All That Glitters Ch. 17

"Tac O, do we have a sensor reading on the engine signatures of those vessels from the tactical link?" Noor asked.

"Aye, sir," the Tac O confirmed. "I can send that to the torpedoes on your command, sir."

"Do that. I want to use the 360's to take a shot at those vessels," Noor advised. "We hit any of them with one of those, and it's game over for that vessel."

"Sir, Tac O, I now count forty-six Combat Shuttles heading to Liramor-23."

"Comms, get me Dostier through the link," Noor ordered.

"Dostier, this is Noor. You have at least forty-six combat shuttles coming your way. I can give you 150cm torpedoes or I can engage them with guns. How do you want to handle this?" Noor asked.

"Noor, we are going to engage them with our own torpedoes and with our Mk-48s," Dostier advised. "I'd appreciate it if you can engage with your MK-48s but be aware of The Valour. Her guns will be much more efficient against those shuttles, and she will get in close."

"Roger that," Noor acknowledged. "Right people, light them up!"

The weapons stations unmasked the ventral guns and turned them onto the enemy Combat Shuttles. Between the platform's four MK-48 turrets and The Wanderer's two turrets, they began to decimate the enemy shuttles at range.

The Pollard

"Sir!" the Tac O screamed. "The enemy is engaging our Combat Shuttles. The platform and the new ship are engaging with Mk-48's. They have already knocked out ten shuttles!"

Kittering watched the tactical display, helpless, as shuttle after shuttle was destroyed on the way to the platform. The larger, less manoeuvrable combat shuttles were sitting ducks for the guns. The numbers of destroyed shuttles crept upwards as they were individually targeted.

The surviving shuttles would soon be inside the targeting range of the platform's guns, and the new ship would not likely fire in close proximity to the platform. More and more shuttles flared out until they got inside the guns.

Kittering smiled. The tactical display showed twenty surviving shuttles heading to the open door. Then a new aggressor came up.

The Valour, Liramor-23

Fiona watched as the enemy shuttle fleet was whittled down by the combined firepower of the platform and The Wanderer. Twenty ships were left.

"Take us in, Pilot," Fiona ordered.

Helga set the reticle on the first of the shuttles and fired a short burst. The heavy ammo of the fifty millimeters did amazing damage to the small vessels. She methodically lined up all the vessels in range and destroyed one after the other. The platform would take some damage from shrapnel, but at least the shuttles would not land intact on her.

The Pollard

Kittering watched in helpless horror as his shuttle fleet was systematically destroyed. Not one of the vessels reached their objective. He screamed out his furry and pounded on the arms of his chair.

"Fire missiles and torpedoes on that damn platform!" Kittering ordered. "I want them to pay for that!"

Just then, there was a large bang heard on the ship.

"What in the nine hells was that?" Kittering screamed.

"Sir, ChEng. We've been hit by a rock. Our port FTL vane has been damaged."

"What do you mean a rock?" Kittering screamed.

"This is a mining platform, sir," the Tac O reported. "They probably eject rocks all the time."

"How much damage to the vane? Can we jump?" Kittering demanded.

"Unknown at this time, sir," the ChEng reported. "I have someone looking at things now. We'll have a report shortly."

Kittering started swearing violently. His people pointedly looked anywhere but at the admiral.

The ships were ready to fire.

Central Control, Liramor-23

Dostier was working at keeping the tactical display up to date as new items entered the display. The enemy ships were tagged red and TUSN ships, The Valour, and The Wanderer were tagged blue. Two of the enemy ships were indicated damaged, while one was indicated as tactically operational, a helpless ship but with teeth. However, as long as that ship did not fire, it would not be engaged again.

Running torpedoes or missiles were also tagged red, regardless as to who fired them, as they were a hazard to all. They were designated with indicators telling those watching where each came from and at what they were targeted or suspected of being targeted at.

"Shots fired from all the enemy ships!" the Ops O screamed out.

The Ops computer designated which were missiles and which were torpedoes. It took a few seconds of travel time for the computer to determine the likely target, but every friendly ship assumed the shots were fired at them and they let loose with every gun they had. Surprisingly, the most effective weapons were the fifty millimeter rail guns on The Wanderer and on The Valour.

