“Maybe they need more extensive repairs than the yards here can do,” Blondie ventured.
“No. This is a major shipyard. They could practically build a cruiser or destroyer here. I think the Goth high command pulled them back because they know we have them marked for payback, and they want to ensure it doesn’t happen. They also don’t want those crews talking about the attack on our house. I bet those ships are never coming back here while we’re still alive.”
Blondie knew the story of the recent fights from Mallory’s after-action reports. “Abendhimmel is here.”
Baby Doll nodded. “I bet her crew is transferred. Besides, I’m not sure we want payback on her. What her captain did took guts. Not often you see a Goth go against the flow like he did.” She glanced at Blondie and smiled. “We have to encourage that type of behavior.”
Blondie couldn’t help but admire her friend. “You were quite the interrogator back there. You got all the information we wanted and they didn’t even know they had given it up.”
Baby Doll shrugged nonchalantly. “Men will tell you anything if they think it’s foreplay.” Both laughed.
The women headed toward Prairie Dog, stopping along the way for dinner and shopping. The freighter broke seal exactly twelve hours after she docked.
Chapter 22
“Listen to this.” Scarecrow broke the silence within Flicker. The other three crewmembers turned to him, reacting to the incredulous tenor in his voice.
Flicker had been back on station for one day since having time off. They were five hours into this particular penetration and had thought it was business as usual, as the previous hours had revealed nothing new had occurred in their absence. But now something was afoot.
Scarecrow reached up and flipped a switch so all could hear the sound. It was coming up through the atmosphere from the bank of floating docks nearest the planet’s surface. It had a low throaty hum, in fact, several throaty hums.
“Multiple engines,” Dylan spoke.
“Agreed,” Scarecrow nodded. “I got a feeling there are six. They fired off in quick sequence so are tied together. I’m betting a big ship. Battleship for sure. We’ll know the number of engines for sure once we isolate them on the recording.”
“Not a carrier?” asked Jasmine. She had been a fast learner in their new way of life, and talked and thought like a ten-year space veteran now.
“Nope,” said Whitlock. “Carrier wouldn’t have six engines. Not even a new class. Carriers weigh less than battleships and have less mass. The extra power wouldn’t be worth the cost or engineering challenges. I would buy the battleship idea. Probably came in while we were gone. Probably for final sea trials and any finishing touches needed.”
“Couldn’t have been built here?” Jasmine asked.
“No. They have the facilities here but we would have heard her engines before now as they would have been fired up individually for the first time, and then fired up together to align the engines with each other. It’s a long, drawn out process over several days, and it didn’t happen here. I suspect she is here to use the range and get her last work up before joining the fleet. This is a new development. If that ship is on a full-war footing when Raferty blows in here, it won’t be pretty.” He looked at the other three crewmembers. “We complete this incursion as scheduled. Once outside again, I want to run the engine sounds through the threat database Tactical sent us before we file our report. Once that’s done, our report back to Rafe leads with this item.” Everyone nodded and returned to work.
Chapter 23
The four pirate ships were together for the first time after getting their shipyard work done. All engines were overhauled and working at peak efficiency. All four ships mounted fire-and-forget missile tubes on the hull. Each ship had sixteen missiles pointed forward in four cluster tubes. These missiles were for offensive purposes. Each ship had sixteen missiles pointed aft in four cluster tubes. These missiles had interceptor warheads. The clusters could not be reloaded once fired, but every little bit helped on this mission.
All ships had the Rosstrappe sound profiles from the work done by Flicker months prior, and from the recent recon to Rosstrappe by Blondie and Baby Doll. Blondie had worked closely with the maintenance officers on all four vessels ensuring everyone had the schematics and calibration tools to get the engines on each ship in tune with the electromagnetic waves emitted by all the bodies around Rosstrappe. The advance work paid off now, as much of the tuning work was already completed. The final minute adjustments needed to fine tune the engines would be done as the ships flew in formation practicing their attack profile.
Blondie was now in Predator’s engineering department with most of the engineering personnel. The final tuning would be a two-step process. First, the engines of all four ships would be adjusted so they all were operating on the same harmonic wavelength. Second, any adjustments needed would be equally applicable to all the ships so adjustments should be direct and straightforward. Blondie briefed the adjustments needed to bring all the engines of the four ships together and the methods needed to fine-tune them to the harmonics around Rosstrappe. She had a dedicated comm link to the engineering sections of the three other ships so they would fine tune together.
In a quiet sector of Edinburgh space, the formation lined up for practice in their subspace formation to be used for entering the two spaceports. Predator was in the lead, Nemesis was on the port and slightly above with Vindictive on the starboard and slightly below Predator’s plane of travel. Bandit brought up the rear at a short distance. The navigation vectors for the terminal phase of the Rosstrappe plan had been entered into all nav computers. The approach would be computer controlled but the tight formation required monitoring by the helmsman of each vessel.
Getting to the edge of the Rosstrappe port would be long and tedious but relatively easy. The formation would be in subspace, but loose and fast. The terminal phase would require a close formation and precise maneuvering to take advantage of the appropriate electromagnetic noise and minimize their signature to listening white phones. That required practice.
