Chapter Seventeen
Rear Admiral Liam Anderson was in the ship’s officers’ mess, eating a sandwich, when the alarms sounded, and red lights flashed. Lieutenant Proston’s voice instantly came over the ship’s comm system.
“We are detecting a Morag fleet exiting hyperspace at twenty thousand kilometers. Fleet is going to Condition One. Stand by for combat. Rear Admiral Anderson, please report to the Command Center.”
Liam took another two bites of his sandwich and two swigs of his tea and headed out of the officers’ mess. With a deep sigh, he knew it was time to go to war.
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Detecting Human warships, reported the Morag sensor officer.
How many? asked Admiral Voxx.
The sensor officer was silent for a moment, and then he sent his findings. A combination of Imperial ships and Resistance ships. Three dreadnoughts, seventy-seven battlecruisers, and twenty-nine smaller support ships. All the Resistance ships are defending the six ODPs in orbit.
Admiral Voxx’s eyes narrowed. This was a much larger force than he expected to face. Also the planet seemed to be heavily armed. While there was no doubt in his mind he could still take this planet, he would suffer some losses. He decided to change his formation to a stronger one. His idea to attack with two fleet sections of two thousand ships each had now changed.
Advance the fleet. Form up into a ten-line formation, one hundred ships in each line, and four deep. Stagger the formation so all ships have a clear line of fire.
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The Morag fleet quickly adjusted its formation and soon advanced on the Human world and the waiting warships. Admiral Voxx was surprised when the main Human force of three dreadnoughts and sixty-three Imperial battlecruisers vanished as they made the transition into hyperspace. Were they fleeing?
Suddenly, on the right flank of his formation, the Human ships reappeared and launched missiles.
Target those ships! ordered Voxx. Already massive explosions lit up the energy screens on the right flank of his fleet, threatening to bring shields down.
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Rear Admiral Anderson nodded in satisfaction, as his fleet jumped back into hyperspace to appear one hundred thousand kilometers from the Morag. In their brief encounter, he had managed to get off three waves of antimatter missiles before the Morag returned fire.
“What damage did we do?”
“We took out seventeen of their battlecruisers and two battleships,” replied Lieutenant Proston. “We also damaged a number of others.”
This was better than Anderson had hoped. Of course they had taken the Morag by surprise, and that wouldn’t happen again. From now on, the Morag would be ready, and the hyperspace jumps to attack would be much more difficult and dangerous.
“We’ll hit them in the rear this next time. Prepare all ships for the next hyperspace jump.” Anderson wanted to hit the enemy as often and as hard as possible, before they reached the planet’s defenses.
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Where are they now! demanded Morag Admiral Voxx.
Sitting one hundred thousand kilometers away, replied First Officer Bale.
Waiting to attack again. Next time we will be ready. He quickly sent out a telepathic message, warning all the ship captains in his fleet. He also sent out a telepathic feeler, to see if he could influence any of the Human minds in that small fleet. Nothing! It was like a blank wall.
They’re jumping! warned the sensor officer.
Alarms sounded as the Human fleet appeared behind the Morag forces, and instantly began pounding the rear of the fleet with antimatter missiles.
The rear line of ships in the Morag fleet responded by turning and launching their own missiles in return. However, by the time the maneuver was complete, the Humans were gone once more.
On the viewscreens, Admiral Voxx saw the glowing debris where a number of Morag warships had been destroyed. Have the rear line of our fleet form up into five fleets of two hundred, ordered Voxx. Their orders are to protect the rear of our fleet. We must put a stop to the attacks of these Human ships.
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Rear Admiral Anderson was quite pleased. Two attacks and not a single ship in his fleet had been damaged.
“They’re readjusting their formation,” warned the sensor officer.
Anderson studied the tactical display, the Morag were taking the rear ships in their formation and forming them up into five small fleets. These were facing different directions to give better protection to the rest of the Morag ships. “This will be more difficult now. We should get off the next first wave of missiles, but we’ll have incoming before we can launch the second.”
“Is it necessary to launch the second?” asked Lieutenant Proston. “We could just launch one and the jump back out before they can retaliate.”
Anderson shook his head. “If you study our last two attacks, the first wave is causing damage, and the second and third waves are actually destroying the damaged ships.”
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Governor Stewart stood next to General Marley, watching the events in space. “Can he stop them?”
General Marley shook his head. “I doubt it. All he can do are these quick attacks, but they won’t stop the Morag. Rear Admiral Anderson is doing what he has to in order to preserve his fleet and to inflict as much damage as possible on the enemy.”
“How’s the evacuation going?” Stewart knew that millions of people were on the move. Many went into underground bunkers, and others fled the major cities to go into the country.
“We’ll seal the bunkers in about an hour,” General Marley informed the governor. “At the same time I’ll pull the military out of the cities.”
The governor looked at the numerous viewscreens that revealed the evacuation going on in all the major cities. He knew he had no way to safely evacuate everyone in the time they had left. No matter what, millions would die. However, if they could stay free of the Confederation, it would be worth it. Stewart just hoped enough of his people survived to rebuild everything they were about to lose.
