by D. J. Holmes
Though she had put as much emotion into the orders as she could, as soon as she finished speaking a coldness settled upon her heart. She was not angry at Vice Admiral Somerville. She understood what he was doing. The coldness was from her acceptance. She was about to die and she was ready.
As point defense laser beams started to zip past her fighter, there was no more time for contemplation. Instead, McGrath joined the rest of her attack wing in twisting and turning as they carried out random maneuvers. When she got to the point where she could release her missile, McGrath held fire. Instead she held her fighter’s course, getting closer and closer to the massive shipyard until it dominated her view screen. Then, when she was guaranteed to score a hit, she thumbed the missile’s release button. It took just four seconds for it to speed away and detonate, releasing a massive ball of plasma that blasted through the shipyard. Though McGrath couldn’t see as she pitched her fighter up and away from the planet, the plasma ball burnt through the shipyard’s main superstructure and made it break apart. Construction bays, several half-completed cruisers and destroyers and various other components were sucked into the Flex-aor homeworld’s gravity. All around the planet’s orbitals, similar explosions were ripping apart the Flex-aor’s ability to build warships.
“Count off,” McGrath said as soon as her forces were out of range of the planet’s point defenses. Fifteen, she thought as she counted up how many names were missing. And that was with a missile attack run. They’d have to get a lot closer to use their plasma cannons.
*
“McGrath’s forces are turning around, they’re lining up for their second attack run now,” Miyamoto reported.
James wasn’t watching McGrath’s attack wing; he was staring at Alpha Fleet. He needed them to turn around. Come on, come on he thought.
“Point defenses are opening up,” Miyamoto updated everyone.
James’ heart sank. Not a single ship from Alpha Fleet had turned around. Either from rage at having their homeworld attacked, or because their commander understood the real prize, their attention was fully focused on his ships. He was throwing away McGrath’s pilots for nothing.
*
McGrath’s coldness had been replaced with rage. Her peripheral vision was picking up explosions all around her. They were fighters and bombers being wiped out. She screamed as she continued to dive and weave through the incoming fire. No ships had turned back from Alpha Fleet. Her attack run had achieved nothing. She didn’t care anymore. She just wanted to hurt the Flex-aor as much as she could.
Keeping her fighter on track for the larger shipyard she had spotted, she waited until the nose of her ship was about to come crashing into the large structure before she held down her trigger. In the space of just four seconds sixty small plasma bolts were released from her cannons. From her wing man and another fighter that had stayed with her, another one hundred and twenty rained down on the shipyard. Targeted at what appeared to be key sections, the plasma bolts tore through the shipyard’s main supports and caused a number of secondary explosions.
Though it would increase the risk to her fighters, McGrath ordered everyone to decelerate and hit secondary targets. Following her own orders, she peeled away from the shipyard and shot anything that entered her sights. Given the momentum her fighter was carrying in, she only had ten seconds, but in those ten seconds she took out a number of orbital structures. Then her fighter was using the planet’s gravity to slingshot up and away from the Flex-aor point defense fire. Once again she called for her fighters to check in knowing that the butcher’s bill would be even higher this time.
*
“Again,” James ordered. “Send McGrath in again.” He didn’t dare look away from the holo plot. He didn’t want to see the faces of his subordinates. Instead he watched Alpha Fleet. McGrath’s second attack had taken out six more shipyards and various other orbital stations. As much as the Flex-aor wanted to cripple his fleet, they couldn’t allow their homeworld to keep being attacked. They have to turn around, James thought as he tried to reassure himself.
As he was staring so intently at the holo plot, he sighed at the same time Miyamoto did. “One hundred more warships are breaking away from Alpha Fleet. They are decelerating hard. I’m detecting at least fifteen battleships in the force that is turning back.”
Relief flooded through James. McGrath’s pilots hadn’t died for nothing. “Signal McGrath, tell her to pull out of her attack run at the last possible moment. We need to keep the Flex-aor thinking she’s going to attack again. But tell her not to lose one more pilot.”
“Understood,” Emilie replied.
“That should give us a good chance to get the fleet out intact,” Becket commented so only James could hear.
James didn’t respond. With twenty less battleships the firepower of the six hundred ships that now made up Alpha Fleet had been significantly reduced. Yet his fleet was still outnumbered, his forces were going to take losses.
“They’re are opening fire,” Ivanov updated everyone five minutes later as the Flex-aor made use of their longer missile range.
“Alter heading to five hundred seventy-three point four,” James ordered. “As soon as we get into range return fire. We need to get our missiles off before theirs reach us.” Altering course towards Alpha Fleet would allow Beta and Gamma to close with them slightly, but James wanted to use his missile pods. They were vulnerable to proximity hits and he couldn’t risk waiting to fire until after the first Flex-aor missile salvo hit home.
By now, Ya’sia’s and his ships worked together seamlessly, and as the Flex-aor missile carriers approached, James didn’t have to give any more orders. First the four squadrons of fighters he had held back tore into the Flex-aor missile carriers. The salvo of one thousand nine hundred carriers was reduced by three hundred. Then the carriers released their missiles and the gravimetric plot became so dense with contacts that it was impossible to make out individual missiles.
