Into the Chaos Ch. 01

That also meant that we had time to do this, but not much.

They stopped as we reached the main hold and Captain Samko said "Sorry, Lieutenant Commander, but I have no idea how to go from here."

"One moment." I focused on her emotions, to get a better read and then asked. "Please confirm that what you told me earlier is true."

"Everything was true." She said without hesitation.

I nodded in satisfaction, as her emotions seconded that. It wasn't a fool proof way of telling if a person was lying or not, but it certainly was better than trying to read the body language of a race I had never encountered before.

"First we'll do a scan." I signalled to the Black Dragons medic, who nodded and stepped forward, holding a scanner. She ran through all settings no less than four times, while I focused on the flow of the Force within the captain.

As I had suspected, there was absolutely nothing there and I had just explained it to her, when the medic looked up from her scanned and said "Sir, she has a locator implant with a small quantity of explosives in her neck, but that's it. I can easily remove it."

"Do it." I ordered and accessed the Commlink to contact the pilots in charge of the captured spaceships. "Pilots, how're the ships coming along?"

"Ready to fly, sir!" reported the pilots back almost in unison.

"Thank you." Closing the commlink again, I waited as the Medic removed the explosive implant from Captain Samko and then asked, "Captain, as far as I know, there's a cruiser in orbit. Can you give me some details on that?"

She nodded. "Yes. It's the Dark Light. A Hammerhead-class cruiser with a compliment of twelve Sith Starfighters, six turbolasers and a bunch of laser cannons." She smiled humourlessly. "I hope you brought something bigger."

I shook my head slowly. The Hammerhead Cruiser was an old design, but it was a big and powerful ship. It wasn't a Sith design, but a large number of them had been taken by the Sith during the Great Intergalactic War and being barred from using the usual Sith ships, it made sense for a group of renegades to acquire one of these as their main ship. Especially out here in the outskirts of the galaxy, where there's people willing to sell anything as long as the prize is right.

Fortunately for us, a buyer was lucky if any given ship had just half of its original weapons, so we rarely encountered pirated with military grade ships, and I doubted the Dark Light was any different. The cost of equipping a ship with full military weapons simply wasn't worth it in cost and maintenance. At least not for a pirate whose main goal was to capture enemy ship and not to blow them away.

Suddenly the commlink crackled into life and a female voice said. "Corporal Dusho here. Sorry to interrupt, sir, but could you ask where all our people are? We've searched this area and our people are nowhere in sight."

Yaki turned towards Captain Samko. "Captain, where're our people? There should be almost five hundred people in this section of the refinery and they're nowhere to be found!"

The human looked sad. "I'm sorry, Mam. The pirates took them away yesterday."

There was silence for a moment, but then I said. "You better elaborate, Captain Samko."

She nodded and explained, that when she had arrived, the pirates had already taken this area and were busy loading people into a Heraklon-class freighter, which then took off, heading for a base in another system.

I sighed. That sounded way too likely. The Heraklon-class freighter was a big ship, about as big as a frigate, but despite its size, it was lightly armed and armored. So lightly, that the stock version didn't have any weapons at all, but considering the area we were in, it was highly unlikely that the pirates haven't equipped it with a few weapons for self-defence.

However, taking time to capture and load all those people into a freighter explained why it had taken the pirates so long to get to the refinery, as capturing the people here had clearly been the primary objective, while the ultrachrome facility had been the secondary target.

"Captain, can you give me any details on that ship?" I asked.

She nodded tiredly. "Yes, I know it quite well. It's an old piece of crap, named 'Last chance'. The hyperspace engine is rated as a rank four and it's only armed with two medium lasers. On the bright side, it can be configured to almost anything and I'm guessing that it's in passenger mode right now, which give room and life support for 450 people." She shrugged lightly. "I was the pilot on it for a while before I got this ship. Decent people there, but to make ends meet, they had to do a little smuggling on the side, and they got caught for it the same way I did."

"Any pirates onboard?"

She shook her head. "I don't know, but there's no need to. We will blow up it we leave the ship and there's a booby trap connected to the nav computer, so the ship will blow up, if we deviate from our route too much... fortunately, we haven't gotten our route yet."

