StarFight 3: Battlecry

by T. Jackson King

  “A valid point,” Jacob said, looking around the table. “Other views?”

  Joan shrugged her narrow shoulders. “Well, whatever you three do with your ships, the Aldertag is going to be in Kepler 10, reporting to the admiral. He needs to see the vidrecords of the battle we fought in Kepler 22, the dissection records of these seal people, the nature of their electric bolts as shown in their escape attempt, and hear the request of Hunter One.”

  Jacob sat back against his chair, his expression thoughtful. “But if we were to stay here and defend against these seals, what would our best tactical option be? Go inward and fight just above Food Enough, the way we did at Valhalla? Or fight them in the outer reaches of this system, as we did at Kepler 22 and 10?”

  Joan raised a wiry hand. “Sir, your three ships could repeat the admiral’s maneuver at Kepler 10. Stay here, face outward, and be ready to fire all lasers and energy beams the second their ships come out of Alcubierre space-time.” She grinned wolfishly. “We’ll have a few seconds warning of their arrival by graviton wave alert. And you will know when they depart for this system thanks to the spysat you left behind. It’s still operating. Its sensors will pick up the neutrino emissions of a fleet of ships heading outward to the magnetosphere of 22.” She slapped the table, the loud sound adding emphasis. “The Lepanto’s antimatter cannon could take out two or three ships. The Sea’s proton laser could zap one or two ships, assuming they arrive within 10,000 klicks. And the Chesapeake’s proton lasers could fire dual broadsides at the same time as her front CO2 lasers are firing at an oncoming target. All that could happen before the enemy fires off any antimatter balls, or fires their gamma ray lasers. Sir.”

  Jacob swallowed his ice tea, then set the empty glass down with a clink. His black eyebrows rose. “Very good points, Captain Sunderland. Anyone else?”

  Richard waved his hand. “Captain, my Marines could man our four Darts and put them out as part of our frontal alignment. The nose lasers on those babies are as strong as any ship laser. If the Darts combined their beams, they could take out a manta ray ship with each group of shots.”

  The man who had matured more rapidly than Richard had believed possible nodded slowly, his curly black hair shimmering in the yellow light of the room. “I like that. Also, the two Darts of the Chesapeake could do the same. And the three wasp fighting ships can add to our initial barrage with their lasers and lightning lasers. That would kill more manta ray ships. But.”

  “But what?” said Daisy.

  The man who officially led their fleet of four ships smiled slowly. “For myself, I am willing to fight any manta ray ships that show up. The smartest tactic would be to do as Sunderland has outlined. Killing your enemy before they know you are there is an ideal tactic.” The son of the admiral who was the top of their chain of command leaned forward, elbows planted on the table, strong hands lifted, one finger pointing as if to emphasize his words. “But if the seals arrive before wasp reinforcements come in, or the admiral’s fleet arrives, then I have a plan to avoid being overwhelmed by seal antimatter balls. Which is why I invited Chief Chang to this meeting.”

  Richard had wondered about that. He looked to his right. Billy Chang seemed surprised by the sudden mention of him.

  “Sir? I came because of your order. But this meeting is about space battle tactics, far as I can figure. Why am I here?”

  Jacob sat back, put hands in his lap and looked around the table, resembling a cat who had all the mice in her paws.

  “Because, Billy, your engines are a vital component to stage two of any battle we do out here,” Jacob said, his manner all too eager for Richard. “Say our three ships and the three wasp ships line up here in a front-line formation. Say we fire on the arriving manta ray ships. Say we destroy a lot of them. But if twenty ships come here, at least half will survive our beams. We will be sitting still as rocks. No way can we flash by them like we did in Kepler 22. Their antimatter balls would be among us. And we would not have enough missiles to collapse every ball.” The man paused, clearly enjoying the sense of having people eager to hear his next words. “But what if we do not stay here, stationary? What if our navigation person sends out a signal telling every ship to activate their Alcubierre stardrive engines? And what if all six ships jump over to another part of this system’s magnetosphere rim? Remember, we will be outside the mag sphere. So our stardrives can take us anywhere. Why not let them take us five AU away? Then, we head inward at one-tenth lightspeed and aim to intersect the manta ray ships as they head inward. We could do multiple slashing high speed attacks against a reduced enemy force.” Jacob looked around, then stopped. “Billy, can your Alcubierre stardrive engines do a rapid startup and transition us the hell away from here before enemy beams hit us?”

