The Burden of Command, page 36
part #14 of Empire Rising Series
“Sending the orders now Admiral,” Davenport responded immediately.
In response, Home Fleet turned their noses away from the Flex-aor fleet and actually began to accelerate out of their blocking position. To the casual observer, it would look like they were opening the way for the Flex-aor to attack New Delhi. Sensing some kind of trap, the Flex-aor fleet slowed its approach. Yet they didn’t deviate from their course. Instead, more frigates and destroyers spread out searching for some hidden danger.
For an hour, James watched the Flex-aor fleet as it closed with and then began to pass in front of Home Fleet. When the time finally came, he glanced at Davenport. “Let us begin the first attack run.”
Moments later, and Home Fleet roared into action. Oblivion’s reactors went to full power, and her impulse engines thrust her forward. The Flex-aor had already observed the full acceleration capabilities of an Imperial destroyer, but James doubted they had anticipated just how fast even Davenport’s dreadnought was. All of the Imperial war fleet had been designed with speed in mind. Barely slower than Jonathan’s Achilles had been able to accelerate, Oblivion led Home Fleet as they charged towards the Flex-aor fleet. As the holo display updated projecting the course of both fleets, it became clear that James had his ships aimed at the rear of the Flex-aor formation. With his higher acceleration rates, he’d be able to close with the Flex-aor with ease. More importantly, he’d be able to fire off half a dozen salvos of his long-range mark VII missiles, and then angle away from the Flex-aor fleet before they could open fire. The only way they could prevent his maneuver would be to turn and face him. Yet doing so would drastically slow their approach to New Delhi.
For nearly ten minutes, the Flex-aor fleet allowed James to charge at them without responding. When the eleventh minute came and passed, James glanced at Davenport. They can’t be that foolish? His look asked. Davenport shrugged. “Movement!” A sensor officer called out, snapping James’ and Davenport’s heads back towards the holo display. James nodded when he saw what the Flex-aor were doing. Finally, they were turning their ships to face his. “Calculate the opportune time for us to alter course,” James requested. “I want to be able to hit them with two mark VII salvos.” Several seconds later, he smiled when the holo display updated to show Home Fleet’s projected course. As of yet, the Flex-aor hadn’t seen the full range Human mark VII missiles had. They were about to find out. “Carry out the maneuver when we reach the designated point,” James ordered.
When the time came, the ships of Home Fleet altered their heading away from the Flex-aor fleet. The Flex-aor tried to change course as well to continue to close with Oblivion and her consorts, yet as the holo display updated, it was evident the Flex-aor ships didn’t have the momentum or acceleration rates. “Ready to fire,” Davenport’s tactical officer announced. James nodded at Davenport who then gave the order. From Oblivion and the eighty-five ships in formation with her, two thousand four hundred missiles were launched towards the Flex-aor fleet.
Realizing they had been had, the Flex-aor fleet abandoned its attempts to close with Home Fleet. Instead they turned back towards New Delhi and started to accelerate towards the colony with renewed vigor. Their formation also changed as their larger ships huddled closer together to better protect one another. Before James’s first salvo crashed home, Home Fleet fired for the second time, and then their momentum and acceleration took them out of missile range. As soon as their second salvo of missiles were away, the ships of Home Fleet flipped end over end and began to decelerate. Having cut across behind the path of the Flex-aor fleet, they began to slow themselves and prepared to repeat the same attack maneuver.
