by D. J. Holmes
“That is a serious risk Captain,” Gar’am responded. “But one we may face whatever route we take. If the faster Karacknid ships can keep pace with us. They will follow us no matter where we go. We are just as likely to run into a significant Karacknid force deeper within their territory as we are along the frontier.”
Scott nodded. “There will be risks whatever direction we go.”
“Perhaps we may be able to throw off our pursuers,” Admiral Jil’lal suggested. “We have fast ships of our own. Your modern Human warships and the Varanni warships are able to match the Karacknids’ speed. They could lure the Karacknids down a false trail whilst our main fleet makes good their escape. Then they could double back and re-join the main fleet.”
“Splitting our forces would make either squadron more vulnerable to being outnumbered, cornered and destroyed,” Nolan responded. “Surely we would do better to stick together. With so many unknowns before us, facing them together would give us a better chance of dealing with them.”
As the back-and-forth continued, Lightfoot made sure his face showed his interest, though he was only half listening. The arguments were the same he had been having over and over with his own staff officers. The same he had been having over and over with himself. Though he had led many fleets to battle before, the weight of the decision before him was weighing heavily. In part he knew it was because Gupta had given her life to give him the opportunity to make this decision. More so though, it was because of what he feared would befall Earth if he failed. The images of the nuclear missiles raining down on his homeworld were still fresh in his memory. If he lost his fleet, Earth would be left defenseless. Yet if he took months more than necessary to return home, Earth would be left undefended. The real problem was the Karacknid ships still in the Jaranna system. The enemy fleet that had jumped in to engage what had been Gupta’s fleet had numbered eighty warships. At least half had been damaged or destroyed by Gupta’s attack. Yet Lightfoot only had seventy of his own warships. They would stand a good chance of going toe to toe with the Karacknids, but any victory would likely cost half his fleet. That was something he couldn’t allow. Momentarily closing his eyes, he once again pictured IS Earth disappearing as hundreds of missiles detonated around her. Even if it took longer, he needed to get his fleet home intact. Gupta had died to ensure he would be able to do just that. After hours of deliberation, he came to a decision.
“Admiral Gupta gave her life so that we could escape, so too did our fighters,” he said as he looked from Admiral Jil’lal to Captain Gar’am. They were the two most important commanders in the fleet. If they agreed with his proposal, then their path would be set. “We will not let their sacrifice be in vain. I know there are risks with both options, but one leads to an almost certain confrontation with a Karacknid garrison. With whatever ships still in the Jaranna system likely to be hot on our heels, that battle would prove to be very costly. We are needed at home true, but that is all the more reason to avoid what we know to be certain danger. We have already hurt the Karacknids badly, maybe not enough to stop their offensive in Alliance space, but certainly here in the vicinity of Jaranna their supplies have to be in very short supply. There’s no way the Karacknids will be able to launch another attack against Earth within the next couple of months. I believe we have bought ourselves the time to take the long way home. We have the supplies for it, and by taking the unexpected route we may throw off our pursuers. Plus, with Jil’lal’s suggestion, we may be able to make sure that we do. What do you say?”
Jil’lal was the first to speak. “We will need to be careful. Very careful. Yet speed will be our ally as well. If you are confident we can mix both of these, then the longer route would be my preference. But I understand I am not the one whose homeworld is in immediate danger.”
Lightfoot nodded and turned to Gar’am. The Varanni lowered his head slightly as he thought. “It would be my preference to take the shorter route. If we could sneak past the garrison we could return to Earth without having to fight another major battle. Yet I recognize we are talking about an if. If we had to fight, we might return to Earth without much of a fleet, if we even returned at all. If the general consensus is for path two, then I will acquiesce. On the positive side, it may give us more opportunities to raid Karacknid supplies. I know that will help my compatriots back in Alliance space.”
“Then it is settled,” Lightfoot said as he rested his hands on the briefing room table. “This is not going to be easy. Not by a long shot. But we need to do our best to get our ships home. We have three systems to pass through before we need to make our final decision, but we will continue on the assumption route two is our preferred course. Return to your ships. Make sure your crews know that we have a long journey ahead of us. Keeping our ships at maximum efficiency will be as important as having them battle ready. Good luck to you all. We will likely not get to meet again in person.” With a nod Lightfoot dismissed his gathered officers, then he caught Jil’lal and Gar’am’s eyes. They had more to discuss.
*
IS Misfit, Jorang System, 21st May 2482 AD (9 days later).
