“What and where?” Mike replied needing details.
“I’m reading a Karduan Destroyer and a Destroyer Escort coming around from the far side of the gas giant.
“On main viewer,” he said looking up and seeing the ships like dots coming into view as they cleared the planet. “Signal all ships to change course and make for the gravity well. Tell them to continue ram scoop refueling.”
“Aye sir,” Ryan said and sent the new orders.
“All ships are changing course and heading to the well,” Curtis informed.
“Let’s hope they have collected enough fuel to make a bend,” Mike commented activating the holo-map to monitor the situation.
“We should get to the well before they can catch us,” Ensign Pitt commented.
Mike continued to look at the holo-map and then back to the view screen as he thought over their situation.
“Why would they reveal themselves if they had no chance of getting us?” he said still pondering this illogical tactic of these two Karduan ships. The Blue ship mistresses had to know that an entire Confederation fleet had just passed through this system and that they were not more than a half a day away. If Mike’s group escaped they would inform that fleet and the Blues would then be hunted down.
“What do you think, sir?” PO2 Baker asked seeing him lost in thought for a moment.
“Petty Officer Curtis, see if you can match those ships to any that are in our database?” Collins suggested. It would take two hours to get back to the gravity well and they had plenty of time for hunches.
“Aye, sir, running a sensor sweep and a computer search,” Curtis replied.
“Baker, what is the status of our torpedoes?” Mike asked wanting an update.
She paused for a moment and then checked her screens before she answered.
“Sir, we have a full complement of standard torpedoes with two Blitzens and one TPA coated Blitzen,” she reported.
“Chief Schmidt got it coated?” he asked just to be sure. Curtis had managed to find some TPA at the starbase while they were waiting for repairs after the last battle.
“Yes, sir,” she replied confident of this information as she had helped him disassemble and treat the torpedo’s warhead.
Mike nodded and looked back to Curtis.
“What’s the word?” he inquired anxious to confirm his suspicions.
“The DE is one we’ve never encountered before but that destroyer was one of the two that escaped the battle,” the maser operator revealed.
“So, where is its sister ship?” Jeremy Pitt asked before Mike could voice the same question.
“Ryan, send to all ships what we’ve found out and tell them that the other destroyer is probably hiding somewhere in route to the gravity well,” he said knowing that they were effectively trapped.
“What … what should we do?” Cindy Baker asked in a slightly unsteady voice.
“Find that second destroyer,” Mike said looking to Curtis at the maser station. The maser unit gave them an advantage in detection over a space radar unit and now was the time that they really needed it.
“Captain, all of the other ships want to know what they should do?” Specialist Ryan relayed.
“Tell them to stay on course and to do a wide sensor scan,” he ordered hoping one of them might pick up where the second destroyer was hiding.
Mike looked up and studied the holo-map and their path to the gravity well.
“There!” he said pointing to the holo-map of the system.
“What sir?” Jeremy Pitt asked looking back to their young commanding officer.
“If I was the enemy laying this trap, I’d wait by that metal moon off of that dust world. It’s in the right place to hide a ship and has a high magnetic field to help mask its signature,” he informed.
“What do we do?” Curtis asked.
Collins looked at the holo-map and added a possible contact at the dust world’s moon. He then turned to his captain chair’s computer screen and brought up the impulse speeds of the ships in his group.
“The only ship that could avoid and outrun a blocking force if there is one would be the Goliad,” he informed going over the data twice.
“So, we could escape, find and contact the fleet to get help,” Curtis proposed sounding a little nervous.
Mike didn’t say anything as he worked on the problem and all of the possible scenarios. If he left the hospital ship, escort carrier and freighters they would be captured or destroyed before he could get help. The fleet was already at least one bend ahead of them and could be even further away. The Goliad still had its original bender drives and even at maximum bend, it could never catch up to a modern attack fleet.
“No, we are staying,” he said and looked to the comm. station, “Contact the group and pass on my findings.”
He then sent the data from his captain’s chair to Specialist Ryan’s panel.
“Message sent, Captain,” Ryan reported.
“Now we’ll have to fight, so where would be the best place?” Mike said again looking at the holo-map. He had to make a decision soon as the further they went towards the gravity well the further they’d fail into the trap.
“Sir, all of the ship captains are calling wishing to speak to you,” Ryan cut in before he could say anything else.
“Mute the freighter captains and just let them listen in. Put the captains of the Boyington and the Mary Walker on a split screen,” he instructed not wanting eight voices yelling at him all at once.
A moment later the captains of the two other Confederation ships appeared on the screen.
“What do you think we should do?” Lt. Commander Kannon, the head doctor of the Mary Walker asked sounding calm.
“That’s what I want to know, what do we do?” Lt. Howard added not sounding so calm.
“We have lots of options, like continuing to the gravity well and triggering the trap. Then it would just be a mad dash to the well and I don’t think more than half of us could make it at best. My ship is the fastest and I could probably outrun them and make for the fleet but again I don’t think most of you would be here by the time we got back,” he explained walking them through the thought process he already had followed for himself.
