by Daniel Gibbs
A moment later, Ruth responded, “Firing solutions set, sir.”
“TAO, reconfirm firing solutions for Master Six-oh-one, Starbolt and Hunter missiles.”
“Firing solutions set, all weapons, sir.”
David leaned forward in his seat, staring down the enemy ship looming in front of them. “TAO, match bearings, shoot, all weapons, Master Six-oh-one.”
Ruth launched the magnetic-cannon rounds first as she almost always did; they slammed into the weakened shields of the Alexander class battleship, while a few moments later, neutron beams from the Lion broke through the almost depleted screens and into her hull. As this was occurring, she launched the remaining missiles in the aft missile array; another forty-five multi-megaton warheads headed out from the Lion. “Conn, TAO! All missiles running hot, straight, and normal, sir.”
David’s eyes were glued to the tactical plot, showing the mass of missiles rushing toward the final League battleship. Much like before, the League’s point defense was reasonably effective at knocking down the less advanced Starbolt missiles, but because they split their fire between the two types of warheads, the Hunters got through almost entirely unscathed. Pelting the hull of the League ship with nuclear fire, large chunks of the enemy ship turned molten and exploded. Finally, the onslaught of warheads hit something explosive—possibly a primary missile magazine or reactor—and the vessel exploded, turning into a field of debris in less than ten seconds.
“Conn, TAO! Master Six-oh-one destroyed, sir!” Ruth shouted at the top of her lungs.
“Very good, TAO!” Aibek shouted, his bloodlust apparently stirred.
Relief broke through David’s exterior, and for just a moment, a smile creased his face. “Nice shooting, Goldberg!” he said, breaking bridge protocol and letting out the anger for just a moment. Three League battlewagons weren’t enough to even the score, but it was a great start. “TAO, status of our escorts?” he asked, the mask of command once again taking control.
“Sir, all escorting ships have cleared the minefield boundaries and are in a safe position to engage Lawrence drives.”
“Communications, signal the fleet to withdraw to rally point bravo.”
“Aye aye, sir,” Taylor called out in quick response.
“Navigation, plot a Lawrence drive jump to rally point bravo and stand by to engage on my mark.”
“Aye aye, sir.”
David leaned back in his seat for just a moment. How bad it was depended on how many ships made it out, but given the losses already sustained, the butcher's bill was almost impossible to pay. They couldn’t replace the kind of carnage that had been inflicted today; that was the Achilles heel of the Terran Coalition.
“Conn, communications, the fleet is reporting jump readiness and ships are beginning to jump out,” Taylor interjected.
“Conn, TAO, confirmed, multiple Lawrence drive light-offs confirmed.”
David watched the tactical plot as over the next several minutes, hundreds of CDF and RSN ships jumped out until, finally, they were the last ship bearing the Canaan Alliance flag in the battlespace. He looked toward Rachel. “TAO, power down our weapons and drain the energy weapons capacitor. Navigation, commence Lawrence drive jump.”
“Aye aye, sir,” Ruth responded, transferring the weapon systems power to navigation for the jump.
“Aye aye, sir, jumping now!” Rachel replied, initiating the sequence to open an artificial wormhole.
David felt the ship begin to shudder as the mammoth Lawrence drive opened a hole between two points in the universe; there was a display of dizzying colors in front of the Lion as the artificial wormhole became visible to the naked eye. Moving forward under sub-light engine power, the vessel entered in one side, and moments later popped out the other, a hundred lightyears away.
“Conn, Navigation. Lawrence drive jump complete, sir,” Rachel announced.
David stared straight ahead, waiting for the LIDAR sensor arrays to snap on, and for sensor readings to come back.
“Conn, TAO. No hostile contacts, sir.”
David sighed inwardly in relief. “TAO, status of the fleet? How many did we lose?”
While Ruth was processing his request, Aibek stood. “Colonel, while we did take losses, we also inflicted many more. By my count, we destroyed over two hundred and fifty League ships.”