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The Morag fleet was now closer to Astor. They were nearly in range. On the command ODP, Colonel James Phillips watched intently, as the enemy neared combat range. He had pulled in a lot of the energy beam satellites and missile launching platforms closer to the ODPs. He knew, if the ODPs could survive long enough, they could do considerable harm to the Morag fleet.
“They’re nearly in combat range,” reported the ODP’s sensor officer. “Three more minutes at their current speed.”
James nodded. He keyed his comm set to broadcast to all the ships, ODPs, and missile platforms. “Attention, all commands. The enemy will be in range shortly. We’ll use the energy beam satellites to take out as many missiles as possible. All missile platforms are to go to continuous-launch mode and empty your missile storage bunkers as quickly as possible. All ODPs will concentrate on the enemy fleet. Let’s make them pay for daring to attack Astor.”
“Do you think we can stop them?” asked Captain Dru Turner, who was second in command.
“I don’t know,” replied Colonel Phillips. “But we’ll sure make one massive attempt to stop them.”
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“Jump!” ordered Rear Admiral Liam Anderson, as his small fleet once more vanished to appear on one side of the Morag fleet formation.
“Missiles launching,” reported the tactical officer.
“Incoming fire!” called out the sensor officer.
Anderson braced himself as the Lodestone shook violently from multiple missile impacts. On the viewscreen, the ship’s energy shield glowed brightly. Suddenly a massive explosion off to one side shook the ship. “What was that?”
“The battlecruiser Thunderbolt just blew up,” replied Lieutenant Proston. “It’s shield suffered a catastrophic failure.”
“Second wave of missiles is off!”
“Get us out of here,” ordered Anderson, as he saw another Imperial battlecruiser vanish from the tactical display. These hit-and-run attacks now would t
ake a cost in Human lives.
Anderson felt the ship make the transition into hyperspace, and once more they exited one hundred thousand kilometers from the Morag fleet. “What did we lose?”
“Four battlecruisers with three more moderately damaged,” reported Lieutenant Proston. “The damaged ones report they are still combat capable.”
Suddenly the alarms on the sensor console blared. Looking up at the tactical display, Liam saw several hundred red threat icons appearing around his fleet.
“One of their smaller fleets has followed us,” reported the sensor officer.
“Open fire!” ordered Liam. He had not been expecting this.
On the viewscreen, a rain of missile fire headed toward his fleet.
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In space, the weapons fire grew very intense. Both sides were losing ships. In the Morag fleet of two hundred vessels, a battlecruiser was blown in two, with each half drifting apart. Inside the ship, emergency bulkheads slammed shut, sealing in some of the air. Red lights flashed, and the crew tried to find a safe place to stay, until the battle was over and they could be rescued. Dozens of crewmembers had already been lost to the unforgiving vacuum of space. Even more were injured and being treated. Suddenly in the largest half, the artificial gravity failed, and the lights went out. At that moment an Imperial antimatter missile arrived, vaporizing the ship section. Moments later the same occurred to the second half. In space war there is no mercy.
Weapons fire penetrated energy shields, slamming into ship hulls. Large rents were torn open, throwing debris into space. Some of the debris slammed into other ships’ energy screens but didn’t bring them down. Fusion energy beams, antimatter missiles, and even a few fusion missiles lit up space as they struck energy screens, causing them to glow brightly.
In the Human fleet, several battlecruisers exploded, as their energy shields were overloaded. Other ships were damaged from the intense fire.
“Jump us out of here,” ordered Rear Admiral Anderson, his face pale. He was losing too many ships. “Put us near one of the space stations, until I can decide what we need to do next.”
The Human ships hurriedly withdrew from the battle, making the short hyperspace jump to the nearest space station.
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“What did we lose?” asked Anderson. At least it appeared, from looking at the tactical display, that most of his ships were still with him.
“Six battlecruisers with another seven suffering moderate to heavy damage. All are still combat capable,” answered Lieutenant Proston.
Rear Admiral Anderson knew there was no point in doing anymore hit-and-run raids. “We’ll divide the fleet into two sections to protect the space stations. Both are heavily armed, and, between us and them, we should be able to hurt the Morag when they come within firing range.”
“They’re almost there now,” reported the sensor officer.
“Contact Captain Novak. He’s to take half the fleet to the other space station. I’ll leave his actions up to him, as to the defense of that station.”
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In just a few moments the fleet split in two. Captain Novak took his original ships and headed to the other heavily armed space station. Rear Admiral Anderson took the rest and deployed them around the space station they were currently at.
“Combat range in thirty seconds,” warned the sensor officer, as the Lodestone took up its position, flanked by two undamaged battlecruisers.
“Stand by to fire,” ordered Rear Admiral Anderson. The Morag ships now filled the viewscreens, and the tactical display showed them as a red swarm.
The tension in the Command Center quickly increased as everyone focused on the viewscreens, showing the nearing Morag warships. They looked massive and dangerous.
“Extreme combat range!” called out the sensor officer.
“Fire!” ordered Anderson, leaning forward in his command chair.
All of his ships fired at once and were soon followed by the heavy weapons on the space station.
