The entire enemy task force turned after them, heading out to Eagle’s starboard side, and Jacob touched a control. “High Admiral to immediate task force, broad turn to starboard until we’ve come around to engage the enemy again. Continue to engage targets at opportunity.”
Jacob forced himself to turn his attention elsewhere. Across the barrier of dark matter, Leon’s battle was still progressing. The organized tactics of the Oduran and San Marcos forces had virtually disintegrated into a wild melee of ships, all pouring fire at Leon’s smaller number of craft. Their numbers weren’t nearly as many as they had been when they started; at least five of the Oduran cruisers were gone, along with a large number of their escorts. Leon’s force, by comparison, was doing much better; here and there a ship was missing in his formation, but most of them were still intact, if a little battered. Galahad appeared to be holding up well under the fire, and as Jacob watched, Leon’s ship eviscerated a converted Equestrian-class ship with its plasma lance.
An explosion rocked the ship, and Jacob’s attention turned back to his own forces. The Oduran flanking forces had been late in anticipating the charge through the main line, but now they had maneuvered into engagement range. There were at least six cruisers, most of them Brute-class vessels, escorted by a flock of smaller craft. Eagle’s guns, still cooling from their previous attacks, weren’t ready to respond as they closed with the task force. As Jacob watched, the enemy launched more strikes against his vulnerable DE sails. He touched a control. “Henry, Edward, cut across the formation with your escorts to fight off the enemy attack. When you’ve struck them, switch positions and rejoin the Eagle.”
Both cruisers acknowledged the order, swerving sharply toward the center of the formation. The course change made them drop back, and their weaponry had much better firing solutions on the incoming forces. They began to target the closest craft, chewing them apart with precise salvoes of railgun fire. Those ships began to fire back, and both cruisers trembled as the railgun shells ate away at their armor and bit into the hull beneath. Neither ship exploded or fell away, while the front ranks of the Oduran force were shot to pieces.
As the remainder of those forces passed by the two cruisers and their escorts, Henry and Edward both rolled to come around in pursuit. The two Crown-class cruisers unleashed a hail of missiles and torpedoes in the wake of those forces, likely hoping to better the odds of Eagle’s survival. Captain Martino added to the defensive fire with another salvo of missiles from Eagle’s bays, catching the Odurans in a crossfire before they could reach close range. Antimissile defenses worked furiously to destroy the projectiles before they could reach their targets, but this time there were too many, and the Odurans were in too loose a formation. They had only barely managed to close ranks when the attacks arrived.
Missiles punched through the armor of the cruisers, leaving gaping wounds that trailed debris and crew. At least one torpedo made contact, slicing through a cruiser’s hull and punching through the front of the ship with a trail of destruction left in its wake. Four of the larger ships wavered and fell out of formation, with plasma streaming from punctured reactors or a devastating loss of atmosphere. Several destroyers vanished as well, exploding into brilliant gouts of fire and hull fragments.
The casualties stunned the Oduran formation, and their crews finally decided they had enough. Both remaining cruisers launched a single burst of railgun fire—most of which was ill-aimed or easily intercepted by defensive turrets—and then swerved to avoid further contact. Their lighter units started to run too, since without the cover and firepower of the heavier craft it would only be a matter of time before they were overwhelmed and destroyed. As panic spread through them, their coordination fell apart. Ships scattered on their own initiative, leaving them isolated and vulnerable when individual Celostian ships caught up with them in force.
Jacob watched their course for a few moments, then shook his head. “High Admiral to fleet, do not pursue those ships. Let them run.” They were heading back for the dark matter barrier, where they would have to pass through the passage before they could escape. It was obvious they had no intention of returning to the battle, and Jacob was not about to let his ships get distracted when Yeseti still had an intact force that could reach Celostian territory. He glanced at Leon’s battle, where another of the Brute-class ship had just taken a pair of missiles in the side and broken in half. “Captain Nivrosky, be aware your forces may need to anticipate routed Oduran forces moving past you.”
