Eagle (Jacob Hull)

by Debenham, Kindal

  Jacob watched the enemy task force pause, their sensors catching sight of the detachment of dumbships and frigates waiting in the decoy position. Then the entire Oduran force swept forward, aiming for one of the passages—by coincidence, the one Jacob was best positioned to intercept.

  Though he could almost hear Isaac cursing his luck, Jacob kept his attention focused on the projected course of the enemy fleet. They were going to pass awfully close to where Leon was hiding, a spot he’d labeled Ambush Alpha. That force was even better hidden than his own, to the point where Jacob’s own fleet couldn’t detect the Celostian ships amid the moons of the gas giant. It was hard to tell if the Odurans couldn’t see anything either, or if they were merely setting up to attack Leon’s isolated force.

  Shunting his own nerves aside, Jacob leaned forward and touched a control. His signal went out along carefully directed communication networks, arranged so they wouldn’t leak to the incoming forces. “This is High Admiral Hull to all units. Prepare for enemy contact. Estimated time until engagement is two hours. Continue communications and maneuvering discipline. We don’t want to ruin the surprise for Yeseti and her new friends. Hull, out.”

  Then there was little left to do but wait while Yeseti and her forces drew closer. Around him, the officers of the command center worked to coordinate the movements of the ships nearby. Jacob had kept two Crown-class cruisers to guard the Eagle’s flanks, along with two squadrons of destroyers and several flights of frigates and corvettes. The rest he had sent with Isaac, giving the other man eight cruisers to work with, half of which were refitted Crown-class ships and the rest Knight-class warships. A smaller number of escorts were with Isaac as well, though far fewer than the number with Jacob’s own force. Dividing his ships that way had given each group the ability to move quickly to each other’s aid when the Odurans came, but he still felt uneasy about the fact he was going to face the entire Oduran fleet alone at first.

  In the open, the frigates assigned to stay with the dumbships fell back. Two of them riftjumped out of the system a short while later, a clear bid to reach New Manassas with a message, and possibly to warn the apparently absent Celostian Navy of the threat. The rest of the half-dozen ships remained behind, a laughably small force one of the Oduran dreadnaughts could have swatted aside with hardly a moment’s care. Jacob could almost picture Yeseti laughing at the defiance those frigates showed. A few units in her formation, obviously inspired by enthusiasm to destroy those foolish defenders, momentarily jetted a bit farther forward than they should have been. They drifted back into formation a bit later with obvious reluctance.

  Hoping their bloodthirsty attitude would continue, Jacob watched the Oduran formation close with the passage. As the massive number of enemy ships swung by Ambush Alpha, he found himself holding his breath, hoping Leon’s ships would remain undiscovered. The minutes the Odurans took to pass the planet seemed to last forever; every odd twitch by an enemy craft seemed a hint the trap had been discovered.

  Then Yeseti’s forces were past, and Jacob let out a long sigh of relief. He watched with unconcealed satisfaction as the Odurans began to shift their formation in preparation for entering the passage. The three dreadnaughts moved to stay halfway back in the formation, cruisers and destroyers forming a column ahead and behind them. Frigates and corvettes took up positions throughout the cylindrical formation, filling in gaps and creating a screen for their larger fellows. Jacob could see the Odurans’ point defense turrets picking off debris coming too close to their ships, those flashes of plasma bright in the void of space.

  The Oduran task force entered the passage at coasting speed. It was a narrow enough crossing the ships at the edges of their formation shut off their DE sails completely. They were likely worried about how a stray clump of dark matter could wreck their sail rigs, or about the chances a stray dark energy current could send them careening into their fellows. Jacob watched the Odurans start to file through the opening. Once the dreadnaughts entered the passage, his attention went to Ambush Alpha. He leaned forward, wondering when Leon would move. It had to be soon, before too much of the enemy made it into the passage, but if he moved while there was still enough of the enemy to crush him, it would be a disaster.

