Nova Romae (The Adventures of Christopher Slone Book 2)

by Donald Nicklas

  What was left of the marine detachment was guarding the entrances to the bridge. The corporations all suffered from the same fatal flaw, they valued their captain more than their ship and put all protection to the bridge. Yes, the bridge crew is important, but a ship can function without a bridge crew, but a bridge crew cannot function without engineering. Once engineering was secured, the bridge crew could be forced out with life-support threats. There was a quick fight on the bridge with the marines, who seemed to fight just to make an effort and took the first opportunity to surrender. The captain and the bridge crew were holed up in the CIC and they surrendered quickly to threats of oxygen deprivation. The only action of the entire boarding had been from the brave crew manning the field gun on the hangar deck. For their courage, the Romani would make sure they got an honorable burial. As for those who surrendered, they looked on them as cowards.

  After they landed on the enemy ship, field command went to the Centurion Claudius Pulcher, who ordered Slone and his pilots to guard the skiffs in case they had to make a quick exit. All of the pilots exited the skiffs with the legionaries except Allen Farnsworth. The enemy had quickly exited the hangar deck when the gun was taken out, so there was time to see what happened to Allen. Alaya entered his skiff and found him hunched over the controls. When she pulled him back in his seat, she could see a bullet had penetrated the canopy of the skiff and entered his right chest. He was dead and no last words would pass his lips. How he managed to land the skiff and even fire a missile before he died was a testament to his courage and perseverance. She had lost crew before on the methane moon in Andromeda, but this was more than a crewmember, this was a friend. All the dangers they faced on the Methane moon suddenly flooded her memories and she broke down in deep sobs as she leaned against the body of her friend. Her sobs could be heard outside and the remainder of the Andromeda 7 entered the skiff and discovered they were now only six. They all comforted Alaya, took the body of their friend out of the pilot seat, and laid him on the floor of the skiff crew area. They then exited the ship and took their spot on the hangar deck, awaiting the outcome of the bridge combat. As soon as the centurion signaled all clear, Slone contacted the Invicta, told them the danger was past, and ordered three Romani boarding skiffs to come to the enemy dreadnought. The rest were ordered to return to the Invicta. They then moved the Petrovian boarding skiffs out of the way, but left the one with Allen’s body in place.

  While the action involving the Invicta was taking place, there was still a fleet battle raging. The invisible destroyers reached the cruiser battle to help the Romani cruisers as ordered. Captain Rand ordered his forces to spread out and do hit and run charges on the Petrovian cruisers as they battled it out with the Romani. The sudden appearance of missiles coming at them out of nowhere rattled the Petrovian cruisers and destroyers who were getting the best of the Romani cruisers. Half the Romani cruisers were out of action and dealing with boarding parties from the Petrovians. The timely arrival of their destroyers suddenly tipped the battle and the Petrovians started to recall their boarding parties, who were dealing with Romani ships where everyone fought. The hundred marines sent over to board were not equipped to handle the 350 Romani marines and crew who stood in their way. They soon realized this was a fight to the death and not the usual corporate skirmish. Some had already been recalled before the destroyers arrived and again began engaging in ship-to-ship combat. The Petrovians were shocked to see Romani crewmembers in space suits remounting cannons even as boarding was taking place. They were at a loss as to how to defeat such an enemy and decided destruction of the Romani ships was the only way to win. It was now a battle of annihilation. Just as they were realizing this and starting to concentrate fire on the Romani cruisers still active, the destroyers arrived and starting firing missiles in bulk against them. This was too much and, one after another, Petrovian cruisers and destroyers surrendered, with three destroyers and two Petrovian cruisers total losses with all hands aboard. The Romani fared worse with most of the cruisers suffering severe damage and casualties. It was a gamble sending the cruisers to keep a combined cruiser and destroyer force occupied, without their screening destroyers, but all knew the risks and the necessity of doing so. Not one shirked their duty.

