That was exactly what Henricks was thinking about the old trader. It would be nice to have all the facts but not critical right now.
“Well done,” Henricks complimented Strassman. “Get the defensive systems information on those two pirate ships out there to see if there is a scenario where we can shoot one long range salvo and get a hit. If there is a chance, I want to take the shot.”
“Aye, Captain,” Strassman smiled and turned to the task with haste. It would be nice to get a hit on the unsuspecting bastards as they hovered out there.
Henricks turned back to the comm screen. There were no images there now but he talked anyway. The pirates and this Captain Lake would be listening. “Captain Lake, if you are involved in legitimate trading you have nothing to fear from us. We will escort you to the authorities on Agra 3 and this can all be straightened out. We are just doing our duty here and have no desire to interfere with normal trading. Perhaps our people could assist you with your engine problems and we can proceed with minimum delay.”
Silence met the offer. Henricks waited and finally ordered Absolut to shoot securing lines at the drifting freighter and prepare to board her. Strassman reported to him. “I’ve run several different scenarios on a long shot and none can guarantee us a hit. If we were to move toward them at maximum speed, it would be a few seconds before they would see the movement and we could get two salvos off at them. Of course, they would just have to move behind one of the nearby moons to break lock and escape.”
“Have we detected any activity around the planet and its moons at this time?”
“No, sir,” reported the sensor operator.
“Nothing at all, sir,” spoke the white phones operator who scanned the subspace.
Henricks nodded. The pirates might have been moving to the planet to make a stand there and get in some free shots before playing hide and seek. The balky port engine on the freighter had nixed that plan. Even if they had gotten there, it would have complicated the problem from his point of view but not changed the outcome. He would have moved past the planet and then surrounded it while staying outside of missile range and maintaining contact with the pirates while calling in reinforcements. Henricks was slightly annoyed he could not get a clean shot at these two pirates. At this moment of his annoyance, a message came in from Concannon. “Captain Lake doesn’t believe…”
Captain Lake himself came on line. “I can speak for myself! You are not welcome aboard my ship, Captain Henricks, and I will not open my hatches for you.”
Concannon’s image came back on line, and it was clear he did not realize he had been interrupted by the freighter captain again. “… can talk all day about this with him and it won’t make any difference. If you want to beat up old freighters and their captains, well, have at it.”
Henricks’ annoyance with the lack of a creditable missile engagement envelope and this final comment pushed him to a quick reply. “Do not lecture me, Mister Concannon; you and your kind are nothing but scavengers in this universe. You hover like hyenas out there. Too weak to do anything about us taking your freighter away from you. In fact, the hyena comparison is apt; you are scavengers and backstabbers who fight among yourselves as much as you work together. You have lost this round and will lose all future rounds. The only thing that would make this better would be if your vaulted Raferty Hawkins was here with you so he could see this.”
Brash words and Henricks regretted them as soon as he spoke them. Unprofessional comments on his part would not help this situation. He terminated the transmission to ensure he didn’t babble more. Not the way to conduct himself, but these people… He shook his head to clear away the mood and get back to the task at hand.
Absolut had several lines on the freighter now and the freighter was being drawn toward the destroyer to reduce the distance for boarding parties. The taking of the freighter was going smoothly. Sensors were clean. A perimeter for mutual support was established. Henricks reviewed the situation and found nothing lacking.
A call came in from Concannon. Henricks almost didn’t take it as he had no desire to continue an unproductive conversation, but he activated the channel. To his surprise, Concannon was smiling at him. The Goth captain narrowed his eyes and stared at the image. The man’s smile was slight. It consisted of a small upturn at the corners of the mouth and bright eyes. Henricks knew exactly what it was. It was an “I’ve got a secret” smile. Concannon spoke in a slow, instructive voice as he repeated an old adage. “Be careful of what you wish for, you just might get it.” The transmission terminated.
