The Shattering War

by James Edward

  Olaf had managed to drive the five battleships back away from both the graviton ship and the flagship Bandersnatch. His efforts to push the ships back as they tried to acquire maneuvering room resulted in three of them entering the minefield that had returned to its original position and had activated. Fleeing from Olaf’s missiles, they ran into the mines. The combination of missiles and mines broke the ships up, rendering them useless in the battle. Olaf turned away to engage the last three ships.

  Ray ordered the ship to jump and then jump back to a set of coordinates that put them behind Bandersnatch. He targeted the Bandersnatch’s engines and fired twenty missiles into her. The Bandersnatch almost came alive as it exploded, its body and superstructure twisting and writhing in agony as it ripped itself apart. Ray looked at his XO and said, “They should have surrendered. Let’s target that last graviton ship. I want it intact. I think that we should destroy the engines and power plant. It appears to be setting up for another firing sequence.”

  The Banshee fired ten missiles at the engine exhaust of the graviton ship. Just before impact, the graviton ship fired, hitting Bruce Duely’s Kara Kura. The Kara Kura twisted and buckled; it soon started venting atmosphere and ship parts. The power plant went off line, but it didn’t imploded.

  Seconds later, the graviton ship was hit by the ten missiles, promptly destroying the power system and rendering it a dead ship. Ray ordered the Banshee to intercept the Kara Kura and protect it from the attacking ships. At the same time, he fired a spread of missiles at the ships that Olaf’s ship Hatim Tai was fighting.

  The PRC task force had lost all command officers, and the other captains were too busy to take charge. In the battle so far, the PRC had lost all its corvettes and almost all the frigates and destroyers, so out of the first one hundred attacking ships, fifteen were still fighting. The last wave of thirty-four capital ships was down to fifteen, and all the graviton ships were lifeless hulks. The Taipans that had rearmed were now racing through the Fleet formation, firing missiles and lasers. Platform One, which was heavily damaged, was still engaging targets, but Platform Two, which had been hit by the graviton beam, was having a difficult time, as there was a lot of internal damage. The two inner platforms were targeting and killing ships with their jump missiles. Some of the PRC ships were starting to surrender, and with no leadership, they weren’t reprimanded in doing so.

  “Kara Kura, this is the Banshee. Report damage,” Ray called.

  “That you, Ray? We have taken everything that they can throw at us, including a graviton pulse, and are still in the game. We are out of missiles and countermeasures though. Thinking of moving off, but we are down to one engine and we need that for shields,” Bruce said.

  “Roger, Bruce. We are going to intercede between you and the PRC ships. See if you can break off and head in system,” Ray said.

  “Waiting on you, boss. I will save you a seat in the bar after I tell Sinclair that you are good,” Bruce said.

  As Ray ordered the Banshee to get between the Kara Kura and the PRC ships, he saw on screen four Dreds racing toward the Kara Kura. He didn’t have enough time to shout a warning before the four missiles impacted the side of Kara Kura. Ray and his crew could see the ship shudder as parts of the ship were blasted into space. Ray ordered the Banshee to fire on the offending ship and called to the Kara Kura.

  “This is the Kara Kura. Lt. Kirkland here,” came the reply.

  “Damage report, Lt.,” Ray said.

  “Sir, we have lost the bridge and most systems. We are without power, and we have massive causalities. I have just been informed that the bridge is open to space; there are no survivors. Captain Duely and the officers are lost. I am taking command, as I believe that I am the senior officer. I am requesting permission to break off and head in system, sir,” Kirkland said.

  “Yeah, head in system. I will send a flag to the platforms to cover you and for a tug to come out and hook up. Head to the hospital to get your crew looked at,” Ray said. Ray fought back a lump in his throat at the thought that Bruce was dead. Maybe we should have left him on that fishing boat after all. “Okay, gunners, weapons, and tactical, you are weapons free at any PRC ship, especially battleships or battle cruisers. If they don’t ask for quarter, we give them none. Let’s end this.”

