The fast shuttle got Kyle to Beulah the day after the admiral reached Glade. Kyle was even more depressed as word got back that Admiral Cain was already at Glade and ready to arrest Admiral Oden for mutiny. Only respect from Admiral Cain for Admiral Oden had permitted the surgery to go on without interruption or disruption.
Kyle entered into the headquarters building, feeling certain that the cause was lost. Seeing several admirals standing and waiting for him only served to further convince him that they were throwing in the towel.
"Captain Kyle, I'm Admiral Nick. Whether you believe this or not, you are now an admiral on Rear Admiral Oden's recommendation as being the best officer available for defeating the Malakins. You're to use Admiral Oden's office as you may need access to his files unless you prefer a different one. We're ready to support you in whatever you decide needs to be done."
Kyle stopped in the middle of his salute to the admirals and let his mouth fall open. His eyes felt glazed for a moment before he completely understood what was said. Admiral Nick was holding out his hand with an admiral's badges of rank for him to accept. Another admiral held out Kyle's orders confirming his appointment as an admiral.
Admiral Heavywolf said, "Cheer up, it's only about two years ahead of time for this promotion. You would have become a commodore inside of two months anyway. Judging from your record, nothing would have stopped you from becoming an admiral later on. You're not being given anything you won't be earning."
Kyle finished his salute and received return salutes from the gathered admirals. Then he accepted their assistance in changing his badges of rank. After that, they briefed him on what the full situation was like.
***
"Admiral Oden, I'm Fleet Admiral Cain. Much as I respect you, I am placing you under arrest for mutiny."
Dave looked up at the man whose face he recognized from records the Navy kept on Serapha and Opal. He tried to say something, but his mouth was dry. Only a gurgle came out.
Admiral Cain picked up a glass, placed a straw to Dave's lips, and assisted him to drink some water.
"Thanks," Dave said. "I won't give you any trouble."
"Not that you already haven't. That was some skirmish you gave us before we even got near to Beulah. Your boys took out our engines like clockwork and left us drifting about helplessly like rubber toys in a bathtub. I'm sorry you lost eight men, but if it's any consolation, I lost thirty."
"That wasn't my battle plan. I merely gave some instructions for what I wanted accomplished to Commodore Bland. It was his plan and implementation completely. He deserves your compliments, sir, not I."
Admiral Cain's eyes grew wide as he caught onto the truth of the situation. He realized at last that he was up against a Navy composed of super tacticians, if a mere commodore could defeat him and a larger fleet. Cain almost forgot what else he was about to say. "Well, uh, yes, of course. If I should ever chance upon Commodore Bland, I will compliment him on his tactics and the handling of his force. He was, uh, quite skillful."
"Yes, and he wasn't one of the officers whom I trained. In fact, I don't think that I could have taught him much anyway."
Cain replied, "Um, yeah. Oh, before I forget, we're not going to move you until you're a little bit better and more recovered from your wounds. I've already got my handlers calmed down by assuring them that you are in custody and our security is in place. They're willing now to wait a little before you are moved to Earth for trial."
"Thank you. Your handlers? I don't understand that part."
"My bosses, of course. They're very demanding."
"Oh, I see," replied Dave, realizing quickly that Admiral Cain was operating under tight civilian control from Serapha and not under Admiral of the Navy Reason. That was very dangerous in a wartime situation for civilians to be dictating strategy and tactics. Politics, certainly, but not military matters. That was a sure path to disaster and defeat. It was only with the greatest of reluctance that Dave acted in the current political mess and then only to prevent bloodshed, not to take over. It was interesting intelligence information that Dave realized he now had, though he could scarcely use it. "By the way, can you tell me how the war against Malak is holding up? I'm not asking about anything else, since I'm sure you would consider anything outside of that as confidential."
"Well, since the day you were wounded, the front has been extremely quiet. Frankly, I expected the rebels to pack it all up the other day when we arrived to arrest you. This is just a formality, you understand?"
