Derelict 3, Chapter 5.

Chapter 5.

Faernan System, Taskforce 14, USS Phoenix

Commodore Horne, to the bridge, Commodore Horne to the bridge.

The announcement played into his earpiece, waking Commodore Horne. He had turned over the ship to his XO a few hours ago and had just fallen into a deep sleep when the announcement began blaring. The XO, Commander Wainwright, was the officer of the deck and wouldn’t have called him unless it was important. Horne shook off the foggy remnants of sleep and stepped into his shipsuit. If they had been in a combat situation he would have had to sleep in the uncomfortable thing, but being uncomfortable beat being dead if there was a hull breach nearby.

“Wainwright, I have the ship, what’s the situation,” Horne said, taking control of the vessel as the entered the bridge.

“Sir, you have the ship, we’ve got new contacts on the board near jump point seven. Data is still coming in, but so far, we see five new arrivals,” Wainwright told him. Horne took the captain’s chair and looked over his holographic display. He stifled a curse as he looked at the three worlds orbiting the sickly-looking star. The planets here weren’t worth fighting over, all three were incapable of sustaining life, and there weren’t any mining opportunities that couldn’t be done cheaper or more efficiently somewhere else. If it weren’t for the fact that the system housed an impressive eight jump points, it would be forgotten.

Jump point one led directly toward the main US systems and was the shortest path back to earth in this sector of space. The problem was that the Faernan system also bordered the edge of Gnoll space at jump point three. The Navy maintained a small defensive force in the system mainly as an early warning trigger if the gnolls decided to get frisky. A pair of destroyers and a small defensive station covered jump point one. Unfortunately, the gnolls weren’t the reason the Navy had seen fit to dispatch his task force to supplement the defenders here, this time, it was another group of humans that threated the United States with war.

The Chinese had taken brutal losses pushing back the main force of the gnolls during the council wars, losses they were just now starting to replace. It was easier for their leaders to blame the US for not pulling their weight, despite the fact that during the war, the US had fought off the kobolds and contributed the lions share of ships for the final drive to defeat the council. A few months ago, the Chinese had started making demands for control of the Faernan system and several others along the borders of the various alien races, demands the US and others refused.

“Sir, more data is coming in, it looks like the new contacts are a battlecruiser, a light cruiser, and three more destroyers. It’s too soon for any further details on exact ship classes and what we have is just based on estimated displacement, sir,” the sailor monitoring the sensors said.

Jump point seven led to Chinese space and it was normally protected by a small flotilla and defense station, similar to the ones the US kept. As tensions rose, China began reinforcing its border territories. The US response was to dispatch TF 14 to Faernan. Horne commanded three cruisers of the Omaha class along with four Allen M. Sumner class destroyers. It was meant to be a show of force and a clear message to the Chinese that the US wasn’t playing around.

Sadly, in a series of mistakes the likes of which humanity hadn’t seen since the first world war, tensions continued to increase. Allies had been called upon and the various tangled alliances threated to bring every spacefaring human nation into conflict with each other. Even here in this out of the way system, the strange alliances were at work. Jump point five bordered the Japanese colony worlds, the Japanese feared Chinese expansion and were supposed to be sending ships to supplement TF 14 in defense of the system. They were late and with these newest arrivals, the Chinese forces greatly outnumbered his own.

“Understood, any change in their disposition?” Horne asked, making sure he wasn’t missing anything. It could have been these new arrivals were just replacing ships already in system.

“Not yet, sir, they are still holding position around the defense station,” sensors replied. It would take some time to see what the Chinese were up to, for all he knew they could be pushing maximum thrust toward him already. Space was vast, and even with modern communications and sensors, it took time for something across the system to be seen by his fleet.

“Any updates from the Liberty?” Horne asked. The Libertywas a surveillance ship loaned to his taskforce, it was plying the space between the two fleets, seeding the area with scanners and comm devices. When it was done, his vision of the system would improve, and the delays in communication would be negligible.

“They’re saying they need another twelve hours before they’re done,” comms replied.

“Very well, let them know to bug out if the Chinese fleet even hiccups in their direction,” Horne ordered. The Liberty was good at what she did, but the starship handled like a pig, with a poor thrust profile and only a few point defense weapons to protect itself with. If anything happened, it needed a good head start to make it to the jump point before any attackers caught up to it. Normally, he would have detached some of the destroyers to escort the ship, but that might have been interpreted as further provocation by the Chinese. It wouldn’t take much to set off the interstellar war they were on the brink of.

