His crew was happy at the easy victory but he was concerned. What was a sloop doing out here all alone and so close to the Austro Prime System?
“Damage report,” he said getting his people back to work.
“All enemy hits were to our forward armor plating,” Curtis reported.
Mike opened a channel to engineering, “Chief, what’s the status down there?”
“We’re all good and I’ve already put a damage control team and the repair droids on patching any hull damage,” he said having already anticipated his captain’s call.
“Great, how long?” Mike inquired.
“Two hours,” he said sounding confident.
“Good, and send Wa-Ben to the bridge, I need to talk to him,” Collins directed.
“Right, he is on his way,” Schmidty replied and closed the channel.
Mike once more sat there quietly waiting as his crew worked around him. He was contemplating his next move as well as the possible situations going on around them.
A few minutes later, Wa-Ben arrived at the bridge. His long-fingered hands and his clothes were both dirty and looked like he had been busy helping with repairs.
“Respected Captain,” he said in Karduan with a bow and then continued, “you summoned me?”
“Yes, what can you tell me about your last ship, the Destroyer KD54?” he inquired.
“We were on guard station for many long months. Then there was a large battle, our ship and another destroyer were ordered away by our Squadron Mistress,” he informed.
Mike knew all of this but needed him to tell his own story and didn’t interrupt him.
“What about after you and the other ship escaped?” he prompted.
“We heard that we were going back to our own space and that we were probably being chased by ships from the battle,” he said remembering how everyone was both glad to be heading home as well as being scared of the pursuing enemy.
“When did you meet up with the two other Karduan ships - the destroyer escort and the Vanguard scout ship?”
“When we got to the system where you found us, they were already there,” he explained.
“Do you know what their orders were or what they were doing there?” Mike casually asked.
“No orders, just that they were coming to retrieve our squadron from our guard station,” he answered.
“Do you know why?”
“We were told that the Grand Fleet Mistress needed us,” Wa-Ben said.
“Grand Fleet Mistress Pir-Ly of the House of Win?” Mike pressed trying to hold back his own apprehension for an answer.
“Yes,” the Blue male replied surprised that this human had such vast knowledge of Kardua.
“Do you know where you were supposed to meet her and her fleet?”
“No, that is knowledge that only our ship mistress would have,” he said with a smile thinking that his new captain was making fun of him.
“Of course,” Collins said forcing a smile of his own.
Wa-Ben just patiently stood there for a moment that turned into several as his young captain sat in silence looking at the main viewer.
Mike finally noticed him standing there respectfully waiting.
“I’m sorry Wa-Ben, you can return to your duties,” he said embarrassed that he had left him waiting.
The Blue bowed his head out of habit, turned and quickly left.
Ensign Pitt had been watching and listening to the encounter. Now he spoke up curious to what his captain was thinking.
“Sir?” he said trying to get his attention.
Lt. Collins had returned to staring at the main viewer’s image of the space outside of the ship. Hearing his pilot’s call, he looked to him as saw his look of concern on his young face.
“There is an enemy fleet somewhere nearby,” he said flat out not pulling any punches.
His bridge crew all stopped what they were doing and looked at him. Greg Curtis glanced down to his maser scope and saw nothing in the system let alone a fleet of enemy ships.
Mike saw him look down and shook his head.
“No, they are not here but in some system close by on the bend cycle. This sloop we destroyed as well as the destroyer escort and sloop that were with those two destroyers were all part of that fleet. The Vanguard we just destroyed was either scouting or watching this system, probably looking for the Star Wolf.”
“What should we do?” Pitt inquired.
“Stay on mission, fix our damage and get to the Wolf’s Den as fast as we can,” he said knowing that the last thing that they wanted was to run into an enemy fleet with nothing but an old frigate.
Some of his crew looked to each other and then got back to work with a renewed effort.
In two hours, almost to the minute that the chief had said it would be ready, the Goliad moved into the gravity well to bend into the next system.
Chapter Thirteen
Delta Sector, Star-System 1387, was a onetime failed mining outpost. In another lifetime, it was a pirate base called, “The Hole in the Wall.” Now in its third life, it was something completely different. Hidden among the rock and ice asteroids, unseen among the dead and barren worlds lay the Wolf’s Den.
Though the system was the same as it had always been a lifeless binary-star system with an F-class white star and an M-class red star. There were six planets around the white star and five more in orbits around the red dwarf. Most of the planets wereJovian gas giants. Nothing here was even remotely capable of sustaining life, no “Goldie Locks” zones or M-class planets existed here.
The system did have a lot of semi-precious minerals lined in the atmospheres of its gaseous planets. Though valuable there were better places, a lot closer to colonized space which could provide similar resources.
Here caught in a gravity Lagrange point that was between the two stars’ gravitational circumferences was a large ten thousand-mile cloud of dense asteroids. Because of their position to the system’s suns and gas giants, the rock field was trapped, suspended in space and virtually unmoving.
