January 2062
Luyten 1305-10 – High Orbit
Commander Rebecca Woodward stood on the bridge of the CV Princetown watching as the image of Luyten’s principal colony rapidly shrank to nothing more than another light in the sky. Woodward had little time for musing though. A few quick battle drills last month had quickly identified the lack of co-ordinated training received by her two flights of Starfury pilots. She therefore needed to get them up to scratch as soon as possible so they could get back into service with the rest of the carrier group.
The fact that Commander Lewis Davis, captain of the CV Breton and its’ flights of trained Starfuries had already been dispatched to reinforce the carrier group on station in EG 453 was a particularly raw expression of how quickly the Navy had changed its view on the less well trained crews. If she was to stand any chance of promotion she knew she needed to get her men back in the fight.
Luyten 1305-10 – Navy HQ
Rear Admiral Miller was sat in her office working through the latest ordnance reports. Bringing all of the carrier groups up to a full load of Banshee 5s had left her with little more than 1300 in stock – slightly less than required to replenish just three carriers which meant she was still heavily reliant on the Federation being able to win any sort of war in fairly short order. Something she was not at all convinced of would be the case with the Chigs.
Having already had one run in with Administrator Winter last month she knew she was unlikely to win any more concessions from him, especially when the mineral situation across the Federation was looking less than comfortable. That meant she was probably going to have to manage without any significant improvements in ordnance production for a good six months or so.
Sighing she went back to her data pad looking for some alternative plans to try and at least keep the ships on the front line well stocked.
EG 453
“Sir, all vessels report on station and at condition three. We are 500mkm from the jump point into Anderseriks and have active sensor coverage established. All carriers report fighters are on standby.” reported Stevenson’s XO.
“Very good; please send Rear Admiral Coles my compliments and inform him that Carrier group Delta is in position and ready to assume responsibility for the system” replied Stevenson.
“Aye aye Sir. Oh and sir, we are also receiving a signal from the civilian salvage group that’s now in the system. They are proceeding to the wreck nearest to the Anderseriks jump point and intend to work from there back towards the GJ 1065 jump point”.
“Make sure they have their transponders off and are following required protocols on minimising their engine emissions whilst on station. Please also inform the Boa that she is to break position at the jump point and move in system towards us. I will provide co0ordinates for them shortly”.
On hearing the order Stevenson’s XO turned to speak to him. “Sir, if we order the Boa off the jump point we are going to lose our ability to stay in contact with the rest of the Federation”.
“I’m well aware of that fact” stated Stevenson. “HQ has decided that the potential risk of leaks regarding our operations and those of the salvagers in this system is too great. We will be doing everything to maintain operational security and to ensure any further technology or other finds on the Chigs are properly analysed and assessed before being released into the wider Federation.
I doubt I like the situation any more than you do but those were my specific orders from HQ so that’s what we are going to do”.
Sol - London
Commodore Shaw was taking a well-earned break at the small down market pub he liked to retreat to after a particularly stressful period of work. He was already on his third pint and enjoying the buzz whilst also soaking up from the open fire place that the pub had kept as homage to its’ long history which spanned from well before the war.
Over the last few weeks Shaw had finalised and approved the designs for the new series of Federation AMMs and ASMs which would eventually replace the entire current arsenal. All of them provided a significant improvement in performance versus previous marks given both the improved warhead and engine technology used. The improvements had also meant they could consolidate the role of several types, reducing the variety of missiles in use and hopefully simplifying both the construction and supply chain as a result.
The only down side to the missiles was their added complexity and costs to build. Numbers of missiles coming out of the factories were due to fall by about 20% and that meant yet more investment was going to be needed to ensure a steady supply could be provided.
As well as dealing with the missiles he had also overseen the final delivery of WASP interceptors to the new carriers. Having finally received a full complement of fighters and interceptors the trhee carriers had put out to space immediately to get on with their shake down cruises and fleet training. After the near disaster in EG 453 it was now very clear to him that they could not release any ship into active combat until their training was complete.
Finally he had dealt with the launch and commissioning of three Type 232 close escort frigates and four Type 423 area defence light cruisers, all of which were similarly now going through their work out training.
All in all Shaw was feeling pretty proud of himself and his teams. The Navy continued to go from strength to strength and he was front and centre in helping that happen. Sitting back in his stool Shaw raised his pint glass for a silent toast to the Navy before taking another deep pull of the ice cold beer.
It wasn’t until four hours and an indeterminate number of pints later that Shaw finally stumbled into his quarters to discover a short message from the Admiral requiring him to be at the Plymouth academy at 0730 that morning. Shaw groaned, he had about three to sober up and get on the express; the morning definitely wasn’t going to be a pleasant one for him.
Sol – The Seychelles
Cater was back on his private island enjoying a brief break from the cold London winter. With the salvage rights secured on the huge number of Chig wrecks in EG 453 the stocks had soared, allowing him to mount a hostile takeover of one of the other now struggling salvage companies. With the acquisition complete, not only could he benefit from the enlarged business but he was also able to quickly unstick the final approvals for the two jump capable salvage vessels the company had been building. Both of those vessels were now on route to EG 453 where they would bolster the existing fleet of salvagers and almost half the time it should take to complete the work. Just thinking about the improvement in IRR that would bring was enough to make his mouth water.