  The main event was also winding down. Some of the Romani and Petrovian dreadnoughts were still dueling with cannons, but the double row of gun decks on the Romani dreadnoughts were taking their toll. Just over half of the dreadnoughts were involved in boarding actions. The flagships were still locked together by the grappling cables and all attempts of the Petrovians to cut the cables and free their ship was to no avail. In the meantime, the first cohort was on board the Petrovian flagship, fighting its way to the bridge, the passages to which were heavily defended. The first cohort used the Romani close quarter tactics of first row swords and second row guns with constant switching of personnel to the rear for rest. The Petrovian marines fought well but did not understand this rotation and kept thinking the Romani were retreating, when they were just changing who was fighting in the first row. As a result, they tended to attack. They were then met by the cold steel of the swords wielded by fresh troops. As this continued, the dead on both sides piled up and the passageway became slick with blood. As the Romani pushed the Petrovian marines back, they were walking over the dead and wounded of both sides; making the passageway a living hell. The Petrovians were finally pushed against the door of the bridge and those in the rear began pounding on the door to be let in.

  On the bridge, there was confusion. Most of the bridge crew had nothing to do since engineering was now in enemy hands and they were locked hard against the enemy dreadnought by their infernal grappling mechanism. The gun crews were trying to cut the cables locking the ships, but as they tried, enemy snipers were taking them out from positions behind sniper ports next to the grappling cables. They finally had to give up and most worked their way to the landing bay to surrender. The bridge crew was armed, but only with handguns. There were ten heavily armed bridge guards. These stood in a semi-circle around the entrance where their fellow marines were pounding, ever more frantically, for admittance. Ex-admiral Perminov was still standing next to Grand Admiral Dubov, who he could see was starting to lose his composure.

  “Dubov, let them in,” Perminov commanded.

  “Are you mad? You do not give me orders, civilian,” and with that Dubov pulled his pistol with the intent of shooting Perminov. The ex-admiral, had taken one small precaution before joining the Grand Admiral, he carried a knife. As soon as he saw Dubov’s intent, he pulled his knife and plunged it into Dubov’s chest. Perminov grabbed Dubov’s pistol as the admiral fell backwards with the most satisfyingly surprised look on his face. The Grand Admiral fell to the floor, and all attention turned in the direction of Perminov, who was standing, holding the pistol. The guards leveled their guns at Perminov, but he immediately took command.

  “Put down your weapons and open the door. Let our brothers and sisters in and surrender. This fight is over.”

  The Petrovians had enough and complied with the request. When the Centurion entered with the legionaries of the first cohort, they found no further opposition and secured the bridge. They took the entire personnel prisoner and noted the only casualty on the bridge was the Grand Admiral. Perminov explained who he was and asked to speak with the Consul Lorenzo. As they were establishing a link, he turned to the communication tech.

  “Order all ships and troops to stand down. Make it a command, flash order and sign it from the late Grand Admiral.”

  “Yes sir.”

  No Petrovian wanted to see more of his compatriots die. The order went out and the defense of New Wales was over. Unlike among the corporate military, there was no cheering of the victory among the Romani. They honored the dead of both sides. They would never think to cheer the death of brave men and women. Communication was established between Perminov and Lorenzo.

  “Consul, this is ex-admiral Perminov, we meet again and again you have
bested the Petrovians. I do think we put up a better fight this time. I await your terms.”

  “Admiral Perminov, you fought bravely the first time and it grieves me your people saw fit to ignore that and take away your commission. Our terms are similar to before, only this time we keep all the ships and we will help your injured and bury your dead with honors. Consider the rest of you to be prisoners of war and you will be well cared for as we negotiate with your corporation. If this is agreeable to you, then our war is over.”

  “As a citizen with no rank or authority to do so, I accept the terms. Our Grand Admiral was too arrogant to have a second in command and so far, no one has objected to me. I will give the order to surrender all weapons and ships. I would appreciate your help with the wounded as soon as possible.”

  “I will send medics over and our doctors will also come as soon as they have had a chance to assess our needs. Lorenzo out.”

