October 6th, 2265. 15:10 CNS Waukesha – Bridge

The faces of the bridge crew looked horrified. They couldn’t quite believe what they had heard. Was it possible for their captain to accept a temporary partnership with pirates? Pirates of all people. John, for his part, was trying to swallow the bile that was threatening his throat. He stood up and turned to his operations crew.

“I want every square millimeter of that ship scanned,” John all but hissed the order.

“Are we really going to fight with them?” Damian couldn’t quite believe the order.

Just then something happened with the Folly of Icarus. The four large external boosters detached from the mothership. Armor plates shifted here and there while their weapon systems began to appear from within. Each one of the new ships was equipped with a railgun, two lances, numerous plasma blasters, and point-defense cannons.

“She was originally a Kelvin class,” Barbara said quietly, “Second-generation spinner. Highly modified and well taken care of it seems.”

“Emily, contact the CAG, I want all drones recalled and all fighters and bombers launched,” John said as he took his seat, “Focus on the enemies. Time to weapons range?”

Brian snapped too and looked at his terminal, “Five minutes and counting.”

“The pirate fleet’s frigates and destroyers are flanking the bigger ships. Reading two battlecruiser-sized ships, two cruisers, three frigates, and five destroyers,” Brian said.

“Get the missiles launched. We need them to hit them on their flanks and their rears,” John said, “Focus fire on the smaller ships. Hold the torpedoes until their missile defenses are weakened.”

“Sir, I just received a message from Lieutenant Cohen. They are six minutes out,” Emily said.

“Get me the Icarus,” John said.

The view screen split into two. A moment later the bridge of the Icarus could be seen. If John didn’t know any better, their approach to this battle could best be described as unbothered.

“Captain DuBois, we’ll take care of the smaller ships and eliminate their missile defenses for you,” John said.

“Very well, I presume the other part of your fleet won’t do anything rash to risk this temporary alliance. It wouldn’t look good if we came to your aid to then be attacked,” Ren grinned as he spoke.

“We are allies for this fight and only this fight. They won’t be attacking you,” John gritted his teeth.

“That’s excellent to hear! Happy hunting lad!” Rene said enthusiastically before the screen went black.

“Emily, tell Brady he is not to target or engage the Icarus. Focus only on the other pirate fleet.”

Emily nodded and sent the message. Thirty tense seconds they received a simple message in a text back: ‘WTF?’ John smiled as that was an appropriate response, he had Emily send another message back which begrudgingly accepted the order.

“Those remote ships double as additional thrusters for the main body. Each one contains a class three railgun designed for a destroyer…” Brian was going to continue until John interrupted.

“Fascinating as that may be, transmit all sensor data to the Pasto. Vanessa can pass it on to the powers that be later if the worst-case scenario becomes a reality. We have more pressing matters,” John said firmly before pressing the ship-wide communication button on his armrest, “All hands to battle stations.”

The Waukesha and her unlikely ally sped toward their common enemy. The Celestial Talons was a notorious pirate group. Winning this battle wouldn’t eliminate them but they’ve brought some of their biggest, newest, and nicest guns. John shrugged internally when he thought every little bit helps. Losing a fleet this size would be demoralizing.

That seemed like a likely outcome based on what they brought with them to the fight. There was an Excelsior class battlecruiser scavenged from the Alliance. Unlike most pirate ships that were acquired in this manner, no expense was spared in restoring it, from outside appearances that is, internally who knows what kind of patchwork job or voodoo was done to make things work. The other was a retired Nebraska class, acquired from a ship graveyard in Confederate space, also well restored on the outside. It was older than its sister ship in the enemy fleet by about forty years.

The main rail gun was noticeably absent. But she was littered with lances, plasma batteries, and close-in-cannons. It was unlikely any missile or torpedo would survive should any stray into weapons range. That gave John an idea.

“Brian, load high-ex rounds in the forward turrets. Fire three salvos at the Nebraska class ship.”

Brian looked as puzzled as he sounded, “Sir, that isn’t going to do anything to their shields.”

“It’ll weaken them, possibly overload some shielding arrays. If it does, anything they’ve bolted onto the hull is going to be annihilated.”

