“Unless there’s some reason they don’t want us to go to Prospero,” Dixon suggested. “Though I honestly can’t think what that might be. There’s nothing that special there. It’s just a convenient freeport that I happen to know. I’ve got a few friends there. At least, I had. Nothing more.”
“There’s no way we can check into his background,” Corrigan said. “Not without access to the Intelligence database we don’t have. I don’t trust him either, though I think I trust that his primary objective is to stay alive.”
“He and I have that in common,” Dixon replied. “Then we’re going to alter course? Take the safe option?”
“Not in the slightest,” Corrigan said. “We’re going to head to Prospero, just as planned, but we’re going to emerge from warp at full acceleration and at battle stations, ready to open fire on anything that moves. We’ve got a hell of a punch. I’m confident that we can shoot a hole through any formation trying to block us.”
“Commander,” Carter protested. “If we do that, then any hope of keeping our mission secret is well and truly gone.”
“Sure, but I think we’re past that point anyway,” Corrigan replied. “If the Belters have that much knowledge about where we’re going, our secret is out in any case, and we might as well do as much damage as possible.” He smiled, then said, “If Crawford is telling the truth, then we’re going to have a nice, target-rich environment commanded by someone who thinks he’s taking us by surprise. We can turn that right around and ruin his whole day, with a little bit of luck.”
“And if he’s lying?”
“Then I’ll buy the first round at the bar.”
Chapter 13
The shuttle soared over the lunar surface, racing towards its target, the cluster of three battlecruisers hanging in low orbit alongside their supply station. The Interstellar Squadron. The most prestigious assignment in the fleet at any time, especially now, with war being raged across the stars. Maddox had been told that they were to be held back, waiting for an opportunity to use them, a threat that could inspire fear into the heart of the Belters.
Now they were going out, out into deep space, and she was to command them. Under the gaze of Admiral Alvarez, of course, but that didn’t make any difference. She was getting a squadron command again, and the most prized squadron in the fleet, the peak of any officer’s career. She had resigned herself to simply sitting on Gateway Station for the rest of the war, watching while the ships she worked on sailed to battle under others.
Not now. Now she had a chance to go out herself. A chance to match herself against the best the Belt had to offer. A chance to make a difference. She glanced back at her two aides, Rojek and Moreau. The latter had served with her for years, had been her assistant at Gateway, was a trusted confidant. Rojek, on the other hand, remained a mystery, the bulk of his career buried under security restrictions. What little she could discern suggested that he was the last person she would normally have selected for such an assignment. The Admiral, however, hadn’t given her any choice. It was Rojek or nobody. He would just have to do.
“Commodore?” the young pilot said. “We’re landing in two minutes. Captain Wells has been alerted and will be meeting us at Docking One.”
“Thank you, Ensign,” she replied, climbing out of the co-pilot’s couch. “Thanks for the ride.”
“Any time, ma’am,” he said with a smile, as she tugged at her dress uniform, brushing off her jacket to make sure everything was in place. Nobody ever had more than one first impression. Hers had to be good. This wasn’t a backwater posting like Gateway. This was important, and that importance filled her with awe. Moreau was at his best, his uniform parade-ground smart, but somehow Rojek had mastered the art of slouching into his, resisting the best efforts of the Fleet’s tailors to force conformity.
She looked at the sleek, smooth lines of the battlecruiser Glorious before her, trying to take in every detail. It had been years since she’d served on a ship of this size, and that had only been on a decommissioning assignment, shortly after she’d left the Academy. Compared to that aged craft, Glorious gleamed, a true flagship of the Fleet.
The shuttle lined up with the docking airlock, the pilot firing a few careful pulses on the docking thrusters to guide them into position, connecting with the warship with a barely perceptible thud. The double hatches slid open, and Maddox stepped into the threshold, two meticulously-uniformed officers waiting for them, snapping precision-grade salutes.
