by Daniel Gibbs
A second later, Hanson’s wrist device crackled. “Yes, sir, we’re sending someone down now, sir.”
Hanson tapped on his engineering tablet, pulling up a schematic of the ship. “We will need three more volunteers, Doctor. I’ll take the one closest, but we need to reroute four different relay points at the same time.”
Hayworth looked over Hanson’s shoulder for a moment. “Only two more. I’ll take this locker,” he said as he pointed to one of the relay lockers furthest out.
As the two men talked, a couple of contractors who had been listening in walked over. “Sir,” one of them began, addressing Hanson. “We helped configure those lockers last week. More than anyone here, we understand how they’re laid out. We’ll take the other two.”
“I can’t allow you to do that,” Hanson stated, looking at the name badge of the man who did the talking. “Tomilison. It’s too great of a risk for a civilian.”
Tomilison’s face turned to a grimace. “We can handle it, Major. Time is of the essence, and we know exactly what to do.”
Hanson looked at Hayworth, hoping for his approval. Hayworth’s demeanor, however, was inscrutable. “Okay. Take the other two lockers.”
As the two men nodded and began to walk off, Hanson called after them. “Godspeed!”
Hayworth cleared his throat. “I can’t stand that saying.”
“It doesn’t hurt you to hear it said, Doctor.”
“It annoys me.”
“Why don’t we focus on the job at hand and debate religion later?” Hanson replied with a forced smile. “Now let’s get this done.”
35
While Amir and his flight group were busy taking the fight to the League, David had the task of waiting until the shields were recharged, and the fire was out in the forward magazine. Of all the things I’m good at, waiting isn’t one of them. With nothing else to do but monitor the situation while Amir’s fighters struck at the League ships, he studied the tactical plot and made plans to reengage the League ships as soon as the Lion was able. He also pondered if Seville had an elite group of crews that he could call on, as the League ships currently opposing them appeared to be far from the poor opponents that he was used to fighting. It all pointed to an elaborate plot to drive a stake into the heart of the Terran Coalition. If the Ark Royal had engaged this battle group, it would have been destroyed, but at least with the Lion, we’ve got a chance to win.
Looking over at the empty XO chair, David prayed Sheila was having success fighting the fire. Ruth’s voice cut into his mental reverie. “Conn, TAO! Friendly fast movers have destroyed Master Four.”
David’s head snapped back to the tactical plot. “Acknowledged, TAO! What’s the status of the remaining contacts?”
“Our fighters are engaging Master Three currently, sir, though roughly twenty percent of them have been disabled or destroyed.”
David frowned; a twenty-percent loss rate among small craft was very high, though it stood to reason that the League fighters were also manned by elite pilots, so perhaps that rate of loss wasn’t as bad as it seemed. Hopefully, our search and rescue teams can save our pilots after this battle.
Taylor spoke up from his station. “Conn, communications. Damage control reports that the fire in the forward magazine is out, and the fire relight watch has been set.”
Inwardly, David breathed a heavy sigh of relief. Way to go, Sheila. That’s going to be worth a nice bottle of something. He turned his attention back toward the tactical plot. As he watched, one of the icons for the League cruisers winked out.
“Conn, TAO! Master Three has been destroyed,” Ruth said in near real time.
“Acknowledged, TAO,” David said, watching to see what the two remaining Rand class cruisers would do; they formed up near the League dreadnaught but made no attempt to move forward to engage the Lion. He believed that they were attempting to provide point defense covering fire for the Destruction.
David’s personal communication panel blinked, an incoming message being received from engineering. Punching a button to open the channel, Hanson’s voice was heard. “Conn, engineering. Forward shields are back online and will recharge over the next thirty seconds.”
He couldn’t quite make it out, but Hanson’s breathing sounded labored. “Understood. Overall power plant status?”
“We had radiation leakage through our coolant system and some of the power conduits that overloaded. Several of us, including myself, have been treated for radiation exposure. No causalities, sir.”
