Gunny had slipped away while he was distracted so he quickly took the commander’s invitation to join them. As he continued to survey the room he noticed that he was the lowest ranking officer present. He really hoped he wasn’t there to just get coffee for everyone.
Moving over to where Commanders Richards and Hutton were seated he was just about to greet them when the double doors slid open. Standing in the doorway were Captains Hope and Kirkland who quickly entered the room.
The first through the doors was Sir Randolph Hawkins Hope an old retired Confederation ship fleet captain who was former hero from the Reds War which was formally known as the Vorooshian War.
The Voorosh were intelligent bipedal reptilians that had briefly conquered Earth over fifty years earlier. That experience, coupled with years of colonial civil unrest and pirate actions had made him an excellent choice for the position of dean for the military college. Now with his more recent experience as captain of the ISS Star Wolf and the destruction of two enemy squadrons few doubted his ability as a ship captain even if he was old.
Everyone in the room jumped to their feet as he entered and the closest man called out, “Attention!”
Captain Hope, also known as “The Hawk” by his men, called the room to be seated. He calmly walked by them to the front of the conference table and to the podium. He was old some thought as old as eighty or ninety judging from his years of service but he looked to be a fit seventy if a little robust. His once black hair was mostly gray and he made no attempt to cover it.
Trailing behind him was another older officer who was also once retired. Captain John Kirkland who had been the head of Austro Primes’ Defense Force but had been kidnapped and later reinstated into the Confederation navy by his lifelong friend Captain Hope. Now together they built this squadron of captured, salvaged and repaired ships in an attempt to help the war effort and strike back at mankind’s enemy. He was about the same age as his friend if a little lest robust and with a few more wrinkles across his face.
“Gentlemen, I know some of you are wondering what this meeting is about as I have declared our forces to be in Fleet-In-Being or in layman’s terms in hiding,” Hope said pausing for moment.
Captain Kirkland then stepped up, “This was to make the enemy send resources into the sectors we normally hunted in a vain attempt to find the Star Wolf.”
“Well, they have done just that,” Hope interjected, activating the holo-projector as a three dimensional star chart floated above the briefing rooms table.
“As you can see, they have stationed ships in some of the Delian League worlds while they’ve brought in another squadron to hunt us down,” the former headmaster informed as he lit up sections of the star chart to show the position of enemy forces.
Again Kirkland aided to his presentation, “We’ve been successful in pulling their ships away from front line duties but now the enemy has been interfering with our attempts to trade for resources and supplies.”
“We’ve had to recall all of our merchant ships trading with the League Worlds for fear that they will be stopped and that their captains and crews will be deep probed by one of the Karduan telepaths,” Hope explained.
Kirkland nodded, “We have intelligence from a freighter captain on Hibernia that this had happened to several of their merchant ships. We can’t risk one of our ships being stopped so all trade is now cut off for the time being.”
“That means we need to change our tactics, though we will continue our mission to get the captured ships repaired and their crews trained,” Hope said pausing to let the gathered officers whisper amongst themselves for a moment.
Collins leaned over to Hutton, “Does that mean we go on the attack?”
The room had gotten quiet just as Mike had said the word attack, making it sound loud enough for everyone to hear.
Hope turned and looked at him sternly as Captain Kirkland smiled.
“Mr. Collins do you have some thing to add?” the senior captain asked.
As headmaster of Harper’s Academy the Hawk encouraged his students to voice their opinions and ideas even if they were wrong.
If it had been another officer’s briefing Mike would have shut up and said “no sir” instead he answered his former teacher’s question.
“It sounds like we will be mounting an attack to draw the enemy away from here. Perhaps something like Sea Denial or in this case Star Denial?” Mike said remembering his lesson on attacking an enemy’s shipping to hurt them economically and to draw warships away from their intended mission to stop such attacks.
Some of the officers seated behind him rolled their eyes or shook their heads at the brashness of this pup but Hope’s stern face broke into a grin.
