All That Glitters Ch. 39

"Ma'am, our people on the stations are indicating that the slaves on the station are asking for asylum," Gigamy stated.

"How many?" she asked.

"We are looking at around 800 plus for both stations, ma'am," the Master Chief replied.

"OK. Since we are not sending any more shuttles to the planet, send some of the offloaded shuttles to the stations," Damyanti ordered.

She kept an ear out to what was happening around the Battle Bridge, trying to gauge the response of the enemy. She heard something that she didn't want to hear...

"Ma'am, we are seeing a large group of military aircraft heading to our area of operations, many transports with fighter escorts," one of the techs informed her.

"Shit, how long before they get there?" she asked.

"Approximately twenty minutes, ma'am," she was told.

"Can we intercept them with the Valour Class?" she asked.

"No ma'am, currently, all the Valour Class in atmosphere are suppressing the enemy ground forces or engaging enemy air forces attempting to attack the shuttles," she was told.

"Gigamy, order the shuttles that are still going down to return without landing. Any shuttles on the ground, they have fifteen minutes to complete operations. That's all the time we can give them. If they are not in the air by then, they will likely be engaged by enemy aircraft. They need to get out of the atmosphere within the next twenty minutes," she ordered.

The grim faces around the Battle Bridge told her everything. She had no choice and her team understood that.

"Those that are left behind, we will get out through diplomatic means, this raid is meant to get as many of our people out as we can. It was never intended to get everyone out. We have done a good job, so far. Let's get the rest of our people on those shuttles back to the ships and get us the hell out of Dodge," Damyanti ordered.

A chorus of subdued, "Aye, sirs," responded to her orders.

"Ex O, we are cutting our raid short as opposition on the planet is intensifying," Damyanti sent to the bridge. "Keep a sharp eye on anyone trying to be an idiot out there."

"Aye, sir."

"Master Chief?"

"The shuttles are starting to return, ma'am," he replied. "We have half of them out of the atmosphere, now. There are still 182 shuttles on the planet."

"Are they aware of the timeline?" Damyanti demanded.

"Aye, ma'am. They were informed that we could not protect them any further than four minutes from now," was the response.

Three minutes later, the last of the shuttles were in the air.

"Ma'am, all the shuttles have left the surface, we are starting to see the faster aircraft entering our assault area. The Valour Class are engaging; however, these aircraft have long range missiles that our ships will have to deal with," Gigamy said.

"The crews from the damaged shuttles left on the planet?" Damyanti asked.

"Already recovered during previous runs, ma'am, including the dead, ma'am," Gigamy returned.

"Have the Valour Class protect the shuttles as they leave the atmosphere. Inform them there are no other shuttles coming down, they can come to orbit with the shuttles," Damyanti ordered.

Twelve minutes later, all the shuttles had left the atmosphere and were approaching their host ships, their Valour Class escorts coming up behind them.

"Let's pull back the ships in near orbit. Make sure we keep a wary eye on the Planetary Defence Forces ships. We don't need one of them getting a pot-shot at our retreating vessels," the captain ordered.

The plot got a little confused as the shuttles merged with their ships but it then cleared up as the ships informed the Saraswati they were ready to jump.

"Roll the Task Force back, let's return to the jump out point and get the hell out of here," Damyanti ordered, heading to the bridge.

"Captain on the bridge," came the call as she stepped onto the Captain's Deck and sat in her command chair.

"Status?" she demanded.

"We are green across the board, sir," Lindal replied instantly.

"The fleet is getting ready to move to the jump out point. I want to be in the last third of the ships getting there. We jump as per the plan with the rescue ships and hospital ship going first, followed by the warships. Nav, let's head to our assigned monitoring point," Damyanti ordered and got an "Aye, sir," back immediately.

Damyanti watched the plot as the fleet moved back, the warships protecting the rescue ships who had most of the citizens on board. She was keeping a close eye on the tracts of the Planetary Defence Force ships, which were starting to follow the departing fleet.

"Ma'am, we got an additional 14,312 people off the planet and 872 slaves off of both of the stations for a total of 49,175 people," Gigamy reported.

"That's more than we bargained for," Lindal quietly told her boss, speaking from the Ex O's chair.

"Yeah, but how many of them are actually Union Citizens?" Damyanti inquired.

