Exodus: Empires at War: Book 06 - The Day of Battle

by Doug Dandridge

  “I can alert my people that something may be going down,” said Jimmy, wondering why the smartest woman he had ever met just didn’t seem to get his limitations in this matter. He looked at the wall for a moment, at the picture of Lucille with the Emperor. “I can increase my patrols, but that is about it. There are too many wormholes on this station, too many places to cover. I don’t have the manpower to take over for the Fleet in guarding everything that needs to be guarded.”

  “Then get on the com and call Ekaterina. Tell her you need more people.”

  “I can do that. But don’t expect miracles. Look,” he said, turning back to her. “Our agency is also stretched to the limits. Director Sergiov is recruiting as fast as she can, but the Agency just can’t take anyone.”

  “Well, I know someone I can call,” said Lucille. “Maybe the Regent will listen.”

  “I suggest you don’t bother her about this matter,” said Jimmy, knowing that making too much noise could cause her more trouble than it was worth.

  “I need help, and you don’t seem to be doing anything about it. This station is my responsibility, and if the rest of you won’t do anything to protect it, I will.”

  * * *

  Damn, thought Samantha Ogden Lee, the Regent, who was handling the Emperor’s duties while the man was out gallivanting around the Galaxy like a trivee hero. That’s not fair, she thought, recalling the signal she had received from him just this morning. The Fleet was about to give battle. And Sean didn’t need to think about anything else at this time.

  And now Yu is all hysterical about some Admiral disobeying Sean, and putting the station at risk. Probably nothing, but, can I afford to take chances.

  Samantha didn’t have the gift of prophetic dreaming herself, but, having been raised in the Imperial Family, she believed in it. It was not always accurate as to time and place, but it was real.

  “Grand High Admiral McCullom is on the com, ma’am,” said her secretary over the link.

  Samantha activated the holo with a thought, looking into the troubled face of the Chief of Naval Operations. “How goes it, Sondra?”

  “Oh, it would be going really well if there wasn’t this little bit of distraction going on. You know, Regent. The war.”

  “I know it’s a position you can handle, Sondra. That’s why Sean tapped you for the position.”

  “And it’s made all the more difficult when other agencies step into our business,” said the Admiral.

  Oh, shit. Here it comes.

  “Special Agent Chung was concerned about how Admiral O’Hara is handling the security of the station. He told his Director, and she told me,” said Samantha, leaving out the part where Lucille Yu had contacted her directly. It would hurt her working relationship with the Fleet. While I can handle anything they can throw at me. Yeah, right.

  “Admiral O’Hara is my problem,” said McCullom, her voice shaking as she tried to control herself. “And I will handle him in my own way.”

  “Sondra. Calm down. The Station is all of our problem. We work on this together.”

  “If you pursue this matter, you can have my resignation,” said the woman, losing control of the volume of her voice. “I will not have people looking over my Fleet, and second guessing how we do things.”

  “First of all, Grand High Admiral, it is not your Fleet,” said Samantha, feeling herself lose control as well. “It is Sean’s, and the people of the Empire. You are just the caretaker of that Fleet. If you want to resign your position as caretaker, that is fine. We’ll promote someone else to that role.”

  She almost laughed as the other woman stared out of the holo at her, speechless. She thought the resignation ploy would get me to back down. But I don’t play that game. No one is irreplaceable.

  “I am sorry, Regent,” said McCullom is a hushed voice. “I did not mean to lose my temper. I will look into the situation with Admiral O’Hara.”

  “I want you to launch a full investigation with Fleet Intelligence,” said Samantha, looking straight into the CNOs eyes, letting her know that she meant business. And I will have Ekaterina look at him from her angle. I’m not sure if Dr. Yu has something here, but if she does, I damned sure want to find out.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  CONGREEVE SPACE.

  “First group is jumping into hyper, my Lord” called out the Tactical Officer.

  The Great Admiral looked at the plot, where some thirty-five icons, four superbattleships, nine supercruisers and the rest scout ships, were blinking, the group in question. They were fifteen light hours out from the hyper I barrier, almost to the VII. He watched as the icons changed color, indicating that were now in normal space, and getting a look at the system as it was fifteen hours before. He waited, knowing that they would be transmitting information as soon as they had it.

  “Scout force one is reporting that the planet is radiating an enormous amount of electromag, consistent with an industrialized world. One large force near the planet, hundreds of ships.”

  Only hundreds, thought the Great Admiral with a tinge of disappointment. We’ll still roll right over them, but I expected a little better return. Still, it’s only a preliminary return.

  His force forged on, and the warning klaxons sounded to let them know it was their turn, though they would only be dropping into VI. The lights dimmed and the nausea came again. It took up to a minute for the last crew member to recover, and it would get worse with multiple jumps. But stair-step was the fastest way to insert into a system through hyper. Why can’t we be like the humans, he thought, and so many other species. It seemed like a curse from the Gods, that a species destined to rule all of the Galaxy was so crippled by the very act of moving from hyper to normal space and back.

  “Scout force one now estimating two hundred and fifty capital ships and four hundred and fifty smaller vessels,” said the Com Officer. “Second force identified near the hyper I limit. Estimated seventy capital ships and three hundred smaller class vessels.”

