Their Last Full Measure

by Christopher Nuttall

  They have no way of knowing we’re coming, Hoshiko told herself, as the fleet lurched into FTL. The display changed, showing a simulation of the system they were approaching. And we’re about to give them a nasty surprise.

  Yolanda looked up as the ship shivered, very slightly. “We’ll drop out of FTL in ten seconds,” she said. “Admiral?”

  “They know what to do,” Hoshiko said. She was a passenger on someone else’s ship. It was irritating, but it had to be endured. “Let them get on with it.”

  The display blanked as the ship dropped back into realspace, then rebooted hurriedly. A pair of fortresses floated beside the gravity point, surrounded by a small cloud of mines and sensor decoys. Hoshiko had expected capital ships to back them up, but there was nothing larger than a gunboat. They’d probably been redirected to join the enemy fleet, the one she’d smashed weeks ago. It was quite possible the fortress crews didn’t even know the fleet had been smashed.

  Defiant shuddered as she launched four hammers, targeted on the lead fortress. It would be expensive, but the fortress had to be taken out as quickly as possible. Her sensors picked up a picket tethered to the nearest fortress, already powering up her drives. If she managed to make it through the gravity point, the advantage of surprise would be lost. Hoshiko leaned forward, watching avidly as the hammers struck their targets and punched right through their defences. A series of explosions blew both structures to hell.

  “Good work,” she said, as the gunboats launched a desperate attack on the fleet. They were screaming for help, but it didn’t matter. Their messages couldn’t go through the gravity point and alert anyone who could help. She watched, coldly, as they were picked off one by one without even scratching her paint. The operation had been a total success. “Inform Captain Clearwater that he has permission to deploy.”

  “Aye, Admiral,” Yolanda said. She paused. “Shouldn’t we wait for Force Two?”

  “There’s no time,” Hoshiko reminded her. It wouldn’t take much to reveal their presence. If she’d been in command, she would have made sure the fortresses sent routine updates every hour on the hour. Or something, just to create a pattern that would set off alarms when it was broken. “And if we don’t get through the gravity point now, we might lose our chance to win quickly.”

  And if that happens, she thought as Captain Clearwater’s ship inched towards the gravity point, we may take heavy losses at the worst possible time.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Captain Philip Clearwater braced himself for a warm welcome as Rufus slipped through the gravity point. It wasn’t the ship’s real name, of course. The part of him that was just a little superstitious wished he’d kept the ship’s original name when she’d been captured from the Tokomak and pressed into service, but her name wasn’t easy for humans to pronounce. And the translation was just laughable. He’d heard of naming ships after people or concepts, but statements? It was just absurd.

  He allowed himself a moment of relief as the display dimmed, revealing a cluster of fortresses positioned close to the gravity point. There were too many of them, suggesting the Tokomak in command of the system had gone above and beyond the call of duty in towing fortresses from planetary orbit and emplacing them on the gravity point. It was worrying, given the simple fact that the Tokomak - in theory - had no reason to assume they’d be attacked there. Perhaps they’d simply decided to fortify all the gravity points. They’d need to expand their tax base in the wake of the war and charging transit fees would be a simple and easy way to do it. It would cause long-term damage to the interstellar economy, but it wasn’t as if it could grind to a halt completely. Anyone who refused to pay the tolls would be at an immense disadvantage compared to those who did.

  Unless someone manages to find a way to wring more speed out of their stardrives, he thought. The Tokomak had thought they’d hit the speed limit, but humanity had proved them wrong. And then the gravity points might be cut off completely.

  He put the thought aside as the conversational overlay went to work, spitting fire and arrogance towards the fortresses. Philip would have hesitated to insult someone commanding enough firepower to reduce his ship to free-floating atoms before he knew what had hit him, but the xenospecialists insisted it was how the Tokomak behaved. It helped, he supposed, that he was commanding one of their warships. They never sold their most advanced ships to their allies, let alone potential enemies. He wondered if they realised just how badly their edge had slipped over the last few years. A lone starship couldn’t be a game-changer, but a whole string of technological improvements certainly could.

  “We have permission to proceed, Captain,” Lieutenant Boscobel said. “They’re not even trying to impede us.”

  “Be grateful,” Philip advised. “And ready the drone.”

  “Aye, sir,” Boscobel said. “The drone is on standby, ready to launch.”

  Philip nodded as Rufus moved further from the gravity point, steadily gliding out of missile range. The fortresses paid them no heed, more concerned with chivvying the stream of freighters preparing to make transit. They were in for a surprise, when they jumped and ran straight into Admiral Stuart’s fleet. He smirked, knowing the Tokomak would have no choice but to surrender. They could neither fight nor run. Who knew? Perhaps Admiral Stuart would simply blow them away as soon as they materialised on the far side. It was the safest possible approach.