Several hours passed as the Liberty did her thing and the system came to life on his display. The Chinese fleet couldn’t hide from the number of sensors he had deployed, and Horne finally got an accurate count of what he was facing. They had a pair of battlecruisers, four heavy cruisers, two missile cruisers, twelve destroyers, and a light drone carrier. To oppose them, Horne only had the three cruisers and four destroyers of his task force, along with the pair of obsolete destroyers that had been stationed in the system. The defense station had some firepower and a squadron of drones, but it was positioned near the jump point and would be useless in a battle of maneuver. Horne wondered if the limited response by the US would only encourage the Chinese to become more aggressive. If only he had a powerful battle group at his command, the Chinese would be much more likely to back down from their threats.

After the war against the council, much of the US fleet had been deemed excess to requirements and mothballed. Shamefully, many of the great vessels that had defeated the combined might of the council’s forces had been scrapped over the decades. Little innovation had occurred as the various nations focused their resources on developing their existing systems. Only recently, with the potential conflict brewing, had the US started to pull some of their ships from mothball and prepare them for war once more. It was going to take time for the US to rebuild its navy and train new crews, time that Horne and others like him would have to buy with their blood. China had gotten the jump on them with refurbishing their older ships and starting building programs for new ones.

“New contacts entering the system from jump point five. I have five vessels, that are reading as a light cruiser and four destroyers,” the ensign on scanners advised.

“Likely our allies arriving to reinforce us. Send out a hail and doublecheck their IFF before we get too friendly,” Horne ordered. The new arrivals formed up and set a course for TF14. Minutes ticked by as they waited for their comms to reach what he assumed were Japanese ships. The comm delay between jump point five and jump point one was normally about fifteen minutes each way, but the comm platforms that Liberty was deploying had cut it down considerably. After a short wait, a hail was received from the incoming vessels.

“To the commander of Task Force 14, this is Captain Higo of the Japanese Self-Defense Force cruiser Yubari. I have arrived to participate in the defense of the system. My forces are at your disposal, sir,” the Japanese captain advised.

“This is Commodore Horne of the Phoenix, we’re glad to have you Captain Higo. I’ll have your ships added to the network so you can see what we’re up against. Once you’re close enough for a secure link, we’ll discuss our options,” Horne replied. They were still too far out to link the Japanese ships to the taskforce network. Once linked, all the ships could share their sensor data and incorporate them into a fire plan if hostilities erupted. They were going to be not only outnumbered but also outclassed with the other fleet having battlecruisers at their disposal. He had hoped for the Japanese to send a more substantial force, but it looked like they were stretched as thin with their resources as the US was.

It would take some time for their allies to arrive, allowing Horne to do his daily tour the ship, he like to poke into every corner of the ship and see for himself that everything was as it should be. His crew was a good one, and everything seemed in order. By the time he made it back to the bridge, only a few minor issues had been found. Most of those were due to the lack of spare parts more than any negligence on the part of his crew. There were at the extreme end of the supply chain, the last system before leaving human space.

Once the Japanese ships were in range, Horne called the ship’s captains and the Marine commander in charge of the defense station for a video conference to discuss tactics should the worst come to pass. They would meet the enemy here, near the defensive station. It wasn’t the largest, but it still packed the firepower of a light cruiser and did have a squadron of attack drones. They would be outnumbered in drones as well, but not outclassed; the US drones were considered some of the best. The light drone carrier the Chinese had brought with them was one of their older designs and only housed three squadrons. Horne would keep their single squadron of drones as additional point defense rather than try to make an anti-shipping strike in the face of superior numbers.

“Sir, we’ve got movement with the Chinese fleet, they’ve lit their drives and are on a least time course toward jump point one,” sensors said. Horne could detect fear in the voice of the young officer manning that station. She had just finished the academy and Phoenix was her first assignment.

“Very well, try to raise the Chinese commander, and in the meantime, the task force will take position and prepare to repel any hostile acts,” Horne said. Hopefully, this was simply more posturing on the part of the Chinese, and not the start of the war. At full burn, the fleet was still several hours away. Liberty, thankfully, had begun her return some time ago and should be able to hit the jump point long before the Chinese forces arrived.

