Battleship Destroyer (70 page)

A few minutes later the tenth
salvo from the enemy finally found the range and streaked through the fleet this time. Luckily missing every ship. "The enemy wall formation makes sense now Mr. Turner. It allows them to fire at longer ranges against an opponent's wall formation. Massive fire power makes up for the lack of accuracy at long range. Kind of sounds like the musket battles of 18th Century old Earth." The Captain got a horrified look on her face. "Navigator spread out the formation to 10 miles between ships. The last thing we need right now is a tight formation."  The ships immediately started spreading out. Putting distance between the ships as another massive barrage streaked through the fleet.

"No Captain. We need to stay tight until we launch the decoys." Jack turned around to face the Captain.  A compact mass of decoys and boats is twice as effective
as being spread out all to hell.

"Captain." The Ensign turned from the science and
intelligence console. "Each enemy ship of the picket fleet has at least 4 guns and most 6, with a few having 8 guns. At this range and aspect, it is hard to tell how many decks they have for shields but we are not facing a fleet of scouts. They are using mostly heavies for the blockade picket fleet. It could be why they did not feel the need to combine the two main fleets before this. We are definitely out gunned and out armored." Another salvo of beams streaked past the ship's bridge but looked thinner as the ships continued to spread out.

"Navigator hold position at 2
miles separation.

"In other words we would not have done well at all charging straight in on them." The Captain smiled shaking her head. "But I do wish we did not have to worry about burning out our barrels. I would return their fire just
for morale purposes, to see what happened and hopped we got lucky."

"Actually sir." Jack spoke up. "I think that is why they are shooting at us from such a long distance
trying to get us to shoot at them. They would use the energy from our own guns to target in on us. Pinpointing each ship exactly so they can hit us at this range with a concentrated barrage that has a good chance to hit."

"What are you talking about Mr. Turner?"

"In the records of the few loosing battles for the outer systems we have gotten. They only hit ships at long range that shot at them. Returned their fire. They hit the rest, the transports only when they finally got close enough with their superior acceleration to within light seconds before they stopped missing and then it still took half a hundred rounds to hit them as long as they did not fire back. Every time one of our ships fired at them it only took a couple of salvoes at most to hit and kill it." That is their biggest weakness sir. A weakness we can use to win if we have the right ships and tactics."

"Good then we should run right in and attack at the same time as the transport fleet attacks from the clouds." The Captain sparkled in her eyes and face.

"No sir. We do not have the right ships or weapons. That is not the right tactic here in this situation. If the transport fleet does not deliver we would be slaughtered. Even if they do deliver as promised, we could still suffer way too many casualties from friendly fire." Jack swallowed. "No sir. By swinging around behind the enemy fleet and then down into the canyon while we slow our race along the cloud, we stand the best chance of getting the fleet safely out of this trap without a loss no matter what happens. Even if the enemy fleet is not completely destroyed by the transport fleet trap we will be down inside the canyon or chasm or trench or whatever you want to call it and out of sight of the enemy. With any luck they will think we disappeared into and was destroyed by the Cloud at high speed and not even chase us. By the time we have to pull out of the trench we will be fare out of their detection range even if they are looking for us." Taking a breath Jack frowned and glanced around at the Captain’s big smile. "Oh, you were being facetious. Sorry sir. I am not used to Captains joking."

"You should try it sometime Mr. Turner. It can help break the tension on the bridge." 
The Captain studied Jack for several minutes then turned to the weapons officer. "Prepare to launch torpedoes at designated targets under Wolf Pack swarm 5 command programing, on the Tactical Officer's command."

Jack turned around studying his screens.

"Comm, have we gotten a synchronization beep from the Transport Fleet yet?"

"No sir. Nothing, but it could have bee
n lost in the back ground and enemy fleet interference or simply not sent to maintain comm silence."

"Very well.
I was not expecting one." The Captain sat back and watched her screens for a good minute then got up and walked to the front of the bridge and looked closely at the forward screen for several more minutes.

