The Landfall Campaign (The Nameless War) (59 page)

The Rizr were still hesitating. Whatever it was that pumped blood around its body, the Rizr admiral must have it in its mouth. If Melchiori was arriving now, with them so deep inside the moon
’
s Mass Shadow, they wouldn
’
t be able to get out in time.
Resplendent
alone would butcher them. But soon he or she would realise that the courier wasn
’
t the harbinger of doom, just a witness to the last stand of the Geriatrics.

Then Willis paused. The Rizr could see the courier and would know that it had communicated with her, but not what it had said. He would also remember that the Geriatrics had met them head on, that their arrival hadn
’
t been a surprise, so logically the frontier squadron had already been summoned.

“
Lieutenant, are you still there?
”
she said toward her communication screen.

“
Yes ma
’
am.
”

“
Start transmitting a war warning beacon,
”
Willis ordered.
“
Communications, make signal to the squadron,
America
move to here,
”
her finger stabbed out into the holo,
“
we go here,
Typhoon
here and
Onslaught
…
here, cutting off their last line of escape.
”

“
Escape, what do you mean escape?
”
Driant said in confusion

“
We are going to try the one thing we have left, Lieutenant. We
’
re going to bluff. We
’
re going to make those bastards over there think
Resplendent
is about to arrive, and that their only chance is to break past us and run for their lives.
”

“
But Ma
’
am, that deployment will leave our ships too far apart to properly support one another,
”
Driant objected.

Willis sat down and buckled herself back in. She tried to close her visor but it was jammed half open, she wrestled with it for a moment then shrugged. With the radio still smashed she couldn
’
t close it anyway.

“
That can
’
t be helped Lieutenant. Send my orders.
”

The battered ships of the Geriatrics started to move again, spreading out and cutting down the angles away from the moon. Behind them the courier sent a steady stream of transmissions, which would warn any ship arriving that they were jumping into a combat zone.

Willis watched the holo intently, were the Rzir breaking, accelerating or changing course? What was going through the mind of her opposite number? There could be one hell of a discussion going on. With laser communication there was no way to know.

“
There! The transports, they
’
re moving away from the moon, they
’
ve gone full burn! So have the warships!
”

They
’
d gone for it. They
’
d actually fallen for it. For a brief moment Willis felt a spark of elation.

“
Skipper, they
’
re turning towards us.
”

And there was the weakness in the plan. To escape the Rizr need to break the human perimeter and
Hood
was the most obvious weak point. So through
Hood
they would go.

As she watched the Rizr started to stream forward, their formation loosening. Willis pondered. If
Hood
tried to run then that might expose their bluff. She could go all-astern on the engines and keep the range open for as long as possible. But that wouldn
’
t achieve much.
Hood
jolted as a laser beam hit her.

“
Helm, alter course two points to port, then roll to present our port side armour. Coms, order
America
and
Typhoon
to close on their flanks,
Onslaught
get in astern.
”

“
Understood Skipper.
”

“
Bridge, Fire Control,
”
she said.
“
We have two missiles left, prepare to use them as I direct.
”

“
Aye Skipper.
”

The Rizr were stringing out as each ship made its own best acceleration. As they came into range, laser beams played across
Hood’s
battered hull, but by now there was so little left of the ship, most merely stirred the wreckage.

The hull keened and groaned as one section of the ship after another decompressed. With white knuckles, Willis gripped the armrests of her chair watching the holo.
America
was pressing in hard on one side,
Typhoon
on the other. As she watched a protected cruiser fell out of line while the rest of the Rizr streamed past. A pair of armoured cruisers were sticking close to the surviving transports, keeping
Onslaught
at arm
’
s length. But the rest of the Rizr were losing cohesion. The retreat was becoming a rout.

The lead ships started to pass
Hood
, each in turn pouring fire into her. Her engines were smashed into silence, the remaining radar tower torn away. The range was now so short
Hood’s
point defence guns were able to rattle back, only able to pock mark their hulls but riddling the radar domes. As the leading protected cruiser passed Willis let fly
Hood’s
last two missiles, smashing open its hull.

