by Chris Hechtl
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Two days after the reinforcements arrived, an unexpected hyper emergence put the fleet on alert. The alert was downgraded when the various CICs on the screening destroyers closest to the emergence reported the ship's identity as one of the Terran scouts. It wasn't long before the ship's IFF and abbreviated log was transmitted to Lexington. Democritus was a welcome sight, welcome indeed.
It didn't take Ensign Lexington long to download the ship's logs and database. The survey ship had been on one long, boring sightseeing mission it seemed. There had been no sign of their Tauren enemies in the star systems the scout had checked. What had happened to her sister ship Thales remained a big question. Jan realized she was going to have to leave a picket of some sort with supplies in case the ship ever did turn up. Most likely she would arrive nearly out of fuel like Democritus was. She shook her head as she watched the ship nuzzle up to their fuel ship. They really needed to get the survey ships to scavenge and supply themselves in the field as much as possible and do the same for the fleet. Their logistics, especially their long logistic lines, was potentially the fleet's Achilles heel.
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While the fleet worked on resupply and integration issues, Jan went over the files from the scout and then pulled in her senior officers to plan their next move. Her general orders from Sol were to go to relieve nearest colonies first. However, a month ago Tau Chan and Lancelot had returned. They had carried word back from Antigua and Protodon that the enemy had abandoned the colonies. She wasn't happy about the sorry shape Protodon was in, but there was little she could do about it at the moment. Captain Presley's report had intrigued her, especially the report about Doctor Grayskull. But not enough for her to send a follow-up ship at that time.
Besides, most of his efforts were geared for planetary defense anyway.
“So, as some of you know, Protodon and Antigua are clear. No sign of the enemy in either star system. They've fled south.”
Brigadier General Falcon, the human senior Space Marine, nodded. He had two short battalions on the ships plus the Marine detachments on each of Jan's ships. She knew he had them working on invasion and boarding tactics. “So, we don't have to invade them. Good to know,” he rumbled.
Jan nodded.
“Where do we go from here, ma'am?” Admiral Oh asked.
Jan studied him for a moment and then tapped her fingers on the controls. The lights dimmed and a holographic star chart came up. A light blinked on it. “South. To Pyrax. We believe the enemy pulled in their horns and headed to Janus, which is next door to Pyrax.”
“Okay, so, do we go through Antigua and offer them relief or …?” Willard asked.
“Antigua is good, but I am betting the enemy set up shop in Janus as I said. Pyrax is right next door. If Jack Lagroose has held out as all reports indicate, then we'll have a nice base to work from right next door,” Jan said. “Going directly there will shave weeks off our journey.”
“Okay,” Admiral Oh said, nodding slowly. “It fits. And if the enemy expects us to follow them on their route south, they might set up on the wrong jump point.”
“Exactly,” Jan replied with a grin. “What I'm thinking is we can send a scout or tin can up and then loop back to that jump point.” She used a laser pointer to indicate the route. Ensign Lex helpfully highlighted the route on the projection and even filled in general transit time estimates. “If we have them jump short and then let the enemy see them, the enemy will go into a tizzy.”
“Which will make them think we're coming in that direction and stack up there. Nice. Misdirection,” Captain Beaudry said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
Jan studied him briefly. They'd served together on Argus. He was a good officer but something of a tech weenie. She'd been surprised that he'd delegated overseeing the fleet logistics for the moment to attend the meeting. The captain wasn't known for wanting to be trapped in meetings for long periods of time. “Exactly,” she said, not letting her thoughts color her tone. “If we can get our hands on another or send a dispatch ship with it, we can have them send word when the enemies do stack up. Their long-range sensors should give us some good indication of what is going on in the star system too. They can loop around through the jump points here,” she pointed to a series of jump lines, “And then come down to Pyrax in under three months.”
“The intel will be out of date but we'll have it. Good to know, ma'am,” General Falcon said. “Pity we can't get anything clear about the status of the planet,” he mused.
“We can send recon drones in. Shoot them in and have the ship ride where she is and get the feedback,” Captain Bao suggested.
“Possible,” Jan said thoughtfully. “They would be vulnerable to interception of course. And if they were bounced out, the data would be lost,” she said thoughtfully.
“We'd also lose the hardware, Captain Beaudry stated. “But it's meant to be used,” he said hastily, holding up a hand off the tabletop to stall any protests.
“Glad you agree with that,” Captain Bao said dryly. He turned to the vice admiral. “Are we going to send ships to Pyrax and Antigua to picket them?”
“I'm not thrilled about losing them, but I think we can spare a tin can each. It will give them some relief and let them know we're not abandoning them.”
Admiral Oh grimaced at losing more of his assets but then nodded in agreement.
“Do you think we can go on the offense in Janus, ma'am?” Commander Hatfield asked carefully.
“I'm not sure at this point. We know the enemy is adapting. We don't know what sort of reinforcements they've gotten in that star system nor do we know if they've got defenses. Eventually we're going to have to push them out.”
“So, it's all hinging on the intel. Should we dispatch the tin can on the march to Pyrax, ma'am?” Admiral Oh asked, making a note.