As Davenport oversaw Home Fleet’s course change, James watched the progress of his missile salvos. With two thousand four hundred missiles closing on the Flex-aor fleet, their ships only had to destroy three missiles each to negate his entire attack. That was, until the mark VIIs cut off their first stage engines and released four smaller antimatter missiles. Now the Flex-aor had many more targets to try and track. Nevertheless, when their point defensive laser beams began to reach out towards his missiles, hundreds of them were blown apart. A wall of explosions gradually crept closer and closer to the Flex-aor fleet as they destroyed missile after missile. As far as Oblivion’s sensors could tell, only ninety missiles reached attack range. Boosting their engines to their maximum for the final few seconds, the missiles dove in towards their targets. Having been so used to seeing the bright blue balls released by the detonation of antimatter warheads erupting among his own ships, James was momentarily taken aback as they bloomed amongst the Flex-aor fleet. It was far from a disappointing image, however. At least forty missiles had got close enough to detonate and immerse their targets in antimatter. When the second salvo crashed in, it wasn’t quite so successful. The Flex-aor clearly learnt from engaging the first salvo. Even so, more than thirty more Flex-aor ships were destroyed or severely damaged.
“Good shooting,” James said to Oblivion’s bridge crew. “Now let’s see if we can hit them again. Repeat the maneuver.”
It took forty minutes for Home Fleet to fully reverse its momentum and begin to charge the Flex-aor again. This time, the Flex-aor reacted differently. Rather than turn and face James’ ships in an effort to force a proper fleet engagement, they actually increased their acceleration rates as they continued on towards New Delhi. “They’re not taking the bait this time,” Davenport said. “They’re willing to let us engage them at long range.”
James nodded. If the Flex-aor didn’t turn towards him, he could stand off and hit them with six missile salvos as he passed along behind their line of advance. Yet this time, if he did so, the Flex-aor fleet would be able to beat him to New Delhi. They’d be able to hammer the colony’s defenses without his ships there to aid them. There were many scenarios in which James would have had no problem allowing the Flex-aor’s plans to play out. For it would allow his fleet to remain at their rear and engage them from behind as New Delhi’s battlestations engaged them from the front. Yet that wasn’t a tactic available to him now. Not when he knew for certain the Flex-aor would try to slip nuclear warheads through New Delhi’s defenses to strike the colony’s cities. If he was facing a Karacknid fleet, he could have tried taking the risk. For the most part, the Karacknids were more interested in conquering than destroying. However, the Flex-aor were another matter entirely. “We can’t let them get to New Delhi ahead of us. Set course for the colony. Maximum acceleration.”
“Aye Admiral,” Davenport responded as she began to give out orders to her command staff.
Pulling up a holo display on his command chair, James did some calculations. He looked back up to Davenport when he saw what he wanted was possible. “From this position, we’ll pass almost parallel to them. As we close, I want to try and strike them with a couple more salvos. They’ll probably alter course to keep us out of range. If they do, it will give us more time to get to New Delhi; if they don’t, all the better. Make sure you update Wing Commander Jensen about our intentions as well.”
“Understood Admiral,” Davenport replied.
It took an hour and a half for Home Fleet to catch up with the Flex-aor fleet. When James’ ships altered course slightly to close, the Flex-aor were slow to react. Home Fleet managed to fire off one more mark VII missile salvo before the Flex-aor turned away. Then James continued to race his ships towards New Delhi. As James watched his next missile salvo head towards the Flex-aor fleet, his stomach began to tighten up into knots again. He had already watched his son go into harm’s way, now he was going to have to watch his daughter. Though he had fought battles where Humanity’s entire future was on the line, James couldn’t help but feel that watching his own children going into battle was wearing him down far more than anything the Karacknid War had.
*
“We have our attack orders,” Wing Commander Jensen said to all her pilots. “We don’t have time for stealth, this will be a hot approach. Engines to maximum. Speed is key today. Our first missiles are to clear a path, reserve your second for enemy capital ships. We need to take out as many as we can. New Delhi is counting on us.”
