“Let’s get them to the mess hall and have Med-Bot meet us there,” he ordered.
“What about Specialist Thach?” Pitt asked.
“Read him his rights again and log it into the ship’s records. Lock him in an unused room, not his quarters. Also, have someone bring him food and water. After we are done treating the Blues have Med-Bot check him out,” Mike directed and added, “he is restricted to his new quarters until we can turn him over for trial.”
“Aye sir,” Jeremy replied thinking that Duffey Thach had the same chance as they all did to clear their names and their records but instead he just blew it. With such charges against him the little man could be in the brig for the next twenty years.
“What about us, sir?” PO2 Ditz inquired anxious to get back to his engineering team and to the work they needed to do.
“We’ll take care of the Blues first and then try to get back there within the next hour,” he said.
PO2 Ditz frowned but then nodded knowing that they had their hands full and that the captain was the only one who spoke Karduan.
“Sir, what if we download the ship’s translation program to our palm pads and then anyone can speak to the Blues without you being present?” Ditz suggested the idea just popping into his head.
Mike smiled, “Good idea, I’ll check with Specialist Ryan and see if that is doable.”
An hour later, they had the Karduans treated and assigned quarters. Med-Bot was almost useless as it was programmed for humans. Even some of the supplies from their first aid kits were not very helpful. Collins remembered that their stolen shuttle had a standard Karduan medical kit and sent one of his crew to retrieve it. Once the kit arrived one of the Karduans stepped up and took the kit saying that he knew what to do. Mike nodded and declared him as the Blues’ medic.
Mike headed back to the destroyer with a much longer laundry list and a larger boarding party. He had six Karduans and six more human crewmen with him. Ryan had managed to download their ship’s Karduan translation program to their palm pads. It took a few seconds to work but everyone seemed to understand one another.
The Chief had been busy, having reached the turret and finding that it was still operational. He had reported that things were going well and that they wouldn’t need any additional help for a while.
When Collins and his boarding arrived, he broke them into two groups. One group would raid the galley for any non-perishable Karduan foods. They would then head to the male barrack on this level to recover clothes, personal items and bedding.
The second group was to head into the machine shop with PO2 Ditz and see what they could use. They found that the Karduan ship had a digital parts copier that looked just like a Confederation model. It was a good knock off but was programmed for Karduan ship parts. Collins said to take it anyway and Ditz got busy. Surprisingly, the Blues didn’t need to be told what to do and jumped right in to help.
Mike had them transfer the supplies to the shuttle and once it was packed he headed back to get it unloaded. When he got back he found one of his mixed teams had gone to help the Chief with the turret as he finally needed a few more hands. The remaining team was put on first aid kit and space suit retrieval. He realized that they didn’t have enough space suits and had hoped the Karduans had left some behind.
To his surprise, they brought back medical kits, space suits and weapons. It seemed that some of his men asked one of the Blues what was in a room they had passed and he told them it was a storage room for arms. His men brought back armloads of Karduan gauss rifles, along with ship pistols and sacks full of ammunition magazines. Mike didn’t have the heart to tell his salvage team that humans couldn’t fire Karduan weapons as they were gene locked. Instead, he had them load the weapons on the shuttle. There were several ways to get around the gene lock and maybe they could try them once they were back on route.
Having taken the supplies and his team back to the Goliad, he got the call that the shuttle was needed for the next leg of the operation. Returning to the lower airlock, he recovered PO2 Ditz, Wa-Ben and their team. He was informed that the turret was all but ready to be removed, they just had to bleed off the air pressure in the turret housing and then release it. Those Karduans without space suit were now given ones. They quickly put them on knowing that the suits would help in their survival.
Collins took the shuttle up to the turret where he landed next to it and the two repair droids. Giving the signal, the turret final moorings were released and the droids took hold and guided it to the shuttle. PO2 Ditz moved out from the shuttle to help them with the turret. The particle turret was too big for the shuttle’s cargo bay so they attached tow lines to it.
Loading the repair droids as well as the Chief’s team, who had exited the destroyer through the turret’s open housing, they now headed back to the frigate. Mike vertically lifted the shuttle off the destroyer and turret came up after them. Moving back to the frigate they saw that the Goliad’s crew members who had stayed behind had already cleared the old turret from its housing. A sharp-eyed individual could even spot it floating away in the distance.
Chief Schmidt was right when he estimated the time it would take. After another four hours, the particle turret was mounted but not completely functional. Further adjustments would be taken care of in route to Austro Prime.
Mike wasn’t sad to leave the Garden System behind as the Goliad enter the gravity well and activated its repaired bender drives. The place had been a site of a harrowing fight with both the enemy and with the commander of the 34th Attack Fleet. He knew he would give a sigh of relief when he finally got to the Wolf’s Den and made contact with Admiral Hope and the Star Wolf.
Following the most direct line of bends he found that the systems they passed through were void of life and of ships. For the next four days, there was no sign of the 34th Attack Fleet or anyone else.
