Earth Fall: Empires at War, page 31
General Mitchell took a deep breath. He had a decision to make shortly. If the battle in space became hopeless, he was going to order Fleet Commander Kamuss and Admiral Edwards to save what remained of their fleets and withdraw. They could come back later with reinforcements to try to retake Earth if anything remained.
“Get me the president,” he ordered. “I need to inform her of the progress of the battle.” Mitchell wasn’t looking forward to giving the president the bad news. With every passing moment it looked as if the Trellixians were once more going to be in control of the orbital space around Earth.
-
Admiral Edwards watched the tactical display and the viewscreens as his fleet took up defensive positions around the shipyard. Already the shipyard had begun to fire its weapons and launch missiles at the nearing enemy fleet. The shipyard’s energy shield was raised and operating at full power. The shield around the shipyard was even stronger than the ones possessed by the battleships.
The Renown shook violently as its energy screen was struck by several seventy-megaton missiles.
“Shield is at 70 percent,” reported Captain Nelson. “We’ve lost the battlecruisers Reliant and London with a number of others suffering heavy damage.”
“The Voltrex fleets?” Edwards knew they had taken some heavy losses.
“They’ve lost seventeen battleships and twenty-three battlecruisers. Also Fleet Commander Barvon’s flagship has been destroyed. Fleet Commander Masurl has taken over command of the survivors of Barvon’s fleet.”
Admiral Edwards let out a deep sigh. He had become friends with Fleet Commander Barvon. The large feline had a great sense of humor. The Renown shook again and red lights began appearing on the damage control console.
“We have several compartments open to space and a fire near Engineering,” reported Captain Nelson. “I’ve got repair crews on the way.”
The ship shook violently once more and additional alarms began sounding.
“We just lost six energy beam turrets and three missile tubes,” reported the tactical officer. “Energy shield is down to 22 percent and dropping.”
Captain Nelson listened intently as more details of the damage came in over his comm unit. “We have a large rupture in our hull over thirty meters long and twelve wide. There are numerous stress fractures around it.”
Edwards closed his eyes briefly. If this continued the Renown would not last much longer. “Contact the Fury; I need to speak to Captain Dolan.”
-
“I have Admiral Edwards on the comm,” said Marissa, looking over at the captain.
“Put him on my comm unit,” ordered Mark. He wondered why Admiral Edwards would be contacting him in the middle of the battle.
“Captain,” came Admiral Edward’s voice over the comm.
“Yes, sir,” Mark replied.
“I am promoting you to rear admiral effective immediately. My ship has been heavily damaged and is still under attack. In case the Renown is destroyed you will take command of the fleet and do the best you can to defend the shipyard and the Earth.”
Mark was silent for a moment, stunned by the sudden promotion and the thought that Admiral Edwards might not survive this battle. “Yes, sir,” he finally said. “I will do as you have instructed.”
“Good luck, Admiral,” Edwards said as the comm went silent.
Mark leaned back in his Command Chair. This was completely unexpected. There were other qualified officers in the fleet. In some ways Mark wished the admiral had chosen some one else to be his successor. Looking at a viewscreen, focused on the Renown, he saw the flagship was under heavy attack. Several huge ruptures were visible in her hull. Even as Mark watched, several energy beams penetrated her weakening screen and striking deep inside the ship. Several explosions hurled large pieces of hull plating off into space. Mark’s eyes widened as he realized the flagship was in its death throes.
-
Admiral Edwards looked around his Command Center. The crew were still at their posts doing their jobs. He felt great pride in their dedication. This was a fine crew and he wished there was some way to save them.
“Sublight drive is down,” reported Captain Nelson. “Hyperdrive has been destroyed.”
“This is it then,” said Admiral Edwards, shifting his gaze to Nelson. The ship shook violently, throwing several crew personnel to the deck. More alarms began to sound and the damage control console was now covered in red lights. Edwards pressed the comm button, which would allow him to speak to everyone on the ship. “Crew of the Renown, it has been an honor to serve with you. I could not have asked for a better crew.” Before he could say anything else the lights flickered and then went out.