  Richard could hardly believe his ears. The maneuver proposed by the captain was something never done by any Star Navy ship or ships. The navy used the stardrive to jump from the outer edge of a star’s magnetosphere to the outer edge of another star’s magnetosphere. To move anywhere in that system, ships used fusion pulse thrusters that, at one-tenth lightspeed, would put any ship deep inside a group of planets within 40 hours or less.

  “Yes!” yelled Jefferson. “I love it!”

  Chang licked pale pink lips. The Chinese-American was slim, short, clean-shaven and half-bald under his brown officer’s cap. But he had been the Engines chief of the Lepanto ever since the ship left the Earth spacedocks. No one knew thrusters and stardrives better than him. The man smiled shyly.

  “Sir, yes, I can get the engines ready to create an Alcubierre space-time bubble within a minute of getting the order.” The pale-skinned man blinked. “And if I coordinate with the Engines chiefs on the Chesapeake and the Philippine Sea, we could all three jump to any spot around this star. And if you gave us a coordinate in advance, well, our nav chiefs could load that into the system. Our engines would them jump us there as soon as we initiated Alcubierre transition. Sir.”

  Across from him, Rebecca frowned. “Captain, I agree your lineup attack, followed by an Alcubierre jump sideways, would protect our ships from being easy targets. But the seals would see us coming on our intercept attacks. They would project our vector track and fire antimatter balls along that track. We could sustain damage, as happened when Aldertag lost her silo and her missiliers.”

  “So we could,” Jacob said, his tone somber. “But we take chances every time we enter Alcubierre, and every time we light up our thrusters. Containment fields could collapse. Reactors might fail. There are no guarantees in life, or in combat.” The man looked around. “However, it is my conclusion that staying out here, in a frontal attack lineup, ready to fire when the enemy arrives, then jumping to another part of the magnetosphere, is the best course of action. And if it takes the seals two weeks to come here, well, some new wasp fighting ships might arrive. And the admiral might arrive even sooner. From here, it’s just a few days transit time to Kepler 10.” He tapped his tablet. “Kenji, bring in the food cart.”

  “Coming, sir.”

  Jacob looked up, his gray eyes darting around the table. “Can I count on each of you?”

  “Yes sir,” called Alicia, her manner studious.

  “For sure!” yelled Jefferson.

  “Righto. Engines will perform as needed,” Billy said, sounding eager for the challenge.

  “The Chesapeake will fight alongside the Lepanto,” Rebecca said slowly, her manner reluctant. She looked to her left. “Captain Sunderland, please do your best to get the admiral here. If we are to survive the in-system battle run, we will need the Midway and other ships.”

  The occupier of Callisto and former defender of Valhalla fixed pale blue eyes on Rebecca. “Lieutenant Commander, you can count on me and on the entire crew of the Aldertag. We will alert the admiral to the seal aliens and the threat to Kepler 63.” The woman who was the oldest person in the room looked around, then fixed on Jacob. “Captain Renselaer, the Aldertag will return within a week, even if no other ships
join us. You will have us at your back in any battle.”

  “Thank you, captain,” Jacob said softly.

  “Finally,” Daisy muttered, looking around. The mixed-race woman’s face was darkly serious. “Duty finally lines up with ethics. Defending the defenseless and saving the lives of civilians is what I signed up for. Glad to see everyone here is willing to follow the path of ethics.”

  The room went silent.

  “Here’s the grub!” yelled Kenji as the slidedoor opened and he pushed in a food cart loaded with meats, salads, soups, bowls of fruit and veggies strange and normal.

  Richard told his gut to be still. Emitting hunger growls did not seem right at this moment. Instead, he gave Daisy a thumbs-up.

  “Right-o, fighting mistress!”

