Starfire
Copyright© 2025 by Mark Randall
Chapter 36
Thad Sawyer, like everybody else, had been monitoring the conversation. Smiling to himself, Thad activated his pinata’s.
On board the Invictus, the CIC sensor officer immediately noticed this and called out. “Captain, we have 24 new contacts. Profiles indicate Starfire’s inbound.”
The blood drained from Captain Kaplan’s face. “24 Starfire’s?” He turned towards Keseburg, “Did you know about this?”
“No, “Keseburg sputtered, “We only knew about 24, not 48 Starfire’s.”
Captain Kaplan turned back to the CIC officer. “I want a radar scan of those inbound contacts. Confirm that they are really there.” He then turned to his weapons officer. “I want a missile spread readied for launch. Keep the safeties in place until I order differently.”
A tense 5 minutes passed, then “Captain, our radar scan on the new contacts is inconclusive. It appears we may have been spoofed. But there is another problem.”
“Go ahead, what’s the problem?”
“Well, Sir, our scan included Mr. Keseburg’s main target. The Doppler shift shows that the distance to the target is increasing.”
“What does that mean, Captain?” Keseburg demanded.
“It means that your friends on the Seward’s Folly have increased speed. I’m afraid that your plans to take over that ship have failed. There is no way we can catch up to them now.”
“So, just increase power. We have to catch up to them.”
“As I have repeatedly told you, WE DON’T HAVE THE FUEL. We need to let them go on their way. Then when your resupply ship gets here, we’ll be able to get back on their trail.”
“You don’t understand, Captain. There is no resupply ship.”
“What are you talking about? All this time, you have been assuring me that there would be a resupply ship.”
“There is a resupply ship, and that ship is the Seward’s Folly. Our resupply is the fuel onboard that ship.”
Captain Kaplan was speechless for a moment.
“What about the people on board? Do you mean to tell me that you would just set them adrift?”
“That’s one option; however, dead men tell no tales. There can be no testimonies if there are no witnesses. Besides, if they aren’t stopped, WE will be adrift. Are you willing to condemn your ship and crew captain?”
Kaplan looked around the bridge. Some of his crew were looking at him, their faces blank. He also remembered his letter orders from Admiral Washburn. He had arrived at the decision point that few commanders before him had thrust on them.
Turning to his weapons officer, “Lieutenant, a spread of four standard missiles launches on my order.”
Keseburg spoke up, “I knew you would see things my way, Captain.”
“Don’t flatter yourself, I’m doing this to save my ship and crew. At this point, I couldn’t care less about your precious mission.” Kaplan responded furiously.
Turning back to the weapons officer, “Lieutenant, launch missiles.”
All of the crew could see the launch indicators turn from green to red. “Missiles away, sir.”
“Thank you, Lieutenant.” Then he whispered to himself, “God forgive me.”
Bulldog 3 was the first to notice that the Invictus’ missile tubes were opening.
“Skipper, we’ve got trouble here.”
“What’s up, Bulldog 3?” Max asked.
“They just opened up their missile tubes.”
Before anything else could be said, they were almost blinded by the flare of launching missiles.
Max and everybody else were stunned. “Oh, Crap, we’re in for it now.” Max blurted out.
Max switched over to the general broadcast channel. “All Folly units, we’ve got a missile launch. Everybody scatter and track them.”
Thad had his search radar up and noted the missile launch. “Dragon 6 to Bulldog 6, it doesn’t look like any of your people are targeted. Damn, it looks like they’re headed my way.”
Switching over to the dragon frequency, he called out. “Vampire, Vampire, Vampire, All dragons we’ve got inbound missiles, everybody scatter.”
As the missiles got closer, it was obvious that they were not targeting any of the Dragon Starfires either. That was when it dawned on Thad that they were aiming for Seward’s Folly. He immediately broadcast on the general frequency, knowing that the Seward was monitoring.
“All units, those missiles are headed towards the Folly. Can anybody intercept?”
“I think I’ve got one locked in, boss. I’m launching now.” One of Thad’s Dragons called out.
There was a brief flare as Reuben Bailey, Dragon 10’s missile, left the rail. Everybody was holding their breaths as the two tracks slowly merged, then a brilliant flare signaled a hit.
Other Dragon Starfires also launched interceptor missiles. But none hit their targets.
Thad reevaluated the situation. There were now three missiles headed towards the Folly. He also realized that all of the Dragons were now out of position: all but one, Dragon 12, Maisie Drake.
“Maisie, can you engage?” He called out.
“Negative, boss, I’m bingo missiles. I’ll try to engage with guns, but we both know those aren’t very good.”
“Do the best you can, Maisie.” Thad then switched over to the Folly’s frequency. “Dragon 6 to Seward, heads up, you’ve now got three missiles incoming. We were able to take one out, but it doesn’t look like we’ll be able to get any more.”
That was when Thad noticed that Dragon 12 was closing with the missile. He fumbled for a moment, switching frequency, then “Drake, what in the hell are you doing. That’s too close even for guns.”
“I heard you, bossman, but like I said, I’m bingo missiles and my guns just went dry. This is the only way I can take this bugger out.”
“Maisie, don’t do it, it’s...” Thad stopped when the two signals merged, then disappeared.
He paused a moment, then switched back to Folly’s frequency. “Seward, revision on those inbound vampires. There are two of them now. Repeat, two vampires inbound to your location.”
Without waiting for a reply, Thad switched back to the Dragon frequency. “Dragon 6 to chicks, let’s get formed up for a battle run. This is a shooting war now.”
He was interrupted when he heard, “Invictus, stand down immediately. Cease all actions.”
“Captain Kaplan, we have a new targeting radar warning.”
Startled, Kaplan asked, “Where is it?”
“It’s directly aft Sir. And it’s a powerful signal.”
Just then, the radio station spoke up. “Sir, we have an incoming hail. Our RDF shows it as coming from the same source as the radar signal.”
“Put it on the speaker.” Kaplan began thinking that things had just gotten worse.
“Invictus, stand down immediately. Cease all actions.”
“Caller, this is Captain Kaplan. Who am I speaking to?”
“Captain Kaplan, this is William Eaton, Captain of the Battle of Durna.”
Captain Kaplan groaned.
Keseburg asked, “Battle of Durna? I think I’ve heard of that ship before.”
“You probably have. She’s a pirate ship. Years ago, she was the Prometheus, a Federated Navy Hunter/Killer. That is, until her crew mutinied and they disappeared into the asteroid belt. Since then, they have been harassing Federated navy and civilian ships.”
Eaton continued, “Captain Kaplan, I am going to have to ask for your surrender. Don’t worry, your crew will be treated well, and those who wish will be returned to Federated space. However, there are two conditions. Number one is that you have forfeited your ship. It will join us in our pursuits. The other condition is that Mr. Lewis Keseburg will be surrendered to us. He will be standing trial for his various crimes against humanity. He has much to answer for, Captain. I can assure you that your life, ship, and crew are not worth his freedom.”
Keseburg snorted, “Captain, enough of this foolishness, blow that pirate and his mutinous crew out of space.”
“I can’t do that, for a couple of reasons, mainly because he is in a perfect position to destroy us. And I have very little firepower facing aft. The moment I open my missile tubes or power up my targeting radars, he will be able to launch, and that will be it.”
Captain Kaplan slowly turned towards Keseburg. “In fact, Sir, I see no other option. To save my crew and my ship, I have to do this.”
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