I wrote this short as at test for a space saga that I was considering writing. I submitted it to a Christian fiction short story contest but I guess science fiction was not of their taste. It had to be less than 7,000 words.
Lions
among them
by Jeff Davis.
2 Kings 17:24
24 And
the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and
Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the people of
Israel. And they took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities. 25
And at the beginning of their dwelling there, they did not fear the
Lord. Therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which killed some of them. 26
So the king of Assyria was told, “The nations that you have carried
away and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the law of the god of the
land. Therefore he has sent lions among them, and behold, they are killing
them, because they do not know the law of the god of the land.” 27 Then
the king of Assyria commanded, “Send there one of the priests whom you carried
away from there, and let him go and dwell there
and teach them the law of the god of the land.” 28 So one of
the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and lived in Bethel
and taught them how they should fear the Lord.
The King David drifted silently
through the Adummim asteroid field that divided the twin Suns of Airamas and
Melasure. Her crew busy stowing supplies
from the day's catch as she moved deeper into the field. The wreckage was floating just 13.2 light
minutes outside of Shiloh’s gravity well.
The three Suzam class destroyers were no match for one of the last
Learsi battle cruisers to come out of the Abil shipyards. The King David was the last Solomon class
battle cruiser out of the yards and one of only five of her class to be
produced before the invasion. She was
the most powerful non-capital ship in the Galaxy. As fast as a light cruiser, she boasted the
fire power of a full battleship and her captain was chosen for his ability to
make solid snap decisions under fire.
Captain Cannon
Joshua was decorated in the last border dispute with Learsi’s sister nation of
Aeduj and so awarded this command. He
hated the small wars between the two nations because it was not fighting
invaders but the sons and daughters of Abram.
The brief border wars had no real victory because whichever side the
Creator saw fit to bless, also was blessed with the wisdom to not take
advantage of the others defeat. The
break from this was in a man called Hoshea.
Hoshea was prime minister of Cannon’s people who resided on the Learsi
side of the asteroid field. He was a
corrupt man and so Hoshea lead Learsi away from their God. Cannon did not like the man but like all of
his fellow men and women in service, he did his duty. The last war with the Aeduj side had left a
bitter taste in Cannon’s mouth for war but this new war was something different
entirely. Hoshea had made some pack with
the Assyrian Empire. Whether it was for
an advantage over Aeduj or for some other reason, it had ended in
invasion. Invasion of both star nations,
Learsi as well as Aeduj. The people
Cannon now fought were outsiders and invaders.
He could not win back the system from the Empire, but he could be a
stinging insect to its power. As far as
he knew all five Solomon class battle cruisers had survived the invasion as
each were on solo shake down cruises during the initial attacks. The King David was on a recon mission near
Bethol just on the Learsi side of the Adummim asteroid field. She was one of five lions preying on the
Assyrian shipping lines.
“Captain, Sir”
Cannon’s thoughts were interrupted as Lieutenant Commander Hastings stood at
attention waiting on him to acknowledge her.
“Yes, Lieutenant
Commander,” Cannon heard himself saying as he pulled his mind back to the
present situation.
“As you expected
sir, the Assyrians have a battleship moving along our last trajectory. It is currently 32 minutes 15 seconds 223
degree horizontal by 109 degrees vertical relative.“ Hastings said as she moved
to a display. She was a good second in
command but needed to stop trying to prove herself. Cannon couldn’t blame her though. She looked like she should be a runway model
and not an officer in the Navy. Her
skills were under estimated all the time and ranking officers tended to look
only at her outside assets instead of her internal ones.
The location of
the battleship was given in degrees and minutes. This specification was laid out by Captain
Abram in the first century A.E. or After Exodus when the colony left its home
world to find this system. Locations in
the modern space going navy were given in terms that are relative to ones
ship. This differed from old earth’s sea
going vessels which were given in terms relative to polar north because in
space, polar north does not exist.
