Birthright: Battle for the Confederation- Reprisal Page 26

  Onboard the heavy carrier Galaxy, Fleet Admiral Dant surveyed the battle. The AI Talons had played out and were largely destroyed. She had ordered several changes in formation as the Primans adapted to her moves, and had begun to consider what she would do if the battle became a stalemate. Who would receive reinforcements first? There were several hit-and-run attacks being conducted in other systems right now in efforts to keep Priman forces from being recalled, but that also meant that those hulls weren’t able to help in the Delos System either. Both sides were still losing ships at almost a one for one ratio, and she needed something to swing the battle to her side.

  The Ninth Fleet had broken the Priman flanking maneuver from Delos orbit, but would still take some time to get close enough to the main fleet action to contribute. She even saw what she would assign as their target- a large Priman ship, normally a carrier but this one apparently having been converted to a command and control ship of some sort. Her techs were monitoring tons of transmission bandwidth between that ship and the rest of the fleet, as well as signals going outsystem, perhaps from an overall battle commander. She instructed a communications officer to add that tasking to the Ninth Fleet’s orders.

  Commander Velk couldn’t believe his eyes. The ambush from behind Delos was not going as planned. To be sure, the twenty ships that had joined in the main battle were doing well for themselves, but the element that had attacked the Confederation landing forces had been routed. He would need to adjust the leadership positions of those in charge of that force.

  He looked around the room and noted that everyone looked busy. He seriously doubted that everyone was actually that preoccupied, and assumed that most simply didn’t want to have to address him and possibly have to answer for a wrong recommendation or plan. Some of them in fact should have felt nervous, but some were weathering the storm well enough. Losing Delos would not be considered a failure, as long as the Confeds paid a dear enough price for it.

  Velk suddenly felt the need to take an active role in the battle. He stood up and strode purposefully over to the communications equipment along one of the interior walls. The tech sat straighter, not wanting to show anything other than eager competence.

  “Connect me to Captain Visat on the Birthright.”

  “There’s another huge databurst from outsystem,” said the sensor officer at the back of the Avenger’s bridge. Captain Elco leaned over the back of the woman’s chair a bit, as if he could somehow intercept and make use of the data if he could just get a little bit closer. “Same string of characters at the beginning and end,” she continued. The young woman was an extremely gifted sensor and cryptography officer, a prodigy really, and Elco had kept her on the bridge longer than any of the other crew as the battle had approached and then begun. He knew it must be wearing her down, but he needed her and she knew it. She wasn’t about to admit how tired she was if he wasn’t, and he had been up on the bridge longer than her.

  “Sir, I think this is the authentication code of the overall commander.”

  “Explain.” Elco said.

  “Well, whenever a burst comes in from this direction to this ship, a short while later new databursts zap out of this ship to the rest of the fleet.” The woman was very animated and her hands were a blur, pointing to the large display mounted on the bulkhead over her station. She pointed at the incoming databurst, which was depicted as a thin orange line headed towards the large carrier that Fleet Admiral Dant had deduced was a command ship and tasked the Ninth Fleet with attacking. Then she pointed at the ship itself, some of the other ships in the fleet, then slewed the display around as she pointed out maneuvers accomplished after the transmissions. Elco had a hard time keeping up and was getting fatigued just trying to process it, but he was getting it so far. “So I think this ship is the command ship for the fleet, but he’s getting orders from someone higher up from outsystem. I tried tracing it, but it hits a relay satellite and then bounces off more on the back end, so it’s not coming in line-of-sight and we can’t just follow it straight back to where it’s being broadcast from.”

  “Would that we were so lucky the invasion commander would be that stupid.”

  “It would be appreciated, sir,” she replied. “But anyway. I think these characters are his authentication code. There are always the same core digits, probably a base code with some sort of random rotating encryption key or something to that effect. At least we can start keeping track of this person’s orders.”

  “Excellent work, Ensign Caho. Looks like that ship needs to get hammered.”

  The Ninth Fleet had formed up and was advancing towards the main battle now, but with the fluid nature of fleet combat Elco estimated it would still take close to ten minutes before they would be in range for even the most distant laser bombardment. The command staffs of each ship had set up a hastily arranged conference, and were now receiving a quick briefing from Admiral Illam.

  Loren held the reigns on this one, and was in the conference room at the rear of Avenger’s C3 by himself. Mastruk was running C3, and Captain Elco was attending via video feed from the bridge. On the large display, Loren noted the captains or XO’s of all the Ninth Fleet ships now headed inbound.

