Each of the four carriers were launching fighters. Once shot out of the tunnel, the small craft accelerated forward of the carriers and closed on Admiral Kupin’s battle line. As they moved toward the battle line, the individual fighters closed up and formed into their squadrons. They headed for each flank of their own battle line. Once the battle line launched missiles, the fighters would follow the missiles to the target from their flank positions. After the missiles hit the enemy ships, the fighters would be right there to assess enemy damage and immediately exploit the situation by assaulting the weak points created by the missile barrage.
The Zeke battle line held position as the OrCons closed the gap. The two forces were thirty-one minutes apart. The fighters used their high speed to close with their battle line and moved into position. Every piece on both sides was ready. Missiles would begin to fly in less than a minute.
Then an amazing event happened. The Zeke battle line turned away from the oncoming Orion formation and accelerated toward their Aegis base. The entire Aurora squadron was retreating in an orderly fashion.
“What the hell…” Kupin muttered as she watched the withdrawal. Her first reaction was a trap from subspace was just ahead, so she did not immediately order an all-out pursuit that would degenerate into a pack of hounds trying to be the first to get to the quarry.
She was on her command net in an instant. “All ships scan ahead and to the flanks with white phones. We have to ensure there is no ambush from subspace between us and the Zekes. Fighters, hold your formations on the flanks.”
Ships moved forward matching the slow pace set by the flagship. White phone operators strained to hear hidden ships lying in wait in front of them. The slow pursuit continued as the Aurora formation passed their Aegis base and then moved to pass the planet of Lilitu. Once beyond the planet, the Zeke ships appeared to set course for Buckler. As the Orion ships closed on Aegis, the Zeke base launched missiles and the battle began.
Kupin relaxed as she watched the missiles from Aegis bearing down on her ships. The Zeke missiles flying at her task force proved there was no ambush in subspace between her and the planet. She had not believed there had been hidden ships in front of her but she couldn’t take the risk by hurrying forward blindly. She knew the enemy ship numbers, and all had been accounted for through sensor readings. She also would have been alerted to reinforcements arriving by the comm chatter of civilian vessels fleeing the area, or from last-minute reports from the spies among the ships. There had been the reports of two patrols of four destroyers each joining Admiral Levant in the last two days, but there had been no Zeke ships spotted coming to the rescue at the last minute. She was confident there was no subspace ambush lurking just ahead of, or on, the flanks of her ships. The next logical place for an ambush was from behind Lilitu. That possibility faded away as the Zeke ships continued past the planet on a direct course to the small base of Buckler located on the planet Senka. Kupin consulted her tactical screens. The enemy would get there in just under three hours at their current speed. She could not closely pursue them at the moment as she needed to reduce the Aegis base. No matter. Buckler base and its planet weren’t going anywhere. The Zeke force would have to make a stand there. No way would they sacrifice both bases.
The Aegis base defenses poured out missiles but it would be a useless gesture. Everyone knew the Aegis base defenses could be easily overwhelmed since they no longer had the support of the Aurora fleet. Kupin ordered all ships except the two battleships to go defensive. She was being overly cautious here but did not want the base missiles to score any lucky hits on her ships. The battleships fired offensive missiles and began hitting the defenses. As the defenses were reduced, more Orion ships would move to the offensive, and soon the base would be mostly wreckage. It would take a bit of time, but the result of this little pillow fight was never in doubt.
Kupin frowned as she realized her own Stinger fighters presented a problem. Her force would make quick work of the base and continue their pursuit of the Zekes, but the fighters didn’t have the range for a long pursuit to Buckler, a battle, and then the return flight to their carriers. Even if the carriers followed in close trail of the main force, it could not be done. The fighters would run out of fuel before getting to Buckler. She could not just order them back to their carriers and wait for a more opportune time to relaunch them. The problem was the planes could not be recovered aboard ship with ordnance onboard. The small craft were trapped aboard their carriers, as aircraft have been since the birth of carrier aviation centuries prior on old Earth. Each fighter was set up on a guide path to enter the tunnel and catch a wire that brought the craft to a sudden, jarring stop. This stop could shake the armed missiles loose from the fighters and cause an ordnance explosion that would take out the landing portion of the bay and kill all the ground crew members there. It was a remote possibility, but it could happen. The fleet-wide policy was unused ordnance was ejected from all aircraft prior to return to ship. Kupin didn’t want to dump the ordnance in space. If they did that, the Stingers would have to land, rearm, and refuel despite having seen no action. That wouldn’t look good in the after-action reports, and the carriers and their squadrons were under enough scrutiny now. Kupin had no desire to give opponents back at Central Command more to complain about. It was best to use the ordnance on enemy targets even if they weren’t the most desirable of targets.
There was also the slim chance the Aurora ships would not give battle but simply run away. Perhaps the Zekes hoped that by staying so tantalizingly close, they could lure the raiders deeper into their own territory toward Zeke reinforcements, or to allow Zeke warships to cut off the Orion return path to their own friendly space. Kupin did not believe that was the case, but it could happen. If the Zekes continued to retreat, no ship-to-ship battle would be fought and the fighters needed to be used against the enemy in some fashion to justify bringing the carriers along in the first place. She would have to use the Stingers against the base. Not a great answer and a few of the small attack ships could be lost in the action, but there was nothing else to be done.
