“And yet, it is still the best idea we have yet heard,” said a new voice. The speaker was Yuen Ziyi, the Chinese governor. “The Chinese administration will make available all long range transports and as many short range aircraft as we can spare. The Chinese people do not fear to use their legs.”
“I agree but with one addition. We need a single point of organisation for the lift,” Reynolds added. “Douglas base has the best communications package so seems the most logical choice.” There was general agreement around the table. “Since I am at present the Representative of the Fleet Governing Council on Landfall, I will be taking the plane out of New London to Douglas.”
Eulenburg groaned inwardly. The last thing he needed was a civilian like Reynolds looking over his shoulder. But that was a fight he’d lose, so he kept his opinion to himself and instead said: “your experience with the evacuation plans will make you useful to have here Governor.” Before he could say any more the intercom on his belt buzzed.
“Admiral, Captain Gillum here. We need you in Four C, right now.”
“Excuse me Representatives, please hold the connection,” Eulenburg said before hurrying out of the chamber.
As he entered Four C, he immediately saw the reason for the call. On the big holo showing the space around Landfall, a new blip had appeared.
“It came out right on the Red Line, sir,” Gillum said. “Friend or Foe is identifying it as the Myth class heavy cruiser Valkyrie. Only thing is, the engine profile we’re getting from the passives don’t match a Myth class.”
“Any communications?”
“No. We sent a challenge as soon as we saw them making real space re-entry but we haven’t had a response.”
Eulenburg gently bit his lower lip as he stared up at the holo, trying to decide the best course of action.
“That doesn’t look like an approach for orbital insertion,” he said eventually.
“If they don’t change their approach they aren’t going to get any closer than two hundred thousand kilometres from the planet,” Gillum agreed. “Right now, it looks like they’re planning a fly by.”
The approaching blip wasn’t the only one on the holo. There were just over a dozen ships in orbit, as well as the two docking stations for commercial traffic and the Hampton Roads orbital fortress. The effective range of cruiser scale plasma cannons was about a hundred and fifty thousand kilometres. The cruiser railguns had a shorter effective range, at least against mobile targets. Against something like a planet, that couldn’t take evasive action, the range was effectively limitless. Hampton Roads was shifting its orbit to get into position. It could probably destroy rounds aimed at priority targets, but against an indiscriminate spread some would be bound to get through.
“I need to see that ship Captain. Move an observation satellite into position. I need to be able to see it”
“Yes sir,” Gillum replied. “You don’t think she’s somehow been taken, do you sir?”
“I don’t know what to think Captain.”
“Admiral sir,” the speaker was a petty officer at the main sensor centre. “Sir, the passives aren’t a hundred percent sure, but it looks like Valkyrie just went weapons hot.”
What did that mean? Eulenburg wondered. Either Valkyrie felt under threat, or was a threat. Seconds were galloping past and at the back of his mind a little voice was shouting at him to make a decision.
“Captain, I want all available space fighters armed for an anti-ship strike, I want them scrambled within twenty minutes. And where’s my satellite?”
“We’re shifting orbit now sir, two minutes until acquisition.”
Eulenburg prowled round Four C as he waited.
“Admiral, satellite imagery coming up, sir.” Gillum reported.
Eulenburg was over at the relevant screen before Gillum finished his sentence. At first the image wasn’t much more than a small blurry blob. But then it zoomed and sharpened, and suddenly a lot of questions were answered.
They were seeing the starboard side of the ship, where its A, C and D turrets were all trained fore and aft. Its B turret was swung out to starboard though with its two cannon barrels bent in opposite directions. Eulenburg could see that the armoured plate that should have formed that part of the turret face between the two barrels was completely gone. That wasn’t the only damage. There were the scars of weapon strikes along the entire length of the armoured belt and the two engines on the side of the ship facing the camera were cold and dark.
“This is definitely not a drill,” Eulenburg said quietly before tapping the screen over the dead engines. “That explains the discrepancy in the engine profile.”
“Sir, do you still want the fighters launched?” Gillum asked.
