“What’s the word, Chief?”
“Bender drives are still down,” he said his tired face showing his own disappointment at not being able to bring them back online.
“Time?”
“Hours maybe never.”
“Get all of our people to the engineering section and don’t forget Duffey,” Mike instructed knowing that the armor around that section of the ship was very thick.
“Aye sir, but what about you and the bridge crew?”
“Don’t worry Chief, just be ready to abandon ship if you get the call or if you feel the need,” Collins said ignoring the NCO’s question. He then cut off the link before he could argue with him any further.
“Karduan ships are coming into range,” Curtis stated.
“Mister Pitt, 180-degree thruster spin and engine at full reverse,” Mike ordered once more turning the front of his ship towards the approaching enemy.
“Aye sir,” he answered from the helm.
The two destroyer escorts and the Vanguard sloop filled the main viewer as they closed in on the damaged and exhausted frigate and her crew.
“Sir, message coming in from one of the destroyer escorts,” Ryan called out.
“Let’s hear it,” Lt. Collins said already guessing what they were going to say.
“Human frigate, you have fought a brave fight but it is now time for you to surrender. Further hostilities will end in your destruction and death,” a Blue female with the vine pattern of a ship mistress said from across the link.
Mike looked away from her and to his left where his ship’s commissioning plaque was attached to the wall. Above it was painted the ship’s motto. It said “Never Again!” for a ship named after the Battle of Goliad some would have thought it should have been “Remember Goliad” one of the battle cries of the Texans from the Texas Revolution of 1836.
Lt. Collins, on the other hand, knew what it really meant. Colonel James Fannin and over four hundred Texans had been caught on the plains on their way to help the Alamo. After a brief battle, they surrender finding themselves surrounded and running out of water. Later, they would be lined up and executed to the last man by the Mexican army. “Never Again!” was a reference to that day and that they should never surrender again.
Looking back at the viewer, Mike shook his head.
“No, I will not surrender and I’m prepared to take as many of you Blue ladies with me as I can,” he said in Karduan.
“This is madness!” the DE’s Ship Mistress said in surprise at his answer.
“Look behind you, there are dozens of Confederation warships in this system. Even if you destroy me and make a run for it you will not get very far. It is you and your three ships that should be surrendering to me,” he said bluffing like it was the most important hand of poker he would ever play.
“Remove your ship and get out of our way. If you allow us entry to the gravity well, then we will leave you in peace,” she counter offered.
Again, Mike shook his head but this time he grinned almost laughing.
“The Bright Lady deals in peace, we deal in death,” he said and looked to the holo-map. “You have two minutes to surrender.” Touching the sensor on his chair’s arm he cut her off before she could reply.
“What did you say to her, sir?” Pitt asked without turning from his controls. They didn’t speak Karduan and had no idea to the content of their conversation.
“I invited her to play a game of tennis,” he said sounding cryptic.
“What the hell does that mean?” Curtis asked in concern.
Petty Officer Cindy Baker answered for him, having not only watched the body language of her captain but that of the enemy Ship Mistress.
“He wants to see if she has any balls,” she explained.
“Ryan, which ship did that transmission come from?” Mike asked getting up and moving to the weapons station.
“One second, sir,” he replied.
The destroyer escort on the right was highlighted on the main viewer and changed color on the holo-map from red to orange.
“Right, here’s what we are going to do,” Collins started.
Ship Mistress Ja-Kiln of the House of Tor had started this expedition with the hopes of honor and promotion. Now all she could hope for was to escape with her life and to return to her family and House.
The Grand Fleet Mistress of the House of Win had eventually led them to the enemy’s secret base. Their combined fleet was thirty ships strong with the promise of another twelve to fifteen ships that were being recalled from a frontier posting.
Their prey was a human attack cruiser with no more than six smaller support vessels. It wouldn’t even be a fight she had thought praying that her destroyer escort would reap some of the glory of battle as well as the rewards.
All of those hopes quickly faded as one disaster after another befell their fleet. A sole human frigate had stolen upon them from the rear and had launched almost a dozen of those ultra-fast torpedoes the enemy had developed.
Her own ship had a single launcher but only standard torpedoes that were copied from the human ones. Her House, the House of Tor had embraced the new human technologies including torpedoes launchers, star fighters and missiles turrets. To ignore such advances was to invite disaster.
Yet, disaster is what she now faced. Six ships including a battle destroyer had taken multiple torpedo hits and were at best disabled. This frigate was then able to outrun and outfight two destroyer escorts and two Vanguard scouts.
Her own group of three ships, all from the House of Tor were able to close the distance as the human ship took damage which had slowed its escape. Still, it eluded them using the solar magnetic field to propel itself away.
Behind her pursuit force, the rest of the Karduan fleet had faced more hardships. As ten of their ships including a battle destroyer from her own house were destroyed trying to traverse the entryway and passage to the enemy stronghold. It was a horrible waste of ships and lives.
Now only the star destroyer made to escape this trap with the Grand Fleet Mistress safely aboard. The humans had further surprised them having dozens of ships appear. At least twelve enemy ships had moved from some hidden exit port and had flanked their damaged ships. A star destroyer had then appeared from the dense asteroid field’s passageway followed by a dozen more Karduan ships all of which were under the control of the humans.
