by D. J. Holmes
-Excerpt from Empire Rising, 3002 AD.
IS Viper, Karacknid Hub system.
“Take us in,” Becket ordered as soon as the plasma balls ripped into the battlestations. With one destroyed and the other crippled, she was more than willing to risk her fleet by engaging the rest of the Karacknid defenders. “Tactical, fire as soon as we are in range, target everything at their warships,” Becket added as her fleet moved forward. “Navigation, make sure we stay at maximum missile range. We have the advantage in point defense fire. Let’s give our gunners as much time as we can to calculate incoming enemy fire.”
As the officers acknowledged her commands, Becket shared a glance with her Flag Captain. Both she and Rogers knew that the fight was going to be a tough one. But once we hit this Hub, we can raid our way out of the Upper Valley and back home, Becket promised herself.
Alarms from several consoles announced that the Karacknids had opened fire. Even with three battlestations out of the picture, the Karacknids put out an impressive salvo. Becket stared at it, knowing that the missiles represented a wave of death and destruction for her fleet. She accepted that. It was the price she had to pay in order to destroy everything the Karacknids had built up in the system.
“Firing!” Lieutenant Salaman announced as soon as Becket’s fleet got close enough for all of her ships to open fire together. Her salvo was more than double what the Karacknids had released.
If only Shraw had mark IVs, Becket wished. One day that would come, but for now, despite the numerical advantage, the destructive capability of both salvos was almost equal.
“Admiral Faroul!” Lieutenant Rondon said as he waved a hand frantically towards Becket.
“Compose yourself Lieutenant,” Wilson cautioned him as Becket half turned towards her Chief of Staff and COMs officer.
“What is it?” Becket queried as she only half listened. The Karacknid missile salvo was less than thirty seconds away from entering range of her fleet’s point defenses.
“Grazer has just jumped into the system Rear Admiral,” Rondon said his voice as full of panic as before. “She is one of Faroul’s frigates. She has a flash alert from her Admiral. There is a Karacknid fleet less than an hour away from the system. Faroul encountered them racing towards the system two days ago and has been shadowing them ever since. There’s over a hundred ships in the fleet!”
Becket spun completely around to face Rondon. “You’re sure?” she demanded. “Over one hundred ships?”
“Yes Admiral,” Rondon confirmed. “They’re less than an hour away.”
“Send the report to my command chair,” Becket ordered as she turned back to her navigation officer. “Levitt, as soon as this Karacknid salvo strikes us, pull the fleet back. We are disengaging. Don’t give the order until we’ve weathered this first salvo or it will sow confusion. But as soon as we do, I want every ship pulling out of range of the Karacknids.”
As the familiar sounds of Viper’s point defense weapons opening up reached the bridge, Becket was sorely tempted to ignore the Karacknid missiles. She wanted to pull up Faroul’s report and find out exactly what the new strategic situation was. Yet her people were fighting and dying. She couldn’t ignore their efforts. As her fingers twitched, she forced herself to watch the battle. More than two hundred missiles remained. Twisting and weaving, they were desperately trying to avoid everything fired at them. So many different kinds of point defense weapons were being fired from the various ships in her fleet that Becket couldn’t keep a track of who was firing what. While she couldn’t, clearly others could for Karacknid missiles were being taken out in their tens and twenties. One missile caught her eye as it pulled up just in time to cause two AM missiles to strike each other rather than it. Next, a flak cannon round exploded just in front of it, but somehow the shrapnel didn’t cause enough damage to make the missile’s fuel ignite. Laser beams and plasma bolts shot by the missile but it dodged everything fired at it. Becket opened her mouth to order Viper’s gunners to focus on it, but she was too slow. The missile slammed into an Alliance light cruiser and the warship evaporated from the inside. The missile had penetrated through several decks before exploding and the antimatter it released vaporized everything it touched.
