Shadow Space Chronicles 1: The Fallen Race (13 page)

Yes, this battle would continue to its logical conclusion and that would be that.

***

Lucius watched the Chxor maneuver.  He had used their weaknesses against them before.  There were serious gaps in their tactical doctrine.  Only a handful of their commanders ever adapted those tactics.  “Give me a fleet and I could rip them to pieces.”

“Sir, why didn’t the Fleet ever do that?” Commander Anthony Doko asked.  “I mean, we’ve done so much with hit and run tactics… why didn’t the Admiralty ever change the doctrine?”

Lucius grimaced, “Because the political appointees of the Admiralty like big ships.  Until we fought the Chxor, we had the advantage in ship size against the majority of our opponents.  Hell, if they had time to get the
Emperor Romulus
and the other ships of her class produced, they might well have turned the war around.  Honestly, my tactics pull a lot from the good Colonial Republic Fleet officers... even a bit from the old Provisional Colonial Republic Army, back when they were rebels against Amalgamated Worlds.”  Lucius shrugged, “And there are some commanders who have pulled off victories against the Chxor without rewriting our doctrine.”

Anthony Doko scowled, “If you’re talking about Admiral Vibious—“

“Not
him
, necessarily,” Lucius shook his head, the late Admiral Vibious had won victories by attrition that favored only the Chxor and cost too many lives, too many ships, and left Lucius with a foul taste in his mouth.  “But there were others.”

Not many, he privately admitted, but there were some.  Lucius saw that the clock had run down.  “Prepare to fire missiles,” Lucius said.

“Aye, sir,” Doko said, dubiously.

Lucius watched the first volley of Pilum missiles go in and sighed.  The Chxor cruisers served their purpose.  Two of the four exploded against the cruiser's ridiculously oversized defense screens, which flickered but held.  A third was picked off short of the ships by a last minute shot from a laser battery.

The fourth made it through the screen, but a dreadnought swatted it out of space without a problem.

As he’d suspected, the enemy defense was too strong for some piecemeal fire.  He immediately regretted throwing away the four missiles.  He only had twenty-eight left now.

“I know, Doko, it was a waste.  It was worth a try though,” Lucius said to his frowning XO, who manned the missile station.

“
A lucky shot out here would have been nice.  Continue to close the range.  Hold missile fire until Plan Alpha One is in effect.”

The range ticked down.  They were inside the Chxor targeting range now.  Any moment now…

“Multiple missile launches, Captain!”  Lieutenant Palmer somehow managed to drawl even when he was tense.  “I count eight launches, sir.”  The man claimed he hailed from Earth.  Lucius suspected the Lieutenant feigned the drawl.

Lucius kept an eye on Lieutenant Beeson, who manned the defensive weapons.  Eight missiles was everything the Chxor could launch.  Lucius felt confident that the Lieutenant could handle the handful.  If even one of them made it through, though, people would die.  Beeson had proved himself in a simulator.

Real life was something else altogether.

A few minutes later, he realized he needn’t have worried.  Lieutenant Beeson shot down all the missiles well clear of the
War Shrike
.  The next eight died well clear of the battleship as well.

The Chxor dreadnoughts held much larger magazines, but they didn’t use their tubes as if they felt confident of resupply.  After Beeson picked off the third flight of missiles, the Chxor ceased fire.

That, at least, made sense.  The missiles would be more dangerous to the
War Shrike
from the rear, rather than from head on.  From the rear, they wouldn’t have to worry about getting missiles to flank the defense screen.

The enemy held their fire.  The range ticked down.  The Chxor main battery would have the range on him for a total of just over eighty seconds.  His own main battery had greater range, which extended his own engagement time.  That would give the
War Shrike
time for two extra shots.

The main battery of a five-class dreadnought was twenty four colossal fusion cannons, on six turrets that rotated to present all in a massive broadside, or twelve shots from the bow or the stern.  They’d have range for two shots from each of those massive cannons.  Lucius’s crew would have time for four shots with their own longer-ranged heavy exotic particle cannons, and only two shots from the light EPCs.  Unfortunately, the
War Shrike
only mounted three turrets, each turret containing four of the long range cannons.  Also, unfortunately, the EPCs didn’t have the all out punch of the enemy weapons.

He looked over at Doko, a slight smile on his face, “Remember the battle at Endway?”

Doko groaned, “When Admiral Gavetti commanded?”

Lucius frowned, “Was that his name?”

“Yeah, he didn’t last long, did he?” Doko snorted.  “Wasn’t it that final hit on his ship that went
through
to hit us?”

Lucius grimaced, “Yeah, that would be the one.”  He stared at the screen, “Last chance to turn aside.”

No one on the bridge said anything.  The option now to break off and clear weapons range tempted him.  But if the Chxor made it to Faraday unharmed, they would have time to build up too strong an infrastructure for any possible counterattack to work.

“
Deploy chaff, commence jamming.” Lucius commanded.

A moment later, the
War Shrike
disappeared in a ball of static, surrounded by electromagnetic fuzz.  The enemy probably would lose tracking, if only for a moment.  The enemy's firefly systems aboard the cruisers kicked in a moment later.  This time, at least, the enemy jamming did no good.  Lieutenant Palmer had managed to not only put recon probes above and below the Chxor formation, but he had one stealthily coasting
inside
it.

“
In range, firing now.”  Doko’s voice was calm, precise.  It was the voice of a surgeon in surgery.  The ship thrummed as the EPCs fired.

Lieutenant Daniel Beeson was somewhat less restrained, “Hit, multiple hits, Captain!”

Lucius watched as debris intermixed with enemy chaff.  Doko fired again, followed by Lieutenant Beeson.  Again, debris blossomed from multiple hits. The Chxor fired for the first time, the colossal guns and the dreadnought’s secondary batteries fired on the
War Shrike
.

