Siege of Titan (Star Crusades Uprising, Book 1)

by Michael G. Thomas

The CCS Crusader was the newest and most powerful warship in the entire Fleet and for Lieutenant Erdeniz it was a dream posting. Of almost one hundred warships in the Fleet the Crusader was the place every crewmember wanted to serve on. Unlike the previous ships, the Crusader was the first battlecruiser to be built. The name had been used in the twentieth century and was a series of warships that were often of similar performance to battleships but armed with even more powerful weapons. In this respect she was similar but the emphasis was on speed. She carried much the same amount of weaponry as the larger battleships but had bigger engines and less substantial armour. It was all part of the Navy’s new plans for faster ships that could respond to security incidents in the shortest time possible. With the increase in speed they would be able to protect the convoys from hijacked vessels’ suicide attacks where problems could pop up anywhere in the System with no advance notice. Recent experience had shown the heavier, slower ships were easier to avoid and no armour could protect a vessel against a determined attack. The Crusader looked liked two upturned World War II battleships with their hulls fused together. There was no obvious top or bottom and there were a dozen rotating bands along the hull providing full and half gravity. With a crew complement of over two thousand, as well as over two hundred heavily equipped marines, the vessel was the ultimate form of force projection. Against the civilian transports and tenders it was a vessel of epic proportions in every way.

  Lieutenant Erdeniz had graduated from the academy only a year before but was already stationed at one of the ship’s massive weapon batteries. From his position, he commanded a ring of twenty-four weapons. They were divided into four batteries, each managed by a squad of six gunners, loaders and engineers. On this particular day, he was working with just one of the squads and their single weapon system.

  He checked his screen as he worked on the configuration of a new weapons load out for his battery. Though the ship carried a variety of ordnance, the primary weapons were railguns. These were so large they could only be mounted in vessels such as this one and required massive nuclear generators to provide for their thirst for energy. He had modified enough ammunition for the entire battery and one test. He could get permission for no more.

  The railgun weapon system was a fully electrical gun sending a conductive projectile along a pair of metal rails using the same principles as the homopolar motor. The system was first proposed in the early twentieth century but hit problems due to the massive power requirements. The railgun’s batteries used two sliding contacts that permitted a large electric current to pass through the projectile. This current then interacted with the strong magnetic fields generated by the rails accelerating the projectile to an incredibly fast speed. Anything hit by the speeding ammunition would be torn apart by the sheer kinetic energy. Lieutenant Erdeniz had proposed a variant on one normal solid shot used to provide a weapon with similar characteristics to the canister rounds used by wooden sailing ships.

  Today was a very special day, as he would test his creation in front of a panel of senior officers from the crew of the ship. He wore his dress uniform and it was a decision he was already regretting. He might be a lieutenant but in front of these officers he felt like a child. He had been proposing this new weapon system for three months and it had taken weeks of permission forms and testing before they would even consider his suggestion. If he could make it work he could expect an immediate promotion. Of course, if for any reason the system didn’t work he could be looking at all manner of problems, not least a black mark on his record that might prove impossible to remove. There was also the very tiny possibility that if the system failed it could cause expensive damage to the weapon systems. That would immediately put an end to his chances of promotion in the future.

  Lieutenant Erdeniz stood up stiffly as more of the officers entered the gunnery section. His crew stood smartly to attention, as did he. The room was cramped and although the men did a good job at keeping the place clear and smart it still looked like an old steam ship’s engine room. It was hardly a place befitting these high rankers.

  General Rivers approached and shook his hand. He was tall and had the reputation of a man with years of active service and combat to go with it. He had been busy in the last few years fighting the many pirate groups popping up and had achieved some important victories.

  “I’ve read your recommendations and I like your work. I know there are many who say the weapon is pointless and that it saps energy from the main projectile, but I’m convinced it could have a use.” He then stepped back.

  Another officer, Captain Jackson, was less than impressed and stood nearby but said nothing. He’d been arguing for the use of high explosive based weapons and if Lieutenant Erdeniz’s system didn’t work, they might well look to him.

  “Please proceed,” said the General.

  Lieutenant Erdeniz moved his hands in front of the display and a three dimensional model of the battlecruiser appeared. He moved to the side and explained the situation.

  “In this simulated engagement we see a vessel is approaching, it is actually approximately five thousand metres away but it could quite easily be five hundred. The vessel is based upon collisions we have faced recently,” he said as calmly as possible.

  The group watching seemed unexcited at the task so far, so Erdeniz turned to his crew to get it moving more quickly.

  “What is the estimated damage of impact from that vessel?”

  “Based on its current velocity we are looking at a forty percent loss of Section B with around twenty decks destroyed. This will cut the power to all batteries forward of Section C,” replied Ensign Harris.

  Erdeniz returned to the screen as the model showed the ship crashing into the side of the warship and causing catastrophic damage.

  “As we know, the armour of this vessel is thinner than the battleships, especially in these zones. At this speed we are looking at the very best, a heavily damaged barely operational warship and at worse a crippled vessel.”

  “Okay, son, we appreciate the problem, can you show us your weapon now?” said the agitated Captain.

