Dalshon

Chapter 19

The Whitestar Fleet assembled in two stages. The first wave, about half the Fleet, had already been standing by in a central assembly point. When Anla'shok headquarters received Comac's location signal, the first wave jumped for the raider base.

The second wave consisted of ships which already happened to be in the area. The second wave, therefore, actually arrived first. But they did not jump into the star system, but just outside it, where the light of their jump points would not reach the sensors in the asteroid belt for months after the battle was over.

The job of the second wave was to blockade the system and prevent any raiders or their allies from jumping out before the battle started. However, the Drakh ship containing Lennier and his new associate had already left before any Whitestars arrived.

Whitestar 97 was in the second wave. It hung in deep space, far enough out from the star system so that they could not see the planets out the viewports. But the view on the bridge was enhanced, with the locations of asteroids and burned-bare planets marked with little plus signs. The system's red giant star stared at them balefully. The raider base was marked and circled in red, and so were the ships swarming around it.

The raiders had to know they were coming, Carla thought. A signal strong enough to reach Minbar from way out here would surely have been detected by the raiders. But the raider mothership and fighters, and the raiders' various armed freighters, showed no sign of trying to leave.

"They're trenching in," Carla said. "That formation is less chaotic than they want us to think it is."

Khunnier, at the tactical station, said, "Actually, it appears completely chaotic. I think that is the point. They know we are here. Or at least they guess they must be being watched. They do not want to show us their tactics before the battle starts."

"Makes sense. Can you get any idea from that randomness what their tactics are likely to be?"

"They prize unpredictability. I would not expect war-college stratagems."

"Any other conclusions?"

"Yes. They are not just pirates. They are working with the Drakh."

"Do you see any sign of Shadow technology out there?" Carla asked.

"No. But raiders generally pick their fighter crews from two sources: ex-military and old spacer families. Merchanters. The fighters are the most expensive and most vulnerable part of a raider's resources. They would not hand them over to inexperienced youths who turned pirate for the romance of it. Those are all grizzled old veterans out there. Those who are ex-military would fall into military formations by habit if not given specific orders otherwise. You would see wing formations, twos or threes."

"Huh. And the merchanters?"

"They would fly in walls. That is how merchant ships fly when they expect combat, to double up on each others' shields and give everyone a clear field of fire to the front, to reduce the hazard of friendly fire. Which is a great problem for civilians trying to operate ship's weaponry, since they usually get little training or practice."

"And the chaos out there shows that they've been trained to fly in random patterns, and ordered to maintain that until the shooting starts," Carla said. "Which implies that someone who values chaos trained them. And even that they see themselves as the embodiment of chaos, and us as the avatars of order. Like substitute Vorlons. Our ships encourage that idea, since they're partly based on Vorlon technology. Very good, Khunnier. So, what would you suggest we do, based on your assessments?"

"Not act like a Whitestar. Shadow servants have had ample opportunity to observe Whitestars in action. We are fast, maneuverable, and heavily armed. When we fight Shadow vessels, or any other large and formidable opponent, we concentrate fire by co-operating with other Whitestars in groups. Generally we fly in formation or come to a dead halt when we do this. Because the Whitestar Fleet is crewed by religious, except for this ship, and they do not have the skill to maintain fire points while maneuvering. This makes the battle a slugging match. The speed and maneuverability of a Whitestar are sacrificed for the concentration of fire."

"But our pilot and gunner are warriors. They do have the training to concentrate fire and maneuver at the same time. So when the other Whitestars start concentrating fire on the mothership and the big pirate ships, while our fighters go after their fighters, we will show them what the warrior caste can do."

Battle came the next day. Blue jump points formed all around the raider base. Whitestars flew out of them, spitting fighters into the blackness of space.

"Battle stations," Carla ordered. She and her bridge crew were already at battle stations, but Firuun had been up there too, participating in the strategy session. Now he raced for engineering. It was a nonstandard arrangement for the first officer to be off the bridge during battle, but Firuun was still the chief engineer. And this way, if the enemy took out the bridge, Firuun could assume command, and control the ship from engineering, and they would not be out of the fight.

The electron cloud of fighters around the raider mothership broke into triplets, the same formation the Minbari fighters used. The fighters of opposite sides closed on each other, swooping and spitting beams of destruction. Bright red balls of fire erupted all over space.

Red and green rays lanced out in eerie silence. White tracks of missiles passed in breathtaking beauty.

