“Poor,” he said softly. “Our super-battleships are worth two of those battleships, but we only have two in commission. Outnumbered ten to one… Even with the defense constellation and Tornado to support them, this isn’t a battle we can win.”
“What about the one in refit?” Annette asked, not quite willing to say the ship’s name. It still seemed too arrogant to her.
“Duchess of Terra isn’t scheduled to even commence her trials for another five days,” Villeneuve told her. “We almost have the yards online to be able to refit two ships at once, but…”
“We are expecting five from the Indiri in two months,” Zhao pointed out. “That would have been enough to have three fully refitted Duchess-class ships to protect us, but right now…”
“Right now we have two unmodified Majesties,” Annette concluded. “Elon?”
Her lover looked at her.
“Yes?”
“You’re probably more up to date on Duchess’s status than any of us,” she said. “If we were to just close up everything—not bother completing the work in progress, just get her ready for space—how long?”
Elon swallowed, pushing past some kind of fog, and pulled out his communicator. Expanding its screen of electronic paper, he poked at a report for several moments.
“Forty-eight hours,” he concluded. “That’s…no trials, no tests. She’ll be fully armored, but only three quarters of her Sword turrets will be online. The Buckler interfaces are fully installed, but deployment of the drones will be a pain as she only has half the docking ports for them set up.”
“The drones are self-mobile,” Villeneuve replied. “We can mass-deploy them, run at least some from the defense platforms as well. They don’t have dedicated systems for it, but the computers are capable enough if we feed them the software.”
“What about the unmodified super-battleships?” Annette asked. “Can they run any of the Bucklers?”
“No,” Elon admitted. “Their computing capacity is very carefully calibrated. They have a reserve, but it’s hard-wired to keep it available in case of battle damage. We had to install new cores to run the systems on Duchess.”
He shook his head.
“I can get her deployed in two days,” he confirmed, “and we can put Bucklers in space to guard the defense platforms flanks, but that’s it, Annette. We don’t have a crew for Duchess. We don’t even have a Captain.”
“We’ll poach the crew from Emperor of China and Queen of England as needed,” Annette said grimly. “As for a Captain…I’ll command her.”
The room exploded.
She waited for them to calm, the objections dying down.
“I am the only qualified interface-drive commander we have left who isn’t already commanding a ship,” she pointed out. “I will not spend the defense of my world cowering on the surface like some Napoleonic noble. They hung this title on me for fighting, and by all that is holy, that is what I shall do.”
“Fight, yes, but your place isn’t commanding a ship,” Villeneuve objected. “On the flag deck with me, perhaps, but not a command deck. You will be needed for too much else.”
“Perhaps. But we also have no one else,” she replied.
For now, at least, that silenced the complaints.
“We need to keep this quiet for now,” she told them. “Let the election go ahead. I have no intention of hiding it from the people of Earth once the Kanzi arrive, but there’s nothing they can do, so there’s no point letting them panic about the blue-furred bastards.
“If you think of anything useful,” she continued, “do not hesitate to let myself or Admiral Villeneuve know. Even the slightest advantage could turn the tide of this battle—and in so doing, save our world.”
#
Somehow, Annette wasn’t surprised when Zhao waved her over to him as the Council began to break up, its shaky-looking members pulling out communicators to reach out to their subordinates before they’d even left the room.
“We need to talk, Your Grace,” the former ruler of China said calmly. “In private. Now.”
“Elon, if you can take Ki!Tana downstairs and give her a full briefing on what we have for resources?” Annette asked her lover. “I’ll join you as soon as I can.”
Elon looked at Zhao with newfound suspicion in his eyes but nodded slowly.
“Of course,” he agreed, his voice more cheerful than his gaze. “Ki!Tana, if you’ll follow me?”
The big alien’s curiosity flared across her skin, but she followed Elon away as Annette turned her gaze back on Zhao, any trace of a smile vanishing as she let her old Captain’s mask fall across her face.
