The Gathering Storm

by Chris Hechtl

  It wasn't his fault either. He'd been stuck in courier HVCC 4391 for far too damn long. He should by rights be a lieutenant commander by now, but transport command liked him a little too much. That or someone somewhere didn't like him at all. That thought depressed him a bit.

  In order to increase their chances of survival after the near capture at their previous stop, he'd arranged for his ship to jump two AU outside the normal jump zone to the DD01ns. He wasn't going to take any chances either, he kept his ship there with her hyperdrive on standby until his limited sensors had confirmed no sign of a ship in the star system.

  Only then had he allowed engineering to dump the power from the hyper capacitors into the drive in order to try to race cautiously across the solar system.

  It seemed their luck was holding. For whatever reason, the enemy hadn't chosen to send a ship after him. That was rather arrogant of them, but he would take the gift and get the hell out of the area as quickly as he could.

  :::{)(}:::

  Captain Illiu watched as the little ship warily sailed across the solar system. The enemy courier might move as cautiously as they liked but there was no escape. The two cruisers had already cut off its retreat and his destroyer was coming in behind it. He was keeping out of range for the moment but only until Shirlanka signaled and launched her fighters.

  :::{)(}:::

  The first inkling something was wrong was when they saw the fighters on their lidar. Captain Opal ordered an immediate course change but did so again when more fighters spread out from another source near his new heading.

  “We're screwed,” the navigator muttered.

  “Yeah,” another tech said. “I hear POW camps are nice …”

  “How do you know that?” another tech asked.

  “They beat being tossed out an airlock,” Walter replied. “Anything beats death's all hollow I suppose.”

  “Says you.”

  “They are supposed to be the Federation,” the captain said. “Come about. We'll make a run for the edge and short jump.”

  “It won't work, sir. We're screwed,” the XO said. They fell to arguing immediately.

  The techs looked at each other. Walter shook his head. “I hate it when mom and dad fight.”

  “Cute.”

  :::{)(}:::

  “They are still running,” Captain Falling Drop observed. “They have no place to run to, yet they still try.”

  “It's a knee jerk reaction,” Captain Illiu replied over the tachyon link. His ship was still working its way up the courier's six-o'clock. “Once they see they can't run, they'll fold.”

  “Or not. Are your people ready to take them out if they don't?”

  “Considering who they are, I don't doubt it. I don't care what ship they are on, a pirate is a pirate period.”

  “Right.”

  :::{)(}:::

  “You know what we have to do, Stacy,” Lucius said as they took their argument into the corridor outside the bridge.

  She glanced inside and then opened a locker containing cleaning equipment and emergency supplies. She took a broom out and set it aside. “I know we're screwed and there is no point running. We're too deep in the system,” she said with a shake of her head.

  “We have to try. We can't just give up.”

  “I think not,” she said as she leaned in suddenly and kissed him. His eyes flared wide and then they closed instinctively. He started to wrap his arms around her as she maneuvered him into the locker. She had done it before, so he was instinctively used to such things. But when she shoved him in, his eyes flared wide once more. “What are you …?!?” he got out before she slammed the door in his face. She propped the broom up against the door as he pounded on it. “This isn't funny, Stacy!” he snarled.

  She went back to the bridge and noted fighters launching from behind them. Walter turned to her. “What do we do? Where is the skipper?”

  “He's indisposed. That leaves me in charge,” she said with grim authority as she tapped a code on the hot seat's right arm rest keypad and then opened a locker. She reached in and took a pistol out and checked it, then hit a series of keys. “Purge the computers. Cut the drive when you are done.”

  “Ma'am?”

  “You heard me,” she growled as she nonchalantly hefted the gun. “Do we have a problem?” she asked mildly.

  Walter shook his head. “No ma'am,” he said firmly as he turned back to his station. “You heard the XO, purge the computers. Drop our drive and let's get ready to surrender,” he said.

