Totality's End, page 16
“Tell them to think outside the box. No, throw the box away. Anything radical will be considered. Get anything they come up with sent to my Ops. The window for ideas is up until they stop firing missiles, which is when we need to have something to action in response.”
“We’ll see if we can come up with anything.”
I nodded to him, and then looked back at my scans. We were way to far away from the jump points now, but any closer would just risk ships. If that was an actual enemy strategy, then it was working. And Ops was right. We were too far out now to destroy ships jumping in. They only had cruisers and destroyers, but jumping in six at a time they’d proved to be doable.
Once in the system, our big guns were not a factor until we either moved ships, or they came into range. And Blackton was probably right. They’d run as fast as they could for the Terran jump point. And for two of them, that was only five hours away.
Add to that we were exhausted, and didn’t have even a single shift rested enough to take up that running fight. So, yeah. This might be exhausted paranoia kicking in, but we needed a new plan.
Because if they had one, we had to counter it.
Thirty Seven
They stopped launching just after five.
By then we were swapping prime and third shift every twenty minutes, trying to keep people less blunt. Prime shift were in worse condition because they’d been up for twenty three hours now, but they still had the most experience on most of our ships. Third had the least, but they were getting it now.
“They stopped firing,” confirmed Scan3. “There’s movement on all three jump points.”
“Are they coming through?” asked Jack.
“Hard to tell. Some of their ships are peeling away from the sides and rear, and heading away gaining speed. They could be running, or they could be forming up to run the jump point. We’ll know when they turn, or when the front of their formations start forward.”
“This is Fleet Ops to all wings. Land immediately, and rearm with ship missiles. Whatever record you have for doing that, break it. Put birds back in the tubes as soon as they have missiles on them, and they should prepare to launch.”
“You heard the man,” said Peng. “We are RTB. Hustle!”
I was pretty sure Peng had been out there since they first launched, just keeping the wing commanders focussed in the right places, while everyone else launched, then landed and reloaded. So she, and the group captains at the other two jump points doing the same thing, had to be far more gutted than I felt.
For just a moment I considered going to my bird so I could launch to lead them instead. But that was fatigue setting in. We were well into bad decision making time now.
“I’ve got a plan, ma’am,” said Ops.
“Let’s have it then.”
He quickly outlined it. It seemed good.
“Ida, get us set up for it. Ops, you have a go.”
He started giving orders. I sat back, considering what he planned, and watching what the enemy were doing. I set a point where I thought they’d turn, and waited to see if they would. Then I had a thought.
“Ida, how have the battlestations fared?”
They hadn’t been on my list of ships.
“All three have lost shields multiple times. They’ve taken damage, have turrets no longer functional, lost some launcher clusters, but are still operational for main guns, ship missiles, and mosquito launching. You want them added to the plan?”
“Can they go just on the other side of the jump point, and block the way?”
“They could. But they’d be jumped out again before a collision could happen. They’re not expendable.”
“I never said they were. But them appearing there, and being able to fire big guns at the closest ships, might disrupt whatever they’re planning to do.”
“Genius,” I heard Ops say. “Ida, I’ve got orders for them.”
I nodded at her, and she smiled back. Five minutes later, with ships still peeling away and joining the back of the long line of ships now up to combat speed, the lead ships began to turn back in towards the jump points.
A screen moved around to in front of me, showing me twenty one captains, all looking severely fatigued, but determined, and next to them their ship name, shield value, and missile stocks. But missiles wouldn’t be essential this time. No-one had full shields, but there was no option.
“Prepare to jump,” said Ops, now back in his seat on the bridge, with his own version of the same screen up on his own, smaller, screen.
He looked back and forth from scan to scan, then nodded to himself.
“Battlestations, targets of opportunity, go.”
The three of them appeared on the other side of the jump points, and began firing again at whatever was in range, still spinning at their recharge rate. The pulses had gaps, wherever turrets were non-functional.
“Carriers, go.”
Resolution jumped. We appeared at point blank range of the lead ships due to go through the jump point first, and fired a broadside at them, then jumped again. All six ship dots blinked out, meaning we’d blown the shit out of them. Other parts of the lines vanished as well, and then we were all at a more reasonable range to the main fleet still at the jump point waiting their turn to move, and they got a full broadside as well.
Jump, fire, jump, fire, back and forth between the lines and what was still not moving, and then once the lines were nothing but debris, we appeared at the effective range for the main guns, and started on what was left. By then, half the carriers had shields down too far to risk close in jumping again. Fortunately, missiles were no longer a factor, as it was pretty obvious they were totally out now. And we were out of their range for cruiser guns.
“I’ve got a runner!” called out Scan. “It’s a damaged cruiser, and it has to be red lining it’s engines to go that fast.” Pause. “There goes another one. And more. I think we just broke them, ma’am.”
Over the next few minutes, as we continued to pound the remaining ships from a distance, ships turned and burned for the jump points out. By five twenty, what was left was in rout.
