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A Terran Space Story: The Lieutenant Saga
Chapter 125: Friction Among Frenemies

Chapter 125: Friction Among Frenemies

2 Hours Later. March 24th, 2267. 11:12 Slip Space -- Folly of Icarus Bridge

Rene brooded in his chair. The Confederate fleet had shown up once again, foiling their plans. Worse still, they lost more ships, a fact that further weakened their position in their armada. He knew his most vocal allies were either dead or beginning to grow restless.

Adding to the general poor mood, the bridge of the Icarus was messy. The ceiling of the bridge was an utter mess. Several panels lay on the ground, broken. Some fiber and cable bundles were hanging slightly below the frames. Consoles on both sides of the bridge were shattered or otherwise nonfunctional. The mood was arguably worse than how she looked.

“The Medusa is hailing us, again. Captain Luke is no longer asking, but demanding to talk to you,” Derek said from the communications console.

“He can wait,” Rene said defiantly.

Derek turned and shook his head as he faced his captain, “You can’t push this off any longer. He is threatening to take what remains of his ships and leave this fleet. You know what will happen if he does.”

“He can’t…” Rene paused as he took a deep breath, “He won’t do that.”

“He can and will. What are you going to do? Open fire on them?” Derek’s tone crossed well into a disrespectful territory, “We are in no position to demand anything from any of them anymore.”

“What are you, our resident naysmith?”

Derek slammed the back of his heel into the console, “Someone on this ship needs to speak to you with some goddamn common sense. This pirate alliance exploded into something that has grown entirely out of our, no, your control. With enough time it’s possible you could right this ship. But we’ve gotten our shit pushed in by that plucky Confed captain. And he’s a tenacious little bastard.”

“Put on Captain Stevens then, it seems the sooner we have this discussion the better,” Rene said bitterly.

The Medusa’s captain appeared onscreen moments later. His bridge appeared to be in a similar level of disrepair. A bloodied bandage was wrapped tightly around his forehead. The poor man looked exhausted.

“Rene, you and I have known each other for what, twenty-five years?”

“Closer to thirty if my memory serves,” Rene sighed loudly.

“We have rarely seen eye to eye. But even I agreed with your vision and plan initially. Truly I did. But the way you are operating now is going to get us all killed.”

“What would you have me do?” Rene sneered, “We have barely hours before they doggedly track us down. We need a week of downtime to fix everything and prepare.”

“A week is something we don’t have.”

Rene shook his head, “Tell me something I don’t know.”

The Medusa’s captain shook his head, “Getting back to what I would have you do? I’m not sure. I really am not. I presume that you’ve at least scanned for transmitters?”

“Come now Lukas, do you really think we haven’t already done that?”

“It’s been a hell of a week…” Lukas let the statement hang.

“Four full scans, covering every square inch of the surface. Nothing. There are no abnormal signals being given off by our ship, despite the damage. I am at a loss at how they are tracking us.”

Lukas looked surprised, “A cloaked ship would have to get too close to us to accurately track us. At such a range we’d be able to detect them with ease. Fuck.”

“You obviously had a plan.”

“I do. You won’t like it, but it’s a plan,” Lukas paused, “And before you ask, I’ve spoken to most of the other captains. Sentiment among this fleet is poor.”

“Let’s hear it,” Rene was staring at the bottom of the screen.

“I want our fleet broken up into five groups. You will jump into the Gliese system. Meanwhile, the rest of the groups will take alternate routes in slip space to the Struve system. We’ll trap our pursuers there,” Lukas, “I will be heading to the Lelande system in the hopes of getting some additional recruits. We need to time it so that we converge on the Struve system in seven days.”

Derek nodded, “That gives us, with current tides, thirty hours of cushion.”

“What happens if we don’t do what you plan on doing?”

Lukas looked down at the floor as he shook his head, “Over a third of the ships are a pubic hair away from saying fuck this and leaving. The status quo needs to change my old friend if we are to survive. And frankly, if you continue on this path, I don’t see us surviving much longer.”

