Hero's Return, page 26
Anderson saw the look the chief of staff gave him. He knew what it meant.
“Yes, I know I’m taking a chance,” Chuck explained, “but it’s been fifteen minutes since the last attack, and you told me the destroyers got all of them. Belay the jump and reform the force in attack formation Anderson One. We lost too many ships and friends. We need to follow up on the attack. This force will ensure their sacrifice means something.”
“Aye, aye, Admiral.”
“We saw the enemy’s first attack that knocked out four of the superbattleships,” Scimitar’s captain responded to Chuck’s order. “We got a good enough lock on the enemy’s location to calculate a micro jump. Captain Holdman knew the rest of the force wouldn’t survive, even if we could jump out.
“So we micro-jumped to only two light minutes away from the enemy. We launched missiles as soon as the sensors cleared enough to get updated targeting.”
Chuck watched as the commander slumped back in her command chair.
“I never expected all of us would even survive long enough to launch missiles, but somehow, we did. That four of us survived at all… surprised us. Scimitar, out.”
Anderson nodded.
“Commander, I—” Chuck hesitated “—the Federation will remember your actions and those of your fellow destroyermen. You saved the rest of us, and none of us will forget that. Proceed on your current heading and form up with the fleet. I’ll issue further orders after that. Anderson, out.”
Anderson closed the channel.
“What do you want to do next?”
Chuck looked up to see his chief of staff again standing next to his seat.
“Once we get reformed, we head into the system.”
Before his friend could complain, Chuck continued.
“I know it’s a risk, but we owe it to them to take advantage of our victory.” He waved at the tactical display that had replaced the image of Captain Imbobway on the main screen.
“Doesn’t feel like much of a win.” Paul snorted. “Twenty-four ships, along with their crews, lost.”
“But we accomplished the mission. We took away the Eesni’s ability to use this system as a staging area.”
“You’re not thinking of trying to hold it, are you?”
Anderson’s comm officer interrupted before he could answer his chief of staff.
“Commander Imbobway just sent a message for you, sir.”
“Is she live?” Anderson asked, wondering what the commander might have failed to report earlier.
“Recorded message, Admiral.”
“Send it to me.”
Chuck moved his monitor slightly to the side so Paul could see the message. The message icon appeared, and the admiral selected it. Commander Imbobway’s image appeared.
“Admiral, our conversation ended before I could report one last… important piece of information. Our attack failed to totally destroy one of the Eesni warships. Only one of the four targeted missiles struck the ship, severely damaging the cruiser. Sensors show no power readings of any kind.
“We’re still not sure whether the three missiles just missed, or if the ship evaded them somehow. With all the other antimatter warheads going off, the readings were distorted. My team is continuing to review the data and will report any further findings. Imbobway, out.”
The message ended, and the commander’s image disappeared.
“A partially intact Eesni ship,” Paul said, his voice pitched low enough so only his admiral could hear it. “It could be a treasure trove of information.”
“Who can we send?” Chuck asked.
“We have to assume there are survivors aboard,” Paul immediately responded, “so we’ll need Marines to secure the wreck. Then we can put engineers aboard.”
“The destroyers are out,” Chuck said. “They only carry a squad of Marines each. Combined, that would be less than a platoon. And until we can call the support ships in to rearm them, they’re useless in a fight.”
Admiral Anderson had left his two support ships—a supply dreadnought acting as a missile collier, and another one carrying any other supplies his strike force needed—waiting in hyperspace.
“Let’s call in the auxiliaries to get them rearmed, Paul.”
The chief of staff nodded.
“We should send a division of dreadnoughts. Have them micro-jump to the area. They carry a company of Marines each, more than enough to board and secure the derelict,” Paul added.
Anderson checked the tactical display. Whatever he was going to do, he’d have to decide soon. In thirty minutes, his force would cross the hyper limit, making a jump impossible.
“No. We’d be putting them at risk. They’d be stuck near the wreck till their hyper generators recharged and cooled down.”
“The cruisers could do it,” Paul pointed out.
“How many Marines do they have aboard?”
The chief of staff pulled out his comp tablet and typed in a query.
“Each carries a short platoon. That’s two squads, only one of them with power armor, and a command team.”
“Combined, all four cruisers could deploy two full-strength platoons, then,” Anderson said, “but they could jump out again in fifteen minutes.”
“Should I issue the orders?”
Chuck stood. “Get them ready. I want to have a word with the commanding officers first. We need this to go right the first time. We might not get another opportunity like this, at least not soon.”
Anderson stepped around his chair, heading to his small stateroom/office attached to the bridge.
“Keep us out of trouble, Paul.”
* * * * *
Chapter 17: Aftermath
Doay Star System
Zenkarr Empire
Empire Date: July 1049
“Dinosaurs?” Paul Wheeler asked incredulously.
“Have a look for yourself,” Chuck said as he tapped some keys on his terminal. The wall screen across from his desk came to life, displaying the images Federation Marines had taken after boarding the Eesni warship.
“They look like human-size versions of—oh, what the hell was the name of that dinosaur?—T-Rexes,” Paul finally remembered.
