16 days later. June 10th, 2265. 13:12 Omicron Theta System – Inner Jump Point
A large, red-tinged rift to slip space ripped open outside of the gravity well of Omicron Theta Prime. From the rift sped forth the CNS Waukesha and her escorts. The pair of destroyers emerged and fired their significant, in relation to the ship, thrusters and moved towards the trio of missile frigates that were in real space waiting for them.
The four corvettes were next. Each one sped off in a different direction before pairing off with another ship and taking up position near the frigates. The Waukesha was the last ship to emerge from the rift. The unnatural rift closed shortly after it fired its thrusters and sped away from the rift. And just like that, the ships were already moving with a purpose. They were on the hunt.
Brady and Vanessa were jumping in their wings in different parts of the system. Brady was assigned the outer reaches of the system and his jump point was near an old mining station. It was a well-known location for its rough crowd and flagrant flaunting of Confederate regulations. Vanessa was going to comb the middle asteroid belt, a good bit of distance closer to the star than Brady would be. It was a location full of rocky bodies to hide people and ships from prying eyes.
“Transition complete, sir,” Seaman Recruit Dykes said from the rear communications seat, “Local traffic controllers want to know our destination.”
John frowned, “I’d like to tell them to mind their own damned business, but that’d be unprofessional. Advise them that this is a training exercise.”
Third Lieutenant Emily Glowinski, the current shift’s senior communications officer spun around in her chair to look at her captain, “Sir, we are clearly not here to do a training exercise.”
“You are right. We are clearly not here to do that. What we are here to do is none of some random traffic controller’s responsibility. Send the message please,” John said firmly.
“Where would you like us to go, sir?” Seaman Rex Harrison said as he stared at the helm.
“Before we run off halfcocked, are there any recent reports of anything occurring, Lieutenant Glowinski?” John asked.
“There aren’t any distress calls, but several freighters have reported ships trailing them for a while before veering off on a different vector.”
Second Lieutenant Willy Bailey spoke up, “Both shared engine output. It’s the same ship that’s acting sketchy.”
“Are you able to scan to see if you can pick up where that ship is heading?” John asked.
“Sure can, sending the vectors to the helm.”
“Punch it, Rex.”
“Setting in a course to Two-Two-Eight, up twenty degrees,” Rex said as he punched in the coordinates, “All ahead full.”
The Waukesha was the first ship to adjust its course. Her escorts responded to the change nearly instantaneously. While they weren’t large ships, to the Confederate Navy, they were armed for bear, and they would bring death and destruction to any who was foolish enough to pick a fight.
Emily then spoke up, “Lieutenant Cohen has just sent us a message. They transitioned to real space thirty-five minutes before we did. They already have a pirate kill.”
“Son of a bitch,” John muttered, “Happy hunting folks.”
The bridge crew of the Waukesha began laughing quietly.
“Well, I owe the bastard a drink now. One less pirate vessel in the system is a good start. Let’s run with the assumption the pirates are aware of our intentions here. Have engineering clean up our drive output. I want them struggling to get us on long-range sensors.”
Billy spoke up, “Sending that message to engineering. Why isn’t there an engineering officer on the bridge?”
John sighed, “The big miss in this class of ship was made during the design stage. There isn’t a dedicated location on the bridge that meets modern requirements. Hence your seat as the general operations, logistics officer bridge officer also includes being engineering’s liaison.”
“Estimated arrival is eight minutes, sir,” Rex said, “Pulling up the sensor overlay now.”
“Red Alert! All ahead full, now!” John exclaimed as he stepped out of his chair, “Emily message our destroyers and corvettes. They are cleared to use any force they deem necessary and to immediately pursue the hostiles now.”
The lights dimmed immediately. A red-hued light turned on in all rooms. Warning klaxons sounded to alert everyone of the impending dangers. They were muted on the bridge shortly after they wailed the third time.
“On it!” Emily said as she was typing and sending a message to their escorts.
A moment later the engines of those vessels shined bright and flew off. They flew in a tight formation, hoping to mask their numbers from the otherwise occupied pirates. At the last possible moment, they’d cut the deception and attack their designated targets.
