Talosian Chronicles 6: Armageddon (20 page)

The bad news was fighting had reached Earth and civilians had died; a lot of civilians. The Centauri system was being attacked too now, one of the Pleiades Stations had been severely damaged, as well as two of the big mining ships. The information was still classified, but Tara could see the implied damage the fleets had taken. She didn't think they were losing, but she really couldn't tell. She did know that the Empire was slowly pushing the Alliance forces back. That fact alone scared her. Who else would die before they drove the Empire away?

TDF
Star Dancer

Vicinity Lunar Point L1

Earth, Sol Sector

Before it was destroyed, the Hawaiian Super Nova did manage to get her carriers launched, though it seemed more like they were jettisoned. The crew must have also blown a hole in the large belly doors because troop ships and more fighters poured out of the doomed ship. Terran fighters did report the command pod was jettisoned just before the ship exploded, but was caught in the blast and destroyed.

The European ship that
Star Dancer
attacked, had been launching her carriers, fighters and troops ships since it's arrival. The other Battle Cruiser, the
Dawn's Path
, got a lucky shot as it passed below the big ship. A heavy missile flew up, into the belly bay and detonated. That missile must have triggered a chain reaction inside the ship. Shortly after the two Alliance ships passed by, the huge warship exploded without warning.
Star Dancer
took some damage from the explosion, but the
Dawn's Path
was only shaken.

"Do we have an idea where the Imperials are going to drop out?" Ian asked.

"The advanced force is still on course to arrive near Jupiter orbit. The main body should arrive a little further in; much closer to the asteroid belt," one of the tracking officers replied.

Ian nodded. "What's the status of the fight with the Caldarian fleet?"

"They're taking heavy damage, but they are moving slowly in the direction we want them to go. Several of the Raptor teams have isolated what they believe to be slave transports and are trying to separate them out from the main body of the fleet," Chloe reported.

Ian nodded. "Please make sure the other fleet commanders know what the Raptors doing. How is the fighting on-planet going?"

"Now that the big ships are out of the picture, our people seem to be making some headway. However, we expect that will change once the Caldarians get over the shock of losing the Super Nova's. Enough Caldarian fighters and ground forces got launched to cause a lot of trouble down there," Ike explained. "I'll keep an eye on the situation, Sir. They may need some help from us."

"Defense network is engaging incoming Imperial fleets. All launchers are in full rapid fire mode," Chloe replied. "I don't know if we'll have time Ike; those Imperial ships have accelerated. Their going to arrive at least twenty minutes sooner than projected."

"What's that going to do to our time table?" Ian asked. "Have the other waves also picked up speed?"

"It pretty much screws the time table Sir. The Caldarians might be in position, but the rest of our forces are going to be late to the party." Chloe replied and typed for tracking information. "Yes, the second wave has also accelerated and are showing signs of splitting up. A third of them are now on course for the Centauri system. We don't have any data on the third wave yet, there's too much interference from the second wave."

"Damn," Ian said softly. "Okay, let's start the second stage now, but try not to pull too much away from the Caldarian fight. Move third fleet to point gray, and shift the remaining Guard fleet to protect Mars. Has their been any activity toward the moon yet?"

Chloe shook her head. "No; the Caldarians are being pushed the opposite direction and have been fully on the defensive since their arrival. Other than our reports, I doubt Phoenix Base even knows there's a war going on."

"That'll change pretty quick once the Imperial fleets arrive," Ian replied, staring into the holotank and thinking. "It looks like the Caldarians are going to leave them alone for the time being. Tell them to remain on alert and prepare for attack by Imperial forces. Ask them to see if they can figure out a way to send assistance to Earth if the need arises. I don't know what help they could send, but they are going to be the only ones capable of lending aid once this gets started."

Point 'gray' was a area in space Ian had designated as a rendezvous point for the forces defending Earth. Stage two, or the second stage was when the designated forces would begin heading there to set up the defense of the planet and inner solar system. Executing stage two early would mean that not all of the defending forces would be able to make the rendezvous and the fleet would be much weaker. How much weaker, they wouldn't know until they got there.

The
Tiamat
would remain near Earth as a final defense, while her escorts, currently with the main fleet fighting the Caldarians, would join the force gathering at point gray.
Star Dancer
would be the command ship for the defending point gray forces. The other Admirals and Generals helping with the planning had not liked the idea of
Star Dancer
taking the lead, but the simple truth was that all of the other command ships would be busy elsewhere.

As it turned out, less than half of the planned ships had been able to make the rendezvous. When the Imperial ships arrived, Ian would be outnumbered almost three to one. He desperately hoped the hypermissiles of the defense network had improved those odds or this was going to be a very hard fight.

"Imperial arrival in five minutes. Defense network is now targeting the second wave fleets," Chloe reported.

"What our guess as to what made it through?" Ian asked.

"They appear to have lost considerable mass Admiral, but the over all size of the trace hasn't altered significantly," the tracking officer reported.

"Maybe we took out more of the heavies than the smaller ones," Ike speculated. "It'd be odd, but that would be a blessing, all things considered."

"Hope for the best, prepare for the worst," Ian said. "Fleet defensive position bravo-nine. Charge all weapons; launch all remaining fighters."

"Remaining Caldarian fleet is entering the arrival zone; this isn't going to be pretty," Chloe said.

Ian gave her a half-grin. "No, it's not, but it couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of beings. How soon can our fleet get here to help us?"

Ike frowned. "The last few minutes have been more of a running fight. Our fleet let them get some distance, so the Imperials would have room. So about fifteen minutes, Sir."

