by T S Paul
“Wait for number one.” Number two bowed his head. The shield around Earth was his responsibility. The loss of even one of the stations was a serious blow. Only laser platforms were available to fill the gap. Inventory had very few of them left according to records.
All the lights in the room began to flash. “The Program calls.” Number two and four made their way to the throne room. Number one, three, five, and six were already there.
“Number four what is the status of the forts in sector twenty-five?”
“Sensors show that the main fort has been attacked, and it is now offline. The laser platforms are continuing to attack and are reporting they destroyed over twenty individual craft. But the attacks are still ongoing.”
“Do we know what fleet it is?”
“No. Here let me show you.” He touched a few buttons and the large vid screen lit up. The stations could be seen as well as the platforms. The attacking ships only showed as white blobs of color.
“Why does it look like that?”
“It’s some sort of virus. The Gammas are working on it but it has infected the entire system. Normally in a case such as this, one solution is to isolate the system and then purge the information to burn it out. We can’t do that here. No parts exist for those stations. The last spare parts were used fifty standard years ago.”
“Where did the virus come from?”
“It attacked our systems shortly after the first ships returned from Imperial space. We believe that it was infecting the ship…” The rooms lights began to blink. Lines of computer code and a strange language began to run across the screens. All six ‘prophets’ bowed their heads and pulled up the communication screens. They all stared at the screen for a moment.
“Forget about the virus. The Program has spoken. Keep one squadron here to protect the planet, activate all defenses, send what reinforcements we have to plug the breech and lock the base down. No matter what this is, The Program must survive it.”
“Understood Number one.”
All across the planet alarms began to ring. Alphas and Deltas put on armor and climbed into spacecraft. The Home fleet was absent, they were on a secret mission. Somehow the enemy knew this and was here! They would do their duty. Human Sapes or slaves as they called themselves heard the commotion and looked to the skies. Was this the end or just the beginning?
~~~~~
The ship lurched tossing everything on the desk to the floor. I blinked and shook my head. What the hell what that? This ship was equipped with the latest in jump engines. “Bridge, this is Admiral Lee. What the hell was that?”
“Ma’am, engineering reports that the jump engine overloaded at the moment of emergence and shut down. Everyone is a bit shook up but there doesn’t appear to be any damage.”
“Have them check everything and repair what they can. If they need help, I can go down there. Don’t forget I am an engineer.”
“Yes, Ma’am. I will inform them of that. The rest of the fleet is jumping in. We may need you up here.”
“Nice save Commander. I’m on my way.” I smiled at my team who were picking up fallen items. “OK, time to get rolling. Let’s go see how many pirates survived the trip.”
The Admiral’s quarters were on the same deck as the Captain’s. That was helpful in getting to the bridge in a hurry.
The crew was scurrying in every direction as I stepped onto the bridge. My team took up positions at the door and near the escape pods. “Report!”
“Admiral. So far all our ships are accounted for. The New Texas delegation and the ships from Hong Kong have arrived. The pirates jumped in shortly after we did. That is what the problem is. Over half the smaller ships didn’t make it. The really small ones parked on the liners and converted carriers. But the mid-sized ones had to take their chances. Just about everyone is yelling at each other on all frequencies over there.”
I grimaced. This was exactly what grandmother, and I had discussed. I shook my head in disgust. “Bee and Tree can you start shutting them down? Do it one frequency at a time. Wilson will coordinate.”
I patted a puzzled Abigale on the shoulder. “It’s fine. We will fix it.”
~~~~~~
“It’s the fecking Martians fault I tell you! How did we lose so many! try to get them on the screen!” Commodore Lonegan was screaming at his crew for the thousandth time. The jump was longer and more strenuous than many of them had ever done. The pirates only made very short hops or attacked nearby ships under impulse speed.
“Sir, I can’t get through to them. All our surviving ships are on all the frequencies yelling at each other. Comms are jammed.”
“Damn that bitch to hell! Kate was right. Curse her black soul. She said it was too good to be true. How many did we lose?”
The first mate looked up from his station at his Captain. “Sir, we lost about half the smaller raiders and almost all the converted freighters. Most of them hadn’t jumped in years. They may have translated back to Celtica and never made the jump. But I expect they are lost to us forever.”
Scowling Lonegan cursed again. “Good riddance to most of those wankers! What about the big ships? Did the Carriers survive?”
“Yes, Sir. All have reported in. Many of the small ships like the pinnaces and runabouts joined up with them so we still have some small fighters. The Lament made it, along with the liners. Losing our attack force would have sucked.”
“Aye, it would have. Good work. Now get that bitch on the screen again!”
Edward the CATT took that as an order and uncurled from under the Captain’s chair. He jumped up into the chair and made himself comfortable. Pretending to groom himself he smiled inwardly at the pirates antics. Stupid humans.
