Beyond the Shroud of the Universe (31 page)

“Five minutes to the firing point,” Lieutenant Commander Sarah ‘Lights’ Brighton said.

“Formation still holding pretty well for all of these newbies,” her pilot, Lieutenant Carl ‘Guns’ Simpson, replied. “Some of the Wildcats are all over the place, but most of the Blasters and Pukin’ Dogs are where they’re supposed to be. Our folks are all in position.”

Lights switched her display to show the formation. Like the
Vella Gulf
, each of the new ships was based on an Eldive model and had its own squadron of space fighters attached. Lights didn’t know if it was the most efficient use of space onboard the capital ships, but it gave them a certain flexibility lacking in the other races’ ships. The Eldive hadn’t cared about efficiency. Avian in nature, they put fighters on all of their ships for one simple reason; they liked to fly.

The Terrans had improved on the concept by adding electronic countermeasures to the fighters. Each of the new fighters carried a reflector and a jammer on one of its weapons stations, making the formation appear to be a larger warship…but only when they were in the proper formation. With three squadrons of the new fighters (the
Hood
had launched her fighters before she was destroyed), they appeared to be a cruiser, or would if the SF-4 Wildcat pilots would stay in formation.

“
Wildcat 03, Wildcat 08 and Wildcat 10, tighten it up and get into formation!
” she commed. If the
Gulf’s
fighters had the same gear, the four squadrons could have spoofed the enemy’s systems into thinking they were a battlecruiser; more fighters translated into bigger ships. She didn’t bemoan the new fighters’ absence onboard the
Gulf
; her squadron had a better surprise.

“
Targeting in the air!
” she commed as she passed the targeting solution to the other fighters. Because the other crews were all relatively ‘green,’ all the fighters would use her data. That would also let them launch all their missiles at the same time, a trick the Mrowry had taught the
Vella Gulf’s
WSOs. All the other crews had to do was push the ‘Accept’ button, and they’d be set. “
Don’t forget to push the Accept button, located on the lower right panel.
” She didn’t care if they thought her a mother hen for reminding them; it beat not getting the missiles off on time.

“
ECM off!
” she commed 10 seconds prior to launch. Time for ‘the big reveal.’ She looked to her right and watched as the reflector was ejected downward from the Blue Blaster fighter there. At least one got it right, she thought.

Three seconds prior. “
Stand by!
”

“
All fighters launch!
” she heard the OSO on the
Thermopylae
comm. “
Fire!
” she ordered, pushing the ‘Launch’ button. 60 missiles launched from the
Gulf’s
12 fighters; another 140 from the 36 fighters from the
Therm’s
air wing. After three long seconds, the remaining four missiles launched from
Wildcat 08.

“
All missiles launched,
” she commed, shaking her head. Had she ever been that green?

Guns turned the fighter toward their holding point, and Lights smiled as she watched the missiles race to intercept the Jotunn vessel on her display. This time, you bastards, the joke’s on you.

“The repair teams are reporting minor damage in several compartments, but nothing that can’t be fixed.”

“This shouldn’t be too hard, then,” the Freyr said. “Those were the missiles from their super dreadnought and remaining battleship. All they have to add to that are their two cruisers, which shouldn’t complicate our defenses too much.”

“Freyr,” the sensor officer said, “their second cruiser is not a cruiser. It was a deception; the contact is really a mass of fighters. They are launching…almost 200 are missiles inbound from that line of bearing. Initial analysis indicates they are all targeted on the
Naglfar.
”

The Freyr glanced down at the plot. “The Odin must be protected. Inform the
Sirocco
that it is to move between the missiles and the
Naglfar
to provide anti-missile defense.”

The Freyr turned to the Odin. “With that many missiles, some are going to get through to the
Sirocco
, but that has to be all the missiles the fighters have. Even if we lose the
Sirocco
, we have more than enough ships left to destroy the Terrans.”

“Those morons on the
Vella Gulf
launched five seconds before everyone else,” the OSO said, as the ship rocked from the second wave of Jotunn missiles. “There’s only nine of them to start with, and now they’re all going to be wasted. Morons.”

“Shields down,” the DSO said. “Any additional missiles that get through the defenses will reach the ship.”

“Then let’s try to be perfect from now on,” Captain Nakamura said.

“Sir!” the sensor operator cried. “The Jotunn are launching again. Their battleships and battlecruisers launched this time too! Almost 250 missiles inbound!”

“All right, DSO,” Captain Nakamura said, “here’s where you earn your pay.”

“Oh, fuck,” the DSO muttered under his breath. His screen was so crowded he couldn’t see the individual missiles. Response time was growing shorter too. “Yes sir…AMMs firing.” He pushed the release button, and the first 35 defensive missiles went down range.

“One of the battleships is moving to intercept the missiles from the fighters,” the OSO said. “Designating the contact as ‘Sierra Two.’”

“Understood,” Captain Nakamura said. “Continue targeting their dreadnought; put in waypoints so the missiles fly around the battleship if you have to. We have to take the dreadnought out ASAP!”

