The Short End: Broken Galaxy Book Four

by Phil Huddleston

  And the Goblin named Tika. She had downloaded into his Merlin’s AI system. Her voice came through his comm.

 

  He knew that Paco was hearing the same thing in his comm. Tika had copied herself into both fighters. They were tasked to deliver her to the battlefront.

  But to what purpose? Jim was confused.

  “How will delivering you to the battlefront make a difference?” he asked.

 

  “But…so what? One enemy ship will not make enough difference to turn this battle one way or the other.”

 

  “Ah,” said Jim. “Now that would be different. What do you think your chances are?”

 

  “We’ll get them there,” said Paco. “We have sixteen missiles. We only have to get one on target, correct?”

 

  “Then we’ll do our best to get you onboard, Tika.”

  Dekanna System

  Destroyer Dragon

  It’s the waiting that’s so hard, thought Luke. I don’t mind the battle - I’ve been there before, and I know how it works. My mind goes cold, and I get into a zone. I see nothing but the enemy and how to kill him.

  But the waiting. The damn waiting. That’s what sends the sweat down my back. I have to stuff my hands in my pockets, so the bridge crew doesn’t see them shaking.

  14.2 AU from the star of the Dekanna system, Dragon sat at idle, waiting for war. Luke was a newly commissioned destroyer captain; that put him in the rear echelon of the second rank of the destroyer cubes. In theory, his placement there wouldn’t cause great harm to the overall formation when he screwed up.

  I hope they’re right…

  In the holo, he could see Zukra’s fleet charging at them. The Ashkelon had entered the system at 14.25 AU, already in a hard decel, ensuring they would be moving slowly when the fleets met. The enemy advanced in a wall of warships two cubes wide, coming at them like a juggernaut.

  He wants all the time in the world to tear into us. Cocky bastard. I guess to any inexperienced spacer who’s never seen battle before, they probably look like an implacable wall of doom. But things will change when the fighters and destroyers get tangled up with them.

  announced Dragon.

  In the holo, Luke saw swarms of Merlin fighters in front of the destroyer cubes begin to charge toward the enemy. Far in front, the enemy fighters began their own charge to meet the Merlins. The two groups of fighters would mix it up in the space between the fleets.

  It looked from Luke’s perspective like charging into an angry beehive. At that moment, Luke didn’t envy any fighter pilot.

  He wondered where Jim was. He knew Jim had come back to the fleet, and Bonnie had reinstated him to flight duty. But he knew Jim had some kind of special mission. He wouldn’t be in the fighter swarm out front.

  I wonder where he is.

  Luke didn’t highlight Jim’s fighter. He wondered if Bonnie would.

  I have to let this go. Bonnie is with me now. Not Jim. He’s ancient history. Let it go.

  The two groups of fighters between the fleets slashed through each other at speed. Both went to max decel and turned, coming back for another go, starting a massive dogfight.

  Let’s see, thought Luke. We launched 1,920 fighters. There’s one group at each corner of the fleet, and two groups out front. Plus Bonnie is holding 250 in reserve. So that puts about 275 of our fighters out there between the fleets. The enemy has 50% more fighters than we do, so about 410 of their fighters out there, I expect.

  So probably close to 700 fighters in that scrum…

  Yeah, I don’t want to be a fighter pilot.

  Dekanna System

  Merlin Fighter “Angel One”

  Hovering four thousand klicks away from the battle, Jim and Paco idled their Merlins, waiting for the moment to commence their run-in. In front of them, two flights of Merlins also waited, designated to provide them with cover for their attack run.

  “Paco. How ya doin?” asked Jim on his comm.

  “Peachy keen, Skipper. Ready to go.”

  “OK. Just keep your eye on that big bastard at the left front upper of their last battlecruiser cube. That’s the Tornado. That’s our target. She’s an old battlecruiser, almost ready for the scrap heap. They only brought her along to fill in a spot and provide point defense, almost like a cruiser. That’s our entry point.”

  “Roger, Skip. I’m on it.”

  “OK. Just be patient. Let the rest of the fleet get mixed up until things are as confused as possible. That’s when we charge in.”

  “Roger that.”

  “How about you, Tika? You OK?”

 

  “I’m sure you will, Tika. Don’t worry - we’ll get you to the Tornado. The rest is up to you.”

  Dekanna System

  Merlin Fighter “Dunkirk One”

  Hovering with her command flight a thousand klicks over the Merkkessa, Winnie watched as her fighter groups met the enemy fighter formations. As the groups smashed into each other, missiles and gamma lances flew in every direction. The orderly formations of groups and squadrons devolved quickly into a chaotic mass of fighters, all shooting at each other with everything they had.

  But Winnie had drummed one concept into the Allied squadrons, and she knew Jim Carter had drummed it into the EDF squadrons equally well.

  You never leave your wingman.

  It was as true now as it had been in World War II of a century earlier.

  You never leave your wingman.

  Now, Winnie was gratified to see the lesson had been learned. Despite the chaos on the battlefield, the larger groups of Wing and Group coming apart almost instantly, she could see that every fighter pair was staying together.

