Empire's Birth (Empire Rising Book 9)

by D. J. Holmes

  Lightfoot looked down for several seconds but eventually looked back up and held her gaze. “I will do my duty Admiral.”

  “That’s all I ask of you. Please, let James know that I do this confident in the knowledge that he will see us through,” Gupta responded.

  “I will make sure he knows,” Lightfoot said.

  “Now, see to your ships,” Gupta replied. “We have no more time to waste with farewells.” Before Lightfoot could add anything else, she cut the COM channel. She didn’t want to make it harder than it needed to be. When she looked back at the holo map of the system, she frowned. Alongside Earth, Zeus and their six escorts, there were twelve more ships following her. “Get me Commodore Flew!” she growled.

  “Before you say anything Admiral,” Flew said calmly when the COM channel was open. “Let me remind you that I joined your fleet willingly. You have no authority over me other than that which I permitted you to have. So do not waste your breath. Your ships have taken a great risk coming here to aid my people. If a sacrifice must be made, then I will be making it alongside you. I’ve put Captain Gar’am in charge of the rest of my ships. He will ensure Admiral Lightfoot and the others get back to Earth safely.”

  Gupta raised her hand to rub her temple. She hadn’t wanted to lead more people to their deaths than were necessary but she couldn’t order the Varanni ships to turn around. We may need them, she said to herself. If Earth was going to delay the Karacknids at all, they needed to not be blown out of existence in the first missile salvo. “All right,” she said as she lowered her hand. “We will do this together. Now, let us figure out the best way to hurt this battle fleet as much as possible.”

  “Gladly,” the Varanni replied with a wicked grin that showed all her razor-sharp teeth.

  With the Karacknid battlefleet and Gupta’s small squadron racing towards one another, it took just forty-five minutes to get into missile range. In that time Gupta watched Lightfoot use Blackhole to stop the convoy from jumping into shift space. No doubt its commander had been shocked by the interdictor cruiser’s capabilities. Confident that Lightfoot had his situation under control, Gupta focused on the first wave of missiles the Karacknids fired at her ships. One thousand four hundred missiles were closing with Earth. Instead of wasting missiles on the Karacknid ships, Earth and the other Human ships in her fleet fired their missiles at the enemy salvo. It was a long shot, but when the missiles detonated and released their bomb pumped lasers, sixteen Karacknid missiles were destroyed. Then, seconds before the Karacknid missiles came into point defense range, the Varanni ships did the same; except their missile warheads gave off extremely powerful thermonuclear explosions. The massive wave of radiation released from the simultaneous detonation of two hundred missiles fried the seeker heads of hundreds of Karacknid ones.

  Even so, hundreds more charged into the point defense fire of Gupta’s squadron. Many of them were taken out by point defense plasma and laser cannons or AM missiles. Still, many continued. At her command, the Human and Varanni screening ships moved ahead of their larger consorts. Taking the safeties off their reactors and engines, they put everything into over drive. Their increased power signatures attracted many of the Karacknid missiles that had been programmed to target large enemy ships. As Earth’s pilot threw the large battleship into the best evasive maneuvers she could carry out, Gupta gripped her command chair, expecting death to take her. When not a single missile hit Earth, she had to close her mouth to hide her surprise. As she looked around at her bridge officers, she found more than one looking back at her with the same confusion.

