Counterstrike

by D. J. Holmes

  As James stared at the enemy battlefleet he couldn’t help but see Earth’s destruction in their numbers. Since breaking off the attack on the Karacknid fleet base he had scanned the report Scott had sent with her recorded message. Drake’s sensors were detecting the same thing Misfit’s had. The Karacknid warships were not like the ones they had encountered to date. They had clearly been dispatched from another part of the Karacknid empire. Its purpose was obvious; the destruction of Earth and the other Allied homeworlds. Reluctantly, James tore his eyes away from the massive group of ships. Anderson was right, the two hundred and thirty ships of the HQ fleet were preparing to chase him. “They’ve left it too late to slow us by much,” he said to his command staff. “If need be, we can turn and give them one salvo.” Suddenly another thought hit James. It made him turn back towards the Karacknid battlefleet as it split apart. Twelve hundred ships surged ahead of their comrades. Within seconds, Ivanov identified them as light cruisers, destroyers, and frigates. As their new acceleration rates updated, their flight path showed that they would intercept his fleet forty minutes before he could jump out. James cursed. The Karacknid HQ fleet had no intention of attacking him by themselves. They’d stay on his tail and only close when the lead element of the Karacknid battlefleet engaged him. James was pretty certain his fleet would escape but they were going to take damage in the process. Possibly a lot of damage. “Options?” he asked as he turned to his officers.

  “We could launch a fighter strike against the HQ fleet,” Ivanov suggested. “Away from their battlestations, their dreadnoughts and battleships will be vulnerable. Especially after they sacrificed so many of their light ships.”

  “It won’t completely stop them from being able to harass us, but it will blunt the damage they can do,” Fisher added to show her approval. “We can launch a second attack if we want. We should have time.”

  “We could just turn and engage them,” Anderson offered. “If we attack them with our fighters and our fleet, we’d be able to take them out with ease. Yes, it will prolong how long the Karacknid light cruiser fleet can engage us for. But we’ll be able to give better than we get in any engagement with them. If that fleet is intended for Earth, we might not get a chance to fight a battle on such even terms again.”

  “Engage both fleets now and retreat with whatever we have left?” James asked as he brought a hand up to rub his chin. He understood Anderson’s logic but he couldn’t accept such a strategy. It was almost tantamount to admitting defeat. If he lost a third of his fleet in taking out the Karacknid HQ fleet and half of the cruiser fleet, he’d be ahead in terms of numbers yes but his fleet was almost all that stood between Earth and the Karacknid battlefleet. He couldn’t throw away a third of his numbers when nine thousand warships would remain untouched. He shook his head. “The HQ fleet would pull back as soon as we turned towards them. We still might be able to crush them, but it would take too long.”

  “A small fast force could delay the Karacknid cruiser fleet,” Fisher said, though her tone of voice suggested she wasn’t too keen on the idea. “They could engage the Karacknids and force them to fight. That may buy us the time to jump to safety without having to tackle them. I’m sure the HQ fleet wouldn’t take us on, on their own.”

  James didn’t like that idea either. Ordering some of his fleet to their deaths to save the others wasn’t the kind of thing he liked to do. The tactic sent his mind back to Gupta. She had done just that in a system not far from where he was now. Yet he couldn’t sacrifice himself. Not when there was still an entire battlefleet in play. If he could take out the ten thousand Karacknid ships in the system, he’d gladly give his life to do it. But that was not an option. “Let’s keep that as a last resort,” he said. “Draw up plans for the size of squadron we need and who would be best to command it but unless there is no other choice, we will keep that strategy in reserve. Have Commodore Chen prepare plans for a strike against the HQ fleet. We have two hours until the cruiser fleet intercepts us. I don’t want to hit the HQ fleet twice with our fighters, for we may end up losing too many of them. I fear we are going to need every fighter we can get in the weeks ahead. But if we need to, we will launch one strike against their capital ships.”

  “Aye Admiral,” responded Miyagi and half of his officers. “We’ll get to work now.”