“Commodore Maddox?” the first said. “Captain Christine Wells, your flag captain and squadron executive officer.” Gesturing to her right, she added, “Commander Joseph Hunter, Executive and Operations Officer.”
Nodding, Maddox indicated, “Major Clyde Rojek, my senior aide, and Lieutenant Gabriel Moreau, my executive assistant.” She frowned, then asked, “Where are the other senior staff?”
Wells glanced at Hunter, then replied, “I’m sorry, ma’am, I assumed you had been informed. We have priority orders from Admiral Alvarez to prepare for immediate departure. We’ll be breaking orbit in fifteen minutes, and all of the senior staff are…”
“Are too busy to come and meet their new commanding officer?” Moreau asked, shaking his head. “Captain, with all due respect, that is…”
“Lieutenant,” Maddox interrupted. “Stand down. I’d probably have done the same in her place, though I’d hope I would have conducted myself with a rather greater level of diplomacy. If you have someone to collect my things, I will report to the flag bridge at once.”
“Your quarters have been prepared, ma’am,” Wells said, “if you’d rather take the opportunity to freshen up, first.”
Maddox’s face grew stern, and she said, “I’m not sure quite what sort of a ship you are used to, Captain, but I think it proper that the commanding officer of the squadron is present for their departure, rather than sitting in their cabin. I will expect to meet the other senior staff of this ship in one hour, as soon as we enter warp. Those are orders, Captain, not suggestions, and if you are disposed to ignore them, then I suggest you consider an alternative career path.” Before Wells could reply, she added, “I believe Commander Hunter will suffice to show me to the flag bridge. Given the evident extreme urgency, I’m sure you have more important things to do. Dismissed.”
Wells paused for a moment, then glared at Hunter before turning away, stalking down the corridor towards the nearest elevator. The shuttle pilot ducked through the airlock, bags in hand, and Hunter gestured him away, the young officer gratefully retreating from the embarrassing situation.
“This way, Commodore,” Hunter said, as Wells stepped into the elevator. “I know that Admiral Alvarez is waiting for you there.” He paused, then asked, “May I speak freely, ma’am?”
“At this stage, I think that would be an extremely good idea,” Maddox replied. “Captain Wells’ behavior…”
“She was led to believe that she would be named Acting Commodore, ma’am, and was under that assumption until late last night. She’s been with this squadron since it returned to Luna, supervised every part of the refit, and I think she’d expected to be given the command as a reward.” He shook his head, and said, “I did try to warn her that nobody would assign the Interstellar Squadron to someone who didn’t even have a star, but I think her ambition has overcome her judgment a little.”
“That’s putting it mildly,” Maddox said. “She was one comment away from being relieved for insubordination.”
“May I ask a question without facing similar censure, ma’am?”
“That very much depends upon the question, Commander.”
“Just what is your role here? With Admiral Alvarez riding along, I was under the belief that she would be exercising command of the squadron.”
Maddox paused, then replied, “Would it surprise you very much to learn that I found out about my assignment to this post at the same time as the rest of you? I’ve spent the last eight hours trying to get myself up to speed, but that’s no ti
me at all to properly prepare. I hadn’t even been informed that we were preparing to depart in such a hurry, though I knew we were heading out at some point in the near future.”
“This makes no sense. We’ve been sitting here for weeks, and we didn’t even get top priority on the repairs. Mind you, after what happened when we were last out there, I’m not surprised. I think you made the right call not picking Courageous as the flagship. They haven’t recovered yet. Not with that many officers stripped out.”
“Admiral Klein was liked?”
“In all honesty, ma’am, Admiral Klein was cordially despised, but he did at least represent a known entity, someone the crew was used to dealing with, however problematic that could on occasion be. Anyone coming in cold to a situation like that is going to struggle. I’d assumed that was why they’d been waiting to assign a new squadron commander. Not that it was a priority while we were in dock.” He paused, then asked, “I suppose you don’t know anything about shore leave, either.”
“Shore leave?”
