Counterstrike

by D. J. Holmes

  As soon as the images appeared, a pattern stood out. If it wasn’t for the approach vector of the current Karacknid fighters it wouldn’t have looked like anything. But it did now. A channel of destroyed stealth recon drones had been carved out. A channel that led straight to a point in Taitou’s orbit. A point that would be at the rear of the moon when Lightfoot’s battle squadron and his fighters would all be at the other side of the moon facing off against the probing attack. “Send this data to Admirals Somerville and Lightfoot immediately,” Chen requested.

  “Somerville is requesting a COM call with you and Lightfoot,” Chen’s COM officer reported moments later.

  “What would you like to do?” Somerville asked as soon as his and Lightfoot’s face appeared in front of Chen.

  “Time is in short supply,” Chen replied. “If there is a surprise attack coming, they’ll hit Taitou in fifteen minutes. I have ten squadrons in stealth off Taitou at the moment. I can order them to prepare to intercept. Though if the Karacknids have more fighters than we know about, they could be outnumbered. We could lose them and the Karacknids would still be able to hit Taitou.”

  “What if Chen pulls his fighters that are with my fleet back?” Lightfoot asked. “We’d be giving away the fact we figured out their sneaky tactic, but we’d stop them from hitting Taitou.”

  “Unless they turned their probing attack into an actual attack,” Chen countered. “If I pull my fighters back, several squadrons will likely get past your ships. They could do a lot of damage before my fighters get back to drive them off.”

  As Somerville brought a hand up to stroke his jaw, Lightfoot and Chen paused and stared at him. “We play safe,” Somerville said. “Launch the squadrons you have prepped from your hangers, have them move to cover the rear approaches to Taitou. Your stealthed fighters can join them. We’ll be giving away more of our strength than I’d like, but we’ll keep Taitou safe and we won’t risk any engagements where we don’t have the numerical advantage.

  “Understood,” Chen said at the same time as Lightfoot. The image of the two Admirals disappeared. “All right, you heard the Admiral,” Chen said, “Launch our second squadrons from the hangers. Get them moving towards Taitou immediately.”

  The image on the holo projector returned to New Shanghai’s orbitals and new squadrons quickly appeared as they launched from the orbital hangers. Forming up, the one hundred and twenty fighters accelerated towards Taitou. The one hundred and twenty Chen had covertly moved there also revealed themselves as they powered up their engines and moved to rendezvous with the new fighter group. As soon as they combined, they set themselves on a course that led up through the channel of destroyed recon drones. When nothing happened for nearly thirty seconds, Chen began to doubt himself. It was possible the Karacknids had more than two hundred and forty fighters coming in to strike Taitou’s rear. Perhaps they were still planning to go ahead with their attack. He opened his mouth to give orders for the rest of the squadrons stationed on his bulk carriers to launch. Before he could, one hundred and sixty contacts appeared. Karacknid fighters were heading straight for Taitou. However, instead of accelerating towards the moon, they had already flipped end over end and were breaking hard. Seconds later, the larger force of Karacknid fighters carried out the same maneuver and?”|began to break as well. “They’re pulling back,” Chen said to his officers, careful to keep the relief out of his voice. “We thwarted them,” this time, he thought. The Karacknid commander was wily. They were going to have to watch him carefully.

  Five minutes later Chen’s thoughts echoed through his mind again. Three hundred warships had suddenly appeared on the hangar bay’s sensors. They too had flipped end over end and decelerated. They had been travelling in stealth towards Taitou. When Chen saw that they were all destroyers and frigates he knew exactly what the Karacknid commander had been thinking. If Chen had of ordered his fighters to pursue the retreating Karacknids, they would have run into the screening warships. It would have been a massacre. Round one is a draw, Chen decided. The Karacknids had got a glimpse of how many fighters he had, but the Karacknid commander had failed to hit Taitou or take out any of Chen’s force. Round one, Chen repeated, what is in store in round two?

  Chapter 43

  Waiting always feels like the worst part of any battle, that is, until the missiles start racing towards you.

  -Excerpt from Empire Rising, 3002 AD.

  IS Drake, 13th June 2484 AD (ten days later).

  “Admiral, I think you will want to come to the bridge to look at this. The Karacknids are up to something,” Fisher said to James over a COM channel as he sat in his office.

  “On my way,” James replied. Over the last ten days the Karacknids had tested New Shanghai’s defenses four more times. Everyone was on a knife edge. Everyone’s sleep patterns were thrown off and no one knew when the next attack would come. James was certain that was exactly how the Karacknid commander wanted his people to feel. The last attack had been yesterday. A squadron of one hundred frigates had rushed into missile range, fired a salvo and pulled back before James’ ships could return fire. James could have given pursuit and destroyed the frigates, but he had been certain the Karacknid commander had more ships waiting to ambush him if he tried. He hadn’t been expecting another attack so soon but that in itself made sense. The Karacknid commander was always doing the unexpected. “What is it?” he asked his Flag Captain as soon as he stepped onto Drake’s bridge.

