Carinae Sector: 02 - Admiral's Fury - Part 3 - Fleet Action (8 page)

John Griggs excused himself, and was followed from the bridge by Leah Sakami, as they both raced to their quarters to pack for the transfer to the destroyer Adelaide. Mary focused her attention on Lieutenant Rick Gordon as he strode a few metres across to John’s command console.

‘Now lieutenant we will shortly be fighting the final battle and I understand John has been training you over the last few months. I will take the navigation controls off you and that let you fight the ship without hindrance.’

Rick looked relieved as he went through the screens as a cadet entered the bridge to take up his station at the now vacant forward console. Mary settled back to now specify which of her destroyers would first be repaired by the waiting swarm of support ships.

                                                                     ***

Dave Edmonds swallowed nervously as the smaller fleet of Jerecab frigates approached the defenders of Ceres. The colony administrator had always been one to lead from the front, and he considered dryly that this would today result in his death. The smaller fleet had over thirty frigates and these alien ships loomed large in his view screen; even if he knew they were much smaller than their own destroyers. Dave could see that the two Jerecab larger ships had been held back in the attack, defended by six of their frigates, and he made a short comment across the radio link.

‘Now the fleet is defending Earth and cannot be risked here as we all know. We are to damage these ships if at all possible.’

Dave had made sure that all their mining ships had launched after ensuring they were crewed only by volunteers. He had sent as many civilians as possible underground in to the mine shafts with whatever air supplies they possessed. He had kept his orders simple to the defending mining ships, and they would attempt to close the distance to their attackers as quickly as possible to either ram them or launch their mining drones.

The first blasts from the Jerecab frigates flared in space around the mining ships and Dave yelled the expected order across the radio link.

‘All ships to accelerate forward and attack the Jerecab. We have to stop these bastards for as long as possible.’

Dave was pressed firmly into his pilot seat as his mining craft accelerated forward on a mission it had never been designed to perform. He had command of his three mining drones slaved directly to his console, and his ship ducked and weaved as the docked drones used their powerful engines to steer the mining ship. Around him he could see that the other mining ships were following his actions.

The Jerecab frigates had now opened fire with all their beam weapons and his shields would flash white for several seconds as they took hits. Dave noted that already his ship had lost twenty percent of its shields strength, though the Jerecab frigates were now almost in range of the defender’s improvised weapons. A pair of active scans from the Jerecab rattled the defenders and Dave knew that this alien technology could prove dangerous very soon. He yelled out further instructions over his radio link while it still worked.

‘Go to the aid of no-one and keep on attacking. Expect to lose your radios and telemetry if they fire their electronic pulses again. Activate your phase two shields once your initial shields are down below twenty percent.’

Dave’s ship tumbled as he anticipated a combined burst of laser fire from three frigates just in front of him. He grimaced in grief as he noted that his wingman Simon’s ship had taken the full force of the attack. Simon’s ship exploded behind him as the mining ship’s shields gave way under the onslaught. Dave noted that his own shields had taken further hits and were now down to twenty percent. He held his breath and refused to look at the enemy ships as he switched across to his phase two shields.

The ship took no more hits for several seconds as the second phase of shields activated. A pair of large explosions off to one side told Dave that two other miners had also exploded, either as they received a full blast of laser fire, or they had been struck when the miners had been momentarily without shields.

                                                                     ***

Captain Neanres was looking with satisfaction over the one sided battle with the human craft, and he noted that several of their ships were already destroyed. He watched closely the rapidly closing defenders and was considering further orders, when one of the lieutenants called across the bridge.

‘Captain, the miners are activating a second series of shields…’

Neanres responded by yelling an urgent pair of orders.

All ships are to take evasive action and watch for ramming attempts. We will continue to attack each of the mining ships in turn.’

Neanres pulled tight on his shoulder harness as his frigate altered course and accelerated heavily.

                                                                     ***

Dave Edmonswas frantically driving his mining ship in series of twists and turns as he sought to close with the Jerecab frigates. He noted that the ships had changed course even as they continued to attack the human defenders. Dave could see that nine of the defending ship were still intact and yelled an urgent order over his radio link.

‘Launch all drones now at the Jerecab ships….’

The mining drones leapt from the sides of the mining ships and accelerated away towards the frigates. The colony administrator continued to jink his ship back and forth across space, but the loss of the drones meant that his ship was less manoeuvrable. The laser fire from the Jerecab continued to strike his ships for several further moments and Dave noted that they had lost two further ships.

                                                                     ***

Neanres watched in surprise as the human mining ships released their drones directly at his frigates. He hissed urgent further orders around the bridge and to his other ships.

‘All ships are to only target drones and larger human ships on collision vectors. All ships are to fire at the lead human ships.’

The Jerecab commander now knew that a supposedly easy attack and destroy mission was suddenly becoming more complex.

                                                                     ***

Dave Edmonds was still frantically altering the course of his mining ship when the proximity alarm went off. Moments later a mining drone from another ship had spiralled into the rear of his own ship after it had been struck down by the Jerecab.

The drone had exploded and he had blacked out for several moments as his ship had tumbled away in ruin. A series of secondary explosions had then torn his ship in half and it had spun off into deep space.

Dave came back to consciousness and realised that he still had air and emergency power in the front of his ship. Fortunately the forward generators had survived and they still showed ten percent power. He still had his view screen and he watched as the larger rear section of his ship was destroyed by the Jerecab. The colony administrator killed the alarms blaring away in front of him and zoomed out one of his three remaining cameras.

