All That Glitters Ch. 17

Capt. Davis was the first to recover after the blast. She looked around the damaged Operations Center. She could see at least five dead and many injured. The shock of the blast had knocked her out for a moment, she checked the time and found that she had been out for at least a minute.

She looked over at Capt. Dostier, who seemed uninjured. She gave her a brief shake and saw her respond, her eyes blinking open. Good. Enough people she knew had died.

Major Thom had faired better, he was in a full combat EVA suit, made for this kind of shit.

Thom got up and began to help those he could, followed by Davis. A few minutes later, Dostier was there to help. Between them, they identified the dead, and moved the injured into the airlock. They advised the hospital that help was needed, then headed to the alternate Ops on Whiskey-Level.

Central Ops, Alternate, W-Level, Liramor-23

Dostier walked into the alternate to see the people there frantically trying to link to damaged sensor arrays. She took the command chair and asked for reports.

"We have several holes in the hull in and around the crew quarters," the Ops O advised. "Fortunately, all of the staff in those areas are in the shelters. No loss of life is recorded from there.

"Two impacts in the Ore Processing Deck. At least five of the ovens are out. We lost some people there, not sure how many yet.

"Central Ops was hit. We don't have a count from there yet." She finished.

"Ten dead, fourteen wounded, some life-threatening wounds," Dostier told them. "We will likely lose two more, possibly as many as four.

"Let's focus on the task. Can we provide the tactical link for the ships out there?" Dostier asked.

"No ma'am," SOps informed her. "Our exterior sensor array is too damaged. We have a tactical link from one of the ships, The Wanderer, and can see what is happening. We can act as a repeater, but we cannot provide our own data."

The link was up on one of the larger monitors, showing what was going on.

"Shit!" Dostier swore as she saw the enemy ships moving in on the platform. "They're probably planning to send shuttles at us from closer in. They don't need to close in on us to bombard us again."

"They could have as many as sixty to eighty combatants on each shuttle," Major Thom advised. "If they get anymore than four or five to the platform, it's game over for us."

The Pollard

Kittering began his run, his people already aboard the combat shuttles, waiting the order to exit the ship and attack the platform. They would approach the platform and drop the shuttles as they passed it.

The admiral ordered his ships to fire torpedoes and missiles at random to keep the TUSN vessels at bay. The closer he got to the enemy the happier he became.

"Guns!" he shouted, hearing the MK-20s fire as they were aimed at the opposition.

The Valour

Fiona had moved the small vessel back towards the platform, ready to take out the combat shuttles as they were released from the big ships. As the enemy got closer, they began using their guns. The Valour lurched violently twice, shaking all on board.

"We've just been hit by MK-20 fire," the Tac O informed the bridge. "The shields absorbed most of the shots."

"Bridge, ChEng, my engineer's assistant has been injured. I think he broke his collar bone. If you can, send someone to help back here."

Fiona looked around and saw the Navy Supply Officer sitting at a science station.

"You ever do time in the engine room?" she asked him.

"Long time ago, ma'am," he admitted.

"You just volunteered," Fiona told him. "Get back there and follow the ChEng's directions."

Abigail advised her that the engineer's assistant was the only serious injury from the impact, the rest of the injured were miner.

"ChEng, what's our status?" Fiona asked.

"Keep fighting, I'll tell you when we have to run away!" the ChEng came back, to the amusement of the bridge crew.

"I like the way she thinks," Abigail told Fiona with a smile.

"Ammo?" Fiona asked, not wanting to hear the answer.

"We are down to just over 2,000 rounds," Helga told her. "About a minute and a half of fire. If they launch a lot of shuttles at us, we will run out of ammo."

"Right, follow Raymond's advice," Fiona said. "Hit the shuttles and leave the big ships to the others. No more than a half second burst to each shuttle if possible.

"Let's hope we have enough to finish this." It was a sentiment that they all shared.

The Pollard

The ships were taking fire from the enemy, but they were giving back as good as they got, better, in fact, as his ships had not been seriously damaged. The shields were holding, turning back the impacts from the TUSN pulse and plasma cannon. The only things getting through were torpedoes and those damn rail gun rounds!

"Sir! The Scarab has torpedoes homing on her!" the Tac O screamed.

"Hit! The Scarab's sub-lights are out of action. She is moving on momentum only," the Tac O reported.