Degrees were given for vertical and horizontal angles. The horizontal calculation starts with the
ship’s front center as zero and travels right to left along the horizontal
plane which would make the center rear 180 degrees horizontal. The vertical angle is calculated slightly
different with the ship’s top center being 0 degree. It then travels long a plane given by the
horizontal angle which would make 180 degree vertical always straight down from
the ship’s current position. Distance was
given in light minutes and seconds which is how far light can travel in a
minute or second. Light travels
approximately 300,000 kilometers per second or kps. This would make the Assyrian battleship
approximately 580,500,000 km or 32 light minutes and 15 light seconds away,
angling behind and slightly to the left of the King David and just below the
King David’s horizontal plane. This kind
of spatial awareness is second nature to all naval personal.
“Mr. Johnson, do
we have a class on this prize fish?” Hastings said with a small grin. Lieutenant Johnson looked up from the
tactical display and returned her grin.
“Yes, ma' m. It is the Shalmaneser, an Ashur class
battleship. She is a long ways from Dur
Sharrukin. I wonder if the Capital will
miss one of its ships of line.” Hastings grin continue until the last word was
out of his month and then her features took on a more serious posture.
"Is she
sending shuttles to retrieve the life pods." Cannon's question was almost
automatic. He did not wish the crews of
the destroyers to be stranded. It was enough that he killed as many as he did
in the action.
“It appears that
she is doing that sir but she is also sending probes out into the
asteroids… But where are her
escorts?” Cannon always liked the way
Hastings could keep on track even when things seemed to be going their
way. She was right on the money with
that last comment. He was glad that she
was picking up the survivors but the Shalmaneser would have at least a
destroyer screen if not several cruisers to support her.
“Her escorts are out
there. Lets be a little more proactive
shall we. I don't like surprises. Give me one tachyon subspace ping if you
please Commander.” Everyone on the bridge turned toward the Captain at his last
command. The subspace pulse generator
has only been used in training exercises and this would be the first time the
King David would use it in actual combat.
The technology was sound even if it was a new application of it. All ships used some variant of a tachyon
subspace drive to power their ships through space. The pulse or ping as the captain has put it,
created a subspace wave similar to a sonar ping on ancient submarines. The wave would bounce back when it encounter
any active tachyon drives to about 20 light minutes out. The pulse of course traveled much faster than
light speed but a ship 20 light minutes out would take about a minute to show
up on the King David’s pulse system. The
fortunate thing was that the Assyrians did not have this technology and so did not
know about it. If they paid very close
attention to their engine output, they would see it rise slightly for a moment
or two as the wave slammed into it but only if they were paying close
attention.
“Yes,
Captain. Lieutenant Johnson, generate a
single tachyon pulse please.” Called Hastings as everyone turned back to their
stations.
“Aye, aye,
Commander, single pulse being sent … now!” called the crewman Johnson.
The King David
shuttered once as the pulse left it and everyone held their breath for the
space of a minute.
“Multiple contacts
in the asteroid field. We have seven
addition ships moving in four groups.
The first contains two Suzam class destroyers at 8 minutes 32 seconds 60
degrees horizontal by 34 degrees vertical relative, group two containing one
Suzam class destroyer and one Izel class light cruiser is 5 minutes 54
seconds 268 degrees horizontal by 0
degrees vertical relative. The third
group also contains one Suzam class destroyer and one Izel class light cruiser
at 10 minutes 5 seconds 92 degrees horizontal by 183 degrees vertical relative
and the fourth is a single Durga class heavy cruiser at 4 minutes 23
seconds 5 degrees horizontal 370 degrees
vertical relative. The heavy cruiser is
coming right at us.” Lieutenant Johnson was a competent operator but tended to
get a bit excited during a battle and this one might not go well for the King
David.
“And is the
Shalmaneser still continuing along our last trajectory, Mr. Johnson” Cannon
said in an even and controlled voice. He
hoped it gave an impression of confidence but this force was a bit larger than
he had expected by one destroyer and one heavy cruiser.
“Yes sir, with her
current course, she is slowly moving away.
She will be 33 minutes from us shortly,” stated Johnson, making a
visible effort control his excitement.
“ What is the ETA
on the heavy cruiser and put the asteroids up on tactical?” Hastings looked
back at the Captain as he gave the commands.
