Return of the Star Raiders (The Long Road Back Book 1)

by Dietmar Wehr

  “Three dead; the others are in bad shape. Obvious damage to the brain, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s internal bleeding along with broken bones and ribs. Commander Hanson seems to be in the worst shape of anyone still alive here. We need to get these people to the shuttle and back on the ground fast, Captain.”

  Under the circumstances, Strider was glad the gravity was off. Two men pulling a weightless body as they maneuvered themselves through the corridors was a lot easier than trying to carry one without the aid of a stretcher under normal gravity. As soon as O’Leary saw them, he came to help. Strider let him and the medic get Hanson inside the shuttle and strapped down while he made a report to the PDC.

  “Strider to PDC. Half the Command Deck crew are dead, and the rest are in serious condition. If the rest of the crew are in similar shape, we’re not going to have room to bring them all back in one trip. Recommend a second shuttle with more medical personnel be sent up asap. No word yet on the ship’s condition. Commander Hanson is alive but needs urgent medical attention that we’re not equipped to give. Standing by for your response before I go back inside to help the medics. Over.”

  “Your request for a second shuttle is being acted upon as we speak. We’ll advise you when it arrives there. You can go back in now, Commander. Over.”

  “Understood. I’m heading back in.”

  By the time he got back to the Command Deck to help bring more injured to the shuttle, injured crew from other parts of the ship were on their way out as well. Strider told O’Leary to help one of the other medics while he and his medic concentrated on the remaining two Command Deck personnel who were still alive. Even with the zero gravity, Strider was out of breath by the time all the casualties were moved out of the Command Deck. The shuttle was filling up fast now. A check with PDC revealed that the second shuttle was approaching the ship, along with instructions for Strider’s shuttle to undock and return to the planet. Strider gave O’Leary the order to get back in the cockpit and prepare to leave. Several medics would go with the shuttle to look after the injured on the way back, but Strider would stay aboard Fearless with the engineering team.

  There was enough room in the second shuttle for all the remaining casualties, but the engineering team and Strider had to wait for the return of the first shuttle before they could leave Fearless. By that point, the engineers had a pretty good idea of the condition of the ship. With a lot of work, they felt the ship could be repaired enough to fly down to the surface under its own power. The team leader shook his head when Strider asked him if the external blast damage could be repaired once the ship was back on the ground.

  “It’s not a question of whether it can be done. The answer to that is yes. The question really is SHOULD it be done? Removing the caved-in armor is going to be a real bitch of a job all by itself, and once that’s done, then they’ll have to basically rebuild half the ship. It might just be cheaper and faster to scrap the old girl and build a new Fearless from scratch. Most of the equipment that’s undamaged could be transferred to the new ship.”

  While he waited for the shuttle to arrive, Strider explored the damaged section as much as he could. Most of the corridors and rooms on that side were unreachable due to crushed bulkheads and blocked hatches. It occurred to him that there might be a body or two somewhere in the wreckage but certainly no survivors. Any force strong enough to twist steel would do the same to living tissue.

  Eventually the shuttle came and the engineers plus Strider boarded her. O’Leary was still the pilot. The sun had just set when the shuttle touched down at the spaceport. Terrington was there to greet Strider and the team. He complimented them on their mission and then turned to Strider.

  “You handled that about as well as anyone could have, Captain. Preliminary reports from the hospital are that most and maybe all of the injured will survive. Now we have to see if we can do that same thing for Fearless.”

  Strider told him what the engineering team leader had said.

  Terrington acknowledged the comment with a short nod. “He might be right. In any case, even if she can be repaired, it’ll take months to get her back in operation, and in the mean time, we won’t have any orbital defenses. The A-15s weren’t intended to carry the whole defense load. The Government won’t have any choice now. They’ll have to authorize more orbital ships.” He shook his head. “God, I wish we had one undamaged, jump-capable ship now. If we did, I’d try to convince the PDC to send it to Valhalla to make a counter-attack just to teach that psychopathic Supreme Leader what happens when he picks on the wrong target. But we don’t, and he just might try again thinking that we’re too weak to resist. If he does it fast, he’ll be right.” Terrington sighed. “Go on home, Captain. You’ve done all you can for now. Enjoy your leave. We’ll call you when we’ve found something for you to do.” Without waiting for a reply, Terrington turned and walked away.

  Samantha and Troy were both still up when he got home. He described the battle and the recovery without going into the gory details. It wasn’t until Strider was getting ready for bed that he noticed blood stains on his clothes. He hoped Troy hadn’t noticed them.

  As the days passed, things started to happen. Fearless was repaired in orbit enough to land. Strider made sure he was at the spaceport when she touched down. The President and the entire Cabinet were there as well. Strider heard the President tell the AF’s senior officer that an emergency funding bill was being rammed through the Senate, which would pay for two Fearless-class heavy cruisers and two larger, jump-capable warships. One of each would be built at the same time. If Fearless could be repaired at a reasonable cost, she would be, and if not, then she’d be stripped of all salvageable equipment and the rest would be melted down to help build the new ships.

