by D. J. Holmes
As the Chinese Commodore spoke, Becket looked around the room to gauge how everyone was feeling. They were more than one hundred and fifty light years behind enemy lines. There was no hope of reinforcements reaching them or of any fresh supplies coming their way. More than likely there were several Karacknid fleets charging through the Lower Valley to hunt them down. Yet her commanders looked composed and content as they listened to Fang. That’s a good sign, Becket thought. She wouldn’t have been surprised if some nerves were beginning to fray with the constant tension that came from being in the middle of a warzone for so many weeks on end. She was used to long campaigns, but for many of the officers present this was their first real experience of a protracted interstellar war.
When Fang finished retelling their story and had answered a number of questions, Becket turned to Admiral Shraw and raised an eyebrow. The Gramrian briefly recounted his fleet’s experience of the joint raids he had carried out with Becket and then went into more detail about the systems he had attacked after splitting up from Becket’s fleet. His description ended with the second Karacknid border fleet they had met chasing his ships across the system and the arrival of Becket’s fleet just in time to save them from destruction.
“We lost about a quarter of our warships in the stern chase across the system,” Shraw concluded as his forked tongue flicked in and out. “On top of that we lost closer to a third of our supply freighters. My fleet has taken a beating, but we are still combat worthy. We may have lost one claw, but we have more ready to use. And we have Admiral Becket to thank for that,” he said as he bowed his head towards Becket.
Becket wanted to wave away his gesture. They had already talked about this a number of times on the journey to the rendezvous point. It had been her fault that Shraw’s fleet had been left isolated. Yet the Gramrian wouldn’t hear it. As far as he was concerned, they had agreed to split up and even to extend the time they spent apart. Instead of contesting his statement, she bowed back to acknowledge the compliment. “Now,” she said as she turned to Admiral Maleck, “I’m eager to hear how your side of the campaign fared.”
Though she had read Maleck and Faroul’s reports thoroughly when they were transmitted to Viper several hours ago, Becket listened intently. Maleck described how his Alliance fleet and Faroul’s Poideal warships had attacked several Karacknid systems. Most interestingly was one system that appeared to have its economy focused on making Karacknid antimatter missile warheads. In Becket’s experience almost all the Karacknid systems on the outer rims of their empire were focused on less sophisticated enterprises like growing food and mining minerals. According to Kalassai intelligence, the vast majority of the more technically advanced industries were based in systems much closer to the Karacknid homeworld and their own colonies. It seemed that there were a handful of exceptions. After destroying the orbital manufacturing plants, Maleck had sifted through the wreckage and scooped up some interesting finds that would help the Alliance scientists in their quest to develop their own anti-matter warheads.
After striking the warhead manufacturing system, Maleck and Faroul had split up and raided five more Karacknid systems. By their count, they had engaged and destroyed forty-eight Karacknid warships. In return they had lost just fifteen ships between them. It was a trade Becket was more than happy with. Altogether that meant nineteen Karacknid systems had been attacked and, in most of them, every orbital station and warship destroyed.
“So,” Becket said when the discussions were finally over. As she had expected, the Admirals had wanted to discuss a number of the more important engagements in minute detail and see what they could learn from each of their experiences. “With the exception of Admiral Shraw’s run-in with what we believe to be a second Karacknid border fleet that was pulling back, our campaign has gone very well. However, we cannot ignore the losses Shraw has suffered, both in terms of warships and supplies. We must decide how to progress. I am leaning strongly in favor of continuing. We came here to cause as much havoc as we can. From what we’ve seen so far and from what our scouts have picked up, the Lower Valley is awash with Karacknid freighters fleeing our attacks and warships trying to hunt us down. I’d say we are doing well but we can do more. The more mayhem we cause, the more ships we should pull away from the main front of the war. But I know each of you have responsibilities to your own people and to defending your own systems. So whether we continue or fall back, there must be a consensus among us. What are your thoughts?”
“You already know my thoughts,” Shraw said as he flexed his claws. “I say we strike deeper into Karacknid territory. We must hurt them as much as we can whilst the opportunity is before us. My fleet has lost a good deal of it supplies yes, but we have enough munitions for several more battles and we can scavenge much of the other materials we need. The Karacknids use the same He3 fuel we do. We can get our hands on some I’m sure.”
“Your enthusiasm and courage are to be admired,” Fang responded. “But it is a serious problem. One we should consider carefully. “If we have to delay our raids to capture fuel and look for other supplies, it will slow us down. Perhaps considerably. Our entire campaign is based on our ability to move quickly through Karacknid space. As we have no large capital ships with us we can outrun any significant Karacknid fleet that comes against us. But if we have to stop to search for fuel, we could lose that advantage.”
“How much does your fleet need?” Faroul asked.
“Whilst the higher-than-expected warship losses we have suffered mitigates our fuel situation slightly, we are still missing approximately thirty percent of the fuel we would need to complete the full campaign,” Shraw answered.
