Heart of Steel: Book II of the Jonathan Pavel Series (26 page)

“Sir, this can't be right,” Heath said from his station. “EM shows Bogey 3 as an
Octavian
class Frigate designation unknown.”

Jonathan looked at the profile, and then slowly shook his head.

“The read out is correct Mr. Heath. It does makes sense. OMI reports show that the Colonials have a higher number of hulls in service than previously estimated. In all likelihood, they are newly purchased vessels from the inner world. Rule number one of business, after all, is that war is good for business.”

Jonathan quickly called up the ship's copy of Jane's Fighting Ships. Yes,
Octavian
was a fairly new class of warship launched just five years before as the latest addition to the navy of the Earth Treaty Organization. They weren't really new though. They were mostly built on the recycled frames of
Peacekeeper
class Frigates, which dated from the Terran Federal Union. The ship had 325 men, two rail guns and Jonathan's eyes went wide, 40 missile tubes. It was a goddamn missile boat. Plain and simple. 

“ETO ships out here?” Elman his voice showing he didn't really believe it.

“Yes indeed,” Jonathan said e-messaging him the Jane’s entry.
“No doubt somebody in the ETO is making a tidy profit selling the Colonials extra hulls.”

Lt. Commander Elman stared wide eyed,“Can they do that?”

“Of course they can. According to Jane's,
Octavians
are designated export class. In my limited experience with ETO export laws, that means shipyards don't even need government approval to fill orders for private buyers. That's why we have so many ETO built craft in the hands of mercs and pirates.”

“But that's...” Elman said obviously dumbfounded.

“That’s the inner worlds Mr. Elman. Nothing stands between a Terran and a Omnicred,” Heath said sullenly.

As they spoke,
Oeillet
and
Charon
closed in range of
New Bolobo
and
Sonki.
The read out went wild with a light show of color as rail guns fired and missiles and decoys went off like fireworks.

“Sir, Flight 1 launching,” Elman said.

Three new icons appeared next to
Fury
as the gunships took off. On board was a platoon's worth of Solarian Marines.  Each gunship was armed to the teeth with a forward mounted tri-barrel firing depleted uranium slugs, two plasma cannons, and a dozen missiles. Jonathan wasn't sure about using boarders. It tended to be a high risk high reward option, but in a case like this you needed to play all your pieces.

Jonathan's board lit up again as
Cronus
came in range of
Ando
and the
Octavian
class
.

Jonathan squeezed his arm rest in anxiety as he watched the battle unfold, no other Colonial ships made an appearance. If it turned out he was wrong and there were no other Colonial forces or if it was just a tender ship, then he would have unnecessarily put Solarian spacers at risk.

Reports from the unfolding engagement were filtering in.
Oeillet
had taken a bad hit and lost one of its main rail gun batteries, and
Cronus
was reporting the
Octavian
as having more missile launchers than any previously known class. It was pushing
Cronus’s
defense system to the limit.

Finally, Jonathan could take it anymore, “Prepare..” A loud alarm sounded cutting off what Jonathan was going to say.

“Sir, new signature coming out of the field. Sensors indicate
destroyer class currently unknown closing quickly on
Cronus’s
rear.

“All ahead full, helmsman. Mr. Elman get our barriers up and the guns loaded. We are going to come right up this bastard’s tail pipe.”

Jonathan brought up Lt. Sing’s sensor model.

“Mr. Heath, transmit this information to Major and her Marines please. Tell them to look for this signature. If they find this signature, I believe they’ll find the Colonial tender. I’d like them to take it more or less intact. Now full speed ahead.”

The three gunships peeled off and dived toward the asteroid belt, while
Fury
moved past the clustered transports toward the Colonial vessels.

Bringing up the com to engineering, “Mr. Okai, how’s she looking.”

“All green sir. Good showing considering how long she was in mothball.”

“Right then. Well let's see if she’s still got her legs, full speed ahead,” Jonathan replied.

“Aye sir,” Okai answered.

Jonathan and every other crewman braced as the acceleration alarm sounded. Three seconds later the main reactor let out a massive spike of power, and Jonathan felt himself crushed into his seat, his eyes went wide as he watched the master read out. The ship’s compensators were working overtime to adjust to the new acceleration, but the crew still experienced fifteen seconds of 7 G’s. There was a scattering of reports of injuries, broken bones and the like, and Jonathan made a note to do more acceleration training at the next opportunity.

Lt. Commander Heath called out, “Sir Bogey 5 has turned and she’s heading straight for us. EM is resolving. Its a
Militare
class destroyer designation CCNS
Abouet.”

Jonathan smiled a predatory grin. The
Militare
was a class of ship similar to
Fury’s
own
Horatio
class in that it was designed as a commerce raider. The
Militare
class was close to twenty years old, and the Colonials had opted to make it a Frigate
killer, a vessel designed to take out escorts or system patrol craft. As such, she was long on main armament hosting 12 rail guns and 12 plasma cannons, but was short on torpedos which were a crucial element to break the back of larger vessels.

“Range is closing, ten seconds to optimum firing position,” Elman called out.

“Right, keep us facing toward her at all times, and get those torpedoes firing and missiles firing. I want as narrow a profile as possible and us to overwhelm her PDS. Full power to forward barriers.”

“Five seconds..four..three..two..one..FIRE!”
Jonathan winced slightly as Elman bellowed the order. It wasn't necessary to yell so loud what with the sound sensitive com system, but he was young, he’d learn. The
Fury
seemed to shudder as her armaments let loose.