Out of her peripheral vision, Becket saw three more bright blue anti-matter explosions erupt within her fleet. Then her ships were pulling back out of range of the Karacknids. One remained stationary where she was. Becket recognized her right away. She was the medium cruiser Harbinger. For several seconds Becket was confused and then the warship’s slow rotation brought her underside into view. A proximity hit had wiped out nearly a third of her lower sections. Becket knew that was where the main energy conduits from her reactors to her engines had been. “Damage report on Harbinger and the others,” Becket snapped as she stared at the holoprojection, hoping the stricken ship would start to move soon. If she didn’t, the Karacknids would be able to send a second missile salvo to finish her off.
“She’s not responding Admiral,” Lieutenant Rondon responded.
“Commander Wilson, organize as many shuttles as can be launched in time. Try and tow her back out of missile range. As fast as you can,” Becket ordered.
“I’ve got the other damage reports,” Lieutenant Salaman informed her.
“Go-ahead,” Becket said with a nod as she turned from Wilson.
“Harbinger was the only proximity hit,” Salaman explained. “The other three were direct hits. Each missile scored a kill. Admiral Maleck lost a light cruiser whilst we and Shraw lost a frigate each. Anchorage was the frigate that took the hit. There’s no sign of her.”
“Our missiles are being engaged by their point defenses,” Armitage interrupted.
“Thank you,” Becket said to Salaman as she focused on the holo plot. Three ships lost. With Harbinger’s damage it would probably rise to four. We need to kill at least twice as many of them, Becket thought. With another Karacknid fleet on the way, she could find herself trapped. With that thought in the back of her mind, she watched her missiles try and dance around the Karacknid defense fire. When what was left of her salvo got about halfway through the enemy fire, the six supply stations opened up with their lighter defenses. Becket was impressed. The supply stations increased the Karacknids’ defensive fire by at least twenty percent. It wasn’t enough. Sixteen missiles survived everything the Karacknids threw at them. Six were Human missiles and they detonated first. Eighteen grazer beams lanced into the Karacknid warships. Three blew up within moments of being struck. The others all suffered damaging hits. Viper was close enough that Becket could see debris being blasted into space. Then the Alliance and Gramrian missiles connected with the enemy squadron. When Viper’s sensors were able to peer through the huge amounts of energy the detonations released, more enemy ships were gone. The remaining Karacknid battlestation had also suffered several hits. Losing power, it was being sucked down into the planet’s atmosphere.
As soon as the final missile exploded Becket pulled up Faroul’s report and scanned it. It quickly made sense why the Poideal Admiral had been delayed. Just as she had jumped into a system two shift passages from the Hub system, she had detected the Karacknid fleet. Fearing that the fleet would pursue her, she had pulled her ships back. To her surprise, the Karacknids had ignored her and charged across the system. Knowing where the shift passage the Karacknids were headed towards led, Faroul had assumed the fleet was heading to the Hub station to reinforce whatever fleet was already there and decided to give chase. Even though she respected Faroul’s leadership capabilities, Becket was surprised by Faroul’s audacity. The Karacknids could have turned at any point and engaged her fleet.
Yet they didn’t, Becket thought. That was strange. They must have known there are more enemy ships operating in the area. It was the only explanation that made sense. If the Karacknid commander was concerned that Faroul’s ships would raid the Hub system he could have simply turned and destroyed the Poideal fleet. Which means they could expect us to be here when they arr
ive, Becket mused as she considered what to do next. A thought made her glance back at the Karacknid fleet still orbiting the gas giant. A lot depended on what its commander did next. If she pulled back to engage the new Karacknid fleet and the Karacknid ships already in the system followed her, she could be caught in a crossfire. But if we don’t pull back and keep engaging the gas giant, we’ll be caught in a crossfire anyway. It was why she had ordered an immediate retreat.
