May 24, 2145, 1300 hours, Detroit
Task Group 0.1 of the Home Fleet has been watching the jump point to the St. Louis system for five and a half months. The fleet scout Jim Baker has been stationed on the far side of the jump point, in the St. Louis system, to watch the alien ships detected there six months ago. The scout jumps back to the Detroit system every twelve hours to report on its status. One hour ago, the scout failed to return from the St. Louis system. Rear Admiral Bradshaw, CO of the task group, puts his ships on alert status and sends word back to the Solar System. He is prohibited from jumping into the St. Louis system without authorization. Once the message is away, the task group settles in to wait.
Within an hour of the message’s receipt at the Admiralty in the Solar System, ships began to move. Nearly every available ship was assembled and dispatched to the Detroit system, however, a significant number of ships in the Home Fleet were in overhaul status due to recent training exercises. Still, four Enterprise r6 class HuK’s, one Agamemnon class DDE(ASU), one Nimitz class DD(ASM), one Defender class DDE(AM), one Brooklyn class Fast Frigate(AM), ten Lake class Frigate(ASM), one Brooklyn class Frigate(AM), and five ASU pods, was a significant force. In addition, another scout and various support ships were on the move.
At 1408 hours, the alien ships jumped into the St. Louis system. The fight was on. There were just six alien ships, but they were huge. The largest was 50,000 tons, while the other five were “just” 33,400 tons each. The Intrepid II, and Enterprise r6 class Hunter-Killer, was sitting on the jump point when the alien ships jumped in. The rest of the battle group, two Star class battleships, an Essex class Assault ship, two Defender class DDE(AM)’s, two Lake class FFG(ASM)’s, and two Brooklyn class FFG(AM)’s, were sitting one million kilometers from the jump point.
On board the Intrepid II, crews were running to their stations as the CO, Commander Eleanor Ryan, struggled into her combat skin and ran the short distance from her quarters to the bridge. The bridge was controlled chaos as she entered, as status reports poured in and the various crew members struggled to get the ship’s systems up. “Report!”
The ship’s engineer was first. “Shields are up. Engines are coming up, but we don’t have motive power yet.”
“Weapons are charged, but the targets have not yet been acquired. Tactical systems are processing the situation now.”
Commander Ryan frowned, but there was nothing she, or anyone, could do about it. The alien ships had appeared at close range, but close wasn’t zero, and when ships were moving at thousands of kilometers per second, the tactical computers needed to crunch a lot of data before they would be able to hit the enemy. Therefore, it might be ten twenty, or even thirty seconds before they could start firing. The only consolation is that the enemy presumably had it worse, having just jumped and almost certainly being jump addled.
“Helm is ready, waiting for engines to come up.”
“Sensors are active! Currently reading five contacts at point blank range and moving away from the jump point at 8,383 km/s! One additional contact appeared 1.164 million kilometers from the jump point, on the opposite side from the battle group. Five of the contacts are 33,400 tons, while the sixth is 50,100 tons.”
“Communications are steady, we have a secure channel with the flagship. No orders yet.”
Commander Ryan winced. This was going to get bad really quickly. These monster aliens were faster than the battle group, and it was unlikely that any of their ships would escape. In fact, her ship was the only ship in the battlegroup that was faster than the alien ships, and only by 139 km/s. She took a deep breath. Bracing herself, she issued the orders that almost certainly spelled doom for her command. “We’ve got to distract these ships while the battle group withdraws. Target the largest ship and keep firing. Helm, when the engines come up, close to point blank range on that big bastard and stay on them. I expect that the battlegroup will be launching missiles as soon as they can, that should help us.” If we are still alive, she thought to herself.
She settled back into her station as the crew got busy. She had been so proud when she’d gotten one of the first new Hunter-Killers. It had been a big honor, and to get the successor to the original Intrepid was a big deal. Now it looked like her command was going to follow the original Intrepid into history.
“Status change! The alien ships have slowed to 7,616 km/s. They are moving away from the jump point and the battlegroup.”