“Let’s do it.” Hawkins announced over his command net. The note of resignation was evident in his voice. This would be a boring training session requiring several repetitions.
He was correct. The final attack profile was several hours long if flown at the proper slow speeds needed to minimize their sound signature. Hawkins started with flying the profile at faster speeds while in normal open space so the four bridge crews could review the profile to ensure its viability and become familiar with the course.
After twice running the course at quick time, the formation did it twice more at slower times in open space. Satisfied the profile was vetted, Hawkins moved the formation to the planet and moons, and flew the profile twice there at decreasing speed while in normal space. Predator bumped both Nemesis and Vindictive once. With shields up, there was no damage. Each time Tactical made a note. The profile would be adjusted ever so slightly. The ships had to be close together to breach the enemy’s defenses, but shields were unusable in subspace, so a collision could be catastrophic. The flight profile for the computers had to be perfect.
After that successful stage, the formation transitioned into subspace and completed a run. The ships returned to normal space for debriefing, and to allow Blondie normal communication with the engineers on the other ships. The engines of the four ships were synchronized to each other, and any needed adjustments to blend into the surrounding environment would be equally applicable to all four ships.
“Adjust the engine harmonics to blend in with our practice planet,” Rafe ordered over his command net. “We’ll run the course at correct speed and timing parameters. If we are successful, we will take a break of ten hours. Let’s go.”
The formation lined up and went into subspace. The computers steered the formation through the long flight profile. Hours later, the ships arrived at the point of emergence from subspace and shimmered into normal space i
n a tight formation. The profile was good to go.
Hawkins nodded in approval. He turned to his command screen. “We look good. Let’s take a break in place for ten hours. Renegade, Rogue, and Rebel should be here shortly and the next run will be against them while they sit in the supposed Navy base. Good work to all hands.”
Blondie arrived from engineering and went into conference with Tactical and Baby Doll. They would take the lessons learned and incorporate them into the attack profile and engineering timetables to ensure the profile would be flown safely, and the engine adjustments that needed to be made during the subspace run would be correct and timely. Raferty gave them a glance and left them alone. They would get it done and send it be the appropriate people in the other three ships to ensure everyone was onboard. He talked with the three other captains to get their input.
Once the needed changes were addressed, Predator’s war staff went into Rafe’s day cabin and gathered around the conference table. The staffs of the other three ships were brought in via briefing mode on three floating screens. The basic attack plan had been sent out weeks ago by Tactical. It had been constantly refined as Flicker’s intel was continually inputted and new ideas came to the forefront. This would be the second to last session. The last would be after the final training session tomorrow.
Blondie briefed the engine harmonics done during the practices and announced the four ships were ready to go. Tactical briefed the minor adjustments needed in the flying profiles to ensure the safe separation of the ships while in subspace. She would send the adjusted computer inputs after the brief. Baby Doll briefed the final information available on Rosstrappe received from several freighters as they moved in and out of the civilian side of the port. There would be more in the next few days as the pirates would receive updates right up to the point of them entering subspace. Many merchant captains owed Flot 1 for favors done over the years. These same captains went into the civilian side of Rosstrappe on a regular basis, so there were always freighter captains who would help Raferty by providing a situation report as their ships entered and left harbor.
Hawkins now took control of the briefing. “We are a go unless anyone sees a showstopper.” He paused to allow a comment from anyone who wanted to make one. Nobody said anything, not even Killian O’Hare. “The plan is set then. A couple of points I want to emphasize. The harbor is nearly empty of ships so we can concentrate on the defenses and the planet surface targets. But nobody hits the destroyer Abendhimmel, and I will be the only one to hit the headquarters building. We have a couple of messages to deliver, and I don’t want that screwed up.”
“You mean two messages beyond the ‘we just kicked your ass’ message.” O’Hare couldn’t stay quiet for long.
Laughter spilled from the other beamed-in crews and from the live participants in the compartment. Rafe smiled. Morale was good. They were ready.
“Yeah, beyond that obvious message. The first message is we let Abendhimmel go to let them know we like people who play by the rules. I will put a single hit on headquarters, and it will be on that damn dome, and that dome alone. Imagery of that dome in shambles will be the second message. The Goths are not invincible, and their prized symbol of power was vulnerable. Also, I have future plans that require the fleet staff and the admiral staying alive, and being pissed off. Images of that shattered dome floating around the Badlands will do that. So stick to the target list for your individual ships. In the two-minute time span of the attack, you will not get through your list, so there won’t be time for freelancing.”
O’Hare kept up the conversation. “You love that damn destroyer. Abendhimmel should have been space junk months ago. As far as the target list, we should be bringing in the whole flotilla after we get inside. Max firepower should be employed while we’ve the opportunity.”
Emily Legrand jumped in. “Speaking of max firepower, the target list for Bandit is the harbor space defenses only. We can do more.”
