Fatal Containment

Fatal Containment - Chapter 19

Chapter 19

The ship's battle stations alarm blared throughout its corridors. The crew, seasoned by merciless drills, rushed to their action stations, adrenaline giving them fuel. Captain Cantrell stood on the bridge in complete serenity, his eyes fixed on the main viewscreen displaying the hostile vessel approaching from astern.

"Status," Cantrell commanded, his voice clear and as solid as a rock. Nothing seemed to faze the man.

Larson looked up, her face focused and determined as she replied from scanner one. "Enemy ship is closing rapidly. One hundred twenty thousand kilometers and closing, sir."

"Bring the long guns online. Prepare to slow to half speed on my mark," Cantrell said, his voice a calming force in the chaos of the expected engagement.

Connor could almost feel the deck plates shiver as the main armament was brought online. The "long guns" were energy weapons powered by a small, focused quantum explosion. The result would be a collimated beam of energy that could reach out to one hundred thousand kilometers to meet the enemy, although its useful range was within an envelope of eighty thousand kilos or less.

"Captain, scanners show the ship has launched a missile. Range is one hundred ten thousand and closing," Connor stated from the main tactical station.

"Slow to one-half speed, hard around, Mr. Jones," Cantrell said to the coxswain.

"One-half speed, hard around, aye, aye," Jones echoed.

The chief-of-the-boat wasted no time dropping the ship's speed and deftly began to pivot the vessel along its axis to face the oncoming threat. Terran ships were not designed with offensive weapons in the back of the ship. Its teeth were in the bow, matching the attitude of the Terran Empire. Terran ship designs said, "we will look you in the eye and watch you die."

The incoming missile continued to close the distance. Standard doctrine called for waiting until the seeking weapon was within the envelope of point defense before taking it out, leaving the "long guns" free to target the approaching enemy vessel.

Just then, the enemy ship began to rapidly salvo four more missiles at one-second intervals. Connor looked up, waiting for the captain to signal his intention to evade or return fire. But the old man merely stood there, watching the seconds tick by on his breast chronometer.

"Captain?" Connor ventured. But Cantrell simply raised his hand in a signal to wait.

The first missile closed to within twenty thousand kilometers as the bridge crew began to visibly sweat. What was Cantrell doing? Point defense could have easily erased that missile at forty thousand kilos. Why was he waiting?

Suddenly, the missile exploded, the shockwave sending everyone reeling who weren't holding tight to something.

"Return fire with the long guns!" Cantrell shouted over the noise of the damage reports coming in. "Point defense weapons free. Take these missiles out."

A heavy cruiser has a very strong defense system as it provides the backbone of enemy engagements. It is designed to quickly destroy anything smaller than a light cruiser and shrug off all attacks that an enemy might inflict with its massive forward shielding array. In fleet engagements, heavy cruisers formed up around the massive battleships and dreadnoughts to screen the larger ships and deliver their own ordinance to pound the enemy with their heavy weapons. Marginally slower than a light cruiser or destroyer, but able to go toe-to-toe with anything smaller than a capital ship.

But even heavy cruisers had limits to what punishment they can accrue in battle. While their mighty forward shield and heavy armor can take a lot of punishment, the ship's defenses also include anti-seeker projectiles designed to take out explosive ordinance well away from the ship itself. Which is why Connor was baffled that the captain hadn't engaged point defense while the missile was outside its own optimal damage radius.

But respond, the Dominion did. Immediately, the long guns fired their antimatter-pumped quantum payload and lashed out at the pursuing ship while the Dominion's point defense easily mopped up the remainder of the incoming missiles.

As the last missile exploded at a range of thirty-five thousand kilos, the approaching ship turned and fled, likely licking its own wounds from tangling with a ship of the line.

"Damage report," the captain bellowed.

"Shield generator four overloaded during the battle. The scan array on the port bow also took minor damage."

"Understood," Cantrell said flatly. "Chief, return us to our original course and speed."

"Returning to original course and speed, aye, aye," Jones repeated and casually turned the ship as though nothing had happened.

"We're not going to pursue?" Connor asked incredulously.

"Unnecessary, Commander," Cantrell said.

Connor stood there for a full five seconds while his emotions warred within him. Why did the captain allow the other ship to damage an Imperial warship? Was Cantrell's ego so vast that he didn't think it could happen? And why weren't they pursuing to punish the enemy vessel as he was so often fond of reminding the crew? It was obviously smaller and couldn't maintain the military speed of a heavy cruiser. It couldn't outrun them, so why let it go?

"Allocate damage control to repair any damaged items, Commander."

"Yes, sir," Connor respondedautomatically. The look of confusion on his face was mirrored by everyone onthe bridge as they all worked hard not to let it show. Surely the captain knewwhat he was doing.