  He allowed himself a moment to survey the system as they reached the first waypoint. It was heavily populated, more heavily industrialised than he’d thought. It was increasingly unlikely that they’d be able to keep the locals from sending an alert up the chain, even if the human fleet managed to capture the other gravity point before the planets and asteroid settlements realised the system was under attack. He sighed, calculating - again - just how long it would take for word to reach Tokomak Prime. It should work out in their favour ... he shook his head. Admiral Stuart had made it clear they were to assume that word had been sent from their very first engagement. They had to assume the worst.

  And if the best happens instead, he told himself, we can be pleasantly surprised.

  “Captain,” Boscobel said. “We have reached our destination.”

  “Fire the drone,” Philip ordered. The drone should be undetectable, at least until it made transit. “And then bring up the jammers.”

  “Aye, Captain.”

  ***

  Hoshiko wanted to bite her nails, or do something to distract herself from her nerves. It had been too long since Rufus made transit, too long since they’d taken possession of the gravity point ... she had no idea when the defenders were supposed to check in with their superiors, but she was grimly certain it was sooner rather than later. The defenders on the other side might already be sounding the alert, convinced that they were about to be attacked at any moment ... even if they didn’t expect attack, they’d have to assume the worst. The only upside, as far as she could tell, was that there was no hint that anyone had sounded the alert about the fleet’s advance. The defenders hadn’t been on alert ...

  “Drone transit,” Yolanda snapped. “I’m downloading the datacore now!”

  “Put it on the big display,” Hoshiko ordered. “Quickly!”

  She leaned forward as the display updated, showing nine fortresses - four more than they’d expected - sitting on top of the gravity point. There didn’t seem to be any capital ships backing them up, something that bothered her. The enemy could have placed an entire fleet only a few million miles from the gravity point, concealing them under cloak. Rufus didn’t have modern sensors and couldn’t have used them if she had. The enemy could have positioned themselves perfectly, ready to barge forward and sit on the gravity point after she expended her assault pods on the fortresses.

  Good thing I brought thousands of them, she thought, although she knew there were limits she couldn’t ignore. The enemy might have intended to force her to deplete her pods on a series of gravity point assaults, weakening her when she fi
nally encountered their fleet. We can keep moving fast enough to keep them off balance even if they know we’re coming.

  She glanced at Yolanda. “Launch the pods.”

  “Aye, Admiral,” Yolanda said. “Pods away ... now.”

  Hoshiko let out her breath as the first wave vanished. The second wave were already moving into position, ready to target the surviving fortresses and finish the job. They’d be escorted by ECM jammers and decoys, just in case any survivors had the presence of mind to sweep the gravity point for the second wave of pods. She hoped it would be enough, if only to keep from expending a third wave. There was no way to get replacements quickly enough to keep the offensive from bogging down.

  They can trade space for time, she thought, numbly. Her imagination showed her a string of chokepoints, each one defended by fortresses, automated weapons platforms and limitless mines. And we cannot afford to lose even once.

  ***

  “The pods are making transit,” Boscobel snapped. “They’re going live, now!”

  “Activate the jammers,” Philip ordered. “I don’t want them getting a single message out.”

  He smiled, coldly. The jamming field would be noticed, but ... if they were lucky, it wouldn’t be as suspicious as a fortress screaming for help. It was a shame the planet wasn’t on the other side of the star ... he shook his head, dismissing the thought. There were so many asteroid settlements in the system that dozens of them would pick up a cry for help and relay it to the planetary defences. Philip wasn’t sure what they could do about it, if they could do anything, but he didn’t want to find out the hard way. They could have an entire fleet of warships orbiting the planet ...

  But they’d be better off keeping them on the gravity point, if they had them, he mused, as the display updated. They’d be able to recall them to the planet at a moment’s notice.

  He watched as the assault pods launched their missiles, a tidal wave of destruction raging towards the enemy fortresses. Half of them had kept their shields up, a common tactic even though it placed immense wear and tear on the shield generators. The remainder were scrambling desperately to bring their point defence and shields online, too late to do them any real good. They really hadn’t expected to be attacked. His smile grew wider as the missiles picked up speed. There were any number of things they could have done, if they’d thought they were going to be attacked, without putting too much pressure on their systems. But they’d done none of them.

  The lead fortresses exploded into an expanding ball of plasma. Two more followed in short order as antimatter warheads battered their shields down and slammed against their hulls. A fourth wobbled, seemingly intact despite taking one hell of a hammering. Philip eyed it warily, then decided the fortress had been knocked out of the fight. Lifepods spewed out of the structure as the second wave of pods materialised, orienting themselves before they spat death at the remaining fortresses. The Tokomak hadn’t had time to do more than order the fortresses abandoned. One by one, the fortresses died.

  He sucked in his breath as the first squadrons appeared on the gravity point, heading out into open space. Their sensors probed for threats, pulses of energy locating Rufus ... and holding her. Philip hit his console, bringing the IFF online before his ship was taken for an enemy ship and targeted for destruction. The last thing he wanted was to be blown away by his own side. Everything seemed to hang in the balance, just for a second, then the targeting locks moved away from his ships. He breathed a sigh of relief. He had no illusions. His point defence couldn’t have stopped a hammer if it had been aimed at his hull.

