Space Carrier Avalon
Page 35
“Enemy is bringing up active sensors,” the sensor officer reported. The fleet was already launching recon drones towards the enemy, giving their crews additional sensor platforms to parse out the Hegemony’s defences. “I’m picking up energy signatures from their weapons and targeting systems. They’re flash-waking their defences.”
Tobias nodded. That wasn't unexpected. Even with their power plants stepped down, starships maintained at least one shield generator ready to shield the hull at all times, another gift from the Association. Space wasn't empty and even a tiny piece of junk could damage an unprotected hull. But how quickly could they bring their ships to full alert? ONI hadn't been able to give him anything other than informed guesses, ranging from five minutes to an hour. It depended on just how carefully the Hegemony maintained their ships.
No military force could remain on alert forever, whatever the politicians and armchair generals might think. Tobias knew that standing guard for day after day could induce a lethargy into the system, no matter what senior officers said or did. It was why sentries were regularly rotated on and off guard positions. The Hegemony had known that humanity didn't dare attack them. Was it too much to hope that they’d allowed their ships to slip into disrepair, their crews into idleness? They didn't dare assume the best.
“General signal to all ships,” he ordered. “They are to open fire with phase cannon as soon as we enter range.”
The distance between the two fleets closed with staggering speed. Humanity might not have been able to build superdreadnoughts – at least not yet – but the Admiral-class cruisers compensated by being faster than any other ship in space, as well as packing enough advanced weapons to make them a match for anyone else’s battlecruisers. It would take the Hegemony months, at least, to duplicate the weapons, assuming they figured out the basic principles or paid someone else to do it. But most of them were nothing more than variants on technology the Galactics had possessed longer than humanity had had fire. They’d probably deduce what humanity had done as soon as they saw the weapons in action.
Signals flashed between the ships, designating targets. The Hegemony kept its ships on a tight leash, with one flagship and little room for independent action on the part of subordinate commanders. They hadn't realised – at least not yet – that the sheer volume of signals from the flagship made it easy to identify. And once it was taken out – crippled or destroyed – it would be impossible for them to re-establish their command network. None of the junior commanders would have the authority to take command.
“Entering range,” Commander Jackson said, quietly. “Phase cannon online… and firing.”
Phase cannon were relatively simple weapons, designed by the Association and copied by all of the Galactics. They fired a phased beam of immensely destructive energy towards their targets, burning through iron or steel as if they were made of paper. Humanity had improved the weapons considerably, both enhancing their power and adding a second refinement. The simulations claimed that the second refinement would be a total surprise to the Galactics, but there was no way to know until now. Tobias leaned forward as the fleet opened fire, bright red beams of light lancing towards their targets.
Brilliant spheres appeared around the superdreadnoughts as the phase cannon hit the shields, which started to deflect the energy away from the ships. Normally, shields would have to be battered down before the cannon could start cutting into the hull, giving the Galactics time to respond to the attack. Now… the phase cannon started rotating their modulation, hunting for the frequency that would allow them to penetrate the shields instantly. The Galactics had to leave one frequency open or they wouldn’t be able to return fire. As he watched, several of the beams lanced through the shields and dug into enemy hulls. The fleet’s electronic servants, acting quicker than any human mind could follow, swiftly updated the other phase cannon, switching them to the correct frequency. Superdreadnoughts staggered as the powerful beams started to burn through their hulls. The hulls were tough, made from a synthetic compound developed by the Association, but not tough enough to stand up to phase cannon for long.
“Enemy is returning fire,” Commander Jackson reported. The Hegemony ships had started to fire back frantically, many of their shots going wild. Their targeting systems were having problems with so many of their sensor blisters – exposed on their hulls – wiped out by human weapons. “They’re trying to lock onto us.”
“Evasive action,” Captain Rupert ordered. Phase cannon were light-speed weapons. There would be no telling that they were under attack until the blast struck them. Nimitz and her sisters had far more powerful shields than anything else their size, but they didn't have the strength to stand up to a battering match at close range. “Continue firing.”
The fleet passed through the Hegemony formation, still firing, and spun around to reengage the enemy. Lumbering superdreadnoughts couldn't hope to match their speed and manoeuvrability. Sensors reported that all of the superdreadnoughts had been damaged, but none of their more important systems – their drives, power plants and command stations – had been destroyed. They were buried deep within the hull, heavily protected. Taking them out would be harder than merely scarring their hulls. Smaller Hegemony ships were taking up position around the superdreadnoughts, trying to shield their tougher consorts. They might even succeed if they were allowed time to prepare for the next attack run.