Leon responded several moments later, his voice tense. “Acknowledged, High Admiral.” There was a pause, and then he spoke with a bit more relief. “Situation update; the Odurans on our side of the barrier are running. Should we pursue them into the passage?”
On the other side of the passage, Oduran forces were starting to withdraw. It wasn’t the same, disorganized rout that had overtaken the Oduran flanking forces; flights of corvettes and frigates made sweeping defensive attacks to keep Leon’s forces from crippling the retreating cruisers. At the same time, they were obviously intending to retreat into the passage. Jacob idly wondered if they wanted to link up with Admiral Yeseti, or if the fight with Leon had simply proven too much for them. He touched a control.
“High Admiral to Galahad, do not pursue them into the passage. Maintain your position around the exit and make sure they aren’t able to withdraw. I don’t want to risk them turning on you in that narrow space. High Admiral, out.”
Those orders given, Jacob watched the retreating forces for a few more heartbeats, and then one of his officers called out. “Sir, Captain Bellworth is indicating he is about to attack. Do you have any orders for him?”
Jacob’s attention snapped to Admiral Yeseti’s task force, where Isaac was closing with terrible speed. “Tell him to keep them from jumping to New Manassas. We want to keep the fight here if we can.”
The officer bent to his work, and a heartbeat later Isaac’s forces slashed across the Oduran lines. Those lines had been horribly weakened by the clash with Jacob’s personal command. Fully half of the ships that had belonged to the so-called San Marcos Collective had been left as a string of broken wrecks behind the main battle line. All three dreadnaughts showed marks of significant damage, with the flagship obviously struggling to keep up with the rest of the task force.
Isaac had noticed those weaknesses as well. His cruisers came in at an angle to the enemy forces rather than meeting them head on. Isaac’s ships didn’t stay in a compact, stable formation. They spread out in a broad firing line that would give them the best chance to score hits. The refitted Crown-class cruisers led the way, tearing through the Odurans and San Marcos ships with their rail guns and torpedo bays flashing with fire. All four ships took fire as they struck; railgun projectiles smashed armor plates, missiles carved sections of hull away, and the occasional plasma lance strike spiked through the elderly ships.
Yet the Crown-class vessels had cleared the way for their more modern—but less heavily armored—brethren. The Knight-class cruisers separated into two pairs, each of which slashed by the Banner-class dreadnaughts at breathtakingly close range. They fired high-powered plasma lances, ripping through dreadnaught-class armor with sickening ease. Behind them, the few destroyers and frigates Jacob had been able to spare for Isaac’s force pounced on the remaining San Marcos ships, destroying targets with deliberate volleys at point blank range.
Chaos spread in the wake of Isaac’s formation. Both Banner-class dreadnaughts tumbled in abject ruin. The plasma lance strikes had gutted one from bow to amidships; enough atmosphere and plasma sprayed from the terrible gash there was no hope of it remaining functional. Its companion had not fared much better, as the small volcano of incandescent thermonuclear fire that marked its punctured main reactor easily proved. Another dozen San Marcos raiders and a double handful of wrecked or crippled Oduran ships had joined the long list of casualties.
Those Oduran wrecks were not alone. A dozen Celostian ships had fallen victim to th
e savage counterfire of the Odurans, including some of the Hunter-class destroyers and the Crown-class cruiser Khan. Even the surviving ships were pocked with damage, especially the cruisers. Jacob’s eyes narrowed. The Odurans were concentrating their fire now, picking off the greatest threats to their survival. If Isaac tried another pass, Jacob wasn’t sure any of his ships were going to survive it.
When Isaac’s formation banked to come around again, the Oduran task force made another sharp swerve to avoid it. There were only fourteen Oduran cruisers left, and they quickly formed a shell around the flagship—no doubt on the frantic orders of Admiral Yeseti. The remaining San Marcos ships took up positions within the shell, while the Oduran lighter craft formed a vanguard for the formation. The entire group began to turn on a course that would make it hard for Isaac to ever catch them, given his ships’ extremely high momentum.