  It happened fast. Moments after the dreadnaughts reached a third of the way through the passage, Leon’s five cruisers swung out of their hiding place and accelerated toward the enemy forces. The destroyers assigned to escort his ships spread out along the sides of his formation, creating a wall of firepower the Odurans would soon have to face the hard way.

  The effect of Leon’s appearance on the enemy was dramatic to say the least. The ships in the rear of the enemy formation wheeled around in confusion. Some of the ships already traversing the passage tried to turn and help their comrades as well; at least one pair of cruisers narrowly avoided a collision when one of them cut in front of the other. One of their frigates, a Hatchet-class ship, was not so fortunate. It swerved so sharply it left the channel completely. For a moment, the ship was fine. Then its DE sails flared with startling intensity, and the entire DE sail rig ripped completely off the ship in a cascade of secondary explosions.

  By the time the snarl of Oduran ships regained formation, Leon had nearly closed to engagement range. Jacob saw about a third of the Oduran force still turning to fight his friend, and he gripped the arms of his command chair more tightly. Then he heard one of his officers speak up. “Sir, we have a communication coming in from the satellite. Assessed as coming from the Troll-class dreadnaught.”

  “Put it on.” Jacob waited for a moment, and then he heard the angry tones of Admiral Yeseti come through the speakers. He quietly tagged the dreadnaught as her flagship while he listened.

  “This is High Admiral Yeseti of the Grand Alliance task force, to the Celostian raiders in this system. Do not suppose your momentary advantage against our forces will last. Surrender now, or we will destroy you all.”

  There was a pause, and then Leon’s reply came on the same channel. “This is Captain Leon Nivrosky of the Celostian Union. This task force only responds to the orders of the High Admiral of the Celostian Union. You are currently violating our territory with clear intent to do harm to the Union; as such, the situation demands we engage you in combat. Those ships that wish to avoid destruction can surrender; those that fail to do so will be held responsible for your aggression. Nivrosky, out.”

  Yeseti did not reply as her rearguard accelerated to meet Leon. The ships of the rearguard were still disorganized; many of them, especially the lighter ships, seemed very reluctant to take positions that would expose them to fire from Leon’s ships. It took a moment for Jacob to recognize why. They had seen the ironsides in Leon’s force. Whatever their intelligence network had managed to gain on his ships’ capabilities, they obviously hadn’t managed to dispel the reputation of the refitted warships among the Union’s foes.

  Their time for hesitation was over when Leon’s forces swept in. Missiles and torpedoes shot out from both sides as they reached engagement range, and the Oduran forces flinched when they registered the increased firepower of both the refitted Hunter- and Crown-class ships. Decoys flashed and antimissile flechettes skipped out to counter the projectiles, but they were not enough. Impacts rocked the ships on either side, and Jacob heard someone groan in horror when the Charles took a direct hit from a pair of enemy missiles.

  Yet the refitted cruiser passed through the blasts with only minimal damage while at least three of the Oduran craft spun away from their line of battle, crippled or killed by the long range fire. Jacob nodded grimly; at the very least, the internal armor was doing its job. He could hope most of those ‘ironsides’ would make it to the end of the battle.

  Then he turned his attention to the forces that were nearly to the end of the passage of dark energy. All three dreadnaughts were still there, as were the grand majority of their escorts and cruisers. He touched a control to contact the bridge. “Captain Martino. Take us out. We’re going
to hit them as they start to clear the passage.”

  “Yes, Sir.” There was a hint of reluctance in Captain Martino’s voice. It was one thing to face the fire of a half dozen Oduran cruisers; it was quite another to face nearly an entire task force with minimal support.

  Jacob touched another control. “High Admiral Hull to Eagle task force. We’re coming out to meet the Odurans. Kay task force, meet us as soon as possible to reinforce our battle line.” He paused. “Remember, the freedom of our people and the lives of our fellow crewmen depend on our victory. Hull, out.”

  The Eagle began to move, and the tension in the room rose as the dreadnaught swung around the planet that had served as its cover for so long. The gigantic flagship was flanked by a pair of destroyer squadrons, while each cruiser formed the core of a flanking element above and below the larger warship. They came around the planet still accelerating, and Jacob smiled as he saw Isaac’s ships starting to move as well.