“A not insignificant amount,” Becket commented. “Though we all brought slightly more fuel with us then we anticipated needing. Thirty percent is a lot.” That was one of the biggest headaches Becket had faced in planning the campaign. They had crossed more than a hundred light years into Karacknid territory. The full plan called for them to double that at least. Yet doing so while having to bring all your fuel with you was a nightmare. Each of her fleets had almost as many supply freighters in them as they did warships. “If it comes to it, we can certainly share some of our fuel with you. Though if we do proceed, we will have to make capturing some more a priority. That will undoubtedly compromise our speed. But if we are careful, we could overcome the problem. Instead of sending your fleet out to raid new systems Admiral Shraw, you could focus on capturing the fuel you need. That would reduce the effectiveness of our overall campaign, but it would allow us to continue.”
“Once we have enough fuel, we could resume more aggressive operations,” Shraw announced.
Becket flashed the Gramrian Admiral a smile. “Of course,” she replied. There was no way she would be able to keep Shraw and his fleet from hitting the Karacknids as hard as they could. “Okay, that is one problem we can potentially take care of. But there are others.”
“The Karacknid garrison fleets,” Maleck said. “We did not anticipate them being pulled back from the border so quickly. Having to engage two of them has cost us dearly. If the Karacknids are willing to abandon their other border systems then there could be three more border fleets already hunting us down. If fleets from the Upper Valley and beyond the east and west of the Valley are sent against us, then they could all combine quickly into one or even two or three large fleets that we would not be able to handle.”
“We know the border fleets do not have any battleships or dreadnoughts in them. That means they have the speed to catch us and force an engagement,” Captain Rogers added. “If we continue to split up as we have done so far, any one of our fleets could find themselves facing a fast garrison fleet like Shraw did.”
“It works to our advantage,” Shraw countered as he looked around the other Admirals, flicking his tongue again. “Yes, we lost ships but that is to be expected in war. We still came out ahead. By chasing us the Karacknid garrison fleet was forced into an engagement with Admiral Becket’s fleet and wi
ped out. That is an entire fleet the Karacknids will have to replace. We are here to divert Karacknid warships from the war front with the Alliance and Humans. Taking out enemy fleets will certainly accomplish that.”
“It will,” Becket responded. “But if we can, I’d much rather engage Karacknid ships with more of a numerical advantage than we were forced to. In any case, now that we know the garrison fleets are pursuing us, the risks have increased.”
“They have,” Faroul agreed, “but they cannot be in every system. And if they combine, then they will be able to cover even less territory. As long as we keep our fleets in close supporting range, then I am happy to continue.”
Becket nodded at the Poideal, then she turned to Maleck. The Crian bowed his head. “If Shraw and Faroul are not deterred by this threat, then neither is the Alliance fleet.”
Before Becket could give her final thoughts on how she intended to handle the garrison fleets, her COM unit beeped. She had told her command staff not to interrupt her unless it was important so she pulled her COM unit out and held up an apologetic hand to the other admirals. “What is it?”
“Intrepid and Hawk have just arrived at the rendezvous point Admiral. Captain Kansas has sent a report for you. There’s no sign of Gremlin,” Lieutenant Armitage informed her.
“Send it to my datapad now,” Becket replied. “Sorry,” she said as she looked back to the other Admirals. “The scouts that we sent to monitor the Lower Valley eastern shift passage have returned.” Knowing that any further explanation was unnecessary, Becket quickly opened Kansas’ report and scanned it. She nodded in approval of what Kansas had accomplished. Gremlin’s loss was sad but taking out the Karacknids was more than worth the price. “News has left the Lower Valley of our raids,” Becket informed the other Admirals. “Though exactly what the Karacknid commanders on the other side will know is not clear. Captain Kansas took out two waves of warships that appear to have been dispatched with news of our attacks. However, when engaging the second group several freighters got away. At the very least, Karacknid commanders near the eastern end of the Lower Valley know that Human warships are engaging their shipping. It may take days or even weeks for more concrete news to filter through to them but they know. Kansas deployed her mines, so whatever initial fleet comes through will get a nasty surprise. We must operate on the assumption that Karacknid warships will be sortieing through from the eastern side of the Valley against us.”
“It is the news we expected,” Maleck said, “but at least Kansas has bought us some additional time. She is Emperor Somerville’s niece is she not?”
“She is,” Becket confirmed. “I have served with her on several occasions. She is a fine officer.”
“She must take after her uncle. In any case, this changes very little,” Maleck continued. “If Karacknid fleets are soon to be coming in from the lower eastern end of the Valley, it will make heading home the way we came even more dangerous than our advance. Those fleets will expect us to continue operations in the Lower Valley. As far as we know, no Karacknid ships know we have come this far. Heading forward may actually be safer, at least in the short term. And if news has left the eastern end of the Valley, then we can expect it to have left the western end as well. Warships and fleets will be coming from that direction too.”
