by Krystyn Dean
I said, “and if I told you that the Destroyer SFN Monserate, under the command of Captain Chason Velions, was included in the pirate formation, what would you say then?” Fritz said, “Velions is with the pirates? How the hell did he find them? No one in the fleet was even aware there were pirates. Are you saying he just took a Destroyer and went wandering around until he found pirates to join? That is ridiculous.”
I agreed with Fritz, I said, “there are only two ways Velions and the Monserate could have fallen into the hands of pirates. Either he was hijacked or he joined them of his own volition. The likelihood of a pirate group intercepting and taking control of an SFN Destroyer is so unlikely that it is not even a consideration. The most likely scenario is that Velions knew before he left Earth where he was going and what he was going to do.”
“Even so,” said Fitz, “that doesn’t really change things. The Monserate wouldn’t stand up to the fleet much longer that the other pirate vessels could.” “You’re right about that Fritz,” I said. “The obvious play would be to jump in close to the formation and take them all out, assign each of our ships with a pirate vessel and simply blow them out of existence. Even though we are shorthanded, it wouldn’t be a chore for us to go in and clean out these killers and then get on with the war, right?” “Yes, it would Admiral,” said Fritz, “but you don’t believe it is going to be that easy do you John? In fact you believe this could very well be a trap and the Monserate is the bait. ”
“Fritz, what do you think is the primary goal for the Eldirelians right now?” I asked.
Fritz replied, “take out the SFN fleet, stop us in our tracks. Retake Apsis Prime and try to convince the Federation that Humans are not up to the task. Force the Federation into negotiations that would favor the Eldirelians.”
“Exactly,” I said, “that is why we are going to play it safe. Take another look at the chart for the Alhena system and tell me what you see.” Fritz looked at the chart and almost instantly said, “there is a disk-shaped region at the edge of the System that is like the Solar systems Kuiper belt. The Eldirelian stealth system is not as good as ours, they would need that kind of cover to hide. The Eldirelians could have a fleet hidden in that region of space waiting. We jump in to the system to take out the pirates and they jump in and take us out.” I said, “exactly Fritz, it is the only thing that makes sense and the Federation Counsel knows it. They also know they have a mole. That is why the orders were vague. It may not have been planned this way, but this is a test. The Eldirelians are using the Monserate is bait. And someone on the Federation council has set the trap.”
“Fritz said, hell, Velions knows he couldn’t survive as a pirate with no re-supply and no support. He had to have a deal before he left Earth. The bastard is a traitor.” I said, “Traitor or not, we need to put together a plan that will allow us to perform our mission and survive, we can worry about Velions after the fact.”
After Fritz left, I asked Lieutenant Turner to come to my ready room, when he knocked on the hatch I asked him to come in. Turner said, “Lieutenant Turner, reporting as ordered sir.” I said, “at ease Lieutenant. Mr. Turner, I have some extracurricular work for you. I want you to plot a couple of courses for me, plot a course to the Alhena system with a direct attack on an enemy in orbit around Serkis three. Then plot another course to the same system with an insertion point that will allow us to enter an orbit that circles the gas giant Aratan, and slingshots the fleet in to the area of Serkis 3 from behind the gas giant.” About an hour later, Lieutenant Turner returned to my ready room with his report. He said, “Admiral, it will take three jumps to reach the Alhena system, just over three days’ travel for direct entry into the system.” “If we do the slingshot around Aratan, it will take eighteen hours longer.” “Thank you, Lieutenant, that will be all.” After Turner left, I had Jensen ask Admiral Suresh to meet with me aboard the Reagan tomorrow morning. Dylan replied that he would be in my ready room by zero eight hundred in the morning.
I asked Jenson to alert all ship captains that there would be a meeting aboard the Reagan at ten hundred hours’ tomorrow morning. At zero eight hundred sharp Dylan rapped on the hatch to my ready room. I welcomed him in. I offered him coffee and then I said, “Dylan, here is what I have mind.”
