Stand Into Danger: An Empire Rising Novella Read online

  Leaving the retrieval of Jensen to the junior bridge officers, Somerville brought up the sensor data that had been collected on the ships further into the system. As soon as the two Russian warships had been destroyed the remaining warships had broken orbit from around the gas giant and began to make for Achilles. The rest of the ships had scattered. The sensor officer’s readings suggested that the ships fleeing were military freighters while the warships were another light cruiser, a destroyer and two frigates. Achilles could never take them all on and hope to survive.

  Turning to his first officer Somerville asked, “what do you suggest we do now?”

  Hamilton was a good tactician. Somerville had already recommended him for promotion. Aggressive and yet careful to apply it at the right time, he was just the sort of officer the RSN was trying to get into command positions.

  “We could make a run for it,” he began as he manipulated his own controls, altering the main holo display. A dotted line appeared in front of the representation of Achilles, bending away from the approaching ships towards the shift passage to New France. “They wouldn’t be able to get into range of us so we would make a clean get away. We have already caused enough damage to be satisfied here. As you have already said, we could be needed elsewhere.

  “However,” he continued slowly, “Those fleeing military freighters make a very tempting target. If the Russians are bent on conquering New France I would bet they are filled to the seams with soldiers or at least the supplies they need for the soldiers they already have in New France. We could cause them a lot of damage if we could take out even one. It would be a shame to pass up such an opportunity.”

  “So what do you purpose then? I don’t intend to risk this ship unnecessarily, no matter how juicy the targets are,” Somerville asked.

  “We have the speed and maneuverability advantage. I say we use it. We keep heading for the remaining Russian warships. Let them think we are willing to go toe to toe with them. Why not? We have already destroyed a light cruiser and a destroyer. Who’s to say we shouldn’t be over confident?

  “Then, at the last moment, once they are committed, we can maneuver up and over them. Look at these three freighters here,” Hamilton said, pointing to three freighters that were scrambling away from the gas giant towards the shift passage to New France.

  “We can make for them. As soon as we try to out maneuver the warships the freighters will alter course, but by then we should have built up enough speed to get into range and fire off a broadside at one or two of them as we pass. Then we can just head on to New France.”

  “And what if the Russians release their frigates? They are faster than their light cruisers and destroyers. They could catch us and do some damage. If they managed to score a hit on us we could fall back into the clutches of the light cruiser and destroyer,” Somerville pointed out.

  “That’s a risk sir,” Hamilton conceded, “but one I think we should consider taking. Even if they released the frigates to use their full acceleration they would be allowing them to get into range of our missiles. We would make quick work of them.”

  “Ok,” Somerville said making up his mind. Standing he vacated the command chair. “You have the bridge Lieutenant. I want to see you put your ideas into practice.”

  “Yes sir,” Hamilton said eagerly. Every Lieutenant in the RSN knew to grab an opportunity to exercise command authority with open arms. There was fierce competition for promotion and command experience always looked well on a Lieutenant’s personnel file.

  Chapter 4 – Confrontation

  15th September 2439, New France system

  Eight days later Achilles was once again sitting at the edge of a French system as her sensors updated the bridge crew on what was going on around them. Hamilton had pulled off his plan perfectly. After dancing around the Russian warships he had managed to get into range of one of the freighters he had identified as a target. A single missile had taken it out. Somerville hoped the Russians would feel the loss.

  In anger, the two Russian frigates had tried to fire their missiles at Achilles but they had misjudged the range. Two minutes before reaching the British ship the missiles ran out of fuel and went ballistic. A small course change from the navigation officer had avoided them.

  After destroying the freighter they had headed for the shift passage to New France. As Somerville peered at the sensor data he knew he had a dilemma. New France was a hive of activity. There were tens of ships moving around in orbit and more moving about the inner system.

  Crucially, there was no sensor data on the large battlestations that should be around the colony. There was also a large gathering of ships about a light hour from New France facing the shift passage that lead further into French colonial space and all the way back to Earth. It looked like they were prepared to engage anything that came through the shift passage. The implications were obvious. Whatever fighting had occurred in the system was now over. The Russians had firmly established themselves as the owners of New France.

  The loss of the system meant that it was Somerville’s duty to get past the Russians and head for friendly space. He had no doubt that Britain and America would stand by France. Neither power wanted to see the Russian Star Federation get any stronger. There would be a fleet coming to liberate New France. Judging by the size of the naval forces the Russians had amassed in the system the fleet would need all the help it could get. The RSN had only eight medium cruisers. There were more under construction along with two new heavy cruisers that had just been designed. Yet it would take months for them to be finished. Achilles, therefore, constituted a significant proportion of the RSN’s firepower. She would be needed in the coming battle. Somerville couldn’t risk her here and now. However, he was still thinking about the dilemma before him.

