The burden of command, p.42
The Burden of Command, page 42
part #14 of Empire Rising Series
*
Jonathan couldn’t help but be overawed by the destruction wrought amidst the Flex-aor fleet. Their formation had been so disjointed and confused that the Hellcats had roared right into attack range before the Flex-aor had a chance to prepare to receive them. The damage was colossal. More than half of the tender ships had been wiped out. According to Achilles’ sensors, their destruction had taken another sixty-two Flex-aor capital ships. Now the enemy fleet had been reduced to less than three hundred. And their formation is in even more of a mess! No doubt they would be able to reform themselves before Home Fleet got into missile range, yet beyond that, they would have no time to prepare. “Davenport’s ruse has worked wonderfully,” Jonathan said to his bridge officers. “Now it’s time to finish this off. You all know our duty now. Protecting the flagship is our top priority. Let’s not let the Admiral down.”
“Aye, Aye, Captain,” Cortez said forcefully.
Jonathan nodded to her and then met the eye of each of his officers. Achilles had already slotted back into formation with the rest of Home Fleet. Davenport had assigned Jonathan’s destroyer to the small squadron tasked with covering Oblivion. Jonathan had no problem with that. It meant they would be in the thickest part of the action.
“Targeting data coming through from the flagship,” Rutherford reported from the COM station.
“Fire when we get the order,” Jonathan said to Schmidt. By now, he trusted his tactical officer to target and fire Achilles’ missiles as Oblivion wished. As Home Fleet continued to close with the Flex-aor, Jonathan watched their warships form up and move to intercept Admiral Davenport’s force. Jonathan thought he understood why. It was the reverse of what had happened at New Delhi. The Flex-aor didn’t want to fight in the vicinity of their tender ships, lest Davenport slip missiles through their defenses to blow up more of them.
“Firing,” Schmidt announced as over four thousand mark VII missiles were fired from Home Fleet. A second salvo was fired before the Flex-aor got into range to release their own missiles. Just moments after they did, Home Fleet fired its third salvo, this time of mark VIII missiles. Less than thirty seconds before the first Imperial missiles reached the Flex-aor fleet, sixty new contacts suddenly appeared behind them. With acceleration rates matching Hellcat fighters, they dove in to strike at the Flex-aor capital ship’s engines. The Flex-aor response was immediate, if a little panicked. Nearly a third of their light ships turned to intercept the fighters. Yet there was one problem. As soon as enough sensor emissions washed over the contacts, they were revealed to be nothing more than recon drones. Too late, the light ships desperately tried to get back to their previous positions. Even as they charged past their capital ships back to the front of the Flex-aor fleet’s formation, antimatter explosions began to bloom all around them. Jonathan counted over fifty ships completely disintegrated or badly crippled. Then, to add insult to injury, Wing Commander Jensen’s ships really did spring to life. Coming out of stealth right behind the first salvo of missiles the Flex-aor had fired, they tore into them with their laser cannons. The Flex-aor missiles, being so far from Home Fleet, were not able to break apart to fire off their smaller warheads. Each hit Jensen’s fighters scored took out between five and ten missiles at a time. Davenport’s final ruse had worked. The threat from the Flex-aor’s first missile salvo had been severely reduced, and with the destruction from Jensen’s attack on the tender ships and then Home Fleet’s first salvo, the Flex-aor fleet’s strength was now also compromised. Their next salvo wouldn’t be nearly as threatening.
Over the course of the next half an hour, Jonathan had little more to do other than watch as Home Fleet’s technological advantage took its toll. The second salvo of mark VII’s crashed home before the Flex-aor could fire again. Nearly thirty more ships were destroyed. The once-proud Flex-aor fleet of eight hundred warships that had destroyed Chennai was reduced to less than two hundred. As the numerical advantage switched to Home Fleet, the battle became even more one-sided. The Flex-aor only managed to get off three more salvos. Only a handful of missiles from each managed to find any targets. Sixteen Imperial ships were destroyed, with a further forty-three suffering various degrees of damage. Achilles wasn’t threatened throughout the battle. The combined fire from Oblivion and her defensive squadron obliterating any Flex-aor missiles that came close.
In contrast, the Flex-aor fleet that fired off its third salvo was a shadow of what it had been only thirty minutes before. Less than sixty ships still remained in the battle. Within four minutes of firing, they had to defend themselves from another full-strength Home Fleet salvo. The mark VIII missiles only had to fly through twenty seconds of point defensive fire before they came into range. As they detonated and concentrated their thermonuclear energy into grazers, all but a handful of the remaining Flex-aor ships were blasted with the deadly beams. When the explosions ceased, only six Flex-aor ships remained under power. Orders from Oblivion sent out a much reduced final salvo that finished them off. Without pausing, Home Fleet then closed in on the remaining tender ships. They too succumbed to grazer beams from mark VIII missiles. When the final Flex-aor ship was blown apart, Jonathan let out a deep breath as much of the tension left his shoulders. Chennai had been avenged. The Flex-aor fleet would be threatening no more Imperial worlds. At least, this one won’t, Jonathan thought as his mind went to his father.
