Carinae Sector: 02 - Admiral's Fury - Part 3 - Fleet Action (10 page)

Polite chuckles now came from across the main view screen, telling Mary that her commanders appreciated both her logic and her dry wit. The admiral now forced down the turmoil of doubt and fear that she also knew that others must be feeling as she spoke again.

‘Remember your training drills and also remember to assist the ships in your sections as much as possible. Good luck and may god please you and all your ship’s crews in the coming battle and that is all for now.’

Mary remained still for several seconds as silence came over the communications channel. She knew that her address had also been sent to Earth and was likely now showing on all commercial media channels. A voice she recognised as Robert Seville, who was working with his teams frantically down on the moon, rang out across the communications line.

‘Three cheers for the admiral….’ The cheers echoed slightly over the video link as the other ships responded, before Robert spoke again. ‘…now let us teach these invaders a serious lesson.’

Further cheers from the human defenders echoed over the communications link, and Mary Neilson wondered on how many of them would survive the coming battle.

                                                                     ***

Neanres critically eyed the latest combat simulations, as they did nothing to reassure him about their assault on the humans. He ignored the view screen picture of the beautiful human planet and its moon as he continued to work away. The captain had no doubt that the admiral on his flag ship had already gone through his own series of simulations, and he did not want to risk the admiral’s wrath any more. He realised soon enough that the armada still had a large edge in firepower, but he also knew that the planet’s outsized moon introduced a level of complexity in defeating the humans.

Admiral Baunrus had been specific in his curt instructions, and they had quickly discarded the idea of travelling around to the far side of the planet to launch their attack. For the simulations had then shown the armada being trapped tightly between the planet and the still intact force of human destroyers. Both senior Jerecab had flinched as the simulation had shown a marginal victory to the armada, but with heavy losses in frigates.

Captain Neanres had earlier seen the old reports of the Barus cruiser squadron being driven away many years earlier by human missiles from the planet. Neanres had then worked out over the video link a revised assault plan with the admiral. First they would decimate the human ships at their moon and then the moon bases themselves. The armada would then bait and draw at a distance the humans into releasing any of their remaining missiles. Once all the missiles and the orbiting defences were destroyed, the armada could then safely subdue the humans before hopefully seizing the planet. The great unknown in their preparations was the level of defences present on the human moon.

Neanres also knew that their best plans could amount to nothing if the other vassal races could arrive in time with superior forces. He found that the absence of the Cephrit, who were the closest alien race to Earth, to be worrisome. He felt that even if they eventually took down the humans, the remnants of the armada risked destruction on their way home from the righteous fury of the strange Cephrit. The captain now set a series of report triggers on the coming battle, for he had noted something else in the old Barus report. He still kept these thoughts to himself as he watched the armada begin their assault on the moon, for he was already aware that Baunrus would likely have him murdered after the battle.

                                                                     ***

Admiral Baunrus had merely ignored the last human message and put aside his own simulations as his armada swept into attack. He was well aware of Captain Neanres’s recent reserve in attacking the humans, but he had already decided to terminally resolve this matter after the attack. There was also a possibility that the humans would sort out the problem of Neanres for him anyway, as no doubt they now understood the importance of the two modified lifters in the captain’s group of ships.

A few erratic blasts of laser fire erupted from the human destroyers, but for some reason they were not firing their main particle cannons. The frigates began slowing as the armada arrived at the location Baunrus had specified, and he urgently repeated an earlier order.

‘All ships are to target the human destroyers with beam weapons. We will launch missiles later after we degrade their missile defence systems.’

A fierce cascade of weapons fire erupted from the armada and raced for the defending human ships.

                                                                     ***

Mary Neilson sat back and waited patiently until the range counter was showing the central elements of the armada were in range, before she shouted an urgent order.

‘All ships are to target the central sections of the armada by section numbers. Open fire!’

The destroyers seemed to pause in space for several seconds, before their massive particle cannons fired on the Jerecab frigates. Three or more destroyers targeted a single frigate, and every time they struck in unison the frigate would explode or tumble away in ruin.

Mary cursed under her breath the five minute recharge timers, even as she was aware that the Jerecab had already lost several frigates. She could see that the lead section of five destroyers was already taking a pounding from the combined firepower of the Jerecab armada. The admiral issued another two orders as the Exeter now shivered under the force of the Jerecab laser weapons.

‘All ships are to pinwheel to starboard and the forward section becomes the right wing section. Also those orbiting bases can open fire at any stage now.’

The destroyers began the well rehearsed manoeuvre as the Jerecab continued their attack.

Mary was aware that the Sspol cruisers in space nearby tentatively nosed closer to their attack positions as they still continued to broadcast their messages. The Barus research fleet was also nearby and attempting to assault the rear of the Jerecab armada. She now looked at the time and distance calculations for Omerio’s cruisers and realised that he was still over an hour way. The admiral knew that the battle could easily be lost before the Barus ships arrived. She watched as the orbiting base Luna 2 opened fire on the Jerecab. Another pair of Jerecab frigates were destroyed as the heavier weapons of the orbiting base found their targets.

The pinwheel manoeuvre was completed and the left wing section was now taking the brunt of the weapons fire from the armada. The recharge timer sounded again and Mary watched keenly as the destroyers again fired their particle cannons at selected targets. Several more Jerecab frigates tumbled end over end before they exploded. Mary appraised that they were doing rather well, though Rick Gordon’s first reports filled her with unease.

