The plan might not have worked if Sky had gone deeper into the Alejandar moons’ orbits or had hesitated in executing an escape plan. She had done neither and in fact had spent scant minutes there. Her squadron was passing underneath the oncoming OrCons even as they were splitting up for their coverage of the Alejandar planet. Captain Korlov had no way of knowing it, but he had already lost his quarry. The Empire ships slowly moved back toward the site of the recent battle and the crippled OrCons ships still struggling there. Twenty minutes later they turned toward their base on Gammatiga and continued toward it in subspace.
“Well done, Lisa,” Sky quietly congratulated her ops officer. The entire subspace maneuver had been carried out with a prearranged flight plan based on nose attitude, speed, headings, timing, and no communication between ships. The flagship could barely hear the ships nearest her and the danger of collision while in subspace was real, but a good plan, excellent training, finely tuned computer control, and human watchfulness had allowed the formation to maneuver as one and escape this fight. They would proceed in subspace for three more hours before coming out. They should be out of OrCon sensor range by then but if not, they were slightly faster so would speed away before the OrCons could close the distance. Sky planned to race to her base at highest sustained speed. Before the battle, while her staff had been working up the attack plans, she had sent a coded message to the base with orders to prepare to evacuate with all the supplies that could be reasonably transported out. When she had sent her support ships back, she had given them orders to load up as much base supplies as possible and any of her surviving ships would load up when they got there. If none of her ships survived, the two support ships would depart the Badlands with all base personnel and as much supplies as possible. Anything not taken was to be destroyed.
Three hours later the Empire vessels emerged from subspace as scheduled. Sensor sweeps indicated nothing nearby. They were still within sensor range of the planet Potenka, but Sky was not concerned about that. The planet wouldn’t see the sensor return for several minutes and wouldn’t care once they did. Besides, it wouldn’t take a tactical genius to figure out where she would be going. Sky now sent a coded message to the supply base and the Empire home system with an update of the battle. She concluded with the actions of the destroyer Pearl and recommended the highest award for gallantry for her captain, Steven Prianti, and a unit award for the ship. Sky then went to her cabin and cried.
Captain Korlov searched for three hours. It was obvious after the first hour of searching the Zekes had escaped, but Admiral Stavka would have none of it, so Korlov continued for another two hours as ordered. The time was not entirely wasted as he had dispatched two light cruisers back to the battle scene to pick up all survivors from escape pods and off floating hulks. The unit’s two support ships and their six-ship Goth escort had followed the attacking force by three hours and arrived as the search was called off. The support ship engineers and repair personnel began to assess the damage to the crippled Senator and other ships.
“Admiral, we must proceed with all possible speed to the enemy base on Gammatiga. We can catch the enemy squadron there or at the very least eliminate their supply source.”
“I agree, Sergei,” Admiral Stavka nodded, “after I and my remaining staff transfer to your ship we will precede at highest speed.”
Admiral Stavka had recently moved to the light cruiser Ranvijay from his damaged flagship, but that wasn’t good enough. He had to be on a battle cruiser, and Republic had a flag bridge. The transfer would take time and delay the pursuit, but there was no point in arguing this. Korlov conned his ship toward Ranvijay to effect the transfer.
Chapter 19
Predator sped toward Gammatiga. It was a three-day trip, but the hours passed quickly as the crew ate, slept, and decompressed from the battle. Rafe had told his gunner, Simon, if he ever interrupted battle routine on the bridge again, he had better have a job on some planet somewhere because he wouldn’t be working on Predator anymore. He toured the ship and thanked each crewmember personally for their work in the recent engagement. He stepped into engineering and spotted Ace, or maybe it was Joker. Hawkins motioned for him to join him in the outside passageway away from the noise and ears of the crew. The two men huddled close together.
“What did the battle do to our engine life?” asked Rafe.
Ace stared at the deck as he considered his response and then looked at his captain. “We did shorten engine life some with the maximum power run, but it’s not a big problem. Last week I estimated we had eleven months of engine life based on the last year of usage. That estimate is still good or at worse, shortened by a week or so. I don’t see an immediate problem, but we do need to know where and when we are going to do the overhaul so we aren’t caught short when we need to get into the yards.”