Chapter 35
Telepathic species are very rare. Humanity has only come across a small handful of them. Each has been studied in as great a depth as possible. Yet our history with such things makes me nervous. On more than one occasion, a scientist or group of scientists have argued a Humanity bound together and controlled by one telepathic mind would be unbeatable. Though I suspect them wrong, even if they were right, would the sacrifice not deplete our Empire of everything that makes it worth fighting for?
-Excerpt from Empire Ascendant 3015 AD.
IS Matilda, Hiva’non, Flex-aor home system, 8th February 2509 AD, (three weeks later).
“Here we go,” Emilie said as the first scout ships began to jump out of shift space back to the point where her fleet was waiting.
Unknowingly, James held his breath as they waited for the sensor report to be sent to Matilda. At last, he was about to find out. Ever since the Flex-aor fleet had fled New Delhi after ravaging Home Fleet, the same question had been nagging him. Why did they flee when they had the advantage? He had bet everything on the Flex-aor attack at New Delhi being a feint. But if he was right, that meant he was not going to like what he was about to see. Fearful that he was right, yet just as concerned that he was wrong, James found himself fiddling with his wedding ring as he rocked back and forth almost imperceptibly.
Within seconds, the Flex-aor home system was projected onto the main holo display. James’ jaw dropped in horror. He had been right!... and they were too late. Thousands of contacts filled the system. Barely any of them registered as friendlies. More than one officer on the bridge gasped or groaned. James found himself shaking his head. Even he hadn’t imagined it would be this bad. The count on the holo display had risen to over eight thousand. It was far worse than he had imagined. The Flex-aor numbers were even more than the fleet that had attacked the American colonies twenty-five years ago.
“Look, survivors,” Emilie said, her voice breaking as she pointed to one part of the holo display.
James’ jaw snapped shut when he saw them. Nearly a hundred ships were fleeing towards the shift passage Emilie’s fleet was in. It took a second to realize there were no other Imperial or Varanni ships in the system. The garrison fleet was supposed to number over five hundred. Shaking himself, James fought to get over his shock. “Jump us in immediately,” he ordered. “We need to cover the retreat.” Behind the Imperial and Varanni force, more than three hundred Flex-aor ships were chasing them. James had failed those who were already dead, but he wasn’t going to let any more succumb to Flex-aor fire. “But send our fastest frigates back to Connecticut and Cral’van. We need to warn the reinforcements that are coming here of what is happening.”
As Emilie began to bellow orders, James looked beyond the surviving Allied forces and back into the heart of the system. The vast majority of the Flex-aor fleet was moving towards Hiva’non. His scout ships had already detected thousands of shuttles moving from the starships towards the planet. Landing ground forces, James guessed. That, or some kind of ground-based space weapon systems. Whatever the Flex-aor had planned, he was certain it had something to do with allowing them to keep their homeworld from being overrun again. Not a single human or Varanni foot soldier had set foot on Hiva’non. The Allied Fleet had been content to hold the orbitals and prevent the Flex-aor from building any new warships. If the Flex-aor were smart, they would find a way to place weapons they could fire into space onto their homeworld. That would force us to land troops. Something James was absolutely loath to even contemplate. The Flex-aor weren’t as good fighters as the Karacknids when it came to ground battles, yet there were billions of Flex-aor warriors and worker drones on their homeworld. Even as James continued to assess the situation, Matilda carried out a micro jump bringing her into the system. Within moments, James was able to look at the vast Flex-aor fleet through Matilda’s own sensors. When he did, any thought of landing ground troops vanished from his mind. Attacking Hiva’non was not going to be a possibility for months. There were simply far too many Flex-aor warships. Instead, his thoughts went to the nearest Human and Varanni Alliance colonies. Connecticut, Utah, Cral’van and Bu’m’mel were all in serious danger. And we have no idea what is happening at the other Flex-aor colonies, James worried. He was certain the main Flex-aor effort would be focused on the world that was home to their High Queen. But there were four other colonies that also housed other Queens; if they too were being liberated, then the Flex-aor would have even more strength. For the first time since he had learned of the Flex-aor from Jonathan, James really began to fear for his Empire. Eight hundred Flex-aor ships had seriously threatened New Delhi, but he had been confident his forces had stood a chance at fending them off. Eight thousand was another matter entirely. Especially when the vast majority of the Empire’s strength was arrayed along border forts more than four hundred light years away. Focus, James told himself. Giving into his fear now would accomplish nothing. He had to get the garrison’s survivors out of the system, then he could worry about the wider strategic situation. “Take us in, maximum military thrust. Order what’s left of Hiva’non’s garrison fleet to rendezvous with us. Send the damaged ships on through the shift passage back towards Utah.”