Kupin turned to her operations officer. “Order the Stinger squadrons to attack Aegis base in conjunction with our bombardment.”
“Will do, Admiral,” came the quick reply.
Kupin leaned back in her seat. She was not happy with this opening gambit by the Zekes. She was sure the Zekes wouldn’t run out of the area without giving battle. That just was not their style. She had to reduce the base before continuing the pursuit, so this preliminary fight needed to be over quickly so she could get on with the chase toward Buckler.
She leaned to her command net. “All ships. We will continue to close the range on the base while engaging it. We cannot let this little spat here get in the way of our pursuit. We must get past the base while hitting it hard. There will be no reduction in speed so you have very little time to do your damage. The fighters will remain behind to complete the attack and then they will return to the carriers to refuel and rearm. The carriers will follow in trace of the main formation to reduce distance for the attack craft. I believe the enemy will set up in front of their Buckler base to take advantage of that base’s defenses. Therefore, the engagement between our forces will take place there. As we move to that location, the fighters will complete the attack on Aegis, return to their carriers to rearm, refuel, and then be prepared to join the fight at Buckler. Let’s reduce Aegis now while continuing to move past it.”
The Aegis fight went exactly as Kupin thought it would. Her ships continued their slow chase of the Zeke vessels while laying waste to the base. The Orion ship defenses and shields did their job, so the base defenses did no damage to attacking ships. As the ships closed the range on Aegis, the fighters streaked past. They engaged Aegis base targets while the ships continued to reduce the defenses. The fighters hit space docks, repair facilities, and space harbor structures. Their second and third waves engaged base structures on the planet surface. Comm towers, barracks, power
plants, and other infrastructure buildings were hit.
The responses of the base defenses dwindled to nothing as gun turrets and missile batteries were destroyed or lost power as supporting infrastructure was hit. The base did not offer to surrender and the OrCons did not demand one. Their ships ceased fire and continued past the now floating junkyard of a spaceport and the heavily damaged surface infrastructure in pursuit of more important prey. The small attack jets pulled off target and headed in the opposite direction of the main body as they set course back to their carriers. Their four home vessels had closed on Aegis base, but remained on the edge of missile engagement range in case the silence of the base defenses was just a ruse to draw the carriers closer. The carriers had eight destroyers and two light cruisers for escorts, but there was no point in tempting fate. They would remain outside missile engagement range as they recovered their small charges. Once that was accomplished, the carriers and their escorts would arc around the Aegis base and continue in trail of the main formation.
The fleet Operations Officer spoke to Admiral Kupin from amid his many floating screens. “We can consider Aegis base official reduced to zero capability. The spaceport has been systematically bombarded by our ships and the Stingers, and there is not a single berth or repair bay capable of operations. The surface infrastructure of the base has been reduced to rubble. All identified defensive positions have been eliminated by direct hits or having their power sources destroyed. Their defensive capabilities were less than we gave them credit for.”
Kupin was about to give the expected acknowledgement before returning her focus to the upcoming battle, but the last statement peaked her curiosity. She spun in her command chair and stared at her OpsO. “What do you mean that their response was less than expected?”
The Captain looked abashed by his commander’s sudden interest in his casual evaluation of the Aegis base capabilities. He was silent for two seconds and then spoke rapidly to cover up his surprise. “Our intel had credited them with twenty missile launchers in ten twin packs, fifteen twin gun mounts of various calibers, and six laser stations and many decoy deployment locations. Their response was less than that. All their missile firings could be attributed to fifteen to seventeen twin packs. Their gunnery response could have been done by ten to twelve gun positions. Their decoys were on par with our expectations. Either they were holding back, our intelligence on the base defenses was in error, or the Zekes had some sort of a problem with a segment of their defenses.”
Kupin pondered that for a moment. This base was well established and the defenses had been in place for years. It was difficult to believe the intel was wrong. It was also difficult to believe a portion of the defenses suffered some sort of mechanical or power failure or were unprepared for the attack. The war had been going on for months, and the Zekes had known of the Orion approach toward this base for several hours. They would have had all their defenses ready to go. That left the idea the Zekes had held back some of their capability. She looked at the OpsO. “Did we hit all the plotted defensive positions?”
The man nodded. “Our ships did or the Stingers did. The Stingers also hit all the known power sources and supply points. We hit everything our intel reports stated were viable targets. The base has been leveled by our attack.”
“Scan outside the base in the desert.”
“Wilco, Admiral.”
Thirty seconds later, a response came from the sensors station. “Nothing found around the base. No heat sources seen and no power generations detected.” The sensor operator looked at the Admiral as he awaited further orders.
