No one had considered, in the days of the Garmaurian civil war, that the Star-Destroyer would be a stand-alone warship. The huge fleets had been built around the Star-Destroyers and the awesome destructive capacity of the Trionic Cannons that they carried. No one had considered the possibility of arming the Star Destroyer with high-yield pulsar-cannon. The weapon took over a minute in its cooling cycle, and produced very little increased destructive capacity. And, with a substantial fleet of Star-Cruiser escort, the Star-Destroyer did not need to carry high-yield pulsar-cannon.
Now, out here in front of the Combined Ganthoran Frontier Fleets, Billy Caudwell knew the weakness of his seemingly-indestructible space giants.
He was attempting to engage an enemy fleet without a fleet of his own, and he knew that he could not survive in that kind of battle environment indefinitely.
“Enemy ships firing!” the Scanner Officer shouted.
“Hang on, everybody!” Marrhus Lokkrien tried to keep himself from tumbling over, as the War Room personnel sought whatever stability they could find for the oncoming wave of “Screaming Death”.
The shimmering haze of the “Screaming Death” from over one hundred Ganthoran Cruisers smashed into both of the Alliance Star-Destroyers at a distance of over five hundred kilometres. Aboard the two Star-Destroyers, the force of the Ganthoran weapons hit like a tidal wave. Crew members were flung off their feet by the sheer ferocity of the sonic blast, causing injuries to people and damage to systems throughout the Olympus.
“He’s fired too soon!” Billy smiled as he struggled gallantly to hold onto the edge of the War Table.
Billy knew, at that moment, that General Sal’nor had made a huge mistake. And, that with the Ganthoran Destroyers approaching in their “claw” formation, he was about to compound that mistake. Sal’nor had made the fatal error of targeting both Star-Destroyers with his concentrated “Screaming Death” wave. If he had hit only one of the massive Alliance warships with a sustained and concentrated wave, he would probably have likely shaken the vessel apart. But, Sal’nor had played the gamble, as all battlefield commanders must, and he had guessed wrong. Olympus and Colossus would be severely shaken by the Ganthoran weapons, but they would survive. And, with the Ganthoran Destroyers in such close proximity, Sal’nor would have to cease fire on the “Screaming Death” wave to allow his smaller ships to engage the Alliance’s space fortresses.
With Olympus still shaking from the massive bombardment from the Ganthoran Cruisers, Billy saw one of the two-dimensional Tactical View Screens to his left shatter in a cascade of sparks and debris. Part of him was terrified at the constant danger he was now facing from the sustained Ganthoran weapons fire, and yet, there was also a part of him that felt excited and exhilarated. He was now facing the same dangers and perils as the rest of the crew members of Olympus and Colossus. Typically, his position set him in the comparative safety of a War Room, far from the scene of the action and danger.
Now, for Billy Caudwell, the danger was up close and personal. He had felt the same anxiety and excitement in the Time Warrior Ritual, and he had to admit to himself that it was not that unpleasant a sensation. And, as the two Star-Destroyers lurched and staggered in their positions in space, the Ganthoran Cruisers piled in the pressure. With their weapons pods starting to glow from the constant firing to maintain the “Screaming Death” wave, the Cruisers were moving closer and closer to the Alliance ships. The Ganthoran crews, who had soaked up so much punishment from the huge space fortresses, began to see that their enemies were starting to suffer under Ganthoran weapons, and started to feel more confident. Now, they felt like they had the measure of these titanic beasts of the Alliance fleets. Now, they were going to give the Alliance some payback for what they had suffered.
“WATO, open fire with the Self-Defence Turrets as soon as their Destroyers are within range!” Billy made the call from his vantage point on the floor of the War Room.
The constant shaking and lurching of Olympus had persuaded him that he was safer kneeling on the floor.
“Yes, sir!” The WATO’s voice rang through the chaos of the shaking and shuddering of the great warship’s trials and tribulations.
Meanwhile, on the flickering image of the War Table, Billy could see the four pincers of the Ganthoran “claw” closing in around the two Alliance Star-Destroyers. In a few seconds, the great horde of Destroyers would be surrounding and attacking Colossus and Olympus from every quarter.
From the frying pan, and into the fire, Billy thought.