  The holo filled in the information, at least as much as could be plotted based on the binary code of the scout ships. One large force near the planet, another at the hyper I limit, within light minutes of where the Ca’cadasan Fleet was aimed to come into normal space.

  “Approaching the hyper VI limit,” came the voice of the Tactical Officer. The Admiral could still pick up the nausea in the male’s voice, and felt somewhat better that he had held up better than the younger male. “Scout force two preparing to drop into normal space.”

  And they’ll be ten light hours out, giving us just a little better view.

  The lights dimmed again, the flagship and most of the fleet dropping down to hyper V, while the second scout force went all the way down to normal space. Again it took a minute to start receiving the information through hyperdrive code, and a little over a minute for the crew to recover for translation sickness. When the report came through, from the distance of ten light hours, it was almost identical to the first one, with the estimate of enemy strength adjusted upward just a bit.

  Next was the jump to IV, the scout force this time coming into normal space at seven light hours. It took well over a minute for the crew to recover from this jump, and the Admiral was thinking that in the future it might be better to just jump down to I at the VII barrier, then cruise in at that level to the last jump. It would take longer, and give the enemy more warning, but the crew would be in better shape when they came through.

  “We have the human battle fleet in system boosting toward the hyper barrier at four hundred and sixty gravities,” called out the Com Officer. “By velocity of four-eight thousand KPS, estimated that enemy had started boost at three hours prior.”

  And that was over seven hours ago, which means they are up over one hundred thousand KPS by now, thought the Admiral.

  “Battle fleet estimated at three hundred capital ships and five hundred smaller vessels. Scout force also reporting small force built around three capital ships are on a course toward
the other side of the system. Estimated boost at four hundred and seventy-five gravities, starting two hours ago.”

  Still based on seven hours ago, he thought, looking at the plot and smiling as he saw eight smaller task forces of his fleet moving on paths that would take them around the system, to translate in to cover the escape routes of the star. There will be no escape for you, my friend, he thought, recognizing that configuration as the Imperial Security Squadron.

  “Force of forty freighters moving on the same path as the smaller force at one hundred and thirty gravities, with cover of four capital ships and twelve escorts.”

  And we’ll bag those too, thought the Admiral. “Send a gravity pulse out to all ships. I want the small squadron and the merchant vessels captured if possible. Both may contain persons and materials of value. If not the whole squadron, then at least the battleship.”

  At hyper III the track was even more firm, with the scout force three light hours out. This was followed by the jump to II at a light hour out, then to I at thirty light minutes. At that time the leading edge of the fleet, the final scout force, jumped into normal space and into an immediate fight with the smaller fleet the enemy had stationed at the barrier. The enemy was only light minutes away, and immediately opened fire with beam weapons and missiles. The beam weapons were getting there about the time the Ca’cadasan crews were recovering from the sixth and final translation. Some beam weapons hit, but not many, as the Ca’cadasan ships weaved and dodged at random. Even at the distance of three light minutes, the beams were attenuated somewhat, and the Ca’cadasan ships had their electromag fields to full power and pumped full of cold plasma.

  The Bulk of the Great Admiral’s force came in well before the enemy missiles had reached the scout force. They added their firepower to the mix, while other task groups jumped in further out to take care any ships that might have been left to attack the Ca’cadasans from the rear. No such forces had been picked up by the dropped scout forces, but the Great Admiral didn’t see why he should take chances.

  The enemy fleet had launched over seventy thousand missiles at the Ca’cadasan force, totally depleting their magazines. The Ca’cadasan scout force had returned the favor with a series of volleys that only left their magazines two thirds full. With the addition of the rest of the fleet the defensive fire was enough to knock down almost all of the human missiles, except for a couple of score proximity hits that damaged fourteen vessels and two really bad impacts that took out a pair of scout ships.

  “We have incoming missiles from the main battle fleet,” called out the Tactical Officer. “Estimated two hundred thousand, coming in at five thousand gravities.”

  “Nothing we can’t handle,” said the Great Admiral, stalking toward the holo and getting his first really good look at the system. He had almost three thousand ships here in his main group. That was one ship for every hundred missiles. And with their massed firepower, the enemy would be lucky to get a thousand of them through. Then those would face the massed close in defenses. “Fire a matching volley at them.” That was a number that was sure to overwhelm the humans. He would assess after that and see if he had to send any more missiles in.

  The human force at the barrier had fired almost a minute before the Ca’cadasans, and their missiles had arrived a few seconds earlier. When the Ca’cadasan missiles arrived they blasted through the human force, destroying two thirds of the ships, while damaging most of the rest. A second launch took out the survivors.

  “We have life pods in space, my Lord,” said the Tactical Officer. “Do you want us to take prisoners?”

  “No,” said the Great Admiral after a moment’s thought. “Burn them out of space. No missiles. We might need them later.”

  The icons of thousands of life pods and a couple of shuttles appeared on the holo, then started disappearing as ships hit them with laser fire. It took minutes to get them all, but the Ca’cadasans had the time to do a thorough job, and soon the space where the enemy force had existed was now the realm of shattered ships and debris.

