No Way to Start a War (TCOTU, Book 2) (This Corner of the Universe) (24 page)

Grey
looked at her officers.  “Commodore Hughes, Commander Heskan, will your
subordinates abide by a truce?”

Heskan
heard Hughes reply, “Of course, ma’am.” 
I know there is only one right
answer but can I really guarantee that Bolt or Curator wouldn’t take a pot shot
at a Hollie near the end of a fight? 
The mental image of Vernay coolly reducing
Lombardi’s ship to atoms post-battle and saying, tongue-in-cheek, “Oops, sorry”
ran through his head.  Heskan cleared his throat and said, “Yes, Captain.  I’ll
make it very clear how important it is to follow any truce.”

Satisfied,
Grey began her next transmission.  “Komandor, let us put aside our distrust in
each other’s governments for now.  I assure you that Eagle has broken no
agreements between our governments and I guarantee my forces will not fire
unless fired upon.  I will consider this a truce where neither side will be
hostile to the other until both fleets leave Kale.  With this truce in place, I
will agree to help your forces defend this system and humanity against an
external threat.  We are launching our fighters even as we correspond and Eagle
and her escorts will follow them in.  I expect the two fleeing destroyers to
discontinue their flight and join the fight as my forces enter the battle. 
Additionally, I assume your own squadron will enter the fight as soon as
possible.  Please confirm this in your next transmission and provide all data
you have regarding the enemy.  Grey out.”

As
he waited for the reply, Heskan looked over to his first officer and saw Vernay
in an intense, voice-only discussion with Gary.  On her console was a display
of CortRon 15’s ships.  Both Gary and Vernay were modifying the current
formation into a hybrid diamond/box formation.  The placement of the ships was closer
together and the carrier herself was closer to the escorts.  Vernay noticed
Heskan’s attention and said, “It’s coming, Captain.  It’s ugly and dirty but it
will give us some flexibility.  We’re essentially trying to come up with a
defense against slow, awkward missiles that have a greater variety of attack
vectors, not to mention that they’ll come in a continuous stream instead of
waves.”

Heskan
asked, “Why are our ships so close together?”

Vernay
grimaced.  “I know it looks weird but those cutters have to be less
maneuverable than a Greyhound.  They’re going to have to come in on a much
straighter trajectory.  I’d actually like to place Eagle even closer to the
formation but then she might be firing at targets that would have been
destroyed by her escorts and we can’t have her wasting her shots.”

“Keep
up the good work.  Tell Gary that I’ll be available in about four minutes.”

When
Lombardi’s response finally came, her words dripped with derision.  “Captain Grey,
I hope you are not implying that I would retreat while your forces fought in
our stead.  I have ordered the destroyers to stay within five light-seconds of
your fleet.  I just hope that your escorts demonstrate better station-keeping
than they did during our last engagement.”

Heskan
felt his cheeks burn red as the image of Lombardi continued, “The Hollaran
people do not let others fight their battles, Captain, and as for Eagle and
broken covenants, one merely has to look upon the surface of Salus to see how
far ‘Vic integrity extends.”  Lombardi’s voice had grown steadily louder and shades
of red began to flush once more in her olive-colored skin.  As she spoke more
rapidly, her words became less intelligible under her accent.  “Or have you
already discounted the millions of innocent lives you have taken?”

Close
to the komandor but out of view, Heskan heard a male voice caution, “
Izzy,
ora non è il momento.
”

She
paused to collect herself before finishing.  “Information on the aliens is minimal. 
Kapitan Dogaru has given me limited information other than to emphasize that
these alien ships prefer simply to ram their targets.  I have asked how this
crude method of attack could have reduced Dogaru’s task force as much as it has
but I will have to wait another six minutes or longer for his response.  He has
provided little detail but insists ships that are rammed quickly drop out of
formation and are lost.  How the aliens can execute these intercepts, why the
rammed ship simply does not explode from the impact…”  She threw her hands up
in the air in exasperation.  “I recognize how little help this is but we fight
with the information we have, not what we would wish for.”  Her mouth turned
upward in what may have been a smile.  “The destroyers will take up supporting
positions as they pass through your formation.  After witnessing Helike, I can
only hope your navigators have enough skill to avoid colliding with them.” 

