Echoes from Yesterday: Pirates of the Badlands Series Book 4

by Sean Benjamin

  Hawkins nodded. He didn’t argue Sorenson’s proposed course of action. The rear formation was in better shape than the front escorts. They had clear shots at the pirates now and needed to be hit. Hawkins also could see what was coming for Rebel as well as Sorenson. You didn’t get to be a pirate flotilla leader by getting all warm and fuzzy about anyone’s chances in the middle of a fight. Hawkins accepted the suggestion. “I’ve been looking at that formation coming up our rear at full speed. They think we will continue our current course of trying to escape through the front escorts. I was going to let them get a little closer and then call for our little surprise for the front escort and turn on the rear escorts.”

  Sorenson nodded. “I know you want them as close as possible before doubling back but we can’t hold out much longer. We are taking hits and one missile launcher just went down. I need to go now.”

  Raferty nodded in return. “I’ll call for the support and then scatter the formation to cover your move. The OrCons will think we broke under their attack and it is now every man for himself. All that happening at once should create some confusion to help disguise your move. After thirty seconds, we’ll all turn to cover you and run right at the light cruiser. Go offensive and the rest of us will be defensive.” Hawkins paused and looked at Sorenson. “You’re a damn fine captain, Dan. Damn fine ship too. I wish it was different.”

  He faded away into silence and Sorenson jumped in. “I know, but it happens. It’s been a pleasure, Rafe. Best time of my life, and the only time my life actually meant something. I’ll see you on the other side.”

  “Look forward to seeing you there, Dan.”

  Sorenson smiled and nodded. “I’ll tell Emily you said hello.”

  Hawkins returned the smile. “Please do that. Tell her I miss her.”

  The two captains nodded to each other. Suddenly, every captain in the flotilla was saying goodbye. They had all been silently listening to the exchange and now jumped in at the first opportunity. It was quick but heartfelt. Dan Sorenson had worked his way up the chain of command from engineering officer to operations officer, then XO, and, finally, captain. He had been in the flotilla from the beginning and was well liked and respected. When Rebel had been taken from the Edinburgh Navy, her crew had been filled out with people from every ship in the flotilla. With the exception of the crews of Cottonmouth and Corsair, everyone in Pirate Flotilla One knew people in Rebel. Unlike the loss of Bandit at Murmansk, everyone would see the destruction of Rebel.

  “Maneuver programmed in,” reported Tactical. She had been up on frequency also and heard the plan. “We scattered on your command and turn to attack the rear guard on your command. All ships have vectors for both scatter and rejoin.”

  Hawkins should have known that she would be on top of it. He had mentioned the maneuver just before Sorenson’s call and Tactical had put it together while he had the brief talk with Dan. Hawkins punched up a discreet frequency. “Shield Command, you up.”

  The reply was immediate. “We are up with three twin missile batteries and two twin gun turrets but no sensors, so we can’t designate targets. We can shoot in the general direction and the missiles will lock on to targets inflight. I hope they don’t lock on to you.”

  Rafe smiled. “No chance. There are five ships between us and you. The missiles will go after them. Hold your guns.” He spun in his chair to eye Baby Doll as he continued to talk to Shield Command. “My IntelO will provide you with elevation and azimuth to get you in the general vicinity.”

  “Roger, Predator. Standing by for that and your fire call.”

  Baby Doll took over communication with Aegis base as Hawkins looked at Sorenson’s image. “On your call, Dan.”

  Sorenson nodded and spoke in a command voice over the net. “Flot 1, scatter now!”