“Do we follow them?” asked Thorgasson.
I considered it. But the reality was, if we let them go, they’d just form the core of the next wave to come at us.
“Pursue and destroy,” I ordered.
At this point it was like clubbing defenceless animals, since it looked like they were all out of missiles completely, and as long as we stayed outside cruiser gun range, there was little they could do now to keep us from killing them.
“Space Commodore, stand down the pilots and maintenance crews, we won’t be needing you after all.”
“I hate to say it, but, good. There’s no records being broken rearming this time. And no-one’s back in the tubes yet. How long can we sleep?”
“Until you wake up, or someone sounds the alarm on you. Whichever comes first.”
“Hopefully, we’re done for the next week.”
“We can only hope. Go. Tell your pilots they did a good job today.”
“Will do.”
She vanished.
“Stand down prime shift completely?” asked Jack.
“Yes. Third can finish out their shift. That includes you, captain.”
“Aye.”
He sounded worse than I thought I did. The orders were given for the whole fleet, but Ops remained in his chair. It was his plan, so I didn’t comment. Jack looked at him, then nodded and left, but I thought if I looked, I’d probably find him at his den desk. Third took the captain’s chair.
It took us another half hour to clean up the rest of the fleeing ships. It became a matter of doing it at a deliberate pace, given they had no chance of getting away from us. Behind us, the mercenary prison barge jumped around, leaving no survivors on the hulks. There was nothing we could do about the hulks themselves, though, at least until we finished jumping ourselves.
We were done and docked at the shipyard by six. Ida had a resupply order worked out for ships, and had moved the shipyard itself three times so ships could dock faster, and without needing to be moved. The sleds were now parking hulks. The damage reports were being done, the casualty reports made up, and everyone needed missiles and spare parts.
“Ma’am?” said Third.
“Yes?”
“Take a look at the seven jump points.”
I did so.
Each of them now had two battleships, and the start of a new fleet gathering there.
Thirty Eight
Donaldson looked like he’d aged ten years in the last day.
And that wasn’t just the fatigue of being up all night like the rest of us. Mira looked exhausted as well, but otherwise fine. As soon as I’d got to my den chair to do a message to him, I’d been informed Donaldson was calling, and the two of them appeared on my screen.
“We won’t keep you long, Karen,” he said. “That was a damned fine victory. We’re getting the casualty reports coming in, and we know we’ve got ships that need repairs. But no-one here thought we could get off so lightly given what they sent at us. So well done.”
“It was League tech that won it for us. The jump sled and the mosquito missile were the deciding factors.”
“But you used them to perfection,” said Mira. “And that counts.”
“Actually, my Fleet Ops was responsible for most of what we did. I just ran some of it. It came down to several effective plans which worked out, and the hard work and sacrifice of people just being there doing their jobs. And the mercenary ships which came to our aid. And the three battlestations. The rest was just tactics which worked, and changing them at the right time.”
“You can down play it all you like,” he said. “But the fleet was following you, and you and your ship were in the middle of it the entire time.”
“We sent our enemies a strong message they should not mess with us,” she added.
My mouth ticked on both sides, which was super uncomfortable.
“Actually, we didn’t.”
She frowned. Donaldson just looked surprised.
“They learned that they need to bring resupply with them next time, and what they brought today wasn’t enough. And if you check the jump points, you can see they’re already building new armadas. The only thing that’s changed is we’re down ships until we get some of ours out of the shipyard, that we’re probably going to be sucking dry the stocks of missiles Terra has, and forcing industry to up what we need for next time and beyond. Because there will be a next time, and if they up their game like they did this time to a whole new level, we’ll take twice or three times the losses we did this time.”
Neither of them wanted to hear that.
“The only reason that battle ended was they ran out of missiles, and thought we couldn’t hit them with guns until they’d already jumped through. They were wrong, and probably that only happened because someone junior and inexperienced had the overall command by then. But when they stopped launching at us, we were seriously out of position, and without being able to jump to the other side, we’d have had a hard time stopping them getting ships past us. And the ones we’d have sent after them, wouldn’t have been able to fire enough missiles before they ran out for us to stop them. Then it would have been Arthur who’d have had to be there.”
They looked at each other.
“You’re tired, Karen,” said Mira. “Go to bed, get eight hours, eat a good meal, and we’ll talk again. I’m about to do the same.”
“Me too,” said Donaldson. “In fact, you won’t be seeing me in under ten hours. And even then, I’m not making any decisions of any kind. Nor should either of you. The supply situation is being managed, and we made sure prime shift here went to bed, knowing they need to work hard this morning. The shipyard people as well. None of that needs you or me. And we had freighters loading all night with what ships are likely to need the most, and as soon as the jump sleds are available, ships will go to the fleet. The ones with you are already loaded up from the ship-stations, and your smaller ships will be directed to dock with them in need order.”
“We can’t go on like this,” I told them, not really hearing him. “We need a new plan.”
