“Fleet Command must’ve been in agony trying to figure out how to evacuate these colonists,” Gallant speculated aloud. “The UP warships are stretched thin trying to defend the colonists and the inner planets. They dispatched a small cover force hoping it would be enough, but events seldom unfold as expected in war, and while you can always hope for salvation, sometimes the enemy gets the upper hand.”
“Orders, sir?” the OOD asked.
CHAPTER 14
We Fight
“A hell of a way to blunder into a battle—outflanked and outgunned,” Gallant complained.
“Could’ve been worse,” quipped Chief Howard.
That bravado might have dissolved Gallant’s scowl if he hadn’t been watching his tactical display that showed the situation was actually deteriorating.
“Bridge, CIC; It appears that Repulse and six destroyers are fighting a rearguard action and have come under fire from the Titans’ leading ships.”
So far the stealth technology was working; the Warrior was undetected, but the ship and its crew were facing their first real challenge.
Gallant considered his next move—fight or flight—only one would be right.
Gallant recalled his combat experiences and felt the exhilarating rush of adrenalin as he anticipated the life-or-death gamble he faced. Was this good fortune? Was this an opportunity to distinguish himself and his ship and banish those who perpetually doubted him? Would it matter to them? Or should he steer clear of this engagement and complete his vital mission, a mission Admiral Collingsworth identified as critical to the survival of the United Planets? Could he afford to place such a mission in jeopardy? Could he live with being an uninvolved bystander to what might be a massacre? Could the Warrior make a difference? Was he letting his personal concerns cloud his judgment? He needed time to weigh the options before making the decision. He despised himself for the weakness of his indecision. It was reckless to hope that luck would save the convoy and absolve him of responsibility. He hated moments of negative self-reflection when he berated himself. He wasn’t sure why he chose to engage in them, but it seemed to be part of his nature to question himself endlessly as if by doing so he would find a revelation to solve his vexing problems. He was never sure it helped, and yet . . . finally . . . in this case, he reached a decision.
With unflinching eyes, Gallant issued a series of rapid-fire orders . . .
“Helm, set course to converge on the convoy.”
“Engineering, bridge; ahead full.”
“Weapons, bridge; charge the FASER cannon.”
“Operations, bridge; increase stealth mode to maximum power.”
The Warrior converged on the battle space.
“I’m going to CIC,” said Gallant.
Roberts stood and announced, “This is Lieutenant Roberts. I have the conn.”
In CIC, Gallant stood beside Lieutenant Clay and examined the various displays. His technicians were already analyzing which ships had been damaged. The two made an assessment of the enemy’s strength and the Repulse’s chances to resist.
CIC reported that transports, probably filled with men, women, and children escaping from the colonies, were falling behind, closely pursued by the Titan’s lead elements of their formation.
“What’s your plan, sir?” Clay asked.
CIC was the heart of the warship’s data collection and analysis and the techs were already organizing and processing the battle space information into a form readily usable by their captain. The entire team was bustling about and sharing opinions, each certain he had the answer to whatever issue was addressed. The course, speed, and ID of each ship, friend and enemy alike, was plotted on the large tactical display in the center of the compartment. The display showed the convoy had reached the highest density of the asteroid field.
Gallant asked, “How long until they come within our weapons envelope?”
“The transports and their escorts are heading straight for Mars at maximum speed. The Titans are trailing them. At our current speed, the Warrior will intercept them in sixty-one minutes, sir,” said Clay.
A tech added, “Captain Caine’s Repulse has deployed three destroyers, led by the Ward, to his starboard and three destroyers, led by the Fletcher, to his port. The UP ships navigated through the asteroids while keeping their formation tight. But despite their best efforts, the UP transports were scattering. ”
The battle cruiser was the largest ship in the engagement and was armed with eight large anti-ship missile launchers and a dozen fighters with antimissile missiles. The destroyers carried four anti-ship missiles. All the ships had close range lasers and plasma guns.
“How far behind are the Titans?” asked Gallant.
Clay reported, “The leading elements of the Titan force are about thirty minutes behind the convoy and its escort. I’m surprised the Titans are letting individual ships run ahead of the formation. They normally conduct elaborate, well-coordinated maneuvers. The commander of this force is acting as if he’s desperate to catch up with our ships despite any battle mismatch.”
“The Repulse is sweeping back and forth in front of the aliens’ course and firing long range missiles at them,” said Gallant. “That’s disrupting the enemy’s advance, and it should allow the transports to extend their lead.”
“But, as a consequence,” Clay said, “the Titans are catching up to the rearguard. They’re acting like a stalking school of sharks, though they are no longer in a disciplined formation. In fact, they look more like a long string with their fastest ships far in front. It looks like they intend to cripple as many ships as they can and leave them for annihilation later.”
Gallant scrutinized the radar scope. The pinpoint lights of the ships seemed to diminish in space. His instincts told him there was little he could do, but he was furious and frustrated at his inability to join the action. As the procession of the three formations continued, he wondered,
So much lay behind them; what lay ahead?
“Sir, the Repulse has launched a squadron of fighters to help intercept incoming missiles,” reported Clay.
