Minutegirls

by George Phillies

  "Lead Dragon squadron encountering torpedos," Babineau said coolly, "Compliments of our Captain, and if we reduce to 10 gees acceleration the current enemy fire will be within our screening capacity. The rear third of the enemy formation is concentrating on Vincennes, Salt Lake City and Khabarovsk, though their targeting is inaccurate relative to other FEU ships."

  "Panama Flag to Monstrator, permission to reduce acceleration granted, and deviate to westward toward Demon Class," said Henderson. "Memo for Inquiry: As we are absorbing the bulk of the enemy fire, we shall seek to maximize the time over which we can do so."

  "Estimate four Dragons destroyed, two damaged," announced Babineau, "at significant usage of torpedos. Silicon Valley Squadron is firing on surviving Dragons."

  Henderson called up data. Vincennes and Salt Lake City squadrons -- the remaining twelve ships -- had gone to rapid fire with their torpedos, which would fry the launch tubes, but only if they lasted that long. Khabarovk's three torpedo cruisers followed suit.

  “There goes the lead Dracula," said Babineau. "Could have wished for more dispersion on torpedo targets...What do you bet the Demon's point defenses don't work through a plasma sheathe?"

  "Sucker bet," answered Henderson. "Flag to Third Rank squadrons. Continue to fire to assist Vincennes. Monstrator will continue to pin enemy flagship..." The torpedoes reached the enemy flagship. A volley of thermonuclear explosions englobed it, while further bursts struck at two Doormouse squadrons.

  Henderson glared at the damage displays. For all that the enemy had concentrated on Monstrator, her remaining squadrons all had lost ships, others being damaged. This put them ahead of Mogadishu, which was now close to 50% losses, destroyed and seriously damaged.

  "Lookitthat!" Babineau actually did not raise her voice. "Enemy rear formation is scattering!" Acceleration icons on the main tactical display now pointed radially outward from the midpoint of the EU's rear formation.

  "They just lost three squadrons to torpedos from an unseen source," said Henderson. "Which they'd have avoided if they had pickets out. Oh, my! Compliments to Fleet Flag, and enemy rear has gone linear. They're not evading at all; they're trying to run from what's left of Khabarovsk."

  "Monstrator, this is Fleet Flag," came Kalinin's distant voice. "As enemy ships are now in my point blank range, Albemarle and New York will engage the enemy tail. Please concentrate on the enemy van."

  "Panama acknowledges," Henderson answered. "Third rank squadrons. Deviate 40 degrees westerly, ten northerly. Concentrate fire on enemy ships in lead." She stared. Her third rank squadrons had courses nearly directly opposite to those of the enemy. Her course shift would prolong combat, but the opposing velocities of the two formations would soon pull them apart. "Babs, where is the enemy flagship?"

  "Should be emerging from all the fireballs," answered Babineau. "Around 300 torpedos detonated near the enemy flag. There are still CNO neutrino emissions; we didn't get her."

  Henderson considered the situation. Monstrator was maintaining minimum fire on the estimated location of the unseen enemy flagship, while shifting heavy fire rapidly through the cloud of enemy Doormouses. The enemy tail was dying, though it might take Vincennes with it. The enemy van had split targets, some ships firing on her incoming squadrons, while a few fired ineffectively at Monstrator. FEU Dracula class had shifted fire to Teutoberger Wald's surviving 16 ships.

  "Here we come," announced Babineau. A badly damaged Demon emerged from the plasma, hull glowing white-hot, only hull screens active. The Demon was maintaining a few gees of acceleration while spinning slowly and randomly. Its hull screens flared when Monstrator concentrated its full firepower against it. "Getting burnthroughs. That's hull going up, not a plasma sheath."

  Henderson made herself watch the rest of the battle. The Demon would survive a little longer, longer than the enemy tail, which had made an inexplicably poor tactical move. By going linear the tail had reduced the effective range from Kalinin's squadrons, a dozen times its mass of SLPSDF ships, from very long to point blank.

  "Compliments of Vincennes," Babineau said, "Enemy fire into them ceased as soon as they finished their interpenetration run, even though Vincennes is still firing on the enemy. Enemy rear is now firing at our Third Rank squadrons, which are inbound to them."

