He Who Dares: Book Two (The Gray Chronicals 2) (46 page)

“Set the safeties at twenty thousand yards, and fire torpedoes, one, three and five when you are ready.”

“Safeties set at fifty thousand yards, outer doors open - firing, sir.” Three bright yellow blips raced across the battle board towards an equally bright red dot that indicated the Sirrien warship.

“Contact in eight seconds, sir, torpedoes running hot, straight and true.”

“Launch four Rapier missiles, Mr. Bushman.”

“Aye, sir.”  Suddenly the two yellow blips vanished just as the four missiles lifted from their external launchers and sped away on silent wings of death.

“Damn!  His point defense system got them.”

“Thought that might happen - helm, bring us to within weapons range.”

“Aye-aye, sir.”

“He’s returning fire, Skipper, broad spread, eight, no nine torpedoes coming at us, impact in ten seconds.”

“Heads-up people, helm, evasion pattern Sierra.”

“Aye, sir evasion pattern Sierra.”  Cindy adjusted the ship, wishing Conner would take over as she brought the nose in direct line with the incoming torpedoes.  This gave them the smallest signature, and presented the ships thickest armor and shields towards them.

“Point defense opening up - they’ve got two - three - four - seven - eight, hold on!”  Janice yelled, just as the last one detonated off their port side.  The ship bucked slightly.

“In weapons range, Skipper.”

“Let's see if the Marines have learned anything, Number One, order them to open fire.”

“Aye, sir - main batteries, commence firing!”

“Target his engine room and launch torpedoes 2 - 4 and 6, let get him really busy.”

“Aye, sir, but that will mean the torps will swing wide to come round in behind him, sir.”

“And if they miss they could come back home.”

“Aye, sir.”

“Set the safeties for first proximity only.”

“Aye, sir, setting safeties, first proximity only.”

That meant that they would detonate on impact, or if the other ship managed to maneuver out of their way they would still detonate even at a near miss.  It was chancy, and the torps could still not detect the enemy and detonate against his ship, but Mike felt the risk worth it, especially with the coating.  The moment the main batteries opened up, the enemy had something to shoot back at, and he did.  Both ships maneuvered at slow speed, each seeking a clear shot.  By any standard, Mike’s small ship shouldn’t be a match for a Destroyers, but this wasn’t any ordinary ship.  They took several direct hits on the hull, yet no damage reports came in.  The Marine gunners had learned their new jobs well, and Janice began reporting multiple hit on the other ship.

“She’s taking damage, Skipper, more than we are, they just took her communication array out.”

“Pour it on Marines.”

“Damn!”  Pete muttered, “wish this dust cloud wasn’t so dense, we could get a good visual on her at this range.”

“And they could on us, Number One.”

“Good point, sir.”

“Torps running hot and true, sir, impact in 15 seconds.” The ship rocked, as something exploded against her hull, and Gable swore.

“They got a torp into us, Skipper.”

“Damage, Pete.”

“Coming in now - forward hull, no air leaks, minimum damage.”

“Good, the shields held.”

“Number one battery hit, sir, and out of action - damage control working.”

“Contact, Skipper,” Janice shouted, “we got her.”  The Sirrien Destroyer’s weapons went silent the moment she lost power, and Mike sighed in relief.

“Helm, get us out of here as quick as you can, she can still launch torpedoes.”

“Aye, sir.”  Cindy called for full ahead and brought the Corvette around, cutting a course up and away from the crippled Destroyer.  She didn’t fire anything else at them, and in moments, they were lost in the dust.

“Now let’s get the other two.”

“Both, Skipper?”

“Why not, we know what she can do now - Gable - Janice, find those other two ships and lock onto them”

“Aye-aye, sir.”  They both answered.

“Helm, slow ahead, and keep us inside the edge of the dust cloud.”

“Aye, sir.”  Fifteen minutes passed with no contact and everyone started to sweat.  Playing cat and mouse with one destroyer was bad enough, but two ship, one of them a Cruiser was something else?

“Engine room!”

“Engine room, aye.”

“Adam, do you have one of your decoy canister handy?”

“Yes, Skipper.”

“I want you to load it into the warhead of a torp and set it to bleed off the contents in flight.”

“Can do, Skipper, I have one dummy torp already loaded for another test, just have to take the explosives pack out.”

“Good, report as soon as it's ready.”

“Bridge!”

“Bridge, aye!”

“Damage control, sir, we have number one battery working again.”

“Acknowledged, damage control.”

“Contact!”  Janice sand out.

“Range and bearing, Janice?”

