StarFight 1: Battlestar (16 page)

“Carbon dioxide lasers are firing a seventh burst at the enemy,” called Oliver from Weapons. “So are the battle group’s proton lasers.”

That reminded him. It was time. “Navigation, lift our nose up seventy degrees so our belly proton laser can fire on the giant enemy ship.”

“Lifting. Fourteen seconds to proton engagement,” she said over his helmet comlink.

Looking down at his two armrests, Jacob scanned the readouts and control patches that lined half of each armrest.

“Reactor stability is maintaining balance,” called Maggie.

That was good news. He could see from his armrests that the three fusion pulse thrusters were maintaining an outward acceleration of twelve percent of lightspeed. They were angling closer to the enemy, that was also headed outward at twelve percent. Their closure speed was 900 kilometers per minute. Soon, the two groups would pass each other, with some intermingling of ships, or one or both ship groups would swing away to the side to avoid close passage. He knew what the
Lepanto
was going to do. And he knew the orders he had given to the two cruisers, two destroyers and three frigates following behind him. He looked up and scanned the situational holo. The
Salamis
was now 40,000 kilometers out and closing on the other ships, but it would play no role in the early fighting. Maybe the running fight.

“Belly proton laser firing,” called Oliver, his voice excited as he brought into play one of the Battlestar’s most destructive weapons.

Soon the man would be able to launch Smart Rocks from the four topside and four belly railgun launchers. While the self-directed rocks would be launched at Earth’s escape velocity of eleven plus kilometers per second, they would continue forward even as they spread out to either side of the Battlestar. They were more of a miss than hit weapon, but still, they had seemed to bother the wasp ships in the first battle. Any distraction he could add to this battle, in addition to the thermonuke warheads, was welcome. Distraction improved survival. And survival allowed them the chance to kill the giant wasp ship.

“We are taking damage to our belly hull,” Rosemary called from Tactical. “The five wasp ships are all firing at one area. Punch through!”

Jacob saw that on his ship cross-section holo. A large red spot glowed on the forward part of the belly hull. Blinking yellow lights reported the loss of water. Well, the water shield was compartmentalized. Only a portion of their water rad shielding would be lost.

“How close?”

“We are at 4,009 kilometers. Shortly we will be within antimatter range,” Rosemary said quickly, her manner distracted as she monitored the hits being taken on the battle group’s seven other ships, the firing of lasers from the right and left outrigger pods, and the flow of new missiles to the stern launch silos. Among a dozen other things happening that related to the tactical situation.

“We can take it,” muttered O’Connor from below.

“The frigates are avoiding incoming laser fire,” reported Daisy, as his new XO closely monitored the other ships in the battle group. “Lightning bolt hits on
Philippines Sea, Hampton Roads
and
Chesapeake
. No punch through. All ships are spinning.”

The true space image holo of those ships showed seven mirror-like tubes. Only a few showed black streaks where enemy lasers had cut through the adaptive optics lenses that coated the hull. Below the lenses was a black ablative layer based on re-entry nose cones from last century, then armor. Below the armor was a shell of water, followed by the thin metal of the inner hull. At least the vapor from a fountain of water served to dilute following laser strikes. On the other ships, the armor was less thick than on the
Lepanto
. It had two meters of hardened armor, the cruisers one meter, the destroyers a half meter and the frigates just ten centimeters of armor. Which was why the
Britain
had died so quickly. While every ship had the adaptive optics and ablative hull coating, none of the frigates could withstand eight or ten simultaneous laser strikes. The lightning bolts were even worse when they hit a hull. Their charge spread out sideways and cooked more optic lenses that those killed in the initial impact.

“Captain!” cried Rosemary. “The two hidden wasp ships have launched out sideways from the giant ship. No firing from them yet.”

“AI Melody, analyze enemy ship formation and tactics,” he said, running what he saw through his memory of academy classes, vids and real space maneuvers he’d seen while on the Moon field trip.

