Allies of Convenience: Pirates of the Badlands Series Book 1

by Sean Benjamin

  Stavka waited for Admiral Kaufmann to speak but nothing was forthcoming. Silence is consent. The Goths were onboard with the plan. Stavka hoped the pirates would not split up. He could not chase them at the expense of losing the Aurora Empire ships. The Goths might break off with his unit to pursue the pirates, at least to pursue the cripples. He thought such an event likely, but he had been briefed after Potenka that Raferty Hawkins and Killian O’Hare were risk takers and fighters. He fervently hoped this was true and they would stay with their cripples.

  One deck below, Captain Korlov was thinking along the exact same lines with the caveat that if the pirates did not scatter, then they had a surprise waiting for his forces. And his side would run right into it at flank speed.

  Chapter 51

  “Increase speed three percent.” Rafe spoke over his command net to his captains. He then stabbed at an air screen to conduct a heat scan of his supposed cripples, Outlaw and Renegade. Both ships showed one engine running hotter than the other. The scan would indicate a ship and crew pushing a damaged engine into the red zone in a bid to escape oncoming destruction.

  The pirate force moved slightly faster. They had added fifteen minutes to the time their pursuers would take to get into weapons range. The Zeke force was well ahead of them now and pulling away.

  “Nomad asteroid belt on long range sensors,” Maddie called from her station. “Arrival in two and a half hours at current speed.”

  “Thank you,” Hawkins responded in an unhurried fashion. He turned to Tactical at her station. “When will the Zekes be out of sensor range of our stalkers?”

  “In one point two hours assuming constant speeds.” An instant reply. As always, she had all pertinent information at her fingertips. She glanced over and gave him a nod signifying everything was going to plan.

  Raferty nodded in return. The timing was working out well. If he needed to adjust the time of intercept, it was an easy move. He would simply increase speed slightly more and the two so-called cripples would have to heat up their engines compartment more to make it look as if the crews were burning up their bad engines to get away. Rafe knew the crews were using heating units and welding torches in the engine compartments to heat up the outer skins and give off a rosy glow on any sensor scan that painted them. Increasing the rosy glow would be easy for them if required.

  Minutes slinked by. The GorCon squadron closed from the rear. The Zekes moved further away up ahead. Hawkins increased speed ever so slightly to give the impression the cripples were putting everything they had into a failing effort to escape. The glow on the damaged engine compartments of the two cripples increased ever so slightly.

  After more than an hour, the Zekes speeding ahead of the pirates would have outrun the GorCon’s sensors. As the Zekes neared the asteroid belt, they suddenly vanished off the sensors of Flotilla One. Hawkins nodded his head in satisfaction. Another step in the plan was just completed. It was going well.

  “Incoming reinforcements!” Maddie Hopkins said loudly from sensors. “Eight ships and a couple are big ones.”

  “Noted,” Raferty replied with a measured calm. He didn’t ask how far out. He knew Maddie would have seen the enemy ships as soon as they came within the reach of long-range sensors so the new ships were roughly two hours out. Hawkins knew they would complicate this situation but his side had time.

  As the ships closed on the asteroid belt, the sensor returns from slowly tumbling bands of huge rocks became more distinct and detailed.

  “Three freighters ahead. They are on the far side of the asteroid belt and slightly above it,” Maddie sang out.

  “Good,” Rafe replied crisply. Excellent timing for that appearance. The three freighters can disappear behind the asteroid belt in short order if necessary. Rafe knew it would be necessary to do exactly that soon enough. The key was for them to stay off the enemy’s sensors as long as possible and dropping behind the asteroid band would accomplish that.

  “Time to intercept?” Rafe asked Tactical.

  “Twenty minutes,” came the quick reply.

  Raferty now turned to Arky Smith at navigation. “Time to asteroids?”

  “Thirty minutes,” he responded just as fast as Tactical. Everyone was ready for the fight.

