The Avenger and Kali had avoided detection in their first pass by not slowing down at all, hence not needing to burn their engines facing the Shaitan system. Once past the Shaitan system, the two human attack ships had turned around, unfurled their harvester and fired their engines at full blast.
Since the thrusters were now facing away from Shaitan system as the ships slowed down, the risk of detection was low but not zero. Especially within a few AU of the system, where the leakage of ion plasma radiation interacting with space dust and free floating molecules gave out enough EM signal for the Shaitans to detect the ships, even with the thrusters turned the other way.
This is where the 20 Km diameter harvester shielding the view of the thrusters became a life saver. It was big enough and blocked enough area of view around the ship that these leaked EM signals were not detectable. The harvesters were flypapers that could work turned in any direction. They worked equally well while the ship was moving in the backward direction.
As a result the two ships could start decelerating the moment they crossed the Shaitan system. They continued decelerating and came to a complete halt. It still took them one and a half years to come to a complete halt from the phenomenal speed of 4.8% the speed of light. They were the first humans to travel so fast, but certainly not the last. The Redeemer and the Genghis Khan had already achieved the same speed.
The Avenger and Kali did not stop thrusting even after they came to a complete halt. They kept on thrusting, which now accelerated them back towards the Shaitan system. They kept that thrust on for many months till they reached a speed of just under 1% of light. Then they cut off their engines and coasted towards the Shaitan system, all the time coordinating with the computers of the Redeemer and Genghis Khan.
While the Avenger and Kali were busy decelerating in stealth, hiding their engine signature behind their huge umbrella like Harvester, they missed an important event in the Alpha Shaitan system. A few days after their assault, two ion plasma engine signatures that had been shielded behind AS-d, lit up making a direct course towards Earth.
Chapter 13
Blitzkrieg
Alpha Shaitan System
March 2107
On the other side of the Shaitan system, approaching from the Earth were the other two of the most powerful spaceships that humans had ever made. The Redeemer was named after a Brazilian entry, and was the only ship name that had been chosen by a popularity contest amongst the USC core members. Brazil was not one of the bigger contributors of USC budgets, although they were a significant one.
In theory every ship is named by USC and not by individual countries, but the ‘suggestions’ of major contributing countries like the US, EU, China, India or Japan are rarely ignored. After all these countries are bringing in most of the cash into the USC budget. The Brazilian suggestion however struck a chord with every nation. It was ostensibly named after Christ the Redeemer, but there were far greater undertones in the name.
Humans were looking for redemption in revenge and retribution. That was the only way many of them could face up to the tens millions who had died – to avenge them. This campaign to Alpha Shaitan had undertones reminiscent of the crusades. This was a holy war to the warriors who had signed on to those ships, and pledged their entire life to the cause. It was fitting that a ship should be named after Christ the Redeemer.
The ‘Genghis Khan’ was an even more amazing choice, for it was the choice of the Chinese. Never before in history had a nation chosen to name the most powerful ship of theirs after an enemy. Genghis Khan was the most reviled, yet grudgingly respected enemy general in the Chinese collective consciousness, who had pillaged, ravaged and raped the Chinese heartland like no other enemy had in their history.
It reflected the Chinese mindset on what they wanted to do to the Shaitan home world. The Chinese had lost nearly 10 million of their people and if there was any nation which needed retribution for some solace, then it were the Chinese. No one could begrudge that need of theirs.
The Redeemer and Genghis Khan were to be delivered almost three years after the first two ships of the Avenger class. Despite the optimism of now the Administrator of NASA, but then the chief project Engineer Benedict Parsons, the production of Variable Geometry Fusion Engines had not increased exponentially. The production had definitely increased, and new production facilities were coming online every year.
The Europeans after a lot of struggles had finally managed to perfect their zero-G manufacturing technique and there was promise of an explosion in the production capacity in the next few years, but for now fitting 8 Fusion reactors on each Avenger class ship was putting a strain on the world’s production capacity. That was delaying the delivery of engines to the Redeemer and Genghis Khan.
Rather than wait three more years before launching the campaign, USC had devised a campaign strategy that needed the two ships only after three years. It was not a compromise strategy. USC would never compromise on their most important campaign in history. It was the best strategy they had, it was just a happy coincidence that the two ships were needed three years later.
The campaign for the Redeemer and the Genghis Khan began at bit differently than that of the Avenger and Kali. It began almost one and a half years ago with the release of their KK weapons when they were at their top speed of 4.8% of light, just before starting to decelerate. These devices would float ahead of their launching ships, as the ships themselves started decelerating, eventually being separated from the ships by a distance of many light days when they impacted their target.
That would be a bit of a dampener on precision targeting, since the ships would not be able to target based on real time targeting information as had been done by the Avenger and Kali, but it was fine for their purpose. This was supposed to be a follow on installment of the ‘shock and awe’ campaign to mop up fixed assets that had been rebuilt by the Shaitans in the ensuing 3 years since the first attack, or were missed by the first attack. In addition this was meant to further soften up the enemy, a human version of the Shaitan ‘Ka-ma-khya’. The first Shaitan word to enter the Oxford dictionary after it was learnt from the captured Shaitans.