The major relief for the crews of the two Star Destroyers was that with the Ganthoran Destroyers closing in for the attack, the Cruisers would have to cease fire. The bone-jarring shuddering and shaking under the constant onslaught of the “Screaming Death” would subside to be replaced with another form of peril. When the Cruisers stopped firing, it would be time for the Destroyers to attack.
Within a few seconds, the Ganthoran Cruisers had ceased fire and the Destroyers began to make their attack runs. With the War Room only just coming back to a semblance of order, the Self-Defence Turrets began to open fire on the Destroyers. The four pincers, having surrounded the Star Destroyers, now broke up into smaller attack units. And, from every angle, they attacked the huge space fortresses that stood before them. Working in small groups much like their Axe-Blade comrades, the Destroyer crews launched their attacks at the huge, solid, and immobile Alliance ships. Like angry insects buzzing around an animal that was attacking their colony, the Ganthoran Destroyers swooped and dived into their attacks. And, at that moment, they ran straight into an avalanche of low-yield pulsar-bolts from the Self-Defence Turrets.
The Tactical Computers aboard Olympus and Colossus churned the numbers and made the calculations as to the Threat Potential of each of the thousands of individual Destroyers that were throwing themselves relentlessly at the Alliance vessels.
As the Firing Solutions were developed, the tens of thousands of low-yield pulsar-cannon in the Self-Defence Turrets opened fire sending up a dense curtain of weapons fire at the courageously advancing Ganthorans. And, by the laws of mathematics, thousands of Ganthoran Destroyers should have been consigned to oblivion in a few brief seconds, just as their Axe-Blade comrades had been. However, the effective and brutally efficient Tactical Computers had one failing. Having worked out the Threat Potential of each and every Ganthoran Destroyer, the Tactical Computers had instructed the Self-Defence Turrets to fire on the most threatening of the Ganthoran vessels. Having opened fire at, hit, and in most cases, damaged the approaching vessel, the Ganthorans Threat Potential score would decrease based on that damage. The Tactical Computers would then immediately seek out another more threatening vessel for the Self-Defence Turrets attentions. Thus, a Ganthoran Destroyer might sustain one or two direct hits from the Self-Defence Turrets of the Star-Cruisers, and still be able to press home their attacks after the initial damage.
Billy Caudwell was aware of this failing, but understood that the Tactical Computers would still be far more effective than live crew members in trying to make sense of the swirling, scrambling melee that surrounded their ships. The Tactical Computers were also far better decision makers in the split-second instants that a Destroyer became available as a target for the pulsar-cannon. Very few species in the universe, let alone the Universal Alliance, had the rapid reflexes, plus the hand to eye co-ordination, that could outperform the Tactical Computers. And, with the Ganthoran Destroyer being more robust than the Axe-Blades, it would sometimes take three, four or more hits from a low-yield pulsar-bolt to finish it off.
The first waves of Ganthoran Destroyer attacks were just starting to work their way through the hail of low-yield pulsar-bolts. Having survived one or two direct hits, the Destroyer crews, still unable to believe their good fortune, let loose with their own “Screaming Death” waves at the huge Alliance ships.
With full Force Shielding, there was almost no chance that an individual “Screaming Death” wave from a Destroyer would
get through. But, Billy knew that if enough of them attacked at the one time on the one spot, then things could prove difficult for the Alliance crews, especially after the pounding they had received from the Cruisers. That, however, was not the matter foremost in Billy Caudwell’s mind. On the War Table image, Billy could see the great swirling and dodging horde of Destroyers as they entered their attack runs or flew distraction courses. Like many good professional fighting units, the Destroyer crews were trying to maximise the results for their teams and formations rather than for individual glory. Their favoured tactic seemed to be to work in teams of five. One Destroyer would take the point position and make a feigned attack run directly at the Star-Destroyer. This would draw the attention of the Self-Defence Turrets. And, with some fairly violent twisting and turning manoeuvres, the lone Destroyer would draw the attention of the Self-defence Turrets away from the four vessels following the leader. The four attacking Destroyers would find themselves a great deal closer to their targets before the Self Defence Turrets could be turned upon them. For the decoying leaders, one or two hits from the Self-Defence Turrets were a price worth paying if four of his comrades could drive their weapons fire home. It would then be the turn of someone else in the group of five to lead as decoy in the next attack run.
