Alabaster Noon Page 15
CIC, EMS Shadowfax, New Warsaw System
“Just as we expected,” Elizabeth said as the five Egleesius class battlecruisers opened their bow doors and unleashed hell.
At 40-terawatts each, the five battlecruisers volley fired on the three Maki battleships advancing toward them. The two Steed-class, Sleipnir and Alicorn, added their own twin one-terawatt particle cannons to the attack. The eight Crown-class cruisers; Sir Barton, Gallant Fox, War Admiral, Whirlaway, Secretariat, Affirmed, Seattle Slew, and American Pharoah added their own single one-terawatt particle cannons. The smaller ships’ weapons weren’t as powerful as the ancient Egleesius-class battlecruisers, but they had a higher rate of fire. All told, the fifteen Winged Hussars’ warships pumped 350 terawatts of concentrated particle beam energy into the five battleships in less than one minute.
Two of the three battleships were torn to pieces, either destroyed outright or crippled so badly as to be rendered combat ineffective. The third was badly damaged but managed to return fire. She lashed out with particle cannons, heavy lasers, and missiles.
The missiles were easy to counter. Each of the Egleesius-class battlecruisers had two frigates docked, and they provided substantial anti-missile fire. The enemy lasers and particle beams were not as easy to counter. Sleipnir was hit twice by 5-terrawatt particle beams, causing heavy damage to her engines, while Alicorn took a beam through her bow, which took out one of her two particle beam barbettes and heavily damaged her shields. The cruiser War Admiral was wrecked, hulled bow to stern. Her sister ship, American Pharoah, was grazed by a particle beam, disabling her shields while a trio of 50-gigawatt laser batteries chopped her into pieces of spinning, exploding debris. The gigawatt lasers were only nuisances to the five Egleesius.
“Commander Kowalczy, what is your condition?” Elizabeth asked.
“Alicorn has seen better days,” he replied. “Ship’s still functional. I’m ordering the fleet to perform a skew turn and come back around for another pass. The third fleet element is the dreadnought and a bunch of escorts. We can’t help with that; not yet anyway. If these ships join up, we’re screwed.”
“What about the reserves in the asteroid belt?” Captain Jormungd asked.
“Yes, it’s time,” Lech said. “Let’s see if we can winnow them down a little more.”
Elizabeth looked at the Tri-V in her CIC. Despite knocking out two battleships, the ruined behemoths were still managing to launch their escorts. The Egleesius’ escorts were undocking, while the additional escorts and formerly Maki cruisers began emerging from the asteroid field, burning their fusion torches to link up with the rest of the fleet. Only the carriers stayed hidden; they were more of a liability in a moving engagement.
She snarled as Shadowfax burned her powerful engines, converting forward momentum into a turn, and tried to will her ship to come around faster.
Elsewhere the enemy dreadnought and its escorts maneuvered toward Prime Base.
* * *
Ferret One, Asteroid Defense Base Kilo, New Warsaw System
“Well, it could be worse,” Skald said as the Avenger rolled out on a heading toward their target.
Thorb looked at the flashing lasers and the sporadic blossoms of explosions in front of him. They were still a way off from the battle, but with the magnification dialed up, it looked like they were flying into a near-solid wall of death. While he knew in his head there was a lot of space between the tangled lines of lasers questing for his ship—and if he were lucky, he could fly between them when he got closer—his heart sank at his current view. He’d never seen that many ships all firing at each other before.
He sighed. “Okay, I’ll bite. How could it be worse?”
“We could be going up against the dreadnought and its pile of escorts,” Skald replied.
“Be careful what you ask for…” Thorb said. “This is bad enough.”
“Truth.”
Thorb looked closer at the Tri-V display. “Hey,” he said as he pointed at a spot in the battlespace. “What’s this?”
“That’s what used to be Asteroid Defense Base Foxtrot,” Skald said after a moment. “That’s where the Weasels were. It got hit by a couple of antimatter missiles.”
