by Ricky Sides
“You’re the one with pilot experience,” Jim said and looked to Pete for his opinion.
“He’s right. Let’s do it,” Pete readily agreed.
Nodding his head Jim said, “Lieutenant, please radio the air group. All drones are to launch and proceed with the attack. Feed the ships the latest know location if you please and tell them to commence attack plan Alpha.”
The twenty-four drones lifted off from the surface their mother ships and flew away in groups of two. The drone pilots kept their aircraft at an altitude of twenty feet for the voyage toward the approaching armada.
Jim instructed Patricia to let the scouts know that the dance was about to begin, and that their job was vital from this point on. If the armada split up, or altered their course when the drones attacked, then the scouts were to report that immediately. He also sent them word that any stragglers damaged by the drones should be destroyed. This pleased the pilots who hadn’t been too thrilled about missing the main battle.
The attack plan devised for the drones was simple and straightforward. They were to attack every other ship in the armada in groups of two. This would leave half of the armada undamaged, but it would also make it more difficult for the ships that were not engaged to attack the drones without hitting their own ships. Once the deck guns on the first twelve ships had been neutralized, the drones were to fly to another undamaged ship. Their primary job in this engagement was the destruction of the deck gun emplacements. Any surviving drones could then be utilized to strike secondary targets.
“Pol, when this is over, remind me to discuss with you the possibilities of creating a new class of drone. One which can take the bigger bore damage,” Pete clarified and Pol beamed in joy at that thought, causing Patricia to giggle.
“I will absolutely remind you of that need my friend. Rest assured I will not forget to address that matter,” Pol said reassuringly.
“Oh what have I done?!” Pete asked plaintively, causing Tim to laugh.
“Something good my friend,” Pol responded. “Oh yes, something very good.”
***
The drones detoured wide around the approaching armada. They would approach the armada from the rear. The two scout pilots saw the drones go streaking past them as they trailed the armada in their fighters at a comparative snail’s pace. Finally, they were going to see a bit of action. They radioed for permission to close the gap between themselves and the ships of the armada so they could document the attack and they were granted permission, so long as they remained well out of lethal range of the deck guns. There was really no further need for secrecy because soon every man in the armada would be aware that they had company. Patricia set her system to receive the feed from one of the scouts and asked him to transmit that video.
The drones made their final approach toward the armada at two hundred fifty miles per hour. They approached in ranks of two in parallel rows. At the last possible moment, these parallel rows split up and the pairs of drones climbed to one hundred feet to clear the other vessels as they approached their targets. The deceleration that the drones accomplished to attack their targets would have rendered a human pilot unconscious. One moment they were flying at two hundred fifty miles per hour, and the next moment they were flying a mere twenty miles per hour.
At this point, the drones began to attack the startled men who wondered where these little machines had come from, even as they struggled to train their deck guns on the drones. Lasers lanced out striking deck guns the length of the armada. Then the deck guns responded. In the first minute of the battle, three drones were lost as the crews onboard unaffected ships attacked the drones that were attacking their neighbors. The gunners managed to destroy three drones but they also inflicted massive damage on the ships, which the drones had been attacking. Apparently, someone in charge ordered the crews to stop firing on drones if they couldn’t hit them without hitting their own ships, because that stopped just one minute into the attack. The peacekeepers had lost three drones but the enthusiastic gunners of the armada had killed scores of their own men and the damage inflicted upon the ships they struck was considerable.
In the Peacekeeper Jim watched the video feed and noted the streaks of the lasers all across the armada. The scout pilot was now flying parallel to the armada a great distance away so that he could give the council a better vantage of the overall conflict. Jim saw another drone disintegrate as two of the deck guns hit it full on while the operator tried to take his drone to the next ship he planned to target.
“Six drones have been lost so far,” Patricia informed the council, as she received an update from the communications officers. “The captain of the Alabama is extremely ticked off. He had sent requests for his drones months ago, but due to the material shortage, he had just received his. He is vowing that the invaders will pay for this indignity,” Patricia reported.
“He’s a good man,” Pol stated.
Over the armada, the drones were taking a beating. They had destroyed numerous deck guns but the ships of the armada had opened up their formation so that the moment the drones tried to leave one ship to assault another the sky was filled with a fifty caliber deterrence. Three more drones went down before Jim ordered the operators to stop trying to close with the unaffected ships and fire from the comparative safety of the ships whose guns they had already destroyed.
That tactic worked for two minutes, but then the armada widened the gap between the ships again and as they sailed further apart the success of that plan deteriorated.
“That’s alright, this gives us an opportunity to fly away from the armada and then approach from a wide variety of angles. They can’t cover them all,” Tim noted.
“World War Two, Japanese fighter tactics?” asked Jim thinking that he knew the source of that concept.
“Among others, yes,” his brother answered.
Jim passed the order down to the remaining drone pilots. They were now down to half their original number. The drones had destroyed half of the deck guns of the fleet, but there were still far too many for the fighters to go up against with any hope of minimal casualties.