“Any problems now? I see a few more fights on the horizon.”
“None in engineering. We’ll be ready as always.”
Rafe nodded, smiled, and patted Ace on the shoulder in appreciation before walking away. He didn’t tell him he was putting together a plan for an upcoming operation that would require an overhaul before the eleven months. No point in bringing it up now. The plan was still in its early stages and may come to nothing at all. But an overhaul required long range, detailed planning. There were three facets to consider - money, security, and crew. Money was needed not only for the overhaul, but to bribe people at the shipyard to ensure secrecy was maintained while the overhaul was completed. Money was also needed to pay the crew and resupply the ship during this down time when there would be no money coming in. Security had to be airtight. If word leaked out that the ship was in overhaul, it could attract governments or corporations wanting to destroy the ship and capture the crew. The situation also attracted others who would sense an opportunity for revenge, bounty collecting, or eliminating a competitor. A ship in the yards cannot run and the crew cannot easily get off planet or hide on the planet. The crew was the third item to be considered during a proposed maintenance period. Crewmembers had several idle days while a ship was in overhaul. Often crewmembers used this operational pause to reflect on their lives, and they would decide to make a career change or ship out on another vessel. Often lonely crewmembers would meet someone and decide to stay on the planet or want to bring their new love onboard ship as a new member. Crewmembers might end up in jail or dead. It was rare for a ship to leave the shipyard with the same crew it entered with. In fact, Rafe couldn’t recall it happening on any ship he had been in.
Tactical planned their upcoming moves at the Zeke base. She analyzed incoming routes, escape routes, base defenses, and the expertise of the personnel manning them. She formulated an attack plan using a combination of the squadron ships that should be available. She already knew the engagement parameters and effectiveness for both her weapons and the weapons at the base, but she still reviewed the tables to ensure her engagement plans were viable. She prepared plans for all contingencies, from arriving and departing with no problems to a full engagement between the pirate squadron and the Zeke base.
Baby Doll assessed the battle results and gave Predator credit for two destroyers burned down, damage to a light cruiser, and another destroyer. Not a bad day’s work, especially considering the lack of planning and the superiority in numbers of the enemy force. The weapons’ effectiveness was analyzed for both her ship and the OrCons. The enemy information was particularly important as the database had little OrCon data. Tactical would review the weapons data later to ensure it was correct and to incorporate it into her databanks for future use.
Together Tactical and Baby Doll summarized the battle and, with supporting images, had forwarded the report to all Flotilla One ships. Now there was a very good chance they could get resupplied through the Zekes. The next obvious target for the OrCons was the lone Zeke base, and Rafe had no doubt Captain Mallory would have ordered the evacuation of the base using the two Zeke support ships the pirates had seen departing Potenka before the battle
. He was also sure there was too much supplies and equipment at the base for those two ships to load and carry away. The base commander would be naturally resistant to giving supplies to pirates. But Rafe did have the images of the battle with the OrCons to show how his missiles were used and, after all, since the missiles were expended in a Zeke cause, it was only reasonable for the Zekes to replace them. Besides, if Mallory’s force were wiped out, the pirate vessels would be the only protection for the base if they couldn’t evac in time.
The crew was in excellent spirits. Overall, Rafe was quite happy with the situation except for one thing. Logan and the Shamrock crew were still on Potenka and were to forward updates on the aftermath of the battle. They had sent two messages stating they were trying but couldn’t get any information from planet authorities or access to the sensor records. Apparently, the close and violent battle had caused normally cooperative officials to clam up and stay on the straight and narrow until they figured out who would be the winners and losers from these events.
“Incoming message from Captain Delacruz,” reported Hyatt Renaldo from the comm station. “Marked NOW!”
Silence overtook all activity as attention turned to the communications console. The pirates never stood on formality, but the flotilla had established a classification system for message priority and NOW was the highest priority.
“Send it to me,” Rafe was outwardly calm but concerned. NOW messages rarely contained good news.
