Chapter 8. FFS Mailon over Polaris 1600, 27 June
The shuttles had not stopped coming all day. The first one brought some ship’s crew, pressganged by Alex. Included was her new quartermaster, a giant of a man, who Rihan conceded should not have been assigned to a ship where the ceiling height was challenging for a human of average height. But 1st Lt Sherlock Padstow was never one to balk from a challenge.
He worked tirelessly and incredibly fast to secure missiles, weapons, food, water, general stores, ammunition, fuel cells and all manner of “special” items that arrived on ‘his’ deck. And as he was fond of saying ‘every deck is my deck.’
Alex had also managed to rake up two squadrons of Lightnings and two Marauder squadrons for a total of 48 craft. Rudi had been furious when he found out that his ground based air force was effectively neutered until they made repairs on their damaged craft. But Alex had Phil’s backing and that was enough.
But of all the scrounging and pressganging that Alex had to do, the most important one and the one Phil described as carrying the greatest risk was that of Rihan’s new XO.
“We have to be very careful Alex. You know what she’s like” said Phil.
“So …. someone not too pushy but pushy enough” suggested Alex.
“Exactly and either a smooth talking diplomat or a foul mouthed lout.”
“Neither would be good Sir” suggested Alex. “Leave it to me.”
Alex had consulted the manning of each capital ship that was now awaiting major refit. There were a few. But he found his man and tapped him on the shoulder just before midday. Commander Rueben Carson smiled when Alex finished briefing him.
“Oh and just in case you haven’t seen the news over the last year” said Alex “she’s Captain Warner’s wife.”
“I was aware of that Captain” said Rueben with a smile.
His smooth easy manner struck Alex and for a moment he wondered if he might be too smooth. But time was against another selection. “Right then, get your gear and be ready at hangar three in an hour.”
Rueben got off the shuttle in the starboard hangar of the Mailon along with thirty other crew and a full cargo bay. Sherlock found him and got a marine to take him to the Captain.
Rihan liked what she saw as he walked to her. ‘A fine looking man’ she said to herself. “Commander Carson I presume?”
“That’s right Maam, Rueben Carson.” He smiled and shook her hand.
“It’s a tad busy as you can see.” Rueben nodded. “I’m expecting some more fighters any minute and I have yet to meet most of our command staff. The Admiral wants us away by 0800 tomorrow. How about we go for a cook’s tour and then we can meet our officers together?”
“Sounds good.”
“Let me introduce our new rogan friend 1st Lt Grigar Lomponium.” She waved for Grigar to come over. “He’s a pilot but he knows this ship like the back of his hand.”
It was the first time Rueben had ever come face to face with an actual Rogan let along touch one. He shook the hand Grigar offered and made sure he made eye contact. Alex had warned him, but some things still take a little getting used to and Rueben knew this was one of them.
As he followed Rihan and Grigar around he was impressed how at ease Rihan was with this Rogan. She was hailed several times during their tour and wasn’t fazed by the constant demands nor when Sherlock Padstow’s big frame appeared wanting her decision on a matter of some urgency at least in Sherlock’s view. She had a light touch which he liked. But he recalled Alex’s briefing. He knew she had a fiery side to her nature. But the more he saw and heard the more he liked Rihan Kabel.
Chapter 9. Washington DC 2330, 27 June
The Chief Minister read the message a second time. She read through the battle stats a second time too. She sat back down in her chair in her home office. She looked up at the Fleet Admiral. “And you think this is a good outcome?”
“Yes Maam” said Lisa McKew. She was even prepared to forgive Phil Yomoto for this. In her view he had pulled off a stunning victory. “We have destroyed at least two rogan fleets and will probably destroy a third with the follow up. That is a disastrous outcome for the rogan. We may have just the won the war.”
“They nuked Nova Vista” said Malissa Karalis. There was real venom in her voice.
“But we were pretty lucky there Maam. Very light casualties.”
