“Kirkpatrick take over the command I will be in my quarters. Call me if there is any news.”
The young officer looked at him.
“Yes sir.”
The Admiral walked with steady steps and retreated in to his quarters. He was tired and it was time to take a little brake. He knew that he could trust in his second. The young boy was his special choice five years ago. He had a good instinct and always did his job the right way. And he was a good student. There was a carrier for him on the navy if he could stay like that in the coming years. The situation with the plane would be a good experience for him.
“And he can handle it just fine.” a thought crossed his mind.
What he didn’t know was that this was a day that will change the fate of all mankind and his life forever.
* * *
Ristarion looked at the display that was showing the human fleet and its disposition.
They were slowly coming closer to the cruiser that crushed two of the cursed human hours ago. He knew that it was a mistake of his commanding officer, that idiot Mran.
He had to get lower. And then that commercial airplane came out of nowhere. He couldn’t really blame the humans. With the experimental invisibility field on there was no way that they could really see the large cruiser. The plane was vaporized almost instantly but as luck would go the hit damaged the cruisers engines and shields. The cruiser was now under water hiding from the large human fleet. But with the human ships coming closer it was inevitable that they would find the large ship soon. And these ships were military ships. They might be a little primitive compared with the ships that he had under his command but they could still damage them even with a lucky strike destroy them.
“And their radar systems are a lot better than the commercial ones.”
He turned to one of the members of his crew.
“Contact commander Mran and tell him that in half an hour maybe sooner he will be discovered. Ask him how far the repairs are.”
The officer turned to the task instantly. They all knew the risks. This was a scout mission for the coming invasion fleet. They were on a mission to discover the perfect landing sites for the fleet and to make an evaluation of their enemy. They were nearly done and this had to happen. The mission was going excellently so far. His clan was close to a great discovery. The empire needed more slaves and the descendants of the cursed Alterans were perfect for that. They were fairly advanced and the battle was going to be tough. After all the race was a race that had great warriors that every legionary respected. But with no space weapons and planetary defense platforms they were easy pickings for the dreadnoughts and the cruisers that were escorting the troop carriers. The mission was done in secret from the other clans in the empire. He didn’t agree with that policy considering the terrible history that his race had with their ancestors in the past. But he was young and no one paid much attention on his warnings and suggestions. And now with this accident there was a chance that they might be discovered.
Mran slammed his hand on the armpit of the chair. Things were not looking good.
Actually they were rather desperate. The crush and that airplane damaged the shields and the engines. The repairs were going as fast as they can but he knew that he had no time with the human fleet fast approaching. Even with the cloak the ships were appearing like ghosts on the radars that the humans used and now without them and without shields he knew that soon they will notice his ship. He looked at the communications officer who was talking with one of the commanders of the frigates.
“It must be Ristarion.”
That thought made him even angrier. He knew deep inside that the younger underling was right when he said that this might be risky. And he knew what he was asking now. As the commander of the mission he had a duty to do everything he can to protect the secrecy of the mission, even to destroy any ship that endangers the mission, including his own. And it looked that that might be the only exit from this situation. He knew that every officer on this ship knows his duty and is ready to die on his command. Every legionary was taught on that holy duty from the day he was born, it was the Dacarian way. They would never question a command from him not when it protects the mission.
He was angry because he didn’t listen to his warnings and he knew that his own arrogance led to this situation. He took a deep breath and turned to the officer who was watching the display that was showing the human fleet that was fast approaching.
“How long do we have until they are able to detect us?”
The soldier looked at the display and then answered.
“We have ten, fifteen arns maximum, my lord.”
Mran looked at the display and smiled showing his sharp teeth. He pressed the button and took over the communication.
“Ristarion the time is too short for the repairs on the drive and the cloak to be finished before they reach us. You will take command of the mission and carry on to the best of your ability. I will activate the self destruct after seven arns if the repairs are not finished. After that you will take command. May the gods be with you young one.”
“It shall be as you command my lord. And may your journey to the afterlife be fruitful.”
The com went dead and every one of the legionnaires on the ship was now making his last prayers. Everyone bowed their heads. There were no cries, no disrespect. After a second the work continued. The working crews all around the ship were making the repairs as fast as they could although they all knew that it won’t do any good. But it was their duty and they were going to die doing it.
Mran knew that he can be only proud of his crew.
“It is a shame that a combination of bad luck and my own arrogance will lead them all to their deaths.”
After that he closed his eyes and started telling his own prayer to the gods.
* * *
Jennings looked at the radar in disbelief. The object that was several clicks in front of them was huge easily dwarfing the super carrier on the surface. He looked at the other technicians that were monitoring the incoming signals. They were staring him back with the same confused expression on their faces. No one could explain the object that they were sure was ahead of them. The signals emanating from it were like nothing they’ve seen before.
