Counterstrike

by D. J. Holmes

  As the enemy missiles closed with his ships, James resisted the urge to shut his eyes. If Drake was going to be destroyed, he was going to face his fate, not hide from it. As more than ten thousand Karacknid missiles closed with his fleet, point defense fire destroyed hundreds and thousands of them. Then the missiles reached his ships. Anti-matter detonations appeared all around Drake. Miraculously, or so James thought, no alarms went off to signal Drake was being targeted. Yet, as he watched the holo plot, many of his ships were destroyed, but not nearly as many as he had been expecting. For a second, his optimism soared. The Karacknid missiles had failed to hit their targets! Then he caught a glimpse of the gravimetric plot. There were still more than four thousand Karacknid missiles accelerating hard. Except, they had passed by his fleet. They’re going for the battlestations! James realized. Dismay filled his heart. Two thousand Karacknid missiles dodged every point defense weapon fired at them from the battlestations and defense satellites in orbit around New Shanghai. Then they detonated. The battlestations, so large and cumbersome, had no way of dodging the missiles. Every one of the two hundred and ninety-four battlestations that had been constructed in New Shanghai’s orbit or towed to the colony were targeted by missiles. Some had as many as a hundred missiles closing in on them. When Drake’s sensors could see through the wave of detonations that followed, James could hardly believe what he was looking at. New Shanghai’s orbitals had been decimated. Not just the battlestations, but almost every military and civilian station had been hit. The expanding balls of antimatter had enveloped anything they came into contact with and wiped them out. There was hardly even any debris left to fall into New Shanghai’s atmosphere. The only intact structures James could see were three battlestations. Somehow they had escaped unscathed. Yet they were barely even a shadow of the force he had commanded moments before.

  Tearing his eyes away from New Shanghai, James stared unblinkingly at the Karacknid fleets that were closing with his fleet. Their intention was obvious. They would close to energy weapon range and destroy every single ship under his command. Without his battlestations to add their powerful plasma cannons to such a fight, the Karacknids’ numbers would ensure a swift victory. If there is even anything of us left by then, James couldn’t help but think. There were already two more massive Karacknid missile salvos on their way.

  Chapter 46

  As costly as the orbital battle for New Shanghai was in terms of lives lost, the ground battle was far, far worse.

  -Excerpt from Empire Rising, 3002 AD.

  For nearly thirty seconds James watched the next Karacknid salvo approach his ships. There was no doubt in his mind as to who they were targeting. The only thing standing between New Shanghai and the Karacknid forces were what was left of his battle squadrons. We cannot win, James said to himself. We cannot even delay them now. The Karacknids would hammer his ships again and again until there was nothing left. The first full salvo all of his forces had fired at the Karacknid main fleet had already struck home. Less than one hundred ships had been destroyed. At that rate, it would take him eighteen salvos to destroy the fleet centered around the enemy Command Dreadnought. Except by then, he wouldn’t have a single ship left. For more crucial seconds, James watched the progress of the enemy missiles. Deep down, he knew the orders he had to give. They were the only ones that made sense. Guiltily he glanced at New Shanghai. There was nothing he could do for the colony. Barely above a whisper he gave the order. “Signal the other Admirals, they are to prepare to pull back.”

  “Excuse me Admiral?” Miyagi said. His face was full of concern and shock.

  “There’s nothing more we can accomplish here,” James said bitterly. “Except dying for nothing. Send orders to the fleet, we are falling back.” As he spoke his voice rose. He had decided what needed to be done. Now he was determined to see it through. “Order Chen to send all his fighters and bombers in with our next salvo. He is to target the enemy Command Dreadnought. If we can take it out, it might buy us time to pull back. I want every freighter and damaged ship that can’t match our maximum acceleration to form a new fleet. They are to charge the Karacknid Command Dreadnought fleet as well. The rest of us are pulling back around the planet and then we are getting out of here. Maximum acceleration. Begin moving us now, we’re not going to wait for the next Karacknid salvo.” Though James was disgusted with himself, he held Miyagi’s gaze. Yes, they were running away. But if he could extract even a handful of ships out of the disaster, they could try and delay the Karacknids’ push on Earth. That was more than what his ships would accomplish standing and dying in the face of so many enemy missiles.

