A Deep Sleep (Valhalla Book 1)

by Tyler Totten

  “Gunboats are jumping.” Johnson reported.

  Athena continued to observe, feeling a low level of frustration at the fact that she was simply sitting, watching the battle. The gunboats jumped half the remaining distance to the station. The battle station obligingly fired again, though this time they fired 20 missiles. The missiles again closed and Inchon and Ticonderoga again jumped in front of the gunboats, this time just ahead of their charges. The gunboats cut thrust so as to not overtake their protectors. This time, however, the Chinese had programmed the missiles to separate much sooner, and none were caught together. With 200 warheads to deal with, the two ships couldn’t escape unscathed this time, or so it looked. Then, the gunboats leapt ahead, forming up around the two ships and adding in their own volume of fire. The missiles, confused slightly by the new targets and unable to jink outside of all the possible fields of fire, jinked ineffectively. Two warheads closed on Inchon and detonated. The first was stopped sufficiently far away so as to cause no serious damage, but the second was closer. As it detonated, a section of the hull was breached and a short spurt of gases leapt forth.

  “Damage report?” Athena snapped out. She regretted it a moment later, even Inchon wouldn’t know for sure yet what her damage had been.

  “Still waiting sir.” Daniels responded, her tone completely professional. Athena still felt scolded.

  “All missiles serviced.” Johnson called out.

  Inchon and Ticonderoga continued their journey towards the battlestation, their FTL energy banks too low to overcome the subspace distortions and jump their large bulk again. The gunboats, however, had one more jump left, their smaller mass and one fewer jump preserving their precious stored energy. Six jumped first, emerging high and off the starboard beam from the station, firing a salvo. A moment later, six more jumped to the opposite point and fired. Six more jumped immediately in front, firing a slightly larger salvo and blazing away with their small railguns. The last group jumped past, firing on the fueling station and the processing plant. The Chinese commander preferenced his fire, protecting the station at the expense of what it was notionally there to protect. The battlestation just wasn’t designed to fight outnumbered and alone against such a large force.

  “Damage report from Inchon, Admiral.” Daniels reported, sliding the report onto one of the main screens. “Light damage, small breach to a storeroom and a point defense ammo storage. Captain Dawes advises that he will have the breach repaired inside of one hour. He does not anticipate any lasting detraction from combat effectiveness.”

  “Please respond that I await his confirmation of the repair work being completed.” Athena turned back to the 3D display, where the battle was coming to a close. The Chinese battlestation was putting up one hell of a fight, but the ordnance closing on her was simply too much. The refueling station died first, exploding in a massive burst of energy that would temporarily blind any normal space sensors nearby. This was followed a moment later by the processing plant. The station, having neutralized a good two-thirds of the inbounds, finally succumbed to being bracketed by a dozen warheads. With that, the system was empty of all but DSF-1.

  “Captain Dawes responded with ‘Wilco’ sir.” Daniels reported.

  “Very well. Ordered the fleet to reassemble, best possible speed. I want to FTL to the gate ASAP.”

  The next system would be far more challenging.

  Sol System: Earth

  Bottom of the Yellow Sea

  “This meeting shall come to order.” Boomed the deep voice of Chairman Liu Xiaopeng. The other eight men who controlled the People’s Republic of China cut their side conversations short and turned to face the Chairman. “Minister Zhang, your report please.”

  “Our combined attack on America and their allies within the Sol system destroyed the vast majority of our enemy’s war industry, including nearly all of the lesser players. The Americans retained some industry, but even with their remaining ships, it will be heavily strained.” Dejiang Zhang, Defense and External Security Minister paused.

  “At the cost of our own industry!” Protested Wade Jing, Minister of Industry, Transportation, and Agriculture.

  “Please, Minister, allow Minister Zhang to finish. I am sure he was just getting ready to explain how the battle in this system was anything but a disaster. I know I am certainly waiting.” Liu said, his voice flat and level, but still managing to convey a cold reptilian threat across the room.

  “Ahh…yes Chairman, I was just getting to that point.” Zhang said with some degree of unease. “The Americans have suffered greatly and are even now launching a final assault against us. The Russians have indicated that they too are under attack and cannot offer any assistance. Our own intelligence confirms this. This is their final desperate gamble. They know that we have more industry available, and a common supply system for our own forces. The Russians are in the same position. The Americans and their allies, on the other hand, have many different weapons, many unique systems. They will not be able to sustain the war effort. Additionally, they cannot miss the fact that the Indians have almost no capacity remaining at all. They will be forced to divert industry resources to them.

  “As Minister Wade’s last report indicated, our industrial capacity has exceeded the expectations we had when this plan was initially conceived, more than six months ago. The attack was not a failure, it has simply hastened the end. Their desperation will hand us our victory.” He finished with confidence in his tone.

  “What of the reports that an American Fleet has slipped behind our lines and is running rampant? I have reports from several sources that a sizable force has entered the Beta Slip gate in the GJ-48 system.” Minister Tong Ming interjected, the Minister of State Security and Party Loyalty chilling the room from his mere presence.

