Intro 7: Surge

Williams, Carla, Chester, another lame scientist, and five of the best trained ghosts were walking down a corridor. They were unarmed with the exception of Chester, who was carrying his personal computer. They were without uniforms and, instead, had ordinary, inconspicuous clothing. They were following three more people through the dirty corridor and up a badly-lit stairway. Two of them had light firearms and the third only had a menacingly-looking saber with strange signs on one side of the blade on his back. They were all tall and strong, although their loose clothing covered much of their bodies. They even had scarves that covered their mouths. The group stopped. The three had reached a huge door. The man with the saber typed a combination on the buttons at the door lock and the door sank in the floor, revealing a huge hall.
The hall was something made up of several adjacent rooms that each lacked a wall or two. The interior was an amalgam of computers, filing stands, and tables of various sizes, quality and age under the dim lights on the ceiling. Williams was examining the area, looking for good positions in case of a fight. There were people there, quiet and strangely-looking from continuous exposure to the computers. They were physically weak and probably not particularly brave, but the ghost was not a person to conclude that in advance.
The three guides led his group to the end of the hall and in front of a wooden door. The man with the saber entered and exited one minute later.
'Mister Parsons is ready to meet you. One by one please,' he said with a threatening smile.
Williams nodded to his group and, without looking at him in the eyes or changing his stone expression, entered the cabinet.
'Hello. So, you are Garry?' the fat middle-aged man behind an old metallic desk began.
The cabinet was as messy as the rest of the compound, but its saving grace was the presence of wood in the furniture, as well as a portrait of an unknown man in an old Confederate Uniform.
'Yes, I am Garry.'
'So, Garry, why don't you tell me why you and your friends wanna join our gang?'
'Sir, we've been doing the dirty job of the damned Confederacy and those greedy scoundrels,' he was repeating the exact words he was briefed, 'weren't paying us nothing! It was unfair. Marx, you know, said that this was capitalism, and we were sick of working for them for no wages. So we quit.'
'Why did you quit towards us, Garry?' Mister Parsons said. His head was going bald, Williams noticed, and the light of the ceiling was reflected in his forehead.
'We figured that we wanted to get back those wages that they still owed us, sir,' he released a forced laugh, 'you know, the ones for the surplus labour and all. We thought that here, in the New Trinidad, we could return the favour.'
'Ah, I see.' The pirate was asking empty questions. Williams was replying with the rehearsed answers.
'Thank you, sir!' Williams made an idiotic smile, thinking when to give the order. 'Do we leave now?'
'You do. Out of the door, kid.'
'Yes, sir,' the ghost complied.
When he closed the door, his team, as well as the three guards, looked at him. He stretched his hands behind his head and as he relaxed, he nodded.
Chester and the other scientist ran aside. Carla jumped at Bradley and stuck her heel in his chest with a thrusting kick. Four of the ghosts quickly stunned and disarmed the two other guards, then took their weapons and forced them against the ground. The fifth ghost ran to the door, took out a knife from his boot and stuck it in the front of the digital lock. It burst into smoke and sparks.
As Williams was right of the cabinet's entrance, scanning the situation, a blast from behind the wooden door of the cabinet tore most of it to shreds and pushed him aside.
'Pulse shotgun!' Carla shouted and moved away from the line of fire of Mister Parsons, who was reloading in the room.
Pirate scum,' Williams thought, while thinking of how to take the enemy VIP down. 'Don't kill him!'
The two ghosts who were preparing to use the guards' machineguns lowered them and moved to the other two ghosts who were hauling the guards away.
Another wave of shell pierced the air in between the taunts of the pirate chief. Just as the shot was heard, Williams refused to hesitate and rushed into the room against Parsons. Reading the sudden fear in the fat man's brown eyes, he quickly punched the rifle from his hands, rammed his fist into his jaw and pushed him to the ground.
