Almost two years ago on board Mississippi, he’d watched that first Nameless ship blow itself apart rather than allow humanity to gain any information about them. Back then he hadn’t - he couldn’t have - understood how they could choose to make such a sacrifice. But a lot had happened since and he’d seen a lot of it. Back in his Science Directorate days, bringing everyone safely back was the first priority, but now, because of them, it was the mission. If the two fighters managed to take out the gates nearly a dozen gate jumpers would be trapped. But before they could do that, Dubious and Toothy would have to cross through the effective range of half a dozen ships. Depending on whether they were scouts or escorts that would mean anywhere between twelve and twenty-four launchers. He still had time to call them back. Captain Crowe of the Mississippi would have done so and never have dreamed of asking this sacrifice of those under his command. Commodore Crowe felt a brief flash of hatred, for what they had made him become and stayed silent.
___________________
Alanna’s expression was grim as the Nameless settled themselves around the target. The gate jumpers were mostly now on the move. She set the computer to estimate the times they would reach the gates compared to the two fighters. They were a hell of a lot closer, but much, much slower. And Dubious didn’t have to reach the gates, just get close enough to insert a missile. The timing currently favoured Dubious and Toothy and that gave them a bit of wriggle room. Also, the warships had formed into a tight sphere around the station, no more than thirty kilometres across, good for concentrating fire, but missiles were going to be coming at them from a single axis.
“Toothy, this is Dubious. We’re going to try a chaff wall,” she decided.
“Skipper?” Sinochem replied. “Do not follow, over.”
“As we enter their range we’re going to cut thrust and fire off chaff rockets set for short burst, tight dispersal. That will put down a wall of chaff a few kilometres ahead of us. Missiles will not be able to lock on until they come through, then they won’t have enough time to react. We keep the turret guns hot for anything that comes through on course for us. We have thirty minutes until we reach range.”
“Understood, starting calculations of chaff deployment.”
“Nice idea, skipper,” Schurenhofer said as she started writing the programme for the chaff rockets.
“Read it in an intelligence briefing.”
“So it worked?”
“On paper anyway.”
“Oh…”
Five minutes before they crossed the threshold of effective range Alanna cut thrust. The little chaff rockets started to pop out in the programmed pattern. On her display the Nameless ships were steadily blotted out as their radar emissions were hopelessly scrambled by the cloud of chaff now coasting along ahead of them.
“Thermal spikes,” Schurenhofer reported abruptly. After a silence of over fifteen minutes Alanna jumped in spite of herself. “Multiple incomings.”
“Understood. Toothy, stand ready.”
The two fighters still had their reactors running, engines and guns on standby. Enough heat was being generated for the Nameless to still get a rough idea of where they were. While the missiles used radar guidance, the Nameless could point them at the fighter’s thermals.
“Holy…” Alanna exclaimed as a missile burst through the chaff. She barely had time to register it before it passed. Dubious’s threat detection system gave a brief beep as the missile locked on and tried to turn in. But it was going too fast and momentum carried it past and exploded behind them. Then second and a third came through, both missing by a wide margin. The fourth came through slightly slower and Toothy pegged it with a turret gun burst.
For fifteen minutes they hung on as the Nameless altered their firing patterns, trying to put multiple missiles through simultaneously. Again and again Dubious and Toothy escaped destruction by the skin of their teeth. Alanna cursed beneath her breath the intelligence officer who had come up with this half-baked idea in his nice safe office somewhere. They could only make tiny adjustments of position to stay in behind the shield and the guns didn’t get enough time to lock on. If anything did come through right at them, there wouldn’t be time to dodge or shoot it down.
“We’re out of chaff Skipper,” Schurenhofer finally reported. The chaff shield was starting to drift apart and Alanna’s radar was now catching glimpses of the Nameless warships. The shield had done its job though.
“Toothy, prepare to break cover. You go high, I’ll go low, both missiles into the station - on my mark.”
“Understood.” She could hear Sinochem’s relief across the connection.
“Mark.” Alanna jammed the throttle open and pointed Dubious’s nose down. The port engine gave a cough and the fighter slewed before the engine surged and they shot out under the chaff. Another wave of missiles was inbound but the sudden movement of the two fighters didn’t leave them enough time to compensate. The two charged thought the perimeter of the defending ships, ahead the space station. They were now close enough for Alanna to see the distant glow from the active gates.
“We have lock,” Schurenhofer barked.
“Launching!”
Both anti-ship missiles burst away. One was stopped short by Nameless counter fire but the other three slammed in. The station burst apart as its reactor breached and the two gates tumbled away, both spluttering out.
Dubious and Toothy flashed past the fading explosion, looking for easier targets.
___________________
Tens of thousands of kilometres behind, Crowe let out a sigh of relief as he saw the two fighters reappear on the far side of the defensive formation. He had seen radar blips for fighters blink out far too often already and had fully expected to see one or even both fail to emerge. The sooner fighters could be put back on carriers, where they belonged, the happier he’d be. The deck beneath his feet was trembling as the engines went full burn. Dubious and Toothy had done their bit but now it was time for the heavies to take centre stage. The Nameless had formed up and were now waiting for the human ships to reach effective range for their smaller missiles. Crowe hadn’t responded, not yet. Redeploy too early and the enemy would have time to counter. He waited until they stood at the very threshold of contact.
