Ambush

by G J Moses

  Pausing for a second to make sure Hawke was done before he responded to his analysis. “I want to hold back the fighters. I think we need to keep them back for the time being. I would like to keep them in reserve for protecting the shuttles. Between the point defense, secondaries, ECM’s and shields we should be able to stop the missiles. What are our options for removing the fighters from orbit?”

  It was obvious from the easy way he replied that Hawke had been thinking heavily on this already. “Well, Will and I have a thought on that. We believe our enemy will assist us in that matter. They will attempt to take us on regardless of the cost at least once. What we need to do is make sure we take full advantage of their first strike attempt as they may wise up and hold back until we send down the shuttles.”

  “Aarrgghhh…” Hawke suddenly groaned and leaned to the side as a sharp pain required several seconds before he could continue. Zeke looked on concerned as it was obvious Hawke was hurt, but a good many were in the same shape.

  With a strained voice, but still clear, Hawke resumed. “What we recommend, is seed the area with the missile mines that we recovered from New Providence after they surrendered. They were made for space, not in an atmosphere, hence they are limited in their effectiveness but since the fighters will be coming to us, that should mitigate the bad a good bit, but only if we can saturate the area heavily enough. They should come as a happy surprise. The secondaries, I would use to support the point defense and if possible, target any of the fighters trying to leave the area. We should be able to knock out a good amount. At least, hopefully anyway, make it manageable for Gunner’s crew when they embark.”

  “I only have limited detail on the fighters of the Chohish, but what notes I do have do not suggest they put much emphasis on them. And after what we saw with Gunner and Librada, I would match Gunner and crew against any of the Chohish, one on one or even two on one. It all depends on how many Chohish fighters there are.”

  “I like your idea’s, get with Jamie and grab anyone you need to help out. You’ve got several hours, make the best of it. Oh, and get that injury looked at, I may need you on the ground. Let me know after you’re checked out if you are up for some flying.”

  Hawke looked at Zeke in surprise with curiosity on his face at Zeke’s last comment. Before he could ask what that meant, Zeke was interrupted and pulled away.

  The interruption gave Hawke time to stretch his wings and get a feel on how bad the damage was. Going to his workstation, Hawke reviewed, again, what he had on the Chohish. It was a good fifteen minutes later that Zeke returned, followed close behind by Will.

  Standing, Hawke waited patiently as the two slowly made their way across the bridge. It was Zeke, who arrived first to stand by him.

  Sliding up between the two, Will rested his arms on each of their shoulders. It would have looked silly, tilted as he was due to Hawke’s height, if the situation was not so dire.

  “Well Gentlemen, I have been chatting with our soon to be guest, Captain Jeanne de Clisson, besides the governor and several of his technicians. Seems this Captain de Clisson has been running their defense since their prior General was killed during the evacuation underground. She is one smart cookie. I am impressed with what she has accomplished.”

  Looking at Hawke, Will was taken back a bit when he saw the clenched fists. Upon a negative shake of the head from Zeke, Will finished “Seems when, I will just call her by her first name, Jeanne saw a freighter being blown away and being not able to identify the type of ships, guessed correctly what was happening.”

  “After warning the station at Niflhel, she then unloaded a good portion of what her three ships were carrying and most of her crew to the ground. Then she had her remaining crew continue unloading the ships into their shuttles or the three pinnacles they had while they made their way to the general location of the Chohish. Their ships were only destroyer class, but they had loaded everyone and everything they could before leaving New Providence when they learned of the plans to surrender. They had a lot of stuff.”

  Raising his hand to pat Hawke on his shoulder, he stopped it raised high up in the air when he saw Hawke brace himself with closed eyes. Lowering his hand so it barely rested on Hawkes arm, Will continued.

  “The Governor is very familiar with the RGN actions that took place at the Irracan enclave as piracy affected their system tremendously the last several decades. He was glad to hear of the end of the war with the expectations that the pirating in this system would abate a great deal. Knowing that this system had to have been very negatively impacted by the Irracans, I was surprised by the admiration and defense of this Captain Jeanne de Clisson. Seems she has done some amazing work in the short time she has been on planet.”

  “In fact, you may be familiar with some of her prior work. Do you remember that last minute delay of the New Providence surrender…? Well… the Governor told me, while Jeanne was on with Commander Chandler and Gunner, that one of her commanders, a man named Jan, informed him that the last-minute request to delay the signing ceremony was wholly Jeanne’s idea. He divulged that information to help convince the Governor to allow Jeanne command of their remaining defense forces as the senior command structure of the planet had been wiped out. That delay, if you remember how brilliantly it was played out, had been planned months before our forces had even arrived in their system. Oh, in case you did not know, her uncle is the President of New Providence”.

  With astonishment clearly written on their faces, both Hawke and Zeke looked at Will in amazement.

  “Yeah, that sudden delay seemed odd at the time. I remember we pulled back and regrouped all our forces as we thought it could be a trick. Now it makes sense… the request was brilliant. It allowed a slew of their ships to get away. Heck, that is why we are here. They are familiar with their system much better than we were. Our pulling back opened an avenue to a slipstream, we did not know about. Ingenious! I am looking forward to meeting this Captain.” replied Zeke.

