"But you said it was just a scout ship. We have three warships up there," a woman said. Her anger felt sharp and directed at him. Tebrey had trouble blocking the raw emotions of the group.
"Look, we have three patrol craft up there, and a Nurgg ship is going to put up one hell of fight, even if it is just a scout ship. The frigates may be destroyed."
"Fine, but why not pick us up first? They have hours!" There was a chorus of angry agreements to that.
Tebrey sighed. "You obviously have no idea about how long space battles actually take. The battle could already be over. In any case, we should know in about half an hour or so. I suggest you continue doing... whatever it is you people do, and let the Fleet handle things up there. Because nothing you say or do is going to make a single bit of difference to the ships that have to fight."
Several people started to complain, but Dr. Mason took control of her team and gave them all tasks to complete. When the group had dispersed, only Mason, Tebrey, and Sergeant McGee remained together.
"Do you really think they could lose up there?" asked Mason.
"I think it's a possibility that needs to be considered," Tebrey replied. "Sergeant McGee?"
"Yes, sir?"
"I'm not part of your command chain. But if I can give you advice, I would say that the marines and scientists at the dig site are in danger. If the Nurgg break through, they will lance strike the site from orbit because of the shuttle."
"Aye, I'd not thought of that. But you're right, sir. I'll call them and have Corporal Cook get them moving. How far away is safe, sir?"
"A kinetic strike from orbit is going to produce a several-kiloton blast, and the Nurgg tend towards overkill in their reactions. If they are battered from battle, they'll fire everything they have left at the planet."
"I'll let them know, sir." McGee moved off to call the dig site.
"Are they really that bad?" Mason asked.
"Worse, I'm afraid. I watched some of the news feeds on the Loridell. For once, the propaganda is working to tone down how bad the enemy is. I guess they think people would panic if they knew how badly the war is going."
"Do we need to panic?" Mason sounded a little out of breath.
"I never panic, Doctor. No. I think the frigates will win this little skirmish. I do think that Dr. Anderson should consider packing up his expedition and heading home. The front has obviously shifted in this direction. If the Nurgg are sending scouts, soon they'll be here in force."
"So we will be okay?"
"I think so. I hope so. Believe me when I say that I don't want to spend the rest of my life in this place."
Chapter Five
Captain John Hutchinson was startled from a sound sleep by the scream of the alert klaxon. He was out of his bunk and donning his thin mesh-armored spacesuit before his executive officer called from the bridge.
"Captain?"
"Talk to me, Graham," Hutchinson said, running his hand along the fastenings of the spacesuit. He tucked his helm under his arm and adjusted his gloves, locking the sliding rings in place.
"We've got a jump trace, a large gravitic shockwave from coreward. A ship just transited the innermost hyperlimit, six light-minutes and closing. Preliminary scans of the drive signature suggest it to be a Nurgg scout vessel."
At six light-minutes, the captain thought, it would have to be. Federation technology wasn't advanced enough to jump that close to a stellar mass. The Nurgg had been pushing hard against the edges of Earth-controlled space from the direction of the galactic core for the last twenty years, although this was a little close to Sol for comfort.
The captain noted with satisfaction that his executive officer sounded stressed but steady. "Notify Jianghu and Lafayette of the situation. Take us out of orbit and plot an intercept course, and bring the weapons online. I'm on my way up," he said as started out the door. "And, Graham..." He paused.
"Yes, Captain?"
"Tell the Loridell they'd better get the hell out of here."
The three ships of the taskforce assigned to protect the Loridell accelerated out of orbit under the force of their powerful fusion engines. Of the three ships, only the Descubierta had been built within the last decade. It was of the newer Tigershark class of frigates. The two Black Knight-class frigates would be stressed to their limits to keep up with it. Their inertial dampeners came to full power as the ships smoothly accelerated at over three hundred gravities.