The aliens launched their first missile volley, including dozens of large and small missiles. As the missiles approached the UP force, countermeasures were deployed. Decoys and chaff misdirected many of the incoming weapons. Then it was the fighters’ turn. They acquired a target and launched their AMM-3 Mongoose antimissile missiles.
“Captain Caine is coordinating maneuvers of his destroyer columns to confuse the enemy,” Clay reported. “First, he sends the Fletcher group to attack the lead cruisers and fire their missiles. As soon as those three ships begin their return, the second groups of destroyers follow the Ward in an attack run. I think it’s keeping the Titans confused and off balance.”
Despite Caine’s tactics, a Titan cruiser was streaming forward, leading a procession of ships each more powerful than the next and, with their greater speed, the aliens were bearing down on the rearguard. Caine tried to parry the Titan tactics by sending the destroyers in to dart and maneuver wildly, but the alien ships were well prepared for that strategy. Nevertheless, the Repulse blocked the way, preventing the Titans from getting at the vulnerable transports.
At that critical juncture, Caine ordered the destroyers to launch an all-out counterattack by charging at the Titan ships and launching missiles. Their mission was to protect innocent families. The destroyers fully realized they had little chance of winning against the swarming force of the enemy, but they continued to play their role. Confronted by the superior enemy forces, the UP destroyers launched their missiles and then turned to retreat to the Repulse.
As the distance between the rearguard and the Titans decreased, the aliens fired their missiles and scored some hits, damaging nearly all the UP warships. The missiles were armed with multiple warheads, each yielding several megatons of TNT.
The flight time of the UP missiles was a mere seventy seconds. Gallant could see the flashes of the exploding missiles, knowing that every hit was a dagger in th
e heart of some ship. A few alien missiles detonated near the Repulse. The first tremendous shock wave of the explosions pounded that ship. The nuclear warheads damaged the battle cruiser’s forward shield and ruptured its forward missile compartment. The communications channels were alive with frantic messages as the ships called for help.
The destroyer Fletcher, on the port side of the Repulse, directed its small band of destroyers at the leading enemy units. They exchanged laser and plasma fire at close range. The Fletcher moved hard to port, readjusting its position to meet enemy fire. The salvos were falling on target, but they did not have enough forces to cover their flanks, so the enemy was moving around them. There was little chance of them escaping unscathed from the Titans’ withering fire.
Gallant could make out several destroyers running directly at a Titan cruiser, firing and then running back to the convoy. After taking a hit, one destroyer slowed and fell behind. It became easy prey for the following Titans. The hapless ship struggled to get away, but it was marked by explosions of orange flame until the destroyer finally disappeared in a flash.
The devastating accuracy of the missile fire was disheartening to watch. Another destroyer was hit and became a frantic mess of twisted steel as the explosion could be identified millions of miles away. Consumed by white hot flames and giving off a bright illumination, the ship collapsed in on itself while it burned and died.
The destroyer Ward was firing almost blindly. The Titans were finding the range and hitting it with laser and plasma weapons over and over again. The Ward was soon consumed by the plasma blasts and disappeared from the scope.
At this distance the high magnification of the telescopic screens brought the destruction into clear view for the Warrior to witness. The wreckage of the warships was strewn everywhere. As the minutes ticked by, the pursuit from the Titan ships grew tighter, and Gallant watched as a few surviving warships made it deeper into the asteroid fields and became less visible on the radar scopes.
Gallant was aware that space combat was different than hand-to-hand ground combat. It seemed more antiseptic, and yet death was just as final. The unheard screams of individuals dying from hot plasma burns were as real as a knife plunging into a chest. Whether from flames, shock, shrapnel, shredding armor, burning steel, or vaporization, all ended with the same death rattle.
A Titan cruiser opened fire, and the nearest UP destroyer closed range while maintaining a parallel course. It was joined by two more destroyers, and their shots wreaked havoc on the enemy. The UP force moved its ships counterclockwise to extend the distance between them and the main body of the Titan forces, but that caused sudden chaos in their formation. It enabled the Titan destroyers to move even closer to continue their devastating fire. The battle dragged on into a collection of skirmishes between the widely disbursed ships, each fighting its own hellish battle. The individual captains launched the ships themselves as weapons to try to protect the fleeing civilians.
The attacking Titans split into several divisions with the main force about thirty light seconds ahead of the formation. The overall effect was a large number were closing on what was left of the UP rear guard. Only three destroyers and the badly damaged Repulse remained.
The compressed battle space dictated by the aliens’ movements resulted in a great deal of damage to the rear guard. However, the Titans were completely disorganized as a result of the combat and the chaotic pursuit and the Repulse continued to aggressively threaten the advance of its Titan pursuers.
The forces were separated by over a million miles, a full seven light seconds, and the aliens were able to fire their missiles more effectively because the missile flight time was sixty-four seconds to target. The heavily armored ships with powerful shields could minimize the blast effects of the nuclear-tipped missiles using speed and distance. They were only within the vicinity of explosions for a minuscule fraction of time, but even though most of the blast dissipated into empty space, there was enough heat plasma to do damage to nearby ships.
