Solbidyum Wars Saga 5: Desolation (33 page)

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Based on the past tactics they used on other planets, I think they intended to fill all the ships they had with as many troopers as they could and ferry them to the surface for major ground assaults.  When they saw us abandon our frigates and corvettes, I think they saw it as a signal to begin their full planetary assault.  Up until this point all their ground forces were doing was establishing and defending landing areas for the assault teams to use later.

“Has there been any talk about surrender?” I asked.

“None, sir,” Wabussie stated, “but we have intercepted communications from the
HAPRIN
to other Brotherhood ships asking for assistance.”

“What response did they get?” I asked.

“It’s been mixed, sir, at first they were told, no, and to fight it out and take control of the surface.  Then once they heard the
HAPRIN
was dead in space with no propulsion, they said they would send several frigates and corvettes to help defend them, but that it would be several days before the first ships would arrive and for the
HAPRIN
to hold us off as long as possible.  Since then the pleas from the
HAPRIN
have increased in intensity with them reporting the loss of the GW generator on the bow and losses of defensive weaponry.  They have stated that they may need to surrender, to which and old acquaintance of yours named Shydak, sent back a reply that they had better blow the HAPRIN up with all hands aboard rather than surrender, or they would all wish they had when he got his hands on them.”

“Shydak!  That Korgian blood sucker is out here somewhere?” I shouted.

“It would appear so,” the Captain said, “because the Brotherhood hasn’t figured out the DSC system yet they are needing to rely on old-style communications, and it takes nearly a day before they get any replies to messages.  Based on the lag between the last messages, we believe that Shydak and a small fleet of ships are heading this way and a little less than a day away at the moment.”

“Alright then, let’s assume that they are coming from the nearest edge of the Federation space.  I want you to place the
DUSTEN
somewhere in that general vicinity about an hour’s flight time from the
HAPRIN
.  I want the
DUSTEN
to remain cloaked and launch the rest of our fighters and patrol ships; spread them out like a wall between the enemy fleet and the
HAPRIN. 
Every ship is to remain cloaked.

“Captain, do we have any troop transports aboard that have cloaking capability?” I asked.

“All of them do Admiral,” Wabussie stated.

“And how many is that?”

“Forty, sir,” he responded.

“Get Sokaia to the bridge,” I said.  “I need her NOW!”

I saw Wanoll gulp and then turn and address the communication officer to notify Sokaia to come to the bridge immediately.  The speed of her arrival was astonishing.”

“Captain Sokaia reporting as requested,” she said as she stepped onto the bridge.

“Very good, Captain, I’m impressed.  How did you get here so fast?”  I noticed as I was speaking that she was already in combat attire and ready for instant action.  A slight grin played over her face as she answered.  “I’ve grown accustomed to the way the Admiral thinks and acts, sir,” she said.  I anticipated a call to action once we arrived here.”

“How fast can you deploy your troops?” I asked.

“Sir, they are all standing at the ready in the hangar bays at this moment.  I can have them all outbound in minutes, if you so order.”

“Very good, Captain, have half your troopers board transports; you are to fly, cloaked, to the
HAPRIN
, and get aboard the ship anyway you can.  Use your discretion in doing so.  I suspect that most of the people aboard are going to be Brotherhood loyalists; those that aren’t are most likely slaves or hostages.  You’re going to have your hands full trying to weed the good guys from any bad guys aboard.”

“Yes sir, understood, sir.  What about the remainder of our troopers?”

“I want you to send them to the planet surface, also cloaked, and I want them to take out any Brotherhood ground forces you encounter.  The Brotherhood has set up a number of landing points, and I want you to make sure none of those sites are in their hands, should other Brotherhood ships get here.  Oh, and one thing more, Captain.  You only have a few hours to accomplish the task.”

“Understood, sir, what would you like us to do in the in between time, once we finish?” she said through a grin.

“Why, get things ready for the celebration,” I said grinning back, “now get your troops out of here Captain. Oh, and good luck.”