Henricks’ mind raced. Suddenly one thing struck him. The only time the freighter captain had spoken was during the pirate’s transmissions. The pirate comm beam would have encompassed the freighter as it travelled from Marauder to Valkyrie and her escorts. He and everyone else had assumed the freighter had transmitted and her beam had blended into the pirate’s beam so the fact no comm beam was traced from the freighter when her captain had talked had not bothered anyone. What if the freighter captain was not on his ship but on the pirate ship? Which means nobody was on that freighter. Other events leaped to mind. The noise from the freighter maintenance problems disrupting the white phones. The focus on the two pirate ships and the planet ahead. Classic misdirection. He had been so stupid. That was a fleeting thought. Action and survival now, recrimination later.
Henricks punched his comm. “Absolut! Blow the lines and clear the frei…”
The massive explosions started on the port side of Cat’s Eye and moved across the tramp ship toward Absolut. Henricks had to admire the planning. The pirates knew any ship would approach on the side opposite the engine casualty and they had focused and timed the explosions to blow maximum force and debris to the starboard side of the old freighter and onto the Goth destroyer.
The defensive computers on all ships activated their ship shields at the first explosion. The shields protected Absolut from major damage but her comm array and sensor dishes were peppered with pieces of the freighter as her shields were bled of energy from all the debris striking them. She drifted as her crew tried to recover from the shock of the explosions right next to them.
“They will be coming now!” Henricks shouted to his CIC and bridge crews and over the command channel to his destroyer captains.
The warning was true but redundant. “Incoming!” The shouts came from several stations at once. Henricks looked at the wide view on his screen. It was as he had feared. The exploding freighter had provided the precious seconds for the pirate ships to emerge from subspace and activate their shields. The pirates of Pirate Flotilla One had come out of subspace on top of the Goth division. They had the advantage in numbers and surprise, and Raferty Hawkins had no intentions of wasting either. There was a several second delay as the pirates came out of subspace and got their shields up, but the Goths could not take advantage of it due to the chaos of the freighter’s demise and the range to the pirates. It took eight seconds to fully emerge from subspace and get shields up, so the attackers emerged just outside the eight-second engagement window for missiles. This allowed time for their own shields to go up while allowing for the shortest flight time for their missiles to hit Goth targets. The small window of pirate vulnerability came and went, the opportunity never to return for Valkyrie and her escorts.
No orders were given by Hawkins. None were needed. The plan had come together as briefed. The flotilla had been in subspace above the plane of the travel for the two pirate ships, the freighter, and their pursuers. The Goths had passed below them just as the freighter had shut down and the two pirate ships had stopped on the outer edge of engagement range. These events, plus the nearby planet and its moons, ensured the enemy’s focus was forward. The noise from the freighter engines helped cover the pirates’ approach. The sound of the freighter’s port engine casualty also gave the pirates a focal point. Knowing Goth tactics told them the deployment the Goth ships would use as they surrounded the crippled trader, so Flot 1 had a general idea of the
ir quarry’s locations as they moved to target via subspace. Once in close proximity, the pirates were able to focus on the engines of their intended targets for guidance during the terminal phase of the approach. The freighter explosion provided cover for their emergence from subspace.
Nine pirate ships emerged from subspace right above the Goths. Predator and her squadron of three corvettes took on Valkyrie. Nemesis fired on the dazed Absolut. The two Wolfpack corvettes, Gunfighter and Outlaw, attacked Harmonie. Vindictive and Bandit shot at Zigeuner. The pirates immediately rolled their ships on their sides to bring all gun turrets to bear. Rounds lashed out from every gun. Missiles were discharged in rapid succession. The Goth computers responded with interceptor missiles. They came out of tubes in salvo and executed their program well, but it would be a losing effort. The pirates targeted individual shield panels on the Goth ships and their missiles and guns pounded the same shield panel on each ship. The close range and rapid firing on stationary targets produced quick results. Shields collapsed, and missile and gun bolts poured into the gap in the defenses. Marauder and Firestorm accelerated from their far position to join the battle.
