by D. J. Holmes
*
Razor Two screamed as she saw her flight Captain get vaporized just in front of her. Even as she vented her rage, she passed beyond the last Karacknid warship and found herself amongst their freighters. Slamming on her reverse thrusters, she twisted her nose towards the nearest freighter’s engines. Holding down her trigger, she peppered it with laser beams. Without plasma missiles or even plasma cannons, she couldn’t do more than peck at the freighter. Nevertheless she kept firing every joule of energy her reactor would allow her to into its engines. A scream of delight passed her lips as she saw the freighter’s main engine flicker and blink out. A small explosion erupted where it had been. The explosion rippled up the length of the freighter, blowing sections out into space. Within seconds it was breaking apart.
“Razor Two,” a half familiar voice called out over her COM channel. “You’ve done what you can. Head to the rendezvous point. That’s an order.” Only when Chen stopped speaking did Razor Two realize it was her Wing Commander. Razor Two saw multiple freighters exploding as plasma missiles connected with them. Others were being assaulted by groups of Spitfires as they swarmed around them, hammering them with their plasma cannons. Relief washed over her when she spotted another Razor. Then it turned to dismay when she realized there was no one else left from her squadron. As grief for Captain Black and her squadron mates welled up within her, she gave her flight stick a slight twist and maneuvered towards Razor Four and away from the engagement. Other Spitfires and Lancaster bombers soon joined her but Razor Two could only think about how few of them there were.
*
James watched in silence on Drake’s bridge as fighters and freighters disappeared in the midst of the Karacknid fleet. He had no idea how many pilots he was losing, but as more and more Karacknid freighters detonated he knew they were hurting the Karacknids. On a secondary screen a count was displaying the estimated number of freighters taken out. Once it passed thirty James pressed his lips together in satisfaction. Taking out almost a third of the supplies the Karacknid invasion fleet had brought with them had to count for something. He would have preferred to have completely destroyed their depot but if the freighters were all he could strike, then he would take it.
“What’s left of Chen’s fighters are breaking away Admiral,” Miyagi informed him. “There’s no way to tell from this range how many survived,” his Chief of Staff added, anticipating James’ next question. “We’ll have to wait until they reach the bulk carriers and re-join us.”
James nodded. He had loaded up all of his remaining fighters into his three fleet carriers and sent them in for their attack. The three carriers would be high tailing it out of the system. There was no way the fighters could reverse their momentum and catch the carriers. Unwilling to simply abandon them, James had sent the remaining bulk carriers to the other side of the system. What was left of Chen’s force would be able to use the momentum from their attack to rendezvous with them. With luck, the bulk carriers would be able to slip out of the system without the Karacknids detecting them. “Jump us out as soon as we reach the mass shadow,” James ordered. “Back to the rendezvous point. We’ll pick up our shuttles and assess our next step. He had hurt the Karacknids badly. But he had no intention of leaving them to hold the system uncontested. Christine’s words still rang in his ears. ‘With this shield or upon it.’ He could not fall back in retreat, not when such a large enemy force threatened Earth.
“Admiral!” Lieutenant Anderson half shouted, shock filling his voice. “Look!”
James’ mouth fell open. The image on the holo projector was almost unbelievable. For several seconds he stared at it, wondering if it was some kind of trick. The main Karacknid fleet was decelerating. Yet not to enter orbit of their depot. They were breaking to turn onto a trajectory to leave the system back through the shift passage they had entered it from. James shook his head as he tried to get his mind around what he was seeing. There had to be some strategic reason for them to pull back. Perhaps there was another fleet just hours behind them they wanted to rendezvous with? Before he could come up with a convincing answer, more Karacknid ships began to move. The five hundred ships that had tried to intercept his fleet had given up and turned for the depot thirty minutes ago. Now, they too altered course. Then the Karacknid warships defending the depot lit off their engines and began to break orbit. It’s a trap, James said to himself. It had to be.
