Retreat Hell (37 page)

He took the weapon and walked up the stairs to the rooftop.  The manager had padlocked it closed before leaving the building years ago, but a swift kick got rid of it in a hurry.  Smiling at what some people considered secure, he stepped out onto the rooftop and looked towards the spaceport.  The sound of gunfire in the distance – and the explosions from a handful of mortar shells – was almost drowned out by the sound of shuttles landing and taking off from the spaceport.  Mustapha allowed his smile to widen as he watched another shuttle lift off, then took aim before activating the seeker head.  As soon as it had locked on, he pulled the trigger, launched the missile and started to run.

Behind him, a shuttle staggered, then exploded in midair.

***

“Shuttle Twelve is gone,” Michael said.  “They just blew her out of the sky.”

“Understood,” Jasmine said.  Cold ice lodged itself in her heart.  “Order the other shuttles to deploy decoys constantly, then contact the QRF and tell them to sweep the area.”

She looked down at the map, knowing it was a waste of time.  The area was just too large to sweep without more men than she had, which meant that there was no way she could guarantee that there weren't more HVMs lurking nearby.  And if they were ... each shuttle she lost not only killed a number of soldiers – she promised herself she’d mourn later – but crippled her ability to move more troops up to orbit.

“Keep moving the troops as fast as you can,” she ordered.  “And then contact the counter-battery units.  I want a maximum fire pattern on the source of any further missiles or shells.”

Michael looked shocked – a maximum fire pattern would almost certainly guarantee civilian causalities – but nodded and sent the message.

We’re going to need to rethink all of our procedures
, she thought, grimly. 
We rarely had to land shuttles in a hot zone while we fought for the Empire.

She looked over at Michael and sighed.  He’d been born on Avalon; he didn't have the assumptions she’d developed over her years of fighting for the Empire.  And he'd done very well in his previous battles, even though he’d started young.

“Assign yourself to the next shuttle,” she said.  Avalon would need him, perhaps, more than it needed her.  “And get your ass out of here.”

Michael stared at her.  “I should stay ...”

“That’s an order,” Jasmine said.  “You’re going to be needed in the future.”

***

Gudrun kept her head down as she ran towards the edge of the Zone.  The sheer level of devastation stunned her; buildings that had once housed dozens of family members had been shattered, bodies lay everywhere to mark where the movement and the invaders had fought for control of bare metres of ground.  All the old landmarks had been utterly destroyed.  The only way to tell she’d moved out of the Zone was when she started encountering intact buildings once again, even though they were all badly damaged.

She paused long enough to catch her breath, then resumed running.  Marcy’s message had been far from encouraging, but it was all she had.  If she made it to a specific location in time, she would be evacuated along with her family.  But if she failed to reach it, she would be left behind.  She’d heard, as she’d walked out of the hospital, that a powerful fleet had entered the star system.  The Commonwealth was running and ... someone new had arrived.

“Hey,” a voice shouted.  “Stop!”

Gudrun glanced back and cursed, out loud.  A group of soldiers wearing local uniforms were waving to her, bottles of alcohol in their hands.  Gudrun blanched as she saw their expressions, realising that they had rape on their minds.  She turned and fled as fast as she could, drawing on reserves of strength she didn't know she had.  The soldiers gave chase, catcalling as they followed her, promises of what they would do once they caught her.  Somehow, Gudrun kept running, leaving them behind until she tripped over something on the road. 

She hit the ground hard enough to stun her.  Desperately, she tried to scramble to her feet, but it was too late.  One of the soldiers landed on top of her, holding her down, as his comrade grabbed her arms and wrenched them forward.  Moments later, they had her on her back and started to pull at her clothes.  Gudrun kicked out, but missed them completely.

Two shots rang out.  The soldiers fell on top of her.  Gudrun managed, somehow, to push them aside and sit upright.  A man – a very familiar man – was standing there, holding a pistol.

“Well,”
Rzeminski said.  “What are you doing here?”

Gudrun swallowed and tried to think of an answer.  But what could she say?  The movement wasn't much kinder to deserters than it was to traitors.  And she was, technically speaking, both.

“Not that it matters,” the movement’s leader said.  He helped her to her feet, then smiled.  “I think it’s time we went into hiding, don’t you?”

Put simply, the aggressors were already armed to the teeth.  They’d had years, prior to the start of their grand crusade, to secure all the weapons they needed.  (They’d also shipped in various production machines, allowing them to keep pace with demand for both weapons and ammunition.)   The net result of the embargo was to disarm the victims of aggression, while allowing the actual aggressors free reign.  Also unsurprisingly, the aggressors managed to make vast gains in a relatively short space of time.

-
Professor Leo Caesius. 
War in a time of ‘Peace:’ The Empire’s Forgotten Military History.

“The enemy fleet is leaving orbit, Admiral.”

Rani nodded, unsurprised.  It
was
their smartest move, although she had yet to determine if the Commonwealth ships intended to try to delay her or simply cut and run.  Either one would be defensible, although she had no idea what sort of commanding officer would deny himself a long-range engagement.  It was their best chance of inflicting some kind of damage, without risking total disaster in a short-range battle.

