by Rodney Smith
Where The Stars Are Few And Far Between
Copyright 2012, Rodney L. Smith
Third book in the Kelly Blake Series
Other books in the series
Scout Force
First Command
Cover Photo Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA14101
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of author’s imagination or are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual events, or locales, or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.
Dedication
I dedicate this book to my swimming pool. Many a plot twist was ironed
out in its cool, relaxing waters.
Contents
Title Page
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter One
Captain Hal Howard of the Galactic Republic Ship Waterloo was commodore of Task Force 121, patrolling the K‘Rang frontier in the Eridanus sector. He intently watched the task force plot on the large monitor in the Combat Information Center.
He saw his battle cruiser in the center, surrounded by three destroyers. Five frigates deployed in vertical arrowhead formation, parallel to the frontier on his port side. Two frigates followed his three support ships. The only thing missing was the scout ship that should have been assigned to his task force. After the Fleet budget reductions four years ago, half the scout ships had been mothballed on Glenn and there just weren’t enough to support all the Fleets, task forces, and groups. TF 121 had drawn the short straw.
Hal felt a swell of pride in his compact, but lethal task force. He had been patrolling for four months and hadn’t seen so much as a K’Rang freighter. It was only another three weeks until he would be relieved by TF 231 and could head in for an extended period in the yards. His ships would get the new Yestepkin-designed disruptor cannons and be even more lethal. He inwardly preened, thinking there might even be a star in his future.
His battle cruiser was also supposed to be fitted with a hanger to be able to carry two MP-22 multi-purpose ships. They would provide almost the capabilities of the previous generation scout ships, and then he wouldn’t feel so blind. There were nebulae and high iron content asteroid fields that seriously blanked or reduced his sensor capability.
One of his destroyers, the Juan Lopez, had two MP-17s embarked, but its sensors were no better than those on the larger ships. In fact, the nebula strand ahead to port was just such a blind spot. He normally directed his TF away from these areas, but he held course this time so as to not set a predictable pattern.
* * * * *
Sitting in that same nebula strand, Shadow Leader G’Motta eagerly watched the Human fleet approach at FTL power 3 on his slightly static-filled display. It would be only a few minutes more until he fired the first shots in Operation J’Tan. He waited to see if they would turn outward or remain on course. His answer came quickly when the Humans made no movement away from the frontier, but came right where he wanted them. His targeting computers plotted out the optimum time to fire and intercept targets moving so fast the human eye could not see them.
He activated his laser communications ring to all ships of his waiting task force and gave the order to fire. Within seconds, 800 anti-ship FTL missiles launched, left the nebula, and homed on the Human fleet. The missiles were the latest K’Rang models. These smaller FTL-capable missiles with larger warheads left the launchers on a preprogrammed course, each missile or group of missiles assigned to a specific enemy ship. The first missiles would disrupt the FTL bubbles, dropping the ships to sub-light speed. The remaining missiles autonomously homed on the ship or automatically retargeted if the ship was destroyed before they got to it. The larger ships, like the Human cruiser, had over a hundred missiles programmed to attack it, the supply ships only a few dozen. As the missiles left the nebula and started active homing on their targets, the K’Rang fleet’s combat ships powered out to open fire with their main guns, as soon as the Human ships were wrenched out of FTL by powerful antimatter explosions. G’Motta expected this to be a short engagement.
* * * * *
Alarms rang out in the Human battlecruiser’s CIC. A rating shouted, “Missiles inbound, dead ahead, hundreds of them.”
Captain Howard instantly called out, “Signal to all ships, forward defensive fire now!” as an icy hand grabbed his insides.
Years of training, simulations, and drills paid off as he and his task force instinctively reacted. He called a formation course change as defensive FTL missile after missile left their launchers to intercept the inbound missiles. The course correction put them broadsides to the inbound missiles, increased the distance those missiles had to travel, and allowed all guns to bear on the missiles – and whoever may have fired them from inside the nebula, if his ships dropped out of FTL.
Captain Howard maintained a calm, sure demeanor, although inwardly he was aware of how slim their chances were against this likely superior force. His monitor showed over 600 missiles inbound and more were being resolved by the sensors system. That was many more than his task force could fire. He mentally did the math as TF 121’s defensive missiles bore in on the inbound missiles, and he knew that his missiles would not be enough. He wished he had turned away from the nebula. It would have given him a few more precious seconds to act.
The frigate Destiny was the first casualty as two missiles impacted sequentially; the first antimatter warhead dropped the Destiny out of FTL, and the second obliterated the ship and its 250 crewmen. Captain Howard pushed aside the sense of loss and concentrated on saving the remainder of his task force, as other ships had their FTL bubbles disrupted from missile strikes and dropped out of FTL. It would be a few minutes before they would be able to regenerate their FTL bubbles. As the K’Rang missiles continued homing on the Human fleet through the boiling clouds of exploding defensive missiles intercepting them, Howard ordered the gunners on the sub-light ships to target the leaders. They did pretty well on the remaining K’Rang missiles, but there were still too many coming at them. He ordered the frigates to open up with their close in defensive weapons if they were forced out of FTL – three were. The Gatling-style rail guns fired thousands of steel pellets into the paths of the inbound missiles.