  As his officers drew up the plans, James set up a COM call with Ya’sia and Jil’lal. “How are your people holding up?” he asked them.

  “As well as can be expected,” Ya’sia answered. “We thought we were about to crush the Karacknids. Now they are hunting us. And they’re going to hunt us all the way back to your space.”

  James grimaced. “My fears exactly.”

  “I’m sorry about the loss of Misfit and Captain Scott,” Jil’lal said in a somber tone. “I still remember the first time I met her when she was your science officer on Endeavour. She did very well to warn us. Hopefully, it will have been in time for us to escape and do something about this Karacknid battlefleet.”

  “Hopefully,” was all James could bring himself to say. To change the subject he outlined the plans his staff officers had come up with. “Do either of you have any other suggestions?”

  Jil’lal shook her head. “Short of fighting the cruiser squadron head on, I don’t see what else we can do. We need to get out of here more than we need to destroy a few Karacknid light ships.”

  “I concur,” Ya’sia said. “We can hit the HQ fleet with our fighters and then we’ll have to face whatever the cruiser fleet throws at us. I fear we will have to scuttle any ships that are badly damaged. But getting the fleet out of here is more important.”

  “I’ll have my staff officers transmit our plans to your officers,” James responded. “Let me know immediately if you think of anything else.” With a nod to each Admiral, James cut the COM channel. He turned to his officers but they were all busy. As Drake and his fleet raced towards the shift passage back to Earth, he was left with his own thoughts. It didn’t take long for them to turn to Scott.

  Nearly an hour passed without James having to give much input to his officers. As the time ticked by, he resisted the urge to launch the strike against the HQ fleet. A part of him wanted to get it over and done with, though he knew the longer he waited, the less chance he would give the Karacknids to come up with some new strategy. He imagined the wait for Chen’s pilots was even worse than his own but he could do nothing to help them.

  The sudden blaring of the contact alert alarms grabbed James’ attention. “Multiple ships accelerating in from the Jaranna shift passage,” Ivanov reported as James turned to her. “They’re ours!” she added a few seconds later, full of relief. “It’s Lightfoot’s fleet!”

  James returned her expression. Lightfoot was supposed to be operating in around the Jaranna system. He should have been a couple of weeks away and yet here he was. His fleet of four hundred ships was turning onto an intercept course for James’ ships. As the holo plot updated, it showed that they would join the main Allied Fleet before the Karacknid cruiser fleet could open fire. “I don’t know what he’s doing here, but boy am I glad to see him!” James said to his staff officers, still grinning. “Prepare to record a message, I want to hear from him immediately,” James requested.

  As soon as the COM unit started recording he began, “Admiral Lightfoot, you’re a sight for sore eyes. I dispatched a messenger frigate to you not more than an hour ago. I didn’t expect to see you so soon. As your sensors are no doubt telling you, we’ve been joined by some friends. Your assistance would be helpful. What is your situation?” When he finished speaking, James nodded to Martinez to transmit. As the shift passage that led to Jaranna was not far from the one James was heading to he didn’t have to wait long for a reply.

  “Admiral Somerville,” Lightfoot said as he saluted. He looked far more serious than James had felt as he sent his message. Of course, Lightfoot was seeing the Karacknid battlefleet for the first time. “I’d like to take credit for our timin
g,” he continued, “but we had to fall back from Jaranna. We detected a Command Dreadnought and several fleet elements hiding in the system waiting to ambush us. We haven’t detected them following us, but there could be five hundred or more Karacknid ships close on our stern. I imagine the Command Dreadnought belongs to the commander of this battlefleet. It’s likely he headed on to Jaranna to get the lay of the land. What are your orders?”

  “We have already made preparations to strike the Karacknid fleet that is trailing us with our fighters,” James explained. “Launch your own now and we will coordinate the combined attack. Apart from that, just get the rest of your fleet here as soon as possible. We need to extract ourselves from this system as intact as possible. We’re going to need every ship we have to turn back this battlefleet.”