“What are you
thinking, sir?”
“I am thinking
ambush,” answered Cannon with a half-smile and Hastings returned it with
interest.
“Sir, the heavy
cruiser is moving at one quarter light speed and at its current trajectory, it
be in cannon range in about 16 minutes and at our current position in 20
minutes.”
“Hastings, deploy
twenty-five of the remote launchers and program six of the birds to break up
one of the larger asteroids around us.
Also, link their fire control to a single nodes so all six fire at
once. The rest need to be setup as missile
mines against group one. ” Said Cannon as Hastings moved quickly to tactical to
input the trajectories of the remote birds.
Cannon started to
pace from one side of the bridge to the other being careful not to bump into
anyone on the small bridge. The Solomon
class might be bigger than the normal battle cruiser class but all of the extra
space was given up to new hardware and the engineers packed as much in to her
they could. Hastings finished her
calculations in minimal time giving credit to her efficiency at her job as the
COM officer spoke up.
“Chief Engineer
Rosenberg is on comm for you Captain.”
Normally, Cannon
would be in the Captain’s chair where he would be able to see that Rosenberg
was trying to reach him. He quickly sat
in his chair and brought the Chief Engineer up on his screen.
“Thank you,
Mary. I will take it here.”
Rosenberg was a
heavy set man and his bulk filled the screen.
“What is it
Chief?” Cannon could tell something had the man very excited.
“Captain, we just
recorded a Tachyon pulse. I am sending
the data to tactical now.” This could be
good or bad news depending on who sent the pulse. Did the Assyrians have this technology and if
they did that spelled doom for the King David.
It could be another Solomon class battle cruiser which would give the
Lions the edge in this encounter.
“Thank mister
Rosenberg. Hastings, I need a read on the new information being
send from Engineering.” Hastings was
about to say something but Cannon beat her to the punch.
“Its important
info, Commander. Have Mr. Johnson review
and send your figures to Engineering.”
“Yes, Captain.” Hastings had paused just a moment before
replying. Cannon was going to have to
talk to her again about that when this was all over. He knew she was going to argue that the
missile information was time sensitive.
It was but this new information took priority besides the fact that he
was the Captain. Her aggressiveness
might be clouding her judgment but she really needed to keep from trying so
hard.
“Captain, the
pulse recorded by Engineering originated from 2 minutes 8 seconds 165 degrees
horizontal by 74 degrees vertical relative to group three’s heading. “ Hastings now consumed with the new situation
was back on track.
“Can we send a
pulse message to that location?” Cannon wanted to know, no he needed to know if
that was a friendly or not.
“Our current drift
will put us in a direct pulse vector through the asteroid field in 2 minutes 18
seconds, sir.”
Cannon wished he
had a little more room for error but in 15 minutes, he was going to be engaging
the heavy cruiser one way or another.
“Once the remote
launchers are deployed, we will use battle plan Charlie One. That will put us in the best position to
engage group two once they know we are here.
COM, I want the pulse message to
state what we intend to do and let them know that group three is theirs.” He hoped that the ship that the pulse
originated from was a friendly but it did not really matter. His choices were going to be the same either
way but his chances were better if the unknown was a Lion and not one of the
jackals.
Battle plan Charlie
One was a primary ambush plan. The King
David would position itself with thrusters only where she could bring all
turrets to bear on the target as well as one broadside of missiles. She would hide behind an asteroid in this
case until the unsuspecting ship passed and she got a rear shot at her
prey. She would raise her shields and
fire all at once, not giving the enemy ship time to fire on her
unshielded. Once the shields were raised
and the firing began, passive sensors would pick up the emissions. The emission would only travel at 2.4 light
minutes so it would only take just under two seconds for group three to notice
that action. At the same moment, the six
remote launchers will fire creating a lot of debris for the King David to hide
in.
