Embers of Rebellion, page 27
The bridge grew silent as every officer took in Aubrey’s words.
Caleb was still studying the destroyer. Something about its angle of approach looked familiar. It only took a few seconds to hit him. “It’s a Carabel ambush,” he said aloud without realizing it.
“A what?” Aubrey asked, turning to Caleb.
“Check the naval regulations,” Caleb said. “A Carabel ambush. It’s a standard three-ship ambush.”
Caleb wasn’t surprised Aubrey wasn’t familiar with it. He had long since abandoned regulation tactics. Up until a handful of months ago, at least, Caleb had still been required to study them.
“They can’t be that foolish, can they?” Aubrey asked.
“Maybe they want you to think that’s what it is?” Rebecca suggested.
Aubrey pressed his lips together as he thought. “Either they’re rigidly following the regulations, or they’ve abandoned them altogether and are only pretending to use them.” He turned to Caleb. “Which is more likely?”
Caleb thought back to his experience on Atlas. “There will be Regulators on that destroyer, and on the other ships too. It takes a very strong will to go against years of training and break regulations.”
“You think it’s a Carabel ambush, then?” Aubrey asked.
“If I were a betting man, that would be my call,” Caleb responded. “Though we don’t have to bet all our chips on it.”
Aubrey leaned forward, grinning. “You have a plan?”
Caleb nodded as his fingers flew over his console. “If it is a Carabel ambush, then that would put Repulse about here, and Swift here,” he said, as two new dots appeared on Ajax’s main display. “And thanks to Rebecca, we don’t have to worry about the fort. So, we could try something like this…”
Quickly, Caleb outlined his plan. As he did, Aubrey’s smile widened.
“Well, ladies and gentlemen,” Aubrey said to his bridge officers, “I think we’re about to start a war. Let’s get to work. There’s little time!”
Immediately, the bridge broke out into a hive of activity as Caleb and Aubrey’s officers began making frantic preparations. A deadly seriousness took hold of everyone. Even Caleb hadn’t felt it before. They were committed now. They were actually about to fight—for real.
Caleb couldn’t help but smile a little as he thought back to Atlas and how he had felt then.
At least I’m going to get to shoot back this time, he told himself.
Chapter 24
In ten minutes, Caleb’s plan was put into motion. First, Ajax slipped away from the freighters to give herself more room to maneuver. Then her two forward tubes opened, and, one by one, Ajax’s entire torpedo complement was quietly shot out into space. The torpedo tubes fired them with just one-tenth the velocity they normally did, ensuring the shots weren’t detected.
When everything necessary was done, an eerie silence descended on the bridge as everyone waited to see what would happen. Caleb turned to Rebecca and asked something that had been nagging at him. “If you didn’t arrive in-system until after the freighters were impounded, how did you get on board one?”
Rebecca waved away his question. “Oh, that? That was easy. They were sending up supply shuttles to the freighters—one a day. I managed to stow away on one.”
Caleb shook his head. That didn’t sound easy at all. Between breaking into Senator Decimus’ library and now this, it was clear there was far more to Rebecca than he had realized.
“You’ll have to teach us how to do something like that,” Amelia said from her station. “That sounds like a useful trick.”
“With pleasure,” Rebecca said as she gave Caleb a wink.
Caleb shook his head again. He didn’t understand how she could be so confident, given what they were about to come up against.
With nothing more to say, Caleb lapsed back into silence with the rest of Ajax’s bridge officers. There was nothing for them to do now but wait and share the occasional sensor update.
After twenty minutes, the Republic ships finally showed themselves. In the space of five seconds, two new contacts appeared on the main display as alarms went off.
“Two warships detected!” Ajax’s sensor officer called out. “One light cruiser and a frigate. It’s Repulse and Swift.”
“Right where you thought!” Aubrey said, grinning at Caleb.
“We’re being hailed,” Ajax’s comm officer reported.
“Let’s hear it,” Aubrey said.
