To Bell the Belle - Chapter 7

Time: Day 4
Location: Andromeda Ascendant — Abernathy rendezvous point

"Captain Owner Rebecca Valentine, House of Valentine," fumed Dylan as he slouched in his favorite chair. "I can't believe that this ragtag bunch of civilians considers Beka my social superior."

"Actually they consider Patrick and the head of the Abernathy family your social superiors as well," said Andromeda's holographic self. The expression on her face clearly indicated that she was finding the reversal of roles amusing.

"As if owning a merchant vessel could be more important than commanding the most powerful warship in the three galaxies," said Andromeda's core self with an audible sniff.

"You're just jealous because Patrick couldn't kiss your hand when we greeted him," responded Rommie.

"Ladies, please," said Dylan wearily. He reached out to the decanter on the table by his chair and poured himself a glass of water while wishing he had time to imbibe something considerably stronger. "Can we stick to the subject? Namely how are we going to convert a bunch of would be merchant princes whose idea of formation flight is two ships arriving in the same solar system on the same day into a unit that has a reasonable chance of defeating a corvette accompanied by two auxiliary cruisers?"

The initial contact between the Andromeda and the Guild ships had been tense. Patrick had refused to elaborate on why he and the Abernathy woman wished to speak to Beka and given that the time delay between the two ships was an hour each way Dylan didn't pursue the question until the Enchantress and the Andromeda closed to within real time communication distance. Things hadn't improved when Dylan admitted that Beka wasn't aboard the Andromeda. His suggestion that Patrick, Carla and the captain of the Hakucho come aboard the Andromeda to discuss the situation was met with all the enthusiasm of a condemned man agreeing to meet with his executioner. It wasn't until he revealed the destination that Beka had left for him and stated that the New Systems Commonwealth had no more desire for the FTA to occupy Winnipeg Drift than the Salvagers' Guild did, that the tension begin to decrease.

If the crews of the Guild ships had been astounded to find the Andromeda waiting for them at their sanctuary, Dylan was equally astounded at the events that took place when the Enchantress landed in Andromeda's hanger. First Rommie and her holographic self had virtually ordered him to stand back out of the way and let them handle the protocol. Then when Patrick and Carla emerged from their vessel Rommie and her sister self both curtsied and welcomed the Captain Owner and the Lady in the name of Andromeda and her captain, Dylan Hunt. When Patrick bowed to them both and kissed Rommie's hand while Carla curtsied, Dylan had a sinking feeling in his stomach that his ship's avatar and her holographic sister self were adapting to the current environment much better than he was..

Things got both better and worse when Andromeda, accompanied by the Enchantress and the Hakucho, arrived at the rendezvous point. Better, because with the Valentine family and the Maru back aboard, Andromeda's core and holographic selves were back on speaking terms. And once Beka vouched for Andromeda and Dylan stating that the stories about him and his ship were at best wild exaggerations and at worst complete falsehoods, the other Guild members stopped looking at him as if they expected him to suddenly sprout fangs and bat wings. Worse because the Salvagers, including Beka, were adamant that Dylan and Andromeda should not get involved in the upcoming battle with Richard Bellamy. As the Abernathy family patriarch put it. 'The Salvagers shoot their own dogs.' Which left Dylan in the awkward position of having a warship that could take out the entire pirate flotilla in less than a minute but unable to use it.

"According to Tyr," said Andromeda's core self using her best mission briefing tone of voice, "the data recordings of the system defense boat that survived the attack on the Bathsheba spaceport indicate that the Belle is a Gazelle class corvette. The Gazelle class was designed and built at Halcyon shipyards prior to the rebellion as a low cost customs enforcer and anti pirate vessel to be used by Home Guard units on planets that did not have their own ship building capability. They are equipped with 16 internally mounted ELS tubes, capable of firing OM-4 missiles, six 35 megawatt PDLs, two AP cannon, and mine racks capable of carrying twelve Mk 17 anti ship mines. Additionally it carries two pinnaces, normally used for customs inspection and as landers, which are equipped with two externally mounted ELS tubes and a 35 megawatt PDL. The two ships that accompanied it were identified as flight two class Four freedoms freighters. As far as armament goes, flight two class Four Freedoms freighters are 10 meters longer than a flight one class and carry six 35 megawatt PDLs vice the four on a flight one class. They have six external hardpoints, each of which can carry a standard six round ELS launch tube. However analysis of the data indicates that each of the freighters have been upgraded with eight internally mounted ELS tubes with multiple reloads. It's possible that they have been equipped with mine racks as well but as no mines were used during the engagement it is impossible to confirm or deny if any of the ships are carrying them. Additionally four landers were reported assisting the attacking vessels. I think it is safe to assume that each of the freighters is carrying a lander of their own. Total armament for the vessels is 32 internal ELS tubes with multiple reloads. Twenty external tubes with no reloads. Twenty two PDLs and two AP cannon, plus there is the possibility that one or more of the ships is equipped with mines."

