Talosian Chronicles 6: Armageddon Read online

  "One of the Caldarian battleships took exception to our stopping their troops ships. It looks worse than it is. Only the landing bay took significant damage and that should be repaired shortly. The rest is little more than scorched armor," she replied. "Your flight is next up in the landing pattern. Rest well, Lieutenant."

  "Thank you Freya, see you on deck," Tara replied, and switched back to her normal comms. "Okay Cubs, combat carrier landing protocol. Let's show these old folks how to make a landing!"

  The computers must have realized how tired the kids were and gave them something, because they all sounded much more alert when they answered her this time.

  "Tiamat flight control, this is Silver Knights Mama Bear, requesting landing clearance," Tara called.

  "Silver Knights, cleared for approach starboard-side aft landing port. Call the order," Tiamat control replied.

  "Cub Eleven's up first, reverse order for landing," Tara replied.

  Her kids got in line for landing, handled it like professionals. Only four of them were left to land when there was a problem.

  "Tiamat Control, this is Condor Seven-seven declaring an emergency! We have heavy damage to our engines and flight assist is off-line. We're coming in hot! Request medical meet us once we're down!"

  "Mama Bear, clear the pattern! Escort Condor Seven-seven in!" Flight control ordered. "Condor Seven-seven who hurt?"

  "Commander Ralston took shrapnel damage when we were hit. Our autodoc is off-line and power is failing, we're running on the armor right now."

  Tara, Ashley and the two remaining fighters of her small squadron raced out to try and help the stricken craft back to the ship.

  "Condor Seven-seven, this is Mama Bear of the Silver Knights. We're right here with you," Tara called. She moved in close to get a visual on the damage. It wasn't good.

  "Condor Seven-seven, can you patch the commander's suit?" Tara asked.

  "We're working on it. We're not going to make it are we?" the woman asked.

  "No, your landing gear are gone and there's no armor under your engines. My sensors tell me you have a mine attached as well. They're using you as a bomb to get to the ship," Tara replied.

  "Damn." The woman said. "I was afraid of that. We felt a second impact, but when it didn't blow us up, we thought it's been a dud."

  "Sorry, Seven-seven. We'll stay with you until ESAR gets here. Control did you monitor all that?" Tara asked.

  "Yes we did. ESAR has been launched. Condor Seven-seven you are ordered to set your self-destruct and bail out," Control replied. "Good luck,"

  Tara and her four fighters stayed with the three crew members from the doomed condor until the rescue ship arrived. They followed the rescue ship back to the carrier and finished their landing. Tara and the three other pilots had to go through another, shorter debrief, and it was then they found out the commander had died from his wounds.

  The four pilots ate a quiet meal together, with the young pilot's parents before bidding Tara good night and going to bed in the bunk room.

  While they had been fighting the Caldarians, the Imperial forces had arrived and the entire sector was now engaged in battle. Tara had all but forgotten everything but her little corner of the war. The good news was that the Empire had destroyed the remaining Caldarian capitol ships, and had been held back from getting close to the civilian settlements, although Mars was now in danger.

  The bad news was fighting had reached Earth and civilians had died; a lot of civilians. The Centauri system was being attacked too now, one of the Pleiades Stations had been severely damaged, as well as two of the big mining ships. The information was still classified, but Tara could see the implied damage the fleets had taken. She didn't think they were losing, but she really couldn't tell. She did know that the Empire was slowly pushing the Alliance forces back. That fact alone scared her. Who else would die before they drove the Empire away?

  TDF Star Dancer

  Vicinity Lunar Point L1

  Earth, Sol Sector

  Before it was destroyed, the Hawaiian Super Nova did manage to get her carriers launched, though it seemed more like they were jettisoned. The crew must have also blown a hole in the large belly doors because troop ships and more fighters poured out of the doomed ship. Terran fighters did report the command pod was jettisoned just before the ship exploded, but was caught in the blast and destroyed.