An image of a Republic captain appeared in front of them. “Rebel freighters, cut your engines and power down your reactors,” the captain ordered. “Ajax, we know you are out there. Surrender now, and there need be no fighting. If you surrender, you will all face life sentences of indentured servitude. If you do not, I have been instructed to inform you that any surviving crew members will be tried and executed as traitors.”
“Freighters are cutting their engines,” Amelia reported—just as Aubrey had instructed them to do.
“Navigation, turn us around,” Aubrey ordered. “Bring us up to thirty percent thrust.” He turned to Caleb. “How are the torpedoes looking?”
Caleb tapped his console to project the estimated position of the torpedoes. A Carabel ambush called for the three ambushing ships to take up very specific positions, allowing them to catch their prey in a crossfire while minimizing the risk of hitting each other. The most powerful ship was to place itself directly in front of the enemy vessel. That was right where Repulse was. It was also where the eight torpedoes Ajax had launched were moving toward.
Large, stealthy, and slow-moving, torpedoes were very hard to score a direct hit with. Yet, if one could get close enough to detonate its thermonuclear warhead—even scoring a proximity hit—it could burn off a ship’s active and passive sensors, effectively blinding it. They were to be avoided at all costs.
“I believe we should tell them to go active in nine minutes,” Caleb said. “It’ll give them some warning, but we don’t want Repulse getting too close.”
“Agreed,” Aubrey said. “Send the order when the time comes.”
Fresh alarms alerted everyone on the bridge to the fact that all three Republic ships were launching active recon drones. Then they, too, switched on their active sensors. Aubrey hissed. They were following the regulations perfectly—and making it simple to predict their next moves.
“Stealth coating is handling the EM radiation for now,” Amelia reported as sensor emissions began to bathe their light cruiser. “It’s rising steadily. Estimated time until they start getting returns—ten minutes.”
“They’ll pick us up sooner than that once we go active!” Aubrey said. “Navigation, be ready. As soon as Repulse takes evasive maneuvers, we’re going to full acceleration.”
“Aye, Captain,” Ajax’s navigation officer confirmed.
“Now, let’s see just how gung-ho they are,” Aubrey said. “Tactical, activate your drone.”
“Yes, Captain,” Amelia said. “Drone active,” she updated seconds later.
At the same time, a brief momentary contact appeared on the main holo display. Ajax’s computer flagged it as an energy spike from a reactor, but then it disappeared again.
Within a second of the emissions reaching the nearest Republic ship, Ajax detected fresh energy spikes as the destroyer opened fire. Moments later, Repulse and Swift joined in. Then they, too, disappeared from the main display as they went dark and began maneuvering.
It took the destroyer’s shells seven minutes to reach the area where the drone had been. When they detonated, their tungsten slivers failed to hit anything. The same was true for the shells from the other ships. The drone was far too small to be hit except by a fluke shot.
“Well, those weren’t warning shots,” Aubrey said as soon as the last shells detonated. “They have officially fired the first shots in anger.”
Caleb nodded. After all the tension of racing to Paracel and carefully avoiding being the first to fire, it felt like a letdown. It doesn’t matter who fires first when you have three warships bearing down on you!
After failing to score a hit, the three Republic warships did what the regulations dictated next. They released more active sensor drones, then took turns coming out of stealth to activate their more powerful sensors. Each ship did so for only a handful of seconds before going dark again and maneuvering to prevent Ajax from getting a good fix on them.
“Emission levels are climbing again,” Amelia reported.
“It won’t matter in a moment…” Caleb said. “Sending the signal to the torpedoes now,” he announced when the time came.
Thirty seconds later, Ajax’s passive sensors detected the torpedoes going active. For just a fraction of a second, each lit up its active sensors, flashing the space in front of them. All eight got a return on Repulse. They then fired up their engines and carried out a three-to-five-second burn as they turned toward their target. Then, they went quiet again, powering down their engines to ten percent and using their maneuvering thrusters to make subtle course adjustments.
