Carinae Sector: 02 - Admiral's Fury - Part 1 - Purple Blood (30 page)

A lieutenant now nervously approached the second commander, Feunrus, and handed him another data tablet, before scurrying back to his console after offering a bow. Baunrus arched a furry eyebrow and said nothing as he raised his arm and the dejected commander handed him the data tablet. The Jerecab admiral’s calm erupted into a ball of grey and brown furred fury that now stood and angrily paced his bridge.

‘We have had two frigates destroyed and five more badly damaged by the humans! But they still offer ceasefire and non aggression clauses afterwards!’

Admiral Baunrus continued to rant and rage for several minutes before yet another lieutenant nervously approached Commander Feunrus. Feunrus looked over the report contents and gave a small smile of triumph that Baunrus had no trouble understanding as he now grabbed the data tablet.

‘So the Barus fleet comes forward to see us here and the two human ships remain. Now all sections of the armada, except for the point strike wing, are to fall back three star systems. Order the point strike section to send thirty frigates to interdict the two ships via the inner systems, and another thirty frigates to interdict the same star system from the outer systems. Now both sections are to arrive at the same time and we will hopefully capture their officers if we can do so.’

The mass of the Jerecab armada remained still as the point strike section accelerated away and after several minutes split into two equal numbers of ships. After three hours the two sections of ships entered the two hyper jump points and left the star system. The rest of the armada was already moving to another inner system hyper jump point that would take them to their remote destination.

A now more relaxed Baunrus turned to Feunrus with a question.

‘Well Commander, you anticipate that there are two human senior commanders in those two destroyers?’

Feunrus had the presence of mind to offer a bow that was acknowledged with a nod of approval from the admiral as he replied.

‘Sir, I would surmise that either the humans put too much store in the other races or the edicts, or alternatively they underestimate the peril our armada is to their home world. They possibly only consider these worlds to be a point of contention between our two races.’

The admiral sat back in quiet contemplation for several moments and found that he was in agreement with the commander’s views as his next comment illustrated.

‘I agree with your views Commander, so if we destroy the two senior commanders then it will be easier to later destroy the human fleet piece by piece.’

The area of space around the departed Jerecab armada remained undisturbed for two hours, before a small and fast human scout ship edged from the cover of a deep space asteroid and made a high speed run towards the outer hyper jump point.

                                                                     ***

Gindane looked in annoyance at the report from one of her destroyers acting a forward scout. She was still feeling tired despite a good night’s sleep, her throat hurt and her fur itched badly. The Barus ship had raced ahead and entered the Silver system, just as a fast human scout ship had disappeared into the distance towards an outer hyper jump location. The destroyer had also reported that the Jerecab armada had exited the next system further inwards before it had returned to the Silver system.

Gindane stood and paced her deck in regal fury, her demeanour causing her junior officers to study their consoles with renewed interest, before she sat down again to think further. She was also interested in later reports showing Jerecab ships heading towards her human friends on their two ships. The Barus captain looked over at Omerio going through the same reports, and she now quickly stated her views after noting that Omerio looked tired as well.

‘The Jerecab remain uncooperative and now leave, but a sizeable force of ships is heading towards the humans. I believe we can still negotiate with the Jerecab but not immediately. I will send a destroyer to warn the two human admirals but I cannot do much more than that…’

Omerio was aware of her appraising glance and he smiled politely as he replied at length.

‘Unfortunately we cannot do that as it would derail the objectives of the humans. I think the Jerecab admiral only seeks to mislead both us and the humans with his true intensions. I suggest we withdraw to the Emerald system and later take a handful of ships to meet with the hidden human commander. We can still mislead the Jerecab admiral as long as my fleet is not directly involved in any battles.’

Gindane looked around the bridge of her cruiser in quiet thought before she issued a reply and another order.

‘Well Omerio if your ships were here the Jerecab would have to fight or withdraw completely and based on their numbers a withdrawal would be unlikely. Send a recall to our scouting destroyers to abandon their efforts to find the Jerecab armada.’

