by D. J. Holmes
After giving herself a couple of minutes to savor the moment, she turned her mind back to her duties. There was a lot to get done. The ship had to be made ready for the RSNI types to come and take over. The damage done to the destroyer in the firefights had to be repaired and the prisoners had to be secured for the long voyage back to Earth. Every other ship that had come in Jensen’s fleet was in the Void to stay. The destroyer would be the only ship leaving and so the prisoners would have to stay aboard her. That posed a risk. The crew would know their ship much better than Gupta and her crew. They would have to be secured properly to make sure they could not find a way to escape. Picking up her COM unit she contacted Major Johnston and arranged to meet him in an hour to go over his plan to detain the prisoners.
*
Rear Admiral Jensen had been in her ready room taking a nap. Drake had left her fleet hours ago and so she had taken the opportunity to go over her plans once more before catching some sleep. When her COM unit went off she was awake and alert instantly. An ability she was always thankful for being born with.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Admiral, Drake has returned, the mission was a success,” Captain Chambers said over the channel.
“Ok, signal the fleet, break formation and prepare to jump into the system. Inform the RSNI tech team that they can ready themselves to take over control of the destroyer. Don’t wait for me, take us in immediately.”
Jensen had commanded the Britannia response fleet for over a year. In that time she and Captain Chambers had built up a very good working relationship. She had already recommended the Captain for a promotion to flag rank. However, with only a handful of fleets and task forces in the RSN there weren’t enough commands to go around.
By the time she dressed and made it onto the bridge, the fleet had already formed into their jump formation. The communications officer had just finished informing Captain Chambers that the last ship had reported their shift drive fully charged. Before giving the command, Chambers looked over at Jensen. She simply nodded.
“Give the order to the fleet, we jump in thirty seconds,” Chambers said.
Only milliseconds after making the jump to shift space, the fleet re-emerged on the edge of the Excalibur system. After sitting stationary for five minutes and closely watching the space around them, Jensen was satisfied that Drake hadn’t missed anything.
“Signal Commodore Williams, tell him he can take his task force to Camelot and proceed with his mission. Tell him to keep the bulk of his force together, if they encounter anything I want them to be able to give a good account of themselves.”
Jensen watched as a heavy cruiser, light cruiser, two destroyers and two frigates broke off from her main fleet and began to re-orientate themselves for the jump to Camelot. The system Drake had initially designated V48 also fell within British space and although it was less strategically important, the Admiralty wanted a British presence there as well. Jensen was concerned about splitting her forces, especially with a Chinese battleship out there. However, orders were orders.
“Ok, take us into the system. Inform Norfolk that she is to ready her passengers to disembark onto the Chinese destroyer. Once Drake has charged her drives and jumps back in, order her to make for the captured destroyer and begin to take her crew off. They won’t be needed by then. Order the destroyers, scout frigates and remaining survey ships to begin operation Nimitz.”
Nimitz called for the smaller ships that didn’t specialize in point defense to begin a coordinated sweep of the system with their primary radar projectors. Jensen wanted to make sure there wasn’t another Chinese ship lying in stealth somewhere.
“And inform Respite that she can begin her mission too.”
Respite was the final survey ship in the fleet. She was tasked with jumping to the V17 system and delivering a message to the Chinese Admiral there. The message was simply the recording of the UN Interplanetary Committee meeting that had awarded the Excalibur and Camelot systems to the British. Alongside that there was a warning that if any Chinese ships entered British space it would be considered an act of war and they would be fired upon.
*
3rd March 2465, HMS Drake, the Excalibur system
Drake had spent the last three days scouring the Excalibur system along with the other light ships of Admiral Jensen’s fleet, when her sensors finally picked something up.
Fisher alerted Lieutenant Gupta as soon as she detected it. “Lieutenant, a ship is dropping out of shift space approximately half a light hour away. It is right on the edge of the system’s mass shadow.”
“Alert the Commander and switch off the radar. Navigation, shut down our drives and put us into stealth mode. Once we are running silently, make a course correction towards their likely route into the system.”
The ship that had just jumped into the system would almost immediately pick up the heat and radar radiation Drake had been pumping out into space. However, Drake hadn’t been accelerating and so they wouldn’t be able to track her using their gravimetric sensors. It would take the ship half an hour to realize that Drake had gone into stealth mode and by then Drake would be able to significantly close the range to whoever had arrived into the system.
Already the Chinese had sent two light ships into the Excalibur system. The first had broadcast a message claiming Excalibur for the People’s Republic of China and threatening the destruction of the British ships if they did not leave. The second had sought to dive into the system and get a firm sensor reading on the British fleet. Admiral Jensen had been keeping the main body of her fleet close to Excalibur and had been letting her ships go into stealth at random intervals. She was trying to keep her Chinese counterpart from getting a fix on her numbers.