They watched as the range closed, the Chinese commander never bothering to reply to their hail attempts. Liberty made it to the jump point and passed through, taking with her the latest data from all their ships as a precaution in case their entire taskforce was destroyed. The Chinese would have the initial advantage at range due their ability to launch drone strikes. With the Japanese ships and their excellent long-lance missiles, Horne would have the advantage in the missile engagement. Once the fight closed to gun range, the Chinese battlecruisers would turn the tide against them. The only advantage he had once they were in gunfighting range was the American ships’ superior fire control systems. Horne would land more hits, but the six-inch railguns mounted on his cruisers, the largest weapons in his taskforce, had nowhere near the punch of the Chinese battlecruisers and their fourteen-inch weapons.

“Sir, we have two new contacts at jump point three. The drive signatures show them as gnoll vessels sir. They’re burning hard into the system and are on a least time path toward jump point one,” sensors added.

“Did the Chinese join forces with the Gnolls?” His XO asked.

“I don’t believe they would do that, any additional information on those new contacts?” Horne asked.

“Aye, sir, looks like small, frigate sized ships,” sensors replied.

“New contact at jump point three, I have no idea what it is, sir, there’s nothing like it on the database,” sensors advised. Horne pulled up the readings, not believing what he was seeing. Details were scarce due to the distance, but the newcomer was showing as an unknown vessel larger than anything he had ever encountered. The largest ships in the US Navy were the Iowa class battleships. They were around 850 meters in length. The Russians were rumored to have some dreadnaught class ships that were close to 1,000 meters, but this monster was showing as being over twenty-four kilometers long.

“Attempt to hail the new arrivals,” Horne ordered.

“Aye, sir, we’re hailing the new vessels,” comms advised.

“Any change with the Chinese fleet?” Horne asked.

“No sir, wait, it looks like they’re slowing, they’ve flipped and are counter burning,” sensors said. With nothing to slow you down in space, a ship could build incredible velocity that took time to overcome.

“Incoming hail from one of the gnoll vessel,” comms said. Horne accepted the hail and the face of the hyena-like gnoll appeared on his console.

“We request your aid, human navy,” the gnoll said, stopping halfway through his speech to look at something on his scanners.

“You have violated human space, turn your ships around and leave, now,” Horne ordered.

“Humans, we ask for sanctuary and protection from the Gargonth,” the gnoll said frantically.

“Sir, I have separation from that giant ship, they’re launching drones,” sensors said. Horne turned his attention away from the panicked gnoll, watching as nearly two hundred drones emerged from the giant ship and charged toward the fleeing gnoll vessels. The numbers were frightening, the single squadron aboard the defense station had only twelve drones. A fleet carrier could have up to eight squadrons, and the smaller light carriers had between three and four. This thing was pumping out more drones than a pair of fleet carriers and Horne doubted it’s launch bays were empty.

“Sensors, I need more data on that thing,” Horne said before turning his attention back to the gnolls.

“Who are these Gargonth and is that monstrosity one of their ships?” Horne asked.

“That is a Gargonth, please allow us safe passage,” the gnoll asked again.

“What capabilities do these Gargonth have?” Horne asked. Whatever the gnolls had hoped to accomplish with asking for safe passage was moot; their ships were being rapidly overtaken by the drones.

“That is a Gargonth and we are all doomed,” the gnoll said before cutting off comms.

“Keep trying to raise that giant ship and the Chinese commander,” Horne said.

“New separation from the giant ship, I have over a hundred drones heading toward the Chinese defense station,” scanners said. The Chinese jump point was much closer to jump point three where the Gargonth ship had emerged, but it still should have been way too far for the fuel supply in the drones to reach unless these newcomers had some tech that was way ahead of what humanity used.

“Sir, the Chinese commander is responding,” comms said. Horne waived the call through and a stern looking, older Chinese man with an admiral’s rank tabs spoke as soon as Horne was visible.

“Imperialist American commander, I am Admiral Zuong of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Space Force. I request a pause in our hostilities as my fleet deals with these interlopers,” the admiral said.

“No shots have been fired between our vessels, so I don’t consider us to be in a state of hostility, at least not yet. I give you my word that we will not engage your vessels while you investigate these alien intruders,” Horne said. Whatever that giant ship was, it was heading toward him and if the Chinese wanted to put their fleet between it and his taskforce, Horne was more than happy to oblige.

