Ragnarok-ARC

by Patrick A. Vanner

  "Yes, ma'am." He scanned the text. "The Krulak is a commandant class marine amphibious assault ship. Records indicate she has a full infantry battalion of the Fifth Marine Division on board."

  "Thank you." The Krulak would not be of much use in this kind of ship to ship engagement, but between the Ran and the Fenris, they might be able to distract the Xan-Sskarns long enough for the remnants of the fleet to punch a hole in the enemy's formation and let them extradite themselves. Assuming, of course, that the Ran could avoid the destroyers closing on her, and that she was intact enough to go on the offensive. Alex spoke up, her confident voice carrying around the command deck, dispelling the growing air of despair. "Try and raise the flagship. We need to know where the admiral wants us to counterattack." She may have said counterattack, but the command crew heard it as payback. She checked the status of the Valkyrie launch and saw that another three fighters were speeding down the launch tubes now. The Fenris was now three minutes from extreme missile range, and the Xan-Sskarns still had not paid them any attention. The last two Valkyries shot from the launch tubes and joined the squadron holding position above the Fenris. Two minutes.

  "Helm, maintain launch speed." They needed more time to execute any coordinated attack plan that the admiral might have planned.

  "Captain, I've managed to get through the Sally jamming, and I have the admiral. Putting him on your screen now," Lieutenant Bennard reported as the Fenris closed to four minutes from engagement range. As the display screen began to resolve, Ensign Green called out.

  "Status change! We have fighters incoming, ninety seconds out."

  "How many?" Alex kept her eyes locked on the display and was not shocked at the ensign's report. The Xan-Sskarns were bound to notice the Fenris sooner or later.

  "It looks like an entire wing, ma'am." She didn't have time to deal with that, as the admiral's image finally appeared.

  "Greg, handle the fighters," she told her XO over the net, trusting him to take care of them just as well as she could.

  "I've got them, Skipper."

  "Captain McLaughlin." Admiral Stevens' transmission was distorted, but she could see smoke and flames in the background, and the admiral himself did not look much better than his command center. Alex could see that his left eye was swollen shut and his uniform jacket was singed. Blood stained his shoulder boards and medals, but he did not seem to be bleeding. The distance between the two ships was small enough that if there was any lag time, it was unnoticeable as the admiral continued speaking. "I have some unpleasant orders for you." Despite his injuries, the pain she saw in his expression was not from any physical injury.

  "Admiral," Alex interrupted him. "My Valkyries are twenty seconds from engagement, and the Fenris is right behind them. We are ready to hit the Sallys wherever you need us to. We'll get their attention, and you can punch your way out while they are concentrating on us. The Ran may be able do the same from the other side, giving you some more breathing room."

  "Alex, that's not what I need from the Fenris. I need you to warn Earth." Shocked by what he had just said, she did not even notice that the Fenris was rocking under the impact of missiles.

  "Sir, I don't understand. You want us to run?"

  "No, Captain, I want you to escape. Escape and tell Earth what happened here." His voice was sympathetic, but firm.

  "Admiral, we are engaged with a full wing of Sally fighters and are now within missile range of the outer ships of the attacking fleet. We can't just leave." She wanted him to understand, to let her and the Fenris stay and fight. "The Ran can—" She never got to finish what she was about to say.

  "The Ran does not have a functional jump drive and is about to be engaged in her own battle. And before you say it, we both know that the Krulak would never survive a running fight to the hyperlimit. That leaves the Fenris as our only hope for getting the word out."

  "Sir, I can't just leave," she said again. "Please, sir, don't make me leave another fleet behind." Alex was pleading now. Greg had been right; this was Ross 128 all over again, and she did not know if she would be able to survive it a second time.

