by Ian Miller
Harry allowed his ship to drift slowly towards the M'starn. The tiny Terran ships rallied, and darted forward again, tiny gnats delivering the odd sting, but only too frequently drifting into the flame, to be incinerated in a spectacular blaze. The anger rose; Harry so wanted to fire his main motors, to charge forward and help. But somehow he restrained himself; he had one realistic chance, and that needed surprise. So far the enemy seemed unaware of his dead, blackened ship as it drifted forward.
Larger and larger the enemy loomed. A small touch of the upward and the reverse thrusters, and his ship drifted between two of the enemy. Harry signalled to his weapons centres, and switched on the shields. The ship was alive. The initial strategy was simple. His ship was to drift between the two enemy, and open fire on both. Beams flew, and weapons centres on the enemy began to glow. The initial return fire was partly ineffective; as if by reflex, seeing what was attacking them, they fired at the weapons centres on a standard M'starn ship. But on these ships, the superstructure had been altered, with false bulges welded on, and these took the initial careless blasts. As these grew incandescent, the enemy momentarily faltered, and sustained further damage. Then there was a scream through the intercom; the flashing blue lights on the control showed the rear port centre was destroyed, and the forward starboard centre was depressurizing, but still marginally operational.
The next manoeuvre disobeyed the dictum of keeping it simple. Harry and Winters both threw the switches to engage the Ulsian gift, then gently pressed the downward thrusters. As the great black ships ascended, images remained. The M'starn beams flew, into and through the images to strike the next ship. The images glowed incandescently, to encourage the gunners; further beam after beam tore through the images into the ships, metal flew, metal melted, flowed, boiled. As nests were silenced the enemy began to roll, but as their new weapons came into view and commenced firing, they came into the full force of their own fire. Too late they recognized the trick, and fired upwards. Harry and Winters now fired directly at the remaining targets. The enemy ships pitched and glowed, but the weapons nests died. Without firepower, a surrender signal came from the commander of the four ships, and Harry signalled acceptance and conditions; the enemy were to continue on their present path, without firing motors. They would later be escorted back to a central command point, and their surrender formally accepted. No further shots would be directed against them, provided they followed the agreement. The M'starn accepted.
* * *
Marisa knew she had one duty. She alone could hold the first wing. Although all ships in it were damaged, they were by no means defeated. As this wing began to turn to assist the other wing, Marisa began hurling rocks. The M'starn were diverted, and had to train their weaponry on the incoming stones. For a short period of time they were undecided as to what tactic they should follow, and they destroyed rocks, but then they decided to turn on the launching sites. Marisa began hurling the false rocks, and again the M'starn were undecided. Destroying all the rocks consumed large amounts of energy, and some were left to pass while they concentrated on the gigantic rail guns. Two of these were knocked out, but then they misguessed, and let through a false rock. The missiles were fired at virtually point blank range, and another battle cruiser, although not destroyed, was eliminated from the battle.
Two more rail guns were destroyed, leaving only one apparent site functional. Three battle cruisers began to focus their attention on this site. Marisa quickly activated the last site, and began firing the false rocks. But this time, one ship could devote its attention to a site, while the other two protected it. All the false rocks were destroyed, and soon the last site was also destroyed. Sweat began to form on Marisa's brow. She realized that now she was vulnerable, and it then became apparent that the enemy had discovered that her asteroid was the command centre. As the giant ships came towards her, she had one last line of defence. She began releasing the nets of strangely charmed mines.
* * *
The first of the giant ships hit a cluster, which, attached to each other by fine thread, caused them to swing around and hit the ship's side, causing the cluster to detonate. The second ship, following closely behind, struck a similar net, with similar results. The great ships had their outer shells macerated, with the effect that they became, essentially, unarmed. Following the surrender of the first wing, the same offer was extended to this wing. The two disarmed ships signalled their intent to accept.
The third, however, did not. It recognized that the first two would have punched a hole in the minefield, and although it almost certainly recognized the cause was lost, it elected to take its toll. Marisa watched helplessly as the great ship turned its weapons towards her asteroid, and gradually began to melt away her protective coating of silicates.