  Erdeniz nodded and proceeded to start the weapon sequence.

  “I will fire two shots from this main gun. The first is our standard heavy shot and the second my canister variant. If you will all watch this screen, I have sent out two camera drones to monitor the demonstration.”

  On cue the screen flickered and multiple views appeared on the wall that gave the impression of a large window they could all see out. The illusion also allowed him to make the approaching vessel appear much closer that it really was.

  “The first shot, our standard eight hundred millimetre armour piercing round is loaded and ready.” There was a clunk as the seals were shut.

  Erdeniz flipped a hatch open to reveal a series of buttons and a red glowing button the centre.

  “Gun ready?”

  “Aye,” replied his crew.

  “Fire!” He hit the launch button.

  There was a loud buzz through the floor of the room as the weapon system accelerated the massive man-sized round along the rails and out of the gun port fitted on the side of the hull. The external camera couldn’t capture the shell itself as it moved at such an incredibly high speed. From the gun port however a plume of superheated plasma gushed out, much like the gun port on a medieval warship.

  The second camera showed the almost immediate impact on the approaching ship. It struck the outer hull and tore a metre-wide gash before blasting through the vessel and out through the other side.

  “As you can see, the shell is easily capable of penetrating any current armour types. The big problem is that it passes clean through the ship.”

  “So why not just fit a proximity fuse on the shell and explode it inside the target?” asked one of the officers.

  “A good point and one we have already tried. The issues are with the shells themselves. At these massive speeds we have to use electronics to get the timing right. By the time the she
ll hits the hull and triggers the explosive it has already passed through the ship. Electronics can calculate the distance but all military vessels are fitted with electronic jamming equipment that can detonate the shell before it gets anywhere near the ship. My weapon system uses a simple preset mechanical timer that causes the shell to split a given distance from the ship, the default being when it reaches the distance of one hundred metres. Once activated the shells breaks into seventy two separate shards, each one travelling just a few degrees off the original line of fire.”

  “Okay, I’m sold on the idea, let’s see it in action!” The General said with a half-hearted grin.

  Erdeniz turned back to his crew, about to check the weapon was loaded when the door opened and in walked Admiral Jarvis. She was in her early forties and rarely seen anywhere near the gun decks of the ship. As Admiral of the Fleet, she had her flag on this vessel but she had an entire fleet to manage. It was an unprecedented honour to have her here. As she entered, the rest of the officers stood to attention. The Admiral moved directly to Erdeniz ignoring everyone else.

  “Your report makes interesting reading, Lieutenant, is your experiment ready?”

  “Yes, Admiral, we were about to fire a test round.”

  “Excellent, continue.” She remained in the same place, right in the centre of the room.

  Erdeniz turned to his gun crew who by now were looking even more nervous than he was. He doubted they had ever seen so many officers in one place.

  “Canister round loaded and ready?”

  “Aye!” came the reply once again.

  “Fire!”

  The same buzz as before and as far as the officers could tell the system also worked exactly the same until they spotted the damage on the approaching ship. All along the side were a vast number of craters and chunks of metal in a cloud of dust and debris. The crew stood back, watching the screens as the debris moved away to reveal the targeted vessel.

  Erdeniz prayed and prayed, hoping that his efforts would be vindicated. It had cost a lot of manpower and materials to get this test. He looked at the centre of the screen as the automated camera tried to focus on the many targets, then it cleared.

  “Holy shit!” said the General.

  The debris had shifted far enough now that the approaching ship could be seen in great detail. First, and foremost, the entire middle section was torn to shreds. A great hole, easily five times the size of the original shell impact had cut through and torn the backbone of the ship apart. Additional small holes were scattered across multiple sections leaving many parts of the vessel either completely blasted off or hanging down in chunks.

  They all burst into applause, much to the relief of Erdeniz who watched with a mixture of pride and happiness. It had taken a lot of effort but finally the Canister Round was ready for experimental use aboard the newest ship in the Fleet. Admiral Jarvis moved until she stood directly in front of him.

  “Good job, Lieutenant, I had a feeling this was going to work. According to your research paper you took many ideas from the British, specifically Admiral Nelson?”

  “Yes, Admiral.”

  “When I was a cadet I was assigned the Battle of the Nile as my research project. Nelson showed what daring and cunning could do, even when outnumbered. He liked to get close and I can see why you thought of this for our vessels. We have a major weakness and I think you might be on the way to fixing at least a part of it. How soon can you modify our weapons and will the ammunition types be interchangeable?”

  “The software is simple to change. I can do that from here. The ammunition needs a slight modification. With the facilities here I can organises stocks of rounds in about three days. Certainly enough for a few volleys.”

  “Excellent. I want this gunnery crew and all their guns to have access to this ammunition. We will trial it over the next few weeks. If it goes as well as your tests I think we’ll be seeing the Sanlav Round being deployed through the Fleet.”

  He saluted as the Admiral left the room. As she left Erdeniz allowed himself to bask in the glow of success at the success of his weapon test and even better, the fact that the Admiral knew his name. Perhaps things were starting to look up for Lieutenant Sanlav Erdeniz.