by Chris Hechtl
“Send the cruisers and destroyers from CruRon 2 the roundabout way after the fleet train. Send CruRon 4 down to flank the carriers. Keep them clear of the enemy craft and tell them to keep their birds in reserve. But they are to keep shooting at them with rail guns. That should force the carrier force to protect themselves or pull them out.”
“Aye aye, ma’am.”
~~~^~~~
Commodore Binks saw the cruiser and destroyers split into pincers and felt his ears go flat against his skull. There was no way his limited screen could engage both of them at the same time. “Message to flag. We need help here.”
“We see it, Commodore,” Admiral V'r'z'll's voice replied almost instantly. “Keep protecting the fleet train and passing them word of incoming fire. The carriers can fend for themselves with the escorts they've got. We'll launch some reserve fighters shortly.”
“Yes, ma’am,” the commodore said, keeping the dubious thoughts about the entire procedure to himself. "This isn't good," he muttered as he noted the incoming fire from the maneuvering cruisers. With so many firing angles, something was bound to get through. The enemy had proven they only needed to get lucky once or twice with the fleet train to do damage.
~~~^~~~
Tactical and Intelligence did a quick and dirty analysis of the weapons and carrier platforms. After careful consideration and consultation from an engineer, the team noted that all of the remaining platforms were using beamed power. The actual platforms and satellites used either batteries or fuel cells. They were maneuvering with RCS thrusters in a random pattern.
When the Veraxin admiral was briefed, she nodded. She suddenly saw an opportunity. It wouldn't be nice but it would be a nice bit of revenge on her part, or at least a down payment. "Two can play at that game."
"Ma'am?" her chief of staff asked.
"Order all ships with rail guns and missiles to target the solar farms in the inner star system, also, their yard, fuel storage, and all infrastructure. It's a fire sale as a human would say. Everything goes." She tapped out a rough fire plan, circling everything in the inner star system. The range was too long for most missiles; they'd have to go ballistic for a good part of the journey just like the rail gun rounds.
That was fine. She needed the enemy to be thinking about something other than her. Besides, she wanted a little revenge.
"Ma'am? We're not going to try to take the real estate as ordered? For a forward base?"
"No. We're going to burn it to the ground. At the least, we'll force them on the horns of the same dilemma we're facing—to attack or defend."
Her chief of staff signaled first-degree agreement. "Aye aye, ma’am."
~~~^~~~
Admiral Einezberg noted the return fire. It didn't take a genius to see where it was aimed. It was something she'd considered but had put aside since there was nothing she could do to prevent it.
Now she had to curse. Apparently, the Feds were not as squeamish as she'd thought.
“Comm, pass on a warning. Have tugs move the carrier forts.”
“They are jinking now, but they are boxed, ma'am. The range is too short,” her TAO warned.
“Then tell them to evacuate. We'll stage their craft off the carriers. Warn our ships to jink in random evasive patterns as well.”
“Aye aye, ma’am,” the TAO stated.
~~~^~~~
Captain Ozman received the warning but threw her hands up in the air in disgust. "What the hell am I supposed to do? She's got all my tugs with the damn carrier fortresses!" She swore viciously and then passed on what orders she could. “Evacuate! Save what you can but get the hell out of here!” she snarled.
As she watched, tiny-suited personnel fled the facility or tried to push the trapped ships out of the slips. One or two shuttles lent their efforts, but she judged it futile. She turned and watched as the distant facilities were struck by missiles and rail gun rounds. “Get the hell out of there!” she roared over the radio as the enemy fire marched its way across the Lagrange point striking everything in its path.
~~~^~~~
Glennis saw the wanton destruction rampaging through the inner star system. She fumed over it as she watched the pinpricks of silent distant explosions. “Such a waste,” she muttered.
Her shuttle was running to the jump point. She had a yacht there, a former courier she had preempted for her own use to return her to the empire.
~~~^~~~
As Agnes watched through the shuttle window, she noted the destruction. The rail gun rounds hit with enough force that it was like a nuclear strike. Objects moving at fractions of C tended to do that when they hit another object, her mind noted numbly.
It started with a series of early explosions and then just a sweeping broom of fire and destruction that swept everything away in its path. Nothing could stop it. Nothing was spared. She saw ships trying desperately to claw their way free even though they were opened up and half rebuilt get hit and torn apart.
She wanted to close her eyes and weep but couldn't. The Federation's wrath was a terrible thing, one made real.
~~~^~~~
The prowler crew watched the destruction rampaging through the inner star system. It was a sobering sight. Captain Fen shook her head. “Damn! Remind me to never get that bug lady pissed at me!”
“Aye aye, ma’am,” the engineering rating said fervently.
“Sensors, get a feed on the destruction and get our point of view and analysis back to the fleet so they can refine their shot if they intend a follow-up,” the captain said crisply. “Make sure you record this. I bet the people back home will love to see some payback being delivered.”
~~~^~~~
Commodore Binks winced as the return fire got through to more of his ships. Two more Nelsons and three Fletchers were destroyed in eye-searing blinks. Four other Fletchers and one Arboth were crippled. But, they had served their purpose. The attack on the fleet train withered and died as the remaining platforms were destroyed.