“Yes, that ship is either a threat… or it can tell us what happened out there,” Eulenburg replied. “Order the strike leader to attempt to make contact.”
“And if there is no response?”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. They’re badly hit, their radios could be out,” Eulenburg said in reply.
Another staff officer tapped him on the shoulder.
“Sir, the British Representative has left the conference call. She’s now en route to us with an advance party. They should arrive in about an hour, sir,” the officer said.
Eulenburg sighed, “Can you inform the rest that I will contact them again and ask them stay close to their holos.”
With orders given, there wasn’t much he could do for most of the next hour. The Raven space fighters took off within the twenty minutes. He could only watch as the twenty-four blips climbed out of Landfall’s gravity well and vectored onto Valkyrie. On the surface there were also developments. Four laser clusters were being brought up from storage and transported to prepared positions at the four corners of the plateau, which would mean the base’s anti-missile screen would be operational within a couple of hours. Meanwhile the marines were taking up positions that formed a loose ring halfway down the mountain slope. That was a lot of perimeter and not many marines. Governor Reynolds landed along with a mixture of evacuees, military personnel and administrators. She’d just arrived in Four C, when the strike group approaching Valkyrie started signalling.
“Admiral, signal from Squadron Commander Bussell.”
Eulenburg immediately hurried over from where he had been greeting Reynolds.
“Captain Gillum, put her on the main display.”
The Commander’s face appeared. With the cockpit camera situated low on the instrument panel, the angle was awkward and combined with the helmet visor, her face was barely visible.
“Commander, what have you to report?” Eulenburg asked.
“Sir, as soon as we got within ten thousand K of Valkyrie, we got pinged by one of their coms lasers. Their radio transmitters are all fried but her captain wants to speak with you urgently.”
“Understood, Commander. Captain Gillum, put the connection through to the conference room. We all need to hear this.”
The Representatives had done as he asked and stayed close to their communications suites. All sixteen holograms flickered into life as Eulenburg and Reynolds sat down. In the centre of the conference table, an extra hologram came showing a person in a Captain’s survival suit. When she raised the suit visor, the woman inside looked both shocked and exhausted.
“This is Captain Valerie Singer of the Valkyrie. Are you receiving me Douglas Base?” she said.
“Confirmed Valkyrie. We are receiving.”
Singer looked over at someone on her bridge out of view.
“I’m only getting your audio signal, likely damage at this end,” she said.
“In that case, be advised, you are speaking to Commander Ground Base Douglas and colonial representatives,” Eulenburg replied. “Apprise us of the situation Captain.”
There was a pause as the signal travelled to the cruiser.
“The situation, sir, is that we just got hammered. A fleet of Nameless ships made real space re-entry insi
de Baden’s mass shadow. There was no communication before they opened fire.”
“What!” Eulenburg exclaimed. “Valkyrie, repeat that, they appeared inside the mass shadow? That’s impossible!”
“Two hours ago, sir, I would have agreed with you, but we just got the snot slapped out of us by people who did just that,” she replied in an uncompromising tone.
“My god,” he murmured, but the Captain hadn’t finished speaking.
“Sir, Baden’s FTL transmitter was destroyed without them getting that information away. I need you to forward that information to Headquarters.”
Eulenburg was filled with admiration for Captain Singer. Her ship battered, orders in hand to run for her life and yet, she’d detoured to Landfall to put out the warning. He was about to say they would, then memory kicked in and he groaned. A scheduled overhaul of the system, had started just two days previously, just long enough for the transmitter to now be in pieces.
“That’s a negative Valkyrie. Our FTL transmitter is down for major maintenance. We’ll put the information onto a courier but that’s as fast as we can achieve.”
Captain Singer’s expression became even grimmer.
“Understood Douglas Base, we’re downloading our logs now.”
“Once your done Captain, get your ship away. Our fighters will cover you to the Red Line.”
“Thank you sir.”
“Hold on a moment,” Reynolds objected. “You’re sending them away? That ship needs to stay here and defend the surface of the planet!”