"Let her momentum carry her closer to the platform, release her shuttles as she approaches!" Kittering ordered. He was down to two functioning ships now, and they had not made any other hits on those damned TUSN vessels.

"Optimum range!" the Tac O called out.

"All ships, release the shuttles," Kittering screamed.

Kittering watched with a smile as his sixteen shuttles left their respective ships and approached the platform.

"The small ship is attacking our shuttles!" the Tac O cried out.

Kittering's curses could be heard all the way to engineering.

The Valour

Helga began to systematically destroy shuttle after shuttle. They had been dropped off much closer to the platform, but still not close enough to get aboard before The Valour could open fire.

"We have a total of sixteen shuttles from those three ships," Abigail advised. "They could have as many as eighty combatants in full combat EVA suits per shuttle. That would put over 1,200 combatants on the platform."

"If they get to the platform," Fiona said. Helga just smiled and kept shooting.

Rockhound 528

Dalia Reims was flying her Rockhound with her partner Robert. Theirs was one of the Rockhounds with tubes on it. They were hovering near the platform, trying to stay away from the flying debris, torpedoes, and pulse cannon fire, while still keeping themselves close enough to make a difference when they could.

Three of the enemy ships had moved on the platform and dropped off a series of shuttles. With The Valour firing on the shuttles, Dalia didn't want to bring her Rockhound in where it might be threatened by stray rounds, but she could go after the big ships.

One of the ships seemed to be damaged and was slowing significantly. Dalia aimed her Rockhound at it and moved on the ship. She fired two rockets at the larger turrets and was pleased to see them impact dead center. The turret stopped functioning. She was focused on her target and didn't see one of the other vessels turn a gun turret toward her. The blast of a MK-48 caught her by surprise.

A portion of her ship was literally gone, along with Robert. That's when Dalia noticed that she wasn't feeling right. She looked down and saw that her right hip and leg were gone. The suit had automatically attempted to seal her injury, but the damage was too severe. She knew she was dying.

Son of a bitch! She thought to herself.

She moved her hand and found that her Rockhound was still responsive.

You killed me and Robert, she thought. So, it's only fair I kill you!

Dalia pointed her ship at the engineering section of the big ship and pushed power to the engines. Rockhounds had power to spare. When a pilot asked it of them, the little ships could move surprisingly quickly. Dalia asked her ship to give it all she had. She stayed conscious long enough to direct her little ship right into the middle of her target.

The six meter vessel hit the bigger ship at speed and tore through the thin shell of the hull. The FTL drive was the largest metal part of any ship, but it folded like tinfoil from the impact of the little ship. The Rockhound didn't stop until she had passed almost three-quarters of the way through the stricken vessel.

The Rockhound ceased to exist, but so did most of the larger vessels engineering section. It was now helpless, a second ship floating on momentum.

The Wanderer

"Rockhound 528 just rammed one of the vessels," his Tac O informed Whatt. "Looks like she took a hit prior to her death run. The enemy ship has lost its engineering section, its moving on momentum only."

"Well done, Dalia and Robert," Raymond said, paying homage to the crew of the Rockhound.

The Pollard

Kittering watched as his last attempt to bring this attack to a solution he wanted failed. His ships were gone. All destroyed or severely damaged. He needed to get out of here now.

"Sir, some of the shuttles are trying to get back to the ships," the Tac O reported. "There are only six remaining."

"Pick them up," Kittering told him.

"Status on the Marilon generators?" he asked, in a defeated voice.

"We can jump, sir," the Pilot advised.

"Nav O, set us a course back to our previous location. We need to stop the cargo ships from entering this system," Kittering told his bridge crew.

The plot came up and was pushed it back to the Nav O and Pilot.

"Solution set. Ready to jump," the Nav O called out.

"Ready to jump," the Pilot reported.

"Let me know when we have all the shuttles aboard," Kittering said.

Ten minutes later, his 2 I/C advised that five of the shuttles had been recovered, and the hatches were closed.

"Jump, now!" Kittering ordered.

The pilot fed power to the vanes and got, nothing...

The FTL vanes were designed to carry incredible amounts of power through them, enough power to bend time and space itself. If anything happened to the vanes, that power could be pushed back on the ship, potentially overloading the systems, and causing sever damage. However, there was a failsafe built in that caused the vanes to reject the power input in the event the vanes couldn't handle the power, specifically to prevent the destruction of a ship.

