On the H.M.S. New Zealand,
Searching for the Dominion supply train
“Damn it, where are they?” Captain Grey muttered. They were now quietly following the Dominion fleet as it pursued the Home Fleet and Space Station Atlas. Each ship of the Coldstream Guards was running as stealthily as possible, but their passive sensors were probing desperately, trying to locate the Dominion supply ships that were the life blood of the Dominion force.
The problem was they could be anywhere. They could just run immediately behind the attack fleet, or above it, below it or on either side. And they would be trying to run quietly, not wanting to attract the rude attention of a Victorian force bent on mischief. Grey’s single Battle Group couldn’t cover everywhere at once, certainly not while using only passive sensors.
No, unless they got really lucky and tripped over the Dominion supply ships, they would have to sit and wait until some frigate or destroyer came running back to refill their magazines.
“Admiral Mello, sensors picking up a line of ships closing into missile range. Dead ahead. They must have been powered down, Sir, because they just popped up out of nowhere.”
“Size?”
“I count fifteen at least. They are blasting ECM, so exact count is uncertain.”
“Type?”
“We only had a glimpse before the ECM kicked in, but I read three battleships, at least four cruisers and a mix of destroyers and frigates. It looks like they’re making a stand, Sir,” the Sensors Officer added helpfully.
“Then you are a fool and we are fortunate that I am in command, not you,” Mello replied acidly. “We know the Vickies lost two of their three battleships, so there is no way they can have three battleships waiting for us. Also, it is unlikely that they would make a stand with only fifteen ships against our larger task force. No, what you see in front of you is a line of drones masquerading as war ships, with perhaps a couple of warships mixed in to give the charade additional credibility. They might have some missile pods, but once they have exhausted their missiles, they will be worthless junk.
“So,” he said, raising his voice for the entire bridge crew to hear, “we will continue and roll over them. We must not give them time! Time is the enemy! Commander Pattin, bring the frigates and destroyers on line. All ships to activate their anti-missile defenses.”
And the Dominion Fleet rushed forward to meet the first line of the Victorian defense.
“Bugger me blue, there’s a lot of them!” the Tactical Officer on H.M.S. Melbourne whispered. The destroyer was hovering four hundred miles behind the line of missile pods, watching through the reconnaissance drones spaced between the pods. Not far away was the H.M.S. Dundee, another destroyer from the Black Watch Battle Group. Their job was to wait for the Dominion ships to close in, then flush the missile pods…and run like hell. “Don’t worry about hitting anything,” Captain Hamid had told them. “Just make them shoot back and waste missiles.”
“Do you have range yet?” the captain of the Melbourne asked impatiently. The Tactical Officer tried to concentrate on his instruments. He was having trouble concentrating; there were so many Dominion ships coming at them.
“Ten seconds!” His voice squeaked. “Five…two, one. In range. They’re now in range. Now.” He couldn’t stop babbling.
His captain looked at him, a smirk pulling at his mouth. “Okay, George, we got it. Fire your missiles, then push the recon drones forward so we can see what’s happening.”
The Tac Officer pushed a button. Four hundred miles in front of them the twenty missile pods each fired sixteen short range missiles in sprint mode. Each pod had been assigned two targets. A moment later the recon drones flared to life and sped after them, active sensors reaching out to find the enemy.
“And activate the antimatter mines,” the captain ordered. Then, satisfied that was done, he ordered: “Let’s get out of here. Tell the Dundee we are pulling back.”
The Dominion had learned the hard way that the Victorians had superior missile systems. Their response had been to build ships dedicated to nothing but antimissile defense. They called them “Hedgehogs.” Each Hedgehog was capable of simultaneously tracking and destroying twenty incoming missiles, and as each was destroyed, the Hedgehog automatically queued up another one. It held a magazine of five hundred short range “buckshot” missiles, had sixty high speed Gatling guns that shot one thousand rounds of spent Ziridium per minute, and forty one-inch lasers.
Mello had ten Hedgehogs in his Attack Force, and all of them were now in the front line to protect his frigates and destroyers.
Of the three hundred and twenty missiles fired by the Victorian missile pods, twenty three reached their targets.
“Look for ships moving away!” Mello thundered. “There should be control ships out there trying to escape.”
“Two ships,” the Sensors Officer confirmed. “Turning and accelerating rapidly.”
“All line ships to fire. I want them dead,” Mello said.
And a minute later, they were. Every Dominion destroyer and frigate in the front line flushed its missiles at them in an orgy of revenge. The fleeing Victorians were overwhelmed.
“That is the way you meet the enemy,” Mello said in satisfaction. Behind him, Commander Pattin grimaced. The exchange had been even: as the fleet surged onward, it left behind two broken hulks and had another damaged destroyer struggling to keep up.
Several minutes later they hit the antimatter mines, took damage to another ship, and continued in pursuit of the Victorians.
Aboard the H.M.S. Lionheart, Admiral Douthat watched the holo display intently. She cursed silently as the Dundee and Melbourne icons flashed Code Omega, then watched the DUC force close to where the anti-matter mines were. The explosion of the mines distorted the senor display. It took a minute or so for the display to clear.
“Mickey,” she asked the Sensors Officer. “When they hit the mines, did they turn?”
“Yes, Admiral. They turned up, shot out the rest of the mines, then dropped down and resumed course.”
Douthat nodded. “Merlin! Take a note. When confronted with mines, the Dominion fleet turned up. Monitor similar incidents and watch for a pattern.”