Counterstrike

by D. J. Holmes

  Suarez kept his face impassive despite the loss. “Jump us out as soon as we reach the shift passage,” he ordered. There was nothing else for him to do now. The only way he could help Somerville was to get his ships back to the fleet as quickly as possible. Cutting the battlefleet supply lines was not going to be a successful strategy. At least not in the short term. And in the long term it may not matter, Suarez feared.

  *

  Vestarian cruiser Chancellor, 10th April 2484 AD (three days later).

  Why am I here? Jil’lal asked herself for the fifth or sixth time. I could have sent a Commodore or Captain. At the time she had thought it appropriate. It had been her idea; she should be the one to put it into action. Now, with just four other light cruisers in formation with Chancellor, she wasn’t so sure. The entire Karacknid battlefleet was about to jump into the system. That was an ominous thought. More than one hundred scouts were already filling local space with megajoules of electromagnetic energy as they made sure the way was clear. Several of the scouts were getting dangerously close to Chancellor.

  When hundreds of new contacts appeared on Chancellor’s holo display, Jil’lal didn’t know whether to be relieved or nervous. The Karacknid battlefleet had arrived. At least the wait was over. Hundreds of contacts quickly turned into thousands. Then they advanced. Jil’lal waited just two minutes before giving the order she had come to give. “Transmit the signal,” she said to Chancellor’s Captain. The cruiser’s COM officer was ready and the signal was sent instantly.

  Four light seconds ahead of the Karacknid fleet, just far enough from the shift passage that the Karacknid scouts hadn’t checked the area thoroughly yet, five hundred stealth missile pods activated their targeting sensors. In one and a half seconds they identified the Karacknid battlefleet, fired their maneuvering thrusters to reorientate themselves, and released their four mark IV missiles. Two thousand missiles were suddenly on their way towards the Karacknid fleet. Ordinarily, the Karacknids would have no problem with such a number. With the battlefleet still strung out and maneuvering to reform after exiting shift space Jil’lal had an opening. The missile pods’ two thousand missiles were focused on just one part of the fleet. With only a portion of the Karacknid battlefleet’s point defenses able to target them, it was the best chance the missiles had. “Get us out of here,” she ordered as soon as the missiles were on their way. She had no desire to hang about any longer than necessary. The Karacknids would give chase if they thought they could catch Chancellor and her escorts. They would probably do so anyway.

  As the missiles crashed into the Karacknids, the vast majority of them were taken out by point defense fire. Jil’lal didn’t let that disappoint her. She had expected it. Only nineteen missiles got close enough to detonate and release their grazer beams. Even so, the few explosions that appeared on the flank of the Karacknid fleet were exactly what she had come to see. Now you will have to be a little more careful, she thought towards the Karacknid commander. Every ship and supply freighter in Somerville’s fleet had been scraped dry to gather up the five hundred missile pods. There was no way she could repeat her attack, but the Karacknids weren’t to know that. To avoid repeat attacks, they would have to spend more time surveying space further beyond each shift passage before their main fleet jumped out. It would only buy an hour or two per system, yet every strategy they employed that bought them an hour or two would add up.

  *

  IS Drake, 13th April 2484 AD (three days later).

  “Karacknid scouts emerging from shift space,” Anderson reported as soon as a handful of contacts appeared on the gravimetric plot. James nodded to his tactical officer and watched as more contacts filtered into the system. Over the course of fifteen minutes the number rose to two hundred and sixty.

  “He is being extra cautious,” Fisher commented. “Jil’lal’s attack seems to have worked.”

  “Let’s hope it buys us enough time to replace our five hundred missile pods,” Miyagi replied.

  James glanced at his Chief of Staff. He didn’t want settled arguments brought up again. Not when it was too late anyway. Five hundred missile pods had been a high price to pay to make the Karacknids slightly more cautious. But it would hopefully be worthwhile. “Get us moving,” he ordered. “Inform Chen he can launch his fighters as soon as he wishes.” Moments later James’ fleet of one thousand one hundred warships powered up their reactors and came out of stealth. As his staff officers had planned, they accelerated from the inner system back towards the shift passage the Karacknid battlefleet would come from. Settling into a long arc, their course would allow them to briefly enter missile range of the Karacknid battlefleet when it arrived and then swoop back into the inner system. With a far higher momentum, they’d be able to get into missile range, release a handful of salvos and pull back as their momentum and course took them away from the shift passage again. Just as James intended, the Karacknid scouts would see his fleet coming. As Spitfires, Corsairs, Lancasters and Alliance Pulsar fighters launched, the Karacknid scouts would see them as well. The entire operation was nothing more than a demonstration, but there was no way the Karacknid commander could know that. Either he would have to delay bringing his battlefleet into the system if he wanted to avoid James attacking the forward elements of his fleet, or he would have to risk an engagement. If James just had his ships, he had no doubt the Karacknid commander would not be worried, but Chen’s fighters added an unknown element. If Chen could launch a successful strike at the heart of the Karacknid battlefleet, he could destroy anywhere from fifty to a hundred dreadnoughts. Even with a fleet of four thousand warships, that would hurt the Karacknids.