"Harry, please help me," she implored into her microphone.
* * *
Harry had been overseeing the surrender, and when he was certain that the defeated M'starn would keep their word, he signalled Winters to follow and assist with the second wing. He recognized the signal to release mines, and he quickly brought his ship up above the plane of the minefield. He watched the first two ships strike the mines, and was pleased to hear they would surrender. He was about to send Marisa his congratulations but then he became horror-struck as the remaining ship began to focus its weapons on Marisa's asteroid.
As the molten rock began to peel off into space, he heard Marisa's plea. In that instant, both he and Winters focussed their weapons on the rogue ship. The M'starn ship never faltered. Although it realized it was doomed, it seemed determined to exact this one piece of revenge. All Harry could do was watch in horror the race between the destruction of the ship's weapons and the destruction of the asteroid. Eventually the weapons were quietened, but the asteroid had most of its shielding removed, and its entire surface was glowing a dull red. Then Harry noticed the by now familiar glow at the rear of the ship; the M'starn was about to engage the main drive. He was pointed directly at the asteroid, and this could only mean he intended to destroy both himself and the asteroid. In almost blind fury, Harry swung his ship around a little, and began firing everything he could bring to bear on the rear of the enemy. Within the M'starn ship, beams began tearing into the great coils of the motors, at the very instant that the first stream of tau particles was directed towards the maximum allowed volume of nuclei. The weak fields were pulsed, but the orientation of the inertial field beam was not correct. A great bolt of pure focussed energy tore into the front starboard weak field generator, which immediately collapsed upon itself. The M'starn ship suddenly began leaping through space like a giant jumping jack, as energy jets poured out in random directions.
Harry could see two bright lights, the brilliantly incandescent remains of the M'starn ship, and the dull glowing remains of the asteroid.
"Marisa," Harry said, imploringly into his microphone, "please tell me you're still alive."
"I'm alive," came back the reply, "but it's very hot in here. I'm going deeper, where it's cooler."
"Marisa."
"Yes?"
"I still love you. Promise me you'll stay alive?"
"If you promise to stop any repeat of that attack."
"Done!"
"Strictly speaking," Marisa said, "that was a breach of radio protocol. I wonder what the Commissioner will think?"
"I'm not that stupid to guess on a transmission," Harry replied, a reply which was to bring a wry smile to Natasha's lips.
* * *
"Ship's status?"
"Actium in full battle order," Marcellus replied in a matter of fact tone. "All shields at maximum capacity, cloaking fully operational, fusion motors on minimum power, main drives full standby, dephasing banks charged, pulse cannon fully operational, inertial equivalence locked to outer skin, set one g Ulsian, all sensors appear fully operational."
"Appear?"
"I detect three M'starn wings. Two are engaging battle."
"Define command axis, Uranus to Sol, forw
ard. Ecliptic plane defines right and left, Sol magnetic north is up. Convey to Livia. Ensure Ekaterina informs Natasha."
"Of course," Marcellus replied, without comment. The coordinate systems had been agreed previously, but it was the Ulsian tradition to reconfirm all definitions at every available moment, a habit that Gaius had always found highly annoying. This set of orders had only one purpose, and that was to put Marcellus and Ekaterina at ease.
"In emergency evasive action, Livia to move defined left and or up, Actium right and or down."
"Message transmitted and received. Livia acknowledges."
At least there was one additional potential disaster avoided, Gaius smiled. The problem with left and right as instructions was that when you turned around or rolled over, they changed. On a planet, this was not a problem, but in space, there was no obvious frame of reference. Of course the stars were there, but in the heat of battle, the stars did not give an instantly recognizable pattern to a commander. They did, however, for the ships. It had been one of Gaius' contributions to Ulsian battle tactics to define the avoidance directions before the battle commenced. The Ranhynn vessels were each programmed to evade in parallel to one of the Ulsian craft.
