The suit helped prevent the tap out, however, and against the odds, Jones made it to his feet. Now Kevin faced the unpleasant reality of Jones’s free fist crashing down from above. As Jones leaned forward to connect, Kevin kicked his legs up with as much force as he could, sending Jones reeling head first toward the floor.
Kevin rolled backward, staying with the Sergeant, and landed on top of the man’s chest. Now it was Kevin’s turn, and his heavy fists crashed down relentlessly. To his credit, Jones stopped many of the strikes, but his position was too vulnerable and Kevin’s fists inevitably landed. After repeated strikes, and several unsuccessful attempts by the Sergeant to escape, the match was over.
The two men stood up and shook hands. “Good match, Sergeant. You’re a damn good fighter,” said Kevin.
“Thanks, Captain, but I do want a rematch,” said Jones.
Kevin smiled. “Absolutely.”
Chapter 38
“What can I do for you, Captain St. Clair,” said the grizzled General Calledonius, through Kevin’s comm display.
“I wanted to speak to you about the jump system retrofits, General. I was hoping we would have more ships online by now,” said Kevin, seated at his desk in his ready room.
“We are running into compatibility issues with some of our ships,” said Calledonius with a frown.
“Really? We didn’t have these problems when we retrofitted the Freedom and the Reiver.”
“Those ships were a different design, Captain. They were more modern than the rest of our fleet. As were the first batch we just finished retrofitting. The rest of our fleet is older, less flexible.”
“Are you saying you can’t get the jump systems installed?”
“No, we can. But they require extensive modifications which in return requires much more time.”
“General, we are in the middle of an interstellar war. We need to get that gate open as soon as possible.”
“And I’ve got a Kemmar invasion force breathing down my neck. If I could make it happen faster, I would.”
“I guess we’ll just have to make do with what we have. How soon can your jump ships be ready to get underway?”
“Yes, about that, Captain. I can’t let you take all our jump ships.”
“What are you talking about, General?” Kevin didn’t like where this conversation was going. What kind of game was Calledonius playing?
“What if the Kemmar launch an invasion while you are in the Amboss system?” said Calledonius. “How will we defend New Byzantium?”
“With your fleet. How else?”
“Captain, the Kemmar can easily field a larger force than we can. If they invade, we’re finished. But if we keep a few jump ships on hand, we may be able to fight them off.”
“General, your best hope for survival is an allied fleet pouring through the jump gate, not a few jump ships.”
“And if you fail in your mission? Then what? There’ll be no jump gate, and no fleet to save us. We’ll be left defenseless. I can’t allow that.”
“Do you have any idea what is at stake here, General? If you think the Kemmar are a threat, wait until you see the Juttari.”
“I don’t see any Juttari around. Do you?”
“Oh they’re coming, General. Make no mistake. A handful of jump ships are not going to help you when they show up.”
“Damn it, Captain. I can’t just sit here cowering in fear of some alien bogeyman. There is only one real threat in this region of space, and that is the Kemmar. I can only act based on that information.”
“So how many ships are you giving us?”
“We’ve retrofitted eight ships. I’ll let you take half of them.”
“Half? Four ships? You can’t be serious.”
“I’m sorry, Captain, but the defense of New Byzantium has to be my number one priority.”
Kevin could see he was getting nowhere with the General. “We’ll have to continue this discussion later, General. I have other duties to attend to.”
“As you wish. Calledonius out,” said the General, and vanished from Kevin’s screen.
Kevin opened a comm with Prime Minister Sallas. The original agreement was with Sallas, after all, not Calledonius. He didn’t like going over the old General’s head, but the man’s stubbornness left him with few options. Seconds later Sallas appeared on Kevin’s screen.
“Hello, Captain St. Clair,” said Sallas.
“Greetings, Prime Minister.”
“How are preparations coming along?”
“Not good, Sir. I just had a conversation with General Calledonius, and he informed me that there are problems with the retrofits. It seems most of the ships in the fleet are an older design and require extensive modifications for the retrofit to work.”
“Yes, General Calledonius did mention that. It is quite unfortunate.”
“Did he also mention that he is only contributing four ships to our mission?”
“Yes, it is too bad we couldn’t contribute more.”
“Prime Minister, I thought we had an agreement.”
“We do, Captain. We agreed that I would ally New Byzantium with Admiral Pike’s fleet, and accept his leadership in the greater cause of uniting humanity. That we would help you on your mission was implied, but we never specified how many ships we would contribute. General Calledonius is giving you half our jump ships. I would say that is rather generous.”
“It’s just four ships.”
“True, and we are left with just four jump ships as well. But, if the Kemmar invade while you are gone, those four ships could make all the difference. Did you forget how your handful of jump ships helped us defeat the corporate fleet? Or how just one jump ship helped us defeat the junta? You know better than anyone how powerful this technology is.”
Kevin cursed under his breath. He wasn’t going to get anywhere with the Prime Minister either.