"Get them moving; a lot can happen in fifteen minutes out here," Ian ordered. "What do the Caldarians have left?"

"Three Super Nova, and about twenty smaller ships. All of them have taken damage though," Chloe replied.

Ian was thoughtful. "You know, unless their leaders are really stupid, they have to know something's going on here; we have more than enough firepower in this system to have completely destroyed them many times by now."

"What I don't get is why they don't jump out of here; they have to know this is a trap," one of the techs was heard to say softly.

"They most likely can't jump anymore. Hyperdrives are fragile animals after all. Then too, their version of honor probably won't let them leave even if they did have the ability." Ian explained. "They probably know this is a trap, but are bound by honor to see it through to the end. Remember, these are 'old-school' Caldarians. They never retreated from battle back then, I doubt these will now regardless of what's obvious."

"Thirty seconds until Imperial arrival; Caldarians are nearing the center of the projected area," Chloe said.

"Have everyone hang back a little to see what happens between our guests; No matter what happens though, I don't think it's going to take very long," Ian ordered.

"Imperial Forces are arriving," Chloe said.

"What do we have, tracking?" Ian asked.

"Medium and light cruisers for now Sir," the tracking officer replied. "Wait, we have larger jump points forming…" He paused a moment. "Battleships, sir, three… no, five of them. No sign of the Dreadnoughts yet Sir." He paused again. "Six heavy cruisers and more of the smaller ships."

"The Caldarians have opened fire on the new forces," Chloe replied. "Predictable buggers."

"Sixty-six total Imperial ships Sir, it looks like that's it for now," tracking reported.

"That's enough," Ian said grimly. "Eleven heavies and fifty-five supports are going to be difficult for us to handle."

"Sir, the Imps are showing a lot of damage. Most of it looks like it could be superficial, but there is a lot of it," Ike added.

"Caldarian missiles have hit their targets. The Super Novas are launching fighters and carriers. The Imps are turning to engage," Chloe said.

Ian nodded. "Good, distance to the Imperial fleet?"

"Roughly five hundred thousand, we can be there in five minutes," Chloe said.

"Let's get moving; we can't let the Caldarians have all the fun," Ian ordered.

"If they last that long; the Caldarian ships are dropping like flies. Heavy damage to two of the Super Nova's, number three still has only moderate damage, but it's further away," Ike reported.

As Ian watched the battle in the holotank, one of the Super Nova's flashed red and expanded while the icon faded out. It had blown up. While there had been massive response by the Caldarians, it was very clear that they were confused and disoriented. The appearance of the Imperial assault fleet at what amounted to point-blank range had obviously taken them completely by surprise and were suffering for it.

"We'll be entering engagement range in two minutes," Chloe said. "I don't think the Imps liked the welcome the Caldarians gave them."

Other than the last surviving Super Nova, there were only about twelve Caldarian ships remaining. The big ship was taking a lot of damage now, but the smaller ships were trying to defend it.

"Imperial ships are moving to counter us," Chloe reported. "They don't seem too worried about the remaining Caldarians anymore."

"Did the Imps take any damage from the Caldarians?" Ian asked. He had seen a few of the smaller imperial ships get destroyed, but he was more worried about the heavy cruisers and the battleships.

"One battleship appears to have lost power and is drifting. The Super Nova seems to be focusing on it," Ike began. "Two of the other battleships have lost shields and taken more damage. One of the heavy cruisers is heavily damaged but has restored shields and port side weapons. The other heavies haven't gotten into the fight with the Caldarians and are instead moving toward us."

"Why does that not comfort me in the slightest?" Ian asked rhetorically.

"Hostile missile launch! We have incoming missiles and enemy fighters!" the tracking officer reported.

Ian nodded. "Okay people, this is where we earn the big money. All cruisers pick one of the heavies and pound it to dust Leave the smaller stuff to our support ships. Chloe, what's the ETA on the rest of our forces?"

"The smaller units have micro jumped to us, the heavies are moving as fast as they can; but are still seven minutes from engagement range," the woman replied.

Ian nodded and scanned the updated information in the tank. "Have the missile boats hang back and engage heavy targets at long range. See if the torpedo ships can follow the fighters and bomber in and get rid of some of the small stuff. Make sure they are prepared to switch over to the big guys quickly."

"Resupply ships will stay near the missile boats when they arrive from Phoenix base," Ike reported.

"When will that be? We're going to be using a lot of missiles and torpedoes pretty soon," Ian asked.

Ike was quiet for a moment. "It'll be a close thing Sir, eight to ten minutes for most of them."

Ian shook his head. "Alex, we need to look into incorporating special replicators and added power units into the supply ships so they can reload themselves during combat." The woman nodded and made a note.

"Duh! Why hasn't anyone else thought of that?" Ike said.

"Most of the Alliance doesn't use replicators, remember?" Ian said. "Just because it makes sense to us, doesn't mean the Alliance as a whole is going to approve."

"That's dumb! What good is an economy if you lose the place to the enemy?" Ike asked.

The ship shook as a missile detonated close to the ship. "Talk later, fight now," Ian replied, but smiled to take the sting out of his orders.

"Sir, The enemy is moving oddly," Ike said. "If I didn't know better, I'd say that they are trying to make enough room for several of the ships to make a jump."

"Fuck! Which ships?" Ian asked urgently.

"Two of the battle ships, and fifteen of the medium and light cruisers," Ike said. "Why would they jump? Where are they jumping to?"

"What's their primary target Ike?" Ian replied. "Right now, it's only defended by a carrier and a battle cruiser in space. If those battle-wagons make it to orbit, the planetary defenses are toast." Ian said and opened a comm to Jenny on the bridge.