All That Glitters Ch. 39

Comms specialists, who had been listening in on Gaetan Station's control operations for over a week, took over key posts and kept up the expected pattern of operations instructions from the station. They swiftly moved ships from a certain area of space not too deep into the gravity well and waited.

Ten minutes light from the station, a Valour Class ship was sitting, recording all that was happening on the station. When they noted the ships moving away from a specific area of space, they sent a message via ICS to Task Force Gaetan, waiting in the HD-137982 system, fourteen light years away. The Task Force quickly jumped into the allocated location.

"Gaetan Planetary Control, this is the Union Navy Ship Polyanty, Capt. William Endar commanding. We are here to retrieve our kidnapped citizens. Resistance will be met with force. Any ship that attacks this task force, or any person who attempts to stop our operations on your planet, will be considered an enemy and engaged with purpose," Capt. William Endar said over comms as the task force of over two hundred ships came into the system.

Endar had 174 warships, of which half were Fairling Class Frigates. There were also fourteen navy supply ships, thirty-five civilian supply ships, one Navy hospital ship, and one fleet tender in his raid group. The warships immediately spread out to specific locations, ready to engage any ship that wanted to retaliate.

There were only thirty ships in the planetary defence force for Gaetan's Planet, spread out around the planet. Only ten of them were the more modern Handren Class Frigates, the remainder were not really capable of engaging Fairling Class Frigates in limited numbers or even Whippet Class for that matter. When they saw the level of threat against them, they decided en masse that this was not for them. They moved away from the area of potential threat and stayed out of the battle.

Combat shuttles left the Fairling Class Frigates of the task force and proceeded to their allocated locations on planet, escorted by Valour Class ships. They had to fight their way down as the Airforce of the planet was large and well trained. Still, they had never actually engaged in a real battle and swiftly lost to the seasoned experts that were making planet fall.

Forces on the ground then engaged the attackers, again with little success. The attackers had the advantage and took the attack to the Militia, who found themselves outmatched, their numbers insufficient to engage a determined, concentrated, enemy assault. It would take time for the local Militia to assemble enough forces to make a difference, time which Task Force Gaetan never intended to give them.

Emile Gaetan received the news from deep within his bunker, which had been built not long after the planet had first been settled. The bunker was designed to be used when the Union Navy was then looking for the very pirates that had founded the planetary government, including Emile himself.

He had watched and seethed as the Union Navy forced his Planetary Defence Force to back off. He didn't blame his captains in orbit for backing down. They had less than one sixth the ships available to fight off a determined Navy Task Force, only ten of which were somewhat as capable as the attackers. Against one or two Fairling Class, they might have stood a chance, against more than eighty Fairling Class, they had none. Still, it irked him that he had no options in orbit.

He was even more infuriated when his air forces was taken out with little or no issue by the attackers. He pushed ground forces at the attackers, who fared much better but still were pushed back from the battle ground. They didn't have the concentrations of force needed to make a difference. It would take time to concentrate the necessary forces to initiate a successful counterattack.

As he watched, markers indicating Combat Shuttles landed in specific locations around the continent, some on his properties. He had initially doubted the professed mission of this assault. The locations of the landings left no doubt in his mind. They were indeed after the Union slaves.

************

Slaves watched as a shuttle landed not far from their dormitory. People in EVA Combat Suits came out of the shuttle, making the slaves nervous.

"Attention Citizens of the Union. We are the Union Navy. We are here to rescue you. If you are a Union citizen, please identify yourself," the first people on the ground hailed the slaves they saw with the loudspeakers in their suits. A few people tentatively approached the Marines.

"I am a Union citizen," a young woman said. "I was kidnapped by pirates three years ago. Can you really take me from here?"

The Marine Sergeant who had spoken stepped forward and passed a device over her neck. The device beeped and a distinctive click was felt on the slave collar around the young woman's neck. The Marine then simply used his suit's augmented strength to break the slave collar, which he promptly threw away.

"Go to the shuttle," the Marine ordered.

"My baby!" the woman cried. "She is in the creche."

"Corporal Lynd, go with..?" the Marine asked.