  “Captain, laser message from the flag,” Boscobel said, as more ships appeared on the display. “Admiral Stuart’s compliments, sir, and we can stop jamming now.”

  “Good.” Philip nodded. “Deactivate the jammer, then take us out of the assault lane.”

  “Aye, sir.”

  Philip sat back in his chair and watched as the row of human ships flowed through the gravity point, dropping into FTL as soon as they were clear of the gravity nexus. It was all too revealing - there was no way they could cloak the FTL emissions - but, if they were lucky, the Tokomak wouldn’t have time to react. There were just too many variables. The Tokomak might already be alarmed. They might have picked up some trace of the brief, but extremely violent engagement. And if they had ...

  He forced himself to relax. He’d done his bit. It was in Admiral Stuart’s hands now.

  ***

  “Admiral, we’ll be on top of the gravity point in seven minutes,” Yolanda said. “All systems and weapons are ready.”

  Hoshiko nodded, stiffly. They were racing against time. The Tokomak were unimaginative, but they weren’t slow. They’d have more than enough time to get a warning through the gravity point, once they saw her fleet bearing down on them. She’d considered trying to sneak the fleet across the system at sublight, relying on the cloaking devices to shield them from detection, but her simulations suggested the tactic would fail. Too much could go wrong, even if the enemy suspected nothing. They had to get to the gravity point before it was too late.

  And we might be ahead of any message announcing our arrival, she told herself, but our FTL drives are doing a good job of announcing our arrival for us.

  She braced herself as the timer ticked down to zero. There hadn’t been any defences on the gravity point the last time the captured files had been updated, but that had been quite some time ago. The Tokomak could have put twenty fortresses on the gravity point if they’d been willing to strip the planet bare ... in some cases, it might even have been a wise move. It struck her as overkill, but the Tokomak were firm believers in overdoing something if they had to do it. She had to admire the degree of redundancy they’d built into their systems. If they’d known when to stop, they might have been quite impressive.

  Defiant lurched as she dropped back into realspace. Hoshiko leaned forward, watching as the display updated. There were four fortresses on the gravity point, all with shields and defences firmly in place. They’d seen her coming ... she snapped commands, despite knowing that her staff knew what to do. The cruiser shuddered as she fired a spread of hammers, aimed right at the fortresses. If they were lucky, they might just take out the fortresses before they could return fire.

  The display sparkled with red light. No such luck. The fortresses were alert ... whoever was in command had the authority and nerve to bring his fortresses to full alert, despite not knowing precisely what was going on. A spread of missiles hurled themselves towards her ships, a smaller spread of missiles closed on her hammers ... she swore as they detonated, antimatter blasts wiping the hammers out. It was an ingenious tactic, one she’d seen before. The Tokomak must have been doing everything in their power to update their tactical databases. If they wiped out all her hammers ...

  “Conventional missiles,” she ordered. Hammers, by their very nature, couldn’t be disguised as anything else. The Tokomak would have no trouble taking them out. “Fire.”

  “Aye, Admiral,” Yolanda said. “Firing ... now.”

  Hoshiko watched, grimly, as the enemy missiles slipped into her point defence envelope. They’d clearly learned a lot from the previous battles, more than she’d anticipated. She’d expected to see more of their missiles being picked off, but instead ... she gritted her teeth as a handful of enemy missiles slipped through the defences and exploded against her ships. The warheads were conventional - the Tokomak hadn’t come up with anything new, not here - but it hardly mattered. They’d do a great deal of damage if they weren’t stopped.

  “Deploy additional ECM drones,” she ordered. The enemy had definitely improved their targeting. It looked as if they weren’t quite so fooled by her ECM as she’d hoped. “And modify their counter-targeting programs to match enemy ...”

  A missile slipped through her defences and struck her hull. She bit off a curse, telling herself the shields could take it. Her cruisers had the strongest shields in the known universe, at least for ships of their
size. Tokomak battleships had bigger and better shields, but they did it through cramming more shield generators into their hulls and rotating them to provide additional protection. Human researchers claimed it wasn’t as efficient as they thought, but Hoshiko could see the advantages. It would have to be a very big power surge to take out every shield generator on a battleship.

  “Admiral, a freighter made transit,” Yolanda snapped. “I ...”

  “Target her,” Hoshiko ordered. If the ship had a chance to cycle her drives and jump out, the secret would be thoroughly blown. “Now ...”

  The fortress commander was having similar thoughts. He spat out more missiles, moving half of them to shield the freighter as it struggled desperately to jump back through the gravity point. Hoshiko watched, praying to a god she didn’t quite believe in, only to recoil in disappointment as the freighter vanished bare seconds before her missiles could kill it. She opened her mouth to order her chased through the gravity point, then changed her mind before she could issue the orders. There was no point, not any longer. The freighter would start screaming the moment she was on the far side ...