Battleship Destroyer 2 (Battleship Destoryer)

by Larry Roberts

  More guns and torpedo’s started slamming into the Command ship’s weapons section one at a time instead of in broadsides. The gun fire slowing to a steady cadence of a beam or two every second or two as they hunted turrets instead of simply trying to damage. The fire being more precise as they realized that they had to take out the damn turrets before they had a chance to blow the Core on the tumbling hulk.

  And then Jack realized that the tumbling hulk had not fired its second side broadside and hoped it was simply the fact that the Captain had realized what the Command ship was doing and scrammed his Cores. That the ships flanking the Congressional Communist ship were better situated to take out the enemy than he was even if he kept his cores going to power his weapons. A hard glance at the hulk told him he was right as the cores were growing cold.

  Suddenly a dozen DD’s were streaking in firing their upgraded 8/7.7 inch weapons into both sides of the Command ship at an incredible rate compared to the Battleships. Followed by Torpedo bombers sending waves of dozens of conventional torpedos at a time into its sides. Jack kicking himself for not having both the DD’s and Torpedo Bombers closer for reinforcements. The minutes it took for them to get here could have cost more than a couple of ships.

  With the hits on the weapons section of the Command ship coming so fast, Jack could no longer see anything but scrap metal blowing away from the ship in a growing cloud. With the Republic’s Tumbling hulk’s cores shut down there was no longer a reason to continue the carnage. Besides Jacks fighter was starting to get to close to all the weapons streaming into it for comfort as Jack keyed his comm. “All ships. Cease fire. I repeat cease all weapons fire except for defensive purposes.

  And then as he approached and the last of the torpedo’s hit, the ship broke in half with the stern crew and engineering sections drifting back away from the armored decks as they both started slowly tumbling.

  Not a minute later the Admiral (to Jack surprise at even being alive) started screaming that if they did not surrender to him, he would detonate the Ship’s Power Core and blow them all up.

  Jack could see that the Core had been cranked up to full power and unless the fool was going someplace which was suicide as well, he was getting ready to do exactly what he said.

  Checking twice and finding no entry holes blasted any were closer to the Core to his surprise (the gunners being incredibly accurate), Jack slammed his fighter down onto the deck next to the open end of the personnel section with what was left of the Weapons section sticking out forward from the undamaged hull of the rest of the ship. Still not that far away from the armored section tumbling away. A dozen fighter’s strafed the point defenses on that side of the ship as they came in then dropped to the hull around Jack. A DD slid to a stop over Jack with its guns taking out more point defense turrets farther away, then started working its way around the ship.

  Dropping down and grabbing his weapons out of the storage bay of the fighter again, Jack paused as the pilots came up to him. The only people in battle armor and decent weapons were him and the Lieutenant. All the rest wore Republic flight suits and light side arms.

  Shaking his head Jack could not understand what they thought they were doing as he looked along the other hulks not far away that the transports with the marines and surviving fighters of the first wave had hid behind. A hundred marines were rapidly making their way across the hulks but were still minutes away. “Get back in your fighters. The Lieutenant and I will take care of this loony tune Admiral and the core until reinforcements arrive. They should be here in a few minutes.”

  “Bull shit.” One said. “We know what happens if that ass hole manages to detonate the core.”

  “All the better reason to get the hell out of here.”

  “As I said bull. That core goes up and a lot of people die that can’t run Admiral and reinforcement may be too late. We have no choice but to at least try.”

  “Shit! Fine. Lieutenant take them with you and get to the core as fast as you can and shut it down. Jack slipped off his belt with the blast pistol on it and handed it to the pilot that seemed to be doing all the talking. “Take this. At least it gives you some decent firepower.” Then turning to the rest. “If he drops it, the next guy in line picks it up and the next if he drops it and so on. It is the only good weapon amongst you.”

  “Come Admiral, he is not about to drop it unless he…”

  “Exactly right. Don’t lose the weapon or you are all dead.” Then turning back to the one he handed the weapon to. “You do not lead either. Your weapon is needed for back up on hard points and armored troops. You let someone else take the first shots going through hatches and down passageways as you and the Lieutenant follow with the firepower. That is an order to whoever has the weapon. That includes the Lieutenant and her weapons.” Then looking at the Pilot with Commander on his suit and the lieutenants around him. “The Lieutenant is in Command of your squad. Do everything she orders or suggests or I will blow your stupid brains out myself if by some miracle you survive. She has the Combat experience to keep you all alive and get to the Core.”

  The Lieutenant took her belt with the blast pistol holster off and gave it to another pilot as Jack talked. Then prepped her assault gun and the grenade launcher below its barrel before checking the others as Jack headed over the edge of the hull into the ship.

  “Where is he going?” Someone asked.

  “After the Admiral.” The Lieutenant said throwing a bag over her shoulder filled with breaching charges. “If we can’t get to the core in time maybe he can get to the Admiral in time.” As she headed for the edge as well.