He would be back in London in the next few weeks and undoubtedly busy working out how to best benefit from the growing ordnance production issue. For now though he was quite content soaking up the sun and enjoying the spoils of his hard work.
Sol - Plymouth Naval Academy
Shots stood in an 'at ease' stance looking out of a high arched leaded window at the close to empty parade ground in front of the academy's main administrative block. With his hands clasped behind his he was slowly picking at one of his thumb nails with another finger whilst struggling to keep his calm. Behind him, sat an impressively large and old ornate table, were the commandant and senior instructors of the Academy along with Commodore Shaw.
"So let me get this straight Commandant, you did not see it fit to inform HQ that the number of recruits was becoming critically low and that we would have insufficient numbers to man our latest batch of warships. Instead, you decided it would be better to back fill the required crew slots with men and women barely through their second trimester. Men and Women not fully trained or prepared for the rigours of extended time in space; men and women unable to properly fulfil their duties; men and women who may well need to be relied upon to save the lives of the fellow crew and in turn the ships they serve on. Perhaps you would be so kind as to explain to me exactly why you thought that to be the more appropriate course of action"?
"Well of course" began the commandant in faltering steps that strongly suggested he was not going to be able to do anything of the kind. "The academies have never had a chance to recover from your previous more stringent training requirements and the significant numbers who quite the programme as a result. We may have..".
Shots cut him off mid-sentence, turning around as he did so. "I'm sorry commandant; did I just hear you correctly? Are you trying to tell me that this complete mess is somehow my fault"?
“No no no” responded the commandant hastily whilst making soothing motions with his hands. “What I was trying to say was the massive investment in vessels has left us lagging behind somewhat. We were fully expecting to be able to meet demand but the additional crew that we needed to send off to Luyten for the new orbital weapons platforms and the bulk freighters came somewhat out of the blue to us.
We have been rescheduling the training roster to ensure all of the crew released have at least been through all aspects of the training regime if not in as much detail as we would like. I’m perfectly confident that all of them will be able to fulfil their duties now and that by the time the ships complete their shake down cruises they should be substantially up to speed.
I know that there have been huge pressures on the demands of the Federation’s industry and the Navy to deliver so was trying not to concern you with the need for further large investment projects which, to me, looked like they were very unlikely to get approved in the first place”.
“Don’t you think it is for me to decide if further investment is really required and how hard we need to fight for it?” replied Shots with a menacing tone to his voice.
“Yes of course sir, on reflection I can clearly see how problematic this situation now is and why I should have brought it to you attention far sooner. For that I can only apologise both personally and on behalf of the wider training team here at Plymouth”.
“Fortunately for you Commandant I fear that I have no choice but to accept your apology however if you ever do something like this again I will personally see to it that you end up on some mining planet that makes the old Serbian work camps look like a package holiday. Am I understood”?
“Yes of course Sir, we will do everything in our power to help fix this problem”.
“Yes, yes you will. Now, Commodore Shaw what are our current crew commitments over the next few months… Commodore Shaw?”
“Sorry Sir” responded Shaw in a far more feeble voice then his usual self. “I was just trying to work through it in my head. Our most immediate requirement will be the four littoral light cruisers in production in Luyten. They are due for completion in early February. Each of those has a complement of just shy of 1000 crew. After that we have the next batch of bulk freighters in early March. They each require a complement of 565. After that we have a few months of breathing space before several destroyers and the attendant jump light cruisers are ready for commissioning”.
“And exactly how many trained crew do we have ready to ship to Luyten just now?” enquired Shots.
The commandant checked a few notes quickly before responding. “Well sir, we have nearly ten thousand crew in training at this very moment, some quite close to graduation but in terms of those that have passed out and are ready for assignment we have about 362”.
“My God, that’s even worse than I thought. Well I see no option but to delay the commissioning of the light cruisers and to re-prioritise the construction of at least three further academies to try and regain some ground. With the other strike carriers in production we are going to have little more than 18 months to get this fixed.
Commandant I am going to leave it to you to explain to both Rear Admiral Miller why she isn’t going to be getting her ships any time soon and I shall also be introducing you to the defence secretary so he can better understand the immediate requirements for the new academies. Is that clear to you Commandant”?
The Commandant gulped “Yes, perfectly clear Admiral”.
February 2062
EG 453
7th Feb 2200
“Sir, hostile transits detected. Four groups of three craft each, all massing 8000 tons just made squadron jumps into the system” called out the watch officer to Commodore Stevenson.
“Ok, this is what we’ve been waiting for. XO, bring the task group to action stations and notify the carriers that we will be making a fighter strike as soon as they can get their birds in the sky. We will hold station for the moment. I want regular updates on what those hostiles are doing; inform me immediately if they move away from the jump gate”.
Stevenson paused to take a look at the tactical plot. Most of the new contacts were vessel designs the Navy had already come across so he was confident that his task group could both out run and out gun the relatively small force. He did however need to be cautious given the presence of the civilian salvage group which had only just started operations at the closet wreck to the task group.
“Inform the Boa that she is to make best speed back to the GJ 1065 jump point to re-establish a direct link with Luyten HQ”.
