by Ryk Brown
“Hang in there, Chief. We’ve still got one more ship to kill,” Nathan said. “And it’s a big one.”
“Great.”
“Cheng, Captain,” Nathan called over his comm-set after switching channels.
“Go ahead, sir!” Vladimir answered of the comms.
“How are we doing?”
“Weapons, power, propulsion, and maneuvering are all good,” his chief engineer reported, “as well as the jump drive. But we’ve lost a lot of emitters. If it wasn’t for the redundant array, we’d be in very big trouble right now. But our hull has taken a lot of damage, as usual. And a lot of our monitoring systems are not functioning, so there are probably plenty of things not working that we just don’t know about yet.”
“Keep things together for a bit longer, Lieutenant Commander. It will be over soon.”
“So much for getting in and out without taking any significant damage,” Vladimir remarked.
Nathan ignored his friend’s comment, killing his comm-set with a tap on the ear piece.
“Second turn complete,” Mister Chiles reported. “We’re on course for the next attack jump. Bringing our nose around for the attack angle.”
Nathan turned toward his sensor operator to his left. “Any sign of the Celestia?” he asked as he glanced at the battle clock. “We’ve only got thirty seconds until the next jump.”
“She just jumped in for her second turn, Captain,” Mister Navashee replied. “Add in the time delay, and she’s right on time.”
“Very well,” Nathan said, looking at the battle clock again. “Mister Riley, execute jump seventeen in fifteen seconds.”
“Jump seventeen, now in twelve seconds,” Mister Riley acknowledged.
“All weapons charged and ready,” Lieutenant Eckert announced.
“Try to put them all in that hole in her shields, Lieutenant.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Five seconds,” Mister Riley updated.
“Yaw, complete,” Mister Chiles added. “Attack angle is set.”
“Three……two……one……jumping.”
The blue-white jump flash lit up the inside of the Aurora’s bridge once more. As the flash subsided, the bridge shook violently as explosions reverberated against their hull.
“Mines!” Mister Navashee exclaimed as the explosions continued to rock the Aurora. “Hundreds of them! From all three arms!”
“Fire at will, Lieutenant!” Nathan ordered.
“Firing all forward tubes!”
“They’re spreading out from the big hangar bays at the end of each arm!” Mister Navashee added as the explosions continued.
“Can you maneuver between them?” Nathan demanded to know.
“Maybe,” Mister Chiles replied, “but not without bringing our tubes off the target.”
“Jump flash!” Mister Navashee announced. “The Celestia!”
“Firing all cannons!” the lieutenant reported.
“The mines are changing course!” Mister Navashee warned. “At least the ones nearest us are. They must be guided somehow, either by onboard sensors or by the platform itself,” Mister Navashee continued staring at his sensor displays as he spoke. “Jesus, there are thousands of them!”
“Comms. Warn the Celestia. Tell her to jump out, now!”
“It’s too late,” Mister Navashee told him. “The closest ones are already swarming toward the Celestia. Multiple impacts. She’s taking heavy damage, but she’s still firing all her forward tubes!”
The bridge continued to rock as the Jung mines exploded against their hull.
“I’ve lost forward maneuvering!” Mister Chiles reported. “Port-side laterals as well! Attempting to compensate!”
“Firing a second round of torpedoes!” Lieutenant Eckert reported.
The bridge was ablaze with flashes of red, orange, and yellow light, a dazzling mixture of their own plasma weapons departing and then striking the Jung battle platform’s shields, and the Jung mines exploding against the Aurora’s hull.
“I’m losing more emitters!” Mister Riley warned. “I’m getting multiple cautions on the redundant jump array! If we lose many more…”
“…Can we still jump?” Nathan asked as he held on tightly to the sides of his command chair to keep from being knocked to the floor.
“Yes, sir!” Mister Riley answered, “but not for long!”
“Comms! Tell the Celestia to jump clear; rally at Bravo Papa!”
“Aye, sir,” Naralena answered.
