Stars & Empire: 10 Galactic Tales

by Jay Allan

  When Shiloh received word that the communications setup was ready, he said, “Shiloh to 339. This is what we’re going to do. I want 339 to micro-jump to a point 50,000 km in front of the Squadron’s path. Those enemy ships will detect your emergence and jump in to intercept. That’s when we’ll surprise them! While 339 is doing that, the Squadron will deploy a dozen recon drones in a shell around our current location with active scanning and will go to Battle Stations. As soon as the enemy ships jump into combat range, I’ll give the command to open fire. We’ll concentrate our fire. 344’s Weapons Officer will determine the targeting sequence. 339 does not have to acknowledge this message. Your arrival by micro-jump will be reply enough. Shiloh out.”

  As soon as he finished speaking, he heard Chenko order the ship to Battle Stations. With Chenko looking after the 344, Shiloh motioned for Senior Lieutenant Sykes, the Weapons Officer, to come over to his station.

  “Sir?”

  “I want you to concentrate the squadron’s fire, Lieutenant. Pick three targets and assign three frigates to each of the first two, with the remaining two frigates on the third. As soon as a target is clearly damaged and no longer maneuvering, switch to a new target. Understood?”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  As Sykes went back to his station, Shiloh checked the status of each frigate in the squadron. All were now at Battle Stations. The larger Tactical display showed that a wave of recon drones had been launched and were moving into their prearranged positions. Sensor data from their active scanning was being received but nothing to report so far. With a touch of the simulated button on his Command Station view screen, he opened up the audio channel for squadron communications and heard Falkenburg talking.

  “—if they don’t take the bait?”

  Before anyone else could reply, Shiloh said, “If those enemy ships don’t try to ambush a single frigate, I’ll be very surprised. But if it does happen, I’ll seriously consider going after them directly. Anyone else have any questions?”

  Cmdr. Adams replied, “Yes, Sir. Will 339 be joining us in the battle?”

  “That’s the plan, Felicia. As soon as 339 arrives, she’ll be ordered to join the squadron and tie her laser fire into our collective targeting strategy. In the meantime, I want our recon drones to be out in front. Let them take enemy fire. Don’t use your ship’s active scanners unless you’re no longer getting sufficient targeting data from the drones to get hits. If the 344 is knocked out of action, then Commander Sanchez will assume temporary command of the squadron. Rico, if you see my ship unable to maneuver and I’m out of communications, then take over, okay?”

  “Okay, Victor. I got that!”

  “Speaking of communications, Fletcher!”

  The Com Tech looked over.

  “Make sure a message drone has the latest data and launch it back to Bradley Base ASAP!”

  “Yes, Sir!”

  “Okay, everyone. Let’s stay on our toes! It’ll take another two and a half minutes for my message to reach the 339 and then another few minutes for them to change heading for a micro-jump here. If a ship shows up at about the right time, let’s not fire on it until we know for sure it’s NOT the 339. I’ll keep this channel open, and I want idle chatter kept to a minimum. Standby everyone.”

  Shiloh checked his ship’s status, and saw that it was at Battle Stations and that Chenko seemed to have everything well in hand. His own Bridge crew were speaking in low tones into their microphones in order to be able to hear voice commands from Shiloh or Chenko. The Tactical display was now showing the sensor data from the various recon drones actively scanning the space near the squadron. Shiloh found that he was breathing fast due to adrenaline rush and fought to slow it down. At least this time they won’t catch us by surprise. He asked himself what else he could do to improve his ship’s chances of making it through this battle successfully. If the Bridge took a direct laser hit, most of the senior officers would be killed. Perhaps the XO should be redeployed in Engineering just in case.

  “XO.”

  Chenko looked at him and he waived her over.

  “Yes, Sir?”

  “Just to be on the safe side in case the Bridge takes a hit, I want you to shift your conning of the ship to Engineering. Verlander can take the Helm Station and the Con temporarily until you get to Engineering.”

  While the full meaning of this sank in, Chenko said nothing for about two seconds, then nodded and turned away, giving orders to Lt. Verlander and the other Bridge crew about her intention to resume command of the ship after reaching Engineering. Shiloh checked the time display and saw that the 339 would be receiving his message right about now. The next four minutes seemed to take forever.

