by James Edward
PRC
PRC President Avis Garthman’s image shimmered before clearing up. He looked out or at least appeared to look out upon the gathered officers around the conference table. Garthman was a skilled user of the video conferencing, so he knew how to look into the camera and not at the seated officers.
“Gentlemen and ladies, I bring you greetings from the government,” he beamed. “You are about to start an enterprise that will encompass the largest force ever put into battle. You will be entered in history as the greatest fighting force ever fielded by the Parliamentary Ruling Council. When successful, you and your families will go onto great rewards. This task force has been joined by our most progressive ships to date. These three ships will engage and crush any ship that they target. No antimissiles or point defense will be effective against their graviton weapons; they are a crushing blow to any force they encounter.
“Your mandate is to destroy all ships, shipyards, installations, and residences you encounter in the Conrad system. They attacked us and caused minor damage to two systems that we will recover in due course. They have become a problem that needs to be eradicated, and you are the group to do it. Again, the fewer prisoners that have to move to Doust, the better for the PRC. I don’t want anything left in the system for the use of a few survivors or for the pirates and freebooters to lay claim to. This may sound harsh, but the PRC must set an example for the core worlds to realize that anyone that stands against us will be dealt with a finality that ensures complete obedience.
“Fine officers of the Fleet, you launch tomorrow. I bid you great hunting and great glory. If the three task force leaders would remain behind, the rest of you are dismissed. Thank you.”
“We are here, Excellency,” Arthur Selebus stated.
“Good,” Garthman nodded. “You have your orders. Be sure to protect those three ships. They are experimental, and they are not to fall into Conrad’s hands. They each have a self-destruct sequence in place, and each of you has the activation codes. Your orders are to destroy the ships if they look like they will fall into enemy hands. There are minimal personnel on those ships, and their loss will be hardly noticed. I expect a complete victory with minimal losses. After the destruction of the Conrad system, we will return to the two upstart systems and pacify them with the graviton ships. That is all, gentlemen. Ensure victory and you ensure your future at the command of Fleets. Failure is not an option.”
With that, his video died away, and the three men were left looking at each other. Each knew that they were to win or die; there was no coming back for them. On the other hand, there was great glory and riches for the victors. Supreme Fleet Commander Arthur Selebus turned to the other two leaders.
“Ferlin, Joe, both of you know what to do. Joe, you make sure that Fuggoret stays out of the way and dies of injuries. Yours will be the vanguard; you need to wipe the minefields and start firing on the platforms. That means that you will start almost as soon as you’re through the gate. We have finally repaired all the engine and fuel contamination, and 134 ships will take the attack. The rest will have to remain and prepare for the other two systems.
“Ferlin, I need you to really hit those platforms hard. They have to be preoccupied with the hundred ships not to notice us and the three graviton ships. We will engage the capital ships that will be coming to aid the platforms and move the three ships into position. No one must know that we will need all three ships firing together to effect a powerful enough beam to destroy a platform, especially if they are anything like the monsters in the core. I am going to have four battleships bracketing each ship to protect from missiles. As soon as we own the gate and the approach, we will send our first wave—that’s you, Joe—into the system to engage ships. The second wave will search and destroy the gas refining and gather facilities, shipyards, and give support to Joe. We will enter after you have swept the remaining forces and engage the planetoid batteries and send down our marines. We are to gather all research files before destroying the infrastructure.”
“It shall be done, and we shall incur a great victory, Supreme Commander!” Joe Britanic said.
Ferlin just bowed and pumped his arm in victory. They headed to their respective ships and moved out to the fleet. Each to his own group. Later that night, Joe Britanic’s group entered the gate sending them to the Conrad system. It would take five days to enter Conrad and fire the first shot. After the first wave had departed, the second wave moved into place. No one noticed that out on the rim was a minute flash, and a ship had jumped. That ship would arrive at Conrad in three days. The battle was about to begin.
