“What about their other systems? Have you had time to look into them?”
“A little Sir. We broke open one of their terminals. Looks like organic computing.”
“Really. Gee!” and Warner was deep in thought.
“You’re wondering what other advantages they have over us?”
“Yeh.”
“Well if it’s any comfort Sir, their hydraulics are crap and climate control systems look pretty primitive too. Not to mention what we already know about their missile performance. So I’d say that they have given research priorities to different areas than what we have.”
“Mmm… so they’ve focused on drive and warp tech so they can cover large distance and move fast.”
“Exactly Sir. Which means they have probably come from a lot further than the Gelk systems are to ours.”
“Good work Chief. You’re not just a pretty face” and Warner smiled appreciatively.
“As well Sir. As well!”
“Can you write up a report for the Fleet techs? How long do you need?”
“I can have a preliminary one ready by the end of the day….subject to development of course.”
“Better get a quick and dirty brief ready by 1400 and send it.”
“Will do Sir. I better get cracking.”
“Thanks Chief. We don’t pay you enough.”
“That’s what I’ve been telling them” and Gunter left.
Chapter 2. Hermes 1420, 24 May.
Chase glided bogey 1 down onto Klaster space port. His landing was a tad rough but that’s what happens Chase told himself when you try and pilot a ship down with only a small camera view and instruments to go on. In any event both Chase and Warner were happy to be free of it.
“Hermes this is Klaster Control. We have her now. There’s quite a crowd down here.”
“Good to hear Control. We’re oscar mike” said Chase.
“Roger that. Control out.”
Warner hailed the Washington. It had launched on time at 1400 fully replenished.
“Reina, form up to our right rear, bearing 120 relative, horizontal separation 10 K, vertical 1 K.”
“Moving into formation now Sir.”
“We’ll do a set of lazy eights as we did yesterday. Same SOPs (Standard Operating Procedure)?”
“Roger.”
They patrolled the belt without incident. At 1600 Chase handed over the watch to Aubrey.
“Chase come and have a coffee with me will you” asked Warner.
“Sure Sir” he responded.
They sat down in the officers mess with their cups. Chase also had one of Crankey’s rock cakes and was munching into it with some gusto. “You look like you’re enjoying that, Chase” said Warner. Chase’s mouth was too full for him to reply. He raised his hand to his mouth but then lowered it and gave up any attempt to speak for fear of the consequences. Warner just smiled and continued “I realise you’ve just come off watch but can you modify those profiles to strip out the Sydney and can you do that as soon as you finish here?”
Finally Chase was able to swallow “Sure Sir. It won’t take me long.”
“Can you also adjust the attack profiles so we effect a glancing path rather than the deeper one we did yesterday. We can’t afford to get caught by their acceleration again.”
“Of course Sir. That cap really moved didn’t it?”
“Yes it’s an awesome capability. I wonder how long they can sustain it for?”
“There’s only one way to find that out Sir but I don’t recommend it.”
“Don’t worry Chase, I’m not going to be risking our ships to find out.”
Chase looked genuinely relieved.
“How are you holding out Chase?”
“Bit tired Sir. It’s not that I’ve been running around physically but yesterday’s engagement scared the shit out of me. Don’t get the wrong idea Sir I’m not going to run away or anything…”
“I understand, Chase. Combat like that places you under extreme stress and it lingers a long time after the action’s stopped. It’s to be expected. And anyone who wasn’t scared yesterday I don’t want on my ship. That fear can do either one of two things. It either makes you flee or fight. Either way the adrenalin it pumps into you sharpens your awareness and reflexes. So if you can control the urge to flee it actually helps you cope and perform better. It’s nature’s way of increasing your chances of survival.”
“Yes Sir.”
“You did well yesterday and I want to make sure that you don’t blame yourself for what happened to the Sydney. That was my call and not knowing about the enemy’s acceleration I’d make it again. The key thing about command is that you make the best decision at the time based on what you know at that time. It’s good to review and assess how things could have been done better but rarely does blame help make you a better commander.”