  “Well, you will meet her sooner than expected. Jeanne has over two dozen fighters down there with experienced pilots. They have not used them yet as the fighters needed to be put together. They were boxed up on the destroyers due to space constraints. Jeanne did not want to use them until she had them all available as the Chohish would have overwhelmed them with numbers. Jeanne estimates that the Chohish have around six to seven dozen fighters. Even if Jeanne spoke of their flying ability with contempt, one of the technicians I talked to was not so ready to agree with her.”

  Pulling a console control off a nearby table, Will, turned to face one of the consoles near them where he brought up a pair of halo 3D images displaying RGN fighters. One displayed the model that sat in their fighter bay and one obviously much older. Underneath each fighter listed their capabilities.

  “I wish I had a blueprint for one of Jeanne’s fighters, but I was promised I will have it shortly. Right now, they have twenty-two put together and ready for action. Four more fighters that are about four to six hours away from being ready and another six more still in boxes.”

  “The planet had dozens of modern fighters, but lost them all trying to buy time for the citizens. The fighters were stationed on the orbital platform, but they were destroyed early on. The orbital platform along with their fighters, gave a good accounting of itself until the enemy fleets reached their main laser range. Then, per Governor Muldane, they tore the orbital platform to shreds in mere moments. Without the orbital platform, the fighters did not stand a chance. None of the fighters survived.”

  “They have another eighteen fighters in the shelters, but Jeanne said they would not be very effective now. That is the second diagram I brought up. These were outdated when bought several years ago. They need major work before she would risk putting a pilot in one. That was her next project with all the spare equipment she brought with her.”

  Smiling suddenly, he continued. “Jeanne packed every spare part she could fit in her destroyers as she did not know when, or if ever
, she would ever get back to New Providence. And Zeke, she has lots of parts we could use in our repair efforts. I have our supply officer working with Jeanne’s to get a list together to see what we can get up here after we make orbit and remove the Chohish.”

  “Oh, and one more final piece of good news. Governor Titus and Jeanne do not believe the Chohish have any large missiles on the ground besides what missiles are on the fighters. None have been used up to this time anyway.”

  “Well, that is a pleasant surprise. Will, let’s get back to your earlier comment. What did you mean ‘you will meet her sooner than expected”? Zeke asked Will with a side glance.

  Chuckling, he gave Zeke and Hawke one of his devilish grins before replying. “Hawke, did you update the Captain on our new plans?” Will waited for Hawke to give a negative nod before continuing.

  “So far, I like this Captain, she is sharp and quick. She asked what our plans were for making orbit and after giving her a quick rundown of what Hawke and I discussed, she asked to be a part of it.”

  “This is what we came up with. While the Chohish are making their attack run on us, she will attack from the rear with her twenty-two fighters. When the Chohish turn around to attack her group, Gunner will then launch into the Chohish new rear. The two are coordinating their plans as I speak. And as it happens, Captain de Clisson has a bad habit like you.”

  “Oh, come on Will, spit it out. Time is short.” Zeke said in exasperation.

  “Captain Jeanne de Clisson will be leading her fighters. And per the chatter we overheard in the background, it sounds like she is a demon in a fighter. You should have heard the cheers when she announced that to me. And the Governor said she was a genius defending the planet.”

  Looking at Zeke and Hawke seriously, Will continued. “She had three destroyers against an overwhelming force. Her actions bought Niflhel close to two days for evacuation. The Captain was the last one to evacuate off her ship in a pinnacle and that was close, real close. She stayed behind to search for survivors and to send the crippled ship on a collision course for one of the Chohish cruisers. Gusty lady. But anyway, she plans to land with her fighter on board the Lucky Strike after the Chohish are routed or destroyed.”

  “That is about all for now. Anyone have anything else? Captain?”

  “No, I think that is plenty. Nice review. Are we done here?” replied Zeke.

  “Nothing else from me. And I must get moving, there is a lot to do and not much time. Hawke, where you headed?” asked Will.

  “Medical bay, I need to get my wing joint checked out. It got all twisted up during all the shaking. See you two soon.” replied Hawke.

  Walking quickly, Will made his way quickly to the elevator to meet Gunner and Khaleesi while Hawke went in the opposite direction towards the sick bay.

  Flexing his wings while he was walking to see how they felt, Hawke pondered on what Zeke was going to ask him to do that required him to be needing his wings soon. Things were going to get interesting in the next few hours, real interesting.

  Meanwhile, Zeke made his way to his cabin that was accessible from the bridge. He needed to get refreshed before making orbit. Just before entering, he turned and reminded everyone to do the same.

  Going straight to the small bathroom on the far side of the room, he stopped in the doorway for a moment to collect himself before continuing. After taking care of nature’s needs, he took his time while running the tooth sanitizer unit. It felt good to get rid of the grime on his teeth, he could still taste the coffee he had with breakfast those many hours ago. Looking at his face in the mirror, he could see dark circles around his eyes along with a day-old stubble. Well, better take a shower now, hopefully it would rejuvenate him.