“Lock antimatter torpedoes on target,” he ordered. “Fire at will.”
Nimitz shuddered as she unleashed a spread of antimatter torpedoes towards the enemy ships, each one powerful enough to wreck a planetary ecosystem if they detonated on the surface. The Association had devised a cheap method of producing antimatter centuries ago, but they’d always been reluctant to make full use of the incredibly dangerous substance. A single glitch in an antimatter containment pod and there would be a colossal explosion. Indeed, the Association Navy had forbidden their ships to carry antimatter warheads in peacetime, fearing the consequences of a single malfunction. The Hegemony – and humanity – had no such qualms. Antimatter was so powerful that it had to be used in war.
Humanity had modified the standard torpedo casings with better drives and devised a way to compress more antimatter into a warhead. The Hegemony was about to find out that humanity’s torpedoes were far more destructive than anything the Association had ever built – and faster too, harder to intercept. But the Federation Navy hadn't had it all its own way. The cruisers couldn't carry more than a hundred torpedoes apiece – and when they expended their entire load, there would be no more until they could rearm. Each of the superdreadnoughts carried more torpedoes than Tobias’s entire squadron.
“Hegemony attempting to target the torpedoes,” Commander Jackson said. “Their point defence is having problems locking onto the weapons.”
Tobias smiled as the first torpedoes struck home. Unlike the phase cannon, torpedoes couldn't slip through defence shields as if they weren't there, but they were so powerful that it hardly mattered. Even fratricide wasn't a problem when each detonation only added more force to the explosion. The blasts were so powerful that they blinded some of the recon drones the squadron had launched the moment it emerged from quantum space. For the Hegemony crews, it had to seem like the gates of Hell had opened up in front of them.
A superdreadnought fell out of line and staggered away, bleeding plasma from a dozen open wounds. The crews were already trying to escape – the sensors were picking up hundreds of lifepods blasting free of the doomed ship – even though the Hegemony expected their crews to fight to the death. It was a mystery why they’d even bothered to install lifepods in the first place. Another superdreadnought, heavily damaged, was somehow still firing at the oncoming human ships. The remaining three were less damaged, their shields having held against most of the blast. They seemed stunned, even as the human cruisers fell on them like wolves on a flock of sheep.
They’d learned from the last pass, Tobias realised as the two fleets ca
me together once again. Their weapons fire was more targeted, moving rapidly from target to target, their computers trying to predict the random jinks used by human ships to evade incoming fire. Nimitz shuddered again as a phase cannon burst struck her forward shields, only to be repelled and evaded as the helmsman threw her into a tight turn. Her weapons were still firing, raking into her target’s hull whenever the phase cannon matched the enemy’s shield modulation. Someone on the other side had a brain, Tobias realised. He – more likely she – had been smart enough to start rotating their shields as soon as the first bursts of human fire slipped through their shields and into their hulls. It hampered their ability to return fire – they'd have to keep altering their weapons to match the shield frequencies – but it might keep them alive.
The 2nd Cruiser Squadron swooped down on its target, one of the intact superdreadnoughts. It looked as if the enemy formation was falling apart, although it was impossible to be sure. The enemy flagship hadn’t been badly damaged, which suggested that their commander was trying to adapt to a situation she would have considered impossible. Tobias barked orders and the 1st Cruiser Squadron reformed and headed towards the enemy flagship. Once she’d been taken out, it was possible that the enemy would surrender. Intact superdreadnoughts would teach Earth’s engineers a great deal about the Hegemony’s fleet – and rescuing survivors would look good in front of the other Galactics. It would…
“Admiral,” Jackson said, “Tirpitz…”
Tobias looked – and swore. Tirpitz had one of the more aggressive commanders in the Federation Navy… and he’d taken her too close to the superdreadnought, which had lashed out hard enough to punch through the cruiser’s shields and destroy one of her drive nacelles. Unable to adapt in time to change course, the cruiser spun out of control and slammed into the superdreadnought it had been targeting…
…And both ships vanished in a ball of fire.
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Contents
SPACE CARRIER AVALON
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44