The Price of Liberty (Empire Rising Book 4)

by D. J. Holmes

  Chapter 5 – Rooke’s Feint

  In our age of faster than light communication and god-like sensors, war is like a game of chess. Your opponent can see everything you are doing. It was not always so. In the centuries before and just after the formation of the Empire, war was a game of cloak and daggers.

  -Excerpt from Empire Rising, 3002 AD

  8th July 2467 AD, HMS Endeavour, New Delhi System.

  The British fleet thrust into the New Delhi system as fast as they could. Kerala was the next system the British fleet would have to pass through if it wanted to get to Haven through Indian space. The shift passage to Kerala was almost exactly at the opposite end of the system from the passage back to Aror and the fastest way to it was to head right into the system.

  As soon as it was clear what the British fleet intended to do, the Indian fleet made its appearance. Indian warships in orbit around New Delhi boosted out of orbit and formed up in an aggressive formation. They accelerated to an attack speed that would allow them to intercept the British fleet.

  The tight formation of the Indian fleet made it hard for the gravimetric sensors to identify just how many ships there were but, as the two fleets converged, the rest of Endeavour’s sensors got a clearer picture.

  “I think that is all of them,” Sub Lieutenant Malik said as he projected the final numbers of the Indian fleet.

  “Impressive,” Mallory said, “they must have almost every ship they own that isn’t in the Haven or Sol systems here.”

  “This is a make or break battle for them,” James said. “And they know that. If we can defeat their fleet, then we can do what we did at Aror to all their colonies.”

  “Do you think we could beat them if Rooke tried to take them on?” Mallory followed up.

  James didn’t reply immediately. Instead he surveyed the latest estimates Malik had produced on the Indian fleet. Like the British Fast Reaction Fleet, they had two battlecruisers. Yet in every other ship class they outnumbered the British. Especially when it came to frigates and corvettes. The majority of the British Star Kingdom’s smaller ships were tasked with guarding small colonies and mining outposts. The Indians had recalled most of theirs. While the Indians had twenty-nine cruisers to Rooke’s twenty-three, they had forty frigates and corvettes compared to the twenty-five that were in the British fleet.

  “It would be close,” James replied. “Very close. Our flak cannons give any one of our ships a significant point defense advantage over their Indian counterparts. But their abundance of smaller ships more than makes up for it. If we won, it would be a pyrrhic victory, we wouldn’t have enough ships left to retake Haven.”

  “That’s what’s the Indians are counting on,” Mallory said. “It’s a good thing Rooke doesn’t plan on engaging them openly.”

  “Indeed,” James said. “Let’s just hope that what he does have planned succeeds. I don’t want to be facing that Indian fleet without any back up.”

  “No,” Mallory said with a thoughtful expression. He was contemplating just how badly things could go if Rooke’s plan didn’t work. “Let’s hope,” he said a little more subdued a few seconds later.

  “Signal from the flag,” Sub Lieutenant King called several minutes later. “The Hood flotilla is to unfurl their gaseous shields.”

  “Acknowledge the order,” James responded. “Jennings, make sure you match the flagship’s new velocity.”

  “Aye Sir,” she responded from the navigation console.

  James was still sore about Rooke’s decision to keep him in Hood’s flotilla. He clearly had an enemy there, even if it wasn’t one of his own making. He knew the rest of Endeavour’s crew took it as an insult and he wouldn’t be surprised if more than one of them blamed their Captain’s court martial for their reduced role. However, Endeavour’s position in Hood’s flotilla did make sense for this part of Rooke’s plan. Every ship in the flotilla was less than five years old and they were the fastest ships in the fleet. They were also accompanied by two heavy cruisers, although they were masking their signals to lure the Indian’s into making the move Rooke wanted them too.

  *

  ISRS Kali, Indian fleet.

  “The forward section of their fleet is accelerating Admiral,” one of Khan’s officers shouted.

  Khan swung around to look at the main holo display in the command room. The officer was right. The first British battlecruiser, its escorts, and the two as yet unidentified ships were accelerating. The rest of the British fleet slowed down and angled towards his fleet.

  “What are they doing?” Khan’s flag officer asked.

  “Forcing us to choose,” Khan answered. “Or that is what they want us to think they are doing.”

  Instead of elaborating, Khan thought about what the British could be up to. On the face of it, it seemed reckless. Before the course change, his fleet had been closing with the British at their best possible speed. Their projections indicated the British fleet would have been within missile range for thirty minutes before it could jump out of the system. He had been worried they might escape. From the reports of the British war with the Chinese, he knew their flak cannons were very effective at fending off incoming missiles.

  Yet now, he could bring the larger part of the British fleet under his guns for more than fifty minutes. That would be more than long enough to wipe them out. The British were offering him a very appealing target. Too appealing.

