by Dietmar Wehr
Steele took a deep breath before speaking. “Okay, Helm. Switch to autopilot.”
“Switching to Autopilot,” acknowledged Ortega.
The entry into the wormhole was smooth and unremarkable. There was nothing special about this particular wormhole other than what was at the other end. Steele settled down to ponder his next chess move which Lavrov would not get until the ship came back, but he had to find something to occupy his attention for the next six hours and seventeen minutes having decided to stay on the Bridge for the entire transit.
When he woke up, he was chagrinned to realize that he had fallen asleep at his Command Station. A check of the elapsed time chronometer showed that there was less than one minute left before exiting the wormhole! A quick look around revealed the Bridge crew carefully paying attention to their consoles and not looking at him. He suspected that someone had coughed or made a noise loud enough to wake him when they figured it was the right time to do so, but he wished that had woken him up sooner.
“Wormhole exit in thirty seconds, Skipper,” said Ortega.
“Give me inter-craft,” said Steele to the Com Officer.
“Go ahead, Captain.”
“Attention, crew. We’re about to exit the wormhole. Stand by.”
“Exit in five…four…three…two…one…now!” said Ortega.
“Launching Bravo One,” said Chilton.
“Switch display to tactical,” said Steele. The main display which had been showing the kaleidoscope of colors while in the wormhole now switched to the familiar tactical view. A yellow circle representing the wormhole itself was now behind the ship. A green chevron representing Bravo One was separating from the ship as both were moving away from the wormhole.
“Deceleration at maximum,” said the HO. “Velocity is dropping. It looks like our net decel is sixteen point eight Gees. Bravo One is now holding position.”
“Good. Let’s begin the survey, Helm. Launch Bravo Two when we reach the planned distance from the star.”
With confirmation that the ship was not in danger of sliding down the gravity well into the black hole, Steele’s heart rate, which had been beating faster, returned to normal and he leaned back. The plan was for the ship to circle the wormhole in an outward spiral that gradually moved further away from the black hole while also scanning the area laterally for any sign of other wormholes.
When Steele finally left the Bridge to go to his quarters, he found it hard to sleep and not just because of the long nap on the Bridge. No matter how hard he tried to dismiss it, there was a nagging, primal fear that the ship would fall into the black hole while he slept. He later learned that he wasn’t the only one on board trying to deal with the same fear. It did gradually become easier to put that fear aside as the days went on.
Chapter Fourteen
King Pierre threw his data tablet at the nearest wall and glared at his Minister for War and Grand Admiral. “How is it possible that five Caledonian heavy cruisers managed to defeat a much superior force? Admiral?” The King’s voice, while reasonable in volume was heavy with menace.
Beauchamp tried to keep his voice as normal as he could given the tension he was feeling at the moment. “Your Majesty, we don’t know what the balance of forces was when your two squadrons were attacked. It was very likely that the Caledonian Navy had far more than just the five heavy cruisers, that Captain Matheson’s ship detected when the two sides engaged in combat. After the battle, they might have withdrawn some of their ships, probably because they were damaged. It’s also possible that Commodore Sogard’s destroyer squadron was forced into combat and defeated before Rear Admiral DeSoto’s heavy cruiser squadron arrived and was attacked. I think the latter scenario is the more likely one, Your Highness.”
Pierre was still too angry to admit that the Grand Admiral’s explanation made sense. Even if his speculation was correct, it still didn’t alter the fact that his Navy had suffered the most significant single loss of ships and personnel in its history. Not even during the war with Caledonia, had a single battle been so costly. He realized that venting his rage on his senior civilian and military officers was unfair to them, but he didn’t care. Letting his anger out made him feel better.
“There’s also another scenario,” he snarled. “Sogard and DeSoto may have succumbed to their own incompetence! Or perhaps one of them was incompetent and the impact of that battle shifted the odds against the other! And now both of you are standing there trying your best to cover for them!” Beauchamp opened his mouth to deny that he was knowingly covering for incompetence when the King’s raised hand stopped him.
“Don’t try to deny that that’s what you’re doing, Grand Admiral! You Navy people have covered for each other before so why not do it again? The two of you convinced me to sign that humiliating peace treaty because your Navy, Admiral, was losing more battles than it was winning!” He paused to take a couple of deep breaths. “And now this.” Turning his back on them, the King strolled over to the windows overlooking the Palace grounds. Bochette and Beauchamp exchanged looks but said nothing.
“So…what do both of you recommend that I do now?” asked Pierre in an almost normal tone.
Bochette cleared his throat before speaking. “Well, Your Majesty, as far as we know, there’s been no formal declaration of war from the HRC, and therefore I would recommend a cautious—”
“We strike back hard, Your Majesty,” interrupted Beauchamp. “We send in a squadron of battlecruisers and another squadron of heavy cruisers, and we overpower whatever force the HRCN has in AG38!”
