The Flin Wars Ch 06

Once again hello and here's the latest instalment of the Flin Wars series, as. always this is a work of fiction and not real, any resemblance to any person living or dead is purely coincidental. I am trying to make these longer as was suggested by one of the readers. Thank you all who have read my works and left stars and comments, I do enjoy reading the comments so please keep them coming.

Date: 232308.09

Time: 0945.02

Location: Aspen 6217.87KA

'10 seconds till translation John.' Sam announced. I perked up and rotated the locking collar and flipped up the Master Arm switch. The weapons screen came to life and went from red to green letting me know everything was good to go.

'3,2,1, Now. I felt the ship translate back into real space and the stars swam back into focus, I looked and saw the 18 supply and 10 war ships right where Secret Squirrel had said they would be. I checked my scope and could see all 20 of my flight, and the remaining 44 ships of Cobra, Rattlers and Ghost flights were all here. Good this meant that we could bring the maximum amount of firepower to bare on the targets.

'Vipers on me, Cobra left, Rattlers right, Ghost to overwatch.' I called out and pushed my throttles up to FMP and bored in on the targets behind a cloud of ECM Jamming. Looking right and left I could see my pilots lined up and looking to kill the enemy. God I was proud of them.

I designated my target and waited 10 more seconds. 'All ships fire.' I called out and felt Sam punch off 2 Ripper missiles, 120 missiles screamed in at 10,000+ Gs' The supply ships didn't stand much of a chance, the 8 Frigates and 2 Cruisers stood a small chance, but I didn't really believe it. They might manage to evade a few missiles but with 80 coming at them from behind an electronic cloud they would die and die ugly.

It took 1 minute 18.2 seconds for the first ship to turn into a new star as a Ripper hit a Tanker and it died a sudden violent death. 20 others quickly joined it as new star after new star bloomed into existence and then just as quickly died out as round after round struck home. I looked at my scope and could see 7 ships remaining, 1 Cruiser, 5 Frigates and surprisingly 1 tanker on the far side of the fleet had managed to survive, all were slowly trying to limp away. They were damaged to one extent or another and I knew that the crews were trying to figure out what had just happened and what needed to be fixed so they could survive long enough to get home. I also knew they would live only for a few minutes more.

'All ships execute dragons jaws.' I called out and pulled hard on the stick taking 9 other ships with me. The other 10 pushed down as the others split left and right and within 30 seconds they would turn back towards the targets. 10 seconds after that we would launch once again from multiple angles: it was classic target over saturation, they'd have to split their defensive fire, and so far, no ship smaller than a Battleship had managed to defeat a dragon's jaw attack with more than 6 Rippers coming at them. The remaining ships were that right now, single wounded ships, scattered and alone. They were ripe prey for the wolves, and we were hungry and out for blood.

'Now.' came the call and I pushed the stick forward and stabilized Sam. I targeted the remaining Cruiser, and at the count of 2 squeezed the trigger yet again and waited for Sam to punch another Ripper off. And nothing happened. 'Switch 4, fire.' I told Sam and pulled the trigger. 2 seconds later I felt and saw the missile leap off the rail and speed towards the target.

'Sam what's the problem with 1?' I asked and brought up the diagnostic program on the center MFD in the cockpits instrument panel. "Checking John, it appears we have a short in pathway 17, junction 42, but I can bypass this.' Sam told me. 'Please pull breaker P32.' I quickly located the offending breaker and watched my screen turn green. 'Yes, back in the game.' I thought and looked up just in time to see the remaining tanker go Nova and light up the surrounding space. I checked my scope and saw nothing then looked up to see several pieces of a cruiser getting shredded yet again by the remaining Ripper missiles and turned into powdered scrap. I didn't see any frigates or anything else floating out there except for our ships.

'All section leaders check in.' I radioed and received 6 'No damage.' calls back. 'Sam, do we have enough BDA data yet?' I asked. 'Yes John.' She quickly answered. `I hit a button on my Nav screen and brought up our return course to the Carrier. 'All units execute flapjack.' I called out and gently banked around to port to the correct course. In under 2 minutes all ships were set and ready to jump.

'All units ready to jump in 5,4,3,2,1 Jump.' I felt the familiar kick in the pants as I once again went into warp. I safed out my weapons and sat back wondering why this many resupply ships were within 116 million Klicks of the border.

