A King's Ship (Empire Rising Book 2)

by D. J. Holmes

  “Damage report,” Second Lieutenant Mallory called over the open COM channel to the auxiliary bridge. His job in the auxiliary bridge was to oversee the internal systems and be ready to take command in case the bridge was damaged. “I’m getting reports that several of our point defense plasma cannons and AM launchers are damaged. No sign of any missile strikes, I’m not sure what happened.”

  “Evasive maneuvers Navigation,” James called.

  “Check the sensor logs,” he said to Mallory. “We believe the aliens destroyed one of the Havenite frigates with some sort of laser. Their range may be greater than we thought.”

  “I’m on it Sir,” the Second Lieutenant replied.

  “Any more damage?” James asked the bridge.

  “Nothing yet,” Sub Lieutenant King at Sensors called out. “Lieutenant Mallory and I are reviewing the sensor data. There were several heat blooms on the outer hull just before the automatic damage reports began coming in. It looks like the Havenites were right, they must have some kind of directed energy weapon. Likely a laser.”

  “Sub Lieutenant King is right,” Mallory confirmed over the COM channel. “I don’t think their weapons have the power to penetrate our armor at this range but they can take out the point defense and sensor blisters on the outer hull.”

  “Very well,” James said, “we will have to keep up our evasive maneuvers.”

  “Glancing hit Sir,” Becket called out, “We just got another heat bloom across our aft armor. It was only for a split second. No damage reported.”

  “Third alien cruiser destroyed,” Ferguson shouted over the noise of the bridge. “The rest of their fleet is taking evasive maneuvers, it’s going to be harder to get hits from this range.

  As he had come to expect from his previous combat experience James was beginning to lose track of the minor details of the battle. Drowning out some of the information being shared between the bridge crew he focused on the holo display to keep track of the big picture.

  The alien fleet was still headed for Haven. Despite the impressive damage Endeavour was doing to them they were determined. The larger Haven fleet was in position around the two stations that Admiral Harris had identified as their concealed battlestations. The alien fleet had been reduced to forty four ships but James wasn’t sure they were doing enough damage. The alien fleet would be in range of the Haven ships’ missiles in another ten minutes and the aliens would be able to fire off their own shorter ranged missiles two minutes after that.

  As he watched the main holo plot another of the cruisers fell out of formation, showing that Ferguson was still using the plasma cannons to deadly effect. Several seconds after the ship blew up completely a large section of the alien fleet slowly began to turn. Immediately James checked their projected course.

  Seeing the same thing Sub Lieutenant King, manning the sensors station, called out, “Captain, the alien ships are reorienting, they are bringing their broadsides to bear on us.”

  “I see it,” James acknowledged. “Navigation, you know what to do, pull us back.

  The Havenite frigates had fired a second salvo and as Endeavour turned Julius fired another eight missiles to join them as they sped towards the aliens.

  The alien ships that had turned responded with thirty missiles of their own. As the missiles were projected on the holo display James cringed. Endeavour was designed to be able to defend herself against ten modern missiles. Even if Haven’s data was correct and these alien variants weren’t as effective as British tech, thirty was a lot of targets for her point defenses to take out. Thankfully Endeavour was equipped with two flak cannons, without them she wouldn’t have a chance.

  Even as he thought of them, both flak cannons fired off hundreds of high explosive shells that detonated in front of the incoming missiles. They threw up a wall of shrapnel that the missiles had to fly through. At relativistic speeds it only took a glancing blow from a piece of shrapnel for the quickly accelerating missiles to be damaged or thrown off course. Space was a big place though and the flak cannons couldn’t hope to hit all the missiles. Twenty of the thirty missiles made it through the first storm of shrapnel and thirteen came through the second.

  The flak cannons powered down as the missiles entered the range of the small point defense plasma cannons. Space between Endeavour and the incoming missiles was filled with green plasma bolts as the point defense gunners tried to hit their targets. Soon AM missiles launched from Endeavour’s racks to intercept the incoming missiles. Thirteen were reduced to eleven, then eight.

  It’s still not enough James thought as he watched helplessly. Everyone else had a job to do to defend the ship but all he had to focus on was the holo plot tracking the missiles getting closer and closer.

  “Here they come,” Julius shouted. Before James could ask her what she meant, the plot around Endeavour lit up with over a hundred new contacts.

  As soon as they appeared they shot towards the incoming missiles and nine became three. Endeavour’s point defenses concentrated on the remaining targets and the sheer weight of fire blew them out of space.

  Havenite AM missiles, James realized as he scanned the holo plot to see the Havenite frigates had decelerated hard to fall into a defensive formation around Endeavour.

  “We’re clear,” Ferguson announced, “we’re beyond the missile range of the alien ships. It doesn’t look like they are turning to pursue us.”

