“What the hell do they think they are doing? No tactical reserve?” Marshall said, walking over to the display, shaking his head.
“Unless they’ve got some extra fighters hidden away somewhere, it looks like Pierce has decided to show off a little,” Caine replied. “Maybe he’s trying to convince them to surrender with a show of strength.”
“Any communications traffic from those ships?”
“Trident tried to hail them twice, but no response.”
“John, you’d better get the scouts into salvo formation, just in case.”
Nodding, he turned to the communications technician, and said, “Execute Plan Theta.”
“Aye, sir.”
Marshall looked across at the tactical display and watched the three scouts seem to glide together, thrusters burning to bring them to within shouting distance of each other, close enough that the three tactical officers could coordinate their actions in real time, without even a millisecond of delay.
“A whole week of practice looks to have paid off,” Caine said. “I’m linked up with Dragon and Griffon, all missiles ready to fire when you give the word.”
“Auxiliaries slowing, sir,” Ronay said. “Pulling back out of the formation.”
“Good,” Marshall replied, looking again at the tactical plot. Those two ships were still heading directly for the Trident, even as thirty-six fighters raced towards them, ready to launch their attack runs in five minutes. On the surface, everything looked to be going according to plan, but abruptly, the display seemed to erupt in a wave of course projections, racing everywhere.
“What the hell happened?” Cunningham said.
“Energy spike! Change to target aspect!” the sensor technician yelled. “Those ships just launched eight missiles and twelve fighters between them. Missiles heading for the fighter formation, and the fighters are heading for us, sir.”
“Trojan bloody Horse, and Pierce just walks out and takes it,” Caine said.
“Intercept window for our fighters has closed, sir. They’ll have a one-second opportunity for a firing window.”
“Not enough to do anything but swear at them on the way past,” Marshall said. “How long before they reach us?”
“Seven minutes, sir.”
“Get me the flagship, now,” he said, ice entering his voice.
After a second, Pierce’s face appeared on the screen, and he said, “What’s up, Marshall? I’m busy fighting a battle.”
Marshall’s eyes widened, and he replied, “Sir, I have twelve fighters in-bound.”
“We’ll be launching our assault shuttles in minutes, after which the battlecruisers will turn to assist you at full speed.”
Caine looked up and said, “If they wait, all they’ll be able to do is launch search-and-rescue shuttles to pick up our escape pods. Gilgamesh can get here in time if it moves now.”
“Sir, I need Gilgamesh, unless you want the auxiliaries to be destroyed. There’s nothing else in the system at the moment; you can spare her.”
Pierce looked off-screen, and said, “I think you have the resources to deal with the problem, but if you feel you are incapable of handling it, I will order Gilgamesh to move in support, but she will remain under my tactical command. Trident out.”
“Gilgamesh is already turning, sir,” Ronay said. “Should get into firing range of the fighters about the same time as we do.” He looked up at a monitor, and said, “Salvo impacts, sir. We just lost five of the fighters. The rest are continuing their attack run.”
“I suppose they might as well,” Marshall replied. “The way they’ve been deployed, there’s not much else they can do to influence the battle.” He walked over to Caine, looking over her shoulder at the tactical display, and said, “You’ve been trying to get this salvo formation working since we came up with the idea.”
“You’re asking me if it’ll work?”
“Something like that.”
“We managed a thirty-one percent success rate overall, but I think we’ve got the bad parts out of it.” She looked up with a smile, and said, “Relax, Danny. I’ve got this.”
Nodding, he walked over to Cunningham, and asked, “Time to intercept now?”
“Five minutes, thirty seconds.”
“Long enough to get a cup of coffee,” he replied, looking around at the nervous crewmen, realizing that for most of them, it was their first battle. “Relax, everyone. Time enough for panic when the missiles start flying.”
“Trident launching assault shuttles, sir,” Ronay said. “Twelve on the way.”