Their strategy worked well. The pirates were seemingly too engrossed in attacking a hapless freighter that they didn’t notice the freighter’s reinforcements that were screaming toward them. It wasn’t until one of their own ships exploded in an angry ball of bright blue plasma that they realized they were no longer the aggressors in this engagement.
The pirate ships split off from their attack. Each destroyer had a pair of corvettes flanking them. The diminutive ships were excellent anti-missile defenders, and if you let them get too close to you their point defense weapon systems could wreak havoc. In this case, the corvettes were comfortable playing the role of independent defense ships.
The pirate's attempt to damage the Confederate ships failed utterly. Between the destroyers and corvettes' anti-missile defense systems not a single missile made it to its target. All the while they allowed the Confederate ships to get dangerously close to them.
Another one of the pirate vessels was laid low by a flanking run by two corvettes. Her close-in-combat point defense weapons obliterated the flimsy hull of the pirate sloop. John watched as a bespoke pirate-made ship was turned into debris.
“If they could have built something like that, why do what they do?” John muttered to himself, “They could have aspired for more…”
The third pirate ship to meet its maker was an old Alliance frigate. The pair of Confederate destroyers easily pierced the hull’s armor with several shots of their spinal-mounted railguns. The CNS Nagao claimed the killing shot when her round struck the core, resulting in a bright blue miniaturized supernova.
The Waukesha was finally in weapons range and bared her teeth at last. The remaining ship, one of the first support carrier’s the Confederate Navy ever produced, was trying to run. It was a distant relative to the Waukesha, for the two ships shared some DNA. But the combination of age, questionable retrofitting, and even more questionable viability of the power source the pirates procured to run the ship were all things scheming against their mini-carrier’s abilities to escape.
“Bring the forward four rail turrets online,” John said calmly, “Ensign Payton, you may fire when ready.”
“Aye aye, sir,” Ensign Deion Payton said as he plotted a firing pattern on the retreating yet hostile vessel.
Moments later a distinctive electrical whine could be heard throughout the ship as the rail turrets asked for and drew a substantial amount of power. Then a grinding thump could be heard inside as six of the available twelve forward-facing barrels, fired off a round.
The volley-fire method was incredibly successful. All six rounds found the ship. All six did enormous amounts of damage. While none struck the central power core, two rounds struck either weapons or plasma conduits because there were two secondary explosions that split the hull into three large, and very dead, chunks.
“Ship kill, that’s it for the hostiles here,” Willy exclaimed.
“I want teams scouring those hulks for intact computer cores,” John said, “Emily, get in touch with the other ships, I want to know if they’ve found anything. Contact the freighter to find out if they need any additional assistance.”
“On that note, sir,” Emily said, “Lieutenant Davis uncovered a former base. They are already searching the ruins now.”
Stolen novel; please report.
“What’s Brady’s kill count?” John asked his bridge crew.
“Two,” Rex said with a grin.
“Ah, that’s too bad. Emily, please let him know that we’ve taken out four ships.”
There was some giggling amongst the bridge crew. John began doing some research on the vessels they encountered. Hopefully, they’d find something, anything, to combat the pirate threat in the system.
1 Day Later. June 11th, 2265. 08:35 Omicron Theta Major
The crew had successfully completed their search of the wreckage. Two bases were located from the data that they had decrypted. Brady was en route to attack one of the locations. Vanessa had finished searching the derelict base she had uncovered by chance. While no active pirate groups were actively using it, they gathered valuable intel about the former occupants.
John’s wing was still an hour to two hours away from getting into the orbit of the third moon. Its surface was pitted with millions of asteroid impacts and lacked any atmosphere. Many of those impacts created deep craters and cracks well into the crust, making it a perfect place to stash ships or stolen goods. Or just hide from the local authorities when the heat got to be too much for them.
Unfortunately for John, the civilian government was effectively useless in shedding any details on recent pirate activity. Even when presented with direct evidence of multiple bases and confirmed ship kills, they still believed nothing wrong.
“Senator, whether you choose to believe the presence of pirates in this system or not is not my concern. I have asked for civilian and mercantile traffic data, but your office is stonewalling it.”
Senator Derek Turpin tried but utterly failed to look surprised, and smugly smiled, “The data is still being compiled. These things…”
“Senator, I don’t care what bullshit you are hiding. Literally, none of that matters to me. If you are worried about this information leaking, worry not. I’m here to kill every last pirate here.”
