by Dietmar Wehr
After the Ambassador’s exit, Hearst’s Secretary for Off World Affairs cleared his throat and said in a carefully neutral tone, “King Trevor is just mercurial enough to abrogate the mutual defense pact.”
Hearst shrugged. “If he does, he does. I’m not willing to let what he might do force the Republic into a war that it can’t win and shouldn’t get involved in. Let’s get the Shogunate Ambassador in here to assure him that we are staying neutral, and I want our ambassador to Tanaka to convey the same message. I don’t know what’s really going on here, but I don’t like it. It’s going to take a lot more than King Trevor’s word to push us into a shooting war.”
Kingdom of Atlantia Capital, (Avalon):
Owens refused to look his cousin, the King, in the eyes. He’d always felt intimidated by cousin Trevor, even before he became King. And the fact that his After-Action report blaming his FTO had received a frosty reception made his feelings of insecurity even worse.
“Senior Grand Admiral Wellington tells me that you want to be given another flag command position, cousin,” said Trevor. “But not only any flag position. Oh, no. You want to be put in charge of the fleet that’s going to attack the nearest Shogunate Navy base! I have to give your credit for one thing, cousin. What you lack in strategic and tactical skill, you make up for with sheer audacity! Did you really think your blatant attempt to scapegoat your Fleet Tactical Officer would fool Wellington or me? The plain fact of the matter is that you fucked up, cousin, and you fucked up badly: two heavy cruisers destroyed, one crippled so badly it had to be abandoned and your cruiser out of action for months, just when we need her the most! I’ve been postponing the decision on whether to let Admiral Wellington convene a Court of Inquiry concerning your conduct at Sheffield because I’ve had other, far more important matters on my mind. But I can’t ignore this request you’ve made; you’ve forced my hand. I’m going to give you a choice. If you withdraw your request and opt for voluntary retirement from the Navy, there won’t be any Court of Inquiry. If you decide not to do so, there will be, and I will NOT intervene with regards to the Court’s conclusions. I’m going to make it clear to them that I will accept whatever conclusion they deem appropriate, and that they are to ignore your biological relationship to me. Admiral Wellington has already shared with me the general consensus among my flag officers regarding your conduct at Sheffield, so there is no doubt whatsoever in my mind as to what a Court would come out with. If you have any brains at all, you’ll retire and stay the hell out of my sight. I demand an answer right now!”
Owens realized his military career was effectively over no matter what he did. Determined to leave his cousin with the best possible impression of him that he could, he raised his head and looked the King in the eyes. “I withdraw my request and will accept retirement. I thank Your Majesty for your consideration.”
“The Senior Grand Admiral will make the arrangements. You may leave us, cousin.”
Wellington, who had been standing to Trevor’s right, watched Owens leave with as much dignity as he could muster. He then turned toward the King who was sitting at his ornate marble desk, apparently deep in thought as he stared at his computer screen. Wellington was not happy with the outcome of this issue. Cousin or not, Owens should have been nailed to the wall for the Sheffield disaster as a signal that incompetence would not be tolerated, even for a relative of the King. But then Owens promotion to Admiral and appointment to fleet command should never have happened in the first place. Now, with this insane war, all of Wellington’s carefully laid plans to unseat the King and declare Atlantia a Republic had to be put on hold. The Navy’s command structure had to be even more united if it was to have any chance of avoiding defeat.
“Let’s talk about the plans for a military response, Admiral,” said Trevor.
“Of course, Your Majesty. However, if I may say something first, I feel it my duty to inform Your Majesty that many of your flag officers will not be happy with the resolution of the Sheffield disaster. Admiral Owens’ retirement will be viewed as being far too lenient.”
Trevor looked up at Wellington and stared at him for a few seconds before speaking. “With the benefit of hindsight, it’s now clear to me that my cousin should not have been given flag rank and fleet command, and the fact that he was as a result of my interceding on his behalf is my fault, not his. I put him in a position where he was bound to fail sooner or later. I have given him a way out of the disgrace that would have resulted from a Court of Inquiry precisely because he was in over his head. I know my cousin, Admiral Wellington. He feels badly about what happened and the lives lost. It didn’t happen because he was lazy or careless. He did what he thought was best, and it didn’t work. I may be angry with him about the loss of those ships and crews, but he’s still family, and if a King can’t let his cousin save just a little face by retiring, then what good is having this power? So when you hear other flag officers complain about the lenient outcome, you ask them if they’d rather have a King who can be forgiving when an officer fails, or a King who has zero tolerance for failure. Now let’s talk about your plans.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. I’ll just call up the appropriate star map on the main display. As you know, the closest Shogunate Navy base is here at New Java. Our Intelligence section has estimated that there will be between six and nine ships operating out of there, most likely all battlecruisers. Since some of them will be patrolling other frontier systems, the estimate is four to five battlecruisers will be in orbit around New Java. The plan that my staff has come up with is to use all of Third Fleet, which would mean a total of eighteen heavy cruisers, including the task force that conducted the ambush of the TCE battlecruiser. The fleet will come in from a vector that will make Tanaka’s admirals wonder if the attacking force is Brandenburg’s ships. The fleet will drop out of uber-space as close to the colony planet as possible and make a single pass of the planet at high speed, exactly the same as the raid on Sheffield, Your Majesty.
