The Price of Liberty (Empire Rising Book 4)

by D. J. Holmes

  “So be it,” Khan replied. “We fight for our future,” he said before ending the COM channel.

  “Send a general message to the fleet,” Kapoor ordered. “Tell them, ‘steady ahead.’”

  *

  9:50 pm HMS Churchill

  “It doesn’t look like the Indians are backing down,” Cunningham said to his officers. “I guess we’re going to have a fight after all. Open a COM channel to our fleet,” he ordered

  “British fleet, this is Admiral Cunningham. I want to inform you voting has finished on Haven and we have the results. The people of Haven voted overwhelmingly to become a British Protectorate. Parliament will have to recognize the vote, however, to all intents and purposes, the planet of Haven and the people of Haven are now as much a part of the British Star Kingdom as you or I. I have already informed the Indian fleet of the outcome of the referendum. As you can see, they are still approaching the colony, spoiling for a fight. You can all do the math, despite our successes so far this day, they have an advantage over us in terms of numbers.

  “Nevertheless, past battles with the Indians have shown we have the technological advantage and I believe we will prove an equal match to them. More importantly, we have something more powerful driving us, honor. Many of you are only here today because of the sacrifice of Captain Foley and the other ships that gave their lives in the New Delhi system so you could escape. Today is the day we honor their sacrifice; today is the day we show the Indians exactly what it means to come up against the British Royal Navy. I intend to give the Indians everything I’ve got and ask you all to do the same. Cunningham out.”

  “Transmission sent,” one of the auxiliary bridge’s COM officers reported.

  “Very well,” Cunningham replied. “Send our new course to the fleet, it’s time to stop beating around the bush.”

  *

  9:52 pm HMS Endeavour

  James closed his eyes as he relived those deadly moments when Goliath and the other ships that had followed him at New Delhi were destroyed. Gritting his teeth, he felt a new wave of determination wash over him. This is for you Foley, he thought.

  “New orders coming in from the flagship,” Sub Lieutenant Jennings reported from the navigation console.

  “We’re finally going to join the fight,” James said as Jennings projected the fleet’s new trajectory onto the holo plot. “Follow the flagship as she makes her turn.”

  Endeavour had been assigned a position among the forward elements of Cunningham’s fleet. She, along with a destroyer and two frigates, were playing escort to the heavy cruiser Benbow. Endeavour would be in the thickest of the fighting, yet James would have it no other way. For her size, Endeavour had the best point defenses in the fleet.

  After the fleet finished its maneuver, a large countdown appeared on the holo projector. The Indian fleet would come into missile range in forty-five minutes. “I’m going to take a quick tour of the ship,” James announced. “Lieutenant Becket, you have the bridge.”

  “Aye Sir,” Becket replied. “I have the bridge.”

  As James went from department to department, speaking to as many of his crew as he could, he was surprised by just how many faces he had come to know well. Most of his crew had spent the better part of the last two years with him. They had become like family. Knowing them so well, it was easy to bring smiles to their faces or to elicit chuckles with a few short sentences. James wasn’t sure his presence would do much to boost morale but he wanted his crew to see he was relaxed going into such a momentous battle.

  Stepping into the auxiliary bridge, James was momentarily taken aback when Lieutenant Mallory stood up to shake his hand. He knew Julius had been assigned to Cunningham’s diversionary fleet yet his subconscious had still expected to see her at her battle station.

  “We are all ready to go here,” Mallory reported.

  “I expected nothing less,” James replied. “I know you will all do your duty,” he said a little louder for all of the auxiliary bridge crew to hear him. “I know you’re used to taking orders from Lieutenant Julius, and I know Lieutenant Mallory doesn’t quite have the same charm or looks, but you will all just have to make do.”

  “And I thought the Captain and I were friends,” Mallory said with a grin as he looked around the smiling faces on the auxiliary bridge.

  Stepping closer to Mallory, James lowered his voice to a whisper, “If anything happens to me, keep fighting the ship. Don’t fall out of formation unless you’re given a direct order. Cunningham is going to need every point defense weapon the fleet has if we’re going to get through this.”

  “I understand Sir,” Mallory whispered back with a much more serious expression on his face. “I won’t let you down.”

  “That I would bet on,” James said as he smiled and slapped Mallory on the back. Their relationship had started off badly. James had carried serious misgivings about Mallory. Yet in the end he had come good. “There’s no one I would trust more with Endeavour. Let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that.”

  “Let’s hope,” Mallory said, trying to sound more upbeat, though a serious look still dominated his face. Mallory could read the situation as well as he. They had both fought in enough battles to know the British and Indian fleets were about to take a battering.

  “I’ll return to the bridge,” James said as he nodded to Mallory and turned to take his leave.

  When he got to the bridge the counter on the main holo display had dropped to ten minutes. “Any updates from the flagship?” he asked Lieutenant Becket after taking her place on the Captain’s command chair.