“So now it’s a big expanding pile of rocks and metal?”
“Yes. And the bodies of Space Attack Squadron Five,” Skald added wryly.
“Good.”
“Good?” Skald asked, looking across the cockpit. He cocked his head. “How are their deaths good, oh glorious leader?”
“They aren’t, of course,” Thorb said, “and I wish it were otherwise. Still, that is a big debris field.” He pointed to the navigation monitor. “Look. If we divert a little to the left and down, we can get behind it and use it for cover as we run in on the battleship. Then we pop out, launch our missiles, and return to base.”
“The battleship will still have a chance to hit us once we clear the debris field, but you’re right, that should give us some cover.” He punched the buttons on his system, updating their navigation, and then pushed the button that sent steering commands to Thorb with a flourish. “Follow that.”
Thorb nodded as the system showed he needed to fly down and left. “All Ferrets, all Badgers, this is Ferret One,” he transmitted as he turned to follow the system’s navigation. “Follow me and close up.”
The ship raced forward as the rest of the squadron closed in on him. The destroyed asteroid wasn’t perfect cover—the battleship’s crew were still be able to see them both through the other networked sensors of the fleet and through the gaps in the debris field, but hopefully it would give them a little more protection and make it harder for the Merc Guild to hit them. It was a calculated risk flying in close formation—you couldn’t maneuver as much or as violently, and it would be easier to target the relatively non-maneuvering group than a single maneuvering ship—but he thought it a worthwhile strategy.
It didn’t take long for it to become readily apparent, though, that the strategy wouldn’t last as the battleship’s weapons began annihilating the largest remaining pieces of the asteroid, and stray laser beams began getting through. Thorb winced as the light for Ferret Eleven went out. Through some vagary of combat, the Badgers had already lost two ships, even though they were in trail of the Ferrets. You never know when the laser beam is going to come for you.
Thorb wished he could go faster—every fiber of his being wanted to push the throttles to the firewall—but that would have caused the squadron to spread out, weakening their combined attack. The Human attack training was good for maximizing efficiency, if nothing else.
Ferret Two winked out, followed shortly by Ferret Six, but then they were almost to the destroyed asteroid and in danger of running into the expanding debris themselves.
“Here we go,” said Thorb as he pulled up, cleared the debris, then rolled until the craft was inverted and pulled back to their attack vector. The nice thing about space combat—even more so than combat in the water—was there was no “up” or “down;” you just reset your horizon accordingly.
Ferret Four winked out, but then they were within range, and the Rapiers began launching from both the Ferrets and the Badgers.
Although the Rapier missiles were smaller than the missiles the warships carried, proportionally, they carried a much greater payload. Since the missiles were already boosted to great speeds by the bombers that carried them, they required less fuel to get them to their extremely fast attack speeds, which were hard for even the modern computer systems to defend against. Armed with one of the Winged Hussars’ modified “squash-bomb” warheads, the slender missiles were not only tough to defend against, they also carried a big punch.
The battleship exploded as several detonations went off across the center of the ship, breaching its hull. Additional missiles made last minute corrections to target the initial detonations, and they flew deeper into the ship before exploding. Several of these set off the battleship’s ammunition stores, and the ship cracked in
half. The front half continued to burn, and the fires illuminated it as that section lost power.
“Hah!” Skald yelled as Thorb pulled the bomber up and away from the hulk. “Gotcha bitch!”
Thorb looked over to say something to his bombardier, which gave him a great view of the first Izlian battleship as it materialized.
* * * * *
Chapter Ten
CIC, New Warsaw Defense Command, New Warsaw System
Blue Sky Above! Would it never end? Sansar asked silently as the rest of the Izlian fleet emerged from hyperspace. The dreadnought was going to get away, and she couldn’t help it. She’d been drawn in by the first group and had already committed her forces to defeating them when the second group arrived. Thankfully, the Hussars had taken them on, but then the third force—with the dreadnought—arrived. She’d hoped to finish off the group that had arrived via the stargate, so she could turn her attention to the dreadnought, but it wasn’t to be as the massive Izlian fleet maneuvered into formation.
