Jessica gave a shrug. “I don’t have a clue, but knowing Captain Kovacs he might be stupid enough to—”
“Displacement signature!” Wei called out cutting off Jessica’s response.
She spun to face the tactical station. “What, where?” she asked.
Lieutenant Wei spun to face her. “It’s the Spruance. They are jumping.”
“Damn glory hound,” she thought, bringing up on her screen the location of the all the ships. The icon for the Spruance vanished. She looked over the display to see if it reappeared closer to the action. Confusion hit her when it didn’t suddenly reappear. A micro-jump would have been instantaneous, but it was gone. She looked over to her XO and then back to McKnight. “Where did it go?” she asked.
McKnight replied. “I don’t know, ma’am, but look,” pointing at the screen.
Jessica looked back at the main view screen as the flashes of white light from nuclear detonations flooded the image. She let out a breath, “So, it begins.”
37
Tigershark Cockpit
Grand Isle System
David fought the controls of his fighter. The shock waves caused his fighter to get bounced around. They were far enough away for most of the energy to dissipate, but the detonations of twenty nukes still packed a wallop. When the light show dissipated, David’s hope of a quick fight diminished even more. Ahead of him the two Invader ships still were charging at them. The detonation took out some of the fighters, but most were already clear before the frigates fired. They were closing fast.
He could make out small explosions peppered around the two destroyers as the PDS’s fire intercepted incoming missiles. Larger explosions erupted all over ships as the sheer number of missiles overwhelmed the point defense systems. The Talisman began to break to port to allow for more coverage. David could make out fighters beginning to shoot through the gap between the destroyers.
“Break! Break! Break!” Jasmine’s voice yelled through his headset. “Diamond group, stick with your wingman and stay out of the larger ship’s defense perimeters!” she ordered.
Jasmine’s fighter thrusted ahead, and David poured on the speed to keep up. The g-forces from the sudden acceleration seemed to crush him in his seat. He stared ahead, Jasmine’s fighter angled up 45 degrees and David followed. They were climbing, fast.
“Ma’am, what’s the plan?” David asked, barely getting out the words.
“Don’t ask. Just follow right now, Rock Hound,” she replied sharply.
“Affirmative.”
They began to level out and banked 90 degrees and began to loop down again. David looked focused ahead of him. The circular targeting icon in his helmet went from green to red as the targeting system locked onto one of the few fighters that had broken off from the group. He heard a whine come from his fighter as the missile bay door opened. He pressed the trigger on his control stick, and a small missile dropped and streaked ahead of him. The triangular fighter tried to maneuver out of the way. It was initially successful until the missile corrected its flight path and caught the fighter from behind. It burst apart from the explosive force. Another enemy fighter turned to head off David, but it exploded before it could acquire him.
“Remember to pay attention,” Jasmine said. “But good shot.”
“Thanks, Diamond Lead, and thanks for saving my ass,” he replied.
An orange flash caught his attention from above. He took a quick glance to notice the Talisman was breaking apart. The middle of the ship was seared cleanly in half. And what was left of the ship was drifting in opposite directions.
“Shit!” he yelled out. He surmised that the one of larger enemy ships must have used their energy weapons.
“Rock Hound! You’re drifting out of formation! Keep your head in the game!” Jasmine yelled.
David noticed that her fighter was 100 meters to starboard and flying back into the mess of fighters. He snapped his controls to the right an added thrust. The space fighter seemed to slide a bit in the turn as the reaction control thrusters took a second to react. He got back in formation as they bared down on the next group of enemy fighters.
“What now?” he asked hesitantly.
“Remember your 10-on-1 drills?”
38
EDS Oppenheimer
Grand Isle System
Eric mashed his finger on the comm button at his terminal. “Engineering, what happened?” The red emergency lights in the bridge were the only illumination and other systems were slowing booting back up.
“The cannon can’t handle 100 percent power. The safety systems tripped, but this time caused a reset of the entire ship’s power grid!” the engineer replied with the sound of people yelling in the background.
