The Price of Liberty (Empire Rising Book 4)

by D. J. Holmes

  “Aye Ma’am,” Romanov responded as he manipulated the controls of the holo display on his command chair.

  The holo display altered to show ten missiles approaching the Indian colony. As the missiles closed on some of the orbital stations, green plasma bolts tried to destroy the British ordinance. Discovery’s full scans of the colony hadn’t detected any battlestations but it seemed the Indians had outfitted a number of the stations with at least some point defenses. The ten British missiles were reduced to four as they approached their targets, but four was enough to do some damage to the orbital stations.

  A series of calculations appeared on the holo display, estimating the percentage of orbital infrastructure that had been destroyed. It came to less than two percent of Nicobar II’s orbital industry. It wasn’t much, but it was still billions of credits worth of damage they had caused, and the squadron would have time for at least two more salvos before they passed out of range.

  “Captain, the second salvo of missiles is approaching the Indian warships,” Gupta’s tactical officer alerted her.

  “Switch the holo display back to the live feed,” Gupta ordered.

  As the British missiles approached the Indian warships, the second salvo, like the first, split into two groups. Only three of the British missiles were aimed at the frigate. Without its main engines, it was unable to carry out any evasive maneuvers. Despite destroying two of the British missiles, the third turned the frigate into an expanding ball of debris. The destroyer did a much better job and managed to take out eight of the missiles aimed at it. That still left three more, and try as it might to avoid them, the destroyer likewise exploded as two missiles penetrated its armor and detonated within its hull.

  The second group of fourteen British missiles continued towards Nicobar II. This time five made it through the point defense fire coming from the moon’s orbit. Each one of them took out another station, raining debris down into the moon’s atmosphere.

  “Captain, we have two salvos of eight missiles approaching us. The first will be in point defense range in another four minutes,” Discovery’s tactical officer reported.

  “I see them,” Gupta acknowledged. Although they were now dead, the crew of the two destroyed Indian warships would have a chance to hit back at their killers. Gupta wasn’t concerned, the combined point defense fire of the four British warships could easily handle eight missiles. “I’m trusting you know what to do about them.”

  “Aye Captain,” the officer replied with a smile.

  Trusting her subordinate to handle Discovery’s defenses, Gupta focused on causing as much damage to the Indian infrastructure she could. “Sensors, give me a rundown of those Indian ships breaking orbit from Nicobar, then focus on Nicobar II. I want you to identify as many of the key industrial orbital stations as you can. Send your data to tactical. We’re going to have time for two more salvos before we get out of range, let’s make sure we do as much damage as possible.”

  “Aye ma’am,” the sensor officer replied. “It looks like there are five ships coming after us from Nicobar. The flagship has designated them as targets Bravo one through five. Bravo one is a light cruiser, Bravo two and three are both destroyers, four and five are frigates.”

  “So they are an even match for us,” Gupta said. “If Lightfoot can help it, I’m sure we will give them a wide berth.”

  As the British ships didn’t have to worry about any more Indian warships intercepting their missiles, the third and fourth volley caused a lot more damage to the orbital infrastructure around Nicobar II. Gupta smiled as she watched three of the targets she had selected break apart as a result of missiles fired from Discovery. After the last salvo exploded, her sensor officer estimated that over twenty percent of the colony’s orbital installations had been destroyed. Twenty percent didn’t sound like much, but it had taken a hundred years to construct everything that had been in orbit, it would take at least a decade to rebuild what they had destroyed

  “I’m getting a course change from the flagship,” the navigation officer reported. “Lightfoot wants to take the squadron towards the asteroid field near the shift passage to Andaman.”

  “Acknowledge the order and keep station with the flagship,” Gupta ordered.

  Gupta sat on the bridge as the British squadron accelerated towards the outer reaches of the Nicobar system. The Andaman system was where she and Captain Somerville had attacked an Indian mining station and located evidence that the Indians had been helping Chang escape prosecution for war crimes. Beyond Andaman, there was a shift passage that led eventually to Haven. The course Lightfoot was taking his squadron on made it look like that was their eventual destination. Though they were going to pay a little visit to some of the mining operations in the large asteroid field near the shift passage first.

  “We have an incoming communication from the flagship,” the COM officer announced. “It’s for your eyes only Captain, I’m sending it to your command chair now.”

  When the file had been transferred, Gupta picked up her datapad from where it had been connected to her command chair. She read through the orders Lightfoot had sent. He wanted to split the four ships to allow each ship to take a slightly different course through the asteroid field to maximize the amount of damage they could do to the mining operations there. It was risky, if the Indians had a defense station in the asteroid field one of the British ships could find herself isolated and potentially in trouble. Yet, the risk would allow them to almost completely destroy the mining operations. As this was the system’s largest asteroid field, they might be able to take out as much as thirty percent of the ore harvesting operations in the system.