  Several hesitated at the edge stopping the Lieutenant in her tracks. “Listen babies. As the Commander said. We are all dead along with a lot of our fellow crewmen if we don’t reach the Core. You just better consider yourselves dead now and get your prayers and goodbye’s over with. Then get your butts in gear and do what has to be done for some of us to live long enough to scram the Cores. Even staring death in the face you still may live. You hesitate or hang back trying to live and you will kill all of us including your cowardly selves. Remember you all volunteered for this. Now get your fearless fucking fighter pilot butts moving.” She dropped over the edge into a part of the ship that looked more like hell than hulk.

  It only took a few minutes before they lost their first man when he got into a rush when he found the hatch they were looking for. The Lieutenant had told him to hold until she could catch up and check the hatch before they opened it. The fuel air contents on the other side of the hatch flashed into a torch as the compartment suddenly depressurized through the vent he opened as he stood in front of it. It burned a hole through his unarmored flight suit and then him in less than a second before he was blown away from it.

  The Lieutenanthad been worried that the Pilots after only a couple of weeks of training simple did not know things all Navy Bootship trained crewmen knew better not to do and she was right. And then wasted time teaching the pilots about simple basics of air locks and everything else every time she turned around after that.

  After going over the proper safe procedures for opening hatches when you did not know what was on the other side of them, she told one of the men to strip the pistol and magazine off the body with the oxygen and other suit supplies.

  “But I already have a damn pistol.” The pilot said.

  “Well now you have two. One for each hand. Almost enough to make up for how impotent the laser pistols are. That is if you can shoot with both hands when you aren’t picking your nose with it.” Pushing one of the pilots ahead of her then stepping through the hatch. Then to another back through the hatch that was trying to pick the body up. “Leave your buddy behind. If we are still alive in an hour you can come back for it. She said exasperated.

  Though once they got into the ship proper and its pressurized passageways still with power to her surprise with half the ship missing, they started doing better with some of them used to fighting or avoiding the gangs in
the warrens and apartment blocks of Earth. Though the security crew of this Command ship being a lot more dedicated than the others, started causing delays as they moved down wrecked decks through the ship.

  Things were just starting to settle into a pattern when the lead pilot looked around the corner and then took off down the passageway. The Lieutenant started around it and realize that the harmless looking boxes at the other end were anything but harmless. Too late to call them back she flicked the safety off of her grenade launcher as she yelled for them to get down but before she could pull the trigger, half a dozen crewmen rose up from behind the boxes and started shooting taking down the two pilots already running up the passageway ahead of her. Pulling the trigger she heard the thump and watched the grenade arc up as laser rounds hit her armor.

  The grenade hit the bulkhead behind the boxes and exploded, three bodies came flying over the boxes as answering fire from the rest of the pilots tore into the rest. The Lieutenant kept running, jerking the slide of the pump thumper putting another round into it as one of the pilots behind her grabbed the weapons and magazines from the dead pilots. The six crewmen with SP on their shoulders lay around the boxes. The pilots finishing off two that were wounded as they grabbed the much heavier Assault laser weapons and their comms.

  Even though they had lost two she figured they finally had the weapons to make a good fight of it. That is if she could keep these ass holes from making more fucking mistakes every time they turned around. For Pilots, they were fucking stupid but then not going through the Navies Bootship training she should not expect much from them even if The Game had made decent pilots of them.

  “Damn it guys use your fucking heads. Any Bootship recruit could have told you that was a damn barricade with troops behind it. I could have taken care of it without anyone getting hurt let alone fucking killed. Smarten up damn you.” With their point man and guide dead, she turned to another pilot as he finished putting on the light armored suit from one of the SP’s. “Your turn to lead the way. Don’t be as stupid as the other guys were and we will have it made. Look before leaping down the fucking passageways.”

  “The main elevators are just up ahead. It will take us all down to the hanger and Cores if they work on this deck.” The man said and started off down the passageway.

  She did not like the idea of taking the main elevators but they were running out of time. She fell in behind the guy this time calling him back if he got to fare ahead as she used her sight to survey the ship ahead of them. At least now the guys kept good spacing between them and looked before running down passageways. Though they still were not very good at taking turns running while covering each other.

  The barricade trap had been just beyond her range for seeing inanimate objects through the bulkheads and the Security crewmen in basic armor muting their life energy that could have been on the other side of a bulkhead until she had looked down the passageway without the interference of the bulkheads. But then maybe if she had been paying more attention she could have seen and stopped the morons in time. Shaking her head feeling stupid. At the time she had been checking on Jack that was having his own problems trying to get into the central core flag command decks and to the flag bridge and the Admiral. She was just going to have to leave Jack to his job and concentrate on her own job before she fucked up again and got more guys killed. Fighting back the tears, she called the point pilot back as she checked out something suspicious up around the main elevators they were approaching. Another bunch of fricking guards.

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  Jack looked around the corner at the barricade across the front of the hatch. He was starting to get real tired of all the checkpoint barricades and locked hatches into the Command Core. But at least this barricade and guard was in front of an open hatch that would get him through the 20 feet of armor and into the Central Command Core. That is if he got to and through the damn hatch before it closed on him.