"Audette Laquois," the woman replied.

"Show the corporal where the creche is, retrieve your baby and head to the shuttle," the Marine ordered. "Lynd, stay in the creche and make sure no one threatens the children until we leave here."

Lynd acknowledged her orders and followed the woman to the creche. Encouraged, more and more people came forward. The Sergeant had been told that there were some 5,000 citizens held at this site.

Four hours later, they had lifted more than 11,000 to the ships above. They didn't know if they had gotten all of the Union Citizens or not but they could not stay any longer. Planetary air and ground forces were pushing a significant counteroffensive. It was time to leave.

The raid on Gaetan's Planet was a smashing success with no serious injuries to Union forces. Not all of the other raids would be so successful...

Gordon Orbiting Station, New Hadria, Frogus System, Seventy-Four Light Years from Terra

Miles Devon was pissed. A Traffic Control Tech on the Gordon Orbital Station, he had just had the Union Ship SSP Carlos, Capt. Coal Devers, appear on his plot, demanding access to the upper tier of the station for pick-up of 'high-end' products, without being able to provide a manifest number.

It was obvious to Miles that the Carlos was shopping, and not actually picking something up. They could go through the station like any other ship that came into the system.

The Carlos was attempting to force the issue once again. Miles contacted his superior.

"Sir, we have a ship, SSP Carlos, which is attempting to gain access to the upper section of the station without invitation," Miles began. "They are making claims of picking up 'high-end' items, without being able to show a manifest number."

"Yeah, that happens fairly frequently," his supervisor replied. "They are probably seeking a shopping expedition on the upper decks."

"That was my thought, sir," Miles conceded. "However, they won't back off from attempting to get access."

"Let me talk to them," his supervisor took over the comms. "SSP Carlos, this is Gordon Station Control, you do not have proof of invitation to the upper deck. You will not be given permission to dock in the VIP section. If you wish to come to the station, you will dock in the lower section. If you continue to push this issue, you will be boarded for a customs inspection."

"That should get them to back down," his supervisor told Miles. "Just in case it doesn't, swing one of the customs ships over her way."

Miles acknowledged the order and sent instructions to the Customs Ship Elite on a separate channel. He watched as the ship moved over near to the Carlos.

************

"It doesn't look as if they are going to let us dock on the upper deck, sir," Comms told Capt. Devers.

"Shit. We should have thought to have a manifest number available," grumbled the captain. "What are the options?" he asked of the Marine Lieutenant that was assigned to his ship.

"Not much, we cannot fight our way through the station from the lower docking areas," Lt. Brian Esca growled. "We will have to go with plan B. We need to send a signal to the picket."

The captain gave the order. The Comms specialist sent a tight-beamed message to a specific area of space. Ten minutes later, the picket was relaying the message to the Raid Leader.

NS Saraswati, Numbered Star System HD-137982

Aboard the NS Saraswati, Capt. Balakrishna cursed under her breath as the Comms O passed the message. They had success on the Handren Station but not on the Gordon Station.

"Comms, advise the ships going to the Gordon Station, they are using Plan B. Ships going to the Handren Station, we are going with Plan A. Advise me when all ships have acknowledged," she ordered.

"Aye, sir," came the immediate reply. She half listened as the orders were passed. A few minutes later, the Comms O advised her that all ships had responded.

"Comms, fleet-wide now," Damyanti was mad and it showed in her demeanor. She didn't want anything else to go wrong on this raid, unfortunately for her, it would.

"Sir, you have fleet-wide," the Comms O informed her a minute later.

"All ships, this is Balakrishna. We jump in one minute on my mark...three, two, one, mark."

No one acknowledged but they didn't need to. A minute later, the fleet jumped on a raid against New Hadria that already had problems...

Gordon Orbital Station Control, New Hadria

The supervisor briefly came up on Miles' command net.

"Any other issues with the Carlos?" he asked.

"No, sir, the ship has gone silent for now," Miles informed his boss. Miles cursed as his comp told him that the Carlos had sent out a shuttle. Its trajectory was the VIP Shuttle Dock.

"Sir!" Miles called out.

