The Last Charge (The Nameless War Trilogy Book 3) (17 page)

No guidance came from
Saladin
. The fighters abandoned their position on the flank and moved to intercept the fire from the front, but with threats on all sides the defence was stretched too thin. Willis’s eyes lit on the six torpedoes tracking along thirty thousand kilometres astern of the convoy. The weapons were set to engage any targets that got within ten thousand kilometres but they could take commands.

“Tactical, take control of the aft torpedoes. Target the three cruisers!”

“Understood.”

“Helm, reverse our facing!” she continued to shout. “Guns, engage at will!”

The six torpedoes began to accelerate towards the escorts. Their own radar arrays were still shut down, with the guidance systems instead relying on passive sensors and returns from the radar pulses of the surrounding ships. Coming from astern combined with their small size, the alien ships didn’t appear to see them coming. At ten thousand kilometres the Nameless registered their presence and began to take evasive action. Missiles intended for attack were instead redirected to defence, but the torpedoes were something the Nameless hadn’t encountered before. As each one registered a targeting radar lock on, they began to launch chaff. Two torpedoes vaporised as they met enemy missiles head on, but the other four evaded and continued to close. The starship engines that powered the torpedoes gave extended endurance a missile couldn’t match, but they didn’t have the same high acceleration. However, their designer had come up with a solution in the form of attached old-fashioned chemical rockets. As these fired, the torpedoes accelerated through their final run-in. The three alien escorts volleyed off the rest of their dual-purpose missiles, intercepting and destroying one more torpedo. Another clipped a frantically dodging cruiser, enough to rip a ragged gash along the entire length of the ship’s upper hull. The final two, projectiles every bit as big as the cap ship missiles the Nameless had used since the start of the war, hammered straight into ships utterly incapable of surviving such a blow.

As the Nameless vessels died, their surviving ships salvoed off their loads. But the loss of three cruisers had pulled their teeth. Their weakened salvo met
Black Prince
’s counter fire. Willis felt her ship jump as another missile found its way through, while a tanker took a direct hit and exploded.

“Bridge, Sensors. All contacts are jumping out!”

On the holo the blips for the enemy ships were becoming indistinct.

“Yes, that showed them!” someone said across the command channel. Ten Nameless ships had dropped in. Six had survived to jump out.

Willis looked at the holo, on the opposite side of the convoy, the first group of enemy ships was also falling back.

Willis had barely time to draw breath before the next call came.

“Bridge, Coms. Signal from
Saladin
, convoy heading change to two, eight, zero, dash zero, zero, zero turn in succession.”

“Acknowledge and proceed,” she replied. Her hand bumped against the visor of her helmet as she unconsciously tried to rub her eyes. Commodore Dandolo’s move was a good one. There was likely to be a break before any further attack and by turning the convoy to move directly away from Saturn, they were gaining maximum distance before that could happen. In his seat, she doubted she would have made that decision as fast. Too many things were demanding her attention and she was being reminded that even after a year in command of not just a ship, but the defence of a star system, this wasn’t the type of war she had experience of. On the damage control panel several sections were flashing. It was time to find out what surviving thus far had cost them.

___________________________

Battle Fleet Headquarters 

“How do you think it’s going?” Secretary Callahan asked quietly.

Wingate made no immediate reply. The two men were standing at the back of the fleet command room, watching the giant hologram as the battle played out at an agonisingly slow rate.

Wingate didn’t reply immediately. Instead he mentally tried several possible answers,
as well as can be expected, too early to say, inside projections
.

“We’re on the cusp of failure,” he said quietly. When Callahan turned sharply to look at him he continued. “Two tankers are down, all the rest are damaged to some extent. Probably less than half the cargo remains. The Nameless might judge... might correctly judge, that they have done enough.”

Wingate paused as he continued to stare up at the main holo. On it were a handful of green blips just entering the gun range of the forts on the moon of Tethys. Of course with the picture based on light speed transmissions, it was about eighty minutes out of date. Every twenty minutes or so, an FTL band would open as the Nameless scouts sent an update and the coms ship still orbiting Saturn attempted to get its own message through. Based on that information, a second set of green blips showed something closer to the convoy’s real time position, now past Tethys and heading almost directly for the Saturn Red Line.

“How will we know?” Callahan asked, “I mean, whether the Nameless think that?”

“They took this seriously. Their close range jump in with the inevitable casualties proved that. But if they don’t put in another contact before the convoy can jump, then we have probably failed.”

Wingate motioned with his maimed hand towards a large group of red blips close to Earth. The main Nameless Fleet, a light minute out from Earth, facing the Home Fleet, which was now holding position just inside the Earth Red Line. In their relative positions the two fleets were for the moment effectively neutralising each other, neither allowing the other the freedom to act. Which left the field open to the smaller vessels on each side. The fighters from Earth were preparing to fly to Saturn, as were those from the carriers
Dauntless
and Huascar, all to support the last push.

“There has to be one more serious assault and the convoy has to get through it without significant extra damage.”

“What if...” Callahan’s question trailed off.

“We don’t have the fuel to try this again,” Wingate said.

___________________________

The convoy continued to accelerate away from Tethys. A few shots from the heavy laser cannons mounted on the surface had been enough to persuade the shadowing Nameless scouts to keep their distance. For an hour Willis and the rest of the crew had been able to relax – a little.

“We’ve lucky so far,” Dandolo said across the coms link, “although God knows we’re within our rights not to feel it.”

