“Aye, ma’am.”
“And call first watch back on duty,” she said as almost an afterthought. “If anything is going to happen it’ll likely be soon. Coms, let the Aludra Star know that things are likely to get hot as they prepare for departure.”
“Aye, ma’am.”
“So we’re all agreed this plan involves minimum risk to the population?” Jackson asked his senior staff one more time. “The Star will be clearing the planet for the last time in forty minutes, so now is the time to speak up and I encourage anyone who has the slightest doubt to do so.”
“No, sir,” Lieutenant Commander Sharpe spoke up. “I think this will at least give us some time to get more troops and ships here without them getting that machine operational in the meantime.”
“Very well,” Jackson said. “Everyone back to your stations. Tactical and Coms, coordinate one more time with Colonel Rucker about their requested fire mission and tell them we’re less than ten away.”
“Aye, sir,” Simmons said as he nodded to Epsen.
The Star had recovered the outbound shuttles without incident and had then accelerated to climb up through two transfer orbits. She was now at departure altitude and carrying enough velocity to break away, so this would be their last trip around the planet. Colonel Rucker had called and said that he wanted a few pockets of Darshik troops hit with the orbit-to-surface guns in the Star’s belly to give Colonel Beck’s forces more time to disembark and organize before pushing on to Neuberlin.
Jackson had cleared the area of human presence on the previous orbit; thankfully Darshik combat suits read as much cooler than humans, so Simmons should have little trouble aiming his cannons and at least disbursing them. This was the first time they’d bunched up into large enough numbers to make an orbital strike feasible. Jackson assumed it must be in response to the Marines also clumping up as they were pushed back.
“Flight OPS has declared the launch bays completely secure,” Ensign Dole reported. “Shuttles are locked down and all personnel have cleared the area.”
“Targets confirmed by ground spotters and thermal imagery,” Simmons said. “Ventral cannons deployed and tracking.”
“You are cleared to fire when ready,” Jackson said, watching the main display.
“Firing! Two volleys,” Simmons said. “Firing program complete.”
“OPS?” Jackson asked.
“CIC confirms good hits on target area, sir,” Dole said. “But we’ll overfly the target zone before the smoke and debris clears.”
“Understood,” Jackson said. “Tactical, next target is coming up.”
“Cannons locked onto location, waiting to come within optimal range,” Simmons said. The Star streaked over the continent at over sixty-two thousand kilometers per hour and was almost on top of the alien machine sitting off the west coast within minutes.
Jackson held firm in his belief that there was too much risk involved in firing directly on the unknown construct, but the power cable was very large and looked like it could be easily destroyed with wide-beam fire to the point that it would have to be replaced. It was based on the educated guess from his chief engineer that the dark ribbon in their imagery was indeed a power cable meant to connect to some as-yet-unknown power source on the coastline.
“Target within sight,” Dole said.
“Computer has verified our position and adjusted our firing pattern … stand by.” Simmons was staring at his own displays without blinking as the alien machine began to take shape on the main display. “Firing!”
Jackson saw the distortion and vapor clouds left by their laser fire along with the billowing clouds of steam as the cannons fired into the ocean to hit the cable that was sitting a meter below the surface. The pulse lasers executed the preprogrammed pattern meant to maximize their coverage and damage the cable to the point that a simple repair would be impossible. Like with their first fire mission, the ground was soon too obscured with debris and water vapor for them to confirm they’d done anything useful or not. Jackson realized the effort may have been akin to pissing into a hurricane for all the good it would do, but he felt marginally better knowing he’d at least tried to do something while he was here.
“Firing sequence complete,” Simmons said.
“Helm, come onto your new course,” Jackson ordered. “All ahead flank. Coms, inform the Icarus we’re departing Juwel’s orbit and tell Colonel Rucker we wish them luck.”
"All engines ahead flank, aye.”
“The Icarus is reporting that Captain Wright sent the Relentless ahead of them towards the DeLonges jump point and that they’re going to be our escort on the way out,” Epsen said.
“Let’s stay sharp, everyone,” Jackson cautioned. “This isn’t the easy part. Far from it. We’re a bit lighter now, but the element of surprise is gone and any enemy cruisers left in this system will know exactly where we’re going. It’s a long way back up to the jump point and we have an unknown enemy presence out there not to mention our Specter that has yet to make another appearance.”
Despite what he said to his crew Jackson could feel a palpable sense of relief as his ship pulled up and away from the planet. Part of it was from the fact he’d persevered, completed his mission, and that the Marines he’d brought to Juwel were vital to protecting the citizens on that planet. But being a destroyerman at heart he preferred to be out away from planets and moons when it came time for a fight. Large bodies in space hid things from view, threw off interference, and forced him to take their gravitational pull into account when pursuing or fleeing. Far better to be out in the open with some room to swing.
“Tactical, bring up all our weaponry, even the orbital strike cannons,” Jackson said after a moment. “We don’t have the drop shuttles aboard hooked to umbilicals anymore so we can spare the power. Set up a script that automatically brackets and tracks anything that comes within twenty-five thousand kilometers, but keep your fire control manual.”