“And as you’ve been told before,” said Mira, “when you come up with one, we expect to hear from you.”
I face palmed. Neither of them even smiled.
“Good night, Karen,” said Donaldson.
And they were gone.
I sat there with a blank mind for a bit, then rose, walked through into my main office, then into my living room.
“Do you need anything, ma’am?” asked Katy.
“Eight hours sleep, the same as you do. Otherwise, nothing, thanks. Go to bed. That’s an order.”
“Ma’am.”
She grinned at me, and left. I visited the bathroom, was delighted to not see any screens in there, and back in the bedroom, pulled my uniform off, and let everything fall to the deck. I slipped under the covers, and was asleep the moment my head settled on my pillow.
I dreamed I was a kid playing a childhood game. I climbed up the ladders almost to the top, and then just when I thought I’d won, I slid down a snake to the very bottom, and had to start again.
Nothing disturbing about that, but I woke anyway, absently kicked my unused pyjamas off the bed, turned over, and went back to sleep.
Thirty Nine
It was two thirty in the afternoon before I woke.
A solid eight hours, and with a bladder demanding attention. I spent a bit longer under the shower than normal, testing how long I could go without checking on our status. But as soon as I was dressed, I gave in, went to my main desk, and did a check. I needn’t have bothered. The reports were all routine.
Jack and Peng were in my dining room when I went in. Both had food in front of them, but hadn’t really got far into it yet.
“Morning,” they both said, somewhat cheerfully, I thought.
“It’s three in the afternoon.”
I sat, and Katy put a plate and coffee down in front of me immediately.
“Details,” said Peng. “And unnecessary until we’ve finished our coffee.”
“Right,” said Jack, and shovelled another mouthful in.
The food smelled great, but the coffee won. So I sipped enough of that to take the edge off the caffeine craving, then started in on the food. No-one said anything until our plates were empty. Katy took them away, and came back with desserts. We dug into them as well, and the only noise was eating related. Katy took those dishes away as well, then refilled our coffees.
I looked at Jack over my mug.
“Second shift came on at nine,” he said. “And prime at two. Second will be back on at eight, and then third will take over at midnight as usual. There’s no problems beyond replacing what needs to be replaced after such an extended battle, and that’s in hand, mostly by the repair robots. We’re about half stocked with ship missiles, as those are being shared around as they become available, so everyone gets some. But we’re fully loaded with mosquito missiles already, courtesy of the Winchesters.”
“Exactly when did you get up?”
“About a half hour before you did, I suspect.”
“Me too,” said Peng. “We’re doing much the same with pilots as far as the shifts go, but no-one is launching unless we have to. We had pilots in the birds for much longer than anyone has ever done it before, even if for a lot of it they were just sitting on the decks doing nothing. I wouldn’t trust any of them to land a bird today without breaking something. That includes me.”
“I think that applies to the entire fleet,” I added. “The only people needing to do anything specific should be those handling resupply, and those doing essential damage control. The rest can just stand their watch with as little to do as possible.”
“That’s already been ordered,” said Jack. “Admiral Thorgasson issued that at midday, before going off watch himself. I understand Admiral Blackton has the duty at the moment.”
“I’ll check in with him then.” I looked at Peng. “Any issues with pilots I need to know about?”
“No. I’ve reports from wing commanders to wade through now, so I’ll let you know if anything turns up in them.”
I found my mug was empty, and stared down into it as if it was the mug’s fault. Then put it down, and rose.
“We better get on with it then.”
They followed me out into the living room, but left through the door to the passageway. I went into my main office, and then to my den chair. I was barely down in it before Blackton was on my screen.
“Afternoon, ma’am,” he said. “I’ve got the duty for now, and I’ve had enough sleep to carry it for a while longer. So catch up on reports, check in back home, and I’ll let you know if anything happens you need to know about.”
“How are we with resupply?”
“The cruisers are all topped off with missiles, but all our carriers are only half way there. That will take half the night to complete. I’m told stocks on Terra will be sufficient, but the bottleneck is loading up freighters to dock with the carriers. Our cruisers, on the other hand, were able to dock and take on container loads themselves, then while they unloaded them, they gave the dock to someone else, then went back for more when the containers were empty.”
“Scan?”
“Nothing moving anywhere in all three systems. There’s ships arriving steadily at all the jump points, but we’re not classifying ships jumping in and then parking as movement.”
“Fair enough. Debris?”
“Cleaned up already. Everything worth salvaging is parked, and the rest was added to the small moon near the shipyard.”
It had obviously grown a lot.
“Anything else I need to know?”
“We’re effectively down thirteen cruisers and three destroyers, but they’re repairable. The crews are all stood down on Terra, and will probably go to the next ships to come out of the shipyard bays instead of back to their ships. There’s several dozen with minor hull breaches they’re dealing with themselves, with the help of damage teams from carriers. Six carriers took hull breaches as well, but they all report they can deal with them themselves. My only concern there is replacement parts.”