Now they just had to contend with the cruisers trying to flank them he thought.
~~~^~~~
Rita grimaced at the destruction of the two carrier forts and most of the remaining platforms. “Ma'am, cyber-attack!” a rating reported.
“Go to cyber warfare protocols!” she called out. “Sever the network. Go to laser to direct line of sight ships only!”
~~~^~~~
Return fire from the cruisers and destroyers running down TF 3.2 caught two of the carriers in a box. Their escorts were destroyed trying to protect them and then it was the carrier's turn. The Federation CLV Courageous took hit after hit before she succumbed and exploded.
“Well, that solves one problem,” Ensign Trupath said almost whimsically as they watched the ships being torn apart.
“What?”
“Two ships with the same name. Her and the Horathian CFV. Now we're back to one.”
“Are you fracking serious?” Captain Purple Thorn asked in disbelief. “Thousands of people just died and that is what you say?”
“Sorry, ma'am. Just looking for any pot at the end of a particularly nasty rainbow. Any survivors?”
“It doesn't look good,” CIC reported.
“Damn.”
“When this is over, you and I are going to have a chat about your sense of humor, Ensign,” the captain muttered as she returned her attention to the other carriers. Two more escorting destroyers succumbed to damage and then three carriers went up almost as one. She closed her eyes in pain. At least their craft was off of them.
~~~^~~~
Commander Silverfish heard the report about the carriers, but he was too busy dealing with damage on his own ship to be bothered at the moment. Enterprise had taken another series of hits, battering her shields down and damaging a nacelle. Engineering was on the damage, but it was affecting ship's systems across the board as well as the helm. Worse, the skipper had sustained a head and neck injury, so he was in charge until sickbay cleared him.
At least their jerky helm was ke
eping things random he thought as he dived into the ship's problems.
~~~^~~~
“Shit,” the Veraxin admiral heard being repeated over and over on her flag bridge. “As you were,” she finally said, cutting off another round. She had just lost a third of her carriers before the enemy had gotten into beam or missile range. Today was not a good day for a battle.
“Anything on the cyber-attack?”
“The prowler has reported infiltrating satellites and civilian platforms, but the military platforms cut us out.”
“So, that's a no? Nothing we can use?” she demanded.
“No, ma’am.”
“I thought so. I knew it was a waste of time,” she said.
“To be fair it has cut down their coordination, ma'am. When we launched the cyber-attack, they were forced to cut their broadband network and go to whisker lasers. It's cut their fire control by over 40 percent,” T'rll reported. “So, there is that.”
“Whatever,” the admiral muttered, still clearly not convinced.
~~~^~~~
The fighter furball began at range as both sides fired off volleys of missiles. The Horathian fighter missiles had trouble maintaining lock at range, however; over half were spoofed by ECM and decoys before they halved the distance between the rapidly closing groups.
The Federation lead interceptors had fired a mix of ordinance. A third of the missiles were defensive missiles, designed to spray decoys, chaff, and flares in the faces of the incoming enemy fire. When they went off, the majority of the enemy missiles lost lock and went after them.
On paper the two forces were almost evenly matched. The Horathians had nearly 1,600 fighters to the Federation’s 1,100 since Admiral V'r'z'll had kept some craft back to cover her ships and others as a reserve. Over three hundred of the ships were bombers not fighters at all though. Another two hundred enemy fighters were in tight to their carrier line acting as a final layer of defense.
But, all that was on paper, Commander Ferani thought as he heard the steady tone of a lock and squeezed the pickle button on his joystick to fire off another missile. “Fox one!” he called out as data flashed from his fighter into the missile and then air rams kicked the missile clear of his ships. Once it was clear, the engine lit off and engaged in a burn towards the target.
He'd deliberately fired the outboard weapons first to make his craft easier to maneuver. He had a single fuel pod and two more missiles on his centerline. He kept the missiles in reserve as he picked out a target. “Pick your dance partners and mix it up people! Keep them off the bombers!” he barked as he tried to line up a shot with his nose gun.
~~~^~~~
Rita scowled blackly as she saw the carnage in the fighter furball. The enemy bombers were maneuvering around it in two waves. Her fighters were exploding, not in ones or twos but in droves. The Raptors could keep up with the enemy ships with maneuvers, but they lacked shields and the fine coordination the enemy seemed to enjoy. It was clear almost instantly that her people were outclassed as well as outgunned.
“I don't think this is quite how we envisioned this to go,” she heard someone mutter.
“No, you think?” she asked sarcastically and loud enough to make the miscreant shut up. “Sound the recall. Get our people out of there. There is nothing they can do,” she ground out.
“Ma'am, they are too engaged to pull out easily,” her TAO warned.
“Then order the ships to fire into that mess with long-range missiles and any rail guns we've got left. That should force them apart,” she growled.
