Alarm of War, Book II: The Other Side of Fear (32 page)

The cruiser simply vanished.  One moment it was there, the next moment it was gone, its antimatter drives exploding in a paroxysm of churning light, spewing raw energy and radiation.

And in its agonized death, the Dominion cruiser took its revenge. 

In one enormous pulse of destruction, the energy flare from the explosion swept out for fifty miles in all directions, greedily enveloping thirty-eight of the precious gunboats.  When the deadly sun-bright light diminished, four Squadrons were gone, vaporized in an instant.  There was no wreckage, no bodies, no survivors.  The remaining gunboats – by random luck outside of the kill zone when the cruiser exploded – were all damaged to one degree or another.  As one, stunned and disoriented, they turned toward their carrier and began to limp home.

On the
Rabat,
Alex Rudd looked at the casualty figures and blanched.  “Gods of Our Mothers, grant them mercy!” he whispered in a strangled voice.   Emily came to look over his shoulder.  At first she did not understand what had happened, but a ten second replay of the holo display told her everything she needed to know. Horror mixed with consternation.  The cruiser’s antimatter pods had been breached, and maybe it had been carrying antimatter missiles as well.  And she learned the hard way the hidden design flaw of the heavy gunboats.

She opened up the comm.

“Meknes
and
Rabat
, move up to assist survivors! 
Fes,
launch your gunboats and wait for orders,” she said. 
Skiffington will be happy with this
, she thought bitterly.

* * * *

              On board the Dominion cruiser
Swift Justice,
the captain was confused, a sensation he enjoyed not in the least.  His sister cruiser,
Redemption,
had just blown up in front of him, the victim of what his sensors identified as small missile ships of some sort.  Whatever they were, they were painfully vulnerable because more than half of them had been torn apart when the
Redemption’s
magnetic containment bottle had ruptured.  The rest of the small ships were in retreat, to where he did not know nor presently care about.

              His focus was on the Vicky battleship and cruiser in front of him, largely obscured by jammers and chaff, but there nonetheless.  They had turned away from him, retreating further behind even more chaff and more jammers.  The captain’s forehead wrinkled into a frown.

              Why weren’t they attacking him?  A Vicky
battleship
, for God’s sake, plus a cruiser, against his cruiser and three frigates.  They should be attacking.  Did they know about the other reinforcements coming soon?    Was either the battleship or cruiser already damaged?  He shook his head.  Too many unknowns.  His sensors couldn’t burn through the chaff and the damn jammers and sending a drone would take too long.  His eyes flicked to the holo display.  The three frigates cruised alongside in a “V” formation.  Excellent.  He thumbed the comm.

              “New orders,” he told them.  “Recon by force and report back on the status of the Victorian forces behind this cloud of chaff.  Report back at the soonest possible time.  Acknowledge!”  The senior frigate captain acknowledged the order. His voice seemed…strained.
Probably shitting in his pants,
the cruiser captain thought. 
I would be.
 

              The frigates accelerated ahead and disappeared into the edge of the chaff cloud.

              The cruiser captain waited.

              No comm messages.  No drones.

              “Captain,” the Sensors Officer said.  “Picking up evidence of several explosions from within the chaff cloud.”

              “Consistent with the signature of detonating mines, the kind the Vickies use?” the captain asked dryly.

              The Sensor Operator checked his readings.  “Yes, sir,’ he confirmed.

              The captain nodded sourly.  The Vickies were cunning little bastards, he had to give them that.  But let’s see how cunning they are in an hour when the rest of his reinforcements arrive.

              “Helm, get us out of here,” he snapped.  “Take us back to the asteroid belt.  Stay away from that damn chaff cloud.  Sensors, I want to know the minute you see any more of those small attack craft heading in our direction.  Weapons, send two antimatter missiles straight through the cloud.  Let’s see how they like a taste of that!”  He sat back in his chair, fuming.  “And send word to the reinforcements to get here ASAP.  We can’t keep dribbling forces into this fight and getting our asses kicked; time to kick some Vicky ass for a change.”

* * * *

              Monitoring the battle from the
Rabat,
Emily saw the enemy cruiser turn back to the asteroid field, but behind it there were two ‘vees’ showing the missiles they had fired.  The missiles marched straight toward the chaff cloud the
Lionheart
had made.

              Emily’s brow furrowed.  Two missiles?  Why only two?

              “Oh, bugger me,” she snarled and stabbed the comm button.  “
Lionheart
! 
Wellington
!  Scatter!  Scatter! You have two antimatter missiles coming to your location behind the chaff.  Repeat, two antimatter missiles aimed at you.  Get out of there!”  She hit a second button to go live to all ships.  “Antimatter missiles near the chaff cloud.  All ships move away now!”

              There was a brief lull in the fighting as the Victorian ships accelerated away from the chaff cloud, then the entire cloud pulsed white, as if a giant lightning bolt had gone off deep within it.  When the sensor display finally came back, Emily ordered an active sweep and was rewarded with clear returns on the
Lionheart
and
Wellington,
as well as dozens of heavy gunboats.  “Mildred, take census,” she ordered.