"I see it, Devon," his boss answered. "Order the Elite to close on that shuttle and force it to a halt or destroy it."

Before Miles could reply, alarms stated sounding.

"Alert, Alert, multiple ships have jumped deep into the gravity well, they are jumping in all around the station!" came the frantic call from another controller.

Miles looked up as something impacted his peripheral vision. An odd looking small ship had come to a stop right outside of the Plasteel window in front of him. A gun, with a very large bore, was turned toward the window.

"Attention Gordon Station Control," came over the guard channel. "This is the NS Albert Hern of the Union Navy, Capt. Todd Clément commanding. You will surrender control to the Marines currently approaching your VIP Dock. Any resistance will be met with deadly force.

"We are the vanguard of a raid against New Hadria to rescue our kidnapped citizens who are currently being held illegally as slaves on your planet. Do not attempt to transmit any messages or you will be fired on," Miles heard.

As Miles watched, the situation board showed more and more ships arriving in-system near to the station. The computer was painting all of the ships as Union Navy vessels.

"Sir, I have forty-six ships, half of them Fairling Class Frigates, jumping in around the station! The numbers keep going up!" a panicked voice called out.

"Sir, the shuttle is almost at the VIP Dock. Do we let it in?"

Before the supervisor could respond, the CNHS Elite opened fire on one of the small ships and was promptly blown out of space by the return fire from half-a-dozen other small ships.

"Shit, no," the supervisor groaned as he witnessed the destruction of the Elite. "Give them access to the VIP Dock. Advise the customs agents and guards there to leave their posts immediately. We do not want to have unnecessary casualties. Have the customs ships in the area back off immediately and have the Defence Force Ships back off as well. "

A few minutes later, a group of Union Marines marched into Control and took over running the station. The raid was already several minutes behind and the ships were not in their optimum location, but the raid had to continue as it was...

************

"Attention New Hadria Planetary Control, this is the NS Saraswati, Capt. Damyanti Balakrishna commanding. The Union Navy is conducting a raid to rescue Union Citizens who have been kidnapped and are currently being held illegally as slaves on your planet.

"Any ship that attacks this task force, or any person who attempts to stop our operation on your planet, will be considered an enemy and engaged with deadly force," Damyanti sent out over the guard channel from her place on the Battle Bridge.

"Sir, Science, I show eighty plus ships, ten Handren Class Frigates, fifteen Forma Class Frigates, and twenty-five Hadria Class Escort ships. The other ships seem to be armed Customs ships, their armaments are not large enough to engage warships."

"Sir, Tac O, the Defence Forces are spread out around the planet and are currently converging on the two halves of the Task Force," the Tac O advised.

"Roger, ensure that data goes to the Tactical Link with the enemy ships painted as red," Balakrishna ordered.

"Already on the link, ma'am," the Tac O informed her.

Beside the 174 ships that each planet was allocated, Balakrishna's task force also included an additional twenty Whippet Class and thirty Valour Class. She sent those fifty ships and eight Fairling Class Frigates to engage the approaching enemy in her area while the same was being done in the area of the Gordon Orbiting Station. It would be a hard fight for both of the mini-fleets, though they had been practicing joint attack formations for several weeks now.

The engagement was indeed hard fought as the New Hadrian Defence Forces had been seriously rebuked for not engaging The Wanderer previously but the New Hadrian forces did take the brunt of the damages. They had not really practiced working together and were seriously under-armed and under-trained for engaging Union Navy ships of this calibre.

Still, the Defence Forces did manage to damage several of the Task Force's vessels, mostly Valour Class vessels, who had to be recovered onto Fairling Class ships, meaning there was less space for shuttles aboard those ships. There were also several Whippet Class Frigates that were damaged, though only one could not jump.

The Battle Bridge was active in solving issues of distribution of shuttles between ships and recovering the severely damaged Whippet Class. They sent in Fleet Tender Ulysses to take the ship into its larger hold for the jump out to the rear rally point, where the Persephone was waiting.

It took Task Force New Hadria a lot longer than they had estimated to take care of the orbital threat. That allowed the planetary Airforce and Militia to prepare to engage the raid as it came down.

