Admiral's Nemesis, Part II
(A Spineward Sectors Novel: Book 12)
by
Luke Sky Wachter
Copyright © 2018 by Joshua Wachter
All rights reserved.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. All resemblance to persons living or dead is coincidental. Respect my electronic rights because the money you save today will be the book I can't afford to write for you tomorrow.
Other Books by Luke Sky Wachter
SPINEWARD SECTORS NOVEL SERIES
Admiral Who?
Admiral's Gambit
Admiral's Tribulation
Admiral's Trial
Admiral's Revenge
Admiral's Spine
Admiral Invincible
Admiral's Challenge
Admiral's War—Part One
Admiral's War—Part Two
Admiral's Nemesis—Part One
RISE OF THE WITCH GUARD NOVEL SERIES
The Blooding
The Painting
The Channeling
RISE OF THE WITCH GUARD NOVELLAS
The Boar Knife
Books by my brother, Caleb Wachter
SPINEWARD SECTORS: MIDDLETON'S PRIDE
No Middle Ground
Up The Middle
Against The Midde
McKnight's Mission (A House Divided I)
Middleton's Prejudice
Lynch's Legacy (A House Divided II)
The Middle Road
A House United (A House Divided III)
IMPERIUM CICERNUS: THE CHIMERA ADJUSTMENT
Ure Infectus
Sic Semper Tyrannis
SPHEREWORLD SERIES
Joined at the Hilt: Union
Joined at the Hilt: Dross
SHEREWORLD NOVELLS
Between White and Grey
SPINEWARD SECTORS: A TRACTO TALE
The Forge of Men
SEEDS OF HUMANITY: THE COBALT HERESY
Revelation
Reunion
COLLABORATIVE WORKS BY LUKE SKY WACHTER & CALEB WACHTER
SPINEWARD SECTORS NOVELLAS
Admiral's Lady: Eyes of Ice, Heart of Fire
Admiral's Lady: Ashes for Ashes, Blood for Blood
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: The Shakedown Cruise
Chapter 2: Cornwallis Fleet Advances into The Reach
Chapter 3: The Official War Plan
Chapter 4: The ‘Unofficial’ War Plan
Chapter 5: It’s a Spalding! Part 1
Chapter 6: CNN Bad News Travels Fast
Chapter 7: The Decision is Made
Interlude: The Stalwart Decision
Chapter 8: Trouble in Easy Haven
Chapter 9: Commodore Montagne
Chapter 10: The Hot Potato Skirts the Grand Fleet of Liberation
Chapter 11: Cornwallis and the Supply Dumps
Chapter 12: The Matter with Antimatter
Chapter 13: Grand Admiral Montagne
Chapter 14: Isaak’s Frustrations
Chapter 15: Easy Haven Receives Troubling News
Chapter 16: Admiral Montagne Issues Movement Orders
Chapter 17: Long Faces in Easy Haven
Chapter 18: Imperial Destroyer Squadrons
Chapter 19: Receiving the Scout Reports
Chapter 20: Imperial Sightings at the Core Worlds
Chapter 21: The Laurent Surprise
Chapter 22: The Pressure is On
Chapter 23: The Return of the Crazy Ivan!
Chapter 24: The Lucky Clover Goes to Capria!
Chapter 25: The Re-Return of the Crazy Ivan!
Chapter 26: Bad News from Easy Haven
Chapter 27: Sallying the Fleet
Chapter 28: Imperial Maneuvers
Chapter 29: Jason’s Scheme
Chapter 30: An Imperial Attack
Chapter 31: Late to the Party
Chapter 32: Stand and Fight!
Chapter 33: To Guard the Body
Chapter 34: Sacrifices and a Well Planned Operation
Chapter 35: Recriminations
Chapter 36: Cornwallis in Aegis
Chapter 37: Dire News
Chapter 38: Cornwallis Broods
Chapter 39: Telling the Captains the Plan
Chapter 40: One Small Hang Up
Chapter 41: Cornwallis Decides
Chapter 42: Grand Fleet of the Spine is Moving In
Chapter 43: The Battle Begins!
Chapter 44: The Battle is on: Initial Maneuvers
Chapter 45: Imperial Tactics
Chapter 46: Confederation Worries
Chapter 47: Anti-Ship Strikes Devastate the Fleet
Chapter 48: Agitation and Deadly Losses Among the Fleet
Chapter 49: The Imperial Grind
Chapter 50: Carrying Out Orders
Chapter 51: Confederation Frustration
Chapter 52: Imperial Gloating
Chapter 53: It’s a Spalding! Part 2
Chapter 54: The Surprise!
Chapter 55: Imperial Sensor Readings
Chapter 56: The Lucky Clover and Mighty Punisher Head to Head
Chapter 57: Imperial Fury
Chapter 58: The Bugs Awaken
Chapter 59: The Great Escape!