I was silent, as I digested the information. This pirate group had a lot of ships, but all of them were old models. Not that unusual, as this area of space is usually the place where old ships go, when they're too run down to have much value anywhere else. On the bright side, it also meant that it was extremely unlikely, that they were part of any official Imperial force.

The news about the hyperspace generator being rank 4, was another piece of good news.

Since the hyperspace ranking basically just described how fast the ships moved in hyperspace, you could calculate travel time, by multiplying the ideal travel time, which was 1, with the hyperspace rating of the engine.

In other words, since the Phoenix had a hyperspace rating of two, it was twice as fast as the Heraklon-class freighter. If the freighter took eight days to reach a destination, the Phoenix could do it in four and that difference gave us a real possibility of arriving on the freighters destination before they did and ambush the ship, when it came out of hyperspace.

That however demanded that we won the battle against the Sith pirates' Hammerhead cruiser.

"Captain," I said. "We're going up there to save both you and our people here and I would prefer if you came along. Do you have any long-range lasers on this ship?"

"No. Turbolasers and the like are too expensive for an upstart freighter captain like me." She thought for a moment and then added. "And no armour beside the stock one for that matter."

"I see. Then I would like you to come with me."

For a moment, Captain Samko looked at me in disbelief, but then nodded. "Okay, but why?"

"I don't know if the Sith on Dark Light can use the Force to feel who're on the ships, but if he can and do that, I want you on one ship and Georgina Writ..." I nodded in the direction of the pilot "... on the other. It might not fool him, but it will make him wonder."

My commlink with Yaki switched on. "Commander, what about our people?"

"One problem at a time, Lieutenant." I replied. "Before we can save the others, we need to save ourselves."

"Yes, sir."

Switching channel, I got hold of Corporal Dusho again. "Corporal, we're going into space to assist the Phoenix. In the meantime, have the engineers look for a booby trap connected to the nav computer of the dynamic-class. If they find one, I want it removed."

"Yes, sir."

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

Going against Lord Mahaw

Alpha Viga System

"Great results, can be achieved with small forces."

From the Holy Book of War

A little while later, I was sitting in the command chair of the D5 Mantis as we took off, heading for space, while the techs familiarized themselves with the control panels in front of them. It had been a whirlwind of things done in an extremely short time, but in the end, it had all worked out.

The four-person crew of the freighter had their implants removed and detonated, while a squad of troopers freed the prisoners in the cargo hold and got the military or technical educated ones on board the ships.

Fortunately, both the Mantis and the Fury was light on crews, so that gave us just enough people to crew them both. The wounded were getting medical attention and the rest would repair the damaged freighter with the help from the freed slaves, as both the marines and the Black Dragons kept watch for any pirates.

After a quick study of the two captured ships, I had decided to take the Mantis, which in my opinion simply was a slightly better warship than the Fury-class. At least for this situation.

In fact, it was an awesome ship. Compact and rugged, it employed three retractable weapon foils with independent power supplies, which made it capable of safely deploying armament intended for larger class vessels. Consequently, the Mantis had two light turbolasers and a capital grade missile launcher mounted in the foils, as well as a hull-mounted laser and an Ion-cannon, making the Mantis as well armed as a light Frigate.

Like on the Fury, the previous owner had installed a hypertransiver and military-grade shield generator, sensors, and weapons suite, while changing the interior from a stark military looking design, to something that resembled a luxury yacht: Stylish, yet practical.

Being taller than the Fury, the designers had done a great job of utilizing the height, making room for all five crew members and the six passengers to have a cabin each, as well as a lounge, a conference room, and a small medical bay without losing much cargo space. In short, it was an almost perfect pirate vessel.

The thought of pirate vessels made me look at the tactical display as we cleared the planet's atmosphere and the sensors kicked in. The Phoenix was still there and closer than I had thought it would be, but only ten of the Talon Interceptors were still visible on the screen. On the bright side, there were only eight Sith Starfighters left.

"Comm. Contact Phoenix."

After a few moments of hesitation, the view screen lighted up, again showing Phoenix' the tactical officer, Junior Lieutenant Meistrin. "Commander Thalen!"

