First Admiral 01 First Admiral

by William J. Benning

  So, the Bardomil Harpoons and Flying Devils continued to resist, and one by one they fell to the pulsar-cannons of the Alliance Eagles in the horrid confusion of the battle. To the bitter end they fought, and the Thexxian pilots were happy to oblige them of a heroic, though, ultimately, unnecessary death.

  “What a waste,” Billy Caudwell said softly to himself watching on the View Screen as the last remaining Bardomil Harpoons and Flying Devils were caught and destroyed by the Alliance Eagles.

  For a brief moment, Billy almost wished that some of these Bardomil would escape and survive. Still, they had made their decisions, and would fall in battle accordingly.

  With the rest of the War Room, he stood silently watching the battle play out to its inevitable result.

  “Enemy fighters eliminated, sir,” the WATO reported in a quiet and respectful voice.

  It did not matter that the Bardomil were the enemies of every Thexxian. Courage was still courage, whatever species displayed it.

  With the last of the Bardomil fighters falling, Billy Caudwell turned his attention to the main prize. The pride of the Bardomil Empire. The pride of their Fleet.

  The Imperial Fighter Carriers.

  Chapter 52

  The Bardomil Task Force was made up of nine large carriers each carrying one hundred fighter craft. The Bardomil commander had flung close to nine hundred fighters at the Aquarius, and had lost. Knowing that there would be no reprieve from the pitilessly cruel Empress of the Bardomil, the commander knew he only had one course of action left open to him. He committed suicide.

  However, Billy Caudwell was determined that this Bardomil force would not escape total destruction. Billy was determined that the Thexxians would see a large Bardomil force utterly destroyed. This would teach them that they had nothing further to fear from the Bardomil as part of the Universal Alliance. With only a mere handful of beaten, damaged and demoralised fighters left to recover, the Bardomil Imperial Fighter Carriers began the slow laborious turn to escape. Bardomil Imperial Fighter Carriers were not designed for retreating, and were ponderously slow in their manoeuvring.

  “We’re in range of the M-Cruisers and Fighter Carriers, sir,” the WATO aboard the Aquarius announced to the War Room.

  “Very well, open fire,” Billy ordered.

  The barrage of pulsar cannon-fire from the Aquarius began almost immediately. The huge Fighter Carriers with decks almost a kilometre long were large and inviting targets for the Alliance pulsar-cannon gunners. Standing in their circular formation they were a very difficult target to miss. One after another the pulsar-cannon bolts slammed into the defenceless hulls of the Bardomil Fighter Carriers.

  They tore tearing great gaping holes in their superstructures amidst gouts of reddish-orange flame and debris. Bravely the Bardomil crews stood their ground, did their duty, and died at their posts, including their Fleet Commander. The new Bardomil commander, faced with a near impossible tactical situation, had some very difficult decisions to make. The Alliance guns were starting to target the Fighter Carriers with their heavy weapons, and were scoring hits. The Imperial Fighter Carriers would take time to power up their engines and then more time to turn and escape from this place. To buy that time, the Bardomil commander knew that the only resource he now possessed for protecting the Fighter Carriers were the M-Cruisers.

  The Fighter Carriers had to be protected at all costs, never in the history of the Bardomil Imperial Fleet had a Fighter Carrier been captured by an enemy, and it had been almost three hundred years since one had been destroyed in battle.

  The Bardomil commander cursed his luck. He had sought and strived for a fleet command, and now he had one, but it wasn’t the kind of command he had dreamt of. A nice little planetary conquest on some remote frontier would have been the ideal mission for him to cut his fleet command teeth. However, that was not to be.

  He was now stuck with extricating the remains of the fleet from a disaster. His first fleet command would be an ignominious retreat after a crushing defeat and could well turn out to be his last.

  “Sir, we have M-Cruisers moving into position in front of the Fighter Carriers,” a Scanner Technician called.

  “He’s sacrificing his escorts to save the Fighter Carriers,” the WATO added.

  “He doesn’t really have any option, WATO,” Billy Caudwell responded, “but, he’s too late.”

  “Sir, the M-Cruisers are making formation five kilometres in front of the Fighter Carriers,” the Scanner Technician updated the situation, “it’s a box formation, sir.”

