"Huh?" came from several people.
"Sorry, bad joke, they have a Missile Cruiser."
"Shit!" said Breckenridge.
"How bad is that Jon?" asked BA.
"Oh shit, oh shit, we're going to die?" I said.
"Sorry I asked," muttered BA.
"Jane, fire off our IR's, one per missile."
"Confirmed." Twenty missiles headed toward the two hundred.
"Can you control the missiles more accurately than just firing them?"
"Yes Jon. What did you have in mind?"
"Is it possible to fire the IR missiles on Excalibur and Nightshade out of the hanger while they're still docked?"
She paused.
"Yes, but it will take longer to fire them. I'll need to do them one at a time."
"Do it! Fast as you can, we don’t have much time left."
"Confirmed."
"Reload the forward launcher, IR's are more use at the moment. Shit, I should have thought of this."
I'd made the cardinal mistake of not following my own advice. I had too many of the more powerful FF missiles on board, and not enough IR's. IR's could be targeted, but FF's could not. So an FF was useless when enemy missiles were your problem.
"Confirmed."
The hanger doors opened, and missiles dribbled out from it, heading behind us. The first twenty missiles exploded, and took out forty of the incoming ones. One by one, forty more exploded, taking out another seventy incoming ones. Ninety to go. The hanger doors closed.
The rest were narrowing the distance to us quickly. Shields were back up to fifty percent, but wouldn’t hold out ninety missiles if they all hit.
At the last second I stood Gunbus on her tail. Gravity fluctuated enough for everyone to be thrown around in their seats, and steadied again. Gunbus shot 'up' relative to her previous direction. The turrets were all firing and missile explosions were too close for comfort. The remaining missiles curved around to follow us, but had lost some ground. I did another violent alteration of course, and they lost ground again, slowly losing numbers as the turrets picked them off. Finally, the last one exploded. None of them had hit us.
I breathed deeply for a moment. First and second hurdles jumped, now for the water course.
Shields were back up to eighty percent and rising.
I studied the nav map for a moment. I tweaked the course and let Gunbus run for a few minutes.
"All magazines swapped for full ones."
"Thanks Jane."
I think everyone else was too stunned to say anything.
Behind us came the sixty Talon fighters that had been trying to follow. We had left the Cruiser a long way off, and I was hoping I'd judged it right and she was now well out of firing range. At least, there were no more missile clusters on the screen.
I gave it another minute, then dragged us around to go head to head with the approaching cloud of fighters. Shields clicked over to full.
I grouped the side capital ship gun turrets with my forward guns, and set them all to gatling fire. This would mean they would fire in sequence instead of all together. Sixteen guns, of which any two pulses hitting close together should do a lot of damage to a Talon.
At long range, I locked up the lead Talon, and sent it two IR's, aiming for the cockpit. As rapidly as I could, I locked up and fired on the next nine. I was out of IR's again. I now bitterly regretted not putting all the IR's in one magazine.
My fingers mashed the front and rear launcher buttons, as I started pumping out FF missiles. Thirty from the front, and fifty from the back launched as fast as possible.
"Reload," I rasped.
They crossed the sixty missiles coming back the other way. The turrets started up again, and this time I went through the missile cloud aiming directly at the lead Talon. Some hit my shields, but did not hurt them very much.
At a thousand meters, twice my normal range, I pulled the gun trigger and held it down. Single pulses shot out in front of us. The lead ship took two, and I shifted aim to go down the line of fighters behind him, flicking us past the disabled ship. One, two, three, four, five, all succumbed to two or three pulse hits.
Beyond the last Talon, I pulled us around and went after the rear of what was no longer a formation, but a mass of ships milling around. Ahead, I could see ships stagger as FF's hit them.
"Jane, give the girls fire control on half the guns. Keep the others on missiles. Ladies. Missiles first. Ships second."
