by T S Paul
"Ma'am, the fighters are about to engage the shuttle craft." We both turned back to the screen.
On the screen the two groups of ships were nearing each other. The shuttles, flying without a fighter escort, were continuing straight in without pause in relation to the fighters. It was as if they doubted that we would fire. When the Silver Valkyrie squadron entered missile range they opened fire on the shuttles without hesitation.
Chapter 7
Commodore Vakulinchuk could not believe his eyes. These rebellious traitors would dare attack official Imperial shuttle-craft? His orders were to not start a war with these 'revolutionaries.' But traitors and rebels deserved only one thing, a noose. That is what Grigory had been taught to believe by his family. He was loyal to the core when it came to his beliefs. His family was deeply entrenched in the 'movement' and his goal in life was to be one of its commanders. His Task Force was originally put together to fight piracy on the frontier. His Fleet issued orders for this deployment had been to not cause trouble and to monitor the situation. The Cabal had long term goals concerning this region of space. The inner circle had sent him new orders which, while official Fleet order, were the exact opposite of the originals. He was to stop the conference and if possible eliminate its leaders. This was his task! To get what he really wanted he needed to prove his worth. Even though his ships were a bit old, they were enough to blast these upstarts back to the stone age!
He turned to his right and barked the order to launch fighters. The shuttles were already doomed, but his fighters would be able to sweep the field of these rebel fighters. Captain Hendrick Van der Decken gave the orders and the four half strength fighter squadrons sprang into action. Because the carriers were older, the newer high tech fighters would not fit in them. The strategies that the Commodore used called for quick strikes against highly movable targets, such as pirates. Like the rest of the fleet, the Red Falcon fighters were not the newest model. These fighters had been the backbone of the Fleet during the last war. They were quick and highly maneuverable, perfect for fighting pirates with. Unfortunately, as the shuttle force was finding out, these were not pirates.
Commander Justin Jones was shouting words of encouragement to his troops. He was excited to be chosen to lead this unit of ESS troops into battle. His counterpart Captain Lightfoot, the Marine commander was on board one of the other ships. Between the two forces they should be able to put this rebellion down. The goal was to take the station. His troops were specially trained at close quarter fighting. With the fleet backing them up Justin could not imagine failing in his mission.
"Sir, we are picking up a swarm of fighters coming in from the station."
Justin jerked around in surprise. He walked over to the cockpit and stuck his head in. "What was that airman? Did you say something?"
"Yes, sir. There is a large group of fighters approaching us. They appear to be in a modified battle formation. Do you have any orders, sir?"
"Are they friendly? They could be an escort from the station. The Commodore did order them to stand down." He turned to the co-pilot. "Contact Fleet Command, ask if the fighters are an escort. Stay in formation for now."
The two pilots glanced at each other, but followed orders. Crossing the ESS was not healthy to the career.
Justin stayed in the cockpit and watched the radar screens. The formation of fighters continued to close. He felt a tap on his arm and looked to the right. The co-pilot was tapping his helmet. Justin realized that he had taken his helmet off.
"Sir, the Fleet says that they are NOT, repeat NOT an escort. We are recommended to take evasive action and they suggest we return to base." The co-pilot looked very anxious.
Return? And fail a mission? Screw that! He turned back to the cockpit. "Action stations! Get those guns manned and prepare for battle." The ESS troops in the shuttle sprang into action and manned the defensive stations.
"Contact Captain Lightfoot. Inform him that we are continuing on to the station. Have his troops man the guns! Pilot, increase speed we need to avoid these fighters and attack that station. The ESS never runs from a fight!"
The co-pilot sent the message, then turned to the commander. "Sir, those fighters are faster than we are. We are sitting ducks in these things! We need to turn back!"
Justin watched on his screen, the Marine shuttles were coming about and retreating! Cowards! He drew his sidearm and pointed it at the head of the Pilot. "If you cowards turn to follow those others I will kill you! Now, make this ship go faster we have a station to capture and traitors to kill!"
The pilot complied and the shuttle increased in speed. Looking at the screens Justin saw that about half of 'his' ESS troops ship had turned around and were making for the fleet. He screamed his outrage at this and yanked the communicator away from the copilot.
"Attention all ships, you will return to formation NOW! All ESS personnel are to stay with me, we are attacking this station together! Replace your commanders if you have to but we are not cowards we attack, not retreat!"
Several of the shuttles turned away from the direction of the fleet and resumed course. The rest joined the Marine units and retreated.
The rebel space fighters opened fire when they came into range. Missile alarms and alert sirens began sounding inside the cockpit. Red lights flashed on the defensive consoles as the pilots scrambled to fire counter-measures. The ESS manning the defensive guns were firing in every direction, very few were hitting anything other than the other shuttles. The rebel fighters were a mix of older surplus ships mixed with the newest Imperial fighters.