“Projecting firing pattern,” Brian said as he ordered the VIs to crunch the numbers to find a firing pattern.

Moments later they did. The main guns of the Waukesha fired off four salvos, one after another. The fourth is a mistaken fat finger by Brian. John shrugged it off, forty-eight high-explosive shells were better than thirty-six.

Sixty seconds until the fleets were in optimum firing range. The bridge crew on the Waukesha were busy readying themselves and the ship for combat. This last-second preparation was interrupted by the Icarus opening fire.

The crew was surprised save for their Captain. John knew that this was saturation fire, most of the shots wouldn’t do anything, but they clearly had excess energy levels that allowed them to do that. John ordered they begin opening fire in return, though he held back on the railgun until they got closer.

The missiles they had launched were given new vectors to avoid the stolen Nebraska class battlecruiser. With a bit of luck, they would come in and try to disable the engines of the destroyers. The second wave would target the enemy frigates.

“This is going to get bumpy,” John said, “Godspeed to us all.”

All hell broke loose at that moment. The void was lit up by blue and green plasma. Laser batteries added to the angry kaleidoscope of colors. Weapons, from all sides, struck their targeted ships. To John’s amazement, the Celestial Talons had not half-assed their shielding upgrades, but their guns weren’t as accurate as the Confederate ships.

Just then the high explosive rounds impacted the pirate battlecruiser. True to Brian’s warnings the rounds did little real damage to the ship. Eight rounds were able to bypass the temporarily overloaded shields and struck various parts of the large wedge of a ship from the first volley. Seven more from the second. After the third volley was impacted, they noticed something surprising, especially since only six rounds found their target.

Nearly a third of the forward kinetic shielding arrays seemed to be flaring up in defense. That was a common sign they needed time to recharge, or physical maintenance be done on them. Neither was something you wanted to see happen on your own ship, especially under combat operations.

The mistakenly fired fourth volley did as John has expected. The central point of the wedge was still covered, but those kinetic arrays began flaring up. Two-thirds of the port side of the vessel’s kinetic arrays blew out. The high-explosive rounds pot marked the armor, never piercing it, and also annihilated the externally mounted weaponry. Kinetic projectiles would face no resistance, save for the armor itself.

The Icarus had taken note of that but was unable to shift fire to it. The pirates in that stricken vessel fell behind the other battlecruiser. But in doing so her still ample defensive systems would no longer play a role in this battle.

The Waukesha then targeted the closest pirate vessel, a diminutive Alliance destroyer whose design was at least fifty to sixty years older than her. All of her forward-firing weapons were unleashing hell at their target. One volley of railgun fire was likely enough to destroy the ship, but there’s no kill like overkill. The laser batteries struck the ship first, though her EM shielding held strong. The lances were next, but the EM and Kinetic shields held strong once again.

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The first railgun salvo immediately slammed into and shredded the shields. Many shields just failed utterly; others were able to deflect the round. All it took were two rounds that impacted the bow of the ship and left mighty scars running stem to stern. All power was lost, the atmosphere was venting, and control of the ship was lost; it was a ship kill at this point.

The laser battery fire and lances had all but destroyed the frontal armor on the ship. Not that the railguns needed their help. The second volley, fired before the first had struck the ship, and ultimately the final volley fired at the enemy; saw no less than eight rounds piercing the front armor. Four rounds easily made it to the reactor, setting off a small supernova in the core.

“SHIP KILL!” Brian shouted from the console.

Just as he shouted out the Waukesha shook mightily. The pirate’s battlecruiser roared back in anger. A rail round from her main gun struck the number one rail turret; one gun was just gone, the housing was severely damaged, and its rotating mechanism appeared to be seized up. No hands were lost but the euphoria from ending a pirate was ended immediately.

“Barbara, evasive patter echo-bravo, maximum burn. Keep us out of that big ship’s firing arc. Brian, load the high-ex again. Salvo fire at the big ship with all available turrets. Target the smaller ships with lance and plasma batteries,” John spoke as if he was a robot, “Emily, ETA on our reinforcements?”

