Echoes from Yesterday: Pirates of the Badlands Series Book 4

by Sean Benjamin

  She was staring at Ringo as she said this, and Ringo knew it. Finally, O’Hare leaned back in her command chair and went silent as her formation closed on the first line of Orion casualties.

  “Message from Dragon’s operations officer,” reported Reese Patrick from his ops station. There was a pause as he read the comm and then spoke excitedly. “Dragon reports the destruction of Republic due to…” He had to pause as a resounding cheer broke out from the bridge crew. Even O’Hare permitted herself a smile. One of the ships that had haunted Flot 1 since Ulatar was now a true ghost. Hopefully, the other battlecruiser was also navigating through the reefs and shoals of hell now. Patrick began again as he read the message verbatim. “We are proud to report the destruction of Republic due to an engagement with Dragon, Steppenwolf, and Vampire. This action took place just recently, and Republic wreckage is not far from our current position near Buckler base. Citizen was hit by our first salvo early in the battle and suffered serious damage. She dropped out of line and should be near Wolfpack’s current position somewhere in the first line of debris. Her damage is uncertain and she has had time for some repairs. Good hunting.”

  O’Hare put her battle face back on as she swung her chair to look at Patrick. “Is that message addressed to all our ships?”

  “Affirm. It is also addressed to Shield Command back at Aegis with a request to forward it to all nearby Flot 1 ships.”

  O’Hare nodded. “Excellent.” She spun back to her original orientation. “We now have to find one wounded battlecruiser that should be nearby. Let’s do it.”

  Chapter 35

  The two shuttles from Predator and Vindictive returned to their respective ships. All the remaining pirate ships now turned and departed from Aegis along the same route as Wolfpack. As soon as Predator’s shuttle docked, Major Owen Cabot moved to the bridge to pay his respects to Captain Hawkins. Cabot was a tall, muscular man with a shaved head. His formidable appearance was offset by a ready smile and easy-going manner. He shook hands with Hawkins and thanked the immediate crewmembers at the back of the bridge for the transportation.

  “A request, Captain.” Cabot asked. Hawkins nodded and the Marine went on. “Would like to tie your ship into the planet’s comm system so we can keep track of the situation on the other side of the planet.”

  Hawkins agreed. “Good to hear the system is still up. We’ve not gotten much since we moved to Aegis and I would hate to be surprised as we move around the planet.” He pointed at the comm station. “Have at it.”

  “The OrCons got our main comm station at the base, but there are secondary transmission/receiving stations around the entire planet. All have solar battery power if the main power goes down.” With that explanation, the Major moved to the station as Hyatt Renaldo rose to give him the seat. He sat and typed in several commands. He looked at the floating screen in satisfaction and then rose. “We are tied in now so will get all the messages being blocked by the planet’s mass up until now.”

  He meant to leave, but glanced down at the screen. “Got one coming in now.” Cabot sat back down and read aloud the message from Dragon. Smiles and cheers rose from the bridge crew. Hyatt leaned over the Major to reach the keyboard and forwarded the message to the other ships. Crewmembers on every ship congratulated each other and hoped for the success of Wolfpack in locating and finishing off Citizen. The anguish of Ulatar would never vanish completely, but eliminating the ships that had done the attack was a necessary step to bring some peace to the crewmembers of all Flot 1 ships. Besides, an example was required to ensure this would not happen again.

  A few Orion ships from their Badlands expedition were still at large but the Flot 1 intelligence system had no knowledge of their whereabouts. The Orion Badlands squadron had six ships remaining when they departed that region in defeat. The two battlecruisers were here, but the heavy cruiser Zadornyy, the two light cruisers Ranjit and Ranijay, and the destroyer Ognevoy were unaccounted for by pirate intelligence. The Orion Badlands squadron had been separated by their high command upon their return to Orion space following their defeat at the hands of Flot 1 and Skyler Mallory’s squadron. The pirates only knew of the two battlecruisers recently joining Admiral Kupin’s heavy squadrons. The other surviving ships would be located sooner or later. The command element of Pirate Flotilla One were patient people who would bide their time. They also would never forget.

