by Dietmar Wehr
“I like that idea very much, Captain, but before I agree to it, I’ll want my Chief Engineer to survey the seven damaged ships and give me an estimate of how much time and materials would be needed to restore some or all missile capability. In the meantime, you may go ahead and sound out the other six captains on the idea. If they agree and if the repairs can be done quickly, then I’ll agree to the arrangement. And in any case, I’d like you to join my Navy and if you do, I guarantee you that you’ll command a superbattleship one day.”
“I’m grateful to Your Highness for your generosity.” said Chevalier as he stood up and bowed. After he left, Viktor called up the schematic diagram of Chevalier’s superbattleship concept again. If he had a fleet of those ships, he could take on Marduk and all the other Civilized Worlds. And speaking of Marduk, he wondered how the second group of Space Vikings was making out with that mission. The third group was still too small to send anywhere. Apparently a lot of Viking captains, upon hearing about the rally call at the other bases and also about all the ships that had already decided to answer it, were convinced that they were too late to participate and hadn’t bothered to come to Loki to find out. The 18 ships, that had come in since the second group had left for Tanith, were either waiting in orbit or had taken Viktor’s invitation to raid planets nearby in order to make a quick turnaround. Viktor smiled as he thought of that strategy. By increasing the frequency of raids on nearby planets, he was setting the stage for when his navy’s ships would visit those planets and offer to protect them from any future Space Viking raid. With the right amount of terror, they’d be glad to accept his protection, in exchange for tribute in the form of precious or industrial metals, luxury goods or whatever else they might have that his empire could use. But first things first. Loki was a big bite that had to be properly digested. All the island nations were now acknowledging him as their Soveriegn Lord. The old gandolinium mines were just about ready to resume production. The mines on the gas giant’s moon, would soon start to produce radioactive ores again. The new naval academy was already training the first class of local students and advanced, Sword World technology was gradually being introduced to local industries, in exchange for the transfer of substantial ownership interests to the Crown. With the flow of monetary metals like gold now coming to Loki in the form of loot from raids, instead of flowing out, economic activity for the planet as a whole was starting to rev up and the civilian population was glad of it. The shipyards were busy repairing damaged ships and Viktor had sent a pinnace back to Haulteclere, informing his duplicitous cousin that in light of the cheating that King Konrad had engaged in with regards to the valuation of loot from Xochtil, he had decided that he was confiscating Konrad’s share of the shipyard and that no further loot would be sent to Haulteclere. If Viktor needed anything from one of the Sword Worlds, he would get it from Excaliber or Joyeuse or Curtana. Viktor laughed at the thought of his cousin’s reaction. Konrad was an arrogant bastard and his first reaction would be to send some ships to Xochtil to put Viktor in his place but they would find an abandoned base and have to return to Haulteclere empty-handed. Eventually Konrad would find out that the Xochtil operation had moved to Loki but with the long transit times between the Old Federation and Haulteclere, it might be a couple of years or more before Konrad’s ships showed up at Loki and by then, Loki would be defended by superbattleships and long range missiles. Viktor wondered if his nephew, Wiligut, was still on Haulteclere. If Konrad sent ships to Loki, Viktor’s navy would deal with them and then depending on the situation at the time, he might just send a superbattleship to Haulteclere, to conquer the planet and put his nephew in charge. Of course, if he did that, he’d have to take care of King Omfray of Gram too. The inhabitants of Gram would almost certainly thank him for it, and Viktor had always lusted after Omfray’s wife, who was Konrad’s niece. The incestuous nature of that prospect, would make it all the more satisfying. He tried to remember what other distant relatives he had, who could be trusted to rule Gram in his name. The thought of having his way with Konrad’s niece made Viktor want to indulge himself with his harem. One of them bore a striking resemblance to Konrad’s niece, which was why Viktor had lured her into his harem in the first place. Perhaps it was time to visit with her again. As he turned off his data tablet, he decided that enough time had been spent on superbattleships and supermissiles today. The only supermissile he was concerned with now was the one between his legs. That made him laugh all the way to wing of the Palace that housed the harem.
