Dust Bunny (Rust Bucket Universe) Read online

  "Oh that! The Malakins possess tremendous industrial capacity. There was too much for our force to destroy in one pass, let alone a hundred," Kyle said.

  "Exactly. We're not going to stop them unless we stop their industrial capacity. That means we'll have to attack them again and again until we can significantly reduce their military output," said Dave.

  Admiral Nick asked, "Should we plan on sending in marines?"

  Dave nodded his head. "We're going to have to keep the Malakins so tied up that they either sue for peace or we destroy them utterly and completely. Gentlemen and ladies, let's get busy with planning the second attack on the Malakin home worlds. I want suggestions for the units in the best shape and your impressions about which of those units are most likely to succeed. This will be a long term attack with full support. That means we're going to send some additional support vessels to make complex repairs, handle the wounded, and provide whatever else those men and women are going to need out there. I want mine layers and supply ships with more mines to resupply the mine laying ships. I want a thickly mined corridor leading to those planets that the Malakin forces won't dare approach without paying a dear price first. Be prepared with recommendations for paring down some of the defensive squadrons in order to beef up the ones we send out. They're going up against the Malakins in the enemy's own front and back yards. The Malakins will have shorter supply routes and access to almost everything of theirs that can fight. I want to be able to take out two of their worlds industrial capacity before they even know that we're there."

  "You're leading the force, Dave?" asked Admiral Nick.

  "I thought I would. Why not?" asked Admiral Oden.

  Nicky said, "Because the kid needs the experience and he did well already. The entire Union will rest better knowing that you're here and not out there. It's not the same as it was for you a decade ago. You were still making a name for yourself. You go out there now and get yourself killed, our people are going to panic. Especially after the near civil war we almost fought. You don't have the luxury of going out on every raid anymore. Simply put, the Union and its people won't be panicked if Kyle buys the farm. No disrespect meant, Kyle. You also said that he's about as good as you."

  Admiral Heavywolf said, "Nicky, you forget. There is one other officer we should consider. Admiral Wund is exceptional and would probably appreciate the honor of leading the force. It would be good for the Union if his people were seen leading the first large scale attack. Also, like Dave, I do not believe the trouble with Serapha is over quite yet. Let's keep Kyle for that when it occurs. I think our politicians would appreciate us making their jobs a little easier, after we finish destroying enemy warships, by considering whom we choose ahead of time for each battle."

  "Well spoken, Wolfie," said Dave.

  "Well, Dave, you told me when you're treated like a Norse god, you've got to think like one," Heavywolf replied.

  Dave realized that he had a decision to make. He looked at the admirals gathered around him and then said, "Heavywolf is right. Benz, you're leading the attack on the Malakin worlds. Kyle, you're going to have to wait for Serapha to make its move as I'm sure it will. As for me, maybe I should have brought that wheelchair back with me since all I'll get to do is sit around and plan when I'm not twiddling my thumbs. At least, I could have popped wheelies around the planning table. They do still call them that, don't they?"

  Rear Admiral Karen Dickson said, "No, Dave. Most of the kids get the hover chairs and when they cut loose, they call it trimming the walls. Besides, that chair of yours didn't have wheels. I saw the Net images of you in it. It was an ordinary hover chair. What did you do on Earth, anyway, watch a bunch of old entertainment movies?"

  Dave blushed as his secret passion for old, very old, movies was almost revealed. If forced to admit it, he had a field day while on Earth watching some of the old classic movies, restored many times over so they could still be shown. At the same time, Dave knew that his casual behavior had driven Lordsman up the walls.

  ***

  Admiral Wund went over the plan with the commodores and ship captains for the offensive on the Malakin home worlds. His force was comprised of four carriers, along with their two squadrons, and a squadron of former Leuion warships with reinforced hulls for ramming. Along with those, he had mine layers, resupply ships, a hospital ship, and salvage/repair ships to handle major refittings in space of any ships that were disabled or tow them back to Union territory if possible.

