The Hope Island Chronicles Boxed Set

by PJ Strebor

  Some of Tollini’s engineers unloaded the plating from the flatbed together with the first nuke.

  “Can you do it?” Nathan asked his senior engineer.

  “Give me twenty minutes and you’ll have a hidden compartment on the first one. It won’t hold up to an active scan but should pass visual inspection. Just make sure you don’t get scanned, Skipper.”

  “From what Kellerman tells me,” Nathan said, “internal security on the ships is laughable. So we should be fine.”

  An hour later, the containers, fitted with false bottoms and each containing a five kilotonne nuke, were loaded aboard the landing boats. First Nathan had to get the lethal containers onto the ships. That’s where Kellerman came in. His unique knowledge of PLF lingo, and procedures made him the only person amongst the small convoy to undertake the most dangerous part of the operation.

  Nathan acquainted himself with the landing boat’s systems and the comm signal procedures. A rumbling from the cabin indicated all three containers were aboard.

  Kellerman stepped onto the flight-deck minutes later. “Cargo secured, Skipper.”

  “Well done, Chief,” Nathan said. “Strap in.”

  Nathan completed the preflight checks, fired up the engines and set course for their first target. The three giant PLF warships sat in geosynchronous orbit above the spaceport in line-astern formation. Although only modified freighters the warships were impressively armed. Nathan keyed his external comm.

  “People’s Vengeance this is landing boat thirteen. Request permission to come aboard.”

  “Yeah,” a disinterested voice replied, “wadda ya carrying.”

  “Fresh produce. And I’m in a hurry. There’s a beer waiting for me on the planet.”

  “Half your luck. Come aboard.”

  Nathan brought the LB into the massive landing bay, set her down and put the systems on standby. As a precaution he rotated it through its axis so the bow pointed sternward. He stepped into the boat’s cargo bay where Kellerman and Hoppe were attaching anti-gravs to the first container.

  “Any final orders, Skipper?” Kellerman asked.

  “Nope. This is your show. Just keep your comm open.”

  Kellerman nodded. Nathan returned to the flight-deck. The boat bay was deserted except for a handful of personnel awaiting the next shipment. The officer with the clipboard yawned.

  Kellerman pushed the container until it sat in front of the waiting officer. Over his comm Nathan followed the conversation.

  “Produce from Spinney,” he said with weary indifference.

  “Yeah,” the officer said, “take it to cargo hold sixteen.”

  Ten minutes later the two Pruessen sailors returned to the boat.

  “Any problems?” Nathan asked.

  “Nah,” Kellerman said. “Like I said, internal security on these tubs is practically non-existent.”

  “Strap in.”

  Their next delivery, to the People’s Rage, went the same sluggish way. Two down one to go.

  Adopting the same protocols, Nathan landed on the People’s Redemption. Again an officer awaited the delivery. This one was young, keen, and could be a problem. Kellerman went through the same spiel.

  “Produce from Spinney,” Kellerman said in the same weary tone.

  “Let me see the manifest,” the youngster said.

  “Manifest?” Kellerman said. “It’s fresh produce. Vegetables, fruit and meat.”

  “Still, you should have a manifest,” the officer said.

  “Hey, Lieutenant, I don’t know about any manifest. Lieutenant Mittermeier told me to load it up and deliver it. That’s what I’m doing.”

  Nathan got a bad feeling about this eager beaver young officer. He palmed his sidearm.

  “Open the container for inspection,” the officer said. He walked to a nearby table and picked up a scanner.

  “Shit.” Nathan stepped from the LB and approached the officer.

  “What’s the problem here, Lieutenant?”

  “Following protocols,” he replied.

  “Hey, we’ve got a schedule to keep to, so fuck the protocols. Lieutenant Mittermeier will skin us alive if we run over time. Come on Lieutenant, let us be on our way.”

  “After I scan the contents of this container.”

  Nathan sighed and pulled his silenced nine millimeter pistol from his jacket. He shot the officer in the head and then in quick succession the other four terrorists. If he used a pulsar it would show up on internal scans. The projectile weapon set off no alarms.

