Battleship Destroyer (95 page)

"Mr. Turner I am talking to you. I said to
hold your fire. Not...”

"Weapons Shoot
! Shoot! Shoot!" The weapons officer hit the firing key on his console. 12 more torpedoes streaked toward their intercept point with the enemy fleet. Doing their own part to expand the growing cloud leaving a trail of mass behind them.

"Pan are all the boats in yet?"

"The second Assault Shuttle is coming along side Captain Turner. It will be hard docked in 30 second. There are still 7 boats headed this way."

"It has been ten minutes Pan. I told you only ten minutes."

"Captain, Dock control. Our boats are in and the locks sealed sir. Ready for maneuvering.

"Thanks Chief."

"Captain I am talking to you. Cease fire damn it."

"
Weapons, how long until our last torpedoes are loaded and fired?"

"
15 minutes Captain. We are having problems getting them up from the magazine."

"Very well Pearson
s.”

"Captain
Turner! I am ordering you not to fire. There is no reason to expose yourself to the enemy fleet."

"How large is our cloud now Tactical?
”

"
About a mile it seems to be hanging around us and this hulk sir." Torpedo's hit the other hulks knocking more debris mostly from their shield decks. “Another life boat was destroyed sir. Direct hit over next to hulk Charley sir."

"Firing
another spread of Torpedoes Captain." Said the weapons officer in a monotone. All excitement gone from his voice as thumps were heard through the mettle of the deck again from the opposite end of the ship.

Jack watched the torpedoes
carve bright streaks through the crystal cloud out from the ship. "Pan how long until your guys are loaded?"

"The last three boats
of the group are approaching now Captain."

"30 seconds to another
salvo of enemy torpedoes sir. Three are headed for this hulk sir." Came Tactical’s voice. "One life boat in sir. The second is 10 seconds away and the 3rd is 15."

"This is the last of them right Pan?"

Pan turned and looked at Jack for several seconds and then turned away. "Yes Captain you will have them all."

Jack closed his eyes shaking his head. "Pan you are a terrible
liar." Then as soon as the last boat disappeared into the tank. "Number one. Time to change hiding places. Head for...”

"Captain the torpedoes headed for this hulk have lost
their locks. They are searching for a new target."

"What?" Jack could not believe what he had heard as he looked at the tactical display. "All three of them have lost lock?" But even his eyes could see that their
course plots showed them missing the hulk they had been locked on only seconds before. "Spook, Launch passive counter measures close spread. Keep them inside the cloud around us. It seems the trace elements in our reaction mass are making it hard for them to lock onto this monster hulk."

Hulk
Alpha took 3 direct hits in its armored decks blasting away huge chunks of them as 3 torpedoes zipped past the cloud surrounding the Red Pepper and its cloud shrouded hulk.

"Captain there are a
t least a dozen life boats left out there with their lights flashing." The Ensign said in a whisper.

"
What?" Jack looked around at the Ensign then turned to Tactical, just how many strobe flashing boats are left?"

"Ah just give me a few seconds
Captain and I will have them up on the plot."

"
Damn." Looking around grimacing as boats started appearing on the tactical.

"Captain
Turner. These boats could not make it over to you in your time restraints." Pan said standing next to Jack.

"Damn it." Turning to Pan with a grimace.
Jack stared at her for a few seconds. Then tight lipped. “Are there any more around the other hulks?"

"Yes but they could not arrive according to your directed time line
. Give me 30 minutes Captain and we will have them all." Pans face made several expressions Jack could not read. "Please Captain Turner."

"No. Shouted the Admiral from the side screen. "I ord
er you to leave now Lieutenant Turner. You have dozens of those damn monster torpedoes headed for you now and you only have minutes to leave before the enemy fleet will be able to intercept you unless you have both your engines and accelerate above 400 Gee’s witch I already ordered you not to. You need to get out of there NOW. Leave the rest of the refugees behind. That is an order Captain."

Jack turned to the Admiral. "Sorry Admiral but we can't
leave people behind. Cargo open all empty tank outer hatches. Especially when we seem to be protected by this cloud for the moment. Maybe we can make it last long enough to get them all."

Jack studied the
tactical as more boats appeared on it, shaking his head. "Damn!" Jack said as he turned to Pan only to find her over next to the cargo control console with her phone in her hand. Directing boats to tank hatches with the help of the Cargo officer.

"Pan
, can you speed things up? I really don't want to hang around here any longer than we have to. The last of our torpedoes will be launching in a few minutes."

Pan turned a
way from the cargo terminal. "One of the boats headed for us is not one of my boats. Boats already took everyone off the ship it originated from though a boat went from the ship we just came from to that ship some 15 minutes ago. I do not know who is aboard it except it may have Godofficers and fresh troops on it."

"Weapons, target that boat with point
defense. Knock that sucker out now. Cargo, close up the ship now." Taking a quick look at the damaged Swiss cheese bow, Jack had to grimace.

The ships 3 inch and 30mm turrets started firing before Jack had finished ordering the hatches closed
punching holes into the large boat. It took another few seconds for the 5 inch guns to start. And then the boat seemed to lung forward as it stopped trying to blend in with the rest of the life boats. A good minute later, dodging fire from every 5 and 3 inch turret that could bring a gun to bare on it, the boat crashed into the side of the Red Pepper belly first and started discharging Black Apes across the hull heading for the forward section of the ship and all the open holes in the damaged section that would make it easy for them to get into the ship and hide.

