Smoke on the Wind

by Sean Benjamin

  “All ships, line up single file in front of the flagship! Stagger the line to allow for fields of fire!”

  Pervak was sacrificing his wounded ship as his last command act. The other ships would get in line ahead of the battlecruiser and then offset slightly to engage the incoming barrage. The Zeke missiles would hit the last ship in line and then have to work forward through each single ship. Hopefully, the missile onslaught would be fought off before getting all their targets. It was a long shot at best, but it at least gave a glimmer of hope.

  There were fourteen ships running away at maximum speed. The battlecruiser Diet, two light cruisers, a heavy cruiser, and a destroyer were mortally wounded or destroyed and had been left behind. The initial pirate barrage, augmented by the Zekes, had scored well. Pervak ordered his flagship to maintain speed at all costs. If she slowed down, the ships in front of her would also have to slow down to take full advantage of her cover and that would not do. Each ship offset slightly and continued to put out missiles, gun rounds and lasers in an attempt to ward off the continuing Zeke attack.

  The Zeke warships not covering the freighters had been maintaining a continuous offensive bombardment on the enemy. The five warships protecting the freighters had gone defensive only briefly and the four remaining warships immediately switched back to the offense. Admiral Barrett saw his chance, and he was not going to let it slip away. He knew the second round of pirate missiles would be the decisive blow but had maintained his firing during the two-minute interval between pirate broadsides to keep the enemy from going offensive and to deplete the enemy defenses. His losses were nine floaters out of action, hits on several floating harbor structures, the repair docks, and the loss of one missile battery on Little Drifter. There was also the damaged destroyer and minor hits on all his other ships. He was determined to keep the enemy on the defensive to ensure his losses were kept to a minimum.

  “Move out,” he ordered over the command net. His flagship and the two heavy cruisers in the repair docks slowly pushed away from their berths and headed toward the enemy. They were joined by the lone destroyer from Little Drifter. Four of the five ships guarding the freighters pushed forward also. Windlass was still adrift but had emergency power online. The Zeke ships chased the departing OrCons while continuing to put out offensive missiles. Barrett saw the single file formation assumed by his enemy. He knew it was a desperate act, but it might allow for a few enemy ships to escape, and he couldn’t have that. He would run after the survivors to keep them in range as long as possible. He briefly considered bringing the five pirate freighters along but decided against it. He didn’t want to risk a lucky hit on a missile boat, and they could fire a third full salvo from their current position, if needed.

  Admiral Pervak watched the Zeke ships depart their stations in pursuit of his force. He understood the maneuver. If any of his ships survived the second pirate missile wave, the Zekes would pursue and finish them off. Pervak sighed inwardly. It had been a well-executed ambush. As with all good traps, this one had been well hidden and then sprung with a fast and ruthless efficiency. He had to admire it from a strictly military point of view. The explosions of the booby-trapped derelicts broke down his defense, and the pirate freighters provided fire superiority. He had fallen for it. This was his responsibility and his failure. He hoped a couple of his ships would get away. He had a sinking feeling that would not happen.

  There was still a continuous stream of incoming missiles from the Zeke ships. The Orion force was fighting them off with little difficulty, but with the need to engage these close-in Zeke ship missiles, the OrCons could not engage the incoming pirate barrage while it was closing on them. All the Orion bridge crews could see the tidal wave coming, and they knew it would engulf most, if not all, of them. Not being able to immediately engage that wave as far out as possible and cut the numbers down as the assault closed on them left the OrCons at a distinct disadvantage.

  Everyone on the flag bridge of Bundestag silently watched the incoming missiles. Pervak checked the timing and saw impact in seventy-one seconds. He keyed up ship-wide comm and issued an order he never thought he would give, at least not before it was absolutely necessary. “All personnel, lock down the controls and abandon ship.”

  The flag bridge crew turned and stared at him. He responded by motioning toward the hatches leading back to amidships where several escape pods were positioned. People started to move to the hatches, but Pervak never left his chair.

