First Strike

by Christopher Nuttall

  Tobias smiled. He was determined to deny them another victory, even if it meant occupying Hammerfall for a short period. The world was still largely useless to the Federation Navy and that wouldn't change, not when the Funks would destroy anything left in the system before pulling out or surrendering. Perhaps they would simply surrender, rather than trying to force him to bleed his fleet white. There was nothing left on Hammerfall worth the loss of so many personnel in a futile defence.

  “Time to engagement, seven minutes,” Sooraya reported. “Enemy ships are turning and attempting to close on attack vector.”

  Tobias frowned. That was odd, odd enough to puzzle and worry him after Third Garston. The smartest thing the Funks could do was cut their losses and retreat from the system, leaving the remaining defenders to blow the installations and surrender. Some Funk propaganda claimed that humans had slaughtered prisoners out of hand, but the Galactic reporters had countered it by running extensive interviews with POWs who reported good treatment. It was certainly better treatment than they’d received from their own leaders; ONI had picked up on reports that several Funks had been shot for losing battles. How long would it be, Tobias asked himself, until the Funk commanders became more terrified of their own Empress than of the human invaders?

  “Maybe they don’t dare retreat without trying to bleed us,” he said, slowly. “Or maybe they have a trick up their sleeve.”

  He shrugged. There was no need to worry about defending a planet this time. If the odds grew too unfavourable, he’d pull the fleet out and leave the Funks in possession of a ruined system. But those missing ships worried him. There weren't enough of them to pull off another surprise like Third Garston – unless the Funks had additional reinforcements the recon ships had missed – yet they could cause havoc if they slashed into humanity’s lines. Earth itself should be able to stand them off, but no other colony world had serious defences. They only had a handful of ships from various Galactics working up before they were added to the battle line.

  The thought made him scowl. They'd been able to purchase hundreds of ships from the Galactics – mainly using revenue from Garston, or taking out loans from the bigger powers – but none of the second-hand ships had been armed with the latest weaponry. The Funks would face them on even terms until they were refitted, giving them a decisive advantage if they managed to get back on their feet and come blazing for Earth. It didn't help that some of the Galactic used-starship dealers had played down the age or condition of their ships until it was too late to refuse to pay. One day, he promised himself, there would be a reckoning.

  “Alert all ships,” he ordered, calmly. “They are to open fire the moment they enter weapons range.”

  “Aye, sir,” Sooraya said. “Weapons range in two minutes.”

  The Funks were still picking up speed, the healthier ships setting their speed to match their damaged consorts. It was surprising behaviour from the Funks, even though Tobias had witnessed some of them sacrificing themselves to save others in the past. Just another reminder, he told himself, that some of the Funks were capable of more than humanity would prefer to admit. They weren't completely alien, not like some of the weirder beings in the Association. Some of them were so alien that it was impossible to hold a rational conversation with them about anything. Even the Cats had problems talking to them.

  “Weapons locked on target,” the Captain said. “Firing...now.”

  Tobias watched in disbelief. The human phase cannon were still rotating through the various modulations, but it seemed as if the Funks had no vulnerable frequency any longer. They still weren't firing themselves, even when the human ships closed into their range and started launching antimatter torpedoes at them. And yet their shield seemed to be almost impenetrable. It was impossible...

  “Sir, I have a report from battle analysis,” Sooraya said. “They confirm that the Funks have established inner and outer shield layers. The best guess is that they’ve cannibalized the shield generators from wrecked craft to produce a second deflector bubble around their ships.”

  Tobias cursed. A simple counter, provided one didn't mind not being able to fire back at the targets. Each starship configured its shield generators to provide a path for the phase cannon to shoot through without hammering their own shields, but two different shields on two different frequencies made it impossible to open fire. Getting two shield generators to work together was tricky – the human researchers hadn't even tried, having found their own way to generate improved shields – yet the Funks had apparently solved the problem.

  He hastily thought back to the briefings when they’d discussed Funk countermeasures to new and advanced human weapons. There were other problems than simply making it impossible to fire back when two shield generators were paired. If he recalled correctly, there would be weak spots where the two shields actually interfered with each other, although a starship with enough power to generate two different shields might be able to compensate for such weaknesses. Or maybe not. Some of the ships hit by antimatter torpedoes were already showing power fluctuations, suggesting that they were running their shield generators over the limits. It was a dangerous risk; if the generators overloaded, the shields might vanish without having to be battered down.

  “Continue firing with antimatter torpedoes,” he ordered. “Scan for weak points and attempt to target them with phase cannon.”

  The human fleet passed through the Funk formation, just as several Funk ships dropped their inner shields and opened fire. Their phase cannon lashed out at human cruisers, forcing them to slip into evasive patterns even as their own phase cannon dug deep into enemy hulls. Warning lights flared up on the display as the Funks unloaded hundreds of antimatter torpedoes towards the human ships, driving them away from their targets. Their targeting had improved too, Tobias noted absently, although it was rare to risk using torpedoes at such close range. Human torpedoes had already smashed a number of Funk ships.