“We make our luck, Admiral,” she said as she turned and headed out the door.

“She’s turned out to be one hell of an officer, don’t’ you agree Marranalis?” I said.

“Yes sir,” Marranalis answered, “one of the best troopers in the Federation, I would say.”

“Considering the rough start we had with her, I’m quite impressed.  Admiral Regeny and Kala both gave her a stern dressing down after we met, because of her attitude.”

Marranalis chuckled, “I remember all too well,” he said, “I’m glad though it turned out the way it did.”

True to her word it was only minutes after Sokaia’s departure from the bridge that cloaked transports began leaving the ship with half of them headed for the planet surface, and the others to the
HAPRIN
.  Ships leaving from the forward hangar headed planet side and the ones leaving from the aft hangar headed toward the
HAPRIN
.  We were able to observe the departures from the vid screens on the bridge, which were fed information on their locations from special transponders.  On the
DUSTEN,
receivers tuned the signals into codes that we could view on the vid screen, otherwise we would not have been able to see them at all.  Without the codes, the
HAPRIN
was unable to see the transports and to target them with the few lasers and other weapons they had left.  It took a little longer for the ships headed to the planet surface to arrive and then even more time to reach their individual targets, but the task was accomplished quickly and efficiently.

Because of the close range between the
DUSTEN
and the
HAPRIN,
we could monitor the communication between our troops that had landed on the
HAPRIN. 
Damage in the hangar bay was extensive, and finding place for the transports to land and unload their troops was severely limited.  Monitors in the hangars had obviously been totally knocked out by the explosions there, and with the air evacuated from the area, there were no living enemy forces within the space at all.  Captain Sokaia reported back that the airlocks from the hangars had been damaged as well, and it was only the internal airtight doors protecting the inner areas of the ship from total loss of atmosphere.  This posed a problem, for without a working airlock, there was no way to access the inner compartments without losing a lot of air pressure and possibly lives.

It was Captain Wanoll that came up with a solution for the dilemma.  He knew of some maintenance tunnels running under the forward hangar to the aft hangar, and also to the engineering section of the ship.  These tunnels had their own airlocks inside.  Though the tunnel was rather small and would hamper quick access into the interior for all the troops, it still would allow them to gain entry without causing a large loss of air inside the ship.  The major obstacle would be the alarm system on the doors that would show on the bridge once the airlock was opened.  Since the
HAPRIN
and the
DUSTEN
were sister ships, Wabussie was able to call up the ships' schematics and located the circuits for the alarm system.  That enabled Sokaia’s team to bypass the alarm system.  So far, her team had been undetected, at least as far as we knew, and we wondered how long it would be before they were noticed, and the element of surprise lost.

“Admiral,” Captain Wanoll announced with alarm, “our long-range sensors are detecting incoming ships.  At their current rate of speed, they will be here in minutes.”

“Captain Sokaia,” I said into the communicator linked to her, “You’re running out of time.  Either take that ship or get out of it quickly, the enemy has arrived.”

“Sir, we’ve bypassed the airlock, and we have two teams entering the engineering section now.  We seem to have surprised the crew there and have them in custody.”  Then she added, “sir, we have control of engineering and are disabling all weaponry and sealing all compartments.  The Brotherhood troops on this ship are now at our mercy.  We will commence taking them into custody one compartment at a time.”

“Negative, Captain,” Iordered.  We don’t have time for that now.  Focus on a straight line to the bridge, when you get there let the crew inside know they have a choice of surrendering or suffocating, if they refuse to surrender have engineering evacuate the air from the bridge, and then enter and take control over the ship.  We can mop up the other Brotherhood members on the
HAPRIN
later, but for now it’s most important you gain control of the bridge, and alert me of the condition of the RMFF and the ship’s cloaking device.”

