The Thunder of War (Thunder in the Heavens)

by Dietmar Wehr

  It didn’t take Eagleton long to convince the rest of the team after revealing to them that yes, the Tyrell really did have small craft in production. The team quickly drafted an interim report recommending a crash research and development program to build a kinetic energy missile small enough to be carried by a stinger. Eagleton was astonished at how quickly the recommendation was approved and implemented. The stinger craft would have a short-rod turreted particle projector. With the successful test of that weapon out of the way, the engineers began the work of coming up with the detailed design schematics that could be used to start building parts for both the craft and the missile. As soon as that work began, Eagleton filed his request to be the test pilot for the first stinger prototype. Less than 24 hours later, he received a text message reply from none other than Mirakova herself.

  [YOUR REQUEST TO BE ASSIGNED AS A TEST PILOT FOR THE STINGER PROTOTYPE IS DENIED. YOU’RE TOO VALUABLE AS AN EXPERIENCED CORVETTE SQUADRON LEADER TO RISK PILOTING AN UNPROVEN CRAFT. YOUR CONTRIBUTION TO THE STINGER AND KE MISSILE CONCEPTS HAVE BEEN DULY NOTED AND ARE APPRECIATED. TAKE SOME R&R. YOU’VE EARNED IT. MIRAKOVA.]

  Chapter Eighteen:

  Alliance Fleet Flagship:

  Fleet Commander N’kanu stood in front of the holographic tactical display and looked it over carefully. The Second Alliance Fleet of six carriers had just dropped out of hyper-space in the outer areas of the target star system that the Council had designated as Omega2. It was once again a system being used as a staging area for the build up of Tyrell super-ships in preparation for the pending attack on another Alliance member race. He carefully scrutinized the status of the other five carriers, each one being operated by a different race. The communication difficulties resulting from the less than perfect translation matrices were annoying, as was the sloppiness in ship handling of several of the carrier Commanding Officers! N’kanu was determined to show the arrogant humans that alien crews and officers could handle their carriers as professionally and efficiently as they did, if not better, not that one would know it from looking at the Fleet’s current formation. The haphazard formation wasn’t the only reason he was unhappy with the situation. The humans were right about one thing. These kinds of reactionary raids were not going to win the war. The Alliance wasn’t big enough or strong enough to really stop the Tyrell dead in their tracks just yet, and if it had been up to him, he would have deferred action until there were at least twice as many carriers, but the fear among the political leadership of the Alliance races had caused the Council to ignore his recommendation. Their response had been painfully simple. Either accept the mission and command of 2AF or someone else less qualified would be given the task, and that was something he couldn’t allow. He would never be able to forgive himself if someone else took command and ended up losing the battle with horrendous losses. No, he would command this mission, and he would conduct it very carefully. Now that the Fleet was in this system, he had to decide how to proceed next, and that was not going to be an easy decision.

  According to the humans who, to the surprise of all the other Alliance members, continued to deploy their reconnaissance ships and pass on that information to the Alliance, there were five super-ships already in orbit around the second planet. Based on past actions, the Tyrell fleet needed one more super-ship to bring it up to the standard strength, and in order to arrive at their intended target system on the specified date, that fleet would leave orbit in 11 days. But knowing there were five super-ships somewhere in orbit around that planet was not the same as having precise data on their orbital altitude and path, or on what kind of formation, if any, they were in. He needed that information, and the only way to get it was to send at least one corvette in closer than the extreme detection range of 10 light-seconds. The big question that no one could answer right now was how close was too close? If his people could get some idea of how good the new Tyrell detection system was, it would not only give credibility to his reputation among the other races of the Alliance but it would also show the arrogant humans that one of their Alliance partners had managed to accomplish something they could not. To get the information, though, a corvette would have to be sacrificed. The plan was simple in concept. One corvette would be programmed to make a high-speed pass of the planet under auto-pilot, which would gradually bring it to within two light-seconds. At some point, the Tyrell would detect it and begin firing on it. The corvette would continue to send a continuous FTL signal to the fleet. When the signal stopped, he would know that the drone corvette had been destroyed, and knowing when it was destroyed would also reveal how close it was when it was destroyed. Once he had a good idea of the extent of the enemy’s detection range, he would then send in his squadrons, first to a point that was beyond the new detection range, and if that happened to be less than 10 light-seconds, his squadrons would then be able to pin down the enemy ships’ positions exactly. If that new range was more than 10 light-seconds, they would jump close enough to use their active micro-wave scanning to pinpoint the targets and then fire at them. That would be risky if the Tyrell reacted quickly, but there was no other way around it.

  N’kanu chuckled as he imagined what the human fleet officers would say about his plan. He was certain that they would moan about giving up the element of surprise by letting his scouting corvette be detected, but with 58 corvettes at his disposal versus five super-ships, he was not worried about losing the element of surprise. This time the Alliance had overwhelming numerical superiority! But before he ordered his squadrons to begin the attack, he had to decide where his six carriers would be. Launching the squadrons from out on the system edge would require them to jump deeper into the system and after completing their pass, jump back again. And the difficulty in jumping back close to the Fleet would be high. Micro-jumps of that distance almost always involved enough inaccuracy that the jumping ship could easily end up half a light-second from the Fleet. And since the Fleet would be operating without any kind of radar emissions to home in on, the returning corvettes might well have a lot of difficulty finding their way back to the carrier. So the Fleet had to jump closer. How close would the launch point be? That really was the key question.