“My office, Li,” she ordered.
#
Li Chin Zhao settled into the chair in her office with an audible sigh, even the single flight of stairs apparently a strain for the big man. Annette didn’t think he’d grown any fatter while worker for her, but his weight did appear to be becoming more of a problem.
Normally, that worried her. Right now, though…
“This is going to be one of those secrets you weren’t going to tell me, isn’t it?” she asked.
“Yes,” he confirmed. “Also one you’re probably not going to like.”
“If you think it’s going to help us save Earth, I’m listening.”
Zhao sighed.
“You have to understand, Annette, that the Party didn’t trust the UESF,” he began. “For all we had a seat on the Governing Council and a veto, we always regarded it as an outgrowth of the UN and USA.”
“There were more Chinese personnel in the UESF than American,” Annette pointed out.
“And that was intentional on our part,” he told her. “We seeded the UESF with Party loyalists who we knew would mutiny in the face of orders to turn their vessels against Chinese interests. Even in the final hours of the UESF, there were hidden weapon caches and prepared cells on every UESF capital ship.”
She inhaled sharply, studying him for any hint that he was exaggerating or lying. There was nothing. Much of Zhao’s usual cheer was gone today, lost to the shock of what was coming.
“Obviously, they were never activated. The Party always regarded them as an option of last resort, not least because the day-to-day loyalty of those cells remained to the UESF,” he told her. “After all, we wanted the UESF to succeed. We just also wanted a backup if it turned on us.”
“And you didn’t rely on one backup, did you?”
“No. We stole the design for the UESF Furious-class battleship and built a squadron of them in a concealed facility under the Indian Ocean,” Zhao said. His voice was calm as he admitted his government had violated a dozen or more solemn treaties.
“I don’t see how that helps us, Li,” Annette admitted. A Furious-class battleship was roughly the same size as Tornado, but it was a fusion-torch ship. Even assuming the Chinese had some way to get them into orbit—a safe assumption—they had no place in a modern battle.
“The Bīngmǎyǒng Fleet itself is worthless, yes,” he agreed. “The facility itself may come in handy in future. It won’t handle battleships or super-battleships, but if we are careful, we should be able to take the City-class into its docks for refit.”
“Assuming we have a future, Li.”
He smiled, some of his cheer returning.
“That’s my point, Annette,” he told her. “The Militia cannot man three super-battleships, Tornado, Geneva and the defense platforms. You simply don’t have the experienced personnel.
“Bīngmǎyǒng Fleet had twelve battleships, Your Grace. Between them, they required forty-eight thousand trained spacers—many retired UESF personnel, the rest trained by those ex-UESF personnel.”
“And because they’re loyal Party followers, none of them have volunteered for the Militia,” she guessed.
“And because they’re loyal Party followers, all of them will volunteer if I ask them,” he told her. “They’re not interface-drive-trained, they’ll need cadre…but unless I miss my count, they
should allow you to deploy all three super-battleships and the rest of the Cities.”
If all of Zhao’s Party spacers joined, that would double the strength of her Militia. He was right that they would be less valuable than the trained people Villeneuve already had, but properly organized…
“We need to get Villeneuve in here,” she told him. “And Elon. I’m not sure we even have the resources to spare to get the Cities back online even if we have crews for them, but…your people may make all of the difference.”
“I will reach out to the appropriate channels,” Zhao said. “Like the UESF, they dispersed. Unlike the UESF, I have ways to contact them all.”
She sighed.
“Volunteers only, Li,” she reminded him. “I will not defend Earth with a fleet of conscripts.”
“Now is not the time for niceties, Your Grace,” he replied. “Besides, these are good Party men and women. They understand the meaning of volunteering in crisis.”
#
Chapter 54
Hunter’s Horn’s bridge was a somber place as the damaged cruiser approached Sol. Harriet couldn’t be anywhere else, but at the same time, she was vividly aware that Horn was in no shape to turn the tide of an unwinnable battle.
