by Kal Spriggs
“Well, I don't want to get anyone in trouble,” Matthew said. “But I feel like we had more to offer... and, well, you know how Harbach reacts to being ignored.”
Lucius winced. James Harbach was a self-centered, egotistical, and annoying man. The former professor of engineering had arrogance enough to spare and not a shred of humility. If he even suspected that he'd been slighted, then he would have become insufferable. “Well, like I said, I'll look into it. In the meantime–”
A shrill of alarms cut Lucius off. Matthew looked suddenly pale, “That's the combat stations alarm.” A moment after he spoke, Lucius's Marine escort rushed in. “Sir, we've got to evacuate you...”
Lucius cut him off with a wave, “Take me to station command.” The last place he wanted to be in any kind of space battle was aboard an unarmed shuttle. Even as big an unarmed target as the station was somewhat better... or at least, easier to defend. Besides, he wouldn't evacuate before he had some estimation of the situation.
He followed Matthew as the other man led the short distance to the station command center. The room was much smaller than he had expected. Only a half dozen consoles ran the entire station. It was a sharp contrast to even a small military ship... and Lucius noted that, other than the key code, the command center had no real security. Something I need to bring up, he thought. One deranged worker or angry coworker could do extensive damage from here, even discounting the potential of a saboteur or terrorist.
The center display showed the icons of a number of military ships. Lucius immediately identified the positions of the Dreyfus Fleet, dispersed to provide defense coverage for Faraday, the station, and the solar array.
It took him a bit longer to read the information on the enemy vessels. They were human ships and from the limited emissions read that Lucius could make out on the civilian display, probably from the Colonial Republic. They were also far out, well out of energy weapon range and just on the edge of sensors range. That, however, did mean they were well within missile range, which they demonstrated a moment later.
The missiles they launched didn't have the acceleration of Nova Roma missiles, much less that of the Balor. But they were coming in fast enough and at a wide array of targets from the broad spread. Lucius went to the communications panel, “Put me through to Admiral Dreyfus, command frequency.”
He waited a moment until he finally heard Admiral Dreyfus's voice, “Baron, are you aboard the station?”
“Yes, I'm here. The station's sensors show a missile launch, can you confirm targets?” Lucius asked. His eyes roved the display. The enemy ships maintained a low acceleration towards the planet and Lucius wondered at their approach vector. If they intended some kind of suicidal attack, then they were coming in too slow, with too much time for the defenders to prepare.
“Multiple targets. At least four cities on the planet are targets, we're still refining data. They've also targeted the station and the solar array. We counted fifty missiles at launch, some are quiet and coasting, others are active and homing... looks like a variety of targeting priorities and packages,” Admiral Dreyfus said. “Their acceleration parameters match your data on Colonial Republic Liberation Fleet munitions.”
“Don't trust that,” Lucius said. “Pirates and the RLF splinter factions sometimes mix in some more advanced munitions with their other weapons and use the older stuff as chaff to thin out our defenses.”
“Noted,” Admiral Dreyfus growled. “We're still trying to identify ships. Looks like a mix of Defiance-class destroyers, Hammerhead class corvettes, and a pair of Liberator-class light cruisers.” The mix sounded like what a renegade Colonial Republic officer might marshal, one like Admiral Collae. Though I would like to think he's too calculating to go for a revenge attack like this, Lucius thought. The other man was frighteningly capable and if this attack was orchestrated by him, then it would probably have multiple angles.
Lucius calculated the time for the incoming missiles. He didn't have time to make it to his shuttle and down to the planet or to one of the warships, not before that missile wave made it, anyway. He saw the ready fighters launch. He noticed that the Nova Roma ships got their fighters out a full minute before the first launches from the Dreyfus Fleet ships. Fighters are still a secondary weapon system to them, Lucius reminded himself. It was a mental habit that he would have to break them of... probably with heavy drilling.
In theory, the fighter screen should stop the majority of the inbound missiles. The ships of the Dreyfus Fleet should be able to stop the remainder. Still, that left a large room for error, especially if the missile salvo was only a decoy. “Admiral Dreyfus, are we still conducting full scans on the far side of Faraday?”