  “Sending the orders out now,” Miyagi responded as he finally nodded. James was certain his Chief of Staff didn’t like it any more than he did, but it was not their duty to like it. It had to be done.

  As the orders went out, things happened quickly. Two hundred damaged warships along with the remaining five hundred freighters accelerated out of New Shanghai’s orbit. From all of his ships another salvo of missiles was launched as well. Chen’s fighters, numbering no more than one hundred and eighty, split across three groups and accelerated hard behind the missiles. The rest of James’ battlefleets turned and accelerated towards New Shanghai. With the planet’s gravity pulling them in, they quickly gained momentum. All of the battlefleets that was, except Nogamoro’s. “What is he doing?” James demanded when he saw Nogamoro’s two hundred and sixty warships join the damaged warships and freighters.

  “I’m getting a COM message from Nogamoro’s Chief of Staff,” Martinez replied. “They’re reporting all of their ships are too badly damaged to jump into shift space.”

  “Lies.” James replied. “Dam him!” He knew what Nogamoro was doing. He was trying to cover the retreat. Yet James didn’t want him to! They could have tried to retreat together. James almost sent orders for the rest of Nogamoro’s Captains to ignore their Admiral’s commands and fall back with Drake. He didn’t. He knew they would never obey. If they were going to their deaths, he didn’t want their last act to be one of insubordination. “Signal Nogamoro’s battle squadron,” James said reluctantly. “Inform them they are ordered to give a good account of themselves. No ship is to die without taking a Karacknid with them.”

  “They’re acknowledging Admiral… All of them are,” Martinez informed him as he looked up from his command console. “They say they will do their duty.”

  “Send one final reply,” James said. “Your Emperor expected nothing less from you.” As his message was sent, James watched Nogamoro’s battle squadron catch up to the damaged warships and freighters that were charging the Karacknids. As soon as they were together, they fired a salvo at the central Karacknid fleet. Then the next Karacknid missile salvo struck them. Of the five hundred warships, less than half survived. Of the freighters that had been making targets of themselves, almost none were visible after the anti-matter explosions stopped. One more salvo, and James knew they would be done for. Yet Nogamoro’s flagship remained, and within minutes the survivors were rearranged into a new defensive formation as they continued on towards the Karacknid fleet.

  In that time their missile salvo reached the Karacknid warships. So many point defense weapons opened fire that Drake’s sensors lost track of most of the missiles. James guessed it didn’t matter anyway, most of them would be blown apart before they reached their targets. He counted less than twenty explosions amongst the Karacknid fleet. Then Chen’s fighters came swooping in behind the missile salvo. With so much focus on the Allied missiles, Chen’s fighters had been able to get close. Not close enough to launch their missiles unhindered, but close enough. When the Karacknids switched their fire onto the fighters, explosion appeared in their midst. Even so, Drake’s sensors detected one hundred and fifty missile launches. Ninety reached targets and struck home. Every missile was targeted at an enemy battleship or dreadnought. James ground his teeth together when the wave of explosions at the heart of the Karacknid fleet didn’t get anywher
e near their Command Dreadnought. The enemy commander was safe. Yet he had lost just over forty of his capital ships, and no doubt the others who had suffered hits were badly damaged.

  Despite the attacks, the Karacknids quickly fired another salvo. With the Karacknid fleet and Nogamoro’s ships charging each other, it took almost no time for the missiles to cross the distance. With their point defenses completely saturated, Nogamoro’s ships stood no chance. Every single contact disappeared off Drake’s sensors when the Karacknid salvo attacked its targets. James closed his eyes when Guardian was blown apart. He had another name to add to his list of friends who had died at the hands of the Karacknids.

