by G J Moses
“Ready… let’s see how good this captain is…” Hawkes eager voice came across the speakers.
The cruiser barreled on. The ship rocked with a missile launch, but it was not the same as before, then another launch, then another, then another, then another, then another…
Twirling a strand of her hair around her index finger, Jeanne stared at Zeke waiting for his explanation. Zeke, just pointed to the main screen where Isolde had put up the enemy destroyer, missiles and fighters.
Curious, Jeanne watched as the missiles, which had been fired one after another versus the normal all at once volley, lined up to head for the destroyer one after the other. The fighters lined up in the same manner behind the last missile.
Puzzled, Jeanne watched as the missiles raced on. The cruiser then made a burst of speed and joined up just behind the last fighter.
She watched as one by one the missiles were intercepted. All until the last four. The one closest to the destroyer detonated on a command from Gunner, a little further and then the next exploded, a little further and another explosion… each explosion looking like a miniature sun… And through the core of those huge blasts, came the fighters with the cruiser just behind firing all energy weapons.
Everyone watched in amazement as the fighters slashed the sides of the destroyer with their energy weapons. The destroyer desperately tried to turn towards the cruiser but it was too late in its turn.
The side of the destroyer was literally being disintegrated. Very little return fire, little, but Zeke watched as one fighter icon disappeared. The cruiser added its fire to that of the fighters.
It was not fully one sided. The Lucky Strike rocked from near misses. The Bridge lights flickered and went to their emergency red lights for a few seconds before reverting back to normal lighting.
Then they were past. The destroyer was still moving but it was obviously heavily damaged. And then, what most had forgotten, was the last missile that had not exploded. It reached its optimum distance from the destroyer and deployed its warheads. The bright light hid the destroyer for a few seconds.
Major damage could be seen by all, the debris field was extensive. They were down to a little over half speed. But surprisingly, the destroyer continued on trying to catch up to the cruiser, even with all the obvious damage.
“Damage report…??”
“Getting the data now from Engineering. We took several near hits on the previously damaged areas. If not for that, we should have been able to manage it. Initial reports are the damage went in deep. Several power couplings were destroyed. These have been rerouted to backup systems.” Isolde reported.
“Injuries?”
Turning to look at Zeke directly with pain visible in her eyes, Isolde finished “Seven crewmen lost, more injured, unable to give a full count at this time.”
Shaking his head in acknowledgement, Zeke asked Isolde to reconnect communications with the Fox.
“Meghan, this one is all yours. We will fly by the other destroyer and soften it up some more for you. Good hunting.” informed Zeke. “We lost a fighter, not sure of their status. I cannot stop or I will miss our appointment. Can you check it out?”
“Our sensors indicated you were hit, bad?” asked a concerned Meghan.
“We lost some people and more injured. Still gathering a full damage report.”
“Sorry to hear about your losses, please pass on our condolences. But that was a good trick with the missiles, never seen that maneuver before. One good note though. We just received a signal from the pilot of the fighter that was destroyed. She was able to eject safely. Which is good as I would hate to be forced to update Ensign Bortoluzzi recommendation for her medal to be in postmortem. We will clean up after you. Good hunting and we will see you at Nocuous. Meghan out.”
“Well, that was enjoyable. I have to agree with Meghan, never saw the like before. Curious, how did Lance get past it?” Jeanne asked while still twirling her strand of hair.
Trying not to stare as he found her hair twirling so sexy, Zeke responded in a distracted voice. “During our exercise. Lance, who has a very good crew, saw what we planned as soon as the first missile exploded on its own. Lance then had his crew concentrate all their fire on the last position of the fighters in the center apex of the explosion. He then expanded his fire in a circle outward. Needless to say, in the simulation, we took unacceptable losses and had to break off. Changing your ships fire that quickly, takes a very competent crew. Like I said, Lance and his crew are good, very good. We ran the test on several others, they were not as successful.”
