Counterstrike

by D. J. Holmes

  -Excerpt from Empire Rising, 3002 AD.

  IS Viper.

  As her officers prepared for the coming fight, Becket rolled her shoulders to release some tension and settled deeper into her command chair. It was never easy watching someone else fight on your behalf, but she was learning to accept it. The price of command, she thought as she pictured the way Admiral Somerville had looked when he had said as much to her. He had told her she wouldn’t understand until she had experienced it. Now she knew. With her attention fully on the Karacknid fleet, she watched as they closed with Shraw’s ships and came into missile range. From their forward tubes they fired four hundred and fourteen missiles. Then, the Karacknids slowed their acceleration rates to keep pace with Shraw’s fleet. They know the Gramrian ships don’t have the same missile range as they do, Becket realized. Thankfully, in a stern chase it wasn’t too big of a disadvantage. With the Karacknids racing along behind them, all Shraw and Faroul had to do was fire their missiles and let them travel ballistically for several minutes before igniting their engines. Still, staying further back meant Shraw’s missiles would be coming in with a slower closing velocity. The Karacknid commander was taking every advantage he could.

  Before the missiles reached Shraw’s fleet, the Karacknids fired again. When the second salvo was about a third of the way towards their targets, an entirely new set of contacts appeared on the gravimetric plot. Shraw’s first salvo had just lit off their engines. With most of the Gramrian ships having only a single rear missile tube, the salvo had just two hundred missiles in it.

  Over the next twenty minutes Becket ground her teeth together to stop from swearing as she was forced to be nothing more than an observer in the missile duel that unfolded. The Karacknids managed to pump four salvos into Shraw’s fleet in that time. Eight Gramrian and Poideal ships were destroyed or severely crippled by them. In reply the three salvos Shraw got off destroyed just three Karacknid ships. It was a losing ratio.

  But not for much longer, Becket promised herself as the Karacknid ships passed the point of no escape. “Now!” she ordered. “Full power, fire when ready.”

  Up and down her fleet reactors kicked into life and impulse engines flared. In seconds, the eighty-one ships around Viper burst through the cloud of ice particles given off by the comet. To cement their surprise, Becket’s ships fired a salvo of one thousand and twenty-six missiles and charged the Karacknids.

  “Signal Shraw to keep running,” Becket snapped as soon as her fleet’s missiles were away. “He can turn and fight once we have taken the Karacknids’ focus.”

  “Message sent Admiral,” Lieutenant Rondon updated her moments later.

  “The Karacknids are turning,” Lieutenant Salaman reported. “They’re bringing their broadsides to bear on us.”

  As soon as the Karacknids had lined up their missile tubes, they released their first full salvo. Eleven hundred missiles raced out towards Becket’s fleet. Becket took a deep breath. The Karacknid salvo was going to hurt. But so will ours, she reassured herself. Her salvo was timed to strike the Karacknids just as Shraw’s third salvo did. Though Shraw’s missiles were small in number, the crossfire would seriously degrade the effectiveness of the Karacknid point defenses.

  “Admiral Shraw’s ships are turning!” Lieutenant Armitage shouted over the other conversations that were going on. “He’s turning to engage!”

  Becket’s head snapped around to where Shraw’s ships were being displayed on the holo projector. What she saw made her shake her head. The Gramrian was ignoring her command. Rather than widening the distance to the Karacknids before turning to engage, he was not breaking off. Shraw’s fleet rippled off a full missile salvo of its own. “Time our second salvo to match their fire,” Becket snapped. Shraw’s maneuver meant her second salvo of missiles would rip into the Karacknids with deadly force. But Shraw’s ships were at the mercy of the Karacknids. If the Karacknid commander chose to fire at his ships instead of Becket’s…

  Becket swore when the Karacknid commander did just that. As soon as his ships had reloaded, he altered course and fired a full broadside towards Shraw’s fleet. Though Shraw had the same number of ships as Becket, his point defenses were far less efficient. There was a reason why Becket had Maleck’s Alliance ships with Viper. Together they had a far better chance of standing up to the Karacknids’ salvos. He wanted to be a part of the hunt, Becket said to herself. You should have known this would happen. As skillful as the Gramrians were, they were gung ho. Well my friend, you’re about to get your battle, she thought to the Gramrian Admiral. We all are, she couldn’t help but add as the first full Karacknid salvo closed with her ships.

