“We clipped one,” Rasalov said.
Damage updates rolled down the screens. Hall knew as well as anyone that it would take a lot more than even nuclear warheads to destroy a ship that size and with all that armor.
“Target five is also holed,” Rasalov said.
“We are coming into rail-cannon range in twenty-five minutes. Combat Shuttles and fighters will be on the Harmony fleet in ten minutes,” Guy said.
“Target four is getting hammered; we have internal detonation,” Rasalov sounded like some sadistic commentator.
Hammered? Rather technical today, aren’t we Rasalov?
“Shit,” Yeltsin shook his head at the destruction.
Target three buckled and shook as nuclear warheads ripped it apart from inside. Hall’s bet was that nothing or very little organic matter was going to be left alive in the wake of those weapons.
“Focus on the other targets,” Hall continued, watching as missile after missile hammered into and through armor across the Harmony fleet.
I might have caught them off guard, but they’re still quite capable.
“Barrages are complete,” Celik said.
“Target three is out of commission, targets one, five, and four are heavily damaged. They are rotating to provide new armor. All EMFCs report one hundred percent and ready to push the battle,” Guy said.
“Fighters coming into range, still no signs of enemy fighters,” Rasalov said.
“I don’t think that they have any, if they did we would see them in target three’s wake, or out defending the carriers,” Hall said.
“Harmony fleet is firing missiles at us, seems we have them spooked,” Rasalov said.
“Sea-whizz, defenses are online and combating missile launches,” Celik said.
Millions of rounds were spat out from the Carrier fleet as they worked together to make a screen of rounds to detonate the Harmony missiles.
“Fighters and Combat Shuttles proceeding with attack.”
The Fighters and Combat Shuttles weaved through the Harmony fleet, dropping missiles and every round that they could get out of their craft, aiming for the larger breaches that the carrier’s missiles had already left.
The Shuttles and Combat Shuttles were hitting targets six to nine with everything they had, but the Carriers were relatively untouched, hiding behind the rest of the fleet.
“Target one has internal explosions,” Rasalov said. They were hitting the Harmony fleet hard, but the big ships could take a pounding.
They scraped off armor and got the occasional round into the actual Carriers, but the Carriers didn’t take it lying down. Their close-in weapon systems sprayed the small craft.
The Combat Shuttles and Fighters had been training for nearly two years. Electronic flares fired out, obscuring the CIWS’s aim.
It was the mouse against the lion.
The two forces fought for everything they were worth, but the laws of physics were the ultimate ruler. The two groups of ships passed one another, their inertia sending them in different directions, bringing the battered Harmony fleet closer to the EMF fleet.
“Five minutes until we are in carrier weapons range,” Guy said.
“Link the fleet, bring all batteries to bear, formation forward bulwark,” Hall said.
EMFC Indomitable accelerated so that it was above EMFC Fearless, and they turned along their path of acceleration, presenting their flanks to the Harmony fleet.
EMFC Justice and EMFC Oathkeeper followed their example, stacking above one another and moved beside EMFC Indomitable and EMFC Fearless. All four sides aimed right at the Harmony fleet as inertia continued to push them along their path of acceleration.
“Weapons linked,” Celik sounded tense.
“Sensors are linked,” Rasalov didn’t look away from his screens as they moved forward into the heart of the Harmony fleet.
“Fleet in formation bulwark,” Yeltsin reported.
“In range,” Celik said.
“On my command.” Hall looked out over the fleet; all of those lives that depended on him. The lives of Earth and Her Colonies. This was not what he had envisioned when he had joined the EMF. He had been one of those CO hounds, using his position to get him in good standing with the corporations.
Who knew I would turn more EMF than corporation?
“Fleet is prepared and waiting for your orders,” Guy said. The room was tense, standing on a wire, the odd calm and tension before battle. Soon they would be committed to the fight and all their thoughts would be focused on beating Harmony. It was the only way to survive.