The faster more maneuverable fighters made short work of the ESS shuttles. Justin watched in horror as those few ships that had chosen to attack with him were blown out of space. The fighters turned away and began to pursue the Marine shuttles that had retreated.
"Sir, the rebels are leaving us alone. What do we do?" The pilot's were both looking at him.
A feeling of elation came over him. He could do this. All the glory could be his. "Continue your course. Make for the station. We can still attack."
"Are you out of your freaking mind, Sir! Those fighters can still kill us! Not to mention what the sta.." The sound of a concussion pistol going off in a small space was deafening. A spray of blood and brain matter coated the inside of the cockpit.
The co-pilot just stared at what used to be his friend and fellow pilot. The pilot's, now headless, body slid out of his chair and onto the floor. Commander Jones had turned toward him, the smoking pistol still in his hand. He could see the fanaticism in his eyes.
"Do you have anything to say?"
"No, sir. What are your orders?" Closing his eyes he braced himself for the shot that he knew would come.
"Continue the attack!"
The co-pilot, now pilot, changed course and accelerated toward the station. Neither he nor the ESS commander felt the missile blast that incinerated their shuttle in a brief flash of light.
Chapter 8
Both Minerva and Athena watched the battle with the Imperial shuttles. About half of them had turned around and were fleeing toward the fleet. It was the half that had stayed that interested the two sisters. Min turned to her Intelligence officer. "Have we intercepted any of their communications yet?"
"Yes, ma'am. They are using one of the older codes, one we already know." He pointed to the plot on the battle screen. "This group that is running, is primarily made up of shuttles containing Marines. These others are ESS craft. There was a broadcast a moment ago, in the clear, the commander called the other shuttles cowards and demanded that they resume formation."
"Which ship is he on? Are we able to tell?"
"Yes, Ma'am. The ESS commander is on this shuttle right there, the one in the front." He pointed to a small ship way out in front. The ESS commanders shuttle had increased speed and was headed straight for the station.
'Tell the our fighters to leave that one for us. We will use the station defenses on that one." She pointed to the weapons officer.
"Commander, alert your defense group. Target that shuttle. I want total destruction, no survivors!"
The brief flash in space was unseen by those on the command deck, only the shuttle's disappearance from the screen signaled its doom.
"Ma'am, we have fighters exiting the carriers. It looks like four short squadrons."
Minerva studied the battle map. She noted that her fighter squadrons were chasing down the fleeing shuttles. She looked up at the main battle screens. "Have our fighters withdraw and take up station no more than 16 kilometers out from the station. Tell them to not engage the fighters unless fired on first."
She turned back toward me, "let's see what this Commodore has to say to us now!"
"Min, don't underestimate him. He was made a commodore for a reason. There must be some skill there." I hoped my sister could understand what I was saying and not get cocky.
"Don't worry little sister, I am not getting overconfident."
"Communications? Get me the shipyards and Chief Engineer Kościuszko."
She looked back at me. "I still have a few tricks up my sleeve. The Chief has been working on a few things for me."
On the view screens we could see that the enemy fighters were closely guarding their remaining shuttles and keeping their distance from our fighters.
"Ma'am Chief Tad is on the line for you."
"Excellent! Put him up on the big screen." She looked at me and smiled. I smiled back at her, my sister has a very nice smile.
The head and shoulders of the older Engineer appeared up on the large screen. "Ladies, I see that you have a small problem out there."
"Always the comedian Chief Tad. What do you have for me today?" I could almost swear that there was something going on between the two of them. Something around the Chief's eyes gave it away. That and my sister doesn't smile all that much. Good for them.
"Well Min some of our projects have borne fruit, the rest not so much." His eyes turned in my direction. "Athena, that shuttle you sent me was very interesting. We were able to copy the new designs. If we survive we can start building our own new engines based on that design. There is a pair of ships headed your way now. They are converted freighters so put them to good use. They have a few surprises on board for you ladies to play with. Try not to destroy too many of those ships. We can use a few hulls for our own navy. Shipyards, out."
"I love that man." Min realized that I heard her and turned a nice pink color.
I smiled at her then started laughing. I put my head down and grinned as heads began turning toward the sound.
"A little decorum sis, there is a battle going on." She smiled. "We will talk, later."
"So what did Tad send you?"
"We got together" she giggled and I laughed at her. "We got together and tried to think of ways to fight off an attack using what we had here. The FLEA scientists had a few interesting things in the warehouse. One was a pod mounted anti-ship missile. It is a new design that the Navy had not yet approved. The missiles themselves are very small, about a third the size of standard munitions. The warhead is has an anti-matter core. When it explodes the effect is really awesome! The downside is that we only have a few dozen of them. The cyclotron at the Hong Kong University only produces so much."
"Anti-matter? That is scarily awesome! How are they storing the charged positrons and antiprotons? If any of those come into contact with matter the explosion would.."
