The Landfall Campaign (The Nameless War) (49 page)

“
Is there anything else in the system?
”
Crowe asked.

“
Not active, sir.
”

“
Commander?
”
Crowe glanced up at Hockley.

“
Looks like they
’
re moving out, sir,
”
Hockley said after a moment.
“
See that. There are gate jumpers moving towards both space gates. They aren
’
t using them as one in one out. They
’
re both being used as exits. I think make it a go.
”

Crowe glanced at the status board.
Meili
was still five minutes from jump capability. What they were seeing was six hours out of date - a lot could happen in six hours, such as a chance be allowed to slip away.

“
Coms, signal to all ships: we are a go.
Meili
lead us in, then establish standard formation. Commander, you
’
d better get to Damage Control. Lieutenant Shermer?
”

“
Yes sir,
”
Alanna said from the back of the bridge.

“
I want you two to target the station. That should knock out both gates. Then hit targets of opportunity until directed otherwise. Go.
”

“
Yes sir,
”
Alanna replied. She took a last look at the main holo and then she was away with Sinochem hard on her heels.

“
Are we on, Skipper?
”
Schurenhofer called out as Alanna pulled herself through the hatch. The weapons controller had Dubious
’
s reactor started up. The hangar hadn
’
t been decompressed yet to allow the air to absorb the heat coming from the fighter
’
s radiators.

“
We
’
re on,
”
Alanna replied as she came aboard. After months of
‘
holding the line
’
they were going to get a chance to hit back and she could feel an unaccustomed excitement rising within her. The hatch closed with a hiss and she started to buckle in, while her eyes scanned across the status board. All green, as well they might be after only just being refitted.

“
T for Toothy. Coms check. Are you receiving me?
”

“
Dubious, this is Toothy,
”
Sinochem
’
s voice came back instantly.
“
We
’
re receiving. Board is green, ready for launch.

Then another voice spoke on the channel.

“
Fighters, standby. We are venting hangars.
”

Dubious trembled as the hatch began to open and the atmosphere roared out into the void, then the fighter started to slide sideways as the docking arm pushed out. This brought them just far enough out for Alanna to catch the flash as
Meili
opened the jump portal and a moment later
Deimos
filed through. An in-system jump would last seconds so Alanna lightly rested her gloved finger on the launch button.

___________________

Seconds later the squadron erupted into real space, laying down fire as they did so. On the bridge the main holo flickered as up to date information was processed. Four cargo modules disappeared from the scope and an extra transport appeared.

“
Launching fighters,
”
came the report as Dubious and Toothy accelerated away. Fighters from the two heavy cruisers also launched to take up position at two and eleven o
’
clock. There were no enemy ships close by and the five human starships settled into the standard arrow formation, with
Deimos
at the point.

Jump out on target,
”
Colwell reported.
“
We are sixty-five minutes from firing range. We are now inside range of their cap ship missiles.
”

“
Understood,
”
Crowe replied.
“
All units proceed as directed.
”

“
Contact separation, we have incoming
…
one round only.
”

The missile had been launched by one of the escorts. Someone had got overexcited. The cap ship missiles could reach them at this range, but not get through the counter fire
Deimos
could put down. No, the Nameless would spread out and wait until they were close enough to use the small dual-purpose missiles. Then they might have a chance of saturating the defences.

“
Order the fighters to let this one through. We
’
re going to need their missiles later,
”
Crowe ordered.

The flak guns swatted the single missile as soon as it entered range. After a pause of several minutes the Nameless ships began to redeploy and Crowe started to frown. The capital ship, the cruisers and half the smaller armed ships started to accelerate and bunch into three groups. All of this was as expected. To get to the depot the human ships would have to charge into the middle and in doing so be exposed to fire from three directions. But half the escorts didn
’
t seem to be following the script. They were moving and coalescing into a group but they weren
’
t moving out of
Deimos
’
s path. Far from it, they were clustering around the station.

“
Why are you doing that?
”
he murmured to himself as he studied the holo. Once the two heavy cruisers got into plasma cannon range they
’
d blow the escorts apart in a matter of minutes. By not moving they were throwing away their chance to keep the range open. Crowe
’
s gaze shifted to another set of blips, Dubious and Toothy, already ten thousand kilometres out in front. The Nameless had seen them too and where the two fighters were going. The gate jumper transports were starting to disengage from cargo modules, but they weren
’
t fast ships at the best of times. The fighters would reach firing range on the station and the gates well before most of the transports could make their escape. Those six escorts were going to be sacrificed to keep the gates open just a little longer.