In the hall, the armed ghosts spread out. One of them saw a pirate draw a pistol from a drawer and immediately fired a few rounds in his chest before he could use the small weapon. Williams began aligning the enemy personnel against the walls with their hands behind their backs. As he was forcing them at gunpoint, he heard his comrade at the door shout something and ducked. Two bullets flew above his head. He turned around, only to see a knife fly into the hand of a pirate that was holding another pistol. The man screamed and dropped his weapon, looking at the knife in his bleeding wrist with horror. He fell on the ground as the first ghost hit him in the back of the head with the rifle's stock and knocked him out.
While the second ghost hauled Parsons out of the cabinet, Williams saw Carla leaning against the wall, holding her leg. She was bleeding. Williams' stomach turned.
'Are you alright?' he said in an unstable voice as he ran to her.
'Yes, it's just a gun wound. I will be alright.'
Williams felt control over his psyche slipping away at the sight of her blood.
'We'll get you a medic.'
'I'm fine! Move along!' he heard her thoughts.
'Ahem. Hold on,' he said and ordered one of his men. 'Dallas, first aid, now!'
Dallas moved on and tore a piece of cloth for the first aid for her wound, as drilled many times before. The other ghosts began taking spare computer cabling and tying the hands of all captured enemies.
'Tell the fleet we're done here,' Williams ordered the scientist, then turned to Chester and looked at him with familiar contempt that made the Umojan's blood freeze. 'Make yourself useful and get into their system.'
Without hesitation, Chester ran to the nearest computer and began hacking into the system. The scientist took off his boot, revealing a simple steel prosthesis beneath the knee. In it, there was a disassembled radio. He began putting it together, connected the final result to the electric grid, and sent the predetermined three pings. Williams decided to go on with the interrogation of the chief.
Pushing the back of the pirate chief's neck downwards, he asked, taking pleasure in the POW's suffering.
'Where are your ships, scumbag?'
'I, I... I don't know, leave me alone!' he squealed.
He applied more force, making him suffocate for about a minute, then eased the tension and repeated.
'Alright, alright, they are far away from here. Few days' travel.' He coughed. 'They went to Maltair system.'
'You lie! Where are they?' he asked again and began twisting his wrist. He had to do it twice, just to be sure, although this time he knew he was lying.
'Aaah!' he screamed in pain and uttered when she eased her grip. 'They are near, they are near. They are a few hours' travel away, I swear. I swear!'
'What if you lie?' he murmured with contempt and satisfaction of the vengeance being inflicted. Williams grabbed his wrist for the second time.
'No, no! I am certain! Please don't do it! No!'
That about summed it up. He turned to Chester, still nervous.
''Chester, what's online?'
The Umojan was looking through the network under the vigil of the other scientist who was brought here to keep an eye on his activities. Chester looked at the ghost in vexation and replied.
'These guys aren't as efficient as they seem to be. The Confederates have tougher protection. I can control several things... Major. Mostly the life-support systems.'
'No weaponry? The turrets?'
'I can try cutting their power supply off, if you like. Although they could have generators. Choose any among lights, electricity, hehe, plumbing...'
'Can you turn the lights off? Boris ordered to make it more difficult for these wretches to defend inside.'
'We do what Boris says. Turning the lights off.'
Williams could sense some sort of arrogance in the black kid's words. But this was not the time. They had to move on. The ghosts took the rifles and the pistols, Williams held Parsons as a hostage, and the rest of the group followed the other ghost. Michael had taken the guard's saber and was holding its blade against the throat of the fat swine.
They now had to move towards the power generators for the shields, about five hundred meters away. The group exited the hall and walked forwards, illuminating their way through the lightless hallways with flashlights. However, Carla was slowing them down.
'Could you hurry? Those pirate cutthroats may jump out from behind any...' Chester said, only to stop in mid-sentence under Williams' piercing gaze. Then, he quickly turned to minding his own step.
'I can move, don't worry, major,' Carla said. She then immediately lost balance and grabbed his arm, dropping the flashlight. She immediately released herself and stood up. 'Let's go.'
