Shiver Me Timbers

by Chris Hechtl

  He grinned evilly.

  His grin died abruptly as four missile pods unleashed forty missiles at his ship.

  “Vampire! Multiple vampires on a heading of two-eight-zero by mark one-four positive! Time to impact one-twenty-one seconds!” CIC said as he blinked.

  The hunter had just become the hunted.

  <()>^<()>

  Captain Zeb flicked his antenna as he watched the enemy light cruiser try to fight off the forty missiles. They'd caught them unaware and with their ship still in stealth mode. It had taken them a precious minute to clear for action. They were still trying to spit out counter missiles and point defense fire when the missiles went into final acquisition mode and began to ramp up their ECM and spit munitions.

  He noted his tactical department and sensors were drinking the ship's death throws in, making careful dispassionate note of everything they could for later analysis. The enemy ship was fighting for its life so hard she didn't even try to fire back on his ship.

  He had used four of the six missile pods he had with him. He had two more along with a couple of supply pods, a half dozen more drones, and four weapon platforms.

  The weapons and equipment were there to get any potential heat off of him and to send that message not to get too close. As the enemy ship turned into a debris cloud, he was pretty sure the message was going to sink in.

  <()>^<()>

  Captain Lowe's eyes went wide when he heard the stunned report of Black Bart's demise. “To hell with this!” he said, noting his crew were frightened. “We're not getting paid if we're dead! Break off the pursuit!”

  “Sir?”

  “You heard me!” He lunged out of his chair, went to the helm and yanked the yoke hard over. “Get us the hell out of here. We can't fight that!”

  <()>^<()>

  “I think the destroyers got the message, sir. They are breaking off and moving to get clear of the area,” a CIC rating reported with just a hint of smug satisfaction in her voice.

  “But the four cruisers aren't so easily spooked. They are still coming on strong. But the other ships behind them have suddenly slowed,” the captain noted as he studied the plot. “Well, I think a part of our message has been received. Let's see if we can have fun playing cat and mouse again to give them another taste,” the bug stated.

  “ID tag Tango Four as Black Corsage, sir,” the A.I. reported. “Ninety percent accuracy on that,” the A.I. concluded.

  “Very well,” Captain Zeb stated. “Time for a little hide and seek.”

  <()>^<()>

  Admiral Ishmael was awakened with the report of a cruiser's death. At first he thought it was the intruder, then realized that was too much to hope for.

  “So much for Dumire,” he murmured. That shook him; Jason was a cunning hunter. He frowned and then growled at himself as he rose out of the comfortable tangle of bodies. Operative word there, Leonidas, was, he reminded himself tartly.

  As he did a quick grooming and got dressed, his sleepy mind came fully awake with the realization that the death of Black Bart would hit the pirate lords like a bomb. A one-on-one encounter had killed one of their own, right in front of them, and the enemy hadn't gotten hit hard if at all. That didn't bode well for his chances of keeping them in line for much longer.

  <()>^<()>

  Captain Dab had given up chasing her wayward “husband” after the second week. He hadn't turned up on the flagship and knew that if he hadn't by now he had no intention of doing so. The admiral alone would skin him.

  That sucked. What sucked even more was that the enemy had found them and had made no bones about their ability to take out a ship of equal mass and firepower without breaking much of a sweat.

  “We've got to do something,” Captain Black said.

  “Yeah. Wrap up the current project. I don't care what they say, just get them back into space and out of our fur,” she growled as she came to a decision. “We need to find a way to evacuate in a hurry.”

  “What of the yard?” Captain Black demanded. “We're next to useless without it!”

  “We're no good if we're dead!” she growled right back. He cringed away only slightly but then nodded.

  “Look into the ships we used to get it here. Get moving on that. If I know the admiral, he'll want us to do something soon.”

  “Aye aye, ma’am.”

