Ambush

by G J Moses

  Sighing, Zeke signaled Isolde.

  “Attention, attention all hands. Operation ‘Sovereign’ now in progress for the Lucky Strike and supporting fighters. Repeat, operation ‘Sovereign’ now in progress.” Isolde announced through the Lucky Strike ship speakers and broadcasted on all their escort fighters.

  The Fox had a similar announcement, but it was for their own operations plan ‘Payback’. Meghan and Jeanne, with Zeke’s approval, had made their own plan that involved the Fox and its escort fighters before Jeanne transferred to the Lucky Strike.

  “Operation ‘Payback’ was met with a lot of shouts and fist pounding. This all could be heard in one of Isolde ear plugs. Isolde relayed the communications onto Jeanne, who signaled thanks with a smile and a shake of her head. Zeke looked questionably at Jeanne when she coughed, trying to cover her laughter.

  With a surge, the Lucky Strike gathered speed quickly. The escorting fighters fanned out and took up a position following the cruiser.

  With eagerness, Hawke looked forward to the coming action. Looking over at the Lucky Strike, he could see the obvious damage that the cruiser had already taken. Repair plates covered the skin across more than thirty percent of the ship’s exterior. But he knew the crew, which is what made that cruiser, more than anything else, so dangerous. To him, they were the best of the best, led by the best officer the RGN had.

  Checking his controls, swaging the fighter left, then right, Hawke did his final test to verify that everything was in order. He knew the rest of the fighters were doing the same.

  Lieutenant Hayreddin Barbarossa, now in charge of the fighters escorting the Fox, had made a very positive impression on Hawke in the short time they had met. Like the rest of the personnel from Tortuga, Hayreddin, had a wicked sense of humor. But there was no mistaking the respect he had with the other fighters from New Providence nor the revenge he and they wanted to extract on the Chohish.

  Hawke smiled, remembering when he first met Harding. Walking in on a dart game being held with most of the Tortuga pilots present, Hawke was just in time to see the end of a match. One pilot who had just lost, was about to throw his dart at the winner when Hayreddin calmly walked in front of the winner while chatting with another.

  Without missing a beat, while still chatting like he did not have a care in the world, Hayreddin had walked over to the losing pilot where he took the dart out of his hand only to swivel and throw the dart at the board in one quick motion. The prior dart owner gasped when he saw the dart hit the very center and quiver from the force used. Hayreddin coolly turned back to his companion and resumed talking like nothing happened. The rest of the pilots laughed, including the pilot the dart had been taken from.

  Each group of fighters would do their escort duties, but would later converge and meet back up where Hawke would assume overall command again.

  With a smile, Hawke increased his speed matching the Lucky Strikes. Hawke felt his adrenaline surge, his wings, even though confined in his harness, strained to open. “Ok Zeke, take us in and let’s show these bastards that a banged up Human cruiser is still more than a match for a pair of Chohish destroyers. I only ask one favor, leave something for me!”

  Following in the Lucky Strikes wake, the Fox and their fighters followed at a slower pace. Watching the cruiser ahead of her start to pull away, Meghan knew that this operation was going to be challenging.

  Within a few minutes, Caspian shouted a warning. “I am picking up the energy signature of two destroyers making progress in our direction.”

  Without looking at Zeke, Jeanne commented. “Seems your guess was correct. They are coming to us. Let’s give them the reception they deserve.”

  Turning to look at Jeanne’s impassive face, you would never know that she was the one who made the last comment filled with such vehemence. But once Zeke looked into her eyes, there was no doubt that it had been her. The hate, along with deep pain, was plain for all to see.

  “Hawke, we will go in first, use your own judgement on when best to join the fun. Do not wait too long, Jeanne and I have a date with some royalty, so we will not be sticking around.”

  “Understand Zeke, we will be there at the right time. I am curious though, what is Jeanne planning on wearing to honor our guest?” responded Hawke.

  “Oh, I am wearing something really snazzy, something that will ‘kill’ him.” a serious Jeanne articulated with a swirl of her hat.