“Monitor their course,” she ordered.  “And launch an additional flight of drones.”

She watched as more data started to flow into her display.  The Commonwealth’s new class of cruisers seemed to have an alarmingly high acceleration rate, higher than anything their size within the Empire.  It was actually quite impressive, she decided, as the drones started to report back.  They must have discovered some way to modify the drive chambers, perhaps even to produce newer and improved drive systems.  It boded ill for the future.

Rani was a military officer.  She had little time for theorists who promised revolutionary scientific developments, provided their pet projects were funded without intensive supervision.  When she’d been the ruler of Corinthian, she’d insisted that development be concentrated on improving current technology.  Had the Commonwealth done the same, she wondered, or had they come up with something completely new?  There was no way to know.

“Special orders,” she said, softly.  “If possible, I want one of those modern cruisers disabled for capture.”

“Understood,” the tactical officer said.

Rani had to smile at the enthusiasm in his voice.  Disabling a starship wasn't easy – and the Commonwealth would presumably have installed a self-destruct system in their cruisers, one capable of vaporising the entire ship if it seemed likely she would fall into hostile hands.  But there was no alternative.  If they captured such a cruiser largely intact, they could start to unlock its secrets without having to begin from scratch.

She settled back to watch as the Commonwealth ships arced around, then started to advance towards her fleet.  It was to be a long-range engagement then, rather than an attempt to block her way towards the planet.  Somehow, she wasn't too surprised.  Normally, the planet’s defences would have made her a tough customer.  Now, with the chaos virus running through its systems, every defence station would be operating on its own.

You’d think they’d take precautions against their own tactics
, she sneered, mentally. 
Who says you can't steal ideas from your enemies
?

Thule wasn't a Commonwealth world at the time
, her own thoughts answered her. 
They may not have realised the implications of Corinthian’s fall.

The tactical officer looked up from his display.  “Admiral, they’re sweeping us with tactical sensors,” he said.  “But they’re still out of engagement range.”

Known
engagement range, Rani knew.  Had the Commonwealth designed a long-range missile as well as fast cruisers?  It was possible ... but unless they’d developed a completely revolutionary form of drive technology, they’d only make it easier for her point defence crews to track and destroy the missiles before they reached her fleet.  Or were they merely trying to make sure all of her ships had been detected?  They were presumably wondering what had happened to the other two battleships.  Or, for that matter, the rest of the fleet they’d seen at Titlark.

“Sweep them in return,” she ordered.  There was no point in trying to hide anything, not now.  “And bring up our point defence.”

She smiled, coldly.  The first major space battle for nearly a thousand years ... and she was one of the commanders.  Did her opponent think the same way, she wondered, or was she more focused on her mission?  Or was she inexperienced enough to panic, when the shit hit the fan?  Or ...

Smiling, she watched as the two fleets converged.

***

“Weapons range in two minutes,” the tactical officer said.

Mandy felt an odd little pit in her stomach as she watched Admiral Singh’s fleet.  The message had confirmed the enemy commander’s identity beyond all doubt, worrying her more than she cared to admit.  Like Jasmine, she’d researched Admiral Singh thoroughly after the first encounter and little of what they’d found had been good.  Admiral Singh had been a skilled officer who’d once beaten a scripted exercise she’d been supposed to lose.  It had taken Mandy some time to understand that Singh was competitive, competitive enough to risk damaging her career by not following the script.

And she won’t be dependent on the same basic tactics
, Jasmine had said, dryly. 
She will innovate when necessary
.

Mandy sighed, inwardly.  There seemed little room for innovation now, as far as she could tell ... but could Admiral Singh see opportunities Mandy had missed?  The equation was very simple; the fleet would enter orbit in less than an hour, unless Mandy managed to delay her for a few hours.  But if she placed herself between the planet and the oncoming fleet, she’d be squashed flat and destroyed.  The only way to win was to hope that Admiral Singh found them sufficiently irritating, enough to force her to change course and engage the fleet.

If she does that
, Mandy thought,
I can lead her on a wild snipe chase indefinitely
.

As far as her analysts could tell, Admiral Singh’s fleet was in excellent condition, but there didn't seem to have been any non-standard modifications.  Mandy wasn't surprised – Avalon’s embracement of modifications had come from its decidedly non-standard crews and the alliance with the Trade Federation – yet it still struck her as odd. 
Her
ships were fast enough to decide the time and place of an engagement, as long as Admiral Singh didn't isolate a target the Commonwealth Navy
had
to defend.  But the advantage wouldn't last indefinitely.

“Deploy missile racks,” she ordered, as the range closed sharply.  “Prepare to engage the enemy.”

Admiral Singh showed no signs of being worried as Mandy’s fleet closed in ... but then, she didn't have to do anything.  All she had to do was wait while Mandy waltzed into weapons range.  And
that
wouldn’t take very long at all.

“Missiles locked and ready,” the tactical officer said.

There was a bleep from the display.  The fleets were now within missile range of one another.