  Winnie smiled. It was gratifying.

  By George, I believe they’ve got it!

  But of course, they were still outnumbered. She winced as she saw fighter after fighter shot to hell, some exploding, some burning from internal combustibles, some just wrecks spinning away from the battlefield. The emergency beacons of ejected pilots began to clutter up the holo, and she had to press a key to hide them from her display for the moment.

  But her fighters were giving as good as they got. She could see that. The number of Ashkelon and Nidarian wrecks clearly were greater than their own.

  Winnie glanced at the AI readout in the holo. They were knocking down 1.2 enemy fighters for the loss of every one of their own.

  Not good enough. They outnumber us 1.5 to 1. We’re losing this battle of attrition.

  “All fighters, Alpha-One, Alpha-One,” Winnie called over her comm.

  There’s no use sacrificing lives in vain. We put a dent in them. We slowed them down. But we can’t hold them here. We have to do something different.

  Dekanna System

  Battlecruiser Maebong

  Admiral Sobong watched the fighter groups give ground and come retreating back towards her battle line. The Ashkelon didn’t immediately follow. The enemy began to re-form their fighter formations, preparin
g to charge into the Allied destroyers. Behind them, the rest of the Ashkelon fleet came on relentlessly, their leading edge of destroyers now just a few hundred miles behind their fighters, moving slowly but inexorably toward Sobong’s formations.

  “Here they come,” called her Flag Aide beside her. Sobong nodded, watching in the holo, as the enemy fighters completed re-grouping.

  As the enemy destroyer cubes caught up to the enemy fighters, the entire assemblage began pushing toward Sobong’s destroyer cubes, a coordinated attack to combine the firepower of their destroyers and fighters.

  At the same time, her own Allied fighter formations stopped retreating and took formation directly in front of her own destroyers, timing it so they would meet the enemy fighters just as the enemy came into range of the destroyers. It had been a carefully calculated retreat, with the intention of combining the firepower of their fighters with their own destroyers.

  “In range,” called the Tac Officer down on the bridge below Sobong. In the holo, the gamma lances from both sides crisscrossed in thousands of separate spears of destruction, followed almost immediately by thousands of missiles flying in every direction. It was mass chaos to a biological eye, but the AI systems of the fighters and destroyers operated much faster than a biological nervous system could comprehend. Every gamma lance and every missile was targeted to do maximum damage - and they did.

  Dozens of fighters on both sides exploded, burst into oxygen-fed flames, or simply spun away as junk. Point defense systems smashed thousands of missiles into junk before they could impact the destroyers - but dozens leaked through, punching massive holes into the destroyers - holes that sometimes punched all the way through the hull and out the other side of the ship, spraying debris and bodies out the exit holes.

  It was slaughter on a grand scale. Both sides were losing ships at a terrible rate.

  And her destroyers were dying. Sobong saw first one, then two, then three of her destroyers disappear in massive explosions as enemy fire hit critical parts of their engineering spaces or their weapons systems. They were knocking down lots of enemy fighters; but it wasn’t enough. The AI predicted all her destroyers would be out of action in another ten minutes, while the enemy would still have nearly three hundred operational fighters. And most of his destroyers.

  “Delta Five, Delta Five,” she called.

  Dekanna System

  Battlecruiser Merkkessa

  “The Dariama are giving ground,” called Rachel. Sitting beside Bonnie, Rachel was intently alternating her attention between her console and the big holo at the front of the bridge. “Sobong is moving back.”

  “Thank you, Rachel,” Bonnie said quietly. She could see it for herself in the holo. Sobong’s Allied fleet was moving back, giving ground to the onslaught of Zukra’s attack.

  But she understood why. The attack of Zukra’s fighters had been savage. The Allied fighter wings were being decimated. No sane commander could ask their pilots to stand against that level of destruction.

  “Sobong’s retreating,” Rachel called out. “She’s moving back toward us.”

  “We’ll stick with Bravo-One,” Bonnie spoke gently. Rachel nodded and re-authorized the command on her console. The Merkkessa’s AI spoke in their comm implants.

 

  Sobong’s Allied fleet continued to move back, defending their front but giving ground. A large hole began to open in the center of their lines as Sobong’s ships continued to move back in a fighting retreat.

  Dekanna System

  Ashkelon Battlecruiser Revenge

  “The Dariama are falling back, Admiral,” called Damra.

  “I can see that,” growled Zukra. But inside, he was exulting.

  I knew those cowards would give up at the first sign of difficulty.

  called his AI.

  “Tanno! The Dariama are retreating. See it?”

  “Aye, m’lord. They’re outgunned and they know it. They’ll start running soon, all the way back to Dekanna. Do we need to change the plan?”

  “No, no, keep to the plan. We’ve got them cowed. The Humans will see the Dariama retreating in the center, and they’ll give up and follow them. Just keep charging straight at the Dariama!”

  “Aye, m’lord,” agreed Tanno. “We’ve got them now!”

