Dust Bunny (Rust Bucket Universe) Read online

  "Will any of you listen to me now and give up this doomed effort?" he asked of the officers on the bridge who steadfastly ignored him.

  ***

  Admiral Oden left headquarters and got inside the new armored hover that Admiral Reason insisted Dave use from then on. There was little he could do now that everything was in motion. It was time to visit the Space Academy that he was still responsible for. He was concerned about the men and women he was sending into combat, now that the Academy's curriculum was scaled back to three years. Despite the war, he still held meetings with cadet ensigns, some of whom were hardly cadets any longer since they had been activated to fight off the robots. In the meetings, he hoped that he might discern how well his cadets were advancing in their studies and what assistance he might give them.

  ***

  Admiral Kruler received the message that the remaining Seraphan fleet was approaching Opal. He returned back to the bridge. He barely spent any time at all watching the second battle that lasted a mere half-hour before the Opalian fleet retired victorious. Now he watched as the slightly larger group of surviving Seraphan ships begin its ill-fated attempt.

  Their approach was somewhat more direct and solid. Kyle watched as the Opalian fleet branched out into a V-formation that threatened to envelop the Seraphan fleet.

  ***

  "They're attempting to surround you!" Fleet Admiral Cain shouted at the officers.

  Finally, some of them quit ignoring him and looked closer at the sensor displays.

  "He's right! He might not think this attack should take place, but he still knows tactics," one officer said.

  "Instruct the fleet to charge to the left, then twist down, under, and swivel up! You'll have some of them in your sights then!" Cain shouted.

  Somehow, the instructions went out. Most of the group responded, evading the trap and managing to destroy one of the Opalian warships. It hardly made up for the two Seraphan ships that stayed within the trap and were handily destroyed in exchange.

  Even though the Seraphans disrupted the trap, the Opalian fleet wasn't stampeded into mistakes. Their ships, with the Seraphan fleet on their tails, folded the V into a line formation so that the other half of the V-formation protected them while they turned. Once again, both fleets faced each other.

  "Charge at their left flank!" Cain shouted.

  Again the instructions went out and the Seraphan fleet responded. If nothing else, the battle was weeding out the unfit and those who wouldn't follow instructions. The two fleets passed by each other as the Seraphan fleet in a globular formation swept into the end of the line and managed to destroy two Opalian ships while only losing one of their own.

  "What now?" one of the officers asked of Cain.

  "If you're smart, you'll save the fleet and return to Serapha. Otherwise, follow up on the attack. Wheel to the right quickly to hit their rear!" Cain said.

  The order didn't go out quickly enough. Opalian ships were soon on the rear of the Seraphan formation, disabling and destroying ships as before. Cain issued more orders. The officers finally followed those at last without question or hesitation, issuing instructions to the few remaining ships. Eventually the twenty remaining Seraphan ships vacated the killing zone and moved almost out of range.

  "We can't go back like this!" one officer exclaimed. "We've dishonored the Navy!"

  "You've destroyed the Navy. That's even worse than dishonor. About the best we can do now is return to Serapha. We can also pray that Opal doesn't pursue us all the way back there," Cain said.

  ***

  Kyle wondered if the Seraphan fleet, barely the size of a light squadron, would turn and attack again. He was somewhat sickened as he thought of all those people on both sides who died because Serapha wouldn't tolerate someone else's beliefs or lack of any belief.

  ***

  The drifting Opalian warship was easy for the retreating Seraphan fleet to capture. Again, the officers were in mutiny as they ignored Fleet Admiral Cain's instructions. They went ahead and engaged it, making sure that the few active Opalian gun crews were wiped out before they boarded the disabled ship. Once on board they took no prisoners even though the surviving crew attempted to surrender. Some were shot down. Others were thrown out into space without suits. Then the ship was taken into tow while a prize crew went about repairing some of the lighter damage.