  For forty minutes James’ ships continued along their arcing course as they waited to see what the Karacknids would do. When the gravimetric sensors lit up with hundreds of contacts, James got his answer. The Karacknid commander did not wish to wait. Aware of several officers glancing at him, James kept his face impassive. He wasn’t going to turn back until he saw what the Karacknid commander had planned. If all his maneuver did was cause the Karacknid battlefleet to form up into a defensive formation, that would waste some of their time. The Karacknid battlefleet didn’t alter course or split up and try and surround his ships. Instead they completely ignored James’ attack. With their noses pointed directly at the next shift passage that would lead to Earth, they continued on at the same speed they had through the previous systems.

  “They’re not going to fight us?” Fisher asked as she turned to James. “They are not even remotely concerned?”

  James stroked his jaw as he stared at the Karacknid battlefleet. “They are calling our bluff,” he answered. “If we actually get close enough to launch a missile strike, I dare say they’d react. Until then, they have no intention of being waylaid.”

  “What are your orders Admiral?” Miyagi asked.

  James hesitated. Pulling out of his attack run immediately would give his fleet more time to race ahead of the Karacknid battlefleet to the next system. Yet he didn’t want to admit defeat so quickly. Not when it would send a signal to the Karacknid commander that he had lost the current battle of wits. Delaying will accomplish nothing, James said to himself. Perhaps in the next system there will be away to delay them. Though he wasn’t entirely convinced by his own arguments, he knew it was pride that was making him hesitate. “Give the order, alter course towards the shift passage out of here. Let’s hope Suarez and the other raiding squadrons are having more luck than us.”

  Chapter 36

  The Empire has always had its seedy underworld. Some say we inherited it from the corrupt UN era. Given what I have seen of Human nature during my travels around the Empire, I doubt that is the only source of blame.

  -Excerpt from Empire Rising, 3002 AD.

  Imperial Palace, Earth.

  “Empress Christine, McCarthy and the... ah… independent traders are ready to meet with you,” a Palace aide informed Christine after tapping on the open door into her office. “Mr. Fairfax is alr
eady on his way to the throne room.”

  “Thank you, Patricia,” Christine said, just managing to remember the aide’s name. She smiled at her choice of words. Independent traders was the polite way of saying smugglers and perhaps even pirates. She had asked McCarthy to reach out to all of his former contacts and for them to reach out to theirs. Though she doubted there were many pirates left, the Imperial Navy had seen to that, there was, perhaps, one or two who had evaded capture. The rest of the group would be smugglers. Smugglers in what, Christine didn’t want to know. If she did, she might not go through with what she planned. But desperate times called for desperate measures.

  Setting down her datapad full of munitions reports, Christine stood and took a couple of seconds to straighten her clothes. “Is there something else?” she asked when she looked up and saw Patricia still staring at her.

  “It’s just…” Patricia began and then cut herself off.

  “Go on,” Christine pressed, she had been trying to produce more informality among her aides. She wanted to get to know the people who served her better. She hoped to be able to promote several of them to the position of personal assistant. There was far too much work for her to do it on her own. Though she had many Palace aides, they didn’t have the security clearance to deal with some of the things she’d like to be able to hand off. Patricia was one Christine had her eye on.

  “Well,” Patricia continued, “it’s just about the throne room. Wouldn’t it be better to meet with them somewhere less intimidating? Most of them aren’t fans of the Empire after all.”

  “They’re certainly not,” Christine agreed with a chuckle. “But I’m about to make them a series of promises. Promises I need them to believe I can and will keep. The throne room is the best place for that.”

  “I see Empress, thank you,” Patricia replied tentatively.

  “No need to thank me,” Christine replied. “Now, let us proceed.” As she moved out of her office, Patricia quickly fell into step beside her. Aware that she had a number of other meetings scheduled over the next six hours, Christine picked up her pace. She had only had four hours of sleep the night before, there were just too many demands on her. She needed to do everything she could to reinforce the New Shanghai system and get as much help to Koroylov and her husband as possible. That was why she was meeting with McCarthy’s contacts. They had ships and personnel that would be needed.

  When she stepped into the throne room, she reckoned there were nearly thirty men and women milling around. Most were standing apart from one another, though a few seemed to be deep in conversation. Almost all had their backs turned to the two thrones that were supposed to be hers and James’. She had only sat in hers once and James hadn’t yet sat in his. Nevertheless, they played an important role. They were a symbol of her authority.

  Fairfax was standing just inside the doors when she entered and he immediately came to her side. “I think they are all here Empress,” he whispered. “At least, all those who agreed to come.”