“Firing all cannons!” Lieutenant Eckert reported.
“Platform’s forward shields are down to fifty percent!” Mister Navashee reported. “I think both our fire is making a difference…”
“Captain! We’re running out of emitters!” Mister Riley warned, desperation in his voice. “It’s now or never!”
“Jump, jump, jump!” Nathan ordered.
The Aurora’s navigator did not wait for his captain to complete the order, pressing the button to initiate the jump as soon as he heard the first ‘J’ sound from his captain.
Nathan was never so happy to see the all too familiar blue-white flash of the jump. Now so more than ever, it felt like a release…a cleansing away of all his troubles…at least for the moment. He took a deep breath to quickly collect himself before speaking. “Helm, turn toward Sol and prepare to jump.”
The helmsman turned his head slightly to his left, looking back at his captain.
Nathan nodded at his helmsman.
“Aye, sir,” Mister Chiles answered. “Turning towards Sol.”
“Plot the jump, Mister Riley,” Nathan added. “Comms, broadcast to all units. Regroup at the rally point. We’ll recover the surviving Falcons and transfer the wounded from the Celestia before we jump home.”
“Aye, sir,” Naralena answered.
“And the battle platform?” Lieutenant Eckert wondered.
Nathan could tell by the lieutenant’s voice that he was not questioning his captain’s decision to break off the attack. The lieutenant was generally concerned for the welfare of their home world. They had just committed the first true overt offensive act against the Jung Empire, and he knew as well as his captain did that the Earth would be the platform’s next target.
Nathan slowly rotated his command chair to the right, just enough to look back toward his tactical officer. “We’ll have to try something else, Lieutenant.”
CHAPTER FOUR
“Incoming vid-link from Celestia Actual,” Naralena announced over the intercom.
“Put her on,” Nathan said as he plopped down in the chair behind his desk. The large view screen on the forward bulkhead of his ready room came to life, revealing Cameron, also sitting behind a desk in her own ready room. “I don’t want to hear it, Cam…”
“Hear what?” she responded from the view screen.
“That I should have gone over instead of under, or zigged instead of zagged…”
“We didn’t do anything wrong, Nathan,” Cameron interrupted. “Jesus, stop being so defensive.”
Nathan sighed. “Sorry,” he apologized as he leaned back in his chair, “I guess I’m just frustrated. I really expected it to work.”
“We all did, and to be honest, it almost did work. After all, we just took out seven Jung warships, and seriously crippled a battleship.”
“But the platform was the one that we really wanted,” Nathan reminded her. “Maybe you are right, Cam. Maybe we should have attacked the battle platform first. Maybe if we would’ve concentrated all our resources on that one target from the get-go… Maybe, if we would’ve caught her off guard…”
“That’s a lot of maybes, Nathan. Besides, if we had attacked the platform first, the rest of those ships would’ve been on us before we could finish the job. Then, not only would we still have a battle platform to deal with, but we’d still have eight more warships to contend with.”
“Perhaps,” Nathan sighed again. “Still, it should have worked.”
“The guns
on this platform were better,” Cameron said. “Better, faster, and more precise. It has to take years, more likely decades, to build one of those platforms. Maybe the first one we faced was an earlier model. Besides, with that battleship crippled, the platform is more likely to hang around to protect her, at least until they can protect themselves. Considering the damage we inflicted, that could be months.”
“Yeah, you could be right. Still, we’re going to have to find a way to destroy not only that platform, but any others we encounter.”
“You’re thinking about using KKVs, aren’t you?” Cameron’s tone had become more somber.
Nathan looked up at Cameron’s face on the view screen. “Have you got a better idea?”
“Honestly?” This time it was Cameron’s side. “No, I don’t. That doesn’t mean that I like the idea of using KKVs anymore now than I did before.”
“I don’t like it either, Cam,” Nathan agreed. “I know the risks. I remember what our KKVs did to the Wallach, but we can’t keep getting holes blown in our sides. We’re running out of resources to patch ourselves up with. Besides, sooner or later, one or both of us are going to run out of luck.”
