Carinae Sector: 02 - Admiral's Fury - Part 3 - Fleet Action (12 page)

Neanres now felt a tight knot of fear across the grey green fur of his shoulders. The lieutenant had just reported the facts, but the bridge crew all knew that numbers of Cephrit scout ships meant that their cruiser squadrons were not far behind. The Jerecab captain stood anxiously as he turned his attention to the surface of the outsize moon. He now ordered the frigate’s long range scanners to make another pass over the moon, as he did not like what he could see from their current sensor readings.

‘I want three more active scans sent towards their moon as I am concerned about recent surface activity. Concentrate our attention on those large reinforced covers that are opening.’

The three pulses raced down and Neanres paid close attention to what the sensor readings were now showing him. The humans obviously had built fortified defences under strong shields, and he winced as he took in the latest energy reading from the scans. He sent yet another request to the admiral and fumed as his latest attempts at communication were ignored.

                                                                     ***

Mary was watching the fierce battle and attempting to make sense of how her fleet were holding up. The central section of fleet had taken the brunt of the attack after the pinwheel manoeuvre for several minutes, and the admiral could tell that three of the six destroyers already had badly diminished shields. The latest reports from the moon filled her with unease, for it appeared that Robert’s teams were experiencing problems. There appeared to be a lull in the battle for several seconds and Rick Gordon made an urgent report across the bridge.

‘Admiral, the armada is switching most of their firepower across to the left wing section.’

The admiral watched for several more minutes as the combined weapons of the armada made serious inroads into the shields protecting the left wing section. The recharge timers chimed again and the destroyers again attacked and destroyed their selected Jerecab frigates. Mary noted that the loss of several additional frigates hardly seemed to affect the Jerecab assault. She knew that her fleet were facing too many attackers, and despite the efforts of their alien allies, the Jerecab should win handily.

The admiral noted that several frigates at the outer edges of the armada were tumbling wrecks in space after repeated attacks by the Sspol cruisers. She also noted that Captain Gindane’s ships were in a pitched battle with the frigates protecting the large Jerecab missile carriers. Mary considered and just as quickly discarded commanding another reordering of her ship formations. The status displays for the right wing section of her fleet looked promising and she made a series of snap decisions.

‘The right wing section is to reform and launch a missile strike on the central forward formations of the armada in five minutes. The left wing section is to wait two minutes and then also launch a full missile strike on the central formations of the armada. We need to buy ourselves additional time for this battle.’

Mary watched the second timer activate alongside the main recharge timer, and she sent a silent prayer of hope towards the moon and Robert’s teams.

                                                                     ***

Captain Robert Seville was thirty metres underground on the moon and positioned halfway inside the base of a missile launch silo as he cautiously wielding a laser cutter. He was trimming away at a large reinforced restraining bolt, and being careful that the cutter and any stray scraps of metal came nowhere near his space suit. He was also keeping the cutter well away from the explosive head of the restraining bolt.

The professor knew that several members of his engineering teams were also inside adjacent silos performing similar hurried modifications. A couple of muffled small explosions occurred in nearby silos and he hoped they were not accidental explosions causing death.

Other technicians were isolating and disconnecting the sensors for the restraining bolts in the main control box near the exit to the service tunnel. Robert vented his frustrations to his nearby assistant Paul Taylor, who was holding a spare laser cutter.

‘Surely the final checks for these silos would have identified the problems of the restraining bolts freezing into place when the overhead doors were opened. This type of design problem could yet kill us all if we cannot use these weapons against the armada.’

Robert swatted aside a fragment that reached out for his suit with the reinforced back of his glove. Paul looked over and then made a recommendation before he replied to his bosses’ frustrated comment.

‘Robert, try cutting down the side of the enclosure for the bolt as they do have a small amount of explosives in the heads of the bolts. The design could not be tested and they merely scaled up the designs of our smaller missiles. I think the increased mass on the launch plate is part of the problem and the designers addressed that by omitting basic thermal protection.’

Robert grunted sourly as he applied the cutter again around the edge of an improvised blast shield.

‘I will try that as this whole process is taking too long…’

A short while later a small explosion reverberated against the small blast shield as the bolt head finally exploded. He backed out the access way dragging the shield and as much loose metal as he could locate. Paul spoke again as he took the cutter from the captain.

‘We are down to last four alterations, though we lost Emerson and Rykuri when their bolts exploded prematurely.’

Robert looked across at the other volunteers as they straightened from finishing with their own hurried efforts in the other silos, before he replied.

‘Damn they were both good men and they were good engineers. Please get them into stretchers so we can get out of here quickly.’

Robert then interrogated the defences for the silos, and he noted that the shields were still functional and the missiles were now all showing flight ready status. Nearby the two bloodied and suited bodies were being strapped into stretchers as he spoke loudly into his suit radio.

‘Missile control, please go into the pre-launch checks and my team will return as soon as possible. You are instructed to launch the missiles without regard for the safety of my team.’

Robert took one end of the stretcher holding Emerson’s body and he began a hurried shuffling walk back along the service tunnel in his cumbersome space suit. The tunnel was narrow, and they had to stoop along in single file as they made for the exit on the other side of a rocky ridge. Robert then led them off towards the eastern engineering station and relative safety. His team followed up behind him as overhead the fuel lines for the missiles began to top up the fuel tanks prior to launch.

Robert paused to regain his breath and adjusted his grip on Emerson’s stretcher as frantic messages came over the radio. The Jerecab had attacked installations on the surface from long range and already there were reports of some damage being done to key systems. Robert called Paul over and they talked urgently as the ground shook around them.

