Counterstrike

by D. J. Holmes

  “Half an hour Admiral,” Lieutenant Salaman answered. “The Karacknids will get off another four salvos by then. It looks like they can only bring their forward tubes to bear though.”

  “That may be all they need to devastate Shraw’s fleet,” Becket responded. In a straight up chase, a warship could only bring the few forward-facing missile tubes it had to bear on its quarry. Yet the ships trying to run away weren’t able to utilize all of their point defenses. “Wilson, prepare two salvos of multistage missiles. Fire as soon as you have the targeting data ready. We need to turn their focus on to us.”

  “Right away Admiral,” Becket’s Chief of Staff responded.

  Minutes later the salvo erupted from Becket’s fleet. In that time three Karacknid antimatter missiles pierced the point defenses of Shraw’s fleet and one supply freighter and two warships were taken out. Before the multistage missiles got anywhere near the Karacknid fleet, they fired two more salvos at Shraw’s ships.

  “They’re not turning,” Captain Rogers pointed out. “They don’t intend to pull back even when we join with Shraw.”

  “They are angry,” Becket guessed. Thanks to the daily updates she had been getting from Shraw she knew how much damage the Gramrian Admiral had been doing in the nearby systems. “Their commander probably figures that even if he loses his entire force, taking out as many of our ships as possible will be worth it.”

  “They may try to charge to energy weapon range,” Rogers followed up. “With the momentum we will be carrying…”

  Becket nodded. There was nothing she could do about that. If she slowed her ships it would take longer to reach Shraw and the Gramrians would take more losses. “We hammer them as much as we can and finish them with our heavy plasma cannons if we have to,” she said. It was far from ideal, but if she wanted to save Shraw’s fleet, her ships were going to have to pay the price for her decision to tarry and engage the Karacknid convoy. As her ships charged, Becket unconsciously tightened her hands into fists. There was nothing she could do but watch missile salvo after missile salvo crash into Shraw’s point defenses. The Gramrians fired back their own missiles every time the Karacknids opened fire, but their attacks had little effect. The Karacknids had more than enough warships to deal with the Gramrian salvos. It didn’t help that the Gramrians designed their ships with far more forward missile tubes than rear facing ones. They had assumed they would be the ones doing the chasing. In contrast to Shraw’s missiles, each wave of Karacknid missiles scored more hits among Shraw’s fleet. Even proximity hits that didn’t destroy Gramrian ships were devastating. Any damage that meant a ship lost velocity ensured that ship would fall under the Karacknids’ guns.

  “Multistage missiles are about to ignite their second stages,” Lieutenant Salaman reported. Moments later one thousand new contacts appeared halfway between Becket’s ships and the Karacknids. With a speed even Karacknid missiles couldn’t match, they charged down the throats of the enemy ships. Becket ground her teeth together as she urged the missiles on. She wanted revenge for the Gramrian ships she had been forced to watch be destroyed.

  Thanks to the Karacknids’ charge after Shraw and the high acceleration rates of the multistage missiles, the closing rate of Becket’s salvo was significant. Becket did a quick calculation and guessed the missiles would have a closing velocity greater than .9c. At such speeds their evasive maneuvers would be limited, but speed was a defense all of its own. As Karacknid point defenses tore into them, hundreds were taken out. Enough made it through though to detonate and fill Viper’s sensors with explosions. Each multistage missile released just one grazer beam compared to the mark IV’s three. Nevertheless, five Karacknid ships disappeared from the holo plot. A couple of others fell out of formation and Becket was sure many more had suffered damage.

  “That will give them something to think about,” Rogers commented.

  Though Becket was sure it would, she wasn’t surprised when the Karacknids reformed their formation and fired another salvo from their forward tubes towards Shraw’s ships. They’re not giving up, she thought. Despite the losses, the Karacknids were intent on doing as much damage as possible. Their salvo only managed to destroy one Gramrian ship thanks to the intervention of Becket’s fighters. Then Becket’s second salvo of multistage missiles tore into the Karacknids. More ships detonated or were hammered out of formation.

  As the Karacknids rejigged their formation to cover for their losses, Becket noticed a shift. Seconds later their intentions became clear. “They’re preparing to engage us,” she announced to her officers. Rather than line up another salvo of missiles at Shraw’s ships from their forward tubes, the Karacknids were turning their broadsides towards Shraw’s fleet. “They’re going to give Shraw one full salvo and then engage us. Can we help them?” she asked desperately as she looked over to her command staff. Both Wilson and Salaman shook their heads. “What if we dispatched our frigates and corvettes?”

  Salaman answered her. “They wouldn’t get close enough to add their point defenses to Shraw’s.”

  Becket swore. Shraw’s ships were going to take another pounding. “Make sure our fighters are in the optimal interception zone,” she ordered. It was all she could do. “Get ready to hit them as soon as we come into range.”

