A Greater Interest: Samair in Argos: Book 4 (63 page)

              After
Kara
left the area, Reshi called the other ships in the squadron.  “All right, people.  I know this is all a bit intimidating, but this is now our our patrol area.  But before we get started on any standard patrol, I want a full rundown on fuel levels.  After that, we’re going to run a series of drills.  I want all ships in this squadron to be prepared should the pirates show up.”  She had no idea how prophetic her words would be.

              Hidden behind one of Heb’s moons lay the pirate corvette
Byvennot
.  For days the ship had maintained position behind the satellite, barely managing to remain undetected, which for the warriors aboard the corvette was a difficult thing to ask.  They did not like hiding but they all knew that four to one wree very long odds.

              General Typhon had given orders not to risk the ship as he had so few of them now, after the very costly raid in Seylonique.  But he couldn’t possibly mean that in this case the
Byvennot
and her crew were to take the coward’s way out and run.  He had to know that his wolves would
need
to strike at their enemies here, even though they were outnumbered.  Well, they were outnumbered, but their opponents
were
only in corvettes and provincial vessels at that.  Of course,
Byvennot
was a provincial system defense force ship as well; a prize taken by General Typhon in a raid two decades earlier.  But that just meant that her captain and crew knew their ship inside and out, knew every bit of performance they could squeeze out of her.

              If the crew could find any sort of advantage they would strike.  But right now all four ships were in too close, both to each other and to the moon; the ships could too easily cover each other.  So far the mass of the moon shielded the corvette from the enemy, but the wolves aboard were forced to remain in low-power mode to avoid detection, which was stirring up the crew.  With each day this went on, the lower morale aboard the
Byvennot
sunk.  Scraps and minor altercations were increasing.  Something had to be done and soon.

              Running a small squadron of warships was proving more taxing than Reshi Dharvhan originally expected.  She was still required to command the
Spirit
, a task she absolutely refused to shirk.  That being said, much of the day-to-day work of managing the ship was passed to her XO, Lieutenant Tessa Melendez, who grumbled good-naturedly about the work load.  Reshi’s time was increasingly taken up with meetings with the governors, both by virtual conference and actual meetings, who wanted daily updates and what felt like constant assurance that her squadron would be there and ready if the pirates showed up again.  Then there were the daily conferences with the other ship captains, the daily sims, then the inspection of
Spirit
, the work just never ended.  Everyone was excited about being in a new star system, but for the moment, at least, Reshi was being very strict about shore leave.  This was a new squadron, with new and inexperienced crews that Reshi was concerned about.  The last thing she needed was for crews to go on leave, do some serious carousing and get into trouble with the locals.  Seylonique didn’t have, until very recently, a serious space Navy but there were stories about drunken sailors in port cities and Reshi did not need her people giving a bad impression in the first week of defensive patrols.

              It couldn’t last forever, of course.  Morale was up, but even after a single week, the crews (and officers) of the ships were talking about shore leave.  They’d been in hyperspace for twenty-eight days, with several more days in transit and now in orbit, so Reshi was feeling more pressure to start letting crews go down.  It was a problem she would tackle eventually.

              It wasn’t as though Reshi Dharvhan was scared so much as concerned.  There
were
pirates in nearby space; perhaps not here in this system, but they were only a handful of light years away.  As such, she didn’t want her people to slack off, now that they were away from any higher authority.  The other captains understood her dilemma, but weren’t actually impressed by her credentials as all of them had graduated the Academy at the same time.  No one really had any seniority, but Reshi had the family connections.  Up until now, it hadn’t made any difference; she had proven her worth in the Academy and she and others had earned their commissions and their commands together.  But now she had command of the squadron.  For the moment, the others were following; she only hoped that they would continue to do so as time passed.

              “We’re going to change things up a bit today,” she said to the assembled captains on her conference display.  They all perked up at this declaration.  “I’m going to shift assets slightly.”  She pressed a control and a star map of the system appeared, showing the habitable planet, also called Heb, dots indicating the squadron and the next planet out, the gas giant.  “Governor Val indicated that in the atmosphere of this planet is a fuel collection platform.  Nothing as grand as what we have back home, but they do get helium 3 fuel from it.  So we’re going to rotate one ship to the gas giant, to extend our patrol a bit and to top off our fuel bunkers.”  There were nods from the other captains.  “I know all of us are lower on fuel levels that we’d like.  We don’t have a fuel tender ship, so each of us will have to take turns going there and refueling. 
Lobo
, you’re up first.  You’ll head out there just as soon as this conference is completed.  You’re to go out, fill up and then head back here.  But maintain full scan the entire time.  We don’t need any surprises.”

              “Understood,”
Lobo
’s captain replied.

              Reshi nodded.  “Now, the rest of us will continue with our patrol, moving out from geosync orbit that we’ve been sitting in for the last week.  I want to swing by this moon, here,” it flashed blue on the star map, “And then take up position at equidistant points around heb’s planetary equator.  I know it might cause problems with communications, but we can deploy commsats.  I want to be able to see threats coming from all directions and still be close enough to reform and deal with them.”

              More nods from the others.  She’d come up with this plan the night before and it seemed that the others approved.  It wasn’t perfect, but it would ensure coverage.  Around the planet, anyway.

              “They’re moving, Lieutenant,” the lupusan at
Byvennot
’s sensor station reported.

              “What, all of them?” the commanding officer, Lieutenant Ramza, demanded, straightening in his chair.

              “One of them is headed away from the planet,” the wolf said, turning to look at him.  “The others are moving in this direction.”