“Lieutenant, things like this report always leak.”
“Why would Fleet Command leak this information? They don’t want the public to know what we both know. Pirate attacks have increased exponentially for months now. With little to no response locally or militarily,” John sighed loudly as he pinched the bridge of his nose, “We both know that if we do publicly announce this that the insurance companies are going to be asking small ransoms to insure ships. Which is going to crash our fucking economies.”
“Be that as it may, this information must be handled with the utmost secrecy. I’m sure your former role as an investigator would respect that.”
“Not when I need access to the bloody data to conduct my investigation. Or more appropriately, extermination.”
“When we have finished with the appropriate redactions, we will send it over to you. My assistant is telling me the team will have a properly composed report to you within seven to eight days, no more.”
“Senator, I was asking politely for the raw data. If I don’t get the unmolested data in ten minutes, I can guarantee you that everything you don’t want to see will find its way to your local media.”
“I don’t take kindly to threats young man,” Senator Turpin sneered at John, “You will…”
“Time’s ticking down Senator. I’m a man of my word,” John then mashed the button to end the communication, “Eve, compile everything on that asshole that you can find. Sort it into one of two bins, those acquired through legal means and those without.”
Eve’s avatar nodded on the screen. John spun around his chair and looked out the porthole to the void. He shook his head.
“Fucking hell, the dirty little rat is more worried about reelection than helping us stomp out the problem,” John said to himself.
John spun himself back around and got back to work. By the end of the day, provided things went to plan, one of the major pirate bases would be eliminated. John desperately wanted to be part of that engagement, but instead, they were orbiting the biggest, by population, planet playing political whack-a-mole. Then he allowed himself to grin and chuckle at the situation. A man of action John was, but playing these games, however loathsome he finds them to be, was a sad necessity of someone his rank. And in these games was definitely something John needed practice in.
2 Days Later. June 13th, 2265. 16:05 CNS Waukesha Bridge
Brady and Vanessa were on the main screen. Brady looked even cockier than he normally did. Vanessa was trying her best to not roll her eyes or look annoyed at her counterpart. John enjoyed the unlikely camaraderie of his two most senior ship captains.
“Brady, wipe that smirk off your face. You are ahead in the kill count because I’ve spent the past two and a half days dicking around with politicians and Vanessa’s site was empty. Naval Intelligence has asked me to thank you for the intel you passed along. We’ve uncovered their new base in the Proxima Omicron system.”
“Still have more kills than the two of you combined,” Brady puffed out his chest and smiled.
“We’ve got leads on two different locations in the system that we’re tracking down,” Vanessa said, “We’re burning quietly towards the first. Long-range scans show some traffic. It’s very possible it’s a target-rich environment.”
“Take out the ships first and foremost, hold off on any assaults on the bases until we know who, or what, is being stashed away,” John said to his two wing leaders, “While we have broad latitude, I’d like to avoid sending out images of dead kids in the void. That helps the pirates more than it helps us.”
“Understood.”
“Sir, what did you find out about the local attacks?” Brady asked.
“Our presumptions were largely accurate. What we couldn’t have predicted though were how many senators had connections to the pirates.”
“What kind of connections?” Vanessa said as she leaned forward in her chair.
“Relatives, children, parents. You name it. There were rumors that a few of these so-called planetary senators were active pirates,” John smirked, “That rumor was proven true because you aced one of them, Vanessa.”
“Woah, I didn’t think the situation would be that incestuous,” Brady said, “That explains the reluctance in giving you the data.”
“Dare I ask how you got this information?” Vanessa said smartly.
“I can be very persuasive. Though in this case, I reached out to Senator Turpin’s opponent in next month’s election. I traded a substantial amount of dirt on the scumbag for the raw data. Which his opponent could procure without too much difficulty due to his current position.”
“One would argue that would be endorsing a candidate,” Brady said with a grin.
“I just traded dirt to get intel. Nothing more; besides, we’ll be long gone from here before their elections happen. The Icarus has been here twice too by the way. She was stalking the same ship, IMS Void Runner.”
Vanessa looked at the shared data onscreen, “Why would they want an independent freighter?”
“Someone on that ship did something stupid. Odds are it’s the captain or owner of the ship,” John said, “In any case, we know she’s on the move and it’s not been long since she’s been here.”
