Forge of War (Jack of Harts)

by Pryde, Medron

  “Was that the cyber?” he asked.

  Betty smiled. “Yes.”

  “But…he’s a guy,” Jack said in wonder. He’d gotten use to the idea that the Peloran had some male ships, but it just didn’t seem right here. Ships were supposed to be ladies after all.

  “He’s German,” Betty said with a chuckle. “German warships are always male.”

  “Oh. Why?” Jack asked, keeping an eye out and watching the German fighters launching into hyperspace.

  Betty shook her head as the Germans accelerated towards the Chinese fleet, cutting a swath through hyperspace that spread out behind them. Jack felt the engines power up, thrusting them through hyperspace on their own, the knife-edge of their long nose cutting through the gravitic waves with ease.

  “There’s a lot of cultural reasons for it,” Betty said with a shrug. “The best I can tell from old linguistic records, everybody called any ship they planned on living on for a long time by a female name. The English with their months-long travels around the world are the best example of that. They made it normal for all ships, even fighting ships, to be ladies in the English-speaking world, which is why I am me,” she said and waved her hands down her very female form. “Germany was never a great naval power though, mostly made up of coastal defense boats, and I think they figured that men should fight. If I’d been born there, I would have been a much more proper masculine warrior like that Teutonic fellow,” she finished with a wink and a wave of her hand towards the comm. screen.

  Jack pursed his lips, looked at her, and nodded. “I think I like you just the way you are.”

  Betty bestowed a pleased smile on him. “Why, thank you, kind sir.”

  Jack looked around in mock confusion. “OK. Who are you talking to now?”

  Betty laughed and patted his hand. “Of course, I’m still trying to figure out why the French think of their warships as male.”

  Jack frowned. “Weren’t they real big on the oceans back in their day? You know, before they started manufacturing white flags?”

  Betty slapped him again. “Bad Jack. I take back the ‘kind sir’ bit.”

  “Thank you,” Jack returned with an impish smile. “I’d hate for people to get the wrong idea about me.”

  The comm. panel blinked. “This is Cowboy One to all Cowboys,” Charles transmitted and a navigation beam appeared on the screens. “Follow my beam. We are on forward recon duty,” he said and accelerated. The rest of the squadron accelerated away from the German squadron with him. “We will be providing targeting information for the fleet so secure to laser comms and maintain low power levels. We do not wish to be seen.”

  “Roger that,” Jack answered with the rest of the Cowboys. He frowned at the screen that showed another squadron of fighters keeping pass with them. “What are they doing?”

  “Those fighters on our starboard wing are our German shadows,” Charles answered. “It seems that the Flottillenadmiral does not think we can do our job and is sending someone he can trust to do it for us should we fail as he expects. I say we show him just what Americans are capable of. You with me?”

  “Oorah!” Jack shouted in chorus with the other Cowboys.

  “Good. Now be careful. We are approaching our prey.”

  Jack looked to his screens to see the Chinese fleet ahead of them. The Cowboys and the German squadron flew outside detection range, and far back out of their own detection range the German warships continued to close the range at a more sedate pace. He only knew where they were because of the comm. probes flying behind them, forwarding their messages back and forth through the soup of hyperspace. Icons showed where the French and Peloran squadrons were, far enough off to the sides that only more comm. probes kept the fleets in contact with each other. Smaller icons showed where the French and Peloran fighters moved ahead, scouting for the exact locations of the Chinese warships ahead of them.

  The comm. panel flashed and Aneerin appeared on it with a grim expression. “All ships, prepare to move into targeting range. Remember that these are the ships that killed the White Swan, the Raven of Winds, and the Star Raptor. We shall give them no mercy. Fighters. Acquire targets.”

  Jack grabbed the throttle and stick as they accelerated towards the Chinese fleet. He peered ahead, watching the multicolored hues of hyperspace for any clue of what lay beyond them. The bands of gravity that rippled through hyperspace were so strong that they bent light itself, making it hard to detect anything more than a few kilometers away even with the Peloran upgrades.