Hidden from sensors by the rapidly expanding plumes of glowing plasma from the three military vessels, the Loridell was moving slowly away from the coming battle. Its maximum speed was high, but it wasn't able to accelerate as quickly as the military ships, and it had further to go. The science vessel's course would take it all the way across the GL 661 system, directly away from the Nurgg ship. It would be almost two hours before the Loridell could reach the hyperlimit and escape. The benefit, of course, was that it would be almost impossible for the Nurgg ship to catch the Loridell, or even come within weapons range.
Lt. Commander Michio Graham sat in his acceleration couch and waited for the captain to arrive. The weapons were online, and his two weapons officers were calmly going through status checks while they waited to get within range of the enemy.
He had ordered the launch of a fast probe a few minutes before. It would be nearing the enemy in a few more minutes. It would fly by at half the speed of light, but it would give a better view of what they faced before it was out of range. Not that they had many doubts about the ship.
"I have the bridge. What's our status, Commander?" The captain hurried onto the bridge and settled into his couch, locking his helmet onto the stand next to him.
"You have the bridge," Graham acknowledged gratefully. "I ordered an intercept probe launched. Our probe should reach the enemy vessel in" – he checked his display – "two minutes, six seconds, sir."
"Very good," the captain replied. "Chief Wynn?"
Chief Petty Officer Jutka Wynn looked around from her display. "Defense lasers are online, sir. Electronic countermeasures are active. Both plasma cannon are warming up, and missile tubes are loaded."
"Thank you, Chief." He checked the probe's status on his screens.
Graham studied his displays. "The scout seems to be hugging the hyperlimit. Its most probable destination is the gas giant at orbit five."
"Alter our course to intercept the scout before it can reach the gas giant. I don't want to have a battle in those rings. Tell Lafayette and Jianghu to continue on this course together and cut off the arc if the Nurgg ship tries to flee."
"Roger that."
"Weapons fire! We have confirmed launch against the probe. Two blips closing at eighty percent of cee. The battle computer calculates an eighty percent probability of kinetic missiles."
The Nurgg had much better technology than the Earth Federation. They used some form of gravitic drive that allowed much faster speeds than conventional fusion engines. Their missiles were often just needles of hypercarbon accelerated to almost light speed, although occasionally they used more exotic warheads. A direct hit from a single hypercarbon missile would have vaporized half his ship, and the enemy had fired two at a small, unarmed probe. That didn't bode well for the coming battle.
"Alter the course on the probe to a direct intercept with the Nurgg ship. Let's see if they used the standard missiles or something new."
At those speeds, the probe couldn't alter its trajectory much, but standard Nurgg missiles required a direct hit, and they couldn't maneuver at all.
"Time to intercept, two minutes," Chief Wynn said.
"Captain, do you really think the Nurgg is carrying something new?" Graham asked. The Nurgg weren't noted for their innovation. Some of ships that had been captured were thousands of years old, with little differences from the newer ones. The genocidal aliens only innovated when they captured superior technology, and theirs was pretty advanced.
"I don't know, XO, but it doesn't hurt to find out," the captain replied.
"Acknowledged," the captain replied grimly. "All hands, prepare to engage enemy vessel."
"One minute till we reach outer missile envelope, Captain."
The bridge crew was tense. The Descubierta was still over thirty million kilometers from the enemy vessel, but they were closing at ten thousand kilometers per second. The probe had long since been vaporized. Analysis of the expanding gas cloud showed high concentrations of elemental carbon. The Nurgg had used standard weapons but fired in reckless disregard for expenditure of resources.
The Descubierta carried only ten missiles, so they had to get close to make each one count. Otherwise they would have to close and fight at close quarters with the plasma cannon. Being that near meant that they wouldn't have long to respond to enemy attacks, and the Nurgg weapons were better up close. Also, the Nurgg wouldn't hesitant to ram if it could destroy the other ship in the process. They were ruthless and coldblooded fighters.
