by D. J. Holmes
Unnoticed by everyone on the bridge the British missiles had already reached their targets. By the time Somerville was done both destroyers had disappeared off the gravimetric plot.
“Here they come,” Hamilton shouted when the next salvo of sixteen Russian missiles was about to enter plasma cannon range. Once again they and the AM missiles reached out to try and stop the incoming missiles from raining down death and destruction on Achilles and her crew. Again Hamilton proved his skill with the point defenses, sixteen was quickly reduced to eight, then seven and even down to five.
A beep at Somerville’s side alerted him to the fact that someone had accessed the secondary radar emitter without his permission. It was meant to be held in reserve in case the primary emitter was damaged. Before he could question who had powered it up, Hamilton shouted from the tactical console. “They are losing lock, the Russian missiles are losing lock on us!”
Somerville saw his chance. He triggered the forward missile tube and a survey probe launched from Achilles. The alterations he had done to its software immediately sent its engines into overdrive. Within seconds the engine housing began to melt. Moments later it catastrophically failed, the excess heat immediately causing the large fuel tank of the probe to explode in a giant fireball. In the few seconds it took the fuel to completely burn up the Russian missiles saw another target on their thermal scanners, one just as large as Achilles. Already confused, four of them locked on to the brighter target and flew past Achilles. The remaining missile tried but failed to lock on to Achilles. With no target in range it self-destructed. The blast barely touched the British warship and was easily held back by its valstronium armor.
Somerville didn’t quite know what happened but he was glad to be alive. “So who wants to own up to using the secondary radar array against regulations?” he asked the bridge at large.
Everyone stared at him, clearly not sure what he was talking about. Slowly Jensen raised her hand. “Care to explain?” Somerville asked.
“Well,” she began nervously, “I thought maybe I could get the Russians trick to work against them. After the first salvo I want back into our sensor data and checked the radar frequency of the Russian missiles from our previous engagement at Ouvea. The missiles they fired there and the ones from the four destroyers’ first salvo here all used the same frequency when they were trying to lock onto us. I only managed to confirm they were the same sixty seconds before that second salvo was about to hit us. There was no time to try and explain to Hamilton to get him to switch the frequency of our main radar so I powered up the auxiliary array. I hope that was ok?”
“Ok?” Jonathan said delighted. “Of course it was ok. Well done Lieutenant. You have shown a lot of promise. Your personnel file is going to look a lot more impressive when we get back to Earth.
“Now,” he said turning to address everyone. “Let’s deal with those last two destroyers in orbit around New France and see if we can get in contact with whoever is leading the resistance down there.”
Chapter 5 – Reunion
22nd September 2439, Aurora system.
Once again Somerville was pacing back and forth on the bridge as Achilles jumped out of shift space into another French system. After taking out the final two Russian destroyers that had been bombarding the colony of New France they had barely slowed down long enough to attack some of the Russian ground forces themselves.
General Ney, commander of the surviving French army units on New France, had contacted Somerville. He had given them all the sensor data he had on the Russian fleet, as well as a situation report to be passed on to the French government. After getting a list of targets Ney wanted hit by Achilles’ last six ground attack missiles, the two men had said their farewells. Neither knew if the other would survive the coming battles but they had each wished the other luck.
Somerville had been shocked as he watched a replay of the initial battle for New France. The Russian fleet had come in and smashed the French fleet in minutes. They had then moved on to the colony’s battlestations and reduced them to space debris almost as quickly.
Their ease of victory was evident in the sensor data. The Russians had constructed a new type of warship. A close up of one of the ships revealed a name in Russian that someone on New France had translated as ‘Behemoth’. The name was fitting. Achilles was one of the largest ships in the Royal Space Navy. She could fire a broadside of eleven missiles. Soon the first two heavy cruisers would be finished and they would take the honor of being the biggest and most heavily armed. The Russian Behemoths would dwarf even those ships.
In the replay of the battle, Jonathan had seen each of them fire thirty missiles in every salvo. The Russians had five of them and alone they could rain one hundred and fifty missiles on their enemy. After reviewing the battle, Somerville had taken a closer look at the ships in the Russian fleet that were guarding the shift passage that led back to Earth. Sure enough, the five Behemoths were there, waiting for any French ships that came to try and help New France.
Jensen had missed them before because they were powered down, conserving fuel. As soon as Achilles used the colony’s gravity to sling shot herself towards the shift passage home, they had powered up and tried to intercept the British ship. Thankfully, the replay of the battle had given Somerville a vital piece of information, the acceleration and top speed of the Behemoths. He had used that data to calculate the best route around them. It had added over six hours to their journey out of the system but it had allowed Achilles and her crew to escape without having to go toe to toe with the monsters.
When the Russians had realized they weren’t going to capture the medium cruiser with their larger ships they had released their smaller light cruisers and destroyers to chase her down. Jensen had used her radar trick on the first missile salvo that had come Achilles way and the return fire had damaged a light cruiser. That had given their pursuers second thoughts and Achilles had escaped unharmed.