  “How long before we are in firing range Gunner?” asked Zeke.

  Hunched over a console, Gunner raised his hand in acknowledgement. “Checking on their speed and rate of acceleration now. But… based on our acceleration… their acceleration… max speeds… we should be in firing range in just shy of ninety-three minutes.”

  Suddenly, Jeanne spoke up. “Hawke, how long would it take you to refuel and rearm all your fighters?”

  Even though puzzled on why she was asking, Hawke did a quick calculation and responded. “We should be able to get them all refueled and rearmed in about thirty to forty minutes. May I ask why?”

  Unsnapping her harness, standing and turning towards Zeke, Jeanne simply stated “trust me”.

  Smiling, Jeanne asked out loud. “Hayreddin, can you hear me?”

  A baritone voice responded “Aye, Aye Captain, I hear you loud and clear.”

  “Good, I want your group to speed up and merge with Hawke’s. Execute Ty-ho.” ordered Jeanne.

  The baritone voice now laughed before excitedly answering “Aye, Aye Captain, Ty-ho it is.”

  With a puzzled look, Zeke queried Jeanne “Ty-ho??”

  “I was thinking. You pointed out that you believed the sovereign was not on the two ships coming at us. We know from the Chohish previous actions, without their sovereign leading, are brutish and not very skilled or just reluctant to do something on their own. If he is not on the ships coming towards us, he must be commanding both these ships from the third destroyer on the other side of the planet.”

  With a huge smile, Jeanne raised her right hand and arm swinging them in a slashing motion across her neck. “If he is, time for us to strike first, the destroyers here would have to relay any new actions from us back to him and wait for a response before taking action. Even though communication is now near instantaneous, it still takes a bit to understand what is actually happening and responding with a worthwhile order to the officers commanding these ships. That may take a few minutes. We are going to try and take advantage of that.”

  Again, Zeke simply asked “Ty-ho??”

  With a laugh, Jeanne went on, “I was getting to that. Hayreddin and Hawke’s fighters, after joining, are to accelerate to full speed until they reach here.” at which point Jeanne pointed at a position on the screen. “Once there, they are to fire all their missiles. Then they are to reverse course and return post haste, refuel and rearm quickly. Only then will they return to their original positions to support your original plans.”

  The excitement was rubbing off to others on the bridge, even though they did not understand why.

  It was Gunner who figured it out first. “Brilliant, just brilliant”.

  “Well, Gunner, since you seem to know what our friend here is planning, do you mind letting me know?” asked a now puzzled Zeke.

  “I would prefer he didn’t, let’s just see what happens. It is more fun that way. Your fighter group will have time to refuel and be ready for your battle plan. The fighters from the Fox will need more time to refuel and rearm, but they will be matching the Fox’s speed which is reduced so they should have the necessary time. It will be close, but knowing Meghan’s crew, they should make it. Let’s just see what happens… OK?” a smug looking Jeanne asked.

  “It is against my better judgement, but except for wasting some fuel and missiles, I see no harm in it, so we will wait and see.” a perplexed but amused Zeke replied.

  All watched as the icons for fighters around the Fox accelerated. As they got close to the Lucky Strike’s fighter group, the latter group
accelerated so within a short time, all fighters were in one solid block going at their maximum speed towards the enemy.

  From the laughter he heard coming from Hawke’s cockpit, Zeke guessed correctly that Hawke now understood the new objective and enthusiastically agreed with it. It was not until the combined fighter groups were getting close to the area Jeanne had identified that Zeke finally understood the Ty-ho plan.

  Jeanne, who had been watching Zeke, saw his eyebrows raise and a smile appear. “Got it, didn’t you?” a laughing Jeanne exclaimed.

  “Yeah, finally. It took me long enough, huh? I like it. I hope it pans out. It wouldn’t work normally, but, giving the Chohish unusual command structure like you said, this actually may have a chance. Definitely worthwhile pursuing.” a contrite Zeke responded.