"Transmission
sent Captain. If they can receive
tachyon transmissions, they should have our message"
"Thank you,
P.O. Sanders." Cannon acknowledged the communication officer. Mary Sanders was a good communications
officer but lacked the experience he would have preferred in this kind of
situation. This situation, of course,
was not the situation for which the crew of the King David was
commissioned. They all were competent
but not all were placed on the ship for their exceptional ability. As with any navy, some received their
prestigious commission by political connection rather than ability. Cannon could not complain too much because
all of his crew knew their jobs and the excellent ones more than made up for
those who lacked the proper experience.
Mary at least tried very hard to make up for her lack of experience with
pure effort. It was not her fault that
her uncle was a senior senator and wished her to serve on a ship in active
duty. The King David and her four
sisters were supposed to be permanently stationed around Learsi's home world but the Creator had
decided that was not to be. Now all
hands were serving aboard one of the most modern active raiders in the galaxy.
The King David
slowly maneuvered into place along side a large asteroid and waited for its
prey. The thruster did not create any
visible sign on the enemy ship's sensors but it was much slower than using the
tachyon drive system. It was an
expensive maneuver because of the fuel it expended which was hard to come by
for a raiding vessel deep in enemy territory.
They, of course, could resupply at their base that was deep in the
asteroid field but they would have to get back there undetected after the
battle or it was all over.
"We are in
position, Captain" came the voice of Lieutenant Johnson as Commander
Hastings moved over to tactical. She
stared at the screen with a frown on her face.
Cannon noticed her after he got done going back over her and Lieutenant
Johnson's calculations for the remote launcher.
It was not that he did not trust her with them but he made it a habit of
reviewing his crews work if time permitted.
It allowed him to better gage their abilities and sometimes he would
learn a thing or two from them. After a
few minutes her frown deepened.
"What's on
your mind, Commander?" Hastings
visibly shook herself at Cannon's words and turned toward him with a smile.
"I was just
thinking that group one will get a good look at us when we fire on that heavy
cruiser even with the extra debris" said Hastings.
"So what do
you propose we should do about that?" Cannon said trying to get the
Commander to finish through her thought.
The solution had already occurred to him when he was going over their
calculations.
"We should
drop a decoy drone after we finish off the cruiser and get our vector. We could make it look like we were moving
closer to salvage from the wreck." The Commander stated this as she tapped
her left index figure on her cheek.
"I like that
idea. We could cut our drive and drift
along our new vector to avoid them seeing us through the asteroid debris."
Cannon finished with a grin at Hastings sneaky tactics.
"That was my
thoughts sir. I will start the
calculations for the minimum time on the drive to get our new vector."
Hastings said as he moved back to tactical and started punching commands into
the console.
"Mister
Johnson, do we have the heavy cruiser on the sensor yet?" Cannon wanted to
make sure that the prey had not changed course to give the King David a
surprise instead.
"We have an
echo of the heavy cruiser off the asteroid marked alpha 023 on your
screen. It will be in position in ten
minutes. Our remote launcher will be in
position in 12 minutes."Lieutenant Johnson's reply was a bit strained as
he was trying to control his excitement.
"Time to
group one's intercept," ask Cannon.
"I do not
have any live data but assuming they have not changed course and that they move
to support the cruiser with a least time vector, they will be in range of the
remote launchers at the same time the launcher reach their assigned
positions."
"Ok ladies
and gentlemen. It is going to be a close
call here so we need to run it by the numbers and make our opening salvo
count. We will only be able to engage
for two minutes before we need to break off so we are not pinned between the
heavy cruiser and group one. Battle
stations everyone. Hastings raise alert
level to red." Cannon made his voice sound much calmer than he really
felt. Even if there was a second Solomon
class ship out there, there was plenty of room for him to get his command blown
out from under him. His old war fatigue
tried to take hold and grip him with despair but he fought it down. His crew
needed him to be in control of himself and in command of the situation. He could
feel sorry for himself over having to take more lives after the battle.
"Aye, aye
Captain." Hasting replied as she reached for the ship's internal COM mic.
"Now hear this. Now hear this. Crew to battle stations. Crew to battle stations. This is not a drill. I repeat this is not a drill." Commander Hastings voice called over the ship
intercom as the red alert siren blared out making sure all the crew was knew
that they were to be at their assigned battle stations.
