Sovereign chapter 2 (standard:science fiction, 2252 words) [2/3] show all parts
Author: St George	Added: Mar 13 2003	Views/Reads: 2757/2033	Part vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Chapter 2

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

the expense of everything else. Solarian shields were rated according 
to how durable they were compared to a standard memoran armour plate, 
thus 100% offered the same protection as the ships armour. Both the 
Sword and Sovereign class cruisers sported 150% SBD (shield base 
density) shields, but the Knight class battleship (of which Crusader 
was an example) had shields rated at 225% SBD. This was the crucial 
difference, Crusader and Royal Sovereign both had four reactors, each 
rated at .8 terawatts, but ‘Sovereign could field so much more EP 
firepower simply by virtue of sacrificing shield and sensor capability, 
combined with the power savings associated with being a smaller ship. 
Azaal, though designated a battleship by humans, did not conform to 
this classification. The Andurils had different goals and designs for 
their ships. Azaal was, like all Anduril warships, powered by tritium 
fusion reactors as apposed to the more powerful but more dangerous 
matter/anti-matter intermix reactors on Solarian vessels. Because of 
the different capabilities of human and Anduril power plants the ships 
of both sides were rather different. Anduril ships tended to use their 
limited power to feed their more advanced and power hungry shields and 
offensive capability was in the form of many small to mid calibre EP 
canon and their extremely potent fusion torpedoes. Solarian vessels on 
the other hand were more offensively minded, with more and larger canon 
making up for their inferior weaker shields. 

As the fleet departed Heretic for its patrol zone Adams felt misgivings.
The last time she had left the station she had come back minus her ship 
(and a goodly part of her crew), she wondered if this thought was 
occupying anyone else's mind. Other peoples minds, however, were 
occupied with other things. Chambers' more than most; he was sitting in 
his chair at the back of the long, oval Gunnery room, the chair was 
elevated and situated at the back of the room behind a semi-circular 
desk. The entire surface of the desk was a touch sensitive display. 
Around the edge of the room were the turret stations which controlled 
the ships canon. Four turrets supported the eight 8-kiloton primary 
canon, six turrets supported the twelve 5.5-kiloton secondary canon and 
eight turrets supported the sixteen 3-kiloton tertiary canon. Each 
turret had a station manned by two operators. In the centre of the room 
was a holoscape similar to that on the bridge which allowed Chambers to 
coordinate his gun crews. He was running a combat simulation. It took 
around 30 seconds to reload (recharge the accelerator of) a primary 
canon, just under 21 to reload a secondary canon and a little over 11 
to reload a tertiary. These times did not change, the real difference 
in combat was made by the gun crews' skill. That was the purpose of the 
exercises, the ship was not a truly efficient fighting machine until 
the gun crews developed an almost symbiotic relationship with their 
weapons. 

An anonymous tract of interstellar space, empty except for a diffuse
spread of dust and hydrogen, was suddenly punctured. Twelve portals 
opened, offering their respective ships a way into real space. First 
came Azaal, followed by ‘Sovereign and the two Anduril cruisers, then 
the escort ships. Almost immediately following the arrival of the last 
ship, more portals opened. The fleet was now spreading out so that 
their sensors could cover more space. “Comms, signal Azaal that we are 
moving to our patrol point.” ordered Adams, “Helm, set course, ahead 
two thirds, jump when ready.” The problem with hyperdrives, one of the 
problems anyway, was that they take time to charge. Small ships like 
destroyers can charge their hyperdrives quickly, but ‘Sovereign would 
have to proceed in real space for a while before the drive was ready. 

Meanwhile Fournier and her escort made their diversionary attack and
Crusader's task force moved on toward the real goal of the whole 
operation. Radio silence was maintained both between and within each of 
the three task forces, so no-one knew if the attack had gone ahead or 
if Grimalkin had left port, until one of the Anduril cruisers sent the 
message ‘R36'. An innocuous message in itself but it meant the target 
had been sighted and all ships were to move to intercept. “Helm, 
intercept course, ahead flank! Launch fighters,” ordered Adams. As the 
fleet joined up and moved in, more information became available. The 
target was well protected by an escort of destroyers and frigates and 
was accompanied by two corvettes. 