A destroyer had chased the second ship off and had almost managed to score a hit. The Chinese ship had just succeeded in getting back to the shift space limit before the destroyers missiles caught up to it.
“Status report?” James asked as he walked onto the bridge and over to the command chair.
“A ship has just jumped out of shift space half a light hour away. We’ve entered stealth mode and are waiting to see what they do sir.” Gupta replied.
With a glance James acknowledged Gupta’s report and then turned his attention to the main holo display. After sitting stationary for a couple of minutes the ship that had just jumped in lit off its drives and headed into the system. The sensors weren’t able to identify the ship based on its acceleration profile but given that it wasn’t trying to hide, it was likely to be a friendly.
Twenty-five minutes later Sub Lieutenant Graham broke the anticipation that had been building. “Sir, I’m picking up a message from the incoming ship. She is the York, one of the survey ships Admiral Jensen sent out to survey the Void before we went after the Chinese destroyer. She is broadcasting her IFF signal and says she has an important message for the Admiral.”
“Sensors, what do you make of her?” James asked.
“I can’t say for sure sir, not at this range.” O’Rourke began. “However, their acceleration rate is equivalent to York’s maximum military acceleration and her heat seepage seems consistent with a Cook class survey ship.”
“Ok, take us out of stealth, broadcast our IFF signal as well and return us to our survey route.”
Three hours later Drake received a signal from Valkyrie. James had the message put up on the main holo-display for all the bridge to see.
“Commander,” Admiral Jensen’s image began. “I have some new orders for you. York identified a shift passage leading away from the Void towards Chinese space. I’m detaching the rest of my survey ships to explore it. I’m putting Commander Jackson of York in charge of the search. She will remain at the entrance to the shift passage and direct the search. I need regular updates so I don’t want any ships running off on their own. You should be receiving the coordinates now, good luck Commander.”
*
12th of March 2465 AD, HMS Drake, shift passage adj
acent to the Void
James was beginning to remember why he despised the survey fleet so much. The last months had been full of all the excitement he had been dreaming about for the previous two years. Yet for the last week Drake had been transported back in time. Once again she was carrying out the monotonous task of micro jumping, surveying the dark matter, micro jumping again and surveying again. The main shift passage had reached a dead end after only three light years. However, so far York and her fellow survey ships had identified thirty minor passages leading away from the Void. Only five had been fully mapped out so far and any of the rest could lead to Chinese space. Drake was currently sitting stationary, mapping out the surrounding space after a micro jump.
“Sir, I have finished the scan of the dark matter,” Fisher reported. “There is a twist in the passage ahead, we’re going to have to make a smaller than usual jump ahead to determine which direction it turns before we can head up it.”
“Very well, send the navigation data to Hanson. We’ll make the jump when you are both satisfied.” James replied.
Suddenly the main holo-display automatically switched to show the gravimetric plot and a siren sounded twice to alert everyone on the bridge. At once everyone but Fisher shifted their focus to see what it was displaying. A large number of red dots were appearing just under a light hour away from Drake’s current position.
“Gupta, put us into stealth mode immediately.”
Thankfully, Drake wasn’t accelerating anywhere so these newcomers couldn’t detect them. Drake had only been at her current position for ten minutes so no infrared radiation should have reached this new fleet’s position yet. With luck, they would just be rounding the twist in the minor shift passage and jumping as soon as their shift drives had charged. They would be gone before any sign of Drake reached them.
“Fisher, I want you to compare their jump signatures with those of the Chinese fleet that we saw jump into V17. See if you can estimate type and class for each ship and get me a final count on their numbers.” James ordered.
Exactly thirty-four minutes after exiting shift space, the Chinese fleet jumped again. This time all of Drake’s sensors were focused on them. After the last ship disappeared, Fisher put the computer’s estimates on the main holo-display. “Based on the gravimetric anomalies created from their exit and entrance into shift space, the computer estimates that the fleet consists of one battleship, one heavy cruiser, four other cruisers and five other smaller ships.” Fisher reported.
James stood up from his seat in shock. “Are you sure?” he demanded.
“Positive sir,” Fisher replied. “We got a good look at that battleship at V17.”
“Damn,” James shouted. “They are only supposed to have one battleship.” He reached over to bring up the intelligence on the Chinese construction program but Gupta was already ahead of him.
“The last intelligence report say the next Chinese battleship won’t be completed for at least ten months.” She commented sourly. “And that report is only two months old. There is no way they could have rushed her out of space dock that quickly.”
“I agree,” James said nodding. “They must have constructed a second one in secret. It’s too similar to their first battleship. Intelligence says the new battleships they have under construction have had a few major alterations to their design. This one looks identical to the one at V17.”
