Hold the Star: Samair in Argos: Book 2 (59 page)

              Taja went over to him and put a hand on his shoulder and he covered it with one hand while pounding his other fist against the metal of the bulkhead.  Finally, after a few moments, he calmed and nodded.  “I don’t suppose there’s actually anything I can do about that now, is there?”  He looked first to Taja and then to Tamara.

              Taja pursed her lips, considering, but Tamara shook her head.  “I suppose there might be a legal claim you could make, but that would presuppose you actually have documentation showing that the
Emilia Walker
is registered to you.”

              He sighed, his shoulders sagging.  “Anything we had was aboard the ship when the fuckers shot it up.  The computers were in a bad way when they boarded.  Aside from that, I doubt there’s anything on board that would be left after they fixed her up.”

              “I’m sorry, Frederick,” Taja said, giving his arm a squeeze and he nodded. 

              But then he shook his head.  “Damn them,” he said.  Then he brightened somewhat.  “But I have a new ship now.”  He patted the bulkhead, putting on a strong face for the two women in the room.  Tamara wasn’t sure who he was trying to convince, them or himself.  She didn’t think any of them were fooled, but they all smiled reassuringly. 

              “Have you named the ship yet?” Tamara asked.

              Taja looked to him for an answer.  But Frederick just shook his head.  “No, not yet.  Nothing really strikes my fancy yet.  But it’ll come.”  And without another word, he turned, picked up the sponge from the bucket and resumed his scrubbing.  When the other two didn’t move, he looked to them.  “What?  Doesn’t matter how pissed off they made me.  This ship still needs some attention.”

              They both nodded.  “Well, Captain, I’m going to start back for the hangar.  You’re all set.”

              He looked over at her.  “Thank you again, Tamara.  Really.”

              “Keep in touch, Captain Vosteros.  I suspect things might look a bit different the next time you’re in this system.”  She gave him a wink and then strode from the compartment.

              “Coming into visual range of the station now, Marklan,” the sensor officer reported.

              Peredes Turco nodded.  “Very well.  Open a channel to the station.”  It had been what felt like a long run into the station, he reflected.  But, finally, within the next couple of hours they’d be here and he could get these whining freighter captains off his back for a day or two.  Why he’d ever allowed himself to be talked into this trip, he’d never know. At least things had been otherwise quiet up until now.

              “Marklan, there’s a ship holding station about a hundred or so klicks from the station.”

              “What?  The battlecruiser?”

              “No, sir, that’s currently still docked.  This is a cargo ship,” the sensor officer said.  “Actually, it’s the same ship that caused all that ruckus back home a couple of months ago.  That bulk freighter.”

              “Really?” he said softly, tapping a finger to his lips.  That was something to consider.  That ship had let loose several computer viruses that had taken down Ulla-tran’s fueling station, as well as several of her pinnaces that the system was using for defense.  Of course, this was all cover so that their people could kill a few people and then blast out of the system.  But that part of Goris Hana’s explanation never made sense to Peredes.  The freighter crew that had been collecting and selling fuel to the station suddenly and for no apparent reason, set off a malware bomb in the station, killed a few of the station’s crew and then leave?  He’d known a few freighter crews in his time, as well as those on this trip to Seylonique.  And while they talked tough and were more than willing to do what needed to be done in a pinch, they weren’t murders.  They weren’t usually stupid either.  They were people, not robot drones that would just go crazy.  If the freighter jocks had done all that, if they had killed those workers on the station, there had be a damned good reason.  Which meant that Goris Hana was most likely hiding something. 

              Which, Peredes mused, was his prerogative.  The fat, smelly toad was nasty piece of work.  He had to be hiding something. 