Williams proceeded forward with the group through the blackness of the corridor. His mind was clouded by unknown fears. Previously, this could not have happened. His training in the Confederacy was forbidding him to consider his own personal safety unless the mission required it. Now, he was afraid of death. And it was not his, but Carla's. He felt further afraid by the reprehensible thoughts he was allowing to creep in his mind. He tried to banish them and focused on the mission.
Three hundred meters more, according to Sebastian's memories of the orbital platforms. The group went past the windowed doors of a cafeteria. There were people inside, in the dark, judging from the voices, and the group heard some of them seeing the flashlights.
'Who's there?'
'Hey, guys, where you going to?'
'Mike, is that you?'
Williams tightened his grip on the saber and whispered in Parsons' ear.
'Not a sound.'
Parsons nodded, as much as the steel blade against his throat could allow him.
'We're engineers, it's fine, stay where you are! We'll fix it all in a minute. It's something with the generators,' Williams heard Chester saying through the door.
'The generators are that-a-way,' one of the pirates said in a rough voice and the others inside laughed loudly.
'Yea, but not these generators. You see, it's a fault in the system, and...' Chester was trying to find his way in the situation.
'We're sent by Parsons, so shut up there,' Carla shouted in a deep voice and lost balance against the wall to the right.
The laughter stopped. She stood up and fell again. Her face was twisted in pain. Chester turned back to offer help and as she prepared to hold onto him, Williams felt another sting inside him and a sudden hostility against the Umojan.
The group continued forwards. The last thing to go through before reaching the generators for the platform's shields was to descend several stores down a stairway. The stairs allowed access to all other levels, so the group was careful and silent. They moved as quietly as possible, in order to avoid drawing attention to themselves. At one of the floors, while Chester was moving on with maximum care, holding his computer and Carla, several lights shone from the door to his left. It surprised the Umojan so much, Williams noticed, that he dropped both his computer down the metal stairs, and Carla. The machine clanked down and Carla lost her balance and fell forward, pushing one of the ghosts forward. Although the ghost managed to hold on to the railing, Williams found himself just under the lights, holding a huge weapon against the throat of an important Pirate.
Oh, sh..., he thought.
Two or three voices from behind the door began shouting something. Williams immediately pulled back a few steps upwards, still nervous. The four armed ghosts also stepped back and aimed their weapons at the men with the lights.
'Who's there?' one of the pirates said.
'They've got guns, Billy!' another shouted. 'Fire!'
But the ghosts pressed the triggers first and the lights from the weapons flashed against the dark place. Their sudden fire mowed the enemies behind the door down and Williams saw the lights of their flashlights disorient. The four ghosts were looking at the corridor, waiting for orders.
'Let's go! Go!' Williams hissed.
As the group was preparing to leave, he moved past Chester, who was picking his computer and looking at its crack with great sorrow. No concern for the wounded teammate, of course.
'Get up!' the ghost ordered him and abruptly pushed him forward.
Carla was behind, going down and holding onto the rails. Williams was never so frustrated.
They got to to the specific floor. Upstairs, there were voices. Clearly, somebody had heard the noise of the stupid scientist dropping his computer.
'Alright, this is the place, override it and let's get the hell out of here!' He told the two scientists.
The group entered the upper walkway of a huge room. Down below, there was another steel walkway above the machinery that was all over the floor and around the room. Chester and the one-legged scientist rushed through the bridge to the walkway on the other side where there was a console.
In the meantime, the voices on the stairway grew louder. Williams was thinking. He sent Carla to the other walkway, where the rotor capsule of one of the generators would keep her out of sight. Parsons was held by the fifth man from the ghost squad. The men on the stairs were approaching. There was no sign of the battalion yet. Of course – the shields were still up.
'Are you ready there?' he shouted at the two, particularly at Chester.
'Yes, yes, good thing my computer's working. We need some more time to readjust everything. Then, we leave,' Chester replied.
Silence.
'Right?'
