Kelly Blake 3: Where the Stars Are Few and Far Between

by Rodney Smith

  Kelly replied, “If we're lucky, their video transmission and reception capability will not be too different from ours. If we can see each other before we meet, it may alleviate some fear of the unknown and make first contact easier.”

  Kelly thought that an awful lot had to go right for this mission to be a success. Oh, well, he did volunteer for this.

  * * * * *

  Admiral Haddock-Halloway noted from his intel reports that K’Rang ships were becoming scarce in their path. The K’Rang were over their initial shock and starting to get organized. It was time to widen his formation. He ordered the 14th Battle fleet to star formation forward and to move to port. He also ordered the 19th Battle Fleet to star formation forward and to starboard of the 14th. This put all five carrier groups on line and stacked in a square box around their flagship carrier group and gave him the widest coverage to the front and sides. He ordered two of his three scouts to take up positions 3,000,000km off either flank. The third scout was to remain 5,000,000km off their point.

  Haddock-Halloway’s only concern was that the K’Rang would stack all their forces against him and attempt to overwhelm him. He had an ace up his sleeve in the ring ship. He could bring in the reserve battle group or reinforcements from the 2nd Combined Fleet if needed. He would just need enough warning to get organized. Controlling three or more battle fleets would stretch his ability to command effectively.

  * * * * *

  The scout ship Vengeful was operating deep in K’Rang space near three main worlds. Its sensors reached out and gathered information on what was a busy trade zone. Commercial ships of all types plied the routes between the planets. One of the planets even had a space station dedicated to warship fitting out. Captain Sheila Gartner saw that as her first target.

  She had 20 missiles and would use five of them on this one target. It had five ships of destroyer-size or larger on its docking arms off the station’s single ring, so it seemed only right. One destroyer looked like it was almost ready for launch. That one ship would get a missile of its own out of the five.

  It was time for the Vengeful to announce its presence in sector. Lieutenant Commander Gartner announced her intentions to the crew over the intercom, “We have discovered a K’Rang ship station. It is outfitting five ships. We will close within missile range, fire off five missiles, and move out of the immediate area to observe the results.”

  She walked back to gunnery and queried their aim point placement. The Weapons Chief answered her, “One missile will target the destroyer amidships. One missile will target the station core above the ring. Two missiles will target the outer ring in the spaces between three possibly recently delivered cruisers, which lacked turrets and sensors. The final missile would target the station core at the space between two of the spokes connecting the core to the ring.”

  She considered running in close behind the missile strikes and using her guns on those three cruisers, but held her decision on that course of action until after the missile strike.

  She returned to the bridge and asked, “Sensors, any change to any targets since I went to gunnery?”

  Sensors reported only minor changes and no reaction to their presence.

  She ordered, “Fire!” and watched them as they flew toward the massive station. The helmsman asked if she had course and speed for him.

  She told him, “Stand by.”

  The missiles ran straight and true. The first missile hit the ready-to-launch destroyer and the antimatter warhead split it in half just behind the bridge. The second missile hit the station core just above the ring. Secondary explosions indicated ammunition storage had been set off. Numbers three and four hit between the three incomplete cruisers, breaking them loose from the docking arms and setting them adrift. The fifth missile hit at the junction of the station core and two spokes. It peeled the station back on itself and split the station into pieces tumbling through space.

  Lieutenant Commander Gartner ordered, “Helm, put us on course 330 Mark 19”, a course putting them alongside the three incomplete cruisers, then disintegrated large portions of them with her turret disruptor guns.

  After neutralizing the cruisers, she ordered, “Helm, come to course 125 Mark 27,” a course to put them into the main shipping lanes.

  She made a run through the busiest portion of the commercial traffic and told her gunners, “Weapons free, fire at will.” The results were devastating. Of the twelve ships in their path, ten would never operate again. She passed a course to send them into deep space and asked sensors for the K’Rang reaction to their presence.

