Empire Rising Box Set

by D. J. Holmes

  James realized he too now had a decision to make. Did he simply follow orders or did he do what his sense of duty dictated. He was about to take his crew to almost certain death against orders. Yet he knew it was the right choice.

  “Keep us steady Lieutenant Romanov,” James said calmly. “This is what we came here to do. Let’s be about it.”

  “Yes sir,” Romanov said. “We’ll give them hell.” He was grinning as he shouted.

  James couldn’t help but get caught up in his enthusiasm, “that we will Lieutenant.”

  Over the next few minutes Jensen tried repeatedly to raise either James or Lightfoot on a COM channel. Both refused to acknowledge her call. Eventually she gave up; the next communication from Valkyrie was a set of targeting data. Charging straight after the fleeing Chinese ships meant that neither group could fire their broadside missile tubes. Jensen wanted to target one of the heavy cruisers with all their bow missile tubes. Valkyrie had four while Raptor and Ghost had one each. The battleship would shrug off salvos of six missiles all day but the heavy cruiser Jensen had targeted had already taken a couple of hits. It was possible they could sneak a missile or two in through its defenses.

  Even though it would obviously indicate that there was nothing wrong with his communication array, James acknowledged the orders. When the timer to fire counted down to zero, six missiles shot off from the three British ships towards one of the heavy cruisers. In return, the Chinese ships fired ten missiles back from their stern tubes. Both sets of ships managed to destroy the missiles before they did any harm. Neither was deterred though, for as soon as they were ready more missiles came pouring out of the British and Chinese ships.

  After the second round of missile salvos was destroyed, the navigation officer on board Raptor called out, “Captain, Valkyrie is increasing her speed, she must be giving her engines everything she has got.”

  “Contact Chief O’Neil, tell him we need to match speeds with the flagship. Increase our acceleration as soon as you can,” James ordered.

  As James watched, the flagship slowly edged ahead of the two destroyers. Lightfoot had obviously anticipated Jensen’s idea for Ghost was soon catching her. Impatiently, James had to wait another thirty seconds before Raptor’s acceleration increased enough to match the other two ships. When she slotted back into formation both destroyers received a text message from the flagship.

  “You are both too stubborn for your own good.”

  Alongside that message James had also received a message from the Chief Engineer. Valkyrie was the newest battlecruiser to have left the Vulcan shipyards. Her acceleration was impressive indeed. Chief O’Neil estimated that the destroyer’s engines wouldn’t last more than twenty minutes at the current rate. Raptor simply couldn’t keep up with the flagship for long. Quickly James sent a message back informing the chief that they would get into plasma cannon range in thirty minutes, the engines could blow up after that for all he cared but they had to last that long.

  Five minutes later, as the fourth salvo crashed into the Chinese ships, a cheer went up on the bridge of Raptor. A single missile had punched through their defenses and scored a proximity hit on the Chinese heavy cruiser. Its speed didn’t falter but when the Chinese fired their next salvo it had clearly lost one of its stern missile tubes, for only nine missiles streaked towards the pursuing British ships.

  Ten more minutes passed as the two groups of ships continued to exchange missile salvos. Valkyrie brushed off another proximity hit and they managed to get another hit on the heavy cruiser. It visibly wobbled as James watched and then began to lose speed.

  Just then the data on the holo screen began to change. “Captain, the Chinese ships are slowing. They’re turning sir!” Romanov shouted.

  Immediately, James knew what Admiral Zheng planned. He had accepted they couldn’t drive off the pursuing Valkyrie before she got into plasma cannon range. He couldn’t risk that so he was slowing and turning to present his broadside missiles tubes towards Valkyrie. Given the current speed of Valkyrie, the Chinese would be able to get off one and maybe even two broadsides before the range closed enough to allow the plasma cannons to join the fight. To confirm his suspicions, seventy four missiles erupted from the Chinese ships and began to accelerate towards Valkyrie.

  A notification told him Lightfoot had opened a COM channel. “It looks like we’re going to have to earn our pay today,” he began. “Valkyrie needs to get through this storm or else we have wasted ourselves. I’m taking Ghost as close as I can to the flagship. She’s a good ship I’m sure she can handle a hit or two.”

  James knew his talk was all bravado. Even a proximity hit from the battleship’s large missiles would likely end either Ghost or Raptor.

  Without a hint that he didn’t believe what he was saying Lightfoot continued, “You’ve studied the trick Villeneuve used at the second battle of New France? I’ve suggested to Jensen we do the same; it might buy us a little time. I’ll send you the targeting data now.”

  “Yes,” James agreed, “I’ll bring Raptor in to join you. If we survive this, it’s my turn to buy the drinks. Raptor over.”

