Midshipman Henry Gallant in Space (The Henry Gallant Saga) (28 page)

Despite all the preparation, Admiral Collingsworth assumed there would be great chaos and confusion once the action got underway. But he trusted the officers and crews to handle any situations.

"Inform me when Second Division reaches a position where missile flight time drops to one hundred twenty seconds," Admiral Collingsworth said to
Superb’s
commanding officer. In considering how to destroy the fixed fortresses, he ordered the Second Division to move against the flanks of the forts.

While
Superb
and First Division maintained its position between the enemy fleet and Ceres, the range continued to fall as Second Division closed on Ceres. An officer reported, "Missile flight time for Second Division is one hundred twenty seconds, sir.”

“Very well,” said Admiral Collingsworth. He added, “Admiral Hue, commence firing.”

Second Division’s battle cruisers began a bombardment on the powerful forts. The division concentrated its fire on the outer fortresses first. Admiral Hue dispatched a task force of cruisers and destroyers to specifically target the space stations and methane production facilities. They fired missiles from either wing while the battle cruisers stood off at long range to pound the unsupported alien fortresses. Holding their present course exposed some of the division’s ships to the heaviest fire, so fighters from various battle cruisers were sent to put up a defensive screen of antimissiles to cover them.

The fortresses launched a heavy volley at maximum range. Admiral Hue’s ships responded in kind, while their fighters kept up a stout defensive fire. After a while the fortresses’ fire dwindled. Admiral Hue ordered his ships to close on the targets while keeping up withering salvos of missiles. Slowly, the fortresses where reduced. But Second Division was also suffering. Several destroyers and a couple of cruisers withdrew from action.

Admiral Collingsworth was still considering the possibility that the Titan armada might counterattack while the Second Division was engaged. As the assault of the fortresses continued,
Superb
kept the main battle force in position to challenge the Titan armada, if it changed course.

Gallant thought that the obstructing strong points would have to be eliminated individually in order to make progress against the position as a whole. The interlocking missile batteries were an especially difficult problem to eliminate. But as the minutes passed, missile fire demolished many of the forts. Before long, the forts were seriously damaged and their fire slacked.

The first phase of the battle was nearly over. Admiral Hue’s attack had crippled the enemy. When he was satisfied that he had devastated everything he could reach from long range, he ordered, “Hard to port, come to course 120, azimuth up 10 degrees, speed 0.002c, at time 16:26.”

Admiral Collingsworth now ordered Third Division with the marine assault ships to seize the remaining fortresses and subdue any remaining resistance.

The Third Division had no battle cruisers with it, so Admiral Collingsworth decided to dispatch
Superb
’s fighters for support. He ordered
Superb
’s captain, “Launch all fighters. Clear a path through those mine fields.”

“Launch all fighters; launch all fighters!” bellowed from the speakers in Squadron 801’s ready-room. Pilots and astrogators scrambled into the hangar bay and began climbing into their Eagles.

Gallant heard Sam’s voice, “About time,” as they boarded their ship and sealed the hatch.

They waited impatiently for their turn on the launch catapult. Then their Eagle was streaking away from
Superb
and pulling alongside the rest of Squadron 801. The sharp accelerating motion of the fighter felt comfortingly familiar.

The battle cruisers of Second Division continued to fire at the fortresses at long range, even as Squadron 801 flew toward the inhibiting mine fields.

Gallant was already tied into his neural interface and picking out individual mines to blast with his laser while Sam calculated their relative position and course corrections.

“Satisfied?” asked Gallant.

“You bet,” said Sam stoically.

The fighters flew in a close formation, blasting everything in their path, meteorites and mines alike. They began clearing a narrow, but secure path through the mines. However, the remaining missile batteries on the damaged fortresses still had some bite. Forts on either side of the asteroid channel launched missiles at the fighters. It was going to be hot work, as long as the fighters were confined to the narrow channel.

