Valor At Vauzlee (13 page)

Meanwhile, the Raider laser weapons facing away from the convoy, and not otherwise occupied on defense, began to spit their pulses of coherent light at the Prometheus. The great ship was pounded by myriad strikes.

As the Prometheus neared an apoapsis relative to its entry point around the circle of Raider ships, the Chiron arrived and began its attack run. The Raider ships, realizing that they were sitting targets in a deadly crossfire between two great battleships started to zigzag within the confines of their assigned circular track. The second Raider battleship, the Rising Star, joined her sister in death as she broke in half. Two of the flurry of torpedoes fired by the Prometheus had weathered the storm of laser pulses and found their target points against the hull of the poorly armored Tsgardi-built vessel.

* * *

"Our ships report that the number of incoming torpedoes has slowed considerably, sir," the com operator reported to the Commodore.

"Of course. The Raiders have a bigger threat to worry about than us. Tell them to keep targeting the Raiders as quickly as they can load their tubes."

"Sir," the tactical officer said as he stared intently at one of his screens, "another warship has just appeared outside the ring of Raider ships. It's following the same general route as the Prometheus. It's another battleship, sir, with the same configuration as the Prometheus. It's squawking its Ident now, sir. It's the GSC Battleship Chiron; the other battleship that Jenetta Carver recovered from the Raiders. There goes the other Raider battleship, sir!"

Blosset allowed himself a small smile. "Well, Kyle, it looks like we might survive after all."

"I hope so sir, but we're still thirty-seven to fifteen."

"Yes, but those two GSC battleships are each worth any ten of the Raider ships, so I'm beginning to feel almost confident about our chances."

* * *

By the time the Prometheus completed a second revolution around the Raider group, the circle wasn't much of a circle anymore. The Raider ships, while returning fire with abandon, had forsaken their attempt to maintain a circling course and begun maneuvering in every direction to avoid the deadly fire from the two GSC battleships that were decimating their numbers.

As the pirate forces ignored the convoy and consolidated their deadly fire on the circling Prometheus and Chiron, the first of the other GSC ships arrived and joined the fight. Already, the two Raider battleships, three of the six Raider cruisers, one of the Raider frigates, and six of the Raider destroyers were either destroyed or all but out of the fight, and many of the remaining twenty-nine Raider ships had taken deadly laser fire that had breached their hulls in numerous places and significantly reduced their fighting effectiveness.

* * *

"Helm," Captain Corriano of the Song said, as the Kamakura-class heavy cruiser arrived at the battle zone, "bring us into position behind the Chiron, equidistant between her and the Prometheus. Com, put me on ship-wide."

"You're on, captain."

"All gunners, fire at will," Corriano said. "You know what to do, people. Make me proud."

Gavin had shared the full particulars of both battle plans with the other captains. Based on observations made as they arrived at the battle zone, they would immediately know which was being followed, but he had advised them that the attack plan would most likely be the one proposed by his first officer.

Commander Harant, the Song's XO, sat watching the action on the front viewscreen from his first officer's chair on the bridge. Like Jenetta, his role in the fight was over unless something happened to the captain, and all he could do was watch and possibly make a few suggestions. In response to a loud murmur of voices behind him, he turned to find the source. Half a dozen off-duty command officers were standing near the rear bulkhead. They quieted as he turned around. He knew that regulations specified that off-duty personnel not be on the bridge during general quarters, so they should be chased, but this was one of the most secure places on the ship and they weren't really in the way. He turned back around to watch the action unfold as laser fire from the Raiders began to pound the Song.

As the newly arrived GSC ship joined the circling attack, a full broadside of torpedoes spewed from its tubes and its phased array lasers unleashed torrents of coherent light pulses. In response, a number of the Raider gunners began to direct their fire away from the battleships and concentrate on the Song.

* * *

While the battle raged, Jenetta discretely called up the early reports of battle damage by touching screen contact points on the thirty-eight-centimeter monitor attached to the left arm of her chair. She didn't want to appear overly concerned but she knew that the blizzard of laser pulses from the Raider ships had grown quite severe and she wanted to keep informed on the status of her ship. She'd felt at least one serious tremor, meaning that a torpedo had gotten through their laser protection umbrella.

The Prometheus was beginning its twelfth circle of the area, this time making a wider loop, when two more GSC ships, the destroyers Caracas and Asuncion, arrived. Discounting the Peabody ships, the odds were now just five to one as another five Raider ships had fallen forever silent. The area was becoming littered with the twisting and wrecked corpses of dead ships.

* * *

By the time the last of the Raider cruisers had been destroyed, two more GSC destroyers, the Lima and the Vancouver had arrived, dropping the odds of Raider ships to Space Command vessels to just two to one. The Raiders, with only a third of their ships still able to move under their own power, and dumbfounded by the arrival of more and more GSC ships, decided they'd had enough. With the destruction of the battleships and cruisers, the chain of command had completely disintegrated. Without orders the captains began breaking off their engagements and maneuvering for open space so they could employ their Light Speed engines. One Raider destroyer began accelerating to maximum sub-light speed while building its Light Speed envelope just as a GSC light destroyer, the Delhi, arrived. The Raider vessel collided amidship starboard with the stationary Delhi, slicing it almost in half as the entire front half of the Raider ship crumbled into a compressed wad of twisted metal that fused the two ships together.

* * *

Captain Corriano was flung sideways by the impact. Fortunately he was buckled into his seat at the time, so his only injury was a bruised side and a fractured wrist from having his hand strike the pivotal arm of the monitor screen mounted on the right arm of his chair.

"Tactical, what was that?" the Captain said to his lead tac officer, who was still pulling himself up to the console from the deck. He hadn't been wearing his seat belt.

