Wandering Engineer 6: Pirates Bane (62 page)

That sobered a few of the crew, but not the Captain. She had more
important things to worry about now. “Away the gig on search and rescue.
Marines to boarding party duties. Suit them up and get them ready to fly,” she
ordered Firefly.

“Aye aye ma'am,” Firefly replied, sending out the alert. The
Marines were already suited up, but half were in skinsuits, not armor. 'Major'
Pendeckle could decide if he wanted to fit other squads with armor.

"Be advised, a Marine boarding party is on the BC
captain."

"What are they..." She shook her head.
"Suicide."

"As close as it gets it seems. Even for the Admiral this is
insane."

"I..."

“Captain, we've got her!” the Purple Thorn said excitedly. “She's
locked up. But attempting to maneuver! We've got one shot right up her sweet
spot!”

Captain Mayweather smiled wolfishly. “Then by all means
Lieutenant, fire! Take her down guns!”

Grasers and Force beams ripped into the wounded ship, tearing
through her already weakened shields and armor to rip and gouge. With precision
fire she disabled the wounded battlecruiser in one pass with her guns. The
giant ship drifted helpless.

Aftermath

“Talk about a last minute save!” Sprite said in wonder as the
battlecruiser spat debris and atmosphere and then drifted, her engines out.
Firefly passed the mammoth ship and then came back around.

Irons checked the board and then slumped. Firefly's fighters had
dealt with all but the one  remaining corvette. She had her tail firmly tucked
between her legs and was hauling ass for the B103c5 jump point. A stern chase
was nigh on impossible, the fighters chasing the ship came about after a few
minutes and went to other tasks. That corvette was most likely doomed anyway.
There were nothing but empty systems for three jumps beyond 103. After the
third was New Horizon, but they would have exhausted their limited fuel long
before getting there. They were dead, they were just going to die tired and out
of hope.

He returned his attention to the system. Fighters were holding
station on the cowed Horathian fleet train. There was no more fighting in the
system, just the drifting wreckage or disabled ships left to deal with. And his
own ghosts. He was surprised that they had won.

“Yeah I know,” the Admiral replied, wondering about the timing. It
seemed improbable that Firefly would arrive in the nick of time. That only
happened in bad movies. Still, he wasn't going to complain about how fate had
worked out. Maybe the Spirits of Space were finally smiling on them.

“The gods of fate must be smiling on us. Or just fools in
general,” Sprite said.

“Whatever works. I'll take it,” the Admiral said, staring at the
plot and then checking the damage control reports.

“Right, don't look a gift horse in the mouth. I am curious as to
why they are here,” Sprite said.

“You and me both. Let's give them a call and find out,” the Admiral
said.

“Yeah, communications? Let's do that before curiosity puts some of
us in an early grave,” Sprite said. The Admiral smiled, feeling his tension
over the battle bleed off. He sat back, relaxing for the first time in all too
many hours. He knew they still had a lot to do, but right now, he treasured the
release.

<----*----*----*---->

“Incoming call from Bounty. It's the Admiral ma'am,” Firefly said.

“Put him on the main vid,” the Captain said, getting out of her
couch and standing at parade rest. She noted motion out of the corner of her
eye and turned enough to see Commander Logan stand as well. She turned and
noted her entire crew were now standing.

When the image of the Admiral came on the bridge crew saluted as
one. Irons blinked briefly and then something passed through his face. Respect
and thanks before he schooled his features and returned the salute.

Irons looked good; in his skin suit and no worse for wear the
Captain noted in approval as he struck the salute. She followed suit. “Small
universe Admiral,” the Captain said grinning and cocking her head.

“I was thinking the same thing,” the Admiral replied with a
chuckle. “Good to see you. All of you.”

“I see you've made some friends and enemies Admiral,” Firefly
said.

“True to both Commander. It's a long story,” the Admiral replied,
sounding amused and thoughtful.  "How did you end up in the nick of
time?"

"Again, long story sir. We received intel of this fleet and
well..." the Captain smiled.

"I see."

"It looks like you did a good job taking care of it ahead of
us."

"Well, almost," Irons replied wryly.

