First Command kb-2

by Rodney L. Smith

  As the controller gave them landing instructions, Maynard was in communication with Admiral Minacci, giving him the good news. Minacci was pleased and asked Maynard to have this Captain Alden give him his capabilities and ordnance requirements as soon as possible. Minacci reflected that he now had a reserve force at just the right moment. He sent out a general recall message to all forces, but the Vigilant, to form up at Barataria and prepare for their final defense of the planet. The Vigilant was to maintain contact with the two K’Rang task forces.

  Fleet Commander J’Kalt, speeding forward down the gravity tunnel, came to the realization that the sensors on his flagship were more sensitive than those on the two Shadow Force destroyers had been. He could see branches off the tunnel that must have been invisible to the destroyers. When he compared their sensor record to his, the cruiser’s sensors were more than two times more sensitive. He could see multiple paths out to what must be the main passage. He was about to turn that to his advantage. First, he had to have Captain H’Rak’s force to join with his.

  After an hour, the light task force came in range of the heavy cruiser’s sensors. J’Kalt had them guided in to rejoin his formation. They adopted an all-around defensive posture. J’Kalt took stock of their logistics needs and cross-leveled ammunition through the remaining fleet.

  When he took stock of his situation at the end of resupply, he saw that he had enough defensive missiles for three Human heavy salvoes. It would have to be enough. His cruiser and the remaining destroyers had enough heavy missiles to do some major damage to the Human fleet, whatever its consist. If it was the assault landing fleet the spies had reported on, he had more than enough. He discounted the dispersed minor combatants as not much of a concern, feeling he could deal with them if they appeared.

  He realized they had been at battle stations for 36 hours. He noticed his captains were slurring their words and slow to respond. He held his fleet in defensive posture long enough to rest his crews and get some hot food into them. No need to stumble into battle with a fuzzy head. The final battle would wait for some rest.

  Kelly reported the extended halt of the K’Rang fleet and suggested to the Admiral that they probably needed some rest. Over 36 hours of combat would reduce any crew’s combat effectiveness. He had been changing watches on the Vigilant as they moved from overwatch position to overwatch position, shadowing the K’Rang fleet. It was relatively low risk and kept his crew fresh. Kelly assumed most captains had done the same.

  Kelly retired from the bridge to his ready room and called up the gravimetric plot for this sector. Kelly assessed the K’Rang commander stopped here for a reason. He always assumed he might have missed something and now he resolved to find out what it might be. He examined the sensor data and could see little to suggest the K’Rang’s intentions until he turned up the gain on his gravimetric analyzer. Five as yet undiscovered gravity tunnels appeared around the space the K’Rang fleet occupied, like spokes on a wheel.

  Kelly had made a mistake. Immediately behind the K’Rang fleet was a tunnel leading directly into the main passage to Barataria and thence the exit into GR space. Kelly got on the communicator to the Admiral to inform him.

  Admiral Minacci was concerned, but not alarmed. He knew he was taking a chance when he had asked the Vigilant to do a quick survey. The Vigilant had light years of space to survey in a very short time. Of course they were going to miss some detail. Minacci had the Leviathan laying mines in preparation for the defense of Barataria. He added higher priority to some additional fields in their tasking and was done with it.

  He thought a bit about the Vigilant’s young captain. He was impressed with him. He had yet to not accomplish a mission. His actions against the K’Rang scouts probably saved the 3rd ALG’s bacon. If the combat power in this K’Rang fleet had come in with knowledge of the gravity tunnels and of Barataria, he’d be the one stopped and licking his wounds with only half his force, or worse. He would have to see what he could do for LCDR Blake, if they all survived this.

  Now, it wouldn’t do to let the K’Rang get too rested. As soon as the mines were laid, impeding the shortest gravity tunnel to the main passage, he sent in some sortie orders for the fighters, attack ships, and torpedo ships. There was no use in letting the K’Rang get too much shuteye.