  Hawkins mused out loud. “Twenty minutes to the fight and we’ll be ten minutes from the asteroids. We need to be a little closer to the rocks before we take on our stalkers. We can’t shoot it out for ten minutes before we get to cover.” He spoke on his command net. “Increase speed three percent.”

  He now turned to Tactical. “What will that gain us?”

  “Four minutes.”

  “That’s good enough. We want them to think they got us then. They need to smell blood.”

  The increase in speed cut down the closure rate and increased the anxiety among the pursuers.

  Admiral Stavka shook his head and began to think they were being toyed with. The Zekes had outrun their sensors again, and were probably in the asteroid belt now. The pirates seemed to be taking them on a chase and, if they could get a little more speed out of their cripples, they would make the belt, and his force would have to pay hell to dig them out. He was prepared to consider the cost of the bill the devil would present if it would bring this mission to a successful conclusion. He only hoped the Zekes would be in there also. Stavka wanted to get the pirates for their destruction of his supply ships and, well, they were damned pirates after all. But he knew that would not advance his mission, and destroying a pirate force while the Zekes escaped would mean only one thing back in his Empire: mission failure. He hoped the Zekes were in the rocks when his force arrived there.

  On his flagship Bergspitze, Admiral Kaufmann had the same thoughts. However, his primary objective was the destruction of the pirates. He hoped for success against the Zekes, but he knew actively engaging them was not desirable. But bringing down Raferty Hawkins would be the only way to erase the stain from the destruction of the two supply ships under his protection. As with his counterpart, he was prepared to consider a fight among the asteroids if it would bring about desirable results.

  He called Stavka on a private frequency. The Orion commander appeared immediately on his screen. Kaufmann wasted no time on stating his proposal. “May I suggest we go completely offensive with missiles? The pirates are outgunned and will be on the defensive. We should pound them into scrap in as short a time as possible to ensure they don’t make the asteroid belt. Then we will move on the asteroids to see if the Zekes are there.”

  “Agree,” Stavka said quickly. He was for anything to bring this chase to a conclusion and move after the Zekes. After sign off, both men informed his respective squadron of the decision.

  “They’re there.” Maddie was on the white phones now. There was a note of disapproval in her voice.

  Rafe glanced over at her. “Too loud for you? They’re putting out noise deliberately so we will know where they are, you know.”

  “Yes,” she replied with the same tone but then switched to an air of certainty. “But I could find them without the help. Right now dead people could hear them.”

  Rafe gave a short laugh and he could hear Baby Doll nearby doing the same. Yes, the crew was ready.

  “We’ll be on the edge of missile range in two minutes,” Tactical calmly stated.

  “Thank you.” Hawkins went to his command net. “All ships, prepare to shoot in salvo. We’ll let them have first shot so it looks like we’re responding, but I want the missiles out quick so we’ll assume they will fire as soon as they’re in range so we’ll shoot five seconds after they are in range.”

  He now spoke to the white phones. “Maddie, they close enough to hear the shot?”

  “Affirm,” she replied succinctly as she listened on the white phones and backed up Tactical on sensors.

  “One minute,” Tactical said loudly.

  The seconds slipped away. Everyone strapped into their chairs with personal breathing apparatuses attached to their bodies. As a
lways, Rafe was the last to secure himself. He hung his left leg over the chair arm and rested his hand on his dagger in his left boot.

  “Fifteen seconds.”

  “Ten.”

  “Five.”

  “In range.”

  Finally, it was here. Rafe waited five seconds and spoke calmly over his command net. “Shoot in salvo.”

  “Predator, Predator, Predator” echoed throughout the ship as it continuously shook from missiles going downrange as fast as they rolled into the launchers from the magazines.

  Rafe was correct in assuming the desperate GorCons would shoot as soon as they were in range. They fired immediately when feasible, and the pirate response had been three seconds later even though the pirate sensors had not picked up the incoming GorCon shots yet.

  Hundreds of missiles sped at each other but the GorCon missiles greatly outnumbered the pirate missiles - time, space, and number of weapons. It was simple but now the pirates were on the short end of that equation.

