by D. J. Holmes
“They have gone into stealth,” Rivers suggested. “They must be lying in wait for us.”
“Or they think we’ve doubled back and are already racing through shift space back to those shipyards,” Houston replied. “Imagine what must be going through that Karacknid commander’s mind. If he thinks we doubled back and are hitting them again he would be livid.”
“That would be the best thing for us,” Lightfoot responded, more than once he had thought about how the shipyards might have been left all but undefended. “But let’s assume they are still waiting for us. What do we know about the system itself, is there likely to have been a Karacknid garrison stationed in it?”
One of Lightfoot’s staff officers altered the holo image to show what the scouts had detected. “It doesn’t look like there is much of note,” she said. “There are no signs of a colony, and just this lone orbital station. It could be an outpost, research station or perhaps there is a small mining operation on the planet’s surface.”
“So nothing to suggest our friends have been reinforced. Ok then, the question is, if the Karacknid commander wants to try and ambush a numerically superior force, where would he do it from?” After studying the holo image of the system for several seconds Lightfoot raised a finger and pointed. “There, that’s where I would be.”
“He’ll try and take us as soon as we exit shift space?” Rivers asked. “Why not stand off and let his superior missile range come into play?”
“Because then we’ll have time to react,” Lightfoot responded. “Our superior numbers mean we have the better point defenses. No. He’ll want to engage us at energy weapons range if he can.”
“What are you thinking Admiral?” Houston asked.
“He may have the advantage in missile range, but our missiles can detonate further out from their targets. We can use that in a close-range knife fight. If he wants a laser beam duel, perhaps we can oblige him,” Lightfoot responded. He tapped a set of coordinates into his command chair. “Prepare the fleet to jump to this position. We’ll fire a spread of missiles as soon as we emerge. If the Karacknids are there, we’ll hit them with the missiles and then close in for the kill.”
“Aye Admiral,” Houston responded before giving orders to the other staff officers. “The fleet is ready,” she said five minutes later. Lightfoot nodded and she gave the order to jump.
Though he had done it several times before, the two quick lurches from his ship jumping in and out of shift space in a fraction of a second threatened to make the contents of his stomach escape his mouth. Swallowing hard, Lightfoot tried to ignore his body and focus on the holo projection. A volley of missiles had been released by his ships. The Karacknids, detecting his ships’ shift space jump, were coming out of stealth and charging. Lightfoot had jumped his ships into the system two light seconds beyond the mass shadow. His ships were just out of range of the Karacknid’s heavy lasers. On the other hand, after just ten seconds, his missiles got close enough to detonate and fire their bomb pumped laser beams. With ample time to lock onto the Karacknids’ engines, the missile salvo was devastating. There hadn’t been enough time for Lightfoot to confirm the enemy’s numbers, but as explosions ripped through their ranks, at least two thirds of the enemy ships disappeared from Argyll’s sensors. Others fell out of formation, venting atmosphere and debris.
With both sets of ships so close, there was no time for Lightfoot to give any orders. Instead he had to trust to his Captains as both fleets closed to directed energy weapons range. In the span of seconds laser beams, heavy plasma bolts and particle beams reached out to strike each fleet. The remaining Karacknid ships also rippled off a volley of missiles. Then, as quickly as it had begun, the battle was over. The energy weapons’ fire from his ships had destroyed or crippled the remaining Karacknids in one volley.
Lightfoot glanced over to Houston. She held up her hand, “One moment.”