  On the View Screen, Billy could see the M-Cruiser symbols forming in a four rows by five box standing in the way of anything that the Alliance would throw at them. In such close proximity to one another the M-Cruisers could use their laser weapons as an effective barrier against the marauding Alliance Eagles. It was a brutal and pragmatic solution to the problem, but the only logical course of action available.

  “Keep up the fire on the Fighter Carriers until the M-Cruisers screen them off,” Billy ordered, “target their propulsion and engine plants.”

  “Yes, sir,” the WATO responded.

  The Alliance gunners hammered up and down the Bardomil line with their high-yield pulsar-cannons hitting targets more often than they missed. Occasionally, one gunner having hit a target would follow up with second, third, sometimes fourth, fifth and sixth high-yield pulsar-bolts until the target disappeared in a boiling, exploding mass of flame and debris.

  Strangely, Billy Caudwell felt no regrets or remorse as a red icon simply blinked out from the Tactical View Screen. Billy knew that it meant thousands of Bardomil lives being snuffed out. He also knew that each vessel destroyed brought him closer to his objective. He had started to think in terms of his enemy being vessels to be eliminated. He had de-personalised his enemy. This would make them easier to kill in the heat of battle, when split second decisions had to be made. There would be time for regret and remorse afterwards. The Bardomil were professional soldiers doing a job, and that job now required their supreme sacrifice.

  “Sir, M-Cruiser box formation completed,” the Scanner Officer called out, alerting Billy of the new development.

  “Very good, WATO, target those M-Cruisers sweep them aside,” Billy ordered calmly.

  With this new obstacle facing the Alliance gunners they had little option but to expend firepower on the smaller M-Cruisers to reach the Fighter Carriers. With ten high-yield pulsar-cannons able to send a full salvo towards the enemy every fifteen seconds, it would simply be a matter of time before the M-Cruisers were ground down to oblivion.

  “The Fighter Carriers are trying to turn and get away,” the WATO warned.

  “Yes, I am well aware of the enemy’s intentions,” Billy smiled knowingly to the shocked officer, “WATO, maintain fire on the M-Cruisers.”

  “Aren’t you going to send the fighters to attack the Fighter Carriers, sir?” the WATO asked.

  “No, WATO,” Billy replied decisively, “our gallant Eagle pilots have done enough for one day. They’re tired. They’ve done their duty and we can’t afford to lose any more of them.”

  “Those Fighter Carriers are going to escape, sir!” the WATO protested again.

  “I very much doubt it,” Billy replied calmly, and resumed his vigil of the two-dimensional View Screen image.

  Already, the Bardomil M-Cruisers were suffering under the high-yield pulsar-cannons of the Aquarius. Of the twenty M-Cruisers that had formed the box formation, two had already been destroyed. As Billy Caudwell watched, another salvo from the Aquarius streaked downrange towards the vulnerable M-Cruisers. Of the ten bolts, eight scored direct hits on an M-Cruiser. Another two M-Cruisers exploded in huge fireballs in the middle of the second row, having sustained three pulsar-bolt hits each. The other two pulsar-bolts hammered into one of the M-Cruisers in the middle of the bottom row.

  Meanwhile, the Fighter Carriers having powered up their engines were beginning the long laborious process of turning away.
It was obvious to the most casual observer that the pulsar-bolts from Aquarius would not be able to cut through the M-Cruiser formation in time.

  “M-Cruisers opening fire, sir,” the Scanner Officer warned.

  The surviving M-Cruisers were combining their laser weapons in one directed and focussed salvo to strike down the Alliance Star-Cruiser. The M-Cruisers all fired at once, focussing their full power laser weapons on one spot on the Aquarius’ force shielding. For five seconds, at maximum power, the sixteen Bardomil M-Cruisers focuses their laser weapons on Aquarius. It was to no avail. The combined and concentrated laser streams were simply deflected away by the force shielding of the Alliance Star Cruiser. Their final gamble had failed.

  “Damage and casualties?” Billy asked.

  “None, sir,” the damage Control Officer reported proudly.