  Olaf was enjoying himself. His Mamba was taking hits and minor shield damage, but the Hatim Tai was inflicting damage on the remaining four battleships that he was engaging. He hammered a battleship, watching in delight when pieces blew off the hull. He knew that if the hull was that badly damaged, the interior was in shambles too. He ordered four more Dreds missiles to hit the same place and turned his attention to the other three that were trying to disengage.

  “What do you think, Mark?” he asked his XO. “Fire on the ship with the impressive name of Demon Wall? Yes? Tactical, fire on these coordinates, full ten-Dred volley.”

  “We are low on missiles, Captain,” Olaf’s tactical officer stated. “We have some ship-to-ship but no more killers after this volley.”

  “Damn. Okay, fire where I indicate. Then break off.” Olaf marked where he wanted the missiles to go and watched as the missiles sped on their way. The inner platforms were also taking shots at the battleships. The battleships could see Olaf’s missiles because he was close, but they only got a second notice from the missiles jumping in from the inner platforms. The combination was like a one-two punch in a street fight.

  “Coms, contact the Banshee and tell them we are going to rearm. Then tell supply to have our missiles ready. Helm, plot a course and jump to inner system to the supply depot,” Olaf ordered

  Forty minutes later, the remnants of the task force started heading for the gate. Even as they fled, they lost ships. Ray had ordered no quarter, and they gave no quarter except for the ships that stood down. At the end of the day, out of 137 ships that entered the gate, fifteen left all badly damaged.

  Ray ordered the Hatim Tai and the Banshee to refit and rearm. He wanted to hit them again when they exited the gate in the Yegus system. He knew that it would take five to eight days for them to traverse between gates. He also knew that he could be there in four days with his superior jump ability. He ordered the remaining ships to take possession of the ships that stood down and to search the battlefield for survivors, especially Taipans and his guys. Repair ships launched from the inner systems and headed for the two platforms that were now almost nothing but scrap.

  Both the Mamba class battleships were being refitted as Ray sat with Sinclair in his office reading the after-battle report.

  “Man, we took a licking this time, Sin.” Ray sighed. He still smarted over the loss of his friend Bruce Duely as well as all the other people that were killed in the fight. “We lost thirty-three ships and crews along with most of the Taipans, well 110 out of two hundred. Platform One lost 80 percent of its personnel and will take at least two months of repairs. Two lost 30 percent and another two months. Closed to ten thousand fleet personnel either killed, lost, or injured, and as of now we’re vulnerable to another attack. Good people gone like, Bruce, Vinnie Esponsie, Everet Nielson, Yuki, Franco, Doug Dawson, to mention a few. All for the lust for power.”

  “Don’t beat yourself up about Bruce, hon,” Sinclair said. “Bruce died the way he wanted to, protecting his home and extended family. We all knew that there would be losses. What you need is a drink, a meal, and a good rest, and that’s where I come in.”

  As the adrenalin drained out of his system, Ray allowed himself to relax a little and enjoy the fact that he had survived a massive battle and had beaten the invaders back. He knew the PRC would never try again to attack his system. He had delivered a major blow to their expansion plans and had also weakened them with the loss of so many of their ships and experienced personnel. He spent a relaxing time with Sinclair before heading to the after-battle meeting.

  “Ah, Ray,” Olaf rumbled as Ray entered the m
eeting room and shook hands with the surviving captains. “A mighty battle, fit for a Viking. We handed them a great defeat.”

  “Yes we did but at what cost?” Ray answered.

  “Do not mourn the dead, Ray!” Olaf stated. “They died in glory doing what they loved and their duty. Honor them for their loss but do not mourn them. Soon we take the fight to the surviving and fleeing ships. I look forward to that task even though I may die. I die with honor and to protect my family. That is a great thing.”

  “Yeah, you are right, Olaf. We will be leaving tomorrow,” Ray said. “Now is the time to remember the dead and to celebrate a great victory.”

  CHAPTER 20

  Finishing the Task

  FOUR DAYS LATER, THE BANSHEE and the Hatim Tai sat cloaked at the gate entrance to the Yegus system. Both of them sported hull damage. They waited for the arrival of the smashed fleet, which was comprised of fifteen mauled ships ranging from a few battleships and cruisers down to a couple of destroyers. The orders were simple: as soon as the ships appeared, they would be fired upon.