The Fleet Mistress’s star destroyer now fled as fast as it could, leaving the other ships behind with orders to fight to the last. Monitoring their communications signals it was clear that once the star destroyer started its run towards the gravity well the rest of their damaged ships had surrendered.
The star destroyer of the House of Win, ordered Ja-Kiln’s three ships to fall back and help the embattled star destroyer’s escape but she would have none of it. Her three ships could not change the course of that fight. Her duty was to save her House’s ships and let the dishonor of failure fall on the head of the Win Grand Fleet Mistress.
The only thing that stood in her way was the human frigate that had caused so much damage. It had run to the gravity well but instead of escaping it had turned to fight. Her ship’s sensors reported that it had dozens of hull breaches, damage to its fusion and bender drives. It had lost several weapons turrets and had expended all of its torpedoes and missile pods in its running fight. Yet it stood in her path undaunted.
After speaking to the ship’s young captain, she was even more confused. He spoke perfect Karduan and seem confident that he would win if they fought. He even brazenly asked for her surrender.
“Coming into long weapon’s range, Mistress,” her Metox radar controller said. Their new Metox system was based on the human maser system. This was just another one of the improvements the Tor ships had over the other more traditional Karduan ships.
“Signal all ships to launch missiles and torpedoes at the human frigate as we advance to the gravity well. I don’t want a pitched battle, our mission is to escape,” she
emphasized.
“My Lady, the enemy is closing with us,” her Second informed.
“The fool! Fire missiles and torpedoes,” Ja-Kiln said just as her ship shook hard.
“Energy weapon hit to our torpedo launcher,” her Metox operator announced.
“Damage?” she asked upset that this old battle frigate had such an impressive upgrade and was using a destroyer sized particle turret against her. What was worse was that it was a Karduan turret.
“The torpedo launcher is not functioning correctly and will not fire.”
“Fire missiles and get us into our particle range,” she ordered and looked to her communication controller. “Have all ship’s attack!” she said.
“That’s crazy, sir,” Greg Curtis said after hearing the plan.
Mike nodded as he spoke, “You and anyone else can withdraw from the bridge and head to the engineering section. I won’t think less of you as you are right this is an insane plan.”
No one moved from their stations and after a quick glance, they all got back to work. PO2 Curtis nodded to his captain and smiled before he looked down at his scope.
“All right, full speed,” Collins said returning to his captain’s seat from the fire control center.
“In particle range and firing,” Baker said.
“Detecting missiles being launched from all three ships,” the maser station called out.
“Fire control, auto missile fire as planned,” Mike said.
“Fire commencing, proximity detentions, missile interception program engaged,” she called back.
“Good clear us a path,” he said. The interception program allowed his sole remaining missile turret to fire at other missiles. Once in close proximity, they would explode to destroy the incoming missile and with any luck any other nearby missiles.
The Goliad still shook and rocked from missile impacts coming from the three Blue ships as they got past their interceptors, remaining gauss cannons and their electronic countermeasures.
“Direct hit to our port side armor, second hit to frontal armor sector five, and another to port side rear quadrant,” Curtis called out.
“Registering hits from our particle turret to the lead destroyer escort’s bridge and main particle cannon,” Baker reported.
“We are coming into their particle turret range,” Pitt added.
“Good, open fire with our fusion turret,” Mike said looking at the holo-map as they closed. If they were in their particle range then his heavy corvette-sized fusion turret could hit them back even harder.
Missiles and torpedoes exploded in front and around the old frigate as it fought its way closer to the enemy ships. The ISS Goliad shook and vibrated as it headed right for the gap between the Vanguard sloop in the center of the enemy formation and the starboard side destroyer escort. That destroyer escort had already taken several hits from their particle fire.
The old ship took a pounding as it went head-on with the enemy vessels. The three Karduan warships all had standard energy weapons for their class and were not nearly as powerful as the Goliad’s two remaining energy turrets.
“Hit to our maneuver drive’s outer housing, life support is down on decks A through C,” Curtis reported as the ship took repeated blows.
“Cindy, keep firing,” Mike encouraged and continued, “Jeremy, get us in position.”
“Fusion hit to the Vanguard’s bridge,” she said with a sharp grin.
Before Mike could reply the Goliad shook hard and bucked even harder as it was hit with missiles and energy weapons that were concentrated to the front of his ship.
An explosion followed and a hole was torn open through the ship’s armor. Normally, there would have been explosive decompression but earlier in the battle, they had received a minor hull breach to the bridge and had already sealed their suits. Since that time, they hadn’t had even a moment to find this breach and repair it, let alone pressurizing the bridge again.
Despite that, hull fragments were blown into the bridge and the crew was shaken by the explosion yet they all remained strapped into their seats.
“Damage, anyone hurt?” Collins asked.
“I’m Ok, but the navigation console took a hit from a piece of hull fragment and is toast,” Ensign Pitt said in a strained voice.
“I’m alright,” Curtis said and added, “but Ryan is either unconscious or dead.”
