Chapter Sixteen
The reunion was a welcomed one, as the ships returned to base and the mission was temporally postponed. The senior officers got together onboard the Wolf for a meeting in the captain’s day cabin.
Mike and his squadrons’ officers once more had to retell their various stories for the senior captain. The old Hawk listened quietly until they had caught him up on what had happened to them since he had to retreat from the Jericho System.
He had to admit to himself that he never would have expected his twenty-eight man boarding party to accomplish so much in a little more than a week. They had all thought them dead or at the least prisoners of war.
Commander Richards then briefed them on the problem with the spinal cannon and why they had to retreat. He took them through the battle to free the ISS Patton and the ISS Bastogne. They had returned to Jericho Six to look for them, but only found the remains of the destroyer they had crippled on their escape. Returning to the waiting ships they had continued operations to gather the remaining Blues and secure their ships.
Karduans don’t believe in suicide, but on occasion a ship mistress would try to destroy her ship while attempting to take her enemies with her. The battered, but repairable destroyer self-destructed sending her remains into the hostile atmosphere of the sulfur dioxide hell world below. She had also managed to kill most of her own crew who had just jettisoned in life pods.
The Wolf was relatively unharmed being still out of range when the crazed ship mistress blew her ship up. They then had boarded both destroyer escorts and had spent the next three days repairing the better of the two in order to return with it as a prize ship. The other DE and the crushed destroyer and battle destroyer were left behind in a decaying orbit.
Bending to the next system they found it empty and took the liberty of refueling. As they were leaving, a pair of Karduan ships and their prize, the SS Mary Queen of Scots entered the system.
The surprised Kardies immediately went into an emergency bend and reentered the gravity well before the Confederation ships could stop them. What was truly amazing was that the luxury liner was still in the system after the enemy ships had escaped.
When they boarded the cruise ship of the rich and spoiled they found that the human skeleton crew had sabotaged their computer to shut down their engines. Their captain had been a retired admiral and had planned since the first day they had been captured to shut their engines down at the first chance they had of being rescued.
The Blues were not amused and had executed the brave old fellow on the spot and then started to shoot the bridge crew until someone restarted the engines.
Unfortunately, the crew hadn’t been included in their captain’s plans and couldn’t have fixed the problem without a full diagnostic. By the time the boarding party had managed to get to the bridge most of its crew was dead. The Kardies had put up a fight, but it hadn’t lasted long against the Wolf’s men. Commander Hutton, who led the mission, had his hands full keeping alive his few remaining prisoners from not only the liner’s survivors, but also from his own men.
After repairing the damage to the Mary’s bridge they continued on their way home. The rest of their journey back to the base had been uneventful and they soon found themselves almost blasting their fellow Confederation ships as they entered the system.
The base’s personnel and their families couldn’t be controlled as a celebration erupted for the returning heroes. This time no one tried to stop the party and everyone had a good time. Mike had found Angelique with Doc Beilor. Approaching the pair, he overheard a conversation about the medicines and advanced equipment that was onboard the Brittany.
Upon seeing him it was Edie not Angelique who rushed over to him to hug him in a breath taking hold and then kiss both of his cheeks.
“Dear boy, it is a miracle you’re alive!” she said, finally releasing him.
“A miracle for all of us,” Angelique agreed, looking at him as if it was for the first time.
Edie looked from her colleague to the young man and then smiled with insight.
“Well, you two have a good time, I have to find Gunny and see if he is still sober,” she said, slipping away almost unnoticed by the young lovers.
Mike and Angelique also tried to slip away unnoticed, but wherever they turned they ran into a friend, shipmate or partygoer that wanted to speak them or to thank them. He finally resorted by saying that he had a call to report to the Alamo and would then nod and tell them to enjoy the party.
They had managed to reach the mess hall’s door that would lead them to the shuttle bay and freedom. Opening the door, they found that they had to take a step back as Martha Kirkland followed by Captain Hope and her husband stepped through.
Caught leaving Mike quickly made introductions as Mrs. Kirkland took Angelique by the arm and insisted she tell her everything about herself. Captain Kirkland smiled and shrugged his shoulders as he followed after his wife.
Mike was left with Captain Hope who upon seeing the crowded galley asked where the bar was. Resigning himself to not spending some quality time with his girl, at least not right away, he led the way to the table that was acting as the bar.
Reaching the crowded table, they found that Mr. Lucas had somehow taken charge of the bar and was dispensing refreshments. As they approached they found that the steward had ready for them an Irish whiskey neat and a rum and coke.
Taking their drinks, Hope raised his and said, “Erin go brough!”
Mike returned his salute, touching his glass and taking a sip of the sweet yet pungent drink.
“Mister Collins, I want to tell you how proud I’m of your conduct. You have done an excellent job, one that I’m sorry that I had left you to,” the captain said, looking to the young man.
His old face looked tired and at the same time as vulnerable and sincere as he had ever seen in the four years of having known him.
“Thank you, sir,” Mike started happy for the praise, but at the same time knowing that the senior officer was racked with guilt, “but if I was in your shoes I would have left us too. The ship was at stake and there was nothing you could have done against that size of a force without the ship’s main gun.”