“In a couple of months the Karuzara will arrive, and we’ll be able to make real repairs, maybe even a few upgrades.”
“And if the Centauri platform decides to head for Sol?”
“Then we figure out how to deal with it. If necessary, with KKVs.”
“I’ll remember you said that,” Nathan told her. “I ordered Prechitt to leave a Falcon behind to keep an eye on that platform. If it moves, we’ll know.”
“Even if it does, it will take them four months, minimum, to reach us.”
“Four months is not much time, Cam, especially considering the condition of Earth’s infrastructure at the moment.” Nathan looked directly at Cameron’s eyes on the view screen again. “It’s going to come down to KKVs. We both know that.”
Cameron said nothing for nearly a full minute. “And if doing so escalates things?”
“Jesus, Cam, they’re already trying to glass us. How much more can it escalate? Besides, if we hit them with KKVs they’ll never see it coming. They won’t have a chance to let anyone know what happened. Especially if we catch them in open space.”
“And how do you propose we force them out of FTL?” Cameron asked.
“Maybe we don’t have to.”
“It’s hard enough to hit a target traveling at sub-light speed, Nathan.”
“I don’t know,” Nathan admitted in frustration. “We’ll figure something out later. We don’t even have any KKVs right now, so it’s a moot argument at this point. However, I am going to ask Commander Dumar to expedite the weaponizing of a few comm-drones for us.”
“Nathan…”
“I’m not saying I’m going to use them yet,” Nathan interrupted. “I just want to have the option, that’s all.” Nathan looked at the screen again as Cameron nodded her acceptance of the situation. “Have you finished transferring your wounded over to us?”
“The evacuation will be complete within the hour,” Cameron promised.
“Very well.” Nathan leaned back in his chair, confident that they had exhausted the topic of how to deal with the Centauri battle platform. “We’ll jump back to Sol as soon as you’re done. As soon as you finish making urgent repairs, you’ll need to start making runs to Tanna to ferry back relief aid for Earth.”
“Understood. It shouldn’t take long for us to get under way. Most of the repairs can be done in transit or on our recharge layovers.”
“Of course,” Nathan agreed. Nathan looked at the monitor on his desk, calling up damage reports. “Is there anything else, Commander?”
“No, sir,” Cameron answered.
“I’ll expect a full damage report by the end of the day,” Nathan added in business-like fashion.
“Of course, sir.”
* * *
General Bacca had already been waiting patiently in Admiral Toliva’s outer reception area when one of the aides finally invited him into the admiral’s office. As irritating as such games were, the general was well versed in them. While the admiral was being deliberately disrespectful, the general knew not to let it bother him. Such was the nature of the upper ranks of the Jung military. So vast was the empire in comparison to the speeds at which one could travel its breadth, the independence required of its regional commanders tended to breed enormous egos. Admiral Toliva’s was no exception.
“Admiral,” General Bacca greeted with a slight nod of his head. Being of technically equal rank, a salute from either man was inappropriate. The weakness of the admiral’s expected handshake confirmed what the general expected; that the admiral had granted the meeting out of procedural requirement rather than of genuine interest, let alone respect.
“General,” the admiral responded. “You wished to speak with me?”
“Indeed.”
“Please.” The admiral gestured toward the four overstuffed chairs clustered around a small serving table off to one side of his lavishly decorated office. “Make yourself comfortable.”
The two commanders moved to the overstuffed chairs in expeditious fashion. As they sat, another aide appeared. The admiral glanced at the aide, making a gesture that sent the aide scampering off to perform the requested task.
“Am I correct in assuming that the purpose of your visit concerns the recent arrival of the Ton-Tori’s communications drone?” the admiral asked.
“You are correct,” the general responded.
“Shocking news, really.”
The general turned his head slightly in response, cocking it to one side. “Then my suspicions have been confirmed. The Aurora has defeated the Ton-Tori.” The general’s tone did not infer a question, but rather a statement of fact.