Coming out of the nebula behind the missiles were seventeen K’Rang warships powering to intercept the task force: three heavy cruisers, four light cruisers, six destroyers and four frigates. Captain Howard ordered all ships to drop out of FTL, come to 0.9c, and fire main guns and offensive missiles at the advancing K’Rang Fleet. He needed to give those slowed frigates time to be FTL capable again.
He prepared a contact report saying a superior K’Rang force had fired on them, and transmitted to Fleet HQ that they were engaging and requesting any available reinforcements. As the report went out, the destroyer Jefferson exploded and broke in half. He breathed a sigh of relief as all other ships reported FTL-capable. It was ti
me to place more distance between them, the K’Rang fleet and all those missiles. He ordered the task force to come to course 95-degrees Mark 15, and come to FTL power 4.
The task force made a hard turn to the right, rose 15 degrees and accelerated to FTL power 4, but the K’Rang missiles exceeded their acceleration and continued overtaking them. Two rear guard frigates were intercepted, yanked out of FTL by the force of the antimatter charges, and destroyed. At least the K’Rang guns were unable to fire on them at FTL. Captain Howard ordered the remaining frigates to form a stacked double row behind the task force and prepare to fire their rear close in defensive systems if they had to drop out of FTL.
Captain Howard ordered all ships to prepare to fire their last offensive missiles and ordered a turn toward an uninhabited star system nearby. It was a desperate measure, but Hal was desperate. He was quickly running out of tricks. He ordered his small force to make a close pass to a double Jupiter-sized gas giant, just as a K’Rang missile caught up with one of his rear guard frigates and destroyed its FTL bubble, then another missile shredded the frigate from the fantail to the bridge. Howard ordered a close pass to the planet’s gassy atmosphere and a decrease to 0.9c before making a close orbit and coming out the other side. He ordered all ships to prepare to fire their remaining load of offensive missiles on contact with the enemy, execute a 90-degree turn to port and increase speed to FTL power 4, the top speed of their support ships. Maybe they could escape and survive this after all.
The task force came around the far side of the gas giant with their stabilizers straining at the centrifugal forces of a close orbit, but they no longer had missiles chasing them. As they rounded the equator to face the way they came, they found the K’Rang task force commander had guessed their intent and was arrayed broadside in their path, firing all guns as they had targets on which to bear.
* * * * *
The Human task force’s offensive systems were destroyed before they had a chance to fire more than half their offensive missiles. The K’Rang defensive missiles took out the task force’s puny missile strike, as they continued to fire energy blast after energy blast into the Human ships. The outgunned and outmatched Human task force returned fire to minor effect, but there was too much firepower for them to escape. The battle was finally decided when three K’Rang light cruisers, guns blazing, appeared in orbit behind them. Shadow Leader G’Motta was surprised the entire battle took less than an hour. He thought the Humans would last at least twice that long.
G’Motta sent the success code phrase and scanned further into Human space, looking for more targets. Damage reports came in, but he still had fifteen fully combat ready ships in his fleet. G’Motta was exhilarated at having completed his first fleet engagement with only minor damage. He surveyed the burning and broken hulks of the Human fleet and thought to himself, “If the rest of the Humans are like this, this will be a short war.”
He reviewed his orders and briefing on this campaign: Destroy all enemy combatants in sector, bypass all Human worlds, establish a picket line at the outer boundary of the Human sector to provide early warning of Human reinforcements, destroy all reinforcements within your ability.
G’Motta took one last look at the burning and broken hulls of his vanquished foe, then ordered the fleet to resupply missiles from the supply ships, move to its picket line position, and to be alert to any Human ships in sector. The bulk of the K’Rang invasion fleet would be entering the sector by the time he had his picket line established.
* * * * *
After three years, Lieutenant Commander Kelly Blake strode quite comfortably through the soaring marble halls of the Galactic Republic Senate Office Building. Senators called him by his first name. Staffers bought him coffee. Lobbyists bought him an infrequent lunch. He was definitely an insider.
True, his uncle was majority leader in the Senate, but Kelly had forged his own strong reputation as the go-to guy for Defense and Intelligence matters. He was connected, always returned messages and calls, and answered all questions in the same polite, professional manner, whether they were outrageously stupid or not. If he didn’t know the answer to a question, he could find who did know and followed through to ensure congressional and senate questions were answered thoroughly, promptly and to the senator's or staffer’s satisfaction.
