by Ken Wolfson
Zoey unfolded just enough to grab her keyboard in trembling hands. "I'm here, sir." She wiped her eyes.
"I wouldn't trust anyone else," Adrian said. He’d learn the truth soon enough.
Sixth fleet took up the southern hemisphere, First the northern. Ships were spaced evenly across the grid. This was basic planetary defense. The enemy had a longer route to get in range of their target, so their defensive reinforcements could be shuttled around the lower orbitals to adapt and counterpunch.
A blue supergiant rose on TACNET. It threatened to consume Volantis and all who lived on it. The Hullen took up orbit at 150,000 kilometers and set about organizing their fleet, under constant torpedo fire from fleet command. Destroyers to the front, Battlecruisers screening in the middle, then the Dreadnoughts to provide the hammer. The Wendago flitted around the flanks, skirmishing with Volantis' PDF destroyers and Dukal's raiders.
Adrian hooked up to the command channel. Lord Nelson broadcast a final transmission from his flagship, the dreadnought King James.
All hands are expected to do their duty. The Systems watches.
A second message came through from Serpentia.
It's been a journey. Time to kill the blues once and for all.
The enemy accelerated for the planet. "Fighters up," Adrian said.
"Oh my, they're coming straight at us," Amelie said.
#
Chapter Forty-One: Thunderhead
The orders to fire came simultaneously. All Adrian's old terrors came rushing back. There was too much luck in surviving a battle, of not being targeted and not having a catastrophic equipment failure, and he didn’t believe in luck. Yet there was nothing he could do while death charged towards him.
The very fabric of the universe shook, and his fears were rattled away. Battle erupted across Volantis' hemispheres.
Vindication was engulfed in one of the most all-time brawls the Armada had ever participated in. Millions of tons of munitions were slung per second as every railgun discharged and torpedo battery emptied. Instantly the Knights were tested by loose torpedo salvos slipping between the destroyer screen. A handful of capitol ships targeted them, but none were in optimal range.
The bridge activity and TACNET display slowed down around as his adrenaline glands pumped into overdrive.
"Alpha wing will run cover. Hold the remaining fighters in reserve until we get orders," he said.
Cara anchorage claimed the first kill. Each sentry gun was loaded with a 100-kilogram tungstanium slug. 400 meters of magnetic rails charged up to billions of gigawatts of power. Fire control flipped a switch, and their energy discharged into the slugs, ejecting them clear. They accelerated to .08, c and crossed the gap in space in 3.5 seconds. They penetrated barriers, armor, and hull of the lead BC, Malediction, and splattered her internals across the void.
6G-COM: All carriers, dedicate two interceptor wings and two bomber wings to spoiler assault. Follow these vectors and targets.
"There’s our orders, fighter-bomber wings one and two will lead the assault. Assign interceptor wings beta and gamma to run cover. Have them burn flank acceleration on vector 7, 7, 6, 0 and engage." He managed the engagement from the bridge, providing guidance while letting Cross and the flight controllers have primary engagement responsibility. The tsunami of attack craft rose from Volantis. A great melee of dancing fighters erupted. The fibos punched through by force of blazing autocannon, and launched their atlatls.
"Torpedo hits. No confirmed kills for us," Pask reported with some disappointment. Plenty of hostile BCs dropped, but they ablated the wave enough for the DDs to escape unscathed. The carrier First Sword’s bomber strike bypassed the entire battlegroup and wiped a squadron of STCs from the fight. Every Hullen interceptor in the area pounced for revenge, ending their war right there.
"There's a non-priority message from Serpentia, text only," Zoey said.
"Here," Adrian said.
One confirmed kill, BC-20221 Iloka.
Adrian shook his head. He considered kill-counting a distraction in a fight; the tacticians could keep score for after-battle celebration.
The Hullen retaliated. "Hostile fibos incoming in our SO!" Ensign Pask warned. Adrian bit his tongue as three carriers worth of Jotunns targeted Vindication and made their run. That much ordinance? Yeah, the blues knew who they were.
The screening BCs held formation and poured the fire on. He threw his interceptor screen up to engage. With typical jockey balls, the Jotunns red-lined their thrusters and pressed through to launch range. Thousands of tiny blue torpedo signatures spawned.
