A Deep Sleep (Valhalla Book 1) (19 page)

“Yes sir, wilco. Martin out.”

Plan Daredevil was, well, daring.
Thunderer
would attempt to engage the Chinese battlecruiser in a closing duel, reducing her speed to a close range slugging match. Before closing to point blank, she would launch two shuttles in her sensor shadow. These were highly stealthed shuttles and they would be launched so as to nullify as much of their difference in velocity with the battlecruiser as they could.
Thunderer
would continue to engage the battlecruiser until the shuttle were right on top of them, then FTL away. The stealth shuttles would then land on the hull and release their cargo. The four Agema in each shuttle would disembark and attempt to enter the ship near a weapon’s turret and take control of the weapon. From there, they would be able to upload a virus into the ship’s systems. The shuttle would then be used as a relay to in turn allow the
Thunderer
or any other ship to seek to take control of the target ship. The best case scenario was full control of the ship, giving them a weapon against the remaining ships.

Alternatively, the shuttles could be detected on approach and simply vaporized. They had almost no propulsion, relying instead on liquid fueled rockets for the final maneuver. They also had no inertial dampening, a zero-g environment. Traditional systems would create a subspace signature and give away their position. The Agema armor had to be shielded in special pods for the approach, so that even that wouldn’t be able to reveal their position. Once on the hull, they would still have to gain access, fight any crew or marines they encountered, and attempt to take control of a system. After that, there were dozens more things that could go wrong with the plan. Even still, Athena felt that the possible reward justified the risk. She could only hope that she was correct.

Tripoli
rocked again, this one seeming to have an accompanying rumble. Athena knew that sound, the sound of a large volume of air escaping into space.

“Hull breach, main shuttle bay!” The crewman manning the CIC DC console reported as he moved to shut-off the alarm. “Still waiting on reports, Admiral.”

“Very well.” Athena cursed her luck. She had entered the system confident, moving into Eta Cassiopeia with the intent of wiping the system clear of Chinese military assets and any industry useful to the war effort. What she had found was a brand new battlecruiser on trials, escorted by two destroyers. Two wounded cruisers and an understrength squadron of corvettes were also in the system. Both groups had immediately vectored for DSF-1 upon their emergence. To compound things, the two battlestations in system were even larger than the one in the last system. Even worse, they carried fighter-bombers, at least two oversized wings from the looks of what was crossing the system. It was only a matter of time until they used their sprint FTL drives to jump in and fire at her fleet.

“
Thunderer
has jumped.” Johnson reported and CIC collectively held their breath.

A moment later, the cruiser was back in normal space, closing at a relatively sedate velocity with the Chinese battlecruiser. The battlecruiser was the newest one out of their yards, bigger and meaner than any battlecruiser in human space. She would be a decent match for a light battleship. Instead, a cruiser was closing the range with her. It took a moment for the Chinese captain to redirect his fire. Initially, only smaller turrets turned to engage, clearly expecting
Thunderer
to fire a salvo and jump away before the larger turrets could re-train. Instead, Martin bore in, closing to within 1000km before the big guns began to pound away at her. Athena cringed every time she saw a confirmed hit, where explosions rippled across
Thunderer’s
hull.

Martin, however, was giving almost as good as he got. The repulsors on
Thunderer
were top notch, managing to stop anything not fired directly into her bow, her repulsors being powerful enough to deflect or arrest any shots along the periphery. In return, all of the return fire was focused on the ventral plating just forward of the battlecruiser’s topside 115mm high-velocity railgun turrets. While few hits were being scored, their localized nature quickly created a hull breach. While this wouldn’t doom the ship, it did generate a localized burst of debris and energy. Most importantly, however, it blurred local sensors and rendered proximity alarms useless.

“
Thunderer
has jumped.” Johnson reported. “Gunboats are commencing missile launches against the cruisers, sir.”

“Status of the Armadillos?” Athena asked Daniels.

“They report 75% stores, minor hull damage.
Ticonderoga
reports the loss of one shotgun turret. They’ll need to EVA to repair, so it’s out for the rest of this fight, sir.” Daniels responded almost immediately.

“Order them to close formation with us,
Inchon
, and
Normandy
. Those fighter-bombers are going to jump in on us any second, especially with the gunboats now committed.” Athena ordered.

“Aye, sir.”

