by Ryan Krauter
“I’m sorry, Sirian,” the admiral continued. “The orders say ‘best speed’ for everyone, and you’ll be dragging the rear the way it is. I’m sending coordinates to target for arrival in the system. I’m having the Crusaders go to various points a little bit farther in the system than the fleet will appear so that you can coordinate our initial movements.”
“Understood,” said Elco, even though he didn’t. Not really, at least. This seemed like it was doomed to failure. There were known Priman forces at Anderson, and the Ninth was in no condition for a serious engagement. It was almost as if they were being set up to fail. There had to be a way to swing the odds back towards his people…
“Captain Elco,” Captain Lazaf said by way of greeting as he entered the Confed Captain’s quarters. “We’re in normal space again, and I don’t see a planet, so this can’t be the Waterpark.”
“Oh, were it that simple,” Elco replied wearily. “Have a seat,” and he pointed to the chair on the other side of the desk where he sat.
“We’re just received new orders, and I’m afraid you’ll have to stick with us for another half day or so.”
Lazaf remained impassive. “If that’s the way it is, I can’t complain too loudly, since I’m the passenger on your ship.”
“I wanted you to know so that you could tell your people that you’ll be late,” Elco said casually, “and perhaps why.”
Lazaf looked confused. “You don’t need to justify operational matters to me, of course.”
“Well, I thought you should know we’re going to meet up with the rest of our fleet in the Anderson system. We’ve been told to not expect heavy resistance because there are no known Priman forces in the area.”
“But you know what happened to my forces!” Lazaf said, louder than he realized he had.
“I told my commanding officers that,” Elco said, “but it was a directive from higher than us. So, I thought you might want to arrange a pickup so you don’t have to go fight with us.”
“Let me talk to my people, Captain,” Lazaf said, “and see what I can arrange.”
Doctor Elrad had kicked Loren out of her office in Sickbay, but told him to report to one of the recovery rooms for a full night’s sleep. He had offered to compromise and sleep in her office so that he’d be the first to hear any progress on the DNA weapon, but she stood her ground.
So, he’d left and wandered the ship, as was his custom these days. What with Avenger traveling in hyperspace, he couldn’t try to talk to Cassie and tell her they were working on a cure as they spoke. That left him with preparing for whatever lie ahead at Anderson, and he’d found himself in C3. Lieutenant Commander Mastruk was off duty, but reported in shortly after he arrived. He suspected she’d left orders for someone to contact her if he showed up.
“Glad to see you made it back, XO,” Mastruk said as she walked up to him.
“Good to be back,” he replied. “I thought I’d stop by and review our plans for the recon of the Anderson system.” He gestured at the wall monitor he had been tapping commands onto. “With our latest torpedo guidance upgrades, it looks like we can fire and forget once again.”
Mastruk gave him the eye. “I suppose I wouldn’t be the first person to say you should probably be in Sickbay and not here?”
“No, you wouldn’t,” he said cheerfully. “But we’ll be in Anderson in two hours, and I’ll be damned if I could sleep right now.” He pointed at the monitor. “Care to review the ops plan?”
After a quick drop back into normal space to let Captain Lazaf call his forces one last time, Avenger was back in hyperspace, speeding towards the assigned entry point in the Anderson system.
All was quiet on the bridge as Captain Elco sat in his chair, Loren occupying the XO’s station across the aisle from him. Since they had a few minutes yet, Loren had Lieutenant Commander Mastruk getting C3 up to speed while he got one last brief from the Captain. Besides, C3 was just a long flight of stairs away from each side of the bridge, so it wasn’t as though he had far to go.
“So that’s the way we’ll play it, Loren,” Elco finished as he dragged icons around his desk screen. “Target the biggest ships first, let the Intruders and Marauders go at anything destroyer sized or smaller. I’ll call out any changes over the link from up here, and be ready for any changes in our force distribution if Admiral Illam wants to shift us around.” He glanced at his XO one last time, noting the left arm in a sling and the overall worn out look of the man. “And I promise to not tell Doctor Elrad you’re up here.”