“We’ve lost Engineering,” reported Captain Nelson as the lights came back on dimly from the emergency batteries.
“All weapons are down,” added the tactical officer.
“Life support has failed,” reported the systems officer.
Admiral Edwards leaned back in his command. He knew this was it. He just wished he knew how all of this would end.
-
Rear Admiral Dolan watched with anguish as the Renown blew apart. One moment the flagship was there and the next it was an expanding field of glowing debris.
“Renown is down,” reported the sensor officer in a stunned voice.
“There are no survivors,” added Chloe. “You are now in command of the fleet.”
Mark nodded. “All ships are to continue to fire. We will hold our position here as long as a single ship has an energy beam or a missile to fire.”
-
“The Renown has been destroyed,” reported Lieutenant Commander LeLath with great sadness in her eyes. “Admiral Edwards promoted Captain Dolan to rear admiral and put him in charge of the fleet just before the flagship was destroyed.”
Kamuss nodded. He had witnessed the destruction of the Renown on one of the viewscreens. “Captain Dolan will make a good rear admiral. What’s the current status of our fleet?”
“We’ve taken up positions around the three battlestations. We’ve suffered substantial losses and a large number of our ships have been damaged. We’ve managed to destroy about 30 percent of the Trellixian fleet and damaged many more of their vessels. They continue to press us.”
“Have we identified their newer ships?”
“Yes, there are a little over one hundred and twenty of them. They’re in the heart of the Trellixian fleet formation, making them harder to destroy. It appears the Trellixian Fleet Commander is sacrificing his other ships to destroy as many of ours as possible while limiting the danger to his newer and more powerful vessels. The newer ships are also launching seventy-megaton fusion missiles.”
“More contacts,” called out Zalurr. “We have more Trellixian ships dropping out of hyperspace four million kilometers from Earth.”
Kamuss let out a deep sigh. “It’s their invasion fleet. It will hold at its present position until it’s safe for them to go into Earth orbit.” Kamuss looked at the tactical display. Even with Earth’s battlestations and the shipyard he was going to have a hard time stopping the Trellixian fleet. His only real hope was that the eleven hundred defensive satellites and the hundreds of pulse cannons on the surface could stop whatever Trellixian battlecruisers his fleet failed to destroy.
-
On board the Fury, Mark grimaced as his flagships took more damage. Nearly ten percent of the compartments on the powerful battleship were now open to space. Several fires were burning out of control. So far his fleet had prevented any damage to the shipyard but he knew that would not last much longer. In the last few minutes he had lost one Voltrex-built battlecruiser and two more Earth-built battlecruisers.
“Admiral, the Moon base is launching their fighter-bombers,” reported Katana.
“Major Brandon has ordered them to attack any damaged Trellixian battlecruisers they can find,” added Marissa.
Mark looked at the tactical screen, which showed a host of small green icons leaving the Moon.
“Four hundred,” reported the sensor officer. “That’s all that are based on the Moon.”
Mark knew most of those brave pilots were flying to their deaths. They would be easy targets for the defensive batteries on the damaged warships. He considered calling them off but realized that even if they could destroy a few of the damaged battlecruisers it might just be enough to give Earth a chance.
“Some of the enemy battlecruisers are launching missiles at the defense grid,” warned Chloe. “Defense grid has been activated.”
On the tactical screen, several hundred Trellixian missiles headed toward Earth. Energy beams from the defensive grid lanced out, destroying the majority of them. Fourteen made it to the defensive grid and detonated.
“They’re trying to blow a hole through the defensive grid,” said Chloe in alarm.
“Have the Annapolis use her fighter-bombers to cover that hole,” ordered Mark, his right hand clenching in a tight fist. “We can’t have any missiles getting through to Earth!”
Mark watched with anguish as the small green icons representing the fighter-bombers closed with the rear of the Trellixian fleet. Suddenly the small icons began to vanish as they came under defensive energy weapons fire from the Trellixian battlecruisers. Several large fusion explosions took out entire squadrons but the fighter-bombers continued to close with the enemy.