Under pounding from Gunfighter and Outlaw, the destroyer Harmonie was first to go. The shield over her engine had collapsed and munitions poured into her engineering section. Explosions shook the destroyer and then blew off the rear third of the ship. It was fortunate for the crew the ship had been stationary. If this had happened underway, the resulting tumbling would have broken the neck of every crewmember. But she only drifted apart in pieces as escape pods ejected from all the segments.
Zigeuner was next. Known affectionately as Ziggy, she had been a lucky ship during her short career. She had bagged the most smugglers on the Aurora border. Her crew had won several sports championships within the fleet. Her first two captains had been promoted to the rank of naval captain while in command of her. But her luck ran out here. Vindictive and Bandit had just come out of the yards and carried fire-and-forget missile tubes attached to the hull. Their broadside devastated the little destroyer. She fought back with missiles and guns but with the added broadside, both pirate vessels could keep their internal tubes loaded with interceptors, and these destroyed the incoming Goth projectiles. The Goth guns hit several pirate shields but did not penetrate. Ziggy would need time to breach the pirate defenses, and time was in extremely short supply. Emily Legrand in Bandit closed to blank point range and pounded the Goth ship. Her guns worked on the same sections of shields with rapid fire. Ziggy’s shield over her bridge and CIC were destroyed, and those two compartments quickly suffered the same fate. She rolled sideways, pulling her meager counterattack off target and allowing the pirates to pound her at will. Vindictive and Bandit continued to pour ordnance into the destroyer, and their lasers tore into the unprotected innards of the ship. Escape pods ejected along Zigeuner’s entire length.
Absolut was easy pickings. Dazed from the freighter explosion and missing sensor dishes and receptors, she was drifting and partially blind with reduced shields. Nemesis, leader of Wolfpack, pounced on her in a manner that would have made the squadron’s namesake proud. Rapid gunfire and missiles quickly collapsed her port side shields and the projectiles poured in. Internal explosions rocked the ship. They flared briefly as the explosions fed off the atmosphere from the compartments opened to space. Pieces of debris separated and drifted away. Escape pods came off the drifting hulk, but not nearly as many as from the other two destroyers.
Despite being the target of four pirate vessels, Valkyrie lasted the longest. She was a heavy cruiser and well armored with a superbly trained crew. Missiles immediately launched at the intruders and forced Predator and Rogue on the defensive with interceptors. Rebel and Renegade fired offensive missiles and all four fired their guns in rapid succession. Rogue took several hits on her portside and had to roll over to present her starboard side to the enemy. Predator suffered reduced shields, but continued to pound the cruiser. Valkyrie held her own briefly, but the four pirates concentrated fire on the shields over engineering. They did not want their target to pull away. The two shield panels over engineering were hit by dozens of gun rounds and fifteen missiles before collapsing. Gunfire and missiles now pounded her armored hull. The hull resisted briefly but then buckled under the pounding. Valkyrie tried to accelerate away, but the pirate ships easily stayed with her and she quickly lost headway as the engineering section was pounded to scrap. Gradually her offensive fires died away as turrets were destroyed or frozen in position, and her missile batteries lost power. The pirates continued to hit her. One of her turrets was hand cranked around and fired at the pirates at a reduced rate. Valkyrie was not going to go gently.
“Brave crew there,” commented Raferty. His left leg hung over the chair arm of his command seat and he had the posture of a man enjoying a lazy afternoon in a sidewalk cafe.
“Agreed,” chimed in Baby Doll. “They haven’t even abandoned ship yet.”
Raferty nodded. They were indeed brave. He didn’t like Goths but would never deny their bravery. He leaned toward his command screen and spoke to all his captains. “Just to reinforce the order. Ensure nobody, and I mean nobody, shoots an escape pod.” There was no acknowledgement, but he knew all the captains heard him. In previous battles, they had always left the pods alone, but the recent campaign against the OrCon/Goth combined force had blurred the line a little. Hawkins didn’t feel bad about that, they had had it coming. But now it was time to reestablish that line in a bright and sharp manner.