Dave was just in time to catch two of his three drones striking one of the Jerecab frigates. The enemy ship shivered for several seconds before it erupted in a silent explosion across space. He then noted that the three other frigates were at risk from mining drones, and he watched as another frigate was destroyed and four more received heavy damage.

Dave noted that he had six hours emergency power left with shields and he felt bleak as he considered his options. He watched as the remaining mining craft were quickly destroyed and the Jerecab moved away to attack the Ceres colony. He also noted that the four damaged Jerecab ships hung in space nearby as his own wrecked ship drifted way. Dave came to a decision and switched to only suit power as he cut power to the rest of the ship. His ship continued to drift way with no detectable power and he knew he was at risk of freezing to death or running out of air.

                                                                     ***

Neanres had stifled his anger and rage as he lost two ships and four more were badly damaged. He issued a curt series of orders as he also took in the wreckage of several human ships nearby.

‘All ships are to cease fire and form up for the attack on the Ceres colony. The four damaged ships will rejoin us after they are repaired.’

The undamaged frigates were soon attacking the colony with their bean weapons, and bright explosions rent the surface of the asteroid as the colony facilities were destroyed. After an hour it was all over and Neanres ignored the life signs of the human survivors now trapped deep underground.

The Jerecab captain then moved his ships across towards the Vesta colony. Neanres then transferred four of his undamaged ship forward from guarding the lifters and ensured that the four damaged ships took their places. Within three hours he had taken his ships across to Vesta and encountered a smaller group of defenders. He was more cautious this time and had then made a false attack to draw the humans forward.

Neanres was expecting the human tactics this time around and he had modified the orders of his commanders. As the humans had switched across to their second series of shields, his ships had merely kept up continuous fire. The smaller number of defenders had been destroyed even as their second lot of shields had started to activate. However he was annoyed to find that another two of his frigates had been badly damaged by the mining drones, and he berated their commanders.

‘I advised you of the human tactics and how to counter them and still your ships have been damaged. You will return to guard the two lifters and two more undamaged ships will now come forward.’

Neanres had not waited any longer, and had then attacked the Vesta colony with his forward section of ten undamaged ships. A series of bright soundless explosions soon marked the destruction of the colony. Again the Jerecab ignored the life signs of hundreds of trapped humans trapped deep underground.

The Jerecab captain reformed his small fleet and now reviewed his next moves as his ships performed emergency repairs before moving away. None of the crew present on board the frigates worried about the wreckage of the several mining craft scattered between the colonies. In one of the largest pieces of wreckage, John Edmonds clung to life by ensuring he fed energy from the remaining shield generators into the life support systems.

                                                                     ***

Admiral Baunrus had taken the news of Captain Neanres’s setback at the mining colonies very badly. He was already starting to regret his earlier decision to promote Neanres, but he was also dismayed about the lack of abilities in his other junior commanders. However he now exercised restraint as he viewed the footage of the battle with the mining ships. The admiral asked a pair of questions knowing that it would take several minutes for Neanres to respond from the long distance across the solar system.

‘Captain, the loss of two frigates is regrettable but still within our attack parameters. Now do you consider the human civilian craft to be a problem in our final attack? Also can you verify that the two colonies have been totally destroyed with no surviving ships?’

Baunrus scratched the green dander in his fur impatiently as he waited for a response. A lieutenant called out with a sensor reading while he was still waiting.

‘Admiral, the four Sspol cruisers are still following us towards Earth. They are broadcasting directly at the humans, and the clauses are specifying non aggression and allied status with the humans.’

Baunrus was perplexed by the Sspol sending both clauses to the humans as a standard allied clause in a broadcast made the non aggression clause redundant. However he more on his mind with the Sspol making the un-expected journey further into the solar system. His musing on the reasons was interrupted as Captain Neanres finally replied from his frigate some distance away.

‘Admiral, we should not discount the risks from the small fleet of mining ships now approaching Earth in a long looping orbit. Also the humans will have a large number civilian ships present at their home world and we will need to be careful. I can verify all the other ships from the colonies are destroyed and both the colonies themselves are destroyed. Several hundred humans are trapped underground on both asteroids and are expected to die within a few days.’

Admiral Baunrus found himself in quiet agreement with Neanres’s logic and he now sought the captain’s opinions about the latest actions of the Sspol. He also noted that one Sspol cruiser had left the formation tailing his own ships and was now heading across to the two destroyed human mining colonies.

                                                                     ***

Altarebe viewed the latest reports coming from space with unease, though he was proud of the courage of the humans. The Sspol had been detected moving closer to Earth as they followed the Jerecab at a safe distance. No doubt they would commit their cruisers during the final battle in a last ditch attempt to protect both the ancients and the humans.

Altarebe thought about how little he still knew about the hydrogen breathers, despite the Sspol envoy Drannep speaking to him on several occasions. The ancient male knew that the stabilising influence of the Maveen probe on the queen was absent as the probe had decided to fight under an alias in Earth orbit. He also thought about what both Omerio and the Maveen had earlier told him about the Sspol, before he seized on an idea. He thought through it all for several moments before speaking to Queen Angwene and her daughters.

‘Your majesty, the Sspol are very alien and now our allies. They send the redundant non aggression clause as they seek to reassure you of their intentions. I did discover that the Sspol have telepathic abilities and I know we can sense emotions in others of our race at some distance. I suggest we think strong thoughts of peace and trust towards the Sspol. I believe this is the only contribution we can make to the coming battle.’