The Price of Liberty (Empire Rising Book 4)

by D. J. Holmes

  “Patrol ships lying in stealth to ambush any stray Havenite ships that tried to return to Haven from Independence,” James guessed. “I can’t imagine they were prepared to have an entire fleet bearing down on them.”

  “It doesn’t look like they are going to make it,” Mallory said as he studied their acceleration profiles. “Cunningham has already built up too much speed.”

  The accelerating British fleet made it into missile range of the fleeing Indian patrols. Sixty-four missiles shot from Cunningham’s ships and closed with the Indians. From their acceleration profiles Malik had identified the three ships as one destroyer and two frigates. Spread out as they were, they were unable to support each other. As Cunningham’s missiles caught up with them, they disappeared off the plot.

  That’s a start, James thought as the last ship exploded. We still have a long way to go to pay the Indians back for New Delhi.

  “The main Indian fleet is making a move,” Malik called, drawing everyone’s attention to the sensor feed of Haven.

  Malik was right. The Indian battlecruiser, which they now knew was the Shiva, had broken orbit and was accelerating away from Haven. Slowly at first, but with growing coordination, almost every ship in orbit around Haven or patrolling the approaches to the planet accelerated after the Indian flagship.

  “They are fleeing,” Becket said.

  “Wouldn’t you?” Mallory commented. “Cunningham outnumbers them almost four to one. There is no hope they could survive a direct confrontation.”

  “What are those ships that aren’t moving doing?” James asked, his interest focused on the planet. The fleeing Indian ships were Cunningham’s concern.

  “Hold on,” Malik said as he studied the sensor data more closely. “It appears a number of shuttles took off from those three freighters. They headed down to the surface.”

  “They are likely unloading more supplies for the Indian soldiers,” Becket guessed. “Those freighters look pretty new, they can probably catch up with the rest of the fleet once they have finished.”

  “It’s the warships that seem to be their escorts I am concerned about,” James said. A light cruiser and two destroyers were still in orbit around Haven near to the three freighters. “If they don’t depart soon, we will have to rethink our role in this fight.”

  No one responded, they all knew the presence of the Indian warships might throw a spanner into their plans. Just what to do about them however, was up to their Captain. All too aware of this himself, James composed a quick message and sent it to Gupta by the laser COM link.

  Cunningham’s plan required them to be close to Haven. Once the Indians fled the colony, he wanted Endeavour and Discovery to dash into orbit and bombard any Indian defensive positions. James had no doubt that even as he considered his options, the Indians were evacuating many of their bases. They would know anything that could be targeted from orbit would be destroyed immediately. Whatever Indian forces were on the ground would likely be making for Liberty, the colony’s capital, so as to dig in surrounded by the safety of the Haven civilian population.

  When Gupta’s reply came back James came to a decision. “The ground targets are important,” he began. “But if we try to engage that light cruiser alongside the two destroyers we could lose both Endeavour and Discovery. It’s not a risk I’m willing to take just yet, we’ll wait and see what happens. The small squadron may boost out of orbit any moment and head after the rest of the Indian fleet.”

  No one responded, instead they watched the Indian warships as they sat in orbit around Haven, giving no indication they intended to leave any time soon.

  Fifteen minutes later James realized he had been drumming his fingers on his command chair in frustration. He clenched his hand into a fist. It wouldn’t be good for his crew to think he wasn’t perfectly calm and in control. Yet, every second they waited gave the Indian troops on the ground more time to evacuate vital supplies and munitions from their bases and get them to safety. As they watched, the shuttles that had gone down to Haven’s surface had returned to the freighters. Just when James and his crew had thought the small Indian squadron was about to break orbit, the shuttles had launched again. No doubt delivering more supplies to the Indian ground forces.

  James knew that just a number of months ago he would have launched an attack on the Indian squadron, the odds be dammed. However, his recent experiences had given him a new perspective. Endeavour and Discovery were two of the newest warships in the British fleet. The risk of losing them far outweighed any benefit that might come from destroying some Indian supplies. Destroying the supplies would likely make it easier for the British marines to retake the planet, but not so much so that it was worth spending two exploration cruisers to accomplish it. As much as he wanted to jump into action, he forced himself to sit still and wait.

  “Captain,” Lieutenant Becket called. “Look at the trajectory of the main Indian fleet. It’s been changing ever so slightly over the last five minutes, they're angling closer and closer to that series of sensor satellites that we detected. If they keep altering course, they will reach the satellites in another two hours. What do you think they’re doing? Their course corrections are bringing them closer to Cunningham’s fleet.”

  James dragged his attention away from the Indian squadron holding up his desire to attack his ground targets. Cunningham’s main fleet was still more than eight hours away from reaching the colony, nevertheless it was charging into the system as fast as it could. Rather than fleeing straight for the shift passage back to Indian colonial space, the Indian fleet looked like they wanted to fire off at least one broadside of missiles at the approaching British ships.

