by M. D. Cooper
Now that the initial attempt had failed miserably, his only option was to hit them as hard as he could and take whoever survived as the hostages.
“We have to get through that choke-point,” Sergeant Lee said. “I just don’t see a viable plan where we don’t lose a lot of people.”
“Too bad none of us brought grenades to the funeral,” Trist grinned while changing the charge cylinder on her pistol.
“I’ll remember that for next time,” Brandt growled.
A low rumble shook the tunnel around them and Tanis glanced at the rock over her head.
“Things must be getting hot up there,” Tanis said before glancing at Katrina—the woman’s face a mask of worry.
“They’ll be careful,” Tanis said. “I crafted no contingencies that involve harming civilians.”
Katrina cast a hard look in the direction of their attackers. “I hope they can tell who the civilians are. I don’t know if I can… stupid kids, and that asshole Tom, you know he has to be behind this.”
Tanis nodded. “I would be shocked if he wasn’t.”
“I just hope we can put this thing back together—I hope there’s something left to put back together…”
Tanis considered her options and turned to one of the Marines.
“Lieutenant, send one/two back to that access we spotted a quarter-klick ago. Let’s flank this mess here.”
Lieutenant Smith nodded. “It seems like our best shot. Turin, you heard the lady, make it happen.”
Sergeant Turin nodded his assent and huddled with PFC Nair for a moment before one/two moved back down the corridor toward the access to the city above.
A moment later a new voice came over the combat net.
In response, pulse blasts rang out from behind the Victorians. Several fell and moments later the rest surrendered.
“Right here,” Qhung said, as he walked through the debris with a smile.
VICTORIA IN PERIL
STELLAR DATE: 3288931 / 09.08.4292 (Adjusted Gregorian)
LOCATION: Landfall, Victoria
REGION: Victorian Space Federation, Kapteyn’s Star System
A Marine handed Tanis a rebreather and she stepped out of the warehouse’s rear dock into a cluttered equipment yard. Even through the breathing apparatus the air reeked of carbon and ozone, it burned her eyes and she double-timed to the waiting shuttle.
Above, ISF fighters circled; beyond them lightening flashed through the clouds, striking the surrounding hills and the city’s ES dome in an attempt to equalize static charge in the clouds. The volume and intensity of the strikes indicated that quite a battle had taken place over Landfall.
Tanis shook her head and shared a sorrowful look with Katrina. This was a sad enough day without witnessing the destruction of their work, the potential end to their people’s friendships.
“We’ll fix this,” Tanis said.
“We have to,” Katrina replied solemnly.
They boarded the assault transport and Tanis felt the team’s combat net Link to the Intrepid.
Ouri paused her report for a second and when she resumed her mental tone was steadier.
Tanis glanced down the ramp of the transport at the smoking ruin of the Pinnace only a dozen meters away. She was genuinely surprised that Tom took things this far. His plan must have hinged on killing her quickly and seizing the rest as hostages. When that looked increasingly improbable, he had taken every effort to keep them in the city and bluff Ouri.
Terrance said.
Tanis shot him a cold look. She knew he didn’t like the military buildup—neither did she—the trip to New Eden was supposed to be her way out of that life. But he was the one who built a colony ship with the sole purpose of secreting away the most valuable technology known to humanity.
Tanis took her advice and responded to Jessica.
Tanis banged on the hull behind her and called to the pilots. “Get us back up to the Intrepid now!”
The last few Marines pounded aboard and the transport’s boosters came to life pulling it off the surface with a speed she would not have expected the bulky vessel to possess.
“How did the sensor net not pick them up?” Brandt asked. “It caught their last incursion.”
Tanis was mentally narrowing down a suspect pool. The presence of the Sirius ships meant that Myrrdan knew about the incursion a decade ago. It also meant he had the means and the ability to tamper with the sensor net.
It was further confirmation that whoever he was, or whoever he was masquerading as, had to be high in the ISF command structure.
Tanis used her link through the Intrepid to reach out to the Victorian President’s office.
It only took a moment for Tom’s face to appear in her mind. His phony look of concern made Tanis wish she could punch him through the Link.
The President’s face drained of blood and he turned, looking outside of his virtual projection,
The Link was severed a moment later.
Tanis looked at the faces around her. “I believe the Victorian President has just been killed. I also think he was conspiring with someone and they saw the end of his usefulness. I saw him look at another person several times.”
“You know who it must be,” Jessica said to Tanis.
“Maybe. It could be another agent.”
Jessica shook her head. “No, it’s him. Drop me off at the spaceport with the Marines and we’ll hit the parliament. It’s time to run him down once and for all.”
“What makes you so sure?” Andrews asked.
“After all this time I think he has finally come out into the open. It
all makes sense. He learned about the picotech, and ensured that our layover would be longer here than we wanted, so that he could effect a plan. Sirius gave him the perfect opportunity. The timing is too pat; he is in league with them.”
“I’ll admit it fits,” Terrance nodded.
“We’re going to have one hell of a fight up there, we’re likely not going to be able to give you any support,” Andrews said to Jessica.
“What do you think I am?” Brandt asked.
“We need you upstairs,” Tanis said.
Brandt signed. “Then I’m going to send another platoon down to the spaceport. Two squads can’t take on two million civilians. For that we’ll need six.”
She rose to discuss tactics with Lieutenant Smith and Jessica followed.
“I’m going with them,” Katrina said, giving a deferential nod to Tanis and Andrews as she rose. “Keep us safe…again.”
Tanis signaled the pilot to divert and put down at the spaceport while pouring over the scant data about the incoming fleet. It was a force intended to be overwhelming and Tanis felt real fear that there may be no easy way out of this situation.