"Captain, Tac O, the first civilian ships are jumping out, ma'am," the Tac O reported.

Damyanti watched the tactical display as more and more of her fleet reached the jump out point and jumped to relative safety of the HD-137982 Star System.

"Sir, Tac O, the Defence Force ships are accelerating after us, ma'am."

Alarmed, Damyanti watched the rear-guard action, trying to determine if the Defence Forces would get close enough to launch weapons. Her mental calculations told her it would be close.

"Comms, advise the rear-guard to launch some torpedoes their way," Damyanti ordered.

Six Whippet Class ships of the rear-guard launched torpedoes from their rear tubes. They chose to use the 'quiet launch' system, which basically used only enough gas to force the torpedoes out of the tubes. The torpedoes' computers were rigged to fire the engines two minutes after launch, right when the enemy ships would be well within range.

As the Defence Force ships approached the rear-guard they got an unpleasant surprise when they suddenly found a few dozen torpedoes engaging them without warning. Eight of the Defence Force ships were engaged while the remaining ten ships split wide to avoid the torpedoes, the manoeuvre gave the Task Force time to get to the jump out point and jump, leaving four severely damaged Defence Force ships in their wake.

Surdend Orbital Station, Planet Surdend, Schäfer System, Sixty-Eight Light Years from Terra

SSP Crowsfoot entered the system high in the gravity well and made it's way down toward the station.

"Surdend Station Control, this is SSP Crowsfoot, Capt. Benjamin Revelle commanding, requesting parking orbit with access to VIP Docking as we have priority goods for Surdend AG, over."

"Control, roger. We are sending you a plot to follow to your parking orbit, over."

"Crowsfoot, roger, we are on your plot now, see you in thirty minutes, out."

Twenty minutes later, the Crowsfoot's shuttle was launched toward the VIP Dock which it reached within seven minutes. Three minutes after she docked, the Marines had taken over the Control Center. A message went out to the Comms Picket six minutes light from the station. Eight minutes later, Task Force Surdend was jumping into the system. They had complete surprise as they came in.

"Attention Planet Surdend Defence Force, this is the NS Suurland of the Union Nay, Capt. Jurgen Holf commanding. We are here to retrieve our kidnapped citizens illegally being held 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," Holf broadcast.

Holf was on a tight schedule, he had 28,000 souls, in fifteen different locations, to retrieve from the planet. He was determined to complete his mission well within the six hours allocated time.

The fleet jumped out five hours later, having retrieved 32,523 citizens.

Erden Orbital Station, Erden's World, Erden System, Eighty-Six Light Years from Terra

SSP Montclair came into being in Erden's high orbit.

"Erden Orbital Station, this is the SSP Montclair, Capt. Joseph Citadelle commanding. We are requesting access to VIP Dock for transfer of high-end goods on manifest #EFTL-2486-11337752, over."

"Control, roger. You have authority to access the VIP Dock. Follow the plot we are sending to your parking orbit, over."

"Montclair, roger, we have your plot. We will be twenty-two minutes to parking and ten minutes thereafter to VIP docking, out."

The Montclair came in right on time. Two minutes after the shuttle entered the VIP Dock, Erden Station Control was in the hands of the Marines.

Within fifteen minutes, Task Force Erden was making its way into the system. As in the Schäfer System, they had complete surprise.

The NS Agrippa, Capt. William Stahl commanding, came into the system and made his challenge. With only fifteen ships of the Planetary Defence System, most of them older Forma Class Frigates, they also had complete dominance of the system and, consequently, the surface.

Stahl had 18,000 citizens in six locations on the planet's surface. He got out 26,000 and Task Force Erden was the only raid that managed to get out all of the Union Citizens on its target lists, though they wouldn't confirm that for several days.

The raid wrapped up quickly, well within four-hours, with no injuries or damage to any of their ships. They made their way to the jump out point and back to the HD-137982 Star System, only to find that Task Force Adenomere was in trouble.

Vuelta, Della System, Seventy-Nine Light Years from Terra

"Vuelta Station Control, this is SSP Avalos, Capt. Carlos Ramras commanding, requesting parking orbit near you with intent to retrieve high-end items of manifest #VFTL-2486-11599876, over."