Kupin nodded. Her task force was almost past Lilitu. She had no intention of lingering to look for a couple more missile or gun positions that may not even exist. She was hunting bigger game than that and, besides, there was an easy, quick answer for this. She leaned toward the screen with her command net on it. “All ships, we will give Aegis a wide arc. It is possible they held back some of their defensive capability to hit us later. We can’t afford to get sloppy now. Admiral Chuikov, ensure your carriers remain outside the engagement envelope for the Aegis base. We do not want any surprises here.”
All squadron commanders and Admiral Chuikov of the 4th Carrier Division acknowledged the order. Kupin sat back in her chair. If there were a few defensive systems on the planet’s surface that escaped destruction, it was not a battle changer. She didn’t like leaving them in operating condition, but she could always hit the surface base again on the return trip home. Still, it was an unknown, and she detested unknowns. Unknowns make for lost ships and lost battles. Unknowns get you killed more often than not. Also, the Zekes had now done three unexpected maneuvers. They came out to challenge her in hopes of getting a premature attack jet launch, they did not defend Aegis base with their ships, and now they may have held back some of their defensive systems at that base. Kupin couldn’t help but wonder what other little tricks Admiral Levant had in store for her force. She had a difficult time believing that particular magic bag was empty. She frowned. The two opponents were closely matched. It wouldn’t take much to swing the battle to the Zekes. Unfortunately, she was committed now. She couldn’t slow down and surely could not turn back. The excuse of “I cut my raid short because I had a bad feeling” would hardly play well with the Central Military Committee. Just the same, Kupin did have a bad feeling.
As the main body of the Orion flotilla moved past the planet, the swarms of Stinger aircraft pulled out of the target area and formed up on their squadron leaders. The small craft had delivered multiple hits on the Aegis base and their part had gone very well. However, the fighter pilots had been primed to engage ships of the Royal Navy, so were less than excited about their accomplishments. The planes had been slated to be used against the Zeke fleet, as those enemy ships protected their Aegis base. The pilots and their superiors aboard the carriers had been planning for that fight since this raid had been put together. Now that the Zeke ships had run, there was a letdown feeling among the Stinger pilots. The attack on the base was a success but the Stinger pilots had wanted a shot at the enemy ships. Perhaps the opportunity would yet be available. All pilots had heard Admiral Kupin’s assessment of the situation over the command net. They hoped she was right. Fight the enemy at Aegis or fight them at Buckler. It made no difference to the Stinger pilots. They just wanted an opportunity to prove the worth of their small craft in helping to win this big war. The attack on the base had been too easy. They all hoped to engage the enemy ships at Buckler and finally prove the value of Stingers against large enemy ships.
The main OrCon formation moved past Aegis port and the planet below it as the fighters returned to their carriers. No more missiles flew from the base or from the attacking ships. The base had been heavily damaged so couldn’t defend itself anymore, or was holding back a portion of their capability. Regardless, Kupin had now dismissed the base from her tactical planning as she was after bigger game now. If there was any mop up to be done, there would be plenty of time after the destruction of the Zeke force. This was a raid so occupying enemy territory here was never a goal. Destroying as many enemy ships as possible and as much military and commercial infrastructure as possible had always been the plan. Doing this, and making a quick return to home space, would make this raid a success.
Kupin looked at her long-range sensors. Her force had lost a little time to the retreating Zeke ships. They were now forty minutes in front of her. The enemy vessels were gaining rapidly on the three fleeing freighters that had been seen earlier. The Royal Navy ships would be by them in thirty minutes. If the freighters were smart, they would change course or they could be caught between the two forces as the Zekes moved past them and the Orion ships continued their pursuit.
The Zekes were slightly faster than the OrCon ships so they could depart unmolested, but Kupin was not concerned. Running away was just not in their make-up. If the Zekes did pass Buckler and continue to Signe that was an admission they were trying to keep her forces interested
while awaiting reinforcements, or some sort of trap was in the offing. Kupin didn’t think so. The Orion Admiral was sure the Royal Navy ships would fight at Buckler. Despite its small size, that base had been built more recently than Aegis. The defenses were equal to Aegis and the more modern construction may have made the defenses slightly superior to Aegis. Kupin didn’t much care. The defenses of either base would have a marginal effect on the space battle, so the engagement happening at Aegis or at Buckler was of little concern to her. The end result will be the same.
The Royal Navy ships continued to move toward Buckler, and would arrive there in just over two hours. Assuming they would set up in front of Buckler much as they had done at Aegis, there was plenty of time to make any adjustments needed before the battle commenced. Kupin glanced at her sensors to see the results of the Aegis fight.
The OpsO spoke with calm authority from his station. “Fighters are all off target at Aegis and returning to their carriers. Casualties are five fighters lost along with their pilots. The carriers, the supply ships, and their escorts are coming behind us at a slower speed than our own. Recovery of the first attack wave of fighters will commence in ten minutes. Estimate that wave will be ready for relaunch in forty minutes. The two subsequent waves will be ready for relaunch at thirty minute intervals after the first wave.”
Echoes from Yesterday: Pirates of the Badlands Series Book 4 Page 16