  Carefully, each aspect of the plan was gone over with an attention to detail that an explosives expert responsible for defusing a bomb would appreciate. Very little was being left to chance.

  ***

  Lieutenant jg Sylvia Barter looked with pride at the carrier she was reporting to as her choice of assignment. She also didn't know why, but she had a good feeling about being aboard the fighter carrier Beulah. She didn't know when, but she felt certain it was going to eventually attack the Malakin home worlds. It was part of her reward from Admiral Oden for training satellite pilots to maneuver their stations around in combat. It didn't matter that Admiral of the Navy Reason had subsequently ordered all space stations to avoid combat. Without its space station, a planet was nearly isolated from the rest of the Union.

  ***

  The small task force swung wide of the Malakin worlds as it finished imaging and sensing a third world. By now, there were too many enemy ships in pursuit for them to fight off at their current cruising speed. It was time to leave and let the surveillance devices take over doing the job, even though the devices couldn't also attack and cause major damage as the warships could. However, the information the devices sent back was worth more toward winning the war than any damage or destruction one of them might cause with the same mass of explosive power.

  So far, the task force had managed to inflict severe damage with very little done to themselves. They were well prepared to bug out when their protective cover warned them of the approaching Malakin retaliation. Unless the Malakin ships were faster than anything shown off before, they weren't going to catch up to the task force.

  Leaving quickly, the task force had only two tasks left to do. One they were doing merely by being pursued. They were leading off a large quantity of Malakin warships that wouldn't be able to attack the Union until they gave up the chase and returned home. The second was also simple and being done. They were to save themselves and eventually return home.

  ***

  Sylvia was somewhat surprised when the squadron left two days later under strict communications silence. She and the other fighter commanders were soon called into the briefing room on board the Beulah. There was a hush in the room as the importance of what was about to be said was waited for with great anticipation.

  "Please stay seated everyone. The Beulah and its squadron, along with the borrowed Echo, are under the command of Admiral Benz Wund. Also, the Berserker Squadron with the borrowed carrier Edun and their own carrier, Adriena, are part of this task force. A squadron of former Leuion warships with reinforced hulls, now formally the 22d Squadron, are the third element. The fourth element consists of a hospital ship, salvage/repair ships, mine layers, troop transports, and some assorted support ships."

  "A few days ago, a very small task force went out on an intelligence mission to the Malakin home worlds. They succeeded in sending back massive amounts of information. Then they staged a hit and run attack on three of the Malakin home worlds. After that, they zipped out into deep space before the Malakins could catch up to them. They are now leading off a considerable number of defending Malakin warships. Taking advantage of this situation, we are proceeding at top speed to the Malakin home worlds on an extended vacation at the expense of the Malakins."

  There were cheers, yells, and general hysteria at the opportunity the fighter commanders suddenly realized was theirs.

  "Settle down folks. This isn't going to be easy. We've got fourteen Space Marine units in transports. We're responsible for getting them on the
surface of seven planets simultaneously. Once we accomplish that, we're free to find and destroy every military and industrial target we can get to. It is our intention not to leave the Malakin home worlds until they surrender or are wiped out. The terminals of the ship have been freshly supplied with the latest information and images that we have. The fighters will be responsible for escorting the transports to the surface of the planets. Each transport will have eight fighters escorting it. There will be two fighters remaining behind with each carrier for defense. You'll find your assignments listed in the terminals. Study those and formulate questions. We'll meet again this time tomorrow to discuss your questions and iron out problems. Dismissed."

  ***

  Admiral Kruler concentrated his efforts on studying about and observing Serapha. After Admiral Oden gave out the assignments, Admiral Heavywolf confided that it was better that Kyle take Serapha on so that public opinion would rest with the Navy if anything happened. As Wolfie had explained it, Kyle didn't have an axe to grind. Thus Kyle was easily the best qualified officer to handle the chore who didn't have a public image problem that could hurt the Navy.