“No it doesn’t,” Eulenburg replied before redirecting his attention back to Captain Singer. “Captain, get back to Earth as fast as you can. Good luck.”
“Admiral, I must insist that ship remain. The security of these colonies n…”
Eulenburg brought the flat of his hand down hard on the desk.
“This is not open to debate! I am allowing you all to listen to this as a courtesy. You have no operational authority over any Battle Fleet ship or installation. Captain Gillum, have we received the download from Valkyrie?”
“Yes Admiral,” Gillum called into the suite.
“Captain Singer, stay safe. Ground Base Douglas out.”
Eulenburg was out of his seat before the hologram of Singer disappeared. The Representatives were left speaking among themselves.
Reynolds caught up with Eulenburg back inside the main chamber of Four C. On the main holo the dot representing Valkyrie had changed course and was now moving away from the planet with the base’s fighters formed up behind. Eulenburg was speaking to Captain Gillum.
“Singer was right sir. There was no warning and they definitely jumped in. It wasn’t some kind of super stealth,” the staff captain was saying. Reynolds reached them and started to speak, but the Admiral held up a premonitory finger.
“What ships have we got in orbit at the moment?”
“Right now, sir, our two station J class couriers, one fast and three slow personnel transports, three bulk haulers plus a dozen or so in-system ships. There are another six ships that must have got news and have already broken orbit and are heading for the Red Line.”
“No L class couriers?”
“No, sir. There was supposed to be one here today - via Baden.”
“Either already running for Earth or lost. We have to assume the worst. I want Valkyrie’s logs uploaded to all ships currently in orbit.”
“Even the civilian vessels, sir? Even damaged, Valkyrie is faster than the bulk haulers.”
“Yes, we need to make sure the information gets to Earth. Those transports can’t stay here anyway. Order the two couriers to travel separately but to take the most direct route to Earth. Get there as fast as they possibly can. We can’t order all the civilians, but contact all the ones in radio range, advise them to get to Earth and stay off the commercial routes.”
“Yes sir.”
“Once you’ve done that Captain, I need people that can tell
me about jump drives - ship engineers, civilian experts - whoever we have.”
“Yes sir,” Gillum said throwing a quick salute, before hurrying away.
Reynolds had been visibly holding her temper as Eulenburg issued orders, but as the Captain hurried away she now snapped.
“Admiral Eulenburg, I expect an explanation of what the hell you think you are doing!” she burst out.
Eulenburg regarded her for a moment.
“Come with me Madam Governor,” he said finally.
Reynolds followed him to a comparatively quiet corner of Four C.
“Governor Reynolds. You do not seem to understand the seriousness of the situation. I will explain it to you. Once.” When Reynolds made no comment, he continued, “If the Nameless, or whoever they are, can make real space re-entry regardless of a planet’s mass shadow, then our situation may already be untenable. If a starship can make a jump in, in orbit above us, then our missile batteries will have at most only seconds to respond before we start receiving fire from nuclear or kinetic strike weapons. And since our missiles will have to climb out Landfall’s gravity, we cannot count on landing hits before they have had a chance to release their ordnance.”
“But we’re underground, Admiral. The whole point of the shelters is that they protect us from orbital strikes!”
“As long as they themselves are protected, Governor. The missile silos, the fighters and their runways are all on or near the surface. If they are destroyed by a first strike, then an orbiting starship will be able to bombard us at their leisure. Any sort of protracted bombardment will bury us all alive down here.”
The way Reynolds’ usually ruddy face went white, convinced Eulenburg that he was getting through to her.
“What can we do?” she exclaimed.
“Keep the missiles ready, keep fighters over the base and get people underground as fast as possible.”
“Is it even worth bringing people here Admiral? Would we not be putting all our eggs in one basket? What about evacuating some people by ship?”
“They are even more exposed in the separate colonies, since they would have no missile protection at all. A single weapon strike, would wipe any colonial settlement off the map. As for evacuating the planet, the ships up there now could only carry a few hundred and even those few would take days to load. If those ships leave right now, they stand some chance of avoiding interception. The longer they stay the less the chance. There may also be subtleties here, which we aren’t yet appreciating.”