After thanking the captain for his discretion, Loren hobbled down the starboard stairway and into C3. He made his way over to the command platform, stopping to check in on the crewmembers who were working the floor consoles along the way.
“Ready as we’ll ever be,” Mastruk said to him as he approached her. He cinched up his gunbelt, something that was most likely not required in a capital ship engagement. Still, it felt good after the last few days to have his SSK on his hip, and it was his right as a senior officer anyway.
He stood there and watched the timer count down, and finally, as though the ship knew he couldn’t wait any longer, Avenger reverted to realspace about a third of the way into the Anderson system, mag-shield powered up and passive sensors on maximum. They appeared to be alone.
Cory’s Intruders streamed out of the starboard hangar, while Merritt’s Vipers did the same on the port side. In just over a minute, all twenty-four fighters were out of Avenger and forming up under her belly.
Cory looked at her screens, then double checked that Avenger’s datalink info was on her screen as well. There didn’t appear to be any Priman forces in sight. That wasn’t saying all that much with passive sensors, but she’d take it for now at least.
Together, Avenger and her escorts coasted in towards the inhabited planet, electronic eyes and ears open for any sign of trouble. Cory knew, as her fighters began to open the distance from Avenger, that there were several other Crusaders doing the exact same thing in other parts of the system in advance of the main body of the Ninth Fleet.
Minutes passed, and she began to feel a growing sense of disappointment. The ships of the Ninth began to arrive in small formations, heading inwards to Anderson itself and the various stations and moons around her. Still no sign of the enemy. There was at least a Priman garrison here, plus, why would they have been sent here if not for the possibility of more Primans? It made no sense to waste their time if there was no enemy to fight.
Then, the enemy revealed themselves.
Captain Elco saw it in the holo display only a split second after Ensign Caho barked out the multiple contacts showing on her raw data feed at the sensor station. There were dozens of Priman ships reverting from hyperspace, their maneuvers intricately timed and headings laid in to put them on intercept courses with the various Confed groups.
“Someone knew we were coming,” Elco stated the grimly obvious.
“And they had a spotter in-system who was feeding them coordinates,” added Caho from behind him.
“Options?” he asked her as he got up out of his chair and walked a few steps forward to the main holo field.
“It looks like they’re isolating certain groups of ships,” said Caho. “They have units going towards certain parts of the main fleet, but not trying to circle it. Every Crusader, including us, has multiple enemies closing in them.”
“Helm,” barked Elco, “find us a heading that leads us away from our pursuers.”
“Recommend port twenty degrees, nose down thirty, Captain.”
“Do it,” Elco replied. “Full power to the engines as well.”
He hit the tab to call Loren in C3. “XO, we’re going to make a run for either open space or another Confed ship. Keep our fighters close and see if you can’t lighten up our pursuers a bit.”
“Will do,” replied Loren, and he had Mastruk work on a fire plan for the torpedoes and main batteries. Meanwhile, Loren called Cory and Merritt and got them in the loo
p on which Priman ship they were going to concentrate fire on when everybody was in range.
Loren heard the tone that signaled Avenger was launching torpedoes, and he glanced up at a display to see a rear camera view of four of the large weapons racing away from the ship, which was still encased in the sensor-foiling mag shield.
The Intruders and Talons peeled off to set up for a run on their pursuers. Loren spared a glance at his own holo field in C3, and it wasn’t a pretty picture. The main body of the fleet was being attacked on three sides as the Primans tried to shepherd them towards the planet in order to pin them against it. Small elements as well as the individual Crusaders were being targeted as well, though others had ended up much closer to their Priman pursuers than Avenger had. With the battle happening in the inner system and capital ships all around, the hyperdrive wasn’t an option because of all the mass shadows and ECM that was destabilizing the hyper fields. They’d have to run far enough away to get their fields stable.
