by Rob Buckman
“Weapons, target those picket ship's engine rooms, and give me a firing solution the moment you have it.”
“Aye-aye, sir.” Without even realizing he done it, Pate touched the key pad and started the stopwatch, counting down to the three minutes training time he’d clocked before.
“Have a solution, sir.”
“Good, hold it and be ready to launch two torpedoes on my mark.” His eyes flicked down to the readout, 2.4 minutes flat. He smiled to himself. There was nothing like actual combat to sharpen the senses.
“Sir, the two smaller ships had taken off ahead of the mining scout.”
“Bet the Skipper sent them off to warp point Zulu to rendezvous with us.”
“Detecting an energy build up in the picket ships, weapons, sir!”
“Warning shot across the bow, so to speak, I’ll bet.” A moment later twin streaks of blue/white lightening seemed to flicker across space, missing the scout ship, but putting them on notice they’d better stop.
“Weapons?”
“Still have a firing solution, sir, targets acquired and locked on.”
“Set safeties at five thousand yards - Fire!” Other than the green light on the battle board, there was no indication that they lunched two Mark 42 radar guided torpedoes. Bright yellow pips tracked across the three dimensional screen, showing their progress.
“Contact in five - safeties off - four - three - two - contact!”
At the last moment, both picket ships tried taking evasive maneuvers, but it was far too late. The Mark 42 homing torps were locked on, and a moment later, they detonated in the engine rooms of both ships.
“Good - helm, Max speed, let's pick up our lame ducks and get out of here before something big turns up.”
“Aye-aye, sir.”
The ship pulled ahead of the scout ship, and the rear landing bay doors opened to receive it. Pete kept a nervous eye on the battle screen as he watched it come in and land. Some of the bigger ships were definitely taking an interest and moving to intercept the two damaged picket ships. It wouldn’t be long gone before they arrived, and if Gable’s coating work as well as they hope, the big boys wouldn’t even pick them up on long-range radar.
“Scout ship aboard, sir, and the Captain sent his compliments for a job well done.”
“Three Sirrien Cruisers breaking formation, sir, and heading this way at flank speed.”
“So are we, in the opposite direction - helm, flank speed as soon as you can.”
“Aye-aye, sir.”
The moment Cindy received the signal that the scout ship was locked down and the bay doors were close she opened up the engines. Even so, the ships were close, within the seven light second range. It was clear they spotted something, but what Janice didn’t know, probably their drive trail. She hoped this ship was faster than they were even with their damaged drive plate. At flank speed, they were, by a small margin, and gradually the gap between them widened. They didn’t fire anything at them, for which she was thankful, probably because they couldn’t get a lock or a firing solution. No Skipper in his right mind wants torp or missiles running around without a target to lock onto. No matter what, she swore to herself, she was going to kiss Gable Bushman the first chance she got. He was a genius coming up with that coating.
“Welcome aboard, Captain.” Pete, said, standing up and moving aside as Mike came on the Bridge.
“Thanks, Pete. I have the con,” Mike announced formally, “that was nicely timed, I thought they had us.” Mike sat down in the command chair with a sigh, wanting nothing more than to go take a shower and sleep for twelve hours.
“What’s the status of the two fighters?”
“Way ahead of us, Skipper, heading for warp point Zulu.”
“ As we came over the stern, I noticed that you dented my nice new ship, Number One.”
“Yes, sir, had a little encounter with an asteroid.”
“Damage?”
“Yes, sir, one of the drive plates is damaged and we can only make half speed on it.”
“Ouch! That means we can’t outrun those Sirrien ships. They still following us Jan?”
“Yes, sir. They’ve managed to lock onto something so I doubt they will just give up.”
“Not good.”
“I doubt their lock on us is good enough for a weapons solution.”
“Not yet, but if they get closer they might be able to, Janice, what are our options?”
“Nothing much to hide in around here, Skipper, but I do have a large dust cloud at the edge of the Oort cloud. About an hour away at this speed.”
“Helm - head for it, and make the best speed you can.”
Cindy altered course, and much to Mike disgust the three ships changed course as well. It was clear the asteroid had stripped part of their shielding away. Not sufficiently for the Sirriens to get a lock on them, but enough to follow. He was betting they could see his drive trail as at this distance it didn’t have a chance to dissipate. If they could squeeze a little more out of their drive units, they’d eventually catch up, that’s what he would do. He wasn’t about to underestimate the Sirrien Captains in that regard. The dust cloud offered a chance to hide, but from what he could see of it, it wasn’t large. He couldn’t hide in there forever, so what then. The Sirrien ship Captains, did exactly as he’d predicted, pushing their engines over the limits. In the end, it was touch and go whether they reach the dust cloud or not.