  The humans wanted the Alliance to assume that the improved Tyrell detection system could detect a carrier’s mass at twice the standard distance of 10 light-seconds. He was willing to bet that was an over-estimation, but under the circumstances, a prudent one. With the sensor drones that the Tyrell were known to use, that range could easily be extended to two and perhaps even three times for a total detection zone around the Tyrell fleet of 60 light-seconds or 18 million of the human kilometers. A corvette travelling at 65% of light speed could cover that entire distance in just over 90 seconds, but by the time the Tyrell reacted and began to fire, the corvette would be much closer, and estimating the new detection range would end up being another guess. Therefore the corvette had to approach the planet on a flyby trajectory at a much slower velocity. If the drone corvette travelled at only 5% of light speed, it would take almost 10 minutes to cover that distance, even longer if it took a dogleg course that would not give away the Fleet’s bearing. Once the drone corvette was destroyed and the new detection range estimated, his attack squadrons would commence the attack. Then his next decision would be to keep the carriers at the launch point, which would require the squadrons to jump further away before turning around and jumping back, or to jump the carriers to the other side of the target beyond detection range and have the squadrons jump directly there after their attack. The second option would take less time, but it carried the risk that the Tyrell might be able to determine a jump vector from tracking the corvettes as they lined up for their jump; the enemy might be able to send super-ships sniffing in that direction if they had any left that were still operational after the attack. N’kanu decided to keep his carriers at the launch point. Why make the plan more complicated than it needed to be? It wasn’t long before the fleet jumped to the 60 light-second range and launched the drone corvette, fol
lowed by all six squadrons that would wait for the attack order.

  Tyrell fleet Flagship

  Fleet Master Boroaq just happened to be on the Flag Bridge when the sensor technician gave a shout.

  “Ship detected! Size is small, possibly one of the enemy attack ships! Range is 2.4 light cyclets! Speed is…very slow, Fleet Master, just one twentieth of light!”

  “Show me the trajectory quickly,” snapped Boroaq. The main display formed a tactical image of the planet they were orbiting and the surrounding space for 89 light cyclets. Boroaq frowned as he evaluated the enemy ship’s apparent trajectory. It would miss the fleet and planet by half a light cyclet at its closest point. Why would the enemy send in only one of their attack ships like this and at such a slow speed?

  “We have a good targeting fix, Fleet Master!” shouted the Fleet Weapons Master who was clearly already beginning to feel his battle lust. “Shall I order our turrets to commence firing?”

  “NO!” Boroag shouted to make sure the Weapons Master heard what he was supposed to hear and not what he hoped to hear. “Calm yourself, W.M. This may well be a feint or perhaps some type of reconnaissance, although sending a crew to an almost certain death would be…” He left the sentence unfinished as an intriguing possibility entered his mind. Could it be? At that slow speed, his weapons turrets would be sure to hit it quickly. The enemy must know that. If they were sacrificing a crew, there must be a reason. If that ship was transmitting back to its mothership, they would know when it was destroyed. He let out a satisfied grunt to emphasize the sudden realization. Those clever aliens were trying to pin down how good the new detection system was by dangling a sacrificial animal in front of his fleet. And now that he was certain that was what they were trying to do, it occurred to him that the sacrificial ship might not have any crew aboard at all. Oh, these aliens were devious! A worthy foe indeed.

  “We will wait until the ship has reached the point where it would have been detected under the old system, then wait two, no…three more cyclets before firing on it. No sooner, Weapons Master! Are my orders clear?”

  “Your orders are clear and will be obeyed, Fleet Master,” said the now much calmer Weapons Master.

  “Good! Now while we’re waiting, show me where our sensor drones are within 20 light cyclets of the enemy ship.” The image shifted and after a few cyclets had passed, Boroaq turned to his W.M. and said, “I want those drones to accelerate to maximum speed along a trajectory that is parallel to the direction the enemy ship came from. Adjust our remaining drones to cover the resulting gap in sensor coverage. Send the Fleet to Alert Stations.” Boroaq was amused by the surprised expression of his W.M. Alert Stations was the name given for a simulated battle drill. It was never used when a real enemy was in sight because the crews, knowing that it was just a drill, would not feel the surge of battle lust. That was exactly what Boroaq wanted right now, crews at their battle stations, but not whipping themselves up into a battle frenzy. He wondered which would happen first, the destruction of the sacrificial ship or the detection of its mothership.

  After almost 100 cyclets, the display sounded the ‘change of status’ alarm and zoomed in to the detection radius of one of the searching drones. A green icon appeared at extreme detection range, and that had to mean that the detected ship was very large. He now knew where one, NO…SIX enemy motherships were! He felt his own battle lust start to rise, and he welcomed it!

  “We have detected them! NOW WE GO TO BATTLE STATIONS!”

