Koban 6: Conflict and Empire (7 page)

“Ship Manager, the highest priority is to route my transport car to the ACC as quickly as possible, and connect me to whichever Lieutenant is on duty there today.” The never before used backup control center, at least never used in combat, was typically employed as a training assignment for young nobles rising in the ranks of Thandol naval officers. This untested young Thandol officer would have control of the most powerful class of ship in the Empire.

“Yes, Sire. I will have to route your car around the damage near the center of the ship. Fire suppression and damage repair crews have the central transportation tunnels blocked, and the central hub station is presumed destroyed by the explosion that occurred near the Bridge. It will take longer for you to reach the Alternate Command Center.”

Halder had previously thought the battle would be over before he reached the Bridge, and it nearly had been, with his ship the loser. Now he had another chance to conduct the fight, and he didn’t want some damn inexperienced Lieutenant botching what would certainly be the greatest combat test this Crusher had ever faced, with Halder still stuck in a damned transport car.

“Just get me there by the fastest means possible. And I told you that I want to speak to whoever is on duty in the ACC, and I mean right now!”

“Lieutenant Thudglat Farlol has so far not responded to my hails, or to calls to his embedded communicator, Sire. However, I am in contact with the Master Chief of the Watch there, Jatrol Thivbolt. I did not connect you to him, because you specifically asked…” The AI was roughly interrupted, with Halder using the Imperative grammar mode, normally reserved for living creatures.

“Obey me. Connect me to the Master Chief, immediately.” He would find out exactly where this distant cousin of the Emperor’s family was, in this time of emergency.

“Master Chief Thivbolt here.”

“This is Captain Halder. Where is Lieutenant Farlol?”

There was a sound of relief in the bugling trumpet of Thivbolt. “Sire, I feared you died on the Bridge. The Lieutenant is in his quarters, with a young female he brought aboard with him. He left orders not to be disturbed, and has disconnected himself from all external communications. I’m not authorized to leave the ACC unless he is here, and I can’t share my security code with the others here with me. That code is needed to override the lockout at his quarters.”

“Master Chief, you have acted properly. Are you informed of our situation?”

“Yes, Sire. The Federation has attacked the docks, and destroyed our Bridge with a weapon similar to the one they used at Wendal. I have our sensor feeds active here in the ACC, with navigation and weapons control available here. I’m awaiting orders.”

“Excellent. I’m on my way there, but I need to know where the enemy ships have gone. Do we have Jump capability?”

“Sire, all eight surviving enemy ships Jumped, and sensor tracks show they have gone to the other side of Meglor. I assume they will continue their attack on those docks. We lost our Jump Tachyons when power failed, and I apologize for acting without orders, but I reestablished our Trap fields and we have three Jump energy tachyons available.”

“I commend you Master Chief. I order you to micro Jump to the other side of Meglor and authorize you to engage all of the Decoherence launchers to destroy the enemy ships as quickly as possible.”

“Yes, Sire, I had already ordered the Navigation computer to compute such a Jump. However, four of our twelve launchers were disabled or destroyed in the explosion. I also do not possess the security codes to authorize the Jump, or for firing any of our weapons. We would arrive defenseless even if I could order the Jump.”

“I’ll transmit my personal codes required for the Jump, for launchers, lasers, plasma cannons, and missiles to the ACC command console. Fire on arrival.” Halder sent them to the main console where the Master Chief was poised. This competent Thandol noncommissioned officer would be receiving a meritorious field promotion to Lieutenant, replacing his soon to be executed former superior.

“Sire, we will Jump the instant I have acknowledgement from the weapons masters of the codes you sent, and they have your orders to fire at will on the enemy.”

“Very good. I hope to be there before the shooting ends.”

This cursed second half of the battle could also be over before I reach the ACC
, Halder thought sourly.

True prescience implied knowledge of things before they existed or happened, and Captain Halder’s ability was merely one of experience, an ability to predict probable outcomes of actions that he knew could take place in a short timeframe. If prescient, he might have altered his instructions. As a loyal Empire patriot, probably not. He’d attack.

****

The reception to the Kobani arrival on the opposite side of Meglor was decidedly different from the White Outs close to the huge Thandol docks, where they had caught the enemy completely by surprise.

“Holy shit!” That exclamation from Sarge echoed the sentiments of all seven of the drone controllers. They were confronted with salvos of anti-ship missiles already in flight, and a latticework of heavy lasers and plasma bolts, crisscrossing the volume of space below the docks, even before the Bastard had emerged. Somebody had anticipated their next stop when they entered their Jump Holes, leaving behind the disintegrating Thandol docks, and the wounded but functional Crusher.

It was good that Thad had told them to Jump the drones, but to leave them ghosting in Tachyon Space, while the stealthed Sneaky Bastard did its surveillance of where the choicest targets were. They could have lost several of them before they could do any damage. Nevertheless, there was ample empty space below the docks where the drones could emerge, but the instant their gamma ray bursts were detected, lasers and plasma cannons would adjust, and radar guidance would quickly direct the missiles already in flight towards them.

It was readily apparent the orbits immediately below these four docks where the damaged ships of the Ragnar fleet were undergoing repair, was
not
the sort of benign empty volume the flotilla had entered on their initial arrival on the Thandol side. The Ragnar had left partial crews aboard their damaged craft, not just caretaker staff as the Thandol had done. These were apparently experienced combat crews, recently in a fight with humanity, and they were motivated to redeem their honor after the retreat they had been forced to make from Zanzibar 2. They had been forewarned that there was a Federation attack underway on the other docks, and a number of the Ravagers were already undocking.