“Tyrannosaurus Rex.” Chuck nodded. “I thought the same, so I looked them up. They obviously have a larger brain than the dinosaurs that wandered the Earth, and their upper arms actually work. But yes, they could be distant cousins.”
“Talk about parallel development,” Paul said. “Were any found alive?”
Chuck shook his head. “The jarheads found two still alive who had made it into some kind of survival suits, but they died before we could figure out a way to treat them. I’m not sure whether it’s arrogance or ignorance, but the Dinos don’t design their ships to survive combat damage.”
“What do you mean?”
“The ships were just one big space, not a bunch of individual spaces damage control could seal in the event of a hull breach. And that helped us in more ways than one. The Marines report that the ship decompressed so fast, the Eesni crew didn’t have time to wipe their computers. We got everything. Now we just have to translate it into something we can understand.”
“We need to get The People involved.”
Paul and Chuck had a lot of respect for the alien race many still referred to as the Swarm. Once the enemies of the Empire of Britannia, The People, as they called themselves, had become its allies, and now they were supporting the United Federation of Planets. The bug-like aliens had wandered the galaxy for thousands of human years, searching for a new homeworld. They’d met, fought, and defeated dozens of other sentient races. If anyone could decipher the computer language of a new alien race, it was The People.
“I agree,” Chuck said. “Orders are already on the way to the supercruisers at the wreck to take her in tow and get her out beyond the hyper limit. Once there, they’ll jump into hyper and take the wreck back to 61 Cygni. I’ve already sent a courier asking Loud Grumbler to dispatch a squadron to meet them there.”
“How long are we going to stay here?” Paul asked his boss.
“Shit, Paul, we haven’t been in orbit for a day yet. Let me get some things figured out. There is a Dino presence on the planet’s surface. Based on initial intelligence, they’re mostly civilian administrators, with a handful of what must be ground troops. We have more than enough Marines aboard to go down and take control. I’d love to get some live prisoners.”
“I’ll talk to the dreadnought captains and put a landing plan together.”
“Do that,” Chuck said. “Unless something happens to change my mind, we’ll break orbit in a week. Then a three-day transit out beyond the hyper limit, and we jump for home.”
“Then we’re jumping straight for 61 Cygni? Not going back through Bear space?”
“We’re going straight home. I believe the Bears would prefer that we not appear in their system again.”
“And after they see what you did to the infrastructure here, it will be even worse,” Paul said. “You did sorta promise them you’d try to minimize the damage to Doay’s orbital facilities.”
“Key word there is ‘try,’ Paul. Twenty-four ships, nearly four thousand spacers, died taking this system from the Eesni. When it looked like we couldn’t hold it, I had to make sure the Eesni couldn’t use it.”
Wheeler put his hand up in front of himself in a defensive gesture. “I was only pointing out that the Bears won’t like what we had to do. I’ll never argue that we didn’t need to do it.”
“I’m putting you in charge of the ground operations on Doay, Paul, while I monitor the recovery of the derelict.”
“That’s a fair trade of responsibilities,” Paul said as he rose from his seat and headed for the door. “I’ll get the dreadnought skippers on the horn and hash out a landing plan.”
“Remember, one week, Paul,” Chuck said as the door from his cabin to the flag bridge opened.
The strike force commander’s chief of staff didn’t bother looking back. Instead, he raised his left hand and waved, signaling that he understood the order.
* * *
Tau Ceti Star System
United Federation Space
Empire Date: Aug 1049
“Damn, I hate the delays in messaging,” Julie angrily stated.
“You’d think both of us would be used to it by now, as long as we’ve been out in the Sol Sector,” Aiden Doheny responded.
Both United Federation of Planet officials had grown up in the Empire of Britannia, and even though that group of star systems covered a region of space four hundred light years across, the core worlds were typically only two- or three-days’ travel in hyperspace from one another. To speed up transferring information and messages between systems, the Empire had created a fast and efficient courier service to move data around and keep the central government informed of everything that was going on.
Julie, as president of the fledgling UFP, wasn’t so lucky. From the Federation’s headquarters in the Tau Ceti System, it took messages seven days to reach Earth; ten days to reach Mordor, the home system of the Mordorians, another founding member of the Federation; and eleven days to get to Pyrassun, the home of the third member of the Federation’s founding races.
“Doay is right at the edge of a single courier jump,” Aiden stated. “Sixteen days.”
“And then another three days for the message to get here. That is, if there’s a courier in the 61 Cygni System ready. If the first courier has to refuel, that adds another two days,” Julie added. “What’s Chuck’s recent message have to say?”
Admiral Aiden Doheny, the commander of the Federation Fleet and Rear Admiral Chuck Anderson’s boss, understood her president’s frustration. Yesterday’s news had devastated both of them.
Twenty-four ships lost, Aiden remembered somberly. Oh, sure, we killed twenty of their cruisers. But the fleet won’t survive long, winning victories like this one. We’re fast running out of ships.
“It’s just an update to the previous dispatch. Chuck confirmed they recovered the damaged Eesni cruiser with no issues. He also reports they may have captured the ship’s computers intact.”