  “Both flanking Karacknid fleets will round the planet any moment now,” Ivanov reminded everyone.

  James forced the grey from his face. His ships were far from out of the woods. Retreating around New Shanghai had given his ships a moment’s respite. But the two flanking Karacknid fleets were still in hot pursuit. “All ships are to go to one hundred and five percent maximum acceleration,” James ordered. He knew such a move would cost him ships, but he had to get his fleet out of harm’s way. “Prepare to fire everything we have at the weaker Karacknid flanking fleet.” With only twelve hundred ships, the remnants of the fleets that had attacked Taitou equaled the size of the fleet James had left. He wouldn’t be able to harm the larger Karacknid fleet, but he could continue to hammer the one Lightfoot had already bled heavily.

  As soon as the two flanking fleets appeared around New Shanghai, they fired a salvo of missiles. James’ ships replied in kind. Before either salvo reached their targets, the three fleets fired a second round of missiles. James swallowed as he stared at each Karacknid salvo. Both numbered almost thirty-five thousand missiles. His beleaguered fleet was in trouble, and he knew it. The only solace was that his first salvo would reach the smaller Karacknid fleet first. At least he’d get to see his missiles ravage their opponent before his fleet suffered. Despite the best efforts of the Karacknid point defense gunners, many of James’ missiles did indeed strike their targets. The twelve hundred contacts of the Karacknid flanking fleet were reduced to one thousand and thirty. However, nearly eighty of them fell back towards New Shanghai, too damaged to continue the chase.

  “New contact!” Anderson shouted in excitement. “They’re ours! They’re ours! One hundred fighters closing with the Karacknid fleet we just hit.”

  James could hardly believe it, some of the fighters Chen had sent against the Karacknid Command Dreadnought must have spooked around New Shanghai. No, he thought as he shook his head. There was no way that was possible. He had seen most of them die. Then, as the fighters turned on their recognition codes, James smiled. Captain Dee’s attack wing. They had found the hidden carriers on the far side of the system, refueled, rearmed, and returned. They weren’t in time to defend New Shanghai, but they might just help his fleet escape. As one, Dee’s Spitfires charged into the teeth of the Karacknid fleet’s defensive fire. With so many holes in their formation from James’ missiles, the fighters found weak spots in their coverage. Swooping in, they released ninety plasma missiles into the heart of the Karacknid fleet. Heavy cruisers, battleships and dreadnoughts were blown apart as plasma missiles burnt through the large warships. Seventy more of their number were taken out. Just as James began to wonder how Dee’s fighters would rejoin his ships, for he had no carriers in his fleet, the answer became obvious. Swooping round, what was left of Dee’s force set upon the enemy capital ships with their small plasma cannons. Then, to James’ amazement, every single fighter charged into the damaged sections of the ships they had attacked. As soon as the first fighter struck a battleship, both detonated in a massive explosion. One far larger than should have been possible.

  “Kamikaze,” Miyagi whispered, though it pierced the silence that had descended on Drake’s bridge. Seconds later it was clear Miyagi was right, sixty more fighters rammed enemy capital ships. Every single one that was struck disappeared in a blinding flash.

  “Admiral,” Martinez said softly as she looked up from her COM station. “We received a message from Captain Dee’s fighters before she rammed that dreadnought.” Turning slightly, Martinez nodded towards the main holo projector. She had changed its view to show a short text message. ‘For the Emperor,’ was clear for everyone on Drake’s bridge to read.

  James closed his eyes as he fought back a tear. More people had given their lives for a cause he had led them to believe in. More people have given their lives for him, he knew. “Admiral,” Miyagi said louder this time. “Look!”