“If we head home now, we could attempt to do so without seeking any further engagements. If we do not raid any more Karacknid systems, the fleet searching for us will have a hard time,” Becket countered. She wanted to make sure the Admirals were certain of their decision.
“We have come this far,” Shraw protested. “We haven’t attacked anything in the last three systems. As far as the Karacknids know, we are many light years from here. If we press forward now, it could take a week or two for news to head back down the Valley. We would have far more of a head start on the fleets pursuing us if we continue than if we try to backtrack.”
“In the short term yes,” Becket responded. “But in the long term, the more fleets that enter the Valley the tighter the noose around our necks will become.”
“Again, that is the risk we all accepted when embarking on this campaign,” Faroul interjected. “I am with Admiral Maleck. I do not believe this news changes anything.”
Becket smiled widely at the Admirals. “All right then, I had to be sure. I think you all know me well enough to know what I believe we should do. However, I have some changes I’d like to suggest. For one, if more fleets than we expected are operating behind us, then if we push on, I suggest we sneak through several more systems before we resume raiding. The more distance we can put between ourselves and the Karacknid fleets in the Lower Valley, the better. Then, we can limit our raids until Shraw gathers the fuel he needs to ensure his fleet can get home. After that, it may be wise to push more westward than we had initially planned. We have already destroyed two Karacknid garrison fleets that were stationed on the westward end of the Valley. If we push more westward ourselves, then we’ll be putting even more distance between us and whatever other garrison fleets are operating in the Lower Valley.”
“That is acceptable to me,” Maleck responded.
“And us as well,” Faroul said as she looked at Shraw and the Gramrian Admiral bared his teeth.
“Perhaps we could make one additional change,” Shraw said as everyone looked at him. “I presume you intend to continue with our strike against the Karacknid asteroid shipyard even if we are moving more westward. If this Captain Kansas is as good as you say, perhaps we could expand her responsibilities. A diversionary attack or two further up the eastern end of the valley would divert some Karacknid forces away from pursuing us along our main line of advance.”
“It certainly would,” Becket agreed as her mind got to work. The other Admirals joined Shraw in discussing some of the finer points of the suggestions he had just made and brought up more ideas of their own. As Becket listened and participated, she had to fight not to break into a smile. Despite the various scout reports of Karacknid fleets that had been spotted; despite the certainty that more enemy warships would be filtering into the Lower Valley; despite the dangers that lay ahead, she was exactly where she wanted to be. The Karacknids had nuked her homeworld. They had killed hundreds of millions of her people. Now she was in the middle of their space causing havoc. They can come after us all they want, she thought, we’ll just have to dance around them even better than we have already.
Chapter 26
Some star systems will always be more important that others, both in economic and military terms. In times of peace this is a boon, yet in times of war it can be a curse.
-Excerpt from Empire Rising, 3002 AD.
IS Viper, outer edge of Karacknid ‘Hub’ system, 23rd January 2484 AD (four weeks later).
“Scout data from Panther coming in now,” Lieutenant Armitage informed Becket and the rest of her command staff.
Becket nodded and waited for it to appear on Viper’s main holo projector. It had been four weeks since her admirals had decided to press on into the Upper Valley. They had passed through several systems quietly so as not to raise the alarm. Then she had split her forces to rapidly raid as many systems as possible. She reckoned they had already quadrupled the effectiveness of their incursion into Karacknid territory. The Upper Valley systems were far more developed than the Lower Valley ones. Whilst that meant they were better protected; the increased protection didn’t reflect the increased value. She had lost six warships in the previous two weeks of raiding. For that, her fleet had destroyed what, in Human terms, had to be hundreds of trillions of credits worth of orbital real estate and shipping. Shraw, Maleck and Faroul had all encountered similar success in their raids. Though Maleck had decided to take on a convoy with a significant escort and had lost nine of his ships in the battle. Even so, he had completely destroyed the convoy and its escorts.
Now Becket had recombined her fleet. At least, Shraw’s and Maleck’s ships were once again in formation around hers. They were still waiting fo
r Faroul to return. While they waited, Becket had sent Panther into what she had dubbed the ‘Hub’ system when she had initially envisaged her campaign. It was one of two key targets she wanted to hit. Now they were here. When the sensor data appeared, more than one voice was heard from the officers on Viper’s bridge. Though they had all seen the Kalassai intelligence on the system, they were shocked. As far as Becket could guess, the system served as a transport hub for most of the Lower Valley and a significant portion of the Upper Valley. The system’s only gas giant was dominated by six massive orbital stations. Each station had eight long arms, making them look like giant spiders. As Armitage zoomed in on one of the stations, Becket counted more than thirty freighters attached to just a single arm.
