Shiver Me Timbers

by Chris Hechtl

  “We're no good to anyone dead. Don't worry about them; they'll take care of themselves or they won't. Keep us alive!” the captain snarled. “Reinforce our shields. Guns, kill those damn missiles!”

  “Sir, what about the platforms? I need power to fire on them.”

  “No! All other power to the drive and hyperdrive. We need to get the hell out of this hell hole, not waste another damn minute here getting shot at!”

  “Aye aye, sir.”

  <()>^<()>

  Xiphos used twenty of her twenty-four missile pods in the initial blow. Ten had been targeted on Tango Two, eight on Tango Three, and two missile pods on Tango One. Four missile pods had been out of position to get a solid lock and had been stood down for later recovery. The destroyer's tactical computers were hard pressed to control a hundred cruiser grade missiles in flight at the same time, let alone manage their ECM.

  The destroyer had been prepared for battle and had her shields spun up and her systems at full battle readiness before the missiles had gotten to the halfway mark. Once the first missiles cleared the final acquisition mark, they were on their own so the tactical department switched to the weapon platforms.

  The weapon platforms needed active lidar to target the enemy ships. The eight cruiser grade graser weapon platforms sought out the three targets quickly. Their computers had been continuously updated by whisker lasers from the control ship, but it still took a moment for their OMS to warm up and put them in the proper orientation to fire.

  Each of the weapon platforms could fire one shot every five seconds for a total of six shots before their hyper capacitors were drained. Tactical commands updated the cue to prioritize Tango 3 and Tango 1. When they had a lock, they fired. It only took three shots to Tango 3 before her shields buckled once more and collapsed. Fresh orders were sent out to reprioritize all fire on Tango 1.

  It took several seconds for the weapon platforms to recharge while those not oriented on Tango 1 shifted to it. Meanwhile Xiphos dumped her two fighters out of her boat bay before her shields fully spun up. The two fighters came around their mother ship and then went into stealth on separate courses that would cross paths again on the stern of the fleeing medium cruiser.

  <()>^<()>

  “Sir, weapons fire detected near the 101 jump point. We're still over forty million kilometers out,” CIC reported. A fresh set of icons appeared on the plot just as the captain looked up.

  “It looks like Xiphos started the party early,” the TAO stated.

  The Neochimp captain studied the plot and spangle of icons. His lips pursed thoughtfully. At least now he knew what V'r'w'll had been up to. Most likely the other captain had run silent in order to set up the ambush.

  He nodded slowly as his eyes studied the plot with intense ferocity. He hated that the three pirates had been on track to get away more or less clean. Now it seemed their plans had been upset. He had no complaints. The ship's A.I. zoomed in and the plot cleared to show the icons of missile and graser fire. “That she did. And her dance card is filled with heavy weights.”

  “Aye, sir.”

  The captain turned to the ship's A.I. “If we launch the fighters, can they get there in time?”

  “No, sir. Whatever Xiphos is doing, they just threw their best Sunday punch. The majority of the missile pods fired on Tango Two and Three. CIC just confirmed the destruction of Tango Two. Tango Three has lost her sublight engines and she's tumbling. Tango One is running.”

  The captain nodded. According to the long-range sensors, the weapon platforms were still firing on Tango 1, but she seemed to be rolling in order to spread the damage on her shields. Whoever was over there was a smart bastard.

  “Ah. Well, there is that. We wouldn't have gotten a piece of them anyway. At least someone gave them a sending-off present.”

  “Aye, sir, there is that,” the XO said with a nod.

  <()>^<()>

  Captain V'r'w'll noted Tango 2 was down. Tango 3 was crippled. Before he could say anything, the TAO had switched fire to Tango 1. The range was long though. They managed to pump a couple grasers into the enemy cruiser, but she rolled with each shot, presenting a different aspect of her shields to the grasers to keep them from overloading any one section and getting to the hull.

  She spat fire at the fighters, but CIC reported most of her energy was going to her drive, shields, and her hyperdrive. The two fighters scissored off, one taking a glancing hit before she got clear. While they were off in a loop, the cruiser's hyperdrive went into final countdown.

  “Damn,” a watch stander murmured softly.

  “I think they got away,” another said, equally softly.

  “Not yet,” the XO stated.

  But, his wishful thinking was not to be. The ship vanished into hyper as the two fighters aborted their runs. A final graser shot passed through the turbulent space where the ship had once been.

  “Well, not quite the clean sweep I was hoping for but two out of three isn't a bad second place I suppose,” the captain replied. “I believe we need to let Strike in the Dark know what's going on. Comm, send them our IFF and a brief log. Let them know we're going into SAR,” he stated.

  “Aye aye, sir,” the tech said as the bridge crew applauded their victory.

  <()>^<()>

  Captain Hochi didn't breathe a sigh of relief until his ship had been in hyperspace a full five minutes. Sparks went off from a shorted-out panel behind him. Damage control was reportedly all over the ship busy putting out minor fires and minor damage. They'd only taken one hit to the hull, a glancing blow.

  He probably should have fired a missile to take Red Horn out. But he hadn't wanted to waste the missile, nor had he wanted to expose his ship to do so. His escape had been close. Whatever happened to them, it was out of his hands.

