The name was after the frontier hero of the 1800’s Jim Bowie, planter, duelist and inventor of the Bowie knife. He was also one of the fated defenders of the Alamo who would perish at the mission turned fort during the Texas Revolution in 1836.
It seemed right to give the ship such a name after all it was the ISS Alamo’s crew who had rescued the Mammoth and who had fired the blast that had crippled the destroyer.
Once the Spider was underway, the Mammoth took on the last of the salvageable sections and parts of the remaining destroyed ships. With her holds full, the squadron made their run back to the Wolf’s Den. An uneventful return trip had inspired both Hope and his senior officers to strike out again. After unloading the ships and ship sections, they headed back towards the gravity well. The Spider was tasked to stay behind and assist with repair operations on the damaged ships.
The modern freighters Jillian, Brittany and the older, but now armed freighter Winston were assigned to accompany the small convoy. It had been five days since the two freighters had arrived and offloaded their cargos. Around the clock repair operations had been concentrated on the two ships. By the time the squadron had returned and offloaded their cargo, the freighters had been made fully serviceable again. Hope would have liked for them to have been armored and armed with better weaponry, but he believed that time was of the essence. The senior captain assumed that they had a brief window of free latitude before a massive enemy response would be initiated.
Hope, his crew and the ships that they had since saved or recruited had accounted for the defeat of twenty enemy ships or in other words an entire enemy fleet. This section of the bend corridor was temporally open, but the enemy would return in force to try and track down or at least lay a trap for this enemy squadron that somehow had been overlooked and had eluded their efforts to destroy.
Several members of his staff also suggested that the remaining ships of the 12th Defense Fleet, which had escaped Jericho Six, might still be out there occupying the enemy’s attention. They also theorized that quite a few worlds that had been cut off had not renounced their allegiance to the Confederation.
Since the break through, Earth’s forces had sufficient time to launch a counter attack and that the sector’s Attack Fleet as well as the Imperial Star Base at Nova Orbus could still be holding out. Much deeper, in now enemy occupied space was a Templar Base that may still be holding out. These thoughts filled their heads as they rushed to gain the materials they would need to strike back no matter what else was going on elsewhere.
The second trip found their Confederation squadron at the site of the Star Wolf’s single-handed defeat of the Karduan squadron including the immense super destroyer. The sight of the broken enemy task force gave the new members of the Hawk’s command both hope and inspired confidence in the veteran warrior.
For the next week the squadron guarded the well as the Mammoth and the freighters took on damaged sections and salvageable parts. Training operations also occupied their time as a new batch of fighter pilots, ship crews and boarding parties received needed instruction.
Returning to the Wolf’s Den unhindered, they were given a stand down order as all ships were commanded to carry out repairs, crew restructuring and the training of replacement personnel. The Star Wolf had needed a respite, as had the Patton and the Bastogne.
The recovery of so many ship hulls, sections and parts would occupy their manpower for some time. This would also give the enemy a merry time as they exhausted themselves looking for this mystery squadron that had seemed to disappear.
Chapter Seventeen
“Sir, we have to do something!” Mike insisted, his words almost sounding like a demand. His passion was up and the recent news and attitudes revealed during the staff meeting was enough to make his blood boil.
After a month several things had happened for both the better and for the worse. Between the base personnel, the ships crew, the Mammoth’s facilities and the captured repair ship Spider, they had all swarmed onto the damaged vessels. The use of their complement of droids and repair robots made the work all the faster. The repairs on the squadron had gone well. The tired, Wolf, Patton and Bastogne had received needed maintenance and repairs from battle damage and from harsh environments.
The Pay Dirt and Gold Digger were the moneymaking stars of the base. They were even working on refitting a third shuttle for gas mining to be called the Eureka. The sloops Sundance and Cassidy continued trading operations to Austro Prime and other nearby break away worlds.
They were always welcomed being seen as non-combatants as well as a source of needed revenue. Trade had continued in the League Worlds, but even their ships could be attacked if they found themselves in the wrong section of space.
The Winston sometimes would go with one of the sloops to get exposure to the various systems and their officials as well as to retrieve large equipment or to store goods too numerous for the sloops. The armed freighter wasn’t the fastest of their ships yet with her extra armor and turrets she at least had a better chance.
The young captains of the Mammoth, Alamo and Java had been replaced with older more experienced officers. These young pups once more found themselves back on the Wolf. There were also various crew assignments and replacements as Captains Hope and Kirkland struggled to use the limited amount of personnel at their disposal without spreading them out too thin. Ships that would normally have crew for three duty shifts would have to get by with two or less.
At the end of the month the Varuna and the armed freighter Chaos had been repaired. The frigate’s crew had been totally replaced, as its original crew was considered too valuable to risk. They were all trained and experienced maintenance and repair operators, which the base had a desperate need of. The Chaos temporally sat without a crew as the personnel they had available went to better-rated and better-armed ships.
Many of the Karduan ships sat waiting not only for crews to be assembled, but also for those crews to be fully trained to operate alien ships. The vanguard sloop, Jesse James would escort the squadron to act as an early warning ship. She would have the advantage of not alerting the enemy unduly.