"Count five-zero-zero torps locking us up," Cage said. "EWAR drones in there too." Portions of TACNET drowned in static.
"Full power main weapons grid,” Adrian said. He raised a left hand, “Fire control, stand by with chaff, helm, prepare us for an emergency altitude descent.”
“Chaff standing by,” Cage said.
“Ready on your mark, I’ll try not to hit the planet,” Cage said. The Knights screen fired through the torpedo cloud, but it wasn’t enough. The torps kept going, and poured through his firing solution.
“Launch chaff and drop altitude 500 kilometers,” Adrian said. His hand dropped.
Vindication’s flank mounted launchers fired and she grew wings of phosphorous and lead particles. Her maneuvering jets fired and gravity did the rest. Volantis grew in the belly camera until he could see the cities. Most of the torpedoes flew into the screen and detonated, scattering plasma across space. A handful came through and pummeled the supercarrier.
“Barriers at 70%, no penetration,” Amelie said.
"Recall our bombers for combat reload." He glanced at TACNET. "Helm, recover our orbit." Grissom slid her back with maneuvering thrusters, sidestepping the dark hulk of a dead dreadnought on the way.
The fleets entered railgun range and hammered each other with accurate fire. Far as Adrian could tell, 6th was holding, and inflicting superior casualties.
And for the next 6 hours both sides exchanged railgun haymakers and carrier volleys. Volantis' sky filled with wreckage and escape pods from hundreds of doomed warships on either side. CONOR tugs and volunteers raced about, saving all. The anchorages held, and with their firepower Lady Silver staved the enemy off.
"We’re being hailed by Olajuwon," Zoey said. Her hands still shook and her uniform was soaked with sweat.
"Put her through," Adrian said. His temples were throbbing from the strain of battle and this news stabbed the pain deeper. A personal call in the middle of a raging battle was serious; he braced for bad news. He grabbed a cup of coffee from a dispenser.
"Vindication, Olajuwon-Banner. The Hullen have zeroed on Cara anchorage due to her weaker barriers. They're pushing hard elsewhere; I can't spare much. Take Vindication and relieve her. I'll assign BC squadrons to run support." One supercarrier to save an anchorage was monstrous odds; Adrian didn't need to do much computing to know that.
"Olajuwon, Vindication, good copy. Vindication out," he replied without question. Zoey cut the connection and he gave orders. "Helm, adjust course to intercept Cara anchorage, max acceleration. Recall all fighters and prepare for CC."
"Hero time," Cage said. TACNET zeroed on Cara's position. The battlecruisers assigned to run cover were drifting wreckage. One dreadnought, Revenant DNE 0124563, was orbiting the anchorage close enough that the big guns couldn't track. A dozen dragoons and a full wing of fighter-bombers strafed coordinated volleys. A second dreadnought was firing from somewhere over the horizon, guarded by range and EWAR drones. One of the giant sentry batteries disintegrated even now, immolating hundreds of souls in an instant.
"Launch chaff and EWAR drones, full blanket pattern," Adrian said. He didn't want Vindication blown away on approach as she left formation.
"Yes, sir," Cage said. Vindication threw up her security blanket of glittering chaff and dozens of recyclable drones. Silver assigned a BC squadron, Delta3, to cover.
"Delta, peel off those RRDs. If the
y cut the elevator mast she's dead. Keep at range and pick them off," he ordered. Delta's Commander Lynn acknowledged and pulled her ships up short. She selected a dragoon and gave the order. The little ship disintegrated under the combined fire of four BCs, shattered into ribbons of superheated shrapnel in an instant.
Grissom flipped Vindication over so her stern faced the anchorage and fired a decelerating burst. An alarm trilled as Revenant finally noticed and locked her up. At close range she couldn't miss.
"All fighter are reloaded and ready," Cross said. "Permission to launch, sir?"
"Denied, the board is yellow. Hold the jockeys in the tubes," he ordered.
"Yes, sir," she grumbled.
