by D. J. Holmes
Wu nodded. “I understand Admiral,” he replied in a neutral tone. Johnston knew him well enough to know that he wanted to say more, but he wisely held his tongue.
“If that is all?” Koroylov said, “I have much to attend to. My staff officers will send everything we know about the reinforcements coming our way to your staff.”
At the mention of staff, Johnston almost groaned. That was the first thing he was going to have to do; pick out a whole bunch of officers that would be able to meet his various needs. Coordinating the defense of an entire planet was going to be a colossal task. He would just have to groan quietly and bear it. Johnston reached out and touched Koroylov’s elbow. “I’ll walk you back to your shuttle.”
“Very well, thank you for your time General Wu,” Koroylov said as he shook his hand. “We’ll speak again soon. Tomorrow if not later today.”
Wu nodded and Koroylov turned and gestured for Johnston to follow him. “What is there between the two of you?” Koroylov half whispered as they left the briefing room.
“Nothing much,” Johnston said nonchalantly. “I don’t think he liked me being stationed here. Every marine knows who I am. Even the ones who don’t like me know my accolades and honors were deserved. I think Wu has been imagining me second-guessing every decision he has made and every word he has said. For my part, I’ve been trying to avoid him as much as possible. I guess that’s not going to be possible anymore.”
“He had you training cadets?” Koroylov queried.
“Technically yes, though that wasn’t his doing. Empress Christine made that a part of her banishment,” Johnston explained.
Koroylov unexpectedly laughed. “What is it?” Johnston demanded.
“I was the one who suggested your field promotion to Christine at the Imperial Palace. Let’s just say she wasn’t too keen on the idea. You’ve definitely rubbed her the wrong way.”
“I suppose I have,” Johnston said slowly as his mind went back to that room where Akhila had been handcuffed and on her knees. Try as he might, the memories were never far from his thoughts. “I fully deserve it.”
“Well, she got over it enough to come around to my way of thinking,” Koroylov said. He paused for a moment. “Just like you and Wu are going to have to get over your issues. If he doesn’t though, I want to know about it. He is far more replaceable than you are.”
“He will, don’t worry about it,” Johnston replied. “Now tell me, how do you see things playing out?” he asked, getting to the reason why he wanted to walk Koroylov to his shuttle.
“Not well,” Koroylov answered, not sugar-coating it. “The Karacknids may not bring all ten thousand of their warships here. They may divert some to Alliance space or not have the supplies to send all their ships forward immediately. Yet it would only take three thousand to blast through Somerville’s fleet and our defenses and then advance on to Earth. Even if they don’t have the supplies to advance as quickly as we fear, time is not on our side. They will be able to get enough supplies to bring warships into the fight far quicker than we can build our own or the Alliance can send theirs. Don’t forget, all across the Alliance front line they have been counterattacking in coordination with Somerville’s raid. It will take them months to pull ships back and redeploy them in our direction. They’re sending what they have nearby, but I fear it will not be enough. It is very likely that we will lose the orbitals. If that’s the case, then the longer the Karacknids are bogged down fighting for New Shanghai, the more hesitant they may be to advance further.”
Johnston nodded, it was as he suspected. “Well you can rest assured, you will get the best from the Imperial Marines.”
“Of that I have no doubt,” Koroylov said as they drew close to his shuttle. He paused and shook Johnston’s hand. “I’m sorry to be putting you in this position.”
“We are both in the same position,” Johnston replied. He was certain that if the orbitals were lost, there was a fairly high chance Koroylov would already be dead. “I wouldn’t have it any other way. Far better to be here and in command than back on Earth leaving our fate in the hands of others.”
“Agreed,” Koroylov said as he smiled. “At least we know what we are up against. We won’t go down without a fight.”
“Indeed we won’t,” Johnston said as he gave Koroylov one final nod. As the Admiral walked up the shuttle’s access ramp, Johnston turned. The shuttle landing pads were on top of a small hill. From it he could see the marine base that housed six thousand marines and cadets. All of it was now his responsibility. That and the thousands of other marines spread across the planet and in orbit. And the Militia, he reminded himself. Under the Imperial constitution, every colony was responsible for fielding and arming its own Militia. New Shanghai had twenty thousand permanent Militia and another eighty thousand reservists. They had been called up already, though there had been more than a few issues getting them equipped and to work. That’s going to be my first problem, he thought. But certainly not the last. Taking a deep breath, he started back down the hill towards the barracks. He needed to get to work.
Chapter 39
It was in the War of Doom that the first designs for Imperial dreadnoughts were drawn up. Their production was a must, for the Karacknids had the advantage in numbers, with hundreds of their own dreadnoughts, and they out massed nearly every Allied Fleet they fought.
-Excerpt from Empire Rising, 3002 AD.