“Biting off more than you can chew Admiral?” Captain Mayweather
asked. “Even for you this is a bit much. I know engineer's think they are
miracle workers and all...” she said smiling. He chuckled. “Didn't anyone tell
you using a tin can and a couple corvettes against a cruiser task force is
suicide?”

“It seemed like a good idea at the time,” the Admiral replied with
a Gallic shrug and smile. “The idea was to hit them hard and fast, then get
past them to jump to Pyrax and warn you folks. That part we were got hung up
on,” he admitted.

“Well, it
almost
worked. Emphasis on almost,” the Captain
reminded him with a smile.

“Well, not to brag or anything, but with you here it did indeed
work. So all's well that ended well. At least for our side. Again though, why
are you here? Not that I'm not grateful, but the timing...”

“We heard about the imminent attack when we were in Antigua and
convinced Commander Logan to let us take a look,” Mayweather replied dryly. “It
took a lot of convincing though.”

The Admiral nodded, face a bit stern. He was surprised they had
been in Antigua, obviously like the Captain had said, there was a story there.
If he knew Horatio it had taken quite a bit of convincing to let his most
powerful asset go in alone. He was surprised Horatio had let them go to
Antigua. “Good. A reconnaissance in force. Me too. Glad you aren't standing on
the defensive. Thanks for the rescue.”

“It was a pleasure Admiral,” Captain Mayweather replied, sounding
bemused. She looked to her side, off camera. Commander Logan was frowning over
a tablet. “Admiral, I've got some post battle chores...”

The Admiral nodded. “Repairing battle damage and such, I know
Commander. Get on it. We'll be in touch soon. Coordinate your efforts in the
captures and the marines through Commander Sprite and Lieutenant Gustov.”

“Aye sir. Glad you are back.”

“That... remains to be seen,” the Admiral replied, then waved as
she looked at him curiously. “A matter for a later moment. Duty calls.” She
nodded as he disconnected.

<----*----*----*---->

“What did you mean Admiral? That remains to be seen?” Sprite
asked.

“Get a sitrep from them. Have Firefly dump the log. She said they
were in Antigua recently. I want to know what happened when I have the time. I
think you'll get part of your answer there Commander,” Irons replied. He turned
to an engineering rating. “Sitrep?”

“We're still getting reports from damage control Admiral.”

“Get me a report from engineering. I can do some key work for any
ship replicators from here.”

“Aye sir.”

“We've got the fires out in the stern. Vacuum sucks, but it's the
best fire fighting tool we've got to work with.”

“Works. Well, most of the time. The engines?”

“We red lined a few times. There is a disharmonic in our shields;
we're trying to sort it out now. We may need to drop the shields and switch
them to standby if we can't get it sorted out soon. It's sending feedback into
some of the nodes. If we can't get a handle on it we're going to overload one.”

The Admiral nodded. “Keep me posted.”

<----*----*----*---->

Marty and his staff had their hands full dealing with the wounded,
but at least they had help from Firefly. Bounty had taken moderate casualties,
fortunately only a handful of fatalities. Triage was handled quickly and
professionally. Those with critical injuries were stabilized and then placed in
stasis for later repair.

He looked down when he felt a bump, the ship's cyborg bulldog
mascot looked up at him briefly, wagging its tail. He snorted and shook his
head. The dog whined and then went off to find someone else to play with.

Marty wiped his brow with the back of his arm and then went back
to trying to save lives.

<----*----*----*---->

Marines from all the ships joined Gustov in boarding and securing
the battlecruiser. Admiral Rico and most of the senior officers had committed
suicide rather than be captured.

The bridge had been torn apart in the last bit of fighting. The
senior officers there were all dead. With their officers dead the fight in the
Horathians was gone. Small pockets held out defiantly, but most of the
exhausted crew surrendered rather than eat a bullet or breathe vacuum.

Once Adrienne was secure the Marines shifted to the other disabled
enemy ships. Firefly's marines were fresh, fully trained veterans and numbering
near a hundred. They had Warhawks as well as two pinnaces. Half also had
powered combat armor.

Once they secured the bridge, engineering, and armory of each ship
there was little the surviving crew could do to fight back. Most were too busy
either trying to survive or falling all over themselves surrendering anyway.