Heskan
ground his teeth.  
Okay,
I’m starting to really dislike that woman
.

Lombardi’s
message continued, “My own ships will either brake and join the battle after
you engage or will maintain our speed and break through the enemy wave.  It
will depend on the situation and whether my forces need to act as an anvil or a
hammer.  The commander of Hollaran forces will contact you once the battle is
complete.  Lombardi out.”

“Okay,”
Grey said to Heskan and Hughes, “we’re running out of time, so we’ll leave it
at that.  I’ll let you both get back to your responsibilities.  Commander, stay
alert for maneuvering orders during combat and when it’s over, the three of us
will talk with Lombardi again to make sure the truce holds until we’ve gone our
separate ways.  Happy hunting.”

Heskan
nodded as Grey cut the channel.  Relieved to be able to focus fully on the
impending engagement, he looked at the tactical situation.  Task Group 3.1 was 3
lm
from the destroyers.  The fleet would soon begin its turn to come about and decelerate,
intercepting the Hollaran destroyers before the cutters overran them while quickly
accelerating away from the horde to reduce their closure rate.  It would be an
intricate ballet and time was running short.  They had roughly eight minutes
before the firing would start.  Ahead of
Kite
, the faster fighters from
Eagle
would begin their attacks much sooner.  The general plan called for the
fighters to brake roughly
7ls
ahead of the cutters, reverse their course
and then pump laser fire into the alien armada as the cutters closed at a scant
.05
c
.  Already, missiles from the fighters raced toward their targets at
an astounding .85
c
closure rate.  The relative speed was near the limits
of their ability to maintain a target lock.

After
Heskan joined the communications channel that Vernay and Gary shared, he
brought up the formation template they were working on and was relieved to see
the final changes being placed on it.  It had not changed drastically from when
Heskan had looked earlier except that the escorts would be sailing even closer
to
Eagle
than before.  “Is this what we’re going with?” he asked.

Gary
responded, “It’s my recommendation, Commander.  Maybe if we had more time,
Stacy and I could come up with something more elegant, but this will give us
some flexibility while concentrating our firepower against the massive rush and
its trailing elements.  It seems unreal that a spacefaring race would be so willingly
suicidal and could develop space flight but not a missile or laser.”

Heskan
was too busy looking at the formation a final time to respond.  Finding nothing
he could improve, he said, “Okay, send it out, Kelly.  Good work you two.”  He
glanced at the tactical plot.  “We have seven minutes to get into formation. 
Good luck.”

“It
was nice working with you, Stacy,” Gary complimented before signing off.

Heskan
terminated his connection. 
I need to say something to the squadron
.  He
paused to find the right words but nothing came to mind. 
What do I say? 
Some of us will die defending Hollies?  Hey, don’t shoot at the ships that
wiped us out in Helike?
  He sat in silence.
  Maybe a different approach
will work.

He
opened the squadron-wide channel after clearing his throat.  “Sailors of
CortRon Fifteen, in five minutes we’ll enter combat against an alien species
that has already killed countless humans.  Other than that, we know virtually
nothing about them, but I do know this encounter will be the last battle before
we return home.  We have formed a temporary truce with the Hollarans for this
battle only, and each side will allow the other to return to their home space
without interference.  This last fight is what stands between you and a safe
journey home, between you and your families.”

Heskan
closed the channel. 
Four minutes
.  On the tactical plot, the ships of CortRon
15 were maneuvering to assume their new positions and speeds.  As the escort
ships rotated independently and made correction burns toward their stations, fighter
missile hits on the alien cutters displayed on the tactical plot.