Slayer
Not long now, Tanaka-lang thought. Not long now. To say his patience was growing thin was an understatement. The Human fleet had allowed his battlefleet to pass through two more systems unaccosted. But then, right on the edge of the border of his species’ Empire, just as they had jumped out of the system, their gravity bubbles had returned. Within half an hour of jumping into shift space, his entire fleet had been roughly pulled back to normal space. Since then, the Humans had resumed their game of tantalizing his fast squadrons with an easy target and then pulling it away at the last moment. Every time his fast cruisers were about to catch up with the Human ships that created the gravity bubbles, the bubble would disappear and the Human ships would jump to safety. Then, as soon as his fleet jumped into shift space, another bubble would appear, ripping his ships into normal space once again. For eight days now, Tanaka-lang’s battlefleet had been effectively stuck in normal space as it flew beyond the borders of their Empire into unclaimed space. Despite the delay and the frustration at having one’s enemy always just out of claw’s reach. He hadn’t given up hope yet. Not even close. Two weeks ago he had predicted what was happening. Soon his counter plan would reveal itself. And the more you delay me, the more supplies are gathering behind me and the more reinforcements are joining, Tanaka-lang thought towards his opponent. He had received more reinforcements than the Humans had managed to destroy with their fancy ambush using their gravity ships. As the days and weeks rolled on, those numbers would only swell further.
Though he did not know for certain when his plan would materialize, Tanaka-lang remained on Slayer’s bridge for six hours as he watched and waited. Finally, the moment came. A squadron of his warships suddenly appeared just in front of the Human squadron protecting their gravity ship. He had sent them ahead of his fleet more than a week ago via what should have been a much longer route through several other systems. With the extremely slow progress his battlefleet had made, they had easily got ahead of his fleet, and, crucially, the Human gravity ships. Having hidden themselves in the midst of the shift passage, they had waited until just the right moment. With the focus of the Human ships entirely directed towards Tanaka-lang’s fleet, they hadn’t seen his hidden squadron. Now they saw them though, for as Tanaka-lang‘s squadron powered up their reactors, engines, and weapons, they were unmistakable.
Tanaka-lang’s lips peeled back as he revealed his fangs and let out a growl of satisfaction. Missiles were already flying towards the Human ships. The gravity cruiser hadn’t even powered down its gravity bubble yet. Its own weapon was keeping the
Human ships from escaping! It must take some time to power down, Tanaka-lang thought. That was useful to know.
“Gravity bubble is beginning to shrink Admiral,” the sensor officer he had tasked with constantly monitoring the gravimetric sensors reported. “Estimate it will disappear in forty-five seconds.”
“Prepare the fleet to jump in fifty,” Tanaka-lang responded as he raised his voice for all of Slayer’s bridge officers to hear. “We will jump on my command.”
On Slayer’s sensors, the Human warships finally fired back with their own missile salvo. Outnumbered six to one, Tanaka-lang knew they had no hope of winning. But they intended to take as many of his ships as they could with them. On this occasion, he was fine with that.
“Gravity bubble has disappeared Admiral,” the same officer shouted.
“Jump to shift space now!” Tanaka-lang ordered. It took just one second for the lead elements of his fleet to disappear. Within three, every one of the four thousand warships arrayed around Slayer entered shift space. Without waiting to see whether the Human gravity cruiser was destroyed, or how the small engagement played out, Tanaka-lang had his ships on the move. He knew the Humans had more than one gravity ship. Yet the squadron he had sent forward had been given strict orders only to engage gravity ships that were active. Without the gravity ship that was now fighting for its life to warn them, Tanaka-lang was counting on the others not being ready. If they weren’t, his fleet had a very good chance of making it all the way to the next system without being disrupted. And with luck, we’ll end up in front of their gravity ships, Tanaka-lang hoped. So far his fleet had encountered three of them. He suspected that as the one delaying his fleet jumped out when his fast cruisers approached it, it fled ahead and warned the next gravity ship to power up. This time, no such warning would reach the other Human gravity ships.
*
IS Drake, thirty-two hours later.
“James,” Fisher’s voice said over his COM channel. “You’ll want to get in here immediately,” she said in a tone that sent a shiver down James’ spine. Outside of informal engagements on Earth, Fisher never used his first name. Something was definitely wrong. Jumping up from his desk, he left his office and walked straight onto the bridge. He didn’t have to ask what was happening. It was clear on the holo display. Four thousand new contacts had just appeared from the end of the shift passage his fleet had passed through a week ago.
“They’re here,” Fisher said needlessly. “Something has gone wrong.”
James nodded to her as he moved to his command chair. “Any word from any of our gravity well squadrons?”
“None,” Lieutenant Martinez informed him.
“There was no indication the Karacknid fleet was coming,” Fisher explained. “They just jumped out without any of our squadrons giving us a warning.”
James swallowed hard. Something had gone wrong. For the last week, his gravity well cruisers had been keeping the enemy battlefleet in normal space. If they had been able to keep it up, it would have taken several months for the Karacknid fleet to reach the system Drake was in. He had expected the Karacknid fleet to double back and take another route into the unclaimed systems between the Karacknid Empire and the Human colonies. At the moment he had more than a hundred ships out scouting the nearby systems, on the lookout for an attempt to do just that. Instead the Karacknid battlefleet was right in front of him. Somehow, they had gotten past his gravity well cruisers. And they did so without our ships being able to warn us, James thought. That meant they had probably all been destroyed.