Athena commed Aux Con. “XO, we’re going to be in the middle of this storm in a minute. How is your point defense net?”

“Well, sir. We’ve got at least 90% of the grid. The guns we did lose, I’ve transferred whatever stores they had to the remaining guns, so we’re still at 82% stores on all working guns. Still have a full stock of decoy drones, but if those fighter-bombers come at us, it’ll just be too close to bother.” He responded.

“Agreed. Be ready.”

“Yes, sir.” He said. Athena switched to DC I.

“Brown here, Admiral.” Came the gruff, tired sounding reply.

“How are we doing, Chief?”

“Well sir, with all due respect, I’d really appreciate it if you’d stop poking holes in the poor girl. She’s aging prematurely you know.” He paused for a moment. “Overall, we’re doing alright sir. The hull breach in the shuttle bay drained a good bit of our air, but nothing we can’t deal with. The hit there wasn’t too serious structurally, that space is hardened to deal with the live ordnance in the bay and the shuttles, so we’ve got that covered. That said, another hit to the bay itself could cause some real issues. Other than that, they’re just pin holes. I’ve got my teams patching best they can. She’ll hold together for you sir.”

“Excellent work Chief, keep it up.” Athena responded, continuing in a false cheerful tone. “I expect we’ll be back in it in another minute or so.”

“Excellent indeed.” He responded, gruffer than before.

System Check…

Reactor… Green

Armor Systems… Green

Weapons… Green

Sensors… Green

Comm… Green

Medical… Green

Final System Check… Green

System Check Complete

Lieutenant Amelia Scott’s eyes snapped open inside her helm. She quickly scanned the system diagnostic. She already knew what it said, she could feel that all her systems were functioning, but it was a habit. They’d had it drilled into their heads since basic, double check your double checks. She slowly turned her head, looking around the inside of the unpressurized compartment that was their assault shuttle. There were small light sources, their power sources almost undetectable even if you knew where to scan, throughout the compartment. With her enhanced vison it gave her a reasonable impression of the inside of the compartment. She could see that the other three members of Arrow squad were also awake. She locked eyes with them in turn, nodding to each. They returned the nod. When she was satisfied that they were ready she turned to their positional display. Small but sensitive passive sensors still had their target locked, a Chinese battlecruiser. She was mildly annoyed at the nervous relief she felt at that, she was usually not so nervous before a mission. The other shuttle was nowhere to be found, even though the sensors knew where to look for her. Scott smiled at that, all the better if nobody could see them.

With a thought she accessed the shuttle computer. She directed it to commence with its cold burn to initiate the docking sequence. With no dampeners, she could feel the 11gs of acceleration press her body into her armor even more than the normally snug fit. The suit responded by increasing select pressures within the flexible interior to maintain better circulation and functionality. That still didn’t make it overly pleasant.

Scott’s eyes flicked quickly to her display as a yellow warning flashed on the display. The other shuttle had revealed itself, a ghostly contact that the shuttle’s own sensors were having difficulty pinning down. She relaxed, scolding herself again. She directed her AI to give her a slight dose of a low-grade sedative, just enough to prevent her nerves from affecting performance without dulling her reaction times. She’d have to double up on the stims once in combat, but her current requirements were patience and composure.

The shuttle continued to thrust for several minutes, varying the thrust as needed. Finally, the shuttle reversed thrust and Scott watched the distance close with the battlecruiser rapidly. The ship filled most of the field of vision of the bottom-side camera now.

She looked back at each member of her team; Sergeant Charlie Sommer, Corporal Robert Shay, and Corporal Kellie Mae. Every one of them was a veteran, having served for at least 3 years in the Agema. Previously to that they all had military careers in Aegis Defense as regular security specialists or operators. The thrusters cut out and an almost imperceptible bump occurred as the shuttle touched the hull. A half-second later, Scott felt the vibrations as four spikes were driven into the battlecruiser’s hull with explosive charges. Her eyes automatically tracked downward as the second rumble indicated that the breaching charges had detonated under the deck hatch, hopefully providing them with access to the ship.

