The Turret: Starclan Foundation
Page 21
***
The Battle For Castle Shannon
Tracy’s Turret CIC
Standard Earth Date March 30 3488
“Sensors, talk to me, Alex.”
“They got hit hard, Commander, but Home Plate’s relatively intact. They lost a lot of lasers and all of their grapples, and they’re off of Taclink. Direct laser comm only.” Thank you, Lord!
“We have three shuttles in Alpha bay, don’t we, Alex?”
“Yes, Sir. And each of the other turrets has three more.”
“Twelve shuttles. Comm, Castle Shannon.”
“Open.”
“Turret commanders, ready two of your shuttles for ferry operations…”
***
Task Force Anvil
USF Victory
Standard Earth Date March 30 3488
“Damage assessment on 1437.” Jeri had seen the strikes on his CHUD. Maybe it could be better than it looked. Maybe.
“1437 is off Taclink. Most weapons and sensor stations are gone. Home plate looks like it was hit…She’s still firing lasers, Admiral.”
Admiral Bucktooth closed his eyes for one second while he gave thought, Thank you Great Mother Atahensic!
“Admiral, twenty seconds to Shavers impact on the Earth bound projectiles.”
***
Ultra High Earth Orbit
USF Jeremiah Wadsworth
Standard Earth Date March 30 3488
“We’re in position, Jack”
“Thanks, Kesa. Peter, are you ready?”
“As much as I’ll ever be.”
“How are our ‘presents’?”
“All wrapped up and ready to go.”
“Kesa?”
“Field generator charged and ready, Jack.”
“Bertha?”
“Stand-by mode. Jack, that’s never been tested.”
“Okay, one last thing. Comm to Admiral Seymour.”
“Seymour here. Who, Jack? Commodore, where are you?”
“Right between Earth and those projectiles, Admiral. I’ve brought a broom to your party.”
“What?”
“We have a gravity net projector fitted to the Jeremiah Wadsworth. It will be effective at FTL speeds, so I can make multiple passes. The net will snare the projectiles, and I’ll drop them off away from Earth. Admiral, your force is free to support Operation Black Smith.”
Karen Seymour was known for making snap decisions under pressure. That part was easy enough. What set her apart was that her snap decisions were always the spot on right ones. She pondered the situation at hand for a few seconds.
“Jack, make one pass, then I’ll decide. I’ll prepare for either outcome. Good hunting.”
“Thank you, Admiral. Oh, Admiral, I have another ‘surprise package’.”
***
The Battle For Castle Shannon
Turret Halsey CIC
Standard Earth Date March 30 3488
“Here come the pods, ten seconds to firing range.” Eddie’s excited voice was back.
“I see ‘em, Wilson. If I get ‘em all, you owe me dinner.”
“Your place or mine, gorgeous?”
Jane was tunnel-visioned in on her job, but Eddie caught the slight upward curve of the corner of her mouth. Right now Jane was focused killing Bugs. Like fish in a barrel. Or, Bugs in a pod.
“The Bug vanguard is closing also, decelerating hard but overtaking the pods.” Wilson looked at Jones, willing her to see the new threat.
“Got it Eddie. Thanks love”
Lieutenant Wilson blushed as he turned back to his sensors.
“Corry, this IS an invasion. The vanguard will get here first, soften us up, then the pods will arrive and board us.”
“That’s the way I see it, Admiral.”
“That’s what I’d want if I was leading the boarding party.” Mike added.
“Targeting Vanguard ships. Not enough lasers for both.” Jane yelled.
***
The Battle For Castle Shannon
Tracy’s Turret CIC
Standard Earth Date March 30 3488
“Castle Shannon, fire at will. Target anything Bug that you have a shot at.” Commander Tracy Singh barked out her orders over the Taclink.
“We’re getting hits, Commander. There are a lot of targets.”
Four thousand Bug ships swooping in ahead of twelve hundred Bug landing pods made a lot of targets, but the lasers did not have great fields of fire.
“Keep it up, Castle Shannon, keep it up!” How the hell did I end up as a fucking cheerleader! I feel so damn useless right now.
***
The Battle For Castle Shannon
Turret Halsey CIC
Standard Earth Date March 30 3488
“No return fire from the bug ships yet, Commander.” Lieutenant Wilson said with a mixture of surprise and dread.
“Keep hitting them, Jones! We out range them. The more we take out now, the fewer hits we take.” Commander Corrine Halsey worked her voice, trying to keep her crew calm, focused and optimistic.
Since the Bug ships were hollow monocoque structures, each laser hit on a Bug ship tore a huge chunk out of it and effectively destroyed the ship. But, there were a lot of ships to destroy.
“Castle supporting fire and our lasers are taking out Bug ships, Commander. Looks like they’re down to three thousand and falling.” Wilson reported. “Bug ships in firing range in three minutes.”
Admiral Jock MacAlister watched the laser officer work, amazed at her stamina. Jane Jones had been firing for nearly fifteen minutes, between the projectiles and the Bug ships. The most grueling training simms never lasted over four minutes. She had three more minutes of extreme concentration and stress, and then the Bugs would be shooting back for another ten minutes or more.