Gallant saw the exhaust plume of missiles fired from the fort on their port side. He thought
It’s unfortunate Admiral Collingsworth didn’t see fit to send some bombers along on this mission. We could have retaliated against those forts.
He radioed, “The asteroid channel spirals around to port and the mines are locked into a corresponding orbit. The forts will have us under a vicious crossfire as we pass. I recommend that we detail an antimissile group.”

The Squadron 801 commander concurred and ordered, “Flights one, two and three, shift to missile defense.”

Despite the threat of the missile barrage, the disciple and training of Squadron 801 asserted itself and the designated ships continued blasting mines while others shot antimissiles at the incoming missiles from them forts.

Several fighters suffered near misses and Squadron 801 took its first casualties. Gallant maneuvered his Eagle in a twisting loop to avoid the missiles, but the severe motion jammed him hard against his harness. Sam grimaced fretfully behind Gallant as an equipment locker broke open under the shock of a near miss explosion. Some objects flew around the cabin as Gallant conducted difficult maneuvers through the channel. A small fire started but was quickly put out by Sam’s swift response.

Despite the threat of the missile barrage, the discipline and training of Squadron 801 asserted itself, and the designated ships continued blasting mines while others shot antimissiles at the incoming missiles from the forts.

“Thanks,” Gallant heard over the local channel from a nearby shuttle. Gallant appreciated the simple acknowledgement and looked over his should at Sam who also looked pleased. The Squadron was able to return to
Superb
.

As the marines began landing, several of the Titan buildings exploded. Apparently the aliens managed to destroy some facilities to keep them out of UP hands. The marines swarmed over other buildings and took possession of the equipment and facilities. They also tried to take prisoners, but the Titans fought to the death. No prisoners were captured. However, a great deal of Titan computer equipment was salvaged for examination.

Soon the entire Ceres asteroid cluster and all its defenses were either wreckage or captured.

Admiral Collingsworth led the First Division in an effort to catch the fleeing Titan fleet, but they wouldn’t accept battle. While the Titan Fleet streamed in the general direction of the outer planets, Collingsworth returned to Ceres to keep the Mars Fleet together, as it consolidated its hold on Ceres.

The Titan armada continued toward the outer planets, until the next day when the fleet split in two. The larger force, which included all the slower battle cruisers, headed directly for Saturn. A smaller force of cruisers and destroyers headed for Jupiter at maximum speed. This second cruiser force was clearly intended to reinforce the existing Titan cruisers at Jupiter and to finish the destruction of the Jupiter Fleet. It was a bold move, one that Collingsworth had to answer. Given the speed advantage of the cruisers however, the Mars Fleet would not arrive on the frontier in time to help.

Admiral Collingsworth’s solution was to order the formation of a flotilla of six fighter squadrons and six bomber squadrons, one hundred and forty-four ships in all. From the
Superb’s
ready-room, the pilots again scrambled to their ships. There was a great deal of curiosity about their new mission.

Admiral Collingsworth opened a communication channel to address the flotilla crews. He ordered, “Mr. Gallant, because of battle field exigencies, you will take command of the fighter-bomber flotilla with the temporary rank of Flotilla Commander. I am giving you this responsibility because of your exceptional abilities to evaluate and direct ships through your neural interface.” He paused, and then added, “You are ordered to make best possible speed to Jupiter. Your flotilla is to engage and defeat all Titan forces threating the frontier.”

“Aye, aye, sir,” responded Gallant, determined to meet the challenge given him.

Gallant’s flotilla sped after the Titan cruiser force heading toward Jupiter. As they proceeded, they listened to reports about Ceres.

Lieutenant McCall sent out a fleet-wide update. It stated that the Titans were fighting to the death. They would vent their methane breathing apparatus and commit suicide, rather than be captured. In addition, they were setting explosives where possible. However, SAI had managed to gather some data files and information about the history of the Titans. SAI was able to interpret some of it. They learned that the Titans first came to the solar system about two centuries earlier. They initially settled on Saturn’s moon Titan and began exploring the system for methane friendly locations. They eventually visited Earth and all the planets of the system, but didn’t communicate with humankind. SAI confirmed that the aliens originally came on a generation ship from the M3-type red dwarf Gliese 581. They began Gliese-forming the most methane-compatible moons of the outer planets. They built homes, industries and facilities to provide for their civilization. Their science was a century in advance of Earth when they came, but it took them a century to develop enough population and infrastructure to be competitive with the United Planets. They built most of the Ceres base decades ago, but only sent their armada there recently by stealthy means.

