Storm' Fury: The Shenkar War (9 page)

              “Overlord, I am picking up multiple warship analogs folding into the space below and just beyond the asteroid field. Intel shows them to be the warships of the humans,” explained the operations officer.

              The trap had been sprung and the humans had fallen for the bait. Now to see what they did next.

              “Excellent, are they moving to engage us or just sitting in position?” asked Overlord Gyliene.

              “Enemy warships are forming up, launching both light and heavy fighter craft.”

              “Recover all our fighters, but don’t make it obvious. Make it look as if we are moving to re-arm our fighters for the coming human fleet,” ordered Overlord Gyliene.

              Slowly the fighters of the Shenkar fleet began landing sequences. The human fleet was moving at top speed in an attempt to move within striking distance of his own small fleet. Soon it would be all over and the humans would be in ruins.

December 24
th
, 2013 9:15am

                                                   EDF
Phoenix
, System 238

              “How soon until we are within weapons range?” demanded President Lecroix.

              The operations officer didn’t respond to the demand, he only looked to Captain Donaldson. Captain Donaldson nodded to the officer to answer the question.

              “Enemy warships will be within firing range in four minutes thirty two seconds.”

              Over the next few minutes the Earth’s battle group moved forward, closing the distance to the Shenkar fleet. Captain Donaldson studied the holographic display as the two fleets grew closer to each other. Something bothered him but he couldn’t put his finger on it. For one the numbers reported do not remotely match what they were facing here. Before he could figure it out anymore his operations officer spoke.

              “Sir, I can’t be positive but it looks as if the enemy fleet is...retreating.”

              Once again, before Captain Donaldson could inquire on these new events, President Lecroix spoke in a most condescending way.

              “The Shenkar do not retreat, you must be mistaken.”

              Ignoring the President, Captain Donaldson looked to his communications officer and spoke.

              “Mr. Fredricks, what leads you to believe they are retreating?”

              “I have been monitoring the Shenkar fighter’s and they seem to be decreasing in number. I had thought they were simply recovering their fighters to refuel and re-arm them for us but only half the number recovered launched, the count of fighters is slowly decreasing. It also seems the Shenkar warships have been slowly moving away from us.”

              Captain Donaldson thought this over; he had a bad feeling about this whole thing. Why attack the outpost if not to draw out the Earth forces? He was just about to call for the fleet to halt its advance when an explosion shook the
Phoenix
slightly. This was followed by another massive explosion that heavily shook the entire ship. President Lecroix, who had been standing, was thrown to the floor, his head catching a nearby railing on the way down. Captain Donaldson stood and went to the prone figure of the President of France.

              “Halt the fleet, give me a damage report!” he commanded.

              Lieutenant Fredricks hurriedly tapped at the console in front of him before responding. Leaning down he checked for a pulse on President Lecroix. Finding a pulse, he then stood and retrieved his commset.

              “Sir, we have suffered heavy damage to our portside. Sixty percent of weapon systems on the portside have been damaged or destroyed. We have a heavy fire in hanger bay two as well as reports of several smaller fires throughout the ship. Halon fire suppression systems have activated and are dealing with the smaller fires.”

              “Get a fire team to hanger bay 2.”

              “Yes sir, already on their way.”

              “Mr. Dow, give me a report, why didn’t we detect any enemy incoming?” Captain Donaldson commanded of his radar officer.

              “The Shenkar fleet didn’t fire upon us, we seem to have entered a mine field.”

              “Why didn’t we detect them? Why didn’t the proximity alarms sound?”

              “I cannot be positive but they seem to have some sort of electronic dampening field that prevented us from detecting them.”

              Captain Donaldson turned back to his operations officer and spoke.

              “Mr. Fredricks, what is the fleet’s current situation?”

              “We lost the
Valiant
,
Hidakei
,
Melbourne
, and
Centurion
. The
Renown
,
Avenger
,
Charlotte
,
Gettysburg
,
Key West
, and
Warrior
have suffered heavy damage and have lost propulsion as well as weapon systems. A number of ships…..”

              Whatever Lieutenant Fredricks was going to say was cut off as another explosion shook the
Phoenix
.

              “What the hell was that?” commanded Captain Donaldson.

              “Sir, it seems one of our fighters collided with a mine.”

              “I thought I ordered the entire fleet to halt?” Captain Donaldson asked his operations officer.

              “We did sir; I believe the mines are attracted to our metal superstructure. The fighter was probably just in its path when it exploded.”

              Another explosion sounded through the hull followed quickly by another explosion. It seemed Lieutenant Fredricks theory was correct. If this were true it was only a matter of time before the fleet was destroyed or too heavily damaged to mount any kind of defense.

              “Signal the fleet! All ships are to lay down blanket fire. Have the fighters cover those ships that cannot defend themselves. In the meantime try and find a way to find those mines.”

