I asked, ‘How far away are we, and how far away are the 65’s?” Elian said, “The 65’s are down to about four million kilometers, and we’re coming up on six.” I nodded my head and watched as we veered away from the other group of six, which continued to coast in toward the mother ships on our original heading.”
As long as we coasted we were very, very hard to find, but under way, it would be easier to pick us up, if not easy. Carolyn called out distances every minute or so, and I began to hope that the coasting missiles might have a chance.
We finally closed to five million klicks. I badly wanted to get in closer, but I was a little spooked at how easy it had been to get this close. I pointed at Elian and on command both groups dropped their heavy missiles. For better or worse, we now had ninety-eight missiles in space. That was probably as large a single launch as the Federal Navy had ever, well, launched, and it had been done by a small group of elderly attack craft.
The time counted down and we finally shut down our own drives. We’d seen no indication that anyone had spotted us, but I still felt a tingling. I asked everyone, “Let’s look very sharp. I’ve got a funny feeling about this.” Elian grinned at me and asked, “Funny, as in ‘funny ha ha?’, or funny as in ‘someone’s trying to kill you funny?’”
I grinned and said, “Choice B, you idjit.” Everyone laughed but just moments later, the larger flight of 65’s lit off their drives, nearly simultaneously. It was an awesome display, and I would have loved to see the expressions on whatever passed for a bug admiral when he/she/it saw all those missiles heading his way.
The 65’s were by now less than three million kilometers from the center of the bug flotilla, but they didn’t have enough endurance for the sprint in, and were running at a low rate of acceleration. I asked the chief and he said, “Working on it.” Good man, the chief.
This time around, the response to the missile attack was very different. I could see a lot of drive systems come up, but only in the immediate region of the missiles. Before, every ship in their system had lit off its drive, something that made it easy for us. Now, we didn’t know the location of any ship save those we had already spotted, and the new ones who were between the missiles and their targets, who were already lighting off their lasers.
I took a chance and spoke to Hawk06. “Harry, keep a very, very sharp eye out for lurkers. I don’t like the way this is shaping up. On my command, I want your flight to flush ten internal missiles at our incoming ship. I want nine of them to target that cruiser, or whatever it is. The tenth missile will target the nearer fighters. OK?” I got back a prompt ‘yes sir’.
Chief Kana finally reported, “Sir, it looks to me like it will be a close thing. I feel that the ship is so damn big and the 65’s will be so close that they might still hit it. Even when they exhaust their drive system, the missiles have a backup power source that will keep them hot for perhaps two to three minutes. We’ll know in about three minutes or less.”
We were still in high power laser comm range of the other group of Hawks, now about forty thousand kilometers distant. I instructed Hawk06, “We’re getting close. We’ll open our missile bay doors on command and start launching. As soon as we’ve launched, lase anything out to one hundred thousand klicks. I want them to be defensive as much as possible. We’re going to launch the moment we get a hit on a mother ship.”
Explosions began to speckle the inky blackness as 65’s began to get hit. Their defenses were now fully on line but for fifteen seconds or so no more incoming missiles were hit. Then, more explosions, marking a line that would terminate in a mother ship, which we could barely see on our screens. I was bothered by the limited defensive fire being put out by the bugs. It was a tremendous volume of fire, but it wasn’t as big as I would have expected. I asked, ‘Does anyone see anything wrong about this?” Elian said, “Yeah, it looks like most of the fighters and destroyers are missing.” We all came to the same conclusion.
I ordered Carolyn, “Order our Mark 65’s to bring up their defenses right away. Hawk06, we’ll be shooting up the incoming group the moment our 65’s activate their defenses. It might fuzz up this groups defenses for a bit.”
The original group of missiles continued to drive in towards the bug mother ship, and lots of them were getting hit, but at this rate more than fifty would make it in, and that ought to turn that tin can into scrap. That bothered me, as we had never gotten more than about half of our missiles through their defenses.
I asked Elian, “Elian, what could account for this limited response?” He was thinking the same thing I was, “We’re seeing a bug mother ship, and lots of fighters, but few destroyers and no cruisers, save that mysterious piece of crap coming up from behind. I think they sent off a big chunk of their hardware Robert, and I can think of only one reason for that.” I nodded my head, grimly. The Essex had been our home for over a year, and it held nearly every one of our friends.
Our twenty-four Mark 65’s lit off their drives and moments later, their active defenses. Seconds later, all twelve Hawks began launching ER-15’s. Because we had rotary launchers we sent out a stream rather than a dense mass of missiles.
Just moments later, our targets brought up their drives. Seventeen fighters began accelerating in an effort to head us off, and a few missiles tracked in on them, but most continued to bore in on the cruiser, which was already bringing up its lasers. It didn’t seem to have nearly as many as the first cruiser we had come up against, but I didn’t have to wait very long to see why. Twelve missiles separated from it, all targeted on my group. Thirty seconds later, another batch of missiles left the ship. I groaned silently as I realized that they had wisely decided to concentrate on just our group. I said, “Congratulations crew, we’ve just discovered a new and improved bug cruiser.”