  "No, Alex. You are going to leave us behind and get home. If you stay, not only will this fleet be lost, but the Home Fleet will be caught completely off guard. There is no doubt about it—we have been sold out here. The Sally's in-system jumps were too damn accurate for them not to have been given the exact deployment of the fleet. If we've been betrayed here, the Home Fleet in Sol might be compromised as well, and they need to be warned. I'm going to implement your plan with one change. We're going to hit the Sallys and get their attention, and you're going to punch out of here."

  "Sir, I—" Energy torpedoes impacting starboard amidships interrupted her argument. Energy torpedoes meant that they were in the range of a least a light cruiser. She cast a quick glance at her panel and saw that Greg had updated it for her; they had drawn the fire of not one but a pair of light cruisers on the outskirts of the attacking fleet.

  "You have your orders, Captain McLaughlin," Stevens barked at her, and Alex straightened in her chair as years of military service took over.

  "Sir, yes, sir!" Admiral Stevens' voice softened as he consoled her.

  "Alex, don't worry about us. Remember what I said. We're going to make the bastard work for it, and we're going to take a hell of a lot of them with us, too. Hopefully enough to give Earth time to prepare. Now, go." He was smiling sadly now, knowing not only what he was asking of her but also what he was committing his fleet to.

  "Good luck, sir. I'll see you in the halls." The screams and sounds of rending metal coming from the Asgard kept her from returning his smile, though she tried.

  "I'll save you a bench—just don't be in a rush to fill it. Asgard out." The connection was cut, and she sat there for a moment longer until the ship rocked under another impact.

  "Come to a heading of two zero zero mark one eight zero, and get those Valkyries back on board, now!" The command crew jumped into action, and her mind began working furiously on how to get the Fenris clear of all of those enemy fighters. "Commander Martin, reconfig starboard laser mounts for sweeping. When that's done, prepare to fire a single missile into those fighters. We're going to splash them all." A wicked grin spread across her face as a plan formed.

  * * *

  "Break right!" Digger shouted into his mask as he felt the Valkyrie roll onto its wingtip and pull sharply to the right as laser fire pulsed through the space they'd just occupied. "That was too close."

  "Amen to that." Barbie continued the turn she had started at Digger's shout and came up on the tail of a Sally fighter. She squeezed the trigger on the control stick. Twin bolts of laser fire flashed out from Valkyrie One, and the fighter was transformed into a ball of fire. "Got 'em. Valkyrie Three, you've got three bandits on your tail. Pull up—I'm on them." Valkyrie Three began to climb, but it was too late. Three pairs of missiles followed him though his maneuver and caught up with him. Valkyrie Three disappeared, and Barbie let out a howl of rage. She had known Lieutenant Sheppard since flight school; they had been close friends. She let that rage take her and her Valkyrie into a downward spiral as she opened fire on the trio of fighters. First one, then another flashed out of existence, and she flew through the fireballs as the third fighter broke off and was lost in the spinning dogfight that was taking place in space around them.

  Flight 127 had been reduced to five remaining Valkyries—four, now that Valkyrie Three was gone. They were facing over ten times their number. The only thing allowing them to survive as long as they had was the fact that the Xan-Sskarns could not freely fire on them without risking hitting their companions. That, and because after almost two years of constant battle, the remaining pilots of Flight 127 were some of the best combat fliers in the fleet.

  "Valkyrie Flight 127, break off and return to base. Prepare for combat landings." The CAG's voice broke over the squadron battle net.

  "Negative, CAG, cannot disengage, we're right in the middle of one he
ll of a knife fight right now." Barbie was trying to shake a Sally fighter that was intent on removing them from existence. "Valkyrie Seven, break, break, break. You've got missiles incoming."

  "Thanks, boss," Valkyrie Seven said as he juked to port and released countermeasures, evading the incoming missiles. His move brought him up on the tail of a Sally fighter, and his finger squeezed the trigger before thought caught up with action. Another ball of fire blossomed in space.

  "I say again, Valkyrie Flight 127, you are to disengage. Now!" Kaufman broke into the net again.

  "I think he's serious, boss," Digger called from the rear of the fighter. "Missiles incoming, break left, releasing countermeasures."