  “Now that’s my kind of officer,” Hoppe said around a gruesome smile.

  “Quickly, you two, store the container somewhere close and get back here. And keep your comms open.”

  As they pushed the container toward the lift, Nathan began to tidy house. He dragged the bodies into an airlock and cleaned up the blood. By the time he’d finished, the area showed no signs of the recent mayhem. He saw the clipboard laying on the deck, swore, picked it up and turned toward the airlock. Pain throbbed against his spine.

  “You there,” a voice said from behind him. “What’s going on here? Where’s Lieutenant Uta?”

  “Who?”

  “Lieutenant Uta, the assistant stores officer.”

  “The young guy?”

  “Yes.”

  “He didn’t introduce himself. I’m delivering a shipment from the surface. He detailed a cargo hold and then took off. Don’t know where or why. Hey, Commander, I’m on a tight schedule. I need to get back to Spinney for my next delivery.”

  The officer eyed him skeptically.

  “He just left? Without his clipboard? Hand it to me.”

  So much for lax security.

  The two sailors with him held their pulsar rifles in both hands. The moment Nathan reached for his pistol they would shoot him. Nathan handed the commander the clipboard. He examined it briefly.

  “There’s no mention of an allocation here.” He palmed his sidearm. “Who are you.”

  “Vogel, off the Vengeance. Come on Commander, I don’t know what Uta is doing, I just follow my orders and deliver the goods.”

  “Something’s not right here, Vogel, and I intend to find out what. Show me your warrant card.”

  Double shit.

  “On Spinney? Who carries warrant cards on Spinney?”

  The officer drew his sidearm and aimed it at Nathan chest. “Hands up.”

  With three weapons trained on him Nathan had no choice but to comply.

  “Search him,” the commander said to one of his subordinates.

  The guard patted him down and tensed when he felt the pistol under his left shoulder. He removed it and handed it to the officer.

  “What’s this, Vogel?”

  “Family heirloom.”

  “You want to crack wise with me? We’ll see how funny you are when the security chief has a talk with you.” He reached to key his comm. The Commander’s head exploded as the nine millimeter slug tore through his brain. The other two dropped to the deck, blood spurting from their chests. As the second guard was hit his finger tightened on the trigger and the pulsar rifle discharged. Automatic alarms wailed.

  Triple shit.

  “Get aboard,” Nathan yelled to the two non-coms who’d just saved his neck.

  The LB sped from the ship and Nathan positioned it for detonation. Three keys for three ships. He pressed the first one and People’s Rage vanished in a blinding flash. The second one blew People’s Vengeance into very tiny pieces. Nathan took particular pleasure in pressing the key to end the troublesome People’s Redemption. He keyed it a second time and nothing happened. Oh shit. Now we’re in trouble.

  Nathan quickly considered his options. If he returned to Spinney, the remaining PLF warship could nuke Ravensthorp. If he stayed in orbit Redemption would eventually come about and blow him out of space. He didn’t want to endanger the families aboard Odenwald but he couldn’t risk the live
s of the blameless civilians on Spinney. Or Adroit. He pushed the throttles to maximum and set course for the E 692. He keyed his external comm.

  “Commander Ryden.”

  “Ryden.”

  “Bring the boat to A-C one and prepare to engage the enemy.”

  “Aye, aye, Captain.”

  He called Odenwald. Captain Pitzen answered.

  “Edwin, we’ve got problems. Bring the ship to A-C one, break orbit and head for the I-M at maximum speed.”

  “Shall do, Nathan.”

  Minutes later he docked with the E boat. Landing Boat thirteen was too large to be accommodated aboard the boat so he entered via the airlock before setting it adrift. Leaving the non-comms to get to their combat stations he went directly to the bridge. He stood between Ryden and Krause.

  “I took out two of them but the detonator malfunctioned on the third,” Nathan said.

  “You know we don’t stand a chance against that ship,” Ryden said.

  “I know,” Nathan said. “We don’t have to beat it, just delay it.”

  Ryden nodded. “To give Odenwald time to escape.”

  “Hmm,” Nathan said as he took up the helm.