Within moments we’d launched over one hundred missiles, all of them streaking in at this one group, ninety-six targeting the cruiser sized ship and twelve targeting fighters. I told Elian, “Retarget all the fighter missiles on the group trying to head us off.” He grinned and said, “I heartily agree with your wise decision.” I grinned, thankful for his ability to keep the atmosphere light.
Their missiles were far slower than ours and we were fairly close, so they were not going to have very much time with which to destroy our own missiles. For the first time, we managed to swamp their defensive fire. They began to hit a few missiles, but there was no way they were going to escape getting hit by seventy or eighty missiles, judging by their accuracy so far.
Meanwhile, our Hawks reoriented themselves in flight so that both lasers could target the incoming missiles. Our capacitors began singing as both lasers and the drive system operated at max capacity. I wanted to escape this system, but I wanted to kill a few bugs on the way.
Behind us, the laser fire coming from the mother ship and its supporting craft continued to fire and Mark 65’s continued to get hit. Carolyn reported, “Sir, some of the missiles are losing power. I could see the evidence on screen. It seemed to confuse the bugs, who found themselves shooting at targets that suddenly disappeared. They wouldn’t know why, would think we’d come up with a new weapon or tactic, when in fact, the missiles were simply running on fumes.
Our lasers began hitting the incoming missiles, and I tried to calculate whether we had a problem or not. There were now five flights of missiles coming at us and as I watched, a sixth erupted from the cruiser.
We had a problem.
Finally, our missiles came into close range of the cruiser. The birds made final course changes and suddenly small blossoms began appearing on the flanks of the ship. They hit and hit and hit until the ship was hidden by explosions. Finally, a missile hit something important, causing a huge secondary explosion which took out the nearest ER-15’s and one of its own fighters. Three missiles streaked through the carnage and retargeted on a near-by fighter. It had no more than one or two seconds to react before it was hit as well. It exploded, adding to the immense fireball.
We
hit all twenty-four of the first two groups of incoming missiles, the last one at a distance of sixty thousand kilometers, but we still had forty-eight coming along behind them, accelerating all the way.
The other Hawk group changed direction and headed straight for the fighters, trying to get into position to support us as well as take on the remaining six bugs.
Unfortunately, we were too far away from them for their laser fire to be of much use to us. I should have kept us closer together, or simply together. I said, in the clear this time, “Hawk06, you have permission to use your remaining missiles, at your discretion.” I heard a mike click twice.
Twelve lasers fired every five seconds at the incoming birds. Some of the missiles detonated with one hit, some required two or even three. The third flight was destroyed at a distance of forty thousand kilometers, and we began targeting the fourth group. We were going to run out of time at this rate. I told Carolyn over the din, “We need a break. Shoot the remaining missiles at the fifth group. She acknowledged my order and within seconds I could feel the shudder as the final two internal missiles ignited and streaked out.
Elian paired up twelve incoming missiles with our twelve outbound ER-15’s. We had taken out seven of the fourth incoming group, which was now twenty two thousand kilometers away from us, with the fifth and sixth elements untouched.
We had to adjust our flight angle to keep both lasers from being masked by our ship, but Carolyn was handling that for me. Our lasers were continuing to shoot, and we were also utilizing our gravity pulse defenses. The last of the fourth group exploded fifteen thousand kilometers away.
Our outgoing missiles hit home, taking out eleven, and leaving thirteen, which were now twenty thousand kilometers distant and still accelerating. It was going to be a very close thing. It was a foregone conclusion that if a Hawk was struck by one of their missiles, there wouldn’t be a trace left.
Finally, our Mark 65’s began to hit. Some had exhausted their drives and gone ballistic, and at least thirty had been hit, but that left over sixty missiles. They began exploding in rapid succession against the motionless bug ship. I yelled over the din, “Concentrate on the incoming birds.” I lost count of the number of explosions. They kept hitting, in ones and twos and threes.
Finally, a missile got through to something really important. An immense fireball lit up our screens, forcing them to blank for a moment. I heard, much later that the explosion could be seen from many light years distance.
We continued to shoot, and the last of the fourth flight was exploded less than one thousand kilometers distance.
I didn’t think we were going to escape unscathed, but suddenly Elian shouted, “Robert, the other group targeted the last flight with their missiles.” Our ER-15’s had overhauled the bug missiles and they began to detonate them. We continued to target the closest missiles, continued to hit them and exploded the last one just two seconds from hitting us
There was a few seconds of silence as we reacted to the near disaster. Elian said, “Let’s be sharp, boys and girls, we’ve still got a shit pot of bug fighters out there.”
The remaining bug fighters were now only seventy thousand kilometers from us, coming in at a shallow angle. The other Hawk group was trying to close in, and it looked like we were going to pinch them between us, but they did have their own lasers, which they were now shooting. They didn’t seem to have any missiles on them, which was a relief, but their lasers were bad enough.
