“Charlie Leader report,” he ordered after a few second he repeated his order. “Werewolf One to Charlie Leader report.”
“Sorry sir,” the female voice said across the link. The powered armor suit’s holo screen lit up and he could see the young face of Lt. Jamie Kelly. She had once served on the ISS Alamo and when she joined the Star Wolf as an assistant engineering officer she took Mike’s advice and became better trained in weapons and squad tactics. She even became one of the Werewolves, subsequently volunteering for this mission.
“What’s your status?” he asked.
“We have taken the lower CIC and I have sent Chief Pauly with half my team and some freed prisoners to take this section’s engineering room,” she explained her green Irish eyes blinking a few times from the stress.
“Can you override from there and deactivate the mines and take control of the system boats?” he inquired hoping to save the Wolf and the other Confederation ships from a fight.
“Negative,” she quickly answered, “We were locked out even before we blew the doors. There were only two Karduans manning these systems here and they told us that they can’t cut into the upper sections operations.”
“Right, secure the area,” he said and then added “Good work!”
She smiled gave him a “Wilco” before cutting the link.
Reaching the upper command level Mike wondered how the Star Wolf was doing?
“All sensors scan the area, comm. contact Lieutenants Dover and Daily and get a situation report,” Captain Hope ordered as the attack cruiser exited the gravity well and he took a sip of fresh coffee from his mug.
Behind the Star Wolf came the two Papal armored cruisers Heath and LeBlanc, followed by the heavy cruisers Agamemnon and Beowulf. The upgraded escort carrier Nathaniel Green came next with the older light cruisers ISS Prescott and the ISS Montgomery and nine smaller warships which were mostly made up of frigates, destroyer escorts and sloops trailing behind them.
Seventeen warships made up their attack force though one ship was noticeable missing and it was the largest. The Papal Battle Cruiser Julius II was absent having been left at Blue Rock to guard the Templar base. Along with her were the station’s ten corvettes, their transports ships and the bulk of their planetary based fighters.
In a force this big, Captain Hope would have normally had the smaller ships out as skirmishers and as a screen for his larger ships but he knew that they’d have to get through the minefield first. This was something he had experience doing.
“Sir, I have Lt. Daily on the Culper and Lt. Dover on the Nathan Hale,” Chief Parker reported from the comm. station.
“Very good, put both of them on screen but let’s hear from Mr. Daily first,” he instructed.
“Captain, I’ve got good news and bad,” Martin started.
“Let’s hear the bad news first,” the old officer said without hesitation.
“The space minefield is still active as well as their maser field. The six system defense ships are still operational and under the control of the Karduans. The upper CIC is still in their hands and the station mistress is at large on the station. I can’t hack into their command system until we take possession of their command center’s main computer.”
The Hawk’s tired eyes narrowed, “What’s the good news?”
“We have freed the prisoners and have armed many of them. Our tanks are knocking out the station’s outer defenses. We have the XO of the Star Tiger and he and his crew are helping to retake their ship. I have taken over basic functions of the station but they have independent security measures. We have captured the lower station’s command center and I’m accessing their computer to trap or lock out Karduans in the lower half that are still fighting. We have sent teams to gain control of the four operational ships docked on the lower rings. Those teams are augmented by armed prisoners.”
Hope nodded and took a sip of coffee before he asked his next question.
“What about Lt. Collins?” swallowing hard at the possible fate of the young officer.
“Mike is leading a heavy weapons team to reinforce Lt. Cappillo as they attempt to take the upper command center,” Martin informed.
“What about your status?”
“They haven’t attacked us yet but they’ve got to realize soon that we are the source of their troubles,” he said absently scratching his head.
“Mr. Dover, what is your status?”
“Smashing! Absolutely smashing!” he exclaimed with a broad smile. He then went into his situation report from the captain’s chair of his Karduan destroyer, the IPS Nathan Hale.
The fleet captain took in his report and also allowed himself to smile.
“Very good gentlemen, we will be switching to our second scenario plan to cross the minefield so be prepared,” he advised.
Both Lieutenants said “Yes sir,” as the link closed.
“Alert the fleet that we are using plan two and we are going into the minefield,” Sir Randolph Hope said in a loud and strong voice. The order was to CPO Parker at the communications station but it was also to his bridge crew to prepare. The minefield was limited in size but if they wanted to get the station fast they had to go through it. Going around would take too long and this fight required speed and audacity.
“Message sent, sir,” Parker replied a moment later.
“Good, detonate the atomics,” he ordered.
“Aye sir!” Chief Burke at fire control station replied and added, “Here comes the fireworks boys!”
A second later five nuclear mines went off in a straight line across the Karduan minefield. They had been laid by their infiltration team when they had crossed. It was quite a show and not only destroyed numerous Karduan stealth mines but also sent out a EMP pulse to disrupt both the maser net and any of surviving mines’ guidance systems.