And how much difference could twenty hours’ warning make?
“Emergence in one thousandth-cycle,” Ides reported. “Establish hyper portal in sixty seconds.”
“Stand by the power transfer systems, Sier,” she ordered. “If we’re attacked, I’d like to be able to shoot back.”
“Even energizing one bank of launchers will cut our speed in half,” the Yin warned.
“I know,” she said. “But I’d rather maneuver at half speed and be able to fight than be only able to run.”
From the silence on the other end of the channel, Sier agreed.
Seconds ticked away on the timer on the screen—and on a second timer, the one Harriet had added after leaving Arcturus. This one had just under one cycle left on it—twenty hours until the estimated arrival of the Kanzi strike fleet.
Bright blue Cherenkov radiation lit up on the holotank display, and the portal tore into existence out of the gray void of hyperspace. It grew in the tank and then subsumed the icon of Hunter’s Horn as they crossed back into reality.
The portal itself made scanner updates difficult for a few fractions of a second, enough to add a layer of vulnerability that didn’t normally matter or bother Harriet. Today, it set her on edge, seeming to stretch far longer than it should.
Then a series of alarms rang out across the bridge.
“We’re being hit with targeting scanners!” Vaza snapped. “Capital-grade, at least two sources!”
“Evasive, now!” Harriet snapped. “Transmit our IFFs.”
There weren’t supposed to be capital ships in Sol. They had to be Kanzi…
“Sensors standing down,” Vaza announced after a second, the frog-like alien taking massive, wet-sounding breaths. “I’m reading two Majesty-class super-battleships. What dark waters did they come from?!”
Harriet exhaled in a long sigh of her own.
“Hail them,” she ordered Piditel.
Before the Speaker could respond, a channel request arrived from the battleships. She hit a command to accept it before Piditel could even advise her of it, and a familiar face appeared in the holotank.
The bridge behind him was different, clearly that of an A!Tol super-battleship, but every officer knew Andrew Lougheed, the man selected to command Earth’s first hyperspace survey ship.
What was he doing on a Majesty?
“Imperial vessel, this is Captain Lougheed aboard the Duchy of Terra Militia starship Emperor of China. We apologize for the warm welcome; we’ve been warned to expect a Kanzi fleet.”
Harriet took and released a deep breath, then leaned forward into the camera.
“Captain Lougheed, this is Captain Tanaka of the A!Tol Imperium warship Hunter’s Horn,” she greeted him. “It’s been a while, and I wasn’t expecting to see super-battleships in Earth orbit.
“Or for you to have already been warned,” she admitted. “My mission was to warn you of the approaching Kanzi fleet.”
“The effort is appreciated,” Lougheed told her. “We were wondering if the Imperium had forgotten about us.”
“They have not,” Harriet promised. “But I do need to speak with the Duchess.”
“Of course, Captain Tanaka. You are clear to Earth orbit.” He glanced aside, clearly studying the reports on her ship. “Unfortunately, we don’t have a repair slip that can fit your ship right now, or I’d offer further assistance. You look like you’ve had a bad week.”
“We’ve made it this far, Captain. We’ll make it to Earth orbit.”
#
The sight of the two capital ships had given Harriet some hope, but that hope slowly shriveled as they rounded the Moon and she saw a third ship in dry dock, being swarmed over by EVA-suited workers and drones.
Three super-battleships represented an incredible amount of firepower, far more than she’d thought Earth had, but it wasn’t enough to turn the tide of the battle to come. A super-battleship was worth, roughly, two battleships. Which left the Terran Militia still outgunned four or five to one, ignoring the escorts.
“Where did the Duchy get three capital ships, let alone three super-battleships?” Vaza asked aloud.
“I don’t know, Lesser Commander,” Harriet told him. “I suspect that the Fleet Lord does, however,” she continued, considering her conversation with Tan!Shallegh. He clearly hadn’t considered his order to hold the Kanzi completely impossible, an attitude the presence of three super-capital ships made…not completely unreasonable.