Mike expected all of this when they had entered the system having been here many times before. In fact, on any other given day, the most activity you might spot would be a mining shuttle gathering precious metals and gasses from the various gas worlds nearby.
Though today was not any ordinary day.
They were already at battle stations and ready for a fight as they exited the bend but what they saw took their breaths away.
“Report!” Mike bellowed shaking his crew into action. He unlike the rest of them seemed unsurprised but his face showed that was not happy.
“Sir, I’m ready thirty enemy ships,” Pitt said from his helm station’s sensors readout that was tied into the ship’s maser unit.
“Location and type,” Mike said looking down to his own readouts coming in from the sensors. He then activated the holo map’s field seeing the images of the system and ships appear overheard.
“Coming up, sir,” PO2 Curtis replied and a second later said, “It looks like they are lined up at the far side of the asteroid field where there is a large, almost moon-sized asteroid.”
“That is where the entrance to the Wolf’s Den is,” Collins stated, their young captain’s face looking as serious as they had ever seen it.
“I’m reading ships - a Star Destroyer, two Battle Destroyers, eight Standard Destroyers, four Companion Destroyers, eight Destroyer Escorts, four Vanguard Sloops, a Lexington Class Auxiliary Carrier, and two freighters,” Curtis called out in excitement.
“Does the carrier have an active identification beacon?” Mike asked in a calm and normal voice.
“Yes, sir, it is the ISS Saratoga, captured after the Breakthrough,” Ensign Pitt said from the helm station.
“That means we have found Grand Mistress Pir-Ly’s fleet. It looks like she has gotten some reinforcements,” he commented remembering that she had only twelve ships left after the last time he had seen her at the Battle of Arcadia.
&
nbsp; At the Battle of the Randori, he had helped destroy the back half of a squadron that was coming to reinforce the Grand Mistress. Now it looks like they had managed to find more ships to add to her forces. Mike also knew that was what the destroyer escort and Vanguard he destroyed in the Garden System were sent out to do. Gather up all of the Karduan forces nearby and mass them here with her fleet.
“Sir, orders?” Pitt inquired breaking his captain from his train of thought.
Mike let out a sigh before he spoke as he looked up to the enemy ships floating in the holo-map’s field.
“They made a few mistakes,” he started, “First, they left no guard ships at the gravity well or we’d be dead by now. Second, it looks like they have a Battle Destroyer near the front along with half of their destroyers and companion destroyers. The Star Destroyer in nestled in the middle of their formation as they prepare to enter the corridor tunnel that leads into the Wolf’s Den.”
His bridge crew looked to each other silently signaling to that they had no clue to what he was getting at.
“What does that all mean, sir?” Ryan asked from the comm. station.
Mike smiled and shook his head.
“It means that they are probably looking the wrong way,” he said and smiled as his blue eyes seemed to twinkle with excitement as his plan came together in his head.
“Sir?” Baker prompted still unsure what he meant to do.
“They probably only have space radar units in their rearmost ships,” he said betting that the maser units she had were in her largest ships at the front most of her squadron.
“Sir, you don’t mean to attack an entire enemy fleet with only one old frigate?” Curtis said in disbelief.
Collins looked over to him.
“You're the space radar and maser technician, so you tell me. Could Karduan space radar or even a maser unit read us at the edge of the gravity well from that distance?”
“No, not a space radar maybe a maser if it was directed towards us just as we can read them,” he said knowing that with the well’s gravitational field combined with the small size of a frigate that they might go unnoticed.
“Is there any enemy activity that would indicate that we have been spotted?” he asked.
Everyone looked to their screens and sensor readings.
“No change in enemy activity, sir,” Pitt replied looking up first.
“Good, then they don’t know we are here yet,” Mike said.
“But sir, there are thirty ships out there,” Curtis said needlessly reminding him of the danger.
“And they are all bunched up,” Pitt said kind of seeing what their commander was thinking.
Mike nodded and smiled at his junior officer.
“If the Wolf Squadron is in there then the Blues are going to get one hell of a surprise and anything we do will only help that out. If they have already left then there are still hundreds of our people in there and only a handful of ships to protect them and we still need to help them if we can. Either way, we have an opening to cause some real damage.”
They were all silent for a moment and it was Curtis who spoke up next.
“So, sir, what do we do?”
“I want you to figure out the earliest they can detect us with space radar and also if they have masers,” Mike said looking to Curtis.
“Aye, sir,” the petty officer replied getting right to work.
“Mister Pitt, I want you to plot the best route to take us toward the enemy fleet that might make us look like an asteroid,” he said knowing the system was full of them.
“Yes sir,” he called back.
“Ryan, monitor enemy transmissions and also see if you can pick up any Confederation signals,” he instructed.
“Aye sir,” the young specialist replied.
“Petty Officer Baker, how many Blitzens do we have?” Mike asked already having the number in his head but wanted to confirm it with her.
