Battleship Destroyer 2 (Battleship Destoryer)

by Larry Roberts

  “Very observant of you Commodore. I am Captain Turner of the Red Pepper.”

  “What?” Looking at Jack wide eyed before his expression changed to pissed off. “You’re the one that sent me those stupid aliens and then got me trapped here in the middle of this cloud. How the hell and what do you think you are doing here?”

  “I came across the other ship’s distress beacon and came to rescue them before I found your ship and now that I know what you have done I am placing you under arrest for conduct unbecoming an officer, murder, mutiny and a hundred other regulations including impersonating a fleet Admiral, acting Commodore Robinson.

  “You have got to be kidding.” The Commodore said shocked before a smile came back to his face. I would know if a ship had arrived Turner. So the most you could have is a boat and since you have been hiding up until now, that means you did not bring much of a crew with you and just your luck you fell in with a bunch of prisoners that aren’t armed. OH this is good. Now as your superior officer I order you to attack down that shaft on the other side of that little compound or I will have you executed.”

  “I don’t think so Commodore.” Jack pulled the laser pistol he had traded the lieutenant for the blast pistol and pointed it at the Commodore. His escort suddenly piling out of their carts as the Sargent came out with his weapon ready and the men above pointed theirs down. “I am going to end this little war now before it gets started. Get out of the Cart Robinson.”

  The cart suddenly shot forward as the Commodores escort opened fire on Jack hitting him several time including in the helmet that suddenly appeared over his head. Jack fired but only catching the back side of the cart as it turned away.

  The commodores escort died in only a few seconds and then with Jack taking the lead a dozen Red troops started plastering the back of the Commodores cart as it sped away. The beams hitting the solid back that turned out to be armored.

  Too late, Jack whipped his Blaster off his back only to have the cart disappear around the core before he could shoot. Slipping the Assault Blaster back onto his back he looked down at his laser pistol. “Damn, if I still had my Blast Pistol that damn creation would be dead and this war would be over.”

  “You want it back?” The Lieutenant said behind Jack as she walked up.

  Turning to glance at her before staring after the Commodore. “No, too late now. You able to hit the broad side of a space station yet?”

  “Just call me miss sure shot Captain. Sorry I didn’t get here sooner.”

  The Sargent turned from examining the two escort carts. “Looks like we got a few more blasters here. The Commodores escort was well armed. Luckily the two with the Blast pistols couldn’t hit a shuttle at point blank range while the ones with the Assault blasters never got them out of the carts. We even have an automatic grenade launcher and a couple hundred grenades. Not bad.”

  “Well get them distributed to your best and some practice and let’s speed up the evacuation of the Redoubt down the shaft. I don’t think we have long before our butts are going to be wishing we were anyplace else but here.” Looking up at the top of the cargo boxes he could see the additional foam armor the girls had sprayed along the wall of junk they had stacked along the edge of the deck. Complete with firing notches. Turning he followed their new carts in through the gate after the bodies were stripped and dumped.

  It only took a few minutes before the Mechs came around the core from both directions, marching toward the redoubt.

  “Captain Turner.” Came the Commodores voice over the Comm using the Blacksuit channel. “You will attack down the shaft or I will have my Mechs kill you all.”

  Jack turned to the Sargent. “Let’s shoot the riot gas grenades Sargent.”

  A dozens of grenades arched up over the top of the bulkheads and arced down around each group of Mechs. Their proximity fuses detonating them before they hit or harmed anyone. Exploding into instant clouds preventing rioters from throwing the old canisters back at the police. The riot gas was designed to cling to everything it touched enabling it to linger making it hard for the wind to blow it away while marking all who it touched making it impossible for them to out run the nauseous gas. After several rounds the Mechs were soon covered in the orange slime the gas left behind clinging to them and blocking their viewports. The Orange slime outgassing a steady stream. Their Cannon fire already inaccurate, became wild as their visibility was reduced even farther.