“Take us through, full maneuver drives, all turrets auto fire on anything that gets close or moves. Prepare to fire torpedoes, I want Dancers fired directly in front of us along are course of advance,” Hope ordered looking to his fire control chief.
He wanted the Dancer Blitzkrieg torpedoes to use their electronic counter measures to simulate a false signal making the mines think that there was a ship amongst them. They would then either detonate or use their thrusters to close on the target.
“Aye sir,” came the chief’s reply.
“Signal the armored cruisers and tell them to prepare to fire their spinal mounts on my command,” the Hawk commanded.
“Message sent, sir,” Parker said and then added a second later, “Both ships signal that they are ready.”
“Fire Dancers,” Hope ordered.
“Dancers away!” Burke announced.
The quickly torpedoes reached their intended destination and sent out their ECM signals. The enemy mines which were harder to detect moved in to make contact with the false signals that the torpedoes were emitting while others just exploded.
“All ships, fire spinal particle accelerator cannons,” Captain Hope said.
The attack cruiser and two armored cruisers fired together plowing the road before them as they cleared any mines from their path.
“Helm take us in. Fire control, I want a full spread of Prancers, spherical pattern fired forward of our advance,” The old ship tactician said sipping his coffee as he watched the holo screen and main viewer.
As they passed the red phase line and entered the minefield he knew that it would be ten minutes to get to the blue phase line and escape. Then he’d have to deal with the enemy fleet waiting for him. If the Prancers did their job, then the mines and maser net still around them would be disrupted by their electromagnetic signal.
Fighting the waiting system boats and Karduan warships would be his next hurdle. They were restricted to the corridor in space they carved out of the minefield and that limited their maneuvering ability forcing them closer together. The enemy could mass their fire at them as they tried to get clear of the minefield. That was one reason Ca
ptain Hope had his heavy ships in front as not only would they be able to weather the enemy storm of fire but that the enemy would have to face their spinal mounts in the process.
Mines blew up around them as the Confederation ships crossed the field firing at anything that moved. Particle blasts cleared the way for them as they closed on the waiting enemy fleet. The Hawk waited, putting down his coffee mug as he silently hoped that the next part of their plan would work.
Bie-Tor had passed out sometime after her escape from her lab. She couldn’t believe that she had lost her hand in the fight with the man she had once called Dog. She was still in shock from blood loss and the fact that she had the son of the human emperor in her grasp yet had failed to realize it. So preoccupied was she with these thoughts that wasn’t listening to those standing around her. Her guardswomen had saved her from death or at least capture and then followed her last order and had dragged her to the upper command center.
Shaking her head, she looked down at her arm where her hand once resided. Someone had place a medical sleeve over her injured arm that covered her arm from her wrist to mid forearm. It had a built in medical computer and she stared down at the readings trying to make sense of its readout.
Again her staff was talking to her as she tried to focus her vision and see the computer’s small screen. After a minute of blinking she final could make out that the sleeve had stopped her bleeding and had injected her with a powerful pain killer.
Looking up she saw that she was now in the upper command center with many of her lady officers circled around her. Some seemed concerned while others were almost in a state of panic.
“Get to your stations!” she yelled as loud as she could muster.
In another moment the area around her cleared and only her Second was left remaining.
“What has happened?” she asked using her remaining hand to adjust her medications and give herself a stimulant to clear her head so she could still function.
“All of the prisoners are freed. Most of our internal security measures have been subverted including the obedience collars. There are armed human soldiers on the station and the lower section is not answering our calls. The armory has been broken into and a large majority of the prisoners are now armed. The center ring and courtyard are under Confederation control and there are two grav tanks in the plaza,” she informed and added, “six more are flying along the sides of the station destroying our outer cannons and defenses.”
“Tanks?” the Station Mistress said in disbelief.
“Yes and there is more,” the Second replied waiting for her to catch up.
“Speak!” she demanded.
“The enemy fleet has arrived and are making their way through the minefield. They have detonated nuclear mines within our minefield and have used torpedoes and spinal mounted particle cannons to clear their way,” the Second informed.
This was something the former fleet mistress knew how to react to.
“Size and number of enemy ships?” she asked.
“At least two larger cruisers possible three as one of them is probably a stealth ship and we can only detect it after it has fired its spinal mount. Two heavy cruisers and two light cruisers along with six or seven smaller destroyer escort sized ships.”
Bie-Tor nodded, “We still have the advantage and they will be forced to come through the field at the same point making it easier for our ships to target and mass our fire.”
She then went to get up and almost fell.
“Help me to my command chair,” she ordered.
The Second grabbed her good arm and supported her as she stumbled to a chair that looked like it should have been on a bridge of a starship. The station mistress had it installed after she had taken command. It made her feel like she was still a fleet mistress and not tied to an immobile station.
Sitting down she looked over her staff as they worked at their stations. The command deck’s blast shields were down covering the view ports though the view screen was active and showing the Karduan battle line awaiting the Confederation warships.