"Wings one and two being held," Marcellus reported. "Analysis indicates no worse than two to one against."
The Ulsian odds, Gaius shook his head. Standard Ulsian tactics now would be to retreat and regroup, or alternatively, to commit his forces. His forces would totally annihilate the enemy in whichever wing he chose to attack.
"Wing three, back three thousand kilometers, down five hundred, moving forward uniform seven kilometers per second."
And that, Gaius thought to himself, was why he could not assist. Any such move would expose their rear to this wing, and give free shots at their most vulnerable sections, the motors.
"If you stand, and either Earth group is defeated, the victorious M'starn wing will guarantee defeat of the other Earth group, and then of us, unless we flee," Marcellus added without emotion.
And that, Gaius thought, was a very succinct view of the other side of the argument. He had to decide what the outcome of each battle was likely to be, and one mistake, or misjudgement, would lose the war, unless loss was predestined. His decision was that unless the Earth groups could hold long enough for this third wing to be nullified, defeat was inevitable.
"Action?"
"Hold position!" Gaius replied. He had decided. Each of the Earth groups would hold, or would at least lose as at Asculum. The third wing had closed, and was passing beneath their current positions, apparently oblivious to the danger above them.
"Curious," Gaius muttered.
"In what way?"
"They know roughly where we are, and they don't seem to be searching for us."
"Not so," Marcellus replied quietly. "The ship at the extreme right is scanning."
"Are we detected?"
"I doubt it," Marcellus replied evenly. "Not by that, anyway. Now it's stopped."
"More curious still," Gaius shrugged. "Nevertheless, I see no reason not to attack. Inform Ekaterina I wish Natasha to attack the ship on the extreme left, while we take that on the extreme right. Ranhynn to attack from the centre, concentrating on a ship of their choice from the rear. Attack now, down twenty g to the attack plane, forward three g, right point zero four g."
Slowly the fleet grew in size. It was still flying in undisturbed formation, and Gaius had to admire the pristine condition of the ships in the centre. His target was more battered, and clearly far less time had been put into repairing it. Gaius almost thought of leaving it until later, but the scanners were once again active, and this time they had detected a signal. The guns twisted upwards, and beams curled towards the nearest Ranhynn ship.
"Target! Lock!"
"Partial lock . . . lock lost," Marcellus said quietly, as the M'starn ship slid backwards as it used reverse thrusters, a feature Gaius had not seen previously on such ships.
"Back twelve g, up thirty g for fifteen seconds . . . Left twelve g . . . Lock!"
"Partial lock . . . Gravity anomaly!" The last comment was almost roared.
"Dephase!"
The ship became incandescent and sheets of metal pulsed off. The ship was not destroyed, but it was no longer able to continue the combat. One jet of metal caught one of the pristine ships, and it immediately began to glow and roll. The enemy ship below the Livia similarly emitted jets , and even the Ranhynn ships seemed to be successful, if not too successful. The Ranhynn themselves sensed the victory was too easy, for their ships suddenly lurched forward and upward, and began taking extreme evasive manoeuvres.
"The central ships?" Gaius asked.
"Mass one fiftieth that expected," came the calm reply.
Dummies! So where were the enemy really?
"Mass below closing fifty kilometers per second, closing twelve seconds from . . . now!"
"Livia, hold!" Gaius ordered. "Phasing locks focus at four seconds! Pulse cannon pattern twelve!"
Gaius realized there was barely time to give the order. He looked below, and there were the missing enemy. Sit, he thought, and absorb long-range fire. The enemy guns glowed, and beams tore upwards. Then the leading ships hit the cannon fire, and began glowing, then began evading.
"Dephase!" Gaius ordered, then, "Evade!"
The Actium shook as beams struck through to the outer shell, before it squirted out to the side. Gaius watched with a touch of admiration as the M'starn ships radiated away from the central focus, avoiding most of the possible damage from the trap, yet still firing on the Ulsian ships, but this time doing little damage.