  Hawkins sat in his chair. He had enjoyed the moment but the moment was gone now and he had a new problem ahead of him. He had originally planned to use all of Flot 1 to do the mission O’Hare was now embarked on. After all, they had no idea what they would find once they went around the planet. Hawkins had thought all of the flotilla might be needed to complete the mission of getting the two battlecruisers. Now that one battlecruiser was destroyed and the other damaged with little protection around her, O’Hare should have enough firepower to complete the job. Shortly, he would be there to help. He would also be looking for other opportunities to inflict damage on the enemy.

  Hawkins and his ships of Flot 1 rounded the planet and received their first sensor view of the battlefield stretching between Lilitu and Senka.

  “Damn,” Eli muttered from the helm position.

  Nobody echoed the comment but they all agreed with it. The sensors showed dozens of ships. At the far edge were the two battle lines fighting it out. In between that fight and the pirates were many ships in various degrees of damage and hundreds of escape pods. Some ships were moving slowly away from the battle. Most were stagnant. The pods drifted. A few of the moving ships were picking up pods as circumstances allowed.

  Just ahead of Hawkins’ group were Rogue and Gunfighter making slow progress. Beyond them were the four ships of Killian O’Hare. It didn’t take much of a sensor read to see she was actively searching the floating junkyard for a target.

  Chapter 36

  O’Hare waited impatiently for a sensor return that would mean something. She had all the major ships scanned. One was a heavily damaged Congress class battlecruiser drifting among three blackened wrecks that had once been destroyers. O’Hare’s force honed in on her, but a hull camera on high magnification revealed the name of Parliament on the blackened hull. Wolfpack passed her by.

  While cruising through this semi graveyard, no shots were exchanged with any ships. The four pirates kept watch for any turning of ships to bring missile launchers to bear, or for rotating gun turrets, but nothing of the sort occurred. The few ships that appeared intact enough to engage in combat seemed to have no interest in an exchange of rounds with four ships that appeared to be at full strength. If any of these ships had fired on the formation, O’Hare would have beaten them into flat sheets of metal.

  The sensors operator spoke with a quiet certainty. “At the far end of the line. A Congress class ship. She is making slow speed back toward Aegis.” He looked up for his screens. “Could be her.”

  O’Hare talked to Reese Patrick. “Scan the surrounding area. If that is her and we engage her, what support is she likely to get from other ships?”

  Patrick acknowledged the order and started his search. There were no damaged Zeke ships in the immediate area. This line of debris marked the Orion line when the first Zeke missile attack hit them. Any damaged Royal Navy ships would be in the direction of Buckler. It was reasonable to assume that once the pirates engaged Citizen, any nearby ships would render aid to their comrade. If anything of that sort happened, Wolfpack was alone. If this ship was Citizen, O’Hare would still engage her.

  Patrick completed his sweep. “Two ships nearby may be a possible threat. One destroyer and a heavy cruiser look to have some residual combat capability. Both have engines online and power. We can assume they have weapon systems capability. They are both off to our starboard side and relatively close.”

  O’Hare nodded. She was undeterred. She had the target and would close the distance and begin the fight. She made to speak over her squadron command net, but Reese Patrick spoke up again from his
ops station. “Four destroyers coming back from the Orion battle line. All Lodnyy class. They will be missile range in forty minutes.”

  A second later, the young woman manning the communications station took over from Patrick in giving updates. “Received a comm through the Aegis Shield Command comm system from Predator. They are tied into that system now. They have loaded the remaining thirty Zeke base personnel on Predator and Vindictive and are evacuating Aegis base. Captain Hawkins will follow the earlier departing pirate ships and join the search for Orion ships. There are nine Zeke dead still on the planet.”

  O’Hare swung toward Patrick. “How long have we been gone from Aegis?”

  Patrick checked the chronometer on his computer screen. “Thirty-seven minutes, twenty seconds.”

  O’Hare nodded. “If we wait, our reinforcements will arrive at this position just ahead of OrCon missiles from those four destroyers.”

  Patrick agreed. “They will be in range to support us with defensive missile fire before that. We’ll be covered before the four Lodnyys can get fire on us.”

