The Riss Proposal: Book II in the Riss Series (Volume 2)

by C. R. Daems

  After my shift, I couldn’t sleep, so I visited Terril. When I found her, she was working the Scorpions on boarding and in-ship fighting techniques using a large mockup. The equivalent of our simulations, except physical.

  “Commander Reese, have you come to supervise or participate?” Terril said. She was standing next to r-Anath and Colonel Seng, who turned and nodded to me.

  “Carlse, cover Tomlese, you idiot. You’re a team. I want you joined at the hip. NOW!” Terril pointed at one of the men as she shouted.

  “They’re the elite of the army and believe they’re invincible,” Seng said, while keeping his eyes on the activity.

  “If you don’t start paying attention, I’ll prove to the Colonel you’re not as invincible as you think you are. The object is to kill the enemy, not to see how fast they can kill you,” Terril shouted. “You’re so bad you make me want to cry.”

  I watched for an hour. It was a real education. They were quick and deadly. When Terril called a halt, they were dripping sweat. Although they didn’t look tired, Terril sent them off to shower and get some rest.

  “They’re good, but I can’t let them get big-headed or over-confident. There’s nothing glamorous about war. It just sounds good afterward to those who weren’t there.”

  “You want to workout, Reese?”

  “Yes, it’ll stop me from worrying for a while.”

  We spent the next two hours practicing techniques and looking for non-standard responses. We practiced slowly. Neither of us wanted to be hurt before a potential battle. Afterward, I retired to my quarters to sleep. When I reported for my shift, Sakaata waved me over.

  “What do you think, Reese?”

  “If they’re going to hijack the Collector, they should already be in position. They don’t want the ship to get too far into Elbe space, since it may alert planet’s security” I didn’t know what they could do except report the incident to Eden, but from the raiders’ point of view the less the SAS knew the better.

  Chapter 17

  “Captain, we have two unidentified ships incoming. They’re five light seconds out and appear to be Lights,” Jengo reported.

  “Battle Stations, Comm.” Sakaata said. Kagle turned on the system Comm and the emergency override on the SIDs. “BATTLE STATIONS, repeat, BATTLE STATIONS.” He turned and activated the TAC. “Designating the Lights as L1 and L2.”

  “We haven’t been seen. That’ll give us an advantage,” Sakaata said, while watching the TAC. Meanwhile Vallar worked at setting up an attack sequence. “Maybe they left the Heavy at home. That would be a piece of luck.”

  “Two more unidentified ships incoming. One Light and one Heavy, designated as L3 and H1.”

  “I guess this isn’t our lucky day—” Sakaata began but was cut short by Vallar.

  “Damn. We’ve had a missile launch, Captain.”

  “Who?”

  “Our second clan member,” I said. His timing was perfect. With that launch, he’d given the raiders our location and nullified any advantage we might have had.

  “Radar, what are their positions?” Sakaata asked. Seconds later, position information appeared next to the raider ships, abort firng with their present vector.

  “L1 and L2 are currently five light seconds out. H1 and L3 are at seven light seconds. Based on our Intel, L1 and L2 will be in a position to fire in seven minutes and fifty seconds. We’ll be in position in five minutes and thirty-six seconds,” Jengo reported.

  “XO?”

  “I suggest we target L1 with the Riss option, one bank of five every fifteen seconds, beginning in three minutes. Then switch to smart missiles.” Targeting H1 and L3 would depend on what they did after that. “They’ll expect missiles when we have three light seconds separation, which is our max range for smart missiles. That will be forty missiles before they are expecting them, and another forty missiles on the way before the raiders can be in position to fire their first missile.”

  “Zellor, use the same firing sequence but target L2,” Sakaata said, looking at the Vidcom of Zellor, which was permanently displayed on one of the overhead monitors. He nodded. Time seemed to stop as we waited for the two minutes forty-eight seconds it wplost us ould take us to reach four light seconds separation.