  Zeke removed his soiled and ripped uniform before putting it in the disposal chute. Grabbing a new uniform, he spread it out on his bed. Looking at it, he recalled the reason he put it on every day. The billions and billions of people that depended on the men and women who wore this uniform. That they lived their lives knowing that in times of peril, people wearing this uniform would do everything they could to help them, to protect them. The pride in his parents faces when they attended his graduation ceremony from the Academy. The look on his little sister’s face when she ran up to him, wrapped her arms around his legs and called him “My Brother, My Hero!” all the while, looking up into his eyes with adoration. When his older brother shook his hand in congratulations before grabbing him into a tight hug even though their baby sister would not let loose her stranglehold on his legs.

  Chuckling, while shaving with the antique shaver his great grandfather had given him, he thought of how hard he tried not to tear up the moment his mother had come up to him and brushed the hair on the side of his head back with her hand like she had done every day of his life before the Academy. And how he had failed miserably. And how she had lovingly gazed into his eyes. “My boy is no longer a boy.” And his father who had followed close behind her. “No, definitely not a boy anymore. Son, we are so very proud of you.”

  Wiping the wetness from his eyes, he saw he was not the only one, many others at the Academy were doing the same. Even Hawke, standing tall in the midst of his large family, had moisture leaking from his eyes.

  Stepping into the shower, he relaxed while the sanitizer did its job. As he raised his arms, he again felt the sharp pain in his ribs. He would have to get them looked at once the immediate situation was over.

  Refreshed and feeling more awake that he had for a long time, Zeke quickly dressed. Just before opening the door to the bridge, he pulled on his Captains beret. Stopping in front of the mirror beside the door, he centered the RGN patch just above his left eye while pulling the excess material between the top and middle of his right ear. Then he quietly opened the door to the sound of bustling activity.

  It was a long few hours before they were close enough for their sensors to confirm what the probes and ground crew had reported. There were no ships in orbit. Zeke turned to Will and Hawke, “take us in gentlemen, time to get this party on the road.”

  Six hours later, they settled into orbit over the largest of the emergency quarters, but only after destroying dozens of satellites that the Chohish had deployed.

  Once in orbit, they started deploying their missile mines. It had been a Herculean task to make that happen. Before deploying, each of the missile mines had to reconfigured manually to recognize the identifying signatures of not only RGN, but now, Irracan fighters. Since these mines had been salvaged from their last action, they did not have the necessary computer interfaces to make these updates quickly. Luckily, they were able to get technical information on the manual process from several in Captain de Clisson’s crew to help speed up the updates. But even so, it was a delicate, complicated, time consuming job that they barely finished in time.

  And they finished the deployment just in time. It was not long after making orbit before they were set upon by just under twelve dozen Chohish fighters. More than expected but hopefully all they had. The fighters looked like miniature versions of their capital ships.

  Zeke knew that fighters have come a long way in the many years since they came into conception, but individually they were no match for a cruiser. Even one as damaged as the Lucky Strike. But not against so many fighters, they could do some serious damage, if not destroy them outright.

  It was the sound of low maniacal laughter that drew Zeke’s attention to Hawke. Seated at his workstation, he was bouncing up and down in his chair while laughing out loud. Zeke looked over at Isolde to see if she knew what was going on, but she was busy working on the communications with the ground. But it did not take long for Zeke to get his answer once he looked at the main battle screen.

  The missile mines were having an impact, much more than Zeke had hoped. The mines were built for space, not for being in an atmosphere. They just did not have the time and room to make the changes they were designed for. Something had to be helping them out, or maybe he should say who, Hawke. He
watched as a fighter was in the process of trying to outmaneuver a missile only to run into another one. As the fighter was destroyed, he heard Hawke let loose with another crazy laugh. He had no doubt about who had been manually controlling the second missile.

  With concern, Zeke watched as several dozen of the fighters plowed their way through the missiles only to run into the cruisers point defense. The point defense is designed to take out missiles moving a lot faster than fighters that were moving a lot slower than normal due to the atmosphere. Over half were blown out of the sky before they could even let loose their missiles.

  The other fighters were able to get their missiles away and several of the missiles would have reached their destination, if not for the AI and the atmosphere. The AI had more time to respond as the missiles, even though supersonic, were sluggish in the atmosphere compared to space.

  Meanwhile, Will, who had been monitoring the fighters, used the secondaries to ensure they would not be coming back.

  Again, there was that crazy laughter. Zeke turned around to reprimand Hawke and was taken aback to see Hawke and Will high fiving without taking their attention away from their screens. Most of the rest of the crew was smiling and he heard a small chuckle here and there. Well, maybe this was not the time to tell Hawke to keep it down.

  “Oh boy, what have I created with that team? But you must admit, they sure do work well together and are very effective. I just hope their celebrations… do not become contagious.” thought Zeke before shaking his head to clear his thoughts.

  After finishing his high five with Hawke, Will widened his display area so he could see the whole theatre of action. All the remaining enemy fighters were still attempting to get through to get to the cruiser. Hawke was right, they are stubborn bordering on stupidity. Well, time for our next surprise. “Jeanne, you ready?”