Chapter 44

Blademaster Tivark, senior commander of the Hennok Combine fleet, was frustrated. Every attempt by the Regnat to bring the Tcheeklan Ravagers to bay had ended in their ships simply dispersing and outdistancing his pursuing vessels. Those that were swift enough to keep up with the Ravagers were woefully outnumbered by them should they stray too far from the Fleet and would often pay a heavy price for seemingly little gain. The only success so far had been with the heavy fighters bought from the Empire which were both swift enough to rapidly overtake a Ravager vessel and also heavily armed enough to seriously damage one should a squadron be able to engage.

‘Doing to them as they’ve been doing to us,’ Tivark mused.

Heavy fighter numbers were still low however and the need for them widespread; though the good news was that Blademaster Tanell, the now undisputed leader of the Regnat, had bought an Imperial shipyard with the requisite blueprints and manufacturing tools to build heavy fighters and had it currently setting up in the Sindol system to take advantage of the preponderance of metallic asteroids there.

‘Soon we’ll have you, you bastards and your pirating days will be over!’ he thought forcefully, his fist clenched in frustration.

“Forward scanning has detected a very large fleet of Ravagers, sir,” his second-in-command, Bladesman Lont, interrupted his thoughts.

“Time to intercept?”

“Fifteen units (two hours forty minutes Earth time),” came the reply after a momentary pause.

“Let’s see what we can do.”

“Yes, sir. Course is set.”

The Hennock Fleet dropped out of XD space and formed up as the Ravagers for once appeared to be in the mood for a conflict and were moving rapidly towards their enemy.

“Odd! They’ve never spoiled for a fight before,” Lont stated.

“Well, we’ll oblige them; but keep scanning in case they’ve hidden a few dreadnaughts away in cloak.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Launch fighters and bombers; let’s see if we can cause them some early harm.”

“Launching now. Ravagers are still coming on!”

“Open fire when they get in range. Keep scanning for an ambush; this doesn’t smell right.”

“Yes, sir.”

The Hennock Fleet opened fire at the maximum range of their beam weapons causing the Ravagers to begin to weave wildly as they attempted to close with them. Several hits were scored, but the Ravagers dodged most and most of their ships came through the initial round unscathed, many opening fire at the lighter escort vessels with the Hennock Fleet rather than attempting to breach the armour of the capital ships.

“Detecting Thcherzon waves!” a scanner operator reported.

“Dammit! Prepare to pull back,” Tivark ordered. “If that’s a Battlesphere, we’re in no position to take it on and survive.”

“Orders going out. We’re retreating on an axis away from the probable drop point. Continuing to fire at the Ravagers,” Lont replied.

Seconds later three Battlespheres dropped into the system and began powering towards the Hennock Fleet.

“How soon can we get into XD space?” Tivark asked.

“I don’t think we can, those things mass too much,” Lont replied, white-faced.

“Formulate a plan to get the maximum numbers of our ships out. In the meantime, concentrate firepower on the Ravagers, let’s teach them the lesson they’ve been asking for. Avoid the Battlespheres if we can,” Tivark barked out orders.

“Yes, sir!”

Supreme Admiral Pluvet nodded in satisfaction as his perfectly timed ambush caught the lone Regnat fleet in a gravity trap preventing their escape and outnumbering them to the degree that their capital ships at least were doomed.

“Enemy fleet is withdrawing, but we can keep pace,” sub-Admiral Clinnor informed him. “They appear to be more interested in decimating our allies.”

“And our allies situation?”

“I suspect they’ll cut and run. They’ve taken a few losses, but will start to experience a lot more if the Regnat fleet continue to pour fire into them.”

“Not too surprising. Let us try to even the firepower by getting into range as quickly as possible,” Pluvet ordered.

“Ravagers look like they intend to break off,” Lont reported.

“Gentlemen of the Blade, sometimes the ultimate sacrifice has to be made for the Regnat.” Tivark addressed his crews on an all-ships broadcast. “You know the plan, those selected will drive directly at the Ravagers and destroy as many as they can; even to the extent of overloading their drives. Half of the capital ships will drive directly at full speed at the Battlespheres once we are within minimum range and ram. Those left will retreat and tell of our tale. Gentlemen of the Blade, it has been an honour to lead you and this flagship will lead the way in the hope that we will teach these barbarians a lesson they’ll never forget!”

“Blood and steel!” Lont yelled out the battle-cry. He was joined by the bridge crew and all those who were to make the ultimate sacrifice for the Regnat.

