Less than zero (RN: Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

LN-0R. People always speak of how the European or American navies could have dealt with The Koll so much more effectively. Of how The Koll threat would have been removed if anyone other than the Chinese had engaged them. If a real navy had gotten involved. But none of them were there. Neither was I for that matter, but I saw the live feeds that leaked through their jamming firsthand. I saw blow-by-blow actions of both sides. And believe me when I tell you that given the circumstances, the Chinese acquitted themselves far better than anyone thought possible for any navy. Their actions may not have stopped The Koll, but it was a slap in the face that certainly worried them.”
     
    “So the information fed to the public was inaccurate?”
     
    “While it’s true that The Koll did defeat the Chinese fleet, the information commonly released regarding the run-up to, and the actual battle of LN-0R, was ...was …well, for the lack of something more imaginative on my part, it was creative writing. Almost as good as what you people do. After engagements such as Devon, the Earth Defence Pact forces had gained a little breathing room, a short time in which to reinforce, resupply and prepare our fleets for the deluge we knew to be coming. And no one’s better at preparing for such events than the Chinese.”
     
    “How so?”
     
    “How so! The Chinese could out-build, out-train and out-supply any of the other forces combined. They could complete a capital ship in four months when we can’t even build a transport ship in that time. And whilst the Europeans and Americans were dawdling in red tape, the Chinese modular construction system allowed them to mass a fleet of over eight hundred ships to protect their colony at LN-0R. That’s roughly the combined might of all the other Earth Defence Pact navies combined. The Chinese truly reddened a few faces in our camp, I can assure you.”
     
    “Why have I not heard of any of this?”
     
    “You’re the newspaperman, so why don’t you tell me! The Chinese managed to assemble a fleet unheard of before or since, and they were prepared for anything. Anything except the eight thousand ships The Koll jumped in with.”
     
    “Eight thousand!”
     
    “Eight thousand.”
     
    “My God!”
     
    “The bulk of their liquid fleet, or so I’m informed. The Koll had had a taste of how we fought at Devon, Kess-LR, Zeik-bouy and the other places. And they knew how tenaciously we hung on, even in the most hopeless of circumstances. They wanted to snuff the human candle in the most devastating and public way possible, and to do this they needed to find and obliterate the most powerful navy Earth had to offer, and they chose LN-0R to make their statement.”
     
    “I’m afraid to ask what happened.”
     
    “I won’t go too far into the complexities, as far too much occurred to explain in the limited time we have, but it was nothing short of a massacre. As prepared as they were, the Chinese were still forming their forces. Squadrons were in disarray, with many ships between commanders and supply tenders and colonist ships amongst the fleet, and they had no viable screen. This resulted in a disorganised despatching of forces when confused captains received conflicting orders from multiple senior officers. If they’d had just one more day to sort themselves out, they would have presented the face that should have been.”
     
    “How many survivors were there?”
     
    “Survivors? I think you misunderstand when I say ‘massacre’. The destruction of the Chinese military and colonist fleets was complete. When they arrived, The Koll never even bothered to form up, they just dove straight in. Their sudden appearance and the chaotic spiralling approach of so many ships caught the Chinese completely off guard. Their battle computers were overwhelmed by the sheer numbers, with their tactical displays appearing more like white noise than sources of information. It was impossible to predict Koll