“What are you going to do with the Waukesha?”

“The kill shot on that ship is yours. I won’t steal that from you.”

“Our brothers and sisters, not to mention many children, are onboard that ship,” Rene said, “She’s their prison transport vessel.”

Lukas shook his head, “Surely, they’ve offloaded them. Lief isn’t one to keep prisoners on his ship. It’s too risky if any get free.”

“I’ve heard otherwise; besides we haven’t been going to systems where Confederate prison transports operate on a frequent basis.”

“Then as harsh and uncaring as this may sound, their sacrifice to the greater good will be useful to us. They died because of our military’s stupidity and overbearing approach to us sovereigntists.”

Rene stood up but his body language looked like a broken man, “We’ll go through with your plan. The timing however is going to be of critical importance if it is to work as you lay it out.”

“We’ll make it work. I’ll get the ships arranged in fleets and send it over to you.”

“What’s the probability that your plan will work?” Rene could only bring himself to look up at the chin of his fellow captain on screen.

“One hundred percent. They’ll never…”

“Nothing is ever a sure thing my old adversary. That applies triply so for that man. We must expect the unexpected with this young captain leading this crusade against us.”

“One hundred percent Rene. I guarantee it.”

“I wish I had your confidence, but I await your plan. I’m in no position to argue against it as is.”

March 25th, 2267. 17:55 Slip Space – CNS Waukesha’s Boardroom

John was in the room waiting for the meeting to start. He looked at the intelligence that the Basilone had acquired over the last day. The pirates had split up. A rookie tactician could see they were trying to trap his fleet.

“Lieutenant Lief, do you ever not work?” Ben Harrod of the Monaco said after joining the meeting.

“Kinda always switched on.”

“So, we are walking into a trap then?”

John nodded, “They are going to attempt to trap us.”

“The quality of their guns is obviously inferior, but quantity becomes a certain quality itself at some point.”

“Which means we’re going to have to fight our way out,” Patrice said, “That shouldn’t be a difficult task.”

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“I agree,” Vanessa said, “But the problem isn’t necessarily a breakout, it’s breaking out and keeping the Icarus engaged to a degree that she cannot jump out.”

“And to avoid the very same trap we laid for them before,” John said, “They’ve seen us deploy hundreds of missiles and torpedoes to use against them. And they have time to at a bare minimum enact such a plan.”

“I’m not convinced the Icarus has a large complement of missiles,” Ben said, “They have three forward-firing tubes and a pair of rear-firing ones. That old design wasn’t set up to hold hundreds of missiles like our modern ships are. A couple of dozen is all she’s carrying at most, for sure.”

“And anything smaller than a corvette isn’t going to have any missiles to be worried about, which makes up the majority of their fleet,” Edwin said, “You aren’t wrong to be cognizant of the pirates using our tactics against us, but I think we’re giving them too much credit given the ship classes they have in their fleet.”

“That may be true, but I don’t want us thinking we’re Superman and indestructible,” John said in response, “We aren’t. We can, and will, be killed by those smaller craft if we cannot shoot down or deflect enemy projectiles. It is of an absolute necessity to treat each and every one of their ships as if they could end our lives.”

“Well, the easiest way to get out of dodge would to be form up and punch a hole like this,” Tessa said as she played with the projected trap of the pirates, “The downside to this is we have to circle around like this to get to the Icarus.”

“And we’re exposing our flanks to many ships,” Patrice said.

“We’re encircled, that’s going to happen. Choosing to do that away from the Icarus is the smartest plan,” Tessa said.

“Only two of their triple-barreled turrets are left. We do not know if they can rotate or not. But they aren’t spinning on the track anymore as that’s been destroyed,” John said, “How do we conduct a breakout and interdict that ship?”

“Kill the capital ships,” Brady said, “We don’t break out as one, we break out as several groups. With each focusing on the biggest ships remaining. The gnats may scatter if we can knock enough of them out. It also solves the focused fire. It’ll make the pirates focus on the ships coming at them.”

