“I’m in sick bay. Can you activate the net connections in here?”
“I’d be happy to, sir. Someone will be there shortly with the necessary equipment. What kind of helmets do you need?”
“Uh, probably just one for myself, but there could end up being a meeting in here. I guess one for each Admiral, and maybe a few spares just in case.”
“I’ll take care of it, sir.”
Ten minutes later, the Chief of the Boat showed up with two gravity carts in tow. One was loaded with some expensive looking cases, and the other was loaded with cables.
“How’s the bed, sir?”
“I take it it’s a new invention?”
“Yes, sir. It’s as small as we can make it.”
“Aren’t you a little busy to be running errands?”
“No, sir. The guns and shields are perfect, and there’s little else to do except normal shipboard routine. We’re ready to hop if things change.” He started running thick cable from a housing on the wall, bringing it to Trexler’s bed. He attached it to the bed, then brought a helmet to Trexler and plugged it in. “Here you are, sir. Where do you want the others?”
Waverly spoke up. “Mind if I join you?”
“Sure, if you can get one of these on.”
Waverly looked at the Chief. “Will the helmets work over bandages?”
“They will. Let’s see, you’ll need about a size four.”
Stevens and Walters were looking hopefully at Trexler, and he sighed. “Are you guys checked out on the net?”
“Yes, sir!” they both answered at the same time.
While the Chief got them plugged in, Trexler said, “Ship.” His communicator started flashing and buzzing again. He put it to his mouth and said, “Trexler.”
“General transmission is not permitted in sick bay, Admiral. How may I be of service?”
“I’m coming into the net. I want a broad view of the Aldebaran system. Three others here in sick bay are coming in with me. They are restricted to communicating only with me. Otherwise, they have full access, provided it does not limit the activities in the operations center or the bridge.”
“Established, Admiral.”
Trexler pulled his helmet on. A few seconds later, he found himself positioned in the center of the system, right at the center of the sun. He looked outward, and many, many symbols denoting ships stood out far in the distance, too far away for him to distinguish the tags Sam Taylor and his staff had applied to them. A tiny planet came into view as he rotated his head to the left, and he zoomed in on Aldebaran I. There were a few friendly ships there, but no Rebel or Chessori ships, so he backed out and continued turning left until he’d made the whole circle. He sensed Waverly, Stevens, and Walters joining him.
He thought “strategic view,” and he was instantly looking down on the Aldebaran system, all of it spread out below him. He moved in closer, and ships and their tags came into clear focus.
He studied the view for a moment, and thought, “trajectories, Rebel wings only.” Individual ship symbols vanished, to be replaced by snowflake symbols that someone had used to designate wings of Rebel ships. He moved closer in to one snowflake, and it expanded to show twelve Rebel squadrons. He thought, “move to next wing.” The view shifted to another wing and moved in. Again, there were twelve squadrons. He repeated the process 39 more times to assure himself that all the Rebels had formed into wings.
He thought “display Empire ships assigned to attack this Rebel wing.” Two fast cruisers instantly sprang into view, but they were far from the attacking Rebel wing. He repeated the process of examining each wing. Each wing had at least two friendly ships assigned to it, and some had as many as six. Had he not known that some of the cruisers were fast, he would have thought Chandrajuski was holding many ships in reserve. In other cases, it was obvious which enemy wings he was setting up to attack, a consideration the Rebels could not miss. Was Chandrajuski tempting them to commit their reserves?
He had another thought, wondering if Chandrajuski had chosen to hide the fast ships. As he explored, he discovered that all the fast ships were, indeed, tucked in with slow ships that were assigned to completely different wings. Once the attack began, some of these fast ships would leave their group and hit a completely different target. The Rebels in some wings would be completely surprised.