Stevenson was fuming, HQ’s demand for utmost operation security meant that he had no immediate means to inform the rest of the Federation of the incursion. In all likelihood the battle would be fought by the time the Boaa made it back to the gate to make contact with GJ 1065.
A few moments later the watch officer reported back in. “Sir, all ships report condition 1 set. The carriers are reporting an expected launch window of four minutes. The four groups have moved back to the jump point, maximum observed speed was 5500 km/s”.
Stevenson cursed inwardly, realising his tactical mistake. By keeping the jump point under active sensor coverage he had likely immediately given away his presence to the Chig ships. They were now very unlikely to advance into the system where they would subject themselves to the Navy’s withering fire. That meant he was probably going to have to sweep the gate clear of them in a close engagement as it would be the only way to force them off the gate.
“Tell the carriers to keep their fighters on standby once ready. Let’s see if these Chigs want to make the next move before committing themselves”.
7th Feb 2201
“Hostile jumps detected. Thirty six new contacts detected, several new classes are being tagged by the combat computer”.
Stevenson’s eyes went wide with alarm as his tactical plot rapidly filled with the angry red icons of the multiple hostile contacts. In less than a minute his carrier group had gone from comfortably outnumbering the hostiles to being woefully outnumbered themselves.
Already a veteran of the Union and Followers wars, Stevenson quickly forced his feelings down, clearing his head and allowing him to think the through the rapidly evolving tactical situation.
“Helm, lay in a course for the GJ 1065, speed 4400 km/s but do not execute until my mark. Warfare, I want this task group in formation Epsilon and ready to launch fighters in the next two minutes. I need to know the point at which the Chigs would be unable to make it back to the gate before being intercepted by our fighters; get it on the plot. Nav, inform the Boa that I want her making absolutely best speed back to the gate to re-establish contact with HQ. Also this may well be out best chance to slip a ship back into Anderseriks, inform the captain of the Coral Snake that I want her to manoeuvre around the Chigs if possible and make for in system insertion.
XO, get onto the captains of the salvage group. Explain the situation to them and suggest they break off all activities immediately and make best speed for the Giliese 886 jump point. Inform them that we will be looking to lure the Chigs towards ourselves and away from their group”.
Less than a minute later the watch officer called out again. “Contact update, all hostile ships are moving off the jump point on a bearing of 157 degrees, speed 4400 km/s. Based on current speed and maintenance of separation the Chig fleet will pass maximum safe distance from the gate in fourteen hours and twenty seven minutes”.
“Ok let’s give them that time to get away from the gate. Helm, standby to execute the course on my mark. XO, you better letter the carriers know they can stand down their fighters from launch readiness to 15 minutes’ notice to move. Oh and get me an ETA for Boa to reach the jump point” replied Stevenson.
“Sir, the Boa is reporting a travel time of 2 days 18 hours and 13 minutes sir at current maximum speed of 9166 km/s.
Stevenson grimaced. At their current speed it would take his own carrier group a little over ten days to reach the GJ 1065 jump point. That left very little time for the Boa to get word out to the rest of the Federation and for them to mount some sort of a response. His only hope then was to try and slow down the hostiles as far as possible so that the already hard fought for system with its’ precious wrecks could be defended.
The Chigs continued to advance for another fifteen minutes, allowing the distance between the groups to creep downwards. “Ok, that’s quite enough I think. Helm, please bring us about and engage engines, speed 4400 km/s please. XO, we have a good fourteen hours before anything else is likely to happen. Get the shift cycled, I want the crew of every ship rested and ready for action by 10 hundred hours tomorrow” ordered Stevenson.
8th Feb 0931
Stevenson was back on the bridge having spent the rest of the previous evening preparing a number of immediate priority messages for dispatch by the Boa as soon as they made it back to the jump point. From the plot he could see that the whole of the Chig task group had continued to burn for his own task group, leaving the Coral Snake behind them. In another day they should be clear and able to make for the Anderseriks jump gate.
“Sir, the freighters are reporting active sensor pings on their hulls. One of the captains is demanding that we reverse course and provide close escort to them. They are also reporting that the main salvage ship broke formation from them several hours ago and is accelerating away from the body of civilians.
“Please inform the captains that we are unable to reverse course at this stage. Remind them of the plan and note that at present the plan to lead them away from their own ships looks to be working. Make sure that they hold their current course and maintain maximum speed and that they are to keep the comms channels clear whilst we commence operations against the Chigs”.
“Aye Sir, will do but I’m pretty sure they are not going to like it” replied the comms officer.
“I’m sure they won’t Ensign, but they took the money and the risk being here and we have more pressing matters to worry about than some upset civilians don’t you think”?
“Off course, I’m sending the message now”.
8th Feb 1230
“All carriers report fighters have been loaded into their tubes and are ready for launch” stated Stevenson’s operations officer.
“Right, it’s about time we give these Chigs another bloody nose. Launch all fighters and make ready for an immediate turnaround for follow up strikes as I direct” replied Stevenson.
Stevenson knew his attacks were likely to be horribly inefficient when it came to missile usage but, if Chigs’ AMM fire performed as badly as last time he should be able to get enough hits on target to disable their main sensor platforms. That would ensure that the freighters could slip away under a change of direction and the Navy would be far better able to deal with them once reinforcements arrived.
