TFS Navajo: The Terran Fleet Command Saga – Book 3 (30 page)

Patience,
he counseled himself.
No rash decisions … no mistakes.

“Sir, we’ve got a problem,” the commander said, calling his attention back to the holo table. “
Shoshone
and
Chickasaw
transitioned to their next initial point, but
Shawnee
and
Koori
did not. They are maneuvering in an attempt to avoid the incoming rounds, but —”

“Time to impact?” Patterson interrupted.

“Six seconds … missile launch, sir!” the tactical officer reported tensely as the holographic table automatically zoomed in on a series of strobing red ovals moving rapidly away from the two largest enemy battleships. “I’ve got multiple missiles in flight — launched from both of the
Baldevs
.”

“Damn,” Patterson said under his breath, fearing that he already knew the reason his two cruisers had failed to transition.

Chapter 20

TFS Theseus

(2.5x10
6
km from Earth)

“Something’s wrong,” Commander Reynolds said in a low voice that only her captain could hear. “Two of our cruisers didn’t transition.”

Since returning from their rendezvous with the
Gresav
, Prescott had been working with the other captains in his small reserve force to strategically position their ships. Although they represented only a small fraction of TFC’s available firepower in the immediate area, he knew that their presence could become critically important, depending on how the battle progressed.

“Are
Shawnee
and
Koori
still firing their main guns?” Prescott asked, glancing up at the tactical plot. “It could be that their captains saw an opportunity to get in another salvo or two before moving to the next IP … particularly since the two
Baldevs
haven’t opened fire yet.”

“No, sir, they are not. And if they don’t get out of the way within about ten seconds, they’re going to get clobbered by incoming rounds from the two remaining
Rusalovs
.”

“Sir, the signature is pretty faint from here, but I think the
Zhelov
and
Serapion
are using the same gravitic beam weapon that the
Baldev
did at Location Dagger,” Lieutenant Commander Schmidt reported gravely from Tactical 1.

“Missile launch!” Lieutenant Lau announced from Tactical 2. “
Zhelov
and
Serapion
are launching missiles, sir. Our cruisers are taking evasive action to avoid the incoming rounds, but —”

“But it won’t be enough,” Prescott replied. “The
Rusalovs’
shells are self-guided … there’s not enough time.”

“Multiple impacts,” Schmidt reported. “Our AI indicates five nuclear-enhanced naval artillery impacts on each cruiser, Captain.”

“Dear God,” Reynolds gasped.

From
Theseus’
current position, the port sides of each cruiser were visible, allowing her crew to witness all five of the flashes produced by the shells’ warheads. On each ship’s ventral surface — currently shaded from the light of the sun — the plumes of fire erupting from the location of each impact were as spectacular as they were terrifying.

“Time to impact on the missiles?” Prescott asked.

“They were fired too close to their targets for a direct flight path, sir,” Lau said, “but the first will still arrive in three zero seconds. Both of our cruisers have opened fire with their weapons in point defense mode, but their overall power output has dropped by about six zero percent.”

“Dubashi, send an Emergency Action Message to all Fleet vessels as follows: One. Believe two largest Resistance battleships of the
Baldev
-class equipped with gravitic beam weapon. Two. Beam prevents a single target from transitioning to hyperspace. Three. Demonstrated range of at least five hundred and fifty thousand kilometers. Got it?”

“Yes, sir, transmitting now.”

“Look sharp, everyone,” Prescott said in a tone intended to refocus his crew’s attention. “We obviously were not expecting to see the gravitic beam weapon employed by these two
Baldevs
, but the admiral has a couple of contingency plans in place for this situation. I suspect we may be called into action shortly.”

Reynolds shot him a dubious look, knowing full well that the “contingency plans” he was referring to were risky, “worst-case” options at best.

TFS Navajo, Earth-Sun Lagrange Point 2

(Combat Information Center - 1.5x10
6
km from Earth)

“Belay my previous targeting order,” Patterson said. “Designate Bravo 4 as the new primary target. Signal
Shoshone
and
Chickasaw
to fire as soon as they are in position — danger close. Remind them to also check their field of fire beyond their targets. They’ll be firing back in our general direction this time … and the Earth itself is a
very
big target. They are to hold this new position and fire continuously until ordered to do otherwise. With any luck, we’ll either take the two
Baldevs
down or at least force them to discontinue their attack. Oh, and have Captain Abrams move his two destroyer groups around to cover the flanks of the second firing location and tell him I want C-Drive-equipped missiles in flight, just in case. Either way, we may need to commit his ships to battle shortly.”

“Aye, sir,” the tactical officer replied. “There are seven six hostile missiles in flight at this time. Time to impact for the first of these is one four seconds. The inbound missiles should begin reaching the cruisers’ point defense barriers anytime. Still no energy weapons fire from the two
Baldevs
, sir.”

“They probably figure it’s unnecessary at this point. Our cruisers have already taken several major artillery hits and right now each one has thirty-eight anti-ship missiles inbound.”

“Admiral,” Ensign Fletcher called, “Captain Prescott aboard the
Theseus
confirms that the two
Baldevs
are using a gravitic beam weapon to prevent our two cruisers from transitioning.”

“Acknowledge and tell Prescott that he is to monitor the
Gunov
closely. If she makes any indication of commencing her attack on the planet, the reserve force is to pursue and destroy. Make sure Prescott understands that his ships are not to approach the primary engagement zone.”

“Aye, sir.”

“The
Rusalovs
have fired again,” the tactical officer reported, his steady stream of dire reports now taking on the cadence of a judge delivering a lengthy, monotone death sentence to Patterson’s ear. “Time to impact, one eight seconds. All four Resistance battleships have engaged their supplemental aft shields.”

