Counterstrike

by D. J. Holmes

  “That they could,” James agreed. “But whatever their motive, it gives us more options.” Suddenly there were two distinct targets for James’ fleet to attack. No doubt the Karacknid commander had no desire for James’ ships to be able to make contact with the invasion fleet. But if he could find a way, he could devastate the Karacknid ground troops. As he was certain the ground ships were eventually destined for Earth, that was a target worthy of taking a few risks to reach. Deep in thought, James pulled up a holo image of the Wuhu system as he assessed his options. The first thing that caught his attention were a handful of freighters breaking orbit from Wuhu. Several hours ago he had sent all of the empty freighters from his supply train to take off as many women and children from the colony as possible. They wouldn’t be able to be evacuated any further than New Shanghai for the freighters would be needed there, but even that was something. There were zero marines on Wuhu to contest the colony and only a few thousand Militia. If the Karacknids managed to get ground troops down to the planet surface, the civilian population would be entirely at their mercy. As the freighters set course for James’ fleet, he forgot about them as his focus shifted to the rest of the system. Ten minutes later he had an idea. After sharing it with Fisher and Miyagi, they ran a few brief simulations. When it looked like there was a chance it could pay off, James contacted Lightfoot, Jil’lal and Ya’sia. He had been willing to take a risk to show the Karacknids he wouldn’t just hand Human colonies over to them. Now, if he could, he was going to show them that they’d have to pay a price in blood for each Human colony. Once all of his officers were briefed, James settled into his command chair to wait. If he ran away too fast, the Karacknids might suspect something. Instead, he spent the next three hours watching the Karacknid battlefleet cautiously approach Wuhu. Only when the Karacknids were forty-five minutes from reaching missile range did he give the order. “Break orbit, full retreat.”

  As all of his one thousand seven hundred warships powered up their impulse engines, James leaned forward in his command chair. The Karacknid commander could either chase his ships away or move in and bombard Wuhu’s meagre defenses. He nodded in satisfaction when the Karacknid fleet began to turn. “They want to make sure we leave,” Fisher commented.

  “As well they should,” James replied. It was what he had been hoping for. The Karacknid troop fleet had more than enough warships to pacify Wuhu’s orbital defenses before any landing took place. That meant the Karacknid battlefleet could shepherd his fleet out of the system. For an hour James allowed the Karacknids to chase him. Then the time came to put his plan into motion. “Now,” he ordered. The ships of his fleet altered their heading. Together they turned their noses towards the system’s third gas giant. Specifically, towards its fourth moon. The Karacknids responded immediately and changed course to continue their pursuit. Do you see it yet? James asked his opponent as he rubbed his jaw. In reality, he had no interest in the gas giant’s fourth moon. But its second, that was another matter. When the Karacknids continued after his fleet, James looked over to Fisher. It was theoretically possible to use the gas giant’s fourth moon to slingshot the fleet back towards the shift passage. If that was what James was trying to do, then all he would really achieve would be to keep his fleet in the system for a couple of hours longer than if he simply fell straight back to the shift passage. It was possible the Karacknids would think that was all he was up to. That they hadn’t reacted yet told him that’s what they were thinking. But the enemy commander was too good to be fooled for long.

  He figured it out ten minutes later. Suddenly the Karacknid fleet broke apart. “Multiple ships changing course!” Lieutenant Anderson shouted. “Half of their light cruisers and smaller ships are accelerating after us. That’s one thousand nine hundred ships. The rest are decelerating hard. It looks like they’re planning to turn back towards Wuhu.”