Luckily, it would only take a couple of missiles getting through for the frigate. Each missile carried five warheads and ten decoys. Frigates were patrol vessels. Normally a destroyer or cruiser would have been stationed to protect a scientific expedition, but nothing was normal about the war with the Nurgg. The Earth Federation was simply losing too many ships to send its top units on nonessential missions. GL 661 had been deemed of little interest to the Nurgg, as if anyone understood why the aliens did anything.
Master Chief Katungi glanced up from his navigational displays. "Ten minutes till our trajectories are coincident, Captain," he rumbled. "Shall I initiate a course correction?"
"Hold steady. Let's get a little closer."
"Aye, sir."
"Chief Wynn."
"Yes, Captain?"
"Our friend here has launched four missiles so far. What is the standard complement for a Nurgg scout?"
"It varies, sir. Fleet has encountered scout ships carrying as few as twelve and as many as forty-eight. We didn't get a good enough look at the scout with the probe to determine its size."
"Thank you, Chief." The captain was worried about getting so close to the Nurgg ship, but they had to make sure it didn't get back across the hyperlimit to flee or transmit a message. Communication was one area where the Earth Federation was ahead of the Nurgg technologically. Nurgg vessels didn't use entangled pair communications; no one was sure why, but their technology required them to be in hyperspace to transmit a message. If the Descubierta could destroy the ship before it reached the hyperlimit, they could keep it from telling the rest of the Nurgg about their presence in the system. Of course, if the scout ship was carrying more than two dozen missiles, his ship may not survive either. That was why the other two ships were headed straight out to the hyperlimit to try to intercept the Nurgg ship if he failed.
Died. Death was the only option for failure. The Nurgg didn't take prisoners, and they often fired on escape pods from damaged ships. If they couldn't stop the enemy vessel, he and his crew were dead, and they all knew it.
Captain Hutchinson was suddenly very proud of his crew. They were good people, every one, and he was glad to have served with them.
"Maximum missile envelope reached, Captain. Ready to launch on your command."
"A little closer, Chief. A little closer. Let's make sure we don't miss."
"Yes, Captain."
Hutchinson met Graham's eyes. His exec looked worried, but nodded at the look. The Descubierta had a much better chance of taking out the Nurgg ship than the two older ships. They needed to at least damage the Nurgg vessel if the others were to have a chance.
The frigate was coasting now. There was no reason for them to accelerate past thirty percent of the speed of light. They were committed to the battle. There was also a practical reason for wanting to have a slower relative velocity than the Nurgg scout ship. The effects of time dilation would be much more severe for the Nurgg than for them. Simply put, they would literally have more time to react to threats than the Nurgg would.
"Weapons launch, sir!" one of Chief Wynn's weapons crew said suddenly.
"Confirm that! How many?" The captain waited. The tension on the bridge rose as the seconds passed.
"Confirmed, sir. I'm tracking eighteen blips closing at eighty percent of cee, wide dispersion pattern."
Captain Hutchinson couldn't believe it. The enemy had fired early. The ships were still over twenty million kilometers apart; they would have over two minutes to intercept the eighteen missiles, even at those speeds.
"Second launch! An additional eighteen!"
The captain didn't say anything. What could I say that wouldn't sound panicked? he thought savagely. He could do the math in his head: thirty-six were too many missiles for his ship to handle. They were dead, and they wouldn't even get to hurt the bastards.
"I'm getting something else, Captain," Graham said.
"What is it?" His eyes were focused on the blips racing toward the Descubierta, the thirty-six blips that meant death for his ship.
"The enemy vessel is changing its trajectory. It is now on a hyperbola back to the inner hyperlimit. Looks like they want to get away, sir."
"Notify the Lafayette and Jianghu, Graham. Tell them we're sorry."
"Yes, sir," Graham's voice shook, but he sent the message.
Even the Nurgg with their advanced technology had to obey the rules of orbital mechanics. They had been running down into the system at sixty percent of the speed of light. If they completely reversed in their path, it would take them vital minutes to slow down and then creep back up to maximum speed for the hyperspace transit. The best they could hope for was to swing wide and attempt to outrun the other ships. It was a tactic that the Nurgg had used before. It hadn't worked then, either. But then, the Nurgg weren't noted for innovative tactics.