“Thank you Sir. I appreciate that.”
“OK we better get back to it.”
Chapter 3. Hermes 1620, 24 May.
When Warner arrived back in the command centre Aubrey told him there was nothing to report. He told her to carry on and sat down in his chair. He wasn’t looking at anything in particular. His mind was back on Klaster. He was thinking about how happy he had become since committing to Rihan. He considered how lucky he was to have found someone after losing Amy and the kids. ‘I wonder if Rihan wants to have children’ he asked himself.
“Light ship, bogey 1 arriving bearing 15 range 4200” cried out Crystal. Warner’s day dreaming came to an abrupt end.
“Aubrey advise base force. Chase?”
“Yes Sir.”
“We’ve company. Finish off those profiles and get up here pronto.”
“Right Sir.”
“Another light ship is arriving, bogey 2, bearing 17 range 4000” called out Crystal. “Bogey 2 vectoring to face and accelerating.”
“Same as yesterday” called out Warner. “Time to intercept?”
“2 minutes” called out Crystal. “Enemy cap arriving, bogey 3 bearing 16 range 4100….bogey 2 has turned to face and is accelerating….time to intercept 1 minute 50.”
Warner studied the tracks on the main display. It looked like the same pattern as yesterday.
“Is that the same cap as yesterday?”
“No Sir, different signature.”
“Right, Hermes Missiles engage bogey 1 on intercept, 5 for 1. Washington Missiles engage bogey 2 on intercept, 5 for 1.”
All eyes were on the main display watching the range rings moving towards each other. All eyes except Crystal’s. Hers were glued to her terminal and just as well. “Another cap arriving, bogey 4, bearing 315 range 5000. And another, bogey 5, bearing 5100 range 5200. Two more light ships, bogeys 6 and 7. More caps, bogeys 8, 9, 10. Fighters launched. One of them is a carrier…”
“Shit. Pilot, bank right and vector to Klaster.”
“Roger.”
“Base Force, warp away NOW!”
“Control, we have multiple enemy caps and carrier arriving. Alert code red.”
“Chase invoke retrograde profile 2.”
“Invoking.”
“Washington Sunray?”
“Sir.”
“We are invoking retrograde profile 2. We will cover you as best we can from the enemy ships. Buster to Klaster and prevent those fighters from attacking the base force till she warps away. Then you warp away.”
“Understood. Bustering now.”
“Crystal, SITREP?”
“Two groups of enemy ships. Each has 3 caps and 3 lights. One of those caps is a carrier. Group 1 to our left rear is accelerating to Klaster. Group2 to our right rear is accelerating to us. They are overtaking us. Intercept in 2 minutes. Thirty fighters heading to Klaster ETA in 7 minutes.”
“Time for Group 1 to reach intercept range of Klaster?”
“Eight minutes Sir.”
“Automatic engagement authorised” ordered Warner. He knew that with the amount of firepower bearing down on th
em he had no hope of controlling engagements effectively. He also knew that the retrograde profile would doom them. It was designed to conduct a series of shallow bends in which they could engage the enemy with missiles at each turn. But that would now allow the enemy to overtake them.
“Abort retrograde profile 2.”
“Aborting” called out Chase.
“Pilot. Buster to Klaster minus 100.”
“Bustering now” and the thrusters kicked into overdrive. His only hope now was to outrun the enemy and pray by not warping he kept the enemy ships focussed on him.
“Time to objective?”
“8 minutes.”
“Group 1 turning to intercept” called out Crystal.
“Good!” called out Warner much to the horror of everyone else in the command centre. Now they had both groups targeting them. Any chances of survival were just halved. But this meant the base force just might get away.
“Group 1 accelerating. Intercept for both groups in 6 minutes.”
As the Hermes screamed at max speed across the belt towards Klaster, two groups of enemy ships bore down from different angles designed to trap it. The fastest ship in the Federation fleet would normally expect to pull away at this stage but that wasn’t happening.
“Intercept in 5 minutes.”