The crew of the frigate spent their time continuing to repair damage, routine maintenance and working to adjust the new particle turret. Mike also assigned the Blues to partner up with his human crewmen. Wa-Ben was most useful as a go-between and helped place the Karduan with humans who had similar jobs. The translation program was a little slow sometimes but it got the job done.
His human crew was not very happy at being paired up with people who had so recently been their enemy. Lt. Collins took care of that by having the Blues get up during the evening meals and tell them about their lives in Karduan Society. He acted as translator and encouraged them to tell everything about their experiences and sometimes would prompt them if they were reluctant. Wa-Ben realized what he was doing, got up and told of the harsh realities of life for a Karduan male and those of the lowest caste.
His human crew sat there in stunned silence their faces showing that they had no idea of life in Karduan society. Now they realized that the Karduan males and even females of the lower castes were nothing more than forced labors and slaves to their mistresses and to their House.
Mike stood up after this and spoke.
“Now you understand that we aren’t fighting just for our own survival and freedom but also for the freedom of Karduan slaves.”
After those dinnertime lectures things seemed to go better for his human crew. The Karduans were surprised at the level of trust and comradery among the humans and though they still disliked that humans smelled like meat from their diets, yet they thought it was something that they could get used to.
Reaching the bend before entering Austro Prime they tested the new turret and found that on its first firings it worked almost perfectly. The turret only had a slight feedback tremble even at a hundred percent power. Chief Schmidt didn’t smile at his hard work and success, instead he went right back to work adjusting the vibration dampeners. He was determined to have no feedback from the destroyer sized turret.
Mike ordered their final bend, polarizing their hull and entering the gravity well. Emerging from the bend they found themselves in the Austro System. Near the gravity well was a mi
nefield and three ships. The mines were new and he kind of remembered that Hope had suggested to them to repair the minesweeper, ISS Rebecca and mine the mouth of the gravity well.
“Three ships on the other side of the well, sir,” PO2 Curtis reported.
“Hail them,” Mike instructed.
“Aye sir,” Specialist Ryan replied.
“There are two system defense ships and a Battle Class frigate,” the maser operator announced.
“Sir, they are signaling that they are the ADS Shield, ADS Buckler and the ISS Surprise,” Ryan said and added, “The captain of Surprise wants to speak to you.”
“On main viewer,” Mike said looking up.
The person shown on the viewer was a familiar one and had once been one of Mike’s instructors at Harpers Academy.
“Is that you, Mister Collins?” Commander James Fenton asked looking across the monitor at his former pupil.
“Yes sir, it is and may I say it is good to see you,” Mike replied with a big and honest smile.
Commander Fenton was old being even older then Admiral Hope and had taught stellar navigation before the breakthrough. He had been thrown into an Austro prison and would have been handed over to the Kardies but the Wolf Squadron had shown up and threw a monkey wrench into their plans.
After the defeat of the Karduan fleet at the Second Battle of Austro Prime, the elderly commander was rescued along with thousands of other servicemen and women but the ordeal left him in ill health. The last Mike had heard, the old officer was on his deathbed in an Austro hospital and was slowly slipping away.
“It’s good to see you too young man,” he said smiling back.
Fenton’s face was a road map of wrinkles along with a few scars each one earned over the years of his vast life and long career. His hair was pure white but he looked to Mike to have recovered from his illness and had even thrived, having been given a new purpose to life along with a new task at hand.
“You’re the captain of the Surprise?”
“Yes, and I’m sure it is a surprise,” he said in jest forcing Mike to remember his past bad humor in class. “It seems when Hope left he took almost all of the Confederation naval officers with him. When I recovered from my sick bed, I was offered command of this frigate that is right after they put her back together again. It turns out that the Austro government was concerned that they had borrowed a Confederation ship and didn’t have a Confederation officer in charge of her.”
Mike nodded sure that the restored Austro Prime government would be careful not upset the Confederation especially after declaring themselves independent during the “Breakthrough” and then switching back again.
“Well, they couldn’t have a better officer, sir,” he said in earnest.
“Nonsense, they got what was left behind and they are happy for it but look at you, a full lieutenant and a captain of a frigate to boot! I always knew you’d do well,” he said with pride.
“Thank you, sir, but could you tell me where the 34th Attack Fleet is?” Collins inquired glancing at his tactical holo-map and seeing only defense ships and some merchant vessels in the system.
“What? The 34th hasn’t come through here,” the old bird informed looking a little confused.
“They were supposed to have been here days ago,” he replied making a face which said to all that he was not happy.
“Sorry Mike, but they haven’t arrived yet,” Fenton said, and then suggested, “Maybe they took an alternative bend route?”
“Have you seen the Star Wolf and Admiral Hope?”
“Admiral Hope! So, they finally made the old boy an admiral, well it is about time!” he exclaimed smiling broadly at his friend and comrade’s good fortune.
“Yes sir, but have you seen him?” he pressed concerned that the Admiral’s plan was in jeopardy.
“Not a hide nor hair of him,” Fenton replied.
“He is supposed to be here to meet up with the 34th Attack Fleet,” Mike commented.
“Hope could be just running late or maybe his plans have changed,” the elderly Commander suggested.