“Enemy appears to be focused on the
Lepanto
,” the AI said tensely, her speech quick and sharp. “Most lasers and bolts are aimed at us. Few at other battle group ships. Two new enemy ships appear aimed for an attack on our flanks.”

It was time
. “All ships! Swing right as briefed! Maintain minimum of 4,000 kilometers range between enemy and your ships. Maintain laser and proton fire on the giant ship!”

“Swinging right,” called Swanson from
Chesapeake
. “Losing proton laser lock-on. Tail lasers firing.”

“Turning right,” rumbled Wilcox from the
Hampton Roads
. “Same for us.”

“Swinging,” said Zhang. “
Tsushima Strait
is unharmed. Losing nose-on lock for proton fire. Tail lasers now firing at enemy,”

“Launching missiles from our tail,” called Jefferson from the
Philippines Sea
. “Adding our tail lasers to the mix.”

Acting captains Lorenz, Metz and Mansour said the same from the frigates
St. Mihiel, Marianas
and
Ofira
, though they were limited to lasers.

Offensive fire continued even during the turn. The cruisers had CO
2
lasers at their nose and tail. Plus proton lasers on each flank. The destroyers had a proton laser at the nose and two gas lasers at the tail, plus missiles. The frigates had lasers at their nose and tails, and some missiles.

The
Lepanto
was turning with the battle group ships. But it had rear-pointing lasers on the aft ends of the outrigger pods. Plus proton lasers on top, belly and both flanks. That left the
Lepanto
able to add a proton laser to the battle group’s mix of attacking beams. Which its belly proton laser was now doing, the red beam shooting rearward at the gaping hole in the giant wasp ship’s nose. Water and air were shooting out from the punch through but there had been no change in the wasp ship’s vector track or in its steady flight toward the
Lepanto
.

Jacob knew this was the time of maximum vulnerability for all battle group ships. In order to swing right and off their forward vector track, every ship had to point its thrusters at a right angle to the
Lepanto’s
axis of attack. That reduced the group’s offensive fire. Well, he could help with that.

“Weapons, fire all Smart Rock launchers!”

“Firing,” Oliver said, sounding quite eager.

Jacob knew there was no wasp target to their right or left. Not yet. But as they closed on the
Lepanto
, the two flanking wasp ships would fly into the Smart Rock clusters. The rocks would hit at a right angle to the forward vector track of each flanking wasp ship. And perhaps some rocks would hit on the tight cluster of wasp ships that surrounded the giant enemy ship. When the
Lepanto
flipped back to a nose-on position, its thrust momentum would keep the ship on the right turn vector track. But it meant the Battlestar would trail behind the other seven ships of the battle group. Just as Jacob had planned.

“Captain!” called Louise. “The flanking wasp ships are angling their track toward our right side turn. So are all the wasp ships! They are following us!”

Damn. That made things complicated. Most of the Smart Rocks would miss any target.

“Weapons, detonate the surviving thermonuke warheads. They are still between us and the enemy.”

“Detonating seven warheads,” Oliver said, his tone breathless.

Behind them, behind the white-orange flare of their three thrusters, which were now pushing the
Lepanto
into sideways flight at twelve percent of the speed of light, there now bloomed seven small stars.

The first burst of energy from a thermonuke detonation was a shell of x-rays and gamma rays. That was followed by a shell of neutrons. Next came the visible plasma ball of yellow-white fusion as the embedded atomic warhead compressed the deuterium and tritium globe of the hydrogen warhead into superdense implosion. It was a lesson learned not long after the end of World War II. To create what was then called the super-bomb required a normal atomic fission reaction to induce a fusion of the two hydrogen isotopes. The result was a blast equal to a small sun visiting the air or land. In space, the result was the same except the plasma ball was a perfect globe that expanded outward, shell after shell as nearby warheads did the same. The radiation output of seven thermonuke warheads created an electromagnetic storm unlike any known to humans, short of a coronal mass ejection from the Sun.