  She looked embarrassed. Jacob looked appreciative. Alicia smiled. Everyone else seemed to approve of his recognition of the Stewart woman’s hallway bravery. He cared not. What mattered now was a good meal, followed by a long sleep. Then he would start his troops on simulations of firing their Dart lasers once, then high-tailing it into the Lepanto’s hangars before the Battlestar vanished from space. It would be a tight job. But they could do it. Marines always managed to fight another day.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Jacob told himself to stop looking at the time-clock that glowed in the corner of the system graphic holo in front of him. The last time he’d looked it had read 10 days, seven hours and forty-four seconds since the fleet had arrived at the edge of Kepler 63. Sunderland and the Aldertag had returned three days ago, carrying word from the admiral that he would follow ASAP as soon as he set up a basic defense of Valhalla. Which word left Jacob wondering just what the man planned. His father had available to him one Battlestar, three cruisers, two destroyers and two frigates from his own fleet, plus the Hampton Roads, Tsushima Strait and Salamis from Jacob’s former fleet. Eleven ships. Those were enough to leave a frigate and a few destroyers guarding Valhalla, while bringing the rest here. Letting go his frustration, he felt glad for the presence of seven ships, even if three of them were wasp ships. If he had to face the manta ray ships with just seven combat craft, he would make do. And making do might become reality. Thirty-six hours ago Daisy had received neutrino vidcasts from the spysat which showed the seal fleet sweeping past the sat and heading for the Kepler 22 magnetosphere. The enemy could arrive within a few hours, or less. He looked down to where Daisy sat.

  “XO, are the new wasp missiles functioning properly?”

  She looked up, tiredness in her eyes. “Captain, they are following all signals from our Weapons Deck. We got forty. The other fleet ships got forty. And the wasps have eighty among their three ships. Sir.”

  Rather than ask another redundant question, he focused on the situational holo that hovered to his right.

  On it were seven green and blue dots, spaced across ten thousand kilometers. The Lepanto lay in the middle of the line, with Chesapeake off to her right. Beyond the cruiser lay Philippine Sea. Beyond the Sea was Aldertag. To the left of his Battlestar were the three wasp ships, led by Support Hunters 12, 15 and 17. Hunter Four, who ran the shipyard globe that orbited above Food Enough, had chosen to remain at his post, close to his fellow wasps. The globe had multiple lasers and lightning bolt emitters, with target reach out to eleven thousand klicks. It was a final line of defense against any thermonukes the seals might try to drop on the colony world. That was it. Seven ships and an orbital shipyard were the total defense assets for Food Enough. He did not count the blue neutrino glows of a few wasp cargo ships that roamed the asteroid belt, locating metal-rich rocks for null gee smelting. Where the hell was Hunter One! Hunter Four had said the nearest wasp colony lay just four days journey away. Going there and coming back would take eight days by way of Alcubierre. The giant wasp had been gone ten days. Damn him! Pushing the image of the wasp out of his mind, he scanned the Battlestar’s cross-section and sensor emission holos on his left. Nothing unusual showing. He looked up.

  The wallscreen was space black in the middle, with hundreds of unblinking stars scattered across it, their colors pale but distinct. Some O-class blue giants. Some A-class whites. Plenty of yellow-white F-class stars similar to the wasp home star. Scattered yellow and orange G and K-class stars. And piles of M-class red stars, though they were so faint they hardly stood out, even though reds were half the stars in the Milky Way. He would have enjoyed fitting constellation patterns to those stars if it were not for the fact that a deadly enemy was headed their way from the G-class star that was Kepler 22. He blinked, switching his attention. On the wallscreen’s left was a repeat of the system graphic with its planets and neutrino signature emissions. On the right was the situational holo with blue and green dots for his make-do fleet, with the top of that image being outward oriented, while below the line of dots were the system’s seven planets. Far, far away. He looked back. Lori and Carlos were both seated there, in case he needed exobiology or stellar location info. Like everyone on the Lepanto and the other ships, they wore vacsuits with helmets pushed back. Jacob faced forward. Time to prepare.

  “All ships, move to Alert Hostile Enemy.”

  Overhead the ceiling alert lights went to red blinking and a siren hooted three times. That was being repeated on the other Earth ships, with a wasp equivalent being done on their ships.