It struck Trexler as a superb plan. Some squadrons would be hit hard, and the ones that weren’t hit hard would at least be probed to identify Chessori wings. Seeton’s ships, approaching from behind, were always paired, and though they would not be in position at the outset of the battle, they were good reserves. Trexler was certain those squadron commanders had been given instructions on how to attack, probably using paired cruisers. Though the strategy would be new to them, it was not difficult to execute with a little practice.
Waverly, Stevens, and Walters stayed with him through all of this, and because of the magic of the net, they understood what he was looking at and thinking about.
He zoomed out again and just looked at the whole situation for a long time, moving in and out, considering and contemplating. He found a few places where he might have done things a little differently, but he found no faults. He had no idea who was crewing each ship; to him the upcoming battle was reduced to symbols.
Waverly approached him some time later. “I think I’m getting the hang of the commands,” he said. “While you were studying the big picture, I tried something else. Want to have a look?”
“Sure, Jim.”
Waverly thought, “display only enemy ships that are not in wing formation.” Forty-five Rebel ships remained on the display.
“Highlight these ships, then add all Rebel wings to the display,” Waverly commanded. The wings returned, and clear to them from the display, each had another ship associated with it, sometimes off to the side, and sometimes behind, depending on the positions of the attacking Empire ships.
“If each squadron is a battalion, those single ships are your brigade commanders,” Waverly said.
“Except for the four spaced geometrically around the far perimeter of the system,” Trexler added thoughtfully.
“Exactly. They’re running the show.”
Trexler studied the display. “Those four look to me like they’re in position to make an immediate jump. It might not be possible to take them out, even with a fast ship.”
“Would they see a fast ship coming in from outside the system?”
“Hmm. I’m not sure.”
“There’s one more item, but I don’t want to discuss it on the net. I have no idea who has access to what we’re seeing and thinking. Are you willing to disconnect?”
“Sure.”
All four of them disconnected. Stevens and Walters looked dismayed. “Something on your mind, guys?” he asked.
They looked at each other, and Stevens spoke soberly. “It’s like the Normandy invasion, sir. A lot of people are going to die out there.”
Trexler nodded. “Most will die quickly, some will not. Cruisers are very hard to completely destroy. We’ll rescue the survivors if we can. For all of history, war has been a gruesome business. In this case, it’s all for a concept: you might call it right versus wrong; you might call it restoring the Empire; or you might call it saving Earth. All of those reasons work for me. The cause is just. It’s our job to end it as quickly as we can. You helped us along that path by clearing the Chessori from Orion III and Aldebaran I. Those were key battles, gentlemen, and they were giant strides toward reaching the finish line. The battle here will be another giant stride.”
“Provided we win, sir. It looks to me like we’re seriously outnumbered.”
“We are at the moment, but you were here yesterday when we discussed the reserves. Something you might not know is that a lot of our ships have significant advantages over the Rebel ships. Our fast ships are just what the name implies; they’re lots faster than the Rebel ships. Some of them also have more firepower and better shields. The
y’ll hit hard, and if the going gets too tough, they’ll bounce away and come back from a different angle. It will make a difference.”
He turned to Waverly. “What did you want to talk about?”
“I did another search, Ray. I asked the AI to display only friendly ships that are not assigned a target. There were a few near the planet. Out here, there were three.”
“Hmm. Were we one of them?”
“Yes. I presume one of the others was Chandrajuski’s flag ship. I’m guessing Admiral Taylor’s flag ship has been sent into action. I wouldn’t be surprised if Chandrajuski’s is sent in later.”
“And the other?”
“It was a fast frigate, way out on the edge of the system, just like the four Rebel command ships. The reason I didn’t want to announce it to one and all on the net is that I think it might be the Queen. Reba talked about her quite a bit, and from what I understand of her, she’s not one to sit out a major confrontation.”
“Hmm. You could be right, Jim. She committed her own personal squadron to Chandrajuski, and I’ve been wondering where she went that’s safe. Wherever she went, it would be in a fast ship, certainly. If she’s here, she can fast ship away any time she wants.” Then he sucked in his breath. “Maybe.”