8th Feb 1940
Hale sat listening as his crew completed the final run in checks whilst his fighters tore through space towards the oncoming horde of Chig vessels. Hale smiled ruefully to himself. Just a few short months ago he had been fighting to save both his career and get back into the front line. The investigation into his actions both during and in the run up to the first battle with the Chigs had been picked apart in painstaking detail; his every decision challenged and evidenced. It had been a gruelling two week process yet at the end of it he had come out with little more than reprimand and a requirement to re-write the fleet training manual for fighter crews; something he was still only about half way through doing. At the time he had been elated to come through the process almost unscathed and better yet, able to get back out there. Now though, with his scope full with more hostiles than he had ever seen, he was beginning to think he might not have been quite as lucky as he thought.
A buzz from his weapons officer brought his attention fully back to the present. "Sir, all fighters report ready to fire; targeting cross checks and safety releases confirmed. Handshake is green across the board, all fire controls have authenticated and accepted slave command; master arm is red".
Hale flipped open his firing command panel, this time he was going to make dam sure that crew did their jobs, "Fire control master confirmed, firing in three, two, one, mark". Hale hit the launch icon.
After a few moments his WO began to read off the reported progress of the missiles.
“All missiles have launched successfully, we have green across the board for tracking and performance, estimated time to impact twelve minutes”.
Ten minutes later the WO called out again. “Targets have made a rapid change of direction to a bearing of 48 degrees. Missiles have just under 2.4mkm to run”.
“Sir, AMM fire detected, we just lost two of our birds”.
Hale smiled to himself, if that was the best the Chigs could do EG 453 was about to turn into another turkey shoot.
His smile was however very short lived as, five seconds later, a huge round of small explosions flared across the tactical plot. “Sir, we just lost 195 missiles” shouted the WO.
“That can’t be right” replied Hale.
“Numbers confirmed Sir; in fact we just lost another 119 from another round of AMM fire. We might be facing a lot of the same design of ships here but their AMM has become brutally effective compared to last time”.
Over the next twenty seconds Hale watched on as every missile was destroyed by AMM fire. “Ok, lay in a course for the carrier group, maximum burn. We can also transmit our own sensor packages for analysis just in case the boffins can find some alternative options; we are certainly going to need them to crack this nut”.
8th Feb 2230
Back on board the TFS Long Island Stevenson was sat in the officers’ mess with the other senior officers from the task group. All of them had recently taken the unprecedented action of leaving their own ships whilst in contact with the enemy in order to shuttle over for a face to face meeting. To his right hand side sat Commodore Barnett from the TFS Belorussia whilst around the rest of the table sat Aidan Hayes, Catherine Wong, Mark Barber, Harrison Franklin, Luke Yates and Aidan Booth, the Captains of the task group.
With all of the officers seated and suitably furnished with a selection of light refreshments, Stevenson brought the meeting to order.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, firstly I'd like to thank you all for making the trip to meet in person. Given the gravity of the situation I felt it best that we meet face to face to discuss. I'd also like to make it clear that whatever options we discuss now, the final decision on the course of action taken today will be my choice and my choice alone. However before I make that choice I want to hear about every possible scenario you can think of and every possible plan of action no matter how absurd or aggressive it may be. Time is not however on our side so I have decided to give us until the fighters make it back to the carriers to consider the options and for me to conclude".
Standing up, Stevenson leaned over the large table to activate the embedded projector. After a few quick motions he had brought up the current tactical plot as well as several overviews of Luyten, GJ 1065 and 107 Piscium.
"Now as you are all aware our initial fighter strike against the oncoming Chigs failed completely. Not a single one of our missiles was able to penetrate their AMM fire. Their AMMs appear to be massively more effective, even when considering the additional number of vessels, than previously encountered. Whilst we still retain a significant speed advantage over the Chigs we have limited room to manoeuvre and only a short window of time before we are either forced from the system or into a close engagement.
The initial view from the Intelligence group is that we can expect to be facing significantly better performing ASM fire from them as well. Given the range of past missiles strikes they are working on the assumption that they may hit us from a range of up to 250mkm. We can also assume that their point defence will be at least twice as effective as previously encountered ships given the simple increase in numbers. That means we could well be facing the need to get more than 100 missiles through their AMM fire just to penetrate the point defences. Now, turning to the plots"
"At our current speed we will reach the jump point in a little over ten days whilst it will take the Chigs close to eleven and a half days. If we accelerate now to flank speed and break contact with them we can reduce that time to eight days. I need not remind you that the journey time from Luyten HQ the EG453 jump point is twenty seven days. We know that aspects of the fleet were on training exercises so they may be closer but it is highly unlikely that any vessels from Luyten would be able to reach us before the Chigs make it to the gate.
