“Yes, Consul,” Rand came back with a quick response. The destroyers did not show up on the threat board, so Lorenzo had to envision them moving individually to sting the enemy dreadnoughts like small wasps.
“Attention all cohort vessels, prepare to engage. Cohorts prepare for boarding operations. Open all gun ports.” Lorenzo then turned to the communications tech again, “Start the double attack cadence.” The cadence increased above the attack speed cadence and Slone could feel the effect of the constant drumbeat on his psyche.
There was a slight shutter in the framework of the ship and Slone realized the fleet was accelerating. The increased cadence automatically conveyed the order to accelerate. What a fascinating way to convey orders. Now there was a whine heard that meant the gun ports were opening. The double row was going to be a big surprise for the Petrov fleet. The threat board showed the Petrovian dreadnoughts were trying to form a battle line.
Lorenzo looked at the threat board and saw the fleet movement. Time to make sure they don’t come together. Battle reports coming in from the cruisers indicated they were holding their own, but were hard pressed to deal with the combination of Petrov cruisers and destroyers. Lorenzo spoke into the battle channel, “Captain Rand, after you pass through the dreadnoughts and fire on them again, go and support the cruisers.”
“Yes, Consul. Ordering the change in course now.”
Lorenzo turned to the Slones, “I like that Captain Rand. I think I will find a place for him in my fleet, rather than let him go over to the Border Worlds. He is one of the best captains I have come across in a long time. I would say he ranks with the two of you, and that is high praise.”
Alaya looked at Lorenzo with his big smile and said, “Even in the midst of a battle, you never fail to charm.”
“I’m afraid that is in my genes, especially when I see a beautiful woman.”
“And right in front of my husband.”
They were interrupted by the weapons tech, “We are in range of their command ship, Captain.”
“Give them a full broadside. Attention cohort ships give a full broadside and then break hard to port and interleave with their ships.”
The Longinus fired a full broadside of 24 cannons at the ship the threat board identified as the flagship. This was done based on the outgoing transmissions verses the incoming. Since orders did not always require responses, it was felt the ship with the most outgoing messages must be the one giving the orders. The recoil of all 24 cannons firing on one side caused the ship to jump to starboard. “Begin rotation,” Lorenzo ordered and the dreadnoughts began to turn on their long axis to keep bringing loaded broadsides into action. At the same time, each ship began to turn to port and angle towards the enemy fleet. The Petrovian fleet was not just sitting there idle and waiting to be hit; they fired their broadsides of 12 cannons each at the Romani and started their rotation. Slone could feel the impact of the enemy shells and knew from the explosions, some had penetrated. He could also see on the visual screen the Romani shots hitting their targets. Dreadnoughts were big ships and the Romani ones were bigger than most due to the double gun decks. Most of the missiles were taken out by the point defense and those that got through did minimal damage. As the Longinus rotated, she turned upside down in relation to the Petrov flagship and fired her starboard broadside into the enemy ship. Again, most of the shots hit but some glanced off the curved hull. Lorenzo was glad to see an engine hit and a slight loss of control on the enemy ship. The Longinus’ port batteries were reloaded and swung around. As soon as they came to bear, they fired and large chunks of the enemy dreadnought began to break off and three cannons were not only dismounted but also blown out of the ship. Forward motion was slowing just as a few of the invisible destroyers passed by and fired some missiles into the enemy.
Lorenzo looked at his helmsman and told her, “Stop rotation and bring us along side.” He then turned to Tavia, “Tell the cohort to be ready for boarding action and then come back.”
Tavia did not like that last order, since she wanted to board with her cohort but she would obey. She ran as fast as she could and conveyed the order to the primary centurion who then ordered the cohort into the boarding skiffs. The Longinus pulled alongside the Petrovian flagship and small ports opened all along the side of the Romani vessel. Slone now saw yet another innovation of the Romani. Lorenzo looked at his weapons’ tech and ordered, “Fire the grapplers and lock us to her.”