Somerville had been reluctant to use the trick again. When they had first used it the Russian ships who had fired the missiles had already been destroyed. No one had seen what Jensen had done. Now the Russians knew they had copied their idea. It wouldn’t work again.
Back in the present, Somerville suddenly grew concerned as the sensor feed for Aurora updated. It looked like the Russians had sent another fleet ahead of the Behemoths to secure the system. There were over fifty ships accelerating deeper in the inner system. Aurora was the last system in the French colonies. The next shift passage lead to the Alpha system, which, in turn, lead back to Earth. As such, the French had built a sizeable military base here on a rocky moon that orbited one of the system’s gas giants. It was a natural target for the Russians to secure.
His fears were relieved when he spotted the two small battlestations the French had built to protect the military base. If they were still intact and there were no missiles flying between them and the fleet that was approaching the base then the ships must be friendlies.
“Navigation plot us a course for the French military base, take us there at eighty percent thrust,” Somerville commanded.
“Aye, sir,” came the reply.
Achilles was over four light hours away from the fleet that was heading into system and so it would take that many hours for any communication from whoever was commanding the fleet to contact them. His crew could enjoy their first hours of safety in peace.
“Communications, open a ship wide COM channel,” Somerville requested.
When the officer nodded to say the channel was open Somerville took a deep breath and began, “Achilles, it is my pleasure to report that we have rejoined the fleet.” Pausing he allowed the cheers to echo around the ship. Even the bridge crew joined in. The last few weeks had been taxing on everyone, never before had a British spaceship had to fight its way through not one but three occupied systems. Every crewmember was now a veteran of interstellar war. There wasn’t an enlisted man or woman in the RSN w
ho had seen more combat than Achilles’ crew.
“In celebration, I am doubling the food rations for the day. I want all of you to prepare a feast for yourselves in your off duty hours. I also want to add how proud I am of you. We drilled hard for our war games with the Indians. Little did we know what was going to follow but you all handled yourselves marvelously. The Admiralty will be impressed with the report I am sending them and I’m sure the news broadcasters will want to interview many of you. Well done everyone. Enjoy yourselves, you have earned it. Somerville out.”
Looking up at the bridge crew he held everyone’s eye for several seconds. It happened that Jensen was on watch again and when he looked at her he added, “And especially well done to you Lieutenant. Without your quick thinking those four destroyers at New France would have had us.”
As she looked down in embarrassment, Somerville moved on to survey the rest of the bridge crew. When he was done he stood and turned to Hamilton who had been on the bridge in case they had run into more trouble at Aurora. “You have the bridge First Lieutenant, I’m going to retire to my quarters.”
“Aye sir,” Hamilton said. As Somerville stood he stood too and saluted his Captain as he left. “Thank you for getting us home sir,” he added.
*
When the communication from the fleet arrived Somerville opened it in his quarters. He was surprised to find that it came from the French Admiral Villeneuve. Villeneuve was well known among the British naval officers. There were regular war games between the two navies and Villeneuve was regarded as the best the French had. Somerville had assumed he had died at New France. The last he had heard the Admiral had been posted there. It was encouraging to know the Admiral would be leading the fleet into battle.
Somerville was ordered to report on board the Admiral’s flagship for a conference of Captains. Included in his order was a list of the ships in the fleet. Somerville was happy to see that his guess was right. Many of the UN nations had decided to stand with the French against the Russians. There were several destroyers from Japan, Germany and Brazil. More important were the American and British medium cruisers that accompanied the three French ones. Counting Achilles, the combined fleet now had eight of the warships. Somerville wasn’t sure that would be enough against the Behemoths. He sent the battle data General Ney had given him to the Admiral along with his own report of what had happened over the last few weeks. The decisions about what to do with the giant Russian ships were now, thankfully, out of his hands.
He understood the need for a conference though. Commanding Captains from six different nationalities would be a difficult undertaking. Getting them all fighting as one unit would be even harder. Still, Somerville was eager to get stuck in. Someone had to teach the Russians a lesson and he was keen to get back to the Ouvea system and make good on his promise to the Russian ground commander.
After reviewing the files Admiral Villeneuve had sent him he retired. He wanted to take a quick nap before he had to put on his dress uniform and take a shuttle over to the flagship.
*
After his shuttle had been cleared to land on Villeneuve’s flagship Argonaute, Somerville was ushered into the medium cruiser’s conference room. To say the seating was cramped was a major understatement. With over fifty Captains crushed together babbling in various languages the scene was more like a street bazar on the diverse Alpha colony than a naval briefing. When Admiral Villeneuve walked in, accompanied by Vice Admiral Jamison of the Royal Space Navy and Vice Admiral Hopkins of the US Interstellar Navy, the room went silent. Everyone stared at the Admiral expectantly.