  Sally had finished the evening meal and sat down with Russell to eat. The two of them ate quietly, absorbed in their own thoughts. A palpable fear had settle over the camp. Rumors had been flying through the encampment all day. The K’Rang were in orbit! Fleet reinforcements had arrived! The K’Rang had landed and were advancing on the camp!

  That last one by a screaming hysterical woman in the dinner line caused Sally to leave the kitchen and slap the nonsense out of her. It brought her to her senses, and Sally wound up holding her in her arms while the woman had a good cry.

  Russell got up from his seat and came over to her side. She had been wool gathering, thinking about that hysterical woman, and didn’t realize he had moved. She looked over, saw him and jumped sideways.

  “Russell, shuffle your feet when you move around like that. You almost scared me out of a year of my life.”

  Russell didn’t say a word. He just knelt down beside her and took her hand. Sally realized what was about to happen and her eyes got all misty.

  With only a little quaver in his voice, Russell held up a ring, and said, “Sally Halstead, would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

  People all around them noticed what was going on and a hush came over the dining hall. People looked on as if they were all holding their breath.

  Sally burst into full-on tears, grabbed Russell about the neck and shouted, “Yes!” The dining hall erupted into cheers and applause. People lined up to shake their hands, hug, and congratulate them. The pent up fear and frustration evaporated as people had something positive to focus on.

  When the felicitations died down, Sally asked, “Where did you get this ring, it’s beautiful?”

  “One-Eyed Pete gave it to me as a going away present. He said our relationship was the most poorly kept secret he’d ever known.”

  Sally looked up into Russell’s eyes. “I don’t want to leave. I want to stay here and continue to work at the Ruin View. It’s still the best restaurant on the planet and how many chefs can put that on their resume? I’m sure Pete really doesn’t want us to leave. What say we negotiate a better deal with him and stay on here? I bet this planet will be booming now that it’s out in the open. I heard they’ve negotiated a land agency deal to bring in settlers. Of course, those pesky K’Rang will have to be dealt with first.”

  “Sounds good to me. If we could be happy as captives, we should be able to be happy as free members of the Brotherhood.”

  Fleet Commander J’Kalt calculated that he had only enough defensive missiles for one more attack and he would have expended all his defensive missiles. The Human fighters, attack craft, and torpedo ships had harassed them for the last four hours. His missiles had saved all but one destroyer that took two torpedoes forward of the bridge, and the resulting ammunition magazine explosion broke the ship apart. His crews were getting more tired and he saw simple mistakes being made that could be disastrous in the wrong situation.

  As the Humans were not going to let them rest, he ordered his fleet to move toward the Human base that his sensors indicated was nearby. He avoided the shortest path to the adjacent wide pathway, fearing it to be mined, and chose the next closest. His fleet formed up and closed up to transit the narrow gravity tunnel. When they emerged into the larger passage they spread out, making themselves less vulnerable to fighter attacks.

  J’Kalt had his first long range sensor view of the Human base. It was a planet. J’Kalt was amazed that Humans, or any species could exist in this star cluster. It was a medium-sized world with a single moon. J’Kalt wondered if he had sufficient force to expel the Humans and claim this world for the K’Rang. That would put some profit to this expensive expedition. J’Kalt put his
efforts to defeating the Human fleet, and saved his dreams of conquest for later.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Admiral Minacci viewed the entirety of the K’Rang fleet arrayed in the free space before Barataria. Now the advantage shifted to the K’Rang. He had one more trap to spring, then the battle would devolve into a slugfest, one he was ill suited to win.

  The massed fighters, attack craft, and torpedo ships flew at the K’Rang left flank. They launched 48 medium missiles from the F-48s first and peeled off to return to the carrier. The remainder flew on, using the missiles as a shield. The A-76s were next to launch 144 medium missiles and peeled off. The Charybdis launched 120 torpedoes and pulled off to return to base. This left 40 Scyllas to hide in and behind the missile and torpedo cloud boring in on the K’Rang fleet.