  The sensor operator sounded off. “Two ships coming around the planet. Closing on our position at a reduced speed.”

  Comm spoke up. “Have contact with them. Gunfighter and Rogue.”

  O’Hare smiled. “Let’s close to missile range on the battlecruiser. We can’t confirm identification this far out. If we confirm she is Citizen, we will start shooting and depend on the others for protection.”

  Patrick nodded. “It is the only Congress class ship back here besides Parliament. There are two others closer to the current fight but if Dragon hit Citizen early in the fight, those ships are not viable candidates. That ship ahead must be Citizen unless she blew up.”

  O’Hare shrugged. “I agree she should be Citizen. If not, we still hit her and will continue the search afterwards.”

  Chapter 37

  The Royal Navy ships were deep inside the protection envelope of Buckler’s missiles. The base was putting out interceptors. Coupled with the ship defenses, the Zekes were fending off the Orion attacks quite well. It was time to get an offensive punch in. Admiral Levant patiently waited for the freighters to reload their missile racks with interceptors while he conducted other business. With their additional firepower, he would go all-offensive for thirty seconds. All ships were prepared to make the switchover. They would concentrate on the remaining battleship, the flagship Fortress.

  “Ready,” Riki reported to Admiral Levant’s operations officer. Captain Alistair Bond looked back at her from the screen. “We’ll be firing in forty seconds or so. The Admiral is coordinating with Buckler. You and Buckler will shoot interceptors first and all other ships will shoot offensive missiles three seconds later.”

  “Our interceptors will take out their interceptors if they launch any and blast a hole through their missile barrage.”

  Bond smiled. “Yes, that’s it in a nutshell. After all, interceptors just go for an enemy missile. They don’t know what it is.”

  Riki returned the smile. “True enough. Standing by.”

  Admiral Levant appeared on the command net. “All ships, we will execute the offensive volley as briefed. On the first mark, the interceptors will fire. On the second mark, the offensive volley will commence for thirty seconds.” He paused and then counted down for the interceptor volley. “Five… four… three… two… one… Shoot!” The base and the pirates began to shoot interceptors. “Three… two… one… Shoot!” The remaining ships shot offensive missiles.

  All ships had ceased fire during the countdown to ensure every missile got out on the mark. Now an eruption of missiles flew at the Orion ships. The interceptors lead the way to the target. The problem for the OrCons was whether there were offensive missiles in the rain of projectiles now fighting their way upstream through their own missiles. At first, the leading interceptors hit the incoming Orion missiles that had been shot several seconds prior so it might be easy for the OrCons to conclude this was an interceptor-only response to their relentless barrage.

  Admiral Kupin concluded exactly the opposite. “Got to be some offensive missiles coming. There was a slight pause in their shooting. This volley is timed out. Go defensive.”

  The Zeke missile flood rolled at the OrCons in one giant wave. Only the three pirate freighters and Buckler fired interceptors and these moved to take out the oncoming OrCon offensive missiles from their last volley and then went after the Orion interceptors now being launched. Interceptors took out interceptors as the Zeke wave rolled toward Fortress. Soon the Zeke and pirate interceptors were gone but they had done their task in blunting the Orion interceptor response. The wave now met more interceptors, then guns firing canister rounds, then decoys, and, finally, close-in lasers. The majority of the missiles were taken out, but the remainder of the wave crested against Fortress. The flagship stood strong against the oncoming tide. Zeke missiles exploded on her shields. Many missiles. The shields started to drain and then one section collapsed. The tide rushed in. Missiles exploded against the bare hull and forced the metal aside. Two explosions just inside the hull amidships shook the large vessel. More missiles impacted shields and then the hull. More penetrations and three more explosions.

  One of the explosions blew through the ship’s bridge and spilled into the flag bridge one deck above. The flag bridge’s starboard bulkhead and deck were holed in a multitude of places by flying debris from explosions along the hull. The debris ricocheted around the bridge and had the same effect as shrapnel. The majority of the flag bridge crew were hit. The operations officer was decapitated. Three others were killed outright. Admiral Claudia Kupin was hit by a long, narrow spinning splinter from the hull and had her right leg severed below the knee while she sat in her command chair. She fainted from shock and loss of blood.