At the mention of the sheer number of League ships destroyed, David allowed himself to smile. “That’s pretty good shooting, XO.” And then the smile faded. “But it came at a high price.”
“Conn, TAO. I’m showing we took another five percent losses in the fight with the League blocking force.”
That information was enough to completely sober any thought David had of calling the battle a victory. “Thank you, TAO.” He glanced forward, past her and into space. “Signal the fleet to prepare damage control reports and send them to the XO. I want all senior officers to report to the wardroom in three hours for status updates and to plan a way forward. Until then, man your posts.”
There was a chorus of “aye aye, sirs,” and then David, despite being surrounded by dozens of people on the busy bridge, was very much alone in his thoughts. Dear God, how do we go forward? How can we hope to win?
13
“Such a victory, Admiral!” Strappi trilled in his sing-song voice. The effect of it was like fingernails being raked across a chalkboard in Seville’s mind. Sitting in the officers’ lounge on Unity Station, he shared the room with Strappi and the commanding officer of the station, Fleet Captain Astrid Monet. In his hand, he held a fine French wine, a Pinot Noir from the south of France.
“The victory is not complete, Colonel,” Seville replied in a sour tone. “The Lion of Judah is not destroyed, and we failed to destroy their carriers. Those are how the Terran Coalition projects its power. To defeat them, we must take down the carriers!”
“Still, the first time our sailors have seen the backs of the so-called Canaan Alliance in several months, Admiral,” Astrid said, her French accent coming through.
“We should run them down, Admiral,” Strappi said, half drunk.
“Are you an absolute idiot, Colonel? No, wait, don’t answer that. I already know you are,” Seville retorted. “Our strength is the minefield. It’s a static weapon. If we start trying to hunt for the Terrans and their disgusting reptilian allies, they will destroy our divided forces in detail. No! The only sound strategy is to keep our forces concentrated so that they can annihilate the enemy when they return… because they will return. It’s the only move they have.”
“I do not believe it would be wise to say such a thing to Chairman Pallis…” Strappi began.
“It would not be wise for you to contradict me again, Colonel!” Seville snapped.
“Do we know when additional reinforcements will be coming, Admiral?” Astrid said, apparently seeking to defuse the tension that was so thick in the room, it could be cut with a knife.
“I’ve been assured that more battlegroups will be here within the day. Upgraded battleships and at least one fleet carrier.”
“Our minelayers have begun refilling the field,” Astrid commented. “I expect it to be back to full strength within twenty-four hours.”
“Good,” Seville replied. “We still lost too many ships,” he groused. But we’ll win the day. I will get my revenge on Colonel Cohen and his merry band of heroes. When I’m done with their fleet, the League will roll all the way to Canaan.
Astrid glanced at Seville. “Search and rescue units have completed their first survey of the destroyed ships. We recovered most of the bodies.”
“Unity Station has a crematorium, does it not?” Seville asked.
“Yes, Admiral.”
“Then take care of them there. Make sure that the ashes are properly stored so we can send them back to their respective families,” Seville said, still wearing a dour expression. The truth is, most of those families will never see the remains. Or even get the courtesy of a visit from a naval officer. It’s
something I should change, once I take over the League.
A couple of hours later, David strode into the Lion’s wardroom. Beyond the usual command staff that was present including Aibek, Ruth, Hanson, Amir, Tinetariro, Taylor, and Calvin, there was also Kenneth Lowe, the leader of the defense contractors, along with a senior nurse from the medical staff. Doctor Tural had sent a note to David saying that there were too many severe injuries for him to leave the medical bay.
As those assembled rose to come to attention, David took notice of the grave expressions and unsmiling faces that greeted him. I’m going to have to get them back on track; if bad attitudes set in, we’re lost. “As you were,” he said, watching them all sit slowly as if fatigued.
David sat down at the head of the table, making eye contact with a few of those seated. “I’m not going to try to sugar coat this,” David began. “Today has been hell. No, it’s been worse than hell. We got our butts handed to us out there.”
“With respect, sir, getting our butts handed to us would have been a loss rate of ten percent. I lost one thousand, sixty-three Marines,” Calvin interjected. “That’s a third of my effective combat force.”