  <()>^<()>

  Ex-commander Dolon Lyacon had managed to survive on the base. He'd been hiding out after the gnolls had sent hunting parties in for him. That had been the last straw for him. If the admiral wasn't going to extend his protection to him, then he suffered no illusions of any lingering loyalty to him or to Cap'n Baker. They were on their own. He'd done enough to change his identity to blend in. Scent maskers had helped him keep one step ahead of the gnolls.

  He'd been working some contacts to find a way off the base. Surely a ship that wouldn't ask too many questions and was willing to take a little risk with him would be interested in taking him on. He knew he wouldn't get his old position but damn!

  When he heard about the intruder, his search for an escape took on a whole new meaning.

  <()>^<()>

  Six days after their arrival the four enemy cruisers were still on the hunt for his ship. They'd done a fair enough job chasing Zeng He, but he'd had enough decoys to use to draw them off his scent when they got a little too close for comfort.

  He had also gone in a direction they hadn't expected, low on the stellar map and towards the inner star system and away from the jump point. They had managed to quietly recover two decoy drones and service them for reuse but he'd lost six. He had only three left.

  He didn't like the odds of tangling with the enemy cruisers. They were staying together, hunting as divisions and several of the enemy cruisers had pitched in with their active sensors. The sensors didn't do much at distance, but they did seem to act as beaters. With the pods and weapon platforms still limpeted to his hull, he had to turn his ship to keep them away from active sensors.

  It was all a game, a game with life and death consequences should he slip up. But it was a game he'd practiced before and they hadn't.

  <()>^<()>

  One week into chasing the enemy cruiser and Captain Gutt and Captain Baker were nowhere near catching her. They had gotten enough of a sniff to realize it was a North Hampton class light cruiser, but nothing else, which frustrated the hell out of them.

  The four ships were getting steadily razzed by the other pirate lords for being shown up. That they couldn't seem to nail the little shit down was ominous too. And seeing Black Bart getting torn apart didn't sit well with any of them. Gutt might talk a good game but he kept with his division mate.

  Halfway through the seventh day, the admiral finally acted to move the bulk of his cruisers to the jump point and to organize them to search in a grid pattern to find and kill the interloper. He also issued orders for Captain Dab to look into breaking down the factory ship and yard and evacuate.

  That had set off a firestorm on the base as people rushed to the freighters and other ships.

  “This is just like before,” Kix said with a shake of his head.

  “I know. We're pirates; we've got more ships. We're supposed to be smarter than this.”

  “Apparently not.”

  <()>^<()>

  Captain Zeb knew his crew were a little nervous about the pirate fleet movement. But that was all a part of the plan. He was still considering what course to ultimately take on when an alert sounded.

  “Sir, a force has jumped in at the Sparkling Delta jump point. It's a big jump, multiple ships.”

  The XO grinned. “It looks like Remarkable has arrived. The cavalry is here,” he said triumphantly.

  “Yeah. Now we'll see a real show,” the TAO said with his own grin.

  “Helm, make for the Deep Rivers jump point. Take the roundabout route but get us there in three days or less. We have a new phase of the mission,” the captain ordered crisply.

  “Make for the
Deep Rivers jump point, aye, sir, Helm, make your course five-five degrees starboard by mark five degrees positive axis. Maintain current speed.”

  “Make heading five-five degrees starboard by mark five positive and maintain speed, aye, sir,” the helmsman echoed.

  This next part was going to be a little tricky. He wasn't at all thrilled about his orders, but he fully intended to carry them out to the best of his ability.

  Chapter 51

  Captain Rogers crossed his arms as he surveyed the ships lining up against his command—thirty-nine. Thirty-nine warships. He had a bare eight without counting Zeng He, which was well out of support range anyway, and the twelve gunships with the support ships.

  Remarkable and her task force was just a tad outnumbered and outgunned. Even more so when you factored in that he only had three heavy cruisers to the enemy's seven heavy cruisers and battlecruiser. The other cruisers were just adding insult to injury.

