[Azatol]

Chapter 4 – Submarines in Space


To: Officers of Targul Ocna 001

Unfortunately, the King has informed us that the space trooper program is being delayed because of technical issues, namely the difficulty of providing effective and efficient landing equipment for so many soldiers. The Amon’krie will continue to threaten us until we can take control on planet. Their latest message was translated as follows:

‘Death to the accursed Toltayan Kingdom.’

I want someone on alert at all combat stations 24/7, in case they throw something more at us, and they will.

Captain James

***

“Wake up Dorn, fleet orders coming in,” Pai shouted at me while I was blinking my eyes groggily.

I sat up, “Whats the situation?”

“Enemy frigate class just out of orbit, fleet is pursuing.”

“Give me five minutes and I’ll be there,” I said.

She left, and I wearily readied myself for battle stations. I was in the missile bay 16 hours at a time, sometimes more, with no targets, no enemies but the planet off in the distance. Sometimes anomalous readings would have to be chased down for hours to confirm that they were in fact anomalous. And we still had a few more years before the marines could come relieve us of this work.

As I walked to the missile bay the thrusters activated, and I held onto the wall the best I could. They were in a hurry to catch this frigate.

Once in the missile bay, it was routine as always, and I plonked myself in a corner watching the crew at work.

“Range: 25000 kilometers and closing,” Sensors chief Michael said on comm.

“Hold formation, prepare to fire at 8000 kilometers. Vice Admiral’s orders.”

That was strange, it had already been established that 9000 kilometers was the safe zone between our missiles’ effective operation, and their missiles.

We waited as the minutes went by.

“11000 kilometers.”

“9000 kilometers.”

“Fire!” the captain shouted on comm as we passed 8000.

BAWUMP!

“Two inbound missiles from the frigate, target unknown,” Michael said

“About face, full thrust, hold onto your hats folks,” the captain responded.

The sudden thrust pitched Lea forward onto the firing computer but she composed herself as the reloading mechanism worked its magic.

“All 10 fleet missiles are inbound on the bogey, estimate detonation in 15 seconds,” Michael said.

“Confirmed fleet kill on the frigate...” James said but then his voice trailed off.

“This is COMM chief Ron, distress call from the Targul Ocna 003, patching it through the comm system.

‘This is Captain Julian, we have taken damage from two missile hits, the engines went off-line after the blast but we have restored some engine power, more seriously, life support is down, backup systems are online, but we need to offload some of the crew, backups can’t support the full complement. Sirs, I must say the new hull composite materials performed well, the estimates are correct, as much of the blast of the missiles was redirected into space. Structural integrity team is still working to ensure we have no more air leaks, the others have been patched up.

The second missile hit right at the life support systems, which is not actively crewed as you know, but the first hit was on the leftside thrusters, the shockwave killed six of my men and injured another dozen in the main engine room.’”

“Offer to take some of their crew, chief, we are returning to blockade positions now, brace yourselves.”

***

The first casaulties of the new era of war were given funerals onboard the admiral’s ship the Zalau 001 (although all vessels of the fleet were upgraded to new missiles, the older ships kept their original name for nostalgia.)

Later the dead would be commemorated before billions by King Aya himself, who proclaimed them the brave soldiers of a new era. He used the ceremony to unveil his Space Marines plan, which was still under development. He wanted to start training troops immediately, and hoped to get a lot of interest by informing the public of what had been a secret project. The response he got was more than anyone could have expected as millions turned out to apply for the program. Now they just had to work out the technological problems that continued to plague the program.

Rumors were flying that the Admiral had laid the blame for the deaths and damage to the ship on the Vice Admiral who had followed what he assumed was standard practice, giving firing orders at operational range, which was listed as 8000 kilometers. The Admiral had very clearly given special orders, that in all missile on missile combat, minimum firing range was to be set at 9000 kilometers, except when otherwise ordered by the admiral.