“That should screw their targeting,” O’Connor said from below.

Jacob grinned. “Just so. Engines, shut off the main thrusters.”

“Primary thrusters shut down,” Akira said.

“Navigation, flip our nose upward. Stop the flip once the antimatter node is aligned with the targeting box for the giant ship,” he said calmly, hoping everyone else on the other decks of the
Lepanto
heard him as they saw the battle group maneuver away from the wasp ship cluster. Building crew confidence was just as important as preserving their primary weapons.

“Flipping upward,” Louise responded.

Soon, once the thermonuke plasma haze cleared, the
Lepanto
would have a clear shot at the giant wasp ship. And at any wasp ship within twenty degrees of their target. They had four AM loads ready to launch. The black streaks would travel at the speed of light. Surely one of them would hit something vital.

CHAPTER TEN

Hunter’s five eyes felt blinded by the perception image of seven small sky lights blossoming between his nest and the Soft Skin nests. He looked away. The blinding glare lessened. His three simple eyes were the first to recover. He perceived what he needed to perceive.

“Soft Skin nests are turning away! Flight Servant! Turn us to follow them!” he said in a rush of signal, primer and trail pheromones.

“Turning our nest to follow,” the Servant said in a strong aggregation pheromone.

“Speaker To All, send the same scent to the other Swarm nests! Make sure Support Hunter Seven and Support Hunter Nine take the new flight angle!”

“Pheromones sent,” the young male scent cast.

“Stinger Servant, continue biting the largest Soft Skin nest!” he said with a flap of his wings as his two major eyes saw the sky light and sky bolt stingers stopping.

The young female hunched low on her bench. “My fellow stinger Servants have lost the scent track of the large nest,” she said in a signal pheromone loaded with fear. “The star light bursts make blind our hard shell tools.”

Clearly she worried he would fly over and bite her neck. That he would not do. She was too useful. And she might yet become a Matron with heredity markers that would improve all of Nest.

“How soon will the bursts clear?” he scent cast in a peremptory mix of primer and territorial pheromones.

“In two hundred and three wing beats,” she replied, her strong black antennae lifting as she realized she would live beyond his displeasure.

The older male Servant who had taken over the between chambers signal duty of the dead female now hunched low on his bench. What else was dropping out of the sky?

“Servant!” he scent cast to that male alone. “Report your findings!”

“The deep hole in the head of our flying nest has cut deeper. The energy unit for the front ring of stinger tubes has shut down to prevent its explosion,” the old male said in a frail scent cast of signal pheromones. “Three six-groups of Swarmers are gone. Their chambers lost all air.”

The heavy sky light beams from the Soft Skins had indeed hurt his nest. But there were many flight lengths not touched, despite the green sky light beams that had cut a hole above the nest’s propulsive section. The Swarm’s return sky beams had damaged the large Soft Skin nest’s abdomen and nose. Water had shot out from the abdomen of the nest. Surely it would die before his nest became flight erratic.

“Hunter!” hailed the elder female Servant who monitored Soft Skin nest formations and external space. “The sky light haze is gone! The Soft Skins are fleeing us!”

He saw that with all five eyes. But he also saw something that worried him. The largest sky nest was flipping its cold tail downward. Its deadly nose with the black sky light beam would soon aim his way.
No!

“Stinger Servant, bite the largest Soft Skin nest! All nests, bite at the same spot as we do!” he pheromone cast, relying on Speaker To All to transmit his pheromones to the six other nests. What else might help? “Support Hunters Seven and Nine, fire your sky lights and sky bolts at the sides of the largest nest! Bite them. Hurt the Soft Skins!”

The perception imager that showed the beams of his sky lights, sky bolts and those of other nests in a colorful mix of bite tracks showed those two nests doing as he directed. They were joined by the four nests close to his nest. Three spots on the large Soft Skin nest glowed darkly in ultraviolet. More water spurted from the belly of the enemy leader’s nest.