  If a combined fleet were on its way to New France they would need as much intel on the Russian defenders as possible. Somerville had a duty to collect that information. He also felt a duty to the people of New France. No doubt the Russians had landed ground troops just as they had at Ouvea. The populace would be going through a tough occupation. Somerville wanted to find a way to give them some hope, to let them know they weren’t on their own.

  “Captain,” Lieutenant Jensen called from her position at the sensor console. “I’m picking up thermal blooms from the planet. There were four of them in quick succession. All were in a region near one of the ships in orbit.”

  “Ground strikes,” Hamilton informed her. “The Russians are bombarding the planet. It means there must still be some resistance from the French. RSNI intel from before the invasion suggests the French had over eighty thousand troops stationed on the planet. They must still be putting up a fight. Though I imagine it is a living hell down there, trying to fight a ground war with ships in orbit bombarding you every time you move.”

  Suddenly, Somerville didn’t feel torn anymore. He knew what he wanted to do. “Navigation, lay in a course for the shift passage back to Earth. Though don’t plot a direct route. Make it look like we are trying to avoid the main Russian fleet and make sure our course takes us close to the sixth planet.”

  “Yes sir,” the navigation officer said a little confused.

  The sixth planet was a large rocky planet with a thick layer of ice up to five kilometers deep in places. Its surface temperatures were far too cold for a colony, although the French had set up a couple of mining facilities on its surface. Importantly, at its present position, it lay almost directly between the shift passage Achilles had just exited and the shift passage that eventually lead back to Earth. Therefore, it wouldn’t look too strange for Achilles to plot a course close to the planet.

  “Here’s my plan,” Somerville said to the confused faces on the bridge. “As soon as we light off our engines everyone in the system will pick us up on their gravimetric sensors. Our course will make it clear we want to get out of New France and to safety. Whoever the Russian commander is, he will see an opportunity to destroy a large Britis
h warship isolated and alone. He’ll no doubt move his main fleet to intercept us and may even dispatch a flotilla to harry us and make sure we don’t try to attack their ships in orbit. We’re going to play along, at least until we get near the sixth planet.”

  *

  Three hours later, the time came for Achilles to make her course change. Sure enough, the Russian commander was moving the main part of his fleet closer to the shift passage that would be Achilles eventual route of escape. He had also dispatched a smaller force to move closer to the colony in case Achilles tried anything. As soon as she turned her nose towards the sixth planet the smaller fleet reacted. They immediately began to decelerate hard to swing deeper into the system. Rightly predicting she would use the planet’s gravity to go for the Russian ships orbiting the colony. They hoped to intercept the British ship before she made it to the colony. Up to this point though Somerville had been holding back Achilles’ full potential. Once she swung around the sixth planet, using its gravity to sling shot her towards the French colony, he ordered the engines to full power. The extra thirty percent thrust from the engines caught the Russians off guard. They had no answer and so were quickly left astern of the charging Achilles.

  The Russian commander had been taken aback by Achilles sudden burst of speed for his response was slow. Eventually, four destroyers began to move out of orbit around New France and formed up to engage Achilles. The freighters and military transports also began to break out of orbit and move away from the planet, escorted by a light cruiser and two frigates. That left only two more destroyers in orbit.

  Jensen continued to report thermal blooms, indicating the remaining destroyers were continuing to bombard the defenders. Several had been close to the larger cities and one had been right on top of a small town. The Russians had never signed the UN resolution on Interplanetary Warfare but it was still shocking to see them bombarding a planet so ruthlessly. Even if the town they had hit had been evacuated, and Somerville hoped it had been, there was no need to destroy civilian homes and businesses. Another missile struck near to the capital city of Lozere and Achilles was now close enough to watch the shock wave roll into the city. Homes on the edge of the city were crumpled and the wave of damage and destruction continued on for almost a kilometer into the city, tearing roofs off houses, smashing windows and no doubt causing many injuries and deaths as it went.

  That was the last straw, Somerville said to himself in anger. Standing, he gripped his hands into fists and gestured to the navigation officer. “Change of course. Take us directly for those four destroyers.”

  Somerville had planned to avoid them, fly past the planet and make contact with whoever was leading the ground resistance to get all the intel they had. Then he was going to high tail it out of there.

  Now, he had seen enough. The commander of the Russian forces had made a mistake. If he wanted to deter Achilles he should have sent the light cruiser with the destroyers. Escorting the freighters, it was too far away to have any impact on the coming battle. A part of Somerville wanted it to try and come back once the Russians realized he was going to fight. If he could take it out as well all the Russian freighters and military transports would be at his mercy.

  Nevertheless, his mind was made up. Those destroyers had caused the last damage they were going to do to the planet. “Tactical, target the lead two destroyers, as soon as they come into range open fire. Then switch to the next two with your second salvo. Two broadsides should deal with them, we can mop up whatever is left after that.”