  “Sir, we have gate activity!” the sensor operator said. “Fourteen ships are coming through now.”

  “Tactical, target the battleships and battle cruisers, full spread at my order only,” Ray said. “Coms, contact the Hatim Hai and tell them they are weapons free, also at my order.”

  Task force leader Captain Ivor Semple sighed; leader by dint of being the senior surviving captain out of a battle that contained 140 or so captains and commodores wasn’t an auspicious position. Fourteen damaged and broken ships was no task force. They even lost a heavy cruiser in hyperspace. It probably fell out and was stranded somewhere where it would take a hundred years for them to get to a habitable system. Slow starvation and death—he didn’t envy that ship at all.

  He along with everyone else was disheartened and demoralized by the tremendous loss of ships and manpower. He still couldn’t believe the utter destruction that the Conrad system ships had dealt to them. So many surprises at the same time made it hard to formulate a defensive battle plan. The ace in the hole, those graviton ships, were an utter failure. They had been taken out after only firing once. His ship was a broken hulk of what was once an impressive battleship. The Death Gaze was once a mighty ship but now was damaged beyond repair. It would be scrapped, and the workable equipment would be used for another ship. Well at least they would make port, but what the consequences would be once the Fleet heard of their defeat was anyone’s guess.

  “Sir, we are exiting the gate now,” the helmsman stated.

  “Contact! Two ships bearing straight ahead at ten thousand klicks!” the sensor operator shouted. “Sensors indicate that they are Conrad warships!”

  “Sir!” the tactical operator said in an awed voice, “that is the Conrad flagship Banshee! We left before they did, and they are here before us. Sensor sweeps show battle damage on the hull, but they are in fighting shape.”

  “We are being hailed,” Coms reported.

  “Order all ships to move into a defensive posture and hold fire; shields and tracking computers only at this time. Tell the fleet to do nothing aggressive at this point,” Ivor said. “Open a channel to the Banshee.

  “This is the warship Death Gaze, Captain Ivor Semple now in charge of the remaining fleet,” Ivor stated.

  “This is the Banshee. Terms of your surrender are as follows: drop shields, power down weapons system, do not wipe your computers, and accompany us to the planet Doust. Any deviation of that will be met with deadly force. So basically, Captain, it is surrender to us or die. After what happened in our home system, it leaves us with no doubt that we would not have been offered the same terms, so it is a take it or leave it offer. The look of your ships indicate that you are all heavily battle damaged, and my guess is that you are almost out of ordinates that can hurt us, while we had a day to refit and rearm,” Ray stated.

  “Banshee, this is the Death Gaze,” Ivor said. “We have severely injured personnel that would not survive on Doust. Can we take them to Omicron instead?”

  “I know you!” came the booming voice of Olaf Trogsen. “Ivor Semple, you are the last person that I would have thought to join the PRC.”

  “Ollie, is that you?” Ivor said in wonder. “They said that you were dead along with your ship, lost out past the rim.”

  “Aye, they put us there, but my engineer found the bomb and removed it before the damn thing went off,” Olaf rumbled. “That is when we knew that the PRC and Fuggoret had planned to eliminate us. We decided to join Conrad instead.”

  “Ollie, I will tell you as well as the captain of the Banshee why this ship and at least four others that are still alive are here,” Ivor said. “We are not in support of the PRC but were banished to the rim along with several other ships. The PRC couldn’t remove us, and for the most part anyone loyal to them was transferred in system. We were to patrol until relieved but were contacted to say that the system known on the charts as ZN 2091 was a hive of pirates and rebels. We were to come to this system to engage and eradicate the scum. Ollie, I have been out system for three years, with only filtered information coming in. We thought that this might be a chance to refit and rearm and for some people to be smuggled off the ship to see family. We didn’t know that Conrad existed or that it was a viable system. By the time we arrived through the gate, the battle was on, and we were engaged.”

