All That Glitters Ch. 17

"The gun turrets swung onto the approaching threat and tried to lock on to the fast moving torpedoes. They managed to get one.

But it was too little, too late. Three of the four torpedoes hit the Betelgeuse port side, putting holes into her hull, including one that hit just behind the bridge. Shrapnel flashed through the bridge killing five bridge crew, including Capt. Lorain Tuffet. The bridge was out of action. The ship could still manoeuvre and still fight, but she was partially blind, and now without her captain and Ex O, who had been severely injured.

NS Claridge

"Hit! One of our torpedoes got a hit on that bitch!" the Science Officer screamed out, then looked a little sheepish. The crew watched as the enemy vessel began to break apart.

"Torpedoes running!" the Tac O advised. "Not in our direction. They are aimed at the Betelgeuse!"

As the bridge crew watched, the Betelgeuse managed to hit one of the torpedoes with her guns, but three of them impacted the ship. The ship's engines did not faulter, she was still able to fight.

They waited for word from the ship. A few minutes later it came.

"Capt. Noor, this is LtCdr. Fred Stemper, I'm in the battle bridge and I think I am the ranking officer. The bridge has been hit. Captain Tuffet is dead, the Ex O is severely wounded.

"We are holed but we can manoeuvre. We have guns except for the port lateral line guns. We have torpedoes and can fire them. We have sub-lights, but our port side vane is out, no FTL capability. Our sensors are damaged, but we can target fore and aft. Your advice, ma'am?" Stemper ended.

"Stemper, Noor, tend to your ship as best you can. Your ChEng?"

"The ChEng is engaged in ship repairs ma'am. While he is the ranking officer, he has no time to command the ship. He left that to me, ma'am." Stemper advised.

"Pull your ship back to where you can see all of the platform. We are expecting cargo ships at any time, and we might need your weapons should they arrive.

"Be aware of your shots, LtCdr.," Noor advised. "Make sure that no friendly ships fall in your field of fire."

The Wanderer

"Shit," Noor said to a suddenly quiet bridge.

"OK, people, we still have three enemy ships that are damaged, but tactically operational," Noor said. "Comms, make contact with those ships and demand their immediate surrender or destruction."

"Aye, sir!"

Central Ops, Liramor-23

Dostier finally got to breath a little. "Alright, everyone. We have one threat down.

"Major Thom, how goes our internal war?" she asked of the Marine commander.

"I have no further hostilities on the platform, Captain. We are starting a sweep from bottom to top to ensure that no enemy combatants are still roaming the platform. That will take a couple of hours.

"Could do with some help in that regards if you can spare some people?" he asked.

"Make sure you have protection on and around the hospital," Dostier requested. "They've already been hit once, and we need those people right where they are.

"As you sweep inwards, check the shelters for anyone in an EVA suit, you can employ them in your sweeps, they can be used to help with the wounded if nothing else." Dostier finished, getting a nod from the major.

The Valour

"Dostier, Fiona, keep a sharp eye on the inbound lanes. It's likely that the enemy cargo ships will arrive soon. You have your finger on the button for the limpet mines. Redeploy the Rockhounds to help you with those ships as we did before. Everyone else, mind the little ships, they are our allies in this.

"We will give the cargo ships one chance to surrender peacefully. We blast the shit out of any of those ships that put up a fight. Questions?" Fiona asked.

"What if they don't jump into the inbound lanes?" Cdr. Seldon asked.

"Possible, and we'll have to be flexible enough to deal with that, but they won't know where their warships will be, so they will likely come in through the established lanes." Fiona said. "Dostier, deploy our forces where you need them."

Central Ops, Liramor-23

Dostier took charge and placed all the ships the way she wanted them and freed the limpet mines. By the time they had finished, the four hour mark was almost due.

They watched the four hour mark tick by. Three minutes later, things started happening.

"Multiple FTL events in both inbound lanes!" the Ops O called out.

"IFF is negative, designate as non-friendly!" SOps declared.

"Comms, open a channel for me," Dostier ordered.

"Unknown ships, this is Captain Liana Dostier, you have entered this system in an illegal manner. Identify yourselves immediately or face destruction. Respond immediately, you have twenty seconds." Dostier finished.