  Monstrator's xrasers burned through the Demon's hull fields. Puffs of vaporized hull burned, fluorescing wildly as they were ejected into space. The hull stubbornly refused to collapse, despite the titanic energy being poured into it. What sort of material, wondered Henderson, could be surviving? According to IR scans, the outer surface of the Demon class ship had now reached almost 10,000 degrees without falling apart. Was the whole ship armored with strange matter?

  "Teutoberger Wald flotilla is withdrawing," Babineau reported. "They're at full drive away from the enemy, and laying down a plasma cloud. Enemy Draculas have shifted fire to our ships. And the Demon is bleeding light elements -- I interpret that as air and water."

  The Demon shuddered. Starcore-hot bursts of plasma bled from segments of the hull. Fusactor failure, noted Henderson, the reactor core being voided to prevent an internal explosion. But those explosions were taking hull with them; their External Emergency Shunts must have failed. The Demon was so large it survived its first two catastrophic fusactor failures. Henderson wondered if the FEU had stopped building External Emergency Shunts for their fusactors. Or had the shunt system failed when the hull overheated? A series of explosions ripped the Demon's ventral surface, a blinding series of firecrackers formed from overloaded fusion reactors. The Demon broke apart, a few surviving segments flying outward before they exploded.

  "Monstrator shifting targets," reported Babineau, "targeting Dragon class." Henderson nodded. All enemy ships carried the same weapons. The only advantage of shooting at larger targets was that they were easier to hit.

  Acceleration icons next to the enemy ships shifted wildly. "Enemy center is maneuvering by squadron," Babineau announced, "No obvious pattern. At least three squadrons are accelerating exactly directly away from Bellerophon, meaning not quite straight at us." The icons shifted again. "Enemy center is now trying to join enemy rear -- or retreat on the warp point," said Babineau. "Enemy van is continuing toward Tyler." Projected courses illuminated the main tactical display.

  "They've lost formation integrity," said Henderson. "But their center will spend the next 20 minutes coming to a stop. Dividing yourself in the face of a superior enemy fleet is a strange maneuver for the FEU." It was also strange for anything with a brain, unless there was some truly subtle plan at work. Very soon her formation would transit, at 400 miles per second relative velocity, through what was left of the enemy rear. That passage had so far wrecked four of her squadrons, while doing substantially less physical damage to the enemy. The effect on enemy morale had been more significant. The enemy rear -- less and less of which remained intact -- had panicked, and was scrambling away in all directions.

  "Fleet to all units," came Kalinin's voice. "Commit to pursuit by flotillas. Seek to remain between the enemy and the warp point. Mogadishu, rendezvous with Panama at Panama Flag's discretion. Panama and Columbia, proceed to warp point. Flotillas accompanying flag will maneuver as per accompanying sketch." Kalinin's maneuver appeared on the Secondary Tactical Display. His lead flotillas changed acceleration axis first, rotating vectors from westward over to east and starward toward the warp point. They also reduced acceleration. Trailing flotillas continued westerly full acceleration and would invert acceleration later, massing Kalinin's flotillas into a single coherent group that first flanked and then blocked the enemy's headlong retreat.

  Henderson stared at the display. The enemy's rear was being crushed by Albemarle and New York, able to fire at point-blank effective range because the enemy had inexplicably abandoned orthodox evasive maneuvers when Monstrator and her Third Rank ships approached. She was left to fire at the enemy center and van, its 60 million tons -- less losses -- still being considerably more tha
n a match for the 160 million tons of Monstrator and her third rank squadrons.

  "Mogadishu," she signaled, "On your mark, begin acceleration toward warp point at your best formation speed. Rendezvous with and do not overshoot Teutoberger Wald, which is already advancing on the warp point. Then continue advance to the warp point. Panama will merge with you as soon as possible thereafter."

  Babineau raised her hands and rolled her eyes. Mogadishu and Teutoberger Wald were still headed 30 degrees sunward of west. Their acceleration might be toward the warp point, but their velocity would be the other way for 20 minutes yet. Panama had reached more than 200 miles per second sunwards of east and would soon transit what was left of Mogadishu's formation.