  Alliance Fleet Flagship:

  N’kanu was puzzled and felt a nagging suspicion that his plan was failing. The drone corvette was almost to the point where the Tyrell would detect it using their old system, and it was still undamaged. Were the Tyrell blind? Were their detection crews not paying attention to their equipment? Had they detected it and were holding back their fire? If so, why would they hesitate? Just as the answer dawned on him, the main display flashed and he heard the sound that indicated a major status change. One of his carriers’ icon was flashing red!

  “Corvette Blue Three reports that the Metrone carrier appears to have been hit by an enemy KE shell!” The Tactical Officer’s voice was loud but calm.

  N’kanu shook his head. How could that possibly be? “

  Sorgil carrier also hit!” said the T.O.

  They’ve got our position pinpointed! I have to do something quickly! “Open channel to the Fleet! FC to all carriers!. You are ordered to scatter and jump away immediately! We’ll rendezvous at the emergency rally point! FC to all squadrons! Jump immediately to attack range, and attack enemy fleet! Rendezvous at the emergency rally point after!”

  No sooner had he finished giving those orders than the deck under his feet shifted suddenly, and he fell down. He knew immediately that his carrier had been hit. Her commanding officer had the scatter order and would obey it if that was still possible. When precious seconds passed and no jump occurred, he suspected that his carrier was unable to jump away. When he was standing again, he checked the display and was surprised to see it that it was still showing the current tactical situation. Two carriers had jumped away. Four, including his own, were still near the launch point, and three of the four were trying to evade by accelerating to maximum speed. He checked the sidebar for his carrier’s status. Jump drive was damaged, inertia drive still operational. His stomach lurched just enough to push a small amount of acidic bile into his mouth: the bitter taste of defeat indeed. His carrier was doomed unless his attack squadrons could destroy or cripple all five enemy super-ships. He looked down at one of the indicators on his Command Station console and groaned. The self-destruct system was also non-operational. A shiver of fear went down his spine at the thought that his carrier might be captured. He would have to make sure that critical data was wiped from the computers before that happened. Maybe he and the other flag officers of the Alliance had been too quick to judge the humans’ results. These Tyrell were clearly formidable foes!

  Tyrell Fleet flagship, three days later:

  Boroaq hissed at the sudden surge of pain from his wounds. He was lucky to be alive, but his left arm was now useless. It would have to be amputated soon, and that meant that his military career was over. But at least he ended it with a major victory! Yes, two enemy motherships had gotten away, and three more destroyed themselves to prevent capture, but one had not, and it had been captured. Too bad all the crew had killed themselves rather than be captured alive, and so far the alien computers had not revealed their secrets, but his technical staff were still working on that. He grinned as he remembered the course of the battle. That single uncrewed ship had escaped destruction, and it had eventually been captured too. When the attack by other small ships occurred, they had clearly expected his Fleet to still be orbiting this planet, but when the six motherships had been detected, he had ordered his Fleet to boost out of orbit in pursuit while continuing to fire on them. The attacking smaller ships had arrived in close proximity to the planet and found no Ships-of-Battle within firing range. Instead, they were able to see his five ships moving towards their carriers at 60% of light speed and had jumped after his ships to within attack range. But the six groups of smaller ships were badly co-ordinated, and therefore hadn’t arrived at the same time. And when they did jump into attack range behind his Fleet, they didn’t fire immediately. Perhaps they needed time to aim their ships’ spinal weapon, but that delay gave his ships time to shift their KE fire to the threat to the Fleet’s rear, and most of the smaller ships were destroyed before they could fire. The enemy’s losses had been great. A few of the smaller ships had jumped away rather than be destroyed, but two of his ships had suffered crippling damage, and the remaining three had suffered some damage too. All in all, it had been a glorious and extremely satisfying battle in spite of his wounds. High Command had been pleased when they heard the results. Why they were sending that disgraced former Fleet Master Torq out here to inspect the captured carrier, he had no idea, but he had been ordered to give this Torq
his co-operation and respect. The pain got worse, and Boroaq hissed again. Maybe he should let the Medical Master have his way and cut the damned thing off now. He bellowed for the Medical Master’s presence.

  Eight days later:

  Torq looked through his spacesuit’s visor at the interior of the captured mothership one more time before re-entering his shuttle for the trip back to the Fleet flagship. He would have a long report to write and send back to High Command, but he already knew what one of his recommendations would be. The Empire needed ships like this to carry the new small craft from system to system. Garrisoning every useful star system with hundreds of the craft would take far too long. If the Empire could deploy a fleet of motherships, they could be moved to wherever they were needed quickly. With this captured mothership and the captured attack craft in hand, he was certain that he could convince High Command to authorize the building of Tyrell motherships. The only bad news was that it was now clear that the alien computers had been scrubbed clean of any data that might be potentially useful to his people before the ship was captured. So the Tyrell still didn’t know who these aliens were or where they came from, but that knowledge would be gained eventually. He was sure of that, and he was also sure that he would be given a command again, perhaps of one or more of the new carriers. The Wheel of Life was once again turning in his favor.