Federation Reborn 2: Pirate Rage (76 page)

“Is it any wonder why I ask why anyone would want this blasted job?” he demanded angrily.

Chapter
42

Five weeks after they were given the go order, the North Hampton class light cruisers
Mikhail Kutuzov
and
Wanda Lu
jumped into the Destria star system one light minute short of the normal jump zone. They probed the star system carefully with passive sensors and recon drones before they switched to active sensors and moved in deeper. “There aren't any ships in orbit. CIC is picking up satellites however,” the sensor officer reported.

“Understood. Guns, I want recon probes sent out in every direction. I don't want to get caught with our pants down around our ankles like
Firefly
did,” Captain Casper Boo intoned. The lieutenant commander was a pure white Neocat with pale blue eyes and an unenviable name. He made up for it by doing his job to the best of his ability. He had Lieutenant Commander Maggie Courtland by date of rank despite the fact that the two of them had graduated in the same class. He had a shade more experience in the hot seat than she did and liked to rib her about it.

The one limited good thing that had happened after
Firefly
had stepped on its sword was that the poor showing had been a wakeup call to the rest of the military. The gory example of overconfidence made them all think twice and
look
twice at unknown star systems before they moved in closer. Suspicion and caution was now ingrained into their psyche all over again. No one wanted to fall into the same trap, not if they could help it.

“No, sir. Definitely not. Recon shell launch in five, sir. We'll need to coordinate with
Wanda Lu
to get it right.”

“Then do so,” the captain ordered.

---<>))))

As they moved cautiously through the star system over the course of several days their recon shell reported no sign of enemy ships. There were also no ion trails except old ones in and out.

“They've got a dozen satellites in orbit, Skipper,” the CIC rating reported when they moved within five light minutes of the planet.

“Can we hit them from this far out, Guns?” the captain asked, eying the Relgarth TACO.

“I believe so,” the reptile hissed, scanning her instruments. First Lieutenant Warm Blood IXL was very good at her job, and like any good tactical officer, she was a bit blood thirsty. She also wanted to learn martial arts with the marines; however, she had a bad habit of biting, clawing, and savaging an opponent when in unarmed combat training so they'd banned her, respectively of course.

“KEW strikes. Hit them from here if you can. Each one you miss means you owe a lap around the ship,” the skipper said. “Fire when ready.”

“Consider it done,” the Relgarth hissed.

“Hopefully right,” the helm rating murmured to his partner. That tail of hers can seriously bruise some shins in passing,” he muttered.

The captain's long sensitive ears picked up the remark. They flicked to the humans then back to the Relgarth. She tapped at her controls like a maestro. This would be her first live fire against an enemy so she wanted to get it right he noted. Besides, she hated to run, which was why he'd put that up as the stakes.

“Got it?” he asked, sitting back and pretending to waggle his thumbs. One of the greatest things his creators had done was to give them thumbs he thought.

“Just a moment,” the Relgarth said.

“Anytime,” the captain teased, flicking his ears.

“Got it. Two are behind the planet so there will be a delay in launching. I split the fire with
Wanda Lu's
tactical department.”

“So if they miss you get to run anyway? You really are confident …,” the captain said.

The Relgarth looked up in surprise tongue flicking. “Wait …”

“Fire,” the captain said, pointing a finger like a gun.

“Firing,” the reptile said obediently.

After a moment the rail guns fired six times from each ship. The small tungsten rounds flew inward ahead of them at nearly half the speed of light.

“Sensors, how are we doing with the scans of the planet? Do they match what we know?”

He was referring of course to what little data they had on file about the planet and star system. More, it had been pulled directly from the Encyclopedia Galactica files. The little trade information they had gotten had been geared more for contacts and trade interests than the planet or population. They knew players on the planet, but the knowledge was years old.

And since the Horathians had invaded the planet, most of those people were either dead, hostages, or helping their conquers like bootlicking lackeys he thought. Or, just maybe, a few might be fighting back. Maybe. He had his doubts though.

“Not much from this distance, Skipper. There is a hurricane off the east coast of one of the continents. When we get in closer, we'll get better resolution from the sensors to do a proper comparison,” the CIC rating said.

“As I thought,” the captain said. He nodded once. “Com? Traffic?”

“All local, Captain. Nothing towards us. I doubt they even knew we entered the star system,” the com rating reported.

“Good,” the captain said with a feline predatory smile. “All the better.”

---<>))))

Once the division was parked in a polar orbit, their sensors reached out to scan the planet thoroughly for any intelligence material they could gather. Radar, thermal, spectrographic, gravity, and lidar were used to map the planet in an orange peel by the duo. All of the placements of enemy forces were noted, as were the concentration camps.

Warm Blood's tactical department had acquitted themselves well, but Wanda Lu had missed one satellite. The reptilian tactical officer had taken her medicine with good grace … though she'd insisted her entire department join her in the run. They'd run laps around her, but that hadn't been the point.

“We can't just sit up here and do nothing,” the CIC rating said in another open discussion on the bridge. “I mean … people are …” he closed his eyes in pain.

“I know what you are feeling,” Warm Blood said. She saw the human look at her and then away. “Thank you for your feelings. It is comforting,” the tactical officer said. “I too feel helpless,” she said as the main screen filled with a close-up view of the line of people being sent to what looked like a gas chamber.

“Why don't they run? Fight? Better to fight and die than to … just die tamely!” the rating said, waving a helpless hand.

“They are cowed. Scared. Sheep,” the captain said. “Some are in shock; others don't believe it is really happening. They will find out too late it is.”

