Blood War 1: Last Stand of the Legion: Rift (31 page)

"Permission to engage
," Lt. Steiner said.

"Go get them Steiny Man
," Ririsa said.

"Guerre à mort" Lt. Steiner said.

"Good hunting Lieutenant."

The Legionnaires repeated Steiner's
guerre a mort
as they swung to meet the incoming alien fighters head on. The five-inch turrets were firing as fast as they could reload. They were scoring hit after hit. 5934 was not returning fire. The carrier did not have any ship-to-ship defenses, it only had its fighters for defense against other ships.  More and more fighters were swarming out of the hanger bays. More than she could count. She wanted to glance at her situational readout but she knew they were badly out-numbered; she really did want to know the real numbers.

The Capella's and Bernards fighters were swarming the carrier. The Legionnaires from the two destroyers and the alien fighters were in an absolute fur ball of twisting
, turning, firing and exploding ships. The alien fighters were engaging as soon as they launched. She saw one explode just as it exited the ship. For the moment the battle actually seemed to be going in their favor.

So far the Legionnaires had been able to keep all of the fighters busy but it would not be
for long. That is when Ririsa saw the Bernard’s torpedoes strike the top deck of the vessel. Explosion after explosion rocked the ship. The Bernard’s torpedoes must have found critical components because they appeared to be actually making a difference. Not as many fighters were launching. Ririsa glanced at her display and saw the readout for the carrier’s defensive systems, some sectors were gone and others were switching on and off. The Bernards must have hit one of their defense controls.

The Capella had kept their attention and Bernards had gotten more torpedo hits because of it. Now the Capella's and Bernard's Legionnaires were able to get in close and make accurate runs on the carrier itself.  Alien fighter after alien fighter exploded as they left the hangar bays. The Bernards five inchers begin to impact the top deck blowing debris, equipment and fighters into space. The huge carrier actually began to look like it was in a real fight.

Ririsa began to think that they just might survive this attack. Maybe the gods of war were on their side this time. Luck and surprise could go a long way to winning any battle. Then she saw first one then another ship emerge from the carrier. She had not recognized them as ships. They looked just like the rest of the ship until they disengaged. They were almost as big as destroyers but were more like a frigate than a destroyer. They would dwarf a Swift Boat. The damn aliens carried their own screening vessels with them. One disengaged immediately headed for the Capella while the other rose to meet the Bernards.

As soon as
they cleared the carrier they began firing. The two ships were ready for ship-to-ship battle or a screening operation. Gunners on the alien frigates were already targeting the Legionnaires attacking the carrier. Meanwhile large turrets guns began to target the Capella while the other targeted the Bernards.

"CIC have the turrets target the new ships."

"How should we designate the targets?"

"Let
’s go with frigates one and two."

"Aye, aye."

At least when the battle was over they could listen and see the video and the designation might give the Lessons Learned folks an idea of the size and armament of the ships. 

"CIC to Captain. We are being targeted."

"Roger that. Not too hard since we are in visual range."

Ririsa expected torpedoes
but instead they fired missiles. They were much larger and faster than their torpedoes. The Capella took the first one in the bow. It blew part of the bow off and opened a large number of compartments to space. Debris and bodies flew off the Capella but the five inchers had found the range of the new threat. They scored hit after hit on the frigate-like ship but it did not change course. The alien’s ships large guns were scoring hits too. All of the Capella's scrams, twins and rails were firing at the new ship and the incoming fighters. Space around the Capella was filled with gold, red, green, yellow and white streaks as the various weapons fired from both sides fired at what was beginning to be point blank range. Few of the weapons missed their marks. Debris began to strike the bridge as the Capella went through her own debris and that of alien ships. Ririsa thought that this is what naval battles fought on seas must have looked like. You stared your enemy in the face and fought to the death. The frigate fired another spread of missiles and one was headed directly for the bridge.

Twenty decks below the bridge Jacob and Nicole were fighting for their lives and the life of their ship.

"Firing," Jacob said.

He saw the round strike the huge target. He had switched to a window
view; the ship was so large he felt as if he could find targets better with his naked eyes.

"Loading."

The three non-ratings that had replaced the rest of their crew were doing an outstanding job despite having only an hour refresher lesson  on their jobs. The Capella was lurching with each alien hit and taking violent evasive maneuvers, yet the non-ratings continued to move through their job of loading then re-loading and readying it for the next shot.

"Ready."

Jakob found a hanger bay with its door open on the aliens ship; fighters racing from the carriers' interior. He fired. The round entered the hanger bay and exploded. There were several larger secondary explosions.

"That one hurt."

"Loading."

"We're approaching red and we're losing pressure. I think the
breach may be leaking," Nicole said.

"Roger
, we still good to go?" Jakob said.

"Check but I am not sure how much longer Jakob
," Nicole said.

"Roger. Let me know. We're so close we can't miss now."

That is when the explosion detonated above them. It made the previous explosion seem small and insignificant. The overhead blew downward opening a huge hole just outside of the mount. One of the three volunteers simply disappeared - one second he was there passing rounds into the mount and the next he was gone. The one who was down in the magazine passing the shells up to him disappeared under an avalanche of debris. The last one who was standing in the door was cut in half by a piece of the overhead. His upper body landed at Jakob's feet. Jakob was slammed forward into his firing station. The last thing he saw was Nicole being thrown upward against the overhead still belted into her seat.