Walking back to the tactical console.  "
Weapons, prepare to fire torpedoes."

"Count
down 10, 9."

The
Captain reached her chair glancing down at her screens. "7, 6."

Then looked over
everyone's head at the ship’s main screens again at the distant specks of the enemy fleet in their miniature wall. 4, 3".

Tak
ing short stilted breaths between each number the Tactical officer was trying to be precise.  "2, Shoot. Shoot. ShooT."

Four
hundred and twenty torpedoes leaped from the fleet launchers. And disappeared in the dark vastness of interstellar space.  With the tubes so close to the bow, the bridge shook with the "Harrumph", of the mass launch.

Jack sat back
and started watching the tracks. As another salvo of the enemies big gun streaks lit the bridge way to close for comfort.

"
Comm, Fleet, Launch the Shuttle boats."

Jack heard the Captain.
Turning around in surprise it took half a second for Jack to remember that he was the one that had asked for them to be added to the decoy swarm to make it look like a fleet. A bit sad since he had helped drag them out of storage and pre-trip them for the ship to use and now several where leaving on one way trips. Just like the original boats. "Thank Godstar they were going out empty this time." He said to himself.

"Decoys being launched Captain." Came the countermeasure's officer's voice.
"

"Weapons, prepare to launch long range Missiles on a delayed attack profile." The Captain noticed Jack turning around to stare at him. "Now Mr. Turner. A missile's penetrating warhead traveling at close to the speed of light can do a lot of damage to even a ship. What is our closing velocity Mr. Turner?"

"Ah yes sir. Close to .01 the speed of light." Jack turned red as he swallowed looking around for someplace to hide.

"Don't feel so
embarrassed Mr. Turner. It is nice to know you can still learn something from us old Asteroid heads."

"Captain!" The Executive
officer turned to look at the Captain worried. "Captain's Gig and 2 whale boats launched sir."

"Very well Exec
. Tell the First Officer Good job and to get his butt back up here."

"S
orry Sir. But I can't." The Executive Officer continued to look at the Captain. "The First Officer is aboard the Captain's Gig sir."

"
What? Get me the Captain's Gig immediately Comm."

The First Officer only took a few seconds to appear on the main screen. "Damn it
Commander Gagnon! What the hell are you doing?" The Captain was a bit upset.

"We have some 100
+ boats loaded with missiles and torpedoes headed for the enemy and they need someone to command them into an effective attack if you want the enemy to believe these really are ships for any length of time. Someone told me that if we don't shoot our guns at them they will pretty much ignore us and I have months' worth of supplies on board this gig fit for a Captain and I need a vacation any way. Someone can pick me up later."

A crewman walked onto the bridge
of the Gig behind the First Officer Startling him. "What the hell are you doing on here Chief?"

"You needed at least a skeleton crew to reload the missiles and torpedoes I had thrown into the cargo bay
with the coils before we launched."

A couple of ratings walked onto the boat's bridge taking up the important control stations.

"Torpedo Tubes reloaded Captain." The Weapons Officer announced.

The Captain Shook her head grim faced.
"Launch Torpedoes'. Switch all comm traffic to the boats, energize the added Grave Coils, wave emitters and heat radiators Number One. You have the Countermeasures traffic." Turning to the Comm. “All ships, go silent. Shut down all emitters and start silent stealth running." Then back at the First Officer. "Good luck Commander Gagnon and one last point. You make it back, you have Command of the Parsley." Saluting her first Officer she cut the connection. She had been planning on giving him the ship when they got to The Rock. He deserved to know that before he died. She was planning on taking one of the new Battleships for her flag ship but now she needed to find a new Captain for the Parsley. "Damn you Gagnon." She needed people like him for Command, not throwing their lives away even though someone had to do it. She should have seen it coming and arranged for someone else to do it.