One hundred seconds after the enemy missile launch, the Federation starship began to fire with its defense lasers as the first wave of missiles came into range. The Descubierta only had two defense laser turrets. The lasers needed a second or more to acquire and destroy each target.
It's going to be close, the captain thought.
At eleven seconds to impact, there were still fourteen missiles left.
At three seconds, the lasers destroyed the last missile.
That didn't mean that the ship escaped unscathed.
The last of the missiles were destroyed less than thirty thousand kilometers away from the ship. The expanding clouds of plasma were still star-hot and traveling at twenty thousand meters per second when the Descubierta overtook them. The magnetic shielding of the ship was able to deflect some of the plasma, but not the worst of it. Thermal superconductor on the hull was overloaded in places, and the interior of the ship was exposed to temperatures that would boil steel.
Plumes of atmosphere jetted out, carrying vaporized steel and organic molecules that had been crew in the forward compartments. The ship shuddered and slowed. Secondary explosions wracked the Descubierta.
She was wounded, but still in the fight.
Decompression alarms shrilled, and Lt. Commander Graham grabbed his helmet off the rack next to his couch and shoved it on, locking it in place with one hand while looking around the smoke-filled bridge. He could hear the bloodcurdling sound of the ship's atmosphere venting, and see the smoke being sucked out. There was an intermittent flash of electrical arcs from somewhere forward, and he could barely make out his flickering screens.
"Talk to me, people!" the captain's voice rang out in his helmet comm.
"Two confirmed hits from thermal plumes, Captain. We lost the starboard missile bay and the lower plasma cannon. I'm not sure what happened. I think the magazine exploded."
"Damn it! Who is that?"
"Gunnery Rating Zdansky, sir."
"Where's Chief Wynn?"
"Dead, sir. She... she couldn't find her helmet, sir."
Graham could hear the anguish in those w
ords. He'd seen death from explosive decompression. It was... ugly. He thought the ensign was holding himself together quite well. He busied himself with his displays. "Damage control teams confirm three hull breaches, all foreword of bulkhead twenty. Aft compartments are still airtight."
"Captain? Lieutenant Fowler here. Ship's communications. Jianghu reports heavy damage from enemy mines. She's lost her missile batteries. Lafayette wasn't hit. The bastards left neutron beam mines at the hyperlimit."
"Acknowledged. Ensign, how long before that second wave of missile hits us?"
Graham's blood ran cold; he'd forgotten about the second wave in the confusion.
"Forty-seven seconds, Captain." The ensign's voice shook.
"Inertial dampening?"
"Down to eighty-five percent," Graham replied.
"Are our portside missile tubes still operational, Ensign?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Set warheads to proximity and fire all tubes! Order Lafayette to engage!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Helm, reverse course and give us one-third maximum thrust."
"I'm not sure she'll take the stress, Captain," Chief Katungi said. "The hull breaches are severe." But he was already flipping the ship end-for-end, a vertiginous move. Graham felt himself slammed into his acceleration couch as the engines engaged at a hundred gravities of thrust. The damaged inertial dampening system couldn't compensate fully, and the crew was subjected to fifteen gravities of acceleration.
Someone screamed, and Graham couldn't be sure it wasn't him. His internal organs were only protected because of the internal support systems that compensated for the thrust. Damages control teams in the forward part of the ship hadn't had time to reach acceleration couches, and many of them were killed as they were hurled down corridors to slam into bulkheads with bone-crushing force.
The Descubierta was only one light-minute from the Nurgg ship and passing to the stern, having lost some speed in the engagement. The missiles launched from the Descubierta detonated less than three hundred kilometers from the hull, annihilating the oncoming wave of Nurgg missiles but subjecting the crippled ship to another blast of plasma.
The Remnant Page 5