"Sound repel boarders
!” Jack could not believe the boat had landed short of the huge holes in the damaged section of the ship. The fact that it looked like it was dodging the 3 and 5inch gunfire from the bow was beside the point. The guns were not hitting it and the boat would have safely disappeared through one of those holes where they could have taken over half the ship before they could be stopped. Though their position on the hull was close to several of the open tank hatches before they were closed and between the big guns slapped on the hull that had been salvaged. Safe from most of the hull turrets.

The Weapons officer turned to Jack.
"Captain, permission for target practice with the 5 inch guns on the hulks sir. We should have been able to take out that boat before it reached us sir."

"
No Daa Lieutenant. But not the hulks, they are too damn easy to hit. Have Gun Chiefs target empty boats with pop shots on targets you designate. First hits get prizes. Most, first hits gets top gun. The next time they miss a sure shot I will space the lot of them and get me new gunners." Jack watched the approaching torpedoes shaking his head. They had 15 or 16, 5 inch guns able to target the boat at point blank range and missed. But then the 3 inch guns did little better and there were twice as many of them. “Do the same with the 3 inchers as well.”

Jack's eyes turned to the hull monitors as plasma balls started streaking our from the holes blasted into the
ship's bow followed by a charge of Red Apes mixed with Marines flooding from a dozen hatches that suddenly opened in the hull as the ships 30mm and 3inch guns that could still bare continued to fire into the boat anchored to the hull. Though the boat had managed to pick the only place on the hull that had a couple of guns able to shoot at them."

Jack watched as another wave of torpedoes streaked
through the squadron of hulks. Several missing the cloud of reaction mass again. Then a bloom appeared between the hulks as a boat disappeared from the tactical.

"Captain, lost another boat headed this way sir.
”

The rest of the enemy
torpedo's streaked into the 2 hulks on the other end of the know stretched out squadron as some 9 torpedoes literally tore the hulks apart, breaking them into several large chunks with explosions and flames. The two drifting, now chopped up hulks had put a good distance between them and the other 2 hulks grouped together with the hulk Jack was using to hide behind now several miles away on the opposite side. Glancing around, Jack could see boats coming over from the center hulks 3 and 4 with one looking bigger than the rest but he could not tell how much bigger except that he doubted it would fit into the tanks. Shaking his head he glanced at the hull monitors and watched the last of the Black Apes start drifting away from the hull as gasses spewed out of their blasted suits. Red Apes and marines flooded into the boat. "Pan, just make sure none of the rest of the boats have any Apes aboard."

Pan turned around and looked at Jack. Her eyes narrowing.
"Yes Captain Turner. But some boats have slave apes on them. They wish to join your Red Apes."

Tapping his screen
shaking his head in disbelief, Jack sent a sensor beam at the large boat. The main hull would fit in the lock but just barely but all the protrusions sticking from it including its engine cooling fins telling him it wouldn’t even come close. Then he noticed a second large boat emerging from the wreckage around hulk 4. It looked like it had been severely damaged in the mid-section. "Pan, any chance the large boats will scab themselves on the side of the ship like the assault shuttles?"

"No Captain Turner. The large boats are simply transports."

"Jack, I think the ice particles from the cloud of dumped reaction mass is starting to dissipate." The Ensign said frowning. "I don't think our shield is going to last much longer than another 10 minutes.”

"Tactical, how long until the last of the boats arrive?"

"20 minutes now sir but the last two look much too big to fit into the tanks sir."

"Yes. Thank you lieutenant. Pan, how likely is it that these large transport boats have advanced technology the Assault shuttles we already have anchored to our hull
, do not have? Can we just empty them out and dump them?"

"The Assault Shuttles are designed and built to be captured. They are not used for anything else and contain old tech. The transport boats are in constant use amongst the fleet and contain the
fleet’s latest tech. I would strip them before dumping them Captain Turner."

"Well we do not have time to strip them
. Pan will they fit inside the boat bays?" He knew better but asking the question gave him time to think and face the reality that they were going to have to simply dump them after unloading the refugees.

"Yes Captain. Each will take up 230 feet of the 300 foot long bays but a few alterations will have to be made. You will still be able to operate your gig boats stored in the side compartments of
the bay in the space left between the transport and the other hull hatch in each bay."

Slapping the
comm. "Boat lock control, pick enough boats to clear out 230 feet of each boat bay and empty them out, we are jettisoning them in 15 minutes. Use whatever it takes to get them empty. Don't forget to arm their self-destructs. Clear the 250 feet from opposite ends of the bays. No belay the jettison order. Launch them on auto pilot for the nearest station complete with decoys."

"The Admiral's barge is already damn near empty Cap. No problem."

"No. Turner." Yelled the Admiral. "My barge has top secret communications equipment and codes on it. You can't let it fall into enemy hands."

Jack frowned shaking his head. "Ok. Damn. Boat Chief
, pick…. No. that is perfect. Admiral I need your transmit codes for the comm system on the boat."

"What the hell
. No!"

Jack smiled.
"Yes Admiral. I need bait to lure there second fleet into our trap so when hulk Echo fusions it core, it will take as many of their ships with it as possible. Them thinking you are stranded here is perfect. It could lure half the fleet into the trap if it works at all."

"Captain, Torpedo
room. We have finally gotten to the Bravo torpedo magazine and are ready to launch 12 more fish with another 48 still in the magazine. We are transferring the next batch up into the Alpha ready magazine now. We can get 48 more launched in a half hour if you wish. "

"Good going Lieutenant. What about Charley magazine? How long until you can get to it?"

"Sorry Captain but it was sandwiched between 3 beam hits and though it was missed, the ship around it is wrecked so badly it is going to take a week to get to it. Then we will have to transfer them by hand one at a time around half the ship to get them up there. Don't count on them anytime soon sir."