“First Fleet will remain concentrated here to protect the Capital planet and act as a strategic reserve. There are also three other task forces operating independently that could be called in if needed.”
“Eighteen heavy cruisers versus up to six enemy battlecruisers. That sounds like a relatively safe margin of superiority. I assume your people have run the sims. What kind of losses should I expect from this raid?”
“The outcome that we think is most likely is six heavy cruisers destroyed or damaged, Your Majesty.”
Trevor smiled. “Six heavies in exchange for six of Tanaka’s battlecruisers, eh? That’s a rate of exchange that I can live with. Who are you recommending to take command of the operation?”
“Senior Admiral of the Red Saville, Your Majesty.”
“Saville? Saville never struck me as being particularly brilliant at space combat tactics. Or have I missed something?”
“In the annual combat simulation championships, Admiral Saville has consistently finished in the upper half, Your Majesty. He may not be flashy, but he rarely makes a mistake.”
Trevor wanted to point out that rarely wasn’t the same thing as never having made a mistake, but he resisted the impulse. No doubt there was at least one more junior flag officer who was flashy and perhaps even brilliant, but could he afford to risk giving an entire fleet to that kind of unproven officer. And wouldn’t passing over a dozen more senior officers just add insult to injury for a group that was already unhappy with their King over Owens?
“All right, let’s give Admiral Saville a chance to cover himself with glory. How soon until the operation is ready to commence?”
“We expect all the chess pieces to be in position on the board within ten days, Your Majesty. Admiral Saville can be given the ‘go’ order any time after that.”
“Ten days it is and not one day longer, Admiral. I insist on that. Keep me informed of your progress. Now what else did you want to talk with me about?”
“Well, Your Majesty, there is the issue of staf
f performance reviews. I have a report here prepared by…”
Chapter Seven
Sheffield star system, Shogunate scout ship Akikaze:
Captain Tomonaga was reading in his quarters when his com implant activated.
“Captain to the Bridge.”
Tomonaga didn’t bother to reply as there was only one reason why the Bridge would call him. It was just a short distance down the corridor from the Captain’s quarters. He quickly made his way there, noticing the higher than normal level of background chatter when he entered. The main display was showing the tactical situation, and just as he had expected, it was showing a cluster of gravity wakes leaving orbit around the Atlantian colony world Sheffield. King Trevor’s fleet was now on its way to attack the Shogunate.
“Do we have confirmation of their vector yet?” he asked.
His AO shook his head. “Not a precise confirmation; no, sir. However, the preliminary estimated vector does point to Shogunate space.” The AO was clearly excited by the prospect of the ship accomplishing its mission. Tomanaga made sure his own voice was calm in an effort to calm the AO and anyone else who might be getting too energized.
“We’ll maintain our present position until we confirm whether those ships are heading for our base system or somewhere else. Let’s all take a deep breath and calm down. We have plenty of time. We will be going to a higher state of readiness. XO, bring the ship to Standby Alert status.”
“Go to Standby Alert, yes, Captain. Are you assuming command?”
“Not yet. You stay in command for the time being while I observe.”
“Yes, sir. Attention, crew. This is the Executive Officer. The ship is going to Standby Alert status, repeat, Standby Alert status.”
By this time, Tomonaga had reached the Astrogation Station where the AO was busy monitoring his console. Tomanaga leaned over the AO’s shoulder.
“Do we have a count yet, AO?” he said quietly.
“I can only give you an estimate right now, Captain. Still too much overlapping of the gravity waves to be more precise, but there are at least fourteen ships breaking orbit.”
“Okay. Let me know if you get a more precise count, but how many is not as important as where they’re going. If we can determine that and get there first, we’ll have accomplished our mission.”
“Yes, sir.”
As Tomanaga stepped back, he shifted his focus to the display. His ship, the Akikaze, was coasting at a slow velocity on the exact bearing that a ship leaving Sheffield would take if it wanted to travel to the nearest Shogunate Navy base. If the ships leaving orbit had that destination in mind, they would be coming directly towards the Akikaze. If they were headed somewhere else in Shogunate space, the bearing to the gravity wakes would gradually shift to one side.
Tomanaga had no concern that the Atlantian fleet would overrun his ship. She was far enough away that it would take that fleet hours to reach her if she stayed where she was, but that was not the plan. As soon as the destination of the fleet was confirmed, the Akikaze would head there as well, and with her superior rate of acceleration, she could reach FTL velocities and enter uber-space before the enemy fleet did, even with their head start.
It was almost thirteen minutes later when the AO turned to Tomonaga, who was chatting with the XO.
“The astrogational computer is ninety-eight percent confident that the enemy fleet is headed for Hokkaido Base system, Captain. There are no other star systems within the course margin for error.”
Tomonaga smiled. No other systems within the margin for error meant that all other real destinations had been ruled out. “Then it’s time we headed for Kokkaido Base to warn them. Maximum acceleration, XO.”
“YES, SIR!” said the XO enthusiastically.
