“We will get them at Gammatiga, Sergei,” remarked the Admiral, misreading the reason for the frown.
“Of course, Admiral,” Captain Korlov replied somewhat absently. There was no doubt they would get there and be able to burn the base down, but the Zekes would beat them there and evacuate everything and everybody. It would be three days to Gammatiga and the Zekes had gotten at least a five-hour head start while the Confederation squadron was cleaning up the battle site. The Zeke ships were slightly faster so would gain some time in the journey. The base would be prepared for evacuation and it would go quickly. Then the Zekes would be gone. At best, the Confederation force would destroy many empty buildings. There would be no chance for a significant victory there. Korlov’s frown deepened.
Two officers from the Admiral’s staff walked in and, after receiving permission from the Admiral, began to set up a visual aid projector. After a few seconds, they were ready to brief. Admiral Stavka nodded.
For Korlov’s benefit, the senior member introduced himself as Lieutenant Afanasi Oehler and began his brief. “The enemy fleet was as briefed. Two heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, four destroyers, and a couple of support ships that have probably returned to Gammatiga to evacuate the base. One Greek class heavy cruiser and one Gem class destroyer were destroyed. The weapon systems and their employment were in keeping with Empire capabilities and doctrine. Their commander, Captain Skyler Mallory, performed per her reputation. Due to their preparedness for our arrival, we believe there was a leak in security. Lodus, the Goth trader following the Empire squadron, has not reported in, and there is a ship matching its description in orbit about Potenka being stripped by local ships as we speak. We think the ship was somehow compromised and taken. Once taken, the crew either talked, or there were documents aboard ship that allowed the Zekes to piece together the plan and counter it as best they could. Since we were never aboard the Lodus or met the crew, we are speculating here. The other possibility is that we were spotted during transit and the Zekes were warned. Our Goth escort assures me that could not be true, but we believe it is a possibility. The initial attack on us at the beginning of the battle was by a ship originally identified as a Clan class destroyer from the Edinburgh system. The name on the hull was MacGregor, a vessel listed as in service with the Edinburgh Navy. Our Goth escort assures us no Edinburgh ship would attack us and the ship was, in fact, a pirate vessel. During the liberation of Edinburgh system by the Goths, pirates stole three Clan class destroyers and three corvettes and are now using them to carry out their illegal activities in the Badlands.”
Throughout the brief, the projector had been putting up images of the Empire ships, Captain Mallory, and Lodus being stripped at appropriate points of the discussion. Now the projector placed two images side by side. One was a file image of a Clan destroyer and the other was a sensor image of the pirate ship from the battle.
“As you can see, the initial conclusion might easily be that these two images are of the same class of ship, but the ship on the right has additional missile tubes, laser weapons, and much more sophisticated sensors, and comm systems. Based on the speed of the ship’s departure from the battle, we have concluded the engines have been modified to make this among the fastest ships of its kind. Our Goth friends have viewed the sensor images of the destroyer and have concluded it is either the pirate ship Predator commanded by Raferty Hawkins or Nemesis under Killian O’Hare. The third Clan destroyer is named Vindictive commanded by Shane Delacruz. He is believed to be out of system and is not as aggressive as the other two captains.”
“At least we know who we’re shooting at,” commented Admiral Stavka. “Why would a bunch of pirates help the Zekes?”
The two briefers exchanged looks, and it was obvious they were holding something back. Oehler stated, “It is possible the pirates were in the area and the Zekes, out of desperation, might have paid them for assistance at the last minute. This is why there was only one pirate ship vice several, and why they ran so quickly after the initial exchange of fire. They did what they agreed to do and ran away to spend their Zeke money.”
“Who took Lodus?” asked Korlov.
“We believe the Zekes, but can’t be sure without examining the ship and viewing the Potenka sensors.”
“Have we asked through our Goth friends to see the Potenka logs?” asked Stavka.
“Yes and it has been denied. The Goths are not well loved here in the Badlands,” Oehler answered.
Korlov weighed in, “I find it hard to believe the Zekes could have taken Lodus from a Goth crew without a problem. But I do believe that would be an old trick for pirates. I think they took Lodus while we were in subspace and maintained the transmission schedule. I don’t believe the pirate ship could just sail up to them so they used a small, inconspicuous ship like Lodus. If the pirates continue to be in Zeke pay, it is possible that the small pirate ship is shadowing us now. I think we need to adjust our thinking that we are not up against just a Zeke squadron but also others. If the pirates continue in Zeke pay then they may gather a force of several ships to strike us if the possibility presents itself. We must be on our guard.”
“Well put, Sergei,” Admiral Landau complimented him. “Now about the Gammatiga base ... ”
The two briefers described the base and its meager defenses and sensors. After ten minutes and a few more questions, it looked as if the briefing had come to a close, but the two men lingered.
“More?” asked the Admiral.
“An entirely different topic, sir,” spoke Oehler hesitantly. “And another possible reason for the pirates to have been in the battle.”
New images appeared over the briefing table. These were of a settlement. Crude buildings and lack of infrastructure meant this was a new colony or nomads constantly on the move who never built much regardless of how long they stayed in one place. An image next to this was of the settlement’s planet and its moons. The settlement was displayed by a blue light and several red lights denoting sensors surrounded the settlement and appeared on three nearby moons.