Shaking his head, Cunningham said, “Launching an Espatier assault while there are still enemy warships active in the system?”
“That’s the first thing he’s done that I actually agree with,” Marshall replied. “He’s trying to get them in before the enemy can prepare for them, cut down their response time. Every minute that the defenders have to get ready increases the casualties our troops will take when they hit the rock.”
“Let’s just hope that there aren’t any more surprises,” Caine replied. “A fighter squadron has broken off to take them in, but they’re going to be burning fumes by the time they’ve finished.” She looked up, and said, “Hasn’t Pierce ever heard of the concept of a reserve?”
“Evidently not,” Marshall replied. “Unless he thinks it is us.”
Glancing back at her station, she said, “Electronic defenses are synced, Danny. That gives us a little more punch than a battlecruiser. Missiles also ready for firing, all tubes loaded and a second salvo on stand-by.” Looking back, she said, “I miss my laser cannon, though.”
“I think we’re all missing that,” Cunningham said.
“Four minutes to attack range,” Ronay said. “They’re spreading out their formation, turning to the auxiliaries.”
“Course compensated to match their approach,” Kelso said. “I’ve sent the new projections to the other ships, and they’re following.”
“Keep our distance constant,” Cunningham said. “We’ve got to stay in the formation. Have we got a proper analysis of the fighters yet?”
“Missile carriers, two warheads per bird,” Caine said. “Best guess is they’ll throw one at us and save one for the auxiliaries.” She shook her head, and said, “I’m not logged into the battlecruiser tactical net.”
“Brilliant,” Marshall said. “Just great. We can assume they’ll launch a salvo when they are in range, so follow suit. Go for the fighters first, not the missiles. We might not have time for more than two shots at them, so make them count.”
“And let’s hope that our countermeasures do their job,” Cunningham added.
Quietly, Marshall moved to the rear of the room, letting the bridge crew work without worrying about him looking over their shoulder. Not that there was much space on the cramped scoutship bridge, not even a position for a reserve crew-member to stand. He focused on the tactical display, watching the swirl of course plots steady down into a single trajectory, one that was going to get uncomfortably close to them.
Twice now the Cabal forces had gone right for the auxiliaries, ignoring the heavy combat units. This time, if anything, they were aiming for the tanker, and his face began to drop as realization hit home.
“Get me the Admiral right now, priority one.”
“Sir?”
“I don’t give a damn how, just get me that secure line.”
The technician tossed him a headset, and said, “You’ve got it, sir.”
“Captain, I’ve already given you what you wanted. What is it now?”
“Recommend that all ships immediately move into defensive formation.”
“In God’s name, why? We’re winning, Captain, in case you haven’t noticed, and our troopers will be hitting the deck in moments.”
“We’re about to be attacked.”
“What by? Ghosts?”
“An enemy force will be jumping into this system in minutes. Admiral, they tried to knock out our tender last time, our tanker this time. If they’d wanted to stop us getting here, they’d have gone for the tanker back at Discovery. We didn’t run into the battlecruiser we lost there en route, which means they went by an alternate path, which means that they know we are coming.”
“Speculation and guesswork, Captain, nothing more. I know it is natural to feel nerves before a battle, but…”
Finally, something inside him snapped, “Don’t patronize me, you incompetent son of a bitch! I’ve fought more ship-to-ship combat actions in the last year than you have in your entire career. We came here by the fastest route, and they’d have known it! Damn it all, we couldn’t have made our plan more obvious if we’d warned them in advance!”
“Captain,” Ronay said, “Firing range in ninety seconds.”
The other side of the channel was silent; Marshall looked at the communications technician, who said, “He hung up on you, Captain.”
“I think I’m about to be relieved,” Marshall replied. “Tell the auxiliary commanders to get as far clear as they possibly can. We’re going to need them to have all the space we can get.”
“Sir,” the communications technician said, “We’re being jammed. From the asteroid.”