I explained my plan. We talked about a few ideas and he made a couple of suggestions and then he said,” John, it sounds like a good plan, but what if the Eldirelians choose to attack Apsis Prime while I am shorthanded?” I said, “Dylan that is a possibility. In my opinion it is a remote one. They need to take out First Carrier Group, they can’t attack you here and leave us on their flank. We are the most experienced fleet, and we have already fought them and won. They are going to want to take us out of the equation first. They know we are short some ships so we should be the easier threat to overcome. It is a gamble, but if we pull this off it could have a decisive impact on the future of this conflict.”
At ten hundred hours Dylan and I walked in to the Ward room. Colonel Finnerty announced “Officer on deck,” and everyone stood up and came to attention. “As you were,” I said. “We have some work to do, let’s get right to it.”
At Exactly twelve hundred hours the next day, task force Alpha, consisting of: The Cruisers Cantabria and Toronto, the destroyers Congo, Cairo, Charlestown, Delphi and the Breakwater. The Corvettes, Nimrud, Wanderer, Reaper and the Constant from Carrier Fleet Two. The cruiser Karpov, the destroyer Ontario and the Corvettes, Ptolemy and Norgrass and the support ships Wyoming, Armstrong, Angel of Orcus, and Reginleif. All of these ships Jumped out of the Apsis Prime system on route to the Alhena system.
At zero six hundred hours, the next morning task force Bravo also jumped out of the Apsis Prime system on route to the Alhena System. Before we left I had the surviving crew from the Corvette Venture brought aboard the Reagan.
I am leaving Carrier Fleet two shorthanded, I wish I could say it was not a concern, but it is. I have instructed Admiral Suresh, that in the event of an attack by Eldirelian ships he is to retreat to Titan and leave the Apsis Prime system to the enemy. Under no circumstances is he to attempt to defeat them in space. It is far better to retreat and save our forces for a later fight than to sacrifice them in a futile attempt to protect the system.
CHAPTER TEN
THE ALHENA SYSTEM
Task force Bravo jumped into the Alhena system right on schedule. After all ships were present and accounted for I asked control to advise the task force go to stealth mode and move in to the system.
The outer edges of alpha quadrant
In the Alhena System
On board the Binesla-class command ship hidden in the Kohara belt, Eldirelian Supreme Commander Apisibaar Kabol chuckled to himself. He said to his second in command Relvix. “These Humans, so predictable. We picked them up as they came in to the system. How many ships did they bring with them?” The sensor officer said, “nine Sir, there is one large ship called the carrier class, one cruiser class. Two destroyer class and five Corvette class ships. No support ships.” “No support ships” declared Relvix? “The arrogance of these humans knows no end.” Supreme Commander Kabol said, “think about it Relvix, would we bring any more ships than that to deal with pirates?” Relvix replied, “no I don’t suppose we would.” Supreme Commander Kabol said, “The plan was always to lure them here with their own ship, the Destroyer Monserate. They believe they are going up against poorly organized pirates. With our numerical superiority, we can crush the heart of the First Carrier Group. Then take on what is left at our convenience. They have nine ships and we have eighteen, we will take on the Carrier ship with the Gwof Wonthreen and a Marauder, send 2 Erulsan Class against the Cruiser, assign 1 Erulsan Class plus one marauder to each of their destroyers. Put the rest of the Marauders on three of the Corvettes and give each of the remaining corvettes two Araime class each.” “When should we move against them?” Commander Kabol said, “start moving our ships out now, they are committed to an attack course
toward the pirate fleet. They cannot escape us now, drop stealth.”
Aboard the Ronald Reagan
“Admiral Anderson, we have eighteen Eldirelian ships dropping stealth and accelerating to intercept us. At present speed, they should be in weapons range in eighteen minutes.” I said, “very well Mr. Gomez.” “Mr. Turner alter course to intercept the Eldirelian ships, signal battle stations all ships, fire when in range.” “Mr. Gomez, let me know when our friendlies show up.” And I thought to myself, and it had better be on time.
It was. A few minutes later, Gomez reported, “New targets dropping out of stealth behind the Eldirelians Sir. Transponders show them to be task force Alpha, they are arming weapons as we speak sir and I don’t think the Eldirelians have seen them yet.”