Everyone on the bridge seemed to be transfixed with the rundown of the Chinese fleet. At best, James knew that his uncle had been expecting it to take weeks for the Chinese to organize themselves before sending more ships. Yet for these ships to be here now meant the Politburo must have sent immediate orders for reinforcements to head towards the Void. The presence of the battleship showed just how badly they wanted to kick the British out.
“Ok everyone, we’re just going to have to deal with the situation we’ve been dealt. Admiral Jensen needs to know just how badly outnumbered she is. Combined, the two Chinese fleets out mass Jensen’s fleet at Excalibur by almost two to one. Navigation, plot us a least time course back to Excalibur, we have no time to waste. If I had to guess I’d say those ships are going to join up with their comrades and make straight for Excalibur. They’ll be hoping to knock us out of the Void before we have had a real chance to establish ourselves here.”
*
12th of March 2465 AD. HMS Valkyrie, the Excalibur system.
Admiral Jensen was sitting in Valkyrie’s flag command chair. British warships typically had a main bridge and an auxiliary one. When a ship was used as a flagship the Captain was set up in the main bridge while the Admiral based on the ship took their station on the auxiliary bridge. That way the Admiral could direct the movements of the fleet without getting distracted by the running of their flagship.
Jensen still felt it was unnatural. Unless the ship was at battle stations, only a minimal crew manned the auxiliary bridge. She liked to pass her time sitting in her command chair but she felt naked without the bridge crew surrounding her as she had become accustomed to during the twelve years she had been a Captain. Even so, it was clear from those who were on the bridge with her that there was an air of excitement moving across the fleet. Everyone was eagerly looking forward to the next few hours. It had been over two days since the last Chinese scout ship had tried to enter the system and spy on her fleet. After the last attempt Jensen had decided to mix things up a little. Her light ships had now completed their full scan of the inner system. Up until that point she had been keeping her ships within the shift limit. The Chinese had, therefore, been jumping in only half a light hour from the limit before powering their drives and boosting into the system.
Since the last Chinese ship, Jensen had pushed all her light ships but the point defense ships beyond the shift limit. She had also worked out a signaling system that used the gravimetric acceleration profiles of her ships. That way, when one ship picked up an incoming Chinese ship it could go to full burn on its engines, immediately alerting the rest of her fleet about the newcomer.
For her benefit, the sensor officer on watch addressed Valkyrie’s First Lieutenant louder than necessary. “Lieutenant, Arrow has just gone to full burn. Her course and speed indicate that she has picked up a vessel exiting shift space.”
The main holo-display switched to show Arrow’s position at the edge of the system closest to the Chinese end of the Void. A line extended from Arrow towards the shift limit, giving an estimate of where the ship she had picked up was. Moments later another blip appeared where the line intersected the shift limit.
“Sir, we have the new contact, they are going to full burn too.”
Jensen sat up in excitement. No ships were expected back from spying on the Chinese fleet for another day and York’s next progress report on the survey of the shift passage wasn’t due for another three days. Whether a friendly or another Chinese spy something was finally happening.
Aboard Drake, James already had his ship accelerating at maximum toward Excalibur. As soon as Drake had come out of shift space and he had confirmed that the Chinese fleet wasn’t in the system yet, he had sent a general message to all the ships in the system. The Chinese were coming.
Chapter 13 – First Blood
The first tactic taught at any naval academy when it comes to fleet engagements has always been this: ambush your enemy and destroy him before he has a chance to fire back. Yet, in reality, this almost never happens in space warfare. The distances are simply too great and ships are simply too hard to hide. Every now and again though it has been known to happen and these instances are always closely studied at every naval academy in an effort to try and repeat them.
-Excerpt from Empire Rising, 3002 AD
12th March 2465 AD, 8pm. HMS Arrow, the Excalibur system.
Twenty minutes after Drake had dropped out of shift space, her IFF signal reached Arrow. Along with her IFF, Arrow also received the data stream James had broadcast to the entire system. It gave a breakdown of the new Chinese fleet and J
ames’ belief that it was on its way to Excalibur. Commander Farquhar tended to agree with Somerville and so he ordered his navigation officer to alter Arrow’s acceleration.
Aboard Valkyrie, Arrow’s course change was immediately spotted, “Captain,” her sensor officer called to Chambers who had just taken over the watch from Valkyrie’s First Lieutenant. “Arrow has cut her acceleration. Wait, she is going to ninety percent now. That’s the signal she has identified the newcomer as a friendly.”
Just as everyone began to relax the officer called out, “She has cut her acceleration again.” A few moments slowly passed as the officer hunched over her control terminal watching the sensor feed. “Sir,” she shouted with concern this time. “Her new acceleration pattern is the signal for enemy fleet approaching.”
“Acknowledged Lieutenant,” Chambers said much more calmly than he felt, “forward your readings to the auxiliary bridge. Inform the Admiral we have a Chinese fleet on its way here. Then warn the crew they’ll be called to battle stations soon.”