“Maybe? There’s no way the Rebels can get to her unless they have fast ships.”
Trexler’s eyes shifted around as he considered. “Have you heard Krys’ story?”
“No. Who’s she?”
“It doesn’t matter right now. She was jumped by a Chessori ship that was vectored in with the interstellar communicator. I’ll bet some of these Empire ships have the communicators. Certainly the top commanders have them.” He looked at Waverly thoughtfully. “I’ve been trying to outguess the Rebel commanders, trying to figure out what tricks they have up their sleeves. Taking out the Queen would be a big one.”
“Well, I hadn’t considered that, but I did have another thought. I’m told the Queen is their number one priority.”
“Most likely.”
“You’ve been trying to figure out how to get the Rebels to commit their reserves where and when you want them. What if the Queen moved a little closer in, too far in for a regular ship to jump back out. The Rebels would believe they had her blocked in. If we make sure they see her, wouldn’t they go for her?”
“Gods, Jim! What a thought. It’s perfect! And if she came in far enough, they couldn’t jump on her from hyper. Ship!” he announced into the air.
His communicator started flashing and buzzing again. He picked it up and said, “Stop. Get Chandrajuski on the line.”
It took a full minute. “What, Ray?”
“This is urgent, sir. Get the Queen moving inbound immediately, at maximum normal speed. No fast shipping. Call me back when she’s complied. Hurry, sir.
“Ray, she’s not here. She would have called.”
“Are you in the net?”
“Yes.”
“Tell the AI to delete everything from your view except our ships that have not been assigned targets.”
The wait was not long. “I see what you mean. Why bring her into the system, Ray? I’d rather she left.”
“Remember how Krys was jumped from hyper by a Chessori at Dorwall?”
“I do. I want her out of here.”
“No you don’t, sir. You have a job for her, but get her started inbound. No jumping. Then let’s meet in sick bay. This is too hot to discuss over the net. Trust me, sir.”
Chandrajuski cut the connection. The four of them just looked at each other and listed to Sam Taylor snoring.
Chandrajuski showed up about 20 minutes later with M’Coda and Seeton in trail. “Mike wants an explanation, Ray. He’s not happy about the tight beam connection. We might have exposed them.”
“Good. Are they inbound?”
“Yes, and they have all sensors active in every direction.”
“Great. Jim, this is your plan.”
“No, go ahead.”
“Okay. Admiral, Jim discovered something. He asked the AI to display only those Rebel ships that were not included in wings. He got 45 hits.”
“Is this their secret weapon? I’ve been waiting for something like this to muddle our plan.”
“I don’t think so. Forty-one of them were fairly close to wings. We think they might be calling the shots for the wings.”
Chandrajuski considered Trexler’s words. M’Coda started preening furiously. “We might want to shift our attacks slightly, but we have to make the bumps first.”
“Agreed, Admiral. Identifying the Chessori is certainly a top priority. There were four more ships very far out. It looked to me like they were far enough out to jump instantly.”
“The main commanders?”
“Probably.”
“Juster’s here,” Chandrajuski said softly, displaying his teeth in a grin and knocking his fists together. “And maybe Struthers himself. Oh, my!”
M’Coda spoke up. “We cannot take out the command ships until they have ordered the reinforcements to enter the fight, and those reinforcements must be far enough into the system that they cannot jump back out quickly.”
“There’s one more piece to the timing, gentlemen. Jim not only discovered the Queen’s ship, he has a job for her. If she announced her presence to the Rebels, she would be a magnet for their reinforcements. Struthers, if he’s here, will do anything to take her out. And there’s more. Something that Jim doesn’t know, most likely, is what happened when the Queen announced her presence to the Rebels at Gamma VI. Remember?”
“The squadron was brought to its knees,” Chandrajuski said softly. Both of his hands formed into fists again, and he knocked them together a few times. “Is there anything else?”
