Allies of Convenience: Pirates of the Badlands Series Book 1

by Sean Benjamin

  “Maintain current target engagements,” Hawkins ordered over his command net. He pursed his lips in a thin cruel line. He had warned his vessels not to freelance, but he understood the action. Vandal had had the most family members at Ulatar. The crew wanted to avenge that loss at the earliest opportunity. Rafe suspected this maneuver had been hastily planned by the Vandal leadership immediately after the battle plan had been briefed at the Fort. Their plan would be simple. If the opportunity presented itself to attack easy targets and administer the coup de grace, Vandal would take advantage of the situation. Vandal would also take out the escape pods so no member of the enemy crew would escape. While still at the Fort, quickly and quietly, Vandal would have transferred all crewmembers not wanting to participate. These members would have been few in number. Crews tended to stick together even if some individuals didn’t have a personal loss at Ulatar. Hawkins saw it all in an instant. He even knew the few transfers were now on Marauder, the only other ship from Charlie squadron here. Hawkins shrugged. He knew he did not have complete command of his flotilla, and he was philosophical as to his command limits. Vandal’s crew felt they owed a debt of revenge for their families, which exceeded their commitment to Flot 1, and were now carrying out that revenge. Hawkins didn’t like it but he understood.

  The pirates and their Zeke allies continued their planned missile attack against the enemy’s main group. This was the best way to support Vandal as that lone ship sped at the two destroyers. She fired missiles at the cyclic rate and several were impacting the two disabled ships. The remaining OrCon and Goth ships had continued toward their rocky destination, and shifted fires to the lone open target. Vandal protected herself with guns and decoys but maintained offensive missile fire on her two targets. Enemy missiles broke through the defenses and impacted on Vandal’s shields. She shook under the impacts but did not waver from her heading.

  Vandal’s missiles were the final assault on the two destroyers. Escape pods continued to fly off both ships as further explosions began to take the vessels apart. As the pirate craft closed on the now stationary enemy, her guns began to fire on the escape pods. As the distance closed further, Vandal’s lasers lashed out at the pods. Pods were hit and briefly vented atmosphere as holes were punched through their thin skins. There would be no survivors.

  “Bastards!” exclaimed Admiral Stavka as he saw the attack. This comment went out over his command net and undoubtedly, the sentiment was echoed by several other people who had a visual on Vandal. Captain Korlov heard the exclamation over his net. He condemned the attack but was not surprised by it. This is the pirates’ first chance to engage the warships that had attacked Ulatar. The briefing he and the Admiral had been given immediately after the battle at Potenka was now confirmed. They had attacked a pirate settlement. With no pirate ships there, it was safe to assume the encampment was filled mostly with women and children. The pirates would want their revenge and were taking it now. Of course, his side will now want revenge for their dead comrades in the blasted pods. Korlov inhaled deeply. It just keeps getting better and better.

  The OrCon and Goth forces now concentrated all offensive fires on the lone open Vandal. The little ship went defensive with missiles and guns, but the lasers continued to burn into any and all escape pods within range. She also pressed onward to get at the pods escaping from the opposite side of the two destroyers. Vandal’s crew knew this was a one-way trip and wanted to kill all the crewmembers from both ships. Lasers danced beyond the two crumbling destroyers and impacted the pods drifting there. But time was expiring for the little pirate corvette. Missiles punched through the weakening shields and impacted the hull. Six hits in rapid succession rocked the ship. Surprisingly, two guns working the defense now slewed toward the pods and joined the lasers in ensuring their destruction. Vandal’s captain realized time was short and he wanted the pods, all of them. He achieved his goal in short order, and his ship was soon surrounded by a flock of lifeless canisters. Vandal’s starboard engine erupted in a fiery plume as the explosions started to multiply under the missile barrage, but she gamely turned toward the remaining enemy ships and shot four missiles before she blew up. The Orion crews were amazed no escape pods jettisoned off Vandal. They were disappointed too. They would have liked to return the gesture concerning escape pods. Neither the pirates nor the Goths were surprised. Both groups knew pirate vessels did not carry escape pods. The fight continued.

  The Orion and Goth ships were about to gain the rocks. The lead ship, the OrCon heavy cruiser, Revnostnyy, had just entered the rocks when she was rocked by several explosions against her shields. No missiles hit her and the explosions were on both sides of her hull.

