Retribution

by Dave O'Connor

  Chapter 10. Nova Vista 0048, 26 June

  Andy was watching the cas reports on his ground based fighters. The Thunderbolts were dropping like flies. The Lightnings which accounted for no more than 30% of the total complement were fairing much better. They had been engaging now for five minutes and most had spent their supply of missiles and were returning back to base.

  Of the 320 that managed to join the battle only 68 Lightnings and 87 Thunderbolts remained. “RTB (Return To Base)” commanded Andy. He would need to have them rearmed and relaunched to support the ground phase which would come next. “Launch your missiles.”

  The missile specialist hit commit and looked on with a certain amount of glee as over 2,000 Plectras climbed out of the atmosphere and then accelerated at 135 kilometres per second (kps).

  Rihan, who had just finished adjusting her uniform after hurrying back up from her sleeping quarters, asked “How far away are they?”

  “The enemy is 13,000 and closing” reported one of the specialists. “Oh look they are starting to split up.”

  It was true. Now that the Federation fighters had been spent, the surviving Rogan ships felt emboldened to hive off to their respective objectives.

  “Intercepts in 15 secs” called out the missile specialist. “Yes!” he yelled out. There were too many hits on too many targets all in a hurry to call out each of them. So they all waited glued to the display. It quickly racked up the hit, destroyed and survivor counts. “Oh yes…look at that.”

  No one said anything in response. They all waited and waited and then saw the warped away count incrementing.

  “So what do they have left?” asked Harry.

  “A carrier, 3 caps, 4 frigates and five transports plus what looks like about fifty or so fighters.”

  “Where are those transports going?” asked Harry. “Engage with the Movons.”

  “Engaging.”

  640 light Movon missiles climbed to engage the rogan transports that were on their final approaches, escorted by the few remaining fighters. The enemy ships began climbing back up beyond the 25,000 km range of the Movons. It would be a race to see who got their first.

  The rogan fighters let lose their remaining missiles and took out a third of the Movons. Another 100 or so were shot down by the enemy ships. Eighty or so burnt out before hitting a target. But there were just over two hundred hits. Most of these were on the enemy transports.

  Two surviving transports ploughed on. Their objective was Tumos. On board were two thousand warriors of the 41st Brigade of the Rogan Imperial Army (RIA). Their mission was to destroy the Resolute and its construction facilities.

  “Damm” cursed Harry as he saw the two enemy transport icons enter the atmosphere. He glanced across to Phil with an expression that said “Now?” Phil nodded. “Captain Warner” he hailed.” “Two transports entered the atmosphere headed I think for Tumos. Engage.”

  “About time” said Dave.

  Harry also sent orders for the droids at Butros Alia to move to Tumos. To General Xian’s liaison officer he asked “What can you get to Tumos asap?”

  “The 39th Battalion’s at the spaceport.”

  “Send it now.”

  Art went over to Phil and said in a quiet voice “I should go with them.”

  Phil knew why Art wanted to be there but he knew it would take him a good fifteen minutes to reach the spaceport and he wasn’t going to hold up the 39th’s deployment for him. Phil shook his head. “Sorry I need you here.”

  Art looked frustrated but he accepted the decision. He withdrew back behind Phil’s chair and gazed at the holo in front. ‘Don’t do anything foolish Sue’ he said to himself.

  Chapter 11. Tumos 0050, 26 June

  “Shit” said Sue as she could see the transports heading for her location. The alerts had already fired on the stations inside the facility. All non-combatants had moved to the lower levels. It had been pandemonium due to the hour of day. Most personnel had been asleep and it took the best part of ten minutes to get everyone down to the lower levels. Only the Marines remained at the top levels.

  Outside in her tunnel, Sue activated the droids. She checked her data links to confirm Emilio was doing likewise. She could see that the two detachments of Marines in the front fortified positions were still at their posts.

  The missile battery had fired off every missile. She knew that the Resolute and Phantom were on their way to help. But she also knew it was too late for them to prevent the landing. The radar feed indicated the first enemy transport would touch down in thirty seconds.