  James sat forward in his command chair. The Karacknids were decelerating! Instead of firing a third volley, they were allowing New Shanghai’s gravity to pull them back in. He didn’t understand it. Yes, the weakened Karacknid fleet had been hit hard. The second salvo of missiles approaching it would hurt them. But his ships were about to suffer even more losses. And the second flanking fleet could chase him all the way to the system’s mass shadow and cripple what was left of his ships. It didn’t make sense. Searching for an answer, he zoomed out the holo image on his command chair to see the whole system. He quickly found what he was looking for. Two large fleets were moving in towards New Shanghai. They were similar to ones he had seen before. Troop fleets. Each fleet had more than one hundred troop carriers and was flanked by a couple hundred escorts. They are going to take the planet, he said to himself. The Karacknid commander was content with his victory. He’d crushed New Shanghai’s defenses, decimated James’ fleet and was now going to secure the planet. Then, once he’s licked his wounds, he will follow us to finish the job, James was certain. With all the battlestations and defense satellites Humanity had destroyed on New Shanghai, there was nothing James would be able to do to stop them. As soon as New Shanghai was secured, Earth would be next.

  Before his emotions spiraled into despair, James was reminded that his ships were still in mortal danger as the sound of Drake’s point defenses opening up told him the first enemy salvo was about to strike. With a growing sense of fear he watched the missiles’ progress. His warships fired every defensive weapon they had at the thirty-four thousand eight hundred enemy missiles. Tranquility powered up her weapons and set about savaging the Karacknid missiles that neared her. Thousands were blown apart. As every ship in the fleet powered up their ECM, thousands more lost tracking on their targets. More than eight hundred still reached attack range. Last-ditch attempts to shoot them down or dodge them were partially successful. Three hundred found targets. Drake was one of them.

  The first thing James knew about it was when he was flung around in his command chair as his flagship tried to avoid the missile. Then a shunt from a very different direction knocked the wind out of him. With the tightness of his restraints and the g-forces, he feared he was about to lose consciousness. The Karacknid missile had scored a hit. Then, as quickly as the rough ride had begun, it ended. It took a few seconds for his vision to clear and the dizziness to leave. When it did, he became aware that alarms were blaring all around him.

  “Where were we hit?” Fisher half screamed towards her First Lieutenant.

  “Starboard, amid ships, I think,” the Lieutenant managed to reply. “I think it was a proximity hit. Our gaseous shields in that section are showing that they’ve been vaporized. I think they took the brunt of the hit.”

  “Starboard sections of decks four, five and six are reporting being open to space,” another officer announced. “There’s no reply from missile tubes fourteen, through to nineteen on that side either. Nor from any of their point defenses.”

  James knew what that meant; Drake had a gaping hole in her hull. One that was no doubt venting debris and atmosphere into space. Not to mention some of the battleship’s crew. That was for Fisher to be concerned about though, James had to focus on his fleet. “Miyagi, how are we doing?”

  “One hundred and ninety ships are not reporting in Admiral,” his Chief of Staff informed him. I’ve already got reports from sixty other ships
that they’ve been badly damaged. We are working on reforming the formation now.”

  James nodded and pulled up the same information Miyagi was working with. He threw himself into helping his staff officers organize the damaged ships into the middle of their formation where they’d be better protected. Then they prepared for the second Karacknid salvo. It appeared in front of them far quicker than James would have liked. Yet they had no choice. Point defense weapons opened up on the Karacknid missiles. Drake, now in the middle of the Allied Fleet, was able to bring all of her defensive weapons to bear on the enemy missiles. Yet with the losses James’ fleet had already suffered, their defensive fire was far weaker than it had been just ten minutes ago. As a result, even more Karacknid missiles struck the Allied Fleet. In a position of relative safety, James watched the missiles strike home. So many antimatter detonations erupted all around him that he lost count. He knew everyone was one of his ships being crippled or destroyed. With clenched fists and teeth he cursed the Karacknid commander again and again as his ships died all around him.