Having first paw experience of human aggressiveness, Force Lieutenant Commander Grudfad, Gimtal Thond’s second in command, hadn’t paused to wonder if the humans would strike the orbital docks near him next, where the enemy of their last meeting had ships undergoing repair. He would certainly do so if he had that opportunity, therefore he was convinced the humans would do so.

He’d ordered preemptory fire at positions equivalent to where the human ships had appeared below the other docks, with instructions to hold fire by some weapons, having them pre-target the deceptively
safe
looking positions for White Outs.

Thad altered his plan on the fly. “Carol and Bradley set coordinates on your Novas for the two largest docks where most of the Ravagers are located.”

Carol protested. “Sir, I don't think I can compute coordinates from my drone’s Tachyon Space coordinates to the dock.”

“Nope, and don’t either of you try. Have Grumpy calculate it from an orbital position one hundred eighty-six thousand miles farther out than the target point on the dock, and upload the coordinates into the Nova. Then compute the Jump coordinates to put your drones at that orbital location. White Out where I said and set your AI’s to launch your Novas instantly, and then reenter a Jump Hole before the enemy sees your drones or gamma rays. If that works, we can try it four more times as the first two docks explode.”

Maggi was linked of course, and asked, “That’s pretty far out, but why won’t they see the drone’s gamma rays?”

“I didn’t mean they would never see them, but not for a full second after they exit. They’ll be back in a Jump Hole before the gamma rays arrive back here. Speed of light you know.” He grinned.

She nodded her understanding, but said, “Won’t that distance add uncertainty, and make the Nova’s targeting a bit fuzzy for hitting the best high mass areas?”

“Probably, but any blasts they cause will be enough to disrupt their plans, and give the rest of the drones a chance to fire Novas in the confusion, and all of us will get to launch missiles when the confusion starts.”

Sarge, monitoring his AI, saw the display of the coordinates for the Novas on his screen. “Carol, Bradley, transfer the Nova uploads, and Grumpy will have your Jump coordinates ready.”

In less than two minutes, the two drones were ready. Thad gave the order. “Jump and launch. I’m sure the Ragnar are wondering where the hell we are.”

****

Grudfad was impatient. “Where the drungshat are they? I refuse to believe these creatures would leave without trying to attack our ships.”

His question was answered faster than the velocity of light, because the two drones Jumped considerably faster than that, exiting a light second out, launched their Novas in a fraction of a second, and the bombs then arrived at the docks before the gamma rays did.  

The targeting wasn’t perfect, as had been noted, but the Nova II intersects with material in the docks were adequate to generate explosions powerful enough to shatter the structures where they emerged. Orbital stations were not built to the rigorous specifications of warships, which were designed to withstand explosions. Nearly a hundred previously battle damaged Ravagers, and almost that many Ragnar controlled Smashers, were sent pinwheeling away. Most of them had suffered only minor hull damage to their stealth coatings at Zanzibar, but seven had significant damage from missile strikes.

The tumbling was viciously violent inside ships that had only their main fusion generators for power. Docked, many of them didn’t have their Trap fields extended to catch tachyons and therefore, didn’t have the energy density required to produce artificial gravity. Unable to counter the effects of inertia, the crewmembers they had aboard were pinned to bulkheads, ceilings, or decks of whichever compartment or corridor they were in when the ship was sent tumbling. Unable to move more than fingers and eyes, assuming they were still breathing after slamming hard into their current positions, those ships were defenseless targets for human ships. They also couldn’t offer updated guidance for the anti-ship missiles they had preemptively launched before the humans attacked on this side of Meglor.

In the midst of this confusion, the drones would briefly appear, launch missiles and fire cannons, then micro Jump away before the relatively few operational Ravagers, and one Smasher, could successfully target them.

Two more docks exploded when drones, one assigned to Fred but controlled by his close friend Jorl, launched its Nova. Bill’s Drone was under Maggi’s control when it fired its Nova into the fourth dock. These secondary docks were predominately used for repair and upgrades of Thandol merchant ships, and a handful of Ragnar civil use craft. Naturally, the docks could easily be repurposed to work on warships, so none of them were being left untouched.

That left two more Novas of the six they had reserved for use on this side of Meglor, but there were markedly fewer large targets, and the smaller sized docks had been considerably easier to break apart.

One Ravager, with only stealth coating damage, appeared to be more competently commanded, and even though the messages were encrypted, it made more transmissions than any other Ragnar craft. Often, after it transmitted, one or more enemy ships maneuvered, or micro Jumped in aggressive moves to counter one of the drones. Jorl lost his drone when it was suddenly caught between a micro Jumped Ravager and the operational Smasher he was attacking.

Maggi had used up all of the missiles of Fred’s drone, and Thad gave her a new task. Looking at his display, he sent her the image of the specific ship he wanted her to go after. “I think that one may have the highest ranking Ragnar here. It micro Jumps often, and seems to be giving orders to other ships. See if you can kill that guy.”

“I’m out of missiles, Thad.”

“No you aren’t, you’re remotely driving a damned big one. You didn’t think we were taking your drone home with us did you?” He laughed.

“You have a point. Let me trap a high-energy tachyon. If I can’t intersect or ram his ass, I might catch him in a large event horizon and slice him in half, or drag his butt into Tachyon Space, drop my fields and let him evaporate with the drone. I notice the Ragnar don't use that Krall trick of cutting sections from their opponents, as we did to them at Zanzibar, where we captured those two Ragnar.”

Sarge interjected with an observation. “Maggi, I don’t believe they even think of using overlarge event horizons, due to their smoother hull designs and millions of tiny Trap field emitters, where their Jump Holes are perfectly form fitting. That makes for a safe Jump from even inside an atmosphere, or when right next to other ships or orbital stations. I doubt they think like a barbarian Krall, or us murderous humans.” He laughed softly.