  “Acknowledged,” James replied as he watched the Karacknids on the holo display. Projected courses appeared as the massive Karacknid battlefleet split in two. He held his breath as he waited to see if either Karacknid force could intercept his fleet; for alongside the projected course of the Karacknid ships, his plan was also on display. When they reached the system’s third gas giant, his ships would alter course to dive in towards its second moon. In a complicated breaking maneuver, they would slingshot around the moon, and then around the gas giant itself. After both revolutions, they would be able to pull out of the gas giant’s gravity on a direct course for Wuhu whilst still maintaining most of their momentum. As the escorts of the Karacknid troop squadron had slowed to engage Wuhu’s defenses, they wouldn’t be able to pull out in time. Their only hope was that the Karacknid battlefleet could cut off James’ maneuver. As the estimated courses of both elements of the Karacknid battlefleet finally updated, James punched his fist in the air as he smiled. “We have them,” he said as he looked from Miyagi to Fisher. His ships would only be able to get a couple of missile salvos off as they flew past Wuhu, but they’d be able to hit the Karacknid troop ships. As he eyed his targets, he pictured what the Karacknid ground commander would be thinking. “They’ll probably accelerate their invasion,” he said to his subordinates. “The more troops they can get on the ground, the safer they’ll be.”

  Twenty minutes after the Karacknid light cruisers and other smaller ships had charged ahead of their larger consorts, they turned and decelerated again. “They were trying to bait us?” Fisher asked as she turned to James.

  James nodded. “It is the only way they could stop us heading for their troop fleet. I guess the Karacknid commander values his soldiers more than his warships.” The light ships would never have been able to catch his fleet before he had been able to carry out his slingshot maneuver. The Karacknid commander had been tempting him. James’ fleet had the firepower to obliterate the Karacknid light ships. But he probably would have lost half his fleet in the process. James knew the time was coming when he would have to commit his ships against the Karacknid battlefleet, but the longer he could delay that the better.

  As his ships charged into the gas giant’s gravity well, James forced himself to sit stationary. The maneuver was relatively complex for an entire fleet to carry out together. Such things were often practiced in simulated fleet exercises, but they rarely took place in real life. When his ships circled the gas giant’s second moon and then pulled up and allowed the gas giant’s gravity to grab them, James sat back in his command chair and rolled his shoulders. The most difficult part had passed without a problem. Ten minutes later his ships pulled up again as they accelerated hard away from the gas giant, their noses now pointed at Wuhu. As soon as the maneuver was complete, James returned his attention to the Karacknid fleet. The Karacknid commander had a decision to make. He couldn’t stop James hitting Wuhu, but he did have a choice as to what would happen next. With James’ ships heading in roughly the opposite direction to the shift passage that led further into Human space, the Karacknids could try and trap his fleet. Yet they would be trapping James’ fleet in their rear. The rear that was filled with supply convoys that James’ scouts told him were strung out through several systems. Though James was not a gambler when it came to money, when it came to his homeworld, the situation had forced his hand. His maneuver meant the Karacknids could advance straight to New Shanghai and take the planet before his ships could catch them. Yet if they did so, they would have to sacrifice their own supply convoys. He was betting the Karacknid commander didn’t want that. For more than forty minutes everyone on Drake’s bridge watched the Karacknid fleet. They all knew what was at stake.

  Miyagi was the first one confident enough to predict what was happening. “They’re not turning back towards the shift passage.”

  “They don’t want us completely obliterating their troop fleet,” Fisher agreed. “They’re not going to push on ahead without us.” She was smiling. “You think they’ll let us fall back after we hit their troop fleet? If they don’t, we could threaten to head after their convoys.”
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  “I doubt they’ll simply let us stroll right by them,” James commented. “But you’re right, if they make it too hard, we might just decide not to fall back.” He had no doubt the Karacknid commander was kicking himself for allowing James’ fleet to slip by him so easily. Yet nothing he had seen so far suggested his opposite number was hot-headed. He would analyze the new strategic situation and recognize that letting James’ ships escape was the best outcome. At least, he’ll let us think we can escape, James was certain. There was no doubt the Karacknid commander would bring the Allied Fleet to battle if he could. Before any of that could happen though, James gave orders as he prepared his fleet to engage the troop fleet. On the holo display in front of him Karacknid warships were already bombarding Wuhu’s surface with orbital strikes. Hundreds of landing shuttles were descending through the planet’s atmosphere. James doubted the local defenders would last an hour.