  As both the Karacknid fleet and her fleet opened up with their point defenses, Becket lost track of her own missiles. All she could do was watch as her officers directed Viper’s fire. Despite their best efforts multiple anti-matter explosions bloomed within her fleet. Becket winced when a frigate just in front of Viper winked out of existence. Guilt welled up within her. Because of Viper’s damage, Commodore Fang had insisted Viper be positioned near the back of the fleet. As a result, several ships in front of her flagship were destroyed or crippled as they sought to protect her.

  After the last antimatter missiles detonated, Becket looked back towards the Karacknid fleet. It would take several seconds for Wilson to get a handle on her fleet’s losses. She wanted to see how the Karacknids had fared. Satisfaction spread across her face as she saw more than ten Karacknid ships fall out of formation, either crippled or severely damaged. There were other holes in the Karacknid fleet where ships had been destroyed outright. Her mark IV missiles had done their work. Even as she watched, the remaining seven fighters of Flight Captain Capricorn’s squadron swept into the confused Karacknid fleet and released a swarm of plasma missiles. Two of the Karacknids’ four battleships turned into miniature suns as the plasma burnt into their reactors and set off massive nuclear detonations.

  “How bad was it?” Becket asked as she turned to her Chief of Staff.

  “Ten ships out of commission Admiral, eight losses and two crippled,” Wilson answered. “We’ve already got rescue operations underway for the two crippled. But they’re falling adrift fast.”

  “Do what you can,” Becket replied as she glanced at the list of ships Wilson had sent her. To her surprise, only one light cruiser had been lost. The rest were all destroyers or smaller. Losing any ship was bad, but one light cruiser was worth two or three destroyers and one of her few medium and heavy cruisers were worth all the light ships she had just lost. “Let’s hit them again!” she added as she turned to Lieutenant Salaman. “We need to finish this before they do to Shraw what we are trying to do to them.”

  “Of course Admiral!” her tactical officer said enthusiastically.

  As her next salvo of missiles closed with the Karacknids, the situation felt surreal to Becket. With the Karacknid’s second salvo heading towards Shraw’s fleet. She could watch the next moments of the battle in complete safety. To her relief, less than a minute before her missiles entered point defense range, the Karacknids fired their third salvo. This time it was aimed at her ships.

  “I think they’ve realized we are the main threat,” Captain Rogers commented.

  “Too late to do them any good now,” Becket responded. With the loss of two battleships and the other ships her missiles had already destroyed, the Karacknid weight of fire had been reduced by three hundred missiles. Her fleet’s defenses, weakened though they were, would have a much better time handling that many.

  The truth of Becket’s words was demonstrated when her second salvo and Shraw’s first full salvo struck the Karacknid fleet simultaneously. When Viper’s sensors were able to make sense of the situation, half of the Karacknid fleet was missing or falling out of formation. What was left was a broken force.

  Reluctantly, Becket turned to see Shraw’s fleet. The full salvo the Karacknids had fired his way had hit home at the same time. When she saw the Gramrian and Poide
al fleet, she closed her eyes. Twenty-five contacts were gone. At least ten more had fallen out of formation and it looked like others were struggling to match the fleet’s pace. Shraw’s fleet had been just as devastated as the Karacknids. Fear for her friends gripped her as she sought out Shraw and Faroul’s flagships. When she saw Talon a wave of relief hit her. It diminished as she kept looking for Boxer and failed to find the Poideal flagship. “Lieutenant Armitage, what is Boxer’s status?” she asked desperately.