"Vuelta Control, roger. There is a lot of traffic in or near the station, please follow the plot being transmitted to guide you to your parking orbit, over"

"Avalos, roger, we have your plot and are following it to our parking slot. Request permission to send a shuttle to the VIP Docking Deck once in our parking slot, over."

"Vuelta Control, roger, you may send your shuttle when you are ready, out."

"That was easy," 1^st Off. Martina Davis commented.

"Well, it makes it easier that we actually have an item on hold for Kaarina Kauppila, CEO of Kauppila Holdings, our boss," Ramras laughed. "We get to kill two birds with one stone, #1."

"Speaking of killing birds, how is the selection fight between the ChEng and my CWO?" Lt. Sampras, the Marine Platoon Commander, demanded.

"Mr. Sampras, do you not understand how things work in the universe? All men are jealous and sparked by the green-eyed monster where we women are involved. We women, are only too happy to have it so. The key, sir, is to ensure that the jealousy doesn't get out of hand," Martina Dayin, the 1^st Officer told him. "A little jealousy pampers our egos; a lot of jealousy is detrimental to all."

"Ah, playing the odds then are we?" Sampras asked.

That got a giggle from the women around the bridge.

"Capt. Nav, we are approaching our parking orbit, sir," Nav sang out.

"Roger, FTL and sub-light engines to stand-by, I want us ready to move on a moments notice, thrusters to station keeping," the Captain ordered to a chorus of "Aye, sirs."

"Number 1, you and the Cargo Officer will retrieve the high-end cargo and initiate the Marine's assault. Mr. Sampras, you and your Marines are up. We launch the cargo shuttle in ten," Ramras barked out.

Fifteen minutes later, the shuttle landed in the VIP Dock, conveniently close to station control. The two ship's officers showed the manifest and swiftly took out the two guards and two customs agents at their posts. The Marines left the cargo shuttle and, using their suit's augmentations, ran into control. They had their comms specialists in place in less than a minute, with no disruption to the comms flow and with nobody on the station the wiser. The Avalos even managed to retrieve its cargo before all hell broke loose.

Sampras opened his comp and sent a signal to the Avalos, which relayed the signal to the comms picket five minutes light from the station. A few minutes later, Task Force Vuelta was jumping into its designated location.

It had been decided that, because of its notoriety from their previous visit to New Hadria, The Wanderer's name would not be used in the raid.

"Vuelta Planetary Control, this is the Union Navy Task Force Vuelta, Capt. Hellene Degault commanding. We are here to retrieve our kidnapped citizens illegally being held 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," Hellen transmitted.

The ship's bridge crew was operating ahead of orders, the many hours of drills being put to immediate use as Science scanned the local area and determined which ships were armed and which were not.

"We see fourteen armed vessels of the Planetary Defence Force in orbit, sir. We have three Handren Class, four Forma Class, and seven Hadria Class," Science called up, the designated ships appearing on the Tactical Link in red. "We also have ten lightly-armed customs ships, fifty-three civilian ships, mostly supply ships but a few transports, and twenty shuttles going to and fro from the planet," Those ships appeared as green on the display.

In the Battle Bridge, Raymond noted the Tactical Link firming up as the plot was added to. He listened in as Hellene sent orders to the fleet to confront but not to engage the Defence Forces so long as they did not attack.

Raymond sent the Combat Shuttles to the surface with half of the Valour Class to act as escort. They had a few military aircraft approach but they backed off as soon as they discovered they were out-positioned by the much higher flying Valour Class.

The Combat Shuttles landed near to the barracks where they expected to find Union Citizens. As soon as word got around, slaves by the hundreds came to the shuttles.

"We have air superiority, sir," one of the Chief's called out to Raymond.

"Send the civilian shuttles down immediately," Raymond ordered. By now, the Task Force had been in-system for more than an hour. It would take the civilian shuttles twenty minutes to get to the planet's surface, by which time the original wave of Combat Shuttles would be starting to return to orbit.

"Sir, Comms, we are intercepting radio transmissions from the local Militia to the Airforce. They are angry for Airforce's refusal to engage our shuttles," the Comms tech in the Battle Bridge advised Raymond.

"How many Combat shuttles do we still have available?" Raymond asked.

"Eighty-two, sir, and 146 civilian shuttles," came the immediate reply from one of the Chiefs.

