Blockade

by Chris Hechtl

  He had created an increasingly difficult force for Voyager to handle until he found a breaking point. Now that he had one in mind, he cut orders for Voyager to not engage anything larger in mass than herself nor more than five ships of destroyer class or smaller at the same time. And only one of her own class. If anything came in larger, he had cut strict orders for Captain Janeway to run silent and stalk them or to run and let them chase her into the engagement zone of Shredder's wing.

  She was free to engage any privateer or other ship. If she couldn't disable them, she was to drive them into the inner star system and the arms of the other ships.

  He had just finished the wording of the order and logged it when CIC reported an unexpected arrival at the Bd1r17 jump point.

  -~~~///^\~~~-

  Captain Misipeka wasn't the only one to sigh in relief at the sight of Sicily's IFF. So, for whatever reason the carrier and her consorts were still there. That was a relief. He had delayed his departure from Bd1r17 to see if the enemy would follow and if the carrier would arrive. He had been worried about the carrier force encountering the enemy force unprepared. There had been no sign of their return though, so he'd finally given in and jumped.

  He knew he was going to catch flack over Finagle. And by rights he could have and should have detached a cruiser with the news to New Horizon. But he'd figured “in for a penny, in for a pound” so he'd kept his force concentrated.

  "Comm, warm up the tachyon transceiver and let them know we've got company coming soon. Then send our logs."

  "Aye aye, sir."

  -~~~///^\~~~-

  The eight IFFs of the Winterspell CruRon immediately told Firefly something was wrong and trouble was brewing. He sent a signal to the Admiralty through the ansible just as they received a ping from Winterspell's tachyon transmission.

  It took a full minute to download the short report from Captain Misipeka due to the long distance involved and the redundancy to assure proper reception. It was indeed a warning of trouble coming behind them.

  Captain Firefly moved a copy of the report into his memory and examined it carefully. He was now glad he had kept Sicily. He would now need her and her wing to work with his other forces to take the enemy down.

  He accessed his strategic planning archives and found several plans that were similar to the current force mix of each side. He reset the timer of the system plot, then the numbers and locations of the ships and then uploaded the simulations into the tactical computers for proper processing. Guns would of course want to see the results.

  -~~~///^\~~~-

  That's a tough nut to crack," Shredder's Captain Lessa Galvin said as the captains got together for a conference four days later. "I'm not saying we can't take them; I'm just not thrilled about the mass involved."

  "Especially on the other side," Captain Kenji Wong of Dunatis said in agreement.

  "I think we can take them. I had to follow orders though and withdraw," Captain Misipeka stated.

  "You were correct there. In other matters we'll discuss your choice of decisions in private later," Captain Firefly stated. A few of the other captains chimed in with support. There was never any chance that they'd want to just let the enemy pass by.

  "How do we handle this, sir?" Captain Janeway asked. "Do we run them off?"

  "I plan to stop them cold," Captain Firefly stated.

  "If they see us, they might run," Captain Wong warned. "I doubt they'd be afraid of Dunatis, but the carriers would probably spook them."

  "We're going to keep them under wraps. I have run several simulations, and my tactical department has refined my plan. I'm going to release it to each of you to go over," Firefly stated. "We're going to have to play this just right. That means using the prize ships as cheese and the Winterspell CruRon as ineffective and ready to run."

  Captain Misipeka sputtered.

  "I can't wait to see the rest of this plan," Captain Galvin said with a grin in her voice.

  "The carrier wings will take the bulk of the primary attack force. I expect the enemy to run when they see them. We'll stage the fighters from the other ships through your carriers to supplement your forces …"

  -~~~///^\~~~-

  Captain Misipeka fully expected to be called out on revealing Bek. He wasn't disappointed either. He hadn't tried to hide it or bury it. In fact he'd drawn attention to it in his report.

  What he hadn't expected was to be called out on the carpet by none other than Admiral Irons through the ansible with Captain Firefly in for good measure.

  "Sir!"

  "Can it. I read your report, all of it. You do realize you provided intelligence to the enemy?" Admiral Irons demanded.

  Jed grimaced. He hadn't anticipated the level of heat rounds coming his way. Ever since he'd gotten into New Horizon, he'd been catching up on events. Things were not going well for Bek or the Admiralty publicly. But he'd anticipated the attack the moment he'd opened his mouth in Finagle. "If you want to level the charge, sir, do so. I took a calculated risk. I needed to hook them. I needed something solid and convincing enough that any voice stress analysis would tell them I'm telling the truth. I admit, I also wanted to scare the piss out of them. And I wanted to give White Knight his shot."

  "A chance that didn't pan out obviously."

  "No. And that sucks."

  "And the information you provided?"

  "If I may, sir, I'd like to point out a few things."

  "And they are?"

  "Well, one, Bek is not on any map, nor in the Encyclopedia Galactica. Two, the pirates have been up and down and sideways all over this sector and every other one by now. So, if someone mentions an unknown star system, how likely are you to believe them?"

  "Point. Points plural," Captain Firefly acknowledged.