  “Good work everyone,” James said to the bridge and the Havenite frigates.

  “Thanks,” a voice said from one of the small holo displays on James’ command chair. “We were just in time it seems. Admiral Harris sent us to give you a hand.”

  “Indeed you were,” James said looking down at the frigate captain whose face had appeared on the small holo display of his command chair. “Your AM missiles are quite effective.”

  “Not half as effective as your flak cannons,” the Haven Captain replied. “When I saw they had launched thirty missiles I thought your ship was history. I’d heard reports from your war with the Chinese but I didn’t think they were that effective.”

  “Yes, they came as a surprise to the Chinese too,” James said with a smile. “I owe you a drink later Captain but for now let’s get back to business.”

  “Agreed,” the Haven Captain said.

  Lifting his voice, James addressed the bridge crew and the Haven Captain. “Ok, we’re out of plasma cannon range but we can still hammer them with our missiles. Julius, coordinate with the Haven Captain and take out as many of the alien frigates as you can before they engage the main Haven fleet.”

  “Yes Sir,” she answered.

  “I’ve sent some information to your datapad,” Julius added. “I think we might be able to pull off an old trick.”

  “I’ll have a look,” James replied.

  He grabbed his datapad and scanned the information Julius had sent him, pausing to watch as the next salvo of missiles launched towards the alien fleet. When he got to the end of the data he knew Julius was onto something.

  “Communication, can you open a COM channel to Admiral Harris for me?” James asked.

  “Yes Sir, channel is open,” came the response.

  “Good work Captain,” Harris said when James’s image appeared before him. “You guys are giving them hell – I just hope it’s enough. They’ll be in range of our missiles in four minutes.”

  “Thank you Admiral,” James began. “I may have something for you. Have you been able to study the history of naval warfare since your people have made contact with the other human nations?”

  “To a certain extent. We’ve only been able to get information on specific wars and battles that were made publicly available at the time. I’m probably missing more than a few vital details,” Harris confessed.

  “No problem, I can fill you in. I’m sending you over our sensor data from the alien ships,” James said. “If your tech guys look it over they’ll see the alien AM missiles use the same radar wavelength as their main search
radars. We used to do the same before the Russians used it against us in the war over the French colonies. You’ll probably only get one shot at it but if you alter your missile’s ECM to detect the wavelength of the alien’s main search radar you will be able to predict their AM missiles’ seeker radar as well. If you can alter your missiles in time you can get them to project their own radar signals back at the AM missiles and confuse them.”

  Harris wasn’t looking at James, he had his head buried in his own datapad and was nodding as James spoke. “Ah, I see,” he said. “I think it might work. We only have a few minutes until contact; I need to pass this on immediately. I hope to see you on the other side Captain,” he said as he looked up at James before cutting the transmission.

  “Me too,” James said to an empty screen.

  Looking back at the main holo display he requested a status update from the bridge.

  “Thirty seconds until our next missile salvo reaches their outer point defenses,” Ferguson informed him. “The Haven frigates are keeping station with us. So far we’ve taken out four of their cruisers and five frigates.”

  James looked at the state of Endeavour’s missile tubes; they would be ready to fire again in two minutes. By then the aliens would almost be able to engage Harris’ fleet defending the colony. They were decelerating and it looked like they planned to enter a high orbit over Haven and sit there until they blasted Harris out of their way. Endeavour, on the other hand, was still tearing towards the planet at full speed and her momentum would soon take her away from the battle. That had been the plan all along. It was her speed that had allowed her to swoop into plasma range of the enemy fleet. Now though, it was a hindrance.

  “Navigation, I’m sending you an updated course,” James said as he input some flight information into his command chair.

  “Received Sir,” the navigation officer acknowledged, “I think it will work but it might get a little hot in here. We’ll be pushing Endeavour right to her limits.”

  “I know,” James said, “but we can’t leave anything on the table. It’s all or nothing now.”

  “COM send a message to the frigates following us,” James ordered next. “Tell them thanks for the escort but they won’t be able to follow us on our next move. They can engage as they see fit.”

  “And Julius,” James added, “if you can, fire off our last broadside before we go behind the planet. Aim everything at one of their frigates.”

  *

  Admiral Harris sat in his own command chair on board his flagship Solitude. He had been mightily impressed by the display of the British warship. He knew now that his fleet wouldn’t have stood a chance if the British fleet had discovered Haven and come claiming the system for themselves. That was all but irrelevant now however. Even if his ships survived the coming battle they would not be in any state to stop anyone from doing what they wanted with Haven.

  That assumed there would be anything of Haven left. The British ship had done all it could. Now it was up to his ships. His smaller fleet of frigates and Endeavour had been using their speed to harass the aliens without having to worry about return fire. Now they were traveling too fast to break and enter orbit. They would get one more salvo at the alien fleet before they had to break off.