  “So,” began the Admiral, speaking from the command area of his flagship, the heavy carrier Gallant, “Fleet Admiral Dant is currently using the Third Fleet to keep the Primans engaged. They’re in a sort of stalemate tactically speaking, but if all they do is trade kills that still leaves the Primans with the system.” He paused to wait for the tactical holos on the Avenger and the rest of the ships to update with new information the Admiral was sending over the datalink. “What the Fleet Admiral wants us to do is come in hard from the Primans’ port aft quarter and attack this command and control ship.” Again, the holos shifted as the image changed to zoom in on the target vessel.

  “Intel believes that this ship is commanding the whole Priman effort, and that it’s receiving orders from outsystem. The Primans are fighting a very coordinated attack, and where our doctrine emphasizes initiative and fluid counterattacks, the Primans fight with a very coordinated, scripted and precise plan. If we can remove their ability to coordinate their attacks, we believe we can take the advantage.”

  As Illam paused for a second to let that sink in, Loren studied the holo and attendant data with resignation. That ship was protected by a ring of escorts that were always in motion, rotating and shifting around the larger vessel in order to never leave a predictable lane of fire open towards the ship. Attacking that ship would get very ugly, and likely cost the Ninth Fleet an unhealthy number of ships and lives.

  Loren heard a few questions and concerns in the background as people asked the Admiral about the finer points of the plan, but that began to fade as he studied the problem. Something was floating around in his mind, not quite tangible, but he could imagine, even see, how he would conduct this attack. Move a ship in on that vector, fire for effect over there… The parts began to click into place, and in his mind’s eye, the attack began to change from a wispy almost-idea to something he could start to put into words.

  Suddenly the conversations in the background began filter back into his hearing, and he turned to the big monitor and waited for people to catch their breaths so he could jump in.

  “Admiral,” Loren started, “I have a thought.”

  The discussion stopped. Most of others on the screen didn’t know him, and the sudden interjection from an unfamiliar face gave them pause enough for the Admiral to address Loren directly.

  “XO Stone, you have an idea?” The Admiral was careful to keep his voice entirely neutral. He knew Captain Elco thought very highly of the transplanted fighter pilot, and was going to at least give him a few seconds to toss out an idea, though with little experience in capital ship combat, he didn’t know what to expect.

  “Yes, Admiral, I’ll try to make this brief.” Loren took a step towards the screen, tried to resist the urge to pace or lapse into any other theatrics. “What if we jumped
Avenger right into the heart of that formation next to the CNC ship? I mean literally jump right into their baffles, unload a couple spreads of torpedoes into their engines, and jump right out? We’re far enough away from the planet’s gravity well to make the hyperdrive usable, and we could use the mag shield to buy us a little time.”

  A few people started to speak up right away, whether they did it because they wanted to examine the plan or try to catch the Admiral’s attention by schooling the newcomer, Loren couldn’t guess. Admiral Illam beat them to the punch.

  “This isn’t a Talon, Captain Stone. You’re thinking like a fighter pilot, not the XO of a large and ponderous capital ship. Besides, the shield won’t do much- they would see you coming.”

  “Not if we break away from this element of the fleet. We microjump outsystem and reorient towards their fleet. Keep the mag shield on so they can’t see us a long ways out. They’ll be busy with other things than trying to track down a ship that will be hard for even their sensors to see at that range.” Loren was talking fast now, and despite his personal desire to avoid it, he had started pacing just a few steps left and right of center screen. “We watch their rotating cover for a pattern- there has to be one, you said yourself how carefully coordinated their fleet movements are. So, we watch for a gap in the coverage. When we get it, we microjump right in next to them, unload on them, and blast right out before they can organize a counterattack.

  “Admiral, taking a dozen ships right up to them is only going to bring us head to head with an equal or greater number of their own ships, right?”

  The Admiral slowly nodded. “We have identified a solid dozen from the main fleet that are maintaining proximity to that ship, not to speak of the immediate escorts.”

  Loren noticed that the other personnel on the screen had become silent; he hoped it meant they were absorbing his plan and giving it consideration.

  “I doubt they’d expect something like this, sir. And if we can do it alone, we limit only a single ship to the risk of damage or destruction.”

  “Personally, it looks to be risky and somewhat insane.” The Admiral paused, then looked right at Loren. “I want in on it, too.”

  “I’m not sure it would work, Admiral. Those gaps are small, and even if they didn’t see your battleship out there waiting, Avenger could fit through a smaller hole than your flagship.”

  Admiral Illam was beginning to like this Loren fellow. He stood up and sold his plan, then told the Admiral he couldn’t participate. Not everyone would stand up to him like that. He also noticed the fire in Loren’s eyes as he talked of destroying Primans; he knew about the man’s wife on occupied Toral, and had no doubt that a portion of his risk taking strategy revolved around thoughts of ending the war or otherwise helping to push the Primans far enough back that Toral could be retaken.

  “You’re still thinking like a fighter pilot, Captain Stone, and not a starship commander. Maybe that’s not such a bad thing.”