  Three days later, Haven’s Enterprise brought back Tomonaga and his team, along with orders from Admiral Morningside. These requested that Strider return to Haven with his group of officers to take command of the new ship that the Royal Haven Navy was about to commission. This time Strider said good-bye to his family at home. It was easier on everyone.

  Their arrival at Haven caused quite a stir among the Navy’s senior officers when they heard about Valhalla’s attack. They in turn had news for Strider, which Tomonaga had neglected to pass on for some reason. Redstone, had been sent to Tubal to search for Corso’s Savannah but had not found any trace of her in the space surrounding the planet. From the radio transmissions picked up, it was clear that there were now three raider ships on the ground, and Redstone’s CO had clear orders to avoid combat if faced with numerically superior forces. Redstone headed back after only a few days in the Tubal system.

  Strider was now meeting with Fleet Admiral Morningside plus two other lesser admirals.

  “Your news about the Valhalla attack is quite disturbing, Commander,” said Morningside, using Strider’s Haven Navy rank. “We know that Valhalla’s Supreme Leader had three warships. That means he could send the third ship to New Caledon, and that just might be enough to conquer your world. I wish we had enough ships to send one or two to help your planet, but we don’t. As you know, we’ve lost Savannah. That leaves us with just two heavy cruisers, Redstone and Resolute. We keep one of them on Haven at all times, and with our newest heavy cruiser, Agincourt, coming on line now, that allows us to deploy two heavy cruisers in the field. The Valhallan attack on New Caledon, while regrettable, can’t be allowed to interrupt our campaign against the raiders. Therefore, we’ve made the decision to attack and capture the raider base on Tubal. Redstone, Agincourt and Haven’s Enterprise will make up the attack squadron. Haven’s Enterprise will be loaded with a specially trained and equipped battalion of assault troops. They’ll be using contra-gravity armored vehicles. Their job will be to swoop down on the base at night, secure critical targets and take control of any ships that are on the ground. Redstone and Agincourt will provide air cover. You and your team will man Agincourt, Commander. A more detailed briefing will be given to you and your officer
s shortly, and we’ve arranged for training simulations here on Haven. The squadron doesn’t leave until the ground force commander is satisfied that everyone has learned their part. Any questions so far?”

  Strider did have a question, but he wasn’t sure how Morningside would take it. “Yes, sir, I do have a question. If there are ships on the ground when we attack, and if we capture those ships, will my planet be able to take possession of at least one of them to help in our defense?”

  Morningside stared at him so long that Strider thought he was in serious trouble. “I’m hesitating because I’m not sure if I have the authority to grant your request, Commander. I can’t promise you that your planet will get a captured ship, but I can give you my commitment to support any official request from you or your planet. Any other questons?”

  “No, admiral.”

  Morningside smiled as he leaned back. “Good. Then I think this part of the briefing is done. I’ll leave you in the capable hands of Admiral Stark here.”

  The preparations for the mission went quickly. Strider was surprised at the lengths the Haven Navy had gone to in order to prepare for the assault. A simulated raider base had been constructed in an isolated valley that had some similarity to the area around the real base. It took three practice runs before the ground force commander, General Hagen, was satisfied. Once a final briefing was out of the way, Hagen gave the order for the squadron to lift off.

  Chapter Nineteen

  The plan of attack was simple in concept but difficult in execution due to the need for perfect timing. Agincourt and Redstone would approach Tubal from a trajectory that kept the moon between them and the planet. They would then carefully park themselves on the moon, positioned so that the planet was barely over the moon’s horizon. Haven’s Enterprise would come from the opposite direction, keeping the bulk of the planet between it and the raider base. As luck would have it, the moon just happened to be looking down on the base. The freighter would have plenty of time to drop down into Tubal’s atmosphere and then fly at super-sonic speed towards the base while staying below the base’s horizon. It would then set down in a narrow valley behind a line of mountains, with the raider base on the other side. When it was night over the base, the freighter would fire a laser at the part of the moon where the two ships were parked to let them know that it was in position and ready. Sending a return signal would not be possible without risking being seen by the raiders. Hagen would just have to assume that Agincourt and Redstone had seen the signal and were on their way when he gave the order for the ground assault to begin. If the two ships didn’t see the signal for some reason, the assault would take place without the benefit of air cover, and any raider ship sitting at the base might be able to lift off and escape capture.

  As Agincourt approached the moon in formation with Redstone, Strider stayed on the Bridge even though his normal duty shift was over. He was in constant contact with Redstone’s CO, Commander Jeffry Anderson, Royal Haven Navy, who for this mission was Strider’s superior officer. That was fine with Strider. He did not want to be responsible for the success or failure of this mission and was quite willing to admit that there were still things he could learn from the Haven Navy.