A sinking feeling opened up in his stomach, and Marshall said to Cunningham, “Any second now, John.”
“They couldn’t have timed it that precisely.”
“We moved through space like a metronome, and they’ll have Pierce’s psychological profile. They’d have known what he would do better than he did.”
Nodding, Ronay said in a resigned tone, “Dimensional instability, sir. Near hendecaspace point.”
“Twice in the same system,” Marshall said. “This is getting silly.”
“Fighters coming in, Captain!” Caine reminded him. “We need to focus.”
Looking at the screen, Cunningham said, “Get those damn things out of my sky, if you please.”
The ship rocked back as the first salvo raced away, all six missiles running in tandem; Gilgamesh had fired at the same time, and their warheads raced towards the fighters from all directions. The display lit up again as the fighters unleashed all twenty-four of their missiles at once, their courses leaping back to line up on Gilgamesh.
“Damn,” Marshall said. “Throw everything you’ve got at those missiles. We need to protect the battlecruiser at all costs.”
“On it,” Caine replied.
Looking down at a datapad, Cunningham said, “Want the bad news?”
“What have we got?”
“Looks like four battlecruisers inbound. All heading directly for the carrier. Trident is putting on as much acceleration as she can.”
“She’s running?” Kelso said. “Away from her escorts?”
A series of flashes lit up the tactical display as missiles slammed into missiles, only ten tracks remaining once the view cleared, all of them heading directly for the battlecruiser. Marshall stepped forward to look at the image of the ship on the screen as it tried to maneuver.
“Push forward. We’ve got to get our countermeasures into play,” Cunningham said.
“Any word from the flagship?”
“Nothing, sir.”
“Concentrating on their own problems right now,” Caine said. “Should I launch another salvo?”
“Only if you can get into decent range with those missiles,” Marshall replied, looking up at the tactical plot. “Can we intercept those battlecruisers?”
There was silence on the bridge, and Kelso said, “That’d be suicide, sir.”
“Nevertheless. We need a coordinated strike.”
“First impact on Gilgamesh, sir,” Ronay said. “I think they got their main antenna. Five more, running true.”
“I don’t think so, Danny,” Cunningham said. “Not in enough time to do any difference. As best I can see it, in ninety-eight minutes those battlecruisers are going to slam into the carrier, and there isn’t a damn thing we can do to stop it.”
Chapter 16
Cooper was the first one out of the airlock, pushing off down the corridor with his rifle in his hands, taking a couple of wild shots on general principles, hoping to pin down anyone who might be waiting for them. He didn’t – couldn’t – wait to see if the rest of the platoon was following them, diving down the long corridor to the cover at the far end. Two more shots cracked past him, slamming into the wall; he saw a figure moving away, but it definitely wasn’t hanging around to wait for their attack.
“Move, Second Platoon! Move!” he yelled, as the shuttle emptied behind him. He reached the end of the corridor and peered left and right, astonished by the near-silence; further down the passage, he could hear two other cracks, signs that the other squads had successfully made their way into the asteroid from their adjacent access points, but there was no sign of enemy activity.
“Corporal,” he yelled to Fuller, just behind him, “Take three men and go down to the end, try and secure the shaft up to the next level if you don’t face any opposition. Don’t go any further until I catch up with you.”
She nodded, and he pushed down in the opposite direction, looking for the rest of his platoon. A couple of shapes moved at the far end, wearing unfamiliar uniforms, and he fired two quick shots, his stabilizers absorbing most of the recoil as the jets of compressed nitrogen pushed him forward.
“All here, sir,” Sergeant Beresford said as he drifted past him. “Shuttle’s about to unlock. What do you want us to do next?”
Cooper was momentarily stunned by the question; this was, supposedly, an experienced NCO who was taking a break during a boarding operation to wait for orders.
