by Kal Spriggs
Tomas and Anton will kill me, Ricky realized. This was his fault, not only had he probably killed Salazar, but he'd destroyed their only lead. If they didn't think he was incompetent, they'd assume he'd set up Salazar as some kind of trap.
I'm a dead man, he realized.
***
"Sir, are we sure about this?" Lieutenant Commander Capdepon asked softly. "A raid like this isn't exactly going to make us friends." The bridge of the Constellation was quiet, as officers and crew worked at their missions while the warship coasted, systems powered down to standby levels.
The Constellation, Gallant, and Lancer had emerged from shadow space at the edge of the system, brought up their drives to accelerate, and then cut them again to run silent as they approached Porax station.
"There's a correlation between raids in this system and activity at that platform," Daniel replied just as softly. "Technically, it's abandoned, so anyone there is squatting. Who are we going to annoy?" Technically Amtel Incorporated owned the platform, but the megacorporation from the Altair system in the Centauri Confederation had listed it as inactive, scheduled for salvaging. What had probably happened was someone slipped an executive a small bribe to look the other way.
Amtel Incorporated might complain about the raid later, but if Daniel found evidence of piracy, then they'd have little room to complain. And if I don't, he thought, well, then this is all a waste anyway.
"I make out seven contacts," Lieutenant Gray reported. "Two Barracuda-class corvettes, one Defiance-class destroyer, and four civilian ships."
Daniel nodded as he looked at his sensor repeater. The Barracuda-class corvettes were older military ships, just the kind of thing that a pirate or criminal like Reese would be able to acquire. The Defiance-class destroyer was commonly found throughout the Colonial Republic, so it wasn't beyond the realm of possibility that one had been hijacked by Reese's people.
"Transponders?" Daniel asked.
"All the vessels there have their transponders disabled," Lieutenant Gray replied.
"That," Daniel smiled coldly, "is just the sort of suspicious activity that a military ship should investigate." He watched as the sensors showed the seven ships coming in to dock at the station. This was exactly the ideal circumstance. They'd soon have the station as well as some of Reese's vessels, all of which could be searched for intelligence on the location of Reese's base and his backers.
"Weapons fire!" Lieutenant Gray called. "Shit, the ships just opened fire on the station!"
Daniel brought up the visual sensors and he blanched as he saw the seemingly random barrage that ripped open the maintenance platform. Bodies and debris vented out of the opened decks and the entire station began to shudder and tumble.
"What the hell?" Lieutenant Commander Capdepon asked. "Some kind of accident?"
"Or a double-cross," Daniel shook his head. At least three of the freighters tumbled away, venting atmosphere from either damage or from their docking collars. "Bring our systems online, this just became a rescue operation."
"What about the firing ships?" Lieutenant Commander Miller asked. The Constellation's weapons and systems came online as Daniel brought up a least time course. At this point, stealth was secondary. They needed to salvage what they could of the situation.
"Take them out," Daniel said. The two ships had just committed what amounted to an atrocity.
"Yes, sir," his tactical officer said. "Lieutenant Giovanni, you're on interceptor fire!"
Daniel just hoped they weren't too late.
***
Commander Terrel hadn't died in the initial series of explosions. In fact, he and about thirty of his people had managed to get to the station's hangar bay. The shuttles wouldn't be up for sustained flight, but he hoped they'd last long enough to get them clear of the station at least.
He waited long enough for the last straggler to get aboard his shuttle before he launched.
Command needed to know about this attack. Yet he knew it would be weeks before the next scheduled visit. Perhaps he could flag down a civilian vessel...
As the shuttle's sensors tried to make sense of the mess outside the station, his eyes went wide at the four ships on fast approach. He started to bring up the communications system, but then the missile acquisition alarm began to sound.
Commander Terrel's eyes went wide as he saw the indicator. Four Scorpion missiles had been launched by the same frigate that had fired on the station. Those missiles locked on the shuttle's drives and had already begun the attack run.
