by D. J. Holmes
With his mind so focused on the Karacknid battlefleet, he wasn’t surprised when he started dreaming about finally getting a chance to face them in open battle. Yet his dreams betrayed him. Each night he had to relive New Shanghai’s fall and conquest. Despite his best efforts, there was no way he could avert the disaster. When his dreams carried over into the various simulations he ran with Fisher, Miyagi, Ya’sia, Lightfoot and the other commanders of the Allied Fleet, his spirits really sunk. As hard as they tried, as far outside the box as they could think, they were unable to overcome the Karacknid’s numerical superiority. Well aware of his state of mind, James was sitting on Drake’s bridge trying to look in control. In reality, his thoughts were racing as he thought through all the variables that would influence the coming battle.
“We will arrive in five minutes,” Lieutenant Ivanov reported for the benefit of Drake’s bridge officers. Her announcement pulled James out of his thoughts. At least he’d be able to distract himself for several hours as his fleet entered the system and approached New Shanghai. No doubt there would be hundreds of reports for him to sift through.
“Exiting shift space in five, four, three, two, one,” Drake’s navigation officer counted down. As soon as she finished, a slight tremor ran through the battleship as she reverted to real space. Seconds later the holo image of space around James’ flagship filled with hundreds of other ships as the rest of the Allied Fleet arrived.
James watched them for a few moments then turned his attention to New Shanghai. What he saw took his breath away. Hope stirred within him. Glancing at Fisher, he found that he was grinning like a schoolboy. “Would you look at that?” he said, his voice betraying the fact that he hardly believed it. “It has to be doesn’t it?”
“Confirmed Admiral,” Ivanov said before Fisher could reply. “That is a Kulrean worldship in orbit.”
“What on Earth is it doing here?” Fisher asked. “Do you think they have given up their pacifist stance?”
“If they had, I’d like to hope there’d be a whole bunch of their worldships,” James answered. “I’m guessing they’re here to try and broker some kind of truce. But I’d say it’s a safe bet to say the Karacknids will attack them. That worldship is bound to be worth a couple hundred Karacknid warships.”
“There are eight hundred other warships in orbit,” Miyagi pointed out. “That will bring our number to two thousand five hundred.”
“That’s not all there is,” Anderson followed up. “Look at the lower orbits. There must be a couple hundred battlestations. No, wait, I think it’s closer to three hundred. And look at all the freighters, there are thousands of them.”
James sat back in his command chair as he took everything in. Koroylov and Christine had been far busier than he had imagined. It looked like every starship in the Empire was in the New Shanghai system. Every starship, and battleship, and fighter, James thought. This is it; this is where we throw everything at the Karacknids and we stand or fall. Taking in the view in front of him, he was sure that if his fleet and the force in front of him were defeated, there would be nothing left to defend the rest of the Empire. Nothing but Rear Admiral Becket’s fleet, and there was no way they will have received the news in time. James was certain she would be furious that she was going to miss the fight at New Shanghai. Yet there was nothing he could do about it, the news he had sent to Earth of the Karacknid battlefleet would only be reaching her now. When she returned from her raid into the Karacknid empire, she would either find the battlefleet defeated or Earth conquered. However, for the first time in days, when James thought about Earth, he wasn’t filled with despair. The firepower on display around New Shanghai was nowhere near enough to guarantee the Karacknid battlefleet would be defeated, but there was enough to make him think they had a chance.
A series of beeps from the gravimetric sensor console made James’ head spin towards it. They can’t be here already, he groaned to himself, fearing that Karacknid scouts were already entering the system.
“New contacts,” Drake’s sensor officer reported in response to the beeps. “They’re ours,” she updated seconds later. “Confirmation codes coming in now. It’s Task Force Seven led by the light cruiser Mongoose and Commodore Chambers, they have returned from the Rillelio system.”
“Very well,” Fisher responded. “Inform them they can follow us into New Shanghai.”
“Sorry Captain,” the sensor officer said before Drake’s COM officer could acknowledge the command. “They’re transmitting a priority message for Admiral Somerville.”
“Send it to my command chair,” James responded. “Then transmit them a course for New Shanghai.”
As he waited for the file to be transmitted from Mongoose, James wondered what it was about. It only took a couple seconds for his heart to start to beat faster. There was one obvious answer. Forcing himself not to jump to conclusions, he waited patiently. As soon as the file was in front of him, he scanned through it. Within moments his fears were realized. The Karacknids had discovered the Rillelio system. They had attacked and conquered it. Guilt washed over James. Guilt and shame. Commodore Chambers made it clear that the Karacknids had come for the Rillelio’s fuel extractors and refineries. They needed a source of He3 close to the front line as much as we did, James realized. Which meant his offer to trade for the Rillelio’s fuel had been the very thing that had attracted the Karacknids to them. The rational part of his brain told James that the Karacknids would have conquered them anyway. Even with half the fuel production the Rillelio now had, the Karacknids would have wanted it. Yet he didn’t think the Rillelio would see things that way. He had lied to them. Lies that had ended up attracting the Karacknids to them. For all James knew, Karacknid scouts had detected some of the fuel convoys that had been supplying his fleet and tracked them back to the Rillelio system. We led them right to the Rillelio, James thought as he ground his teeth together. And we didn’t tell them about the threat. They will blame us, James was certain. If anything is left of their civilization when the Karacknids are done with them. The Karacknids would want to punish the Rillelio for helping Humanity, even if they had been duped into doing it. James’ mind tried to tell him that even if he had been truthful with the Rillelio, there was nothing they could have done to prepare for the Karacknids. Nothing would be different right now, he tried to say to himself. Yet that was not true, we could have told them the truth. We could have helped them evacuate some of their population. We could have fought alongside them. They would yet see us as their friends. Not as a species who sold them out to the Karacknids.
