by D. J. Holmes
“New contacts,” a sensor officer called, bringing a sudden halt to Lightfoot’s thoughts. His head swiveled to a secondary holo projector. Twelve new ships had begun to accelerate on the far side of the system.
“Captain Scott?” Rivers asked when he saw the number of ships.
“It has to be,” Lightfoot replied as he sat forward in his command chair. It would take at least thirty seconds for Argyll’s computers to analyze the gravimetric waves given off by the ships and match them to Scott’s, but he was already certain. At once he factored in the new variables. As he weighed up his plan, he ground his teeth together. It would mean more of a delay. But he would likely have to wait for Scott’s ships anyway. It would be foolish to proceed to the next system without adding their number to his. Glancing back to the holo projector he nodded when he saw the Karacknid ship that had been ahead of his fleet had already jumped into shift space. It would be on its way to the next system with news that Lightfoot’s fleet was just hours behind. And without knowledge of Scott’s ships. That sealed his decision. He quickly typed out orders for Captain Scott. As soon as they were ready he sent them to Argyll’s COM officer. “Transmit these to Misfit immediately. Then send orders to the rest of our fleet. We are going to take out as many of those pesky vultures as possible.”
Once the orders were sent Lightfoot had to wait patiently for the right moment. The Karacknid ship shadowing his fleet, rightly discerning the identity of the twelve new contacts, had pulled back slightly. It was a full hour before Lightfoot felt the time was right. “Execute!” he ordered.
His fleet split into three and pursued the Karacknid ships. There were eight of them, and though spread out, they were roughly arranged in two groups of three and then a final pair. Lightfoot caught himself silently rocking back and forth as he urged Argyll forward. As soon as he realized what he was doing, he stopped, but he understood his feelings all too well. Having spent more than a week helplessly watching the Karacknid ships, he was eager to finally be after them. As expected, their superior acceleration rates allowed them to make a good attempt at escape. However, Lightfoot had split his fleet up so that some Varanni ships were in each group. Unable to outrun Varanni engines, the Karacknids slowly realized they were in trouble and what Lightfoot could only describe as a dance developed. Seeking to escape, the Karacknid ships split up and twisted and turned, constantly changing course in an effort to shake off their pursuers. Lightfoot grunted in satisfaction when the game of cat and mouse began. He had played many such games before, even against other Karacknid commanders. He fancied his chances of success. But as the back-and-forth developed, his frustration grew. He found himself grinding his teeth again. Whoever was orchestrating the Karacknids’ movements was good. He wasn’t going to get all of his ships to safety, not if Lightfoot had any say in the matter, but some were going to escape.
“Now,” he ordered when the time was right. Argyll’s COM officer sent the order to Scott and her ships boosted to their full acceleration rates. Four of the Karacknid ships were caught off guard by the new Human ships that were capable of going faster than the ones they had been pursuing for more than a week. Having been so focused on evading Lightfoot’s ships, they hadn’t fully accounted for the possibility that Scott’s ships were faster than they appeared. Each of them was destroyed without being able to do any damage in return. They got off several missile salvos, but operating in groups of four, Scott’s ships had more than enough point defenses to fend them off. However, the remaining four Karacknid ships eluded every attempt Lightfoot made to close with them. Though he was sorely tempted to keep trying, when Scott’s ships re-joined his, he called off the chase. “Turn us back towards the shift passage,” he ordered. Getting home was more important than satisfying his desire to swat gnats. “And open a COM channel to Captain Scott, I want to hear her report firsthand.”
*
IS Argyll, 12th July 2482 AD (12 days later).
“Longshot has just returned,” Lightfoot’s COM officer reported. “She is transmitting her scans now. Her Captain says he thinks we have come to a fleet headquarters’ world.”
Lightfoot sat up straighter. Since entering Karacknid space proper they had seen no sign of an actual Karacknid military presence. Yet he knew they must have some supply depots and fleet bases. They had launched their invasion of Mindus territory from this part of their Empire. When the data from Longshot’s scans came up on Argyll’s holo projector he knew Captain Jenkins was right. There were thirty ships within the inner system moving in what could only be a military formation. Further in, orbiting the system’s fourth planet there were a multitude of stations. Most of them were radiating huge amounts of energy. Whatever they were designed to do, it took a lot of reactors to power them.
“Right,” he said, giving voice to his newfound optimism. Now that he knew Scott’s ruse had worked, and they had taken out half of the ships that had been pestering him, the tight constricted feeling that being stuck in Karacknid space had been giving him had eased. “Jump the fleet into the system. Set course for that Karacknid world. Let’s get a little closer and see what we’ve found.”
Seconds after Argyll carried out the short jump right to the system’s mass shadow and accelerated, the Karacknid squadron reacted. Having been warned about Lightfoot’s ships, they had evidently been keeping station between the shift passage Argyll had just jumped out of and the orbital stations they were tasked with defending. Whether because of the course Argyll set off on, or because Lightfoot’s fleet was larger than they had been expecting, the Karacknids turned back to the system’s fourth planet. “They don’t want to fight?” Rivers asked as they watched the Karacknids’ maneuvers.