  One of the cruisers, Sydney, twisted in an attempt to avoid a spread of torpedoes, but it was too late. Nearly thirty torpedoes slammed into her shields, battering them down through sheer weight of numbers and destroying the entire ship in a blinding flash. There was no hope of survivors. Tobias snapped orders and the fleet reformed, firing a spread of antimatter torpedoes back to distract the enemy as they prepared for another run. Some of the Funk ships had lost their dual shield generators, either through overloads or direct hits, leaving them vulnerable. Human tactical officers started marking them down for engagement as the fleets started to close again, even though the Funks were heading away from the planet. Tactically, they’d already won the battle, Sampson had to admit. The Funks inflicted another loss on the already overstretched Federation Navy.

  “Take us back towards them and engage as soon as we enter weapons range,” he ordered. Human starships still had a high tactical speed advantage, enough to let him pick and choose the best attack vector. The Funks couldn't outrun them unless they retreated into quantum space and abandoned the planet. “Order the freighters to advance on attack vector” – he designated a course on his console – “and attempt to bluff them.”

  He hesitated. “And transmit a demand for surrender,” he added. “Maybe they’ll decide to surrender instead of continuing the fight.”

  There was a pause as the Hegemony ships altered course again. “No response, sir,” Sooraya reported. “They’re still under tight control.”

  The Hegemony ships opened fire as soon as the human fleet came into range, forsaking their reinforced shields for firepower. Tobias braced himself as an antimatter torpedo struck Nimitz’s forward shields, only to be deflected away as the starship lashed out at the nearest Hegemony battlecruiser. The enemy ship staggered out of line and fell astern of the fleet, spinning helplessly in space. Tobias designated a pair of Marine assault shuttles to be dispatched to receive surrender, if the enemy was interested in doing so. It was possible that the crew would wait until the shuttles were close to the hull and blo
w their fusion plants, taking the shuttles with them to a fiery grave.

  “Enemy ships altering course and attempting to evade,” Sooraya said. “I think...correction; enemy ships attempting to open a quantum gate.”

  “Take us away from their formation,” Tobias snapped. It was theoretically possible to overload a quantum gate and create an explosion with the force of a small supernova. No one had actually done it in recorded Galactic history – unless the Cats had done it during their first explorations and covered it up from their clients – but if the Hegemony intended to try, they would wipe out First Strike Fleet in the blast. “Prepare to make an emergency jump into quantum space.”

  The two fleets separated at terrifying speed as the quantum gate blossomed open in front of the enemy ships. One by one they retreated into quantum space and vanished, leaving humanity in possession of the system. The quantum gate closed behind them and vanished. Tobias let out a sigh of relief. They weren't going to die today. There was a theoretical proposal for disrupting quantum space, making it impossible for a fleet to escape an enemy trap, but it had never been tested. He’d ordered it held in reserve, just in case Earth herself was threatened by the enemy.

  “Broadcast a signal to the planet,” he ordered. “Assure them that we will treat them well if they surrender – and if they refuse, we will simply leave them here to die on the vine.”

  The recon ships had deduced that the Funks had attempted to evacuate most of the remaining fortresses, an exercise fraught with peril in a mined orbit. There would be a skeleton crew left onboard to ensure that the Funks maintained their claim to Hammerfall, although under the circumstances Tobias wasn't sure why they’d bothered. The installations around Hammerfall had already been destroyed, leaving only the cloudscoops and a handful of asteroid miners. Destroying them might have irritated the other Galactics, though Hammerfall rarely supplied fuel to anyone else. It was nowhere near as connected to the galactic trade lanes as Garston.

  “I’m picking up a response,” Sooraya said. “The current commander of the fortresses is prepared to surrender if his personnel are repatriated to the Hegemony.”

  Tobias blinked. “His?”

  “Apparently so,” Sooraya said. “Intelligence doesn't have a file on him, but there are a number of male senior officers in the Hegemony Navy – just not very many of them.”

  “Interesting,” Tobias mused. And also dangerous, he admitted, privately. The Hegemony females were worse than the human patriarchs who thought that women should be left barefoot and pregnant while slaving over a kitchen stove. Even now, there were parts of Earth where women were very much second-class citizens. Their men claimed that women were supposed to be under men, unsuited for the rough and tumble of political life, or even controlling their own destinies. The Hegemony females actually had some measure of proof for their claims. Any Funk male who rose to become a senior officer had to be far better at his job than a female officer. At least the Funks didn't have any tradition of officers sleeping their ways to important posts.

  He shrugged. “Tell him that we will return his personnel to the Hegemony once the war is over,” he said. “Until then, they will be well-treated in a POW camp on Terra Nova or Earth – any of them who wish to defect will be welcome to do so.”

  “Yes, sir,” Sooraya said. “Should we add a warning against murdering their own crewmen?”

  Tobias nodded. Some high-ranking Funk POWs had murdered subordinate officers, for no reason that made sense to the human mind. Tobias was inclined to wonder if they’d been fearful that their subordinates would pay off a few private scores now that they had been reduced to equality, but at least two of the murders hadn't even made that much sense. The sociologists had finally suggested that the Funks had wanted to kill the weak. Tobias had privately given orders that all such murders were to be prevented. One way or another, they would make the human race look bad.