  But then three events happened in quick succession. The converging clouds of missiles meet at roughly the halfway point between the two factions. But instead of the pirate missiles impacting the incoming enemy missiles, the two groups sped through each with only three chance collisions. The pirates had not fired interceptors in defense but had gone on the offense, and now their missiles were closing on the enemy.

  “Switch to interceptors!” Both admirals happened to give the same order at the same time to their forces. They knew their ships would not get enough interceptors out of their launchers, and the defense would primarily be guns and decoys. They also knew it would not be enough, and some of their ships were going to absorb punishment. But they knew the pirates would be in the same position with few interceptors going out, and they would be dependent on their guns and decoys against a larger number of incoming missiles. Both men thought they had won.

  Then the second event occurred. Between the pirates and the asteroid belt, the Zeke squadron shimmered into sight from sub space. They were behind and below the pirates from their enemy’s point of view. They had a direct line of sight to the oncoming foe and started shooting missiles the second they cleared subspace. Dozens of missiles sped at the oncoming GorCon attack.

  “Damn it!” Admiral Stavka spat the curse. The Zekes were firing defensively to protect the pirates while the pirates conducted the attack. The Zekes were beyond the missile range of his ships so they did not need to protect themselves. They could provide defense for the pirates as their two formations slowly retreated toward the asteroid belt. All his force could do was continue the pursuit and hope for hits on the pirates, or hope the Zekes and pirates make a stand in the asteroid field. If his ships could press the slower pirates, perhaps they could pursue them into the asteroids before they could establish a coordinated defense there. The forces of the Goldenes Tor and Orion Confederation still outgunned the ships arrayed against them. Even with the Zekes covering the pirates while staying out of range, their combined defenses should not be able to withstand a prolonged attack. If he and Admiral Kaufmann could bring their superior firepower to bear against both forces and make both forces defend themselves, this could be brought to a close here and now. Stavka could almost feel victory in his hands but he knew it could slip away very easily.

  “Close on the enemy!” He directed over his command net. He knew Admiral Kaufmann was monitoring the net and would continue onward with him after their prey.

  Then the third event took place. From the direction of the asteroid field, well over two hundred missiles suddenly appeared on all sensors. The missiles were closing on the Zekes and the pirates. But the swarm flew over both squadrons and zeroed in on the approaching cloud of Gor/Con missiles just behind the Zeke missiles. First, the Zekes interceptors hit the vanguard of the incoming attack. Seconds later the mysterious salvo hit the same attack. The two waves of the interceptors reduced the GorCon attack to forty missiles. Now pirate guns, lasers, and decoys came to life. Oncoming GorCon missiles were shot through with canisters from guns, cut up by lasers, or drawn off target by decoys. Only thirteen missiles impacted on the shields of three ships, none doing any damage.

  The two admirals had wanted to deal out a maximum amount of punishment to the pirates before they could get to the asteroid field. They had concluded the lone pirate formation would need to use their missiles as interceptors in a defensive role. Consequently, they had not anticipated the need for firing defensive interceptors so early in the battle to protect their own ships. But now the pirates had defensive coverage and could attack with their own missiles. The OrCons and Goths had to protect themselves. Magazines had to be reprogrammed to download interceptor missiles. Then these interceptors had to slide from magazines into launchers. This took precious seconds as the pirate missiles closed in. Several salvos of interceptors were fired against the pirate assault, but the majority of the defense was provided by guns, lasers, and decoys. They did their programmed best, but the bulk of the pirate missiles impacted on their targets.