“Yes, Baron,” Admiral Dreyfus's tone was irate. He didn't like Lucius looking over his shoulder, joggling his elbow. Which, Lucius understood. But, as much as Lucius trusted Admiral Dreyfus, he didn't like being helpless.
If only I were aboard the War Shrike, Lucius thought. He would have the information at his fingertips. He could act on his hunches.
Dozens of new icons bloomed on the display. The civilian sensor tech went white and looked over to Matthew. “Missile separation from the fighters,” Lucius said calmly. He watched as the two flights of missiles closed. In a full battle, the Dreyfus Fleet could have launched hundreds of fighters and thousands of interceptor missiles. But they were on standby, with crews on downtime and weapons systems down for maintenance and repairs from the battle with the Balor. The ready fighters should be enough.
Yet, as the interceptor missiles closed in, some of the enemy missiles burst into higher acceleration and sharper evasive patterns. Lucius pursed his lips as a dozen enemy missiles eluded the interceptor fire. Those are very good missiles, he thought grimly.
Yet his gaze flicked across the screen, to the raiding ships which continued their slow pace. Observation made sense, he knew. Yet he couldn't shake the idea that while those ships closed, big, fat, obvious targets, something else waited.
Lucius's gaze went to the glowing icon of the solar array. That was the obvious target. Even one missile or energy weapon could tear the delicate lattice apart. The collider buried at its heart was an even better target, Lucius knew. Yet none of the enemy's advanced missiles tracked on that target, he saw. All twelve headed towards the planet and the station, from the updated feed and plot.
Lucius's eyes narrowed, “Do we have any sensor probes?”
Matthew shook his head, “No, boss, those are still being manufactured ground-side.”
“What about any kind of sensor systems, anything we could do a full sweep with?” Lucius demanded.
“Nothing,” Matthew said.
Lucius pursed his lips. He could be wrong, but he might also be right. And the Dreyfus Fleet wasn't positioned to help... he turned to the communications officer. “Open a channel to the Emperor Romulus.”
He waited a moment. Finally he heard a gruff voice, “Admiral Mund.”
“Admiral, this is Baron Lucius Giovanni. I need to ask you to do a full active sensor sweep of the area near the solar array. Particularly reverse vector from the inbound missile tracks,” Lucius said.
“Baron, this is Emperor Romulus. I must remind you that we are a sovereign nation, your ally, not a subordinate,” the Emperor said. His young voice was cold.
Lucius bit back a curse. He took a deep breath and spoke slowly, “Your Highness, I suspect there is a vessel with stealth capabilities in that area, maneuvering in position to fire on the solar array. As your ally, I'd ask that you conduct a full sweep. The ships of the Dreyfus Fleet are currently out of position. I'm aboard the station and have no ability to do so myself, so I ask for your assistance.
“Of course, Baron Giovanni, we'd be glad to help,” Emperor Romulus IV said.
A moment later, the Nova Roma vessel icons lit up. They scanned for what seemed like an eternity until a baleful red icon appeared. Lucius snarled, “Got the bastard!”
The enemy ship was positioned only thirty thousand ki
lometers from the solar array, hopefully well outside its effective energy or projectile weapons range. Yet, no sooner had it appeared than a dozen icons blossomed, half headed for the array and the other half curved in an arc towards the station. Lucius winced at the missile drive accelerations, transmitted from the Nova Roma ships. The missiles would arrive in only two minutes to the solar array.
Lucius saw the Nova Roma ships begin to shift position. “Emperor Romulus, this is Baron Giovanni. Priority one is protection of the solar array. The station is secondary. I repeat, protect the solar array.”
There was no answer for a long moment, “Acknowledged, Baron.” The Emperor's voice sounded tense, but also determined. The Dreyfus Fleet was out of position to attack the inbound missiles before they struck the array. But, the enemy had launched too soon. His missiles would strike staggered with the other flight, enough, perhaps, that Admiral Dreyfus could engage one and then the other rather than all at once.
