by D. J. Holmes
“Unacceptable,” Rooke said. “You have no way of guaranteeing that Admiral Khan will follow us. He may very well turn around and engage the ships we detach from our fleet. I’m not going back to the Admiralty to tell them that I lost a full third of the fleet they gave me.”
“Are there any other serious suggestions?” Rooke said with a hint of desperation in his voice. “We need to act fast.”
No one else seemed willing to speak up. Mallory wanted to put forward his suggestion again, but he knew that there was no way Rooke was going to listen to anything he had to say.
“Then it settled,” Rooke said, “we’re going to try and beat Khan’s fast fleet to New Delhi. If we get a chance, we will strike at the colony when we get there. If not, at least we will get the fleet home in one piece. We can be reinforced by the Home Fleet and then accomplish our real mission, liberating Haven. You are all dismissed, I’ll be issuing orders to the fleet almost immediately.” With that, the image of Rooke disappeared.
For a moment, nobody else moved. Mallory glanced at the other Captains, it looked like one or two of them wanted to object. Without saying a word, Captain Valance held up her hands in a conciliatory fashion. Mallory knew just what she meant, she was going to try and talk to Rooke. Understanding her actions, one by one, the other Captains disappeared.
“Unbelievable,” James said as Mallory disconnected from the conference. “He’s so scared of being defeated by the Indians that he is going to risk some of our ships being destroyed by stray cosmic particles.”
“I don’t think he’s thinking straight,” Mallory said.
“No,” James replied. “But he is the ranking officer, and no one else was willing to stand up to him, nor even suggest another course of action. You did all you could. Thank you. I know it might come back to hurt you if Rooke stays in command of the fleet.”
“I was just doing my duty,” Mallory said.
“Well you have a lot more to do yet, I suggest you go back to the bridge. New orders may be coming in any moment now,” James said. “Let’s just hope Valance is able to talk some sense into Rooke.”
As Mallory stood to leave he wasn’t sure who doubted the possibility more, himself or James.
Chapter 13 – Rear Guard
To leave an Imperial warship behind to fall into enemy hands is almost unthinkable.
-Excerpt from Empire Rising, 3002 AD
24th July 2467AD, HMS Endeavour, Kharo system
Instead of orders coming in immediately, there was almost a five minute delay. Mallory hoped that Captain Valance had managed to talk some sense into Rooke. His hopes were dashed when the orders finally arrived. “The fleet is to accelerate to new velocity of 0.32c and turn towards the New Delhi shift passage,” King reported.
“Match the flagship’s velocity,” Mallory said to Sub Lieutenant Jennings.
“Captain,” Julius protested over the open COM channel to the auxiliary bridge. “That’s beyond the safety limits for almost a third of our fleet.”
“Any one of those ships could be destroyed by a stray cosmic particle, and the radiation alone could kill their crews,” Becket added from the tactical console on the bridge. “I can’t believe it,” she continued after looking at her console, “the ships at risk include one of the heavy and three medium cruisers, if there is a cosmic particle strike, one of them could be destroyed.
“Even if they are just damaged, they will fall back into reach of the Indians. I know what our orders mean Lieutenants,” Mallory said. “My orders stand however.”
Since Mallory’s unwanted promotion, Julius and Becket had taken a step up the ladder as well. He had been encouraging both of them to be more involved in his decision-making process as he wanted to make sure he had considered every point of view before he made any decisions. Now was not the time for consulting with them though.
“Rear Admiral Rooke has already made up his mind, this is how it’s going to be,” he continued. “We need to do everything we can to help the fleet. At least, with this new velocity we will be able to out run the Indian fleet back to New Delhi. And the slower ships will be unfurling their gaseous shields. Hopefully, that will provide them with some protection.”
Mallory had been looking at Becket as he spoke, it looked like she wanted to say more but Mallory shook his head to cut her off. The bridge was not the place to air their concerns about the Rear Admiral.
It looked like Rooke’s decision was going to pay off. The fleet accelerated to its new velocity, and the projections Endeavour’s computer showed on the holo display suggested that the fleet would get to the shift passage to New Delhi about an hour and a half ahead of the Indian fleet.
Then, as everyone feared, reports came in from some of the ships in the fleet. At least three of them were reporting dangerous levels of radiation. A warship’s valstronium armor provided protection from the radiation they encountered traveling at significant velocities and the remote chance that a ship would cross the path of a cosmic particle. Though space was largely empty, it wasn’t a complete void. Traveling at a significant percentage of the speed of light, even being struck by a small particle could be disastrous as the energies involved were immense.
“We are receiving a fleet wide communication from the flagship,” Sub Lieutenant King announced. “The fleet will continue at its current velocity; all ships’ doctors are hereby ordered to take whatever means they deem necessary to protect their crews from higher than normal levels of radiation.”
“Forward the message to Dr. Anderson,” Mallory said. “Though I doubt we will have to worry about such things.”
