"Nobody on rotation?"
"No, Sir. It's almost like they knew we were coming."
"Ha. Not likely. Plan Alpha. Let's get underway."
"Yes, Sir."
Dorn watched the display as his task force began accelerating toward the planet.
"Any information yet on what they're up to? Have they started reacting yet?" Dorn asked.
"Yes, Sir. They're changing vector to move away from our line of approach. They're heading away from the planet at ninety degrees to our approach."
"All the better. We can go in, blow their infrastructure to hell, and get out of here."
The emergency courier drone spaced in to the Jablonka system right up to the hyperspace-1 transition boundary, transitioned to normal space, and transmitted the invasion code and the plots from Parchman.
Jessen was in his office in the NOC, and dialed up the VR to the War Room. Jan was working at her office at home, the kids being just put to bed, before heading to bed herself. She joined Jessen in the War Room.
"You were right, Ma'am. Same attack plan," Jessen said.
"Let's go ahead and send the response," Jan said.
Jessen dispatched two survey drones and thirty-two beam weapon drones as before. They transitioned directly into hyperspace from their current positions at their hyperspace-1 transition boundary and raced for Parchman.
Admiral Leah Schneider walked into the Parchman Planetary CIC.
"Status?" she asked.
"Ninety-six Outer Colony warships in two groups transitioned into Parchman thirty minutes ago, Ma'am. Same profile as at Waldheim. The emergency drone has been dispatched to Jablonka, and Code Blue and Spacing Plan Blue-1 orders transmitted to all CSF ships in the system," Hayoshi said.
"Good. Excellent. So I guess we wait now till Jablonka's response arrives."
"Two hyperspace transitions, Sir, at zero mark zero, ninety light-seconds," Conway said.
"You mean zero mark one-eighty, right?" Dorn asked.
"No, Sir. They're ahead of us. Very small, like a shuttle in size. One just hypered back out."
"How the hell can they hyper transition in front of us? We're inside the inner system boundary."
"I don't know, Sir, but that's what they did."
"OK, Comm, let's make our first surrender demand."
"Transmitting, Ma'am."
"We're getting a surrender demand from an Admiral Leah Schneider, Sir."
"Record for transmission," Dorn said.
"Recording, Sir."
"Message begins. This is Admiral Ronald Dorn, Brunswick Space Navy. Your forty ships are running from my ninety-six ships, so you can take your surrender demand and shove it up your ass, Admiral. Dorn out. Message ends. Transmit."
"Transmitting, Sir."
"My, he sounds upset, doesn't he? One should maintain a more calm demeanor in high command positions. Ah, well. I didn't promote him," Schneider said to a smattering of chuckles in the CIC.
"Record for transmission. Message begins. Admiral Dorn, you may think you have the upper hand. Your fellow commander in Waldheim certainly did last week. See what happened instead. Message ends. Transmit that, together with the system views of the Waldheim battle and the list of Outer Colony ships destroyed."
"Transmitting, Ma'am."
"Sir, we've received another communication from Admiral Schneider. It came in with attachments."
"Put it on the display."
Two-thirds of the big display showed the system view of the brutal destruction of the Outer Colony task force in Waldheim as the other third scrolled a list of ninety-six ship names, organized by squadron, from heavy cruisers on down. Schneider's voice recording played over.
"Bullshit. I've seen more realistic simulations in our pre-attack planning," Dorn said.
"But how do they know about the attack on Waldheim, Sir?" Conway asked.
"Some super fast courier ship. Maybe a drone."
"And the ship names?"
"They pulled their sensor data when they ran. Look, they know they're screwed, and this is their only gambit. Maintain profile."
"They're maintaining profile, Ma'am. No reply," Hayoshi said.
"Well, we gave them the opportunity. Send Attack 1a."
"Transmitting, Ma'am."
"Sir, that remaining small contact just hypered out."
"Maximum to the shields. Guns free. Fire at will if they come in at us."
