The Landfall Campaign (The Nameless War) (16 page)

“
Ah, I see,
”
Erdely replied in a carefully non-committal voice.
“
I
’
m sure Headquarters knows best.
”

They talked for another half hour or so, but the important topics had already been covered. Then the orders for the
Hermes
that they had carried from Earth were formally received and Willis took that as her cue to leave. At the airlock onto the station she paused and offered Erdely her hand.

“
We’ll be sure to look after things out here, sir,
”
she said.

“
And we’ll look after things back home,
”
he replied as he shook her hand.
“
Good luck to you all.
”

Six hours later Willis was back on
Hood’s
combat bridge staring out at the stars. Myth Class cruisers like
Hermes
were the fleet
’
s workhorse and after being aboard her,
Hood’s
numerous shortcomings seemed all the more obvious.

Behind her the entry hatch opened and Shibanova pulled himself in. Using the hand bars set in the deckhead he drifted over and deposited himself beside her.

“
I thought you’d turned in, sir,
”
she said politely.

“
I’m here for the same reason you are Commander, although I must admit I am tired. I didn’t expect my meeting with Admiral Kinnear to be so long or as wearying. Still we covered the important matters. Between him and Captain Erdely there was no particularly good news, but nothing I did not anticipate.
”

“
If I might make a suggestion, sir, I wouldn’t give up mithering Headquarters for more ships.
”

“
That is a piece of advice I have every intention of taking Commander,
”
Shibanova replied.

Out among the stars there was a sudden rippling flash of light. Then it was gone. It was what they were both on the bridge to see, the
Hermes
and her squadron jumping out and leaving them behind.

“
Cruiser Squadron Eighteen now takes formal responsibility for the defence of the Dryad System,
”
Shibanova said quietly as he turned back towards the hatch.
“
Good night Commander.
”

Chapter Five

The Return

28
th
October 2066

The stylus hovered over the pad as Captain Ronan Crowe skimmed down through the dense text, listing the damage and the remedial action. Given what
Deimos
had suffered during the fall of Baden and the retreat back to Earth, the file probably contained a decent sized book
’
s worth of text. Damaged reactor room, an engine smashed beyond repair and a wing ripped off at the root, plus splinter damage pretty much the length of the ship. All in all it should have bought the ship at least six months in docks. But as one of only five flak cruisers the fleet possessed,
Deimos
has been classified as priority A1 for repairs. So three months later
Deimos
had now completed her re-commissioning trials and all that was needed to officially return her to fleet service was a signature. As he read, Crowe heard the dockyard manager let out a small but weary sigh. And ignored it.

It was nearly an hour later before the dockyard party left the ship. A few hundred kilometres away in a parallel orbit a pair of tugs were already starting to tow the dock
’
s next customer, a battered heavy cruiser, into position to dock.

A1 status hadn
’
t just meant priority repair. It had also allowed Crowe to mostly fend off the Fleet Personnel Department.
Deimos
lost a few crewmembers to reassignment but they were all junior ratings and officers and the ship
’
s complement of NCOs and senior officers remained intact. That left
Deimos
with a very solid command core, which was a comfort because the new people he was going to get were already a source of concern.

“
Come in, James,
”
Crowe called out as Commander Hockley appeared at the hatch to his cabin.

“
Sir, we
’
ve got everything squared away in the hangars, so we
’
re ready for the new arrivals.
”

“
Good. Have we found bunks for all the new deck crew?
”

“
Just about, sir. We sure as hell aren
’
t bringing anyone on board, not unless they can sleep outside.
”

“
Well I hope the wardroom extends a warm welcome to our new pilots.
”
There was something about Crowe
’
s tone that made the Commander hesitate.
“
Headquarters has just sent up personnel files for the pilots. Here, take a look for yourself.
”

Crowe leaned back his in chair as the Commander read. As an escort cruiser,
Deimos
had never really been designed for main battle line duties. Her intended role had been to escort and protect the fleet
’
s fighter carriers. This war though, wasn
’
t what anyone had planned for and
Deimos
with her mass of rapid firing flak guns had proved better at shooting down Nameless missiles than most of her brethren. Their stay in dockyard hands hadn
’
t just resulted in repair. Modifications had also been made in line with the fleet
’
s attempts to develop new doctrines to fight the Nameless. The newest was that of layered defence. When they next went into action the flak gun barrage wouldn
’
t be the first line of countermeasures against Nameless missiles. Instead they
’
d have someone out in front.

As originally designed,
Deimos
carried a pair of Class Three ship-to-ship shuttles, one in each of the bays mounted on either side of the hull. Their refit had seen both of these removed and each replaced by a much smaller Pattern Fifty-Eight work pod, while the bays themselves had been enlarged by about a quarter. This gave just enough room for each one to accommodate a single Raven space fighter.

