines into the shuttle bay we currently control. Once inside, they will assist the two away teams with securing the Providence."
"Securing the Providence? You mean someone else is in control of the ship?" Switch asked.
"We are unsure," Thompson said. "The only information we have is that the ship seems unusually empty. Along with the disruption of communications to and from the ship, Captain Wellard wants to play it safe."
Tegan's jaw dropped in surprise. While she had been fully briefed on her part of the mission, she was blindsided with this part like the others. The thought someone could and hijack the Providence during the battle was baffling. Even more so that it was done right under their noses.
"Bobcat, you will lead your usual team of Lancer, Switch, and Fireball. Axe, you will take Ogre, Dallas, and Razor. That leaves Hawk leading Whiplash, Twenty, and Squeak."
"It's Pack," Twenty corrected. The room burst into laughter no sooner than it did.
Hawk punched Twenty in the arm and pointed at the screen. "You knock that piece of shit off the Providence, we'll call you whatever you want."
"We'll see about that," Squeak said with a smile.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Atroxxin Sector
Middle Decks, NECS Providence
"Statistically we should've run into someone by now," Richards said, gasping for air. Bremerton's team had resorted to jogging through each deck, hoping to speed things up by a hair. But the longer they searched, the more they found more of the same. Empty halls punctuated by secure doors that didn't budge regardless of the security clearance used to get inside.
Worse was the lack of communication between the two teams. They knew the general direction the other team was headed, but had no way to confirm what they'd seen or done. That left Bremerton's group potentially double checking the same halls the other team surely had cleared by now.
"Agreed," Bremerton said, coming to a stop before the next stairwell. While the circumstances of the jog weren't ideal, he loved being able to run through the halls without interference. The only issue he faced was that other than the marines, the rest of the team often struggled to keep up. This meant he found himself stopping every floor to allow them a breather. "Two minutes and we head up to eight."
Bremerton paced the hall, trying a few of the doors a second time to kill the wait. Richards, Bremerton, and the two remaining marines opted to take a seat on the floor. All opting to lean against the wall nearest the stairs. The rest of his marines were spread out between decks to help facilitate communications between his team and the Endeavor. The process, while effective, was tedious to say the least. Eight men all spread out between decks, waiting for the chance to transfer a message to the next person in line. H
e realized the message was possibly getting jumbled in the chain, but there weren't many other options. You can hardly expect a single marine to make the long trip back and forth each time one side or the other shared information.
He was halfway down the hall when he heard the telltale footfalls of one of a marine running up the adjoining stairwell his way. Another message from Wellard. He hoped this time they had good news.
Stopping from a full sprint, the marine bent over at the waist to catch his breath. Bremerton fingered the nearby door in the meantime, hoping to pry the door open. They'd tried it nearly a dozen times to this point, each time failing to so much as budge the door an inch. He doubted this time would be any different.
"Message from the Endeavor?" Bremerton said, feigning attention while he worked.
"Yes, sir. Captain Wellard wanted you to know three new contacts have passed the York and the Concord. From what I've heard, the Concord was destroyed in the encounter. At their current speed they should arrive in the next ninety minutes."
"Very well," Bremerton remarked. He went back to fumbling with the door when the marine cleared his throat, drawing his attention again. "There's more?"
"Aye. The captain found an anomaly on the ship. He believes it's the cause of all our problems over here."
"What kind of anomaly?"
"A large box. He didn't go into detail, but he believes it's large enough to hold a few platoons of marines and a load of signal jamming equipment."
"That would explain the lack of people and communications issues," Richards said, strolling down the hall. "Did he tell you where it was located?"
"I'm afraid not. He wanted me to let you know he has the CAG handling the anomaly."
"Shooting it off?"
The marine nodded. "He is also sending three platoons of marines over to help us secure the ship. One will arrive in the shuttle bay we secured while the other two secure two more. Each team has instructions to systematically clear the ship, using explosive charges if necessary to take control of critical sections of the ship."
The plan was smart. While they hadn't run into any opposition, being prepared for such an event was ideal. Not to mention, extra bodies on the ship would greatly speed up the time it took to find the vice president. If the contacts were slated to arrive in ninety minutes, he wanted to be out of the system with fifteen minutes to spare. That meant he had ninety minutes to find the VP and get the hell out of this nightmare ship.
"Thank you, marine. Head back and send a message to the others. You are all to join me up on eight. From here out we work as a team."
"What about the message chain sir? Do you think it's a good idea to pull them out of the way this soon?" Richards asked.
"I don't think we have a choice. If he thinks the ship is under enemy control, we are much better off as a team instead of being spread across a dozen decks to be picked off one at a time. Besides, I may know how to fire this thing, but I'd rather be surrounded by people who were trained to handle it."
"Understood, sir. I'll head back down and get the others."
"Just pass the message down to the next and come back. Have him do the same and so forth. We will wait for everyone on eight for ten minutes before moving up to seven. Tell them to continue upward until they run into us."
The marine shot Bremerton a lazy salute before turning around and sprinting back down the hall. He reached the far side stairwell in seconds and entered it, disappearing from view. He was out of sight for a few seconds before he streaked back into the hall. Laser blasts followed close behind, missing him by mere inches only to sear the opposite wall.
"Contacts in the hall," he said, gasping. "Two dozen..."
"Two dozen marines?" Bremerton said, brandishing his weapon as he ran down the hall.