“We have sixteen Blitzens and two standard torpedoes,” she answered. Their ship had been rearmed by the Oliver whose crew was more than happy to give them a full complement of Blitzens torpedoes in gratitude for saving their asses.
“Good, load all tubes with Blitzens,” he said even though he was pretty sure that they were already loaded with them.
“Blitzens loaded,” she said looking down and confirming. She then asked, “What are our firing solutions?”
“Blitzens and more Blitzens in rapid succession,” he said not able to tell her more until they figured out their angle of attack.
It took them only minutes to get their work done but it would be almost an hour for them to implement the plan. Mike had placed the phase lines for space radar and maser detection zones on the holo-map in glowing blue and purple lines. The optimum firing position for torpedoes was indicated by a red phase line. The other lines on the holo-map was gray in color.
“Full impulse, give it all we can until we reach the first phase line,” Lt. Collins commanded from his captain’s chair.
“Aye sir,” Ensign Pitt acknowledged.
It would be a third of their journey before they reached the gray phase line where things would change for the old frigate.
“Guide us around the red star and be careful. It is a flare star and occasional has a solar eruption,” Mike instructed.
“Phase line coming up,” Cutis announced.
“Go to Gray Mode,” Collins ordered.
A moment later the ship’s lights dimmed and the impulse drives shut down. The old battle class frigate now traveled on momentum and EM thrusters. All systems except sensors and comm. were shut down including life support. All crew members were in space suits or sealed combat suits.
The bridge crew held their collective breaths and waited as they passed the gray phase line.
“Well?” Mike said breaking the silence.
“No sign of detection but they could just be luring us in,” PO2 Cutis said ever the optimist.
Mike ignored the last part of his statement.
“Any comm. contacts?” he asked looking to Specialist Ryan.
“The old Karduan codes you downloaded are working and it sounds like they are focusing on reaching the far side of the asteroid field. Their lead ships are reporting a large, almost moon-sized asteroid or planetoid at the edge of the field. It is obscuring an opening in the asteroid field which is large enough for even their star destroyer.”
“Sir, their ships are all lined up to enter that opening but they seemed to have stopped their forward movement,” Curtis chimed in.
Mike smirked for a moment, whether the Wolf Squadron was in there or not the Blues still have to get through the opening’s defenses. He was sure that this was why they had stopped their advance.
“Just get us a little closer,” he said mostly to himself.
“Sir, I’m reading an explosion near the mouth of the opening,” Curtis called out.
“And let the festivities begin,” Collins said knowing that they were just starting to hit the beginning of the Wolf’s Den’s surprises.
Grand Fleet Mistress Pir-Ly of the House of Win sat anxiously waiting for her fleet to advance into the opening and to victory. She finally had the vermin trapped in their hole and they would soon be exterminated.
It had been months since her battle with the renegade attack cruiser and its pathetic escort ships. They had been lucky and had escaped her trap at the system the humans called Arcadia.
Since then she had searched for them and waited for more reinforcements. An additional squadron had been sent but never arrived. This caused much speculation amongst her ladies and outright wild gossip from her crews. They once more compared this Star Wolf to creatures from Karduan legends that would consume entire villages and disappear without a trace.
Though disturbing what was worse was that for a long time she couldn’t find these human ships. She had searched for months and still couldn’t find them or any trace of them. She had searched the human worlds in the sector one by one bu
t nothing was found. She sent out scout ships but wherever they looked they were disappointed.
Finally, she changed her tactics and started to backtrack their known locations prior to the Battle of Arcadia. She believed that the cowards must have a hidden base or secluded location where they had retreated to after the battle.
What also helped was the unexpected arrival of additional ships. Twenty ships had come to support her, bringing her force to a total of thirty-two ships. It was an impressive force and almost all of the new arrivals were modern ships that looked fresh from the star docks. These new ships were a sight better than her own that were mostly older ships some of which had been reactivated before any type of restoration.
The only drawback was that these new ships were not of her house, the House of Win but were of the House of Tor. This house was one of the four that had lost the Karduan Internal Struggle and had even left the council.
When they had arrived, she had been informed that the four houses had returned to their seats on the High Council and with them came their warships. The Tor Squadron Mistress even placed her ships under Pir-Ly’s command. Their arrival brought a new spirit of cooperation which was like a fresh breeze as the fleet now had a renewed feeling of victory.
It seemed as if fortune had returned to the elder Fleet Mistress as her search finally proved fruitful. Closing on the starting point of this insidious attack cruiser at Austro Prime they had checked out numerous systems near that system.
Entering a binary star system that was full of asteroids, rock planets and planetoids their scout ship detected several shuttles working to mine minerals from the system’s gaseous worlds.
The Vanguard scout entered further and closed until they detected a Confederation Sloop coming out from a huge cluster of asteroids. The Karduan scout ship quickly left and returned to their fleet with this information. Grand Fleet Mistress felt this information was the lead she was waiting for.
Wolves at the Gate Page 34