Our only other assets in system or the Boa and the Coral Snake. Boa will make the jump point in approximately 41 hours at which point we can at least notify fleet HQ of what we are facing. At present I have ordered the Coral Snake to attempt to make the jump into Anderseriks once the Chig task group is clear. That is not however a priority so if we can think of better things to use them for let the rest of the group know. Now turning to GJ 1065":
Whilst we don't have the most up to date ship movements the scheduler indicates that there should be some commercial traffic in system along with the survey vessels we had prepped to start scouting out the Chig home world. Based on current speeds it will take the Chigs seven days to reach our main colony in GJ 1065, seven days to move from there to the 107 Piscium gate or thirteen days to move directly to the gate. Latest intelligent suggests indicates that the Chigs have not yet penetrated the GJ 1065 system and hence will need to spend time completing a survey of the jump points and the planets. This may buy us some time but I'm not comfortable counting on that as a basis for a course of action.
In terms of assets in the system we expect that the TFS Breton should now be on station and waiting to jump into the system. Her sixteen fighters could add 25% to the current salvo size of our strike but she will need one of the jump cruisers to bring her through the gate. We also have Striker Alpha, one of our original frigate task groups, in system. Whilst they should have a full complement of missiles their top speed of just 3000k/ms means they would take close to eleven days to reach the EG 453 gate. They are also substantially slower than the Chigs so will more than likely be outrun if moved forward.
The colony itself is defended by four anti-missile PDCs and should have recently been reinforced by a full division of assault infantry. Unfortunately none of the old Hammerhead fighters have been stationed out there as yet. The good news is that there is a significant stock of over 4,000 Mech AMMs and 2,700 Stirge 5s on the planet to keep the PDCs firing. There are also more than 2,200 Banshee 5 missiles, enough for a full reload of our fighters.
Past GJ 1065 we are not aware of any other mobile assets that might be called upon and hence I believe our planning assumptions should only consider these noted assets as available".
Stevenson paused to look around the table, making sure he had the full attention of all of the officers present.
"You all now have the full tactical picture and have witnessed first-hand just how capable a fighting force we are facing. Please spend some time thinking through our options but I want to start hearing options in the next twenty minutes".
In front of him the table quickly became a hive of activity and raised forces as the officers set to the task with a shared sense of urgency. Meanwhile Stevenson sat back trying to gather his own thoughts on the situation and what options were open to him.
After about twenty minutes of activity Captain Franklin from the Type 422 Light Cruiser, the TFS Hungary, piped up.
"Commodore, if we are to avoid losing this system altogether I believe we will need to take an aggressive stance against the Chigs. They have already shown their ability to deal with our current fighter salvos however that last salvo was stopped less than 50,000 k from target. I therefore believe that we do in fact have enough firepower to penetrate their defences.
My plan is to dispatch one of the jump cruisers now to return to the jump point at maximum speed and allow the Breton to transit into system. The remainder of the fleet will stay in contact with the Chigs, ensuring that they remain directed at our task group rather than the civilians. Once we have rendezvoused with the Breton the destroyer group will fall back towards the Chigs until within 45mkm. At the same time we will launch our full complement of fighters to join the destroyers and make a combined launch. That will deliver a substantially increased salvo and, if followed up by several volleys from the destroyers should easily overwhelm their AMM and point defence.
Whilst I recognise that this will mean we will need to face that fleets own ASM fire past experience has shown that we are more than capable of dealing with their missiles and, given the large stocks of Mech missiles on board I doubt we will have much trouble with any newer designs they may have either. Remember, we only need to do enough damage to destroy those two sensor cruisers to stop them in their tracks".
"I'm afraid I couldn't disagree more" replied Captain Catherine Wong, one of the carrier captains. Whilst I believe that we could manage such a co-ordinated strike the risk of it going wrong is huge. I would also hate to give up own only advantage on speed and ability to dictate when and where we engage them. If our destroyers get that deep into their firing envelope and run into trouble there is no way they will be able to break distance again in anywhere near a short enough time frame. This plan is reliant on the huge assumptions that we can both defeat the Chig ASMs and that the increased volleys will be enough. I think that’s simply too much of a risk.
It will take the Luyten fleet sixteen days to reach GJ1065 and another five to reach the colony; including the time for the Boa to make it to the jump point that’s a total of eighteen days and twenty three days respectively. Even if the Chigs go straight for the colony it will take them more than 18 days by which time the carriers from Luyten will be in range to mount a massive strike against the hostiles.
The only practicable solution is to pull back to GJ1065 and wait for reinforcements to arrive. The colony is heavily defended and with our own vessels I am sure we can repel any form of missile strike from the oncoming fleet”.
“The Navy is not here to run at the first sign of trouble” retorted Franklin angrily.
“I quite agree” interjected Commodore Barnett before Captain Wong could respond. “However an engagement this far from the jump point leaves the whole fleet significantly exposed for a long period of time. At this juncture we still have the speed advantage. I believe we must therefore only engage them when we have every tactical advantage. Retreating to the jump will give us the flexibility to jump out and will force the Chig fleet to hold fire until they are on top of us. That should allow us to both collect the Breton and orchestrate a combined strike from both the fighters and the destroyers.
If successful we should have more than enough time to land the fighters and rearm them in time for a second strike, all the while that the Chigs won’t be able to shoot back. We can then retreat back through the jump gate whereby the threat of us picketing the other side should make them stop”.
“If I may” asked Captain Booth, with a clear tone that meant he wasn’t actually going to wait for an answer. “It’s an interesting proposition but if the Chigs decide not to stop we could well be faced with over 500,000 tons of hostile ships sat right in our lap with full missiles bay and a freighting number of direct fire weapons to bear. From past experience we know that all of their ships can absorb an inordinate amount of damage before being destroyed as well as having exceedingly capable damage control.