Chapter XVI
Admiral Valkanhayn was not a happy man. With the arrival of Estherson’s Damnthing and the two additional missile boats, the whole approach to the coming battle was now up for debate AGAIN! Admiral Shefter and Vice-Admiral Saville were against trying the same trick of making the long range missiles look like standard anti-ship missiles that have used up all their power. Both admirals were seated opposite him. Shefter was cordial but Saville was icily polite, that bordered on downright hostility. Maybe his zeal was an attempt to make up for the apparent loss of at least one and maybe two captured ships that should have arrived back at Marduk by now but were nowhere to be seen. Valkanhayn wondered again what Saville could have been thinking when he sent a skeleton crew of just 12 men to not only pilot the ship back on a nine week journey but also supervise and feed the ship’s former crew of over 200 men! Even if they were locked in a storeroom, the prize crew couldn’t just ignore them. They had to bring them food and water and that by itself would probably have been a full time job. Just one slipup, one careless moment and the prisoners could have retaken the ship. Valkanhayn didn’t want to think of the fate of the prize crew if they lost control of the ship. Prince-Protector Simon wasn’t happy with the screwup, that much was obvious. But he wasn’t unhappy enough to sack Saville. Maybe that was because Saville was the best officer available right now and if that was the case, then God help them all! Before Valkanhayn got any further with his thoughts, an underling announced the arrival of the Prince-Protector. All three admirals stood. Shefter and Saville also stood at attention. Valkanhayn didn’t even try to do that. From his expression, the Prince-Protector was not a happy man either. He looks like he’s carrying the wait of the whole galaxy on his shoulders, thought Valkanhayn. They waited until Simon was seated and then sat down as well. Shefter and Saville stayed quiet and Valkanhayn had learned by now that on Marduk, no one starts talking in a meeting like this, until asked a question or invited to speak by the Prince-Protector. Simon, to his credit, had overlooked Valkanhayn’s previous transgressions of that protocol. He hadn’t even known that he had transgressed until Shefter came to him after another meeting with the Prince-Protector and made him aware of it in a friendly way. Simon glanced at the data tablet on the conference table in front of him and then looked over at Valkanhayn.
“I see that Captain Estherson’s ship brought two more missile boats. What is the status of their missile inventory, Admiral Valkanhayn?”
“The missile boat from Beowulf, has almost a full load of counter-missiles. Just over 3200 I believe. The boat from Amaterasu is completely empty I’m afraid. Its commander informed me that Prince Trask made the decision to halt counter-missile production, in order to reallocate those resources to ground-based anti-ship missiles for planetary defense, due to his impression that Marduk would have enough of its own counter-missiles and extended range missiles to fill up that boat.” Simon nodded ever so slightly and then turned to look at Admiral Shefter.
“Please remind me again as to the current status of our missile inventory, Admiral Shefter.”Shefter glanced at his own data tablet to refresh his memory.
“Certainly, Your Highness. We have 377 of the larger, ground-based anti-ship missiles, which we can use on the missile boats but due to their size, each boat would only be able to carry 64 of them for a total of 256 and that’s only if each boat carried zero counter-missiles. We also have approximately 1100 counter-missiles in storage that could be loaded onto the fourth boat and
finally, we have almost 100 of the Mark 3 extended range missiles BUT…we only have enough of the new fusion warheads to arm 21 of them.” Another slight nod. Simon’s voice was unusually calm and low key and his face was completely expressionless. He’s not in a good mood, observed Valkanhayn.
“So Admiral Shefter, if we deployed all of our counter-missiles, currently in storage,to the missile boats, what would the total number of counter-missiles be for all the ships of both fleets and the boats?” Shefter looked at Saville who did a quick calculation on his data tablet, which he showed to Shefter.
“We would have 22,980 counter-missiles deployed, Your Highness.”
“And assuming a standard missile load for the attacking Viking ships, how many ships could we be reasonably certain of being able to defend against?” This time Shefter did the calculation himself.
“If we assume that we need an average of 1.3 counter-missiles to take out each offensive missile, then we could stop an attack by 35 ships, Your Highness.” Simon turned back to Valkanhayn.
“If I recall correctly, the first wave consisted of 34 ships.” It wasn’t a question but there was a pause after it so Valkanhayn assumed that Simon wanted confirmation.
“That’s correct, Your Highness.”
“And you still feel that we should reduce our available counter-missile inventory in order to deploy extended range missiles for offensive use, Admiral Valkanhayn?”
“Yes, Your Highness.” Simon leaned back in his chair and gestured for Valkanhayn to continue.
“Tell me why.”
“Well, first of all, it could be more than 35 ships. Once they arrive, we won’t have time to change the mixture of offensive and defensive missiles on the boats. We’d have to make due with whatever they’re carrying at that point. But even if we assume that the second wave will be 35 ships or less, and if we also assume that they oblige us by firing every single atomic missile they have at us, which we would almost certainly be able to defend against, what is to stop them from landing on Marduk and releasing their ground troops on the civilian population? Our 18 ships would be outnumbered by almost 2 to 1. We could fire every standard anti-ship missile we have and they’d be able to swat those aside with their own counter-missile fire meaning that both sides would be out of offensive missiles but they’d still have enough counter-missiles left to defend against your ground-based missile force. So in that scenario, what’s left to do? Are you going to order your ships to ram them?” Before Simon could respond, Saville banged his fist on the table.
“By God, yes! I’d order our ships to ram them if that’s all that’s left to us!” Valkanhayn banged his own fist on the table and yelled out.
“Well I won’t!”
“You’ll bloody well do it if I order it!”
“Like Hiffheim, I will!” Saville was about to respond but Simon’s hand, slamming down on the table, put a stop to that idea.
“Let’s all stay calm. I don’t want to hear any more shouting from anyone at this table. Is that clear?” All three admirals indicated that it was indeed clear.
“Please continue, Admiral Valkanhayn.”