“Welcome to my flagship ladies and gentlemen,” Villeneuve began in perfect English. “First, let me congratulate you on your performance at the Alpha system. We only had a week to drill together before leaving Earth and you performed better than expected. Though there is still a lot of room for improvement.”
Somerville already knew what he was referring too. The Russians had sent a small force into the Alpha system to occupy its orbitals and slow down any response to their invasion from Earth. He hadn’t been surprised to see that the Russians hadn’t actually tried to land any troops to occupy the colony. The Alpha system had been the first system discovered by the shift drive. Even though it had a planet that was just barely habitable, it had caused great excitement on Earth. Every nation had rushed to send colonists to the planet and claim a part of the landmass for themselves. When more habitable planets had been discovered the Alpha colony had quickly fallen by the wayside and no Earth government had had any interest in trying to manage it. The hodge-podge of nationalities had also caused its own problems as the different groups struggled with each other for the limited resources of the barren planet. In the end the UN had to take control of the colony and oversee its governance.
After the combined fleet had been formed out of the available warships in the Sol system the first thing they had done after spending a week drilling together was advance on the Alpha system. All the Russian forces had either been quickly destroyed or managed to escape.
“I also need to congratulate our newest addition to the fleet,” Villeneuve continued. As every eye turned to Somerville he suddenly realized Villeneuve was referring to him. “Captain Somerville has shown us all how it’s done. If his reports are to be believed he has already dispatched ten Russian warships. More importantly, he has provided us with vital intel on what we are going to face when we get to New France.”
With a nod to one of his flag officers an image appeared on the conference room’s main holo display. “This is a Russian Behemoth,” Villeneuve explained. “We have all been wondering how the Russians so easily defeated the defenders at New France. Now we know. Without valstronium armor they are slow and immensely unwieldy, but they more than make up for their weaknesses with sheer weight of fire. Each ship has a broadside of thirty eight missiles. For all intents and purposes they are battlestations with shift drives attached to them. No one was expecting anything like this. It must have cost the Russians trillions of credits to construct such monsters. But that just means one thing. It will cost them trillions of credits when we blow them up.”
Villeneuve’s last comment brought a number of chuckles from around the room but Somerville saw something deeper in the Admiral’s eyes. He recognized it from his own attitude after his encounter with the Russian commander at Ouvea. Villeneuve was angry. His country had been attacked and his people were being killed. He was eager for payback.
Going on, Villeneuve switched the holo display to show the combined fleet. “We have been promised more British ships from the Cook system and an American flotilla was expected in Earth four days after we left, so they should be close behind us. Once we have these reinforcements I plan to head to New France. We know the Russians are waiting for us. At the first battle of New France we weren’t ready. Now we know what to expect, with a bit of luck my analysts believe we can show the Russians that their Behemoths aren’t as invulnerable as they think.
“For now, a couple of ships need repairs at the military station that will take up to a week. During that time the rest of us will be drilling almost constantly. We still have a lot of work to do to get our fleet fighting as one. Your senior commanders have already been briefed on the details of my plan. I’m sure you are all enjoying getting to know each other so well in this cramped room, but we’re going to split into our different national units. You’ll find your assigned briefing on your datapad. Dismissed.”
As Somerville squeezed out of the row he was sat in, a number of officers came over to shake his hand. Most of them were unknown to him but he was delighted to see a couple of American Captains he had met before. Not being a big fan of crowds, he tried to excuse himself from the fanfare but there were just too many Captains who wanted to hear about combat with the Russians. Thankfully he was saved by an aide of Admiral Villeneuve who pushed his way into the crowd that had developed around him. “The Admiral would like to speak to you before you meet with Vice
Admiral Jamison,” he said.
“Certainly,” Somerville replied, relieved, “you’ll have to excuse me,” he said to the disappointment of his fellow Captains. “Another time, you can buy me a drink and I’ll tell you all about it,” he added with a chuckle.
The Admiral’s aid led him through a side door out of the conference room and into a smaller briefing room. Villeneuve was standing talking to one of his flag officers. When Somerville came in he broke off the conversation and headed over to Somerville. “Congratulations again Captain,” he began as he offered his hand.
Somerville took it and was impressed by the strength of the Admiral’s grip. Villeneuve was over eighty now but he still had a strong sense of vitality. Somerville guessed the desire to liberate his people’s colony had given him a new vigor.
“I wanted to tell you myself, with Vice Admiral Jamison’s permission I’m giving you a field promotion to Commodore. I don’t know if your Admiralty will honor the position once this war is over, but for now I need to use you. Next to Vice Admiral Jamison, you are the most experienced British officer I have and if anything happens to him I want you to be ready to lead the British forces. Understood?”
“Yes sir,” Somerville said a bit taken a back. “I’ll do my best.”
“That’s all I ask son,” Villeneuve said with a grin. “I’m sure you’ll do fine. Now tell me, what do you make of the Russians resolve. Do they have the stomach for a protracted war?”