by T S Paul
"Sir, all ships are at battle stations and on alert. At your orders the destroyers will form a battle line on our flanks. The frigates will slot in behind the fleet and cover our rear. The space tugs are ready. Several asteroids and medium to large meteorites have been located and are ready." He paused and studied his commander. "Are you sure that orbital bombardment is the answer sir? No commander of the Fleet has done that since the last war."
"Are you questioning my orders Captain?" The commodore's voice began to rise to a growl.
"No, sir! Just providing a counterpoint opinion sir. As I was saying, our space fighters are prepped and armed. They will began the dance by taking out the stations defensive systems and command deck. Our records show that the sidewalls are weak on the flanks and the guns are antiques left over from the last war. We only have four armed shuttles left, sir, so we have them loaded with the remaining Marines and ESS troops. They intend to hit the shipyard during the battle."
"Good idea Captain! Tell their commander to capture it intact if possible." Grigory smiled, things were shaping up. This should be a textbook attack.
"Sir, may I ask a question?"
"Of course Captain Van der Decken, what would you like to know?" The commodore had a big smile on his face and was drumming his hands on the console in a nervous habit.
"Sir, have you been under fire before? What I am trying to ask, um, is this your first battle commanding?" The Captain cocked his head and mentally cringed. Please say no, please say no.
"Of course not. I have commanded several ship in the pursuit of pirates and a few smugglers. I hold the record in the Fleet for the most pirates brought to justice!"
Pirates? Those aren't Fleet battles like this one was going to be! How in the hell did this man become a Commodore? "What about Fleet actions like this one, sir? Have you fought in any of them before?"
Commodore Vakulinchuk seemed to think a moment. "This is my first one, Captain. Why do you ask?"
Great! We are all going to die! Seeing the Commodore staring at him, he answered him. "I was asking if you had any advice on the upcoming battle, sir?"
Always happy to be looked up to by lesser officers than himself, Grigory smiled at his ship captain. "The only advice I have is to follow the orders that you are given, and all things will be right with the world. Now, lets get to work. I do believe that the deadline is up!"
"Communications! Get that bitch on my screen!" The commodore plopped down in the Captain's command chair. Captain Van der Decken stopped short and stood behind his chair. Both men looked up at the main view screen. The screen came alive with the a view of a strange command deck.
"Hello Commodore have you decided to surrender to us? Those shuttles of yours turned tail and ran. Are you going to join them and run for it?"
Grigory felt his checks begin to burn with anger as words of mockery spewed from this Woman's mouth! How dare she ridicule him! "How dare you! You are nothing but a harlot, standing there thinking you can push strong men around! I was going show you mercy but now?" Visibly angry, his hands were shaking he was so mad. He ignored the chain of command and began yelling at the bridge crew. "The Commodore has the bridge! Weapons begin the attack!"
"Commodore Vakulinchuk, Sir, this is my command! Sir, please." Captain Van der Decken's pleas fell on deaf ears.
Eventually hearing his captain's pleas the commodore turned and looked the Captain in the eyes. "Do you have a problem Captain Van der Decken?" He said with a sneer.
"Sir, this is my command. Sir."
"Still? I think not. Major Niers, take the former Captain Van der Decken into custody please. Hold him until after the battle. I will deal with him then."
The large burly Marine Major was the Commodore's personal protection today, he stepped forward and grabbed the captain's arm. His voice was deep and gravelly, "Sir, we can do this the hard way or the easy way." Behind him two other marines stepped forward.
"Major I am the Captain of this ship! You cannot do this!" Captain Van der Decken jerked his arm away from the large Marine.
"The hard way it is then." The large Marine grabbed the Captain's arms and kicked his legs out from under him. The captain dropped like a sack of flour to the deck. He lay there for a moment then three sets of hands grabbed him and yanked his arms behind him and he was cuffed. He began to struggle and kick as the Marines picked him up bodily and tossed him into the lift. The impact of his head on the bulkhead knocked him out, his body crumpling to the deck. The Marines laughed as they joined his broken body in the lift. Pressing the down button they headed for the hanger bay.
The horrified crew stared as their captain was literally tossed from the bridge. The now wild eyed Commodore was now in charge.
The Commodore swiveled 'his' chair around and addressed the bridge crew. "Battle stations! Eyes front! You have a battle to win. Message to all ships! Begin attack plan Alpha. Launch fighters!"
Afraid of it happening to them the now frightened bridge crew followed their orders and began the attack on the station and planet.
Chapter 10
The look on her face said it all. Major Minerva Lee had a face that had turned to stone. This whole battle just became personal! Taunting the Imperial Commodore had been fun, but nobody called her a harlot and got away with it! The so called 'commodore' over there made a big mistake coming here. His inexperience was showing. A perfect example would be that call, he left his communicator on. Everyone here saw what happened to one of his own crew.
"Ma'am, they are launching fighters."
