by Tori Harris
“Hopefully, that’s one less to worry about,” Prescott said. “Something tells me they weren’t happy with the way Captain Miah handled things.”
“Nor should they be,” Turlaka interjected. “If he were a Wek officer, he would most certainly be court-martialed for gross misconduct and cowardice in the line of duty. Breaking the terms of a truce or parley is a capital offense on Graca.”
“Sir, Charlie 3 looks like she’s trying to line up for a shot at us again. She’s ignoring the fighters for now,” Lau said.
“Thank you, Lieutenant. Helm, just work on complicating their firing solution for a little longer. The fighters will have their undivided attention shortly,” Prescott ordered.
“Missile launch!” Schmidt announced. “Multiple missile launches from Charlie 1 and 2. Badger 1 flight just launched a salvo of missiles as well. Stand by.”
Near the stern of each heavy cruiser flanking the Hadeon, bright plumes of fire could be seen as a number of missiles rose from their vertical launch cells.
“Helm, be ready with another Tactical C-Jump. Let’s not rely on the shields unless we have to.”
“Aye, sir,” Fisher replied.
“Sixteen missiles inbound,” Schmidt updated. “Time to impact, two five seconds.”
“Not this time, I think,” Reynolds muttered under her breath as she placed a zoomed-in view of Charlie 1 on one side of the view screen just in time to witness the ship’s stern flare brightly with a rapid series of explosions. The impacts occurred only seconds after two C-Drive-equipped missiles had been fired from each of Captain Zhukov’s flight of twelve F-373 fighters. Once the cruiser’s stern was partially visible once again, it was immediately clear that she was out of the fight. While her hull remained largely intact, the drive section was a mangled mess. Raging fires and secondary explosions could be seen in a number of locations where what must have been oxidizer and propellant were being rapidly vented into space.
“The AI counted twenty-four missile impacts in the area around Charlie 1’s stern,” Lau reported. “They appear to be without power … engines, shields, weapons … all offline.” Lau paused as Theseus’ AI continued to update its battle damage assessment, then continued. “Confirmed, Captain, she is adrift with multiple hull breaches.”
“That’s exactly what we were hoping to see. Dubashi, hail the Hadeon — text only. Instruct her and her consort to lower their shields and power down their weapons immediately, or we will have no choice but to destroy both of their vessels. Keep repeating the message until they reply.”
“Aye, sir.”
Not for the first time, Prescott wondered at the Sajeth Collective warships’ lack of point defense weapons. Was there some technical reason — perhaps related to their shields — that rendered such systems less effective, or had their shields proven so reliable in the past that there had simply been no need for additional defenses until now? Admiral Naftur tended to become rather close-lipped when it came to discussing such things, but Prescott nevertheless made a mental note to ask the question at some point. He also wondered how many ships they would allow themselves to lose to C-Drive-equipped missiles before they found some way to make themselves less vulnerable — particularly at the stern.
“Helm, go ahead and C-Jump us over in the vicinity of our fighters. I doubt those incoming missiles will reacquire us, but keep an eye on them.”
“Aye, sir. Tactical C-Jumping.”
This time, Theseus’ AI depicted the transition from one side of the battlespace to the other as a “flyby” of the Resistance ships, the final result of which was their arrival at a point halfway between the drifting hulk of Charlie 1 and the original Location Dagger.
Suddenly finding themselves with no target, but still in relatively close proximity to friendly vessels, all sixteen missiles fired by Charlie 1 and 2 self-destructed.
“No remaining missiles in flight at this time,” Lau reported after allowing a few seconds for light to arrive from their previous location. “Charlie 2 and 3 have ceased fire.”
“Thank you, Lieutenant. Green deck, XO. Let’s try to make it as clear as we can that they really only have one option at this point.”
“Aye, sir,” Reynolds replied, entering a series of commands at her touchscreen to provide the necessary clearances to Theseus’ Flight Deck.