  From the look of it, he'd been right; Zed's detour to kill Seydlitz had shortened Zeng He's lead to one week. It was just as well. And, from the spreading cloud of debris off his starboard side Zeng He had gotten some action here too.

  Unless that debris cloud was Zeng He. He hoped not. He needed every advantage he could get if Commander Coglin's plan was going to succeed.

  “Make sure Admiral Sprague and the other CEVs have their ECM locked and spoofing properly. We want to give the proper appearance,” the captain intoned.

  “Aye aye, sir.”

  “Your move,” he murmured, eyeing the enemy ships on his plot.

  <()>^<()>

  “Sir! Ten, twelve, make that fourteen unknown ships have just jumped in at the Sparkling Delta jump point!” an excited CIC rating reported.

  “I see it,” the admiral rumbled. He was surprised by the attack; it was happening rather quickly. Quickly but with a small force he thought.

  As the plot began to settle down, his long-range sensors began to make order out of the chaos of the unknown ship's arrivals. They had come in as one group but had quickly broken down into two distinct forces, one with five warships in the lead, the other with three tin cans and what appeared to be a gaggle of support ships behind them.

  “They are so screwed. We'll eat them alive!” a rating stage whispered. The bosun went over and cuffed the miscreant into cringing silence.

  “What the hell does she think she's doing? And why so few ships?” the admiral murmured, stroking his beard as he studied the plot.

  “I don't like it. It's too easy,” Kix said.

  “I know. I don't either. But I'm not going to complain if the enemy sends us small bites to chew up and spit out or swallow,” the admiral growled. “Let's see if we can get around them to get at the soft rear. I'd like to take one or more of those support ships intact,” he growled.

  “It'd pay some bills, sir, including a small down payment on the revenge tab,” Kix said. “But they almost have to have more than just spare parts on board them,” the Neochimp said.

  The admiral's good eye glittered. Slowly he nodded as he continued to stroke his beard. “I'm betting they are stuffed with more of those blasted missile pods and weapon platforms,” he growled.

  Kix nodded. “Good thought, sir,” he said. “They could have a few on the cruisers too. Do you believe they intend to fight a running battle? Fire off the missile pods then fall back on the support ships for a resupply?”

  The Neolion growled softly but nodded. “It's a distinct possibility,” he growled softly.

  <()>^<()>

  There was no sense of order on the base or the shipyard. Full panic had hit the base with the usual consequences as the people trapped on the base began to riot. They had nowhere to go, but they still tried to mob the boat bays and locks to find a way off the rock.

  Doctor Perez was trying to find her own way off when a Neowolf bumped into her. He growled but then his eyes flickered as if he recognized her. “Doctor?”

  “You know me?”

  “Yes,” Dolon said, rubbing his left bicep instinctively. Some of the shots had gone in his arm, others into his rear. He wasn't about to rub his rear in public though.

  “I've got a ship, maybe,” she said, biting her lip briefly. “But I don't have a crew or a way off this rock,” she said.

  He stared at her and then finally nodded. “Let me see what we can do. Stick close,” he growled to her. She nodded and kept close to him. Within minutes he'd gathered several people to their cause.

  <()>^<()>

  Zeng He noted the divisions that had been hunting them had abandoned the chase. With no enemy near, Captain Zeb ordered the ship to momentarily drop out of stealth and use her tachyon transceiver to upload the ship's logs and files. He had them lay a laser on two messenger buoys his ship had dropped to upload the carefully gathered and priceless intelligence as well.

  It took time for the ship to upload a week's worth of recon and tactical data. Time they sat nervously waiting for one of the enemy divisions to turn and pounce on them. But the two cruiser divisions had come about and were more focused on Remarkable at the moment. In fact, just about every enemy ship was focused intensely on the intruding task force.

