by Jay Allan
“Vanguard, this is the CAG. I’d like to speak with CO Johansen.” The reply was almost immediate.
“This is Vanguard. Standby, CAG.”
Johansen came on the line after several seconds.
“What’s on your mind, Victor?” she said.
“I have a bad feeling about this, Angela. It smells like a trap to me. How are you planning on proceeding when you emerge from Jumpspace?” There was a pause.
“I haven’t got that far in my thinking yet. Any suggestions?”
“Yes. Drop out of Jumpspace well away from the refueling point, and I mean WELL away! If the aliens are waiting for you, they’ll try to pick up your emergence point. Since we don’t know what the range of their detection gear is, I’d rather you err on the side of caution.”
“The problem with that, Victor, is that the further away we enter the system, the longer it’ll take to reach any survivors.”
“Granted, but you can make up for that by emerging with a higher velocity. You’ve got enough fuel to do that, right?”
“Hold on. I’ll check that,” said Johansen after a short pause.
As Shiloh waited for her to confer with her Astrogator, he noticed that the status lights of one of the fighters in the hanger bay had changed from yellow, indicating not available, to the green that meant available for launch. He checked which fighter it was and saw it was Hunter, the veteran leader of this flight of four. The other three would be rookies. Shiloh would have been tempted to listen in to any human chatter from those fighters if he hadn’t been waiting to hear back from his former XO.
“Victor? We’ve got enough fuel to emerge zero point seven five AUs from where the convoy would normally be, and still get there at a reasonable time. Any further away than that, and we wouldn’t be able to make up the time.”
Three quarters of a standard Astronomical Unit was almost twice the distance that the gravity zone of the target gas giant would require. I’d double that if I were in command, and to hell with the added time, thought Shiloh. Easy to say, he then thought. You’re not the Mission Commander.
“Let’s hope that’s far enough,” said Shiloh. He thought for a couple of seconds before adding, “Listen. Keep your ships out of the target gravity zone or at least most of them. Let your recon drones go in first while you’re still decelerating. If it is an ambush, and you stay out of the gravity zone, you can always microjump away.”
“That’s a good idea, Victor. I’ll definitely keep that in mind, depending upon what the recon drones find.”
She paused, and something told Shiloh to wait before saying anything else. When she spoke again, her voice had a sad quality to it. “I’m glad you’re not on board Vanguard now, Victor.”
Shiloh couldn’t help thinking that she meant she didn’t want him to suffer the same fate she faced. Friends sometimes said that kind of thing to each other in situations like this, but so would lovers. If she gets back alive, I’m going to ask her how she feels about the two of us, he thought.
“Message received and understood,” said Shiloh, not wanting to say more when he knew that all transmissions were recorded. There was a long pause that started to become awkward. Finally she spoke.
“I’ll keep this com channel open in case you have any other thoughts or suggestions, but right now I have other things that need my attention. Thanks for the advice, Victor.”
“You’re welcome, Angela. I’ll be standing by if you need me.”
The sound coming from Vanguard disappeared, but a quick check revealed that the com channel was still open. Shiloh understood that Johansen had muted her microphone so that she could talk to her crew privately. Shiloh did the same thing. He didn’t want to distract her with his chatter to his fighters or to anyone else at the Base. A second fighter in the hanger bay was now ready for launch. Shiloh switched his earphones to the channel reserved for the hanger bay’s launch operations.
“—it easy, Hunter. Our people are working to get you and your team ready as fast as possible,” said Sejanus.
“You tell them that if my team isn’t ready for action in two more minutes, I’m going to complain to the CAG himself!”
Wow, thought Shiloh. He’s actually shouting. Don’t tell me there’s no sentient consciousness behind that voice.
“Okay, Hunter. I’ll tell them.”
Sejanus’ voice was heavy with amusement. The two minutes went fast and Shiloh noticed that all four fighters were ready by the deadline. He switched on his microphone.
“Hunter, this is CAG.”
