Counterstrike

by D. J. Holmes

  Christine screwed up her face. “How likely is a ground invasion?” she asked Koroylov.

  Koroylov shook his head. “That I cannot answer. The Karacknids landed troops on Holstein when they took that colony. Yet they brought none when they attacked Earth.”

  “Then why request marines?” Christine pressed.

  “Because we will need all the help we can get,” Koroylov answered. “Marine ground divisions are equipped with ground-based weapons that can strike ships in orbit. At the very least those weapons will be helpful to us. In the event that the Karacknids do land troops, the more marines we have on the planet the better. If they do land troops it will be because they want to secure the colony before advancing. The longer we can prevent them from doing that, the more time we buy ourselves. And if that eventuality does arise, then I concur with Fairfax. There is no one more qualified to command our Marines in such a battle than Colonel Johnston.”

  Christine let out a deep breath of frustration. “I demoted him not three months ago and now you would have me reinstate him?”

  Though she was looking at Koroylov, Fairfax was the one who answered. “You heard what the Admiral said; we need to throw everything we have against this Karacknid battlefleet. Sure it will turn heads if you promote him so quickly. Your justice will look empty. But if Earth falls, who will care?”

  “Fine,” Christine said. She refused to turn to Fairfax. “Write up the orders and they can go with Koroylov to New Shanghai today. But his promotion is only temporary. If we all survive this he will still have to face up to what he did.”

  “Of course Empress,” Fairfax said quickly. “Now Admiral, is there anything else we can do for you?”

  Koroylov looked at everyone in the briefing room and shook his head. “I don’t think so. As long as everyone understands the significance of the situation we are in and the importance of what we are asking. Every effort from every branch of our government and all of the Empire’s citizens is needed. When the Karacknids last attacked us, we were not ready. We’re not ready now, but at least we have some warning. We must use it.”

  Christine followed Koroylov’s gaze as he looked around at her Inner Council and the naval officers that were present. It was clear from the way they nodded to Koroylov or met his eyes that they all understood. “We are all with you in this Admiral,” she said for them all. Her frustration at having to deal with Johnston was already forgotten. “We cannot go with you to New Shanghai, but we will do our utmost to see that you get every possible help we can send your way.” And let us hope and pray it is enough, Christine said to herself as she read both gratitude and doubt in Koroylov’s eyes. Please let it be enough.

  Chapter 34

  If one can choose one’s place of battle they should. Every single time. Never fight the enemy on his chosen battlefield unless there is no other choice. Too many times naval engagements have been won before the first shots have been fired because of failing to heed this advice. The War of Doom is replete with such examples. We will consider all of them as we continue to examine the major engagements of the war.

  -Excerpt from Empire Rising, 3002 AD.

  Slayer, Karran system, 28th March 2484 AD (two months previous).

  As Slayer slipped out of shift space into the system the Allied Fleet had fled to, Tanaka-lang’s gaze settled on his enemy. Almost as if they were goading him, one thousand five hundred Allied ships were sitting stationary at the far end of the system. They hadn’t retreated any further, but they were clearly not interested in engaging his battlefleet. They are not so foolish, Tanaka-lang reminded himself. Since arriving at Jaranna he had read every battle report from the entire war. He was all too aware that Karacknid Admirals had been bested more than once by a number of enemy commanders. But not this time, he promised. On the journey from the Farmang system he had reviewed the condition of his battlefleet. His ships had used up much of their fuel traveling to the fleet base the allies had attacked. The many freighters and a handful of convoys the allies had destroyed hadn’t helped things either. Even so, he had determined they had enough fuel and munitions for four thousand warships to pursue the Allied Fleet. When more supplies could be scraped together, additional ships could follow. Tanaka-lang was also waiting on reinforcements from the Imperial homeworld. Four battle carriers had been promised him. They and several hundred escorts were due to arrive in a month or so. Even more were to come after that. As Tanaka-lang stared at the Human fleet, he considered his options. The only fighters he currently had available were based on orbital hangers. He had none that could travel with the fleet. Given how dangerous he knew the enemy fighters to be, that gave him pause. Especially as he knew Slayer would be the primary target in any fighter attack. His oversized dreadnought would attract a lot of attention.