The remaining drones appeared to be leaving the armada. For a minute, the men aboard the ships of the invasion fleet celebrated and then they saw the drones returning at full speed. The drones came at the ships at right angles in strafing runs designed to take out one gun per pass. They succeeded in killing some gunner crews but the guns were not affected. The drones were traveling so fast that the lasers didn’t have time to destroy the tough fifty caliber weapons before they had flown past.
Jim ordered the drones to attempt a full speed run up to the ships and brake at the last moment to attack the guns. Two more drones were lost when the pilots misgauged their stopping distance and crashed nose first into the deck guns. “Hopefully they took the deck guns with them, sir,” Patricia said by way of consolation.
“I made a bad call. I was asking the operators to do the impossible. It’s my fault, not theirs,” Jim stated. He added, “We can’t trade them one for one. The enemy will win if we try that.”
Jim noted that the video feed seemed awfully close to the scene. He said, “Radio the scout sending us this video feed. Remind him to mind his proximity to the fleet.”
A moment later, the feed backed off, and Patricia said, “The pilot says sorry, sir. When the fleet dispersed, he should have widened his gap but he remained constant on one of the ships he was using as a marker. He thanks you for the heads up and says it won’t happen again.”
“It had better not,” Tim said. “Lapses like that get pilots killed.”
“Tell him, I said it was my pleasure. It was great footage, but not worth his life,” Jim responded with a smile remembering some incidents when his brother had experienced similar lapses. But he understood his brother. Tim adored the fighter squadrons. A pilot himself, and the first peacekeeper to fly a fighter, he related closely to them.
As the camera distance adjusted, Jim saw a puff of smoke appear
above a ship. Then he saw numerous others. Contrails flew from the ship toward the drones. A moment later, they lost their remaining drones.
“Rockets?” Jim asked and Pol angrily nodded his head. Jim didn’t think he had ever seen Pol mad, but the scientist was clearly angry now.
“The next drones will have defenses against such weapons,” Pol vowed.
“Well, look at it this way Pol. In a way, the drones killed that many missiles. Those missiles are gone now, and can’t kill our pilots or our main ships,” Pete said rationally.
“They did indeed perform that service my friend,” Pol said sheepishly. “Thank you for putting that in its proper perspective for me.”
Pete nodded and said. “I need you at your most rational at the moment, Pol. We all do,” said Pete, grinning to soften the chastisement. Pol nodded his understanding.
Chapter 20
Aboard the battleship Constitution, Captain Bill Young heard the order he had been waiting for when Jim’s voice said, “Constitution, you take the lead. The battleship drone will follow,” And then Jim asked, “You noted the ship that destroyed the remaining drones?”
“Yes, Jim. I’ve been glued to the video feed that Patricia is broadcasting to us,” Bill acknowledged.
“That is your first target, Bill. If those rockets are launched at our fighters…” Jim said and left the sentence unfinished.
“Understood. The Constitution won’t let you down, Jim,” Bill said confidently.
“It never has, nor has its captain,” Jim replied and signed off.
Facing his crew, Bill said, “This is it, ladies and gentlemen. This is where we prove to the rest of the peacekeepers that their faith in us as a crew was justified.” Pausing he looked quickly at the faces of the crew in the control room and saw confidence in their eyes. “Pilot, set a course for the armada, and proceed at attack speed. Our primary target will be the ship you all saw in the footage supplied by Patricia. That ship must be sent to the bottom.”
“Aye, Captain,” said the pilot and gunners simultaneously. Bill still felt the urge to see if Jim or Cliff Barnes had entered the control room when he heard the crew use the word “captain,” but the urge was diminishing with the passage of time and experience.
“Holly, inform Melissa that we are heading for the engagement and that her Eagle squadron should be ready to detach and break away if fire in their zone gets too heavy,” Bill ordered.
“Aye, Captain,” replied Holly. She transmitted the message and then she said, “Eagle One says thank you for the heads up. They will be careful.”
“Thank you, Holly. Melissa is a good officer. She’ll take care of her team as best she can,” Bill replied. As an afterthought he said, “Get Sergeant Carter up here. I need to speak to him. Make that on the double. I want to be free to watch the engagement when we close with the armada.”
“Aye, sir,” Holly replied and she sent the message through the intercom system.
Holly had barely completed announcing the order when the sergeant sprinted into the control room. “Yes, Captain? I’m here,” the sergeant said.
“Sergeant, the odds are your team won’t have to be deployed, but I want the men ready just in case. Full armor and you check the men to make certain no one cheats. I know some of the men hate the chest piece, but I want full armor. And, Sergeant, that includes the half helms,” the captain said. “And I want you to personally see to it that the blast door is properly in place.”
The sergeant saluted and sprinted away. Bill could hear the young sergeant bellowing orders as he ran. He was ordering his men to prepare for battle. In the cargo bay, his ten men flew into action preparing for the eventuality that they may be ordered to board a ship.
A few minutes later, the ten drone operators reported to the sergeant. One of the men said, “Sergeant Carter, the Captain ordered us aft to join you and your men.” The drone pilot looked eager. He was ready to avenge personally the loss of his drone.
