He was curious to see how the newly formed Bulldog units would perform. The initial models had been simple eight-wheeled armored transports, but due to its early successes, the model had been expanded into a full family that included the standard Bulldog Infantry Carrier as well as the Command Vehicle and Mobile Gun System, each providing specialized services to the Marine Corps. Though they had all been used to varying degrees, this was the first time such a large number had been in action. He turned his attention to Gun.
“Admiral Lewis is moving the fleet out to block these ships. I will need you on the ground earlier than planned. The Admiral has altered course. Give it another twenty minutes, and we’ll be too far out for landing craft. He can’t give me any more time than that, unless we’re happy to keep a single ship in orbit over Helios. A bad idea, in my opinion.”
He then turned his attention to Colonel Koerner who looked as if he was overheating while listening to his words. Both officers were keen to get off the ship, and even as he finished speaking to Gun, it was clear the two wanted to move.
“Same for you, too, Colonel. I need you with your marines.”
“We have a Mauler ready to go with escort,” he answered, “My guards unit is on standby.”
“Very well. As explained in the briefing, you will share command of this operation, with Gun taking overall control of the general campaign on Helios. Colonel Koerner, your mission is to demonstrate along a wide corridor all the way to the Animosh precinct, just as planned.”
Colonel Koerner nodded quickly, as though he was impatient to hear the rest.
“Now, make it clear and obvious that you intend on striking right into the heart of their territory. If we do this right, it will strip their forces away from the rebels along the wide front.”
He rubbed his jaw for a moment and then pointed at the diagram on the display.
“You both know the plan as well as I do, but there is one thing above all to remember. This has to be a win for the rebels, not for us. A poor victory for them is better than a perfect victory for us. When this is over, we need the civilians to see us as their friends, not occupiers.”
Gun lowered his head slightly in acknowledgement. The only person radiating any great emotion was Colonel Brünner. He looked at his two equals before moving his glare to General Daniels.
“And quite what am I supposed to do with my reserve forces if the fleet is moving out of orbit? In a few more minutes, we’ll be trapped on the ships. In my opinion, splitting our forces isn’t a sensible plan.”
General Daniels pointed to the screen where the formation of ships had closed the distance to Helios by almost fifty percent from when they had first been spotted.
“Colonel, they are only two hours away from the orbit of Helios. We will provide the Admiral with boarding contingents if and when he needs them. I want you to ensure every ship has at least one experienced combat platoon in reserve to assist the marines already on board. The remaining forces will stay on standby for boarding operations.”
He was sure he spotted a grin from Gun, but when he turned his attention on the old warrior, he could see nothing but his calm and dispassionate face.
Gun, you can be a real pain in the ass sometimes!
He looked back to the disgruntled Colonel Brünner who spluttered out his complaint before he could explain any further.
“My forces are the best equipped in the fleet. I have over two thousand Jötnar and Vanguards.”
“Exactly, just what I need if this gets rough. There’s nothing better in shipboard combat than a platoon of Jötnar at your back.”
He moved his eyes to Gun.
“Isn’t that so?”
Gun’s lip lifted up into a snarl, but Daniels knew it was a smile, even if Colonel Brünner had no idea.
“In front, side, or behind, my Jötnar will always get the job done.”
Colonel Brünner shook his head in disgust and spat on the floor. Gun could take much but not this. He reached over and stopped with his hand directly in front of his neck.
“Watch your mouth, Colonel. My brethren don’t take kindly to insults.”
He walked closer, his massive frame dwarfing the Colonel. Admiral Lewis tensed slightly as Gun approached the man. The possibility of some kind of violent confrontation was the last thing he needed. It would also require him to come down on them hard. It would be better all round if they could resolve it without him having to get involved either privately or officially. Gun pressed his face up close to Colonel Brünner so that there were just centimeters between them.
“And neither do I,” he said with a tone he hadn’t heard in a very long time.
Colonel Brünner stared at the monstrous form of Gun and looked for a second as though he might say something. Instead, he looked away and toward Admiral Lewis.
“We have work to do.” He then stepped away from Gun; the situation seemingly defused.
* * *
The Alliance Heavy Strike Group moved away from the glow of Helios and onto its direct intercept course with the Khreenk convoy. The first of its kind, this group of ships had been assembled after countless simulations and tests in a wide variety of battle situations. The great battles of Proxima and Kerberos, to name just two, had included massive numbers of ships yet had often proven indecisive. The new philosophy was to create fully independent and self-reliant groups of starships that could travel, fight, and survive in smaller groups. In millions of simulations, the twelve-ship force had been able to fight a Great Uprising era fleet of thirty plus ships and come out equally, or better. An entire regiment could be carried between the ships, with enough space for additional platoons of marines on each of the vessels.
This is it, Admiral Lewis thought.