  The European ship that Star Dancer attacked, had been launching her carriers, fighters and troops ships since it's arrival. The other Battle Cruiser, the Dawn's Path, got a lucky shot as it passed below the big ship. A heavy missile flew up, into the belly bay and detonated. That missile must have triggered a chain reaction inside the ship. Shortly after the two Alliance ships passed by, the huge warship exploded without warning. Star Dancer took some damage from the explosion, but the Dawn's Path was only shaken.

  "Do we have an idea where the Imperials are going to drop out?" Ian asked.

  "The advanced force is still on course to arrive near Jupiter orbit. The main body should arrive a little further in; much closer to the asteroid belt," one of the tracking officers replied.

  Ian nodded. "What's the status of the fight with the Caldarian fleet?"

  "They're taking heavy damage, but they are moving slowly in the direction we want them to go. Several of the Raptor teams have isolated what they believe to be slave transports and are trying to separate them out from the main body of the fleet," Chloe reported.

  Ian nodded. "Please make sure the other fleet commanders know what the Raptors doing. How is the fighting on-planet going?"

  "Now that the big ships are out of the picture, our people seem to be making some headway. However, we expect that will change once the Caldarians get over the shock of losing the Super Nova's. Enough Caldarian fighters and ground forces got launched to cause a lot of trouble down there," Ike explained. "I'll keep an eye on the situation, Sir. They may need some help from us."

  "Defense network is engaging incoming Imperial fleets. All launchers are in full rapid fire mode," Chloe replied. "I don't know if we'll have time Ike; those Imperial ships have accelerated. Their going to arrive at least twenty minutes sooner than projected."

  "What's that going to do to our time table?" Ian asked. "Have the other waves also picked up speed?"

  "It pretty much screws the time table Sir. The Caldarians might be in position, but the rest of our forces are going to be late to the party." Chloe replied and typed for tracking information. "Yes, the second wave has also accelerated and are showing signs of splitting up. A third of them are now on course for the Centauri system. We don't have any data on the third wave yet, there's too much interference from the second wave."

  "Damn," Ian said softly. "Okay, let's start the second stage now, but try not to pull too much away from the Caldarian fight. Move third fleet to point gray, and shift the remaining Guard fleet to protect Mars. Has their been any activity toward the moon yet?"

  Chloe shook her head. "No; the Caldarians are being pushed the opposite direction and have been fully on the defensive since their arrival. Other than our reports, I doubt Phoenix Base even knows there's a war going on."

  "That'll change pretty quick once the Imperial fleets arrive," Ian replied, staring into the holotank and thinking. "It looks like the Caldarians are going to leave them alone for the time being. Tell them to remain on alert and prepare for attack by Imperial forces. Ask them to see if they can figure out a way to send assistance to Earth if the need arises. I don't know what help they could send, but they are going to be the only ones capable of lending aid once this gets started."

  Point 'gray' was a area in space Ian had designated as a rendezvous point for the forces defending Earth. Stage two, or the second stage was when the designated forces would begin heading there to set up the defense of the planet and inner solar system. Executing stage two early would mean that not all of the defending forces would be able to make the rendezvous and the fleet would be much weaker. How much weaker, th
ey wouldn't know until they got there.

  The Tiamat would remain near Earth as a final defense, while her escorts, currently with the main fleet fighting the Caldarians, would join the force gathering at point gray. Star Dancer would be the command ship for the defending point gray forces. The other Admirals and Generals helping with the planning had not liked the idea of Star Dancer taking the lead, but the simple truth was that all of the other command ships would be busy elsewhere.

  As it turned out, less than half of the planned ships had been able to make the rendezvous. When the Imperial ships arrived, Ian would be outnumbered almost three to one. He desperately hoped the hypermissiles of the defense network had improved those odds or this was going to be a very hard fight.

  "Imperial arrival in five minutes. Defense network is now targeting the second wave fleets," Chloe reported.

  "What our guess as to what made it through?" Ian asked.

  "They appear to have lost considerable mass Admiral, but the over all size of the trace hasn't altered significantly," the tracking officer reported.

  "Maybe we took out more of the heavies than the smaller ones," Ike speculated. "It'd be odd, but that would be a blessing, all things considered."