The computer came up with a solution. The enemy shots were aimed at the platform. The closest enemy ships were barely 100km from the platform. There would be little time to engage the missiles/torpedoes.

Dostier watched as the shots were intercepted by the combined fire power of the defensive fleet. The enemy had fired thirty-six torpedoes and twelve missiles. The numbers were dwindling but not enough. The computer was indicating that some of the shots would impact the platform. As they approached the platform, the missiles/torpedoes began to spread apart, reaching out to impact various locations on Liramor-23.

The Wanderer

"Sir, torpedoes and missiles launched!" the Tac O reported.

"Countermeasures!" Noor yelled. "Target them, NOW!"

"Sir, I have thirty-six torpedoes and twelve missiles fired by all six of the enemy vessels," the Tac O advised the captain.

"What? Even the damaged vessel?" Noor asked.

"Aye, sir."

"Weapons, include that vessel in our target list," Noor ordered. "Fire the heavy torpedoes!"

"Aye, sir!" the Weapons Officer acknowledged. "Torpedoes away," he advised a few moments after.

"Run time is six seconds to the first target, twenty-eight seconds to the last," the Tac O said.

"Fire two rounds of 150 Torpedoes at those same targets. Use seeker heads against them," Noor told Weapons.

"Sir, we have impact amidships on the damaged vessel!" the Tac O reported a few seconds later. "The ship is breaking apart. The other targets are responding to our 360s and are firing decoys, sir."

"Sir, I have redirected the two 150s targeted on the damaged vessel, they are now directed to other targets," the Weapons Officer reported.

The Pollard

"The enemy vessels are targeting our missiles and torpedoes, but at least a quarter of them will get through," Kittering's Weapons Officer reported.

"Sir, the new ship is firing large torpedoes!" the Tac O screamed.

"Isn't that supposed to be a private yacht?" Kittering demanded.

"Aye, sir. According to all reports, they should have their tubes pulled and the outer hatches sealed," his Ex O admitted. "It looks like the navy set things up to give them a ship with capabilities, sir."

"Launch countermeasures, NOW!" screamed the admiral. "Pilot, move the ship, get us away from here! Weapons, target those torpedoes!"

"Sir, the Fremont has been destroyed!" the Tac O called out.

Damn! That was three of his eight ships destroyed and two damaged, probably not able to be fixed in this system, which means they may have to be left behind. Kittering thought. The intelligence on this platform has been wrong twice. Someone was going to pay for this if he survived!

"Get this tub moving, NOW!!" Kittering yelled at his bridge crew.

NS Wimple, Alien Station, Piscium System

Whatt was looking at the tactical display. The enemy ships were in a pattern around one of the larger rock merger zones. They would frequently move through the merger zone as they moved back and forth to hopefully confuse targeting by the platform and its ships.

"OK, people," Whatt said, looking around. "I want all the torpedoes loaded and ready for use as soon as we come out on the other side.

"Science, Tac O and Weapons, I want you ready to feed each other data so that we can get the best shots from our torpedoes.

"Comms O, I need you to establish the tactical link as soon as we arrive at our location.

"Nav O, we are going to short jump 350km out from the platform, 50km from the nearest enemy ships. I want to fire on them as soon as we arrive, get ready people."

A chorus of "Aye, sir," came back from the designated people. A plot appeared in front of Whatt and he approved it and sent it back to the Nav O and the Pilot.

"Solution set, ready to jump," the Nav O intoned.

"Set, ready to jump," the Pilot reported.

"Stand-by all stations," Whatt called out over ship-wide, "Jump now!"

The Wimple winked out of existence and came back right were she planned to be. As soon as she was able to, the Wimple linked back to the tactical display. Her own sensor array came back online and started designating targets.

Three minutes light difference meant that they had not seen the launch of enemy shots nor those of friendly forces. There were torpedoes/missiles running, fortunately the Wimple was farther out than the enemy ships, but the scattering enemy ships were no longer where they had planned them to be.

The Wimple retargeted and launched her torpedoes at three of the ships. There had been six ships, in the confusion, they lost track of one of them.

Unfortunately for the Wimple, she had come back into real space directly in front of that one enemy warship.

The Pollard, Piscium System

"Sir! Enemy ship just jumped in front of us. It is launching torpedoes at our ships. I do not believe they know we are here," the Tac O advised Kittering.

