Resilience (Warner's World Book 6) (16 page)

Chapter 11. Batlasan to Cheklin 0149, 16 September

Puros was very surprised to see the Dogon missiles headed at his ships and not used defensively. “Very brave but very foolish. That seals the fate of the Dogon” he said to his flag captain. “Engage them one for one from our ships and launch fighters to engage one for one.” Then he added “and get those fighters back aboard and rearmed quickly.”

“But of course Admiral” said his flag captain.

Puros eased back in his chair and struggled to find a competent reason for the enemy’s action. But the prospect of destroying the Dogon and, with it gone, the rest of the enemy ships put a smile on his face.

A few seconds later the offensive systems officer announced the detection of the enemy ships. Puros gave the order to fire another 200 missiles at the new opportunity. He rubbed his hands for the first time in the battle, sensing that the battle for the space over Cheklin was all but won.

As soon as Bala saw the enemy fire at her and her other ships she ordered the remaining missiles to be fired at the enemy ships. Once fired she ordered “Prepare to warp.”

Chapter 12. Dogon over Cheklin 0151, 16 September

Dariish saw the Venlin fire its remaining missiles and he ordered his remaining to be fired too. Then he ordered “Abandon ship.” He entered the code for the destruction of the ships core in the unlikely event that it wasn’t destroyed. By the time he did so he was the only person still in the command centre.

He ran and it had been years since Dariish had actually run at all. But now was not the time to give himself a hard time on keeping fit. He clambered into an escape pod along with his defensive systems officer who barely waited long enough for Dariish to secure his harness before he hit the launch button. The pod shot out into the dark and accelerated at high Gs towards the planet.

The screen in front showed a view from the rear camera. Dariish was treated to a spectacular display of laser lights as the Dogon’s automatic beam defence system engaged the enemy missiles just prior to impact.

The escape pod was designed to sustain a fair amount of blast but it was not designed to weather the blast nor the impact of a succession of electromagnetic pulses (EMP) detonated by six nuke devices. Dariish never really knew what killed him. It was instantaneous. But a few pods were sufficiently clear. They would count themselves lucky were it not for the fact that now there was no top cover over Cheklin. These surviving pods would barely touch down before the next phase in the battle for Checklin would begin.

Chapter 13.  Batlasan over Checklin 0153, 16 September

Puros rubbed his hands again when the Dogon was removed from his holo display. It made up for the annoyance occasioned by the enemy ships that warped away.

“24 runners impact in 3” called out his defensive systems officer.

“Engage 2 for 1. Automate close in defences” Puros was annoyed at having to spend even more of his missiles. The same thing was being repeated on each of his caps as they had to take down the enemy runners that managed to avoid the intercepts.

“The Turgoon is hit – three times” called out one of his staff.”

Puros gritted his teeth.

“The Salmaan’s been hit five times….and the Milaaki twice”

Puros was really annoyed now. But he was not to be deterred. It was the price of victory. “Are all your fighters recovered?” he asked Chugin, who shook his head and replied “two minutes.”

Puros spent the next two minutes oscillating between rubbing his hands and rubbing the tops of his thighs. The latter he did when stressed. Finally when given the go ahead from Chugin he ordered “Activate phase two.”

His fleet accelerated now to an altitude of 10,000kms (10K) above the planet where their beam weapons would be within effective range. His plan was to invite the enemy batteries to fire and then one by one destroy these. If they did not bite he would go to phase three, even though he didn’t really want to. No rogan home world city had yet been nuked by a rogan warship and he really did not want to have the honour.

Chapter 14. Neeblo 0157, 16 September

Felis was tired but the adrenalin helped him focus, despite the fact that his body clock said sleep. By his best estimate the enemy had fired nearly all its ship missiles. They would have to come to within beam range or commit their fighters. He thought Puros would opt for the beam attack because it was the most efficient, even if it did expose his ships.