  ***

  The Union's relief squadron took position around Bragh. While there, they intercepted some returning Ape-oid warships. The relief squadron destroyed them when they refused to surrender. While the relief squadron kept watch on the Ape-oid world, mine layers went to work replacing the mines taken out by meteors.

  ***

  Admiral Oden returned to headquarters and went over the reports that were piled up and waiting for him. Piled up was hardly the correct term since ninety-nine percent of them were electronic and stored inside his terminal. He could have had a secure terminal placed in his armored hover and another even at the Academy, but he felt then like he wouldn't be giving any of the younger leaders a chance to strut their stuff. Instead, he encouraged his staff officers to make decisions in his absence. Sometimes, they actually did.

  He looked at the reports from Kyle and nodded as he read them. It still bewildered him how someone could throw away that many ships and lives for nothing. The reports on Bragh were optimistic sounding. Dave felt like he could finally devote his entire attention back to Malak, the real threat to everyone in the galaxy, be they Blue, human, or Ape-oid. Still, he left Kyle's force where it was since it was also there to counter any Malakin threats to the Union and not just the Seraphan designs on Opal.

  Chapter 15

  "Hurry up and get that ship refitted!"

  "Put your backs into it for Jesus!"

  Shipyard workers placed most of their efforts into one particular ship, ignoring almost all the others there on the field for repairs. At one end of the field, two other ships were tended to with almost the same degree of intensity.

  ***

  "Fleet Admiral Cain, how do you account for your actions?" Council Member Tucker demanded.

  "How could you lose almost the entire fleet? Are you insane?" another council member asked.

  Admiral Cain stood quietly in front of the council. He looked at them with calmness, determined not to allow them to ignite his temper. Silently he thought, with the help of Jesus I will get through this test of my character. Cain permitted them to throw more accusations at him that contradicted one another until they ran out of steam. Only then did he speak. "I stand here accused of losing the fleet. By your own accusations and depositions, you have enough proof to see for yourselves that I did all I could as a mere mortal, even with the help of God, to lead our fleet in its just cause. There is no doubt that our personnel were truly dedicated, but too many of our sub-leaders were not sufficiently grounded in the art of making war. It is not enough to charge the enemy and hold in the faith of God to create a victory. One must still put forth the effort. That requires more than charging blindly ahead. If I do not possess enough of the qualities for leadership and knowledge of the art of making war, then you should remove me. Otherwise, I stand ready to do the bidding of God, whatever it may be."

  ***

  Admiral Wund's force neared the home worlds of the Malakins. So far, his ships hadn't been spotted as they coasted silently, almost ghostlike behind the last of the asteroids thrown at those home worlds.

  He watched on the hologram imaging device as one of the torpedoes ahead of his lead ships suddenly activated, sped up, and sought out an enemy ship. The enemy ship suddenly accelerated and made its escape before the slower torpedo could reach it. No radio messages were picked up from the enemy ship as it left. Admiral Wund decided, after several moments of serious pondering, that his force was still undiscovered and safe.

  ***

  Some of Commodore Sorenson's squadron arrived back at Beulah for repairs. Rather than keep the entire squadron tied up where it would become a sudd
en deluge and strain on the shipyards, she had released some of them that needed repairs and were still capable of reaching Beulah on their own power to move on ahead at their best speed.

  Admiral Oden went to meet with each ship as it arrived. He could tell from the battle damage on the ships that the crews had distinguished themselves. He felt quite proud to be in a Navy with personnel such as the men and women returning on those ships. He hoped he wouldn't have to send them back out too soon. However, he knew that he would, rather than see the Union destroyed.

  ***

  "Captain King, do you understand your orders?"

  "Yes, councilman. We're to move about in the Union territory bordering on Opal and create an incident so that the Union will enter the war on our side. I feel confident that we can accomplish that."

  "Excellent! You don't have any qualms about that, do you?" the councilman asked.

