Counterstrike

by D. J. Holmes

  The boredom was why James was on Drake’s bridge hours before his first real attack was due to begin. Finally finished with their work within the asteroid field, the mining freighters were already on their way into the inner system. As they slowly closed with Drake, James passed the time by watching them. The tactic had been discussed many times throughout Humanity’s history and many science fiction holo dramas had shown the idea, yet it had been Admiral Koroylov who had first utilized the strategy for real. Since then James had come to think of it as the standard siege tactic. If a fleet had time, which his certainly did, collecting large asteroids and hurling them at the orbital defenses of a planet was a very cost-efficient way to reduce an enemy’s strength. With fighters and multistage missiles thrown into the mix, James was certain he had a winning hand to play. When the mining freighters, disguised as regular supply freighters, were just half an hour out from Drake, he gave the order to send his fleet to battle stations. “I’ll speak to the Admirals now,” James said to his COM officer.

  A couple of minutes later holo projections of Ya’sia, Klack, Suarez and Jil’lal were all looking at James. “Is everything ready to proceed?” he asked.

  “Everything is prepared on our end,” Ya’sia answered.

  “And ours,” Jil’lal added.

  James nodded. “Very well, I will give the order for our freighters to begin as soon as they reach us. Let’s not hang around any longer than we need to.”

  “That is fine by all of us,” Ya’sia said with a smile. “Though once the Karacknids see what we have planned, they may not simply let us walk away.”

  “Which will work out to our benefit,” James responded. “So, let us be prepared to face that eventuality if it arises. I will be giving orders momentarily. Good luck everyone.” After letting each Admiral respond to his farewell, James cut the COM channel. “Miyagi, inform the freighter Captains that they can begin their attack run immediately. Ivanov, coordinate with Anderson and lay in a flight path for our fleet. Bring us to rest at maximum missile range. Then prepare to reverse course as soon as we fire. Inform Commodore Chen his fighters are to prepare to launch as well.”

  “Acknowledged,” Miyagi and Ivanov said in succession.

  As the mining freighters caught up with his fleet and moved ahead, James tried to imagine what the Karacknid commander must be thinking. In several battles he or one of the other Alliance commanders had used converted freighters for various purposes. No doubt the Karacknid commander knew he was up to something. But unless you react quickly, it will be too late, James thought. The only way to stop the freighters releasing their ordinance would be to order ships to break orbit and intercept the freighters. But the window for doing so was narrowing. And James had his fighters ready to block any attempt to do so.

  For twenty minutes the freighters led his fleet towards the Karacknids HQ base. As Drake and the others decelerated, the freighters continued on. When they were five minutes from missile range, the freighters’ engines went into overdrive. Shuttles detached from each of them and fled back towards Drake.

  “Still no reaction from the Karacknids,” Anderson reported.

  “He has to know we are about to do something,” Fisher commented as she turned to James.

  “They think their point defenses can handle whatever we can throw at them,” James guessed. “And perhaps they are right.” His attack was a test as much as it was a full-on attempt to destroy the Karacknids. But surely they are a little nervous? he asked himself as he imagined how he might feel with so many unarmed freighters defiantly charging his ships.

  “Missile launches!” Ivanov announced. “Forty missile contacts detected. They’re targeting the freighters.”

  “A waste,” Fisher responded. The freighters broke apart as if they had been hit by a missile. Yet instead of disappearing amidst secondary explosions, the fractured hulls of the freighters spread apart revealing hundreds of asteroids. Nowhere near the size of the massive ones Koroylov had fitted engines to and rammed into Earth’s defenses, their numbers made up for their lack in size. As asteroids bumped into each other and spread out, they created a wave of destruction hurtling towards the system’s third planet and the Karacknid ships and stations in orbit.

  Without waiting for James’ order, his fleet fired as soon as they came into range two seconds after the freighters broke apart. Within moments of being confronted with a hail of asteroids, ten thousand missiles were thrown into the mix. Then Chen’s fighters and bombers swept in to follow the missiles. As the seconds ticked by, a smile spread across James’ face. The Karacknids still hadn’t fired their own missiles. The Karacknid commander was torn. He could fire a full salvo at James’ ships before they fell back out of range. But then his point defenses would be the only weapons he could use against the asteroids. A Karacknid anti-matter missile was the ideal weapon to obliterate an asteroid. Where laser beams and other point defense weapons would simply break the asteroid into hundreds of smaller bits, anti-matter would wipe them out. What is it going to be? James asked his opponent as his ships pulled back from the Karacknid base. The sudden appearance of thousands of missiles from the Karacknid fleet and battlestations answered him seconds later. James lent forward as he strained to see what heading they were on.

  “They’re splitting up,” Ivanov informed everyone on the bridge. “It looks like a quarter are heading towards the asteroids, the rest are targeting us.”