  “We have received our targeting data for the first three missile salvos,” Becket reported. “Our first salvo will be targeting their smaller point defense warships, then we will be focusing on their capital ships. Captain Gupta has managed to identify the Indian flagship. Both Churchill and Justice will be targeting it with their second and third volleys.”

  “Very good,” James commented. Churchill and Justice were both battlecruisers. They carried the largest anti-ship missiles. If they managed to get two or three direct hits on the Indian flagship they should be able to put it out of the fight.

  James watched the timer count down. When it reached zero he nodded to Becket. With the touch of a button she fired Endeavour’s first broadside of missiles. In total, four hundred and forty-six missiles were launched towards the Indian fleet. Given their range advantage over the Indians, James knew Cunningham’s fleet would get a second volley of missiles off before the Indians could launch their own missiles.

  Before the British ships were ready to fire again, one hundred new missiles shot towards the Indian fleet. Cunningham’s last surprise, James thought as he watched them go. The British Admiral had attached the last Havenite missile pods to his capital ships. When the British fleet fired a second salvo, their faster missiles would catch up with the Havenite missiles and a massive volley of five hundred and fifty missiles would come crashing in on the Indian capital ships.

  “Firing second salvo in ten seconds,” Becket announced once Endeavour’s gunners had reloaded her eight missile tubes.

  The Indians launched their first missile salvo at almost exactly the same time the British launched their second. The gravimetric plot was almost overwhelmed as over a thousand new contacts appeared.

  “I’m tracking five hundred and sixty-two Indian missiles approaching us,” Sub Lieutenant Malik said from the sensor console after taking several seconds to analyze the new contacts.

  “Acknowledged,” James responded.

  As both fleets continued on their converging courses, they fired another salvo at each other. In total, James estimated there were over two thousand eight hundred missiles accelerating across the gap between both fleets. Having fired first, the British ships would get to watch the impact of their first salvo before they would have to defend themselves in earnest.

  From the engagements in the New Delhi system, James knew some of the Indians warships had flak cann
ons. It was no surprise when the first British missile salvo began to thin out before it entered point defense plasma cannon range of the Indian ships. Nevertheless, four hundred missiles made it through the shrapnel clouds and carried out evasive maneuvers as thousands of plasma bolts and AM missiles shot from the Indian warships to intercept them.

  Four hundred were quickly reduced to two hundred and fifty, then one hundred and fifty and then less than fifty British missiles remained as they tried to dodge and duck their way towards their targets. Recognizing they were the targets of the remaining missiles, the smaller Indian escort ships began evasive maneuvers while still trying to shoot down their attackers.

  Just twenty British missiles got close enough to their targets to detonate. Endeavour’s sensors were momentarily blinded by the huge amounts of electromagnetic energy the thermonuclear explosions gave off. As it cleared, it became clear many of the missiles had hit their targets. “At least one destroyer, six frigates and five corvettes have disappeared from the Indian fleet,” Malik reported. “There is another destroyer and several frigates falling out of formation, clearly damaged.”

  It’s a start, James thought. Destroying so many small ships wouldn’t have much of an impact on the weight of missiles the Indians would be able to fire at them. Nevertheless, it would make the larger Indian warships more vulnerable to the subsequent volleys of missiles.

  The British second salvo and the Indian’s first salvo reached their targets at almost exactly the same time. As a result, on Endeavour’s bridge no one was paying attention to the progress of their own missiles. Instead they focused on coordinating their flak cannon fire with the rest of the British fleet. Then Becket shifted her focus to the point defense plasma cannons and Endeavour’s AM missiles.

  With an efficiency James had come to expect, he watched her shoot down missile after missile targeted at Benbow. When the Indian missiles were less than thirty seconds away from exploding among the British fleet, James spotted one that was clearly targeting Endeavour. “Focus on missile S-76,” James shouted to Becket. “Evasive maneuvers Jennings if she can’t take it out.”

  Becket had been concentrating on two of the missiles that were tracking Benbow. Not wanting to waste the time she had already spent targeting them, she launched a volley of AM missiles towards them before switching targets. Desperately she tried to use Endeavour’s point defense plasma cannons to shoot down the missile that was threatening her ship. Despite her best efforts, the missile spun and twisted away from every plasma bolt that shot at it. “I can’t get it,” she shouted with desperation when the missile was less than eight seconds away from hitting Endeavour.

  Without waiting for orders from James, Jennings responded. With a touch of her command console she threw Endeavour into a series of twists and turns as she tried to save her ship. The Indian missile wasn’t so easily fooled. Though it failed to score a direct hit, it exploded just thirty meters away from Endeavour’s hull. As the energy from the proximity hit washed over Endeavour everyone on the bridge was shaken in their command chairs.

  “Damage report,” James demanded.