“Parker, Elsa, Monty; now would be a good time.” Jane said calmly.
“Linked.” Monty said.
“Linked.” Elsa confirmed.
“Linked. We’ve got you covered, Jane.” Parker confirmed.
Jane sat back in exhaustion, threw her head back and closed her eyes, arms hanging limp at her sides to get some blood flow back into her spent muscles. After thirty seconds, she snapped back into action.
“Commander?” Jock quietly asked his daughter. “What are they doing?”
“It’s a little something we’ve come up with. The simms we’ve run out here typically last an hour or so. We’ve figured out that to get maximum efficiency out of any weapons system over that long a time frame, the primary weapons officer controls it for the first twelve to fifteen minutes, then we add secondary officers as available to reduce workload. It maximizes talent use while keeping workloads manageable.”
Jock stared at his daughter for several seconds, an eyebrow raised and his head tilted slightly. Will she ever stop amazing me? A small grin crept onto his face. “Good job. Keep it up. And next time, let Fleet know about such things before the battle starts please.”
“Commander, Castle Grapples have pulled a group of Bug ships out of formation. They’ve just fried them! They’re pulling another group out!”
“Leave it to Tracy to find a way of using her resources for best effect.” Corrine whispered.
“Eight new bogies detected near turret 1284.”
What the hell is it now?
***
Task Force Anvil
USF Victory
Standard Earth Date March 30 3488
“Shaver impact in three. Two. One. Now.”
Admiral Bucktooth watched the flashes on his Command Heads Up Display. Hundreds, thousands of flashes all at once. Visually, it gave an overall view of the battle, but it was too large for a numbers assessment.
“Talk to me, MacAlister.”
“Two thousand six hundred hits, Admiral. Twenty four hundred still Earthbound.”
“Bucktooth to Anvil, good shooting. That was a tough angle. Stay focused and get ready for the Bug ships.”
***
Beta Force
USF Albany
Standard Earth Date March 30 3488
“Two thousand four hundred projectiles Earthbound, Admiral.”
“Comm, get me the Jeremiah Wadsworth.”
“Open.”
“Jack, you’ve got twenty four hundred inbound. I’m sending you the path and coordinates since you don’t have Taclink.” Karen nodded to her comm officer. “You are free to engage in five minutes.”
“Aye, aye, Admiral. Sweep will commence in five minutes.”
***
Task Force Hammer
USF Dreadnought
Standard Earth Date March 30 3488
“Halsey’s getting hammered, Admiral. They just don’t have enough firepower left against those numbers.” Lieutenant Alistair MacAlister frowned as he spoke.
“They just have to hold out long enough. ETA to special packages delivery, Lieutenant?” Stay focused son.
“ETA is twenty minutes, Admiral.”
***
United Earth Senate
Montreal
Standard Earth Date March 30 3488
“Senator, the Vice President’s suborbital shuttle is ten minutes overdue.”
“Thank you, Mary.” Sandy sighed heavily. Such chaos and confusion! This can’t be good.
“Mom, Chancellor Campbell is the next in the line of succession. He’s sympathetic to your positions.” As she spoke, the lights went out. “What…what happened?” Mary MacAlister groped around, trying to find a flashlight or datatab, anything with light.
“I still don’t like this whole situation. Not one bit.” Sandy said as she kept trying to open the now immoveable door.
***
The Battle For Castle Shannon
USF Jeremiah Wadsworth
Standard Earth Date March 30 3488
“Course plotted and set, Jack. Gravitic Screen charged.” Peter Stone announced.
“Thanks, Peter. All we can do now is wait.” Jack replied.
“Shouldn’t we say a prayer or recite an inspirational saying or something?” Kesa’s nervousness was obvious in her voice.
“I said my prayers when we left Mars. I can’t think of anything inspirational. How about you, Pete?”
“Inspirational? No. Jack, Kesa, how do you two feel about leaving Ranald on Mars?”
“Well, I couldn’t bring him with us! If there were someone else to take this mission, you know I’d be at Nili Patera with my son. My second choice is to be at the side of my husband.” All nervousness had left Kesa’s voice.
“If I could, I would keep them both safe. Nili Patera has a good history. It was overrun during the Bird invasion, but an infant boy was found alive in the archeological dig there, next to the bodies of his parents. They had transferred the last of their air to him. The search team found him when he had about ten minutes of air left. So, I like the history of the place. What about you, Peter, why did you volunteer?”
“Just bored doing research, I guess. I wondered what using these toys we invent would be like.” And to see if I had the balls to use them.
“Countdown to light speed, three. Two. One. Now.”
The Jeremiah Wadsworth vanished as the column of space in front of the ship shrunk, sucking the ship forward at four times light speed for the second time in a matter of hours. Humanity’s first military use of Faster Than Light drive was by an old Space Tug.
***
Task Force Hammer
USF Dreadnought
Standard Earth Date March 30 3488
“Admiral, priority comm from Admiral Seymour.”