  After she read through the orders twice, Gupta wrote out a reply informing Lightfoot that she was in favor of the plan. She then sent the message to her COM officer to relay to the flagship. A couple of minutes later the reply came back, ‘proceed with plan alpha one.’

  “Okay folks listen up,” Gupta said. “The squadron is going to split as we pass through the asteroid field, we have been given responsibility for the section of the asteroid field designated the South-East Quadrant. We’re going to fly in and take out anything we encounter. I want a full sensor sweep of the quadrant so we are ready before we reach the asteroid field. Also, alert the point defense gunners. We can use AM missiles and our point defense plasma cannons on targets that we get close enough to. We are going to take out everything that gets into range of our weapons. Understood?”

  The bridge crew replied with a chorus of ‘Yes Ma’am’ before they turned back to their stations and eagerly got to work.

  Twenty minutes after her short speech, Gupta gave the order for Discovery to break away from the squadron and head towards their targets. The asteroid field wasn’t particularly dense and Discovery’s sensor officer had had little difficulty in plotting out a course through the asteroids. Not long after Discovery’s course change, the other three British ships made slight alterations to their headings to bring them to their assigned quadrants.

  “It doesn’t look like the pursuing Indian squadron is changing course,” Romanov commented. “They’re still pursuing Retribution.”

  “They’re going after the biggest prize,” Gupta replied. “Let’s hope they don’t find a way to get into missile range.”

  “I’m ready to fire, Captain,” Discovery’s tactical officer reported.

  “Fire away,” Gupta ordered.

  Three missiles shot from the exploration cruiser and accelerated towards the three largest mining stations in their quadrant. All three were built into larger asteroids at the edge of the field. They appeared to serve as storage and transfer depots for freighters to bring the processed ore back to the colonies. The British missiles took twenty minutes to accelerate towards their targets, giving the crews of those stations plenty of time to evacuate.

  When the missiles got there, the stations vanished as three miniature suns momentarily blinded Discovery’s sensors. As the sensor feeds returned, Discov
ery’s tactical officer opened up on several large chunks of debris with her ship’s heavy plasma cannon. They had been tumbling towards the course the warship would take through the asteroid field. As soon as Discovery’s path was clear, the heavy plasma cannons turned and systematically took out anything remotely resembling a man-made object within the asteroid field. Soon the heavy plasma cannons were joined by AM missiles and the warship’s small point defense plasma cannons as Discovery nosed her way into the asteroid field.

  Having slowed down to less than 0.1c to be able to maneuver within the asteroid field, it took almost twenty minutes for Discovery to make a sweep of her quadrant. By the time she was done there was nothing but broken asteroids and expanding balls of debris where the Indian mining operations had been.

  “Accelerating now,” Discovery’s navigation officer announced as soon as the warship broke through the asteroid belt. “We’ll reach the edge of the mass shadow in another hour and a half.”

  “The pursuing Indian fleet will get into missile range in another hour and fifteen,” the sensor officer added.

  “Lightfoot timed it well then,” Gupta commented. “They can fire on us if they want to, but we will be able to jump out before the missiles reach us. Form us up with the rest of the squadron as soon as you can”

  “Aye Captain,” the navigation officer replied.

  Less than a minute after Discovery broke through the asteroid field, the other British warships emerged and converged on Retribution as they headed for the system’s mass shadow. The pursuing Indian squadron elected not to slow down and enter the asteroid field, instead, they angled up and over the obstacle, allowing them to keep their maximum speed. As a result, they closed the distance between the two groups of ships significantly, but, not enough to stop the British ships jumping to shift space.

  “If we were to go to the Andaman system those ships would be right on our tail once we exited shift space,” Romanov said.

  “It’s a good thing were not going there, isn’t it?” Gupta commented.

  Before she could say anything more, a series of alarms from the sensor officer’s console interrupted her. “New contacts,” the officer shouted. “A number of ships have just exited shift space at the edge of the system’s mass shadow, right in front of us.”

  “How many?” Gupta demanded.

  “I’m detecting thirteen shift space anomalies,” the sensor officer replied.

  “It’s either a battle fleet, or a large convoy that at most has an escort or two. Either way, I doubt Lightfoot wants to tangle with it. Prepare for emergency acceleration, send the order around the ship,” Gupta commanded.

  Seconds later, a similar command came across the COM channel from the flagship. Then, less than thirty seconds later a new command came from the flagship. By then Discovery’s sensor officer had identified the new contacts as Indian warships, including a heavy cruiser. Gupta scanned Lightfoot’s orders and then stood to address the bridge crew. “We are reversing course, as soon as this new Indian fleet detects us they will be after us in a flash. Our only way out of here is back past the Indian squadron pursuing us. We’re going to have to fight our way out.”

  Lightfoot transmitted the order to begin the deceleration burn. Everyone strapped themselves into their command chairs as Discovery’s navigation officer began the maneuver.

  As soon as the Indian commander of the pursuing squadron saw that his prey was changing course he began to decelerate too. “He’s going to keep us in range for as long as possible,” Romanov said.