Almost two years ago on board
Mississippi
, he
’
d watched that first Nameless ship blow itself apart rather than allow humanity to gain any information about them. Back then he hadn
’
t - he couldn
’
t have - understood how they could choose to make such a sacrifice. But a lot had happened since and he
’
d seen a lot of it. Back in his Science Directorate days, bringing everyone safely back was the first priority, but now, because of them, it was the mission. If the two fighters managed to take out the gates nearly a dozen gate jumpers would be trapped. But before they could do that, Dubious and Toothy would have to cross through the effective range of half a dozen ships. Depending on whether they were scouts or escorts that would mean anywhere between twelve and twenty-four launchers. He still had time to call them back. Captain Crowe of the
Mississippi
would have done so and never have dreamed of asking this sacrifice of those under his command. Commodore Crowe felt a brief flash of hatred, for what they had made him become and stayed silent.

___________________

Alanna
’
s expression was grim as the Nameless settled themselves around the target. The gate jumpers were mostly now on the move. She set the computer to estimate the times they would reach the gates compared to the two fighters. They were a hell of a lot closer, but much, much slower. And Dubious didn
’
t have to reach the gates, just get close enough to insert a missile. The timing currently favoured Dubious and Toothy and that gave them a bit of wriggle room. Also, the warships had formed into a tight sphere around the station, no more than thirty kilometres across, good for concentrating fire, but missiles were going to be coming at them from a single axis.

“
Toothy, this is Dubious. We
’
re going to try a chaff wall,
”
she decided.

“
Skipper?
”
Sinochem replied.
“
Do not follow, over.
”

“
As we enter their range we
’
re going to cut thrust and fire off chaff rockets set for short burst, tight dispersal. That will put down a wall of chaff a few kilometres ahead of us. Missiles will not be able to lock on until they come through, then they won
’
t have enough time to react. We keep the turret guns hot for anything that comes through on course for us. We have thirty minutes until we reach range.
”

“
Understood, starting calculations of chaff deployment.
”

“
Nice idea, skipper,
”
Schurenhofer said as she started writing the programme for the chaff rockets.

“
Read it in an intelligence briefing.
”

“
So it worked?
”

“
On paper anyway.
”

“
Oh
…”

Five minutes before they crossed the threshold of effective range Alanna cut thrust. The little chaff rockets started to pop out in the programmed pattern. On her display the Nameless ships were steadily blotted out as their radar emissions were hopelessly scrambled by the cloud of chaff now coasting along ahead of them.

“
Thermal spikes,
”
Schurenhofer reported abruptly. After a silence of over fifteen minutes Alanna jumped in spite of herself.
“
Multiple incomings.
”

“
Understood. Toothy, stand ready.
”

The two fighters still had their reactors running, engines and guns on standby. Enough heat was being generated for the Nameless to still get a rough idea of where they were. While the missiles used radar guidance, the Nameless could point them at the fighter
’
s thermals.

“
Holy
…”
Alanna exclaimed as a missile burst through the chaff. She barely had time to register it before it passed. Dubious
’
s threat detection system gave a brief beep as the missile locked on and tried to turn in. But it was going too fast and momentum carried it past and exploded behind them. Then second and a third came through, both missing by a wide margin. The fourth came through slightly slower and Toothy pegged it with a turret gun burst.

For fifteen minutes they hung on as the Nameless altered their firing patterns, trying to put multiple missiles through simultaneously. Again and again Dubious and Toothy escaped destruction by the skin of their teeth. Alanna cursed beneath her breath the intelligence officer who had come up with this half-baked idea in his nice safe office somewhere. They could only make tiny adjustments of position to stay in behind the shield and the guns didn
’
t get enough time to lock on. If anything did come through right at them, there wouldn
’
t be time to dodge or shoot it down.

“
We
’
re out of chaff Skipper,
”
Schurenhofer finally reported. The chaff shield was starting to drift apart and Alanna
’
s radar was now catching glimpses of the Nameless warships. The shield had done its job though.

“
Toothy, prepare to break cover. You go high, I
’
ll go low, both missiles into the station - on my mark.
”

“
Understood.
”
She could hear Sinochem
’
s relief across the connection.

“
Mark.
”
Alanna jammed the throttle open and pointed Dubious
’
s nose down. The port engine gave a cough and the fighter slewed before the engine surged and they shot out under the chaff. Another wave of missiles was inbound but the sudden movement of the two fighters didn
’
t leave them enough time to compensate. The two charged thought the perimeter of the defending ships, ahead the space station. They were now close enough for Alanna to see the distant glow from the active gates.