  At that point, the Tactical display pinged to notify Shiloh of a new contact. A single ship emerged from Jumpspace at the extreme edge of the recon drones’ scanning range. Its transponder automatically answered the electronic challenge with 339’s ID. Before the Weapons Officer could verbally announce the ship’s arrival, Shiloh spoke.

  “I see her, Lieutenant. Fletcher, add the 339’s to the open squadron channel.”

  “Yes, Sir. Go ahead, Sir.”

  “Commander Caru, I see that you got my message.”

  “Yes, Commander. But I’m not really sure if I want the enemy to take the bait or not.”

  They both chuckled. Shiloh was certain that he would have had some reservations as well if their positions had been reversed. At least, Cmdr. Caru hadn’t disputed Shiloh’s orders. Technically he wasn’t required to obey Shiloh’s orders because they were the same rank and the 339 wasn’t part of the Squadron. On the other hand, refusing to cooperate in any plan that had a good chance of a significant victory against the enemy would have been difficult to justify to Admiral Howard afterwards.

  “Commander, I’d like to add the 339 to the squadron fire control net, and therefore it would be ideal if you brought your ship closer. Okay with you?”

  “Yes, that’s fine. We’ll stand a much better chance of surviving the battle if we’re not dangling out here all by ourselves when they show up. I’ll have my Weapons Officer get in sync with yours.”

  “Excellent. Keep your channel open. Good hunting to you and your crew and to the Squadron. I expect we’ll see some action very soon.”

  “Thank you, Sir.”

  Shiloh could tell that Caru was continuing to talk to his own people because his voice sounded further away as he turned his head away from the microphone. Shiloh figured they had another three to five minutes before the enemy showed up, but they reacted much faster than that. Less than a minute after talking with 339’s Caru, the Tactical display pinged again, and this time six ships emerged from Jumpspace. They were almost immediately designated as hostile contacts. In a split second reaction, Shiloh touched the view screen command alerting the Squadron to commence fire. Sen. Lt. Sykes acknowledged instantly.

  “We have good targeting data! Opening fire! Two Hits by God! Weapons recharging and ready to fire in three … two … one … firing again!”

  Shiloh watched the display as one and then another of the enemy ships staggered from damaged propulsion effects and blew apart. Another enemy ship was clearly damaged, even as Caru’s 339’s ship symbol started blinking, indicating hull breeches and atmospheric venting. She was the obvious target since not enough time had passed to allow her to merge with the rest of the squadron. Shiloh could dimly hear Caru yelling to his crew about damage control, and then suddenly his voice was cut off. The symbol on the display broke apart and faded away. Shiloh realized he had been holding his breath and forced himself to breathe again. Looking back at the enemy formation, he realized that there were only two enemy ships left, and one was falling behind the other. Just then, power to the Bridge flickered for half a second, and on his Command Station half a dozen status indicators changed color from green to yellow. The ship had been hit, but apparently not too seriously. Before he could say anything, the lead enemy ship jumped away. Seconds later, the lagging shi
p blew apart.

  The battle was over.

  Shiloh checked the display’s duration of battle indicator and was shocked to see that the entire battle had taken less than 30 seconds! His squadron display showed that 299 and 301 were damaged.

  “Shiloh to Squadron. Report damage and casualties as soon as you have that data.”

  Shiloh noticed that Sen. Lt. Sykes was listening to his earpiece and looking at him at the same time. When it was obvious that Sykes was no longer listening to anything, Shiloh motioned him to come to his Command Station.

  “Is there something I should know, Lieutenant?”

  “Yes, Sir. I’ve just been informed that Commander Chenko was slightly wounded when her console in Engineering shorted out from a power overload. She’s on the way to Sickbay and I’ve been informed that I have the Con, Sir.”

  “Very well Lieutenant. Find out what damage and casualties we’ve sustained, and then get back to me.”

  As Sykes returned to his station, Shiloh said in a louder voice, “Lieutenant Sykes has the Con.”

