“Sir, we can’t leave them behind!” Franks Stanton argued, “they aren’t the older Mark II tanks but are new Mark 45’s. An M45 Confederation grav-tank has a fusion powered main gun, mobile EMP projectors and twin rotary gauss cannons, anti personnel pods and ground to air missiles. It flies at 1,000 KPH and is ninety tons of poly alloy metal death.”
Mike sat quietly sipping his soda until the excited marine officer was done.
“No arguments, we want to save them but we don’t have the space,” he said and held a finger up silencing him before he could argue any further. “How many are fully and I mean fully functional?”
Stanton paused running the vehicles’ conditions through his mind.
“Fifteen,” he said nodding his head slowly as he thought over their status again.
“I don’t know if we can get them all on board, but we will try,” Mike promised and looked up to Gunny Masters.
“We can use the heavy cargo shuttle but we’ll have to bring them up one at a time,” the senior NCO said.
“How Long?”
“Two to three hours each?” Masters replied making a face that kind of said hell if I know.
“What about flying them up?” Mike asked thinking that after all they are capably of anti gravity flight.
Lt. Stanton shrugged, “They are fast and could reach escape velocity but it might take even longer and I couldn’t guarantee that they are all space worthy right now, especially after the thumping they took during the crash.”
“Ok, Gunny get to work and prep for this lift operation. We’ll plan for a start time of eighteen hours from now,” Collins said.
“Sir, why wait so long?” Stanton asked, “Me and my men can get on it right away.”
Mike looked at him hard for a minute and shook his head.
“Frank, you need at least twelve hours sleep in a real bed, two or three hot meals and several baths. So eighteen hours is the minimum. If I think you and your men aren’t resting, I’ll push this operation back another ten hours. We have a ship to repair and that is priority number one, which is taking up most of our manpower and resources. While you and your men rest we will hopefully get this ship put back together. So am I clear?”
“Clear sir,” Stanton said realizing that this young captain was right. He and his men were in no shape to do anything but rest.
“Good,” Mike said and then looked to the sergeant, “Gunny, get them all settled in.
“Aye sir,” Jack Masters replied as he led the young officer away on a quest to find a bath, a bed and some more food.
After seeing to his ship Mike and his crew settled into a twenty-four-hour repair operations cycle. Shifts were set and though they wanted to get out of here as soon as possible they knew that people still had to rest. Seeing that the bridge crew was relieved and that all damaged control parties were now on rotation, the Randori’s captain stood down to take a break. After a quick shower he found his bed and put his head to his cool pillow just as an alarm went off in his cabin followed by a voice on his intercom.
“Captain, to the bridge,” the comm. officer requested.
Luckily, his cabin was down the hall from the bridge and it was short trip.
“What’s up?” he asked to the duty officer. It was Mr. Thornton who though normally would be at the helm station was now being given command time. It was something Mike had learned from Captain Hope – Command officers aren’t born they are made.
“Captain, we are reading that two ships have entered the system,” Thornton said getting up from the command chair.
Mike waved him back down. His first instinct was to call for battle stations but he held back.
“What are they?”
“One is a medium sized freighter, probably human and of an older design,” Thornton said, “and the other is a Karduan destroyer escort.”
“They could be looking for us or just passing by,” Mike said theorizing out loud. “Where are they?”
“They entered near the dwarf star’s L-5 Lagrangian point and have been moving slowly into the exterior of the system.”
“Show current position,” he ordered looking up to the main viewer. The screen changed and showed the two ships with a course heading taking them to the second gravity well near the ice giant.
“Strange, they could refuel from the star or just use their ram scoops,” Thornton commented.
“They aren’t doing any kind of search patterns or long range sensor sweeps,” the sensors operator reported.
“Enhance the picture, lets take a look at that DE,” Mike ordered.
The screen shifted for a moment and the image of the destroyer escort enlarged, giving them all a better view.
Mike laughed and shook his head.
“What is it sir?” Thornton inquired looking from the screen to his smiling captain.
“That’s the Anarchy,” Collins announced still smiling, “they are pirates, working with the Karduans to seize human merchant ships by luring them in and trapping them.”
“What should we do, sir?” Lt. Thornton requested shifting in his seat.
“Have they detected us?”
The maser operator shook his head.
“No sir, they show no signs of detecting us.”
“We are still over the planet’s western magnetic pole, let’s drop into a lower orbit. I’m betting that they don’t have a maser system on either of those ships,” Mike informed.
“Should we prepare for battle?”
“No, they are probably moving to the far gravity well to set up a bait and trap ambush. They are limited to the maneuver speed of that old freighter, so they’ll take at least a day to get there. We will just sit back and let them settle in. Even if they detect us that DE is no match for the Randori and we could just sit back and wait for them to come and get us,” the young ship captain instructed.
“But what about them running for help?” Thornton suggested.