  All watched as the fighter group continued on. The marker that Jeanne had identified had been highlighted on the screen by Isolde. The destroyers fired first along with a second volley before the fighters reached their designated spot. Once they did, though, without pause, all the fighters let loose both their missiles.

  The fighters, unlike normal, did not stick around. They did a wide roll and reversed direction.

  Using the signals from each of the RGN fighter missiles, Isolde put them up on the main screen in relation to the Chohish destroyers in blue and the Chohish missiles in red.

  Normally, when missiles are fired from a fighter at such an extreme range, a human or Sorath ship would change course and outrun the missiles, making doing this a waste of time and resources. But with the Chohish command structure…

  As each moment passed, the time to turn away slowly passed. The command to turn must have finally reached them, but not in time. And as the destroyers started to slow down, the missiles arrived.

  Not all the missiles got through, that is what the destroyer’s main purpose is for, defense against missile fire. A good many were destroyed before they reached their target, but not all, as Ty-ho also called for singling out just one target and overwhelming their defensive fire.

  While a good portion of the missiles was destroyed, by slowing down, the destroyers gave the missiles a unique advantage, additional time for adjustments. And unexpectedly, they could only give limited support to each other as both destroyers were in the process of turning. Hence, both destroyers were out of position to be at their defensive optimum when the missiles arrived.

  Fighter missiles were not as large nor as destructive as the missiles from a man of war, but they still packed a punch. And as the all the missiles were set to impact the same section of one destroyer, they did what had been the object of the Ty-ho plan was.

  Both crews of the Fox and the Luck Strike watched as the port engine on one of the destroyers burst into flame before separating from the destroyer all together. Other missiles impacted the side of the destroyer causing additional damage.

  A good many turned to look at Jeanne, who returned the stares with a mischievous grin.

  “When did you come us with this “Ty-ho” plan?” solicited a curious Gunner.

  “When we were first attacked. We noticed that the enemy ships did not respond like each ship had its own command structure. We had hoped to take advantage of that deficiency, but never got the chance.” a proud Jeanne responded. “Not until now that is.”

  “Well, it was very effective. Now we need to take advantage of what you have provided us.” challenged Zeke. “Hawke, what is your status?”

  “We should meet up with you within ten minutes. Senior Ensign Katherine Bortoluzzi, Jamie’s lead technician in the fighter bay, hearing what we needed, took it upon herself to start pre-placing fuel pods outside the ship along with missile packs and personnel. Our estimate to refuel is dramatically improved from our earlier estimates. We will be fully operational in thirty minutes.” replied Hawke.

  Upon hearing Hawke, Jeanne signaled Isolde to connect her privately to Meghan. “Meghan, did you hear that?”

  “Yes, excellent idea. Time is of the essence and worth the additional risk. I will make sure we do the same. You know, I thought we had the best crew, but I have to admit, the crew on the Lucky Strike is top notch and maybe our equal.” countered Meghan.

  “I second your thoughts.” agreed Jeanne. “Keep me updated and batten down the hatches, it is going to get rough. Jeanne out.”

  It was another ten minutes before the fighters swarmed around the cruiser. Landing, refueling and rearming while the cruiser was at maximum speed is dangerous, but doing it on the skin of the ship, was only for the insane. Fortunately, most fighter pilots, were considered insane.

  In less than twenty-seven minutes, all the designated fighters were ready and repositioning behind the Lucky Strike. And in a little over a dozen more, they were in missile range of the undamaged destroyer.

  Strangely, the destroyers did not stay together to support each other. The undamaged one had continued on alone at full speed.

  Why? Zeke was concerned as to why the undamaged destroyer would continue on alone and leave their sister ship floundering and undefended. Did the oncoming destroyer have something in mind that they were not aware of?

  “You know Jeanne, this makes no sense. Why continue on… the odds are heavily against them in a one to one engagement. We outweigh them in firepower, let alone the fighters. So why take the risk?”

  “You’re right… it doesn’t…” when Jeanne’s eyes widened in understanding. “Ram!”

  Jeanne watched as the color drained out of Zeke’s face.

  “Isolde, Will, I believe Jeanne may have a caught onto something. In fact… Jax… what is the damage radius for an engine overload, if planned?”