A Talon had pulled around and was going head to head. I gave it two pulses, which wasn’t enough and I was too late to juke out of the way. Gunbus ran it down and it exploded. The front shields went down five percent. I evened them back out and we were down to seventy five percent, and falling.
I drove us into the middle of the formation, firing at everything ahead of me, and in the middle of the formation, I turned into a circle.
The time honoured dance of death. The Talons all followed me into the circle and we went around and around. The classic fighter dogfight, which went all the way back to the original biplanes.
"Magazines reloaded," said Jane.
I emptied the rear launcher as fast as they would launch.
"Reload," I called again.
I continued firing as any target crossed my sites. Slowly the number of red dots decreased, and the grey dots increased.
A ship staggered in front and I pulled us around it, breaking the circle. I turned us the other way and we started around the circle against the previous flow, firing continuously.
Ten red. Six red. Three red. None.
RUN!
I juked us heavily, checking the scanner for the position of the Missile Cruiser. It was just coming into missile range. I turned us and ran away from it.
I never ignored that voice in my head.
Shields were at eleven percent. They started to regenerate.
"You can breathe easy for a few moments folks," I said.
"Is that all of them?" asked the Colonel.
"All the fighters. We still have to deal with the Missile Cruiser. Which has just fired on us again."
"So we're not home and dried?" asked Aline.
"Not even home and vigorously toweling off." I wondered for a sec where that had come from. Oh yeah, I thought with a smile.
No one smiled. Mine died.
First and second hurdles jumped, water course crossed, now for the cross country downhill run. I wondered why I was thinking of horse racing. Nope, no clue. Stress maybe. Had to be something I'd read.
I brought us around again, lining up on the line of missiles heading for us. I studied the pattern for a moment and my smile lit up again. They had been fired as a broadside from the Cruiser, and were all neatly lined up sideways. Only the middle missile was actually aimed directly at Gunbus. The rest were supposed to acquire the target when they were close. With the wide spread, most of those to the sides were going to overshoot and need to chase to catch back up. It showed a lack of understanding of the weapons on that ship. Their spread was what you would fire at a Battleship, not a Corvette.
I gently twirled Gunbus to bring the line horizontal with our perspective.
"Jane, all turrets face forward. I want a line of fire extending left and right. All missiles targetable are primary, ignore the rest on the outsides of the line until all in front of us are gone. Leave the center ones for me. Wait for me to fire before joining in."
"Confirmed."
"You're going to fly straight through that lot?" asked Breckenridge incredulously.
I gave him the Maniac's Grin. I let everyone see it, and went back to being deadly serious.
I was judging distances. At long range, I pulled the trigger and the staggered fire of the guns pulsed out continuously. The turrets opened up as well. A wall of pulses flew towards the wall of missiles. The middle missile exploded, and I hosed to the left and back to the right, as missiles all along the center part of the line exploded.
A single missile came through the barrage
, and impacted on the front shield. It went down fifteen percent, not quite half it had previously regenerated.
"Hell," said Greer. "Capital ship missiles."
"Indeed," I replied. "Explains them all being lined up sideways. That’s how you take down a capital ship, by landing missiles down its full length all at once."
I pointed us directly at the Cruiser. This was going to be close. Either we came within firing range before she fired again, or we would arrive after she fired again. In the latter case, things would be awkward. The remaining missiles swung around behind us as predicted, and the rear guns began picking them off.
I switched the main guns back to salvo mode, so all sixteen would fire at once.
"Shouldn’t you be firing missiles about now?" asked Breckenridge.
"Nope, I've something else in mind. Better hold onto your lunch." I gave him the Maniac Grin again, just for good measure. He went green.
Totally serious again, I aimed us dead on the center of the Missile Cruiser which was stationary and sideways on to us.
The range closed, distance winding down relentlessly. At a thousand meters, I opened fire with the front guns, and mashed the torpedo button. I got off two gun salvos and twelve torpedoes before I hauled us up and over the Cruiser, almost close enough to scrape paint. Shields sizzled as they touched. I kept us going directly away from her, as I checked the scanner. No red.