Eighteen missiles, Lucius thought, just eighteen missiles in the wrong place at the wrong time might leave my forces unable to fight. No sooner had he thought that then the Nova Roma ships began to fire on the inbound missiles. The first two died in blossoms of electromagnetic noise, which told Lucius they carried antimatter warheads. They, no doubt, left pinprick flashes of intense light as well in the night sky of Faraday.
Even one of those warheads would completely destroy the array, Lucius knew. The Nova Roma ships, even caught by surprise, had to stop them all. Two more missiles died, short of their target, yet the fact that it took so much fire to kill them told Lucius that they must have extremely advanced evasive systems. The last two shot past the Nova Roma ships, but one died in the process. The last one tracked in towards the solar array. Lucius held his breath as he watched the last missile close with the platform. The icon vanished only a few thousand kilometers shy of its target.
“Baron, we need to evacuate you,” Matthew said, his voice nervous.
“What?” Lucius's gaze went to the screen. The Nova Roma ships had stopped the missiles headed for the solar array, but they had only just begun to fire on the inbound missiles headed for the station. Five slipped past their fire.
Lucius's gaze went to the Dreyfus Fleet. They were too far out to safely fire their interceptor cannons and their parasite frigates had only begun to detach from the massive ships. We need better dispersal, Lucius thought. Their defense was designed around a large attack by the Chxor, not a quick raid by someone else. “No, there's no time to leave and I won't abandon your crews,” Lucius said. He watched as the five missiles skimmed across the upper atmosphere of Faraday.
“Active radar!” the sensor officer said. “The missiles are hitting us with active radar!” Alarms sounded and Matthew turned to the intercom, “All personnel, this is Matthew Nogita, commence evacuation...”
“Belay that,” Lucius snapped.
“Baron, we have to evacuate, there's no way they can stop those missiles in time!” Matthew said. Lucius ignored him and rushed to the engineering panel.
“Jettison the fusion reactor core, on my mark,” Lucius said, his voice calm.
The station engineer blinked up at him in shock.
“It's our only hope!” Lucius snapped. The engineer unlocked the panel and flipped up the clear plastic cover. Lucius glanced at the sensor display and judged the distance. “Do it.”
The engineer hit the switch. The lights flickered and died. The consoles went dark. For a long moment, they sat in darkness. The emergency lighting came online. Some of the panels flickered and then came online as the battery power came on.
Lucius waited. The clock ticked onward. There was no bright flash of light or scream of air rushing out. They were still alive... for now.
The communications officer looked up, “Uh, Baron, Admiral Dreyfus.”
Lucius walked over to the console, he picked up the offered headset, “Baron Giovanni.”
“You gave me quite the scare, Baron,” Admiral Dreyfus said, his voice dry. “Good move by the way. The reactor's detonation scrambled the missiles radar long enough to generate a miss. That gave us time to get close enough to pick them off.”
Lucius felt the knot of tension between his shoulder blades ease. “Excellent. Did we engage the enemy?”
“The Nova Roma contingent picked off the stealth raider. The other ships jumped to shadow space as soon as we picked off the missiles,” Admiral Dreyfus said. “They're gone... for now.”
Lucius nodded to himself, “Good job, Admiral Dreyfus. I'm headed to the Patriot now, I think we've got some planning to do.” That was an understatement, he knew. This raid had changed the dynamic. They had hoped to take the offensive... yet with the possibility of another raid like this, they would have to adjust that plan. Lucius could feel the initiative slipping away. They needed to change things back into their favor, and soon, or they might well be knocked entire on the defensive.
Wars weren't won on the defensive. Since this was a war for the survival of the human race, Lucius didn't feel that setting here guarding the planet was a winning long term strategy. It seemed like an even worse strategy given the attack whose purpose seemed to knock them back to just that.
***
Faraday System
United Colonies
August 7, 2403
Alicia Nix, the new head of the United Colonies Federal Investigation Bureau, stepped into the antiseptic interrogation room and took a seat across the table from the man who waited there. He was a tall man, gaunt after working in the Chxor labor station from where they had rescued him, along with seven hundred and fifty thousand other prisoners.