What was of primary concern to Billy Caudwell was the situation beyond the Calyx Wormhole.
Standing as calmly as he could at the War Table, Billy watched the great swirling, darting, and scrambling melee of small vessels pushing home their attacks and being shot down by the Self-Defence Turrets. Anxiously, Billy prayed to hear that the last of the Star-Cruisers were in position beyond the Wormhole.
Meanwhile, the battle around the two Star-Destroyers was still raging. The first attackers, encouraged by their success and lack of casualties, were being joined by larger numbers of comrades to pour their weapons fire into the huge Alliance beasts. The crew of one such Destroyer picked their target spot, just above the Trionic Cannon gun deck of the Colossus. They could see the huge barrel of the Alliance’s terror weapon, and the captain had decided that if they could damage or even destroy the weapon, it would be a major blow to the Alliance.
So, falling in behind one of the other Destroyers in the group, the Captain took them forward to what he hoped was a date with Destiny.
With two more Destroyers on his port side and one on his starboard, the Captain held his station directly behind the decoy leader at about three hundred metres distance. Engaging maximum attack speed, the Captain ordered the slightly upwards angled course that would take them as close as they dared towards the huge Alliance fortress. At one thousand metres to the target, the Alliance Self-Defence Turrets opened up at the decoy leader.
In response, the decoy leader opened fire with his “Screaming Death” pods and began the violent swerving and dodging manoeuvres that would distract the Alliance guns.
The white-hot, low-yield pulsar-bolts began to whizz and zip past; close to the brave Captain’s Destroyer, as the Alliance guns failed to strike down the decoy leader. With the decoy leader dodging and weaving for his very survival, near misses on the leader were also desperately close to the Captain’s Destroyer. The pulsar-bolts whizzed towards the Destroyer, growing from tiny specks of light into huge blinding flashes as they zipped past the hull and off into the distance behind them. Ahead of him, the Captain saw the lead decoy take a direct hit. To the Captain, it looked like the nose of the lead decoy simply burst open with a huge dazzling flash. But, the first strike did not prove to be fatal to the lead decoy.
Having lurched to a halt, for a split-second; like a boxer hit with a heavy punch to the skull, the brave crew of the decoy ship pressed on as they weaved, dodged, and fired their weapons.
Around the Destroyer Captain, the hail of deadly Alliance pulsar-bolts was growing heavier as the target area expanded in front of him. Suddenly, beside him, the Destroyer on his starboard side was hit once, then twice, and then a third time by Alliance fire. The first pulsar-bolt hit the Destroyer like sledgehammer, causing it to lurch in space and throw a slew of burning debris out in every direction. The second strike caused another explosion and made the stricken Destroyer tumble to its left, away from the Captain’s vessel, before the third strike a split-second later annihilated the Destroyer in a huge burst of red and orange flame. The debris was scattered everywhere, but the Captain’s Destroyer was moving too quickly to become entangled with the deadly fall out of the explosion.
The Captain’s mind was completely focussed on the gun deck of the huge Alliance Star-Destroyer, despite the great flurry of pulsar-bolts that zipped past his vessel. Two heartbeats later, the leader decoy ship veered off to the right, leaving him with a clear run at the target. He could already see the Alliance gunners, in green uniforms, working feverishly to prepare the Trionic Cannon for its next firing. However, the Ganthoran Destroyer Captain was quicker on the trigger than the Alliance soldiers. At a range of less than one hundred metres, and with pulsar-bolts zipping all around him, the Captain opened up with a two second burst of “Screaming Death” that struck the Force Shielding in front of the Trionic Cannon barrel.
Had the Force Shielding not been in place, the entire Trionic Cannon gun crew would have been killed, and the gun itself damaged. But, unknown to the Captain, the Alliance Force Shielding had held firm, the gun crew had survived unscathed, and the Trionic Cannon was just about to fire again. Having fired the weapons pods, the Destroyer Captain’s next priority was to escape the maelstrom of vessels and the deadly pulsar-bolts. Veering his vessel steeply to the left, the Destroyer Captain held on for dear life, just as Billy had grasped the edges of the War Table, whilst the vessel banked sharply away from the Star-Destroyer.
