Riss Series 5: The Riss Challenge Page 19
"I would agree. Kill or disable as many as possible as they enter Freeland space. Since they can only enter a squadron at a time, that will be the time when they are most vulnerable," Zhu said. "Then reevaluate our numbers and positions."
"I'll be with the first line. If we can tie their VTH with mine, I and the Riss on board their ships can help direct their fire, so we aren't all shooting at the same ship. Captain Damaass can direct the second line, and Captain Pavao the main force."
"Why you?" Zhu asked, like he sensed the Riss discussion taking place. "Neither Admiral Wattson nor I are going to be in the front line."
"The Riss VTH will identify cruisers the SAS and UFN won't. Pavao, Damaass, and I have the most tactical experience, so we need to be where it can be utilized. And everyone has convinced me I can get into the enemies' minds. So, logically the first line is the best position for me. I'm not suicidal, but if Admiral Haddad gets a good foothold on Freeland with his invasion force intact, we are all going to die."
"The old argument. If you are the right person to be Leader, then we have to assume your decisions are right." Zhu laughed softly.
"I'll call a meeting of all the Captains and XOs to work out the details. I suspect we'll only get one chance to get it right," Wattson said.
The next two days were hectic, as we rushed to get everything in place for an attack that could come at any minute. The Captains were briefed on the strategy, the first and second lines identified, Riss assigned to each cruiser, the cruisers sent to their assigned positions, and the Irises were moved into their new locations. While we waited, Damaass and I conducted mockup exercises with the VTHs. Six days had passed and still no JPU. I called a meeting of the elders and the Riss-humans. Not wanting to leave my position on the front line, I had Alena bring the elders to the Mnemosyne.
"We don't know what is going to happen when...if Admiral Haddad invades Freeland. He could have as many as two hundred cruisers with ten super-Heavies. If he arrives before the UFN detail from Dunn, he will outnumber us by sixty cruisers. That's taking into account the Irises are equivalent to three cruisers. And even if the Riss technology gives us a twenty-percent advantage, they still will outnumber us by twenty cruisers. If the UFN show before the JPU, we will have a slight advantage—maybe ten to fifteen percent." I paused for comments. When only silence greeted me, I continued. "I want you to understand the Riss will do everything we can to protect Freeland; however, if at any point I or whoever becomes Leader determines the invasion force will win, the Riss cruisers will desert Freeland."
"And the Riss on Freeland?" Elder Sa'Velte asked.
"Yes. I'll desert you and the hundreds of defenseless Riss to be hunted and skinned alive for Haddad's sick amusement or vengeance or whatever drives men like Salazar and Neifeh." I had to stop, as bile rose into my month, and I gagged on the images. "But as Leader of the Riss, I made the Riss responsible for confining the JPU to their systems. They cannot honor that commitment without ships and without Riss-humans."
"Since you left, we have been organizing for just such an event. The JPU will not find the Freelanders as much fun as they imagine," Ni'Shay said, to nods from the others. "Knowing the JPU's fate at the hands of the Riss will help ease the suffering."
* * *
The VTH began tagging them: JH1, JH2, JL1...which designated JPU Heavy or Light and a sequential number.
With Thalia's help, the process was almost immediate. As soon as Thalia thought it, r-Galene sent the message in the form: SS1aL1J1LI, which translated into SAS Squadron 1 Light 1 assigned target tagged J1L1.
I knew if I had to make the assignments, it would have slowed down the process by many seconds in the beginning and become increasingly slower as time went on. Worse yet, I would have begun missing assignments. The process was extremely complex. Heavies had twelve tubes, Hunters ten, and Lights eight, and their time to reload varied. So the Lights could fire eight Demons every sixty seconds, the Hunters could fire ten every thirty seconds, and the Heavies twelve every fifty seconds. And there were two SAS and one UFN squadron in the first line and four Irises. Only a Riss could maintain that in memory—like a chess master playing fifty games simultaneously.
I had laid out a general strategy for Thalia: the Lights would fire a full load of eight at a designated target. Since the expected targets would be arriving in groups of eight to ten every thirty seconds or so, the second squadron would have to take on the next group leaving the Wave while the other squadron reloaded. The Hunters and Heavies would be assigned the JPU Heavies, firing a full load ten and twelve. I decided to let Thalia make the assignments independently while I monitored the status of the hits and assigned the Irises to target Heavies and super-Heavies that were still functional. R-Asdis on Radar was maintaining the color of the tags: green—operational, yellow—minor to major damage, and red—major damage. I had my attention on the Heavy and super-Heavy cruisers as the first priority, with red-tagged as my second priority.
It seemed like only seconds had passed when the message appeared.
