The Shattered Empire (The Shadow Space Chronicles Book 2) (63 page)

It was already too late for Lucius to avoid passing near it.

“Retask probes,” Lucius said sharply and his gaze went to Ensign Michele Konetsky.  “I want a full scan of the debris region, active radar, as close as they can and full emissions sweep.  If they find
anything
, I want a visual sweep as well.”  He pursed his lips, “And task half the surviving probes from the first wave to go above and below the jamming wall.”  They wouldn't get a
good
look at what was going on there, but they would get him something.

He just hoped it wouldn't be what he expected.

***

Squadron Commander Thxan realized exactly when the enemy had figured out their plan. 
This human,
he thought,
is crafty, though it is too late for him.
  The human probes near the salvage field went to active radar at the same time as some few probes jetted above and below his screen and they too went to active radar. 
Though if they need that to see Fleet Commander Krxil's ships then the humans are even less competent than expected,
he thought.  The Fleet Commander's vessels were at maximum acceleration, which meant they should easily be visible.

“Launch missiles at these, let us not let them get a good look just yet,” Thxan said as he highlighted the probes above and below his formation.  Since they had gone to active sensors they glowed like beacons.  It galled him, a bit, to have to use his missile tubes for the task, yet they were out of range of his other systems. 
Not that it really matters at this point,
he thought,
the humans can see their destruction coming now, it is too late for them to halt it. 
Even the stupendously large ships of these humans could not withstand this attack, surely.

As the missiles went out, Squadron Commander Thxan's attention went to Fleet Commander Krxil's force.  It had already built up acceleration and would pass through his screening force in only a few minutes while it continued to accelerate.  “Prepare for Fleet Commander Krxil's passage,” he said.  “Execute rotation and cease jamming.”

***

Lucius bit back a curse as his probes showed the accelerating Chxor fleet behind their stationary screen.  If they continued to accelerate for the next few minutes, they would reach Lucius at the same time as he passed near the debris field.  Since they couldn't help but see his ship's drives, they could be certain to position themselves on whichever side he chose to pass the salvage field.  And as he thought that, ship icons began to appear in the salvage field as well.

“Baron,” Ensign Konetsky said, “Upwards of one hundred dreadnoughts and four hundred plus cruisers detected in the salvage yard.”  There was more than a little irritation in her voice and she shot an angry look at Ensign Jiang, almost as if she blamed her for not suggesting they look there.

“Well, this all got a bit more interesting,” Forrest Perkins said with a laugh.

“Yes, it did, didn't it?” Lucius asked.  He bit back a laugh of his own at the gallows humor of the situation.  The three massive Crusader-class ships were far tougher, larger, and more capable than even a squadron of Chxor dreadnoughts.  Each ship mounted extensive jamming systems, chaff launchers, and even multiple decoy systems as well as the heaviest defense screens ever created by mankind.  In addition, they were studded with weapon turrets, with heavier firepower than anything else in space.  Forty of the Chxor dreadnoughts would have been a tough, but doable fight, particularly with the Harassers break up the Chxor's screening formation.  But a hundred and forty dreadnoughts was a different story, altogether... and right now, Lucius was headed directly for them.

The parasite frigates were heavily armed, with huge offensive firepower, but they couldn't take even a single hit from one of the dreadnoughts primary batteries.  If they had the rest of the Dreyfus Fleet's original screen... well, then it might be an even fight, but Lucius had used those ships on a different mission, one he couldn't regret even at the likely possibility of defeat. 
At least,
Lucius thought,
with all the enemy ships here, Admiral Dreyfus should face a lighter force than expected at Tehran. 
He wondered if this massive response were some effect of his sending Kral to infiltrate the Chxor Empire.  Did they see the United Colonies as a much greater threat, now?

At this point, his big, ponderous ships had only three real options.  They could accelerate and attempt to limit the engagement time.  That would minimize the Chxor's opportunity to hammer his ships and would probably save his force... but it would also shoot them past the planet and meant that Lucius's own vessels wouldn't have time to break the Chxor formations to do any substantial damage of their own.  At best, it would be a draw, at worst, the enemy might cripple one or more of the Crusaders which would also effectively mean the loss of whatever parasite frigates and fighters couldn't leave the system.  He could maintain the current course and engage the Chxor on their terms, which would be an engagement of several minutes, at least.  During that time, the enemy would pound his ships and make extensive use of their firefly jamming systems to blind his sensors and disrupt his communications and orders to his frigates and fighters.  In that kind of fight, the Chxor would have every advantage, both in numbers and in the ability to negate many of his ship's advantages.

The last option was to reverse acceleration and slow his own ships.  That would buy him some time, but in the end, it was fundamentally identical to the second option. 
Except,
Lucius thought,
my force isn't limited to one speed... or just one option.

“Message to the Harassers,” Lucius said sharply, “Full acceleration on course...” he glanced at his screen, “Three nine five.”  That would swing them low and inside their course, decelerating to prolong the engagement, which was opposite what fighter doctrine should be.  It would swing their formation past the inside of the salvage field.  “Full orders to follow.”  He saw Ensign Konetsky begin to update the various flight commanders.  “Message to parasite frigates...” he took a deep breath, “Maintain current vector seven three, course one three six.”

“Right down their throats, eh sir?” Ensign Perkins said.  The frigates course would bring them directly towards the approaching force of forty dreadnoughts on the outside of the debris field.  It was, quite literally, a suicide course.  The eighteen frigates had the acceleration to avoid that engagement for another thirty minutes, but they wouldn't survive long in the system without the support of their parent ships.  “Yeehaw.”  His tone, if anything, was more than a little ironic.