“Yes, sir,” Simmons said, his hands dancing over the controls. “I think I know what you want, Captain … they won’t be able to jump in on us again without being fired upon instantly.”
“You’ve got the idea, Commander,” Jackson nodded. “Slave the Shrikes into that targeting control program as well. They have enough brainpower to be constantly updated without locking up and malfunctioning when you try to fire. The closer we get to actually getting out of this system the more desperate I feel they’re going to get. Coms! Did you hear what I just said to Tactical?”
“Affirmative, sir,” Epsen said.
“Good. Then pass that on to the Icarus. Make sure Captain Wright knows to give us at least a thirty-thousand-kilometer buffer,” Jackson said. “We don’t want any misunderstandings.”
“Yes, sir.”
Jackson settled back for what he hoped would be one of the longest, most boring watches of his career. He knew it wouldn’t be … but he hoped for it nonetheless.
27
“Incoming transmission from the Marines on Juwel,” Epsen said. The Star was now fifteen hours away from the planet and still pushing hard for the outer system as the Icarus loafed along behind and well out of Jackson’s “kill radius” he’d had programmed into the tactical computer. The theory was it would mitigate the risk of being taken by surprise by a Darshik warp hop, but the Star wasn’t really able to take on another warship head-to-head and win regardless of how much prior warning they got.
“Ground-based BDA teams have rated our orbital strike as seventy-six percent effective against enemy positions,” Epsen continued. “Zero civilian casualties, zero friendly-fire casualties. Colonel Rucker personally sends his thanks and wants you to know that with the material and personnel we dropped they’re already pushing back on the Darshik troops.”
“Put me on the shipwide, please,” Jackson said.
“Go, sir.”
“Attention everyone, this is the captain,” Jackson said. “We’ve just received word from our forces on the ground that our m
ission has been a success. The loaded shuttles you deployed have turned the tide of battle from almost the moment they landed and the Star’s orbital strikes decimated enemy forces while causing zero collateral damage.
“This is why we’re here, everyone. Your efforts have had a direct impact and will make sure Colonel Rucker can successfully eliminate the alien threat on Juwel. We took a big risk staying here and going back in for a second pass, and we probably won’t get out of this system without a fight, but we did our jobs and we made a difference. I’m proud of each of you. Now let’s dig down just a little deeper and we’ll get this ship home. That is all … carry on.” He made a chopping motion to Epsen and waited until the intercom chirped to confirm the shipwide was closed before going on. The faint sounds of cheering could be heard coming from the open bridge hatchway.
“That goes doubly so for all the bridge crew pulling double watches and working at positions you’re not fully trained at,” he said. “OPS, do we have a position for the Relentless?”
“She’s just finished her final course correction and is accelerating to transition velocity,” Dole said as he manipulated his station to make the icon representing the ship in question flash. It was a green dot with a yellow halo around it to indicate the position was assumed based on an extrapolation of what had come through the Link while also accounting for the com lag.
Jackson just nodded without expression, but he was quite pleased with how far Dole had come along on this mission. When they left New Sierra he’d wanted the young officer replaced, but now he was able to honestly say he depended on him.
“Icarus has detected two—no, three—transition flashes on the far side of the system,” Epsen said. “Their OPS officer is telling me they’re consistent with Darshik cruisers leaving a system.”
“So there were two more that we hadn’t accounted for,” Jackson mused. “And we still have to assume the stealth ship is setting up an ambush for us. Coms, tell Mr. Accari we appreciate the heads up.”
“You still know the Icarus’s bridge crew, sir?” Simmons asked without taking his eyes off his displays, his hands poised near the controls that would allow him to react instantly should he need to.
“Most of them,” Jackson said. “Idris Accari was a young navigation specialist on my last ship that showed promise. We fast-tracked him into a commission and Captain Wright swooped in and grabbed him for her OPS officer. He’s a sharp kid. Her XO used to be my tactical officer and she herself used to be my XO way back when.”
“I knew that last part, Captain,” Simmons chuckled. “Why do you think those cruisers are leaving, sir?”
Jackson took a deep breath before answering. “Short answer is I have no idea,” he said. “My first assumption is that those ships aren’t at one hundred percent and the Icarus has already proven how adept she is at wiping out Darshik ships at greater than three-to-one odds. But, they put a lot of effort so far into holding this system and they’ve shown they’re not afraid of a fight, so realistically I’d say they’re going to get reinforcements. Three ships could mean they’re pulling forces from three other locations … not a pleasant prospect.”
“No sir, they—Contact!” Simmons shouted just before the tactical computers automatically locked onto a weak return that was coming up from behind and below them. “It’s him! Point defense firing!”
The point defense laser batteries, some of the few weapons the ship had in the aft quadrants, opened fire well beyond their effective range. Jackson didn’t care, however, as the lasers weren’t a heavy draw on the power MUX and he knew that even if they weren’t blowing bits of the hull off the incoming laser fire was playing hell with the enemy’s sensors.
“Range?”
“Eleven thousand kilometers,” Simmons said. “It jumped in close.”
“Snap fire aft tubes!” Jackson said. “Give the Hornets room to turn in on him. Manually detonate them when they’re between it and the Star if they’re going to overshoot.”