Hockley let out a whistle,
“
There aren
’
t many people who could call us lightweights but this one
…”
he shook the computer pad,
“…
she can.
”

“
Hmm
…”

“
Sir?
”

“
She was only survivor of the
Dauntless
task group,
”
Crowe said grimly.
“
The carrier, both escort destroyers, their crews and her entire squadron all killed. That
’
s
…
that
’
s a hard blow for anyone.
”
Crowe paused as he stared into the middle distance for a moment, remembering
Mississippi
as she limped home after that first encounter.
“
Anyway, keep an eye on her James. If there
’
s a problem, I don
’
t want to be the last to know.
”

“
Will do sir. Who
’
s the other pilot?
”
Hockley asked as he switched to the next file.

“
The opposite extreme. Less than a year out of training and hasn
’
t seen any action yet.
”
Crowe shook his head wearily.
“
They tell us that fighters and layered defence is the future, then hand me one pilot who hasn
’
t seen enough and another who might have seen too much!
”

___________________

The Raven class strike fighter, D for Dubious slid slowly into
Deimos
’
s
port side hangar. The fit was tight and Flying Officer Alanna Shermer kept her eyes locked on the auto-lander
’
s readouts, ready to take control. Finally the wheels settled gently on the deck.

“
Jesus wept, I hope we never have to make a hot landing in here,
”
muttered Petty Officer Kristen Schurenhofer, Dubious
’
s weapons controller, as she looked around.

Alanna made no comment as she worked her way through the shut down checklist. Outside the hangar doors began to close while a couple of suited members of the deck crew started to lock Dubious down. Schurenhofer was still talking but Alanna wasn
’
t listening. Instead she watched the stars until the hangar door closed and cut off her view.

“
Welcome to your new home,
”
Commander Hockley said as he opened the hatch into the officer
’
s cabin.
“
It
’
s going to be cosy I
’
m afraid,
”
he added somewhat unnecessarily as Alanna shuffled in sideways,
“
although you shouldn
’
t all be in there too often.
”
The cabin was a two by three metre area and had been rated for two officers, each getting a bunk on either side.
Deimos
’
s
refit had added a third, which dropped down from the deckhead.

“
I
’
m sure I
’
ll be fine, sir,
”
she replied as she dropped her kit on the bunk.
“
Will I be meeting the Captain?
”

“
Yes, although he
’
s not onboard at the moment. He
’
s being briefed at StarForge Three, so I guess we
’
ll be getting underway pretty soon. Anyway you should see him sometime during second watch.
”

“
Should I dress to
…
?
”

“
No, Captain Crowe runs a fairly relaxed ship, at least as far as uniforms are concerned. The wardroom will welcome you this evening.
”

When Hockley was gone Alanna lay back on her on new bunk and listened to the sound of the ship. She hadn
’
t been aboard
Dauntless
long before Alpha Centauri, but she had been there long enough to get a feel for the old ship. Almost everything on the little carrier had been worn out.
Deimos
was a much newer ship and yet there was a familiar feel to her. It wasn
’
t just that she was another Battle Fleet ship.
Deimos
’
s
war had already been a busy one and she bore the scars. She wasn
’
t the only one.
Was I right to volunteer for this?
she wondered. On board a carrier, the pilots and their planes were the ship
’
s point of being. The same was true of the Earth side and lunar fighter bases. But aboard a cruiser, a pilot was always going to be an outsider, merely a supplement and as such, a place for her to get through her tour, without attention.

___________________________

For ship captains
’
fleet briefings were as much an opportunity to socialise as they were about serious business. A captain was master aboard his or her own ship, which in turn meant that there always had to be a certain distance between captain and crew. So the period between arrival and the beginning of the briefing was an opportunity to renew old acquaintances and have open conversations with those of equal rank. For Crowe, they
’
d been a particularly rare pleasure. Almost as soon as he
’
d received his captain
’
s stripes he
’
d volunteer to be seconded to Science Fleet to command exploration missions. A lot of officers hated such postings since the scientists and researchers who ran Science Fleet tended to treat Battle Fleet officers who actually crewed their ships as glorified taxi drivers. Science Fleet briefings were very different and on the
Mississippi
his role had mostly been about making sure the route and logistics were worked out. Poor old
Mississippi
. They
’
d passed within a few thousand kilometres of her on the way back from the trials. After that first clash with the Nameless she
’
d been judged beyond economic repair and parked in Luna orbit. The breakers clearly hadn
’
t got to her yet and it didn
’
t look like anyone had started cannibalising her for spare parts. But there hadn
’
t been many of her class to begin with and in the last year the count had dropped sharply.