by D. J. Holmes
“Fire all point defenses,” James ordered.
Even before he finished speaking the flak cannons had flung their shells into space. The one hundred missiles in the alien’s third salvo were all aimed at the two remaining destroyers and the battlestation and were closely packed together. The flak cannons devastated their numbers and only fifty made it through the wall of shrapnel.
On the holo display James saw numerous plasma bolts and AM missiles from Endeavour and the remaining defenders reach out to pluck the rest from the plot. What had looked like certain destruction for Harris’ fleet was staved off, but there were still too many missiles for the ships to get them all. Three struck the remaining battle station. One flew into a gash caused by an earlier hit and penetrated three decks before it exploded, tearing the station apart.
Another two missiles struck the last light cruiser. To this point she had managed to survive the battle completely unscathed but as both missiles hit her hull they exploded twenty meters apart and split the cruiser in two. Both ends quickly began to be pulled into Haven’s gravity, spewing atmosphere and bodies into the cold of space.
“A missile has locked onto us,” Julius called out.
“Taking evasive maneuvers,” the navigation officer called as he threw Endeavour into a tight turn and roll.
The missile wasn’t fooled and it adjusted its course to match Endeavour but a last second twist caused the missile to overshoot its target. Sensing it would no longer achieve a direct hit the missile detonated only fifty meters off the bow. Everyone on the bridge was thrown about in their seats as the force of the explosion rocked the ship.
“Proximity hit,” Mallory called from the auxiliary bridge after he got his wits back. “We’ve lost most of the bow point defenses and missile tube seven is down.”
“Acknowledged,” James said. “Return fire.”
As soon as the sensors burned through the dissipating electromagnetic radiation from the thermonuclear explosions Ferguson opened up with the plasma cannons. One of the cruisers took hits from four bolts that tore through the ship, turning it into a brief ball of fire.
Julius added to the carnage as she launched seven missiles at the aliens. The distance had closed enough that it only took them one minute to reach their targets and in the confusion five hit their mark, taking out another two cruisers.
“They’re accelerating,” the sensor officer called out excitedly. “It looks like they are trying to break orbit.
“Missile launches,” Julius called out. “No wait, they are from behind us. Those Haven frigates followed us into Haven’s atmosphere. They’re firing their own missiles at the aliens.”
James checked the holo plot himself, there were indeed six more Haven ships swinging round the colony. It didn’t look as if they had ventured as close to Haven’s atmosphere as Endeavour had but then there were only six frigates. There should have been seven. He suspected one hadn’t made it. “Match our missiles to their trajectory and fire when ready. We need to make sure those aliens don’t come back in a hurry.”
“They’re out of plasma range,” Julius reported. “I managed to get another of their frigates. Should we pursue?”
James checked Endeavour’s damage reports and the holo display again before answering. All of the Haven ships except the newly arrived frigates were reporting serious damage and his ship wasn’t in any state to be pursuing a superior force. “Negative, we need to help our friends. We’ll fire one more salvo and let them go.”
“Captain, they’re turning again!” Julius called out.
“What?” James asked, confused. It made no sense for them to turn back now. They had lost their earlier advantage. Then he saw the alien commander’s plan.
“Cancel that last fire order.” James shouted. “Julius detonate our missiles in front of their incoming salvo. We need to take out as many of those missiles as we can. They are going for the orbital industries.”
Even as he spoke a final salvo of missiles erupted from the alien ships. Alongside their main ship killer missiles there were over three hundred of their smaller AM missiles.
“It’s worse Sir,” Ferguson called out. “Those AM missiles will have to go ballistic long before they reach their targets but our sensors are estimating that some of them are aimed at the planet, not the orbital stations. It looks like the aliens have targeted Haven’s major cities!”
“Navigation, put us directly in front of their missile salvo. We need to bring every point defense weapon we have to bear on those missiles. Communications, signal the rest of the Haven ships that can to follow us.
“Make every shot count,” James said to the bridge. “Lives are counting on us.”
Orders given, James had nothing to do but watch events unfold. Julius’s missile salvo exploded right in front of the oncoming alien missiles. A number of the ship killers wavered and then shot off in random directions, indicating that their targeting computers had been taken out by the radiation from the nuclear explosions. The holo plot updated to show that a number of the smaller unarmored AM missiles had been destroyed.
Next the flak cannons opened up, followed by the point defense plasma cannons and Endeavour’s AM missiles. All the surviving Haven frigates had followed Endeavour and Admiral Harris had managed to get his flagship into position to fire off his AM missiles as well.
The alien missiles began to fall off the plot but as they rushed past the defending ships there were simply too many.
“Captain, Admiral Harris is signaling the orbital stations and the planetary leaders to expect incoming fire,” the COMs officer reported.
