Nineveh swept past, leading a string of destroyers and torpedo boats to safety. The rear destroyer, a veteran ship named HMS Warrior, lost one of her engines and fell behind. Donkey spotted the opportunity, hit it with the green ray, and closed with its arms grasping.
The pair of battle cruisers fired waves of missiles and torpedoes at the enemy in an attempt to drive it back. They might have succeeded with the assistance of the other six cruisers in their fleet, but those ships had moved to block Hammerhead’s entry onto the battlefield. With little success. Already, the larger harvester’s missiles came raining down on the fleet. Repulse took heavy damage, and Fierce and Triumph were forced to give way as well.
Donkey caught Warrior in its jaws. Tolvern clenched her jaw in frustration as the bulkhead-crushing arms came down on the destroyer.
“Poor bastards,” Manx said in a low voice.
Donkey fell back to join Hammerhead while it swallowed its meal and spit out the broken carapace. The allied fleet was no more able to stop it from falling back than they’d been able to halt its advance.
Vargus called. Her face split the side screen with Broderick’s. He was joining the call from HMS Sledge.
“They’re pushing us out,” Vargus said. “They want to break free.”
“We can stop them,” Tolvern said. “Get Broderick in here, and we’ll pin them in place.”
“I’m almost there,” he said. “Just hold on a few more minutes.”
Indeed, he was already contributing to the fight, with missiles flying in to join the chaos. Broderick’s frigates pulled up short, protected by a mass of cruisers and corvettes pushing eagerly forward.
“It’s not holding these harvesters in place that has me worried,” Vargus said. “We’ve left the admiral alone. He’s already taking a beating.”
Alarmed, Tolvern tapped her console to bring up a small display of the overall battlefield. James had fallen back toward Sheol, using the planet to protect his rear. It kept him safe from flanking maneuvers, but he’d been unable to stop a charge from three harvester ships and a pair of hunter-killer packs. Dreadnought was exchanging blows with the heavily armored Rhino, neither side getting the upper hand, while Tiger and Manta Ray mauled the other ships of his fleet.
“He’s lost a cruiser, a corvette, two destroyers, and a missile frigate already,” Vargus said. “Three of them eaten. Two more destroyers are virtually disabled.”
Tolvern’s mouth went dry.
James, get out of there.
Except he couldn’t. The same planet that protected his rear kept him pinned and unable to escape.
“He needs reinforcements,” she said.
“Incoming fire,” Broderick said. “Brace yourselves.”
Sledge soon pulled in next to the two battle cruisers. With their communications now shielded by Singaporean jammers, Tolvern felt comfortable pressing the issue with her counterparts on Void Queen and Sledge.
“Drake needs reinforcements,” she repeated. “He can’t face three harvesters on his own. McGowan is too far out—it’s got to be one of us.”
“Broderick?” Catarina said.
“I know, I know. I’m thinking!”
The screen lit up with incoming and outgoing fire. One of Broderick’s cruisers was already suffering a vicious assault from Hammerhead’s main guns. The harvester turned greedily toward the ship and caught it with one of its eyes, while the other disabled the ships attempting to relieve it.
Broderick glanced to the side, no doubt taking in this ugly turn of events. His expression remained calm, though he must be seething with conflicting emotions, as were they all.
“Give me a quick estimate,” he said. “What does Drake need, and what can we spare?”
“He needs a battle cruiser,” Tolvern said. “Other cruisers and corvettes, too. I’d say at least twenty ships, bare minimum.”
“That will hold the line. It won’t win the battle. And if I send all those ships, we’ll never hold these two harvesters. Vargus, do you have anything better?”
Hammerhead caught the stricken cruiser in its jaws and tore it apart. Donkey snared another cruiser. This checked their advance, as the harvesters took time to devour their meals. Tolvern had to look away—the final destruction of the ships was too terrible to watch.
“Here’s what we do,” Catarina said. “We send a battle cruiser and thirty ships to Drake—that should be enough. The rest of us hold Donkey here and let Hammerhead through.”
“That’s the biggest Apex ship,” Tolvern said.
