The Icarian Legacy Collected Edition: Brave Souls - First Strike (Volume 3) (7 page)

As the seconds passed the tension increased, and the same thing was happening on the surface.

Kirkpatrick looked with disbelieving eyes at the report in his hands. He looked at the sonar images that the Jimmy Carter sent them of the mysterious object that was placed at twelve hundred feet depth. It was immediately obvious that it was artificial and the signals that it was emanating were strange to say the least.

The coordinates showed that the target lay seven nautical miles in front of them.

He picked up the telephone and immediately called Admiral Johnson on the bridge.

When the admiral arrived he looked at the concerned face of his XO.

“This better be good. What was so urgent that you couldn’t handle it without me?”

Kirkpatrick looked at him and with a concerned face handed him the report from the submarine.

“Sir I think that this warrants your attention.”

Johnson studied the results and then looked at him.

“Are the results confirmed? Did you ask for a second scan from the other submarines?”

“They all gave the same results sir.”

The admiral looked at the sea. It looked peaceful and calm. It was late afternoon and the sun moved slowly to the west. He loved the sunsets at sea. But he knew that today will be different.

And something in his heart was telling him that a storm was approaching. Not a sea storm but a storm of another kind.

He turned to his XO.

“Tell the fleet to move with maximum speed towards those coordinates… and inform the Jimmy Carter that they should flank the object and wait for us.”

“Yes sir.”

Moments later the entire fleet headed towards the coordinates that the three submarines gave them.

“We’ll be there in five minutes sir.”

Johnson just nodded with his head and kept on watching towards the distant sunset.

The fleet moved quickly and with a clear purpose. High above them in the clouds the six Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and six F/A-18 Hornets flew in formation. Thirty eight more plains waited on the carrier.

“Sir the Jimmy Carter reports that they are making the flanking maneuver and trying to make contact. The Yuri Dogorukiy is staying in the back as a precaution. Commander Adams reports that so far the object hasn’t made any contact and is stationary.”

“Just one more, one minute.”-
those were the thoughts that went through his head as he heard the report from communications.

The Admiral turned to Kirkpatrick. The young officer was calm.
His dark blue eyes showed confidence.

“Contact the Jimmy Carter and tell them…”

He never got the chance to finish the sentence because three large underwater explosions happened at that exact moment. And just seconds’ later eleven more were heard as the torpedoes impacted on the alien ship.

Three large gazers of water and parts exploded upwards on the places where the submarines meet their end. The shockwave hit the ships just seconds later.

Johnson looked at the gazers.

“What the hell…”- the words came from Kirkpatrick.

Johnson looked at him and then turned to his communications and sonar operatives.

“Give me a report.”

Deep inside him he already knew the answer. A sheet of paper came out of the printer on the bridge. He never even bothered to look at it.

The sonar operative looked at the admiral with a white face.

“Sir the Yuri Dolgorukiy reports that the enemy ship fired and destroyed the rest of the submarine squadron. He further reports that the object was hit by at least eleven torpedoes and suffered minimal damage. The weapons that were fired are of unknown origin.”

“Jesus Christ. What have we found?”

Johnson turned to his shaken XO.

“It’s not important what, what is important is how we deal with it. Launch all fighters and inform the fleet to go to red alert and battle formation. Send an immediate call to the HMS Vanguard and USS Missouri and their escorts to head this way.”

The two most powerful ships and their escorts were searching a little further in the east. He now regretted for not calling them sooner but he knew that there was no way to predict that this was going to happen. Four more submarines were in that area as well.

As the orders were given the ships started altering their course and all the guns were loaded with real ammunition. Everyone knew what was coming.

“Inform the High Command of the latest developments and send a report to the navies of the surrounding countries. We might need their help.”

In less than a minute the information went to all the navies of the region and also across the planet to the High Commands of Russia and USA.

As the fleet on the surface was preparing for confrontation they had no idea that they are being monitored from three other ships in the sky above them. Two corvettes and one frigate were keeping a close eye on the human fleet and monitored its deployment and communications.

And deep below as the ships were deploying the last submarine was quietly approaching from the depts.

Kamarov and everyone on his submarine were sweating. They knew of the danger that lay ahead of them but they didn’t care. They wanted revenge and they knew that they are close to getting it. From the sonar images Kamarov gambled that the ship won’t have any defense on its downside. And from the looks of the situation it seemed that he was right.

“We are on position Captain.”

The word came from his XO. Kamarov looked at him and took the phone from his hands.

“Inform the Abraham Lincoln that we are commencing the attack.