Azaal signalled weapons free and moved for the kill. Meanwhile, onboard
‘Sovereign, “Con, epdar, multiple targets designated tango one through 
fourteen. Objective Grimalkin designated tango one. “Gunnery target 
sierra weapons, tango four, papa weapons tango one. Ready torpedoes on 
my mark at tango one.” The canon of the primary and secondary armaments 
let fly their energy, tango four (a corvette) was weathering an 
impossible storm, but still managing to put up a healthy offence. 
“Captain, starboard shields down to 72% and falling.” “Acknowledged. 
Sierra torpedo, target tango four and fire all tubes.” 

From the flank of the cruiser came four harbinger torpedoes,
accelerating with speed thanks to solid fuelled rocket motors. Two of 
the torps were shot down by the corvettes defensive fire, but the other 
two hit, detonating against the weakened shield. On ‘Sovereign's bridge 
there came two shouts at once, “Con, comms, Lethan is abandoning ship.” 
This was interrupted by, “Tango four is open!” As the shields fell the 
corvette's hull began to disintegrate from the pounding it was taking. 
“Sierra torpedo, two more torps at tango four!” ordered Adams, 
determined to finish it, “Sierra gunnery, target tango five and open 
fire.” “Con, sensor, Grimalkin is jumping out.” On the holoscape a 
portal was visible opening up before the battleship. “Message from 
Azaal, pursue Grimalkin.” “Helm, pursuit course, ahead flank.” 

Grimalkin, realising that they had been drawn into an ambush did the
only logical thing. Her captain knew that the battleship was the target 
so ordered the retreat. Royal Sovereign was the fastest ship in the 
fleet and would have the best chance of catching the enemy (another 
advantage of packing battleship power in a lighter ship). “Con, comms, 
Tarray-Frit signal they are pursuing too.” Grimalkin moved through her 
portal, followed soon after by the two Alliance cruisers through 
theirs, all three ships were moving at flank speed and the cruisers 
were slowly gaining. “TORPEDO, TORPEDO, TORPEDO, all hands brace for 
impact!” ‘Sovereign groaned as the helmsmen tried to get her out of the 
way, it was a useless exercise and all four torps hit her bow. “Foxtrot 
torpedo, return fire, all tubes!” “Negative captain, she's going too 
fast, the torps don't have enough fuel to reach her.” Another four 
torps came screaming back to hit ‘Sovereign, full on. EP weapons, 
including point defence blasters, don't work in hyperspace, they could 
not defend themselves. “Captain, shields down to 12%, we can't take 
another hit.” “Helm, break off pursuit. Signal Tarray-Frit to do the 
same, we cant touch them.” It was a bitter blow, the target had not 
even lost her shields. “Helm, take us back to the battle, ahead full.” 

Whilst the battleship had run, the rest of the Megaeran fleet had stayed
to fight, and were doing a good job of it. Four Alliance vessels 
remained, Azaal, Fearless, Wildfire and Tennit. They were fighting 
against seven enemy vessels, however the enemy began to retreat when 
the two cruisers returned and Captain Tsar ordered the fleet not to 
follow. Fournier and her escort were all undamaged and were already 
moving to intercept the five destroyers and two frigates which had 
escaped. It was an ignominious start to Royal Sovereign's fighting 
career. If Grimalkin had stayed to fight then things might have been 
very different. ‘Things would be a lot easier if the bad guys turned up 
to the mission briefing', thought Adams wryly, ‘then they'd know what 
they were supposed to do'. 

The fleet was split up following the failed attack with ‘Sovereign,
Fearless and Wildfire being ordered to Nicosia for refuelling and 
re-tasking. The Anduril's interest in the operation had been the 
destruction of Grimalkin, not the capture of ES-44529, their ships 
departed for Acolyte. 

Nicosia was almost entirely deserted, and it was no secret why. This
station was no longer the navy's main extra-solar base, Athens was, and 
most of the ships which would normally be docked here were on their way 
to Athens. Athens had been declared operational only eight hours prior 
to ‘Sovereign's arrival at Nicosia. Indeed she herself would be going 
directly on to Athens as soon as her fuel bunkers were replenished. It 
was not that she had insufficient anti-matter to reach Athens, but that 
Athens had insufficient to supply every ship which was on its way 
there. 


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