The Shattered Empire (The Shadow Space Chronicles Book 2) (54 page)

“
Through
our jamming, sir?” Mendoza asked nervously.

Mason gave the man a level look.  A moment later his console indicated he was live.  “Attention pathetic defense forces.  I am Captain Stavros Heraklion, my vessel, the
Kraken
is here on business unrelated to your little world.  Cease your pursuit and I will not harm you.  Continue it and I will cripple your ships one by one and board them, to take them as my prizes.”  He cut the connection before anyone could respond.  “That should be enough.”

The
Kraken
swept closer and Mason leaned back even further. 
I'm going to feel awful silly if they get a lucky hit on the bridge and I end up breathing vacuum,
he thought,
well, right before the painful and horrible death part.
  Still, Stavros wouldn't show fear and Mason had to admit, he felt confident enough of his plan.

Their course brought them knifing in at the heart of the formation.  Mason studied the oncoming force.  The vanguard of the formation was made up of four Defiance-class destroyers.  The older destroyers had lower accelerations and far inferior armaments to the other ships in the force.  They were elderly, even for warships in the Republic Liberation Fleet.  Mason grinned a bit to see them positioned there, however.  “Evidently, you are jamming them well enough, Mendoza.  Maybe I won't launch you out there as ordinance.”  Unlike newer vessels in the RLF, the old Defiance class ships mounted lidar, which was excellent for pin-point targeting and extremely difficult to jam.  Most of the newer warships in both the Colonial Republic and even the Centauri Confederation had done away with the laser based targeting, right up until Tau Ceti introduced the latest generation of jamming systems, which the
Kraken'
s systems could easily emulate.

The Defiance-class destroyers were under-gunned and woefully under-powered even when they were built, mostly as a stopgap to fill the void left by the collapse of Amalgamated Worlds.  The newer Forerunner-class destroyers were their replacement, far better armed but with limited sensors.  Mason saw four of those in the rear of the formation and he would guess that the enemy commander made his flagship aboard one of those, rather than either of the pair of Independence-class cruisers.

Both of those were somewhere closer in age to the Defiances, Mason knew.  They mounted heavier weapons and more of them, but still had limited power to run their systems in combat and with the state of Colonial Republic maintenance, were probably in poor shape.  Which wasn't to say that two of them couldn't be dangerous, just that the four destroyers with more modern weaponry and higher accelerations were more of one. 

  Mason fiddled with attack vectors for a moment.  They would flash into missile range in only a few minutes now as Mason adjusted their own vector closer to the enemy force.  The one thing the Colonials had in number was missiles, he knew.  “Lauren, you've got interceptor fire.  Be prepared, they'll volley everything they have in a single salvo.”  He saw her nod absently as she keyed up fire commands.  In reality, he could have avoided jamming until the enemy missile launch to maintain an edge, but he liked to see what the enemy had available.  So far he was impressed with their training, but not so much with their equipment.

The Defiance-class destroyers mounted external missile racks only, while the Forerunners had armored missile bays, which meant they could, in theory, wait to launch them until later.  The Independences mounted both four internal tubes and an external set of interceptor missile racks.  Mason wondered, though, if a commander corrupt enough to be bought out by Nova Corp into protecting their squatter mining colony was the type to sell off some of his 'excess' munitions.

Sure enough, the missile salvo was very light.  Most of it came from the Forerunners in the rear of the formation. 
Either he's feeling the expense or he's trying to fool me,
Mason thought.  Still, the forty missiles in flight were impressive enough.  For that matter, he was entirely certain that the other commander
hadn't
volleyed his interceptor missiles.  He probably wanted those against any return salvo or fighters that Mason would launch.  Since the
Kraken
didn't mount any missile systems other than those aboard her two squadrons of fighters, Mason was happy enough to just face the flight of heavy missiles.

Mason bit his lip as he watched Lauren deploy the defensive fire.  She began with the main guns, of which Mason entirely approved.  Depending on the bank emitter setting they could engage out to twenty five thousand kilometers with highly focused bursts.  She used the secondary battery to thin out the ones that slipped through and had the inner array of pulse weapons set to intercept the handful of leakers.