“Get me Maleck and Shraw,” she said to her COMs officer. “I don’t think we have any choice,” she said as soon as the two Admirals appeared on her command chair’s holo projector. “If we try and pull back out of the system, we will be leaving Faroul as a sitting duck. As soon as the commander of this new fleet sees that the gas giant is secure, he’ll turn and destroy her fleet. Even if she escapes, if these two Karacknid fleets combine they’ll hunt us down until they destroy us. We have to take out this new fleet quickly.”
“Agreed,” Maleck said. “There is no other choice.”
“If we can destroy them, then with Faroul’s ships we can come back here and finish what we started,” Shraw said eagerly.
“Assuming the Karacknid commander of the gas giant fleet plays nicely,” Becket responded. “If he comes after us, we’ll be in trouble. If that’s the case one of us, preferably my fleet, will have to engage the gas giant fleet while you two hold off the main Karacknid fleet. If Faroul is right behind them, then between the three of you, you might be able to buy enough time for my ships to finish off the gas giant fleet and re-join you.”
“That’s not an ideal plan,” Maleck responded. “But you do have the largest fleet. What you suggest makes sense. Hopefully, it will not come to that.”
“My hope as well,” Becket replied with a solemn nod. “Let’s get to it. There’s no time to waste. The more distance we can put between ourselves and the gas giant the safer we’ll be.”
After ending the COM channel Becket checked in with her staff officers. “How is it going with Harbinger?” she asked.
“We can’t get her towed out of range in time. The Karacknids have already fired twenty missiles at her,” Wilson informed her. “We’re evacuating as many as we can. But a large percentage of what’s left of her crew are trapped by wreckage.”
Becket ground her teeth in anger. There was nothing she could do. Appealing to the Karacknids to have mercy was a nonstarter. As far as they were concerned, killing the helpless crew of an enemy was probably a bonus. Though she trusted her officers were doing everything they could, she had to fight the temptation to get involved and micromanage the effort. Yet with just eight minutes until the Karacknid missiles reached Harbinger, there wasn’t time for her to get involved and risk sowing more confusion than clarity. In silence she watched as shuttles streamed towards the light cruiser. When the Karacknid missiles were just two minutes away they all took off. Like a flock of birds suddenly disturbed, they fanned out to avoid the coming explosion. When it came, Becket watched with clenched fists. She had lost another warship and there would be more to come.
“We managed to get three hundred and seven crew off,” Wilson informed her minutes later. “I’m working to reassign them to the rest of our ships now.”
“Thank you,” Becket replied. “Good work,” she added as she hid her true feelings. Harbinger had left Earth with a compliment of seven hundred. They had saved less than half.
As her fleet raced away from the gas giant, she watched the Karacknid fleet carefully. Amazingly they didn’t appear to want to follow her. Just like they had when she had tried to lure them out with her fake freighters, the Karacknid warships remained perfectly still.
“Perhaps they think our retreat is another ruse,” Rogers suggested. “They don’t want to leave the stations they are protecting… Though if that is the case, their commander must be overly cautious. We have no need to try and lure them out. Not now that the battlestations are out of the equation.”
“He may have strict orders not to leave orbit,” Becket contemplated. “If he has been informed reinforcements are on the way, then perhaps he doesn’t want to risk the stations until back up arrives.”
“That may be,” Rogers agreed. “If so though, he’s going to miss the battle.”
“Let’s hope so,” Becket said with enthusiasm. She turned her attention to the coming battle. Though there was no way to be certain where the Karacknid fleet would exit shift space from the shift passage it was traveling along, she could make an educated guess. If the Karacknid commander of the fleet had ignored Faroul’s fleet to head straight for the Hub, then it was likely he would want to take a direct line to the Hub once he entered the system. Given the size and shape of the shift passage he was traveling along, that narrowed his entry positions considerably. After pulling up a map of the end of the shift passage, Becket selected the most likely enemy entry point. Then she sent new coordinates to her navigation officer. Moments later her fleet changed heading slightly. It was only a minor course correction, but it would hopefully put her ships in the optimal position to engage the Karacknids.