“I prefer the term Guerre de Course or the Chase of War,” the old captain said loud enough for the entire room to hear.
The collected officers held their breaths as they stared up at the pair of elderly officers.
“We intend to begin commerce raiding, privateering and attacking Karduan supply lines further behind their lines. This is to disrupt enemy combat operations and draw these squadrons in our area away from here,” Captain Kirkland explained.
“From captured enemy intelligence as well as recently gathered information we have a fairly reliable picture of where the enemy has moved their forces as well as the places where they seem vulnerable,” Hope informed again lighting up the quadrant’s star chart at specific places of interest.
“Sir, how big of a force will we be mounting in this operation?” A full commander sitting in the back asked sounding concerned.
Captain Hope paused letting them all look at him for a moment.
“I plan on taking the Star Wolf, which is designed for deep space operations behind enemy lines. Once she is seen it will draw the enemy away from here.”
“What other ships will be escorting you?” someone asked.
“I also plan to take the Karduan repair ship Spider. It is small almost brigantine size and can even attached to our hull during deep bends,” he informed smiling a little as the group of officers grumbled amongst themselves.
Finally, Commander Hildebrandt stood up and cleared his throat.
“Sir, I think you should have a few more ships and I volunteer the light cruiser Patton to go along with you.
Immediately Sir Even Stout stood up next to his brother-in-law and best friend. “The Bastogne also volunteers!”
Several other officers now stood up and called out their ship’s names to join the expedition.
Captain Hope held up his hands and waved them to sit down with a gruff smile on his face.
“No, though I appreciate your offers. Your ships will be needed here to protect the Wolf’s Den until the rest of our repairs are done,” he said signaling for them to be seated.
Lord Hildebrandt and Sir Evan stayed standing even though the rest of the officers had taken their seats. They had both served with the Hawk back as young ensigns hunting down pirates and were still extremely loyal to him.
“Sir, respectfully you’re going to need another ship,” Hildebrandt said.
Hope nodded his gray head at his friends.
“You’re right Bob and so I’m going to take the Chaos with me.”
This announcement of taking the captured pirate freighter caused the room to erupt into debate and discussion. It was literally chaos for a few seconds.
“At ease!” Commander Richards called sending the room into silence. The XO of the Star Wolf stared the room down until everyone was once more seated and quiet.
“Thank you Commander,” Hope said with a nod of his head as Richards also sat down.
Kirkland took over at that moment.
“The Chaos is going to act as a bait ship to lure enemy ships into traps. It has two other advantages in that it is a known pirate vessel that has ties to Karduan forces. It also is an express freighter and it is fast enough to keep up with the Wolf.”
This reasoning made some of the officers’ nod in agreement whil
e others were still frowning.
“Sir, why are we all here if you aren’t taking our ships with you?” Lt. Commander Green asked from the back of the conference room.
“Good question,” Hope said “I want you to ask for volunteers from your ships. I hope to take enemy ships and we will need prize crews to man, repair and pilot them so they can get them back to the Wolf’s Den.”
“Only recommend men that are well trained on Karduan systems and that you have confidence in,” Kirkland added setting the standard.
Commander Richards stood up at that moment.
“Have your lists to me by 1300 hours’ tomorrow,” he said and then looked to Captain Hope who gave him a slight nod.
“Dismissed,” the Star Wolf’s XO added.
The assorted Commanders and Lt. Commanders shuffled out of the room talking amongst themselves. After a few minutes most of them were gone leaving only six men remaining.
“Sir, I still think you should take another ship,” Lord Hildebrandt said.
Before Hope or Kirkland could respond Sir Evan jumped in.
“At least take one of the Karduan Vanguard sloops,” he said and quickly explained his reasoning. “It could act as a scout and wouldn’t raise any suspicions. Its in-system drives are fast enough to keep up with the Wolf or out run an enemy ship.”