  “I guess mom won,” Angie murmured.

  “Ah shut it,” Walter growled as his fingers flew across the keyboard.

  :::{)(}:::

  The fighters warily escorted a shuttle over to the supine ship. Marines boarded first and secured the critical compartments as well as verified that there was no self-destruct. Most of the crew were at their stations; however, one male was locked in a supply locker off the bridge. He wasn't at all happy to find himself on the wrong end of a Marine rifle.

  Once the ship was considered secure, only then did a prize crew come over to take charge of the courier.

  Ensign Jordan Kayak was nervous over her first boarding action, but she did her best to follow protocol and at least keep up an outward appearance of professional cool detachment. When she boarded, she found the Horathian prisoners on the bridge with their hands on their heads. She assumed that each of them had been searched. She also found out that the ship's databases were purged. “We're going to need an engineering team,” she replied with a shake of her head. “But we'll get her running again,” she said.

  One of the prisoners snorted but another glared him into silence.

  Jordan eyed the prisoners thoughtfully and then touched her ear. “Captain, the ship is secure, but her databases have been wiped. I don't know about hard copy storage though,” she said, watching the prisoners. Two of them flinched. Ah, gotcha, she thought with a brief smile. “I just got a confirmation of hard copy so we'll do a search.”

  “Very good, Ensign,” Captain Illiu replied. “Status on the ship herself?”

  “I haven't checked her over yet, but I think if we clean her up and give her a minor going over she'll work just fine, Skipper,” the ensign replied as she took the hot seat.

  “Good. I'll leave you as the prize ship captain then,” Captain Illiu replied.

  “Me, sir?” she squeaked in surprise, professionalism forgotten for the moment.

  “Yes, you. We'll strip her crew off, and after you are sure she's not booby-trapped, you can take her back to the fleet with our report.”

  “Yes, sir,” Jordan replied eagerly. An independent command like a prize ship was a fast track method of getting a promotion she knew. “Thank you, sir.”

  “Oh, don't thank me, Ensign, you just inherited a big headache. We'll draw the prize crew from all three ships so no one is hit that hard. While we're working on that, have you and your techs go over that ship with a fine-tooth comb. We don't have anyone from ONI on board so use your best judgment and preserve what you can. I'll send over, no, scratch that, the master-at-arms will send someone over since she wants to process the prisoners into our brig.”

  “Understood, sir.”

  “Don't get cute with anything,” the captain warned. Slowly Jordan lifted her hands off the armrest keypads. “Don't jack in; we don't know if there are viruses. We'll have to go over that ship carefully.”

  “Aye aye, sir,” she said dubiously. Suddenly having her own independent command wasn't what it was cracked out to be.

  :::{)(}:::

  It took three days to get the volunteers sorted out and the courier functional as a starship again. She wouldn't win any races, but the engineers on board were confident she'd get them to B-97c in one piece.

  Once the courier was off, the captains of the three ships discussed their options. The cruisers had sent shuttles back and forth to keep their fuel and materials in sync so neither needed to go back over the other. Captain Litchi
considered keeping Osborne or sending her back with some personnel who were in need of liberty while swapping for others off the destroyer. Captain Illiu was not happy about the idea. They debated the idea for several days while their pursers bartered and bickered.

  Captain Illiu was amused to hear all sorts of offers for various comfort items from his ship. Requests for chips, ice cream, pasta, popcorn, and fresh food were common. The usual bartering for movies and news had been easily dealt with, but Chief Kruger was a bit of a stickler with the rest of the bartering.

  He fully understood why the two light cruisers wanted so much too. DD01ns was a wretched star system, just a small red dwarf and six or seven Mercury class planets and moons. There wasn't a single gas giant or other planet. There was nary a snowball in the entire system. The few asteroids that were in the system were rubble, gravel pellets held together by their own gravity. Since there were no heavy metals, there was nothing worth mining. In other words, utterly useless. No wonder it was a pass-through system.

