by Chris Hechtl
The evac was going off fairly well. They had to head to the planet but that was fine. The shuttles were moving back and forth smoothly. There was a bit of weather at two of the spaceports, so they had switched to the backups yesterday. The weather was expected to clear in another day.
The scuttle charges were being set up as well. He hated seeing it, but he had no choice. His duty was clear there as was his attempt to get at least one shot at the bastards.
So far, the ensign and his tactical team had failed to get a lock. The enemy was canny, too canny and well aware of his guns. They never held a course for long. Firing on their base course would just give them too much time to maneuver around the cloud.
That meant he had to wait until they got in a lot closer to get a possible hit. Which meant more waiting.
~~~^~~~
Dwight noted Hammer's launch of recon drones and nodded in approval. “Comm to all screen units. Cycle drones, one per ship along our flight path. Send a copy of the order to the flagship with my tag. End,” he stated.
He listened to the rating replay the order and then grunted as one by one his ships launched a recon drone shell ahead of his ships.
“Comm, pass on a further order. I want a long-range recon launch on the inner star system as well as the jump point. No, wait,” he frowned and then shook himself. “Correction. Pass on a recommendation to Hammer and Anvil to do that. Let the resources come out of their ships,” he amended.
He waited until the order was repeated and then nodded. He turned his attention to the CIC plot. As he watched, a little bit of clarity ahead of them unveiled itself. It wasn't much, but it was better than what they'd had before.
“We'll need to cycle the recon drones and recover them. Work on that,” he ordered, turning to his staff. “And I want the feeds compiled and sifted through. Let's make sure nothings lurking out there.”
“Aye aye, sir.”
~~~^~~~
Trajan called Dawning Hunger once he'd read the other's proposal and gamed it out with his staff. His staff had mixed feelings about it. He did too.
“It is interesting, I'll give you that. It isn't what I'd expected. And I see how having defeat in detail as bait is a two-edged sword. If even one of us is off, we're screwed.”
“I know. It is a risk. But think of the advantages. If he falls on one side, then it can entangle him, slowing his movements and limiting his options as the other maneuvers to flank him. The first will get mauled, but the second force will tear him apart after he's expended himself.”
“Yeah. But as you said, the first will get mauled. That part I don't like,” Trajan grumbled.
The T'clock gave his species equivalent of a shrug. “Sometimes you have to do the dance. And to do the dance sometimes you have to take the risk of getting hurt. If it does the job in the end, hopefully, the sacrifice is worth it.”
Trajan grunted but then nodded when he remembered some of the things he had seen during the Xeno war.
“Okay, let's see if we can refine that. And let's see if we can find a stealthier option. A way to get a carrier force into position to ream him without getting torn up first in the process.”
“That is trickier than I believe possible given they can detect neutrino spore,” the T'clock stated. “But, I think I'll be up to the challenge given the right incentive.”
“A bottle of honey mustard and mead to the winner?” Trajan asked with a grin.
“Perhaps the second, definitely not the first,” the bug replied with a shiver. “You humans are an odd lot with an odd sense of humor.”
“Definitely,” Trajan replied as his grin widened ever so slightly in challenge.
The T'clock stared at him and then gave a human headshake. “Very well. Let's see what we can come up with. Who will play the op force since we will both know what is coming?”
“Oh, I thought we'd run it past Dwight. He's no doubt bored to tears and needs something to keep busy. Since he's close enough, we can run it past him.”
“Right,” the bug replied. “And of course, we won't inform him of the surprise?” he asked.
Trajan shook his head. “Now, what fun would that be? Oh, no doubt he'll know something is up, but he'll get over it.”
“Unless he wins. Okay I'll get my staff on that.”
~~~^~~~
The Retribution Fleet announced its presence in an explosion of light and energy on the positive Z axis ten million kilometers out from the Garth jump point. In a pinpoint move of astrogation, Admiral De Gaulte made his presence known and threw everyone's plans and expectations into doubt.