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Colonel Phillips saw the Imperial ships firing and ordered the ODPs and the missile platforms to do the same.
“Incoming fire,” warned the sensor officer. “Missiles and energy beams.”
On the main viewscreens, the entire front of the Morag fleet lit up from numerous antimatter explosions. Several Morag ships lost their energy screens and were blown apart in massive explosions of released energy.
Missiles and energy beams were now striking the defending Humans. However, many of the incoming missiles were picked off by the 1,400 energy beam satellites.
Phillips winced as a number of the defensive satellites were blown apart. There was just too much incoming fire. It would only be a matter of time before the missiles reached the planet.
“It’ll only get worse, the closer they come,” warned Captain Turner.
Phillips saw another Morag battlecruiser die. “At least it’s costing them. Warn General Marley to expect missiles to penetrate the defensive grid shortly.”
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Morag Admiral Voxx was taken aback by the sheer amount of firepower coming from the planet’s defenses. Even the two shipyards, which were now protected by the remaining Imperial ships, were causing substantial damage to his fleet.
Should we withdraw? asked First Officer Bale.
No! replied Voxx. The planet is heavily defended, but we have the ships to take it. Continue to move the fleet forward.
Admiral Voxx was determined to remove this Human world as a threat to the Confederation.
On one of the viewscreens, he saw one of his battleships being hammered by weapons fire. A few fusion energy beams penetrated its energy screen, carving out massive holes in its side, causing pieces of hull material to drift away from the ship. Suddenly an antimatter missile came through the screen and detonated against the ship’s hull. The ship exploded, breaking into three large pieces, with a number of smaller ones floating nearby. Heavy fusion energy beam fire then riddled all the segments, making them lifeless.
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The battle grew in intensity, as the Morag fleet drew closer. Defensive grid elements were destroyed on a regular basis. The space above Astor was full of brilliant explosions, and soon debris rained down upon the planet.
In the underground Command Center, Governor Stewart gazed at the destruction in orbit. “It’s bad, isn’t it?”
“It’s getting there,” replied General Marley. “We’re losing our defensive grid, though all six ODPs and the two space stations are still fully functional. Most of the warships protecting those facilities are still unharmed as well.”
“How are the evacuations going?”
“Bunkers are nearing 77 percent capacity, and we have a steady flow of people out of the cities.”
Stewart nodded. “Let’s hope we can save most of them.”
“Still don’t want to surrender?”
Stewart shook his head. “No, I will not allow this world to become a part of the Confederation. Not after what they’ve done to our people in the past. I would rather die, and I think most of the people of our planet feel the same way.”
General Marley wasn’t sure of that, but, at least with the deep bunkers, millions of people would survive. Taking a deep breath, he returned his attention to the battle in space. The Morag fleet was almost in range of the large PDC’s weapons. As soon as they were, he intended to have it open fire. This battle was a long way from over.
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Rear Admiral Anderson flinched, as another one of his battlecruisers was blown apart, and the shattered remains drifted toward the planet. Now a lot of debris gathered around the space station. Some, the wreckage of warships, and some, the debris from the defensive grid that once surrounded the station.
Looking at the viewscreens, he saw a horrifying sight. The screens were full of Morag warships advancing toward his position. With every passing moment the weapons fire intensified. So many explosions occurred that they nearly touched one another. The energy screens on his wa
rships and the space station radiated brighter and brighter, as they took more weapons hits.
“We won’t survive much longer,” commented Lieutenant Proston.
Liam nodded. “I know. Contact all ships and order them, if their weapons capability drops below 30 percent, to jump to the fallback position in the Zenith Seven System.” That should at least save some of his ships.
Lieutenant Proston turned to send the message.
The Lodestone shook violently, tossing the lieutenant to the floor. With a groan, she stood back up. “I’m okay.” She straightened her uniform and then continued to Communications.
Looking at the damage control console, Liam saw a number of red lights. The ship was taking damage, and the damage was gradually degrading the vessel’s combat ability.
“Weapons status?”
“Seventy-two percent,” answered the tactical officer. “The energy shield is at 60 percent, and we’re getting some leakage from the enemy’s weapons.
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Captain Novak groaned, as another one of his battlecruisers met oblivion in a massive energy burst that resembled a nova. Even the space station was taking some damage now.
Looking at the viewscreen, he saw that most of the defensive grid protecting the planet was now gone. A few Morag missiles entered the atmosphere, but they were intercepted by ground fire and an occasional interceptor missile. So far, nothing had struck the planet. The only defensive grid elements that still survived were those around the ODPs and a few around the space stations.
“Any of our ships that are 30 percent combat capable or less are to withdraw to the Zenith Seven System,” reported the executive officer.
Novak nodded. That was a good decision. It indicated that the rear admiral wanted to preserve as many ships as possible. It was much easier to repair a damaged ship than to build a new one. “See to it. Keep track of the damage our ships are suffering.”
Novak looked at the green icons representing his fleet. He still had both of his dreadnoughts and eighteen battlecruisers. All were taking heavy incoming fire from the Morag fleet.
“We have three battlecruisers that should withdraw,” reported the executive officer.
The Forgotten Empire: War for the Empire Page 21