  The other Bridge personnel nodded their acknowledgement. By the time Shiloh received all of the After-Action damage and casualty reports, he realized that the 144th had been very fortunate. Only two crew killed and half a dozen injured. Both 299 and 301 were still space worthy and, in fact, had all their weapons functional as well. Upon further reflection, Shiloh admitted to himself that the Squadron’s luck was due to Cmdr. Caru and 339’s misfortune to suffer the brunt of the enemy’s attack. After thirty minutes had passed without any further sign on enemy activity, Shiloh ordered the Squadron to stand down from Battle Stations. He left the Bridge to go to Sickbay and ran into Chenko in a corridor on the way there. The right side of her head was covered with the sprayed on bioplastic material that functioned as a bandage.

  “Glad to see you’re up and around, XO. What happened in Engineering?”

  Chenko nodded and took a breath. “As best we can tell, the ship took a laser hit. The hull armor mitigated most of the energy, but enough got through to cause a power surge in some of the equipment, which I happened to be standing next to, Sir. How did we make out?”

  “Only two other frigates took any significant damage, but they’re still operational. The enemy lost five ships outright and the sixth might be damaged to some degree too, but it managed to bug out. We lost the 339 though. By concentrating exclusively on her, the enemy gave us time to inflict serious damage on them, and that shifted the odds decisively in our favor.”

  “Then congratulations are in order, Sir. You’ve achieved a tactical victory. Can I ask how you came up with the idea of using 339 as bait to lure the enemy here, Sir?”

  Shiloh hesitated. After all this time, he dearly wanted to tell someone about his visions, but he had this nagging feeling that now was not the best time.

  “Well, let’s just say that I had a flash of inspiration.”

  Before Chenko could say anything else, he continued. “Are you up to finishing your shift on the Bridge?”

  “Yes, Sir. The medics told me the anesthetic would last that long. After that I’ll be too dopey from the painkillers I’ll have to take.”

  Shiloh nodded and smiled. “Fine. Let’s get back to the Bridge then. I’ll stay on as Squadron Leader until your shift ends, and then I’ll take the Con for the next four hours.”

  When they got back to the Bridge, Shiloh ordered two message drones sent to Tango Delta 8 and 9, informing the squadrons there of the battle and outcome. He then called the COs of frigates 299 and 301.

  “Felicia, Marcus. Your ships have taken the most serious damage and crew casualties. I’m going to detach both your ships from the Squadron, with orders to return to Bradley with my After-Action report. You can let Korolev know that the rest of us will stay in this system while we await further orders.”

  Both frigate COs acknowledged the order and soon were on their way back to Bradley Base. With plenty of fuel to spare, both ships accelerated to a very high rate of speed before entering Jumpspace and arrived back in the Base star system in less than twelve hours.

  -o0o-

  It was almost 36 hours later when a message drone arrived with orders for the 144th squadron to return to Bradley Base. By this time, Shiloh had ordered his ships to collect as much of the alien wreckage as they could. Some pieces were too large to fit into the cargo hold of a frigate, and those were tagged with locator beacons for future retrieval. None of the smaller pieces held bodies or parts of bodies, much to Shiloh’s relief. If they had, he would have seriously considered leaving them behind as well, rather than risk contamination with alien viruses or bacteria. His ships, however, did find some of the larger pieces of wreckage of the 339, and those DID contain bodies. They were recovered and brought back to the Base. It reminded Shiloh of all the dead Space Force crews lost in the original battle, and at Zebra 9, who were probably now floating in the depths of space, and who would be for all eternity.

  When the Squadron arrived back at the Base, Shiloh met with Sen. Cmdr. Korolev, the Base Commander. As Shiloh entered her office, she got up and walked around her desk to offer her hand, along with congratulations.

  “Welcome back, Commander. Congratulations on an outstanding victory!”

  Shiloh shook her hand and said, “Thank you, Sir. I just wish that Commander Caru and his people could be here to share in it.”

  Korolev nodded solemnly and said, “Yes indeed. Their bravery and sacrifice will be recognized and remembered. Too damn many of us have met the same fate! But at least we’re starting to give as good as we get!”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  Korolev gestured to the comfortable chair opposite her desk. “Have a seat, Commander. Let’s talk.”