  “I have seen the reports as well, Minister.” Zhang responded quickly, dismissing it with a wave of his hand and continuing confidently. “The report is an exaggeration. The Americans do not have the remaining fleet strength to commit an entire fleet to such an endeavor. The battlestation in VVS will destroy whatever small group they may have slipped through. Even if they bypass this station, there is a partial fleet in Eta Cassiopeia and two medium sized battlestations, each with three full wings of fighter-bombers. They will not get far.”

  “We shall see. I retain reservations.” He responded flatly.

  “Pray you are correct, Minister Zhang. For your sake as much as for the Party. For now, let us move on to other pressing matters.” Liu said, ignoring Zhang’s suddenly white-sheeted face. “Minister Tong, would you please update us on the quelling of unrest through the republic.”

  “Of course Chairman. As of our meeting last week, of the five systems with some form of revolt, two had been fully pacified. As of my last report this morning, that number has risen to four. The remaining system is the Luyten’s Star system. Since at least this time last year, we have known the Australian intelligence branch has been running weapons and other technologies to rebellious elements within that system. Previous attempts at interdiction were successful, but not completely so.

  “At this time, all contact with the mining operations on the surface of Lutyen III has been lost and internal security aboard the orbital processing facility reports that they are in danger of losing the station. This system was stripped bare for our attack on Sol, and as a result security forces are lacking in many supplies and have not received regular replacements for several months. At this time I do not believe a victory is likely without additional support.”

  “Do you have any recommendations for us?” Chairman Liu interjected when Tong paused.

  “Indeed I do. I recommend we move one of the battalions of Marines we have stationed in the Procyon system to relieve the station security. Once that is secured, I recommend we offer the rebels on the surface the chance to surrender. If they elect to ignore this offer,” He smiled coldly. “then we bombard half the mining domes from space and assault the other half with the Marine batta
lion.”

  “But our industry is already stressed enough.” Minister Wade countered.

  “Yes it is minister, but the mines of the Procyon system provided additional materials to manufacturing facilities here in the Sol system. About half, by my read of your reports.” He speared Wade with his gaze. “I think ensuring the security of the People as a whole is our most important consideration at this point. Wouldn’t you agree?”

  “Yes, of course Minister.” Wade agreed hurriedly, but still maintaining some semblance of calm control in his tone. It wouldn’t do to make an enemy of Tong.

  “Is there any opposition to Minister Tong’s proposal?” The Chairman scanned the table. “Seeing none, Minister Tong the battalion will be dispatched immediately.”

  Tong nodded simply and sat back in his seat. The meeting continued for several more hours before finally adjourning. As the other ministers filed out, Tong and Chairman Liu remained.

  “I have concerns.” Tong said simply.

  “I saw your report.” The Chairman responded. “I am not ready to make any moves on high ranking officers as of yet. Their compassion is worrying, but for now they are sufficiently competent. I do not feel that we could weed out the potential troublemakers without compromising our combat effectiveness.”

  “Very well Chairman.” Tong nodded his assent. “But I caution against waiting too long. There are many independent thinkers within the military. If they are not carefully pruned, we may have issues, perhaps even before the end of the war. This dissention could be the jump-start that begins the larger conflagration within their ranks.”

  “I trust you will continue to keep an eye on the situation.” Liu said simply.

  Tong only nodded this time.

  Eta Cassiopeia System

  DSF-1: USS Tripoli

  “Sir!” Daniels called out over the screeching decompression alarm, the third of the last five minutes. The man at DC quickly silenced it. “Captain Martin for you.”

  “Put him through.” Athena responded. “Captain, what can I do for you?”

  “Admiral, sir. I request permission to execute Plan Daredevil.” Martin responded calmly, but with an edge to his voice.

  “Are you sure? This may be too soon.”

  “I’m afraid I may not get another alignment like this one. Our speeds are almost perfect, as is our vector. It may be now or never sir.” Martin said earnestly.

  “Very well, but don’t spend too much time in close. I need you back in the fight.” Athena said.

  “Yes sir, wilco. Martin out.”

  Plan Daredevil was, well, daring. Thunderer would attempt to engage the Chinese battlecruiser in a closing duel, reducing her speed to a close range slugging match. Before closing to point blank, she would launch two shuttles in her sensor shadow. These were highly stealthed shuttles and they would be launched so as to nullify as much of their difference in velocity with the battlecruiser as they could. Thunderer would continue to engage the battlecruiser until the shuttle were right on top of them, then FTL away. The stealth shuttles would then land on the hull and release their cargo. The four Agema in each shuttle would disembark and attempt to enter the ship near a weapon’s turret and take control of the weapon. From there, they would be able to upload a virus into the ship’s systems. The shuttle would then be used as a relay to in turn allow the Thunderer or any other ship to seek to take control of the target ship. The best case scenario was full control of the ship, giving them a weapon against the remaining ships.