Chapter 54
Amadeus noted the report of the hyper translation above the Garth jump point. He opened his mouth. It felt dry, but he didn't have time to get a drink. Seconds now counted. “Communications message to all ships. Urgent. All ships institute Tag Bravo. Repeat Tag Bravo. Send it by laser as well as tachyon burst. Do that now.”
The startled rating repeated the order back.
“There goes the neighborhood,” Kelly grumbled.
“You have got to wonder about the timing. Is someone pissed at us or are the spirits just that bored that they want us to duke it out here and now?” Commander Ch'v'tt asked, indicating first-degree disbelief.
Garfield rushed onto the bridge. “I heard the news. Are we going to fight, sir?” he panted, obviously out of breath from the jog.
Amadeus thought about it. He was tempted to back off, to consolidate, reassess the situation, and run if necessary. But then he remembered he'd called the fleet train forward. They couldn't run. If they did, the enemy would tear his fleet train apart when it arrived.
“Yes.”
“We need to consolidate,” Garfield growled as he went to his station. No doubt his implants were feeding him information, but it was easier to process sitting down and not on the run. “Damn it! We should have …”
“The universe is filled with coulda, woulda, shouldas. Why don't we give that one a rest,” Amadeus said tartly. “We'll have to ignore the inner star system for the moment and go after the big boys. You know the drill, march to the sound of the guns.” He turned to his force. As he looked on, Sky Titan and Sun Tzu began to reduce their emissions and crank up their deception ECM to make them look like dreadnoughts. If they'd had more time and had started earlier, he would have gone with the Charlie variant to make them appear as if they were battle cruisers.
He doubted it would have worked, however, even at the range they were at. There were too many ways to see through the stealth. Besides, the enemy in the inner star system had probably gotten a reading on them.
While he looked on, he noted the ECM kick up elsewhere. Jamming pulses went out on the enemy's known frequencies. It wouldn't stop a whisker laser, but it would make it a little harder for the inner star system to communicate with the new force.
Aleck pulled up a system map. He turned to it, but he already knew it was going to be bad news. Hammer was across the star system and out of position to engage the enemy directly. Anvil might get a piece of them if they played their cards right, but if De Gaulte had any sense, he'd take one look and run back the way he had come.
“Damn it!” Kyle muttered.
“We're out of position I know. It looks like it is up to Anvil to do the job,” Amadeus stated. “And we're too far out to exercise command and control so it is in Trajan's hands.”
“De Gaulte will run. He'll almost have to the moment he sees the carriers,” Kelly muttered. “He's smart enough to know we've got antimatter ordinance on them. He won't want to tangle with that.”
“Ah, but how much do we have? He doesn't know. And he's got his own neck on the line if he just runs. I'm curious though. The smart move is to run no matter what he sees, despite knowing his neck is on the chopping block. But will he?” Amadeus asked.
Garfield grunted. “I'd pay good money to find out,” he growled.
Kelly looked at him and snorted. “Why bother? We're going to have a ringside seat.”
“Course change, sir?” Aleck asked, turning attentively to the admiral.
“Yes. Let's keep the speed down though. A leisurely 10 percent above what we're currently putting out, Aleck. No need to panic them too much,” the admiral stated. Aleck looked at him dubiously but then turned and issued the orders.
“I think this engagement is going to be in Trajan's hands,” Amadeus murmured as he knitted his fingers together in front of him.
~~~^~~~
Berney looked uncomfortable as they reported the enemy neutrino sightings. “Based on these readings, the enemy has broken up into five flotillas. One is squatting on the DD01ns jump point opposite us. Obviously, their fleet train,” he reported.
“Three forces are headed in our general direction. A force of cruisers and battle cruisers are, or I should say, were," He paused with a fresh grimace. " …Were on a course for the inner star system here,” he explained, pointing to an icon on the plot. Two other forces are headed directly for us. A fifth force is headed on a least time course from the DD01ns jump point to the inner star system. Or they were I should say,” he corrected himself with a grimace.