At the mention of radiation leakage, David’s mind went into overdrive at yet another problem. “Understood, Major. Cohen out.”
Glancing up from his console, he looked forward, past Ruth and Hammond. “Conn, TAO. Shield status?”
“Forward shields at eighty-five percent of charge, sir. We’re ready to engage the generator.”
“TAO, raise forward shields. Navigation, intercept course on Master One.” Pausing for a moment, he added, “Let’s end this.”
David looked toward Taylor. “Communications, get me Colonel Amir.”
“Aye aye, sir, Colonel Amir patched into your console.”
David spoke into his mic. “Colonel Amir, how’s your wing holding up?”
Amir’s distorted voice crackled through the speaker. “We’re hanging together, sir. About to take another run at the Leaguers.”
“Stand by on that, Amir. We’re going to engage the remaining League vessels. The TAO will vector you in as we begin our assault.”
“Understood, Colonel Cohen.”
“Lion out,” David said, clicking off the communications channel.
“Conn, navigation. Intercept course laid in for Master One, sir,” Hammond interjected.
David absorbed her report. “TAO, how many Hunter and Starbolt missiles do we have left in our forward missile launch array?”
“Twelve Hunters, one hundred Starbolts, sir,” Ruth said.
David pondered for a moment; with only twelve Hunters remaining, he would have to be judicious in their use. Starbolt missiles were basically fusion warheads with a rudimentary LIDAR-based tracking system. They were great weapons but were far more susceptible to jamming and point defense. Despite their shortcomings, he reasoned, they could fire the entire salvo off in one shot, overwhelming the point defense systems of the League’s flagship. First things first. Gotta take out those Rands and clear the battle space.
“Navigation, flank speed.”
“Conn, navigation. Flank speed, aye,” Hammond said crisply.
“TAO, firing point procedures, Master Two, magnetic-cannons and neutron beams.”
“Conn, TAO. Firing solutions set for Master Two.”
“Match bearings, shoot, all weapons,” David said as he glanced down at the tactical plot to see the effect of the weapons’ release. Magnetic cannon rounds thundered away from the Lion, the energy release nudging the ship slightly to the side, followed up by neutron beam strikes. The League Rand class cruiser took significant damage. With most of its consorts destroyed, it was unable to retreat behind the shields of the other vessels.
“Conn, TAO. Master Two has sustained significant damage,” Ruth confirmed before her LIDAR reading showed movement by the League ships. “Conn, TAO! Aspect change, Master One, Two, and Five. Sub-light engine light-off. They’re moving toward us at flank speed. Enemy vessels are firing, sir.”
David’s eyes were glued to the tactical plot; he knew that he had to defeat the League ships in detail. As plasma charges impacted against the Lion’s shields, the ship shuddered and rocked. “TAO, firing point procedures, Master Two. Target its engines and weapons with all forward magnetic cannons and neutron beams.”
“Conn, TAO. Firing solutions set for Master Two.”
“Match bearings, shoot, all weapons.”
More rounds shot out of the mag-cannons and raced toward the Rand class cruiser, slamming into its weakened shields. The first few were stopped, and their kinetic energy absorbed before the cr
uiser’s shield failed. The rest of the shells slammed into the vessel’s hull, causing multiple explosions. Ruth deftly followed up with neutron beams, which speared the stricken vessel from one end to the other, causing massive secondary explosions. A moment later, the League cruiser exploded into a large cloud of debris.
“Conn, TAO! Master Two destroyed, sir!” Ruth nearly shouted, the tone of her voice crossing from professional to almost gleeful.
David had noticed that Ruth really seemed to enjoy destroying League ships at times. He made a mental note to discuss that privately with her at some point before looking back down to his tactical plot. “Good shooting, TAO,” he said, dialing it down a bit. “TAO, firing point procedures, Master Five. Magnetic cannon and neutron beams.”