  The discussion ended when an unknown ship appeared at the jump point to B-97b. “Now we know something is going on there,” the captain growled. None of the three ships had been running silent at the time of the appearance. A Horathian IFF and an inquiry told them she wasn't one of theirs.

  When they didn't respond, the ship immediately made a run for it. All three ships gave chase. It seemed ludicrous to run the lumbering ship down.

  Lady Luck and her twin had their own ideas for the system. In what some would consider a twist of fate, the three ships and their fighters were drawing into range of the freighter when another unknown force jumped in, this time at the Dead Drop jump point.

  “Ten ships, two of them are pretty big. None of them are ours obviously,” Captain Litchi said as he ordered the Federation ships to abort the assault on the freighter.

  Suddenly the tables had turned.

  :::{)(}:::

  The freighter the Federation warships had been chasing changed course directly for its own forces as the Federation ships slowed abruptly. She sent her IFF and then established a laser link to the heavy cruiser flagship.

  Commodore Rabideau personally took the call to get the story directly from the captain. The gibbering captain visibly calmed down at the sight of the stern commodore. “Thank the spirits you are here! Perfect timing! We've got three enemy ships on our ass! Can you do something about them? Something permanent I hope?”

  Ten second later the commodore received the signal. He nodded once. “Transmit your report.”

  “Yes, sir,” the fat freighter captain said ten seconds later, bobbing a nod that made his double chin expand the tissue on his neck like a bullfrog momentarily. He turned to someone off camera. “Well? You heard the man! Send it!”

  The commodore did a quick assessment of his forces while he had the chance. Hunter, his Admiral Hipper class heavy cruiser was his flagship. He had one medium class cruiser Creeping Death, plus two light cruisers, Oakenshield and Assassin's Creed, along with four Arboth class tin cans. Behind them were the two support ships, a medium tanker and collier.

  He studied the display and frowned. Based on the freighter's report, there really were only three Fed ships in the system. That enticed the commodore into coming after them. “Open a channel to the other ships, captains only,” he ordered.

  “Why are we just sitting here? Why aren't we taking them?!” Captain Bangli, his biggest fire-eater demanded right off.

  “Because I like to know my battlefield and my opponent before I go rushing in. I'm not a fool,” the commodore replied mildly. His chief of staff gave him a sidelong look. He caught it out of the corner of his eye and turned away.

  “What's to know? There are three of them and eight of us! “See? They are weak; they cut their drives! They know they are screwed! Come on, we can take them! There are just two light cruisers and a tin can! Surely we can take them with eight ships! We outnumber them over two to one! We outmass them three times over!” Captain Andre Bathe of the medium cruiser Creeping Death implored, eyes searching the commodore's for support.

  “He's right, sir,” Captain Needlemier, his flag captain said.

  That's three, the commodore noted mentally. He also noted nods of support from the other ship captains. A few were hesitant however.

  “Need I remind you that the standing orders are not to engage warships? And we are not to engage ships with near numerical numbers.”

  “But that's just it, we have them outnumbered,” Captain Bangli said throwing his hands up in the air in despair.

  “Whatever we're going to do, we'd better figure it out soon,” Commander Hito said. “They aren't breaking off or running, sir,” she warned.

  “No, not yet,” Captain Bangli insisted.

  Commodore Rabideau realized his mission was blown. No matter what they did, the secrecy was gone. He also realized they needed a win.

  He calmly ordered the fleeing freighter to get out of the star system. He then ordered his support ships to wait on the Dead Drop jump point.

  “So, we're going to do it?” Captain Bangli demanded, clearly excited.

  “It looks that way. Better get ready,” Captain Walter Draven said dryly.

  “Right. We'll need to hit them together. Make certain your ships’ communications are locked down however; they are well known for cyber attacks, especially when they are outnumbered.”

