The Last Charge (The Nameless War Trilogy Book 3) (18 page)

___________________________

D for Dubious
coasted slowly along the starboard flank of the cruiser
Black Prince
, the fighter’s spotlight playing across the hull. Each time they came across significant damage, Alanna would pause the beam.

“
Black Prince
, are you getting this?” she asked.

“Confirmed
Dubious
, the laser hook up is stable.”

“Jesus, what a mess,” Schurenhofer muttered.

Alanna nodded in agreement. The starboard side had taken the worst of the onslaught, its armoured belt punctured and scored. The wing on that side was reduced to little more than the underlying lattice, covered by the frozen remains of non-critical supplies that had been stored within, all of it ending in the shattered remnants of the wingtip manoeuvring engine. The coms officer on board the cruiser must have heard Schurenhofer.

“Looks worse on the outside than it does on the inside. Armour kept most of it out.”

“Did you lose anyone?”

“Three in sickbay, two in the morgue. Looks like the starboard side belt armour will have to be replaced, but at least with an Austerity class ship that won’t be too hard.”

“Provided you get back to a ship yard,” Schurenhofer reminded him.

Whoever he was, the coms officer seemed to have regained his calm pretty quickly. Two hours earlier Alanna had been on the
bridge of
Dauntless
when the convoy started appearing on radar. Separate jumps meant they were scattered across fifty thousand kilometres, in response to which the carrier’s fighters and destroyers had rapidly set out to shepherd them back together. Not that it was entirely necessary. Like scattered ducklings, the transports were already beginning to cluster back together for protection when their escorts started to arrive.

A few minutes after completing its jump, the crew of the
Olstyn
abandoned ship as the destroyer lost power. Priority for Alanna and the rest of the fighters became external surveys of the surviving ships.

“Just as well the bastards don’t seem to be able to come after us out here,” the coms officer said as
Dubious
continued to move along the flank.

“Yep,” Alanna replied, “although they bloody try to compensate by chasing us around while we’re in-system.”

That had been a hot topic of conversation on the carrier between those who wondered why and those who were just glad of it.

“A bit of peace and quiet will do us good before it’s time for ‘once more unto the breach dear friends,’” continued the blasé coms officer.

“When it happens, we’ll be right behind you,” Alanna said as
Dubious
passed the end of the cruiser. “That’s it
Black Prince
, I’m moving on.” She hesitated for a moment before adding: “Look me up when we’re all back on Earth and we can share stories.”

“Just as long as its’ only stories. Otherwise my fiancé might object. Look after yourself,
Dubious
. This is
Black Prince
over and out.”

___________________________

Willis had overheard the conversation between her coms officer and the departing fighter and let it pass without comment. After the intensity of combat, the crew was experiencing what she always thought of as the high of survival. It would fade pretty quickly, but there wouldn’t be time for survivor’s guilt, not before they went in again.

“How bad is it, Commander?” Dandolo asked across the conference link.

On the screen, Valance looked like he’d come off second best in a bar room brawl. One eyebrow was being held together with glue stitches and he had a black eye.

“Multiple ruptures in the outer hull, so about forty percent of internal sections are no longer capable of holding pressure. Our structural integrity is not compromised though – chalk that one up as the advantage of a freighter hull. Where it gets bad is with the armament. The starboard side battery is basically cabbaged. My gunner reports we have just twelve of our original forty guns. But to be honest, the whole thing took such a jolt I have no confidence in the automatic loaders.”

“What about your port side?” Dandolo said. “And your engines?”

“Two guns down to port, but the rest definitely still work. Our engines took some damage, but I can keep pace with the transports.”

“Alright Commander, patch her up as best you can. We’ll just have to try to favour the enemy to port. Anything else, anyone?”

“Yes,” Captain Ozo replied, looking deeply unhappy. “I’ve got problems with one of our reactors. I don’t know whether it’s damage or a construction problem, but it keeps losing coolant pressure.”

“Can you fight?”

“Yes, sir, we can. Or at least we can get to the fight.”

“That will have to do. Faith, what about you?”

“The armour of my starboard belt is in bad shape and I’ve lost several point defence guns on that side. Like
Minstrel
, we’ll need to present our port side whenever we can.”

“I understand, Captain. We’ll be changing sides, so everyone gets a chance to balance their damage if nothing else.”

It was a weak joke but it got a few smiles.

“We’ve got twenty hours before we make our run in and I’m sorry to say but getting in clean is not an option. All right everyone, replenish your magazines and get some rest. Captain Willis, can I have a private word?”

Willis kept her face impassive, but internally winced.

“I expect you know what this is about – issuing orders directly to
Minstrel
.”

“Yes, sir, I’m sorry, I…”

“It was the right order to give,” Dandolo interrupted, “but skipping the chain of command like that, could have seriously bollixed everything up in the middle of a firefight. That’s something they beat into us all in training. That said, success justifies a hell of a lot.”

He paused and gave her a sympathetic smile.

“I know that on your last posting you were effectively a Commodore, just without the rank or pay, so I appreciate it’s hard to step down when you’ve been used to making the tough calls. Just know when to show initiative and when to toe the line. The other thing is I’ve had a signal from
Fortitude
. Her coms section has taken a knock and can’t be relied on from here. You have more experience than either the captains of the
Loki
or
Osiris
, so you’re next in line of command for the squadron.”