“Where was the freighter last seen?” Vanessa asked.
“The Volcanicus system. And yes, when we’re done here that’s where we’re heading,” John said, “On that note, Vanessa you are to hit the two locations you dug up. Brady, I’m sending you the coordinates to three more possible locations. As for my wing, we’re going to head for the inner ring. We’ve got seven locations to scope out.”
“What are your estimates on how much we’ve reduced our enemy’s effectiveness?” Brady asked.
“Pirates are a lot like cockroaches. Eliminating them is effectively impossible. But I’d reckon their fangs have been chipped. I’d like to break their back before setting sail through. You have your orders, happy hunting to you both. We’re going to continue scanning the moon’s surface to find this supposed base.”
The screen cut and then displayed the scanning results. John sighed quietly to himself as he scanned through the results. Every drone that was capable of equipping planetary scanners was flying over the surface of the moon to blow them to add to the overall scan resolution.
“Any abnormalities on the scans?” John asked.
The doors to the bridge then opened. First Lieutenant Damian Oliver strode in, along with the replacements for most of the stations. John was exhausted and stood up and saluted the incoming officers.
“Captain, you are relieved,” Damian saluted John.
“I am relieved. Good luck with the search. We’ve found lots of rocks and mineral deposits,” John paused and said sarcastically, “And craters. A metric fuckton of craters.”
“With any luck, we will find the pirates,” Damian said.
John nodded and then smiled as he began to walk off the bridge but stopped when he heard an excited petty officer speak up.
“Contact, four vessels powering up on the surface,” Petty Officer Third Class Monique Lee.
Damian immediately took control of the bridge, “Helm, dive us in closer. I want a weapons lock. Petty Officer, display what kind of ships those are,” Damian turned and saw John standing next to the door.
“It’s your vessel, Lieutenant. I’m just observing,” John said as he nodded to the last member of the bridge that worked during his shift.
“There are two heavily modified Quail class void runners, a combat freighter, and a Legette class destroyer,” Monique said.
“I have weapons lock on all the ships,” Petty Officer Second Class Brian Haugen said confidently.
“Tess, are they responding to our hails?” Damian asked.
Ensign Tessa Beard shook her head, “That’s a negative.”
“Send another message but indicate we will fire upon them if they fail to contact us,” Damian said as he slid into the captain’s chair.
John felt a bit uncomfortable watching the action unfold in front of him. But this was part of his duties now. To help guide and grow the next generation of officers. Even if he was technically part of this generation. But it oddly felt good too, though not enough to overcome that awkward feeling of not being in control at the moment.
“They are saying the void runners are full of women and children. They don’t want to fight.”
“Tell the two warships to power down. The Quails will fly to us and be boarded by the Marines to confirm their story,” Damian said as he stood up.
“Aye aye sir,” Tess said.
“They are powering down their ships. The void runners are heading into the prescribed orbit,” Monique said.
Damian then stood up and walked over to John and whispered, “I recommend we send a drone over to confirm the contents of the transports.”
John nodded in agreement.
“What do we do about their war vessels? Shooting them as they are now seeming unsporting,” Damian continued to whisper.
John grinned, “Unsporting as it may be, it’s the logical thing to do. Assuming those ships aren’t full of children. We should be able to confirm once we have taken the first batch of people into custody. They are pirates that were dumb enough to point guns at us.”
Damian nodded and then walked back to his chair. A smorgasbord of orders came out. Virtually every department on the ship had something to do. John wanted to get some rest, but he wanted to see if the pirates were blowing smoke up their collective assholes or not.
Twenty minutes later, a drone operator was able to confirm that there were only children and mothers onboard the pair of void runners. The missile frigates moved forward to dock with them. After another thirty minutes, occupants were quickly transferred into their custody.
John turned and left the bridge. He could feel the ship rotate a bit as he walked down the corridor to his room. Then he could hear power being diverted to the railgun turrets. One salvo was fired from each. Their rounds were fired true and found their targets on the planet’s surface. John would later smile when he read that Damian ordered each void runner to be remotely controlled to crash into the pirate vessels on the surface. The Waukesha chalked up four more kills and more importantly had people to interrogate, debrief, and possibly reintegrate into society.