  Lady Luck had been with them to some small degree. But he wondered for how much longer. Apparently the tides of their luck were turning in an unfavorable direction.

  Perhaps it was time to find a new line of work he mused, or better hunting grounds elsewhere.

  <()>^<()>

  “Damn good bit of work,” Captain Corbin stated when the pirate cruiser had jumped. The wayward destroyer lit off her IFF. It was a bit late but he appreciated the formality. A follow-up message was curt; they were switching to SAR operations. “Comm, lay a line on Xiphos and let them know they can shoot above their weight anytime, as long as they hit something, but next time keep us in the loop.”

  “Aye aye, sir.”

  “I'll leave teasing V'r'w'll about biting off more than they can chew for a later date, probably when I've got V'r'w'll in the same room,” the captain said in an aside to the XO.

  “Yes, sir,” the XO said with a smile.

  “Get SAR on the deck. Let Xiphos know we've got our people up and ready to assist,” the captain ordered.

  “Aye aye, sir.”

  “As soon as we're sure this system is clean, we'll send Xiphos and possibly her prize ship back to base with the good news. The commodore will want to send in a follow-up team ASAP.”

  “Aye aye, sir.”

  “I want a SITREP on Xiphos's status, her logs, and a status on the prize ship. I hope V'r'w'll won't complain if we send over our Marines to lend him a hand.”

  “I think the Marines won't mind sharing the glory on that one, sir.”

  “Good.”

  Chapter 26

  Tau-1252

  Shelby had a lot on her plate once things got going. Boni processed the new keys that had been brought in by one of the couriers from Rho Mercy Flight I. She could have used them earlier but couldn't complain about it much.

  The keys did change things a bit for her, improving things in the yard. She also had to sort out what to do with the ships in the Mercy Flight. She'd already hit upon a plan to send Good Hope, one cruiser, one or more couriers, the tanker, and one support ship west. Eventually Janice would catch up with them when she returned from her side trip south.

  Shelby had spent hou
rs planning what to do with the rest of the force. Of course, her plans were hinged on their resupply and refit. The initial surveys were promising though, so she went forward with cutting orders with Boni.

  The two destroyers would remain in the capital. She was picking their crews over, especially their senior staff to man future construction. She'd gotten a few complaints, but they had died when the COs had realized grudgingly that their people deserved to be promoted.

  Florence Nightingale would go with the Eastern Mercy Mission III once it was completely assembled. It bugged her to send the Liberty support ship with the Western Mission II. She'd much rather send a Dora support ship and keep the ship for Tortuga. But she was pretty sure that a Dora wouldn't be able to keep up with the needs of the mission when they faced a planetary crisis.

  There were spots of other good news from the yard. They had just launched their third sublight destroyer and the fourth and fifth were coming in behind her. The pace in the yard was picking up. They had yet to hit the stride yards like Pyrax or Antigua could do, but they were getting there. They even had the heavy cruiser Hudson three days ahead of schedule.

  Which just meant she was a little bit further ahead than the four week slippage that had been experienced in her schedule. But, they were getting there.

  Now, if she could just get a dozen more cruisers and other ships she'd feel more comfortable. Toss her a battlecruiser or two and she'd go after Ishmael and run him to ground no matter where he tried to hide.

  <()>^<()>

  Lieutenant Carl Talon, quartermaster extraordinaire, was starting to regret his self-imposed title. He had to deal with the day-to-day logistics on Prometheus but also the various bases since he was the senior quartermaster.

  The good news was by dabbling in the oversight of what was essentially all logistics of the star system he knew where stuff was and how to get his hands on it if he had to do so in a hurry. The problem was that everyone knew that and was coming to him in order to shortcut the system.

  They really needed to activate one of the dumb A.I. templates the commodore had and set it up to do the job or at least assist him.

  On top of keeping track of everything, he also had to field contract requests from the local start-up civilian industrial companies. That meant reviewing each. Fortunately, he'd come up with a background check as well as a review system with Boni.

  The bad news was that there were more and more of them and not just in the capital these days. He was starting to get requests from companies in Delos and Lebynthos.

  The most impressive to date was an electronics manufacturing start-up in the capital. He wasn't sure where they got the equipment, but they apparently had enough to start making small parts. Whether they could handle MILSPEC was anyone's guess.

  They were offering finished products too, which meant they had to have a handle on every aspect of the process—from the chips to the boards, to the LCD panels, to the plastic bits, all of it.

  Even if they could make just servers, tablets, and Wi-Fi nodes, it would be a major improvement over using Federal resources to do it. He was fairly certain from Boni's read on them that they were fishing for a big contract in order to solidify themselves. Which made him want to throw them a bone, but also be a bit wary of someone biting off more than they could chew.

  He put an inquiry in for a sample. If they could handle the contract in a timely manner, he might look into extending it or negotiating a new one. Hell, he might even look into getting them to offer shares or something.

  Wait, no, that'd pop a flag in his implants, he realized. Okay, no, maybe not shares for him, but if he extended contacts to others, played intermediary, they might pick up contracts in other civilian markets and be grateful to him for a while down the road …

  His tongue played over his slightly pointed teeth as he considered how to best word the exploratory contract.