“Hunter!” cried his Stinger Servant. “The large Soft Skin nest is now within flight range to use its black beam! Do we go to our Pull Down field?”

He would. Except the deep head wound of his nest had killed the forward energy producer. That meant a third of his normal weapons and a third of the Pull Down plates would not operate. While he knew little of the high scents involved in fabricating the Pull Down device, he knew well its limitations. He could order the older male Servant in charge of the device to activate it. It would comply. But the device would fail to produce the fully enveloping field that was required for the hidden sky light weapon to work. There was only one thing to do.

“Servant!” he scent cast to the young female who managed the control panel for the particle disruption seeds. “Launch five six-groups of seeds ahead of us! We can create our own sky light haze! Surely that will block the black beam’s track!”

“Tossing out seeds!” the female scent cast back in a mix of aggregation and trail pheromones.

He watched as the seeds shot ahead of his nest, propelled by solid scents that blazed brightly. Soon the star light haze would blossom before his nest. Would it protect him? At least the Soft Skin leader did not know his Pull Down device could not work.

The largest sky nest completed its turnover. Its nose aimed his way. Sky light beams and sky bolt arcs hit it from three sides. But still it hovered there, just within the flight distance for its weapon to work.

The appearance of two red beams shooting out from the sides of the Soft Skin nest shocked him. They were heavy sky light identical to the multiple sky light beams that had cut the deep hole in the head of his nest. The red beams reached out.

Support Hunter Seven’s ship was hit on the side. Support Hunter Nine’s ship was also hit, though it was rolling to one side even as it fired its front ring and side ring of stingers at the Soft Skin nest. Would his allies complete their enveloping attack before they died?

♦   ♦   ♦

Jacob felt his seat vibrate under him as explosions happened on the belly and sides of the
Lepanto
. The flanking wasp ships had let loose with all their weapons. Yellow lightning bolts and green laser streaks all hit a single spot on his right flank. The other wasp ship did the same on his left flank. Meanwhile, the four wasp ships directly ahead concentrated their laser and bolt fire on the nose of the
Lepanto
. Which now added its water shell to the diffuse cloud of water coming from the belly hole cut by earlier combined wasp fire. But there was no fire coming at him from the giant wasp ship. Its front ring of tubes were silent. Why?

“Range is 3,933 kilometers,” called Rosemary.

“Weapons, activate the antimatter emitter node,” he said, looking forward to the death of the giant wasp ship. And with that death, perhaps an end to the danger to his people, his ship and the other battle group ships.

“Activating,” Oliver called from up front. “Twelve seconds to firing release.”

“Captain!” called Louise from Navigation. “The right side wasp ship that is flanking us, it’s moving closer!”

Jacob saw that. The
Lepanto
and the battle group were in a curving turn to the right. The wasp ships, both the flanking ships and the five core ships, were also turning in a curve to their left. Theoretically the two vector track curves would end up paralleling each other as both groups of ships headed out and away from the system’s ecliptic plane of planets. Both groups were moving at 12 percent of lightspeed, in parallel with each other. As was the
Salamis
, which now curved to join their outward track. The destroyer’s proton laser now added its fire to the attack on the giant wasp ship. He noticed the eight battle group ships were pulling away from his ship as they continued their fusion pulse thrusting, while the
Lepanto’s
thrusters were silent. For the moment.

“Weapons, fire our right and left side proton lasers at those ships!”

Oliver tapped his control pillar. “Firing. Impacts on both ships. No change in vector tracks.”

“Rosemary . . . uh, Tactical,” he corrected himself. “What the hell is that right side wasp ship doing? Moving closer to our axis of travel means it will lose lock-on to our right flank.”