The Whitestars of the first wave lined up on the raider mothership and started concentrating fire, blowing holes in the enemy ship. Huge chunks of girders tumbled into space in a flare of oxygen, the fires shutting off abruptly as the mothership's pressure doors slammed down.

The mothership and the base struck back, beam weapons and missiles slamming into the Whitestars like hunters picking off formations of geese flying in wedges, leading with their missiles because they knew where their targets were about to be.

The armed freighters maneuvered in close to the first wave, making strafing runs low across the Whitestars' hulls where the other Whitestars could not fire on them for fear of hitting the raiders' targets.

Then the second wave came in. Most of the Whitestars in the second wave started joining in the concentration of fire or tried to pursue some of the pirate cargo ships as they came around for second passes, catching them while turning, when they were away from their target Whitestars.

But Carla knew her crew could do much better than that. They had been trained for war all their lives.

"Target the nearest armed freighter. Get us in close and follow him on his run. Get a shot right up his tailpipe."

The starfield being projected above the bridge moved nauseatingly as the pilot bore in on one of the pirate ships and stuck right to his tail. They were using the same tactic against the raiders that the raiders were using against the rest of the Whitestar Fleet, getting in so close to their target that the target's friends could not come to their aid without risking a friendly fire accident.

Whitestar 97 came within a few meters of the other Whitestar as they barnstormed over it following the armed freighter's path. The military gunner took out the enemy engine and it blew with a vast yellow fireball that left scorch marks on the skins of both Whitestars. But the living ships healed over the minor burns in seconds.

Whitestar 97 zoomed out of the fireball and went after their next target. On the way to the next armed freighter, several of the pirate ships fired on them, but the military caste pilot stuttered the engine and skid-danced out of the way of the missiles and beams. He flew the Whitestar as if it were a fighter.

They dropped in behind the next pirate ship and followed it as it performed maneuvers a freighter should not be able to make. The military caste pilot stuck to them like glue as the gunner popped off shot after shot. The enemy pilot snapped into a smuggler's reverse and shot out past the Whitestar.

But Whitestars are fast, and the military pilot turned around and caught up with the pirate. They S-turned and potshotted each other, each looking for advantage, but then the other pirate ships came together to fight the maverick Whitestar.

The pirates adopted the Whitestar Fleet's tactic, forming up and concentrating fire, in response to Whitestar 97's unpredictable maneuvers. Whitestar 97 took a bad hit amidships. The living ship rocked and the bridge lights dimmed as it redirected power to self healing.

Carla swore she felt the living ship shudder in pain.

But then the raider mothership blew up like a star going nova, and the rest of the Whitestar Fleet turned to the armed freighters. The pirate ships abandoned the fight against Whitestar 97 and ran for the jump gate. But four ships of the second wave were already there, like cats waiting by a mouse hole.

They slowed the pirate ships enough for the rest of the fleet to arrive. The pirates knew the fight was lost. They surrendered. So did the fighters, which had no mothership to escape on.

The base was still firing. It was just firing randomly at any Whitestar that came too close, though.

Delenn's voice came to the whole Fleet. "The base guns are on automatic. Stand off and concentrate fire."

Those ships of the Fleet that were not engaged in guarding the jump gate or picking up fighters came together to take out the base gun emplacements, including Whitestar 97. The Whitestar Fleet targeted the raider base on the planet below. White beams of death rained down on the base's defensive perimeter, and the guns exploded with a massive cloud of fire and dust.

The battle was over.

Firuun's voice came over the intercom. "Power is down to 45. Ship is healing, and repair parties have restored atmosphere to the damaged flank. Three casualties. Fatal."

"Acknowledged," Carla said. There would be time to mourn for the dead later. For now, they had to stay sharp in case any of the enemy decided to go out in a blaze of glory.

Delenn's voice came over Fleetcom again. "Whitestar 97, good flying. Captain Punch. Take your battle hardened troops down to the base and mop up."

"Yes, Entilza," Carla said. Then she added, "Thank you for this honor." It was a military caste saying.

Whitestar 97 sailed cautiously in to the raider base, covered from above by other Whitestars.

Carla got on the intercom. "Firuun, armor up. Get a squad together. We're taking the base."

She got out of her captain's chair and stretched. Her knee clicked. If it was trying to tell her she was too old and too battle-scarred to lead the ground assault, Carla was not listening. "Khunnier. You're in command until we return."

End of Chapter 19