Steve figured two or three of his wings would score hits at the planned range. That would mean two or three kills if no shields. Julie started calling out the minutes left. Steve wanted an even distribution of fire and barked, "Check your targeting computers vs. the other ships--don't aim for the same target as anyone else."
In training, they synchronized their fire on a wing basis, with three Corvettes firing all their weapons at once at one target. Julie counted down the last minute then started counting down seconds from 15. At zero, she called out, "Mark!"
Creech shouted, "Fire!"
Energy streaks and bolts of light flashed across their view screens. Explosions followed. Three Dreadnaughts bled atmosphere and jets of fire. Steve smiled. Like taking candy from a baby, he thought.
Six-point-two seconds it took for a Corvette to fully recharge its energy weapons. Creech watched a counter on his display showing the time left in hundredths of a second. Enough time for those Dreadnaughts to raise shields. Creech ordered, "Synchronize fire with wing leaders! Wing leaders, spread your fire out."
Steve checked the targeting view. His pilot lined up another shot, and it looked good. As soon as the counter read zero, Steve shouted, "Fire!"
Light and energy flashed across their screens again but no secondary explosions. They either missed completely or only grazed its shields. The other wings had more luck and blasted two Dreadnaughts out of the sky. The mass of darkness that they could see, the Dreadnaughts with their cloaks, didn't move yet, and Creech figured they needed to get to battle stations before engaging their thrust.
Steve watched while his pilot tracked another Dreadnaught. His counter read zero, and he sniped, "Fire!"
Another miss, and the masses of black started to move, slowly at first, turning to face the oncoming Human fleet. Seven of the Dreadnaughts fired in the same instant, all targeting one Corvette. Steve glanced towards that ship. Its shields flashed brightly, but they held. Steve checked his console, seven percent shields left on that ship. The ship flew with wing D. Steve barked, "Wing D, evasive maneuvers!"
Steve's pilot lined up another shot, and the chief gunner took it. Their wing punched a hole in a Dreadnaught, a big hole. The other three wings fired and missed. This time four Dreadnaughts fired at the Corvette with low shields. The weapons cut into the hull. Atmosphere jetted out, and the ship blinked off Creech's tactical display.
The Dreadnaughts fully powered up and started to accelerate towards the Corvettes at max throttle. Steve's fleet still decelerated. He said, "All ships, coast in. Wings, line up your targets and take them down!"
The Attrition's chief gunner fired everything he had at the next enemy ship in the line. Blasts from all three ships ripped into a Dreadnaught, and explosions erupted from its hull. The other three wings missed. This bothered Creech. They did far better in the simulations. Five Dreadnaughts fired at once at one Corvette then five more in quick succession fired. They targeted Wing D, and both Corvette's shields held. Their shield strengths showed as 22% and 15%.
"Wing D," Steve said. "Get the hell out of here until those shields are back up!"
One of Steve's pre-programmed range counters showed close to zero. They would be in range to use their spray paint bombs shortly. Steve watched the counter reach zero and shouted, "Spray paint bombs away!"
The spray paint bombs were Fleet's best answer to the Dreadnaught's cloak technology, and they would be able to see their opponents shortly. Complete silence followed their launch, with everybody waiting. Steve whispered, "Hold your fire."
The paint bombs splashed paint across the hulls of the Dreadnaughts. Gunners immediately tracked them and fired. Only one Dreadnaught fell back from the others, crippled. The Corvettes fired another round and another, all misses. The Dreadnaughts targeted Wing C this time, five blasts at each Corvette. Their shields read 30%, 27%, and 23%. Creech said, "Wing C, evasive maneuvers, but stay on target. We need your firepower."
"Aye, Admiral," came the reply.
The wings fired again, and this time they destroyed a Dreadnaught. Steve spoke out-loud what he meant to just think, "Why are we missing so much?"
"I don't think we've been missing," Julie said as she punched away on a computer. "I'm looking at the computer scans of the hulls, and there's a slight variation in four of the Dreadnaughts we're facing. I think we're looking at an advanced ship of some kind…"
"Great. Mark those four ships in the computer as special. All wings, don't target the four Dreadnaughts marked as special!"