  “If planned… hell… many times larger than a missile that is for sure.” responded Jax.

  “Will, Isolde, keep us away from that destroyer.”

  “We can do that… but the Fox with its current engine issues.” Will replied.

  “Meghan, did you catch all this?” a concerned Jeanne asked.

  “Yes, but in our condition, there is not much we can do about it. We cannot go back.”

  Just as Will started to say something…

  “eeeoooeeeooo bip bip eeeoooeeeooo” rang out.

  “Enemy missile launches in progress.” announced Caspian.

  “Thanks Caspian, you can have Isolde kill the alarm. Let me know if any gets close.” directed Zeke.

  “Yes Sir.”

  Zeke paused for a second as the Lucky Strike rocked from missile launches.

  “Ok Gunner, Isolde, let’s see what we can do. Take us into Energy range, extreme range. Start firing at maximum range. No slowdown, blow past.” ordered Zeke.

  The minutes ticked slowly by.

  Suddenly, all could hear the point defense come online. Zeke watched Gunner as he tensed up managing the controls normally manned by Will. Gunner’s hands moved over the controls with speed and surety.

  Just as Zeke started to query Gunner on the status, Caspian calmly stated “First set of missiles destroyed. Second set on the way.”

  Out of the corner of his vision, Zeke saw Isolde mouth a ‘thank you’ to Caspian. Caspian nodded while never taking his eyes off his screens.

  “A good crew… They knew you would be a bit anxious, having Gunner man the point defense rather than Will or Hawke.” observed Jeanne.

  “They are a good crew, the best in my opinion. But you are wrong, I was not anxious about Gunner. I have seen Gunner in action before at that station. But Gunner does have one flaw. He does not give his captain an updated status unless he deems it necessary. Caspian and Isolde are both well aware of that. They were afraid I would have a heart attack waiting for an update.” uttered Zeke.

  “All but one of our missiles destroyed. One missile got through. Undetermined damage. No change noted on enemy movements.” reported an excited Caspian.

  “Isolde, bring up the position of the third destroyer on the left screen.” urged Zeke.

  The planet and its seven moons showed up f
irst and then red icons appeared indicating the destroyers and the other vessels positions on the far side of the planet.

  Taking a controller from his chairs pocket, Zeke used it to create a dotted line from their current position to a new second green icon.

  “Selena, take us there once we are past these destroyers.” ordered Zeke.

  “Are you sure? That route would not take us anywhere near the third destroyer.” a surprised Selena asked.

  “Yes, I am sure. Caspian, keep a tab on those ships, let me know if anything changes.” ordered Zeke.

  With a nod, Caspian signaled he had heard the order, but he did not have time to respond verbally. He was watching the next set of enemy missiles being launched. “I think one of their launchers was damaged, there is one less missile in this batch.”

  “Our second set of missiles about to arrive. Damn, their learning faster, they got them all.” informed Gunner. “Their second set will arrive in about a minute.”

  “Hawke, Gunner, question for you? Maybe we can help the Fox out a bit. Do you remember the games we used to play with Lance with our fighters during the war games? And that one maneuver that gave him the most problems. Lance handled it, but he is one of the best in the business. Want to try it on this captain and see how he fares?” challenged Zeke.

  In answer, Zeke saw the fighters surge ahead. Smiling and rubbing his hands, Zeke turned to Jeanne. “Well, this should be interesting.”

  “Do you want to let me in on it?” urged Jeanne.

  “As someone said, ‘let’s just see what happens. It is more fun that way.’’ retorted Zeke with a shake of his head. “And please, sit down and buckle up, it may get rocky”.

  “Enemy missiles now in range… all engaged… point defense… eliminated.” exclaimed Caspian.

  “Getting close to energy range.” Isolde reported.

  “Gunner, you ready?” Hawkes voice came over the speakers.

  “Ready and waiting… strange being on this side of things… you take care of my fighter; I want it back… and in good shape…” a stern Gunner answered. “Whenever you are ready Hawke…”