  "Well, I see it as necessary for us to kick them in the seat of their pants in order to wake them up to the danger that Opal presents to them. We'll do some light damage and make it look like they managed to escape on their own," the captain said.

  "You may have to do more than light damage. You might have to kill some of their people on board those ships to wake them up sufficiently."

  "Then if it has to be, we shall do it. Those casualties will merely be martyrs on the way to their own redemption and salvation," the captain responded.

  "I'm glad that you understand the circumstances, Captain. God be with you."

  Less than an hour after the briefing, the recovered and hurriedly repaired Opalian ship launched from Serapha with a Seraphan captain and crew on board.

  ***

  More ships from Commodore Sorenson's squadron arrived. One of them was the Dust Bunny. She settled down on the landing field where technicians hurried over to her to begin the damage assessment and repairs.

  Admiral Oden arrived some minutes later, mostly because he wanted to stay out of the way of the technicians. He watched as some wounded were taken out and departed for the hospital. Then the crew and officers came out. He walked forward to greet them. "Captain Blith, your ship did very well out there."

  "Thank you, Admiral. It was a bit hectic, but I've got a good crew. Plus we had help from some of the crew of the Mars City. We couldn't have done it without them. I've got some recommendations for awards for those personnel," she replied.

  "They'll be taken care of pronto," Dave answered.

  "I figured they would be. How soon can we get back out? Will we be sent to Malak? The crew and I are all anxious about that."

  "Captain, I can't give you an answer on that right now. I wish I could, but until your squadron is back together again in a few more days, I don't see us sending out only a few ships by themselves," Dave answered.

  "So we do have a good chance of taking part in the Malak festival then?"

  "You have a slim chance, but that's about all it is right now," Dave replied.

  ***

  Captain King looked at the sensor readings showing a ship not far away. He instructed the helm to pursue the vessel making those readings. Then he waited almost an hour for them to get within long range.

  "Gunners, fire!" he ordered.

  Bolts leapt out from his ship at the freighter, hitting it with ease since it was a Union ship in Union territory and the Union wasn't at war with Opal. Signals went out almost immediately from the freighter requesting Navy help to protect it from the warship.

  ***

  Admiral Kruler went to the bridge from being awakened in his quarters.

  "Admiral, we're already underway for the area where the freighter reported the attack. Do you have any special instructions?" the ship's captain asked.

  Kyle shook his head as he looked at the replay of the information sent to it from the freighter. The information clearly revealed the attacking ship to be from Opal. For a moment he was puzzled. He knew that Opal had defeated Serapha in their battle days ago. Opal even sent most of its fleet back to its planet, leaving only enough on guard to deal with what was left of the Seraphan fleet. Other than salvage crews, Opal's navy was behaving itself while remaining quite quiet. Then Kyle came up with what he knew was the correct scenario. The ship wasn't manned by an Opalian crew anymore. The ship had to be manned by a crew from Serapha. Until he could capture or destroy it in order to gain the evidence he needed, he would have no proof that it wasn't Opal attacking.

  "Yes, I do now. Instruct our gunners on all ships to disable the warship when we encounter it. I want prisoners from it. If I'm right, the crew members on that warship aren't from Opal," Kyle said.

  "They're not?" the captain replied.

  "No, Opal won decidedly a few days ago. They don't have any reason to attack the Union and bring us down on them. I don't think they're that stupid for several reasons. I believe that they know our greater resources will wear them down, even if they should happen to be as good as we are tactically. I also believe that we're better in battle and that they know it, too. As well, they don't stand to gain anything by attacking us in this manner," Kyle said.

  "But Admiral, why would anyone from Serapha do this? They're very religious. They believe in being good, in honesty, and in honor," the captain said.

  "They might believe in those things, but that doesn't mean they can't do something like this. They might feel that the ends justify the means. I think that they're desperate to erase the stigma of losing badly and don't want to suffer the humiliation of Opal remaining a thorn in their side. But, whether I'm right or wrong, we're not going to find out unless we capture some of the crew from that ship. Am I right?" Kyle said.