The two Ranhynn ships both focussed their attention on the M'starn ship that had veered towards the sun, and they had positioned themselves so that one could attack almost directly from the sun. At this distance the sun was hardly blinding, and it was also a very small object. Nevertheless, it still had the ability to overload detectors that had not been corrected to allow for it. This may have had some effect, for as the Ranhynn ships darted to and fro, the enemy weapons seemed unable to keep up with them. The angry wasps struck time and again, as the erratic blasts from the enemy pulsed this side and that about them. Gradually the weapons centres died on the black ship, although the Ranhynn ships were sustaining damage at a very nearly similar rate.
Gaius watched the M'starn ships curl out of their roll, and took his Krezell wand to link the Actium for more direct manoeuvres. Approach slightly from the rear, he ordered. The two black ships rolled forward, and the Actium slid up between them. The weapons centres of the two ships turned towards him. So far, so good. Forward, right between them! Glow! Full energy to the screens! Holding! Up slightly! Forward slightly! Holding! Down one hundred g!
As the Actium dived, the M'starn were caught in their own crossfire. They quickly stopped firing, and with an unfortunate lack of coordination, both evaded upwards. A partial lock on the right ship sent a shower of molten metal from the motor section of the right ship streaming into space. For that ship, rapid turning would be impossible, and the pulse cannon were focussed on that target. A partial lock on the other sent it tumbling forward as the commander desperately tried to protect his motor section. He succeeded, but for an instant he exposed the less-well protected underside, and another partial lock caused a volcano of molten metal to spew forth from the central section. Although no function was removed, the commander would have to question the entire ship's structure.
Gaius looked towards the Livia. Here the situation was less satisfactory. The Livia was darting hither and thither between three enemy ships. As yet, only minor damage had been done to either side, but Gaius could see that while Natasha had successfully evaded two enemy, and had done some damage, the remaining ship had got above her. Worse still, unknown to Natasha, the fourth ship supposedly held by the Ranhynn was heading directly for her. The four enemy ships were approaching as if from the corners of a tetrahedron, with full shielding directed inwards. Four to one against, with all a
xes blocked, there was little chance to escape. He had to do something, but to move towards the Livia would mean exposing his own ship to the two damaged ships before him.
In almost blind panic, Gaius ordered the Actium to turn. It refused to respond! Gaius cursed inwardly. The ship was saving itself, at the expense of Natasha! There was little he could do. Then, as the tetrahedral configuration was reached, and as Gaius could barely bring himself to watch, the top ship became incandescent, and as the jets poured out, one burned into one of the remaining M'starn ships, tearing great sheets of outer skin and boiling the metal into space. The Livia immediately fired its pulse cannon into the only undamaged M'starn ship.
With no fully functional ships, the M'starn commander had no alternative but to surrender.
"Forgive me, Gaius, for overriding your orders," Marcellus remarked, "but my action was consistent with the Ulsian battle code. When victory is ninety-nine point eight per cent probable, I have a duty to protect you. In any case, Claudia Lucilla ordered the Actium not to spoil their configuration."
"Lucilla!" Gaius exclaimed in surprise.
"She will explain later," Marcellus replied. "The Romulus is in dire need of repair, and it is now decelerating to land on Chiron."
"Thank the Gods she's alive," Gaius sighed.
"And which Gods do you now favour?" Marcellus asked with a slight air of superiority.
"Any that are listening," Gaius smiled.
Chapter 14
Victory should be sweet, Harry thought. It was certainly better than defeat, but it fell far short of what he had dreamed. He should be dancing, drinking champagne, singing with the rest of his crew. Instead, he was still on the bridge, staring at the still faintly glowing asteroid below, visualizing white-hot lava oozing through the corridors. Perhaps there was still an escape route, perhaps there was not. He had even momentarily started to calculate heat flows, but he had quickly stopped. Of course, he kept telling himself, the rock really was not hot enough to flow, and even if it could, its viscosity would be so high that in the ultra weak gravity, it would barely move. As long as it did not seal the exit passages. For Harry knew that Marisa had to get out of that asteroid herself. The battle fleet had no excavation equipment.