Aubrey and Caleb shared a look. In regulation simulations, a crew was trained to respond to being attacked by two torpedoes at most. Repulse’s captain and crew had to be panicking—even if the torpedoes were much farther out than a normal attack.
Caleb couldn’t help but feel a stab of guilt. Six months ago, the crew of Repulse would have been his friends. It was even possible he had served with some of them.
There is no time for such sentiment, he told himself as he tried to bury his feelings. Repulse and her crew were working for the Senate, even if they were just following orders.
It took Repulse a little longer than it should have, but just ten seconds after detecting the torpedoes, the cruiser swung away from the incoming attack and went to full power with her engines. This immediately gave away her position to Ajax and the torpedoes' passive sensors. But if the slow-moving torpedoes wanted to score a hit, they too would have to increase their acceleration rates. Half did just that—though in fits and starts to make tracking them more difficult. As Caleb had programmed them, the other half remained hidden, giving Repulse’s crew even more to worry about.
“Turning us now!” Ajax’s navigation officer announced. “Beginning evasive maneuvers.”
“Fire at will,” Aubrey said to Amelia.
“Firing,” Amelia announced seconds later. Instantly, Ajax’s three twin six-inch turrets and single twin four-inch turret discharged the energy from their capacitors into their electromagnetic rails. Six six-inch and two four-inch shells were hurled out into space.
“How confident are you about your shots, Ensign?” Aubrey asked immediately.
“We have as good a track on the destroyer as I’ve ever seen in a simulation,” Amelia said as she met Aubrey’s eyes. “We will get a hit.”
Aubrey grinned. “That’s the kind of confidence I want to hear. Switch to AP rounds for your next salvo then. And hold fire until we get your hit.”
“Aye, aye, Captain!” Amelia said enthusiastically.
Fresh alarms followed seconds later. Ajax’s sudden burst of acceleration and her gunfire had given away her position. Both the enemy destroyer and frigate opened fire at once. Ajax was already racing away from where she had been, though.
It took eleven minutes for Amelia’s first shells to reach their detonation points. As soon as it had detected Ajax firing, the Republic destroyer had altered course. However, Amelia had accounted for that. The detonation of her HE shells formed a wide circle around where the destroyer had been. The explosive rounds shattered into tens of thousands of tungsten slivers, spreading out in a conical wave. Ten seconds later, Ajax’s passive sensors picked up a small flash.
“We have a hit!” Amelia called out.
“Tracking a moving heat signature,” Ajax’s sensor officer reported a second later as the ship’s passives picked up the tungsten sliver that had embedded itself into the destroyer’s armor.
“Relaying to our turrets,” Amelia responded. “Firing again!”
For a second time, Ajax’s railguns fired in anger.
“Proximity detonations!” Caleb called out moments later as the first enemy shells actually targeted at them began to explode. His body tensed as the destroyer’s three four-inch shells detonated. None were too close to Ajax, but they would be HE shells. Within seconds, space near Ajax was filled with superheated tungsten slivers. None came close enough to threaten a hit, however.
“We’re all clear,” Caleb reported. “Good evasive maneuvers, Navigation.” He then checked his console. “Approximately thirty seconds until the frigate’s shells should be detonating.”
“The destroyer is turning—it’s going to full acceleration!” Ajax’s sensor officer shouted above the alarms and noise of the bridge.
Caleb momentarily forgot about the frigate’s two incoming shells. “She’s running back to the fort for cover!” It made sense. Their ambush was broken. With Repulse still fleeing from the torpedoes and unable to bring her guns to bear, the destroyer was essentially on her own. It might even be what the regulations say, Caleb thought, though at this point, he wasn’t sure how anyone could know. Things were already too chaotic.
Most eyes on the bridge turned to Amelia. She sensed it and looked up. “The shell from gun six should cover that area of space.”
“Good girl!” Aubrey said with a grin. He then focused on the fleeing destroyer. “XO, what do you think? We can’t let her get back to the fort. She’ll just hide there until Repulse is ready to come for us again.”