Pierre was doubly surprised, first by his Minister for War’s timid response and then by his Grand Admiral’s damn the torpedoes response. He dearly wanted to approve the Grand Admiral’s proposal but understood himself well enough to know that if he approved it now, he’d be regretting it after the ships left. If anything happened to those squadrons, the Socorro system would be woefully vulnerable to a massed counterattack.
“Your zeal is the most convincing evidence I’ve seen so far that my Navy isn’t hopelessly incompetent,” said Pierre. “I confess to being surprised that you’d recommend drawing down the Capital system’s defenses by that much.”
Beauchamp nodded. “Normally I wouldn’t recommend such extreme action, Your Majesty; however, in this case, a massive retaliation only makes sense if it’s done swiftly before the HRCN can send reinforcements to that system. If they’ve suffered lost and damaged ships, then their normal response would be to shift a few ships from other locations over to the AG38 system. That will take time, and those reinforcements are likely to arrive in a piecemeal fashion. If we move fast and send a powerful force with instructions to keep that force concentrated and only attack if the balance of forces is favorable to our side, then we can inflict just as much loss to their fleet and quite possibly take control of AG38. As for Capital system defenses, temporarily recalling most of the destroyers now on wormhole picket duty would bolster those defenses and the loss of transit fees would be modest. We can send those destroyers back when the balance of the retaliation fleet returns.”
The King was now even more tempted and not just by the response to his query over Capital system defenses. The underlying logic of the Grand Admiral’s reply was hard to ignore. If he was going to retaliate at all, he had to do it now and in overwhelming strength or let the disaster stand unanswered. Given those two alternatives, the decision was obvious. Doing nothing and swallowing another humiliating defeat was unacceptable.
“How soon can you have the retaliation fleet ready, Grand Admiral?”
“They can be on their way in forty-eight hours, Your Majesty. Couriers can be sent within the hour to recall the destroyers.”
“And who would you recommend giving that command to, Bradley or Molitor?”
Beauchamp hesitated. Bradley had seniority over Molitor, but they were both vice-admirals and Molitor had shown more original thinking in fleet simulation wargames while Bradley tended to be entirely too predicta
ble in his tactical approach. That also meant, however, that Bradley would consider his moves carefully while Molitor was more inclined to act on instinct. And the fact was that while Molitor won the wargames more often than he lost, he either won big or lost just as big while Bradley losses were usually by narrow margins with the occasional overwhelming victory. Losing this upcoming battle by a small margin was just as disastrous for the Kingdom as an overwhelming defeat. Even a marginal victory wouldn’t fundamentally change the perceived balance of power by HRC’s political leaders. Only a lopsided loss would convince them to accord the RSN the respect that the King thought it deserved.
“Vice-Admiral Molitor, Your Majesty. He has a knack for snatching victory out of otherwise unfavorable situations.”
“And what does my Minister for War say about this?”
Bochette wanted to denounce the Grand Admiral’s plan as reckless, but his assessment of the King’s apparent liking for it meant that he had little hope of changing the King’s mind given the only alternative that was not itself even more reckless; that being doing nothing. He reluctantly admitted to himself that the Admiral had convinced him that a half-hearted response or a massive response that took too long to organize would likely end in another defeat. He just hated to roll the dice with this much at stake.
“I see now that my initial approach for a cautious response is not a viable one. My concern now is that the Grand Admiral’s proposed swift and massive retaliation may not be massive enough. If Your Majesty is going to roll the dice, which is how I see this proposal, then the dice must be stacked in Your Majesty’s favor as much as possible. Instead of sending one battlecruiser squadron and one heavy cruiser squadron, I would urge Your Majesty to send both battlecruiser squadrons under Fleet Admiral Scheer with Vice-Admirals Bradley and Molitor commanding their respective squadrons. That way Admiral Scheer can benefit from Bradley’s more thoughtful analysis as well as Molitor’s sometimes inspired brainstorms.”
Pierre was amused by the shock on Admiral Beauchamp’s face as a result of the Minister’s sudden about-face. Any reservations Pierre may have had about giving the command to an admiral like Molitor whose aggressiveness sometimes bordered on recklessness was assuaged by the recommendation that Admiral Scheer take overall command. Scheer was steady but had proven he could be open to new ideas.
“I like your recommendation very much, Minister Bochette and I approve it. I want the retaliation fleet underway as soon as is humanly possible.” As he was speaking, the King took note of the fact that his Grand Admiral did not look happy about being upstaged. He decided to sooth the Admiral’s ruffled feathers a bit. “I’ll count on you, Grand Admiral Beauchamp to properly brief all three admirals on what risks they should and shouldn’t take. And just to be clear on what I want. Taking and holding the AG38 system is secondary in importance to giving the damned HRCN a bloody nose that they won’t soon forget. They’re to concentrate on inflicting disproportionate losses on the enemy first, then worry about the system. Do you have any questions, Admiral?”
“No, Your Majesty. You’ve been quite clear. I’ll personally make sure they understand what’s expected of them.”
“Good. Very good. You are both dismissed.”