~~~^~~~
When Admiral V'r'z'll received the full report of her losses, she felt like her entire world had been turned upside down. Shokaku and Courageous had been lost as well as two of her CEVs. Akagi was damaged. She'd lost an entire wing on one of the lost carriers. The enemy cruisers were still coming on to her fleet train and the fleet train's escorts were struggling to fend them off. One eyestalk swiveled to the image of the battle. She silently watched the enemy fire into the furball, heedless of their own ships. One of the bomber squadrons got caught by a volley of rail gun rounds with no place to go. All eight ships sparked and died in the void. “No, this is no good. We need to recover the small craft and regroup.”
“Ma'am?”
“Withdraw. Order our remaining craft to regroup. Signal the fleet train to jump to Bf994. We'll pull out as well and follow them.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Pulling the fleet train will give their cruisers one less target, ma'am,” her chief of staff warned. “They'll turn on us.”
“The we'd better be quick about getting those fighters onboard,” she stated.
~~~^~~~
Rita was exhausted after hours of being on the flag bridge and the sudden cessation of hostilities came as something of a shock. For whatever reason, the enemy was breaking off, even the bombers that were about to hit her inner line of interceptors had changed course and broken away.
The plot suddenly changed as not one but all of the enemy's fleet train suddenly winked out into presumably a jump into hyperspace. The enemy's carriers and escorts turned away, clawing for deep space to get free of her cruisers.
“Is it over? Or is this just a breather?” a rating murmured.
“Don't jinx it. Whatever it is, I'm grateful,” another voice said hoarsely.
She could only agree. But a part of her wondered about it, why, and what was left. As a couple of people whispered about a victory, she looked to the inner star system and the ashes there. That sight alone made her feel like it was anything but a victory.
~~~^~~~
Admiral V'r'z'll felt like hell as she was forced to withdraw back the way she had come. No, she felt humiliated; all of the deaths and losses had been for nothing. But she had to force herself to cut her losses before they became worse.
She could go back in, a small corner of her mind said. Pick the enemy cruisers and attrition them. Keep clear of the fighters and just keep pounding the enemy's lighter units until they broke. But no, she was committed to withdrawing with what she had left.
Tomorrow was another day. Besides, she hadn't left a lot behind her for the enemy to use to rebuild.
~~~^~~~
“What, wait, she's leaving? Just like that? I mean, she can't regroup and go back in? She's still got the numbers, right?” Darion demanded. Just about everyone had pulled double shifts to keep an eye on things. Gaspy had tried to infiltrate the enemy's military network but had failed. Their attempts had been noticed, though the enemy hadn't sent ships to run them down.
At the time, they hadn't had any to spare. Now was a different story the captain mused.
“She doesn't have the will. She wants to regroup in a safe place.”
“So, what about us, ma'am?” Bonny asked.
“We did our job. Now we pull out for Second Fleet with the data we've got and let them know. TF3.2 might have lost both of their ansible transports, so it might be up to us to get the data home. Let's not blow it.”
“Aye aye, ma’am. Setting a course for the Dead Drop jump point area,” Darion said.
“Let's stick to the scenic route and get as much data as we can while we're at it,” the captain stated.
Darion looked over his shoulder to her and then nodded. “Aye aye, ma’am.”
~~~^~~~
Glennis heard the report that the battle was over as she boarded the yacht. The captain helped her over the threshold and then released her hand. “Ma'am, do you want us to bring you back to the inner star system?”
“No. There is nothing left for me here. Bring me home. Take me to Horath,” she ordered.
He stared at her, clearly aghast at the idea but then nodded when her expression turned grave. “Very well, ma'am,” the captain replied with a nod.
~~~^~~~
Agnes was trying to deal with the damage, well beyond the point of exhaustion and punch drunk but still on her feet and trying to do something. She received the report of the yacht's departu
re with mixed feelings. When prodded she just shrugged it off. “We'll soldier on as we always do. At least she's not breathing down our neck and screaming at us,” she said almost whimsically as she handed the tablet back and then inquired about the SAR efforts around the remains of the yard.
Chapter 29
Antigua
Latimer house
Prince Mason Ramichov made the rounds and then checked on his latest interest, poker. There were several tables set up in areas the prisoners thought were clear of observation. It was a good way to relax and unwind.
He tried to keep himself engaged in some way, to get to know the people but maintain his rank and be aloof when he needed to be. It wasn't easy, many invited casual socialization, something his grandmother would have frowned upon.
He was fairly certain that she would have been amused by the poker. At least it was a harmless past time. He was rather careful, never betting more than he thought he should. He knew a few people were getting carried away however. Since the alcohol was provided, some were getting drunk and a little crazy with the bets. He'd heard some even bet and lose entire planets. That had been a part of the allure, to win such crazy stakes.
Or see someone else lose them and go down in flames. He shook his head at the thought.
Well, it beat watching the waves or the TV he thought, noting the storms lashing the building's exterior.
~~~^~~~
Latimer Monitoring Facility
“So, how is it going?” Captain JG Jenna Lake asked as she came into the dimly lit room. Lieutenant Commander Tao Ling had just gone off shift and she'd missed him by a few minutes. She wished him the best of luck getting home, the commute was murder in the storms. He would be better off just hunkering down in one of the guest rooms of the command facility.