"Beta wing, you are cleared to engage," Mshindi Prime ordered. She'd actually said something entirely different, but I'd programed the AI to translate certain expected combat phrases clearly. Hornblower was the lead ship in a wing of six battlecruisers: two were Abasi, one was a spherical Chelonii, and two were sleek Abelineian. We had the honor of leading the charge to the gate. Shortly behind us the other nine wings would follow with Mshindi Prime coordinating the battle space.
"Boggus-12, keep tight," I warned. The turtle-like Chelonii were often slow to respond to directives and I wasn't going to lose them because they strayed from the protective formation we'd created. Unlike every other species, Chelonii traveled in water-filled spherical vessels. Their ship engines were substantially more powerful than every other ship here to make up for the difference in mass.
"Compliance is acceptable," came the reply.
Our lane of engagement was tight and our goal was simple. We were going to make a fast pass through the upper third of the spread-out Kroerak fleet and attempt to split their forces. The maneuver was from Mshindi who'd suggested that to cull a herd of prey, it was most effective if they weren't allowed the safety of the large group. The problem with her statement, of course, was that our prey could shoot waves of lances with devastating impact.
"Increase acceleration to forty," I instructed, pleased that the spherical ship had pulled back into position.
"We're in firing range," Marny announced a moment later as we passed the outer edge of the Kroerak fleet.
The blasters had a relatively slow recharge with the new, longer-range enhancements we'd added. Our first pass would be our most dangerous as we'd come too close to several of the enemy. "Assign targets, Marny. Save our shots for any ships that can get a target on us."
"Aye, Cap." I heard disappointment in her voice as we passed several targets of opportunity. We had the capability to reach them with our weapons, but Marny would keep us on the safer choices I'd made.
"Lance waves," Nick announced, highlighting a confusing array of waves fired from long range. I realized almost too late that the Kroerak had indeed formed a new plan. They would fill the battlespace with lance waves, regardless of how many of their own they impaled.
"Pull up. All ships, evasive actions. I repeat, evasive actions," I ordered. "Marny, targets of opportunity."
"Aye, aye, Cap," she said, excitement thick in her voice. I had to grin as I heard her. Like me, she found waiting for battle impossible. Once in the middle of it, she came alive.
"Liam, Chelonii are having trouble adjusting," Nick said. "They're gonna get splattered."
And just like that, first blood in the mighty battle was spilled. Four hundred generally kind-spirited, noble beings were exterminated as they ran across the line of lances they should have been able to avoid. Upon contact with the vacuum of space, the water crystalized as it spewed from the great ship, much of it vaporizing as it rapidly boiled due to the low pressure.
The thrum of Hornblower's main turrets firing and recharging caught my attention a moment later. The sounds were shortly followed by the staccato of our medium, shorter-range blasters. The Kroerak had anticipated our attack and positioned ships almost perfectly, herding us into a kill box. I'd heard the phrase the hunter becomes the hunted and it fit the situation very well.
"Chudlo, pick up your assigned target. They're boxing us in!" Marny ordered.
The Abelineian ship, Chudlo, had taken the opportunity to fire at and destroy a long-range target, missing Marny's assignment.
"Bravo wing, they're trying to distract us," I said. "Keep your targets, I don't care how tempting the low-hanging fruit is."
"I can't avoid it," Stolzman said, banking Hornblower as hard as he could. The fact was, a ship the size of Hornblower didn't turn all that quickly and he was right, there was no avoiding the wave emanating from the ship Chudlo had missed.
"Turn into it," Nick snapped. "Take it across the bow."
"But we'll lose the forward turret," Stolzman argued. To his credit, however, he was already maneuvering back.
"All hands, prepare for collision," Marny announced. "Evacuate forward sections immediately. This is not a drill."
Hornblower shuddered as a wave of weapons crashed across our bow. From my vantage point, the damage didn't look too bad, although three crew were immediately marked as missing. Hornblower's aft, medium blaster turret barked and drilled the attacking Kroerak ship that had sacrificed itself to injure us.