“Go ahead, CAG,” said Hunter.
“I suspect that the attack on our supply convoy is intended to divert our defenses in order to attack us in detail there AND here. Your flight will be held in reserve until we see if they attack us here. I know I can count on you and your team to accept that as the professionals you are. Are you getting the tactical feed okay?”
“Yea, we’re getting that. We’ll calm down and be ready when you need us. Thanks CAG.”
“Very good, Hunter. CAG clear.”
The next hour and twenty minutes were eerily uneventful. No further message drones from the convoy, which by itself was worrying. No signs of any alien presence in this system. Suddenly Shiloh’s earphones were filled with the sounds of a ship going to Battle Stations. At first he thought Korolev was sending the Base to its Battle Stations, but then he heard Johansen’s startled voice.
“Victor! We’re under laser attack! Not sure from where! Vanguard’s already taken one hit! We’re evading! Going to active scanning now! Oh God! There’s 34 of them! They must have seen us from the reflected sunlight off our hulls! We didn’t see them because they’re in the gas giant’s shadow! We can’t microjump yet! Gotta fight it out. I’ve already lost fo—”
Shiloh saw that the com channel was broken off at Vanguard’s end. He hoped it was just due to damage of their com system and not the destruction of the ship itself. He was about to hit the alarm when he heard the Battle Stations warning Siren going off. Clearly Korolev was aware that the relief mission was under attack. Shiloh then heard the Task Force Leader and Hunter talking at the same time. He concentrated on Hunter first.
“—give us the word, CAG!”
Switching his microphone to the right channel, Shiloh said, “Wait one, Hunter.” He then switched back to the Base intercom channel while focusing on Korolev’s words.
“—re-deploy your squadrons between the attacking force and the Base. Stay in the GGs shadow when you get around to the other side. You’ll have CFPs in support. Did you copy that, CAG?”
Shiloh had heard enough to understand that Korolev was taking a huge risk.
“Copy that. Fighters will support frigate squadrons, however I respectfully suggest that we keep our remaining strength close to the Base! This may—”
Korolev wouldn’t let Shiloh finish the sentence.
“I’m not letting them get close enough to fire on the Base directly, CAG! Now order your fighters to launch, dammit!”
Shiloh reopened the com channel to the fighters, while keeping the intercom channel open so that Korolev would hear him.
“CAG to Hunter. Your team is cleared for immediate launch. Form up on our remaining frigates and coordinate your actions with the Squadron Leader in charge. Acknowledge your orders.”
“Orders acknowledged, CAG. What about Cyrano and Bulldog? Recommend they shadow enemy force.”
Shiloh looked at the Tactical display closely and saw that the fighters with those two call signs were on jump detection patrol closest to the battle. Why hadn’t they detected the enemy’s emergence from Jumpspace? The answer could only be that they had emerged from beyond the fighters’ detection range. THAT was disturbing because it implied they knew what that detection range was. The cluster of dots that represented Johansen’s 16 frigates were all flashing yellow, signifying hull breaches and major systems failures, and Shiloh didn’t need to count them to know that there were no longer 16 ships there. He also no
ticed that their velocity was so high now that neither of the two nearest fighters had any hope of catching up with them in time to join the battle. As he continued to watch, the Tactical display showed a much larger cluster of red dots intermittently flashing due to interrupted radar scanning data feeds from at least one of Johansen’s frigates. The red dots were moving much more slowly, and it wouldn’t be long before the ambushed frigates would be past the enemy force and moving further away. Hunter’s suggestion was the right one. Cyrano and Bulldog couldn’t join the fight, but they could attempt to track and follow the enemy formation with their recon drones.
“Your recommendation is approved, Hunter. Contact Cyrano and Bulldog. Advise them of their new orders. Maintain an open channel to me. Good hunting.”
“Yeah. Let’s hope the bogeys cooperate and stay where they are, but I doubt they will, CAG. Hunter clear.”