“Assessment?” Admiral De Gaulte asked tautly as reports of the fleet streamed in. He glanced over to an image of Admiral Wong and Admiral Mueller. He nodded curtly once and then returned his eyes to the main plot as it began to update itself.
“Too soon for standard sensors, sir. We've got another two and a half minutes before the long-range sensors can punch through the wake.”
“Damn,” Sedrick murmured.
“I want a comparison of what we're seeing with what we know about the enemy's forces,” Cyrano ordered.
“Aye aye, sir. We're going to retreat though, right?” Berney asked cautiously.
The admiral looked over to Sedrick and the others. After a moment, he looked back at the plot. “Not necessarily. Let's play this out.”
“But sir …”
“We haven't seen what they've got yet. And we've got time. They'll be at the jump point in what, a day?”
“Twenty-one hours, sir. They can be in extreme launch range in sixteen hours if they go to flank speed,” Jeremy warned.
“See? We've got time,” the admiral stated. “I want to know what he's got.”
“Understood,” Berney murmured.
~~~^~~~
Lieutenant Savenan was on hand in Command 1's central control room when CIC excitedly reported the status change. He turned to the plot and noted the arrival of the Retribution Force. He shook his head as cheers rang out in the command room. “Don't,” he said as eyes turned to him. “Don't.”
“Sir?” Ensign Smith said, coming down from her high with a frown.
“Don't. Just don't. It's not over. In fact, it hasn't even begun yet,” he stated flatly.
She stared at him for a long moment and realized he was warning her not to get her hopes up. Slowly she deflated and then turned to the rest of the crew. “Back to your posts and jobs, people!” she called out, motioning with her hands to get back to work.
~~~^~~~
Trajan was on the flag bridge and noted the report of the arrival. “Issue the Tag Bravo order. Do it now,” he said as heads swiveled in his direction. He knew he was exercising initiative by passing on the order before they received it, but that was what he was expected to do. Amadeus was eight light minutes behind him, too far out to exercise command and control effectively.
The new carriers went into deception mode, emulating battle cruisers. They would cease air operations and would play their role while any craft they had out would recover on Argus.
~~~^~~~
Hurranna swore under her breath as the report of the enemy's arrival made its way through the network. “Now what the hell do we do?” she muttered.
“Orphan pups are going to use our barn. It's going to be tight,” Commander Bleakly stated over the network. “Don't frack up a landing or we'll all pay for it,” he warned.
“Right. No pressure. Sure,” Hurranna muttered. The good news was that she was used to tight quarters after being on Kittyhawk for so long. The bad news was some of the yahoos in the wing had been spoiled by flying off of Illustrious, Argus, or some of the other carriers.
~~~^~~~
“We're comparing the data sources now. They've been reinforced. We've picked up at least two more dreadnoughts and a couple carriers,” Sedrick said, scanning the report. Berney came over to him and looked over his shoulder. Sedrick pointed to the discrepancy in shipping between the lists. “Fortunately for us, the big boys are all headed to the inner star system and are out of position. The bad news is we've got carriers headed our way.”
He looked up and over to the admiral. “That most likely means more antimatter ordinance, sir,” he said.
Cyrano nodded.
“How do we handle this, sir? Based on these numbers they outnumber us by 20 percent, maybe 30,” Berney stated.
“Ah, but our wings are made up almost exclusively of fighters. They also have more support craft, correct?”
“Yes, sir. But their fighters are tough,” Sedrick warned.
Cyrano nodded. “We can't take them on. So, we're going to have to give up the star system,” he said. He could feel the tension in the room. Some of it eased but not a lot. Resentment hovered over a few people. “That doesn't mean we're not giving it up without a fight.”
“Sir?” Sedrick asked as Jeremy and a few of the others perked up.
“I'm not going to get too deep, trust me. We're going to bloody their nose. Hit their screen but keep their bombers away from us. Wong wants to see if we can cut down their number of bombers. I want to give him that chance.”