  With that in mind, Kyle threw himself into learning everything possible about Serapha. He soon interviewed Commodore Bland and members from his Grim Reapers Squadron concerning the battle with Fleet Admiral Cain of Serapha.

  "Truthfully, we could have clobbered Cain's fleet inside of the first twenty minutes had our hands not been tied," Bland said.

  "Are the Seraphan forces that bad?" Kyle asked.

  "It's not a matter of skill on their part. It was mostly a lack of cooperation among them that gave me that impression. With all the different types of ships they possessed, they could have presented a more formidable front."

  "In what way?"

  "Simply put, they could have combined their ships' different advantages to create a better offense. Instead, they wasted their hardware and their tactical ability. We didn't have to counter more than one type of tactics at the same time or deal with more than one kind of weapon, either. Of course, their failure to use all their weapons was probably due to their own ships getting in the way too often. For that, I'm thankful. Otherwise, we'd have had some significant losses, though I still feel certain that we would have prevailed."

  Kyle even spoke at length with Admiral Oden to gain his impressions of the Seraphans.

  "Well, Admiral Cain isn't dumb. However, he's not a great tactician," Dave said.

  "Then he got lucky in dealing with that Malakin dreadnought?"

  "I'd say he was very lucky in that battle. Admittedly, I gave him some advice, but he commanded his force."

  "What did you advise?"

  "I suggested that he order his ships to run for it. Taking our ships' positions into account, I thought for sure that Cain would leave the other ship to lead off the enemy dreadnaught while Cain delivered me to Earth for trial. However, he had far more integrity than I first suspected. When the opportunity popped up, he ordered his ship to swing around and shut down the Malakin's engines with a T-shot. After that, it took Cain's two ships an hour to knock out the enemy gun positions and force a surrender."

  That was as Kyle suspected after learning how poorly the Seraphan warships did earlier. Regardless, Kyle knew there was no way for the Seraphans to suddenly learn that much in tactics on their own. He strongly suspected that Dave somehow had something more to do with capturing that ship than Dave would admit.

  Kyle likewise stopped in at military intelligence and learned what they knew. Afterwards, he asked them to plant more eavesdropping devices near and on Serapha if the opportunity presented itself.

  ***

  Within a few days, Kyle had enough information to begin formulating his plans for dealing with several projected scenarios concerning Serapha. His first decision was to use the Grim Reapers Squadron again. They were already familiar with the Seraphan fleet and very capable, judging from the first encounter. If the Seraphans had to be knocked down with a velvet glove again, Kyle knew they could do it. If he was forced to use a mailed fist, they could do that just as easily. Kyle hoped that Admiral Oden didn't need them for another assignment. If so, then he'd use the Raving Rangers Squadron. Kyle had worked with the the 16th Squadron before and knew they were more than merely competent.

  Now Kyle received daily reports from intelligence on Serapha. Soon a full picture emerged. He studied it in the way he had learned. He looked for components of the picture and then for the big picture. He searched for inconsistencies and consistencies. A pattern emerged that soon told him most of the story. Serapha was actually getting ready for war. Only one piece of the picture remained lacking. Who was Serapha preparing to go to war against? Would it be Malak, Opal, or the Union? Because of the big question, Kyle saw that it was time to include others in his research and conclusions.

  ***

  There were sentry warships in place when the invasion fleet arrived. Immediately the alarm was given. Malakin warships gathered quickly to strike at the Union fleet they expected to fight in a conventional fleet versus fleet confrontation.

  The Malakins were wrong again. The force they spotted was but a portion of the invasion fleet. The small contingent of ships the Malakins first spotted led the Malakins off at the crucial moment so that none of the enemy warships on sentry duty were in place to disrupt or stop the invasion. As soon as the area was clear, the other parts of the Union fleet swept in at high speed toward the unprotected planets and into their atmospheres with their important cargo of space marines. Only when the small contingent received communications of successful landings nearly an hour later did they suddenly and swiftly wheel about before charging at the armada of Malakin warships that greatly outnumbered them.

