Bailey seemed to read her mind. “I’ll take President Luca to the briefing room,” he said. “I’ll tune one of the displays so we can monitor the battle. We’ll do our best to stay out of your hair, Admiral. Do what you have to, but please keep in mind you have the President on board, as well as myself.”
Admiral Halsey smiled and thanked Admiral Bailey for helping to handle the President. He was right; she needed to think clearly. Having either of them on the bridge with her during the coming battle would be distracting. Things were going to get hairy enough as it was without her having to deal with politicians, even if it was the President.
After her two VIPs had left the bridge, she turned to her Ops officer, Lieutenant Moore. “Tell the frigates in the area to form on us as we move toward New Eden. Tell the two TPA cruisers to head toward the space elevator and do whatever it takes to protect it from being captured or blown up.”
While her Ops officer was handling the ship orders, she turned to her coms officer next. “Lieutenant Adams, please send a message down to General McGinnis. Inform him we have four enemy transports inbound to the planet. We’re moving to intercept to prevent them from landing any forces dirtside, but he should get his people ready to repel an orbital landing in case we don’t succeed.”
The next few minutes were tense as the bridge crew waited for what would happen next. With the Voyager intensely focused on defending New Eden, they weren’t watching Pishon—and the Zodark fleet dropped out of warp behind the moon, unnoticed at first. While the moon was rich in minerals, they had yet to establish the mining colony there.
Suddenly, her tactical officer called out, “Admiral, we’ve spotted the enemy fleet!”
“What? Where?” she blurted out. Everyone was studying the screens in front of them, trying to figure out how the enemy fleet had swooped in around New Eden and they hadn’t seen it.
“Oh, hell. They popped out near Pishon—the moon that just went around to the far side of the planet,” her tactical officer explained.
“Damn it! Order the fleet to maneuver around the planet now. We need to go after those transports. We don’t know if they’re going to drop soldiers down on the backside of New Eden or on the moon,” ordered Halsey angrily. She could kick herself for not thinking about positioning at least one of her frigates or cruisers on the far side of the planet. Halsey mentally noted the error for her AAR.
The Voyager picked up speed as it used the gravity of the planet to slingshot them around at a higher speed than their standard thrusters could give them. At this point, speed was life, and Halsey intended to use all tactics at her disposal to get her ship in range of those enemy ships as swiftly as possible.
As they rounded the curvature of the planet, their sensors gave them a better readout of the enemy fleet. Two of the transports and one of the cruisers appeared to be in orbit around Pishon. The transports were offloading their dropships, presumably with a ground force and supplies. The second set of transports and a single cruiser had just entered New Eden’s orbit. They hadn’t started dropping their ground forces yet, but it was only a matter of time.
“Fire on those transports in orbit now, before they can start disgorging their troops!” ordered Halsey, hoping she wasn’t too late.
The forward magrail guns fired volley after volley. Then the Havoc missile launchers joined the fray, sending anti-ship missiles at the transports. It took a few minutes for the magnetic railgun projectiles to travel the distance between the two groups of ships. While her slugs were closing the gap, one of the frigates, the Viper, swooped in at a high rate of speed toward one of the transports. It cut loose a string of three plasma torpedoes at each of them and then fired ten Havoc missiles at the lone cruiser.
The Viper started pulling up when it was struck by a pulse beam from the Zodark cruiser. The ship lost its portside MPD thruster and slid sideways in space. It took another hit to its midsection, causing more damage. When Halsey saw fire, she knew it meant the ship was leaking atmosphere. A couple seconds later, several small pods appeared around the ship. The Viper captain had ordered the crew to abandon ship.
Halsey watched one of the Zodark transports release a couple dozen smaller dropships toward New Eden. The enemy was clearly trying to get ground forces on the surface before their vessel was taken out. Seconds after the Zodarks unloaded their ground force, two of the three plasma torpedoes tore into the transport. It exploded in a brilliant shower of light and flame before the wreckage scattered, falling into the atmosphere of the planet.
