"You are free to engage as we range on them, but with beams and kinetics only, and maintain your fire until we're clear."
"Engage as we range on the Sallys and keep hammering at them till they're vapor or we're clear. Got it, ma'am," Martin growled as he began to enter attack parameters into his console, sending orders to his gun crews. The missile crews stood down and secured their payloads as the new engagement parameters were received. Gun crews moved into action at the same orders, and pulse-cannon mag coils drew power while laser batteries were charged.
"Very good, people. Any questions?" When none were forthcoming, Alex went on, glancing down at her console. "Conrad, count us down to missile range, thirty-second intervals and a final countdown from fifteen."
"Counting down, aye, ma'am." Thanks to whatever the XO had said to her, she appeared to have her fear under control. "Five minutes, mark."
"Now, let's get moving, people—we have a job to do." Alex's voice was brusque, and a chorus of affirmatives sounded in her earpiece as her crew snapped into action at her words. Watching the quiet, efficient movements of the crew around the command deck, she began to stroke her chin, waiting.
Chapter Eleven
USS Fenris
October 8, 2197
0532 z
Groombridge 34
Five minutes had almost passed when Ensign Green shouted.
"Vampire, vampire, vampire! Reading multiple missile launch from the fast attacks, ma'am. It looks like they decided not to wait until they had the range. They'll be ballistic by the time we intercept them, so point defense should have no problem with them."
Alex saw Commander Martin glance at his console, then at Lieutenant McKeenan's. He seemed satisfied that the lieutenant had everything well in hand.
"Looks like we're going to be under fire the whole way in and probably on the way out, too," Greg said into his mike.
"What? You were expecting them to just let us fly right through their formation and blow the living hell out of them?" Alex replied absentmindedly, still stroking her chin.
"No, but I can always hope, can't I?"
"Don't let it ever be said that Greg Higgins isn't an optimist."
"Yeah, well, we all have our crosses to bear."
"Missile range in ten seconds." Petty Officer Conrad interrupted their quiet banter.
"Okay Greg, time to go to work." Alex sat up straight and gripped the arms of her command chair tightly.
"Five seconds."
On her repeater screens, the external view was faithfully represented, though Alex knew from experience it lacked the perfect clarity of vacuum. The forward view showed flashes of laser fire lancing out at the incoming missiles. The point-defense stations were intercepting everything at this range, but the Fenris was about to enter into the Sally's powered-missile envelope. The missiles coming in at them then would still have life in their drives; they could and would be performing evasive maneuvers, becoming that much harder for the point defense to target as they homed in on their target.
"Three, two, one. We are now within powered-missile range." Petty Officer Conrad finished her countdown in a steady voice. "Beam range in fourteen point seven five minutes, current speed and heading."
Though no physical change came about as the Fenris crossed this invisible line in space, the atmosphere on the command deck intensified. They were committed to their attack run. To try and disengage now would lengthen the Xan-Sskarn's engagement time, not lessen it. Alex could not help but think of Tennyson's immortal line, Into the valley of death rode the six hundred. While there may have been more than six hundred souls aboard the Fenris, the valley they were riding into was also significantly more deadly than the one the Light Brigade had charged into.
The Fenris sailed toward the Xan-Sskarn ships unhindered for another three minutes as the point defense picked off missile after incoming missile. The Xan-Sskarn fire became more intense, gaining more life on their drives with each passing moment as the ships closed on one another. Inevitably, a missile evaded the point-defense net and closed on the Fenris. Two hundred meters from the Fenris' drive envelope, it detonated. High-energy plasma blossomed from the detonation and washed over the hull, boiling away armor and vaporizing sensor and communications arrays.
"Damage report!" Alex barked.
"Detonation starboard, amidship. Armor integrity down fifteen percent, sensors down two percent, communications not affected," Greg read from his board. The list was short, but Alex knew it was going to grow much longer in a very short time.
"Time."
"Ten minutes until beam range, nineteen minutes to interception, mark."
"Thank you, Petty Officer. Helm, maintain current speed and heading. Tactical, you are free to sweep with the main mounts."
"Refocusing the lenses of the main mounts and preparing to sweep," Commander Martin called back to her as he began to retask the Fenris' main laser mounts to aid in missile defense.
"Barbie, how're you doing back there?" Alex called to the Valkyries trailing behind the Fenris.
"Nice and quiet, Skipper. Valkyrie Three is awake and with us, and we're maintaining full combat speed. You guys must really have your foot down, 'cause you sure as hell have us sucking contrails."
"Sorry, Barbie, but you know you won't be of any use in what's coming up. Plot a course to rendezvous with us once we clear their missile envelope on the other side." She smiled into her mike. "Don't be late—we won't be able to hang around for long, and if you miss the boat, it's a long way home."
"We'll be there, ma'am. Besides, if we miss our ride, well, I've heard the Odin's officer's club is the best in the fleet." She sounded wistful at that comment.