  When she looked to the main holo plot she started to request an update on her squadron. She cut herself off when she realized she didn’t need someone else to tell her. There were only six ships still under power following her. One human destroyer, Flew’s flagship Autonomy and three Varanni escort ships. There was absolutely no sign of Zeus. The rest of the ships in her squadron were either falling adrift due to heavy damage or likewise had been obliterated. Gupta couldn’t understand it; how had so many other ships been hit and yet Earth spared. She didn’t have time to figure it out though, for the next Karacknid missile salvo was almost upon them. With less ships and therefore less missiles, her squadron nevertheless tried the same tricks again. They had even less success. Then Earth’s point defenses opened up. As they did, Gupta glanced at the closing distance to the Karacknid squadron. If they could survive this salvo, her ships might get into energy weapon range. There Earth’s ten heavy plasma cannons and six laser cannons could do some real damage. Wishful thinking, Gupta thought as she berated herself. There were nearly eight hundred Karacknid missiles still closing with her ships. That was more than a hundred missiles for each of them. “What?” she said out loud when Autonomy and the other Varanni ships suddenly changed formation. They closed with one another to the point where they almost collided. Then they moved in front of Earth, forming a perfect cone around her. Before Gupta could give any orders, the Karacknid missiles started detonating. So many anti-matter warheads went off that Earth’s sensors lost all ability to detect anything. It didn’t take sensors to tell Gupta that her flagship was taking a battering though. She was thrown around in her command chair again as a number of things struck her hull, pushing her one-way and then another. Gupta held her breath as she tensed her muscles. The g-forces were threatening to make her black out. Her vision almost closed over. Then the g-forces ended and it returned. At once her eyes turned to the holo plot. Autonomy was gone. So too were all the Varanni ships. Badger, the destroyer that had been beside Earth was gone as well. Her flagship was the last ship left. “What hit us?” she demanded.

  “Debris,” an officer reported. “We’ve got several sections open to space. But we are still operational.”

  Gupta didn’t acknowledge the report. Her mind had already moved on. Flew had brought Autonomy so close to Earth that the destruction of the Varanni flagship had almost taken Earth out with it. But it didn’t. She has bought us a few more moments. When Gupta’s eyes settled on the Karacknid battlefleet she couldn’t help but swear. Every Karacknid ship was decelerating as hard as it could. They are scared of us, she thought as she clenched her teeth. Cowards! As she watched them, the Karacknids fired another salvo. At least, half a salvo. Six hundred missiles were racing towards Earth. The number made Gupta smile. It was overkill. Massive overkill. They are scared of us. “It has been an honor,” she said as she raised her voice for the entire bridge to hear her. “An honor.” There was no way Earth could outmaneuver six hundred missiles. They would not be getting into energy weapons range. “Let’s give them one last salvo!” she ordered. “Fire all functioning missile tubes.”

  From Earth’s starboard side, thirty-two missiles were launched. Gupta watched them go and then turned for one last glance at the rest of her fleet. Lightfoot’s ships had successfully burst through the convoy escorts and were amidst the freighters wreaking havoc. Revenge, Gupta thought as satisfaction filled her. It wasn’t payback for what the Karacknids had done to Earth, but it was the best she could hope for. Someone else will have to see that the debt is finally settled, she thought as she turned back to the Karacknid missile salvo. It was seconds away. Gupta’s last thoughts were of James and Christine. She hoped her friend would find happiness with his new wife. When the missiles were an eyeblink away from detonating, a bunch of new contacts appearing on the holo plot made Gupta smile. “Eat that you scum,” she screamed as anti-matter warheads wiped her out of existence.

  *

  “Make every missile count!” Wing Commander Forest shouted over the COM channel to all his pilots. “Carve them apart!” He pushed his engines beyond their safety limit and began to duck and weave as Karacknid point defense fire opened up on them. His pilots needed no more encouragement. They had just watched an entire squadron of warships sacrifice themselves to buy them the distraction they needed. And what a distraction it was! Forest couldn’t help but think as Earth disappeared in hundreds of antimatter
explosions.

  With their attention focused solely on Earth, Forest had snuck his fighters right up to the Karacknid battlefleet before powering up their reactors and engines to full. As they charged towards their targets, the Karacknids were almost unbelievably slow to react. Here and there his fighters were blown apart in ones and twos. But forty made it close enough to release their plasma missiles. Normally his fighters would work in groups of four to take out a Karacknid capital ship. They were tough nuts to crack. His fighters were not going for kills, however. They only wanted to cripple their targets. Of the forty plasma missiles that were released by his spitfires, twenty-nine struck Karacknid ships. In one attack more than a third of the Karacknid battlefleet suffered serious damage. “The undamaged ships,” Forest ordered as he swung his fighter around in the midst of Karacknid defense fire and opened up on a battleship with his small plasma cannons. With Lightfoot’s fleet several hours away charging in the opposite direction, none of his fighters had enough fuel to return to their carriers. It had always been a one way flight. Just like Earth’s, he thought as he weaved and twisted his fighter whilst continuing to pepper the battleship with plasma bolts. “Take this!” he shouted when he saw he had burnt a hole through the battleship’s armor. Twisting his flight stick, he threw his fighter into the hole. Still holding the trigger, he filled the battleship with plasma bolts and his Spitfire came barreling in after them. In a flash Forest and his fighter were gone. In their wake they left a gaping hole in the Karacknid battleship that vented debris, atmosphere and bodies in a long plume behind it.