              Energy cannons throughout the fleet opened up, laying down salvo after salvo of energy. Explosions began to register across the threat board as mines were intercepted. It looked positive so far, yet unfortunately in Jensen Donaldson’s life whenever things looked up something negative always occurred.

              “Captain, we just lost the
Key West
and the
Charlotte
.”

              “Shit,” muttered Captain Donaldson.

              For the next fifteen minutes the constant salvos of energy lanced out, destroying the Shenkar mines whenever they found them. Captain Donaldson had just settled back into his command chair when his operations officer spoke.

              “Captain, we haven’t registered any more explosions for the past five minutes.”

              “Signal the fleet to hold fire.”

              The order was given and silence permeated the air. Five minutes passed and no explosions were heard. Captain Donaldson finally broke the silence as he noticed Jacque Lecroix still lying prone upon the floor where he had fallen.

              “Get a medical team up here and help Mr. Lecroix,” his didn’t bother to hide the disgust in his voice when he spoke the President of Frances name.

              Captain Donaldson studied the holo display upon his personal display. Continuous reports of the damage the fleet had sustained continued to download. All he could think is;
what a shit storm this turned out to be
,
how could this get any worse?
Then he remembered the Shenkar fleet.

              “Mr. Dow, what is the status of the Shenkar fleet?”

              “The Shenkar fleet has withdrawn to the edge of the system. They appear to be just sitting……”

              Ensign Dow stopped speaking at this point and squinted at the screen in front of him.

              “Mr. Dow? Is there a problem?” asked Captain Donaldson.

              “Sir, the Shenkar fleet just folded away.”

              “What? Why would they do that?”

              The Earth fleet had suffered heavy losses. One battlecruiser, one heavy cruiser, two light cruisers, two destroyers and sixty two fighters lost. Another three times that number were so heavily damaged that they would be unable to perform a fold without first making repairs. Of the remaining ships only a handful had made it through the encounter unscathed.

              Realization dawned on him as he thought over this new turn of events. If Captain Donaldson were to bet he would say the Shenkar had attacked Outpost 238 to draw out the Earth fleet. The only reason that he could think of was the Shenkar planned to attack Earth again. Without the fleet to help defend, Earth could fall.

              “What squadrons are available right now?”

              “
Ghostrider
squadron fully fueled and intact,” answered Lieutenant Fredricks.

              “Have them move immediately to Outpost 238, let’s see if anyone is still alive in there. If there are survivors then send in the Omega shuttles with any help we can render.”

              Now all he could do is sit and wait for news of the outpost. If those of the outpost were still alive then he could safely leave those ships unable to fold and return to Earth.

              Minutes ticked by as he waited for news of the outpost. After what seemed an eternity word came back.

              “Captain, I have Lieutenant Jefferson from
Ghost
squadron on fleet net.”

              “Put him on the overhead,” commanded Captain Donaldson.

              The communications officer typed at his console for a few seconds before he nodded to the captain.

              “Lieutenant Jefferson, tell me what you have found of the outpost.”

              “Sir, the outpost has taken heavy damage but is otherwise intact. Of the men and woman stationed there they only suffered minor injuries.”

              “Is the engineering bays intact?” asked Captain Donaldson.

              “Yes sir, most of the damage the base took was to the communications array and their CIC.”

              “Excellent, inform the commander we will need the immediate assistance of his engineers, we have several ships in need of repairs. After this you are to take your squadron and patrol on the edge of the system in case the Shenkar return.”

              “Yes sir.”

              Captain Donaldson turned back to the holographic display of the fleet and thought for a moment.

              “Inform all ships capable of folding we are leaving. As soon as all capable ships have checked in initiate the fold immediately. We must return to Earth before it is too late.”

              Sitting back in his chair he rubbed his eyes as he prayed they wouldn’t be too late.

December 26
th
, 2013 2:25am

                                              EDF
Ronald Reagan,
Terran system

              Fleet Admiral Derek Saunders sipped at his coffee as he read the latest patrol reports. So far no Shenkar ships had been spotted but he knew it was only a matter of time before they arrived. There could be no other reason for the Shenkar luring the defense fleet away if not to attack Earth. He prayed that the fleet would realize their folly and return to Earth.
Damn that man,
was all he could think of the President of France. The chime of his commset shook him from his thoughts. Keying his commset he spoke.

              “Go ahead.”

              “Admiral, we have enemy contacts on the edge of the system.”

             
Damn it
,
when will we ever get a break,
he thought.

              “I will be right there.”

              Setting aside the reports he stood and walked from his office. Lucky for him he had a short trip, unlike modern naval warships; his day cabin was immediately off the command bridge.

              “Signal the fleet to battle stations launch all fighters and give me a status report.”

              “We have sixty five Shenkar warships that just folded in on the edge of the system.”

              “Sixty five? That’s all? What are the types?”

              To be honest he had expected a lot bigger fleet than sixty five warships. Even if all were battlecruisers they still we would be hard pressed to get past the automated defense platforms that now surrounded Earth.