For the next twenty minutes the bridge was largely quiet as each of the officers contemplated their counterparts who found themselves on ships that didn’t enjoy the latest technologies Endeavour was equipped with. She was able to maintain speeds of up to 0.38c; the current velocity of the fleet was well within her operational limits.
“The frigate Kittyhawk is spinning out of formation,” the sensor officer shouted. “She is on a collision course with us.”
“Emergency maneuvers now!” Mallory shouted to Jennings.
Everyone was pushed back into their chairs as the inertial compensators took a millisecond to catch up with the new forces Jennings demanded from Endeavour’s engines.
Almost as soon as the sensor officer announced Kittyhawk’s problem, the holo display shifted to show the frigate. For a few tense moments it looked like Jennings had chosen the wrong course correction. Then, at the last moment, Jennings carried out her final turn, banking away from danger. With a sigh, Mallory sat back in his command chair, he hadn’t realized that he’d jumped to his feet after the initial burst of acceleration. They had just scraped by the stricken frigate.
“What happened to her?” he demanded.
“The flagship has just sent a COM message to Kittyhawk requesting a status update,” King said. “We should be getting a response any time now.”
When the response came in, Mallory wasn’t surprised in the least. Kittyhawk had suffered a cosmic particle strike. The particle had blasted its way through the frigate’s valstronium armor and punctured one of the power conduits between her reactors and one of her impulse engines. The engine had cut out, throwing the frigate into a spin.
“Kittyhawk has stabilized herself,” the sensor officer on duty reported. “She’s turning though, looks like she is heading back into the system, towards the gas mining stations orbiting the seventh planet.”
“So that is to be the fate of any ship that falls behind,” Becket said to the bridge.
Mallory knew he should reprimand her, it wasn’t her place to make such comments. Yet he couldn’t bring himself to do it.
“Where is she going?” Sub Lieutenant Scott asked from her position at the tactical console assisting Becket.
“She’s going to attack the gas mining stations,” Mallory explained. “With the damage she sustained, she’ll never be able to keep up with the fleet. At least this way, her
destruction will accomplish something.”
“A light cruiser is breaking off from the second Indian fleet. Its heading on an intercept course for the Kittyhawk,” the sensor officer reported.
“It looks like the Kittyhawk is going to make it to the gas mining station before the light cruiser catches it,” Becket said as the course and acceleration of each ship updated.
“At least she will get to do some damage to the Indians before her Captain scuttles her,” Mallory replied, not sure what else he could say.
The British fleet raced through the Kharo system, with the smaller Indian fleet behind them, and the larger Indian fleet led by Admiral Khan on a converging course. On the holo plot it looked like the British fleet formed the forward point of a slowly contracting triangle. Despite the potential danger, every eye on Endeavour’s bridge, and no doubt in the rest of the British fleet, was on the Kittyhawk.
She fired two broadsides of missiles, quickly destroying the gas mining stations. Then, as everyone expected, she disgorged escape pods. It looked like Kittyhawk’s Captain had ordered his crew to abandon ship. What happened next took Mallory by surprise. Braking hard, Kittyhawk turned into the gas giant’s atmosphere. Using the gravity from the giant planet, Kittyhawk’s Captain, who obviously hadn’t abandoned his ship, swung Kittyhawk around the stellar body and put it on a direct intercept course for the light cruiser that had been trying to catch her.
Kittyhawk fired off two salvos of missiles before the Indian light cruiser got into range with her own missiles. The light cruiser easily swatted off each of the British warship’s puny two missile salvos. In return, it fired eight missiles. Though the Captain of Kittyhawk fought his ship well and destroyed five of the incoming Indian missiles, he couldn’t stop them all. Groans escaped the officers on Endeavour’s bridge as one Indian missile exploded less than twenty meters off the frigate’s port. In the blink of an eye, another missile impacted the frigate, bored through her valstronium armor and exploded within the warship. Seconds later there was nothing left of the frigate but an expanding ball of debris.
“It was a valiant effort,” Mallory said. Though foolhardy, he thought. The chances of scoring a hit on that cruiser were very slim.
A shockwave washed over Endeavour, jerking everyone around in their harnesses and a number of alarms went off.
“What was that?” Mallory demanded as his eyes spun from one sensor display to another.
“The light cruiser Bear has gone,” the sensor officer said, the shock in his voice plain.
“What do you mean gone?” Julius demanded over the COM channel.
“She’s not there anymore,” the sensor officer reported. “She exploded, there is nothing left.”
“Are there any new commands coming in from the flagship?” Mallory asked.
“No,” King responded.
“What do we do?” Lieutenant Becket asked.
“There’s nothing we can do,” Mallory responded. “A cosmic particle must have struck one of her reactors causing an immediate overload. No one can do anything to prevent that. All we can do is pray the fleet gets to the New Delhi shift passage without any more incidents.”