“The addition of those four ships will give you ten jump ships, Captain. I have no doubt you’ll be successful.”
“What if I’m not? What if this whole mission fails because you didn’t commit to it?”
“Captain, you always struck me as a very positive person. Your mission will not fail. I am sure of it.”
Kevin held his breath, keeping his temper in check before he said something he would regret. Sallas was sure the mission wouldn’t fail? What did he base that opinion on? Sallas was quickly starting to look like another politician spewing bullshit about things he didn’t understand. “Let’s hope for both our sakes that you are right, Prime Minister.”
Frustrated with the brick wall he had encountered, Kevin was about to terminate the communication link when an idea hit him. “Prime Minister, you said you can only give us four jump ships, but what about regular, non-jump ships?”
“What are you thinking, Captain?”
Kevin smiled. “We can use the jump systems to piggy back non-jump ships into the Amboss system with us. They might not have the versatility of a jump ship, but the added firepower will be helpful.”
Sallas smiled. “A compromise. How political of you, Captain. I might be able to help you with this. Leave the General to me.”
Chapter 39
After much preparation, the day of action had arrived. All ships in Kevin’s battle group had been repaired, including the Diakan battleships. They had an additional four New Byzantium jump ships, all destroyers, to add to the existing ships, giving Kevin ten jump ships at his disposal. Just as important, Sallas had convinced General Calledonius to contribute another six warships, five destroyers, and one minelayer, which Kevin had specifically requested. None of the extra six ships had jump systems.
On the Vanguard bridge, the huge viewscreen showed the ship’s progress as it moved into position over one of the destroyers. Once in position, its jump field would stretch to envelop the destroyer, allowing it to jump with the Vanguard, despite it not having a jump system. The two Chaanisar cruisers, Diakan battleships, and the Reiver all followed suit, positioning
themselves above one of the conventional starships.
“Jump systems synchronized. All ships in position. Reporting jump ready,” said Ensign Balian, from her navigation station.
This was it. Soon they would be engaging a much larger Kemmar force, in an attempt to reactivate a jump gate that hadn’t been used in well over five centuries. If they succeeded, Sol would once again be linked to the colonies, and humanity would be united. If they failed, the colonies would remain isolated, facing the Kemmar Empire alone, and one day the Juttari.
While a force could be dispatched to help shore up the colonial defenses without a jump gate, those ships would need to have jump systems. They would need two days to reach the colonies, and that would require using the jump gate connected to Kemmar space. If they couldn’t use that gate, then they would need almost a week. Not ideal.
If Kevin was successful, conventional warships could immediately be sent into the colonies, alongside jump ships. The Kemmar could be forcibly removed. Colonial defenses shored. Allowing supplies and weapons to flow freely between the colonies and Sol. While it was easy to think that the jump system had made the jump gates obsolete, they were actually still a vital linchpin to any galactic strategy. A lot was riding on this mission, and he felt the weight of it all land squarely on his shoulders.
Kevin rolled his head around to relieve the tension building in his neck. “Helm, initiate jump,” he ordered.
The battle group jumped, and landed in the same region of space Kevin had previously used for preliminary scans. “Jump complete. All ships accounted for,” said Ensign Michael from his tactical station.
“Launch jump drone,” said Kevin.
A tiny craft sped out of the Vanguard and quickly disappeared, jumping into the neighboring Amboss system. Moments later, the drone reappeared and began transmitting its results to the Vanguard. Kevin studied the scans on his tactical display with Commander Hurley.
“They haven’t changed their deployment much since the last time,” said Hurley.
“No,” said Kevin. “I imagine they’re feeling pretty comfortable right now.”
“That’s about to change,” said Hurley, with a rare smirk.
“Yeah, I see no reason to deviate from the original plan. We’ll go ahead and jump here, at the opposite end of the system, and wait until the Kemmar come after us. Once they’re far enough away we jump to the gate coordinates. That should give us enough time to open the gate before the Kemmar reach us.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Okay, let’s crash the Kemmar’s little party.”
Chapter 40
“Jump complete. All ships accounted for,” said Ensign Michael.
The battle groups had landed in the Amboss system, a substantial distance from Amboss Prime, where the bulk of the Kemmar fleet was located. The jump gate’s location was on the opposite end of the system, and Kevin hoped that once the Kemmar fleet noticed them, they would move to intercept.
“Have they seen us?” said Kevin.
“If they have, they’re not doing anything about it, Sir.”
Kevin studied the Kemmar formation on his tactical screen. The Kemmar ships were represented by red threat icons, while Kevin’s ships were designated with blue icons. He watched and waited, but none of the red icons moved. It was like the two groups were having a staring contest, waiting for the other side to get mad first and take a swing.
“Is it possible they haven’t seen us?” said Hurley.
“No, they see us. They just figure they’re holding all the cards. As far as they know, the only reason we’re here is to try and liberate Amboss Prime. They’re waiting for us to come to them. The question is, how long are they prepared to wait?”