With a start Scott realized she was biting her nails. As quick as a flash she returned her hands to her thighs. It wouldn’t do for her bridge crew to see their Captain, or as she was now, acting Commodore, showing signs of nerves - whether she felt them or not. To distract herself she enlarged the small holo projection of the Jorang system on her command chair. Her medium cruiser Misfit, her sister ship Benevolence and another six of the latest Human destroyers were cruising towards the small Mindus colony within the system. Four Varanni frigates were with them. All twelve ships were under her command. It was the first time she had ever led a taskforce. Though she was still getting used to being a Captain; now she found herself responsible for more than two thousand lives. What really had her nervous were the four Karacknid light cruisers in orbit around the Mindus colony. In a straight up fight, she had no worries about them. With technologies from the Varanni Alliance, the Mindus civilization and Humanity’s own advances, Misfit was the most advanced medium cruiser Humanity had ever built. Alone, Scott fancied her chances against two Karacknid light cruisers. With the rest of the ships in her taskforce a battle would essentially be one-sided. That was not what was playing on her mind. If the Karacknid ships detected hers and had a mind to, they could nuke the Mindus colony out of spite. On top of that, her plan called for her to allow one of the light cruisers to escape. On paper that sounded easy, but if the ship wanted to fight instead of flee, she could take unnecessary losses. With all that swimming through her head, she just caught herself as her right hand rose towards her lips again.
“Any sign of life on the colony?” Scott asked. According to the data the Mindus survivors who had fled to Alliance space had shared with them, the colony had been home to several million of their species.
“Not much,” Misfit’s sensor officer reported. “We are detecting a few communications coming up from the surface. They are encrypted with Karacknid encryption codes though. Beyond that, there are heat blooms from several small cities. But there is hardly any electromagnetic COM traffic or any other signs of civilization.”
“The Karacknids must have troops on the ground,” Scott concluded. “They’ll have the planet locked up tight.” The news was good and bad. It meant there was less of a chance the Karacknids would nuke the planet if their own troops were on the surface. It also meant Scott would be able to do very little to help the local populace.
“All right, signal the rest of the ships, put us onto heading four three seven point four,” Scott ordered. “It’s time to make our play.”
Scott stayed on the bridge as her ships closed with Jorang. When they were just three light minutes away from the planet she gave a nod to her First Lieutenant. With the touch of a button he ignited one of Misfit’s maneuvering thrusters. It was a small, short burn. The kind that a ship in stealth would make to alter its course slightly. However, it was just a little stronger than ne
cessary.
The Karacknid light cruisers reacted within seconds. They powered up their active scanners and flooded the space around Misfit with electromagnetic energy. Then their reactors and engines came online. “No sense remaining in stealth now,” Scott called out as if she hadn’t wanted to be detected. “Signal the squadron, eighty percent acceleration, lay us onto an intercept course.”
Her twelve ships lit off their engines, revealing their numbers to the Karacknids. For several seconds, the Karacknid ships continued on their current trajectory. Then, to Scott’s relief, pragmatism seemed to win out over battle lust. The four cruisers turned away from her squadron and Jorang. They were retreating. Scott knew she could just let them go but she couldn’t pass up an opportunity to destroy enemy ships. Not when she knew they would have to be fought by her people sooner or later. “Target the three trailing cruisers, fire a salvo as soon as we come into range.” With her fleet accelerating at eighty percent of their maximum thrust, she had timed it so that they would be able to fire one salvo before the Karacknids got out of range.
Normally Karacknid ships would be able to open fire first in any missile duel, but Misfit was equipped with mark IV missiles. Though they weren’t multistage missiles, Scott had designed them to utilize the new miniature inertial dampeners. With acceleration rates thirty percent higher than the anti-ship missiles most Human warships carried, they had a higher maximum velocity and range. As a result, her squadron released eighty-six missiles towards the Karacknid ships. Moments later they returned fire with fifty of their own.
As the Karacknid point defenses opened up on her missiles, Scott leaned forward to watch closely. She had seen her missiles in action a number of times now, but she always felt like she could learn more. There were always improvements to be made. Though she was watching with a critical eye, a small grin formed. The Karacknids were struggling big time with the new ECM and faster closing rates of her missiles. Twenty-three avoided every effort to shoot them down. Two thousand kilometers from their targets, the missiles detonated their warheads. The thermonuclear explosions were focused through the specially designed crystal lenses to form high-powered laser beams. Almost instantaneously the beams covered the distance to their targets and each of the three Karacknid light cruisers were ripped apart.
Only then did she turn her attention back to the Karacknid missiles. When she did, a spike of fear shot through her. There were still three missiles targeting Misfit. She had her cruiser leading the squadron. Within a couple seconds, one missile was taken out by a point defense plasma. Then an AM missile connected with a second. The third, twisting and weaving, avoided everything that was thrown at it. “Evasive maneuvers!” Scott shouted. “Activate the particle shields!”
Thrown back in her command chair as her restraints tightened around her chest, Scott was reduced to the role of a passenger as Misfit’s pilot flung the cruiser into an evasive turn. Just two seconds later the Karacknid missile detonated. Scott felt a jolt as she was thrown to one side. Instinctively she knew the force wasn’t from an evasive maneuver. Her command had been hit. “Damage report,” she demanded.
“It was a proximity hit,” her First Lieutenant reported. “The missile detonated twenty kilometers off our port bow.”