  As Lieutenant Armitage leaned in over his sensor console, Becket leaned forward in her command chair towards him. When he turned, she knew from the look on his face. “There’s no sign of her Admiral. I’m sorry.”

  Becket couldn’t help but grimace. She hadn’t known Faroul as well as she did Shraw, but she had been getting to like and respect her. It is so unfair, Becket couldn’t help but think. Shraw had been the one to decide to turn back into the fight so quickly and yet Faroul was the one who had paid with her life. Don’t, Becket ordered herself. Faroul would have agreed with Shraw’s decision. Throwing blame about would help no one. “One more salvo,” she ordered as she raised her voice, allowing her emotions to flow into it. “One more salvo to finish them off.”

  Moments after speaking, Becket had the satisfaction of watching her second salvo crash into the Karacknids. With so many losses already, the fleet was decimated. Before she could see the final demise of the Karacknids, her ships had to fend off one more salvo. She lost six warships. It was a small price to pay. As her third and final salvo hit the Karacknids, accompanied by the missiles the survivors in Shraw’s fleet had managed to put out, every single Karacknid contact disappeared off Viper’s sensors. The battle was over.

  You did it, Becket said to herself, though she felt no joy. She had maneuvered her four fleets across multiple systems to lure the Karacknid fleet into a position where she had surrounded and wiped them out; and yet she felt no joy. She had destroyed the Karacknid warships at a loss ratio of better than three to one and yet she didn’t care. Her losses had been catastrophically high. More than forty warships were gone from her combined fleet. She had lost more than a quarter of her remaining strength. “Devote all our efforts to rescue operations,” she forced herself to say. “Get me a full status update on every fleet. Rendezvous with Shraw’s ships and get our supply freighters in here asap. We’re going to need a lot of repair work. Then organize a conference call with the surviving senior commanders. I need to talk to them.”

  *

  By the time each fleet had reorganized itself and rescued as many escape pods and survivors as they could, just over three hours had passed. “Let me begin by saying that you all fought well,” Becket said to her senior commanders. A part of her wanted to reprimand Shraw, but for the sake of unity she knew she couldn’t. Plus, the Gramrian Admiral had led his fleet back into the fight with the clear intention of soaking up some of the Karacknid fire. If Shraw hadn’t done what he had done, Becket knew it would be her and Maleck’s fleet that would be suffering the higher losses. Reprimanding him would come across as ingratitude of the worst kind. “And let me pass on my sympathies to you and your people Commodore Comoil. Admiral Faroul was a commander of significant abilities. I know I speak for all of us when I say she will be sorely missed. Not just in our fleet here, but in the many battles that are to come.”

  “Thank you, Admiral Becket,” Comoil replied with a slight bow of his head. “She died for a worthy cause. She will not be forgotten by our species.”

  “I’m glad to hear it,” Becket replied. “I have read the initial reports each of you have prepared on your fleet’s condition. Given the losses we have suffered here and the other Karacknid fleets that we know are nearby; I believe it is time we head home. We have done far more damage than we hoped and we have defeated a number of Karacknid fleets. If we linger any longer, the Karacknids are likely to force us into battle. If we have to fight again, even if we win, I doubt the survivors would be able to make it home.”

  “Your assessment is fair Admiral,” Maleck said as he brought his hands together. “By now Karacknid fleets are bound to be headed our way from the upper side of the Valley as well. If we delay our escape, we may head further north and find the way shut in our face.”

  “I’m eager to get my ships home,” Comoil agreed as Becket turned to him. “We will have to scuttle several of them but even many of those that we can take with us have been damaged. They need several months in a repair yard.”

  Becket nodded to Comoil and turned to Shraw and raised an eyebrow. “There are several systems nearby that we could still raid before the Karacknid westward squadrons reach us. But if this is the general consensus, then I will go with it,” he said, much to Becket’s relief.

  “Better to live to fight another day than die now when the war is still young,” Becket advised him.

  “To abandon the hunt when the prey is so vulnerable is difficult,” Shraw replied. “But there is wisdom in your words.”