The heavy cruiser
moved into the King David firing arc oblivious to the danger it was in. Captain
Joshua Cannon watched the tactical screen as the cruiser moved along its
projected vector and so saw the tiny blip that moved across enemy ship's
path. Cannon realized a second too late
what it was as the cruiser ran into the remote launcher. The missile in the launcher detonated and the
enemy cruiser's sensors went active.
"Raise
shields and begin bombardment." The calm in Cannon's voice was only
maintained by years of experience as a drop of sweat on his forehead betrayed
his anxiety.
"Tachyon
bubble established and shields up," said Lieutenant Johnson in an octave
higher than normal but Hastings covered Johnson's mis-step.
"First
broadside away, cannons in auto fire and on target. Missile impact in 1 minute 32 sec. Second missile broadside will fire in 30
secs. We have them sir." Hastings
eye's narrowed and she could almost taste their victory. It was a shame about the launcher but 24
remote launchers should still be enough to do the job if her calculations were
correct. The only bad thing is that the
cruiser was going to have enough time to get a return volley off before their
fire took her.
"Return fire
detected. Second broadside away."
Hastings continued as she tracked the first volley to the target.
"Mister
Johnson, do you have the position of group one?" Cannon asked as he
inputed the King David's new vector and sent it to the helm.
"Group one
has changed it's vector to converge on this location with a least time course
as expected, sir. They have gone sensor
active." Lieutenant Johnson replied with his voice back under
control. Cannon was actually proud of
Johnson for recovering so quickly. He
was learning but of course, experience tends to do that to people.
"Helm,
execute the new vector now. Commander,
launch the decoy and activate the remote launchers." Cannon made his face
into a determined look as his plan seemed to be working. The problem Cannon was having with everything
was that Murphy had yet to hit in full force.
He had a feeling that the launcher was just the tip of the iceberg so to
speak.
"First volley
has reached the target and their shields are holding. Ten seconds for first broadside
contact." Hastings relayed the
sensor data.
"First
broadside reached target and their shield are buckling. Incoming fire in 29 seconds." Hastings
continued as Johnson relayed group one's position to the Captain's screen. They would be there in one minute and about
one minutes 19 seconds before the King David could go silent by lowering her
shields. The bad luck of the remote
launcher giving away the trap and allowing the cruiser get a volley off before
King David's first volley could reach them, was changing the battle plan. Even the best plans never survived first
contact with the enemy and this was a case in point.
The King David
shuttered as the enemy cruiser's fire ripped into her shields. The missiles hit and the shields flashed as
capacitors smoked and sparked. The King
David was taking some damage but the shields held. Only 2 of the ten missiles actually reached
the King David as her 6 counter missile tubes spewed 2 volleys of counter
missiles for a total of 12 at the incoming barrage. The counter missiles removed 5 of the
incoming missiles as the laser points defense took out another 3. The success of the counter missiles at this
range was due to the fact that the heavy cruiser had to fire her missiles from
her broadsides which put their starting vector almost perpendicular to the King
David's position. They then had to
change vector giving the King David's counter missiles more time to get a
lock. The rear batteries of the Durga
heavy cruiser consisted only of four 200mm particle cannon on two turrets. The first volley from the cannons were not
enough to get through the King David's shields.
"Second
broadside has reached the target.
Captain, enemy fire has ceased.
Her tachyon bubble is down and our cannon fire is ripping into the
ship." Hastings reported.
"Cease fire
and once the enemy fire is finished, turn to present our undamaged broadside to
group one." Cannon then turned to
his console and commed Chief Rosenberg.
"Chief, what
is our damage?"
"We have lost
the forward top 300mm cannon and one port side missile tube. It will take about approximately 30 minutes
to bring them back on line. The Capacitors
need to be replaced."Chief's face was flush but he did not state any
casualties which meant that there were none.
Cannon allowed himself a brief sign of relief.
