Empires gambit, p.27
Empire's Gambit, page 27
“I sent it to your command chair, High Admiral,” the officer replied.
Tanaka-lan pulled it up. He covered his teeth with his mouth as he began to read. It made even less sense than the Humans’ tactics. He had been expecting a report on an advancing Human fleet. Yet it was from a Human system eighty light years away. One of the scouts he had sent to look for Somerville’s fleet had found something. Then he got to the main point of the report. He froze. The armored scales that covered his torso locked together. At once, everything clicked into place. A wormhole, Tanaka-lan said to himself in wonder and fear. The Humans have access to a wormhole! Immediately, he knew where it went. The mystery of the Human fleet that had launched their raid against the far side of the Karacknid Empire made sense. They have a wormhole that leads to Conclave space. They’ve been working closely with the Conclave species all along! That is how their ships got there so quickly, and how the Conclave fleets managed to come to help protect Earth. All along, we’ve been fighting on one front, when they’ve been fighting on two! Another mystery was immediately answered in Tanaka-lan’s mind. The ships that had been pulled back from all along the frontline, it was no ruse. They have formed one giant fleet and it has gone to Conclave space. That was the only explanation that made sense. That was why his scouts could not find Somerville’s fleet. They could overwhelm the border fleets we have guarding that sector of our Empire. No! They could do much more. For a moment, Tanaka-lan’s mind almost refused to keep thinking. It was impossible. Unthinkable, even. No one had ever tried to launch an attack into the Karacknid core worlds. Yet that was the very reason why it might work. No Karacknid defensive strategy expected such an attack. None of the home fleets were prepared. “It could work,” he said, not realizing he was speaking out loud. “They could go all the way to the homeworld.”
For several minutes, Tanaka-lan simply stared into space as his mind played out just how such an attack might go. He knew several of the Admirals stationed near Conclave space. He rated none of them as useful tacticians. That was why they were where they were. Then something else came back to him. The Empress’ speech. She spoke of striking at the heart of the Empire. They are going for the Imperator and our homeworld! It had been no trick. She had been speaking the truth all along.
For several more seconds Tanaka-lan simply stared blankly. Eventually, movement in front of his eyes managed to grab his attention. The Human fleet was approaching. Suddenly, it looked very different to him. It is not an attempt to use asteroid chunks to overwhelm us. It is a suicide mission! He realized. The fleet in front of him was the only defense the Humans had protecting their empire. They had committed everything else to trying to destroy the Karacknid homeworld. And they are gunning for you, he concluded. That too now made sense. If he was killed, it would take months for news to be sent back to the Imperial homeworld and a new overall commander appointed. Taking him out might just delay the war on the frontline long enough for their attack to be successful. For the first time in his life, Tanaka-lan was genuinely scared. Not for himself, but for his Imperator. For the very Karacknid Empire itself. “Order our fighters to engage the fighters they have in reserve immediately!” He ordered as his fear drove him to action. “Forget about their worldships, they cannot harm us. Target everything at their warships. And pull the fleet back, maximum acceleration. Move Slayer to the rear of the fleet.” I must get out of here, Tanaka-lan said to himself. All thought of striking the Human homeworld left him. He needed to get back to Jaranna and rally his forces. There was no time to lose, he needed to get his fleets back to Gayla, the Imperator needed to be protected at any cost!
*
IS Vengeance
“Now!” Lightfoot ordered as soon as the first signs of the Karacknid fleet decelerating hard were detected. Two things happened in response. First, the remaining freighters detonated, releasing thousands of asteroid chunks. The explosions propelled them towards the Karacknid fleet. Behind them, every Human warship took the safeties off their reactors. Every joule of energy was then forced into their engines. With a shot, every ship lurched towards the Karacknid fleet. It is too late, he thought towards Tanaka-lan. Whatever it was that had tipped off the enemy commander to their real intentions, his fleet was not getting away now. “Keep our fire focused on the ships directly in front of that flagship,” Lightfoot ordered. Already, Tanaka-lan’s flagship was moving behind more of his ships. It made Lightfoot grind his teeth together. The Karacknid High Admiral might have guessed the one target Lightfoot was interested in. He will still not get away, Lightfoot assured himself.
He winced as another salvo of enemy missiles crashed into his fleet. As the antimatter explosions erupted all around Vengeance. Two destroyers that were a part of her escort were taken out. Many more ships were crippled or destroyed. Too many for Lightfoot to count.
“Enemy fighters incoming again,” an officer shouted.
“Signal Nimring to prioritize them,” Lightfoot snapped. If Tanaka-lan was onto his plan, the fighters would attempt to engage his reserve fighter force. That could not be allowed to happen.
“One more enemy salvo, and we will reach energy weapon range,” Lightfoot’s Chief of Staff reported.