Jacob grinned. Unfortunately for Admiral Yeseti, his formation had not been cursed with such problems. They were nearly coming around for another head-on pass, which he had no doubt Yeseti would like to avoid. He touched a control to contact the bridge. “Captain Martino, I want you to hit as many enemy small craft as possible on our way through this time. We need to bring the number of targets down if we want to prevent them from breaking through our formation.”
“Yes, Sir.” Captain Martino paused. “Sir, we have a lot of targeting contacts coming from that force. They appear to be concentrating their fire on us again. If we can’t counter them, they may be able to cripple our DE sails after the exchange.”
There was a warning in his tone, and Jacob nodded grimly. “So be it. We’ll deal with it later if we can. Hit their escorts hard, and then come around for another pass after that.”
“As ordered, Sir.” Martino’s misgivings were clear, but Jacob knew he would follow the directions he’d been given. The rest of the formation was less certain. Faced with the prospect of passing through the enemy a second time, the remaining ships in his group were wavering almost as much as the Odurans were. Jacob touched the control that put him in touch with the rest of his direct command.
“Henry, Edward, I want you to hit the enemy flagship as we pass through the formation. Use torpedoes and missile fire; concentrate railgun fire on direct threats.” Jacob glanced at his remaining escorts and winced. They seemed so few. “Corvette squadrons, sweep through formation and hit the remaining San Marcos ships. Focus on disabling them, if possible. Frigates, target cruisers at best opportunity. Destroyers, I want you to put a hole in their light craft.”
Jacob paused, his eyes going to the enemy task force. Al-shira’s face flashed in his mind. “Remember, we’re fighting for our families and our freedom. For our homes and the ones we love. Don’t let the enemy through. High Admiral Hull, out.”
The ships settled into their attack runs, and Jacob found his heart hammering harder as the Odurans closed with his formation. If the enemy really was targeting everything on the Eagle, it was possible he wasn’t going to survive this run. Even dreadnaughts had limits, and Eagle’s ability to use countermeasures appeared to have been crippled by the most recent attack. He closed his eyes and prayed he’d be able to come through the fire, that he’d see Naomi Al-shira once more.
Then the ships of the so-called Grand Alliance launched missiles, and Jacob’s attention snapped back to the tactical projection. The wave of missiles was not as large as it had been the first time; there were fewer ships capable of launching them, especially among the San Marcos craft. There were still enough to provide an impressive amount of projectiles, however, and the number of flechettes and flares the countermeasures teams were pumping out to meet them was extremely small by comparison.
At the very least, Jacob thought grimly, they were focusing their fire on Eagle. The rest of his force had a chance to get through almost untouched, at least until they hit railgun range. He tried to cheer himself with that thought as the first missiles began to reach attack range.
The Eagle shuddered. At first it was a gentle rocking as the leading missiles impacted, tearing holes in the armor and the hull beneath. Then more of them began to arrive, an avalanche of fire and missile fragments that rattled the entire ship around Jacob as if it were about to come apart. Alarms screeched on the officers’ consoles around him, and Jacob swore he could hear hull plates buckling as well. It continued for what seemed like forever, and then the deck firmed up, and Jacob could see the situation clearly again.
The entire front half of the ship glowed with damage icons. There were hull breaches in half a dozen places, and five times that number had already been sealed off by damage control systems and repair parties. A secondary explosion sent another shudder through the ship, and Jacob turned his gaze from the display showing the damages to the tactical projection. They had almost reached railgun range, and somehow, the majority of the Eagle’s firepower had survived to make contact. He touched a control as they reached that range. “Task force, open fire!”
His ships responded immediately, the railguns on Eagle throwing out their own wave of destruction. Both cruisers in Jacob’s formation unleashed torpedoes and missiles, targeting the enemy dreadnaught. Railguns lashed out in every direction, bracketing the enemy units that were furthest forward. He watched his formation close with the enemy, a wave of destruction sweeping out before them.