A few minutes later aboard the Gwof Wonthreen the sensor officer said “Supreme commander there are ships dropping out of stealth behind us.” Supreme Commander Kabol said, “What? That is not possible, how many and how close are they. The sensor operator said, twenty ships sir and they are arming their weapons.”
Aboard the Ronald Reagan
I had put Captain Taurian Lahkar in command of task force Alpha and his timing could not have been better. The Eldirelian Command ship began to maneuver immediately to escape. The remainder of the Eldirelian ships continued toward us. Task Force Alpha was in range before we were and they had locked in targets before coming out of stealth. As Task Force Alpha fired their missiles, Task force Bravo began a salvo of heavy laser fire, Task Force Alpha followed up their missile barrage with more heavy laser fire.
As we fired missiles, I asked Fritz to launch fighters with instructions to make sure the pirate fleet could not escape, especially the Monserate. The fighters were ordered to attack any ship that armed its weapons, but were told that if the Monserate tried to move she should be disabled. Velions had some explaining to do. I also detached the cruiser Ellen Baker with instructions to capture the Monserate.
Aboard the Ellen Baker
I am Captain Maria Twain, Captain of the Ellen Baker. Our instructions were to capture the Monserate, intact if possible, disable her if she tried to move and destroy her only if she armed her weapons. The rest of the pirate ships were the responsibility of the fighters. I hailed the Monserate on all standard SFN frequencies, she finally answered up on my third call. I said “Monserate, do not move, do not arm your weapons systems. If you arm your weapons systems, I will blow you to hell. If you attempt to move, we will disable you. Stand down and prepare to be boarded.” Monserate called back, “this is Commander Jarvis Eastbourne, we will not resist, Baker. We have restrained Captain Velions and we will comply with your orders.” Colonel Finnerty and an away party were ready to go in the hold. Their shuttle departed at once for the Monserate.
Boarding the Monserate
I am colonel James Finnerty. We are tasked with boarding and securing the SFN destroyer Monserate. Our shuttle joined the airlock of the Monserate. When the pressure equalized, we opened the outer hatch this was the airlock for the cargo hold of the Monserate and it was large enough to accommodate up to thirty troops, Echo squad went in first and we encountered no resistance. Then Delta squad came aboard. I sent Delta to engineering with instructions that if they met any kind of resistance to respond with maximum effect. I took Echo squad to the bridge. We met no resistance. Delta did meet resistance from a group of mutineers, but handled it as directed. As soon as Delta reported that engineering was secured we entered the bridge. Captain Velions was bound and gagged, lying on the bridge deck. A crew member who said his name was Kamil Darzada, surrendered his weapon and explained what had happened.
Darzada said that when SFN ships were reported in the Alhena system, some of the crew who had pretended to join the mutineers had released the crew members who had refused to join Captain Velions from the brig. Those loyalists from the brig took weapons from the armory and captured the bridge, restraining Captain Velions.
I called the Baker and advised them that we had secured the Monserate and that we were sending prisoners over on the shuttle. We restrained all the prisoners identified as mutineers by the loyalists and prepared them for transit to the Baker.
Kamil Darzada pointed out four of the mutineers and said that they were the ones who released the loyalists from the Brig, so we kept them on board the Monserate. We asked all the loyalists to go back to the brig until we had a chance to get everything sorted out. This was a job for Admiral Anderson not us. They complied with no complaints.
We inspected the Monserate to make sure there were none of the mutineers still aboard. There were not. I left Delta squad on board the Monserate and the rest of us returned to the Baker, just in time to watch the battle wind down.
Back on board the Reagan
The battle turned out to be a rout. Faced with a fleet of twenty-nine ships, and caught in a trap, some of the Eldirelian ships attempted to escape. The Eldirelian command ship, two of their cruisers, and two of their destroyers were able to get away. All Eldirelian ships had some damage. The two other Eldirelian cruisers were badly mauled and eventually self-destructed. Two of the Eldirelian Destroyers lost field containment and exploded, two more were drifting and without power. All the Eldirelian Corvette class ships were destroyed in the first missile volley. Only minor damage was reported by SFN ships.