Kirkland cleared his throat, “He’s right Randolph; the Vanguard is one of the fastest Karduan ships and would be able to act as a guide into systems we don’t know about.”
The old captain sighed and smiled, “It is something to consider.”
Richards called the two commanders away from the senior captains leaving Mike standing with Hope and Kirkland.
“Sir, why was I included in this meeting?” Mike said wondering to himself why an O-3 lieutenant, who was at best the third officer of his ship would be invited to a secret meeting of ship captains.
Kirkland answered first, “Well, Mr. Collins we will be needing someone to take command of the Chaos for this mission.”
Mike was a little surprised. The Chaos was a medium sized Mercury class express freighter that the pirate captain, Peter Alexander had up-armored making it into an armed freighter. It was fast, had some light armor and several extra turrets but in a ship-to-ship firefight he’d rather be in a frigate, a fighter or just about anything else.
“Before you answer why don’t you first go out to the Chaos and give her a quick inspection?” he suggested his voice making this sound like a request and not at all like a command.
Mike swallowed hard; he didn’t want to disappoint these two ancient veterans. He had a lot of respect for them and he had earned theirs in return. Yet, he didn’t want to be the captain of a ship meant to be nothing more than a bait goat for predators.
“Yes sir, I’ll go out and give her a walk through,” he said quickly turning to go as he hurried out of room to carry out his new mission.
As he exited the room he couldn’t see that the two senior captains were smiling as they watched him leave the room.
When he got to the Mary, Queen of Scots’ shuttle bay he found Gunnery Sergeant Masters waiting on him.
“Are you in on this too?” he asked his old friend with a frown.
“Sir, I don’t know what you are talking about. I was told to have a shuttle prepped for the young gentleman to take him out to his new command,” the old marine said with a big and clearly guilty smile.
Mike didn’t correct him and tell him that he hadn’t accepted the command yet and just shook his head at his comrade and teacher.
“All right, let’s go take a look at this pirate ship,” he said walking passed him and to the pilot’s chair. The Gunny got in the co-pilot’s seat and after a quick pre-flight systems check they were off to visit the Chaos.
Leaving the shuttle bay he could easily see the inner expanse of the asteroid field that made up the Wolf’s Den. The pirates who had taken over the abandoned mining base had once called it the “Hole in the Wall.” That was more than twenty years ago when Capitan Hope and a small squadron of Confederation ships had tracked them down and defeated them. The base and several derelict ships had been left behind until the Star Wolf had retreated here to hide and repair after they had initially stolen the attack cruiser.
The system was a bi-star system with an M-class red star and an F-class white star. There were five planets around the red star and six more around the white star. Most of the planets were of a gaseous nature, and none of them were capable of sustaining life or an M class planetary environment. The large thousand-mile cloud of meteors was caught in a gravity Lagrange point between the two stars’ gravitational circumferences.
When they had first arrived at the system it was like any other similar system - void of life and civilization. The semi stable asteroid field proved different but the real surprise was the empty expanse within the field.
The old underground mining facility was located on one of the larger asteroids and was also a welcomed surprise. The original mining company that had found this system had created he base as they searched for minerals, but most of the asteroids were just rock, ice, and iron. The real money was in the semi-precious minerals lined in the atmospheres of the gaseous planets. The gases themselves were also valuable being deuterium and helium-3.
Unfortunately for the mining company they didn’t have the needed gas mining technology to make it profitable eventually abandoning it after going bankrupt. Much later pirates had found it, took it over and had expanded it. When the Star Wolf rediscovered the site it had been abandoned since the battle that had ended their spree of piracy.
The crew of the Star Wolf had managed to get the base operational again while Captain Kirkland had later expanded it to accommodate the families being smuggled out of Austro Prime. Among those families were the wives and children of Confederation servicemen, government officials and CCF police officers. All of which were still loyal to the Confederation and the Emperor. One of the first refugees was Captain Kirkland’s own wife - Martha. She was also a retired Navy Commander and proved helpful to their cause.