"We took a hit to the larboard hull, sir," the tac officer said after checking his screens. "It was exactly opposite the bridge on this deck."

"How bad?"

"I don't know sir, but the sensors indicate that we're open to space, so it must be serious."

"Commander, better clear the bridge of all off duty personnel."

"Aye, Captain," Commander Harant said. He turned to the rear bulkhead where personnel were still climbing to their feet, but before he could give the order to vacate the deck, a second torpedo struck the Song.

~ March 26
^th
, 2268 ~

Two Raider destroyers, attempting to build their temporal envelope and escape following the destruction of the Delhi, were annihilated by the Prometheus. Three more were felled by torpedoes from other GSC warships. Only seven severely battered Raider ships of the original forty-one in the attack force managed to escape from what would later be described as a zone of death and destruction. In barely twenty-eight minutes of fighting, the Raiders had seen their assured victory turned into a crushing defeat. The last of the ten GSC ships tasked to the operation, the destroyers Dublin and Calcutta, arrived just as the fighting ended. They took off in pursuit of two escaping Raider ships, but once the Raiders achieved FTL Speed there was little that could be done with reasonable safety except follow for a time before returning to the battle site. The Raiders would never lead them to their base, and no one wished to follow them for months, only to have to turn around when the Raiders passed beyond the border of GA regulated space.

"All stop," Gavin said to the helmsman after the Prometheus had twice circled the battle site without drawing a single laser strike or torpedo. Turning towards Jenetta, who was calmly seating in the First Officer's chair to his left, he said, "My compliments, Commander. You really called that one. Not a fighter in sight. I think that a few faces at the War College will be wearing a little egg when they view the logs from this fight. Your plan of battle was excellent, by the way."

Every ear on the bridge heard the words of praise, not that there had been much doubt as to who had formulated the attack plans that bore her name. Regulations required that a full and complete copy of all ship's logs from the period one-half hour before an action to one half hour after, must be submitted to Supreme Headquarters for evaluation. The Captain's praise would naturally be part of the bridge logs. Gavin knew before he uttered them that his comments would not be missed by the War College analysts preparing the post-engagement analysis reports. Saying what he did, where he said it, when he said it, made his appreciation for Jenetta's remarkable battle prospicience and strategy an unalterable part of the conflict's record.

"Thank you, sir," Jenetta said sadly. There was no elation in her heart for having killed so many, even if they were Raiders. And while it would be a while before casualty numbers were available, she was equally sure that Peabody and Space Command losses had been heavy.

"Com," Gavin said loudly as he climbed down from his chair, "notify all sections to get us their damage reports ASAP, and notify Engineering that it's safe to send out crews and robots for emergency hull repair."

"Aye, sir. Damage reports are coming in now. I've sent them to your chair's holo-tube."

The holo-tube, a small, lightweight, cylindrical device measuring just ten centimeters in length with a diameter of two centimeters, reminded one of the white baton passed from runner to runner in a relay race. A recessed button near one end turns the device on or off. When activated, a holographic image extends upwards from a thin projection strip along most of the tube length. Twisting one end of the strong, composite material tube allows the user to scroll a holographic list up or down. Although lacking most of the interactive computer functions of a portable viewpad or electronic clipboard, the holo-tube would nevertheless be remotely updated each time the associated file in the central computer was updated. The image quality and colors aren't as sharp as those found on the much larger holo-magazine cylinder, but it's smaller, lighter, and excellent for viewing data lists. And the small cylindrical shape fits comfortably into a Hominidae hand.

The Captain lifted the holo-tube lightly from its storage holster on the chair and activated it. With Jenetta standing next to him, he said aloud, "Damage to almost every deck, but hundreds of small hull breaches have sealed automatically and are holding atmosphere. We have major breaches on Decks Two, Seven, Ten, Eleven, Fifteen, Twenty-one, and Twenty-six. The worst breach is from a single torpedo hit that took out part of the hull on Decks Ten and Eleven near Frame Sections Seven and Eight. The damaged area encompasses a torpedo room. We lost tubes five and six, and suffered a total of seventeen casualties there; eleven dead and six injured. It appears we've sustained only superficial damage to our propulsion systems. Com, contact the other ships and find out if anyone other than the Delhi needs emergency assistance."

"Captain," Jenetta said, "if you don't need me here I'd like to be excused to oversee Damage Control Operations."

"Of course, Commander. You're excused."

Jenetta hurried to a lift in Corridor 3 and descended to Deck Fourteen, grateful to finally have something to do as she waited impatiently for a transport car to arrive.

* * *

Chief Edward Lindsey leaned back into his chair in 11-280-0-C, also known as Fire Control Center Two-Eighty, and released a long relaxing sigh. "We're alive. I can't believe it. We're alive."

From the console next to him, Chief Flip Byrne said, "Thank you, Commander Carver."

"Will you knock it off!" Lindsey said angrily. "Carver had nothing to do with it. We're the ones firing the weapons. We're the ones that destroyed the Raider torpedoes and ships before they could destroy us, not Carver."

"You mean you didn't sense her behind you?"

"What? What are you talking about? Carver was never behind me."

"She was standing right behind you the entire time, Eddie."

"You're nuts. What's in that gum you're chewing?"

"Look at your console, Eddie."

Lindsey stared down at the laser weapon console in front of him. "Yeah, what about it?"

"Look at your effectiveness ranking."

"Holy S— eighty-three?"

"Did you ever score above sixty-five while we were on the Thor?"

"You know I didn't. I never could shoot as good as you. Uh— what's your ranking?"

"Ninety-one."

"There must be something wrong with these consoles."