The Landfall Campaign (The Nameless War) (58 page)

Willis spun around. They continued to slowly turn, out of formation. The deck of the bridge was riddled with holes. The hit must have severed the control runs.

“
Oh no!
”
she muttered, before starting to shout into the intercom
“
Bridge! Commander Horan you…
”
then behind Willis everything exploded.

As
Hood
lumbered round, following line astern
Typhoon
started to turn with her, then broke off on realising the flagship was no longer under control. As the gap between
Hood
and the squadron opened, the Rizr realised that one of their opponents had just become a sitting duck. Chaff rockets were launched as fast as the crews could reload, while the remaining turret fired back defiantly until silenced by a laser beam boring through the glaze plate. Astern two engines were reduced to wreckage. All the while the rest of the squadron tried frantically to turn to cover their comrade but
Hood’s
fate was sealed, or should have been. Then
Onslaught
struck. The first of the two destroyers that had hung back to protect the transports got no warning.
Onslaught
powered up and fired from a range of less than twenty thousand kilometres. The destroyer blew as the salvo of gunfire and missiles completely overwhelmed it. The second started to take evasive action but
Onslaught’s
attention was now elsewhere. The closest of the transports shook as plasma bolts cut into its unprotected hull, then when a pair of missiles struck it amidships, it broke in half, spilling out hundreds of soldiers into the vacuum of space. A lesser Admiral would have made an immediate headlong retreat, but this one kept his head however. The Rizr did turn towards the transports, but not before firing every missile they had left at
America
. An hour earlier
America
would have stopped every one of them with contemptuous ease but now two got through.

The crack across her visor was the first thing Willis saw as she drifted back toward consciousness, followed by spots of blood on the inside.

“
Damage Control,
”
she groaned.
“
Report.
”

There was no reply, not even the hiss of a carrier wave. Still groggy, she reached her hand up into contact with her suit
’
s radio transmitter. Her fingers came to rest on its broken remains. The bridge was almost completely dark, lit only by a single emergency light. Her suit spotlight came on, illuminating the shattered remains of her bridge. In front of her the helmsman was slowly moving, clearly even more stunned than she was. The two others she could see were dead. The bridge was a wreck and without the means to communicate, she needed to get to the centrifuge, where she could regain command. Willis turned and let out a horrified gasp. The rear of the bridge wasn
’
t damaged - it wasn
’
t there anymore.

There had been two crewmen at the back of the bridge, but now they, their workstations and the hatch out of the bridge were completely gone. Stepping forward, she looked through the five-metre wide hole in the hull. She could see the stars, slowly twirling past. As it dawned on her that the
Hood
was still turning, the deck beneath her jolted and she realised
never mind turning, we are still getting hit!
Looking down through the hole in the deck, all she could see was twisted and torn metalwork. Willis took a deep breath, and then pushed off downwards.

“
Then for God
’
s sakes cut the fuel line to it!
”
Lieutenant Driant was shouting at a luckless petty officer when the hatch into the centrifuge bridge slammed open and a figure in a scorched survival suit staggered in.

“
Skipper?
”
Driant goggled,
“
I thought you were dead!
”

“
Working on it,
”
Willis snapped as she tried to open her cracked helmet visor only for it to jam halfway. The past ten minutes climbing down through the remains of the conning tower had been a hellish experience she
’
d never forget.

“
Where
’
s Commander Horan?
”

Driant
’
s face fell.
“
Sickbay, having his legs amputated.
”

Willis made no reply. There was no point asking what had happened to him. It could be any of a dozen possibilities and the only important fact was that he was off the board. Instead she turned towards the holo. The top half was blank and the Rizr were only just visible at the edge of the other half.

“
We took serious damage to the upper radar tower Skipper. It overwhelmed the Lazarus Systems. I have a team trying to rewire…
”

“
Skipper, we have helm control!
”

“
Roll to port, twenty degrees!
”
she shouted back at him.

As
Hood
rolled the Rizr came back into view and Willis immediately realised that in the twenty minutes she
’
d been out of the loop the situation had changed. The Rizr had retreated back toward the moon and the transports.
Onslaught
, in danger of getting pinned between the vengeful Rizr and the moon, had been forced to fall back. The rest of the human ships were clustered around
Hood
.

“
Where the hell is
Cyclone
?
”

Driant pointed at a contact on the holo. It was too indistinct to be a ship and more like the signal you
’
d see from a slowly spreading debris field. Willis swallowed hard and then dragged her eyes back to the surviving ships.