***

Mary Neilson bleakly watched the status reports for her destroyers as the armada continued to attack. Two of the ships had fallen back as their shields began to dangerously weaken but the next two ships were too far forward to allow that measure any chance of success. The Dubai and the Rome were the lead ships on the left wing of the fleet and they were taking a pounding. The admiral watched at the ship’s shields dipped below ten percent and the two commanders immediately launched all their missiles in a last ditch attack on the Jerecab.

The sixteen missiles launched and hooked towards the oncoming armada that now loomed in space above the moon. Rick Gordon looked exasperated as he took the launch of the missiles, and he yelled out his frustration across the bridge.

‘Admiral, only sixteen of the fifty missiles have launched and we are no longer getting the status of the remaining missiles.’

Mary kept her attention on the two beleaguered destroyers as the armada continued to pour laser weapons fire at them. One of the attacking frigates exploded as the second orbital base behind the defenders managed to knock it down with massed firepower. But even as the explosion faded, both the Dubai and the Rome exploded in turn, and the glowing fragments of the two destroyers cart wheeled across space as the attackers remorselessly changed targets.

Mary looked at the status of the other destroyers as they continued to come under heavy attack. The shields of two more destroyers were now dangerously low and she gave an urgent pair of orders.

‘Admiral to commanders of the Adelaide and the Nagasaki, pull your ships back immediately to low lunar orbit. All other ships are to cover their withdrawal for another five minutes.’

The Adelaide and the Nagasaki continued to return fire, and their combined firepower tore apart another Jerecab frigate before they turned their ships around and withdrew. The admiral grimaced as she noticed that the Jerecab ships were not following the two ships, and they were also not concentrating their weapons fire on the apparently drifting ships nearby. Mary then noted that the four remaining ships from the right wing section had now recovered over half their shields and she sent an urgent message to their commands. Another message finally arrived from the lunar surface that she was expecting, and she felt rising hope as she continued to watch the battle unfold.

                                                                     ***

Grant led Gayle and Olav down the ramp of their shuttle as they made their way across to meet the waiting delegation. A pair of Altoran scout pilots stood impassively to one side as they witnessed the first meeting between humans and the legendary Dradfer. Grant looked over the delegation without pausing in his slow walk across to them. The four Dradfer were all nearly uniform in appearance, nearly four metres tall, and covered with florid pattern of green and yellow scaled skin. The three humans stopped several metres from the four waiting Dradfer and Grant spoke a formal introduction in Trader as the three of them bowed in unison.

‘I am Captain Grant Stoneham and these two are my senior officers, Gayle and Olav, and we are from the Barede federation. We are pleased to finally meet the legendary Dradfer and we have much to talk about.’

Eliarhee had briefed her fellow Dradfer researchers earlier and all were careful to display no emotion at the introduction. The researchers had briefly spoken with the senior Maveen probe earlier and the meeting had not been entirely cordial, as the probe had berated them for their renewed presence in the Carinae sector. She was annoyed about this development as the Maveen in the past had been far more malleable and approachable.

The researchers had merely replied to the Maveen by confirming that they would be leaving after verifying the locations of several colony worlds the Dradfer were hoping to later settle. They had then pushed the Maveen to reveal all they knew about the humans, and were initially amazed by what they learnt of the new race with the Maveen. Eliarhee had then reassured the Maveen probe at length that her race was planning no further direct involvement with the central parts of the Carinae sector.

‘Senior probe, the Zronte long ago inflicted a heavy defeat on us for our trespass into their domain. To avoid further deadly conflict with them we agreed to keep our distance from the former colonies near Earth. That also means that your secrets in that of the sector will not be revealed under any circumstances by the Dradfer.’

Eliarhee knew that her largest client race, the impetuous Denvian, would be especially interested in the humans for compelling reasons. Fortunately she had sent her senior Denvian aide Vufora away on an errand with her entire fleet of small ships. She had also prohibited any Denvian ships from coming within five hundred light years of the Carinae sector border. The senior Dradfer researcher knew that in time Vufora would be given an audience with a representative of the Narra, the overlords of the Crux sector. She knew that the Narra would not be forthcoming and instead would deflect the Denvian further from the truth for the time being.

Eliarhee now concentrated as she realised that the humans, so familiar, yet so different to what she already knew, were now anxiously awaiting her response. The senior researcher put aside her recollection of the earlier meeting, and she led her three co-workers in a full formal bow of respect as she slowly replied in accented Trader.

‘We are the Dradfer, a senior vassal race of the Crux sector and we are delighted to meet the humans of the Barede federation, originally of Earth or Sol three.’

Eliarhee then took her time to introduce herself and her fellow researchers, and explain carefully what they were doing in this part of the galaxy.

Grant suppressed any surprise at the display of knowledge by the Dradfer. He knew the Dradfer had earlier been speaking with the senior Maveen probe, the Dradfer lead probe that now was parked nearby alongside their shuttle. The humans edged forward and the Dradfer regarded them critically as Grant spoke up with what he was concerned about.

‘We have quickly surveyed some of the systems you mentioned in the star cluster and I will point out that they are well within the borders of the Carinae sector. Also the worlds in the habitable zones for slightly larger stars and the planets all seem well suited for colonisation.’

Eliarhee felt alarm as she realised that this new race could be very direct and to the point. She noted that the humans were keen to come forward with their opinions and she knew that her mission had suddenly become more complex. The Dradfer gave a good natured half bow after Grant finished speaking and replied with her own views.

‘The star cluster is closer to settled worlds in the Crux sector despite being in the Carinae sector. The nearest Cephrit worlds are nearly seven thousand light years away and your Barede federation is even more distant.’

The Maveen probe had remained silent up to this point but he now spoke at length after giving a shrill buzz of irritation.