  Shiloh sat down and waited.

  When Korolev had settled back in her own chair, she said, “In case you hadn’t heard, the 55th and 77th did not find any sign of enemy activity. I’ve ordered them back here too. Since the 144th was about due to rotate back to Sol when we got the picket alert, your squadron will be released from sentry duties here in a day or so. You may as well take back the alien debris with you. We don’t really have the appropriate facilities to analyze them here. I’m going to ask you to take back the bodies of our fallen comrades-in-arms as well.”

  “Of course, Sir.”

  “Good. Now I’ve read your After-Action report but I want to hear what happened from you, in your own words. Go ahead.”

  Shiloh took a deep breath.

  “Well, Sir, there’s really not much to tell that wasn’t in my report. We arrived at Tango Delta 6, and made contact with the 339. When her recon drones detected enemy activity, I got the idea of using their jump emergence technology against them, and ordered 339 to micro-jump to our position. She did so, and the enemy followed a few minutes later. We were ready for them, and by concentrating our fire on just three of their ships, we took them out before they could fire back. From that point on, our numerical superiority overwhelmed them. Unfortunately, the 339 was closer to them than we were, and so they concentrated their fire on her. I would have been happier if we’d gotten them all, but as you know, one got away.”

  Korolev frowned. “Yes, that was unfortunate, but I don’t see how you could have prevented it. It means they’ll know that moving in the direction of Tango Delta 6 will bring them closer to us, but that’s just something we’ll have to live with. They were bound to find out that information sooner or later. I’ll be VERY glad when the new combat frigates start showing up here in substantial numbers. Then maybe we can actually push them back into their territory for a change.”

  “Yes, Sir!”

  “You may also be interested to know that the R&D boys are finally getting somewhere with detection of ships emerging from Jumpspace. They’ve figured out how, now they just have to figure out how to do it accurately enough to be of some tactical use to us. I heard that you had some considerable input to the recommendations from the Strategic Planning Group. Was the Autonomous Fighti
ng Platform one of your ideas, Commander?”

  “Well Sir, you know how it is with brainstorming sessions. The ideas get thrown around back and forth so fast that it’s hard to keep track of who come up with what idea. So I really can’t say.”

  “Hm. Well whoever came up with it had a great idea. I hear that the AFP and gunboat projects have been combined. The result is going to be a larger vehicle of about 5500 metric tons that can be configured as either an unmanned unit under AI control or as a manned vehicle using interchangeable modules. The thinking seems to be that the unmanned version can be deployed for longer periods of time, while the manned versions will be retained for operations that are shorter in duration and require flexibility in strategic and tactical thinking. In some circumstances, both kinds of units may operate together. In terms of long-term defense of this base, that’s what seems to be coming down the pike. Squadrons of unmanned units will be on permanent patrol, while manned squadrons will be on standby alert status for quick deployment as needed. When we get to that point, this base will have more protection, with less strain on our ability to support them logistically. Personally, I can’t wait.”

  CHAPTER 11: The Better Part of Valor

  SFE144 was ordered back to Sol. On its way inward after emerging from Jumpspace, Shiloh noticed how much more industrial and shipbuilding infrastructure there was since the last time the 144th was in Sol system. Dozens of combat frigates and other ships were under construction. Orbital traffic around Earth and the Moon were both noticeably higher. With the squadron’s frigates installed in parking orbits around the Moon, the crews were ferried down to the Moon’s naval base and then transferred via shuttle to Earth. By the time the shuttle landed, and Shiloh stepped out onto the spaceport tarmac, it was night. The tarmac was still wet from the rain that had ended only minutes before.

  Shiloh took a deep breath and savored the fresh smell of clean, moist air. This last tour of duty had been the longest of his entire military career. With a guaranteed stand down for the Squadron of at least four weeks, Shiloh was looking forward to some serious R&R, but first things first. There would be the usual debriefing, as well as memorial ceremonies for Cmdr. Caru and his crew. With a sigh of resignation, Shiloh followed the robotic luggage caddy that carried his and his officers’ luggage to the Space Force bus that would take them to temporary quarters where they would get some sleep. The debriefings were now only seven hours away.