Just as he asked his question, he got his answer. True to the leader of that wing’s brash and loud nature as well. Brady’s wing, attacking from the flank, destroyed one of the two cruisers and immediately engaged a pair of frigates near them.

Two more destroyers were disabled by the drones and fighters. Their drive cones were too damaged to allow for constant and consistent thrust. They began lazily drifting into the void unable to contribute to the fight as they waited for someone to deliver the killing blow.

“Our bombers are bingo ammo. They must return,” Nancy said in the inter-ship coms.

“That may be…” John’s sentence was cut short by a particularly aggressive evasive maneuver, “Difficult to do.”

“They’ve landed in worse.”

“Understood, you8 have a green light to rearm. Recall any drones necessary to provide cover.”

The combat in the void remained chaotic. The bombers and a small swarm of drones turned around and made a b-line towards the Waukesha. The pirate’s main battlecruiser began receiving substantial amounts of fire from both the Waukesha and Brady’s wing.

The crew of the Icarus wasn’t resting on their laurels either. They had just snuffed out the remaining cruiser from the pirate fleet. Now it was their turn to bare their fangs at the lead pirate vessel. The remote ships began firing at the large ship.

The Waukesha continued its targeting of the large ship as it dodged rail shot after rail shot. More and more kinetic arrays were burnt out or destroyed. They were weakening the enemy battlecruiser, just what the Icarus had wanted.

Captain Rene DuBois ordered all weapons to fire at the weakened vessel. Brady’s group was the first to scratch the enemy’s hull and do real damage to the large ship. Unfortunately, the damage they dealt was little more than a wasp’s sting to the big ship. The Folly of Icarus’ attack was the hammer that broke its back.

The remote vessels fired, and each round shattered the ablative armor. Follow-up shots were able to pierce the hull. The damage dealt was significant, but not deadly. Not yet, but blood had been spilled in the ocean and the sharks were circling their prey. The kill shot was reserved for the old venerable battleship. While she was over a hundred years old, her main gun was no joke. The first round struck the pirate battlecruiser on its bow and exited dead center in its spine.

The bow of the ship was now a mangled mess, and its main gun was rendered inoperable. That mattered little though, for the follow-up shots came hot and heavy. The remote ship's incoming fire now did substantial damage as they reached deep within the ship. Secondary explosions were occurring with each round fired.

Suddenly, another through and through round exited the spine of the large vessel. Unfortunately for it, the once proud battlecruiser split into two. Flames and explosions could be seen rocking the pieces of the ship. It wouldn’t die in a bright supernova but in a whimper after having its back broken. Torn apart by the laws observed and theorized by Sir Isaac Newton.

John immediately ordered the Waukesha to press the attack. He wanted to claim a trophy kill on the other battlecruiser. It was not something that would be denied to him. The evasive maneuvers were arrested, full power was delivered to the engines, and she rolled over to face the bigger enemy.

She flew past one of the chunks of the now-dead enemy battlecruiser. As they did the Icarus opened fire and killed a pirate frigate. When the Waukesha cleared the wreckage, she rolled over a bit and opened fire on the remaining battlecruiser with five of her turrets.

The first salvo didn’t kill the ship but bloodied her proverbial nose. The armor plates on the leading edge of the battlecruiser were shattered. Secondary explosions ripped through that part of the ship. The few remaining weapon systems stopped firing.

The second salvo struck and left behind massive damage deep into the bowels of the ship. But the old bird wouldn’t give up her ghost just yet. She tried to adjust course, but the Waukesha’s was easily able to continue on its given course and keep the maximum number of turrets trained on her.

The forward armor plates and even much of its structure were still attached through happenstance, well-wishes, and luck at this point. Then the Waukesha’s third salvo pierced deeper yet into the ship. Though neither would matter after the latest volley of rail rounds. Those rounds finally made it to main engineering. A plasma explosion ripped through what remained of the ship.

The explosion ended as quickly as it started. The final battlecruiser vented blue plasma from every orifice, both designed and newly created, then floated in the void without but a whimper. The mild explosion separated the ship into several chunks. The Waukesha adjusted course and opened fire on the lone remaining pirate ship.