Then he spoke on the phone.”

“Fire all tubes continuously. Fire everything on that bastard.”

In the next second eight torpedoes were launched from the tubes. And after them eight more followed just 30 seconds later.

Mran was silently waiting and watching the countdown. He had said all his prayers and was prepared to die. Only two more arns were separating him from the afterlife.

Everyone who knew him could notice his nervousness. The radar showed that the fleet on the surface was deploying in battle formation. It was obvious that they knew where his ship was. He smiled inwardly at their deployment. He knew that when the autodestruct triggers the explosion of his ship will cripple half the ships of that fleet.

He was having this happy thought when the shout came from the legionary manning the radar console.

“We are detecting enemy missiles in the water.”

“Where are they? Fire everything on them.”

“We can’t sir. They are coming from below and our weapons there are not operative. We…”

The legionary never managed to finish the sentence. As he tried to speak the last words the first eight torpedoes struck the ship. Just forty seconds later eight more struck again. The explosions broke through the damaged and stressed hull and two of torpedoes exploded inside the ship. The explosion damaged the gravity stabilizers that were holding the ship in place and took out the computer core that was controlling the auto destruct.  The cruiser started to rise towards the surface and the fleet that was awaiting him there.

“Stop the rising of the ship!!!”

Mran’s voice was filed with anger. Every chance that he had to save the secrecy of the mission was now lost.

“We can’t sir. The gravity stabilizers are damaged and also the computer core. There is no chance of self destruct or stopping the rise of the ship.”

“Do we have communications?”

“Yes sir.”

“Inform Ristarion that we have a battle ahead of us. Tell him that we can’t activate the self destruct and that we must destroy this fleet quickly. Prepare all the Seraphines for launch and acquire targets and start destroying them as soon as we are above water. Tell him to open fire after we draw them in.”

And locate that underwater ship that damaged us. I want it          destroyed. It seems that the gods want us to see how this humans fight. Let’s strike fear in to their hearts.”

Ristarion looked at the screen that was showing him the unfolding situation on the sea. He could clearly see that the humans had the tactical advantage and even with its tick hull the Caronia was in a difficult situation considering the damage it had taken. He rubbed his head with his hand and looked at his first officer.

“Tell the corvettes to spread out. And prepare the Seraphines for launch.”

His ship had six of the small space fighters, and the corvettes held eight more. The cruiser held another thirty and he already knew that they would launch as soon as it hits the surface. He knew that no matter what happens the surprise that his clan was counting on was lost. When the fleet arrives it will have a battle on its hands.

“
Damn you Mran. May the gods curse you, you moron.
”

Johnson looked at the sea when the large alien ship reached the surface. The report that came from the last remaining submarine told them that the ship was rising.

“Tell everyone to open fire as soon as the bastards hit the surface. Don’t give them breathing space.”

“Sir I think you should take a look at these readings.”

Kirkpatrick looked at radar and noticed what the technician was showing him.

Three shadows were showing for just a second and disappearing.

“Send one air wing to investigate.”

As the huge ship hit the surface all the ships from the battle group opened up. Hundreds shells and missiles hit the alien ship. Explosions rocked its surface but the damage was minimal. Even without its shields its armor was created for taking and deflecting fire from large kinetic rounds and plasma and laser weapons. But the stressed hull was heavily damaged from the torpedoes and the shockwave from the explosions under water. On its way to the surface it was hit by the other torpedoes that the Yuri Dolgorukiy launched and from torpedoes and mines that were launched from the ships on the surface. But even with all the damage it took it was still capable of taking on its enemies. As the ship hit the surface hundreds of lasers and rail guns mounted on its hull opened up. In the same time thirty small space fighters launched from its launch bay. They immediately started firing on the human ships and soon fourteen other fighters that were launched from the rest of the fleet joined them.

The first brutal hits from the enemy and the first casualties were the frigate Georgia and the destroyer Potemkin. Both ships took the brunt of the first salvo of the enemy and they were literally shattered from the kinetic release.

“God help us. That ship can’t be from this world.”

“Contact all navies countries in the region tell them that we need immediate navy and air support. Tell them… tell them that we are being attacked by an unidentified ship from alien origin with advanced technology.”

As soon as the admiral’s words were spoken they were relayed to every navy and air force base in the region. In under a minute hundreds of planes and dozens of ships turned towards them.

“Sir we have air wings coming from Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, Cyprus and Israel. There are several ships from Greece, Turkey and Israel that will be here in less than 15 minutes. The battleships will arrive in seven minutes.”