'Sam are there any major allied targets close by?' I asked. 'Checking John one minute please.' She replied and within 45 seconds my center MFD went blank then 19 station or system names popped up. At the bottom of the list was Pentel 616, shit. This was not good, this many supply ships; 8 Oilers, 6 Munition, and 4 General Cargo, could support 2-3 fast strike units of 8 to 12 ships each. I had to get my suspicions up the ladder fast. 'Sam, standby for a coded FTL message back to the Arc Royal, make the header Operational Imediat.' I said knowing that breaking comms silence could be the start of a major shit show. 'Message follows, Target destroyed. Composition consistent with resupply unit for multiple fast strike units. 19 possible high value targets within range, list included. Recommend breaking comms silence for warning them. Signed Bishop. Please code it and send it burst Sam.' I told her.

Within 10 seconds, my message was encoded, compressed into a 0.016 second burst of static and sent, I just hoped that the powers that be would come to the same conclusion that I had. I looked at the counter, 38.37 minutes till we were back.

Aboard the Arc Royal Comm Center, the receipt of my OI message caused a stir, it was quickly decoded and typed up. 'Runner.' The duty officer called out; a young female PO quickly appeared at his desk. 'Take this to the Flag Bridge and place it in the Admirals hands personally, yesterday.' He told her handing her the sealed envelope with the receipt chit attached. 'Sir.' She said and rushed for the armored hatch. He picked up the phone and called the Flag Bridge personally. 'Allen, let the man know he's got an OI coming up.' He said then hung up and opened the coded safe in his desk drawer. He checked to make sure the comm chips were in there yet again, everything was right where it was supposed to be. He locked it back up and smiled to himself, he suspected the Admiral was going to be sending a message soon enough.

The receipt and reading of my message caused a bit of a stir to say the very least, the Admiral and the ships CO Capt. Tony 'Wolfman' Jackson, quickly had a pow wow with the tactical teams that planned both the offensive and defensive strikes for the ship, the squadrons and the BG. Intel was called and brought in several decoded messages that showed exactly what may have been going on right this minute. 'We literally just translated these not 30 seconds before you called Sir.' LCDR Harmond King said, he was better known to everyone as 'Secret Squirrell'. 'They ID 3 different strike units in the area Sir, but their targets are code numbered and we may or may not have the target book that tells us what they are. I'm sorry Sir but were still going through all the stuff we took and cataloging and tagging it all.' He shrugged his shoulders showing his own frustration. 'My people are working 16, 18-hour days Sir trying to get through it all as quickly as possible.'

'Have we heard anything from any of the systems in question in the last say 6-8 hours?' Tony asked. 'Allen please call the comms room and see if they can shed any light on this would you please.'

The Admirals Chief of Staff Lola 'Shark' Eiser now spoke. 'Sir I hate to say this, but we may have to break comms silence. I know I've been the first and loudest to preach comms silence, but this is intel that needs to get out as fast as possible.' She looked around the circle of people. 'And yes, I know that the second we do so we are going to call every Smerf asshole in on us but think of the number of possible casualties if we sit on this info.' Loki and Wolfman looked at each other as Allen hung up the phone and made his report. '3 systems on the list haven't been heard from in that time frame Sir. Lantern 6, Ultra 441 and LG 97 have all gone dark within the last 4 hours. Also 2 ships have made garbled calls, but no one is sure if they were just regular updates or distress calls Sir.' He said.

'Time till the strikes return?' Tony asked. Several heads turned and looked at the event clock. '22.13 minutes Sir.' Allen said. Loki and Wolfman looked at each other yet again and shared a knowing look. Both had known the other for over 20 years, through 3 Squadrons, 4 different duty stations and 3 different ships. 'Ready 3 FTL comm probes Tony and upload the message, set the delay for 30 minutes.' Loki said. 'We'll launch just before we jump out of here. Be ready to jump just as soon as the strike returns.' The Admiral said. Tony nodded and quickly left for his place on the bridge.

'Finish your sorting and get me as much intel as you can Commander, lives may depend on what you find.' He told Secret Squirrel looking over at him. 'Aye, aye Sir.' He replied and quickly gathered up the papers he had brought and left. Loki quietly walked over to the forward view screens and stared down at the busy flight deck 5 levels below. 'God he was tired.' He thought, maybe his wife was right, fighting was a young person's sport. Maybe, just maybe she was right, it was time to tie up at the dock and let the youngsters do the heavy lifting.

