“And what about the ships themselves and their crews that are still on board?”
“Order them to abandon ship and then send over boarding parties to see if there is anything still salvageable,” Dover recommended.
“What do we do with the prisoners?” Hope asked.
Dover paused thinking about where they would put them all. They only had a few high-ranking prisoners currently in their brig but they really didn’t have the room to house hundreds of enemy prisoners safely.
“We could use a cargo bay and the mess hall as temporary brigs for their crews and put their officers in our brig to keep them separated,” the young Englishman proposed.
Captain Hope sat unmoving as he stared at the main viewer.
“Make it so,” he finally commanded and added “Make sure to double the guards and keep them under restraint for the time being.”
“Aye sir,” Dover replied.
“Get a boarding party over to that destroyer and see if it’s salvageable. Maybe we can use it to get the prisoners back to Blue Rock.”
“Sir, we could send the Spider back and get help from the 12th Defense Fleet or from the Templars,” he suggested.
“No, she is needed here. If we send her back it will be after we’re operational,” he said having already considered that option.
Dover turned away and then stopped and looked back.
“What about Mike and Commander Hutton?”
The old captain shook his gray head.
“There is nothing we can do for them right now. The Randori and Cody are on their own.”
Alistair looked to Martin Daily, who had been watching and listening to their conversation. He now shrugged his shoulders at his friend as if to say there was nothing anyone could do.
Lt. Dover nodded and looked back at the main viewer and then to the tactical holo map. Letting out a sigh he returned to his duties to lose himself in the moment. All he could do was pray for his friends who were lost in another system.
The Randori and the Cody came out of the bend and found themselves face to face with seven enemy ships. The ships were mostly Karduan with two captured human ships among their ranks.
Commander Hutton sent out their captured recognition signal which the Karduans replied to with a confirmation code. Closing on them, the Confederation ships waited for a signal that the Star Wolf had entered the system and to tell them what to do but oddly there was no sign of - nor signal from the attack cruiser.
“Give me a scan of those ships,” Mike ordered from the captain’s chair of the Q-ship.
“Two standard destroyers, two freighters one of which is human, two destroyer escorts and a carrier,” the maser operator sang out.
Looking at the tactical holo map he could see that the Blues were in a reverse V with the carrier at the very rear point of the formation.
“Helm, keep us out of their center and guide us to the right arm of their formation,” Collins ordered.
“Aye sir,” Thornton replied.
“Sir, the Cody has moved parallel to us,”
“Lock torpedoes on the lead destroyer,” Mike ordered not wanting to fight but also not taking any chances.
“Captain, the Cody is signaling,” Jansen reported.
“Open command channel,” Lt. Collins said.
The screen on his captain’s chair filled with Commander Hutton’s face.
“Mike, something has happened and the Star Wolf hasn’t come through,” he said stating the oblivious.
“What should we do sir?” Mike asked as he let out a sigh.
“We’ll just try to bluff our way past them and hope the Star Wolf shows up soon. It looks like this is the tail end of a Blue squadron and they were about to bend out.”
“That means the front half of the enemy squadron could be right on top of the Wolf,” Mike remarked putting it all together. He was immediately concerned for his former ship, his friends and his lady love.
“Keep cool and just move past them,” Hutton said trying to sound calm.
“Wilco,” Lt. Collins replied with nod.
“Out here,” Cmdr. Hutton said and ended the transmission.
“Sir, I got a read on the enemy carrier,” Ensign Stevens said from the computer station and continued, “It is an old Perry class escort carrier.”
“There hasn’t been an escort carrier in the Attack or Defense fleets in years,” Lt. Thornton commented from the helm.
Mike remained quiet looking at his command pad at the standard complement of fighters for an escort carrier.
“Do we have a ship transponder signal for her?” he asked wondering who she was.
“Aye sir, she was the USS Nathanial Green, an old American starship,” Steven reported in amazement and added, “She was decommissioned ten years ago and was sold to a frontier system for scrap but was repaired and restored to operational stasis. They listed her as a system’s defense ship after her refit.”
“The Green Machine,” Mike remarked saying her nickname out loud as he quickly read her file.
The ship was named after an American General from the Revolution who was one of Washington’s best general. He helped weaken British General Cornwallis’ southern army and forced him into Yorktown where he faced his ultimate demise and where the British finally lost the war.
“It looks like she has had an engine upgrade as well as armor and weapons,” Steven announced going over his sensor readings.
“She should have between twenty-four and twenty-eight fighters on board,” Collins commented as he sent the information down to Lt. Grinder, his fighter wing commander. “They have us two to one in star fighters.”
“Sir, something is going on,” Specialist Byrd at the maser station called out.
“Calm down and report,” Mike said but he didn’t have to hear his answer as he could see from the tactical holo map that the enemy ships were turning towards them.
“Sir, I’ve been monitoring their communications and it seems they identified us ship as one of the Confederation ships from the Battle of Arcadia,” Jansen said in rushed voice.
“Fire torpedoes,” Mike ordered not wasting any time. If the enemy was just letting their people know then he had to act fast.