  "I don't give a fuck," she snarled as she went through evasive maneuvers. She had lost too many friends today to simply break off. "I say again, cannot disengage."

  "Damn it, Barbie! Break off now! We're leaving, and the captain's cooking up something special for the Sallys. Now, get your ass back here or get left behind."

  "Shit! All Valkyries, we are to break off and return to the Fenris immediately. Combat landings. Be careful, and I'll see you on deck," she announced over the squadron battle net. Barbie knew that breaking off contact in the middle of a dogfight was difficult at best and suicide at worst. With the odds stacked against them, it would be closer to worst. She spun to the left at Digger's yell, and as she leveled out she saw that she was near the edge of the swirling mass of fighters. "Digger, where is everyone else?"

  "They just got Valkyrie Nine, and Six is already making a run for the Fenris. Valkyrie Eleven is still scrapping with two Sallys, but is maneuvering to the edge. Feel free to head on home."

  "Roger that. Keep your eyes open as we disengage. Those Sallys are going to jump all over us as soon as they see us turn tail." She yanked the stick back, and her Valkyrie pulled into a tight loop, ending with her nose pointed toward the Fenris. She rammed the throttle forward, and they shot ahead, accelerating to full engagement speed. Landing was going to be rough, but she'd been ordered to perform a combat landing and that meant blasting in at full throttle, then slamming on the retros, and hoping like hell that she stopped before she hit the bay wall. She saw the Fenris grow rapidly as they closed. Her Valkyrie was tossed sideways as several missiles detonated off the starboard wing. She'd known they were going to draw fire as they broke for home, but that had been too close.

  "Tower, this is Valkyrie One. I'm on approach and coming in hot, so clear the road." She hated combat landings, but it was either that, reengage the Xan-Sskarns, or walk home. Given those choices, she'd take the landing.

  As she maneuvered on to her final approach vector, a single missile tore from the Fenris' starboard broadside and raced past her. A second later, a full spread of laser fire followed it. She gripped the stick tighter as her Valkyrie bucked and kicked as if caught in a maelstrom. As she blinked to clear her eyes of the spots the lasers had left on her vision, she looked down at her lidar display. Over ninety percent of the remaining enemy fighters vanished in that instant, vaporized out of existence. It took her a moment to realize what had just happened. The captain had sent a missile into the middle of the Sally formation, but because of the proximity to the Fenris, the warhead would not arm, so she had detonated it with their own lasers. She smiled. Unorthodox? Maybe. Dangerous? Most definitely. But highly effective. Barbie pushed that thought from her mind as she fired the retro thrusters full and was slammed forward, her fighter shedding speed quickly, then touching down on the deck of the landing bay. Retro thrusters still wide open, they stopped less than one meter from the bulkhead. She killed the forward thrust and taxied them over to the side of the landing bay, making room for Valkyrie Eleven, which was screaming in on approach right behind her.

  "That was one hell of trick the captain pulled out of the bag. I've never even heard of that one before. What about you, Digger?" She didn't get a response, and an icy hand closed around her heart. That last missile barrage.

  "Digger?

  "Digger!?"

  * * *

  "Touchdown. The last Valkyrie is on the deck, ma'am," Bennard called from his station as Alex continued to study the projection. She wiped her hand across her eyes and lifted her head; Greg saw that despite the sadness in her eyes, Alex had a determined look on her face.

  "Helm, bring us up to full power and maintain current heading." They needed to make it to the hyperlimit as quickly as possible if they were going to escape to warn Earth.

  Commander Samuels once again brought the Fenris up to maximum military power. Alex turned her concentration to scanning as another torpedo impacted them.

  "Ensign Green, what've we got left?"

  "We have eight Sally fighters left, but it looks like they're disengaging. We're still in range of those two light cruisers, but we're outside of beam range. At our current heading and speed, we will be clear of their engagement envelope in thirteen minutes."