Loren saw a Crusader explode in a brilliant flash as it was pounded by a half dozen Priman ships. The Ninth was now fully engaged, battleships opening up with their multitude of laser batteries and torpedo tubes, but there were many more enemy cruisers than Confed battleships.
Things were happening so fast, Loren knew this was a bad situation. Avenger and a few of her four Priman pursuers were in the long range weapons envelope, and Mastruk ordered off another volley of torpedoes just as the Priman long range lasers started to come in. They sparkled off the ship’s shields, and the shield strength meter began its’ relentless decline. All four torpedoes of the last barrage had been concentrated on a single ship, and two of them found their mark within a second of each other, shredding the bow of a Priman cruiser. It pulled out of the chase venting flames and debris, but Loren could see it wasn’t out of the fight for good.
On the bridge, Elco was resigned to an ugly fight. The one thing he had going for him was his new friend, Captain Lazaf, who was sitting in the XO’s chair.
“Well, Captain,” Elco started, “I think now would be a good time, don’t you?”
“Hate to keep them waiting,” he replied, and with a few taps on the screen at his desk, sent a coded message off into space.
Loren had just discovered another nasty surprise: in addition to their long range lasers, the Primans had been working on their own torpedo technology. That was evidenced by the dozen torpedoes charging at Avenger from the Priman formation.
“I thought the Primans didn’t use torpedoes!” Mastruk cursed.
“Somebody needs to explain that to them,” Loren replied.
The Priman torpedo was a virtual copy of the Talaran device, something that Commander Tash had ordered done as soon as he came into power. Since the Primans had taken so much Talaran space, they had plenty of the weapons to examine and test. Upgraded with some of their own tech and launched from hardpoint mounted launchers, Priman vessels were now using the same type of weapon that the Confeds had sent their way with such enthusiasm.
“Make sure our turrets are prioritized in point defense mode, not anti aircraft!” Loren shouted quickly to one of the weapons officers, who gave him a nod and got right to it. Outside on the surface of Avenger, the three barreled gatling-style cannons swiveled and pivoted around on their mounts, sending great bursts of rapid-fire laser blasts out in attempts to shoot down incoming torpedoes.
“What’s the yield on one of those torpedoes, you think?” Mastruk asked Loren.
“Well, if they’re like ours, probably in the single digit kiloton range, I’d imagine,” he replied grimly. “Let’s hope we can shoot them down.”
He watched the large holo as the battle unfolded. In the main fleet, the Confed ships were trying to close up ranks so the Primans couldn’t pick off individual ships easily. The Primans seemed content to swat at the Confeds from a distance and not get too close, so the Ninth was holding formation and maneuvering as a unit. He saw two Priman cruisers going up in flames at the same time and felt some relief until he saw a Confederation class cruiser doing the same.
Cory’s Intruders had launched on a Priman cruiser, and they had scored a few telling hits. It, too, pulled out of the chase, as it was forced to dodge torpedoes and deal with damage done. Now the fighters were left to fend off their Priman counterparts so they could make it back to the safety of Avenger.
Loren was about to ask for an update on their plan from Captain Elco when he saw more new contacts coming in-system. There were a good two dozen of them, all cruiser size or better. His heart began to sink as he realized there was no way they were going to outrun or outfight that many Primans.
“XO!” Mastruk yelled excitedly, “those new contacts are Talaran!”
Elco and Lazaf had hatched a plan. Elco felt like he was being led into a bad situation. Lazaf wanted revenge. They figured the best way to get both was to redirect that Talaran force heading to the Waterpark to pick up Captain Lazaf. A quick comm call from Lazaf had met with enthusiastic response, and they’d agreed Elco and Lazaf would signal the Talarans when it was time to make their appearance.