Selinta kept announcing as the enemy ships picked up speed. After the second one he knew Puros was going for the beam option. He also knew Puros would run in hard and fast to get his beam weapons into play as quickly as possible.

As soon as the enemy ships crossed the 25K mark his fourteen designated batteries began firing – and they fired fast. Each launcher had 25 missiles to fire and as soon as they were all launched the crew could run for their underground shelters. So there was a real incentive to fire quickly. For most it would take longer to fire all 25 than it would take the first missiles to reach their target - if they were so lucky.

Streams of missiles were rising from the surface across the face of the planet as fighters were returning back to their bases to rearm and take off again.

Chapter 15. Batlasan over Cheklin 0159, 16 September

Chugin had ordered his fighters out as soon as the caps began to decelerate. They needed to be out to engage the missiles coming their way. Each fighter carried 6 missiles. With 100 fighters they could only engage 600 at a time. It was therefore imperative they get out quick, fire quick, return and rearm quick so they could do it all again.

When Puros checked his remaining ship missile stocks and discovered he had only 200 he realised it was going to be touch and go. He instinctively began rubbing his thighs. For the first time in a long time he realised he was taking a big gamble, one he would not normally countenance. But he was committed now.

He was reassured as the beam weapons came into play and began destroying the enemy batteries. This would limit the total that could be fired at his ships. Everything was now happening so fast. He could see on the holo the fact that his fighters were destroying hundreds of enemy missiles but still they kept coming.

Given the short lead times between detections and impact all ships had switched to automatic fire control. He saw the runner total for missiles heading at the Batlasan climb to 36. He barely had time to rub his thighs one more time before the close in beam defence weapons fired. The shock of the impacts made him grab the arm rests of his chair.

One of his staff reassured him that it was only minor damage. Another advised that there were no more enemy batteries firing. Things calmed down for Puros. It had been a close run thing but they had prevailed. He checked the damage and all of his capital ships had sustained further damage. The Turgoon was seriously damaged and was requesting assistance.

It was decision time again. “Launch the assault” Puros ordered.

A small armada of light and heavy shuttles were launched and began heading for the planet and in particular for Lewista.

Chapter 16. Neeblo 0207, 16 September

Felis had seen the icons for his batteries removed one by one in rapid succession. He knew that it might look like a simple thing – the removal of an icon. But in fact in each of the location it meant death and destruction for dozens even hundreds of people. He hoped most would have made it to their shelters but he knew the statistics and they were not inclined to favour that outcome.

“Incoming shuttles” announced Selinta.

“Activate the reserve batteries. Engage the shuttles” ordered Felis.

Kraag was on a call. He turned to Felis and said “Third fighter wing is relaunching now. They want to know what their priority is.”

“Those shuttles.”

“Got it.”

Chapter 17. Batlasan over Cheklin 0208, 16 September.

Puros could not believe the enemy had more batteries. There were no more ship missiles left. It was all down to his fighters. His flag captain was berating someone down on the flight decks below to get more fighters out. Then he saw the rising arcs of enemy fighters. He knew then it was a disaster.

“Withdraw. Call the shuttles back NOW” he demanded. He turned to Chugin “Fend off those fighters and buy us time.”

The shuttles got the message to return to base and began turning to vector back up to their respective mother ships. As those from the Turgoon did so they saw their mother ship explode. Their pilots now desperately tried to secure a berth on another ship.

Puros’s fighters were diving now to engage the upcoming fighters from the planet. Missiles were fired in all directions, some targeting fighters deemed to be too much of a threat while others targeted shuttles. It was all at such relatively short range that burn times for missiles were less than a minute.

The shuttles needed more than a minute to close with their mother ships and most did not make it. The rising fighters of 3
^rd
Wing paid a hefty price for the destruction of the enemy assault shuttles but they served the defence of Cheklin well.

Puros gripped his thighs impervious to the physical pain he was inflicting on himself. In rage he yelled out “NO!”

