I grinned at Vonda, in spite of the pain that caused, and tried to explain them to her.
Lastly, the station came through.
I opened a channel to Repulse.
"I see you've been reinforced," I said. "You might have sent word."
Susan Bentley laughed.
"Wanted to surprise you," she said.
"You did. Come on over please, we need to talk. Use Custer's external airlock."
"Yes sir. Be there shortly."
The channel closed.
"Let's move to my Ready Room, it'll be more comfortable there."
Vonda nodded, and followed me.
Seventeen
It was just after eleven when Susan Bentley entered my Ready Room. There was no sign of any new Midgard fleets. This boded badly for a buildup happening at Cobol.
The question was where we went next.
"What did they do to Warspite?" asked Vonda.
"Replaced the destroyed turret with a missile turret instead," answered Susan. "She looks so different now, because instead of a conventional turret, they put in a large missile box. It actually allows ten capital ship missiles to fire in five different directions at once. They can all be fired simultaneously at a single target, or up to five different targets. Fired together, they're not going to hit all at once, but the stagger won't be more than ten seconds apart from first to last. She was also given eight Mosquito launchers, and as much Point Defense as they could fit. She now matches Repulse for speed, so she'll be able to keep up."
"What about the Defense Force ships?" I asked.
"They were all upgraded as well, which is why they're so late to the party. The systems sending them all collaborated in the planning. Whoever the mover and shaker was, insisted they weren't cannon fodder, and needed to be able to protect themselves before being sent."
"Well their arrival is timely. It solves one of my problems."
"Which one?" asked Vonda.
"The blocking force to leave here. Repulse's fleet should have no real difficulty now in dealing with a standard Midgard fleet. I'll leave George in Gunbus, with Slice in his, to provide torpedo support as well."
Torpedoes. The word reverberated around my brain like an echo.
"The question then, is where we go," stated Vonda.
We spent the next hour discussing it. I wasn’t concerned about the hour. In the scheme of things, an hour wasn’t going to make a lot of difference, and it gave us the time to plan the next step much more carefully than I had the last.
Susan Bentley left to return to Repulse. Vonda and I went onto the Bridge.
Jane docked Custer at the station. I had Slice send over several dozen comnavsats, and he left to join Repulse's defense line. George was brought up to date, and Gunbus also left to join Repulse, after sending the Dropships to the station.
I made an announcement to the station, letting people know it was again going into battle, and anyone who wished, should move to the Liner immediately, which would remain here with Repulse. I was somewhat surprised when only about half the people chose to leave.
Within the hour, the station moved out to form up with the Pocket Battleships.
On the way, Jane and I discussed ways of increasing effectiveness.
On arrival with the fleet, we formed up into line abreast formation, with the station in the middle. Our destination was Cobol. Jane cloned herself fully onto the Guardians. This would allow the clones to concentrate on defense, while Jane herself could fly the ships, and fire offensively. JW was also tasked to defense, with O'Neil retaining command and movement control.
Almost immediately, scanner data showed four full Midgard fleets between us and the Orbital station.
Belatedly, I ate lunch in my Dining Room alone. When I finished, I went into my Ready Room and tooled up. While I’d been in hospital, my guns had been brought here. When I returned, I'd put my new Long Gun with them. Now, I put on one of my normal Gatling stunners for my left hand, and the Long Gun for my right.
On our way out, Jane and I poked our noses into the Deck Two Rec Room. About half the team were there, so I announced I was moving to the CCC on the station, and anyone was welcome to join me there. Custer was staying docked for this one. I asked for the word to be passed, and Jane and I left.
Once in the CCC, Janet activated the pilot's chair. I took my seat, and checked everything was working. I used the same setup as last time. Jane plugged herself into a data port.
The sixteen Hive clusters launched from the station, and once again attached to the ring of the top level of the station, aligned the same as last time, so at longest range, torpedo fire would merge on the target.
This time however, each cluster was given a number, and Jane would connect them individually as I asked for them. An aim sight would appear on the HUD, changing as I changed the cluster in use. It meant twelve torpedoes per salvo, but I should be able to fire them a lot more accurately this time.
Too Slow.
What's too slow?
Think overkill.
Overkill?
Right, overkill. The Midgard two hundred missile barrages were overkill. They would be just as effective firing fifty at a time, but they obviously lacked any ability to fire limited salvos. So they were using overkill to bludgeon the target, rather than finesse to minimize the use of missiles. If I tried to be too subtle, it would take too long, with too much room for mistakes. Overkill on the other hand, was quicker to do, and guaranteed results.
This was going to be a slug-fest. There was no other way it could go. We could see them. They could see us. Both sides knew down to the minute when battle would commence. They would launch everything as soon as we came in range. We had to respond in kind.
Which meant, I'd been thinking badly again.
For the first time, I wondered just how much my mind had been affected by the blow to my head. Or was I just out of my depth now? The old adage says people rise to their level of incompetence. Had I reached mine?
Get a grip.
I had time. I sat there, and rethought the entire battle.
I told Jane the changes I wanted, and how we would play this out.
