by TR Cameron
With a soft growl, he seated himself comfortably, wishing just one last time the Washington boasted adaptive seating, then pushed all thoughts other than battle and victory from his mind.
"Hook us into the battle net and get some orders, Fitzpatrick." He paused and looked at the screen. "In the meantime, Lee, head toward the planet." The Washington made a slight course correction, and Earth filled the screen in the distance, providing a backdrop to the battle that was already underway.
"Channel two, Commander."
Cross nodded thanks and punched the button to join the battle net. He motioned for Jacobs and Matthews to hook in as well.
"Welcome, Washington. The enemy has deployed mine ships toward Earth. Since you have some experience with them, perhaps you can go scrape them off."
"Gladly, Admiral," Cross replied.
To the bridge, he announced, "The mine ships are our targets. Let's get them before they get into atmosphere when we can, and when we can't, Marcus, time for some fancy shooting."
"Affirmative, Commander," the weapons officer said, clapping his hands together and turning to his board.
"Weapons free for targets of opportunity along the way." He received a nod in confirmation.
Several other ships fell in line as the Washington went by, detailed to add their own efforts. When they reached visual range, his heart dropped into his feet.
There were far more ships than there had been on the other planet, and they were already dropping mines. "Target the nearest and engage," Cross ordered, and the Washington began firing torpedoes and barrages of energy weapons. It seemed like for each minelayer they took out, two more appeared.
"Where are they coming from?" Cross asked. A section of the main display glowed in response to his question, showing what looked like a carrier, only super-sized. The gravity mine ships, about two-thirds the size of the Washington, were heading in a loop from that ship to the planet and back. "They must be rearming?"
"Computer agrees, Commander. They seem to have enough munitions for only a single pass."
"They must be dropping a ton, then. I don't recall the ones we faced in the Gibson system having a resupply need."
"I remember the same," added Jacobs.
Cross hit the button to speak into the battle net. "There’s a source ship for the minelayers. Can we send someone at it?"
"Already underway, Commander," replied a gruff Russian voice he knew very well.
"Captain Petryaev, good to hear from you."
"I’d say the same, Commander."
"Are you repaired?"
The older man barked a laugh. "Hasty welds and a prayer."
Cross smiled as he said, "Same here. Quite a pair we make."
"Indeed, Cross, indeed. You take care of the small ones, we’ll attempt to disrupt the other end of their supply chain." The Beijing dropped from the channel.
Cross frowned at the screen, counting enemies and considering how long it was taking them to overcome each ship. "We need a better strategy. Suggestions?"
Jacobs answered from his left, "The atmosphere is dissipating too much of our blasts, as we expected it to. It seems like the only solution is to get less atmosphere between us and the minelayers."
"I was afraid someone would say that." He checked the battle display, looking for Kate's ships, and found them already engaged in a vigorous defense against many enemy vessels. He wouldn’t be able to rely on her squadron's atmospheric capabilities.
He searched the battle display for another idea, but didn't find one. "All right then. If that's how it's got to be, that's how it's got to be." He hit the button for the ship-wide intercom. "Standby for turbulence. Everyone switch to independent air. Take hold." He followed his own directions, as did the rest of the bridge crew, pulling out their oxygen masks and hanging them around their necks.
"Lieutenant Lee," Cross said.
"Yes, Commander?"
"Remember when I said not quite so far into the atmosphere?"
"Vividly, Commander."
"Belay that order. Get us as close to those bastards as you can without crashing."
Lee gave a crisp, "Yes, Sir,” then turned back to his board. His fingers danced across the controls, and the Washington vibrated as the engines kicked up to maximum power. The planet grew ever larger in their display. Everyone in the ship felt it when they hit the outer atmosphere and skipped slightly before penetrating.
"Weapons free, Marcus. Matthews, use countermeasures. Use whatever we have. Use the pots and pans from the galley if needed."
"How about we launch Marines in space suits," joked Walsh, and the bridge broke into dark laughter.
"Not ruling it out, Lieutenant, not ruling it out." Again, Cross could only watch as his ship was thrown into danger, this time from the natural forces of gravity and friction, as she battled to preserve the Earth.
"Communication from the surface, Commander. They’re being added into the battle net."
The shaken voice of someone on the planet crackled into his ear, "This is General Hopkins at the UAL defense center in Nevada. How can we assist?"
"Can you target any of the alien ships with atmospheric fighters," replied Admiral Stephenson, the officer in charge of the sector’s defense.
"Negative. They’re too high."
"Too high for them, too low for us," grumbled Cross just as the Washington took a particularly hard buffet and indicator lights began to glow on the damage display.
"Matthews?"
"Just some hull plating, Commander."
"Lee," Cross began.
"I've got this, Commander," his helm officer said slowly, his attention very much focused elsewhere.
"You better, or I'm telling everyone you crashed my ship."
Cross turned his attention back to the battle net.
"—with ballistic missiles."
"Nuclear, or conventional?"
"We have conventional weapons that should reach, but no guarantees. The ICBMs most definitely would."
