by D. J. Holmes
“I concur,” Scott said. “Our provisions are also running low. We can’t allow ourselves to be trapped in the system and forced to fight a series of battles.”
“What is the fleet’s condition?” James asked as he turned to his Logistics Officer.
“We have used fifteen percent of our anti-ship missiles,” Yue answered. “Our point defense ordnance is slightly better; we’ve only used ten percent. Given what I know of Crian supplies, their battle with the colony’s defenders will have taken their use of anti-ship missiles up to twenty percent. We could fight a reasonably drawn out missile duel with these two fleets if they combine, however if we have to fight another full-scale battle after that, we could shoot ourselves dry before the battle ends.”
“Energy weapons don’t rundown our supply,” James said as a plan began to form.
“You want to close to plasma cannon range?” Becket asked. “Surely that’s asking for trouble. They’ll be able to reply in kind.”
“Perhaps,” James replied coyly as he turned to his niece. “Emilie, prepare to send an encrypted message to Ya’sia.” He turned back to Becket. “What do you think the commander of this six hundred strong fleet will do if they enter the system and find the colony under attack? As far as we know, never before has a Flex-aor colony been assaulted.”
“I imagine they will rush to the colony’s aide,” Becket answered. “They’ll not be paying as much attention to their surroundings if they are,” she added as she caught on.
“And if we give them a little more encouragement to miss our approach, then the element of surprise will be in our favor. We have almost two hundred warships. That’s more than enough plasma and laser cannons to take out six hundred Flex-aor ships. Especially if we toss a few missiles into the mix. We know where and when they’re coming. We can set up the perfect ambush.”
“Your call Admiral,” Becket replied. “We both know there’s no such thing as the perfect ambush. But perhaps that’s what we need to get ourselves out of this mess.”
“Then let’s make it happen,” James said a little louder, addressing all of his staff.
*
Twenty minutes later Golden Hind and the rest of James’ fleet released missiles from their missile tubes. However, they didn’t engage their own engines after being released. Five minutes later a second salvo was released, and a third five minutes after that. After releasing their third salvo, James’ ships altered course while remaining in stealth.
Just ten minutes later, the gravimetric plots in every Human warship lit up as six hundred Flex-aor ships exited shift space. What they saw on their own gravimetric plots caused an almost immediate reaction. Though the battle for the Flex-aor colony was over. James had sent orders to Ya’sia to make it appear it was still ongoing. Ya’sia’s ships were maneuvering around the colony and a large fleet of drones were accelerating in towards it, on the gravimetric sensors they appeared to be missiles targeting the colony.
Almost as soon as they entered the system, the Flex-aor warships boosted up to their maximum acceleration rates as they charged to the colony’s defense. Miyamoto tracked their trajectory and sent updated targeting data to the missile salvos that were silently cruising through space. Five minutes later, the first salvo ignited their engines. Suddenly, as if from nowhere, nearly three thousand missiles were accelerating towards the Flex-aor warships. The Flex-aor response was swift. They bombarded the area of space around the missiles with electromagnetic radiation as their sensors sought out the ships that had just opened fire on them. Just at the point where the ships’ sensor officers would have figured out the missiles had apparently materialized out of thin air; the second salvo James’ ships had released ignited their engines. Two minutes later, the third salvo did the same.
As James watched the Flex-aor ships frantically alter the area of space they were scanning as they sought out their attackers, he couldn’t help but smile. Unknown to the Flex-aor, one of his missile salvos wouldn’t even be able to get into range to attack them. The other two would almost be out of fuel by the time they did and their evasive maneuvers would be limited. Despite not knowing the exact point where the Flex-aor ships would jump out of shift space, Miyamoto had done a good job of positioning his missiles. They weren’t going to do any critical damage to the Flex-aor fleet. However, they were doing their job. The Flex-aor were convinced there was an enemy fleet closing in on them from the direction of their own colony. In reality, James’ ships were behind them and were overtaking fast.
“We’ll have ten seconds after the second salvo makes contact with them,” Miyamoto updated.
“Make them count,” James replied. “Focus our fire on the undamaged ships.”
“I’m going to split the enemy fleet into sections and assign them to each of our squadrons,” Miyamoto informed James. “Each squadron can then assess its priority targets after our missiles finish their attack.”
“Very well,” James acknowledged. Miyamoto’s solution wasn’t ideal. It was likely some Flex-aor ships would be missed in the confusion. But with only ten seconds to analyze their fleet and select primary targets, it was the most efficient option they had.
“They’re opening up with their point defenses,” one of Golden Hind’s sensor officers reported.
