The Santana Nexus (Junkyard Dogs Book 3) (30 page)

"So other than checking up on us, what else
did you come out here for?" asked Fitzhugh.

"
We're on a recruiting trip."

"Really?" responded Hartman
, "What sort of recruiting trip?"

"
First, let me finish tellin' you how things went down. After we got the situation as squared away as we could in Patagonia, we' finally ended up in the Federation spaceship Scrapyard over in New Ceylon. The Scrapyard folks told us that the Santana Nexus was in the hands of this Sheik of Barsoom and that we weren't likely to get a very warm welcome there. Commander Oskar Kresge invited us to join up with them in the Scrapyard while we decided what to do next."

"I
've heard of this Kresge fellow," said the Governor, "I hear he's a good man."

"The best," said O'Connell. "We took him up on his offer but w
hile we were there the Sheik attacked the damned Scrapyard! Me and Neil helped organize a defense and the whole batch of us fought off a pretty determined attack by at least a half a dozen of the Sheik's ships."

"How bad was it?" asked Hartmann.

"Bad enough," replied O'Connell. "There were three destroyers and several freighters converted into troop carriers."

"Tell him all of it, Seamus," said Patrick. "We even got into the fight with our mining ships. Seamus blew a hole
clean through the front turret of one of the destroyers and she surrendered right afterwards. Pretty much ended the fight."

"Sounds like it was a pretty near thing," said Hartmann.

"That it was," said O'Connell, "but we did what we had to do!"

The security chief and the colony Governor both
wore clouded looks.

"So things are pretty bad all over then?" asked Harmann.

"They are," replied Patrick, "but those folks over at that Scrapyard have got things pretty secure now, especially after they fought off another attack just a couple of days ago."

"A second attack?" asked Hartmann.

"Yeah," said Patrick, "the Sheik's forces launched another attack with even more ships two days ago but this time around they were a lot smarter. Things were lookin' pretty grim there for awhile until the Navy people uncorked their secret weapon. It was something to see, I'll tell you! They managed to power up the main batteries on the wreck of a battleship and they totally annihilated two destroyers before the enemy even figured out what hit them! As soon as them terrorists realized what they were facing, they turned tail and ran. We don't think they'll be back in New Ceylon anytime soon. By the way, one of them Navy people is Seamus' daughter, Tamara Carlisle."

"That the same kid
who was always such a good pilot?" asked Fitzhugh.

"The same,
" replied Patrick, "only she's graduated from the Naval Academy now." He took a sideways glance at the Ensign's father, "Looks to me like she's turning out to be a pretty damned good officer."

"
That doesn't surprise me," said the Governor.

"We think the Scrapyard is about as safe as it gets out here in this part of the Quadrant
now," added Patrick.

"That's
a comfort," said Fitzhugh. "So, where do we come in?"

"Well...were thinking about going on the offensive, and takin' the fight to them for a change."

"Okay...assume we're interested," said the Governor, "What did you have in mind?"

O'Connell took a deep breath before plunging in,
"We're trying to figure out how to infiltrate and liberate the Santana Nexus station, which has become a stronghold for this Sheik of Barsoom. If we can break them there, at the Nexus, we might just stop this whole damned revolution thing before it goes any further!"

"The Santana Nexus?
" said Hartmann. "That's a big...no that's a huge station! We're talking about a pretty tall order here!"

"We're thinkin' the sheer size of the place could work to our advantage. There are a lot of people on that station who probably aren't too excited about the way things are currently going and would join us if they had a chance.
Especially if we had some stout forces."

"As I said earlier, where
do we come in?" asked the Governor.

"You and more than half of the miners out here are
Spacers like Neil and me. That and I'll bet at least a fourth of your guys are former military. We came to recruit personnel who know how to fight to help us take back the Nexus and turn the tide of this bullshit revolution!"

Har
tmann thought about it but only for a moment. "I can't speak for everybody, we'll have to see who else might be interested, but you can sure as hell count me in!"

"I'll call a meeting," said the Governor. "
There won't be much mining going on until we get some things straightened out in this Quadrant. Our ore carriers are all full and there isn't anywhere for us to unload them, at least in the near future. All of the holding bins are full as well. I'm former Federation Marine Corps myself. I'm with Chris here, If we can take the fight to these bastards, I'll be in the front line! I don't think they'll be any shortage of volunteers."

The Governor's prediction was proven to be correct.
Nearly two hundred miners stepped forward when the situation was explained to them, eager to get some payback.

The two mining ships left the system, headed for Patagonia.

Chapter 43.

Nacobbus System, on board Federation Prototype cruiser
XC-89
, on route to UTFN Reclamation Center, January 10, 2599.