  “Captain, L1 and L2 have slowed their approach,” Jengo reported at the two-minute mark.

  “Captain, stop the launch!” I said sharply.

  “Zellor, Vallar abort firing.” Sakaata turned to me. “Why?”

  “The Riss solution is based on the enemy ships maintaining a constant speed and vector. Now that they have slowed, the attack vector we’ve calculated will no longer be valid and the missiles will miss.”

  “It looks like they’re waiting for H1 and L3 to catch up. They’re going to attack in formation, thanks to their deep cover agent,” Sakaata said quietly as if she were talking to herself. “Zellor, any ideas?”

  Zellor laughed. “Sakaata, I have lots of theory but no experience. You and Reese, at least, have been there before.”

  “We have the best ships the SAS can produce, but we’ll not survive against their combined throw weight. If we’re to survive, we need to know their next move. What do you think, Reese? You’ve fought them before.”

 

 

 

 

  I felt Thalia rap me on my head.

  She’d reminded me it’s not size, strength, or even speed that wins a fight. I’m smaller and weaker than most, yet only those with years of experience can beat me. With Thalia’s help, I was faster than Valk, yet he could beat me. I closed my eyes and retreated from my emotions—guilt, fear, winning, losing, life, or death. I—two ships—stood facing my opponent—four ships. I’d fought him before. He was big and strong.

  The first time, I’d skipped and that had provided the winning advantage. The second time he’d been ready for the skip. We’d won because I’d used a missile attack he hadn’t seen before. I’d been one technique ahead of him, but he learned fast. If I’d used the same technique in the second engagement, he would have won—he’d been ready. I had to assume that he’d learned from the previous two engagements. Their formation indicated they had.

  “Captain, they’re going to skip into missile range. They know our position and outgun us. We must skip when they do.” I knew my voice was flat. I resided in a different place.

  “She’s a witch— Sorry, Skipper,” Kagle said, his face red.

  “That makes sense, that captain has fought us twice before. He will be smarter this time.” Sakaata stared at me. “What do you suggest?”

  “He’ll make a long skip to get well within their missile range. But that’ll deplete the power they would need for another skip. The second we see him disappear, we need to make a short skip, changing position and vector. We can fire and skip again before they’re ready. We’ll only be able to manage another short skip the second time, but hopefully that will get us out of their effective range. In any case, we’ll have put distance between us and maybe permit the Riss option at some point.”

  “How do we pull off this miracle? When we skip they’re going to be able to fire as fast as we can,” Zellor asked.

  “Preset the two skips. Put one Riss at Tactical and one at Helm. The Riss at Tactical will be faster at fixing their position and firing. The Riss at Helm will know instantly when the missiles have been released and will execute the next skip.” I’d seen my opponent’s first move and had a counter-move ready.

  “Zellor, Helm, first skip, two-zero-five by zero-nine-one for three seconds. Second skip, zero-nine-five by two-one-one for five seconds. Zellor, your targets are L2 and L3. Tactical,
your targets are H1 and L1.” Sakaata sat back and smiled, like she was watching a game. “This should be interesting.”

  We waited in silence. There was nothing else to do. The first move was our opponent’s. Thalia and I had linked with r-Mair and r-Laima. Like us, they were calm but focused like only a Riss or Si’jin Master could.

  It was over in fifty seconds, and not a word had been spoken. The raiders disappeared. One second later r-Laima executed a skip. We came out before the raiders. R-Mair had their position twenty seconds later and fired. “Ten guided missiles away, at H1,” Vallar reported and thirty-seconds later, “Ten missiles away, at L1.”

  r-Laima skipped before Vallar finished speaking. The raiders never got off a launch. We emerged five seconds later, and information filled the monitors.

  “We are one point eight light seconds from the raiders,” Jengo reported. Then a minute later, “Looks like our team scored ten hits in total: three against H1 and L3, and two against L1 and L3. Our opponents zero.”