Sitting on the jump point would most likely be suicide for the task group even if we were able to take some of them with us”.
The discussion quickly descended into more of an argument as the suggestions counter suggestions came thick and fast. After another twenty minutes of discussion Stevenson called a halt to the proceedings.
“Thank you everyone that will be quite enough. I have been considering the options presented and concluded on a course of action. The task group will pull back to the GJ 1065 jump point, keeping the Chig fleet in contact at all times. Denmark will detach from the task group and make best speed to the jump point in order to bring in the Breton. We will wait on the jump point until the Chigs are in range for a combined fighter and destroyer strike. If successful we will attempt to make a second strike before the Chigs get on top of us. Otherwise we will jump back through the gate and bake best speed to the colony where we will rearm and resupply. Our scout assets will maintain passive contact with the Chigs to ensure we know where they are in the system and can direct a counter attack once we are joined by the relief from Luyten.
At present I can see no way to both maximise our chances of slowing down the fleet and protecting the freighters in system so unfortunately they are going to have to take their chances.
If needed we will pull the carriers back from the planet but otherwise the rest of the task group will remain in orbit to protect the eight million civilians who are counting on us.
Now I’m sure you will have a host of questions and we have a huge number of details to organise so I suggest we get on with it”.
10th Feb 1620
On board the TFS Boa Commander Graham listened in impatiently as his crew worked to bring the ship to rest around the jump point to GJ 1065. After several minutes of fine tuning the Boa extended its relay boon and initiated the standard cross jump point data initiation procedures.
For a few moments nothing happened and Commander Graham grew worried that something had happened on the other side of the jump point whilst they had been out of contact. Then, as he was about to order a recheck of the system, the icons on his display turned green.
“Sir, we have confirmed contact and authentication with Explorer Echo. Data base dump has been initiated and we are received fleet updates now”.
“Don’t wait for the sync, override updates and send the package immediately” responded Graham, somewhat flabbergasted that his duty officer would to wait for the usual system updates to run.
“As soon as you have confirmation that the packages have been delivered please signal Commodore Stevenson and let him know. Once you are done stand down from station and report to my day cabin for a full debrief”.
10th Feb 1902 - Luyten
Rear Admiral Miller was sat in the back of her personal car on the way to an evening out with several local dignitaries. It was a job she rarely relished but recognised the need to keep the civilian population as happy as possible with the Federation’s significant and still growing military presence.
Her first thought therefore when the priority alert came through was relief at the fact she had a reason to cancel the engagement. However, it took only a few moment of reading for that relief to turn to cold dread as she took in the details of what was unfolding in EG 453.
“Driver, get us to Navy HQ this instant” called out Miller before turning to her assistant. “This is a major emergency, I need every one of my command staff back at HQ within the hour and inform the ops team that they are to immediately put every asset we have in system on high alert. I want carrier group Bravo ready to break orbit in the next hour at the most”.
With a response in motion Miller quickly typed out a response to Stevenson. Message received and understood. Hold if possible but 107 Piscium the priority. Support being dispatched now.
11th Feb 1420 - Sol
Admiral Shots stalked out from war office. He had finally obtained parliamentary approval to release Carrier Group Charlie from its defensive duties about Sol so that it could head to GJ 1065 to support Miller’s own task group.
It had however taken over a day of arguing and wrangling with parliament get final approval for the release. Too many of the MPs had been nervous about releasing the main active force in the sol region leaving the whips unwilling to call a vote whose outcome was so uncertain.
Shots had been forced to meet one to one with over twenty MPs over the last 24 hours to get the swing votes confirmed and provide enough comfort to the government that they could win the vote. As it was the margin had been just 11 votes with 16 abstaining. It was enough but it didn’t bode very well for any future plans for operations against the Chigs.
For now though he needed to get the vessels out of orbit as soon as possible and that also meant breaking some of the Federation’s oldest Harpy Mk1 missiles out of storage to at least give the destroyer group a full set of magazines. Once this latest panic was over he knew he would have to push even harder for improved ordnance capabilities.
11th Feb 1523 – EG453
“Sir, the salvage group report that they are no longer being actively scanned by the Chig fleet having now moved far enough off axis from their advance. Looks like we have managed to keep them interested enough to get out of the way” reporting Stevenson WO.
“That’s great news but given the heat those engines give out I wouldn’t assume they are home free just yet. Please inform the captains they are continue at best speed to the designated waypoint before shutting down all but essential systems. They are to stand by for further orders once we have completed our strike”.
12th Feb 2350
Stevenson is sat back at his command chair watching the plot as the Coral Snake completed its’ slow run up to the Anderseriks jump point and made the combat transit in system. Stevenson had deliberated continuing with that part of the mission for several days but had finally decided it was worth the risk to ensure there was not an even greater build-up of military force behind this one.
The recon would however be very limited as there would be no way to contact the Coral Snake once jumped and, if the Chigs decided to take a U-turn a with the previous encounter they could well get trapped. He had therefore given them just three days to scout the near space before jumping back into EG 453 and reporting on findings.