  By the time the bright orange Mechs were only 50 feet away and the riot gas explosions stopped they could barely make out the Redoubt let alone target anything.

  Jack peeked out the gate at the group of Mechs that were closer than the others. “Ok Sargent Target the closest Mech in the north group as planned.” Jack brought up his blaster and aimed at the Mech’s chest and pulled the trigger. The other newly acquired Assault blasters along with the pistols targeted the same point. While a dozen laser guns fired at the viewports of the Mechs to help blind them.

  At point blank range the blasters eat away at the Mechs armor one shot at a time. Taking some 30 shots before the first finally penetrated turning the Mech into a flaming coffin with the Mech locking up its joints to keep from dropping cargo if it lost power, keeping it upright as the top hatch blew off creating another torch that almost reached the overhead before becoming simply flames spewing out the top at the bottom of a column of smoke.

  The rest of the Mechs suddenly started backing. “Follow my targeting.” Jack said over his Comm. As he aimed at the next closest Mech.

  Jack got two shots off into its chest before it suddenly turned its back to him and started to run.

  It took two more steps before 6 plasma shell balls hit its back and it blew up spreading parts of the Mech in all directions creating a huge cloud of flame and smoke.

  The last 3 Mechs quickly retreated as fast as they could back up. One weaving back and forth until it hit the opposite hull before sliding along the cages to get back under cover behind the core.

  Jack took a deep breath as he watched the retreating Mechs still firing wildly almost in all directions. Even sending a few shots back around the core and the Commodore’s assembly area. “Well two Mechs without any casualties on our side. Damn good Sargent.”

  “Sorry Captain but we have one dead.”

  “What the hell! Who? What happened? Where?” Jack followed the Sargent up onto the deck to a body laying against one of the walls made from junk and foam ceramic. He still held his weapon but his head was gone.

  “Just bad luck Captain. One of the damn wild shots happened to hit directly through the notch he was firing through. Could have happened to anyone. 3 inches in any direction and he wouldn’t have been hit Captain.”

  Shaking his head Jack checked his name tag. “Sargent, make sure Specialist Margraph gets down to the bow with the wounded. We aren’t leaving anyone behind.” Looking up he scanned the Bay. “What the hell are they doing now? Why aren’t they attacking again already?”

  Dropping back down to the deck Jack headed out the gate toward the ladder going up to the overhead corner catwalk.

  Pan slid up to him. “What the hell are you doing Captain?”

  “I need to see what is happening around that damn central core and since we have no remotes that leaves the old mark one eyeballs. Now go back to your post.” Jack started jogging toward the ladder.

  Suddenly Jack was flying through the air as Pan lifted him by the rescue ring between his shoulders. Depositing him back inside the Redoubt she shook her finger at him. “You stay the hell at your post and I will be your Mark One eyeballs.” And then she was gone.

  Jack quickly climbed up to the top deck just in time to see Pan zip around the back side of the bay as close to the overhead corner catwalk as she could get and disappear behind the core. Running over to the other side he watched her emerge at a good clip with laser streaks all around her. Jack held his breath as the streaks continued to follow her until she was almost back to the redoubt to land next to Jack
.

  Tapping her ever present PDA she smiled at Jack. “There, you have my best sensors on your suit for your Mark One eyeballs to peruse at your leisure. Without leaving your Post Captain.”

  Jack played with the controller on his forearm for a minute then looked at Pan as he turned his back to her. “Deck plate please Pan.” The deck plate had become the Command center simply because it was out of the way of all the other activity in the Redoubt, centrally located and could be adjusted into a Command table.

  Pan dropped Jack off next to the deck table and sat down beside him as his officers assembled. “Pan, please use your PDA as a projector.”