  “Inform Chen his fighters are to release their missiles at extreme range of the battlestations,” James snapped. “I don’t want them flying through all those antimatter missiles as they are detonating. His force is to pull back as soon as they can.” Firing so far out would mean the Karacknid ships would easily dodge the balls of plasma released by the fighters’ missiles. With luck, the large battlestations wouldn’t have such an easy time of it. “Prepare the fleet to fend off the Karacknid salvo,” he added.

  With the Karacknids delaying the launch of their missiles, James could gauge the effectiveness of his attack before having to worry about his own fleet. With four carriers worth of Spitfire fighters and Lancaster bombers, Chen’s attack wave released four hundred and fifty plasma missiles. As the small attack craft peeled up and away from the planet, the missiles detonated, each releasing a large ball of plasma that used its momentum to continue on towards the orbital battlestations. At that moment, hundreds of new contacts appeared on the gravimetric plot. The Karacknids had sortied their fighters. Quicker than James would have thought possible, the fighters formed up into squadrons and raced out after their missiles.

  The Karacknids had timed their antimatter missiles to reach the wave of advancing asteroids just as James’ own salvo of missiles caught up with them. As antimatter explosions erupted in the midst of the asteroids, hundreds of asteroids and missiles blinked out of existence. James shared a glance with Fisher. The Karacknids should have focused all their missiles on the asteroids. They were still more than two hundred of them barreling towards the planet. That number halved as the Karacknid fighters tore into the asteroids and blasted them with their particle beam weapons. Yet every asteroid that was blown apart just added to the confusion as hundreds of pieces of debris took its place. As the Karacknid point defenses opened up, the confusion increased. Thousands of small asteroids were hurtling towards the planet. In the midst the disintegrating asteroids, James’ missiles accelerated. As their ECM boosted up, Karacknid sensors, already straining to make sense of the thousands of asteroid pieces, were overwhelmed. Even so, for the final thirty seconds it took their wave of destruction to reach the Karacknid ships and stations, point defense fire continued to take out targets. Then the wave of asteroid debris, anti-ship missiles and plasma balls struck the Karacknid formation. Explosions rolled throughout the Karacknid ships and stations. They were too many for James to count. Beside the visual image of the Karacknid formation, text appeared as Drake’s computer and sensor officers sought to analyze the damage. James read it eagerly. It looked like approxi
mately sixty ships had been taken out. At least that number again had been hit by a missile or asteroid piece. Crucially, four of the Karacknid’s battlestations were gone.

  “We’ve hurt them bad!” Miyagi said as he looked up from his command console, a wide grin on his face.

  James smiled back. He wasn’t used to his Chief of Staff showing such emotion. But he understood. The asteroids had played havoc with the Karacknids point defense fire. “Let’s handle their salvo first and then we can congratulate each other,” James responded.

  “Of course, Admiral,” Miyagi said, his face quickly returning to its usual impassive appearance.

  As the Karacknid missiles entered point defense range of his ships, James put a stern look on his face. With everyone already intimately familiar with their roles, there was nothing for him to do but look fearless as the incoming missiles threatened his fleet and flagship. Without the battlestations, the warships’ missiles wouldn’t have even caused his gunners to break a sweat. However, each battlestation had one hundred and sixty missile tubes. They had significantly boosted the numbers in the enemy salvo. When they crashed into his fleet, multiple explosions signaled the death of Allied ships. Though he always hated himself when it happened, James couldn’t help but feel a moment’s relief when it was clear no missiles had targeted Drake. It only lasted a second and then his concern for his fleet took over. As damage reports started to come, he threw himself into organizing rescue operations. Their attack had been successful, but he had known they would have to pay a price.

  An hour later his fleet was back at its original location as it resumed circling the Karacknid fleet HQ base. James had lost twenty ships. He knew it was a small price to pay for the damage he had done to the Karacknids, but every loss hurt. “I think we can call that attack a success,” James said to his command staff. “Send word to our remaining mining freighters. I want to know when they will be ready. Miyagi, work with Ivanov and see if we can scrape together any other freighters from our supply train. I know we have munition and fuel freighters that we need to send back for resupply. But perhaps we can spare a few of them to load up with more asteroids. If we can hit them again like we did today, we should be able to move in and finish the job ourselves.”

  “I’ll see what we can scrape up,” Miyagi responded as he gestured for Ivanov to join him at his command console. James nodded to his Chief of Staff. He had twenty more mining freighters collecting the asteroids that they would need. If he could add more to that, his next attack would be even more devastating. It would take at least two weeks to make the preparations, but if the Karacknids sat still long enough, he would be more than happy to hit them again.