  "Thirteen minutes, roger. Keep an eye on the rest of them. If they figure out that we're trying to make a break for it, you can bet your ass that they'll sure as hell try and stop us. Helm, keep our starboard side to the cruisers. Guns, continue sweeping until we are clear of missile range, and maintain your fire, rotating targets." She watched her display a moment longer, seeing the flashes of the battle they were rapidly leaving behind. It looked as if it had intensified in the last few minutes, and that meant that the admiral had begun to get the Xan-Sskarns' attention; as she watched, icons begin to pulse then vanish from the projection. Hitting a button on her chair, she opened a connection to the engineering net.

  "Heron, I need everything you can give me, and I need it now. And spin up the jump engines."

  "Bringing the jump engines on line now. But, Captain, the engines are at one hundred percent now, and the drive envelope is still showing fluctuations."

  "I know the engines are at one hundred percent. I want more. Remove the safety locks on the reactors." Alex was not in the mood to argue prudence with her chief engineer.

  "Removing the safety locks would be dangerous, ma'am. The Fenris has taken a beating, and even if the engines are at one hundred percent now, there may be damage in the subsystems we haven't found yet. I would not recommend it at this time."

  "Your recommendations are noted. Now remove the safety locks."

  "Captain, I—" Heron began to argue, but never got to finish as Alex roared into the mike.

  "God damn it, Commander Denton! This is not open for debate. Admiral Stevens and the rest of the fleet are buying us escape time with their lives, and we are not going to waste one second of it. Remove those fucking safety locks, and remove them now! I don't care if you have to melt the reactors down to slag, just get us to the hyperlimit ahead of the Sallys. Now, you have your orders, Commander—carry them out."

  "Aye, aye, ma'am. Removing safety locks now." Alex could hear the resignation in her engineer's voice and felt a momentary pang of regret for the way she'd just spoken to one of her oldest friends, but they needed that extra speed. That regret disappeared with the icon of the Asgard. No, they would not waste one precious second of the time the admiral had bought them.

  "We're answering one hundred twenty-three percent on particle concentration, ma'am," Commander Samuels informed her several minutes later as the Fenris' speed leveled out. Her earpiece came to life, and she heard Commander Denton's voice.

  "Captain, I've removed most of the safety locks. The bottles were starting to become unstable, and if I had removed any more, we would be running the risk losing containment. I'm sorry, ma'am—that's the best I could do." Her voice was a dull monotone.

  "Thanks, Heron." Alex's voice was soft, and her use of her engineer's nickname carried an unspoken apology. "Great job. No one could've done better. Keep a close eye on things down there—this is going to be a bitch of a ride."

  "Yes, ma'am." Alex cut the line to engineering and sat back in her chair. The Fenris had finally passed beyond the range of the light cruisers chasing her. />
  "Commander Martin, reconfigure starboard mounts from missile defense to engagement."

  "Reconfiguring now, ma'am. Estimated time to completion is sixty seconds."

  "Thank you. Commander Samuels, time to hyperlimit at current speed," Alex called out over the open net, allowing her crew to know how much longer this nightmare was going to continue.

  "We will be zero-zero at the jump limit in six point three hours, ma'am." Alex shook her head. Zero-zero at the jump limit meant that the Fenris would be totally motionless prior to initiating a jump, which was standard procedure. But that also meant that they would soon reach a turnover point where they would have to begin to decelerate, and decelerating would allow the Xan-Sskarns to close on them again.

  "Negative on zero-zero, helm. Recalculate. No turnover—we're hitting the wall, and we are not slowing down." There was a stunned silence on the command deck at that announcement. Hitting the wall was almost as dangerous as jumping in-system.

  "Ah, yes, ma'am. New ETA at current speed is two point one hours, mark." Commander Samuels' voice wavered slightly. Jump calculations needed to be very precise, and with their current speed, the complexity of the calculations increased by an order of magnitude. His hands shook slightly as he began plotting their jump back to the Sol system.