“Lucky yes but it’s their intent that angers me. I will take this to the full council as soon as I can convene them. They will pay for this. Is that the press release?”
“Yes Maam.”
Malissa read it. The stats were sanitised of course but Malissa took her scribe light and put a bold stroke through the heading on the ePaper. She then scrawled a new heading. It now read “Rogan War Crime.”
“Have we the means to retaliate and when can this be carried out?”
“According to this report just about every one of our ships sustained some damage. It will probably take weeks before we can put together a suitably strong force and then many weeks before they can reach a rogan system.”
“What about these new ships?”
“Yomoto says he has despatched them to Chelora to wipe out the fleeing enemy ships.”
“Can’t we have them then travel to the nearest rogan system and deliver our response?”
“Maybe. It will depend on the supply situation and when a follow up force can arrive at Chelora, so they can be released.”
“I see. But it could be possible. Find out for me.”
“Of course but you do realise that those ships will reach Chelora tomorrow and the battle will have been decided before Yomoto gets this request. He will have to check with them. With all the comms delays it may take ten days before I get an answer.”
“I appreciate that, but do it anyway.”
Chapter 10. Resolute to Chelora 0430, 28 June
‘There’s too many, too god dammed many!’ dreamed Dave. He shook his head in his sleep as he lay on his back. Within his dream he was staring out through the windows in the command centre of the Resolute. It was something he never did in battle, because the shields were always up. But his analytical mind was not engaged. This was pure emotion and the fight or flight impulses were coursing through his being and demanding a decision.
Before his mind’s eye was the planet of Chelora. It was surrounded by a sea of enemy ships. Everywhere he looked there were enemy ships. His clenched fist thumped the mattress. But in his mind’s eye he was thumping the control to fire missiles. The scene was streaked with missiles going in all directions, his own towards the enemy targets but even more were coming back at him. As the distance closed he began to panic. He kept thumping the fire control but there were no more missiles to fire and panic set in.
“Too many!” he yelled as his body shot bolt upright. His chest heaved with heavy breathing. Sweat ran down his neck. His tee shirt was drenched.
Slowly his breathing subsided. The vision in his mind’s eye dissolved into the darkness of his cabin. A small blue twinkle emanated from his console that he had left on the side table. He felt the drenched collar of his tee shirt. The physical act confirmed his conscious mind’s assessment that yes he had been having a nightmare.
He tossed off the covers, took off the drenched shirt and went to the bathroom. The sensor light came on. He splashed water onto his face and looked at himself in the mirror. ‘Seen worse’ he said to himself. As he put on a fresh tee shirt, he confessed to himself that he hadn’t had a fear dream like that in a long time.
He climbed back into bed and pulled the covers up. As he lay on his left side, almost in a foetal position, he instinctively extended his hand searching for the comfort of his lover. But her body was not there. ‘How I wish you were here Rihan.’
He closed his eyes and repeated his mantra.
Chapter 11. Washington DC 1115, 28 June
The full council had finished its session and Malissa had got her way. The rogan would pay for their crime.
Five minutes later Lisa McKew hailed Malissa “Chief Minister?”
“Lisa the council has just passed a resolution calling for a retaliatory strike against two rogan cities. Which should we choose?”
Lisa had hoped it would not come to this. “I need to consult with my staff. I will do so and let you know tomorrow. Is that OK?”
“Yes.”
Chapter 12. Washington DC 2230, 28 June
Julian Morrow sipped the scotch and placed the now empty glass on the side table next to his lounge chair in his study. His wife had already gone to bed. He had been Defence Minister in his own right for just three weeks now. How he wished Joe Ubabe was still in the job. It would be his decision, his conscious, his burden to bear.
“It’s just wrong” said Julian. There was no reply and he wasn’t expecting one. He looked up at his father’s picture hanging on the wall. How he wished he was here to advise him.
He tried to drain the glass one more time but to no avail. He was tempted to have another but he knew better, well at least his guilty conscious knew better and it won out. Alcohol had killed his dad. He was determined it would not do the same for him.