At once, the six hundred ships in formation around Matilda surged forward. Within seconds, Hiva’non’s garrison turned towards them. The Flex-aor weren’t quite as quick to react. Initially, they matched the garrison ships maneuvers to continue to chase them. After several minutes, they fired off another missile salvo from their forward tubes. Instead of turning, they still continued with their pursuit. James watched as their missiles crashed into the garrison ships. Eight were destroyed, and a further four fell out of formation. Not long after, the Flex-aor fired again. Only then did they turn. Fools, James thought towards them. The Flex-aor ships should have turned at the first sight of Matilda. Destroying a handful more of the garrison ships wasn’t worth it.
“Perhaps they thought we would just turn tail and run once we rescued them,” Emilie said, reading her uncle’s thoughts.
“Well, let’s show them the folly of such thinking,” James ordered. “Launch all fighters, coordinate them with our first missile salvo.”
Ten minutes later and three hundred fighters had launched from the four carriers in Emilie’s fleet. Forming up, they charged past the garrison ships towards the now decelerating Flex-aor. Five minutes after they left, Emilie’s fleet entered mark VII missile range. Six thousand missiles were hurled towards the Flex-aor. This isn’t going to be like engaging the garrison ships, James thought towards whoever was commanding the Flex-aor squadron. The garrison ships had been firing their own missile salvos from their rear tubes at their pursuers. Because of the Flex-aor’s numerical advantage, none of the missiles had got through. That wasn’t the case as Emilie’s salvo crashed home. Hundreds of antimatter missiles detonated amongst the Flex-aor ships. Then the fighters came swooping in. With the Flex-aor’s formation torn to shreds, the fighters faced almost no resistance. In the space of thirty seconds, over two hundred Flex-aor ships were destroyed. The fleet pursuing the garrison ships was gutted. A single follow-up salvo finished them off. Despite the small victory, as the last few Flex-aor ships were vaporized by antimatter missiles, James’ mood didn’t lift. Destroying three hundred Flex-aor ships didn’t even come close to making up for the four hundred Imperial ships lost from the garrison fleet. “Open a COM channel to the senior surviving officer from the garrison fleet. I want to know what happened.”
“What orders do you have for us?” Emilie asked before the COM channel was opened.
“We continue on towards Hiva’non,” James answered. “We need to know exactly what they’re up to. Send out flanking squadrons of screening ships. Let’s make sure we don’t get ourselves surrounded as we push deeper into the system.”
“Understood,” Emilie said with a nod.
“Admiral, I’ve got Commodore Cavendish on a COM channel for you,” a sensor officer reported.
With a wave of his hand, James ordered the COM channel sent to his command chair. A holo image of a Commodore he didn’t recognize appeared in front of him. “Commodore, I’m glad we were able to come to your assistance.”
“So am I Admiral, you’re a godsend. We thought we were done for,” Cavendish said quickly. “We thought they’d pursue us all the way to Utah before any help was able to come.”
“This is not the first Flex-aor attack,” James said, answering the Commodore’s unasked question. “A small fleet attacked New Delhi. That is how we knew to come here. Tell me exactly what happened. If the Flex-aor arrived with so many warships, why didn’t the garrison fleet retreat?”
Cavendish shook his head. He brought a hand up to rub his temple. “I’m sorry Admiral. I don’t have a good answer for you.”
“Explain yourself,” James said, allowing a bit of force to come into his voice.
“I’m not sure I can,” Cavendish replied. “I was called to the bridge as soon as the first Flex-aor ships began engaging our scouts on the edge of the system. Several of our ships got a sight of the main Flex-aor fleet and sent warnings back. Rear Admiral McDowell sent orders for every ship to prepare to break orbit. But then, there was nothing. Even after the full Flex-aor warfleet began accelerating into the system, we didn’t move. I know several of the other senior squadron commanders requested orders from McDowell. But none came. We did what we could and prepared to defend the orbital stations. But we knew we couldn’t hold out against so many enemy ships, even if they hadn’t made any technological advances in the last two decades. Still, no orders came. It was only when the first enemy missile salvo was fired that the fleet seemed to wake up. Except, instead of breaking orbit to flee. McDowell ordered us to charge. I’m not one to turn tail and run Admiral, but it seemed like suicide.”
James was shaking his head as he listened. He couldn’t understand. He knew McDowell. The Rear Admiral wasn’t among the best of James’ fleet commanders. That was why he was commanding the Hiva’non garrison and not a border fort fleet. Yet he was far from incompetent. It made no sense. “Then what happened?” James pressed when Cavendish paused.
“We were wrecked by that first salvo,” Cavendish said as he hung his head. “McDowell’s flagship was destroyed. More than two hundred other ships were as well. That was when Rear Admiral Jiang ordered us to pull back. We reversed course as quickly as we could. Yet another salvo struck us. Jiang’s flagship was lost in it. Command of the fleet fell to me. I did my best to get us out of the system. Thankfully, the main Flex-aor fleet was content to move on to Hiva’non. Yet the fleet that did chase us continued to hound us. We lost another thirty-two ships as we fled.”
“All right Commodore, you did your duty and you saved as many as you could. There’s nothing for you to feel shame about. But I do not understand McDowell’s actions. He all but threw away his fleet.”