Georgia listened as each squadron leader acknowledged Jensen’s words. Then new flight data was transmitted to her Hellcat. With a command from Jensen’s fighter, the autopilots in all twelve squadrons that were part of the attack wing brought their fighters out of stealth. Engines roared into life, and their one hundred and forty-four attack craft raced towards the Flex-aor fleet. Georgia understood the need for haste, her Hellcat’s passive sensors had already picked up Home Fleet’s missile salvo. From where the fighters had been hiding in open space, it would take everything her Hellcat had to reach the Flex-aor fleet and attack it in conjunction with the missiles. She couldn’t help the tremor of trepidation that ran up her spine as she stared at the Flex-aor fleet. Even with half or more of the enemy fleet’s point defenses focused on the incoming missiles, it was going to be one hell of a hot approach. Focus, Georgia told herself as she glanced at New Delhi. Jensen was right. Whatever the cost to her or her squadron, she needed to strike hard at the Flex-aor fleet. And don’t forget about Jonathan, she reminded herself. Her Hellcat had picked up the report Achilles had transmitted back to Oblivion, and Georgia had read it as she had been waiting in her Hellcat. Her brother now had one confirmed kill with Achilles. Added to the other pirate ships he had already destroyed, he was leaping ahead of her. She needed to start to claw him back. “Let’s do this,” Georgia said out loud as she ran a final system’s check and then focused her full attention on the Flex-aor fleet.
When the time came, she gripped her flight stick and disengaged her Hellcat’s autopilot. The Flex-aor fleet had already opened up on Home Fleet’s missile salvo with their point defenses. As soon as she had control of her fighter, Georgia began to gently move it into a series of evasive maneuvers. They were simply warmup exercises. When the warning beep from her Hellcat told her she was thirty seconds out from the maximum effective range of the enemy weapons, she put her full effort into their maneuvers. This time, as her vision narrowed down to just the space immediately in front of her fighter, she wasn’t surprised. Though she still felt fear coursing through her body, tensing her muscles and causing her stomach to do somersaults, Georgia kept herself under control. She knew what was coming. She had faced it before. This time, she was determined to be the one dishing out death and destruction.
Georgia didn’t flinch when the first laser beams began to zip past her fighter. Nor when larger explosions marked the first deaths among her fellow pilots. Falling into the same trancelike state she had reached at New France, she instinctively twisted and weaved, all the while keeping her focus on the Flex-aor destroyer she had targeted. The sudden flaring of a multitude of colors in front of her didn’t even make her blink. She knew her fighter’s shields had just deflected a laser beam. Without faltering, she continued her evasive maneuvers. If her fighter was going to be blown apart, it would happen before she realized. As long as she could still maneuver, she would fix her attention on the enemy destroyer. You’re not nuking any cities today! She growled into herself as her body tensed up anticipating what was about to come. Seconds later, she wasn’t disappointed. Her fighter beeped at her to say her missile was in range. Without hesitation, she pressed the firing button on her joystick. For the briefest of seconds, her view was dominated by the exhaust plume from her antimatter missile. In a flash, it accelerated far faster than her fighter could and raced towards the destroyer.
At once, Georgia switched targets. Even as she focused her gaze on the much larger Flex-aor heavy cruiser that was a real target, antimatter detonations suddenly began to fill her vision. Home Fleet’s missile salvo was striking home. Don’t hit the heavy cruiser, Georgia found herself wishing. She didn’t want her kill taken from her. Sure enough, the heavy cruiser survived the barrage intact. As soon as the last detonation dissipated, the amount of defensive fire coming Georgia’s way intensified. She swore as several beams came dangerously close to her Hellcat. Then her shields flared again. A new alarm warned her that they had failed. Despite her fear spiking, Georgia grunted in satisfaction when she saw the destroyer she had targeted appear in her peripheral vision. Just moments after it did, her fighter beeped at her again. Her second missile had locked onto the Flex-aor heavy cruiser. Without hesitation, she released it. Immediately, Georgia snapped her fighter up and away from the Flex-aor fleet while still carrying out her evasive maneuvers. Despite the missiles that she and her wing had fired, a colossal amount of point defense fire continued to be directed at her Hellcat. Sweat ran down Georgia’s back as she fought desperately to keep her fighter from being hit. She didn’t even think of trying to glance back to see if her second missile had struck home. Even when the fire began to slacken and then dissipate, her mind didn’t go to the heavy cruiser. Instead, she was overwhelmed by a deep sense of relief. The enemy fire had been far more deadly than her attack on the pirate ships. Yet somehow, she had survived once again!