The Monserate had been taken without damage and the prisoners were being brought aboard the Reagan. I had all the prisoners from the Monserate moved to Reagans Brig. There was no hurry to deal with the people I considered traitors. Besides there were other things that required my attention now.
I notified all pirate ships that the crews aboard had one hour to leave their ships, they were given the option of surrendering to any SFN ship or go directly to the surface of Serkis 3. All personnel on Serkis 3 were warned to lay down their weapons and prepare for our Marine occupation forces. I had Colonel Finnerty put together a Marine contingent that would have maximum superiority. I instructed him that anyone wishing to surrender could do so, but that any sign of resistance was to be met with a maximum response. I had no intention of losing one Marine to pirate scum.
It took Colonel Finnerty a little less than six hours to control the small moon of Serkis 3. There was some resistance, however it was met with a withering fire that decimated the opposition. We had one Marine suffer a minor trauma, but no other problems. Serkis 3 had become a prison planet.
I felt it was unnecessary to keep both Task Force Alpha and Task Force Bravo in the Alhena System. I didn’t believe we would have any trouble with the Eldirelians for the time being. I didn’t intend for us be here any longer than we had to be. I gave Captain Taurian Lashkar, the captain of the Cantabria and commander of Task Force Alpha a call. “Captain Lashkar, you and your people were right on time, excellent job.” He said, “thank you Admiral. Anything else we can do for you? No Taurian, in fact I would feel much better if you were back on station at Apsis Prime. The Eldirelians aren’t going to spend any time or equipment on this miserable rock, but Apsis Prime would certainly be a worthy target. I need you back on station post haste. Take Task Force Alpha and return to Apsis Prime, leave the Long Beach, Tsunami, Allegiance, and Kongzhi support ships here with me just in case we need anything. I have already sent a message drone to Admiral Suresh and told him to expect you. Head out as soon as your ships are ready to go, we will be departing the system as soon as the freighter arrives and we have all the prisoners loaded.” “Aye Admiral, I had assumed those would be your orders so we are ready to go. we will be departing the system in about forty-five minutes. We look forward to seeing you back at Apsis Prime in about a week.”
“Safe trip Taurian. Anderson out.”
Task Force Alpha maneuvered to a jump position and exactly forty-five minutes later they jumped for Apsis Prime.
None of the ships in orbit around Serkis 3 were manned when the Marines got to them, nor did they have any value to the SFN. The Marines set charges near the react
ors and left them. One after the other they were destroyed.
I had brought one of the Eldirelian freighters we had liberated at Apsis Prime to use as a prison ship. Once all the pirates had been moved to the cargo hold of the freighter we destroyed every habitat, hovel and any other structure on Serkis 3. We couldn’t keep pirates from rebuilding. But if they did, it would be from scratch.
The pirates from Serkis 3 were placed in a temporary brig aboard one of the freighters. They were the Federations problem. The mutineer crew from the Monserate was placed in a temporary brig in the hold of the Kennedy. They were my problem.
While all of this was going on I received a call from the Marines serving as guards in the brig. Sergeant Applewhite said that Captain Velions was demanding to see me. I told Sergeant Applewhite to restrain the good captain and if he failed to stop yelling, to muzzle him.
I had another duty to perform. This one I was looking forward to. The SFN Destroyer Monserate needed a crew. I had hoped that we might be able to recover the Monserate intact and had brought some people who I believed could return her to the honor and integrity she deserved.
I asked Commander Morin McCreary, captain of the ill-fated Corvette, Venture, to join me in my ready room that evening at twenty-one hundred hours. At twenty-one hundred hours on the dot, Lieutenant Jenson opened the door to my ready room for ‘Mac’ McCreary.
“Commander Morin McCreary reporting as ordered sir,” said Mac. “Relax Mac, as you know we had a significant victory yesterday and during the conflict we managed to recover the SFN Destroyer Monserate from the turncoats that had stolen her. She is without damage and ready to serve the Solar Federation Navy with distinction. The only thing she lacks is a crew.”