The Redeemer and Genghis Khan were now decelerating from their top speed of 4.8% of light in the full glare of the Shaitan system. There was no doubt that the Shaitans had seen them. The Shaitans would have to be blind in space not to see them. That was the entire purpose of the two human ships in making a grand entrance, to announce their arrival in a spectacular fashion and draw out the first line of Shaitan defense, whatever that might be.
That was a major point of anxiety for Admiral Hamid Dar. No one knew the exact defense capability that the Shaitans had on Alpha Shaitan. That was one of the things he would come to know as the Shaitans geared up for the ostensible attack coming in the shape of the Redeemer and Genghis Khan. The initial ‘shock and awe’ campaign by the Avenger and Kali had destroyed a large amount of static assets of the Shaitans for sure.
They had destroyed three structures that looked like orbital ship construction facilities. The campaign however had not destroyed any ships or any other moveable assets. The campaign was not designed or capable of destroying mobile assets. So whatever warships that the Shaitans had already built were probably intact. At best they might have destroyed under-construction ships.
How many warships did the Shaitans have? It was impossible to say. If the Shaitans had more than four, then the campaign will be an uphill task. The Avenger class had improved upon the Nautilus class, and in most respects, the Avenger class could be considered to be at par with a Shaitan warship. The humans would have only 4 ships, and being outnumbered by similarly capable ships would certainly make their task very hard.
Worse was the fact that every disadvantage that the Shaitans faced when they invaded the inner solar system would now be faced by the humans, while every advantage the humans had would now be enjoyed by the Shaitans. The shoe was truly was on the other foot now. The humans were far from home an
d reinforcements and resupply, while the Shaitans had a whole world to resupply them. If the humans lost a ship, there was no way to replace that fighting capability.
Admiral Dar got the answer to his question soon. Eight individual drive signatures lit up close to the Alpha Shaitan system. The signatures of the drives were consistent with that of a Shaitan warship. Ironically it was the Avenger and Kali approaching from behind who got to see those signatures first as the 8 Shaitan warships rushed to meet the Redeemer and Genghis Khan head-on.
Two to one. So that is how we are outnumbered in this match thought Hamid. So be it. We got into this campaign with our eyes open, and we knew that this was always possible. All he prayed to Allah was that he and all the ships and their crew gave a good account of themselves before they met their maker. As a soldier, their only duty was to fight bravely and smartly, win or lose was His prerogative.
Now that they had their quarry in sight, the computers of all the four human ships got into hyperactive mode coordinating with each other timing themselves to arrive at the exact time with their quarry in the center. The only pain for both the human planners as well as the computer algorithms was the fact that the distance between the two parts of the fleet i.e. between the duo of Redeemer, Genghis Khan and Avenger and Kali was still a few light days, which meant that every signal sent was outdated by that many days, which certainly made their task of coordinating an exact time of arrival very difficult.
However none of the ships had an issue opening up their engines to accelerate or decelerate as needed to keep their timing perfect. The Redeemer and the Genghis Khan had already announced themselves, so there was nothing to hide. The residual EM radiation of the Avenger and the Kali on the other hand was well hidden behind their individual harvesters.
As far as the humans could make out, the Shaitans had not noticed the Avenger and the Kali yet, and it was hoped that it would stay that way. That meant that as the Avenger and Kali closed in near the Shaitan system within about 4 AU, they would have to fold back their harvester to reduce their profile and hence stop any acceleration burn. From there on any adjustment in approach velocity would have to be done by the Redeemer and Genghis Khan, who were the overt force visible to the Shaitans.
The battle of Alpha Shaitan began with a spectacular sight as was planned by the humans. It began with one face of Jehannum as seen by the Redeemer and Genghis Khan literally on fire. Observation drones had been released by each ship after they had started decelerating, so that they followed behind the KK crowbars at a slightly slower speed. The observation drones were a few minutes behind the KK crowbars. Enough time to observe the effects of the bombing, and yet close enough to be able to see and transmit the images of devastation and destruction in detail, before they themselves impacted the surface and gave the face of Jehannum one last repartee shot.
The images were meant for impact analysis and not for vicarious pleasure, but the humans gloated over the pictures anyway. Almost half the crew and marines on the ships had lost someone in the Holocaust, usually their parents as a child. To those people, the face of Jehannum glowing with fires burning across the surface was a sight of sweet revenge, as the reviled Shaitans burned in the hellfire. It didn’t matter to them intellectually that very few Shaitans would actually die in those fires, since they did not live on the surface primarily. Most of the targets were surface installations for transport, mining and other activities any civilization needs to indulge in.
All this had already happened a few days ago, the signals had taken that much time to get back to the ships. Now the real battle of Alpha Shaitan would begin. Within a few more weeks Capt. Bruno Sequeira of the Redeemer and Capt. Wen Xu Lai of the Genghis Khan gave the command to fold back the harvester. The two ships were now in combat mode.