  “We are all right,” Mallory replied after taking a few moments to scan the reports coming in from all over the ship. “We’ve lost a number of point defense nodes on our starboard side. So far everything else seems to be reporting full functionality. I’ve already dispatched repair teams to assess the area and see if any of the point defenses can be brought back online.”

  “Good work, keep me updated,” James responded.

  Before he could ask Malik about the status of the rest of the British ships, new orders came in from Churchill. Cunningham had already assessed their losses and was rearranging his fleet’s formation to present the most effective point defense fire towards the next salvo of Indian missiles. It took more than two minutes for James to be happy that he had Endeavour where Cunningham wanted her. Finally satisfied, he took a moment to check the status of both fleets.

  A quick glance told him that one British light cruiser and several frigates had disappeared, presumably destroyed. Several other medium and light cruisers were also reporting damage from proximity hits or a direct missile impact. The Indian fleet looked like they had suffered losses as well. James couldn’t tell exactly how many ships were missing but at least two of their medium cruisers looked like they were falling out of formation having suffered some kind of damage.

  “Engaging the Indian second salvo in forty seconds,” Becket announced. Her words tore James’ attention away from the Indian fleet before he could determine if any other ships had been destroyed.

  As Endeavour’s flak cannons and other point defenses engaged the Indian’s second salvo, it became apparent no missiles were directly targeting her. The same couldn’t be said for Benbow. As six Indian missiles closed with the heavy cruiser James ordered Endeavour out of formation. Putting her directly alongside the heavy cruiser allowed Becket to fire one last volley of AM missiles. The Captain of the destroyer Jackal, who was also protecting Benbow, had the same thought. The concentrated fire from all three ships destroyed four of the missiles. One lost lock on Benbow and dove in towards Jackal instead.

  The destroyer didn’t have time to evade. The missile struck Jackal right on the nose and penetrated into her forward sections before it detonated, turning the forward fifth of the destroyer’s nose into space debris. As Jackal tumbled out of formation, several ships in the British fleet had to take action to avoid a collision. The second Indian missile overshot its target but still managed to score a proximity hit on Benbow. Being so close to the heavy cruiser, some of the explosive force impacted Endeavour as well.

  “I think we’re all right,” Mallory announced several seconds later. “The valstronium armor held, I’m not getting any serious damage reports.”

  “Keep an eye on things,” James ordered. “I don’t want any malfunctions surprising us.”

  “Admiral Cunningham wants us to fire again in two minutes,” Becket reported.

  “Will our gunners have our missile tubes reloaded in time?” James asked. Endeavour’s evasive maneuvers and the shockwaves from proximity hits could cause significant delays for the technicians who oversaw the reloading of the missile tubes.

  “We should be fine,” Becket replied.

  “Fire when Cunningham gives the order,” James commanded.

  Checking the gravimetric plot, James thought more Indian ships had been destroyed by their third salvo. However, it was difficult to tell. The battle was overwhelming his senses. As both fleets converged, the time it took for missiles to close with their targets was decreasing. The gravimetric plot indicated the Indians’ third salvo would be entering point defense range in just five minutes. “What is the status of the Indian fleet Sub Lieutenant Malik?” James asked. As the sensor officer he would have a better idea of how the British missiles were faring against the Indian’s point defenses.

  “At least two medium cruisers have been destroyed,” Malik replied. “I have detected multiple hits on some of their other capital ships, but so far they are all still in the fight.”

  “And their smaller escort ships?” James queried.

  “After our first volley, I have only detected two or three of their smaller ships that have been destroyed,” Malik answered.

  Checking his own fleet’s status James saw the battle was proving indecisive. A number of British ships had reported taking serious damage yet only one medium cruiser had been destroyed.

  This won’t continue for much longer, James thought as another four hundred missiles tore away from the British fleet, intent on destroying the Indian capital ships. Sooner or later one fleet would get a couple of lucky hits and take out a heavy cruiser or a battlecruiser. Losing even just one of the larger warships would turn the tide of the battle.

  “Here comes the third salvo,” Becket announced before she opened fire with the flak cannons.

  As the missiles came closer, it became apparent that the Indians had concentrated
their fire on the forward sections of the British fleet. More than sixty missiles were targeting Benbow alone.

  Within seconds, new orders streamed out from Admiral Cunningham. Benbow, Endeavour and the heavy cruiser’s other escorts decelerated. Other escort ships further back in the fleet accelerated to close with the heavy cruiser. In less than ten seconds the space around Benbow became a dazzling light show as plasma bolts, AM missiles and flak cannon rounds reached into space. Watching the visual sensors, James was certain he had never seen the like before.

  Even so, he wasn’t sure it was going to be enough. Moving Endeavour alongside Benbow was almost certainly going to be suicidal James concluded. Instead he ordered Endeavour to move away from the heavy cruiser. Gaining some distance would allow his point defense gunners to fire at a larger cross-section of the Indian missiles as they made their final approach.