David realized that this was becoming something of a rote engagement; the Lion clearly held the edge against smaller League ships. She’d taken a beating, though. His status display showed that the Lion’s forward shields dipped below sixty percent of their energy rating. Doing some quick math, he estimated they only had five or six more salvos before the forward shields collapsed again. The last Rand had to be neutralized quickly, and he ran multiple scenarios through his head on methods to disable the Destruction without a protracted fight.
“Conn, TAO, firing solutions set for Master Five.”
“TAO, match bearings, shoot, all weapons!” David said almost automatically, his battle rhythm kicking in.
As the Lion stabbed at the remaining Rand with its weapons suite, incoming fire from both League ships impacted the Lion’s shield grid. Sectors overloaded and failed, leaving other parts of the grid to compensate for their loss. Soon, the overworked shield generator would fail again and leave the Lion defenseless along her forward arc.
“Conn, TAO. Aspect change, Master Five. Master Five has taken position out of line of fire behind Master One.”
“Acknowledged, TAO,” David said, looking back to his plot. So this is it. All or nothing, and success depended on his next course of action. “Communications, get me Colonel Amir.”
“Colonel Amir is now linked into your comm panel, sir,” Taylor said after a moment.
“Go ahead, Colonel Cohen,” Amir’s voice crackled.
David spoke into the microphone on his chair. “Amir, do you have enough anti-ship munitions left to effectively engage the point defense systems on the Destruction?”
There was a pause on the line before Amir’s voice came through. “Many of my bombers are Winchester, sir.” Winchester was the code phrase for “out of ammunition.” “But we have enough to degrade the Destruction’s point defense emplacements on one arc.”
David looked to Ruth. “Okay, this is what we’re going to do, everyone. We only get one shot, so pay attention. Navigation, lay in a course that takes us to point-blank range of Master One, then takes us on a parallel course to her. TAO, we’re going to engage Master One with our magnetic cannons and our neutron beams as we approach, fire a final broadside into her at point-blank range, and then we’re going to launch every last missile we have in our forward VRLS array into that ship. While we’re doing this, Colonel Amir and his wing will engage Master One and destroy as many point defense emplacements as possible, to ensure enough of our missiles get through to knock Master One out. Everyone clear on their part?”
There were nods from Ruth and Hammond; Amir’s voice came through loud and clear. “Yes, sir!”
“Colonel Amir, proceed to attack Master One’s point defense emplacements.”
“Aye, sir. Amir out.”
“Conn, navigation, course laid in as ordered,” Hammond called out.
“Navigation, engage full speed.”
“Engaged, sir.”
The inertial force of the massive ship moving forward could be felt throughout the vessel; even with inertial dampening fields, David was still pressed back into his seat just a bit. “TAO, firing point procedures, Master One, magnetic cannons and neutron beams.”
“Conn, TAO, firing solutions set.”
“TAO, match bearings, shoot all weapons,” David ordered, looking down at his tactical plot, showing the remaining fighters from Amir’s wing engaging Master One. Over the next few minutes, multiple salvos were exchanged between the Lion and the Destruction. While Amir’s fighters took a beating, they succeeded at knocking down many point defense emplacements along the side of the Destruction that David planned to assault with one hundred and twelve missiles.
“TAO, firing point procedures, Master One, magnetic cannons, neutron beams, and all remaining missiles in our forward missile cell.”
“Conn, TAO. Firing solutions set.”
David looked toward Hammond as more enemy fire slammed into the Lion. “Navigation, ETA to parallel course on Master One?”
“Thirty seconds, sir.”
Almost as soon as Hammond finished her report, Ruth broke in, “Conn, TAO! Forward shield has collapsed, sir!”
David confirmed the report almost immediately on his viewer. Recalling a line from military history in which a captain of a ship long ago said, “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead,” he pressed on. “Navigation, stay on course. Flank speed. TAO, lock all magnetic cannons into position for a full broadside.”
The Destruction continued to pound the Lion; the ship shuddered with each hit, the energy from the impacts translating into shudders and shakes. Several consoles on the bridge suffered from blown fuses and an overload blew out a power junction over the CIC. Through it all, David stared forward, his eyes going between the view of the outside, and his tactical plot. As the ship lined up for what he hoped was the final attack, he gave the order to fire. “TAO, shoot, all weapons, Master One!”