'You will need to just stop them,' the ghost said. 'And destroy the console.'
'Alright... But won't we need it if we want to turn them on later?'
'Who's there?' the voices outside were heard.
'Engineers,' Williams replied, only to see the four ghosts beside him looking at each other's firearms. 'Maybe not.'
The enemy was approaching.
'Sir, orders?' Dallas said.
'Stay behind me,' Williams replied, grabbed Parsons, and again put the blade against his throat. 'Keep the console, kid.'
'Almost there...' Chester murmured. 'I think something's wrong with my computer's hard drive, damn. It won't process the files...'
Williams moved forward and looked at Carla. She was lying down, bleeding.
'I'm fine...' she said in a meek voice.
He turned his eyes from her and moved forward.
At the door, there were four pirates with flashlights and pistols. When they saw Williams holding a knife against the fat man's throat, they were shocked.
'Move away and nobody dies, scum,' he threatened them.
The four stepped aside and let the group move past them. First were the two scientists, lighting the way with the flashlights. Then were the armed ghosts. Finally was the fifth one, holding Carla. As she moved past them, one of the pirates whistled and blinked at her. Seeing this, Williams lost control and raised the sword and slashed the chest of the nearest pirate.
The ghosts turned immediately. The other three pirates attempted to defend themselves and raised their guns. One managed to fire at random and shot a ghost in the chest, but the ghosts' fire came faster than any of them could anticipate and the enemies were dead before they could even aim at the soldiers. The casualty of the squad was in a bad condition.
Carla stumbled and fell. There was blood all over her foot and she was losing consciousness.
'We need help...?' Chester murmured.
'We need to find a medical center. Where is one?'
'I... I have no idea. The battalion ought to be here any minute,' Chester replied.
'When are the shields going down?'
'Three minutes ago. They are out now.'
'Then the infantry battalion has to be coming, major' the lame scientist said.
The men on the stairs were dead. As the ghosts were taking their ammo and weapons, Williams listened for anything on the upper floors. There were sounds of people moving – the shooting had to had alerted the pirates of their presence.
'Squad, move! We are getting out of here,' he ordered and the group hurried up the stairs with their flashlights turned off, carrying their wounded comrade.
They entered a hallway and then a room with machinery. There was nothing more they could do – they were only armed with petty firearms – so they just barricaded themselves, stacking old junk against the door, and waited for help. Carla and the other wounded ghost were put on the floor and the one-legged scientist tried to give the soldier first aid. Outside, the station was full of noises. Williams tried to discern anything friendly, but could not. There was just what seemed to be a growing tumult beyond the door.
Then, noises of explosions were heard echoing through the walls of the place. Chester was sitting against a nearby wall, hugging his computer and the ghost hoped that this was the battalion coming. Carla was still bleeding and barely conscious.
'Are you alright?' he kneeled beside her.
'I've felt better. Am I still bleeding?'
She was and he said nothing. Suddenly, somebody out in the hallway was heard trying to open the door.
'Damned old piece of scrap...'
The ghosts looked at Williams awaiting command. He waved at them to stand down. Looking back at her, he froze. She lay down unconscious and he thought of the worst.
'No! Wake up! Noooo!' Williams said and woke up in his bed, sweating.

2481 C.E.
BATTLECRUISER “ANDRONIKOS”
UMOJAN EXPEDITIONARY FLEET
NEW TRINIDAD ORBITAL PLATFORMS

He was in his cabin. It had all passed. He had a nightmare. The dreadful events of yesterday's attack on the pirates' platforms were re-apprearing in his tired mind. Was this shell-shock? It could be. It was reminiscent of what he imagined it to be from stories he sometimes heard. However, he had never gotten it before, even though he had seen one bitter engagement. Something was wrong with him. It had to be the woman. Although Michael Williams was not somebody who was impressed by a brother in arms dying next to him. He was trained to ignore the friction and the emotional strain of the battlefield. But he was never trained to cope with a person from the other sex. Perhaps the Confederates had not forgotten to consider the natural tendency of male soldiers to be protective to their female colleagues in a fight, so there were no women in Williams' ghost unit. Great, he thought. That was not in the field manual.