“And McGowan is approaching with a huge fleet, anxious to engage.”
“McGowan,” Broderick said. “You think he’s got it in him to handle that monster?”
“Maybe, maybe not,” Catarina said. There was something in her eyes, a glance that looked like it was meant for Tolvern only. “But he’ll fight, that’s for sure.”
“You think?” Broderick grunted. “Tolvern?”
“Yes, sir. I’m agreed. He’ll fight.”
“He doesn’t just have to fight,” Broderick said. “He has to win.”
Yes, that was the point, wasn’t it? The inner fleets could reinforce each other, keep fighting against the four remaining harvesters, but if Hammerhead escaped, the war was lost. McGowan had a powerful fleet at his command, but he’d shown himself skittish to engage the enemy. They’d be counting on Tolvern and Vargus’s gambit to work, goading him into action.
No, that wasn’t entirely true. A score of star wolves and their aggressive marauder captains were on hand to make sure the enemy was engaged. Olafsen and Longshanks surely knew that if Hammerhead broke through, there was nothing standing between it and their home systems. No Albion fleet, no Hroom ships, no star wolves—nothing but total extermination of the Scandian people.
Broderick let out his breath with an air of resignation. He lifted a hand to his forehead in an unconscious gesture, only to glance and realize the buzzards had left him wielding a stump on that side.
“All right, let’s see if we can coax these two ships into following our preferred battle plan.” He nodded. “I shall lead the reinforcements. Vargus, you’ll take command of whatever ships I leave behind. Tolvern, you’ll be accompanying me with Blackbeard.”
Tolvern’s stomach lurched. It was just what she’d hoped, to come to James’s aid herself, but she’d been reluctant to make the suggestion.
“Hold position until I divide the fleet.” Broderick killed the connection.
The battle had raged on during the brief conversation. A pair of lances broke apart under heavy fire, and Broderick lost a destroyer. The two harvester ships spit out the shattered husks of the two cruisers and looked about for more victims.
Donkey’s starboard cannon array was finally damaged enough to make an obvious difference, but the other ear kept roaring with outgoing fire, and missiles burst from launch tubes along its spine like a porcupine hurling its quills. Hammerhead’s main guns came into play as it rumbled toward where the two battle cruisers had staked out a defensive position, surrounded by a small flotilla of support vessels.
The orders to ship out came through just as Blackbeard and Void Queen came under fire.
Manx cursed. “We can’t abandon Vargus now.”
Tolvern’s gut churned with emotions. She steeled herself.
“You have your orders, Lieutenant. Carry them out.”
Blackbeard fell back to join Broderick’s rapidly reorganizing fleet, which left Void Queen to stand face-to-face with two harvester ships. Their jaws were already opening in anticipation.
#
Catarina watched as Hammerhead swung its eyes toward Void Queen. The green beam fell on their hull, and mutters of alarm rippled across the bridge.
“Hold your nerve,” she instructed. “It couldn’t get through before, and we have eight more inches of tyrillium up there since last time.”
It felt as though her ship stood alone, awaiting the onslaught as Broderick led Tolvern away from the battlefie
ld and toward the even more desperate struggle playing out above the planet Sheol. In reality, dozens of allied warships were firing in her defense from all sides. The harvesters were powerful, but not invincible, and the ongoing bombardment would do damage. It had to.
Catarina had passed along Broderick’s orders as soon as the conference call ended, or at least as much as she dared to share across open channels. The majority of the firepower targeted Donkey, leaving the larger Hammerhead with just enough incoming fire to keep it honest. With any luck, the enemy would think her plan was to knock Donkey out first. Not to let Hammerhead escape.
She got Barker back on the com. The gunnery chief was calm, and gave a positive assessment of the readiness of their weapon systems.
“Is the Mark-IV loaded in its tube?”
“The special one?” He sounded skeptical. “No, I didn’t think it was time. We’ve got to crack the armor first or it will just splatter against the blasted hull.”
Drake had only given her one nuclear-tipped torpedo to replace the ones she’d expended in the Zoroaster battle. There had only been a handful to distribute across the fleet.