“Coming up on the second destroyer. It is trying to move towards us, but having problems matching speed.” Caspian interrupted.
“Do not get close enough for them to engage. Our missiles have a much longer range, let’s take advantage of it. I want to fire as many missiles as we can while we are in the engagement window but do not relinquish any speed. We have an important engagement to make.” ordered Zeke.
“Understood” both Isolde and Gunner responded at the same time.
The ship shuddered with the identifying noise and shaking of the resumption of a missile launch. This occurred several more times before Caspian announced they were out of the engagement envelope.
“Several missiles got through… but unable to get a damage reading.” reported Caspian.
“Changing course to the designated destination.” Selena informed out loud.
“Excellent! Caspian, keep me informed of any enemy formation changes.” Zeke responded.
Sitting back and relaxing his neck so it rested on the back of his chair, Zeke, closed his eyes. Smiling, he knew it must look strange, here they were getting ready for a major battle and their captain had his head back and eyes closed. Staying that way for several moments, Zeke chuckled as he could imagine their thoughts just before he straightened up.
Glancing over, Zeke saw that Jeanne was looking at him oddly.
“Howdy Zeke, did you enjoy your nap? You know, I only thought Jan could do that.” inquired Jeanne
“Gathering my thoughts and resting my eyes for a few moments while I can.” mumbled Zeke while he stretched to loosen the tightness in his shoulders.
“Hello Hawke, how are we doing?” calmly asked Zeke.
“Doing good, Zeke. We are spread out in a half circle behind you. Any change to current plans?”
“Nope. How about you, Master Sergeant Reaney, you and the boys all set?”
“We are good to go… personnel are geared up and resting prior to boarding the shuttles.” Reaney responded.
“Isolde, we still in touch with Meghan?” Jeanne requested.
“Meghan here Jeanne. We are just about to engage the first destroyer. It has propulsion issues and from what we can tell, one side’s point defense is nonexistent. But it is still trying to follow you. Hawke was right, they are stubborn unto stupidity. We intend to show them what a slow but fully capable New Providence destroyer with several squads of fighters can do. Lieutenant Barbarossa is about to engage.”
“Meghan, based on what you see at this point of time, do you anticipate any problems? You can just let them follow us and we can deal with them after we deal with the other destroyer.” inquired Zeke.
“I appreciate it, but I think we can manage. The fighters are anxious for a crack at this destroyer. If they can slow it down some more, I can join the fight.” responded Meghan. “No matter, even if we cannot take this one out, we will go after the crippled one. Too tempting a target not to have a go at it.”
“Ok, sounds good. Remember to stay out of range in case they overload their engines. Stay safe, we have come to count you as part of our family. Keep us updated… Zeke out.”
While the Lucky Strike continued on its way, Isolde kept one of the monitors updated with the status of the Fox.
All watched as the icons for the fighters moved ahead of the Fox and spread out. They continued to close the distance to the enemy destroyer. With alarm, all watched as on
e of the icons disappeared off the monitor.
Shortly, all the small icons were swarming around the larger icon.
“Can you relay any images from the fighters Isolde?” queried Jeanne. All could see Jeanne’s nervousness as she was sitting up straight in her chair only being held down by her harness while gripping the sides with white fisted knuckles.
Murmuring into her headset, Isolde nodded positively. The image from the cockpit of one of the fighters came up on the left screen.
The fighter, that was showing the images, was in the middle of the fight. Explosions could be seen all around the fighter. Only through the fighters constant twisting and turning did it avoid being hit. All watching knew that the pilot was being slammed around in his seat as if he were on an old-fashioned roller coaster.
The image of the destroyer side wall came flashing in just before they saw a missile leave the front of the fighter followed immediately by another. The missiles were joined by others from an unknown source just before they slammed into the destroyer.
The screen shifted to empty space before being twisted in a tight circle and back to the original path. The destroyer showed up again now with a deep cavity in the aft section discharging both material and debris.