All three wings fired, and three Dreadnaughts spewed forth atmosphere and explosions. Steve glanced at Wing D's position and shields. They had about fifty percent shields. Steve said, "Wing D, we could use you!"
"We'll be right there, Admiral."
Steve looked at his range counter for effective use of their atomic missiles, with less than a minute left. The Corvettes fired again, taking out two Dreadnaughts. The Dreadnaughts fired in two sets of five, targeting Wing C again. One survived, the other jetted atmosphere and started to spin out of control.
Creech ordered, "Wing D join into Wing C."
The Corvettes fired again, taking out another Dreadnaught.
"Ready atomics," Steve said. "Launch four on my command, arm them on launch."
A gunner cried out, "On launch!"
"You heard me."
Steve selected three of the "special" Dreadnaughts as missile targets. Fifteen seconds left until missile range. Steve said, "All wings, after launch target the fourth Dreadnaught marked special."
The counter read zero and Steve shouted, "Launch!"
Gunners across the fleet of Corvettes radioed back, "Missiles away!"
Steve watched his tactical screen waiting for the gunners on the other two wings to be lined up with the fourth ship. They all showed green, and Steve said, "Fire!" The Corvette's fire lit up their screens. The Dreadnaught's shield held for most of the attack. Then it caved, and the weapons tore jagged rips in the ship's armor, but they couldn't see atmosphere jets, and the ship stayed on course.
The Dreadnaughts fired their missiles, and there were streaks of smoke coming from the enemy ships. Why they smoked, Fleet never figured out. Fleet painted theirs black as night. Steve selected three more Dreadnaughts as missile targets and called out, "All ships, ready two missiles, targets are online!"
The Corvettes only carried ten missiles. Steve shouted, "Launch!"
He heard back, "Missiles away!"
"All ships, target that last special Dreadnaught."
Each ship turned green on Steve's console, and he shouted, "Fire!"
This time the shield flashed for just an instant, and the bolts of light and energy cut holes in the Dreadnaught like Swiss cheese. Atmosphere and fire jetted from the hull, and it started to steer off course.
The first batch of atomics would reach their targets soon, and the anti-missile defenses cut them down one by one. The counter read thirty seconds to impact. Steve called out, "All wings, splinter! Reset anti-missile defense to small targets."
Each wing turned ninety degrees away from the enemy fleet in different directions and punched the throttle down all the way. The missiles turned into groups and steered towards the Corvette wings. The Human's anti-missile defense destroyed missile after missile. They watched as their barrage of missiles hit the special Dreadnaughts, three impacted the first one and turned its hull into molten slag. Two impacted the second Dreadnaught, and it spun out of control. The third ship went unscathed.
Two of the Lithor nukes made it through and impacted two Corvettes. They went dead on Creech's terminal. Steve called out, "Wing B and C reform into Wing B! Target their Dreadnaughts and engage. We'll save that special ship for last."
Steve looked to his terminal and counted six Dreadnaughts left, not counting the special ship. Then all seven enemy ships fired at one of the Corvettes in wing B, rending it in half. Their energy weapons charged, and the Humans fired in unison, destroying two Dreadnaughts. The Dreadnaughts l
aunched another barrage of missiles just before the Human's second batch hit.
A few of the Human's missiles got through and destroyed two more Dreadnaughts. The Human's missile defense activated again and started cutting down the incoming. Steve started to smile. We are going to win, he thought. He watched as his pilot lined up another shot, and his gunner took it, cooking another Dreadnaught. Wing B missed with their shot. Leaving only two enemy ships.
The Lithor missiles caught up to one of the Corvettes and killed it. Wing B had just two ships left. Creech ordered, "Wing B, reform with Wing A. Helm control to my station!"
The pilot said, "You have the helm, Admiral!"
Creech waited for the two other Corvettes to join his formation then steered the five of them directly at the last normal Dreadnaught and growled, "Fire!"
All five ships fired in unison at the Dreadnaught, cutting through its shields and hull. The special Dreadnaught fired on a Corvette, hitting its engineering section. The ship started to fall behind in the formation. Creech said, "Damage report!"