  “Aye, that is possible,” Olaf said. “Banshee, I suggest that, as I know a couple of these captains, I lead the negotiations. I will ask for the captains to come aboard to discuss surrender and poll who wants to join us. Some of these people are Admiral Weatherfew’s chosen and might not have been converted to the PRC cause.”

  “Agreed, Hatim Tai,” Ray answered. “Captain Semple, we will be sending shuttles to your ships to pick up the unarmed captains. They will be taken to the Hatim Hai to negotiate surrender to Olaf Trogsen. In the meantime, have all your ships power down their weapons and drop shields. Compliance is mandatory, and any deviation will result in your ship being fired on.”

  “As you ask, Banshee,” Ivor said, nodding to his tactical operator to power weapons down.

  Ivor spent ten minutes dealing with the other thirteen captains and ships. Some were very radical and pro PRC and accused him of being a traitor while others complied immediately. Eventually all saw the futility of fighting with the two massive ships that were waiting, well armed and well equipped.

  The shuttles took the fourteen PRC captains to the Hatim Hai under strict guard. They were held by a crack division of marines all in combat gear. The atmosphere was tense as the search of the PRC personnel found three hidden blasters and blade weapons. These people were segregated from the rest.

  Olaf bid everyone to sit at table in the boardroom. The last three were hustled in wearing electronic cuffs.

  “You three should be spaced,” Olaf bellowed. “The ruin of so many systems is the direct responsibility of idiots like you and your masters. You cannot even hold to an agreement as simple as no weapons. Guard, have these three removed and put in the brig. As of now, they are no longer part of these negotiations. The rest of you, understand this, we are the victors, and we will annihilate any opposition.”

  Olaf wasn’t surprised to see six captains that had been loyal to the old regime, the AGW (Assembly of Governing Worlds). He learned that they all had the same story, patrolling out on the rim and then being brought in to fight rebels and pirates. The six captains immediately complied with the request to surrender their ships.

  “This meeting is to evaluate who wants to leave the PRC. Some of you were placed by Admiral Weatherfew out in the rim for your own protection, to protect you from the purges that the PRC was doing and the assassinations that were becoming commonplace due to the ministrations of that prat, Fuggoret,” Olaf stated. “Oh by the way, Admiral Weatherfew is alive and holds a high advisory position in the administratio
n of the Conrad fleet.

  “I am told that Fugs was on the heavy cruiser in the first wave supposedly leading the attack. He and the cruiser did not survive the attack,” Ivor stated. “I am happy to hear that Byron survived the purges. We were told that he was identified as a leader of the rebels and executed.”

  “Excellent! That fool Fugs wanted glory and died in defeat. This is the same legacy that all PRC ships and followers will meet.” Olaf grinned. “Here is the offer. Surrender your ships and some of you will be offered to join us. The others will be given safe passage to Doust to be interred in the very camps that were originally created by the PRC to house AGW dissidents. There you will meet with other captains, commanders, and commodores that have tried to attack us before you. I am sure that you will have a great many things to discuss. We will evaluate the space worthiness of the fourteen remaining ships and take the ones that pass our evaluation. The rest will be destroyed. The crews that want to join us will be transferred to these remaining ships and will be returned to Conrad.”

  The other eight ship captains refused to comply except under duress. Some stated that the PRC would arrest their families or others because they believed in the PRC. It took four days to do a rough poll to see who in the lower ranks wanted to join Conrad and who was willing to stay loyal to the PRC. The captains and bridge officers, being isolated, had no influence on the decision. The various engineers, who oddly enough were loyal more to their ships than a political idea, evaluated the ships with a report that only six ships were worthy enough to manage another gate jump. Olaf ordered all the new Conrad people to man the surviving six ships, and the rest were housed in the huge cargo holds of both the Banshee and the Hatim Hai. When all was sorted out and the six ships had entered the gate, Olaf, with Ray’s okay, ordered the Hatim Hai to fire on the remaining eight ships, destroying them. Knowing that Omicron 2 satellites would pick up the explosions and send someone to investigate, he left a beacon telling anyone investigating what had happened—along with a warning that anyone that tried to enter the gate to Conrad would be dealt with as an unwanted intruder and would be destroyed.