Queen of the Pirates (37 page)

It was like watching flies on a carcass on a hot day.

“Open a channel,” she said while Bedrov busied himself with trim, speed, and weapons. Maybe this was a good enough crew.

“Go ahead, commander.”

“Imperial vessels,” she called. “This is Jessica Keller, Queen of the Pirates. You are not welcome here. Load up and return to Imperial space immediately, or I will destroy you.”

She stopped to wait. They were far enough away that the signal would take several seconds to reach them.

Their answer did not require the radio. The carrier launched a single missile in the direction of
Auberon
.

Apparently, someone over there had associated her name and the
RAN
carrier, and assumed she was in command. It was a good assumption, if you wanted to raise a middle finger. And it would give her defense centurion, Nina Vanek, something to do to baseline the two
Lincolnshire
crews as escorts, if things got messy.

“Oh, that were a dumb thing to do,” Bedrov opined calmly under his breath.

Jessica nodded. They were about to get very serious.

“
Jouster
, this is the Flag. What is your status?”

“We are prepared for
Mischief
, Your Majesty,”
Jouster
replied.

She wondered if that exact tone of bored, laconic superiority was something he was born with, or had worked extra hard to make sound natural.

“
Furious
,” Jessica continued, “form your team up around
Jouster
’s as a single spearhead and prepare to attack the Imperial forces. Let
Jouster
take point.”

“Acknowledged,”
Furious
called. “
Queen’s Own
, you heard the lady, boys. Slashers on the wings, hammers in the back. And
Warduck
is out there, so we’ll get a little payback, too.”

On the projection, it looked like two armies of ants, forming up to attack a hornet’s nest.

Hopefully the ants were better.

Chapter XLVII

Date of the Republic March 14, 394 Above Petron

Jouster smiled. It was a lovely, evil smile. This was about to become a lovely, evil day.

Over there, a hundred and twenty–odd bad guys. And a crap–ton of defensive guns.

And almost no missile launchers. He hated Imperial missiles.

Sure, there were a pair on the Escort Carrier, and probably single tubes on the Tugs. And that was it.

Twenty–four first–line Imperial melee fighters. The nasty A–8a model. Not as good as the Republic’s
M–6 Gungnir
, better than the
M–5 Harpoons
his two teams had. Forty–eight launch rails. Comparable guns.

And behind them, a half–dozen of the A–3f strike fighters. Six rails each.

Then there were seventy–something pirates.

Big, tough guys. Even scary looking.

Right until he looked over his shoulder at the ugly caravan of junkyard castoffs he was leading.

And he had shields. And a whopping crap–ton of missile rails pointed down–range, not just his wing, but
Auberon
, and
Rajput
, and
Brightoak
, as well as
Necromancer,
and the two bombers,
Damocles
and
Starfall
.

You didn’t kill ships with guns. Well, not unless you were a battleship, or some other big, dumb, lumbering armadillo. You went full Agincourt on them. Or let them fight in the shade.

“
Jouster
, this is
Auberon
,” Denis Jež said into the calm as the fighter wings began to close. “Barn owl.”

“Acknowledged,”
Jouster
grinned.

How to explain to the friendlies that there was a stealth missile about ten seconds from impact over there? That the fox that was about to get into the hen house?
Auberon’s
wing could use the encrypted signal, and they already understood what Jež had just said, but he had to transmit in the clear to talk to the
Monarch
element. People were listening. Hell, the two sides had even settled pretty quickly on different comm channels so they weren’t constantly yelling over each other to transmit orders back and forth.

War was weird, some days.

“
Furious
, this is
Jouster
,” he said, that grin growing into a smile. “I’m about to redline my engines. You folks keep up?”

“Dunno,
Jouster
,” he heard her sarcastic reply. “
Bitter Kitten
is the only one of yours that’s managed to outrun me so far.”

Yup, she would do.
Jouster
could see why the dragon lady put her in charge.

“
Aquitaine
and
Monarch
elements,” Jouster said, “go for max speed now.”

If he had timed it right with Jež, the stealth missile
Auberon
had fired would be close to impacting in a few more seconds.

Jouster
slammed the throttle to the stops and let the thrusters go into overdrive. Around him, his team did the same on cue, momentarily opening a small lead on most of the friendlies.

Most.

Sky Dancer
’s lead pilot had that stolen
M–6
that could keep up, and did.

And there was something truly ugly over on the right flank. It appeared to be two huge engines welded to a gun, with a cockpit slung underneath, almost as an afterthought.
Furious
called him
Eel
, but whether that was the pilot or the craft was open to interpretation. But he was fast. And started to get ahead of everyone.

His loss if he got too far out front when this happened.

The scanner lit up with a flash as the engines got to their peak. The skies in front of him lit as well.

“Barn owl,”
da Vinci
called merrily. She was tucked deep in the back of the formation, all sensors and one little popgun, and worth a squadron of the pirates by herself.

“Gimme a read,”
Jouster
called back.

“Stand by,” she said coolly. “Total surprise. Looks like we just blew the shit out of the 4–ring Mothership named
Siberia
. One sensor tag just turned into three signals. She’s coming apart.”

“Roger that,” Jouster’s evil grin was back. “All elements, prepare for
Mischief
.”

Ξ

“Bedrov,” Jessica said, “turn the squadron and prepare to close at flank speed. Enej, get
Brightoak
and
CR–264
out front, just like we do with
Rajput
.”

The flag centurion nodded.

Her first officer was aghast.

“Close with them, Captain?” Bedrov asked in a tiny voice.

“That’s right. We have many more guns and missiles than they do. We need to get close enough to drive off the fighters so we can kill the carriers.”

“But that’s not how it’s done,” he almost cried, eyes as big as saucers.