Reid's Claw, Piscium System

Captain James Reid, commander of the Reid's Claw, a naval cargo vessel, took in the situation in the system as the nine ships came in one by one. He did not like what he saw. There was a lot of debris in the system from damaged or destroyed ships. The platform had many holes in it, with TUSN warships surrounding it in defence.

Reid had four naval cargo vessels, capable of firing torpedoes and each with a single heavier twin gun MK-20 pulse cannon. He also had four civilian class cargo vessels, armed only with two twin gun MK-48 pulse cannon, and one unarmed cargo ship designated as a fleet support ship, to make repairs and supply other vessels. Not much to go up against four TUSN warships that he could see, and two damaged ships not far from the inbound lanes. He could not see any of his fleet's warships.

That was bad.

Reid could not jump his fleet of cargo vessels out for at least six hours, as most of their Marilon generators were older models, nearing the end of their life cycle. He would have to fight his way out or bluff his way out.

"Holo-vid signal from the platform, sir," the Comms O reported.

"On the monitor," Reid told his Comms O. The image showed two TUSN captains, and a Marine in combat EVA.

"Unknown ships, this is Captain Liana Dostier, you have entered this system in an illegal manner. Identify yourselves immediately or face destruction. Respond immediately, you have twenty seconds." Capt. Dostier ended.

Well, she certainly knows how to bluff, thought Reid.

"Capt. Dostier, this is Capt. Reid of the Reid's Claw. I lead these vessels coming into this system. We are armed and ready to fight. I see that your platform has already taken some hits. We are ready to hit it again," he said.

Let's see if they think if that is a bluff, he thought.

"Capt. Reid, your warships deployed combatants against a civilian mining platform in contravention of Union law," Dostier informed him. "They also fired on this mining platform. For this, they were engaged and destroyed.

"Warships, Capt. Reid, not armed cargo vessels. If you wish to go head-to-head against our warships, the very same that destroyed your warships, we will oblige you.

"Be advised that ANY vessel that fires on the platform, will be destroyed utterly and without mercy. This platform has suffered enough casualties and damage from your fleet.

"This ends now, Reid! You will surrender," Dostier finished.

Reid laughed at her image.

"You really think you can bluff me?" Reid asked with a sneer. "You make a poor poker player, Dostier."

"Your twenty seconds are up Reid," Dostier told him with a smile that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

"Sir, we have movement around the ship!" the Tac O suddenly reported.

"What do you mean movement?" Reid demanded.

"Mines! They are mines, they are attaching themselves to our ship!" the Taco screamed.

"FREEZE!" came a shout from the holo-monitor. Everyone stopped and looked at Capt. Dostier.

"Your ships have specialized limpet mines attached to them at specific sites," Dostier informed him. "They are attached to your vanes, your sub-light engines, and your weapons systems, including along the bow and aft tubes.

"As long as your ships do nothing, those mines will do nothing, and you will be safe. If you attempt to use your weapons, those limpet mines will destroy them. If you attempt to use your sub-light engines or FTL drives, the limpet mines attached there will destroy your engines or vanes.

"Your ships are safe, so long as you do nothing, Capt. Reid," Dostier said with a smile.

"Shut off that image!" Reid ordered. "Engage the shields and fire a strong electric charge through them. That should take care of those limpet mines!" Reid laughed.

It was what they did back in the war when limpet mines attached themselves to ships. If you fired a current through them, it fried their AI systems and the mines were useless.

"Sir, we have twenty-two mines attached to the ship," the Tac O advised. "All in the areas that Capt. Dostier said they would be."

"I'm sure they are," Reid chortled. "Are we ready to send a current through them?" he asked with a much louder laugh.

"Aye, sir!"

"Shunt the charge," Reid ordered, and all hell broke lose as several of the mines exploded, causing extensive damage to his ship.

"Message from the platform, sir!" the Comms O said. Capt. Dostier's image came up again on the monitor.

"You do know that we did learn some things in the War?" she asked rather pointedly. "These mine have hardened AI systems, and some are designated to explode if a current is fired through them.

"Those that did not explode, are still attached to your ship, and still ready to destroy your systems as you engage them," Dostier told him with a smile.

