They were done prepping the Midwest a month before departure, and Bhatia used the opportunity to take the ship out and run it through its paces. Bhatia took the CIC position Jan would be using, and had her XO command from the bridge. They took turns practicing sensor disguises with several other ships in the task force, to rehearse their roles in the upcoming expedition.
The actual spacing order for Operation Payback was Rear Admiral Richard Murdock's battleship division, Rear Admiral Salvatore Heyerdahl's heavy cruiser squadron, Rear Admiral Bhushan McReady's heavy cruiser squadron, Senior Captain Nathalie Rodriguez' light cruiser division, and Senior Captain Fred Wang's destroyer squadron.
The thirty-two ships of the expedition took off in squadrons and divisions over a period of two weeks. The task force was carried on the books as a squadron, to confuse any prying eyes at Sigurdsen. Jan's rank as a rear admiral would normally have her commanding a squadron anyway, so stray references to Admiral Childers' squadron working up were unlikely to be associated with a thirty-two ship task force by anyone not in the know.
Jan and Bill went aboard the Midwest two days before departure. They took the guest quarters on the captain's deck. Bill also took an officer's cabin that had survived the installation of the intelligence suite, to give him room for his things and a place to work where he was out of Jan's way.
Jan had not been aboard an hour when her door buzzer sounded. It was Senior Chief Anton Kmiecic, who had been part of Senior Chief Chin's 'clean-up' crew on Boadicea, and was now the senior non-com on the Midwest.
"Hi, Senior Chief. What can I do for you?"
"Uh, begging the Admiral's pardon, Ma'am, but we were wondering if you would honor us by attending a little 'welcome aboard' dinner in the Chief's Mess this evening."
"An admiral, Senior Chief? Are you sure?"
"Oh, yes, Ma'am. The Midwest isn't going to let a little matter of rank, no offense, Ma'am, get in the way of being with our own. And to that point, Ma'am, if Admiral Campbell would like to attend as well, we would be honored."
"You're sure, Senior Chief?"
"We're all agreed, Ma'am."
"Then we'd both be honored to attend, Senior Chief. Thank you."
"We're going to be dinner guests in the Goat Locker?"
"Yup. It's a little tradition that's grown up somehow. Whenever I come on board ship, from my first deployment as a lieutenant right through senior captain, the chiefs have me for dinner the first night. You weren't on Boadicea when I went aboard, so you weren't there that first night. Rank and medals don't seem to matter. I guess they think of me as one of their own. You know. Local girl makes good."
Having come aboard in uniform, they were changing into shipsuits for dinner. Jan looked at Bill as he zipped up.
"Lose all the patches. Nothing but the name tape. Oh, and in the Goat Locker, everybody's on a first-name basis. Us included."
After dinner, on their way back to her cabin on the captain's deck, Bill made one comment on the evening.
"And you wonder why the whole Navy would follow you straight into hell."
The thirty-two ships of the un-numbered task force assembled in hyperspace at their appointed positions around Feirm as the clock ticked down. All units reported ready well before the appointed time.
Immediately upon transition to normal space, the sensors started feeding data into the intelligence suite on the Midwest. In addition, the Midwest sent out a coded signal to any Commonwealth commercial ships in the system, claiming to be a Commonwealth fleet base. The three commercial ships began downloading their sensor recordings. These would take some minutes to arrive, so Bill was working primarily from the Midwest's passive sensors.
Then they caught a break. One Commonwealth commercial ship was outbound in their general direction, and its sensor download started hitting them only fifteen minutes after the request went out. Having left orbit mere hours before, the data was fresh, and she had had her active sensors powered up for her departure.
Assembling all the raw data into a system view is what the intelligence suite's computers were set up to do, and the system view took shape as he watched. He compared it to the scenarios they had planned for. It was dead on their most expected scenario. The enemy hadn't changed anything in their operations.
Thirty minutes after they made hyperspace transition, Bill pushed a comm stud on his panel.
"Childers."
"Campbell. Enemy profile is Alpha. Repeat, Profile Alpha."
"Excellent. Childers out."
From there on out, Bill was just along for the ride.
"Hyper transition, Sir. Four contacts at zero mark ninety on the planet, on the system periphery. They're powering up. I make it two heavy cruisers and two light cruisers, Commonwealth design."
"So they decided to come calling, eh? Good. They've screwed up by the numbers. They came in when we were rotating patrols, so we have our full navy available. We'll see how they like that," Admiral Sean Brady said.
"Accelerating inbound, now, Sir. Acceleration, 1.4 gravities."
"Comm, cancel rotation. Tell Vice Admiral Gearman to remain on station."
"Yes, Sir. Transmitting now."
"All right. Let's get us under way. Just the heavy cruisers and the light cruisers. Let's leave the destroyers behind."
"Hyper transition, Sir. Four more contacts at zero mark ninety on the planet. Powering up. I make it another two heavy cruisers and two destroyers. They're coming in behind the first batch, Sir."
"Why would they come in like that? That's strange."
"Sir, one of those heavy cruisers, in the first batch, it sort of wavered. It looked like a light cruiser for a second."