“If my guess is right, that’s a pretty significant military installation deeper in the system,” Lightfoot replied. “They’ll not want to let us attack it. If they try and take us on head to head we could blow through them and have a free pass at their stations. If we were in any other system that commander might willingly sacrifice his fleet to cripple us. But not here. That gives us an opportunity.”
“What is the plan Admiral?” Houston asked as she turned in her command chair.
“Let’s get a little closer and see what we’re up against,” Lightfoot replied. “They’re bound to have some orbital defense stations defending such a significant investment. The enemy commander probably believes that with his ships and the defenses he can beat us off. Of course, he doesn’t know we have no desire to fight a fleet action with a squadron his size, never mind taking on fixed defenses as well. But as long as he doesn’t know that we may as well take advantage of it.”
Twenty minutes later Lightfoot found himself facing the same decision he had faced in the Farmalian system. Further scans had revealed just what the Karacknids were doing deeper within the system. Over twenty shipyards were clearly visible on Argyll’s main holo projector. Every single one of them had a partially completed ship within it.
“Based on our scans, the computer believes the ships are destroyers,” Argyll’s tactical officer reported. “The system must be dedicated to building them. If you look here, it looks like there are eight completed ones sitting in orbit. It doesn’t look like they have any energy weapons yet. They must be taken elsewhere to finish being outfitted.”
“Which means they likely don’t have any crews either. So they are no threat,” Rivers added.
“What about the planet?” Lightfoot asked.
The holo image zoomed in on the planet. It was a rocky world. For the most part, large mountain ranges dominated the holo projection. “We have only detected one major city,” the tactical officer answered. The image zoomed in again to focus on a series of long thin spikes that stretched high into the sky. “Our scans suggest about eighty percent of the structures are underground. It could be home to anywhere from five hundred thousand to several million Karacknids.
Lightfoot turned to the tactical officer. “We’re sure they are Karacknids?”
The offic
er shrugged. “We’re too far away to confirm if there are any Karacknids out in the open. But we’re detecting no other cities or even towns or villages.”
Lightfoot nodded. That meant the city hadn’t been built by natives of the planet. Either this was a Karacknid colony, or a species the Karacknids had transported here lived in the city. Given how paranoid the Karacknids appeared to be with the species they conquered, he doubted they would allow one of them to operate a shipbuilding project as large as this. Ok, he thought. Now what? Just like at Farmalian, the target in front of him was almost too good to pass up. The twenty shipyards in front of him could probably churn out one hundred and fifty to two hundred ships every year. If he destroyed them, it might mean five hundred less ships for Humanity to fight in two or three years. Yet it would probably cost him half his force or more. That was the key difference with Farmalian. There, there had been no Karacknid ships to fight. Thanks to Scott he knew the Jaranna fleet was at least several days behind him. He could spare some time to take out the shipyards. But not too much, he mused. If he wanted to destroy them he couldn’t afford to waste days preparing a fancy attack. He’d have to move straight into missile range and fight it out with the defenders. In his mind’s eye he could picture what Jil’lal and Gar’am would say. Jil’lal would want to attack. She hated passing up the opportunity to hurt the Karacknids. Gar’am would be more cautious, but he could probably be persuaded.
And there was something else to consider. If he did take out the shipyards and the orbital defenses, the Karacknid city would be at his mercy. It would be the first time in the war a Karacknid colony would be at the mercy of a Human fleet. After what they had done to Earth, the possibility stirred up a number of dark emotions. That scared him. As much as he hated the Karacknids, he didn’t want the guilt he would eventually feel if he attacked their city. Plus, if he started nuking their cities, the Karacknids would respond in kind. Even if his ships all made it home safely, there was no way the Human fleet could protect every Human colony. If the Karacknids wanted to, they could dispatch small squadrons to every Human world and blow them all out of existence. That would be the end of us, Lightfoot knew. As he was thinking about it, another thought came to him. If he was having such conflicted thoughts, what would his Captains be thinking? Or even the individual gunners. All it would take would be for one rogue gunner to launch a missile at the city and it could set off a chain reaction that would see Humanity bombed into extinction. That thought settled Lightfoot’s mind. “Here’s the plan,” he said as he turned to Rivers and Houston and outlined what he was thinking.
Scott and Gar’am’s ships moved to the front of the fleet. Then Lightfoot’s entire force continued towards the Karacknid shipyards. For the next two hours Lightfoot watched the Karacknid ships closely. He was looking for even a hint that they might break orbit. He also dispatched several frigates ahead of his main force to make sure there weren’t any other Karacknid forces lying in wait for him. As long as things continued as they were, he was happy to allow his fleet to proceed along its current trajectory.
An hour later Lightfoot decided his ships had come close enough. “Signal Scott and Gar’am to release their missiles,” he ordered. “Then alter course.”