A wave of relief washed over his face as he took a breath and then smiled.
“I appreciate that and tomorrow we will be heading back to retrieve the Lexington.”
“That’s great sir,” he said, looking away from him for a moment and towards the section of the room where Angelique was standing.
Hope smirked as he remembered what it was like to be young.
“Go get your lady and tell anyone who stops you that you’re on orders from me.”
The young officer’s smile told him everything he needed to know. Still smiling he watched as Mike weaved his way through the crowd and then with Dr. Duarte’s hand in his they safely made their way from the hall.
A shuttle ride took them to the Mary Queen of Scots where they found an empty master suite and for a moment they experienced a taste of the good life.
By noon of the next day their task force was assembled though they had to admit that some of them had a slight hangover. This time Captain Kirkland would stay behind to command the base and supervise the repair operations. The two halves of the Ajax were unloaded as was the Chaos and the trashed Karduan DE. The damaged Varuna and the SF-18 fighters were left onboard which made the recovery ship into a sort of a carrier.
The privateer and the frigate were of top priority for repairs as personnel and resources became available. The upgrades to the Winston and the repairs to the vanguard sloop Jessie James were close to being finished. The captured destroyer escort would also remain behind for continued repairs and had been named the IPS Macedonian after a Lively class frigate from the early 1800s.
The original bearer of the name, HMS Macedonian was a British 38 gun 5th rate frigate that had served during the War of 1812. The frigate had the sole distinction of having been captured by a more powerful Americ
an 44-gun frigate, the USS United States. The ship was devastated within two hours of battle and would take two weeks of repairs at sea to make seaworthy again. She would be commissioned as the USS Macedonian and would serve with distinction during the war and afterwards in police actions in the Mediterranean Sea against the Barbary pirates. She would later help to capture the Algerian frigate Mashuda. A second American warship would bear the name until 1875.
Captain Hope had felt it was fitting that the old name be used once again for the captured Karduan DE. The IPS stood for Imperial Privateer Ship which all of their captured ships would bear. The damage to the Ajax was so severe that they would have to construct a section of superstructure to connect her fracture a mid-ship. The work would take months and would have to wait for now.
Their squadron would include the Star Wolf, Mammoth, Alamo and Java. Commander Lord Hildebrandt and Sir Evan Stout had argued that they could be facing an entire enemy squadron also trying to retrieve the Lady Lex and that the Patton and the Bastogne would be needed.
Captain Kirkland agreed and suggested that the Cassidy go along as a fast scout ship. Hope had been silent as the staff of officers discussed the pros and cons of the makeup of the fleet. He finally nodded his approval when the assembled officers came up with their recommendations.
The Brittany and the Jillian would stay behind to offload their equipment and make necessary repairs. The Mary Queen of Scots would also remain behind and would be used as quarters for base personnel. The Sundance would stay with the base to act as an emergency ship and to conduct trade operations.
Dr. Beilor was going to stay behind to help with the treatment of the wounded and to set up the new medical equipment. She was excited to get the automated surgical center working as well as the regeneration tanks. Dr. Duarte would be staying on the Mammoth as the squadron’s sole physician.
Once the Star Wolf had offloaded the wounded and the prisoners they then took on supplies of torpedoes and missiles. The Patton and the Bastogne gratefully accepted the new weapon stores and supplies. Their ships could have used a break and a good maintenance overhaul, but the chance of losing the old carrier or missing an opportunity to strike at the enemy was too great for them to pass up.
After saying a quick farewell to the Wolf’s Den personnel, the squadron headed through the asteroid corridor and minefield. They passed the Pay Dirt and a second shuttle called the Gold Digger that had been retrofitted for mining operations. The shuttles were busy scooping and filtering a multitude of precious minerals and gaseous from the planet’s thick atmosphere. Entering the gravity well the rescue ships disappeared into a bend.
The plan was to stick to uninhabited systems and perform quick bends, only stopping for fuel when they absolutely had to. After four bends they found themselves once more entering the Jericho Six system. The journey had been quiet so far with no enemy or civilian contact. When they came out of the beta well they quickly detected enemy ships.
In response the Wolf and the Mammoth launched their fighters adding two SF-86 Sabers, four LN-28 Wasps and eight SF-18 Hornets to the mix.
The enemy force wasn’t as impressive as they had expected. Near the alpha gravity well were a Karduan destroyer, a destroyer escort and a third ship, which was attached to a second disabled destroyer. That destroyer was the one that the Mammoth had surprised and had damaged. She had mauled it blowing off the front of its bow. This odd looking smaller ship was sitting on the destroyer’s bridge and reminded many onlookers of a spider or a crab.
Commander Richards, on the Wolf answered their unspoken question.
“It’s a Karduan repair ship,” he informed, “They’re used for front line salvage and repair operations.”
“All ships flank speed,” Hope ordered, taking a sip from a fresh cup of coffee. “Fighters are free to commence their attack, tell them to concentrate on the repair ship and the DE.”