“I want a detailed analysis of every single orbital station and freighter we destroyed today. Get me a breakdown of the supplies we have taken out. I want to know exactly how much damage we’ve done,” James demanded. There was only one other explanation he could think of, but he didn’t want to let his hope rise. “Belay our order to jump out. Signal our carriers and bulk carriers to rendezvous with us here. Order Chen to get as many of his Spitfires ready to launch as he can.” James knew things would be extremely cramped in the handful of bulk carriers Chen’s fighters would land on but he would be able to get a squadron or two refueled and rearmed. “If their depot is still undefended by the time Chen has an attack force ready, he is to hit it on his way past.”
For twenty minutes, James watched, still struggling to believe it as every Karacknid ship in the system made as if they were going to retreat. It seemed like the Karacknids were trying to pull off some kind of elaborate ruse. Yet it made no sense. They had eight times the number of ships he did. If they wanted, they could have just chased him out of the system. Why try and draw him in?
“Admiral,” Miyagi said, pulling James out of his thoughts. “We have completed our analysis. You were onto something. Look at this.” The main holo projector changed to show a breakdown of the orbital stations and freighters. On one side in red were what had been destroyed and then on the other in blue was what remained. As Miyagi pointed, both batches split into two subsections. “These are their fuel storage and refinery stations, along with the fuel freighters. By luck or perhaps skill on the part of our gunners, we’ve taken out over ninety percent of their fuel storage capacity.”
James immediately saw where Miyagi was going. “And with their two gas mining stations gone. They don’t have enough fuel to continue their invasion. At least not from here.”
“It may be they barely have enough to even make it home,” Miyagi suggested. “If we keep operating in the system and carrying out hit-and-run tactics, they’d have to expend a lot of fuel reacting to us. So much that they might risk stranding their fleet here. At least until reinforcements arrived.”
“And they know about our raid on the Alpha-one depot a couple of months ago,” James added as clarity hit him. He could easily picture himself in the Karacknid commander’s position. With such a large battle fleet the fuel consumption requirements would be massive. If he was afraid more Human fighters would appear to raid what little supplies he had left, or even better, if James used his fighters to raid every supply convoy that tried to reach the depot, the Karacknid fleet could end up stranded in orbit without enough fuel to defend itself. Falling back would be an embarrassment for the Karacknid commander. Possibly even one that would cost him his life, given what James had learnt from talking with General Hux’lar, but having a fleet stranded at the mercy of their enemies would bring far more shame on the Karacknids. And on their Imperator, James thought as more pieces fell into place. Hux’lar had shown that the glory of his Imperator was everything to him. They will not risk shaming their Imperator’s reputation, James concluded. He didn’t know how, but that seemed like something important. Something he could use against them. “Keep tracking them,” he ordered. “It may still be a ruse. Let’s make sure they actually leave.” Despite his words, James allowed a small measure of hope to grow within him.
Though he had a plausible explanation for the Karacknids’ actions, James stayed in Drake’s bridge for the next six hours to watch the Karacknids retreat. He ordered several waves of probes fired after the Karacknids to make sure their ships were leaving. Only when Chen’s Spitfires took out the remai
ning orbital stations unopposed did he actually accept what was happening. When the last Karacknid station detonated, he shook his head. It was still hard to believe.
“Send orders to our support fleet, they are to rendezvous with us here. We’ll move in and take possession of the remaining orbital stations,” he said as Chen’s fighters turned back to their carriers. “If they give us long enough, we’re going to turn this into a fortified world. One they have to think twice about attacking. We may as well begin the work now,” James said to his command staff. “And get me Captain Scott,” he added. To his relief, Misfit had survived the day’s fighting unscathed.
“Captain,” James said as he met his former Chief of Staff with a smile. “Once again you are to be commended. Misfit handled herself admirably today.”
“We were just doing our duty Admiral, as you taught us,” Scott replied.