The Barus research fleet slowly reformed and now moved to another hyper jump point, even as several message probes raced for different quarters of space to pass the message on to the remote Barus scout ships.

                                                                     ***

Admiral Thomas Stanford bleakly looked over the latest sensor reports as he sat on the bridge of the destroyer Linares. Commander Stuart Ferguson methodically went about the preparation of his ship for her first and final battle. The admiral watched silently as a pair of lieutenants distributed holstered laser pistols to all the bridge crew. Thomas again counted the numbers of Jerecab frigates and evaluated that a whole wing of ships was being sent against the Linares and the Cannes. In moments he was speaking with Admiral John Beresford on the Cannes even as he keyed a distance calculation onto a shared console.

‘This is it John, we are both heading for the outer hyper jump point as it would logical for us to flee. It also halves the number of ships we have to fight, though the twenty frigates at the outer jump point should be more than enough. We should try and get into the Jade system as there are extensive dust clouds where we can hide.’

John gave Thomas a calculating grin, and the shared console updated with more information as he replied.

‘I think we have identified the lead frigate in the section in front of us and we will focus our attack on that ship. Ideally we can escape otherwise we draw a sizeable force of Jerecab ships into an ambush. I think that the second section of Jerecab ships is five hours from our position so sending a message probe into the next system could pay off.’

The rapidly closing Jerecab ships soon opened fire and Thomas noted that they had not bothered to leave any ships at the hyper jump point. Both the Linares and the Cannes accelerated and raced towards the centre of the formation of Jerecab ships. Even as the first weapons blasts bounced off the shields of the two destroyers they opened fire with their spinal mount weapons on the lead Jerecab frigate. A pair of powerful explosions followed by concentrated beam weapons fire rocked the lead frigate and it frantically altered course to seek refuge. An intensive barrage of Jerecab weapons fire now raged against the destroyers, with the Cannes receiving the brunt of the attack. Both the human ships lost weapons locks for several seconds as three powerful sensor pulses arrived. Thomas felt initial alarm that rapidly vanished as the tactical officer reported on the sensor pulses.

‘Admiral, the pulses are some sort of advanced detection and auxiliary weapon. Our shields and isolators are up to the task and they are not damaging us.’

Thomas then noted the initial damage reports from the Cannes as Commander Ferguson continued to fight his ship against the Jerecab. Both human destroyers now began to take evasive action against the expected Jerecab missiles as their commanders wisely withheld the discharge of their own missiles. The recharge light for the spinal mount weapon slowly ticked down the necessary five minutes before the weapons were again fired against the Jerecab lead ship. An explosion of light suddenly flared as the lead frigate exploded, and the pace of the battle slowed as the Jerecab ships began to alter course.

Thomas was thinking that both destroyers were about to break clear when Commander Ferguson yelled out a warning on the bridge.

‘Admiral, the frigates are concentrating a missile attack on the Cannes. There are thirty, no thirty five Jerecab missiles in flight.’

Thomas wasted no time in his response as he yelled out an order.

‘Both ships are to go last ditch on point defences and launch all loaded missiles.’

Hatches on both destroyers now retracted and a swarm of missiles raced for the enemy ships, as the point defence turrets on both ships streamed defensive beams of light at the missiles. After three minutes the outcome was apparent to Thomas, and he watched with horror as the defences of the Cannes were overwhelmed by several missile strikes. The Cannes spun crazy across the sky as multiple explosions rocked the ship. In moments the Jerecab ships had shifted their attention to the Linares even as the destroyer launched another flight of missiles.

Thomas could see that three Jerecab frigates were attempting to go alongside the Cannes and he knew what must come within minutes after earlier discussions with John. He now did another distance calculation and felt a quick sense of relief as he realised that the Linares could possibly escape. Thomas now ignored the Cannes as he gave another brief order.

‘We will fire the messenger probes with the battle reports when we launch the third flight of missiles.’