As the ship’s tactical officer, Tactical went about the fight in her usual calm and subdued manner. She had fed targeting data to the computers before the fight and was now monitoring the execution of the plan. She also monitored the other squadron ships attacking Valkyrie to ensure all efforts were coordinated and going as planned.
Acting as the flotilla tactical officer, Blondie was tracking the other attacks. Rafe turned to her. He could have looked on his command screens but wanted to know if Blondie was actually doing her job in monitoring all flotilla ships. “Blondie, where are we?”
Blondie looked up from her screens. She looked quite at ease during her first space combat. “Attacks proceeding as planned. Missiles and gunfire hitting all targets as planned. All targets being reduced in a timely and efficient manner. Nobody is getting away. Escape pods are coming off every ship but the cruiser. We are avoiding all escape pods. Firestorm and Marauder are closing on our position. Minor damage to our forces, but nothing that would inhibit our departure.” She returned to her screens.
Rafe turned to Baby Doll. “I want an analysis of our tactics and weapons employment within twenty-four hours. I also want you to analyze these Goth ships. They are all from new classes of destroyers and heavies. The Goths might be getting serious about the Badlands. If they start moving their latest and greatest here, could be a problem in the future. We’ve got to be prepared.” He shifted back to monitoring the fight. “Now let’s wrap up this little excursion. We have two ships to put in the yards.”
Another missile salvo shook Predator as the projectiles exited the tubes.
Henricks directed attacks at the pirate vessels as he tried to get his ship underway. It seemed they would succeed as the ship began to move, but engineering quickly fell victim to the surprise attack and the ship slowed rapidly. Henricks had picked one pirate ship and concentrated fire on her, but as the pirate’s shields bled down, the pirate ship merely flipped sides and continued to fight. The pirate attack from above had negated all his ship’s lower hull weapons. He was fighting four ships without all his weapons. He had tried to roll his ship to bring more weapons to bear on the attackers, but the pirates merely rolled with him on his axis to maintain their positions above him and continued to rake his topsides. Engineering fell completely off line. Power failed throughout the ship but back up batteries picked up essential systems. Weapons continued to fire and environmental control was maintained. Red lights started to appear throughout his command scree
n. Compartments were opened to space. Now weapons fell off line due to loss of power or being destroyed. Missile tubes ceased firing. Henricks tried to direct fires through his command screen.
“Shields failing throughout the ship!” shouted Strassman.
As if to confirm his assessment, missiles impacted the armor protecting the CIC and bridge. The armor took three explosions but the fourth blew holes through the metal. Atmosphere started to vent out cracks in the hull, and debris started to swirl around the compartment. Power failed and battery powered lanterns lit up the scene. The ship started to slowly roll to port. Henricks had been knocked to the floor with the explosions and now sat up with a dazed look. Strassman appeared to help his captain to his feet. Strassman maintained his grip on Henricks’ arm. “Captain, we must leave, sir.”
Henricks looked into his bloody face. As if Strassman’s suggestion had altered his audio range, Henricks could now clearly hear escape pods departing the ship despite the explosions and noise of battle. Pods departing his ship. “I gave no order to abandon ship. We must continue the fight.”
Strassman looked at him. The look was one of respect and concern, but on the edge of it was a bit of skepticism. Strassman spoke with a quiet voice. “Sir, there is nothing left to fight with.” The voice was soaked with sadness.
Henricks closed his eyes. Despite his long military service, this had been his first combat. It had gone badly so quickly. The years of training, hard work, and dedication meant nothing now. In the moment of crisis, he had failed. Henricks briefly flashed back to a few minutes before. He was so secure in his moment of taking the freighter and branding the two pirate ships as hyenas. Pompous fool. He shook his head to clear it. Action now, recrimination later. “Give the order to abandon ship. We must save as many of the crew as possible.”
Payback Is a Given: Pirates of the Badlands Series Book 2 Page 17