by James Edward
“Interesting, the CWA. Hmm, the core world will put some of the other systems off, but they are the only holdouts. Dorian would be a good place to start. It’s always been the center of the core worlds even when the AGW was in existence. It was the secondary capital. What is the purpose of the visit?”
“Oh to make some allies and see what the PRC has for pressure. Maybe to help them with some technology, and I think to drop some spy satellites to see what is happening in the core.”
“It’s going to be hard to convince them that we can actually help them,” George said.
“It’s one of the reasons we need to do something to convince them that we are someone to reckon with. That’s why we are going to engage the two dreadnoughts in Centari. We are going to smash the hold over that system and destroy the dreadnoughts. At the same time, we will be in the Polimolia system and do the same thing there with the dreads, fleet, and ground forces. This will be a coordinated attack that will take down two systems. There will be no surviving ships, and the POWs will be the responsibility of the system.”
“This will be a great fight, Ray. When do you sign over the Cul Dar to me?” George said rather eagerly.
“It’s yours now, George. You have already been entered into the fleet documents as captain of the ship. Look after her. She is one smoking ship, especially with the upgrades,” Ray said as he shook George’s hand.
CHAPTER 17
CSWS Banshee
THE NEW MAMBA CLASS SHIP finished a round of war games to prove out all weapons and drives. The heavy battleship was tested in all aspects of ship warfare, from single and multiple attacks to massive missile launch defense. It was finally involved in a game against a task force consisting of all three battleships and the four heavy cruisers along with a smattering of other ships and surprises that the opposition could think up. The ship had shone well in the games. They decided that the next day would be the formal christening of the ship, as it was a brand-new ship and a brand-new design.
Ray stood on the bridge of his new ship, the Mamba class viper ship. The bridge was huge, but then so was the heavy battleship. The ship was eight hundred meters long, shaped like a spear point, jet black with no reflective surface. The skin was a meter coating of nano steel laminated between fourth-generation ceramics. Lasers and particle beams wouldn’t even be able to penetrate the first layer of ceramics, let alone the next three layers. Nano emitters coated the skin, allowing the stealth, sensor dampening, and shields. A direct hit by a conventional Tiger missile would cause damage to the armor and of course shock damage, but the damage would be minimal. It would need multiple hits to cause critical damage. Even then, damage control and auto repair was state of the art. The nanobot’s auto repair could repair a skin tear or travel through the nano steel mesh to repair itself, a sort of self-healing ability. Weapons were impressive. Fifty ship-killer launch tubes that could launch Tiger, Orion, and Dred ship killers, along with fifty launch tubes for the lesser Fisher, Eagle, and Falcon ship-to-ship missiles made this a powerful warship. Point defense dotted the hull with rail guns, auto-fire chain guns, and lasers that were dedicated to seek missiles. The power plants were first generation cold fusion plants, smaller in size to the battleship but five times as efficient. There were two sets of power plants, one that was dedicated to shields, weapons, internal power, and life support; the others were to drive the engines. Oddly enough, Conrad system produced enough fuel from the gas giants to power every ship in the fleet, but the Viper ships used a cold fusion matter-antimatter system of propulsion, which was five times as efficient as a fuel-driven ship. System impulse speed was twice as fast as a conventional battleship, and of course now with the hyper corridor solved, it could go anywhere and wasn’t forced to enter or exit through system gates.
The ship was fast, quiet, comfortable, and a killer. It could take multiple hits and still stay in the game. It was the most automated of all ships with a crew complement of only five hundred, compared to the 1100 in a conventional battleship. It was very comfortable with the crew quarters, Marine quarters and mess areas more than adequate for the comfort of the crew. Medical bays were as modern as any hospital. The four launch bays held five Taipans each, two bays on either side of the ship. A forward bay, which was much smaller, held a couple of armored shuttles.
Ray gave the nod, and over the speaker to every department on the ship, a voice that just happened to be Sinclair spoke. “I christen this ship, the first of the Mamba class heavy battleships, the Banshee. Long may she traverse out space ways and protect our people and systems.” Sinclair pushed a button on the remote that she held and watched as a bottle was launched from the Nerve Center to hit the bow of the ship, shattering and coating a small portion of the bow in frozen champagne or Conrad’s best effort to that effect. Almost immediately the area attracted cleaning bots that went to work cleaning the hull of the wine and glass.
He turned the ship over to the bridge watch and accompanied Sinclair and his new XO to the captain’s mess for dinner.
“This is great food, Ray,” Sinclair said. “Does the crew get this as well?”
“Yes, the galley is the same; just the mess is different,” Ray replied.
“We believe in equality here. There are superiors in hierarchy but not in class,” Lowell Dermic, Ray’s XO responded. “It helps the crews to know that they are as good as the officers and that they have the same opportunities. Our training base on Sloman is a prime example. Everyone is processed and tested for ability and ambition. We don’t need another Fugs climbing into power through political appointments.”
“We have all suffered by politics. It is one of the reasons why we don’t allow politics here in Conrad and especially in the growing fleet. You rise up the ranks by ability, intelligence, ambition, and teamwork. Not by patronage, money, politics, or class,” Ray agreed. “I never again want a person to be in charge just because he has a rich parent or is in the senate.”