              The AI digested the sensor data and reported: “
Wellington
and
Lionheart
, no significant damage noted. 
Fes
on station and undamaged.  Entire compliment of
Fes
heavy gunships on station and undamaged. 
Rabat
on station and undamaged.  Thirty-eight of
Rabat
’s heavy gunships unaccounted for, status unknown.  Twenty-two of
Rabat’s
gunships being rearmed or repaired at
Rabat
and
Meknes.
  No preliminary reports yet on damage status.  All tugboats are on station near asteroid belt.  Destroyers
Oxford
and-”

              “Stop!  Report status of enemy ships,” Emily said.

              “One enemy cruiser retreating to asteroid field at high speed.  One cruiser, four destroyers and six frigates have just emerged from the asteroid field. No other-“

              “Stop!” Emily snapped.  “Repeat last!”

              “No other-“

              “No, just before that.”  Emily ground her teeth in frustration.

              “One cruiser, four destroyers and six frigates have just emerged from the asteroid field,” Mildred repeated.

              Emily spun to Chief Gibson.  “Chief, are you getting this on sensors?”

              He studied his display, then shook his head.  “Nothing here, Commander, but the antimatter missiles really screwed the sensors.  They won’t be fully functional for a while yet.”

              “Mildred, what is the source of your data on the new enemy ships?” Emily asked.

              “Source is a C2C transmission from the
Horned Owl.”

             
Emily quickly connected to the
Lionheart,
Wellington
and
Fes.
  “Warning!  Large enemy force heading towards us from the asteroid belt.  One cruiser, four destroyers and six frigates.  No specific ETA, but very soon.  Nothing on our sensors, but warning from an Owl. 
Rabat
out.”

              “Mildred, use a laser comm to connect me to the
Horned Owl.”

             
“Of course, dear.”

              Captain Thuree’s face immediately popped up on the comm screen.  He in turn was gazing at another display and seemed unaware of Emily’s presence.  Emily saw one of Thuree’s crew nudge him.   He looked up, eyebrows rising when he saw Emily.

              “Thank you for your warning, Captain Thuree.  Do you see anything else?”

              Thuree’s face grew grim.  “Our sensors have been degraded by the antimatter blast, but my Sensors Officer thinks he saw one, possibly two frigate-sized vessels moving along the top of the asteroid belt toward the tugboats.  There is too much interference from the asteroid field to track them.  I don’t have a laser link with
Haifa
or any of the other ships there to warn them, and if I send a drone I’ll give away my position.”

              “Hold one, Captain,” Emily replied.  She glanced questioningly at Toby Partridge.  He nodded.  “I have a good connection with
Haifa
and
Oxford,
Ma’am.”

              “Captain Thuree, I will pass along your warning.  Please keep us informed of any other sightings; you really saved our bacon with the last one. 
Rabat
out.”

              “I do not eat bacon, Commander, but I am happy to have saved yours. 
Horned Owl
out.”

              Captain Eder’s face appeared on the comm screen.  “Tuttle,
Lionheart
and
Wellington
are turning west in an attempt to lure off the incoming Duck ships.  We’ll leave a trail of mines and jammers to try to force the Ducks to spread out.  Once they spread out a little, I need your grogin to take out anything you can.  We can’t let them set up a coordinated attack, do you understand?  Pay particular attention to the cruiser and the destroyers; they can really hurt us if the Ducks use them properly.”

              “Yes, sir,” she said crisply.

              “And try to reach Commander Brill and ask him, if it would not be too much trouble, if he would
please
launch his bloody attack on the Duck shipyard so we could get the hell out of here.”

              “ Ah, yes, sir.”

              “
Lionheart
out.”  The screen went blank.

* * * *

              Hiram Brill was on the comm to Peter Murphy.

              “Murphy, not that I want to put any pressure on you, but how are you doing over there?”

              “Five rocks so far,” Murphy replied.  “We’re looking at another one right now.  Might be a little small, not sure yet.”

              “Look fast, Peter, we just got word a frigate is coming this way.  I’ve got two gunboat squadrons looking for it now, but we don’t have much longer.”

              “Don’t rush me, Hiram.  “We’re not baking brownies here.”

              Hiram took a deep breath.  He thought about the sensor display Emily had sent and the growing weight of the Dominion forces as reinforcements poured in.  Time was the enemy now.

              “Murphy, you’ve got ten minutes, no more.  In ten minutes we have to start the attack, with or without the sixth rock.”

              “Dammit, Hiram, we’ve got to-“

              “Ten minutes, Peter,” Hiram interrupted, then cut the connection.  One more thing to do.   He checked to make sure he had a solid laser link to
Barn Owl,
then thumbed the comm.  “Any sight of her?” he asked. He had detached the
Barn Owl
to look for the Dominion prison ship,
Tartarus.

              “Not yet,” replied Captain Karen Selby of the
Barn Owl.

              “Keep looking,” Hiram said.  He sat back and looked at the display.  The asteroid belt raised hell with the sensors, so the prison ship could be anywhere, but he would find it.

* * * *

              Emily sat in her chair and thought.  The entire gunboat Wing from the
Fes
was hunting for the Duck reinforcements, and it wouldn’t be long before they found them.  Two cruisers, four destroyers and six frigates.  She stroked the bump on her nose, a little reminder from Camp Gettysburg of how things can go wrong.   Did the Dominions really have that many reinforcements?  They had been coming in in penny packets, but now they show up with a small task force.  Could they pull that together this soon?  She rubbed her nose and recalled all the times she had used decoy drones to spoof the Ducks.  The decoys worked so well because they looked like the real thing on sensor displays.  It wasn’t until you got close enough for optical sensors that-