Kill the other bastard for his beliefs before he kills you.
“Let’s show these bastards what it means to come to our home, to our citadel: fire!” Hall’s voice turned cold as his screens seemed to ignite.
His chair rocked as Fearless fired. He might not be her captain anymore, but he still thought of the old girl as his ship.
Chapter 31
HC Tempest
Venus, Sol System
11/3348
Hawking’s command center was a wreck; even his own black and red accented uniform was tarnished with fire and smoke.
People were trying to yell over it all. It was chaos, and he knew the rest of his fleet was in the same situation or worse.
They hadn’t got any information from Earth, they’d had to work on their systems to make sure that there wasn’t a single line of code from the virus left.
Hawking swore to shove whoever had made the code out of an airlock when he tracked them down. He’d taken his time in getting across Sol. There was nothing to threaten him and it would serve to create just the kind of chaos Mister Quinn wanted to take control of Earth and Her Colonies.
Well, we were wrong and the reports were wrong.
The Earth Military Forces Carriers had emerged out of Venus’s gas clouds as his fleet had been using it to slow their speed as they made for Earth.
They’d taken out two of his carriers. Righteous and Valor had been mauled. Righteous was in bits and Valor’s internal damage was worse than it looked from outside.
The engines were still working and the surviving crew were powering out of the fleet and away from the EMF as fast as possible.
Hawking had hailed them and yelled at them, but there’d been no reply. They’d claim that they couldn’t get the communication systems working or something, and Hawking couldn’t blame them. He wanted to use the Carrier to suck up the damage to the rest of the fleet. Lose one ship to keep his others in decent shape.
A light blinked on his console. Only one person could directly call him in a battle situation.
I was wondering how long it would take him.
He pressed the blinking light, opening the channel directly into his implants.
“Hawking, what the fuck is going on?!” Peter Quinn yelled in his ear.
“We were ambushed by four EMFCs that were hiding in Venus’s clouds. We have lost one carrier, another is lamed and the others have various levels of damage,” Hawking reported faithfully.
“Get this situation sorted out or I will find someone else that won’t land us in a trap,” Quinn’s threat was clear.
“Yes, sir,” Hawking said, sitting straighter in his chair.
We wouldn’t be in this situation if you had just let me continue at the highest speed directly to Earth.
Quinn closed the channel and Hawking looked at his screens. “I want all weapons systems checked and ready to fire immediately. Those Earth Carriers are coming down right through our fleet. We can hit them from both sides and hammer them. I want weapons online in four minutes.”
The command center rushed to obey their admiral. Somehow Hawking felt as if he had less control over his life than ever before.
Then the Earth’s Military Forces fleet opened fire.
I thought we were out of range for another couple of minutes!
The EMFC rail-guns were firing as one, creating a wall of depleted uranium that crossed the d
istance between the fleets in less than ten seconds.
Before the first volley had hit the Harmony fleet, the linked computers of the EMF fleet worked together to create the best firing solutions.
Rail-cannons the size of a Combat Shuttle hurled human-sized projectiles.
“Fire back! Fire everything we have, get those fuckers!” Hawking yelled in a panic.
“Sir, the virus!”
“I don’t give a fuck about the virus, get our ships firing back, if we survive we can worry about it! Shoot those fuckers or else we’ll all be too dead to give a fuck!” Hawking yelled, spit flying from his lips.
Tempest shook with impacts as rounds hit her forward armor, denting it or sending it flying as armor plating was ripped apart.
Valor’s engines were fighting to get the ship out of battle, they weren’t looking at the incoming volley.
The Carrier staggered like a drunk as rounds ripped into armor, and passed into open breaches.
New light flared across the screens as Valor ceased to exist.
Tempest’s guns came online and started firing at the EMFCs.
It took time; the computers were just coming online and they weren’t expecting to fire for another ten minutes.
People were out of their element and it showed.