“What is going…” Commander Miyagi asked as he stepped onto the bridge. He stopped when he saw the holo display. Quickly he moved to his command chair. “What are your orders Admiral?”
That was the question James was trying to answer. He had no tricks left. Without the gravity well cruisers they couldn’t try another ambush. Nor could they hope to delay the battlefleet by any significant amount of time. Between his fleet’s current position and the Alpha-two Fort there were three different routes the Karacknid battlefleet could take. That meant there were no choke points or other possibilities where he could try something else. “We have no choice,” he said, reluctantly admitting there was only one answer. “Inform the fleet, we’re falling back to Alpha-two Fort immediately. Make sure messenger frigates are sent out to our scouting squadrons. They are to fall back as well.”
“Yes Admiral, understood,” Miyagi said. James caught him sharing a glance with Fisher. He knew what they were thinking. They had run out of delaying tactics. Now, the only way to slow the Karacknid battlefleet would be to fight over Human systems. Alpha-two Fort would be the first, but James was certain it wouldn’t be the last.
*
IS Drake, Alpha-two Fort, 29th May 2484 AD.
“You’re a sight for sore eyes,” James said to Rear Admiral McMasters when his ships got within two-way communication range of Alpha-two Fort. As per the orders he had sent back the day he had made contact with the Karacknid battlefleet, the vast majority of the ships from Alpha-one and Alpha-three had already assembled at Alpha-two.
“It’s good to see you too Emperor,” McMasters said as he gave James a salute. They had first met when they had both been captains during the Flex-aor invasion of the American colonies. Since then, James had kept an eye on McMasters’ career and since becoming Emperor, James had ensured he was given the responsibilities James knew he could handle. When he had recalled Lightfoot from commanding Alpha-two to join Operation Counterstrike, he had put McMasters in charge of the defenses there. “Though I suppose your appearance means the Karacknid battlefleet is not far behind you,” McMasters continued.
“I’m afraid so,” James replied. “They slowed their advance slightly over the last week, but not by much. They may be a day or two behind, but not likely more. What news do you have?”
“Not much, at least in the way of good news,” McMasters answered. “Admiral Koroylov has taken command of the defenses at New Shanghai. That is where he and Empress Christine have decided to make our stand. Every effort is being made to gather our defenses in the system. Half of the battlestations have already been towed out of the system here. I’m told it’s the same at the Alpha-one and three Forts. All of our fighters have been taken out of the system in freighters. We still have our mines, but that is it.”
James brought a hand up to rub his jaw. He had been half expecting what McMasters said. On Drake’s sensors he could see that there were still twenty battlestations in orbit. Without any other defenses though, there was no way his fleet could hold the system. All he could do was try and delay the Karacknids. Perhaps the mines would let him try something. But he was loath to simply abandon the system with twenty battlestations still present. The Karacknids would destroy them with ease if they were left undefended. “We will just have to make do,” James replied. “If you have any ideas, I’ll discuss them with you once we enter orbit.”
“There are one or two tactics I’d like to run by you,” McMasters responded. “Our supply stations are fully stocked and the crews for the repair yards are here as well. We can see to your fleet’s needs and then plan our next steps.”
“Thank you,” James replied. When the COM channel ended, the holo image of McMasters was replaced by an image of Alpha-two Fort. In orbit were McMasters’ three hundred and fifty warships. They were a welcome addition to James’ fleet. Yet their number looked tiny in comparison to the massive enemy fleet James had become accustomed to staring at. As he stared at them and the battlestations they were in orbit around, a thought occurred to him. As he turned to Miyagi, his Chief of Staff looked up. “How many heavy cruisers or battlecruisers do you think it would take to tow one of those battlestations through shift space?”
Miyagi glanced from James to the holo projection of Alpha-two Fort’s defenses. “I don’t know Admiral,” he answered as he looked back. “But I can find someone who does.”
“Do it,” James ordered. If it was possible, he wanted to ge
t the battlestations out of harm’s way. Though it might cost him some of his largest warships, it would be worth it in the long term.
*
Slayer, 29th May 2484 AD (four days later).
Tanaka-lang had his battlefleet on the edge of Human space. With several potential routes through the unclaimed territory between his empire and the systems claimed by Humanity, he had advanced carefully. He didn’t want another sizeable Human fleet getting behind his lines. But now that he was examining the sensor data his scouts had just returned with, he saw that the entire fleet that had invaded his species’ territory was at their border world. And they have received reinforcements, Tanaka-lang observed. There weren’t many of them, but they had to be taken into consideration. Not much of a border fort, was his next thought as he examined the Human system. He had no idea what the Humans called the system, the best Karacknid data analysts still hadn’t broken their signal encryption, nor that of the Alliance. But it didn’t matter. Whatever it was called, he was about to conquer it. The only unanswered question he had was, where were the defenses his scouts had observed? Months ago, he had sent out scouts to covertly examine every Human system between the border of his Empire and their homeworld. He had expected to see forty-four large orbital battlestations. Instead there were only six. Either they have hidden them or removed them.