  “Then it is settled,” Becket said with one more nod. “We’ll send word to our diversionary squadrons and scouts; we are heading home. Hopefully our final ruse is as successful as our others.” Each alien made their own species’ sign of affirmation in response to Becket’s words. Hopefully the way has not been shut, Becket thought. From day one, her plan had been to take her ships right up to the upper mouth of the Valley that led into the rest of the Karacknid empire. Then she would turn east and head back towards Conclave space along the outside edge of the eastern dead zone. With only one shift passage leading out from the valley east, every ship chasing her would have to race back towards the shift passage or follow her up out of the valley and then down the eastern dead zone. With luck, by the time they realize we have fled, it will be too late, Becket said to herself. Even if there was the juiciest target imaginable in front of her fleet, she had no intention of launching another attack. If the Karacknids couldn’t track her, then they wouldn’t be able to catch her. That was her hope at least.

  *

  IS Scharnhorst, 13th March 2484 AD (four weeks later).

  The beeping of her COM unit woke Warnock in seconds. As soon as she opened her eyes, she was fully alert. Rolling onto her side she tapped the beeping device. “What is it?”

  “We’ve got heavy traffic coming into the system Captain,” the officer of the watch informed her. “You’re going to want to see this.”

  “On my way,” Warnock replied as she slid out of her bed onto her feet. In less than a minute she was dressed and stepping onto the bridge. “Report?” she requested.

  “One hundred and fifty warships Captain. Eight battleships and six dreadnoughts. They are heading towards the eastern Valley shift passage,” Scharnhorst’s First Lieutenant reported.

  Warnock nodded to her Lieutenant as she sat in her command chair. She peered up at the holo projection that filled the bridge. “I think we have our first customers,” she said as a grin spread across her face. For weeks and weeks her warship had lay dormant with her engines and main systems powered down. With Scharnhorst’s passive sensors they had watched squadron after squadron of Karacknid warships pass through the shift passage into the Valley. With each new group of ships her concern for Admiral Becket’s fleet grew. If the Karacknids were rushing out of the Valley again it could only mean one thing. Becket’s fleet was still alive and she was racing down the outer eastern edge of the dead zone. She had no idea exactly where Becket’s fleet would be, but that didn’t matter. Her mission was to disrupt any Karacknid attempt to intercept Becket and the fleet in front of her certainly counted. She couldn’t let them pass. “We’ll wait a couple of hours and then send the crew to battle stations. There’s no point getting anyone jumpy just yet. Have Lieutenant Hatum warmup the COM relay and run a full diagnostic. We don’t want it letting us down now.”

  “Aye Admiral,” Scharnhorst’s First Lieutenant responded.

  Over the next four hours Warnock watched the Karacknid fleet’s progress across the s
ystem. She wasn’t surprised when, an hour after first appearing, a second fleet jumped in behind them. With over a hundred freighters and a small number of escorts, she guessed it was the main fleet’s supply fleet. Their presence meant what she was about to do wouldn’t go unnoticed. The supply fleet would send messengers back to warn any other fleets that were coming this way. “We’re going to have to use everything we’ve got in this one attack,” she informed her officers when the Karacknid fleet was half an hour away from being able to jump out of the system. “Prioritize capital ships, as soon as we go active, we will update the mines with our targeting information. It’ll give away our position, but it will be too late for the Karacknids to chase us.”

  Let’s see how cautious you are, she thought towards the Karacknid commander. Warnock was fully aware that Captain Kansas had deployed mines at the Western Lower Valley shift passage. Those mines had been programmed to engage ships coming into the Valley. Whilst no ships entering the Valley through the eastern shift passage in front of her had been attacked by mines, a cautious commander would check anyway. But one who wasn’t so cautious, Warnock hoped, why would they suspect we wanted to prevent them leaving? As the Karacknid fleet drew closer and closer and the number of warships that had their active sensors operating didn’t increase, Warnock’s hopes rose.