The Liberty surged forward as Eldathar rapidly banked the ship to avoid the incoming particle cannon fire from several enemy Krenaran ships directly ahead of them.
Liberty, and the other Solarian battlecruisers traded fire with their own fusion cannons. Multiple incandescent blue energy beams shot forth from the Solarian reinforcements, their raw power instantly decimating three of the Krenaran vessels in bright balls of flame.
Behind them, the Danitza class battleships Defiant and Vengeance; recently upgraded with the new long range laser turrets opened fire, deep blue energy beams from their massive primary dorsal turrets lanced out across space and smashed into two more of the Krenaran ships. One was hit amidships; a ragged flaming hole marked the impact site on the vessel. The other was hit directly in its rear engines, which detonated violently, blasting apart half the ship, the fiery debris strewn wreckage spun out of control.
Four more Krenaran ships rapidly swooped in to perform an attack run on another Danitza, its accompanying escorts firing volley after volley, trying to shoot down the attackers. However they were proving to be elusive targets.
The Liberty changed course to intercept, “target the closest ship, fire torpedoes when ready,” Michael said.
Two high energy torpedoes sped towards one of the Krenaran ships, they were elusive but not enough to outwit the advanced guidance systems of the Liberties torpedoes. They detonated upon impact and tore apart the Krenaran ship in a devastating fireball.
Long range laser fire from the Hermes’ own comparatively limited batteries had managed to annihilate two more of the stealth ships, while the last remaining Krenaran vessel abandoned its attack run.
On the viewer, through the fiery debris of destroyed Krenaran stealth ships and the explosions of battle, Michael could just about make out the shape of a far larger Krenaran ship beginning to form, the massive flat topped vessel had a huge command structure located towards the rear of the gigantic ship. Michael’s heart sank as the sight filled him with dread, he had seen these ships before in news reports, but never actually encountered one. They were the Krenaran command carriers, the largest and most deadly ships in the Krenaran fleet, and he was all too aware of the firepower one of these ships possessed.
Solarian intelligence briefings had told the E.D. F that the small rectangular pods which slowly rose close to the fore of the flat main hull contained rapid firing H.O. T rockets, which worked on Heat Ordnance Tracking. The E.D. F navy had a database of all enemy ships encountered thus far in its history, and each was listed according to the threat it represented, this was known as its threat level.
Michael remembered that this ship was listed as an alpha level threat, the highest threat level that can be given to a ship.
The H.O. T rocket, was a type of torpedo that homed in on any given heat signature on any ship that didn’t display a correct Krenaran I.F. F signature.
Michael remembered that it was these ships that were responsible for the decimation of unarmed refugee transports around the Aurelias colony nearly eight months ago, ending almost ten thousand lives in barely five minutes.
Now the huge Krenaran command carrier advanced, slowly, menacingly toward the fleet as those deadly rectangular pods began to rise once again.
The remaining stealth ships all retreated towards it consolidating their position; some were caught and decimated by Solarian fusion cannons and E.D. F lasers.
However, the Krenaran carrier had not yet launched its waves of attack craft, interesting, Michael thought.
Instead those rectangular pods gradually rose to their full height, and with a dull metallic ‘clunk’ locked into place.
He knew that even the Liberty with all its speed and agility would never make it to that carrier before it launched its deadly payload. They would have to brace themselves for the inevitable onslaught that the enemy ship would unleash upon them before trying for a counter attack.
There was a deathly silence, as the crew of the Liberty looked on through the shimmering viewscreen with fear in their eyes, as if they were staring death in the face, for none of them knew when the command carrier would launch its deadly payload, or even if they would be hit or not. If they were, the Liberty would most likely not withstand it.
Six intensely bright flashes lit up the forward hull of the enemy carrier in quick succession as it unleashed the missiles. The multiple warheads sped towards them with incredible speed.