The question was, how accurate was Faroul’s information on the Karacknids. The Poideal Admiral had indicated that the Karacknid fleet would appear in fifteen minutes. Sadly, it was too soon for Becket’s ships to be in a position to ambush them. But if they were delayed for some reason then the possibilities open to her would be interesting. As her ships charged towards the shift passage, she watched the timer count down carefully. When fifteen minutes passed her hopes rose. They were dashed four minutes later. One hundred and ten Karacknid ships appeared on Viper’s gravimetric plot. Becket cursed when she saw them. They weren’t accelerating straight towards the Hub. Instead they were on a course perpendicular to the one she had expected. They anticipated our presence! she realized. Of course, now that she saw it, it made perfect sense. Why else would Faroul have kept her ships following so closely to the Karacknids unless she was confident there were more friendly ships in the Hub system? The Karacknid commander had figured that out and now he was charging his ships away from the most likely route into the system to avoid an ambush.
Now Becket found herself in a real dilemma. She could still pursue and engage the Karacknid fleet, but when Faroul appeared, she wouldn’t be able to lend her support right away. For several seconds Becket stared at the holo projection of the system. If she didn’t engage the Karacknids now they would circle around the system and join the fleet guarding the Hub. But if she did, her ships would definitely take losses without Faroul. It’s too risky, she told herself as she glanced at the Hub longingly. But perhaps we can still cut them off. Faroul would no doubt exit the shift passage on course to join the battle she expected to find. Becket could use that. “Alter our course, put us onto heading nine nine four point two,” she ordered. “Do it now!” she added when both Rogers and Wilson looked up from their command seats with wide eyes.
Only after they gave the order to their subordinates did she start to explain. “We can’t risk engaging that fleet without Faroul. Not if we want to have enough ships to get out of the Upper Valley. Our new heading buys us time.” Her ships turned their noses onto the new direction and fired up their engines, once again heading into the Hub system. Though this time not directly towards the system’s gas giant. Instead Becket had her ships aimed at the point that the new Karacknid fleet would have to cross if they wanted to reach the Hub.
Alarms from several consoles made every bridge officer look up at the main holo plot. Becket wasn’t surprised by what she found. The Karacknid Hub fleet had finally broken orbit. They were settling onto a trajectory that would allow them to rendezvous with the main Karacknid fleet. Becket smiled at the development. That gave her more options. The fleet should have stayed put.
For the next twenty minutes each fleet continued on their courses without any further change. Then forty-four new contacts appeared on the gravimetric plot right where the main Karacknid fleet had appeared. Faroul had arrived. “Transmit our orders
for Admiral Faroul,” Becket snapped. Less than a minute later Faroul’s ships altered course and powered up their engines to full as they closed with the rest of the Combined Fleet. As soon as Becket had all her ships together in one fleet, she increased the acceleration rate of her ships and closed with the Karacknids. Within the Karacknid fleet there were six battleships and one dreadnought. That was a problem, but it also made the Karacknid fleet slow. As soon as it became clear that her fleet had the acceleration advantage, the main Karacknid fleet began a series of maneuvers to break past Becket’s fleet and get to the Hub. For forty minutes Becket matched the Karacknids move for move. Occasionally the Karacknid fleet gained a slight lead, but then a counter maneuver or her fleet’s edge in acceleration reeled them back.
“Do you think we can catch them before the Hub fleet is able to reinforce them?” Rogers asked.
Becket understood the question. Taking on the main Karacknid fleet would be tough enough, fighting it and the forty remaining ships from the Hub garrison would make the odds almost even. “I’d say we stand a good chance,” she answered. “If that was my goal.” She smiled as Rogers frowned. She watched him as he turned to the main holo plot and narrowed his eyes.
A few seconds later he spun back to her. “The garrison fleet?”