  The K’Rang defensive missiles launched, in response to the inbound missiles. It was obvious to Admiral Minacci that there weren’t going to be enough K’Rang defensive missiles. The Scyllas fired off their 48 fast torpedoes and retired back to their base. Minacci watched as intensive fire erupted from the K’Rang fleet.

  The defensive missiles reduced the cloud of approaching missiles, but only by a third. None of the fast torpedoes were hit and they bore into the midst of the K’Rang fleet. The remaining gun frigate and two destroyers took direct hits. The large antimatter warheads broke the ships’ backs and sent them spinning through the formation.

  The remaining missiles and torpedoes caused assorted damage, but none that would disable or destroy a ship. Most of the damage appeared to knock out several of the gun mounts on the remaining K’Rang destroyers. The heavy cruiser was left with only one turret operational.

  Admiral Minacci ordered in what he hoped would be the killing stroke. His two plasma frigates, the two assault landing carriers, and his flagship popped out from behind Barataria and fired all their anti-ship missiles at the K’Rang heavy cruiser. They opened up with their plasma cannons at the remainder of the fleet, concentrating all their fire on one ship at a time. If it was to be a slugfest, it would be at his instigation.

  The first group of anti-ship missiles slammed into the K’Rang cruiser and destroyed its remaining turret, and one of the frigate’s rear turret and missile pod. The cruiser was now weaponless. The plasma barrage aimed at one of the destroyers burned holes through the ship and destroyed its hull integrity. Life giving atmosphere rushed out into space in an expanding fog.

  The defanged cruiser and four fighter defense frigates were all that was left of the mighty K’Rang fleet. Admiral Minacci pressed his advantage. He ordered Captain Alden to attack the K’Rang left flank. Alden’s 27 ships swarmed out from behind Barataria’s artificial moon and bore in on the K’Rang left flank. Captain Alden intended for them to earn their pay. He had all ships film the encounter with their gun cameras for Mr. Debran’s enjoyment.

  The K’Rang frigates put up as effective a defensive fire as they could. As a last desperate measure, the K’Rang frigates fired all their offensive missiles. Sixty-four offensive missiles sped toward the admiral’s flagship.

  The K’Rang frigates formed a wall before their flagship cruiser and switched to area fire. One Hooligan missile boat unluckily ran into a super heated plasma bubble and dissolved into a mass of molten metal. The rest of the missile boats raced on. As they came within missile range, Alden ordered them to salvo fire. The Hooligan missiles, programmed to take out the frigates, bore in through the defensive fire and the 35 surviving missiles slammed into the four K’Rang frigates. The antimatter warheads exploded against the frigates like miniature suns, totally consuming the ships. The K’Rang offensive missiles continued on toward the Human carrier and flew into a cloud of defensive missiles. One missile, thrown off course by a near explosion, tumbled past the defensive missiles, righted itself, and flew into the superstructure of one of the Human bombardment frigates. The burning Human frigate quickly became a total loss and escape pods started ejecting from the crippled ship.

  The K’Rang heavy cruiser stood alone and defenseless in the glaring light of the Baratarian star. Fleet Commander J’Kalt looked at his situation calmly. He had no guns but his close in defensive guns, and they would only protect him from a small fraction of any inbound missiles. He and his ship were doomed; nothing could save them now. J’Kalt decided to make one last desperate attempt to save K’Rang honor. He turned his ship in the direction of the Human carrier and ordered best possible speed. Even though his FTL engines were damaged in the missile strike that took out his rear turret control center, he could make nearly 0.4 c. He aimed his ship and left his fate to fortune.

  Captain Alden ordered all ships to close on the K’Rang heavy cruiser and open fire as they came in range. The four fighters fired two medium missiles each and pulled away. The close in defensive weapons took out one missile, but the others bore in and turned the damaged cruiser into a boiling mass of atmosphere-fueled flame. The atmosphere was consumed in seconds and the flame died out. The smashed hull of the cruiser glowed red in the space above Barataria. Captain Alden and his entire Hooligan fleet did a victory roll.