“But sir, if they get into engagement range …,” Sedrick shook his head. “It's all over.”
“I know. We'll just have to make sure that doesn't happen, right?” the admiral stated. “Jeremy,” he paused as he turned to the navigator.
“Sir?”
“I need a course to pull them in but with zig zags and a way to break off and retreat into hyperspace if we need to do so in a hurry. That means staying close to the jump point zone. We're going to taunt the bull,” he stated.
Jeremy nodded as his eyes moved left and right as he gamed the idea out in his head. “I can do that, sir,” he said cautiously.
“Get on it. I'll call Wong and Scott and let them know. Berney, I need a proper assessment of what we've got. We're going to split the fleet, leave the fleet train right where it is. They are to charge their hyperdrives and sit this one out. If anything gets close, they are to jump for Garth.”
“Yes, sir,” Berney replied with a nod. He wanted to talk to the admiral, to caution him and to perhaps change his mind but couldn't in front of everyone else.
~~~^~~~
“Sir, we've got fleet separation. It looks like they are leaving their fleet train behind them. They are headed south, following the edge of the jump zone,” Four Eyes reported.
Trajan did a quick and dirty assessment of what the enemy could see of his force and then ran a simulation. Once he had tweaked the bugs out, he began to pass on orders.
One of those orders had the two fleet carriers to load their bombers with antimatter and then launch. He obviously couldn't do that with the other carriers since they were pretending to be something else. Would two bomber groups be enough though? They'd have to be he thought firmly.
“That will take at least an hour, Admiral,” Commander Bleakly warned.
“Better get on it now then. While you are at that, we're going to screen the movement the bombers are going to perform,” he stated to his staff.
“Sir, launching them now is a waste. We're too far out,” the CAG warned.
“You'll see.” He turned to the holographic image of Dwight. “Dwight, I need part of your screen.”
“It's yours,” Dwight said instantly. “What are you up to?”
“I can't promise you'll get them back in one piece. For this to work, we're going to have to
get creative and lure them in. Which means we need to do everything opposite of what the book says to,” Trajan said, hoping he was right.
Dwight's image hesitated before he nodded.
“Okay, here's the deal. We need to get De Gaulte to believe he can defeat us in detail. That means we're not going to stay concentrated. Per Dawning Hunger's plan, we're going to pincer him. But we're going to do it in a specific way. Here's the deal. Dwight, you are going to go to flank speed in a bit and run for wide, then cut in. Dawning Hunger, you and I are going to split up and put a wide berth between us …”
~~~^~~~
Garfield saw the enemy ships refuse to flee. Instead they broke into two groups. And then he noted something else, something he shouldn't be seeing at all. The ships in the Anvil Flotilla broke up into two groups. As he watched in surprise they put more and more distance between them as each carrier force went on their own heading, now away from the Garth jump point but in the general direction of the enemy. He also saw the screen rush out, far away from the direct line to the enemy force. “What the …?”
“Sir …”
Amadeus didn't look up from the file he was reading. He finished reading Trajan's hastily jotted out plan along with the copy of Dawning Hunger's original idea. He frowned, gaming it out and then nodded once before he straightened and looked up. “Yes?”
“Sir, Anvil has just lost its mind. They should go in concentrated, but they are splitting up. This doesn't make sense …,” Garfield said, ears half back.
“Watch.”
“Sir?”
“Make sure Tag Bravo is still in effect with all ships and keep the scrambling up. We don't want the enemy to compare notes.”
“Aye aye, sir.”
“In fact, Leopold, let's get your ilk into the act. Send out some cyber-attacks on the known enemy frequencies. Let's get them paranoid and keep them from trying to listen to the inner star system,” Amadeus ordered.
Garfield looked at the admiral warily. He knew when someone was up to something and this stunk to high heaven. He also didn't like that he wasn't involved in the planning or execution of this plan. It stank to high heaven with unnecessary risk.