  Taking a deep breath Jack slung his cannon over his back and stepped out into the main corridor into plain sight and then turned around to look back down the corridor he had just came out of and then the other corridors before turning back around and walked toward the guards. The guards watched him check several compartments as he walked toward them. Looking back down the passageway he was coming from every few seconds.

  Coming out of the last hatch he turned and walked up to the Guards as they watched him without any alarm since he was not in any hurry and had his weapon locked down across his back. Though they had never seen such a suit before or weapon but then the suit was the right color kind of with a red stripe down the sides. Stopping in front of them still far enough away not to be a threat. “You ass holes never seen an Admiral before? Better damn well come to attention and salute before I have your butts in the Brigg.”

  They all came to attention and saluted. “Sorry Admiral Sir. We did not recognize your armor but I see your Stars now Admiral.”

  Jack walked up to them examining their uniforms for a couple of seconds criticizing them on minor infractions, then looked away from them back down the corridor making them follow his gaze. “You guys see anyone strange around here? Or are you too fucking blind to do your jobs? Five guard posts have been wiped out all ready from mutineers.” Their faces turning to shock as Jack started past them. They had heard that other posts on other decks were having problems. Several started turning their heads toward Jack. “Don’t look at me! Keep your eyes open down those damn passageways for anything and fire first!” Jack bellowed at them. “I am going to find out what the hell is going on.” Jack stepped between them and up to the open hatch.

  “But sir. You can’t go in there…”

  Jack dropped a couple of grenades off to both sides of the hatch and stepped into the passage leading through the 20 feet of armor. The grenades dropped out of his hand along the side bulkheads and a half second later when they hit the deck they went off blowing the 4 guards down across the passageway. Jack was well protected around the corners while the guards were not as the Helmet flipped up around his head protecting him from the concussion.

  Already running, Jack used the concussion from the blast to propel himself the 20 feet through the passageway and up against the open armored hatch being used as a blast barrier protecting the inside of the Core. Only the echoing blast had alarmed every guard on the deck and Jack found himself battling a steady stream of guards running toward the hatch as he headed for the Flagg Bridge. Wishing he had his blast pistol back as the cannon even at low power was tearing up quite a bit of real state. Though it did come in handy as a club when they got to close. All he had to do now was reach the Flag Bridge before it was locked down.

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  The Lieutenant managed to take out the guards standing in front of the elevator after some careful planning using the 6 security suited pilots (with undamaged SP suits) posing as guards for the others with only one wounded casualty. After taking out a half dozen patrols and check points the Pilots were starting to get the hang of shipboard fighting. The guards were stripped and the two heavy weapons were traded for the pilot’s remaining light weapons. Giving all the pilots heavy weapons to carry making for one nasty heavy weapons squad. The Lieutenant smiled as she found the elevator security key on the Officer. The Key was pure gold and insured that no one could take control of the elevator car from them, not even elevator Control. Taking the freight elevator and spreading the pilots (now all in SP armor with heavy weapons), around the platform in defensive positions laying on the deck with their weapons pointing out the hatch, she inserted the key and the elevator slid out from its parking spot on the deck and entered the down trunk shaft and started gaining speed. She could see several personnel elevator cars going up and down the smaller personnel elevator shafts with cars constantly joining or leaving the two side by side up and down shafts but theirs was the only cargo elevator car anyplace up or down the large pair of side by side cargo shafts.

  A Voice suddenly blasted from
the speaker next to the control panel. “Cargo elevator 137. Why have you keyed the emergency override?”

  The Lieutenant stared at the speaker grill for a few seconds and then smiled. “Emergency on the Hanger deck. We were ordered to report there immediately. You have a problem with that buddy?”

  “Yes 137. You did not need to use the override key. Other cars will be delayed waiting for you to get past their decks or to leave the hanger deck. Now take your key out and do not use it again or I will report you.”

  The Lieutenant took the key out. “Thank you control. Sorry for panicking. I will not do it again.”

  “That is Ok 137, we have had a lot of traffic to the Hanger deck over the last half hour. Everyone thinking they have priority over everyone else. But then I would probably panic too if I had the Admiral screaming at me. Just don’t do it again. I have cleared you straight to the hanger deck. Over.”

  The Hanger deck was packed as the crews worked on dragging out a full squadron of fighters that had been in deep storage and preparing them for launching and battle. Having to move the boats including the Admiral’s barges into storage that were taking up most of the hanger was slowing down the evolution with a dozen officers giving different orders to a crew that had never dragged fighters out of storage or put transports or the Sacred Admiral’s Barges into storage before. Everyone were tripping over everyone else with boats and fighters now jammed together with nothing getting done. The fact that the orders to prepare the fighters were well over a half hour old and too late to help the battle was beside the point. The Lieutenant using the confusion as they ran across the hanger to the Fusion core hatch. The Lieutenant still could not believe that they had cargo holds and large equipment rooms taking up deck space that should have gone for the fighters in the first place not to mention that only 3 feet of armor protected the Fusion Core as the group of pilots now armed with the heavy weapons from the security patrols and check points they had taken out on the upper decks, took out the guards quickly and with ease. Once the firing started the ground crews scattered leaving the boats and fighters stranded and alone.