Our own systems began targeting and shooting back at them. At this distance, neither of us was going to get a kill, but the distance was closing. We took a hit, then another. There were seventeen fighters with one laser each, targeting just the six of us, and their accuracy was distressingly excellent.
They were ignoring the Hawks coming up behind them, and that would soon be a mistake, as they were now only eighty thousand klicks distant and closing. The Hawks weren’t firing yet, which I thought was a good idea, as they couldn’t kill at that distance, and maybe the bugs would kind of forget them. One could hope.
I suggested to Carolyn that we take them one at a time and within five seconds all twelve lasers targeted one single fighter, which promptly exploded. Every five seconds, we would power up and fire nearly simultaneously, and another fighter disappeared. It was like shooting fish in a barrel. We got hit several times, and as the range closed, the amount of energy transfer went up. We were going to require some repair to our ships when we got back to the Essex, but at this rate we were all going to escape again.
The last bug exploded, still over fifty thousand kilometers distant. Ten minutes later, our two groups came together and we changed course for home. I didn’t discuss my suspicion that the bugs may have found the Essex. If they had, and had sent a large force, the Essex would have had to jump, that is if it had enough time. It normally took a minimum of ten minutes to power up the jump system from rest, and that should be more than enough time, as long as the bugs were seen soon enough.
We ran at max acceleration for a half hour and then reduced our power to three G’s and began turning to galactic east, looking very closely at the space around us. We had accomplished our mission, but none of us were happy.
On the return trip I was quiet rather than a butt head, but everyone had the same thoughts. I decided to address the problem and opened up a general comm link. I started by discussing our mission, and the results, which included twenty-four fighters, a new class of missile cruiser, and of course, the bug mother ship. I asked for input on their response, and the general consensus was that it had been a fairly easy mission. Oh, and by the way, where were the rest of the bugs?
In a momentary silence I asked, “Is there any reason to believe that it might have been too easy?” There was a fairly long silence, and then an Etech7 asked, “What do you mean sir? I think that there was far less defensive fire this time, and there were fewer fighters and destroyers than we expected, but I’m not sure that that means anything?”
Finally, Lieutenant Burkahl entered the conversation, “What Lieutenant Padilla is asking, is, if we encountered fewer enemy craft this time, just where are the missing destroyers and fighters? We know that the bugs have adapted their destroyers to operate as a sort of carrier, allowing them to move their fighters much further than they could previously. We just killed an example of that. Additionally, we found fewer destroyers and fighters in the vicinity of the bug mother ships. Finally, we have not located two of the four bugs. Conclusion: they were somewhere else. One possibility is that they finally found the Essex. If they did find it without our own fleet realizing that, they could have moved as many as thirty destroyers, each one towing, say, ten fighters each, for a total of three hundred fighters. They could englobe the Essex and attack it using the very same methods we have been using, learned in fact, from our very own Hawks. The bugs aren’t stupid; witness the way they have adapted to our methods. Is that more or less what you are getting at, Lieutenant?”
I said, “Yes sir, that is what I was suggesting. Now, I would like for discussion and suggestions. Clearly, we need to prove or disprove this possibility. How should we go about it? First, however, a comment. We have flown four Hawk missions now against the bugs, so all of you know how I operate. I am two things: a very junior JG, and I am flight lead. So, unlike my navigator who still thinks he knows nine tenths of everything, having forgotten the other two tenths due to alcohol poisoning, you should know that I like to discuss things when we have the time. We now have the time, and I am asking for input from you all.”
There was light laughter, which is what I was after. In addition, I received a wad of paper, thrown accurately at me by my navigator. I grinned around at my crew and returned my attention to the communication system.
Lieutenant Burkahl opened it up, thankfully. “It would be prudent to approach the agreed-upon location as stealthily as possible. I would suggest that we spread out into a disk formation with a separation of, say, ten thousand klicks, and drift in at a very high r
elative velocity. If we find the Essex, we’ll blow by it and return a few hours later for a shower and a meal. If there had been a battle, we’ll find lots of debris, and we may actually find some survivors, although I doubt it, knowing how the bugs like to clean up after themselves. If the latter, the question is, what do we do?”
We discussed the two options for twenty minutes. I was gratified to hear from as many enlisted as officers, and the level of intelligence and thoughtfulness was superb. We all felt that the Essex had been attacked and possibly destroyed – there was simply no other good explanation.
That outcome meant we would have to find our own way home.
The Hawk held a surprisingly large amount of water, which was used to generate power. However, we had almost as much power in the five mag bottles as a destroyer, but only about five percent of its bunkerage. We had enough reserves to jump to within a light year of home, but not enough to jump home in the roundabout manner as we had used to get here. We were here to protect Lubya, not endanger the planet. In point of fact, we had no way of knowing whether jumping that distance was possible for the Hawk, nor whether it would or could endanger the planet.
Hawk Seven (Flight of the Hawk) Page 25