The code for the alpha-taskforce to retreat back three light-seconds. A second message, Advance, had gone out to the beta-taskforce, second row, to replace the first.
Reviewing the board with Thalia, it appeared ten JPU squadrons had exited to date—one hundred cruisers: ten super-Heavies, ten Heavies, and eighty Lights. We had destroyed twenty and caused major damage to thirty-five, but forty-five remained operational. The beta taskforce couldn't expect similar results, as the new squadrons entering had some support. Dusters and Dragonflies would play a much bigger part in the battle with incoming squadrons.
I sat watching as the Eirene moved past us with the beta taskforce.
"How did it go, Leader Reese?"
"I believe we did extremely well, especially considering that the JPU cruisers were built for war, whereas the SAS cruisers were built more to support the planets and for confrontations with mercenaries. We destroyed twenty cruisers—including three of their super-Heavies—and caused significant damage to thirty-five. However, although I have complete faith in Captain Damaass, I doubt the beta taskforce will do as well, since the JPU has forty-five fully functional cruisers safely in Freeland space to support the subsequent waves of cruisers."
"The alpha taskforce did very well, but unfortunately, we have to continue doing very well if we are going to survive, especially if Haddad has added cruisers to his original one-hundred-sixty fleet," Wattson said. "When the last of the JPU have exited, I'm calling everyone back to regroup and consider our options."
* * *
I sat watching the VTH, which left a lot to be desired, since the Dusters interfered with the reception and Damaass had elected
to blanket the area with them. I assumed he intended to use the Dragonflies to monitor the JPU activity and use Demons with Riss solutions against them.
But only minutes later, the JPU cruisers appeared and the beta taskforce disappeared. I shook my head as if that would help, trying to understand what I was seeing.
The forty-plus cruisers exiting the Duster debris would only see alpha-taskforce cruisers, since Damaass had entered the Duster debris and would be exiting on the other side—closer to the Wave exit.
We only had ten cruisers in alpha taskforce but did have five Irises and the Mnemosyne, which made for poor odds. My head spun as I fought to come up with a strategy.
I turned my attention to the Irises and set up four Demons rotating from one thru six. I hoped to monitor the VTH and would change assignments as the damage reports came in.
The Mnemosyne shuddered as the first six missiles raced toward JSH1—time to impact, approximately one-hundred-sixty seconds.
I estimated we were roughly three-and-one-half light-seconds from the oncoming cruisers, which if SAS Intel were right put us just outside their maximum missile range—two-point-eight light-seconds. Since we were using Riss solutions, the distance didn't matter to the alpha taskforce. By now, the JPU cruisers would have selected targets. Within less than a minute, hundreds of missiles would be racing toward the alpha taskforce. It wouldn't be long before the Mnemosyne's position would be noted, as our weapons were hot.
The initial encounter was surreal, in that the alpha taskforce had three missile launches before the first launch made contact, and the JPU had two launches—over a thousand missiles hurtling through space. Ironically, the alpha-taskforce missiles were evenly targeted, whereas the JPU couldn't help but be disproportional, since each captain made independent choices. Therefore, one cruiser might have been selected by eight captains and another by only one.
The first round of hits was encouraging, one to three hits on every JPU cruiser. The second round was equally good; several tags disappeared from the VTH, and several went red—non-operational.
Right on time, as the JPU missiles were within thirty seconds of reaching us, and they were sensor-driven. Pulling back would also help, as the JPU missiles would lose power when the distance exceeded two-point-eight seconds—their first load. None the less, one Heavy disappeared, 3 Lights when red, and the Mnemosyne shook as multiple missiles scored direct hits. My eyes flew to the damage monitor: battle metal had contained three hits, but three had breached the hull, opening several compartments to space and killing... I hated war... Several fighters destroyed, partial loss of ECM, and three missile tubes damaged.
The battle raged on for another five minutes, but the Duster clouds and increasing distance reduced the carnage. Then it stopped when beta taskforce emerged, retreating back with us toward the main group. The fighting was ferocious when beta taskforce appeared behind the JPU ships that were harassing us, but after two loads, beta taskforce skipped out of range. When that happened, all new activity seemed to stop, and both forces formed up.
"It appears Haddad has stopped to reorganize. We did very well, but I'm not sure that is enough. Haddad brought in close to two hundred cruisers, an extra forty. It appears we destroyed forty-six and caused major damage to another seventy-four, leaving Seventy-seven. We lost thirty-eight and are left with fifty-seven. Unless one side or the other does something really stupid or has a surprise, it looks like we are in a position to annihilate each other," Wattson said, looking at one of his monitors.