But once again, the Icaraus claimed another kill. She had appeared from the other side of the new debris field and fired a devastating salvo at the final ship. It was frustrating to see but the enemies were put down.

“I want to know our weapon’s stores and a damage report ASAP,” John said, “How’s Brady’s wing doing?”

“Asking them now,” Emily said.

“Adjusting course to three-zed-two, down eighteen degrees,” Barbara said, “I’m putting some distance between the wreckage and us.”

“What are we doing about that thing?” Brian asked as he pointed to the screen.

The Icarus could be seen on the viewscreen. The remote ships were transformed back into their thrusters and connected back to the mothership. John was impressed with how the pirates had handled themselves, and how adaptable this old ship had become.

“Emily, get me the Icarus,” John said politely.

“Captain DuBois, I appreciate your assistance in this matter. True to my word, we will part ways here. The next time we meet…” John’s sentence was interrupted.

“Interesting, I had thought your sensors were better than that. We’re detecting two slip wakes. It seems friends of the Celestial Talons have arrived. This makeshift alliance of ours will have to continue until the next wave of enemies is killed,” Rene then began laughing manically, “Or until we’re dead. Onward to battle!”

Willy shouted out from behind John, “Reading two slip wake contacts. Unsure of ships, they opened up moments ago. That’s another thing to note, they have military grade…”

“How in the hell did they read that before we did?” John cut off Willy and asked incredulously.

“They didn’t,” Willy said, “We had it on our scanners when they did. Reading sixteen ships. Nothing above cruiser class. Newer designs though, within the last thirty to forty years.”

John looked at the screen. He was immediately working on how to best attack them. There were only four cruisers out of the sixteen ships. Ten of the remaining sixteen ships were destroyers. This was a relatively weakly armed and armored group of reinforcements.

“Why are they attacking us?” John mused to himself.

“It doesn’t make much sense,” Damian said, “They are outmatched against the Icarus and the Waukesha.”

“Get me the Icarus again,” John said calmly as he waited for the other ship to accept their request, “I don’t suppose you know why they are so hellbent on throwing their lives away?”

“They aren’t too happy with us. They seem to think that because this old girl is an old ship they have a chance,” Rene grinned, “Clearly you know otherwise given your scanners have been ogling this old girl since we got in range.”

“Who are they?”

“The Domain Familia and some allies of theirs that we don’t recognize. We’ll lead the charge. You can mop up what we don’t kill.”

“It’s a trap,” John said, “They are baiting us into something.”

“That’s very likely true. It matters not, we are pressing the attack.”

The communication ended suddenly. The Icarus increased the power to their thrusters. John took a deep breath as he processed things. If this was it for pirates then it was suicide. So, it had to be a trap. But what else were they holding in reserve and what would the trigger be to close the trap?

Further concerning him was the state of their ammunition stores. They were running critically low on missiles and torpedoes. Rail rounds were low, but they had sufficient for at least one more engagement, maybe up to three if they were smart and lucky. Brady’s wing reported similar results, though they were even lower in missiles and torpedoes than John was onboard the Waukesha.

John didn’t like this continued situation, but he spoke up, “Emily, have Lieutenant Cohen’s ships form up on us. What is the status of the prisoner transfer ship?”

“An hour out, sir.”

“Advise them to jump to slip space if we fail here. I want them in the deep void away from everything just in case.”

“Understood, Lieutenant Cohen confirmed your orders. They have fired their remaining missiles down to near bingo levels, they have been slaved to us.”

Just then the next shift began appearing. He ordered the next group of individuals to take stations and assist where needed. It wasn’t a good time now to switch over to a new position, especially when no one appeared fatigued.

“Sir, what is our out?” Damian asked.

“Brady’s group is going to focus on killing the small ships. If the trap comes and they have bigger ships, we’re switching to high ex rounds to weaken the enemy. We’re going to be damn near bingo ammo by the time this engagement is resolved.”

“What is gained by pressing the attack?”

John looked at his first officer, “We kill pirates and weaken their positions. While it may leave us with a shitty taste, the assistance we’re getting has paid off thus far.”

“At least it wasn’t just me,” Damian said with a smirk.

“Barbara, all ahead full, let’s get stuck in,” John said confidently.