<----*----*----*---->

Jethro rubbed the small of his back. He'd helped take the bridge
of the battlecruiser a few hours ago with his armor and stealth ability before
he'd been kicked off to board and take the Antelope with his squad.

The ship had surrendered after light fighting. Fortunately none of
the squad had been killed. He frowned as his IFF pinged an incoming officer. He
turned in confusion; he didn't recognize this Lieutenant Gustov. “Sir?” he
asked.

“Um, Sergeant Jethro right?” the bluff human asked. He had a
healing cut on his chin and smelled of disinfectant. Most likely he'd just
sprung himself from the medic's clutches.

“Yes sir. Sir, I don't recognize you,” Jethro said.

The human looked him up and down, studying him briefly before he
turned to the bridge of the captured destroyer. “I'm new. Aren't you supposed
to salute officers?” Gustov asked mildly.

“Um sir, not in the field sir,” Jethro said, flicking a look to
Gusterson who was working on a Horathian casualty. All the Horathians were
handcuffed with their hands in front. Lieutenant Valenko had just left to take
a lot to the brig.

The greyhound medic flicked his ears and then returned his attention
to his patient. “This one's stable,” he said, moving on to the next.

“Oh, must have missed that lesson then,” Lieutenant Gustov said
with a frown. He shook it off with a brief shrug. “Sitrep?”

“Stable sir. We have secured the bridge, engineering, power rooms,
drive rooms one and three, and the armory.”

“Why not two?”

“Two is in vacuum sir,” the panther replied. He sent a schematic
to the new officer.

Gustov studied the schematic and then nodded. “You're superior
officer is Lieutenant Valenko?” he asked.

“Yes sir,” Jethro replied.

Gustov nodded again. “Very well. Carry on sergeant,” he said,
exiting the compartment. Jethro turned briefly to watch him go.

“Wonder what that was about?” Ox asked through the squad link. The
squad had an open channel to all compartments. Ox was in main engineering,
keeping an eye on things there.

“No idea,” Jethro replied and then flicked his ears.  “Hopefully,
not my problem,” Jethro said.

<----*----*----*---->

Post battle clean up allowed them to recover Meia and Dita, as
well as Echo and the life pods of Horathian ships. Lieutenant Apple was dead.
Sindri and McGuyver had been injured. Fortunately lightly, both men had been
burned and tossed about. “We've had worse beatings from the Horathian's,” Ian
coughed.

“You're still getting checked out by the doc first,” the Admiral
said. Doctor Standish and Firefly's sickbay was working tirelessly with Doctor
Glenn and his crew to save those they could. The worst injured were being
shipped to Firefly since she had the better sickbay. She had quickly been
overwhelmed with wounded Fleet and Horathians. They spilled out into the
companionways and compartments. The decks shivered with their helpless groans.

“Aye aye sir.”

They made contact with Phoenix. The AI was down, but three of her
four crew were still alive. One however was severely injured. Irons looked her
over briefly before he looked away. She was a horrible mess, a colander. Her
nacelles were gone, her main hull was barely held together. She was only good
for scrap. Reluctantly he made a note to get what parts they could off of her
and then feed her to the factory ship.

He turned his attention to the collier. There were no survivors on
Lassie. She was even more of a mess than Phoenix, barely recognizable as
something that had once been manmade. Again, he marked her down for salvage.

Most of the Horathian fleet train were in respectable shape. A few
of the ships were prizes, one had been outfitted as an 'entertainment ship'. He
would have gone with something like a hospital ship, but knowing the
Horathains, that was normal for them. He didn't even want to know what passed
as entertainment for them. He left that task to the investigators from Firefly.

Over a thousand slaves were found in the fleet train. Some were
battered, little more than skeletons. Most were human or Neo, there were no
surviving alien species in the sad group. A few bodies were also found, slaves
who had been put to death in rage by their masters. Irons ordered
investigations. Those who had taken and abused slaves were tried and executed.

Medics made their way through each of the unarmed ships, picking
over the former slaves. Most were submissive, pathetic in their desire to
survive. A crew of survivors from Bounty went over to help them restore a
semblance to their shattered lives.

<----*----*----*---->