  "I'm not done, sir. I added the bits about battle moons deliberately to emphasize that. Without anything to substantiate what I said, they won't know if it is true. Knowing the construction rate of a battle moon, they will most likely laugh it off as propaganda and disregard it."

  "A calculated risk," Firefly stated.

  "We organics tend to use them from time to time too, sir," the captain stated.

  "It's still giving the enemy information. Information I'd rather they didn't have," Admiral Irons stated.

  "Yes, sir. Passing on the POW list is or should be SOP. And I needed a method of allowing my A.I. to pass on the viral packs. It didn't work though," Jed stated. He grimaced. "I admit, sir, I had gambled on the cyber-attack working or at least damaging the enemy's records."

  "Plan for victory and defeat," Captain Firefly stated. "It was, however, a worthy goal."

  Admiral Irons image stared at him. Finally he spoke. "You can make your arguments in court later. I won't relieve you; that's up to Captain Firefly at the moment. For the time being, you have a job to do stopping that force."

  "If they continue to march south, sir."

  "I think it behooves you and all of us for someone to find out. Soon."

  "Aye aye, sir. I am already planning on their arrival," Captain Firefly stated.

  "Good. Keep me posted. I want them stopped cold."

  "That is my intention, sir. With Winterspell's CruRon on hand, I am fairly certain we can bait them into coming into the trap."

  "Good. If you have to run them down, do so. I don't want any of those ships getting away," Admiral Irons said before he signed off.

  Chapter 30

  Admiral Quartermain's flotilla arrived at the outer edge of the Bd1r17 jump point in an almost perfect diamond formation. The twelve ships were arrayed with the four battle cruisers at the center in a X-Z diamond. A hundred thousand kilometers out the four heavy cruisers were stacked vertically in a Z-Y formation, and the four light cruisers were out from them in another X-Z diamond two hundred thousand kilometers out covering the flanks.

  "Remain at battle stations until we've got a solid sensor sweep of the star system. Engineering, I want any excess power feeding our hyper capacitors i
n case we need a fast getaway," the admiral ordered.

  A series of aye ayes answered his orders.

  The admiral frowned. He had brought his people in high and near the outer edge to make sure that he wasn't in any kill basket. He had heard about too many ambushes and didn't want his command to fall to the same fate.

  So far so good though. As the ships cleared their hyper wakes, their sensors began to get clearer readings further and further out. His second greatest fear was that he'd drop out near an enemy ambush force. After all, if he was in charge of such an ambush, he would have placed them behind and above and below the enemy's projected arrival point to hit them.

  But again, it was quiet.

  "We're getting some neutrino readings in the inner star system near the planet's second moon. It looks like a cluster of ships. We can't sort them out at this range and resolution, sir," CIC reported.

  The admiral glanced at the plot and pursed his lips thoughtfully. After a moment he nodded. "Keep me posted and do better."

  "Aye aye, sir."

  -~~~///^\~~~-

  Captain Misipeka stroked the armrests of his chair as the plot was updated with the arrival of the enemy force. So, they had followed him.

  Interesting he thought. How far were they willing to go? Had they resupplied in Finagle?

  "Sir, reaction?"

  "Go with Alpha One," the captain ordered. In the absence of orders from the flagship, he stuck to the basic plan. "Here we go."

  -~~~///^\~~~-

  "Recon platforms near the jump point are giving us a feed now, sir," the communications tech reported.

  "I see it," Captain Firefly stated.

  "Oh, um, yes, sir. Sorry."

  "You are following protocol. Continue to do so," the A.I. stated as he quickly moved a copy of the data into his own memory. The enemy had come in high and near the outer edge of the jump point. He'd been tempted to arrange an ambush there but was now glad he hadn't. The carriers would have been near that point and would have been vulnerable. Also, the enemy could have run.

  No, for this to work they had to get them to come in closer, trapping themselves in the confines of the inner star system.

  "Sir, Winterspell has activated Alpha One," the same tech reported.

  He accessed the information. "Very good."

  -~~~///^\~~~-

  The admiral frowned thoughtfully when his staff only reported the sighting of the cluster of what had to be prize ships and the cruisers near them. He couldn't help but briefly wonder if Silver Tongue Devil or Trembling Timmy were among them. Are any of the crew still alive? He shook himself gently. No, not Silver Tongue Devil. According to the courier report, the cruiser had paid in blood sacrifice to let the courier escape B-88r. If anyone had survived, the Feds had most likely already shipped them home.

  That most likely included his cousin's son, Ford.

  He couldn't help but be drawn in to rescue prize ships. There had to be dozens of lords and families there, which meant rewards beyond measure. He even had a wild daydream of rescuing them and then escorting the ships into Sigma and screwing Horath and his mission.

  First things first.

  "Deploy recon drones. We need to know more about what we're up against. I can't believe there are just the cruisers we encountered in Finagle here. They had to have had some sort of picket here too. Keep our eyes peeled."

  His chief of staff nodded and then began to issue the orders.

  -~~~///^\~~~-

  Captain Firefly noted that the enemy was remaining near the Bd1r17 jump point. They had yet to take the bait. When the TACO commented on it, he appeared on the bridge. "Don't worry about it. You organics take a little longer to process things than A.I. do. He's being cautious."