“This is the colony we destroyed three days ago just prior to arriving at Bolton’s Planet. Our Goth friends identified it as a new settlement sponsored by the Zekes, and that it had scanned us. The many sensors and the isolated location would suggest this was more than a typical colony so the Goth assessment seemed reasonable. The settlement’s sensors undoubtedly caught us as we passed so we eliminated the settlement before they could get out a message reporting our squadron’s presence in the Badlands. Upon review of the images and the fact a Goth captain questioned the attack over an open frequency, we have concluded this is not a Zeke connected colony.”
“Then what was it?” demanded Admiral Stavka, leaning forward intently. He did not like the thought of having destroyed a target without knowing what it was.
“We are not sure but the disorderly layout, ragtag collection of housing and equipment, hidden location, and the many sensors lead us to the conclusion this might have been a pirate base of some sort. We can’t ask the Goths since they have lied about it already so we are left to our own devices on this one. If we did destroy a pirate base, the pirates may not be working for money but for revenge.”
“Can we talk to the Goth captain who questioned the attack?”
“No, sir. We have determined it was the captain of the destroyer Abendhimmel, and that is the ship the Goths picked to accompany Senator to Rosstrappe.”
Both Stavka and Korlov shifted uneasily in their seats. They had just lost a battle, were far from home, and had unreliable allies. Learning that they may have created a new enemy didn’t help matters. If the pirates were working for money, they wouldn’t take undue risks and would keep their help to the absolute minimum required to get paid. If they were out for revenge, then the Confederation squadron had just made an enemy whose numbers, abilities, and tactics were unknown, and who would show no mercy if they got the upper hand. Korlov frowned yet again.
Chapter 21
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nbsp; “Images coming in from Marauder,” Baby Doll announced from her intel station.
“Let everyone see them,” Rafe said as he pivoted to his screen and watched. Revenge was a given in this situation, and everyone needed to see what they would be avenging. Rafe routinely kept information from the crew for security purposes, but this would not happen now. Everyone needed to be in on this in real time.
Rafe looked at the video as cameras scanned where the small encampment once stood. Prefabricated huts were burned down to their foundations. Structures such as sheds and workshops on the edge of the village were blown down as if by a strong wind. Several bodies were strewn about on the outskirts of the destroyed areas. The people caught in the center of the settlement would have been incinerated in the explosions that had leveled the majority of the buildings. Rafe noted the lack of large impact craters, indicating the attackers were using airbursts in close proximity to the ground. The images changed from close up ground shots to overhead shots of the entire settlement. There had been several large explosions decimating the built up areas. In addition to the destroyed settlement, the three surrounding ground sensor stations were knocked out in the same fashion. The targeting of the attacks had been well executed, as the explosions were right on target with no random impacts elsewhere. Whoever had carried out the attack were professionals.
After two minutes of images, Marauder Captain James Concannon appeared. He was drawn and subdued. Hawkins knew he had a wife and a child in the settlement.
“We have more images but they are the same as these. The attackers destroyed our camp and the surrounding sensors and also took out the three moon sensors, but they missed the data dump. Those images are coming now. You will only see the last few minutes as it has all the information needed.”
Data dump was slang for a remote recorder established to handle this exact scenario. The main sensor monitoring station was in the settlement and manned continuously. It and its recorded sensor information were destroyed in the attack. However, a remote recorder was set up well outside the settlement. It was recording equipment only with no manning. It was hard wired into the settlement monitoring station. The joining cable was laid underground from the settlement to the remote site. This allowed for some protection for the cable and hid the connection if the settlement were attacked by ground forces. There is no direct feed from the space sensors to the remote site. Information from the sensors flowed to the manned station in the settlement and then along the hard wire to the remote site. This and the lack of manning allowed the remote site to escape detection. The data dump will have all the images the sensors recorded up to the destruction of the sensors themselves.
Concannon was replaced by sensor images of empty space with stars shining in the background and the edate/time information shown at the bottom of the screen. This was obviously one of the three sensors on the moons. Then ships moved into the view. A Goth destroyer in the foreground with a Goth light cruiser in the background loomed out of the blackness. The destroyer fired at the sensor and the image went black. A second later, another sensor recording showed the two ships from a different angle. The two ships closed on that sensor as another two ships appeared far to the rear of the destroyer and cruiser. The sensor went to a close up on the two far ships. Based on their recent experience the pirates knew these ships to be an OrCon destroyer and heavy cruiser. Again, the near destroyer fired and the screen went blank. Another sensor record appeared. The time data showed these images were ten minutes after the first two recordings. The operator in the settlement probably turned the third moon sensor off after the first two sensors were eliminated to keep this third sensor from being found through its power output and data stream back to the settlement. Also, the operator undoubtedly gave the alarm and signaled for full evacuation as soon as the first sensor was destroyed. But the operator stood by the equipment and waited for the best time to reactivate his last moon sensor. Given the images now beginning to appear in the recording, it was obvious the operator waited for the first shots from the bombarding ships to hit the settlement before reactivating the last sensor. This timing would give the last sensor the best chance of imaging all the attacking force before being destroyed. The recording showed several OrCon ships in formation with three large ships in the center firing toward the planet. The battle cruisers were delivering destruction on the settlement using their 300 mm guns. Two Goth destroyers could be seen in the background providing security to the rear of the formation. After thirty seconds the screen went dark again. Ships off the screen had located and destroyed the last sensor, but not before the most damning images were recorded.