  “The alien ships will enter missile range in thirty seconds,” one of the bridge officers called out.

  “Signal the fleet to fire with the flagship,” Harris ordered.

  When the alien ships crossed the red line displayed on the bridge’s main holo display, Solitude and the rest of his ships and the two battlestations opened fire. Ninety three missiles shot towards the forty remaining alien ships.

  It took the missiles five minutes to accelerate out of Haven’s orbit and reach the point defense envelope of the approaching alien ships. Before they got there the aliens had opened fire themselves and over one hundred and fifty missiles were homing in on Harris’ fleet.

  Hundreds of AM missiles shot from the alien ships to try and knock out the Haven missiles intent on destroying them. Initially they had some success taking out twenty, but by then the Haven missiles had been able to analyze the radar being beamed out by the alien ships, altered their own ECM emitters and bombarded the AM missiles with the exact wavelength of electromagnetic radiation their seeker heads were following. The AM missiles had been using the radar signals from their parent ships along with their own limited radar as it bounced off the approaching missiles to track them. Suddenly they began to get numerous false readings and many of the AM missiles lost lock on their targets all-together. Only twenty five managed to take out incoming missiles, leaving forty eight ship killers to explode among the startled alien ships.

  Harris pumped his fists as the holo display projected multiple explosions among the alien fleet. “How many did we get?” he called out.

  “Six of the alien ships are dropping out of formation, our sensors have lost track of another three. I think they have been destroyed outright. Other ships are showing signs of damage but they are holding formation,” one of the sensor officers reported.

  “Good, get ready to hit them again. Only equip half our missiles to try the same trick this time. If they catch on to what we did it’ll not work a second time so I want to hedge our bets,” Harris ordered.

  “Enemy missiles being engaged by point defenses,” someone on the bridge called out.

  Without plasma weapon technology Harris’ fleet depended solely on AM missiles to fend off incoming ship killer missiles. His technicians were still dumbfounded over how the aliens managed to effectively project laser beams over such long distances but at least their previous skirmishes with the aliens had shown their ECM technology was primitive compared to Haven tech.

  The alien’s hundred and fifty missiles were reduced to ninety, then forty, then twelve which made it through to their targets. Nevertheless, they still caused colossal damage as they exploded among the Haven ships.

  “We’ve lost the frigates Hawk and Sealion,” the sensor officer called after the explosions stopped, “the destroyer Lightening has also taken a direct hit. She’s reporting only one of her missile tubes is functioning.”

  “What about the battlestations?” one of the Lieutenants asked.

  “Both have taken direct hits but are still fully functional.”

  “Return fire,” Harris snapped.

  At his request eighty five missiles rocketed out of their tubes towards their targets. On their way they passed another one hundred and thirty alien missiles heading the opposite direction.

  It’s about to get real hairy! Harris thought.

  A second series of explosions ripped through his fleet and Harris was thrown about in his seat as Solitude took a proximity hit. “Damage report,” he called out.

  “Two missile tubes are down, sections three, four and five are open to space and venting atmosphere,” someone shouted.

  “Damn,” Harris swore. “And the rest of the fleet?” he asked.

  “I’m not sure,” his first officer called. “Our sensors aren’t functioning properly, I’m getting unconfirmed reports that one of the battlestations is down and a number of ships aren’t reporting in.”

  “The aliens have launched a third salvo,” someone else called out. “It will enter point defense range in sixty seconds.”

  Before Harris could swear again the sensor officer interrupted him. “Sir,” he called in excitement. “There’s a ship rounding the planet, it’s lighting up the infra-red sensors like a miniature sun!”

  *

  James had gripped his command chair with white fists as he was forced to watch the battle unfold between the two fleets. The images had been relayed to Endeavour from one of Haven’s ground bases. After firing their final salvo he had gunned Endeavour’s engines up to one hundred and ten percent of their normal operating limit and plunged his ship into the planet’s atmosphere. The combination of the breaking from the engines, the friction from the upper atmosphere and the planet’s gravity had allowed
him to swing around the planet and come up behind Harris’s ships.

  The maneuver had burned off a couple of millimeters of the valstronium armor and the internal heat sinks were threatening to overload and boil his crew alive in their own ship. The bean counters back at the admiralty would be mad, valstronium was the most expensive commodity known to mankind and the heat sinks would no doubt need replacing. Yet it had been worth it. The maneuver meant he was coming up from under what was left of Harris’ fleet just as the third salvo from the alien ships was coming into attack range.

  As the battle came into view of Endeavour’s sensors it was clear the Havenites were losing. One of the battlestations was an expanding ball of debris and Harris only had his flagship, one light cruiser and two destroyers left. The aliens had taken some serious losses too; it looked like they had less than thirty ships left, but they had fired a third salvo that was sure to end Harris’ fleet.