The second Zodark transport managed to release maybe four or five of their dropships before the ship blew apart when all three plasma torpedoes nailed it. The lone cruiser managed to take out six of the ten anti-ship missiles. The Havocs scored a couple of decent hits against the thinner-skinned cruisers, but nothing that would ultimately destroy the ship.
“Target those troop landers. We need to take them out!” Halsey ordered. She wasn’t sure if their weapons could target something that small and mobile, but she had to try.
While her ship attacked the dropships, the rest of the fleet attempted to take the lone cruiser out. Once they finished that ship off, they’d go after the other three ships near Pishon, not too far away. However, the enemy cruiser had already broken orbit and was speeding to the other Zodark ships nearby. The Zodark cruiser near the moon broke off from the transports and charged the human fleet. Then to Halsey’s astonishment, the two other transports, which had apparently offloaded their soldiers, turned and charged her fleet.
She had a sickening feeling growing in her gut. The cruiser that Voyager had been attacking turned around to face them rather than trying to flee. Halsey suddenly thought she had figured out what they were doing.
She turned to her coms officer. “Relay order! Fleet to disperse. Zodark ships are going to try to ram us. Don’t let them get too close. All ships, focus weapons on the wounded cruiser, the one closest to us. Take that ship out first! Then focus fire on the next cruiser. After the cruisers are taken out, we’ll clean up the transports.”
For the next five minutes, they watched the Zodark ships pick up speed and try desperately to aim for a ship in the RNS fleet. They weren’t seeking the Voyager—she was out of harm’s way—but they sure were aiming for two of her TPA cruisers. Her tactical officers continued to have their primary and secondary weapons lay into the enemy warships. The remaining frigates swooped in at their faster speeds and unloaded swarms of their unguided plasma torpedoes at the enemy. The Zodark transports were quickly taken out—due to their slower maneuverability and thinner armor, the transports couldn’t stand up to the torpedoes or the anti-ship missiles fired at them.
At the last minute, one of the Zodark cruisers finally gave up the fight. A series of magrail slugs managed to pound enough holes in the ship that something important finally blew up. The entire vessel blew apart into several large chunks. Then the last Zodark ship started streaking flames like a fiery arrow flying through the night sky as it plowed into one of the TPA ships unable to get out of the way. The two ships slammed into each other and broke apart under the enormous strain of the impact.
The Voyager crew on the bridge watched the scene unfold as if in slow motion; the huge explosion lit up the black space like a surreal Walt Disney World fireworks finale as both ships ripped each other apart. Chunks of TPA and Zodark ships were flung out into space from the sudden impact and high velocity when they collided.
“Holy crap. Did you just see that Zodark ship kamikaze that TPA cruiser?” one of the officers nearby said to no one in particular.
Damn, now they’re suicidal? Halsey thought as she watched the wreckage continue to spread out into a large debris field. What’s next with these Zodark animals?
“Are there any more enemy ships nearby?” asked Halsey. “Did we get them all?”
It took a moment for one of her officers to reply. “We’ve taken them all out, ma’am. All we detect at this point are the life pods from the wrecks of the TP
A and Zodark ships.”
“Order our shuttles to start recovery operations. I want our people from the Viper and the other frigate recovered and brought aboard the Voyager,” Halsey ordered.
She hesitated as she thought about the Zodarks floating out there in their own life pods. She sighed. Part of her wanted to use their CIWS systems on the life pods, but she knew that was morally wrong to do.
“Let’s get together some of the RASs with our shuttles to collect the Zodark life pods,” Halsey finally ordered. “We’ll take them prisoner. If they go along nicely, fine. Otherwise, they will have to be killed.”
If we get lucky, maybe we’ll get a few that will be willing to talk, she realized. Maybe they’d be able to find out what the Zodarks knew about them, what their plans were, or other pertinent information that might help them understand this new enemy.
