2804
Galedon V Defense Command.
“Sho-Sa!”
Sho-sa Karen Wilson frowned as she looked up. Panic like what was in the voice of her subordinate could be contagious.
“What is it?”
“Unknown ships have jumped in and are proceeding to the recharge station.”
Karen cursed. Galedon was behind the lines, at least as much as any world could be. Evidently the Federated Sun had chosen to pay them a visit.
“Can you ID the ships?”
“Not yet, but by their emergency signitures, they appear to be warships. All of them.”
Suddenly, his panic became much more understandable.
Traders Domain Flagship Horatio Nelson.
Admiral Miles frowned at the big screen. McKenna’s were provided with the best sensors known to man, and it was apparent that they’d kicked over an anthill as they approached the recharge station. At least 40 Aerospace fighters, some small craft, and six dropships were burning towards them and he bet that they had nukes. No warships though.
Their own force was also displayed. The Nelson, the Yamato, another McKenna, a Luxor and a screen of two Samarkand class carriers and a Quixote frigate.
An inconceivable weight of metal.
Or it would be, if the big ships could actually fight. Both Mckenna’s had maybe 8 operational NPPCs, and the Luxor wasn’t much better off. The entire display was just that, a display, masquerading as a “reasonable” counter strike in retaliation for DCMS sponsored raids into the Outworlds Alliance.
“Are we ready to transmit?”
“Yes, sir.”
“To all DCMS forces in the system. Your government has chosen to engage in piracy against the people of the Outworlds Alliance, who the Draconis Combine is officially at peace with. While this constitutes an act of war, the Traders Domain has chosen to deploy one of our fleets with the intent of engaging in a limited act of retaliation. We will destroy the Galadon V recharge station, upon reaching NPPC range from our battleships, and hereby call upon the crew to abandon the station. “
Moments later, Miles turned to his flag captain.
“They backing off, Greg?”
“Would you? The Dracs have a pretty simple answer to officers who give up without a fight.”
“Yeah, well, we were hoping for it.” The plot showed both Samarkands launching waves of fighters, their combined wings badly outnumbering the DCMS forces, while the Quixote maneuvered to bring its long range missiles to bear, even as the other dropships, a smattering of Pentagons backed up by larger civilian dropships converted to carry missiles.
In the end, it was the McKennas that brought them victory—not through any of their own act, despite the firing of the operational NPPCs—no, the Draconis pilots, desperate to destroy the capital ships, allowed themselves to be drawn into a deadly gauntlet of escort ships. The last Draconis Combine dropship, a Leopard class dropship converted into an assault craft, died a hundred miles short of the Nelson.
“Are we in range of the recharge station?”
“Yes, sir. Looks like some of the crew is evacuating.”
“Give them thirty more minutes.” Miles wasn’t eager to kill anyone else today. But at the end of his deadline, the massive nose batteries of the two battleships opened fire, reducing the station to twisted, metal.
“All ships, prepare to jump out.” After all, given how few house fleets have LI battery systems, time to scare them even more.
And that is her report, Coordinator.”
Jinjiro frowned. “And the battleships?”
“None of our forces were able to get close enough to them to get detailed information—both warships were listed as heavily damaged and abandoned during the Amaris conflict.”
“Likely left behind in a cache by Kerensky.” Jinjiro frowned. The glory of the Dragon demanded payment in blood for this offense.
But two McKenna’s, combined with the rest of their ships—the blood would not be all from the enemies of the Dragon, and that assumed there were no more ships than he’d seen.
“It could be that the ships are damaged, Coordinator.”
“They were intact enough to have functioning battery systems,” Another adviser retorted.
Jinjiro held up a finger and debate stilled. “For now,” he said. “Beginning a war with a party of unknown strength is not the path of wisdom. We will wait, and when I sit upon the throne of the Star League reformed, we shall have an accounting with these savages. Until then, we will cease direct raids upon worlds of the Outworlds Alliance, although we of course have no control over… Pirates.”
“Yes, Coordinator. The officer in charge has also…”
“She is not to use the garden. I have a greater need of officers than I do apologies.”
“Yes.”
Historical note:
The 2804 raid could have turned into a disaster, especially when one considers that at the time, it made use of the sum total of the currently combat-ready ships of the Traders Domain, to say nothing of the barely space worthy battleships. However, the Draconis Combine already had more than enough enemies, and the limited nature of the retaliation did not force the Coordinator to respond in the way a more severe attack would have. Although it did not end all pirate raids, the decision by the DCMS (and Federated Suns, once they received reports of the attack), to not antagonize a naval power of unknown size, provided the Traders Domain (soon to become the Outworlds Hegemony) with desperately needed breathing space.