  Tanaka-lang had planned to launch his invasion of Human space from the Jaranna system but his enemies had presented him with an opportunity too good to pass up. It meant moving up his timetable, but if he was cautious, that wouldn’t matter. He had already dispatched two thousand ships towards the front line with the Alliance species. His commanders had orders to stop the attack the Alliance fleets had launched. If possible, they would begin their own counterattacks as well. If he could, he wanted to keep the Alliance’s eyes away from the frontline with the Humans for as long as possible. His remaining four thousand ships would have to wait in the Farmang system. But as new supplies of fuel arrived he had left orders for them to be dispatched forward. It would start as a trickle, but his numbers would quickly swell. And by then I’ll have my first carriers, Tanaka-lang thought as he looked at the enemy fleet and showed his teeth.

  “Begin moving the fleet forward,” he ordered one of his officers. “Make sure every squadron commander knows they are not to break formation unless given express instructions.”

  “At once High Admiral,” the officer replied.

  Tanaka-lang’s razor-sharp claws extended to scratch his command chair as his fleet began to move. He was certain the Humans would want to goad him into fighting. If they could split his fleet and engage it in sections, they could whittle down his numbers. That, or they will try to trade space for time. Whilst they may try either, Tanaka-lang had no intention of playing their games. With his four thousand warships in a tight ball, there was nothing they could do to seriously hamper his progress. He didn’t doubt they would try, but they would fail. Run back to your worlds, he thought towards his enemy. Run back to them and watch us ravage everything you have built.

  *

  IS Drake (two hours previous).

  “Thank you all for coming,” James said to his officers as he took his seat amongst them. He had every one of his senior commanders in Drake’s main conference room. After racing across the system they had retreated to from the Karacknids’ HQ base, his fleet was sitting stationary, ready to jump to the next system at a moment’s notice. They were waiting to see what the Karacknids would do next. Simply reacting to the enemy was not how James wanted to play things however. Hence the conference. “We were not to know it,” he continued, failing to hide the sorrow he felt for Scott’s loss. “But Operation Counterstrike was doomed from the get-go. As dire as the situation is, at least we know about this Karacknid battlefleet. If we had not launched Counterstrike, we would still be in the dark.”

  “We have paid a heavy price for the information, but you’re right Admiral,” Ya’sia agreed. “It is better to know the trouble one is in than to go blind to it. I believe your species has a saying, ‘ignorance is bliss;’ that is not the case here.”

  “It is not,” James said as he gave Ya’sia a thankful nod. “And so here we are. There’s no way to know what the Karacknids had planned for their battlefleet, but now that we have struck at them, we must assume they intend to counterattack. With ten thousand ships, the Karacknids can push all the way to Earth. If our capital falls, then the rest of our colonies will lose cohesion. If they wanted to, the Karacknids could then threaten the Alliance’s eastern flank. If
the Alliance has to stretch its defenses to cover such a vast area, they will be too weak. The Karacknids could push through their frontlines at several places with ease. That is our situation. Therefore, our only chance is to stop the Karacknids reaching Earth. The future of our species rests on our success.” Pausing to let the seriousness of his words sink in, James glanced at his fellow Admirals. They didn’t need him to explain things further, they could all read the strategic situation. Taking a breath, he continued, “Whilst we are outnumbered, we do have some space we can trade for time. There are sixteen shift passages between here and Alpha-two Fort. If we can, I intend to contest every single one of them. We are not going to risk our fleet if we can help it, but we must delay this monstrous fleet. I’m eager to hear all of your thoughts.”