“Sound action station, Number One, and beat to quarters.”
“Aye-aye, sir, beating to quarters.” He keyed the inter-ship comm system. “This is not a drill, I say again, this is not a drill, all standby Bridge personal into battle armor.”
Even as he spoke, green ready light began popping up on his board, showing which department was manned and ready. The standby Bridge personnel run to their assigned lockers and quickly climbed into their battle armor, including Pete Standish. All rushed back to their station, clamping helmets into place as they relieve the their partners. Mike waited until everyone else was dressed before he moved, waiting until the entire board was green. Two armed Marines in full battle armor entered the Bridge, one taking up station by the main hatch, the other opening the Captain’s suit locker. He helped Mike into his, then took up his position by the hatch. One Marine was an electronic and communication tech; the other a medic, and both could act as backup Bridge personnel in case of emergencies.
“All stations reporting man and ready, Captain.” Pete reported, Mike hearing it more on his helmet comm set than in the air.
“Acknowledged, Number One, stand by for course change.”
“Aye-aye, sir.”
“Load all torpedo tubes and arm external missiles.”
“Aye, sir loading and arming, sir.”
“Release all weapons.”
“Weapons released, sir.”
“Good, we are as ready as we’ll ever be, now let’s see how she fights - helm, bring us to port South, twenty-five degrees.”
“Port South twenty-five it is, sir.” The ship turned and dropped the moment it passed through the outer fringes of the dust cloud, and Mike timed it so the Sirriens would see it.
“Starboard, north eighty, helm, smartly.”
“Starboard, North eighty it is.” Cindy intoned, and bought the nose of the ship up sharply.
“Tactical?”
“They are coming in after us, Skipper, on our original course, Port South twenty-five.”
“Any clear idea what we are dealing with?”
“The closest is definitely a destroyer, and from the readout, I’d say the other one as well.”
“And the third?”
“Can’t tell at this range, sir, could be a third destroyer or a Cruiser.”
“Good, slow ahead and bring us round to Port - tactical, sing out where they are and keep the nose pointed at them.”
“Aye-aye, sir.” Janice began relaying the position of the Destroyers to the helm, and Cindy kept the nose pointed right at the
m, thereby presenting the smallest radar cross section.
“Two of the ships have gone completely off my scope, sir, the other has slowed and is turning towards us.”
“They’ve split their forces!” Pete sounded surprised.
“The other two have gone to take up station on the other side of the cloud, “Pete murmured, “just in case we fly straight through.”
“Yes, logical.”
“Weapons, give me a firing solution on the Sirrien Destroyers.”
“Aye, sir, coming up.” Both Pete and Mike counted down the seconds as Gable worked out the solution. “Firing solution worked out and loaded, sir.” Two minutes flat.
“Set the safeties at twenty thousand yards, and fire torpedoes, one, three and five when you are ready.”
“Safeties set at fifty thousand yards, outer doors open - firing, sir.” Three bright yellow blips raced across the battle board towards an equally bright red dot that indicated the Sirrien warship.
“Contact in eight seconds, sir, torpedoes running hot, straight and true.”
“Launch four Rapier missiles, Mr. Bushman.”
“Aye, sir.” Suddenly the two yellow blips vanished just as the four missiles lifted from their external launchers and sped away on silent wings of death.
“Damn! His point defense system got them.”
“Thought that might happen - helm, bring us to within weapons range.”
“Aye-aye, sir.”
“He’s returning fire, Skipper, broad spread, eight, no nine torpedoes coming at us, impact in ten seconds.”
“Heads-up people, helm, evasion pattern Sierra.”
“Aye, sir evasion pattern Sierra.” Cindy adjusted the ship, wishing Conner would take over as she brought the nose in direct line with the incoming torpedoes. This gave them the smallest signature, and presented the ships thickest armor and shields towards them.
“Point defense opening up - they’ve got two - three - four - seven - eight, hold on!” Janice yelled, just as the last one detonated off their port side. The ship bucked slightly.
“In weapons range, Skipper.”
“Let's see if the Marines have learned anything, Number One, order them to open fire.”
“Aye, sir - main batteries, commence firing!”
“Target his engine room and launch torpedoes 2 - 4 and 6, let get him really busy.”
“Aye, sir, but that will mean the torps will swing wide to come round in behind him, sir.”
“And if they miss they could come back home.”
“Aye, sir.”
“Set the safeties for first proximity only.”
“Aye, sir, setting safeties, first proximity only.”