The recharge light for the spinal mount weapon came on, but Thomas knew that they could not turn to face the Jerecab and lose valuable distance to safety. The view screen to the Cannes came on briefly and Thomas looked over the smoke filled view of the bridge of the Cannes as John spoke again.

‘Thomas, the engines and the point defences are gone as is half the beam weapons. We only have minimal shields and the spinal mount, so I am setting the spinal weapon to overcharge once the Jerecab are alongside. It has been an honour and a privilege my friend, and best of luck to you and your crew.’

Thomas stood and saluted his friend and choked out a reply just before the view screen went blank.

‘Goodbye and god speed to you and your crew John. It has been an honour…’

The view screen now switched to a slowly tumbling view of the Cannes as Commander Ferguson continued to give curt orders around his bridge.

‘Remember the drills and we are hurting the Jerecab. Course change red 040 right azimuth fifteen degrees to throw those missiles wide. Launch further counter measures immediately. Hyper jump point in four minutes, admiral this is going to be close…..’

Thomas knew that the commander was one of the best in the fleet at his job and he merely gave a short reply as he continued to watch the rapidly receding hull of the Cannes.

‘Keep up the good work commander, and we will help our cause if we launch the remaining missiles and message probes in two minutes.’

Commander Ferguson gave a gruff acknowledgement, and Thomas keyed in the maximum magnification of their remaining rear optical sensors onto the now distant Cannes. A pair of Jerecab frigates had just gone alongside the Cannes and he knew that fierce hand to hand fighting would be breaking out. He ensured that the feed of the battle was going to the message probes when he noted that a third frigate had passed in front of the Cannes as it sought to follow the Linares. A brief flash of light followed by a large explosion tore through the Cannes and the two docked Jerecab ships.

Thomas slumped back in grief for what seemed like an eternity, even as he now noted that a third Jerecab frigate now tumbled in ruin nearby. The two boarding Jerecab ships had been destroyed and the third one wrecked after being struck at close range by the last heavy blast from the spinal mount weapon. Commander Ferguson looked over with a brief glance of sympathy as he gave the fateful orders.

‘Launch the last missiles at the closest Jerecab ships. The message probes will be launched immediately before we go into the hyper jump.’

The tight knit bridge crew responded to the urgency of the situation even as they exchanged quick worried glances at one another. The tactical officer now yelled his warnings as the Linares approached the departure point.

‘Sir, fifteen missiles have just been launched from the Jerecab frigates and they will be here in three minutes. Shields are at twenty percent and failing.’

Commander Ferguson coolly gave a series of orders as the bridge crew continued to shoot their remaining weapons at either the frigates or the approaching Jerecab missiles.

‘Launch the message probes. Stand by to rear vent the spinal mount weapon and fifty tonnes of hydrogen and oxygen in sixty seconds. At the two minute mark we will enter the hyper jump.’

Six missiles left the Linares and raced for the approaching Jerecab frigates, even as four message probes raced ahead of the destroyer and entered hyper space. The combined firepower of the frigates began to finally overwhelm the Linares’s shields, with their missiles closing fast. The dumped fuel was ignited by the venting main weapon and a flare of light erupted in front of the approaching Jerecab ships. The frigates responded by ceasing fire as their commanders assumed that the destroyer had exploded. A second flash of light then flared, this time around the Linares, and the ship escaped into the short term safety of the hyper jump.

Thomas allowed himself several seconds to recover as his experienced eyes quickly took in the extensive reports of damage to the Linares. Fortunately the engines were only slightly damaged and if they could get enough of a start then the crew could possibly escape with their lives. The Linares soon arrived at the Jade star system and promptly began accelerating towards the far side of the system.

After fifteen minutes, eleven of the sixteen remaining frigates had followed the damaged human destroyer into the Jade system. Thomas began an urgent discussion with Commander Ferguson, even as the tactical officer confirmed that three of their four message probes now raced across the star system in front of them.