Min stared at her battle map screens. "Launch the Valkyries, tell them to take out as many fighters as they can. They are not to attack the larger ships if they can avoid it."
___
Down in the hangar bay the fighter wing's crew cheered as the Silver Valkyrie squadron launched. The workers immediately got back to work, when those ships came back they would need rearming and possibly minor repairs. Everyone needed to be ready, they had a war to win.
The Silver Valkyrie squadron was made up of Sky Sharks. The Sky Shark was a former Pan Pacific League star fighter. It was fast, lightly armored, and death in the right hands. Commander Mulligan possessed those hands. Call sign 'Skinny' he had been the second in command under Minerva Lee. His squadron was made up of the best that the Hong Kong system had to offer. 'Skinny' had over 20 confirmed kills, -he had fought pirates and more recently ESS shuttles and troopships. He was proud of his planet and the men and women that he served with. He looked out both sides of his cockpit screens. His fellow pilots were lined up in formation on either side of his ship. He keyed his communication system, "Professor, you look a little slow over there. Pick it up a bit." As he watched the ship to starboard moved up a bit and locked into the formation. "Better. Good work. Stick with your wingman and everything will be fine. Everyone else, get ready to break on command. Remember Command's orders, fighters only! Let the station deal with the big ships."
Lieutenant Roy Hinkley, call sign 'Professor', was new to the squadron. He had graduated at the top of his class at the academy. This posting was his dream job. The thought of an actual battle was scary, but not as scary as his new wingman. She was the scariest woman he had ever met.
Commander Mary Ann Summers, call sign Nevada, was not entirely happy about being stuck with the Newb, especially in this battle. She needed all her wits about her, not watching a kid. The pair of fighters to starboard were a little too close for her comfort. "Hey, 'Wet Willie', get that hunk of junk you fly out of my airspace!"
"Come on, Nevada, cut me some slack you know I hate that name!"
"It doesn't matter what you think and you know it. If you wanted a different name you should have picked a different spot. Face it you got caught with your pants down. Be glad that is all we chose to call you. You did have those two blonds dressed as.."
"All right you knuckleheads calm it down! We're coming up on the break zone. Remember to accelerate to attack speed, that means you 'Professor!' Be careful of th
ose destroyers, they may be old but they're configured as anti-fighter ships, don't get too close to them. OK, Valkyries, Break and attack!"
The group of 14 fighters broke into pairs and dove at the oncoming Imperial fighters. The invading ships were not the newer Navy fighters but older Red Falcons. These were the fighters that the Sky Sharks had been designed to kill!
___
Minerva watched her battle screens as the fighters from both sides battled across the space lanes between her station and the invader's ships. For the moment her fighters were winning. The Imperial forces had already lost one of the half squadrons. While the the fight had raged here, by the planet, Imperial shuttles had broken through to the shipyard. Chief Tad and most of his techs had barely made it to safety. Imperial Marines destroyed the shipyard with a tactical Nuke! Something has to give here. She could not allow them to do the same thing to this station. Studying the placement of the enemy destroyers something 'ticked' the back of her brain. She was missing something here. She was about to call her sister and ask for her perspective when she was interrupted.
"Ma'am, we are detecting several large masses inbound to our position from beyond the enemy fleet."
"What do our sensors say?"
"Results are inconclusive Ma'am. They say it could be more ships, we just aren't sure."
"Contact the science division on the planet, have them scan with their long range equipment, and tell them to hurry! We have a battle to fight up here!"
___
Commander 'Skinny' Mulligan watched closely as his pilots swept the field of Imperial fighters. His newbie pilot was shaping up to be a good fit with the unit. But those enemy destroyers were starting to make him nervous. They kept crisscrossing in front of the battle line. It was almost as if they were hiding something. Pursing his lips in thought he started to nod his head. That might work, he thought to himself. He keyed his communicator and relayed a message to command.
"Major? Ma'am! We have a message from Commander Mulligan. He thinks that those Imperial destroyers are hiding something. He wants to try and find out what is back there. He is asking permission to try."
Minerva shook her head, that man was insane. "Tell him it's approved, but he better survive and come home - he still owes me 20 credits!"
Commander Mulligan signaled his wingman to pull back. The maneuver he was going to try was risky, - he might not make it and only wanted to risk one fighter. He smiled at the response he got from command. Min must have figured out what he was about to do. One thing that pilots do is sit around and talk about maneuvers or tricks that might be cool to try. Lot's and lot's of Vids to pull crazy ass stunts from, too. But, there was one that was so insane that no one had the 'balls' to try. It was ironic that he was about to try a 'Falcon maneuver' against an enemy formation that included Falcons and flew for an 'Empire'.
Engaging all his thrusters at once the Commander shot forward almost out of control. He had been watching the destroyers and they had a set pattern that they were moving in. The ship he was aiming for was due to circle around behind the fleet. As his ship neared its top speed he was on a Kamikaze course for the bridge of the ship. Counter-fire flashes were bursting all around his ship as he entered the range of the destroyer's guns. The firing became intense as his course was tracked by the enemy. The commander began to jink left and right to avoid the laser fire.