“What about surrender?” Lt. Howard asked saying it quickly.
“We can’t just give them six freighters full of supplies and ordinance let alone a carrier! That’s the one thing they really have been wanting for their fleets,” Mike argued determined to blow up their supply ships and the escort carrier before he’d let the enemy have them.
“What other options do we have?” Dr. Kannon inquired not knowing what to do except run.
“We head to the gas nebula and hide in there as long as we can,” he revealed.
“What?” commented the Boyington’s captain.
“That nebula is radioactive with pockets of unstable gasses,” Lt. Cmdr. Kannon informed having already scanned it.
“Agreed but that radiation will probably mess up their space radar enough to make us invisible to their sensors. We can polarize our hulls along with space suits and with our radiation protocols, we should be fine. Then we'd just sit back and wait until the fleet notices that we haven’t caught up with them and sends help,” Mike explained remembering how the ISS Patton and the ISS Bastogne hid out in a very toxic world’s sulfuric sea.
“We’d never make it,” Howard exclaimed and continued, “With the added distance to the nebula that destroyer and its destroyer escort will have more than enough time to catch up to us.”
“I think we can give them a few bumps in the road to slow them down and allow the Mary Walker and the freighters to reach the nebula,” Mike said with a smile already thinking of how he’d fight such a delaying action.
“That second destroyer may not even be there,” the escort carrier captain pointed out.
“I’m betting it is and once we change course it will come out of hiding and join the hunt,” he reasoned.
; “If we do that and you are wrong then the pursuing ships will be able to close the distance and may still catch us,” Lt. Howard returned not liking this young officer’s plan.
“As I see it, either way, we are damned and our only hope is to get to that nebula as soon as possible and follow Lt. Collins orders,” Dr. Kannon remarked knowing what course he was going to follow.
He was in his own humble option a very good physician and a fair ship captain but he was not by any means a combat officer. He had seen the battle vids of the Star Wolf and her squadron. He also knew that this rather young frigate captain was a seasoned combat officer as well as being a Knight’s Spur and Knight’s Star winner. He'd take his chances with him and pray that his instincts were right.
Mike nodded, “Then it is settled, all ships will turn and head at their best speeds to the nebula. Once you reach the edge of the nebula you will wait for orders to enter and be prepared to follow your radiation protocols.”
Lt. Cmdr. Kannon’s signal closed, while Howard was still on the screen thinking of some other arguments.
“Lt. Howard, once we make our run for the nebula I’m going lag behind and slow the enemy down. I want the Boyington to position herself halfway between my position and that of our retreating non-combatant ships. It will be our job to give them the time they need,” he instructed.
“Sir, I only have two torpedo tubes, three missile turrets and one old fusion turret as well as defensive gauss cannons but no particle turrets. I don’t see how I could be much of a help in a long-range duel with a destroyer?” Howard said.
Mike wanted to reach across the screen and slap him.
“You also have twenty-eight star fighters, right?” he prompted.
“Yes, but they are just replacement star fighters for the Pallas. My pilots are all fighter school washouts who just simply fairy replacement fighters to the battle carrier whenever they need a new star fighter,” the escort carrier captain explained trying to impress on him that his ship wasn’t really a functional carrier or even a real combat vessel.
“My orders stand, and I want to talk to your CAG ASAP!” Collins said wanting to get rid of this almost useless middleman.
“What’s a CAG?” Howard inquired.
Once more he wanted to throttle this wingless carrier captain.
“Commander Air Group or maybe you use CSG, Commander Star Group,” he said resisting the urge to speak slowly to him.
“Oh … we don’t have a CSG,” he answered.
“Ok, then patch me through to your senior-most pilot,” Mike said.
“That would-be … Lt. Lester, I’ll have him contact you right away,” Lt. Howard said and quickly terminated the link.
Mike refrained from swearing in front of his crew but he thought he heard Curtis say, “What an ass!”
“Mister Pitt, engage thrusters and turn us towards the nebula,” he ordered and glanced to the holo-map looking at the progression of his ships.
“Sir, you were right, a destroyer and a vanguard sloop have just appeared on our scope. They’re coming out from behind the metal moon by the dust planet,” PO2 Curtis called out.
“Identify it, is it the other destroyer from the battle with the 8th Defense Fleet?” Mike asked.
“Yes, sir, it is,” he quickly answered.
Collins let out a soft sigh. Maybe that meant there were no other heavy ships in the system, at least he hoped. His other question was where did they get a destroyer escort and a vanguard sloop from? The only other Karduan ships he knew of in this sector were those of the Grand Fleet Mistress, who was supposed to be hunting down the Star Wolf. He couldn’t think of that now he told himself, he had to keep focused on the upcoming battle and the four enemy ships he’d have to outfight or out think.
“Lag us behind a bit,” he ordered talking to the helm.
“Aye sir,” Ensign Pitt returned.
“Sir, the DE and the Vanguard have increased speed and are leaving the destroyers behind,” PO2 Curtis announced.
“Their job will be to slow us down and keep us from getting to the nebula,” he remarked loud enough for his bridge crew to hear.
