The Landfall Campaign (The Nameless War) (80 page)

“
We have nearly sixty contacts and there
’
s only four of us. We are going to have to split up.
”

“
Dubious, we stick with our wing man. That
’
s one of the basics,
”
Lieutenant Malm replied across the radio.

“
Not this time Curious. If they spread out, we
’
re going to lose most of them. We
’
ll have to spread out with them. I need you to stay high with your missiles just in case some try to take the fast route over the top of the rings and then dive in when they
’
re over Junction.
”

“
Why not all go straight to Junction? If they go in from the rim we can get there ahead of them.
”

“
Yeah and then be sitting with no momentum when they burn past us, plus when we can see them, they
’
ll be able to see Junction. We won
’
t get enough of them. We need to be behind them, whittling them down.
”

“
That
’
s risking someone getting mobbed in there,
”
one of
Envoy
’
s
pilots said.

“
Yeah but the engine output of those things doesn
’
t look very high. We
’
ve never seen the Nameless with guns, so right now I think we have the advantage.
”

“
A lot of guess work there, Dubious,
”
Malm replied.
“
How long do you want me to hold?
”

“
Once you hear them reach Junction, then come on in.
”

Four minutes before the Nameless fighters began to enter the edge of the rings Dubious got into missile range. Alanna jammed her thumb down as the word LOCKED appeared on the HUD and all four of Dubious
’
s anti-fighter missiles leapt away from their mountings. The fighters from
Envoy
launched as well and the missiles powered down on the enemy. Most of them reached the rings except for a single unlucky fighter at the back that was hit by three as the rest disappeared from Dubious
’
s radar.

“
Good luck everyone. See you at Junction,
”
Alanna said as she followed them in.

Immediately the fighter
’
s collision alarm started to sound as Dubious wove through. At the rim were the smaller boulders and Alanna didn
’
t dare to blink because at these ranges radar wasn
’
t good enough. The old Mk I eyeball was her best instrument.

“
Anything?
”

“
Nothing ye… Jesus, that was close!
”
Schurenhofer exclaimed as Dubious skimmed past a bus-sized lump of ice and rock.

“
Don
’
t worry. If we hit something we
’
ll never feel it.
”

“
Thank Skip. That
’
s
…
Contact! Dead ahead!
”

Alanna strained her eyes as she set the systems for maximum light amplification. For several seconds there was nothing. She glanced at her radar but there was too much clutter for it to cope with. Then abruptly she caught sight of it. It must have grazed an asteroid - the lightest of touches but it had been enough to rip open the side. Her first burst went short, the second long, the Nameless fighter swerved around an asteroid before she could walk a third onto it. She swung around after it then jerked Dubious violently to port. The enemy had reversed it
’
s facing back at her and a single line of plasma bolts pulsed past them.

“
They have guns!
”
shouted Schurenhofer,
“
how the hell do they have guns!
”

Dubious flashed past before Alanna flipped her over. As the enemy appeared in her sights she fired her fixed gun and Schurenhofer joined with the two turret mounts. The three lines of plasma bolts converged and tore the fighter apart.

“
This is D for Dubious to all units. Be advised enemy fighters have guns,
”
Alanna barked into the radio as she flipped Dubious again and continued the chase. There was no acknowledgement, just the hiss of the carrier wave. With so much rock and ice around them, the radio wasn
’
t going to get through.

“
Looks like everyone else is going to have to find out for themselves,
”
Schurenhofer said.
“
Thermal contact at one o
’
clock.
”

They caught and destroyed three more fighters. They were slow, unmanoeuverable and no match for a Raven fighter once the lost the element of surprise. As she closed on Junction Station Alanna could do the maths. They
’
d followed fifty-eight fighters in. She
’
d destroyed four. Even if Curious and the
Envoy’s
two had managed the same, that still left them facing more than forty operational enemy fighters.

“
Nearly there Skipper.
”

“
Make sure friend or foe is online - this is going to be very crowded,
”
Alanna replied as Dubious passed the outer markers.

“
Yeah.
”

Dubious crossed into the clear area around Junction and straight into a battle zone. The first thing Alanna saw was the auxiliary cruiser
Lincoln
drifting slowly away from the station, flames erupting from the dozen plus breaches in her hull as escape pods launched. Dozens of Nameless fighters swirled around, seeking position before darting in. The other auxiliary, the
Gaston
, was hit but still firing. Her flak guns laid down a devastating barrage each time the Nameless gathered. This consumed a few fighters, but their comrades would take the opportunity to make strafing runs across the beleaguered ship.