The former Karduan destroyer, now called the Bowie was under work having its bridge and prow replaced from salvage parts. The destroyer escort, IPS Macedonian’s repairs had been completed earlier in the month and she was now being used as a training ship for the skeleton crews that would man captured Kardie vessels.
The second recovered DE was being called the IPS Harpers, named after the middies’ former school. The ship had waited for repairs till almost the end of the month as the rest of the ships had a higher priority. She finally had the Spider come to her aid as the small repair ship sat on the escort and worked its magic.
Bre-Nan had stayed with the repair ship as the acting first officer and liaison to the Karduan recruits. The freed male had even found himself a Blue girlfriend and was enjoying the feeling of choice and freedom. He was sure he could recruit more of the working class Karduan males to their cause, but Hope already had his worries with the ones he had working on the Spider.
The Brittany and the Jillian had both undergone modifications to their hulls. Both large freighters had additional armor placed over their key systems, courtesy of the Karduan wrecks. They also had additional turrets mounted and a pair of torpedo tubes fitted. They weren’t as fast or as tough as a frigate, but they at least had some of their firepower.
They could also still carry freight and one of the Jillian’s smaller cargo bays was being remodeled into a fighter bay capable of servicing twelve fighters. The Brittany corresponding bay was fitted to house twelve of the twenty-four Mark II Grav tanks. In the event of ground operations, they could be sent down from the freighter unhindered from deep storage. Later, they would look into converting a second bay on each ship to cross carry fighters and tanks.
Fighter repairs had gone well and besides the twelve brand new SF-86 Saber star fighters from the Jillian’s hold they had restored eighteen o
f the twenty-five SF-18 Hornets. The eight Wasps that had been found, purchased or donated had also been restored and refitted after some guidance from Mister Cappilo.
Tests had confirmed that the old LN-28 Wasps had something in their trans-poly aluminum frames that seemed to scramble the Karduan sensors. Counting the Wasps on the Wolf they now had twelve of the stealthy little fighters. The Sabers, especially the brand new ones taken from the freighters, had advanced counter warfare and detection systems making them also hard to detect or get a positive weapon’s lock.
Near the end of the month the squadron went out on several day missions, mostly to former battle sites to recover more wrecked ships and their parts.
Only once during these missions did they run into enemy ships. A destroyer escort and a destroyer had been caught on the wrong side of the sole gravity well. They were investigating the remains of their defeated squadron when the Wolf and her escort ships entered the system.
Instead of fighting the two ships turned away and made a desperate run for deep space. The fighters and the sloop Cassidy quickly caught up to the slower destroyer firing their missiles and torpedoes into its armored hull.
Their numerous hits brought it to a standstill as its escort ship turned back to help defend her. The Wolf had been closing on the heels of the fighters and with just her forward particle turrets she rendered the DE into Swiss cheese.
Boarding parties had a bit of time with the destroyer’s crew, but a blast into her hull from the attack cruiser’s turrets convinced them to surrender. Both ships were brought back to the Wolf’s Den to be repaired when time and resources eventually allowed. The Kardie prisoners were transferred to the Priestly for internment.
This new captured destroyer would be named the IPS Crocket after Davy Crocket another martyred hero from Battle of the Alamo. The 19th century legend had been an explorer, Indian fighter, US Congressmen and of course the King of the Wild Frontier. The larger warship would be placed on the next to be repaired list, jumping ahead of the rest of the waiting vessels.
The hulled destroyer escort was being called the ISP Lee, not after the Civil War general, Robert E. Lee, but after his uncle, Richard Henry Lee from the American Revolution. A member of the Second Continental Congress, Richard Henry Lee called for “These united colonies ought to be free and independent states.” He made the goal of Tom Paine’s pamphlet ‘Common Sense’ a reality that spelled the beginning of the end to British rule.
General George Washington honored his friend when he bought and outfitted the first six American privateers out of his own fortune. Naming one of these ships the Lee, the little privateer rewarded its owner by quickly taking several unsuspecting British merchant prizes. The Lee brought in the first war supplies which including muskets and bayonets that the fledgling Continental Army desperately needed.
Surprisingly, it was Bre-Nan who suggested the name having found the American Revolution to be one of his favorites topics from Earth’s history. The Padre had continued his instruction of the young idealist and had suggested several other Earth stories to help him with the concept of democracy and liberty.
An unexpected problem occurred when a riot almost occurred in the base commander’s office. It seemed that the base personnel’s families, who had been living in less than comfortable quarters at the old pirate base, were anxious to move to the Mary Queen of Scots. Commander Kirkland aka Mother Martha quickly reassured the families and set up a schedule for transfers. The holdup had been in searching the immense ship for bobby traps and getting a crew and support staff.
The surviving original crew had only twelve men left and the ship even at stations keeping would take more than that to maintain her. The new tenants would also have to run all of the cruise ship’s shops and services, a task that normally twelve hundred trained personnel would have done.