He took the readings and looked at them again. The size of the object was impressive, 220 meters wide and 1700 meters long. Not even the biggest ships on Earth were that large. He twisted his head and then took the results and called the commander.
Captain Adams looked at the results that Jennings was showing him. Then he looked at the young seamen and with a confident but low voice spoke:
“Are the results confirmed? Did you confirm the results with the Aurora and the Red October?”
The young seamen looked at his captain.
“Sir the results were checked…triple checked and confirmed by both the Aurora and the Red October. There is something up there. Something that is not ours and it definitely it’s not Russian.”
The captain looked at his XO and after a moment took the results from Jennings. He looked at them with a face that showed no emotion. After couple of seconds he raised his head and looked at the young officer in front of him.
“Were there any communications from the object? Did you try to raise them?”
“There are no communications from the object. We tried hailing them on all known frequencies both ours and Russian. There is no answer yet. There was a slight increase in the power readings couple of minutes ago but that was all.”
“Keep trying to raise them and slow our approach. Relay all information to the fleet on the surface and inform both the Aurora and the Red October that they should take flanking maneuvers. And tell the Yuri Dolgorukiy to stay behind.”
Jennings knew what this orders meant. The captain was preparing for the possibility of a confrontation.
“Yes sir.”
The captain dismissed the young officer and turned to his XO.
“What do you think
Bill? The report said that the Boeing had a collision with something. Can this be the thing they collided with?”
The XO looked and just shook his head. The situation looked absurd but with every passing moment his gut instinct was telling him that there was danger ahead. And he learned a long time ago that he should trust that feeling. He knew that his captain felt the same.
“We both know what this will look like. But you are making the right call. Something smells wrong.”
“Yes.”
The captain turned and gave a simple order that was expected by the crew.
“Load all tubes and get ready for emergency dive.”
It was just a precaution he hoped he won’t have to use but it was better to be safe than sorry. The same order went out on all the other submarines. They all knew that there was danger ahead and they were all preparing to meet it head on.
* * *
The young officer looked with surprise on the screen that showed the human submarine that appeared on the screen. The surprise on his face stayed for just a second as he checked the results again. He then turned to his commanding officer and informed him.
“Sir a human vessel just came from the deepwater and is scanning us with their equipment.”
“What?”
Mran’s expression was filled with anger. The human ship came too soon and it surprised him. He pressed a button on his command chair and the scans from his ship appeared on the main screen. The human underwater ship was to close.
“Do they see us? Do they know we are here?”
The communications officer was the one to answer him.
“They are trying to communicate on several languages. They know we are here.”
Mran thought for a second and cursed the gods in his mind. If only the human ship didn’t appear for seven more arns. He knew that that ship will relay the results to the fleet on the surface. And from the movements of the other two human ships it was obvious that they are surrounding his ship. Those ships were small compared with the cruiser but they could do a lot of damage. There was only one thing to do.
“Destroy them. Target all three ships.”
The weapons officer looked at him.
“Sir the damage we took damaged our sensors and most of our weapons. We have active point defense weapons, and without sensors the water is going to make the targeting with the lasers difficult. They are to close for use of the plasma guns and lasers so we have to use the rail guns.”
“Use whatever you can but destroy them before they contact the surface.”
The officer turned on his console and gave the order to fire.
At that moment multiple gun ports on the ship’s hull opened up. They couldn’t target the human ship precisely without their targeting scanners. But there were enough of them so they knew that they can’t miss with a barrage.
The order went and the guns opened fire.
Jennings dropped the headphones the moment he noticed the sounds of the gun ports opening and yelled to his captain.
Adams reacted quickly.
“Dive to 2600 feet.”
The submarine lurched and everyone felt the shock of the sudden turning. The captain then gave the next order.
“Fire all tubes and countermeasures and turn to heading 235-220.”
The order was carried out immediately.
8 mark 48 class 6 torpedoes were launched and accelerated towards the enemy object. At the same time the other two submarines opened fire as well. In matter of seconds 24 torpedoes were launched and started heading towards the enemy object.
In the next seconds hundreds of rail gun rounds were launched from the cruiser’s point defense batteries. The rounds were small and they were never planned for this type of battle. They moved with speeds up to 0.3c and were planned for taking enemy fighters and projectiles in space.
The submarines dived, altered course immediately, but none of the movements were planned for battle with enemy rounds that were moving with those speeds.
“The enemy is firing!!!”
The yell came from the radar station.