Lightfoot nodded and waited patiently. He had seen the frigate Dakota destroyed by an enemy particle beam and an anti-matter missile blow a Vestarian cruiser in half. When Houston gave him a run-down of the fleet’s damage, he was relieved to hear that just three other ships had been hit. Two would be able to repair most of the damage, but the third, a light cruiser, would have to be scuttled. While Houston oversaw the evacuation of her crew and what supplies they could carry off, Lightfoot turned his mind to his next move. Peering out at the wider system, he searched the holo projection for any sign of other Karacknid ships. There were none, but he suspected that was only because they didn’t want him detecting them. The Karacknids’ attempt to ambush him had been a risk for them, the enemy commander was bound to have left a couple of ships in stealth to watch and see how the battle unfolded. They’ll have orders to shadow us and report our movements. There were now two fleets behind his ships, the fleet that had pursued them from Jaranna, and the second half of the fleet they had just destroyed. If they didn’t already, soon both of them would know where he was and be nipping at his heels. “We will put the fleet onto this trajectory as soon as we’re ready to move,” Lightfoot ordered as he sent a new course to his navigation officer. “There is nothing in this system worth attacking, and we need to keep moving.”
*
IS Argyll, 28th July 2482 AD (13 days later).
“This does not look good,” Rivers couldn’t help but say as he looked over to Lightfoot.
Lightfoot nodded. For almost two weeks their journey through Karacknid space had been plain sailing. In each of the four systems they had passed through there had been minor Karacknid activity, but there had been nowhere near enough ships to waylay them. The sensor data the scouts had brought back from the next system was another matter. “It must be a border garrison,” Lightfoot replied. The system they were in was just one system away from the border of Karacknid space. Having headed several systems into Karacknid space, they had changed their direction of travel three systems ago and were heading out on a path that would take them to the Damang system. “And they know we are coming.” There had been no sign of Karacknid ships stalking them, but clearly someone had followed them and been able to get word to the Karacknid fleet guarding this system.
“The computer’s analysis puts the enemy numbers at eighty,” Houston informed him. “There is nothing larger than a heavy cruiser. But there are fifteen of them.”
“And those stations in orbit around the second planet?” Lightfoot asked.
“From the power readings, the computer estimates that at least four of them are battlestations. They look to be about twice the size of a Karacknid dreadnought,” Rivers answered.
“We won’t be tangling with them,” Lightfoot concluded. It also explained the enemy fleet’s formation. About forty of their ships were stationed right in between the shift passage his ships were about to exit from and the one they needed to take to continue towards Human space. The other forty, comprising the frigates and destroyers, were spread out patrolling the system. If he tried to sneak past them one ship was bound to catch sight of his forces. Then the main Karacknid fleet and all the scouts would close in around his fleet like a net. “Get me Gar’am and Jil’lal,” Lightfoot requested.
“What do you make of it?” he asked when both commanders appeared on his command chair’s holo projector.
“They certainly don’t want to let us leave their space,” Jil’lal commented. “We could take them, blow right through the center of their formation, but we might not have many ships left to take home.”
“Agreed,” Gar’am responded.
“We could try and go around,” Lightfoot proposed in a tone that conveyed his reluctance to do so. “Instead of jumping into the system from here, we could skirt around the system in normal space. Argyll’s navigation officer informed me it would take just over two and a half weeks.”
“What if they anticipated such a move?” Jil’lal asked. “They could have a few ships stationed out there waiting to see if we pass by. Then the whole fleet could jump ahead of us to th
e next system and set up a similar search pattern. If we wanted to avoid contact with them there, we’d have to take another two-week diversion to go around that system.”
Lightfoot nodded. “My fears exactly. We’d probably encounter the same situation if we tried retracing our steps. If we fall back to the last system and head deeper into Karacknid space to avoid this garrison, they’d suspect what we’re up to when we don’t appear here. They could cut us off at the next system that leads out of their space.”
“We need to draw them away,” Gar’am suggested. “My ships are the fastest. We could make a mock attack on their orbital infrastructure. If we let their scouts detect us they’d have to move their main fleet to intercept. That would give the rest of your ships an opening to make a run for the next shift passage.”
“How would your ships re-join us?” Jil’lal asked. “Your ships are fast, but not faster than Karacknid frigates and destroyers. Their extended patrols would envelop you. You’d never make it out of the inner system.”
