Ghost Fleet (The Pike Chronicles Book 4) (14 page)

“Enemy fighters incoming,” said Peter Konos, the Freedom’s CAG. “Engage fighters. Repeat, engage fighters. Let the big guns deal with the frigates. I don’t want to see any of those bogeys get anywhere near our warships.”

“No problem, Sir,” said James Mani, Konos’s wingman. “I don’t think these Meisser kids have ever had to face New Byzantium fighters before.”

“Not that I recall,” said Konos.

“Then they don’t know yet.”

“Don’t know what?”

“That we’re the best!”

Konos chuckled. He had fought together with Mani in several battles against the corporations, and was glad that Mani had volunteered with him to serve on the Freedom. “Alright, let’s focus people. Here they come.”

The void had turned into a celestial light show, as the heavy energy weapons from the Ronin and Reiver lanced out across the black sky at the enemy. The Meisser ships were aglow with orange halos as their point defense systems established protective fields around them. The frigates fired back, but lacked the firepower to inflict any real damage on the larger, heavily armored warships. Konos knew that was about to change. Not only were dozens of enemy fighters racing into the fray, but the Meisser cruisers and destroyers were maneuvering to come about and join the battle.

As he closed the gap with the fighters he saw that they had now split into two groups, one heading for the Ronin, the other for the Reiver. “Squadrons one, two and three, we’ve got the Ronin. Four, five, and six, you protect the Reiver.”

Konos and his group raced toward the attacking fighters, who up until now had not paid much attention to them. But as they drew closer, the enemy fighters altered course and came around to face them. Konos gripped his stick tighter as the HUD on his visor warned of an impending collision course. An enemy fighter flew straight for him, and his computer lined up their trajectories, projecting the imminent collision. Rather than changing vectors, Konos pulled the trigger and lit up the space in front of him with blue. He couldn’t see the enemy with his naked eye, the distances far too great for that, and at their combined speeds, they would crash into each other long before their eyes caught a glimpse of the other ship. It didn’t matter. At the last second the other pilot changed vectors. Konos smirked as he altered course as well, the first battle of nerves won.

“Nice to see that sanity hasn’t clouded your judgment,” said Mani, his own fighter flying behind and above Konos’s, protecting him from any surprise attacks.

“Sanity is overrated,” said Konos.

“So it seems,” said Mani. “This is chaos.”

Konos had to agree. When he swung his fighter around the sight took his breath away. Dogfights raged all around them. Hundreds of fighters swarming each other, their combined energy weapons painting the void blue. Konos’s HUD lit up with a cornucopia of targets. The sheer number made him dizzy. His HUD compensated, picking out the nearest option. He bore down on the enemy craft. It flew below him, and chased one of his team, trying to blow it out of the sky. Konos raced for the fighter, weapons blazing. His target broke off its own attack, turned and climbed. Konos stayed on his prey, matching maneuvers.

“I’ve got him,” said Mani.

Konos saw his wingman on his HUD. Mani had anticipated the enemy fighter’s reaction and had maintained his altitude to cut him off. Konos drove the unsuspecting craft higher as Mani swooped down and fired. A succession of energy bolts burned through the small enemy craft, detonating its core.

“That’s how you do that!” said Mani.

Konos laughed. “Well done,” he replied.

An alarm in his HUD suddenly brought him back to reality. “Shit, I’m lit up,” said Konos. His HUD showed two enemy fighters on his tail, trying to get a lock. He broke into a sharp turn, denying his pursuer a kill shot for the moment. The two enemy fighters stayed close behind. He didn’t need his HUD to tell him they had fired. Blue energy bolts flashed around him as his fighter rolled, bobbed and weaved.

“Hang tight, boss,” said Mani.

Konos saw Mani on his HUD, flying straight for the attackers. The enemy saw him too, and the two fighters split up, each turning in an opposite direction, before Mani’s ship could collide with them.

“And you think I’m crazy?” said Konos, turning back to one of his former attackers.

“Sanity is overrated,” said Mani. “Victory goes to the side with the biggest balls.”

“Is that so?” said Hansen, one of the female pilots.

“I meant that in a figurative sense,” said Mani.

“Good, because we all know there’s no way you’re capable of meaning it in a literal sense.”

Laughter came in over the comm.

“Stay focused everyone,” said Konos, as his HUD showed a targeting lock. He squeezed the trigger and watched as the enemy disappeared from his display.