"Dead reckoning, fire on that ship!" Kittering ordered.

"Torpedoes away," the Weapons Officer called out. "Run time is just over five seconds, they will not be able to react!"

NS Wimple, Piscium System

"Enemy vessel abeam to port!" the Tac O screamed.

"Countermeasures now!" Whatt ordered.

"She's fired on us, run time is short!"

"Brace for impact," Whatt called over ship-wide.

"Countermeasures deployed but there is no time, we are going to be hit!"

The countermeasures left the ship and were quickly initiated. They did their job in that they lured two of four torpedoes away from the ship, but the Wimple took two 150cm torpedoes amidships. The impacts rocked the ship. People who were not tied down were thrown around violently. Some were injured, some died.

Two holes opened in the ship, and atmosphere was vented into space, but the ship was tightened down, which meant that as long as the bulkheads held, only those sections in the immediate zone of the impacts lost air.

Lights flickered briefly and gravity jumped up and down on the ship as the impacts interfered with the electronics. Everything came back almost immediately. A minute later, damage reports began to enter the bridge.

"Bridge, ChEng, we've been holed in the aft quarter immediately ahead of the engineering section, and at the centerline. The hull is holding, we can still manoeuvre on sub-lights, but our port vane is gone. We can still fight."

The Number Three, a newly frocked LtCdr., leaned in and quietly gave him the bad news. The number of injured and dead, including his Ex O and the Marine Major. Whatt sighed. He could do nothing about that now. He still had a battle to fight.

"Sir, Tac O, our torpedoes have hit one of the targets, it appears to be out of action."

"Pilot, get us moving," Whatt ordered. "Take us above the plane. Fire a new set of countermeasures. What's happened on the other two targets?"

"Sir, one of the targets was engaged against a heavy torpedo," the Tac O informed him, "not one of ours. It jinked to avoid our shots and was hit by the heavy. She's severely damaged."

Suddenly the tactical link disappeared. That could only mean one thing...

Central Ops, Liramor-23

Dostier was watching the display as the torpedoes and missiles ran towards the platform.

"We are going to get hit!" the Ops O reported.

"Seal your suits, now!" Dostier ordered. "Everyone strap in!"

All personnel moving on the platform were either in EVA suits or emergency escape suits. Emergency suits were designed to allow people to get to escape pods, or to shelter, or to move to an airlock after pressure was lost in a given area of the platform. They consisted of a simple zip up suit with a helmet that attached to a metal ring around the neck. The helmets could be left open or sealed as required. A small air bottle allowed for a one hour air supply in the suits.

People closed their helmets and cinched their seat belts. They were as ready as they could be. Only there were not.

The missiles and torpedoes separated and ran into their predetermined locations. The numbers were down but ten of them made it to the hull of the platform, with devastating results.

The platform rocked from impact after impact on the side facing the enemy ships. The pirates had chosen specific locations to hit, including the ore operations centers out of spite. Fortunately, none of the weapons aimed at the platform's weapons decks survived.

The vast size of the platform was her saving grace. Most of the platforms staff were in shelters in the center of the platform, and well protected from the impacts.

But not those in Central Ops.

One of the missiles came at D Level and exploded nearby to Central Ops. The plasteel windows were never designed to survive the kind of impact that the warhead of a 150cm missile could provide. The window shattered.

Plasteel fragments were blasted against the people in the room with devastating results. Of the twenty-four people working in command, ten died instantly, two would die within minutes of the explosion. Most of those remaining were all injured in some way or another, some severely.

Worse than the loss of people, was loss of the tactical display. The comps in central command were destroyed. It would take precious minutes to get the alternate command up and running and a new tactical display out to the TUSN ships, in the meantime, they were fighting on their own.

The Wanderer

"Liramor-23 is taking hits!" the Tac O reported. "At least ten of the shots got through."

Even as he spoke, the tactical display suddenly died.

"Get or own feed up, now!" Noor ordered. "We will send that out to the TUSN ships."

"That will make us a target!" the Ex O reminded her.

"Can't be helped," Noor said. "Someone has to provide command and control, and that will be us."

