Last Measure of Devotion (TCOTU, Book 5) (This Corner of the Universe)

by Britt Ringel

  He pushed the disheartening thoughts from his mind. For better or worse, Wallace’s stunts in the trial passes and his maneuvers in the current run were playing into both parties’ hands. Wallace’s fleet was going to pummel Seshafi’s tiny vanguard but, in return, Tannault’s own main would wreak havoc upon the isolated and poorly positioned Saden rearguard. Captain Heskan seemed to be at peace with the impending carnage. His last order freed the main to maneuver as Commander Vernay best saw fit to ravage the trailing Saden section. As it was now, they were nearly perfectly positioned, slicing in with a slight speed advantage and an envious angle against the neglected Saden ships, floundering to starboard. We’re going to slash into them and cut them up, he thought darkly. All Commander Vernay needed to do was maintain course and make the subtle adjustments necessary to obtain raking fire against the first two ships of the Saden rear.

  An apprehensive voice crackled over the main’s comm channel. “All ships in the section will increase speed to point two-two-C, maximum thrust.”

  Tannault jerked back, reacting to the outlandish order as if physically struck. After a moment of disbelief, he demanded, “Play that again, Tricia.”

  Commander Vernay’s voice repeated itself in identical, strained fashion. “All ships in the section will increase speed to point two-two-C, maximum thrust.”

  Tannault quickly projected the results of the orders on his chair arm console. To his left, he heard his first officer whisper incredulity.

  He wanted to join the crude expression of revulsion. Vernay was ordering each ship in the section to race ahead, silent on the differences in acceleration capabilities among her charges. The projected maneuver played rapidly over his console screen, revealing that the section would race well ahead, and out of weapons range, of the Saden rearguard only to clip the edge of the enemy main. We’ll only get a couple shots at them, even if she orders us up into the Z axis. I’m obviously missing something…

  “Follow the orders,” he spat with skeptical disgust. “Maximum thrust to point two-two-C.” Already, half of the ships in the main were accelerating while the other half wallowed in confusion. Ahead of Falcon, Vernay’s Ajax was already blazing forward, apathetic to the chaos in her wake. The ships in the section stretched grotesquely apart as seconds ticked by. This is disgraceful. Tannault’s hand hovered over his communications console but wavered. He mustered every ounce of professionalism to resist the urge to use the controls.

  The discipline instilled in him over a fourteen-year career won out. Lieutenant Clayton Covington’s did not. Tannault listened, enraptured by the exchange over the command channel.

  “Commander Vernay… Ma’am, what are we doing?”

  “Get your brig moving, mister!” came the urgent reply. “All ships in the main, rotate up twenty degrees for positive Z, continue acceleration.”

  Covington was mystified. “Captain, we’re missing our target. We’ll pass well ahead of them now.”

  “Our targets are the ships in the Saden main. We’ll get some shots at those snows, Cassette and Cartridge, and we might just draw that section’s fire away from our van. Move your damned ship, Clayton!”

  Tannault studied the tactical plot. What Vernay suggested was possible, depending upon how much speed the ships in their section could pile on. He felt himself frown as he brought up the specifications of the new targets, two Munition-class snows. His frown deepened as he weighed Vernay’s actions. She had traded potentially crippling salvoes against a Saden third-rate and brig for grazing fire against two insignificant ships.

  “Aye, aye, ma’am. Covington out.”

  Hawk’s vector line expanded rapidly as Covington’s brig came under belated full power. Already, Tannault noted, the three ships from the Iron Brigade were passing that brig as the formation’s integrity continued to disintegrate. The orderly section had distorted into a mob. Tannault felt heat in his cheeks as the spectacle of his section brought both embarrassment and fury.