CHAPTER 19
Conrad vs the PRC
A SENSOR OPERATOR ON GUARD PLATFORM One was watching the gate. The spy corvette had passed into the system and had spread the word that the PRC fleet had gated out, so they were aware that the fleet was going to drop into the system today. There was a surge of excitement that coursed through her body as she realized the gate had become active. With trembling fingers, she pressed the system-wide alarm and announced, “Gate activity! Fifteen … thirty … fifty ships—mostly corvettes, frigates, and destroyers with one heavy cruiser!”
“Well,” Ray said over the radio, “it begins. All fleet personnel, you have your orders and your positions. Remember you are fighting for the very existence of the system along with the lives of everyone. All fleet and marine personnel, the standing order at this time is no quarter. Platform One, commence fire.”
Platform One, with its superior targeting and experience, targeted the heavy cruiser and the first ten ships. The tactical operator barely felt the shudder as ten Dreds per target flashed out and went to hyper for eight seconds before reappearing almost next to the shields of the targeted ships.
The fifty ships were quickly dispersing into the area around the gate as they were firing killer missiles into the spaces in front in an attempt to sweep any mines. They were also firing chaff to confuse any targeting radar so that the missiles would lose lock. Unfortunately for them, Conrad had stealth satellites scattered throughout the gate area, and each was sending high-speed signals back to all ships and platforms. Three corvettes exploded simultaneously, followed by a destroyer. The heavy cruiser Marlboro with Joe Britanic directing the first wave believed they were killed by mines and had his ships start to fire a more concentrated pattern of missiles. It was his last order as ten missiles appeared and impacted against his ship. The Marlboro’s shields flared orange and collapsed, allowing the last three Dred ship killers to impact his hull. Admiral Fuggoret and Britanic both died milliseconds apart as the ship bucked heaved and exploded.
The platform started to kill as many ships as it could before the second wave blasted into the gate. By the time the last ships of the second wave were through the gate, Platform One had managed to destroy thirty ships. The last twenty were getting harder to target as they were closer, so the missiles wouldn’t go to hyper drive but would act as a conventional, which made point defense way easier. Platform One handed the second wave over to Platform Two and continued to engage the remains of the first wave.
Platform Two decided to commit a sizable amount of missiles in its first attack. It targeted and fired twenty missiles at the first fifteen ships in its targeting computer. The PRC airwaves were a jumble of reports, calls for help, orders from no one in authority and screams of the dying. Commander Ferlin Stowe took over command of the first-wave remnants and his own ships, ordering them to attack the platforms. He was lucky in the way he entered the battle, as he wasn’t one of the fifteen ships targeted. The look of shock on his face was classic as fifteen frigates, corvettes, and destroyers exploded or dropped out of the battle.
Missiles were starting to impact on the shields of both guard platforms. The damage was minimal, but they were slowly eroding the shields. Platform One was still targeting and firing on the first-wave frigates and corvettes, which now were in range of the heavy lasers and particle beams
. Their battle was going well, as the first wave was down to ten ships. Platform Two was trying to target the command ships, but they were being careful and always made sure that there were other ships between them to throw off the targeting computers. Its success rate was lower, only killing fifteen ships before they came within conventional range. They put out a call to the fleet to get precise targeting data to take out the battle cruiser that was directing this part of the show. Bruce Duely aboard the Kara Kura was the closest and relayed the precise coordinates. Soon the battle cruiser Garuda was under heavy missile attack, taking hit after hit, and within minutes the Garuda was drifting without power.
By the time the Garuda was disabled, the third and most dangerous wave was coming through the gate. As soon as the second wave had cleared the gate area, Ray had sent the signal to the remaining mines to move back into the space lanes and arm themselves. He had hoped that the ships would believe that they were free of mines. He watched carefully, taking note of the battleships and battle cruisers, as these were heavy-duty ships and could kill you. The more damage the mines did, the better. He watched as the three graviton ships dropped into the system and assumed a triangle formation. They were flanked by the heavy cruisers, and the light cruisers filled the holes, while the battle cruisers and battleships formed in front to provide a fairly impressive shield wall.