“Like what?”
“My knowledge of jump theory isn’t strong enough to answer that. I need to speak to experts.”
“But…”
“Governor, I cannot give you more time. Not now. The best you can do is start organising the evacuation.” Eulenburg hurried off before she could offer any reply.
Nine hours after the alert started, the moment Eulenburg had been quietly dreading came. For nine hours the light speed emissions from Baden had been travelling through the space between Landfall and the lost base. A lot of officers and ratings who technically didn’t have any immediate reason to be there had gathered in Four C. Chevalier had returned from the surface looking work stained and tired, and now stood beside Eulenburg in the middle of Four C. The holo of the space surrounding Landfall was now almost completely blank. The last of the interstellar ships were only an hour from jump out, while in-system ships, which served the system’s asteroid miners, were still arriving and being abandoned in high orbit as their crews fled for the surface. The evacuation was starting to grind into some kind of gear. Every three-quarter of an hour a transport plane landed and disgorged its passengers before taking off again within twenty minutes. Tomorrow the first of the bulk transport airships that had been repurposed as personnel lifters would arrive from the outlying settlements.
Eulenburg was watching the picture from a high-powered telescope that was now directed at Baden. A single small cruiser, likely part of the security perimeter, could be seen with Baden’s asteroid visib
le beyond. Then abruptly another ship appeared in a flash close to the first. The Battle Fleet ship tried to respond but the surprise was complete. There was a collective groan in Four C as the new arrival launched a salvo of missiles.
“This is Harbinger. I am under attack by a Nameless ship!” The voice transmission took everyone by surprise. It was a woman’s voice and from the fear in it everyone knew that nine hours before the speaker had known she was about to die. “Repeat, this is Harbinger. I am under attack by a Nameless…”
On the screen the cruiser disappeared in a flash as its reactors breached. The alien ship that had just killed it, turned and accelerated toward Baden.
The bulk of Baden’s asteroid screened them from the worst of the slaughter but it did nothing to block the radio chatter. Much of it was garbled as dozens of voices shouted across the same radio bands. They heard Admiral Camile, trapped away from his flagship, attempt to organise the defence. And fail. The number of separate transmissions dropped as ships died. Twenty-five minutes after the start of the battle someone on Baden thought the unthinkable.
“…on Baden… base lost… ships are to scatter …ke your way to Earth at …t speed.”
From behind Baden Battle Fleet ships appeared as they ran for their lives. Several were cut down as they tried to escape. Others made it. Another thirty minutes and it was all over, only the triumphant Nameless remained and silence returned to Four C.
Some of those present looked to Eulenburg, expecting him to speak. But sickened by what he’d seen, he had nothing to offer. It was left to Chevalier to climb onto a chair. The Brigadier did his best and his speech contained all the right elements: that they were ready, that they could count on one another, that unlike the Third Fleet they would not be taken by surprise. Yet it still fell flat. Everyone had just seen their first and best line of defence swept away and in all likelihood they were next.
___________________________
27th July 2066
The days in the shelters were long, the nights restless. There was no soundproofing on the cave walls so every noise echoed and reverberated. Heaters had been brought in but somehow they only helped you appreciate how cold it was down here deep in the ground. Alice wasn’t really sure any more how long they’d been there. She probably could have worked it out. Her twenty-four hour watch was slipping behind Landfall’s twenty-eight and a half hour rotation by a consistent amount, but the calculation got longer each day and increasingly didn’t seem worth the bother. The artificial lights gave some kind of idea what part of the day it was on the surface and that was enough. At first they simply sat around waiting for the all clear and their return to the daylight. If the marines stationed at the main entrance knew anything they didn’t share it with any of those who pestered them. The cave started to feel less like a shelter and more like a prison. A few people began to get angry and when the marine guards changed shifts their replacements were dressed in responsive armour rather than normal fatigues.
The Landfall Campaign (The Nameless War) Page 6