The shuttle rocked as it touched down at the spaceport and all but two Marines too wounded to fight followed Jessica, Trist, and Katrina out of the bay.
Moments later they boosted into space.
BATTLE FOR VICTORIA
STELLAR DATE: 3288931 / 09.08.4292 (Adjusted Gregorian)
LOCATION: Landfall, Victoria
REGION: Victorian Space Federation, Kapteyn’s Star System
“The rail platforms are coming online,” Admiral Sanderson reported. “We are also launching picket fighters and planting RM’s in strategic locations. We don’t have a lot of them though—we never really expected to be in a fight this big.”
“It looks like we can never have enough relativistic missiles,” Andrews shook his head.
“The plant is pumping them out as fast as it can,” Tanis said. “Just not fast enough it would seem—thank the stars at least some of the rail platforms got done.”
A decade earlier, Tanis had ordered the building of a dozen automated railgun platforms to provide additional protection for the colony. To date only seven had been installed. Four were in synchronous orbits with Victoria around the Kap. The other three orbited Tara.
Though few railgun platforms protected capital world, each was capable of firing half-ton slugs at 0.2c. When the slugs impacted they would deliver forty-five exajoules of energy—a force equivalent to an eleven-giga-ton nuclear weapon.
They were just shy of world-killers.
Tanis took the XO’s bridge station; Terrance sat near her, a look of deep concern on his face. Officers representing various ship sections filed in to coordinate with their departments and several ensigns sat at weapons and helm stations.
Priscilla winked at Tanis. “Glad you made it off the dirtball.”
“You and me both,” Tanis said with a smile.
“Bring us up to Anne’s orbit, we need to establish a more easily defensible position,” Andrews gave the order to helm, his voice calm; not a tremor of concern present.
Tanis brought up a display of all ship placements within 3AU on the main holo and rose to examine it.
The Intrepid Fleet was spread across the system on a combination of maneuvers, colonization assistance missions, and patrols.
Several were headed back to Victoria, already having been recalled by Ouri, a few would make it on time, most would be too late.
“The Dresden and Orkney are on station, holding at nine hundred kilometers starboard and port,” one of the ensigns reported.
Tanis nodded pensively. “Have them switch places. The Dresden needs to keep that hole in its port side protected.”
“Aye Ma’am.”
Tanis replied with a virtual wink.
Sue replied.
Sanderson stepped to her side. “The Yosemite will be here within the hour, but the Terra is too far out.”
“We should keep it there. If they know of the Gamma site, they’ll make an attempt to hit it. I think we should bring the Peters and Starflyer in from their patrol to bolster it. With the combined fighter compliment they should be able to hold off all but the most determined assault.”
“I agree,” Sanderson said.
Tanis nodded to Priscilla who relayed the order across the system.
Of the forty-seven capital ships in the Intrepid Fleet only eighteen would arrive before the Sirian ships were within firing range.
She organized the ships into three battlegroups, each with one of the new thousand-meter Claymore class cruisers as its anchor.
Each battlegroup had a seven hundred and twenty meter Trenton class cruiser and several of the fleet’s new Pacific class destroyers.
She saw the Andromeda signal that Joe had arrived onboard and directed the ship into a polar orbit around Victoria. Since the last engagement with the Sirians, its stealth systems had seen further upgrades and the ship would be entirely invisible to the enemy.
The Tromandy, formerly known as the Strident Arc, reported ready as it passed Victoria’s southern pole and Tanis assigned it to close station defense of the Intrepid. She gained a pyrrhic sense of satisfaction knowing that the ship which pursued the Hyperion to The Kap was now in the force arrayed against the Sirians.
Tanis waited impatiently as the NSAI assembled a picture of the system from the thousands of sensors in the stellar array. When it did, true fear gripped her as the holo showed sixty-five Sirian ships.
“Ouri, I could have sworn you said something like twenty-five!”
Ouri’s face was white. “That was the report…and they were way further out.”
Tanis glanced around the bridge, the crew looked as scared as she felt. She had an ace up her sleeve, but it was a card she really did not want to play.
She turned to Captain Andrews and Admiral Sanderson.
Captain Andrews shook his head.
Sanderson nodded.
Tanis said.
Tanis looked to Priscilla, “Give me all fleet.”
The avatar nodded and a second later said, “you’re Linked.”
Tanis paused a moment, a knot of emotion in her throat.
Tanis nodded to Priscilla who cut the link.
The bridge crew erupted in cheers.
“Didn’t know you had that much prose in you,” Ouri said.
“I’ve read a lot of Keats recently.”
Tanis replied.
Her speech was followed by a flurry of virtual meetings. Tanis refined the details of her plan with the fleet captains and when she was done, the holo updated with two countdowns.
One, at just shy of an hour showed the time until the Intrepid Fleet would be ready for combat.
The second, at only fifteen minutes, was the countdown until the Sirians were in range of the railgun platforms.
In front of her, the holo projection contained normalized numbers and a linear timeline, but the reality beneath that was far more complex.
Tanis re-checked all of the calculations herself. Not because she doubted the weapons and scan NSAI, but she preferred to internalize the math to understand the timings better. With distances over a light minute, and, with dozens of ships accelerating and breaking across the battlefield, no distance or time was what it appeared.
Local scan showed Victorian ships moving out of the area, and the platforms adjusting their orbits to be on the far side of Victoria when the battle was joined.
She hoped there would be a world for them to continue building when this was over.
Tanis’s concentration was broken by a voice at her side.
“It’s not going to be easy, is it?” Joe ‘s virtual presence stood beside her, brow furrowed as he studied the holo.