  For once, Jacob wished he could see Yeseti’s expression. The reaction of the ships under her command was vivid enough, however. If they had swerved in surprise before, this time it seemed the entire Oduran force froze in shock. They continued forward, some still drifting along courses that would lead them gently out of formation without reacting at all to Jacob’s forces. Then there was a flurry of activity as the ships made sudden, brutal course corrections to get back into a tighter formation. Yeseti’s ships accelerated, hoping to leave the passage before Jacob’s ships could reach them, though he didn’t know if they were planning on running for New Manassas or simply trying to gain a better position to fight outside the cramped quarters of the passage.

  Either way, it looked as if they would succeed. Jacob gritted his teeth. “Lieutenant Donovan, are these projections correct?”

  “Yes, Sir.” The officer looked concerned for a moment. “We should reach the enemy fleet about five minutes after they leave the passage.”

  That would be enough time for the Odurans to arrange themselves however they chose. Jacob sighed. He supposed not everything could go perfectly. “When will Isaac’s task force reach us?”

  “About twenty five minutes after that, sir.” If the officer had appeared worried, he didn’t now. “Estimates are that we should be able to turn around and engage their forces again by that time.”

  Jacob turned back to the tactical display. The Odurans and Collective vessels were already coming into a new formation. Their ranks of cruisers and destroyers swung wide to form the edges of a broad battle line, while corvettes and frigates raced ahead to form a vanguard, and others were swooped lower to form the rearguard. It was a classic formation, one that would have worked against countless foes, and very likely one could have massacred anyone charging directly into it. The overlapping fields of fire and overwhelming numbers would have been more than enough to destroy even a dreadnaught.

  Unfortunately, they had never encountered something like Eagle.

  Captain Martino aimed for the very center of the Oduran formation, taking the Eagle straight through the enemy dreadnaughts. The Odurans pulled up with both Banner-class ships side by side, with the outdated Troll-class ship sheltered behind them. Jacob’s eyes narrowed—he’d suspected Yeseti would try to hide her flagship from the brunt of the battle to come, and he doubted the Odurans would let her command from the deck of one of their more advanced ships. He touched a key. “Captain Martino, priority target should be the enemy flagship at the rear. Engage any other targets as needed.”

  “Confirmed, High Admiral.”

  Then Jacob turned his attention to the other units in his force. “Henry, Edward, your priorities are any forces attempting to hit us from the flanks. Do not allow the enemy to attack us from the rear.” Eagle’s armor was tough, but the last thing Jacob wanted was for his flagship’s DE sails to be gutted. Her armor and firepower would be useless if she was forced to drift helplessly into the masses of dark matter beyond the battle. “All escorts, concentrate fire on the lighter enemy ships, especially the Collective craft. Hit them hard.”

  Acknowledgements came in when the units of the formation heard him, but Jacob’s attention was already on the line ahead of him. The enemy was uncertain, surprised to see the Celostian flagship bearing down on them at full acceleration. A few of their units were skittish; perhaps recordings from Kryshaen had been able to make their way through the enemy ranks. He smiled. “Let’s go!”

  The enemy line belched missiles and torpedoes at extreme range, and the projectiles were immediately met by a wave of counterfire. Flechettes, flares, and other desperate efforts destroyed three quarters of the massive salvo, and what Eagle herself did not manage to stop, her escorts did their best to turn aside. There were still some that got through, and Jacob’s fingers tightened on the arm rests of his command chair as they closed to impact.

  Three missiles hit the Eagle. One failed to do much more than bounce off the armor before it exploded; the other two slammed into the bow armor and shook the ship with the explosions. Yet Jacob’s flagship survived, and they closed the distance to nearly railgun range.

  Captain Martino’s order came over the flagship’s communication systems. “Railgun nests, suppress fire from enemy units; disable targets Alpha-Nine and –Ten directly ahead. Target Charlie-Five is an alternate priority.”