"Yes, thank you very much for the formality. I appreciate your coming," said Dave. "Well, at least, the Union is still safe."
"You still care about the Union?" asked Cain.
"Of course. I only did what I did because of Malak. I had to take the whole Navy with me in order to fight Malak. We can't win against the Malakin Empire if we fight ourselves at the same time. We finally recovered our spy from Malak shortly before I was wounded. Haven't you heard about what he has to say?"
"You had a spy on Malak? First I've heard of it."
Dave replied, "Yes, we had our suspicions aroused early after their discovery and smuggled in a spy. He found out that the Malakins not only want Edun and Gabrielle, they also intend to take another eighteen planets as soon as they're able, Earth included. They don't intend to allow us to survive other than as slaves after that. Can you believe that, they still practice slavery? They'll wipe us out as far as being in control of our own destinies and being free goes. The only humans left will be slaves to do with as the Malakins choose. The only planets they won't try to colonize are those with gravity heavier than Earth's. They're uncomfortable on those because of their anatomy. But they don't want humans on those worlds, either, except perhaps as breeding colonies for slavery."
"You're positive concerning this information?"
"I staked my career on it," Dave replied.
Cain admitted, "This is the first I have heard of this. If this is so, then you are right that we must not fight among ourselves until the threat from Malak is neutralized."
Dave fell asleep as he answered, his voice going into a mumble as the drugs kicked in, "You've got tha . . ."
***
A week later, Dave was taken from the hospital on board the Seraphan ship that waited outside the hospital all that time. It was finally time to take him to Earth to stand trial. Even as he boarded for the fateful trip, it was impossible to determine Dave's emotions from his facial features. In other matters, he didn't bother hiding those, but in this matter he was playing as if he still held some good cards in a poker hand.
Chapter 7
Kyle finished going over Dave's notes and conjectures several days earlier. He was helped by Dave's staff in finding things and figuring out what they meant. Being familiar with how Admiral Oden thought gave Kyle an insight as to what Dave had seen and prepared for. Kyle still looked at the one conjecture that he wasn't sure how Dave came to. Still, it made sense to never underestimate the enemy nor consider it impossible for him to suddenly change tactics and strategy.
Now the thought still plagued Kyle as if some instinctive sense, long since thought gone when man learned to walk upright and use tools, was reasserting itself to help him make a critical decision. Kyle finally decided to follow up his hunch. At most, it would place a few units out of position for a few hours should a standard battle take place. But if what Kyle felt was coming wasn't so standard from the Malakin point of view, he would definitely be better prepared to deal with it.
Admiral Kruler went to communications and sent out his first tactical orders message. He figured he might as well find out now if he really had the authority and responsibility given to him. If any feedback came to him, he'd know then how much support he really possessed.
***
The new Malakin offensive came the next morning. It charged at Union territory in a way like it never had before. None of the attacks were directed at the outermost planets. Battle information poured into headquarters like a rain sho
wer.
Kyle left his breakfast half-eaten on the table when word reached him and ran for his hover. His driver was ready to go and put the hover into gear, whisking him to headquarters in less than a minute. Kyle leaped from the hover before it stopped fully, ran into headquarters, and stopped in front of the hologram image of the new invasion force. He felt shocked to see that he was ready for exactly what the Malakin force was doing. He lifted his eyebrows for a moment. Then he took in a deep breath.
"Okay everyone, Plan Oden is in effect! Let's save the Union!" he hollered out with enthusiasm.
***
"Yeeee-haaaawwww!" Lieutenant Susan Thompson shouted, as her fighter left the carrier and sped out in front of her fighter command that fanned out behind her. She looked at the oncoming formation and shouted into her communications, "Pinball!"
Immediately, every fighter went after the enemy on its own, entering into the enemy formation and dodging from enemy ship to enemy ship, forcing them to spread out where fighter wings could combine to gang up on them. Because of the Pinball maneuver, the enemy ships couldn't fire at the fighters inside their formation without hitting their own warships.