The commanders from the 17th and 8th Marine Battalions had already left the fleet for the surface of Helios, and General Daniels was in contact with them as they helped with the ground operation below. He’d looked at the fleet disposition probably twenty times and still felt he’d missed something. The dozen ships were spread out in a wide box formation, with the veteran ships ANS Crusader and ANS Victory taking up the vanguard. In the center of the box sat the great bulk of ANS Conqueror and two-dozen Lightning Fighters that ran escort patterns around the formation. The remaining eight ships were spaced well apart in a wide pattern around the center. There were no rotating sections on these vessels, and the only holdover to the wars of the past were the venerable fighter wings, some of which were over forty years old.
“Lieutenant Ryante, give me a full assessment of the tactical battle space.”
The ship’s tactical officer had already run hundreds of scenarios based on the detected ships in this part of space. Unfortunately, it was almost impossible to predict all the outcomes, due to the vast number of civilian and military vessels around the crowded space of Helios.
“We have over seven hundred vessels, orbital platforms, and containers in combat radius, Admiral. The Narau fleet is split into three groups; two near the planet and one intercepting transports. We are now just over halfway toward the target forces. There are no other signs of hostile vessels or potential threats.”
“Good.”
He looked at the disposition of the Narau forces for a moment. He wasn’t completely happy with what he had heard so far from their Khreenk Admiral, but the Narau were a mixture of different peoples with an interest in maintaining the status quo. The worst he expected from them was inaction, nothing more. All they seemed to have achieved so far was to waste substantial resources for relatively modest gains.
“Very well. Maintain a watch on the planet; I don’t want any more surprises.”
Lieutenant Ryante nodded quickly.
“Affirmative, Admiral.”
She looked back at her display and was dismayed to see a series of alerts flash up, but none were more concerning than electronic information picked up by their own passive sensors.
“The lead ship is scanning us. It’s a deep scan. They are concentrating on our eng
ine, power, and weapon units.”
She pressed two buttons and scanned more data before almost choking.
“I’ve never seen anything like this; they are trying to break into our secure network.”
The XO didn’t even wait for more information from the tactical officer. She reached for the intercom and hit the fleet open channel. Admiral Lewis nodded toward her and looked back at the data.
“This is the XO. We are under electronic warfare attack. Switch to communications pattern Omega Three.”
She looked back at the Admiral.
“This is serious; I’d classify the ship as a certain threat. An attack on our digital infrastructure is just as deadly as an attack with kinetic weapons.”
Admiral Lewis watched the mainscreen with interest. The old Khreenk battleship was the first he’d ever seen at such close range. The rumors were correct. Their vessels were ugly, and this one was no exception. It was heavily plated with armor, and the scanners had detected multiple layers around key parts of the ship.
“I don’t like this, not at all.”
The XO seemed eager to get the ship into battle, but even now Admiral Lewis was hesitant to hurl themselves at the ships.
“No, we can keep them at bay. The Omega Three protocols will keep them out, at least for now. Let them try. In the meantime, I want our systems kept passive,” he said, with surprising calmness.
The Khreenk vessel had so far ignored all hails from ANS Conqueror. The trajectory laid out by Lieutenant Ryante showed that the fleet was definitely making for a Helion orbit. The larger of the transports had already started to burn their reverse thrusters to prepare for a direct entry into the planet’s atmosphere.
“Gun ports!” cried out the Lieutenant.
Admiral Lewis watched as a number of red diamonds appeared along the shape of the Khreenk battleship. Unlike the Alliance ships, the bulk of their weapons were fitted along the flanks. The Crusader class vessels’ primary armament was fitted to fire directly from the bow of the ships. Admiral Lewis nodded to Commander Sonels.
“It’s time, do it!”
The executive officer pulled the intercom unit from its mount and placed it around her mouth, much like a twentieth century telephone. They had planned this part of the operation nearly an hour earlier, but the momentous announcement she was about to make turned her throat dry. She looked at the Admiral and saw nothing but calmness. She knew exactly what had to be done and took a single deep breath.
“This the is XO. All ships prepare for battle!”
All twelve ships were connected via the active communications grid, and her order rippled through the fleet in nanoseconds. The crew of each vessel was already waiting at battlestations, but this final order set events in motion to turn the ships from ready for battle to actively ready. It seemed a minor difference, but the change in active systems on the fleet disposition diagram on her secondary screen suggested otherwise.
“Admiral, all ships report active. Electronic warfare systems are online, weapons charged, and point defense systems activated.”
The last part was a critical moment. Once activated, the small automated-turrets fitted to every ship would have clearance to open fire on any unidentified vessel within a certain range. They were fast-tracking turrets and could hit targets as small as missiles and even destroy heavy fighters.
“Good work. And our weapons, are they ready?”
“Aye, Admiral. Capacitors for the particle beam emitters are fully charged and ready for use. The same for the rest of the heavies.”
It was something of a misnomer to describe some of the ships as heavies. The particle beam emitters were the most advanced weapon fitted to Alliance warships and had been modified from captured equipment taken from the enemy in the Uprising. Half of the Crusader class ships were from the second tranche or later, and this meant they were slightly larger; it was this increase in bulk that gave them their name, rather than a designation of combat power.