Hawking watched the few rounds that did hit the EMFCs get absorbed or strike off a few plates of armor.
How heavily armored are these sides?
It was clear to Hawking that the EMFC’s armor was stronger than his own, judging by the way that they shrugged off his own hits.
“Have the fleet stack like the other fleet, we need to present more guns. We’re bigger than they are and we have more guns, so let’s put that to use,” Hawking said.
They closed the distance, the EMFCs were getting hit harder the closer they got. The HCs were rolling with hits, presenting their sides to bring more weapons onto the EMFCs.
The EMFC Fleet moved as one, turning so that their forward bow faced forward, making a line of ships stacked on top of one another going right through Hawking’s fleet.
“Move to mimic their actions,” Hawking yelled.
“Sir, we’ve found out what the ships are,” someone offered.
“Well?” Hawking asked impatiently.
“EMFC Justice, Oathkeeper, Indomitable and Fearless. They’re from Fernix, and it looks like they’ve been upgraded, they’ve now got weapons on both sides as well as armor.”
Hawking didn’t hear much past Fearless’ name. As a boy he had heard of Fearless fighting its way across Masoul even as it was heavily injured. It had been beside EMFC Reclaimer since the beginning of the war. Its crew had led the Fernix fleet when Admiral Zeichner nearly stopped their fleet cold.
Shit.
Hawking remembered the way that the EMFC fleet had dismantled Zeichner the second time that they had attacked. Admiral Hall had led the fleet. There was no doubt in Hawking’s mind who he was fighting.
They must have known that we were going to Sol, somehow. Otherwise they wouldn’t have made it all the way from Fernix. I wonder if they brought Troopers with them and, if so, who?
Hawking was suddenly very anxious, as Tempest rocked with hits and fired back at the EMF fleet.
He looked over the screens showing the upgraded carriers.
“They’re Targeting Resolver!” someone yelled.
Hawking watched as all of the EMFCs fired on Resolver with their weaponry.
“HC Uplifting is also being targeted!”
“Fire all remaining missiles,” Hawking ordered. They were taking out the Carrier’s armor and weapons, though it looked like the Carriers had followed EMFC Reclaimer’s tactics. Sections that should have been dead were still firing as they plowed onward. The armored juggernauts were rocking with multiple hits.
The EMFCs CIWS spun up, lines of tracers intersecting with missiles.
“They’re launching missiles!”
“Shoot them down!” Hawking yelled.
He could do nothing but watch as missiles were fired and destroyed by each side. Rail-cannons fired rounds just a few thousand kilometers away. Armor and debris were left in both fleets’ wake.
“EMFC Oathkeeper is listing,” someone said. Hawking had never taken the time to learn their names or know what they did. Now he wished he had, so he could understand who was talking and why.
“Keep hitting it, focus on it and EMFC Fearless,” Hawking snapped.
Resolver was hit by three missiles that opened room for the seven behind it. CIWS caught all but two, which buried themselves in the Carrier’s side, ripping it apart.
Missile and weapons’ fire from the EMFCs tore into the carriers as it streamed atmosphere and debris.
“Uplifting is streaming atmosphere; Resolver’s engines are offline.” The aide had barely finished talking when Resolver shattered. Her superstructure was strong, but not strong enough to handle the pounding it was getting. The Carrier came apart.
The EMFCs barely paused, switching their fire to Tempest even as their own Oathkeeper was being shredded, holes showing through the armor.
Not even the EMFC’s CIWS could handle the incoming missiles, and they staggered under multiple impacts, their armor useless as they forced their way on.
The HC fleet were doing everything they could to get away from the EMFC. They were well trained, but the combination of shock and the losses they had already sustained were taking their toll.
The EMFCs were soaking up damage and continuing on.
Die you mother fuckers, die!
A missile ripped into Fearless’s side. Armor and weapons were thrown around in the missile’s wake. Though there was no loss of atmosphere, there were no sympathetic explosions. The Carrier continued onward.