  Jack licked his lips as a shadow appeared ahead of them, followed by another and another. Betty slowed their approach and the shadows clarified, their gravitic engines calming the chaos of hyperspace and showing them the general shapes of Chinese destroyers and heavy cruisers. On the screens, more cruisers, destroyers, and even frigates appeared as the other fighters sent the results of their recon back through the comm. probes. They knew what the edge of the Chinese formation looked like.

  “Commence bombardment,” Aneerin ordered. “Now.”

  Jack watched the screens where missile tracks shot out of the German, French, and Peloran warships, traveling in a long curve that brought them into attack range from a completely different angle than they’d been fired from. The missiles streaked in at terminal attack velocity and activated their gravitic generators. In their last second of life, they generated gravity equivalent to a small black hole, shredding the bands of gravity around them, and then let go as their power ran out, exploding into a wave of gravity and shrapnel.

  It was always impressive to see a well-placed missile salvo ripping a deflection grid apart, but Jack’s eyes opened wide as he lifted them from the screen to actually watch the Chinese warships. For a moment, the multicolored hues of hyperspace dimmed around the Chinese, as the missiles’ gravity wells sucked all light into them. When they released their hold on gravity, he watched hyperspace itself recoil, the bands of color snapping back into place, sometimes ripping right through an unprepared warship.

  The edge of the Chinese fleet literally ripped apart under the assault.

  “Holy sh-,” Jack whispered.

  “Move in!” Charles interrupted in a tone that accepted no delays. “We need more targets!”

  “Roger,” Jack whispered and Betty moved forward, slipping into the wreckage that had once been warships. They became even more effectively invisible than before in the clutter, and hazy intact warships appeared in the distorted bands of hyperspace. More missiles streaked in, hyperspace recoiled from the assault, and the ships came apart.

  “Closer!” Charles barked.

  They inched through the expanding wreckage and more warships came into view, firing missiles blindly in the direction the bombardment came from. The missiles never even came close to the allied squadrons. Chinese fighters flew into view as well, looking for any attackers, but most of them had to be focusing on the path of the missiles. The few over here were probably wishing they were over there and not spending nearly enough attention trying to find the threat that lay right under their noses. More missiles streaked in and tortured hyperspace whipped through more Chinese warships and some fighters.

  Jack swallowed. Aneerin had been right. This wasn’t a battle. It was a massacre, and they truly were showing the Chinese no mercy.

  A series of flashes ripped through hyperspace beyond where he could detect anything, and the hazy positioning they had on the Chinese fleet faded away. They had fled back into normalspace to escape the utter destruction being visited on them here. A few seconds later, information trickled through the comm. probes to show him what another squadron saw in normal space. Half of the former Chinese fleet hung in space, scanning desperately for the enemy who had found them in hyperspace. Jack glanced at the screens showing hyperspace and winced as the Peloran warships accelerated towards the remains of the Chinese fleet.

  The comm. panel flashed and Aneerin appeared on it again with a satisfied smile. “No mercy,” Aneerin repeated, gave a swif
t nod, and the comm. screen faded. The Peloran squadron flew past Jack’s location, close enough he could see them with the naked eye, their gravitic drives causing eddies of darkness in hyperspace. They flashed out of hyperspace before his eyes, flashed back into existence inside the Chinese formation on the screens, and all Hell broke loose.

  Hello, my name is Jack. I was one of the first ten Cowboys. A lot more came after. We’re all American. We all flew with the Peloran. Others flew with them too. British, Scottish, French, Polish…in the end, every nation in the Western Alliance sent pilots to fly with the Peloran. And they were not called Cowboys. I remember when I met the first German to fly with us. That Teutonic fellow always did consider himself a knight in shining armor. It’s no surprise what they’re called now.

  Gunfight at Alpha Centauri

  Jack sat in the cockpit of his Avenger, watching the multicolor bands of hyperspace drag the wreckage of the battle away. Pieces of Chinese warships floated away and disappeared into the distance, where they would almost certainly be lost for all time. Nothing lost in hyperspace ever came back. His screens showed the other half of the Chinese fleet hanging in normalspace, scanning desperately for the enemy who had somehow found them in hyperspace. Jack winced as the Peloran warships accelerated towards the wreckage of the Chinese fleet in hyperspace.