“Yes,” the admiral admitted. “Unfortunate as it is, it appears that your threat assessment of both the Aurora and her captain was not an exaggeration. Please, forgive me for doubting you, General. However, at the time, the idea that a single ship could take down a Jung battle platform seemed so ridiculous that…”
“It’s quite all right, Admiral,” General Bacca assured him, despite the fact that every fiber of his being wanted to slap the pompous commander across his wrinkled face. “Had I not witnessed it first hand, I too would not have believed such claims. The Aurora, more precisely her subluminal transition system, represents the greatest threat the empire shall ever face.”
The admiral seemed surprised by General Bacca’s statement. “While I agree that this technology is a significant threat, don’t you think you’re overreacting?”
“Hardly,” General Bacca argued.
“It is only a single ship.”
“According to the data from the Ton-Tori’s communications drone, it is now two ships, as well as at least a dozen interceptors that now have this capability.”
“Regardless,” the admiral continued, still appearing less concerned than the general would have expected, “when compared to both the number, and the combined firepower of the Jung Empire… Frankly, the idea that they could pose a serious threat is still ludicrous at best.”
“The Aurora already defeated one of your mighty battle platforms,” General Bacca reminded the admiral.
“And then failed to defeat this one,” Admiral Toliva countered. “The Ton-Tori was taken by surprise. Her commander was overconfident, and to be honest, I was never impressed with Admiral Jerral’s tactical prowess.”
“Be that as it may, the Aurora’s hit and run tactics have proven to be most effective…”
“The Jung have not faced a serious enemy for over a century,” the admiral interrupted. “This has led to complacency among those of us in command. Had you not alerted me to the Aurora’s capabilities, I might have been caught off guard as well. For that, I thank you. However, such hit and run tactics have been tried in the past, by the Jung as well as many of our former enemies. They failed then, and they shall fail now.”
“The difference now is that the Terrans can move about the galaxy much faster than we can. They can jump past our lines and attack anywhere they choose. They can cut off supply lines. They can pick off our warships one by one.”
The admiral’s aide returned carrying a tray of hot beverages and small finger foods.
“A war of attrition?” Admiral Toliva laughed as he took the cup handed to him. “Against an empire possessing hundreds of warships, and more than a dozen battle platforms?”
“It is not as far-fetched as you apparently would like to believe,” General Bacca retorted, his disdain for the admiral’s ignorance obvious in his tone.
“While the Terrans’ new warships may be able to destroy our frigates and cruisers with relative ease, our platforms will present a significant obstacle,” the admiral insisted, “as demonstrated by their failed attack against this very station only a day ago.”
General Bacca sipped at his hot spice drink before speaking again. “As you yourself pointed out, Admiral, their failure was mostly the result of your foreknowledge of their capabilities, just as the destruction of the Ton-Tori was due to their lack thereof.”
Admiral Toliva’s eyebrows rose slightly in reluctant acceptance of the general’s point. “Then we must see to it that the rest of the Empire is made aware of this threat, so that they may properly prepare.”
General Bacca sighed. It was well known that the commanders of battle platforms were not chosen for their tactical or strategic abilities, but rather for their administrative expertise. The sheer scale of the platforms made such skills a requirement. However, because the battle platforms were also heavily armed, and many of them carried small fleets of ships as well, their leaders often saw themselves as great military leaders… which they were not. “Therein lies the problem,” the general began, hiding the frustration that he felt at the need to explain such a simple fact to a man who held the rank of admiral. “Even with our fastest communications drones, we cannot hope to outrun the Terrans’ STS technology. The Ton-Tori’s communications drone traveled here at one hundred times light, and it still took more than two weeks to arrive. If Captain Scott chooses to go on the offensive, as he has just proven he is willing to do, he could quite literally attack every target in Jung space in far less time than it would take for word of the threat to reach even the nearest Jung stronghold.”