Damyanti sent the raid down to the planet, along with many additional Valour Class ships to assist. It was a good choice, as they were sorely needed to get the Combat shuttles down to the ground on the eighteen targets they were going against.

While none of the Combat Shuttles or Valour Class were destroyed, several Combat Shuttles were damaged and would not be able to lift off the surface and eight Valour Class were damaged and had to withdraw to orbit.

Damyanti sent additional Valour Class down to assist, while the people on the ground began to do their thing. It didn't take long for the Planetary Militia to engage some of the forces on the ground. The Task Force started taking casualties.

Damyanti sent additional combat forces down and had the Valour Class strafe the Militia forces engaging the raiders. That provided some reprieve for their teams on the ground who were now sending shuttles back up filled with freed citizens.

Planetary Air Forces began to engage the shuttles returning to orbit, destroying several with the loss of all onboard, before they were successfully engaged by the Valour Class ships.

"We are not recovering people fast enough," MCPO Gigamy advised her. "At this rate, it will take us over twelve hours to bring our people out."

"Send down more Valour Class and tell them to prioritize their efforts against the Planetary Air Force. They have authority to engage any military aircraft that approaches our shuttles," Damyanti ordered. "I will give them twenty minutes to engage them, then we send down the unarmed shuttles."

"Aye, sir," Gigamy responded, sending out the orders. She had to move Whippet Class Frigates about to cover for the loss of the Valour Class, however, they had orbital control...for now.

The additional Valour Class sank into the atmosphere with a vengeance, engaging enemy aircraft with a will. In no time, they had air superiority over the areas they wanted. How long that would last was another matter.

"We have air superiority for now," Gigamy told his boss. "I am sending in the unarmed shuttles."

Damyanti acknowledged her Master Chief. Her priority was on the active battles on the planet, while he managed the movement of the shuttles. The addition of the unarmed shuttles doubled the number going down to the planet. That would help bring the Task Force back near to its required time schedule, though Damyanti was aware that they would not get the numbers out they were hoping for.

"We have 8,465 who have reached the ships," Gigamy advised her.

"Good, if we can double that on this load, it will bring us near to our schedule," she told the Battle Bridge.

The ship shuddered.

"Ex O, what the hell is happening?" Damyanti called out to the bridge.

"Sir, we have been engaged by several torpedoes," Cdr. Lindal informed the Captain. "We have managed to take three of them out, though one did get through. The ship took the blast, though we are not holed, the Gara-Hinn shield protected us. The ship that fired on us is now being aggressively engaged by Whippet Class ships."

"Roger, have Science and Tactics keep an eye out for other enemy ships that are getting within firing range of torpedoes or missiles," Damyanti advised.

"Roger, we are looking for those now," Lindal replied.

Damyanti cut the link as she focused back on the ground battle.

The second group of shuttles was starting its assent out of the atmosphere while the first group was returning to the surface with additional unarmed shuttles to assist. Time was their enemy now. The planetary militia was working to get enough of a concentration of forces to successfully sweep through the raid, while the Valour Class were working to suppress any build up of the enemy in the air and on the ground.

While Union forces currently had air superiority, the ground forces had the advantage of manpower, knowledge of the terrain, and time. It wouldn't be long before Damyanti would have to call a halt to the raid.

She sent down one more group of shuttles as the third wave began to ascend.

"We got 17,526 up from the second wave, that's slightly better than twice the number of the first wave," Gigamy told his boss.

"The wave going down will be the last wave, no matter the numbers we bring out," Damyanti told him, giving him a look that broke no argument.

Gigamy held up his hands in surrender. "I agree with you ma'am."

"Ex O, how does it look out there?" Damyanti asked.

"Ma'am, we have orbital control. The opposition has faded back," Lindal told her.

"Good, keep a close eye on things. When the opposition realises there are no other shuttles going down, they will get desperate to do something," Damyanti mused.

"Aye, that they will," Lindal agreed. "We can always move our forces around a little to intimidate the opposition."

"Good idea. Twist their tails a little, but try not to engage them, we don't need them to get desperate and damage any more of our ships," Damyanti ordered.