  Chapter 29

  The Royal Navy ships ran toward Buckler with the Orion ships in pursuit. The three freighters moved toward Buckler at a much slower speed. The Zekes would overtake them in ten minutes. Riki knew the Zekes would not just run by them and leave them to their fate. During their attack on Citizen, she had ensured the three freighters had stayed on the edge of missile range from the Orion ships to have as much of a head start as possible in the race to Buckler. She also knew they wouldn’t get as close to the base as they desired. The Zekes would pull up to maintain position between the Orion ships and the freighters, and a knockdown fight would commence. Riki hoped they could get close enough to Buckler so the base could fire interceptors to provide some help. The engines of the freighters were in the red zone and had been for fifteen minutes. She prayed she wouldn’t get the comm call from the other two ships or her own engineering section saying they had to back off or an engine would explode. Her prayers would not be answered. Captain Murray Hoffman of Steppenwolf became highlighted on her command net. He looked intense and a bit desperate as he opened the conversation. “Riki, we got to back off. My number two is going to torch itself in one minute. Guaranteed.”

  “Can you hang in there for fifty nine seconds then?”

  Hoffman shook his head. “Wouldn’t be surprised if it exploded while we talk.” He leaned closer to his screen and talked in a low voice. “Believe me on this. Captain O’Hare will have my ass when she finds out I’m the weak link of the three freighters, but it can’t be helped.”

  Riki paused for a second. That was a true statement. O’Hare didn’t like any of her ships being the limiting factor in anything, so Hoffman must be really desperate to ask for the relief. Riki talked over the command net. “All missile boats, back off to flank speed. Let me know if that is slow enough. If not, we back it off some more.”

  Hoffman looked like he just got a reprieve from a hanging. At least a reprieve until O’Hare got hold of him. The ships slowed down and the Zekes closed the gap much quicker. Riki looked at the distance to Buckler. Not close now, but if they could keep up flank speed, she thought they could get close enough. Riki called Admiral Levant. “Sorry, Admiral, but we got to back off or blow some engines.”

  The image of Levant nodded. “You’ve done well to get this far. Once we close on you, we will slow down and form a battle line in front of you but you will always continue to move toward Buckler. Shoot your interceptors once we join on you. When the enemy sees our reduction in speed, they will make a supreme effort at that moment.

  “Roger that,” Riki replied.

  The Zeke ships closed on the freighters and the OrCons chased the Zekes. As Levant’s ships were just astern the freighters, they again turned and formed a battle line. Zeke offensive missiles flew in one barrage even as the Orion force fired an offensive barrage of their own. The three pirates turned briefly and fired their third broadside. As with the second volley, these were interceptors. They quickly rolled back on a course to Buckler as the two battle lines locked horns behind them. Their cargo bay hatches closed and the bays were quickly pressurized, but it would take minutes to get the next load of interceptors online.

  The Zekes had no idea which battleship was the flagship so they took a guess and targeted the battleship Stronghold. Hundreds of missiles flew at her. Admiral Levant wanted to score one big victory. He would get his wish.

  The Orion force went defensive after a thirty-second offensive push, but the defense had been shortchanged for that offensive outburst, and Stronghold would play the price. The Royal Navy continued to put out offensive missiles while using the pirate interceptor missiles as cover. The pirate missiles met the Orion onslaught at the midpoint between the fleets. Over two hundred collisions reduced the attack by one sixth. Now the Zekes went defensive and continued to attrite the incoming attack. Guns, guns, and decoys supported the defense. The majority of the Orion attack was defeated, but missiles did get through. Three destroyers took several hits. One blew up with loss of all hands. A battlecruiser and heavy cruiser were struck many times. Secondary explosions rocked the battlecruiser and she fell out of line.

  The Zeke attack had been greatly reduced, but sligh
tly over one hundred missiles hit Stronghold. It took dozens of hits to deplete her shields, and then missiles started to impact her hull. Twenty missiles blasted their way into the ship. A series of explosions marked the progress of the missiles burrowing deep into the battleship. She lost stabilization and rolled violently to starboard. An outboard engine mount was blown off the ship, and the large engine now floated free. Two 400-millimeter forward gun turrets were hit. One of the triple gun turrets must have had nine rounds ready to load with their safeties removed as nine distinct explosions began in the gun turret and expanded within the innards of the ship. The bow of the ship disappeared in the explosions. Her forward progress pushed her through her own debris field and when she emerged in clear space, the forward third of the ship was missing as explosions continued deep within her. Escape pods began to come off.