"Ah! That's it. This isn't a major incursion. I'll bet those are light cruisers and destroyers. Well, let's play along with the gag for now. Send those spacing orders."
"Yes, Sir."
"Sir, both bogies just made ninety degree turns, Sir. They're pouring on side vector, away from our approach angle."
"Well, we've got them running around a little bit. Heavy DivOne and Light DivOne on Bogey One, Heavy DivTwo and Light DivTwo on Bogey Two."
"Yes, Sir. Transmitting now."
"Sir, those bogies are spiraling. They're going in wider and wider circles, one further in than the other. They're starting to spin out there, like they're on a search pattern."
"What the hell?"
What Jan's two initial detachments were doing – and they really were both two light cruisers and two destroyers – was collecting gravitation data on the inner and outer system envelopes. Jan was flying her flag on one of the light cruisers, the CSS Midwest, where she was personally comparing the data coming in to predicted values. Everything was on target. No anomalies to worry about.
"Hyper transition, Sir. One contact at zero minus ninety on the planet, on the system periphery. I make it a single destroyer."
"Ah, now it becomes clear. This is a little circus here. Run in some light cruisers and destroyers, have them pretend to be heavies and lights. Run 'em around in circles. Pose a credible threat to move us out of position, and then send the actual force in on the other side, to hit the planet. That destroyer should hyper out in a couple minutes."
"Hyper transition. That destroyer just hypered out, Sir."
"What did I tell you? Comm, message to Admiral Gearman."
"Recording, Sir."
"Message begins. John, this looks like a feint to get us out of position, but they didn't know you weren't out of commission with restocking and planet leave yet. I think the main force is going to be coming in from zero minus ninety. Go get 'em. Oh, and they're playing some razzle-dazzle with ships pretending to be bigger than they are. We saw a heavy leak through as a light. Just so you know. Brady out. Message ends. Send it."
"Transmitting, Sir."
"Ma'am, that other force just got under way. Six heavy cruisers and six light cruisers heading for zero minus zero-nine-zero on the planet."
"Perfect," Jan said.
&nb
sp; "Hyper transition, Sir. Four contacts at forty-five minus sixty on the planet, on the system periphery. I make it four heavy cruisers. Powering up. They're accelerating for the planet, Sir. Coming up to 1.4 gravities."
"Keep an eye on them, Majors. See if you spot any irregularities. Admiral Brady says he caught lighter units pretending to be heavier ships," Gearman said.
"Yes, Sir."
"Any course changes, Sir?"
"No. Stay on zero minus ninety. It doesn't make any sense for them to come in over there, other than to draw us off vector so their main force can come in behind us."
"Yes, Sir."
"They're maintaining zero minus zero-nine-zero, Ma'am."
"Good," Jan said.
She was watching the velocities and vectors.
"Stand by to run for it."
"Yes, Ma'am."
"Sir, a couple of those heavy cruiser signatures are wavering. They look like they're actually destroyers." He looked at his display again. "Confirmed, Sir, one leaked through real bad there."
"Ha! Gotcha. Keep going for zero minus ninety. That's where they're coming in."
"Yes, Sir."
"All right. Execute Runaway, Jan said."
"Execute Runaway. Yes, Ma'am."
"They're turning, Sir. They've dropped the disguise. Piling on vector. Looks like they're making for the system periphery. Both bogeys."
"Are we going to catch them?"
"Yes, Sir. I think they botched the timing. We have too much velocity advantage, because they were running around parallel to the system periphery."
"Stay on' em."
"Yes, Sir."
Jan's formation, the earliest into the system, was running at their full acceleration of 1.7 gravities now, as the Feirman ships came racing up behind them. They had crossed over into the outer envelope and could hyper transition at any time.
"Has Force One crossed into the outer envelope yet?" Jan asked.
"Ten minutes yet, Ma'am."
"And Force Two?"
"Twenty-two minutes."
"Time for Force One to range on us?"
"Eighteen minutes."
"Comm, tell Ursuline fourteen minutes."
"Fourteen minutes. Yes, Ma'am."
"Eighteen minutes, Sir. They're not going to make it out."
"Stand by guns. As soon as they're in range, open fire."
The twelve ships of Admiral Brady's force had spread out a bit into two groups of six as they pursued the two separate CSF forces. They were gaining on them, and with three heavy and three light cruisers per group, they had the CSF forces massively outgunned.
"It's been fourteen minutes, Ma'am."
"Execute Payback One, Red-4 at six light-seconds, Firing Plan Gamma, full power to shields forward."
"Transmitting, Ma'am."
"Hyper transition, Sir. One of those destroyers just hypered out."
"What? Are they over the system periphery?"
"No, Sir. But they hypered out."
"That doesn't make any sense. If they could hyper out at any time, why are they hanging around?"
The awful truth hit him.
"Evasive maneuvers!"
The twenty heavies of the CSF forces were arranged into four formations of five ships each: a battleship in the center, and four heavy cruisers on the corners of a square perpendicular to the long axes of the ships. Firing Plan Gamma was for each ship to fire at ships of the next class down – battleships on heavy cruisers, and heavy cruisers on light cruisers.
