Dark Fate, Book 21 Epilogue

Epilogue – Elsewhere

(Main Bridge, CRN Mercurial, Incux Food Resource System 2)

Captain Griboyedov Ivan Tikhonovich breathed lightly as they passed into the system in full stealth. When he spoke, he made certain his tone was flat, and calm. “Status of the fleet.”

“All ships reporting in via tightbeam comms, Captain. All present and accounted for. Stealth systems working at full efficiency.”

“And the Incux?”

“We are still too far from target planet designated Vannoth 3 for detailed scans. No stellar objects out of place or added since the last Commonwealth scan. We are detecting a small flotilla of ships in geosynchronous orbit over the planet. Commonwealth Naval Intelligence designates them as five ‘foodseekers’, one ‘hiveship’, and twelve ‘foodmovers’. Apparently, those are the approximate translations of the Incux words for those ship types, Sir.”

“Designate hiveship as Bogey 1, the foodseekers as Bogies 2 through 6, and foodmovers as Tangos 1 through 12.”

Griboyedov took a moment to think, and plan. Foodmover had to be a transport, for the ‘cattle’ on the planet below. Unfortunately, this left him with a bit of a dilemma. There were eighteen targets, and he had only sixteen ships capable of using pulse torpedoes, if he included the Renegades in his hangar. Of course, that didn’t mean pulse torpedoes were his only weapons. But he would rather not reveal more of his fleet’s capabilities than they had to.

There was the option of waiting, of course. Allowing the transports to load up their cargo and leave, which would give his people a clear shot at the planet below. But that did not sit right with him. Simply waiting, and allowing the Incux to load up slaves to slaughter and eat? No, that did not sit right with him at all.

He started doing the math in his head. The Hunters of Beast Squadron could take down two of the foodmovers, but they did not have the same stealth ability as the Renegades or the ships under his command. They would be noticed. Same with the Interceptors of Angel squadron. Using them in that way would spoil the game, and potentially allow some of the Incux to escape.

There was another option, though. The Hellspawn variants of the Oscuns-class corvette had more weapons than just the pulse torpedoes. In particular, they had the Hellfire Cannons on that spinal mount. Which was just a fancy way of saying that they were railguns that accelerated chunks of metal to a significant fraction of lightspeed. The power outlay was minimal, relatively speaking. Stealth systems could cover for it, easily enough, and, once launched, the projectile was nearly impossible to spot on scanners without doing active sweeps. Even if it didn’t destroy a ship outright, a shot from the cannon should do enough damage to an unshielded ship that it wouldn’t be able to escape.

Then, it would just be a matter of timing. If they launched from one light-hour out, it would take approximately sixty-three minutes for the rounds to meet their targets. Then, an in-system jump to blast the remaining ships, and clean up whatever was left. It would work, on paper, but they had not tried anything like this outside of the simulators before.

“Captain, new contacts!”

Griboyedov’s head snapped around to the sensor officer. “Report!”

“Four Incux ships coming around the far side of the planet. Standard orbital pattern. Three foodseekers, and a hiveship. Designating Bogies 7 through 10.”

“Have they spotted us?”

“I don’t believe so, Captain. No change in course or speed.”

Twenty-two targets, now. Still, this was doable. He double-checked his math again, and then sent it to tactical for review. They concurred.

“Message to the fleet. Launch Cinder squadron, stealth mode. Trickle-charge all pulse torpedo launchers and Hellfire cannons. Ready Beast squadron to scramble. All ships and Renegades prepare for in-system jump, coordinates to follow.”

Soon, everything was in place, and they’d closed to just under half a light-hour from the flotilla. “Fire Hellfire Cannons, targeting Bogies 1 through 4.”

“Shots fired, Captain. All ships report ready for in-system jump. Pulse torpedoes charged.”

“Excellent,” he said, forcing his voice to be calm. Now they waited. Just before the shots were due to land, he said, “All ships, jump, and engage.”

The gravity wave of their jump to hyperspace arrived only moments before they did, just as the shots from the Hellfire Cannons tore a gaping wound in the first hiveship, and ripped three of the foodseekers to pieces. The moment they exited the jump directly in the path of the twelfth foodseeker, hangar bays pointed directly towards it, Griboyedov called out, “Launch Beast squadron, target Tango 12. Status of the rest of the fleet and the Incux?”

“All ships reporting in, and engaging. Status of the Incux… Bogey 1 down and drifting. Temporarily mission killed. Bogies 2 through 10 have been destroyed. Tangos 1 through 11 destroyed. Tango 12 powering shields and engines.”

The transport ship tried to flee, but he could see it was futile. Already, shipkiller torpedoes were launching from the Hunters. It had time to bring shields online, but the first four torpedoes blasted them away, and the next two finished the job. The Hunters flew on, past the transport’s wreckage, and fired on Bogey 1. Six more torpedoes finished off the wounded hiveship, which hadn’t even managed to get shields up or arm their weapons.

Captain Griboyedov nodded, satisfied, as he looked at the tactical plot. “Comms, pass word to the fleet. My compliments on a perfectly executed sneak attack. Sensors, get me a scan of the planet, priority on anti-air positions and strike craft hangars, followed by population centers and distribution nodes. Launch Angel squadron, so they can join the hunt for any fliers.”

As people set about their business, Commander Ava O’Heffernan, his Irish Medusa XO (a facet of their new reality he was still trying to wrap his head around) walked up to him, her eyes thankfully still hidden behind her protective goggles. Speaking softly enough that the others on the bridge wouldn’t hear, she said, “Captain, about those ships on patrol…”

“Yes,” he nodded. “I agree. We didn’t see anything like that in the first system, and the Commonwealth intel didn’t mention anything of the sort, either. Which means it is something new. A response to our previous attack, no doubt. Which means that we’re having an effect.”

“It also means that our next attack will not go so easily.”

“Yes, it does. We will have to be cautious.”