“The enemy doesn’t know our limitations,” Catarina told Barker. “If we throw one against that cannon array, they’ll think we can expend them on tactical maneuvers, and that will make them worry we have more to use down the line. Meanwhile, we knock out that blasted array, which is murdering us.”
“Aye, Captain. Makes sense. I’ll load it up, but you got to get me an opening, first.”
“Warning,” Jane announced. “Class-three explosion expected.”
Catarina braced herself for the big one. Void Queen shuddered. Lights flashed across her console. A burp in the gravity lifted her from her seat and threw her back down. She was stunned and relieved when Jane reported only moderate damage to the number one shield.
“Lomelí,” Catarina snapped. “What the devil is going on over there? Keep those bombs off us.”
“It was a broken spear, sir,” the young woman said.
Catarina had been distracted by her conversation with Barker, but as she looked down at the battle report, she saw what the defense grid specialist was talking about. A spear had been breaking apart under heavy fire, and the burning wreckage had rammed into the battle cruiser in a final suicide charge. It was a wonder Void Queen hadn’t taken more damage.
Donkey and Hammerhead had fought through the cruisers and corvettes standing in their way, and began swatting aside destroyers as they resumed their charge at Void Queen. Catarina felt suddenly weak, and grabbed her armrests to keep from sliding out of her seat.
“Them eyes are getting through, Cap’n,” Capp said. “We can’t block ’em both.”
Both harvesters were targeting the battle cruiser with paralyzing beams, and some of it was penetrating the bridge. The enemy ships jostled each other, grasping arms opening, each one eager to take the battle cruiser as a prize.
Catarina strapped herself into the jump harness. Her hands were numb and her arms heavy, but she could still work the console, and she could still give orders over the com. Barker reported grimly that the gunnery was still online, and further reports indicated that marines were standing by for a final attempt to repel boarders.
Allied warships clawed their way through the outgoing fire to hammer at the two ships and try to drive them off. Cruisers pulled in close, launched broadsides, and retreated. Destroyers, Hroom sloops, and torpedo boats all got dangerously close to the action, even while lances and spears added their firepower to the battlefield.
The harvesters fired on them all. A sloop broke apart. A torpedo boat exploded. A destroyer retreated, engines bleeding plasma and gasses venting along the hull while a pair of lances ripped it open.
Carvalho’s striker wing came screaming in, targeting one of Hammerhead’s eyes. The falcons fired a bevy of missiles and followed up with energy pulses before spears and outgoing kinetic fire drove them off.
None of the relief attempts delayed the two monsters for long, and all the while, Catarina was growing weaker. The harvesters were no longer targeting Void Queen with anything but the paralyzing rays. They had another fate in mind for the battle cruiser, and their weapon systems were free to annihilate other allied ships. A corvette lost an engine and retreated with her armor shredded. Even Pussycat fell back at last, unable to absorb any more damage to her turtle-like shell.
An incoming message from Hao Cheng. Catarina had almost forgotten about him and his plan to lead his small fleet of war junks on some sort of mission. If he wanted to do it, now was his opportunity, and he certainly didn’t need her permission. She had no time for his call now, and didn’t answer it.
Void Queen fired another broadside. It struck Donkey across the snout, and the enemy ship seemed to hesitate, but only for a moment. It was looming, arms opening, even as Hammerhead held back a pace to keep firing on the other ships. The conflict over who got to devour the battle cruiser had apparently been settled.
“Fire the nuclear torpedo,” Catarina ordered.
Six torpedoes rumbled away from the ship, all Mark-IVs. One of them packed a bigger punch than the others. The crew braced themselves, waiting for Donkey to knock the torpedoes down with countermeasures, but the enemy ship was busy fighting through a final, desperate charge by a mixed force of destroyers, corvettes, and cruisers, and it ignored the torpedoes.
Another destroyer exploded. Then Catarina lost a corvette, HMS Arrow, which was breaking apart with explosions. As it went down, Arrow tried to ram Donkey. That effort failed, and Arrow detonated a few miles short of its target.