“Just one more thing. Reba is captaining one of those slow cruisers. If time permits, I’d like to get her out of the way. She’ll think it’s because she’s a female, and she’ll be mad as a hornet, but that’s not my reason. I want her out of there because she’s a Knight. I don’t want to be wasting Knights out here. I was wondering if, instead of tight beaming the Queen, Reba can just take the message to her.”
“I’ve already dispatched a fighter to pick her up. I, too, do not want Knights captaining my ships.”
“Won’t all of this fast shipping alert the Rebels?”
“We’re using fighters, and their beacons are off. Ray, every ship out here began its life as an Empire ship, so we know how they work. Our ships’ AI’s look for beacons.”
“How do we see Chessori ships?”
“They, too, have beacons. They’re not the same as ours, but they shine clearly to the AI’s.”
“I thought the AI’s read drive signatures.”
“They do, but only after fine tuning their sensors on beacons. They might pick up a drive without a beacon if it’s close to them, but they won’t pick up anything else unless it’s close enough to hit. Fighters have small drives, and it’s unlikely they’ll be picked up. It’s a gamble, but the stakes are not high. The Rebels are far enough into the system now that they cannot escape.”
* * * * *
An angry, red-headed woman stormed into sick bay. “How could you! You sorry . . . Oh! . . . What happed to you, Ray?” Her eyes moved left for an instant, then back to the left again. “Jim?” Left again, and, “Stevens?” Left again, and “Walters?” Left again, then back to Trexler. “What’s going on here?”
“It’s a long story, Reba. Can it wait?”
“Uh, yah. Anything serious?”
“No. Have you seen Chandrajuski?”
“Just for a moment. He sent me to you with orders to see him before I leave. What’s up?”
“Ellie’s here.”
“You’re joking.”
“I’m not. She’s way out in the system, and we need you to take a message to her.”
Anger showed for a moment, then she caved in and came to stand beside him. She brushed a hand across his face, pushing a few short hairs back from his
forehead. “Are you really okay? All of you?” she asked, turning to take in the Raiders.
“We’re really okay, Reba.”
“There are lots of other messengers.”
“Besides the injured men in this room, three people in the operations center know about the Queen. No one else. Who would you send? The message is critical. It’s a job for a Knight, My Lady.”
“My Lady, hmmph. You won’t get off that easy with me.”
“I know, but you’re here now. It’s too late to back out.”
“What’s the message?”
“Do you have any idea of what’s going on out here?”
“I only know the targets my ship was assigned. It’s frightening, Ray. It’s going to be a hard, bloody battle. The whole thing defies management.”
“I hope the Rebels see it that way. I’m sure that’s what Mike and the Queen see. Among other things, I want you to put their minds at rest, but she has a job to do for us.” He gave her the big picture. It didn’t take long; it really wasn’t that complicated, and she was a quick study.
When he was done, she said, “The fleet should know what you know, Ray. Do you have any idea of the stress levels out there?”
“I do. How would you have me notify them without letting the enemy know? They have the same radios we have.”
Her lips thinned. “It’s a harsh job you have, sir. Every ship here is undermanned, and our guys know it. Staring out through the net at that horde of ships coming at us is intimidating.”
“I know it, too well. They might not know it, but the slow ships like the one you were on will likely not end up facing worse than two-to-one odds. We’ve done that before and come out on top.”
“I’m telling you, our guys would do a better job if they knew.”
“There’s no way to tell them. They’ll do their duty.”
She moved to his bed and stared down at him, then kissed him lightly on the forehead. ”It’s been a while, Ray. You look older.”
“You look just as ravishing as always, My Lady. Val is a lucky guy.”
She turned away with her eyes brimming to find Waverly staring at her. She took his hand and leaned down to kiss his cheek.
Knights of the Chosen (Spirit of Empire, Book Two) Page 44