  ~ ~ ~

  Leaving behind the damaged Windlass, Admiral Barrett moved his remaining eight ships in the trail of the running OrCons. He was confident the closing pirate volley would do most of the job for him, but he was not letting a single ship get away. He would pursue until he had all the enemy ships destroyed or captured. His ships continued to pound at the enemy while he watched the pirate attack close on their targets. Forty seconds from impact was the first time the OrCons engaged the pirate barrage. They would take hits from Zeke missiles as a result of switching their defense, but they couldn’t afford to ignore the pirate threat any longer. Barrett had had his ships target the lead OrCon ships as he knew the pirate missiles would lock on to the rear ships. Ten missiles hit the first ship, a Lodnyy class destroyer, and the last two projectiles got through the depleted shields and hit the hull. Four seconds later, a second round of missiles hit the same ship and explosions destroyed the rear of the vessel. The ships slewed sideways and slowed. The ships behind her quickly passed by. Zeke missiles now hit the rear shields of the new lead ship, a light cruiser. It would only be a matter of time.

  The Orion forty-second engagement of the pirate missiles reduced the numbers slightly but not nearly enough. Bundestag took fourteen hits on her rear shields before the fifteenth missile hit the hull. That missile was followed by ten more in rapid succession as escape pods streamed off of the battlecruiser. Explosions began at the hull and worked their way into the ship. The battlecruiser rocked as her innards were blown out. She tumbled out of line as she shattered in slow motion. Escape pods just launched were caught in the tumbling maelstrom and destroyed.

  Pirate missiles sped by the dying flagship and impacted the rear of a heavy cruiser. The process repeated itself and soon the cruiser was dead in space and tossing out pods. Missiles continued to search for targets. Less than one hundred pirate projectiles were left, but they found two more destroyers at the rear of the column. The two warships were soon adrift and putting out pods. The last dozen missiles hit another destroyer and occupied her defenses as Zeke missiles worked their way to her. Zeke missiles continued to whittle down the enemy column from its front. There were eight enemy ships left, four destroyers, two heavy cruisers and two light cruisers. With eight Zeke warships in pursuit, it seemed like an equal match. It was not. The Zekes were led by a battlecruiser and none of their ships had sufficient damage. All the OrCon ships, except two destroyers, were damaged by the exploding derelict freighters so had reduced shields and no forward missile batteries. Admiral Barrett was in no hurry. He targeted one ship at a time and all weapons were used against that single target. The OrCons could not go on the offensive as all their weapons were needed defensively. The running fight continued for almost an hour before all the Orion warships were destroyed or immobilized.

  The task of collecting the OrCon escape pods now began. The pirate freighters were brought forward to assist. Once the enemy prisoners were returned to Wanderlust, Admiral Barrett split his forces. The two heavy cruisers were barely operational and, under normal circumstances, would never have been pressed into service. They now returned to the repair docks for further work. Windlass was also moved into the repair docks by a yard tug. Although Barrett thought Wanderlust was safe for the moment, he left a light cruiser and destroyer at the base. The remaining ships were replenished with ordnance. The battlecruiser, one light cruiser, two destroyers, and the five pirate missile boats moved out in the direction of the border. Six hours into their flight, they were joined by the light cruiser
Percheron and the four destroyers originally sent back as a decoy by Captain Wilson. They were intending to arrive at Wanderlust in time for that fight but would now have to settle for a fight at the border.

  Chapter 37

  Raferty Hawkins and the battle staff in Typhoon sat around the briefing table on the flag bridge. The projection over the table showed five formations of ships slowly converging at a point near the border. Admiral Kasyanov’s unit of fifty-two ships was moving along the border and would be in position to provide a blocking force in front of the Typhoon armada. The light cruiser Appaloosa was still trailing the OrCons and providing position reports.

  The Typhoon group of sixty-five warships raced for the border and home. An engagement with Kasyanov’s ships was a foregone conclusion. The OrCons would have to accept battle at a disadvantage or not at all. The battle staff was convinced they would fight. The OrCons couldn’t let the Royal Navy score two victories deep in Orion space and return home virtually unscathed and unchallenged. The staff also knew the OrCons knew their position and numbers. The three trailing Orion warships would be reporting that.