  James supposed it made some kind of sense. The Indian Admiral wouldn’t want to abandon the system without at least putting up a token resistance. Because the British fleet was accelerating into the system towards the Indian ships, the Indian ships would be able to open fire with their missiles before the British could return fire. It would be a tight maneuver, but the Indian Admiral could bring her ships to a halt relative to the charging British fleet, fire a broadside, and then turn and accelerate out of the path of the British ships. At best Cunningham and his ships would only be able to return fire with their forward missile tubes. Yet why go towards the satellites? James asked. Doing so only makes such a maneuver trickier.

  “Open a COM channel to Cunningham,” James almost shouted as it hit him.

  “But Captain,” Mallory said, “if we send any kind of COM message to Cunningham the Indian ships in orbit will detect it.”

  “I know,” James replied. “Send a message to Gupta over the laser COM link, let her know what I’m doing. Tell her were going with plan theta. Is that COM channel open?” James asked, turning away from Mallory towards Sub Lieutenant King.

  “Channel is open Sir,” the Sub Lieutenant replied a few seconds later.

  “Admiral, on our way into the system we detected a series of anomalies in the outer system. I’m sending you the data now. We thought they were some kind of sensor satellites. I now think they are missiles. I believe the Indians are trying to repeat the trick the Havenites used against them when they invaded the system. The Havenites had deployed hundreds of missiles in orbit around the colony. Then they fired them as one salvo at the Indian fleet. I think the Indian Admiral has a quantity of missiles located at the coordinates I’m sending you, she is bringing her fleet to those missiles so that together her ships and the missiles hidden in stealth can fire an oversized broadside. I don’t know for certain Admiral, but I think that is what she’s up to. Captain Somerville out.”

  “King, send all the sensor data we have on those anomalies we detected along with my message,” James ordered.

  “Aye Captain,” Sub Lieutenant King responded.

  “The Indian warships in orbit have detected us Captain,” Sub Lieutenant Malik said almost as soon as James had finished sending his message. “They’re breaking orbit and coming towards us.”

  Chap
ter 25 – A Short Sharp Action

  The War of Doom was the first interstellar war that saw multiple major battles fought across more than fifty systems. That it gave birth to the Empire’s Navy was fitting for it set the stage for what was to come.

  -Excerpt from Empire Rising, 3002 AD

  HMS Endeavour, Haven System

  “Helm, take us onto a new heading of one four seven point eight, full thrusters,” James ordered as soon as the Indian ships began to move. “Let’s see if we can get out of missile range before they can do any serious damage to us,”

  “Aye Captain,” Sub Lieutenant Jennings replied. Her tone of voice suggested she wasn’t entirely convinced that Endeavour could outrun the Indian ships.

  As Endeavour accelerated away from Haven, the Indian ships gave chase. “Discovery is not following us?” Mallory said with a raised eyebrow as he looked at his captain.

  “No,” James replied innocently. “It looks like she isn’t.”

  A feral smile crept across Mallory’s face. “I see,” he said.

  “Missile launch,” Malik shouted. “The three Indian warships have fired their forward missile tubes. We have eight missiles incoming. It looks like those three Indian freighters are also breaking orbit, they’re heading is putting them on a direct course for the shift passage back to Indian colonial space.”

  “I bet they’re getting out of here before any more British ships spontaneously show up,” Mallory said.

  “Keep tracking those missiles,” James said. “As the Indian warships pass by Discovery, Gupta is going to open fire with her plasma cannons. As soon as she does we are going to turn and engage them with our port missile tubes. I want two penetrator missiles loaded as we wait.”

  With orders to follow, time passed quickly for the rest of the bridge crew. For James, it ticked by ever so slowly as he watched the Indian missiles gain on his ship. “Fire our stern missile tubes at the lead Indian destroyer,” he ordered. They’ll swat our missiles away easily, he thought. But at least it will keep their attention on us.

  “Missiles away,” Becket reported. “We’ll engage the Indian missiles in sixty seconds.”

  James had full confidence in his Third Lieutenant. Becket had proven herself time and time again when it came to handling Endeavour’s point defenses. Eight missiles were a lot for her rear point defenses to engage, but with the aid of the flak cannons they shouldn’t pose too much of a threat. “Prepare to throw the ship into evasive maneuvers,” James said to Sub Lieutenant Jennings all the same.

  “Opening fire with the flak cannon,” Becket reported seconds before both of Endeavour’s cannons hurled explosive rounds into space.

  The eight Indian missiles were reduced to five as they passed through the first wave of shrapnel. The second wave took out another two. Point defense plasma cannon bolts and AM missiles reached out to take out the remaining three missiles. Two of them were quickly destroyed, but the third proved to be elusive. As it jinked around to avoid Becket’s fire, it got closer and closer to the exploration cruiser.

  “Evasive maneuvers,” James shouted seconds before the missile got close enough to detonate.