Sorting those prisoners had fallen to the Federal Investigation Bureau. Most of it was relatively simple, in part, due to the Chxor's excellent record-keeping. They sorted out the common criminals from political or military prisoners. From there, each of the groups were sorted out by skill set, background, and nationality. The Nova Roma citizens most commonly were passed along to the other Nova Roma refugees. Most of the others were helped to get a life started here on Faraday or offered tickets to Colonial Republic space.
Some handful, however, had hidden among the other slave workers under false papers. Most of those, after processing, came forward to identify themselves. They were commonly political or military prisoners who feared the Chxor would execute them. Some, mostly criminals, had tried to remain hidden. Alicia had not been entirely surprised when she learned about the lucrative black market enterprises going on under the bulbous noses of the Chxor overseers. More than a few of the men and women who ran such illicit businesses had lived lives of relative luxury... until the breakout which had cost them most of their ill-gotten gains. Needless to say, they had not been entirely welcoming of the rescue.
Thus far, between freed workers, extensive searching of criminal databases, and people coming forward, Alicia's people had managed to identify everyone... except this one man. “Good morning,” Alicia said as she slid a cup of coffee across the table. She personally couldn't stand the vile stuff, but most of the prisoners couldn't get enough of it. “I'm Alicia Nix.”
“I don't care who you are.” The man ignored the coffee, “As I've stated before, I am a Nova Roma citizen. I insist I be released to the Nova Roma authorities.”
“That's nice,” Alicia said. “But as you have yet to identify yourself, we are unable to verify that you even are a Nova Roma citizen, much less in the military as you claim.” She kept her voice friendly, but she hoped that the man could tell just how irritated she was. Seriously, she thought, I don't have time for this... I've got two hundred thousand Chxor prisoners to sort through. From his looks, his accent, and his overall attitude, she didn't doubt he was, in fact, a Nova Roma citizen. He was tall, had dark hair and eyes, and had the olive complexion common to the Nova Romans. His broad lips held an arrogant smirk and his jaw jutted forward antagonistically.
“I am a senior officer of the Nova Roma military. Any Nova Roma ship should be able to
contact high command and send them my DNA scans. They can confirm my identity.” His broad lips gave a sardonic twist, “Unless, of course, your claims of working with Nova Roma are false.”
Alicia gave an exasperated sigh, “As my people have told you before, Nova Roma has fallen. They have established a government in exile, but they have limited data from their evacuation.” Almost none, Alicia thought, seeing as they hijacked whatever damaged or not-fully-constructed ships they could find from the shipyards for their escape. The young Emperor Romulus IV had as much as admitted to having to rely upon captured Chxor files to identify some of the officers and enlisted she had already turned over to him.
“Whatever their status, they will have senior officers capable of identifying me by sight, I'm sure,” he said. “And as I stated before, I will not be seen by lackeys. I have information crucial to the war effort. I must speak with senior officers as soon as possible.” His voice was earnest, but Alicia didn't miss the jibe behind it. He still thought the United Colonies was some kind of joke.
“You've said that to my people before,” Alicia said. “And as they have explained, we only have your word on this.”
“My word, as an officer of your self-proclaimed ally should be enough...” the man sneered. “We both know the power and authority that Nova Roma commands. You may claim to be an ally, but you are likely little more than a client state. Think of how your leadership will react when they realize that you have detained a senior officer of Nova Roma without charges during a time of war.”
“Look,” Alicia said. “I'm as senior as it gets as far as this interview process will go. I answer to the leader of the United Colonies, and Baron Giovanni doesn't have time to interview a troublesome former slave with delusions of grandeur.” She stood up from her chair, finally frustrated beyond caring anymore if the man was who he said he was.
“Wait...” the man said. His olive skin had gone pale. “Baron Giovanni... you can't possibly mean Baron Lucius Giovanni?” His voice held a level of shock and horror.