  “Rudi, full active scan,” Nathan said.

  “Aye, Skipper,” Ensign Willet replied. “No contact. Yet.”

  “X-O, time to Alert one?”

  “If they do it in nine minutes, then we’ve got three minutes to go.”

  “Captain,” Willet said, “Odenwald has left orbit and is moving out at maximum speed.”

  “Very well.”

  Nathan brought all systems online. Ryden appeared at his right shoulder. He leaned down to be eye to eye with Nathan.

  “How are you going to play this?”

  “We don’t have the firepower to beat her but we’re faster and far more maneuverable. So, hit and run, tie her up for as long as we can. Any thoughts, Ernst?”

  “That’s pretty much what I’d do. One suggestion though.”

  “Shoot.”

  “I’m warming a seat but not actually doing anything. I could be more use as a floater. Fill in where needed. Right now I could be in engineering helping to -”

  “Go.”

  Nathan’s back throbbed painfully. Where the hell is she? With many of her crew on the surface, she could be as badly under-crewed as E 692. Perhaps he could use that to his advantage. Nathan pushed the throttles to the red mark.

  “Sir?” Krause said over his earpiece.

  “Playing it by ear, X-O,” Nathan said. “I’m going to build speed, come up on Redemption from astern and hopefully catch her napping. They don’t know we’re here so surprise is on our side. Either way I’m not going to sit and wait for her to come to us.”

  “That’s just what Cap, ah, Commander Ryden would do. It’s aggressive and decisive.”“I’m delighted that you approve.”

  Within minutes the boat reached flank speed. Unlike a Monitor, an E boat couldn’t maintain her stealth mode with active engines. In all other respects her thin profile made her almost as stealthy as the monitor. Nathan wanted to get close enough to the PLF warship to do some real damage. He would cut his thrust engines and coast on momentum until he was on top of her.

  That’s the plan. Now, if only Redemption will cooperate.

  He keyed his comm.

  “Berkner - Captain.”

  “Weapons officer,” Berkner replied.

  “Load all forward tubes with fifty kilotonne pulsar heads. Bring both pulsars online.”

  “Loading tubes now. Pulsars are online and fully charged.”

  “Excellent work, Lieutenant. Carry on.”

  “Commander Krause, drop the shields.”

  “Sir?”

  “Now would be good.” Krause didn’t reply. “I don’t have time to explain myself Commander, but when I need them I will need them fast.”

  “Yes, Captain. Shields are down and on standby.”

  “Very well.”

  Unless the PLF tech package was extremely sophisticated, which seemed unlikely, in full stealth mode with shields down, Nathan estimated that he could get on top of her before she knew what had hit her.

  Nathan glanced over at the Tactical Station. Young Willet concentrated on his readouts with intensity.

  Nathan flexed his left hand, which had mostly recovered after four months of convalescence. He tolerated the pain. Waiting until his back screamed danger he cut engine thrust. An occasional burst from the stern mag plating maintained his insane approach speed.

  Through his targeting hood he searched for the massive warship. Empty space greeted him.

  “Captain,” Willet said, “I’ve spotted her at two-three-eight. She’s going after Odenwald.”

  Crap.

  Breaking from orbit, Nathan set a pursuit course.

  Nathan’s back throbbed with a steady, but not alarming, consistency. Redemption’s stern defenses were as impressive as a heavy cruiser. Four torpedo tubes and six pulsar batteries waited for him to come into range. Outgunned as they were the E boat stood no chance of survival in a standard one on one fight. But he only needed to delay her.

  “Captain her forward weapons array is active,” Willet said, “but her stern defenses are down.”

  “They haven’t detected us yet,” Krause said.

  Closing the range with the PLF cruiser, Nathan targeted all four engines plus two of her launchers.

  “Captain, her stern shields just went up,” Willet said. “But very sluggishly. Low power emissions but growing. I don’t think they see us.”

  Nathan felt no great threat. No, they haven’t seen us. But now they will.

  E 692 bucked as six torpedoes burst from her tubes.

  “X-O, shields,” Nathan barked.