“I know I’m not,” Ozo said.

“We haven’t lost any of the escort,” Dandolo continued, “and we haven’t lost the ammunition ship. For that we can give thanks to which ever higher power looked out for us.”

Willis winced. The fully loaded ammunition ship
Numancia
was supposed to have been on the disengaged side of the convoy, but in the chaos of battle she had found herself directly in the line of fire. Before
Black Prince
had come alongside her, a missile had smashed into an almost full ammunition bunker. By some miracle, it had failed to cause any secondary detonations. With all hell breaking loose, no one realised it until the shooting stopped and the
Numancia
’s very frightened looking captain reported in. Given that the distance between
Numancia
and
Black Prince
had been as little as twenty kilometres, Willis didn’t like to dwell on the damage that a detonating ten thousand ton starship suddenly transformed into shrapnel might have inflicted on them.

“But now we’ll have to make the last sprint,” Dandolo continued, “and odds are that’s exactly what it will be. Commander Valance, I know you’ve been trying to keep your ammunition expenditure under control, but from here on in, hold nothing back. Same goes for the rest of you.”

Valance nodded.

“For the record sir, my magazines are now at forty two percent,” he said.

“Understood Commander,” Dandolo replied. “One last thing, I want each ship to generate its own jump solution. The transports will jump as soon as they clear the Red Line.”

“That runs the risk of leaving someone behind it they lose their jump drive at the wrong moment,” Ozo warned.

“I’m aware of that, but the alternative is to go down the all or nothing route,” Dandolo said. “Okay, let’s get this over with.”

“I see them!” Willis snapped before the sensor officer could open his mouth. On the holo dead ahead, just inside the Red Line, a dozen Nameless ships, a mix of cruisers, escorts and a single carrier dropped into real space. Four fighters from the
Dauntless
were slowly cruising along the line and they immediately accelerated in. The Nameless carrier spewed fighters and within moments a vicious dogfight erupted.

“Contact separation, we have incoming.”

The Saturn fighters pacing along ahead went full burn to get out far enough ahead to thin the first missile salvo. The convoy started to turn enough to present broadside and still make forward progress. On the holo, more Nameless ships started to jump in, at least twenty in total and short of turning one eighty, the convoy was on course to charge into the middle of them.

Willis had to swallow hard to generate enough moisture to speak.

“Bridge, Fire Control. Engage when ready.”

There was an eruption of flame and explosions as flak rounds and plasma bolts shattered missiles and clawed them out of space. Three escorts tried to jump in behind and were set upon by the squadron of American fighters that had been pacing along astern. More fighters, some from Earth and others from the carriers, fed into the fight as more Nameless ships arrived.

One of the empty transports took a direct hit, its escape pods hurtling away as it tumbled out of formation and broke up as it went. The destroyer
Olstyn
took two hits in quick succession that wrecked her armament, but grimly held her place in the formation. Still they crept closer to the Red Line.
Fortitude
and the heavy cruisers,
Loki
and
Osiris
jumped in, their guns stabbing out even as they emerged from jump space. Alien ships scrambled clear as plasma bolts burned towards them. A Nameless carrier and a pair of cruisers were badly hit before more of their ships arrived around them and forced the battleship to jump away.

“New contacts!” the sensor officer’s voice was hoarse. They were now only minutes away from jump out but every ship’s ammunition magazine was all but empty. Most of the Nameless ships had jumped away, their missiles expended, several of them nursing wounds from the human fighters that had also now largely withdrawn. In this marathon they were down to the last few contenders.

Willis glanced at the navigation display; they were passing through the Red Line now. In theory, a jump was possible, but the gradient of risk from safe to suicidal was so steep that now wasn’t the time. A moment later she wondered if that was true. There were six new arrivals, two capital ships dead ahead and a pair of cruisers on either flank. The cap ships were firing as they arrived. Two cap ship missiles, clearly not yet far enough into real space disintegrated. The rest along with a swarm of smaller missiles roared down as every human ship fired all available weapons and launched the last of their chaff.

Minstrel
couldn’t turn fast enough. Her forward defence consisted of only a few turret-mounted laser cannons, but she could lay down more chaff than even a battleship. With only moments to decide, Commander Valance didn’t attempt to turn to line up a broadside and instead presented only the ship’s bows and the smallest possible target cross section. On
Black Prince
, Willis saw a cap ship missile graze the barrage ship’s starboard side, breaking up and ripping open the side as it went, while the impact of smaller missiles left multiple craters in her hull.

“Evasive manoeuvres, countermeasures full spread!” Willis bellowed.
Black Prince
started to jolt around violently as missiles burned past them.

“
Saladin
, this is
Minstrel
. We’ve taken heavy damage. The starboard side battery is wrecked.” Valance was shouting directly across the command channel.

Willis spoke without thinking.

“
Minstrel
, do you still have your jump drive?” she demanded.

“Yes, thank God!”

“Turn and present your port side to the cap ships, coast in and give them everything as you go!”

“Got it,” Valance replied.
Minstrel
’s engines spluttered out as her thrusters fired and, swinging on her own axis, brought the undamaged port battery to bear. Approaching side on, she opened fire. The second salvo from the cap ships ran into a wall of fire it could not penetrate as the cruisers held off their counterparts on the flanks. One of their surviving tankers blinked out as it jumped. Within seconds the other survivors disappeared, leaving only the escort. A break between salvos was enough for them to make their own escape.