David made eye contact with Calvin. “Leaving us with two-thirds to try again.”
“Try again? Sir, if we don’t perform major repairs, our anti-matter reactor will stop working, and we’ll be dead the next time,” Hanson said, beads of sweat visible on his face, along with grease stains.
“Anyone else want to add in something negative?” David replied, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
“Morale is… poor, but the senior chiefs and I will rectify the situation, sir,” Tinetariro interjected.
“Glad to hear it, Master Chief, but we need to start with ourselves.”
“That’s easy enough for you to say, Colonel. You didn’t lose a third of your bridge crew,” Calvin snapped back.
“Stow that crap, Colonel Demood,” David said with a hard edge to his voice. “No one’s got time for a pity party right now.”
The forcefulness of his tone got everyone’s attention. They sat just a little bit straighter and looked even more on edge. “Yes, sir,” Calvin ground out.
“Listen, people. Admiral Kartal tasked me to find a way to defeat the League. That starts right here, right now. I want all of you to get a big mug of coffee, go back to your stations after this meeting, and tell me what went wrong, and more importantly, how we’re going to defeat the League’s new toy,” David remarked, glancing around the room. Still unhappy with the responses of his crew, he added in a loud and direct tone, “Are we clear?”
“Crystal, sir!” Tinetariro said, her voice sharp. The rest of them nodded.
“Very well. Damage report, XO?”
Aibek leaned forward. “We still have several areas experiencing hard vacuum, sir, and there are microfractures across our armored hull plating. We will need a full overhaul once this is over. I will leave specific system details to Major Hanson, but I believe we can be combat-ready in forty-eight human hours.”
David’s eyes shifted to Hanson. “Major?”
Hanson cleared his throat. “XO’s right, sir. We took a beating, but if you give us and the contractors forty-eight hours, we’ll be as good as we can be outside of an actual two- to three-week overhaul.”
“What about right now?” David asked.
“Right now, half our neutron beam emitters are disabled, the port side ventral mag-cannon turrets are fused in place, our engines are thrusting at sixty percent of optimal output, and the reactor’s cooling loop is crisscrossed like a Christmas tree.”
David sighed. I guess I have to accept this will take a couple of days. “Alright. Keep me posted. Colonel Amir… what’s the flight wing’s status?”
Amir’s eyes stayed focused on the table. “Fifty percent losses of our space superiority fighter squadrons. Thirty percent losses on our bomber squadrons. An unknown number of pilots captured.”
“Colonel, I need you to work a plan to get those squadrons ready to fight again with the same timeline as our ship repairs. Forty-eight hours, no more.”
Amir lifted his head and stared at David with a glassy-eyed look. “Sir, half of my squadron commanders are gone. My XO is gone. We’re no longer an effective fighting force.”
David nearly bit off a piece of his tongue to avoid going off on Amir. “Colonel… we have to go on. We all have to go on. Knit those squadrons back together. I know you can do it.”
Watching as Amir nodded his acceptance, David moved on to Calvin. “Colonel Demood… realizing you lost thirty percent of your force, what are the specifics of what was lost?”
“I guess we were lucky compared to everyone else,” Calvin said, apparently aiming for his Marine macho tone but missing the mark. “Since we were assaulting a space station, we didn’t have heavy vehicles or equipment, besides some squad-serviced weapons. Most of my losses were trigger pullers. The good news, if there is any, is that our entire commando and special operations contingent survived.”
“Thank you, Colonel.” He next turned his attention to the senior nurse. “Nurse Attar, what can you tell us about the Lion’s causalities?”
“Not counting pilot and Marine KIA, sir, we had, as of when I left the medical bay, two hundred eighty-nine confirmed dead, over four hundred wounded, and sixty-three missing,” Attar said quietly.
More people than we lost in the last three months. No, not we… I. It’s on me. The specter of doubt and fear threatened to flood into David’s mind. Suppressing it, he forced himself to stay on task. “Lieutenant Hammond’s condition?”