Even worse, the ships had appeared right as the SalSha had finished their runs, and, not only were they out of ordnance, but the Izlian fleet was now between them and the bases where they could rearm. Looking at the status board, she saw she was out of forces to commit. There was only one weapon system remaining, but it was out of position to do anything about the Izlians.
It was enough to stop them, but she had to get the Izlians closer…but how? Then she saw the stream of lights, and she smiled. While she felt badly for the SalSha, they would make the perfect bait. As Sun Tzu had said, you just had to know yourself and your enemy…
* * *
Ferret One, Asteroid Defense Base Kilo, New Warsaw System
“Ferret Three, break right!”
“Badger Seven—” Static.
“Break! Break! Attention on the net! This is New Warsaw Defense Command on guard. All Avenger bombers come to a heading of 2-7-8 mark 2-3. I say again, all Avenger bombers, come to a heading of 2-7-8 mark 2-3. New Warsaw Defense Command on guard, out.”
“Shit!” Thorb said as he snap-rolled the bomber to the new heading and pushed the throttles to the firewall. That heading would take them within weapons range of one of the strange new light cruisers that had just emerged.
“What do you suppose that’s all about?” Skald asked as he fired the Avenger’s gun, more in frustration than anything else. It wouldn’t penetrate a ship’s shields, but there was always a chance they might be down, or that the little bit of energy the Avenger spit out would be that one last thing that made the ship’s shields drop for someone else.
“No idea,” Thorb replied as he jinked the ship around. They were far enough away from the ship—and headed outbound—that the ship probably wouldn’t decide they were a threat and shoot at them…but Thorb didn’t want to give the Izlians any more opportunity to hit his ship than he had to. “But this is all sorts of fucked up.”
He glanced at the battlespace. Avengers were fleeing from all over on the new heading. For some of them, it was easy; for others, who had turned the opposite direction when the new ships started arriving, it was a little more…problematic as they had to fly back past them, and some of the younger crews just blindly turned to the heading without looking to see where it took them.
The icon for one of them went out as he watched.
“All Avengers, this is Ferret One,” he transmitted. “Join on me as soon as you’re able. Do not fly within range of the ships if you are able and maintain defensive maneuvers while you are. Ferret One out.” He shook his head as another icon was extinguished and a crew went into the light. Each one was a gut punch—what could he have done to train them better?
He shook off the thought as he realized where they were heading. “There’s nothing on this heading but the asteroid field,” Thorb said. “Call up Defense Command and ask them what we’re supposed to be doing here, would you?”
“Sure,” Skald said, safing the Avenger’s gun. After a few seconds, he said, “Well, you’re not going to believe this, but they want us to lead the Izlians into the asteroid field.”
“Oh?” Thorb asked. “Are there forces I am unaware of hiding out there?”
“No idea. I don’t think so.”
“Then what am I supposed to do to get them to follow us?”
“I don’t know…look like a good target?”
Thorb shook his head. “This is the dumbest plan I’ve ever been part of. All I can hope is that we are just delaying them so Defense Command can come up with a better plan or send additional forces. The Izlians aren’t stupid enough to run into the asteroids on their own, and we’re going to be out of fuel before too long. Did they say how long we were supposed to do this?”
“Nope. Just that we’d know when it was time to return.”
“Well, I hope Sansar—Colonel Enkh—has a plan, because this is stupid.” He shook his head again as he pulled back the throttles and slowed the Avenger bomber. The Izlians—four battleships, fifteen cruisers, and ten frigates—continued to accelerate toward them. “I don’t understand Humans, sometimes.”
* * *
IMS Fresha Two Seven, New Warsaw System
“Admiral Epsilon!” the sensor tech exclaimed. A squid-like being, it floated next to its station and spoke through a combination of radiations. “All of the little ships are slowing and gathering together at the edge of the asteroid field.”