"Captain Sir,
I thought we were going to go silent to ambush the destroyers." Hastings
question was not stated as a challenge, but a concern for what she had missed
in the situation. Cannon was slightly
annoyed for her interruption of the Chief's report but it was only a minor
indiscretion.
"Very well
Chief. Please get them back on line as
soon as you can." Cannon then
turned from his screen and faced Hastings.
"We don't have time now. We
are already on the destroyer's sensors but by the grace of the Creator, they
have not figured out the decoy and so think that there are actually two of
us. With all that debris out there, we
should be able to keep them guessing," Cannon explained.
"Remaining
remote launchers firing," Hastings stated.
That was going to give the enemy destroyers pause. The Solomon class battlecruisers only had 14
missile tubes with 7 tubes on each side but they were capital ship missile
tubes. A normal battlecruiser mounts
only 16 tubes, 8 on each side but were not of the capital ship variety. They sported 2 less tubes but the larger
payload more than made up for it. The
remote launchers just launched 9 capital ship missiles at each destroyer for a
total of 18. The fission warheads
slammed into the destroyers tachyon bubble shielding. The first destroyer's point defense lasers
shot 4 of the 9 missiles heading toward it.
Their counter missiles did not get a chance to launch before the
incoming missiles were too close. The
point defense hits only blunted the warheads detonations because of the
distances between the launchers and the ships at time of launch, only 30 light
seconds. The downside to this was that
the EM flash from the detonations at that range would fry the circuits in the
launchers. Chief Rosenberg and his crew
would not be happy once the King David was able to recover them. Those four blinded the second destroyer's
sensors causing it to only hit one of the 9 heading for it. The end result was that the first destroyer
managed to survive with only its tachyon bubble in flux and pulsing. It was leaking atmosphere and it had lost 4
of its 8 missile tubes, three on the port side and one on the starboard
side. Both of its 155mm turrets were
also melted into slag. Its companion was
not so lucky as the last missile struck just as its shields failed and hit
midship. The resulting damage broke the
destroyer in two.
"Open up on
the first destroyer with cannons only, Commander. They will probably divide their fire between
us and the decoy. Lets help them out in
making that decision as to which target is actually real, shall we."Cannon
now was feeling that Murphy was not going to get them this time. "Mister
Johnson, how is group three."
"I have the
signature of another Solomon class battle cruiser where group three should be
and group two is moving to intercept them with the Shalmaneser close
behind," Johnson replied.
"Commander,
plot us a course to intercept the Shalmaneser but keeping our starboard
broadside toward the remaining destroyer" Cannon was hoping to get to the
Shalmaneser just as she got into range of their sister ship.
It took only two
volleys from the King David's cannons before the destroyer cut its engines and
surrendered.
"Captain, the
remaining destroyer is signaling"
"COM, inform
the destroyer that they may conduct rescue missions on their damaged sister
ships but they are not to try to flee.
If they attempt to re-establish their tachyon bubble, our remaining
remote launchers will make them a permanent part of the asteroid field."
Cannon said that as he shared a look with Hastings. They did not have anymore launchers deployed
but the destroyer captain did not know that.
Sanders just nodded and turned to her console to deliver the message.
"Mister
Johnson, what is our intercept time to the Shalmaneser?" Hastings asked as
she started to review different tactical plans that the captain might wish to
employ.
"Our
intercept is 22 minutes 32 seconds at our current vector and speed. The Shalmaneser's new vector is only moving
partially toward us because her vector is on an intercept with our sister ship. She will reach them in 14 minutes 12 seconds
at current velocities." replied Johnson.
"Lets try and
improve that time table. Helm, red line
our tachyon drive and bring us to 280,000 kps.
COM, hale our sister ship once we clear the Asteroid field. I would like to speak to her captain."
Cannon really wanted to know who was in command of the other Solomon and try to
coordinate their efforts in this fight.
The only issue at the moment was bringing his ship to within 5,000 kps
of her maximum speed will give the Assyrians a good look at the Solomons top
speed and acceleration which was 10% better than their battle cruisers were
capable of . This new velocity will only
reduce their intercept to just over 17 minutes which would mean the other ship
would be in the Shalmaneser's weapon's range for 3 whole minutes before the
King David could enter the frey.