“She’s stable, sir. Right now, the doctors are overwhelmed with trauma cases, so we’ll perform a skin graft and rejuvenation treatment on her later this evening. Based on a review of her chart, I believe she’ll be well enough for active duty by late tomorrow.”
David nodded. While the backup navigator, Second Lieutenant Marks, was good at her job, he wanted the best officer he had driving the ship when they took the fight back to the League, and that was Hammond. “Thank you, Nurse Attar. Major Hanson, can you expound on our reactor issues?”
“Yes, sir. Our primary magnetic containment loop was severely damaged by one of the mine blasts. Doctor Hayworth was able to stabilize the system, but like the XO said, sir, it's crisscrossed like a Christmas tree. We need to shut down the reactor and perform a radiation purge. At that point, we get into the containment chamber to recalibrate the system.”
“A bit over my head, but that’s what I’ve got Hanson and Hayworth for. How long is it going to take?”
“At least eighteen hours, sir, and that’s with significant contractor resources assigned.”
Kenneth leaned forward and asked, “Sirs, if I may?”
“Of course, Kenneth,” David replied.
“I believe it makes sense to split my teams up between ships that need repairs, sir.”
Hanson’s face clouded over. “That will cause repairs on the Lion to take longer.”
“With respect, sir, yes it will, but it will greatly increase the ability of the other ships to get damaged systems back online,” Kenneth replied, glancing between David and Hanson. “Reading over the reports from those ships, several of our capital ships have serious damage to primary systems. I believe prioritizing them will help us quickly restore the combat effectiveness of the fleet.”
Before Hanson could jump back in, and seeing the two men were both stressed, David interjected, “Gentlemen, I think we’ll save this topic for the meeting starting directly after this one.” At the puzzled looks of the others in the room, he explained further. “The Saurians are sending a couple of ship COs over, and I’ve asked a few of our own high-ranking COs to come to the Lion for discussions on the fleet. Don’t worry, we’re not rolling out the red carpet. Everyone understands all hands are on deck for repairs.”
David turned to look at Tinetariro. “Master Chief, as you mentioned earlier, I noticed morale has been poor the last few hours
. What steps are you taking to fix it?”
“Morale is not good, sir,” Tinetariro commented in her posh English accent. “We were all expecting to go in there and put a stake through the heart of the League. As it was, we barely got out with our lives. There’s a lot of concern about this new weapon they have. That’s one thing we’ve always had on our side… better technology. A few words from you would go a long way, sir.”
David closed his eyes momentarily. He knew that Tinetariro was right, but they had to stay on point and find a way to win. “Understood, Master Chief. I’ll address the crew later today. We cannot allow poor morale to set in. I’m with General MacIntosh on that subject…poor morale will cause defeat. Period, full stop.”
Looking around the room at the drawn faces, David decided what was best was for as many of them as possible to throw themselves into solving the problem of how to detect and destroy the League’s new mines. “Any saved rounds?”
“Sir, I’ve got something to add,” Taylor said in a voice that carried across the table. At David’s nod, he continued. “The Lion isn’t currently set up to be the ship’s flagship, sir. We need to reconfigure our tactical network to be the endpoint for the fleet, and you’ll need a flag staff, sir.”
David raised an eyebrow. “A flag staff?”
“Yes, sir. I’ve served before as the flag communications officer on a carrier, and if we’re going to try to manage four hundred plus ships, you have to have officers assigned to manage that fleet, sir.”
“Well, if you’ve served in that role before, Lieutenant, I think you just got a new assignment,” David replied with a smile. “For the duration of this engagement, consider yourself in charge of the flag staff.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll get right on it.”
David nodded while looking up at the wall-mounted chronometer that showed him it was two minutes until the next group arrived. “Very well. Everyone except Colonel Aibek, Major Hansen, and Mister Lowe are dismissed.”
David stood, as did the everyone else in the room. Taylor was the first to the hatch that led to the passageway to the bridge on deck one. He opened it up, and the command staff filed out of the conference room, with Ruth closing it behind her.
