This surprised the helm lieutenant and he looked blankly at him for a second before he answered.
“I’m Lieutenant John Thornton, third officer of this ship.”
Moving to the captain’s chair Collins sat down and stared down at the helm officer.
“Sit down Mister Thornton, we aren’t going to slug it out. We are just going to give them a farewell gift. After all, I think this crew would like to give them a little payback.”
A small murmur of positive comments and laughter followed. Thornton realized the futility of his position and slowly sat down.
“All tubes fire! Helm take us into the well and open a bend,” Mike commanded all in one breath.
All of the Mammoth’s turrets were operational as was their ship’s automated fire-control system. In a blink of an eye the bulky and docile recovery ship fired not one, but two full salvos of missiles and torpedoes at the already damaged destroyer.
The destroyer was closer to the Mammoth than she normally would have been due to the upcoming bend and the startled ship took all of the hits without managing to fire back. Her automated defense grid failed to come online probably due to the damaged inflicted earlier by the Star Wolf.
The destroyer escort was on the far side of the destroyer and was also caught by surprise from the sudden attack. When she finally reacted, her counterattack had nothing to strike at. The ISS Mammoth easily escaped into the bend as their sensors were just starting to read massive amounts of damaged inflicted onto the destroyer’s bow.
Chapter Fourteen
It had been a bad two months for the Confederation light cruiser ISS Patton and the heavy frigate ISS Bastogne. Both modern warships had been assigned to reinforce the older ships of 12th Defense Fleet just after the invasions of the Karduan Armada. Arriving too late to help stop the breakthrough of their lines the two ships joined the embattled fleet, fighting a desperate delaying action as the United Confederation of Earth rallied to support them.
Both ships were names from the Second World War. The ISS Patton was named after General George S. Patton, the brilliant tactician that had not only invaded Sicily, but who was also a firm believer in reincarnation as part of his Christian beliefs. He had been relieved from his command for slapping a soldier, but later went onto a second command of the 3rd Army in the Arden Forest during the Battle of the Bulge.
The heavy frigate, ISS Bastogne was named after a town in Belgium where the besieged 101st Airborne Division refused to surrender. The screaming eagle’s commander, General McAuliffe became famous not only for his defense of the town, but also for his reply to the German’s demands for his surrender. He simply said “Nuts!” which completely confused the enemy. Bastogne was relieved by a Herculean effort by General Patton who took his army out of one battle and then traveled a hundred miles through a snowstorm to save the trapped airborne unit.
Lord Robert Hildebrandt was the captain of the ISS Patton and he like Sir Evan Stout, the captain of the ISS Bastogne, were both full navy commanders with years of experience. In fact both men had been friends since they were midshipmen, having graduated, served and moved up the ranks together.
The two men had served on the same ships for the last fifteen years until they were separated by command promotions. Evan had even married Robert’s sister - Mary and they had three children, the eldest named Robert. Their two ships had always covered each other since their commissioning and it was widely considered good luck for them to be together. Even within the admiralty it had almost become a tradition for the two ships to be assigned jointly to missions.
At Jericho Six the fighting was insane as the tired and damaged Confederation defense fleet had been trapped between both gravity wells by at least two full enemy fleets. The old Hero class heavy cruisers ISS Ajax and ISS Beowulf held the line as a general retreat had been called.
The ISS Housatonic was an older light cruiser that was named after a Union sloop of war from the American Civil War. That older incarnation had the single honor of being the first ship ever sunk by a submarine, the Confederate submarine Hunley.
This light cruiser version had taken a severe bender drive hit and was unable to bend without help. Instead of running she stayed behind to help cover the retreat. All other ships were to make for the beta gravity well and fight their way through to safety. It was their only chance to live. For if they simply circled the wagons they would have been cut to ribbons by the enemy’s overwhelming firepower and larger numbers.
Using their superior speed, the ISS Patton and ISS Bastogne had been the point of the spear, thrusting into the enemy ships guarding the well. Behind them the escort carrier, ISS Lexington had sent out a general distress call having taken a critical hit to her launch bay.
She was reporting an uncontrollable fire and was abandoning ship. Every fiber called out for Hildebrandt to come about and rush to her aid, but his orders were firm, open a hole in the enemy’s lines and lead the escape.
Covering the escape of eight other ships including the command heavy cruiser ISS Agamemnon, the captain of the light cruiser feeling his orders were fulfilled came about and rushed back into battle. Beside the ISS Patton, the ISS Bastogne followed without being asked or told to do so.
As they rushed forward it was clear that it was too late. The battlefield had been cleared of Confederation ships and thirteen of their ships had been destroyed. Once more coming about the two ships made a mad dash to get to the well, but instead of going back to the beta well they headed to the now unguarded alpha well.
Crushing a Kardie DE that tried to block their way the two ships entered the well and bended to safety. At least that’s what they had thought. For the next six weeks Karduan squadrons had relentlessly hounded them. It seemed everywhere they had tried to escape too they found enemy ships. Sometimes they fought, but mostly they ran until they were finally trapped.