“Coms, signal squadron. Formation will roll ninety degrees counter clockwise.” That put Meili, the weakest of his ships in missile defence terms, facing the smallest group of Nameless ships, just in time for…
“Contact separations. We have multiple incomings.”
“Bridge, Fire Control. Engage with flak guns at ten thousand kilometres. Plasma cannons you may engage at your discretion but prepare to accept direction when we achieve range on enemy vessels.”
“Fire Control, Bridge. Understood, sir.”
As the first wave of missiles burned in, they were initially met by the small missiles from the flanking fighters, which picked off the vastly more dangerous cap ship missiles. Their small companions continued to close in on and through the flak gun barrage, after which the survivors accelerated into point defence fire. Space around the five Battle Fleet ships sparkled with projectiles and chaff. It was almost unimaginable that anything could get through. Five did but none scored hits. As they tumbled off into the void, everyone soon forgot them because already the second Nameless salvo was on its way in.
___________________
Alanna cut thrust and turned Dubious’s nose so they were facing at ninety degrees to the direction of travel and raked the transport’s flank with guns. Atmosphere gushed from hundreds of holes and the engine spluttered out.
“Another one that isn’t going anywhere,” Schurenhofer whooped as she directed fire from the turrets on to the likely position of the bridge. A thousand or so kilometres away Toothy was busy riddling another transport. Without warships, because the six that had failed to protect the gates were now trying hard to accelerate out of the path of Deimos and the rest, the transports were defenceless. Dubious and Toothy had been like foxe
s let loose in the henhouse.
“Dubious and Toothy, this is Deimos command. Clear the area, we are firing.”
“Understood Deimos. Toothy fall in and follow me,” Alanna replied. As she spoke in the distance she saw plasma bolts stab out and through one of the fleeing escorts. The small Nameless warship vanished from her screen. As the two fighters accelerated clear more plasma bolts were crashing into targets. Transports and cargo modules disintegrated under the murderous fire.
“Dubious, this is Toothy. I have new contacts on my screen,” Sinochem reported. “They seem to be in very low orbit.”
“It’s trying to hide behind the planet,” Schurenhofer muttered. “Sorry Skipper. I’m barely making it out through the atmosphere.”
“Alright, let’s investigate,” Alanna said.
___________________
Point defence nailed the missile at five kilometres out. Its guidance systems and warhead were blown apart but the drive section remained intact. Momentum carried it into them and Deimos shuddered as it punched through the portside wing. Crowe winced automatically but it wasn’t a bad hit. All three cruisers had taken a few but none from the devastating cap ship missiles and the smaller missiles really didn’t have enough stopping power against the heavier armour of Valkyrie and Meili. Still the Nameless only had to be lucky once and they’d be left trying to escort a lame ship. With most of the depot reduced to flame and fragments it was probably time to make an exit.
“Bridge, sensors. New contacts,” Hockley reported, as a fresh set of blips appeared on the main holo. They’d appeared close to the Blue line so no doubt they weren’t friendlies, “Confirm contacts are hostile, four capital ships, seven cruisers, thirteen escorts. Sir, we’re getting matches on the engine profiles. This is their regional assault force.”
“Confirmed.” Crowe snapped back. That was a big force. With so many ships and launchers they’d be well able to overwhelm even Deimos’s counter fire. But only if the Battle Fleet ships hung around. “All ships, this is command. Come to heading zero, seven three dash zero, one, zero. Valkyrie, Meili start deploying mines astern.” The Nameless hadn’t come out in a good position. They’d dropped back into real space almost completely astern and as always with their ships, at close to a dead stop. So the Deimos group was already accelerating away from them and the mines now deploying from the heavy cruiser’s missile tubes would make it dangerous to directly follow. Their missiles would have to make the long chase from astern. They could make another jump to redeploy, knowing that the Battle Fleet ships would have to get further out from the planet before they could engage their jump drives. But the planet ahead was both problem and opportunity. Deimos and the rest could plunge down, use the gravitational pull to accelerate and then pull out when they chose.
“Where are the fighters going?” wondered Hockley. With his attention fixed astern he hadn’t noticed the two fighters were heading in the direction of the planet’s pole.
“Good question,” Crowe replied, “Dubious, this is Deimos command. Report.”
“Deimos, we have detected three contacts close to the planet.”
“We’re on our way out Dubious, break off and prepare to rejoin squadron.”
“Sir, we have enough acceleration to catch you, give me five more minutes to make contact.”
Crowe glanced again at the holo, where the Nameless reinforcements were starting to accelerate and spread out.
“Dubious, you have five minutes and counting!”
“Understood. Dubious out.”
___________________
Whatever it was, it was trying hard not to allow the two fighters to get a clear view. They could see two of the three contacts, both escorts, but the third, the one brushing the edge of the atmosphere, that was the one Alanna now wanted to see. All three ships were moving away but the fighters had the acceleration advantage and finally they got enough of an angle. For sure it was no warship. There were large spherical tanks dotting the top and what looked like scoops below.