  For ten more minutes the Karacknids landed everything they could. Then their ships broke orbit and attempted to fall back towards their main battlefleet. With a far higher momentum, it was easy for James’ ships to alter course to pursue the troop fleet. As the troop fleet moved away from Wuhu, the jamming they had surrounded the planet with faded. “See if you can contact any of the defenders. Get details on the Karacknids’ main landing zones. We can strike them with tungsten spears as we pass,” James ordered in a cold voice. He feared such an order would mean the accidental death of Wuhu civilians, but he had no choice. If they could catch Karacknid ground troops out in the open, he had to strike.

  “We’re struggling to make contact Admiral, I think the Karacknid troops have brought some ground jammers down with them,” Martinez responded. “A Major Simmons has confirmed two landing zones though. I think that’s all we’re going to get.”

  “Let’s see them,” James requested. Moments later the holo display showed a zoomed in image of Wuhu. James bit back a curse when he saw where the landing zones were. Both were right on the edge of large towns. The Karacknids had likely blasted whatever defenses they had had and then landed right beside them. No doubt their troops were already occupying the towns. There was no way he could strike the towns themselves. “Put the tungsten spears as close to those landing zones as we can without seriously damaging any of the town’s buildings,” he ordered. With luck they would catch some Karacknid troops and their heavy equipment still out in the open but that was all he could hope for.

  “Acknowledged Admiral, we’ll fire as soon as we pass,” Anderson reported. “We’ll be heavily engaged with the Karacknid troop fleet at the time though.”

  “Assign the job to someone else,” James ordered his tactical officer. As good as Anderson was, he didn’t want him distracted. “Make sure they know to be careful.”

  “Yes Admiral,” Anderson replied.

  “Here we go,” Miyagi said fifteen minutes later when the Karacknid troop fleet entered missile range. “Firing missiles now.” Eighteen thousand missiles shot towards the Karacknids. In reply they were only able to fire five thousand of their own. Five minutes later both fleets fired again. Then they switched their focus to defending themselves as the Allied Fleet’s momentum took them out of range. Seconds before the first Karacknid salvo reached his ships, twelve tungsten spears were launched from Drake. James was so focused on the enemy missiles, he didn’t see them strike Wuhu’s surface and send large explosive plumes into the air. Even most of the Karacknid and Human ground troops didn’t notice, they were just several more explosions among the hundreds that were going on as Karacknid troops washed over Human defenses.

  With so many ships in the Allied Fleet, only eighteen missiles survived long enough to detonate near their targets. Twelve ships were destroyed. The Karacknid troop fleet was nowhere near as fortunate. Every missile in James’ first salvo targeted the five hundred Karacknid warships. Nearly half were destroyed or heavily damaged by the time the final missile struck its target. When the second salvo came in, the missiles ignored the remaining Karacknid warships. Instead they raced past them and sought out the troop ships. As they passed, the Karacknid warships were able to get off plenty of point defense fire, but not enough. Realizing the danger, the troopships scattered. It didn’t help them. Of the four hundred troop ships, two hundred and seventy were blown apart.

  James grunted in satisfaction as the numbers came up on Drake’s holo display. He had no idea how many of them had been fully loaded with troops, but some had to have been. Now they would threaten his colonies no longer. After the second Karacknid salvo crashed into his fleet and destroyed a handful of ships, James turned his attention to the Karacknid battlefleet. He waited twenty minutes for his damaged ships to be repaired or evacuated then ordered his fleet to alter course. Predictably, the Karacknid battlefleet, after dispatching eight hundred of its ships to protect what was left of their troop transports, moved to intercept. For five hours a game of cat and mouse developed. With neither side having a significant acceleration advantage over the other, the Karacknids would be able to close to missile range with James’ fleet. At the same time, James couldn’t dodge past the Karacknids without risking an engagement. Twice he doubled back and threatened to raid the battlefleet’s supply lines. Eventually, the Karacknid commander relented. When James turned his fleet towards the shift passage out of the system, his ships did not move to cut off their escape. “He has calmed down enough to see reason,” James said to his officers. No doubt losing so many troop ships had hurt, yet from the Karacknids’ perspective, keeping the Allied Fleet in their rear was not a wise decision. For several seconds James considered doubling back again and continuing the back-and-forth. He knew every extra hour he bought Koroylov and New Shanghai’s defenders would increase their, albeit very slim, chances of victory. Yet if he kept up the duel of maneuvers with the Karacknid commander, there was a chance he would misstep. That would be disastrous. As his ships continued towards safety, the Karacknid fleet trailed them for three hours to make sure they were actually leaving. Then it turned and set course for Wuhu. By the time Drake reached the system’s mass shadow and jumped out, the Karacknid battlefleet had already settled into orbit. What was left of its troop fleet was there as well. On Drake’s sensors hundreds more landing shuttles could be seen descending to the planet’s surface. Soon the planet was cloaked in communications jammers. There was no way to know how the defenders were faring, or even if they were still fighting.

