Winston had to admit he hadn’t thought of that, but on retrospect it made sense. While light was the absolute speed limit, it was of course relative according to the perspective of the observer.
“Then why did we even bother firing?” the PO asked Ramirez.
“Because it all adds up,” said Ramirez in a tone that indicated that he really didn’t believe the question. “The more firepower arriving on the target within a short time period, the more chance there is that they’ll miss an intercept and we’ll get a hit.”
Winston felt his face flush as he realized the spacer was right. And he was just a clueless merchant spacer who understood nothing beyond the normal operation of a ship. No, not nothing, he thought after a moment’s reflection. I may not know anything about how to blow ships out of space, but I sure know how to fix them.
* * *
Zhukov watched the plot as Force Alpha released all of its hyper capable missiles. Now they were all but unarmed until they could get within beam range of the enemy. Normal laser range was one light minute maximum. In hyper it was much less, since photons fell out of hyper the same as material objects, just not quite as fast. At thirty light seconds only a quarter of the fired beam was left, at a light minute a sixteenth. Particle beams were worse, since they were made up of protons, in other words, matter, and the entire beam would fall out of space within five seconds. The same was true with the exploding projectiles fired by the close in weapons systems, the last line of defense. In normal space, fired at six thousand kilometers a second, they were effective to out to about sixty thousand kilometers, twelve seconds flight time. They would still take out a target at almost any range, since they would continue on more or less forever, but a hit was mostly a chance element that was unlikely to say the least. But in hyper the projectiles would only last about two seconds before falling out, a maximum range of twelve thousand kilometers.
The bridge was a swarm of activity, every station occupied, multiple holo screens over most of them. Every system on the ship was being monitored. Everything had to work during combat before hits were registered on the defending ships. Everything had to be fixed as well as possible as soon as possible after a hit.
CIC was manned as well with six more officers and enlisted techs, including the second in command. Their job was to monitor and analyze what was going on, without worrying about steering, boosting or firing ship weapons. If something happened to the bridge, if it was cut off from command functions due to damage or the destruction of the command team, CIC would take over as the new bridge.
“All stations still reporting one hundred percent,” said one of the techs manning the internal com station, which was handling all of the intraship communications going on. “Minor fluctuations in antimatter reactor two. Chief engineer tuning on the fly.”
I have a good crew, thought the Captain, looking from station to station. And we still could go up in a heartbeat if things take a turn against us.
“Missile impact with Force Bravo in two minutes, sir,” called out the Sensor Tech.
Already icons were appearing on the plot from Bravo, first the accelerating markers of offensive missiles, then the small, fast icons of counters. Outgoing wave passed incoming, and then all attention was on the battle the cruisers would have to fight to survive.
* * *
“Missile impact in two minutes,” called out the Tactical Officer of the Vincenzo, his sweat streaked face looking back at his Captain. The heavy cruiser was already bucking from the last of its launch wave. There were no more hyper capable missiles on board, and the cruiser was now unable to hit with any weapons until she was within the magic light minute range. And at the moment it looked problematical that they would ever reach that range.
“Engaging integrated defensive plan,” said the Tactical Officer a moment later.
Papillion nodded, his eyes locked on the plot. He could feel the sweat rolling down his own face, despite the cool atmospheric control of the bridge. It was being generated by fear and anxiety, the same emotions that were almost overwhelming everyone aboard. Discipline and dedication were the only things keeping everyone at their stations, not that it would do them any good to flee them.
The cruisers were now ten thousand kilometers apart, broadsides facing the incoming swarm. Their orientation made them better targets, but also allowed them to fire all their light amp and most of their other weapons into the enemy missiles. They immediately fired all of their lasers, four laser rings per ships, each ring firing on a target, then switching it to another, going around the firing plan. Any missiles that were destroyed fell off the queue as they continued to fire through all of the targets. Here and there a missile exploded, their gigaton range warheads breaching and detonating.
At the same time, avoiding the firing lanes of the lasers, each ship cycled thirty counter missiles at a time, one cycle every two seconds. The newer ships had firing cells that allowed them to fire more missiles during a given time period, but these were not new ships. Besides, they only carried one hundred and twenty hyper capable counters each, and after four cycles they were flushed dry. Of the two hundred and forty counters, thirty-seven hit a target or exploded close enough to put up a sparse, short lived debris field to the front. It didn’t take much of a gas field to detonate a missile coming in at a closing speed near light.
Thirteen missiles made it through the interlocking fire of the cruisers and acquired targets. Eight were targeted on Harbin, five on the more fortunate Vincenzo. The blazing close in weapons scored some hits among the eight coming in on the consort ship, but four came through to drive in. The first exploded six kilometers off the bow of Harbin, sending waves of heat, radiation and speeding plasma into the ship. Some of that plasma took out two close in weapons systems that might have destroyed the next weapon, which struck head on into the heavy cruiser at near light speed, shattering the ship through its spine from bow to stern. The remaining two missiles detonated as they hit the debris field that was even then quickly falling out of hyper.