  “Speaking of which, sir, communication is reporting a cyber intrusion. The telemetry feeds have been cut off,” Commander Hito said to him.

  He looked up to her with a frown and then a nod. “Okay. We'll focus on the cruisers first. We need to concentrate our fire …”

  :::{)(}:::

  Instantly the crews of the three Federation ships realized they were too deep to get away. “We are a hundred million kilometers out and closing. By the time we flip and reduce speed, they'll be on us. If we split up, one of us might get out of this,” Captain Illiu stated.

  Captain Litchi knew the cruisers had the greatest likelihood of survival. He'd already discounted a radical course change and running silent. They were less than an hour from their extreme missile range, too close to get away. “If we do, the other two ships will be sliced to ribbons. The only way to assure our survival is to stay together. Unlike them we have a tactical data link. I think it's high time we remind them of what a group of real naval warships are capable of.”

  “We punch a hole. Use the fighters for the tip of the spear.”

  “That's suicide.”

  “It's the last thing they'll expect. I like it,” the T'clock captain said enthusiastically.

  “Sun Tzu, on death ground, attack,” Captain Illiu said thoughtfully. “Okay, better to go out swinging and take one of the bastards with us.”

  “I'd rather not go out at all. The ship with the least kills and hits buys the rounds, gents,” Captain Litchi said as he quickly pulled up a plan of action. He'd gamed out various scenarios but he'd never thought he'd have to use something like one of his Omega plans. “Okay, I'm pulling up one of my Omega plans. Omega 15B looks like it is closest to what we're seeing. So, here is what we do …”

  :::{)(}:::

  “Fighters incoming,” CIC reported. “They are turning our sensors into hash. I got enough of a read to estimate there are twelve Cobra class fighters.”

  “Cobra …?” Lieutenant Commander Su Hito, the chief of staff, echoed as she looked up, clearly puzzled by something.

  “Sir, we're under a cyber attack. The squadron net is down. Audio only.”

  “Very well. See if you can lay a laser line on each of the ships to feed them tactical data. We'll need it during the exchange. You'll need to …”

  He stopped suddenly as his chief of staff came over to him. “Sir.”

  “Just a moment, Su, I'm busy here.”

  “Sir,”

  “Get the laser link buffered …,” an urgent hand on his arm brought him up short. He turned a ferocious look on the intruding woman. “Su, w
hat the hell is your problem, woman?” he snarled, taking her hand and throwing it off of him.

  “Sir, the fighters, they are general purpose fighters,” she said urgently.

  “So?” he demanded in disbelief. “They'll strafe us.”

  “Sir, you don't understand, they …”

  “Get out of here,” he snarled, waving her away as he turned to the image of his flag captain.

  “Sir, if you'll just listen, the speed is consistent with them carrying ship killers. Torpedoes,” she said, voice rising to practically a shriek to get through to him and the flag bridge staff.

  That brought the voices to an instant halt as he turned to her in surprise. “Shipkillers. Are you trying to tell me …?”

  “Shipkillers?” the captain demanded over his link. “No one said anything about shipkillers! We've got to stop those fighters now! They are almost in range!” the captain said desperately.

  “We don't have any fighters,” Su said, licking her lips.

  “Move the destroyers in front of us,” the commodore ordered. “They'll screen us.”

  “What, and sacrifice us for you? I don't think so!” Teri “bang-bang” Bangli, captain of Kang, said scathingly over the captain's link. He was something of a legend in the Gather Fleet, but that didn't matter to the commodore at the moment.

  “Do as I say! You aren't the real target; the cruisers are!” the commodore thundered.

  “The hell with that!” the captain snarled just as the fighters turned into balls of snow and an urgent beeping started up on the bridge.

  Some of the destroyers were already ahead of the cruisers but not all. Su groaned as they began to panic. Without the data net, their defensive coordination was down to audio commands. Commodore Rabideau started to shout and argue with the captains to browbeat them into formation, but she realized it was already too late.