“Acknowledged,” James said. As the alien missiles tore into the orbital industries and detonated among them he knew it was probably too late for many of the men and women who worked on them. Worse, Endeavour’s infrared sensors lit up as a number of missiles entered the atmosphere. Some exploded from the excess heat but a number survived reentry and fell towards their targets on ballistic trajectories.
“Signal Gupta,” James ordered. “Tell her that things are about to get a little hot for her landing party!”
Chapter 11 – A Warm Welcome
Orbital bombardments are now largely a thing of the past. Yet the firsthand accounts of those who lived through such experiences make for terrifying reading.
- Excerpt from Empire Rising, 3002 AD
1st May, HMS Innocence, approaching Haven
Commander Gupta had forced herself to watch the unfolding battle between Endeavour and the alien fleet. She knew James wouldn’t hold back and she had been silently praying for his safety. When the first alien salvo of thirty missiles had been launched at his ship she had nearly broken cover and tried to come to his aid. Innocence’s point defenses were meager compared to Endeavour’s but they would have provided some help.
James had impressed on her the importance of her mission though. In the grand scheme of things her ship wouldn’t make any difference to the outcome of this battle. She had been reluctant to admit that as she was coming to love her first real command, even if it was a freighter. Nevertheless, she knew James was right. Whatever happened today around Haven, she and James had been given a mission from the Admiralty and it was her job so see it through. Even more important, if things didn’t go their way news of these aliens had to get back to Earth.
As Endeavour’s impressive show against the aliens had captured everyone’s attention she had slipped Innocence into orbit around Haven – making sure she was a long way from the fighting.
Now she was on the bridge of her freighter, watching a shuttle carrying Major Johnston, Agent Bell, Lieutenant Becket and a squad of marines head down to the colony’s surface.
Since entering the system they had been monitoring Haven’s communications and although their tech base was impressive, there were some things that the British, and the rest of the human nations for that matter, were just way ahead of them on. Being out of contact with the rest of human society for so long meant they had missed out
on a lot of inventions. One area the Havenites didn’t yet realize they were outclassed in was communication encryption and decryption. Innocence was able to listen to every transmission in the system – at least every human transmission.
The vast majority of the COM chatter coming from the planet had been about the approaching aliens but the attack had left the Havenites in disarray. More than once a low level ground commander had requested orders on what to do with a certain guest called Chang. It seemed Chang had been undergoing a debriefing with Haven intelligence and was providing them with all the political and technical information he could. With the approaching aliens the officer in charge of the debriefing had been requesting updated orders. Eventually they had come through and he had been ordered to move Chang to a secure government safe house on the edge of their capital. Very helpfully the communication had included coordinates for the safe house. Major Johnston and Agent Bell were on their way to pick up Chang before anyone knew they were there.
“Oh no,” Gupta said not realizing she had spoken aloud when James’ communication came through along with an updated sensor feed. She relayed the information to the shuttle and sat back in her command chair to say another prayer.
*
“It looks like things are about to get a little dicey,” Johnston said over the shuttle COM. “We have incoming missiles from the alien fleet and there will be a lot of debris falling from orbit. At least some of it will be coming in near the city.”
“Great,” Bell said.
“I hope everyone aboard Endeavour is ok,” she added giving Becket’s shoulder a squeeze. The Lieutenant had been very quiet during the mission so far. No doubt she felt guilty for not being at her station on board Endeavour. Yet James had insisted she accompany the landing party. Bell was glad the Lieutenant was with them; she had proven useful on their previous missions.
“I’ll be landing you about a klick away from our target,” the shuttle pilot said. “Our target building is right on the edge of the city. It’s a four story apartment complex. There is some pretty dense forest that runs right up to the edge of the city so I’ll have to set you down a klick away from your target, it’s the nearest clearing I can find.”
“Just get us there in one piece,” Johnston said.
“Hold on,” the pilot interrupted, “we’re being hailed by ground flight control.”
“Let me speak to them,” Bell said as she moved forward and sat beside the pilot. She put on one of the spare flight helmets, activating its audio.
With the expertise of a stage actor she put on a very panicked and shaky voice, “This is the shuttle Delivery, we’re fleeing the orbital bombardment, I repeat, we’re fleeing the orbital bombardment. Our station was destroyed; we’ve got nowhere to go. We’re just trying to land.”
“You are entering a restricted area,” the voice said again over the COM channel. “You need to turn around, you can’t land there.”
“We just want to land and get our feet on solid ground before something else goes wrong,” Bell said, sounding even more hysterical. “I’m sorry, we’re landing here. I don’t want to go into space ever again!”
Before the ground controller could say anything more, Bell cut the transmission and took off the flight helmet. “That should buy us enough time,” she said.
“Remind me never to play poker with you Agent,” Johnston said with a grunt of respect.