Kelly was also good at getting Fleet issues higher priority in the legislature in these tight budget times. He had a list of senior staffers he could call on to get their bosses energized on legislation favorable to Fleet. He could almost as easily get legislation quashed that was unfavorable to Fleet.
A good part of Kelly’s success was in the Fleet tours he arranged for senators, representatives, and their staffs. He orchestrated orientation visits to battle fleets going through work-ups in nearby first-tier systems. He’d have the delegation flown in on a Scout Force ship through the transporter gates (all the while being indoctrinated on Scout Force capabilities and successes), transferred onto the Battle Fleet flagship for fleet familiarization, and ferried to an Assault Landing Group for further familiarization and return to Earth. There were few people that would not be impressed by a battle fleet in formation travelling between the stars, or a brigade of Marines in combat gear, formed up on the well deck of an Assault Landing Ship.
Kelly was coming to the end of his three-year tour at Fleet HQ Legislative Liaison Division, and today was introducing his replacement around the GR Congress. His first stop was his uncle, Brian O’Toole, the Senate Majority Leader. He flirted briefly with his uncle’s new receptionist, until his uncle was ready to see Kelly in his interior office.
Brian O’Toole was in his middle fifties, with white hair starting to appear amongst the red. He stood about 1.8 meters and was getting a bit paunchy about the middle, the result of too many lobbyist dinners. Brian had an earnest air about him, but with the constant look of a precocious child about to get in trouble.
Kelly walked up, shook his hand, and said, “Senator, allow me to introduce Lieutenant Commander Kevin Gold, my replacement.”
Lieutenant Commander Gold, a razor sharp Fleet officer recently transferred in from a frontier task force, gave Kelly’s uncle a firm handshake and said, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir.”
Kelly continued with a grin, “Now, Uncle Brian, I expect you and your staff to extend every courtesy to Kevin here, the same as you did me. After all, you kept insisting that you weren’t doing things I wanted just because I’m your older sister’s boy.”
The Senator burst out laughing, sent out for coffee, and spent an unscheduled additional thirty minutes getting to know Lieutenant Commander Gold. By the time they were ushered out, Kelly knew there would be no change in Fleet’s relationship with the Senate.
Kelly spent the entire day walking Kevin Gold around the various congressional buildings and introducing him to various movers and shakers of all parties, major and minor. When they returned to the Legislative Liaison Office, the sun had set long ago on Geneva, the Galactic Republic’s capital. Kelly sat down with Kevin at his terminal and shared good message addresses, especially the ones from all the pretty and influential staffers that wanted to share a cup of coffee or more with a man in uniform.
He finally finished around 2200 and logged off for the night, then took the subway home to his small apartment and called up his messages for the day. The first was from his mom, asking how her baby brother was and if Kelly would be stopping by Gagarin on his way back to Antares Base. His second was a video from Candy, asking when he would be arriving at Antares base and saying how lonely she had been in the three years he was gone. Even though she had spent a week or two with him whenever they could synchronize their leaves, she would still be pretty much alone, since their close friend, Lieutenant Commander Tammy Nielsen, was transferring out to Glenn for transition from transports to Heavy Attack Ships. Tammy had been the daily shuttle pilot on Armstrong in the Antares system, home of Scout Force Headquarters. She was one member of the terrible trio of Kelly’s
girlfriends.
He advised Candy and his mom that he hadn’t gotten his orders yet, but would let them know when he knew. He hit send and got an almost instantaneous request for a video call. Since it was from Candy, he accepted.
The screen opened to Candy wrapped in a big fluffy towel, drying her hair. Candy was Admiral Craddock’s daughter. They had become quite close friends and lovers while he was assigned to Antares Base. She was now the senior civilian lawyer in the base Judge Advocate General Office and in charge of contract law.
“Hey, there. I saw your reply and figured you hadn’t gone to sleep yet. So, you don’t know when you’ll be back here?”
“No, the yeoman has promised my orders to me this week, but he can’t say for certain. I’m hoping they get me out of here before the Defense bill hits the House floor. I’ve greased the skids as much as I can, but you know how they love to debate things and there are some controversial items in there.”
Candy sat down and the towel dropped to her waist. She laughed and pulled it up, then said, “I suppose I should have asked if you were alone. Have you run into Dad?”
Candy’s dad had been the Commanding Officer of Scout Force when Kelly first joined. He then got his third star and became Chief of Fleet Intelligence. He was instrumental in getting Kelly into the Legislative Liaison Office when Kelly turned over command of the Scout Ship Vigilant. Kelly was now approaching the long anticipated end of his three-year tour. Vice Admiral Craddock had been nominated for his fourth star and to be director of the Republic Intelligence Agency.
“Your dad has been a little busy lately. I passed him in the hallway on his way to his confirmation hearing yesterday. He looked good.”