“Commodore if I may. I can contact the Admiral for you. If you like.”
“Who the fecking hell said that?” Lonegan spotted the CATT in his chair and yelled at his crew. “Get that fecking thing out of my chair and space it!”
The first pirate to grab at Edward found himself on the deck writhing in pain. The second man pulled back a stump. His bloody hand lay on the deck neatly severed by razor-sharp claws.
“Did I need to say please? Those were just lessons by the way. I can do more if you like. But, I think you need these… gentlemen to fly this hunk of junk.”
Lonegan stared at the black CATT in his chair. “Fine. Get her on the screen, please. And get out of my chair!”
The CATT remained in the chair. The main vid-screen lit up showing the bridge of the Martian Carrier Sydney. The Martian Admiral stepped into view and addressed them. “Commodore Lonegan, good. I see your ship made the jump. As soon as basic repairs are made, we are heading into Earth space. If you check your plot, you can see the wreckage and a few older ships to starboard. That is what is left of the Martian first fleet. They sacrificed themselves to punch a hole we can use. So far no protectors have shown up.”
Lonegan had been about to scream at the woman in front of him but now he stared in shock at the broken and shattered ships floating in space. He could see at least three battleships and dozens of fighters. There was more power there than what he had brought with him. “What destroyed them?”
“Earth has space stations and laser platforms surrounding all of their claimed space. Any ship or asteroid that attempts to breach the zone is fired upon by multiple stations. It took a while, but we took down two stations and over a dozen platforms. The way to Earth is now clear.”
“Did they send a response?” Lonegan always worried about responding fighters or whatever. They were the bane of piracy.
“Our sensors have detected a flight of fighters on the way. Don’t worry, our strike fighters will take care of them. I’m sending you the plan we have put together. We will take out the shipyards and any space stations. The rest is yours. Raid the planet to your heart’s content. Be advised that we intend to strike fast. We will stay no longer than twenty-four hours. If your ship's miss the exit window they are on their own. Understand?”
Lonegan squ
inted at the battle plan on his barely functioning console. “Why are we leaving so fast?”
“Earth actually does have a guard fleet. At the moment they are escorting a supply fleet to Imperial space. They are coming back. Our intel suggests they are the fastest ships in their arsenal. We want to be gone when they come home.”
Lonegan’s eyes got very big at that point. “How many ships are we talking about?”
“We aren’t completely sure. At least fifty. The package they were to deliver was very fragile, so it was our understanding they were sending the whole fleet. We didn’t lie to your Taoiseach. This really is a raid. We just have to be fast. Tell your people not to worry. We will protect you if they return early. Now, my people tell me the comms are back up and everyone has calmed down a bit. Have them make ready for we are moving out at max impulse in an hour.” The Admiral signed out, and the screen went dark.
“Sir?”
Lonegan waved him off. He leaned back in the communications chair and covered his eyes with one hand. What have I done? He muttered to himself. Did Kate know?
“Sir? It’s kind of urgent.”
“What?”
“The Ravager has lost its impulse engines. They are dead in space.”
“Damn it! Do they still have life support?”
“Captain Middleton swears his internal system is shipshape. He said the problem is on the outside. The jump was too much for the system and it shorted out. They have generators and interior power centers. It was a liner after all.”
“Middleton? Which Captain is he?” It was hard to remember a single pirate on a planet full of pirates.
“Short, wooden leg, red hair, he always has that big Axe on his shoulder? He’s the one that told your cousin we should change our profession to Space Vikings.”
“I remember him. He was the one Mick took a leg from. With his own Axe, right?”
“That’s the one.”
Lonegan snorted. “Tell Captain Middleton we will take him under tow. If he makes it back he can petition Kate to get his ship back.”
“Good one, Captain! What do you want a Liner for?” Under pirate law, any ship taken under tow was the property of the one doing the towing. Regardless of who was on it at the time.
“Not a damn thing. But half our ground troops are on that thing. What use is raiding a planet if we can’t land?”
Chapter 16
Our fleet came together and headed off to Earth space without a hitch. The Pirates had issues, but the Commodore solved them without too many deaths. According to Edward, they have a set of traditions that double as rules governing their society. I tasked the CATT with acquiring a set of these regulations. It would make future negotiations much easier. A half-dozen Earth fighters did respond to the second station going down, but our strike fighters took them out before they even reached the fleet. The fact they only sent six against us proved the intel right. Earth had to be mostly undefended!
“What do the scouts say?” I was staring at the plot as it was updated. Stations, shipyards, and orbital farms continued to pop up on my screens.
“Admiral, they have only detected less than ten ships in Earth orbit.”
“What classes? Are they a threat to the fleet?”