One more, Lightfoot thought to himself as he looked at his fleet on the holo display. We just have to hold on for one more. When it struck, the devastation was enormous. Over two hundred ships were wiped out of existence. So much antimatter washed over them that they simply ceased to exist. Though it pained him greatly to see so many ships destroyed, Lightfoot tightened his hands into fists. He still had three hundred ships left. Three hundred ships that were racing at unbelievable speeds towards the heart of the Karacknid fleet. Here and there, ships were detonating as their engines or reactors overloaded. But he still had a powerful enough force. “Order our fighters to charge,” he said just seconds before his ships entered energy weapon range. Then he raised a fist as he stared at the Karacknid flagship. In his mind, he recalled the images of Earth as it had been nuked by the Karacknids in the first battle of Earth. “Die, you bastard!” he screamed as his flagship opened fire with its laser and plasma cannons.
From both fleets, thousands of energy weapons released gigajoules of destructive force towards one another. They crisscrossed the distance between the ships in the blink of an eye. Human warships and Kulrean worldships were blown apart. Yet so too were Karacknid capital ships. Hundreds of them were heavily damaged or crippled. Into the hole that had been blasted in the Karacknid fleets’ formation flew three hundred Spitfire fighters. Right behind them, almost matching their speed were the four surviving Kulrean worldships, led by Captain Nimring. Every energy weapon on the worldships was hurling thousands of blue half triangle beams at the defensive weapons that tried to strike down the fighters. Still, the combined defensive fire from almost four thousand Karacknid warships was focused on the fighters. Their numbers began to disintegrate at a frightful pace.
Right before the last forty got close enough to release their missiles, the few Human ships still remaining fired their second volley of energy weapons. Two heavy cruisers and eight destroyers in close formation around the Karacknid flagship where instantly vaporized. Immediately, thirty-six Spitfire fighters released their plasma missiles. Sensing the danger, the Karacknid fleet switched its defensive fire away from the fighters. Now everything was hurled at the plasma missiles.
On Vengeance’s bridge, Lightfoot willed the missiles on with all his strength. He was watching the final attack on his command chair’s holo display. The main display had been destroyed. Vengeance had taken three laser cannon hits. The bridge around him was dark and full of smoke. Several officers where slumped over their seats, dead or dying. Though aware of it, Lightfoot had no more energy to feel for their loss. Hands in fists, teeth gritted, he urged the plasma missiles on even as they were destroyed one by one. In the six seconds it took them to cover the distance to Tanaka-lan’s flagship, thirty-one were taken out. Then the last five detonated, releasing huge balls of plasma. Two of those balls were struck by defensive fire from Tanaka-lan’s flagship and broke apart. “Yes!” Lightfoot roared as three struck home. Each one burnt its way deep into the innards of the enemy flagship. Lightfoot held his breath as he waited for a secondary explosion that would signal the complete destruction of the ship.
It never came however. As if out of anger for the damage done to their flagship, every Karacknid ship in their fleet fired their second volley of energy weapons. Laser beams ripped into every Human warship that was left. Vengeance was torn apart. The two remaining Kulrean ships were hit by more than five hundred beams each. Together, they detonated, releasing a massive explosive wave that destroyed more than fifty Imperial fighters. In an instant, the fighting was all but over. The remaining Karacknid ships and fighters quickly swept away what Spitfires had survived the final charge at Tanaka-lan’s flagship. Then space around the Karacknid fleet became quiet once again.
*
Slayer
Tanaka-lan’s body hurt all over. The bridge had lost main power, and only emergency lights were on. Glancing down at his right hand, he saw all three of his main claws had been ripped from his fingers. They had been embedded in his command chair when the plasma bolts had smashed into his ship. Snarling, he tried to sit upright. It only brought more pain. “We are not dead,” he said out loud. “We are not dead!” he shouted louder. Anger coursed through him. The Humans had come so close to killing him. Far closer than they should have. An almost blinding lust for revenge welled up within him. It would have consumed him but for one thought that fought it. The Imperator, Tanaka-lan said to himself. I must get to the Imperator. Looking up from his own body, he searched out for crew members who were still alive.
“What are your orders High Admiral?” A tactical officer asked. He had been bent over checking Slayer’s Captain, but Tanaka-lan’s words had drawn his attention. “Captain Mara-jar is dead.”
“Forget about him,” Tanaka-lan said, ignoring the pain that shot through his abdomen with every word. “Forget about Slayer. Get me a shuttle immediately. I need to get to a Dreadnought that is undamaged. The fleet must pull back. We must send word to our other fleets. Time is of the essence!”
Chapter 22
Not much is known about the accomplishment for far greater events meant little first-hand accounts were taken from the survivors; yet from what we can piece together, the survival of Misfit and her return to Earth was one of the greatest feats of the war.
-Excerpt from Empire Rising 3002 AD.
IS Centurion, 18th November 2485 AD.
“New contacts powering up their engines!” Centurion’s sensor officer called out. “They were hiding near the orbital facilities around the third planet. Four destroyers have been picked up so far.”
“Track them,” Scott snapped. “Signal Commander Carruthers, he is to launch fighters and pursue them.” Glancing at the holo display, Scott watched the new contacts for several seconds. She had eighty ships closing with the system’s third planet. The Karacknids had several orbital stations and a well-developed surface mining operation on the planet. Centurion’s sensors had detected large deposits of valstronium. They are running, she decided when the initial course of the four destroyers appeared. The orbital stations had several small defense satellites to protect them. But the fighter squadrons bearing down would easily dispatch them. Clearly, the Karacknid warships didn’t want to face the same fate. Turning her attention away from the third planet, Scott left the destroyers to Carruthers’ fighters.