***
Meanwhile, Admiral McNorman stood in his cabin. He was looking at some maps. was still awake in his new cabin. On his desk there were unread reports from the fleet regarding yesterday's battle and he was examining them before he went to bed. The attack on the New Trinidad platforms was not something that a fleet like theirs could normally perform.
It all began when Paskirov's message came to McNorman. The colonel was informing the admiral of an important thing that had happened earlier that day. Paskirov had sat down with his brother and discussed a very interesting prospect. He had talked of the possibility that Sebastian betray his former New Trinidad organization and help an attack against them.
The reasons to do so were centered around acquiring new resources. First and foremost, the pirates had equipment. They had combat suits, spare parts, and even tanks. Things like these were to prove useful in the expedition in case of armed resistance, because unlike an ordinary army, this expeditionary fleet did not receive periodic reinforcements and any loss was felt more severely here than in a regular armed force. Furthermore, the colonel had stressed the importance of improving the strength of the ground forces, because of the new methods of finding the location of the alien temples. Using the sphere required a degree of controlling the ground, and the exploration of the temple also took men. Finally, there was the ease with which it could be achieved. Sebastian had provided excellent intelligence. He knew so much things about the pirates that an assault became a safe endeavor in comparison with attacking a Confederate facility with the size of the New Trinidad platforms. And, the New Trinidad were just pirates. No group of bandits and thugs could stand against a trained military force. All these reasons led McNorman to decide in favor of assaulting the New Trinidad positions.
The plan that was drawn was simple. A selected group of soldiers, accompanied by scientists, would present themselves as candidates to join the organization. Sebastian had explained the process as he knew it, and it was clear to the fleet command what force was necessary. A group of several disillusioned Confederates could be just plausible enough for the New Trinidad. Once the group was in the command sector of the platforms, they would take over the systems and take the highest-ranking pirate as a hostage. Then, they would hack into the system and soften the defenses of the platforms for the main attack force of the fleet, the infantry battalion.
The natural choice for troops were ghosts. They were the best-trained fighters in the arsenal of the fleet, and they were well-disciplined. And, if they tried hard enough to be social, the pirates could interpret their ineptitude as folly. The participation of Carla was Paskirov's idea, since he wanted to see her loyalty and abilities as a soldier for the fleet. Chester was the natural candidate for a hacker for the operation. More precisely, a chosen one, as he was not enthusiastic to go, but he was the best man on board and had to, so the colonel managed to persuade him. The second scientist was there as a check for Chester. McNorman had personally decided that the kid had to not forget about the punishment, plus he might be in a need of another man to assist any operations.
Their group had done surprisingly well. They had achieved their key objectives and, with the exception of Carla and the unlucky ghost, had suffered no wear and tear. The whole installation was left mostly powerless and dark and completely defenseless against the debarkation of the infantry battalion. The infantry battalion had entered the helpless docking bays and had delivered all six INFCOMs against the surprised pirates.
Then, the station was largely under Umojan control. Few transports with gunners approached and released the friendly personnel that was to gain control over the weapons systems of the platform for the Umojans. Medical teams were arriving in case someone was wounded. The fleet was assembling positions around the platforms, because the men on the platforms had bad news for the command: the pirates' force was not here.
The enemy ships were gone and were somewhere out there, in unknown coordinates. Any commander knew that unaccounted for enemy forces were a clear and present danger for his force, so obtaining information for them was vital for the success of an operation. The Umojans on the platforms soon did, but the news were grim. The enemies were inbound and fully armed. The estimates of the pirates' fleet varied, but they had three battlecruisers and about the same number of minor battleships as the Umojan fleet. At that point, McNorman had only hours to prepare his force for battle.