  “Then we may get started,” Christine replied as she moved towards the long rectangular table she had requested be set up to one side of the room. Catching McCarthy’s eye, she nodded towards the table. McCarthy nodded, cleared his throat loudly, then obviously made his way to the table. Following him, Christine sat down at the head of the table. Fairfax took the seat to her right and McCarthy the one at her left. The ‘independent traders’ slowly made their way over to join them. None were slow enough to cause offence, yet they were showing that they wouldn’t jump at her beck and call. When they were all sitting, Christine nodded to McCarthy.

  He cleared his throat and placed both his hands on the table. “Listen, you all know why we’ve asked you here. We all heard the address Empress Christine gave to the planet. There is a Karacknid fleet bearing down on Earth. One nearly five times the size of the fleet that destroyed so many of our cities and killed hundreds of millions of our people. None of you are blind or stupid, you can see that we are mobilizing everything we possibly can to fight off this fleet. We want to stop them getting into the Sol system. Together, you have many ships and skilled people under your command. Most of you have worked with us in an unofficial capacity already. Now we are asking you to make it official. We need your ships to serve and fight alongside the Imperial Navy.”

  A woman who Christine guessed couldn’t be older than her mid-twenties leaned forward. “You’re right, none of us are blind or stupid. We can see the odds. Why would we risk our lives for a lost cause?”

  “Because there is profit in it for you,” McCarthy answered. “We are willing to hire your ships and crews at triple the going rate. That’s more than you could make smuggling even the priciest of black-market items. And the risk won’t be much higher than trying to escape Imperial Navy patrols.”

  “That’s debatable,” a much older man with a thick black beard said. “Fighting a Karacknid fleet of ten thousand ships is a tad riskier than trying to outrun a couple of corvettes. Especially when all the corvettes are being sent to the Chinese colonies.”

  Christine felt Fairfax stir beside her. Quickly she reached out and placed a hand on his forearm. She too was angered at the suggestion that the smuggler would seek to profit off the threat of the Karacknid fleet, but anger wouldn’t serve her purposes.

  “What good are triple the going rates if we are no longer alive to collect them?” another smuggler asked.

  “You can all designate a next of kin,” McCarthy explained. “If you don’t make it back, they will receive all the payments you are due.”

  The older smuggler laughed. “What makes you think the likes of us care about our next of kin?”

  “Because you’re Human,” Christine said, unable to hold her tongue any longer. It was time to put her cards on the table. “Because I know you have two daughters Seamus. You may have moved them to Haven for now, but if New Shanghai falls, Earth will fall. And if Earth falls, Haven will fall.” Christine was suddenly glad she had stayed up late memorizing as much information about the smugglers as McCarthy had been able to provide her. Holding Seamus’ eyes, she waited until he looked down. Then she allowed her gaze to roam over the rest of the smugglers. “We are far more alike than we are different. I will resist the Karacknids with every fiber of my being, for my husband, for my son, and yes, for our species. You all may like to play the act, to appear to care for no one and nothing but credits, but you are not deluding me.” She gestured towards McCarthy. “McCarthy was once considered the most notorious of your kind. I’m sure one or two of you might like to contest that, whatever the truth, he has proven to have a heart, like I know all of you do.

  “Yet I know you are businessmen and women, I could sit here and make a purely emotional appeal, in my heart I would hope that would be enough, but nevertheless, I came here willing to bargain. Here are my terms. Once this is over, if we are successful, our military and freighter fleets will be devastated. I am therefore prepared to offer each and every one of you exclusive Imperial contracts for the next ten years. A great deal of Imperial materials and munitions will need to be distributed throughout our colonies and industrial hubs. As long as your organizations can keep up with our demand, then the contracts will be yours. I’m prepared to put that in writing. That should more than make up for whatever losses your operations might suffer whilst assisting the fleet in New Shanghai.” As more than one smuggler leaned forward to get a better look at her, Christine fought to keep a smile from her face. She had at least pricked their interest. “There are conditions however… If you wish to hear them.”

  For several seconds none of the smuggler’s spoke. They were exchanging glances with one another, but no one seemed to want to speak first. Then the older smuggler, Seamus, coughed and waved a hand. “Oh go on then, tell us,” he requested.

  This time, Christine did smile, she had them. She raised a finger. “One, whilst under the command of the Imperial Navy, your ships will obey every order given to you. If you do not, the deal will be of
f.” She raised a second finger. “Two, your shipping operations must run to our deadlines. The Imperial Navy cannot have any of its logistics hampered by delays. If our ship production is compromised it could cost us this war.” Finally, she raised her third finger. “Three, none of the freighters you use for our contracts can simultaneously be used for illegal activities. If your ships or crews are caught, the deal will be cancelled…” Pausing again, Christine looked around at the smugglers. “If you have the courage and selflessness to go to New Shanghai and serve with the Navy, and you can stick to these three conditions, then you will each have a decade’s worth of as many exclusive transport contracts as you can fulfil. That should set each of you up handsomely for whatever legal or illegal activities you wish to pursue thereafter.”

  “A generous offer,” Seamus said as he rubbed a hand through his beard. “But one we would need to have in writing now.”