“May have?” Julie asked questioningly. “He’s not sure? And how did the damn Dinosaurs not wipe them?”
“Anderson states he can only confirm that the computers still contain data, but until we can understand the Dino language, we can’t be sure it’s not gibberish,” Aiden explained. “Regarding how they didn’t get wiped, the engineers believe the ship decompressed so quickly, the crew didn’t have time to do it.”
“Contact War Chief Loud Grumbler. Get The People involved,” Julie ordered. “They have a lot of experience in dealing with alien computer systems. If anyone can get useful information out of the Eesni computers, it’s them.”
“Admiral Goodman suggested the same thing, and I’ve already reached out to the war chief.”
“Good. Anything else in the message?”
“The remaining cruisers of the 5th Supercruiser Squadron will tow the Eesni ship through hyperspace to 61 Cygni. They’ll leave the day after the courier left.”
“That will get them to Cygni in, what—another week?”
“Fourteen days,” Aiden answered. “The cruisers can’t make the trip without refueling. They’ll stop at an unnamed red dwarf star system halfway between the two systems to refuel, adding two days to the trip.”
Julie nodded.
“And when will Chuck return with what’s left of his force?”
“He was going to land Marines on the planet to see if he could snatch some live prisoners and get additional intelligence. He planned to spend only a week doing that. If he stuck to his timetable, he’s already on his way back.”
Julie leaned back in her chair. “If we can crack the captured ship’s computers and learn some of their secrets, it will almost make this expedition worth it.”
“Securing the safety of the Genesis Colony alone was worth it, Julie.”
The Federation president scowled at her friend.
“We both know it bought us six months at best. That’s how long it would take us to restore basic facilities in the star system and resume fleet operations. Losing so many ships and crews makes me wonder if it was worth it.”
Aiden didn’t argue the point, since she felt the same way.
Still, it had to be tried. Chuck was right about that. We couldn’t just sit on the defensive in the 61 Cygni System. Eventually, the Dinos would have sent a force too large for us to handle.
“Anything else for me today, Aiden?”
“No, ma’am,” the admiral responded, then stood as she recognized a dismissal when she heard it.
“Follow up on the messages to the war chief. I want The People’s engineers in the Cygni System when the cruiser force gets there.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
* * * * *
Chapter 18: A Returning Hero
Interstellar Space Near Crux Star System
Empire of Britannia
Empire Date: Aug 1049
Hazard stared at the reflection in the mirror. It had been five weeks since he’d awakened.
And yes, I looked like death warmed over after two years in a cryo pod. But it kept me alive, and I have put back on a little weight.
He could see it in his face. His eyes didn’t seem to sink into his head any longer, and there was more fullness in his cheeks. Then Hazard ran an index finger along the scar that marred his face, remembering how he’d gotten it and why he’d intentionally kept it. A reminder of a day he hadn’t been good enough and why he needed to be his best every day.
And that includes today.
“Are you decent?” Hazard heard Dorothy call from the living room of the fleet commander’s suite. Being alone, he’d left the door to his bedroom open.
“If I wasn’t, would it matter?”
“Not really,” Dorothy said from the bedroom doorway. “I’ve seen you in your flying rompers before.”
The then Captain Dorothy Evers had commanded one of the Marine transports converted into a space fighter carrier, the Lord Lovat. Hazard, then a captain, as well, and Chuck Conners had flown the early experimental fighters off the ship to both test the fighters and develop tactics for their use. The space fighter pilots wore what they all called “rompers” under their pressurized flight suits.
“It’s good to see you back in uniform,” Dorothy said, noticing what he was wearing. “No insignia?”
Hazard glanced down at the empty collar points of the black uniform jacket.
“Not today.”
Maybe not ever, Hazard thought. I’ve gotten comfortable, not being in charge. Maybe, just maybe… Hazard let the memory trail off.
When he’d started out on the expedition to Earth, he’d worn a nearly exact copy of the uniform he wore now. At the time, he’d been the crown prince, not a fleet officer, and he hadn’t worn any rank devices. Then his mother had pulled out another obscure title and appointed him fleet marshal. He’d worn a single large silver star to indicate that rank. Then Hiroko had come up with a uniform for him to wear as emperor, with a large, red star to show his rank.
“You know, I don’t know what my status is, officially. They did hold a state funeral for me, after all.”
“Oh, I know. I watched the vids. It was very impressive.”
Hazard turned to look at his friend. “I sorta left you, Gathii, and Aiden to pick up the pieces when I died, didn’t I? I apologize for that.”
“Quit saying that,” Dorothy nearly demanded. “You didn’t die. Why do you keep claiming that you did?”
“I’ll concede the point, at least medically—” Hazard snorted “—but I was dead, Dot. Apparently, the deities still have things for me to do. So, here I am.”
“It’s time, Your Majesty.” Dorothy stiffened to attention, becoming formal. “We enter Crux in just under an hour.”
Hazard didn’t normally enjoy such formality in a private setting with a friend, but he understood why Dorothy had done it. Only a handful of people knew he was alive and aboard the Constellation. That was about to change. Like wearing the uniform he now had on, Hazard would need to get used to the idea of being emperor again.