Chapter 60: The Clover in Peril
Chapter 61: The MSP Watches with Horror
Chapter 62: MSP Turns and Re-Engages
Chapter 63: Vantage of the Battlefield
Chapter 64: Victory?
Imperial Navy
2nd Naval Reserve Flotilla – Fleet Strength
1 Imperial Command Carrier (1000 fighters): Mighty Punisher
4 Light Carriers (400 Fighters)
18 Battleships
50 Cruisers
120 Destroyers
8 Minesweepers
Total: 180
Confederation Fleet: Grand Fleet of Liberation (Pro-Imperial)
Main Fleet
112 Battleships
214 Cruisers
412 Destroyers
169 Corvettes
Total: 907
Freighters
Couriers
Constructors
Assorted Civilian Starships
Total: 300
Sub-Units of Note:
Task Force Puma (Prior to Central Battle)
CO: Front Admiral Willard Featherby Commanding
Chief of Staff: Commodore ‘Bob’ Fritters
Flagship Puma: CO Flag Captain Weathers
21 Battleships
35 Cruisers
34 Destroyers
Total: 90
Task Force 47
Force Commander: Front Admiral Martin Barragan
29 Cruisers
58 Destroyers
Total: 87
Chapter 1: The Shakedown Cruise
“Anything on the scans?” asked Captain Stravinsky, breaking the silence on the command deck. It wasn’t much of a command deck, originally being only a basic freighter control room. But after the Fleet got her hands on the ship, she…well, she still looked exactly like the basic run of the mill freighter she’d started as.
Run-down and cramped—and with a mysterious stain on the back wall behind the captain’s chair—she looked like a down-on-her-luck merchant ship. But underneath all that grunge and the sketchy interior paneling, she sported the latest in military hardware—or at least the best the Fleet contingent in Easy Haven could manufacture. In short, she was a recently commissioned Q-ship.
And she was all hers.
Captain Stravinsky snorted.
“Nothing so far, Captain. Plot is empty and everything looks set for a smooth transition to the next star system,” said the Sensor
Officer who did double duty as one of only three sensor operators on the bridge of the Hot Potato.
Stravinsky frowned because even though his voice was steady she could still hear the sigh behind his words.
“Expect the unexpected, Junior Lieutenant,” Stravinsky said tartly, searching for the right tone. She didn’t want to micromanage her people, yet at the same time …
“Aye aye, Sir,” agreed the other officer, breaking her out of her ruminations.
The Hot Potato’s Captain pursed her lips.
Her crew was green and untested, which wasn’t very surprising considering the current state of the reserve squadron. Easy Haven, and the Wolf-9 contingent stationed there, had expanded itself all the way into a decent sized task group—right before the Imperials under Admiral Arnold Janeski invaded and killed or seriously injured something like half of them.
Right now they were licking their wounds and coming back together under a new leader, Acting Commodore Synthia McCruise. At that thought, the Captain of the Hot Potato frowned.
With ships and crew contingents shot to pieces, it was no surprise that the Hot Potato hadn’t exactly been outfitted with the crack crew her captain had grown accustomed to serving with under their former commander, Commodore LeGodat. As his Flag Captain it had been her job to work hand in hand with him and take much of the burden off the System Commander as he juggled both the mobile forces, battle-station and defenses of an entire star system. As such, she’d required and received the best—and she’d gotten it.
All that changed when her previous command was disabled and LeGodat died. Or at least that was what everyone, including Captain Stravinsky, had thought up until a few days ago. There was no denying her former command was down for the count with the repair yard backed up with no end in sight, but when it came to their former commander...
It could simply be that there was a new sheriff in town and the Acting Commodore, Synthia McCruise, was flexing her muscles and throwing her weight around determined to get things done. That was normal enough for any new commander, let alone one who arose to the top of a battle damaged chain of command. Most any commander worth their salt liked to put their personal stamp on things.
Even still, the way Captain McCruise had concealed the fact that the Commodore was still alive was criminal, in Stravinsky's opinion, and she was ready to say so in front of a review board.
Because even if he was in critical condition and currently stuck in stasis, that was no excuse! Colin LeGodat was the man who single-handedly maneuvered them through three and a half years of bloody chaos and deadly danger. He deserved better than to be stuck in a freezer while everyone who cared for him was told he was dead!
When the Confederation abandoned the reserve squadron in place, telling them to wait for another photo-op that never materialized, Sector 25 and the entire Spine imploded. At that point it was the Commodore, along with the Little Admiral who had held the reserve crews together and brought the Easy Haven star system back up to what it had been.