“I’m not surprised,” Patterson said resignedly. “They’re worried about us launching C-Drive-equipped missile strikes, but they also think they have us on the ropes. So they’ve throttled back, raised their aft shields, and now they’re planning to sit tight and slug it out until all of our major combatants are out of the fight.”

Patterson paused, forcing his disciplined mind to ignore the frightful destruction being visited on his forces while taking in the vast quantities of information being presented on the various displays around the Combat Information Center. As he struggled to distill multiple data sources into some sort of strategy that might still offer a means of salvaging the situation, his glance paused momentarily on the holographic table. The two groups of anti-ship missiles were highlighted in an angry red as they completed their final, relentless approach to the two already heavily damaged cruisers. On the far left side of the table, he also noted the approach of the next salvo of nuclear-tipped shells fired from the
Rusalovs’
main guns. Whispers of despair were playing at the edge of his consciousness when his peripheral vision detected a flashing blue icon displayed on a nearby bulkhead-mounted view screen.

“I’m afraid we may well lose the
Shawnee
and
Koori,
Commander,” he said solemnly, “but I think Sarafi may have just made his first big mistake. Weapons hold on
Shoshone
and
Chickasaw!
”

***

To the extent that current Pelaran and Grey-enhanced technology allowed, TFC’s engineers had designed all of their combat vessels to keep their crews alive while remaining in the fight for as long as possible — even after sustaining heavy damage. At nine hundred and fifty meters in length, the
Navajo
-class cruisers’ tremendous size had provided her designers with an unprecedented opportunity to construct the ultimate expression of this design philosophy.

The ships were equipped with a large hangar bay, as well as the cavernous internal spaces required to embark a Marine Expeditionary Unit of approximately twenty-three hundred troops along with all of their accompanying equipment. Still, the ships’ size had been dictated primarily by their massive main guns, resulting in the unusual situation of the engineers having met all of the various mission requirements while still having internal space to spare. Rather than “waste” that unused space on such luxuries as more spacious accommodations for the relatively small crew, the designers had instead opted to roughly double the thickness of the ships’ outer armor. Design decisions such as these, while seemingly minor at the time they were made, could sometimes produce unexpected, far-reaching results — occasionally even changing the course of history. Now, as the already heavily damaged cruisers shook violently from the impacts of multiple anti-ship missiles, the fate of the entire world hinged on their ability to remain in the fight for just a short while longer.

SCS Gunov

(7.1x10
6
km from Earth)

“Why have
Zhelov
and
Serapion
not opened fire with their energy weapons?” Sarafi asked impatiently. “Better yet, why are they not ignoring the first two targets altogether and shifting their fire to the undamaged enemy ships? Surely the first targets no longer represent a significant threat. If we continue this leisurely pace, however, the other two will soon be in position to resume their attack.”

“Based on the catastrophic damage cause by the Humans’ first round of artillery attacks, the two
Baldevs’
AIs automatically rerouted power from their energy weapons to their shields,” Commander Freyda replied without looking up from her Command workstation. “It assumed, incorrectly, that the targets were likely to be destroyed by the missile strike and
Rusalov
artillery impacts. With your permission, I will override this precaution. The data indicates that the Terran cruisers’ main guns have more than enough energy to penetrate our shields, even if we drive them well beyond their design limits.”

“Of course, do it!” Sarafi bellowed, sensing the outcome of the battle still teetering precariously between overwhelming victory and ruinous defeat.

Freyda took a moment to enter the necessary commands, then returned her attention to a high resolution image of one of the damaged Terran warships. With a quick gesture, she opened the same view on one side of the bridge display screen, then slowly panned the hull of the ship in an effort to better gauge the damage that had been inflicted thus far.

“Tactical, has our AI completed an interim battle damage assessment on the first two targets?” she asked.

“Yes, Commander,” the young lieutenant replied. “Both of the Human cruisers have sustained a total of nine main battery hits from the
Rusalovs
and approximately twenty hits each from the anti-ship missile strikes conducted by the
Zhelov
and
Serapion.
Power levels on both ships have dropped significantly, but, as you can see, both are still managing to sporadically return fire with their energy weapons. Our AI indicates that both ships still represent a diminished but significant threat and recommends that we continue our attacks to fully neutralize them before shifting fire to the other Terran ships.”

“I want both of those ships destroyed
immediately
,” Sarafi said in a low, menacing tone. “The
Zhelov
and
Serapion’s
field interdiction capabilities obviously caught the Humans totally unaware, but they will quickly regroup if we fail to exploit the situation. Unlike the ships we faced two days ago, these Terran cruisers clearly have no shielding whatsoever. The fact that these first two are still offering resistance is beyond ridiculous at this point. Concentrate all four battleships’ main battery and energy weapons fire and finish them
now,
then immediately move on to the other two.”

“Yes, Commodore,” several Wek officers replied at once.

Believing she might have seen movement against the otherwise static view of the Terran cruiser’s hull, Commander Freyda paused momentarily, then panned the optical sensor back in the previous direction. Pausing once again on the warship’s massive forward dorsal gun mount, she could clearly see that it was traversing ominously in the direction of the
Zhelov
.

***

During the thirty seconds following Commodore Sarafi’s order ensued some of the most violent ship-to-ship combat that had occurred on or near the Earth since the days when seventy-four-gun ships of the line would fire broadside after broadside within pistol shot range of one another. Although severely damaged, both Terran ships had maintained a steady, albeit ineffectual, fire with what remained of their starboard bank of energy weapons. The
Shawnee
had even managed to restore power to one of her four main railgun mounts and was preparing to fire on the lead Resistance battleship when the space surrounding her hull flared brilliantly with the discharge of over one hundred and fifty heavy beam emitters.