  * * *

  Three Javelin-IX missiles perished inside of 3ls from Dioscuri. The withering fire from her five GP laser turrets had swept the first enemy salvo cleanly from space. Heskan noticed that Lieutenant Gentry allocated the two, forward-most dual GP laser turrets toward one of the missiles, the two aft-most turrets to a second and left Gunnersmate Third Class Lee Thomas to handle the third missile single-handedly. Gentry’s target distribution had proven wise and now Dioscuri would have a twenty-four second reprieve as she waited for the second volley from Sade’s Courageux to enter the 5ls point defense envelope. Dioscuri and her sister-ships were still over 33ls from the Saden vanguard but closing at a combined .28c.

  Gentry’s voice was thick with nervous anticipation. “One hundred seconds until heavy laser range, Captain.” She double-checked her console and stated, “The Maclexes should be unmasked before we enter their range.”

  Heskan nodded but kept his focus committed to the tactical plot. Although the enemy van would pass well within directed-energy weapons range, his gamble to dive his ships away from the oncoming sections seemed destined to give the Saden main nothing more than missile and distant heavy laser shots. Wallace would not have time to react and counter-maneuver. All three Saden sections were now locked on their present course in order to give individual ships time to orient their best broadside to the enemy. The three different classes of snows in Heskan’s vanguard were similarly thrusting into unique headings to profile toward the enemy based upon their individual armaments.

  The minor, last-second victory in maneuvers was a minor comfort to Heskan. His own section was facing two-to-one odds against the opposing vanguard and the Saden main would still contribute some fire as well. Just having Formidable from Sade’s main launching her missiles at us is bad enough. Every missile directed at us is one less GP we use against the enemy.

  Cottineau huffed as the tactical plot pulsed briefly, nullifying their first volley of missiles directed toward Courageux. There was little time for further remorse as the second wave of enemy Javelin-IXs entered Dioscuri’s point defense umbrella.

  As with the first wave, the final Saden missile was intercepted a comfortable 3ls ahead of them. Given the longer reload sequence of the launchers and the relatively slow speed of the missiles, it seemed to Heskan that corporate missile warfare was more a nuisance than threatening. Anelace faced almost as many missiles but had less than half of Dioscuri’s lasers and even she mostly protected herself, Heskan reflected. He snorted lightly as he recalled the tens of thousands of missiles defeated during his career as an escort captain.

  As if reading Heskan’s mind, Cottineau questioned, “Captain, should we risk assigning just one GP turret for the remaining missile waves and use the leftover to augment our fire at Courageux?”

  “I like your aggressiveness but our job is just to survive this pass intact. I already jeopardized that by trying to get too clever early on and I’m not pushing things further.” He glanced toward his WEPS officer. “Peyton, maintain full point defense through the entire pass. The twin Maclexes will do enough talking for us.”

  Both Gentry and Cottineau nodded acceptance but the first officer shifted against his shocksuit restraints toward Heskan and whispered, “You’re right, of course. It’s easy to get overconfident when sitting inside a ship as massive as Dioscuri. Add the fact that everyone knows what you accomplished on Elathra and I think most of our crew believes we’re invulnerable.”

  Heskan looked nervously between Cottineau and the tactical plot. The Saden vanguard commander had apparently accepted his section’s present position while the main began to rotate downward in a vain attempt to lessen the distance to Dioscuri. Sixteen ships were focused on Heskan’s meager, four-ship section. “We’re about to put that theory to the test, Mike.”

  Semi-translucent symbols representing Courageux’s latest missile trio flared into existence on the tactical plot. Although not visually verified, the salvo predicted by Gentry’s weapons section was a near certainty. This was the
opposing fourth-rate’s fourth salvo of Javelins. Given her launcher’s recycle time, she would have but one, final opportunity to fire again at the estimated range of 6ls. After that final trio was loosed, the aging line ship would be unable to reload in time before Dioscuri sailed past her. Firing missiles at a withdrawing enemy after a completed battle pass would be a major infraction of corporate rules designed to yield decisive combat results but with minimal loss of life and property.

  Dioscuri launched her own quartet of missiles in response to Courageux. Heskan held little hope they would find their target but each missile streaking toward Courageux was a distraction that would soak up fire otherwise meant for his van. Like the Saden line ship, Dioscuri would have but one more volley to send toward the enemy.