“Besides the Icarus, there’s one cruiser, three frigates, and six destroyers left. And that’s assuming they don’t bring in any more reinforcements,” John sighed, “It wouldn’t be difficult to break into three groups and eradicate what they do have left. They are going to bring in more pirates. I know this is going to happen.”

“But we don’t know what they’ll bring,” Vanessa frowned as she crossed her arms across her chest.

“Let’s assume they bring some capital ships,” Patrice said, “We punch out at the battered and beaten ones, then circle around and make an attack run on the new ones from multiple angles. They aren’t able to defend against that for long.”

All eyes looked at John. He sat there emotionless taking in the suggestions. Patrice was right, kill the injured then refocus their efforts on the new forces. Punch them so hard it shatters their morale.

“It’s a good plan, the problem with it is it’s ignoring the elephant in the room,” John said with noted disappointment in his voice, “We’ll break the pirate’s back with this attack. There is absolutely no question that happens. But the Icarus sneaks away if we proceed.”

“We can’t ignore the reinforcements if they bring the tonnage you are presuming, they bring,” Patrice countered.

“I don’t disagree. I really don’t, but the refocused attack on the newcomers is going to be led by you, Patrice,” John said calmly, “The Waukesha, Orlando, Boulder, and Alps will break out here, near the white whale, and attack it.”

“So, you’re Ahab now?” Brady said unironically, “Didn’t you warn me against this very scenario.”

“Do as I say, not as I do,” John said, “I’m being hypocritical, and you have every right to call me on that. But this attack means nothing if they escape. They are a wounded animal right now. We must end her.”

“No, I agree. It may sound like that, but we have to destroy the Icarus. If we don’t then everything that we’ve done over the past few weeks means nothing,” Vanessa said passionately, “It weakens our position a bit, but remember, we’ll have the Baltimore and its drone swarm attacking the reinforcements.”

“The Waukesha, its escorts, and all of their drones will be more than enough to go after and at a bare minimum cripple the ship,” Brian said as he was adjusting the holographic battle plan, “It looks kinda like this.”

The image showed four distinct groups. Besides the Waukesha’s squadron, there were three others that were based around the other cruisers in the ragtag fleet. The ships weren’t evenly distributed but it was done well enough to enable overlapping close-range anti-missile and projectile fire. The breakout itself looked easy enough to survive.

The big question was what the supposed reinforcements were bringing. If they brought anything bigger than a heavy cruiser, then the counterattack after the breakout could get dicey. If not deadly. What John wouldn’t give for another six or seven ships. Splitting his forces this way lessens the probability of success, but it was a necessary evil.

But the mission had to do two things. They had to escape whatever trap the pirates set up for them while simultaneously breaking their will. Secondly, they needed to prevent the Icarus from slipping away from the battle.

Two full hours of debate resulted in a well-thought-out and balanced battle plan. John was proud of what they’d accomplished. But an unknown future surrounded them.

March 26th, 2267. 02:17 Outer Gliese System

The Waukesha roared out of the tear in dimensions back into real space. They exited in what could best be described as bum-fuck-nowhere. They weren’t near any space stations, asteroids, planets, or moons. Just the cold void of the outer dark of a solar system.

The task force quickly formed up on the Waukesha as they came about and roared defiantly at their adversary. Long-range scans could see crews working on the exterior of the Icarus. The number of armor plates that were damaged was not at all surprising, but to see such detailed images of the extensive damage made not only John, but the whole squadron believe that this was no longer an impossible task to complete.

“The Basilone’s intel is confirmed. The Icarus is only flanked by a pair of destroyers and fifty smaller vessels,” Walter said from the weapon’s station.

“They are changing their course and powering up their slip generators. They will be jumping momentarily,” Monique said from her console at the rear of the bridge.

John pressed a button on his armchair to connect him to engineering, “Chief, how long till we can jump?”

“You can do an emergency jump now, but I’d prefer you wait ten minutes. The actual concern isn’t with our generators but with the other ships. The frigates and destroyers need to cycle theirs a bit more. The corvettes however could dock with us and the Baltimore and avoid taxing their drives initially.”