Caleb quickly figured out what Aubrey was suggesting. “Agreed. It’s risky. But Ajax can take it.”
“Navigation, take us to full power. Keep up the evasive maneuvers, but take us after that destroyer. Tactical, take her out as quickly as possible. We need to finish her before Repulse rejoins the fight.”
Caleb glanced at Repulse as Amelia and Ajax’s navigation officer acknowledged Aubrey’s commands. The Republic light cruiser was still running from Ajax’s eight torpedoes. Though it looked like her point defenses had shot down two of the four torpedoes that were actively chasing her.
A second salvo of enemy shells came in exactly five minutes after the first. But as Ajax had held her fire, the Republic ships were guessing at her position. None of the HE slivers came close. Amelia then fired her third salvo before a third round of enemy shells arrived five minutes later—once again missing entirely.
“Our first AP shells should be detonating any second now,” Amelia called out.
Everyone focused on the shell from gun six. It exploded almost directly behind the destroyer. A wave of two thousand large tungsten slivers tore through the space where the destroyer was. A large flash appeared on Ajax’s main display.
Cheers filled the bridge. “We got a hit!” Amelia tried to call out above the noise.
“Assessing damage,” Ajax’s sensor officer said when the excitement calmed down. “Her acceleration rate is unchanged. We’re detecting debris, though. The hit must have opened some of her decks to space.”
Moments later, the destroyer fired again. All three of her four-inch guns discharged, proving they were still operational.
“Keep hitting her!” Aubrey ordered.
“What about the frigate chasing us?” Amelia asked. “We could train our four-inch turret on her. She’s closing at full speed. We have a solid track on her.”
Aubrey and Caleb glanced at Swift on the display.
“She’s a plucky one, I’ll give her that,” Aubrey said, shaking his head. “But no—we focus on the destroyer. We take her out first. Agreed, XO?”
Caleb nodded. “Agreed.” The destroyer’s four-inch guns were a far bigger threat. Ajax was covered in ten inches of nano-carbon armor in addition to her reinforced hull. Tungsten slivers from two-inch shells could theoretically penetrate her armor, but only if they scored a perpendicular hit. Anything else, and they would be deflected.
For the next forty minutes, a deadly chase ensued as Ajax pursued the destroyer back toward Paracel, while Swift followed, sniping at Ajax’s heels. With reactors running at one hundred percent, impulse engines putting out high levels of thrust, and energy spikes from rail guns, no ship could hide. Instead, each vessel was constantly altering course and executing evasive maneuvers in an attempt to throw off their opponent’s aim.
Caleb joined Amelia as they worked together to target the destroyer and predict her movements. Ajax’s second salvo of AP shells didn’t score any hits, but after that, they quickly found their range. A second, then a third AP sliver, slammed into the destroyer in the span of nine minutes. More cheers filled the bridge as the destroyer lost ten percent of its thrust.
The problem was that their enemies quickly locked onto Ajax as well. With two ships firing from different angles, the Republic vessels were able to coordinate their fire. First one, then a second HE sliver, struck Ajax, embedding themselves into her armor—giving the Republic ships something they could easily track.
“Armitage, get those off the hull!” Aubrey ordered.
“Working on it!” Ajax’s Third Lieutenant responded as he dispatched drones and crew onto Ajax’s exterior.
Caleb watched their progress for a moment—he didn’t envy the crew going EVA one bit. Even on a normal day, it was not something he would volunteer for. Now, with the ship maneuvering wildly and tungsten slivers flying everywhere, it would be a nightmare. He forced himself to refocus on targeting the Republic destroyer with Amelia.
Every four minutes and forty seconds, Ajax fired a fresh salvo of shells at the Republic destroyer. Initially, their return fire came every five minutes, but the interval between volleys quickly began to increase as they took more damage. After six salvos of AP shells, the destroyer had suffered five hits.
“One of their guns is damaged!” Ajax’s sensor officer called out excitedly. “They just fired, but their third gun is silent.”
Caleb punched a fist into the air. They were doing it.