  The tactical system helpfully updated Jacob’s display to show the location of the two cruisers in Martino’s sights. Both unfortunate Oduran ships had placed themselves at the center of the Oduran line, between the Banner-class dreadnaughts and in front of their flagship. Charlie-Five was a Collective ship that had taken up a position just below them. None of them looked like they were going to hold up for long.

  When Eagle reached railgun range, the enemy fleet seemed to have been shocked by the flagship’s survival. They belatedly started to open up with their railguns, and Eagle’s intact point defense screen blasted the shells as they entered defensive range. The few that managed to make it through the web of plasma fire added to the damage on the bow, but Jacob didn’t see any reports of critical damage appearing yet. He spared a quick glance for his escorts; Edward and Henry were taking a similar beating, but both cruisers were still intact and starting to fire back.

  Then Eagle’s banks of railguns began to fire, and the Odurans finally started to take their own casualties. The Scythe-class cruiser designated Alpha-Nine received the first barrage. It was only a two shot burst from the guns lining the flagship’s hull, but it was enough. The cruiser shattered under the sudden attack, its fragile frame broken in several places. A similar burst turned the bow of Alpha-Ten into a mass of wreckage, and it reeled out of formation on an uncontrolled course.

  The guns then turned their attention to the Banner-class dreadnaughts whose railguns had been battering away at Jacob’s force. Their main armor was turned to face the assault, but Martino seemed to want to merely disrupt their targeting ability. Short, sharp bursts sprayed explosions all across the enemy’s main armor, and their barrage faltered for a moment.

  Missiles launched again, stretching toward Jacob’s formation even as they closed to point blank range. Not as many came this time; the enemy had chosen to disperse their fire. All the same, there were two sharp shocks as the Eagle was hit, but the armor seemed to be holding for the moment. Jacob smiled when his force reached point blank range, and Captain Martino pivoted the ship to slide through the gap in the two dreadnaughts, their railguns still firing away.

  “Missiles, stand by for salvoes.” Captain Martino’s voice was tense, but there was no sign the strain was about to break the man. Jacob waited for the next command; it came when the Eagle drew even with the enemy line, the missile bays on the top and bottom of the ship pointed straight at the Banner-class ships’ vulnerable flanks. “Fire!”

  Eagle’s twelve missile bays belched fire, and the projectiles they launched raked across the gun decks of the dreadnaughts to either side of them. The missile blasts sewed explosions all along the enemy flanks, sendi
ng both Oduran craft reeling away from Eagle as fires burned where railgun turrets and missile bays had once been. Neither ship was ready to take advantage of the open target Eagle’s DE sails presented, and Jacob’s gaze went to the third dreadnaught, now directly ahead of them.

  The toad-like hull of the Troll-class vessel wasn’t designed to be impressive. From what Intelligence had been able to decipher, the class had been built to take advantage of long-range missile duels, and its armament had been heavily weighted for that kind of distant combat. Unfortunately for this ship, it now faced the Eagle at railgun range, its seventy-two guns swiveling to find their target. Jacob smiled as he imagined Admiral Yeseti’s expression when they opened up in one protracted volley.

  It was the longest burst Eagle had ever fired; every gun sent six shells hurtling toward the squat target. Jacob wondered how close Martino’s gun crews had come to melting the turrets off their hull, but he shoved those idle thoughts aside as the shells shot in toward the enemy flagship, a flood of devastation not even a dreadnaught’s main armor could have shrugged aside. Plasma lanced out from defense turrets. Shells exploded as those lines of thermonuclear fire intercepted them, but the grand majority of them swept past those defenses to strike the enemy’s armor.

  Explosions wracked the enemy vessel, throwing out fragments of shattered armor plates. The blasts pounded those defensive measures, scouring the protection from the dreadaught’s hull until the shells managed to punch through and scatter shrapnel through the interior of the ship. Secondary explosions shook the dreadnaught long after the barrage came to an end. Fire and atmosphere leaked from half a dozen tears, and the enemy flagship heaved to one side to turn away from any further engagement.