17th Feb 0352
Five days later Stevenson lay in his bunk struggling to get some sleep. It has been two days since the Coral Snake was due to report back in but as yet there was no word from them. He knew he know had to assume that the vessel was either caught or destroyed in an ambush on the far side of the jump point.
It was therefore very like that a further military force was still sitting on the other side of the jump point, perhaps something that the Chigs did not want the Federation seeing at this point. The very thought of that sent a chill down his spine. If this fleet was just a prelude to something else then the Federation was in serious trouble indeed.
At least the Denmark had been able to make it back to the jump point and bring in the Breton which meant he finally had a full complement of 64 Starfury fighters to throw at the Chigs.
18th Feb 2027
“Sir, all vessels report on station at the jump point and deployed ready for engagement”.
Stevenson looked up to check his plot, with his own task group now stationary the Chig fleet were quickly eating away at the separation between them. The huge swath of contacts dwarfed his own task group and not for the first time Stevenson considered conceding the system without a further fight whilst he still had the chance to jump and pull out of contact range with the Chigs before they themselves jumped through.
Miller’s own message to him had indicated that the critical defence was 107 Piscium and its link between the tree main colonies of the Federation. Stevenson could not in all good consciousness just leave the eight million civilians in GJ 1065 to the mercy of the Chigs.
“Thank you for the update. All vessels are to maintain position and prepare for our next attack. I want all ships and fighters running fire simulations now and double checking all command routines, we can’t afford to have a mistake in the launch when they come in range” replied Stevenson.
19th Feb 1971
“Contact contact, twelve new hostiles detected, range 225m/km. Cross section size indicates they are approximately 4000 tons. The computer has tagged four of them as matching the hulls we engaged in the previous encounter. We should now be within firing range of their main missile vessels” reported the sensor officer.
“XO, set condition 2 throughout the fleet, bring the fighters to launch standby and activate point defence system. All jump ships to spool up their jump engines and be ready to execute a fleet transit on my command” ordered Stevenson.
Stevenson sat back in his chair, after several weeks of running and now days of waiting his task group was now less than a day away from putting his plan into action. Until then all they could do was continue to double check their readiness and be ready to react to any attacks. He knew the pressure on his crews was going to be immense but he had no alternatives now.
20th Feb 0147
“XO, I want all our fighters up and in formation within the next five minutes. Initiate cross task group fire control handshakes, weapons checks and arming sequence. I expect to see that we are ready to fire within the next ten minutes” ordered Stevenson.
“Understood Sir, issuing fighter launch signal now” replied his XO as elsewhere across the bridge his crew scrambled to prepare the task group for combat.
20th Feb 0611
“Sir, the Chig fleet just closed to within range of the Banshees” reported Stevenson’s warfare officer.
“Understood, all stations are to hold fire until they have reached 45 million kilometres, we need to be sure they can’t turn tail and outrun our missiles” replied Stevenson.
Over the next forty minutes Stevenson sat, transfixed to the plot, watching as the enemy fleet closed with his own small task group. Despite the cool command room Stevenson was sweating heavily and small trickles of sweat were running down his back, sending involuntary shivers through his body. He knew he had to time this exactly correct. If the Chigs decided to make a launch and did so before him he could well have to retreat through the gate before his own missiles made contact, potentially ruining the strike. If he left it too long the Chigs could well end up on top of them on the other side of the gate. Stevenson licked his lips, trying to get some moisture into his suddenly bone dry mouth.
“WO, please confirm that we have master arm set and all slaved fire controls are green” croaked Stevenson.
A few moments later his WO reported back, “master arm confirmed sir, slave control reconfirmed, all missile systems are showing green and ready to launch on your mark. Fire controls show all targets are locked and painted. Hostiles are now at 46.6mkm and closing”.
“Thank you, release safeties and stand by to fire on my mark”.
“Safeties released, ready to fire on your mark”.
“I’m showing green lights for launch, safety disengage confirmed. In three; two; one; fire”.
A few moments later Stevenson’s WO reported in. “Sir, all missiles have cleared their tubes, arming cycle is complete and target locks confirmed; estimated time to impact fourteen minutes and 16 seconds”.
“Excellent, reconfirm that the destroyer group are to launch two follow on salvos; all fighters to standby for emergency landing and immediate jump and I want close monitoring of all spooled jump engines”. With his immediate orders issued Stevenson looked down to the plot to watch the progress of the salvo of nearly 600 missiles streak towards their targets.
20th Feb 0642
“Sir, hostile fleet has changed direction to a bearing of 337 degrees, they’ve almost certainly picked up our missiles, estimated time to run 49 seconds”.
Twenty five seconds later the plot ballooned with multiple explosions as the Chig’s AMM fire once again started to carve great swaths of the Federation’s own missiles out of the sky.
“One hundred and six missiles destroyed, twenty four seconds to run”
“One hundred and eleven missiles destroyed, nineteen seconds to run”
“One hundred and eighteen missiles destroyed, fourteen seconds to run”.
Stevenson gripped the arms of his chair tightly, willing the remaining missiles on.
“One hundred and four missiles destroyed, nine seconds to run”.
“Ninety eight missiles destroyed, four seconds to run”.
“Strike Strike, multiple explosions detected, system is filtering results now.”