Fifteen seconds after the alien ships entered the system the sensors officer stiffened. “Ma’am, they’ve turned back towards the jump point and accelerated to 8,383 km/s!”
Commander Ryan looked at the plot and could see the alien ships closing on their position, like an avalanche roaring towards her comparatively tiny command. “Engineering, we need those engines!”
“Yes, ma’am, we are…” The engineer broke off as the alien ships turned away from the jump point again, and began racing away.
Finally, twenty-five seconds after the aliens entered the system, the Intrepid II’s computers crunched enough data and fired the ship’s five lasers at the alien behemoth at 40,000 kilometers range. Heavy enemy EW significantly reduced the HuK’s ability to hit its target, though, and only one of the smaller lasers hit, to no visible effect. Commander Ryan cursed under his breath. The Admiralty’s design teams had not included ECCM systems in the latest HuK design, as the Dregluk had only weak ECM and the space required was used for more shielding instead. Now, with most of his lasers missing the enemy because they only had the poorest of lock-on’s, that decision seemed less than optimal.
While the Intrepid II struggled to get moving, every other ship in the battlegroup launched missiles at the aliens, including AMM’s in offensive mode. This was to be an all-out attack. The Intrepid II’s four 150mm lasers went into rapid fire mode, lashing out at the alien ship every five seconds while the missiles closed. The aliens continued to dodge about, alternately closing and running away.
Thirty-five seconds into the battle and the aliens still had yet to fire. Commander Ryan’s frustration was growing as her lasers continued to miss their target, spoofed by the enemy’s EW. She quickly composed a message to the Admiralty detailing her difficulties and sent it off to the picket ship at the jump point to Washington.
Ten seconds later the first wave of Aegis VI AMM’s hit four of the ships in the group racing back and forth in front of the Intrepid II. The big alien ships stopped five of the fast AMM’s with their CIWS, but the remaining fifty-seven hit. Once again, the human weapons had no appreciable effect. That wasn’t too surprising, though, given the fact that they were small AMM’s, with equally small warheads. By then the battlegroup proper was moving away at its top speed of 6,000 km/s, hoping to put some space between themselves and the big alien ships. The Intrepid II was still motionless, and had yet to hit the alien ship with its lasers after the first hit.
The next group of missiles to hit was a mixed group of Aegis VI’s and Thunderbolt III’s. The alien ships stopped eight of the AMM’s, but fifty-nine got through. All fifty of the Thunderbolt ASM’s hit their target, which was one of the 33,400 ton ships. The massive alien ship absorbed the Thunderbolts as if they were nothing, and kept charging ahead. It soon became apparent that although there had been no armor breaches observed, the alien ship had suffered damage from the missile strike. The ship’s sensors went down, indicating that it had suffered some damage from the strike. Still, in spite of that, the alien ships had to have very thick armor to withstand all of those missile hits.
By then, Rear Admiral Bradshaw had confirmed Commander Ryan’s decision to engage closely, and had ordered his battlegroup to concentrate its fire on the largest alien ship. The AMM’s continued to pelt the alien ships, and by the time the second wave of Thunderbolts and the Bludgeon’s fired by the Essex arrived, the Intrepid II was chasing the alien ships, trying to close with them. Once again, the Thunderbolts and the Bludgeon’s slammed into their targets with no apparent effect.
Again and again the Intrepid II struck out at the massive alien dreadnought, and even as her lasers scored the enemy ship missiles rained on the behemoth in a downpour. Hundreds of Aegis VI’s and dozens of Thunderbolt III’s struck the alien ship in a constant stream, and finally they damaged the ship’s engines, as the entire alien group’s speed dropped to 1971 km/s. Admiral Bradshaw ordered his ships, including the Intrepid II, to target one of the other alien ships. Commander Ryan heartily approved. The entire alien group dropped its speed to remain with the slower ship, meaning that the human ships might be able to escape as long as that crippled alien ship remained alive.