All
but one of the F-3s had successful missile separations but even that single
fighter maintained its course toward the alien cutters.  Orders from
Eagle’s
CAG were that every Pup would participate in the engagement regardless of its
flight characteristics.  No sensor section in the entire task group had been
able to detect laser turrets and if the aliens were truly defenseless, even a
fighter with limited maneuverability would be valuable.

As
Heskan split his attention between the tactical plot and the optical of the
flood of alien cutters, he realized two things.  First, each of the sixty
missiles launched had struck a target and either destroyed it or damaged it
enough to knock the cutter out of battle.  Second, the fighters were falling
short by well over one thousand missiles.  The tsunami of cutters had absorbed
the missiles without so much as a shudder.

When
Kite
was 66
ls
out, the fighters had completed their maneuvers to
reverse course and nearly matched the speed of the alien mass.  Each of the
sixteen fighters began rotations to face the enemy, even as their momentum kept
them moving away from the cutters at .3
c
.  The aliens retained a speed
advantage and were slowly closing, but the Pups would have nearly four minutes inside
their GP pulse laser range before being left completely behind.  When the
cutters entered the 5
ls
window of the fighters, pulse laser fire cut
through the leading elements of the alien mass that stretched out like a
teardrop approximately 103
ls
long.  Cutter after cutter flashed brightly
and spewed wreckage as the fighters culled the herd.  In return, the cutters
continued their relentless, passive stampede toward the fighters.  Heskan knew
he was watching a one-minute-old battle but still flinched as the distance
closed and the sixteen tiny fighters were enveloped by the horde.

“They
really don’t have lasers,” Vernay said in disbelief.

“We’re
swinging around now,” Selvaggio stated, “matching the speed of the Hollie destroyers
as they pass through us.”  Selvaggio’s expert hands floated over her controls
to orient
Kite’s
bow in the proper direction.

Heskan
looked over to Lieutenant Spencer’s station and his weapons status console.  To
Spencer’s credit, all of
Kite’s
lasers trained out toward the cutters
and not the approaching Hollaran destroyers.  The optical on the wall screen revealed,
likewise, that the Hollaran ships’ armament pointed away.

In
the final minute before
Kite
entered RSL range, the sleek, Hollaran
destroyers took stations closest to
Curator
.  They settled outside the
protective point defense screen of most of the Brevic escorts as if even when
faced with annihilation, the desperate Hollaran commanders were unwilling to
place their ships under Brevic protection.  In unplanned unity, the Terran
ships rotated to bring their broadsides to bear against the incoming horde.

The
leading edge of the attack crashed through the 10
ls
barrier and Hollaran
and Brevic batteries spit their fire at the approaching mass.  Four seconds
after the first shots, the defending fleet’s long-range lasers spoke again. 
Halfway through the second recycle process, the initial salvos reached their
targets.

Alien
cutters blossomed into bright explosions as Hollaran heavy lasers sliced their
way entirely through ships.  In some instances, heavy laser bursts cut through
a second ship in the densely packed enemy flotilla.  The Brevic radiant stream
lasers from
Aspis
and
Kite
had similar effect, sweeping ships
from space.  The alpha strike from the Brevic-Hollaran fleet melted spots in
the wall of cutters as forty-eight ceased to exist in an instant.

On
Kite
,
Heskan watched as the face of the alien wave rippled like the surface of an
angry ocean.  The out-going fire was withering and he knew it would only
intensify as the aliens stepped within 5
ls
.  Still, even as layers of cutters
were peeled from the mass, Heskan understood it would not be enough.  The surge
of alien ships looked certain to swarm over his squadron despite the crushing
defensive fire.

“Gonna
take a few hits, Capt’n,” Brown agreed.

The
crescendo of fire climaxed as the alien mob reached 5
ls
.  Silicon brains
processed targeting data and provided firing solutions to spacemen sitting in
the turrets of
Kite’s
AMS lasers bearing toward the enemy.  Each
spaceman assisted the targeting computer and provided the final authority for
the quad lasers to release their charged particles at a cutter.  More often
than not, a corresponding cutter’s hull would open to space in a gush of debris
and fire.