"Cute. Be there. Fenris out." Alex cut out of the net and shook her head. She was still smiling as two more missiles found their way past point defense. The Fenris rocked as twin waves of plasma washed over the bow, and alarms wailed in the forward compartments of the ship, signaling a hull breach.
"We have a hull breach, port-side forward, sealing off that section," Higgins barked out as he continued scanning the latest damage report.
"Commander Martin?" Alex inquired.
"Reconfiguration and refocusing completed, ma'am. First sweep commencing now." He stabbed his finger down on the firing control for the Fenris' main laser batteries. The refocused lenses projected a conical beam in overlapping fields of fire. This refocusing severely reduced both the range and power of the beams. Yet while this configuration was of no use in ship-to-ship engagements, and very little help against enemy fighters, it did have its advantages. The power was sufficient to overload the missiles' onboard computers, causing detonation, and the range was great enough that the missiles could be enveloped in the cone and distant enough to remove the Fenris from the blast radius. Alex looked up at her repeater display and saw several brightly colored spheres appear as the lasers flashed out, and still more appeared as the point-defense net continued to reach out and touch the incoming missiles.
The volume of fire that the oncoming ships could launch with each salvo was not enough to saturate the point-defense net with the main batteries in support, but the laws of probability still had a say in the matter as missile after missile evaded the net and managed to find its target. Damage reports continued to pour in as the Fenris' armor was savaged and her systems began to feel the strain. Several point-defense stations were destroyed, opening gaps in the defense net, allowing more missiles in.
With the Fenris hemorrhaging atmosphere and water vapor, the distance closed to beam range. The Xan-Sskarns could only engage with their forward-mounted beam weapons, which in the case of the fast attack frigates meant one mount each, and they weren't very powerful. The destroyers following the frigates, while mounting a pair of more powerful forward-facing lasers, could not fire on the Fenris while screened by their own ships. They could still engage with their missiles, however, and would do just that as the range closed, making it imperative that the Fenris deal with the frigates quickl
y.
Lasers, being light-speed weapons, flashed by the Fenris almost as soon as the Xan-Sskarn had fired. The Fenris' point defense could do nothing to stop the incoming beams, and her frontal armor was already damaged. However, there were measures that could be taken.
"Guns, deploy your drones," Alex called out to Martin. "And reconfigure the forward mounts. I want you to concentrate all your fire on that frigate in the center of their formation."
"Aye, aye, ma'am." He issued his orders to the forward-battery crews as he began programming his drones. The Fenris carried six drones, and they could be configured to simulate the radar and sensor readings of a large range of targets. "Drones programmed and deploying now." Martin was an experienced-enough tactical officer to deploy the drones in a fashion that left the enemy wondering as to the position of their true target. Both drones sped forward of the ship and activated, remained in place for a moment, then spilt off into wildly different vectors. They moved some distance from the Fenris and then assumed the same heading—toward the Xan-Sskarn ships, but not on an interception course.
"Very good, Guns." Alex watched her own sensor display, tracking the drones as they moved away from them. She hoped these decoys could suck some of the ever-more-accurate missile fire away from them. They would only be of use for a short while longer, but every moment they could buy themselves a respite, they could use. "Status on the forward mounts?"
"Reconfiguration ninety-five percent complete, both mounts. I have the center frigate dialed in and am ready to engage."
"Engage when ready, Commander."
"Yes, ma'am." Martin locked his eyes on his display, waiting for the status light for the forward laser mounts to turn from yellow to green. The port-side mount light went green, and he jabbed his finger on the firing stud. "Port-side reconfig complete, firing." The second light winked to green, and he fired again. "Starboard side, firing."
"Mr. Green, damage assessment, please." She waited anxiously for the report; something had to break their way soon, or by her calculations they would pay too heavy a price to clear the Xan-Sskarn formation.
"Looks like we scored one hit. Not reading much debris—and no plumes." Green kept his eyes on his readout as he relayed his assessment. "Sorry, Commander, looks like all you did was scratch the paint." Alex grinned at this last comment. Martin was known for his pride in his gun crews as well as his own skill, and there was no better way to get him motivated than to make light of his or his crew's results.
"Just getting their range," he muttered. The status lights flashed green as the forward lasers signaled ready. Firing both mounts again, he turned his attention back to his drones and checked their status. They were still with them, and had pulled some of the fire away from the Fenris. It was only a matter of time before one of those errant missiles managed to reduce one of those drones to its constituent atoms. As if brought about by his thoughts, the port-side drone flashed out of existence. "Shit! Port-side drone off the grid." His board flashed green again, and he fired another salvo from the forward guns. "Lieutenant McKeenan, prepare another drone."
"Belay that!" Alex interrupted his dancing fingers. "We're going to need them later, and it won't do us any good for much longer anyway. Maintain your fire on the frigate."
