The word came down quickly from command: begin the attack.
* * *
The fight far, far above Hestia was becoming a massive, three-dimensional game of cat and mouse. The Rigault cruisers' engines gave them a lot of thrust for their size, enough to stay ahead of the League cruisers, but the destroyers and frigates could still close.
And close they did.
Henry watched the developing attack run on the holotank. The destroyers, still eight in total despite some deflector hits, burned in hard. This time, they braved the barrage of his squadron's muonic cannons to drive the missile attack home, firing at a mere forty thousand kilometers before backing off. The thrust capability of the missiles quickly cleared the zone in which the spread rounds were most effective. Their own point-defense missiles rippled out of their launchers, racing to try and intercept the incoming strike, but given very little time to do it.
One of the red icons blinked out. "Target Nine eliminated," Miri said.
It was a small success, but Henry wanted more, given the incoming missile strike was not going to be as attrited as usual. Their CIWS systems did what they could, and the point-defense missiles still managed some successes. The evasive maneuvers bought precious seconds to kill more missiles.
But it wasn't enough, not nearly enough, to stop the strike from hitting home. The Liberator shook under his feet. He didn't have to ask for a damage report. "Deflectors held, but we had a localized failure, hull damage to Deck 8 Section F," Miri said. "We've lost one of the point-defense missile systems."
The hit was a severe one, but Henry could already see worse was done with the holotank. The Independence was falling out of formation.
Trang's voice came over the tactical command channel. "Captain Henry, our deflectors failed. We've taken several impacts, including our engineering section. Our drives' thrust is down to sixty percent."
The loss of that much thrust made it inevitable that Aristide's cruisers would overtake Independence, at the very least.
"Sir, keep ahead. We'll fight as well as we can before they finish us off." Trang's voice shook a little as she spoke those words. She knew she was condemning herself and the skeleton crew to their deaths.
Another red icon blinked out on the screen. "Scratch a destroyer, Target Six," Miri said.
Still, they've got six more destroyers and seven frigates, plus those cruisers… Henry did the calculations in his head. All he could really do was buy time for Tia to secure the capital. Maybe they could grind down the escorts of the League cruisers, but odds were they'd be too damaged to finish off even the remaining old League ships.
It's not just about Hestia. If Aristide takes the station even briefly, if she does anything to get her hands on that research data, the League can recreate those damn implants elsewhere. I can't let her do that.
"Incoming hail from the League cruisers."
Aristide's voice spoke coolly over the line. "Are you going to waste more lives, Captain Henry? For what? For sheer, bloody-minded defiance?"
"You could always depart."
"I am here to further the interests of Society. Dr. Breivik's device will revolutionize the League. Our victory is inevitable." She scoffed. "For years, I have hunted your kind. Your hypocrisy in the name of base individualism never fails. Your own religion tells you not to tempt your 'god', but your kind always assumes he will come to save you, no matter the odds. You believe it even in the camps, where you infect your fellows and cause them further pain before inevitable socialization. All of the pain your dogmas cause, and you don't even adhere to them. If you did, you would surrender now."
Her words prompted a memory from decades ago, a half-recalled line from a writer nearly a thousand years past. "'The devil can cite scripture to serve his own purpose'," Henry said.
"What?"
"That's what this reminds me of," Henry said. "And it's just like your type to not get the point of the Temptations."
"What are you talking about?"
He pressed down a key on his chair, killing the speaker input for the moment. "Helm, reduce power," he said. "We're not abandoning the Independence."
"Aye, sir," said Cera, her voice betraying no uncertainty as to what he was doing.
He removed his finger from the key. "You don't really understand the Second Temptation any more than you do any of the teachings of the Bible," he said. "Or anything else about us. That's what I've learned about Leaguers like you over the years. You can't comprehend faith that doesn't involve something material. All you've got is your ideology."
"I have studied your writings. I know your own Bible better than you do, I suspect."