"No," the marine said. "Something else."
Chapter Thirty-Four
Atroxxin Sector
Bridge, NECS Endeavor
"Fighters launching now, Captain," Thompson said over the comm. "I expect contact in less than two minutes."
"Very well, Valarie. How long on the shuttles?" Wellard said as he signaled Ritter to put it on the large viewscreen.
"The last of the marines are filing in now. To save time, they are being briefed on the trip over. I expect all three to disembark in the next five minutes."
"Sounds good. Keep me apprised on any changes. Wellard, out."
He was pleased at the speed in which his CAG responded to the challenge of getting her pilots back at the ready so soon after a battle. Now if he could get Sergeant Walker to speed up his part of the process, they might get out of the system before the new contacts arrived.
As it was, time was growing short in a hurry. Every minute something was delayed allowed the ships to get closer, risking a battle they couldn't afford. As much as it pained him to do so, he wasn't willing to pull the plug on the mission before they arrived unless the away teams were accounted for. Ideally they would bring the VP in tow, but as of now that seemed a statistical impossibility.
Wellard watched as the three fighter squadrons entered the screen, each in a diamond formation. They streaked towards the Providence a kilometer apart, all focused on the small box he'd noticed earlier.
Pressing a button on his console, he opened the voice link from each of the squad commanders. It would allow him to hear what they were saying to each other while he watched the fight while also allowing him to quickly add his input in case he noticed something prudent.
"Target is two kilometers and closing. Keep your eyes focused on the box from here on in. We can't afford to lose the target now," Bobcat said through her comm.
"Bringing my team up from the belly," Axe replied. "The two of you approach from either side. Combined we might be able to knock that piece of shit into space."
"Roger that, Axe," Hawk said. "Moving my squad into position now."
"Magnify." The view of the ship zoomed in until the large box took up an eighth of the screen. Now close, each of the squadrons moved into view in their predetermined positions. Each of the formations got tighter the closer they got. The view made it difficult to see how close they were, but he suspected they were maybe a few dozen meters apart as most to focus their fire on a singular point to maximize the damage. Fighter weapon systems, while potent, often had problems penetrating the hull of larger ships. As such, they assumed the anomaly would've been built the same way, to make it more difficult to penetrate with small fire. By focusing each squadron on a single point, they hoped to pierce whatever armor the thing had, destroying whatever crap they had inside causing the problems.
The fighter communications when abnormally quiet as they got close. Wellard assumed the pilots were focusing on the difficult task of coordinating their fire between four ships without the aid of computer assisted targeting.
They were nearly a half-kilometer out when the channels burst to life. Each of the squadron commanders issuing the order to fire to their subordinates. Sparks erupted from the anomaly from the combined fire as small bits of dust and debris flung off into space. Where the combined blasts hit, the metal burned red, looking as if it would melt off at any moment.
"Our fire is ineffective," Bobcat said as her squad pulled off, missing the Providence by a few meters. The other two squadron leaders echoed the words as they did the same.
Wellard watched intently, holding his breath as the once red-hot metal cooled back to the gray it was before the cloaking device shimmered, hiding the anomaly once again.
"Fighter squadrons, turn back for another pass," Thompson said. "This time focus your fire on one location in the center. Keep your same approach vectors."
"Roger," the pilots said at once.
"Captain, the Providence's fighter bays are opening," Ritter shouted. "Nearly one hundred new contacts sighted."
"Valarie, tell me the rest of the pilots are ready."
Chapter Thirty-Five
Atroxxin Sector
Cockpit, X-71 Fighter
"Holy shit," Fireball said through the comm as dozens of fighters flooded into view. At first, the tactical display marked them as friendly contacts making things more difficult. Within seconds the white blips on the display turned red, allowing them to easily target them.
"Thanks for the threat update," Bobcat said as she pulled her fighter into a tight turn, avoiding the Providence by a few hundred meters. The rest of her squadron followed and moved in formation towards the nearest set of fighters.
"Pilots, break off the anomaly and focus on the fighters," Thompson said. "Reinforcements are on the way. Do what you can to stay alive until they arrive."
"Roger. We got things under control."
"Do we Bobcat?" Switch questioned. "Looks like we stirred the hornet's nest and are about to get stung."
Switch was right. The situation was dire to say the least. They were stuck a few kilometers away from the Endeavor in the middle of a swarm of the NEC X-83 fighters. At best, saying they pushed their birds to the absolute limits, they wouldn't arrive for nearly a minute. More likely it meant they had to deal with the threat for two as they would surely slow their approach vectors as they closed to get locks on the target.
"Hang close to the Providence. Use the ship for cover as much as possible. We need to buy ourselves as much time as we can," Bobcat said.
"You think it will work? There aren't enough hiding places on the Providence."
"It has to," she replied. Otherwise they were dead. "Besides, maybe we can get these bastards to finish our mission for us."
"I like your attitude, boss," Lancer said. "You heard her boys. Let's make a pass near the damned anomaly and see if these bastards will shoot it off for us."
It was a long shot, she admitted. The Providence's fighters, while slightly more advanced than her own, didn't have any significant increases in firepower or maneuverability. The main advantage they had over her X-71 was a better combat computer, allowing them to assess and lock onto targets with increased speed which meant it was more likely they would be brought down long before they reached the anomaly.
Endeavor (The Mythrar War Book 1) Page 11