Rafe keyed his pad as Baby Doll and Tactical moved behind his captain’s chair. Shane Delacruz, captain of Vindictive and leader of Charlie Squadron, appeared on the screen. His distraught appearance confirmed Rafe’s bad news premonition. The message had gone to all the flotilla ships, but Delacruz talked directly to Hawkins as the flotilla leader.
“Rafe, our house has been hit. It was discovered by Marauder. Still getting information, but it looks bad. Marauder is taking images and will send them soonest. I’m going there now, but it will take six hours. I’ll let you know.”
The screen went blank. A pirate’s house was a settlement consisting of the crew’s spouses, children, close friends, and other noncombatants. Supplies and maintenance equipment were kept there. Each squadron maintained and moved their house at their discretion to a place of their choosing.
Rafe had the option to isolate all messages coming to the ship for his sole viewing, but he routinely did not do that so everyone on the bridge would have had a screen window open to view a message marked NOW. Somber silence replaced the happy, satisfied mood of the last several hours. Crewmembers glanced at each other with stunned expressions on their faces.
“When was this sent?” Rafe asked communications.
“Almost eight hours ago.”
As Rafe considered his response, other messages came in from other flotilla recipients who were closer to Vindictive, so they received the message earlier than Predator and had replied to the news. Comm routed them to the command station without being ordered. The first, predictively, was from Killian O’Hare. She sent it to her squadron and included the remainder of the flotilla for information purposes. The message was audio only.
“Wolfpack, rally at Point Blue. That includes you, Steppenwolf.”
Hawkins and Delacruz referred to their units by their designations of Alpha and Charlie, but O’Hare always called her Bravo squadron the Wolfpack. Rafe glanced back at Tactical and Baby Doll. Both slightly shook their heads. Neither knew where Point Blue was. Rafe nodded. It wasn’t that big a deal, but it would be nice to know where one third of his strike force would be, but he was sure O’Hare would tell him at her convenience. Unlike Hawkins and Delacruz, O’Hare kept her support ship close to her operations to allow quick resupply and mustering of her forces. It was risky. If a support ship was taken or destroyed, it would be a major blow to the flotilla. But now this would allow O’Hare to resupply and be ready to strike in retaliation for the house attack. Rafe grimly smiled. O’Hare would definitely want that mission. The chance for revenge would go to Shane Delacruz and his squadron first, but if O’Hare was in position to hit an obvious target, Hawkins would give it to her. Retaliation must be swift and complete to set the appropriate example for others who might have the same idea about hitting a house.
Hitting a pirate house was the ultimate in rules violations and whoever did it must know they had crossed the line. Once word got out, other pirates would either help or get out of the way. The perpetrators would find themselves with no allies and no support, and many, many people would give them up for a price, or even for free. For this reason, no pirates would hit another pirate house. Years before a Goth squadron had hit a pirate house. Several pirate ships banded together to hit the squadron in return, and the ship whose house was lost raided deep in Goth territory, hitting settlements and commercial interests until the Goths ran the ship down and destroyed it. An attack on a house was an attack on women and children, and a crew that lost all their families would be a very dangerous group with little to live for. Rafe didn’t know if the Goths had ever found another house, but he did know another house had never been hit. Until now.
Other messages came in. O’Hare’s three corvettes and support ship acknowledged their rally orders. Squadron Charlie acknowledged return to their fallen house. Alpha squadron ships should be well on their way to Gammatiga in response to the message Hawkins sent prior to the recent battle. They might acknowledge the message with condolences but would continue to Gammatiga.
Rafe keyed his pad, “Shane, so sorry about your house. We’ll get the bastards. Count on it. We do want to see the images. Got any suspects? Has anyone left your squadron lately under suspicious circumstances? Has anyone pulled their relatives out of the house lately? I can’t believe a force with the firepower to destroy your house just happened to stumble across it. Want to get your thoughts after you get there. Anybody else who thinks they might have pertinent information, sound off.”
Rafe sent the message to all flotilla ships and sat back. Nobody on the bridge spoke but tended strictly to their duties. Many crewmembers would know pirates in Charlie squadron and would have met their families on occasion. Rafe ran a hand across his face. This had never happened in the flotilla before. How he addressed this would be critical. But he couldn’t do much now and the current mission had to be completed.