  “Give me everything you have on those two unidentified ships,” Khan requested. “Quickly.”

  One of the ships appeared to be the British marine transport Albion. However, the sensor data didn’t match up exactly. The other ship seemed to be its sister and yet, the British were only supposed to have one marine transport.

  If they are both marine transports then there could be thirty thousand marines on those ships, Khan thought. There is no way Admiral Kumar could defeat them. I can’t let them get past me. Still, defeating a large section of the British fleet is an opportunity I may never have again.

  But it could be a ruse, he reminded himself. Dismissing the sensor data of the troop ship from the display on his command chair, he brought up the vectors of the two British fleets. If I slow to engage the second section, then the first will escape for sure. And if I do slow, the second section could veer away and refuse to engage me. It would turn into a long stern chase, but they would likely escape.

  “What are the chances the British have a second troop transport ship?” he asked his intelligence officer.

  “It’s unlikely Admiral, but not impossible,” she replied. “The British did keep their flak cannons a secret from the Chinese and us, they could have built another troop transport and kept it hidden.”

  And the change in sensor profile could be because they had some hidden technology on their transports that they are only now using, Khan added. Very well, the British fleet will have to wait.

  “We’re going to intercept the lead elements of the British fleet,” Khan ordered. “Order every ship that can match our maximum velocity to follow the flagship. Start working out new flotilla arrangements. Once we get into missile range we are going to hammer them. The rest of the fleet will hang back where it is safe. We can decide what to do with the rest of the British fleet after we crush their transport ships.”

  *

  “It’s working,” Mallory shouted as soon as the Indian fleet broke apart. “They are coming after us.”

  “Yes,” James said, “though I don’t think that is something you should be so excited about.”

  Over the next five minutes the Indian fleet split into two sections. More than three quarters of the fleet increased their acceleration and altered course to head off Rooke’s flotilla. The smaller destroyers, frigates and corvettes fitted in around the larger ships, taking up stations to help protect them.

  For another fifteen minutes both Rooke’s flotilla and the Indian fleet continued on their new courses. This was one of the riskiest parts of Rooke’s plan. It had been impossib
le to predict how many ships Vice Admiral Khan would take to pursue Rooke and what their top speed would be. James let out a sigh of relief when Malik finally spoke the words everyone on the bridge had been waiting for.

  “The Indian ships have stopped accelerating. I think they have reached their maximum velocity,” he called. “Their new velocity is 0.29c.”

  Good, James thought, just within the safety margins the battle simulations had called for.

  James brought up a counter on his command chair’s holo display. Rooke needed to lure the larger part of the Indian fleet towards the shift passage to Kerala for a while yet. As soon as they reached the point of no return, he would put his plan into motion. James estimated they would have to wait another twenty minutes.

  Almost the second James’ counter reached zero, King broke the silence. “New orders coming in from the flagship. ‘Fleet will break with the flag,’” she read.

  “Make it so Jennings,” James ordered.

  Now things will get exciting, he thought, the Indians will know what we are up to soon enough.

  *

  “The British forward fleet is reversing course!” one of Khan’s sensor officers called.

  “What?” Khan shouted.

  “They are decelerating and turning away from us at two hundred and sixty gravities,” the officer reported.

  As Khan surveyed the fleet positions it suddenly hit him what the British were up to. “No,” he involuntary shouted as he smashed his fists down onto his command chair. The British Admiral must have put all his newest ships in the forward flotilla to have deceleration rates of over two hundred and sixty gravities.

  “Sir?” his flag officer asked in concern.

  “They are not going to Haven,” Khan replied, followed by a number of expletives. “Look at their rear fleet. It is already braking and turning. They are heading for Magali. There is no way we can stop them.”

  “Damn,” the flag officer said. “We have been played.”

  “Shut up,” Khan shouted. He didn’t need to hear how he had been out maneuvered from his subordinates. Instead he tried to think of a way to salvage the situation.

  “We’re splitting the fleet again,” he said. “Any ships that can maintain a deceleration of two hundred and fifty gravities are to follow us. We are going to give the forward British fleet a single broadside before they get past us.”

  “Aye Sir,” the flag officer acknowledged. “And after that?”

  “After that, we are going to have a chase on our hands. If we can’t stop the British doing too much damage to our inner colonies, then I’m afraid my career will be over,” Khan answered.

  His words sent his subordinates back to work in silence. It took them a minute to work out the new fleet dispositions but as soon as they did two thirds of the ships with Kali broke with her and turned after the forward British fleet.