Unfortunately, there were a number of missiles already launched, targeted on the big alien ship. Commander Ryan watched as explosions flared against the alien ship’s hull, hoping that it would remain intact. She found that wish odd, but stranger things had happened in humanity’s march to the stars. Then, suddenly, the alien group surged to its apparent maximum speed of 8382 km/s, leaving the Intrepid II behind, out of position. Commander Ryan groaned. These aliens were inexplicable.
Admiral Bradshaw ordered the fleet to shift fire back to the largest enemy ship, and the battle continued. Missiles pelted the alien ships like hail, but the alien’s incredibly thick armor shed the explosions like they were nothing. The Intrepid II kept stabbing out at the biggest alien ship, striking its armor, but it seemed like no matter how many times they hit the alien ship, and no matter how many missiles hit it, the big ship just shrugged off the damage.
Finally, after minutes of pounding the alien behemoth, the human weapons began opening holes in the ship’s armor. Atmosphere began streaming behind the big ship, and the crews of the Republic ships began cheering at the evidence that they had had an effect on the seemingly invulnerable enemy ship.
With this evidence that the alien ship was finally wounded, and with numerous missiles still inbound, targeted on the damaged ship, Admiral Bradshaw ordered his missile ships to shift fire to one of the other ships.
The cheers died out when, suddenly, the Intrepid II blew up. One second it was there, firing all its lasers repeatedly into the biggest alien ship, and the next it was a drifting cloud of wreckage and a scattering of life pods. Later analysis of the battle records would show that the ship was hit by just five massive beam weapons. The alien beams punched right through the ship’s powerful shields and carved through its thick armor like it wasn’t there. Commander Ryan and the bulk of the Intrepid’s crew were killed instantly. The analysis would show that the aliens were using incredibly advanced x-ray lasers of unbelievable power.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the end of the bad news. With their weapons now available, the aliens were launching AMM’s to intercept the incoming missiles. Some still got through to the biggest ship, but the number of hits dropped when compared to the earlier salvoes. Worse, in spite of the holes in its armor, the biggest alien ship still hadn’t shown any overt signs of damage. And, worst of all, the human ships were beginning to run out of missiles.
The battle settled into a chase, with the alien warships coming up behind the human ships, which were running towards the jump point on the far side of the system. Unfortunately for the humans, the aliens were much faster than they were. By the time the two human battleships had launched their last offensive missiles, the alien ships had closed to 1.5 mkm’s. Two of the alien ships were streaming atmosphere, and the main group had slowed to 7,544 km/s, but that was more than fast enough to catch the human ships.
The approaching alien fleet caused some confusion in the human fire control systems for a few, critical, seconds, as they had gotten close enough for the human fleet to detect their AMM’s. Once the human fleet’s sensors picked up the alien AMM’s, the ship’s anti-missile fire control systems overrode their offensive fire settings and began launching Aegis V and VI AMM’s at the alien AMM’s, ignoring the bigger ships. They would never be able to reach the alien missiles before they intercepted their target’s, though, so the human fleet wasted an AMM launch against enemy missiles that would be gone before the AMM’s could arrive. Admiral Bradshaw ordered the AMM fire controls to be reset and the battle continued.
Human missile fire was dwindling, and alien missiles began approaching the fleet. There was no way to tell if these alien missiles were fired at the fleet, or at the missiles the human fleet was still launching at the aliens. The aliens were launching small, size one, missiles, but they could launch a lot of them. The alien missiles were incredibly fast, each approaching at 84,000 km/s, much faster than the few Aegis VI’s left in the battle group’s magazines. By this point the only ships with AMM’s left were the two Star class BB’s and the two Defender class DDE’s. Admiral Wallace finally relented and ordered his ships to cease offensive fire and to focus on the defense of the group. By that time very few of the human missiles were getting through the alien defensive fire anyway.
For a short time, space was clear, as the last human missiles were intercepted short of the alien fleet. The alien ships had closed to 1.4 mkm’s by the time the last human missile slammed home into one of the 50,000 ton ships, causing yet another armor breach. All of the human missiles, and all of the Intrepid’s efforts, resulted in atmosphere streaming from two of the seven alien ships.
