Dust Bunny (Rust Bucket Universe)

by Atk. Butterfly

  "Are you sure, Dave, that you are not spreading your defenses too thin?"

  "Benz, are we ever a hundred percent sure of anything? Just continue to do well out there and I'll take care of the defenses. I still might come up with a few surprises of my own for any counter-attacks that reach us," Dave replied.

  ***

  Shortly after their discussion, another squadron scrambled and left Echo to enter into the battle at Malak. A support squadron left at the same time from Gabrielle. Other squadrons received orders to change their locations so that there weren't any great gaps in the defensive line. In fact, where Admiral Oden relocated them made it appear as if there was no defensive line. However, it was merely a technological mirage. Besides which, more ships were coming on line daily from the shipyards with newly trained personnel on board to join in with the experienced squadrons. It was already planned for reorganization to take place once a squadron reached double its normal strength. Each resultant squadron would have half of its force invested in experienced crews and half in inexperienced crews. Even those would be intermixed to make certain that some battle experience was available to every ship in the squadron. So far, that much was working.

  ***

  The modifications took only a few hours longer than predicted. With the new weapons installed, Commodore Shirley Sorenson realized that her squadron had the power to destroy whole worlds. She finally settled on a squadron name and sent it in to headquarters.

  "Armageddon Squadron, launch!" Commodore Shirley Sorenson said to the waiting ships over her communications channel.

  Twenty-six warships left Beulah's naval base to assemble into formation in near space. Five minutes later, they moved though interplanetary space at faster than light speeds, something they normally didn't do. That was usually permitted only between star systems once a ship was outside the orbit of its farthest orbiting planet. This was an exception. They needed the extra days of travel time that the high speed would save in order to reach the area around Malak and join in the battle. Even more important than the days saved were the lives that their arrival might save. Almost every ship anywhere near the interplanetary route was warned off with an urgent Naval advisory prior to their launch.

  Still, it would take them over a day to reach the battle. They would have no option other than to slow down when they neared Malak. It was very doubtful that the enemy would consider getting out of their way just so they could travel at such high speed, especially if the enemy had any idea about the magnitude of the weapons on board. If he even suspected, he would be foolish not to throw everything he had at them to stop the one squadron from reaching his territory.

  ***

  Admiral Wund threw in more of his reserves as damaged ships took their place protecting the support element. Despite their damage, most of the ships able to reach support on their own were still capable of defense. However, more than new ships, Benz needed more personnel to man some of the repaired ships. Almost everyone was going without enough sleep because of the need for personnel to fill in on positions where someone wasn't available otherwise.

  ***

  Behind the Armageddon Squadron, two other squadrons prepared for departure. One would carry marines to bolster the offensive on two of the Malakin worlds. The second would carry as many personnel as it could to fill in the crews on the repaired ships so that all of the ships could take part in the ongoing action.

  Admiral Oden was slightly surprised when Captain Gott walked into headquarters and stopped in front of him. "Captain Gott reporting for assignment, sir," she said as she saluted smartly.

  Admiral Oden returned her salute. "Be at ease, Captain. I thought you were in the hospital."

  "I was, but the doctors let me go."

  "Why did they let you go?" Dave asked.

  She smiled and lifted up her shoulder pack to show the handgrip of a projectile weapon.

  "I take it then that you threatened them?" Dave asked.

  "Not at all. I only did the same to them as I just did to you. The only threat was what they imagined in their heads. So, what's my assignment, sir?"

  Admiral Oden looked over Captain Gail Gott, still beautiful despite the loss of a foot. The prosthetic regeneration device that protected the end of her ankle where a new foot now slowly grew to take its place was the only thing out of place about her. "All right, report to the St. Gabrielle City. I'm sorry that it's another old destroyer because you deserve better, but it's all I can give you. One more thing, keep off your feet. Let your first officer do most of the work. Think of it as extra training for that officer. If you don't give me your promise and uphold it, I'll not be so kind to the next officer like yourself who comes in here asking for an assignment while they're still healing."