When the Ursuline transitioned into hyperspace, she transmitted tactical plots to two of these formations waiting in hyperspace. They moved into position and transitioned out of hyperspace into normal space.
A five-ship formation appeared directly in front of each of Admiral Brady's six-ship formations at a distance of six light-seconds. Each CSF battleship fired two beams into each of the three Feirman heavy cruisers of the force in front of it, and each of the four CSF heavy cruisers fired a beam into each of the three Feirman light cruisers in front of them.
There was some return fire, but the CSF formation was out of range of the light cruisers' guns. The CSF formation did take some damage to shields from the Feirman heavy cruisers' guns, but their shields held. With two battleship-grade beams per heavy cruiser, and four heavy cruiser beams per light cruiser, the shields of the Feirman formations did not.
All twelve Feirman ships broke up and exploded.
The CSF ships transitioned into hyperspace, including the two smaller forces.
"Comm, raise Admiral Murdock."
"Murdock here, Admiral Childers."
"Payback One executed with no surprises. No changes to Payback Two. Execute Payback Two on schedule."
"Payback Two on Schedule. Yes, Ma'am."
"Childers out."
As Admiral Gearman's forces crossed into the outer system envelope, they were still in a single formation, making for zero minus ninety. The sensor information of Admiral Brady's forces being destroyed had not yet made it at light-speed across the system.
"Sir, those destroyers just hypered out."
"I guess they realized their ruse wasn't working. I hope they don't warn off the attack force."
"Hyperspace transition! Ten contacts at zero mark zero, at six light-seconds."
"Guns free. Fire at will."
It was too late. The beams of Admiral Murdock's force were already on the way. Unprepared for action so far short of the system periphery, Admiral Gearman's force never got off a shot. All twelve of his ships were hit with the same fire as Admiral Brady's ships in Payback One. All twelve broke up and exploded. Admiral Murdock's force disappeared back into hyper.
It was a hyperspace video conference, to reduce time delays.
"All right. Nice job, everyone. Time to go home. You are all released back to your original formations and free to make your best speed back to them via whatever stops you need to make for restocking along the way. Tell all your people, thank you and well done," Jan said.
"Do you want to move your flag aboard one of the battleships for the ride home, Ma'am?" Murdock asked.
"No, I'm comfortable here on the Midwest. It's like old times. And I have friends aboard. We'll probably have a party tonight."
Bill had seen the whole portion of the operation dubbed Payback One from the premium seats, right in the middle of the action. He downloaded the sensor data from the ships of Payback Two in hyperspace before the task force broke up into its constituent units for the trip home.
When they were on their way home, Bill watched the entire operation play out in system view on the big display in the intelligence suite aboard the Midwest. He had not been privy to the operations plan prior to the action, having no need to know. Further, he could only see the operation as it played out, without all the alternatives and decision points and branches Jan had no doubt built into her overall plan.
What left Bill stunned was the subtlety of it. How Jan had played into Feirm Admiral Brady's aggressive nature. How she had let the enemy see through the disguises of the initial incursions to keep Brady and Feirm Vice Admiral Gearman on the courses she wanted them to take. How she had timed the closing stages of Payback One to make Admiral Brady think he could catch the incursion force, to keep him coming on, and also to delay the denouement of Payback One so that Admiral Gearman would not see the defeat of Admiral Brady's force before his own defeat, due to the speed-of-light transit time across the system.
The understanding of human nature and of the specific Feirm admirals involved, the ability to set up the timing of the operation and then manipulate that timing across system distances as events unfolded, and the precise allocation of ships in unconventional formations well in advance of the action convinced Bill he was watching the work of a master, an artist in the terrible medium of war.
That night in their cabin, they talked about it.
"I correlated all the sensor data from all of the ships involved in Operation Payback in the intelligence suit
e, and then watched the operation unfold in system view."
"Learn anything?"
"Yes. You're very good at this. Jan, it's scary. It's like watching Michelangelo painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel."
Jan laughed.
"No, really. I'm serious," Bill said.
"I think it's more like a symphony orchestra. You hear a single musical piece, but there are hundreds of people involved. You don't see the hours of practice it took to get that piece right, and the lifetime of skills each of the musicians brought to the production. It's not just the conductor. Without the musicians, the conductor can wave his baton all he wants. You won't hear a thing."
The Grand Tour
The news of the victory at Feirm beat the Midwest back to Sigurdsen by several days, via a fast courier ship from one of the other squadrons that had stopped for restocking at a Commonwealth planet closer to Feirm. They received a thank-you message from the Defense Minister addressed to the entire squadron while still en route to the planet. Jan read it to the crew over the Midwest's intercom.
Jan's AAR had been prepared during the month-long trip, and it was transmitted to the planet en route, as was Bill's review of the action, which included the system-view simulation of the entire operation from the intelligence suite computer.
By the time they made Jablonka orbit, all the paperwork was done and filed.
Vice Admiral Durand was in his early-morning meeting with Admiral Birken the day the Midwest was due in to Jablonka. He brought up Captain Campbell.
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