I slowed us and brought us round to see what had happened to the Cruiser.
"Wow," said Breckenridge. It was echoed by others. The Cruiser had been cut completely in half. "What the fuck did you fire at it?"
"Torpedoes," I answered. "Small, fast, deadly. But only if you have good aim, as they're a direct fire weapon, like the guns." I saw Greer nodding. Breckenridge frowned.
I brought us to stop nearby the wreck.
"Life signs?"
"None," replied Jane.
"What about the fighters, anyone eject?"
"No."
"What is it with these people?" asked Aleesha. "Are they suicidal?"
"Could well be," said Alana.
I turned to Greer.
"Gentlemen, saddle up. I'm going to drop the four of you off, where you can observe both the approach from Midgard and the Azgard jump point. You're on high guard in case they have reinforcements. Commander, you have command."
Greer and Breckenridge unbuckled.
"Do you have a call sign?" asked Breckenridge.
"No, never needed one," I replied.
"Well, you do now," he said seriously. Greer grinned. They both left, heading for their ships in the Cargo Bay.
"Jane, take us to the best place to observe both approaches please, where the maximum notice can be given of any force approaching."
"Confirmed."
A short time later, with shields back at full, I brought Gunbus to a stop. Jane evacuated the air in the Cargo Bay, and opened the main airlock and the hanger doors.
"Launch," I said.
Nightshade dropped out the bottom of Gunbus as the Sabre shot out of the Cargo Bay. Excalibur and the Epee followed.
I watched them for a moment, as they formed up into a V formation, listening to Greer's commands. He had the good sense to give the lead position to George, who by far had the best ship, and Point Defense that could cover all of them as long as they stayed in formation. That’s what makes a good squadron leader, I thought. I tuned their chatter out.
"Jane, take us back to the jump point please. I'll need to send a message to the Admiral."
"Coms are down," she said.
"Come again?"
"There are no coms in this system at all. At a guess, I'd say all the coms satellites have been destroyed."
"When we get near the jump point, will you be able to communicate with yourself on the other side?"
"Yes. I should be able to."
"Let me know when we're in data burst distance."
"Confirmed."
"Everyone, fun's over for now. You can unbuckle and go refresh yourselves."
I nodded to Abigail, and she turned off team coms.
I felt exhausted and was drenched in sweat.
I checked the time. It was less than half an hour since we jumped in.
Six
By the time Jane had us back outside the debris field around the jump point, I'd showered, changed, drunk a bottle of water and patted Angel.
I opened a vid for Admiral Hallington.
"Admiral. Under no circumstances is anyone to enter this system through the Miami jump point until further notice. The jump point is a major debris field. Your Cruiser was destroyed at the jump point itself and its wreck constitutes a navigation hazard for anyone jumping through, no matter how slow they do it. I regret to say, all the Epees were destroyed as well." I paused.
"Midgard had five squadrons of Talons staking out the jump point, with a Missile Cruiser firing capital ship missiles. None of your ships had a chance. They probably didn’t know what hit them. Some of the hulls floating around here are the ones I left behind. Your people would have been concentrating on not hitting them on down jump, when over two hundred and fifty missiles clobbered them."
"It was a close thing, but Gunbus is undamaged. All local forces have been neutralized. Your officers and two of mine are now on picket duty, while I concentrate on clearing the jump point. I'll let you know when it's safe to bring in your forces."
"There are no communications in this system. The coms satellites appear to have been destroyed. For now, I can communicate to you via my ship's AI, as she currently exists on both sides of the jump point. I'll keep you apprised of what's happening here. Hunter out."
I assembled an email with the vid and the battle data, and sent it off to the Admiral on Yorktown, via Jane's data link with herself. I copied it for General Harriman back in Sydney system, as I knew he would want to know what was happening here.