The Fenris rocked again as yet another missile breached the defense net, followed by two more. Then laser fire washed over the bow, opening more of the ship to space. Sparks flew on the command deck as secondary systems overloaded and burnt out. The primary systems were still operational, but that could change very quickly.
"Sally frigate is trailing a large debris cloud, and I'm reading fluctuations in her power emissions. Looks like you got a piece of her drive, Commander," reported Green.
"What's the status on her firing, Ensign?" Alex said anxiously. She needed to remove some of the factors from this particular equation.
"Missile fire looks to be down forty percent, and laser fire has ceased." Green sounded pleased with his report.
"Guns, two more salvos at the center frigate, and make 'em count," Alex encouraged her tactical officer.
"Can do, ma'am."
Two more rapid pairs of shots flashed out from the Fenris, two of which connected with their target. Green reported the results immediately.
"Two hits, reading zero energy output. Looks like they're dead in space."
"Good shooting, Guns. Now alternate targeting port and starboard frigates. We only have a few more minutes until we're past them, and the destroyers are going to want to tangle with us. We won't want to be interrupted."
"Rotating fire, aye, ma'am." Martin programmed the new targeting parameters into his fire-control station and engaged the new firing solution. Lasers flashed out again.
Just then, both remaining frigates scored hits with their lasers on the already weakened bow, followed by a trio of missiles, the plasma capitalizing on the lasers' damage. Explosions rocked the Fenris, tossing to the deck anyone who wasn't strapped in and knocking the ship off course.
Someone in the background began swearing, and several more people were getting up from their stations to extinguish the fires that had sprung up around the command deck. Having just been slammed against her restraining harness, Alex settled back into her chair.
"Damage report!" She had to shout to be heard over the alarms. "And shut those damn things off!" The alarms were silenced once more.
"Port-side armor shot away from the bow back to frame thirty-three, and the whole section is open to space. CAG reports that port-side launch tubes are inoperable, and he has multiple fires in the bay. The forward laser, port side, is gone, and we've lost one laser mount and two missile tubes port side, and another is damaged and cut off from the firing computer. The missile crew reports they still have manual control," Higgins shouted to her from across the command deck. He'd lost his earpiece when his head had been forced back into his chair, and blood ran down the side of his face. "Casualties are being reported from all over the ship, and we've lost contact with five damage-control teams. We have a fluctuation in the drive envelope, but we still have full particle concentration, and we've been knocked four degrees to starboard. Point defense is either down or destroyed for the entire port-side quadrant back to midship."
"Sam, get us back on course. Now." Jesus, Alex thought, they're beating the hell out of us, and we still have to get past them. "Guns, new orders. Concentrate all forward fire on that port-side frigate."
"Ma'am, request permission to engage with missiles!" Martin's pained request rang across the command deck. He had just lost four of his gun crews and wanted to avenge them. Alex was about to deny his request when the Fenris shook again with fresh impacts on her lower hull. Damn, she had thought that they would be able to make it through the Xan-Sskarn formation without taking this much damage, but it seemed like the incoming missiles were ignoring the ECM and jamming the Fenris was broadcasting. She'd wanted to save as many missiles as she could for what she knew was going to be a hell of a lot worse than this engagement. But she needed to get through this engagement. Another laser washed across the hull, searing away more armor along with another point-defense emplacement.
"Permission granted, Commander," she snarled. "You're free to engage with all weapons. Clear them from my sky."
"Yes, ma'am!" He began punching new commands into his console, queuing up his missiles for return fire. Another blossom of plasma, and then his missiles were in the tubes. "All my fish are in the tubes, targeting port-side frigate, and firing." He viciously stabbed his finger down, as if he were trying to impart his fury to his missiles. Tubes along both sides of the Fenris came to life as a salvo of missiles erupted from them and began to track the oncoming frigate. A second wave of missiles raced after the first, and then a third. The starboard-bow laser mount added its fire to the attack, the beam burning into the frigate's hull, followed quickly by the first missile barrage. Explosions were still evident along the frigate's hull as the second wave impacted, followed closely by the thi
rd. The Xan-Sskarn's point defense had picked off many of the Fenris' missiles, but the surviving missiles of the first two salvos had washed the frigate with plasma, burning away armor and point-defense stations. The final flight of missiles closed virtually unopposed, losing only three of their number to defensive fire. As the fire cleared, the frigate could be seen spinning away from its companion, trailing atmosphere and half-melted armor plating.
"One minute to interception," Petty Officer Conrad called out.
"Good work, Guns. One more flight of missiles at the starboard frigate, and then prepare a full broadside, beams and kinetics."
"Roger that, ma'am. Missiles away, and broadside ready," Martin called out just as another round of fire from the remaining frigate impacted the Fenris. With only one ship left, the volume of fire was much reduced, and point defense was able to intercept most of the incoming missiles; the damage was light.
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