  “It wasn’t me who noticed it, but Lieutenant Anderson,” Fisher replied as she nodded towards James’ tactical officer.

  “It’s the Karacknid fleet’s movements,” Anderson explained as James raised an eyebrow. “Look at this,” he said as the holo image in front of James changed. James studied it as he moved to his command chair. The image showed the courses of each of the five Karacknid fleets that were besieging New Shanghai. In a seemingly random pattern, they crisscrossed back-and-forth with each other as each fleet slowly rotated around New Shanghai in a high orbit. The random course changes were so that James and his fleet couldn’t plan any kind of surprise attack on the Karacknid ships. “Now look at this, this is the last seven hours,” Anderson followed up.

  When the plot changed, James frowned. Nothing untoward was jumping out at him. “You may have to be a little bit more specific,” he replied.

  “These two fleets here, look at their projected courses,” Anderson elaborated. “In one hour, they will be close enough to Sanji that each would only have to carry out a minor maneuver to bring the moon and Admiral Suarez’s battle squadron into missile range.”

  As soon as it was pointed out, James saw it. “You’re right,” he replied, “good spotting. What do you think he is planning?”

  Anderson hesitated for a moment as he turned from James to the holo plot. “It looks like another probing attack,” he suggested. “With so many ships coming against Sanji we’d almost have to use our missile launchers there to defend the moon… Or,” he continued after a moment’s pause. “It could be a precursor to a full-on attack. Those two fleets could close with Sanji, combine with one another, and destroy Suarez’s fleet and the weapon emplacements we have on the moon. Then a similar attack could take out the other moon we fortified. That would clear the way for a final push against New Shanghai’s defenses.”

  “What about the freighters they have mining asteroids?” Fisher asked Anderson. “They are still out there gathering the asteroids to hurl at us. They won’t attack without them.”

  Anderson screwed up his face as he thought about Fisher’s counterargument. “Unless the asteroid mining freighters are a ruse themselves,” he said, suddenly looking pleased with himself. “They could be there simply to make us think a larger attack is not imminent.”

  James turned from Anderson to share a look with Fisher. Her expression said the same thing. Neither of them had thought of that. It was a worrying idea. Very worrying. But we haven’t detected any more freighters amongst their fleets, James said as he t
ried to reassure himself. It didn’t quite work. “Have our analysts go over every ship in their fleets again,” he ordered. “Make sure there are no freighters pretending to be warships amongst them.” The Karacknid ships were so close that there was no way a freighter could pretend to be a warship for so long. At least, not if his officers were specifically looking for it. “What else could the Karacknid commander be up to?” James asked Anderson as he turned back to his tactical officer.

  Anderson glanced from the holo display to James and back again several times before admitting defeat. “I’m not sure Admiral,” he answered.

  “Anyone else?” James asked as he drew the rest of his staff officers into the discussion. He wasn’t in the least surprised when Ivanov answered immediately.

  “It could be a ruse to draw us out of position,” his operations officer suggested. “The movements of those two fleets is subtle, but it is something we might be expected to notice. If that’s the case, the Karacknid commander could have done it intentionally to make us commit our reserve forces towards Sanji. It may be another probing attack is going to hit us somewhere else instead.”

  “Exactly,” James said as he gave Ivanov a brief smile. “So either it’s a probing attack, a fake probing attack to hit us somewhere else, or the beginning of a full-on battle. The question is, which one is it? That is something we better answer, and fast,” he said as he shared another glance with Fisher. Though he knew his staff would do their best to figure out the answer, at the end of the day, he was the one who would have to make the decision. “Send what you found to the other Admirals,” James said to Anderson, “Let’s get their input as well.”

  For twenty minutes James waited as patiently as he could. As soon as it was confirmed there were no freighters amongst the Karacknid warships he ruled out one possible scenario. A full-scale attack wasn’t coming. Unless the Karacknid commander doesn’t intend to use asteroids at all, James thought. That was still a possibility. Though how much of one, he wasn’t certain. The Karacknids had the numerical advantage to win without hurling asteroids at his defenses, but if they could, why wouldn’t they? There was no other reason why the Karacknids had delayed their attack as long as they had already. Unless they’re waiting for more reinforcements, James told himself. We’ll have to be cautious, he decided. “If this is a real probing attack, how would we most likely respond to it?” he asked his officers.

  “Most of the simulations involve us dispatching Koroylov’s battle squadron to reinforce Suarez’s,” Miyagi answered. “If the threat is more serious we would also send half of our reserve fleet. We’d have to use Sanji’s missile launchers, but between them, Suarez, Koroylov and our defenses would stand a decent chance at holding off two thousand Karacknid warships for a limited time.”