“Yes sir,” the OSO said. “Continue firing at the dreadnought. Next salvo firing
now!
”

“Second salvo of AMMs launching,” the DSO said, three seconds later. He hated having to wait, but had to give the offensive missiles some separation so the AMMs didn’t get distracted and try to target them instead. They were small enough that it was unlikely, but the weirdest things happened in combat. “First salvo effective,” he added; “31 missiles destroyed.” Out of 247, he said silently. Fuck. We’re doomed. Sweat dripped onto the console. “Third round launching.”

“Shields down on Sierra Two,” the OSO said. “Multiple hits on her. She’s venting atmosphere in a number of places and is dropping out of the line of battle.”

“Sir!” the sensor operator called. “Some of the fighter missiles missed the battleship and are continuing toward the dreadnought! No, they didn’t miss, sir; they’re jumping in and out of our universe like the enemy ones!”

“I’m seeing the same thing with the ship-launched missiles from the
Vella Gulf
,” the OSO added. “They’re jumping out of our universe when the enemy AMMs target them!”

“Lasers firing,” the DSO said, still looking at over 150 missiles on his screen. “
All hands brace for shock!
” The lasers weren’t going to get them all; there was no way they could. They wouldn’t even destroy enough of them to matter. Dammit, this was going to hurt.

“The
Thermopylae
has been destroyed,” the DSO said.

“Destroyed?” Captain Sheppard asked. “How do you destroy something that’s three miles long?”

“With about 100 missiles,” the DSO replied, “especially if each of them has a 50 megaton warhead.”

“Understood,” the CO said. “Contact the
Yamato
and—”

“Woohoo!” the OSO yelled, looking up from his display. “Sir, we got them! Most of the new missiles worked! The fighters got at least 43 hits on the dreadnought, and at least 6 of our missiles hit too.”

“Good,” the CO said. “Damage to the dreadnought?”

“Major damage, sir,” the OSO replied. “At least two of our missiles hit the stern; the dreadnought is down to one engine, and the rest of them won’t be coming back! We took down the dreadnought’s shields with our missiles, and the rest of the fleet’s missiles struck home. It looks like the
Therm’s
missiles must have had at least 20 pounds of antimatter in them; the bites they took out of the Jotunn ship are
immense!
”

“Freyr, the shields are down and only one engine is operational,” the damage control officer said. “Most of the compartments in the stern are wrecked. If we try to accelerate too quickly, we may very well overstress the frame and snap the ship in half. I don’t know what was in those missiles, but the ship is no longer operational. Power is out across most of the ship, and we no longer have missile launch capability.”

“Odin, I am receiving a call from the Aesir battle station,” the communications officer said. “The Thor wants to know if we surrender.”

“Tell him to go to hell,” the Odin said. He turned to the Freyr. “Do we have the ability to steer the ship?”

“Yes, Odin. It is limited, but we could still escape.”

“Escape? Escape is for the weak. The prophecies said we would die in this battle, and die we shall, if it will help us take back our homeland. I had hoped to avoid this outcome, but it is impossible to avoid your destiny. Steer toward the battle station and give the ship as much power as it can handle. If I have to die to fulfill the prophecies, then by the gods, so does their Thor.”

“Sir, we have a call from the
Yamato
.”

“On screen.”

The image of an Indian man appeared on the screen. “Captain Sheppard, I am Captain Patel; I do not believe we have met. I am senior and am taking over command of the fleet, or what is left. If you have the ability to jump universes, use it. Do whatever you can to cover our retreat. There is nothing further to be gained here. Patel out.” The screen went blank as the transmission ended.

“Sir, the
Yamoto
is flipping over to decelerate,” the helmsman said. “Do you want me to match them?”

“No,” Captain Sheppard said. “There is still the Jotunn battleship and all of the battlecruisers. I think we’ll stay a bit longer to ensure the
Yamato
gets away. Shift fire to the other Jotunn battleship and
fire
.”

“Firing at the undamaged Jotunn battleship, designated as Sierra Three,” the OSO said.

“The Jotunn dreadnought is turning toward the battle station,” Steropes said. “I believe they intend to ram.”

“Is there anything we can do to stop it?” the CO asked.

“No sir,” Steropes replied. “Even if we shot out their last motor, their momentum would still take them into the battle station.”

“Then let’s concentrate on what we can do. Keep firing at the other battleship. Helm, be prepared to jump to the other universe when they shoot at us. While we’re in the other universe, make a course change so we don’t come out where they expect.”

“Aye aye, sir.”

“OSO,” the CO continued, “Work over the battleship until we knock down its shields, then hit it a few more times. After it’s bloody, pick a battlecruiser and start on it. We don’t have enough missiles to kill all of them, but if we make it painful enough for them to stay, maybe they’ll leave.”

“Aye aye, sir,” the OSO replied. “What about the other enemy?”

“Hopefully, when the Jotunn leave, they’ll take the others with them. Besides, we’d just be wasting missiles shooting at them that would be better spent on the Jotunn ships we know we can hit. How many more missiles do we have that can jump?”

“Only 18 sir.”

“Four per ship, then; do what you can.”

“Captain Sheppard, the
Yamato
is under attack by the Jotunn’s ally,” Steropes said.

“Say a prayer for them then,” the CO said; “it’s all we can do right now. They ran for it; hopefully, they’ll make it out. We’re too far away to help them. They’re on their own.”