  The droids were disembarking from the pods and lining up in a column ready to move. Sue would wait till the second transport had disgorged its passengers and everyone was engaged in breaching the main entrance.

  “Are you ready Chief?” she asked.

  “Almost” replied Emilio.

  “Remember we wait till they are engaged in front. Wait for my command.”

  Chapter 12. Butros Alia 0051, 26 June

  Sgt Jules Meyer held his breath as the droid pod took off. He had forgot to let it know there was a human aboard and he felt like his whole body was being crushed with the force of Gs being exerted.

  His eyeballs felt like someone was squeezing them but somehow he managed to see the ETA on the screen. It said 0058. He wasn’t sure he could hang on that long. He didn’t. He passed out a minute later.

  Chapter 13. Aukland over Polaris 0052, 26 June

  Rudi saw the rogan ships climbing back above Movon range. He wanted to finish these off but his remaining ships had less than 4% missile stocks left and most were carrying damage ranging from minor to severe. Three of his surviving caps were effectively out of action, along with seven frigates.

  He was tempted to order the rest to close with the enemy but their superior beam range made that too risky a manoeuvre. He did not want to lose any more ships or lives.

  “How many fighters and marauders do we have ready for launch?” he asked.

  “Most are still recovering or being repaired” came back the fighter specialist. “Right now we have a total from both carriers of 7 Lightnings and no Marauders.”

  “Is that all?”

  “Yes Sir.”

  “Polaris” hailed Rudi.

  Phil recognised his voice and answered the hail. “Yes Rudi its Yomoto here.”

  “Sir we’re out of missiles, no effective fighter force available and most ships are damaged to some degree. Can the Resolute take on those remaining enemy ships?”

  “I’ve just committed them to assist at Tumos, where the enemy transports have just landed.”

  “What about more fighters then?”

  “Afraid not Rudi, you’ll have to wait for the Harlow group. They will be here in what?” asked Phil to Harry. Harry held up one hand and flashed his five fingers three times. “Fifteen minutes.”

  “They will probably get away then.”

  “Maybe but that’s the best we can do for now.”

  “Can’t you get the Army to help there and send me the Resolute?” The enemy flagship is there. She’s damaged. We can take her but I need the Resolute and I need her now.”

  Phil pondered Rudi’s words. “OK you have her.”

  “And the Phantom?”

  “OK.”

  Chapter 14. Tumos 0053, 26 June

  The rogan warriors of the 41st Brigade disembarked in rapid fashion. Their instructors would have been proud of them. From the second transport a troop of beamer AFVs began rolling onto the tarmac, not more than 300m from the facility entrance. The warriors coming out of the first transport were even closer.

  They were immediately engaged by the automatic pulse guns in the two fortified positions. It would take a whole minute before the first AFV began engaging these positions with its beam weapon. The first hit was enough to convince the occupants of the position to evacuate via the tunnel. They left the AI to keep fighting. It would be a fight to the finish. The finish was not long away. The second and third bu
rsts from the AFVs beam weapon destroyed the position.

  A similar outcome befell the other position. But there were over a hundred rogan casualties on the tarmac resulting from that briefest of engagements.

  It still took Sue a good twenty seconds to react and order Emilio to launch their attacks. She was inside the command droid and directed her company to assault the enemy massing in front of the facility entrance. Her line droids moved out, formed up rapidly and began the assault.

  She also placed a series of on call support tasks for her support droids. She had four of these powerful units and they immediate exited the tunnel and deployed either side of the tunnel entrance. As the line droids relayed target requests automatically to the support droids, these were prioritised and executed. The Support droids began laying down a series of salvoes from their missile launchers. Most were aimed at the enemy AFVs. As these exploded the rogan warriors who were now trying to lay demolition charges on the front entrance, quickly changed facing towards Sue’s force of droids.

  Emilio was running a little behind and his force did not start assaulting for another thirty seconds. The Rogan then realised they were being assaulted on both sides.