Jessica fixed him with a hard stare. “It is now, mister. Do you want to win, or die? If we sit back here, they will eat us alive, piecemeal. We have to take the war down their throats.”

The projection suddenly lit up as
Siberia
died.

“What was that?” Bedrov asked plaintively, still coming to grips with real war after a career of piracy.

“That is what happens when pirates take on the
Republic of Aquitaine
, Bedrov.”

Jessica turned to the
Kali–ma’s
pilot, himself watching the interplay expectantly. The man was young, perhaps not yet set in his ways.

“Turn to three–five–zero, down eight, roll to ninety, and come to max speed. Now, mister.”

The pilot nodded and put his head down over his controls, fingers dancing. It was like the piano concertos
Auberon’s
pilot, Nada Zupan, played for her.

Kali–ma
was more graceful though, more responsive than
Auberon
. Massing half as much helped.

Perhaps going to battle aboard a ship named for the Goddess of War would help, as well. Certainly,
Kali–ma
kept up with
Brightoak
as the Destroyer Leader began her charge.

Ξ

“Nina,” Denis said, louder than he intended. Too much adrenaline. And no Flag aboard listening, and possibly overriding him. “Where do you want the two Escorts?”

The defense centurion actually looked back at him over her shoulder with a nervous glance. “Normally,” she replied, “I would say down front, where they get their hands bloody to the elbows, but I’m not sure these folks are up for that. Plus, we have more
Mischief
coming. Can we go dorsal/ventral and keep them on our beam?”

“Affirmative,” Denis said. “Gunner, let
Rajput
know they’re on point alone. We’ll cover their flanks.”

Someone acknowledged. The message would make it. The crew knew what they were doing.

Auberon
was going to war.

It was a shame he couldn’t consult the Red Admiral at a time like this. If they were just facing pirates, he might have invited the man to the bridge to take overall command, just so the crew could watch the legend in action.

It would have been utterly epic, a story for the grandkids. This might still be. Assuming they survived.

But that might not be polite today. Especially if the Red Admiral was as deeply involved in everything as the sudden appearance of an Imperial Carrier task force suggested.

At least
Auberon
didn’t have to run home with her tail tucked between her legs, like they otherwise would have. They had enough guns today to make other guy run. Maybe.

Definitely an improvement over
Qui–Ping
.

“Gunner,
Rajput
,” he said, keying the comm open. “You are authorized to take long–range pot shots with the Primaries as we close. Anything to make them twitchy.”

Rajput
responded by firing a shot from so far outside range as to be laughable. But it looked really intimidating on the sensors. That would help.

Ξ

“Why are we doing this?” Bedrov asked.

His tone was calmer now. Polite inquiry tinged with a bit of awe, suggesting that he had begun to appreciate that he was in the hands of a master.

Jessica gave him the sort of smile she would give a bright cadet just learning Fleet Maneuver Basics in First Year.

“There are more of them than us, Yan,” she said, softening the verbal blow she would have otherwise landed. Instead, she held up her hands at shoulder height, closing them into fists as she did.

“Right hand, left hand,” she continued. “The fighters open a path to the carriers so we can get in and kill them. At that point, their fighters are doomed.”

“But we barely have enough guns to damage another mothership, Captain,” Bedrov replied.

“We’re the escort here,” she smiled grimly. “
Brightoak
and
Rajput
have enough firepower to slaughter the Imperial ships, if we can get them into range safely. We have to keep them alive long enough to do just that.”

“But we’re the flagships,” he continued, confused. “
Kali–ma
,
Supernova
, the other 4–rings. We lead.”

“Today, we’re the shield, Yan. The destroyers hold the blades.”

Ξ

It was no better on the sensors, so
Jouster
focused on the sky around him. Two hundred signals made a mess as the sides closed, even with the chasm that still remained between the two forces. But in the empty darkness of deep space, they were isolated little flashes of light.

At least the Imperials were feeling traditional today.

Instead of taking point to engage him, like they should have, they were letting their allies handle the task, standing back behind a wave of uglies and stolen fighter craft.

Jouster
smiled.
Mischief
wouldn’t work worth a damn on First–Line Imperials like those. It was, however, medicine for the pirates.

He probably should just settle for buying Moirrey Kermode drinks forever. At this rate, she was going to keep him alive way longer than he had ever expected.

The Imperials ought to be launching missiles soon, although that might be difficult to do in the mess that was about to come ashore like a tide.

Time to beat them to the punch.

“
Auberon
element, unleash
Mischief
now. Repeat, launch
Mischief
.”

Jouster
smiled that evil smile.

Yup. Gonna owe Moirrey drinks
.

He watched a hail of missiles, the things Moirrey called Archerfish, erupted around him. It wasn’t Agincourt, or Crecy, but it would do. Out there, it was about to get silly.

“All elements, maintain full speed and prepare to blast through the center and circle back to melee.”

Let the pirates make of that what they will. Probably expecting a bull rush. That’s almost what they were going to get. With a little icing.

Jouster
owed Moirrey more than drinks.

Maybe he should just marry her, instead.

Twelve Archerfish missiles went downrange, along with several of the shot missiles. The Shot versions quickly separated into their four smaller missiles that fanned outward instead continuing forward, just as they had been programmed.

What the remaining missiles did was just all levels of rude. Moirrey Kermode rude.

Jouster
watched the casings peel back, just like the Shot missiles did. Instead of smaller missiles, however, these had charged warheads. Each one contained four single–shot Type–1 beam generators and just enough thrusters and brains to aim the dangerous end at the nearest target and shoot it.

One shot from a Type–1 wasn’t going to kill a fighter with shields. It might not even penetrate.

Very few of the pirates had any shields to begin with. And the Archerfish wasn’t smart enough to identify individual targets to prevent overlap.