As the warheads hurtled towards them, the remainder of the Krenaran fleet leapt into plasma drive, and were gone. The multiple H.O. T rockets continued to speed towards the E.D. F fleet, ships opened fire attempting to shoot down the onrushing torpedoes to no avail, they were just too fast to get a lock on. Michael could just make out the blazing white flare of the enemy missiles engine.
Before they could hardly blink, a Ghandhi class destroyer burst apart in flames as one of the torpedoes smashed into it dead centre with horrific force. The destroyer was stationed right next to the Liberty, and the tiny ship shuddered violently from the force of the explosion. People were thrown to the floor, consoles across the ship shattered, sending sparks showering. Smoke filled the command centre as delicate electronics ruptured and sizzled, and it was all Michael could do just to hang onto his seat.
Eldathar had managed to hang on and flung the ship into a steep dive as the mid section of the devastated destroyer hurtled towards them wreathed in flame. It shot past missing slamming into the Liberties rear engines by a matter of only a few feet.
There was carnage in the rest of the fleet where the torpedoes struck home. Two of the missiles slammed into the Battleship Achilles, who the Liberty had just helped to save, turning its enormous rear engines into flaming ruins.
Two other torpedoes blasted apart a Mandela class light cruiser as well as an Alexander class medium cruiser both ships tore themselves to pieces as their reactor cores ruptured, sending debris careering in all directions. The final torpedo decimated a Jefferson class heavy destroyer, the ship listed lazily as fire swept through the vesel, before it too burst apart in a bright fireball.
The tightly packed mass of ships weaved to and fro trying to avoid the maelstrom of destroyed vessels and debris; several ships almost collided into one another in their rush to escape the onslaught. Only the skill of the pilots prevented an even bigger disaster.
When the chaos had finally subsided, Michael asked for a full status report.
“ We have some small electrical fires on deck four; deck six had taken some damage from th’ explosion cap’n, and a few minor scrapes, but all in all, we are not in bad shape all things considered; not in bad shape at all.” Kinraid replied, his thick Irish accent showing through.
“ Good, have repair crews tackle the fires, and begin repairs.”
“ Already done sir.”
It was to be expected, Michael thought, though if Eldathar hadn’t reacted with the speed that he did, we would have all been gonners for sure. When he saw the flaming wreckage of that Ghandhi class destroyer hurtling toward him, his life had flashed before his eyes.
The casualty rate had been higher than he had expected however, they had lost twelve ships in total, four of them were Solarian. Those delicate crescent shaped metallic craft now floated uncontrollably, their slender hulls fractured and broken. The Achilles had taken severe damage and was on fire on several decks, it could no longer take part in the larger battle at Gamma IV.
Instead it would have to limp toward Delta Foxtrot base, a small naval facility on the edge of the wolf 359 system. It was a heavy blow, the Danitza’s brought a lot of firepower to the table and losing one, meant losing all that weaponry.
The rest of the 6 ^th battlegroup formed up with this second fleet, and together the remaining 188 vessels all leapt into plasma drive, a huge burst of light erupted as they did so. The other damaged vessels would have to make what repairs they could along the way.
It was another three day journey to Gamma IV, and Michael knew that this little skirmish was but a small taste of what awaited them when they arrived. He felt decidedly uneasy about the prospect.
The Krenarans now knew that they were coming, word would have spread from those escaped ships, and there was no way E.D. F command could have prevented a build up of ships of this magnitude to go unseen anyway, the attack was but a small skirmish designed to thin out the numbers a little, before the main battle.
As they continued on their journey towards the planet, Michael spent much of his time going through the repair reports of the damage suffered at the hands of the Krenaran attack. The damage to deck six, was a little more serious than they had first thought. Debris from the destroyed Ghandhi class destroyer had, in places, caused minute fractures in the hull, as debris fragments collided against it; possibly weakening the Liberties stealth abilities. All Michael could do was wait and see, it could not be fixed in transit, that’s for sure.