  “Perhaps the situation may not be quite as dire as we fear,” Jil’lal suggested. When James frowned at her, she raised her four arms in a gesture of conciliation. “If Commodore Scott was right and this battlefleet has come from another theatre of war, then they will have travelled a long distance. We know we have disrupted the Karacknid’s supply situation. It may be that this battlefleet may not be able to advance for several weeks or even a month or two. We may have more time than we think.”

  “That is a hopeful thought,” Ya’sia replied. “One I hope you are proven correct on. Yet we cannot base our future strategies on the hope we may have more time, especially given how many supply convoys Commodore Scott detected following the Karacknid battlefleet.”

  “That is not my suggestion,” Jil’lal said, James picked up the hint of irritation in her body language. “What I’m saying is this, it is at least a safe assumption that supplies may be limited for this battlefleet. Especially fuel. That would suggest two strategies that we should pursue. One,” Jil’lal said as she raised one of her hands. “As we fall back towards our space we should employ what Human military books call a scorched earth strategy. Every supply dump, fuel mining station and refinery we encounter should be destroyed. Additionally, I suggest we send out fast raiding squadrons that can hit any in nearby systems as well. Two,” another hand rose. “We might try and sneak a squadron behind the Karacknid battlefleet. If they continue to bring supply convoys with them, we could attempt to take out several of them. That may buy us several weeks or more if we are successful.”

  James smiled at Jil’lal. “Both strategies are exactly the kind of response we need. I hope you are correct about your estimate of their supply condition. But even if you’re not, the more we can do to reduce their ability to advance into our space the better.” Turning to Miyagi, James shared a glance with his Chief of Staff. “I’ll have my people begin to draw up plans for raiding squadrons.” Miyagi nodded in response.

  “I’d like to volunteer to lead any force that will stay behind to attack Karacknid convoys,” Rear Admiral Suarez offered. Reaching forward he activated the conference room’s holo projector. Moments later a map of the nearby systems appeared. “Human ships still have the best stealth technologies within our fleet. If I take a squadron of light cruisers and destroyers, we could hide and let the main Karacknid battlefleet pass us by. Then, after we hit a convoy or two, we could skirt around the Karacknid battlefleet through these systems. As long as we are not delayed, we could catch up with you before you leave Karacknid space.”

  “And if you don’t?” Ya’sia asked, “We’d be without your ships when we have to fight the Karacknid battlefleet, which we will sooner or later.”

  Suarez shrugged. “If we don’t make it out, then we will do whatever we can to make a nuisance of ourselves. If our actions can delay the Karacknids by a couple of weeks or more, it would be worth the loss of our ships.”

  That, James knew, was true. Even so, leaving Suarez’s ships in a system to hide and hope the Karacknid battlefleet passed them by was quite the risk. Never mind hoping that they would be able to get ahead of the main Karacknid battlefleet again. If he did send out raiding squadrons as he retreated, no doubt there would be several Karacknid fleets trying to hunt them down. Suarez could easily get trapped behind enemy lines. “Dispatching ships from our main force like that is not something I’m keen on,” he admitted to Suarez. “But it may be necessary. There is another factor to consider though,” he continued as he gestured towards the holo map. “Sooner or later the Karacknid border fleets to our east will find a way around our gravity well cruisers. You could end up bumbling into one of them as you try to fall back.”

  Suarez twisted his face as he looked up to consider the holo map. “True,” he agreed. “But that is a threat we all face. One could get between our main fleet and our line of retreat as well.”

