Exodus: Empires at War: Book 11: Day of Infamy (Exodus: Empires at War.) (21 page)

“Helm, turn the ship to
bring our starboard batteries to bear,” ordered the Captain, not sure if that
maneuver could be accomplished in time to help the damaged destroyer, which was
slowly starting to rise on a course that would take them to a low orbit in a
few minutes.

Suddenly, a score of
warheads exploded in the air, sending shock waves through the sky among the
swarm of Caca fighters.  Dozens of fighters found themselves within the
fireballs of the ten to twenty megaton warheads, more than their hulls could
handle.  Over a hundred more tumbled through the air, many losing control
completely and going into spins that only ended when they smacked the ground
twenty kilometers below.  Most were able to pull out, and soon had gathered
back into a group, this time their attention fixed on what was below.

“Where did those rounds
come from?” shouted the Captain, as his ship continued to turn, bringing her
still supplied batteries to bear.

“Mobile ground defense
guns,” said the Tactical Officer, looking back at his Captain, a smile on his
face.  The smile turned over in an instant.  “Now they’ve attracted the
attention of the Cacas, and I think they pissed them off.”

MacArthur
brought her batteries to
bear, sending out streams of explosive rounds that splashed over a score of
enemy aircraft before they knew what was happening.  More rounds sped from
below, hypervelocity warheads that seemed to be streaks of light before
detonating.  The destroyer targeted and knocked individual aircraft out of the
sky, while particle beams and lasers came from below, executing more of the
enemy fighters. 

The surviving Caca craft
continued their attack.  No matter what you could say about the creatures, they
had courage, and no quit in them.  They knocked out eleven of the twenty guns
that had ravaged their formation, then rose back into the sky, heading back to
hit the destroyers that were still spearing them out of the air one by one with
lasers.  And right into a swarm of imperial fighters that came streaking in
with all weapons firing.  In moments the attack was broken, only a few Caca
fighters still in the air and streaking away at hypersonic speed.

“Is that it?” asked the
Helmsman.

“Maybe for here,” said
the Com Tech.  “Sir, I’m picking up calls on the com for aid.”

“Where from?”

The central holo tank
changed its view, showing the globe of the world, with blinking red dots
showing areas that were still attracting the attention of the enemy.  This
included another five metropolises on the surface.  None were getting the
attention that Capitulum had gotten, but all were taking damage, all were
sustaining casualties among their populations.

“Send out these
dispositions to the other ships in the squadron,” ordered von Rittersdorf,
working the control board at his seat and linking ships in his squadron with
destinations.  “Every captain is to do everything possible to destroy as many
Caca craft as possible.  Now let’s be about it.”

He looked back at the
schematic, sure that they were close to a victory here on Jewel, if sustaining
the losses that had been incurred could be called victory.  It was one they
would have to take, and be glad for it.

*     *     *

“Admiral.  We have
restored communications.”

Admiral Nakama looked
over at the tactical plot that came back to life as data links were
reestablished.  He already knew that his station had not been hit again.  That
was made obvious by the lack of the shock waves that were always generated from
a major warhead hit.  Still, his eyes widened as he saw the damage that had
been done to the docks and repair slips that orbited around the Central
Station.

But we’re still here
, he thought, looking at
the plot now with an eye for enemy units, and the combat that was still going
on.  There were still plenty of red icons on the plot, and he felt a shiver of
anxiety as he wondered how many enemy fighters were still coming through their
wormhole.

“What word on their
wormhole?” he asked his Tactical Officer.  “Did anyone go after it?”

“It looks like Duchess
Mei has her task group attacking it,” said the Tactical Officer as the plot
zoomed in to show a number of Imperial ships closing on a trio of red icons,
all too large to be fighters.

“What are those?” asked
the Admiral, pointing to and highlighting the red icons, one of which blinked
and disappeared even as he spoke.

“Enemy supercruisers.”

The Admiral hissed in a
breath.  If they were bringing those ships through, what might be coming next.

*     *     *

The Captain stared at his
doom as it approached.  There was only one more defending supercruiser between
his freighter and the enemy, and it was being pounded.  His own ship was now
armed, the equipment having been brought over through the wormhole before the
waves of fighters, and installed as soon as his crew could get it in place. 
His ship was now capable of fighting off enemy fighters, maybe a small group of
destroyers.  He had no illusions as to his ability to take on the battle
cruisers that were heading his way.

“Tell headquarters that
we need reinforcements, now.  Otherwise, this part of the operation is about to
come to a close.”

He looked back at the
Ca’cadasan Overlord, who was staring at the plot without expression.  “We are
about to be destroyed, my Lord,” he told the true leader of the mission, the
one put there to make sure that he fulfilled what his task.  Now, having seen
the home of a mighty empire of his own people, he was having reservations about
serving the Ca’cadasans.  Reservations that had come too late.  He could only
hope that he had not caused so much damage to these humans that they could not
recover.

“We have served our
purpose,” said the huge male, his eyes never leaving the plot.  “Now we die for
the glory of the Emperor.”

The last of the
supercruisers exploded in a fury of breached antimatter.  And now there was
nothing between the freighter and the enemy force that was coming for it.  “We
need reinforcements, now,” yelled the Captain, looking over at his Com Officer.

“One more ship will be
coming through,” said the Cacada, his tone flat.  “And we will do unto them
what they have done to us.”