“What can you give me?” Eric asked.
“75 percent, if we’re lucky,” he responded.
“Do it,” Eric replied sharply, then cut off the line. He turned up, and the main view screen was coming back online. The image made him sick. The Talisman, now in two halves, was floating dead in space. The Levchenko had large craters blown out of its port side and was drifting to the starboard. Tiny flashes were filling up the space in-between the destroyers. “Fighter combat,” he thought.
“Captain, I am receiving a hail from the Ranger,” The comm tech behind him called out.
“On screen,” he replied.
Admiral Winters' face popped on the screen, his blue eyes narrowing at Eric. “Captain Drake, what is your status?” he asked, voice booming through the bridge speakers.
“Admiral, charging the Cannon to 100 percent tripped the safety systems and reset our power systems. It is going to take a minute to get all the way back up and running,” he replied.
“And the cannon--do you think you can get it to 100 percent power?” Winters asked.
Eric shook his head. “Right now, no, but my engineer said he could get us 75 percent.”
“I guess it is better than nothing. Be prepared to fire when you get back up to speed. We will proceed using the Jupiter's and hopefully that will get us some results. Winters out.” The screen returned to the display in the back to the battle ahead of them. The Ranger battle group was now steaming out of the debris field towards the rest of the fleet. He could make out the SF-27’s from the battle carrier streaking to reinforce the other fighters.
“How long until we have power to the cannon?” he asked looking at the tactical officer sitting at his terminal.
“At this rate, seven minutes, sir, if the everything holds,” the young officer replied.
“Good. Keep me informed.” Eric then turned to face the view screen. “Helm, bring us out one-quarter. Also bring us X plus 500 meters. I want a direct line shot at this thing when we are ready,” he ordered.
Without turning around the helmsman replied, “Ahead one-quarter, Z plus 500. Aye, Captain.”
Eric sat back down in the command chair. He could feel the ship begin its acceleration. It took a second for the inertia compensation to kick in. “Let’s hope this thing doesn’t blow another fuse.”
39
Tigershark Cockpit
Grand Isle System
David inverted his craft and looked up through the canopy at the fighter that was pursuing Mouse. The squat enemy fighter was trying to line up a shot. David’s targeting icon in his helmet turned red to indicate a lock-on. He squeezed the trigger and the small missile deployed from the fighter. He rolled his fighter back to look for another target. "Thank god for fire and forget,” he thought to himself.
A moment later he heard, “Thanks, Buddy,” over his headset. “I owe you a drink after this, if we live,” Mouse deadpanned.
“Make sure you live then. I could use a beer or six after this,” David replied. “Where is Mountain Man?”
“Lost him in the initial run,” Mouse replied. David could hear sadness in his voice.
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Cut the chatter, you two. Keep your heads in the game!” Jasmine rebuked.
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An explosion to his left caught his attention. He gave a quick glance to notice an Avenger coming apart. The enemy craft flew through the debris. Bits of fighter bouncing off its hull. David noticed no ejection pod from the Avenger. “Okay, asshole, you’re next,” he said to himself as he turned the Tigershark to his left and added thrust. Gravity pressed down on his body from the sudden maneuver. He dropped in behind the fighter. It dove down and David matched. It leveled out and broke left. He looked in that direction as he broke left. He was trying to use his targeting system in his helmet. Just as he thought it would get a lock the fighter turned a different direction. “This guy is good,” he thought. “Okay time for a different approach.”
David flipped a switch on his control stick and changed from missiles to guns. The targeting icon disappeared from his helmet. He looked directly in front of him. The icon now appeared fixed on the front HUD. He tried to line up the fighter in his sights, but it kept dodging in a different direction. He took a deep breath and pulled back on the throttle. This gave him more maneuverability. He led the target with the circular targeting icon and depressed the trigger. A stream of armor-piercing shells fired from the Tigershark’s cannons. Holes ripped through the triangular ship where the shells impacted. A small explosion blew out the back end of the ship and it went tumbling off into space.