The Mary and the other ships that had been taken and restored were going to be claimed by the Wolf’s crew as prizes at the end of the war. One of the old wolves was a lawyer in his second life after his military retirement. He had set up a corporation called, Wolf Salvage Incorporated with the crew as the principal stockholders. He had then accompanied the Cassidy on one of her trading missions to several of the nearby systems where he notarized and registered their company. With any luck it would make them all rich that is if the ships survived the war and if they lived long enough to collect it.
Dr. Beilor and Dr. Duarte had their hands full setting up all of the new medical equipment and treating the sick. Martin had asked during a staff meeting when they would be able to start implanting hardwires units?
The newer Saber fighters as well as the suits of powered battle armor needed their users to be hardwired to be used effectively. The star fighters could be operated without them, but the battle armor would be too dangerous for its user without the interface.
Edith shook her head wanting to run several hundred more simulations before she tried such a difficult procedure on a real person. Mike, Rufo, Alister and Martin had all volunteered, as did Gunny Masters and Commander Hutton. The old warriors knew that to do their job more effectively they would all need to have the cyber-implants.
A small riot occurred on the Priestly not among the Blues, but by the captured pirates. The average Karduan followed the guard’s orders and behaved themselves at all times. Their mistresses were kept in solitary confinement to keep them from engaging in just such a thing.
The pirates had tried to take a guard prisoner and use him to escape. Unfortunately for them former police officers, Eric Wayne and Peter Bachman and their skilled staff of CCF officers had planned for just such an occurrence. It took less than a minute for the riot to be broken up as the flooring to the cell level was electrified. The individuals responsible, when they awoke found themselves in solitary confinement cells along with a severe headache.
The real problem revealed itself at the end of the month. The Sundance, Cassidy and the Winston had gone out on a trading mission to the nearby systems. These planets were part of the League Worlds, but had little in the way of defensive ships or merchant crafts. The Karduans hadn’t attacked them; staying true to their word but any ship that left their own planetary space was fair game. Soon these isolated worlds were forced to try and exist on solely their own production capabilities and resources. The sight of armed trade ships was a welcomed one and a growing market for the Confederation refugees.
Returning from their most recent trading mission the ships had bad news for the command staff. Captain Hope had called for a fleet level command meeting on the Mary Queen of Scots.
The luxury liner was now acting as the base command center and general quarters. The asteroid base would be used for ship’s maintenance, repairs and missile construction. The cruise ship was so large and spacious that it easily accommodated the two hundred and fifty-three family members from the base.
The squadron’s combined complement presently numbered close to nine hundred crewmen who would be given shore leave and temporary quarters on the liner when not on their ships. The vessel could easily house close to four thousand crew and passengers, which made everyone who had been cramped on the rustic base extremely happy.
The conference center was on the Stuart Deck and was the meeting site for the briefing. When Mike and the other senior officers from the Wolf arrived they were surprised at the size and plush nature of the room.
A large rectangular conference table of polished oak occupied the center of the room with a dozen seats around the table. Another two-dozen seats were positioned along the outer edge of the table. A holographic computer system and briefing podium were located at the far end of the room.
When they arrived there were close to two-dozen ship captains and first officers already present forcing Collins, Hutton and Dover to find seats in the back.
“Gentlemen, please find a seat,” Commander Richards announced.
As the room settled down the double doors on the far side of the conference room opened and Captains
Hope and Kirkland entered.
“Group Attention!” Richards called out as everyone stood up and assumed the position of attention.
Once Hope reached the head of the table he nodded.
“As you were and please be seated,” he said.
Captain Kirkland then took the podium and got started.
“The Cassidy on their last trade mission to Harmon’s World learned that a Karduan convoy was making the rounds of the League Worlds. Their objective is to pick up all Confederation servicemen and representatives interned throughout this part of the star net.”
This statement caused the room to breakout into a round of whispered talking.
“Sir, what about their treaty which states that all Confederation prisoners of war would stay interned within the League Worlds?” Commander Stout asked.
Kirkland nodded his agreement and frowned.
“It seems that the Blues have decided to rewrite that part of their treaty. Most of the League Worlds are ill prepared to resist a Karduan Task Force and the ones that have the ships aren’t willing to risk them to help their weaker members.”
The captain turned to the holo imager and touched a remote pointer he was holding which activated the system. A three dimensional image of the bender net appeared with their position, Austro Prime and Harmon’s World outlined in red.
“The Winston and Sundance also heard similar information at the mining colony on Sterling Six and on the farming co-op at Planter Four.”
“Sir, when do we expect the Kardies to arrive?” Lt. Commander Gillett, captain of the Java asked.
He was a former Austro officer who had been recently given the old frigate. The man had immediately complained that there was no bridge, but seemed to like the heavier firepower of the light cruiser turret.
“That is something we are not sure of. Other merchant ships have been passing on this information and we assume that the Blues are working their way towards this part of the net. At best they will pick up the prisoners from Austro Prime within two weeks.”
The Log of the Gray Wolf (Star Wolf Squadron Book 1) Page 43