When the battle had been won, Fleet Admiral Bailey, along with President Luca, came back up to the bridge. The two of them walked over to her. “Admiral Halsey, it would appear we won the battle,” Admiral Bailey said, shaking her hand. “What kind of damage did your ship sustain, and how is the rest of the fleet?”
“The Voyager only took a few hits,” Halsey responded. “We didn’t sustain any real damage to our systems. The enemy cruisers didn’t focus their weapons on us. As to the rest of our fleet, we lost a TPA cruiser and two frigates. Another TPA cruiser took some damage, but nothing that’ll knock them out of the fight. We succeeded in taking out the six enemy ships, but not before the troopships managed to offload most of their ground forces. It appears both transports were able to disgorge their troops on Pishon. One transport and about a quarter of another one were able to deploy their ground troops to the surface of New Eden.”
“Oh, man. Where did those Zodarks land?” Bailey pressed. “Are they near any of our new installations?” He clearly recognized immediately the threat this posed.
Halsey shook her head. “No, they landed on the opposite side of the planet from where most of our forces and facilities are located. However, it’s going to be pretty darn tough to track them down on that side of the planet. Since they aren’t close to any of our forces or logistical bases, we’re going to have to move several battalions to that side of the planet.”
Admiral Bailey leaned in closer to Admiral Halsey. “Actually, Admiral, I think we have another tool we can try out on the Zodarks on that side of the planet.”
Her left eyebrow rose; she wasn’t sure what he meant by that. Halsey still hadn’t been fully brought up to speed on what all they had brought with them from Sol.
Seeing her confused look, President Luca whispered just loud enough for Halsey to hear. “He means the new combat Synthetics, Admiral. We brought a small army of them with us on one of the transports.”
Halsey’s eyes went wide at this new revelation. “I…um, I didn’t realize we had created something like that. Aren’t they illegal?” she stammered.
Admiral Bailey shrugged. “When facing annihilation, a lot of things that used to be illegal suddenly find themselves legal to use again. You’ve been gone a while, Admiral. In the last few years, we spent a considerable amount of time coding and creating them. This was when we thought Earth might be invaded by the Zodarks.
“Now that it appears we have a fleet strong enough to prevent that from happening, we brought some of them with us to New Eden. We planned on testing them on a Zodark-controlled planet, but this sudden appearance of Zodark troops on the far side of the planet might actually be a better testing ground.”
Halsey’s XO, Captain Erin Johnson, broke into the conversation. “Admiral, now that we’ve defeated the Zodarks here, would you like me to send a message to Admiral Hunt’s fleet and let them know the threat has been neutralized?”
Halsey turned to her XO and nodded. “Yes, please let them know what’s transpired. Ask for a SITREP as well. I want to know how their battle is going, and if the admiral would like us to assist them.”
“Do you think it wise for us to head over to the battle at the gate?” asked the President, a nervous look on her face.
“Wise? No. But if our collection of ships is what turns the tide of the battle in our favor, then it would be worth us joining them,” replied Halsey.
Admiral Bailey nodded in agreement. “Admiral, when you get those frigate crews recovered, I’d like to speak with them. I watched the battle unfold, and I must say, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything more heroic than what I saw the commander of the Viper do. Her frigate swooped in so fast, practically out of nowhere, to deliver that volley of plasma torpedoes and missiles. It was impressive, to say the least. I was saddened when I saw her ship destroyed, but relieved to see so many life pods emerge before it blew apart.”
“Will do, Admiral. It’ll be an hour or more until we get all the life pods, including the Zodark pods, collected and brought back on board. I’ll make sure the crew knows you want to meet with them personally. We’ll also have a handful of Zodark prisoners. Would you like to see them in person?”
Bailey and President Luca exchanged nervous glances before the President stepped forward. “I would,” she replied, possibly frightened but also very resolved. “I would like to see our enemy face-to-face. If I’m to continue to order our people to fight against them and die, then I would like to see these alien creatures with my own eyes.”
Admiral Halsey nodded but didn’t say anything. With their conversation over, she returned to the duties of running her fleet and warship.