One more ship
, thought the human, his
mind trying to grasp the meaning of what the Master was saying. 
One more
ship?
  He recalled the reports he had seen, information he was not supposed
to be privy to.  About what these humans had done on the other front, by
pushing a ship with a wormhole through a wormhole.  The explosion was said to
be spectacular, enough to destroy thousands of ships.  And what better target
for such a blast than this gathering of ships and two inhabited planets, one
the heart of the enemy Empire.

“No,” shouted the
Captain, his mind made up in an instant.  He had come on this mission prepared
to die, and he still was.  But now he was ready to sacrifice his life for
another purpose, and not the one those who had sent him would have approved of.

The Captain snatched the
particle beam from his holster and turned on the Cacada.  The being looked at
the human, his eyes growing wide, his mouth opening to shout a command.  Eyes
and mouth both disappeared in a splash of red tinted superheated steam.

The second Cacada on the
bridge tried to snatch his own weapon out, roaring rage and defiance.  The
creature was too slow, like all of his kind, and a large portion of his right
upper chest disappeared in another burst of steam.

The Captain turned back
to his bridge crew, several of whom had weapons out and drawn, pointed his way.

“Why,” said Mary, his
mate.

“They meant to kill us
all along.  And all the people in this system.”

“We have one more ship on
approach to the other side,” called out the Com Officer, still seated at her
station.

The Tactical Officer
turned back to his board as warning signals sounded.  “We are taking full
lasers to the hull.”

“Damage?” asked Mary, her
eyes and weapon never leaving her Captain.

“Minimal so far,”
reported the Tactical Officer.

Laughing Troll
was now a heavily armed
and protected warship.  With ten meters of sprayed in armor and twice the
electromag protection of the attacking battlecruisers, she could now take a
pounding.  Unfortunately, her weapons were not up to the same standard,
equaling those of maybe a quartet of destroyers.

“Mary, we must close down
the wormhole,” said the Captain.

“But, they’re sending
through another ship,” said a  confused Mary.

“They’re sending through
a bomb.  To completely destroy this system.”

“We have hull burn
through to lower cargo hold.”

“This is the only chance
our people have, and you know it,” said the Captain.  “The Masters have always
wanted to destroy our race, and you know that as well.”

“Ship is about to enter
the other end of the wormhole,” called out the Com Officer.

“Only one ship?” asked
Mary, looking back at her mate, her expression changing.

“Yes, ma’am.  They….”

“Close the wormhole,” she
shouted, lowering her weapon.

“Ma’am?”

“Close the wormhole,
now.”

The Tactical Officer nodded
and imputed the code, causing the frame on this side to turn off its magnetic
containment field.  In an instant the negative matter held in the field flowed
out, cancelling much of the matter in the frame as well as itself.   No longer
held open by the negative matter, the wormhole winked out of existence on this
end, a moment later gone at the other, just before the ship that was about to
transit went through the now empty frame on that side.

*     *     *

“Continue trying to take
out that gate,” ordered the Admiral as her flagship kept pouring lasers and
particle beams into the mirrored surface.  The electromagnetic fields in front
of the mirror were distorting her beams, while the frame was protected by very
thick armor, almost thirty meters, behind more of the powerful field
generators.

Many of the shots were
going through the wormhole, which might have been doing great damage to
whatever was on the other side.  That was something she had wanted to do.  But
they were doing nothing to shut it down.

“It looks like we’re
going to have to destroy the ship around it, ma’am,” reported the Tactical
Officer.

“Then that is what we’ll
do,” said Mei.  She had little doubt that her force could take out this
converted merchant ship in a couple of minutes.  What she did doubt was her
ability to destroy every possible vessel that might appear through the portal.

“It’s, gone,” exclaimed
the Tactical Officer, pointing to the forward viewer that was centered on the
freighter and the opening that led to the portal.

“Did you hit the frame?”

“Not as far as I can
figure, ma’am.  The weapons on the freighter have ceased firing, Admiral,”
continued the Tactical Officer.  “Do you want us to cease fire, ma’am?”

“Continue to fire. 
There’s no telling what they might spring on us next.”

“We’re receiving a
transmission from that ship, ma’am,” called out the Com Tech in an excited
voice.  “Someone who says he’s the captain, and that he wishes to surrender his
ship and crew to us.”

A portion of the hull of
the freighter glowed and puffed out as a burst of gas.  A hole appeared in the
hull at that point, and several other laser beams struck through the opening
into the vitals of the ship.  They had already figured that this freighter had
much heavier hull plating than normal. In fact, it acted suspiciously like
multiple meters of warship armor.  As she watched, its cold plasma encased
electromagnetic field dropped, the glowing area of plasma that had intersected
the light amp beams quickly spread and dissipated into the vacuum of space. 
The same would be true for the plasma that had not been excited to a heated
state, but it simply went from slightly opaque to not there.

The Admiral thought for a
moment.  The battle was not over.  There were still enemy fighters and attack
ships in the system, still going about their business of targeting and firing
on Imperial assets.  The intelligence haul from taking this ship intact could
be huge.  Allowing its continued existence could be disastrous.

“Order the group to cease
fire on the freighter,” she called out, hoping she was doing the right thing. 
“Continue to fire on any other Ca’cadasan vessels we can target.  And at the
first sign of that ship doing something untoward, I want everyone to fire
everything they have at her.  Now put the enemy Captain on the viewer.”

Mei sat up straighter in
her chair when the image of the enemy captain was before her on the viewer. 
“Human?” she blurted out, even though it was obviously human, unless the Cacas
were trying to pull something by sending the image of a human across.

“We are the descendants
of humans captured by the Masters when they destroyed our homeworld.  We were
raised to obey, and were sent on this mission to cause as much damage to your
system and your fleet as possible.”