But, as the vessel turned, one of the hundreds of thousands of low-yield pulsar-bolts that had already been fired found the underside of the Captain’s Destroyer. With a loud bang and a deep yellow flash, the crew compartment of the Destroyer was shaken and jolted as if it had been struck by a huge hammer. The Captain was flung forwards from his position, and slammed savagely against the ceiling of the crew compartment, knocking him out.
The second-in-command reacted immediately and threw himself across the mayhem, chaos, devastation, and destruction of the crew compartment to aid his fallen Captain. And, with the pulsar-bolts still zipping around the vessel, the Ganthoran Destroyer made good her escape from what would be her final attack run. As the Ganthoran Destroyer limped away from the fight, Billy Caudwell heard the news that he had expected.
“Sir!” the Communications Officer called out, “Star-Cruisers in final positions!”
“It’s about time! Navigation, get us out of here, but not too quickly...we’ll make it a running fight all the way to the Wormhole, now, we make our move, Admiral!” Billy smiled at Lokkrien.
For the attacking Ganthoran Destroyers, who were becoming used to the great Alliance beasts standing their ground and soaking up the punishment that they were inflicting, the sudden movement of the Star-Destroyers came as a shock. It was, however, not as great a shock as that received by the dozen or so Destroyers, and the three Cruisers, that were swept away to annihilation by the final Trion Stream from Colossus, as she broke station and moved away towards the Wormhole.
The hundreds of Ganthoran Destroyers, which were in the process of making their attack runs to the rear of the two Star-Destroyers, were smashed against the Force Shielding like balsa wood and matchstick models. The two space fortresses simply barged through the cordon of Ganthoran vessels as they had done during the earlier rampage through the Axe-Blades. The Destroyer Captains with enough presence of mind aborted their attacks and swung their vessels away from the path of the rampaging Star-Destroyers. Those not quite so astute, or just plain unlucky, were smashed to into oblivion in red, roaring flames that looked like Christmas lights on the faces of the huge Alliance ships.
The Ganthoran Destroyers attacking from the front or flanks suddenly found that the huge targets they had lined up
in their gun sights suddenly melted away from their lines of vision. And, given that an Alliance Star-Destroyer was almost ten kilometres across, then that was some achievement. The Destroyers attacking from the front, however, simply kept on following their original courses as the Star-Destroyers and the hail of low-yield pulsar bolts began to draw away from them. Those attacking from the flanks rapidly altered course and found themselves playing catch-up with their comrades. For Frontier General Sal’nor, the sudden movement of the Alliance Star-Destroyers, after such a furious and concerted attack, meant only one thing: a hasty retreat.
Ordering the Ganthoran Cruisers and surviving “Six Cigar” Carriers forward; at full speed, Sal’nor believed he had the matching of these two impudent space fortresses with his Cruisers.
“Not so fast, Navigation!” Billy watched the War Table image as two Star-Destroyers started to pull away from the pursing Ganthorans. “Let them keep up with us!”
“Yes, sir, sorry sir,” the Navigation Officer apologised.
The pursuit was now on. This was the move that Marrhus Lokkrien had asked about, and now Billy Caudwell was making that move. It would be a three minute run to the Wormhole, and Billy Caudwell needed the whole Ganthoran fleet to follow him there and proceed through to the other side. It was going to be a tense and nerve-wracking three minutes to the Wormhole, but Billy knew that the Navigation teams could keep the huge Star-Destroyers just one half-step ahead of the Ganthorans.
“Watch your speed, Navigation, keep it just about there!” Billy warned.
On the War Table image, Billy could see the two Star-Destroyers, followed by the great straggle of the Ganthoran Combined Frontier Fleets. In the lead, just tantalisingly out of weapons fire range, the great clusters of Destroyers were strung out like tired athletes at the end of a long gruelling race. Over four thousand kilometres of space away, the Ganthoran Destroyers were spread back, but still some five thousand kilometres ahead of the main body of Cruisers. There was no shape or formation to the Destroyer pursuit, but it soon became clear that the damaged ships were starting to lag behind.
The Ganthoran Gambit (The First Admiral Series) Page 19