I updated the wing's orders and called the remaining ships to form up. We hadn't given the Kroerak enough credit. What had appeared a loose grouping of ships was instead a thoughtfully organized placement. Fleet-wide, they had reduced our numbers by ten percent and damaged even more.
"Stay sharp!" I ordered. If the fleet of two hundred Kroerak were the end, my confidence would have been higher, but suddenly I realized we were in for a long battle. "We take our time, we keep our distance."
I set our path back through the battle space. We'd lost six ships on contact with the enemy and had taken out more than twice that number, plus we’d split the Kroerak forces. Hornblower had sustained damage, but it was more an inconvenience than a real hindrance, that is, as long as we didn't need to land on a planet anytime soon.
On our next pass, things turned out substantially better. The Kroerak weren't the type to run, and without time to set up clever traps, we plunked away at them from a distance, far beyond their ability to return fire.
"We've got this, Cap," Marny announced on our third pass. Hornblower had delivered eight kill shots and four assists. Beta wing had cleared the targets in our space and joined with the remainder of the fleet that was mopping up just as easily.
"The math won't work," Nick said glumly. "If Munay's numbers were right, we need to be hitting twenty to one. We barely hit five to one here."
"First contact," Marny said, firmly. "We adjust … and I don't need to hear the numbers anymore."
"Cut the chatter, guys," I said. "We're still on fleet comms."
After saying it, I realized that Nick had muted our conversation while he and Marny had been talking. Still, it was good discipline.
"Captain Hoffen, that was an impressively executed maneuver," Mshindi Prime said, surprising me with her praise.
"We lost the Chelonii," I said. "The Kroerak outmaneuvered us."
"Yet we adjusted. Your quick thinking showed us the trap before it was sufficiently set. Many more could have been lost," Mshindi said. "Now, we must make haste to the wormhole. I will leave Epsilon Wing behind to finish the survivors and then they can join us."
"Copy that," I answered. If we survived, there would be plenty of time for me to tell Mshindi how poorly conceived her flock-separating tactic had worked against Kroerak.
"We should take it slower," Marny said. "We're not sprinting here. We should clean up first and then go through as a group."
"Negative, Bold Second," Mshindi answered. "The Sol fleet has promised to meet us, and the appointed time will pass without our haste. The battle awaits."
I hit the mute. "Her call, Marny," I said, not at all surprised Mshindi had placed Hornblower behind her group of battleships. I didn't like going through second but recognized the value of a single voice of command.
"Roger that, Cap," Marny answered.
Per agreement with Tabby, I was to let her know with two taps on my ring when we made it through the first battle. I did that and laid in a navigation plan that would send my wing through on the heels of Mshindi's.
The trip through the broken hulks on our way to the wormhole was disquieting. Combat in space was not typically a long, drawn-out affair. Powerful weapons had a tendency of making quick work between forces bent on destruction. Even a run-and-gun ended quickly. Either you could outrun or outmaneuver a stronger foe or you couldn't. There was rarely any middle ground.
For some reason, the victory felt hollow even as Tabby's rapid, happy tapping on the ring reminded me of why I fought.
To the End
"Hard starboard, twenty degrees," I roared. Before Iskstar, I'd been one of the slowest when it came to recovering from wormhole transition. Now, I was always the first to become aware of our surroundings.
Stolzman, no doubt still blind, slammed his stick to the right, allowing Hornblower to narrowly avoid collision with debris that was strewn about in front of the wormhole terminus. With senses reactivated due to a healthy dose of adrenaline, he adjusted to the floating chunk of rock in our path.
Through Munay's eyes, we'd seen the Kroerak taking the wormhole at a slow but manageable speed instead of being at full stop relative to the wormhole's position. Further, they'd transitioned many ships simultaneously. As a captain, I’d embraced the idea of moving a bunch of ships through all at the same time, while maintaining some speed with respect to the wormhole.
I bit down hard as it dawned on me that the Kroerak might have counted on us seeing that data-stream. They had filled the area with every chuck of debris they could find and drag over.