Around the bridge the tension was palpable as everyone waited for the results of their massed strike.
“System has cleared. We lost a final eighteen to further AMM fire and another 76 to point defence fire. Sensors are showing fifteen hits against Jormungandr three but spectrographics are not picking up any evidence of hull breaches. The second salvo of Harpies has thirty two seconds to run".
Fifteen seconds later the WO again began to report the destruction of the inbound missiles. Although already within a million kilometres of the hostiles Stevenson already knew that the strike would be ineffectual as eighty eight missiles were torn apart in the first wave of hits alone. At least he hadn’t wasted any more Harpies thought Stevenson ruefully.
“Sir, all missiles destroyed, no further hits achieved. Enemy task group is coming around again” confirmed the WO.
Stevenson stared at the plot for a few moments as the reality of the situation sunk in. He had thrown everything he had at the enemy yet it had barely broken their stride as they continued their advance across the system. Now, with just 43.5mkm between them, it would take his task group more than fifty hours of running to reopen a safe distance. He now had to decide if it was suicide to run when he would be caught in open space or suicide to stay put on the far side of the jump point where he might have just few moments of jump blindness to inflict enough damage on the huge task group to prevent a point blank retaliation. Whatever the decision he needed to make it quickly as every moment brought the hostiles closer.
After a few more moments Stevenson reached a decision. “Comms, please send a final message to the salvage group. Instruct them to make for deep space before shutting down all but life support and wait for rescue. Likewise I want the Boa maintaining tabs on this jump point for when we return. XO, go ahead and get the task group back into GJ 1065”.
Stevenson thumbed the fleet wide broadcast icon on his console “this is Commodore Stevenson, as you are no doubt aware our efforts to date to halt the advance of the Chigs have been unsuccessful and we shall shortly be making the jump back into GJ 1065. You will also know that there are over eight million civilians on our colony in GJ 1065 who are counting on us to protect them, something we cannot do if this hostile task group is allowed entry into the system. It is therefore my intention to keep the task group on the jump gate and engage the enemy before their sensors have time to recover from the jump.
It will be imperative that we act immediately in order to win this fight and I must therefore ask all of you to dig deep and make sure we are ready. You are the Navy’s best and I have absolute faith that with your skills and dedication to duty we will win through; Stevenson out”.
20th Feb 0915
Stevenson spent a few moments to double check his plot. Over the past few hours he had split his task group in two, with the destroyers and some of the light cruisers remaining on the jump point itself whilst the carriers and their close escort frigates had moved off to a point 744,000km from the gate. All of the carriers had now launched their entire complements of fighters and interceptors which hung in space around the carriers.
At that distance it would take the Banshee missiles just under 15 seconds to reach their targets ensuring that they would remain blind
"Sir, all ships, fighters and interceptors report in position and standing by. All weapon systems show handshake complete and acceptance of slave command protocols confirmed. Master arm is amber, pending fire control assignment and target designation" reported the WO.
"Thank you WO; if I may have quiet on the bridge for a few moments please" responded Stevenson.
After a few moments the frantic activity paused and an uneasy hush settled on the crew, leaving only the sounds of background chatter filtering through the open comms lines. When Stevenson felt he had adequate silence he stood up from his chair and turned to face his OX before addressing him in a formal tone.
"XO, at this stage I believe it appropriate that we consider the engagement of the A.I. My assessment of the situation is that the risk of civilian casualties is low and the risk of false positives are also low. We have the necessary containment procedures in place and an active, independent, kill switch facility at our disposal. The circumstances show that human lives will unnecessarily be put at risk if weapons control is left with human operators. I therefore believe that article 23 of the artificial intelligence convention has been met and that it is appropriate for me to provide control to the on-board AI for target identification, targeting allocation and weapons release. XO do you concur?".
"I concur Sir. Engineering please start the weapon's AI boot sequence, upload current situational awareness package and test and confirm kill switch operational and ready for arming" ordered the XO.
Across the deck the officer at the engineering station started rapidly tapping out commands through his MFD and after a few moments reported back to the XO. "Sir the Whiskey 974 Cyberdyne AI is now online and confirms acceptance of situational package and readiness to take weapons control. The kill switch shows green and is armed".
Striding across the bridge to the engineers’ station Stevenson pulled a small key from a chain around his neck and slipped into a slot on the control panel. Taking one last look around the bridge Stevenson turned the key to engage the AI. Much like the rest of the crew Stevenson was always loath to take the human out of the equation, even for a short period of time. All of them had received detailed briefings on the 2021 massacre of thousands of civilians when a flight of AI controlled drones had concluded it was necessary to destroy a convoy of fleeing refugees in order to allow for a quicker advance. The atrocity had led to the establishment of the AI convention and the strict controls over when it could be used.
“Sir, AI confirms it has control of the fleet weapon systems, master arm remains amber and all systems remain nominal”.
With nothing else to do Stevenson returned to his chair to wait as the as the timer in-front of him counted down the last few minutes. Across the bridge almost everyone’s eyes were similarly glued to the timer which represented the expected time it would take the Chig fleet to reach the jump point.
It wasn’t long before the final countdown from ten began.
“Standby all stations, standby all stations” intoned Stevenson as the counter hit zero.
