by Dietmar Wehr
“We are here to deliver a recorded message to your Planetary Sovereign. We’ll send the recorded video message when we’re sure that someone in the military is listening. Acknowledge this transmission. Over.” There was silence for a few seconds and then the message repeated. Donnell looked at the chronometer. It was the middle of the night in the Capital. Why did situations always occur during the night shift when everyone at higher levels of responsibility were asleep? As senior man at Space Defense Command, he was expected to deal with anything that might arise in the proper manner only this particular situation hadn’t been anticipated in the Standard Operating Procedures Manual. When the message finished repeating for the second time, Donnell activated his microphone and spoke.
“This is Marduk Space Defense Command. Identify yourself and then we’ll listen to your message.” This time the pause was longer.
“No identification will be given. The recorded message will provide all the information that you’re going to get. Are you ready to record, Marduk Space Defense Command?” Donnell thought about it and decided that there couldn’t be any harm in recording a message so he replied.
“We’re standing by to record your message.” A few seconds later the video transmission appeared on the small screen in front of Donnell. A man, he didn’t recognize, wearing what appeared to be a tailored jacket with gold braid and a stern expression started to speak.
“My name is Fedrig Barragon. I used to have a Space Viking base on Dagon before Trask’s lapdog Harkaman raided it. My two sons were killed in that raid and I intend to get even with Trask and with Harkaman. As you probably know by now, I convinced Prince Viktor of Xochtil to help me organize a retaliation raid on Tanith. I thought I could trust Viktor because we’re both Space Vikings and we both have…or had Space Viking bases but that turned out not to be the case. Viktor double crossed me and now I no longer have a base or any hope of re-establishing it. So His arrogant Highness, Prince Viktor owes me and I intend to make him pay too. You already know that he’s abandoned Xochtil but you probably don’t know where he moved this base to. I found out where and I’m going to tell you because I want Marduk’s Navy to go there and smash his new base, which is located on Loki! Now I realize that you may be skeptical about the accuracy of this information so send one ship to do a long range reconnaissance of Loki and you’ll see that I’m telling the truth. And if you happen to capture Viktor alive and he asks you how you found out about Loki, be sure to tell him that his comrade-in-arms Fedrig Barragon supplied the information. I want him to know it was me. And Trask, if you’re listening to this to recording, I haven’t forgotten about you. I’ll find a way to pay you back too!” The video transmission ended. Almost immediately the display pinged another status change. The ship, that was the source of the transmission, began to accelerate away from Marduk and as Donnell watched, it re-entered hyperspace and was gone.
To Be Continued in The Loki Gambit.
Author’s Comments: The Loki Gambit, will have more battles (and not just between Marduk/Tanith and Space Vikings) and more surprises. Wondering what that mysterious equipment on Tanith is? You’ll find the answer to that in The Loki Gambit.
Excerpt from The Loki Gambit:
Chevalier looked at the chronometer. Five minutes since the fleet had emerged from the last micro-jump. He now had a pretty good idea of how the coming battle would shape up. Thor's Hammer's micro-wave detection beams had seen the three cruisers in orbit and the three battleships out beyond the no-jump zone. If that was indeed all the ships that Marduk could field, then their Navy really was in bad shape. The cruisers didn't worry him at all. The battleships, on the other hand, intrigued him. The only reason that he could think of, why Marduk would deliberately station ships that far away, was because they were carrying those small missile ships, which had enough acceleration to come roaring in for a high speed and extended range interception. From Marduk's point of view, that made perfect sense and if the Viking fleet didn't have a superbattleship, Chevalier would be worried but it did and he wasn't. Now he could see that he was right. Those three battleships had launched five small, pinnace-sized craft. They were the same size as the missile ships encountered on previous battles. He called up the tactical computer and asked it to simulate various kinds of battle plans to fight off five high speed missile ships. After another five minutes, he reviewed the results and smiled. Yes, just as he suspected. The tactical computer estimated the missile ships would be traveling at almost 200 miles per second by the time they were close enough to launch their own extended range missiles, which would start with the initial velocity of the ships themselves, and could therefore be launched from just over 39,000 miles away and still reach their targets while they still had power to maneuver. Chevalier wanted his missiles to reach those missile ships before they got that close. He didn’t need to fire this early but he was going to because he wanted to test his missile effectiveness while still at a long enough range, so that he could fire more volleys and still catch those missile ships before they reached their own firing point.. He intended to fire five volleys of 58 anti-ship missiles each for a total of 290. His multi-stage missiles would use up their first boost phase, then coast until interception would be within its remaining 160 seconds of powered flight. Each of the five missile ships would have to defend itself against 58 missiles fired over a span of just 12 seconds but because the missile ships were coming towards his fleet, they would encounter those five waves over a shorter period of time, perhaps as little as one second between each of his missile waves. That SHOULD be far more than enough to overwhelm any possible counter-missile response but if it wasn't then he still had enough missiles for another 35 volleys. Once the missile ships were out of the way, the remaining battleships and cruisers would be easy to destroy with what he'd have left. It took a couple of minutes to reorient the formation, so that they were moving directly towards the three stationary battleships. That way the missile exchange would be head on without any messy angles to complicate things. When the tactical computer indicated that the missile volleys were programmed, he stabbed his finger at the firing button.