Rafe went to his day cabin directly behind the bridge and sat at his desk. He pushed aside his stack of beloved paper books and pulled his computer screen toward him. He keyed in his command code to activate the machine, brought up a discreet frequency, and began to compose an audio only message.
“Cathy, thanks for all your aid in keeping us off the screen during our visit. I hate to ask for another favor so quickly, but I need your help. First, Shane Delacruz’s house was hit. No details yet but it will be bad. You got anything on this? I know it’s a long shot but I had to ask. Be prepared for a bloodbath on this. You know we can’t let this pass without a response. I promise we’ll keep it off Potenka. Second, how is the OrCon cleanup going? I assume they have several disabled ships. Did the Zekes get away? We left a couple of people on planet but they can’t get anything useful. If you need anything from us, let me know. Take care.”
Rafe never identified himself but merely closed the text and sent the coded message. It would reach Commissioner Putinsky in several hours and, hopefully, a reply would come back before Predator arrived at Gammatiga. He had not wanted to contact Putinsky, but the need to know the aftermath of the battle and the long shot that she might help on the house destruction had forced his hand. He had a tenuous relationship with the security chief. They had helped each other from time to time. She was smart enough to realize Hawkins and his ships were an asset in the fight against the Goths and the slave trade, and she provided information in that fight. But she was no traitor or crooked official. No money ever changed hands and she never asked for personal favors. For this reason, Rafe asked for her help as little as possible and always gave her information if it wa
s pertinent to her. He respected her and there were damn few officials in the Badlands he could say that about.
He returned to his seat on the bridge and turned to Tactical and Baby Doll. “Brief me on how we are going to do Gammatiga.”
Chapter 20
Captain Korlov sat patiently with Admiral Stavka on the flag bridge on Republic. The Admiral had lost several of his staff members aboard Senator during the Potenka fight including his chief of staff. It was obvious to Korlov that the Admiral would use him as an informal sounding board for the remainder of the operation. He was not happy with that, preferring to remain a simple ship’s captain concerned only with his ship and crew.
The intelligence section was about to debrief the battle and brief the layout of the Zeke base on Gammatiga. The force was on its way to Gammatiga at best speed. Accompanying the squadron was the Goth escort of four destroyers and two light cruisers that had originally met them at the Goth base at Rosstrappe and escorted them across the Badlands to Bolton’s Planet. The Goths and their two supply ships followed in trace of the OrCon squadron as it had approached Potenka via subspace. Their two support ships were now conducting repairs on the run for the damaged ships still with the formation. The damaged vessels included two heavy cruisers, two destroyers, one light cruiser, and the battle cruiser Citizen. All were still battle worthy and able to keep pace in the flotilla. Left behind were the heavy cruiser Pylkiy and battle cruiser Senator, both too damaged to remain with the squadron. Pylkiy was being stripped for anything useful and was to be blown up. Senator had absorbed much damage. The forward third of the ship was gone including the forward 300 mm triple turret, two smaller gun mounts, and the bridge. But the engines were undamaged and the aft weapon and sensor systems were still in working order. After Pylkiy was stripped and destroyed, Senator would start back toward Goth space with the destroyer Slavnyy and a Goth destroyer as escorts. Slavnyy was the only undamaged destroyer remaining and was to accompany Senator to the Goth base at Rosstrappe and return to the squadron. Captain Korlov sympathized with the Admiral on this. The Admiral didn’t want to destroy Senator and have to admit the loss of a battle cruiser to a vastly inferior force, and Korlov didn’t want to see his old friend’s ship turned into space waste. When his force had returned to the battle site from their fruitless search at Alejandar, Korlov had made discreet inquiries of the Senator’s officers to learn about Dimitri Federov’s death. He had died on the bridge in the first salvo and had never known what hit him. At least it was something to tell Dimitri’s wife, Maria. It wouldn’t make it more bearable for her and the two children, but she would know what happened. The frown again returned to Korlov’s face.
Allies of Convenience: Pirates of the Badlands Series Book 1 Page 9