“None has been granted for months, not since we got back. Just a few brief hops down to the surface of Luna, and that’s hardly a resort colony.” He frowned, then added, “Morale isn’t exactly high, Commodore, though the crew is eager to get back into the fight. A lot of us have friends who’ve gone up against the Belters in battle, and failed to make it home.”
“And the ships?” she asked. “Level with me, Commander, because I have a feeling that I’m not going to get many straight answers around here.”
“You’ll get them from me, ma’am. I know enough to respect the chain of command. The squadron is ready for action. We’ll do whatever we’re called upon to do, and that’s not just bravado, either. We’re ready for anything you want to throw at us.”
“I hope so,” she replied, as they reached the flag bridge. “I hope so.” The door slid open, and Alvarez walked out, her face a beaming smile.
“Commodore, it’s good to see you. You’re just in time.” Turning to Hunter, she said, “Captain Wells wanted to see you in Operations.”
“I’m on my way,” Hunter replied. “By your leave?”
“Dismissed, dismissed,” Alvarez said, guiding Maddox into the room. The flag bridge was surprisingly small, cramped. Only a holodesk in the middle of the room with an operator sitting at its head, sensor displays on every wall and a pair of communications technicians in a corner, bent over their consoles. Maddox walked inside, taking a position at the desk, looking at the image of the three ships hovering over Luna, a series of status updates flickering into life just long enough for her to read them before they disappeared once again, back into the void.
“If you don’t mind, ma’am, there are things I should be doing as well,” Rojek said, moving back to the corridor.
“And just what might those things be, Major?” Maddox asked.
“Let him go,” Alvarez ordered. “We’ve got work to do.” She gestured at the display, and said, “We’ve received some intelligence that the Belters have a concentration of forces at Sigma Draconis. Three ships, we think, and I’ve arranged to provide us with an edge that should make this an easy win. If we get this right, and we move quickly, we’ll be able to catch them off-guard and get our renewed campaign off to a good start.”
“Sigma Draconis? What’s there?”
“A neutral free-port and a few isolated prospecting outposts. Nothing of any real interest. My interpretation is that they’re using it as a staging area before moving on somewhere else, perhaps to take out our remaining installations at Proxima Centauri.”
Nodding, Moreau added, “They’re dangerously close to taking out all of our deep-space assets, Commodore.”
“Something that we have already conceded to them, Lieutenant, for want of ships to protect them. Losing Proxima and Barnard’s hurts, it hurts a hell of a lot, but as long as we can protect the convoys to Mars, we can survive that loss until we can get new forces onto the line.”
“Are you suggesting we pass this chance up?”
“Yes, ma’am, I am,” she replied. “The target is not worth the risk that we’re going to take going after it. We should hold these ships back until we have something worth risking them for. You told me that you wanted a battle worthy of the name. This isn’t it.”
“I see,” Alvarez said. “And if I told you that we’re going anyway?”
“You are the senior officer present, ma’am. Both the decision and the responsibility are yours.”
She cracked a smile, and replied, “Not to mention the glory, right, Commodore? You don’t get to sit this one out, Maddox. I brought you on board for a reason.”
“I was beginning to wonder just what that might be. Now I think I can guess.” She paused, then said, “I presume our beacon signal tracks Avenger to this destination? That’s the edge we’re going on?”
“Correct, though I am also using some additional intelligence obtained by Major Rojek, among others.” Taking a step towards her, Alvarez continued, “We need to start with an easy victory, Commodore. This squadron needs to regain some of its confidence, prove itself in battle once again. Then, and only then, we can start to think about taking some more serious risks. I trust you can understand my point of view.”
“Of course, ma’am,” she replied.
Gesturing at the holodesk, Alvarez said, “Then by all means, Commodore, assume your station, and position your fleet for the transition to Sigma Draconis. I want us to reach our destination as rapidly as possible.” She paused, then added, “There will be no transmissions to any outside source from now until further notice. I’m still concerned about the risk of a security leak. Let’s keep things to ourselves for the moment.”