  The other Orion ships continued to pursue and shoot at the Empire ships. The Zekes held the line by going defensive and having their damaged ships move toward Buckler. The pirate freighters continued to run while loading the fourth salvo.

  Chapter 30

  Pirate Flotilla One scattered on Dan Sorenson’s command. All ships seemed to move on a different vector and quickly grew apart. As the formation dissolved, the appearance seemed to be that the pirates had collapsed under the pressure of the assault from two directions. Rebel aimed at the light cruiser as other ships seemingly fled for their lives. After a brief pause, each Orion ship selected a target but their response was uncoordinated so two pirate ships were not fired on at all. These two ships immediately supported Rebel with interceptors aimed at any missiles coming at her.

  Another event caught the OrCons’ attention. Missiles began to fly from the surface of Lilitu. Three twin-missile launchers buried out in the desert lifted from the sands and started pumping out offensive missiles.

  For many seconds the battle degenerated into chaos. The ring of escorts broke apart as ships began chasing and targeting individual pirate ships. A melee of single ship combat seemed to be developing. The pirates had a temporary advantage as they had more ships. Nemesis and Outlaw took on one destroyer from the rear escort and forced their way through the ship’s defenses to put nine missiles on her shields. Two got through a depleted section and exploded against the hull by the bridge. The bridge was taken out and the destroyer turned away while going all defensive.

  The light cruiser selected by Rebel was engaging Predator. The two traded salvos as Predator arced toward the cruiser. The cruiser responded to the threat posed by Predator. The OrCon ship had clearly developed target fixation as the cruiser captain seemed to forget the remaining participants and focused on the pirate leader. Rebel continued to close on her with only the destroyer on the cruiser’s port side shooting at the wounded pirate ship. The two ships covering Rebel were now engaged by OrCon destroyers so had to protect themselves, but they had provided enough covering fire to allow Rebel to close the gap on the unsuspecting light cruiser.

  As the OrCons sorted out their attacks to engage each pirate vessel, all the ships of Flot 1 changed direction again. They seemed to collapse together into a formation faster than should have been possible. The formation coalesced behind Rebel and went defensive to protect their damaged ships and themselves as Rebel moved on its target.

  “All destroyers, shoot on the destroyers on each side of the cruiser. I will shoot with Rebel.” Raferty ordered over the command net.

  The light cruiser suddenly saw the danger, but it was too late. Rebel got close and emptied all missiles and guns on her. All pirate destroyers followed suit and dozens of missile flew at the light cruiser and the two nearby Orion destroyers. The cruiser and the two destroyers responded, but they made one last mistake in focusing on Rebel. Rebel had fired first, and her missiles were in the van of the pirate missile attack; the Orion ships assumed she was the only attacker and the other pirate missiles were interceptors to protect the newly created pirate formation. The offensive missiles fired by the cruiser and her two consorts at Rebel were not intercepted by any missiles. As their volley closed on Rebel, all the pirates responded with guns, lasers, and decoys to protect their formation. The defense was partially successful, but partially was not good enough. As Rebel closed on the cruiser on a collision course, nine missiles hit her shields. Two of those missiles penetrated Rebel’s hull. One explosion occurred just inside the hull and the next just slightly deeper. It was enough to finish the little corvette. The ship blew in half and tumbled away as the pieces continued to break apart. Anyone not killed in the explosions died in the spinning wreckage.

  Rebel’s and Predator’s stream of missiles plowed through the cruiser’s missile-less defense and fourteen missiles hit her hull. Five penetrated and exploded inside. The cruiser rolled over as her defenses went silent. The destroyers on each side of her were hit repeatedly. Both turned away as fires briefly flared when projectiles had penetrated their hulls. That left one destroyer out of the rear formation, and she quickly computed the odds and turned away to depart with her comrades. The light cruiser slowly rolled as escape pods bloomed off both sides of her. One of the destroyers that had turned away blew up while trying to escape. The three remaining destroyers from the rear escort were moving away and no longer posed a threat.