He didn't have room to dodge or time for any other evasion. The shuttle's countermeasures weren't online because they were still locked down for maintenance.
Before he could do more than realize that he was under attack, the four missiles came screaming in. Two split for the other shuttle and it died before he could give it warning. Commander Terrel's last thought was for his people as the second pair of missiles detonated on top of his shuttle.
***
"Prep our shuttle," Ricky said weakly. Maybe he could salvage something out of this, even if that was just to steal enough supplies to make it out to the rim. "See if there's anyone left..."
"Boss, we've got enemy contacts coming in, least-time vector!" Captain Burani called. "Christ, it's the navy boys!"
Ricky spun and stared at the Raptor's captain in shock. For a long moment nothing he said made any sense. Then he pulled up his display and stared at the ship, the horrid ship that he recognized once more. UCS Constellation, his mind told him, the same ship that destroyed everything I have, not just once, but twice...
All his losses, all his setbacks, became focused in that ship. It was the personification of death, the incarnation of his failures... and it was coming to finish him.
"Get us out of here!" Ricky screamed.
"We haven't plotted a jump, boss," Captain Burani protested. "And they're only ten thousand kilometers out!"
"Jump now! It's the only chance we have!" As his bridge crew looked at him without understanding, he unsnapped from his command chair and ran for the navigational console. He shoved the man out of the way, popped open the emergency cover, and slammed his hand down on the emergency override. The relay he'd had installed on the Panjar activated the other ship's shadow space drive at the same time.
Both of Ricky One-eye's ships dropped into to shadow space completely blind.
***
"What a mess," Daniel said as he looked up from the briefing images. "Are we sure there's no survivors from the station's command crew?" His task force had managed to stabilize some of the remains of Porax Station, but that was a losing battle. Large sections of it had already broken up and with the station cracked in half, the core structure was too damaged for the rest of it to remain intact.
"Yes, sir," Major Chris Woods of the United Colonies Marine Corps replied. "It looks like their command structure took several direct hits from the pirate attack. Most of their personnel weren't in suits... it's rather messy, sir." The commander for the Constellation's company of Marines looked exhausted, which wasn't much of a surprise since he and his people had spent most of the day working in a high-threat environment, with plenty of fast-moving debris that could punch through a normal ship suit easily.
"Yeah," Daniel nodded. The images from the briefing had painted a rather grim picture of what had happened on the station. Clearly the pirates and Reese's personnel had been about to double-cross one another. Just as clearly, someone had panicked and opened fire on the station, killing almost a thousand of their own people in the process.
It wasn't just that they'd depressurized the station and the docked vessels, it was the secondary explosions, explosive decompression, and the radical spin the attack had imparted on the station. While the boarding parties from both groups had been suited up, the crews of the ships hadn't. And even those in suits had been killed in large numbers, in part due to poor attention to their suit maintenance and in part from all the debris flying around.
Major W
oods' people had worked for the past twelve hours to recover personnel, some thrown violently from the station at high velocity... and all too often they'd followed a distress beacon only to find a corpse with a punctured or ruptured suit.
While Daniel couldn't feel very much sympathy for either party, it was still a ghastly loss of human lives. Four hundred station personnel and nearly a thousand pirates had perished. "Do we know yet why they were even here?"
"Yes, sir," Lieutenant Commander Capdepon said, his face grim, "Apparently for the same reason as us, they were looking for Reese Leone." He brought up an image of the two Barracuda-class corvettes. "These are the Raptor and the Panjar, they're controlled by Ricky One-eye, a pirate and slaver who used to operate out of Sapphire."
Daniel groaned, "Really… him again?"
Lieutenant Commander Capdepon nodded, "And he's apparently working with a group of criminal organizations based out of Yaitsik Station in the Alpha Canis Majoris system." He brought up an image of an asteroid base. "They've apparently marshaled quite a fleet, over thirty ships, with the intention of going after Reese. The downside being, of course, that these are pirates, mobsters, and general scum."