“Enemy fleet has changed course, they’re splitting,” Clinnor reported, looking puzzled at the screen he was viewing.

“What are they up to?” Pluvet asked.

“I’m not sure. Two thirds appear to be going directly at our allies, the others are still heading away from us, they appear to be redlining their drives.”

“The retreating ships?” Pluvet asked with a frown.

“No ... all of them.”

“Looks like they intend to destroy our allies as it’s clear they cannot harm us.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Concentrate on going after the vessels pursuing our allies, let the token vessels escape. We should at least appear to be honouring our agreement.”

“By your command.”

“They’ve taken the bait, sir,” Lont reported.

“Good, as soon as they open fire on us divert the designated units to see if we can teach them respect. Continue to fire on the Ravagers in the meantime,” Tivark replied.

“Ravagers are trying to scatter, but are boxed in by our lighter vessels, their casualties are mounting!”

“Good.”

“Battlespheres are coming into range now.”

“Execute Plan Immolate!”

“Change of course by half of the fleet we are pursuing!” Clinnor reported.

“Just a ploy to hold us off whilst they deal with our allies,” Pluvet shrugged.

“No, sir. They are accelerating towards us!”

“They’re what?”

“Vector analysis says they are on collision courses!”

“This is madness! Open fire with everything we have! Launch symbiont vessels!”

Orders flew out from the bridge crew as the Regnat vessels accelerated towards the three Battlespheres, firing their weapons constantly without the requisite cooldown time needed to prevent a catastrophic breakdown of the weapons.

“Launching symbionts, but it’s not going to be enough!” Clinnor reported as the Battlesphere weapons started massed volleys at the approaching Regnat vessels, which came on regardless.

“Destroyers and Corvettes are taking heavy losses,” Lont reported as the efficiency of the Battlesphere beams began to take their toll.

“Maker of all, accept their willing sacrifice.” Tivark spoke with sorrow.

“Battlecruiser Elond reporting primary weapon failure. They are moving to the forefront to act as a shield,” Lont reported, as the flagship shuddered with another hit.

“Time to impact?”

“Five rotations, sir.”

“Those who are going after the Ravagers?”

“Well enough, several are struggling to keep their drives working ... as are we, but the Ravagers cannot get out of range quickly enough and have lost 30% of their vessels and will likely lose more before they can escape the trap you set.”

“I doubt we’ll get a clean sweep, but anything above 50% is a win,” Tivark nodded as the flagship shuddered when debris from a destroyed corvette hammered at the repulsor screens which were being maintained to prevent impacts to the hull.

“The escapees will reach the XD limit soon, though they will leave the destroyers behind to bear witness.”

“I thought they might, despite my orders,” Tivark nodded.

“It has been an honour, sir.” Lont finished with a full salute.

“It has indeed.”

“We cannot stop them!” Clinnor gasped as, despite the massive volleys the Battlesphere was throwing at the fast approaching Regnats, not enough of them were being destroyed and the speed at which the two enemies were approaching meant, despite AI assistance, the focussing was often off and a hit did not cause the normal amount of damage to the ablative armour a capital ship used. Also the Regnat sacrifice of their lighter or damaged units by putting them to the forefront of their mad charge meant the nine Dreadnaughts covered by them were relatively undamaged in their attempt to close.

“Order the symbionts to ram!” Pluvet almost screamed.

“They cannot, they do not have the speed, nor do they have the mass,” Clinnor explained.

“There must be something?”

“I have ordered the repulsor shield to be set to max plus and the safeties removed, it might just prevent catastrophic damage. I have also started a hull rotation to try and prevent all the Regnat ships hitting the same spot.”

“This is a disaster! Who would have thought this Regnat to be so reckless?” Pluvet snapped, his fear almost palpable.

“All bulkheads to be sealed. All non-essential crew to inner defence bunkers,” Clinnor continued to give out orders.

The nine Dreadnaughts and the remnants of their escorts slammed into the three Battlespheres. The tactics used by Clinnor reduced the impacts and scattered the blows, though the damage was both extensive and, in the case of one Battlesphere, catastrophic. A cascade failure of its reactors blew it apart. Of the other two, one was repairing its jump drive, and in the case of Pluvet’s vessel, repairing their grav drive. The Raffagee had been knocked out of the battle and this gave heart to the Regnat vessels pursuing the Ravagers to the extent that the massive ‘bait’ fleet, when it finally escaped due to extensive drive failures in the Regnat vessels, was left as a shadow of itself and in no position to trouble the Regnat and Alliance in the near future.