Neither man said a word to each other during the ride back to Naval Headquarters. Bochette attributed the Grand Admiral’s silence to resentment that he had trumped the officer’s attempt to look proactive and aggressive. If he had known that Beauchamp was actually pleased with the way the meeting had ended and was carefully thinking of the wording of the written orders the three admirals would receive, he’d have been shocked. In Beauchamp’s mind, this escalation was bound to cause a new, declared war with the HRCN to explode into existence and he was determined to give it as big of a push as he could.
Fleet Admiral Scheer looked down on the holographic image of the AG38 system as it slowly rotated to give him a better understanding of the system’s layout. Beauchamp was standing next to him.
“Well? Have you decided on how you’re going to approach this mission?” asked Beauchamp.
Scheer took his time answering. In his rise up through the ranks of the King’s Navy, he had learned that taking an extra moment to consider his words carefully often paid dividends. And pondering the strategic and tactical nuances of a new star system was something new for him as well. As Commander of Capital Fleet charged with defending the Home System, he was used to looking at its holographic representation and knew every planet, moon, and comet location by heart, but AG38 was a new beast. It had its rhythms and cycles that would take time to understand.
“Five heavy cruisers,” he said slowly. “If I had eliminated twelve RSN warships, I wouldn’t leave just five heavy cruisers behind and certainly not scatter them all over the system where they could be defeated one at a time. Do we know for certain that Vice-Admiral Akane Hara is commanding these forces in AG38, Admiral?”
“We know that she was in command when Commodore Sogard sent his destroyer back for reinforcements. Whether she’s still there or whether someone else has taken over is impossible to know. Given her reputation for unorthodox tactics, I would suggest that it would be prudent to assume she’s still there,” said Beauchamp.
Scheer nodded. “Yes, I concur. However I’m also going to assume that she’s not on any of the five heavies and is in fact on a ship, probably a battlecruiser, that may be part of a group of ships that are maintaining a stealthy overwatch of the whole system, ready to intercept any incursion.”
“But if she’s relying on gravity ripples to alert her to an incursion, it won’t tell her enough to plot an intercept from beyond radar range,” said Beauchamp.
“Very true. But if she had something like a Black Knight drone, she could deploy them where ships from Socorro are most likely to arrive. If we can develop recon drones, the HRCN could too. I’ll be wanting to take all the Black Knights we have right now. I believe there are almost three dozen of them.”
Beauchamp started shaking his head. “The first hundred Black Knights are earmarked for system defense. With you taking all twelve battlecruisers, this system will be much too vulnerable as it is but at least having those thirty-five drones here will help even the odds if a major force comes calling while you’re gone.”
“Permit me to point out the flaws in your thinking, Admiral. Aside from AG38, the HRCN hasn’t done anything in the way of acting aggressively to suggest that they’re planning an attack on our home system. The fact that they took out both Sogard’s and Admiral DeSoto’s commands tells me that they were able to surprise both of them. Admiral DeSoto is no fool. If his radar showed a superior force, he’d try to avoid action, and unless he had blundered badly, at least one or two of his ships should have gotten away, but they didn’t. If his squadron was caught by surprise, that means Admiral Hara had to have some way of pinpointing his ships without using radar or gravity ripples. I suppose it’s possible that they’ve come up with a completely new way of detecting ships at a distance, but recon drones would accomplish that trick quite nicely. Therefore, if they have their version of Black Knight drones and if they were planning to attack the home system, then they could easily avoid combat with our defending cruiser squadrons until they were good and ready to take them on. So, keeping those thirty-five drones here will not make up for weakened defense forces. They will help me enormously in finding Hara’s hidden forces and keeping them from surprising me.”
“The King won’t like it when he learns that those drones have been redeployed elsewhere,” said Beauchamp.
“Then don’t tell him,” said Scheer quietly. “With a little luck, I’ll sweep AG38 clear of HRCN ships quickly, and then I’ll send the drones back before he even knows they were gone. Putting them through their paces in a real combat situation will undoubtedly provide useful feedback as well.”
Beauchamp sighed. “Fine. I’ll see to it that they’re loaded on board your ships before you leave. Now that I’ve given you what you want, let’s talk abo
ut you giving me what I want.”
Scheer turned to look at him for the first time since the conversation started. “I’m listening.”
“I’m sure the King doesn’t think of this mission this way, but as far as I’m concerned, this is the opening salvo in a new war with the HRC whether it’s been officially declared or not. Your written orders were composed very carefully to be ambiguous enough to be interpreted as having limited strategic objectives; the retaliation the King keeps talking about. I’m here to tell you verbally that I want you to push the HRCN as hard as you possibly can. That means you don’t let any of their damaged ships get away if you can prevent it and you don’t engage in any acts of so-called chivalry. Take prisoners and capture ships only if doing so doesn’t prevent you from destroying other ships. If they offer to parlay, you refuse. The King is talking about giving them a bloody nose. I want you to cut their throat. Is that clear, Admiral Scheer?”
“I won’t fire on ships that have surrendered,” said Scheer.
Beauchamp stared at Scheer for almost ten seconds before responding. “I’m not ordering you to do that, but I would support your actions if you did.”