Scott turned to her First Lieutenant. The detonation from a Karacknid antimatter missile at that range should have crippled her ship. Anti-matter wiped any normal matter it came into contact with out of existence. “The particle shields?” she asked even though she knew the answer. When her First Lieutenant nodded, Scott closed her eyes and said a quiet thank you to Xui-le. The Mindus scientist had helped her adapt Humanity’s gaseous shields so that they could counter anti-matter missiles. They used magnetic fields to hold ionized gases in a bubble around the ship. Much of the Karacknid anti-matter must have been canceled out upon coming in contact with the shields. It worked my friend, Scott thought to Xui-le. The Mindus scientist had died in the battle of Earth. Your legacy lives on. All of the advances Scott had incorporated into Humanity’s latest warships had been worked on by Xui-le. “Well,” she said as she opened her eyes. “At least we know they work. Did they absorb all the blast?”
“Initial estimates suggest they took about eighty-five percent of it,” her First Lieutenant replied. We lost about sixty percent of our armor on our starboard nose section. But no anti-matter breached our hull.
“All right, good work everyone,” Scott said as she reassessed the wider situation. “That last cruiser is out of range. But they will know we’ve been hit. Signal the rest of our ships to close with us, let’s let them think we took more damage than we did. COMs see if you can raise anyone on the planet. Sensors, let’s see if we can identify any Karacknid installations down there.”
Twenty minutes later Scott found herself talking to the only Mindus who had responded to their COM signals. “What is the situation down there like Lieutenant?” The Mindus had once been a part of their Navy.
“It’s bad Captain,” Han’sol replied. “They confiscated almost all of our modern equipment and technologies. Apart from the valstronium mines, they seem intent on pushing us back to a preindustrial age. I wouldn’t be surprised if my COM unit is one of the last ones they haven’t discovered. They’ll soon be able to triangulate my broadcast location.”
“I’m sorry to hear that Lieutenant. We’ve driven the Karacknid ships in orbit from the system. Though we won’t be able to hold here for long. We’re attempting to get home ourselves. I’m afraid a relief force for your planet may be many years away. However, we can provide you with some assistance now if you wish. We’ve identified a number of Karacknid targets we could take out from orbit. Is there any kind of resistance? One that could take advantage of our attack?”
Han’sol twisted his wrist and flipped his hand in a gesture Scott had come to know from Xui-le that meant ‘sadly not.’ “We had very few small arms on the colony when the Karacknids attacked. There has been no way for us to resist the Karacknid soldiers. Even if they put their weapons down, they far out match us in hand to hand combat. I fear that if you were to destroy some of their bases they would carry out reprisal attacks on our towns and villages. We would be helpless to defend ourselves.”
Scott nodded, the last thing she wanted to do was make things worse for the Mindus people on the colony. “Very well Lieutenant, then my ships will break orbit and we will not cause any more problems for you. We are on our way home, but I hope we may be able to meet again. I hope it is a day when your colony is free.”
“I hope such a day may yet be possible Captain, your presence here and news of the war your species is fighting gives me hope. I will make sure to spread the word throughout our colony. You may not be able to help us militarily, but that news will change things for many of my people.”
“If we can do nothing else, I’m happy we can do this for you,” Scott replied. “Good luck Lieutenant.”
“And to you Captain,” the Mindus replied just before Scott ended the COM channel. “Signal the squadron, set course for the next shift passage. Let’s be on our way.” Though it made her feel bad, Scott watched as Jorang slowly shrunk on the holo projection. She disliked leaving so many millions of civilians at the Karacknids’ mercy. But she had no choice. She had to play her part in getting the fleet home.
Three hours later, minutes before her small squadron reached the system’s mass shadow and the next shift passage on the journey, she gave her final order. “Light them off,” she said. Around her ships fifty drones activated and emitted copious amounts of electromagnetic energy. They powered up their engines and settled into formation around her ships. Then, five minutes later, they and Scott’s ships cut their engines. To anyone watching it would look like the rest of Lightfoot’s fleet had joined up with Scott and together they had jumped into shift space. In reality, Scott’s ships collected the drones and made their jump five minutes later.
Four hours down the shift passage, at one of its kinks, Scott’s ships exited shift
space. Instead of recharging their shift drives, they powered up their impulse engines and moved out of the shift passage into the dark matter that filled space. Then they all entered stealth mode and reduced their emissions. “I’m retiring to my quarters,” Scott said. “Alert me as soon as we detect something.”
Fourteen hours later, when Scott was back on the bridge, Misfit’s sensors blared an alert. Scott nodded in satisfaction as sixty Karacknid ships appeared out of shift space. They reoriented themselves and travelled up the shift passage, presumably charging their shift drives as they went. They’ve taken the bait, Scott thought. The next system up the shift passage was a four-day journey away. By the time the pursuing Karacknid ships got there and realized her ships had doubled back she would be well on her way to re-joining Lightfoot’s main fleet. With luck, they had just bought themselves a nine-day head start. Which is just what we need, Scott thought as more detailed sensor readings came back on the Karacknid fleet. There were ten Karacknid dreadnoughts in the fleet. They alone had enough firepower to destroy half of Lightfoot’s ships. But only if they catch us, she reminded herself. Which should not happen. Of course, that assumed Lightfoot wouldn’t run into any trouble. Whilst she had been travelling on the shorter route home to lure the Karacknids after her. He had headed deeper into Karacknid space. No one knew what they were going to find there.