The tech pushed a button on her console and grappling hooks fired all along the ship and embedded into the enemy. As the ships started to pull together from the winches on the grappling cables, the boarding skiffs carrying the first cohort left the hangar bay and flew across the distance to the enemy ship. Because of the grappling maneuver, the point defenses fired harmlessly at the Longinus as the major threat and left the skiffs alone. The Romani ship closed the gun ports on the side where the ships would meet and left the others open. The ships came together with a slight thud. Before the ships touched, the Romani boarding skiffs flew straight unto the hangar deck of the Petrovian flagship. They raked the deck with their turreted Gatling guns and kept the Petrovian marines at bay while the cohort exited the skiffs and formed up. Once the cohort was formed, the skiffs ceased fire and made sure the deck was kept clear in case they were ordered back. The cohort now began to fight its way, corridor by corridor, through the ship, with guns, shields and short swords. There were 600 Romani legionaries against 500 Petrovian marines.
On the Longinus, Lorenzo was watching the action through the cohort helmet cams, while keeping an eye on the threat board. He noticed a slight deviation in the course of the Invicta carrying the eighth cohort. He turned to his communications tech, “Why is the Invicta dropping out of the line? She will be vulnerable.”
The communications tech took a minute and reported, “The primary centurion indicates the bridge took a direct hit. There is no command crew left. The chief engineer and his techs are patching together a secondary bridge in engineering, but until then, they have to defend themselves as best they can. They request a new command crew if one can be spared.”
Lorenzo thought for a moment, “Tell them we are sending over a new command crew and make sure they know to give the secondary bridge top priority.”
“Yes sir.”
“Now to the new command crew,” He turned to the Slones. “Christopher, you and Alaya take your crew over to the Invicta and take command of all ship stations. Tavia, go with them. They will need a runner more than I do, with bridge communications damaged.”
The Slones sprung into action. “We are on our way, Consul. Come along, Tavia.”
The teenager was glad to be back in the action. Once the boarding started, there was no need for runners to a cohort no longer on the ship. The three of them made it to the hangar in record time and boarded the Draco, which took off immediately and headed to the Invicta. Sly kept them invisible and they landed on the hangar deck immediately, losing invisibility just before landing.
The primary centurion, who found himself the ranking officer of the deck, came over to the Draco just as the Slones and their crew left the ship. “Welcome aboard, captain,” The centurion saluted Slone. Alaya was happy to leave command of the dreadnought to her husband, who had the experience with capital ships.
“What is our status, Centurion?”
“We are still underway but have no control. We are being carried by momentum. For a while, we were out of the fight, but there is an enemy dreadnought heading our way, and we only have visual. Sensors are down and they will remain down. The port batteries are bearing on the enemy and returning their fire, but we are taking hard hits and we have seven cannons dismounted. What are your orders?”
Slone thought for a moment. “Keep up the fire as long as possible and get all of the missiles loaded and keep them firing. Where is my temporary bridge?”
An engineering tech came over, “We set it up just off the hangar. The main bridge is unusable and open to vacuum
. All bulkhead doors are closed so our crew is going with their training. We have ship wide combat channels open.”
“Good, put me through and show me the auxiliary bridge.”
“Follow me, Captain.” The tech led the way to a room just off the hangar deck. The rest of Slone’s crew followed him. The deck crew anchored the Draco and Sly followed his crew to the bridge, in case there was an invisibility station.”
Sly turned to the engineering tech and her lip movements indicated she was about to speak. “Sss. Did the serpent survive?”
“He is in sickbay, along with some of the bridge crew who were able to get out before the bulkheads closed.”
“Sss. Good. Have the serpent report to me when able,” Sly said.
“Yes, sir.”