By now Johansen’s frigates, what was left of them, were at their closest point to the enemy formation. The number of dots was shrinking. Shiloh queried his tactical computer if any of the remaining dots was Vanguard. The answer was no. He felt as if he’d been hit in the gut. He had to remember that the absence of a dot didn’t necessarily mean that Vanguard was destroyed. With Johansen’s force on the opposite side of the gas giant, there was no way that the Base’s ground-based radars could try to get a fix on both friendly and enemy ships. What little data they were getting was relayed from Johansen’s ships, via a satellite in orbit around the gas giant, and then on to the Base. Without active scanning, the tactical computers had to rely on transmissions from a particular ship to confirm its status, or indirect data from the radars of other ships. Vanguard might still be intact but unable to communicate. Once the reinforcement frigates moved around the gas giant enough to establish line-of-sight, they could use their own radars to pinpoint enemy and friendly ships. Shiloh hoped the frigate squadron leader wouldn’t order his supporting fighters to reveal their existence by actively scanning the battle area. That was contrary to Shiloh’s standing orders and the Line-in-the-Sand plan’s doctrine. The CFPs were meant to be one of Mankind’s Aces-in-the-Hole and the longer the aliens didn’t know about them, the better.
Then Shiloh noticed something quite strange happening. The number of yellow dots representing friendly frigates stopped shrinking. Shiloh eventually realized that the enemy ships had to have stopped firing on the frigates. They were still close enough that some of them should have been hit, if the aliens were still firing at all.
When all of the alien ships disappeared from the Tactical display, Shiloh queried the computer for the reason. The answer was lack of radar data from any of Johansen’s frigates. Some were still able to communicate with the Base but either weren’t capable of scanning the enemy fleet any longer or chose not to do so. So now the question was what would the aliens do next if they weren’t firing on Johansen’s frigates any longer?
Shiloh manipulated his Tactical display to get a better sense of the overall picture. If the gas giant was the center of a clock, the aliens were in the direction of 12 o’clock. The moon containing the Base and the system’s sun, which was much further away, were exactly lined up in the direction of six o’clock. The sun, moon, gas giant and alien formation all lined up in a straight line. That couldn’t be just coincidence. What was it that Johansen had said? The aliens had approached while hidden in the gas giant’s shadow to avoid detection by reflected sunlight. All human ships, on the other hand, had to come at them from around the side of the gas giant, thereby making detection by reflected sunlight a distinct possibility. It looked to Shiloh like a very carefully planned trap, one that could only have been planned that way if the aliens already knew about Bradley Base and the relative positions of the gas giant and its moons. And that meant that the attack on the supply convoy was in fact a diversion to pull ships away from the Base so that they could be attacked separately, thereby weakening the Base’s defenses. The obvious next step was to attack the Base itself. Korolev was making that possible by sending all her remaining frigates to the aid of Johansen’s survivors, which the aliens had carefully refrained from wiping out completely. If it looked like there were no survivors at all, then sending reinforcements might be deemed unnecessary, and that would leave the Base more heavily defended then the aliens would want.
Zooming in on the Base’s moon, Shiloh saw that all the remaining frigates were forming up while accelerating in a curving trajectory that would take them around the gas giant. He tried to put himself in the alien Commander’s seat. What would I do next, he asked himself.
CHAPTER 15: All Of Us Understand The Situation
There were only two ways to get close enough to the Base to attack it directly. Accelerate towards the gas giant from the 12 o’clock position and swing around to attack the Base from the rear OR microjump to the opposite—six o’clock—side of the gas giant, which would put them in ‘front’ of the Base, and accelerate into attack range from there. If the enemy formation moved into the gas giant’s gravity zone, then microjumping was no longer an option, and it would be a head on clash between the reinforcement frigates and the enemy formation. That would be risky, Shiloh thought. 24 exploration frigates supported by five fighters against possibly as many as 34 enemy ships. If the alien objective was to destroy as many human ships as possible, then they’d let the reinforcement formation get within combat range. But if the primary objective was to destroy the Base, the aliens might not want to risk having their fleet depleted by battles that could be avoided. With the Base destroyed, the remaining frigates would have no choice but to retreat to friendly space, assuming they had enough tankers to refuel them on the way back. Shiloh then had a horrifying thought. If the aliens succeeded in destroying the Base AND those tankers now in orbit, then the remaining frigate crews were doomed to die from lack of air and food when their ships ran out of fuel. We can’t let the tankers be caught in orbit if the Base is attacked.