  Chapter 11 – The Aftermath

  “What a mess,” Consul Juan Lorenzo said to the surviving ships captains and primary centurions. The cruisers took the hardest hit in the battle, five were gravely damaged and four of them lost their captains along with large numbers of their crews. The dreadnoughts fared better, with only one out of commission with the loss of its captain. That was the Invicta, which was then ably brought back into the action by Captain Slone. Both Slone and Alaya, along with their scout crew have proven themselves repeatedly. He already had plans to reward them. Unfortunately, one of them died bravely in the combat. The destroyer forces suffered the least and did their duty well under their group commander, Captain Rand. Lorenzo had never come across a better destroyer commander in his career. He knew they promised him an auxiliary cruiser command, but he wanted to offer him a commission in the Nova Romae navy as his personal destroyer group commander. He and the Slones were becoming friends. Perhaps Christopher and Alaya could help to convince him to stay in a destroyer. Rand was at the table sitting with the Slones. Lorenzo looked at the other captains and centurions. Many were wounded, but they still came to the meeting. He was proud of his command. “What a mess,” he repeated. “Nevertheless, we have to deal with some items before this day is over. First, our people.” Lorenzo turned to the chief medical officer of the Legion, “Doctor, what is the final casualty report?”

  “We took just over 10% casualties, my people tell me the final count is 587 dead and MIA, with a total of 1269 wounded.”

  Lorenzo did some tallying in his head. “So then, just under 11%. Considering what was accomplished, that is an acceptable number.”

  All at the table nodded. Added to the ground losses it came to around 15% of the force. Space combat is very risky. Not only the death and injury by enemy fire but also death from the vacuum of space had to be factored in. Battles in space always resulted in heavy casualties. When the Romani first discussed this venture, they expected to lose 25%, so this was indeed a good day.

  “Very well, doctor. I wanted your report first so you could get back to your patients.”

  The doctor nodded and got up from the table, saluted the Consul and left. Lorenzo then continued, “Now what is the condition of our fleet?”

  Each of the surviving captains gave their reports. Then the officers who assumed command when their captains died gave their report. The situation with the ships was much worse than with the troops. Half the cruisers would need extensive time in space dock, as would some of the dreadnoughts. Even the flagship had more than a few holes in the hull and they were patching Lorenzo’s quarters while the meeting was in progress. A shell hit below his quarters, buckled his floor and cracked the bulkhead. Of the destroyers, two were down for good and the rest were relatively unscathed. The biggest problem all of the commanders faced was the fact that only the destroyers were still capable of taking the slipstream. The capital ships were stuck in the system. As far as the enemy was concerned, their casualties were being taken care of by their surviving medics and the Romani medical staff. All of the wounded, Romani and Petrovian were transported to the planet and the former legionary camp was transformed into a medical facility. The non-wounded Petrovians were all disarmed and taken to the planet to join their ground forces as prisoners of war. In time there would have to be negotiations. The meeting then dealt with various logistical matters. It looked like the legion would be spending close to a year wrapping things up and making repairs. Lorenzo dismissed the captains and asked the Slones to stay back. Before the meeting scribe left, Lorenzo ordered him to place a complete report of the battle and its aftermath in a message capsule and send it back to Nova Romae. There was also a request for supplies and repair facilities. He was not sure where the Balin Corp got its small navy from, but they had no space dock facilities, only a maintenance dock.

  When the others left, Lorenzo turned to the Slones. “Alaya let me give you my sincerest condolences on the loss of Allen Farnsworth.”

  “Thank you, Consul.”

  “Please, Alaya, when we are alone, call me Juan. You are both very dear to me.” Alaya smiled and nodded. “Christopher, I wanted to commend you on how you handled the problem with the Invicta. The primary centurion of the eighth speaks very highly of how well you handled yourself. The crew was immediately comfortable with you as their captain. I would like you and your remaining Andromeda people to consider taking over command of the Invicta.

