The Tanith Gambit

by Dietmar Wehr

  Valkanhayn watched his tactical display anxiously to see what the remaining 19 ships would do but Saville wasn’t waiting. His flagship was already giving orders for the combined fleet to accelerate at maximum on an interception vector. It was an audacious move. The remaining ships still outnumbered the defending ships 19 to 18 which meant any exchange of standard missile fire would probably end in favor of the Space Vikings with their more powerful missile warheads but Valkanhayn understood that the captains of those 19 ships had to be in shock. They might even be leaderless if their flagship was one of the casualties. Marduk’s fleet had to project confidence in order to create as much doubt in the minds of the opposing captains as possible and therefore throwing down the gauntlet and daring the remaining ships to fight it out toe to toe was the right thing to do. To Valkanhayn’s amazement, those remaining 19 ships continued on the same vector for another 5 minutes. No apparent reaction at all but just when he was about to accept the fact that there would be a toe-to-toe battle, the enemy formation started to break apart. A minute later they were all heading off in different directions.

  Valkanhayn expected Saville to order the combined fleet to reorganize into two ship divisions that would be ordered to attempt multiple interceptions of individual fleeing Space Viking ships but that didn’t happen. Instead, Saville ordered the fleet to stay together but cease accelerating. Valkanhayn was puzzled by that order but then he realized what Saville was up to. Chasing after some of the enemy ships would allow those ships that were not being chased, to come back around and attack an undefended Marduk. By keeping the fleet together and close to Marduk, Saville discouraged that attempt. As the minutes went by, it became clear that the dispersal was a genuine rout and not just a ruse. The combined fleet stayed at Battle Stations until all the remaining Space Viking ships crossed beyond the no-jump zone and jumped away. When Saville ordered the fleet to return to Marduk orbit, Valkanhayn requested and received approval to order his missile boats to rendezvous with the damaged hulks to ascertain if they contained any survivors. The chances of finding anyone alive were small, especially considering the time it would take for the missile boats to reverse course and catch up with the coasting hulks but Valkanhayn was determined to pursue any opportunity to find out where those ships came from.

  It was almost 24 hours later when one of the missile boats reported that they had docked with one of the damaged ships and had in fact found a severely injured crewman still alive. None of the other hulks contained any survivors. Somehow, the injured crewman stayed alive even though the missile boats had minimal medical facilities. As soon as the missile boat landed, the crewman was transferred to intensive care at the Malverton military hospital. The doctors told Bentrik that the man had a 50:50 chance of recovering but in any case, he would be unconscious for quite a while. Valkanhayn sent a pinnace with news of the victory to Tanith/Amaterasu. With a public announcement of the victory, Bentrik also announced an emergency program to build missile boats. Very quietly he also ordered the production rate of fusion warheads to be tripled. The Tanith fleet stayed at Marduk in case a third wave showed up, something that Valkanhayn continued to worry about. While production of the Mark 3 missiles proceeded at a satisfactory rate, fusion warhead production ramped up slowly and was unable to keep pace. It was clear to Valkanhayn that if a third wave arrived in about the same time frame, there won’t be enough Mark 3s to pull off the same strategy again.

  Trask put down Boake’s report and lit a cigar as he contemplated its contents and meaning. So the 3rd Battle of Marduk was a victory. Boake had justified his and Otto’s confidence in him with flying colors and might have discovered the definitive tactical doctrine for the use of missile boats. Marduk now had a compact missile with an 11,000 mile range and a very effective fusion warhead. That performance beat Beowulf’s 9,500 mile range missile with their larger and therefore heavier, hellburner warhead. Marduk was now also embarking on a major building program, starting with the 200 ft. diameter missile boats but also working on designs for a 400 ft., hyperjump capable but unarmored, missile frigate, and an even more impressive 800 ft., hyperjump capable, unarmored, missile cruiser. Now THAT would be a tough ship with its proposed 300 missile tubes, each containing up to 15 of the fusion armed, Mark 3 missiles! Boake’s report, that Simon’s military analysts were warning him that Marduk didn’t have the resources to build fusion warheads in the quantity that a fleet of missile cruisers would require, was good news for Tanith. Providing Marduk with the radioactives, it needed to meet that demand, would ensure that Tanith had a steady stream of income. His decision to send a team of engineers back to Tanith’s moon to conduct a survey for the re-establishment of the mines there was the right one. This time, the mines would be bigger, with a human presence to supplement the robots and, now that Rivington City was gone, Tradetown would have to provide the logistical support for that operation. The news of the destruction of Rivington City was a major blow but at least there were zero casualties. Trask had good relations with the leaders and people of Tradetown and he was certain that there was unclaimed land near that settlement, that could be converted into a spaceport and support base. With the shipyard now established on Tanith Island, it made no sense to pull up stakes again and move everything back to Tanith, at least not now. His shipyard needed to resume building missile boats. Yes he had four now but two of them were on loan from Beowulf and they would eventually want theirs back. He’d have to talk with Otto and Daxtar to see what they thought of following Marduk’s lead and building bigger, unarmored missile ships but there was plenty of time for that.