As he did so one of his staff reported more enemy fighters have launched. The 24 fighters of 2
^nd
Wing had different orders than their 3
^rd
Wing compatriots. Their objective was the enemy caps.

The imperialist fighters previously launched to engage the 3
^rd
wing were returning to the carrier for rearming. They were ordered not to land so more fighters could be launched. It was getting very congested over the Blatasan. Inside it was pandemonium and missile stocks were near exhausted. Only eleven fighters could be armed. They shot out to engage the rising resistance fighters.

Outnumbered, most were destroyed but they did serve to bleed missiles away from their intended targets. But not all. The Salmaan was hit again as it was recovering its shuttles. One of the incoming missiles penetrated the hangar space and struck one of the heavy shuttles setting off a ripple of explosions in the hangar space. The capital ship exploded shortly thereafter.

The rest of the 1
^st
RIF limped back into a geo orbit above Lewista, just out of missile range, where it would lick its wounds and give its commander time to come to grips with what had just happened. In the space of two hours the mighty 1
^st
RIF had been repulsed and battered. It had lost 2 caps and a dozen fighters but Puros knew that the loss of his ground troops and his missiles made him an impotent force.

Chapter 18. Neeblo 0209, 16 September

There was cheering inside the operations room but Felis barely allowed himself time to savour what many viewed as a victory. Meelanda brought the media in to interview him. He begrudgingly and only briefly complied. He gave them ten minutes, answered questions with short responses and then said “That’s all. There is still much that I must attend to. This session is over.”

His tone was unmistakeable but the media appealed to Meelanda for more time. She looked at Felis, saw not only the fatigue but also his frustration and she opted wisely to comply with his wishes. The media circus left and finally Felis was able to ask Kraag “I want a report on casualties, the number of operational missile launchers and missiles, the number of serviceable fighters and their missile stocks and find a way we can stop them jamming us. We need to find out about civilian casualties and damage to infrastructure. What’s the likelihood of fallout from those nukes? What measures do we need to take? What’s our production rate on missiles...”

Kraag knew that Felis must be tired. He leaned over and spoke to him in a quiet voice. “We’re all tired Felis. We all need some sleep. Nothing’s going to happen in the next few hours, maybe even days. Why don’t you get some sleep?”

Felis looked at him for a moment. Then he realised Kraag was right. “OK” is all he said. He stood up, thanked the staff and left. He walked out into the cold night air and crossed over to the accommodation lines. He looked up at the stars and wondered how they had survived. But he also wondered, now that he had shot just about every bolt in the armoury, how long they could continue to survive. Unlike the imperialist he had but one planet’s resources to draw on. He knew they would be back and in force.

Chapter 19. Neeblo 0410, 16 September

Kraag was wrong about nothing happening in the next few hours. He had opted to hold the fort while the rest of his staff got some rest. But at 0410 the main screen lit up with further detections of incoming craft. This time it was four transports escorted with one cap and one light. They were definitely rogan ships, which meant they were imperialist forces.

Kraag immediately recalled his staff and watched the new arrivals set a course for the 1
^st
RIF. The AI told him they would reach the 1
^st
RIF by dawn. He did not know what was on the transport but he suspected it was either ground troop reinforcements, missiles or both. Either way it was not good news.

Selinta was first to arrive and looked like she hadn’t really slept. Probably too pent up from all the stimuli was Kraag’s guess. She took a look at the icons, scanned the screen and said “Shit!” Kraag nodded his head.

“Can we signal the Phantom?” she asked.

“No, still jammed. Besides they won’t be able to pull off a repeat performance against two ships without missiles and one of these is a cap remember.”

She sank into her chair a little dispirited.

More of the staff arrived, including Felis who must have stuck his head under a tap to wake up for his top was all wet. “A few hours hey?” he asked. Kraag just shrugged his shoulders. “So…missiles and fighters. How many by dawn Rotina?”