  <()>^<()>

  Shelby kept her hands off the review board as they sat on the Belfast captain's actions. The board was made up of ship captains or fortress commanders, so it took them a bit of time to review the mountains of evidence and then come down with their final verdict.

  The consensus was that Captain S'th had been too aggressive and had endangered her command in attempting to ambush Black Corsage. They did not recommend a court-martial however. Instead of being drummed out or demoted, the board took into account the Naga's actions after that engagement.

  No, she was not demoted but her next two promotion cycles were to be skipped. Shelby had her pulled from Belfast and given command of the newly-built sublight destroyer Nashville.

  Shelby reviewed the new command with the lieutenant commander. The Naga closed her eyes briefly but then nodded.

  “So, effectively a demotion without an actual reduction in rank.”

  “Yes, Commander. The navy has a lot invested in you, and we believe your career can be salvaged. Hopefully, you take the right lessons from this and learn from this experience.”

  “Hopefully,” Boni murmured in Shelby's ear.

  Shelby studied the Naga and then decided to counsel her. “You were too aggressive; we know it. You know it. It happens; that's what we're here for, to be aggressive and take the fight to the enemy.” She paused for a moment and then crossed her arms. “You know that a good friend of mine had her own experience with the board for her actions in ET.”

  The Naga's tail flicked. “Yes, ma’am, I heard.”

  “And she bounced back from it. I expect you to do so as well. Come back older, wiser, and with that blood thirst tempered but still there.”

  “Aye, ma’am. I'll try.”

  “Good.”

  Once she was gone, Boni's avatar appeared on the desk.

  “Damn, I hope she does learn from this. We probably could have landed harder on her, probably should have to have her serve as an example. But I'm short on good skippers. She's got the fire in her.”

  “Yes, ma’am. She'll bounce back.”

  “We'll see,” Shelby said dubiously.

  “But, that opens up another can of worms; Belfast needs a new captain. You promoted the XO off as well as most of her senior staff.”

  “True but I've been told she's going to be in the body and fender shop for several more weeks. And like you just said, we're poaching her crew to man the other ships. Her XO that you just mentioned received a promotion and is going over to assume command of Fortress 2 at the Tortuga jump point for a tour.”

  “Ah. So, no hurry, ma'am?”

  “Well, some. I'd like to get Belfast back into space. She's a cruiser, and we've got so few of them.”

  “Understood.”

  <()>^<()>

  Helen and Shelby had their first face-to-face meeting after hours. The convoy had made port in the late evening. Helen surprised Shelby by hopping a shuttle and coming over to the base for a meeting.

  Boni gave her a heads-up when the commodore arrived. She met Commodore Richards for a late evening meal in the officer's mess. Shelby kept the meeting informal after they exchanged salutes. She was well aware that everyone was watching, and she wanted them to strike the right note right from the beginning. “Actually, we've spoken before on ET but only briefly,” Shelby said with a tired smile. It had been a long, rather full day for her.

  Helen looked thoughtful and then nodded. “I vaguely remember it. I know I've been busy.”

  “Well, given that you were managing the entire planetary administration, I don't doubt it,” Shelby replied with a smile.

  “Well, I hope you won't hold that against me,” Helen said as they made their way to Shelby's office.

  “By no means.”

  Once they were in private, Shelby offered her a drink. They sipped at some replicated wine while Shelby showed her the map of the star system and what they'd accomplished so far.

  Within a half hour, Shelby was comfortable enough to offer to drop their titles while in private. “I don't mind going by first names if you don't,” she said.

>   Helen raised an eyebrow and then slowly nodded. “I admit, it is a relief to have someone call me by my given name, not commodore this or that.”

  Shelby cocked her head. “Getting tired of all the bowing and scraping?” she teased.

  Helen snorted. “Oh, hell no! No lady gives that up if she can help it.” They leaned in and shared a chuckle together.

  “So, what's your plan? You can't tell me you didn't come up with one,” Helen said, changing the subject.

  “Well,” Shelby frowned. “You know I've got a couple irons in the fire. The yard is wrapping up the first rounds of refits for the Mercy mission ships.” Helen nodded. “We'll be dispatching a follow-up force to reinforce and expand on Janice's Western Mission.”

  “Captain Yu?”

  “Yes. We go back a ways,” Shelby replied with a brief smile. “I've got the Tortuga mission going, and we're planning at least one, possibly more than one, Eastern Mission to go back the way you came. I don't suppose you want command of that?”

  “I'm tempted. I'd like to overhaul your medical section here.”

  “Well, you've got a couple of weeks to do that.”

  “It'll take more than a couple of weeks,” Helen replied with a snort. “You need medical training; I mean good medical training here. Not what you've got.”

  Shelby took the criticism with as good grace as she could.

  “Understood and I agree,” she said with a nod.

  Helen studied her and then nodded. “From there I believe you want to go after the pirates?”

  “Yes. Now that we've consolidated the force here, I plan to build a strike force around the heavy ships, which will limit the number of cruisers available for escort of the hospital ships.”