“It’s still not enough,” her tactical officer replied. “I know these ships. They’re Indiri-built. Good ships, the best the Imperium has, but three capital ships can’t stop twenty.”
“We’ll make it enough, Vaza,” she said quietly. “We have to.”
He made a strange croaking sound she’d rarely heard from him before, and she checked to see if he was alright—only to realize he was chuckling.
“We’re with you, Captain,” Vaza told her. “Horn won’t be much more than an immobile weapons platform…but we’re with you to the end of the wave.”
#
Duchess Bond was back in uniform, Harriet noted as she stepped off the shuttle into Defense One’s boat bay. The plain gray uniform of the Duchy of Terra Militia suited her, even completely lacking in insignia as it was.
Not that the Duchess needed insignia. Anyone who saw her knew who she was.
Harriet came to a halt and saluted crisply. Bond returned the salute with perfect precision, as did Admiral Villeneuve.
Ki!Tana, hovering behind the two humans, fluttered her tentacles in acknowledgement.
“It is good to see you, Captain Tanaka,” the alien told her.
“And you, Ki!Tana,” Harriet replied. “You may have made my entire voyage redundant, but I’m glad Earth had more warning than we could give.”
“I was expecting more from the Imperium than a damaged cruiser,” Bond admitted. “What news do you bring, Captain?”
“There was a follow-up fleet, Duchess Bond,” Harriet told her quietly. “Fleet Lord Tan!Shallegh ambushed it at Arcturus and destroyed it. The fleet that’s coming is all that’s coming…but the Fleet Lord’s force is no longer combat-capable.”
“Damn.”
“The Fleet Lord deployed his entire force of cruisers and destroyers as couriers,” Harriet continued. “Every fleet concentration in a hundred light-years is being ordered to deploy to Sol.
“He told me to tell you that we do not need to drive the Kanzi from Sol, merely hold them. And to tell you that if Terra falls, the Imperium will liberate her.”
Harriet met Bond’s gaze levelly, hoping that the new ruler of her species recognized the utter sincerity in her eyes and the weight of the oath Tan!Shallegh had sworn.
“He swore this in his own name a
nd in the name of our Empress,” she stated. “The Imperial Navy does not abandon our systems, Duchess Bond. I am only the messenger. More are coming.”
“But will they arrive soon enough, Captain Tanaka?” Bond asked. “We fought and bled to keep twenty thousand slaves out of Kanzi hands, Captain. If Terra falls for even a day, ten times that will be torn from her soil.”
Harriet winced.
“I don’t know, Your Grace,” she admitted. “Hunter’s Horn fights with you. If the only way the Navy can prove our honor is to die by your side, then that is exactly what we shall do.”
“I’d much prefer if the only dying was done by the blue-furred bastards.”
#
“Where are we at?” Annette asked an hour later as she gathered her “inner circle”—now including Ki!Tana once more, which felt strangely right—in a small office aboard Defense One.
“Duchess of Terra will be deployable in seven hours,” Elon told her. He looked exhausted, but they’d pulled off his almost-impossible deadline. “We have enough Buckler drones for her and Geneva, nothing more.”
“What about crew?” she asked.
Villeneuve shrugged.
“With the new Chinese volunteers,” he nodded to Zhao, “we have the personnel to man every ship we have. Experienced personnel is a more complex situation. Our trainers from the Imperial Navy are under strict orders not to get involved in combat situations.
“It has been suggested to me by some of those trainers that if they are aboard our vessels during combat, they will of course continue to serve in their roles…but they risk censure from the Imperial Navy if they do so.”
“I doubt that censure would happen in this case,” Annette pointed out.
“So do they,” Villeneuve agreed. “Hence their willingness to violate those orders.”
“Can Captain Tanaka order them to fight? She is now the senior Navy officer in the system, correct?”
Duchess of Terra (Duchy of Terra Book 2) Page 36
