Things were going well as Mike ran drills with his new crew and learned their various abilities as well as studying the personnel files of the crewmembers he didn’t know. The prize crew officers and men wanted to take part but he stopped that right away. He had his hands full with his own crew let alone trying to incorporate training for personnel that hopefully wouldn’t be on his ship very long.
Lt. Cappillo was staying on as his chief engineer. He had helped create some of the new weapons systems and would be needed to tweak them into perfection. Also Mike wanted him there to kick him in the ass if they didn’t work.
Along with Rufo, Gunny Masters would be joining him as the leader of his boarding parties and ship security. He was glad to have the old marine, who was not only a skilled warrior but also his friend and mentor.
By the end of the week their task force was ready to leave the safe haven of the Wolf’s Den. Time was of essence, as they needed to lead the enemy away from this sector to buy time for their hodgepodge fleet to finish repairs and training.
The night before they were scheduled to leave an officer’s call was held on the Star Wolf. In olden times it would have been a bugle call signaling all officers to assemble at a pre-designated spot to meet. Now it was just a message sent over the ship’s communication system.
Mike had shuttled over to the attack cruiser noting that the Spider was already sitting behind particle turret number three on the aft section of the huge ship. He knew that the small ship would be very useful to fix battle damage but he wondered if it would be in the way when the aft turret had to fire or during a fight.
Alistair Dover had told him that they had been buying repair robots and droids from the various systems that they had been trading with that were nearby. He had fifteen older repair robots and eight advanced droids onboard the Randori. A complement of droids had replaced the robots that had been on the Star Wolf. Lt. Cappillo was even modifying domestic robots to be used for damage control duties.
The repair droids were more advanced than the older robots. They had the ability to recognize and repair damage that was not programmed for them to fix. The older robots just did what they were programmed to do. Though the ship’s crew welcomed all types of automated repair units as this helped lighten their work load.
Mike was surprised once he was back on board the Star Wolf. The ship was packed with personnel of both Wolf’s crew members as well as prize crews. He noticed that almost all of the middies that had once been left behind were now with them. Also there seemed to be a lot more Gray Wolves.
Bumping into Martin Daley, he asked his friend what was going on with the crew.
“Well, Alistair has been moved up to second officer and I’m acting third officer,” Martin explained as they headed through the crowded hallways.
The Star Wolf was huge but it seemed that there were emergence hull patches fastened to every interior wall just waiting to be used. Supplies containers and other mobile repair units helped to eat up the warship’s extra space.
“What about all these old veterans?” he asked having known every member of the ship’s original crew.
“We’ve been quietly recruiting from the various nearby systems that we trade with. Gunny and few of the Gray Wolves go into their veteran’s clubs and sound them out before offering them to sign up,” the computer genius answered with smile.
Mike grinned in return and nodded. There were countless years of experience being wasted due to some milady or just old age. Captain Hope though believed that no one should be kept from serving if they could. If you were able to contribute to the fight, then you were welcomed on the Star Wolf.
Reaching the forward lift, they saw the ship’s first officer just stepping out. Mike would have thought he would have been going to the meeting in the captain’s ready room.
“About face you two, the meeting has been moved to the mess hall,” Commander Richards said moving by them and giving Martin a gently shove in the right direction.
The good commander had his own story. Having once been a frigate captain during the opening days of the war, he was part of a task force blocking a Karduan incursion. They managed to stop most of them but a single raider got though and blew up the first target it found before retreating. Unfortunately, that target was a civilian transport bringing supplies and new settlers to the region. What was worse was that his wife and daughter had been on that doomed ship. Of course, he blamed himself and spiraled into alcoholism leading to his dismissal from the service.
That’s where Mike and Gunnery Sergeant Masters found him, stone cold drunk on the floor of a shady dive bar. Since then he had turned himself around with a little help from his friends, becoming the first officer of the Wolf and one of the best officer that Collins had ever served with.
“What’s up sir?” Martin asked wondering about the change of venue.
“Too many people for the ready room, so the captain moved the meeting to the mess hall,” the commander explained walking briskly down the corridor.
Following after him they quickly reached the mess hall. No meal was being served but coffee decanters and water pitchers were on every table. A mobile holo projector had been brought to the hall and was displaying the star quadrant in a green sphere at the far end of the hall, floating well above their heads.
The tables were already crowded with officers and senior NCOs from their four ships. There were also officers and chiefs from the prize crews, which surprisingly outnumbered their ships’ command personnel. Mike’s ship had three standard duty shifts and four prize crews.
Richards had already moved away from them heading to the holo projector as they scanned the room for seats and friendly faces. Many of the prize crews’ leaders were unknown to them other than from brief introductions and recent meetings.
“Over there,” Martin said pointing to a table with several vacant seats.
Collins nodded and followed his friend.
When they got to the table he saw why there were empty seats. Seated at the table were all people he had served with in battle and who he called his friends.