  It was clear to Trask that Boake was worried about a possible third wave attack on Marduk. There hadn’t been a 3rd wave attack on Tanith so far but that didn’t necessarily mean that Marduk wasn’t in danger of another attack. If another wave didn’t show up at Tanith in the next several weeks, he’d order construction started on the Tradetown Base to support the mining activity on the moon. Most of his people would remain on Tanith Island, which was starting to look like a permanent facility, instead of a ramshackle temporary thing. Permanent homes for his people, on the beach, were in the planning stage now and construction would start soon. His robotic manufacturing units were pumping out a steady stream of advanced technology, some for use by the shipyard but most of it was for sale to industry and consumers on Amaterasu. And speaking of building the Tradetown support base, that would also allow him to approve Otto’s request for heavy construction equipment to remove the rock that was preventing them from gaining access to that mysterious equipment, that Otto had discovered in the cave complex. Things could be much worse but what they really needed, was a period of time without more attacks, in order to build up the fleet and put the new missiles into mass production. If Viktor would just hold off for a while, the anti-space Viking forces might be able to get the upper hand. The waves of Space Vikings had to peter out sometime, didn’t they and having gotten a bloody nose twice, once at Tanith and once at Marduk, wouldn’t that give the other Space Vikings pause? It would certainly help if they knew where Viktor’s new base was now. He’d have to talk with Otto about that. Maybe they should send Captain Estherson and the Damnthing to the other bases, pretending to still be a Space Viking, to see what he could find out. Trask decided to finish his cigar on the way back to the Palace. Now that Valerie was pregnant, she was much more sensitive to cigar smoke. He would have a son in five months time and he was determined that his son would grow up in a peaceful, safe future even if that meant that every single Space Viking ship had to be hunted down like the mad dogs they were.

  Captain Kraggor took his seat in the front row of the auditorium and leaned back. With one ear he listened to the chatter of the gathered Space Viking Captains, who were seated or standing around him. With the rest of his attention, he was thinking about what Viktor would likely say at this briefing. Rumors were that the King would announce that he was sending a fleet, that would include Captain Chevalier’s partially repaired ship and the
other damaged ships, that survived the first wave attack on Tanith, back to Xochtil to blow away any Marduk Navy ships, that might be stationed there and liberate any captured Viking ships that might still be on the ground. What he didn’t know was who would be in charge of that mission. Up until recently, he’d been Viktor’s right hand man in terms of ship operations but lately, the King seemed to be spending a lot of time with Chevalier and Kraggor didn’t like it one bit. Fifteen years of loyalty to a man whose behavior sometimes bordered on being mentally unstable, with his bizarre sexual appetites, borderline delusions of grandeur and hair-trigger temper. Kraggor had risen up thru the ranks from junior officer to Captain of the Black Hawk, Viktor’s flagship, or at least it would continue to be his flagship until the rumored new superbattleship was built. Rumor also had it that Chevalier would be the Captain of that first superbattleship. Was it time to look for other opportunities? Maybe it was time to take Nicky Gratham’s standing offer of a ship Captaincy and move to the Jagannath Base. On the other hand, he liked wearing the uniform of the new Loki Navy in spite of the snickers and insults by Space Viking Captains, who thought the new planetary navy was a joke. Naturally they didn’t express those thoughts where the King could hear them. For the nth time, he wondered if he should tell his King what the Viking captains really thought of the Loki Navy and for the nth time, he decided that he might end up on the receiving end of Viktor’s unpredictable rage as the bearer of bad news. Any further thoughts were interrupted when a loud voice yelled out.

  “All stand and give attention to His Highness, King Viktor!” He and anyone else, who wasn’t already standing, stood up and turned to watch King Viktor stride in with Captain Chevalier following in his wake. The chatter had disappeared altogether and the large room was now dead silent with only the sounds of Viktor’s and Chevalier’s boots hitting the marble floor. Kraggor saw that Viktor was wearing a new set of formal attire. Black leather boots, red pants with a gold strip down the side, black jacket, covered by a red, fur-trimmed cape and a new, iridium crown. Even his cousin, King Konrad of Haulteclere didn’t wear attire that ostentatious, thought Kraggor. As the King approached the front of the room, Kraggor saw Viktor look directly at him. No smile or friendly word and a nod so slight that Kraggor wasn’t sure he hadn’t imagined it. As the two of them passed, Chevalier stepped over to the vacant seat reserved for him and turned to face the throne, that Viktor was approaching. The four guards, standing two on either side of the throne, armed with assault rifles and wearing gleaming combat armor, snapped to attention. Viktor stopped in front of the throne and turned to face his audience. With a practiced flourish, he pushed his cape back as he carefully sat down on the throne while the guards returned to a more relaxed stance. When Viktor spoke, his voice was amplified by speakers around the room.