  Jacob reached up and pulled his helmet down over his head. It sealed with a snap-click. The vacsuit’s enviro controls started up with a blast of oxy-nitrogen. Telltale status lights appeared in a chin-up position just below his nose. His seat vibrated as automatic straps moved out and over his chest in an x-pattern. Pairs of straps went over his legs. The straps were a backup to the inertial damper field that covered the entire ship.

  “Crew, prepare for combat.” He looked to the right side of the Bridge. “Gravity! Any sign of a graviton surge yet?”

  “Not yet,” replied Cassandra from her station. “Sir, will advise when my sensor shows a surge.”

  He gave thanks for the Italian-American woman’s realization months ago that while it was impossible to track any ship moving in Alcubierre space-time since its graviton leakage would be swamped by the gravitons emitted by stars and distant galaxies, if you knew where an enemy ship might appear, you could record the normal graviton flux for that spot and then detect any increase as a graviton surge produced by the imminent arrival of an Alcubierre drive starship. Or starships. That deduction had proven itself in Kepler 22 when the combined fleets had first tried this ‘wait and pounce at the mag sphere edge’ tactic. They knew where the manta ray ships would appear, since it was identical to their arrival spot. It was the waiting that was a pain. Well, time to repeat the combat check he had done a half hour ago.

  “XO,” called Jacob. “Are the Weapons Deck and our weapons systems at Battle Condition One?”

  Daisy glanced at her ship deck layout holo, which hovered to the left of the holo that showed a true space image of stars ahead. “Captain, they are. Our antimatter cannon has a reservoir of eight shots.”

  “Good.” She sat back in her seat, accel straps moving with her.

  He looked ahead. “Weapons, advise Petty Officer Linkletter to move the first antimatter canister into the cannon.”

  The Brazilian reached out and tapped his control pillar. “Captain, directive sent,” Oliver said.

  “Fleet captain,” called Rebecca from the Chesapeake. “Shall I launch our two Darts? My Marines are eager to make a kill.”

  “Commander, launch your Darts.” Jacob looked down to where Richard sat. “Chief O’Connor, send off our four Darts. Have their pilots link up with our Tactical station. O’Hara will send them targeting coordinates once the enemy appears. And she’ll do the same for the other fleet ships.”

  The man gave a thumbs-up. “Captain, I’m repeating your orders over my helmet comlink. Every Marine is in linkage.” Jacob did not hear the man speaking to his Marines over his own helmet comlink since the Marines used a different comlink frequency fo
r their battle talk. “Sir, the Darts are launching. Their pilots will accept targeting data from Chief O’Hara. The Marines manning the lasers will fire upon word from their pilot, sir.”

  Jacob scanned the Bridge. Alicia sat to his lower right, Richard below him and Daisy to the lower left. Ahead, nine stations were manned. There were Maggie at Power, Rosemary at Tactical, Oliver at Weapons, Akira at Engines, Louise at Navigation, Andrew at Communications, Cassandra at Gravity, Joaquin at Life Support and Willard at Science. Plus Lori and Carlos to the rear. Fifteen people on the Bridge, counting himself. Were they all feeling as stressed as he was? As he had been ever since the spysat vidcast had arrived? There was no more guessing about whether the shark-heads would follow them to Kepler 63. That was an accomplished fact. A fact in the past. The present was getting busy. He looked up at the line of ship captain images that ran across the top of wallscreen. Rebecca, Joy and Joan were there. To the left of them were the three wasp Hunter captains. They were Support Hunters 12, 15 and 17.

  “Support Hunters, are you and your flying nests ready to bite with me when the larvae killers appear?”

  Hunter Twelve, the ship closest to his Battlestar, replied first.

  “Our fighting nest is eager to bite off the heads of the wet ones,” Twelve said over the pheromone signaler block that sat in front of the bench where once Hunter One had rested.

  “Our sky light and sky bolt weapons are eager to taste wet one flesh,” said Hunter Fifteen.

  Seventeen’s five black eyes were bright. “My Servants hunger for the death of wet ones,” the large wasp said.

  “Good. Now we must continue—”

  “Captain! Gravitons are surging!” yelled Cassandra, sounding surprised.