Inside
the AMS-34 turret, PO2 Pruette labored hard to acquire target lock on the next
cutter before stabbing the command-accept-execute button on his controls.  The
battle was a turkey shoot. 
These have to be drones
, he thought. 
Nothing
living would come in straight and dumb without any concern to the slaughter
. 
A cutter died to his fire and he immediately picked another from the endless
stream.

The
targets were so numerous that Ensign Fong, the LAZ subsection commander, had
fallen far behind as the AMS weapons director and Pruette had just ordered his
spacemen to fire at any cutter in range.  Although the command resulted in
overkill on some targets, it was still more efficient than wasting precious
seconds waiting to be assigned a new quarry.

Pruette
had been firing nearly non-stop for a minute and had lost count of the number
of kills his batteries had tallied.  In between shots, he nervously glanced at
the status display of his AMS.  Although designed for rapid fire, Pruette had
never heard of an instance where AMS banks fired continuously for such a
lengthy duration. 
We usually have ten seconds or more waiting for the next
missile wave.
  Incredibly, the temperature sensors mounted around his pulse
laser still displayed green numbers.  Pruette’s blood ran cold as his thoughts
drifted to the gunners controlling the radiant stream batteries.

Another burst
stuttered out from his turret’s lenses, another cutter sliced to pieces.  In
its wake, three more took its place.  No sooner than his target reticule
hovered over another cutter, he fired again and sent another ship tumbling
briefly before it broke apart.  A dozen more raced past the wreckage. 
There’s
too many
, he thought in horror.

*  *  *

 “RSLs
are overheating,” Spencer warned.

“Keep
them going, WEPS,” Vernay quickly ordered.  “Burn them out if you have to.”  The
cutters were dying in droves to the combined laser fire but the slaughter went
unnoticed by their companions.  As the closest cutters reached 1
ls
, a
slight wobble was all that signaled the procedural shift in their attack.

Kite’s
shield was the last line of
defense.  Designed to absorb and deflect energy from laser fire and the waves from
gravitational warhead blasts, the shield walls flared in multiple spots across
Kite’s
starboard side as they futilely resisted the kinetic energy of two alien cutters. 
Before Lieutenant Truesworth was even able to perceive that
Kite’s
shields had suffered twin spot failures, alarms were sounding on Chief Brown’s
damage control board.  In unison, Truesworth and Brown called out in alarm, “Shields
down, Captain!”

“Two
hull penetrations, Capt’n,” Brown added.  “One aft, one center.”

Heskan’s
eyes frantically searched his ship’s status display on his console. 
Kite
had definitely been hit. 
The fact we’re still one ship instead of several
pieces tells me that those cutters weren’t carrying explosives.  Nevertheless,
how is there not catastrophic damage to Kite? 
Heskan judged by the status
display that the aft hit had been close to RSL-8 and the amidship hit was just
forward of RSL-4.  Looking up, the tactical plot revealed the largest part of
the alien wave had smashed against the formation.  Although there was still a
significant number of alien cutters in a continuous rush toward the fleet, the remaining
swarm was spread out over an additional 60
ls
and not nearly as dense as
the initial front.  Heskan noted that defensive fire had slackened considerably
although each of the Terran ships was still in the fight.  He began to believe
they would endure the attack. 
Are the ramming ships really this
ineffective?
 
How can this be possible?

“Capt’n,”
Brown reported, “somethin’s weird.  One second.”

Heskan
waited as he watched the tactical plot erase the latest majority of the alien cutters
bent on completing their suicide runs.  Over the last several seconds, two
dozen additional cutters had made suicide runs against
Kite
though none
had hit.  The main optical had become useless as the ships were too close to
Kite
for the view to show more than a few dozen of the tiny craft.  The other
optical, focused on the Hollaran destroyers, revealed both ships had many large
rents in their hulls.  Curiously, neither was burning nor trailing wreckage
like Heskan would have anticipated. 
These impacts don’t seem as brutal as they
should be.  Are the cutters too light to cause serious damage beyond the
initial penetration?
  Heskan squinted at the Hollaran destroyers. 
I
swear it looks like the cutters are stuck into their hulls.
  Heskan knew
that was impossible.  Any collision between objects at the speeds they were
travelling resulted in total destruction.  It was unfathomable that a cutter-sized
craft could withstand such an impact.