  Sensors replied, “There is no reaction, Captain. The local planetary defense HQ is telling the commercial ships there could be no Human ships this deep in K’Rang space. The HQ insists any damage must be from debris from the space station accident.”

  Sensors were unsure if the HQ was in denial or just confused by events.

  Sheila added up her kills as one space dock, one destroyer, three cruisers, two general cargo ships, three bulk freighters, one container ship, and two unidentified cargo ships. It was not a bad haul for her first combat action. As she flew away, she thought about the station and all its debris being inexorably pulled by gravity toward the planet’s atmosphere. She thought, “That should convince these K’Rang that we’re serious this time.”

  * * * * *

  Admiral Levi advanced toward his first K’Rang world. His orders were to bypass them after he destroyed any FTL shipbuilding or servicing facilities. The world ahead had an orbital station and one of his scout ships had identified an FTL shipyard on the surface. He ordered the 12th Battle Fleet to take out the station and the 11th to take out the facility on the surface.

  The 12th launched two heavy offensive missiles and the station disappeared into a cloud of debris. The 11th Battle Fleet had two disruptor frigates enter orbit and fire concentrated disruptor pulses into the facility until it was no longer recognizable. A number of surface landing FTL ships were destroyed in the process.

  No defenders rose up from the planet, so the fleet continued on to the next K’Rang planet in their path. Like Admiral Haddock-Halloway, he wondered when the K’Rang would strike back.

  * * * * *

  The scout ship Verity sat in the arm of a nebula and watched a small K’Rang fleet forming up in their sector. It consisted of ten ships, ranging from one light cruiser to six frigates. Lieutenant Commander Ben Volmer was considering his options, when the fleet formed up in a layered diamond formation and powered in his general direction. He thought they may have detected him, but they moved too slowly and were turning slightly away from him. He quickly ordered gunnery to target one missile per ship and to stand by.

  He waited until the ships were beyond his position and he had a perfect view of their sterns, then fired. The missiles left the nebula cloud and sped toward the as yet unsuspecting warships. Gunnery had correctly launched the missiles so those targeting the leading ships reached their targets at the same time as those aimed at the rear ships. The missiles hit all ten ships almost simultaneously. All ten ships floated free in space, as their engines had been destroyed. Secondary explosions further damaged some of the smaller ships, causing additional damage to the formation.

  Lieutenant Commander Volmer put himself down for ten warships and moved onto his next ambush position. He, like other commanders, noted a total lack of security mindset here in the K’Rang interior. That was fine with him. He’d be glad to teach them several hard lessons on security.

  * * * * *

  Angie suited up and prepared to fly the early fighter cap mission. Her squadron would fly cover around her carrier, John Paul Jones. There had been no enemy contact in two days, but the Fleet was approaching two K’Rang main worlds at just below FTL and there was always a chance that they might choose to defend one or both.

  She climbed into her familiar F-53 and strapped herself in. Once all her pilots were in and checklists completed, she pulled forward into the launch position. Three F-53's pu
lled out alongside her and the remainder formed two rows of four behind her. She pulled forward of the atmospheric door and moved up to the outer door. Once all twelve ships were forward of the atmospheric door, it closed behind them. Her indicators showed lowering pressure and gravity in the compartment until the indicators reached zero.

  The massive outer doors opened and Angie saw a mix of stars and ships before her. She lifted from the deck and powered out into space. Eleven ships followed her. She climbed to clear the ships ahead and moved into clear space above and on the right flank of the fleet. Angie looked around her at the hundreds of ships in the 2nd Combined Fleet. She saw ships off to her left as far as the eye could see. She couldn’t imagine the K’Rang seeing this coming at them and not surrendering.

