Of Turrets and Drones.
01 Jun 2016Jellicoe
The campaign in Ra went well, the speed of our response clearly surprising the Imperials. We patrolled the mining zones and trade lanes, we hunted Imperial agents, delivered important messages and targeted the enemy’s minor bases, all standard fare in the countless secret conflicts raging across the galaxy of which the great mass of the population remain entirely ignorant. As the situation stabilised pilots were gradually withdrawn or transferred to more important areas and Ra once more returned to its sleepy obscurity. I stayed on, partly to tie up the inevitable loose ends but also because the rez points were still extremely profitable and my sojourn in Cubeo, while very enjoyable had also been very expensive. True Ra did not offer the standard of living of more prosperous systems, but anywhere is comfortable enough when one has the credit, and despite my excesses in Cubeo I still had plenty of that. My suite in Leconte’s finest hotel while a long way from the standards of opulence I would expect in the core worlds was tolerable enough, the local cuisine was reasonable and the bars well stocked, I had seen far better but I had also seen much worse.I was in the ‘White Horse’, what passed for an upmarket establishment in Ra that tried to copy the drinking establishments of old Earth with Claude Marsaud, my first officer. The ‘pub’ as it called itself was a place where Ra’s movers and shakers came to be seen, and there was a smattering of bright young corporate things, local sports stars and celebrities all with their usual collection of incredibly glamorous partners wearing clothes and makeup just that little bit behind the cutting edge of Federation fashion. Spaceship crewmen were no in evidence, their usually course manners and casual approach to dress not being at all what the management wanted for their ‘exclusive’ establishment, though looking around the place I very much doubted spacers would flock here even if they were to be welcome. Claude and I were a rare exception to this policy, a credit balance of over two billion, the notoriety of elite pilot wings and the cosmopolitan glamour of time recently spent with the high society of Cubeo and Nannorum opened a lot of doors, and I was more than happy to take advantage. I also knew frequenting the White Horse would annoy Admiral Sturdee, and much as I admired him as an officer and a man I found it impossible to warm to him personally and took a juvenile pleasure in irritating him.
Claude and I were finishing our glasses of Ra Pale Ale, a surprisingly good local beer served in an archaic measure from Earths ancient past called a ‘pint’ and wondering whether to leave now or spend the whole night drinking when a waiter padded over with a tray carrying two more full glasses.
“Compliments of the gentleman over there sir.” The waiter explained gesturing to an unremarkable looking young man in a suit that was the pinnacle of last years style. “He asks if he might join you?” I looked wearily at Claude, I had planned either a night of solid drinking perhaps ending with the company of a pretty girl or and early night followed by a late morning and hob nobbing with the natives did not appeal.
“Probably some local desk jockey wanting to meet a real life Elite pilot.” Claude said with a grin. “Hopefully he’ll piss off before long.”
“Tell him he’s welcome to join us.” I told the waiter without enthusiasm. The man who sat down was utterly unremarkable in every respect, in his mid-thirty’s, average in height, build and looks, his red brown hair combed in the style of corporate plodders across the Federation.
“Commander Jellicoe I presume?” He asked in a voice that did not suggest an office bound drudge star struck by the glamour of an Elite combater. I nodded in answer. “I have a job for you commander.” Something about his tone and confident presumption of my acceptance riled me.
“Do you know what these mean? I asked pointing to my golden pilots wings. “They mean” I continued without giving him a chance to reply “that I have the luxury of choosing the jobs I take on, so if I’m to take on yours it had better be worth my while.”
“It will be.” He answered, his irritating self-assurance undented. “It’s a deniable black-op approved by Sturdee himself.”
“Finding the Auxiliary have our uses after all? I put in caustically.
“I presume so as you were his suggestion.” He continued evenly. “There’s a ground base on this planet being used by the Imps to covertly refuel and arm the pirates. We obviously can’t allow that to continue so we…”
“You want me to total it?” I interrupted.
