by SF Edwards
“Contact Admiral Hackeron. Inform him that we’re diverting the Harris Battle Group to hit and take that academy,” Admiral Jackson ordered his aide. “Once it is secure they will fall back to there.”
“No, sir!” Captain Delgado declared and looked at the board. Sure enough, the Harris Battle Group’s course would take it within one jump of the academy.
“What was that, captain?”
He had to think quickly and brought up the last data feed from the Barker Battle Group. “Sir, Admiral Hackeron will need the Harris Battle Group to maintain cover when they reach this system.” A hologram of an almost barren star system appeared. The dust ring surrounding the star contained numerous protoplanets and mining outposts. “The battle at Colcine has left his group severely depleted and without support. They will not be able to continue much longer, especially if they are unable to lose their pursuers here.”
The admiral scratched his chin and stared at the wall. Please see that I’m right. It would be best to have the Barker Battle Group run to ground, to wait out reinforcements before continuing their harassment raids.
“Besides, sir, Captain Coker’s overuse of Razer Cannons would be a detriment here. He would likely destroy the singularity warheads. From what we know if he were to be in or near the asteroid shell and detonate one or more of those weapons…”
“It could cost us the Harris and her battle group.”
“Exactly.”
“How long to assemble a task force?” the admiral turned and asked his aide.
Before the aide could reply Captain Delgado stood up. This is what I’ve been waiting for. “We can have a task force ready to launch within the week.”
“What are you going on about? There are no Barker Class Carriers in this sector ready to deploy.”
“We don’t need a Barker, sir. We have Vampire Group,” Captain Delgado said as he brought up a hologram of the three-ship strike group. “A recent engagement has left them without one of their destroyers, their light cruisers and all their corvettes. However, their repairs have recently been completed and they are eager for a good strike mission.”
He highlighted the massive Atlant Class Battle Cruiser, the GFS Nosferat, with its three saucer-shaped hulls, as they floated alongside Alpha Station. Its considerable array of engines lay dark as technicians floated about them. Beside the Atlant, a group of tugs maneuvered a smaller ship into position.
The smaller ship, the GFS Bathory, looked like it was once a part of the larger Atlant. The saucer hull and bank of engines were common to the much larger ship. However, the long proboscis-style Razer Cannon mounted to the bow of the ship clearly differentiated the Brandenburg Class Destroyer from its larger brother.
Opposite the destroyer a Mitchell Class Light Carrier, the GFS Dracula, floated in space. Fighters from its onboard squadrons appeared, launching and landing on its full-length fly-through flight-deck. Next to the massive Atlant class ship, the Mitchell was tiny, yet it still carried more fighters and support craft than the two larger ships combined.
“I believe that despite their numbers, that this group, if given a full fighter compliment, could easily take the academy and all of the weapons in the stockpile,” the captain declared.
“Are you sure that there are no other facilities in system?” Admiral Jackson asked.
“The traffic patterns do not indicate so.”
Captain Delgado watched the admiral consider the option. Some doubt remained on his face. Vampire Group was a decorated unit but their numbers were not impressive at the moment.
“I don’t see any bombers,” the admiral observed, looking at the analysis of the academy’s craft complement.
“We don’t believe there are any, sir. The only craft we saw were fighters and attack craft. The bomber we discovered was an E-model Feral and was a few decades old at least.”
The admiral turned his eyes to the space dock. “If there’s a cruiser in there, then it needs to be the task force’s first target. The strike group should move the Bathory in first and hit the dock to keep the enemy from launching any ships.”
“From what was visible to the probe, the space dock was only open on one end. Therefore, the cruisers would have to back out assuming they’re kept on standby. Training cruisers take a few days to bring up to operational status if they’re anything like ours. Even if we assume that they are using a standard Confederation Atorg Class Cruiser its armament couldn’t stand against Vampire Group.”
Captain Delgado’s heart leapt when the admiral’s aide handed him a datapad detailing the readiness of the Vampire Group. Then the admiral’s face suddenly soured. “The captain of the Nosferat was killed in their last battle.”
“That’s right, sir,” Captain Delgado replied, biding his time.
“The commander is due for a promotion inside of a year.”
Captain Delgado stepped around the hologram table to face the admiral without interference and puffed out his chest. “I realize that, sir. However, I would consider it the honor of my career to once again command a ship into battle,” Delgado announced puffing out this chest.
The captain stood proudly before the Admiral and felt his superior look him over. Though he had earned his sole command out of circumstances beyond his control it had won him his position in the Intelligence Corps. Only the lack of a combat command held him back from gaining an admiral’s star someday. The admiral favors the new commander he’s just assigned to Intelligence Command to me. If the admiral gives me this chance for promotion, it will get me away from Alpha Station for good.
Admiral Jackson made a show out of thinking the idea over. “Give me your battle plan, show me some simulations, and if I like what I see, then Vampire Group is yours.”
Captain Delgado smiled, and heard his aide let out a tiny yelp before he pulled out his datapad to begin with their current simulations.
“And captain, if this goes well, then you’ll have a star on that shoulder once you get back,” the admiral promised.