One hundred and twelve missiles thundered out of the Lion’s forward launch array, along with a salvo of magnetic cannon shells. The shells hit first at close range, severely weakening the shields of the Destruction. It took the missiles a few seconds to lock on to the Destruction, after which they plunged into short terminal burns, exploding across the surface of the massive ship. The degraded point defense systems could only stop a few of the multi-megaton yield fusion weapons, which continued to rain down on the dreadnought. Eventually, the Destruction’s shields failed, and the warheads exploded on its armor and superstructure. Large chunks of the enemy vessel’s armor blasted off into space under the might of the torrent of fire; adding to the maelstrom was neutron beam fire from the Lion of Judah, slicing through the weakened hull of the Destruction. The onslaught was simply too great; secondary explosions began to occur throughout the Destruction, and without warning, its engineering section violently blew apart, crippling what was left of the starship.
“Our stern has exploded, Admiral!” the panicked voice of the tactical officer called out. The bridge rocked furiously, throwing crewmembers out of their harnesses. Fires started as massive power overloads coursed through the energy conduits of the mighty vessel, shorting on consoles and causing secondary explosions.
“Engineering, report!” Seville shouted.
“Confirmed, Admiral! Our stern, along with the reactor cores, suffered a catastrophic breach!”
No… so close. How could these religious fanatics defeat my finest ships? “Can we move?” Seville asked.
“Admiral… we don’t have any engines or reactors to power them. The Destruction is crippled,” an engineering sub-station officer said.
“We should consider abandoning ship,” Strappi said into Seville’s ear, just quiet enough not to be heard outside of a few feet.
As Seville pondered the idea, another wave of explosions rocked the bridge, causing pieces of the overhead to collapse. Collapsed metal filled the bridge, some pieces impaling members of the crew, others destroying consoles. Smoke spread out, covering the entire space in a haze. Before he could react, debris fell directly on top of his chair; searing pain swept through his body and he screamed at the top of his lungs.
Then unconsciousness took him into its merciful embrace.
The
bridge crew of the Lion watched it unfold on their monitors as Ruth reported it. Her voice went up an octave. “Conn, TAO! Master One neutralized, sir!”
Shouts rang out from across the bridge, but the master chief cut that off quickly. “As you were! Maintain proper bridge protocol!”
David stood up from his chair and walked over to Ruth’s station. “Is any part of Master One combat capable, TAO?”
Ruth shook her head. “Negative, sir. I’m showing lifepod launches now. Master Five is picking them up…Master Five has powered down its weapons systems and has charged its Lawrence drive.” She glanced up at David. “Would you like to engage, sir?”
David paused for a moment. The League had killed so many; destroyed the lives of millions of people throughout the Terran Coalition, not to mention its own citizens. I’m no better than them if I kill fleeing people in lifepods. Enough death for one day. Looking down at Ruth, he said, “Negative, TAO. Do not engage. We’ll let them run back to Earth and spread word of our new combat capability.”
David half expected Ruth to argue with him on the bridge; the fire shone in her eyes, but decorum prevailed. “Aye, sir. Standing down,” she said, frustration coming through in her voice.
David walked back to his chair and sat down. “Communications, signal the air boss to launch search and rescue. Let’s get our pilots home.”
Seville slowly became aware of his surroundings as consciousness returned. The walls of the passageway he was in slowly moved, and he realized someone was dragging him.
“Where am I?”
“Deck three, Admiral,” Strappi said, panting.
Seville fell to the deck, roughly, and the political officer’s face appeared in his line of sight. “I gave the order to abandon ship. The Destruction is lost, as was the battle.”
“My crew?”
“The remaining cruiser is picking up as many lifepods as it can. They’re waiting until we can get you on board and the Terrans have ceased firing. We must hurry, Admiral.”