  Admiral Minacci didn’t rejoice for long. His cruiser squadron reinforcements were still four days away. If more K’Rang showed up, he was running out of ordnance. He still had a large supply of mines. He decided to move his force closer to the K’Rang space and lay a minefield in depth across the entrance from K’Rang space. He took his force to a position beyond which K’Rang sensors could penetrate and provided security for the Leviathan. The Vigilant moved to the edge of K’Rang space and scanned for any enemy combatants. Except for some planetary defense ships near the two main worlds, the scan was empty. The Leviathan, with its stealth coating, was able to move right up to edge of the star cluster and start laying a layer cake of mines.

  The first layer were the Fleet’s dumb mines so the K’Rang would have no doubt who put down the unwelcome mat. The second layer was autonomous mines. The third were missile pods covering the first two layers. Next came a repeat of the first three layers and then a further repeat of the three layers. Minacci intended to make sure the bottle was plugged. He had the Vigilant seed the minefield with the remaining sensor pods. Once Minacci was sure the border was secure, he pulled his fleet back to Barataria.

  When the news of the K’Rang defeat hit the evacuee camp, there was a great celebration. After the impromptu and raucous party came the decisions by the released captives whether to stay or go. A surprisingly large number decided to stay. People lacking family roots, which was not uncommon among spacers, decided to stay. Those with family ties or ongoing business interests decided to go. Those that left were provided with a moderate credit balance to get them back home. Transport ships, including the newly liberated Nebula Queen, were chartered to deliver them to Rigel Station. Irina Bugarov and Terri were first to book passage and got their old cabins back, with their belongings still inside.

  The large number that stayed were offered membership in the Brotherhood. All accepted and took the new modified oath. The Brotherhood swelled by just under 50,000.

  A ceremony was scheduled to honor the fallen and celebrate the victory over the K’Rang. The events were to take place over two days. The first day would be dedicated to honoring the GRS Yellow Jacket’s crew, the Frigate Jacob B. Grandis’ crew, the missile boat’s crew and the Baratarian defenders lost to the K’Rang. The second day would be to celebrate the victory. The second day would start with a ceremony honoring Admiral Minacci, Captain Alden, LCDR Blake, the Undefeated cutters, and the brave Torpedo Squadrons. The rest of the day would be a series of smaller events throughout Lafitte City. One of those events would be the marriage of Russell Obwobwo and Sally Halstead. Steven Maynard would preside. One-eyed Pete would give away the bride, and Alistair Bennett was asked to stand in as best man. Admiral Minacci was requested to come as an honored guest.

  The K’Rang reinforcement task force arrived opposite the entrance to the star cluster on the day of the memorial. They found a mult
i-level minefield blocking off the way forward into the star cluster. They were able to see the depth and complexity of the minefield and concluded that it would be too costly to penetrate. The Humans also could quickly have forces in place to block any attempts. They spent a few days exploring, looking for another way into the star cluster, and determined the gravity hazards were too great to risk their ships.

  After conferring with K’Rang Fleet HQ and receiving concurrence from the Elders, they established their own combined mine and sensor barrier layered opposite the exit. The D’Rin star cluster was no longer a backwater.

  The military-only memorial ceremony for the defenders of Barataria was a somber affair. The Bishop-Commander led the invocation and prayers for the souls of the lost. Kelly saw quite a few wet eyes on and around the raised dais of one of the Ascetic battalion chapels that had been set aside for the memorial. To tell the truth, his eyes felt a little steamy when he thought about CDR Milton and his warrior spirit that led him to put his ship in harm’s way, when he could have remained safely in the rear.

  Later, Kelly helped the admiral place a wreath at the future site of the Defenders Memorial by the parade ground. The large civilian presence around what was a hastily constructed marble pad was heartwarming. The audience was equally composed of Old Brotherhood and former captives, all grateful to those who died ensuring their safety and freedom. After the ceremony, the admiral called Kelly aside.