“The thing that bothers me is that no one else is trying to stop it,” another rating said.

The captain looked over to the Veraxin and then to the tactical team. “But we are.”

“Sir?” the Relgarth asked, looking up and flicking her tongue in and out.

“Guns, we're not going to let this go. I want a pattern set up. We are going to fire KEW shots into the military bases we've identified. Hit them hard until their
mother's
bleed,” he growled.

“Sir, those aren't our orders,” the Veraxin ATO protested.

“Let me worry about that. It's called initiative. I'll deal with the fallout if any come. I doubt it. Make sure you get some recordings; I bet the folks at home will
love
to see it.”

“Yes, sir. Especially those in ET and Protodon I bet,” the TACO hissed angrily as she issued the commands to their missile tubes to switch to KEW strikes. “Work with me here, Click,” she said.

“Yes, ma’am.”

The captain nodded as he observed them. “Good.”

While he waited he got a text message from Maggie. He replied back with a simple, yes. “My ass Mags,” he murmured, typing the words out. “You in?” he asked.

“Hell yes,” came back from the other captain after less than a second. He nodded.

“Sir, should we contact them? Demand surrender?” First Lieutenant Chubs asked. The Neochimp looked a little chagrined as the rest of the bridge glared his way. “Sorry, protocol. We want all our I's and T's handled in case this bites us in the ass,” he said. He looked over to the TACO. “No offense.”

“None taken I suppose. Even paper pushers have to have their say,” she replied dryly. He snorted. “You do realize we'll be warning them?”

“I'm more worried about them accepting the surrender to be honest,” the XO said, sounding amused. “I mean, what do we do about it?”

“Cross that bridge when we get there,” the captain said. His ears were down; a sign he didn't like the idea either. “Comm,” he turned to the comm rating. “Raise the planet.”

“Sir, it will take a moment since they won't be expecting us,” the comm rating replied, tapping at her controls.

“We've got time. It will give our tactical experts time to see if they can hit the broad side of a barn,” he said, voice returning to normal. “What say you, Guns, going to see how many laps you can make this go around?”

“We're not really going to hit a barn are we?” the Veraxin ATO asked, looking at his boss with two of his eye stalks while his hands continued to work.

“No, he's just rubbing it in. Not that it was our fault Wanda Lu missed,” the Relgarth said, eying the captain with a bit of disgust in her tone.

The captain snorted. “Excuses excuses,” he teased. Some of his good humor had been restored by the byplay.

“Sir, a General Ruffus Drier is on the line. Audio only.”

“General Drier, this is Captain Boo of the Federation starship
Mikhail Kutuzov
.”

“Boo who?” the general demanded.

“Very funny,” the cat replied, flicking his ears. “Please tell me you didn't strain a neuron with that ancient retort,” he said. “It's not like you have many to spare,” he growled.

“What do you want?”

“A fresh tuna fish and bacon sandwich spiced with catnip would be nice. Baring that, your head on a platter. Or more importantly, your surrender. I'm following protocol to give you this one chance to spare the lives of your people, General. Please consider it carefully. I won't give you a second opportunity.”

“Fuck you and fuck off,” the general snarled. “We'll never surrender to the likes of you!” there was a loud click.

“He's disconnected the circuit, sir,” the comm rating said.

“Well, that's protocol followed I suppose. You can't say we didn't try,” the captain said mildly. The XO nodded. “Fuck off,” he murmured. “How … quaint I suppose. Rude though to not invite a guest to dinner.”

“If it's just the same, Skipper, I'd rather stay up here where they can't hit back,” Chubs said dryly.

The captain eyed him in sardonic humor. “Not very sporting, but I suppose you are right. It is nice to be on the dishing-out side instead of the receiving I suppose. Zeus program loaded?” he asked. The ATO nodded, as did the TACO. “Then initiate, Guns, and send them our answer,” the captain said, settling himself.

“Our turn now, you bastards,” the TACO said as she keyed the firing sequence.

The two ships puffed rounds out in rapid succession. Those rounds were unguided but moving at incredible speed for their small size. Their carbon tungsten bodies seemed to shed the plasma from reentry with ease as they hammered through the atmosphere with grim purpose.

Straight line bright thunderbolts racked the heavens to slam into the ground in the exact center of each Horathian military facility. The rounds carried the equivalent of a one-megaton bomb. Their impact energy tore everything apart for kilometers around.

The tactical departments had targeted facilities far from the population centers or concentration camps. Vehicle parks, bases, training and recruiting stations, spaceports were all obliterated in a wave of destruction that crisscrossed around the planet until the ships ran out of ammunition or targets.

Hit and hype.
Chester Puller's
team couldn't come fast enough, the captain thought darkly as the division broke orbit at last. There was nothing left in orbit, and craters on the ground where the main concentrations of Horathians had once been. It would help, but also hinder the marines once they got there. After all, the enemy now knew they were there.

“We'll be back, you bastards,” the captain murmured, eyes slits as they watched the ball recede. “And we'll be bringing
friends
. Marines to dig you out; you just wait and see,” he said ever so softly. “Justice
will
be served.”

---<>))))

Captain Arnie Perth checked the status of his light cruiser
Caroline
once more, then his eyes roved the bridge. He was anxious, but he did his best not to show it. It was a bit harder with an ape like he was though. A human would have been able to hide their rising fur.

Fortunately, the uniform covered most of it. And although the wary tension was still in the air, it was tempered with a realization that their new helm and navigational team could hold their own in the rapids. Tension was a good thing, as long as they didn't get carried away. Worrying and second guessing one's self could cause a mistake as easily as being sloppy would.