The fighter flew down the side of the destroyer with lasers firing. On the fighter’s screen, several other fighters were now visible. All were moving in the general direction of the port side engine. The new fighters each fired their two missiles, half of which impacted near the engine support.
The destroyer rotated trying to get its undamaged side in the fight. But the fighters followed the ship as it turned, firing their lasers the entire time. They were soon joined by more fighters until the screen was swarming with zigzagging fighters all firing into the side of the destroyer.
Not all the fighting was one sided. There was a collective gasp when they saw a fighter hit by a Chohish missile where the fighter disintegrated in front of their eyes.
The crew of the Lucky Strike watched with anxiety even though it was obvious that the defensive fire was faltering and the fighters looked to have the upper hand. How many more fighters would be lost before the destroyer succumbed to the devastating fire?
It seemed forever before they saw a major explosion occur in the front-end section of the destroyer, which then shuddered and skewed in a corkscrew fashion. It was at this time that the fighters pulled back for some unknown reason.
That reason soon became obvious as missiles from the Fox slammed into the side already damaged. Missile after missile hit with no obstruction. The debris field expanded rapidly. This continued for several more minutes with no interruption until the destroyer’s power supply blew up in a massive explosion. The shell of the enemy destroyer drifted away with no signs of life.
The Fox now showed in the view coming from the fighter, firing its lasers into the dead shell of the destroyer. This lasted quite a bit before the Fox went silent.
The quiet on the bridge was deafening. Jeanne looked at Isolde imploringly.
“Fox, this is lieutenant Isolde of the Lucky Strike, please respond. Repeat, this is lieutenant Isolde of the Lucky Strike, please respond.”
“We read you Isolde. Captain Kennedy here. Let Jeanne and Zeke know we are not detecting any life on the enemy ship just engaged. We lost several fighters along with their pilots in the battle with another one damaged. We are now in route to the other destroyer where we hope to take it out at long distance.”
“Meghan, Jeanne here. Excellent work there, pass on my thanks to the crew. Sorry to hear of the loss of the pilots, please send me their personal information. Keep me informed of status when you catch up to the other destroyer. I do not have to remind you that you have my permission to ‘Hang Em from the Yardarm.”
The figure of Meghan appeared on the center screen sitting in her captain’s chair. “Savvy that Jeanne, savvy that. We are rearming and refueling the fighters before we engage. We will keep you updated and meet you at the rendezvous point. Meghan out.”
The Lucky Strike continued on for another several minutes, moving away from their target, before a curious Jeanne asked. “Well? Are you going to tell me why we are going away from our target?”
“Hmm, ok, if you insist. I believe…” Zeke started answering when he was interrupted by Caspian.
“We have ship movement.” Caspian announced.
Turning his head so he was looking directly at Jeanne, Zeke raised his hand indicating to hold her question, while cocking his right ear waiting for the rest of Caspian’s report.
“Two enemy ships are taking a heading out system. They are heading…” when Caspian paused.
“Putting the new heading on the main screen” Caspian concluded.
The enemy ships new heading was put up on the main screen overlaying the Lucky Strikes current course. Both courses showed that both groups of ships were going in the same direction and would meet if neither changed course.
“Well, my dear, shall we go check with the Marines?” Zeke queried as he unstrapped from the chair’s harness and stood up.
“First, my friend, what do you know, or suspect, about our enemy that you knew they would leave and head in that direction?’ a perplexed Jeanne queried.
Sitting back down, as Zeke saw all were looking at him for an explanation, all that is except for Isolde, who had a smile on her face while still looking at the main screen.
“The Sovereign has no intention of waiting around for us to arrive. Even he realizes that he would be at a great disadvantage fighting a cruiser sized man of war, along with several squads of fighters. When the Fox finished off the only destroyer that could possibly catch us, besides his own, it was time to leave. His main goal now, is to get that ore container vessel home safely.” answered Zeke.