  James nodded as he considered the moves. They were the most obvious. If he pulled Koroylov’s battle squadron out of position, it would leave one quadrant of New Shanghai’s defenses significantly weakened. It was possible that the Karacknid commander was hiding a different probing attack that would seek to hit New Shanghai itself. That way, he’d get a real picture of just how much we fortified the colony, James thought. Of course, he was still leaning towards the possibility that the probing attack they were expecting was the real one. “If that’s how we might be expected to respond, let’s change things up a little. Have Commodore Chen slow launch all the fighters the Karacknids have already seen us use. There should still be enough time to get them over to Sanji. Start moving all of our missile pod freighters that way now, disguise them as a supply convoy to Suarez’s battle squadron. Also, prep all of the light ships in our reserve battle squadron. As soon as the Karacknids make their move towards Sanji, we’ll rush them over there to boost the colony’s defenses. Inform Suarez he has permission to use the moon’s missile launchers, but only if deemed absolutely necessary.” If at all possible, James wanted to keep the extra range of his mark V missiles a secret until the Karacknids committed their entire battlefleet against him.

  “Acknowledged Admiral, we’ll get those orders put out immediately,” Miyagi responded.

  James nodded. “Make sure Admiral Koroylov has his battle squadron ready to move in case Suarez needs the backup,” he added.

  With things set in motion, James was once again relegated to the position of observer. Just as Anderson had predicted, twenty minutes later the two Karacknid fleets altered course. At once one hundred and sixty light cruisers, destroyers, frigates, and corvettes broke away from their positions around Drake and raced towards Sanji. They arrived just as the Karacknid fleets got into missile range. From each fleet, a salvo of ten thousand missiles was released towards Sanji. From Suarez’s ships and the weapons stations in orbit around Sanji, though crucially not from the moon itself, seven thousand missiles were fired towards one of the Karacknid fleets. Already decelerating hard, both Karacknid fleets quickly moved out of missile range. There would just be one exchange of missile salvos. “It is just a probing attack,” James said to his staff. “But they could be up to something else. Launch a spread of active drones. If there is another surprise out there, I want to know about it.”

  As hundreds of drones were shot out by many of his warships, the space around New Shanghai was filled with electromagnetic energy. While the sensor data was analyzed, the three groups of missiles continued on towards their targets. Long before the Karacknid missiles got close enough to attack, four hundred and eighty fighters appeared on the gravimetric plot. Already perfectly positioned, they accelerated along the course the Karacknid missiles were taking. With their far higher momentum, the missiles quickly caught them, as they passed however, the fighters opened up with their small plasma cannons. The Corsair interceptors also added their anti-fighter missiles to the mix. One of the Karacknid salvos was reduced by more than a thousand missiles. Then Suarez’s force opened up with its point defenses. Warships, converted freighters, and orbital defense stations and satellites all hurled the new long-range AM missiles at both Karacknid missile salvos. Hundreds of targets were destroyed. When the rest of the force’s point defenses joined the battle, thousands more were taken out. As James expected, however, not every missile was destroyed. Soon antimatter detonations bloomed amongst Suarez’s defenders. Then two erupted on Sanji’s surface.

  James bit back a curse as he saw the two Karacknid missiles punch through the moon’s thin atmosphere and detonate. The surface launchers were well spread out, but anti-matter warheads could devastate a wide area. “Get me a rundown of our losses immediately,” he demanded. As time ticked by, his concern grew. Watching Suarez’s missiles strike home and take out eighteen Karacknid warships did not lighten his mood any.

  “We’ve got concrete reports coming in now from Sanji,” Martinez finally informed him. “Suarez lost twelve warships, twenty freighters and a handful of defense satellites. The ground strikes took out four mark V launchers.”

  “Just four?” James asked, thinking he had misheard. Four was far better than he had been hoping.

  “Confirmed Admiral, four destroyed,” Martinez responded. “The ground technicians are actually more concerned about what the loss of mass might do to Sanji’s orbit. They’re still assessing that at the moment. It may impact our defensive plans though.”

  “Thank you,” James replied, “Inform the technicians I want to see their analysis as soon as it’s complete.” That was something James hadn’t thought about. If Sanji lost enough mass it could fall into an unstable orbit and be pulled in by New Shanghai’s gravity well. The results would be catastrophic for everyone on the colony. Alternatively, the planetary body’s current momentum could allow it to escape from New Shanghai. If it did, he would lose all the defenses built around the moon. Either outcome could lose him the battle before it had really been fought. Was that the Karacknid commander’s plan along? James asked himself. If it was, then it was very likely the Karacknids would try another attack. And they are getting bolder, he told himself. The probing attacks were coming qu
icker and quicker and were involving more and more of the Karacknids’ total strength. “Get me a COM channel to Commodore Chen,” he requested. “I think it’s time we put his plan into motion,” he added when Miyagi looked up from his command console. “When is our next window of opportunity?”

  Miyagi checked his console before answering. “It looks like it might be in nine hours or so Admiral.”

  “Very well, begin the preparations we need to make on our end,” James said as he looked back at the holo display of the Karacknid fleet. His gaze quickly moved past them towards the group of mining freighters that were collecting asteroids from the ring of the system’s solitary gas giant.