“Thank you, Your Highness. I submit to you that having three dozen Space Viking ships land on Marduk would be a castastrophe. Your ground forces might outnumber their ground fighters in total but you’d have to spread your troops over what…a hundred cities around the planet, while they could concentrate their forces on half a dozen cities and they’d have local superiority.So merely deflecting their offensive missile fire isn’t enough. What we have to do is hurt them badly enough that the odds shift in our favor and they will then want to withdraw. I realize that the coasting missile trick is highly risky but I don’t see any other way.” Bentrik said nothing for almost half a minute. This was clearly an important decision. When he was ready to respond, he looked at Shefter.
"Admiral? Unless you can give me a better option, I'm going to go with Admiral Valkanhayn's coasting missile strategy and order the missile boats loaded accordingly. Can you?" Shefter took a deep breath and said.
"I wish I could offer a better strategy, Your Majesty, but right now I can't." Bentrik nodded.
"In that case, we'll go with the coasting missile strategy and all missile boats will be loaded with the ground-based missiles. God help us if this doesn't work!"
The defenders of Marduk were expecting a Space Viking attack consisting of 35 ships. They got 40. Both Vice-Admiral Saville and Admiral Valkanhayn were on board their ships when the long range micro-wave detection beams sounded the alarm. Valkhanhayn was already on the Star Knight's Bridge when he received the report of the number and speed of the incoming fleet. 124 miles per second was just about ideal from Valkanhayn's perspective.
"Is Vice-Admiral Saville available on Comm yet?" growled Valkanhayn. After a few seconds, the Comm. Tech shook his head.
"They say he's still on his way to the Bridge, Admiral." That was okay. Valkanhayn didn't need Saville's permission to do what had to be done. Prince-Protector Bentrik had seen to that when he had approved the revised plan based on Valkanhayn's new idea. Thank God they had enough time to reconfigure the missile boats' loads. He queried the tactical computer for the optimal course based on the new plan's parameters. When the course was calculated, he used his light pen to approve it and have it automatically downloaded to all four missile boats, which were in the process of launching from their docking bays.
Once clear of the battleship, all four boats increased acceleration to their maximum of 11.5 Gs. The enemy force did what was expected of it and began decelerating at 6Gs which would allow them to drop into orbit around Marduk by the time they reached it.
When Saville finally arrived on the Bridge and had settled into this Command Station chair, he looked at Valkanhayn's image on the video screen and said.
"I see that you haven't wasted any time, Admiral. Just remember that when your missile boats have fired all their missiles, I'll be assuming overall command of the defensive forces and I'll expect you to obey my orders from that point on." Valkanhayn kept his cool. If his strategy worked, the battle would be pretty much over by the time that Saville took charge.
"I'll remember if you remember to let me operate my missile boats as I see fit!" Saville bristled at the remark. If an officer in the Royal Marduk Navy spoke to him like that, the man would be court-martialled for insubordination! He refrained from any response. Admiral Valkanhayn’s revised plan should work in theory. Whether it would work in practice or not, remained to be seen. Saville did not want to give Valkanhayn any excuses for failure by openly clashing with the man. Besides, the Prince-Protector’s orders were clear enough. Missile boat operations were the sole responsibility of Admiral Valkanhayn. He, Saville, was supposed to stand aside and let the former Space Viking officer have his way. Saville didn’t always agree with the Prince-Protector’s decisions but the man WAS his Sovereign and ultimate military superior.
Since the missile boats were adding velocity faster than the incoming ships were shedding it, closing velocity between the two groups of vessels continued to increase. The plan was for the missile boats to launch their missiles as quickly as possible, starting in about 40 minutes or so, assuming the enemy fleet kept on decelerating at 6Gs on the same vector.
With less than a minute left before the missile boats reached their firing point, Valkanhayn checked the tactical display one more time. The boats and the enemy fleet were speeding towards each other head on. That would change. As soon as the distance between them dropped to 41,000 miles, the missile boats began firing missiles. Valkanhayn grinned as he remembered the astonished look on Shefter and the Prince-Protector’s faces when he suggested that they remove the 5 1/2 ft. long nosecones from the ground-based missiles, which meant that each missile tube could carry three of them instead of just two. That meant that the four missile boats could carry 363 of the decapitated missiles plus the 21 Mark 3s. The three waves of missiles streaked towards the Viking fleet spaced out with about 3 seconds betw
een waves. All 21 Marks 3s were in the 3rd wave.
Total flight time of the missiles, to interception, was 240 seconds. With six seconds left before interception, the range dropped to 1,000 miles and the Viking fleet fired all 400 counter-missiles. With five seconds left to interception, the Mark 3s’ programming made them veer away in an arc. Since those missiles were no longer deemed to be a threat, none of the counter-missiles deviated from their flight path, and remained locked on to the first wave of missiles, that were still heading for impact with the ships and that the Viking captains had to assume were armed with atomic warheads. As time to interception dropped close to zero, the counter-missiles wasted themselves trying to stop missiles that were no threat while each Mark 3 reacquired its target and hit a Viking ship. The fusion warheads aboard them, specifically designed to destroy armored ships not just damage them, destroyed 16 outright and the other 5 were damaged so badly that they were just coasting, glowing hunks of metal. With the missile boats now beyond standard missile range, the remaining 19 ships didn’t even bother to fire at them.