"How do we have imagery of it?" Daniel asked. Technically, the base was none of their business. It lay in the Alpha Canis Majoris system, which was within the Centauri Confederation. Yet if they'd gathered in such force to target Reese Leone, they'd be likely to do it again for other reasons... like pirating and murdering innocent civilians.
"Three of the pirate vessels remained more-or-less intact," Colonel Wachope said. "The destroyer La Muerto Negra, and two of the converted freighters. When my people boarded them, we found their control panels unlocked and their systems open. We've got plenty of good intel from that."
"Really?" Daniel considered that. "What kind of defenses does Yaitsik Station have?"
Lieutenant Commander Capdepon shook his head, "Sir, we're already skating a thin line with our interdiction attempt here..."
"We did nothing wrong," Daniel said calmly, "We noticed pirate activity and rendered assistance. In the process, we learned of pirate activity in the Alpha Canis Majoris system. Now, since we know the Centauri Confederation Fleet is under a great deal of strain, we simply decided to investigate on our own." Glancing at the holographic projections of the other ships’ Captains. Captain Brian Bowder looked dubious about the whole thing. Lieutenant Commander Shaw also looked uncertain.
Captain Matthew Copley gave him a grin though, “Sounds good to me, sir. When do we go?”
The response reminded Daniel once again that the commander of the Gallant was a cousin of the Pirate King of Sapphire. Both men had come from the colony of New Texas, though Captain Copley had fought to defend his homeworld against the Chxor and he’d elected to join the Fleet after New Texas signed on with the United Colonies. His combat experience had earned him command of a ship quickly… and Daniel privately thought he was a better ship commander than his former XO, Captain Bowder.
"It's technically violating the sovereign territory of anther nation, sir," Lieutenant Commander Capdepon noted. Yet his protest wasn't all that stern. He was filling his role as the XO: to play devil's advocate. Daniel was willing to bet that his XO wanted to hit the pirate base just as much as him.
"Which has failed to execute that sovereignty," Daniel pointed out. "Specifically they failed when they allowed criminal elements to establish a large base. And before anyone comments, I know well enough that this isn't part of our primary mission. I also know that our duty as military officers is to put an end to pirates and general scum like these people. So... what kind of defenses are we talking about?"
Lieutenant Commander Capdepon nodded and brought up a diagram of the station. The fact that he had that information ready told Daniel what he needed to know: his XO had expected Daniel's decision. He's a good officer, better in a way than Captain Bowder, Daniel thought, he's much better at anticipating what I'll do and moving the staff in that direction.
"The facility itself has minimal defenses, some anti-fighter turrets and a fighter-bay with two ready squadrons," Lieutenant Commander Capdepon said. "However, data from the La Muerto Negra indicates that it serves as a transshipment hub for human trafficking, so there's a high chance of potential hostages."
Daniel nodded as he considered the situation. People eager to get out of the over-populated core colonies often signed on with smugglers to get them out. What many didn't realize was that those human traffickers would often sell them into indentured servitude or outright slavery. Such criminals often kept their human cargo as hostages if they faced law enforcement.
"Okay, what about their fleet?" Daniel asked.
"Thirty ships, most of them converted civilian hulls, we expect," Lieutenant Commander Capdepon said. "The main movers in this seem to be the People’s Freedom Army and the Slivko Family, both of them have access to some moderate weapons platforms, so we can't rule out the possibility of destroyers or even a few cruisers."
Daniel nodded, "I'll want a full background run on all the players of their alliance, before we move. I'll coordinate with our allies, especially Tau Ceti, since the PFA is one of their splinter organizations, right?"
"I think so, sir, I'm not very clear on how they're tied in," Lieutenant Commander Capdepon admitted. Not that Daniel could blame him. He only remembered the acronym from a random intelligence briefing he’d read once.