‘Admiral, five of the six destroyers on the right wing have all incurred casualties in the crews of the point defence systems. So far we have eighty dead and they are attempting repairs by powering down the defences to extract their dead and make repairs. We need twenty minutes for repairs to be completed and marines will then help the crew man the point defences.’

Mary flinched as she realised that the eighty dead were likely flash fried in their space suits once the destroyer’s shielding had been heavily depleted. An idea that she had discussed with John Griggs during the journey home now came to mind, and she gave a coded order that was relayed as an encrypted message to all her ships.

‘Right wing section, execute Trojan horse formation.’

The admiral noted that the right wing section now drifted around in formation in space as their commanders’ implemented her order. Rick Gordon gave her a quizzical grin and she spoke again.

‘Well lieutenant let us see if the Jerecab admiral responds by taking the bait…’

                                                                     ***

Omerio kept his tone formal as the view screen came online to show his intended mate, Gindane, on the bridge of her research cruiser.

‘Captain Gindane, we will arrive in the later stages of the battle. I suggest you engage the two missile carriers and their escorts, as the human population on Earth could be decimated even as we drive away the armada. We will attack the armada itself when we arrive in about an hour. I can also report that the virus we caught earlier from the humans has definitely subsided, though my own ship remains in quarantine from my other cruisers.’

Gindane looked over her bridge as she composed a reply, for she knew that Omerio had been busy earlier with his squadron avoiding the armada. One of her lieutenants coughed apologetically, but she gave him a reassuring smile as she knew he was still recovering from the illness. Gindane motioned for yet another report to be sent to her as responded to Omerio’s suggestions.

‘Captain Omerio, it is reassuring to know that your ships are nearby. I can also confirm that the virus outbreak on my own ship is now contained as well. I will implement your suggestion shortly as it is good advice as always. Now in turn you must be advised that the humans have additional defences at their moon and it would be unwise to get too close….’

Omerio listened avidly to the latest information that her research fleet had obtained either from direct observations or from direct questions to the at times bemused humans. He looked over something on his data tablet for a few seconds before he spoke again.

‘The Sspol are hanging back and still signalling clauses, and I suggest we immediately send the allied clause to both that Maveen probe and the Sspol cruisers at the same time.’

Gindane could readily see the logic in his second suggestion and her ships began sending out the required messages to both the other alien races.

Omerio now excused himself and the view screen went blank as the meeting ended. Gindane knew that he would be altering his own deployment in light of this new information. By habit she verified that the bridge recorders on her cruiser had recorded the meeting in full, for she knew that if she survived this battle then the details would become very important to any board of inquiry.

Gindane was now watching the battle critically from one side as the armada attempted to destroy the human destroyers. She felt the humans were fighting rather well in defensive position surrounded by superior forces of the armada. However she knew that several of their destroyers already had severely depleted shields and the battle had hardly begun. The Barus researcher noted that the second formation of Jerecab ships was now moving into their attack positions and she altered the course of her research fleet to intercept.

Gindane opened a channel to the Jerecab commander and began berating and beseeching him in turn.

‘Neanres we spoke earlier and you must know of the contempt of the other vassal races for your assault on the human home world. I humbly beg you to break with your admiral and withdraw your forces.’

The screen remained blank for several seconds before it came alive to show a surprised Neanres sitting in his command chair. He brushed his long whiskers in obvious thought as he responded politely to her request.

‘Captain Neanres to Research Captain Gindane, I have my orders and I will carry them out to the best of my abilities. The unknown and potentially dangerous risks associated with the humans will be removed today to secure the future of my race.’

Gindane ground her teeth in rage and paced her bridge in fury as the view screen then went blank. She growled a series of orders across the bridge as she loaded her own simulations onto the view screen.

‘The four smallest research destroyers are to form a shield between the Jerecab lifters and Earth with orders to destroy any launched missiles. I will take the six research cruisers in with our larger destroyers in an attempt to destroy their missile carriers.’

Gindane was under no illusions on how the under gunned Barus research ships would perform against front line frigates, even if her ships were larger.

Neanres watched intently as the Barus research fleet split into two un-even sections before their larger ships began closing in on his own frigates.

                                                                     ***

Maveen Probe three, fighting under the alias of scout probe eleven, had positioned himself in front of a rag tag collection of smaller human ships in high Earth orbit. He was using his long range detectors to advise the local human commander of the large battle now taking place near the moon.

‘The Jerecab have already lost many frigates, however several of your destroyers have heavily depleted shields. Your admiral is altering her deployment and the Jerecab are also altering their attack plans.’

The probe now remained silent as he received the latest messages from the Barus ships. The Maveen was well ware that the vassals could prove treacherous later, though the Barus were seen as the most trustworthy. The Sspol were also an unknown quantity as they had been in a protracted war with the Maveen up to recently. Now with allied clauses from both the Barus and the Sspol present, he made the obvious choice and transmitted his own allied clause to the Sspol directly.’

                                                                     ***

Admiral Baunrus was closely watching the results of the armada’s attack on the human destroyers. He noted that their right wing group of ships appeared to be in disarray and he decided that he had two choices. He scrubbed the ever present dander from his shoulders in agitation before he made his choice known across the bridge.

‘Instruct the forward sections of the armada to now concentrate their firepower on the central and left wing sections of the human fleet. Their point defence systems are steadily being eroded and we must continue this trend before we attack them with missiles. We will incur further losses but it will insure that all their ships are destroyed as they will likely back away from us.’