Seconds later, twelve of the destroyer’s twenty-four Hunter RPSVs lifted off from her aft flight apron, split into two groups, and headed for defensive flanking positions to port and starboard.
“Twelve Hunters are away, sir,” Schmidt reported. “Twelve more launching in zero two minutes.”
“Keep them on anti-missile duty for the moment. If we need to attack again, I’d prefer to allow the Reapers to do what they do best.”
“Aye, sir,” Schmidt replied. “Charlie 2 and 3 just lowered their shields and powered down their weapons.”
“Hadeon is hailing again,” Dubashi announced.
“Let them wait a moment,” Prescott replied. “Ambassador, assuming we are dealing primarily with Wek crews, how can we expect them to respond to an order to surrender?”
“Generally speaking, you can expect a Wek officer to do exactly what he says he’s going to do,” Turlaka replied. “If he surrenders, or is ordered to surrender by a superior officer, he is honor-bound from that moment forward to conduct himself and his vessel as a noncombatant. Under normal circumstances, however, Wek captains do not surrender their vessels unless they have no hope of either victory or escape. I suspect what we are witnessing today is a confused, perhaps even mutinous situation created as a direct result of Captain Miah being imposed upon these crews … particularly given that he holds the rank of commander and is a captain only by virtue of his current assignment.”
“Well, if they do surrender to us, it creates a bit of a problem. We really don’t have sufficient personnel to put together a single prize crew, let alone two or three.”
“We also can’t wait here for reinforcements from Earth, sir,” Reynolds interjected. “By the time they arrive, it’s a safe bet that the rest of the Resistance task force will have had enough time to reestablish communications with these ships from their new rally point …”
“And enough time to send help,” Prescott said, finishing her sentence. “Alright, we may be solving a problem that doesn’t even exist, so let’s see how this conversation goes and we’ll figure it out from there. Dubashi, put Captain Miah from the Hadeon on-screen again, please.”
Seconds later, a vidcon window opened once again in the center of the bridge view screen. This time, Captain Miah’s face had been replaced by that of a powerful-looking male Wek officer.
“My compliments, Captain Prescott,” he began formally. “I am Commander Yuli Takkar. I have relieved Commander Miah of command and placed him under arrest for violating the rules of war when communicating with your ship earlier. My apologies for taking so long to do so, but we do not take such actions lightly. Given the circumstances, would you be willing to continue a dialog with me under the terms of the original parley?”
“I appreciate your offer, Commander, but I think you will agree that the situation has changed significantly since then,” Prescott said, smiling pleasantly. “It was not our original intent to engage in combat with your vessels, but we were fired upon, defended ourselves, and now hold an overwhelming tactical advantage. Would you agree to a parley at this point if you were in my position?”
“I’m sorry, Captain, but Commander Miah used a communications terminal for his conversation with you, so there was quite a bit that I was unable to hear. What was your original intent?” Takkar asked, sidestepping Prescott’s question.
Prescott shook his head, chuckling to himself at the thinly veiled attempt to redirect their conversation back to something approaching the terms of the original parley. “Alright, Commander, you seem like a reasonable officer, so I will agree to have a brief conversation with you. Let me be absolutely clear, however, that this is your final o
pportunity. Any further aggression …”
“You have my word, Captain,” Takkar replied earnestly.
“Very well. And you have my word that we will not interfere with rescue operations.”
“Thank you, Captain. We will begin launching shuttles immediately,” he replied, turning to nod at his second-in-command. “When you were speaking to Commander Miah, I did hear something mentioned about Rugali Naftur. If you have recovered his body, we would appreciate your allowing us to return him to Graca so that we may render the final respects appropriate for someone of his stature.”
“His body? No, Commander, Admiral Naftur was seriously injured earlier today, but came through emergency surgery just fine, thanks to Ambassador Turlaka here,” Prescott replied.