  "Hope for the best, prepare for the worst," Ian said. "Fleet defensive position bravo-nine. Charge all weapons; launch all remaining fighters."

  "Remaining Caldarian fleet is entering the arrival zone; this isn't going to be pretty," Chloe said.

  Ian gave her a half-grin. "No, it's not, but it couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of beings. How soon can our fleet get here to help us?"

  Ike frowned. "The last few minutes have been more of a running fight. Our fleet let them get some distance, so the Imperials would have room. So about fifteen minutes, Sir."

  "Get them moving; a lot can happen in fifteen minutes out here," Ian ordered. "What do the Caldarians have left?"

  "Three Super Nova, and about twenty smaller ships. All of them have taken damage though," Chloe replied.

  Ian was thoughtful. "You know, unless their leaders are really stupid, they have to know something's going on here; we have more than enough firepower in this system to have completely destroyed them many times by now."

  "What I don't get is why they don't jump out of here; they have to know this is a trap," one of the techs was heard to say softly.

  "They most likely can't jump anymore. Hyperdrives are fragile animals after all. Then too, their version of honor probably won't let them leave even if they did have the ability." Ian explained. "They probably know this is a trap, but are bound by honor to see it through to the end. Remember, these are 'old-school' Caldarians. They never retreated from battle back then, I doubt these will now regardless of what's obvious."

  "Thirty seconds until Imperial arrival; Caldarians are nearing the center of the projected area," Chloe said.

  "Have everyone hang back a little to see what happens between our guests; No matter what happens though, I don't think it's going to take very long," Ian ordered.

  "Imperial Forces are arriving," Chloe said.

  "What do we have, tracking?" Ian asked.

  "Medium and light cruisers for now Sir," the tracking officer replied. "Wait, we have larger jump points forming…" He paused a moment. "Battleships, sir, three… no, five of them. No sign of the Dreadnoughts yet Sir." He paused again. "Six heavy cruisers and more of the smaller ships."

  "The Caldarians have opened fire on the new forces," Chloe replied. "Predictable buggers."

  "Sixty-six total Imperial ships Sir, it looks like that's it for now," tracking reported.

  "That's enough," Ian said grimly. "Eleven heavies and fifty-five supports are going to be difficult for us to handle."

  "Sir, the Imps are showing a lot of damage. Most of it looks like it could be superficial, but there is a lot of it," Ike added.

  "Caldarian missiles have hit their targets. The Super Novas are launching fighters and carriers. The Imps are turning to engage," Chloe said.

  Ian nodded. "Good, distance to the Imperial fleet?"

  "Roughly five hundred thousand, we can be there in five minutes," Chloe said.

  "Let's get moving; we can't let the Caldarians have all the fun," Ian ordered.

  "If they last that long; the Caldarian ships are dropping like flies. Heavy damage to two of the Super Nova's, number three still has only moderate damage, but it's further away," Ike reported.

  As Ian watched the battle in the holotank, one of the Super Nova's flashed red and expanded while the icon faded out. It had blown up. While there had been massive response by the Caldarians, it was very clear that they were confused and disoriented. The appearance of the Imperial assault fleet at what amounted to point-blank range had obviously taken them completely by surprise and were suffering for it.

  "We'll be entering engagement range in two minutes," Chloe said. "I don't think the Imps liked the welcome the Caldarians gave them."

  Other than the last surviving Super Nova, there were only about twelve Caldarian ships remaining. The big ship was taking a lot of damage now, but the smaller ships were trying to defend it.

  "Imperial ships are moving to counter us," Chloe reported. "They don't seem too worried about the remaining Caldarians anymore."

  "Did the Imps take any damage from the Caldarians?" Ian asked. He had seen a few of the smaller imperial ships get destroyed, but he was more worried about the heavy cruisers and the battleships.

  "One battleship appears to have lost power and is drifting. The Super Nova seems to be focusing on it," Ike began. "Two of the other battleships have lost shields and taken more damage. One of the heavy cruisers is heavily damaged but has restored shields and port side weapons. The other heavies haven't gotten into the fight with the Caldarians and are instead moving toward us."