“So far all they have seen are transport vessels and a few scattered fighters. Three destroyer class ships are orbiting the local moon. They seem to be stationary over a military outpost or settlement of some kind. We are picking up more defense platforms but the station security is either non-existent, or the tech is too old for us to get a read on.”
“Excellent! That jives with what our prisoners have told us. The base on the moon is a training facility. Mark it and anything near it as a prime target. The same goes for any shipyard or manufacturing facility. Leave the orbital farms and habitats for the Pirates. What is their status? Do we know?”
“They managed to settle whatever problems that were plaguing them. According to our engineers, the problems were mostly that they had not used the jump engines in years. Most had so much carbon buildup they were surprised they didn’t blow themselves up.”
“That may have been what happened to some of the missing ships.”
“Yes, Ma’am. All of their assault forces did survive the jump.”
“Good. Once we engage the orbital defenses, turn them loose. Be sure you send them a highlighted list of targets. We can’t control them, but we can use them. I just don’t want them interfering with our targets.”
“Will they be that effective?”
“Think about it, Commander. Several thousand heavily armed raiders are running around killing, looting, and burning on your planet. Unlike a military strike, they won’t have any idea of our objectives. It should make the defenders a bit crazy. They won’t know what to defend. Our intel source told us there are at least five divisions of Delta Clone troops down there. Most likely much more. I like the idea of them running around chasing pirates.”
~~~~~~
“Captain, I mean Commodore. That Captain Middleton is raising a heck of a fuss with the other captains! He won’t shut the hell up about us towing him in.”
“I knew we should have spaced him when we had the chance. Call the other captains back and quote the Code to them. Tell our ground commander on the Ravager to take the Captain with the troops when they land. The Martians just gave us a list of targets. It looks like they are leaving us three orbital habitats and a farm. Who in the hell puts a farm in space? That bitch of an Admiral pointed out where the motherland is. Think of it. Ireland! We get to set foot on the old sod!”
“Captain is there anything of worth there? You know the boyos will want to raid.”
“They sent us a map. There are several settlements and this area here looks industrial. Prime pickings if you ask me. I’m sending the Black Sun troop ship to this location here.” He pointed at the screen. “It was once called Washington. It has lots of ancient ruins and a couple of pointy things that should be easy to spot from the air. According to the Martians, there is a big computer center and military based nearby. They claim they will hit it from space to loosen it up.”
“You could be sending them into a trap!”
“Eh, it is the Murphy clan. Who cares about those wankers? It gets them out of me hair. So what if a few of them don’t make it back? That’s half the fun of raiding.”
“Sir the Martians are starting their attack!” The Commodore and his second stepped over to the main screen to watch. The large Capital ships began firing at the ships in orbit. Large meteors began to rain down on Earth.
“Whoa, check out the firepower of those battleships!”
~~~~
Captain Poole braced himself. This would be the first time in over a hundred years that the NTS Texas would fire its guns in anger. This ship was his baby. It had been his grandfather who found it sitting on a moon in the badlands powered down and covered in dust. For many on his planet, the First Interstellar War was ancient history. Most civilians didn’t have a clue as to what started it or even who fought whom. History was a favorite of Socrates. It may have stemmed from his parents sticking an ancient Greek name on him. Sometimes he just had to know the answer to things.
The war started when the UN and Earth went dark. The mad scramble from various colony worlds and governments to claim unattended or empty territory touched off a war. At first, there was no clear enemy. Worlds began to band together to share resources and build up their forces. The former Empire of Man evolved from this conflict. In the twenty years that the war raged hundreds of ships were built. Most were supposed to have been destroyed or scrapped. Just looking at the Pirate fleet anyone could see that lie. The Texas was of similar providence.
When Socrates’s grandfather found it just sitting there on a forgotten moon, he didn’t tell a soul. According to the ship’s records, it was the Goeben. It was the greatest achievement of the short-lived Germanic Republic. On its maiden voyage, it was away on trials when the system was raided and captured
by the fledgling Imperial Navy. If it had been there, things might have gone differently. Its logs recorded a final message to hide the ship and not allow the Empire access to it. History assumed it was destroyed in battle or foundered during the trials. Of the crew, there was no trace. New Texas was an Imperial planet when it was founded. A member of Texas Forever, a rebel organization, the elder Poole had kept the ship hidden away.
The space station in the Texas’s sights was the oldest and largest in the galaxy. “Target locked, the ship is ready for action, Sir.”
“Commander Brisco you may fire as your guns bear.”
“Thank you, Captain. Open fire!” The commander gave the order to the main gun batteries to fire. The Texas had manual firing stations that allowed for the three massive turrets to fire independently of each other. During the refit, attempts had been made to secure replacement guns for the ship. However, none could be found or even ordered that would fit. No one had a big enough foundry anymore.