"Sir, multiple hyper transitions. They're all around us. Range –"
Sixteen beam weapon drones transitioned out of hyperspace around the Outer Colony ships, each fired once, and they disappeared back into hyperspace. All sixteen heavy cruisers in Admiral Dorn's half of the invasion fleet broke up and exploded, including his flagship.
An hysterical voice screamed over the Outer Colony's ships comms.
"Evasive maneuvers. Boat flank speed. Get the hell out of here."
That was all it took for individual ship captains to cut and run. The light cruisers and destroyers remaining flipped ship and piled on whatever acceleration they could back along the way they had come. They had been inbound at one-g for over two hours, and it would take some time to burn off their velocity, even at the 1.7 g and 2.2 g accelerations the light cruisers and destroyers were capable of. Nevertheless, they made their best speed to get stopped and headed out of the system.
"Orders, Ma'am?"
"None. We were going to let them take their light cruisers and destroyers home anyway if they surrendered. No sense killing all those people if they're not going to cause more trouble and are just doing what we were going to tell them to do anyway. Of course, they were going to have to hot-bunk with the twenty thousand of their fellow spacers from the heavy cruisers, but Admiral Dorn sort of took that option away.
"Make sure we get good IDs on those ships though. We need to know who to thank for their little visit."
"Yes, Ma'am. Vectoring sensors to their departure paths."
"Let's see if we can't talk some sense into the commander of the other half of their forces.
"Record message. Message begins. This is Admiral Leah Schneider of the Commonwealth Space Force on Parchman. We have just demonstrated we can destroy your ships at any time we wish. We demand your surrender, so that we can spare the lives of your spacers. Message ends. Send it."
"Transmitting, Ma'am."
"Status change, Ma'am. No response to your surrender demand. The other attack force is breaking up. They've all flipped ship and are individually making their best accel to slow down and get out of the system."
"They must be slow learners. Send Attack 1b. No way we're letting those heavy cruisers out of here."
"Transmitting, Ma'am."
Sixteen beam weapon drones transitioned out of hyperspace, shot once each, and disappeared into hyperspace again. The sixteen heavy cruisers of the other half of Admiral Dorn's task force broke up and disappeared into a drifting cloud of debris.
The light cruisers and destroyers kept running.
"That's the last of them, Ma'am. The last Outer Colony light cruiser just transitioned into hyperspace."
"All right. Call all of our people back. Let's get the destroyers working on the ship ID's of all the debris fields. And get all the sensor data back here on the ships we let get away. We need to put a package together for Sigurdsen so they know where the Thank-You notes go."
"Yes, Ma'am."
Jan and Jessen watched the battle in Parchman in system view, together with the communications between Admiral Schneider and Admiral Dorn.
"Boy, that guy was thick-headed," Jessen said.
"I have to think he's an aberration. I don't think all Outer Colony senior officers are so, um, excitable," Jan said.
"Do you want to change our strategy for the next attack?"
"No. No, I don't think so. We accomplished our goal of getting the heavy cruisers."
"Yes, but without getting the forty thousand spacers off of them," Jessen said.
"They're choice, n
ot ours. So far we've had one hundred and twenty thousand spacers killed out of what we suspect are twenty planets' navies. I don't think that's too bad. And they started it. If you walk into a bar and sucker-punch some guy, and it turns out he's an Enshin master and breaks every bone in your body, it's not his fault."
"Understood, but there is one more thing we can try. Show them the platforms, just for a few seconds, then transition them back out again. They won't be able to range them anyway."
"I worry about the time lag from the planet. What if they break up?" Jan asked.
"At their velocity? Wouldn't matter. Not in a few minutes."
"OK. Put it in the mix. Feint 1a and Feint 1b. Local commander's option."
"I'll take care of it. So now we just wait for the next one?"
"Yes. Durand told us they were missing about three hundred ships. If we see another attack on this same order of size, that's probably it."
"Then what?"
"Then it's payback time," Jan said.