“Very well, we shall speak again after these invaders are dealt with,” Zuong said before cutting off the feed. By now, the Chinese ships had ceased closing on jump point one and were slowly accelerating toward the three alien ships. There was nothing to do but watch as the swarm of drones overtook the gnoll ships. Gnoll vessels weren’t close to human ships in terms of firepower, but the readings indicated that their point defense lasers took out over a dozen of the drones before the gnoll frigates were destroyed.

“Sensors, what can you tell me about those drones,” Horne asked, hoping to glean some knowledge about the seemingly hostile new invader.

“They have much longer range, but their acceleration curve is worse, and their weapons loadout did less damage than our own drones. We were too far away to get exact data on their weapons, but it took longer for them to take down the gnoll ships than our own drones would have taken. They closed to gun range before firing and I didn’t see them launch any missiles,” sensors advised. Could it be that their drones were optimized for extreme range at the expense of everything else? Casualties among them had been high, but that could just be attributed to them not having any missiles to take down the gnolls ships from further out.

Horne and his taskforce watched as the swarm of drones continued to attack the remains of the gnoll ships, with some even appearing to try and dock with the larger pieces of debris. Once they were done picking over the remains of the frigates, the surviving drones began to accelerate toward the Chinese fleet.

“They’re not returning to their ship to rearm, just how long can those drones function without resupply?” The XO said, voicing the concerns they all had. Looking at the time to contact for both groups of drones, it appeared that the drones attacking the Chinese defense station would hit before the ones attacking the fleet. The Chinese station had a squadron of drones, just like its US counterpart. They set a protective cap over the station and waited as the enemy closed in. Missiles flew from the Chinese drones, two of the smaller anti-drone missiles fired from each defender.

Half of the missiles missed their targets despite the alien drones taking no evasive action. The missiles that did track properly destroyed a dozen of the attackers. Numbers were still on the invaders’ side as they pushed through the point defense fire of the station and began their attack. One by one, the Chinese drones were taken out, then the point defense weapons began to go silent. Just like with the gnoll ships, the invaders swarmed the station long after it was out of commission, firing into the hull and even landing on several sections.

Only thirty-five of the alien drones survived the assault on the Chinese defense station, and unlike the ones attacking the gnolls, these set a course that would return them to their ship. The Chinese carrier launched its three squadrons, the admiral wisely opting to use them in a defensive role. Just like with the attack on the station, the attackers ignored the anti-drone missiles streaming toward them. The hit rate was disturbingly low for the Chinese anti-drone missiles. Horne didn’t think the Chinese were that fire behind on missile tech, did these Gargonth have some kind of powerful ECM defense on their drones?

Unlike the lone defense station or the pair of Gnoll frigates, the Chinese fleet had an impressive amount of point defense, all of it geared toward protecting the most valuable ships. The destroyers placed themselves in harms way as a wall of lasers, light railgun rounds, and electronic countermeasures met the enemy attack. The invaders died by the dozen, ignoring losses as they closed on the nearest targets, the destroyers. Fire spit from the attackers’ weapons, the first wave sweeping aside the Chinese drones before diving directly at the destroyers in a series of suicide attacks.

Shields resisted the first few drones, but soon overloaded as the number of hits mounted. The enemy seemed to be focusing their attacks on the leading four destroyers, choosing to ignore any other target. Explosions ripped along the hulls of the destroyers as they were torn apart. Fire from the point defense swatted down the last of the attacking drones as the Chinese fleet continued to close on the giant ship, which was now about to enter missile range.

“New data on the attacking drones, sir. Their weapons seem to be plasma based and short ranged. They had better penetration than a laser, but not as good as a railgun round. In addition to the kinetic damage they caused, the plasma burned for quite a while after it hit,” scanners told him. So, it appeared the enemy drones were dangerous and had incredible range but were less powerful than a human drone. Sadly, it didn’t look like the Gargonth was anywhere close to running out of drones as a fresh swarm spewed from the enemy ship.

The Chinese fleet was now in missile range of the Gargonth ship, and admiral Zuong began his attack. With the pair of missile cruisers, the Chinese fleet had an impressive initial volley of forty missiles. After the first volley, a second one with only twenty missiles flew out. The Chinese missile cruisers had hull mounted, single-shot expendable launchers to beef up the initial strike. It was a good way to overwhelm point defenses with their first blow, allowing more of the smaller, follow-on volleys to reach their targets.

“Four hundred eight-nine enemy drones are inbound. Just how many do they have aboard that thing?” The XO said as all eyes were glued to the display. Earlier work by the Liberty ensured they had a ringside view of the fight.