“It’s a hydrogen skimmer,” said Schurenhofer.
“A bloody big one,” Alanna replied. “I think we’ve just found the icing on the cake.”
“Skip, we’re nearly out of time and we’re totally out of anti-ship missiles.”
‘Nearly’ wasn’t really true. ‘Completely’ was closer to the truth. Oh well, better to beg forgiveness than ask permission. The missiles though, that was a bit more of a problem but as she thought about that, Alanna saw the skimmer’s engines flare. Aha.
“Hang on. Toothy. Stay up here. Run interference.”
“Roger, Dubious.”
She pointed Dubious down into the planet’s thin atmosphere. The Raven fighter bucked and kicked as it interfaced into the upper levels of the atmosphere. As they closed in from underneath, the two escorts tried to fire, but their missiles were designed for hard vacuum only. Some blew as they ran into the thickening atmosphere while other went out of control. Alanna put the engines into full power and climbed up and at the skimmer. All three guns played across the lower hull, riddling the scoops and knocking out the booster engines holding the ship up. As she came out from under it Alanna spun them around and focused the guns on the main engines. One after another they shattered and spluttered out. They were so close she could see the huge ship shudder with her naked eye. The last few engines that remained tried frantically to lift it away from the planet. But they were now too few and the great ship started to drop towards the planet as gravity claimed it.
Alanna didn’t wait to see its end. Dubious climbed away from the planet back towards the retreating Battle Fleet ships.
___________________
Glasses clinked together. “Congratulations Commodore on your first outing,” said Admiral Kanter. “May they all be as successful.”
“That might be a little much to hope for,” said Laura Lewis before taking a sip from her drink. “We can’t expect the good Commodore to smash a major base every week, with virtually no loss.”
Inwardly Crowe winced at that. One of Valkyrie’s fighters had run into something. No one was quite sure what, but it might have been a piece of debris. All anyone could say for certain was that crew didn’t get out. Meili lost one member of her crew and another three were injured. One of the destroyers lost four to a direct hit. To Crowe’s mind this was not quite the same as no loss. But in return they’d decimated the base, destroyed a dozen or so transports, half a dozen warships and last but by no means least a major hydrogen skimmer.
There hadn’t been too many chances to celebrate at Junction of late so this one had been seized upon. There was an embedded journalist assigned to the station and for once he’d been able to send home a report of a solid victory. All personnel, particularly those on board Deimos, were looking forward to the next transport with a recording of the news reports.
“To tell the truth, it’s the skimmer intelligence is getting excited about. No one has seen a skimmer in that size class anywhere near the front before,” Laura continued. “It’s rather being taken as evidence that the Nameless are finding the logistics of supporting a fleet so far from their home base are complicated. The skimmers are particularly vulnerable since they have to get deep into a mass shadow but don’t have the pace to escape if spotted. If we can force them to do any hydrogen harvesting further back, then they burn more fuel just trying to get it to where it is needed. Our scouts have since spotted their main strike force retreating back along their supply lines. So we’re likely to be in for a quiet few weeks while they make good the losses.”
“We’ll have to keep a close eye on any watering holes,” Kanter replied cheerfully. “By the way what about your pilot? That was a very slick piece of flying, dropping that skimmer into the gravity well.”
“She landed with barely a thimble full of reaction mass,” Crowe grunted. “I’d have shouted at her more if I wasn’t putting her forward for decoration.”
“Top up?” Laura asked, offering the bottle. “Well if not
hing else, this has been a good week.”
Chapter Fourteen
The Last Hurrah
Admiral Shibanova died quietly two weeks after his stroke without ever waking up. Kinnear reported his accident and death back to Earth by via FTL. They received brief acknowledgements to both messages and nothing more. That left Willis in a situation that could at best be described as an aberration.
The orders Shibanova left, very clearly stated she was to be Senior Officer should he be incapacitated, but commanding a cruiser squadron, even one like the Geriatrics, was a slot for at least a full fleet captain. Being the commanding officer for the mobile elements charged with the defence of an entire star system was at the very minimum a posting for a commodore and more appropriately a rear admiral. As a mere commander she was well and truly out of her pay grade.
The most logical solution would have been to appoint Admiral Kinnear. He’d clearly done the same calculation and Willis, in an uncharacteristic flash of insight, realised that the prospect filled him with horror. The first meeting with the system’s industrial heads was clearly a very uncomfortable one for Kinnear. The civilians very obviously expected him to order Willis to do what they wanted. Whether it was because he realised she would refuse - and had the authority to do so - or because he’d always known Shibanova was right but preferred to be the ‘good cop’, Kinnear didn’t give them the answers they were looking for. If the grapevine was to be believed, his standing in certain circles in Dryad had taken a hit. So for the first two weeks of Willis’s time in command things carried on much as usual. There for no sign of the Rizr. This was probably just as well because for the first week Willis was in a state of mild shell shock at the change in her command responsibility.
The Landfall Campaign (The Nameless War) Page 28