Defeating the Storm: Officers of Tomorrow, #2

By Tyler Tarter

As war spreads through fill human-controlled space, Emilia is forced to take the lead to defend her home from the threat of attack. Despite her age and lack of experience, the crew of the UDS Templar has quickly become legends to the fleet and are thrown into combat command.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tyler Tarter
• Release date: Nov 26, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005300883

Book preview

By Tyler Tarter

Preface

Sitting on the bridge of his flagship, Admiral Nedica watched as the tactical sphere in front of him exploded with flashes of light as ships jumped into the Barnard System.  Scrambling to press the button to signal the crew of his carrier to battle stations, he also began barking orders to his bridge crew.

Nav, move us into a better position for combat and move the rest of the fleet into a screen position to cover the three carriers.  Tactical, arm all weapons and prepare to raise our shields when the fighters are away.  Ops, scramble the fighters and get the first wave into space and into formation for an assault.

With the faint blare of the claxon coming from the hall behind the bridge, the admiral tried to focus on the images that were slowly appearing in the sphere as the sensor pulses spread out from the fleet.  Fighting down the urge to throw up, he watched as sixty ships became one hundred and as some began to appear, other bursts of gamma rays appeared on the edges of the sphere signaling the arrival of hundreds more.  Glancing at the center of the sphere, the admiral did his best to fight down the growing pit in the center of his stomach as he counted the sixty-three ships of his combined fleet that had been sent to secure this system.

Seeing his only hope for survival growing smaller, he leaned forward in the chair and called out to his comms team.

"Comms get me the captains of the Arrowhead and the Ares; we need them to pull back and hold off the enemy ships that are trying to wrap around us.  Ops pull back our Raven and Trident fighters, they will help the two destroyers to keep our path open.  Once we have a secure escape route, send the frigates out with the support ships first followed by the weaker ships.

We will be one of the last ships out along with our battlewagons, we will deploy to screen the retreat in a shrinking bubble.  Finally, deploy all of our messenger ships and send them to every known friendly ship or outpost nearby.  If we don’t make it out, we need the rest of the Navy to converge on this path and block this fleet’s advance.

Turning to look at his entire crew, he decided that this would be the moment that either made or ended his career.  Pressing the button on his command pad, he opened the fleet-wide comm channel and began to address his fleet.

"Sailors and Marines of the United Democratic Fleet, we stand today at a crossroads that will define the future of our people.  We are vastly outnumbered, and we are the only thing standing between the enemy and our homes.  Many of us joined this fleet as a way to gain an occupation or get out of a difficult situation, but today we have the chance to do something that will change the shape of the human race for all eternity. 

"For this reason, I ask that you all give everything you have to save your friends and family that we have left behind.  Today I fight for my wife and two children, and I will do everything in my power and beyond to take as many of these bastards with me if I’m forced to part from them today.  We will try our best to withdraw from the fight and move to a better position to defend our controlled space, but there is no guarantee that we will all make it out of this.  Know that we will forever honor any sacrifice that is made on our families’ behalf and if necessary I will willingly lay down my life to save as many of you as possible.

I pray that our cause is found just and that whatever divine being you worship will protect us all and find a way to aid us during this battle.  Know that I have complete faith in this entire team, and I know that we will be the rock that this wave breaks on.  I have sent targeting data to every ship in the fleet.  These two ships will break the enemy if we can eliminate them so don’t spare any ordinance on them.

Closing the connection to the comms system, he glanced around the bridge checking for anyone that was about to break, but only saw determined faces.  After a few seconds, the bridge crew broke the moment with a chorus of acknowledgment and went to work typing away at their computer and speaking softly into their headsets.  Watching the large glowing sphere in front of him, he tried to predict the future as his fighters broke into two groups with one group pouring towards the enemy’s center while the other half broke towards the edges of the advancing enemy lines.  The two destroyers followed suit, swinging away from the body of the fleet in a wide spiral towards the enemy, launching a ribbon of missiles as they drew close enough to target the enemy ships.

Taking a deep breath, he moved into the tactical sphere and located the ships that seemed to be the anchors for the enemy force.  Finding the large cigar shape of the carrier from the United Soviet Planetary Republic with that nation’s ships swirling off its port side, he selected it as the primary target before shifting over to its mirrored companion.  Selecting the massive ant-like carrier from the Asiatic People’s Republic at the hub of the second half of the fleet, he pulled back and gave a single word of command.

Fire.

Chapter 1: Distress Call

Sitting back in the command chair, Emilia read the report detailing the battle in the Barnard system for the second time, where the Ruby Fleet had stood tall against a fleet that was reportedly three times larger than their own.  After nearly two days of intense fighting, Admiral Nedica had managed to save two-thirds of his fleet while destroying and routing the enemy.  Despite his successes, he had been forced to sacrifice a Khan class battleship, two Thunderbird class Cruisers, and his flagship a Jacob class carrier.

Doing the math quickly in her head, she was floored with the number of casualties.  Before she could fully wrap her mind around the number of the dead, Clara swung up beside her, clearly shaken by the same thought, and asked the question that was holding her mind in a loop.

Am I doing the math right, that is eight thousand dead on the four capital ships alone, plus the smaller ships and fighters that were lost.  If my calculations are correct, we lost over ten thousand of our people in that one battle alone.  How is that even possible?

Doing her best to keep the conversation private, because she hadn’t shared the information with the crew yet, she responded.

That is a massive number, but did you see the estimates of the enemy losses? They lost nearly half of their attack fleet, meaning that about sixty ships including twelve capital ships were destroyed in the fight.  We avenged our dead on the two carriers alone, then added another fourteen thousand in the rest of the capital ships.  I’m guessing that they lost nearly fifty thousand in the whole battle.

Taking a deep breath, she glanced around the bridge and opened the ship-wide comms system.  Still not entirely sure how to explain what happened, she began with what felt best.

"Crew of the UDA Templar we just received news from the border where a massive battle was fought in the Barnard System.  As the Ruby Fleet was in the process of securing the system, a massive joint fleet from the Asiatic People’s Interstellar Republic and the United Soviet Planetary Republic attacked.  The enemy brought over one hundred and thirty confirmed ships to a fight against sixty of ours and left with their tails between their legs.

Because I don’t want to take up your whole day with the report, I have sent the entire report that we have received to your terminals in your quarters.  Please wait until you are off duty to review these reports because there are a lot of details and a lot of unknowns still.  We are still in a combat posture, and I can’t afford to have any of you distracted if we are attacked or have an issue arise.  Thank you for your hard work and we will shortly be back to doing our part.

Closing the channel to the entire ship, she glanced over at Clara and opened a channel to Sterling. 

Commander Burnett, can you please report to my office at your earliest convenience.  And please bring lieutenant Rahula with you.

Not waiting for a conversation, she closed the link and opened up another one to Brigette.

Commander Cantteau, please report to my office in thirty minutes.  Thank you.

Slowly lowering herself to the deck, she climbed out of the command chair and made her way to her office, doing her best to not look like she was in pain despite the grief she felt in her heart.  Glancing behind her, she found Clara a few steps behind her.  Motioning to her aide, she stepped close as she reached the door and gave a brief order.

"Send them in one at a time please and if possible please keep the others in the conference room.  These aren’t