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Strategos (A Great Captain Roberts Tale!!) - Part 4 -
Chapter 5 - Sometimes, not so clever.[]
Enemy Spotted, Engage![]
The ship was, indeed…
…at least the size of a Bonaventure. The Baron class destroyer dated to early Reunification War fleets, one of thousands pawned off on the House Lord navies and re-bought as surplus by the Rim Worlds Republic before being recaptured and renamed during the Amaris conflict of the 2770s.
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Baron Class Destroyer
"There! There she is!!" Lord Commander Ethel Blyghe-Winston was one of Cecil Halford's 'promotees' in the Fleet Reserve. She was relatively young, but had the kind of 'twisty' mind the Lord Commodore wanted.
Her ship was what could be spared for bandit-hunting among the relics being reactivated.
The 'bait plan' was a long-shot, but she'd turned that long-shot into an opportunity by simply paying attention to her navigation classes and thinking outside the box. A Pirate would not be lingering AT the jump point, but they might be watching it from fairly nearby in case opportunity struck.
Telescopes from the satellite bases of New Ithaca had spotted the distorted blur of a 'black' absorbent sail-the kind most warships worth anything carried for its low signature and lack of reflection, and neutrino detectors in the outer system did the rest.
"They know we're coming!" her sensor operator announced. "Spike in the fusion bottles, and they're spraying…ions? Huh."
"Makes sense, those are hard to spot on telescope. Release my fighters, and prepare to pursue an engagement while they dick and dink thinking they're being subtle!!"
"What if they jump? Space is flat out here?"
"Then we'll know they had a charged LF battery, or that they've been drifting in the system longer than they should," Ethel stated. "Either way tells the big brains more about the pirate, and thus, is not a total loss…and they can't afford to jump with that sail extended. Get us close enough to use swords!!" She clenched her fist, and added, "Chief engineer? Dump ours, we won't need the sail, and we can recover it after."
"Aye, Ma'am!!"
With sail extended, a Bonaventure isn't any quicker than a Baron class is with the sail stowed. Their prey will either have to reef sail at a record pace to maneuver, jump, or risk losing it to stress shredding as inertia does what inertia does to lightly built, large, and relatively massive structures suddenly subjected to thrust.
Time to Pack it Up[]
"They're not stupid…
…and that's bad for us. Sam! REEF SAIL!!" Amanda ordered. "Saya, launch fighters, they're going into a pursuit and we don't have the charge on the core!!"
"Is that why they jettisoned theirs?" Chester asked from the gunnery station.
"Yeah, it is," Amanda confirmed. "They can use their whole engine pack, we're stuck at one gee MAX with ours extended. If we jump, we lose it, and with it, the ability to recharge from sunlight."
"They must've refit the small craft bays. I'm counting twelve fighter torches of at least seventy tons, and six shuttles."
"What type?"
"NL-42? Armed version, those may be boarding pods."
"SHIT!!"
"Five more minutes, Captain, and we'll have the Sail stowed!"
"Faster, faster would be better…"
"Fighters away, CAP established!"
"Nail their small craft first. We sacrificed most of our marines to serve as prize crew," Amanda ordered. "Everyone grab your small arms, and ready the ship to repel boarders."
"You think-"
"It's what Foster would do, it's what I'd do, it's what Desmond believes they're GOING to do, so yeah, bet on it." Amanda snapped, regretting that she left her armor down in the armory today, and was stuck with a skinsuit.
"Sail… stowed!"
"Sound acceleration alarm, we're going to have to out run this guy!!" Amanda ordered, "Three minutes like the drill!!"
Premature Victory Shout[]
"Their fighter screen is tight…
… Captain, but boarding shuttles three and four report hull contact!"
Ethel wanted to cheer. "Bracket their fighters, help our guys out!!" she ordered. We're going to win this! We're going to WIN!!!
"Neutrino spray, port side, one fifty kilometers positive Zed Axis, six degrees off spinward!!"
"If that's Duncan, he's too late!!"
It wasn't Duncan.
Boarding Action[]
Sergeant Will Tanner…
…wasn't from a Lord family, he'd never be an Officer, what with his Rim Worlds ancestry and only being the son of a freedman line…but he was, above all, a proud soldier of the Star League Remnant and a skilled Marine leader.
"Press is up, ready boys!!" He hefted his Mauser 960M variant, with the special concussion grenades and focused-pulse laser assembly, "Breach!!"
The cutting charges made short work of the airlock door and he led his men into the enemy ship.
The first pirates they encountered, were still suiting up, they were easy meat. "Caffey, Jones, head for engineering, the rest of you, we're going for CIC!!"
He didn't know about the emergence wave detection, all he knew, was that the ride in had been uncharacteristically easy, once the enemy's fighters were engaged, the point-defenses had barely bothered to try…
[]
The colorless chaos of…
… hyperspace cleared and her sensors were working again… Just in time to see her mission was… well, not a waste of time.
The Evanescent was under siege, under thrust, and under pursuit by a Baron class vessel squawking SLDF Ident… old-style SLDF.
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Congress Class Frigate
“CAG clear the barn. Helm, match us up as soon as they’re clear. Weapons, Maxim 37.” Olivia commanded from the Captain’s chair.
“Aye, Captain.”
“Comms, I’m thinking something a bit different. Blanket them with some Tchaikovsky. 1812 Overture. Nice and loud and in the clear.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
The light tremble of Naval Autocannon fire combined with the slight hum of the discharge of Naval PPCs announced the arrival of the Congress Class Frigate, SLS Olivia Hazard Perry.
At that kind of close range, a Baron crumpled faster than a soldier crushing an empty beer can under that kind of firepower.
“I had hoped they would have lasted a tad bit longer. Didn’t even get to my favorite part. Comms, send to their Marines they can surrender now or they can walk home.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”