Slone was confused at the deference paid to Sly by the crew and wondered if she was of a higher rank in her culture. They were ushered into a cramped room filled with electronics and techs. It was the size of the Draco bridge and not the spacious nerve center of a dreadnought. However, they could see a threat screen and some external cameras. Slone saw they were engaged in a running battle with an enemy dreadnought and they were getting the worst of it. At least they were spinning on their long axis so they could not be outflanked, but the enemy was rapidly closing the gap between the ships. Slone went onto the combat channel and ordered all cannons to keep firing as they bear and keep the missiles heading to the enemy. Nevertheless, the Invicta was not the only ship firing and Slone could feel the impacts of the enemy cannon shot. Suddenly there was a deep rumble in the bowels of the ship, and Slone knew she received a wound that could not be patched. The power went out but engineering kept the battery backup going to the bridge monitors long enough for Slone to see the enemy launching boarding skiffs. He went on the combat channel before he lost power again, “Cease fire and close all gun ports. Prepare to repel boarders.”
When the channel went out, Slone told the Andromeda 7 to follow him. They went out to the hangar deck to await the boarding party. Without power, the point defenses were unable to take out any of the boarding skiffs, but Slone had an idea. He went over to the centurion, “Centurion, tell your pilots to activate our boarding skiffs.”
Before he could finish, the centurion interrupted, “We will not abandon ship or surrender,” the centurion protested vehemently.
Slone held up his hand, “Not what I was thinking. However, if they are staffed, they can give us firepower as the enemy skiffs enter the hangar bay. If they can shoot some down or damage them, it would cut the odds.”
“Sorry, Captain Slone. We are still reeling from the loss of our bridge crew.” Without another word, the centurion issued the proper orders and the pilots and gunners went to their ships.
The cohort was stationed against the engineering bulkhead. They were still short of troops from the previous land combat, allowing them a combat square of only 100 across and 5 deep, rather than the usual six. It was also evident all hands were on deck, since there were some wounded in the back line along with some of the marines from shipboard. They had also suffered casualties helping the resistance on the ground. As a result, there were only about 50 marines still able to hold a weapon. As soon as the first boarding skiff came into view, the Romani skiffs opened fire from their hovering position over the center of the hangar deck but away from the cohort. The hangar deck was a huge space, but it was closed on all sides, if not by metal then by force fields. When the Romani gunners opened fire, the sound was deafening. Slone and his crew were near the centurion at the left of the front line. He could hear the concussion of the guns and the sound of the shell casings hitting the metallic floor. He could also hear the bullets stitching across the hulls of the enemy ships. They were armored, however constant peppering of the same area worked its magic and the first two skiffs came crashing to the deck. Their doors opened and stunned Petrov marines stumbled out to be hit by the small arms fire from the cohort. Their body armor protected most of them from body shots, but some head shots got through the face shields and ended a few lives. More suffered extremity wounds.
The Petrovian boarding skiffs were meant for speed, not attack, but they were not helpless. They carried missiles and as soon as they saw what happened to the first two of their number, they came in firing their missiles. Three of the Romani skiffs were hit and had to land, another Petrovian skiff went down and then the remaining 12 came in fast and overwhelmed the defense. A missile hit the bulkhead above the cohort and rained hot metal onto the Romani but they put up their shields and deflected it. The hangar deck was now too crowded for aerial combat and the Romani skiffs retreated out of the opposite hangar opening and headed for a friendly ship. They had done what they could. It was now up to the cohort.
Slightly less than 500 Petrovian marines poured out of their skiffs in good order. They did not have the body shields of the Romani, but they did have small, movable barriers that allowed them to form up under some degree of protection. The Romani, adhering to their usual code of honor, allowed the Petrovians to form up unmolested. If they are to win, the Romani want to beat a worthy opponent. Once the Petrovian marines were ready, they began firing from behind their movable barricades. The Romani formed their usual double high shield wall and very few shots got through, and those that did fell harmless. The Petrovian leader must have realized they were wasting ammunition and he called a halt. The centurion blew his whistle and a drummer in the rear of the cohort began to beat the cadence. As soon as this started, the cohort moved forward like a single machine, intent on killing. The front rank had swords out and the second was firing their automatic weapons. The Petrovians started firing again from behind their barricades. Slone was not sure what they thought the barricades would accomplish, but he had a feeling the Romani knew how to deal with them.