“Firing again,” Scott’s tactical officer reported. From Centurion and the one hundred and fifty warships in formation with her, three thousand two hundred missiles were hurled into space. They joined another salvo already racing towards gas mining stations and fifty Karacknid warships orbiting the system’s only gas giant. Though outnumbered, these Karacknid ships weren’t trying to flee. Of course, Scott hadn’t given them the chance. Sneaking past the two frigates patrolling the shift passage, she had advanced into the system far enough that the Karacknid warships had no hope of out running her battlecruiser. Rather than break orbit and attempt a futile escape, the warships had chosen to stay and fight alongside the gas mining stations’ meagre defenses. Scott was okay with that. In the space of just twenty minutes, Centurion and the rest of Scott’s fleet reduced what had likely taken several years to build to molten slag. The Karacknid warships didn’t even manage to get one missile through Scott’s defenses before they were taken out. Returning her focus to the rest of the system, Scott saw that her detached squadron had destroyed the orbital installations around the system’s third planet. Even as she watched, explosions rocked the planet’s surface as the valstronium mining facilities were wiped out. Carruthers’ fighters had dispatched their targets as well, and were already on the way back to their carrier. Nothing was left of the four destroyers they had intercepted. Within the whole system, only one contact remained that wasn’t a part of Scott’s command. One lowly Karacknid frigate was racing towards the system’s eastern shift passage. Carruthers’ fighters could have caught and destroyed it as well. None of Scott’s subordinates suggested such an action, however. She had already determined that the frigate would be allowed to escape. It was racing towards the system’s eastern shift passage. That’s where she wanted news of her attack to go.
Currently, her fleet was two systems to the east of Somerville’s intended line of advance. From the direction of the systems she had attacked, and where she intended to strike next, it would look to the Karacknids that Somerville’s fleet wanted to head into the Upper Valley. There were only two shift passages that led into the Valley from their position. One they had passed weeks ago, but the other lay along Scott’s line of advance. Warn them we are coming, Scott thought towards the fleeing frigate. “Signal our fleet elements to converge on Centurion,” Scott ordered. “Then lay in a course for the eastern shift passage. Dispatch Captain Farshad’s destroyer squadron ahead of us. Make sure she knows to take a close look at the next system before venturing in. If they know we are on our way, they may try and prepare a surprise for us.”
As her subordinates acknowledged her orders, Scott watched each element of her fleet pull back from their assigned targets. In all, she had three hundred and fifty ships under her command. The Karacknids had developed mining facilities and other stations at five separate locations within the system. All of them had been destroyed. Yet as impressive as the destruction was, it was only a fraction of what they had dealt out to the Karacknids. For the past several weeks, they had been striking system after system as they scouted a path for Somerville’s fleet. Sooner or later, we’re going to come up against a real enemy fleet, she was certain. If the Karacknids had been pulling more of their ships back rather than sending them in piecemeal, she was sure they already would have. But they haven’t yet, she thought as she took in all the destruction her ships had caused. Either there was no competent commander organizing the defense of this sector they were attacking, or the Karacknids hadn’t figured out yet just how powerful a force was pushing its way into their space. Whatever it is, long may it continue, Scott hoped.
*
IS Centurion (four days later.)
“Another unprotected system,” Scott commented as she and her command staff surveyed the scouting data Farshad’s destroyer squadron had brought back. The system on the bridge’s main holo display contained just one planet of interest. Hundreds of cities dotted the planet’s surface, yet the energy readings coming from them were minimal. It was a clear sign the planet was home to an alien civilization the Karacknids had once conquered. In orbit, there were several small stations. Presumably housing the few Karacknids that it took to keep the planet submissive and to collect whatever resources the Karacknids used the locals to produce.
“Shall we attack it?” Scott’s Chief of Staff asked. “It’s hardly worth the effort.”
“Hardly indeed,” Scott said. “And unless we move into the system at a snail’s pace, those two warships will never be able to escape us.” Due to the planet’s position relative to the only two shift passages out of the system, Scott could easily block either route of escape the Karacknid warships might try to take. If she failed to stop them, it would only be because she was letting them go. Any astute Karacknid commander would grow suspicious at that. “Carruthers’ fighters can take the warships and stations out. We’ll launch a strike from here. That way, we will waste only a couple of hours. If any Karacknid scouts come through this way, they’ll detect the planet has been attacked and report it back. That might further add to the story we are trying to tell.”
“So we are heading back to Somerville’s fleet?” Centurion’s Captain asked.
Scott nodded. “We need to make contact and check-in. We’re as far from the main fleet as I’m comfortable being. If they need us, I don’t want to be out of position.” Her decision made, Scott rolled her shoulders and allowed her body to relax into her command chair. She then watched as forty-eight Spitfire fighters were launched from one of her two carriers. Immediately, they accelerated to full speed and charged towards the Karacknid stations. With only two Karacknid warships in the system, there was no need for stealth.