-
Flight Leader Captain James Rollison jinked his fighter-bomber hard to the left, dodging incoming energy beam fire. Next to him his wing mate wasn’t as fortunate as his fighter-bomber was hit dead center by an energy beam. In a fiery explosion, which rapidly died away the small craft, was blown apart. All around Captain Rollison pilots were dying as the deadly defensive fire struck them.
“All Black Ravens form up on me for our attack run,” he ordered over his comm unit. Three pilots answered out of the ten he had started out with. “Arm missiles and launch on my mark.” Rollison had chosen a badly damaged Trellixian battlecruiser at the rear of their formation. It had several large ruptures in the hull and its energy shield was down. Reaching forward he armed the two sparrow twenty-kiloton nuclear missiles with which his fighter-bomber was equipped. On his console his targeting system showed a firm lock. “Fire missiles.” From his fighter-bomber two missiles dropped away and arrowed toward the enemy battlecruiser. “All Black Ravens, head to the barn.” He turned sharply heading away from the enemy battlecruiser.
Captain Rollison activated his afterburners and the small fighter-bomber rocketed forward at an increased speed. Behind him, six missiles struck the battlecruiser, destroying it. Looking at his tactical screen, he saw only two other fighter-bombers had joined back up with him. With a deep sigh, he said nothing as he headed back toward the Moon to rearm.
-
Rear Admiral Dolan felt his breath catch in his throat. Six Trellixian battlecruisers had been destroyed at the cost of nearly 80 percent of the attacking fighter-bombers.
“Remaining craft are returning to the Moon base to rearm,” reported Marissa.
“Inform Major Brandon the surviving fighter-bombers are to remain at the Moon to help with the defense of the Moon base.” There was no point in having the remaining fighter-bombers to attack again. He doubted if any of them would make it close enough to launch their missiles at the Trellixian ships.
On the main viewscreen, one of the remaining Voltrex battleships in Fleet Commander Kamuss’ formation suddenly exploded.
“What happened?” demanded Mark. The ship had only been hit with a couple of missiles.
“Detecting signs of an antimatter explosion,” reported Chloe. “The newer Trellixian ships have started firing antimatter missiles. Fleet Commander Kamuss has already lost a number of battlecruisers to the weapons.
Mark’s shoulders slumped. If the Trellixians were using antimatter and they had a lot of the missiles then the battle was lost.
-
Battle Commander Balforr was jubilant. Battle Commander Treelas and his fleet were gone but he was now pushing forward, shielded by his two fleets of regular battlecruisers with Battle Commander Cartlen and Battle Commander Visonn on the flanks. Both Battle Commanders had lost a lot of ships but Balforr’s ships in the center of the formation were still mostly intact. Not only that, he had just issued the order to begin using their store of antimatter weapons. Already in the Human and the Voltrex fleet formations more of their ships were dying. The computer was predicting a 92 percent chance of Trellixian victory. He would wipe out the defending fleets and leave the shipyard and the three battlestations alone. They he would stand off with his fleet and annihilate the defensive grid from long range. When the grid was gone, he would begin to bombard the planet with nuclear weapons. Victory was his and there was nothing the Humans or the Voltrex could do to stop it!
-
Fleet Commander Kamuss had just received word from General Mitchell to pull his fleet out and return to the Federation. Victory for the defending ships was slowly slipping away as more antimatter weapons were being used by the Trellixians.
“What do we do?” asked Lieutenant Commander LeLath. She could not imagine abandoning Earth even if it was the strategic thing to do.
“We’re not leaving yet,” replied Kamuss, shaking his head and trying to think of another option. “The least we can do is reduce the size of the Trellixian fleet as much as possible to give the ground defenses on Earth a chance.”