“No.” he replied. “There may be useful intelligence there and your guns won’t scratch their underground silos. We want you to knock out one of their power generators then a ground force can go in, get any useful data and destroy the rest completely.” I was strongly tempted to tell him where he could stick himself and his job, but it was the whole point of my being in this system however annoying this man might be.
“When?” I asked still irritated by his apparent imperturbability.
“Within the next twelve hours, beyond that it’s entirely up to you. Our ground team is on standby and can deploy at a moments notice. Here’s everything you should need.” He passed me a data cube. “Any questions?”
“No you appear to have been very thorough.” I answered after quickly scanning the cube, and he had, it was rare indeed to have such comprehensive intelligence on a target. Perhaps a man this good at his job was entitled to a little arrogance in his manner.
“Good, I’ll leave you to it then. Payment on completion as usual.” An hour later I sat with my senior officers in the Resolutions briefing room studying a holographic map of the base projected onto the central table, it was a typical low security station that relied on avoiding attention rather than firepower, though its turrets would pack a heavy punch.
“As you can see five gun emplacements and presumably a number of drones as well. I intend to knock out the defences with the Resolution then go in in the Scarab to cut the power. Any questions?” I ended my quick briefing.
“Any ground forces?” Lieutenant Soames who commanded our Marine detachment asked.
“No.” I replied. “The base is fully automated, possibly a couple of technicians but no troops.
“Can’t we do the whole job from the ship?” Sachin Vikash my tactical officer asked. “Knock out the generator with our big guns without risking anyone in the Scarab?”
“Unfortunately not. Our guns are just too big to target it reliably. I’ll be going in in the Scarab myself.”
“Sir, why not just send my Marines in?” Lieutenant Soames asked. “Get the whole job done in one here and now.”
“The brass think there’s useful intelligence down there and with the best will in the world none of us know what we’re looking for. Everybody happy with the plan? Good, let’s get to work.”
Our approach was straight forward enough, a short supercruise to the next planet and back just in case anyone was following us, then we headed for the base. I dropped into orbital flight a long way out and took us on a course suggesting we were headed for the planets main settlement. I dropped into glide at a shallow angle and we came out a little over twelve klicks from the base.
“Scanners are clear.” Claude reported so I took us in as fast as possible, the time for stealth was past.
“Picking up multiple drone contacts. Four so far.” Claude announced. “Six…eight.”
“Ignore them for now.” I ordered. “It’s only the guns that can hurt us.” I targeted the first turret and opened fire with our lasers.
“All guns targeting us.” Vikash said. “Drones incoming.” The first gun disintegrated under relentless fire from the Resolution.
“Under Attack.” The computer informed us.
“Shields at 90%.” Vikash filled in the detail. “Three guns firing at us plus the drones, we’re shielded from the fifth gun by the main building.” I locked on to the next gun and swung us round into firing position, the defences were hitting us with everything they had now and the whole ship shook under repeated impacts.
“Shields at 70%”
“Full pips to shields the rest to weapons.” I barked as I opened fire and glanced at my holo display, our shields were draining more slowly now but we couldn’t take this pounding for long. My target turret was taking damage too but the extra power I had transferred to the shields made it much slower going. The ship rocked again from another volley of defensive fire while the drones buzzed about us like angry wasps, stinging us again and again.
“Shields at 50%.” Deprived of the extra power going to the shields our lasers locked, up and I had to ceasefire to recharge.the capacitor all the while the base defences poured their fury onto us.
“Shields at 20%, recharging.” Vik intoned sounding almost as calm as the computer and I heard the humming sound and felt the gentle vibrations as stored power surged to replenish our shields. The weapons capacitor inched up to 50% and I fired, Resolution once more spat fire at the turret but still the base guns relentlessly pounded us.
“Shields at 80%.” I could do nothing, this close to the surface there is no way a ship the size of a corvette can manoeuvre or take any kind of evasive action, we could only sit there, take it and trust our shields.