              But that was something for another time.  Peredes hadn’t been given any orders to hunt that crew down.  He had no intention of attacking a ship in another nation’s star system.  Wars started over things like that.  And while the sensors had indicated that the battlecruiser was in lousy shape, it wouldn’t take much for that ship to rip this convoy and its escorts to pieces.  His frigates were tough by the standards of the Argos Cluster.  They were outfitted with heavy lasers, a pair of grasers in the forward chase armament, and a pair of side missile launchers.  But they were no match for even a decrepit battlecruiser.  If that ship was playing possum…  Peredes shook his head.  He couldn’t risk it.

              He waved his hand dismissively.  “Keep an eye on them, sensors, but I’m not going to worry about them right now.  They’re someone else’s problem.  Communications, where’s my channel to the station?”

              The comms officer looked over to him.  “Ready, Marklan.”  He pointed to Peredes, signaling he was on a live mike.

              “Seylonique Orbital station, this is Marklan Peredes Turco aboard the frigate
Adroit
.  I have six freighters in convoy looking to sell cargoes.  In addition, we are looking to recruit workers and spacers for back in Ulla-tran.  Please advise with docking instructions.”

Chapter 20

              “What the hell are they
doing
?” Kamerov said quietly, watching the two local warships suddenly change course away from the fueling station. 
Legacy
and
Ravage
had been chasing the two ships for a while now, and suddenly, when they were almost in range, the two ships divert course away from what had to be their only help against the two Republic warships.

              “I’m not sure,” Duncan Harth replied, watching his own display.  It was damned peculiar, that they would turn away.  Perhaps there were no defenses there at the station after all.  But then if that was the case, why would they lead Harth there to begin with.  It wasn’t as if there was only one vector that those ships could take.  They could have flown in any direction, so why take that one?  Was there something on the station that they wanted the Republic ships to stay away from?  Something valuable?  If
Legacy
and
Ravage
turned away now, it would take a while to turn back around and get back to the station.

              Back to the station…  Why had he chose that particular phrasing, even in his own mind?  Then he had it.  “Helm, alter course to two-five seven, raise us up perpendicular to the plane of the ecliptic.”  That would turn the two ships up and to an angle, putting both the station and the two warships “below” his ships.  But, they would all be on the same plane when they decided to spring their trap.

              “They’re not going for it, Skipper,” the tactical officer announced.  “They’re turning away, heading up perpendicular to the plane of the ecliptic.”

              “Damn!” Skygexx swore, pounding one fist on the arm of his command chair.  He’d gotten too cute, he realized.  He’d waited too long and now it was a bit too late.  “Contact the station.  Order them to launch.”

              “Multiple contacts coming from the station, Captain,” Drommen called out.  “Starfighters, looks like a full squadron of them.  Twelve.  Fifteen.  Twenty contacts, all on an inbound vector.”

              Harth checked his display.  They were too far away for visual confirmation, but the sensors were starting to bring out more details.  The ships were small, one-man craft, and looked to be little more than an ovoid shape with a few protrusions for the engines and weapons.  They weren’t emitting high enough power readings for shields, which was a small favor, and they were too small to carry heavy missile loads.  But with all these fighters joining up with the other two warships the odds just suddenly shifted.

              “Battle stations,” he ordered.  They’d been stood down to normal cruising operations all the while, and perhaps he should have maintained a higher state of readiness.  But there hadn’t been anything in range and he didn’t want his crews to be worn out. 

              “Shields up!” Kamerov called.  “All weapons crews to stations.”

              “Comms, get me the
Ravage
,” Harth ordered.  A second later, Lieutenant Tran’s face appeared on the display before him.  “Tran, we’ve got trouble.”

              “I see it, Captain,” the corvette’s commander replied.  “We’re showing those fighters coming out from the station.  They almost managed to catch us in a pincer.  Five more minutes and we’d be stuck.”

              “We’re still stuck,” Harth said.  “Unless we’re willing to just run until the fighters are too far away and their fuel levels make them turn back.”

              Tran frowned.  “If they’ve got any sort of missile load out, we might not be able to get away, even if we do run, Captain.”

              “I know,” he said.  “And it doesn’t look as though they’re very interested in just letting us pass.”