  The sudden blare of an alarm informed James that more ships had been detected. On the gravimetric plot a small fleet of six hundred new contacts moved towards Wuhu from the shift passage on the far side of the system. It didn’t take long for his flagship to identify most of the ships as freighters or troop transports. Another wave of ground forces, James thought as he shook his head. He was staring at Wuhu. He had no idea whether he would see the colony again or not but he doubted that it would ever be the same. He was still shaking his head as Drake and the Allied Fleet jumped out of the system, it was now firmly under the Karacknids’ control.

  *

  IS Drake, Pattle system, 14th May 2484 AD (five days later).

  It took five days for the Karacknids to consolidate their position in Wuhu, but when they did, they took no risks as they moved on the Pattle system. Like in Wuhu, James kept his fleet in orbit around the Pattle colony for as long as possible. However, this time there were no gas giant moons that would allow him to pull off a fancy trick. Nor did the Karacknids give him an opening. Instead of entering the system as two separate fleets, the Karacknid battlefleet formed a cocoon around the troop transports that were bringing the next wave of Karacknid soldiers. As one, they closed with Pattle and engaged its defenses. Long before Drake and the Allied Fleet jumped out of the system, James had to watch another colony disappear behind Karacknid jammers. He knew what would be happening on the planet’s surface. For the final hour it took Drake to cross the system and jump out, his hands were in fists. He had surrendered two Human colonies to the Karacknids almost without a
fight. It didn’t sit well with him at all. Thankfully, there was only one more system between Pattle and New Shanghai. Apart from a few mining bases, it was uninhabited. Weeks ago James had sent orders for it to be evacuated. As soon as the Karacknid battlefleet had pacified Pattle, New Shanghai would be next. And then we’ll get to fight, James thought as Drake jumped into shift space and the images of Pattle disappeared. Whether they won or lost, at least he’d get the chance to take the Karacknids on. Constantly running before them was infuriating.

  Chapter 41

  Numerous Human colonies have been attacked, bombarded from space, and conquered since the formation of the Empire. Whilst every such instance is a tragedy, the loss of the colonies in the War of Doom was felt the worst. Today there are thousands of colonies within the Empire, back then, there were less than one hundred. To lose one, two or even three sent shockwaves racing through the Empire’s citizens.

  -Excerpt from Empire Rising, 3002 AD.

  IS Drake, shift space near New Shanghai system, 21st May 2484 AD (seven days later).

  For the duration of the seven days it took Drake to reach New Shanghai, James found himself fighting and losing a different kind of battle. He couldn’t help but be depressed by everything that had already happened. Between them, Wuhu and Pattle had been home to six hundred million Imperial citizens. Citizens who had voted to join the Empire he and Christine had founded on the promise that they would be protected. How many of them were now dead? How many were mourning the loss of loved ones? The answer was sure to be in the tens of thousands if it hadn’t already grown to hundreds of thousands. As if that wasn’t bad enough, when he wasn’t thinking about the lost colonies, his mind turned to the Karacknid battlefleet. In the Pattle system its strength had risen to five thousand. James was sure it would rise again before they arrived at New Shanghai.