  When Lightfoot replied, he acknowledged James’ orders and sent across a full report on his brief excursion to the Jaranna system. James skimmed through it then turned to Miyagi. “Inform Chen he can launch his fighters as soon as they are ready. His squadron leaders will have to coordinate with Lightfoot’s. We’ll not be able to manage the strike from here with the distances involved.”

  With the order to attack given, James was relegated to the position of observer. It took the fighters fifteen minutes to launch and form up. They slowly approached the Karacknid HQ fleet. Seeing them coming, the HQ fleet deployed all of their light ships ahead of their capital ships. James was tempted to intervene and order Chen to split his attack between the Karacknid light ships and capital ships, but he held himself back. The Commodore had trained his squadron leaders well. They would know what to do. Thirty seconds before Chen’s two hundred fighters entered range of the Karacknid’s point defenses, eighty new contacts appeared as Lightfoot’s fighters powered up and came out of stealth. Charging in from a completely different angle, they had a clear run on the Karacknid capital ships. Their sudden appearance caused confusion among the Karacknid ranks. More than twenty light ships reversed course in an attempt to cover the new attackers. Their maneuver only meant they were out of position as Chen’s fighters dove in towards them. The smaller explosions of fighters being picked off by defense fire was quickly joined by far larger explosions as plasma missiles ripped holes in the Karacknid light ships. There was a pause of several seconds as Chen’s fighters passed through the small Karacknid ships. Then it was the turn of the capital ships to defend themselves. More fighters and bombers were destroyed, but the majority of Chen’s fighters and all of the ones from Lightfoot’s fleet attacked the capital ships. Drake’s sensors had detected and catalogued thirty dreadnoughts, battleships, and battlecruisers. Just sixty seconds after the wave of plasma balls ripped into them, only five remained. A further forty cruisers and light ships had been taken out as well. The heart of the Karacknid HQ fleet had been decimated.

  “That is one threat we don’t have to worry so much about,” Fisher commented.

  “Chen still has more than two hundred fighters and bombers left,” Miyagi added as Drake’s sensors tracked the two groups of fighters as they returned to their carriers in James’ and Lightfoot’s fleets.

  James nodded but didn’t add anything. Trading a handful of fighters for so many dreadnoughts and battleships was an amazing exchange. Yet even if it faced a similar attrition rate, the Karacknid battlefleet could easily attempt to drive on Earth.

  As the fighters returned to their carriers, James watched the Karacknid cruiser fleet. It continued towards his ships undaunted. The Karacknid commander had to know that if he wanted, James could launch a second sortie against his ships. With nothing larger than a light cruiser in the Karacknid fleet, a single plasma missile would destroy whatever it hit. Though James didn’t want to throw his fighters away in such an attack, the Karacknid commander did not know that. On top of that, it was obvious Lightfoot’s ships would join his before the cruiser squadron could get into missile range. “He is still coming,” James commented.

  “I know they are bloodthirsty, but it seems a waste,” Fisher suggested. “They have us outnumbered five to one. Why engage us on worse than equal terms? Especially when we are going to escape anyway.”

  “A good question,” James responded. “A very good question,” he added as he began to work on the problem. On one of his secondary holo displays he pulled up the sensor data Misfit had collected of the Karacknid convoys that were following the battlefleet. “Has anyone done an analysis of these freighters yet?” He asked.

  “Just a preliminary one,” Ivanov answered.

  “Do we think they have enough supplies to make it all the way to Earth?”

  “Possibly,” Ivanov answered tentatively. “If over ninety percent of those freighters are filled with fuel, they would be able to take Earth and threaten the rest of our colonies. But there’s no way to know how likely that is. And there’s another problem.”

  “Go on,” James pressed.

  “Commodore Scott believed the Karacknid battlefleet has come from another theatre of war. One they presumably had just finished fighting in. If that’s the case, the battlefleet has had a relatively long journey. We cannot know how long for sure but it may be that many of those freighters carried the fuel the battlefleet needed to reach Jaranna. Many of them could be empty.”