  “Got it,” Becket shouted just before Jennings could engage the maneuver she had set up. One of the last AM missiles Becket launched scored a grazing hit on the Indian missile, throwing it off course and causing it to detonate. The missile had been close enough to send a slight tremor through Endeavour as some of the explosive force washed over the ship.

  A number of alarms on the bridge went off as sensors on the outer hull detected the heat and intense electromagnetic radiation that washed over the ship. Quickly the bridge crew silenced the alarms as they began to query the sensor readings to ascertain how much damage the cruiser had taken.

  “It looks like we’re in the clear,” Second Lieutenant Julius said over the COM channel from the auxiliary bridge. “A couple of our point defense plasma cannons are reporting malfunctions. I suspect some of their circuity has been fried. Apart from that, I’m not receiving any significant damage reports.”

  “Very good Lieutenant,” James responded. “Send repair teams to look at those point defenses, I suspect we are going to need every plasma cannon operational before the end of the day.”

  “I’ve already sent the orders Captain, I will update you on their progress,” Julius replied.

  “More missile launches,” Malik said. “The Indians have launched another eight missiles at us.”

  “It should only be a couple more minutes until the Indian warships get into range of Discovery’s heavy plasma cannons,” Mallory said.

  “She won’t open fire as soon as they get into range,” James informed everyone on the bridge. “Gupta will wait until the Indian warships pass her before she engages. That way, the Indian ships won’t have time to return fire. Prepare to turn the ship. As soon as Gupta opens fire I want to bring all our point defenses to bear on this next Indian salvo. With a full complement of point defense plasma cannons and AM missiles, we should be able to dispatch eight more Indian missiles with ease.”

  James didn’t have to say what everyone else was thinking, if they had to try and shoot down another eight Indian missiles with just the rear facing point defenses, it might get a little dicey.

  As the Indian missiles closed on Endeavour, James had to grip his fingers together to stop himself from drumming on his command chair. He silently willed Discovery to open fire. The longer the delay, the closer the Indian warships got to entering engagement range with Endeavour. He wanted to turn his ship to be able to engage them with all his point defenses, but he knew if he did, it would alert the Indians that something was going on. There was no way one exploration cruiser would stand up to an Indian light cruiser and two destroyers on its own.

  “Turn the ship,” James shouted as soon as he saw an explosion rip through one of the Indian destroyers. “Engage those Indian missiles with everything we’ve got.”

  Eight new contacts appeared on the holo plot as Discovery followed up her heavy plasma bolts with eight missiles directed at the second Indian destroyer. The first was already spinning out of formation and her acceleration profile was radically decreasing, suggesting that either her engines or her reactors had been destroyed by the heavy plasma bolts bursting through the warship.

  Discovery’s attack had come just in the nick of time, as Endeavour turned to face the eight missiles approaching her Becket opened fire with the flak cannons. James suddenly found his attention split between the defense of his ship and the battle Gupta was fighting.

  His flak cannons reduced the incoming Indian missiles to four. Then space around the remaining Indian missiles was filled with green plasma bolts and fiery explosions as Becket hurled plasma cannon fire and AM missiles at her targets. Meanwhile, the eight missiles Gupta had launched rapidly closed the short distance to the Indian destroyer. Caught by surprise, the Indian light cruiser was unable to re-orientate itself to bring its point defenses to bear on the British missiles to help its smaller consort. Left almost entirely on its own, the destroyer struggled to take out Gupta’s missiles. Two of them came diving in towards the destroyer. Only a last-minute evasive maneuver caused both missiles to overshoot their target. Both missiles exploded less than fifty meters away from the destroyer. As the twin thermonuclear explosions bathed the destroyer in a wave of destructive force it was tossed about like a ragdoll.

  “That was the last one,” Becket announced, drawing James’ attention back to his own ship. A series of plasma bolts had struck the last Indian missile, causing it to explode harmlessly out of range of his ship.

  “Good shooting,” James commended. “Now open fire on that light cruiser. We need to take it out before she hammers Discovery.”

  Taking advantage of the brief lull in the fighting, James replayed the visual feed from Gupta’s initial attack on the Indian ships. Studying it closely, he saw that four of Discovery’s heavy plasma cannon bolts had been targeted at the destroyer that was now tumb
ling back towards Haven. The other two warships had each been hit by one bolt. Gupta had obviously been hoping to score a lucky hit. Perhaps the one bolt that had hit the second Indian destroyer had allowed her follow-up missile salvo to so easily break through its point defenses.

  A series of beeps from his command chair alerted him to a group of new contacts on the gravimetric plot. “It looks like that light cruiser is still very much in one piece,” Mallory said. He too had been reviewing the optical feed of Gupta’s attack.

  Seconds later four more contacts appeared on the gravimetric plot to join the twelve that were already accelerating towards Discovery. “That second destroyer is not out of the fight yet either,” James said.

  “Firing,” Becket announced over the sound of the sensors.