Intercept in 4 minutes.”
At mach 150 the Hermes had just moved 2500 kms. Another 2500 kms and Crystal called out “Intercept in 3.”
Tension was at an all-time high. No one deluded themselves as to their chance of survival if just one of the enemy groups opened up on them. If these caps had the same payload as the one from yesterday then they could unleash 300 missiles to their 50. It would be a no contest and everyone knew it.
By now the enemy fighters were gaining on the Washington in the race for Klaster. Reina too had switched to automatic engagement. Her first missile salvos fired.
“Hermes this is Washington. Engaging enemy fighters.”
“Roger” replied Warner. “Base Force ETA to warp?”
“Three minutes.”
“Roger you have incoming enemy fighters. Washington is engaging and will cover.”
“Thank you.”
“Control you have enemy fighters inbound ETA 2 minutes.”
“Intercept in 2 minutes.”
By now it was looking hopeless. Just two minutes left to live. Aubrey was sweating and the strain showed on her face. Chase had an almost resigned look on his. Ivan’s was of intense concentration as was Crystal’s. But her focus was on her terminal.
“Intercept in 1.”
“Washington’s been hit” called out Chase.
“Reina SITREP?” demanded Warner.
“2 missile hits. Hull integrity holding. Shields at 20%. Thrusters 80. Engaging fighters 16 remaining.”
“Roger.”
“Intercept in 30 secs…wait enemy groups decelerating….intercept in 1 minute….intercept in 1.30…intercept in 2.”
A huge sigh of relief came from Aubrey and Warner too took a breath for the first time in over a minute.
“Hermes this is Klaster Control. Base Force has warped away.”
“Thank you Control. We have to go. Hold tight. We will be back.”
“Understood. Don’t take too long. Out”
“Aubrey. Warp away.”
“Preparing to Warp.”
“Reina warp away.”
“Washington preparing to warp.”
“Warp in 1 minute” said Aubrey.
“Reina. SITREP on fighters?”
“8 remaining. We’re out of missiles. Engaging with cannon. Warping in 20 secs.”
“Good luck. See you on Alpha Phi.”
“And to you, Sir.”
“Warp in 5, 4, 3, 2, away.”
They had somehow survived and for that Warner was truly grateful. He closed his eyes and offered thanks to his Guru. Her protective grace along with his own efforts, like the two wings of the bird, had borne him once more away from the jaws of death.
But then his thoughts turned to the other woman in his life. She was now in mortal peril and he was unable to assist for at least another two days. He could only imagine the drama now unfolding on Klaster.
He took some comfort in knowing that he had fulfilled his duty. The base force had survived as had the Washington and his own ship and crew. They would all live to fight another day. He prayed that his love, Rihan, would keep her head down and stay safe till that day.
Chapter 4. Klaster 1630, 24 May.
2nd Lt Omar Hussain was staring at his mobile display. He was by nature an earnest, hard-working young man. He peered at the display with his grey-green eyes. His coffee coloured complexion was getting darker as his blood pressure rose. He took a breath in. He was resolved to do his duty.
The range rings of the enemy ships were closing in. At 20,000 kms he gave his heavy batteries the order to open fire priority on the enemy caps in Group 1. He chose this as they were the group originally going straight for Klaster and so most likely to be containing assault forces.
His two heavy batteries had six launchers each and each tube had only 20 missiles. That gave him 240 long range Plectra missiles to play with. He had another 24 light launchers with a total of 480 Movon short range missiles. He had no illusions about the long term survivability of his batteries. He had ordered his crews to up stumps and hightail it to the respective entrances once he gave the word or once they had exhausted their stocks.
To give them the best chance to live he was going to fire his heavies now while they were in standoff range from the enemy. His light batteries only had a range of 10,000 kms. They would have to wait till the very end. His estimate was that the enemy would close to their intercept range (8,000kms) in just three minutes. In theory he would have almost a minute in which his lights could engage the enemy ships before they could fire but he knew that their priority had to be to take out the enemy missiles.