He cast his eye onto the ePaper that lay on the desk beside him. It showed his appointments for tomorrow. “I have to try” he said and he took the light scribe and crossed out his 1600. He scrawled ‘Chief Minister’ in its place.
Chapter 13. Resolute over Chelora 0920, 29 June
The Resolute had warped in, cloaked, half an hour ago and remained undetected. The Phantom had just warped in. Neither could communicate without prejudicing their position. Dave and Aubrey had agreed prior to warp that they would wait till 1000. They had assessed that that would give him enough time to work up a plan of attack.
The Resolute would make the attack and the Phantom would only intervene if needed either in defence or under command from Dave. How he wished it was possible to communicate with Aubrey now. The system was rich with targets. Even with the nukes, he didn’t think they would be able to take them all on. He felt this uneasiness come over him and he didn’t like the feeling one bit.
“So we ignore any ships on the far side?” asked Crystal.
“Yep” replied Dave as he peered at the holo display.
Crystal and John were in earnest discussion trying to prepare the target list. “The orbital dockyard’s a must” said John. “I reckon we can take it out with ten.”
“Fine” said Crystal “Lock it in. Next priority should be the three undamaged caps and then the five undamaged frigates.”
“So what 20 per cap and ten per frigate?”
“Yes”
“That makes for 110 missiles” said John “120 with the dockyard. We still have another eight damaged caps and 12 damaged frigates.”
“Halve the allocation for these. That should add 140 missiles. Total is now up to 260.”
“Where not going to have enough left for the ground targets.”
“We can position for a beam attack on Bogey 1, the nearest undamaged cap. That will save 20” said Crystal. “Is 60 defensive missiles enough Sir and can we leave the ground targets to the Phantom?”
Dave pondered. “Yeah I think so. Look, if we need to, we warp back behind the second biggest asteroid, what’s it called?”
“Chelora 7” answered Jasmin and added with a wry smile “very original if I say so.”
Dave chuckled. “Yes, so we can warp back there and come again. How many hours to warp there?”
“Five” responded Chase.
“OK we’ll need to be ready to relay warp coordinates to the Phantom as soon as we open fire” said Dave. “But I’ll make the call to execute the warp. If it’s not too hot we’ll launch the fighters and use their missiles to finish off any survivors. Are we good then?”
Crystal looked to John who was still making some allocations. He looked up at her and nodded. “Yes Sir we’re good to go.”
Ivan had the watch and was assessing the manoeuvre to line up on the nearest undamaged cap. It was a good 13,000 k’s away. “Sir I don’t think we should try for the beam attack. We’ll end up within beam range of these other ships here and if they are active we could get burned bad.”
“Agreed. You better allocated 20 to that target Crystal. We’ll have to make do with 40 defensive missiles.”
“We could reduce the allocation on some of the others” she suggested.
Dave looked at the time. “No it’s almost 1000. Lock it in.”
“Jasmin, the cyber target is that closest undamaged cap” advised Dave.
“Right Sir…done.”
“Li are your limas right to go?” hailed Dave.
“Yes they are but they won’t be launched till you give the word.”
“Excellent.”
“John, do you have the ground target list ready to send to the Phantom?”
“Nearly… done.”
“And the warp coords?”
“Their ready to go” advised Crystal.
“Good. So we wait.” Dave eased back a little and took a deep breath. He closed his eyes. The uneasiness had not gone away and memory of his nightmare began to play. An involuntary spasm went through his body. He knew he had to control this fear. He consciously shook his head to release the tension in his neck.
He repeated the invocation to his guru that he usually made at the end of his daily meditation. ‘Everything I think, do and say I offer up to you, as I offer up my day.’ He repeated his mantra in time with his breath. In his mind’s eye he saw the void and its immense space. The few sparkles of light almost matched the layout of the planets on the holo. He smiled and let it go. His breathing was now steady and rhythmic.