Supreme Commander Arthur Selebus called out for the other commanders to report, only to be told that both were dead and out of the battle. He ordered the task force to advance to the extreme targeting range of the graviton ships. He also ordered the surviving ships of wave one and two to concentrate their fire on the guard platform that he had designated Alpha.
Ray saw the task force form up and ordered the Taipans to engage the corvettes, frigates, and destroyers of the two waves. Within seconds, two hundred Taipans flashed onto the enemy screens, overloading tactical stations and causing major confusion. With the first and second wave under attack of the fast-strike fighters and the task force busy dealing with the overload of enemy ships and missiles, Ray ordered the first strike. Both Mamba battleships were to remain cloaked, but the Cobra ship of Duely’s and the other three battleships were to target the propulsion drive of the three graviton ships in hopes to disable them. He then ordered the heavy cruisers to engage the battle cruisers and try and lure them away into the minefields. He told the two inner guard platforms to start firing maximum missile volleys, hammering the graviton ships and any battleship that got in their way. As a final order before issuing the good luck was to tell the ships that were hiding behind the guard platforms that they were weapons free.
Supreme Commander Selebus clucked to himself as he saw the huge tactical screen portraying the battle. He knew that with three waves there was going to be a mess of broken ships and spent missiles, but nothing prepared him for the sight of over fifty ships in various states of destruction. Some were just chunks of metal, some were identifiable pieces, and even some were almost whole ships, dark and broken. He mused about the old war adage that even a great battle plan only survives the first shot. Turning to his XO, he ordered all shifts from tactical to the bridge to help identify ships and missiles through the confusion of space junk that was covering the area.
Selebus was dumbfounded when he saw the two hundred blips appear on his battle screen. He saw corvette after corvette explode as these fighters flew in between the first- and second-wave ships firing missiles. Firing on the guard platforms diminished as the ships turned to engage these fighters. If he was dumbfound about the fighters, he was completely surprised when four ships appeared behind his task force and launched a two-hundred missile volley into the rear of the graviton ships. Screaming a curse, he ordered six battleships to break off and engage the rebel battleships. Feeling he was getting control back, he groaned in surprise when four heavy cruisers appeared to one side and blew a heavy cruiser and battle cruiser into junk.
“Where are these bastards coming from?” he snarled to his sensor and tactical operators. “Why aren’t we getting any readings on these ships? Son of a bitch, where are those missiles coming from? Tactical, do a reverse telemetry back to the launcher!”
“I can’t! They appear out of nowhere,” the tactical operated stated. “Sir, Graviton Three is taking heavy damage; they have lost their shields and are beginning to drift.”
“Sir,” his senor operator cried out, “we just lost the battleship Death Claw, battle cruiser Death Gate, and heavy cruiser Foresakor.”
“Tighten up the position and tell the heavies to engage their heavies,” Selebus ordered.
“Sir! Graviton Two has just fired on the Alpha Platform,” the tactical operator shouted. “Alpha is showing shield damage and buckling.”
“Excellent. Tactical, what is that battleship designated as? I have never seen a ship like that.”
“I think that it is a Conrad-developed ship. There is nothing like it in our database,” the tactical operator said.
“Tell Graviton One to fire on that same platform.”
Platform Two shuddered as the graviton beam hit it. The shields collapsed, and the outer armor buckled. There was a steady hum as the shields taxed the power plant, trying to get back up to shield strength again. Platform Two ordered them to spin the platform to get fresh shields in play.
Platforms Three and Four, which were the inner platforms, targeted the final graviton ships and fired a two-hundred-missile volley. The intent was to kill the ship.
On Graviton One, Captain Horvise Dolilise received the ordered to target Alpha and fire at maximum power. It angered him that Graviton Two had already fired and that she now was following along like a midshipman. She ordered the activation of the firing sequence and told them to target Platform Beta.