All of these memories and thoughts were racing through Mike’s mind as he guided his shuttle away from the Mary Queen of Scots. The system was so different back then even though it had just been a few months ago. Instead of three old derelict ships and a debris field of wreckage that had once occupied the expanse, now the place was alive with activity.
The old asteroid base was being used for fighter restoration and missile construction. Most navy personnel were living on their assigned ships or were stationed with the civilians on the massive star liner. The Queen Mary was large enough to house not only their families but also the thousands of freed prisoners that had been recused by Mike and the Werewolf commandos.
The space around him was full of ships, many of which were now operational. Besides the Imperial Star Ships - Star Wolf, Patton and the Bastogne, there were three frigates and two sloops. There were also four Karduan destroyers, five destroyer escorts and two Vanguard sloops. All of these ships were manned and operational though mostly with skeleton crews.
Hitting the thrusters, he flew to starboard and passed around the huge star-liner to look upon several large ships. The first was the captured Karduan Star Destroyer now called the IPS Half Moon. The prefix IPS was what all of their captured warship were using which meant Imperial Privateer Ship.
Captain Hope had designed them with this prefix stating that under the Emperor's War Powers Act he could enlist ships as Imperial Privateer Ships crewed by Confederation service men or even civilian spacers. Like ancient Letters of Marque and Reprisal which allowed privateers of the past to use civilian ships, they were authorized to attack the enemy and take them as prizes. These ships were technically listed as prize ships and would be jointly owned by the Star Wolf's crew, which they hoped would eventually mean big money after the war.
The Half Moon was three times larger than an attack cruiser. This class of Karduan ships was the most advanced
and largest ship in the enemy’s navy. Mike had been lucky, having helped to take the large ship intact during the Battle of Austro Prime. That was partly why Captain Hope had put him in for the Knight’s Star - the highest award in the Confederation.
The massive prize ship was crewed but most of the personnel were still learning their jobs and it still only had one duty shift of trained operators. Yet it gave their fleet quite a punch and would be invaluable once they were ready to fight.
The next large vessel he saw was the ISS Mammoth, it was one of the Behemoth class of starships, which were designed for one purpose - the recovery and repair of damaged ships unable to return to port. It was five times the size of the Star Wolf and could easily have taken the attack cruiser and another just like her within the gigantic ship’s bowels.
From reading the repair reports Collins knew that the recovery ship was currently working on the ISS Ajax. The old heavy cruiser had been cut in half by a spinal mounted particle blast at the Battle of Jericho Six. The Ajax was a Hero class heavy cruiser that had been part of the trapped and nearly destroyed Confederation 12th Defense Fleet.
Captain Hope had been keen on getting the old Ajax repaired even though the damage was extensive and other salvaged ships could have been repaired more easily. Some people wondered why, but Mike didn’t wonder as he and the Star Wolf’s crew knew why. Their ancient captain had once commanded the ISS Theseus which was the Ajax’s sister ship. Sentiment ran deep in the navy especially among the grayer wolves.
Inside the Mammoth’s portside repair bays she was working on a salvaged Karduan destroyer and a destroyer escort. These two ships had about the same firepower as a Confederation standard cruiser and a frigate respectively. The recovery ship was a giant marvel having automated repair facilities, advanced repair droids and a crew of skilled operators. The crew worked like men possessed, having once been captives of the Karduans they wanted payback to the Blue Ladies in a bad way.
In the distance behind the massive recovery ship was several of their civilian merchant ships. There were six freighters of various sizes parked in stations keeping positions. Half of them were lightly armored and had weapons upgrades while others were still waiting until the damaged warships were completed for their promised improvements. Normally, they would have been out with the older sloops on trading missions but since the increased presence of Karduan ships in their trade areas they sat here waiting to be used.
Wolf's Run: The Chase of War (Star Wolf Sqaudron Book 2) Page 3