Spencer’s
voice stole Heskan’s attention from the optical.  “Most of our RSLs have
overheated.  We’re falling behind again, Captain.  They just weren’t meant to
be used like this.”

“Kite
is slowing, sir.”  Selvaggio’s concerned voice followed immediately after
Spencer.

The
tactical plot confirmed both officers’ statements.  Although CortRon 15 had
carved some breathing room into the stream of alien ships, the umbrella of
protection was collapsing as fewer intercepts at the 10
ls
mark meant a
greater number of cutters flooding into the 5
ls
AMS barrier.  The vector
line on
Kite
was likewise shortening.  Heskan checked the rest of
CortRon 15. 
Now that I look at it, Eagle and Aspis are slowing too. 
Curator and Bolt are drifting out of formation because they’ve been able to
maintain point two-C.

Heskan
jerked to his left to face the bridge’s engineering officer.  “Rory, why are we
slowing?”

As
he waited for an answer, Heskan watched the gap between his ships and the
destruction line of the enemy shrinking. 
Eagle
and
Aspis
were slowing
dramatically now. 
We still have another thirty seconds or so to endure…
we’re not going to keep them off us.

“It’s
not us, sir!” Ensign Hamilton answered Heskan wildly.  “Our propulsion is
undamaged and both power plants are operating at one hundred percent.”  Heskan
frowned at the non-answer.

“Captain,
the squadron will lose its ability to support each other if we keep spreading
out like this,” Vernay warned.

Heskan
heard himself snap back, “I know, Stacy.” 
What does she want me to do?  We
can’t rotate to accelerate if we want to keep our broadside to the aliens. 
Even if we had lost our drives, we shouldn’t be losing momentum.  How is this
happening?

Heskan
growled, “Diane, use starboard thrusters and any other trick you have to increase
our speed but don’t change our facing.  We can’t lose our firing arcs.”

“Understood,
Captain.”

Vernay
turned to Brown.  “Where’s my damage report, Chief?”

Brown
gestured helplessly and said, “Comin’, but somethin’ isn’t right.  I haven’t
got one report from the damage control teams near the collisions.”

Heskan
returned his attention to the tactical plot.  The last of the alien wave was
breaking through.  Despite the end of the deluge being in sight, it was
apparent that more strikes from the suicidal ships were imminent. 
We won’t
last long once it starts.  As soon as we lose a ship and its lasers, the rest
of us will fall.

Heskan
unconsciously clenched the arms of his chair as he watched the surge of cutters
break through the hailstorm of AMS fire.  Closer to the aliens, given their
greater speed reductions,
Eagle
and
Aspis
began to shudder as
each took several more impacts.

Laser
fire from behind
Kite
began to pick off the tendrils of death reaching
toward Heskan’s fleet.  Despite the impossibility, Heskan thought he felt the
vibrations in his chest as Lombardi’s fleet thundered over
Kite
at less
than 1
ls
.  The five-ship squadron crashed through the alien flotilla,
unleashing a torrent of destruction. 
Kite’s
wall screen flared bright
enough to briefly white out before dimming to reveal the carnage inflicted
during the Hollaran pass.  The formation had torn through the cutters to create
a noticeable path through the core of the alien horde.  The gaping wound in the
alien flotilla led directly to two shattered destroyers, drifting laterally. 
The wide field of devastation Lombardi’s squadron had wrought brought a slight
smile to Heskan’s face.  Once past the throng of cutters, Heskan watched
Lombardi’s formation gracefully spin to face the aliens and begin their fight
against momentum to join Heskan’s ships.  The wrecked destroyers did not make the
turn with her fleet.