“Private line.”
“Open.”
“Karen, what’s bugging you?”
“Funny, Mark. I’ve got Jeri on the line too. You have an USF ship moving towards you at four times light speed.”
“Ah, what?”
“Mars R & D came up with a gravity sweeper they say will clear the Earthbound projectiles. I’m giving them a pass to see if it works. If it does, I’m headed for 1437 at FTL myself.”
“Karen, I need more details. Talk to me.” Jeri didn’t sound happy, but he wasn’t PO’d either.
“Jack MacAlister flew the Thistle, recommissioned as the Jeremiah Wadsworth, out from Mars. Admiral, he has a gravity field that he says should sweep the projectiles up. He also has eighteen LCPAs he’s modified to board spaceships. After he clears the projectiles, he plans on making a FTL run at the Three Kings and boarding them. With your permission, of course, Sir. If you agree. Sir.”
Talk about asking forgiveness instead of permission! “Admirals, I ordered you to execute your plans, not ask permission. I haven’t changed that order. Thanks for the heads up, Karen. Mark, don’t get in Jack’s way; no ‘own goals’.”
“Aye-aye, Sir!” echoed from the two Rear Admirals.
***
Task Force Anvil
USF Victory
Standard Earth Date March 30 3488
“Admiral, GravTorps are in position. Contact with EMP pods in five minutes.”
“Very good. ETA Bug main body contact with Castle Shannon’s GravTorps and Shrikes?” Fleet Admiral Jericho Bucktooth wanted confirmation of the information on his CHUD.
“Ten minutes, Admiral.” Lieutenant Allison MacAlister replied.
“Admiral, I have a Priority Comm from President Campbell, Sir!”
“President, Campbell? What the…put it through, my private line.”
“Open.”
***
The Battle For Turret Halsey
CIC
Standard Earth Date March 30 3488
“They’re still coming, Commander!” Eddie Wilson’s strained voice was barely audible over the pressure loss alarms in the Combat Information Center.
“Landing Bay Alpha is open to space. All their weapons have been concentrated there, Sir!”
“I’m out of operating lasers, Commander.” Lieutenant Jane Jones sat back at her now useless station, her sweat-drenched hair visible through her combat pressure helmet. All weapons stations were off-line, either out of ammunition or out of operational equipment.
“Mike, where are your marines deployed?” Admiral Jock MacAlister’s mind was racing, searching every bit of information for that one edge he may have missed, that one flaw in the enemy’s plan or execution that could keep them all alive.
“Eight at the outlet from Landing Bay Alpha. Six at the junctions leading here. Six in the corridor outside, Admiral.” Marine Captain Mike Halsey finished his report, then bent and opened the two lockers he had brought in earlier. He began handing the Mark VII carbines out to the CIC crew.
“The last Bug ships are gone, Commander. Bug pods ETA is two minutes.” Eddie looked up from his sensors for just a moment to take his carbine from Mike, load a round into the chamber, and stow his weapon within easy reach.
“Thanks, Eddie. Good job, as always. Every one of you, you’ve made me proud to command you all.” Commander Corrine Halsey started to say more, but her husband handed her a carbine, leaned in and touched his helmet’s faceplate to hers, pursing his lips in a mock kiss.
“Okay, you love birds, there’ll be time enough for smooching later. Mike, I’ll bet you’ve got some surprises rigged for our ‘guests’?”
“We have L-17 grenades rigged as mines throughout the corridors. I have Mark II laser auto-turrets set up covering four junctions. It will be very costly for them to reach us, Admiral.”
***
Task Force Anvil
USF Victory
Standard Earth Date March 30 3488
Fleet Admiral Jericho Bucktooth dug the fingers of his left hand into his armrest. This was the single most distasteful order he had ever given, he could conceive of ever giving. He counted the eyelets on his hand-polished shoes twice, and then he lifted his head.
“Comm. Taclink. All units.” The Admiral’s words rolled out low and gritty, as if they had come along a dry gravel road.
“Open.”
�
�Fleet, this is Bucktooth. I,” Jeri swallowed hard, “I have been given orders by our Commander In Chief to break off all attacks on the Bug forces and return at best speed to high Earth orbit. These are lawful orders. Therefore, I,” another swallow, his fingers dripping blood from his nails cracking as he gave the orders, “I hereby order all mobile United Space Force vessels on Taclink, Task Forces Anvil, Hammer, and Beta, to disengage from all combat operations and to return to Earth orbit immediately. All ADS units will continue their duties without interruption. This is the order from the Commander In Chief and is not open to discussion. Bucktooth out.” The last word sounded like a comm being run over sandpaper.
Jeri looked around the silent bridge, not bothering to wipe the tear rolling down his cheek. Everyone stared at him, frozen.
“Damn it, you heard me, now DO IT!” His words exploded within the bridge, sending crew into a flurry of activity.
Jeri’s jaws clenched tighter as his eyes came to Allison MacAlister. The young lieutenant was busy at work, running the sensor arrays, keeping busy. Not thinking about how her Godfather had just condemned her father to death.