  “Mines!” The call went out from all ships as the unlucky Revnostnyy coasted into the asteroid belt on her momentum. The remaining Orion and Goth ships turned hard to port, away from the enemy. They began to parallel the asteroid belt and moved away from the enemy as they continued upstream.

  Revnostnyy attracted more magnetic mines, and explosions penetrated her shields and marched down her hull as she lost all steerage. Several sections of her shields collapsed, and frozen boulders began to pummel her hull as she spun lazily amid the hurtling rocks.

  Hawkins watched the scene with a mild, detached interest. He knew that ship’s crew would be frantically trying to get some propulsion back on line, or they were doomed. The rocks would batter their drifting hull into a mass of junk. Escape pods were not a viable course of action in the belt. Pods had no shields, so a hit by any rock could easily leave a hole and begin the venting of atmosphere. Pods had no propulsion so would remain adrift in the asteroid belt until rescued. Also, the cruiser’s crew had seen Vandal’s attack on the two destroyers and would naturally assume the same fate would be visited on their pods if possible. The crippled ship only held Hawkins’ interest as he assessed its fighting ability. He quickly concluded it was no longer a threat and dismissed it from his mind. He now watched the remaining enemy ships as they turned away and moved upstream along the asteroid belt edge. Missiles continued to fly between the opposing forces, but the enemy was rapidly pulling away through open space while the pirates and Zekes still dodged rocks within the belt.

  The mines laid down by the three freighters had done their job. While Flot 1 and their Zeke allies were attacking the Reef and then pulling the enemy to the Nomad belt, the pirate supply vessels had put down two fields in the asteroid belt with a gap in between. Timing was everything. The pirates and Zekes had to enter the asteroid belt between the two minefields while making it look like a natural point of entry under the circumstances. If they had to adjust their route to enter the belt at a particular place it might have tipped their pursuers something was amiss. It had worked out well. Hawkins hoped the reinforcements now approaching from his rear would not suspect a second minefield covering what had been his left flank and now was the rear of his position. He would be disappointed in that regard.

  “Scan the asteroid belt!” Admiral Dietrich ordered all ships. He had seen the fate of the heavy cruiser and wanted to ensure it was not the first of many such encounters.

  “Mines throughout the asteroid belt, sir,” came the response almost immediately from the sensors operator. The mines would have been near impossible to pick out among the tumbling turmoil unless a dedicated search was done, but for now, just such a scan was completed and the mines were revealed.

  Dietrich spoke on his command net. “Belay my last tactical direction. All ships will close on the asteroid belt, then turn parallel close abeam and move toward the enemy in column. Cruisers below and destroyers above.”

  Dietrich was adjusting his formation so his ships were in two lines stacked on each other. He would adjust as required. He knew his force would pass the minefield soon enough and then be able to enter the belt if necessary.

  “Reinforcements coming from the rear. They really closed the distance. I estimate thirty minutes to firing range. Two battle cruisers, two heavies, and four destroyers,
” Maddie reported from sensors.

  Raferty was surprised but now realized more time had passed than he thought. He also realized the reinforcements had put their engines into the red zone to get here this quickly. Whoever was in command of that squadron was driving them hard.

  He spoke on his command net. “Flot 1, we will reverse course and move back to our original entry point to meet the incoming threat. Captain Mallory, sorry to split forces but I know you can’t engage a Goth force without risking war, so we’ll take these guys on. I’ll leave you one missile ship for support. She’s loaded for offense. Contact Dragon this channel.”

  Mallory replied immediately. “Thank you, Captain. Good hunting.”

  Splitting the force was very risky but necessary. Now two outnumbered forces had to hold their positions within the rocks. If either force failed, the other squadron would have the enemy coming up their rear in short order. The pirates reversed course and flowed downstream back toward their original positions. Mallory was left with her flagship, two light cruisers, and two destroyers to face the Goth force of one light cruiser and two destroyers, and the Orion squadron of two battle cruisers, one heavy cruiser, two light cruisers, and a destroyer. Several ships on both sides were damaged. Sky smiled grimly to herself. The two battle cruisers were the difference maker, but warships that big usually were. She turned to Commander Cassidy. “Lisa, integrate Dragon with our fires. We got one salvo left from her. We will fight from this position and slowly retreat as the enemy closes on us. We will dump out some mines as we retreat to keep them out of the rocks. I do not want to get into a gunfight in the rocks, but want to trade missiles against an enemy in the open. ”

  Cassidy nodded as she worked her computer screens. The freighters had used three of their four broadsides. The last must be well planned.