  “So we really have no idea at this stage,” James said, frustration filling his voice. “But,” he added as he turned to Fisher, “it does perhaps explain the Karacknids’ actions. If they don’t have enough fuel for the entire battlefleet to head straight to Earth, they may be planning to strike us with what they can. If that’s the case, then doing as much damage to our fleet as they can now makes more sense.”

  Fisher nodded. “I’m not sure that fills me with confidence though.”

  “No,” James agreed. For one thing, if their line of thinking was correct, it confirmed that the Karacknids did indeed intend to push for Earth. “But we cannot change where we are,” he continued. “Work out our best defensive formation incorporating Lightfoot’s ships back into our fleet. Then have our ships prepare to face the missiles this Karacknid cruiser squadron will hurl at us. We only have to survive four salvos before we can jump out.”

  Over the next half an hour James spoke more with Lightfoot as his ships rendezvoused with the Allied Fleet and then he brought Jil’lal and Ya’sia into the conversation. With all of his squadron commanders and Captains knowing what was expected of them, he had little else to do. When the Karacknid cruiser squadron came into missile range, Drake was protected behind so many other ships, his flagship was never threatened. That didn’t mean James didn’t feel the losses his fleet suffered. With each salvo the Karacknids hurled at him, tens of ships were lost. More ships fell behind as they were damaged. As fast as they could they were evacuated and scuttled. In return, the Karacknid fleet suffered nearly thirty percent casualties. The exchange rate was in James’ favor, yet he couldn’t help but feel he was losing ships that he would desperately need in the weeks ahead.

  After the last Karacknid salvo was dealt with and only a handful of missiles made it through his defenses to strike targets, James let out a sigh of relief. The only capital ship that had been lost was the heavy cruiser Merlin. The vast majority of his fleet’s firepower would live to fight another day. Even as that filled James with relief, Drake’s sensors detected more movement deeper within the system. More than two hundred freighters had broken orbit from the Karacknid fleet base. They were moving to rendezvous with the Karacknid battlefleet which was slowly following James’ fleet. Far more concerning, six hundred new contacts had just appeared from the same shift passage Lightfoot’s fleet had. They too settled onto a course that put them in pursuit of the Allied Fleet. We are far from out of the woods yet, very far indeed James thought just before Drake jumped out of the system. The last thing he saw on his ship’s active sensors was the large Command Dreadnought at the center of the new Karacknid fleet. Whoever his opponent was, James feared he may have met his match.

  Chapter 25

&
nbsp; The Gift played a crucial role in the War of Doom. It still plays that role today for while advancements in the shift drive and the discovery of the Sun Gates have revolutionized interstellar travel, they have not yet rivaled the capabilities of wormhole travel.

  -Excerpt from Empire Rising, 3002 AD.

  IS Viper, 22nd December 2483 AD (three months previous).

  As she walked into Viper’s main conference room, Becket nodded, smiled, and bowed to the various Admirals and Flag Captains present. Her flagship was sitting on the extreme outer edge of an uninhabited system on the border between the Lower and Upper Valleys. With every ship in the fleet in stealth, even if a Karacknid patrol came looking for them, they would be very hard to find. That didn’t stop Becket feeling slightly nervous. If a Karacknid fleet did appear, having all her commanding officers in one place was risky. Yet they had a big decision to make and she felt doing so in person was important.

  Sitting, she activated the conference room’s main holo projector. It displayed a map of the Valley. Nineteen systems flashed a gentle red to show which ones had been raided by her fleets. “Let me begin by saying that it’s good to see you all again in the flesh,” she said with a smile. “We have all had an eventful six weeks. I’m glad you’re all here and doing well. Let us have a moment’s silence for those from our fleets who are not with us.” Bowing her head, Becket took a minute or so to recall the faces of the Captains she had lost. Then she took a deep breath and opened her eyes. “Now,” she said as everyone looked back to her. “I have read all of your reports, but I’m keen to hear how each of you got on. Then we have to decide what comes next. If you don’t mind, I’ve asked Commodore Fang to update you all on how our fleet fared since we split up. Then we’ll move on to Admiral Shraw and so on.” When the various officers gave their consent, Becket turned to Fang and nodded.