"Cage, prep an EWAR volley to cloak the anchorage, chaff, jammer drones. Launch the full array in omni-directional spread," Adrian said. Cara came racing over the horizon. Already her barriers were flickering and internal fires burned under her hull where torpedoes had made it through. A second sentry gun came apart with a blinding flash of overloading magnetic coils. Cara’s civilian barriers couldn’t handle that firepower.
A second dreadnought appeared in the periphery, on the edge of optimal range. Behind her, a supercarrier launched a fresh wing of fighter-bombers.
"Sir, the incoming supercarrier—she's Molyneux." Amelie said.
"Maintain approach. We'll deal with them," Adrian said.
Vindication threw herself between Cara and her assailants. Alarms trilled as one the hostiles targeted Vindication. Molitor had to be calling the shots; that was the only reason they'd abandon a guaranteed kill on the anchorage. Barrier readings dropped rapidly as dreadnought fire pummeled her like hailstones on a tin roof. Thermal readings in her dorsal barrier generator spiked over a thousand centigrade as something damaged in the previous months of turmoil melted.
"Diverting power from thrusters to barriers. Sorry, Gus," Lieutenant Pask said. The barriers stopped at 30% and held. The near dreadnought, Revenant, fired her thrusters and accelerated planetwards, determined to secure her kill before Adrian snatched it away. She realized her mistake seconds too late.
"All fibos, full assault, formation alpha. Interceptor wing green, run cover," Adrian said. The attack split along two pincer vectors and slammed together, crushing the dread in a hammer and anvil. Revenant threw up a wall of fire, but the Knights dove through the flak bursts and slammed their torpedoes home. Her barriers wavered and dropped to nothing. A few torps scored armor. She turned her guns on Vindication, then turned herself around and pulled range.
"Plot a fire mission. Target is Revenant. Full nuclear salvo," Adrian said. "Delta squadron, those RRDs are running; let them go. Pursue and kill Revenant." The battlecruisers turned on their tails and pressed the assault. The nukes were excessive; the combined fire of four BCs at four vectors was sufficient to reduce her to a burning hulk in minutes.
Vindication's barriers wavered under dreadnought fire from flanking vectors. Slugs punched through. Engineering and Amelie coordinated to divert power, micro-managing the power grid and barriers to keep Vindication intact. It wasn't enough. The second dreadnought moved in for the kill. Far out of railgun range, Molyneux launched her fighter-bombers.
So they finally got to duel. This had been on their minds for years. When was the first time they'd discussed it? Fifteen years ago, after the Battle of Platte, when some journalist had found them at the victory ball and asked. They'd laughed it off. With every victory they'd won together, the question of who was better loomed larger. They'd attempted to settle it in simulations, and gotten a 50:50 split result. Simulations were a shallow imitation of combat that ignored the human element
Adrian threw his interceptors up to screen them off. The fighter wings slammed into each other and their own little melee erupted across thousands of cubic kilometers of space. Still, the enemy Jotunns broke through and accelerated to attack velocity. Adrian gulped down his fear and went looking for a solution.
Yet this wasn't a one on one duel; he couldn't sit there and take the punishment. "Helm, we've shielded Cara long as we can. Dive us underneath her," he ordered. Grissom dropped Vindication down and away. The civilian ships sheltering beneath her frantically shunted aside to make room. A fully-loaded passenger shuttle splattered off her barriers with a radioed scream of regret. The second dreadnought pursued, diving straight towards the anchorage, heedless of Revenant losing power.
Cara roared. Two 100 kilo slugs slammed into her hull at .05c. One spent its energy on her barriers and disintegrated. The second penetrated and grazed her dorsal gun deck, shearing off several turrets before careening into space. The dread showed the plasma drives and burned hard for open space at 60g acceleration. Molyneux launched every EWAR ship and drone in her arsenal and threw them up in a screen between themselves and Cara, blurring TACNET out in static. The advantage had tipped, and Molitor was withdrawing to regroup.
“Launch another sortie to keep them running. Have delta concentrate on finishing off Revenant.
Vindication's fighter-bombers landed and reloaded. He threw them at the second dread as she withdrew. At 200g acceleration they chased her down and slammed into her screen. Attack craft whirled about in their own melee.
"Have all ships fall back to orbit Cara," Adrian said. Cara fired again, sending two slugs half a kilometer wide of their target.