"Captain, we
have a reply from our sister ship. It is
the King Saul and Commodore Meir is requesting to speak with you,
sir." Sander's voice gave away her
surprise at having the fleet commodore on the other ship. Especially since they were never told of any
Commodore being in charge of their small five ship fleet.
"On my screen
please Ms. Sanders," Cannon replied.
"Yes,
sir".
The image of
Commodore Meir appeared and Cannon's command screen. Meir was a balding man in his mid to late
forties and Cannon could tell he was a hard man. Cannon had only heard of Meir and what he had
heard was that Meir was a by the book Commodore which was something that Cannon
could respect.
"Captain
Joshua Cannon. It is good to see you in
the flesh so to speak."
"Likewise
Commodore. We are at your disposal,
sir." Cannon sat up straighter and gave the Commodore a salute.
"No need for
that over the comm, Captain. I am sure
you are aware of our situation and at our current heading and speed, we will be
in the Shalmaneser's firing range for 3 minutes before you can give us any
aid." Meir's face was grim as relayed the plain truth of the situation.
"Yes, sir. We
are aware of the situation."
"I have heard
a lot of good things about you Captain so I look forward to seeing you in
action."
"Thank you
sir"
"We are
reversing course and dropping as many remote launchers as we can. We hope to use them as mines if we can get
them far enough out in front of us."
"It sounds
like a good plan sire. We are redlining
our drive now to reach you now."
"Captain
Eisen has informed me of your current speed and vector. We can only hope that the escorts peel off to
engage you but in any event, be there when we need you Captain."
"As fast as
we can sir,"
"Then lets be
about it. God bless Captain."
"God bless
Commodore and good hunting," and with that the screen went blank. Cannon
was not happy with the situation.
Something with how Meir was commanding the King Saul was not sitting
well with him but it was not something that he could deal with at the
moment. In ten minutes the King David
was going to be in missile range of the battleship and his mind needed to on
the battle. He would see about this
Commodore Meir after it was over.
"Commander,
begin missile salvos as soon as we are in range," said Cannon.
"Will do,
Captain," replied Hastings and she turned to begin running through fire
control solutions.
The King Saul
slowed and began to reverse course when the Shalmaneser fired it first salvo
but before it reached its target, a massive
salvo of 48 missile launched seemly out of empty space toward the
Shalmaneser. The battleships remaining
escorts moved to interpose themselves between their charge and the incoming
storm. Forty missiles lost lock on the
battleship and reacquired one or the other of the two escorts. Counter missile fired away and with the
support of the battleship only 11 of the original 40 missiles reached the
escorts but they were more then enough to leave only small chunks of
debris. Cannon could not believe the
total destruction of two ships in such a way that not even a single crew could
have survived. Of the 8 missiles that
retained lock on the Shalmaneser only 2 reached their target and only caused
minor damage through the immense shields.
The King Saul was not so fortunate.
She had gotten a salvo of 14 missiles off of her own but 24 capitol ship
missiles from the Shalmaneser were coming straight in. All in all, the King Saul made a good account
of herself by eliminating 18 missiles with counter missiles and point defense
but 6 missiles slammed into her shields buckling them. Bleeding atmosphere and debris, the King Saul
limped away on thruster trying to bring her tachyon drive back on line and
bring her shields back up. The missiles
that the King Saul fired before she was hit did a fair bit better than the
remote launched missiles. These missiles were screened by the explosions that
erased the Shalmaneser's escorts from existence. With her sensors blinded by the destruction
of her brave escorts, the Salmaneser did not have time to launch counter
missile against the 14 incoming missiles of the King Saul. She also did not detect the 14 missiles
launched by the King David from her rear.