Adams turned towards the man who reported. It was the young Jennings. The captain felt deep regret looking at the young seamen’s face. He could see in his eyes that he also knew that this is a battle they can’t win. They all knew it.
“Relay all information’s to the Yuri Dolgorukiy and the fleet. It was an honor serving with all of you.”
As he saluted the first rounds hit the submarine.
The Jimmy Carter was a Seawolf class submarine. It was the last one built from this class that was built as an answer to the Russian Acula class. The submarine was better armed and had stronger defenses than its predecessors the Los Angeles class. Its hull was made from HY-100 steel that was stronger than the HY-80 steel that was used for the construction of the previous classes. Its hull was stronger and it could stand up to hits from modern human weapons of war, but it was never made for taking the fire power that was directed at the submarine at the moment.
The rounds of the Dacarian cruiser impacted almost immediately after they were fired. Most of them missed because they were fired almost blindly. But enough of them were fired that all three submarines took direct hits. The Jimmy Carter took three hits that splashed through its thick hull and released enough kinetic energy to completely vaporize the submarine.
The last thing that everyone of its crew saw was the blinding light of the energy being released. Their deaths were quick and they were the first of the many that would come. Just moments later both the Aurora and the Red October were destroyed. In just a second almost four hundred seamen lost their lives. And one third of them were Russian. Several of the rounds managed to hit the torpedoes that were launched.
But the explosion of the submarines and the blinding flashes and pressures that were released blinded almost all remaining sensors of the powerful ship. Of the 24 torpedoes that were launched by the submarines 11 remained and they all carried out their last orders. Compared to the rail gun rounds that the Dacarians fired they were moving slowly with speeds of 50 knots. But different from them, all torpedoes knew their target, and they were fired from a knife taking distance. Even at their slower speeds it took them just seconds to reach their target and deliver their deadly payload.
Eleven powerful explosions rocked the big cruiser. Its hull was a lot stronger than the one utilized by the submarines or even the human battleships, but it was never made for taking the pressures of the deep water. And by pure luck three of the torpedoes hit the same damaged area from the collision. The damage they did was far larger.
Mran fell from his chair as the explosions rocked his ship. And then the shockwave of the destructions of the three ships hit the cruiser as well. He ignored the pain from the fall and turned towards his officers.
“Give me damage reports, immediately!!!”
The anger in him was great. He never expected that the humans will manage to launch something at his ship before they were destroyed. These creatures were dangerous, and when the reports came in the anger turned to fury. He could feel the fire burning in his veins.
The damage on the hull was minor but the three torpedoes that hit the previously damaged sector from the collision now destroyed every chance that he had of repairing it. He looked at the time.
“Just ten more arns, all we need is just ten more.”
“Is there any chance that we might move at least a little from this place, to change our position.”
“No sir. The engines are of line. And with the damage to our hull I wouldn’t recommend going any deeper because the pressure will increase.”
He considered for a moment and then he turned to the officer.
“Keep a careful watch on the screens. We can’t take any more hits.”
“Yes sir.”
“And watch the movements of the surface fleet. Let’s hope that they didn’t manage to contact them.”
Captain Kamarov looked at the sonar operator that was holding
tightly to his headphones and listening with high concentration. The crew of the submarine was young and they didn’t have much experience. This was their final test before becoming officially operational. But he already knew that this was a good crew like all the others he had a chance to command. The submarine was the newest model that the Russian navy designed and it was the best submarine he ever had a chance to command. The Borei class was a strategic nuclear submarine and Yuri Dolgorukiy was the third submarine of the eight that were planned to be produced. There were some quirks with the new equipment but that was expected considering that this was a new and still unproven submarine.
Just moments ago he took the order from the Americans to stay behind and to dive deeper. He also knew of the mysterious object that lay ahead. It was huge and it was obviously artificial. It was suspended not supported by anything on depth of eleven hundred feet. And it was standing in place. It was marvelous. But something in his gut told him that it wasn’t friendly.
The young officers of his crew looked at him with concerned faces. He was about to give his next command when the young Asimov who was manning the sonar station threw down his headphones and yelled.
“The enemy object is firing. The submarines are returning fire...”
Just seconds later the shockwave from the three destroyed submarines reached them. The submarine lurched from the powerful hit but it wasn’t damaged. It was built to take those kinds of hits and stresses.
“What the hell was that?”
The communication officer handed him the last report without saying another word. When he looked at him his eyes filled with tears. He turned to Asimov.
“What is your report?”
The young technician looked at him and without hesitation answered.
“All three submarines took direct hits and were destroyed. The enemy object was hit by eleven torpedoes and is showing extensive damage but is still operational.”
The Icarian Legacy Collected Edition: Brave Souls - First Strike (Volume 3) Page 4