“What kind of ships?”

“It seems like ten destroyers and eight frigates.”

“We will need their firepower, especially the battleships. Tell the Prince Royal and Queen Elisabeth that they have permeation to engage the enemy and inform the Kinkaid, the Kid and their escorts that they should prepare the rail guns. They may be our only chance of destroying that ship.”

The two British heavy destroyers slowly stepped in front of the other ships and opened up with their heavy armament. Huge explosions rocked the surface of the alien cruiser. At the same time several huge explosions rocked its underside as the last launched torpedoes from the submarine found its target.

“Tell the ships to concentrate the fire on one the launch bays on the enemy ship, and contact the incoming fighters and ships and apprise them of the situation.”

As the next volley of the ships opened up a huge explosion rocked the alien ship and a huge hole opened up on the place where the launch bays were located. And as the fire increased the damage was more severe.

Ristarion looked at the battle that was slowly turning against the cruiser. Four of the human ships were nothing more than burning hulks and several more were damaged, but the rest were pouring continuous fire in to the wounded cruiser. At the same time the human fighters were fighting an air battle with the seraphines. And here the human anti air defense proved impressive. In the first pass over the ships half of the fighters were destroyed by the ships defense systems. And the rest were having a hard time fighting the human flying machines.

“It’s time we get involved. Target the two ships that are at the front and open fire. And clear the sky for the seraphines.”

On that order the three ships uncloaked and opened fire with their main batteries. The frigate had two plasma batteries and four Kinetic batteries, and the corvettes had only kinetic batteries. All the ships were older models and in this situation Ristarion wished he had under his command some of the newer ships. With them he was sure that he could win easily.

The fire of the three ships hit both heavy cruisers amidships and broke through their armor. Huge explosions rocked both vessels and pieces of metal flew to all sides. Both ships were totally destroyed and lost with all hands. In the same time twenty F-18 were destroyed by the lasers that all three ships fired at them as they tried to destroy them.

As the new threat materialized several ships opened up on the three smaller ships. But their shields protected them from the incoming fire.

“Sir the Kinkaid reports that they can’t penetrate the enemy’s defenses with conventional weapons. The same report comes from the air wings. The ships have some kind of shield technology that prevents the shells and rockets from hitting the hull. They request permeation to fire the rail guns.”

Johnson looked at the blazing fires that were burning outside. The Carrier also took several hits as well as all other ships.

“Tell them that they have my permeation. And tell the other ships to group around them and protect them.”

“Yes sir.”

“Sir the USS Missouri and the HMS Vanguard and their escorts are within range. They are commencing the attack.”

Admiral Johnson smiled for the first time since the battle started.

“Good. Let’s see what the enemy is really made of.”

Both the USS Missouri and the HMS Vanguard were on their shakedown cruises after they were reactivated several months earlier.

The USS Missouri after its upgrade from twenty two years before had nine sixteen inch guns and twelve five inch guns. With that kind of firepower long thought not needed it was the most powerful ship on the face of the planet.

The HMS Vanguard was reactivated as an answer to the reactivation of the USS Missouri and it had impressive power as well as the US battleship. Four point two fifteen inch guns and 12 point two five inch guns littered its decks.

And all this massive firepower was directed towards the enemy cruiser that lay in front of them.

The most powerful ships in the world opened up with all their might.

Mran looked at the battle display. The human ships were destroying his ship. The damages in the launch bay were enormous and the hits on the hull disabled nearly all the rail guns. He looked around him and despaired. The ship rocked as it took several more hits.

“Give me damage reports.” As one legionary turned to answer him the shells from the Missouri and Vanguard hit the fractured hull of the Caronia. The shells from both battleships were very different from the other shells fired from the rest of the ships. The main guns of the Missouri fired 400 mm armor piercing shells that moved with a speed of 800m/s. The main guns of the Vanguard fired armor piercing shells that moved with a speed of 780m/s. And all this shells hit the hull of the Dacarian heavy cruiser Caronia just above the bridge.

The mighty shells penetrated four decks deep using their high speed at over 800 m/s and exploded just above the bridge. The damage they inflicted was tremendous. The explosions threw Mran of his seat and he hit the firing console that lay three meters in front of him. He didn’t even have time to utter a scream as dozens of shrapnel’s tore through his body. All dacarian legionaries on the bridge and four other decks died instantly and even more died as the next shells arrived. In just under a minute the mighty ship fell dead and ceased firing at the human fleet. In just under a minute massive holes opened up on its hull as more and more of the fire directed at it found its mark.