A minute later he opened his eyes. A few seconds later the timer ticked over to 1000. “Fire” he commanded.
“Missiles away” called out John.
“Cloak deactivated” said Ivan.
“Cyber Attack initiated” called out Jasmin at the same time. “Messages to Phantom sent” she added.
“Enemy missiles launched” announced Crystal.
“Defensive, targeting ours” added John.
But the three ships within 10,000kms had no chance to respond effectively. The flight time of the Torads was a little more than a minute. With one in four warheads being nukes, all three were destroyed.
In space, without a medium, there is no effective blast effect from a nuke. The real damage is the electromagnetic pulse (EMP) and radiation which can paralyse a ship’s electronics. All warships are hardened against this to a degree but a direct hit that penetrates the ships armour and then explodes can be catastrophic. And that was exactly what the Mark 31s were designed to do. It also makes the ship so much more vulnerable to a non-nuclear warhead. The mix was proving very deadly indeed.
“The dockyard’s gone” said John. He was calling out results as best he could but events soon overtook him. He stopped and everyone focussed on the tally above the holo.
“Bogeys 4 and 5, CAPS, accelerating to us, range 19,000. ETA to our missile intercept 2 minutes. ETA to their beam intercept 4 minutes” announced Crystal. These were two of the undamaged CAPS and posed a serious threat.
Dave scanned the other results.
“Bogeys 8, 11 and 14 preparing to warp” announced Crystal. Dave knew there was little he could do to stop them now. He was actually surprised that there were only three. But then he saw why in the tally figures. Most of the already damaged craft had been destroyed. It was a wipe out.
“Do we warp back Sir” asked Ivan who was getting anxious.
“No” replied Dave. “Aubrey” he hailed. “Take out Bogey’s 4 and 5, 20 for 1.”
“WILCO” came back Aubrey in her determined battle voice.
“Phantom engaging” called
out Crystal.
“Hits from our missiles on Bogey 4 and 5. Both slowing” advised Crystal. “Bogey 4 preparing to warp. Bogey 5 continuing. ETA Phantom strike 1 minute. Bogey 5 firing defensive missiles…turning away…accelerating…she’s heading for the far side. She’s not going to make it. Hits…she’s gone.”
“Two caps (Bogeys 31 and 32) and three lights (Bogeys33 to 35) bustering from the far side” announced John after receiving the update from their probe. Range “75,000.” That was within Torad range but beyond the enemy’s missile range.
Crystal looked earnestly at Dave. He didn’t need to ask to know what she wanted. “20 for 1 on each of the caps” ordered Dave. He was now out of Torads. “Aubrey, Bogeys 33 to 35 are yours 10 for 1.”
“WILCO. We’ll only have 30 left.”
“Understood.”
“Missiles away” announced Crystal. “Phantom firing” she added.
“Boy are they moving” said Ivan. “Do we launch CAP?”
“Yes thanks Ivan” said Dave. “Li, launch one flight as CAP.”
“WILCO.”
Charlie flight who was already on the launchers took off. As the Resolute maintained its geo orbit they circled around her in a race track, ready to fire their Javelins if needed. These were now the only missiles Dave had at his direct command. He hated being so naked but was grateful nonetheless. He recalled how he wished he had fighter protection on the Chicago. ‘We might have saved her’ he thought.
The enemy ships were bustering from 75,000kms away moving at their max speed of 70 kps. The Torads were now 30,000 kms away heading towards the oncoming bogeys and moving at 150 kps. That meant an effective intercept speed of 220kps with a closing distance of 45,000kms. The display above the holo was ticking over the closing distance at a prodigious rate. The ETA to intercept was now three and a half minutes for the Resolute’s strike and four and a half for the Phantom’s.
“Bogey’s launching missiles…120 defensive missiles” announced Crystal. She glanced at Dave with a concerned look. She knew that the chances of their missiles getting through against three times their number were slim. Dave knew this too. He was more worried by the fact that they probably had twice that number still ready to fire.
Retribution Page 31