  She shook off the wondering and assumed her squadron’s station forward and to the right of the formation. She concentrated on her sensor screen to pick out any K’Rang activity. Seeing the two K’Rang systems ahead, she called up the more detailed scan from the fleet intel broadcast. The inhabited worlds met the category of main worlds in the K’Rang hierarchy of planets. Main worlds were the K’Rang equivalent of GR first tier worlds. They had all the amenities of their home world, G’Durin. Angie couldn’t find any designation for the worlds not meeting these criteria. She guessed they just referred to them as worlds.

  She put her screen back to all-around scan and saw a small blip just inside the orbital plane of the nearest system. She called the Jones and requested permission to investigate. They approved her request and launched an EW-6 sensor early warning ship to backfill the squadron’s position in the fleet cap.

  Angie led her squadron down into the K’Rang system’s equivalent of Sol’s Kuiper Belt. Consisting of all the junk left over from the system’s formation, it was mostly chunks of ice, rock, and some planetoids.

  Angie approached cautiously. The blip had since disappeared from her screen. She flew to where she had spotted it and searched. Some of the planetoids were quite large, on a par with Sol’s Pluto. Some were more like asteroids, just large chunks of rock. She spread her two trailing flights of four fighters to each side of hers to be able to search more effectively.

  She hadn’t found anything and was starting to get calls from the carrier to return to station, when her sensors caught a glint from something metallic. She called a warning to her squadron just before two K’Rang torpedo ships rose up from the debris and powered past her at just below FTL. She turned her fighters and pushed her throttle to the stops to intercept them. She closed the distance while calling a warning to the fleet.

  She needed to kill these two before they closed within fleet missile engagement range where she would have to break off. She closed to her missiles’ range and had her flight fire two medium seekers each at the left torpedo ship. B flight to her right fired two medium seekers each at the right ship. C flight broke off to handle a third torpedo ship that had appeared behind them. Eight missiles fired head on made short work of the third torpedo ship. B flight’s missile overtook the right torpedo ship and hit the engines. The ship floated free in space and B flight used their guns to rip it open and set it ablaze.

  Angie’s flight’s missiles hit forward of the engines, but damage was minor and the ship continued forward. She pushed her throttle beyond the stop to emergency power, to more quickly close the distance. If she didn’t kill him soon, they would be within torpedo launch distance and in the missile engagement range. Angie would have to break off to avoid friendly missiles and the torpedo ship could fire its load.

  Her flight followed her in hot pursuit of the torpedo ship. She ordered another two missiles per and watched as they sped forward to the fleeing torpedo ship. Eight missiles flew directly into the engine nacelles of the K’Rang ship and blew off its stern. One torpedo launched as the ship tumbled through space. She took her flight in pursuit of the torpedo and left the burning hulk to be further destroyed by her two trailing flights.

  The torpedo was fast, but it had evidently been launched before a target was locked in. It was making a serpentine path toward the fleet as it analyzed the formation and chose the highest value target. Angie closed on it just as it lined up on the Jones and took it out with her guns. The explosion blinded her momentarily.

  Flight Ops told her well done and ordered her back to her position in the CAP.

  * * * * *

  Admiral Chang called his commanders to the command ship for a conference. It would be the first wartime use of his extended command structure using the mini-rings. He met them all at the ring and walked them to his conference room.

  Once they were all seated, he asked for a status repot from all of them. Each in turn reported green status and no serious enemy resistance.

  Admiral Chang warned them, “Don’t get complacent. There's a powerful K’Rang force still in existence and not found yet. Two thirds of their new ships are in this force. I expect the K’Rang to gather their fleet somewhere out of the way – probably deep in their interior – and strike one of the combined fleets, attempt to defeat it, and then turn on the other combined fleet. I have some tricks up this sleeve to use against them, but they can’t be allowed to hit us by surprise.”

  He turned to Admiral Minacci and asked, “Have any of your scouts found any large concentrations of K’Rang ships?”

  Minacci responded, “We aren’t finding any concentrations larger than task forces, but not all ships are on station yet. Some of the deep sectors won’t be covered for a few more days.”