Papillion looked on in horror as five missiles closed on his ship, not even having time to register the death of the second vessel in his force. His own close in weapons took out two, then another as it was six thousand kilometers away. That missile sent a blast of plasma into the bow of the cruiser, knocking out three grabber units and three forward missile tubes. A second weapon detonated within the plasma field of the first, exploding even closer to the cruiser, knocking out a laser ring and most of the electromag field projectors in the bow. Artificial gravity also died over a third of the ship. The surviving missile took a hit from the second bow laser ring, detonating over the top of the ship and sending waves of destruction into the upper hyperdrive array.
Klaxons were going off all over the ship, while damage control parties rushed to the most vital areas. Papillion sat in his command chair and breathed a sigh of relief, then noticed that the other ship was gone off the plot.
“They took out Harbin,” said the Sensor Officer, a stricken look on her face.
“We have a problem here, Captain,” called the Chief Engineer over the intership com.
Vincenzo shook, then shook again, more violently.
“What do you have?”
“Major damage to the upper hyperdrive array, Captain. It’s threatening to shut down. We also have some damage to the lower array, but not enough of concern on its own. But the upper array could shut down completely. And if that happens…”
“We catastrophically translate,” whispered Papillion. “Can we drop back to normal space?”
“Not a chance, sir. Not until we get the array at least partially repaired.”
“Then get on it, Commander. You’re our only hope.” He cut the connection and looked at the Helm Officer. “Change our vector. I want us to avoid the head on pass of that Fenri bastard.”
“Yes, sir,” said the relieved officer.
“Tactical,” said the Captain. “I want you to target all available weapons on them w
hile they pass. If we’re going to be hit, I at least want to be able to hit back.”
* * *
Sean closed his eyes for a moment and said a prayer for the crew of Harbin, blown out of space from a direct hit. He followed with another quick prayer for Vincenzo, which was fighting for its life and still not out of danger.
“Missile impact with Fenri ships in three minutes,” came a call from the Com Officer of the surviving heavy cruiser, still doing his job,
“Fenri firing again,” said their Tactical Officer.
“Are they targeting us?” asked the Captain.
“No, sir. They’re firing on Alpha.”
“How many missiles is that thing carrying?” asked Sean, looking over at Admiral Innocent. “I mean hyper capable, of course.”
“Normally they would carry about the same percentage of their magazine as we do,” answered Mary, looking down at her flat comp. “Say, ten percent. But on a raiding mission like this.” She shrugged her shoulders. “They could be carrying three times that number.”
The light cruiser of the pair fired off six missiles. Only six, and they were pretty sure that the ship had fired all it had. The battle cruiser fired off twenty-four, which appeared to be all of her tubes. Twenty seconds later she fired off another twenty-four. Then another twenty-four, only this time she aimed twelve each at Charlie and Delta.
“Well, that answers that,” said Admiral Innocent. “More than the standard load, but how many more?”
The missiles fired at Alpha were actually decelerating, killing velocity as they fell toward the following force. Estimates were that they would be closing at point four-four light by the time they reached the human ships. Not the best of velocities. But with the numbers fired, fifty-four coming in, there were sure to be a number of damaging near misses, if not an outright hit or two.
“Estimated impact, twenty-six minutes,” called out the voice of the com tech on one of Alpha’s light cruisers.
“It looks like they’re going to be in range of Vincenzo in eight minutes, fifteen seconds,” said one of the Analysts. “They will be within range for a total of just over one minute.”
And then the heavy cruiser catches hell, thought Sean, looking at a holo view that showed the damage on that vessel. Just at the time they are least able to fight it out.
* * *
The one hundred and eight human missiles came screaming in at a closing speed of almost light, each one starting its weaving dodging course designed to make them extremely hard to hit. Holo projectors came to life as they closed, obscuring the visual signal from the missiles, while jammers did the same with the electronic signatures. The Fenri ships fought to firm up the track through the ECM, succeeding with some, losing with others. They launched their counters, homing in on the ones they had obtained lock on. Some lost lock, then reacquired, while others drifted off target completely. As the missiles drove in on the best attack profile the humans would have this day almost half of them were taken out by counters, many of which got proximity kills, spreading their plasma in front of the oncoming missiles. Fifty-nine continued in past the counter missile stage, targeted by the lasers of the battle cruiser, each ring, much more powerful than those carried by the heavy cruisers, firing four blasts per second, while the light cruiser sent out one per second with each of its four laser rings.
Capital ships were tough vessels, able to handle a lot of damage. But missiles coming in at near light speed could shatter a multi-million ton ship in a heartbeat. So they were also well equipped with every defensive system that could be deployed, both passive and active.
Twenty-three missiles died from laser strikes before they were close enough to detonate with any kind of effect. The beams continued to strike as the missiles entered the close in weapons range. Twenty-one more were destroyed at a range where the effects of heat and radiation were minimal, having to cross over a hundred thousand kilometers of hyperspace. Fifteen got close enough to where their detonations did have an effect, sending sleeting waves of heat and radiation into the hulls of the two ships, blasting enough power through electromag screens to boil hull alloy in places, destroying surface installations, electromag projectors and autocannon, sensor grids and a missile tube. Warning sirens went off on the battle cruiser, the most damaged of the two ships, and the hull was holed in places. Fifty-two Fenri and a handful of slaves died, more were injured, and damage control parties rushed to the critical areas that needed immediate attention.