He shook his head. "You studied the words so you could twist them against us. But you've never grasped the meaning. If you did, you wouldn't be fighting for the League anymore. The Second Temptation's about abusing God's promises, not having faith in His aid. I'm not putting myself and my people in danger just to prove God will rescue us. I don't even know He will. I'm trusting He will because we're fighting for something more important than ourselves. We're fighting to save this planet, and to save the galaxy, from your damned machines. And even if I die here, I'll die with the faith that He'll help us stop you in the end."
"It appears you are no longer the individualist I thought you to be, Captain," Aristide said. "But whether you are an individualist or a superstitious lunatic, this battle will end soon, and I will win."
"No, you won't."
"Enemy forces restoring combat formation," Piper noted. "The cruisers are rejoining the frigates and destroyers. They're—"
Piper's sudden stop drew his attention. "What is it, Piper?"
The holotank answered him first, but Piper's voice confirmed it. "Multiple wormholes forming at the lunar L1 point! Ships jumping in!"
"Show me." Henry turned his attention to his display while Piper fed the visual data to the same.
The wormholes that showed were already fully formed. Henry watched the ships that emerged from each. With every ship that came through, he felt a swelling in his heart.
Vidia's voice echoed the hope Henry felt in himself. "Multiple vessels tying into our tactical channel."
"Let them in." Henry muted Aristide again by swapping the link channel on his chair.
"Doing so. Multiple broadcasts from the arriving ships."
The first voice to sound through the channel spoke his English with a thick accent. "This is Piotr Sergeevich Tokarev of Morozova. Captain Henry, my squadron stands with you and the Hestian resistance. We are preparing to engage and will conform to your orders."
"Mad Hatter here." The familiar voice of Commodore "Mad Jack" Dulaney filled the speaker next. "Trinidad Station also stands with the people of Hestia. We're here to put down whoever came up with those damn devices and end the HBC's misrule once and for all."
"This is Captain Mauricio Dominguez of the Beja. Lusitania remembers her debts, and she has not forgotten the League's treachery. We stand with a free Hestia."
Henry recognized the last speaker. "Dominguez of the Star of Coruna?" he asked.
A bearded man of bronze complexion appeared on the display, wearing the military uniform of the Lusitanian Navy. He looked far healthier than the last time Henry saw him, when he was still recovering from confinement in the "resocialization" facilities on Pluto Base. "Yes. The League never returned my vessel. It made accepting Prime Minister Ascaro's offer of a naval commission all the easier."
"A whole dreadnought," Piper breathed. "They sent their dreadnought."
The holotank noted the same, showing the colossal Beja in the heart of a squadron of Lusitanian destroyers and corvettes. Henry thought of what he knew of her. She's an old Saurian Wars hull, so she's probably little better than a fleet cruiser in the end, but she's got big damned guns we'll find useful.
His eyes glanced at the holotank again. Their arrival at the lunar L1 point placed them in a position to be in firing range within minutes, long before Aristide could reduce Henry's cruis
ers.
"Another wormhole just formed, sir," Piper said. "This one is at the lunar L4 point."
The ship that appeared on the display was a distinctly Coalition design, but she had no visible markings. With its appearance, another accented voice came over the line. "Colonel Sinclair of the Oxford to Colonel Henry. It looks like we arrived right on time. We're here on official business, but if any League ship engaged in hostilities with Sagittarian fleets comes across our sights, I feel obligated to engage such rogues in violation of the peace treaty."
Henry almost asked what he was doing showing up. Rhodes and Barton will have his commission for this. But there was no time. The League ships were in formation and were starting to move. His arrival point puts him in position to hit the League from that flank, or keep them from fleeing easily. A smile crept over Henry's face as he considered the tactical situation. His finger ran over the link controls, returning him to the channel Aristide was using, while an extra touch ensured it would go to the other ships as well. "Commander Aristide of the League. In the name of the systems and worlds making up the Independent Fleet, I'm offering your people a chance to surrender peacefully."