The advantages of the Umojans were many. The pirates were fighting to reclaim their own homes and would be desperate, but also probably more reckless than usual. Furthermore, the Umojans had science vessels. McNorman was determined to exploit any tactical advantages that these ships were claimed to provide. The technology of the defensive matrices was about to be put to a decisive test.
Finally, the Umojans controlled the New Trinidad stations. This was a key component of their combat power for the battle. The platforms not only allowed for additional fire support, but were also a stronghold, an orbital redoubt of sorts, where smaller ships could get immediate aid. With that in mind, McNorman remembered, he began planning the battle those next minutes.
He decided to divide the fleet into two sections. One was the defending group, which was made up of four of the Wanderer-class ships, the Mammoth-class carrier Enteos and four of the science vessels. The attacking group was made up of the battlecruiser Andronikos, three Wanderer-class ships and two science vessels. The science vessel with the telescope, plus the 2 light cruisers were to remain back in reserve.
The goal of the defending group was to keep the enemy engaged. The four Wanderer-class ships, plus the huge carrier were accompanied by the science vessels and their capability to form a defensive matrix. The huge carrier, with its thick neosteel armor, was capable of withstanding lots of fire, so it naturally formed the core of this group. Thus, the defending group was equipped to survive while the attacking group did the attacking maneuvers. The attacking group, with the battlecruiser and three other Wanderer-class ships was supposed to engage the enemy from the flank and take down their ships one by one. The two science vessels it had were there for support, and the majority of the Wraith-class fighters was allocated to the attacking group as well. So prepared, McNorman awaited the enemies.
He did not wait for long. Soon, the pirate fleet exited warp space several hundred kilometers from the orbital platforms. McNorman ordered the crews to prepare for the engagement and set a course of the attacking group he was leading to move right of and behind the platforms. The defending group, under the command of the vice-admiral was in a square with Enteos in the middle and the science vessels behind the ships, all facing the coming enemy.
Half an hour later, the battle began. The pirate fleet of three battlecruisers and seven Wanderer-class ships as an attack force stormed the defending group of the Umojans. Without any particular order or fomation, the enemies headed for Enteos and the four other space ships and opened fire. The noses of all the pirate ships turned red under the glow of the lasers. The energy hail fell upon the Umojans' defending force.
The Umojan ships absorbed the lasers without much harm. When the enemy projectiles were about to hit the surface of the ships, the tenuous layer of teal energy – the science vessels' defensive matrices – absorbed the laser fire with a bright glow. The technology was working. The scientists were right and the ships could withstand the pounding. Only the larger lasers of the enemy battlecruiser batteries could go through the matrix, albeit severely weakened. But that was enough for McNorman.
He then began the attacking maneuver. Two of the enemy Wanderer-class ships were engaging the platforms. McNorman ordered the attacking group to form a square and make a left turn several hundred meters from the platforms to attack the enemy's left flank. The group complied and focused its fire on the closest pirate ship. Its crew, having seen the danger, began turning the ship towards the attacking force, but it was too late. Under the fire of the massive batteries of the Andronikos, the pirate ship's neosteel armor was just blown away until the battlecruser's lasers finally broke through and the enemy ship exploded into a giant ball of fire and debris. All over the Umojan fleet, crew members cheered at the success. On the bridge of Andronikos, McNorman smiled at one of the officers.
Then, the attacking group focused its fire on the second enemy ship. Although it was already firing back, its batteries were neutralized against the defensive matrix formed by the group's supporting science vessels. In response, it received a destructive torrent of lasers against which its armor barely withstood. Between the first and the second wave of fire, McNorman could see the wear and tear that the attacking group's cannons had inflicted upon the now rough and damaged hull of the pirate ship. The second wave was too much for it and it became the next casualty in the raging battle.
The defending group was, however, having difficulties. The energy of the science vessels was drained, but the enemy fire was no less merciless. The crews of the Wanderer-class ships could only try to return fire against single enemy targets, but the enemy maneuvered well and the defending group had to watch its ships get a beating. The reserve science vessel joined the support, but with little effect. The enemy capital ships – how the hell did these guys get battlecruisers, vice-admiral Arnold was asking himself – were formidable and would soon break the defenses.