"Ouch," said Dylan. "That's not good. At close range they could even hurt you. What do our allies have?"

"As if I would ever let them get to close range," said Andromeda's core self, scorn dripping from her voice at the very idea that the pirate vessels would get close enough to hurt her. "The Kuraudo and the Eureka Maru are both Maru class ships with two external ELS tubes and two PDLs. However since she has been functioning as our lighter the Maru's weaponry has been upgraded. Her PDLs are now 50 megawatt weapons, her tubes are capable of handling OM-5 missiles and her fire control suite has been upgraded as well. Additionally she has two external mine racks each capable of carrying a dozen Mk 37 fragmentation mines. The Puffer, Willow and the Hakucho are all flight one Four Freedoms with four 35 Megawatt PDLs and six external ELS tubes. The Enchantress and the Sassy Sue are flight two Four Freedoms with six PDLs and six external ELS tubes. Total armament equates to 34 external ELS tubes, 28 PDLs and two mine racks."

"Hmm," mused Dylan. "They're more or less even in secondary batteries but badly out gunned missile wise. This doesn't look very promising. What's your analysis of the pirates' tactics?"

"Elementary at best. According to their transponders the freighters were the Leander out of Sinti IV and the Fowey out of Castalia. However the Leander was lost with all hands in C.Y. 10071 and there are no records of a Fowey registered out of Castalia. They claimed that they had chartered the Belle to escort them to Bathsheba as they had valuable cargo. The rationale was accepted as there had been an unsuccessful pirate attack on an incoming vessel two weeks earlier. I suspect that the attack may have been a deliberate failure to pave the way for the later attack. Their tactics consisted simply of opening fire on the unsuspecting systems patrol craft when they came within range. There was no coordination between the ships, each one fought their own separate battles rather than working as a unit."

"That could help things considerably," said Dylan. "If they don't fight as a unit it might be possible for Beka and the others to concentrate their fire on a solitary ship and defeat them one at a time. What do you estimate their chances of success are?"

"It depends on how you define success, Captain." said Andromeda's holographic self. "But I compute the odds of our allies successfully neutralizing all three ships at less than 15%. The odds of all of the Guild ships being destroyed or crippled and one or more of the pirate vessels escaping is better than 85%."

Dylan put down his drink and got out of his chair. "That does it," he said. "There's a difference between letting someone fight their own battles and letting someone commit suicide. We're going to help them no matter how much they object."

"Captain, there might be a way we can help them without actually fighting their battle for them," put in Andromeda. "I've been talking to Harper and the Sassy Sue's engineers and we have some ideas that might even up the odds considerably."

"I thought you didn't approve of the Valentines, and their friends," said Dylan as he sat back in his chair

"I said I wanted them off me, Captain. I never said I wanted them injured or killed." She paused to let her words sink in then continued. "Now here are the ideas we worked out..."

Fifteen minutes later she was finished with her explanation.

"Interesting," said Dylan. "Those ideas could even up the odds quite a bit. What do you calculate the odds of the Guild destroying or capturing the Belle are?"

"Approximately 64%"

"Considerably better," admitted Dylan. "What about casualties among the Guild?"

"It's difficult to compute, Captain," said Andromeda. "It's possible that everything will work perfectly and the Guild ships will come out relatively unscathed. But my best estimate is that even if the Guild ships are victorious casualties will be extensive."

Dylan got back out of his chair. "I think I need to talk to the Abernathy family patriarch. If they're going to have any chance of succeeding we need to get them in the simulators so they can practice some of those ideas you suggested, Andromeda."

Before he could get more than a step towards the door, Rommie stopped him and made some minor adjustments to his uniform and to his hair. "Captain's Lady's privilege," she explained.

"Captain's Lady?" asked Dylan. "Is that what they're calling you, and does it imply what I think it does?"

Rommie waved her hand to indicate her sister selves. "They're calling all of us that," she said. An impish grin came across her face and she thrust a hip out in a suggestive manner. "And it means exactly what you think it means."

His ship was adapting far too well to this new environment thought Dylan as he left his stateroom. Far far too well.

Chapter 6

Chapter 8