As James expected, the first salvo of missiles weren’t able to carry out too many evasive maneuvers. Still, they scored some hits. A handful of warships were destroyed. The second salvo actually cut its engines a minute before entering attack range. Instead of trying to score ballistic hits, Miyamoto had given instructions to veer away from the enemy fleet. They would continue on a ballistic trajectory. If possible, they would be collected later. The third salvo was the most successful. Golden Hind’s sensors detected at least forty hits from the grazer warheads. As his staff frantically raced to analyze what ships had been hit and what ships were not damaged, James sat silently. The ten seconds it took for his ships to get into range of the Flex-aor passed in a blink of an eye. “Fire,” he ordered when Miyamoto looked up from his command console.
Heavy plasma cannons unleashed their devastating fire. Accelerated almost to the speed of light, the plasma bolts covered the distance to their targets in less than an a second. No Flex-aor commander had reflexes quick enough to react. Hundreds of Flex-aor ships detonated as plasma bolts burnt through their armor and struck key components. Others lost propulsion or suffered system failures. Before they could return fire, the Human ships equipped with laser cannons as secondary energy weapons opened fire. Another wave of devastation crippled hundreds more Flex-aor ships. Then James gave the order for his ships to roll. Turning to bring their missile tubes to bear allowed the Human fleet to release another three thousand missiles. The missiles had next to no time to accelerate up to attack velocity. They didn’t need to though, hardly any Flex-aor ships could open up with their point defenses. Hundreds of missiles were therefore able to detonate and send thousands of grazer beams ripping into what was left of the Flex-aor fleet.
After the first missiles exploded, Golden Hind’s sensors degraded to the point where it was impossible to tell what was going on. James gripped his command chair’s armrest tightly. He was waiting for the all too familiar sound of laser beams striking his flagship’s hull. As the seconds dragged on and nothing happened, his hopes rose. Then, when the sensors updated the holo-display, he sat back amazed. The Flex-aor fleet had been devastated. Completely devastated. Hardly a ship was left under power. And that didn’t last long. As soon as new targets were identified, the Human ships that had re-charged their plasma cannons opened up. Here and there a Human warship exploded as some of the few intact Flex-aor ships managed to return fire but even they were soon blasted into silence.
“Alter the fleet’s trajectory, let’s collect our missiles. As soon as we collect them, I want to get our ships out of here,” James ordered. Given the low speed the missiles had been carrying, his ship would be able to catch up and recover them pretty quickly. Even so, James
wanted to get away from the end of the shift passage as soon as possible. The second Flex-aor fleet could arrive at any moment. “Detach four of our stealth destroyers as well. Send them up the shift passage. I want to know if there are any other fleets coming down the shift passage towards us beyond the one we know is coming.”
As his subordinates organized the missile salvo’s recovery. James read through the initial damage reports. Four ships had been lost, including a light cruiser. Another ten had suffered serious damage. All in all, the battle had been entirely one-sided. Six hundred Flex-aor warships had been taken out with just three missile salvos and almost no losses. At any other point in his career James would have been proud. Now, it felt like the minimum he needed to accomplish.
*
Two hours later, James and Ya’sia had their fleets formed up together. They were facing the shift passage that would lead them out of the Flex-aor system and back towards Human space. When the day had begun, they had over six hundred ships in their combined fleet. Now there were five hundred and eight. Thirty-three ships had been lost and more than seventy others had been so significantly damaged that they were no longer battle worthy. They were now stationed behind the main fleet protecting the supply freighters they had brought with them. One more battle, James told himself as he waited for the final Flex-aor fleet to jump into the system. As soon as they arrived he and Ya’sia planned to launch their attack. There was no point beating around the bush. They had to fight their way through the one thousand Flex-aor warships that were coming, and then hopefully they could return home. It was clear that the Flex-aor were a bigger threat than Humanity had realized.
“Detecting ships coming out of shift space,” Miyamoto reported. “They’re exiting at the same point the last fleet appeared.”
James nodded. He had been tempted to try another ambush. But it would have taken too long to get Ya’sia and his ships into position and his ships couldn’t have taken on a thousand ships by themselves. Instead, along with everyone else, he watched the numbers increase on the main holo display. Before leaving the area, he had ceded it with stealth recon drones. One central drone was relaying their sensor data via gravimetric COM whilst the rest remained hidden.
“One thousand one hundred and twelve,” Scott said once the number stopped increasing. “We can handle that ma…” She cut off midsentence. Another stealth recon drone had begun to transmit.
As data was analyzed and transferred to the holo-projector, a second fleet appeared adjacent to the first. It’s numbers quickly rose past two hundred, then three, then four. It didn’t stop until it reached nine hundred.
James looked over to Scott. She gave a slight shake of her head. He nodded in agreement. There was no way the fleet could take on two thousand Flex-aor ships and not take serious losses, they could even be defeated.
“They’re splitting up,” Miyamoto reported before James had time to analyze the appearance of the additional ships. “Squadrons are moving to intercept our recon drones that are transmitting. Others are breaking away from the main fleet. It looks like they are taking up positions to cover the shift passage’s entrance.”
“They want to block our escape route,” Becket surmised. “If we try to close with them, they will recombine their squadrons and bring us to battle. There’s no way out of this system.”