Admiral Shefter felt someone touch his arm and when he looked at the officer responsible, the man pointed up to the 2nd level conference room and said.
"The Prince-Protector's arrived, Sir." Shefter looked up and saw Bentrik standing at the window, gesturing for him to join him. When he entered the conference room, he said.
"I apologize for not greeting you, Your Majestry." Bentrik waived the apology away.
"Now's not the time to stand on Protocol, Admiral. I see that Admiral Harkaman has launched his missile boats. It appears as though the battle is proceeding as expected so far. Is that you assessment as well?"
"Yes, Your Majesty. The only unusual aspect that differs from our simulations, is that the enemy fleet is in a very precise and peculiar formation. There are 8 groups of 10 ships each, that have formed a box with one single ship in the center. For Space Vikings, that's very atypical. I'd be tempted to assume that the ship in the center is the flagship but maybe that's just what they want us to think." Bentrik nodded.
"Yes, it does seem to be just a little TOO obvious." He paused and said. "I see that Vice-Admiral Saville is exercising restraint, although what he thinks he could accomplish with one heavy and two light cruisers against that fleet, I don't know. Let's hope it won't be necessary to order him to attack against overwhelming odds like that." Shefter was about to respond when the main display pinged for attention. Something had changed. Both men looked at the display. Shefter spoke first.
"They've fired already! Fifty-eight miss.." He stopped when the display changed again. Total missiles in flight were now 116. Three seconds later it changed to 174.
"58 missiles every 3 seconds. Sounds like a missile boat, doesn't it?" asked Bentrik. Shefter nodded but said nothing. Instead he activated the intercom to speak with Commodore Woodhouse, who was down on the lower level.
"Commodore? Can we tell wh
ich ships fired those missiles?" The reply came a few seconds later.
"It appears that all of the missiles, were fired from the ship in the center of the formation, Admiral." Shefter looked at Bentrik who had a grim expression on his face.
"I don't like the implications of that, Admiral. That has to be a new kind of ship, that can fire more missiles and fire them faster than your typical Viking battleship. And the fact that they're firing them NOW, when our missile boats are still almost 2 light seconds away, tells me that these are some kind of extended range missiles. Did we factor anything like that into our simulations?" Shefter felt a shiver of fear go up his spine. He took a deep breath and said.
"No, we didn't."
Author’s Comments:
The next book in the series, The Loki Gambit, is now available. Vol. 3 (Endgame) is partially written and you can keep track of my progress on it by following me on twitter (@DWehrSFwriter).
Special Offer: My Space Viking sequels were all written in the same style as H. Beam Piper. I have now also written, in my own style, the first two parts of a new original series of military SF entitled The Synchronicity War. If you love exciting and realistic space battles as much as I do, you'll like this new series. If you wish to read Part 1 for free, go to Smashwords.com and use this coupon. (LN56Y). Over 100 Amazon readers have rated Part 1 as 5 out of 5 stars. Part 2 is also available now and Part 3 is expected to be published some time in March of 2014.