“It will still take hours for us to reach the nebula and for them to catch up,” PO2 Baker commented from the fire control station.
“Every minute it takes gives us a little more time to hope for rescue,” he said trying to keep their hopes alive but personally doubting Essex would come back for them in time or even notice they were missing.
“Captain, I have a Lt. Henry Lester from the Boyington holding on comm. line one for you,” Specialist Ryan said.
“Good, patch him through,” Collins said hoping for a better officer than that ship’s captain.
The image of a young lieutenant junior grade came across his chair’s link. Lester was thin with a long face and was around Mike’s age. What surprised him the most was that this Lt. JG. was the ranking officer of the carrier’s fighter wings.
“You’re the officer in charge of the Boyington’s star fighter group?” Mike asked trying to mask his shock.
“No sir, we really don’t have an OIC or a CSG. I’m just the senior-most officer, most of the pilots are ensigns along with a few junior grades,” he explained looking to the left of the link for a moment probably glancing at some of his fellow pilots.
Lt. Collins just shook his head, “How many star fighters do have on board?”
“Well, that a funny question, in that, we have twenty-eight star fighters but most of them are still in their packing crates. We only have six unpacked as the Pallas rarely needs a replacement fighter,” Lt. Lester said.
“Do you have any ordinance on board?” was his next question.
Lester looked confused and pointed to his right signaling for someone to come over to him. A moment later a short and bald CPO entered the link’s picture and stood next to the young officer.
“Sir, I’m Chief Petty Officer Newton. We have a full complement of ordnance for the star fighters. The only problem is that they are in shipping crates just like the star fighters. They usually don’t want us to send over a star fighter loaded up in case one of our fairy pilots has a mishap when landing,” he explained with a draw to his voice.
Mike was starting to get mad and had to remind himself that he needed these people if they stood any chance of protecting the transports and the hospital ship.
“Ok, this is what you are going to do. You’re going to unpack those star fighters and their ordnance from storage. Fuel them up, arm them and get your pilots ready to launch,” he said his voice getting a little louder as he spoke.
“But sir,” the CPO started.
“No buts Chief, you have two hours and I don’t care if you have pull every person on that ship to help you,” he said giving him the you better not drop the fucking ball look.
“Aye sir,” the Chief answered knowing that this young officer wasn’t messing around. He then rushed off yelling for crewmen to get to work and on the double.
“Sir, our pilots have never been in combat before,” Lt. Lester said sounding embarrassed.
“Well, I’d say it is damn well time you got some combat experience,” Collins said not having the time to hold hands and play ship’s counselor.
In a lowered voice Lester added, “Sir, we’re all fighter school washouts.”
“I really don’t care, you all know how to fly a star fighter and we don’t have time to debate your qualifications. We are badly outgunned and if we can’t get star fighters into this fight we’ll have no chance at all. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, sir,” Lester said almost snapping to attention.
“Anyway, I’d think you and some of your friends would like to prove that those flight instructors were wrong and that you do have the right stuff to be a star fighter pilot,” Mike suggested.
Lt. Lester nodded, the resolve starting to form within him.
“We’ll be ready, sir,” he said kind of hearing his washout report being read to him on his l
ast day at star fighter school. It made him mad then and it still made him mad.
“Good, I’m counting on you,” Collins replied and added, “and you're now the star group leader. Pick those you think can do the job to be your wing leaders.”
“Aye, sir,” Lester replied as he started to work out the various wing groupings in his head.
“If anyone gives you a problem,” Mike started.
“I’ll call you or kick them in the ass,” the junior grade lieutenant said getting determined.
“That’s the spirit, now give’m hell and get to work,” Lt. Collins ordered.
“Yes sir,” Lt. Lester replied turning away in a hurry as the link’s signal was cut off.
The Goliad’s bridge was dead silent as the call ended. Everyone had their heads down and were busy at their stations. He knew what they were thinking that they were all doomed. He knew this because he was thinking the same thing. A lone frigate and an old escort carrier with a bunch of washed out pilots against two full destroyers, a destroyer escort and sloop. It was a miss match and now he knew how that Karduan fleet felt when Admiral Dupain came through the bend blowing their ships to kingdom come.
Still, he had a plan forming in his head and knew that sometimes it all depended on speed and distance to target. He also kept thinking about where those two smaller enemy ships had come from and would they get reinforcement before he could? It was something he had to push to the side of his mind and just focus on the fight before him.
After an hour and thirty minutes had passed, the destroyer escort and the vanguard sloop had made up considerable distance. Mike’s slower freighters had forced him to lag further back with the Boyington keeping an equal distance between them.
“Mister Pitt, 180-degree spin with EM thrusters only and bring us about,” he ordered turning the nose of the Goliad around to face the closing enemy.
“Aye sir,” Jeremy Pitt answered.
“Cut engines and forward thrust,” Collins instructed. They’d still have their momentum as they moved closer to the nebula but the Karduans would now be able to quickly close on the little frigate.
“Yes, sir,” the young helmsman said.
Wolves at the Gate (Star Wolf Squadron Book 3) Page 26