Tomonaga gave his Executive Officer a friendly pat on the back as he turned to leave the Bridge. They would reach the Base system in five and a half days, and until then, there was really nothing more that he needed to do. He decided to make a quick detour to the Galley for a snack before returning to his reading.
Atlantian Third Fleet flagship:
Admiral Saville was concentrating on some engineering reports on his Flag Command Station console when his train of thoughts was interrupted.
“New contact, Admiral,” said the FTO. “It’s exactly dead ahead of us. Range is approximately eighty-eight light minutes.”
Saville frowned; that was a long way out from the inner system. “A new arrival?”
“No, Admiral. No CR burst, and the velocity’s too low. It’s barely moving, although acceleration is…”
Saville turned to look at the officer to see why he hadn’t finished his sentence. He could see the FTO’s face which was frowning. “Yes? Acceleration is what?”
“Ah, this can’t be right, Admiral. Tactical sensors are saying that this ship, which began moving from practically a dead stop, is now accelerating at 6900Gs!”
Saville was now frowning too. “I agree; that can’t be right, unless it’s some kind of unmanned drone or something. Ships can’t accelerate that fast!”
“Certainly, none of our ships can,” said the FTO. “I wonder if the Shogunate might have some. This ship or drone is accelerating on the same heading that we are, as far as we can tell. They may have developed a scout ship that has little or no weapons, no armor, but a powerful L-drive. With that acceleration, they might be able to get to their base system before we do and warn them, Admiral.”
That made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. If it was indeed a Shogunate scout, its presence signified two things. They knew that their base was going to be attacked, and now they might very well be prepared for that attack. He briefly toyed with the idea of postponing the mission until he got confirmation to continue from the High Command, but it would take over a week for the round trip to the Capital and back. If the Shogunate were expecting an attack, then the more time they had to prepare, the worse his fleet’s chances of success became. Carrying on with the attack now might catch them less than fully prepared.
“That warning may not help them much if they haven’t had time to bring reinforcements forward. We’ll continue as planned,” said Saville in what he hoped was a confident voice.
“Yes, sir.” The FTO’s tone showed his doubts over the Admiral’s decision. Saville took note but chose to ignore it. If he himself had doubts, then it wouldn’t be fair to chastise the Lieutenant for having them too.
By the time Third Fleet dropped out of uber-space in the Hokkaido Base system 177 hours later, Saville had convinced himself that he could still pull off a decisive victory. If his Flag Bridge personnel still had doubts of their own, they kept them well hidden. He waited patiently and, he hoped, calmly at his command station for the main display to assemble the tactical situation. The system’s planets and other natural bodies, all well mapped, would appear first, then sources of electro-magnetic transmissions, such as ships or the Base itself, and then sources of gravity wakes. When two full minutes had passed and there were still no gravity wakes, Saville turned to look at his FTO.
“Shouldn’t we be seeing some wakes by now, Lieutenant?”
The young officer quickly checked his console and nodded. “Yes, Admiral, we should. The equipment is working perfectly. I can only conclude that we’re not seeing any wakes, because nothing is moving using L-drives at the moment.”
“But this is their major naval base in this sector, not to mention that their scout must have arrived ahead of us given that it entered uber-space before we did. If they’ve been warned, then their ships should be maneuvering for position.” The FTO remained silent since the Admiral had not asked him a question.
“They could still be in orbit, Admiral,” offered the FAO.
Saville pondered that idea for a few seconds before responding. “Waiting to see how far out we arrive. Hmm. Possible, but that would leave us with the initiative. They’d be making the same mistake that Admiral Owens made at Sheffield, except that he didn’t have any warning.
I somehow don’t think they’re that incompetent. It has to be one of two possibilities. Either that scout hasn’t arrived yet for some reason—technical malfunction perhaps—or they’re already in position and don’t need to maneuver any further.”
The FAO turned to look at Saville. “Admiral, based on the acceleration we saw from that scout, it could have gotten here twenty-one point three hours ago. Assuming their battlecruisers have a lower acceleration, then there’s a limit to how far their ships could have gotten in that time frame. I can try to calculate that for you, sir.”
“Yes! By all means give it a go, Lieutenant. In the meantime, we stay with the plan and continue decelerating.”
The calculations took longer than Saville was expecting, but he wasn’t in any hurry. Given that the Shogunate Admiral had likely been warned, there was no sense in counting on any element of surprise, and Saville had adjusted the Fleet’s orders accordingly before entering uber-space. Therefore, Third Fleet had dropped back to sub-light velocity far enough out from the Shogunate naval base planet to give Saville lots of flexibility. He could either decelerate slowly and maintain a high velocity or take his time and arrive in the vicinity of the planet with a relatively low velocity. Emerging closer to the planet would mean that he’d be stuck with a high velocity pass whether he wanted it or not. The other reason for arriving way out here was the virtually zero likelihood that Shogunate ships were positioned this far out in an attempt to surprise him. Star systems were many light-hours wide, and the Shogunate Admiral would have needed literally thousands of ships to cover an area that wide and still be within missile range. When the FAO was finally finished, he turned to Saville.