But then, the enemy battlecruisers noticed. Not far from them, the attacking group under McNorman had destroyed both Wanderer-class ships and the massive vessels turned left to punish the right wing of the unknown but daring enemy for the loss. They were followed by the four other surviving Wanderer-class vessels. Seeing this, McNorman ordered the attack group to turn back, away from the stronger enemy.
The attacking force had suffered bad damage from the enemies' fires. As he was reviewing sheets of paper with the damage numbers, he sighed. One of the ships received a bad hit and its engines exploded.
***
At the same time, in a cabin not far away, aboard the same battlecruiser, there stood Boris Paskirov. In his hands he was holding something precious. He was holding a vice-admiral's service hat. An award for the victory that was won and for displayed skill in battle, he was promoted to the vice-admiral of the expeditionary fleet and was now looking at his new, shinier service hat.
Paskirov had done well his job as a commander of the infantry battalion. His men had quickly done all that the command asked of them and had performed with little friction. After all, what could the pirates do? The Umojan forces had combat suits and good weapons. The pirates were unprepared and badly armed. Furthermore, the soldiers from the INFCOMs had their own lights placed conveniently on the armor, whereas the pirates could only use flashlights. And so, INFCOM Alpha secured the pirates' ammunition stockpiles 1, 2 and three. INFOM Beta secured the last ammunition stockpile, 4, as well as the armor garages. INFCOM Gamma and INFCOM Delta took care of the living quarters. There, they held the unarmed and rudely awoken pirates prisoners at gunpoint, sometimes in the very dormitory quarters.
INFCOM Epsilon was dispatched to rescue Williams' team. The well-armed company easily made their way to the section of the platforms where the shield generators were and engaged the pirates that were keeping Williams' group inside the room. In an uneven battle the poorly-armed enemy was quickly beaten and the platoons found Williams.
The field medics had quickly assisted the two wounded ghosts
One objection that he had was that McNorman had done a stupid thing to leave in reserve only a single science vessel. Although partially justified by the fact that whichever way the pirates came from, the Umojan fleet could turn and face them, it was not something Paskirov could accept. The necessity and the presence of reserves in a fighting force was a basic premise in his military education and he was skeptical of any battle plan that failed to include them.
Nevertheless, the admiral's battle plan worked. The battle did, ultimately, work out well. When the enemy fleet began pushing back the attacking wing, McNorman ordered the defending wing to lure as many Wanderer-class ships as possible away from the battlecruisers. The passive flank largely succeeded, and that must have been what McNorman had been waiting for. When one capital ship and two of its smaller counterparts returned to engage the defending group, only one Wanderer-class remained by the capital ships. This is what the admiral was waiting for.
The attacking wing released the countermeasures. Out of the docking bays, thirty wraiths spread out and headed against the enemy battlecruisers. Lacking enough anti-air batteries, the three enemy capital ships released the few wraiths they had. It was in vain. The Umojan fighters' numerical superiority quickly annihilated them and proceeded to the next tactical objective.
They were ordered to focus fire on the battlecruiers' main batteries. The huge cannons on the wings were silent and awaiting command from the confused enemy captains, who were still hesitating to make a decision. The fighters did not hesitate and carefully flew aside from the main fields of fire of the enemy anti-air batteries. Then they opened fire. Their lasers and missiles flew straight into the long laser cannons mounted on the sides. The explosions where the wraiths were hitting threw scorched debris into space and the severely harmed their long cannons meant that much of the attack capabilities of the pirates' warships were now compromised. The attack of the wraiths was an enormous tactical success.