  In response, another salvo of high-yield pulsar-bolts hurtled downrange, and wiped out the M-Cruiser on the top right hand corner of the formation. In rapid succession, three pulsar-bolts slammed into the face of the doomed M-Cruiser. Each pulsar-bolt strike casting greater and greater plumes of debris and destruction out into space until the final bolt annihilated the stricken vessel. Two rows beneath the destroyed M-Cruiser, another two pulsar-bolts hammered into the fuselage of another ship. An M-Cruiser on the fourth row, badly damaged and in flames, lost all attitude and stabilisation control.

  Slowly, the fourth row M-Cruiser lost station and began to drop. The M-Cruiser beneath it, also badly damaged, was unable to move or avoid the falling vessel. Already starting to fragment, the fourth row M-Cruiser landed squarely on the back of the vessel below it. As the two vessels collided, the wings of the M-Cruiser in the fifth row collapsed inwards against the fuselage like a folding deck chair. As both vessels fell clear of the formation, they both exploded in a huge fireball that shook the surrounding M-Cruisers.

  The Bardomil Fighter Carriers were about halfway through their turns. Billy Caudwell had no doubt that these Fighter Carriers would not evade him. From behind the Bardomil Fighter Carrier positions came the unmistakable bright searing flashes of vessels exiting from the Trionic Web.

  It was Billy Caudwell’s final and most devastating surprise for the Bardomil.

  Chapter 53

  “An Alliance Star-Cruiser and three Explorers exiting the Trionic Web behind the enemy position, sir!!?” the astonished scanner technician announced to a stunned and silenced War Room.

  Now it dawned on many of the Thexxians why Billy had evacuated all non-essential personnel from the Aquarius before setting of for this battle. It was not one of his pointless evacuation drills, he had actually planned to crew-up, and commission into service more Garmaurian vessels from the depths of the great gas nebula. From out of the Trionic Web, cutting off their escape routes, the crews of the Bardomil Imperial Fighter Carriers saw another huge alien vessel. It was just like the original one, accompanied by three more of the smaller vessels.

  “Alliance Star-Cruiser Aries, welcome to the party,” Billy announced, with a broad smile, into the Communications Network.

  “Thank you, sir, good to be here. Hope we haven’t missed all the fun,” came the tinny, distant response from the Communications Officer aboard the new Star-Cruiser.

  “No, Aries, we’ve left you some targets to practice on. Now, launch your Eagles and make your attack on the Imperial Fighter Carriers,” Billy ordered the newly arrived Star-Cruiser.

  As he watched on the Main Tactical View Screen, Eagle fighters began to pour out from the Landing Bays of the new Star-Cruiser.

  “Cease fire on your pulsar-cannons, and make signal to the Explorers to coordinate their attacks with the Eagles from Aries and then proceed to the M-Cruisers,” Billy further ordered the WATO.

  “Aye, sir, ceasing fire on pulsar-cannons,” the WATO responded.

  “Endeavour, Excalibur, Endurance, Excellent, Endymion and Europa”, Billy addressed the six Explorers, “you have your orders, good hunting.”

  On the View Screen, Billy could see the waves of Eagles from Aries begin to move towards the seven surviving Bardomil Fighter Carriers. Neatly spaced in the Eagle formations were the six Explorers. The Eagles flew in their groups of ten in their arrowhead formations. This had the advantage of keeping the fighters evenly spaced, and avoiding any unnecessary losses from volleys of enemy fire. The medium-yield pulsar-cannons of the Explorers would add significant weight and fire support to the low-yield guns of the Eagles in their attack on the Fighter Carriers.

  With two Fighter Carriers already destroyed and three more damaged with one already burning, the Eagles swarmed into the attack. Like angry wasps scattered from a damaged hive, the Eagles buzzed unopposed towards the scattered formation of the Bardomil Fighter Carriers.

  “Explorers are engaging enemy targets, sir, and opening fire,” a Scanner Technician announced, heralding the next stage of the battle.

  The Explorers selected their targets from the damaged Fighter Carriers and fired their high-yield pulsar-cannons. Five of the six pulsar-bolts managed to hit a Fighter Carrier throwing spumes of debris and destruction out into the empty vacuum of space. Then, a split-second later, the Explorers opened up with their rapid-fire medium-yield pulsar-cannons.

  “We have direct hits on five enemy Carriers, sir,” a Scanner Officer confirmed what Billy could see on his View Screen.

  “We’ve got them cold, sir,” the WATO said jubilantly, “They can’t get away from us, permission to send in Aries to finish them off?”