*******
RNS George Washington
The battle had been raging at the stargate for nearly three hours. The massive Zodark and human ships pummeled each other with high-energy lasers, magnetic railgun slugs, anti-ship missiles, and the humans’ new plasma cannons.
“Admiral Hunt, we’re receiving a status report from Admiral Halsey’s fleet,” his coms officer relayed. “They’ve neutralized the enemy fleet there. However, the transports landed some of their ground forces. Most were dropped on Pishon—only a small contingent made it to the surface of New Eden. They lost a TPA cruiser and two frigates.”
Hunt just nodded at the information, then returned his attention to the remaining enemy ships. The one Zodark carrier they had disabled at the start of the battle was still floating helplessly in space, adrift without propulsion. The other carrier had finally blown up thirty minutes ago. It had taken more than two hours of pounding on her armor before the human ships finally landed a death blow against it.
At this point in the battle, only two Zodark battleships and a single cruiser were still fighting back. All three of them were taking a terrible beating. Three of Hunt’s six battleships had been destroyed. Four of the five TPA cruisers, along with eight of his twelve frigates, had also been taken offline.
The GW had taken a beating but was still operational. They’d lost the use of their plasma cannon a little more than two hours ago, and close to half of the ship’s primary turrets were down after hours of intense combat. Three-quarters of their fighter drones had also been shot down. The battle was proving to be a costly bloodbath for both sides.
Seeing McKee talking to Branson, his coms officer, in a whisper, Hunt suspected something was wrong. He walked over to check. They both stopped talking when he approached them.
Lifting an eyebrow at the sudden shift in their conversation, Hunt asked, “What’s going on, ladies? We still have a battle to fight, you know.”
McKee looked up at him, a look of sorrow and concern on her face. “Can we talk in your office, Admiral? I think it’d be best if we talk privately for a moment.”
Now Hunt knew something was wrong. Had the President or Admiral Bailey been killed?
“OK, let’s walk to my office,” he replied.
As soon as he entered his office, Hunt whipped around. “What’s going on, Fran?” he demanded. “Why do we need to talk privately?”
“I…I don’t know how to say this, sir, so I’m just going to say it. The Viper was destro
yed during the fight over New Eden.”
In that instant, Hunt felt like he had been punched in the gut. He almost staggered backward at the news. Fran moved forward to help steady him. She guided him over to a chair, where he sat for a moment, not saying anything. A tear started running down his cheek before he could try to stop it. Even Fran had to wipe away a tear.
Hunt finally calmed himself enough to ask, “Did they have a chance to get to their life pods? Is there a possibility that he lived?”
“I don’t know yet,” Fran replied. “I sent a message to the Voyager to find out. Well, I asked for a list of survivors from the ships that were destroyed. That way, it doesn’t come across as us trying to find out specifically about your son, sir.”
Hunt shook his head, then took a couple of slow deep breaths as he tried to calm himself. If his son was dead, there would be time to mourn his loss, but right now was not that time. We still have enemy ships to finish off, he realized.
Steeling his nerves, Hunt’s turned on the fleet commander role. “Thank you, Captain, for keeping me in the loop. Please let me know when you’ve received a reply to your inquiry. In the meantime, we have a battle to win. We can mourn our losses once we’ve secured our victory.”
With that, Admiral Hunt got up from his chair, straightened his uniform, and returned to the bridge.
“Admiral, the last two Zodark battleships just blew up,” his tactical officer announced. “The cruiser is the only ship left.” Hunt hadn’t been gone very long and was surprised they had taken out the last two battleships in his absence.
Ah heck, why not give it a try? he thought.
Hunt turned to find his XO standing not too far from him. “Captain McKee, send a message to the Zodark cruiser. Tell them their situation is hopeless. Ask them if they will surrender and save the lives of their crewmen. If we can end this battle now, then I’d like to. If they don’t surrender, then all ships are to reposition for another attack run on the cruiser and finish it off.”
Into the Battle Page 21