The rock's impact to the vane had been just enough to prevent the jump. The Pollard was going nowhere.

"Shit." Someone on the bridge said.

Central Ops Alternate, Liramor-23

"The shuttles have been repelled by the fleet, mostly by The Valour," SOps told Dostier.

A very relieved captain smiled for the first time that day. Her smile did not last long.

"FTL event, two of them, above the plane!" the Ops O called out.

"IFF indicates the Claridge and the Betelgeuse!" SOps informed Dostier.

The Wanderer

"FTL event, not far from us!" the Tac O shouted.

"IFF indicates the Claridge and the Betelgeuse!" the Comms O informed Noor.

"Better late than never," Noor said with a smile.

"The shuttles have broken off the attack," the Tac O reported, to cheers from the bridge crew. "Six of the shuttles are returning to their ships. The Valour is pursuing."

"The Valour has destroyed another shuttle and is now backing off from the attack," the Tac O indicated. The only manoeuvring enemy vessel is picking up the remaining five shuttles."

"Energy spike on that vessel," Science called out. "I think she's going to jump!"

"Shit, we don't want it to get away!" Noor shouted.

"Sir, the spike has dissipated, I think their vanes are compromised, she can't jump!" Science reported.

"That's going to make them desperate," Noor said. "They might hit back at the platform! Be ready to defend her!"

NS Churchill

The Churchill had performed remarkably well throughout and Cdr. Seldon was pleased with the escort ship and his crew.

The had watched as The Valour had attacked and destroyed the combat shuttles attacking the platform, until six of them broke off the attack and headed back to their ships. The Valour pursued.

The Churchill had not wanted to get close to the attack as along as The Valour was in the way, now that the little ship was moving after the attackers, the Churchill could move forward again. Unfortunately, they also witnessed the destruction of one of the Rockhounds, which did a suicide run on one of the two manoeuvring vessels, knocking out the engineering section.

"Pilot, take us in after the two 'floaters'," Seldon ordered.

"Aye, sir," the Pilot acknowledged as he moved to follow one of the stricken vessels.

"Sir, this vessel has been hit by torpedoes," the Tac O informed the captain as they approached one of the ships. "Her sub-lights are out, but her vanes look intact. If her FTL drives are functioning, she could still escape."

"Weapons, target one of her vanes with the guns. Let's make sure she isn't going anywhere," Seldon ordered.

The weapons officer fired on the starboard vane to cripple the ship, to the cheers of the crew.

"Torpedo launch! Three torpedoes running in our direction!" the Tac O screamed.

"Countermeasures, NOW!" Seldon ordered.

The weapons officer did not wait to be told, he locked on the torpedoes one after another and fired with the main guns, however, he only had time to engage two of the torpedoes before the final one hit them.

"Engineering has been hit!" his Ex O reported.

"Who fired on us?" Seldon asked.

"Sir, one of the two stricken ships fired on us!" the Tac O informed him.

"Target that vessel, take it out!" Seldon yelled.

"Sir, ready to fire three torpedoes!" Weapons replied. "Sir, that's the last of our torpedoes, we will be spent," he advised.

"Fire two, keep one in reserve," Seldon ordered.

"Shots away, five seconds to impact!"

"Hit! Sir, the vessel is severely damaged," Weapons said.

"I'm getting reports of wounded from the aft section," the Ex O advised. "Sir, the ChEng is dead. The ship has taken a hard hit, we are out of the fight."

"Can we manoeuvre?" Seldon asked.

"Aye, sir," the Pilot replied. "Our ability is reduced but we can move."

"Take us up out of the plane, keep us out of the battle for now," Seldon ordered.

"Noor, this is Seldon, we are out of the fight. We are holed and we have only one torpedo left. We still have our gun for self defence."

"Roger, that. Well done, Churchill. Your contribution to this battle has been exemplary. Stay out of the fight unless you have no choice. Take care of your ship." Noor replied.

"FTL event above the plane!" the Tac O reported.

What now? Seldon thought, knowing his ship was headed in that direction.

NS Claridge, Outer Edge of the Piscium System

The Claridge and the Betelgeuse had been doing simulated attack missions on each other as part of their workups for combat situations. The two ships were ready to start playing a game of hide-and-seek among the Oort cloud of the system when an FTL probe made itself known to the Claridge. This was the third location the probe had moved to, looking for the two ships.