  As his ships resumed their watch on the Karacknids, James carefully analyzed the Karacknid fleet. Given what he had just done to them, the Karacknid commander had to know that his ships were in a precarious situation. If he had been facing such odds, James was sure he’d be willing to try anything to counterattack or slip his ships past the enemy fleet to safety. As impressive as the Karacknid battlestations were, James had just shown that they had a significant vulnerability. If the Karacknid commander insisted on protecting them and the rest of the orbital stations of the HQ base, his ships would be in trouble. “I’m going to retire,” James said after watching the Karacknids for an hour or so. “Make sure the fleet keeps a wary eye on them. After what they have just been through, they’ll be desperate to get revenge. Let’s not allow them to catch us out. Keep a special eye on their fighter stations.”

  “Yes Admiral,” Captain Fisher replied.

  Chapter 20

  The War of Doom saw many technological advances. The early Spitfire fighters and their variants saved Humanity from defeat. When the Karacknids developed their own fighters the scales shifted again.

  -Excerpt from Empire Rising, 3002 AD.

  IS Prometheus, 2nd March 2484 AD (two days later).

  Commodore Chen sat in Prometheus’ flight ops reading a report. His right hand was tapping on his computer console. Chen had found the movement had become a habit. It had started not long after Emperor Somerville had insisted he step back from flying Spitfires and accept a promotion to the rank of Commodore. Without a flight stick to grasp, Chen needed something to occupy his hand. Though he wasn’t meant to be on duty, Chen had been tossing and turning in his bed. Giving up on trying to sleep he had come into flight ops. The command deck served as the command and control center for every fighter in Somerville’s fleet. Whilst technically he only commanded the fighters that belonged to Prometheus, her three sister ships and the six bulk carriers that were part of the fleet; in reality, he had been forced to learn how to command the small squadron of carriers and their escorts as well. With his knowledge of fighter combat, each of their captains looked to him for leadership.

  None of that was what was robbing him of sleep, however. Over the last few months he had settled into his role. Whatever was keeping him awake was eluding him. With a sigh he set the datapad down. The report on the readiness of Icarus’ Lancaster bombers was one he had read earlier. He had hoped there had been something in it his subconscious was trying to tell him he had missed. But there was nothing out of the ordinary about the report. Something was nagging at him though. “What is the fleet’s status?” he asked one of the flight officers out of habit.

  “Nothing has changed in the last several hours Commodore,” the Lieutenant replied. “We are still circling the Karacknid base. We have twelve Spitfires out on patrol and the frigates and recon drones that are watching the approaches to the fleet have nothing to report.”

  Chen tightened his lips. He was staring at the main holo projection of the system. There didn’t seem to be anything unusual going on. Beyond the couple of small squadrons of destroyers and frigates that were patrolling the outer system and the convoy of freighters that was approaching the fleet, the system was quiet. Except, of course, for the two massive fleets that were squaring off against one another. Still searching for what was keeping him away, Chen turned his mind back to the battle of two days ago. He had gone over the attack with his squadron leaders and then with Admiral Somerville and then several times on his own. Analysis of his fighter’s plasma missiles had indicated they had struck one battleship and four other orbital stations, destroying each of them. In the grand scheme of things his fighters had contributed very little to the battle. And yet they had suffered no losses. Plasma missiles were less than one fifth the size of the standard mark IV anti-ship missiles Drake and the rest of the fleet fired. That meant there were hundreds of them stored away in the supply train. Firing a full salvo for only a few hits wasn’t an issue as far as logistics were concerned. So why can’t I sleep? Chen asked himself. Idly he pulled out the picture of his wife and son. There was always a small part in the back of his mind that worried about them both. Yet as he stared at them, he only felt love well up within him. They weren’t the reason he wasn’t sleeping.

  “The fleet is preparing to alter course in five minutes,” one of the officers on watch called out. “Make sure our fighters on patrol are aware. We wouldn’t want them missing the turn and getting lost,” she finished with a chuckle.

  Chen frowned. He hadn’t been made aware of any scheduled course change. “Why are we changing course?” he asked the officer.

  The officer stared at him blankly for second and then hastily looked at her command console. “Eh, it’s only a minor course change. This system’s star gives off unusually large solar flares. One is coming our way now. We are turning our noses into it to protect our more sensitive sensor arrays. We’ll be altering course back onto our original heading in a couple of minutes.”

  Chen stood up as his mind whirled. For the first several hours after the attack on the Karacknid base, James had kept his ships at battle stations. The Emperor had feared the Karacknids would launch a counterattack once they realized how vulnerable they were. Yet nothing had materialized. Over the last two days everyone’s alertness had slowly decreased as the Kar
acknids had apparently remained docile. What if they were waiting? Chen thought. “How much will our maneuvering and the solar flare reduce our ability to watch the Karacknid fleet?”

  “Not by much I wouldn’t think Commodore. I’m not a sensor specialist though. Perhaps by twenty percent?” the officer replied.

  “I want to know for sure!” Chen demanded as he turned and stared at the Karacknid orbital installations. “Wait,” he said before the officer could turn to look for someone else. “There’s no time. How many fighters do we have ready for emergency launch?”