  At the back of the flag bridge, Captain Sergei Korlov and three others were not injured. Korlov moved to the Admiral while directing the actions of the others. Atmosphere was draining out of the compartment through the many jagged holes in the deck on the bulkhead. Korlov donned his personal breathing apparatus and directed this equipment be put on all the others on the bridge. He applied a tourniquet just below the Admiral’s knee. The draining of atmosphere caused the environmental computers to over pressurize the compartment to ensure oxygen was maintained on the flag bridge. In moments, damage control and medical personnel were swarming into the space. Admiral Kupin was bundled off to sickbay as two more missiles exploded against the hull and then two more explosions in the interior of the ship. The ship rocked back and forth.

  Korlov sat in Kupin’s seat and scanned the internal sensors. The ship was hurt but not mortally wounded. One deck directly below him was now a tomb opened to space. The ship’s captain and all the bridge crew were dead. Only two bodies lodged among equipment wreckage were visible. All the others had been sucked into space. Korlov spoke to the alternate bridge in the aft section of the ship just above the engines. “This is Captain Korlov of the Admiral’s staff. Is the XO on line?”

  A voice trying to stay calm and doing a poor job of it answered the inquiry. There was no visual but the speaker was undoubtedly a young communications tech in his first fight. “The XO is out looking at damage. We just lost comm with him. It is possible he was hit in the two explosions that just happened. We can’t raise the bridge.”

  Korlov kept his voice calm and reassuring as he delivered bad news. “The bridge is gone. I am one deck above in the flag bridge. I’ll take command for now until we get this sorted out. Do you have helm control there?”

  “Yes, Captain.” The voice was stronger now that there seemed to be some order being established.

  Korlov nodded to himself. He didn’t like the circumstances, but he liked being back in command. “Excellent. Come to port ten degrees and two degrees nose up.”

  The first item of business was survival and he did that by dropping off the battle line and getting some cover. Now Korlov started collecting damage reports and dire
cting ship weapons.

  The battleship turned away from the battle line and three Orion ships moved in between the Zekes and the flagship. They needn’t have bothered. The Zeke tide of missiles had crested and now the Empire ships went back on the defensive. The battleship would survive. Command of the task force passed to the commander of the 17th Light Flotilla, Admiral of the Third Rank Erica Malinsky in her flagship, the light cruiser Tabor.

  Admiral Malinsky’s ship and her flotilla had been in front of the capital ships providing covering fire and taking missile hits in protecting the bigger ships. As a consequence, her ship had been holed by six missiles and four compartments were open to space. She knew she was second in command and there was always the possibility of command coming to her during the fight. She had seen the hits on Fortress and Admiral Kupin fall off the command net. She prayed for her friend as she spoke over the command net. “I have command now until the situation on Fortress is sorted out. All ships, continue the attack. We will concentrate our attacks on their remaining battlecruisers. Pick a ship and tailor your targeting cone appropriately.”

  Malinsky knew the fight was slipping away. Not so much due to casualties as to the tactical situation. Even though they had inflicted slightly more casualties on the Zekes than they had taken during this particular engagement, the loss of the four carriers would render all that moot. The only way to salvage anything from this raid was to inflict great damage on the Zeke flotilla, wreck Buckler, and level Signe. The problem was the Zekes had the Buckler’s defenses supporting them so it would take time and ships to dig them out. Malinsky had only the dwindling number of ships on hand and she knew time was the one thing she could do nothing about. The original timeline had called for the destruction of the Zeke fleet as they defended Aegis, followed by a rapid move to Buckler, and then on to Signe. The timeline had assumed carrier attack craft available throughout the campaign. The loss of the carriers and their offensive power and the unforeseen behavior of the Zeke ships had put the attack far behind schedule. Malinsky knew Zeke reinforcements were coming. She was not concerned about them showing up here any time soon, but they could cut off the path to home. If the Orion force delayed here and then departed with Zeke ships trailing them providing continuous position updates, the reinforcements might be able to cut them off from home and safety. She had a short time to turn a stalemate into a victory.