“Aha!” the admiral replied, watching the Tri-V intently. “It is as I thought. Their carriers are nearby! We can follow those bombers back to their mother ship, and they will lead us to the remainder of the fleet. Once they have been eliminated, we will be able to finish the attack on the base without having to worry about any additional space-based attacks.
“Turn to a heading of 2-8-1 mark 1-7,” he added. “We will follow them home to victory!”
* * * * *
Chapter Eleven
Prime Base, New Warsaw System
“Dreadnought and escorts inbound.” Sansar’s voice came into Aleksandra’s mind via her pinplants. “I repeat, the dreadnought is inbound. They slipped our cordon…
Aleksandra looked up at her assistant in slowly dawning horror. Dimitri looked back in surprise. She’d been working on trying to complete the last of the evac while simultaneously hoping Sansar and the Hussars’ fleet would hold the merc guild fleet at the emergence point. Now she realized she’d been wishing for the impossible. The improbable at best.
“Entropy,” she cursed.
“What do we do?” Dimitri asked. “They’ll blow us up in a second!”
“That’s not the goal,” she said, and called up the system status on her Tri-V. A map of New Warsaw appeared, which included the battle around the emergence point and the inbound dreadnought. No missiles had been launched at Prime Base, even though they were well within range. “They’re going to take Prime Base.”
“Bozhe moi,” Dimitri said.
Aleksandra only knew a little Polish, even though she’d gotten plenty from her grandmother growing up on Home, but some phases in Russian were nearly identical to Polish.
“Again, Commander, what do we do?”
“We fight,” Aleksandra said, and triggered the General Quarters alarm for Prime Base.
The few thousand people left onboard looked at the strips of lights flashing red throughout the vast multi-ringed space station. Every Winged Hussar spent time on Prime Base, and many had spent all their time on the hub of Hussars’ operation, but none had ever seen the General Quarters lighting. The ones in combat arms immediately sprang into motion. The rest simply stared in confusion or horror.
“Commander!” Three marines in CASPers stood in her office doorway. She glanced at the one who’d spoken.
“Sergeant Hedrick?”
“Yes, ma’am. Privates Hamill and Barnes and I have been assigned by Major Kratlik as your personal detachment.” The two CASPers behind him stood waiting.
/> “I don’t need a detachment,” she complained.
“Not up to you, ma’am.” Hendrick put a case on the floor next to her and opened it. Inside was a suit of light combat armor and a sidearm with extra magazines and a belt. “Please put this on. Quickly.”
“What about my assistant, Ensign Pavlovich?”
“I have no orders concerning the ensign, Commander.”
Aleksandra stared at the gear for a second, then grabbed the armor. “Well, you do now. Get him some armor and a weapon.”
“Ma’am, we don’t have time—”
“Make time,” she said. “That’s an order, Sergeant.”
His CASPer didn’t move for a second, then one of the other two left. She nodded and began slipping the armor on. She’d put it on more than once, in training, years ago. Those skills were as rusty as her Polish. She managed to avoid embarrassing herself, though only just.
When she was done, Hedrick’s CASPer stepped closer and took the gun belt out of the storage case and handed it to her. She put the belt on, feeling the weapon’s weight as she fastened the strap around her thigh. With the CASPer looming over her, she had a flashback of being a little girl with her mom helping her get dressed.
Aleksandra glanced at the gun and shook her head. Sergeant Hedrick’s suit could bend steel bars with ease. How many thousands of hours do you have to spend in one of those in order to have such control? She silently wondered.
“You ready, ma’am?” the sergeant asked.
“Just a second,” she said, and grabbed her command tablet. It would boost her pinplants and allow her to control almost anything on the station remotely. “What about the ensign’s armor?”
“Private Barnes will meet us on the way to the CIC.”
“Okay,” she said, and took one last look around her office. “Let’s go.”