  “Good work, admirals, I’ll let you get back to your commands now.”

  Chapter Eight

  The scout ship Voracious entered its patrol box and initiated the patrol plan. It made a run down the longitudinal axis with maximum sensor sensitivity, finding no inhabited planets after days of coasting. Toward the end of its longitudinal run, it detected faint ship-to-ship communications just over the boundary into the next patrol box. Intelligence took priority over territory and Lieutenant Commander Bentine planned to return to his patrol plan right after he reconnoitered these comms.

  He moved into the adjacent patrol box and tried to recall who had this box, if anyone, as there were three times as many boxes as scout ships. As he drew closer to the center of activity, his sensor operators started calling out specific known K’Rang ship designators and several never before recorded. The Voracious sensor specialists read out designators for 17 K’Rang ships. The known designators were for three heavy cruisers, three destroyers, and four frigates. The seven unknowns were probably the new K’Rang ships. Bentine pressed in closer and had his sensor operators gather as much data on these new ships as possible.

  After he found no more ships in the patrol box, he headed back into his designated box. He had to get word back to Fleet Intel on the concentration of ships he’d found, and set a speed course to get within comms range of the 2nd Combined Fleet or to relay through another scout ship between his location and there.

  * * * * *

  The Elders met again for a briefing by the Chief of Fleet.

  He entered their presence, saluted, and said, “Excellencies, I am here to provide information on the two marauding Human fleets.”

  “It seems the Humans have assembled two vast and equal armadas. I shall refer to them as the Taurus and Pisces fleets, as those are the Human sectors from which they originated. They are both built around two battle fleets, each with five carrier battle groups. Each fleet has three battle cruiser groups, a supply group, and three assault landing groups. Opposite our armada in the Eridanus sector are at least two battle groups, reinforced with at least two wings of the small fast attack ships and two wings of the heavy slow attack ships. This force is not large enough to drive our fleet out, but would be difficult to impossible for our armada to defeat.”

  “There are a number of small scout ships operating throughout our space. These small scout ships launched the attack on the space dock at H’Lang, the nearby commercial shipping attack, and the attack on our T
ask Force 152. In addition, we have seen reports of an extremely fast large unknown type of scout ship operating in our rear area. It has yet to conduct any attacks and we’re unsure of its mission. Possibly they are attempting to locate our grand armada, but we cannot be certain.”

  “We believe that the two large Human fleets are aimed here at G’Durin and they aim to split the Empire into three parts. We recommend that we assemble the Grand Armada. This will take a minimum of two weeks. After we have assembled and organized the Grand Armada, we attack the Taurus Fleet in two weeks. We should pull back the Eridanus Armada to attack the Taurus Fleet like fangs in a jaw. After we have dealt with the Taurus Fleet, we can turn on the Pisces Fleet. By the end of next month, the Human threat will be neutralized.”

  The middle Elder asked, “Where will the Human fleet be in two weeks?”

  The Fleet Chief looked at his notes and said, “Just between the main worlds J’Tag and G’lab, Excellency.”

  “Where will they be the next week, if undisturbed?”

  The Fleet Chief looked again at his notes and said, “They will be between J’Tag and G’Lok, Excellency.”

  The left Elder said, “Attack them in three weeks. The distance between J’Tag and G’Lok is greater. There is less chance our citizens will be affected. One other thing, Fleet Commander, deploy the drone ships.”

  The other two Elders nodded their approval and the Fleet Chief said, “As you wish, Excellencies. Long live the Empire!”

  * * * * *

  The Verity sat in the charged gases of a planetary nebula and waited. It had been raiding commercial shipping in the area and four missile corvettes had been sent to investigate. These were familiar models known as darts for their long sensor probe off their nose. Four of them were sniffing around, looking for the Verity. One of them was about to stick his nose into the nebula near where the Verity sat watching.