"Hello Lieutenant. We have liberated the two ships we spoke of earlier and are on our way to help with the cruiser."

"Thank you, LC." Lieutenant Meistrin said, using the short version of my rank. "We're in a bit of a mess here. That Hammerhead cruiser is heavily modified and it's slightly faster than the Phoenix. To make matters worse, Captain Doran is out cold after we took a hit from one of their starfighters."

Glancing at the tactical display, I thought the situation over. The cruiser was still in the planet's gravity well, so it couldn't make a hyperspace jump, but nothing prevented it from turning and make a run for it.

I called up the flight data for the cruiser and did a quick calculation. If the cruiser turned within the next five minutes, it would make it. Otherwise, our real-space velocity was fast enough to catch it before it could leave the gravity well.

On the other hand, the Phoenix was already damaged and if the cruiser captain wanted to fight, he would want to take either the Phoenix or us out before we could enter the battle. Of course, the captain of the cruiser would know that too and what happened now, would depend on his actions. Still, being Sith, I was willing to bet he would go into combat instead of running away. Especially with a ship like the Hammerhead cruiser.

On the screen, the tactical officer paused, took a breath, and then said. "Sir, now that you have your own ship, you outrank First Officer Kiran, so please accept command."

I blinked a few times. First Officer Kiran's navy rank was Lieutenant, but because I had been assigned to his ship, he had outranked me since he was the First Officer. Now, I wasn't on his ship anymore and as Lieutenant Commander, I was the highest-ranking officer and thus had command. That was the same reason why Elise Samko, was Lieutenant Samko now, instead of Captain Samko, as the title of Captain meant the commanding officer on a ship.

"Very well, Lieutenant. Stand by." I said as I marked a place on the system map. "Turn and run towards these coordinates. That's the shortest intercept route, that will keep you out of reach of the cruiser for as long as possible, until we come near enough to help you."

She nodded as the coordinates showed on the screen and ordered the helmsman to change course.

"Sir, incoming signal from the Sith cruiser! It wants to know our status." Said the comm operator, causing me to look at him. He was one of the technicians I had drafted from the Alpha Viga complex. Mostly since the Master Engineer swore that the young man was a wizard with communication systems. His name was Krott'avune'authum, but everybody called him Tavune.

Being Chiss Tavune looked to be around twenty human years and according to Master Brin, we both grew and matured mentally faster than humans. Naturally, the same applied to me and being twenty years old, most humans would assume that I was around thirty.

"Ignore it, Mister Tavune." I ordered and turned back towards the view screen. "Lieutenant Meistrin, if he follows you, we'll take him out. Otherwise, we'll let him run. It's up to him."

"Yes, sir."

Time seemed to move in slow motion, as I watched the dots on the tactical display move slowly towards each other and I could feel the tension in the cockpit rise steadily as the cruiser inched closer to the dot that was the Phoenix.

Then I noticed that both the cruiser and the Phoenix were moving across our heading, and we were approaching them from the side almost like a hoover car approaching a T-junction. It wasn't perfect, but when we caught up with them, we would be slightly behind them, with the cruiser between us and the Phoenix.

An idea struck me and made me turn towards the gunner. "Guns, just in case that Hammerhead cruiser doesn't change direction, launch a flight of missiles and aim them at the point where the Hammerhead catch up with the Phoenix."

She turned and looked at me with surprise in her eyes. "Sir, we're way out of range!"

"I know, but if the cruiser keeps this heading, they can coast in on a ballistic trajectory. It's not like they'll lose speed in space and with their heading, the missiles will catch up on them. Find a point right before the cruiser comes within range of the Phoenix and set the safety limit to that time. That should do the trick... oh and preload the cruiser's signature into the missile's sensors, so they don't go after the Phoenix or us by accident."

She blinked in surprise, but then nodded with a smile, turned towards the control panel, and started programming the missiles.

I looked at the closing dots again. This far away, the cruiser sensors wouldn't detect the launch and the missiles drive wouldn't even kick in before they entered sensor range, so the missile would continue like a small meteor and be just as hard to detect. The chances of damaging the cruiser were extremely small, but at least they could give the pilot on the cruiser a shock when the proximity alarm went off and with just a little bit of luck, we might damage their shields.