  With everyone else on Viper’s bridge Becket could only watch helplessly as the Karacknid fleet hurled seven hundred missiles at Shraw’s ships. To receive them, Shraw turned his ships so that their full point defenses could be utilized. Shraw was close enough to Becket’s ships that she didn’t need to run at full speed any longer. Even so, Becket was sure that was not going to be enough. As her fighters swooped in, they took out thirty missiles. Impressive shooting, Becket knew. Yet it hardly made a dent in the Karacknid numbers. The point defenses of Shraw’s ships opened up on their targets. Karacknid missiles were taken out in their hundreds. Then the small explosions of destroyed missiles were replaced by the massive detonations of antimatter warheads. Becket felt her shoulders and back tighten as she tensed, waiting for the damage reports to come in.

  When Viper’s sensors were able to peer through the dissipating explosions, at least ten ships were missing. Several others were flying through space ballistically, clearly out of control. Nearly a third of his fleet is gone, Becket reckoned. As her ships closed with Shraw’s, Becket forced herself to watch the damaged and crippled ships pass by. “Send them as much help as we can,” she ordered. Her gaze turned to the Karacknid ships. Shraw might have been outnumbered, but she was not. “Fire!” she ordered. “Begin deceleration,” she followed up when the missiles were all clear.

  “We should get off one more salvo before they get into energy weapon range,” Salaman reported in a level tone, though Becket guessed he was more nervous than he let on. An energy weapon duel was deadly for everyone involved.

  “Make it count,” Becket responded. She turned to watch her missiles crash into the Karacknids. Eleven ships were destroyed outright and others suffered serious damage. Those that remained opened fire themselves. Becket all but dismissed their salvo. Six hundred missiles wouldn’t be a problem for her point defenses. It was what came next that she was concerned about. Seconds after all the Karacknid missiles were taken out by her fleet’s point defenses, her ships fired again. The salvo reached the Karacknids less than a minute before Becket’s fleet entered energy weapons range. Fourteen more Karacknid ships were destroyed. That left eighteen largely intact. And now we pay the price, Becket thought as her mind went back to the Karacknid convoy they had tarried to take out.

  “Firing plasma cannons,” Salaman shouted. With a slightly longer range than energy cannons, more than one hundred plasma bolts were shot towards the Karacknids. Less than four seconds later hundreds more laser beams were added to the mix from the Karacknids and Becket’s ships. Explosions rippled up and down both fleets. Becket was flung forward in her command chair as something punched deep into the guts of her flagship. The lights around her flickered several times and the
n came back on.

  “We’ve been hit amid ships!” a bridge officer called out.

  “All four reactors are reporting stable,” another announced.

  “Damage reports coming in. It looks like a laser beam punched through at least four decks,” Viper’s First Lieutenant reported in a more level tone.

  Becket listened to it all and then dismissed it. She had a fleet to command. Turning to her command staff she sought out Lieutenant Salaman. “Update our targeting information immediately,” she ordered. “Fire a second salvo as soon as the energy weapons are charged.”

  Salaman was already hunched over his console. He tapped a few buttons and turned to Becket shaking his head. “No Karacknid ships are being detected. None under power anyway.”

  Becket glanced up at the main holo projection of the battle and then at the gravimetric plot to confirm for herself that the Karacknid fleet was no more. She looked back at Salaman and nodded. “Good shooting Lieutenant.” Turning to her Chief of Staff her tone darkened. “Tell me,” she asked.

  “Reports are still coming in, but Stalker, Unicorn, Wrath and Hercules are all gone,” Wilson answered. “Eight other ships are reporting damage. It looks like Wasp has been crippled.”

  Becket grimaced as she pictured each of the Captains who were no more. She had known them all. Not to mention the thousands of their crew and officers who were also dead. She glanced at Shraw’s fleet. It had suffered even more losses. Forcing the gloom out of her voice, Becket began to give orders. “I want a full analysis on every damaged ship. I want the fleet ready to move as soon as possible. If we have to scuttle Wasp or any others, then so be it. We cannot linger here. There may be other Karacknid fleets on the way. We need to get to the next rendezvous point to join the others. Get help sent to the ships that need it immediately.” And then we’ll see how the other fleets have got on, Becket thought. Her grand Valley Campaign had barely completed a third of her initial objectives and they had suffered significant losses. Shraw’s losses in warships were significant, but so too were the freighters she had lost. If they didn’t have enough supplies and fuel to proceed, then she would have to turn back. And as yet she had no idea how Maleck and Faroul had fared. All of their fleets might have to retreat. If they have even made it to the rendezvous system. That did not lighten Becket’s mood one bit.

  Chapter 16

  It is a very fortunate fact for the Empire that so many competent naval commanders came from just one family.

  -Excerpt from Empire Rising, 3002 AD.

  IS Intrepid, 16th November 2483 AD (same time).

  Emilie couldn’t help but twiddle her fingers as she sat in her command chair on Intrepid’s bridge. For eleven days her small group of ships had remained in stealth at the entrance to one of the shift passages that led away from the system they were in. It was one of only two shift passages that led eastwards out of the Valley towards the rest of the Karacknid Empire. The second one was in the Upper Valley just over four hundred light years away. Apart from those two routes any other ships that wanted to leave the Valley eastwards would have to go all the way to the very top of the Valley and around the large area of space that was devoid of shift passages. As a result, Intrepid had been able to watch several hundred freighters pass through the system on their way in or out of the Lower Valley. More than once Emilie had been sorely tempted to launch a surprise attack against some of the juicier targets that had passed under her guns. But that was not her mission and so she had held her discipline.