  Touchdown on the moon was routine. The ships could see the planet, and it was clear that the side of the planet where the base was located was still in daylight. That meant that there would be another 10 hours or so before the ground force was ready. Strider took advantage of the time to get some sleep and to have a hot shower and a hot meal before returning to the Bridge. Anderson had apparently done the same thing because Tomonaga was manning Redstone’s Bridge, which Strider noticed when he took over the com channel, relieving Jaeger.

  Tomonaga was talking in a voice so low it was almost a whisper, even though the tight beam, low-powered micro-wave signal could not possibly be overheard by the raiders.

  “If Hagen’s ship was late in getting to their jump-off point, we might need to wait another twenty-four hours,” muttered Tomonaga.

  Strider was about to reply when the display pinged for attention. Agincourt was being hit by a low-powered laser. It was Hagen’s signal!

  “Hagen’s jumping the gun,” said Strider.

  “We can’t lift off. Anderson’s not back yet,” said Tomonaga now speaking in a normal voice.

  “Well, you better get him back fast, Hiruku. We have to be ready when the assault forces take control of their radar. Excuse me while I get my ship to Battle Stations.”

  Anderson took his sweet time getting back to the Bridge. Five minutes had already passed since the laser signal. Hagen’s assault force would already be on its way via contra-gravity armored vehicles, which would be flying at high speeds but low to the ground for the 155-mile trip to the raider base. The two ships couldn’t move until the raiders’ early warning radar had been turned off, so that their approach to the planet would not tip off any ships that might be on the ground.

  Once Anderson was back in command of Redstone, Strider was able to relax a little but not for long.

  “Their radar has shut down,” said the Tactical Officer. Strider heard Anderson’s TO notify him at almost the same time.

  “Okay, Agincourt, we lift off in three…two…one…now!” said Anderson in what Strider thought was an overly dramatic performance.

  Both ships now accelerated at their maximum rate in order to cross the 89,000 miles between the moon and the planet as fast as possible. If Hagen’s troops were accomplishing their objectives as expected, the initial capture of the base’s radar station, troop barracks and communications center would soon be done, quickly and quietly, without anyone else realizing that an attack was in progress. Most of the raiders were likely to be asleep, and if there were any ships on the ground, it was assumed that they would only have a skeleton crew manning their controls and would not be on high alert. Without any alarm from the radar station, there was no reason for ship crews to believe that the base was in any danger.

  Strider was now listening in on two tactical com channels at the same time. One was the connection with Anderson, while the other channel was the designated com channel for Hagen to use when contact with the ships was deemed necessary.

  Just as the two ships reached the halfway point and started to slow down, Strider heard background static from Hagen’s channel.

  “Ground force to sky force. This is Hagen. There’s one ship on the ground. We now see some kind of activity at the ship’s ramp. People are moving around all of a sudden. I think they know something’s going on. We’re about to rush the ramp and attempt to take control. You better light ‘em up with your radars now. Over.”

  “Okay, Commander Strider, let’s show them that two ships are bearing down on the base. Radar’s on!” said Anderson.

  Strider looked over to his TO who nodded back.

  “Radar is on, sir.”

  Bombarding the base with radar waves from both ships accomplished two objectives. It allowed them to see if the raider ship did lift off, and it notified the raider ship’s crew that two unknown ships were approaching the base fast!

  “Open all com frequencies!” ordered Anderson. “Attention, raider ship on the planet! I’m Commander Anderson of the Royal Haven Navy. We have two armed ships approaching your base. If you attempt to escape, you’ll be fired upon and destroyed. If you remain on the ground and surrender to our ground forces, you’ll be unharmed.” Anderson repeated the message and then waited.

  “Calling approaching ships! We surrender!” the voice sounded panicked. Strider could hear voices in the background and one person shouting, but he couldn’t make out the words. A few seconds later, another voice came on.

  “Redstone, this is Captain Jorgen of Alpha Company. We’ve taken control of their Bridge and most of the ship. This ship’s not going anywhere. There’s some sporadic firing outside. Some of the raiders are still resisting, but basically all that’s left now is the mopping up. I expect General Hagen to give you the all clear to land soon. Jorgen
out.”

  Hagen did contact Anderson moments later to confirm that the base was 90% in ground force hands and that it was safe for the ships to land. Anderson then ordered Strider to keep Agincourt in orbit and to use her radar to scan for any incoming raider ships. Strider’s annoyance at not being allowed to check out the captured ship evaporated when he realized that having friendly radar coverage was a prudent precaution against being caught by surprise by more raider ships. Twelve hours later, Redstone came up to take over radar duty in order to let Agincourt’s crew get some time on the planet to stretch their legs and breath some fresh air before making the return trip. By then, all the raiders had either surrendered or been killed, and the locals, who had been used as slave labor, were freed. Raider computer systems had been carefully scanned and all data copied. When Strider asked Hagen what he would do with his raider prisoners, the General laughed.

  “We’ll take them back to Haven for proper interrogation, then put them on trial in military courts, and when they’re found guilty, they’ll be sentenced to something appropriate, like a lifetime of hard labor.”