"We lost all of engineering, three engines knocked out!"
"Break off from the formation! Get away!"
"Yes, sir!"
Steve looked at the ship he faced, and it grew in the view screen. They'd be flying past it soon. Steve lined up the targeting sights again, and when the ships all showed green, he shouted, "Fire!"
The shields on the advanced Dreadnaught merely lit up, holding strong. Steve started shifting the wing left and right, trying to make it harder for them to be hit. The wing flew past the Dreadnaught, spun around, and started slowing down. The Dreadnaught fired again, cutting a Corvette into pieces. They heard screams over the radio and then silence. Steve looked at his console: three Corvettes left, twelve missiles between them, and they needed to save one missile for the planet. He called out, "Ready three atomics, arm at 2km range."
The computer showed the safe distance for using the missiles. Creech pointed the wing at the last Dreadnaught and said, "Launch!"
The energy weapons almost recharged. Steve waited then he started dodging the wing again, while staying on target with the gun sights. He called out, "Fire!"
The Dreadnaught's shields held. Creech pulled one last trick from up his sleeve. "All Ships, Engineering, give me emergency power to weapons!"
Three, "Aye, Aye!" followed.
Steve could count on three more shots, with a recharge rate of three seconds. The guns might fire a couple more times, but in simulations they melt together or fuse due to heat if repeatedly fired in emergency power mode. Steve counted up the three seconds and growled. "Fire!"
All three ships splashed their weapons against the shields of the Dreadnaught. It remained unscathed. The Dreadnaught fired just as Creech dodged the wing to the right, and the Lithors missed. Steve watched on his console as the last of his missile barrage blinked off the screen.
The weapons counter reached zero again, and Steve yelled, "Fire!"
The shields on the Dreadnaught held strong. Julie said, "Weapon's temperature above normal."
The counter read zero again and Steve said, "Fire!"
The shields seemed to have held, but Creech could swear he saw the last couple of blasts go past the shields and etch marks into the hull.
Julies said, "Weapon's temperature critical."
The three seconds counted down, and Steve said, "Fire!"
The shields held for a moment and then caved. The Corvettes' fire cut into the hull but no atmosphere jetted out and there were no secondary explosions. Julie called out, "Fleet wide battle report, minimum thirty-two percent weapons failure estimated."
The enemy ship fired again, and Steve dodged the wing just in time. Three seconds counted down, and Steve had the Dreadnaught in his sights, "Fire!"
Explosions ripped down the side of the Dreadnaught, and it veered off course spinning out of control. A cheer erupted in the Human ships. Creech's engineer popped up on his screen and said, "That's all she's got, Admiral. If you don't let the guns cool, we won't have anything left!"
Steve smiled. They won. Julie cut through the silence, "Over eighty percent weapons damage, Admiral. If another Dreadnaught shows up, we may not be able to defend ourselves."
"Engineering," Steve said. "See what you can do about repairing our weapons."
"Aye, Admiral," followed.
"Julie, prepare all the data we have on these new Dreadnaughts, and FTL it to Fleet."
"Aye, aye!"
Chapter 36
A.D. 2125
The tide turns…
The Lithor stopped sending fleets to their deaths against the combined firepower of the Humans and Kilken. A year passed, and the Lithor sued for peace, asking to be allowed to launch ships again, to send transports to and from their colonial worlds. The Humans still wanted their scientists back, and the Kilken saw no reason to grant them access to the stars, not with their laws and customs intact.
The CromSys slaver took the Humans to a planet 14,000 light years from the Lithor, Human, and Kilken home systems. They planned to relocate ten million of their best and brightest to it as an island of Lithor people in case the Humans and Kilken wiped them out. CromSys had survived numerous wars throughout history by sending ocean bound ships on long journeys. The Humans worked on Lithor vaccines for the native microorganisms and identified which native organisms would be poisonous to Lithor. They promised the Humans that they'd be returned to their own kind when they finished.