The
Foul Beastie
was test firing her main batteries for the first time in several decades. The personnel on the two observing ships, the
Nasr
and one of the Scrapyard's cutters, watched as the port weapon strobed out a series of pulses, one right after the other at about a one second interval. The acting Captain of the experimental ship received a call from the engineering section.

"Captain?
This is Lieber down in weapons."

"
Go ahead, Sergeant."

"It seems almost impossible but the portside capacitors are already recharged, Sir! We can fire them again, anytime we want."

"Thanks, weapons. Let's proceed with the test on the starboard weapon first."

"Affirmative, Captain.
Testing starboard weapon now."

The process was repeated for the starboard projector with the same result. The gun fired perfectly and the capacitors were all fully recharged by the time the
crew had finished the test firing sequence.

"Let's try a rapid fire test," said
Helmsford. "I want alternating fire between port and starboard projectors, one pulse per second. Fire all capacitors on each side."

There was a pause while the gun crew reconfigured the firing parameters.

"I believe we have the settings right, Captain," said Lieber, "Ready to fire on your order."

"Fire!"

The observers watched an impressive display of firepower as the two projectors fired alternately with a one second interval between pulses."

"That was six pulses from each gun, Captain," said
Lieber, "Capacitors are already charged and ready to fire again. I must say I'm really impressed with this weapon!"

"We need to boost towards the Scrapyard, but I don't see any reason why we can't practice some more with these weapons as we go. If we're going to use
them in battle, we'd better damned well know how they work!"

"I couldn't agree more, Captain."

"Prepare to charge secondary batteries!"

"Aye, aye, Captain!"

The smaller capacitors of the secondary batteries charged without incident as well.

"Fire secondaries!"

A series of smaller flashes strobed outward from the stout little warship.

The three ships of the small convoy continued to head towards the Scrapyard using their reaction engines. The crew of the prototype continued to test their weapons system as they went. They tried even faster rapid fire sequences
from the main battery and then worked with higher powered pulses using discharges powered by different combinations of capacitors. In every case, the guns performed flawlessly. Not to be outdone, the crews of the secondary batteries also took the opportunity to test their weapons to the limit. As the small fleet approached the Scrapyard, they ceased firing.

"Captain Helmsford of the
Foul Beastie
calling the UTFN Reclamation Center."

"Kresge here.
I take it you'll be here soon?

"Affirmative, Commander. We should be there within fifteen minutes or so."

"How's that ship working?"

"Surprisingly well, Commander. We spent about half of the time since our microjump just testing the weapons."

"What is your assessment of that ship?"

"I think that in spite of the rather unconventional appearance of this ship that she is extremely formidable. The main battery is simply astonishing! We've been firing multiple sequential pulses and pulses from combined capacitors and everything worked perfectly. This oddball cooling system seems to really
help, the capacitors and the projectors didn't heat up hardly at all."

"So you think she's ready to fight?"

Helmsford paused for a moment before replying, "As I said, Commander, I think the ship is extremely formidable. I'd hate to have to face it, even with a real, full-blown cruiser. The ship itself feels like it's ready to fight. The readiness of the crew is another thing altogether. Don't get me wrong; I know that these people are some of the best in the Navy from how well we all worked together on the
Larkspur
. However, I think that we need all of the time we can get to become familiar with the
Beastie
and all of her workings. If we work our behinds off, we'll be ready when you need us."

"Thanks for the report, Captain. We'll meet for a more in-depth debriefing after you get to the Scrapyard.
Kresge out."

Chapter
44.

Patagonian Star System, January 10, 2599.

The next stop
for the mining ships on their tour was the Patagonian system. After translating through the hyperlink zone, the personnel on the three ships of the Federation recruiting mission were relieved to find no sign of the Sheik's forces for a change. Perhaps the fact that the populace was about ninety percent Christian, most of them Modern Reformed Catholics, might have had something to do with that. After the terrorist forces had effectively neutralized any threat posed by the remote colony by destroying the long-range communications and much of the transportation capability of the people in the system, it appeared as though the Sheik of Barsoom's Islamic Revolution no longer had any interest in the Patagonians.

The
Donegal
and the
Glendaloch
had come through Patagonia on their way to New Ceylon a little over two weeks earlier and had found a colony reeling from the recent and devastating terrorist attack. The unsuspecting Patagonians had been completely overwhelmed by the well-organized and ruthless terrorist forces that had descended upon them without warning. The system's long range communications platform had been destroyed and small pockets of the population had been marooned here and there throughout the system. O'Connell and Patrick had been able to restore some order by rounding up some of the more far-flung stragglers and doing what they could to patch up a couple of the system's less damaged transports.