  Pan placed her PDA on the table and stepped back as Jack reached for his forearm controls. A three dimensional video appeared over the table. “It looks like they are getting ready to come around the core from the north in a mass attack to overwhelm what little firepower they think we have. What is bothering me is the addition of 3 more Mechs you can see lined up here.” Jack moved the video to show the new Mechs not far from the remaining 3 of the originals that were having the riot gas coating cleaned off. “They must be the other Cargo Mechs that had been damaged by sabotage about ready to go. What is startling is that they look different than the first ones.”

  The Sargent looked closer. “Yes they have armor on the back that not only counter balances all the armor across its front allowing the Mech to stand straighter on its feet making it more maneuverable and probably faster. But worse yet, it looks like a solid steel plate instead of foam armor which means that with it mounted solidly to the aluminum heat sink block, it become a massive heat sink that will not limited its power like the first batch.” Looking closer at the original Mechs. “Yes it looks like they are getting ready to attach the heat sink armor to the rear as well on these three.” Straitening up as he turned toward Jack. “They will now probably wait for the Mechs to finish up armoring before attacking us in mass in one fast rush.”

  Jack shook his head. “We might survive a rush by one or the other but not both at the same time.” Jack started looking around the 3D image before finding the Commodore and zooming in on him. He was relaxing in an easy chair sipping something with a naked woman dancing for him. Jack smiled as he chuckled. “He looks all too happy. Let’s give him something to think about.” Tapping his forearm control panel. “Hay Commodore. You look all too Kingly sitting in your thrown taking a dump. Too bad it is going to end so soon when my ship gets here.”

  “Don’t lie to me boy. We are lost in the damn cloud without a beacon. They could pass within a thousand miles of us and never see us. You are mine now. Obey me and I will let you live. Even let you have a harem of your own.”

  “To bad I have a beacon going. One that is a hundred times more powerful than the little thing the other ship had. Hell, they can probably pick it up all the way to The Rock. Give it up now and I will promise not to give you the death penalty. With the right lawyer, you could get a nice colony instead of a penal planet like Firestorm. You know the oxygen atmosphere planet that orbits so close to its sun it melts steel with a rotation that is just fast enough to allow a person to walk just ahead of the terminator in the narrow livable zone between day and night. Where all you have to do is stop walking for a good sleep to die in its suns heat. No warden, no guards, no bars and no hope.”

  “What do you mean beacon? I made a deal with that fool to shut it down and now you are trying to bluff me. I taught the political class at the University on how to lie with the best politicians long before you were born boy. Give it up”

  “You know I have a boat here don’t you? Or do you think I just drifted here wearing only my suit. Even you can’t be that stupid. No I have thousands of troops at my command. Only half are Gronks but when they see what you have done to their brothers, they are not going to let you or the rest of your officers live if you don’t surrender. Thank Godstar that they don’t blame solders following orders for the actions of their commanders. They are safe but you aren’t. Not unless you surrender to me know so I can get the Gronks off that bulkhead and to Sick Bay before they die. Otherwise you might as well shoot your own balls off and then stick you pistol up your butt and pull the trigger. It would be a lot less painful for you.”

  Jack chuckled. “I saw them keep an officer alive for weeks screaming the whole time begging for them to just kill him while using his balls for punching bags. Now you have what? A couple dozen officers or more? My, that is going to be a damn noisy hanger for a couple of weeks. If you don’t believe me you can come over and I will show you the video of the whole thing. But I have to admit 3 weeks was a bit long. Most of the officers died in less than a week. And then there was the feasting on their bodies. I could not believe it the first time they ripped off an arm and started chomping on it. The officer could not believe it either seeing them dolling out pieces of his arm. They say officers are much tenderer than the average solder since they don’t work as hard.”

  Jack looked around him as a wave of fear started coming from the direction of the other side of the bay.

  “Oh and if you think you can simply hunt down my boat don’t bother. It is not only drifting about a mile from this hulk but you can’t get into it. Touch it and it will kill you. Not that it would matter if you could get in, it doesn’t even have the beacon. I have that on me or should I say with me. As long as it is grounded to a deck that is connected to the hull, it can transmit. A little Spider technology present.”