Because The Wanderer was designated to exit human space to make contact with aliens, here systems were designed at a much higher level than standard Failing Class vessels. That gave Noor the ability to act as a fleet command ship, something that she now used.

"What's the situation?" Noor demanded.

"Sir, the Churchill is still fighting, no damage," the Tac O reported. "The Valour is still in the battle. Not sure how she is doing. The Wimple is out at 350km, she is engaging the enemy. It looks like she took some hits but is still fighting.

"Two of the five remaining enemy ships are heavily damaged, one severely. That was our heavy that hit it, as well as the immobile ship. The other was hit by the Wimple. That leaves three enemy ships, one of which has some damaged," the Tac O finished.

"Comms O, get me the Wimple through the tactical link," Noor said.

"Aye, sir."

"Whatt, this is Noor. How is your ship doing?"

"Good to hear from you, Henadi!" Whatt returned. "We took some hits port side, but we are intact and still manoeuvrable. We've lost our port vane, so no jumps possible. We still have multiple missiles and torpedoes available.

"Right now, I'm trying to avoid getting shot at again from the ship to port. We have launched 150cm torpedoes in her direction, the seeker heads have the data from the tactical link. That you sending the new link?" Whatt asked.

"Yes, I think they took out Ops with one of those impacts," Noor told him. "We still show three enemy vessels in the battle, one of which has been damaged earlier by torpedoes from the Kindalla or the Kologn. With all the damage they have taken, I'm surprised that they haven't jumped out."

"Our sensors show that two of the vessels have damage to their vanes," Whatt told her. "They can't jump. That means only one of them could get away. We have to figure out how to end this."

"We're working on that. Raymond is with us and he is putting his brain to use. Hopefully, we can use our four ships to take out those three." Noor explained.

The Pollard

Kittering was beginning to panic. It looked like he would fail in his mission. That would mean an end to his career, literally, as the pirate syndicate did not usually let failures live.

He had to figure out how to get the upper hand before his cargo ships jumped into the system. The fighting had gone on for just over three hours now. He didn't need his cargo vessels jumping into the system while the fighting was still ongoing.

In a fit of anger, he had fired missiles/torpedoes at the platform, and now regretted it. With so many of his ships out of commission or outright destroyed, he had fewer resources to fight with, especially with the two newer Fairling Class vessels, his only two intact vessels, or at least mostly intact as the Pollard could not jump.

Kittering had four functioning enemy ships and two disabled, against his three. Only one of the functioning ships had taken hits. He needed to change that sooner rather than later.

Some of his cargo vessels had tubes, most had guns. He could let them get the kills on the two disable vessels at the platform. But he had to take out the other four ships now and get more troops onto the platform.

"How many combat shuttles do we have remaining?" he demanded.

"Sir, between the three remaining vessels, we might be able to put out sixteen shuttles," his 2 I/C told him.

"Combatants?"

"That we have, and plenty of EVA combat suits." was the reply. "We can put sixty combatants on each shuttle. The problem is getting the shuttles to the platform."

Kittering smiled. He knew just how to do that.

The Valour

"Sir, the enemy vessels are reversing direction," the Tac O blurted out, "they are making a run at the platform."

"Shit!" Fiona exclaimed. "They're going to bring their remaining ships in close to drop off more combat shuttles. They are going to try to flood the platform!

"Raymond, I need options, now!" she finished into the data link.

The Wanderer

"All ships this is Raymond. They only have one open bay, Maintenance Bay Thirteen. They have to push the shuttles into that bay. Valour and Churchill, you get in close. Churchill, you are after the big ships, the shuttles as a last resort. Valour, you are after the shuttles, the big ships as targets of opportunity, your guns are better suited to take out the shuttles.

"The remainder of our ships will target the big ships at range. This is a desperation move on their part. If they get substantial forces onto the platform we are at a disadvantage. Stop them here and now!" Raymond finished.

As the bridge crew watched, the enemy began their run at the platform. The three enemy vessels began to fire missiles and torpedoes at random to discourage the TUSN ships as they moved on the platform.

Countermeasures were everywhere and torpedoes were zoning on those. One of the enemy vessels came close to a group of countermeasures that had attracted several torpedoes. Unfortunately for the vessel, the torpedoes suddenly found themselves another target and began to track it.

Central Ops, Liramor-23