The battle group floated in space, waiting for the Kemmar to react, but the aliens stood their ground, refusing to take the bait. After a little over an hour, a comm request came in from one of the Diakan ships. Kevin’s comm screen flickered to life and Tallos appeared.
“What is it, Tallos?” said Kevin, annoyed to have to speak to the Diakan again.
“The Kemmar do not want to abandon Amboss Prime. Perhaps it is time to change tactics.”
“Really? What is it you think we should do, Tallos?”
“Jump to the gate’s location. The Kemmar do not know what our mission is. They may very well continue to leave us alone.”
“They might, until they realize what we’re up to. Don’t you need to dispatch a science vessel for this to work? They’ll know something’s going on the second that happens.”
“Perhaps, Captain. We do not know. But this course of action appears to be fruitless.”
Kevin thought about what Tallos just said. He didn’t like Tallos. In fact, he was pretty sure he hated him. But there was reason to his words. The Kemmar hadn’t reacted, and there was no reason to think that they would react. The best option may well be to just go ahead and try to activate the gate. Kevin knew he shouldn’t let personal feelings cloud his judgment, and the truth was the operation wasn’t really going as planned. Of course, he could wait it out. The longer they stayed where they were, the more chance that the Kemmar would react. Or, they could take the initiative based on the current information.
Kevin made up his mind. “Ensign Balian, are all ships still synced with our jump system?”
“Yes, Sir. All ships synced and jump ready,” said Ensign Balian.
“Very well, prepare to jump to gate coordinate.”
“Coordinates loaded.”
“Initiate jump.”
“Jump complete.”
“Are the Kemmar reacting?”
“No, Sir,” said Ensign Michael.
“If they do react, how long do we have until they reach us?”
“Seven minutes, Sir.”
“How about those patrol ships our initial scans showed?”
“They are four minutes away, Sir.”
“Instruct the minelayer to begin operations. I want an explosive moat between us and the Kemmar.”
“Yes, Sir. Minelayer is acknowledging orders, and moving out.”
The New Byzantium minelayer pulled away from the battle group. The minelayer began deploying its arsenal of smart mines establishing a perimeter around the battle group. The mines were programmed to ignore all ships within the battle group. All other vessels were targeted with lethal force. Each mine monitored its own perimeter, and the moment an offending ship entered that perimeter, the mine would accelerate, like a missile, toward the target. The Kemmar could easily defend against one mine, but the minelayer deployed thousands. It assured that multiple Kemmar warships would be destroyed before the Kemmar could reach the battle group.
Kevin tapped his comm screen and Tallos reappeared. “Okay Tallos, I took your advice, let’s hope you’re right.”
“Thank you for your trust, Captain St. Clair,” said Tallos.
“Don’t mistake logic for trust. Your suggestion made the most sense. That’s all. When are you launching your science vessel?”
“Our science team will be leaving the hangar bay momentarily.”
“And why am I speaking to you, anyway? Where is Captain Vorlos?”
“Captain Vorlos is performing his duties as my first officer. As the highest ranking member of this crew, Diakan law dictates that I assume command.”
“Didn’t Major Ilthos outrank Vorlos too? I don’t remember him taking command of the ship.”
“Major Ilthos retains mission oversight. He can take command of this vessel whenever he deems it necessary.”
“Interesting. Does that mean he can take it from you too?”
“That is correct, Captain. Oversight is often given to a higher ranking officer, but not always. In this instance, Major Ilthos was given oversight over both Diakan battleships. My arrival does not alter that.”
Kevin had spent some time on board Diakan ships during the wars, but he hadn’t paid much attention to how they did things. It never made any difference to his objectives. All that matter
ed to him at the time was getting the job done, not the Diakan chain of command. On a human ship, the Captain called the shots, but the Diakans seemed to always have someone in place who could overrule whoever was in charge. Kevin didn’t like the system, and thought it undermined the ship’s commander. But the Diakans weren’t humans, and the system seemed to work for them. The Diakans had built an empire, after all.
“How you do things on your ship is your business, Tallos. Just as long as we’re clear that I am in command of this battle group.”
“Yes, Captain. We are clear. Our science vessel has launched. They will begin operations as soon as they are in range.”
“Understood. Keep us updated on their progress. St. Clair out.”
“Sir, I am picking up movement from the Kemmar,” said Ensign Michael. “A large group of ships has broken off from the fleet and is now on an intercept course.”
“How large a group, Ensign?” said Kevin.
“Seventy warships, Sir.”
Chapter 41
“That’s just over half their fleet,” said Hurley, with a raised eyebrow. Kevin thought it might just be the most emotion he’d yet seen come from Hurley.
“It looks like they’re taking us seriously now,” said Kevin.
“The science ship must’ve gotten their attention.”
“The mines surely tipped them off. They may not know what we’re doing out here, but we sure as hell have told them it’s important. How long until the minelayer is finished its operations?”
The Pike Chronicles - Books 1 - 10 Page 108