Even
though the heart had been ripped from the swarm, the remainder of the alien cutters
continued mercilessly on, despite the apparent futility of their actions. 
Heskan heard Spencer coax his gunners onward as
Kite
cleared the space
around her.

“Damn,”
Truesworth cursed.  “ELTI from Aspis.”

Heskan’s
heart sank as he saw confirmation on the tactical plot.  Although not on fire,
Aspis
was a pock-marked, drifting hulk.  Farther away from
Kite
and still sailing
at .2
c
, both
Curator
and
Bolt
had emerged unscathed.  Trailing
Kite
,
Eagle
was under .1
c
and slowing.  The carrier looked
severely battered even as
Kite’s
functioning batteries snuffed out more cutters
attempting to rain over her.

Heskan’s
console beeped at him and he stared briefly at the unusual comm request in
confusion before responding.  “What is it, Lieutenant Garcia?”

The
voice of
Kite’s
marine contingent commander conveyed grave urgency. 
“Sir, we’ve been boarded!  I’m sending A-Squad to the center strike and B- and
C-Squads aft but we were spread out in our battle stations instead of
concentrated so it’s taking time to assemble.”

“Say
again?” Heskan asked.  “Garcia, are you sure?”

Garcia’s
voice came over the comm speaker.  “Sergeant Holloway, get down to Deck Four and
get Jones’ ass in gear.  Yes, Captain.  Kite has been boarded.  I don’t know
how but PFC Cloud confirmed it right before he went silent.”

Heskan
reeled at the news. 
The aliens boarded us?  How?  Is there even an alert
for this situation?  “
Lieutenant, repel boarders and keep me informed once
you’ve made contact.”

“Aye-aye,
sir,” Garcia acknowledged and closed the channel.

Heskan
looked toward Chief Brown.  “Chief, did you hear that?”

Brown
nodded.  “Yeah, Capt’n.  I’m missin’ damage controlmen in a lot of places.”

Thinking
back to
Anelace
, Vernay asked, “Chief, can you gear up your Operations folks
to supplement the marines?”

Brown
shook his head.  “Ops was as shorthanded as everyone else; I stayed focused on
our primary duty.  We had marines on board an’ I wasn’t expectin’ to have to
use my guys that way.”

“Can
they help out, Chief?”  Heskan asked.

“Doubt
it, sir.  I had twenty-five personnel before this battle.  I’m missin’ a third
of ‘em now.  I rushed my guys to the spots we got hit.”  Brown’s voice became
low but was still full of brutal honesty.  “I think I ran ‘em right into an
ambush.”

Heskan
stabbed the 1-MC button.  “Attention, Kite.  We have intruders on board the ship. 
Our marines are responding.  We are at ThreatCon Delta.”

Threat
Condition Delta was the highest alert status for internal security within a
Brevic naval vessel.  Although the last real ThreatCon Delta alert had occurred
over thirty years ago, Brevic regulations required performance of a Delta
exercise on every ship at least once a year.  Typically it was implemented
while docked, as conventional thinking suggested this was the only time
intruders would be able to gain access to a ship.  Portals across the ship had
been secured when
Kite
had gone to battle stations but now those portals
were locked and the crew was alerted to be on the lookout for intruders and
report them immediately.  Heskan doubted that a crewmember would miss an alien
walking around
Kite
even if the ship were not at Delta, but the locked
doors would serve to restrict the movement of the intruders.

The
last of the alien cutters had met fiery deaths while Heskan talked with his
marine lieutenant.  The tactical display was clear except for the surviving five
Hollaran and four Brevic ships with their fighters.  The mixed formation was
spread over a span of 5
ls
but most of the ships were attempting to
gather near
Eagle
.  The carrier was in dire straits.  She had obviously
suffered over a dozen impacts and had begun to spurt flame from her lower launch
deck.  From Heskan’s perspective, the huge ship was not only drifting but her
roll angle gave the appearance of a heavy list to port.