  "Admiral, I know as well as you that you're desperate for officers. I'm not going to promise that to you since my ship is likely going to be short-handed enough as it is. You better not think that I'm going to shirk my responsibilities. I'm not ungrateful, either. I know that you could have refused me and I do thank you for giving me a ship. I won't let you down, sir. Now, if you'll excuse me, sir, I have a ship to get ready," Gail replied calmly.

  She saluted sharply and waited for the admiral to return the salute before she turned and walked back out of headquarters. As soon as she was outside, Dave picked up a radio handset and made a call that would easily beat her in reaching the ship.

  ***

  Lieutenant jg Cargille quickly left the Sparrow Hawk, where he was left assigned after the battle with the Ape-oids. He'd only just finished speaking with Admiral Oden and quickly agreed to accept a destroyer assignment again along with an unexpected promotion and assignment as first officer. Lieutenant Mike Chalver even gave Wade his old rank insignia. That was so Wade would have his uniform correct and proper when he got to the St. Gabrielle City which was standing not very far away from the Sparrow Hawk.

  Unlike the Sparrow Hawk, the old destroyer was repaired and ready to go, needing only experienced officers to handle her. Wade barely reached the ship five minutes before Captain Gott arrived. It wasn't enough time to go about learning the crew's names, but it was long enough to pull a quick inspection of some critical areas.

  Lieutenant Cargille popped out of an access tube just as Captain Gott came on board. She experienced some difficulty climbing in because of the prosthetic device on her ankle. "Captain Gott! You're looking wonderful! Are you visiting? I thought you were still in the hospital?" he said as he saluted.

  "Cut the crap, Ensign! You know that Admiral Oden called you up and told you I was coming," she said before noticing his collar. "So, you're a lieutenant now? How is our ship?"

  "Well, ma'am, I've inspected only the critical areas so far. They're in good to excellent shape."

  "Why not the rest of the ship?" she asked. Then she realized, "Oh, you're new to her, too, aren't you?"

  "Yes ma'am," he answered.

  "All right, then I'm going to assume that Admiral Oden filled you in on what he expects. I know better than to oppose everyone, especially since he got me someone I trust fully. I'll let you operate with wide latitude just as I did with Mike. Care to go over the ship's crew information with me?"

  "Yes ma'am. I'd be right happy to do so," Wade answered.

  ***

  Almost an hour later, the two toured the ship with Lieutenant Cargille doing most of the work in accessing the difficult to reach and inspect areas. The inspection lasted only a little more than an hour. After which, Captain Gott called an officer's meeting, which meant herself, Lieutenant Wade Cargille, and Ensign Vixen Lightner, who oversaw most of the repairs since her assignment only days before as a fresh out-of-training officer from Leuion.

  "We're going to dispense with formalities in our meetings. The last time I saw Wade, he was an ensign. Now he's a junior grade lieutenant. Vixen, I hope that you do half as well as Wade," Captain Gott said.

  "Yes ma'am, I'll certainly try," Vixen replied.

  "That's what I expect. W
ade is highly experienced with engines on these old destroyers. He's also my First Officer. As such, I'm having him station himself between the engine room and the alternate bridge. Of course, he'll be free to move to wherever he feels he's needed. That leaves you, Vixen, in charge of gunnery. In keeping with Admiral Oden's instructions, I'll be relying on both of you to make judgment calls since I won't be able to move about very easily for obvious reasons. Vixen, have you ever performed a Dust Bunny maneuver?"

  "No ma'am, but I've heard all about it since arriving here. I do know what it is," Vixen answered.

  "Good! Coordinate with headquarters and have targets set up for us to conduct one. Have the test area cleared so we won't sizzle anyone by accident. Let me know when you have everything set. Afterwards, we'll conduct a scramble and test our weapons first before we try that maneuver," Gail said.