Gar’am bowed his head. “If that is the price that must be paid.”
“No,” Lightfoot said abruptly. “I’m not letting anyone else sacrifice themselves to allow me to escape. We are not splitting up, not again. Besides, even if you did, you wouldn’t be able to damage their main fleet. As soon as they destroyed you, they’d be hard on our heels. They could chase us all the way back to the Chinese colonies. How many of our ships would make it back without your ships supporting us?”
“If we’re not going to try and sneak past, nor run, then we need to divide and conquer,” Jil’lal decided. When Lightfoot raised an eyebrow she continued. “Gar’am is right, if their scouts detect a squadron heading for their planet, the main fleet will have to divert to intercept them. That’s a predictable move. One we can take advantage of. If we can pull their patrolling ships out of formation, we could hit their flank with our main fleet.”
Lightfoot raised a hand to scratch his jaw. “And if it would work once, then why not a second time?” he mused. When he glanced from Gar’am to Jil’lal he could tell they were thinking along the same lines. “Let’s work out the details and get to work. This should be our last obstacle before we can get home. We are not going to let it beat us or make us turn back.”
Two hours later Lightfoot was confident his staff had carried out enough simulations for him to formulate a finalized plan. After sending it to Gar’am and Jil’lal for their approval, he sent it to his Captains. Thirty minutes after that, the first ships jumped into shift space. Lightfoot watched each group jump out and nodded to Rivers when Argyll’s turn came.
When the heavy cruiser exited shift space and her passive sensors sifted through the electromagnetic energy washing over the ship, Lightfoot saw that things were going to plan. On the holo projection in front of him a group of twenty ships were charging towards the only planet with Karacknid orbital stations within the system. The Karacknid warships had reacted. Lightfoot counted seven of their scouting ships closing with the contacts, presumably to get a better sensor read on them. The main Karacknid fleet had altered course and was moving to intercept the new contacts before they reached the planet. According to Lightfoot’s plan, the twenty contacts should have been detected by the Karacknids twenty minutes ago. All of them were drones deployed by the heavy cruiser Minotaur, the first ship he had dispatched into the system. Evidently the Karacknids hadn’t figured that out yet. As he watched, one Karacknid frigate got close enough to see what the contacts really were for it immediately veered off at a seemingly random angle. A signal, Lightfoot concluded. Rather than wait for a sub light transmission to update his commander, the frigate’s Captain had pulled a maneuver that communicated the same thing.
Over the course of the next two minutes, the Karacknid ships all reacted. Most of the extended scouting screen of ships turned back to their original course while the main Karacknid fleet decelerated. Too late, Lightfoot thought as the Karacknid ships scrambled to get back in position, aware that they had been tricked. Coming out of stealth, Scott’s ships charged a group of scout ships that were isolated because of the Karacknid fleet’s course changes. Two Karacknid destroyers and three frigates suddenly found themselves in a long-range missile duel with four medium cruisers and six destroyers. Three missile salvos were exchanged between the two groups of ships. Lightfoot clenched his teeth as a Human destroyer disappeared when two antimatter missiles struck it. In return Scott destroyed all the Karacknid ships. What was left of her squadron turned and charged away from the Karacknid screening ships that were trying to close with her. As soon as they were a safe distance away, they went into stealth mode in an effort to escape.
Before the Karacknids could arrange a systematic sweep of the area to hunt Scott down, thirty new contacts appeared. They were racing towards the hole Scott’s ships had made in the Karacknid formation. Just as Lightfoot had intended, it looked like Scott’s ships had been seeking to clear a path for the main Human fleet. The Karacknids’ response was predictable. All of the ships accelerated hard to stop the new contacts from breaking past them and racing towards the shift passage out of the system. For twenty minutes the chase continued until suddenly every Karacknid ship cut its engines. “They know they’ve been tricked again,” Lightfoot said as he shared a glance with Rivers. The new contacts had been another set of drones.