“Sir, the Cody has also fired their torpedoes,” the maser station declared.
Mike didn’t wait for confirmations of hits.
“All turrets extend and fire. Focus on the starboard destroyer,” he ordered, “Helm, bring us down and under the destroyer. Get us to the other side of this line of ships. Full speed! Ensign Steven tell the Cody what were are doing.”
“Aye sir!” several voices said all at once.
They couldn’t go back Mike thought. They were too far out from the gravity well to escape and that meant entering deeper into the system. They would have to run and gun and hope that the Star Wolf showed up or just get damn lucky.
“Several torpedo hits to the destroyer,” Byrd called out in excitement.
“Number and damage?” Collins replied.
“Three of four hit, two to their bow and one a mid-ship starboard,” Steven called out as the Randori crew gave a little cheer.
“She is letting out a distress call,” Jansen added to another round of cheers.
“Keep firing as we pass,” Mike said feeling better that the destroyer looked like it was out of the fight.
The next ship in line was a Karduan transport ship. It could have ground troops, food supplies or even plunder from Confederation worlds. What it didn’t have was a lot of weapons
“Energy turrets only target the transport and fire,” he commanded seeing on the tactical holo map that the transport was turning to escape. “Missiles and torpedoes fire on the destroyer escort trailing behind her.”
“Sir, the other destroyer has set an intercept course with us,” Byrd called out.
Mike saw it and also saw that the second destroyer escort and the human freighter had turned towards the gravity well and were leaving the battle area. This
was good as it gave him two less ships to deal with.
“More than a dozen missile hits on the DE,” Jim Byrd reported as the Randori shook from energy weapon strikes.
“The Karduan transport has come to a halt, we’ve knocked out her maneuver drives,” Steven called out.
“Captain, we are detecting numerous star-fighters being launched from the escort carrier,” and added “the destroyer is closing in on us,”
Staring at the holo map and back to the main viewer Mike made his decision.
“Launch fighters,” Collins ordered “Signal the Cody.”
Commander Hutton’s face came on the screen as the Cody was hit from an energy strike and rocked from the impact.
“Looks like we are in for a heck of good time,” the former navy commando said with a smile.
“Sir, you could still get clear,” Mike suggested, knowing that the fast and nimble sloop could probably out run the enemy ships.
“No, we’ll go in with your star-fighter groups and try to get the Blue fighters off your back. You take care of that DE and then you’ll have your hands full with that destroyer,” he said with a determined look on his face.
“Roger that sir,” Mike replied and added “Good luck.”
“You too, we’ll see you on the other side,” Hutton answered and cut off the comm. signal.
“All turrets lock on the destroyer escort and fire. Full speed ahead, get us past her and let’s bring up the rear of our fighters,”
The Randori rocked with several return hits from the DE.
“Damage to portside,” Steven called out.
“The second destroyer is closing.”
“Aft torpedoes fire,” Mike ordered as he watched the star fighter battle to his front.
The Randori had twelve LN-28 Wasp star-fighters along with the Cody. The old Nathaniel Green had launched twenty-eight fighters. Now the Karduan hadn’t had a tradition of using star fighters just as using missiles and spinal cannons were all new to them. Unfortunately, they were learning fast. They had not only been salvaging earth carriers but also their fighters. From this they had copied several versions of human star fighters. The one they seemed to prefer was the SF-18 Hornet. It had been a replacement for the older Wasp and at one time had been drone controlled without a manned pilot. It was a good midgrade star fighter but was no match for the SF-86 Sabers that had been designed to replace them.
From the Nathaniel Green’s launch bay came over two dozen SF-18 Hornet copies. They rushed toward the Q-ship as their female pilots were anxious to prove themselves in battle and crush this odd and armed freighter. What they didn’t expect was twelve LN-28 Wasps to jet out to greet them.
Lt. Grinder was an experienced pilot and had fought the Blue lady fighter pilots before in battle.
“Stick with your wingman, remember they travel in threes and tend to over shoot on turns. Use your missiles as you close and then switch to gauss cannons,” he reminded his pilots. “Let’s hope they haven’t copied the Hornet’s maser systems as well.”
“Don’t worry Random Leader we got this,” Ensign Joe Pendleton laughed from the Random Two’s Wasp.
“Keep your head in the game Joe or I’ll slap it off when we get back,” Grinder replied sounding stern. He was only five years older than most of his men but it felt like an entire lifetime of experience between them.
“Lt. Grinder, keep them busy. I’ll take the Cody and drive through them and make a run on the escort carrier,” Cmdr. Hutton said trusting on his ship’s speed to get in and get out intact.
“Copy that Cody,” Random One called back. A second later the duel in space started as the Karduan fighters engaged the Confederation ones.
Mike wanted to help but he had his hands full as the destroyer escort had taken a pounding but was still fighting back. Whoever their ship mistress was she was not going down without getting her licks in.
“Keep firing on the DE,” he ordered to fire control’s CPO Baker. “Bring us about,” he said to the helm wanting to line up his ship’s bow to get a spinal shot at the approaching destroyer.