With his emotions a rollercoaster, James sat in his command chair in silence as Drake continued into the New Shanghai system. Hope from the view in front of him fought back-and-forth against the guilt and sense of dishonor he felt for what he had done to the Rillelio. With the system already conquered by the Karacknids, there was nothing he could do for them now. Nevertheless, their fate distracted him from New Shanghai. They had been conquered because of him. For the first time since finding out about the Karacknids, James wondered if he deserved what the Karacknids wanted to do to his species. Am I any better than they? James asked himself as he pictured the images he had seen of other species the Karacknids had conquered. In every instance, the Karacknids simply used such species as slave labor. Had he really done anything different with the Rillelio? No clear answer would come to him. That in itself only swelled his sense of shame.
*
IS Drake, New Shanghai orbit, 10 hours later.
“Welcome,” James said as he shook Nogamoro’s hand.
“It’s good to see you back in one piece,” the Vice Admiral replied as James stepped back to allow him into the briefing room. “Home Fleet is ready to play its part in the coming battle.”
“I expected nothing less,” James said as he released Nogamoro’s hand, nodded to him and then turned to the next officer he had invited to what he was thinking of as their final briefing.
“General,” he said as he
even more firmly gripped Johnston’s hand. “Given the lack of bad news, I trust my wife and son were safe in your hands?”
The look that came over Johnston’s face was not what James had been expecting. “It’s actually Acting General now,” Johnston replied. “But yes, the terrorists who threatened your family are no longer a cause for concern.
James frowned. “Acting General?”
“It’s a long story, I’ll tell you later if we have time,” Johnston replied.
That only deepened James’ frown, yet Rear Admiral Suarez was already approaching. “Later then,” he said to his friend and gestured with his head for Johnston to head into the briefing room. After greeting Suarez and congratulating him on getting his squadron back in one piece, several other officers filed into the room. When no more appeared to be coming, James turned and glanced over his commanders. Happy that everyone was present, he tapped the door’s control panel to close it and moved to stand in front of them all. “Let me welcome you all to what I am calling our final briefing,” James began. “I hope it will not be our final ever, but we must be realistic. Many of us may not see each other in the flesh again. If we are to defeat this Karacknid battlefleet, it will take everything we have got. Including our lives.” Pausing briefly, James looked around at the gathered naval officers and marine commanders. He wanted them all to realize that they might be called to make the ultimate sacrifice. Understanding was written across every pair of eyes that were looking back at him. James nodded at what he saw, No one misunderstood the seriousness of their situation. “Very good,” he said and then paused for a moment to let the seriousness of their situation sink in. “Admiral Koroylov has been here the longest. He best understands New Shanghai’s defenses. He will brief us on the general plan. Then it is our job to pull it apart and put it back together as best we can.”
“Thank you, Emperor,” Koroylov said as he stood and came to take James’s place. With a tap on the room’s holo projector, an image of New Shanghai appeared. “Our preparations have been based around addressing two scenarios. First, a prolonged siege. It is our hope that we have gathered enough strength here to make the Karacknid battlefleet think twice about engaging us in a straight up fight. At least, until they are reinforced to their full strength. Given the smaller fleet that pursued Emperor Somerville’s fleet, we believe the Karacknids did not have enough supplies to send forward all ten thousand of their new warships. However, some have been trickling in over the last month or so. We expect that to continue or even accelerate. In the short-term, we hope to dissuade the Karacknids from directly assaulting New Shanghai. That is where our battlestations and orbital defense satellites come in. With their firepower added to our fleets’, the Karacknids will know they will suffer heavy losses if they try to attack us without waiting for further reinforcements. Our own reinforcements are on their way from Alliance space. A fleet of one thousand warships has been promised to us in two months’ time. Behind them, at least another one if not two thousand are coming. If we can hold on that long, then we may be able to stop the Karacknids’ advance here.
