Final Flight (Battlegroup Z Book 6) Read online

  Final Flight

  Battlegroup Z Book Six

  Daniel Gibbs

  Contents

  CSV Zvika Greengold Blueprints

  SF-86 Sabre Blueprints

  Starchart - Sagittarius/Orion Arms

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  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Epilogue

  Sample Chapter - Fight the Good Fight

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  Acknowledgements

  Final Flight by Daniel Gibbs

  Copyright © 2021-2022 by Daniel Gibbs

  Visit Daniel Gibb’s website at

  www.danielgibbsauthor.com

  Cover by Jeff Brown Graphics—www.jeffbrowngraphics.com

  Additional Illustrations by Joel Steudler—www.joelsteudler.com

  This book is a work of fiction, the characters, incidents and dialogues are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. For permissions please contact [email protected].

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  Battlegroup Z

  Book 1 - Weapons Free

  Book 2 - Hostile Spike

  Book 3 - Sol Strike

  Book 4 - Bandits Engaged

  Book 5 - Iron Hand

  Book 6 - Final Flight

  Echoes of War

  Book 1 - Fight the Good Fight

  Book 2 - Strong and Courageous

  Book 3 - So Fight I

  Book 4 - Gates of Hell

  Book 5 - Keep the Faith

  Book 6 - Run the Gauntlet

  Book 7 - Finish the Fight

  Breach of Faith

  (With Gary T. Stevens)

  Book 1 - Breach of Peace

  Book 2 - Breach of Faith

  Book 3 - Breach of Duty

  Book 4 - Breach of Trust

  Deception Fleet

  (With Steve Rzasa)

  Book 1 - Victory’s Wake

  Book 2 - Cold Conflict

  Book 3 - Hazards Near

  Book 4 - Liberty’s Price

  Book 5 - Ecliptic Flight

  1

  Eire System—Near Eire XIII

  Terran Coalition Core Worlds

  3 April 2435

  “Alpha One, guns, guns, guns,” Justin called into his commlink as he squeezed the integrated trigger for his Sabre’s neutron cannons. A moment later, the League fighter in front of him blew apart in a bright-orange burst of flame. “Splash one.”

  “Don’t rub it in,” First Lieutenant Elisabete Mateus replied. “We know you’re up to nearly a hundred confirmed kills.”

  Justin smiled at the reminder. He didn’t keep up with his kill count. “You’re up there yourself. Okay, people, let’s take another pass at this convoy. Javelins ready. The third freighter, Master Four, is heavily damaged on its starboard quarter. I want it erased.”

  “Wilco, sir,” Second Lieutenant Christopher Lowell interjected eagerly. The youngest member of Alpha element, the nugget still had a lot to learn, but he was one downed League craft away from being an ace.

  Engaging a League supply convoy on its way farther into the Eire star system, the Red Tails squadron and their brethren on the Zvika Greengold were finally on the offensive for the first time since the war had started.

  And hitting the League on our terms feels good.

  Justin rotated his craft and pointed it at the freighter. A type-C cargo hauler, the enemy vessel had limited defensive capabilities. Most of its escorts had been destroyed.

  In the thirty seconds Alpha element took to get lined up, Justin toggled through his missile selector and switched to the remaining Javelin mounted to a hardpoint on his wing. The majority of his pilots were running out of munitions, but the lack of enemy targets remaining balanced it out.

  “That’s one big target,” Feldstein said. “Got her aft engines in my sights.”

  “Stand by for max range,” Justin replied. His lock-on tone sounded. “Alpha One, fox four.”

  “Alpha Three, fox four.”

  As the others called out missile launches, four anti-ship warheads zoomed away from the flight of Sabres. Since the vessel had little point-defense capability left, all four slammed into its starboard quarter. Chunks of the weakened hull blasted apart, vapor escaping into the void. The last Javelin to hit took out an engine, and a chain reaction began. The explosion grew larger until the entire vessel erupted in a violent display of pyrotechnics.

  “Splash one. Splash one freighter.” Justin whooped. “I think you got the kill shot, Alpha Two.”

  “I’ll take it,” Feldstein replied.

  “Inbound bandits bearing zero-six-zero. Six Shrike fighters,” Mateus interjected.

  “They’re headed toward Beta element,” Justin replied. Beta was a flight of four Mauler bombers. “Alpha, break and engage bandits.”

  The space-superiority fighters reversed course and pawed the vacuum toward the enemy. With afterburners engaged, they closed the distance before the Leaguers caught up to the slow-moving heavy bombers flown by First Lieutenant Jackson Adeoye and his pilots.

  Justin marked the closest enemy as his on his HUD. The moment his lock-on tone sounded, he pressed the missile-launch button. “Alpha One, fox three.”