Captain Ririsa Grogen was thrown out of her command seat into the displays on the forward walls. When she was able to finally stand she saw her young helmsman slowly standing and returning to his station at the helm. The new Lieutenant who had seemed like a deer in the headlights back in the anchorage was carrying a crewmember to the open space next to the aft hatch and laying them down, then he rushed over to Ririsa. He, like the helmsman, was bleeding from a head wound.

"Captain
, are you all right?"

"Yes, see to the others."

The Lieutenant turned and helped the medical team assigned to the bridge remove the other wounded. Ririsa tried to stand even though it hurt and she felt blood running down her legs. Ok, on my feet, let's see if I can make it to the command chair. She managed to lurch to her chair. For the first time she was glad she could sit down and run her ship.

She glanced at the situational readout but there was so much in the red and the screen kept flickering on and off that she shut it down. She managed after several tries to get the window view back up. Finally the panels lit up. The damage from the missiles was tremendous. Huge sections of the ship were simply missing. One of the
five-inch turrets was simply no longer there. The other was still firing. Anywhere the ship was intact the crew was firing at the carrier, frigate or fighters that were beginning to swarm the ship.

"CIC report
," Ririsa said.

She waited but received no answer.

"CIC report."

Nothing.

"Damage Control report."

Nothing. She need
ed them both to run the ship.

"Lieutenant
, go to CIC and Damage Control and report back soonest."

The young Lieutenant limped away to make his way below to CIC.

The Capella was closing with the carrier. More and more missiles, torpedoes and scrams were striking the ship from all angles. Yet she still moved forward through it all racing for the carrier. The Capella was proving hard to destroy. Ririsa saw the Bernards turning for another run after her initial attack. With aliens concentrating on the Capella, the Bernards had gotten off lightly  so far. The Bernards was turning harder than Ririsa had ever seen a destroyer turn before. An was pulling off something Ririsa thought impossible, he was pushing way past the design spec's. The Bernards weapons were targeting the carrier through the whole turn, they never stopping firing. The Bernards made the turn and was beginning her next run on the carrier when Ririsa saw the second frigate. It was on the Bernards six. It fired a spread of those missiles.

In horror
, Ririsa watched as the missiles went up the engines exhaust cones. In a single sickening blast the Bernards aft section disappeared. That explosion broke her back and she began to break into large sections with secondary explosions rocking some of those sections. The Bernards went from one the best fighting ships in the Navy to space junk in seconds. There would be no survivors, the destruction was too complete.

"Fuck no."

Ririsa turned to see her young helmsmen with a stricken look on his face. He turned and looked at Ririsa.

"Helmsman
, are you all right? We are still in this fight."

She watch
ed a young man grow in seconds. His face changed, becoming hard, determined - the face of a veteran no longer the young face of just a few hours ago.

"Aye, the fuck aye. Captain."

"Good do we have any steerage?"

"Yes, ma'am she is still responding."

"Bring her into course 902.1 directly for the carrier."

"Aye ma'am."

The destroyer, despite all the damage, slowly swung into a direct course for the carrier. Her weapons were still firing.

"Captain
, this is Lieutenant Tmesgen. CIC and Damage Control are both gone. The missile must have penetrated before it exploded. We have lost atmosphere in both compartments and everyone in both CIC and Damage Control are dead. I am going to the backup CIC aft."

More than one of her crew was growing into their jobs.

"Good. Advise me if we have anything to work with."

"Aye, aye Captain."

Ririsa began to take stock of the ship and the mission she had been given. From the visuals on the display screen they had done as much damage as they could. While the one five inch that was left was still firing few other mounts were still operable. She now faced not one but two of those frigates plus more fighters than she could count. She pressed the comm for the Legionnaires.

"Lieutenant Steiner
, report."

"Captain we are still in the fight but I've lost over half the platoon and we are running low on munitions on all our weapons. We can't last much longer."

"Lieutenant, this is an order that you will not disobey. You will disengage and get your survivors to the nearest Confederation ship. They will be expecting you. I need you to give them a report that is going to help them in the coming fight. Understood?"

There was a long pause before Steiner replied.

"Aye, aye ma'am. It has been an honor to serve under your command."

"The
feeling is the same Steiny Man. Good luck."

"Good luck Captain."

The Ririsa heard Steiny Man say,

"
Legionnaires form up on me. We are out of here on orders from the Captain."

A Legionnaire flashed by
the bridge then others followed as they broke off the fight and followed Lieutenant Steiner. Those fighters would be needed in the big battle to come.

"Captain
, this is Lieutenant Tmesgen."

"Go ahead Lieutenant."

"The backup CIC is without power. The backup generators must have been destroyed. We got nothing to work with Captain."

"Roger that. Report back to the bridge Mr. Tmesgen."

Ririsa looked over at the young helmsman.

"Petty officer
, it's time."

"Yes ma'am."

Ririsa touched the all-hands comm that would send the message not only throughout the ship but also to each individual. They were all in their evac suits so each had a comm system.

"This
is Captain Gorgen. Abandon ship. I repeat Abandon ship. All hands abandon ship. Help your ship’s mates and stick together. Abandon ship."

She sounded the signal again and again to make sure it was heard throug
hout the ship. Lieutenant Tmesgen came running into the bridge.