  “Third wave entering PD envelope now,” Gentry announced with equal parts excitement and fear.

  All but a single bridge officer simultaneously rocked forward with anticipation against their seat restraints as the tension spiked on the bridge. Only Heskan remained motionless, learning long ago to fight the urge to spectate during those brief, pivotal moments of point defense. Instead, he tried to calculate when he could order his section onto a new course without disturbing the final shots from Jinete, the trailing snow in his formation. Taking time lag and our separation into account, I can order our course change in… What the hell is our main doing?

  Heskan squinted at the tactical plot as Vernay’s section began to distort inexplicably. Ajax was shooting forward with half of the formation while other ships seemed to have missed the apparent order to increase speed. The line of ships stretched disturbingly apart. Even accelerating ships were slipping away from each other. No, they weren’t given a fleet speed change, it’s almost like they’re just running individually.

  To his left, Cottineau stuttered, “W-why are they doing that?”

  Heskan shook his head in exasperation. “Too late to find out now,” he glowered. “Let’s just work on surviving the next few minutes.”

  Chapter 9

  Both missile volleys from the opposing vanguards fell prey to defenders over the course of several seconds. Half a minute later, each line ship’s general purpose laser turrets once again reached out toward a new, fourth missile wave. Dioscuri’s initial bursts obliterated the three inbound missiles easily just as the range between combatants closed to 10ls.

  After waiting patiently inside their control compartments for nearly three minutes, teams on Dioscuri’s two heavy laser emplacements entered the fray. Charged energy speared forth from the twin lenses of each Maclex turret.

  On the bridge, Heskan watched an intense strobe of light flicker at Courageux’s beam. The burst of light painted itself over the fourth-rate’s shield in an awesome display of competing energy. Heskan felt his pulse quicken as he recognized the results of a near miss with a missile. That couldn’t have been better timing; our heavy laser shots are following right behind those Javelins, he thought optimistically.

  Several seconds later, Dioscuri’s own primary shield shuddered under the strain of return fire. Deep inside the second-rate’s hull, her Kennedy 400-Series shield generator struggled to meet the Saden rebuke with equal force designed to absorb and deflect the incoming heavy strike. Unlike its smaller cousin, the Advanced Integrated Protection Screen, or AIPS, which protected a ship in a continuous envelope, the Kennedy generator created a massive flat shield that provided excellent protection but only in a single direction. Large warships accommodated this flaw by simply placing multiple generators to create enough individual shields to provide complete coverage. Corporate warships, however, did not have the mass available to be afforded such luxury and hence, the delicate art of angle and position of a line ship’s main shield had been studied, debated and refined over the last century. Dioscuri’s precisely calculated heading and roll now angled her shield to best protect against the different attack planes of the Saden van and main. The result had the incoming fire striking the shield at a greater angle than was typical. The severe angle helped the shield deflect the hostile energy, rather than forcing the barrier to absorb it.

  Heskan’s only evidence of the successful defense against the Saden assault was the smooth, normal operation of his ship and his green-lit status console panel. He knew he was more passenger than captain at this point. Like all battles fought before his, these priceless moments were now in the hands of junior officers and enlisted sailors. Heskan tried to push the feeling of helplessness aside and worked toward maintaining the situational awareness that would help shape his future commands. Dioscuri trembled lightly as Heskan watched Courageux’s main shield flare brightly against Maclex fire.

  The slight jolt on the bridge caused Dioscuri’s navigation lieutenant to ask frantically, “Did they penetrate our shield?”

  “That was our last missile volley,” Gentry replied while curtly shaking her head. The knuckles on the woman’s hands were white. “We’re entering GP range now.”