  Alternatively, the shuttles could be detected on approach and simply vaporized. They had almost no propulsion, relying instead on liquid fueled rockets for the final maneuver. They also had no inertial dampening, a zero-g environment. Traditional systems would create a subspace signature and give away their position. The Agema armor had to be shielded in special pods for the approach, so that even that wouldn’t be able to reveal their position. Once on the hull, they would still have to gain access, fight any crew or marines they encountered, and attempt to take control of a system. After that, there were dozens more things that could go wrong with the plan. Even still, Athena felt that the possible reward justified the risk. She could only hope that she was correct.

  Tripoli rocked again, this one seeming to have an accompanying rumble. Athena knew that sound, the sound of a large volume of air escaping into space.

  “Hull breach, main shuttle bay!” The crewman manning the CIC DC console reported as he moved to shut-off the alarm. “Still waiting on reports, Admiral.”

  “Very well.” Athena cursed her luck. She had entered the system confident, moving into Eta Cassiopeia with the intent of wiping the system clear of Chinese military assets and any industry useful to the war effort. What she had found was a brand new battlecruiser on trials, escorted by two destroyers. Two wounded cruisers and an understrength squadron of corvettes were also in the system. Both groups had immediately vectored for DSF-1 upon their emergence. To compound things, the two battlestations in system were even larger than the one in the last system. Even worse, they carried fighter-bombers, at least two oversized wings from the looks of what was crossing the system. It was only a matter of time until they used their sprint FTL drives to jump in and fire at her fleet.

  “Thunderer has jumped.” Johnson reported and CIC collectively held their breath.

  A moment later, the cruiser was back in normal space, closing at a relatively sedate velocity with the Chinese battlecruiser. The battlecruiser was the newest one out of their yards, bigger and meaner than any battlecruiser in human space. She would be a decent match for a light battleship. Instead, a cruiser was closing the range with her. It took a moment for the Chinese captain to redirect his fire. Initially, only smaller turrets turned to engage, clearly expecting Thunderer to fire a salvo and jump away before the larger turrets could re-train. Instead, Martin bore in, closing to within 1000km before the big guns began to pound away at her. Athena cringed every time she saw a confirmed hit, where explosions rippled across Thunderer’s hull.

  Martin, however, was giving almost as good as he got. The repulsors on Thunderer were top notch, managing to stop anything not fired directly into her bow, her repulsors being powerful enough to deflect or arrest any shots along the periphery. In return, all of the return fire was focused on the ventral plating just forward of the battlecruiser’s topside 115mm high-velocity railgun turrets. While few hits were being scored, their localized nature quickly created a hull breach. While this wouldn’t doom the ship, it did generate a localized burst of debris and energy. Most importantly, however, it blurred local sensors and rendered proximity alarms useless.

  “Thunderer has jumped.” Johnson reported. “Gunboats are commencing missile launches against the cruisers, sir.”

  “Status of the Armadillos?” Athena asked Daniels.

  “They report 75% stores, minor hull damage. Ticonderoga reports the loss of one shotgun turret. They’ll need to EVA to repair, so it’s out for the rest of this fight, sir.” Daniels responded almost immediately.

  “Order them to close formation with us, Inchon, and Normandy. Those fighter-bombers are going to jump in on us any second, especially with the gunboats now committed.” Athena ordered.

  “Aye, sir.”

  Athena commed Aux Con. “XO, we’re going to be in the middle of this storm in a minute. How is your point defense net?”

  “Well, sir. We’ve got at least 90% of the grid. The guns we did lose, I’ve transferred whatever stores they had to the remaining guns, so we’re still at 82% stores on all working guns. Still have a full stock of decoy drones, but if those fighter-bombers come at us, it’ll just be too close to bother.” He responded.

  “Agreed. Be ready.”

  “Yes, sir.” He said. Athena switched to DC I.

  “Brown here, Admiral.” Came the gruff, tired sounding reply.

  “How are we doing, Chief?”

  “Well sir, with all due respect, I’d really appreciate it if you’d stop poking h
oles in the poor girl. She’s aging prematurely you know.” He paused for a moment. “Overall, we’re doing alright sir. The hull breach in the shuttle bay drained a good bit of our air, but nothing we can’t deal with. The hit there wasn’t too serious structurally, that space is hardened to deal with the live ordnance in the bay and the shuttles, so we’ve got that covered. That said, another hit to the bay itself could cause some real issues. Other than that, they’re just pin holes. I’ve got my teams patching best they can. She’ll hold together for you sir.”

  “Excellent work Chief, keep it up.” Athena responded, continuing in a false cheerful tone. “I expect we’ll be back in it in another minute or so.”

  “Excellent indeed.” He responded, gruffer than before.

  Chapter IX

  System Check…

  Reactor… Green

  Armor Systems… Green

  Weapons… Green

  Sensors… Green

  Comm… Green