"I would advise you to order your ships to surrender or take matters into your own hands and scuttle your ships yourselves. If you attempt to move, or attempt to deploy your weapons, we WILL selectively destroy your systems." Dostier told him with a sweet smile.

"The Blackhawk is moving!" one of his science officers informed him. The image on the monitor split as one of his ships began to move. Almost immediately, an explosion occurred aft and the sub-light engines stopped functioning. The Blackhawk was no longer accelerating.

A dozen small ships suddenly surrounded the Blackhawk, running down the side of the vessel. Each run tore the vessel open, venting atmosphere into space. The Blackhawk started flashing S. in Morse Code for surrender on its powerful white strobes. The smaller vessels backed off. One of them bumped the Blackhawk, pushing it out into space, away from the other ships and from the platform.

The demonstration was graphic, and deadly. Every ship in the fleet understood. They would surrender or die. How they died would be up to them, either in a blaze of self destructive glory, or ignominiously as the sides of the vessel was shredded and their atmosphere leaked away.

"Sir! Some of the limpet mines on us are down!" his science officer reported. "It looks like that surge did effect them!"

"Which mines are down?" Reid asked.

"The ones on the bow sir. About three-quarters of the other mines are still functioning." Was the reply.

Reid's smile turned nasty.

The Wanderer

Noor was listening to the exchange between Capt. Dostier and Capt. Reid. She was disappointed in Capt. Reid. The man could not read his opponent very well. She smiled when Dostier told him his time was up and the mines moved in. She suspected that someone would try something.

"Weapons, we have four pulse cannons. Pick four of those ships and lock onto them individually. Monitor them closely and be prepared to act as required." Noor ordered.

"Aye, sir!" Weapons responded. "Sir, there are four naval type cargo vessels with tubes, I suggest we lock onto those," Weapons advised.

"Good suggestion, lock them up."

Reid's Claw

"Target all four of the functioning vessels!" Reid ordered his weapons officer. "We will not open the tube doors until you have targeting solutions. We will fire all twelve torpedoes, reload and fire again. That will put six torpedoes running against each ship."

"Aye, sir!"

The Reid's Claw's torpedo bays were built like most naval vessels, with tubes surrounded by a ready rack that held various torpedoes or missiles, a selector, and a loading arm. The automation allowed for a reduced number of personnel in the bays. In fact, four people could manage all twelve bays.

The automated systems could select, load and be ready to fire in thirty seconds, the crew only needed if something went wrong, like a torpedo jamming on the selector or loader. Something that seldom occurred on well maintained ships.

"Tubes loaded and ready," his Ex O advised him.

"Targeting ready," Weapons reported.

"Open exterior tube doors and fire!" Reid yelled.

The Wanderer

"Sir! Weapons, one of the ships is opening their bow torpedo doors!"

"Engage it, NOW!" Noor ordered. Take out the bow of that ship!"

The weapons officer placed the reticle on the bow of the ship and started the firing cycle for one of the three gun MK-10 turrets. Similar to a laser, where two mirrors bounced a light between them until the level of light power exceeded the level of the mirrors to bounce it back, a pulse cannon bounced a strong charge between two prisms that channeled the charge back and forth until it exceeded the prism's ability to contain it. Because of the size of the MK-10 pulse cannon, this took half-a-second to bring it up to a full charge. The resulting pulse of phased power was sufficient to cause significant damage on most ships.

The three gun pulse cannon turret fired in sequence, sending blasts of incredible power at the bow of the ship. The three blasts hit the bow of the vessel in sequence, the first blast destroying the ability of the Claw's shields to protect it, the second and third blasts causing severe damage to the bow of the ship.

The weapons officer fired a second time, sending three additional pulses into the bow of the offending ship. The bow of the Reid's Claw ceased to exist. Everything forward of the armoured bridge disappeared, including four crew members.

The Reid's Claw

As the Reid's Claw opened its bow doors, the AI's of two of the four limpet mines attached to the bow reactivated and exploded, damaging a portion of the bow. It was followed immediately after by the impact of the MK-10 pulse cannons.

The first impact of the powerful pulses violently shook the entire vessel. The ship's shield was unable to cope with the power of the pulse and burnt out, taking some of the electrical systems with it.

A second pulse hit the bow and began to rip it to shreds taking a good portion of the middle section of the bow. Three crewmen died as the pulse ran through the torpedo control room.