  The Great Admiral looked with satisfaction at the holo. Everything was going as planned. The smile left his face for a moment. The humans usually have some tricks up their clothing, he thought.

  “Rear task forces report that they were taken under fire by human forces, my Lord. We lost some ships, and many more damaged. But they have mauled the human forces.”

  The Great Admiral actually felt better at that news. The humans are doing what they always do. Maybe they have run out of ideas, at least for the moment. That would be refreshing.

  “Start boosting the main part of the fleet into the system,” he said, looking at the planet that was obviously an industrial center. He would blast through the human force in the way, then bombard that planet from space, taking out the cities. His ground forces would seal the deal, landing and hunting down the humans. This would turn out to be a very good few days for the Ca’cadasan Navy.

  * * *

  “Their fleet is boosting into the system,” said Kelso over the com.

  “How many,” said the voice of Sean over the speakers.

  “About two thirds of them, your Majesty. They’re splitting their fleet. Just like you predicted.”

  “Outstanding,” said the Emperor. “Divide and conquer. When do you think we should start bringing the ships over from the Donut?”

  “I would wait just a little bit longer, your Majesty. Sure, the ships won’t be putting out many gravitons, and they’ll be hiding behind the planet, but I think we should wait until they’re deeper into the system, just in case.”

  “Good point. Then we’ll wait for at least nine hours. The inertialess ships will have struck by then, and the enemy will know something is up.”

  “How are we getting this feed?” asked Marconi after the speaker went silent for a minute, indicating the Emperor was engaged with something else.

  “We ejected the wormholes on the flagships a few moments before the enemy missiles got to our force,” said Kelso, changing the feed on the holo to another wormhole. An escape pod was centered in the view. The skin of the pod glowed for a moment, then started to spew molten material and gush gas, just before it exploded in a short lived fireball.

  “We eject compressed gas through the wormhole to maneuver it, like a jet,” said Kelso. “If we really have to get them moving, we eject fast moving particles from an accelerator out of them.”

  “And they will watch the battle from that vantage?”

  “Oh, they’ll do more than that, your Grace. When the time comes.”

  “That was brilliant, by the way,” said the Archduke, looking at the feed which was showing yet another pod being melted. “Who came up with that idea?”

  “That young man in the control chamber. He thought it would add realism if it was made to look like some of the crew got off. I thought it was too risky. If they decided to bring some of those pods aboard, they would find nothing. A couple of them and they might start getting suspicious. But it worked out, and the bloodthirsty bastards decided dead humans were better than prisoners, at least those prisoners.”

  “And the inertialess ships?”

  “They were the work of Admiral Chuntao Chan, one of our smartest officers,” said Kelso. “She’s in charge of one of the carrier task groups this day.”

  “A scientist is in charge of a combat force?”

  “She started out as a combat officer, your Grace. And the Emperor thought she deserved a chance to contribute.”

  “Was that a wise choice?” asked the Archduke, his eyes narrowing.

  “We think so. His Majesty is a little liberal in tossing out the rewards, but his instincts seem to be good in that respect. He’s a good judge of people, and of talent.”

  Kelso looked at the main holo for a moment, as the icons of the main Ca’cadasan force began to separate from the stay behinds. He looked back at the Archduke, knowing he had to say something, but not sure how to state it. “He really is an exceptional young
man, you know. The Emperor, I mean. Smart, a strong leader, able to listen to his subordinates and truly look at their point of view, but able to make the hard choices, and to take responsibility for them.”

  “His record as a junior officer was not exemplary,” said the Archduke with a frown.

  “And neither was Grand Fleet Admiral Lenkowski, or Duke Mgonda. My own initial tour of duty was a disaster. Not that I put myself in their category, but many of our best people start off somewhat rocky at the bottom of the command hierarchy, and only come of their own when they get to the point where they’re in charge of something.”

  “And this risky maneuver? What if he loses the war here and now?”

  “I’ll tell you something, Archduke Marconi. That young man inspires loyalty in the Fleet, both in the officers and the enlisted men. We would all die for him, because he would do the same for us. His presence on this operation proves that. If you could find another man who could do the same, I might follow him the same way I do Sean Ogden Lee Romanov. But until that leader is found, and I doubt he will be, we’ll continue to follow this one, the one we swore our oaths to.”

  Marconi didn’t say anything, looking intently at the holo. But Kelso knew he had planted a seed. And that if Sean won this battle, the Archduke would also be his man.

  * * *

  FENRI SPACE.

  “We are tracking a major enemy force heading for the system,” came the call over the Fleet net.

  Brigadier General Samuel Baggett looked up from his paperwork, a feeling of unease running through his brain. The planet had been fairly quiet for the last week. The simultaneous defeat of the Fenri fleet and ground force had taken the steam out of their engine. There were still some Fenri ground forces on the planet, fighting a guerilla war that seemed hopeless to the Imperial forces. Baggett’s brigade had been reduced to manning strong points and running patrols. There had been ambushes, but his units had been strong enough, with superior firepower, to destroy the ambushing units in most cases.