  The second Orion force composed of forty-four vessels, under the command of Admiral Dudnik, was now four hours behind Typhoon. They were gradually falling further behind the slightly faster Zeke ships, but Dudnik had hopes that the upcoming battle would delay the fleeing Zekes long enough for him to close the gap and at least get into long missile range. Dudnik knew the Zekes would have a fair idea where he was and would not be worried about him given the current tactical conditions. He hoped Kasyanov would be able to change that. Perhaps he would be able to pick off wounded stragglers after the battle. Hell, he might even pursue the survivors all the way to Wanderlust. He knew what was going to happen to Kasyanov’s force and was determined that their sacrifice would not be in vain.

  Far out to the starboard side of both forces were Wilson’s raiders. He had been abeam of Dudnik’s ships when Dudnik had started back from the Metal Moon but had been gradually pulling ahead over the last two days. He had set up a course that was not quite parallel to the two major forces and was now gradually cutting down the distance between his destroyers and Dudnik and Hawkins. Wilson and O’Hare had been monitoring all message traffic and were well aware of the tactical situation. The upcoming fight would not be a surprise to anyone. The two destroyer commanders also knew their location was unknown to the OrCons, and they might be able to spring a surprise on the them.

  The fifth and final task force was Admiral Barrett’s small flotilla. Despite having only fourteen ships, the five pirate freighters gave him considerable firepower. His ships were heading toward the border from Wanderlust. Barrett also knew the tactical situation from message traffic, and he was determined to support Hawkins. He reported the victory at Wanderlust and his intention of moving to the border. There were no ships actively tracking Barrett, but the spy ship Prizrak had been in subspace near Wanderlust so had heard the Wanderlust battle and, later, surfaced and reported the defeat to Orion forces. Her report also told of ships departing Wanderlust in the direction of the border.

  Hawkins reviewed the tactical setup for the umpteenth time. He knew they would win the upcoming fight that would happen at the border. God may not always be on the side of the bigger battalions and the bigger fleets, but that was the way the smart money bet, and Raferty was quite okay with that. He had the bigger fleet and would gladly accept battle. He looked at the numbers floating in the air around the tactical setup. The first OrCon fleet would arrive at the location where Hawkins intended to cross the border ninety minutes before he would get there. Assuming they would take up a defensive position in front of him, that meant they had one hour to prepare before Hawkins would be in missile range. With Appaloosa providing continuous reports, the OrCons won’t be able to set up anything sneaky in that short amount of time. This should be a straight forward fight.

  Hawkins knew Barrett and his force would get in position to provide some fire support for the battle. It would be tricky as Barrett was coming from the other side of the border so the OrCon force will be between him and Hawkins. It would be nice forcing the OrCons to defend fire coming in from two directions, but the small number of Royal Navy ships might tempt the OrCons to rush Barrett’s squadron. The slow speed of the freighters would preclude Barrett from retreating away from such an attack. He could retreat to draw out the time it would take the OrCons to run him down, but they would eventually do it. Once committed to the fight, Barrett would not be able to disengage. Hawkins had to consider that the OrCons would make a suicidal rush at Barrett just to get the missile boats and salvage something from this situation. He thought it likely.

  Hawkins addressed the group. “Make sure we pose the bigger threat to the OrCons before Admiral Barrett gets on their sensors. I know the OrCons probably will go after him when they do get him on sensors, but we have to extract a price from them for that privilege, so we need to be heavily engaged before then.” He paused, and the staff nodded. Hawkins could have won this battle without the freighters, but the broadsides from those five ships would save many lives so he decided to use them. Besides, he couldn’t risk all his Royal Navy ships while key pirate ships stayed at Wanderlust. That wouldn’t do. No, they were all in this together. He also knew he would have a hard time looking Barrett in the face if he ordered him to remain safely outside the battle. No, he would use the missile boats.

  Tactical said, “Given the Orion ship data streams and their damn spy ship, it is safe to assume they know all about the Wanderlust fight and Barrett’s force departing Wanderlust, so there will be no sneaking up on the OrCons by pretending to be a merchant convoy or something like that. They will know exactly who he is when he hits their sensors.”