'Thinking about quitting again Boss.' Lola asked quietly as she slid up next to him. Loki just snorted and continued to stare out the window.

'Am I that obvious Shark.' He quietly grumped back. She smiled.

'Only to those of us who really know and love you Loki.' She said.

'You do know there's about a thousand ways that this can go sideways Lo, and then as Stalker always says, 'our ass will be in the blender." They both chuckled, he looked at her seriously. 'Let's be ready to either fight like the 3rd monkey or haul our ass out of here Lo.' He told her. 'Yes Sir.' Lola said and headed for Combat, leaving him to his thoughts.

'1 minute John.' Sam told me once, once again bringing me out of my thoughts. I had been rereading yet again what I had wrote. 'Sam providing that the carrier isn't under attack when we pop out, please send the addendum to my first OI, code and burst it.' I said closing my virtual keyboard in the cockpit, there wasn't room in there for a real one.

'Of course, John and Fran would have sent out her emergency distress signal, so I don't believe she's under attack.' She told me, I flipped up my Master Arm switch, nevertheless.

Popping back into subspace I quickly did a head count, everyone was here. Whew! Good, next I scanned the area for my ride home. I quickly spotted it sailing along just as I had left it, undamaged and ready to receive us back. Good this meant that I wouldn't have to walk home, let me tell you that would have been one long walk. 'Ghost away,' I called out. 'Everyone check your IFF, let's get aboard as quickly as we can.' I watched Cobra then my group line up and enter the landing pattern. Rattlers brought up the rear as we all broke into 4 ship flights. 'Rattler 1, keep an eye on our 6, something doesn't feel right.' I called out. 'Roger that Viper 1, we got the back door.' She said.

I smiled to myself at LCDR Sunny 'Ice' Waters reply. I'd known her off and on for the last 7 years as our carriers nearly mirrored the others. And to answer that oh so burning question that everyone seems to have when we're around each other, yes, she was and still is damn good in bed.

I watched the first then the second EB-19C Raven, the Electronic Countermeasures bird trap aboard. This ECM AC was the reason I believe we were going to win; its sole purpose was to gather, dissect, interpret and then actively or silently jam electronic signals from the Flin. From the speed they were trapping aboard Wolfman wanted to get out of here with a quickness, which told me my OI had had the intended effect. I also knew that I would be talking with Loki yet again once I was back aboard.

'Everybody get aboard as quick as possible and be sure to safe out your weapons before you trap.' I sent to my flight and continued to watch, wait and worry about that itch I just couldn't scratch. 5 more trips around the pattern and it was my turn on the downwind leg, I started my landing mantra. Wheels down, hook down, weapons off, head on a swivel, throttles set, brain working, etc. etc. The ramp flashed by. 'Okay 3 wire.' #439, I still had it as I followed the directors to El 2 and was secured.

About a minute later my wingman joined me and we were dropped down to the hanger bay and dragged inside. From the amount of people rushing around I knew the Boss wanted to be out of here now. I could hear the steady thump of returning planes down here in the bay as I opened my canopy. Billy put the maintenance ladder in place and scampered up to help unhook me, I climbed out and could see 3 people standing at the bottom waiting for me. I flipped up the visor as I hit the deck and held up my hand to stop Doc Li, Karen and the Flag Lieutenant.

'Knuckles, Knuckles where the hell are you.' I hollered out. 'What do you want now.' He hollered back. 'Get your ass over here you old goat.' I called back as he walked over and looked at me. 'Ah shit, you got that itch again, Fuck.' He gripped back at me. 'Knuckles get every bird refueled and rearmed and check my fire control out.' I told him as he started punching in numbers into his wrist pad and spoke to someone. 'Bomb farm, send up 18 Rippers for Viper flight. The rest of you idiots get these birds refueled and check'em out.'

'Killer, Killer.' I yelled out yet again as Bill came jogging over. 'Keep everyone here and ready to launch if the need arises, I'm not sure but that itch is back Bill.' He simply nodded then started the ball rolling. 'Vipers on me, now.' He called out as I headed for the lift, everybody who had been waiting for me was now hot on my heals.

'Commander, Commander you caused quite a stir, and the Admiral is quite eager to speak with you about this.' Allan said as he trotted along side of me. 'We've intercepted several messages and decoded them. it seems as though your suspicions are quite correct.' He opened the lift doors and we all piled in. Heading up I felt a hand grab mine and I looked down as Karen looked up at me and smiled. 'Don't worry we're going to be just fine baby.' I told her.