  A long moment passed as messages raced to and from the planet. “He’s accepted your terms,” Sooraya said. “They don't want to lower their shields, however, until they receive assurances that we've disarmed the mines.”

  “Unsurprising,” Tobias said. “We’ll get around to them once we’ve finished securing the system. They can keep their shields up until then.”

  He tapped his console, assigning a handful of starships to take up defensive positions. The Funks had used the defence of Hammerfall for propaganda, even though the system had been rendered effectively useless. Now that humanity had taken the system, the Empress would be under immense pressure to launch a counterattack as soon as possible. ONI had been tracking enemy transmissions and noted that several more squadrons were being deployed to face the human advance, forming a defensive line that would combine with the fixed defences to stall the human fleet well before it reached Hegemony Prime. It was a pity that the deep-strike concept remained a concept for the moment, but there was little hope for developing it until thousands of additional missiles were produced. The last report had warned of delays in missile production facilities.

  Still, Hammerfall’s capture would look good, at least on paper. The Funks themselves would probably know better, but the Galactics – and human public opinion – was unlikely to see anything other than another world falling to the human advance. Once again, a fleet numerically superior to its opponents had been defeated, even if it hadn't been as crushing a victory as the Battle of Terra Nova. They’d even captured another half-wrecked superdreadnought. Given enough time, the raw material of the hull would be broken down and turned into new weapons and starships for the Federation Navy.

  “Organise the reporters so that they can inspect the captured fortresses,” he ordered. PR reared its ugly head once again. At least most of the reporters from Earth were sensible – and those that weren’t had their reports heavily censored before they were transmitted home. The Galactics were less sensible, but they didn't have the sources human reporters could develop. One particularly enterprising reporter had apparently seduced both a missile tech and a Russian soldier on Garston. “And then see if we've captured a tachyon beam array. If so, I’ll use it to report to Earth.”

  He allowed himself a grim smile as the fleet stood down from battlestations. They’d won – and the Hegemony had taken another blow – but how long could they go on? What had an ancient king, back before the Roman Empire, said about a costly victory?

  One more victory like Hammerfall and Earth might be ruined…

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  “That’s interesting,” Joshua said. “Are you sure about this?”

  The rodent-like alien nodded. Plenty of pirates had been scared by the destruction of Shadow and the – presumed – capture and interrogation of the habitat’s population, but the intelligence networks that attempted to track potential targets were still active. The pirates, Joshua had discovered, beat even the Association hands down when it came to building multiracial coalitions. They’d managed to seduce or corrupt a vast range of bureaucrats from a dozen different races.

  “There is little room for error,” the alien assured him. Like the crab, he was an information broker first and foremost, although he had a less stellar reputation. “I actually had their drive signatures monitored. Three squadrons of superdreadnoughts have departed the sector; the remaining two squadrons are attempting to convince observers that all five superdreadnought squadrons are still in the sector.”

  Joshua frowned, looking down at the raw data. Every starship had a unique drive signature, but it was possible to distort it to the point where it was difficult to positively identify the starship at long range – and few would dare to slip close to a superdreadnought just to get a more accurate read of its drive fields. And yet the report had the ring of truth. The only reason he could think of for the Funks attempting to convince observers that they were still at full strength was that they were no longer at full strength – and that meant that three squadrons of superdreadnoughts had gone somewhere else. But where?

  The
re was no logical reason for the superdreadnoughts to be deployed against the pirates, even if the Hegemony believed that Joshua and his men were still a threat. Superdreadnoughts were designed for destroying enemy fleets and invading hostile planets, not for routine anti-piracy operations. They would have no trouble swatting any pirate ship that came into range, but any pirate ship worthy of the name would smell a rat and start running long before the superdreadnought had a chance to blow them away. Fifteen superdreadnoughts were massive overkill against pretty much anything short of another interstellar power… and the last thing the Funks would want was to tempt the Tarn into crossing their border and snatching a number of undefended worlds. In fact, the performance – the attempt to convince everyone that fifteen superdreadnoughts were still there – might be aimed at the Tarn. They weren't the most powerful of the Galactics, but with the Hegemony on the verge of collapse and fighting one war against Earth, the Tarn might be able to topple the Funks and destroy the Hegemony.

  And yet...where had the superdreadnoughts gone?

  A human might have been tempted to lay a trap for the Tarn – and the Funks were more imaginative than anyone would have preferred, a lesson Joshua had learned when they’d attempted to trap and destroy his fleet. But they wouldn't want to risk playing games when the Hegemony was in a dangerous situation, not when the game could spill out of control. And besides, assuming that they’d intended to lure the Tarn into a trap, why wouldn't they put up a show of weakness instead of strength? It made little sense. Applying human logic to aliens was often nothing more than a way to be wrong with confidence, but even the most cunning Funk wouldn't want to risk expanding the war. The Hegemony had too many enemies.

  “I’ll want the hard data, of course,” he said. “I assume you’ll want the regular payment?”