“Admiral,” Janelle said. “The first stage is commencing… now.”
Ted watched, dispassionately, as three squadrons of starfighters suddenly spun around and charged right at the alien starfighters, their sensors rapidly hunting for targets. The aliens started, then fell into a series of evasive manoeuvres that suggested they were unwilling to risk an engagement at such long odds. Ted hoped that was a good sign. If the aliens were feeling sensitive to potential losses, he thought, they were clearly worn down by the fighting too.
“They’re moving back out of range,” Janelle reported. “The starfighters are pushing them back.”
“Good,” Ted said. “Execute Phase Two.”
“All right,” Kurt said, as he watched his comrades charging the alien starfighters. “Follow my lead.”
HMS Blackburn was ugly enough to make Ark Royal look pretty — and indeed, the ancient carrier had a stubborn grace that the heavily-modified freighter couldn’t match. She was nothing more than two hundred meters of blocky shapeless hull, studded with a handful of sensor blisters and weapons. Her true striking power came in the two squadrons of starfighters she carried to support Ark Royal. Kurt had barely a handful of seconds to admire the escort carrier before his starfighter latched onto her hull.
“Sound off,” he ordered, as the remaining pilots docked. He listened as, one by one, they confirmed they were docked to the ship’s hull. “And now we wait. Maintain radio silence.”
He sucked in his breath. If they were lucky, if everything had gone according to plan, the aliens wouldn’t have seen them docking with the escort carrier. They’d see the carrier as carrying nothing more than its onboard fighters, half of which were currently taking part in the attempt to force the alien starfighters to fight. And that was what the Admiral was counting on.
His starfighter shivered, slightly, as Blackburn fell out of formation and headed towards the rear of the flotilla. A frigate moved towards it, then apparently changed its mind — or had it changed by the Admiral. Kurt hoped the aliens believed Blackburn to be heading back to Earth, back down the series of tramlines. They had to view the carrier as a tempting target, he knew. He would certainly have considered it a prime target…
And now we wait, he thought, as the carrier kept moving. And pray.
“The aliens have broken contact,” Janelle reported. “Our starfighters are requesting orders.”
“Tell them to return to the flotilla,” Ted ordered. The aliens would have a free shot at Blackburn — or so it would seem. But what if they refused to take the bait? “And then tell Blackburn to continue with her operation until Simon Says otherwise.”
“Aye, sir,” Janelle said. There was a long pause as the starfighters rocketed back towards the carrier. “The aliens are filtering back again.”
And what, Ted asked his unknown counterpart silently, are you thinking? Are you interested in taking a free shot at a makeshift carrier or are you more concerned with monitoring the flotilla?
“I’m picking up nineteen alien fighters watching us, but a number seem to be headed towards Blackburn,” Janelle said, carefully. “I can’t get a precise figure on just how many of them there are, sir.”
“Then launch two more probes towards their point of origin,” Ted ordered. He cursed under his breath. The beancounters would make a terrible fuss when they realised just how many probes he’d fired off in less than a day. But it was easier to replace probes, no matter how expensive they were, than pilots. “They have to have a carrier nearby.”
He glanced at the ship’s status board and cursed again. The crew were well-trained and very experienced, after two deep-penetration missions into alien space, but it was clear that tiredness was already beginning to bite. Captain Fitzwilliam was rotating crew through sleep machines as much as possible, yet they didn’t dare reduce their number of active crewmembers below a certain level. It would end badly.
We need to slap them back, he thought. And convince them to keep their distance.
Twenty-two fighters, Kurt thought, as the alien starfighters flashed towards Blackburn. It was clear they intended to blow the escort carrier away in the first attack, then return to harassing Ark Royal. But they were in for a nasty surprise, he told himself firmly. If they kept coming in at that speed, they wouldn’t be able to escape before his pilots tore into them.
He counted down the seconds, then triggered his starfighter’s drives, pushing the ship away from the escort carrier. The aliens seemed to flinch as the remainder of his squadron followed him, but it was definitely too late to escape. Space filled with plasma bursts as the humans opened fire, lashing the aliens back from the carrier and blowing seven alien craft out of space before they even had a chance to fire back. And then the aliens returned fire.
“Keep evading,” he snapped, throwing radio silence to the winds. There was no point in trying to hide any longer. “Don’t give them a chance to draw a bead on you!”
His starfighter spun, then blew another alien fighter into vapour. But the aliens had recovered now and picked off two human fighters in quick succession. Kurt cursed under his breath, knowing that losses would be fairly even from this point until the inexperience of his pilots made itself felt. An alien pilot drew a bead on him, then lost contact as another human pilot blew him into dust. And then the aliens were suddenly retreating at high speed, leaving the humans behind.
Odd, Kurt thought. They must be closer to their sources of replenishment than us.
He scowled at the thought. It would take weeks to get replacement starfighters to Ark Royal, assuming the Royal Navy or anyone else had starfighters to send. He assumed the aliens had bases far closer to the flotilla; hell, they might well have some starfighters assigned to Target One or Target Two they could call on. But instead… the aliens were definitely worried about losses. It was interesting, to say the least, and indicative of something. He just wished he knew what.
“Simon Says Blackburn is to return to the flotilla,” the Admiral ordered. “I say again, Simon Says Blackburn is to return to the flotilla.”
Kurt nodded. Simon Says was an old trick, one used when there was a good chance the enemy was listening in on allied communications. Using it against the aliens seemed pointless, if only because the aliens couldn’t understand human words. But the diplomats had been making progress, he reminded himself. The hostile aliens might have made more progress if they’d had human prisoners to work with, just like Prince Henry. And they might have been less reluctant to use torture to force the prisoners to talk.
He set his starfighter to return to Ark Royal and concentrated on monitoring the remainder of the battle. It looked as though the aliens had fallen back completely, but it was difficult to be sure. They might just have other ships shadowing the carrier…
“Await orders,” a new voice said, as they returned to the flotilla. “We may have found something interesting.”
“Understood,” Kurt said. The enemy carrier? Or what? “We will hold position and wait.”