Lieutenant jg Allen Gregory, in the Daddy Butterfly, kept up with Susan's fighter and helped to take out gun stations on the enemy warships so that they could bounce from ship to ship inflicting the most damage possible. Since every fighter could choose its own targets, Susan, in the Attack Butterfly, couldn't complain about what he was doing.
Slowly the enemy warships were corralled and destroyed or left unable to harm anything. Only the massive numbers of enemy warships made it possible for a few of them to avoid destruction and escape the wrath of the fighters.
***
In other sectors of space, other fighter carriers ambushed Malakin forces with their fighters and the minimal destroyer escort detailed to protect each carrier. In each case, the Malakins were surprised at the sudden ambush from hordes of fighters coming from a carrier that was hidden carefully. When a few Malakin warships escaped from some of the ambushes, the destroyers left the fighters to protect the carriers and raced off in pursuit. The destroyers, despite their smaller size and fewer weapons, courageously went after and attacked any enemy ships they could catch up with. Most of the Malakin warships were caught up with and destroyed. Some were not. Two destroyers paid the ultimate price for their audacity in going after dreadnoughts by themselves.
***
"Admiral Cain, we have a single ship coming this way at high speed. From the size, it appears to be a dreadnought."
Fleet Admiral Cain interrupted his casual conversation with Admiral Oden, who was on the bridge as his guest. "Are you sure that it's a dreadnought?"
"Yes, sir. One ship by itself and it's a dreadnought."
Cain turned to Oden and said, "Well, I guess your people want you back."
Dave replied, "True enough, they do, but that's not one of my ships. I made my officers pledge not to do any such thing because it would jeopardize reconciliation between the Union and the secessionists. Not only did I have them make that pledge, I told them why so that they wouldn't forget and do something like this. You better check on that ship again. Two to one, it's not manned by humans."
"So you're a betting man, huh? I'll take that bet. Be back in a moment," said Cain.
Fleet Admiral Cain walked over to a viewer and looked at the oncoming ship. He stared for a moment at it before he realized that it wasn't a Union ship. He recognized it as coming from Malak. "Captain! That's bigger than a Union dreadnought! It's a Malakin dreadnought! Take evasive maneuvers now! Instruct the other ship to cover our escape."
Dave felt sick to his stomach as he thought of the other Seraphan ship being ordered to its death.
Admiral Cain walked back over beside Dave and noticed Dave's gaunt face. "Feeling sick? I'll have you escorted to your quarters if you like."
Dave answered, "No, not sick, just grief stricken for the people on your other ship. They can't possibly survive on their own against that warship. You'd be better off if they followed along behind you at high speed."
"You're kidding? You feel sorry for my men?" asked Cain.
"Why should I want to see any of your men killed? Didn't I instruct the Grim Reapers to do their best to avoid killing anyone aboard your ships when you approached Beulah?"
"Well, yes, you did, I suppose. But that was to make reconciliation possible. This has nothing to do with that."
"Doesn't matter. They're still people, our people, and I don't like wasting lives when it can be done a better way," said Oden.
Cain turned and shouted, "Captain, tell the other ship to fall in behind us and proceed at top speed with us." Cain turned back around and asked, "What's a better way to do this?"
Admiral Oden got up carefully and walked over to the hologram imaging display. He studied it for a moment as he considered what he knew of Seraphan abilities and then said, "Have the other ship catch up with us and then go on outward so that your courses make a gradual V. That will allow both of you to use some of your guns to fire back at the dreadnought. The farther apart you get, the harder it will be for the dreadnought to follow both of you. Eventually, it will chase after just one. The other ship is to then turn and charge, catching the dreadnought in the rear. Destroy the dreadnought's engines and it's helpless. Then the gunners from both your ships can have target practice."
"What if the other ship doesn't charge when the dreadnought chases after one of us?" asked Cain.
