The Admiral brought up his screen and visibly bared his teeth as he watched the brief attack. He pressed his fingers into the 3D image projected before him, froze it, and then expanded the view of the pirate vessels. The three smaller vessels were obviously corvettes but the one larger ship was a destroyer with a running cheetah emblazoned across the hull. Stavka didn’t need his intel officer to tell him it was the same ship he had seen at Potenka. The artwork had not been visible at that battle but he knew it was the same ship. He had hoped the pirates would take their money and run, but deep down he had known that wouldn’t happen. Pirates didn’t have many people in their lives so would hold dear the few people who did support and love them. There was simply no way they would walk away from this. He had hoped they would not work in concert with the Zekes but that had not come true either. Stavka shook his head and then ordered over the command net, “All ahead full. We will attack the Zekes here and now!”
But Captain Skyler Mallory had seen the same sequence of events as the OrCons. Her feint had worked and now her squadron was already turning and running at maximum speed. Her force swept passed Gammatiga and placed the planet between themselves and the pursing OrCons. The OrCon flotilla took up the chase but Admiral Stavka knew it was fruitless. They were forty-five minutes behind and chasing slightly faster ships. If he wanted to continue the pursuit, his ships could keep the Zekes in sensor range for several hours but eventually the fleeing vessels would move out of sensor range and he would be in the middle of nowhere chasing ghosts. He closed his eyes and suddenly felt very tired. He spoke on his command net, “Ranvir, you will continue to shadow the Zeke force and report every fifteen minutes. Stay clear of the base defenses. I don’t want to waste limited ordnance on enemy assets that aren’t a threat. The remainder of the force will return to the support ships.”
“What support ships,” muttered Captain Korlov on his bridge. He was sure he wasn’t the only officer to have that thought.
The light cruiser Ranvir continued to trail the fleeing Zekes at a respectful distance while the remainder of the OrCon force turned around and headed to the vicinity of the rock.
Chapter 30
Alpha Squadron ran away in a tight box formation. Predator and Rebel were close abeam each other in the front rank with Rogue directly in trail of Predator and Renegade behind Rebel. The first salvo from the Goth force had exploded harmlessly against the rock. The Goths moved on the rock and crested it while firing another salvo at the departing pirates. Admiral Kaufmann began to pursue the fleeing enemy ships. He knew those ships were faster than his own but hoped for a lucky hit or bad pirate tactics which would allow him to inflict some damage on his quarry. Even though the pirate ships were faster, the Goths could get off several salvos at them before they got out of range.
The two front rank pirate vessels rose slightly to fire defensive missiles over the two rear ships. All four ships fired interceptor missiles and took out the first incoming salvo. Chaff and flares were launched from the foursome. Guns fired canister rounds. These measures decoyed or destroyed some of the missiles of the second salvo; the remainder impacted on the shields of Rogue and Renegade. The front two ships now let the two rear ships pass beneath them and they assumed the rear of the formation as missiles continued inbound. Interceptors, decoys, and gun rounds again cut down the incoming threat, and the few remaining missiles impacted on the shields of Predator and Rebel with no damage. So it continued for several more minutes. The four ships swapped positions three more times to allow shields to recharge. Despite multiple hits on shields, no damage was done to any pirate ship.
Admiral Kaufmann called a halt to the pursuit after only fifteen minutes. Although his targets were still in range, it was clear further shooting was a waste of munitions against the departing foes. The Admiral also knew other pirate ships supported Raferty Hawkins on a regular basis. Although unlikely, he could not completely dismiss the possibility of the fleeing enemy leading his small squadron into a trap in which several pirate vessels would engage his five ships. If the pirates knew of the destruction of their base at Ulatar and the role Kaufmann’s squadron played in it, any battle would be fought to the death. Escape pods were not an option.
The Goth force turned one hundred eighty degrees and returned to the rock location. The OrCon force was waiting and communication was quickly established.
“You were to protect my support ships and you failed to do that!” Admiral Stavka wasted no words.