The Titans were confirmed to telepathically communicate with each other, but they could not communicate with human minds. Having no vocal cords or speech box, they never developed a verbal means of communication. They tried and failed to understand human speech, though they had developed an understanding of human writing.

Gallant considered this new information as he formulated a plan of attack for his arrival on the Jupiter frontier.

Violence erupted across the Jupiter frontier. The fat gas giant was once more the epicenter of a great struggle. Titan ground forces emerged from their bunkers and swarmed to assault Kendra, the capital city of Ganymede. High above them, the surviving Titan cruisers and destroyers from the original Battle of Jupiter launched missiles in an attack on Jupiter Station. Meanwhile, a fresh taskforce of Titan cruisers and destroyers, coming from the asteroid belt, rushed to join the conflict.

The United Planets counterattacked every Titan thrust. The
7th Marines
deployed to protect the civilian population still huddled in deep underground shelters. Jupiter Station launched missiles in coordination with the valiant remnants of the Jupiter Fleet; damaged battle cruisers
Repulse
,
Renown
, and
Remarkable
, along with the lone remaining destroyer,
Madison
.

The squadrons of fighters and bombers, dispatched by Admiral Collingsworth’s Mars Fleet, were in hot pursuit of the fresh Titan taskforce emerging from the asteroid belt. Gallant led the fighter-bomber flotilla in its high speed chase for over 100 million miles in a vain attempt to catch the asteroid cruiser taskforce. Even as the flotilla reached the extremities of the Jupiter frontier, the two Titan cruiser forces were combining into one powerful fleet. They focused their attack directly on the remaining UP battle cruisers defending Jupiter Station.

Gallant knew that Captain Caine and the
Repulse
would be fighting against daunting odds. He was straining every engine in the flotilla to reach the battlefield, but already he could hear
Repulse
and
Renown
reporting numerous missile hits and severe damage. Wash from the blasts of the nuclear weapons caused savage concussions that shook
Remarkable
.
Madison
disappeared in a tremendous explosion.

Gallant worried as he listened to the carnage mount.
Repulse
ordered the battle cruisers to move closer to Ganymede, seeking the added firepower of the research lab’s Faser canon. From the protection of their invisible laboratory, the scientists fired the Faser canon and scored some hits on the enemy cruisers.

Direct missile hits were being scored by both sides. A missile spat from the
Repulse
and dispatched an alien destroyer. The Titan forces concentrated on
Remarkable
, firing missile after missile. The battle was degenerating into a ship-to-ship free-for-all at close range. The remains of the Jupiter Fleet were completely outmatched by the numerous Titans. Space around Jupiter Station was littered with lifeboats and escape pods.

Over the general command channel, Captain Caine ordered, “All ships close on the enemy.”

The order, Gallant recognized, was intended primarily for him. He responded, “Aye, aye, sir.”

He waited endless minutes as the flotilla finally closed on their targets. Using his neural interface, Gallant examined the battlefield before him. He let the deposition of all the ships unfold in his mind. He wiped his eyes, clearing his vision and concentrating his thinking, he tried to comprehend the fantastic scope of the situation.

Just hours earlier, he had debated with himself about how he would deal with the problem that was now revealed before him. He had foreseen this possibility, but he hesitated to implement his risky solution. He wondered if he was up to the task that he would be creating for himself.

Finally, Gallant decided to execute his dicey strategy. He designated three squadrons of fighters and three squadrons of bombers as Red Wing.

“Red Wing, attack from the sunward side of the Titans. Once there, the bombers are to release their first barrage of missiles at extreme range,” said Gallant.