“However, whether we can achieve that or not will not be in our hands. The Karacknid commander may choose to attack the moment his fleet arrives in system. To that end, we have been preparing to engage his fleet in an open battle. If that eventuality arises, our strategy will revolve around our battlestations and these two moons.” In the holo image the two hundred and ninety-four battlestations in orbit around New Shanghai began to flash, so too did two of the planet’s four moons. “All of the ground-based missile launchers from Earth’s moon and Mars have been relocated to these two moons. With their mark V missile launchers and those of our battlestations, we will be able to put up a large volley of long-range missiles. Those missile salvos, combined with Commodore Chen’s one thousand two hundred fighters, will form the focus of our offensive capabilities. The goal of any fleet engagement will be to protect these key weapons platforms at all costs. To that end, we will be splitting our fleet into what we’re calling battle squadrons. Each squadron will be commanded by one of our senior Admirals. It will consist of three hundred warships and four hundred armed freighters and civilian ships. The freighters and civilian ships have been equipped with enough point defenses to roughly match the defenses of a destroyer. In any engagement they will be used to soak up as much Karacknid fire as possible. In addition to our seven frontline battle squadrons, Admiral Somerville will command our reserve force of four hundred warships, six hundred freighters and eighty missile pod freighters. He will direct them to where they are needed most as the battle develops. Each of our battle squadrons will be designed to fight independently if need be, but we will strive to support one another. With both moons and the battlestations in orbit to protect, we will have to spread out our forces, however, if the Karacknids wish to attack us, then so will they. With our long-range missiles and fighters we hope to achieve numerical superiority in certain areas on the battlefield at key moments. In this way we will reduce the Karacknids’ overall strength, hopefully to the point where actually taking New Shanghai will become too costly for them.”
James half listened while he watched his officers. The overall plan was familiar to them all, it was something they had simmed many times, only Earth had been the planet being defended. Since the attack on Earth three years ago, James, Koroylov and Lightfoot had instigated a change in battlestation design. Rather than be armed with missiles essentially the same as those carried by warships, they were now armed with what Scott had designated mark V missiles. Borrowing an idea from the Flex-aor, the missiles were far larger than mark IVs. Essentially, they were nothing but booster rockets that carried a payload of six multistage missiles. Once released, the multistage missiles could then use both of their engine stages to propel themselves even further. As a result, mark V missiles had a maximum powered missile range three and a half times that of mark IVs. Combined with the long-range strike capabilities of Spitfire fighters and Lancaster bombers, the idea was that Earth’s, or now New Shanghai’s, defenses would be able to hit an invading force hard long before it got into range with its own missiles. The job of the Imperial Fleet was one of protection; the longer they could prolong the engagement, the more damage the battlestations, moon-based ground launchers and fighters could do.
Once Koroylov was done, James wasn’t surprised to find several Admirals wanting to speak at once. What followed was a lively debate around the specific delaying strategies Koroylov had laid out. Within minutes there were several ideas about how the fleet could be best used to buy time and defend the orbital battlestations. For three hours, James allowed the discussion to go on. At several points he joined in with his own arguments. Eventually, a consensus formed after several simulations had been run. One he was entirely happy to approve of. Then, when Commodore Chen spoke up with his own suggestion, James couldn’t help but smile. It was downright sneaky. Something he should have thought of! Quickly it was added to the general plan as everyone agreed with James in their assessment of his idea.
“I think there is nothing more to discuss,” Ya’sia said as the conversation started to die down. “At least until we have each taken command of our battle squadron and begun to simulate our part of the overall plan.”
Koroylov gave the Crian Admiral a nod. “I think you’re right. I know I am getting hungry, even if no one else is.” Pausing, he glanced at his datapad. “There has been no report of any Karacknid scouts entering the system. I think we should have some time to eat together on Drake before we return to our ships. Our subordinates can handle the division of our ships into their battle squadrons for now. What do you say Emperor?”
James smiled at Koroylov. A part of him was still cut up about the Rillelio system. The thought of having to engage with his friends in small talk was not overly appealing to him. Not when he knew the topic was likely to come up. Yet as he looked at his commanders, his own words hit home. This was probably the last time he would see many of them. “Yes of cours
e,” he said as he stood, “though I won’t make it mandatory. If you want to get back to your ships, then by all means. Otherwise, it would be my pleasure to host you all.”
“Then let us dine together and prepare to fight together,” Koroylov said solemnly. “May we all do our duty for the Empire… And for the Alliance of course,” he added as he nodded to Ya’sia and Klack.
“May we all do our duty for the Empress and Emperor,” Fisher said as she stood and locked her eyes with James’. “Without him we would not have survived even this long.”
“For the Empress and Emperor,” everyone around James repeated.
At a loss for words, James simply gestured with his hand for Koroylov to lead the way from the briefing room to Drake’s officer galley. He still felt a deep shame for what had happened to the Rillelio. The discussion about the mark V missiles had also stirred up his sense of loss at Scott’s death. Yet for several moments he was full of pride at the respect and love on the faces of his friends. “If we are to die in this coming battle,” James said as he found his voice and everyone paused where they were. “Then we could do so in no better company.” Each of the officers in the room looked to one another and nodded in agreement. James smiled at them and shook each hand as they passed him. Each face brought back so many memories. Some were only a handful of years old; others went back decades. Try as he might, James failed to keep the emotion from his face as they each embraced him warmly. He was suddenly afraid that the coming meal was not going to be an easy one, and not just because of his shame about the Rillelio.
