“Congratulations, Aaron,” Vee said, “you wanted to get noticed? You got noticed. Another six enemy destroyers closing on our stern. And these seem like the new Imperial ships.”
A quick check of the blink drive revealed it wasn’t charged yet. The ship’s armor was strong but not invincible. Six Imperial destroyers with advanced and unknown weapon capabilities hammering them from this range could pose an issue. Aaron sacrificed distance and position for the strike on the other frigates. It was necessary however, if Phoenix had opened up with railguns on small agile frigates from any further, they wouldn’t have got more than one or two. Now with matching agility they couldn’t shake the six which locked on.
“Best evasive, Ensign. Don’t let them boil our armor too long.”
The deck rattled from laser strikes.
“I’m trying, Commander! But they’re matching my maneuvers. These Imperial destroyer pilots are actually quite good!”
“And you’re amazing, Ensign! Get them off us.”
“Aye, sir!”
More strikes. The bulkheads groaned now.
“Polarized strength on the aft quarter down to thirty percent. It won’t hold much longer.”
The enemy formation was so tight, it was difficult to monitor all six contacts on tactical.
“Where’d the sixth one go? Anyone?” Aaron called.
Vee slapped his controls, “Not seeing him!” he said.
The pursuing contacts now appeared on tactical as only two targets, yet they were five.
Vee swore. “He’s above!”
The flanking destroyer hit hard. The stealthy Imperial missiles too close and too fast for point defense to swivel and target the ordnance. Aaron knew the strike compromised the dorsal armor.
Vee called across. “Bad news or good news?”
He hated when Vee did that. But he always obliged.
“Bad.”
“Dorsal armor is penetrated and blink drive is offline for the moment.”
Aaron held his breath. “The good?”
“They’re all behind us now.”
“Avery! We’re going to have words when this is done,” Aaron said. The XO resorted to humor during moments of extreme stress. He didn’t know whether he should laugh at the horrible attempt or laugh at the fact that someone resorted to humor when facing death.
“Lieutenant, please splash those targets or drive them off. Fire a full spread, see what we can hit.”
“Trying as well, Commander,” Lee said. “But they’re so agile any slight deviation and our shots miss, plus it’s not like we’re exactly staying still ourselves.” He added, looking over at Flaps.
“Fine,” Flaps said. “I’ll stay still and let them chew up our stern.”
Aaron shook his head but ignored their banter. He couldn’t think of an option which the enemy couldn’t simply outmaneuver. Vee had more bad news.
“Rear armor broken,” the XO said. “We’re about to find out how tough the hull is—without armor!”
Another strike ate deep into the forward section. The resulting decompression blew a neighboring section to the bridge, blasting through the bulkhead and spitting debris everywhere. Trident’s final moments flashed in his mind.
“They’re slicing us up!”
The ship shook, but only slightly, definitely not a direct weapons strike.
A squadron from Delta Wing vectored for Phoenix faster than heavy cruisers should vector towards anything this close, but they were a couple hundred thousand kilometers away when they noticed she was in trouble.
So focused on their prey the Imperial squadron had been they didn’t notice the closing heavy cruisers. An all-encompassing barrage scattered their formation from the skirmish. Although heavily damaged they managed an astounding speed, to escape further punishment from Delta Wing. And the latter was burning too hard to turn to cut them off.
“Rayne, I thought you could use some help this time.”
“Bless your little soul, Rhineheart. Care to follow my lead?”
“Anytime, Commander.”
****
Flaps turned around.
“Sir, you know I’ve been good about not questioning you, but I have to hear it again to be sure. You said right into the enemy formation?”
“That’s right, Ensign,” Aaron replied. “XO, ready the kinetic barrier. Like them, we brought some new toys to this fight. One toy really—with a lot of surprises.”
The looming enemy battleship formation screened by several escorting heavy cruisers unleashed multiple missile volleys. Phoenix was out in the wild on her own, surging ahead of Rhineheart’s formation. Surely, she was a tempting target for the Imperials.
“Now, XO, engage the barrier,” Aaron ordered.
Tiny turrets arrayed around Phoenix’s hull deployed gravitic charges as she surged through the concentrated enemy formation. Imperial cruisers and battleships spread over two million square kilometers around them. The barrier deflected the hostile missiles like a starburst. The lumbering battleship formations were packed so closely together. The majority of missiles struck Imperial ships before the Imperials realized what was happening and detonated the remaining active missiles.
The distraction, ensuing chaos and punishment delivered by Phoenix granted Shepherd a reprieve. He regrouped his ships and burst into the enemy formation. The results devastating on both sides.
Railgun and missile salvos proved more effective at quickly crippling and destroying Imperial cruisers and battleships. The Imperial warships couldn’t sustain the laser barrages before needing to recharge for another strike. This reduced their effectiveness especially against the more heavily armored United Fleet battleships. However, these drawbacks didn’t hinder United Fleet railgun and missile salvos, which didn’t require as much power to maintain, merely ammunition and magazine reloads.
The advantage skewed the battle in favor of the United Fleet. The Imperial heavy ships inflicted their fair share of horror on United Fleet battleships. However, as more Imperial ships ceased being combat capable, the longer it took them to inflict any appreciable amount of damage on their counterparts.
“Commander,” Alvarez called. “I’m detecting several formations of Imperial warships, which broke away from the fighting earlier—they’ve engaged each other!”
Aaron adjusted his tactical view to the coordinates indicated by Alvarez. Phoenix’s scopes and sensors illustrated the Imperial ships and sure enough, lasers and missiles crisscrossed the combatants. Then he saw it. The Imperial Dreadnought Phalanx in the thick of the fighting.
Aaron reached for the handheld Quintus gave him. He’d have to wait for a reply because Phalanx was several light-minutes away.
“Lord Commander, this is Commander Rayne. What is your status? We stand ready to provide assistance.”
Several minutes later, he received a response. “Negative, Commander, I’ve returned to Phalanx and I’ve ordered a general withdrawal. Some of the ship captains have declared me a traitor. However, the majority of remaining ships are loyal to me. I’ve ordered them to withdraw immediately and most which are able have done so. The usurpers are attacking my ship, and some of my own crew has mutinied. The situation aboard is dire. I will soon lose control of the bridge. There’s nothing you can do for us.”
“Wrong, Quintus. There’s always something to be done so long as it’s worth doing. Stand by, I’ll be seeing you shortly.”
“Aaron,” Vee said. “We don’t have any marines, or even enough spacers for a boarding action. What are you going to do?”