Finally, I opened a vid.
"Marshall, Admirals, General. Repulse and Warspite, with the combined Sci-Fi and British fleets, guard the Atlantis jump point. The station and Pocket Battleships, are moving to retake Cobol. Four full Midgard fleets await us. You will hear from me in about an hour and half, or not at all. Hunter out."
I sent it off.
Annabelle came in not long after I pinged her.
"General, I've changed my mind. I'd like your team on Custer for the attack. Prepare for an assault on Cobol Orbital. I think we can assume it's not going to be in very good condition. I also think you need to plan a ground assault."
"Ground assault?"
"There are seven hundred and twenty Talon's ahead of us. That’s an absurd number of short range fighters. Logically, the only place they can be supported is on the ground. So they must have a ground presence, and the locals cannot have been able to stop them. At the least, we'll need to go in, take out the defenses, and open the gates, so to speak."
"Makes sense. I'll get on it. Alison should stay here. She isn’t fit enough for any kind of action. For that matter, neither are you." She grinned at me.
"I know. I've just had a reminder that I'm not thinking as well as I should be. And I'm still moving very painfully. I'll be sitting here the whole time."
"Good. I'll get on with troop deployments."
"Take Vonda and Alsop with you. If this goes badly, she'll need to be far enough out of it to keep command." She nodded. "Jane will dock the Dropships in Custer for you. She'll assign a security droid to act as an avatar pilot for each. Doing it that way gives them more autonomy, and makes it look like there's a real pilot."
"I wish you hadn't left George behind."
"I know. But if the shit hits the fan there, he and Slice are the most likely to torpedo the Cruisers befor
e anyone else gets seriously hurt. We don’t know how effective Warspite's new missile system is. And we know a Gunbus can take out Cruisers, when it doesn’t have to worry about being defense for other ships. Jane will do fine, just call out the orders to her. Jane?"
"Confirmed."
Annabelle nodded and left. A short time later, Alison limped in, and silently took the Admiral's chair. I sent for a butler droid to bring us both pain killers. The last thing I needed for the next few hours was a rising level of pain, and I judged pain to be worse than pain killers on my mind. Alison looked like she needed it as well. The droid came and went, leaving us both feeling better.
A half hour out from Cobol, the fleet stopped. Jane needed to make changes to the station's Tugs. Custer undocked, and moved a short way away.
This close, we could see the Midgard Cruisers clearly in the distance. They'd formed a wall formation, with four lines of six Cruisers, blocking the way to the Orbital station. Behind them, were sixty squadrons of Talons, arrayed in a giant cloud, allowing them to fire missiles through the gaps between the Cruisers, and around the outside of the Cruiser wall.
In response, we formed a circle formation, with the station at the top.
Every ship in both fleets was aligned so it could fire at the same time, at the same range. If ever scanner tech was to fail through sheer numbers of contacts, the moment we all fired the first time was going to be it.
When all was prepared, we continued the advance on Cobol, albeit more slowly. Custer followed along behind, but she wasn’t going to be joining the fighting.
Fifteen minutes before the firing line, I opened station coms.
"Fifteen minutes to battle commencement. All civilians are to move to designated safe zones, which will display on the monitors near you. You've ten minutes. The Docking Deck must be completely evacuated immediately. It's about to be opened to space, to make boarding more difficult for the enemy. Anyone remaining outside of a safe zone in ten minutes time, will be in grave danger. The responsibility is yours. Hunter out." I closed the coms.
"Are we safe Jon?" asked Alison.
"Do you want the official version, or the truth?"
"Never mind." We both smiled.
My nerves started showing, and I made a quick trip to the nearest bathroom. I returned to my chair to find a bottle of water in the holder. I gulped a few mouthfuls.
Time seemed to slow down, as the minutes ticked by.
Finally, we were almost in our firing position.
"Battle alert," I said into station coms. "Whatever happens, please stay calm. Those who wish to watch, can ask for a screen now. Hunter out."
"Firing position," announced Jane, and the fleet stopped.
Eighteen
Seven salvos of sixty missiles launched at fourteen Cruisers, starting from the bottom left of the wall formation, going right and up. They were each getting thirty, instead of the previous sixty.
Forty Five Mosquito launchers belched four thousand five hundred small missiles, in the direction of the enemy Cruisers. This included the two launchers on Custer, who was now well behind us. Those two hundred would arrive late, but still be useful.
Four Thousand, eight hundred missiles launched from twenty four Missile Cruisers.
Seven hundred and twenty anti-fighter missiles launched from the Talons.
I aimed at the top left Missile Cruiser, and pressed the torpedo button on my joystick. One hundred and ninety two torpedoes left the sixteen Hive clusters. I moved my aim right, and fired again. Aim and fire, aim and fire, aim and fire, aim and fire. Move down to the next line, and repeat back to the left. Down, and to the right. Down, and to the left. As fast as I could.