  “Wouldn’t you?” Gupta replied. “All he has to do is damage us enough that we can’t escape the larger Indian fleet. Even if his ships are heavily damaged, or destroyed, I’m sure the Indians would easily trade their squadron for ours. Especially after all the mayhem we’ve caused over the last couple of weeks.”

  The British ships were obviously a lot newer, with more modern engine technology, for they stopped their forward momentum far more quickly than the pursuing Indian ships. The British squadron turned and accelerated towards the small Indian squadron long before the Indians were able to come to rest relative to their original trajectory. The new Indian fleet accelerated into the Nicobar system on a direct intercept course with the British squadron. On the holo plot, it looked like the British squadron was about to be enveloped by the Indian warships.

  “New course coming in from the flagship, it’s taking us up and over the asteroid field,” the navigation officer reported.

  “Very well,” Gupta acknowledged. As she checked the new course as it was projected on the holo plot, she saw what Lightfoot was doing. The Indian squadron’s slower ships meant that the British could dance around them using the asteroid field as cover. The Indians wouldn’t be able to fire around the asteroid field and if they wanted to keep the British in missile range for as long as possible, they would have to angle away from the asteroid field. This would allow the Indians to fire two or maybe three full broadsides from their port missile tubes, but after that they would find themselves directly behind the British ships and only able to use their forward missile tubes.

  “We’ll be in missile range in five minutes,” Discovery’s tactical officer reported.

  “Fire with the flagship,” Gupta ordered.

  Lightfoot sent targeting data to his ships and as soon as the British squadron entered range of their new targets, they opened fire. The twenty eight British missiles were all targeted at the light cruiser that was no doubt the Indian squadron’s flagship. Before they reached their target, the Indians replied with a salvo of twenty four of their own anti-ship missiles.

  With four penetrator missiles in the British salvo, just before their missiles reached the point defense envelope of the Indian ships, the twenty-eight missiles suddenly became forty-eight. Desperately, the Indian destroyers moved into position to block some of the missiles aimed at the light cruiser. With the combined point defense fire, forty-eight missiles quickly became twenty, then ten, then four more were destroyed. The remaining six were too much for the light cruiser to avoid and three struck the Indian warship. The massive explosion that resulted suggested at least one of the cruiser’s reactors had overloaded. As the sensor feed cleared, there was no sign of even any debris from the warship.

  The Indian missiles had been targeted evenly between the four British ships. Gupta found herself directing her point defense gunners against the six missiles targeting her command. The flak cannons took out three of them at maximum range and the other three were easily swatted away by AM missiles. “Cover Fang,” Gupta shouted as soon as the threat to her ship was dealt with.

  The destroyer had taken out two of the missiles targeted at her, but four more were still accelerating into attack range. As Gupta watched, an AM missile from the destroyer took out another Indian missile and this was quickly followed by a volley of point defense plasma cannon fire that destroyed two more. Then a wave of plasma bolts from her ship took out one more missile. The final one managed to avoid all the fire both ships were throwing towards it. With a final acceleration boost from its engine, it dived in towards the destroyer. As Fang’s navigation officer threw her warship into a series of evasive maneuvers the missile overshot its target by less than a handful of meters. Sensing it had missed, the missile detonated, sending a wave of explosive force towards the destroyer.

  “Focus our sensors on Fang, I want to see how much damage she took,” Gupta ordered.

  As the visual sensors zoomed in, Gupta let out a sigh of relief. Fang was missing a number of point defense emplacements and her valstronium armor looked like it had been severely weakened. However, there was no sign of a hull breach and she could still keep up with the squadron.

  “Firing,” Discovery’s tactical officer announced.

  Fang’s missile crews had obviously been shaken by the impact for she was only able to fire three of her six missiles. Nevertheless, the Indian Captains must have known their fates were sealed, the two destroyers and two frigates left
would struggle to fend off twenty-five British missiles. Before they had to worry about defending themselves though, they fired their own salvo of sixteen missiles back at the British. As the Indian missiles approached their targets it was clear they were all aimed at Fang.

  “Captain, Lightfoot is requesting to speak with each ship in the squadron,” the COM officer reported.

  “Put him on the main holo display,” Gupta ordered.

  Moments later Lightfoot’s face appeared in front of them. “It looks like the Indians have given up on their attempt to damage all of us, they are going to try and make sure that Fang doesn’t get home. I’m not leaving anyone behind, we’re going to shield her and make sure we get out of this together.”

  A new formation was transmitted to each ship in the squadron. “Take us into our assigned position,” Gupta ordered the navigation officer.

  By moving the other ships into position around Fang, Lightfoot was opening them up to the possibility of being hit by one of the Indian missiles. If any of the British ships took serious damage, there would be no way that Lightfoot could stop them from being captured by the much larger Indian fleet that was now coming after them. Yet, if the British ships didn’t help Fang, she was sure to be destroyed or disabled.