Like a worm, the idea that we were following a Kroerak playbook ate at my brain as I took in a scene of complete carnage. The once-great Abasi fleet, the few ships that had survived, were damaged almost beyond recovery. My heart sank as I found the wreckage of Thunder Awakes, broken in two at the front of the line.
I watched helplessly as the second wave of our fleet appeared through the wormhole. Many of the newcomers were unable to miss colliding with the broken hulks sitting in their path. I tasted blood as I bit down on my tongue. Without firing a single shot, the Kroerak had cut the Confederation fleet in half.
"Regroup on me!" I ordered. A swarm of hundreds if not thousands of Kroerak sailed in our direction. They were coming from everywhere all at once and we had only minutes to find a new plan or we'd be trapped.
"If you're going to jump, now would be the time," Nick said flatly, not bothering to mute.
"No," I said firmly, “We fight. Where the frak is Alderson?"
"Not sure," he answered tightly.
"I've got a hole," I said, having searched local space for breathing room. A gap widened between the groups of inbound Kroerak ships. If we cut over tightly, we might have enough room. "Marny, widen that gap! Fleet, I'm taking command. If you want to live, get on me!"
I didn't bother to watch which ships chose to join us and which chose to go it on their own. In the end, there were eighteen of us, mostly battlecruisers. We were maneuverable enough to avoid the static weapons that had been laced across the wormhole's entrance. So far, the Kroerak had guessed our every move. They'd used every bit of data we had against us. Worse yet, I had no idea where Alderson had gone. A part of me wondered if he’d taken his entire fleet and run off, taking their Iskstar crystals back home.
"I found them," Nick said. "Alderson's fleet is at the fourth planet. They jumped straight to the Kroerak homeworld."
We had more than we could deal with, so I had to let that sit for a minute. My small fleet was doing better than we had any reason to hope for. Judicious use of the longer-range weapons was having the intended effect and a corridor formed, giving us just enough room to maneuver. I quickly adjusted our formation so the most heavily armored were in fore and aft, ordering the fleet to take a slow bend around. Shortly, the final wing of Abasi ships would come through the wormhole and I hoped our timing would be sufficient to catch them.
As if sensing our intent, the Kroerak pushed against my path. Even though we were a small group, we had range and superior firepower. We were making progress. If only we could survive the next two or three hours, we might have a chance, especially if Alderson was having better luck than we were. For the first time, hope buoyed. Alderson was ten times the tactician I was. I might not appreciate him using us as bait, but we were after the same thing and we all knew the consequences of losing. If we needed to be a tasty morsel so he could put down the Kroerak command structure, I was all in and my friends and the whole crew stood with me.
As if to feed my optimism, the final wing of six Abasi ships exited the wormhole just as we crossed in front of their position. Blasting positional data on the debris and navigational updates, we successfully saved all but one of the ships, further strengthening our numbers to twenty-three.
"They're not moving," Nick said.
No matter what he was seeing, I was positive he was wrong. There were at least ten thousand ships moving at any given time within a hundred thousand kilometers of Hornblower's position. If we continued to chew through them at our current rate, we'd clear the system in twenty-five days, give or take. We certainly didn't have the energy reserves to do that, but we also had two hundred or so angry Martians ready to join in. I was pretty sure we had more than a fighting chance.
"Who's not moving?" I asked.
"Alderson's fleet."
"What do you mean?" I asked. "How are they not moving? Maybe they're negotiating? Get him on quantum."
I turned back to the battle. The Kroerak were taking losses at an extreme rate, although they were still able to fill in where each ship was destroyed. Fortunately, the debris and confusion caused their fleet to thin out as we stretched the battle space, moving further and further away from the wormhole entrance.
We'd achieved a small amount of breathing room, so I took a moment to push us back toward our pursuers. I enjoyed watching the enemy ships crash onto the wave of blue-hued lasers as we fired and jumped away, stringing them along as we opened up a path toward the fourth planet.