Colonel Bast knew that their advantage would soon come to an end. The frigates had been easy enough to deal with. None of the smaller ships were capable of standing up to his heavy cruiser, let alone when combined with the destroyer, and the carrier. But now the heavier warships were moving in for a counter-attack. To their credit, they didn’t just charge in, one by one, so they could be slaughtered. They held back until they could form up and attack as a group, even if that meant sacrificing the frigates, which were quickly dispatched. The New Byzantium fleet may have had the early advantage, but soon they would be outnumbered.

The battle between the fighters still raged, but now that the frigates had been dealt with, the larger ships were able to lend their support, tilting the scales in their fighters’ favor. Due to Bast’s brain chip, and its recent integration, he could simultaneously see it all. He at once knew the status of each fighter, and each ship. The disposition of the enemy, and that of his crew. He knew precisely where the Ronin had taken fire, and how much damage had been sustained, as well as a repair estimate. The heavier Meisser ships were moving into a wedge formation. As they prepared to attack, he noted the enemy carrier hanging back, alone and vulnerable. Without uttering a word, he had his helmsman initiate a jump.

The Ronin landed above and just behind the enemy carrier. With another thought, missiles were away, while energy weapons strafed the top of the huge ship. He was one with his crew. They knew his decisions the moment he did. Their reactions were seamless.

The carrier had been caught completely off guard by the attack. With the Ronin landing so close, the carrier had little time to respond, and the Ronin missiles plowed into it unopposed. Bast saw each impact and the resulting breach. He saw the debris flushed into space. Saw the turrets opening fire, and jumped his ship before anything could touch it.

The Ronin landed beneath the carrier next, instantaneously firing its missiles. The carrier was now better able to protect itself, and managed to deploy its point defense system. It made quick work of the Ronin’s missiles. Bast compensated, targeting the nearest point defense battery with energy weapons and railguns. The carrier hit back with its own guns. Its energy weapons pounded the Ronin. Bast forced his ship to stand its ground until the point defense battery had been destroyed, creating a hole in the carrier’s defenses. Bast willed another cluster of missiles to race out of the Ronin. The rockets flew straight through the hole in the carrier’s point defense shield and into its belly. He watched as they gutted the massive ship. Each missile concentrated on the same location. It took several impacts to damage the thick armor, but soon the missiles had created a large hull breach.

Bast launched of a tiny drone, which sped unopposed through the gap in the point defense shield and into the gaping hole in the carrier’s hull. Once inside, the tiny craft raced past the fires, bypassed the repair crews, and sped along the corridors until it found a working computer console. It landed on the console and latched itself firmly in place. Through the drone, the AI accessed the console, and used it as a springboard to attack the ship’s systems. A massive denial of service attack followed, overwhelming the ship’s systems and disabling its digital defenses.

In effect, the carrier was a massive interconnected computer network. Humans were simply incapable of manually controlling the behemoth of a warship. Every aspect of the ship relied on its computer systems. AI’s denial of service attack bombarded the carrier’s network with an innumerable amount of requests, to the point that it was simply incapable of responding to any request. With the network flooded, everything on the ship ceased to function, and the weapons systems went offline. The carrier’s point defense shield went down and its energy weapons ceased firing. The carrier simply floated in space. Defenseless.

We don’t have much time
, thought Bast.

It won’t take much longer,
said AI, through Bast’s brain chip.
I’ve almost got control
.

With the network overwhelmed, AI drilled deeper into the ship’s systems, bypassing the disabled defenses, and using brute force attacks to obtain security clearance where required. The carrier was simply no match for AI’s sophisticated electronic warfare capabilities, and she soon had control of the ship’s systems. Once in control, she rewrote the administrative privileges and locked out the carrier’s officers and crew.

I have assumed control
, said AI.
Command personnel have been locked out and all communications disabled.

Excellent
, said Bast.
Can you recall those fighters?

Yes. Sending command.

Bast watched as the fighters broke off their attacks and sped back toward the carrier. The Freedom’s fighters gave chase, shooting down a few, until finally letting the enemy fighters retreat. The heavier Meisser warships had finished getting into formation, and were now moving to engage the Freedom and the Reiver.

Is the carrier still mobile?
said Bast.

Yes, Colonel. The carrier’s engines are still functional
, said AI.

Can you turn the carrier on its own warships?

Yes, Colonel. Would you like me to attack now?

Yes.

Understood. Powering engines.

The massive carrier lurched forward heading towards the enemy ships. They must have believed it was joining the fight. As it gained speed, the carrier bridged the gap between it and its retreating fighters. They followed orders and proceeded to land on their respective flight decks.