"Mister Tavune, open a link to the Fury."

I waited until the display told me that it had happened and then looked around in the cockpit. "We can't ride into battle in nameless battleships, people. Any suggestions?"

It became a game for the two crews as the time for battle grew nearer, but they finally agreed on Hunter's Gambit, while the Fury-class Interceptors' crew named it Rising Star.

"Sorry to ask, sir." Said Lieutenant Samko. "But going up against a cruiser with two patrol ships seems like a bad idea. Are you sure you can win this?"

That made me smile a bit. "That will depend on how you define 'winning'. If you mean 'taking down the enemy in a stand-up fight', the answer is no. The Hammerhead cruiser is a tough ship and if the captain knows what he is doing, he'll turn right now and come at us with all turbolasers firing, forcing us to flee or be destroyed."

"So how do we win?" She asked, sounding a bit on the edge.

"Our objective is to keep our people safe. To do that, we'll have to deliver enough damage to force him to withdraw." I nodded at the screen. "On the other hand, Mahaw is in a position where if he doesn't win, he will lose. If he retreats now or allow the Phoenix to leave the gravity well and enter hyperspace, which would allow us to do the same, he has lost three ships and most of what he came here for." I shrugged lightly. "However, I think he'll fight..."

A 'blib' from the console interrupted our conversation and told me, that it was now too late for the cruiser to turn, and he was still going after the Phoenix at full speed.

"... and he will lose." I finished.

"But how?"

Holding up a hand, I said. "Later. I need to focus."

I tuned her out and looked at the tactical display. The red dot that was the enemy was almost within range of the Phoenix.

Since we were past the point of no return, I started to give orders. First to the Talon Interceptors, who were to draw the star fighters away from the enemy cruiser. Then I told the Phoenix to turn and support us as soon as they could, while the Fury-class interceptor and my own ship went in for the cruiser.

When everybody knew their role, I closed my eyes and reached into the Force, using it to boost the skills of the people under my command.

Then I looked at the display. I just had time for one more thing. "Comm, open a line to our ships."

"All yours, sir."

"This is Lieutenant Commander Thalen. Quite frankly, I had hoped that it didn't come to this... That the captain of the pirate cruiser would turn around and run away and that we could all go home without risking more lives. That was not to be. Clearly, this captain is unfamiliar with us. Clearly, he has underestimated our skills in battle and willingness to fight for our people. In a short while, the battle will commence. Let us show that bastard how we react to people, who come into our territory and take our people prisoners, to be sold as slaves. Let's show him how real warriors fight." I paused for a moment and then added. "Good luck, People."

The timing was beautiful. Just as I finished speaking, the enemy cruiser took its first shot at the Phoenix and missed, but in almost the exact same moment, the six capital ship size missiles we had fired earlier suddenly woke up from their dormant state, sensors acquired their target, and the missiles lit their drives.

The cruiser's point-defence got two of the missiles, but the other four slammed into the cruiser in rapid succession. Three of the missiles wasted themselves against the cruiser's shields, but one hit the rear end of the cruiser and the ship must have had its shields angled towards the Phoenix, because the missile rammed directly into the hull without encountering a shield and blew up, taking one of the cruiser's ion-engines out.

On the readout, the stats on the cruiser's shields transformed as the cruiser changed the shields to cover the whole ship instead of just the front and its acceleration dropped considerably.

"Range!" the Gunner called out a little later. "Target acquired!"

"Fire!"

A moment later, the two light capital ship lasers fired at the cruiser, making its already weakened shield flare for a moment, before the shield generators overloaded and just like that, the cruiser didn't have any shields left.

"Evasive manoeuvres. Keep the distance. We don't want to get into range of his laser cannons." I told the pilot Grizz'wul'oushu (Zwul) and ordered the Talon Interceptors to attack the Sith starfighters, just as the Hammerhead cruiser fired a salvo of turbolasers fire at us. The shock from getting hit by capital missiles must have rattled the gunners, because they missed by a large margin.