The Irish woman tapped her control pillar, then looked back his way. Her jade green eyes looked at Daisy, then up to him. Her expression was puzzled. “No idea, sir. Uh, acting captain. It does not make any tactical sense.” She turned back and gestured at the front wallscreen, which was filled with true light and multispectral sensor images of the seven wasp ships. “The giant ship’s hiding of the two ships was meant to allow it to get close enough to launch those two ships on a flanking attack, while the other wasp ships hit us head on. That is what is now happening. The
Lepanto
is damaged, water is leaking from our nose and belly, but most weapons systems are operational. The rest of the battle group is firing as they head outward. There is no counterfire against the other battle group ships. It does not make sense to me,” she said.

“Three seconds,” called Oliver.

“Acting captain!” called Louise. “The right flank wasp ship is speeding up! It’s closing on us! It’s moving closer to the zone of other wasp ship fire.”

It made no sense to him. And if the right flank ship came closer, it would make for a good second antimatter target. It already was within twenty degrees of the direct line of sight targeting box for the giant wasp ship.

“Fire the antimatter cannon!”

A black beam of negative matter shot out into the coldness of mostly empty space.

A new sun blazed where once a wasp ship had lived.

♦   ♦   ♦

Daisy could not believe what she saw in her situational holo. Nor in the multispectral sensor feeds. The star-like antimatter explosion had briefly caught her attention, then she had refocused on her XO duties of monitoring internal ship status, the worry of two spots with punch through holes that were leaking water into space, the melting of hull armor on the sides of the ship and the low bing-binging from her seat that signaled hull breaches. But the sensor feed reclaimed her attention. She shook her head. Could it be real?

“Acting captain, the giant wasp ship is still alive! The beam hit the right flank wasp ship! It moved into the path of our beam.”

Gasps came from the crew up front and from Lori and Carlos in the back, where they were watching this third battle play out its deadly, deadly dance.

“Tactical, verify the XO’s report,” Jacob called from behind her.

Brief irritation hit her. Then approval. A good captain always sought verification of a splash down event.

“The XO is correct,” Rosemary said, her voice wondering. “The giant wasp ship is intact.”

What would happen next?

♦   ♦   ♦

Hunter felt shock at the death of Support Hunter Nine’s nest. The female Hunter leading that nest had been among his most fervent supporters. Now she was gone, along with thirty six-groups of Swarmers. The death of her nest meant the Swarm now controlled just six flying nests, while the Soft Skins still had eight, with a ninth newly added. Which now fired its heavy sky light beam on his nest. Well, sometimes the Swarm must change its flight path.

“Stinger Servant, explode the particle disruption seeds!”

Surprise pheromones came from the young male. Then aggregation followed quickly. “Exploding nine seeds! Those are the ones that survived the Soft Skin sky light and heavy sky light beams.”

Hunter knew that. “Flight Servant, bend our flight path away from the Soft Skins,” he scent cast to the male Servant. They must move their nest out of the black beam’s range. He emitted a new pheromone aimed at a different Servant. “Propulsion Servant, reverse our propulsive device push. Aim your propulsion against the Soft Skins!”

Shock pheromones came from every Servant in the Flight Chamber. Then a new scent of confusion rose up as his Swarmers wondered why they were pulling away from the Soft Skins.

“Stinger Servant, continuing firing sky lights and sky bolts against the other Soft Skin nests,” he scent cast in a mix of aggregation, primer and signal pheromones. Their new sky light haze prevented any attack on the largest nest. “Speaker To All, tell our other nests to change their stinger beams to bite on the other Soft Skin nests. We attack now!”

Those orders went out, both on his nest and on the other Swarmer nests. A hint of confusion still floated through the air of the Flight Chamber. Which scent must surely invite a challenge to his leadership. Briefly he felt sadness that the dead nest was not the one led by Support Hunter Seven. That Hunter would surely declare a Challenge at the sight and smell of Swarmers pulling back from an attack. Well, he was ready for that challenge. The challenged Hunter always had the right, by tradition, to set the place and terms of the resulting fight. And he had not survived to lead this colony group by failing to plan ahead.

♦   ♦   ♦

Nine new stars filled the space between the
Lepanto
and the giant wasp ship.