On the other side, the Avenger and Kali were creeping stealthily towards the 8 Shaitan warships from behind. The 8 Shaitan warships had been rather uncreatively named Tango-1 through Tango-8 by the targeting computer. The Shaitan fleet had advanced many light hours in the last year since they had started advancing towards the incoming human ships Redeemer and Genghis Khan.
The Shaitan fleet had come to rest at a point, which they must have calculated would be optimal from their defensive objectives, whatever they might be. The 8 ships of the fleet were now holding still in a close formation to give each other maximum point defense support, according to standard space warfare doctrine followed by both humans and Shaitans.
The thing that the Shaitans would soon find to their dismay was that the humans had pretty much torn up the standard doctrine and thrown it out of the airlock. It was bound to happen when an inveterate rule breaker like Admiral Hamid Dar was the flag admiral. This plan however had been cooked up along with Hamid’s closest friend and now his commanding officer Admiral Gerald Shannon. It was due to this plan that Avenger and Kali set sail three years before the Redeemer and Genghis Khan.
The first thing that the humans had done was to split up their fleet consisting of a paltry 4 ships into two parts. They had not been under any compulsion to do so. The next shock to the strategic doctrine would come very soon, as even these two ships would split up and go their own way. That moment was less than an hour away.
The Avenger and Kali were separated from the Redeemer and the Genghis Khan now by less than a light minute. It was an acceptable delay for an admiral to address his entire fleet together before they plunged into battle. There was no knowing whom he would not ever be able to speak to again after the battle. It was just as likely that no one would ever be able to speak to him again. This is the time to say whatever that needed to be said.
The Admiral’s staff arranged for the broadcast across the ships, and Hamid spoke up. “My fellow humans, for that is what you are before you are even a soldier, defender, avenger, mother, father, son or daughter. You all know why you are here, and you all know what is to be done and why it is to be done. That is not why I speak to you now.
I speak to you now, because no matter what happens in the next few hours, if your nerves are at an edge, and your hands shake. If you find your convictions wavering, just remember something I just found out a few years ago. I started carrying this stupid Talisman given by my daughter, because I loved her so much, that I did not want to break her heart by telling her that I didn’t believe in Talismans.” Hamid raised the small device in front of the camera.
“As you can see, it is a simple device that tells the direction to Mecca. Needless to say, it does not work here. So today when I want to pray, this is the direction I turn towards.” Hamid thought clicked and the grainy image of Earth taken from the Avenger’s telescope taken when the Avenger had just left the solar system was broadcast instead of his mug.
“In reality I do not even turn towards that picture, for that is no longer visible from here. I turn towards this.” Hamid thought clicked again and the current picture of the Sun as seen from Avenger’s telescope was broadcast. “I have often been amazed at how big my Mecca has become, when I take a long enough perspective. This is what you are fighting for my fellow humans. Everything that you love, hold precious or holy, lies in that speck of light. Just remember that every time you have a moment of self-doubt, and you will come through. Best of luck ladies and gentlemen. For Mother Earth!” Hamid finished and raised his fist.
Hamid could not have seen but there were over two thousand human fists raised in this corner of the universe shouting at the top of their voice. “For Mother Earth!”
The next order of business for Hamid was to call a conference of the captains. “Captains, the show and the fate of humanity is now in the hands of you four. There is still a painful delay between the ships, so I will keep this short and a one way communication. The balls have been set rolling, the computers programmed and we are now in play.
Trust your instincts as I have always trusted mine, and they have always held me in good stead. You are the best person to make a decision about your ship, not me. So make that decision first
, then act on it, and only then inform me. Not the other way round. Consider that an order. Last but not the least I want to say something that my flag admiral once told me.
We fight together as a fleet for a reason. That reason is something you all have been taught as children. There is strength in unity. The only way you can use that strength is when you talk to each other. Talk to each other directly, not through me. Best of luck to you all gentlemen, and I will see you all on the other side. Literally in this case.” Hamid finished with a smile.
As he cut the com, his face’s expression changed drastically. Despite whatever he might have said about the talisman, he clutched it tightly and prayed softly. “Allah ho Akbar”. This thing could go horribly wrong, and if it did, there would be no one to blame but himself, for he had come up with this tactic.
The Avenger class ship at a weight of 20 thousand tons minus fuel was twice the tonnage of the Nautilus class ship. Some of that extra tonnage went into accommodating 560 humans instead of the 200 that was the capacity of Nautilus. Some of it went into the extra-large tanks with a capacity to carry 20 thousand tons of fuel, and some of the extra tonnage went into providing extra facilities and medical support for crews that would stay for almost a decade on board instead of a few years.
However a vast majority of the extra tonnage went into weapons, armaments and weapons manufacturing capability. Other than nukes and the missiles carrying those nukes, the Avenger was capable of manufacturing almost everything else given the right raw material. To compensate for the fact that nukes could not be replenished on such a long campaign, extra nukes had been loaded. Sixteen hundred in all.
Retribution (Shaitan Wars) Page 19