              “No, sir,” Tran said, a slight smile spreading on his lips.  “And I don’t think I’m much interested in running away.”

              “We are here uninvited, Tran,” Harth reminded him, suppressing his own urge to smile.  “We came here looking for that freighter, not to get caught up in fighting local space defense forces.”

              “Captain, you’re playing demon’s advocate right now,” the lieutenant replied, his voice serious.  “I know that.  But are you really going to tell me that you think that’s all these forces are?  Local space defense forces?  You don’t think that they’re affiliated, even peripherally, with those pirate forces we saw in Ulla-tran?”

              Harth nodded.  “I do.  But then, the locals in Ulla-tran weren’t affiliated.  There’s just happened to be the system where the pirates
happened
to show up.”

              “Granted.”  Tran said.  Then he shrugged.  “I’m with you either way, Captain.  You know that.  It’s your call.”

              Harth nodded.  “Yeah.  How is your ship?”

              “We’re looking better.  Still have only one missile, so I told me crews to forget the launchers for now and concentrate on other systems.  Shields are up to ninety percent, and we’ve got all but one point defense laser cluster back online.  Hull’s patched up, but we can’t take too many hits.”

              “Understood.  All right, we’ll take them,” he said.  “We’ll turn back and go after the warships first, deal with the fighters as they close in.  Keep an eye out for missile swarms from those fighters, though I don’t think they’ll be able to manage more than one or two salvos.”

              Tran looked dubious.  “I don’t think we can handle more than one or two anyway, Captain.”

              He eyed his former exec.  “This is nothing new, Tran.  You’ve done this before.  Just keep it together.”

              The lieutenant straightened on the display’s pickup.  “I’m fine, Captain.  Don’t worry about me. 
Ravage
will hold up her end.”

              “I know she will,” Harth replied.  “Now, follow us.  We’re going after those warships.  Target the corvette first.  I want to peel away that destroyer’s escort and then we’ll take them apart.”

              “Understood, Captain.”  And the call ended. 

              “Helm, alter course.  Turn us to intercept the warships.  Tactical, once they’re in range, engage the corvette for now.”

              “Engage the corvette, aye, sir,” the tactical officer replied.

              “They’re turning back to chase us, Captain,” Kufazik reported.

              Skygexx nodded.  It looked like the dog was finally turning back toward the rabbit, but it was a little too late to trap him properly.  So be it.  Those Republic ships couldn’t be allowed to leave.  He squared his shoulders, refusing to show fear.  “Helm, alter course, bring us on an angle to bring us back toward the fighters.”

              “We’re going to have to reduce velocity, Captain,” the helmsman reported, working his controls.  “Our current course is taking us almost directly away from Commander Sokann’s squadron.”

              “Understood, helm,” Skygexx said, a bit testily.  “Just follow my orders.”

              “Aye, sir,” the zheen replied.  The destroyer flipped end for end, with
Wrath
doing the same.  Both ships accelerated all out to halt their advance and begin to bring them on their new course.  Within moments, with inertial compensators screaming under the strain, the two ships began accelerating again all out toward the intercept point.

              “Sixteen minutes to intercept, Captain,” Kufazik reported. 

              “Very well,” Skygexx replied.  “Ready missile tubes, target the corvette.  Once we’re in range of our energy weapons, take it out.  Helm, be ready for evasive maneuvers, once we’ve made the first salvo, break starboard and climb, rolling ship to present undamaged shields.”

              “Aye, sir.”

              “They’re coming for us, Captain,” Drommen reported.  “It looks as though they’re still trying to pincer us between the warships and the fighters.”

              “Smart, seeing as that’s really the only option they have with any chance of succeeding,” Kamerov said drily.  Then he sobered.  “But it doesn’t mean they won’t hurt us.”

              “They’re going to concentrate on
Ravage
to start,” Harth predicted.  “She’s the weaker link and with her damage, she won’t be able to stand up to an attack as well as she normally could.  Order
Ravage
to close up on us and to fall back slightly to our stern.  We’ll have to cover her with our own point defense and heavier shields.”