“Welcome to the party guys. Captain says full armor so be prepared for the inspection,” the sergeant said.
***
In the control room, Jim studied the video of the armada, which the Constitution was rapidly approaching. Within moments, the Constitution came into the field of view of the scout pilot’s camera. Jim saw multiple contrails as more missiles were fired. This time the missiles were targeting the battleship. Jim experienced a moment of stark fear as the missiles closed with the ship and then the missiles exploded against the hull. “My God!” Jim exclaimed as a dozen explosions lit up the screen and the forward section of the bottom of the Constitution was engulfed in a dozen overlapping fireballs. Nevertheless, when the fireballs subsided, the ship was intact. The missiles had damaged the outer hull but the inner hull had contained that damage. “Pol, I need to know the extent of that damage. See if you can determine that from the video feed,” Jim ordered.
“Yes, Captain,” said Pol immediately and he asked Patricia to have the pilot zoom in on one of the holes. When the pilot complied, it took Pol only seconds to reach a conclusion. “That is the second hull baffle plating. Note the larger baffles and the layer of foam insulation.”
Pol requested that the scout pilot shift the focus to several of the other holes to be certain that the damage from those missiles was consistent. Pol was pleased to see that the damage was extremely consistent. Even the sizes of the holes seemed to be fairly consistent. “Thank the pilot for me,” Pol said when he had finished his evaluation. He said, “Captain, even should the ship take an additional hit in the same holes previously hit, they would be survivable.” Pol assured the captain that the repairs would be extensive but quite easy to make once they had the raw material available.
“Thank you for the information, Pol,” Jim said. Then Jim said, “Oh my God!” he had just seen the shotgun laser employed for the first time. Laser bolts struck the entire length of the cartel ship that had attacked the Constitution. So wide was that field of fire that Jim even saw laser bolts strike the ocean around the visible area surrounding the vessel.
***
The crew of the Constitution felt the jarring impact of the missiles. Several crewmembers were thrown off their feet by the force of the explosions. There was also a faint ringing sound as if someone was striking a piece of heavy steel with hammers violently and rapidly. “Gunners, fire at will,” the captain ordered and the massive firepower of the Constitution was unleashed in retaliation for the first time against a real enemy. The gunner opted to open the battle with the shotgun in the hopes of killing the enemy missile capability in the opening response to their attack. She succeeded beyond her wildest dreams as anything explosive or flammable on the deck of the ship blew up or burst into flames. The deck of the ship was soon a raging inferno.
“Bombardier, drop three bombs amidships. Let’s try to break her spine,” the captain ordered.
“Done, sir,” the bombardier reported.
“Pilot, take us to our next target on our list of priorities,” Bill ordered. He would take the next target, and then see if the primary target was still afloat.
“Aye, Captain, she is a distance away but I’ll close with her,” the pilot responded.
“Gunners, take targets of opportunity as we proceed,” the captain ordered.
The forward conventional minigun burped out a sustained burst of projectiles and one of the deck guns aboard the ship they were passing was destroyed as they flew toward their next priority target.
“One of the drones must have taken out a deck gun on our target, Captain,” the forward gunner reported. She fired another sustained burst with her conventional minigun and then she said, “The deck guns are all destroyed on this ship, sir.”
“Drop three bombs and then we’ll proceed to target number three,” Bill stated. This was the munitions ship, or so it was believed based on the video reconnaissance evidence. Bill understood the importance of denying the enemy replacements for their expended ordinance.
The pilot was read
y and when the bombardier confirmed the drop, he took instant evasive maneuvers. He knew that this was supposed to be a munitions ship, and the bombs could well create a massive explosion. When the bombs detonated, the resulting secondary explosions dwarfed the bombs. A massive fireball that rocketed hundreds of feet into the air, briefly enveloped the rear half of the Constitution, and then she flew out of that fireball. So intense was the heat that even through the triple hulled, insulated body of the ship the men in the cargo bay noted a rapid increase in temperature that soon dissipated.
***
Aboard the Peacekeeper Jim saw the fireball that engulfed the rear of the Constitution and winced. So did Pol. Both men breathed a sigh of relief when the ship flew out of that bright orange and deep red fireball. Behind the Constitution, the ship was already sinking.
Jim shifted his attention to the video screen of the pilot who was flying the battleship drone. The man had been ordered to head for the first ship the Constitution had attacked to try to sink the vessel. Jim surveyed the damage inflicted by the bombs of the Constitution and said, “Drop another bomb in the hole made by the Constitution.”
After the smoke from the bombing cleared, Jim saw to his satisfaction that the ship had finally broken amidships. It sank within minutes as the battleship continued to seek out ships with remaining deck guns. Soon the forward gunner fired at the deck gun of one of the unaffected ships. Heavy machinegun fire was being directed into the drone and Pol winced as he imagined the damage being inflicted.
The drone pilot said, “Sir, they damaged the main battery system. They must have punched a hole through to the system. The ship is losing power. Not a lot yet, but if they hit the drone again…”
“Understood, Pilot. Pol?” Jim asked looking to the engineer in this time of emergency.