  “Automatic pulsars just activated,” Willet said.

  All six pulsars sent a wall of fire at the E boat’s attacking torpedoes. Nathan felt his focus sharpen and pitched the boat about frantically to avoid the mass of enemy fire.

  Two of his torpedoes were destroyed by Redemption’s defenses. The other four hit three engines and a torpedo launcher. The pulsar fire intensified as E 692 closed the range. A blue white beam glanced off the E boat’s armor, another tore through her hull, uncomfortably to close to the bridge.

  Not good.

  Nathan dived under the wall of fire and took the boat out of range. He sat back, removed his helmet and wiped sweat from his face. For the time being he’d done what was required. Disabled Redemption, protected Odenwald, and bought time.

  “Captain, may I make a suggestion?” Ensign Willet asked.

  Nathan admired his plucky attitude. “Suggest away, Rudi.”

  “I saw what you were trying to do. Take out her weapons. I understand that. But I’ve been studying the scans made of this ship and I think there may be a better way.”

  “Go ahead.”

  “Well, sir, you want to take out three torpedo launchers and five pulsars. Sir, I believe the enemy’s stern defenses are totally automated. The ship’s computer governs those weapons. So, if you take out the three stern sensor nodes the computer will be effectively blinded. Three targets instead of eight. If you, ah, follow my meaning, sir.”

  Nathan grinned. Damn, wish I’d thought of that.

  “I like the way you think, Rudi. Well done.”

  The tactical officer’s face broke into a broad grin.

  Nathan checked his watch. Only forty-two minutes had passed since he delivered the faulty bomb to the People’s Redemption. Tick tock, tick tock.

  ***

  Aboard People’s Redemption, Captain Lennartz tried to contain his fury. His two sister ships had been destroyed and now his command had been attacked. The E boat skipper must be a madman to think he could destroy a ship that outgunned him twenty to one. Yes, he’d done some damage, but nowhere near enough to destroy her.

  The question that plagued his waking thoughts was what had happene
d to People’s Vengeance and People’s Rage? He had set his X-O to that task, but as yet, no answers. Could whatever had happened to those ships happen to his? Questions hung in the air. Questions without answers. Lennartz’s frustration grew by the minute as well as his fear. At any moment his ship could suffer the same fate. A shiver ran down his spine at the thought.

  The hatch to the briefing room opened and his X-O stepped inside. Lennartz pushed his drink to one side.

  “Captain, I think I know what happened to our ships,” the X-O said.

  “Then spit it out, for fuck’s sake.”

  “A landing boat from the planet made a delivery to both ships. It’s possible that they smuggled a bomb aboard that led to their destruction. Sir, that same landing boat made a delivery to your ship.”

  Lennartz stood, his senses on high alert. “Then how come we’re still alive?”

  “That sir, I don’t know. I’ve got crewmen scouring the ship with scanners. If they’ve planted a bomb, we’ll find it.”

  Lennartz wondered if it would be found in time. Redemption was a very, very large ship. His fear deepened.

  “As an added precaution against future attacks by the E boat, I’ve transferred gunners from the bow weapons to the stern.” He smiled. “That boat will get quite a surprise if they try to attack us again.” He grinned at the prospect.

  ***

  Redemption hadn’t moved or shown any interest in them for the past hour, which was fine with Nathan. The thought of going up against that monster again wasn’t sitting+ at the top of Nathan’s to do list. He’d been lucky to avoid any long term damage to the boat the last time. Nathan leaned back, removed his helmet, and rubbed his eyes. The bridge hatch snapped open and Commander Ryden strode to the helm.

  “How’s the boat holding up, Ernst?” Nathan asked.

  “She’s fine,” the Pruessen said. “Minor buckling along the upper axis and a couple of holes in section thirty-four, but that’s been patched, so we’re good to go.” He kept his voice down. “Talking of going.” He raised his eyebrows. “We can do little more here.”

  Nathan nodded slowly then stood.

  “Rudi, keep an eye on our friend. If she twitches, call me.”

  He and Ryden stepped into the briefing room.

  “We can’t kill her, so why hang around?” Ryden said.