“The pirates came out of nowhere and were gone just as fast,” Admiral Kaufmann was not as forceful in his reply. He knew he was responsible for the loss.
Admiral Stavka swallowed his response. He had expected an argument and the blame to be passed around, but it was obvious Admiral Kaufmann had no stomach for the verbal back and forth. Stavka knew he needed a supply source now, and this was the best time to press the Goths.
“We will need supplies and support now. I look forward to you providing it.”
“I have to contact higher headquarters to get guidance before I can grant you that request.”
“You do that. And please inform them as to the circumstances of the loss of my two support ships and how you took absolutely no damage in their defense, and how the attacking force escaped without a scratch.” Stavka smiled grimly at Kaufmann’s image and then turned to his bridge staff. “Get those survival pods picked up.” This was already being done but nobody pointed that out to the Admiral.
Chapter 31
The OrCon/Goth force remained at the rock as they discussed their next move. Ranvir had been recalled from shadowing the Zekes. If she had trailed them out of range of the main force, the Zekes could have turned on her, ran her down, and finished her. Admiral Stavka needed all the ships he could muster. Even the return of the destroyer Slavnyy from escorting Senator would be significant.
But where did the Zekes and pirates go? Gammatiga was along the edge of the Badlands nearest to Aurora Empire. However, there were several neutral systems between the Badlands and Aurora Empire home territory. These systems could be crossed by any ship or group of ships regardless of loyalty or mission. The governments within these systems tended to mind their own business and took no interest in what occurred outside their own spheres of influence. All major powers maintained listening posts, diplomatic missions, and their own merchant ships in these systems. Both the Goth and the OrCon governments received constant updates of events in these adjoining systems.
Admiral Kaufmann sent messages to higher headquarters and to Goth interests in the nearby neutral territories, and throughout this sector of the Badlands to see if anyone had sighted the Zekes or the pirates. It would be lucky indeed, if anyone spotted either enemy force, but negative reports would tell where the two forces were not.
Admiral Stavka sat with his staff and Captain Korlov discussing plans of action. He wanted to do something, anything, to at least create the illusion of progress. The fact is there was nothing to do until the enemy could be located and a pursuit established. Korlov briefly considered a suggestion to return to Rosstrappe to demand support and get reinforcements from the Goths since they were in the fight now against the pirates. He quickly realized any suggestion to leave the field would not be a smart move. He remained silent and waited. Sometimes that was all you could do. He knew the Zekes and the pirates would rejoin forces and go to a hideout. He also knew they would not abandon the battlefield. His force would meet them again, probably on their terms, but they would meet again.
Hours passed. The Goth force began receiving replies from all their sources in the immediate border systems and from nearby transiting ships. There were no reports of Zeke ships coming out of the Badlands into neighboring systems headed toward home space. The Zeke squadron was still in Badland space, probably united with the pirates by now. The Goths were receiving continuous reports from all their sources within the Badlands. Reports from ships further away began to arrive. Goth warships, merchant ships, and corporate ships seeking to
curry favor kept official Goth entities informed on events in areas they travelled through. These lookouts did not locate the Zekes or the pirates. The Goths and the OrCons crossed off these places and narrowed down the departure routes available to the Zekes and the pirates, as they decided their next course of action.
Admiral Stavka and Captain Korlov sat drinking coffee in the flag briefing room. The intercom buzzed and Korlov lightly touched the pad in front of him. “Yes?”
“A call from Admiral Kaufmann,” reported the watch officer.
“Send it in,” Korlov spoke as he touched a few more spots on the pad.
Admiral Kaufmann’s image appeared in 3D above the table. “It is probable the Empire ships have not left the Badlands but have moved further into the region. We are still waiting for direction from Rosstrappe, but I believe it would be prudent to move to our nearest supply base at Harper’s Reef. This will deny it to the enemy and secure it for us. If Rosstrappe sends supplies and reinforcements via convoy, then that base will be unimportant to us as a source of supply, but still would be valuable to the enemy. I am sure the Zekes will be loaded now with all their Gammatiga supplies, and will want to secure more supplies and munitions while denying that support to us. If they have headed directly to the base after passing out of sensor range, they will beat us there by several hours.”