              “Aye, sir.  Sending now.”  A moment later, the corvette obeyed, dropping back slightly to conform to orders. 

              Ten minutes to contact.  At their current rate of closure, they would be in range of the two warships a full two minutes before the fighters could get into range.  That wouldn’t be a big window, Duncan knew that, but the more damage he could inflict on those warships, the greater the odds would be in his favor once the fighters got into range.

              He looked up.  “Hail the approaching ships again.”  Kamerov looked over to him in surprise.  “As I said, we’re imposing ourselves into their star system uninvited and we’re not at war with these people.  If we can get them to back off without any bloodshed, that’s better for everyone.”

              The executive officer looked doubtfully at his captain, but then nodded to the comms officer to obey.  A moment later, the officer gave Harth the thumbs up.

              “Attention all local space defense forces, this is Captain Harth of the Republic warship
Legacy
.  Break off your attack and stand down immediately.  We have no wish to get into combat with your forces, we have no wish for anyone to die.  We are here to locate a ship; a bulk freighter they may have come through this system.  We have no other interest in your system.  I repeat, break off your attack run and stand down.”  He pressed the mute command.

              Kamerov was shaking his head.  “I don’t think they’re going to go for it, Captain.”

              Harth sighed.  “I don’t really expect them to, either.  But I had to at least try.”

              The two ships roared along at maximum acceleration, changing course to follow the two local ships on their new heading.  Duncan could feel himself starting to get enthusiastic about the whole affair.  There was a degree of patience that a Naval officer needed to develop in order to be able to do the job.  Distances in space were immense and ships could only close the distance so fast.  Sometimes it could be hours or days before ships could actually reach effective combat range, but they could see each other for all that time.  So sitting at action stations for hours or days would not in fact make sure the crew was ready to fight, but it would ensure that the crews were exhausted and prone to mistakes.  But seeing the enemy out there, knowing that a confrontation was imminent, was still a rush.  Duncan had spoken to other Republic officers about that and had gotten similar responses.  He was fighting pirates, scourge of the spaceways, rapists, robbers and killers, even though these ones didn’t seem to be hurting anyone.  That just meant that they weren’t hurting anyone right now.  And the fact that they immediately moved to try and trap and destroy his ships only served as justification that these weren’t peaceful citizens looking to defend their star system.

              “Ten seconds to missile range.  Thirty to turbolaser range,” the tactical officer said.

              “Fire as you bear,” Harth ordered.

              Missiles sprang forth from the heavy cruiser’s tubes racing toward their target.  The weapons crossed the void between the two formations quickly closing the gap. 
Ironhide
and
Wrath’s
lasers and point defense opened up trying desperately to shoot down the ordnance coming at them.  They managed to blast a dozen of the weapons before they got into range.  One of the missiles wandered off course, flying off undirected into open space.  The other seven got through, homing in on
Wrath
, who twisted frantically to try and escape the incoming storm of death, weapons firing continuously.

              But it wasn’t enough.  Four of the missiles were torn apart by defensive fire.  Three of the missiles exploded against the corvette’s shields, shredding them.  The corvette reared as though it was in physical pain.  The explosions tore through the hull of the ship, as atmosphere blew outward.  Following up on the missile salvo came the coherent light of the Republic energy weapons which ripped apart the small ship in a single salvo.  One of the grasers punched through the forward hull boring straight through, severing one of the ship’s power conduits.  The fuel ignited and in an instant the ship’s reactor blew.  One second there was a damaged corvette struggling vainly to survive, the next was an expanding ball of gas and particulate metal.

              A cheer erupted on the bridge of
Legacy
at seeing the utter destruction of the enemy vessel.  Kamerov immediately snapped at them, ordering them to focus, but Duncan smiled.  It had been a very good bit of gunnery, managing to take out a ship like that in two salvos.