“Captain Wanoll,” I said as I turned to him, “as soon as the Brotherhood ships are in range, begin opening fire on them.  Marranalis, contact our fighters out there to cease all fire on the
HAPRIN
and fly out and attack the incoming ships from their flank.  Make sure to tell them not to get between the
DUSTEN
and the enemy and to stay out of direct firing range between us and the enemy.  We don’t want to shoot down our own ships.  Any ships they see that aren’t shielded I want them to concentrate on.  I want us to thin out the herd as much as we can before they get here completely.”

“So far as we know, the only shielded ships the Brotherhood have are the ones they managed to steal from the Federation; the same goes for cloaking.  None of the incoming ships appear to be of Federation design, so it’s very likely they won’t have cloaking or shielding,” Marranalis announced.

“Admiral,” Wanoll interrupted, “the incoming ships appear to be turning.  The
HAPRIN
must have alerted them to our boarding party.  The Brotherhood ships are fleeing.  They are abandoning the
HAPRIN.”

“Get our fighters and patrol ships after them; damage and knock out as many of their ships as you can,” I ordered.  “Captain,” I addressed Wanoll, “I want you to pursue those fleeing ships with the
DUSTEN,
it’s faster than their ships.  As soon as we’re in weapons range, I want you to start pounding them with everything we’ve got.  Focus on the largest ship.  That’s where Shydak is most likely to be.”

We had just entered a range where the
DUSTEN
could start firing on the fleeing Brotherhood ships when one of the officers on the bridge announced, “Sir, our long-range sensors are detecting two frigates and about a dozen corvettes approaching the
HAPRIN
from the rear.  Based on their formation, it looks like they may also have at least one and possibly more cloaked ships with them.”

“What?” I exclaimed, “Bring the images up on the screen, so I can see their formation.”

Almost instantly the main view screen image changed showing blips representing the ships approaching the
HAPRIN
from the rear, and us pursuing the fleeing Brotherhood ships in the front.

“Damn,” I muttered, “they led us into a trap.  Stop the pursuit, Captain, get us back to the
HAPRIN
as fast as possible.”

“As you wish, Admiral,” Captain Wanoll replied.

“Sokoia, can you still read me?”  I said knowing that now we had traveled far enough that even if she was getting the message on a standard transmission the signal would be weak and delayed.  I counted down the minutes, and at the 10 minute 13 second mark the answer came back.  “I read you Admiral, but your signal is weak.  We have taken the bridge of the
HAPRIN
, sir.”

“Sokaia, if you can, get the RMFF up and operating, we’ve been led into a trap.  The Brotherhood has a fleet of ships coming at you from the rear.  They should arrive shortly, and you don’t have much time.  The RMFF is your only hope.  We’re rushing back as fast as we can.  Have your troopers ready to repel any boarding parties.  I know the
HAPRIN’s
weapons are pretty much useless at the moment, so you’re going to need to rely on the fire power of any fighter and patrol ships you have in the area to help defend the
HAPRIN
.  Use your discretion in pulling ships and men back from the surface to help until we get there.”  I turned to Marranalis while we waited for the message to reach Sokaia and a response to get back. “I need you to slip through the Cantolla gate to Admiral Regeny’s office and get Slater.  He hopefully will be there.  Get him and get back here as quickly as you can.  This trap smells of something Ming would concoct, and Captain Slater knows Ming and his tactics better than any of us do.”

“Yes sir,” Marranalis said as he turned and left the bridge.

A few minutes later, the reply from Sokaia came in. “Admiral, we see the incoming ships.  The RMFF shields here are still down, but we have a team working on the repairs.  There was a cable running through the forward hangar that powers the RMFF that was severed; my men are attempting to splice in a new piece of cable, but they say it will take about an hour, and the Brotherhood ships will be here in 17 minutes.  We’re going to take a pounding, sir.  I've got our fighters and patrol ships that are left out there cloaked and going to meet the incoming ships head-on.   They have orders to make concentrated attacks on the larger ships that are not protected with RMFF’s, if there are any with the fleet.  It looks to us like they may have one or two cloaked ships, possibly with RMFF’s with them.  With them firing on us, we can’t get the transports back to pick us up and get us out of here.”