They had been running low on fuel and found a system without Karduan ships or a human population. The second had also turned out to be a liability in that many human worlds had turned their backs on Earth and formed separate treaties with the Blues.
Perhaps, if he was in their shoes he would have done the same, but then again he doubted it. After being turned away at two planetary systems and even being fired upon at a third system, the two Imperial ships tried to stick to uninhabited systems.
They had decided to attempt to work their way back to Jericho Six and see if any other ships had returned to perform rescue or salvage operations. With their missiles and torpedoes stores running low they had to rely on fusion and particle turrets except when in the utmost dire straits.
That strait had been reached just one bend from their destination. Having entered the system, they scanned the area finding no ships or inhabited planets. Being low on fuel they headed towards the gas giant to refuel. They had just finished refueling operations while making minor repairs when trouble arrived. A squadron of Karduan ships including a battle destroyer, two standard destroyers each with the same firepower as a light cruiser and two escort destroyers had bended into the system.
The two Confederation ships would have been hard pressed to fight just the battle destroyer with its spinal cannon let alone the four other ships, which had them out gunned two to one. Firing all tubes, they made a run for a gaseous planet covered with a liquid sea. The planet’s core was solid iron covered by a thick crust of rock and dirt. The surface had no major landmasses and those it did have were mostly active volcanoes. Instead of land it had a sea of liquid sulfur dioxide covering its surface and an atmosphere of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen, a small amount of argon and neon gases as wells as volcanic ash.
Commander Hildebrandt quickly made the decision to play hide and seek. There was no way to fight through such overwhelming odds and their ships had needed major repairs even before the battle. It wasn’t the solution he had wanted or preferred, but it was the only one that was expedient.
They would dive through the atmosphere and submerge beneath the toxic se
a. Like ancient submarines from a century before they would play a cat and mouse game with the enemy destroyers as they waited and watched.
Passing through the atmosphere they had dropped four surveillance satellites that would use electro magnetic anti-grav plates to stay aloft. The satellites also had stealth technology and would be difficult to detect.
Hopefully, between the planet’s iron core, the sulfuric sea and atmosphere, the Karduan sensors would be totally scrambled. With any luck the Blues would lose interest and give up or at least would deploy in a thinner formation. This would give the Confederation ships a chance to try to breakout at a weak spot and make a run for the gravity well.
That had been a week ago and the situation hadn’t changed very much. The enemy ships stayed between the planet and gravity well. Whenever they felt like it they would fire at the planet trying to hit the submerged ships. This was a futile effort with so much liquid sulfur dioxide between them that their energy weapon’s dissipated without doing any damage.
The Blues then switched to firing missiles. Unfortunately for them only the most modern of their ships had missile launchers, this being a human weapon that the Blues hadn’t had before the war. Their first rounds of shots exploded on the surface of the sea but after a few days they’d managed to modify their missile to penetrate the liquid surface and explode at various depths.
Even with the changes to their missiles their sensors were still scrambled and only once did they get close to the submerged Confederation ships. Hildebrandt had been slightly concerned that the energy weapons and the missiles would ignite the atmosphere, but since the planet had thousands of active volcanoes it proved unlikely.
Commanders Hildebrandt and Stout had several other problems besides the enemy ships. They had been submerged so long that they were becoming worried about the corrosive properties of the sulfur dioxide sea. Their hulls were treated to withstand energy weapons and every type of environment imaginable, but they truly didn’t know if they could take prolonged submersion in such a toxic soup.
They had polarized their hulls to try and keep a minimum charge running through the plates to keep the liquid from making a bond. Maybe it would help or at least that’s what they hoped. By the end of the week they had a second problem in that three of their four surveillance satellites had succumbed to the planet’s harsh environment. They now had only one eye in the sky to watch the enemy.
Hell Planet as they had dubbed it was also working on the morale of their crews and many felt it was better to go out fighting than wait for their hulls to collapse. Even though their crews were worried and nervous yet they continued their jobs like the professionals they were.
The crews of ISS Patton and ISS Bastogne used their time trapped beneath the sulfur sea better than anyone could have expected. All internal battle damage had been repaired and the time had given them some small respite from running.
Lord Robert was sitting in his captain’s chair on the bridge of the Patton contemplating his next move when his sensor station broke his silent deliberation.
“Sir, I’m reading massive energy weapons fire from the orbiting ships,” he said in a frantic voice.
Hildebrandt frowned, as this was nothing new. The Kardies had been firing at the planet for the last week.
“How close are they this time?”
“That’s just it sir, they’re not firing at the planet, in fact most of the weapons fire isn’t from the Blue’s ships, it’s coming at them.”
Hildebrandt sat up a little straighter as the fuzzy readout came up on the main viewer.
“Battle Stations!” he ordered and then looked over his right shoulder, “Open a channel to the Bastogne.”
“Sir, I have Commander Stout already on the line,” the communications officer reported.
In the few minutes since they’d detected the weapons fire the battle destroyer had taken a fatal particle beam strike from a spinal cannon. Several of the other ships had been struck by missiles, torpedoes and particle volleys from turret-based weapons.
“Evan, something major is going on up there and I think we should immediately join the party.”