“Fire,” Mandy ordered.

Seconds later,
Sword
fired the first broadside of the Commonwealth-Wolfbane War.

***

“Missile separation,” the tactical officer snapped.  “Missile separation!”

“Point defence is to engage the enemy,” Rani said.  “Analysis?”

“Missiles do not appear to have a higher acceleration rate than models designed prior to the Empire’s fall,” the analyst reported.  “There appear to be minor improvements to the ECM warheads.”

Rani smiled.  The Empire’s standard warheads had been designed over five hundred years ago and hadn't been replaced since then.  Rani had been told, back at the Academy, that the warheads were perfect, but she suspected the stagnation had something to do with the corporation that had designed the missiles using its influence to ensure that no one else managed to get into the missile-production business.  But maybe they’d been right after all.

Or maybe they haven't sent improved missiles to this system
, her thoughts mocked her. 
What if you’re wrong?

She studied the missile throw weight for a long moment, then nodded.  It looked as though the Commonwealth Navy was using external racks, despite the risks.  But then, if what she’d heard about the Commonwealth was true, there would be fewer risks for an interstellar power that taught its technicians how to actually
think
.  They’d be able to make non-standard repairs if necessary.  Wolfbane wasn't in that league yet, but it was getting there.

“Return fire,” she ordered.  The enemy did have yet another advantage – they could get out of missile range fairly easily – but there was no real alternative once again.  “And stagger our firing sequence.”

The enemy missiles closed in on her ships, switching their ECM patterns to make it harder for her point defence to track them.  But, one by one, they started to die as the point defence picked them off, hacking them out of space.  Only a handful of missiles made it through the point defence to detonate, sending ravening beams of nuclear fire against her gravity shields.

“
Gamma
has been hit,” the tactical officer reported.  “Her crew reports minor damage to her lower sections.”

Rani smiled.  If the Commonwealth Navy wanted to do more damage, after shooting off their external racks, they’d have to come closer.  Much closer.  And she would be waiting.

***

Mandy silently watched as her point defence hacked through the waves of incoming missiles, noting how Singh seemed to have decided to stagger her launches.  It didn't quite make sense, something that nagged at her mind.  Was Singh testing her, mocking her or did she have something very nasty up her sleeves? 

“Two direct hits on
Portsmouth
,” the tactical officer reported.  “The shields took the brunt of the blasts.”

“Good,” Mandy said.  But she couldn't help wondering what Singh’s tactical officers would make of it.  The force shields weren't as obvious as gravity shields, yet it would be obvious that
something
had interdicted the bomb-pumped lasers.  “And her generators?”

“Stable, for now,” the tactical officer said.  “But several more hits would probably burn them out completely.”

Mandy nodded, thinking hard.  Should she close the range ... or simply fire at Singh’s ships at extreme range, knowing it was unlikely that she would score any hits?

“Take us around them,” she ordered, finally.  “Get us into a position where we can target the troop transports.”

***

Rani kept her face very still as she studied the odd sensor reports.  She knew, better than anyone else, just how easy it was to spoof sensors at long range.  Hell, the Commonwealth had spoofed
her
sensors before, making her think an entire fleet was bearing down on her.  But now ... what had they done?

“It looks as though they might have improved the gravity shields,” the analyst said, reluctantly.  “The blasts should have burned into that ship’s hull.”

“Maybe,” Rani said.  If someone had solved the age-old problem of bending a gravity shield around a starship, without crippling the starship’s ability to manoeuvre and fight, the war was very likely to be short and end badly.  Nothing, not even a bomb-pumped laser, could burn through a gravity shield.  “But it can't be something like that, can it?”

She knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, what
she
would have done if her starships had been wrapped in invincible gravity shields.  It would have been easy to close the range and tear the enemy ships apart, while they lashed out helplessly.  But the Commonwealth ships weren't doing anything of the sort, which meant they were far from invincible.  Of that, she was very sure.

“Enemy fleet altering course,” the tactical officer reported.  “Moving out of weapons range.”

No
, Rani thought, as the enemy course became clear. 
They’re going for the transports
.

“Move our ships to cover the transports,” she ordered.  “But keep us on course towards Thule.”

The enemy wanted to delay her.  She was damned if she was letting their fleet slow her more than strictly necessary.  And, unless they wanted to close the range, she didn't have to slow her fleet at all.

And there would be time, later, to figure out what they'd done to protect their ships.

***

Mandy gritted her teeth as the enemy ships altered their position, careful to keep a number of ships between her and their troop transports.  It wasn't a bad tactic at all, she knew, and it would serve its purpose very well.  And it would prevent her from slowing the enemy fleet enough to make a difference.

She glanced at the live feed from Thule and swore, inwardly.  Jasmine’s last update had told her that several shuttles had come under attack, crippling their ability to get troops to orbit and board the transports.  Two-thirds of the CEF were in serious danger of being destroyed or captured in the opening moves of the war, yet there was nothing she could do.  If she closed to a range that would allow her to score hits, she knew, the enemy would be able to score hits on
her
.  And their advantage in launchers would prove decisive.