Battle Group Castle
By
UCSBdad
Disclaimer: I own zero Castle. Rating: K Time: In an AU future and see below.
Author's note: This is a sequel to Vengeance and to Tercio Corazon Negro.
Chen contacted the ships' captains and gave them their orders. First, they were to move their ships, one at a time, to a polar orbit exactly opposite of the UK convoy and its escorts. Secondly, they were not to use their sensors or communications unless absolutely necessary. Chen let it be known that anything less than the complete destruction of a ship would not be acceptable for using any comms or sensors. He did leave one ship in orbit just above the horizon that the convoy would see to keep an eye on them.
Since the thirteen pirate ships and four captured merchant ships were all manned by just skeleton crews, the move took several days. Two pirate ships that were undergoing heavy maintenance had to be towed by tugs to their new orbit.
This didn't bother Chen as it gave him a chance to observe the convoy. They were doing nothing that alarmed him. He decided that they had come to Welland because it was the nearest planet where they could get their needed supplies. Chen smiled at how much it must gall the convoy commander to come hat in hand, asking for help and being charged extortionate rates for that help.
While the convoy wasn't doing anything to upset Chen, that didn't mean it wasn't doing anything.
"NO!" Shrieked Senor Luna of Santa Cruz ground control. "No. That's N. O. I've told every ship in your damned convoy at least a dozen times that no one, no one, is allowed to land here."
"Don't get your panties in a twist, bro." Came the reply. "But I've been talking to Hortalaez and Company down there, and they have some primo weed. We sort have agreed to a trade and…."
"NO!" Luna screamed again. "Never! Now get off this channel."
"Hey, bro." Another voice cut in. "You should go down to Pennsatucky. No weed, but they have some dynamite white lightening. Go to a dude called Amos…"
"GET OFF THIS CHANNEL NOW!" Luna bellowed. To his surprise, they did.
"Mr. Luna, we have something on the Guard Channel." Someone called.
"Guard channel, this is Santa Cruz ground control. What's your emergency? Over."
This was the reply.
"Oh, I wish I could go back again to Ireland,
"If only in the closing of my days,
"To see again the moonlight over Claddagh,
"And to watch the sun go down by Galway Bay."
"Get off this channel now. This is for emergencies only." Luna bellowed.
"The strangers came and tried to teach us their ways,
"And punish us for being what we are,
"Oh, you might as well go chasing after rainbows,
"Or light a penny candle from a star."
"I demand that you identity yourself. You are in violation of all Sections of the Emergency Alert System Laws and you will be punished. Identify yourself."
"Ah, awa' wi' ye, ye little twit." Was the only reply. Followed by…
"Now if there's going to be a life here after,
"And somehow I am certain there will be,
"I will ask my God to let me make my heaven,
"In that little land across the Irish Sea."
Someone else in the control room called to Luna. "Sir, we have someone claiming an emergency on channel fifteen."
"This is Santa Cruz ground control. What's the nature of your emergency?"
"I gotta land now!"
"Why?" Luna demanded.
"I gotta land now." Was the reply.
"You aren't getting clearance to land until you tell me what your emergency is!" Luna screamed.
"It's Sindy at the Elite Bordello. I got a date with her in half an hour. I gotta land now."
"That's not an emergency!" Luna yelled.
"Oh! Have you seen Sindy? Besides, I already paid."
"If you try to land, I'll have the defense batteries shoot you down."
"Asshole."
"Mr. Luna, there's a dropship moving through restricted space."
Luna was back on the radio. "Ship Echo twelve, you are in restricted space. It's reserved for arrivals and departures from the planet. Go back in orbit now."
"Whadda fuck for, man? You won't let anyone land and there's nothing down there that could take off. No sweat, man. I'll be out of your way in a mo."
"Back in orbit now!"
"I'm headed for Pennsatucky, I'll be in their ground control sector in just a bit, man."
"Pennsatucky doesn't even have any ground control, you idiot!"
"Bummer, man." And by then he was out of controlled space.
Luna tore off his headphones and mic and left the building.
His superiors had talked to Commodore Andrews, but had gotten no satisfaction.
"I am sorry, gentlemen." "Andrews had said. "But I have no authority to prevent merchant ships from attempting to pursue commerce on your planet and with your colony. While convoying them between worlds, I can give them legal orders, but not while we're in orbit."
"I do understand that there are problems. A good half of our ships are from colonies that have never sent a merchant ship farther than perhaps twenty light years from their home world. The chance to see and trade with Earth and the Core was something they couldn't resist. And, I'm afraid that they are not familiar with the regulations common to more advanced planets."
"Can't you at least identify the miscreants so that we may file charges against them?" His boss had asked.
"I'm not legally responsible for enforcing the laws of the Colony of Santa Cruz. I cannot legally help you."
Luna sat on a bench near the ground control building and took several deep breaths. This had been the most frustrating week of his career. The idiots in the convoy overhead had jammed the comm frequencies with their incessant calls to businesses in Santa Cruz, they seemed to have no discipline at all, and one idiot had gotten drunk and locked himself in his ship's radar room, and then had turned on the radar at full power which had blanked out every radar in Santa Cruz City. They'd had to cut through a bulkhead to turn the radar off and drag the drunken sot away.