Patagonia was known
to be a rather poor planetary system but one that had steadily been making progress towards a higher level of prosperity, mostly through the hard work and determination of its constituents. The savage terrorist attack represented a severe setback for the colonists and the continued rise in influence of the Sheik's revolutionary forces in the Santana Quadrant did not bode well for Patagonia's future. After the harsh treatment of the colonists dished out by the Sheik's forces, O'Connell and Patrick figured that the Patagonians would be eager to even the score and the two Captains were hoping to find a rich recruiting ground for more Federation fighters.

The mining ships were equipped with sensor equipment that was intended to locate valuable minerals, not to find living things. Even so, the total lack of any
detectable energy signatures as the visitors attempted to make contact with the Patagonians came as a total surprise. From all appearances, Patagonia was an abandoned system.

"Neil? Are you picking up anything on your sensors?"

"No, Seamus, I'm not."

"You don't suppose they figured out some way to
evacuate everybody do you?"

"I can't imagine how. They only had a couple of working spaceships."

"I'm going to send out a general call. There must be somebody here, wouldn't you think?"

"You'd sure as hell think so!"

"This is Seamus O'Connell of the mining ship
Donegal
calling anyone in the Patagonian system. We came back to check up on you. Answer please."

O'Connell repeated his message
three times before finally getting a faint reply.

"Seamus
O'Connell? This is Juan Carlos. Is it really you?"

"Yes, and I have Neil Patrick with me as well. Where are you? We couldn't get any readings at all."

"We shut everything down and went way deep inside the asteroid when we saw that three ships had transported in. We were afraid you might be another group of terrorists."

Perhaps
the most influential leader among the Patagonians was the man who had responded to O'Connell's call, Juan Carlos Montoya. Montoya was a successful businessman, a respected civic leader and also happened to have been a member of the United Terran Federation Navy when he was a younger man.

The Navy had
been the vehicle that had propelled him off from Old Earth and out of the crushing poverty of his native South American country. The education he received on behalf of the Federation Navy had been eagerly received. With his quick intelligence and his driving work ethic, he had excelled at the Navy's training programs and his advancement through the ranks of enlisted men had been rapid and well-deserved. The travels associated with his stint in the Service had taken him all over Federation space but, as fate would have it, his final transfer had been to a ship that had settled in to an extended tour performing patrol duty between the Patagonian and Catskill-Soroyan systems.

Over the course of two years, during which he frequently
took shore leave in the Patagonian system, he had met a lovely and charming Patagonian girl and had fallen in love with her. He had also fallen in love with the energy and the passion of the Patagonian people, many of whom, like himself, had originated from the South American regions of Old Earth.

After finishing his stint in the Navy
, he had eagerly returned to Patagonia, gotten married, gotten involved with his wife's family business and had slowly and steadily carved out a pretty good life for himself. Now all of these gains were threatened by the Sheik of Barsoom's revolution.

Juan Carlos explained what had happened.

"After that attack, we had to figure out what to do if there was another. We've got almost everyone left in the system inside the asteroid. With all this rock around us, we found out that if we shut everything down to the absolute minimum, there isn't any sensor footprint."

"It sure seems to work, we thought the colony was abandoned," said O'Connell.

"Come on over to Nova Tierra,"
sent Juan Carlos,
"We'll turn the lights back on!"

"We're on our way," said O'Connell.

Juan Carlos was to meet with the two mining ship Captains at the main port of call for Patagonia which was inside a hollowed out asteroid that the colonists had named "Nova Tierra del Fuego," after the historical region of South America where some of them had originated and the unusual red-colored rock that much of the planetoid was made up of. The formerly iron-rich asteroid had been hollowed out years ago by a speculative mining venture that had removed the richest deposits and then moved on to skim the easiest pickings from somewhere else.

The
original Patagonian colonists had pooled all of their financial resources and converted the asteroid into a large enclosed habitat. Most of the habitat was sealed up inside the asteroid, but portions of it were built within the rim of the ancient crater that housed the artificial opening into the asteroid.

After parking their mining ships near the asteroid and transporting to an intact airlock, the two Captains were ushered into one of the colony's
few remaining undamaged above ground facilities. They were left by themselves for a few minutes. O'Connell and Patrick used the time to inspect their surroundings.

The view from t
he above ground facility that they had been brought to must have been spectacular before the terrorists had come in and pretty much destroyed anything that appeared to have any value. The facilities were located in a system of caverns that had been laser evacuated within the solid rock of the rim around the crater where the temporary mining station had been anchored. Through large viewports in the walls and ceiling, mounted right into the rock of the artificial cavern, there was an expansive view of an open starscape visible above; while arcing outward from either side was a spectacular panorama of the rim around the opening into the asteroid, encrusted with more habitats like the one they were in. Visible below was the opening into the interior of the asteroid with the blue glow of the now reactivated "force curtain" airlock, easily large enough to admit starships. The view was marred by the obvious damage from the terrorist attack to many of the habitats within the rim.