  Hawkins nodded. “As soon as the battle is joined, we will continue to close on the enemy. We need to do that anyway to keep our pursuers from climbing up our ass. We get bogged down in a static fight, then we will be the ones taking fire from two directions.” He stopped and then asked, “Is the timing going to work out for using Barrett like we want?”

  Captain Bond said, “It is good now, so let’s hope nothing changes in the next twenty-three hours. Our followers are four hours behind us now. We will gain almost an hour over the next twenty-three hours so will have five hours on them when the battle starts. That should give us a little breathing room.”

  Hawkins nodded and then glanced at the floating tac display as he addressed the staff. “Tell me what you all came up with.”

  Chapter 38

  The opposing fleets continued to hold course over the next day. Kasyanov arrived at the border spot where the Typhoon group would cross and took up a defensive position. She was aware she was outnumbered and a small force with the pirate missile boats would be behind her as she faced Hawkins, but there was little else she could do. Letting the Zekes depart without a fight would end her career and be a disgrace to the navy. Kasyanov had commanded one of the Orion task forces at the Excandor battle. She remembered the second Zeke flotilla coming to the aid of the first group. It was hopeless and everyone, including the Zekes, knew it but they still came. She had understood it then, and she understood it now. Sometimes things had to be done regardless of the numbers or the probable outcome.

  She was in communication with Dudnik as he chased the Typhoon formation. She didn’t think he would get there in time, but he was making the effort. She would hold out for as long as she could. She had already told each of her ship captains that surrender was not to be considered. She set a battle line with her destroyers in front of her other ships. They would absorb the initial punishment as destroyers had done in every fleet action since destroyers were created. She would engage at maximum range and back away from the oncoming Zekes. She knew she would be moving toward the oncoming pirate missile boats, but that was okay. If there was an opportunity to engage them, she would. They wouldn’t want to stand toe to toe with her so would run. She hoped by moving away from the Zekes, the battle would b
e strung out, and Dudnik would arrive in time to help her. Maybe. And, maybe a pride of fire-breathing dragons would magically appear to help her out. Maybe.

  Chapter 39

  “Captain Wilson acknowledges his orders,” a comm officer near Tactical reported.

  “Very well,” replied Hawkins. He was now seated at an ops station while leaving Levant the flag command chair. Despite the relative locations of the chairs, there was no doubt who was in charge now. There were three Zeke forces coming together for one battle. Levant would command the Typhoon force, but there was only one person who was the overall commander.

  Hawkins eyed the floating screens around him. The Orion blocking force was one hour ahead. Assuming they held position, his force would be in missile range in thirty minutes. He thought it was possible they would fire at the edge of missile range and move back out of range of his replying volley. That would work for a short time as his force would be charging into the oncoming missiles while the OrCons were moving away from answering salvos. The faster Zeke ships would cut down the distance so the OrCons could not outrun their missiles. Also, the tactic would not help the pursuing Orion ships gain any time on their Zeke quarry, and it would move the Orion blocking force closer to Barrett.

  Hawkins knew there were several variables still in play, but that was always true in battle. He would deal with them as necessary. He leaned back in his chair and relaxed. All his doubts were gone. All concerns about relative cost, worthwhile goals, and long-term effects were irrelevant now. Battle was imminent, and he was totally committed to it. His task was simple: bring more weapons to bear on the enemy than they can defend and inflict damage at a critical time against critical targets. It really was simple and straightforward. But in war, simple was always hard, and it would be so again today. Hawkins was not deterred by that. He thought of Sky Mallory and the thousands like her who had given their all, not only at Excandor, but in hundreds of other fights, skirmishes, scuffles, and encounters. Despite the tactical stupidity, the waste in lives and material, and the idiot leaders, those people had stepped forward when it mattered most. Today was for them. Raferty allowed himself a small, bitter smile. Once they won, the media would cover it as a victory advancing the war effort just like the fighting at the Metal Moon and Rurik. Rafe knew this upcoming fight was different and advancing the war effort was only a nice byproduct. He was fighting this battle for revenge, pure and simple. It all worked out quite well as Hawkins and his band were in the revenge business, and nobody was better at it. His grim smile lingered.