  “No, WATO, they might still have fighters below decks,” Billy refused the request, “and, if they decide to break and make a run for it, we need Aries to block their escape,” Billy explained and continued to focus on the View Screens.

  Having already damaged the Imperial Fighter Carriers, the medium-yield bolts slammed relentlessly into the huge vessels, magnifying the destruction already wrought. The Fighter Carriers, still trying to execute a slow turning manoeuvre, were powerless to respond to the Explorers, except with their feeble self defence capability. Billy knew that their few surviving fighters would be in their hangers re-fuelling and re-arming. Billy Caudwell had ordered that the decks were to be rendered unserviceable for them. The Fighter Carriers were to be disarmed and made as vulnerable as possible.

  “Enemy responding to Explorers, at extreme range, sir, no reports of damage or casualties” the WATO announced.

  “Very good,” Billy acknowledged the information, “keep them firing at those Carriers; isolate them from their escorts.”

  Had the Bardomil targeted one of the Explorers, and concentrated all their fire upon her, they might have had some degree of success. However, the M-Cruiser crews were too focussed on their immediate survival to consider such an alternative.

  “Explorers have passed through the enemy Carrier formation,” the Scanner Technician announced.

  “Good, WATO, Explorers proceed to engage the M-Cruisers,” Billy ordered.

  This left the Eagles, from the Aries, to launch their own attacks into the damaged Fighter Carriers, like predators attacking a defenceless animal.

  “Aries Eagle squadrons preparing to attack the enemy Carriers, sir,” the Flight Control Officer informed Billy.

  Two groups of ten Eagles had been allocated to each of the Fighter Carriers with objectives of crippling the self defence capability and flight decks, with a further twenty Eagles held in reserve to protect the Aires from unforeseen circumstances.

  “WATO, commence attack,” Billy ordered, “make a mess of their flight decks.”

  “With pleasure, sir,” the WATO responded, grinning broadly.

  With two battles now to fight, Billy split the image on his View Screen to monitor both. On the View Screens, Billy watched the Eagles set about their appointed tasks with relish. First, they identified where the self-defence batteries were, and how many there were. Each formation of Eagles split into two forces, attackers and decoys. The decoys would simulate an attack on the enemy position, and, wh
en the enemy’s attention was being held by them, the attackers would swarm in and deliver the punishing blows.

  With two groups of five Eagles flying decoy, at right angles to the attacking group, the Bardomil opened fire, and showed the attacker Eagles where their self-defence batteries were stationed, strung out along the edges of the flight decks. They made a very impressive and colourful light display for Imperial salutes, but for self defence purposes, they were next to useless. The Bardomil self defence weapons had nowhere near the punch or the range of the Alliance low-yield pulsar-bolts. There were simply too few of them to set up the blanket of fire that could knock down fast moving fighters. The attack Eagles then swept in to engage, and destroy the self-defence batteries.

  “Eagles engaging the enemy top deck batteries now, sir,” the WATO announced, as Billy watched the View Screen intently, knowing that all he could do was wait.

  The Alliance Eagles swarmed around the seven surviving Fighter Carriers like wasps around a honey jar. The first wave swept forwards, their pulsar-cannons blazing randomly at anything that might potentially be a target. Flying in low at ninety degrees to the flight decks, the decoys sought to draw the self defence gunners’ fire by attacking head on. All along the edges of the Fighter Carriers’ three flight decks, the thin, reedy streams of weapons fire curved and arced.

  The decoy Eagle pilots, aware that even the feeble self defence batteries of the Fighter Carriers could still prove fatal to individuals who got too complacent, pressed home their decoy attacks.

  With pulsar-cannons blazing they weaved between the ponderously slow streams of self defence fire. The decoy Eagles pulsar-bolts zipped downrange to smash into flight decks and superstructure alike. Like pinpricks on an elephant, the pulsar-bolts did little significant damage. The self defence weapons opening fire betrayed their locations to the waiting second wave of Eagles. Along the edges of each flight deck, self defence guns were placed roughly every fifty yards. Over the entire kilometre length of each flight deck that gave a total of thirty-six self defence guns per side. On each flight deck, a grand total of seventy-two guns provided protection, with the full complement of the Fighter Carrier being two hundred and sixteen.