  *

  Argyll.

  Though hunting down so many fleeing freighters demanded his full attention, Lightfoot couldn’t help but watch the attack on the Karacknid battlefleet. Rest easy my friend, he thought as the gravimetric signatures of Earth and then Forest’s fighters disappeared. I’ll get them home safely, he promised. He turned back to the Karacknid freighter fleet. He had no idea how he would keep his promise. Travelling into unknown enemy territory would be fraught with many unknown dangers. Getting home was going to be the toughest task he had ever faced. But that was for the future. Right now he intended to pay every Karacknid freighter back for the loss of Earth and her consorts.

  Chapter 43

  Admiral Georgia Gupta is remembered in history as the first Imperial Admiral to be killed in combat. For that fact, her name is known to most naval officers. Yet a close study of her career shows she should be regarded as highly as any of the great names of the Imperial Fleet. Certainly, a cadet would not need to look any further than Admiral Gupta for a mentor upon which to model their own sacrificial service to the Empire.

  -Excerpt from Empire Rising, 3002 AD.

  Handmaiden, outer Cria system, 10th June 2482 AD (one month later).

  As Handmaiden exited shift space and her sensors scanned the inner system, Becket let out a deep sigh of relief. The Crian homeworld was intact and untouched. Nearly two thousand warships were in orbit defending the planet. The Karacknids hadn’t launched an attack in the two weeks it had taken Handmaiden to reach Cria.

  Looking over to Ya’sia, Becket couldn’t detect any sign of relief on the Crian Admiral’s face, though she strongly suspected the emotions were there. With so many of the Alliance warships falling back to Varanni Prime from the Alpha, Beta and Gamma forts, Ya’sia had been dispatched to Cria to bolster the fleet. For the two week journey though, they had been out of contact with what was going on. Everyone was expecting the Karacknids to make their next push soon. It had been three months since the battle of Kalesh. Since then the Karacknids had been drawing all the forces from their border worlds to the system. An attack was inevitable. Becket couldn’t see any other possibility. Yes, she knew Gupta and a small force had been dispatched to raid Jaranna. But there was nothing such a small force could do to turn back the massive Karacknid fleet at Kalesh. The last Varanni scouts had reported there were now over six thousand warships in their main fleet.

  “Send a signal to the fleet,” Ya’sia said as she spoke for the first time since Handmaiden had reverted to normal space. “Inform them I have been sent to assume overall command. I want every flag officer and Captain to report on board Handmaiden as soon as we make orbit.”

  “Yes Admiral,” Ya’sia’s COM officer responded.

  As Handmaiden and the three hundred ships Ya’sia had with her cruised into the system, Becket found herself studying the fleet in orbit around Cria. Outwardly at least, it looked like a hodgepodge of ships. There were designs from all six of the Alliance species. She was used to fighting with Varanni and Crian ships, now there were warships of all shapes and sizes mingled together. Becket knew the Alliance navies were used to fighting with one another. In reality they were one navy. Still, it looked strange and haphazard to her eye.

  When Handmaiden reached orbit and hundreds of shuttles delivered their Captains, Becket’s feeling of disarray only increased. Each species had their own mannerisms and unique way of greeting one another. As she made her way past many of them, she lost track of how she was meant to respond to them all. Eventually she found herself sitting at the edge of the large semi-circular briefing room. From her vantage point she watched the Captains and flag officers file into the room and find a seat that was at least somewhat comfortable for them. When she first entered the room, Becket had thought it impossible that so many officers would fit in. Yet fit they did. The racket from them all speaking to one another was almost deafening. However, it cut off in an instant when Ya’sia stepped up to the podium in front of everyone. They certainly are respectful, Becket thought.