  Henderson stared at the flotilla damage statistics. Breaking even in mass losses with an FEU fleet was exemplary performance -- the performance that Kalinin had delivered at Second Clarksburg. She was not going to do that well. Her excuses -- ships that did not fly, weapons that were totally useless, newer and better FEU screens and xrasers, an opening formation that let the enemy defeat the SLPSDF in detail -- might eventually be vindicated in history books, but the Board of Inquiry would still end her career.

  She clenched her hands. The laws of mechanics almost completely determined the next minutes of battle. The enemy rear would die to the last ship. The enemy van and main body were pulling away from her formation. There was one last interesting possibility.

  "Monstrator and Third Rank squadrons, this is Flag. After passing through the enemy rear, we will be proceeding to the warp point. However, the enemy appears to be profoundly upset when we pass through his formations at pointblank range. Therefore, as a feint calculate and set your accelerations as though it were our intent to pass through the enemy rear, invert course, and make passes toward individual squadrons of the enemy center. The enemy center has reversed acceleration so that with ballistic acceleration our maneuver is possible. The tactical screen has hashes indicating which enemy squadrons each of you is to target. When our easterly velocity is down to 100 miles per second, you will abandon this feint and set minimum time trajectories for the warp point. I will display a sample course for Monstrator." She made passes with her hand. Monstrator's future course was shown as passing through the rear; it then came to full acceleration in a near-westerly direction. As seen on the screen, it came to a near-stop, made a tight hairpin turn and made a second pass through a squadron of enemy Dragons. A second line showed the westerly acceleration switching over before the hairpin, Monstrator instead making best acceleration for the warp point.

  "What is this?" Kalinin's voice was quite calm, considering how she was carrying out his orders.

  "Commodore, the enemy seems to get really upset when he sees someone flying straight at him. So Panama Flotilla will transit the enemy rear and then give the illusion that we will come back, this time to transit some squadrons of his center. It's an illusion; I'm going where you ordered. But perhaps the enemy..."

  Kalinin cut her off. "...will be so kind as to do something really foolish, before you change acceleration. Excellent. Carry on."

  LARGE WARSHIP BELLEROPHON

  FLEET PRIMARY COMMAND BRIDGE

  CLARKSBURG WARP POINT

  July 3, 2176, 2:28 AM LST

  Commodore Kalinin stared at the main display, his face a model of inner peace. He told himself that he was a senior flag officer, he had just had three of his ten major formations wrecked by enemy action, and therefore it was not surprising that he did not feel the tranquility he sought to exude. Mogadishu and Teutoberger Wald flotillas had engaged superior forces and given a good account of themselves, but in the end nearly half their ships were severely damaged or destroyed. Henderson's four lead squadrons had lost a dozen ships of the 32 they had initially contained. On the bright side, between Henderson and his ships firing at longer range, the enemy rear would substantially cease to exist, and the enemy center was taking substantial losses. The enemy van was continuing to pull away from the American fleet, headed straight for Tyler.

  What did the enemy think that he was doing? When the enemy lost their flagship, they apparently lost use of their brains. Alternatively, they had no surviving next in command, because the SLPSDF had accidentally shot up the alternative flagships. Half the surviving enemy force was still headed at Tyler as though nothing had happened. The other half was trying to come to the rescue of the enemy rear. Their task was complicated by the difficulty that Henderson had already passed them, was behind them, and was receding from them at nearly 400 miles per second relative velocity. Henderson's hairpin turn - which demanded 20 minutes to bring her ships to a stop, and another 20 or 30 to bring her back to the enemy -- had just begun. The enemy course inversion would take as much time, and more than twice the distance.

  "Sir, a feature of damage reports," Bilodeau said.

  "Yes?" Kalinin asked.

  "Much surface damage, relatively few casualties? The enemy seems to be firing to damage ships, baking the outer hull to wreck shield projectors and xraser turrets, then shifting fire, rather than going for the kill. We have close to two dozen ships that are completely out of action, but that have lost almost no crew members," Bilodeau explained.

  "Very good. Please transmit that analysis at once to all ships and personnel. Some of our people could use a morale boost right about now," Kalinin ordered. "Wilmot, how are the missile barges coming?"