“Sir, another ship has entered the system,” Byrd yelled out as a volley from the destroyer’s forward particle cannons hit the Randori’s side.
“Is it the Wolf?” Mike called back as his ship shook from an impact and the lights on the bridge flickered for a moment.
“Negative, it is a Karduan escort destroyer,” the maser operator replied indicating an older enemy light cruiser class of ship. “The second destroyer escort is turning about and they are both headed this way.”
“When it rains it pours,” Mike commented as his ship finished coming about. In its wake it left a broke and lifeless destroyer escort.
Before him was a destroyer and two other enemy ships closing behind it. Together they had the firepower of a heavy cruiser, a light cruiser and a frigate. Behind him his fighters were outnumbered two to one and Commander Hutton’s sloop was facing an escort carrier’s defensive guns.
“Full ahead,” he ordered wishing the Star Wolf was here and wondering where she was.
“Aye sir, full ahead,” Thornton acknowledged the command.
“Prepare the spinal cannon to fire,” Lt. Collins ordered.
“Sir, that first destroyer who we damaged is coming back to life and is moving towards us,” Ensign Steven warned.
“They must have gotten some people to their auxiliary command center,” he remarked not like having another ship to fight.
“The second destroyer is in range of our spinal cannon,” Helm reported.
“Fire!’ Mike commanded.
A moment later nothing happened and Lt. Thornton’s panel light up like a Christmas tree.
“Malfunction!”
“Switch to Blitzens and fire when ready,” Mike yelled “All turrets continue to fire on the destroyer. Helm, angle five degrees to port!”
Due to aligning for the particle cannon to aim they now found themselves in line to pass by the destroyer and exchange shots at close range. Two Blitzens torpedoes were fired and hit the front left and right side of the bow of the enemy ship blowing up and causing massive damage to its bow. However, the destroyer still fought on.
As the two ships passed their particle and fusion cannons fired at close range.
“Open starboard MML bay door and fire,” Collins ordered and his ship rocked from impact after impact.
A moment later a hundred standard missiles launched from the MML struck the side of the destroyer and punching through her weakened armor to explode inside her hull. A few seconds after that her guns went silent.
“Best speed ahead,” Mike ordered wanting to get away from the enemy ship before she blew up.
He then reached down and opened a channel to engineering.
“Where is my spinal cannon?” he demanded taking massive damage to his starboard side’s armor and hull all because the damn cannon failed to fire.
“Bender drives are down but we’ll have them up in ten minutes,” Chief Bell said his artificial eye glowing red across the screen.
“I hope we are still here to use them,” Mike commented wondering where Cappillo was?
“Me too,” Chief Bell mumbled before the screen went dark.
“Enemy status?” Collins called out needing more information.
“The first destroyer has set a pursuit course after us and are ten minutes behind us but at our current speed we can keep safely ahead of her. The old escort destroyer and smaller destroyer escort are closing from our front side and should be in range in fifteen minutes,” Byrd reported from the maser station.
“Damage report?” he asked not really wanting to hear the bad news.
“Starboard side’s armor is severally compromised and half of the turrets on that side are not functioning or are gone. The MML bay took a direct hit and the launcher is trashed. We have hull breeches on the starboard side on decks A through D,” Ensign Steven reported.
“Casualties?” Mike asked swallowing hard.
“Five dead and fifteen wounded,” Chac-Ras reported from the interior sensors station and radar panel. He then added, “Most of the wounded are being treated with Heal-X and are already reporting back to duty.
Mike nodded it could be worse. He still had a ship and a fighting chance to win this lopsided battle. Enhancing the tactical holo map, he could see the star fighter battle that was raging nearby.
The star fighter battle was going on out of the Randori’s range to help and all they could do is watch in the lull of their own battle.
Though outnumbered twenty-eight to twelve, the Confederation fighter pilots in their LN-28 Wasp star fighters were fast and surprisingly hard to hit. This was enhanced by the fact that their frames were made in large part of TPA or trans poly aluminum.
Lt. Grinder as well as others were concerned that when the Blues had knocked off the SF-18 that they had also copied the human maser system and ECW systems. At the time the Karduans hadn’t known that their sensor package had a blind spot to TPA. It was also easier for them to use systems they already knew, had in stock and could rely on. The question was - were they still making that same mistake or had they caught on?
“Wing leaders, break into finger four formations,” Grinder ordered have his three wings of four fighters each assume closer formations.
It was a formation that had been once used in air to air combat but in the age of the jet it had fallen out of use. In space though it was once more viable to concentrate anti-missile fire and to mask their numbers along with their ECW jamming of Karduan weapons’ locks.
Across their maser scopes they could see that the Kardies had spread out into much looser formations. Even with enemies’ electronic counters to their sensors the Wasp fighters could still tell their numbers.
“They are still using a three-fighter wingman system,” Ensign Rebb said with a laugh. His pilot’s handle or call sign was Rabbit though not very original since as he had had that as nickname since he was a kid.
“That’s wing women,” Ensign Pendleton corrected in the fighter to his portside.
Wolf's Run: The Chase of War (Star Wolf Sqaudron Book 2) Page 30