Rafe addressed each point. “It’s just one damn ship. It is more important as a statement than as space junk. Also, this attack is a dress rehearsal. We do things the same way as we will at Murmansk, and then evaluate the results.” He looked at Emily Legrand. “That is why you only get the harbor space defenses. That is your only job at Murmansk, and if you fail to reduce the outer defenses there, we won’t get out of the harbor, much less make an escape.” He leaned back in his chair and shifted his gaze to take in everyone. “Can we inflict more damage using all of Flot 1 and maximizing our own firepower? Of course we can, but that doesn’t help us evaluate the results of this attack and then adjust our plans and tactics accordingly. Destruction is desirable and we will achieve that, but it must be in accordance with our plan for Murmansk to mean anything as a dress rehearsal.”
“You’re getting soft.” O’Hare said in a chiding voice. “We could kill more of them.”
Rafe wasn’t annoyed. Going around in circles with Killian O’Hare was an old tradition in briefings. “Their casualties would be replaced and the facilities rebuilt. Maximum damage is not the objective here. We have more important goals at this time. This rehearsal will fine-tune us for Murmansk and that is the most important goal here. The second goal is the two messages to the Goths, and the last goal is to ensure you use most of your Hydra missiles. We’ve never had them before. The Goths will notice and conclude we got them from the Zekes. The Goths will think the Zekes are supplying us on a regular basis in response to them assisting the OrCons, and that’s what I want them to think.”
“Trust me when I tell you I will use all of mine,” O’Hare chimed in.
“Great,” replied Hawkins, and then he leaned forward and looked at her image on a floating screen. “Ensure they are used against your target list and nothing more.”
O’Hare shrugged in a “maybe I will or maybe I won’t” fashion. Raferty nodded in an “I’ll take that as a yes” fashion and the sparring was over.
“Anything else?” Nobody spoke up. “Get some rest,” Hawkins ordered and then signed off.
The corvettes Renegade, Rogue, and Rebel arrived eight hours later. They were put in an orbit over the planet and set their sensors in a pattern to mimic some of the sensor systems at Rosstrappe. The four-ship attack force set up outside the sensors and moved in subspace to the target. After five hours of closure, Rebel moved forward and bounced sensors off the subspace attackers. They had been nabbed. The attackers came out of subspace, debriefed with Rebel on how they were caught. They returned to their starting point and did it again. The second time the attackers got into the virtual harbor. They emerged from subspace. The three waiting ships bounced lasers off the attackers as soon as they locked on to them as they emerged from subspace. It took three seconds. The attackers couldn’t fire back or get shields up until they were clear of subspace and that took five more seconds.
Raferty pondered the time gap while sitting in his command chair. The attackers could take serious punishment in the eight seconds required to clear subspace and then get the shields up. He had set up the time of attack to catch the defenders at a low ebb of alertness. The base defense computers would lock onto them immediately as they exited subspace, but would have safety lockouts that would have to be overridden. This would take precious seconds unless one of the operators was right on top of the situation. The plan assumed this would not be the case. Rafe didn’t like plans that depended on the enemy being lax or stupid, but it couldn’t be helped. It was the best answer to the time gap vulnerability.
The final briefing was held after the practice run. No problems were noted. The raiding force was ready. They set course for Rosstrappe with the three new corvettes spread out ahead and on each flank to provide security.
The raiders entered subspace twelve hours from their objective. The three corvettes would wait. Then they would close the distance as the raiders moved to the attack and be three hours outside Rosstrappe, just beyond sensor range, when the attack occurred. Their mission would be to support the raiders
as they withdrew from the base. If all went well they would run together. If not, the three corvettes would be there to provide support in a gunfight with the Goth Navy. There were few ships in harbor as most naval units were out looking for Flot 1, but it paid to be prepared. On these operations, there was no such thing as a pleasant surprise.
Chapter 24
The bridge was quiet after subspace entry. Hawkins ensured the crew positions rotated on a regular basis so everyone would be fresh. Blondie stayed in engineering for the majority of the time. She would be there during the attack approach, and then move to the bridge just prior to emergence.
The attack force moved to the target in a loose formation at a fast speed for subspace. As they closed on the base, their speed decreased and the formation tightened. The objective was the outer moon revolving around Rosstrappe. They had only to defeat the lone sensor on this side of the moon as they closed the distance to the moon. To maintain the same aspect to the lone moon sensor, they approached it on a constant angle to set up a running rendezvous while keeping the moon between the mass of sensors on the planet. All ships’ engines were tuned for the electromagnetic waves coming from the planet. Once at the moon, all engines would be adjusted to include the sensor waves bouncing off the moon and ricocheting about the moon’s vicinity. The many Rosstrappe sensors created multiple wave patterns throughout the space harbor and beyond. The engines would blend their signatures into these waves in addition to the electromagnetic waves coming off the planet. The computers moved the formation closer still as they approached the moon. The ships slid behind the moon and then stopped for exactly eighteen minutes to adjust their engines and allow the moon to move into an optimal position for the next leg of the attack profile.
Payback Is a Given: Pirates of the Badlands Series Book 2 Page 19