  Admiral Stavka scanned his screens. Missile exchanges had stopped as his ships and his Goth allies had widened the distance with their enemy. He saw the Goth reinforcements coming up on the edge of the asteroid belt. They had clearly seen the mine threat and adjusted accordingly.

  An operator on sensors spoke up. “Enemy splitting forces. Several ships moving back downstream to meet the reinforcements. Exact numbers not known. Sensor returns intermittent.”

  Stavka considered his options. He really had only one. The enemy was divided and being pressed from their rear. Now was the time to turn and press them from their front. It would have to be done from open space. Even if his ships could enter the asteroid belt in a clear area, the minefield would be between them and their quarry. He had no desire to repeat the Potenka battle by dancing around a minefield, especially a minefield in an asteroid belt.

  He addressed his ship captains. “Reverse course now. We will attack from the edge of the asteroid belt.”

  He did not talk to Admiral Kaufmann. He knew the Goth commander would have to stay with him. With his countrymen in the reinforcements coming to assist in the fight, there was no possibility of the accompanying Goth ships retiring from the battlefield.

  His ships turned and closed on the Zeke ships while staying in open space. The three Goth warships stayed with them. This would be the final attack. One side was not walking away from this last shootout.

  “As soon as you have a target, commence firing. We will close to gun range,” Stavka directed over his command net.

  Missiles began to fly between the two forces. The Zekes used the tumbling rocks for cover as the enemy missiles closed on them. Neither side inflicted great damage on the other. The cover in the belt negated the superior numbers of the incoming missiles, but as the GorCons came on, the Zekes were forced to slowly retreat within the belt. They dispersed mines as they fell back to discourage their foes from entering the belt once they were past the original minefield. As the Orion and Goth ships retraced their path along the belt’s edge, they passed the crippled Revnostnyy. The heavy cruiser had gotten maneuvering thrusters online and was trying to clear the asteroid belt. She was taking asteroid hits against her hull as she slowly worked to depart the belt. She was finished as a fighting ship for this battle.

  Hawkins watched the fight as he moved away. It would be a close thing. The cover in the belt could offset the superior enemy fire, but the Zekes could only retreat so far. They would have to make a stand somewhere along the way. He turned his attention to the oncoming squadron. Two battle cruisers, two heavy cruisers, and four destroyers were fresh to the field while his ships were damaged and running short of missiles. He knew this short respite was allowing all pirate crews to pull missiles out of hangar bays, passageways, heads, holds, and wherever else missiles were being stored in an attempt to reload magazines while on the run. There was not enough time to completely reload but everything helped. Their upcoming fight would be a near thing.

  “We’ll hold the two freighters until just before we get into gun range. We’ll do an all-out salvo then. The Goths will commit to defense, and that gives us first gunshots while they are fighting off the missiles. We did not want this to be a gun duel with those battle cruisers. They would eat us alive. I want us to get in the first gun hits and then slide back. We’ll continue to shoot and slide back. If it gets too intense we’ll moved toward the center of the asteroids, and if the Goths want to come into the belt after us so be it. Ignore the two battle cruisers. I don’t want to waste the missiles or guns to get marginal damage on them. We’ll hit the small boys and if the battle cruisers want to chase us around the rocks later, that would be just fine.”

  Raferty made this announcement over the net but he knew Tactical was also hearing it and would coordinate. His ships nimbly moved through the space debris. All had sustained some damage, but this was a fight nobody wanted to dodge. The first battle against the combined Goth and Orion force was for revenge over Ulatar. This upcoming fight would be against a Goth squadron on fairly equal terms. That didn’t happen too often, and such occasions could not be passed up. This was as good as it was likely to get any time soon.

  “Six minutes to missile range.” Tactical announced quietly.

  “Zekes and the GorCons are going at it,” Baby Doll remarked. “No major hits yet but I’ll be watching. If they break through, we’ll have some warning. On a completely different topic, our damage is minimal, and the damage control teams are on it. No loss of any systems yet.”

  “Thank you.” Rafe spoke to fill the void as they waited.