  James smiled at Suarez’s point. “It could, but I’m hoping our scouts will be up to the task of giving us ample warning. If you lead this stealth attack, you will not have the same luxury. What do the rest of you think?” he asked as he turned to draw the other commanders into the discussion. The conversation went back and forth as each Admiral argued the merits of dispatching a force to try and sneak behind the Karacknid battlefleet. One of the key points of contention became the size of the force. To take on the escorting forces of the convoys Scott had detected, the force would have to be sizeable, at least sixty or more ships. In actual fact, James suspected it would need to be even bigger. When Scott had detected them; the convoys had been traveling through the inner parts of the Karacknid empire. It was safe to assume their escorts would be strengthened as they neared the borders of Karacknid space. As the debate continued, James turned his attention to Lightfoot. As yet, he hadn’t weighed in one way or another. When Lightfoot noticed his gaze, James glanced at Suarez and raised an eyebrow. Suarez had been Lightfoot’s Flag Captain not long ago. With a slight nod, Lightfoot told James everything he needed to know. If Suarez had Lightfoot’s confidence, then James was content. A part of him wanted to send a lesser commander on the mission for he knew that if it came to a large-scale fleet battle, Suarez’s skills would be desperately needed. Yet the better the commander he sent on the mission, the more chance they would have of coming back. For another couple of minutes James let the discussion continue as the consensus began to settle on releasing a fleet to hit the Karacknid convoys.

  “It is settled then,” James said as he re-joined the conversation, glad that he didn’t need to argue the point himself. “We will dispatch Suarez with a squadron to attempt to take out a Karacknid convoy or two.” As he spoke, he fixed Suarez with a level gaze and emphasized the word two. He didn’t want Suarez risking everything to take out more than his squadron would be able to handle. “Miyagi, Suarez and I can work out the finer details of what ships we will dispatch. We’ll not be able to do it right away in any case. We’ll have to wait until we are dispatching other ships to raid nearby systems. Suarez’s force can pretend to be one of the squadrons we dispatch and go into hiding instead. Now…” James said as he paused to give the Admirals time to think. “That gives some of our smaller ships something to do. We still have our main fleet. What are the rest of us to do?”

  “There is an inevitability about the Karacknid’s numbers that means I’m not sure we can delay them,” Lightfoot said, speaking for the first time since the meeting had begun. James turned to his friend in surprise. As the last Karacknid invasion fleet had advanced towards Earth, he had led a small squadron though a series of brilliant tactical moves that had bought vital time for Earth’s defenders. James had been counting on Lightfoot’s keen mind to do the same now. “Even if they only bring half their fleet,” Lightfoot continued, unaware of James’ thoughts. “That’s five thousand warships. Yes, we can try a few sneaky tactics here and there, but the main bulk of the Karacknid fleet will keep rolling forward. Unless we can engage them in a full battle, there is not much we can do.”

  “Surely there is,” Vice Admiral Klack insisted. “What about our gravity well cruisers? We could redeploy them from the eastern shift passages to delay the Karacknid battlefleet. We could hold them off for weeks with them.�
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  Lightfoot glanced at James. James knew what was coming. He had already considered and dismissed the gravity well cruisers. At least in the short term. “And if we pull them back from the eastern shift passages?” Lightfoot asked. “Then the Karacknid fleet there would close in behind us. We’d be trapped and then what good would we be to Earth’s defenders? Plus, the gravity well cruisers would be trapped as well. We’d lose them within a month. Then the Karacknids would press on without having to worry about us.”

  “There’s another problem,” James added as it looked like Klack was going to argue. “If we did redeploy them and we successfully stopped the Karacknid battlefleet from traveling through shift space, then the Karacknid commander may decide to redeploy his fleet. If I had to guess, I’d imagine that the Karacknids’ initial plan was to sortie their battlefleet from Jaranna either against Alliance space or Earth via the Holstein system. If we slowed their battlefleet here and they did redeploy, they would be able to strike at Earth or Alliance territory before we could get back in time. They have the advantage of shorter travel times over us. I don’t want to encourage the Karacknid commander to entertain such thoughts.”

  Klack looked like he wanted to say more, but after a glance towards Ya’sia, the Varanni bowed his head slightly. “That is one possibility I had not considered. But once we pull back into your space, then surely we should deploy them?”