  The victory was short-lived as the four raiders launched their counter-attack. It looked like the raiders had newer model cruisers, because the Lights were launching eight missiles every sixty seconds and the Heavy twelve every fifty seconds. An average of thirty-eight missiles per minute streaked towards us. We were launching forty missiles per minute; however, our missiles were distributed among three cruisers and one a Heavy, which could absorb more damage than the Lights.

  * * * *

  With the skipping option no longer available, we tried to maintain the maximum separation from the raiders, hoping to reduce their missile effectiveness. Although even near maximum range, we were taking a beating. While the raider’s ECM wasn’t as good as the Hunter’s—Commander Catlin and her counterpart on the Leopard were stopping ninety-four of a hundred—it meant they were scoring over two hits every minute. Conversely, the raiders were only stopping ninety-two of a hundred. And although we were scoring more—one per minute—they were split between four cruisers and one a Heavy.

 

 

  Immediately ten missiles streaked out and thirty seconds latter ten more.

  I hadn’t waited to clear it with the Captain— speaking was too slow. My world revolved around my opponent and nothing else mattered. Three missiles rocked the Snowcat. Damage scrolled across the Damage monitor so fast, Kagle couldn’t keep up with the repair status. Crew worked feverously, but there were too few and the damage was beyond their ability to cope.

  Level One: Three missiles tubes, all four lasers and two ECM units destroyed, three navy and two army bays open to air. Engineering damaged, with one engine out and one intermittent.

  Level two: Two missile tubes inoperative, three fighter bays damaged, ten Sharks destroyed, Environmental section damaged, and the list went on.

  A quick look at the monitor duplicating the Leopard’s damage reports indicated they were in no better condition. The good news, the interior ring, the third of three rings, of the ship, were the Bridge and system computers resided, were still operational. The bad news, we were slowly being ripped to pieces.

  “H1, multiple explosions, They’ve lost power, dropping back,” Jengo shouted. That would be good news since our missiles could now be spread over three cruisers, except we’d lost nine missile tubes between the Snowcat and the Leopard. “L2 exploded... the Leopard lost power, multiple explosions. NO! Two more hits.”

  Five Riss-option missiles left the Snowcat heading towards L1.

 

 

  Our focus had been H1 and L1. Computing a Riss-solution on L3 would require a full minute. I had to hope our last launch against L1 would be effective. With the range closing and our ECM at half capacity, the raiders were getting more direct hits and the damage worse because the battle metal had begun to weaken all over the ship. We could use a little luck. Seconds seemed to be hours as the time ticked down to the launch. Finally, five Riss-option missiles left the Snowcat towards L3.

  Seconds later, the Snowcat rocked and bucked as five missiles scored direct hits, one after another. Two of the missiles opened the second ring, destroying navy and army quarters, the third destroyed four missile tubes leaving only one, fortunately battle metal limited the damage from the other two. After-shocks went on for over a minute as explosions rippled through the damaged areas. Our shock seats held, but the violent shaking momentarily stunned everyone.

  “Captain, only one missile tube on level two is functional, but the delivery system is damaged. They’re loading it manually but it will take a few minutes.” Kagle said as the information scrolled across the screen.

  “Damn ECM is inoperative. We’ll be target practice,” Jengo said, clearly frustrated. Then silence. I think we were all waiting for the next series of missiles, which would end the Riss’ dream.

 

  A soothing sensation flowed through me—a last loving hug.

  “L1 has lost power,” Jengo shouted. But that still left L3. We waited, helpless.

  “L3 JUST EXPLODED!” Jengo tried to jump up but his straps restrained him. Everyone started talking at once.

  “Quiet!” Sakaata said. The party’s not over yet. “Faber, release the Sharks. Zellor, release yours.” Sakaata said into her SID and twenty of the surviving forty left the Snowcat and another ten from the Leopard. They looked like angry wasps. Five minutes later H1 died along with over three quarters of the Sharks.