I was answering a barrage with a barrage. The only thing was, the torpedoes would be out of fuel long before they reached their targets. This wouldn’t matter though, as the targets were not moving. It also didn’t matter that many of the torpedoes would miss. Behind the primary targets were so many secondary targets that most of them would find something in the way to hit.
Mosquitos launched for a second time. Talons launched a second time.
Seven more salvos of sixty missiles launched, aiming from the top left, going right and down.
Time stopped.
I had a flash of a top level view of the battlefield. On the left, my formation of ships. On the right, the Midgard formation. Less than half way to the middle on both sides was what looked like two solid walls of missiles.
Time started again very slowly.
The missiles on both sides met in the middle.
There were dozens of explosions as capital ship missiles from both sides collided. These set off other missiles nearby.
The remaining capital ship missiles were now past each other.
Time returned to normal.
At two thirds of the way towards us, my fleet went to top speed, and shot away from each other.
"Fuel exhausted," said Jane, after getting all ships moving.
She meant the enemy missiles were out of fuel, and now unable to change course.
The station was going directly up, while remaining still pointing at the incoming missiles. This is why I'd had the tugs rearranged.
The Mosquito missiles intercepted the capital ship missiles, and space exploded. The second Mosquito launch intercepted the Talon missiles, and anything remaining from previous launches.
The Midgard Cruisers completed their roll, and fired again.
Some of the new barrage exploded almost immediately as they collided with incoming missiles and torpedoes.
Fourteen Cruisers exploded together.
The Mosquito launchers fired again. But the situation was different now. Each of my ships was on a different trajectory, and the barrages had separated, targeting individual ships. Each ship was now on its own as far as defense was concerned.
Cruiser fifteen died. Talons behind it winked out.
"Oh Shit!" I said.
"What?" asked Alison.
"You don’t want to know," I told her.
She didn’t ask again, but her eyes went wide with fright.
Cruiser sixteen died with a lot more Talons.
I rolled the station to change our line of advance. The thrust we had making us go up, now shifted to send us left as well. I hoped it would be enough.
Cruiser seventeen died. Eighteen. Nineteen. Pause. Twenty. Twenty one. Pause. Twenty two.
Mosquitos met missiles again. Space out there in the middle now seemed to be continuously boiling.
The Mosquito launchers fired again.
Twenty three. And finally, twenty four.
I breathed a sigh of relief for a moment. No more barrages would be coming. But hundreds of Talons were still firing missiles at us.
I carefully lined up the nearest approaching barrage, and fired torpedoes at it. Five more times I shifted aim to another barrage and fired torpedoes again.
Mosquitos and torpedoes met missiles. Half of the barrages vanished in more explosions. I kept pumping out torpedoes.
The remaining capital ship missiles were converging on where they expected us to be. But all six barrages seemed to have been fired at a different point in space, as if each ship had guessed a different location for the station when the missiles arrived.
I lined up the missiles I thought most likely to hit, and this time fired all the main guns. Pulses met missiles, and space exploded once again.
Point Defense was now filling space in front of the station, coming from both the station, and from the Hive clusters. Missiles continued to explode, drawing steadily nearer.
I rolled the station again to change our heading, but I knew it wasn’t going to be enough. One barrage was now falling behind, and this was going to make us vulnerable, since the Point Defenses were all at the top of the station, and the missiles were now aimed well down it.
Thirteen capital ship missiles made it through, coming from two different barrages, on different headings. I desperately tried to re-aim, but it was
too late.
I looked at Alison. She was looking at me, saw my expression, and our eyes locked.
"Do you hear singing?" she asked.
I wasn’t game to answer. I'd told her before not to say goodbye, until the fat lady was singing.
Ten capital ship missiles slammed into the station's shields together.
The station staggered, is if it had rammed into something solid.
The shields went down.
Three more were still inbound. We had seconds left.
Nineteen
The three incoming missiles exploded.
Against Custer's shields.
I felt myself go limp in my seat as all the tension leeched out of me.
"No singing," I said to Alison.
She smiled, tentatively.
"Thank you Jane."
"Thank General Wellington, she ordered me to follow you closely in case something like this happened."
"Tell her thank you. Please."
"Confirmed."
Our shields were starting to regenerate now.
I cast about for what was happening over the whole battlefield. The Pocket Battleships were all firing IR missiles, and Talons were winking out by the dozens. Mosquito launchers were still firing, now aimed at anti-fighter missiles.
I checked each ship. All of them had taken hits. One of the Guardians had a hole in its side, but the damage didn’t seem to be very bad. The rest were undamaged, but had very little shielding.
I brought the station to a stop.
"Realign the Tugs please Janet."
"Yes my Lord."
"Can you tell if we've injuries?"
"Yes my Lord, twenty seven major ones, and several hundred minor. I have cargo droids with sleds on the way to collect those who cannot move. But we'll need people to organize the hospital."
"Attention," I said into ship coms. "The battle is over. Anyone who is injured and can move by themselves, please make your way to the hospital. There are cargo droids on the way for those who cannot move. Please remain calm and orderly. Help is coming. Hunter out."
Make or Break the Hero (The Hunter Legacy Book 4) Page 11