“I have a task for you,” James continued. “Lightfoot promoted you to acting Commodore when you were with him after the raid on Jaranna. I’m promoting you again, this time it will be made permanent when we get back to Earth. I want you to take six destroyers and follow the Karacknid fleet. Make sure they don’t detect you but, if you can, confirm they are falling back all the way to their space. Even better, if you can locate whatever system they are staging from within their territory then do so. Perhaps we can organize a raid on it. That would be the last thing they’d expect. If we can destroy more of their fuel storage facilities there, we might even force their fleet to fall back further.”
“Understood Admiral, I will begin making the arrangements immediately,” Scott replied as she saluted James.
“And Commodore,” James said as he smiled again, the desire in Scott’s voice to get to work was unmistakable. “Be careful out there.”
“Of course Admiral,” Scott said. “I’ll be as careful as you would be.” Before she ended the COM channel, Scott winked at James.
James found himself chuckling at the blank holo screen. When he looked back up he was startled to find every one of his staff officers and Drake’s bridge officers staring at him. Looking around at Captain Fisher he opened his mouth to ask what was going on. She beat him to it though as she raised her hands and began to clap. Soon every officer was clapping him. James wanted to tell them to stop. He didn’t deserve their praise, those who had died in the day’s fighting did, but he knew it would only upset them if he intervened. Every one of them had begun the day expecting that it might cost them their lives to take and hold the system. Yet here they were, alive, and the Karacknids were in full retreat! Swallowing hard, James realized that he too was relieved. For the first time since the battle had begun, his mind turned to Earth and Christine. He would have to remain in the system for weeks if not months to make sure it was secure, but if the Karacknids really had fallen back, then he would get to go home. Sooner or later he would get to hold his wife again. Breaking into a smile, James raised his hands and began to clap too. His officers deserved his praise as much as they thought he deserved theirs.
Epilogue
IS Viper, Scalatar (Gramrian homeworld), 5th June 2482 AD (two months later).
“Come in,” Rear Admiral Becket said as one of her favorite people stepped into her private office.
The young blonde Captain entered and, with the same grace her uncle showed, moved over to where Becket was standing. Eagerly Becket pushed the hand Captain Kansas offered to one side and pulled her friend into a hug. “When I heard about your mission and the Folians and Gramrians told me they hadn’t heard from you for months, I was worried for you,” Becket said into her friend’s hair. She held the young Captain back at arm’s length. “It’s good to see you safe and sound. And your ship largely in one piece as well.” Becket smiled, “For you, that’s quite the accomplishment.”
Emilie rolled her eyes and took another half step back from Becket. She looked around the Rear Admiral’s office. “It seems you’ve done well for yourself since I left Earth. The last I heard you were in Alliance space.”
“A lot has happened since then,” Becket said with a smile. “You know I fought with Admiral Ya’sia against the Karacknid fleet of more than three thousand warships.”
“The Karacknids invaded Alliance space?” Emilie asked as she took a step forward.
Becket’s smile widened and she gestured for Emilie to take a seat. “We both have a lot to catch up on. Why don’t I go first and then you can fill me in on what you’ve been doing?” Becket eyed Emilie carefully as she continued, “the report you transmitted is strangely lacking in certain details.”
Emilie nodded. “By intention. The Kalassai are a very secretive people. There are things they shared with me that I promised I would not speak of. At least not to anyone but James. I have prepared a different report for his eyes only.”
Becket screwed up her face as she thought through what Emilie had told her. “That doesn’t sit comfortably with me. You’re not giving me any choice but to trust you.”
Emilie smiled. “I hope that over the years I have earned that trust.”
Becket let out a breath. “I suppose so. Though I want to hear as much as you can tell me. Hopefully more than is in your report.”
“Of course Rear Admiral, next to James, I would trust you with my life. But some of the things I left out are not my secrets to share,” Emilie explained.