The Cassidy and the Wolf rushed ahead of the rest of the squadron quickly followed by the Patton and the Bastogne. The two older frigates brought up the rear unwilling to be left out of the fight.
As the attack cruiser came into spinal cannon range, the Karduan DE and destroyer entered the alpha well and escaped into a bend. The spider like repair ship had detached from the damaged destroyer, but had run afoul of the swarm of attacking star fighters.
Eighteen fighters had been too much for her defense grid as missile after missile found their way to the ship’s hull and engines. By the time the Wolf had arrived the repair ship was ready to surrender. Her ship mistress was dead and the ship’s second officer signaled their admission of defeat.
To the Karduans, surrender was the worst of dishonors, but only to the commanding officer. With their captain and their first officer dead, the ship’s second officer had no problem saving her own skin and that of her crew.
Hope then ordered the Patton, Bastogne and the Java to guard the beta well while the Wolf and the Alamo would cover the alpha well. If anyone came through either of the wells they would immediately come under fire. Boarding parties from the Alamo and the Wolf would take charge of the spider like repair ship and then board the damaged destroyer.
The Mammoth would move to the Lexington and make her ready for transport. The Cassidy would assist and run a survey of the debris field, the remaining Kardie hulk and the Charity hospital ship. The fighters would stay on station with the Hornets at the beta well while the Wasps and Sabers would patrol the alpha well.
The boarding parties found the remaining Blue crew of both women and men surprisingly receptive and cooperative. Bre-Nan said that it was because they were mostly from the worker class and were use to being submissive and accepting of orders.
The repair ship’s engines and rear hull section were moderately damaged, as was her bridge. The ship was still able to function and after an order from Bre-Nan, the crew remarkably went to work repairing their own ship.
The destroyer was absent of life, but had many of her key systems already repaired having had the spider like ship work on its hull for the last three days.
Signaling back to the Wolf, the boarding party reported that they were sure that they could bring the destroyer’s engines back online and bring the ship home under her own power.
This was something Hope had planned on doing, having brought extra personnel from the base to act as prize crews without draining crewmen from his ships. These prize crews were made up of former Austro Defense Force officers most of whom had also been former Confederation personnel before the war. They were experienced and well trained as well as eager to have their own commands and get into the war in earnest.
The Cassidy reported that the Charity was a wreck and that they didn’t think the crushed and broken ship was salvageable. The poor hospital ship had been only lightly armored and had taken a far worse pounding than the armored warships.
The Mammoth’s shuttles had already attached towlines to the Lex and were dragging the old escort carrier into their vast bays. The retractable walls had previously been pulled back and the Lady Lex fit snuggly into the portside bays. The starboard bays were still empty and Martin called to the Wolf to see if they wanted them to take on the two captured enemy ships?
The attack cruiser signaled to standby as they waited to see if the ships could be repaired and restarted. The entire recovery operation took only four hours, which was a new record for the Mammoth’s crew. The destroyer’s engines came online after the second hour, but the repair ship’s damage would take several more hours to fix. It was decided to take the spider ship onboard the Mammoth even as her tentacle like arms were industriously working on her own engine section.
Recovering their fighters, they regrouped at the beta well as the squadron plus their prize ship opened a bend and left the sight of what had once been a Confederation defeat.
Instead of rushing home their next bend took them back to where the Wolf had rescued the Patton and the Bastogne. There they carried out salvage operations on the damaged DE and the
remains of the destroyer and battle destroyer that the attack cruiser had blown apart with her main gun.
Again the Star Wolf, Patton and the Bastogne guarded the gravity well against uninvited guests. The other ships moved to the planet to assist in recovery operations. The room remaining on the Mammoth was limited and the crew was being selective as to what they took. To make room Martin and Rufo via the command channel suggested setting up towlines and extending their bender fields to haul the crippled destroyer escort along.
The mending of the Karduan repair ship, which the Mammoth’s crew had already dubbed the Spider, was going at a breakneck pace. The small ship was about the size of a Confederation brigantine or about half the size of a frigate. The ship was assisting with its own repairs as the Mammoth’s maintenance crew and droids worked on her. It was estimated that the Spider would be ready to get under its own power in another twelve hours.
Bre-Nan had stayed with the ship after Gunny had reported that the crew took naturally to him and easily followed his orders. He had even started to speak to them of the human world of democracy, liberty and freedom. The working class crew seemed to be a people conditioned to follow no matter who was in charge. It almost didn’t matter who their leaders were, but the message that he was giving them, especially to the oppressed males, was a very welcomed one.
Captain Hope had sent Ensign Bill Peters who had rejoined their crew, to take command of the Spider. He had an engineering background and more importantly he was one of the men who Bre-Nan had saved during the missile incident back at the pirate base. The Wolf’s captain knew that Peters would treat their Blue compatriot as an asset and not with prejudice.
The decision was made to wait and finish repairs on the Spider while continuing repair operations on the damaged destroyer. This captured ship they were now calling the IPS Bowie.
The Log of the Gray Wolf (Star Wolf Squadron Book 1) Page 42