  Hawkins returned to his screens and realized Nemesis was keeping pace close abeam. He smiled to himself. No way was Killian O’Hare going to let him have first shot. As the minutes ticked off, Hawkins directed over his command net. “We pull up in fifteen seconds. Find a rock and take cover. Fire as targets present themselves. These ships are after us. They will leave the Zekes alone. The last thing the Goldenes Tor Empire needs is to get caught bypassing pirates to kill Zekes, so don’t be concerned about them trying to blow by us.”

  The pirate force took up positions and stuck up periscopes and sensors to watch the approaching Goths. The enemy was coming forward in open space. They were abeam the minefield and almost in missile range. If they could fight their way forward, they would be able to get past the minefield and enter the rocks to get equal footing with the pirates. Hawkins would do everything he could to ensure that did not happen.

  He repeated his earlier order. “Shoot when you got a target.”

  xxx As Hawkins had predicted, Nemesis immediately rose from cover and discharged missiles on a heavy cruiser. The entire enemy squadron replied with interceptors. None of the pirate missiles got through, but the battle was joined. Pirate ships bobbed and weaved among the whirling boulders and shot at the approaching vessels. No hits were recorded and they took no damage. The distance continued to close, and as it reached gun range, the two freighters supporting the Flot 1 from across the belt fired their last salvo. All missiles were aimed at the heavy cruiser Heimdellr. The Goths responded with a total defense. This lull in offensive fires allowed the pirate ships to join in the attack
with missiles and guns. Missiles came out of all pirate tubes, and Nova rounds erupted from all pirate guns. Predator and her squadron concentrated on one destroyer, and Nemesis and her support took on Heimdellr. No missiles inflicted any damage. Goth interceptors, guns, decoys, lasers and, finally, ship shields stopped all the pirate missiles.

  The gun attack was more successful. All countermeasures used against missiles were useless against incoming gun rounds. The only defense was to maneuver to force the rounds to miss or to take as few hits as possible on the shields. A Nova round was a high velocity, solid titanium round which drained shields at a high rate so three or four Nova rounds could collapse a shield section. Once the shields were breached, Nova rounds would impact the target hull, penetrate through, and then ricochet around within the ship compartment. The round would take out personnel, equipment, or engine components. Nova shells rattling around within engine compartments, CICs, or magazines could cripple a ship in short order. Nova rounds wore down gun barrels as the explosive charge needed to propel the round to high velocity reduced barrel life, and the heat generated required a slower rate of fire to allow barrel temperature to cool between rounds.

  The flight path of the Goth squadron along the asteroid edge made them predictable. The necessity to fight off the missile attacks took much of their attention and resources so several Nova rounds impacted the non-maneuvering targets. Nine 125 mm rounds hit the shields of the nearest Goth destroyer, Kobold. Five shells collapsed the section and the last four hit the hull. Two of these hits penetrated. One entered the missile magazine for the starboard twin launchers and impacted the missile bodies there. Two explosions followed. Kobold turned away, badly damaged, and began maneuvering to avoid further hits.

  Fifteen Nova shells hit Heimdellr. Shields collapsed and rounds pierced the hull. Nemesis maneuvered to maintain a line of sight and poured rounds into the cruiser. Other pirate ships picked up the blood lust and soon dozens of rounds poured into the smoking ship. She turned away as fires blazed through her superstructure, and her precious atmosphere fed the flames. The corvette, Desperado, moved out of cover in pursuit and discharged guns and missiles into the fleeing crippled ship. She had taken numerous hits while gaining the asteroid belt and wanted a measure of revenge. The pirate ship got target fixation, and focused on her prey while forgetting her surroundings. The vessel cleared her cover and moved in a straight line at Heimdellr while pumping ordnance into her. Now Desperado became the target. Goth missiles and guns shifted to take the open target under fire. The corvette now absorbed several hits as she tried to regain cover. All pirate fires shifted to cover her, but it was a losing fight against superior firepower. Desperado dissolved under the pounding as explosions racked the ship from bow to stern. Her wreckage bounced off of spinning rocks. There would be no survivors. Hawkins flashed back to the briefing at the Fort and Desperado’s OpsO Pac Xu standing up and then Killian O’Hare staring at an uncomfortable Harve Osteen. Desperado was lost but Heimdellr was not far behind. Her engineering section went up in a large explosion, and the ship began to tumble. A very few number of pods got away from the wreck.