Space was clear for a few, brief seconds, and then the aliens began launching their small missiles in offensive mode. AMM’s began spilling from the two human DDE’s which were the only ships with AMM’s left. There were 353 missiles in each of the alien salvoes, far more than the humans could hope to stop, even if the alien missiles weren’t faster than the AMM’s trying to stop them. Admiral Bradshaw watched the tidal wave of missiles approaching his fleet and briefly considered giving the order to abandon ship. If he ordered the crews to their life pods now, most would be saved the almost sure destruction of their ship. He decided against it, though. For one thing, there was little likelihood that anyone would come to rescue them in time, given the presence of massive enemy warships that were going to pound his group to scrap. For another, if they could do nothing else, they could force the aliens to expend missiles that then would not be available for their next battle.
Admiral Bradshaw opened a channel to the fleet. “To all hands, this is Admiral Bradshaw. We are out of missiles, and the alien fleet is faster than our fleet. We are doomed. But we still have our duty as Republican sailors! If we abandon ship now, the enemy will stop firing and turn away, leaving our pods in space. Many of us will survive. For a time. But we are too far out. No one will get here in time to rescue us. Besides, we still have our duty! Our responsibility to our fellow sailors, and to the people back home! The long we last, the more missiles the enemy will have to expend taking us down. And the more missiles they use on us, the fewer they will have for the fleet that will come to destroy them! And do not doubt it, that fleet will come! We destroyed the Dregluk Imperium, and these aliens are going to learn the difficult lesson that messing with humanity will only result in their own deaths! The fleet will come, and will avenge us! And we will do what we can to make the job easier for them. Even if that’s only lasting a little longer. That is what we will do, because we are Humans!” Before the cut the channel, he could hear cheering from the crew of his flagship.
The battle continued. The first alien salvo was targeted on the Antares, Admiral Bradshaw’s ship. The alien missiles stripped away the BB’s shields and sandblasted her armor, causing several breaches. The second salvo stripped the hapless ship of its armor and caused massive internal damage. The fact that she survived at all was a testament to her designers and builders, but the tough ship was crippled and left behind as the rest of the fleet ran ahead of the aliens.
Some of the second salvoes missiles were focused on the Polaris, stripping her of most of her shields. The next salvo crippled the big ship. After that the aliens focused their fire on one ship after another. The smaller ships couldn’t withstand that kind of firepower and were killed quickly. None surrendered, none abandoned ship ahead of the missiles that were reaching out for them. They were Republican crewers, and they stayed at their posts till the end. No aliens could break them, but they could, and did, die.
The first ship to die was the Polaris, but it wasn’t the last. The Antares died a few seconds later, and Admiral Bradshaw died with her. The Assault Ship Essex was the next to be crippled and then destroyed, and after that the smaller ships died rapidly. The last ship to go was the frigate Michigan, and she maintained a data-stream to the picket ship sitting on the jump point to the Washington system until the end. The picket ship, 1.34 billion kilometers away, received the last transmission from the Michigan seventy-four minutes later. After a short time spent trying to come to terms with the loss of an entire battle group, the picket ship’s commander ordered her ship to jump back to the Washington system. There would be nothing left in the Detroit system to lead the aliens back to human space.
The death of Admiral Bradshaw and the destruction of his battle group would send shock waves throughout the Republic. The citizens of the Republic had been coming to terms with the fact that the Dregluk were no longer a threat to their lives and future, and this had been causing more and more people to question their basic beliefs and, by extension, the policies of the government. Now, with this fresh threat, they returned to their basic determination to defend humanity at all costs. At any cost.
Reinforcements had been dispatched from the Home Fleet to bolster Admiral Bradshaw’s group. The reinforcement group was currently in the Washington system, eight days from the jump point to the Detroit system. The Admiralty dispatched orders designating the reinforcement group as Task Group 0.2, and ordering the group to assume a defensive stance at the jump point to the Detroit system. A scout had been dispatched as well, and orders were sent for it to position itself on the jump point in the Detroit system to watch for the alien invaders. The scout’s captain was ordered to maintain extreme watchfulness, as it still wasn’t clear what had happened to the scout destroyed by the aliens.