The Talarans reverted to realspace behind the Priman positions in many cases, and began their own pursuit. The hunters had just become the hunted. Now the fleet formations began to break apart, as elements of three different militaries started shooting in earnest. The Ninth Fleet broke up into three separate forces, each centered around at least one battleship or Sabre class carrier. The arrival of the Talarans shifted the numerical advantage slightly to the Confeds, but their ships were more worn down than the Primans from the outset.
Torpedoes flashed across space as all three sides fired the weapons at each other. Guidance systems operated with moderate reliability, but the sheer amount of ECM and electronic distortion still caused many to just fly off into space.
Avenger took another series of laser blasts across her aft dorsal area, just short of her rear torpedo tubes. Catching a weak spot in overlapping shield segments, most of the high powered blasts got through to the hull. The armor held, though in some spots it was already deeply pitted and gouged. Designed to be replaced relatively quickly at a shipyard, the large external armor plates that covered most of Avenger’s hull were designed to take just such a punishment, but not forever.
Elco winced at the displays in C3 as he saw his ship take damage. She was giving better then she got so far, and Elco could see the damage pile up on a Priman cruiser. It was off Avenger’s port side at the high end of main battery range, and his main turrets hadn’t stopped firing since the whole thing started.
A series of violent blasts rocked the ship, and he glanced at the big status board at the rear of the bridge. They’d just taken a couple direct hits on the main gun deck, losing a laser battery and two AA/point defense turrets. The mag shield was losing efficiency and didn’t have much time left before it collapsed, but every second helped make it harder for the Primans to target the ship.
He wished the Primans would take more of an interest in some of the other ships here, but they all seemed obsessed with the Crusaders…
Aboard the Enkarran ship Union, Captain Josias Krent watched the battle with interest. Not all that long ago, he would have been on the other side of this duel. But now, fortune had turned on his people, and he had sworn his allegiance to the Confederation in the hopes of stopping the Priman threat to the galaxy. He watched as a volley of his torpedoes found their mark on a Priman ship, sending great pieces of the enemy ship floating off into space followed by flames and venting oxygen.
His crew was performing well. Better than they’d been in months, frankly, and he could only assume it was that they were at least back doing what they knew how to do best- fight an enemy. Wandering space all alone, working the fringes for survival; that had been demoralizing for them. But now, even with their lives at risk, they seemed full of purpose and energy.
He scanned the screens and saw the ship he was interested in- Avenger. She was actually not that far from the Union. Th
e Enkarran elements had split off at the same time the Ninth had broken up, hoping to draw off some Priman pursuers, but they just didn’t seem that interested in going after Enkarrans. So, he’d ordered his ships off to render aid to the Crusaders that seemed to be on the receiving end of so much Priman attention. He ordered the Union off to help Avenger.
Admiral Illam, in command of the Ninth, had watched his elements get pushed around for too long. He’d programmed in a complex maneuver that he fervently hoped would work.
At a precise time, all three of the major Ninth Fleet elements changed course and speed and raced to a phase line he’d entered. As they got there, Priman ships in pursuit, the Confed elements scattered amongst each other and reformed into two groups, which were also on new courses. These new groups went after Priman ships in the minutes after the maneuver, singling out a ship or two at a time as the Primans tried to decide what they should do in response; as a consequence, the Priman formations became loose and less effective .
By then, the Talarans were in the thick of it, and they fought with a reckless abandon as they avenged their fallen comrades by getting in their licks on any Priman ship they could find. Actually, the coordinated attacks of the Confed forces combined with the random assaults by the Talarans were quite effective, and the Primans, who now realized they had become outnumbered, settled into a more traditional formation-based attack which was meant to keep firing distances open and preserve their numbers as much as possible, a classic ‘Immune Zone’ tactic which gave their own defenses the best odds of working well while leaving all their own weapons in range of the enemy. The Confeds, whose ships had already taken a pounding, were happy to settle in for a battle of attrition at the moment, and the two fleets squared off, maneuvering to get within long range laser and torpedo distance for just long enough to launch, then back off to a safer range until they were ready to try again.