“That attack is done,” said the Master of Battle, a smile on her face.
The Lord of Millions looked over the damage schematic and a smile crossed his face as well. They had weathered the storm better than he had expected. All of the major systems of his ship were still functional, and the light cruiser had sustained very little damage indeed. None of the other missile waves would be even half as bad, and with some luck they would be able to win this battle, break contact, and continue raiding.
* * *
Captain Xerxes Papillion cursed under his breath as the tactical analysis came onto the screen hanging in the air beside his chair, transmitted from CIC. That little, he thought. Their visual of the enemy was of course blurred at this range, but as far as they could tell enemy capabilities hadn’t been degraded at all. The only thing they could hope for now was that the enemy was out of hyper capable counter missiles. And based on how many hyper capable offensive missiles they had fired, it was not a given that they had used all of their counters.
“Enemy ships will be within laser range in six and a half minutes,” called out the Tactical Officer.
“How are the repairs going on the hyperdrive array?” Papillion asked his Chief Engineer. The ship damage schematic could give him the basic information, including a time estimate for repairs. Still, it was better to ask the person in charge, who might have a better handle on it than even the ship’s brain.
“It’s going to be several hours before we have them up to the point where we can translate, Captain,” answered the Engineer, the stress of trying to get everything back online in her voice.
The Captain pulled up another holo screen and watched the take from a robot outside the ship, on the edge of the upper hyperdrive array. The array was crawling with repair bots, and enough crew to supervise them according to the regulations. Captains had been known to bypass the regs when they didn’t have enough people to spare, since life or death trumped rules when it came down to it. But they would only do it if there was no other recourse, and he actually had more people free to work on the hull than he had robots. The bots were ripping apart pieces of the array and plating it back on with reconnections of the power leads, while spacers went deeper in the structure to make sure that the mains to each region were intact. There was really nothing they could do about the supermetals that had been striped away into space. All they could fix were the regular alloys, and hope they had enough supermetals to regenerate the unit.
“Enemy ships in range in five minutes.”
Papillion cursed again. Should he leave the repair crew out on the hyperdrive, where they might become victims to laser fire? Or bring them in and prolong the repair time? More damage to the array and they might find themselves falling back into normal space, though theoretically one array could keep them here once they were in the dimension. Only that other array was also damaged and under repair.
“Bring them in,” he finally ordered his Chief Engineer. “Keep the robots working. We’ll just have to risk them.” He turned to the Tactical Officer. “Strengthen the field on the stern. Inject as much plasma as you can into it. Helm. Keep our stern pointed toward them, and don’t give them a steady target.”
And that was all he could do at the moment. He would just have to see what was left after the enemy ship passed.
* * *
The Fenri Lord of Millions looked with satisfaction on the holo plot. The battle was going as well as could be expected, better in some ways. The forward blocking force was all but obliterated, with on
ly one crippled ship that was trying frantically to break off. Missiles were on the way to intercepts with all the other forces, and luck would have much to do with how those attacks went. The other forces had fired on him, and from what they knew of human ships, that was all they had. If he could weather that storm, also a matter of luck, his ships could only be stopped with close in beam weapons. And in that battle he held all the advantages.
“Four minutes till we’re within practical range of the heavy cruiser,” called out the Master of Battle from her station.
“Prepare all lasers to fire at them from the time we enter range until we are out,” said the Lord of Millions. “I would like them taken out on the way past, but will be satisfied with crippling them to the point they are out of this battle.”
The Master of Battle acknowledged, then turned her attention back to her station, while the Com Operator sent the same orders to the consort. The timer started to tick down while the cruiser drew closer. It was reorienting, turning its stern toward the battle cruiser, giving the Fenri the smallest aspect to fire at.
“One minute to range,” called out the Master of Battle.
“I want her raked from stem to stern, on any aspect they present,” ordered the Lord of Millions, all of his attention on the plot, switching back and forth from all of the pursuing forces, their incoming missiles, and his outgoing.
“They seem to be presenting only their stern aspect to us, my Lord.”
“Try your best. If you can get lasers up her tail to their bridge, that will serve as well.”
The Lord of Millions sat his seat, gripping his chair arms in anticipation. The timer ticked, ticked, ticked away, then.
“Firing,” called out the Lord of Battle as the battle cruiser swung herself around to present all of her rings to the heavy cruiser. The laser rings released stored up photons, sending pentawatts of power from each ring, all aiming at the stern of the cruiser. Because of her configuration, that included the flat end of the stern and all of the sides up to the midline. The cruiser was presenting more of one of her sides, trying to cover as much as possible of her hyperdrive arrays, which gave the Master of Battle the best indication of where to shoot.
Exodus: Empires at War: Book 10: Search & Destroy Page 27
