Maybe they didn’t.
The more this detachment slammed Kris’s ships, blew them up, or crippled them, the fewer ships would be left to attack the trailing detachment of seventy-five ships. It was on them that victory or defeat for this rebellion depended.
Kris smaller battlecruisers cut out nine of the enemy’s ships, bringing them down to just about one hundred. They nailed two of Kris’s Iteeche ships.
The problem was that Kris was decelerating at two gees toward the jump and a bit more to edge her to the right of that path. She had to wear away from the larger force if she wanted to avoid this big honking fleet headed directly for her.
Kris brought all her ships back to the rebels racing for the jump. She traded salvos with them. In one minute, a third of the rebel ships were hit, smashed, destroyed, or knocked out of the fight.
Kris lost seven ships in the exchange.
Then the cavalry arrived.
Kris took out another fifteen ships.
She lost ten.
The lead ships of the big rebel fleet had gotten in range. Now the bloody fight would get worse.
If his weight would have allowed for it, Admiral Donn would have slammed both of his right fists into his left palms. Unable to so much as twitch without aggravating the excruciating pain in his back, he settled for joining the shouts of joy that bounced off the bulkheads of his flag bridge.
They were in range of the loyal vanguard and they were hacking them down. His fleet might only muster a thousand 22-inch battlecruisers, but he had the loyalists in his sights and he aimed to take them down.
The enemy vanguard had done its best to avoid him, slipping across the direct path to the jump and opening up the range as much as she could. She could run, but not far enough if she wanted to make that jump.
Dunn, like Coth, knew that he’d never make the jump. He had way too much energy on his boats. Even if he did everything he could from this moment on, he could not slow enough to go through the jump at anything less than suicidal speed.
Yes, there had been reports that a human had used high speeds to ride the jumps all the way across the galaxy. Still, Admiral Donn, like all other Iteeche, had no idea where the jumps would take him if he didn’t treat them just right.
No. His other detachments would make the jump. He would clear the way for them. He ordered his flotillas to prepare to fire upon the vanguard as they came in range. Until then, they would continue to fight Admiral Coth’s ships that were flaying his fleet alive. A minute passed, the two forces swapped salvos. Coth destroyed a hundred of his ships.
The first ten flotillas to come in range of the van, however, destroyed five of the vanguard’s ships. The detachment that was close to charging through their ranks, likely got another three.
In two minutes, every rebel ship was in range of the vanguard. One thousand ships fired twelve thousand 22-inch lasers. Thirteen ships from the vanguard winked out of existence. In another sixty seconds, another twenty-four were gone.
In the meantime, the last rebel ship in the middle detachment was smashed. Now, the only ships with any hope of making the jump and upsetting the ways of this Emperor were the seventy-five ships in the detachment that had come from the rear guard.
But Donn was paying a high price for concentrating on the vanguard. His opposite number, Admiral Coth took a great risk, but one with a huge return. He slowed the jinking of his fleet to something almost gentle. His thousand ships raked Donn’s fleet with extremely accurate fire. During the same long minute while Donn was nailing thirty-seven ships out of the vanguard, Coth was smashing nearly three hundred of Donn’s ships.
As Donn aimed his fleet like a knife for the throat of the vanguard, two loyalist forces took his ships under fire from both directions. Another pair of salvos and he traded two hundred ships for just sixteen.
The admiral was not there to count the losses to either side from the next exchange. His luck, and that of the Shark, finally ran out. His was one of the hundred and sixty-three ships that were shot through by the next volley.
He was not there to hear as some two hundred of his ships called for quarters and were allowed to surrender.
65
Her Royal Highness, Grand Admiral Kris Longknife, Imperial Admiral of the First Order of Steel, accepted the surrender of the larger group of rebel ships. She offered the same conditions to the smaller detachment that was still breaking toward the jump.
It was simple.
Surrender or die.
Surrender and accept quarters or be annihilated.
Having observed from a distance the annihilation of nearly eight thousand of their comrades and some fifteen hundred of the ships that fought them, they accepted the offer.
Kris breathed a sigh of relief, then steeled herself. She still had twenty-nine human cruisers and about a hundred Imperial Iteeche ships under her command. They alone could make the jump. Kris had no idea what the Imperial System looked like, but her kids were there and that was where she wanted to be.
“What about those big barges?” Jack mentioned.
Kris would very much like to present the occupants of those Battleships of State to the Emperor for them to make their own most solemn and formal apology, but there was no way that her ships could get back quickly enough to catch them. The ships with the political cargo had gone to a 1.68 gee deceleration as soon as the battle had started to go bad. They had yet to dampen down their vectors toward the jump to the Imperial System, but they’d jump out before any of Kris’s ships could catch them.
Then karma proved that she truly was a bitch. The jump began to spit out ships rapidly, in a very ship shape and Bristol fashion. No sooner had the fact of their arrival reached the sensors on Kris's ships than they were found to be squawking as human battlecruisers out from Wardhaven. Admiral Kitano was in command.
Kris quickly had Comm send a very prompt reply. “Very glad to see you, and the ships following behind you. We’re cleaning up the wreckage of a very big battle. Could you please police up those large puff balls? They are known locally as Battleships of State and they’re loaded to the gills with political types too dainty to get their hands dirty in a fight. I very much want to talk to them, and I’m sure there are many Iteeche in the Imperial Court who would like the same.”
There were other matters to handle. More rescue ships were called out from the stations, and a surprising number came. Kris made a quick call to Admiral Coth.
"Admiral, these rebels are surrendering to my command. I want them treated as we humans treat prisoners of war. No killing. No blowing ships up. They didn't massacre our damaged ships. We don't do that to them now."