Mason could tell she had trained extensively with the simulations he had given her.  He felt at once both a little proud of her and somewhat daunted.  She had taken to the ship and it's weapons like a fish to water... with no background besides the basic training the Chxor had provided her as a missile tech.  As he watched, he sent the
Kraken
through the preprogrammed evasive maneuvers to ensure that if anything did slip past her, it wouldn't have an easy target. 

As it was, three of the forty missiles detonated.  The closest was well clear of them.  “Emissions suggests fission warhead, fifteen megaton yield,” Dale Peterson said nervously.

Mason gave a loud laugh at that, “He's firing pop guns at us, is he?”  The fifteen megaton fission warheads were relatively dangerous, but not nearly as nasty as some of the newer warheads that the RLF used, much less ones available from Nova Roma, the Centauri Confederation, or even from Port Klast.  “Launch the fighter squadrons, tell them to take up pattern delta.”

His fighters deployed and Mason felt a bit of his tension ease.  He noted that Dale Peterson had identified what he thought was the enemy flagship, a Forerunner that was at the very rear of the formation. 
Now I really have a good target,
Mason thought.

The enemy force came closer.  “They're hitting us with active lidar, I can't jam that, Captain,” Mendoza said nervously.

Mason updated the evasive patterns and the indicators of active lidar hits dropped off sharply as the ship jinked in ways such a large ship had no business moving.  Mason let out another braying laugh as targeting data fed through his systems.  He highlighted the enemy flagship as Lauren's primary target and then updated the fighters with course adjustments and maneuvers as they began to separate on their adjusted course.  As expected, the enemy force focused on the
Kraken
as the large cruiser continued to close the distance.

“Enemy fire, heavy rail guns from the cruisers,” Peterson said sharply.  He also updated the plot with his estimated projectile trajectories.  The first salvos were clean misses, as expected, Mason saw.  But the point was to limit his possible approach vectors and to bracket him as he came in.

The other vessels opened up a moment later, with an almost solid sheet of rail-gun and mass driver fire designed to further limit his maneuvers and to force him closer into their kill boxes.  Unlike their normal targets, Mason was certain the
Kraken
could take a few of those hits if necessary to escape... but he didn't feel he needed to do so.

In any case, at this range, they were trying to limit his options and shape the coming fight rather than to actually hit him.  What they didn't know, was that Mason
wanted
an open channel to close the distance.  “They think they're herding a beast to slaughter, but they're about to let the tiger in amongst them,” Mason said, in full Stavros mode.  For a moment, the exhilaration of the fight made his role seem almost real.

He shook that off as he considered the positions of the enemy vessels and his own.  The
Kraken
was poised at sixty thousand kilometers, well outside the enemy's effective range for anything besides missiles, with similar velocities and vectors as Mason maintained the range.  “Orders to the squadrons,” Mason snapped, as he judged the vectors again, “Execute attack pattern delta three.”  He had cued up a series of attacks, much like the plays in a grav-ball game.  At the same time as he gave the order, he flipped the
Kraken
over and dove at the enemy formation at full acceleration.  The big ship turned fast, far faster than the enemy had expected.  Mason keyed up the target priorities even as his two squadrons of Falkes launched their missiles, right into the teeth of the enemy formation.

Each of the Falkes carried two of the light missiles.  The twelve fighters carried a total of twenty four.  The dazzlers detonated in and amongst the enemy vessels only seconds before the
Kraken
flashed through their formation and began to engage them.  The enemy ships were caught unprepared for his maneuver and before they could adjust, the sharp electromagnetic bursts knocked out their forward sensors and played havoc with their defense screens and maneuver thrusters.  Two of the Defiance-class destroyers spun out of control as their older systems went haywire.  Most of the formation came apart as the blinded ships tried to dodge the sudden assault.