The Comm Officer turned back around. "Captain, secure
micro burst laser com reports are coming in that most of the boats launched have at least skeleton crews on them with added pallets of torpedoes, missiles, reaction mass tanks and food sir." The Comm officer turned white as she listened with her hand to her ear. "Most of the ships are reporting that they launched every boat capable of launching weapons they had sir. All six of them on some with at least one manned to control them though most are manned sir. I count a hundred and forty boats sir."

The Captain closed her
eyes. "May God be with them all." Taking a deep breath. "Mr. Turner, you are now my temporary First Officer." Looking at him narrowed eyed. "Don't worry, no way in hell are you ever going to be a Captain, but I need a First Officer and you are it until after the battle and I can rotate crew positions. You may start your deceleration turn."

"Captain!" Jack could not believe what just happened.
Nor what the Captain had just said. Though in his terror he had missed part of it. Turning to look at the Executive Officer. "Make him First Officer. He is a Commander Sir." Jack blurted out.

"Mr. Turner, the Executive Officer is in charge of the ships paper pushers, supply
, personnel and general maintenance, they make sure the ship and her crew has everything they need and to fight. The First Office runs the ship and trains the crew to fight, so the Captain can fight the ship.  Executive Officers are not Flag Officers and do not have the training to fight a ship as you already know." Looking at Jack's terrified face. "Don't get comfortable Lieutenant. As soon as this battle is over and we have time, I will shuffle the officers around and replace you even though the pilot is usually the replacement for the position."

Taking a deep breath Jack brought the ship around but suddenly remembered what the boats were in for.
"My God Captain, even if they shut off the decoy emitters. Once they start firing those torpedoes at close range the enemy will see and classify them as enemy and take them out. And if they survive that, the gas particles that close to the cloud at the velocity they are at alone will destroy them not to mention they will be in the middle of the kill zone of the ambush trap."

"Yes Mr. Turner. Commander
Gagnon realizes that though I don't think most of the crews manning the boats knew. See what happens when you make snap decisions with incomplete orders. The crews do what they think is best even if it kills them sometimes. Though now that I have had time to think about it, in this case they do now best. Empty boats where not likely to fool anyone. Now turn back around in your seat and do your job and get this fleet on your plotted course before we get close enough for the enemy to see what we are doing. And turn off your mass squirt gun from our tails. It is too damn easy to see."

Jack turned the fleet
some 90 degrees to start decelerating and slowing their orbit around the cloud without slowing their plunge into the cloud as they headed around the enemy fleet. They pulled away at 350 Gee's from the swarm of boats as well as the enemy fleet below them still massed for an attack from the decoys plunging down on them. The enemy tracking and firing their big guns in mass at the swarm of radiating boats in small groups positioned to look like the ships they were launched from even on the Ensign's screens.

"Mr. Turner, put the fleet
into tandem line formation pointed away from the enemy fleet please. If all they can see is one or two ships it will make it harder for them to detect us."

Jack
tapped several icons on his control board. Still stunned as the fleet of armed transport boats continued dropping toward the enemy fleet as they orbited around the Nebula cloud. The fleet of small boats sending out long streams of reaction mass as they slowed down to intercept the enemy fleet. Reaction mass streams that would have paled next to the Battle transports old reaction mass streams but now looked massive with nothing to compare them too.

After some 12
minutes the ships had formed up into the line and they were passing the enemy fleet as the enemy fleet continued to fire at the approaching fleet of decoy boats a good 3 minutes above them, the Ensign spoke up. "Detecting a cloud approaching the enemy fleet from down track around the cloud. Or should I say a small cloud has appeared in front of the enemy fleet orbiting around the nebula cloud. It is reflecting the energy from the enemy’s guns each time they fire at our boats. It shows signs of being made up of billions of small gravel sized rocks.  Impact with the enemy fleet in 3 minutes. The enemy fleet still has time to dodge the cloud if they see it in time. Sir."