  Captain Elco spoke up now, having remained silent so as not to interfere with Loren’s suggestion. “I’ve found that the need to pursue needlessly risky ventures is a genetic defect common to fighter pilots, Admiral.” Elco smiled. “But personally, I like it. I’ll sign us up if you give us the green light.”

  “This might end badly for your ship, Captain Elco,” replied Illam.

  “I believe it’s worth a shot,” was the solemn reply.

  “Alright, it’s a go.” Illam looked offscreen to a display and then continued. “We have five minutes before we expect to engage. How long will you need to get in position, Sirian?”

  “I think we can microjump out, turn around, and get in position about the same time you attack. As for us launching in, I doubt we’d have time to call you; we’ll probably have to just go and hope you see us when we jump in.”

  “I’ll alert my crews, you do the same. It’s your plan now, good luck.” Admiral Illam signed off, and the rest of the captains and XOs did the same, save for Elco. The viewscreen was empty except for one little box with Elco’s face on it, which then expanded to take up the center of the screen once the computer realized it was the only active link.

  Elco just looked at him and gave him the most imperceptible smile. Some captains would have been upset with a subordinate trying to steal the show like that, but that initiative is what Elco tried to nurture in his people, as long as they were responsible with the authority.

  “Loren,” Elco began, “you definitely know how to make a first impression.”

  “Well, Captain, it was a lot easier convincing myself to sell the plan than to wonder if it’s a good one in the first place.”

  “No time for doubt now, I’m afraid. Get C3 ready; we’ll jump in just a minute.”

  Loren quickly gathered Mastruk and gave her an outline of the plan. After she, too, concluded that his plan was reckless and deranged, she smiled and ran off to brief the weapons crews on what they would be expected to do.

  Avenger was going to revert from hyperspace dangerously close to the Priman command ship, but until they did, Loren couldn’t count on whether they would be facing bow-first towards the Priman vessel or broadside. The gun crews, therefore, had to be prepared for either eventuality. They would fire off a salvo of torpedoes, reload, fire another salvo, then turn for an exit vector while hitting the ship with the aft torpedo tubes on the way out. All laser batteries would be concentrating fire as much as their firing arcs would allow. It was hoped that destroying the engines, and thus the power generation capability of the ship, would knock it out of the battle, if not destroy it outright.

  Somehow, in addition, Avenger needed to avoid being destroyed by concentrated return fire or potential explosions from the Priman ships or even their own torpedoes. Captain Elco was on the bridge right now planning out escape maneuvers and having the computer start preparing microjump calculations.

  Chapter 11

  Onboard the Priman flagship Birthright, Captain Visat straightened his composure and stood straighter as he accepted the comm request from Commander Velk on the wall screen.

  “Commander, it’s an honor,” began Visat.

  “Captain,” replied Velk. He continued without preamble, taking his right as the commander of all Priman forces to administer advice and commands wherever he saw fit. “I have noticed a change of tactics among the Confederation forces. Their main fleet, identified as their Third Fleet, has begun to maneuver and organize. They appear to be awaiting the arrival of their Ninth Fleet, having recently beaten back our forces in Delos orbit. Their tactics suggest they hope to catch you in a pincer between those two forces.”

  “Yes, Commander, we have noticed the Confederation’s change, but were unaware of our forces defeat around the planet. Do our current orders still stand?” Visat was to hold position and duke it out with the Confederation for as long as Velk told him, to the last ship if that was the Commander’s wish.

  “Yes, your orders stand. I will communicate further.”

  And with that, Velk’s image was gone. Captain Visat returned to the large holographic planning table and resumed the direction of his fleet. Constant adjustments to positions and orders were required, and since the Confederation still couldn’t reliably jam the Priman’s communications on a regular basis, Visat was still able to exercise tight control over his forces.

  Loren looked at the large display screen on the port side bulkhead, which displayed a computer model of the Priman flagship’s disposition and predicted paths of its’ escorts. So far, the computer had not detected a repeating pattern of coverage, but it had begun to identify cues that indicated when a shift in coverage was imminent. Lieutenant Commander Mastruk had informed him that the analysts expected the computer to have enough data to start thinking about making a jump attempt in a minute or two.

  And so Loren went to stand now at the railing overlooking C3, hands clenched tightly around the stainless steel bar, knuckles white with tension. He knew the only warning he’d get that Avenger was about t
o jump would be the almost imperceptible blink in some of the lights and displays as massive amounts of power were rerouted throughout the ship to engines, shields, and navigational systems. Then they would be within spitting distance of a ship as large as a Sabre Class carrier.

  “Any last minute instructions?” asked Mastruk.

  “I command you to destroy that ship with one shot,” was Loren’s reply.

  “If I could do that, I’d be a Fleet Admiral by now.”