We were detected, James realised. There was no way this wasn’t an ambush, if not a perfectly executed one. The aliens had managed to get very lucky. But when? And how much did they actually see?
“They must have only seen one or two of the carriers,” Admiral Smith mused. “Maybe they didn’t see Ark Royal after all.”
“Yes, sir,” James agreed. One carrier was hardly enough to deal with the Old Lady, let alone five other carriers. Unless, of course, the aliens had something new up their sleeves, something unanticipated. “Request permission to engage the enemy.”
“Granted,” Admiral Smith said. “Give them hell.”
James smiled. “Launch fighters,” he ordered. “Prepare to open fire.”
Chapter Seventeen
“Launch fighters! I say again, launch fighters!”
Henry had barely a moment to snap awake before the automated systems triggered, launching his fighter out of the tube and into open space. The inky darkness of space surrounded him, sending a tingle down his spine before he looked down at his display. Ahead of them, three large alien capital ships were heading towards the fleet, one of them very definitely a carrier already launching fighters. He shivered as he realised, to his horror, that this was real. For the first time in his life, he could die.
At least I’ll die as Charles Augustus, he thought, as the fighters fanned out. Alpha Squadron was on attack duty, followed by Beta and Gamma, while the remaining three were covering the carriers. Behind them, a stream of American fighters followed, escorting a wing of bombers. The aliens, for once, would be badly outnumbered.
“Cover the bombers as they engage,” the CAG ordered, as the aliens rapidly converged on the human fighters. “Don’t panic; remember your training and stay in formation.”
Henry flushed at the reminder, then keyed the switch to bring his weapons online. One pilot squawked in alarm as his plasma cannons refused to boot up, but Henry had no such problems… at least for the moment. The briefings had warned them, several times, that the plasma cannons could overheat and explode, taking the starfighter with them. So far, the techs had no idea how the aliens had solved the problem of not blowing up when they overused their weapons. The pilots had privately joked that the aliens had pissed on them to keep the weapons cool.
The two forces closed with terrifying speed. One moment, the humans were safely apart from the aliens, the next the two forces were dogfighting through space. Henry threw his starfighter into a series of evasive ducks and dives, then fired on an alien craft as it came into view. He missed; the alien evaded his fire with a flip that seemed almost contemptuous, then fired back with a stream of plasma pulses of his own. Henry flipped his weapons to automatic fire — it seemed unmanly, somehow — and then concentrated on remaining alive and well. Behind him, a stream of alien fighters were rapidly converging on Ark Royal.
“Leave the CSP to cover the carrier,” the CAG reminded them. “Deal with the alien carrier.”
The alien CSP rose to meet them as the human fighters and bombers converged on the alien carrier. It wasn’t that different from a human ship, Henry noted somewhat regretfully, remembering some of the starships from science-fiction movies. Giant metal cubes, bird-shaped starships, even squid-like ships… instead, the alien ship could almost have passed for human, at least at a distance. But no one could have mistaken the drives or the endless rows of plasma cannons as anything but alien.
“Hit,” North shouted. “I got the bastard!”
Henry smiled, torn between pleasure and a sense of jealously. North would be insufferable in the barracks when they finally got home. A moment later, an alien starfighter fell into his weapons range and died before its pilot had a chance to realise he’d screwed up. Henry found himself staring at the display for a long moment, realising that he’d just taken his first life, then he pushed it aside — angrily — as they closed in on the alien ship. The carrier and its two escorts were frantically filling space with plasma fire, making it very difficult to enter attack range.
Or, rather, pre-war attack range, Henry thought. The aliens had shaped their weapons and tactics to take advantage of humanity’s weaknesses. Humanity had studied the results of the first battles and done the same. Now, we see just how well we worked.
“Lock weapons on target,” the bomber CO ordered. “Fire!”
Henry watched as each of the bombers launched two torpedoes, aimed directly towards the alien carrier. Between the British and American craft, there were over a hundred torpedoes closing in on their target. The aliens responded at once, plasma fire sweeping half of the torpedoes from space, but it was too late. One by one, the bomb-pumped lasers detonated,. Sending ravening beams of pure fury towards the alien craft. She might have been larger than Ark Royal, but her armour was much weaker. Moments after the first blast ripped into her hull, a series of explosions blew her into radioactive plasma.
“Scratch one flattop,” an American voice howled.
Henry joined in the cheers that ran through the communications network, feeling an odd sense of relief overcoming him. They’d faced the aliens and won… but the moment of distraction almost killed him. Without their carrier, the alien starfighters had no hope of escape, so they turned on the humans with savage suicidal intensity. He picked off one of the aliens, then watched in horror as two human starfighters vanished in quick succession. Behind them, both of the alien battlecruisers were trying to retreat…
Ted allowed himself a cold smile as the alien carrier exploded into a fireball, scattering debris through space. It was good to have the advantage for once, good to hand out a beating to a foe who clearly hadn’t realised just how strong the task force actually was. Even given the alien technological advantages, sending one carrier up against six was suicide. But now the battlecruisers were starting to retreat…
“Order the bombers to take out the battlecruisers,” Ted ordered. The alien ships were altering course randomly, clearly aware of the danger of human mass drivers. Ark Royal was firing anyway, launching streams of solid projectiles through space, but Ted wasn’t hopeful. They were just too far from the alien ships to guarantee a hit. “I don’t want them escaping to trouble us later.”
Lopez looked up from her console. “Sir, two-thirds of the bombers fired all their shots at the carrier.”
Ted scowled, but understood. Given the sheer effectiveness of the alien point defence — not to mention the certainty that their fighters would target the human bombers when they realised there was a very definite threat — throwing everything they had at the alien ship was the only reasonable course of action. But it had made it more likely that the two battlecruisers would escape. Their acceleration rate was far superior to anything humanity had, even the frigates.
“Order the ones that still have missiles to close and engage,” he said. “The remainder are to fall back and rearm.”
“Incoming fighters,” another lieutenant snapped. “They’re converging on us and Washington.”
Ted opened his mouth to order the point defence to engage, then stopped himself. It was Captain Fitzwilliam’s job to fight his ship, not Ted’s. He couldn’t allow himself to become distracted from the larger picture by trying to take command of the carrier. Besides, they couldn’t allow a disagreement over who was in command during a battle.