As Georgia checked her sensor feed, her relief faltered. All of Jensen’s squadrons had holes in their formations. A quick glance told her nearly a third of the one hundred and forty-four fighters that had begun the attack hadn’t made it back. When Georgia turned her attention to the Flex-aor fleet, it looked like more than one hundred ships had been destroyed. I hope it was worth it, she thought as she fought to hold back tears for the friends she knew she was going to find out she had lost. The first missile salvo the Flex-aor would be able to fire at New Delhi’s defenses had been cut by an eighth. She just hoped that would be enough!
Chapter 31
Though the secessionist movement of the 2500’s was short lived, it was a foretaste of more serious problems to come. Since then, throughout the Empire’s history, pockets of secessionist sentiment have flared up again and again. None were more serious or had such far-reaching impacts as the movement that lead to the first Imperial Civil War.
-Excerpt from Empire Ascendant 3015 AD.
IS Oblivion
“And now, the real battle begins,” James said to Oblivion’s bridge officers as Wing Commander Jensen’s fighters were all pulling up and away from the Flex-aor fleet. Their antimatter missiles had finished detonating. Now nothing stood between the Flex-aor and New Delhi. Nothing but Home Fleet and the colony’s orbital battlestations. But at least Georgia survived, James thought to himself. He was certain she would be racing back as fast as she could with the rest of Jensen’s fighters to land on their carriers, refuel, and rearm for another sortie. Guiltily, a part of James hoped they wouldn’t be able to return to the fight in time. If the battle was over, whatever the outcome, she would be spared having to risk her life again. Not whatever the outcome, James scolded himself. We are going to finish this the right way. No nukes are striking New Delhi. Not if I can help it! “How are our modifications coming along?” He asked as determination made his hands clench into fists.
“Eight more battlestations have been readied,” one of Davenport’s staff officers replied instantly. “Three more are nearing completion. They should be ready in time. The total number is now twenty-six.”
“All right, abandon the efforts on the other stations,” James decided. “They will have to defend New Delhi as they were originally intended. Send a flash alert to all ships and stations involved in Plan Lift-off, order them to carry out final systems checks and report readiness to proceed.” Twenty-six was not as many as James had been hoping for, but it was better than twenty or twenty-one. His engagement of the Flex-aor fleet had bought enough time to get several more battlestations ready. It will have to be enough, he told himself.
“Aye Admiral,” a COM officer said in response to James’ order, unaware of her Admiral’s concerns.
“How soon do you want to begin?” Davenport asked.
“We must wait until they are close enough that they can’t get missiles around us to strike the colony,” James replied. “As soon as they get that close, we will begin.” Officers around James, including Davenport, nodded at his words. As James looked up at the holo display and the depiction of the Flex-aor fleet, most officers did the same. In silence, they all watched the seven hundred strong enemy fleet approach New Delhi. Every Flex-aor ship had its missile ports open and its active sensors at full power. Their intention was unmistakable. They were coming for blood. And they’re going to get it, James was sure. He had been badly outnumbered in battles before. He was no stranger to that. For once, he had the technological advantage. Yet he was outnumbered by at least a factor of four to one. And he wasn’t just fighting to defend his forces; New Delhi’s future hung in the balance. That severely limited his options. Still, brooding wasn’t going to do him any good. “How is the evacuation coming along?” James asked to break the silence.
“Most of the major cities have now been cleared,” one of Davenport’s staff officers answered. “At least, cleared of as many people as can be convinced to leave. Former Governor Varma is making sure they are spread out across the planet’s surface as much as is feasible.”
James nodded. Over the last two days Varma had proven herself a competent administrator. Begrudgingly, James had to admit she was skilled. He was glad he longer had to consider her an opponent, at least, not in the short term anyway.