Less than a minute before the missile salvo came into point defense range, James’ fleet released its own salvo. Then everyone’s focus shifted to point defense. James knew there was no point holding out hope, his ships could never take out so many missiles. Some were certain to get through. As explosions erupted among his fleet, James kept his face impassive. Inside though, his entire body was tensed up. He was just waiting for an explosion to strike Golden Hind.
By some miracle, it never came. Other ships in his fleet weren’t so lucky. Even before the last missiles detonated, Golden Hind’s sensors showed ships falling out of formation. Though James knew his subordinates were preparing a damage report, he couldn’t help but count the sensor blips that were being left behind by his fleet. Twelve was the number, and they were falling behind too fast for him to even think of sending rescue shuttles to take off their crews.
“What is the butcher’s bill?” he asked, knowing that other ships would have been destroyed outright.
“Two ships are gone Vice Admiral,” Miyamoto reported. “They were both ours, Indomitable and Allegiance, both destroyers. Twelve others are falling out of formation, three Crian frigates, two of our light cruisers and more destroyers and frigates.”
“See to the damaged ships that are still in formation and prepare for the next salvo,” James responded. There was nothing else he could say. As his subordinates carried out their duties, he watched his own missile salvo hit home. At least thirty Flex-aor ships were blown away and as many again fell out of formation. The losses would reduce the Flex-aor’s next salvo, but it brought James little comfort. He knew his ships were going to get hit again.
When Alpha Fleet’s second salvo came crashing in, three more ships were destroyed outright and four took damage to their engines or reactors and couldn’t keep up with the fleet. In reply, ninety ships of Alpha Fleet were destroyed or crippled. The third missile salvo from the Flex-aor fleet proved even less effective, no ships were destroyed and just six took serious enough damage to have to be left astern. James’
final missile salvo was far deadlier, at least forty Flex-aor ships were destroyed outright. By the end of the short engagement Alpha Fleet had lost nearly a third of its numbers either destroyed or crippled. As soon as Miyamoto announced the impact of their third missile salvo, Golden Hind’s bridge crew cheered. James returned their smiles and nods, though he didn’t join their celebrations. He understood their excitement, they needed a release for the tension they had been holding since entering the system. They had escaped the noose the Flex-aor had tried to put around their necks. James felt the same relief but his mind was elsewhere. He was still watching the contacts they had been forced to leave behind. The damaged Human and Crian ships had huddled into two small squadrons. Over the next hour Flex-aor frigates and destroyers from Beta Fleet harried and destroyed the ships James had abandoned. They gave a good account of themselves, taking out two Flex-aor ships for every one Human and Crian ship. Even so, they were all destroyed, James doubted any of their crews had survived. There was no point abandoning ship in Flex-aor space, no one wanted to be taken prisoner by the aliens.
*
“I wish to congratulate you Vice Admiral,” Ya’sia said over the COM channel she had opened with Golden Hind as the fleet approached the shift passage out of the Flex-aor home system. “We took losses, but you got us out of there. Now we have a clear route back to your space. I for one will be happy to get out of here. I confess we underestimated the Flex-aor. They are a serious threat; one we may need my benefactor’s help in dealing with.”
“Congratulations are hardly appropriate,” James replied. “We have made it out, for now at least. But it was a costly maneuver.”
“It was,” Gupta agreed. Ya’sia had included her in the conversation. “But that was a far better engagement than trying to fight our way through Gamma Fleet in a pitched battle. Our losses would have been significantly higher. Don’t beat yourself up James.
We did well today. I know you; you’d spend the entire flight to X-62 dwelling on our losses rather than appreciating our success. The fleet is intact and the Flex-aor are chasing us in the direction we want to go.”
“Yes,” Ya’sia agreed. “Losses are to be expected in battle, especially against such numbers. We gave as good as we got and we managed to outmaneuver them. You have earned my respect once again Vice Admiral.”
“I think you are both getting ahead of yourselves,” James responded. “More than three thousand Flex-aor warships are forming up into one fleet to give chase to us. If they want, they can chase us all the way back to X-32 and if they do, I’m not sure we could stop them there.”
“True,” Gupta replied, “but it will take us two months to get back to our space. I’m sure that by then you will have thought up some novel tactics to beat them back. And that’s assuming they will want to chase us that far. We’ve already destroyed more than fifteen hundred of their ships. Surely they might think twice about chasing us back to our own space?”
“You haven’t met this High Queen. If I was a betting man, I’d bet every penny of the Somerville Foundation’s fortune on her wanting revenge. The fact that we dared to step foot inside her species’ home system will have enraged her. Whatever comes next, it will not be something we enjoy.”
“I won’t disagree with you Vice Admiral,” Ya’sia responded. “But let’s think practically. The Flex-aor will struggle to keep so many ships supplied so far from their territory. Launching another invasion of your space is not something they’ll be able to do in a day. We haven’t seen any sign of a large supply fleet in any of their systems. Last time they attacked you they set up a forward base at X-32. There’s no doubt Ala’ron will want revenge. But I suspect she’ll have to wait for it. That should give us plenty of time to prepare a warm welcome for her.”