Gar’am’s ships activated their reactors and engines and came out of stealth. Having taken up a position on the opposite flank of the large Karacknid formation to Scott’s ships, Gar’am pounced on a handful of isolated Karacknid scouts. Seven more enemy ships were destroyed by his missiles before he broke contact and, like Scott, took his ships back into stealth. “That commander has to be pulling his hair out,” Rivers commented. “Which reminds me, do Karacknids have hair?”
Lightfoot rolled his eyes at his Flag Captain while several bridge officers chuckled. The plan was working well, but it was far from over. For several minutes he watched to see how the Karacknid commander would arrange his forces now. Twice he had been tricked by drones. “These will be our final attack vectors,” Lightfoot said after he input a series of commands and sent them to his COM officer. “Transmit them now,” he ordered.
Pushing himself back into his command chair, Lightfoot took a deep breath. It would take five minutes for his orders to reach all of his ships. Then it would be go time. In silence he watched the Karacknid formation, looking for any hint that the enemy commander would issue new orders. Whether from indecision or some plan Lightfoot couldn’t figure out, the Karacknid ships simply continued to decelerate. “Begin acceleration,” he ordered when the time came.
Argyll and the thirty ships in her formation, along with Jil’lal’s flagship and her twenty Vestarian warships, powered up their engines. Both squadrons were separated by more than thirty light seconds. Even so, the nose of every ship was pointed towards the same spot. The heart of the Karacknid fleet. With the screening ships in the Karacknid fleet so spread out and in a hodgepodge formation, its center was isolated. Lightfoot had the numerical and missile weight advantage. While the Karacknid fleet’s largest ship was a heavy cruiser, he had two battleships and several battlecruisers. Unperturbed by the change in circumstances, the Karacknid commander didn’t blink. Instead of falling back, his ships turned and accelerated towards the new ships. Lightfoot nodded in respect. He knows this is the real attack and he’s coming anyway.
The rest of the Karacknid frigates and destroyers accelerated in a vain effort to join the approaching battle. A handful were close enough that they would get into range. However, Scott and Gar’am’s ships came back out of stealth and maneuvered to head them off. Instead of pulling back when entering stealth, both Captains had maneuvered their ships back into range. For ten minutes Lightfoot watched as Gar’am and Scott fought duels on the periphery of the main battle. Then he focused on the center of the Karacknid fleet. They had just entered missile range. Moments later they released a volley of six hundred missiles. In retur
n, his ships fired nine hundred and sixty. Individually, they were nowhere near as deadly as the Karacknid antimatter missiles, but numbers had an advantage of their own.
“Begin deceleration,” he ordered after the missiles were away. He had no intention of letting the Karacknids get into energy weapon range. “Extra rations for every gunner who takes out a missile in this engagement,” he added. Though some of the gunners might spend the ration allocations on their favorite food or desert, he knew most would place orders for one alcoholic beverage or another. If his fleet got through this he wouldn’t mind. They’d be on their way home. When one of the bridge officers acknowledged him, he had to repress a smile. More than one officer looked disappointed that they weren’t manning Argyll’s point defense guns.
Turning his attention back to the Karacknid missiles, Lightfoot made an effort to keep his face motionless as he watched the battle unfold. There were no more fancy orders to be given. It was a simple shootout now. Over the next twenty minutes both fleets exchanged four missile salvos. In the first two, the point defense gunners of each side were largely victorious. Lightfoot’s fleet lost four ships to the Karacknids’ seven. Then Lightfoot’s numbers began to tell. Eleven Karacknid ships were destroyed by his third salvo and fifteen in the next. The remaining seven Karacknid ships were all heavily damaged. “Ceasefire,” Lightfoot snapped. “We’ll close to plasma cannon range and finish them off.” He didn’t know the exact numbers, but he knew some of his ships were close to running out of missiles.