"Now comes the tricky part," Skinny thought to himself. As he jinked left he slammed on his starboard thrusters. The sudden jerk added to his acceleration, throwing his ship sideways straight at the destroyer. Barely flying his ship in a sideways flat spin, his mostly out of control ship was on a collision course. At the last moment he pulled up and disappeared off the destroyers sensors.
Inside the destroyer the bridge crew was freaking out! "What happened? Track that ship!"
"What! Gone? Gone where? There is no way a ship that small has a cloaking device. Find it!"
Skinny silently did a little dance in his cockpit. It actually worked! If he survived this he would be a legend. Hopefully, one of the other ships wouldn't spot his fighter sitting behind the destroyer's forward laser battery.
Chapter 11
Damn those Wardens! In their zeal to protect our secrets they may have damned us all! Senator Colman sat fuming in his office. He had to admit that his now former assistant, Julius had been a liability. Breaking 'Rule Two' without approval was never a good idea. If only Julius had come to him. Oh, well. Time to move on. His new assistant was even more of an idiot than what's-his-name. Where in the Hell does personnel get these fools? The message that he had received was that the Cabal had taken over the job of eliminating those rebellious leaders in the Hong Kong system. With luck this whole mess can be swept under the rug without too much fuss.
The Senator had a deja vu moment. The sound of running feet could be heard outside his door. A sharp rap was followed by a head and shoulders peeking into his office. "Sir, are you busy? I can come back."
The head belonged to Lloyd Yule, his new aide. "What is it?" His new aide just stood there with his mouth open. "Spit it out, man! I'm busy here. What. Is. It?"
"Sorry, Sir. I just got word that the Colonial office is sending a delegation to the Hong Kong system."
"What! Who authorized those idiots to do something like that?"
"The Imperial Speaker sent them sir. He said that 'they should not be forced to join something that they did not believe in.' The Colonial council backed him up on it."
"Call that idiot Harry Dun and tell him to un-back it. He is a Cabal member, for the seal's sake. He knows better than to support something like this!"
"Sir, Senator Dun was in a skiing accident last week, remember? He is in a coma in the Medical ward."
"Damn it to hell! That was something that Jul..I mean your predecessor was supposed to keep me informed about. OK, OK. What are they sending to those rebels?"
"Our man at the Fleet office said a small unit, Task Force 13 was sent. I checked the name against our records. Task Force 13 is one of our newer Battle Cruisers, the EOH Victorious, and four destroyers. Admiral Emily Kane is on board along with a delegation from the Colonial office and the Imperial Senate."
"They sent Kane to the Hong Kong system? Great, just Frakking Great! Contact the Wardens and inform them of the actions of the Imperial Speaker. I know that Fleet sent a Task Force to observe, but we may need to take action if Kane is involved in this mess."
"Sir? About the Wardens..."
"Not you too, they are not that, scary. You have done nothing wrong, you are just delivering a message. They will not kill you for that!" His aide was just standing there. "Well, get moving! Don't waste anymore time, Go!"
"Sir, wait, about the Wardens. I found a communication on my system from your office to Task Force 25."
"I believe that was the group sent to observe the actions of these 'rebels.' What of it?"
"The Navy sent them orders to observe, but this office changed them, under orders of the Cabal. It has YOUR signature on it, Sir."
"What! Say that again!" The portly Senator stood up from his chair and stomped over to his now cowering aide. He grabbed the little pest and dragged him out to his workstation. "Show me! I need to see it for myself!"
His aide called up the message on the screen. There it was, plain as day, orders to disrupt the conference and arrest or kill the leaders under any circumstances. His name and that of his office was in the authorization. By Gods and the Sacred Seal! This was a disaster. That Idiot! If Julius wasn't dead he would kill him again! This could mean both war and doom for the Cabal. There was zero reason that the inner circle would not believe that he did not do this! He turned to the his new aide. "Quick find out whatever you can about Task Force 25. All I know is that Commodore Vakulinchuk is the commander. Find out! NOW!"
The Senator sat behind his desk with his face in his hands. How? How can one man screw everything up so badly? Maybe his family had a small chance to survive. He pulled out a hidden commun
icator from inside a locked drawer in his desk. He called his wife of 25 years. "Hi, honey. No this is not my comm unit. I needed to 'borrow' one. We were talking about that trip you wanted to take the other day." She started to ask what trip, he cut her off. "You remember the one, you said that you wanted to go and visit those cousins of yours on 'Mars.' I was wrong when I said not to go. Why don't you take the kids and go this weekend. I bought you new luggage as a surprise. If you look in the storage room you will see them, they are blue. Honey, I love you. I need to get back to work. Yes, we will talk later. Bye."