  Hits were made on the majority of the ships, but only three had significant damage. The battle cruiser Citizen absorbed the most missiles. Twenty-two missiles impacted on the shields and bled off their power. Nine missiles punched through the weakened shields and impacted the ship. The forward 300 mm turret disappeared under four hits, but the ship shook off the impacts and continued the fight. The OrCon light cruiser Ranvir was not as lucky. Her shields took a dozen hits before one section collapsed, and ten missiles hit the ship in rapid succession. The majority hit the bridge area and drove deep into the command section, the nerve center of the ship. Explosions racked this single area and killed the captain, the entire bridge complement, and most of the operations crewmembers in the CIC behind the bridge. Ranvir ceased shooting and defending herself but drove blindly onward as her engines were still intact and obeying the last bridge commands. The Goth light cruiser Bergluft was the least lucky of all. Her shields soaked up eleven hits and then gave way in two adjacent sections. Thirteen missiles hit her with most slamming into engineering. Secondary explosions quickly followed as the ship lost stability and started to roll to port. Fires blazed through her and escape pods started to blow off the dissolving vessel.

  “Where did the second swarm of interceptors come from?” Admiral Stavka spoke to his flag bridge staff and command net in hopes someone would give an answer. But suddenly it occurred to him without prompting.

  He returned to his net. “The freighter who was part of the attack on Senator. It or others like it are in the asteroids or just on the other side. We can do nothing against them now but continue to close on the enemy to bring them all in range.”

  The combined squadron stayed on course after the retreating pirates. The pirates dropped all pretense of being hampered by two cripples and increased speed to ensure the GorCons couldn’t close the gap. The Zekes now lead the way to the asteroids with the pirates closing up behind them.

  “Time to asteroids?” Hawkins asked. He could have found out himself by scrolling through his air screens to the appropriate information but he didn’t have the time. Arky at nav responded instantly. “Four minutes.”

  “Thank you,” Rafe responded in a matter of fact manner. Timing was everything now. Not only did his force need to get into the asteroid belt for cover, but also they needed to ensure they entered at the right spot.

  Missiles continued to fly between the pirates and their enemies with the Zekes providing defensive overwatch for the pirate formation. However, the three freighters could not provide another broadside without a lengthy reloading procedure. The GorCons stopped firing interceptors, and no missiles were launched for several seconds. The last several pirate missiles were taken out by guns, lasers, and decoys, or were exploded on ships’ shields.

  “They’re coordinating for one massive salvo to impact before we can get to cover,” Hawkins spoke over his command net. “We’ll go half and half.”

  Hawkins knew his three freight
ers functioning as missile boats would not participate in the upcoming exchange. Their missile systems were not an integral part of the vessels but had been jury rigged to fire out the three port cargo hatches. After firing, the hatches had to be closed and the three compartments pressurized to allow the missiles to roll from their overhead storage racks into the five-by-five firing racks set up behind each hatch. It took time to pressurize and then slide the seventy-five missiles into place on each ship. Another limitation was the freighters did not have the space for large magazines so each ship could fire only four broadsides. The Zekes would be the only support for Flot 1 as the GorCons would go completely offensive. This would be their last chance to inflict serious damage on the pirates.

  Now it was more imperative to inflict damage on the enemy at hand. Hawkins returned to his command net. “We’re going half and half this pass. We won’t have the missile boats so we’re going to take some hits, but we have to inflict some damage before their reinforcements arrive. Wolfpack, fire interceptors, and Alpha will go offensive. The GorCons will press to get some damage on us before we make the belt. Stack it up.”

  Flot 1 now moved into line abreast with the five Alpha Squadron ships in front of the Wolfpack ships and closest to the enemy. The two lines would swap positions in the middle of absorbing the GorCon attack to spread out the impacts on ship shields. Hawkins knew the maneuver would help but not totally mitigate the attack. They would take some serious bruising.

  Captain Mallory was thinking the same thing about their side absorbing some punishment. She spoke over her command net. “Reduce speed by five percent. We’ll let the gap between us and the enemy close up. We need to time our coverage so we get max interceptors out to begin degrading the enemy attack as soon as their missiles leave their tubes. I don’t care if we waste interceptors by shooting too early, and I don’t care if we empty the magazines. We will reload them once we’re in the asteroids. This will be their big push before we get to the rocks. We have to have a response.”