“Firing tubes seven and eight!” Simmons said, referring to the two aft-facing missile tubes. “Hornets away!”
“Icarus is coming in hot from behind!” Epsen called loudly. “They want us to go to full power.”
“Tell her we are at full power!” Jackson snapped, his ship’s mild performance rankling him yet again.
“Icarus is firing Shrikes!” Epsen called. “Stand by!”
“Target has jumped,” Simmons said. “It’s no longer on our sensors … sending destruct codes to the Hornets.”
“This is going to be a long trip if that bastard is going to harass us the whole way out,” Jackson said, standing. “Excellent work, Mr. Simmons. Giving him a face full of laser fire was probably distracting enough that he never got a shot off.”
“Yes, sir,” Simmons said. “I doubt it will work again, though.”
“It won't,” Jackson assured him. “He won’t come in again without a better plan. OPS! I’m going to send you some parameters for another in-system warp transition, but this time we’ll be going away from the primary star so the risk is exponentially less.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Let’s get the ball rolling on this and have it ready in case we get boxed in,” Jackson said.
Even as he sent over the basics of the maneuver he and Celesta Wright had perfected during the Phage War, a series of short warp flights that angled away from a system’s ecliptic before eventually coming back up into an accepted warp lane, he knew it was just busy work for Dole. The Star’s warp drive wasn’t so robust that he wanted to risk more than one short hop; the risk of blowing out more than two emitters meant being stranded in interstellar space. He also couldn’t charge the drive with all his weapon systems being powered up; the drive took the better part of twenty minutes to fully charge and the emitters would be deployed and vulnerable. So in that window if the enemy ship were to appear they’d be a sitting target with their most delicate system fully exposed.
The reality was that the Vega-class assault carrier was not the type of ship he would prefer to be on in this situation. It was supposed to come in once the destroyers and battleships had cleared the area and established orbital superiority over a planet and deliver ground forces for the second phase of CENTCOM’s doctrine for retaking captured planets. Not only was the Star herself a bit behind the times, the tactics they were using were established as a hypothetical scenario on the off chance one human enclave made a move on another. Jackson found himself, yet again, at the mercy of Fleet procedure and hardware developed by people long dead for scenarios that had nothing to do with his current situation.
It would be easy to lash out at bureaucratic incompetence for not having quickly applied the lessons learned in the Phage War, but that would be a bit hasty. They just didn’t have enough time between when they’d killed the Phage core mind and when the Darshik dragged the wreckage of the Ares back to the Xi’an System and blew it up. They’d suffered massive political upheaval, they still weren’t very efficient at quickly building starships, and it was impractical to just purge Starfleet of its entire officer corps despite the known deficiencies. No … they’d have needed another fifty years to be fully ready given their current pace of rebuilding.
“Keep scanning for any new transition flashes,” he said. “Maybe we’ll get lucky and see where he hopped out to so we’ll have an idea of which direction he’ll be coming from.”
“Aye, sir,” Simmons said.
The feeling of being hunted was distinctly unpleasant and Jackson began working on a strategy that would allow him and Celesta Wright to work together in order to get both ships out of the system intact.
“Transition flash!” Dole reported. “The computer spotted it and matched it to the enemy ship. It’s … shit! It’s down by Juwel! Delay accounted for and corroborates that it likely hopped from here to there.”
Jackson’s blood ran cold as he realized how stupid he’d been. The enemy didn’t need to chase him all over the system. It could just go back
and open fire on the defenseless planet they’d spent so much effort clearing.
He knew the Star had zero chance of coming around and making it back down to the planet in time. Hell, it had taken them twenty-six hours just to get as far as they had and it would be another thirty before they were even close to the jump point. Even if he had a way to get down there in time he held no delusions that his supposed tactical prowess would in any way level the field; that specialized Darshik warship would carve the assault carrier up at will in a standup fight.
“Coms! Patch me through to the Icarus.” He tried to keep the defeat out of his voice as he sat down.
“—over the planet. The Star can’t get there in time. Break formation and try to take that son of a bitch out, Captain.”
“Understood, sir,” Celesta frowned. “But if we leave and this is a ruse we won’t be able to get back up here in time. It could reach you before you can get to the jump point.”
“I’m well aware of that, Captain,” Jackson said over the channel. “It’s a risk I have no choice but to take. Get down there and kill that bastard.”
“Yes, sir,” Celesta said crisply. “Icarus out. Helm! Bring us about on a reciprocal course, all ahead emergency, everything she’s got.”
“Coming about, aye!”
With the capability provided by the upgraded RDS pod the Icarus swung about sharply, completing the turn in less than three thousand kilometers and actually accelerating during the turn. Her favorite helmswoman had skillfully rolled the destroyer ninety degrees like an aircraft pilot would to allow the inertia to be more easily nullified as the g-load evenly pressed them down instead of the system having to fight asymmetrical lateral acceleration.
A quick mental calculation showed under maximum acceleration they could be back at Juwel in under three hours, but even with the RDS she’d have to decelerate some or they’d overshoot the target.
Iron & Blood: Book Two of The Expansion Wars Trilogy Page 25