“Well said,” Sinclair said. “We would be doomed if the politicians ever got control again. I am sure that they would try to negotiate with the PRC for a treaty.”
“Exactly why we left them on Doust. The camps there are doing well—not thriving, but they are comfortable considering the climate. They do have proper communication now and weapons. We have resupplied them with all the technology they wanted,” Ray added. “I admire those that stayed. They are willing to take the hardships to escape the war and the oppression of the PRC. Not what I would do, but in a way, they are fighting the war as well.”
“Well, sir,” the XO said. “It’s time for my duty, and I am sure that you both want some time together before the launch.” Lowell nodded to both and left to do his rounds. Sinclair turned to Ray and asked what the plan was—the real plan and not just the start of the skirmish.
“We need to kill the dreadnoughts, Sin. It is imperative that we stop any more systems from falling into the hands of the PRC. I haven’t decided who yet, but it is imperative that we send some people to the core worlds. One, to bolster their morale by knowing that there are others out there that are fighting, and two, gain whatever Intel we can. Maybe Byron with George and Charles Redone, and I am also considering sending Olaf with the Blue task force. That only leaves us with Bruce and Orange task force here with the home guard and the two Anacondas. I believe that they will be able to beat back any attack except the dreadnoughts, especially since we have the new missiles. The guard platforms way down at Pandora, Darcy, and Sloman can join in the fight now. That is the equivalent to five dreadnoughts with a mobile force.
I have decided that I will take the Banshee and fight the dreadnoughts in Centari and Polimolia. They need to be taken out, and again, with the missiles I can take them on long before they can get a firing solution on me. A small task force to cover my back should do it,” Ray said. He had mulled this over for plenty of nights and still wasn’t as happy as he should be about who to send.
“I am not in favor of you gallivanting off to fight two dreadnoughts with an untested ship and an unseasoned crew, Ray,” Sin said rather forcefully. “This isn’t the time for heroics or for you to get killed. If the PRC gets their hands on that ship, we can all kiss this system good-bye. If they manage to get you, then every secret in Conrad will be exposed to them. Don’t forget that I have felt the lash of their torturers and can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that they would have broken me. It was only that bastard Nestor Copeland wanting to get his jollies on a naked, helpless woman that prevented them from being serious and the fact that they just thought that I was a midlevel cyber clerk.”
“Easy, Sin. I am not flying off half-cocked. I will have a task force with me,” Ray said, holding up his hands. “I will not send someone off to do something that we have never tried before, and the Banshee is the best ship in the system if not in the empire. If it makes you happy, I will reconsider who will go to Dorian and who will come on the raid, but understand, Sin, I will be heading one of those task forces against a dreadnought. I won’t sit at home and be an armchair coach.”
“Why is it that every time a boy gets a new toy, he has to run around and show it off?” she stormed. “You go off and play ‘Look at me and look what I can do,’ but it’s me that sits here and tries to concentrate and do my job here. You are responsible for an entire system with close to 200,000 souls and counting. Some day you are going to have to decide if you are going to be the warrior prince or the king; you can’t be both.”
“These are dreadnoughts, Sin.” Ray sighed; this wasn’t going well. He knew that Sinclair was mad at his recklessness, but he would never be able to let someone else do a task that was his to complete. “No ship has ever gone up against something so powerful. This will be the test as to whether the Viper ships can handle a dread and beat it. I have to be there for that, as I was the one that pushed so hard for it. I can’t just sit back and tell someone else to go and try it out. I am not that type of person, and you know it.”
“I know this, Ray. You are always trying to be the point of the spear, and some people consider that a form of megalomaniac. I am well aware of what you have done and what you want to do. I sleep with you, for God’s sake. But this risk can be lessened by overwhelming force instead of trying to do the job with a tiny task force. You are very willing to send two task forces into supposed friendly territory, but in hostile territory you take a single task force,” Sinclair shot back. “If you are so inclined to fight the dreads, then take more ships in.”
“Will it help if I talk this over with Byron, Les, Bruce, Olaf, and George?” Ray said as an effort to capitulate and calm his wife down enough for them to enjoy their night together on his new ship.
“No, not really. But it is all I will get from you, so I might as well accept it,” she said rather tiredly. “You scare me sometimes, Ray. I just don’t know why you have to be the goddamned hero all the time.”
“Character flaw that has caused a few problems in my life from time to time.” He smiled wanly.
“Well I will take one flaw, as the rest is pretty good.” Sinclair smiled. She knew that she had made her point and that was all she would get. This was the last time that they would be together for a while, as he would be on the ship. “So you can either make love to me here on the table, which could embarrass some of your officers, or you can take me to the captain quarters and work on your apology there.”