“Target destroyed.” The computer tonelessly announced and the incoming fire significantly slackened. The last turret able to engage us was still firing gamely but on its own it was not enough and it, then the drones were despatched easily enough followed by the remaining turret.
“I’ll put us down now.” I said as the last turret blew. “Vehicle bay I’ll be down in a minute make sure that Scarab’s ready to go.” I landed close to the base, made me way to the vehicle bay climbed into the cockpit and deployed the vehicle and gunned the engine, the sturdy little vehicle ate up the ground and I was soon past the wreck of the outer turret and scanning for the generator.
“Skipper we’re getting a contact near you.” Claude came through. “Looks like a drone, God knows how we missed it but it’s too close to you for us to risk firing.”
“Roger that. Out.” I replied. I cursed to myself, drones were no threat to a big ship but very dangerous to the ground vehicles they built to take out. I saw the blip on my scanner as the drone fired and my shields flared as its laser strobed across them. I flung the vehicle into as tight a turn as it could pull off flicking the thrusters to assist. I heard Marine Budd in the turret return fire and I focussed on trying to keep us away from the drones stinging laser. I frantically zig-zagged as we sped through the base, trying to use what cover the buildings gave us but the drone stayed with us, draining our shields all the time. Budd maintained a steady return of fire from our plasma repeaters but any kind of accuracy was impossible as we swerved and hurtled over the uneven ground.
“If you could hold us steady sir I might be able to hit it.” The marine protested mildly.
“Just do your best Danny.” I answered hoping I sounded calm. “I’m trying to find the generator.” I slewed the speeding vehicle round a tight corner to see a long, straight stretch of open ground with no cover whatsoever. It was a long way to go under constant fire. “Danny, want to show me how well the marines can shoot?” I shouted cutting our speed and straightening our line.
“Love to sir.” He yelled cheerfully back and a quick burst of plasma shot towards the drone. We careered on, the drone still shooting but a stream of accurate return fire lessened the damage we were taking. At the end of the road I picked up the signal for the generator.
“Think you can hit the generator on the run Danny? I’ll hold her as steady as I can.”
“No problem sir.” With the drone more cautious now I gunned the engine to full and we hurtled onwards closing the distance as fast as possible, my sudden burst of acceleration had taken the drone by surprise, and while it quickly resumed its chase we had bought vital seconds to let Danny line up his shot. I slammed the brakes on as close to the target as possible and a steady burst of plasma fire slammed into the generator. The drone had reached us now and with our guns focussed on the target it was able to hit us with everything it had unopposed.
“Soon as you can Danny!” I shouted watching our shields drop alarmingly. I neither expected nor received a reply as Marine Danny Budd focussed all his energies on sustaining our bombardment of the generator. Slowly, agonisingly slowly it began to blow.
“It’s gone sir!” Danny yelled and I saw a small explosion to my left. I had hoped for something bigger, preferably big enough to give us some cover from the drone. I hammered the throttle forward weaving an oblique path towards a cluster of buildings.
“I’m going to hide in the buildings.” I shouted to Danny. “As soon as the drone comes round the corner blast it.” Danny had damaged the drone and I was hoping one more burst would finish it. If not we were in trouble.
“Shields offline, taking damage.” The computer trilled as I powerslid in between an engine shed and a fuel tank and slammed the brakes on. Seconds later the drone buzzed round behind us and fired, the Scarab is a tough little vehicle but without shields its canopy is extremely vulnerable, I reached for my Remlok and prayed. As if in answer a stream of plasma rounds hammered into the drone tearing it apart. I finally breathed out.
“Bit of a close on that sir.” Said Danny and I laughed out loud at his understatement.
Later, back on the station we were in one of the less salubrious bars frequented by spacers and low life, a different world to the White Horse. I had just about succeeded in staggering to the bar when a small man his face largely obscured by a hood pressed a piece of paper into my hand and vanished into the throng. I looked at the note and was instantly sober, the message was at first glance entirely innocent if a little cryptic but I understood its hidden meaning, it said simply “The children need you”