"Well, that might be a way in, we'll need to do some additional work in that department," Daniel said. He stared at the image of the asteroid base. "My initial working plan is to get some of our people inside to protect any hostages, then come in fast and knock out their ships. Follow that up with a precision strike on any holdouts and then move our Marines in and secure the entire facility."
"Sir," Major Woods nodded, "I'll put together an initial attack plan based on those orders, sir."
"Good," Daniel said. "We're on a limited time scale here. Two of those pirates escaped, so I want to be certain we get there before they get any warning."
***
Kapitan zur Weltraum Langsdorff of Tau Ceti grimaced a bit, "The PFA and Tomas Kanreich are not associated with Tau Ceti. They're terrorists and criminals who masquerade as freedom fighters." They spoke across an ansible connection, and the Tau Ceti officer spoke from his conference room. Daniel couldn't help but wonder if he had some kind of political commissar present.
"So you don't have any leverage we can use, then?" Daniel asked.
"Unfortunately not," Langsdorff shook his head. "His organization has decried Tau Ceti as a 'puppet government' of 'Centauri sympathizers.' They do more attacks against our people than they do against the Centauri government."
"Well," Daniel smiled, "at least you won't complain if we attack them, right?"
Langsdorff looked uncomfortable, "He is a Tau Ceti citizen. We'd like to see him and his personnel brought to justice rather than killed in a military operation that might make him seem a martyr."
Daniel gave the officer a level look, "You know, you can't have it both ways, right?"
"I am aware," he nodded, "however, as I've stated before, we don't favor capital punishment..."
"I now see how this civil war of yours has dragged on so long," Daniel ground out.
Langsdorff's back went straight, "Senior Captain Beeson, I assure you that--"
Daniel raised a hand, "Sorry, I spoke out of turn. I don't understand the cultural and social pressures your nation faces." Langsdorff seemed slightly mollified by that, but Daniel wished he'd kept his mouth shut. This is why I'm a military officer and not a diplomat, he told himself.
"Alright, we will do our best to capture all criminals we find at Yaitsik Station... providing your government will provide assistance in securing the facility and has no problems with us violating the sovereign territory of the Centauri Confederation."
"That..." Langsdorff looked off to side, presumably to his political handler. "Yes, we could be on-board with that. The Alpha
Canis Majoris system government is currently aligned with the Centauri anyway."
An interesting position, Daniel thought. Could that be the slightest chink in their unity against external powers? Perhaps this raid would prove useful in more way than one.
"Very well," Daniel said. "We hope to have a basic plan together and depart for a rendezvous in four hours. Barring any issues, we should be at the Formalhaut system in twelve days and from there, we can reach the Alpha Canis Majoris system in another twenty."
"We'll meet you in the Formalhaut system, Captain," Kapitan Langsdorff nodded and cut the transmission.
Daniel turned to face his XO, "Well?"
"The Shogunate is on-board. Apparently the Shogun detests criminals of this sort. They view the embarrassment of the Centauri Confederation to be a bonus," Lieutenant Commander Capdepon said. "Tanis Defense Force has backed out, Chairman-Admiral Ortega says Tanis System Command can't authorize an attack in Centauri space."
Understandable, Daniel thought. Tanis thrived through its neutrality. Violating the borders of their most powerful neighbor wouldn't be a good idea. He hadn't really expected them to come along... especially since such pirates and criminals probably represented a sales demographic for them.
"What about our way in?" Daniel asked.
"This is Maria Avila," Lieutenant Commander Capdepon said and he brought up an image of her on the display. "She was Mark Salazar's second in command. I say was, because she died aboard the La Muerto Negra, another victim of not wearing her suit."
Daniel nodded, "Okay..."
"Salazar is dead, but our first thought was that we have the La Muerto Negra, so we could use that as a way in..." Lieutenant Commander Miller trailed off.
"But the pirates will expect to see Salazar or one of his officers," Daniel nodded. "Alright, that makes sense. So you couldn't find a match for Salazar, but you found one for Maria Avila?"