More missiles hit the EMFC fleet, more armor and weapons were blasted apart.
Still they fired back with everything they had.
There’s no atmosphere in their ships.
He understood what the EMFC fleet was now. They were armored and armed juggernauts, meant to bleed the Harmony fleet for everything they were worth. Their tactics were made to keep them engaged for as long as possible, to fight it out.
“I want the fleet to go to full acceleration,” Hawking yelled as realization dawned on him.
“Where to, sir?” one of the aides asked.
“Anywhere! Get us away from those bastards; they want to bleed us to take out our Chosen so they can’t fight on Earth. We need to get away!” Hawking’s voice was frantic.
The Harmony fleet acted as if they had been expecting the order. They split and ran as fast as their engines could carry them, still the EMFC fleet fired on them. Their missile bays must have been nearly empty as they continued to fire on the targets in closest range, pouring in their fire.
Resolver’s engines died, their flight path taking them towards Venus.
HC Karma got a hit on Oathkeeper. The carrier went up in an explosion, and there was only debris left in its wake. The other EMFCs were badly wounded, with entire sections open to space.
Their guns were still firing as they turned to face away from their line of acceleration, firing their engines to continue shooting on the Harmony fleet.
Fearless’s engines cut out and the rest of the EMFC fleet seemed to shut down too as the Harmony fleet ran from their guns.
“Plot the least-time course for Earth, get the Chosen ready to land as soon as possible,” Hawking said. He felt drained as he looked at the three carriers that had been destroyed, and Retribution, whose engines were screwed. “Send out small craft to get back any Chosen we can find on Retribution or the other scrap.”
We need them to win on Earth, or the EMF fleet will hammer us into nothing. While they can rearm and refurbish their ships, we spent half of our ammunition on rail-cannons and all of our missiles.
Hawking felt like a dark cloud had settled over him.
Chapter 32
EMFC Fearless
Venus, Sol System
“Search for survivors, call the resupply fleet. Pull in the small craft. Get us on a least-time course for Earth. Have EMFC Indomitable remain here to gather any people they can from Oathkeeper.” Hall’s brain worked on automatic as he looked at his screens.
His command staff got to work as he rested his helmeted head on his hand, looking at the status of his three remaining Carriers and their complement of small craft.
He sent out messages and read reports, but kept glancing at the screen that was filled with the numbers of dead, wounded, and missing.
He’d taken out three, maybe four Harmony Carriers, if target seven wasn’t able to re-start their engines and pull out of their flight path for Venus.
Their resupply fleet was really just one ship with a few tethers. Big Bertha had been made by the Victor Corporation, and it had barely come out of its yard when it had been requisitioned to supply the EMFCs.
“Admiral, Big Bertha’s Captain Keller is hailing us,” Guy said.
“On screen,” Hall said.
“Admiral, we are moving to resupply. We would also like to offer any space we have for your people and your shuttles, to help with collecting EMF personnel,” the woman sitting in the freighter’s bridge said.
I wonder just where you came from, Hall thought, as something in the back of his mind recognized her as a veteran.
“Thank you, Captain Keller. We will take any and all help. Fearless and Justice need immediate resupply before we move to Earth. I will have my people contact you with their needs.”
“We’ll have it ready,” Big Bertha’s Captain Keller promised.
“Thank you, captain, now I have to look to my fleet and report to Earth.”
“Certainly, admiral, I wish you luck.”
“You too, Captain Keller.” Hall closed the channel. “Guy, get me a channel to General Ortiz.”
Now it’s in their hands whether we hold Earth or not.
Chapter 33
Citadel
Earth, Sol System
11/3348
It had been a week since the EMF and Harmony fleets had fought. EMFC Fearless and Justice were racing on their way back to Earth, fixing their craft as they went.
Earth (Harmony War Book 5) Page 9