  "Why does that not comfort me in the slightest?" Ian asked rhetorically.

  "Hostile missile launch! We have incoming missiles and enemy fighters!" the tracking officer reported.

  Ian nodded. "Okay people, this is where we earn the big money. All cruisers pick one of the heavies and pound it to dust Leave the smaller stuff to our support ships. Chloe, what's the ETA on the rest of our forces?"

  "The smaller units have micro jumped to us, the heavies are moving as fast as they can; but are still seven minutes from engagement range," the woman replied.

  Ian nodded and scanned the updated information in the tank. "Have the missile boats hang back and engage heavy targets at long range. See if the torpedo ships can follow the fighters and bomber in and get rid of some of the small stuff. Make sure they are prepared to switch over to the big guys quickly."

  "Resupply ships will stay near the missile boats when they arrive from Phoenix base," Ike reported.

  "When will that be? We're going to be using a lot of missiles and torpedoes pretty soon," Ian asked.

  Ike was quiet for a moment. "It'll be a close thing Sir, eight to ten minutes for most of them."

  Ian shook his head. "Alex, we need to look into incorporating special replicators and added power units into the supply ships so they can reload themselves during combat." The woman nodded and made a note.

  "Duh! Why hasn't anyone else thought of that?" Ike said.

  "Most of the Alliance doesn't use replicators, remember?" Ian said. "Just because it makes sense to us, doesn't mean the Alliance as a whole is going to approve."

  "That's dumb! What good is an economy if you lose the place to the enemy?" Ike asked.

  The ship shook as a missile detonated close to the ship. "Talk later, fight now," Ian replied, but smiled to take the sting out of his orders.

  "Sir, The enemy is moving oddly," Ike said. "If I didn't know better, I'd say that they are trying to make enough room for several of the ships to make a jump."

  "Fuck! Which ships?" Ian asked urgently.

  "Two of the battle ships, and fifteen of the medium and light cruisers," Ike said. "Why would they jump? Where are they jumping to?"

  "
What's their primary target Ike?" Ian replied. "Right now, it's only defended by a carrier and a battle cruiser in space. If those battle-wagons make it to orbit, the planetary defenses are toast." Ian said and opened a comm to Jenny on the bridge.

  "Kinda busy here, what's up?" Jenny replied distractedly.

  "Jen, I need you to do something absolutely insane," Ian said.

  "Again?" She asked with amusement.

  "Yeah, well we might not survive this one," Ian said. "I need you to cloak the ship, and put us between the battleships designated BS3 and BS5. Once there we have to hammer them with everything we have. They are about to jump to Earth orbit and we have to stop them."

  As she opened her mouth to tell him he really was insane, she stopped and considered what would happen if those ships made it to Earth. She sighed. "I understand. I love you, Ian."

  He smiled at her sadly. "We're not dead yet, Jen. I love you too." He closed the channel and turned to a pale looking Chloe. "Get the torpedo boats working on softening up the batlleships. Have the Gr'ishn move up and engage the mediums that are about to jump. Everyone else try to focus on the units preping to jump. Send a warning to the Tiamat and Dawn's Path."

  In the background of his orders, Jenny's voice could be heard ordering the ship to prepare for the coming assault. Through the deck plates, Ian felt the vibrations of the powerful engines increase as the ship went to full power.

  Once Star Dancer opened up on the two larger ships, it didn't take them long to figure out what was going on. The initial strike by Ian's ship had a devastating effect on the two already damaged battleships. The shields were blown away and the missiles and heavy-mount weapons ate into the big ships like a starving man at a feast. Both Battleships took massive damage before they could roll the damaged side away from their attacker.

  Even though Star Dancer was still moving, Jenny had slowed her down in order to do as much damage as possible in the shortest amount of time. When the Imperial ships rolled to protect the damaged area, they also brought a mostly undamaged broadside to bear on Star Dancer. The great ship rocked under the heavy missile barrage from both sides and the shields quickly dropped off, they failed completely on the starboard side. Beta landing bay took a direct hit and was blown almost completely in half.