Juan Carlos met the two mining Captains with his usual enthusiasm and a huge smile on his handsome face.
He gave them each a hearty handshake while he greeted them.

"Captain O'Connell, Captain Patrick! It is a pleasure to see you again.
As you can see, we have managed to recover from the terrorist attacks, at least somewhat. I must take the time to thank you once again, we could not have recovered this quickly without your help."

"It was the least we could do," said O'Connell.

"It has been over two weeks since you were here, Captain," said Juan Carlos, "how did the rest of your travels go? Were you able to contact the Federation at the Santana Nexus?"

"We found the Federation authorities
," replied O'Connell, "but we didn't get to the Santana Nexus. Things didn't go quite the way we'd planned..."

The mining ship Captains related the events that they had been a part of, including
encountering the stronghold at the Scrapyard and the ensuing events, including the two separate victories over the terrorists while defending the New Ceylon Reclamation Center.

"This is best news we've heard in weeks!" exclaimed Juan Carlos. "These terrorists were starting to believe they couldn't be defeated."

"They were also fought to a standstill and forced to evacuate from the Piedmont mining station. We're beginning to think that most of their success has been due to the surprise element. They have been attacking unsuspecting systems without any warning. By hitting quick and taking out the long range communications, most of the system governments aren't able to get any kind of warning sent off. Seems like if you know they're coming, and have some time to get prepared, they aren't nearly so tough."

"That is good to know," said Juan Carlos. "Come, sit.
" He motioned towards the large meeting table in the center of the room. O'Connell and Patrick sat down next to each other. "Would you like a refreshment? I have sent for coffee?"

"Some coffee would be nice," said O'Connell. Patrick nodded h
is head.

"
Ah, here it is now," said Juan Carlos. He poured three cups and grabbed one of them before taking a seat himself across from the two Spacers. He glanced back and forth between his two guests. "I am certain you did not come all the way back here just to chat. How can we help you?"

O'Connell decided on a direct approach.
"We need people who are willing to fight," he said, "We're trying to put together a force strong enough to recapture the Santana Nexus."

Juan Carlos didn't say anything but his expression said he was interested.

O'Connell continued, "Most of the Sheik of Barsoom's forces have been concentrating there and if we figure if can defeat them at the Nexus, we can break the back of this 'Revolution' before it gains any more momentum."

"
I have been to the Santana Nexus on many occasions, Captain O'Connell," said Juan Carlos, "That station is a very big place with many places to hide. It will be difficult for this Sheik to run any kind of military operation there."

"We
're well aware of that, Juan Carlos, in a way we're kind of counting on it. Besides that, the enemy has been occupying the facility for a only short time, just a few weeks. The Nexus itself has over fifty thousand people on it and we're pretty sure that only a very small minority are pleased with the sudden change in government. However, the longer we allow the Sheik's forces to consolidate their grip on the Nexus Station, the harder it will be to root them out. If we're gonna, we need to move on them as quickly as we can before they get any more settled in."

"We
still have much rebuilding to do out here after their attack on us," said Juan Carlos, "but we lack the resources to do very much. Our progress is likely to be very slow. I have men, Captain O'Connell, perhaps even a lot of men, who do not have anything to do at the present time. We filed a request for full colonial status with the Federation just over six months ago. So far we have heard nothing. If we help the Federation, perhaps they will help us in return, no? "

"
We will do what we can to help you plead your case, Juan Carlos, but I think you need to make your concerns clear to Admiral Kingston, she is the highest ranking Federation officer in the Quadrant."

"
We have a loosely organized militia and I have the authority to commit several hundred men, Captain O'Connell, many of them former military and most of them not long out of the Service. There is nothing I would like better than to see this terrorist scourge wiped from the universe! What do we do next?'

"We will be returning to the New Ceylon system as soon as we conclude our business here. At that time we'll
take stock of what we've got for men and warships and start formulating our plans to retake the Nexus Station. It would be very helpful if you could come back with us, Juan Carlos. You're the one who knows the capabilities of your men and your input will be badly needed as we finalize our attack plans."

"
My wife will not be happy, but it is obvious to me that I must attend this meeting!"

O'Connell looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Why don't you bring her along?" he asked. "The Meridian Ambassdor's wife is at New Ceylon and Commander Kresge has his fiancé there. Both of those women are leaders in their own right, just like your wife. Having her along might actually make things go even better."