“I hope you’re right,” James replied as Ya’sia and Gupta’s words pulled him out of his grief at the ships he had lost. “But maybe we should try and think of a few ways to dissuade them from following us.” As he spoke, his mind raced. If Ala’ron was going to invade Human space again, the more he could do now to hamper such preparations, the longer he would have to prepare X-32’s defenses. “Let’s put our minds together and see how devious we can be on our trip back to X-32.”
“That’s fine with me,” Gupta said with a smile. She shared a knowing look with Ya’sia. Though James didn’t know it, the two admirals had shared a short COM conversation before contacting him. Getting his mind on the next tactical problem had been the point of the conversation all along.
Chapter 17
Many wars have been won after wise and successful retreats, others have been lost when retreat has turned to rout.
-Excerpt from Empire Rising, 3002 AD.
UNS Golden Hind, X-62 system, 5th August 2478 AD.
When Golden Hind jumped back into X-62, James wasn’t the least bit surprised to find two Flex-aor fleets traversing the system. Thankfully, neither fleet had more than three hundred warships and, wisely, their commanders immediately moved away from his fleet to safety. As much as he would have liked to pursue them and wipe them out, with four thousand Flex-aor warships behind him, that wasn’t an option.
Just three hours after his ships entered X-62, the massive Flex-aor fleet jumped in. At once they powered up their engines and continued their pursuit. By the time Golden Hind reached the edge of X-62’s mass shadow, the Flex-aor fleet that now numbered four thousand five hundred and eighty warships had almost caught up to his ships. Ordinarily the Human warships in his fleet, and especially the Crian ones, would be able to outrun the Flex-aor. With more than a hundred ships that had taken some kind of damage, James couldn’t utilize his fleet’s higher acceleration and max velocity rates. He could, if he abandoned many of his ships and scuttled them, however he wasn’t prepared to do that. Whilst the Flex-aor fleet could catch up to his ships in real space, in shift space he was able to open up a gap and stay ahead of his pursuers and that was what he intended to do.
*
Three days later
To everyone’s relief, when the fleet exited shift space into X-61, no Flex-aor warships were discovered. James sent the damaged ships from his fleet and the supply freighters on ahead with a light escort. Then he took the rest of his fleet several light minutes from X-61’s mass shadow. Whoever was commanding the Flex-aor fleet had shown no hesitation in pursuing his ships, James wanted to teach him a little caution.
As soon as Golden Hind detected the first Flex-aor ships exiting shift space, he gave the order to open fire. More than six thousand missiles shot from the Human and Crian warships. Seconds later, James ordered his fleet to maximum acceleration. As he had opened fire from extreme range, it took fifteen minutes for the missile salvo to reach the Flex-aor fleet. By then they had formed up into a tight defensive formation. Normally Golden Hind sensors could watch a missile salvo try and weave its way towards its targets. However, the sheer weight of point defense fire the Flex-aor fleet gave off overwhelmed James’ flagship’s sensors. When he sent a request for a sensor feed from Handmaiden, James was surprised to see that even the more advanced Crian sensors were slightly degraded. They were able to see enough to track most of the missiles though. They identified several hits and three larger explosions that represented ships being destroyed. What was more telling were the twenty-two warships that turned away from the Flex-aor fleet. They had been too damaged to continue the pursuit.
“That was a lot of missiles to destroy just three ships,” James commented. “But hopefully it will buy us more time. That Flex-aor commander won’t be so keen to rush blindly into the next system.”
“If the missiles allow us to get our damaged ships back home safe and sound, their expenditure will have been more than worth it,” Becket replied.
“Indeed,” James agreed with a nod. “Now, let’s catch up to the rest of our ships and get out of the system and onto the next.”
*
Over the next eleven days the Human and Crian fleet travelled through four more syste
ms. In one, James repeated his delaying tactic and reduced the Flex-aor numbers by another thirty ships. Two other times, he feinted an attack before racing away from the Flex-aor fleet. He wanted to keep his opponent guessing.
When the fleet jumped into X-57, it was James’ turn to be surprised. A fleet of more than a hundred ships was traversing the system. They weren’t more enemies though. “The contacts are Human ships Admiral,” Miyamoto reported excitedly. “Gravimetric signatures are consistent with a squadron of battlecruisers and various escorts. It has to be rear Admiral Ramirez with our resupply freighters.”
“That is a sight for sore eyes,” Scott responded. “Reinforcements and supplies.”
“Send a complete report to Ramirez,” James ordered. “Make sure they get a rundown of all our damaged ships. I want a complete assessment of what supplies they have brought with them. If we can carry out any additional repairs that will be our priority. If we can increase our fleet’s maximum velocity, we’ll finally be able to get away from our pursuers.” As it was, everyone was expecting the Flex-aor fleet to exit shift space in three to four hours. “Inform Ramirez that his fleet is to reverse course and fall into formation with our own.”