Captain Delgado looked back at his aide eagerly. Keep your star. You just handed me the command of a battle cruiser. The star will take me home, away from the front. But the captaincy of a battle group, that will garner me glory. I will finally gain the respect of those around me.
Captain Delgado turned back to Admiral Jackson. “I accept, admiral. You’ll have full battleplans and simulations on your desk by 0800 tomorrow morning. I guarantee I will take that system, destroy that academy and capture those singularity weapons.”
The admiral smiled. Finding those weapons would be a major coup and was sure to gain Delgado an admiral’s star and, possibly, even another for Admiral Jackson as well. “See that you do, captain. I look forward to your simulations.”
UCSB DATE: 1000.379
Star System: Classified, UCSBA-13, Main Hangar
Blazer stood proudly on the briefing pad beside his fighter. All traces of the nervous stomach he’d woken up with gone as he waited. This is it! Two semesters of training had all led up to this moment, their Splicer 1000 graduation mission. His squadron had gone as far as they could in the old trainers. They’d learned formation flying through the atmosphere to advanced combat tactics against dissimilar foes.
Blazer snuck a look over at his fighter as he waited. The RCOS antenna was gone as it was on everyone else’s fighters. This was the final milestone. They had to prove that they could fly without the crutch of the RCOS system.
Their cadet instructor pilots gathered to see them off before their own final flight exams. Blazer nodded to Temblin who returned the gesture. The Temblors were graduating next cycle and would move onto the fleet. It left Blazer with a pang of regret. Temblin’s been there for every flight training mission. Without him, I surely would have washed out after my accident.
Marching off the liftpad, Joda approached the two squadrons. Blazer felt the Lodran’s eyes look them over and he caught the hint of a smile. “I see that your cadet instructors are here to see you off. I want to let
you know how proud I am of all the work you have done. This is your final test. As you were briefed last cycle, you will proceed to launch and then head back to the proving grounds to show that you are capable of handling your craft on your own.”
Blazer and the other members of his squad looked about at one another. They were ready for this and excited to go out and prove it not only to themselves but to everyone else too.
“Now get to your fighters and prepare for launch,” Joda ordered.
The Monstero Nach broke formation and headed to their respective craft. Blazer flashed a thumbs up to his squadmates as they ran to perform their checklists. Confidence exuded from all of them. Nothing can go wrong this cycle!
Hyperspace, GFS-Nosferat, Battle Bridge
"Status?" Captain Delgado called from his command chair inside the cramped confines of the battle bridge.
"ETA is ten minutes Terra Standard," the Thal helmsman responded.
"Good. Communications, inform Flight Control and the Dracula to have their flight-deck prepared for launch as soon as we drop out of hyperspace," the captain ordered.
"Aye, aye, sir," the helmsman and communications officers replied in unison before turning back to their stations.
Captain Delgado sat back and watched the Thal with an analytical eye. This was the first Thal he'd ever served with. He thought back to the numerous history classes that he’d taken since childhood and the history behind this cousin race. For centuries after humans had first discovered their remains, Terrans had believed that the Neanderthals were a species that had simply died out. Evolution or perhaps interbreeding had pushed them aside in favor of the Cro-Magnon and Homo-Sapiens. The truth was far less mundane. Beings from the Sirius System had kidnapped their dwindling numbers and forced them into slavery.
After several millennia as the Sirian’s slaves, the Thal gained their freedom. They forced their former masters to become their slaves and spent the years following their liberation assuming control of that empire. Afterwards, the species had set out to return to their homeworld, taking with them the technology that would lead to the foundation of the Galactic Federation. Despite some early setbacks and racial tensions, they were key members of the Galactic Federation and now made up the bulk of its Forward Fleet.
Captain Delgado considered his first officer beside him as he relayed orders to the engineering deck. The man doesn’t care for me. He blames me for the losses the group incurred in their last strike. I have already apologized and am sorry for that. In the end it was the incomplete data dump that did them in.
Taking a moment, the captain looked over at one of the recently replaced wall panels. Scorch marks still marred the panel above it as evidence of the overload caused when a Drashig Cruiser had pierced their shields with its beam cannons, destroying the main bridge. The former captain of the ship had been there at the time and he, along with a highly-decorated bridge crew, had died in an instant.
Captain Delgado fingered the Intelligence Services pin on his collar. I’ll either replace this after the strike or wear it beside my admiral’s star. He had promised his first officer a promotion to captain of the Nosferat if the raid went well and Delgado earned his star. I can wait for that though. I want command of the reformed Vampire group for a good long while before I hand it over to the commander.
"Captain!" the first officer called from his seat. "Captain, are you all right?"
"Hmm, yes, just thinking about our conquest," he mused and imagined the smoldering remains of the academy projected on the screen ahead of him.
"Yes. The destruction of a UCSB academy will look great on all of our records and to think it is only defended by a handful of Splicer 1000 squadrons and two Splicer 5000 squadrons,” the man commented, feigning respect for his superior.
“True. With the Nosferat's four fighter squadrons and the Dracula's six fighter and bomber squadrons it will be a slaughter. It's too bad that The Lady Blood doesn't carry any fighters. Her guns should perform nicely though.”
