Christopher Nuttall - Democracy's Light

“Now clearing the gravity shadow, Admiral,” the helmsman said.

“Follow the Plan Romeo course,” Katy said, watching as the enemy fleet altered course slightly. They hadn’t realised it, but they had been outmanoeuvred; in the time it would take them to alter the course of their superdreadnaughts, they would have been committed to a stern chase… or to abandoning her fleet and allowing them to escape without engagement. She had a small bet going with herself that the enemy would have no choice, but to turn to engage, knowing that if she vanished, they might see her next at Cottbus. “Tactical, run an engagement profile, but withhold the arsenal ships.”

The tactical officer blinked. “Admiral?”

“Withhold the arsenal ships,” Katy said. She would have preferred to add them to her firepower, but if she shot them dry, the enemy fleet would simply flicker out and escape. They’d come back to Cottbus completely undamaged. “Order them to flicker out as soon as they are targeted and engaged.”

The superdreadnaught shivered slightly as it rolled onto the new course, daring the enemy to follow. Katy smiled to herself as the enemy fleet altered course, slowing their ships before picking up the chase, trying to catch her ships. The superdreadnaughts she’d kept with her hadn’t been damaged badly enough to slow their escape, but the starships’ ECM was working to convince the enemy that they were chasing nine near-cripples. It was even possible that they believed that the superdreadnaughts were unable to flicker out, although she cautioned herself not to believe that, not when it would have been too convenient.

“Enemy ships will enter firing range in ten minutes,” the tactical officer said. The superdreadnaught shuddered as it launched a spread of probes towards the enemy fleet, picking apart their ECM and targeting each of their starships specifically. They would have no place to hide — although, Katy admitted silently, they wouldn’t need a place to hide from her weaker fleet. “Targeting priorities?”

Katy scowled. If they’d had equal strength to the Cottbus fleet, she wouldn’t have hesitated to expend the first salvo on their escorts, trusting in her own point defence to shield her superdreadnaughts while she stripped theirs of most of their cover. They would probably be thinking along the same lines, of course. Without equal strength, they had to take down as many superdreadnaughts as they could, not least because the combined strength of four sectors would certainly give the Shadow Fleet a nasty time.

“Pick two superdreadnaughts and engage them when they enter missile range,” she ordered, calmly. The display flickered as the tactical officer picked two of the lead superdreadnaughts and targeted them for destruction. “Configure a third of the missiles for advanced penetration. Let’s see how good their point defence is in a fair fight.”

She leaned back in her command chair and watched as the red icons slowly overhauled her fleet. The enemy commander had to be spitting rocks by now, she thought; if she’d been further away, he could have flickered closer to her position, but if he risked it now he might lose her altogether. Worse, he might even expose himself to losing a handful of superdreadnaughts to her fleet, leaving him with no choice, but a stern chase. The timer ticked down as tension rose on the bridge; it was almost a relief when the superdreadnaught rolled and flushed its external racks towards the enemy fleet.

“Missiles away,” the tactical officer said. The superdreadnaught shuddered again as it unleashed the first salvo from its internal tubes. “Internal tubes away… now!”

Katy tensed as the enemy superdreadnaughts, dark and silent, closed in on her position. The enemy commander wasn’t firing, not yet, knowing that most of his missiles would burn out before they reached her point defence range. Logically, he would hold his fire for two more minutes, while her missiles screamed towards his point defence envelope, but he’d have to fire before her missiles actually engaged his ships. A single hit on the external racks could have disastrous consequences for any superdreadnaught. She doubted that they would be so lucky as to actually trigger enemy warheads, but if they damaged the external racks it might be impossible for them to separate their racks and fire their internal tubes.

“Enemy force has opened fire,” the tactical officer said, as the display sparkled with red icons, each one promising death and destruction for her fleet. “Time to engagement range, two minutes.”

Too bloody long , Katy thought, coldly. The enemy missiles were caught in the stern chase as well, but without the need to take care of human crews, they could travel much faster, overhauling her ships with ease. Her missiles took advantage of the closing speed between her ships and the enemy ships, but the enemy missiles had to work to close the gap. It was going to be a frustrating experience for them.

“Link point defence into a rear defence formation,” she ordered, watching as the enemy point defence sparkled with light and engaged her missiles. The closing speed was greater than they would normally have to handle, but they’d practiced to take on arsenal ships and heavier missile barrages than anyone had deployed, before the rebellion. “Continue to fire when the tubes are reloaded.”

One of the targeted enemy superdreadnaughts staggered and fell out of formation, wreaked by internal damage, while the other blew apart in a sheet of superhot plasma. The first ship, she noted, was spewing out lifepods, suggesting that the ship had been badly damaged and had perhaps even lost damage control. The survivors wouldn’t have to worry about being picked up by hostile forces, she saw; the enemy commander had detached a pair of light cruisers to pick them up. It was a considerate thought and suggested that Admiral Wilhelm, whatever drove him, had earned the loyalty of his crews. It would make him a far more dangerous opponent than Admiral Percival.

The tactical officer worked his console as the follow-up salvos adjusted their attack profiles, focusing on new targets. The Geek-designed systems worked well, but Katy was dismayed to see just how quickly the enemy point defence adjusted to the incoming missiles. The point defence weapons hadn’t been seriously improved, much to her relief, but the point defence sensors had been improved to the point where they would have been capable of countering her attacks, if they’d had better weapons.

“That can’t be coincidence,” she realised, grimly. “Someone sold them the details behind our weapons and sensors.”

“It looks that way,” the tactical officer agreed. He scowled down at his console as the missiles laboured to catch up. “Their ECM is slightly obscured, but it reads out as rather like a Mark-XXI system.”

One the Geeks invented , Katy thought, feeling her blood run cold. If Cottbus had such systems in deployment — and that took more time than most laymen appreciated — what else did they have in their arsenal? How had they done it? Did they have spies within the Jupiter Shipyards, or even the Rim shipyards? If they knew where they were, they could attack them… and a successful attack on the Geek-built shipyards would cripple the Shadow Fleet. Who the hell sold our secrets to them ?

“Incoming missiles,” the tactical officer said. The tactical display altered itself, focusing in on the incoming missiles, as he spoke. Katy could have altered it back, but there was little point. If the point defence network failed them, they would have no choice, but to run for their lives. “Entering point defence engagement range now.”

Katy watched, already knowing what she would see. The enemy missiles were flying right into the teeth of her point defence, but their penetration capabilities and support systems were literally years ahead of anything they should have possessed. Incoming missiles, particularly in a stern chase, were easy to detect, but these missiles moved with the same capabilities as the Shadow Fleet’s missiles… and some of them were slipping through the point defence.