  “Alpha Four, fox two,” Lowell called.

  Missile icons appeared on Justin’s HUD as Alpha lit up the void. Blue energy streaked toward the enemy, and the League craft scattered. The unlucky fighter Justin had targeted took the heat-seeking warhead hit on its aft shield, then a barrage of neutron cannon bolts followed, making the fighter explode.

  In the time it had taken Justin to dispatch one enemy craft, the rest of Alpha had taken out two more. Lowell was doggedly pursuing a fourth enemy, firing on it with energy weapons as the Leaguer used a guns-D flight maneuver to throw him off.

  “Lead him, Alpha Four. A few degrees to your right.”

  “Wilco,” Lowell replied, sounding stressed.

  As he struggled to obtain a guns solution, the two remaining League craft whip
ped behind him. Within moments, bright-red balls of superheated plasma flew through the void, followed by heat-seeking missiles, all splattering against Lowell’s shields.

  As cool as a cucumber, Justin engaged his afterburner and accelerated toward the enemy. “Alpha Four, break hard. Deploy flares.”

  “Wilco.” A burst of static came through the commlink. “They’re all over me, sir. Can’t shake ’em.”

  “Guns-D, Lieutenant. Keep them guessing.” Justin bit his lip. “I’m on the way.”

  “Yes, sir.” For the first time, fear crept into Lowell’s voice.

  A pilot’s losing situational awareness was never good, but at least the rookie had done it when only a few enemy craft were left on the board. Feldstein, Mateus, and Justin all angled toward the two hostiles and sent LIDAR-tracking missiles at them.

  “Alpha One, guns, guns, guns,” Justin called as he sent a flurry of neutron-cannon bolts into the void.

  Luckily for Alpha element, the League pilots were greener than Lowell. They tracked him movement for movement and didn’t realize they’d been targeted until far too late.

  Hit by two Vultures and neutron bolts from three directions simultaneously, one Leaguer blew apart. The second rolled away, only to be caught by the third warhead and more energy-weapons fire. Its pilot managed to eject before the reactor went critical.

  With his tail clear of the hostiles, Lowell regained target lock on the Leaguer he’d been chasing and fired his neutron cannons repeatedly until it, too, was erased from the universe.

  “Alpha Four, splash one.” Lowell switched to a private channel. “Thank you, sir.”

  “Don’t thank me, Lieutenant. I’m going to tear a bloody strip out of you when we get back to the Greengold. But at least you’re still alive to have that strip torn out. Let this be a lesson. When you lose situational awareness, you lose your life.”

  Lowell gulped. “Yes, sir.”

  Justin flipped the channel back to the Red Tails squadron. “Back in formation, ladies and gents. We’ve got some Leaguers to finish off.”

  Blue light bathed the bridge of the CSV Greengold, casting shadows across the consoles and computer stations. In the center of the barely controlled chaos, Colonel Banu Tehrani sat in the CO’s chair, overseeing everything. She stared at her tactical plot, which showed a shrinking number of red icons representing League of Sol forces while her battlegroup and small craft pressed the attack.

  “Conn, TAO. Master Six disabled,” First Lieutenant Zachary Bryan said over the din of battle. “Escape pods launching.”

  That leaves two frigates and one destroyer guarding four remaining freighters. “Navigation, intercept course…” Tehrani glanced at her screen. “Master Four.”

  “Aye, aye, ma’am.”

  “TAO, firing point procedures, forward neutron beams, Master Four. Designate Master Four as the fleet's primary target.”

  “Aye, aye, ma’am,” Bryan replied. “Firing solution set.”

  The last few weeks had involved multiple engagements with League supply convoys, all with similar results—lots of destroyed enemy ships but precious few losses on the CDF side. Tehrani felt like she should be on top of the universe. Finally, they were hitting back. Part of her enjoyed paying the Leaguers in spades for what they’d done to the Terran Coalition, but the ugly incident from two months ago when she’d tried to destroy escape pods launched by pirate vessels wouldn’t leave her mind.

  No one had mentioned it or treated her differently. Not even her executive officer, Major Benjamin Wright, had acted with reproach—after he’d relieved her of command. Still, she kept going back to that day and hour, which was a stain on her honor. One that she had no idea how to remove. For the moment, wiping out the enemy was a fair substitute.

  “Match bearings, shoot, forward neutron beams. Signal all friendly vessels to coordinate their shots.”

  “Aye, aye, ma’am.”

  Twin spears of tightly focused neutron energy erupted from the bow of the Greengold. Moving at the speed of light, they slammed into and bored through the weakened shields of the League destroyer. Magnetic-cannon shells and missiles from the Greengold’s escorts showered the enemy ship. Explosions dotted the surface, blowing chunks of hull into the void. After a few seconds, a chain reaction started and reduced the destroyer to a cloud of finely ground debris.