"My Admiral, you humans are a strange bunch, but I have followed you to a victory that will be sung about for a thousand years. I will obey your orders.
"Thank you, Coth. Clean up here. As soon as you can, follow me to the Imperial system. You’ve earned a victory parade."
"Victory parade?"
"Okay, how about the beers being on me?”
"I think that translates fine in any language."
Kris was just about to jump into the Imperial system when word came from Admiral Katana that all the head high muckety-mucks were in custody. She was not treating them as prisoners of war and they looked like a very crestfallen bunch.
She was not surprised to discover the Imperial system was littered with the wreckage of thousands of ships. Here as well, the rebels had started things off with a surprise attack on the other loyal ships. Here, the two groups of survivors had fought themselves to mutual annihilation.
That had left the Imperial Capitol holding their breath to see who would command the next force to come through the jump.
There was great jubilation and celebration when Kris sent out her recognition signals.
As the Princess Royal was pulled into the pier by the tie downs, Kris found herself most eager to get out of there. They’d arranged to open three quarterdecks to the pier to allow for free flow aboard and ashore
. Kris and Jack were among the first down one of those gangplanks.
There, two beautiful kids were waiting with several of their friends. Roth was also waiting on the pier, with about a tenth of the retinue he’d brought the last time he came, but even a mighty Imperial counselor had to wait for two kids to get their hugs and kisses.
The kids weren’t the only ones to need hugs and kisses. Kris was giving and taking them in large quantities. She knew that the rebellion probably wasn’t over. She knew that Roth, no doubt, had a load of problems he needed her to solve, but for now, the Empire could hold its horses. A momma needed some quality time with her kids.
A grand admiral may have saved fifty-billion lives and an Imperial dynasty, but she’d saved them for her kids’ sake, and she very much wanted the reward they had for her.
About the Author
Mike Shepherd is the National best-selling author of the Kris Longknife saga. Mike Moscoe is the award-nominated short story writer who has also written several novels, most of which were, until recently, out of print. Though the two have never been seen in the same room at the same time, they are reported to be good friends.
Mike Shepherd grew up Navy. It taught him early about change and the chain of command. He's worked as a bartender and cab driver, personnel advisor and labor negotiator. Now retired from building databases about the endangered critters of the Northwest, he’s looking forward to some fun reading and writing.
Mike lives in Vancouver, Washington, with his wife Ellen, and not too far from his daughter and grandkids. He enjoys reading, writing, dreaming, watching grandchildren for story ideas and upgrading his computer – all are never ending.
For more information:
www.mikeshepherd.org
[email protected]
2017 Releases
In 2016, I amicably ended my twenty-year publishing relationship with Ace, part of Penguin Random House.
In 2017, I began publishing through my own independent press, KL & MM Books.
I am delighted to say that you fans have responded wonderfully. We have sold over 20,000 copies of the five e-novels. In 2018, I intend to keep the novels coming,
We started the year with Kris Longknife’s Replacement that tells the story of Grand Admiral Sandy Santiago as she does her best as a mere mortal to fill the shoes left behind on Alwa Station by Kris Longknife. Sandy has problems galore: birds, cats, and vicious alien raiders. Oh, and she’s got Rita Nuu-Longknife as well!
February had a novelette. Kris Longknife: Among the Kicking Birds was part of Kris Longknife: Unrelenting. However, it went long and these four chapters were cut to one short paragraph. I hope you enjoy the full story.
Rita Longknife: Enemy Unknown was available in March and is the first book of the long-awaited Iteeche War series. Rita has had enough of Ray Longknife gallivanting around the universe. No sooner is little Al born, than ships start disappearing. Is it pirates or something more sinister? Rita gets herself command of a heavy cruiser, some nannies, and heads out to see what there is to see.
April had another short offering, Kris Longknife’s Bad Day. You just knew when Kris asked for a desk job that she’d have days like you have at the office. Well, here’s one that will bring you up to date on the technical developments in the Royal US Navy, as well as silly bureaucratic goings on. In the first draft of Emissary, these were the opening chapters, but I found a better opening and this got cut. Enjoy!
Kris Longknife: Emissary began an entirely new story arc for Kris and was available May 1. Here is the story of what it takes to get Kris out from behind a desk. And for those of you betting in the pool, you’ll get your answer. More I cannot say.
June brought you Abby Nightingale’s view of things around Alwa in Kris Longknife’s Maid Goes on Strike. You knew sooner or later this was going to happen.
July had another book set in Alwa. As Kris Longknife’s Relief, Sandy Santiago, continues to battle aliens of various persuasions and not a few humans.
Rita Longknife: Enemy in Sight was released in September and sought to resolve the unknowns left by Enemy Unknown as humanity slipped backwards into a war it does not want and may not be able to win.
Kris Longknife’s Maid Goes on Strike and Other Short Stories, is a collection of four short stories: Maid Goes on Strike, Ruthie Longknife’s First Christmas, Among the Kicking Birds, and Bad Day. These were available in October all under one ebook cover for a great price.
Kris Longknife: Admiral was available in November. In this adventure, Kris is up to her ears in warships, enemies, and friendlies who may be not as friendly as she’d like, as battlecruisers square off against battlecruisers. A fight where both sides are equal is a bloody fight that often no one wins.
Work is already going on for a January 18 release of Kris Longknife’s Successor. March will have the next book in the Iteeche War, and May will continue Kris’s adventures in the Iteeche Empire with Kris Longknife: Warrior.
Stay in touch to follow developments by following Kris Longknife on Facebook or checking in at my website www.mikeshepherd.org.
I hope to soon have a mailing list you can sign up for.
Kris Longknife - Admiral Page 36