"Then they'll survive for certain. As to the ship being chased, they'll have to take advantage of the environment to level the playing field. Even one ship can do it, but the commander of that ship has to know what he's doing and what the enemy is capable of," Dave replied.
"Okay, I'll try it. I hope you're not getting us into something even you can't handle."
***
An hour later, both Seraphan warships took turns firing on the helpless Malakin dreadnought until its commander finally radioed them with his surrender.
"Admiral Oden, if we weren't doing this at this very moment, I wouldn't believe it possible. We've captured a Malakin dreadnought with two little ships," said Fleet Admiral Cain.
"How many men did you lose?" asked Dave.
"Ten. I can accept that under the circumstances," answered Cain.
"I'm sorry. I tried to do it without getting any of your people killed."
"You're sorry because we lost ten men? You're still not satisfied? Unbelievable!" exclaimed Admiral Cain. Cain turned to the captain of the ship. "Have the Antioch take the dreadnought in tow and follow us. When we reach Earth we'll turn over the dreadnought's crew to military intelligence. They'll uncover the truth about what the Malakins have planned for mankind."
"I doubt it," said Oden. "Most of the Malakin military personnel don't know anything about their long-range goals. You'd need one of their high-up military leaders or someone from their government to get that type of information. The most you'll get from any of the surviving Malakins on board is what their local force was composed of. We've already interrogated enough of them to learn that much."
***
Admiral Kruler accepted the comments and many compliments on his tactics against the latest Malakin attempt with as much modesty as he could summon. He did his best to let everyone know that he had only reacted to information that Admiral Oden left behind. Still, he felt good knowing that he had issued the correct decision and that his efforts had paid off fairly well with only the loss of six destroyers and twenty-two fighters. Even though Kyle knew he had passed the first test of his new command, he knew that he still had a war to win. He dedicated himself to performing as well as he could while following in Admiral Oden's footsteps.
Immediately he gave thought to what the next Malakin attempt would be like and where. Already, the Malakins had demonstrated that they weren't inflexible and appeared to have plenty of ships in reserve. Sooner or later, Kyle knew the Malakins would reach the bottom of their res
erves. Only when that condition was reached would it be the right time to attack them on their home turf and hit them as hard as possible to end the war then and there.
***
Fleet Admiral Cain's two ships with the Malakin dreadnought in tow reached Earth a few days later. Upon arrival, the dreadnought was boarded and the surviving Malakins were taken off as prisoners. The dreadnought was then taken in tow by a salvage team to be studied intensely before being used as scrap for building newer, better warships for men to operate.
Admiral Cain visited with Dave as Cain prepared to have his ship land on Earth so Dave could be escorted away for trial. "You haven't even asked for any credit in saving our lives. I noticed this about you whenever you talked with the men, which I have so freely allowed. You always seemed to make them feel better about themselves and their abilities when they left your presence. I don't know how you did it, but no one on board wants to see you go to trial now."
"I will go to trial, even if it is sooner than I expected," said Dave. "If any of the men give you any problems about that, you may have them talk with me and I will convince them."
"You'll go to trial willingly? Dave, I hope that things work out for you somehow. I'd offer my hand in friendship, though I'll probably be a Judas later. You know about Judas?"
"Yes, I do. I won't hate you for that since I understand your position. You'll do what you have to in order to survive. Your road is considerably tougher to walk on than my own," answered Dave as he accepted Cain's handshake.
***
Shortly afterward, Admiral Cain's flagship landed on Earth where Union police came aboard to escort Admiral Oden off in custody. Not long after that, Admiral Cain and his two ships returned to rejoin with the rest of his fleet that was still being repaired for the most part.
Chapter 8
Dave was taken in front of the Congress in a hover chair. It wasn't his idea, but his military attorney's. Dave knew he could walk without assistance or crutches. Living on Beulah for over a decade had given him considerable body strength, part of which was the reason for his survival in spite of the severity of his wounds.
Dust Bunny (Rust Bucket Universe) Page 8