Lucius nodded, “Right down their throats.”  He glanced at his display again and considered the timing very carefully.  His gaze went to the clock again. 
The timing is everything on this,
he thought.  “Crusader squadron, orders are as follows...”

***

Fleet Commander Krxil monitored the display and the updates from the system sensor net.  The humans had, somewhat inexplicably, ignored the static sensor platforms seeded throughout the system.  Either they assumed that they would take the system and therefore want to use them or they simply didn't care about the advantages it gave him.

Granted, they didn't allow for targeting the human ships, but they did allow him to track their general formation and the power signatures of their three monstrous ships.  That led to a great many questions, both about their commander's plan and also about how the human had, thus far, managed such successes against the Chxor Empire.  In particular, he did not understand the purpose of the enemy frigates course.

The human formation had split.  Which seemed counter-intuitive, in that the humans must realize that there was strength in numbers.  Still, he could somewhat understand the separation of the fighters, but to send the smaller escort vessels on a separate course, one that swung around the debris field, seemed to invite defeat in detail, particularly since they maintained their original course even as the three massive ships slowed their overall velocity relative to his own force as well as that of High Commander Chxarals.  At the current rate, the enemy force would be split, with the three ships and most of the fighter force passing on one side of the debris field and the small escort force on the other

Granted, their fighters could break off from that attack.  The human fighters had more than enough acceleration to join the escort frigates, but that would leave the three capital ships entirely on their own.

“Message from High Commander Chxarals,” Communications Officer Klxan said.  “He orders us to engage the frigates while he will engage the larger ships.  He's asked that we retain our missiles for interceptor fire against the enemy fighters rather than to use them against the frigates.”

“Understood,” Krxil said.  In truth, he thought the High Commander's plan was overly complex and smacked too much of the human's tendencies to take risks.  With a hundred and forty dreadnoughts, they could have met the humans in a direct engagement and driven them off.  Still, he could admit that the opportunity to destroy them did maximize efficiency.  There was a good chance that if they saw the entire strength that the Chxor Empire had marshaled that they might not have risked the fight at all.

“Maintain our current course,” he ordered.  “Cease acceleration and monitor the enemy maneuvers.”  He stared at the eighteen small vessels on his sensors and he tried to understand what sent them on their course.  Could it, perhaps, be a distraction?  They had to know that they couldn't seriously harm his force.  Perhaps they merely wished to draw his own ships away from the fight.  Yet surely they had to know that their capital ships were no match for a hundred dreadnoughts with their entire cruiser screen?  Even with the fighters, the ships would be over-matched.

Krxil thought suddenly of his creche-mate, Kral, who had, as far as he knew, died at the hands of these same humans.  Kral had not had the same opportunities as Krxil, and had served under the failure Kleigh, where he'd been sacrificed when the humans had lured two dreadnoughts out of position to be hit from behind by additional forces.

Krxil would admit that Kral was the most introspective of his creche-mates.  He possessed an ability to take a problem apart... and Krxil had a sudden thought that if he had his old companion present he might figure out the purpose of the humans maneuvers.

***

Lucius checked the clock again and then glanced at the sensor repeater.  It showed the Chxor forces fairly accurately at this point.  Both the primary forces had gone into their battle formations, with their cruisers positioned to interdict fire and block sensors with their firefly jamming systems.  The original screening force had begun to advance as well, probably with orders to intercept any battered wrecks that managed to survive and destroy them.

The last Chxor force was also where expected.  A single squadron of four dreadnoughts and sixteen screening cruisers sat in orbit over Delvar.  Their drives were on standby along with most of their other systems.  The Chxor didn't mind if Lucius could see that force, it was there as a final threat.  They were the Chxor insurance policy... they were the one threat that, no matter what, Lucius's force couldn't deal with before they did their work.  While the Danar system had a vital strategic value, the loss of the planet and it's people was not something that Lucius could stomach.

The coming fight, though, weighed almost as heavy on his mind.  He looked over at Ensign Jiang, “You've sent the last update from our sensors?”

On that thought, the timer on his display wound down the last seconds.

***

Squadron Commander Fxuhkd was new at his job.  He wasn't a very talented officer, he knew.  Nor, in fact, was most of his crew very good at their jobs.  His ship,
529897
, was one of the newest out of the yards at Karis, along with the other ships in his squadron.  He knew that was why his squadron was selected to stay back in orbit over the planet.  It only made sense, to him, to have the least skilled and experienced vessels in that position... especially since they could complete their mission with their minimal training.

Their shuttles were already prepared, their toxic cargoes loaded and spray systems installed.  The crews didn't even need to wear protective gear, as the nerve agent had no harmful effect on Chxor.  It even, he was told, had a scent rather like Chxor rations.  The planet would be sterilized of human life and most of their higher function livestock.

In truth, Squadron Commander Fxuhkd didn't know why they hadn't already used Pacifix Seven on all the inhabited human worlds.  Certainly it would be a time consuming operation to clear the bodies and there would the the loss of conscripted labor, but these were small prices to pay in the process of clearing out the inferior humans.

All the same, he would not have the opportunity to deploy his shuttles, he knew.  The human force was entirely outmatched by High Commander Chxarals.  They would be destroyed well clear of the planet.  Which was just as good.  From what he understood, there were issues with the supply chain and his ships were the only ones with enough supplies of nerve agents to deal with the planet.

As he thought that, his sensor officer looked up suddenly, “Squadron Commander, it seems we have an unexpected convoy which has just arrived.  They aren't transmitting any recognition codes that I recognize though.”