Kodu
"Hyperspace transition. Multiple contacts."
Captain Susan Sharma, Senior Tactical Officer in the Kodu Planetary Combat Information Center, sat back and waited.
"Steadying now at one hundred and twelve contacts in two groups. One is zero mark zero-nine-zero on the planet, at the inner envelope boundary, the other at zero minus zero-nine-zero on the planet, also at the inner envelope boundary. Both groups arranged as seven squadrons, two of heavy cruisers, three of light cruisers, and two of destroyers," said Lieutenant Commander Mark Alvarez.
"All right, I've seen enough. Update our plots to the emergency courier and dispatch it to Jablonka. Issue Code Blue and Spacing Plan Blue-1 orders to all CSF ships in Kodu. And go ahead and wake up Admiral Horzen," Sharma said.
"Yes, Ma'am. Downloading now."
"What have we got, Admiral?" Admiral Harold Anderson asked.
"Pretty standard planetary deployment, Sir. One squadron of each class, plus an extra squadron of light cruisers. One odd thing. They're all in space. No ships in orbit, Sir," said Rear Admiral Jane Gunther, Anderson's chief of staff.
"Nobody on rotation? I don't like the sound of that. That's the sort of thing someone does when they're on alert. Like they were expecting something."
"Yes, Sir. But all forty ships are spacing. One more thing. There's no one on the northern or southern approaches. Empty space above and below the planet."
"I really don't like the sound of that. That would normally be where a defense is strongest. Let's keep our eyes and ears open. I don't like this."
"Yes, Sir.
The emergency courier drone spaced in to the Jablonka system right up to the hyperspace-1 transition boundary, transitioned to normal space, and transmitted the invasion code and the plots from Kodu.
Jan was in her office in the NOC. She VRed into the War Room and took a look at the plot. One hundred and four contacts this time. Looked like an extra squadron of light cruisers in each formation.
She considered, then dispatched two survey drones and thirty-six beam weapon drones. She watched the local system plot as they dropped directly into hyperspace for the race to Kodu.
"What the hell are they up to?" Anderson asked.
"I don't know, Sir. Their ships continue accelerating out of our way and away from our line of approach," Gunther said.
"That doesn't make any sense. This is a Commonwealth planet. These people, regardless of what some of my colleagues may say, are very dedicated. Abandoning a Commonwealth planet just isn't normal behavior."
"We are an overwhelming force, Sir."
"May I remind you I do my homework? Jan Childers deliberately taunted a Tenerife light cruiser to chase her sensor tender in Parchman, and then punched it out with a beam weapon she just happened to have parked nearby. And in Saarestik, a single CSF heavy cruiser popped a destroyer, a light cruiser, and three heavy cruisers from Epsley. Oh, did I mention Jan Childers was the Senior Tactical Officer of that heavy cruiser? She doesn't give a damn about odds, she cares about results," Anderson said.
"But she's out of action, Sir."
"Is she? She was when the information started in our direction. Now, seven weeks later, is she still? Besides, it doesn't matter whether she's incapacitated or sitting at her desk. This is not the way her navy reacts to attack. Which means something else is going on."
"Like what, Sir?" Gunther asked.
"I wish I knew. She has a disconcerting ability to surprise her opponents. And I don't like surprises."
"Hyperspace transition. Two contacts. CSF survey drones, Sir," Sharma said.
"On schedule. I love it when the trains run on time. Let's send the surrender demand," said Admiral Horzen, who had arrived in the CIC ninety minutes ago.
"Transmitting, Sir."
"Hyperspace transition. Two contacts. Very small. Shuttle size. Zero mark zero at ninety light-seconds," Gunther said.
"In front of us?" Anderson asked.
"Yes, Sir."
"Oh, I don't like this at all. They have some hyperspace capability well within the inner system envelope."
"Apparently so, Sir. Oh, one of those contacts just hypered back out.
"To go talk to somebody, clearly."
"Message coming in, Sir."