Alistair Dover was seated across from Rufo though both seemed to be in a heated conversation as Cappillo’s hands moved furiously as he talked. Newly promoted Ensigns Joe Pendleton and Will Rabb were next to them, followed by Lt. junior grade Jamie Kelly.
All of them except Jamie had been Harpers Academy alumni. She joined them after being rescued from her damaged and dead in space ship. She had been an assistant engineer and gunnery officer on the frigate ISS Alamo. Her ship took part in the battle of Jericho Six when the 12th Defense Fleet had been trapped and almost destroyed.
With a dead ship that was being boarded by the enemy she thought quickly and flooded the hall leading to the engine room. This created a thick ice wall and kept the enemy from finding them. Unfortunately, it also trapped them in their ship’s engine room until the Mike and members of the Star Wolf’s boarding party found them starved and half dead.
The last two seated at the long table were next to the empty seats at the far end of the table. Lt. JG Bill Peters along with the first Karduan male to join their cause - Bre-Nan. Bill was a former middy but the Blue had been captured along with his mistress Lady Seil-Ca when they stole the Star Wolf.
It was at that time that they found out that many of the Karduan males wanted to be freed from their slavery to their women rulers. Bre-Nan revealed to them that there was a movement within the lower caste believing that there was someone called the Redeemer who would lead them to freedom. There secret movement called themselves Believers or Believer Disciples.
Bre-Nan had proven himself several times over. He volunteered all of the information he had, taught them to speak Karduan and trained them to form a mental block to resist Karduan telepathy. The Blue male had saved several lives during a missile cook off including that of Lt. Peters who had become his good friend. When they had captured the Spider repair ship with its crew of Karduans, it was Peters who was placed in co
mmand of the small ship along with Bre-Nan as his executive officer.
Since then they had recruited numerous lower caste Blues to their side. Many non-Wolf officers didn’t trust them and had a natural suspicion of these former enemies. Captain Hope was also reluctant at first but had since found that Bre-Nan and his fellow Believers to be a great asset to their mutual cause.
For this Karduan male freedom had changed his life from being that of a slave to his mistress to becoming a Confederation ensign. Mike had to admit he looked a little odd in his uniform but he knew him to be a good man and a leader amongst his people. This explained the empty seats, as the untried prize crews’ officers avoided sitting next to the Blue.
Seating down next to them Mike took the seat by Bre-Nan as Martin sat next to Peters.
“You two are staying for the wedding right?” Bill Peters asked looking from them to his Blue friend’s big smiling pale face.
“You bet we are,” Martin answered with a grin.
Mike nodded, remembering that the Karduan had found himself a Blue girlfriend and that they were now getting married. She was also part of the Spider’s crew and they wanted to be wed before they left for this dangerous mission. He thought it was amazing how the freed Karduan males and their lower cast women had embraced their new freedoms.
“Group Attention!” Commander Richards’ voice boomed throughout the mess hall.
Everyone in the large room hurriedly got to their feet and snapped to attention.
Captain Sir Randolph Hope walked at a normal stride to the far end of the hall and joined Commander Richards by the holo projector. He seemed confident and unworried which set a good tone for the officers around him.
“At ease, and please be seated,” Hope said and the room sat down.
The Hawk scanned the room with predator’s eyes. A slight smile broke the lines of his weathered face and he nodded once at them in approval.
“This mission that we are about to embark on is being called Operation Trident, as it has three major parts,” Captain Hope announced before continuing.
“Our main goal is to pull the enemy squadron that is now hunting for us away from the Austro Prime area and keep them from finding our hidden base. This will give Captain Kirkland time to finish ship repairs and crew training. It will also allow us to resume trade operations. With so many new personnel we have only a month’s supply of food and other supplies. Once we begin trading again we will be able to replenish our stores,” he explained and then paused letting this revelation sink in for a moment.
“I didn’t know things were so bad,” Martin whispered.
Mike leaned closer to him before he replied, “Six thousand plus extra mouths to feed burns through supplies awfully fast.”
“The second goal is to contact other Confederation worlds to organize resistance and pool their assets. We want to find any ships that maybe in hiding out there including the remains of the 12th Defense Fleet and the whereabouts of the 34th Attack Fleet.” Hope again paused from his briefing as Commander Richards stood up and used a holo hand remote to change the floating sector map’s colors.
“As you can see the survivors of the 12th Defense Fleet were last seen here at the Battle of Jericho Six. From there we don’t know what happened to them only that about a half dozen to ten ships had managed to fight their way through to the bender point and had escaped. No enemy reports or computer files indicate that they had been destroyed or captured so we have to assume that they are still out there,” Richards said looking from the holo map back to the assembled officers.
A hand rose from the back of the room and the XO of the Star Wolf nodded towards its owner.
“Any idea where they might have gone?” an officer who Mike didn’t know asked.
The commander looked to Captain Hope who nodded his approval to answer the officer’s question.