Aristide answered him by cutting the line.
"Avenger, Triumphant, assume a defensive formation around Independence," Henry ordered. "All other squadrons, move into range. Commence full engagement."
48
The battle in space renewed itself with an unexpected maneuver. Aristide's ships turned away from their courses toward the Rigault cruisers to bear down on the arriving fleet from the neutral systems.
Henry noted the choice. His first idle thought was that Aristide was trying to break through and jump out at the L1 or L2 points. But that doesn't sound like her. This lady's not used to losing. At Lusitania, she could at least say it wasn't her fault. Here, though… no, she's not running.
"Looks like they'd rather fight th' others," Cera said.
"They would. Aristide's got military ships and military crews more modern than those ships. She's counting on hitting them so hard, their formation breaks while we try to catch up. Then she'll make her own break for the Lunar Station." Henry keyed the tactical channel. "All allied squadrons, assume defensive formations and prepare for heavy missile attack. Cruiser squadron, Oxford, move in to aid our allies at full burn. Independence, make the best time you can, but don't worry about catching up."
Affirmatives answered him.
The Liberator and her squadron, save the damaged Independence, rushed forward, pursuing the same League vessels they were previously avoiding. As they closed the range, their muonic cannons opened fire.
The League ships ignored them. They opened with missile fire, as always, directed at the independent fleet, which replied in kind. The missiles flew past one another and into the thick of each side's point defenses. Each volley suffered, the League's military-grade PD dealing easily with the cheaper missiles of the independent fleet while the quantity of PD fire from the other side overwhelmed the incoming League missiles. What few missiles did get through mostly impacted on deflector shields. One of the Cyrilgradite ships suffered a partial impact that blew through its hull, but it remained in formation and combat capable.
The League ships burned on undeterred while another volley was exchanged. This time, the Oxford joined in, firing a full salvo of Starbolt anti-ship missiles towards the League. As they came in at a different angle, they forced some of the League ships to fire in the other direction to blunt the attack.
The exchange of missiles provided more hits this time. The decreased range left less time for point-defense fire to take them down, and the Oxford's missiles spread out the League efforts as well. A League frigate took a missile head straight on its deflectors and survived, succumbing moments later to a direct hit from the Liberator's muonic cannons. One of the destroyers fell out of formation after a Starbolt struck its engineering spaces and damaged its propulsion systems.
Yet the League had greater effect, as Henry feared it would. The wounded ship from the first volley took two more hits, turning it into a wreck. A Lusitanian corvette lost deflectors and half of her engines to a missile, and an armed civilian cruiser in Dulaney's fleet took three hits that left her badly wounded. Henry observed several other ships suffering hits that reduced their deflectors, ensuring they wouldn't last much longer.
By then, both fleets were firing a third volley, while Henry's captured cruisers continued to pour energized muons into the League formation. The point defenses worked as hard as they could, but now even the League cruisers were taking missile hits. The closed range ensured more surviving missiles.
Again the League had the better side of the exchange. They lost no ships outright, although many took damage. Five more allied ships were either blown apart or crippled by missile strikes.
Yet the Independent Fleet didn't back down. Aside from immediate evasive maneuvers, they maintained full burn toward the League ships. Henry smiled gently at that. You underestimated them. Hartford did too.
The two sides were in effective range to exchange fire with cannons now. Furious bolts of emerald energy, sapphire light, and many other colors filled the space between the two fleets. Now the casualty counts started to mount. We've got numbers, but they're taking a hammering. We've got to get our neutron cannons into action.
In the time before they could, Henry watched the ongoing fight through display monitors while the holotank occasionally dropped another red or blue light. More of the latter were lost, although not as much as he feared.
No. They're brave, but the League's holding fire. This doesn't look right. Henry manipulated his display controls to get a look at their firing behavior.
"They're rushing the Beja," Mad Jack said over the tac-comm link. "All ships maneuver to protect the dreadnought."