That meant that they would detonate on impact, or if the other ship managed to maneuver out of their way they would still detonate even at a near miss. It was chancy, and the torps could still not detect the enemy and detonate against his ship, but Mike felt the risk worth it, especially with the coating. The moment the main batteries opened up, the enemy had something to shoot back at, and he did. Both ships maneuvered at slow speed, each seeking a clear shot. By any standard, Mike’s small ship shouldn’t be a match for a Destroyers, but this wasn’t any ordinary ship. They took several direct hits on the hull, yet no damage reports came in. The Marine gunners had learned their new jobs well, and Janice began reporting multiple hit on the other ship.
“She’s taking damage, Skipper, more than we are, they just took her communication array out.”
“Pour it on Marines.”
“Damn!” Pete muttered, “wish this dust cloud wasn’t so dense, we could get a good visual on her at this range.”
“And they could on us, Number One.”
“Good point, sir.”
“Torps running hot and true, sir, impact in 15 seconds.” The ship rocked, as something exploded against her hull, and Gable swore.
“They got a torp into us, Skipper.”
“Damage, Pete.”
“Coming in now - forward hull, no air leaks, minimum damage.”
“Good, the shields held.”
“Number one battery hit, sir, and out of action - damage control working.”
“Contact, Skipper,” Janice shouted, “we got her.” The Sirrien Destroyer’s weapons went silent the moment she lost power, and Mike sighed in relief.
“Helm, get us out of here as quick as you can, she can still launch torpedoes.”
“Aye, sir.” Cindy called for full ahead and brought the Corvette around, cutting a course up and away from the crippled Destroyer. She didn’t fire anything else at them, and in moments, they were lost in the dust.
“Now let’s get the other two.”
“Both, Skipper?”
“Why not, we know what she can do now - Gable - Janice, find those other two ships and lock onto them”
“Aye-aye, sir.” They both answered.
“Helm, slow ahead, and keep us inside the edge of the dust cloud.”
“Aye, sir.” Fifteen minutes passed with no contact and everyone started to sweat. Playing cat and mouse with one destroyer was bad enough, but two ship, one of them a Cruiser was something else?
“Engine room!”
“Engine room, aye.”
“Adam, do you have one of your decoy canister handy?”
“Yes, Skipper.”
“I want you to load it into the warhead of a torp and set it to bleed off the contents in flight.”
“Can do, Skipper, I have one dummy torp already loaded for another test, just have to take the explosives pack out.”
“Good, report as soon as it's ready.”
“Bridge!”
“Bridge, aye!”
“Damage control, sir, we have number one battery working again.”
“Acknowledged, damage control.”
“Contact!” Janice sand out.
“Range and bearing, Janice?”
“One Destroyer at 286 by 153 by 71 range, 250,000 yards.”
“Firing solution?”
“Have it, sir, laid in and locked.”
“Good, this time all tubes, random order launch sequence and a full spread of Rapier missiles at the same time.”
“Aye, sir, setting up launch sequence.”
“Helm, wait for first impact and then get us into weapons range smartly.”
“Aye, sir.”
“All tubes and missiles ready, safeties set at 10,000 yards.”
“Forward torpedo room to Bridge?”
“Bridge, aye.”
“Skipper, I have the decoy torp loaded in number one tube.”
“Good job.”
“Aye, Skipper, all tubes loaded and ready to launch, outer doors open.”
“On my mark, Gable - launch!” Mike snapped.
Ten homing torpedoes and twenty-six missiles took off in random order, some swinging wide going wild weasel, other clustering together. The picture vanished in a cloud of snow as the sensors picked up multiple contact. Adam’s little surprise package was working.
“Jesus Christ! I can’t see a thing, Skipper!” Janice yelled.
“Good, neither can that Destroyer’s Captain - helm, get us into knife fighting range!”
“Aye-aye, sir.” Conner smiled under his helmet.
“All weapon commence firing the moment they are in range.”
“Aye, sir.” Gable acknowledged, relaying the order.
“I have the last Sirrien ship on my scope, sir, and she’d not a destroyer.” Jan called.
“What is she?” Pete asked. Jen hesitated a moment as she firmed up her reading.
“Damn! She definitely a Cruiser, sir.”
“Launch rear torps, full spread as soon as they have a lock and a solution.”
“Aye-ayes, sir.” Gable replied from the weapons consult. Mike gripped his armrests, willing the ship forward as fast as possible before the screening cloud dissipated.
“Main batteries firing, sir.”
“No need, Skipper, she a mess
and dead in the water.”
“Helm, bring us around, now!”
* * * * * *