The third pulse hit the lower section of the bow and disintegrated a good swath of the bow there, taking the fourth crewman in the process.

The second wave of pulse blasts hit the bow and shattered it completely, severing it from the vessel. The armour for the bridge could clearly be seen. The Reid's Claw was going nowhere.

Within seconds of the impact, the remaining five vessels began flashing S on their white strobes. The fleet had surrendered.

Aftermath, Liramor-23, Piscium System

For two days, the platform tended to its wounded and dead. Breaches in the hull were sealed, stricken vessels recovered, and systems were put right.

For the second time in less than a year, the hospital ship NS Mercy jumped into the Piscium system and disgorged her teams. This time, they were assisting friendly casualties as well as casualties amongst the enemy.

A short while later, the hospital ship NS Girard-Mangin, from sector Forty-Three also appeared and sent its personnel to aid the wounded.

More and more TUSN ships jumped in until a total of twenty ships were in the system to assist with the capture of the remaining pirate fleet. The difference this time being that they had captured five vessels completely intact with an additional five severely damaged including three warships and two cargo ships.

Fiona sat in the alternate conference room one on W Level and took in the numbers in a numb and unfeeling manner. The latest count showed 624 dead from the platform and close to 1,200 wounded, though those with lesser injuries had yet to come forward. All but two of the missing had been accounted for, most of those having been swept into space, their bodies now recovered.

Among her command, the NS Kologn had thirty-four dead and seventy-five wounded, the NS Kindalla fourteen dead and sixty wounded, the NS Betelgeuse another sixty-two dead and 105 wounded, the NS Wimple had twelve dead and twenty-seven wounded, while on the NS Churchill the ChEng was dead and nine were wounded.

The Valour had faired well with only a few injuries, most of those minor, though an engineer's assistant had broken his collar bone. The vessel's shield had prevented severe damage to the ship, allowing it to function more or less as before.

But the count did not mean anything. Fiona personally knew many of the people whose names were crossing in front of her, some wounded, some dead. Twelve members of the command crew from Central Ops were dead including David Dent, SOps, and Angelica Smythe, Comms, people she dealt with everyday. Capt. Lorrain Tuffet, commanding NS Betelgeuse, dead, her Ex O, severely wounded. Cdr. Brice, Ex O of the NS Wimple, dead as was Major Pureland, the Marine Company Commander for the Wimple. And others, so many others. Each time she saw a name, a face appeared in her memory, young men, and women alive and smiling. No more.

Deloris Hamlin was dead. She had lost her arm and was laying in her hospital bed still groggy from her meds, and when the pirates saw her, they simply shot her. She was useless to them without an arm when there were so many other healthier people on the platform they could choose to take.

Fiona had spoken to her in ICU the day before the attack, she was looking forward to going home and seeing her family while her arm was regenerated. Now, her family would never see her again.

She was not the only one to die in their hospital bed, murdered by the intruders.

She heard something and looked up. It was Dr. Heyya. Fiona saw the look in Heyya's eyes, and it frightened her. She looked to be on the verge of collapsing into a mental breakdown.

Heyya came and sat down beside her. She tried to speak several times but could not. Fiona saw tears forming and opened her arms to the other woman. Heyya was in them in a flash as the two women cried unashamed at the losses that had taken so many of their friends from them.

***********

The next day patients, who due to the nature of their injuries could not be tended to on the platform, were being placed on the two hospital ships ready to be brought to Liramor Prime. This included two dead, and five severely injured Marines.

Marines in two columns lined the long corridor to the shuttle airlock at parade attention. All those who could be there were, missing were seven of those still in the platform's hospital.

At the beginning of the line, near the Marine officers, Commodore Fiona Marsh, Capt. Beverly Davis, and Cdr. Helga Hellebore were in attendance. There were also a number of platform personnel on hand to see off the injured and dead. Many of them had been saved by the men now standing here and those who were about to be wheeled through the line.

An honour guard of Marine sergeants escorted one of the coffins into the shuttle, as the CWO called the name.

"Mike 'The Knife' Renton," he called out. "Good job, Marine!"

Immediately the word "MARINE!" was given a full throated roar from those who could speak.

The honour guard returned and picked up the next coffin.