“That’s simply not possible, Captain. We know that his squadron was destroyed by Human forces, no doubt with the help of the Pelaran Guardian, over a month ago,” Takkar growled, his eyes flashing into barely contained fury. “The opportunity to avenge his death is, in fact, the reason most of us are here.”
“Contact!” Lieutenant Lau announced from Tactical 1. “It’s not one we’ve seen before. She’s big, sir — thirteen hundred meters.”
“That would be the Baldev,” Commander Takkar said with a fierce smile. “Captain Prescott, I will, of course, honor my word not to fire on your vessel, but I cannot speak for Captain Yagani. He is a senior captain, so I expect he will assume command of all Pelaran Resistance forces in the area. Once again, if you would turn over Naftur’s body …”
At that moment, the aft bridge door opened and Doctor Jiao Chen walked onto Theseus’ bridge pushing a grav chair bearing a tired, but surprisingly alert Admiral Rugali Naftur.
On the view screen, Commander Takkar’s eyes went wide with immediate recognition. “Your Highness!” he gasped, dropping immediately to one knee with his right fist clasped over his heart. Aboard Hadeon, the ship’s AI recognized the acting captain’s gesture and widened the field of view to encompass the entire bridge. Within seconds, every visible member of her crew had knelt and was saluting in similar fashion.
TFC Pine Gap Shipyard Facility
(Northern Territory, Australia - 35 km southwest of Alice Springs)
It had taken “Gamble 22” less than an hour to pinpoint the end of the particle trails marking the location where twenty-six Resistance task force warships had transitioned back to normal space. Possibly chosen to allow their slowest warships to remain within one hour’s flight time of the original rally point, the newly christened “Location Crossbow” was still a respectable 22.9 light days (five hundred and ninety-three billion kilometers) distant. After a final C-Jump back to the Location Dagger comm beacon, the solo F-373 had transmitted its valuable reconnaissance data via NRD net to TFS Navajo, where it immediately received Admiral Patterson’s undivided attention.
Seeing an opportunity to gain the initiative for the first time since the Resistance forces began assembling for their attack on Earth, the admiral had quickly made the decision to position all of the C-Jump-capable forces he currently had at his disposal for a surprise attack. Although not nearly as formidable a force as he would have preferred to send, the number of ships indicating a “mission effective” status had increased significantly over the past forty-eight hours …
***
It was already early morning of the following day in the Australian Outback. Shattering the serenity for which the surrounding bronze-colored deserts and rugged canyons are often known, a low frequency rumble echoed through the predawn darkness as the Pine Gap Shipyard’s massive blast doors slowly opened. As the gap between the doors reached two hundred seventy-five meters, a sleek, brownish-grey bow emerged from the dimly lit entrance cavern. Once clear of the shipyard, the Theseus-class destroyer Karna climbed silently into the sky, shortly thereafter breaking into full sunlight as Earth’s terminator approached from the east.
Less than three minutes later, the Karna was joined in line-abreast formation by her five sister ships from the Pine Gap Shipyard Facility. After a brief pause to allow their AIs to execute a series of systems checks, the ships synchronized their departure vectors with two similar flights rising from the Yucca and Yamantau Mountain Shipyards, then disappeared in six simultaneous flashes of grayish-white light.
_________________________________
End of Book 2
TFS NAVAJO
The Terran Fleet Command Saga – Book 3
*****
Tori L. Harris
War is the continuation of politics by other means.
Major-General Carl von Clausewitz
TFS Navajo
Chapter 1
TFS Theseus, Location Dagger
(3.3 light years from Earth)
“Don’t even think about it, Admiral,” Doctor Chen scolded as Rugali Naftur attempted to rise from his grav chair to return the salutes being rendered on the bridge view screen. “You’ve been out of emergency heart surgery for … what? Just a few hours at this point?” Both her tone and the firm pressure of her hands on his shoulders left little room for argument.