  Admiral Benz Wund led the charge of the former Leuion warships with their reinforced hulls into the midst of the Malakin fleet where weapons could scarcely be used over concerns of hitting one's own side. It didn't matter to Admiral Wund that his warships had the same handicap. He knew that his ships could still fight even if only by ramming with the hardened prows, which they did. Breaking through the Malakin formation, Admiral Wund led everyone back toward the Malakin home worlds. There, his force would be joined by the other two squadrons for an even larger battle.

  ***

  On Beulah, Dave and Kyle listened to reports from two battles at Dave's headquarters. One battle was at Beulah as Union forces defended against yet another wave of Malakin attackers. The other report was from Admiral Wund's invasion force.

  "This is going to be bad for us, Kyle," said Dave.

  "Why? We're holding, aren't we?"

  "We are, but Benz can't. Not for long enough. Look at these reports we're receiving. The Malakins have five times as many warships as we first thought from our surveillance. We can't even get any reinforcements to Benz for days, either. Plus, I suspect that the Malakins have even more in reserve. I'm ordering Benz out. We can't afford to lose that many people or warships. Especially the people."

  "I suppose you're right, but what about the marines they landed?" asked Kyle.

  "Benz will have to lead the Malakins off once more and somehow manage to leave behind a few warships to protect the transports while they make the pickup and escape," replied Dave. "We'll have to try again later with a larger force and a few new ideas I've been researching."

  ***

  Without the mine layers, Admiral Wund wouldn't have been able to successfully break off fighting with the main enemy force. The mine laying ships put out a dense wall of mines that the Union warships passed through safely as soon as they returned from leading the Malakin war fleet away from their home worlds a second time while the transports recovered most of the space marines. Even on the planets, it was worse than anyone knew it would be, though not nearly as bad as what the Union warships faced. The outrigger drones bore the brunt of ground action, saving the marines from near certain annihilation.

  When the Union warships went through the mine field, they fired off torped
oes to their flanks to prevent the pursuing Malakin force from attempting to get around the mine field and resuming the pursuit. Even then, a token force of Malakin warships managed to swing widely enough to avoid both the mines and torpedoes before taking up the pursuit once more.

  With only a short head start on their pursuers, the Union force was glad to see the reinforcements that met them after they left FTL mode to re-enter Beulah's solar system. Only then did the Union force under Admiral Wund turn and fight again, destroying most of the token pursuit as it came out of FTL mode and causing the surviving Malakin warships to flee.

  If Admiral Wund's force hadn't been so battle damaged, he might have returned to Malak right then. However, too many of his ships needed repairs, some desperately.

  ***

  "I'm sorry, Benz. I didn't know that there were that many of them," said Dave. "If I had, I would have given you three times as many warships and marines."

  "Do not be sorry, Dave. We bearded them anyway and learned that they have more ships hidden somewhere. Besides, the public is still enthusiastic about the damage we caused. They probably didn't expect us to launch this particular attack this soon. Next time, we will go with three times as many ships and not have to run," Benz replied.

  "Yes, but first, we're going to send out another reconnaissance mission with more sensors to blanket a wider area. We're going to find their hidden bases and get a truer picture of their real strength. Then we'll go in with enough firepower and tricks along with the full intention of staying."

  ***

  Within a week, several plans were placed into action. One was merely to cover the others and give the Malakins something to think of. Navy deep-space salvage ships were used to gather asteroids and shove those into an orbit that would intersect one of the seven known Malakin worlds. Only those large enough not to burn up on entry into an atmosphere were used as computers churned out the trajectories and speeds before the huge rocks were hurled at their targets. A second reconnaissance mission left to search a wider area for the hidden Malakin military bases. Again, only the fastest warships were sent out on the mission.