“Ship Mistress Cia-Ta reports that she and the fleet are ready,” the Second remarked.
Bie-Tor saw that the system defense ships were ahead of the manned warships and would take the brunt of the enemy attack once they emerged from the minefield. It made sense for the Destroyer Mistress to set up her ship and those with their minimal crews behind them. She was about to ask why the blast shields were down when an explosion could be felt a level or so above her.
“What was that?” she called out to no one in particular.
“That was a Confederation grav tank that just crippled our particle turret number two,” a sensor operator answered.
“Tanks? How did they get on the station and where did these armored human soldiers come from?” she queried still trying to catch up.
“Mistress, we don't know and have been too busy to find out as most of our external sensors are off line,” the Second reported.
“Then use the sensors from one of the ships to aid us!” Bie-Tor yelled wishing once more that she had a trained warship’s crew and not these rejects from proper service.
“The enemy is coming through the field!” the sensor operator cried out in a panicked voice.
“Now we will get them!” someone yelled.
“It is fortunate that Cia-Ta and her ships arrived when they did,” the Second said with a smile.
Bie-Tor looked away from the main viewer and turned to stare at her Second’s pale face.
“What did you say?”
The Second was caught off guard by her question.
“What?”
“What did you just say about Cia-Ta?” she demanded.
“Just that it was opportune that she was here to help us,” the station’s executive officer replied unsure if she had made an offensive remark.
“Where are her ships?” Bie-Tor questioned.
“Her destroyer and destroyer escort are part of the second battle line behind the system defense ships. They have both taken positions in the center of the battle line. Her transport ship is still docked at the station,” the second in command quickly answered thinking that Ship Mistress Cia-Ta was very brave to take the center position while wondering why her station mistress was so concerned.
“Where is the transport docked?” she yelled.
“At one of the center ring’s docking arms,” answered the sensor operator.
Bie-Tor jumped down from her chair and ran over to the sensor station. She looked down at the panel but there was nothing of concern that was being detected. Spinning around she looked to her second.
“The grav tanks and the armed soldiers came from the transport!” she declared.
“But that is impossible!” her Second exclaimed in doubt.
“Where else could they have come from?”
“But that would mean that Cia-Ta and her ships are really working for the humans?” she said still not believing her mistress’s wild assumptions.
“The enemy ships have broken through the minefield!” someone yelled out.
“Order the system defense ships to fall back and to fire on the second line as they pass!” Bie-Tor commanded returning to her central chair.
“Mistress, if you are wrong it will cost us our ships and this battle!” the Second argued signaling with her hand for the command staff to hold any further action.
Bie-Tor was once a noted duelist and a Patar Master of the First Rank yet without her hand she could no longer could grab her patar to slice her Second and cut her down to size. Instead she reached down with her remaining hand and grasped the butt of a Karduan ship pistol she kept hidden inside an interior pocket of her seat. Karduan ship pistols were slow to fire with very little recoil yet nevertheless she managed to fire three shots into her stunned Second’s chest before her body fell to the command center’s metal deck.
“Now carry out my orders!” she bellowed looking for someone else to shoot.
“Sir, we’re about to clear the minefield,” Ben Lewis announced just as another mine was detonated off the Wolf’s portside causing the ship to rock slightly from the shockwave as her inertia dampeners fought against it.
“Open a channel to the Nathan Hale and the John Andre,” Captain Hope ordered.
A moment later a spilt image appeared on the holo screen. The first image was of the bridge of the destroyer and the second was of the destroyer escort. Both were crewed with Confederation personnel being an even mix of Blues and humans.
Lt. Alistair Dover sat in the captain’s seat of the destroyer with Cia-Ta standing next to him. Of course she really was Ca-Nan the wife of Bre-Nan.
Lt. Bill Peters and Ensign Bre-Nan where on the other half of the screen having given up their normal ship the Spider for command of the destroyer escort.
All three ships in their infiltration group, the Nathan Hale, John Andre and transport vessel the Culper had been named after famous spies or spy groups from the American Revolution. Captain Hope had thought it was only fitting considering what they were setting out to do.
“We’re ready, sir,” Dover reported with a determined look and a nod.
“We’re also in position, sir,” Peters added.
“What of the other ships?” Hope inquired needing to know if they would have to target them as well as the system defense ships.
Hearing his question, both commanding officers smiled.
“Our people are on all of the ships except the Le’Insurgent,” he informed still grinning.
“I still can’t believe she offered me all of those ships!” Ca-Nan exclaimed and continued, “I’m glad her telepathy was blocked or I’m sure she would have detected my surprise.”
“You did great dear,” Bre-Nan said from the other side of the screen.
“Back to work people,” Lt. Dover commented before the two newlyweds got any more off task.
“We’re coming out of the minefield, have all of the ships fire at the rear of the defense ships as we fire from the front,” the Hawk ordered catching the enemy vessel between two fires.
Wolf's Run: The Chase of War (Star Wolf Sqaudron Book 2) Page 51