“The rest of the fleet reports gun ports are open and weapon systems loaded and ready for battle, Admiral.”
The so-called heavies were improved vessels that were equipped with the same weapons. They were easily able to strike a target with a concentrated beam that could release over a gigajoule of kinetic energy at near the speed of light. Modifications in the last year had upgraded the weapons to focus the energy on a smaller point in space and with an increased output of more than sixty percent. The other half of the Crusader class was made up of the first generation models and lacked the powerplants and internal space to operate these advanced weapons. They were still equipped with the modern gravity generators as used on all Crusader class ships, a technology that marked them out as a ship design leagues ahead of anything used before.
“Admiral?” asked Lieutenant Ryante, “The scans from Serenity and Crusader are detecting EM pulse projectiles charging. They may be readying them for use against us.”
The mention of the EM pulse projectiles sent his mind spinning. There had been a number of weapon assessments made ever since contact had been made with the T’Kari. The most common weapons used by all the major powers were simple projectile launchers of some kind. Simple, easy to power and most important of all, they were incredibly hard to defend against if they were able to strike.
“How many?”
Lieutenant Ryante moved her left hand and dragged the weapon signature overlay to the main screen. Only one ship, the aged Khreenk battleship was marked out for this weapon. What surprised her the most was the number of weapons. She scanned from left to right, counting each in turn, as well as the gun port and individual weapon systems.
“Is that right? They have twenty of them, each charged and loaded.”
“Yes, Admiral, cross-scans indicate the battleship is fitted with at least thirty launch tubes port and aft.”
That was the last straw for him. None of the approaching ships had answered his hails, and now they were preparing heavy weapons for a possible attack against the fleet.
“What about life signs?”
Lieutenant Ryante checked one screen and then another. It seemed to be taking much longer than he would have expected. The scanners on board all Alliance ships were capable of detecting a wide variety of electrical and biological readings. Now that they were close enough, there was every reason they should be able to tell rough dispositions aboard each of the vessels. Finally, she turned around and shook her head.
“Uh, this is odd, Admiral. There is just one, a very faint life sign in the center of the battleship.”
“What?” he said, a little more aggressively than he intended.
“It’s true. The readings from Crusader confirm it. Each of those ships is carrying no more than a single person on board.”
He considered her words, but already he could visualize something that sent shudders of near panic through his body.
A single life sign, and no crew! Where have we seen this before?
He looked down at his personal monitor and accessed the Alliance naval records. He didn’t get far before Commander Sonels pointed at the opposing fleet.
“Admiral, you have to look at this.”
He was so busy looking at the files that he almost didn’t hear the sound of his XO. It was only when a junior officer cried out in surprise, he finally lifted his eyes and looked at the screen. The image had been magnified, and it showed the rear of the formation and a group of three warships.
“No…it can’t be,” he said with a mixture of confusion and horror.
The ships were nothing like the Khreenk, or anything in the Orion Sector for that matter. They were smaller than the Crusader class Alliance ships, yet multiple bands ran down their hulls for the rotating crew sections.
“They are Confederate heavy cruisers…” he said under his breath.
Lieutenant Ryante was already loading the silhouettes and configuration data into her system to check. It was fast, but the images were not perfect, and the system was forced to enh
ance each of the images while cutting them up into blocks for analysis. Images of ships from the records flashed past, but even the powerful analysis tools of ANS Conqueror couldn’t match the speed of the Admiral. Unlike them, he recognized the shape from memory.
“They’re the lost ships from the 7th.”
Both Lieutenant Ryante and Commander Sonels looked at him.
“The 7th?” asked Ryante.
Commander Sonels, on the other hand, appeared to be familiar with the name.
“Yes, it makes sense…well, kind of.”
She glanced at the information presented by the ship’s computer system. It had already identified the hulls of most of the ships and was now checking their configuration and weapons layout for names, models, and specification. He looked at the Lieutenant to answer her question, but all those present absorbed the information.
“The fleet was one of the largest formations of ships travelling between Alpha Centauri and Proxima Centauri at the start of the last War. Back then, there were no Rifts, not that we knew of anyway. A journey between Alpha Centauri and Proxima Centauri would take about nine months, give or take. The 7th was traveling on this route when they were sabotaged by the use of AI Hubs, and the Zealots attacked. Only a small group under Rear Admiral Churchill escaped.”
Admiral Lewis nodded slowly.
“Exactly. The surviving ships played a major part in the last years of the War. Many went missing after the initial attack though.”
Lieutenant Ryante was already adding the information together with the tracking data on the ships. She had plotted a weapon range and danger radius for each of them while the others spoke. She looked to the Admiral and nodded to the ships on the display.
“It would appear then that these ships are a mixture of derelicts taken from different worlds, presumably fitted out with AI Hub control units and forced to work for somebody…or something else.”
The image of the ships seemed to have given them all something to think about. Most were surprised at the sight of the Alien ships, but it was the newly discovered Confederate warships that kept older officer's attention.
Star Crusades Nexus: The Second Trilogy Page 16