With engines gone, weapons spent and sensors mangled, Willis could no longer affect the battle, only watch on what little
Hood’s
few surviving passive sensors could provide. She saw another Rizr armoured cruiser blow, then a transport lose engine power and start to transmit a surrender signal. Astern of
Hood
the leading Rizr ships were crossing the Red Line and disappearing into jump space.
Typhoon
crawled past, still in pursuit but with engines damaged to the point where she could barely crawl out of the moon
’
s gravity well. Even at this stage had the Rizr turned on their pursuers, they could have won. Instead as each ship exited the Mass Shadow, it jumped away. 

___________________

30
th
May 2067

Those old novels she
’
d read growing up, when describing the victorious ship at the end of the book used words like
‘
defiant,
’
‘
undaunted
’
and
‘
bloodied but unbowed
’
.
Hood
, Willis thought to herself as she looked out a view port at her command, didn
’
t look like any of these things. She looked pitiful. What was left of the conning tower was bent off to port, the upper radar array was shattered and the lower was simply gone. Both turrets were burnt-out and what was left of the armour scorched and pitted. Of the crew, less than one in three were still standing. Dockyard workers were still cutting their way into the hull to recover the bodies. Guinness had done a detailed analysis, but even he had been forced to admit she was beyond any repair. If a mechanical thing could possess a life or spirit,
Hood’s
was gone.

Beside her there was a pair of clicks, as Admiral Melchiori
’
s boot magnets engaged with the deck plating.

“
Sir,
”
she started to salute.

“
No, no,
”
he said.
“
I don
’
t believe you have any requirement to salute me.
”
Melchiori stared out the port at
Hood
and for a time there was silence between them.

“
I will admit Faith, I don
’
t know how you did it,
”
he said eventually with a shake of his head.
“
But you did. I
’
m sorry I wasn
’
t here to contribute materially.
”

There had been loose ends for the frontier squadron to tidy up. As soon as they arrived the cruisers went to look for
Deceiver
. They found a distinct debris field and a badly damaged protected cruiser being escorted by another. Before they took him down, Vincent had knocked a lump out of one. When Melchiori
’
s cruisers swept down on them, the fight was short and one-sided. With no bodies to bury there had been a small memorial service for the crew of
Deceiver
. Willis kept her grief to herself and didn
’
t attend.

“
It isn
’
t over out here, sir,
”
she said quietly.

“
I know Commander,
”
Melchiori replied with a sigh,
“
But we
’
ll have to see what the politicians make of it all first. I
’
m incorporating the Eighteenth Cruiser Squadron into my command.
”
It was a rather grandiose reference to the
Onslaught
. With
Typhoon
almost as badly smashed as
Hood
, she was the last serviceable member of the Geriatrics.
“
You do have the right to object Commander,
”
he added.

Willis gave him a wane smile,
“
To what end, sir? One ship doesn
’
t make a squadron.
”
She turned back to the shattered wreck beyond the view port.
“
The Geriatrics is a spent force.
”
She raised her hand to the glass,
“
I always
hated
that name, but it was what we were.
”

“
Then in that case Commander Willis, it
’
s time for you to go home,
”
Melchiori replied quietly.
“
Commander Faith Willis, Acting Commanding Officer of Dryad Station, you are relieved.
”

Chapter Fifteen

Cry for Help

1
st
June 2067

HMSS Endurance
’
s
point defence guns blazed frantically astern as she ran for the Red Line. With the missiles arriving on multiple curving trajectories,
Endurance
’
s
handful of guns couldn
’
t lay down an unbroken barrage. Instead they had to flick from one target to another, working through them in order of threat priority. Three missiles breached the one hundred-kilometre perimeter, triggering a launch of chaff and flares, and finally a series of desperate evasive manoeuvres.

On the main holo in Four C the blip for
Endurance
disappeared. Eulenburg turned towards the analysis section. The detection grid available to Douglas Base was now nothing more than a single radio telescope on the surface.

“
They made it out, sir,
”
came the report after a few minutes, in response to which the Admiral sighed with relief. In the early days of the siege, small fast transports like
Endurance
had been able to run the blockade and get into position to make a drop relatively unhindered. Most of the Nameless ships in orbit were either bombards or transports. Their few remaining space fighters had managed to cause enough distraction to keep the escorts busy while the blockade-runners made their drop.

The Nameless inevitably countered, with more escorts at first, then with minefields and kill-sats. The
USS Eddings
was the first victim, taking a direct hit just after making her drop. Escape pods were seen ejecting, so possibly the crew were now out there somewhere beyond the combat zones around the shelters, trying to survive. Most of the runners still made it but the casualty rate was beginning to become unsustainable.