In perfect unison, the four Agema stood, their locking bolts unlocking on command. Scott directed her suit to give her a double-dose of stims as her rifle filled her hands. It was a compact version, more suitable for operating in the confines of a ship. Sergeant Sommer opened the hatch and tossed a probe into the jagged round hole the breaching charge had cut into the hull. As it entered the ship, the internal gravity pulled it down faster and faster into the ship. This, combined with the substantial initial velocity he had imparted to it, allowed the probe to overcome the rush of air that accompanied opening the hatch into the shuttle. The entire team received the feed, seeing that the charge had indeed breached into habitable spaces, cutting cleanly through the thick hull of the ship. Satisfied, Scott swung over the edge and descended into the ship. It took less than twenty seconds for the team to enter and assemble.

Corporal Shay reached into one of his waist pouches, withdrawing a pair of small flat disks. One at a time he lofted the small rotor drones, their whisper blades keeping them aloft with almost no noise above the noises of the ship. They both proceeded forward to wait by the hatch. Simultaneously, Corporal Mae gently threw two sticky camera units against opposite bulkheads. Scott performed the final job, ordering the shuttle to rig for detonation. If anyone tried to gain access, it would explode. If an Agema didn’t return inside of an hour, it would explode. The entire process took less than 20 seconds. Scott finally spoke into the unit comm.

“Go, no go?” She inquired.

“Go.” Shay replied.

“Go.”

“Go.”

“Let’s move.” Scott said, moving to the hatch. The rest of the team stacked up as she manually operated the hatch. Either through damage or damage control, the power to this compartment was out. Scott opened the hatch just wide enough to allow the two small drones to slip past the hatch and frame. They sped off down the passageway, splitting up to cover both directions. Scott saw the 3D map start to overlay on the 2D plans that NavInt had provided to them. Each hatch was marked out as the rotor-drones continued down the passageways. They continued independently until they reached a junction, where they moved to the overhead and attached themselves magnetically to the bulkhead, as per their mission parameters. No crew had been seen, though the flashing red lights and other indication meant that damage control parties would probably be along soon. Scott didn’t need to confer with her team, they were all seeing the same thing, so she opened the hatch all the way and proceeded down the left passageway. Intel indicated that was the direction that would get them to the nearest gun turret, a main battery of three 115mm railguns.

The four armored Agema moved swiftly down the passageway, the sound of their passage partially muted by the rubberized coating applied to the bottom of their armored feet. It wasn’t used for ground troops, since it would be damaged or destroyed quickly, but on a ship it was helpful to reduce noise as well as help to reduce the damage done to friendly decks. Mae continued to stick cameras to the bulkhead at fifteen meter intervals, giving them a continuous picture of the passageways behind them. As they reached the junction, the rotor-drone detached and on Shay’s command sped off down the right fork, heading for the armored hatch that led to the turret access. Scott allowed the drone to scout before beginning to move in the direction of the hatch. The drone once again nested itself on a bulkhead, this one directly across from the turret access.

As the Agema made it halfway down the passageway, a four man DC team emerged from what the plans said was a zero-g ladder-well. Their pressure suits were tougher than a standard crew pressure suit, but they were still soft shelled. Mae launched herself forward, her 30cm blade flashing up as she landed among them. The first died under her blade and a second followed. The third member of the party attempted to turn and flee, but Mae hammered her fist into his chest, noticeably caving it in. The man fell to the deck a limp form. The fourth man swung his heavy pry-bar at the armored corporal, but the alloyed-steel bar just bounced off her far tougher armor. She turned quickly and buried her blade in his neck, nearly decapitating him. Mae’s armor was now splattered with various bits of her victims, but there was nothing to be done about it now. Unarmored people never failed well against armored soldiers. It was almost impossible to not apply excessive force to an unarmored individual, making the results a gruesome sight.

“Intruder Alert. Armored troops on A-deck, junction 34 near turret 2. Security forces are to respond, crew are to shelter in place.” An alarm blared across the ship to accompany the warning in Mandarin. Each of the Agema could speak near fluent Mandarin, so they needed no translation. It did provide a motivation to get moving again. The four of them sprinted down the passageway, covering the last 40m in seconds. Once at the hatch there was no time for stealth, their position had been made. Sommer pulled a powerful breaching charge from his back and affixed it to the doorframe. Shay released three more rotor-drones to scout the surrounding area while Mae monitored the camera feeds, tracking movements as they came into their field of view.