“Perhaps,” he agreed not liking that somehow, he was the first to arrive at the meeting point.
“What will you do?” his former teacher inquired.
“I’ll refuel and head to the Wolf’s Den to see if I can link up with them there or if Commodore Kirkland knows where they are,” he said thinking out loud as he spoke.
“Kirkland is a Commodore! Good for him, after all, he was an admiral when he was with the Austro Defense Force,” Commander Fenton said with a wide grin at his friend’s success.
“Yes, he deserves it just for getting the Wolf Squadron put back together and training all of her crews,” Mike agreed.
“I guess there’s no promotion waiting out there for me? You know just for still being alive,” he joked.
“No, but I’ll send you the latest orders and dispatches as well as any battle vids for your inspection,” he said knowing the commander would not only want the latest intelligence updates but also that he’d enjoy reading them.
“That’d be great and if you need anything just give us a shout,” he said with a nod.
“Thanks, sir, out here,” Mike said signaling to end the transmission.
Three hours later found the ISS Goliad refueled and heading into the gravity well. Back when they had first stolen the Star Wolf, the attack cruiser had made the bend to the system now called the Wolf’s Den in one bend cycle. The Goliad on the other hand still had its original Bender drives which had been repaired twice since Mike took command of her. For the old Battle Class frigate, it would take two bend cycles of her old engines to get there.
The next system was like most star systems, a minor star orbited by rocky planets with frozen and gaseous ones further out from its sun. It had no habitable planets or Class M worlds and there was nothing of value in the systems that would have given anyone a reason to set up a colony or mining operation.
They entered the system as per Confederation SOP or standard operating procedures. In other words, they came in at battle stations and ready for a fight. It was really the only time you could be totally surprised as you were coming in blind. Once you were in a system you always had plenty of reaction time as distances were great and it took hours to get from one place to another. Entering from a bend gave you mere seconds to react if the danger was near.
“Detecting an enemy vessel, directly ahead,” PO2 Curtis announced.
“Locking weapons,” Baker said from the fire control station.
“Should we hail them?” Specialist Ryan asked.
Mike regretted not having the current Karduan identification codes. If he had he might have been able to trick the enemy with one of his Blue female crew members operating the comm. system. Then again this might be a captured Confederation ship yet without a ship transponder code there was no way to tell until someone signals.
The Karduan sloop closed on them whether it was to fight or run by them was unsure but it was probably both.
“OK, hail them but be ready to fire,” Mike ordered.
“Sending hail,” Ryan informed.
A second later the Goliad rocked from a particle weapon’s hit.
“Return fire, show them what a real particle turret can do,” he said.
“Aye, firing,” PO2 Baker called out.
“Sir, they’re at their particle range and are closing to their fusion range,” the maser station operator said.
“Full impulse, close to our fusion range, standby standard torpedoes, no missiles yet,” he ordered trying to save his weapons that were not easily renewable.
“Hit to her forward plating,” Cindy Baker said as the ship rocked from a return fire.
“Hit near our particle turret,” Ensign Pitt called out letting them know what the Kardies were aiming at.
“Entering fusion range,” PO2 Curtis said.
“Good! Now knock out her forward turrets,” Collins ordered not wanting to have his ne
w turret damaged again.
The Goliad’s particle turret and two fusion turrets continued to fire quickly silencing the Vanguard sloops guns and causing multiple hull ruptures to her forward compartments but the sleek fast ship continued onward trying to get by the frigate.
“Call for them to surrender,” Mike instructed.
“Is she trying to ram us?” Pitt asked seeing the sloop coming straight at them.
“No, they want to get to the gravity well,” their captain answered.
“Probably to escape and get help,” PO2 Curtis.
That thought made Mike wonder for a moment.
“Hits to their bridge and several more hull breaches,” Baker reported as the sloop started to resemble surface of a pockmarked moon.
“She’s still coming,” Pitt called out.
“Her engines are still at full impulse,” Petty Officer Curtis said from the sensors station.
“Negative-Z two hundred and then perform a 180-degree thruster turn,” Mike commanded.
“Aye sir,” Jeremy answered.
“Cindy, keep hitting them,” Collins said just as a part of the sloop’s bow was blown off by a particle hit.
The frigate dropped off the line of attack and then spun around as the sloop passed overhead. The front of the ship was no more but her powerful impulse drive kept her going though she had now veered off of her original course.
“Why doesn’t it blow up?” Specialist Ryan wondered out loud.
“Ask them to surrender,” Mike said unsure if most of the crew wasn’t already dead.
“No response,” Ryan replied shaking his head.
“Take out her engines,” he ordered as they came about.
All three forward energy turrets fired simultaneously.
“Direct hit!” PO2 Baker yelled with a little shout of joy.
A moment later the Vanguard sloop exploded, showering the space around her with debris and chunks of hull plating.
“Back us off and put some distance between us,” Mike ordered shaking his head at the waste of it all. The upgraded engines and turrets of the old frigate combined with her heavy armor made this fight not only unsurprising but unwinnable for the damaged Karduan sloop.
Wolves at the Gate Page 33