As he had arranged, both groups of ships accelerated a missile salvo out of their tubes. However, the missiles didn’t ignite their own engines. Instead they continued on a ballistic course towards the Karacknid orbital shipyards. Seconds after the missiles were launched, all the ships in Lightfoot’s fleet turned away from the Karacknid forces. They decelerated and turned onto a heading back out of the system. Over the next ten minutes his fleet split into two squadrons as they set course for two different shift passages. Lightfoot nodded in satisfaction when the Karacknid ships powered up their engines and broke orbit. “They were happy to defend their shipyards when they thought they were under threat. But they’re not going to let us leave unopposed.” The Karacknid commander wasn’t a coward, he was just prudent.
“Send the activation code for the missiles,” Lightfoot ordered fifteen minutes later. As soon as the missiles went active, he had to fight to keep a straight face. The Karacknids’ response almost had him breaking into a grin, however, he didn’t want his officers to think he was gloating. The Karacknids were far too competent to show them anything but respect. Even so, it was clear the Karacknid commander hadn’t been expecting the sudden appearance of eighty missiles. Certainly, not on the trajectory they were on. As soon as they ignited their engines, the missiles from Scott and Gar’am’s ships split into two groups and, using their superior range, arched up and over or down and below the Karacknid ships. They were programmed to follow a curved route around the Karacknid ships to the orbital stations. The Karacknid fleet suddenly found itself heading in the wrong direction. Soon every enemy warship was decelerating hard as they scrambled to get back to the orbital stations to defend them.
Most of the Karacknid frigates and destroyers got back in time, but the heavier and slower ships did not. Just as Lightfoot had suspected, the shipyards were equipped with their own point defenses. As the missiles closed with their targets many of them were destroyed. Yet some got close enough to detonate. “Good shooting,” he said loud enough for the entire bridge to hear. He knew his words would make it to the other ships. It looked like five shipyards had taken some kind of damage. Three looked to be completely destroyed. “That was a good hunch about those completed destroyers,” he added to his tactical officer. The six destroyers that didn’t have any energy weapons had turned out not to have any point defenses. Five of them had been destroyed.
“They’re turning again,” the Lieutenant said as he nodded towards the holo projection.
“They’ll be out for revenge,” Lightfoot responded. He had humiliated his counterpart. The Karacknid commander must have thought his attack a feint designed to drive the Karacknid ships into orbit so that Lightfoot’s fleet could escape. He had been partially correct, but his eagerness to give chase when Lightfoot changed course had been his undoing. “They’ll follow us to the next system and the next in an effort to bring us to battle.” The Karacknid fleet split into two small squadrons and each held onto a pursuit course for his two squadrons. A number of destroyers and frigates were also spread out with their active sensors on full to make sure no other missiles tried to sneak past the Karacknid ships. “Let’s hope the next stage of our plan works as well,” he said. Even though he had the numerical advantage, he didn’t fancy letting the Karacknid commander get his ships into missile range. He suspected they would be more than happy to sacrifice themselves to cripple his fleet.
Chapter 4
Though the Imperial Fleet rapidly expanded its technological superiority over the Karacknids in the early stages of the war, our production capabilities were severely lacking. As we started to overcome that problem, the Karacknids responded with technological upgrades of their own.
-Excerpt from Empire Rising, 3002 AD.
IS Argyll, 13th July 2482 AD.
Eighteen hours into their journey along the shift passage to the next Karacknid system Argyll and the squadron of ships with her exited shift space. Instead of reorienting themselves and recharging the shift drives to continue their journey, they turned and used their impulse engines to move out of the shift passage. There, they entered stealth and waited patiently. Two hours later they detected thirty Karacknid warships exiting shift space. Twenty minutes after that they disappeared as they jumped again. For another eight hours the Human and Vestarian warships waited. Only when another group of twenty-two ships appeared out of shift space did they move.
“Hail Gar’am, let’s see if our ruse worked,” Lightfoot ordered as Argyll moved to re-join the second squadron Lightfoot had detached from his fleet.
“Greetings Admiral,” Gar’am said with a slight bow of his head when the COM link was established. “I presume the squadron chasing you has already passed?”
“It has,” Lightfoot confirmed. “And the one
that chased you, they believe you proceeded on up your shift passage?”
“They continued on down the shift passage apparently none the wiser,” Gar’am answered.
“Then we may proceed,” Lightfoot responded. “We will jump as soon as your ships have recharged their shift drives. With luck, we’ll have enough of a numerical advantage to pass through the next system without being accosted.” Gar’am tilted his head again before the COM channel ended.
“Right,” Lightfoot said as he turned to his staff officers. “As soon as it gets to the next system and sees we did not get there ahead of them the Karacknid fleet will know we are up to something. Let’s go through how they might react and work up some counter plans. I want to be ready when we jump out.”
“Aye Admiral,” Houston replied for her staff.
*
IS Argyll, 15th July 2482 AD (2 days later).
“Something is afoot,” Houston said when the sensor data from the two scouts Lightfoot had sent into the next system came back. “There is no sign of them.”