"Nuclear blasts in the atmosphere wouldn’t be conducive to the planet's long-term health," observed the admiral. "You’re released to use non-nuclear missiles however you deem best, General."
"Yes, Admiral. Hopkins out."
Within seconds, Cross saw tiny pinpricks of light on the surface of the planet, and designators for the missiles appeared on the main display. Between the Washington's efforts, which were more successful without the atmosphere in the way, and the ground-based defenses, they were able to eliminate one out of every two arriving ships. However, the other one continued to sow mines on the surface.
"The mines are taking effect, Commander," reported Fitzpatrick. "Local media near geological instabilities are reporting earthquakes of unprecedented magnitude."
"Dammit," Cross said, gripping the arms of his chair hard and sitting forward against his restraints. "What else can we do?"
On the far edge of the display, Cross saw the battle between the Beijing, his squadron, and the minelayer carrier continuing. He hit a button to connect directly to the Beijing. "Dima, we’re losing here. Can you detail one of your ships to take out the minelayers as they return to rearm?"
"Da," replied Petryaev before killing the channel.
"All right, that should decrease the incoming. But we need something to deal with these bastards here, and we need it now. Anything?"
The bridge was silent for several moments before his tactical officer ventured, "The other ships haven’t followed us into the atmosphere, Commander."
Cross looked at the display and saw it was true. The other ships that had been assigned to follow them were sniping at the ships in the atmosphere, but hadn’t descended.
"Get me their captains, Fitzpatrick."
Moments later, three officers appeared on his display. Each wore a captain's insignia. Cross stood to address them. "Captains, this is Commander Cross of the Washington DC. We have some experience fighting these foes. I recommend that two of you," he paused and gave a single laug
h, "ideally the least damaged two of you, descend into the atmosphere where your weapons will be more effective. The other should focus on incoming ships."
"That's almost guaranteed suicide, Commander. These aren’t atmospheric ships."
Cross shrugged. "That doesn't make the need to do it any less necessary, respectfully, Captain. Will you see the surface of the Earth torn apart in order to protect your ship?"
The silence hung, and then one of the three said "Hell, Commander, if your ancient ship can make it, mine can too. Have your helm officer link the information you've gathered so far."
"Yes, sir." Cross turned, and Fitzgerald killed the channel.
"Maybe only one," Cross said to Jacobs.
"One more than we had. Maybe it’ll make the difference."
Suddenly a huge wave of the minelayer ships arrived at once, stymieing their efforts to block them, and entered the atmosphere to drop their payloads. Two other ships joined the Washington in the atmosphere, and all of their combined firepower again succeeded in taking out one out of every two. It simply wasn’t enough.
"Commander, we have a problem," said Lee.
"What?" barked Cross.
"The engines are redlining. We need to get out of the atmosphere. Engineering respectfully suggests they weren't built for this."
Cross let out a string of the most vicious curses he could think of at the moment, while his mind raced for a different answer. When he didn't find one, he gave the order, "Take us up, Lee."
"Some help, Commander," came the amused voice of Dima Petryaev as the Washington fought her way back into space. The Beijing's full complement of fighters streaked by his ship, and Cross watched as they spiraled down in packs to take out the enemy minelayers. "We needed them against the source ship, else we would’ve sent them earlier."
"You destroyed it?"
"Not yet. But we sent it running." Cross found it on the display, limping back toward the command ships. One of which was filled in entirely in red. "She's here," Cross growled.
"We have a bigger problem," said Matthews.
Cross turned to him, but it was Jacobs who said what Cross was thinking, "What now?"
The main screen magnified to show a battle between the two human flagships along with their support ships against a set of enemy cruisers. In the corner, the approach of a floating fortress was visible.
"Not another one," Cross said.
Just then the low murmur of the battle net was replaced with a louder command directed at him. "Commander Cross, you and your squadron are to assist the flagships against the floating fortress. Make your paths such that you can fire at the designated ships on your way."
On the screen, a set of ships was outlined in yellow. They were a type that he hadn’t seen before. "Real-time, magnify those ships," he ordered, and the screen zoomed in. There were eight of them, and as he watched, they surrounded a human ship and literally pulled it to pieces, chunks flying off in separate directions.
"Bloody hell and damnation," Cross said. "What the hell are those?"
Chapter Thirty-Four
Kate's squadron finished off the large pack of Xroeshyn ships they’d been tasked to destroy and came back together to survey the battlefield. Pandora maintained an open channel between Kate and Claire Martin on the bigger Domeki ship.
"It sure is nice having this much firepower," Claire said.
"No question," replied Kate.
"Commander," said the voice of Pandora, "there’s a situation. You may wish to intervene."
"Show me."
The image on the viewscreen shifted to the side and zoomed in to reveal eight ships surrounding a human ship and pulling it apart.
"What is that?" exclaimed Claire.
"Those are called gravitic assault ships, Lieutenant Commander. They use an incredibly powerful gravity beam instead of other weaponry. Although, they're often outfitted with torpedoes and energy weapons as well. The amount of power needed to use the gravity beam is immense, and limits their ability to do anything else while it’s being used."