  As Valkyrie, Ghost and Raptor continued to accelerate towards the Chinese ships, the closing speed of the incoming missiles didn’t give them long to prepare. When the missiles were only four minutes out, the British ships fired their bow missile tubes for the last time. The six missiles accelerated for only a minute before they exploded just in front of the approaching Chinese missiles. Of the seventy four, five were destroyed in the blast, six more had their targeting sensors fried and lost lock on the British ships. Sixty three raced on into a hail of explosions as the flak cannons threw up a wall of shrapnel to fend them off. As all the missiles were targeted at Valkyrie, they came in as a tight cluster allowing the flak rounds to tear through them, taking out over thirty. The closer in point defenses filled space with plasma bolts and then AM missiles. Still six got through. At that moment Ghost and Raptor turned their ECM up to full. As all three British ships were in such close proximity, two missiles were momentarily confused. It was long enough for them to fly past the ships and explode. The remaining four didn’t lose their targeting lock and came crashing in. Ghost took a direct hit that was meant for Valkyrie. The missile penetrated her valstronium armor and detonated in Ghost’s stern, knocking out her engines and sending her into a spin, luckily it took her away from Valkyrie. It must have been a missile from one of the heavy cruisers, for a battleship missile would have obliterated the whole ship.

  A single proximity hit wracked Raptor; thankfully it was far enough away that the blast didn’t get though her armor. Most of her starboard point defense weapons were burnt off the hull and alarms began to squeal from multiple terminals on the bridge, indicating the concussive force of the explosions had still caused some severe internal damage.

  Valkyrie took a direct hit on her port side amidships. Six missile tubes were knocked out and large sections of the ship began to vent atmosphere. The last Chinese missile also got proximity hits on the battlecruiser but her thick valstronium armor managed to hold, preventing any serious damage.

  As James was surveying the damage to his ship, he missed Jensen’s next move. It was Romanov who was the first to spot it, “Captain, Valkyrie is accelerating again, she can’t possibly hold that acceleration for long, she’ll blow her engines.”

  Looking at the holo display, James saw Romanov was right. Valkyrie was pulling away from Raptor again. As the projected course updated he saw that Jensen would get into plasma range before another missile salvo from the Chinese could reach her. They would never have survived another one. Jensen had to take the risk of either overloading her engines or causing a reactor meltdown.

  “What shall we do sir?” Romanov called, “we can’t match her speed now.”

  Before James could answer, he received a communication from the Rear Admiral. “Turn back immediately, protect Ghost, that’s an order Somerville. She’s a sitting duck without any defenses.
Get her crew off before something else happens to her. You can’t help me now; your plasma cannons won’t be able to penetrate the battleship’s armor at the range mine can. My crew has sent their last messages for home across to you. Tell your uncle I hope I made him proud. Now go, don’t let our sacrifice be in vain!” she shouted before switching off the COM channel.

  James was momentarily frozen. He had already consigned himself to dying. Their mad dash after the battleship hadn’t seemed like it would end any other way. Now he had been offered a lifeline. But did he want to take it? Dying would be so much easier than going on, what had he to live for? But if he let his ship be destroyed, it would be a mockery to Jensen’s sacrifice. Valkyrie was dying for a purpose. How could he let his ship die for nothing? Yet he still needed something to live for. For a few desperate seconds he hesitated.

  As his conflicting thoughts tugged at him, finally one side won out. Jensen had shown him what real valor, what a real sense of duty looked like. That was what he had to live for, to honor her sacrifice by living for what she exemplified, what he wanted to have in himself.

  As he ordered Raptor to turn and decelerate to come alongside Ghost James couldn’t help smiling. His uncle had obviously gotten to Jensen too. He was sure it wasn’t through old style books but whatever method he had used, it had been just as effective. After the first book he had read almost two years ago now, he had laughed at the idealized view of a naval officer the book had presented. By the end of the books, he had hoped it could be true. Now he knew, he had seen it in Jensen. He only hoped he could live up to her example one day too.

  After he made sure the navigation officer had put Raptor on the right course towards Ghost and Gupta had the damage under control, James set himself to watch Jensen’s last moments. He willed himself to take in every last detail; this was something he didn’t want to forget.

  In vain the Chinese ships fired another volley of missiles. For a moment James was worried that some had been targeted at the two damaged destroyers but as Raptor’s computers projected their trajectories it was clear they were all heading for Valkyrie.

  Twenty seconds before the battlecruiser got into plasma cannon range escape pods began streaking away from the ship. Somehow James didn’t think Jensen was aboard them. She had likely ordered everyone who wasn’t necessary for the operation of the plasma cannons to abandon ship. Once they were clear Valkyrie opened fire. She carried four twin turrets of heavy plasma cannons. Four bolts streaked out towards the Chinese battleship. They all struck its stern, driving through the valstronium armor and ripping apart its engines and power transfer couplings. Each heavy cruiser also had two bolts targeted at it. One, already damaged, exploded as one of the plasma bolts hit something vital. The other cruiser immediately began to lose acceleration, indicating that the bolts aimed at its engines had found their mark.

  For a few moments James feared the battleship would still get away as it seemed to continue on its course unfazed by the hits. Then one and then another secondary explosion tore through the stern of the ship and immediately its acceleration dropped to zero. It wasn’t going anywhere soon.