Horne figured the drones would operate as a standoff point defense for the giant ship, but instead they ignored the passing missile volley and continued toward the Chinese fleet. With their drone cover stripped away and the point defense weakened by the loss of four destroyers, the Chinese did what hey could to defend themselves. Fire spewed from their weapons, even the larger main guns had been added as makeshift point defense. With their lower rate of fire, the main guns weren’t suited to this type of fighting, but Admiral Zuong didn’t seem to care, wisely wanting every barrel firing at the huge swarm of inbound attackers.

Drones began to die as they entered point defense range, and just like their earlier attack, the drones swarmed the nearest vessels, overloading the shields of the destroyers with more suicide attacks, sacrificing scores of drones to kill each destroyer. It was a brutal, but effective exchange rate. It took six months to build a new fleet destroyer and only a fraction of that time to build enough drones to take one down. With each starship killed, invaluable crew were lost, crew that took just as long to train as it took to build the ships.

“The carrier’s going down,” Wainwright said. The XO was right, after only a few hits, the light carrier was venting atmosphere as internal explosions ravaged the vessel. One of the drones had dived directly into the launch bay and into any ready ordinance they had stored inside.

“The Chinese missile volley is entering point defense range,” scanners advised. Horne shifted the view on his display over to the Gargonth ship. Flashes of plasma fire lit up the vessel as it tried to engage the incoming missiles. The hit rate was low, but there was so much fire being spewed out that the first volley was cut in half before explosions started peppering the bow of the giant ship. The following volley bored in, and another ten ship killer missiles slammed into the alien hull. Sensor readings showed some damage to the ship’s bow, but the volume of plasma fire didn’t abate as it picked off the now sporadic waves of missiles heading its way.

“Sir, Admiral Zuong is hailing us,” comms advised.

“Send him through,” Horne ordered. The man on the screen didn’t look like the confident admiral he had spoken to earlier. Zuong looked frightened, but the man gathered himself before speaking.

“Commodore Horne, would you be kind enough to see that the data packet I’m sending over makes it home. I fear that this foe is too much for us,” Admiral Zuong said. A data packet including all their data on the battle as well as final personal messages for family back home was received.

“I’ll see that it does, Admiral. China, and all of humanity will know of your bravery this day,” Horne replied. The admiral nodded his thanks and cut the feed, his battlecruisers were coming about to bring all of their main guns to bear on the Gargonth ship.

“Sir, do we fight?” His XO asked as a new swarm of a three hundred drones launched from the Gargonth ship, their course taking them around the remaining Chinese ships as they made their way toward his taskforce.

“No, we can’t stand against that much firepower. Evacuate the station and prepare the taskforce to jump,” Horne ordered. He felt guilty leaving the Chinese admiral behind. It was strange, they had been on the brink of battle, but once again, an outside threat had brought humans together.

The defensive station had a small crew of only fifty-five personnel to perform maintenance and run its weapons systems, making it easy enough to find space for them aboard the ships of his taskforce. With the station and each cruiser having a transport shuttle, they were able to pull them off in one load, allowing him to rescue everyone and still safely jump before the drones arrived.

As the shuttles launched and the station crew set their weapons system to automatic, Horne watched the death of the Chinese fleet. A glow encompassed several spots on the bow of the Gargonth ship before balls of plasma were hurled as fast as a railgun round toward the defending ships. The admiral tried to evade but was only partially successful. One of the heavy cruisers was struck, the plasma burning past the shields and deep into the hull. An explosion then consumed the vessel as a second shot hit.

The battlecruisers replied with their fourteen-inch railguns, the entire volley striking the Gargonth ship which didn’t even try to evade the fire. If the hits had any effect, the sensors couldn’t tell. More plasma blasts from the Gargonth claimed the remaining Chinese ships who continued to fire into the attacking vessel for as long as they could.

“Sir, it’s strange, but I think I’m seeing some fluids spilling from the bow of the Gargonth ship, the Chinese guns must have done some damage to that thing. It was odd, did the Gargonth have their water supply in the bow for some reason? Were they an aquatic race and the spill was part of their atmosphere?

“Signal the fleet to jump,” Horne ordered. Would this giant ship follow them into the next system? Somehow, he had a bad feeling that humanity wouldn’t be rid of the Gargonth so easily. It was Horne’s job to spread the warning and prepare for the worst. Humanity had a new threat to deal with, would they prove up to the task?