  “Is this wise sir?” Hamilton asked.

  “Probably not but we can’t just fly by and watch the planet and the populace be bombarded into rubble. We’ve already shown Achilles can handle herself against the Russians, now we just need to prove we can handle a few more,” Somerville answered.

  “I want you to take control of the point defenses personally,” he continued. “Our tactical officer can handle our own missiles. You just make sure none of the Russians get through.”

  “Yes sir,” Hamilton said as he got up from his chair and moved over to stand beside the tactical officer.

  *

  Forty minutes later the Russian ships came into range of Achilles. The British missiles obviously had a slight range advantage for she was able to open fire first, sending eleven missiles tearing off after their targets. The Russians followed suit less than a minute later, sending sixteen missiles against Achilles. As each ship had fired at their maximum range the flight time for the missiles was a little over fifteen minutes. That allowed both sets of ships to fire off another salvo at each other before the first came crashing in.

  Somerville watched the gravimetric plot closely as his missiles reached their targets first. As the contacts on the gravimetric plot representing the British missiles began to disappear among the Russian ships, at first nothing seemed to happen. Then a cheer went up on the bridge as one blip began to falter and lose acceleration. This was quickly followed by another blip disappearing all together. They had scored hits on both of their targets.

  There was no time to dwell on their success for the Russian missiles were about to close with Achilles. At the tactical console Hamilton was sweating. He knew the first two Russian salvos were going to be a close thing. Achilles was designed to be able to defend herself against twelve or thirteen, maybe as many as fourteen separate incoming missiles. Sixteen was a lot.

  As they entered the maximum range of Achilles’ point defenses he opened up on them with the plasma cannons. Sixteen became fourteen and then twelve. When they were close enough the AM missiles began to fire taking down more of the incoming projectiles. In total Hamilton fired thirty of the smaller missiles. They struck eight of the Russian missiles and the plasma cannons took out another two. That still left two nuclear tipped warheads homing on Achilles.

  “It’s not going to be enough,” Hamilton called.

  “Evasive maneuvers now!” Somerville ordered.

  Sending the ship into a dive and then a roll the navigation officer tried his best to throw off the aim of the last two missiles. Achilles’ frantic movements, combined with her ECM, fooled one of the missiles and it continued off into space, searching for a target. The second however, didn’t lose its lock. At the last second another jerk by Achilles took her out of the missile’s path. Sensing it was no longer going to get a direct hit the missile detonated its warhead. The resultant thermonuclear explosion immersed Achilles’ nose section in explosive force.

  On the bridge, the crew were thrown around in their harness as they sat at their consoles. Once Somerville got his bearings back he called out, “damage report.”

  It was the Second Lieutenant who answered over the COM channel from the auxiliary bridge. “We have taken a proximity hit to our bow section. Some of our valstronium armor was burnt off but it’s reshaping itself to fill the gaps now. More importantly, we have lost forty percent of our point defenses in our nose section.”

  “Thank you Lieutenant,” Somerville acknowledged, “what about causalities?”

  “I’m getting reports of two fatalities so far. There are at least several serious injuries as well. Hold on… I’ve just heard from starboard missile tube eleven. They have reported a fatality and damage to their missile tube. It looks like it is going to be out of action for a while.”

  “Very well, I’m putting you in charge of the repairs. See our injured get the attention they need. We have a battle to fight,” Somerville ordered.

  “How long until the next Russian missiles reach us?” he asked the bridge.

  “Six more minutes,” Jensen answered.

  “I’m not sure we can survive another salvo,” Hamilton said, “with our forward point defenses so damaged we’re likely to take a second hit if another missile homes in on our bow.”

  “Train some of the other point defense plasma cannons to cover our damaged sections. Then get to work repairing as many of the damaged ones as you can,” Somerville ordered.

  �
��Everyone else listen up,” he continued a little louder, “those Russian missiles are smaller than in our destroyers. A larger missile would have caused us much more damage. We can take maybe two more proximity hits, maybe even a direct hit, but anything more and we’re toast. You all know how long we have. See what you can do to give us a chance.”

  Immediately, everyone turned their attention back to their consoles looking for a way to save their ship. Somerville thought he had an idea of his own so he opened up the control files for the forward missile tube. Designed to be used in a stern chase, the single forward tube allowed Achilles to fire a missile after a ship it was directly following. Along with the store of missiles in its magazine, there was also a number of survey probes that Achilles could launch into a system to explore it.

  They were larger than missiles and had a much bigger fuel tank. Somerville opened up the flight software and began to rewrite some code. When he was done he ordered the probe loaded into the tube. A status symbol on his screen indicated that the probe would be ready to launch in three minutes. It would be close but it would be ready just in time. Hopefully it would work.