  Chapter 15. IRS Mailon over Polaris 0054, 26 June

  “Sir, we should warp away” recommended Assani. He was no longer confident of his influence over the Imperial Admiral. There was pleading in his eyes.

  Meeka saw it but felt little empathy. “Yes we will but first we will launch one more strike.”

  “What purpose can be achieved by that?” asked Assani.

  “Retribution” spat out Meeka. “Arm all remaining missiles with nuclear warheads. Allocate to these targets.”

  “But this includes Tumos. What about our own warriors there?” asked Assani.

  “They are doomed already. We both know that” said Meeka. There was the resolve of cold steel in his eyes.

  It frightened Assani and few things did that nowdays. He realised his commander was obsessed. He looked down at the list of targets. There were twenty cities and another ten facilities. This would be viewed not as a surgical strike but a strike of annihilation.

  “You know there will be no coming back from this. They have won here and they will want their revenge, if you go ahead with this. Billions will die because of this. Billions of rogan.”

  “So be it. Ready the strike. How long to change over the warheads?”

  Assani was feeling desperate - anything to delay this. “Five minutes - with all the damage.”

  “Aargh….just get on with it.”

  “But Sir…”

  “Just do it” yelled Meeka.

  Chapter 16. Resolute over Tumos 0054, 26 June

  “What, you want us to about turn and abandon Tumos?” asked Dave.

  “That’s right Dave. I want you take the Mailon and destroy the rest.”

  “What about Tumos. You know those transports hold a thousand rogan warriors each.”

  “I’m ordering the Army to high tail it to Tumos. Your droid pods at Butros Alia are on their way too. I’ll divert some ships from the Harlow group to support them. Do it now” said Phil and he terminated the call.

  Dave knew when it was pointless to continue arguing anyway. “Aubrey new orders. We’re bustering to the Mailon. We have to take her and destroy the remaining enemy ships.”

  “And abandon Tumos?” replied Aubrey. Her craft was just slowing to enter the atmosphere.

  “Yes…no…look other reinforcements are on their way to Tumos. There’s no time for debate Aubrey.” Dave looked across at Chase who gave him the thumbs up. “Here’s your new orders. Let’s go.” Dave terminated the call. “James you have your new course.”

  “On it Sir. Hold on tight everyone.” The Resolute was still a thousand kms from the atmosphere, so it had more leeway for its manoeuvre to turn back up. But it was going to be a tight turn nonetheless with near max G’s.

  Dave selected the shipwide channel. He was straining to speak but time was short and he couldn’t wait. “We’re going to close with the surviving enemy ships, destroy all caps and frigates and capture the enemy carrier, the Mailon. Jim, prepare for a boarding operation. She’s a big ship, you’ll need the droids. Li, prepare to escort the boarding op. Crystal bring us in to within beam range of the closest enemy cap and open her up like a tin can once we are within range. John once that happens engage the other two enemy caps with fifty missiles each, the four frigates with 25 each and then put another 25 into the Mailon. We’ll then launch the boarding op. Show time is in three minutes. Go.”

  “Aubrey” hailed Dave.

  “Sir.”

  “I want you to stay cloaked till I order you to engage.” Dave then explained his course of action. “You’re our insurance policy. Things will be messy and we’ll need help at some point but you can deliver that best if you remain cloaked. Understand.”

  “If you insist.”

  “I do.”

  The Resolute was using its burst speed to close with the enemy at 72 kilometres per second (kps). They would cover the remaining 8,000 kms in two minutes. The Phantom had more distance to make up but it was bustering at 79 kps and would arrive at the same time or pretty close to it.

  It was a very nervous Julian that climbed into the droid pod on H deck. He couldn’t really believe this was actually happening. But Jim’s forceful command left him in no doubt.

  Kat was doing her preflight in her Lightning on F deck. Her adrenalin was already up, having raced to get into the craft. She had asked Li how many enemy fighters there would be. All he had said was ‘lots’. That didn’t sound encouraging.

  Parinya was calmly issuing instructions to her warthog crews as Jim was barking orders and all but pushing his marines into the shuttles. He saw the hatches close one by one and was the last marine to climb aboard. He made his way up and sat behind Parinya and tapped her on the shoulder. She turned to see his thumbs up. She nodded.