  “Seng, release what Scorpions you have. L1 has lost power but still looks like it has survivors.” Sakaata sat back, her face frozen battle steel. We’d won but the cost had yet to be assessed.

  “We have forty, on their way,” Seng replied.

  “Faber, divert your Sharks to support the Scorpions,” Sakaata said, opening the Scorpions SID connection and putting in on the Bridge speakers.

  “L1 has several bays open to space.” A voice I didn’t recognize said. “Control, we’re splitting into three groups. Scorpion three will take the Bridge, Scorpion two will sweep the crew quarters, and Scorpion one the Shuttles and Engineering.”

  “Control, Scorpion three, clear and heading for the Bridge.”

  “Control, Scorpion one, we are under fire, twenty plus retreating towards Engineering room.” Terril’s voice.

  “Control, Scorpion two, we’re encountering heavy resistance in crew quarters.”

  We heard three bomb-blasts then silence.

  “Control, Scorpion two, we have three down. They’re using military grade weapons and explosive charges as they retreat towards the Bridge.”

  “Control. Scorpion three. Bridge secure, two down. Crew attempted to destroy system. Some damage.”

  The sound of constant gunfire and several bombs exploding blasted through the speakers.

  “Control, Scorpion two, crews quarters secure, three down, we need medics.”

  “Scorpion two, Control, support Scorpion one. Scorpion one hold bridge,” Seng’s voice.

  “Control, Scorpion one, heavy fire from Shuttle bay and engineering. Four down, need medics.” More explosions and gunfire erupted.

  “Control. Scorpion one. Shuttle bay cleared. Two more down. Heading for engine room. Looks to be about twenty held up there. No survivors, no surrenders. They’re fighting to the death.”

  “Scorpion one. Scorpion two. We’re in place on the other side and have them trapped in engine room. No place else to go. We’ve another two down.” More explosions, heavy grade gunfire crackled through the speakers.

  “Scorpion two, Control, replace Scorpion three. Scorpion one, rendezvous with Scorpion three at shuttle bay. You need to check on the other Light cruisers. Out.”

  Chapter 18

  “Skipper, a Comm from the Leopard,” Kagle said, as the monitor lit with Zellor’s face. It looked like the Bridge had taken extensive damage. Zellor’s face looked inflamed
on one side, blood dripped from his nose, and his uniform was ripped in several places. In the background, equipment lay scattered on the ground and monitors hung like tangled pieces of metal.

  “Zellor, what’s your condition?” Sakaata asked. I could almost feel her fingers crossed.

  “The Leopard’s engines are destroyed and most of the ship is open to space. We have no operational shuttles and will need help in evacuating.”

  “As soon as we can assemble a team, we’ll have them over. My XO will be in charge of organizing a transfer to the Snowcat. She’ll be in touch,” Sakaata said and blanked the screen.

  “Reese, are you all right?”

 

  I shook my head and looked around the room. Some people appeared excited while others looked to be in shock. Sakaata was staring at me.

  “I’m fine, Skipper,” I said. Sakaata turned back towards the status monitor.

  “What’s our status, Kagle?”

  “One engine is operational the other two are beyond our ability to repair. They’ll need to be replaced. Over half the compartments are open to space. Nine Sharks remain operational, and by some miracle, three shuttles. We have eighty missiles remaining. Our personnel losses were heavy: two hundred thirty-one dead, seventy-five seriously wounded, and one hundred ninety-four fit for duty.”

  “Reese, determine which people can be freed up from each section for damage control and get a team together to transfer the Leopard’s survivors to the Snowcat. We need to organize the wounded from the Snowcat and Leopard to ensure the most serious get treated first. Hopefully, we can keep our seriously wounded alive until we can get the Snowcat in condition to make it to the Elbe Space Station. Everyone needs to eat to keep up their strength, so we need an operating kitchen and a means of getting the food to everyone.” Sakaata seemed to be talking to herself rather than me, but she clearly meant for me to take care of it.