“Send your squad up towards Fuller, you hang back and make sure that everyone is moving in the right direction. If you see any side points, send two down each to take a look, but make sure that it is just a look – we’ve got one avenue of advance today, and we can’t afford to break up the platoon.”
“Got it, Ensign,” he said, moving to comply. Cooper pushed on, heading down to the furthest of the corridors to look for the third squad; as he swung around the corner, he heard a series of shots ringing out, and saw a trooper floating motionless in the corridor, four Cabal soldiers moving in.
A pair of shots sent them diving behind makeshift cover, and Cooper pushed the body back down the corridor, yelling, “Medic!”, and glancing to see the rest of the squad in the entrance corridor, shock on their faces, Ensign Krueger at the back with his eyes wide.
“Someone got shot, probably killed, and yes, this happens, people! It’s called war, and that means some of you are going to die. A hell of a lot more of you are going to die if you don’t get moving. Come on, with me!”
He turned around, a couple of the braver troopers following him, Krueger in their wake, and swam down the corridor towards the enemy as shots rang out around him. This wasn’t exactly sensible, but he had to demonstrate to the rookies that it was possible to get through suppressing fire without dying. Firing a couple of shots, he saw one of the soldiers fall, blood spilling out of a wound, and glanced to see Krueger with a look of satisfaction on his face.
The rest of the enemies pushed off down the corridor, and he turned to look at Krueger, saying, “Hold here at this cover for five minutes, knock out anything that moves, then follow the platoon. Call me if you run into trouble. Got it?”
“We’ll do our part. Masterson, move in behind me,” he yelled, as Cooper pushed off back down the corridor. He raced away, moving as fast as he could to catch up with the leading echelons of his platoon, and snatched at the communicator at his belt as he drifted past a few stragglers from Second Squad being urged forward by Beresford.
“Two Red to the Six, over,” he said. “Two Red to the Six.”
/> Nothing but static replied, and he glanced down to see the signal strength dropped down to nothing, a jamming field in full operation. Moving to the fore, he saw Fuller in the lead, cracking off a shot at an enemy up ahead before turning to him.
“Nothing on my communicator either, sir,” she said. “We got held up just before the shaft, a half-squad moved out. I lost Dexter and Hall, but we’ve got a good defensive position here.”
“This battle isn’t going to be won by taking defensive positions in corridors,” he replied. “We’re two levels down from the communications station. The only way I know to knock out their jammers is to use explosives, and those we have aplenty.”
“I like the way you think, sir,” she replied with a smile. She waved at a couple of approaching troopers and said, “You two with me to fill out my fire team. We’re leading off to cover the boss.”
“I’ll take the lead, Corporal.”
“No, sir. You’re the only one here who might have some idea where we’re going.”
Shooting a glance at her, he said, “Talking back to an officer, Corporal? Are you sure that you’ve never been in combat before?”
“Natural talent, sir,” she said.
“Lead on, Macduff,” he replied, turning back, “Sergeant, take four men and help Ensign Krueger, tell him that I want them moving up right now. We can’t afford to get separated. Squad leaders, keep in dispersed formation but for God’s sake don’t get lost.”
“What if we do anyway, sir?” a voice yelled from the rear.
“Start shooting at bad guys and pray that they run out of men before you run out of bullets. Get moving.”
Following his own order, he charged down the corridor after Fuller, seeing one of the men behind her already dropping back, blood spilling from a wound on his leg. He waved for one of the platoon medics to look after him, hoping that she could get him back to the shuttle before it separated. Hard as it was to imagine, they’d only been on the asteroid for two hundred and ten seconds.
With troops on his flanks protecting him, he had a second to glance down at his communicator again, shaking his head. Still no signal; the electronic warfare gang back on the Trident were really letting them down today. Speed was all that might get them out of this mess. He gestured to the right, and the platoon swung around, one of the other Corporals hanging back for a moment to provide covering fire for the maneuver. At least that was going well enough.
Battlecruiser Alamo: Take and Hold Page 14