"On speaker," Anderson said.
"This is Admiral Ivan Horzen, commanding CSF forces in Kodu, to the commander of Outer Colony ships approaching the planet. We can destroy all of your ships where you are right now with impunity. We therefore require your surrender. Horzen out," played from the intercom on the flag bridge.
"Well, he certainly seems to think he has the upper hand, Sir," Gunther said.
"Or he's bluffing. Comm, record message."
"Recording, Sir."
"Message begins. Admiral Harold Anderson here. That is an interesting assertion, Admiral Horzen. Am I supposed to take it at face value? Right now it looks to me like I outnumber your forces by more than two and a half to one, and your forces are withdrawing. Message ends. Send it."
"Transmitting, Sir."
"This guy is at least willing to talk, Sir. Unlike in Parchman," Sharma said.
"Yes, so let's give him a little to think about. Send the Waldheim system views and the ship list. Then send him the Parchman system views and the ship list," Horzen said.
"Anything else, Sir?"
"Not yet. Is his signal coming from the northern group or the southern one?"
"The northern group, Sir," Sharma said.
"Send order Feint 1a in five minutes."
"Message coming in, Sir. It's all attachments," Gunther said.
"Put them on the display," Anderson said.
On two-thirds of the display played out the system view from Waldheim, with the complete destruction of the Outer Colony force, and on the other third, a list of the Outer Colony ships destroyed, sorted by squadron. When that had finished playing, the system view from Parchman played, with the destruction of all the Outer Colony heavy cruisers and the departure of the light cruisers and destroyers, along with a list of destroyed ships and a partial list of 'paroled' ships.
"What do you make of all that?" Anderson asked.
"It could all be simulation, Sir."
"Yes, but how do they know about Waldheim and Parchman already? Look at the dates, and think about spacing times, even if they were direct to here."
"Good guess?" Gunther asked.
"Picking the right two out of thirty-one choices? Not very good odds. And look at the ship lists. I recognize a lot of those from the planning talks."
"The Parchman group isn't complete, Sir."
"If they let those ships go, they probably didn't get all the ship IDs from their sensor platforms. For the Waldheim ships they could scan the debris at their leisure. If it were a scam, most people would send a complete list, rather than construct a partial one." Anderson said.
"If it's true, we can't see in the system views how they pulled it off, Sir."
"That's the s
cary part."
"Hyper transition. Multiple contacts. They're all around us. Eighteen contacts. Distance eight light-seconds– And they're gone. They just hypered back out, Sir." Gunther said.
"Admiral Anderson?"
"Yes, Comm."
"Incoming message, Sir."
"Play it on speaker."
"Admiral Anderson. Admiral Horzen here. Our mobile gun platforms are traveling along with you in hyper, Admiral. Battleship-grade guns. We can destroy your entire force at any time, from outside your range. Please consider my surrender offer. We will allow the crews of your heavy cruisers to transfer to your light cruisers and destroyers so they can hot-bunk it on the trip home. We will destroy the heavy cruisers once your crews are off the ships. If you do not surrender, we will destroy your heavy cruisers with their crews aboard. I have no desire to slaughter twenty thousand of your spacers, Admiral Anderson, but I will if I have to. None of your ships will be allowed within range of the planet, you will not accomplish your mission, and your heavy cruisers will be destroyed either way. Horzen out."
"Now it all makes sense. Why have your ships be in the way if you have that capability? This is just the sort of response the CSF would make if they had the capability. Nothing else fits the facts," Anderson said.
"So you think their threat is real, Sir?" Gunther asked.
"You can argue it's all good guesses and simulations, Admiral, but you can't escape those hyper translations well inside the inner envelope. That, at least, is real, and it means the party's over. Whether those battleship-grade guns have a battleship attached to them or not is a moot point. And don't forget Admiral Childers' history of using remote control beam weapons. Why not put a hyperspace drive on them? Makes a lot of sense if you think about it."
"So what do we do now, Sir?"
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