Concannon reappeared on the screen. “I think the images say it all. A Goth escort for sure. My intel tells me the other ships are OrCon and the three big ones are Congress class battle cruisers. Obviously, this is the same force seen at Potenka. Not sure why they bothered with us unless the Goths had something to do with it. We need some payback on this.”
The screen went blank. Rafe turned to Baby Doll and Tactical. “I don’t know who the settlement’s sensor operator was, but he or she was brave as hell to get those recordings while sitting in the middle of ground zero. Take a look at the images and see if there is anything not obvious at first glance. Don’t spend too much time on it. Our time will be better devoted to a plan of revenge.”
Three hours later, Rafe was in his cabin when a chime sounded on his computer screen. An incoming message marked captain only was at the top of the queue. The routing codes on the message would ensure it had bypassed the communications screen so came directly to the captain’s computer. The codes to open the message were known only to Rafe, Tactical, and Baby Doll. The codes were also in the captain’s safe if needed.
Rafe tapped in the codes on his keypad from memory. He knew the message was from Commissioner Catherine Putinsky and, hopefully, had important information for planning the next moves by the pirates.
The message was audio only, “Rafe, so sorry about the hit on your house. I know you only have civilians there, mostly women and children. Haven’t heard of anyone taking credit for the action. Will keep my ears open and do some discreet checking. Not hopeful as to the results. With regards to the battle, the Zekes achieved quite a victory considering the odds. The Zekes got away by ducking around Alejandar and its moons and then going subspace. They came out three hours later and departed. They lost one heavy cruiser and one destroyer. The destroyer was named Pearl and died putting herself between the flagship and a barrage of incoming missiles. Most heroic thing I’ve ever seen. We place OrCon losses at one battle cruiser heavily damaged, one battle cruiser lightly damaged, one heavy cruiser destroyed, and another so badly damaged the OrCons blew it up. The last two heavy cruisers suffered damaged but are being repaired on the run, one light cruiser damaged but being repaired, five destroyers burned down, two others were hit but being repaired. A couple hours after the fight two OrCon support ships showed up and started repairs. Their Goth escort also appeared. Two light cruisers and four destroyers. The OrCons departed about five hours after the Zekes and seemed to be heading to the Zeke base on Gammatiga. The heavily damaged battle cruiser with an OrCon destroyer and a Goth destroyer as escorts departed two hours after that in a different direction. I’d say the Goth base at Rosstrappe if I had to guess. That’s it. I’ve attached a sensor record of the battle. Let me know if I can help further.”
Rafe immediately hit reply. “Thanks, Cathy. Great information. Please find attached images from the attack on our house. The OrCons did it with Goth help. The images will verify that. We’ll hit the OrCons and the Goths, if possible. Not sure how they found out about the location but we’ll work that angle too. We’ve looked at the flight path from the Goth base at Rosstrappe to Bolton’s Planet, and the house was well out of the way for that formation. We figure the Goths probably did the navigation and led the flotilla to Ulatar where they pretended to stumble on a pirate house. The question is how did the Goths know it was there ahead of time?
Someone told them and probably got paid in money and/or favorable treatment. You may see the results of that reward being spent before I see anything as somebody is going to start doing something differently than they normally do. Thanks again, Cathy. I’ll keep you informed if we come up with anything.”
Rafe attached the Ulatar images and sent the reply to Catherine Putinsky. He then returned to the bridge.
“Time to send a message,” Rafe stated as he settled into his command chair. He worked his communication keypad. He addressed the message to all Flot 1 ships on one covered freq and to Captain Mallory on the same covered frequency they had used together at Potenka.
“You’ve all seen the images. The Charlie house was hit by the OrCons with Goth support. Time for payback on both. From our recent sitrep, you are aware of our recent dust up with the OrCons at Potenka. The Goths had a six-ship escort with the OrCons but they did not take part in the battle. They did rejoin the OrCon ships afterward. The OrCons had one battle cruiser take serious damage and that ship is now on its way to the Goth base at Rosstrappe with an escort of a Goth and an OrCon destroyer. For Captain O’Hare: you and your squadron will intercept and destroy those three ships. For Captain Delacruz: you will move to establish a blocking force along the likely route between Potenka and Rosstrappe at the nearest point to your current ship locations. Leave one ship near Rosstrappe to provide an early warning if the Goths sent a force from the base to join with and escort the three incoming ships. Use your remaining ships to sweep the route toward Potenka. Be prepared to engage those three ships alone or in concert with Captain O’Hare. If any Goth ships depart Rosstrappe, you will not engage them but merely report their presence and shadow them.”
Allies of Convenience: Pirates of the Badlands Series Book 1 Page 10