"Sir, I have an FTL probe sending a signal 500km from our locations," the Comms O reported. "There is a tactical link with the probe's message, sir."

"Let's hear the message, Comms," Capt. Dent ordered.

"Aye, sir."

"NS Betelgeuse, NS Claridge, this is Capt. Dostier, acting commander Piscium Defence Force, this is a NO DUFF message. Liramor-23 is under attack. We need assistance and are recalling you from your exercise.

"We have included the most recent snapshot of the tactical link, twenty minutes into the battle. Suggest you come in above the plane, hot. Dostier, out."

"Put that link up on the monitor," Dent snapped. "Get me the Betelgeuse, inform them that the exercise is over, we are going into battle, send the link to them with your message."

"Aye, sir."

"By the Gods, sir, that does not look good," the Tac O advised. "The Kologn and the Kindalla have been hit. The Churchill and The Valour are engaging the enemy. Some two of the enemy ships have been hit. One is damaged."

"What's the timeline on this?" Dent asked.

"Approximately two hours ago," his Ex O advised.

"Sir, I have the Betelgeuse on the horn," Comms advised.

"Lorain, Richard. You seeing this?" he asked.

"Yes, doesn't look good. We going in as she asked?"

"Yes, we'll come in above the plane, locked and loaded for bear," Richard said. "This information is already two hours out of date, so we won't know the situation until we arrive back at Liramor-23. We'll have to connect to the tactical link as soon as we arrive to assess the situation.

"We'll be going in blind, Lorain, make sure your ready."

NS Claridge, Liramor-23

The Claridge and the Betelgeuse came in fifty kilometers apart and fifteen kilometers above the plane. The first thing they did was find the tactical link.

Dent noted that the link was now coming from The Wanderer. He didn't know if that was a bad sign or not.

"Sir, message through the data link," the Comms O stated.

"Richard, Lorain, its Henadi. We are glad to see you! We still have one fully active undamaged enemy vessel and one tactically operational and drifting on momentum. There are also three severely damaged ships, one near the platform and the other two out at 150km. They are tagged.

"The Wimple has been hit and damaged but is still in the fight. The Churchill has been holed and is out of the fight but can defend herself. The Kologn and the Kindalla are both tactically operational but still in their parking stations. They have been ordered not to engage further except in self defence. The Valour is virtually out of ammo, she can no longer engage except in self defence.

"Liramor-23 has enemy combatants aboard, Marines are engaging. It has taken a number of hits with multiple injuries and many deaths reported. We are anticipating the arrival of enemy cargo vessels at anytime. They did not deploy with their warships. I figure they were given a four to five hour window, which means we can expect them soon as we are coming up on the four hour window.

"We need to end this fight soonest in order to get help to the platform." Noor finished.

Central Ops Alternate, Liramor-23

"All ships, this is Dostier in Ops Alternate, be advised that we got FTL probes out to Sector Forty-Two and Forty-Three command locations. We should be hearing back from them soon. Their ships are not as capable as our newer ones, so we will not see them for several hours yet, but the returning probes can give us a timeline."

"We need any available medical staff on the platform, now. We have multiple injuries. Take these fuckers out!" Dostier finished.

The Wanderer

"You heard the lady, target the lead ships ass to hell and back!" Noor ordered.

The three ships locked onto the last manoeuvrable enemy ships and launched their torpedoes, one heavy from each and two 150cm following.

The Pollard

"Multiple torpedoes launched!" the Tac O yelled.

"Countermeasures, target and launch our own torpedoes, move us, NOW!" Kittering screamed.

The Pollard's sub-light engines pushed hard to move the ship, but it was too late. The Pollard got four 150cm torpedoes out targeted on just one TUSN ship before one of the oncoming heavies hit her starboard side, just aft of the bridge. The bridge bulkhead gave way and several of the bridge crew were sucked out into space, chairs and all, including Kittering.

Admiral Maxwell Kittering, leader of a pirate fleet, did not die in a blaze of glory. He died slowly of suffocation as he floated helplessly in space...

The Betelgeuse

"Torpedoes running at us!" the Tac O screamed to Capt. Tuffet.

"Countermeasures, guns, NOW!" Tuffet ordered.