Mason gave out a crow of victory as Lauren's fire homed in on the enemy flagship.  The Forerunner-class destroyer's emissions dropped sharply as systems went down.  The forward defense screens dropped entirely, followed by the ship's weapons fire and then its engines.  The enemy destroyer spun out of control and Mason brought the
Kraken
in close against the other ship as she played the main batteries across the enemy vessel.

A glance at his screen showed the entire formation had come apart with most of the ships having adopted radical course changes to evade the enemy in their midst.  Most of them had ceased to fire, though the pair of Defiance-class destroyers still under power maintained a hail of fire that looked to be more of a hazard to their own ships than anything to worry about in the short term.

“Cease jamming,” Mason said.  “Open channel.” He smiled as his screen went live, “I am Captain Stavros Heraklion.  I am here to punish Nova Corp for their greed and tyranny, not for any violence against the good people of Ottokar.  The ships which have opposed me have been dispersed.  I am not without mercy, however, and those who surrender when they encounter me in the future will receive my benevolence.  I will take the three ships I disabled as prizes, but I will allow all three vessels to evacuate their personnel before I launch my boarding parties.  Any attempts to scuttle or recover those ships and I will destroy them and all aboard.  Stavros out.”

***

Ottokar System

Colonial Republic

October 28, 2403

“Captain Stavros, darling, I am very impressed,” Admiral Mannetti practically purred through the communications channel.  “You captured the mining colony all by yourself,
without
damage and after dispersing the local patrol force.”

“Let's not forget that the mine's security force surrendered after hearing about me,” Mason smirked.  In truth, he was glad for that.  He hadn't wanted to kill any of them if he didn't have to.  All the same, he wondered if he had made himself look
too
competent.

“I do wonder, though,” Admiral Mannetti said, her voice pleasant but her eyes cold with calculation, “why you didn't just kill the Colonial Republic personnel who opposed you, why let them go?”

Mason stood up straight, “So that there are more of them to speak of how dangerous Stavros Heraklion is, of course.”  He let his smirk go sour, “And as it is, I find live survivors are less likely to generate fanatical hatred than dead victims.  I do get tired of the young idiots trying to kill me.”

“Really, Stavros, that's quite enlightened for you,” Admiral Mannetti said with a chuckle.  “I might even say beguiling.”

“Beguiling,” Mason said, “I like that word, I'll have to remember it.”

“Well, since you've already sent your prizes back to Halcyon, do you still plan to send down anyone to assist in looting the mine?”  Admiral Mannetti asked.

Mason almost said no, but he rethought it at the look in her eyes. 
She's still suspicious,
he realized,
and Stavros wouldn't miss a good looting for anything. 
“Of course.  I only waited because I wanted to show I wasn't taking more than my fair share.”

Admiral Mannetti looked somewhat doubtful at that, but the idea that Stavros was a greedy backstabber was one he was fine with her having, she'd be less likely to realize that he was here to bring her down.  “Will I see you down there, my Lady?”  He put a bit of leer into his voice and as he expected, she barely hid her irritation.

“No, I've business to attend to up here, we're stripping the orbital defenses,” Admiral Mannetti said.  “Good looting to you, Stavros.”

“You as well, Admiral,” Mason said.  As the connection cut off he leered at the bridge crew, “Women can't resist Stavros.”

“
Right
,” Kandergain said as she rolled her eyes.  “Who is going down with you, Captain?”

Mason glanced at Lauren, but she nodded slightly at Mark Mendoza.  Clearly she didn't trust the spy alone on the ship unsupervised while it was in orbit so close to Lucretta Mannetti.  “I want you to plot us some evacuation courses in case the RLF people recover their courage.  Lauren, I want you along with the cargo master and his crew, and tell the doc to come too,” Mason said lightly.  He really hoped he didn't need Theresa Lourdes, for one thing, that would mean someone was injured.  For another, she was not only one of Lucretta Mannetti's spies, but a creepy sort to boot.  “Tell Asara Khemali to prep my personal shuttle.”