“All right,” Becket said as she sighed. “Let me fill you in on everything that has happened and then you can share with me what you can. By the way, I’d start trying to put an end to calling your uncle James from now on. At least when not in private with him. His official title is Emperor now.”
Emilie jumped out of her seat, making Becket break into a wide grin and chuckle at the shock on Emilie’s face. Then Becket explained everything that had happened with the Karacknid invasion of Alliance space, and the formation of the Empire with Christine and James as its heads of state. Emilie had been gone a long time.
An hour later Becket lifted her coffee mug and took another sip. After having to answer hundreds of questions, Intrepid’s Captain had finally told her story of being abducted and taken to a Kalassai city ship. “And that’s not the best bit,” Emilie said as she pulled out a datapad and slotted it into the holo projector in Becket’s desk. “They shared all their star map data on the Karacknid Empire and the surrounding systems. Including their intelligence on Karacknid military bases and fleet dispositions. Much of the information is months if not years old. But they have historic data as well. We can trace Karacknid fleet movements over more than a hundred years. It gives us an incredibly detailed picture of their defenses in this part of their empire.”
This time it was Becket who jumped to her feet as a massive map of space appeared above her desk. Having spent the last six months in the Gramrian homeworld working with Admiral Shraw to prepare his fleet to fight the Karacknids, Becket immediately recognized the systems that were owned by the Conclave species. What astounded her was that they were just a small section in the bottom right-hand corner of the 3D map. The vast majority of the map, easily ninety-five percent of it, was taken up with systems neither she nor the Gramrians knew anything about. Reaching out with her hands she zoomed in on several systems. The details she saw astonished her even more. Battlestations and warships were clearly visible in orbit around the planet she was looking at. Zooming back out again she sat down and stared at the map, speechless.
For more than five minutes she simply looked at it, zooming in here and there. The more she looked, the more terrified and excited she got. The sheer size and scale of the Karacknid Empire was mind boggling. And yet there was a section of the Karacknid Empire that was grabbing her attention. Not too far away from Conclave space the holo map looked very unusual. If she had been looking at a map of Earth, she would have said the two large spurs that thrust into the Karacknid Empire were mountain ranges. Like a mountain range on Earth, the spurs were devoid of inhabited systems. More than that, they were devoid of any systems at all. The
result was a long slither of Karacknid systems that were almost self-contained between the two spurs. Only occasionally were there long shift passages that crossed the spurs to link the area up with the wider Karacknid Empire. Between the two spurs there was essentially a corridor of systems that led more than a third of the way into Karacknid space. Like a spear pointing directly at the heart of the Karacknid Empire, Becket thought. The comparison in her mind with mountain ranges on Earth made her think of one of her favorite historic generals. Jackson’s Valley Campaign was studied by every officer cadet at the Academy. At least at what had been the British Star Kingdom Naval Academy. There was no way she had the forces to invade and hold Karacknid space. But she could thrust deep into their territory. If she could pull it off, it would take the Karacknids weeks if not months to respond. Even then, to do so they’d have to send out fleets on a long journey to traverse the mountain like spurs. As she studied the map, Becket found a grin forming on her face. Emperor Somerville had sent her to the Gramrians to help them prepare their defenses. There was a Human expression she was going to have to introduce Admiral Shraw too; often, the best form of defense is a good offence. Reaching forward, she copied the image and sent it to Shraw along with a request to meet with him immediately. Only then did she look back at Emilie. “Whatever other secrets you’re keeping for the Kalassai, this was worth your time and then some. Well done Captain. Well done indeed!” She paused for a second as she stood and held out her hand to Emilie and returned her friend’s smile. “But I’m afraid I have some bad news for you. At least if you were hoping to congratulate your uncle on his new position any time soon,” she continued. “If what I have in mind is going to work, I’m going to need every ship I can get. Especially ones designed for long range exploration and scouting missions.”