“There is,” James replied. His mind was racing. It was only one way he could see to convince the Flex-aor ships to leave their positions. “Get me Sato and Gupta and the COM channel.”
“I’m with you James,” Gupta said as soon as her face was projected from his command chair.
“You don’t know what I’m going to propose yet,” James countered.
“I know you well enough. I’m with you,” Gupta replied.
“Maybe you two should fill me in,” Sato suggested.
“He wants to take the fleet to the Flex-aor homeworld. It’s the only way we can draw their ships away from the shift passage. If we threaten their homeworld, they have to follow us. Then we can try and give them the slip in their home system,” Gupta explained. “Isn’t that right Admiral?”
If the situation hadn’t been so serious James would have made a quip about being too predictable. Instead he simply nodded. “That’s about the gist of it. I can’t see any other way past them. We’ll be risking our entire fleet. No doubt the Flex-aor have more ships in their home system, and probably more on the way. But I can’t see another option. Our one glimmer of hope is the High Queen’s escape. If she had been confident she could have beaten us in this system with these reinforcements she would have stayed. That suggests she doesn’t have too large a force in her home system.”
“Okay, I’m in,” Sato responded. “I don’t like much the idea of going toe to toe with another two thousand Flex-aor warships. If there is a chance we can give them the slip then I’m up for it.”
“I presume you haven’t spoken to Ya’sia yet?” Gupta asked.
James cracked a small smile. “No, I thought I’d have the easier conversation first.”
“Well, you’d better go and convince her,” Gupta replied. “If this is going to work, the sooner we try it the better. Every second gives them more time to gather their forces.”
“I’ll contact her immediately,” James responded. “Prepare to alter course as soon as I give the order.”
“We will,” Sato replied for Gupta and himself. “Good luck with Ya’sia.”
James nodded to his two subordinates and cut the COM channel. He immediately opened one to Ya’sia’s flagship. “Please tell me you have a plan Admiral,” she said as soon as the connection was established.
“I do,” James replied. “But you’re not going to like it.”
*
Ten minutes later the Human and Crian ships turned one hundred and eighty degrees and accelerated hard towards the only other shift passage out of the system. For several minutes the Flex-aor didn’t react. Then in response to some undetected signal from their senior commander, every one of their squadrons accelerated after the Human and Crian fleet. The hunt was on.
Chapter 16
The Empire has trading relationships with more than three hundred civilizations that are not within the Empire itself. None are more important than our relationship with the Ral’alt’am. Without the Corax crystals they provide for us, the maintenance of our Sun Gates would be all but impossible.
-Excerpt from Empire Rising, 3002 AD.
UNS Golden Hind, Flex-aor home system, 1st August 2478 AD.
It took three days to reach the Flex-aor home system. At several points along the way, James jumped out of shift space and tried to hide in the hope the Flex-aor fleet would simply pass them by. Whoever was commanding the Flex-aor forces wasn’t so easily tricked. They had sent out a large screening force of light ships which had detected his fleet every time. Within a couple of hours, the main Flex-aor fleet had jumped out of shift space and made their presence known. Rather than advance to engage, the fleet had remained in position, waiting and watching. It hadn’t been hard to figure out why. No doubt some ships had been sent on to their home system with news of James’ position. They were waiting for reinforcements.
Not wanting to let the Flex-aor concentrate any more forces against him, James abandoned trying to sneak past his pursuers. Instead he raced to their homeworld. Thanks to the detailed scans of the system the Crian’s benefactors had taken centuries ago, he knew exactly what to expect when they jumped out of shift space. As a result, he already had a plan put together. One his staff was intimately familiar with. Of course, the plan wouldn’t work unless the Flex-aor were willing to play along.
“Sensor data coming in now,” one of Golden Hind’s Lieutenants reported.
Golden Hind’s computers quickly analyzed the thousands of different points of electromagnetic energy being detected and projected them on the bridge’s main holo- projector. James was not surprised by what he saw. The area around the exit of the shift passage he had just jumped
out of was alive with Flex-aor scouts. There were more than thirty of them pumping radar waves out into space as they searched for his fleet’s arrival. Further into the system there didn’t appear to be much else going on. If the Flex-aor normally had civilian ships or supply freighters operating within their home system, they were all lying low. The only contacts Golden Hind’s sensors detected were the battlestations and warships in orbit around the Flex-aor homeworld. As James stared at the contacts, more details appeared beside them as Miyamoto and other the tactical officers assessed the incoming data. The warships were designated enemy fleet Alpha and there were over nine hundred of them, including the easily identifiable oversize battleship that was Ala’ron’s flagship. Though James still thought the flagship impressive, the sixty orbital battle stations arrayed around the Flex-aor homeworld impressed him even more. They dwarfed Ala’ron’s flagship and were easily two if not three times the size of the battlestations that had orbited the Flex-aor colony in X-62. I’m glad we don’t have to tangle with them, James thought.