Alarms rang out in the cockpit. On his helmet HUD a missile warning popped up. He glanced at his radar screen and a red dot was approaching his fighter fast. Panicking, he pushed the fighter into a dive and poured on speed. His vision started to turn red from the force of gravity pushing blood to his head. Then he turned hard to the right, and the red changed to tunneling black. The pressure on his chest made it hard to breath. The missile was getting closer. He couldn’t shake it. He had less than 10 seconds before impact. He tapped a button with on his thumb on the control stick and a pressed the trigger. A loud CLUCK! came from the rear of the fighter as the rear defense pod spat out a countermeasure. His fighter jolted, his restraints keeping him from smashing his helmet into the flight controls. He looked at the fighter’s status on the screen. Yellow appeared on parts of the body indicating moderate damage.
“Are you okay over there?” Jasmine asked, sounding almost concerned.
“Yeah. Just a little damage, but I can still fly,” he replied breathing heavily. He looked to his right to notice Jasmine’s fighter had formed back up next to his.
“Good. Now stay on my wing and let’s get back in the fight,” she said, banking her fighter to the right.
Turning his fighter to match hers, he asked, “When do you think the Ranger is going to send the Phantoms to help?”
“Now,” she replied. “Look.”
David look up. He could see the both battle groups closing on their location. He also noticed smaller craft racing into the fray. Reinforcements had arrived. Thank god.
40
EDS Little Rock
Grand Isle System
Jessica felt like she was watching a military holo drama. The Little Rock was too far away to engage in the action. She had Chief Adkins zoom in on the action from the battle so she could get a better view. On her terminal was the live feed of the status of the ships. On one side was the status of the starships. The Talisman was red indicating it as lost. The Levchenko was heavily damaged but still in the fight. The other ships seemed to be fighting off the enemy fighter attacks.
On the other side of the split screen she had the fighter displays. Her heart skipped as she saw that David’s fighter had taken damage. She felt powerless to help her brother and she was kicking herself for not talking to him earlier.
She looked back up at the screen; there was a flash on the screen. She looked over the image to spot one of the missile frigates, the Aquitaine, was in pieces. Jessica looked down at her terminal. The data from the Aquitaine was gone. Then the icon went red indicating it was lost.
“Damn it!” Sinclair bellowed from his station. “We can’t even put a dent in these ships and now we are down two with a third one on its last leg.”
Jessica turned to him. “I understand how you feel, XO, but the big guns haven’t even been deployed yet.”
“Big guns?” he said sarcastically. “If twenty Thunderbolts at five megatons each couldn’t dent their defenses, what makes you think anything else will?”
She knew Sinclair had a point, but she had to believe that all the development over the past twenty plus years was fruitful. “We have to try. What else can we do? Run like the Spruance?” she said, taking a moment. It still puzzled her why Kovacs ran. “I understand it is hard to just sit here and watch, but at this moment it is our responsibility to at least document what is happening. This way the fleet can possibly come up with a better defense.”
Before Sinclair could pose a response, Lieutenant Wei butted in. “Captain, according to my data link to the Ranger, they are preparing to fire a Jupiter missile.”
She looked at the tactical officer with some confusion. “Only one?” she asked.
He nodded. “Yes, ma’am. According to the plan, one was to be loaded. Since it is brand new tech, the ship only has two in inventory currently.”
“Great,” Sinclair chimed in. “How does that happen?”
“Cost and the ever-changing strategic mind set of command. We should be grateful they have two at least,” Jessica replied somewhat sarcastically. She turned back to face the screen. The Ranger battle group had taken a position above the Hornet and was lining up a shot on the Enemy Carrier. The Merced, the same class of ship as the Little Rock, was blasting away with its PDS turrets keeping any fighter or incoming missile that had strayed into her path.