-
Battle Commander Balforr could feel victory within his grasp. Since ordering his more modern battlecruisers to using their stores of antimatter weapons, the battle had quickly turned in the Trellixians’ favor. True, many of his regular battlecruisers were still being annihilated by heavy defensive fire, but every minute more Human and Voltrex ships were being destroyed. “Fire another salvo of missiles at the Human defensive grid. Follow it up with a flight of nuclear missiles and let’s see if we can hit a few targets on the surface.”
“As you command,” answered Second Officer Albion as he began issuing orders to the fleet’s tactical officers.
-
Hundreds of fifty-megaton fusion missiles hurtled toward the Earth’s defensive grid. Energy beam fire quickly annihilated the majority of them but thirty-eight more struck the defensive grid, creating an even larger hole above Earth. Several hundred nuclear missiles were then launched toward the opening. Even so, nearly half were shot down by energy weapons fire and the fighter-bombers from the Annapolis. The nimble craft were able to take out forty-seven more and defensive fire from ground-based defenses took out all the rest except three, which hit the Earth and detonated. Two were ocean strikes and one exploded above a landmass. Into the atmosphere of Earth three mushroom clouds began to rise into the air.
-
“It’s confirmed, sir,” Colonel Fields reported. “Three nuclear missiles have struck the Earth. Medium yield with two being Pacific Ocean strikes and one on the Baja Peninsula.”
“So they’re going to nuke us,” said General Briggs grimly. “I would recommend we keep all of our troops and other military assets beneath the energy shields until the Trellixians begin landing troops.”
General Mitchell nodded. “I agree. Send the orders.” Mitchell then turned toward Colonel Steward at Communications. “Has Fleet Commander Kamuss responded to my recommendation that he pull the fleets out?”
“Yes, sir. He says he will once he destroys more of the Trellixian fleet.”
Mitchell shook his head. “That crazy feline. I should have known he would refuse to retreat.”
-
In space, the battle had become brutal with the two fleets now beginning to intermix. The Voltrex fleets left the vicinity of the battlestations and began to engage the Trellixian vessels in one to one combat. In this the Voltrex ships had a decisive advantage unless they were hit with several antimatter missiles. The Human fleet stayed near the shipyard as they could not afford to allow it to be destroyed. Even so, they were still under heavy fire.
-
Rear Admiral Dolan coughed as he tried to catch his breath. The Command Center was full of smoke as several consoles had shorted out. Several large ceiling support beams had broken free, crushing several officers and causing even more damage. Nearly half of his fleet had been destroyed and the region around the shipyard was full of drifting debris. Trellixian missiles were now impacting the powerful screen of the shipyard but so far it had remained impenetrable. The shipyard’s energy cannons were firing nonstop and hundreds of missiles were being launched.
“Report!”
“Second Officer Katana shook her head. “Sublight drive has suffered damage. It’s still operational but may not last much longer. Hyperdrive is out and will take twenty minutes to repair. We have numerous compartments open to space and have suffered a lot of crew casualties. We have three major fires and we’re trying to bring them under control. At the moment Engineering is cut off from the rest of the ship.”
“Energy screen is down to 30 percent,” added Lieutenant Thomas. “We’ve lost half of our defensive turrets and most of our heavy energy beam projectors. All but four of our missile tubes are nonfunctional.”
Mark looked around the Command Center. He knew they needed a miracle or this battle would soon be over. His stint as a rear admiral might be the shortest in history.
The Fury shook again and more alarms blared out; the damage control console became filled with even more red lights. His ship was dying and Mark felt great pain at the damage being done to his ship and the loss of so many crewmembers.
Alarms suddenly began sounding on the sensor console.
Mark looked instinctively toward the tactical display to see more red threat icons appearing. He felt devastated seeing them. Any hope of victory had just evaporated.
“More ships exiting hyperspace,” reported the tactical officer in a subdued voice. “Exit point is just behind the current Trellixian fleet.”
Mark knew this was it. Another fleet of Trellixian ships would allow the enemy to sweep right through the defenders. Even as he watched the tactical display trying to figure out what to do the red icons suddenly turned green.