When the cohort was about ten feet from the Petrovian position, the centurion blew his whistle and the cohort stopped and put up the double shield wall again. By this time, the Petrovians knew it was useless to fire at this wall. Suddenly the centurion spoke only one word, “Smoke.”
Each Romani in the third row took a smoke grenade from their bandolier and threw it between the battle lines. Suddenly there was a wall of smoke separating the two sides. The Petrovians did not know what to expect, so they kept alert for the expected charge against the barriers.
As soon as the smoke wall went up, the well-drilled cohort split in two with the front two lines moving to the right and the rear three lines moving to the left. Before the Petrovians knew what happened, the Romani were on their flanks and around the barriers. Suddenly the Petrovians found themselves fighting on two fronts with their backs to each other. They put up a good fight, and many Romani fell. However, more Petrovians succumbed to the deadly swords of the Romani, and almost before it began, it was over. The remaining Petrovians surrendered and the boarding action ended. The prisoners were marshaled into a pressurized cargo hold and placed under guard while the Romani doctors and medics tended to their wounded.
As this was taking place, Slone called the centurion over. He had fought with this man, side by side, and didn’t know his name. “Centurion, you and your men fought well. May I ask your name?”
“Claudius Pulcher.”
“Christopher Slone,” and they shook hands. For now that would have to do. Slone continued, “We have a problem.”
“You mean the dreadnought out there waiting for word from their boarding party.”
“I see you grasp the gravity of the situation,” Slone continued. “When they find out we won in here, they may open fire again and finish us off. We’re still dead in the water and just moving by momentum. Worse than that, we are moving away from the fleet.”
“We have to board them before they start firing on us. But we sent our boarding skiffs away, captain.”
“I know but we do have theirs and they won’t shoot at them.”
Slone could see a sly smile coming across the centurion’s face. He nodded and immediately started issui
ng orders to the cohort. They could not use the Petrovian pilots but all of Alaya’s crew was trained to fly as part of their cross training. There were seven of them and seven of the enemy skiffs should do. Approximately 200 unwounded Romani piled into the enemy shuttles. A tight beam transmission was sent to the Longinus to inform the Consul of the plan and make sure they were not attacked by friendly fire. They took off in short order and flew to the Petrovian dreadnought nearby. As the skiffs came within range of the Petrovian point defenses, the dreadnought began requesting the proper recognition signature. The problem from the Romani side; they had no idea what it was. Slone went on the Romani combat channel and ordered all skiffs to full speed and a hot landing. As they sped up, the dreadnought was still reluctant to fire and Slone kept sending static back suggesting a communications problem. When the dreadnought bridge crew finally decided to act, the sudden speed of the skiffs put them inside the point defenses and they were safe, until they passed through the hangar deck force field. The first shuttle through the force field was piloted by Allen Farnsworth. A portable Gatling gun field piece opened fire from its position on the deck. The front of the skiff was peppered with bullets and lurched a little to the sided. Allen was able to fire a missile at the gun but missed, though the shrapnel took out one of the gun crew. Before the gun crew could reposition themselves after the missile strike, the second shuttle, piloted by Diana Gardner, fired a missile and scored a direct hit on the gun and its crew. All shuttles landed safely and the Romani rapidly deployed into their formation forming a double row. They split into two groups. One took the starboard passageway aft to the engine room to gain control of the power. The second and larger group took the port passageway towards the bridge. Neither group met with much resistance, since they had sent almost all of their marines over to the Invicta. The engine room was secured without a fight. There were only non-combatants, since the corporation left all the fighting to those paid to do it. On a Romani ship, there are only combatants.
Nova Romae (The Adventures of Christopher Slone Book 2) Page 24