Catarina slumped, barely able to hold her head upright. Her torpedoes had almost arrived, but so had the harvester.
“Come on,” Capp muttered next to her. She stared, bleary-eyed, at the viewscreen. “Get through, blast it.”
Torpedoes struck Donkey on its starboard ear. The first two were barely pinpricks, but the third went off in a flash of light. It overwhelmed the sensors for a long moment, and when they came back online, Donkey was reeling. The starboard cannon array was gone, nothing but a smoking ruin.
Catarina felt stronger, and Smythe shouted that one of the harvester’s eyes had gone out as well.
“Cap’n, that Chinese bloke wants to talk to you,” Capp said.
“I know that, Lieutenant. But we’re a little busy here.”
With the starboard ear obliterated, she ordered all forces to target Donkey’s port-side cannon array. There was already a noticeable decrease of outgoing missile fire from the smaller of the two harvesters, and if only she could knock down that second array, she’d be halfway to winning the fight. Well, maybe a third.
Hammerhead began to withdraw. No, that wasn’t right. Not withdrawing so much as fighting its way through Catarina’s forces along the Y-axis, trying to break free for . . . where?
“It’s taking the bait,” Smythe said from the tech console. “Going to make a run for it.”
“Give me specifics.”
“There’s only one way out of this dead-end system, Captain.”
“I know that, Lieutenant. But is it headed toward the minefield, at McGowan, back to Persia . . .what?”
Smythe couldn’t answer this question, so Catarina set Nyb Pim to plotting the enemy’s likely course through the nav computer.
Catarina sent Repulse out as if to try to delay Hammerhead. The cruiser had fallen back after taking heavy damage, but her weapon systems were back online. Repulse lined up for a broadside, firing off missiles and torpedoes. It was little more than a feint, an attempt to make it less obvious to the enemy that Catarina wanted Hammerhead to escape. To add to the effect, Catarina threw a trio of destroyers and four sloops into the mix, with orders to fall back as soon as they came under heavy fire.
The enemy took the threat seriously. Hammerhead launched a massive barrage of missiles that swept the destroyers and sloops clear, then lunged at Repulse. The cruiser got off a broadside and two more torpedoes. But her shie
lds were already damaged, and kinetic fire pulverized her engines.
While Catarina watched in horror, Hammerhead disabled the cruiser with paralyzing rays, harpooned it, and hauled it toward the bulkhead-tearing appendages up front. A pair of escape pods jettisoned from Repulse at the last moment. The rest of the crew was caught on board as the larger of the two harvesters escaped the battlefield with a prize in its jaws.
She forced herself to turn away. Capp was on the com, speaking to Broderick and Tolvern, who had engaged with the enemy near Drake’s fleet. Capp shook her head grimly at whatever they were telling her.
“It’s getting ugly down there, Cap’n.”
“Then we’d better finish things here so we can lend them a hand.”
Donkey was still fighting on, as were several spears and lances, although the bulk of the hunter-killer threat had been neutralized. The smaller harvester, which had successfully helped its larger companion break out, but failed to seize Void Queen, might be trying to fall back toward Sheol to join forces with the three harvesters outside the planet. Hard to say.
Either way, she had to destroy the thing. But how? The allied forces had already lost numerous ships, thousands of crew, and had their carefully planned formations broken apart. And what did they have to show for it? A few spears and lances and a single large cannon array on the weaker of the harvesters. The cursed thing still matched the firepower of her weakened fleet.
“It’s that Chinese fellow again,” Capp said. “He says he’s got to talk to you.”
Catarina groaned. “Fine, put him up. Side screen so I don’t lose track of the battle.”
Captain Cheng appeared. He maintained his trim, neat bearing, the calm that he carried at all times—impressive, given that Catarina was sure she looked ragged herself, a ball of nervous energy—and there was something else glinting in his eyes. The steely gaze of a hunter pursuing his kill.
“Yes, you have my permission,” she said impatiently. “I’ve already given it. Fire away, Cheng.”
“I’ve done that. Now I need you to act.”
Sun King (The Void Queen Trilogy Book 3) Page 19