"Are the shields not powerful enough to stop it?"
"They’re unable to defend against it, Commander. It’s a type of attack that was never envisioned in their design."
"Let's get a move on, then," Kate said, and her fleet of sixteen ships dashed toward the battle. As they got close, the enemy vessels reformed into two sets of four, and advanced to engage her ships. They avoided the Phoebe and focused instead on the smaller vessels. Kate was able to dodge and roll out of the way of the first beam that sought her, and she watched on the screen as a Domeki vessel was pinioned by first one, then two, and finally a third gravity beam. It was enough to halt her momentum before it overwhelmed her shields and tore her to pieces.
"So, we’re not invulnerable. Good to know." She marked several and said, "Send the other ships at the designated targets." Diaz nodded and sent the commands to the autonomous vessels. Kate saw them peel off head toward the enemy ships.
"Let's see what kind of trouble we can cause," Kate said, and swept in on the side of one that was already engaged with an autonomous ship. She fired everything she had as she strafed along it—energy weapons first, followed by standard missiles— and failed entirely to break through the ship's defenses.
"Any records on how to beat these things?" she asked.
Pandora replied, "Only through the application of overwhelming numbers, Commander. By the time the Xroeshyn brought them into the war, they were very much a last-ditch effort."
"Well, I don't think we can manage that. So, we’ll have to be smarter." Kate tried the tactic again, selecting drill torpedoes and narrowing the focus of her assault. The Pandora's weapons tracked as she flew to maintain the attack on a single point. This time, a hole was created, and a torpedo was able to sneak through. It exploded and sent pieces of hull fragments to float away in space.
"Significant damage?"
"Negative, Commander. Primarily shielding."
"Can we send that program of attack to the autonomous ships?"
"Done, Commander."
On-screen, the autonomous ships had more success, trading at least a little damage in exchange for what they took.
"Claire, what are you—" Kate stopped talking and slammed the controls to accelerate at maximum speed. Ahead, five of the enemy vessels had surrounded Claire's ship and dragged it to a standstill. They were applying their gravity guns with success, causing the Phoebe's hull plates to visibly shake. The creaking and screaming of tortured metal carried across the communication channel.
"Put autonomous ships in the way," Kate snapped, and soon the gravity beams were broken as the remote-controlled ships interposed themselves, momentarily blocking their effects on the Phoebe, then diving out of the way before they could be snared. Claire's ship struggled free, firing continuously at one of the enemies as it did. Between her assault and that of the supporting computer-controlled ships, the enemy was shattered, and it exploded in impressive fashion.
"Yes," yelled Kate. "Way to go!"
Claire's voice was subdued when she said, "Roger that, Commander."
Kate imagined that coming so close to destruction had unnerved Claire a bit. She snorted inwardly. For those who spent a lot of time with Anderson Cross, dealing with the threat of imminent destruction was all in a day’s work. Every day's work, in fact.
She still had a smile on her face as she turned to engage the next gravitic assault ship. The tactics worked, and allowed them to destroy another three of the enemy ships in trade for six of the autonomous vessels and some damage to both the Pandora and the Phoebe. Kate lost focus for a second, and her ship was wrenched to a halt.
She was caught, right at the intersection of four gravity beams, and she could hear the sounds of the hull being pulled and stressed.
She thought furiously, then sent energy weapons and torpedoes directly back along the path of the beams. They struck, but failed to impart significant damage or stop the assault.
; "Pandora?"
"We have roughly forty-seven seconds until we lose structural integrity, Commander."
"Recommendations?"
Pandora was silent for several moments before answering, "An object at high acceleration that’s harder than their hull might be able to do significant damage, Commander."
Kate understood what she meant immediately. "Program three of the autonomous ships to intercept a gravity beam and fly back along its path at top speed."
Diaz nodded, and Kate watched as they swooped in and intercepted the beams. Suddenly her ship could move again, and Kate said, "That armor that we used before, Pandora. Is it as strong against physical contact as it was against energy?"
"Yes, Commander."
"Engage it," Kate said, and dove back along the path of one of the gravity projectors. She fired all her weapons as she closed on the enemy ship and smashed into the weakened area at high speed. She angled down just before she hit, and the Pandora plowed through the whole of the ship, carving a line on a diagonal to exit from the ventral surface. Immediately, Kate spun the ship and launched a full barrage into the hole she’d made to claim another of the enemy vessels. Her autonomous ships weren’t so lucky, and were destroyed without significantly impacting their targets.
"Six left," Kate said. "Pandora, what else can we do here?"
Again, the ship was silent for several seconds. "I recommend avoidance, Commander," Pandora replied at last. "Without superior numbers, we cannot defeat these."
"Can the other ships engage that same shielding?"
"Negative, Commander. That was a new feature in my generation."
"Dammit," Kate breathed, and ran her hands through her hair in an unconscious imitation of Cross's nervous habit.
"Kate," said Claire Martin, sounding more fearful than Kate could remember her ever being.