Bast watched for a moment longer before jumping the Ronin  back to its previous location alongside the Freedom and Reiver.

As the Ronin jumped back from its engagement with the enemy carrier, Jon sent over the comm, “Nicely done.”

“Thank you,” said Colonel Bast. “The Meisser armada will soon have quite the surprise.”

“AI, how long until you are in firing range?” said Jon.

“Thirty seconds,” said AI.

Jon hailed Jonas, who soon appeared on his console, alongside Bast. Jonas had been kept up to date on the AI’s takeover of the enemy carrier, as had Jon. “When that carrier attacks, the Meisser ships are not going to know what hit them. That pretty little formation of theirs is going to fall apart. That’s when we strike. We jump in and add to the confusion. The Freedom will hit them on their right flank, the Ronin and Reiver on their left.”

“Understood,” they replied, and disappeared from Jon’s screen.

Jon turned to Kevin. “Order the fighters to attack.”

“Yes, Sir.”

There was no point in having the fighters board the Freedom as they could use their speed to reach the enemy fleet quickly enough. The Freedom would use the jump more as a surprise tactic, rather than anything else. The distance between the Meisser ships and the Freedom was large enough that they were out of weapons range of each other, but not so large that it couldn’t be bridged with relative ease. Doing so would give the Meisser ships time to prepare, which wasn’t something you wanted to do when outnumbered.

“AI, can you keep the enemy fighters from launching?”

“Yes, Admiral. Closing launch tubes.”

“Bomber status?” said Jon.

“Bomber squadron is ready for launch,” said Kevin.

“Loading missile tubes,” said AI. “Bringing weapons online.”

Jon watched as the carrier raced to catch up. The other Meisser ships kept advancing, still oblivious to the fast approaching threat.

“I wish I was a fly on the wall of the carrier bridge,” said Kevin.

Jon smirked. “The bridge crew must be horrified right about now.”

“There is nothing their bridge crew can do to stop me,” said AI. “I have rerouted systems and have defenses in place. My position is sufficiently hardened to withstand any attempt by the crew to take back the ship.”

“I’m sure you’ve made it impossible for them to take control,” said Jon.

“Not impossible, Admiral. If the crew had the time and necessary resources they might be able to retake their ship. Of course, that is assuming I didn’t disable their life support systems first. As it stands, however, they do not have sufficient time to pose any threat. Their cause is hopeless.”

Jon rolled his eyes. “Thank you for the analysis, AI.”

“You’re most welcome, Captain. Firing weapons.”

Jon and the rest of the bridge crew watched the viewscreen, as the enemy carrier entered the wedge shaped formation from behind and began to fire on its own ships. One of the functions of a wedge is to protect against a flanking maneuver from the enemy. The carrier had entered the formation from the rear, and attacked from within, causing the entire formation to fall apart.

“This is unbelievable,” said Vogel. “Do all Earth ships come with such a powerful artificial intelligence?”

“No,” said Jon. “They have AIs that are capable of performing many complicated actions required on a starship, but nothing like this. Our AI is much more sophisticated.”

“Why wouldn’t all your warships possess something similar?”

“I am the only one of my kind,” said AI, over Jon’s comm. “I was initially built as a weapon, and endowed with extremely advanced electronic warfare capabilities. In order to be effective I need to adapt to any situation and continue learning. This ability to learn and adapt is my real strength. It allows me to grow well beyond my original programming.”

“Astounding,” said Vogel.

“Thank you, AI,” said Jon. “But can we focus on the battle now?”

“Of course, Admiral,” said AI. “I have successfully destroyed an enemy destroyer. Most of the other warships have broken formation. Their flanks will now be vulnerable to attack.”

Jon watched on the viewscreen as the enemy warships dispersed to deal with the carrier. The carrier possessed a considerable arsenal, which AI employed to full effect against the enemy ships. Jon noticed that his fighters had almost reached the armada. It was time to act.

“Initiate jump.”

The Freedom jumped and landed on the enemy fleet’s right flank. Within seconds the Ronin and Reiver appeared on the Meisser left flank. The tactic caught several of the enemy ships flat footed. Their wedge formation had collapsed, and many ships were coming about to fight the carrier attacking them from behind. The Freedom spat out a slew of missiles, while blue spears of energy jabbed at the confused warships.

“Launch bombers,” ordered Jon.

“Bombers away,” said Kevin.