“Intruder Alert. Armored troops on A-deck, junction 240 near Forward Sensor Substation. Security forces are to respond, crew are to shelter in place.” Came the similar warning. Clearly Sword squad had also been discovered.

“Ready.” Sommers said as he finished setting the charge.

“Do it.” Scott said.

“Fire in the hole.” Sommers said a heartbeat before giving his suit the command to detonate the charges. The pressure wave from the explosion would have damaged hearing to any unarmored person in the passageway. Scott was moving forward even before the charge had detonated and was well within the range for that, but she wasn’t unarmored. The hatch, miraculously, was still in the doorway but she could see lights from the other side and it looked at though the hatch was just barely hanging on. Making the decision quickly, Scott didn’t break stride, simply dropped her shoulder and barreled into the door. The impact was sudden and severe, jarring her and forcing half the breath from her lungs. She felt the slight damage to the external surface of her suit and the deeper effects of using her shoulder like a ballpeen. The door screeched in protest for a second before yielding and sending both the door and Scott tumbling into the compartment. Shay covered the door and Sommers leapt over Scott to take up a position further in the compartment. Scott rolled to her left and took a knee behind a structural support. She quickly dismissed the suit’s warning flashes.

The other two joined them quickly and they began to move deeper into the access. Since the turret was somewhat exposed and rotated relative to the ship, it wasn’t a simple hatch arrangement for entry. Instead, there was an access region and the turret had a second series of armored hatches to provide access in any position. This provided secondary blast protection for the ship in the event of a breach in the turret.

“Try a hack.” Scott ordered. Shay stepped up to the hatch, pulling a short cable from a chest pocket. He plugged one end into his suit and the other into the Chinese maintenance port on the access panel. He closed his eyes and dove into the machine.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“Roll us over, protect the port side breach.” Athena called out to Masters at the helm. He responded immediately, snap rolling the ship to keep the port side out of the closest battlestation’s heavy guns.

Tripoli
had taken an unlucky hit from one of the fighter-bombers on their first attack run. The run had also necessitated taking hours to burn the required delta-V and return to their battlestations. By the time they were clear of DSF-1’s point defense, however, only twenty of their ninety remained. The Armadillos had again proved their worth. Not a single missile got past their defenses and they managed to rack up at least thirty fighter kills apiece.

“Prepare to fire another salvo of missiles, target is battlestation station Bravo.” Athena ordered, targeting on the somewhat damaged of the two battlestations glaring at her on the tactical display.

“Aye sir. We have the tubes loaded, plus three full sets of reloads ready to go. If we want any more we’ll have to unpack them.” Masters informed her.

“Gunboats are holding formation sir.” Johnson reported. The eight gunboats who were still missile armed were in close formation behind
Tripoli
.
Ticonderoga
was in formation, just off the port side. The rest of DSF-1 was slightly further back, awaiting an opening to FTL in close and go to guns against the battlestation. To do that, Athena had to wound her first.

“Drone status?”

“Half are down sir, ten more are in the tubes ready to replace most of what we’ve lost.” Heath responded.

“Launch them as soon as we come out of our jump. It’s time to bore in.” Athena ordered. She turned back to Masters. “Emergency military power. Take us right down their throats.”

Tripoli
,
Ticonderoga,
and the gunboats corkscrewed through space, winding and weaving in an effort to break targeting locks for the battlestation railguns. As they bore in, the surviving fighter-bombers launched, heading directly for them. They formed up and then jumped to within 10,000 km of
Tripoli
.

“Execute jump!” Athena nearly shouted.

“Jumping.” Masters responded, his voice somewhat quieter.

The group crossed the boundary into subspace in an instant, travelling quickly across the distance between the battlestation and their start point. The fighter-bombers had jumped the gun, coming in too soon and not close enough to ensure their missiles had to be engaged.

“Emergence.” Masters report came only a couple seconds after transition, even with their relatively slow FTL speed.

“Drones away!”

“Gunboats, commence attack runs.” Athena said into her comm.

Each of the gunboats shot out from behind their protector, moving outward and forward. As they closed the gap, the station began to pick them up compared to the drones, the close proximity making tricking the enemy more difficult. As soon as the first gunboats died to the battlestation’s big guns, the remaining boats fired everything they had, 18 missiles in total.
Tripoli
added her own meager fire to the mix, sending a half dozen missiles at the nearest station.