  “You may be seated.” It didn’t take long for everyone to sit down. While that was happening, Viktor stood perfectly still but his eyes were scanning the room. When everyone was seated, Viktor smiled and said,

  “We’ve called this gathering to inform all of you of recent events. As most of you probably know by now, the first wave of raiders, to answer Our call, has returned from their attack on Tanith. The strike force was under the command of Captain Chevalier. His command suffered heavy casualties and after reviewing the records of the battle, We have concluded that the attack’s failure was due to unanticipated improvements in enemy weapons capabilities and NOT due to any negligence or lack of skill on Captain Chevalier’s part. The attack on Tanith, was intended to punish Prince Lucas for turning against his Space Viking brethren by capturing visiting ships. However, as you all know, that was intended to be Phase One of a larger response to the threat posed by Tanith’s alliance with Marduk and Marduk’s knowledge of the location of all of the Space Viking Bases. The Tanith Traitor has to pay for his betrayal but it’s Our judgement that the more immediate threat is Marduk” he paused to look around the room before continuing.

  “Some time ago a second wave was dispatched to Marduk via Tanith and We don’t know what the result of that endeavor is yet. We also don’t know yet if Marduk has the same advanced technology, that Tanith used to defeat Captain Chevalier’s force. If they do, then further action against Marduk would be required. After further discussions with Captain Chevalier, We have decided that a strike force of seven ships, will be sent to Xochtil, and We expect that they will find several Marduk Navy ships stationed there as an ambush force for capturing unsuspecting Space Viking ships and crews, just as is still happening at Tanith. This new Strike Force will consist of the seven ships from the first wave and will be under the command of Captain Chevalier. This mission will be part of a larger strategic plan to strike at Marduk at multiple locations. What We are now going to propose, is that another strike force be sent to Ithavoll. Why Ithavoll you ask? Ithavoll used to be a colony of Marduk. It still has close economic ties to Marduk and by attacking Ithavoll, we also attack Marduk’s economy indirectly. Marduk will then be forced to allocate some of their fleet to the defense of Ithavoll, which will weaken Marduk’s own defenses. Your participation in the attack on Ithavoll, will not only be potentially extremely profitable, since Ithavoll has a substantial population and a high standard of living, but it will also be a major blow to the military and economic power of Marduk.” He paused again for effect.

  “Some time back, Captain Estherson’s Damnthing arrived at Xochtil with a ship full of valuable plunder, that he was able to take from just one Marduk city. Ithavoll has dozens of cities just as rich. Even if the Strike Force were to consist of 100 ships, there would still be plenty of valuable plunder to go around. Right now, there are 44 raiding ships on or in orbit around Loki, or on raids to nearby planets, which could be back here within a relatively short period of time, not counting the 7 ships that will be going back to Xochtil. We will be sending our flagship, the Black Hawk, under the command of Captain Kraggor.” Viktor now looked directly at Kraggor with what most would describe as a friendly expression. “In addition, two of Our Viceroys, have asked to be allowed to contribute their ships to the Strike Force as well. Those two ships will also be under Captain Kraggor’s command and We propose that Captain Kraggor should also be in overall command of the entire Strike Force although We also recognize that the majority of the Strike Force captains, may wish to nominate another leader. Therefore, We will leave you now so that you may discuss the Ithavoll raid amongst yourselves and Captain Kraggor will do his best to answer any of your questions. But before We leave, We would like to point out that this proposed venture, could be the single biggest Space Viking raid of all time! The names of the ships and their captains, who participate in this raid, will become famous for centuries to come and those, who had the chance to participate and didn’t, will regret that decision for the rest of their days! There are only a handful of planets, who do not fear us. Marduk is one of them. We say it’s time that we showed Marduk that they should fear us! We have said Our peace and We will leave you now.” As Viktor stood up, a voice yelled out.

  “All stand for King Viktor!” Everyone did and even as Viktor, followed by Chevalier, walked sedately out of the room, the chatter started to rise in volume. Kraggor was undecided whether he should be flattered, by Viktor’s proposal to put him in overall command, or whether he should be appalled. If a force of 44 Space Viking ships were to suffer the same horrendous casualties as did the first attack on Marduk or Chevalier’s attack on Tanith, then the leader of that Strike Force, would surely have to accept responsibility for the failure and Viktor would have every justification for sacking Kraggor, who would be lucky to find a position as Supply Officer on a ship after that. On the other hand, a successful outcome would not only make him very rich from his share of the loot but would also solidify his position as King Viktor’s primary military subordinate and THAT might then be a good time to move to Jaganath. Any further thoughts Kraggor might have pondered, were interrupted by the questions from other captains, who expected Kraggor to have al
l the answers. Somewhere, Kraggor was sure, Viktor and Chevalier were laughing at his predicament.

  Captain Donnell looked up at the main display upon hearing the status change ping. Long range microwaves detected a new ship as it emerged from hyperspace. Distance was 1.5 light seconds. Velocity only 0.5 miles per second. No transponder id. Hmm, that was strange. All commercial and Marduk Navy shipping had their transponders on all the time as per regulations that Space Defense Command insisted on. Ships intent on hostile action wouldn’t broadcast their identity but then again, it was very unlikely that a single ship would try to attack Marduk and shuffling along at half a mile a second was an atypical attack vector too. Donnell identified which traffic controller was responsible for that sector of space and told him to call that ship and demand identification but before that individual could initiate the challenge, they received an incoming message.