The fleet responded to Mad Jack's order. Vessels maneuvered to cut off their angles of attack on the old ship while its weapons, including its massive battery of old coil-guns, continued to thunder away at the League cruisers. The ship had enough upgrades to its targeting system, evidently, as it managed several hits on two League cruisers that strained their deflectors and, in one case, penetrated to inflict a glancing hit.
The League light ships launched their anti-ship missiles at close range before breaking away, a maneuver that claimed another frigate from counter-fire. The missiles streaked through the void, corkscrewing to avoid point-defense fire while homing in on their target. One Lusitanian corvette threw itself into their path, taking three hits that left them utterly gutted.
Between this act of self-sacrifice, the point-defense weapons blazing away, and the Beja's banks of deflector generators, the Lusitanian ship fielded the attack well enough. But she didn't come out untouched. The missiles distorted their deflectors enough that several made direct or partial impact on the armored hull, blasting out chunks of the great ship. Henry frowned when one of Beja's mighty coilgun turrets blew apart from a direct hit. Two of its engines died from damage.
The League ships broke away, a swarm of red arrows on the holotank shifting direction, but they didn't get away cleanly. The Beja retorted with a full barrage of surviving turrets. Multiple heavy shells slammed into two of the League Humphries-type cruisers, knocking out the shields of one and damaging the deflectors of the other. The Morozova and several of the Trinidad Station ships poured firepower into the unshielded cruiser. Explosions flowered spectacularly over her gray hull until her engines blew out. The crippled hulk drifted onward, swiftly falling out of formation. Henry's frown disappeared, his expression one of grim satisfaction.
The League ships finished breaking away despite the fire. Their close-range attack inflicted enough loss, taking out five more allied ships in total and inflicting severe wounds on the Beja. But despite the hammering the independent ships held their places, indeed, turned to pursue and continue the engagement.
For all that damage, Aristide's attack failed. The realization drew a grin to Henry's face. She wanted to elimin
ate the Beja to demoralize them. Well, it didn't go as planned, and it cost her a cruiser and two more frigates. He considered the influence that had on her unit and the grin grew larger. "Cera, give me everything you can on the engines. Vidia, I want the same from the Triumphant and Avenger."
"Aye, Captain!" Cera replied enthusiastically. "I'll put our new lass through her paces!"
"Signal sent, Captain," Vidia added. "Any further orders?"
"Just one. We're going in." Henry's eyes focused intently on his tactical displays and holotank. "Piper, analyze their comm traffic. Single out Aristide's flagship. If they want a knife fight, we'll give them one."
* * *
The beating of Doctor Jan Breivik's heart fluttered wildly. His lungs ached for every forced breath while the muscles in his arms and legs burned from an exertion beyond any of the Society-mandated physical fitness routines he maintained. The thought came to him that he might just die from having his heart give out, if he didn't bleed to death first from the deep wound in his right wrist.
But he couldn't stop. He had to run. He had to get to his shuttle and escape with the data, so that the work could continue and the way laid for Society's triumph and redemption.
Between the wild beats of his heart, he could hear the footfalls. Oskar was pursuing him. Undoubtedly, the blood trail helped. Old friend, why can't I convince you?! came the wild, frustrated thought as he plunged ahead.
The footfalls grew in volume, faded briefly at a turned corridor, then returned with all of their ominous pounding a second or two later. Not much time left!
The brief sight of a sign brought him jubilation. It was for the shuttle hangar where the League shuttles were kept.
Indeed, the double doors soon loomed large. They opened too late for him to simply run through, forcing him to force himself between the doors. It cost him precious seconds, yet he still had a few left to lose. His shuttle loomed ahead. All he had to do was get aboard and hit the airlock door. I may not be able to fly the shuttle away, but there's a QET aboard. I can get the data to Aristide. The project will survive! The future can still be saved!
Breach of Trust: Breach of Faith Book Four Page 40