  Command of a dreadnought was every captain’s dream and Slone was being offered command of one in the premier legion of the Romani. Slone looked at his wife and Alaya gave a nod of her head, signifying her assent. “I am honored, Juan and would be honored to command the Invicta.”

  Lorenzo flashed that engaging smile of his and said, “Wonderful. I was hoping you would accept and took the liberty of having your rank insignia made up.” Lorenzo opened a box on the table and took out ship captain insignia with the letters ‘LEG X COH VIII’. He pinned them on Slone.”

  “And what about me?” Alaya asked.

  Lorenzo flashed his big smile again. “I would like you to become the chief scout of the legion. You will have your pick of recruits to fill your billets, since your regular crew will be serving as department heads on the Invicta. You will retain command of the Draco.”

  “Where will the Draco be based? I do have a husband to be with.”

  “She will be carried by the Invicta, which will be her home base and support on missions.”

  This was the perfect arrangement and both Alaya and Christopher expressed their gratitude.

  “It is the Romani who are grateful. You have all shown only the best and bravest qualities since joining the Romani,” Lorenzo bowed to them both and dismissed them. The Slones returned to the Draco, which they had taken to the meeting and flew to the heavily damaged Invicta. As they put down on the hangar deck and exited the ship, an honor guard awaited their arrival with the primary centurion ready to greet them. Apparently, his new assignment had already been transmitted.

  “Welcome aboard, captain,” and with that Claudius Pulcher and the members of the honor guard snapped to attention and saluted.

  Slone returned the salute and asked how the cleanup was going.

  “We are still cleaning the blood from the decks, but all of the bodies and body parts have been removed and are in the process of identification. Those we have identified have already been cremated for later disposition. We have placed them all in the burial hold for the honored dead.”

  “Thank you, centurion. When he has a moment, please ask the chief engineer to report to the conference room.”

  “Yes captain,” and the centurion saluted again as Slone and Alaya left for the captain’s quarters. Married couples were common among the Romani, and in their culture, husband and wife lived, worked and fought side by side. The Slones changed out of their dress uniforms and Christopher called the Draco crew to the conference room. Before they arrived, the chief engineer came to see Slone, as requested. After the preliminaries, Christopher asked him to sit down.

  “Chief, I
have been asked to convey the gratitude of the Consul to you for your work in keeping the ship operational and your brilliance in setting up the makeshift auxiliary bridge.”

  The engineer sat up straighter when hearing the praise from the Consul. He looked exhausted and Slone had no doubt he was working round the clock. “Captain, may I say your scout engineer, Diana Gardner, is excellent at her job. She never wavered from her duty, though she did not feel well. She has worked tirelessly to help get the Invicta operational. I am happy to report that we can once again move under our own propulsion and the ship is maneuverable.”

  “That is indeed good news. Now it’s time for you to rest. The Consul would like to see you on the Longinus as soon as possible.” Slone thought he could see the engineer’s entire body begin to rejuvenate. “You are dismissed.”

  The engineer stood up, saluted and fairly bounced out of the conference room, just as the Draco crew filed in. Slone could see they all looked like they hadn’t slept since the battle began and he knew they had a stressful scouting mission that blended right into the conflict. They had staffed the stations on the auxiliary bridge like the experts they are and bravely flew the enemy transports in the boarding action. As they sat down, the captain’s adjutant, a young ensign named Samuel Rathbone, placed a small box in front of each of them. Though they were curious, they did not touch them, knowing they were expected to wait. Christopher did not keep them in suspense.

  “You have all done well beyond what could have been expected of you. The boxes in front of you contain new rank insignia along with promotions. We are all members of the Romani fleet now and in time we will be full fledge Romani. As you know, I have been made the permanent captain of this dreadnought. When the bridge took a hit, all department heads were killed except for the chief engineer. I need new department heads. In the boxes before you are the insignias for the departments matching your major field of expertise. I would like you to consider becoming part of the dreadnought command crew.”