  “Our Alliance is at a tipping point,” Ya’sia said, her voice easily carried throughout the briefing room. “This world, my homeworld is in imminent danger. So too is Varanni Prime and several other systems. High Command sent me here with reinforcements to take charge of this fleet. However, I come not to bolster the defenses of Cria. I come with orders to lead an assault on the Kalesh system.” Becket sat up in surprise. Ya’sia hadn’t mentioned anything of this plan during their two week journey. “In two days’ time we will jump into the Kalesh system to take on the Karacknid fleet. At the same time, our forces gathered at Varanni Prime will do likewise. If we can, we will attempt to combine our fleets. If not, we will fight separately. Let me be clear, this is our last hope. The Karacknids have a fleet powerful enough to overwhelm us here or at Varanni Prime with ease. If we do not face them now, together, our fleets will be defeated in parts. Our goal is to drive the Karacknids from Kalesh. We will do this by defeating them outright, or by inflicting so many casualties that they cannot continue their offensive. One way or another, it will likely cost most of us our lives. High Command has been extremely hesitant to take this step. But now, we have no choice. Almost every day new warships are coming out of the construction yards here and at Varanni Prime. If we can replace the losses we suffer quicker than the Karacknids, then we can grind their offensive to a halt. I’ve already assigned each of you into squadrons that will operate under my overall command. My Chief of Staff will now outline the specifics of what we must accomplish over the next two days before departing. Then we will split into our squadrons to prepare together further. This is the first and last time we will all meet in person before the battle. Let us make best use of our time.”

  Becket found herself staring open mouthed as Ya’sia’s Chief of Staff talked everyone through the preparations for breaking orbit and heading to Kalesh. The Alliance High Command was committing everything they had to one decisive battle. If they lost, the Alliance would be conquered. No, Becket said to herself as she realized what the High Command were really doing. They will lose, that is the premise of their plan. But along the way they hoped to take enough Karacknid ships with them to stop the enemy from pressing on and conquering Varanni Prime or Cria. They’re willing to sacrifice their entire fleet to save both homeworlds. It was ballsy, that was for sure.

  An hour later Becket found herself attending a more intimate mee
ting with Ya’sia and her senior Admirals. Ya’sia was taking them through her proposed strategy. “I’ve been working on this for the last two weeks,” Ya’sia was saying, “but no doubt there is room for improvement. We do not have much time, but your input will be invaluable.” Pausing, she looked over to Becket and gave her a slight nod. “I’m afraid this plan was kept top secret. Only I and my Chief of Staff knew about it. It is only today that Alliance High Command is informing their fleet at Varanni Prime. No undue risks have been taken with this role of the dice.” Becket nodded to show she understood. More and more reports had been coming in of Karacknid ships abducting people from the planets they had conquered and the ships they disabled. It seemed they were taking prisoners. Probably to interrogate. To Becket, it seemed far-fetched that the Karacknids would have learnt of High Command’s plan within the last two weeks. But she supposed it was possible. If a scout ship with officers aware of the plan was captured, the Karacknids could have been alerted. As Ya’sia turned back to outlining her strategy and the strategy the Varanni Prime fleet had been intending to use when they departed Varanni Prime, Becket listened intently. However, as optimistic as she tried to force herself to be, the more she heard, the less she liked their chances of victory. Even leaving the Karacknids with a pyrrhic victory where they took significant losses seemed out of reach. If the two Alliance fleets could join with one another in the Kalesh system, there was a chance. But Becket had seen first-hand the skill of the Karacknid fleet commander. He would not let that happen. As the other Admirals started to join in the conversation, Becket found herself pulling up data on the Kalesh system. She was looking for something strange or out of the ordinary. In the back of her mind she was asking herself what James would do in such a situation. Instinctively she knew, he would do just what she was doing; look for some other opening or novel tactic. She paused when something caught her eye. The system’s second gas giant; a planetary body the Crians called Halomead. It had an unusually large planetary ring. What was more out of the ordinary were the high deposits of zinc in many of the asteroids. Zinc was not the most useful heavy metal in modern industry so there was only a very small mining operation within the planetary ring. Yet zinc could play havoc with a ship’s sensors. By now Becket was intimately familiar with Alliance technology so she pulled up a file on their ship’s sensors. Then she accessed different R&D projects. It’s a possibility, she thought. With just a small modification, something that should not be too hard to carry out over the next couple of days, the fleet’s sensors could be made to function more efficiently in the unique situation she had in mind.