  ***

  Captain Gott finished her own coordination with headquarters for the practice scramble. Minutes later, the scramble signal for her ship was announced. The few crew members not already at the ship came running over the field to the ship and quickly climbed on board. Within minutes, the St. Gabrielle City was in space attacking the first set of targets.

  ***

  Admiral Ray of the Opalian fleet sent back the urgent message to the Union. "Attention all Union of Planets forces. Malakin forces are heading in your direction from the Magnum Quadrant."

  ***

  Gail was surprised when the message came over the communications channel as the St. Gabrielle City finished its practice. Almost as quickly, instructions were issued by headquarters. Just as quickly, more ships scrambled from the surface of Beulah to join with the St. Gabrielle City in space. Most of them were old destroyers along with a couple of old cruisers. One heavily-repaired old dreadnought was the last to arrive. The old ships quickly formed up on the decrepit dreadnought into a standard battle formation.

  "Attention all ships. You are now the 33d Squadron to be known as the Black Guard, Admiral Oden commanding. Prepare to move out in angled formation with America in the center position on the course being transmitted to your navigational computers."

  Quickly, as one of the lead ships in the standard formation, Captain Gott instructed her helm to take the lead. Moments later, her ship was at the fore of the line as it headed out to intercept the Malakin threat against the Union.

  Shortly after the squadron of twelve ships left, Admiral Oden called the captains and gave them his battle instructions. "Captains, we're outnumbered badly if it's a typical Malakin attack. Inside the next five minutes, instruct your gunners to lock their weapons into fixed positions and prepare to practice the Dust Bunny maneuver. We will practice it against imaginary targets. All ships are to strictly maintain position and speed. When we use this against the Malakins, individual initiative will be suspended until after our first pass through their formation. Once all ships have passed through, individual initiative will again be an option. I'm hoping and betting that this maneuver will surprise the Malakins enough to give us a distinct edge."

  Five minutes later, all captains communicated back their readiness. Then the practice maneuver began. Each ship rotated at different speeds, dependent upon the type of ship. The destroyers rotated the quickest while the dreadnought barely rotated its mass enough for the maneuver to be effective at all. There were a couple of close calls, to be sure, of warships not maintaining their speed and almost being sliced apart by the ship either in front or behind them. However, the practice went off without damage or injuries, even though it was somewhat ragged in execution.

  ***

  From another part of Union territory, Admiral Kruler sped toward the Malakin force with his nearly complete squadron of warships. His own estimate was that his squadron would arrive close to an hour after the ships that left Beulah met the enemy. He still remembered Admiral Oden's call earlier.

  "Kyle, I'm leading a short squadron out against the Malakin force."

  "How short, Dave?" Kyle remembered asking.

  "Eighteen short, Kyle. I'll be on a dreadnought, even though I don't consider it to be the best place. I'll refer to my ships as the Black Guard Squadron. It might throw off the enemy if they did any studying on our culture or bothered to look up the name."

  "Well, I can't tell you not to do this since you are in charge of defense. I can only wish you luck then."

  "I can use that," Dave replied.

  ***

  Commodore Sorenson's Armageddon Squadron decelerated as they prepared to enter Malakin territory. They could expect to meet up with enemy ships almost anywhere and anytime before they reached the location where the main fighting was taking place. It would take the squadron longer to traverse this portion of space than what they had travelled already. Only one ship was missing and presumed lost during FTL travel.

  ***

  "Black Guard Squadron, attack!" Dave communicated to his warships.

  The Black Guard Squadron approached in an angled line formation at full battle speed. It was the safest speed they could maintain among the planets and in the presence of other ships.

  Captain Gott was on the point of the formation and had her destroyer spinning first. Her ship somehow managed to dodge the fire coming at them until they entered the enemy formation. She could only guess that most of the fire was going at the larger warships of the squadron.