Why hadn
’
t they chased the Rizr and kept up the pressure? Now the two sides were barely in range of one another. Two armoured and four protected cruisers, along with five destroyers still looked to be fully combat-worthy. A chance to consolidate could only favour the aliens.

“
Coms, get me Captain Waugh,
”
she ordered, but the face that appeared on the screen wasn
’
t Waugh
’
s

“
Lieutenant Parson, Ma
’
am.
”
she said.

“
Where
’
s your captain?
”
Willis demanded.

“
Dead. I
’
m in command now Ma
’
am.
”
Parson replied grimly.
“
We lost the main bridge and fire control, along with half the guns. I
’
ve what
’
s left of the guns on local control.
”
Willis worked hard to control her expression. The
America
had been a tower of strength but not any more.

“
Can you go in again?
”

Parson
’
s expression didn
’
t flicker,
“
Just as a long as we get to present our port side, our starboard armour is in tatters.
”

“
I
’
ll get back to you Lieutenant.
”

One by one Willis called up each of her ship commanders.
Typhoon
had three guns but no launchers and was now probably the closest they had to a heavy hitter.
Onslaught
was almost undamaged but with the Rizr closed up on the transports, there wasn
’
t a lot she could do. Finally there was her poor old
Hood
. She no guns, just one launcher and only two missiles left, while her hull was so compromised that a hard turn would likely see her snap. The reactor was damaged and only herculean efforts by Guinness were stopping the safeties from performing an emergency purge that would leave her powerless. What it had already cost her crew was something Willis couldn
’
t bring herself to think about.

“
They might look to retreat Ma
’
am.
”
There was desperate hope in Driant
’
s voice,
“
We
’
ve hurt them pretty bad.
”

They
’
ve hurt us worse
, Willis thought to herself. The Rizr Admiral had lost two transports outright, with a third damaged. If he or she retreated now
…
well the Rizr ruling junta did not look kindly upon failure. On the other hand if they did manage to take the planet, victory would justify even such heavy losses.

“
Ma
’
am, the enemy is starting to move again.
”
It had always been a battle of quantity against quality and this time quantity was going to carry the day.

“
I see it,
”
she replied quietly. The enemy cripples were sticking close to the transports. Even those would be enough to keep
Onslaught
back.

“
Ma
’
am, what do we do?
”
Driant asked.

“
Hurt them as much as we can, for as long as we can,
”
Willis replied simply.
“
Coms, signal Commander Romanek: when we
’
re taken out
…
Typhoon
becomes flagship.
”

“
New contact!
”
shouted a sensor operator.

Willis spun round,
“
Identify it!
”

“
It
’
s the courier J23!
”

Willis felt a desperate hope rise, if the courier was back then it must have found the frontier force. She wouldn
’
t have to ask what was left of her crew, her crews, to die.

“
Skipper. Communication laser from the courier.
”

“
Put it up!
”
L23
’
s commander appeared on screen,
“
Lieutenant, welcome back. Now please tell me you found Admiral Melchiori.
”

“
I did Ma
’
am.
”

“
Good, how long until he arrives?
”

“
Ma
’
am, he was along way out.
”
Willis registered the Lieutenant
’
s grim expression and realised she
’
d been wrong to hope.

“
Admiral Melchiori has detached his cruisers.
Resplendent
and the destroyers are following as fast as they can.
”

“
Lieutenant, how long?
”
Willis asked in a hollow voice.

“
The cruisers are thirty
…
two hours behind us.
Resplendent
at least forty five.
”

Willis sat down heavily as the strength went out of her legs. She hadn
’
t hoped for Melchiori, hadn
’
t even allowed herself to think about hope. In fact when the Rizr arrived, she
’
d accepted that she would probably die here, but the universe seemed to be determined to twist the knife. On the holo she could see the Rizr reduce acceleration, probably trying to decide who the newcomer was. A few more minutes and they
’
d come to the correct conclusion that the courier changed nothing. The Lieutenant
’
s face was still on the screen, she hadn
’
t dismissed him but instead she gazed at her holo. There was nothing new there, nothing that would change the balance. The Rizr would advance back into contact and in twenty minutes, thirty at the outside, it would be all over.
Onslaught
would survive, the Rizr didn
’
t have anything that could catch her, but she
’
d be unable to prevent them from taking or destroying Hawkings and landing on the planet. In forty-five hours
’
time Melchiori would find himself facing a fait accompli.