Admiral Stavka nodded. He could think of no better course of action, and once at this Harper’s Reef, he would demand a share of supplies and munitions for his force. He wanted to ask about the base’s defenses and if they could hold against the Zekes, but didn’t want to prolong any conversation with the Goths. “Let us move in a hurry then.”
The two forces set off to Harper’s Reef with the Goths leading the way.
Chapter 32
The stream of images from Senator’s convoy flowed into the Orion formation. Admiral Stavka had let the entire flotilla see the carnage. The image stream from the doomed ships had been automatically activated when the klaxons on Senator and Slavnyy had sounded battle stations in response to the attack. Images from Senator showed a shower of incoming projectiles but the feed lasted only a few seconds. The pictures from the destroyer Slavnyy showed Senator rolling over under a barrage of missiles. Explosions racked the big ship and pieces of metal spun off in all directions. Oxygen feed fires flared briefly and died. The ship trembled with internal explosions. There would be no escape for Senator this time. The images shook as Slavnyy herself was pummeled. Images of the attackers showed a large freighter and three escorts pouring missiles out in salvos. Finally, all images ended in static. The short duration of the image feed proved the attack had been well timed, well executed, and ultimately, overwhelming.
“Anything from the Goth ship ... the uh ... ?” Admiral Stavka snapped his fingers trying to recall the name.
“Abendhimmel, sir,” Captain Korlov said absently as he pondered the empty screen before him.
“Nothing yet, sir,” the watch officer reported.
“All their input went directly to their own chain of command,” Korlov said and shook his head as if to clear it, “The images from the Goth destroyer are unimportant. They will show us nothing we have not already seen. The question is - who are the attackers? I think the pirates are behind this. A freighter innocently passes by the convoy with ships in subspace accompanying it. They get close and open up with maximum salvos.” He turned to face his Admiral. “We attacked a pirate base and probably killed a number of women and children. We have made a new enemy, and our mission has suffered for it. The fact we were tricked by our escort will have no importance. There will be no arriving at an understanding with these pirates, so we better prepare for a fight to the death with them.”
“We were stupid to attack the settlement on the Goths’ word. I was stupid ... ” the admiral began and then his voice faded.
“Not your fault, Admiral. The Goths set us up and it worked.”
Admiral Stavka was not listening. He was staring at the silent monitor. Korlov fell silent and patiently waited. He knew where the Admiral was. He was with those two ships and all those crewmembers. The Admiral would have met several of the crewmembers on Senator since it had been his flagship. Korlov may have felt Admiral Stavka was not the right man for this mission, but he knew the Admiral was a commander who cared about his ships and crews. Some commanders view their units and people as mere assets to be moved about the game board in quest of victory. If a sacrifice was required, so be it. Admiral Stavka was not one of these. He was a decent man who felt the loss of his people keenly. Part of the sadness was the realization the losses already suffered had accomplished nothing, and there would be more such sacrifices in the future.
Sending Senator with a small escort to Rosstrappe had seemed a good move at the time. The ship couldn’t keep up with the squadron, couldn’t remain at Potenka, and nobody wanted to destroy it. Undoubtedly, when this mission is reviewed at headquarters, there will be other opinions. Armchair strategists and rear area tacticians always have perfect hindsight. They would be after somebody’s head unless a complete victory was achieved here.
Korlov saw that they had underestimated the intelligence-gathering ability of the pirates. Someone with access to the Potenka sensor logs had seen Senator and her escorts leave, surmised their destination, and informed the pirates, probably for money. A wounded ship would take the most direct route to get to a support base, especially when there was no perceived threat. Despite the vastness of space, an intercept would have been easy to set up. The pirates just needed ships close enough to do the intercept, and they obviously had those. After that, it was all a foregone conclusion as to the outcome. Korlov silently waited and rubbed his right temple as he felt a headache coming on.