“We’re touching down,” the pilot informed them as two heavy bumps alerted them that they had landed.
“Everyone out,” Johnston ordered as he led the way down the descending ramp at the back of the shuttle.
When Becket stepped out onto the alien planet she was immediately struck by the strange vegetation. In the past she had always spent her time in the cities of the colonies she had visited. She hadn’t really seen any alien fauna before except in zoos on Earth. Even then she had been more interested in the wild animals.
Haven had what passed for trees on Earth except that they were covered in thick branches all the way down to where their trunks met the ground. Their leaves were much wider and thicker than any Becket had seen and they sparkled with shades of pink, red and violet. They would have been beautiful if they didn’t have to trek through them.
“This is going to be tough going,” she said to the marines.
“Nonsense,” Sergeant Harkin said, grinning as he jumped out of the shuttle. “I knew it was a good idea to bring this baby,” he added as he hefted a large device that looked like an oversized hilt of a sword.
“A plasma lance,” Bell said, stepping forward with interest.
“Not for you lady,” Harkin said, waving his finger at her. “I had the foresight to bring one and so I’m going to be the one that gets to use it.”
“We don’t have time for this,” Johnston said, “Harkin, you take point. The rest of us will follow you.”
Grinning, Harkin pushed his way past the jealous marines towards the densely packed trees. With the flick of a finger he ignited the plasma lance. A long green stream of plasma stretched out of the hilt, forming what looked like a sword of plasma mimicking something out of an old science fiction movie. With ease, Harkin swung the plasma lance back and forth, cutting a path through the thick foliage.
Initially it was hard going and Harkin’s heavy panting could be heard over the COM channel but two minutes after they set out Becket heard a strange snap-hiss that she guessed was the plasma lance being switched off.
“I think I have found a path,” Harkin said confirming her guess.
“O’Brian, you take point, double time it,” Johnston said to one of the marines.
With a hand signal acknowledging the order she set off at a jog along the path with her eyes and plasma rifle constantly scanning back and forth. A couple of minutes later they came to the end of the path. O’Brian ducked down and signaled for the rest of the team to do the same.
Johnston and Bell shuffled forward to take a look at their target. Becket moved up too and peered over their shoulders. It was the sky that caught her attention first. Through a clearing in the thick foliage what looked like a scene out of a sci-fi movie depicting the end of the world greeted her
Hundreds of pieces of debris were streaking across the sky, tumbling towards the ground. It almost looked like the entire sky was on fire. As she was watching, one of the pieces ignited and accelerated towards the ground. It impacted a significant distance away from the city and a bright flash erupted from the impact zone. Her combat suit’s visor darkened her vision to protect her from the blinding light.
“That was a nuke,” Bell said as everyone felt the vibration of the shockwave under their feet.
“Yes,” Johnson agreed, “there’ll be more where that one came from. Let’s just hope Endeavour is still up there taking out the ones aimed at the city.”
“There’s our target,” he said, returning everyone’s attention to the mission.
The apartment complex was at the end of a series of large buildings that pushed out into the forest. A permacrete road led away from the complex back towards the heart of the city. Parked outside were two Armored Personnel Carriers. It didn’t look like there was anyone inside but there were at least two guards standing outside the complex.
“They have plasma rifles,” Harkin said, “I wonder where they got those from.”
“The black market,” Bell said. “Or Chang brought them with him as a bargaining chip.”
“Either way it doesn’t look like they are going to give up Chang without a fight,” Johnston said, “we might be fighting for these bastards up in space but they still chose to take in a war criminal and hide him from our government. That means they are going down, we can deal with the political ramifications later.
“Here’s the plan,” he continued. “Bell, Harkin and I are going to circle around the complex through the forest. O’Brian and Hastings, you two are our best shots. When I give the signal take out those two guards. Once they’re down we will rush the main d
oors. You provide covering fire and join us once we are in. Clear?”
Everyone signaled that they understood and Johnston and his team ducked under the nearest branch and headed off, circling the complex.
As she waited, Becket couldn’t help but be distracted by the display overhead. Every second seemed to add more burning debris to the already packed sky. She ducked as another object ignited and rapidly accelerated towards the ground. This time there was no explosion and when she opened her eyes to look she saw that the missile had impacted with one of the pieces of debris. It had blown it into hundreds of smaller pieces that were burning up in the atmosphere. She hoped that was a sign that some friendly ships were still in orbit trying to limit the damage to the colony. If it was the aliens trying to limit the damage to their new prize, getting Chang would soon become the least of their worries.
That turned her mind back to the situation at hand. The irony wasn’t lost on her. In orbit Endeavour was fighting with everything she had to protect the Haven colony yet on the ground they were about to attack a Haven intelligence safe house. If they all survived today the political fallout would take years to sort out.