"Jane, let's get the salvage droids busy with clearing the hulls away from the jump point. I want a safe place where they can be left for the time being. Once the area is clear of hulls, have them collect the hulls from our recent combat area, and last of all, the two parts of the Cruiser. After, they can start on the debris at the jump point. Might be an idea to make a small mountain out of it away from the ships."
"Confirmed."
"Can you bring all the station salvage droids through the jump point?"
"Yes, but not advisable until the area immediately in front of the jump point is substantially cleared."
"Can they bring some ordinance with them? I don’t like sitting here without any IR's."
"They could. What would you like?"
"Does the station stocks have enough IR's to fill a magazine, and refill the other two with twenty five each? Also refill the FF's up to twenty five each? I'd like to have a full magazine of IR's, and two half and half's, while the rear magazines only have FF's."
"Yes, yes, and confirmed."
"Have them load and form up nearby the jump point waiting for your signal to enter."
"Confirmed."
"What's that Debris field made up of, can you tell?"
Jane didn’t answer for a full minute.
"Twelve Talons, most likely the ones we left behind. One Cruiser. Twelve Epees. Two medium freighters. The other battle site has fifty eight Talons. They vary from moderately damaged, to the American Cruiser which is trashed completely. I think the Cruiser took the whole barrage from the Missile Cruiser, and the Epees took IR's from the Talons."
"Explains why the Epees are not dust, anyway."
"Indeed."
"Put the Epees in their own little group. The Admiral will probably want them back."
"Confirmed."
"Are the salvage droids capable of removing what's left of the pilots and crew of the Cruiser, with care and dignity? Anyone on the freighters as well."
"I don’t know about dignity, but they can remove them with care. Where would you like them?"
"I don’t like the idea,
but the Cargo Bay for now. Send in a shuttle to retrieve them and return them to the Yorktown when it's clear to do so."
"Confirmed."
I sent an email off to Bob asking him if he could put two halves of a Cruiser back together. I included the vid of it being cut in half.
I sat there for the next couple of hours, as the salvage droids removed enough for the others to come through the jump point.
I looked through the battle feed, interested to see how the gunners had done. BA had five ship kills, and thirteen missiles. That made her an ace in one battle. Aline and Agatha had both made two ship kills. Aline had eight missiles, and Agatha, four. Amanda had killed four ships and nine missiles. Aleesha had also killed four ships, and six missiles. Alana hadn't killed any ships but had killed fifteen missiles. Of course, being my ship, the kills went to me, as if all the kills had been made with the turrets under AI control.
However, they could be recognized by the Mercenary Guild as skills. I sent an email off to the Guild via Jane's data link, listing each score. BA at least, should get a 'Ship Gunner – Ace' notation or something similar. With it I included my own new kills, and the battle data. They needed to know what was going on in here, so I provided them with as much detail as I could. I copied it to Admiral Harrington and General Harriman. I laughed suddenly making the connection between how similar their names were.
I posted the scores down on the wall in the common room. Shortly after, some loud cheering came up the staircase.
The salvage droids jumped in at long last. The Cargo Bay was still open to space, so they landed in it, and cargo droids offloaded the ordinance I'd asked for. When this was complete, a shuttle touched down on the deck. Cargo droids moved the bodies, now individually bagged (the salvage droids could do more than I knew), into the shuttle Cargo Bay. Once complete and we knew that all the bodies were accounted for, the shuttle left.
I emailed the Admiral a short note saying his dead were returning in one of my shuttles. I assumed he would want some sort of honour ceremony when the shuttle docked with Yorktown.
I closed up the Cargo Bay and re-aired it, and watched through a Cargo Bay camera as a hatch opened halfway up the bay wall, and a number of spider like droids swarmed out. They each attached themselves to several missiles, and walked back into the hatch with them. I watched them come and go for a while.
Send in the Hero (The Hunter Legacy Book 3) Page 5