She started laughing as I began to get technical. Waving her hands for me to stop talking she stopped laughing. "My sister the Engineer! We are using a special Penning trap that has been outfitted with extra strong electromagnets so that the repelling force does not overtake the walls of the container."
I ran what she said through my head. It sounded right but, I made a mental note to double check their numbers and see this improved 'trap' for myself. An anti-matter explosion could turn the University into a lake.
"Something else that we talked about is using special freighters as mine-layers. I realize that the idea of that is as old as time. The mines, however are something old with a new twist. The ships will release thousands of the mines, which are tiny in comparison to the standard ones. These are about the size of a small melon. They are stealth and have tiny fusion drives. We used the ones you modified for the droids you built. Don't worry you will still be paid for those." She smiled and laughed at the look on my face. I really like this version of my sister.
"As I was saying," she grinned at me. "The mines will stick to any passing ship or fighter. If the IFF shows it to be one of ours they will not stick. We choose the programming, they can be on a timer, activate on a timer, or have special programming. The special option is really cool. We can allow a passing ship to pick up a few. When it returns to its home base the mines will release then hook up an explode on another passing ship or station."
"Excuse me, Ma'am?" We both looked up at the new voice. Min's XO was trying to get her attention.
"Go ahead George, what's up?"
"We are receiving a message from the Imperial fleet."
"Great, OK, put it on the screen." We both moved over to the center of the room.
The screen lit up to show the command deck of an older model battle cruiser. A large bear of a man stood in the center of the deck in a pristine looking Commodore's uniform. This must be Commodore Vakulinchuk.
"With whom am I speaking so I know who to shoot at the trial? How dare you destroy shuttles belonging to the Empire of Humanity! You were ordered to stand your military down and surrender your leaders for trial! My orders come straight from the Imperial Senate. Now, your actions will cause you problems. You have one hour to stand down your military and surrender or I will be forced to destroy you. Vakulinchuk, out."
"Shoot at the trial? The nerve of that man!" Min just shook her head. "I don't know how you put up with arrogant asshole's like that commander all the time, Athena."
"Most of the officers that I work with are perfect gentlemen."
"Or they are scared of that big Marine you call a girlfriend." I had to give her that. Dar was a big girl.and a very tough looking Marine. She was a big teddy bear in private.
Calling out in a loud voice, Min addressed the room. "May I have everyone's attention?"
The command staff stopped what they were doing and turned in her direction.
"Thank you. There is NO way that we will allow these People to destroy everything that we have built here! I want everything that we have in the air and ready when this 'ultimatum' is up! Everything we've got people! Understood?" The whole staff were nodding their heads. "Good! Lets get to work!"
"Lieutenant Amynta, are you in contact with the visiting warships?" The intelligence officer nodded her head, grabbed her tablet and pulled up a list. "Check and see if any of them are interested in helping us defend the planet."
We both stared at the battle map for a minute. With the additional ships we might be able to win this one. After giving everyone half an hour to sort themselves out, Min checked here tablet and then called her XO, Commander George over.
"What is our status?"
He double checked his tablet, "we have three squadrons of fighters ready to go. The Black Sheep are over near the shipyards out of sight, but ready. The two freighters have been deployed. Alpha is ready to start laying mines and Beta is in a guard position. When ordered Beta is ready to 'roll pods.' The visiting warships, those that are here for the conference, say that they will help to defend the planet from orbital bombardment, but wish to stay out of it, if possible. Station defenses are manned and ready for your orders. The James Cook is on a ballistic course around the Sun and will arrive here in less than two hours. The Paney is armed and ready, we have towed it to a defensive position on our flank. The enemy may think it is a derelict and ignore it. Per your orders we have armed all the shuttles with anti-ship missiles."
"Good work George! We have about 20 minutes left, make sure every section is locked down. Check that everyone is in either suits or sealed
into the shelters."
I looked toward Min, she was in her element here. It was time for me to get back to Engineering. I tapped her on the arm to get her attention. "Min, I guess you don't need me here after all. I am going to get back down to my section. We will need emergency crews."
"OK, Athena, be careful down there. I just got you back in my life, I don't want to lose you!"
"I'll be careful, I promise. You watch yourself too. Call me if you need me." I turned around and headed back to Engineering. This battle could get hairy and I would need to be there for my crews.
Chapter 9
"Sir, their deadline is almost up." Commodore Vakulinchuk was deep in thought standing over his battle map console. He never thought that it would go this far. His rise in both the Navy and the Cabal was due to his skill in finding solutions to problems. This Task Force was an example of that. If this system was not so vital to the Cabal's plans he would just follow his 'real' orders and take a hands off approach. Now he was going to have to kill a world. They needed the world, not the people on it. Hopefully, he was about to do the right thing. His career and life depended on it. He looked up and turned to Captain Van der Decken, "Sorry, I was deep in thought. What is our status?"