“As you order, Admiral. As you order.”
“Good,” the flag officer replied. “In that case, I’ll be up on the flight deck with Captain Wells. I expect us to be under way in ten minutes from now, proceeding in arrowhead formation.” She walked out of the room, brushing past Moreau in her haste to leave.
“Commodore, this is in violation…,” Moreau began.
“I know, I know,” Maddox interrupted. “Believe me, I’m well aware that we’re operating way off the books on this one. If there really are security implications, then I suppose that makes sense, and when a senior Admiral starts to give orders, then we follow them.”
Nodding, her aide turned to the display, and said, “You said you knew why we were here, ma’am?”
“It’s really very simple, Lieutenant,” she replied. “When this all goes wrong, we get to take the blame.”
Chapter 14
Avenger soared through the limitless void, tensed for battle. Corrigan sat at the heart of the bridge, his eyes moving from station to station, checking that everything was as it should be before battle was joined. They’d have hit Sigma Draconis ready for the unexpected, but it was rare to emerge from the spacewarp with weapons charged, crew at their posts, ready for action.
Avenger was as ready as possible given the shortage of crew. Most of the bridge stations were still empty. Worse than before, even, with Dixon riding the weapons systems, Volkov failing to emerge from his cabin at the sound of the alert klaxon. Corrigan had contemplated going down there himself, trying to talk him into returning to the fight, but the conversation he’d had with Dixon and Carter had dispelled any hopes he had about using the services of his best gunner. He couldn’t force him into the chair. Not and expect to get any reasonable results.
“One minute to emergence,” Novak reported. “All systems are clear for return to normal space-time. She’s handling like a dream, skipper. No problems at all. I’ve prepared an evasive course for implementation as soon as we know where we stand.”
“Don’t wait for the order,” Corrigan said. “If you see a threat, feel free to go right ahead and do something about it.”
“I’d intended to,” she replied with a smile.
“Weapons ready, but it’ll take me at least ten seconds to get a firing solution as
soon as we emerge,” Dixon warned. “That might be ten seconds longer than we have, if they really are waiting for us.”
“Just remember, we’re not fighting a pitched battle immediately,” Corrigan said. “We go right through their formation at maximum speed.” He looked at the strategic simulator again, then said, “Unless there are some unexpected defenses, make for the nearest planet, that ice world. There are a lot of good places to hide down there, if necessary.”
“That’s what they’ll be expecting,” Novak warned.
“Which is precisely why we’re going to do it,” Corrigan replied. “I want them to think they’ve got us where they want us, until we can get them precisely where we want them.”
“I think that makes sense,” Dixon said with a smile. “All decks are cleared for action. All seven of us.” Shaking his head, he added, “Running a warship with a crew of seven…”
“I guess they had to cut costs somewhere,” Singh quipped. “Sensors are ready, detectors ranging, test programs completed. We’ll have a full picture of the system one minute after we arrive, everything within firing range in less than a quarter-second. The bastards aren’t going to know what hit ‘em.”
“Let’s hope not,” Corrigan replied, a smile on his face. “Just stay loose, everyone. This could go very wrong, very quick if we’re not careful.”
“Music to my ears, Commander,” Novak said. “Ten seconds to go. All systems are still green, ready for the transition. Hang on, everyone!”
There was a brief shudder, far easier than before, and Novak collapsed the warp field, instantly snapping Avenger back into normal space, the image on the viewscreen winking on to reveal a starfield ahead, a large, gleaming white planet dead center on the monitor. The engines surged as Novak began her evasive maneuvers, throwing the throttles full open to drive the cruiser forward, towards the planet.
“Threat warning, multiple contacts inbound!” Singh reported. “Six, correction, eight bandits in local space, Sullivan-class cruisers, one modified as a command cruiser. She’s hanging back, but the rest are coming hard, weapons hot.” Turning to Corrigan, he added, “They must have known exactly where we were going to emerge, Commander, right down to the minute!”
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