Mallory didn’t say anything more; he didn’t trust himself to. Bear had been a similar size to Endeavour, the ship had had a crew of almost three hundred. They were all gone, for nothing.
Nerves on the bridge increased as everyone watched the holo plot of the British fleet with hawk like intensity. It was like waiting for an old-fashioned jack in the box to go off, no one knew which, if any, of the British ships, was going to take a cosmic particle hit next. Mallory did his best to present an air of unflappability to the bridge crew. Yet deep down he was dazed by what he was watching. On more than one occasion Captain Somerville had ordered Endeavour to exceed her maximum velocity. The first time the Captain had done so, he had been scared of a cosmic particle strike. As the Captain had managed to successfully get away with taking such risks again and again, he had begun to think that all the warnings cadets received at the naval Academy had been overplayed. Now he was seeing firsthand that they had been right. Somerville had just been lucky.
Despite the tension on Endeavour’s bridge, their worst fears didn’t materialize. Another two ships reported cosmic particle strikes, but neither suffered any serious damage. Thankfully they were able to keep up with the fleet.
“New navigational orders from the flagship,” King reported, bringing Mallory’s mind back from where it had been wandering. Over an hour had passed since the destruction of Bear. He had been so focused on watching the rest of the British fleet he hadn’t noticed that the edge of the system’s mass shadow was approaching.
“The fleet is to slow to shift speed velocities,” King continued.
Thank goodness, Mallory thought, it’s over. For now, at least. He wasn’t sure if Rooke had thought through what his decision to race the fleet to the shift passage to New Delhi meant. Khan might wait for his slower ships to catch up with his fast fleet before he continued the pursuit. However, if he didn’t, he could chase the British fleet all the way to New Delhi. There were two systems between Kharo and New Delhi. Neither of them had any colonies or any other infrastructure except a few asteroid mining installations. Yet, the British fleet would still have to pass through each system to get to the shift passage at the other side. If the Indians wanted to, they could pursue the British at the velocity that they had been tearing through the Kharo system with. It would force Rear Admiral Rooke to turn and engage the Indian fleet, or continue to force his fleet to go faster than their valstronium armor allowed.
If Mallory was in Admiral Khan’s position he knew what he would do. Rear Admiral Rooke had already shown an unwillingness to engage the Indian fleet, even if he had a slight advantage. If Mallory was Khan, he would continue to pursue the British with the faster elements of his fleet. It would force the British to travel through the next two systems the same way they had been forced to travel through the Kharo system, and the British fleet could be in tatters by the time they got to New Delhi.
*
2nd August 2467AD, HMS Endeavour, Nag Tiba system
Mallory was amazed the British fleet was still intact. Khan had done exactly what he had expected. Three hours after the British fleet had emerged into the Trisul system, the reduced Indian fleet arrived. They had accelerated to their maximum velocity of 0.32c and chased the British fleet through the system. Rooke had decided to continue to try to outrun the Indians. Another four ships had reported cosmic particle strikes, all but one of them had managed to weather the impacts. The frigate Banshee had not been so lucky; she had been destroyed in a catastrophic explosion similar to the one that destroyed Bear. After Banshee’s destruction, the British fleet made it safely to the other side of the Trisul system and escaped into shift space.
That had been three days ago. Now Mallory was sitting in Endeavour’s command chair as the British fleet accelerated through the Nag Tiba system. They had been in the Nag Tiba system for three hours and it would take them another eight to make it to the shift passage to New Delhi. Mallory was just waiting for the Indians to make an appearance.
“New contacts on the gravitational plot,” Sub Lieutenant Malik shouted. “I think the Indian fleet is arriving.”
“They’re early,” Mallory said as he sat up in his chair.
As more and more ships revealed their presence by accelerating towards the British fleet, there was no doubt that the Indians had arrived. Somehow, Admiral Khan had managed to narrow the gap with the British fleet by over an hour. Mallory guessed the Indians had found a way to improve their shift drive technology without RSNI finding out about it. It was the only explanation that accounted for the Indian’s constant ability to close the gap to the British fleet.
For thirty minutes the Indian fleet continue to accelerate up to their velocity of 0.32c, then, when everyone in the British fleet expected the Indians to cut their engines, they accelerated to 0.33c, then 0.34c, and then 0.35c.
“Their acceleration is beginning to level off,” Sub Lieutenant Malik reported. “I think 0.35c will be their new velocity.”
“They’re going to get into missile range two hours before we get to the mass shadow and the shift passage to New Delhi,” Lieutenant Becket reported.
“They’re taking a risk,” Mallory said. “Some, if not all, of their ships are going to be susceptible to cosmic particle strike now too.”
“It’s a risk I would be willing to pay,” Julius said over the COM channel. “If Khan can damage even a few of our ships with his missiles, they will fall back into his clutches. There is no way Rear Admiral Rooke will slow the fleet to protect them. The ships at the back of the fleet are going to be running an even bigger risk now.”