“One Destroyer at 286 by 153 by 71 range, 250,000 yards.”

“Firing solution?”

“Have it, sir, laid in and locked.”

“Good, this time all tubes, random order launch sequence and a full spread of Rapier missiles at the same time.”

“Aye, sir, setting up launch sequence.”

“Helm, wait for first impact and then get us into weapons range smartly.”

“Aye, sir.”

“All tubes and missiles ready, safeties set at 10,000 yards.”

“Forward torpedo room to Bridge?”

“Bridge, aye.”

“Skipper, I have the decoy torp loaded in number one tube.”

“Good job.”

“Aye, Skipper, all tubes loaded and ready to launch, outer doors open.”

“On my mark, Gable - launch!”  Mike snapped.

Ten homing torpedoes and twenty-six missiles took off in random order, some swinging wide going wild weasel, other clustering together. The picture vanished in a cloud of snow as the sensors picked up multiple contact.  Adam’s little surprise package was working.

“Jesus Christ!  I can’t see a thing, Skipper!”  Janice yelled.

“Good, neither can that Destroyer’s Captain - helm, get us into knife fighting range!”

“Aye-aye, sir.”  Conner smiled under his helmet.

“All weapon commence firing the moment they are in range.”

“Aye, sir.”  Gable acknowledged, relaying the order.

“I have the last Sirrien ship on my scope, sir, and she’d not a destroyer.”  Jan called.

“What is she?”  Pete asked.  Jen hesitated a moment as she firmed up her reading.

“Damn!  She definitely a Cruiser, sir.”

“Launch rear torps, full spread as soon as they have a lock and a solution.”

“Aye-ayes, sir.”  Gable replied from the weapons consult.  Mike gripped his armrests, willing the ship forward as fast as possible before the screening cloud dissipated.

“Main batteries firing, sir.”

“No need, Skipper, she a mess and dead in the water.”

“Helm, bring us around, now!”

*  *  *  *  *  *

Captain Claude Dastard of the Sirrien Empire light Cruiser ‘Lion’ watched in amazement as something attacked his accompanying destroyer.  His sensor operator told him something was there, but as yet, they could get a fix on it.  Whatever it was, it wasn’t very big.

“Helm, full speed, if you please, get us into weapons range, now!”

“Aye-aye, Captain.”

“Load all weapons and prepare to engage!”  What he was seeing didn’t make sense.  His sensor suite was one of the best, yet he couldn’t ‘see’ anything.

“Tactical.  Give me Max magnification.”

“Aye-aye, sir, Max magnification.”  The view on the main screen stepped in towards the destroyer under attack and they could see missiles and heavy weapons fired being exchanged, but with what, none of them had any idea.

“Tactical?”

“Nothing yet, sir.  I do have a contract, but it's too small to be a ship.”

“What do you have?”

“Something about the size of a shuttle craft, sir.”

“Can you get a lock or a firing solution?”

“Um,” the tactical officer hesitated, “no, Captain, I can’t.”

“Damn!  Full military power helm, take her over the red line if you have to, I want to get there, NOW!”

The helmsman swallowed, thinking the Captain was daft to go charging in without knowing what he was facing, but obeyed.  He rang for Max power, then called down to the engine room to take it over the red line.

“Sir! I have a visual on... on… something. I can’t tell what at 2000 nautical miles.”

“Put it up on the main screen!” The digital picture that came up and stepped in as the operations officer keyed up the magnification, then they all look twice at what they saw. From their position directly astern of Mike’s ship, all they could see what looked like an ominous black cross against the faint background illumination of the of the dust cloud.

“Missiles launched!”

“Stay on this course, helm!”

“Aye, sir, staying on this course.”

“Incoming torpedoes!”

“Close up point defense.”

“Aye, Captain, point defense closing up.” They watched as the spread of torpedoes came towards them at the same time as other stuck the destroyer.

“Escort destroyer is dead in the water and bleeding air, sir.”

“I can see that you fool!  Tactical!  Try to lock onto something, damn it!”

“Aye, sir, working.”

“She’s turning sir.”

“Helm, stay with her, bring her round.” The helmsman pulled the Cruiser around hard, and they all heard the ominous sounds of hull plates straining.

“800 nautical mile and closing, sir.”

“God, she’s turning fast.”  Captain Dastard watched in fascination as the smaller ship turned inside his circle.

“Damn it!  No warship that size can turn that fast, her Captain must be mad, she’ll break up!”

“She’d turning inside us, sir.”

“All weapons fire, optical mode only.  Torps and missiles in rapid fire mode.”