  "Fire!" she ordered, almost shouting into the intercom to her gunners.

  Every gun station on her destroyer suddenly spouted rapid fire. The bolts leaving the ship resembled a solid line of flaming light reaching out in three directions. The enemy warships suddenly turned their fire on her ship, only it was too late for them to line up on the St. Gabrielle City for it was already among the enemy ships. The enemy warships nearest her provided more than enough cover against most of the other enemy ships' fire. Gail didn't know, either, that there was a gap between her ship and the next warship of the squadron. One of the old warships was already disabled and drifting, though its gunners were still very active and drawing fire back upon themselves because they refused to quit.

  The warships in the third through twelfth positions did their best not to hit their disabled ship as they passed it. At least one warship did nick it, but the damage was slight and in an already hit area of the ship.

  Admiral Oden could do little but watch as his warships entered among the enemy ships. The closest enemy ships fell apart in chunks that drifted forward and outward. By the time that his warship in the seventh position reached the enemy formation, he could discern that the enemy had finally realized what was happening. The enemy had desperately tried to minimize the damage and destruction by changing formations. Already, the enemy formation was being cut into two uncoordinated pieces. Instructions from the enemy flagship somehow didn't take the split into account. Almost half of the enemy formation blindly followed their instructions to the letter. They turned into the clutter of space debris from their lost warships, causing damage to themselves and running once more into the onslaught of fire from the rest of the Black Guard Squadron's oncoming warships.

  Dave studied the hologram imaging device closely. He felt some relief when he saw fewer active enemy ships on the display. Any worries he had when one of his warships was disabled as the attack began were finally beginning to dissipate. Regardless, Dave was still concerned about the entire battle, even though his force had succeeded in their first attack on the enemy force. Soon, it would be up to each captain to fight as best he or she knew how.

  ***

  Already, Gail had her destroyer turning to take T-shots on the engines of the Malakin warships as her ship cleared the enemy formation. It hadn't taken long for them to get through it. Amazingly, she only noticed one slight vibration caused by a hit. Ensign Lightner was already on top of that situation, notifying her that it was in a non-essential area before rushing back to encourage her gunners.

  The gunners now fired at targets of opportunity instead of having their weapons in a locked po
sition. The St. Gabrielle City looped wide to the flank of the enemy formation that had the most problems. There its gunners had a field day as they fired on enemy ships that were half-blocked from returning fire by all the debris around them. The other half of the enemy formation was moving farther away and couldn't help out, either. For almost the next five minutes not one enemy ship could get off any accurate return fire at the St. Gabrielle City.

  ***

  Kyle studied the hologram imaging device on his bridge as information was relayed back on the battle's progress. He knew that Admiral Oden was good, but to take on eighty-one large enemy warships with only twelve old ships seemed, at first sight, to be suicide even for the admiral. It reminded him of the good old days when he served on the Thurman with Dave. They seemed to always be just one step ahead of the enemy. However, the Ape-oids never had ships this good and they weren't as good, tactically, as the Malakins. Now Kyle suddenly realized that maybe the Ape-oids had been able to see just how good Dave Oden was. That was probably why they surrendered. Kyle wondered just how long that war might have gone on had Dave not been around then.

  Now Kyle saw positive results from the battle for Admiral Oden's squadron and it was still inside the first ten minutes. At that rate, there wouldn't be anything left for Kyle's squadron to do. Then Kyle remembered that the Malakins usually did things in threes or their multiples. Even if Admiral Oden's short squadron finished off this attack wave, there would be two more to be dealt with if the latest Malakin offensive was to be blunted.

  Already Kyle could see that each Black Guard warship was responsible for at least three kills or more. To him it appeared as if half the enemy force was neutralized while the other half was trying to maneuver away so it could regroup. He watched the surviving half of the enemy force line up similar to what Admiral Oden's formation had been in at the engagement's beginning. Kyle wondered if the enemy would try to do the same thing.