The lift stopped on the O9 Level, and everyone piled off and headed for the armored hatch. Allen punched in a code, and we all stepped in when the hatch opened. The flag bridge was a beehive of activity, I could see that the Admiral was talking to Lola down in CIC. I could tell that from the background in her halo. '. the battle group is formed up for jump Sir, no anomalies detected. There's 5 ships left to land.' 'Lo I want us out of here in less than 5 minutes, also launch the comms probes, I want them out and away now.' Loki said and motioned me over. I popped my helmet and gloves off and handed them to Karen. 'Hold this baby and stay here.' I told her and walked over to the Boss.

'John how'd it go?' He asked. ' Good Sir, if there's any strike units out there, they're going to have a bit of trouble finding any food, fuel, parts or ammo. All ships destroyed Sir.' I told him.

'Comm probes away Sir, they have the message aboard on a 30-minute delay as per your orders. 3 left to land, we are showing a green board down here and Nav has the course locked in.' Lola said as another thump told me that now only 2 where left. 'Once the last bird is aboard and stowed Sir, we can jump 60 seconds afterwards.'

'John once we jump, I want a meeting with all squadron commanders, XO's, and section leads. When we reach the station, we may have a fight on our hands when we pop out of warp.' Adm. Taylor said, and we heard the last AC trap aboard. 'Commence securing the flight deck for immediate jump.' The Air Boss said, and we both looked over at the IC monitor and could see the remaining personal scurrying to secure the last pieces of gear and evacuate the flight deck. 'All hands prepare for immediate jump.' Came the announcement over the ships 1MC. I looked back to the Admiral. 'Sir might I suggest getting the Marine CO and some of his people in on the meeting too, if we do have to fight, they'll be the ones hitting the station or any ships that need boarding.' I told him. He thought about it for a few seconds and nodded. 'Good idea John, can you call them and let them know please.' He said. 'Yes Sir.' I replied and I headed to the aft bulkhead and quickly made the call.

'Jump gate forming aft Sir.' Shark said as everyone went into hyperdrive. 'Big gate Sir, Heavy Cruiser or better Boss.' Loki reacted immediately. 'Bridge get us the fuck out of here.' He said and headed for his jump seat. I pulled one of the spare seats out and started strapping in both Karen and myself. 'Shark, keep an eye on what ever it is.' He told Lola.

'Pri Fly flight deck jump status?' The OOD asked. 'Flight deck clear, ready to jump.' They quickly answered. 'All hands to jump station, all hands to jump stations.' Came over the 1MC.

'Boss it's a Battleship.' Shark said. 'Oh Shit! it's a T're Ka Class wagon Sir.' I knew from the intel briefs that they were bad news; they were one of the newer class of Battleships and could punch well above their weight. They had good armor and were well protected and well-armed. They were the replacements for the older type 36 wagons that stood almost no chance against us anymore.

I finished buckling Karen and myself in and pulled on my helmet and gloves. 'Hang on baby you may not like this, you were asleep for your first jump.' I told her.

I watched the worm hole open in front of the Battle Group and saw the first ships stretch and disappear into safety and I knew we were next as the timer counted down to 0.0. I glanced over to the tactical plot and could see 3 frigates pull up out of line and move to intercept the threat. Just as we jumped, I saw the data from multiple Hammerhead Missile launches.

The world stretched and for a few seconds time seemed to stop for an eternity, then everything was back to normal as my stomach flip flopped around. I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm my nerves as the stars streamed past us. I had never really told anyone, but I hated being able to watch the jump process. If I had to jump in Sam, I just kept my head down and prayed to the electronic gods.

I looked over at Adm. Taylor who was strapped into his jump seat huffing and puffing too, guess he didn't like the jump either. He looked over at me and smiled. 'Not a fan either are you, John.' He joked and released his belts, and I knew my face was as white as his. We both chuckled as I unbuckled, and Karen jumped up and down clapping her hands. To her the jump was an exciting new adventure. 'Master, Master that was fun, can we do it again?' She said excitedly.

Adm. Taylor started laughing and we all quickly joined him as Karen's exuberance was contagious and I hugged her to me. 'Not right away baby, but I suspect that during our trip inbound we'll have several jumps for you to enjoy.' I told her as we all laughed yet again as Adm. Taylor walk over to Karen and myself. 'John, why don't you introduce me to this charming young lady.' He said.