“The Lady Blood, sir?” the commander looked back at him, confusion marring his face for a moment. “Oh, yes. The Bathory. I don’t know anyone who calls her the Lady Blood.”
Was that a slight against me or not? Best to ignore it for now.
“I still think we should have kept our dropships, sir,” the commander commented, breaking the silence. “The phantom squadrons will be of more use against the fighters but I feel more comfortable with marines on board. They could come in handy when we take the base.”
“Ah, but you forget that this will be a surgical strike. We won’t need the marines. They would just be extra cargo. I just wish we could have gotten Valkyrie bombers for the Dracula. Admiral Jackson, however, insisted that the Mosquitoes would be enough. Besides, our job is to take and hold the system so that we can collect the singularity weapons at our leisure once Harris’ battle group arrives after it replenishes the Barker.”
“I agree, sir. With the heavy bombers we wouldn’t have anything left to shoot,” the commander replied eliciting a happy smile and nod from the captain.
"Sir, we have reached the jump point into the system and are preparing to drop out of hyperspace…” The helmsman called. “…in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. We are reverting to normal space now and igniting sub-light engines.”
Captain Delgado watched the infinite darkness of hyperspace around them fall away. They hung in open space. He looked over at the navigation display. They were a good hour and ten minutes away from their objective even using the dark matter drive.
“What happened? We were supposed to come out right on top of the asteroid base!” Delgado yelled out frustrated that his beloved intelligence data had been proved wrong again.
“The probe must have misrepresented the position and orbital velocities of the jump point and target, sir. I’m afraid that the navigational data may have been corrupted as well,” the navigator called back as she formulated a map of the system and plotted their course.
Captain Delgado felt anger rise when he heard a few techs on the bridge scoffing about bad intelligence once again.
“Fine! Lay in a dark matter drive course and once we arrive, launch a pair of Tiger Cats to patrol the asteroid shell and feed us targeting data," Captain Delgado replied, ignoring their comments.
The commander began to say something in protest but stopped short when Delgado held up a hand.
“We need fresh data. The Tiger Cats will get us that.”
UCSBA-13, Command Center
“Status?” Admiral Sares cried. He stared at the scanner display with an intensity he hadn’t felt in annura as the enemy contacts raced in on their slipstream drives towards the asteroid shell.
"The strike group dropped out of hyperspace twenty-five pulses ago,” Officer Ichoji called from her station. “We have successfully recalled all craft back into the hangar and are closing the outer portcullis.
“We read the enemy forces as an Atlant Class Battle Cruiser, a Brandenburg Class Destroyer, and a Mitchell Class Carrier. All markings ID them as belonging to The Vampire Group. We have the Monstero Nach and Roylein Squadrons on standby on the flight-deck. The strike group should be within striking distance in one and a quarter hects,” she reported.
“Good! Lock down all nonessential systems and dump all the waste heat into the thermal traps. Make us look like an asteroid!" Admiral Sares cursed his luck. I knew this attack was coming but High Command scoffed at the idea. Those CAD-1 probes have been showing up all over the place and Intelligence’s answer was just that they must have been wrong about the original number produced. At least the Mapper’s Guild listened and has dispatched a buoy ship to replace and recode their jump buoys. But they won’t arrive for another decle at least and now it’s too late.
"Sir, should we take the two training flights off alert?" Ichoji asked.
Admiral Sares studied the screen beside him. “No. Pull Roylein. From what I’ve seen in Pio-Tolis’ reports they aren�
�t ready to go up against ships like that yet. Temblor squadron has their final this cycle and should be on the deck already. Order their Splicer 3000s armed up and ready to fly. Then get Blue Brick squadron spun up with their 5000s armed to provide support.”
“But, sir, Blue Brick just entered their sleep shift…”
“Then pump them full of stims! I want our best Fire Hawk unit ready to engage if necessary. Primary targets for the Temblors are the cruiser and carrier. The Monstero Nach are to provide cover and engage the fighters. Make sure every one of those craft are carrying live ordnance!” Admiral Sares barked. I never expected to have to order a force into battle again after I retired from the fleet.
“Sir, what about the destroyer? That Razer Cannon could tear us apart in a single blast.” Ichoji asked. Her voice showed concern that the small fighter force wouldn’t be able to do the job.
“I have something special planned for the destroyer, Misa,” the admiral replied for the first time calling her by her name as he activated a console off to his side. “Now get to it!”
UCSBA-13, Hangar Bay
Blazer was already in the cockpit of his fighter running through his checklists when the alert sounded. His stomach collapsed when he heard it; a Galactic Federation strike force had entered the system and was bearing down on them. He looked around at the others. Do we stay in our cockpits, or get out? A commotion drew his attention and he watched the Temblors start to run for the lift platform up towards their fighters.
Joda’s face appeared on his console and he sat back. Before Joda began, he saw the technicians race about and pull the live munitions carts out of the weapons bunker. “Monstero Nach, our orders have just come in from command. We are to wait until the enemy arrives at the asteroid shell. It will give us an advantage as we know this area and they do not.”