Stout’s head nodded across the viewer.
“Agreed, but we’re not reading an attacking ship, could it be a trap?”
The captain of the Patton also had the same thought.
“Possibly, but we have to leave sometime.”
With that said, the two Confederation ships broke the surface of the sulfur dioxide sea and streaked through the thin atmosphere towards the raging battle. Reaching escape velocity, the starships broke the gravitational pull of the planet and entered space. Their sensors still had trouble detecting another ship, but they were picking up a lot of Confederation communications traffic. Mostly from what they guessed were fighters to their mother ship.
“Wolf Pup One to Momma Wolf, we’ve hit the destroyer and are starting our run on the second destroyer escort.”
Closing on the enemy ships, the Patton and the Bastogne finally got a read on the attacking vessel.
“Captain, the ship is a Confederation attack cruiser and I’m also reading six fighters, two Sabers and believe it or not four old LN-28 Wasps,” the maser operator reported, astonished that the ancient fighters were even able to fly.
“Comm. open a channel to the attack cruiser, helm zero in on the portside destroyer and DE,” Hildebrandt ordered and then added, “Commence firing when in range.”
The two Karduan ships had already turned about to battle the attack cruiser and were now in a bad position to repel the light cruiser and heavy frigate’s assaults.
As the two freed ships slammed into the distracted enemy, the comm. station reported in.
“Sir, the attack cruiser is identifying itself as the ISS Star Wolf, Captain Sir Randolph Hope commanding.”
Hildebrandt’s jaw could have hit the floor in amazement and shock.
“Evan, did you copy that?”
“I did Bob. A dead man on a lost ship, who would have guessed, maybe we’re already dead?” his friend jested even as they crushed the two enemy ships before them.
The Star Wolf had already pulverized the battle destroyer with the first shot from her main gun and had now fired a second devastating spinal strike against the lead destroyer. The second destroyer escort had only taken minor missile damage and was making a run for the gravity well. Behind it, six fighters and the attack cruiser leaped after the fleeing ship in full pursuit.
The Patton and the Bastogne finished off the other damaged destroyer and destroyer escort and then quickly followed after the Wolf.
Though the destroyer escort was fast the Wolf was faster. As she closed the distance she ordered back her harassing fighters to get a clear shot at the fleeing Kardie. Two volleys from her main turrets had forced the DE to a screaming halt and upon threat of being fired on by their particle spinal cannon the destroyer escort finally surrendered.
Hildebrandt and Stout couldn’t believe it, not even in their wildest dreams. They had gone from believing that they were about to die, to seeing all five enemy ships crushed before them.
“Sir, I have the captain of the Star Wolf on the channel,” the comm. officer announced. With a nod from Hildebrandt he put the picture on the main viewer.
“Bob, I think you and Evan owe me and my crew a round of drinks,” the wrinkled and pale face of their onetime commanding officer said with a crooked and mischievous smile.
“Damn it sir! It is good to see you and as for those drinks I think we can afford a round or two,” Hildebrandt said as his bridge crew cheered.
Fifteen years prior he and Evan Stout had served on the then brand new Hero Class heavy cruiser, ISS Theseus. It was a wild time of hunting pirates and battling colonial uprisings and they had learned their ship craft at the knee of the man who had just saved them. A man that they both thought was dead or at least retired, and to top that his ship was one that had been reported as lost.
“Lets save the tearful hellos f
or that drink,” Hope said taking command. “Evan, take your ship and look for life pods. Bob, head back to the other four Karduan ships, estimate damage and check for survivors. I’ll send a boarding party over to the DE though I might need a few volunteers from your ships to fly her if we can get her operational.”
Both commanders took to his lead just like the old days and rushed to carry out his orders. He was their senior officer, their teacher, mentor and now their savior.
In the distance the Brittany and the Jillian moved out from hiding and set a course to help. It took another three hours to make repairs, finish gathering prisoners and refueling. The Kardie DE was salvageable, but it would take another day or two to repair its engines using parts from the other ships.
The battle destroyer and the destroyer hit by the particle cannon were junked and beyond their ability to repair. The second destroyer and destroyer escort were heavily damaged, but could be made to fly again given the right parts, time and a lot of hard work.
Hope had waited those hours without drinking a sip of his coffee or moving from his chair. His thoughts were on his men left back at Jericho Six. Retrieving his boarding party, he informed the ships in his makeshift squadron to continued their repairs as he and the Wolf returned to try and save his lost men.
Evan and Hildebrandt as well as both of his freighter captains argued that they should all go together. Hope had disagreed and had even turned down the assistance of the other two warships.
“No, I want all of you to stick together, the Wolf can sneak in and with a little luck maybe catch them napping.”
Making their farewells, the attack cruiser entered the gravity well and bended back to Jericho Six. Entering the system, they found a floundering destroyer that was missing most of its prow. The enemy squadron was gone as were the remains of the ISS Ajax, Java and the Alamo.
Though the spirit of the crew came crashing down the Hawk surveyed the crippled destroyer with a critical eye and held out of all things hope.
The Log of the Gray Wolf (Star Wolf Squadron Book 1) Page 35