“Barbara, advise the corvettes to dock with us. Prepare for slip space jump. Lance fire is authorized at the enemy fleet, target the pirate destroyer Hidden Path.”

“Firing now,” Walter said.

The Waukesha was the first to fire its lances. Moments later the rest of the fleet followed suit. Volley after volley was sent by the fleet. The targeting VIs in the different ships were accurately leading the enemy vessel. Volley after volley was screaming through the void at the pirate vessel.

Just as the ship activated its slip space generators to tear a hole in real space to the odd dimension that is slip space, the lance fire began raining down on the pirate ship. It crept towards the event horizon of the dimensional barrier as its electromagnetic shield absorbed the attacks.

But shields can only withstand so much punishment. The shielding arrays on pirate ships, and to a similar extent civilian vessels, are not comparable to what the military uses. The Hidden Path’s shields failed. Lance strike after lance strike struck its hull.

She was still hundreds of meters away from the relative safety of another dimension, but each lance strike bit deep into her armor, pitting it badly. It looked like she was going to escape, albeit damaged severely. But John and company were able to deliver one more ‘fuck you’ to the Icarus and the rabble that accompanied her.

While the scan resolution of the weapon system’s targeting array was more than sufficient to accurately hit a target at this range, firing at specific subsystems of the target was not possible. If the fleet struck any weapons or other unique systems on the pirate vessel it’d be nothing more than a lucky coincidence. John knew more than most that luck was a welcome asset to receive.

Multiple lances struck and destroyed three of the ship’s external slip space generators. Unlike modern military vessels, which could stow their generators inside their hull and only expose the generators at the last moment, the pirate’s generators were permanently exposed to the void. They hadn’t bothered with retrofitting the protective measures their enemies had.

The portal to slip space ahead of the Hidden Path began to fluctuate. John had seen this happen numerous times in his short career and every time it felt hard to believe that it was actually happening. The portal’s behavior defied existence, yet there it was, looking like someone, or something was trying to scratch it out of existence.

More lance fire rained down on the crippled pirate vessel, this time it was able to pierce through the armor plates and dig into the outer hull. The pirate’s primary drive cone was struck multiple times, ultimately destroying eighty percent of it.

The slip space portal then blinked and eventually flickered out of existence. More and more lance fire began penetrating deeper into the ship. It was but a matter of time until something sensitive was struck. None would know precisely what triggered the great explosion, but one moment the ship was rolling over lazily, the next it exploded in a bright blue ball of plasma.

“SHIP KILL!” Walter shouted, “Sonofabitch, it’s going to be a pain in the ass to figure out who got the kill shot.”

John smiled, “Time to jump is six minutes and counting. Get those corvettes docked ASAP.”

He rose from his chair. In his focus on attacking the pirate destroyer, he had lost track of the Icarus. She was away in slip space. Minutes, not hours, ahead of them. Though the big question is how much time they would lose tracking them. And where their next location would be.

“Monique, show me nearby solar systems on the tactical display,” John said as he stared at the changing screen.

Only two systems were possibilities: Struve or Wisi. The Wisi system was a dead system. No planets ever formed around its diminutive star. But it was one of the richest systems for minerals of all kinds in the known galaxy. As a result, the Confederate presence there was heavy. Heavier than a normal system.

John knew that the pirates would not dare risk jumping there. Struve on the other hand was a lowly populated system, despite being a core world. The system was unremarkable. It has three habitable worlds, but none had rich farmland, gorgeous views, vistas, or ideal weather. They were below-average livable worlds.

Adding to the general misery of the system, at least in relation to the other systems humanity had colonized, was that the mineral wealth of both those worlds and its three asteroid belts could best be described as absent. What useful minerals were present were not of much value to be mined due to set-up or transportation costs.

“We’re heading to the Struve system. Contact the Basilone and confirm my suspicions,” John said, “One way or another this pursuit ends there.”