  “We reverse course and go straight ahead to Aegis,” Hawkins ordered. The pirate formation reversed course and returned to a heading toward Lilitu. This heading also brought them on a collision course with the front escorts.

  The missiles from the supposedly destroyed base caught the front formation by surprise. The scattering pirates had captured their attention and it wasn’t until the missiles cleared the planet’s atmosphere that the danger became apparent. The forward escorts had to cut short their engagement of Flot 1 to deal with the incoming threat. Now they were caught between the oncoming pirates and the Aegis missiles.

  “Hit their cruiser,” Rafe ordered. “Hard!” He had just lost a good friend and a good ship, so was not in the mood to let these ships off if he could inflict punishment. Hawkins never got emotional in a fight. That was not in the command textbook. But commanders were allowed to get vindictive, and Hawkins embraced that fact.

  The pirate formation sped toward the front escorts. The light cruiser was in the middle of their line. She was all defensive as the Aegis missiles were coming in from her stern. The majority of the incoming missiles had locked on to the light cruiser, as it was the largest ship to lock onto. If it were only the Aegis missiles inbound, the OrCons would fight the attack off without receiving a scratch. The pirates now added their firepower to the Aegis attack as every ship went offensive.

  The OrCons fought off the Aegis missiles but the pirate assault arrived seconds later from another direction and overwhelmed the defenses. The cruiser took ten hits against her shields and then a section collapsed. Four missiles hit her hull and two penetrated. The explosions blew off her bow, and she went silent as all power was lost.

  The remaining four destroyers moved to get out from in between the pirates and Aegis. Staying in that kill zone would be foolhardy and short-lived foolhardiness at that. The foursome scattered with two ships going to each side of the pirate formation.

  The pirates bored straight ahead toward Aegis base. As Flot 1 approached the drifting cruiser, her aft 150-millimeter twin gun turret slowly rotated to try to get a shot on the pirates. It was clearly being hand cranked, and it was all the excuse Hawkins needed to hit her again. “Hammer her with guns only.” The pirates pumped gun rounds into the cruiser as they closed and then passed her. The light cruiser was beaten into scrap as escape pods blossomed off her from both sides.

  “Corvettes, switch to the crippled destroyer on port side.” Rafe commanded. “Destroyers, take on the two destroyers on the starboard side.”

  All ships began offensive fires. One of the destroyers on the port side had been hit earlier in the battle, and she was ripe for destruction. The pirate missiles quickly broke through the defense of the two destroyers on
the port side and hit the wounded destroyer six times in rapid succession. The destroyer moved away at a reduced speed with her comrade setting up in the path of incoming missiles in order to protect her mate.

  The two starboard destroyers began to move away while protecting themselves from incoming fire. They were moving rapidly out of the pirate formation’s path as they began to circle the pirate flotilla to head to the carriers and what remained of the rear escort.

  The pirates were content to let the four destroyers go as they continued to move to Aegis. That is, all the pirates were content to let the OrCons go but one. Renegade broke ranks and moved toward the damaged destroyer and its escort on the port side. That ship continued to stagger away at a reduced speed with the less damaged destroyer running interference. Renegade leaped out toward them with all missile tubes firing. As she closed on target, she added guns to her attack. The escort destroyer was hit repeatedly and replied with a reduced defense. The crippled destroyer tried to help as the three destroyers left from the rear escort joined together and were moving as quickly as possible to the aid of their two companions. Missiles began to come off them toward Renegade.

  “Son of a bitch!” Tactical and Raferty spoke the same expletive at the same time.

  “Cover her!” Rafe ordered as Tactical immediately replied, “Already doing it.” Predator would provide interceptors for the protection of Renegade’s foray.

  Baby Doll reported from her tac screen. “Cottonmouth has moved to cover the formation hole and protect Gunfighter. We still got coverage all around.”

  “Thanks.” Rafe’s flat voice indicated his unhappiness with Ringo and the fact Terrant in Cottonmouth had quickly seen an opportunity to get kudos and had moved to collect some. He tapped the image of Ringo on his command net.