The Freedom’s bomber squadron sped out into the void, heading for their respective targets. Each bomber was loaded with Scorpion class hull piercing torpedoes. These were heavily armored munitions, designed to force their way through a ship’s point defense shield, and burrow deep into its hull before detonating. The result was a massive hull breach that would severely cripple, if not destroy the enemy warship. The only handicap was that the Scorpion’s mass required close proximity to the target, which is where the bombers came in. Each bomber would fly close enough to the target, staying outside its point defense radius, and fire its Scorpion. The bombers were larger and slower than the fighters, but had thicker armor, which allowed them to bridge the distance required. Jon hoped the overall confusion would work to their advantage.

“Enemy cruiser destroyed,” announced AI.

“What is the carrier’s status?” said Jon.

“Weapons are still operational, but the ship is taking heavy damage. There are multiple hull breaches throughout the ship.”

“AI, how long can you keep fighting?”

“The hull breaches do not affect my performance. As long as weapons remain operational, I can keep firing, unless the reactor is detonated. Several crewmembers have already tried to sabotage the reactor, but I have successfully locked them out of engineering, and disabled their access to self-destruct commands.”

On the viewscreen, Jon saw that the bombers had dispersed and were chasing down their targets. One had already reached its mark, a cruiser which had been pounding the AI’s carrier with all its weapons systems.

“First Scorpion torpedo is away,” announced Kevin as the bomber released its payload.

The cruiser had already engaged its point defense system in order to deal with the carrier. Jon adjusted his tactical display to focus on the torpedo as it entered the point defense radius. The Scorpion’s armor weakened rapidly as it bore its way through the cruiser’s explosive curtain. The display counted down rapidly. Seventy percent, sixty, fifty, forty, thirty. Jon clenched his jaw.
It’ll never make it
, he thought.

The Scorpions were a critical part of Jon’s strategy. They were badly outnumbered, and even with the jump systems the odds were against them. By getting in close, and launching bombers in the midst of the confusion, Jon had hoped to even the score. In order to be successful, the Scorpions needed to clear the point defense shields and penetrate the enemy hulls. But their armor had to stand up to the enemy fire.

“First Scorpion is clear,” said Kevin, as the torpedo broke through the cruiser’s defensive fire. “Impact!” With its armor at only twelve percent, the Scorpion crashed into the cruiser, and drilled into its hull.

“Why hasn’t it detonated?” said Jon.

“There’s a built in delay,” said Kevin. “It’s meant to allow the torpedo to drill into the hull first.”

As if on cue, the Scorpion detonated, practically breaking the cruiser in two. Several internal explosions followed until the cruiser’s reactor blew, briefly creating a small sun, and decimating the cruiser.

“One of our bombers is taking heavy fire,” said Kevin. An enemy destroyer had realized that in all the confusion, the real threat was the approaching bomber.

“Lay down covering fire,” ordered Jon.

“Retargeting,” said Petrovic.

The Freedom responded with a barrage of energy weapon fire, focusing on the destroyer.

“Scorpion away,” said Kevin.

With the torpedo launched, the bomber began to turn away from the destroyer so it could return to the Freedom’s flight deck. The destroyer continued firing on the bomber, however, undeterred by the carrier’s onslaught, or the approaching torpedo.

“Damn it!” said Kevin. “Our bomber has been destroyed.”

Jon ground his teeth as he watched the torpedo hit the point defense shield.
Come on. Break through
, he thought, not wanting the pilot’s death to be in vain. The Scorpion’s armor took heavy damage from the point defense fire, and its integrity dropped rapidly. But, like the one before it, the torpedo cleared the point defense shield and plowed into the destroyer’s hull. When it detonated it left a horrific gash in the side of the Meisser ship. The enemy ship didn’t blow, but it had been critically damaged, and its point defense shield had gone offline.

Finish it off
, urged the creature from within.
It is still a threat. You must destroy it.

One missile
, thought Jon.
That’s all it’ll take. Then all those bastards will be dead.

Yes,
the creature encouraged
. Fire the missile. Kill them all.

“Retarget weapons,” said Jon. “The destroyer’s no longer a threat.”

“Retargeting,” said Petrovic.

Inside him he felt the creature’s fury. Jon ignored his symbiont’s ravings. It didn’t command him anymore, and he didn’t have to follow its bloodthirsty decrees. The destroyer had been disabled. There was no need to destroy it. All those lives could be spared.
Human lives
, he reminded himself.
They’re human. I’m still human.

You are a fool,
the symbiont replied.