Resting his hands on his knees and rotating his head to relax some of the stress in his neck before continuing with “and this was the direction the ore container vessel came from so… I correctly surmised where we should be if we did not want that to happen.”
Most nodded like that all made sense except for Jeanne, who had noticed Isolde’s strange lack of surprise reaction. “Excuse me Isolde, but you were not surprised by Zeke’s actions, are you aware of something we are not?”
“Well, Jeanne, you can stay here and do an interrogation on Isolde, but I am going to join the Marines that are boarding the shuttles as we speak. Unfortunately, the shuttles will not wait on you. Your choice.” a laughing Zeke commented as he got up and made his way towards the exit.
“Smart ass, hold up, I’m coming…” Jeanne replied while unstrapping from her chair. “I hope the sovereign likes my outfit.”
From the hallway, Jeanne heard Zeke’s fading voice. “Not sure if he will but I know I do. Very nice outfit, you look gorgeous.”
“Ah ha, now he tells me… I have been sitting here for how long? And not a word… not a peep out of him.” exclaimed Jeanne to the personnel on the brig before she walked out. Just as she was stepping out the door, she stopped to swing her head back around to finish with “but it is still good to hear… a woman always appreciates a man telling her she looks nice… even if he is late doing it.”
With that, Jeanne turned and jogged to catch the lift being held by Zeke. The bridge crew looked at each before a few broke out chuckling. “Yep, she sure has it bad.” stated Isolde, which brought even more chuckles.
A Marine’s Marine
Holding the elevator until Jeanne arrived, Zeke tapped his foot in a sign of impatience. “Your guest will think you are not anxious for your ‘date’ to meet him! He must be very impatient as he is rushing out to meet you. Now, we cannot disappoint him, can we?”
“I doubt my ‘date’ is as anxious to meet me as you suggest. I am sure that he knows I will shower him with the ‘love’ he deserves.” Jeanne responded as she slipped by Zeke to enter the lift. “Especially when I bring you along to help me.”
It was only a moment before they were walking into the shuttl
e bay. It was alive with activity.
“Hi Karter, good to see you again” Jeanne addressed a hulking brute in Marine armor with master sergeant stripes on his shoulders.
“Captain de Clisson, it is good to see you too. If you two will enter the shuttle marked NP353 at the far end of the bay, you can get suited up and hooked into the communications network.” a deep voice came through the armor standing in front of them.
Hurrying, both made their way to the shuttle. Several times they paused to make way for Marines boarding other shuttles. During one of these pauses, Zeke noticed that there were two types of suits. One emblazoned with the familiar RGN logo on the left breast while the other one was more elegant in design with an NP logo in the chest center but similar in hardware.
In all his years in the RGN, Zeke was still amazed with Marine equipment. Similar to the Battleoids, except much smaller, the RGN Marine armor suit was a suit filed with electronic marvels. It had miniaturized servo’s for strength and running, small missile pack, magazines of ammo for the AI controlled shoulder mounted machine gun, layers of armor, scanners, sensors, battery pack pouches for either laser or fusion handheld weapons, and many more items. And all in less than half the size of a Battleoid so as to be able to traverse the hallway of a warship quickly. Battleoids were not known for their speed when on a ship, if they could even stand up.
It took a lot of practice and skill to use a Marine suit, more so than a Battleoid, thankfully both Zeke and Jeanne had some familiarity with the suits. Jeanne, more so than Zeke, not near as well as a Marine, but definitely no novice.
Both sidled up next to the shuttle where there were technicians standing by several Marine suits. It was not hard to distinguish whose was whose. One was sleek in design and colored with the red and black Zeke was so familiar with.
It took several minutes before they were fully integrated in with the suits. Sights and sounds were clear and concise. The technician had them jump in place to verify no obvious loose connections prior to having them run around the shuttle. Popping their helmets off, they were signaled that all looked to be ok whereupon they were instructed to enter the shuttle.