"I can't raise Sterra," Nick said. "She's not responding."
"That doesn’t make any sense," I said. "We need them. We're never going to make this without them."
"Toss me the crystal for Tabby," he said. I wondered what he was thinking, but I didn't hesitate, pulling it from my waist and throwing it to him. I hated the idea of losing the only contact I had with her, but I trusted him and needed to keep my mind on other things.
"Cap, are you sure this is all our doing?" Marny asked, as I continued providing instructions, taking what the Kroerak would give and making them pay dearly for it.
"Not following," I was pleased to see the number of destroyed Kroerak ships growing with each maneuver.
"What's our chance of survival if Alderson's fleet doesn't respond?" she asked.
"Not pretty."
"They're herding us," she said. "Can't you see it?"
"Hold on," I said, my enthusiasm popping like a balloon. The truth of her words struck me like a cast iron bilge pipe.
I adjusted our flight pattern so we angled away from the Kroerak homeworld. As I did, the response by our pursuers was immediate. With haste, they fired wave after wave of lance weapons, creating a nearly impenetrable curtain through which we could not possibly pass.
"I've got Jonathan on the line," Nick said. "He's talking to Anino, who has sensor access to a few of the ships. He's patching us through."
"Frak, Hoffen, you're in it bad now," Anino said. "I can't reach anyone on those ships."
"What do you mean? I thought Nick said you had sensor access."
"I'm telling you, they're not responding. It's like the crew is asleep at their stations, but with their eyes open," Anino answered.
"Hey, Liam, it's Sendrei," Sendrei said. "How many days before you reach the planet?"
"Eight days, give or take," I said.
"Can you slow them down?"
"Some," I said. "Might be able to stretch it to twelve."
"When you reach the planet, the Kroerak are going to destroy all of you," he said.
"Why not now?" I asked, not really believing him.
"I imagine they want to finish the job all at once," he said. "Believe it or not, they're showing you respect. I suspect they think you'll come up with some plan. So they're using humanity's fleet as bait."
"You're making a shite-pot of assumptions here," I said. "How could you know this?"
"A Kroerak noble controlled my mind when I got too close, Liam," he sa
id. "What if there's something nastier on that planet, something that has a bigger range."
"That can control thousands of minds? That's crazy," I said.
"As crazy as using Munay to draw you to their homeworld so they could put an end to you?" he asked. "That kind of crazy?"
"Yeah," I said. "That's the kind of crazy I'm talking about."
"Liam, listen to me," Tabby said. "You need to jump to this system." An encoded series of numbers sounded and my AI translated it. She was giving me directions to a location in deep space.
"For what?" Anino asked. "You can't help, Masters."
"Where is that?" I asked, not sure what Anino was talking about.
"We can end this. Trust me," she said. "But you have to go now."
For a moment, I just stared at Nick as the battle waged around us. Eight or twelve days of fighting would put a nice dent in the Kroerak forces, but we were already slowing, as Kroerak wised up to our tactics.
"Get Moyo, Perasti Tertiary, on comms," I said. "I'm sure I saw that Hunting Fog was still with us."
"Bold Prime, I am honored by your communication," she said formally.
"I need to be quick, Moyo," I said. "We need to jump out of here. Kroerak have set a trap."
"We cannot jump, Bold Prime," she answered. "And we are winning. The Kroerak drop as fleas after a frost."
"I can jump, Moyo," I said. "Mars technicians modified Hornblower. The Kroerak have done something to the humans. They're not fighting. I need you to take over the fleet. They're going to herd you to the Kroerak planet, but you need to slow them down. We're going to try something."
"It is cowardly to flee from battle." Her whiskers twitched and I saw her tail flick over her shoulder.
"We aren't running," Marny said, stepping up in front of the screen. "Sister, listen to me. We can't tell you what we're doing. The Kroerak might learn it from you, but you must trust me as I once trusted you."
"Bold Second," Moyo bowed to the screen. "With my kits I would trust you. I will do as you request even if it is my last."
Judgment of the Bold Page 25