“Put our current location up on the main screen,” she instructed, feeling her emotions growing beyond a safe level as she stewed over things she'd had no ability to change—but she was powerless no more. And wasn’t that the part that galled the most? She’d been shuffled off to a sideshow command like yesterday’s news while the Acting Commodore did whatever she wanted, and Stravinsky had even been forced to be grateful for it.
“It’s up for you, Captain,” reported her operations officer after a short pause.
“Right smack in the middle of the Overton Expanse,” Stravinsky said with patent dissatisfaction, noting the desolate patch of space they were located. It was legitimately worrisome being so far out in the middle of nowhere. You could call her a Q-ship but, in reality, the Hot Potato was essentially nothing more than an up-gunned freighter.
A freighter with a critical mission: to take their worst injured sailors back to Confederation space and get them the best care possible in a top of the line Confederation fleet hospital
“What’s our fuel status?” she asked as she pulled up the latest crew performance manifest and started scanning through the individual reports.
Right now Stravinsky and the q-ship, CSS Hot Potato, were on a shakedown cruise in the middle of the Overton Expanse, and while the Reserve Squadron had done its best at putting a Q in front of the ship’s classification, all the weapons and shield upgrades in the galaxy still did nothing to change the fact that the hull of the Potato, when compared to that of a proper warship, was still basically an eggshell just waiting to be cracked.
“Fuel bunkers for normal space engines down to 63%; fuel consumption holding well within expected tolerances,” reported Helm, giving his pre-jump report.
Stravinsky turned her eyes toward the pimple-faced Ensign at the Nav console and then—predictably—waited.
“We have enough trillium to jump all the way to the Old Confederation Capitol and back home, Sir,” the Navigator said belatedly, her face coloring as she nervously pushed her bangs out of her eyes.
“Humph,” Stravinsky harrumphed. Unfortunately there was only one navigator on the Potato currently and the Ensign was it.
At only sixteen years old it was enough of a miracle the Ensign’s family had signed an age waiver, allowing her to apply for the service. But it was an even greater blessing that the fleet personnel department in Easy Haven had accepted her.
Fortunately for the young Ensign, she had been calculating Nav-jumps on a family freighter almost identical to the Hot Potato since she turned 13 years old.
It still gave the Captain heartburn to see a teenager who hadn’t even formally reached her first majority, holding the fate of the ship in her extremely young hands, each and every time the young girl calculated a point transfer. If she’d had another navigator, a more experienced navigator, she’d have eased the young woman into the job. Unfortunately, she didn’t.
While Stravinsky was lost in thought, the captain’s chair beeped at her. “Stravinsky here,” she accepted the channel request.
“Captain, it's Doctor Blue-Comet down in Medical,” said the Doctor.
“Trouble Doc?” asked Stravinsky, her shoulders instinctively tightening.
“Nothing that can’t wait,” he assured her, “one of the coolant tanks needed to be taken offline for inspection. It was running 3% under minimum efficiency ratings. Engineering’s tracking it down as we speak; they suspect a leaky coolant line but we won’t know more until later. Rest assured we have more than enough redundancy built into the system we could down-check this tank for the rest of the trip if necessary. So no problem on that account as of this moment,” he reported.
“Understood. Thank you, Doc,” said the Captain before adding, “was there anything else?”
“No, Sir. Our cargo continues to remain unaffected by our voyage to the Confederation and the various equipment maintenance,” said the Doctor, “really, the only reason I called was because of your standing orders to report any issues no matter how minor.”
Suppressing a frown at the doctor’s reference to the Commodore and their fellow crewmates as cargo, Stravinsky stiffened.
“You did the right thing. Continue to apprise me of any and all further issues in the future,” she said and then paused, “oh, and Doctor, what you do in the privacy of your own mind or for official reports is entirely your affair but please refrain from referring to our injured crewmates as cargo where any officers or crew can hear.”
Doctor Blue-Comet frowned and then reluctantly nodded. “Acknowledged, Captain,” he said and then cut the channel.
Stravinsky pursed her lips. Right now her mission was twofold. First: contact the Confederation for new orders for Easy Haven and the reserve squadron; second: secure medical attention for the heavily injured fellow officers in cryo-stasis. But personally she would view this entire mission as a failure if their ‘cargo’, meaning LeGodat and the other critically injured, died en-route. She would accept nothing less than s
uccess, which meant zero mistakes.
So thinking, the Captain turned to her overly young navigator.
“Lay in a course and notify me at least ten minutes prior to our next jump. I’ll want to be on the bridge in case of an emergency. In the meantime I’m going to perform an inspection of the aft hydroponics section,” she informed her.
“Aye aye, Captain,” piped back the underage woman at the Nav console.
Shaking her head, Stravinsky walked off the bridge. Experience might be in short supply around here, but what they had in spades was a surplus of enthusiasm.
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