Star Carrier 3: Singularity by Ian Douglas

Author:Ian Douglas [Douglas, Ian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
ISBN: 978-0061840272
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2012-02-27T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

30 June 2405

CIC

TC/USNA CVS America

TRGA, Texaghu Resch System

1224 hours, TFT

“Admiral Koenig? The last of the SAR tugs is coming on board now.”

The voice was CAG Wizewski’s. On one of the CIC monitors, Koenig could see the UTW-90 space tug, a clumsy, black beetle with a crippled Starhawk grasped tightly in its forward gripping arms, approaching Landing Bay Three.

“Who is that?” Koenig asked.

“Lieutenant Ryan, Dragonfires,” Wizewski replied. “SAR snagged her from a trajectory that was taking her into the sun.”

“God. Is she okay?”

“Should be, sir. The tug’s med-AI reports radiation exposure and dehydration, but they’ll have her in sick bay in a few minutes.”

“Good. Keep me informed.” This was the eighth streaker brought back by the SAR tugs after the fighter assault on the TRGA defenders. The Search and Rescue teams were reporting no more contacts out there… none still living, in any case.

It was time to initiate “Trigger Pull.”

That was the operation name with which the battlegroup tactical departments had come back. Koenig had given them a problem: Was there a way to get through the TRGA bottleneck without subjecting the fleet to devastating and concentrated fire?

And his staff had come back with an unqualified… maybe.

The actual idea had come from General Joshua Mathers, in command of the fleet’s Marines. “What we need,” Mathers had said, “are some door-kickers.”

The Marines of MSU-17 were there to seize enemy orbital fortifications, bases on moons or planetoids, or even, if necessary, grab a beachhead on an alien planet. Trained in CCBT—close combat boarding tactics—they could also be employed to storm enemy hard points, capture weapons positions, secure landing zones, or rescue prisoners. “Door-kicker” was a term from centuries before, referring to the man on point who would take down a locked door so the rest of the assault team could storm through. Tactics varied with the situation and the door; historically, they included the use of explosives, a shotgun, a battering ram, or a low-tech application of shoulder or foot.

What Mathers had suggested was the use of explosives—specifically of high-yield nuclear explosives. CBG-18 possessed three ships designated as heavy missile carriers, or bombardment ships. The Ma’at Mons was a veteran of the battles of Arcturus and Alphekka, under the command of Captain John Grunmeyer.

The other two had joined the fleet after the confrontation with Grand Admiral Giraurd at HD 157950. There was the Pan-European missile carrier Gurrierre, Captain Alain Penchard in command.

And there was the Chinese Hegemony vessel Cheng Hua, officially designated as a cruiser, but in fact designed as a missile bombardment ship. She was under the command of Shang Xiao Jiang Ji.

A typical missile bombardment vessel was a third the length of the America—around 350 meters long and massing perhaps 100,000 tons. The Chinese cruiser was a little smaller—312 meters in length. All had the same general layout dictated by the physics of high-velocity travel—a forward cap filled with water that served both as reaction mass and as a shield against particulate radiation—and a relatively slender spine mounting drives and a set of rotating habitation modules tucked into the cap’s shadow.

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