The Titans fired missile clusters to increase the energy density of their warhead explosions. The tremendous explosions near one of the destroyers knocked it out of action. The missile compartment ruptured and rendered its weapons system useless. The rest of the ships continued. Antimissile missiles from the destroyers were strewn in the path of the remaining missiles.
Gallant was able to distinguish dozens of missiles from the UP warships that appeared to disable or damage several Titan ships. The UP force was putting up a brave fight. He watched as the Repulse swung hard to port, changing its course to avoid being an easy target for the Titan missiles. The follow-up missile exchange produced similar results. Ships were being battered and bruised on both sides, but the number of UP ships was being whittled down.
As missile flight time was reduced further, it didn’t allow sufficient time to deploy decoys and countermeasures. The general attack was becoming a ragged affair.
The UP force was badly damaged, but the Titan formation no longer exhibited the sharpness it had at first. Gallant saw his old ship, the Repulse, taking the brunt of the hits. She was smacked mercilessly with missiles and plasma weapons. She staggered bravely onward until she finally began to slow. The battle of superior numbers was taking its toll.
“Sir, we are five minutes from intercepting the convoy’s course,” Clay said.
The Repulse led the last two UP destroyers in a column. They began to engage the enemy to give the convoy a chance to escape. The Repulse dodged and weaved never wasting a motion.
During the action the slowest transport had fallen behind the rest of the convoy. It became a target for Titan missiles and suffered a long distance missile hit. As a result, it slowed even more.
“Sir, many of the enemy ships are damaged and withdrawing, but there is one enemy cruiser maneuvering to cut off the damaged transport,” reported a tech.
There was little that the damaged Repulse could do without abandoning the rest of the convoy.
Damn, Gallant thought.
He strained his eyes, staring at the console and the view screen to evaluate his options.
“Captain, are you going to support the convoy escorts?” Clay’s overwrought voice raised the question and challenged Gallant.
Gallant was torn. He wanted to support the Repulse, but that might mean exposing the Warrior to damage or destruction without completing her mission. He questioned his right to make such a choice. It would be one thing to sacrifice his own life, but would it be right to sacrifice every person in his crew?
He couldn’t just watch and let the Titans destroy the damaged transport filled with colonists. The Warrior had to save that ship somehow. There must be something he could do without compromising his mission.
Closer and closer the cloaked Warrior drew to the unsuspecting Titan ship that was attacking the damaged transport. Gallant worked her into position to stop the enemy before it intercepted the transport. Inch by inch the Warrior crept in stealth mode until she was on one side of the transport, and the stalking Titan cruiser was on the other side firing its laser into her.
He had one advantage, one card to play—the FASER cannon.
Gallant came to a fateful decision: A bold stroke might pay off.
“Deactivate stealth mode—drop cloak,” he ordered.
The bridge crew stared at him with grim faces.
“Deactivate stealth and drop cloak; aye aye, sir,” said Howard. A touch of the screen and it was done. The Warrior was now exposed. But it was sitting behind the transport and, as a result, it was momentarily shielded from the Titan cruiser’s direct line of sight.
In space warfare you can run or fight, but you must choose quickly because you can’t hide for long. The enemy will know where you are the moment you fire. Shooting in battle is mostly automated by computers that calculate the best possible firing range and angle.
Currently, the remaining attacking Titans had their attention focused on the Repulse and continued to fire at her and the
damaged transport. They wanted the Repulse, and they wouldn't accept less. As a result, they were ignoring the newly materialized sloop.
“Excuse me, captain,” McCall said loudly, “but I am obliged to point out that you are violating our orders and jeopardizing our mission.”
Gallant was surprised at her sudden appearance on the bridge. “Yes, I know,” he said.
“The admiral’s going to skin your hide for this,” McCall whispered.
“I’m sure he will. Stand by to fire FASER.”
“Let’s get them. Mark range. Check bearing,” said Clay.
The range was decreasing, and the potential for exposure was increasing.
“Give me the target’s range and speed,” Gallant ordered.
“Bearing, mark.”
“Set.”
“Mark.”
They were moving into firing range. The cruiser’s miscalculation of the situation left it vulnerable. The aiming and firing circuits automatically adjusted for the travel time of several light seconds and angled the cannon to intercept the target when the beam reached it.
“FASER ready, sir.”
“Fire!”
The ship shuddered from the powerful cannon.
The flash emanated from the Warrior and streaked to its target at the speed of light.
The target practice paid off; the energy beam struck the cruiser. He couldn’t see the target from the view screen, but CIC reported a hit amidships.
The enemy’s engine room erupted, and the cruiser staggered before exploding into a red-orange ball as flammable material within the ship ignited. A great mushroom of white ash and debris was emitted. There was no sound in space, but witnesses to the event felt as if they had heard a monstrous roar.
“We must have hit a magazine,” said a tech.
He wasn’t trying to eliminate the ship outright; he wanted to cripple it sufficiently to allow them to escape safely.
“Bearing to next cruiser,” ordered Gallant, preparing to continue firing, but before he could select a new target CIC reported, “Sir, the Titans appear to be breaking off.”
Henry Gallant and the Warrior (The Henry Gallant Saga Book 3) Page 8