***

To: All Military Personnel


INTRODUCING –

The Sarande class destroyer, weighs in at 300 kilotons, with 50% more firepower than the Targul Ocna and extra fuel and missile storage for extended campaigns. The first Sarande will be commissioned in one month on 2402::09::03, and will serve as the new Capital ship for the Toltayan Fleet in orbit above Nizzarum VII.


From,
The Alba Lulia Shipwrighting team

***

“This briefing describes briefly how the fleet will be changing in the coming days.

The Sarande will arrive in another month, and in the meantime, the Reserve fleet will take the wounded Targul Ocna 003 from us and escort it through the Eskirk system, which the Reserve fleet is defending anyway. Then the 003 is destined for the Alba Lulia and repair. The Admiral will be transferring to the Sarande once it arrives.”

Tal asked the captain, “What is the Reserve fleet defending in Eskirk?”

“Colonies are being established in Eskirk for military research operations, especially concerning the new space marines program. The colonies will be optimal places to test the operations of proposed drop-pods, in addition a substantial quorom of scientists are relocating to these new colonies. They are completely helpless against enemy attack, so the Reserve fleet is protecting them. With this new effort there is hope that we may conquer the Amon’krie in two years.”

***

To: Toltayan Fleet

Extraordinary efforts on the space marines project have produced results and now effective drop pods should be complete in about 8 months. An invasion force will take some time to assemble, but with troops training now, the invasion date is set for 16 months from now, on 2405::01::01.

***

“Contact, it appears to be an enemy destroyer, the first we’ve seen,” Michael said to the captain.

“Report it to the admiral, prepare for manuevering. Prepare missile launchers,” the captain ordered.

Pai loaded a live missile into the launcher, and we prepared for the third battle of the war.

“This is the Admiral, ignore formation, be wary of missile fire from the planet and concentrate fire on the destroyer. If the Amon’krie have constructed any new missile silos, I want them destroyed now as well, move out.”

“Sensors detected active scanning systems on two objects on planet, estimate that these are newly constructed silos.”

“Affirmative, you know Michael, sometimes I wonder if you haven’t rigged those sensors for improved operations, you’ve caught the enemy at work more often than any other sensor chief in the fleet. I’ll see to it the admiral knows too. First priority is this destroyer, keep range at 9000 kilometers.”

“Whats our missile stockpile at?” I asked Pai who punched it up on the firing computer.

“53 missiles onboard sir.”

“How many does the Sarande hold at full?”

“I think 125, with three missile bays as well,” Lea responded from memory. The Sarande was a popular topic to relieve the dull monotony that characterized missile bay work.

“We need to develop a weapon to take out those satellites,” I said absentmindedly as we slowly closed in on the enemy destroyer.

“I’ve heard some say that if they’d retrofit naval cannons onto a ship, they’d be able to knock out those satellites,” Hal said.

“Destroyer is heading straight at the fleet, get ready,” Michael said.

“Fire and retreat to stay out of the destroyer’s weapon range, assume that it is 8000 kilometers until informed otherwise,” Captain James ordered.

“The target is in range Lieutenant,” Lea shouted at me.

“Fire!”

BAWUMP!

“Full reverse!” the captain yelled as we retreated in a game becoming increasingly familiar.

“Missiles from the Zalau 002 have hit first, the others are still in flight. We need to continue retreating.”

“Thats a confirmed kill, credit to the whole fleet, nice job, now close in on those missile silos on planet and destroy them,” the captain said.

BAWUMP!

“Ocna 004 and our ship have fired first on planet, the others are just behind us. 004 has closed to 7000 kilometers, will have to make an abrupt retreat to avoid oncoming missiles.”

“Enemy launch detected...”

“About face, full thrust again, this should wipe out those silos.”

“Enemy missiles have locked on Sarande. Sarande is out of their range however. The silos are no longer pinging sir, they are destroyed.”

“Good job crew.”