              “Damn it,” Ramza swore. 
Well, it seems that our time of being trapped has ended.
 
Byvennot
’s sensors couldn’t penetrate the moon’s bulk, but that meant that the enemy’s sensors couldn’t either.  What Ramza had done to counter this blind spot was to deploy a spy satellite, his last, which was a fine example of genuine Federation technology.  It was small, a sphere barely half a meter in diameter, covered in matte black nanoweave stealth coating that absorbed all sensor signals.  Since it had an exceedingly low power signal and no thrust emissions, it was terribly difficult to spot.  It sucked in any kind of energy signature within range (two hundred thousand kilometers) and with a whisker laser from the corvette’s comm array, Ramza could get a blurry and incomplete picture of what was happening on the other side of the moon.  Which was far preferable to a massive blind spot.

              “Take us to battle stations,” he ordered.  “We’re going to have to fight
only
three of them instead of all four.”  He gave a grin as the red illumination bathed the corvette’s bridge.  “Prep the missile countermeasures.  “Let’s see if we can’t disorient them a bit.”  The lieutenant turned to the sensor watch.  “How long until they can see us?”

              “Eleven minutes, current speed, Lieutenant.”

              “Helm, once eight minutes have passed, swing us out on an attack vector.”  He saw feral grins on the faces of the bridge crew and bared his teeth in response.  “Launch our flares at the lead ship.  We’ll try to throw them off balance and hit them with everything, tactical.”

              “Your wish, Lieutenant,” the black-furred female growled, her fur rippling aggressively. 

              “Helm, once we pass the first ship, the others will be moving to try and engage us, so be ready to evade.” 

              “Now,” Ramza told his crew.  “Now, we pick them apart, one at a time.”  He didn’t even chastise them when they broke into howls, which quickly spread throughout the ship, every single wolf on board the the fury burst forth.

              “Commander, there’s a ship exiting the shadow of that moon,” the sensor operator shouted, her voice deafening in the small bridge.

              Reshi felt adrenaline surge through her.  Before she could chide the woman for her excessive enthusiasm, the XO spoke, “Calmly, Ms. Trudel.  We can hear you just fine.”

              “But, ma’am, they’re right on top of us!”

              “Sit
down
, woman!” the XO said, grabbing the young woman’s shoulder and wrenching her back around to face her console.

              “Battle stations!” Reshi called and klaxons blared.  The red lights activated.  She didn’t have time to get into a suit, the enemy was almost on top of them.  “Helm,” she ordered, her voice turning harsh.  “Take us out from the planet, twenty degrees to port.  Comms, have the others form up on us.  This is just like we trained for.”

              And it was at that moment that the enemy corvette fired two blinding white projectiles that seemed to home in very slowly on
Spirit
.  When they were five hundred meters from the corvette’s hull, they exploded, energy washing out from them, lashing the shields and the sensors of the Navy warship. 

              “All sensors are blind!” the operator screeched.  “The plasma wave has flooded local space with radiation.  It’s overloaded the sensors.  It’ll take some time to clear it.”  She actually seemed to be calming down, though the shaking of her hands and the fact that she kept wiping her palms on legs of her ship suit gave her away.

              “Damn it,” Reshi hissed.  “Alter course, twenty degrees to starboard.  Guns, fire a full salvo forward on the enemy’s last known position, then hold fire.  I want to keep them busy.  Keep it together, people.  We’re going to get through this.  Sensors, get with engineering and get me my eyes back.”  The ship lurched as a volley struck the shields.

              The enemy corvettes hadn’t been caught completely flat-footed, more’s the pity, Ramza reflected.  All the better, actually.  It meant that he and his crew would be fighting for their lives instead of taunting the easy prey.  The initial trick with the flare pulses had worked well, but it had only worked because they’d managed to get in so close and the lead ship had just flown straight into it, all fat and happy.  After that,
Byvennot
swept in and hammered her.  Nothing too damaging, sadly, but it was something to make them remember him and then broke away hard, easily evading the feeble return fire.

              “Bring us around but drop us down below the ecliptic,” Ramza ordered.  “I want a high speed firing pass on that same target, but keep us on the outside of the enemy formation.” 
No reason to get pinned between them
, he reasoned. 
Byvennot
was the only one of the general’s light units to survive the battle in Seylonique, which gave his crew a degree of bragging rights.  It also gave them a thirst to avenge their friends and fellows against these bastards from Seylonique. 
What the hell are they doing here in Heb, anyway?

              A storm of metal slammed into
Spirit
’s shields and more than a few made it through the spotty energy barrier to strike the hull.  It rang like a bell with each hit, but in the small numbers that were hitting the ship, it was hardly damaging.  It all added up, however, and a lucky strike could break something vital.

              “Sensors, give me something!” Reshi demanded, checking her own displays.  She cursed the ingenuity of the enemy captain and her own complacency.  Who knew that something as simple as a plasma flare, otherwise harmless to something as large as a ship, could so thoroughly overwhelm
Spirit
’s sensors?  She vowed that if they survived this fight, she would see about adapting that tactic to her own arsenal and see if there was a viable countermeasure.

              “Trying, Captain,” the panicky sensor operator said, stabbing at the keys on the console.  “Lateral sensors are starting to clear a bit, but the forward grid is still down.”  Clearly her forced calm was eroding under the press of enemy fire.  “Damage control says they’re working on it.”

              Reshi gritted her teeth in frustration.  “Helm, new course.  Drop us down below the plane of the ecliptic.  We need to get out of their range until our sensors clear.”  She hated to disengage and leave the others but what could she do?  She was blind and helpless right now.