  The comm. panel flashed and Aneerin appeared on it with a satisfied smile. “No mercy,” Aneerin said, gave a swift nod, and the comm. screen faded. The Peloran squadron flew past Jack’s location, close enough he could see them with the naked eye, their gravitic drives causing eddies of darkness in hyperspace. They flashed out of hyperspace before his eyes, flashed back into existence inside the Chinese formation on his screens, and slashed through them, firing gravitic cannons, missiles, kinetic lances, and lasers. Fighters launched to meet the Chinese fighters and normalspace filled with the explosions of fighters and warships.

  “Damn,” Jack whispered and shook his head. There were still nearly one hundred Chinese warships surrounding the six Peloran warships. Or not. The Peloran squadron shot out of the Chinese formation, their rear grav cannons and lasers smashing through the grids of ships that had been frantically forcing power to their other deflection grids until moments before. The Peloran warships turned and came back, their weapon rings glowing as their lasers and gravitic cannons connected the two fleets. The forward edge of the weapon rings fired nearly constant barrages of pulsing lasers that ripped into one Chinese warship after another. Their deflection grids already ravaged by the grav cannons or missiles, the lasers burned deep into the Chinese ships, causing puffs of atmosphere to escape. “Remind me to never piss off the Peloran,” Jack said with a shudder as two more heavy cruisers fell out of formation, spinning and shedding wreckage and atmosphere into space.

  They didn’t go down alone though. One of the Peloran cruisers on the Guardian Light’s flank shuddered as several hits penetrated its deflection grid. The upper grav cannon exploded under the punishment, and the weapon ring connecting it with the other two cannons peeled away. Those two sections of the ring went dark, the lasers failed, and more missiles began to rain down on her. Or him. Jack frowned, annoyed that he didn’t even know who that ship’s cyber was.

  That was when hyperspace flashed behind him, and a few moments later the German cruiser squadron appeared on his screens. Their missiles and grav cannons ripped into the Chinese flank, and more ships spun away from their formation. Jack glanced back to see the wounded Peloran cruiser, the rest of its weapon ring ripped away and atmosphere billowing out of its flanks, flash and disappear from normalspace. He hoped it found the safety that had eluded the Chinese.

  The Peloran Battle Squadron slashed back into the Chinese fleet, sowing confusion and keeping them from organizing a missile-spewing wall of battle that would have overwhelmed the point defense of the German squadron. Normalspace flashed again and Jack flicked his gaze over to see the French squadron slinging missiles and grav beams into another flank of the Chinese fleet. He had to hand it to them. They knew how to rise into battle at the right time.

  “I guess these guys forgot their white flags at home,” he said in an impressed tone as one Chinese cruiser and two destroyers exploded under the French guns.

  “Hush, Jack,” Betty answered and slapped him again. “Be nice.”

  “Yes, Ma’am,” he whispered and shook his head.

  Between the Germans and French bombarding the Chinese from long range, from different vectors, and the Peloran slashing through them again and again, Jack watched the Chinese formation fall apart. They didn’t fall alone of course. Jack winced as an entire swarm of missiles engulfed a single French cruiser and exploded. When he could see again, the cruiser was simply gone. A German cruiser broke in half in a spectacular flash, and Jack wondered if its ammunition bunker had blown. A Peloran destroyer ate a salvo of missiles of its own that sent it spinning out of control. Jack sucked in a deep breath as the ship spun into a Chinese destroyer and ripped through it like a buzzsaw. It came out the other side of the expanding debris, still spinning with its weapon ring and grav cannons trailing it in an expanding field of its own wreckage.

  “Holy frak,” Jack whispered and licked dry lips.

  “They’re running!” Betty shouted and Jack shifted his eyes as a series of flashes appeared in the middle of the Chinese fleet. He waited for the beacons to appear on the screens but nothing happened. He frowned.