  In the command centre, John was entering the last missile instruction. His fingers worked over time. Crystal called out from her chair “Fires are you ready?”

  “Almost” he called back. He saved the missile fires and quickly set the beam fire.

  “Cyber attack ready?”

  “Ready” said Jasmin.

  “Missiles and beam ready” announced John.

  “Limas ready?”

  “Ready” announced Li.

  “Golf ready?”

  “Ready” announced Jim.

  “Whiskeys ready?”

  “Affirmative” replied Parinya in her calm manner.

  The Resolute was slowing dramatically now. The holo was zoomed in and they were closing in on the nearest enemy cap. It was twelve thousand kilometres away. “Pilot, reduce to 20kps. Line us up” ordered Crystal.

  Dave could see that Crystal was actually enjoying this. She was all concentration like the hunter training for the kill shot. The pink transparent globe around the Resolute’s icon on the holo was almost touching the enemy cap. She wanted a bit more overlap just in case of a sudden move. “Fire” she commanded.

  John activated the fire tasks. The two beam weapons activated and the light blue lazer beams tore across the void of space at 300,000 kps. For all intent and purpose, it was instantaneous. The drain on ship power was noticeable if you were looking at the appropriate data. But John’s attention was elsewhere. “Beam activated. Missiles away.”

  By the time he finished those words the enemy cap was being ripped apart by the beam attack and the first of the nearby frigates was rocked by a salvoe of missiles. The third Gen Torad missiles were travelling at 150 kps. They covered the distance to the furthest ship in the group in 13 seconds. The enemy’s automatic combat systems should have launched intercepts. But none came.

  John could not believe it but was soon distracted. “We have hits” he announced excitedly. “Scratch Bogey 1…” which was the subject of the beam attack. The tally was coming up far too fast. So he waved his hand in a gesture like someo
ne ushering a person to enter through a doorway. He returned his focus to the red alert that just fired on his station. “Fighters launching.”

  “Evasive action” ordered Crystal.

  James began a dive and turn. A flash of laser light streaked across his vision through the cockpit. “Fucking hell” he yelled out. His eyes were momentarily blinded by the intensity of the light. After the shock he realised that it was a miss. He regained his focus and continued with the evasive manoeuvre.

  “Come on Jasmin” called out Crystal.

  “I’m in. Give me a minute” replied Jasmin as she tried to make sense of the data being streamed to her from the cyber-attack. She had a list of ship systems, which she scrolled through.

  “We don’t have a minute” said Crystal forcefully.

  “There that should do it” said Jasmin.

  “Yep that’s done it” said John and he laughed “No more beaming from you sunshine.” But he was quickly diverted. “Scratch Bogeys 2, 3, 5, 6 and seven” advised John. “Just the Mailon and a frigate left. Oh and we have twenty two enemy fighters. Engaging fighters.”

  “Aubrey” hailed Dave “take out that frigate and as many of those fighters as you can.”

  “Roger that” said Aubrey. Dave could tell she was all business now. He like that about her.

  “James bring us around and stay in standoff range of the Mailon’s beam weapon” ordered Crsytal. “Just in case” she added with a look to Jasmin. “Sir, should we commit the fighters?”

  “No. There’s no need for them just yet.”

  Chapter 17. Phantom over Polaris 0057, 26 June

  “Forty at Bogey 7” barked Aubrey. “Engage fighters two for one.”

  “Engaging. We’re down to 16 missiles” advised Phil.

  The Torads streaked out and struck the remaining enemy frigate. It never fired a missile in its own defence. It exploded and was gone in a flash.

  The 22 enemy fighters were heading for the Resolute in two columns. Coming at them were 20 missiles from the Resolute and 44 from the Phantom. Each fighter fired off four of their own missiles in defence and two in offense aimed at the Resolute. The craft began turning back to their carrier. The ranges were so short and the speed of intercept so quick that within a few seconds only three of the fighters survived.