“No, I’ve had a run in or two with Captain Peter Alexander and I know that Alexander the Great isn’t going to run from a harmless looking merchant ship like us,” Mike said with a grin. He was eager for a rematch with the pirate as the rouge had twice slipped from being taken by the Star Wolf’s crew.
“Yes sir,” Thornton replied giving into the idea that his captain once more knew something he didn’t
“Just keep an eye on them and let me know if they change course or do anything odd,” he ordered heading to the door and back to his bed.
“Aye sir,” the duty officer said as well as the maser and sensor officer.
Returning to his cabin he crawled back into his bed. Once there he pulled up his blanket up and closed his eyes. A second later his comm. unit went off keeping him from the sleep he really wanted.
“Lights,” he said to computer as his room went from dark to bright in an instant.
Picking up his personal wrist communicator he activated the holo screen, which projected its screen’s field onto his inner forearm.
“What is it?” he said without trying to sound angry.
“Sorry to bother your sir but we have a problem down in the galley,” Gunny Masters said his weathered face filling the small holo screen.
Mike sat up, “What’s wrong? Did someone burn the French toast?”
“No sir, we had a major fist fight down here and the place is a mess,” the senior sergeant explained.
The young officer let out a sigh and shook his head. This was the last thing he needed right now.
“I’m on my way!” he grunted and shut off the link.
Quickly getting dressed he grabbed his pistol belt and buckled it on. He preferred being armed and he hoped it showed his men that he was a warrior captain not some desk jockey. Hurrying through the corridors he wondered what could have caused his crew to behave in such a manner. His men were all volunteers and except for the prize crews he knew most of them personally.
Reaching the galley, he entered the mess hall and took in the scene. The place w
as literally a mess with food thrown all over the floor along with plates, cups and utensils. Along the right wall were a half dozen marines that looked like they had just been in a hell of a fight. Lt. Stanton was standing off to the side next to Gunny Masters. Nearby were five of the ship’s boarding party members all of which were armed and armored.
They were standing guard as the marine officer and sergeant spoke. To his right were another half dozen men lined up along that wall. They were all ship’s crewmen and they also looked like they had been in fight. Mike did a double take of his men and saw that Jim Byrd and Chac-Ras were among the battered looking crewmen.
Mike stepped further into the room and waited for someone to notice him.
Gunny quickly spotted him and called the room to order.
“Attention!” he yelled, forcing everyone to snap to and lock up.
Normally, a commanding or senior officer when entering a room and after the command of attention having been called would often give the command of “at ease” or “as you were” right away. This time though Mike left them standing at attention as he walked around the trashed mess hall.
He wasn’t happy and he took his time walking past his crewmen looking each one in the face. He then stopped and picked up a coffee cup from the floor and put it back on the long table’s top. Mike then continued in his circle around the room looking at each marine one by one. Finally, he walked up to Lt. Stanton and Gunny Masters.
“Gentlemen, stand at ease,” he said to the two of them.
“Sir…” Masters started to say but the ship captain held up a finger silencing him before he could say anymore.
“I want this mess cleaned up, I want both of you and all of those involved to report to my office at 0800 hours. You can tell me your stories then but if there is anymore trouble I’ll have everyone, and I mean everyone sitting in the brig,” he instructed.
“Yes Sir!” Gunny said snapping back to attention.
“Aye Sir!” the marine lieutenant sang out also returning to attention.
Mike then turned on his heels and walked away, leaving the room standing at attention until he was gone.
Returning to his quarters he again slipped into his bunk and prayed for a moment’s peace. Closing his eyes, he drifted off to sleep until his ship’s communicator went off.
“God damn it! Somebody wants to die!” he exclaimed.
Grabbing his palm pad he answered the call.
On the screen was the smiling face of his friend, first officer and chief engineer - Lt. Rufo Cappillo.
“Hey boss, you look tired,” he said from across the link. He was in his space suit and was obviously down on the planet’s gray surface.
“You have no idea,” Collins replied “What’s up?”
“Good news, we managed to find the transport’s bender section and with the help of Specialist Rojas we’ve pulled out the parts we need to repair our alpha engine.”
“How long?”
“Give me two, maybe three days,” he said thinking over the time requirements needed in his head.
“Ok, that’ll works out fine as we are going to start lift operations tomorrow for the grav tanks,” Mike commented thinking that if they were lucky they’d be ready to leave in three days or less.
“Sounds good,” Rufo commented an added, “Mike, you should really get some sleep.”
“Yeah right,” Collins replied and turned off the link. Laying back down he waited almost twenty minutes for something to happen before he finally fell asleep.
Morning found the corridor to the bridge packed with navy and marine personnel. The lines had formed up on either side of the hall with Gunny Masters and Lt. Stanton at the head of each row. They were all waiting for exactly 0800 before knocking on the captain’s door.
The marines were facing their navy rescuers and of late recent foes. Some of them were grumbling and scowling but this was not to be tolerated.
“Marines Attention!” ordered Lt. Stanton “About Face!”