As Alanna jerked Dubious in behind the first enemy fighter she caught sight of Junction Station. The centrifuge had an entire section blown out. Some of the storage sections had completely detached and were now drifting clear. Even as she watched another pair of missiles slammed in. Alanna lost track of her target.

“
Schurenhofer,
”
she said in a hollow voice,
“
find me targets that still have their missiles. Let
’
s salvage what we can.
”

_____________________

The Nameless fleet hovered just beyond the range of guns recovering the remains of their fighter strike. Most of the Battle Fleet ships were within firing range of the Rings when the Nameless fighters started to trickle back to their carriers. Barely a quarter made it through the crossfire but that was at best cold comfort.

Admiral Laura Lewis lifted the oxygen mask away from her face, “The whole hydrogen purification plant went up with the first strike. The main accommodation areas are all complete write offs. Everything is burned and the heat was such that the structure is probably buckl
…
” she broke off coughing. A surgeon attempted to put the mask back on but she irritably waved him off.

“Is there any hope of bandaging things back together?” Kander asked. Crowe looked at the Admiral’s face on the video screen and could see by his expression that he knew what the answer was going to be. But he
’
d asked any way in the hope he would be wrong.

“None,” Laura croaked. “There may be a few things we can salvage but the station is a complete loss. We haven’t lost that many people - we were lucky on that point but even in the short term we don’t have the capability to sustain your squadron.”

“
Fighters,
”
Kander said shaking his head,
“
we never saw that one coming.
”

“Excuse me a moment,” Crowe murmured as he saw one of his pilots come into the sickbay.

Alanna looked tired as she saluted and well she might. With Junction gone there weren
’
t enough hangars for all the remaining Ravens. As a temporary measure they were being cycled through the hangars on the starships.

“
Well?
”
he asked.

“
We found the two skimmers, sir. One had taken a hit but they
’
re both still space worthy.
”

“
And Junction?
”

Alanna shook her head, exhausted.
“
If it looks bad at a distance up close it
’
s worse. We found a hydrogen tank that was knocked clear but appears to be intact. But that was it. I
’
m sorry, sir, there were just so many of them we couldn
’
t stop them all.
”

Crowe glanced back. The two admirals were still talking. Almost a hundred percent of the Junction
’
s squadron was still fully combat-worthy. The casualty count was probably barely into two figures. Yet this had been the fleet
’
s most crushing defeat since Baden. Without the base, the centre of the Junction Line was gone. The road to Earth had been reopened.

“
Sir, we
’
re on the retreat again, aren
’
t we?
”
said Alanna. She blinked tiredly.
“
I
’
m sorry, sir, I shouldn
’
t have said that.
”

“
No, you shouldn
’
t but yes Lieutenant, we
’
re going to be retreating as soon as they agree we have no other choice. And we don
’
t. All our stores, fuel, everything we need, all gone. We either retreat or we find ourselves drifting.
”

“
The only place we can retreat to is Earth.
”

“
I know. Lieutenant, you are dismissed.
”

Epilogue

27
th
October 2067

Alice scrambled further up the slope before turning and looking back at the caves. In the evening light she could make out a thin trickle of smoke slipping from the cave mouth but no light. It would be enough for the night as long as nothing with thermal imaging looked too hard in their direction. There weren
’
t signs to suggest any of the earlier parties out of Douglas had come this way. They
’
d been following perhaps a few days behind another party for nearly a week. They must have turned off though because there had been no sign of them for days.

These caves might even be secure enough to stop for a few days, allow blisters and muscles to heal, and just have a chance to rest. Alice allowed herself to entertain the thought before rejecting it. Better a moving target than a sitting duck. If anyone complained she would remind them of the campsite they
’
d come across. That was the one where two other parties had gathered together after finding what they must have thought was a safe hidey-hole. In doing so however they made themselves a nice fat target and when the Nameless came at them from all sides, not one of them had escaped. All Alice
’
s group could do was salvage what they could and clear the area as fast as possible.

Maybe someday they
’
d find somewhere secure enough to stop. Maybe the fleet would arrive and tell them they didn
’
t have to run anymore. Maybe someday the Nameless would believe their job was done and like they had done with the Centaurs
’
world, leave. Alice paused at the entrance to the first of the caves, where blankets and leafy branches blocked the light from the fire within and looked up at the stars that were starting to appear in the darkening sky. Maybe some day it would rain cheese. No, there was no point in thinking about any future beyond surviving the day. Alice turned and entered the cave.

_____________________

On Alanna
’
s radar screen three blips disappeared.