His screen was now showing a virtual stream of tracks hurtling towards bogey 8 from battery 1 near the facility and another towards bogey 9 from battery 4 on the ridge. The heavy launchers had a theoretical maximum rate of fire of 20 missiles per minute but this was rarely achieved though Omar thought that they would come close to breaking the record. There certainly wasn’t any thought for the long term maintenance of the launchers.
Enemy runners were now arcing to his missile tracks. There were just too many to bother to count. A quick look at the sidebar told him 52 runners in total. Friendly missiles were at 96 and counting.
“Yes” Omar called out and he spotted some leakers heading towards bogeys 8 and 9. A glance at the sidebar told him 12 leakers and counting. But then the number dropped as the caps’ close in cannon joined the fray. A few seconds later he had what he was hoping for.
“Hits 1, 2, 3, 4 and counting on bogey 8” called out Omar. Somehow bogey 9 escaped. “More hits on bogey 8. 22 hits and counting. 5 hits on bogey 9. Bogey 8’s gone.”
“Yeeha!” yelled his offsider Sgt Bill Withers.
“15 hits on bogey 9 and counting.”
He looked at the range rings just as a warning signal flashed to advise they were now within enemy intercept range. And sure enough he now had enemy runners hurtling towards Klaster.
“Estimated target?” he called out.
“I have 20 at the ridge and 20 inbound here” advised Bill. “Control we have incoming on ridge and here. ETA 2 minutes.”
Omar knew that pandemonium had already broken out as non-essential staff fled to the respective entrances. He could only imagine what this news would do. Another warning flashed telling him that light batteries could now engage.
He activated profiles 3 and 4 and almost immediately could hear the roar of the nearby Battery 2. His screen was now showing tracks everywhere.
“Base Defence this is Battery 1 we’re empty and oscar mike.”
“Roger. Battery 4. Status?”
“Firing last rounds now. Will be oscar mike in 1.”
“Roger.”
And Omar was right. No less than 4 enemy missiles slammed into the battery position slaughtering half the crew. Omar saw the impact on his screen and looked across to Bill. They both knew what had just happened. These were troopers they had been messing with for the last few weeks. Omar pulled himself up just as three loud explosions occurred about a kilometre from his location. Omar looked to his screen and saw they had missed everything. He was relieved but had no time to savour it.
A warning flashed to say 20 seconds to impact for next enemy salvo. His lights were taking a pretty good toll of the enemy runners but the enemy leakers count was climbing. He now had 33. His total available missile count showed less than 100. He was trying to decide whether to abort now or to stay and use up the remaining missiles.
“Omar?” cried out Bill.
“Abandon all batteries” cried out Omar. Bill was out the door and running down the corridor. Omar saw something on the screen. He glanced to see new tracks heading this way. But they weren’t missiles.
“Control incoming transports…” but he never finished his sentence. Omar never knew what hit him. The beam fried him and the entire fourth wing of the facility.
Chapter 5. Klaster 1640, 24 May.
Bill Withers ran like he had never run before. Never the fittest in the crew, Bill was now wishing he had worked out more. He was pumping his wiry legs and his chest was heaving.
The heat behind him was ferocious. He could hear the metal behind him crumpling, cracking and hissing. He rounded the corner and came to the first exit beacon. The smell of burnt plastic and, who knows what, other toxic compounds was sweeping through the corridor from behind him. The fumes were filling the space ahead and he hadn’t grabbed his helmet with its thermal vision.
He was coughing now but could see another beacon ahead. He daren’t stop. He rounded another corner, saw another beacon and then another corner, passed some doors but there was nothing in there alive anyway. His ears were ringing from the tearing sound that pursued him. He rounded yet another corner. He whacked into a barricade and hit his left knee. “God that hurt” he yelled. He stumbled around it and then hit another one with his right shoulder. It was now thumping with pain. He heard some noise ahead but couldn’t make it out over the ringing sound. He could hardly breathe but forced his legs to push a little more.
The Awakening: Book 1 of Warner's World Page 30