“I'd like to find out the status of Pyrax first. It'd suck if the enemy went there and took Eden out.”
“Something tells me that didn't happen. Not with Jack Lagroose there and Jeeves in their corner, ma'am,” Ensign Lex replied.
“We'll see. We've got a couple jumps before I have to make up my mind there so I'll table that decision for the moment,” she said, looking at her fellow flag officer. “So, we can focus on finishing the resupply and maybe work on some working-up exercises to integrate the fleet. I know many of you new folk,” she smiled and nodded to the new captains and CAGs in the wardroom, “have been diligent about getting your hands on our data from the last battle and processing it while also siccing your XOs on the simulator packages and changes we've made to adapt,” she said. Heads around the table nodded. “But, it is one thing to train as a ship's company, another to train against someone else. So, we can run a couple of simulations once Captain Beaudry's people have wound down their efforts, or hell, even before that,” she said.
“We'll do our best to work around anything you throw at us, ma'am,” the captain replied dutifully.
“Good man,” Jan replied. That sparked a brief soft chuckle from the group. “Okay, so, the two biggest things that surprised us were the enemy's use of defensive fighters and their missiles. We'll leave the fighter community to figure out the defensive fighters, though I might have them work in a missile defense scenario.” She smiled evilly. “Third on the surprise list was their overhauled turret speed. Four was their overhauled sensor range and resolution. It's made their rail gun rounds even more dangerous …”
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“Time to move out. I want to be in Pyrax as quickly as possible,” Admiral Kepler stated. She had sent one of her dispatch ships back to Sol with her updated log and intentions to keep Walter in the loop the day before.
“Aye aye, ma’am,” Willard replied with a dutiful nod as he turned and started to issue orders. One destroyer and a dispatch ship would remain behind as a picket to watch the area. They would also forward any news to incoming ships and direct them to Pyrax.
He surveyed the fleet with quiet pride. The
carriers were in the pocket with the support vessels close behind them. Arrayed like a diamond around them were the four battleships. Further out were the cruisers covering all three axes. Further out from them was the destroyer flotilla screen.
“Time to kick some Tauren ass,” Alton murmured.
Jan gave him a sidelong look, then snorted. “Well, not quite yet, but I appreciate the sentiment. We'll get there Anton, eventually,” she said soothingly.
There was a bit of an amused titter at the byplay from the crew. Anton couldn't help but smile a bit, obviously a bit frisky. That was good, but she didn't want him to get too full of himself. She wanted confidence but caution as well.
Not that she planned on cutting him down at this point. A bit of byplay to release tension and boost morale was fine with her.
“Just as long as my foot is alongside yours when we do, ma'am, I'm okay with waiting a little longer,” Anton quipped.
That earned a general chuckle from the bridge. Jan looked at the countdown and then nodded to Ensign Lex. “SITREP?”
“All clear, Admiral.”
“Good. Time to go see what Jack Lagroose has been up to,” she said as the timer got down to the last ten seconds. She listened as her flag captain ordered the jump, then watched the main screen as the stars turned into lines, then blurred as they jumped into hyperspace.
One way or another they were committed.
Chapter 29
Pyrax
July 2242
Jan looked on as the navigational team began the final countdown as they translated down the octaves to real space. She studied the dolphin in the tank. The cetacean was oblivious to her peeping; he or she had a VR headset covering its eyes and melon. Wires connected the fin to the ship's computers. As the dolphin wiggled his pectoral fins the ship made fine adjustments to its heading and pitch.
It would be nice if someone figured out a sure-fire way for ships to communicate in hyperspace, the admiral mused, looking on to study the rest of the crew. She could hear the soft murmur of voices from time to time. It would be nice to be coordinated with the rest of the fleet.
Doctor Lorelei had been working on a method to communicate in hyperspace she knew. She'd read the brief and the sales pitch from Doctor Irons. So far they'd managed to get some information across by fluctuating their shield emissions slightly, but that tended to cause problems with the ship's course and control. Both ships needed to be close in order to communicate anything, and they had to do it slow, which meant low bandwidth.
Eventually they'd get it right she knew. It was only a matter of time. They'd figure out how to sync up hyperspace bubbles to throw a laser between ships or work on the method they had by fine-tuning the gravitational shivers and the sensors that picked them up.
Until then they'd have to make do, she thought, amused by her self-distraction. She checked the clock and then settled herself in her seat as Ensign Lex made the final countdown out loud over the intercom. Exit from hyperspace could get a little bumpy, especially since a cetacean pilot tended to cut through the star system to get in as deep as possible before dropping out of hyperspace. The fins tended to love that part; the turbulence was like riding a wave or so they said.
She hated it because not all of her ships had a fin helm team. That meant some may or may not be able to keep up. If they didn't they'd drop out in a bedraggled stream in her wake.
She pursed her lips in a fine line and made a mental note to talk to Willard and the helm teams about that if it came up. Eventually it would; she didn't want them to come out in disorder in the face of the enemy!
“Two … one, we have emergence! The fleet has arrived in the Pyrax star system!” Ensign Lex said triumphantly as the screens flashed from the blue to a white pulse of energy discharge, then faded to black and then stars once more.