“Sir
Abouet
is opening up.”

Jonathan watched the seconds tick down. Super heated plasma and depleted uranium slugs flew toward the ships as they speed toward each other. 
Abouet
was the first to get hit. Her kinetic barrier flared as the plasma bolts struck home. The ship began to turn to better distribute the power of the blast. It was a logical move and it was successful. The plasma barriers were strained, but didn't break as the kinetic slugs plowed into them.

“Fire torpedos,” Jonathan ordered.

“Aye sir, Fire one,” Elman said.

The board went from yellow to green as the torpedos left their tubes.

“Missiles sir?” Elman asked.

“Wait one!” Jonathan said as the kinetic barrier strained from the impact of
plasma bolts and rail gun shots.

“Full speed ahead keep firing all weapons, but hold off on missiles until we are within 3,000 feet,” Jonathan said.

“Sir, that’s awfully damn close,” Elman said his brow beginning to sweat underneath his clear vac helmet.

“Exactly. They expected us to roll and bring our broadside to bear since they are suppose to be able to easily out run us. In a few minutes, they are going to realize we're not slowing down, and...”

Abouet
seemed to be coming to that conclusion as Jonathan spoke. The next round of plasma blast from
Fury
tore into its already overstretched barriers, which flickered and died. This allowed three of of
Fury's
rail gun slugs to rip into the vessel, the fourth went wide but the three that connected did their work well. Two of
Abouet’s
plasma cannons were knocked out, as was the hydraulic control for one of its forward turrets. The third shell found its way into the crew quarters and opened the mostly empty section to space. 
Abouet
was still reeling when the broadside of torpedos hit her amidships.

“Sir, signal from
Abouet.
They surrender, repeat they surrender,” Heath called out.

“Right. Cease fire and scramble two of our remaining gunships to secure that ship. Make sure there's a medical team onboard.”

“Aye sir.”

“Now let's go help
Cronus
out.”

Jonathan kept his face neutral as they passed by the stricken destroyer. He’d expected the engagement to be drawn out, but even he had underestimated the speed with which
Fury
had closed the gap between her and the enemy ship. Sometimes the best way to be unexpected, was to use what was tried and true rather than new and shiney.

Seeing the
Fury
quickly dispatch their flagship and closing rapidly with them, the two Frigates
Cronus
had been dueling turned to make a run for it. The sturdier
Octavian
managed to clear weapons range, but the
Ando
had no such luck. She’d already taken a pounding from
Cronus
and as she turned her barrier failed, and one of
Cronus's
rail gun slugs tore directly into the engine room destabilizing the reactor.

Jonathan winced as the frigate’s icon flashed and disappeared.

“Signal
Cronus
to support the
Oeillet
and
Charon.
We are going after the
Octavian.”

Fury
flew at full speed in dogged pursuit of the Colonial Frigate.

The ammunition conveyor thundered like some terrible prehistoric beast as it brought more missiles and depleted uranium slugs up from the ammo bunkers. Once the deadly instruments arrived at their intended destination by mechanical means, they were heaved off their conveyors by the ship's crew using nothing but pure muscle power and loaded into the missile tubes or rail gun autoloader, and when the gunnery light turned green sent hurling into the black at terrible speeds.

Despite the raw destructive power
Fury
was sending toward the fleeing frigate, Jonathan could see from his vantage it was having little effect. The fleeing ships proximity defense system was tagging missiles with interceptors or point defense lasers turning them into nothing but floating scrap before they got within effective range.
Octavian
was already out of effective plasma battery range, and was juking and jinking making its already small profile a difficult target for the
Fury's
forward rail guns to hit. Meanwhile,
Fury's
active firing during the pursuit kept her on a straight course which made her an easy target for
Octavian’s
two aft rail guns. Thus far, the forward kinetic barriers had stopped all the slugs but the strain was beginning to show. Watching the range continue to grow Jonathan shook his head.

“Helmsman, reduce speed to one quarter.”

“Aye sir, reducing speed,” replied the helmsman.

“Mr. Elman make safe the batteries, and when the
Octavian
leaves effective range redistribute kinetic barriers to regular setting.”

“Aye sir,” Elman said the disappointment evident in his voice.

No doubt he was frustrated at letting a foe get away, but he’d learn eventually that it was enough to win with a minimum of losses. Jonathan brought up the ship's PA, “Attention all hands, this is the Captain. I have decided to terminate our pursuit of the enemy
Octavian
class frigate. Though I know some of you will be disappointed by this course of action, the fact is that through luck, skill, and no small part of iron will on your part we succeeded in crushing an enemy wolf pack. That one ship escaped our clutches is irrelevant. Its command ship has surrendered and...”Jonathan looked at the note that Heath just handed him. “I have just been informed that a detachment of Marines under the command of Major Kern has captured the enemy collier. Be proud of what you did today. This war has not begun as we hoped, and you have handed the Navy what maybe its first major victory. That is all,” Jonathan concluded.

Across the
Fury's
compartments the crew, their hair matted with grease, their uniforms soaked with sweat took up a cheer..’Three cheers for
Fury..”
In the forward coolant department, a cheer went up for Able Spacer Frigate the ship's pet Gremlin, who was hoisted above the crewman's heads and passed back and forth. All the time rations and other treats being stuck in his tiny hands much to his enjoyment.