Shiloh thought about the implications of that for a few seconds and then said, “CAG to TF Leader.”
Korolev’s voice was calm once again as she answered. “What is it, CAG?”
“Sir, I strongly recommend that you order our tankers to disperse out beyond the GG’s gravity zone, just in case the enemy formation decides to microjump to our side after our reinforcements are too far away to make it back in time. Even if the Base itself is destroyed, our ships can still get home as long as they have at least one tanker to let them refuel on the way. The tankers can microjump to a rendezvous point that’s far enough away to avoid jump detection.”
Shiloh was expecting his suggestion to be dismissed out of hand, but to his surprise, Korolev reacted differently.
After a long pause, she said, “Yes I see what you’re thinking. Use the relief force as bait to lure our remaining strength out of position and then attack the Base. You may be overestimating their cunning, CAG, but it’s a scenario that deserves to be taken seriously. If I order our frigates to stay close to the gas giant, then Johansen’s force will be completely on its own. The aliens might decide to finish off any survivors if they come to the conclusion that we’re not taking the bait. Your recommendation about the tankers is a good one. I’ll do that in any case, but I’d also like to hear your suggestions on what else we should do now.”
Shiloh thought fast. What they needed was time. Time for Johansen’s surviving ships to use their built up velocity to get far enough away from the enemy formation to be safe from additional laser fire. That meant that the aliens had to continue to believe that the bait was working. If they saw ships moving towards them from around the gas giant, then that should make them believe their plan was working, but at some point, the reinforcement frigates would be too far away to come to the Base’s aid if the aliens microjumped to the other side. Then he had an idea.
“Okay, Sir. I do have one idea. Since we have an approximate location on the alien fleet, we can use our recon drones as decoys. When our reinforcement forces have moved far enough
around the gas giant and are in the right spot, they launch all the recon drones they have and order the drones to hold their acceleration down to match what our ships can do. The drones will also be ordered to orient themselves in such a way as to maximize the possibility of reflected sunlight reaching the alien fleet. Our frigates will try to minimize the likelihood of revealing their positions from reflected sunlight. They’ll stay in the gas giant’s orbit and, if possible, stay in its shadow while our decoys head for the alien fleet. Meanwhile, I have two other fight—CFPs maneuvering to use their recon drones to track the enemy fleet so that we know what they’re doing. As long as the enemy thinks our ships are headed towards them, they’ll continue to leave the relief force survivors alone. Once enough time has passed, what’s left of the relief force will be too far away for the enemy to pick off. Sooner or later the enemy will catch on to our decoy maneuver, and then we’ll see if they commit to an attack on the Base. However they come at us, we’ll have time to bring back all our CFPs to help defend the Base alongside our frigates. That should be enough to tip the battle in our favor, Sir.”
There was another pause followed by, “CAG, come over to my station.”
Shiloh got up and walked quickly over to the center of the large Command Center where the Base Commander’s station was. Korolev watched him come and leaned towards him. She clearly wanted to speak to Shiloh in a voice low enough that none of the other personnel would hear her. When Shiloh was just a few centimeters away, Korolev quietly spoke.
“I like your idea but I’m concerned about Johansen’s relief force. Once the enemy knows we’ve fooled them with our decoys, what’s to stop them from microjumping in front of the relief force survivors and wiping them out?”
She waited while Shiloh pondered the question. Unfortunately, he couldn’t come up with a solution to the problem.