  Looking at the Chinese ships James had missed Valkyrie’s fate but with a tap of his fingers he replayed the visuals. The Chinese ships had fired their plasma cannons less than a second after Valkyrie’s. The bolts had passed each other in space before more than twenty collided with Valkyrie. On the visual she seemed to simply fall apart. At least five of the bolts tore right through the ship and appeared out the other side. The others caused so much damage that Valkyrie lost all structural integrity. The acceleration from her engines immediately caused her to break apart. The engines themselves actually accelerated through the ship until they collided with the reactor compartment. The resulting destruction from four fission reactors exploding blinded Raptor’s sensors. When the feed came back on there was nothing of Valkyrie to be seen.

  As he stopped the playback of the recording, James bowed his head. You did it, he thought to himself. Now we just have to make sure your sacrifice was worth it.

  “Sir,” the sensor officer called. “I’m picking up a transmission from Admiral Cunningham’s flagship. He’s calling for the immediate surrender of all Chinese ships.”

  Quickly, James looked at the wider sensor feed from the rest of the system. Admiral Cunningham’s flagship had just burst out of the middle of the Chinese fleet and was heading towards the now stricken Chinese battleship. The computer estimated that they would reach it in less than twenty minutes. Relieved that he wouldn’t have to deal with the damaged battleship, James replayed the sensor feed to see how the rest of the battle had unfolded.

  Initially Cunningham had stood his fleet off from the approaching Chinese ships. They had then hammered the Chinese with four more missile salvos heavily damaging the battleship and remaining battlecruisers. With the risk from entering plasma cannon range reduced, he had left his smaller ships to continue hammering the Chinese with missiles, while he had taken the British battlecruisers and heavy cruisers into the teeth of the Chinese fleet. Even before the first plasma bolts had been fired a number of the more damaged Chinese ships had surrendered, including the battleship. Those that hadn’t surrendered had been quickly crippled or destroyed as plasma bolts had rained down on them.

  Returning to watch the Admiral’s fleet in real time, it was clear that the British ships hadn’t escaped unscathed. Two of the battlecruisers were already dropping behind, indicating they had suffered serious damage and one of the heavy cruisers that had accompanied the Admiral into the Chinese fleet was nowhere to be seen.

  “Captain,” the COM officer called, “the two Chinese heavy cruisers have surrendered, there is still no word from the battleship though.”

  James brought up the sensor feed on the battleship. Admiral Cunningham would be in missile range soon. It would have to surrender or face destruction. Part of the data the holo display was showing him seemed confusing. “Sensors, why does there seem to be a power fluctuation coming from that battleship?” James asked.

  “Hold on sir,” came the reply, “I’ve got the computer working on it now.” James watched the display as the fluctuations continued to osculate getting stronger and stronger. “Sir,” the Sub Lieutenant began again, this time with a lot more concern in his voice. “The computer has identified the readings as the early stage of an intentional fission reactor overload. Someone over there is trying to cause a meltdown.”

  Even as the Lieutenant spoke, James saw escape pods begin to launch from the battleship. The computer estimated that at least one of the battleship’s fission reactors would reach a critical energy flow rate in twenty seconds. James hoped that whoever had ordered the evacuation had given their people enough of a warning. As the twenty seconds elapsed it became clear they hadn’t. Even as the blinding light from a nuclear explosion burst forth from within the battleship itself, escape pods were still launching from the ship.

  Admiral Zheng had known defeat would mean facing charges of war crimes. Individually his attacks on the Damang convoy, the Excalibur colony or the colony ship at New Stockholm would get him life imprisonment. Knowing Chinese culture, James knew the shame he would have brought on his country and family would have been even worse than the actual jail sentence. To avoid all that, James had no doubt the Admiral hadn’t even tried to leave the battleship.

  “Captain, we’re picking up a signal from one of the escape pods from the battleship. It’s from the ship’s Third Lieutenant. He says he’s the senior surviving officer from the battleship and would like to formally offer the surrender of his crew,” Lieutenant Romanov said.

  “Very good Lieutenant,” James replied.

  “May I ask sir,” the Lieutenant continued, “what does this mean?”

  “It means,” James said to the bridge at large, “it’s over.”

  Epilogue - HMS Endeavor

  14th January 2466 AD, Westminster Abby, England

  Princess Christine Anne Elizabeth Windsor
stood in a side room adjacent to the entrance to Westminster Abby, making some final adjustments to her dress. The walk from Buckingham Palace to the carriage and then the carriage ride through London had left her attire a little out of place. On this day that would not do, everything had to be perfect. The plans for what was about to happen had been settled months ago but the peace negations had strung out longer than had been expected.

  Five months ago, news had reached Earth of what the news broadcasters were calling the Battle of the Void. When she had heard, her first thought had been to check the status of a small destroyer called Raptor, only then had she concerned herself with how the rest of the British fleet had fared. With the astounding victory, the British had secured the Void and the Chinese fleet had been decimated. Not one of the warships China had sent into the Void had made it back to Chinese space. Christine knew her father and the Prime Minister had been trying to thrash out as fair a deal for her husband to be as possible. In the end, they had settled on the original boundaries for the Void that had been laid out by the UN Interplanetary Committee. The British would keep Excalibur and Camelot, the Swedish would be able to try a second time at establishing a colony on New Stockholm and the Chinese would keep V17, the system they called Xi Wang.