___________________________

“Commodore?”

“Hmm?”

Crowe looked up from his reading and saw Commander Bhudraja was standing in the hatch with a computer pad in his hand.

“Are you running post?” Crowe asked.

“A chance to straighten my legs sir,” Bhudraja replied as he passed the pad over. “Signal from
Warspite
. The convoy made it out.”

“Thank God for that,” Crowe muttered. “They should have sent a proper flak cruiser, not ships made up of spare parts.”

The dust thrown up by their landing had finally settled, but in doing so had completely coated the panels of the passive sensor arrays. Even keeping the communications lasers operational so they could get downloads from the orbiting satellites had meant sending out a man in a suit with the radio physically deactivated. Once they powered up, they could run a charge across the hull to repel the particles, but until then
Deimos
was basically blind.

Crowe read down the orders from
Warspite
. His frown deepened as he worked his way down.

“What does the Chief say about cold starting the reactors?” he asked, looking up.

“Since he’s been alternating them, twenty minutes,” Bhudraja replied. “He also said the reactors aren’t the biggest problem. The engine control surfaces have been in deep cold for over a month. They need thirty minutes to warm before we dare go full thrust.”

“No crash starts then?” Crowe asked.

It wasn’t really a question. The thermal shock of a crash start was more or less guaranteed to cost a ship a couple of control surfaces. But for a ship taking off, even in such low gravity, the effect on directional control could be disastrous. A ground loop by a starship would undoubtedly be interesting to watch, but only as long as it was happening to someone else!

“The Chief said you can try it, so long as he can sit in an escape pod when you do.”

“Not that we’ll have to,” Crowe tossed the pad down onto the desk. “The Admiral has decided we’re only to arrive at Earth thirty minutes
after
the convoy jumps in.”

“That’ll keep them heavily engaged for an extended period before…”

“Before any help turns up,” Crowe finished for him. “The rest of the fleet can’t move up to support them without tipping our hand and leaving the Nameless free to attack Earth on the opposite side of the planet. Those poor bastards are being thrown under a bus to get the Nameless to go deep enough into the Earth’s mass shadow to get pinned. And the odds are most of them are smart enough to know it to.”

“We’ll be in deep ourselves, sir,” Bhudraja said quietly.

“Yes I know,” Crowe sighed, “but for once I don’t think we’ve been hit with the shittiest available end of the stick.” Crowe pulled himself out of his chair. “I need to make a ship wide announcement – let the crew know that we’re ten hours from show time.”

___________________________

19th February 2068
 

There was no point bringing empty ships, not this time. The ammunition ship and the surviving transports would remain. With their fuel tanks almost full, they would have the range to reach Dryad if Earth fell. Whether that was worth anything was a matter of opinion. The four surviving tankers were formed into a box formation, with the cruisers clustered around them, the destroyers in the vanguard and
Fortitude
bringing up the rear.

On the display Willis could see three Nameless scouts holding position a light hour away, just outside Pluto’s orbit. Visible beyond them and unquestionably now somewhere else in the system, was the rest of the enemy fleet. Finally, in orbit around Earth, were the ships of the Home Fleet. With the secret of their torpedoes now revealed, dozens had been deployed at the edge of Earth’s Red Line. Finally, out of sight on Phobos, the Fast Division lay in wait.

All of us are waiting for the next move, Willis thought, all of us waiting to react. The Home Fleet couldn’t move up to the Red Line without leaving the Nameless free to approach and attack Earth from the opposite side. The aliens couldn’t hold position close to Earth because they would leave themselves open to assault by fighters or the handful of human ships out in the system. Instead both sides had to wait in what were now starting positions. She could feel it, the whole solar system was holding its breath, waiting for the next step.

“Bridge, Coms. Signal from
Saladin
: execute jump.”

Willis looked around her bridge. They’d made it this far. Humanity had needed them to, but it didn’t need them to make it much further.
I’m getting really tired of being expendable
, she thought to herself.

“Navigation, send instructions to Helm. All hands, this is the Bridge, prepare for jump... and prepare for contact.”

___________________________

For a moment the fabric of space right on the Earth Red Line suddenly rippled, then burst open as the twelve starships dropped back into real space. As they crossed the threshold, each of the four tankers went full burn as they began to accelerate towards Earth. Below, the engines of every warship flared as they began to ascend Earth’s gravity well. Fighters began to spill out from the ships and orbital forts. On the ground far below, flight crews in bulky suits ran for their planes.

The Nameless FTL jammers shut down as the scout ships began to transmit. The convoy of fuel ships, the last desperate effort of a species they were resolved to destroy, had arrived and was accelerating towards safety. The race was on.

On Phobos, undetected, eight starships prepared for lift off.

___________________________

“Bridge, Sensors. Multiple new contacts bearing one, zero, one dash three, five, three.”

“Strength?” Willis asked.

“One hundred and eighty plus.”

They had got the result, which as an officer she had hoped for, but as a person she had feared – the Nameless were determined that no fuel would reach Earth. They’d just put in the bulk of their fleet. Could those tankers survive long enough to draw the Nameless into the trap?

“Bridge, Coms. Signal from
Saladin
, execute formation change, posture three.”

“Acknowledged,” Willis replied, “Helm, roll and present our port side and move us to position three.”