Only 3 of King Saul's missiles were removed by point defense and 11
capitol ship missiles slammed into the Shalmaneser's shield buckling it. The Shalmaneser was able to launch counter
missiles against the King David's missile salvo but only in a limited attempt
because her sensors were still recovering form the initial blast and her own
hits. She was able to remove 4 of the 14
missiles from the King David with counter missiles and another 4 by point
defense. With the Shalmaneser's shields
already weakened by the salvo from the King Saul, one of the six got completely
past her shields. Battleships are much
better armored than cruisers and destroyers so a single missile would not
destroy her but the damage caused was significant. As the King David moved into cannon range,
the Shalmaneser was unable to bring its shield back up to protect her bare
aft. Several volleys from the King
David's cannons further disabled her combat effectiveness until her Captain
commed the King David to surrender.
"Cease fire
Commander. The Shalmaneser has
surrendered." Cannon was very happy with the out come. If the battleship had chosen to turn about
and continue the battle with her undamaged side. The King David would have been seriously
damaged before she could finish the battleship, if she even could have. The fact that Cannon would have been forced
to destroy the battleship in that event also weighed in on his relief.
"Captain,
Commodore Meir is on the comm for you," announced Sanders.
"Very well,
put him through." Cannon anxiety
rose at the sudden communication by the Commodore. Meir's face appeared on Cannon's display.
"Captain. Why have you stopped firing? You must destroy
the battleship immediately," said Meir.
"She
has surrendered sir and I have accepted that surrender." Cannon's voice
sounded calm to him even though he was reeling from the Commodore's question
knowing exactly what he was going to say next.
"She
is an enemy ship occupying our territory.
Destroy her Captain. That is an
order." Meir's voice was strong and
commanding but Cannon could not obey that kind of order. This would be murder and against one of the
ten high laws of the star nation.
"I cannot
comply with that order Commodore because we both know that it is unsound and
against our laws. I will not murder the
crew of that ship."
"That is
insubordination Captain. You are
relieved of duty. I wish to speak
to." Meir looked off screen for a second," to a Commander
Hastings."
"If you wish
Commodore," and Cannon sent the Commodore to Hastings que.
"The
Commodore wishes to speak to you Commander." Hastings shock was all over her
face but it only took her a few seconds to recover.
"Yes,
sir." Hastings replied with shocked still in her voice. Meir appeared on her screen and began to give
her orders.
"Commander, I
am placing you in command of that ship and your first order is to destroy the
Shalmaneser." Meir glared at Hastings daring her to defy him as her
captain had. Meir did not know the
Commander or he would have given the order in a different tone and
attitude. Hastings face became one of
disgust as she set her jaw in an obstinate stony stare .
"I concur
with my Captain on this point Commodore and because of our laws, I am refusing
to acknowledge your authority on this.
Hastings out." and with
that,Hastings ended the communication.
Cannon was grateful for Hastings support but more proud of her for her
rather calm reply. Meir underestimated
Hastings just like other officers which brought out her rather aggressive side.
"Captain, the
King Saul is trying to hail us again," announced P.O Sanders.
"Ignore them
P.O. Send a message to the Shalmaneser
and tell them they have 30 minutes to abandon ship before we blow her up."
Cannon was annoyed with the Commodore but he was essentially correct in that they
had to destroy the battleship. Cannon
was just not going to do it with all those hands still on board.
"Commander,
comm Rosenberg and tell him to prepare for a salvage mission. You know what needs to be done."
Hastings smile was one of mild humor over the business as usual after they had
just disobeyed a direct order but Cannon did not care. The Creator had bestowed his blessing on the
King David and its crew. He was not
going to disobey one of the creator's high laws even if it meant allowing the
invaders to live. He was going to
destroy the battleship though and restock on some badly needed parts.
The King Saul
drifted silent away from the battle site making the repairs she needed to
reactive her drive and shields. The
Commodore fumed as he watched the battleship's life pods eject allowing all
hands to evacuate before the King David opened fire destroying the ship. He had to admire the crew aboard the King
David though. She only destroyed the
engines, shield generators and life
support before sending over salvage parties to strip the ship clean. He could not let go with the way Captain
Cannon had blatantly disobeyed his commands and let the infidels live.
"Captain, get
us back to the repair ship as soon as you can." He would see the King
David and Captain Cannon again.
I hope you enjoyed reading this story as much as I did writing it.
God Bless.