  "Sir, the sunward group will hit their van in about four minutes. The eastward group will hit their center or van -- their rear will be gone by then -- at your discretion in ten to fifteen minutes or so -- that time is still a bit hard to predict," she answered crisply. Inwardly, she considered what was going to happen to Henderson's career. Jane had been a classmate. She was also the best large-formation training officer the fleet had; that's why she had been stuck with a flotilla full of crocks. No one else could have done anything with them. With the losses she had taken, and undoubtedly an Inquiry Board claiming insubordination, her chances of staying on active duty at any rank were poor. The comparison with the Union General McClellan came to mind. However, McClellan had hesitated to fight battles that might hurt his boys; Henderson had had fewer compunctions.

  "Order the eastward missile barges to hit their van," said Kalinin. "Though if losing half their fleet hasn't persuaded them to quit, I don't know what will." He looked across the Command Bridge. "Bilodeau, has there been any signal at all from the FEU units? No call for our surrender? No offer from their rear to surrender to us instead?"

  "No, Sir," Bilodeau answered. "No signals at all, and no response to our pro forma challenges when they entered the system." Kalinin scowled. What, he wondered, was going on? Historically, the FEU had always responded to hailing challenges, usually more politely than at Third Charon. The new FEU fleet detachments were completely unlike anything ever engaged by American forces. At Second Clarksburg ships of this style had fought alongside ships of that other style, and at First Clarksburg ships of that other style had fought alongside identifiably FEU ships. The new ships were therefore certain to be FEU ships, grumbles from various secret societies notwithstanding.

  On the main display, Henderson's ships had made their closest approaches to the enemy center and were now about to pass through the enemy tail. Monstrator, despite redlining its drives, remained solidly to the rear. Objectively, Henderson's casualties were already staggering, with more tonnage disabled and destroyed than had contained in the entire pre-emergency SLPSDF. Enemy losses were thusfar substantially less than hers, which was not too disappointing, considering that the FEU appeared to have made yet another set of major technical breakthroughs without any advance warning.

  On Kalinin's viewscreen, the volume through which Henderson's ships fell burned brighter than the sun itself. Expanding shells of plasma marked torpedo detonations and xraser hits on screens, the eleven squadrons of her Third Rank formation firing at pointblank range into the enemy rear. Survivors of Henderson's First and Second rank ships were lim
ited to xraser fire. The velocity at which they were receding from the enemy formation was larger than the best speed an American torpedo could attain. They could fire torpedoes at the FEU rear, but those torpedoes would never reach the enemy.

  "Formations with Bellerophon, this is Flag," Kalinin said. "Shift fire to enemy center. Maintain rapidity suppression fire on enemy van." Panama Flotilla was at point-blank range with a twelve-to-one mass advantage and five minutes firing time. It needed no more assistance. Besides, firing into a mixed group of friendly and hostile ships with torpedo detonations half-blinding lidar and radar risked bronze-on-bronze incidents. If any enemy ships survived Henderson's pass, as seemed unlikely, they could be dealt with when targeting improved. Meanwhile, his ships had a thirty-to-one mass advantage on the enemy center, even if Bellerophon remained disabled for the remainder of the battle.

  Kalinin sank back in his acceleration frame. What would Victor Benjaminovitch be doing now, if he were in command? Something very clever, no doubt. More clever than he would find, perhaps as clever as his stationing and crewing arrangements of Manzikert had, of course purely accidentally, almost been in the last battle. At this moment, there seemed to be very little Kalinin could do to affect the outcome of the engagement. Henderson's pass at the enemy fleet had broken up their formation, taken out their command structure, and would very soon cost them more than half their ships. His next moves were under way, but many minutes would be required before his ships reached their assigned positions. Until then, he got to wait patiently and watch his fleet carry out his orders. The complication he faced was the enemy van, still accelerating for Tyler as though nothing had happened behind it. The commander of that detachment was a singular monomaniac, someone committed to carrying out prior orders no matter how little sense they now made. Where was the FEU finding people like this? French commanders usually dithered, while the unfortunately all-too-often excellent German commanders followed the doctrinal individual initiative principal that had dominated German small-unit training since the early 20th century.