"I would imagine that is exactly what Admiral Haddad is debating," Zhu said, stroking his beard. I agreed with Wattson and Zhu, and I could just imagine Admiral Haddad's conflicting thoughts. He had a higher loss ratio than he had assumed, which left him with a smaller margin than he would like, especially considering the demonstrated effectiveness of the Riss technology. It would be an all or nothing gambit, not an ideal situation for an advocate of overwhelming force. And although the super-Heavies were effective, they were not invincible—thirteen of the twenty were either destroyed or non-operational—which meant he was vulnerable, as his force wasn't overwhelming. I didn't feel sorry for him, but I thought he must have a monster of a headache.
"I'm surprised the SAS and UFN decided to support the animals. You will find it was an unfortunate choice. Although you did well, you are going to lose, and the Jahaba Supreme Council will consider it an act of war, since you are in JPU space. However, if you leave now, before my reinforcements arrive, it may make the treaty talks easier. Take your time, I'm in no rush."
That was an interesting twist, I mused. The closest base is two days away. Of course, he has destroyed the Comstats and is blocking the Wave, so neither Wattson nor Zhu can call for reinforcements. Haddad is implying we are all going to die regardless of what we do because even if we can defeat him before his reinforcements arrive, they will finish off whoever survives. His further implication is it's in our best interest to leave now.
"What do you think, Admiral Zhu, Reese?"
"Clever move, whether it's true or not, intimidating and impossible to verify or disprove," Zhu said. "Whatever else he is, he isn't stupid."
"He's bluffing," I said, unsure why but positive it was true.
"How do you know, Leader Reese? Not that I doubt you," Zhu said with a small amused smile.
"He doesn't want an all-out battle because the odds aren't good, yet he doesn't want to back down and look weak. He knows that without overwhelming force, his super-Heavy will be involved, and that he could be killed regardless of the final outcome." I said, voicing my intuition.
Zhu clapped. "I see what people mean when they call you a dybbuk. Most leaders who believe in overwhelming force tend to be cowards, or at the very least, self-interested."
"Well, dybbuk, what do you think he would do if we attacked?" Wattson asked with a snort.
"If we give him time, I'd think he'll retreat."
"Alright. Let's decide on an attack strategy, while alpha-and-beta taskforces are making repairs and restocking.
* * *
My head snapped toward the VTH. How had Haddad gotten reinforcements so fast? It should have taken several days—travel to wherever and back. I had been so certain...
Tags began appearing: UH1-1, UH1-2, UL1-1...Admiral Zhu's forces from Dunn had arrived. Soon afterward, the JPU force began a race toward the Wave, and Wattson ordered all squadrons in pursuit, although too far behind to be effective unless Haddad chose to stop and fight, which he would be insane to do. The UFN's six squadrons and the JPU's roughly eight squadrons were in missile range of each other for thirty-six minutes. The UFN did extremely well, as many of the lightly damaged JPU cruisers only needed a few additional hits to become non-functional. The UFN reinforcements lost twenty-three cruisers, but they destroyed or inflicted major damage on twenty-nine of the JPU fleet
. Admiral Haddad's invasion force of two hundred was left with forty-six functional and a handful of non-functional cruisers, all of which managed to enter the Wave. The coalition was left with eighty-two functional cruisers, not including the six Riss cruisers.
* * *
It took two weeks to recover. The sick and wounded had to be identified and treated; many were sent to Freeland facilities. Each disabled JPU cruiser had to be inspected for survivors, which sometimes resulted in major in-ship battles. The JPU wounded were treated, and the prisoners were moved to makeshift detention facilities on Freeland. Non-functional ships had to be moved to an out-of-the way graveyard; and salvageable ships repaired enough to be returned home.
Toward the end of the second week, Wattson called for a dinner meeting with Zhu and me.
"Admiral Zhu, Admiral Wattson, I want to personally thank you on behalf of the Riss Nation. Without your help, Freeland would not exist today. Our six cruisers and the nine Irises could not have survived Admiral Haddad's invasion fleet. At some point, I would have had to abandon the millions on Freeland and a thousand Riss."
"You would have abandoned them?" Wattson asked in shock. Zhu only nodded imperceptibly.
"The Riss are not heroes. If it became clear—which it would have at some point—that we would lose, we would have left to regroup. What good would it do to die? Honor? The Freelanders and the Riss on the planet understand that. The Freelanders would rather we seek revenge; the Riss that we stop the violence to others."
"Makes sense, but I would think most commanders wouldn't consider leaving an option," Wattson said, then gave a short laugh. "We like heroes."
"Yes, our societies tend to have only heroes and cowards. Leaving people to die would be considered cowardice. But the Riss are wise, having neither heroes nor cowards. It allows for smarter choices." Zhu said.