"Send them all down with the second wave, the Combat Shuttles to act as a deterrent to Planetary Militia," Raymond ordered. "Someone is going to try something unless we make it obvious that we will use force when necessary."

On the ground, the first wave was swiftly filling the interiors of the Combat Shuttles and preparing to return to orbit and their waiting ships. They were ordered to stay on the ground until the second wave was down and replacing the Marine Security Picket.

A few minutes later, the first of the second wave of shuttles was down and security pickets were being swapped out. The first wave launched, headed to the relative safety of the fleet.

"Sir, we show a sub-orbital launch of military cargo ships, likely with troops aboard," Science on the Battle Bridge relayed.

"Comms, send a message on all Guard Frequencies; we will engage those ships if they continue on their present course," Raymond ordered, listening in on the resulting conversation as Planetary Airforce and Militia attempted to argue their authority.

Raymond sent a couple of Whippet Class Frigates to an intercept point above the sub-orbital flight and ordered them to engage a couple of the smaller fighters escorting the flight, the pilots of which managed to escape their disintegrating aircraft. Two minutes later, the Militia flight was diverting from its course.

One problem solved, Raymond thought.

The first wave of shuttles was returning to their ships, where triage of the rescued would take place. Those that needed immediate care would be transferred to the hospital ship, either here or after the first jump, for treatment.

Raymond kept a close watch on the clock as the numbers started coming into the Battle Bridge. They had already been at it for over two hours. Fortunately, they numbers of suspected Union Citizens on Vuelta did not exceed 9,000.

"We have retrieved 8,211 in the first wave, sir," MCPO Bridgette O'Neil informed him.

"Good numbers. Let's hope the second wave gets the remainder," someone commented.

"We are likely to have more on the second wave. I anticipate many slaves falsifying claims of citizenship in order to escape," Raymond stated. "We can bring up almost 14,000 with the number of shuttles down now."

"We are receiving reports of fighting on the ground," Comms relayed.

Raymond sent in additional Valour Class to support the shuttles now down. They strafed the Militia which quickly backed off, giving the Task Forces' ground troops a breather.

Shuttles from the second wave began to ascend to orbit.

"All ships in atmosphere, keep a close eye on the ascending shuttles, we don't need some local hero attacking them," Raymond ordered over the general frequency.

More and more shuttles were launching to orbit as they wound down the ground operations.

"All the civilian shuttles are now in the air. Security Picket is pulling in, returning to the Combat Shuttles, which are beginning to launch," Comms relayed.

Raymond was watching the clock. Almost four hours had passed. They had wanted to get this completed within a six-hour window; they would be ahead of that.

"All shuttles are in the air, sir," Comms relayed.

"Capt. Degault, let's start pulling back the ships in orbit. Keep a close eye on the Planetary Defence Force ships," Raymond ordered.

"Aye, sir," Hellene returned, sending her orders out to the fleet.

The pull-back was orderly, with Valour Class coming back to orbit and transiting directly to the fleet. The remaining Valour Class and Whippet Class were keeping a close eye on the Defence Forces, the captains of which were not stupid enough to engage such a superior assault force of over 174 warships and 42 supply ships.

"We have retrieved all the shuttles with no losses, sir," Comms relayed.

"Right, Hellene, send out the orders, let's move to the jump out point, make sure to keep a close eye on our rear guard and vanguard," Raymond sent to the bridge. He then moved to the Bridge where he could keep a closer eye on the Tactical Link on the much larger bridge monitor.

Thirty minutes later, they were almost at the jump out point when MCPO O'Neil sent him a private communiqué, "Raymond, we got an additional 7,918 out on the last wave, we have eight injured Task Force members, from the attack by local militia, none of them serious. There are no casualties and none of our ships have sustained serious damage. The fleet is intact, sir."

Raymond watched the Tactical Link as ships began to jump out to the rendezvous point. Activity on the bridge increased as the ship reached the jump point.

"Prepare for jump," Capt. Degault called out, "Jump, jump, jump..."

Adenomere Station, Planet Adenomere, Adenomere System

SSP Clive Russel came into the system and made its way down the gravity well to Adenomere station.

"Adenomere Station Control, this is SSP Clive Russel, Capt. Jonathan Veillans commanding, requesting permission to park near VIP Docking as we have high-end goods for consignment, over."