Their dropships landed at will at Pennsatucky or the Atlantean Cossacks with no regard for any rules or orders.
Luna didn't care how much money they were making off the repairs to the Gargantua, if he had his way, he'd give the materials away, just to get rid of the idiots overhead.
On the first day of Mr. Luna's horrible week, Castle, Esposito and their staffs landed in the dropship Daisy Mae in the dead of night in northern Pennsatucky.
"Colonel Castle?" A voice called out of the darkness.
"Right here."
"I'm Captain Glen Bullock. I'm the head of the training team for the Gendarmes. Welcome to Free Santa Cruz, sir."
As Bullock stepped into the feeble light from the dropship, Castle examined him. He was a bit over six feet and wiry, with a dark complexion and dark eyes. He was dressed in a shabby set of camouflaged fatigues in a pattern that Castle hadn't seen before.
Bullock apparently noticed that Rick had seen his uniform. "I wear a Gendarmes uni, sir, as do all my men, right down to the black beret. It's unlikely that Grivas has any spies here, but if he does, we look just like everyone else."
"You're not wearing body armor?" Rick asked.
"About ten percent of the Gendarmes have body armor. It's best if I don't stand out for any reason, and it makes the Gendarmes happy if I take the same chances they do."
"Okay. We have body armor, weapons, comm equipment, field gear and god knows what else coming down for you and the Gendarmes. I hope we can get it all down before the shit hits the fan."
"Colonel Marti, the Gendarmes' commander, wants to see you at once. He's set up his headquarters in the woods over there. Colonel Esposito and your staffs should come as well."
"Let's go."
Bullock led them into the woods. Using his night vision goggles Castle could see sentries and several machine gun posts as they walked. In a minute they came to a large tent covered with camouflage netting.
Colonel Marti was standing by a table covered by a map. Around him were other officers, and a row of comm equipment.
"Colonel Castle, welcome to Free Santa Cruz. I am so pleased to see you. Your presence means that the day of liberation is at hand." He grabbed Castle's hand and shook it vigorously.
"Colonel Marti, I hope you're as happy with us when we leave as you are to see us come here. We soldiers know that no plan survives contact with the enemy."
Marti laughed. "You are a fine soldier, Colonel. I will be happy to serve under you. All of Free Santa Cruz is at your command."
Marti began to explain what he had in the way of troops and other support for Castle. It was a lot more than Castle's worst case scenario, but less than his best case scenario. Castle then explained what forces he and Esposito had brought and what arms and equipment he had brought for the Gendarmes."
Castle motioned to the comm gear in use. "We'll need to go radio silent, I'm afraid."
Marti laughed again. "To really communicate, we use landlines. Mostly fiber optic cables. Our radios are in a group of trucks some fifty kilometers from here, broadcasting as if all was normal. Hopefully, Grivas and his secret police won't know that all is now different."
As the dropships loaded with his troops came down, Castle made sure they, their vehicles and all of the cargo that came with them, were shuttled under the trees and covered with camouflage netting that should keep their visual and infrared signatures from being observed from space, or any overflying aircraft.
After a few days, Captain Bullock approached Castle while he was inside a dropship, watching his cavalry troops being disembarked.
"Can I talk to you for a bit, sir? In here."
"You don't want Marti to over hear us?" Castle asked, suddenly worried.
"Pretty much, sir. Colonel Marti is a good soldier and his troops are good. It's the political situation in Santa Cruz you should know about."
"Okay, go ahead, Captain."
"Grivas is a thug and a crook, but he is smart. He makes sure they money they make from the Han pirates gets spread around. And not just to his cronies. Consumer goods taken off pirated ship are sold here for less than their actual cost. Lots of people have good, well paying jobs working in the shipyards and other businesses that cater to the pirates. Grivas builds palaces for himself, but he also builds schools and hospitals. I'd say that most Santa Cruzeros think Grivas is a bastard, but he's their bastard. When the pirates are gone, Marti is going to have a lot of unhappy people on his hands, and a king-sized financial depression. And Marti may be a good soldier, but he's no politician."
Castle stopped and thought for a while. "Okay, I'm not a politician, either. My job is to get rid of the Han pirates here and that's what I'll do. I'll let Commodore Andrews know of your concerns, but they're out of my hands. In addition, it's the Atlantean Cossacks that are in line for a place in the ECDO, not Santa Cruz. The Cossacks will be trading in their two ancient frigates for four brand new ones, and getting a substantial upgrade for their army. That, and a few ECDO ships left here will protect Welland. That's all I can do."
Bullock grinned. "I've said my piece, sir. That's all I needed to do." Bullock looked around him. "Looks like were getting close to having all the troops and gear down. Be ready soon, Colonel?"
"I've got to go back up to the fleet tomorrow to work out our invasion plan, and then we'll have to brief everyone on the plan. Then we'll go."
TBC