“We have several ideas where they could have escaped to,” he said as he lighted up another section of the holo map.
Mike and the other assembled officer could see three locations on the floating map had now become bright red. Whispered talk broke out as they realized what and where those locations were.
The furthest one was Novus Orbis – New World.
“We believe that the Confederation Star Base at New World has not fallen and that the enemy has set up blocking forces to the systems around them. This would effectively cut off the base from support and help while partially isolating them,” the Star Wolf’s XO explained.
Collins nodded thinking that it sounded like the same tactic that American General Douglas MacArthur did in the World War II with his “Island Hopping” strategy. The general leap frogged around Japanese island bases cutting them off from supplies and avoiding battle as he pushed towards the enemy’s mainland. It weakened Imperial Japan’s forces by isolating them while saving his own limited resource for the battles that really mattered.
“This may be where the 12th Defense Fleet has retreated to and could be where the 34th Attack Fleet has fallen back to as well,” Captain Hope interjected.
“But we have no way of knowing unless we go there and take a look, and that would mean going through one of the blocked systems,” Richards added.
Again the room rumbled in muffled talk of the distance to the base and the difficulty their four ships would have in getting there.
“Another possible refuge is here at a system simply called Blue Rock,” he said highlighting the location on the star map.
As the system’s stats appeared on their palm pads more grumbling broke out.
Some nearby said what most of them were thinking.
“It's a dead system,”
Richards nodded.
“Yes, its star is slowly dying and most of the worlds are just frozen rocks but there is one thing of interest,” the commander announced as he brought up the new data to their palm pads.
“There is a Templar base there?” an officer to Mike’s right said sounding skeptical.
“On a frozen moon around the third planet there is a small Templar training base,” he informed.
Before anyone could question or comment Hope cleared his throat.
“The base was a secret as this system was claimed by the Papal Government and has no apparent value.”
“Captured enemy intelligence indicates that they know of the training facility and therefore it may have already been taken by the enemy,” Richards added making it sound unlikely that the tiny base could have survived.
Captain Hope rubbed his chin in thought before he continued.
“Blue Rock is much closer and is along our projected attack course, so we will have to wait and see.”
Several heads nodded in agreement as Commander Richards resumed the briefing.
“The Karduan intelligence we’ve captured seems to indicate that they think the 34th Attack Fleet has withdrawn to Confederation lines after the break through.”
“But you said earlier that they might have fallen back to the New World System?” Lt. Peters questioned.
Cmdr. Richards looked to the young officer, “That’s what we hope. Not what we know.”
Lt. Peters nodded understanding the problem of limited intelligence.
“Once we get behind enemy lines we will carry out the last part of our operation,” The Star Wolf XO stated and looked to Captain Hope.
The old captain looked across his gathered crews and smiled, letting his normally dour face break into an ancient map of knowledge.
It was the look in his eyes that made Mike sit up a little straighter. Those eyes were the eyes of a predator waiting to strike. It was no wonder that he had been given the nickname the Hawk.
“Our third objective and perhaps are most important is to get deeply behind the enemy’s lines and disrupt and destroy as much as we can. We want to hit them where they are soft and destroy infrastructure and communication resources. Production and repair facilities are prime targets. We want them to run before us and force their ships from front
line duties to chase us and protect their more valuable assets. Even if we never hit these bases just the threat of our possible attack will force them to delegate more ships to their protection and weaken their battle lines.”
Mike smiled and it must have been a good one because the Hawk’s eyes turned to him.
“Mister Collins, would you like to add something?”
“Guerre de Course!” Mike said still smiling.
The old captain smiled back at him and nodded.
“For those of you who didn’t get that it means privateering, commerce raiding, and attacking enemy supply lines to disrupt their combat operations.”
The Hawk then looked to his XO and nodded.
“Group attention!” he yelled as Captain Hope left the room turning the question and answer session over to the commander. After he was gone the room was put at ease and was then given a short break.
“Mike, what was that you said to the captain? Guerre de what?” Joe Pendleton asked walking over to him with Will Rabb following close behind him.
“I said Guerre de Course and it means the Chase of War,” he said guessing that the two former sophomores hadn’t taken that class back at Harpers Academy.
“So who is chasing who?” Rabb asked.
Collins clapped him on shoulder, “That’s the fun part, we chase them and then they chase us.”
“Until some one gets caught,” Pendleton remarked.
“Someone always gets caught, what matters is that the chase is on!” Mike said taking his seat just as Commander Richards called for the meeting to continue.
For the next hour the executive officer of the Star Wolf fielded their questions and went over ships’ orders, bender procedures and battle formations. He set up times for ship captains to report in with any last minute requests or needs. Once it seemed that the room of officers had exhausted their questions he dismissed everyone to get back to work, reminding them that they would be leaving in less than twenty-four hours.
Wolf's Run: The Chase of War (Star Wolf Sqaudron Book 2) Page 6