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“Sir, we've detected a massive hyper footprint on the inner edge of the Oort cloud,” Kathy Dugan said in a carefully-controlled tone of voice.
Captain Cooley looked up from the report he had been reading with a frown. “How big is big?”
“Big, sir. We're still … Okay, we're looking at least thirty ships. Some of them are massive,” the sensor tech reported. “The energy flare is coming in as a stream; it looks like they tried to come in as a unit but lost their coordination.” She put the pulse up on the main plot and then backtracked the vector.
“Bring the engines online now. Com, alert the planet. Get our people back up here,” the captain ordered coolly. “I want the reactors online within five minutes. We need to get underway fast,” he stated as his eyes stared at the plot. Based on Kathy's initial quick and dirty reverse vector, the enemy had come from the north. Which meant he had to flee south or east.
“Sir, they jumped in at half the distance to the inner star system that the Taurens do …,” Kathy said thoughtfully as she stared at her computers. They were still processing the information coming in from their passive sensors.
“So, we're not going to have a lot of time to run. Nav,” the captain looked up with a frown, “we need you up here on the bridge now to plot a course,” he growled, one thumb on the intercom button. “All hands, stations please. All hands, stations. This is not a drill,” he added belatedly. He turned to the communications station. “Comm, raise North Wind. Tell them to get their reactors and engines online. We need to get the hell out of dodge ASAP.”
The pale communications tech nodded.
“Sir!” Kathy said, snapping her fingers as the captain opened his mouth to order the ship to break orbit on reactionary thrusters alone. He turned his head to look at her. “I recognize some of those ships. They are ours!” she said, turning to look at him with a broad grin.
“Show me,” he said as he got out of his chair and stalked over to her station just as Ynes and the rest of the bridge watch pounded onto the bridge.
“Where's the fire, Skipper?” Ynes demanded. He pointed to the plot. She stopped dead and stared up at it, sleepy mind still getting the cobwebs out. Adrenalin began to surge as she realized there was a massive fleet in the star system.
“Talk to me, Kathy,” Captain Cooley ordered as he got behind Kathy.
“See?” she used a stylus to point to one of the smaller ships, then a larger one further inward. “Based on what we're seeing, that has to be a Confed destroyer. The mass readings are on the money for it. Besides, the Taurens don't have something like that. And the other ship,” she paused and tapped it and then zoomed in. He could just make out the grainy silhouette of a Republic class cruiser. “She's ours,” she said.
“IFF signal coming in now!” the communications tech reported from his station.
Ynes and the others turned to him. He grinned. “It's Second Fleet,” he said.
“Definitely ours,” Ynes breathed. “Thank … whatever,” she said, flopping down into a seat as the bridge crew cheered.
Captain Cooley smiled with the rest of them. “Stand down. Let the planet know,” he said and then winced as a couple of techs high fived loudly behind him. “That had to have hurt,” he said with a shake of his head as the duo shook their smarting hands out but continued to laugh in relief.
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“Ma'am, we're getting an answering IFF from Magellan as well as North Wind and two unknown ships squawking Terran codes,” CIC reported.
Jan frowned as she looked up from her paperwork. Magellan and North Wind were half expected. The others though … “Anything on the unknowns? And what happened to the other support ships?”
“Message coming in. The brief reads, ‘Good to see you Second Fleet, Captain Cooley.’ We're getting data. It looks like log files now, ma'am.”
“Ask them what gives with the other two ships and forward those logs to my station,” the admiral ordered.
“Aye aye, ma’am.”
“I guess I've got more reading to do,” Jan said as she bookmarked her place just as her inbox pinged through her implants. She transferred the file to the stati
on computer in front of her and then began to read carefully.
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Jack stared at the ceiling. “Talk to me, Jeeves,” he said.
“We're getting reports in … and a signal. IFF signals from the fleet have been detected.”
“IFF, that's Identify Friend or Foe, right?” Paul demanded.
“It is. The ships have been identified as Second Fleet, Confederation Navy. Magellan and the other ships in orbit are transmitting their IFF in response now,” Jeeves said, having to increase his voice volume as concern turned to consternation and then jubilation. The celebration spread throughout the complex quickly.
Jeeves put up an image of people getting the news on the security monitors and then dancing breaking out in the streets. “The navy has arrived,” he said primly.
Jack felt his back thumped and his ribs bruised as he was hugged by the various people. He guffawed as people lost themselves to the moment. He couldn't blame them; he too was feeling intense relief.
When the whirlwind ended, he found himself back in his chair. He shook his head. They'd just started to get people back under cover. “Jeeves, call off the alert. Let people know they can return to their homes. Those that want to at any rate,” he said with a chuckle.
“Done, sir. Though I think it is unnecessary,” Jeeves replied, showing him images of crowd-filled streets. Jack nodded.
Six months ago he had relented and allowed people to return to their homes … if they still had them. A new capital city named Onyx City was under construction next to the craters of Landing City and the spaceport. Temporary apartments had been built there while Paul's people built better ones. Needless to say, all of the buildings were camouflaged. There was also a partially-completed tunnel complex leading out of the city to the nearest underground shelters.