The armor crews snapped to attention and did an about face, turning to face the wall. There they stood facing the scoreboard of enemy ships the Randori’s crew had helped to destroy, destroyed on their own or captured. The wall’s tally included its time as the Imperial Armed Privateer - Chaos as well as its most recent service as a Q-ship. No one could argue that it wasn’t an impressive wall.
After a few more minutes of waiting Gunny Masters checked his wrist comm. and knocked on the office’s door. Another moment passed by before a voice could be heard telling them to – “Enter!”
Mike was sitting behind his desk where he watched as they shuffled into the room. It was a fair sized office but with the arrival of a dozen men it quickly became cramped.
Once they were in the room, they all stood at attention.
“At ease,” Collins ordered.
“Sir…” Lt. Stanton started.
Mike cut him off before he could say anymore.
“We are behind enemy lines, in a damaged ship with an enemy fleet hunting us. So what do you have to say for yourselves?”
Two marines stepped forward.
“It was our fault sir and we take full responsibility for starting the fight,” one of them said. His name was Edmund Sanchez and his partner was Bob Nagle. Both men were lance corporals.
Jim Byrd and Chac-Ras also stepped up.
“Sir, we are also to blame,” Specialist Byrd announced.
Obviously waiting overnight gave them time to think about their roles in the fight and to reflect on their responsibility.
“Gunny, place the rest of them on report and escort them out of here while I deal with these four,” Lt. Collins directed.
“Aye sir,” the old marine replied and nodded his head for the other marines and navy crewmen to exit.
“All right who wants to explain what happened and why?” Mike offered before he’d start handing out punishments.
Everyone remained quiet.
“Lt. Stanton?” Collins prompted looking to the marine officer.
“Sir, my men and I didn’t know that there were free Karduan males on board let alone that they were in service to the Confederation. In fact, we didn’t know that in their society they were the lowest class of Blues or that they were virtually slaves to their female rulers,” he revealed.
“And?” Mike further prompted.
“Well sir, when my men saw them they got sort of mad, said some things and started the fight,” the Marine 2nd Lieutenant explained looking down at the captain’s desk.
“We had a part in that too, sir,” Jim Byrd added as his Blue friend nodded his head in agreement.
Mike looked them all over with a scowl on his face as he decided what he was going to do with them. He didn’t need men in the brig or having brawls on his ship. They had hard work to do and battles to fight.
“You marines are new to my command but let me tell you that I and many other members of our task force have Karduan males as both our friends and brothers in arms. Specialist Chac-Ras and Specialist Byrd not only saved my life but also helped to free thousands of human prisoners. I’d trust Chac-Ras with my life and I’m honored to fight along side of him.”
“Sir, we made a mistake and we’d like to apologize,” Lance Corporal Nagle said.
Sanchez nodded his agreement, turned towards the navy crewman and offered his hand.
“Sorry,” he said.
Jim shook his hand as Nagel and Chac-Ras shook hands. The Blue grabbed his hand awkwardly.
“Sorry, he is still learning how to shake hands,” Byrd said covering for his alien friend.
Once they were done they looked back to the young ship captain.
Mike nodded but didn’t smile.
“I have one job for you men that you’ll all do together and then we will put this matter to rest,” he announced still not smiling or showing the least bit of sign that he was satisfied.
“What’s that, sir?” Stanton asked.
“Lieutenant, get
everyone that was involved suited up in seal combat suits and have then report to the shuttle bay,” he ordered and then pointed for them to leave.
“Aye sir,” the marine officer replied unsure what was going to happen next.
All of the them went to attention and saluted, which Mike returned with a quick, “Dismissed.”
Rufo had just finished supervising his men and repair robots as they loaded the last of the parts that they had salvaged from the Pinckney onto the Mover heavy cargo shuttle.
“I’m telling you Rita, that the food on the Tudor Deck of the Mary Queen of Scots is to die for,” he said as he and the only surviving member of the transport’s crew moved to the cargo shuttle to load up and get back to the ship. They still had hours of work ahead of them to get the bender drives fully functional.
“I believe you and I can’t wait to try it but I don’t think an officer should be asking an enlisted person out on a date,” she replied. She was twenty-five, slender with dark hair and brown eyes. Specialist Rita Rojas was from a colony that had been settled by colonists from the Castel region of Spain and they had named their colony New Castel. It was a strange but common occurrence to just add the word new in front of the name of wherever the first settlers had come from to their new planet.
“Hey now, I didn’t ask you out. I was just suggesting we get some dinner together at this great restaurant I know,” he said still smiling from ear to ear.
“Yeah right,” she said trying to hold the Italian engineer at bay. Yet she had to admit that she found him to be a very knowledgeable engineer as well as being charming with a big bright smile that was hard to resist.
“So what do you …” he started and then paused looking up at the gray sky.
Looking up they saw the armored shuttle they called Shaker coming down to make a landing near the heavy cargo shuttle. What was so surprising was that they weren’t expecting them.
Wolf's Run: The Chase of War (Star Wolf Sqaudron Book 2) Page 17