Seeing it, McNorman withdrew the wraiths and prepared to exploit it. The enemy was quickly retrieving his surviving Wanderer-class ships and preparing to make a final assault against the attacking wing with all available forces. McNorman decided to take the initiative. He ordered he attacking group to commence an attack against one of the crippled enemy battlecruisers. One by one, the lasers of the attacking group opened fire at the battlecruiser in the distance and hit it before it could maneuver out of the way. Many tiny blasts on its hull indicated the damage it was taking from the Umojans. Then, the smaller ships finally joined the damaged battlecruisers in front of the platforms.
In response to the attack by the pirates' Wanderer-class vessels, the Umojans decided to finish the engagement. The defending group made a right turn around the New Trinidad station and attacked the right wing of the diminishing enemy force with anything available. The small batteries complemented the firepower of the attacking group and the enemy found himself battered and in a disadvantageous position. They were losing.
What then happened was what Boris was happiest about. He himself was, at that time, in an observation post aboard the platforms and had been watching the battle. Seeing the development, he immediately radioed McNorman and suggested to offer the pirates to surrender. The admiral realized the reason behind the decision and the Umojans established radio contact with the pirates on the surviving ships and made the offer. He smiled at the memory of that moment when the officers aboard the Andronikos told him after the battle how a frightened voice over the radio agreed. The entire Umojan expeditionary force cheered in pride and happiness at the victory they had earned. All over the radio networks, the news of the enemy's surrender was spreading like fire and everybody from the INFCOMs was rejoicing at the success of their brothers in arms out in open space.
He put the hat on his bureau and prepared to go to sleep. Looking at the familiar turtle and the clock that showed 0323 hours fleet time, he went turned off the lights and closed his eyes.
***
The next morning, in the officers' meeting room on Enteos, Steven was standing against the screen with data on it, holding a mug. Other officers occasionally came and went, while the morning procedures were being performed. As for Summers, he was analyzing the data from yesterday's bitter engagement with the New Trinidad pirates.
The casualties were not significant. The worst was the loss of one of the Wanderer-class ships that formed the backbone of the Umojan fleet. The rest was the normal wear and tear of war that no amount of reasonable effort could prevent. The engineers of the fleet, well-trained Umojan boys, were perfectly capable of mending any harm that the toil of battle had inflicted. In addition, the pirates' platforms provided everything necessary. So Summers moved to consider another thing.
The greatest success of the fleet were the captured ships. Although most of the Wanderer-class ships of the enemy were destroyed, three, in addition to the two surviving battlecruisers, were captured and were to be re-painted in the black and gold colors of the fleet. The three new Wanderer-class battleships were old and badly maintained. So were the two bigger ones. It was surprising to him how these pirates had managed to obtain three battlecruisers, but perhaps their forces had been in better shape once. The Behemoth-class battlecuisers bore the names Big Blue, and Dead Man. As a sign of changing sides, their names were changed and Big Blue became Hreimdar, and Dead Man's name changed to Graf Von Moltke, of which most of the officers approved.
The Umojans also used the plunder to reinforce the fleet. All ships were refurbished and subjected to operational examinations, using the available platforms. The Umojans took everything valuable from the New Trinidad platforms, from tanks and armored suits to spare parts, equipment, and fuel. They even offered an opportunity for some of the pirates to join the fleet and enough agreed for Paskirov to rearrange some of the infantrymen and form a seventh infantry company, INFCOM Eta. Nevertheless, no pirates were allowed in commanding positions, nor were the recruited ones allowed to keep any belongings connected to their old life. There was also two more tank platoons formed, using the armor found at the platforms. The fleet was getting bumped up.
The fate of the platforms was to stay in one piece. The command decided to leave the scum who did not want to join them here, along with the other minor ships of their defeated fleet. With the New Trinidad station stripped of anything useful except enough food to last until help arrived, McNorman stopped harming the pirates' organization, bearing in mind his lack of judicial authority over them.
In other words, the assault on the New Trinidad pirates' stronghold was a success. Everybody that had left Umoja felt, that their homeworld would be proud of them if they could see their exploits. However, the high command knew that it was early to rejoice. None of the planets were explored and the mysterious Protoss were still out there, unseen and unheard of.