After discussions with the think tank, Ray agreed on only one task force for the trip to the core. He assigned George Lincoln to lead that with Byron, Charles Redone, and Les Findlay in accompaniment. George’s task force would get the refit after Olaf’s, as he was going to take Olaf with him to Centari. They spent another month getting the new hyper drives installed in the ships. Then Ray, Olaf, and his Blue task force set a hyper mark for Centari and headed to a point just outside the gravity well of the system and in a flash disappeared. Conventional gate jumps would take approximately ten days to arrive, as you had to jump to a gate, transverse the system, and jump out to the next system until you arrived at the targeted system’s gate. By using the new hyper drive, they arrived by traveling nonstop in hyperspace, in three days. The task force flashed into the Centari system and immediately went dark. All the captains were in direct communication with Ray through the encrypted communications module. They immediately started scanning the system and forwarding the scanner information to the Banshee’s tactical computer, which put it all together to get a full picture of the system and sent to back to the ships.
It appeared that a large-scale battle had been fought there. The system was littered with wreckage both PRC and Centari. It appeared that both habitable planets, Dosolar and Rayner, had taken damage and were shrouded in dust and smoke. There appeared to be a space yard that was now in ruins. The moons orbiting these planets were also showing signs of damage. There were probably fortifications there. The tactical computer indicated that thirty-two warships were still in the system, two that were the dreadnoughts.
Ray and Olaf spent some time going over the battle plan. It was decided that the dreadnoughts would be hit first with no warning. The heavy cruisers were to pick four heavy ships and destroy them. The cruisers would pick three each and kill them. After the first salvo, it was expected that approximately seventeen ships would be destroyed or crippled. They would then move to the medium ships and kill those. Firing solutions started popping up on the tactical computers as each ship picked its long-range targets. There was a little adjustment as there was some overlap of targets, but very quickly the tactical computer had identified seventeen ships. Ray and Olaf had agreed to target one dreadnought and see what the damage would be. As all the icons turned green, indicating a lock. Ray gave the order to fire. Within seconds, all ships had fired, and seconds later, the missiles had jumped.
He had fired twenty-five ship-killer Tigers at the dreadnought. Olaf would have fired fifteen at the same ship. Forty killer missiles that would impact in less than a minute. Even if their point defense was on computer, there would be less than three seconds from reemergence to impact. Hardly enough time to acknowledge an attack before they were hit.
On the dreadnought Royal Castle, the sensor operator was puzzling over some long-range anomalous readings from out on the rim. He could have sworn that they made ship contact, but then it was gone, but there was a hyper wave. He could pass it on to the captain or the XO, but those egotistical pricks would verbally strip the hide off of him for imagining ships where they had just spent two weeks killing every ship in the system. He jerked up when his sensor board indicated missile launch by flashing amber then went back to green as the sensors lost track of the ghost missiles. He turned to the tactical operator and saw that he too was puzzling over his board.
“Uh, sir, we had what was indicated by my tactical computer as a missile launch, but it has gone now,” the tactical operator reported.
“Explain. Is there a launch or isn’t there? And who launched and where did they launch?” the XO jumped in, now studying her board.
“I don’t know, sir,” the tactical operator said. “My screen flashed, and it indicated missiles then went green again.”
“Probably a fault in the tactical computer relays. Do a diagnostic,” the XO stated. “Captain, should we raise shields?”
“What for? A computer glitch! Don’t be ridiculous, XO.” The captain laughed. He knew that he had killed every rebel ship and had already searched the system. He had frigates guarding the gates, so nothing could come in without being intercepted.
Suddenly both the sensor board and tactical board flashed red. “Forty missiles, three seconds to impact!” the tactical operator shouted. Pushing the button to raise the shields, he knew that the shields would take at least ten seconds to envelop the ship. He pushed the button on the automatic point defense chain guns, but it was too late.
The ship was rocked by the impact
of ten Tiger ship killers. The armor helped for a millisecond before it was either vaporized or blasted off the hull. The captain was screaming for full power when another ten Tigers slammed into the wounded side. Some blasted more armor and hull off the ship, while others blew huge holes in the side of the ship. There were power fluctuations throughout the ships. There was no more point defense firing at the next wave of missiles, as most of them had be boiled off the ship. The third wave slammed deep inside the ship before detonating. The dreadnought rocked back and forth as impact explosions and internal explosions blasted through the ship. Royal Castle was virtually dead before the final ten missiles hit. These broke the dreadnought into pieces, some to drift off into space, others to fall into the sun in a couple of years, and still others to fall through the atmosphere to a fiery death.
Elsewhere, there was pandemonium as ship after ship was hit by missiles. Some exploded, some just went dark and drifted, and others were seen to try to escape, only to be hit by a second wave seconds later. Of the thirty-two ships in the fleet, there were now ten destroyed ships, eight badly damaged, and fourteen ships that were spreading out in different directions in complete confusion.
The dreadnought Crusaders Charge went to full shields and all battle stations. The captain and XO sat there with their mouths open as they saw the destruction of the Royal Castle.
Ray could see the dread’s engines go white hot as they started to move in the direction of the appearance of the missiles. Ray informed the task force to move to secondary point beta and commence firing on the remaining ships. He told Olaf that he was going to move around and come up behind the dreadnought. Olaf was to fire a double set of missiles and move to point Cappa.