John Ringo - Against the Tide

Shar watched as the flight of Drakes descended upon the New Destiny dragons. From the angle they had come right down out of the sun and they dropped at least a dozen before the New Destiny flight broke up. The Drakes flew right through the formation and then banked back, taking up a rear position and firing at the flight from behind. More dragons dropped but the flight bore into the carrier nonetheless. They still had to run the gauntlet of the anti-dragon frigate and as that ship opened up the Drakes hastily banked off, heading for other ships in the fleet to land and rest.

The reduced New Destiny forceÑa bare twenty had made it through the hail of fire from the ballista frigateÑlined up on the carrier and dropped their loads. One by one the bundles of fire rained on the deck, covering the carrier in fire.

Edmund covered himself with his cloak, then threw it off as the napalm splashed on it. Some more had landed on his leg and he grimaced in pain as he covered it with foam from an extinguisher. Sailors had been covered with the stuff and he saw several jump over the side in unspeakable agony. He gritted his teeth at his own burns and looked around, shaking his head.

“Abandon ship,” he growled. “This thing is done for.”

“Agreed, Admiral,” the captain said, giving the orders.

“I’ll transfer my flag to the Shuiki ,” Edmund continued, -limping to the side to see if there was a whole boat. “Save everyone that you can.”

“There are only two carriers left,” Joanna bellowed. Unlike the UFS, New Destiny had their fleet bunched up. “Go for the carriers; ignore the damned anti-dragon frigates.”

Herzer gestured to the south where another flight of dragons had just appeared out of the haze. It was apparent that they were carrying a full ordnance load. If they were New Destiny dragons they would have unloaded already.

“Suggest we concentrate on one carrier and leave the other for them,” he signaled.

“Agreed,” Joanna bellowed. “Go for the nearer carrier.”

Herzer looked over at Sergeant Fink and signaled “Stay on my tail.” The young rider looked scared but she nodded.

He lined up behind Joanna and headed for the nearer carrier. The sun was setting in the west and they had maneuvered to have it at their backs; they should be dropping right out of the sun on the fleet. Hopefully they would have the element of surprise.

The southerly group, however, was apparently sighted early and one of the ballista frigates changed course to get between it and the southerly carrier. The dragons came in low, determined to destroy the carrier, and the slaughter was terrific. Herzer could see dragon after dragon falling into the water to no apparent effect. There were three ships firing up at the wildly maneuvering dragons and the few that made it through missed the carrier completely.

“Change of plan again,” Joanna bellowed. “Herzer, take first and second division and attack the south carrier. Get the damned thing. Burn the bastards.”

“Will do,” he yelled, signaling for the formation to split. They were still high but as they passed over the edge of the fleet he put the group into a stoop, angling to the rear of the southern carrier.

It was apparent that the fleet had finally spotted the formation but it was too late for them to maneuver. Before the ballista frigates could even begin to turn, Herzer’s force had lined up on the carrier. It hauled its wind and started a turn, trying to tack away from the dragons, but Herzer was having none of it. He lined up on the maindeck and dropped his force lower, getting in so close he was afraid they’d tangle themselves in the rigging. He saw a crossbowman on the mast lining him up and could have sworn he heard the click of the bow being triggered. Where the bolt went he had no idea and by then it was too late anyway. He’d dropped his load and watched it track in smooth and true onto the deck. One, two, three bombs, right down the middle, beautiful wide splash. The carrier immediately triggered its firefighting apparatus but, one by one, the dragons dropped their loads of fire, many of the pots hitting the masts and shattering to spread their fire over the sails. All the foam in the world wasn’t going to put that fire out.

He banked away and turned to the north where the other carrier was on fire, seriously roasting, as well. Looking over his shoulder he saw that it appeared that the carrier was done for and, what was more, they’d taken no casualties at all.

“That’s just flipping amazing,” he muttered. He checked his mount but the wyvern was flying well and no bolts seemed to be sticking out of anywhere. Then he noticed a sharp pain in his rear. He looked back and shook his head in anger as the pain really hit.

“Damn,” he muttered, grimacing against the burn of the bolt sticking out like a flag. “I would take one in the ass.”

“ Hazhir reports attacking the New Destiny fleet,” Shar said, looking up from the signal he’d been handed. “They got both remaining carriers.”

“That’s confirmed?” Edmund asked.

“Confirmed,” Shar assured him.

“Casualties from Hazhir ?” Edmund asked.

“Essentially zero,” the admiral said. “They had two wyverns injured and a rider. Other than that nothing. They’re prepared to continue operations against the fleet and requesting orders.”

“Damn it’s nice having capable subordinates,” Edmund said, shaking his head. “Forget the rest of the fleet; there’s nothing there worth fighting for. Break off the attack. Signal the dreadnoughts and the fleet to assemble and turn for Balmoran. We’re not done yet.”

“General Magalong?” Bue said, saluting the officer behind the desk. “New Destiny landing fleet approaching from the south. Just sighted southwest of the point.”

“Very well,” the general said. Cierra Magalong was a political appointee but he’d been through the Blood Lord training, even at his age, and had attended the abbreviated Raven’s Mill War College. He was as prepared as almost anyone for the war that was coming. But he had very limited actual combat experience and nobody , not even Talbot to his knowledge, had any experience on war of this level.

Second Legion had six thousand legionnaires and just under three thousand supplementary combat forces, engineers, provosts and the like. In addition there were four thousand support personnel with basic training as spear holders but essentially useless in a fight. And he had twice the normal perimeter to protect.

He had been given the mission of holding the core of Balmoran, primarily to protect the nascent metal- and woodworking industries for which the town was famous. To do this he had assembled a slightly enlarged camp around the most important foundries and emptied the dockside godowns into it. If he could hold out, and he had more than enough supplies to do so, he’d eventually be relieved. In the meantime, New Destiny was going to find the Second Legion a remarkable pain in its rear area.

“Send the order to fire the docks,” Magalong said to one of the runners stationed in the office. “Pull back the outposts and tell the Naval base to evacuate.”

“I spoke to the surgeon at the base yesterday, sir,” Bue said. “She was reluctant to evacuate the remaining wounded because she feared they’d die if they were moved.”

“Well, tell her to fish or cut bait,” Magalong snarled. “And get her ass into the camp.”

“Captain Cicali, I really don’t care what you think,” Conner said, smiling thinly. “My mission has priority over your ship. Get it in there.”