Admiral Stavka came back to the present, “We are alone with unreliable allies and an aroused enemy. We must end this quickly and depart with a victory. The question is - where are our enemies now?” He raised his voice. “Where is my intel update?”
Chapter 33
Shortly after departure from the Gammatiga fight while speeding to join the Zeke force, Hawkins received an update from Commissioner Putinsky. Apparently, a pirate was paying off some seriously large, long-standing debts with money that could not be accounted for, and was getting an overhaul on his vessel, but Putinsky didn’t know from where. Using her information, Rafe sent a coded message to several sources to find the shipyard doing the work and to find out where the money came from. He was waiting for replies when they rendezvoused with the Zekes.
The pirate and Zeke forces had moved at maximum sustainable speed away from Gammatiga in opposite directions but once free of pursuit each turned and headed to the rally point. After twenty-six hours of travel, they met and joined as one formation. Rebel was scouting ahead and sent all-clear reports to the formation on a regular basis. The formation set up in three lines with the single pirate line above two Zeke lines. There was a support ship at the end of each line. It was two days to the fort. O’Hare would meet them in one day, and Delacruz would arrive at the Fort shortly after the main formation.
Captains Mallory and Hawkins, and their operations officers, coordinated on future operations. Sky and Rafe talked several times while hammering out future plans. Sky expected Hawkins’ approach would be to go in with all guns blazing and see who’s left standing when the smoke cleared. She was surprised at his analysis and foresight. His views of the strategic situation and of the threat facing them were almost exactly her own conclusions. Hawkins found Mallory was not a rigid thinker and open to tactical suggestions from “disreputable sources” such as pirates. Despite it being a surprise to both, they each found they liked the other.
During this time, Captain Hawkins received answers from his informants on the pirate with money. This new information required an adjustment to the evolving plan of attack. Captain Hawkins called for a group planning session in his day cabin with Tactical, Baby Doll, and their Zeke counterparts via comm link. Hawkins opened the session. “We
have new intel on the attack on our house. There is a three-ship pirate group commanded by two brothers and their cousin. Names are Jochen and Wilhelm Halder with cousin Frederich. They are Goth born and raised, and have been pirates for ten standard years. There has always been the suspicion they sell information to the Goths but nobody is sure. We just avoided them so it never much mattered until now. Seems Fred has come into some serious money recently. He paid off a gambling debt of 50,000 credits to the Matterhorn Consortium and is now getting work done on his ship. Some investigating was done and nobody can come up with a way to account for the money. No prizes taken lately, no payoffs for services rendered, no protection money collected. Also due to various pirate reports by trading ships, we can put him near Ulatar just when we put the house there. That’s a lot of money to come out of thin air and, by the way, it was Goth glitter. ”
The official unit of currency for the Goldenes Tor is Gold Krone or gold crowns. But it was known throughout the Badlands as Goth glitter, or simply, glitter. The primary currency throughout the Badlands is Aurora Empire credits but glitter was a close second, with local system or planet currencies being a distant third. People operating throughout multiple systems always prefer one of the two Empire currencies vice local paper.
“How did you get this information?” asked Commander Cassidy.
The three pirates stared at her through their computer screen windows. After a few seconds of silence, it was obvious no answer would be forthcoming. Sky covered up a smile with her hand.
“Let me rephrase,” added Cassidy. “How do you judge the reliability of the information?”
“Rock solid,” replied Hawkins. “This is as good as it gets. The ship is being repaired on Marblefall in the Zenith system. Marblefall has a small shipyard well off the beaten path. Ship should be there for another three weeks. Fred must have gotten money from somewhere. Tough for him to keep his ship out of action for that long without having money in reserve to cover the work and the down time. The Halder group is usually on the edge financially but not right now.”
Allies of Convenience: Pirates of the Badlands Series Book 1 Page 15