Fleet started watching closely for any signs of shipbuilding efforts, and they didn't see any. If anything, all the old shipyards seemed to be shut down. The Lithor developed a holographic shielding system that deceived Fleet's sensors and built new, larger shipyards. They also advanced their cloaking technology enough to blacken the sky around a ship. They invested a great deal of research into energy weapons and atomic missiles. They built their ship, and they named the hull Dreadnaught. They launched four on their new year's day. All four flew past the Human blockade without even a batted eye on the part of the Humans.
Five years passed since the Lithor launched a ship besides a Dreadnaught, and during that time, they fielded 20 of those. The head of CromSys opened an FTL communication to Fleet high command and petitioned for peace. "Please let us once again fly amongst the stars. Let us live in peace, all of us, Human, Kilken, and Lithor."
"Do you still have slavery on your planet?" The Fleet Admiral asked. "Is it still legal in your societies?"
"Yes. What should poor families do with the runts of their litters? Eat them?"
"They shouldn't be selling them. You need to figure out the rights that all sentient beings have. Then we'll consider restoring your access to the stars."
"So be it, Admiral."
The transmission ended. The Admiral paused in thought for a few moments then said, "Computer, open FTL channel with Primary Fleet."
The video screen lit up, and he saw the flagship's bridge and captain. "Raise your shields!" The Admiral shouted.
The 20 Dreadnaughts fired before the Human fleet could raise their shields and cut the flagship and four other cruisers into ribbons. The Admiral's view screen went to static, and he barked, "Computer, open FTL channel to secondary command deck, Primary Fleet."
Static filled his view screen. The Admiral said, "Computer, FTL channel to all ships in Primary Fleet."
Twenty-two miniature windows opened on his view screen, and the Admiral said, "Raise shields! Battle stations! Can anyone give me a report?"
One of the captains in the view screen looked into it and spoke, "I can, sir. We were attacked from all directions. Nothing shows on our sensors, nothing. Visual scans indicate little. We seem to be surrounded by dark clouds, and we're about to target one of the clouds and see what happens."
The Admiral said, "Fire… at… will…"
The ships in the Human fleet divided their firepower between dark clouds with the result being negligible. The captain that reported before said, "No effect, Admiral."
"Evasive maneuvers. Focus the entire fleet's firepower on one specific cloud this time."
Heads in the Admiral's view screen all nodded. The Dreadnaughts fired again, and seven of the Admiral's windows turned to static. Most of the Human ships hadn't reached battle stations yet, so they couldn't even dodge at full acceleration. Not without flinging people against walls and such.
The Admiral's computer knew to display a counter waiting for their weapons to recharge. It didn't however display when ships locked on target, due to their useless sensors. Still, the counter reached zero, and the Admiral said, "Fire!"
The Human fleet fired at a single dark cloud, but they noticed nothing for their effort. The Admiral sighed. He only thought of one order to give. "All ships, ignore battle stations. I repeat, ignore battle stations. Set escape vector and apply full acceleration. Outrun them. I repeat, ignore battle stations."
That would throw everybody not in their gel seats against the floors at five to seven gravities depending on the ship class. They could expect broken bones across the fleet. One by one, the Human ships plotted a course for home and punched their accelerators to max. The Dreadnaughts fired again. Four windows went to static this time. Eleven ships remained, and they all flew as fast as they could. One of the captains spoke up, "Admiral, they just launched some kind of fighter class vessel. They're coming at us at eight gravities--we can't outrun them."
"Get as far away from the cloaked ships as you can then engage those dogs!"
From that day those fighters were called Mongrels. The Dreadnaughts fired at the fleeing Human fleet, cutting down four more of them. Seven Human ships turned and faced 80 Mongrels. Streaks of smoke launched from the Mongrels as they fired their torpedoes. The Admiral growled, "Anti-missile defenses!"
Less than a second passed, and the Mongrels launched another volley of torpedoes. Small enough that the Human's anti-missile defense engaged extra computers on the network for processing power. The sheer number of torpedoes overwhelmed the anti-missile defense. The Lithor launched another volley. A Human ship blinked out on the Admiral's screen, then another and another. The Admiral looked down and said, "You die with honor…"
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