Naftur scowled, then softened his expression and glanced at Captain Prescott, clearly seeking both an ally against Doctor Chen as well as permission to respond directly to Commander Takkar aboard the Hadeon. Even with Takkar and the ten other Wek visible on the view screen still kneeling after having addressed Naftur as “Your Highness,” this was still Tom Prescott’s ship — and the Hadeon, for the moment at least, was still an enemy combatant with which they were engaged in an official parley.
Prescott, still taken aback by the Hadeon’s response to Admiral Naftur’s appearance on his bridge, started to reply, then checked himself as the implications of the rapidly evolving situation unfolded in his mind.
“Sir, the Baldev has been designated as Bravo 1,” Lieutenant Lau announced from Tactical 1. “She’s still headed in this direction with shields and weapon systems powered up.”
“Will they honor the parley already in progress?” Prescott asked, still staring at Admiral Naftur.
“If it is indeed the Baldev and she is still under the command of Ditanu Yagani, I am confident that she will not open fire without warning. Bear in mind, however, that Captain Yagani is not obligated to participate in our negotiations, and since he is now the senior Resistance commander on the scene, it is within his prerogative to order the other vessels to end their participation as well. If that is his intention, it would be appropriate for him to inform us accordingly and allow us to withdraw from the immediate area before taking any hostile action.”
Prescott shifted his gaze back to the spectacle playing out on the bridge view screen before looking back at Naftur. This is what we came here to do, so let’s see how this plays out, he thought … and quickly, I hope. With an upturned palm, he gestured from Naftur towards the view screen. “Please,” he said, inviting the Wek admiral to proceed.
“Thank you, Captain Prescott,” Naftur began again, his voice surprisingly strong given what he had been through over the past twelve hours. “Commander Takkar and crew, please rise. You honor and humble me with your gesture. I apologize for not rendering a proper response, but I must remain seated under the explicit orders of the two surgeons who saved my life earlier this day.” On referring to the two doctors, Naftur had nodded towards Nenir Turlaka while at the same time reaching back to place his huge hand over that of Jiao Chen, still resting on his shoulder. Caught somewhat off guard by the admiral’s gesture and the odd sensation of his touch, she jumped involuntarily at first, then squeezed his shoulder gently in reply.
“Your servant, Gracafürst,” Takkar replied, still obviously a little overwhelmed by Naftur’s presence, “but you should be aware that the news of your death at the hands of the Humans has been widely reported throughout the Collective for several months. In fact, I believe most Wek who have joined the Resistance, myself included, would cite your death as one of their primary motivations for doing so.”
Na
ftur’s leonine face had taken on an uncharacteristically troubled expression, his eyes dark with a mix of concern and barely controlled fury. “Thank you, Commander Takkar,” he growled. “We must content ourselves for now with addressing the results of this treachery. We can also take heart in the knowledge that deceit on such a scale invariably leads to the deceivers’ undoing.
“Here is what I want you and all other Wek to know regarding the Terrans. While I have studied them for years, it is only over the past month that I have finally had the opportunity to spend time with them. During that time, I have spoken at length with many of their leaders, sharing frank conversations concerning the strengths and weaknesses of both their people and ours. I have fought by their side, and found them to be formidable warriors who fight with bravery and a cunning audacity I have rarely seen equaled on the field of battle. Finally, I had the honor of saving the life of one of their most senior military leaders earlier today, and in turn had mine saved through the tireless efforts of a great many Humans. They came to my aid — not because of who or what I was, but because I needed help. This they did without hesitation, simply because they recognized a need and it was in their nature to do so.
“The Terrans have done nothing to indicate that they pose a threat to the Collective, Yuli, and treating them as enemies out of some misplaced sense of fear would forever veil our alliance within the pale gloom of cowardice.”
“I understand,” Takkar replied, inclining his head briefly with his eyes closed as if offering his own heartfelt apology for his actions. “Sir, Captain Yagani is hailing us. With your permission, I will explain the situation to him. I am sure he will want to speak with you once he realizes that you are … here.”
“Be cautious, young Commander, and do not assume that the motivations of other members of the Resistance movement are the same as your own.”