“Sir, we have too much material in front blocking the shot for Beta,” the gunnery officer said.
“Damn. Okay, fire at Alpha.”
As the gunnery officer turned back to his weapons console, the first of forty missiles impacted the ships. Within seconds, the shields were gone, and the armor was being blasted off. Internal alarms were screaming as the hull started to breach, and internal structures started to crack and heave.
The gunnery office pushed the button to fire the gun as a missile hit just at the base of the gun. The gun was deflected off target and fired on a heavy cruiser. Everet Nielson’s ship Empire was hit and engulfed by the graviton beam. It seemed to glow and then imploded for a few seconds before exploding. The gun detached from the hull and drifted away as fifteen more missiles rendered the ship into scrap.
Arthur Selebus was beside himself as the battle progressed. So far he had lost two of his gravitons ships and a large amount of his support ships. His six battleships were engaged with four of the Conrad rebel ships, and battle cruisers and heavy cruisers were engaged with the heavies and cruisers of Conrad’s. His losses were so far beyond expectation, and the loss of two of the gravitons was catastrophic. He ordered the battleships to regroup and engage the battleships of Conrad’s. His battle cruisers would mop up the rebels’ heavies and the platforms. He ordered the battle cruisers to finish the heavies and engage the platforms with everything they had. After calming down, he realized that he was in a better position even with the losses of the two graviton ships. The last graviton ships could still cause damage to the platforms, and the other ships were engaged with hammering them as well as taking out any other ships that were close by. The fighters had shot their missiles and had disappeared again, probably to rearm, but were out of the fray at the moment. Just give me ten to twenty more minutes, he thought.
He was surprised when the communications indicated that there was a hail from the enemy ships. Selebus ordered it on screen, confident that it was going to be someone asking for terms of surrender.
“This is Supreme Commander Arthur Selebus of the PRC task force. Who am I talking to?” he inquired.
“Selebus, this is Ray H
unter on the Banshee. This is your only—I repeat only—offer to surrender. Failure to do so will result in the destruction of your fleet and personnel.”
“Hunter, ah yes, a disgraced minor captain of an obsolete frigate. You now promote yourself as a self-styled avenger in a ship called Banshee.” Arthur gloated. “Your forces are losing, and we will take the day, Hunter. We will annihilate the system and all within it. If you had any guts whatsoever, you would show yourself and fight instead of hiding.”
“Selebus, I have fought pompous assholes like you for the last five years, idiots in dreadnoughts and fools in battleships. Your arrogance is your weakness, but I will honor your challenge,” Ray said.
He ordered the Banshee to de-cloak and suddenly appeared 10,000 kilometers behind Selebus’s battleship Bandersnatch. Selebus was awestruck at the size and power that the Banshee exuded. Even while they stared, the Banshee fired a hundred missiles at the Bandersnatch. Immediately the missiles disappeared, and seconds later they reappeared a hundred kilometers from Bandersnatch’s shields. One hundred ship killers detonated, stripping shields and armor away. The Bandersnatch started listing and began a slow roll as it vented atmosphere and water.
On the Bandersnatch, there was pandemonium as alarms and shouting sounded out. Damage control was calling into his mike to send crews to repair blasted parts of the ship. The tactical operator shouted over his shoulder that Banshee was launching again. Lord Stanley Radakoff was shouting orders as the ship bucked and shuddered to the impacts of another wave of missiles. More missiles were now penetrating the armor of the ship and detonating inside the ship, causing major damage and ripping the ships internally to pieces.
At the same time, Olaf was engaging the other battleships, smashing their defenses and ripping into the ships with Dred killer missiles. Bruce Duely was fighting for his life as he was attacked by the six battleships that had been sent after them. His battleship was hammered many times by killer missiles, and a normal ship would have failed long ago, but this was a Cobra warship. The armor was better, and the nanobots were repairing as they maneuvered. The problem was Bruce was running out of missiles. He had three kills already and at least three badly damaged, but his missile supply was running low.