  As his new squadron formed up and closed with the British again, their fleet increased their deceleration slightly. They were clearly desperate to escape without having to engage with Khan’s ships. You may have beaten me today, Khan said to himself. But I’m not going to let you get away unscathed. The forward British fleet was made up of one battlecruiser, a light cruiser, a destroyer and two frigates. His sensor officer hadn’t been sure what the last ship in the fleet was but with its most recent maneuvers they had been able to get a better read on it. They were estimating it was the same ship that had attacked Admiral Kumar’s ships in Haven. Earlier analysis of the British fleet had identified the battlecruiser as the British fleet’s flagship. If the battlecruiser hadn’t been such an important target, Khan would have ordered more missiles aimed at the damned ship that had attacked Haven. He knew the British First Space Lord’s nephew commanded the ship, he had already proved himself to be more than a nuisance.

  Due to the two fleets change in direction, the British fleet was accelerating into missile range of his fleet, albeit, they would quickly pass beyond his reach. It meant that Khan didn’t have to wait long to get the satisfaction of shouting, “Fire.” Let’s see how you get out of this, Khan said in his head.

  One hundred and forty missiles shot from the other battlecruiser, eight cruisers, four destroyers and eight frigates that were still with Kali.

  “Multiple missile launches detected,” Khan’s sensor officer called.

  “From the squadron with the British flagship?” Khan asked when his officer didn’t immediately identify the source of the missiles.

  “Yes, but not just them,” she replied. “The rest of the British fleet has fired as well.”

  They can’t hit us at this range, he thought as he swung to check the range to the rest of the British fleet. His momentarily alarm passed as he saw the missiles weren’t aimed at his ships. What trick is the British Admiral playing now?

  When the new missiles came up on the holo display, a feral smile crept across his face. Not this time my friend, he thought. You British have tried that trick one too many times.

  *

  HMS Endeavour

  “All eight missiles away and on target,” Becket announced.

  “The main part of our fleet has also fired their missiles,” Malik called. “They should be in position in twenty minutes.”

  “Now we wait,” James said after he nodded his head to acknowledge Malik’s information.

  As James had come to expect, waiting was all they could do as they watched the three groups of missiles tear across space. The Indian fleet pursuing them had fired one hundred and forty missiles at Hood and her flotilla, in return they had fired seventy-nine missiles right back at them. The rest of the British fleet had added another two hundred missiles into the maelstrom of contacts that the holo display was trying to track.

  “The Indian’s aren’t responding to the rest of the fleet’s missiles,” Becket called out. “Surely they would have sent orders to split up their missiles if they knew what we were up to. Do you think they have missed what Rooke plans?”

  “Perhaps,” James said. “But they can’t be that slow, prepare to launch a number of recon drones, program them to emit their own ECM jamming. We may need a little extra protection.”

  Silence descended as everyone watched the missiles from the main part of the British fleet close in on the Indian salvo. As the two groups of icons on the holo display got closer and closer it was impossible to miss what Rooke intended to do. James had used the same tactic himself. As the two groups of missiles converged, everyone held their breath. For about ten seconds the holo display of the area froze as the two hundred British thermonuclear missiles exploded, blinding Endeavour’s sensors.

  Malik was the first to see what had happened from his sensor station “It didn’t work!” he called, with more than a hint of fear in his voice. “They are still coming.”

  “How many?” James demanded.

  “I’m detecting over one hundred and twenty,” Malik answered.

  “We’re going to need more than a little protection,” Mallory said looking over to James.

  When James nodded he got up and approached Becket at the tactical station. “Launch your drones now, and then let’s see how many we can get ready before they hit us.”

  “Any orders from the flag?” James asked Sub Lieutenant King.

  “Nothing yet Sir,” she replied.

  “Get ready to fire another salvo of missiles at those incoming Indian ones. Maybe we can take out a few more where our main fleet failed,” James ordered. He could think of nothing else to do.

  “The Indians must have built some extra radiation protection into their missiles,” Malik reported. “I’m not sure firing more missiles at them will work.”

  “What makes you say that?” James asked.

  “The sensor data from before and after our missiles exploded among them,” Malik responded. “The only missiles we destroyed were ones that got directly caught in a thermonuclear explosion. The rest of the Indian missiles flew right through the waves of intense radiation without being
affected.

  “Very well, belay that last order,” James said. “We are going to have to rely on our point defenses.”

  Damn, he then said to himself. Rooke’s entire plan hinged on that working. He has endangered us all.

  “Open a ship wide COM,” James requested.

  “It’s open Sir,” King said moments later.

  “Crew of Endeavour,” James began. “By now most of you know that over one hundred Indian missiles are homing in on us. You know we have scrapped through worse situations before. Yet you also know this is going to be close. I need every one of you to give of your best in the next ten minutes. Don’t let me down.”