  “Forward!” Charles shouted. “Fan recon now!”

  “Oorah!” the Cowboys answered and accelerated out of the wreckage that remained of the battle in hyperspace. Jack held on to the throttle and stick and watched the Cowboys spread out in a giant fan as they flew towards where the Chinese ships had dove back into hyperspace. He wondered if they’d found the beacons and turned them off or if the beacons had just died of old age. Whatever the case, this had just become a lot more difficult.

  “We’ve got them!” Cowboy Seven’s cyber shouted and the screens filled with a sight of two Chinese heavy cruisers escorted by three destroyers and two frigates running for dear life. They’d almost gotten away.

  “Keep them in visual range!” Charles ordered.

  “Oorah!” Jack and the others answered and the Avengers accelerated to follow his orders. “Great,” Jack said in a more reserved tone. “We’ve got them. Now what do we do with them?”

  “Look on the bright side,” Betty said with a smile. “The Germans kept up so we have double our normal number of fighters to deal with them.”

  Jack glanced at the screens that showed the German fighters assigned by the German commander to make certain the Cowboys didn’t screw up struggling to keep up with them.

  “Great. They’ll be so much help,” Jack said in a sarcastic tone. He looked at the screens showing normalspace and gulped. They were blank. The Cowboys had gotten out of range of the comm. drones. They couldn’t tell anyone where the Chinese were running. “Well, this sucks,” Jack added as the Chinese began to fling missiles back at them. “We’re on our own, aren’t we, Chief?” Jack asked, counting on Betty to transmit the question.

  “The fleet’s too busy,” Charles answered after a second. “We’ll have to do it ourselves.”

  “Great.” Jack gulped as their lasers began shooting down missiles far short of the squadron. “Little ol’ us and a squadron of warships.” He shook his head as a really bad idea came to mind. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking, Chief?”

  “I think so, Jester. But what are we going to do with all the pieces?”

  Jack winced. “Hope we’re not the smallest ones?”

  “Exactly,” Charles answered. “And this is why firing grav cannons in hyperspace is a very bad idea.”

  Jack gulped. So Charles had the same idea. “Great. Just wanted to make certain we were on the same wavelength here.”

  “Desperate times and all,” Charles answered and clicked his tongue. “All Cowboys, spread out and close to firing the range. We’re only going to get o
ne shot at this so make it count. Sternwaffa. Fall back. You do not want to be close when we do this.”

  “Vhat are you doing?” the commanding German fighter shouted as the Cowboys banked and broke their defensive formation, spreading out into attack formation. “Ve are fighters! Ve can’t take on varships alone!”

  “You are fighters,” Charles corrected with an iron tone. “We on the other hand are Avengers. We were built to kill warships. Now fall back and give us room. We’re going to need a lot of it.”

  Jack jiggled the stick in his hand, feeling the Avenger shift around him in nervous anticipation of the battle about to start. The missiles were getting closer with each wave before exploding on the point defense fire the squadron lay down. Soon they would be on the squadron. He watched the Germans fall back until they faded into the multicolored bands of hyperspace. Only the comm. drones they dropped kept the two squadrons in communication.

  “All Cowboys,” Charles began as targeting solutions appeared on the screens. “Bring deflection grids to full power. Concentrate forward.” He paused as the Avenger hummed up to full power around Jack, and all deflection grid power shifted to the forward screens. “Open fire.”

  “Hang on to your shorts,” Betty ordered and the grav cannons began to twist gravity on either side of him.

  Jack released the stick and throttle and grasped the shock frame in the cockpit. He licked his lips as the grav cannons came up to full power, punching through their forward deflection grid and ripping into their target, a Chinese destroyer.

  “Oh God,” Jack whispered and held on tight as hyperspace itself bent to the will of their weapons. Looking at anything in hyperspace was always an exercise in trying to focus on something that was by definition out of focus, especially at longer ranges where it became impossible to correct for the light bending. Everything just went completely out of focus until it blurred into the background multicolored hue of hyperspace. Even at short range, you had to squint and concentrate to see anything clearly.