  Despite how interesting it was to watch so many Karacknid ships going about their daily business, after eleven days, the novelty had waned. Not for the first time, Emilie found herself daydreaming. As she stared vacantly at the holo projection of the system, her mind went to the last time she had seen Lieutenant Alvarez in Intrepid’s hangar bay.

  “You know I don’t have to leave,” Alvarez said to her as he held her hands. As if to mock him, the shuttle they stood beside started its engines. Ignoring it, Alvarez pressed on. “I’m sure if I asked, Admiral Becket could find me a place in the fleet. There’s bound to be one or two ships that could do with an extra Lieutenant.”

  Emilie shook her head as she squeezed his hands. “That’s not what either of us want and you know it. What difference would it make if you were on some other ship or back on Earth? We wouldn’t be able to see each other either way.”

  “But at least I’d be nearby,” Alvarez pressed. “We could talk every day and I’d be able to keep up with how you’re getting on. On Earth, whatever news I get would be months out of date.”

  Emilie smiled. “You know as well as I that Becket has something special planned for Intrepid. The chances are that even if you did get assigned to one of Becket’s ships, Intrepid would be on a detached mission. You’d still not know what was going on.” Alvarez looked away. She had rehearsed the argument with him several times. “Neither of us can put our relationship above the needs of the fleet and our people. You served your time as a Lieutenant. You are ready for command now. The Imperial Fleet is crying out for experienced Captains. Your skills would be wasted if you stay here. You’ve admitted as much already. This is what has to happen.”

  “I know,” Alvarez said without looking at her. “It’s just, these last months, they’ve been special.”

  “Indeed they have,” Emilie said as she released one of his hands, reached up and turned his cheek towards her. Quickly she pulled her hand back to wipe her cheek. A tear had threatened to betray how difficult she was finding their parting. She pressed on. “If we win this war, we can have many years together which we can enjoy even more. But we must win this war. And that means I have a duty to do, as do you.” When she saw Alvarez’s jaw tighten followed by a short nod, Emilie let out a deep breath and her shoulders relaxed. Arguing him into leaving her was one of the hardest things she had ever done. Having to relive the argument again just before they parted was almost breaking her.

  “You’re right, but it doesn’t make it any easier,” he said as he nodded again. “We must do what we must do.”

  Emilie forced a grin on her face. “Of course I’m right you buffoon,” she said, giving him a playful punch. “Now stop wasting our last moments together and give me a kiss.” Reaching out again she placed both her hands behind his neck and pulled his lips down to hers. A year or two ago she would have been mortified to kiss someone in a hangar bay full of her crew but they had been through a lot together and they all knew about her and Alvarez.

  When they parted, Emilie noticed Alvarez glancing from side to side. Following his gaze she saw that everyone in the hangar was looking away. As he looked back at her she winked at him. “If we kept making out how long do you think it would take someone to interrupt us?”

  Alvarez rolled his eyes. “You’re supposed to be the Captain here.”

  “I am the Captain,” Emilie replied as she faked indignation. Then she softened her tone. “Which is why I know it’s time to say farewell my love.” Standing on her tiptoes she kissed Alvarez gently on the lips and pulled him in for a hug.

  “Stay safe,” he whispered in her ear.

  “You too,” she said as they parted. “Earth is not going to be any safer than where we are going.”

  “No, I suppose it’s not,” Alvarez agreed. He smiled at her, reached out and gave her hand one last squeeze. With a nod he turned and proceeded to the shuttle. Emilie watched as he moved into the shuttle, sat down and strapped himself in. She watched as the shuttle powered up its engines, took off and left Intrepid’s hangar bay. She was still watching as it disappeared into a tiny speck in front of her.

  “Captain,” a familiar voice called, breaking into Emilie’s memories. “Captain…”

  “What is it?” Emilie asked as she shook herself and looked over to her First Lieutenant.

  “Sub Lieutenant McMasters has identified an interesting contact,” Jones said as he signaled for her to look at the main holo projector. “They must be redlining their reactors.�
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  The contact that had drawn McMaster’s attention stood out like a sore thumb. An initial analysis of its drive signatures suggested that it was a Karacknid destroyer. Its acceleration rates were closer to a frigate and significant waves of electromagnetic energy were leaking from the ship. “They are in a hurry that’s for sure,” Emilie commented. “I think we have our first customer.” She grinned at Jones and raised her eyebrows. The presence of a ship obviously straining hard to cross through the system was a strong indicator that Becket had launched her attack. Despite the danger, Emilie couldn’t hide her excitement. “Maguire, get a firm fix on that contact’s trajectory. I want to know its flight path down to the millimeter,” she said to Intrepid’s Second Lieutenant.