  The light cruiser uploaded quite a bit of information, including everything on their recent engagements with the pirates plus everything they had so far detected. ECM, sensor profiles, reactions, counter missiles, transmission frequencies and encryption, radar and lidar frequencies and sweep patterns, speed of ships, the works went into the transmission.

  Once the upload was complete, they appended their location and then dropped back into stealth with none of the enemy ships the wiser.

  <()>^<()>

  Captain Rogers nodded as his tactical department got busy with the upload. So, Zeng He had survived. That was one mighty weight lifted off his shoulders. And she'd done well too; she'd taken out another enemy ship along the way. Everything they were uploading to his command made their mission's success rate climb.

  He doubted they'd manage a cyberattack. Possibly an intrusion with the freighters, base, and yard, but distance was a disadvantage for the A.I. And once an attack started, the enemy would no doubt alert their brethren and institute counter measures.

  The mission had been primarily structured as a raid in force to throw the pirates back on the defense and prevent them from planning or mounting an offense or having the resources to do so or to rebuild. Their primary target was the yard and stores, though he wouldn't mind taking out the base. There might be enemy NC on board, but they were in the war too. They provided comfort and support to the enemy.

  No, on second thought, a feint against the base might stir the enemy warships up to fight harder. It was best to avoid the base. He passed on an order to do so.

  It looked like the ECM mask the carriers were keeping up was holding. The three ships looked like tin cans from this distance. He had also kept them with the support ships as if they were escorts. Demon Chaser and Herd Culler were out in front of his trio of his cruisers acting as a conventional screen.

  Curfew was on Remarkable's starboard flank, Strike in the Dark on her port flank. He wasn't certain if they'd actually see much combat if Commander Corbin's plan worked half as well as they were expecting.

  He noted the A.I. were busy processing the information along with the various departments on the ships. But he also noted the status board as the three carriers began to quietly launch their broods as planned.

  The Admiralty might have ordered just a raid but he had his own ideas on what entitled a raid. And Commander Coglin's people had heartily agreed with him.

  <()>^<()>

  Commander Coglin flicked his ears but tried to remain stoic as his wing performed a magnum launch. The Neocheetah was excited like the rest of his pilots but couldn't show it. He shouldn't be excited; he was about to spend a lot of time in a suit in the tight confines of his cockpit. Days, in the cockpit, quite possibly dying in the cockpit.

  That would suck, he thought, and not just
because he might run out of life support. He checked the status board and nodded. They'd been prepped for the magnum launch, and things were going smoothly. No last-minute down gripes or other issues. The two other CEVs, Admiral Archer and Admiral Nagumo, reported a clean launch too.

  His attention turned to the big picture. It looked like things were falling into place just as he'd hoped. And he was about to play a big role in what was to come. That was cool.

  <()>^<()>

  The entire scenario made Ishmael wary. He continued to wonder why the navy was courting battle with inferior numbers and fire power. It was not normal; in fact, it went contrary to everything in the book.

  He had thirty-nine warships to their eight. Eight warships of which three were heavy cruisers and five were tin cans. He knew she had more than that. Something else was going on here; he just wasn't seeing it.

  He ordered the freighters to get loaded and prepare to run. He wasn't surprised when a few hours later he was told they were already doing that and some ships were already running.

  “I think they are jumping the gun,” he said with a shake of his head. “Comm, remind them of the enemy numbers. Let's not panic and get ahead of ourselves here.”

  <()>^<()>

  Captain Dab got the news and went to her command center in time to see most of her staff already trying to do something. “Oh sure, now he tells us to run. Like we can load that thing in a couple of hours?!?” Captain Black snarled. “That gantry ship took us weeks to get the factory ship set in her!”

  “Do what you can with what we've got,” Captain Dab replied firmly. “At least he finally gave us the go ahead. Not that I was willing to wait for much longer,” she said. “What can we do about the factory module?”

  “That's the big one,” the captain sighed. “I've got work parties pulling gear off the slips. We can look into building new ones later if there is a later. But some of that hardware is irreplaceable.”