6th Gehenna Command: All ships, the enemy is withdrawing. Pursue and destroy the wounded; don't stray past five hundred thousand kilometers.
Adrian looked up from their little corner of the siege. The blues were running. By the thousands they disengaged from low orbit and burned for open space. Standard withdrawal procedure; they launched all EWAR and fighters aft to cover. They left hundreds of wrecks from both sides in their wake, drifting into decaying orbit, many still flickering with power and possibly survivors within. Both defending fleets burned up after, firing as they went. They were met by the Wendago in upper orbit, and the ensuing inconsequential brawl enabled the main Hullen to withdraw entirely. Molyneux was the last capitol ship in the procession, picking up escape pods as she went. Revenant evacuated her crew, then scuttled herself.
There was no celebration from the defenders.
Volantis burned below. Adrian had fought over many planets. He'd never experienced a siege over a garden world. When wreckage hit the planet it didn't leave a dead impact crater; it ignited raging fires in the blast zone. They fed on the oxygenated atmosphere and spread into angry red blotches, supporting plumes of black smoke billowing kilometers into the air, spreading poison over the pristine white and green planet. Since the temperatures were cold, but within human survivability, when the debris hit the ice caps it shattered then melted them by the millions of tons, setting off tsunamis across lakes and oceans. The cities were open air rather than reinforced domes, so there was no true barrier to stop the concussion wave of impacts or the ensuing infernos. Thousands screamed their last desperate pleas over the extranet; people trapped in their homes v-logged their own deaths.
"Thank you, Vindication!" Cara's commandant cried over an open frequency. The Anchorage's fires were out; she was safe and intact. It was alright. He'd accomplished his objective. It was alright. Adrian rubbed his temples, and sighed with relief.
"Cara, Vindication, we copy." Amelie said, taking the mic from Zoey. She couldn't keep that smile off her face, despite the destruction visited below.
"Did we beat them? Is it over?" Cage said.
"No, we gave them a bloody nose," Adrian said. "Stand down to condition two and run post-combat checks. I want Vinny back to 105% effectiveness before the blues return. And comms, I have a special request."
"At your command, sir?" Zoey said.
"Hail Molyneux. Use my personal ID for the signal, not our transponder," he said. Zoey gave him a worried look, but did so.
"Sir?" Amelie said. Adrian waved her off.
"Digital handshake is accepted. Transmission is clean," Zoey said. "Where do you want to take it?"
"Put it on
my headset exclusively," Adrian said. Amelie crossed her arms, and his friendly wink didn't assuage her. He didn't care; he had to do this. For an old friend.
"Adrian, it's been a long time." Molitor's booming baritone had a rasp to it. It wasn't from the electronics; Adrian knew how interference grated on the ears and this wasn’t it. Molitor was weary. Probably his voice was going from bellowing orders over his supercarrier's wailing bridge. Despite his size, he'd never had a very loud voice and always got lost in the crowd cheers during crunchball matches. Adrian had started the ‘bullshit’ chants whenever the refs fucked up.
"Hello, Molitor. You sound like shit.” Had Molyneux taken any hits? Adrian was still worrying about his physical health for some reason.
"Well you also sound like shit,” Molitor said. “Been hitting the bottle again?”
“Always.” Molitor chuckled with that old affinity.
"I actually thought I'd killed you in IPX-88. I’d actually killed Adrian Huxton and blown away his unkillable supercarrier. I was an arrogant fool."
"Nah, you took good precautions. I'm just smarter," Adrian said, pulling out a flask and starting on vodka. Molitor chuckled again.
"Or we're both arrogant fools. I saw you try a blaze of glory run at Vervunder and wave it off at the last second," Molitor said.
"I tried being poetic instead of pragmatic," Adrian said.
"And Amelie stopped you, she’s a smart lady." Molitor read him like an open book.
"Hiding the fleet in the rings was a good idea. You had that idea, not Emoche or Venko the Greater,” Adrian said. “You learned that trick at Nokara, with the lead dust field.”
“Aye, that was me. I got me a nice triumph back on Tollyon, parade down victory square with civilians cheering and flowers.”
“I see the nation building is going alright,” Adrian said.