  Commander Wasabi Tashiro blinked. "Aye aye, sir."

  "Should we try to entice him more, sir?" The ATO asked.

  "How so?" the A.I. captain asked.

  "If we make it look like we're going to destroy the ships …"

  "We're not going to scuttle them. Tempting but no."

  "I meant if we make it appear as if we're prepared to do so they might move."

  "They must know that they are too far out to affect any attempt at scuttling ships. And killing helpless POWs isn't in our nature," Commander Tashiro stated.

  "Oh, point, sorry, sir," Lieutenant Commander Claudia Sloan said.

  "Don't stop having ideas. Just think them through a bit," Captain Firefly stated as he disappeared.

  Commander Tashiro looked at Claudia, shrugged, and then went back to his duties. After a moment she did too.

  -~~~///^\~~~-

  Captain Misipeka grimaced. The Alpha One plan was for his squadron to remain with the pickets and move shuttles as if they are moving people off the prize ships in an orderly evacuation. No doubt due to the distances involved the enemy couldn't see the shuttles. But the hidden recon drones near the jump point had reported the enemy had launched their own recon drones to probe the inner star system. That was fine.

  Would they attempt to make contact with the planet? He wasn't certain.

  -~~~///^\~~~-

  Six hours after their arrival, Admiral Quartermain had a better idea of what was going on in the inner star system.

  One enemy tin can of an unknown class had been spotted racing in from the Hinata jump point. She was headed to the Bf996 jump point. Two other tin cans of an unknown type were with the enemy CruRon near the picket ships. No doubt they had been serving as a picket in the star system. There were sixty-three prize ships and what appeared to be an orderly evacuation going on. That told him the enemy had manned some sort of skeleton watch on each ship.

  It also left the question of what they were doing with the people who had been on the ships. Were they evacuating them too? A warship's life support could handle a lot, but where were they putting them all? Why not take one or more of the ships with them? Something didn't add up.

  "Sir, we are estimating we've got another six hours before they manage to complete their evacuation. What do we do?"

  "We're not going to head directly for them," the admiral stated. He frowned, pursing his lips thoughtfully as he examined the stellar plot. "Nav," he turned to the navigator. "I want two plots, no, make it three. One to the prize ships. Another to the Bf996 jump point."

  "And the third, sir?"

  "I want a way to skip if we can."

  "Sir?"

  "You heard me. I want to skip to the Bf996 jump point or that vicinity if we can."

  The navigator blinked uncertainly and then frowned.

  "Can you do it?"

  "I don't know, sir. I know we won't hold formation. And I know that it’s highly dangerous. Let me run the numbers and get back to you."

  "Understood. Get on it."

  "Aye aye, sir."

  The admiral turned to his staff tactical officer. "Given that, come up with a plan for a running engagement. If we can get some speed on them and get ahead of them, I want to pin them down and trap them. Something tells me that the moment we move, they'll be forced to fish or cut bait."

  He scowled and turned back to the navigator. "Factor in how long it will take them to get to the Bf996 jump point. I want a running course update and a window for how long it would take them to get there versus us."

  "Understood, sir."

  "That's the window we need to know," the admiral said, turning back to the commander. The commander nodded. "Once we move the pressure will be on them to wrap it up and run."

  "Then shouldn't we do that now, sir?"

  "I want to know if we can skip," the admiral stated. He glanced at the navigator. The screen above the lieutenant showed a feed with dead plots. "It doesn't look too promising though."

  "No, sir," the commander said turning slowly to the plot and then back to the admiral. "Given that the jump point is on the other side of the primary, I don't see how we can pull it off."

  "If we had water dwellers as I'd wanted, we might have been able to do it. I
understand Irons did it with a single Ssilli," Admiral Quartermain grumbled. "I knew I should have held out for at least one," he said.

  The commander blinked but said nothing.

  The admiral turned back to the navigator. "Stop wasting time on the skip. Focus on the fastest course to the Bf996 jump point and the window of opportunity we have."

  "Aye aye, sir. Running the numbers and plot now."

  "Good. Get it done quickly," he said as he turned back to the commander. "This just turned into an old-fashioned horse race."

  -~~~///^\~~~-

  Getting underway right away made the enemy cruisers suddenly scramble. He was no doubt driving the Feds off of the prize ships before they had planned, thus forcing them to cut their losses and run. As he watched an hour later, the plot lit up as their neutrino signatures began to move. It took a minute for CIC to get enough of a reading for the navigational department to plot a projected course.

  Twenty-three of the prize ships were going with the CruRon. As expected, it was to the Bf996 jump point. The addition of the prize ships meant they were slower than they should be though. It meant it was a race his people might be able to win.

  He rubbed his jaw thoughtfully. "I don't like it; it's too easy."

  "I know, sir. It's spooky how they are falling back. They aren't targeting the prize ships either," Commander Jaffa stated.

  "They no doubt still have civilians on them. They couldn't have gotten them all off and stuffed into their ships. That means they won't want to harm them."

  "Sir?"

  The admiral turned to his staff tactical officer. "The Feds are a bit more squeamish than we are."

  "Oh, yes, right, sir," she said with a nod.