Jamming scrambled radar and chaff distorted the battlefield.  Doko, at the controls for the main battery, was hunched over his console.  Forty-eight colossal fusion cannons fired a second time.

The restraining harness bit into Lucius’s shoulders and the universe spun for a horrid instant.  A moment later, the distant thud of pressure doors slamming shut gave ominous note of damage taken.

Lieutenant Meridan looked up, “Captain, direct hit on missile tube three, plasma mount six, and life support in section F is gone.”

Lucius waited for the list to go on, but that was it.

They were out of range now, and Doko looked up, “She really is one lucky ship, Captain.”

Lucius nodded.  The loss of a missile tube hurt.  Better there than on the missile magazine.  A glancing blow, he guessed, partially turned by the defense screen, rather than the huge hole in the side of the ship he’d feared.

Well, not yet anyway.

As he drew away from the first group of dreadnoughts, Lucius gave a mental sigh of relief.  He wore his command face.  It wouldn’t do to let his people think that a mere two dreadnoughts had their Captain nervous.

Damage reports came in.  Lucius gave orders for repairs, but half his mind was on the upcoming clash, while some of it evaluated the sensor data that Lieutenant Palmer delivered.  Ghastly casualties reported in the sectors hit.  That one hit had killed forty people outright, leaving another fifteen wounded in the sick bay.  Most of the dead came from the actual impact.  They, like the number three missile tube, were gone, vaporized completely.  The bunkrooms and fuel tanks had taken the rest of the damage.  They didn’t take any of Lucius’ crew with them.

Of the enemy, Doko did an excellent job.  It looked like four good hits on one dreadnought, which leaked a lot of water and oxygen, sure signs that pressurized cabins took serious hits. One of the cruisers also leaked quite a bit and its emissions drop suggested that it lost one of its power plants.

“
That’ll give them something to think about,” Doko said with satisfaction.

The first force of dreadnoughts finally passed out of missile range, even as the final damage reports concluded.  The Chxor saved their missiles.  Perhaps they worried they might face a missile engagement with planetary defenses.  They could realize that the planet would not put up a fight.

Now the range closed with the second group.  These came closer at a slower rate, for the Chxor had actually reversed directions and traveled a similar course to his own now, albeit at a slower velocity which allowed him to overtake
them
.  The commander of their force would expect him to break away and avoid such a confrontation.  The
War Shrike’
s luck in the last engagement could only go so far.  Up close, he wouldn’t stand a chance against those two dreadnoughts.  But he maintained his course.

Unlike the Chxor, he had sensor probes, and he could see what was behind them quite clearly.

***

Kleigh typed in more notes and commands.  He took his time and felt secure in the knowledge that victory for the Chxor was at hand once again.

True, the battleship had damaged Kleigh’s command ship, as well as Dreadnought 510114.  Damage happened in combat, it was illogical to expect some kind of gain without loss.  And while it would take time to repair those damaged sections, they would have time.

Also true, the enemy battleship had much better aim, a situation unfortunately familiar to the Chxor.  It was faster to produce a number of identical ships, and much easier to produce them with simpler command systems.  Fire often enough and the guns would hit.

As the Chxor had hit the enemy this time.  Granted, a lower percentage of hits than Chxor gunnery normally had, but at such range, that was acceptable.  That was not to say that those gunnery stations that missed wouldn’t be punished.  In fact, Kleigh made special note to execute one member from each station that hadn’t scored a hit.  It would incite them to train harder.

The enemy battleship altered course now, but only slightly.  Kleigh knew from previous engagements the enemy had the capability of much greater accelerations and maneuvers.  That battleship could nearly match the acceleration of the fighters it carried.

Still, there was no reason not to use an opponent’s irrational decisions against them.  Kleigh ordered the second group of dreadnoughts to match the maneuver.  He noted that the new course would take the ships even closer to a small, rocky planet. 

Perhaps the enemy ship hoped to retreat behind the cover of the planet when it took excessive damage.  A sensor reading also showed that the fighters finally broke off their futile attack on the damaged cruiser.  They raced to meet the  intercepting dreadnoughts.  Had they not expended their ammunition before or had they reloaded instead of their harassment the cruiser with their main guns, Squadron Commander Kleigh might have found them of greater concern.  Neither of those were the case, obviously, else they would have used their missiles earlier.

Inevitably, the Human fighter pilots engaged in pointless activities. They allowed their eagerness and aggressive nature to get the better of them.  That weakness made them useless in battle.  Now at least, he wouldn’t have to chase the fighters down over time, but could instead rely on them to die with the battleship.

Victory would come to the Chxor once again and very soon now.

***

As the two dreadnoughts and their cruiser escort drew closer, Lucius breathed a long sigh of relief.  He looked over at Doko, “It looks like things might work out.”  The enemy task group lay in the box now, no matter where they maneuvered, he had the Chxor pinned.

They’d been in missile range for some time, but both sides held their fire.  The missiles were much more effective at close range, with less time to react to the launch.

Because he approached head on, the enemy dreadnoughts would have ‘only’ their forward turrets in position to fire.  He had the option now to cut across their bow, and fire both of his heavy turrets, and to a Chxor, that would have made sense, or at least, as much sense as this situation would grant.

Instead, he kept an almost dead on course.  Bow to bow, with the escorting cruisers to intercept his fire, he wouldn’t be able to do much damage until he passed through the enemy formation.  Neither he nor the Chxor imagined that his ship would last under the withering fire that close to those behemoth ships.  The ridiculous charge into that formation seemed inevitable, 

Lucius waited a few seconds more, and then spoke, “Signal to the
Gebneyr
, execute Plan Alpha.”