“Seems like a long shot that the missile will even reach the target. Don’t you think that they will just dispatch a fighter to shoot it down?” Sinclair asked.
“I don’t think so,” Jessica replied turning to the XO. “They seem to let anything we fire at it just hit it. I am suspecting they feel confident in their shield tech. I am pretty sure they are going to just take it.”
“I hope you are right, Captain,” he said giving her look displaying he was unconvinced.
“Me too, XO. Me too,” she replied. Her attention snapped to the command terminal. It indicated the Ranger had fired one of the Jupiter missiles. She pressed in a few commands and brought up the track of the missile on the tactical display. She felt excited as it showed that no enemy fighters were breaking off from the engagement to pursue. She looked up from her terminal to the main screen. “It looks like I am right; they are going to take it,” she stated giving a brief look at Sinclair.
The explosion from the impact washed out the main view screen in white light. It took a moment to adjust, and when the image resolved, Jessica’s hopes were diminished. The enemy carrier was still in one piece. She could hear gasps from her crew as they came to the realization that the missile had no effect.
There was a loud pounding noise that came from the XO’s station. “Damn it!” Sinclair exclaimed. “Not even our most powerful missile could even put a dent in its shield,” he said pointing at the screen.
Jessica had no words. Sinclair was right, but as she was thinking of a response, something caught her attention. “Chief, can you magnify the on the mid-section of the Invader carrier?” she asked.
He turned to her and replied, “Aye, Captain.” He then turned back to his station to input the commands. The screen zoomed into the area Jessica requested and she could see pieces of metal boil away from the ship telltale indications of laser impacts. Then holes began to punch through one of the spherical weapon emplacements. Indicative of rail cannon shells finding their mark. “Holy Shit!” she thought to herself. It kept her whole resolve not to blurt that out. Cheers rang out throughout the bridge as the crew was emulating what she felt inside.
“The Jupiter knocked out the target’s shields,” McKnight said in awe. “Maybe we have turned the tide. Now all we have to do now is nuke it.”
“Chief ple
ase return the image to the last setting,” Jessica ordered. She wanted to see how the rest of the fleet was responding. The image changed and as if the remaining frigates could hear what McKnight suggested, they fired another volley of Thunderbolts.
Jessica watched the track of the missiles on her terminal. She felt like something was wrong. None of the fighters were dispatched to shoot down any of the missiles. Why? If the ship was this defenseless, why not shore up a defense? Were the Invaders as suicidal as the fighters they encountered days ago? Jessica got her answer.
The missiles detonated and once the series of explosions ended, the ship was still there. There was no additional damage. Jessica’s jaw dropped. How could this be? Moments ago, they were finally inflicting damage on the enemy, and now no effect. The Merced exploded. The fireball quickly extinguished in the vacuum of space, and the remaining bits of fuselage shot out in all directions. Some pieces colliding with the Ranger taking out some of its surface mounted weapons. Two balls of blue energy shot out from the Invader carrier. Jessica recognized the weapon; it was the same type of energy ball that took out the Roosevelt. She wanted to scream out to the screen for the Ranger to watch out, but she knew that wasn’t possible.
The energy projectiles caught the Ranger head-on and blue bolts of electricity arced through the fuselage. The ship started to list to the starboard and the running lights went dark. Jessica frantically looked over her terminal to get the data from the Ranger. It was reading offline. That meant the EDF’s most technically advanced warship was out of the fight.
She looked up from her terminal, “Well, shit.”
41
Tigershark Cockpit
Grand Isle System
“Damn nukes!” David yelled out. He was struggling to keep his fighter straight through the onslaught of shock waves. The Tigershark was hardened from radiation, but the energy released from the explosions gave him quite the ride. He noticed an enemy fighter ahead of him having issues maintaining control. David squeezed off a volley from his fighter’s cannons. The Invader ship was torn apart in a hail of projectiles causing its power unit to go critical and rupture. The target disappeared in a flash of white light.
Stollar's Gambit Page 21