Mike glanced to the communication station and saw that the young man was slumped forward. He was held in his chair by its safety straps. Sadly, there was nothing they could do for him until this was finished.
“We’re out of missiles, sir,” PO2 Baker announced having never answered his question about her wellbeing.
“Doesn’t matter, Mister Pitt, get ready,” he said.
“Aye sir,” he answered through his locked jaw.
On the main viewer, they could all see that they were approaching the enemy ships head on.
The Goliad shook as energy weapons and missiles hit its armored hull.
“Missile turret two is destroyed, missile pods two and four have been badly damaged, new hull breaches on all decks,” Curtis called out.
“Now Mister Pitt,” Collins said having taken in the damage report while waiting for this moment.
Nothing happened and Mike broke his stare from the viewer and looked to his helmsman. Ensign Pitt was slumped forward and was kept from falling on the helm controls by his shoulder straps.
Jumping up from his captain’s chair he rushed over to the pilot’s console and saw that Jeremy was unconscious. Mike quickly took over the helm and dropped the ship one hundred negative-Z and under the approaching Karduan ships.
“Now Cindy, Fire!” Collins yelled as he angled his ship under the belly of the Vanguard. His old frigate’s upgraded energy turrets at such close-range, tore into the sloop’s hull as they passed under them.
Mike then hit his port EM thrusters and pivoted the Goliad around bringing his bow inline to the enemy’s rear. The Karduan ships were still running but now he had clear shots at their engines.
“Fire, Baker, Fire!” he called over to the fire control station.
The frigate’s two remaining turrets continued to fire send energy blasts to the Vanguard and the destroyer escort’s engine sections. The Vanguard’s engine exploded, sending a quarter of the rear half of the ship off on a twenty-five-degree angle.
The destroyer escort took the hits and a minor explosion could be seen coming from her rear engine section. Mike engaged what was left of his impulse drives and went after them.
The port most destroyer escort had escaped and there was little he could do with his reduced speed to stop them. The other destroyer escort was a different story as he pursued it continuing to fire as he tried to close with them.
Mike set the controls and then looked to Jeremy Pitt. He quickly released his safety straps and saw that the young man had been hit by a piece of hull fragment when their hull had been breached. There was a bloody and gaping hole in his right side where his lower ribs where. Mike hastily reached into one of his cargo pocket and pulled out his buddy pack auto medical kit.
Slapping it on over the wound the auto-med kit quickly diagnosed that he was still alive and what injuries he had sustained. The kit then injected him with Heal-X Four and several other injections of non-addictive painkillers and a broadband antibiotic. The shrapnel was probably still in him but that would have to wait.
Removing the kit, Collins then placed a fast patch over the pilot’s damaged space suit, covering and sealing the hole. Looking over to Ryan he saw that Curtis had already moved to him to check on his condition. Greg shook his head and look to his young captain.
“He is dead, it looks like a broken neck probably from the concussion when we got hit,” he said.
Mike didn’t know what to say and didn’t have time to respond as the Goliad was hit by the return fire of the destroyer escort.
“Knock out their fusion turret and then concentrate on their engines,�
� he called over to Baker at the weapons console station.
“Aye sir,” she responded.
Looking back to Curtis he continued.
“Greg, take over the comm. for a minute and order that DE to surrender or we’ll blow her up,” he instructed.
“Aye, sir,” the Petty Officer answered pulling his dead friend out of his seat and laying him down behind his station.
Mike also pull Pitt out of the pilot’s seat but activated his magnetic boots as he laid him down so that if they lost gravity he wouldn’t float away.
“Direct hit,” Baker called out as the particle turret and fusion turret knocked out the destroyer escort’s fusion drives.
“Sir, Ship Mistress Ja-Kiln has signaled her surrender,” Curtis said from the comm. station.
“Well, there is some good news,” Mike said as he guided the Goliad past the surrendering ship and after the last destroyer escort. “Get back to the maser station.”
“Yes, sir,” PO2 Curtis said hurrying back to his post.
Mike didn’t need a maser unit to tell him that the enemy was too far ahead of them to catch them. If they had had missiles or torpedoes they would have had a chance but as it was they were out of both.
“Sir, they have reached the gravity well and I’m detecting a bend forming in the well. Also, the enemy Star Destroyer is twenty minutes away on a direct intercept course,” Curtis announced.
“How about some help?” he asked running out of ideas and hope.
“The ISS Patton, Bastogne and Alamo are twenty minutes behind the Star Destroyer,” he replied and added, “The Ajax is five minutes behind them along with two of our destroyers, the Clark and the Bowie.
Mike shook his head knowing that the light cruiser, heavy frigate and battle frigate were no match for the massive star destroyer. The Ajax had a Type-C spinal mount but again they were not a match for the Karduan capital ship.
“Where is the Half Moon?”
“Thirty minutes out,” came the reply.
Mike wanted to swear but stopped himself as he racked his brain for options. The only thing he could do at this point was to run. There was no way he could fight or even slow the star destroyer down long enough for the pursuit ships to arrive.
Wolves at the Gate Page 38