  Down on the main bridge, Flag Aide Damra puzzled over the holo. Something didn’t seem right to him. In view of the continuing retreat of the Dariama and their allies, he would have expected the Humans to also begin giving ground, simply to keep their ranks aligned with the Dariama.

  And the Humans were giving ground. But not as fast as he would have expected. They were moving slower than the retreating Dariama center. The enemy lines were collapsing inward, forming a U-shape, with the retreating Dariama the bottom of the U and the slower-moving Humans creating the extended sides. The leading edge of the Ashkelon assault began to pass into the space between the two wings of the Humans.

  Suddenly it all made sense to Damra.

  “It’s a trap, Admiral,” he called hurriedly. “They intend to get us in between them. We need to pull back!”

  Zukra glared at him. “Nonsense, Damra! Show some backbone! We’ve got them on the run!”

  “No, sir, it’s the other way around. They’ve got us!” yelled Damra. “Look! Even now, the Dariama and the rest of the Allied line is stiffening up, slowing their retreat. Any minute now, they’ll stop and hold! Then the Humans will fold in from the sides, and we’ll be completely encircled!”

  Zukra rolled his eyes. “Damra, for stars sake! You’re seeing things! Those Dariama will never hold! They’ll keep running until they’re back on Dekanna!”

  But in spite of his disclaimer, Zukra took a second look at the holo. A little knot of worry began to rise in his stomach. As his fleet charged farther into the hole in the center of the enemy formation, it did seem like the Allied retreat was stiffening a bit.

  But they don’t have any reserves, thought Zukra. Regardless of their tricks, they can’t hold against us. They are still vastly outnumbered. Even if they exercise such a ploy, we’ve still got them.

  “Contact!” called the Tac Officer. “Multiple contacts, directly behind us, range 20 kiloklicks, I designate one battlecruiser, four cruisers!”

  Dekanna System

  Battlecruiser Victory

  It had taken careful planning. Bonnie had swapped many messages with Joshua Westerly as he approached Dekanna. But they had made it work.

  Bonnie had carefully positioned her fleet just inside the mass limit of the system, where it became impossibly dangerous to use the tDrive for FTL flight. So her fleet was limited to sub-light speeds, using their system engines only.

  But now so was Zukra’s fleet - he was also just inside the mass limit. The only way he could use FTL was to turn and boost hard for forty thousand klicks in the other direction, away from the central star of the system.

  But Captain Westerly and the Victory, along with his two new cruisers from Earth and the two additional cruisers Bonnie had sent him earlier, were coming from outsystem. Surfacing out of six-space 40 kiloklicks from the mass limit, moving at 1,684,817 kph, they decelerated at 308g for all they were worth. In a few minutes they were in perfect firing position, looking right up the ass of Zukra’s trailing battlecruiser cube, while all his fighters and destroyers were tangled up with the Allied fleet on the other side of the battle.

  Three of Zukra’s rear cube battlecruisers did manage to reverse in the short time they had to prepare. One did not. The one that moved too slowly disappeared in a sudden rage of fire and explosion as five gamma lances impinged on its engine nacelles simultaneously.

  The large cloud of smoke and debris where the battlecruiser had been a few seconds before was an unfortunate distraction to one of the other battlecruiser skippers. He was a little slow getting his point defense turrets re-oriented to the 44 missiles that followed right behin
d the gamma lance attack. Still, he knocked down most of them; out of the 44 missiles targeting his engines, only two managed to get through his defenses.

  One of those missed the engine completely, glancing off the side of the nacelle and exploding some distance from the ship, putting a small hole in the cargo bay just in front of the Engineering section.

  But the last of Westerly’s missiles went right up the enemy’s engine nacelle, punched through the armor in front of the engine, and exploded just as it entered the reactor bay.

  That was unfortunate. The reactors were particularly sensitive to large amounts of high explosive detonating in their vicinity. They let it be known by performing a sympathetic detonation, which took off the entire right side of the battlecruiser, from the center shuttle bay to the rear of the ship, stripping out both right engines, sending them on a long gyrating journey away from the ship. The battlecruiser twisted under the unequal force of two missing engines. The ship’s AI shut down the two good engines as quickly as possible, but not before the ship spun rapidly, out of control.

  “That one’s out of action for a bit,” mused Westerly, sitting in his command chair watching the holotank. “Let’s put our next volley into the one on the upper left there, Becker.”

  “Aye, sir,” Commander Becker agreed. “Tac, fire at will.”

  With a grin, the Tac Officer sent another gamma lance volley at the rear battlecruiser cube, punching a decent sized hole in another unfortunate enemy ship. But it was their last free shot. With a burst of return fire, the two remaining battlecruisers in the rear cube, coupled with the four in the front of the cube, got the range on Victory and her escorts. All hell broke loose around them as they came under heavy fire.

  “No more free lunch, Becker!” yelled Westerly. “Give ‘em everything we got!”

  The range was diminishing quickly as the Victory bore in closer to the rear edge of the enemy battlecruiser cube. At point-blank range, the Victory and her four cruisers blasted away at the six battlecruisers in front of them.