  Dioscuri cracked the 5ls shell of her adversary a heartbeat later. General purpose lasers from both line ships continued to swat desperately at the last missiles remorselessly tracking them. Grips tightened further on targeting controls as the tension elevated. Each gunner knew that a miss against an incoming Javelin meant the subsequent laser burst would be “wasted” on the surviving missile rather than directed at the enemy now sailing inside their weapon’s range. The added pressure took its toll on the gunners. Between both ships, only Gunnersmate Thomas eliminated his target on the first attempt. However, Thomas ignored Courageux and, following his instinct, assisted his fellow gunners in Dioscuri’s final missile defense.

  Between the line ships, twenty individual GP lasers recycled in the span of two heartbeats. The final two Javelins spearing toward Dioscuri erupted into heat and light 2ls from the ship as the small lasers found their marks. Supplementing the GP defensive fusillade was the third burst from each Maclex turret. Heskan coolly observed the controlled chaos of the battle even as his flagship’s shield fought valiantly against the rush of energy lashing it from Courageux’s second heavy laser volley. Before Heskan could interpret the results of the latest incoming strike, each ship barked more GP fire.

  The two line ships sailed in graceful silence past each other at a range just fractionally over 4ls. Light laser fire directed at Dioscuri four seconds ago spanned the distance to punish her primary shield further. Eight discrete laser bursts struck, causing eruptions of light to splay over her protective barrier. As the shield struggled, each ship unleashed death a third time from their general purpose lasers just as the vessels reached the closest point of their approach. The Saden barrage was supplemented this time by the single, heavy laser turret on the brig, Excellence, sailing dutifully 5ls behind Courageux.

  Heskan monitored Dioscuri’s shield status with troubled eyes as his ship unleashed yet another volley of hate from its GP turrets. A moment later, he saw his shield display flashing an ominous red as heavy laser fire raked Dioscuri’s starboard beam for a third time.

  “Main shield failing, Captain,” Lieutenant Evelyn Freeman announced with a wince. Dioscuri’s SENS lieutenant followed up with an even sharper cringe, “Formidable is brushing against ten light-seconds.”

  Across the span of nearly three million kilometers, Admiral Lane’s flagship from the Saden main, Formidable, entered the heavy laser range threshold to Dioscuri. The twin turrets of her vessel, located on the mid-deck, adjusted their aim slightly and disgorged beams of hellfire toward the Seshafian invader.

  Closer to Heskan’s ship, the third GP volley fired from Courageux finished what it began thirty seconds ago as the remnants of Dioscuri’s abused main shield teetered and collapsed. Inside the bridge, alerts heralded Dioscuri’s vulnerability to its captain. All we’ve got now is the AIPS, Heskan thought grimly while quickly estimating the remaining time his ship would linger in the kill zone. He shuddered slightly at the answer. Our AIPS won’t be enough.

  The first physical blow against Dios
curi’s hull struck exactly three minutes and fifteen seconds into the contest. The rebuke came not from Courageux but from the single heavy laser volleyed from Excellence. Sade had installed Excellence’s Maclex turret, unusual armament for a mere brig, after the decommissioning of the corporate system’s first fourth-rate, Dauntless, nearly two decades ago. Rather than see the fearsome weapon sit idle in a repair yard, Sade’s fleet admiral lobbied for the heavy laser turret to be integrated into their newest, largest brig at the time. The wisdom of that decision manifested years later as charged energy struck Dioscuri’s thin AIPS screen and pierced it amidships. The screen absorbed nearly eighty percent of the beam’s energy before cutting out to avoid overload. The remaining twenty percent struck duralloy armor, which melted and calved grotesquely near the Number One missile port but otherwise protected the line ship’s interior. As if sensing Dioscuri’s exposure, the brigs Gyrfalcon and Superb took their own, ill-advised potshots at the Seshafian flagship despite the imposing distance between them.

  Dioscuri’s liquefied armor had yet to freeze in the cold of space when further GP laser fire from Courageux missed the retreating line ship by a scant 41,000 kilometers. After a heartbeat’s reprieve, a second GP salvo was issued from the trio of Saden brigs. Gyrfalcon and Superb held out little hope for hits, but Excellence, brushing inside of 5ls from Dioscuri, unleashed her entire arsenal with aplomb.