  Most of the group around the table just stared at Jack while the Sargent kept suppressing a grin as he concentrated on the 3D projection. Pan and Krump kept looking at each other dumbfounded.

  “Now I expect my ship to be here in a couple hours at most and I see you are getting ready to try another assault. Don’t, it is a waste of time. Even if you succeed all you will do is insure your death that much sooner. And if you do kill me it is a custom of Gronks to slaughter and wipe out all soldiers of the opposing enemy if their commander is killed. They turn into berserkers that feel no pain and car nothing for their own lives. Their only thought will be to avenge the death of their commander. Even if you are winning up until that time, I can guaranty you that you won’t win after that against a thousand pissed off Gronks. Sorry you call them monsters. Then after words they will take every tenth solder that does survive and put them through the same torcher as the officers. While eating the meat of all the vanquished soldiers to honor their dead leader. Having to eat the last soldier that fought against them before they can be given a new leader. Oh by the way the longer they can torcher the enemy responsible for their leader’s death, the more honor they return to their command.”

  Jack took a couple of deep breaths. “You best give up and just sit there, my ship should be here anytime now following my beacon to take you into custody. Or attack and you will wish your ancestors were never born Commodore. Your choice you stupid moron.” Jack started laughing as he tapped his Comm off and his face lost its smile.

  “My god and I have a whole squad of those monsters on my ship?” Commander Glenn said shocked as she glanced toward the Gronks hanging on the bulkhead even though they could not see them from the table.

  Jack raised his hands above his head surrendering. “NO! I was lying for Criste sake. The only truth was that they are incredibly loyal to their Commander. Which is supposed to be you Captain Glenn. They don’t eat human or Gronk flesh unless they go berserk. You have nothing to worry about them. After all, wasn’t it you that told me that they would not do anything but defend the ex-slave’s?”

  “You have got to be kidding. They don’t even speak English. I have to go through that damn interpreter just to give them orders which they ignore most of the time. They won’t even leave the damn ship and the other aliens.”

  “Ok, then you have not bonded with them yet. That is a problem. They speak and understand English very well. ”

  “What? Bond with them? How the hell do I do that?”

  “Well. I killed a couple of Black
Apes in mortal hand to hand combat during a battle. Ohhh, AAA, the Red Apes are what we called Gronks before we knew what they called themselves.” Jack looked at Commander Glenn sheepishly smiling.

  “I have to kill a pair of Gronks in combat?”

  Jack turned and looked at Pan and Krump. “Come on guys. There has to be an easier way than that.”

  “Yes Captain, all you have to do is assign them to Captain Glenn. Their last orders from you were to guard the crewmen you sent with the technology. They will die doing just that until you change their orders. I have heard that you were able to get an external comm line out from the bridge. You could have contacted them then and changed your orders.” Glancing back at Krump. “If you please Captain. We also do not understand why you lied to the Commander. That is very disturbing.”

  Jack could not believe them as he chuckled. “Aaa. I lied to the Commander because he expected me to lie to him and because half of everything he says are lies. Liars hate to be lied to which will piss him off in so many ways and then I added insult to injury by talking to him like a moron and calling him stupid. Now even though he knows I was lying to him he can’t be sure of what I was lying to him about but it does not matter because it will give him an excuse to do what he now wants to do and that is immediately attack if he takes my bate. It also makes his men less willing to follow him very vigorously.”

  “You lied to him because he lied to you and us. That he even expects you to. Captain Glenn did say he lied to her many times breaking agreements without reason or warning. Yes I think we understand now Captain.” Pan said allowed, then looking at Krump without saying anything as they continued to talk between themselves in their minds as Jack listened into their conversation. The Dumont Krump chuckled to himself in the pregnant pause in the verbal speech that followed. ‘I do not like this thing the humans call lying. Not telling the truth is very disconcerting.’ Pan continued to stare at Krump. ‘But know we know how it looks and feels when they lie we will know when they lie to us.’