  “Conn, TAO. Master Four destroyed, ma’am,” Bryan interjected. “Master Seven disabled by Theta element.”

  That left one frigate plus the freighters. While Alpha had destroyed one in the opening minutes of the engagement, they’d left most for after the escort was dealt with. Tehrani settled back in her seat. “I think it’s time we offer them a chance to surrender. Don’t you XO?”

  “Read my mind, skipper.”

  “Communications, get a general broadcast on vidlink.”

  “Aye, aye, ma’am. You’re on,” First Lieutenant Gopinath Singh replied.

  “Attention, League vessels. This is Colonel Tehrani, commanding officer, CSV Zvika Greengold, Coalition Defense Force. You’re outnumbered and outgunned. No further loss of life is needed today. Surrender now, and I promise you will be treated according to the Canaan Convention on Human and Alien Rights. Continue to resist, and we will destroy your vessels.”

  After fifteen seconds, Sing said, “No response, ma’am.”

  Continued energy-weapons and missile fire from the League vessels showed on Tehrani’s tactical monitor. “Well, with that out of the way, let’s finish them off. Navigation, intercept course, Master Two. TAO, firing point procedures, forward neutron beams.”

  Wright crossed his arms. “I’d wager the ship drivers want to give up, but their political commissars won’t allow it. Or worse, they’ve already shot the COs and are commanding the vessels themselves.”

  “And our destroyed tonnage keeps going up.”

  “That, too, skipper.” Wright barely suppressed a grin. “Not that we compete with the other hunter-killer battlegroups, but last I saw, we were comfortably ahead.”

  “Let’s keep it that way, XO.” As she stared straight ahead, a fire burned in Tehrani’s soul. The League would feel the force of that fire again in a few moments, the second Master Two was in range.

  2

  “That’s the last one, Theta One.” Justin scanned his HUD. “Remaining fighters are out of range. Recommend you reengage.”

  “Acknowledged, Alpha One,” First Lieutenant Jackson Adeoye replied. “Theta element engaging Master Eight.” Before taking over the Zvika Greengold’s bomber unit, the Winged Lightnings, he had been Alpha Three. His level-headed leadership had kept the squadron together in the face of horrendous losses.

  Calculating how long it would take for the next group of six League space-superiority fighters to reach them, Justin shook his head. Not soon enough, Leaguers.

  The four Maulers advanced toward the type-C freighter, one of three remaining in the formation.

  “Theta One, fox four.”

  Other bomber pilots called out Javelin launches, and four warheads streaked toward the League cargo hauler. Lacking deflector shields, point-defense emplacements, and maneuvering power, the freighters were easy pickings for superior CDF technology.

  Another icon disappeared from Justin’s HUD—a League Lancer-class frigate destroyed by magnetic-cannon and neutron-beam strikes from the CSV Marcus Luttrell and the CSV Ernest Evans.

  We’re bringing superior firepower, numbers, and technology to bear. This ought to be a cakewalk.

  Master Eight attempted to accelerate and turn away from the inbound Javelins, but all four warheads slammed into the freighter’s starboard amidships section, and bright flashes of light momentarily blinded Justin as he stared, transfixed. When the glare faded, the vessel had split in two, then both halves blew apart in another wild display of pyrotechnics.

  “Scratch one League freighter,” Adeoye called. “Redirecting to Master One.”

  “Acknowledge, Theta One,” Justin replied. “Alpha
, four bandits inbound bearing zero-six-one, range two thousand kilometers. Break and attack, weapons free.”

  “Wilco,” Feldstein said as her fighter peeled out of formation.

  Justin rotated his craft and pushed the throttle to maximum, matching the rest of Alpha element. Not bothering with obtaining a guns solution on the inbound enemies, he toggled his missile-launch selector to double rather than the typical single fire.

  The lock-on tone sounded as Justin’s Sabre entered max range. “Alpha One, fox three.” He pressed the launch button, and two Vultures dropped from his internal stores bay. Both streaked toward the enemy, their gel-fuel-propellent engines making the warheads accelerate rapidly.

  Less than a minute later, both hit their intended target and erased it from the universe. “Alpha One, splash one hostile.”

  The other three went down quickly, with only Lowell closing to finish off his quarry with his Sabre's energy weapons.

  “Alpha Four, splash one. That puts me at three today.”

  “Oh, quit bragging,” Mateus replied.

  “Hey, I’m looking forward to ace-in-a-day.”

  “It’s not going to get you any action with the ladies,” she deadpanned.

  “Who said anything about the ladies? I just want to get one up on you for once, Lieutenant.”