It was like watching a horde of flies run into a sledgehammer. The Oduran lighter units exploded or wheeled away from the formation, their hulls streaming burning atmosphere and wreckage. Several exploded outright, shattered by the railgun shells that impacted on their hulls. The San Marcos ships were gutted by explosions. At least two of the Oduran cruisers were hit hard enough to fall away from their assigned positions, and the enemy flagship itself shook under the blasts of missile impacts as Jacob’s formation passed through. In their wake they left a shattered Oduran task force, littered with dying hulks and fragmented hulls. There was no second missile barrage, for the enemy was too busy trying to put their force back together.
Then Yeseti made the same choice her other commanders had, that discretion was the better part of valor. Her flagship swerved one final time, along with most of the rest of the ships in her fleet. Those without functional DE sails to run were left behind as the entire remaining force ran for the dark matter passage. Jacob watched them go, feeling something akin to relief. The battle was over. He’d won.
Then, as he watched those forces go, Jacob realized something more. The opposition had been crushed, true, but they couldn’t withdraw. There was no way for them to riftjump out of the system, not with the dark matter barrier in the way. Their ships inside the passage were already trapped, and Leon could easily slaughter any force trying to make their way past him on their way out. This force was one he could destroy any time he wanted to.
Even better, this force was one that had the chief of state of one enemy onboard, and the son of another as well. Jacob smiled and leaned forward. “High Admiral to task force, turn and begin pursuit of the enemy force. We’re going to chase them until they get to the passage. Then I’m going to open a channel to their flagship, if Yeseti still has any communications capability over there.”
As his units acknowledged his orders, Jacob sat back, his eyes locked on the ships of the enemy as they ran. His mind churned with the possibilities, and he gave the projection a hard smile. It had cost him, and everything wasn’t done yet, but there was a light at the end of the tunnel now. All he needed to do was finish things.
Chapter Twenty-Six
The enemy ships had been milling around inside the passage for nearly twenty minutes before Jacob decided to send the message. Once Yeseti entered the passage, she clearly began to realize the hopelessness of her situation. Leon was waiting for her on the opposite side of the passage, his missiles and torpedoes ready to rain down on her forces. Jacob brought the Eagle and most of the rest of his ships up on the other side, ready to block her if she moved in their direction.
If they stayed trapped ther
e things would only get worse, since Jacob could reinforce his ships much quicker than she could get reinforcements from her home territory—if she could even manage to get any message to them at all. Of course, that assumed Jacob would allow them to sit there when he could just as easily start sending torpedoes in along the curving twists of the passage, bowling them through the Oduran formation like preprogrammed, guided wrecking balls until the larger ships of her task force were dead. Then he could sweep the passage clean and leave them all destroyed or captured.
While Yeseti's ships milled about inside the passage, fumbling for some kind of order, Jacob considered opening with a few such shots, just to emphasize the strength of his position. It couldn’t hurt, after all, and Yeseti had plenty of ships still to spare—fully two thirds of her cruisers were still operational, and his force was technically outnumbered. His battered crews would likely love to see the Odurans getting some of their own back.
Then Jacob set the idea aside with a sigh. Enough on both sides had died to prove someone else’s point—the goal he had in mind now was to end all of it, so no one else would have to. He stood, putting his hands behind his back and facing the pickup for the command center’s communication console. Then he gestured to the technician running the thing and began.
“This is Jacob Hull, High Admiral of the Celostian Union, to High Admiral Ilyena Yeseti of the Grand Alliance. Your situation is currently hopeless. Your ships and crews are at our mercy. Any attempt to escape or to continue your attack will be met with overwhelming force, and the majority of your ships will not survive.” Jacob paused, letting his expression harden. “You came against us to destroy us, Yeseti, you and your allies. Both the Collective at San Marcos and the Oduran League have accused the Celostian Union on multiple occasions of being aggressive tyrants, of being a rogue state, of seeking the destruction of those people around it. It is interesting for all those accusations, you were caught as you led a force to do just that to us—to conquer us, to pull us down, and to make us your servants.
Eagle (Jacob Hull) Page 31