  "Yes, sir. We'll certainly know who's doing it then."

  ***

  "A Union squadron is proceeding toward the area near Opal, sir."

  "Not to Opal?" the councilman asked.

  "Not yet, sir. Their course appears to be to where the freighter was attacked."

  "Send a coded message to our ship and have them make an attack on the squadron," the councilman said. "Then get a status report on Project Hades."

  "Yes sir."

  ***

  Admiral Oden spoke over the communications link with Admiral Kruler. "I agree with your assessment. That ship is probably manned by Seraphans. You've already chosen the best course of action. Don't be surprised if they attack your squadron even though you outnumber it by thirty to one. If the captain of that ship is fanatical enough, he'll be hoping or praying that your gunners obliterate all the evidence. He might even have the ship rigged to destroy itself and do the job."

  "I understand, Dave. You're saying that we have to hit the bridge and the engines. We can do that," Kyle said.

  "Right, Kyle. One more thing, even if you stop this attempt, don't be surprised if Serapha tries something else. I don't know what they might try, but from the sounds of everything, I don't think they're done by a long shot. This feels like an act of desperation on their part."

  ***

  Admiral Wund gave the orders for all warships to charge at their assigned targets. Their days of coasting were finally at an end. The last asteroids launched by Admiral Nick's crews were already entering the atmospheres of the targeted Malakin planets. With Wund's signal, his ships powered on their engines to join the attack already in progress by the disguised Union warships and the bomb ships that the Malakin fleet had engaged. So far, the battle was beginning as planned. He already knew that from the initial communications received from other parts of his fleet.

  Plenty of ships were in that ongoing battle, some of them hastily trained to take the place of ships that went through the training and then were pulled out due to battle damage incurred while defending Beulah or one of the other outer planets. Despite that, the plan somehow managed to go off fairly smoothly and mostly according to plan. Benz attributed that to the quality of overall training in the fleet. Now his ships were in striking range with the men and women aboard them all eager to fight. Benz, himself, was eager to fight and to
move quickly to the aid of the other attacking elements.

  ***

  Admiral Oden monitored the reports coming across space from the invasion force. So far, he was more than satisfied with the initial results. The bomb ships worked for the most part, destroying a significant number of what they expected to be mostly robot warships. The marines were landing on the planets just after the asteroids hit. Initial casualties among them were lighter than expected. Only two transport ships were taken out before reaching the surface. The destroyers, hidden in their shells, came out successfully and kept most of the transports safe. They were doing their best to attack the Malakin fleet from the rear while other Union ships attacked from the front.

  Now Admiral Oden permitted himself to smile again as communications indicated that Admiral Wund had entered the fray with his warships. That was the key element to success and it had come off without a major hitch.

  ***

  Kyle watched as the squadron caught up with the Opalian-made warship. It didn't behave as if it was commanded by an Opalian captain. He picked up his communications headset and held it rather than putting it on. "This is Admiral Kruler to the captain of the Opalian-built warship. You are ordered to surrender your ship or face the consequences."

  Kyle waited for an answer though he suspected that there wouldn't be one. Regardless, Kyle tried once more. "This is Admiral Kruler to the captain of the Opalian-made warship. You are ordered to surrender your ship. You have one minute to consider your options. When your time is up, you will be attacked."

  ***

  Dave briefly looked at the message from Admiral Kruler that his force had cornered the rogue warship, for lack of a better term at the present time. Then he turned his attention back to the war reports from Malak.

  ***

  Admiral Kruler nodded to the captain as he ordered, "Captain, capture that ship."

  "Aye, sir!"

  With great precision, the squadron moved so that it was spread out. They weren't going to give a single warship an advantage to attack them in a manner where they would be almost unable to fire back for fear of hitting one of their own ships. While spreading out, some of the ships slid into blocking positions so that they could prevent the single warship from escaping.