by Ryan Krauter
Dennix looked at Enric, sullen and defeated. "Do we have a way out?"
Shae nodded. "I made contact with someone. Hell, there were a couple people that wanted to help us; they probably want us to feel in their debt if we come out the other side doing well. There's a smallish transport just outside the government district. It's in a hardened facility like all the other important and paranoid people's ships. The motor pool is one level down, and we can grab any vehicle there and be aboard in twenty minutes."
Dennix, the man who never seemed to have trouble telling people how it was and what they should be doing, no longer had any words. He just stood up straight and clenched his jaw, waiting for Enric to lead the way.
Captain Sirian Elco stood between the helm stations as the on-screen timer counted down to zero. On schedule, the ship's computer brought Avenger out of hyperspace, accompanied by the other eleven ships that had made it to Delos without suffering any mechanical issues.
As soon as the sensors started populating the holo field, Elco's hopes sank. He tried to maintain his posture exactly, lest the crew see his reaction to the incoming picture.
"Well," he said quietly, though most of the bridge crew heard him, "this will certainly end badly. For the Primans, of course," he added with a grim chuckle. The crew had been together through this for years, knew each other's mannerisms and thoughts. It would be hard, maybe they wouldn't make it through the day, but if you couldn't make a joke about your unenviable position in a lopsided slaughter, what was left?
Elco watched in the holo field as the Fourteenth tightened up its formation and launched fighters. The Priman Commander's fleet had appeared instants after the Fourteenth, and was now forming up as a separate element, ready to race into the fleet over Delos to attempt to do their part as well. Admiral Bak had created an ops order, but they certainly needed help and a lot of luck if they had any chance of swinging the battle their way. Already, some of the attacking Priman ships over Delos had maneuvered and were forming up to meet the Fourteenth.
There was a chime at the communications station, and Elco suddenly noticed more blips in the holo field. The IFF showed many as friendly, but there were also a number of yellow icons; no alignment noted, just a ship with a beacon announcing a name, registry number, tonnage and a few other stats mandated by treaties and regulations.
"Captain," the comm officer stated, "we have several incoming comm requests. One is from Confed Navy HQ, one from the Priman Commander just off our starboard, one from Admiral Bak, an Enkarran ship showing designation of Union, a Talaran Captain Lazaf, three others whose registries are in our database but I've never seen before..."
"Ok, we're popular. Connect everyone up, and make sure all our feeds are synchronized; everyone needs to be in on this."
A pause as the tech made it happen. "Channel open, Captain."
Elco spoke quickly, trying to get ahead of the situation and keep some order to it, lest ten different people all try to begin at once. "Hello, well, everyone. Avenger has received hails from all of you, so in the interest of full disclosure all of us are connected to each other. Please tell me these calls have something to do with stopping the attacking Priman forces over Delos."
Captain Krent of the Union spoke first. "We are here to help, Captain. Anywhere there is a fight against the Primans, we will offer our ships. I see there is a Priman on this channel, though. What is this about?"
"As Admiral Bak mentioned in the broadcast I assume you all received; the Primans aren't as unified as we thought they were. They have their internal disagreements just like the rest of us. The forces accompanying us want to stop the assault as well."
"We were told in no uncertain terms to leave," said Captain Lazaf, commanding four Talaran cruisers.
"Yet here you are," replied Elco with a grin.
"Yes, we seem to have not listened to Mr. Shae's demands."
"Enric Shae," grumbled Admiral Bak. "He's as complicit as the Senator. Everyone, thank you for responding. Confed units, you should have the plan. Any late arrivals, my hope is this; we need to break up that attacking Priman force. There is a single ship among their formation that is the heart of their efforts. Destroy that ship, and the new Priman Commander with us will take control and call off the assault."
"That's it?" asked an officer whose header information labeled him as being at navy HQ in the asteroid belt. "They'll just stop, or do we keep destroying their ships?"
Ravine spoke, Elco only wishing he could have moderated the discussion. "We will make our fleet stand down, Captain. After that, there will be no need for further conflict."
The captain, though not appearing too pleased, nodded and remained silent.
"All ships," Admiral Bak continued, "here is the plan. We'll create a force from the parties that were waiting in-system, and that includes HQ. I see you show two Crusaders and two destroyers, is that correct?"
The HQ captain just nodded in the affirmative.
"You will form a force and attack the starboard side of the Priman fleet. My force will attack the port side. If we can get them to split their forces, so much the better. Spread them out, run them around; we do not need to destroy every last ship right now, and such a battle will cost more lives than we need to spend. We only need to keep them fighting until we can determine their command ship. At that point, I'll take Majestic and any others necessary and destroy the vessel. The longer it takes, the more friendly units might just show up as well. Watch your IFF displays; the Priman ships we arrived with have friendly codes and will show up as such in your systems, so keep an eye out when pulling the trigger. And no matter what happens today, thank you all for your efforts here. I only hope we live up to our expectations."
The two forces approached other, long range fire flashing back and forth occasionally between them as targeting computers were verified and systems checked. Finally, at the high end of medium range, the Confed forces broke off to the outsides of the Priman formation, making to race down the flanks. The Primans bored onward, their intentions unclear.
The Confed forces ran down the side of the Priman fleet, raking the enemies with concentrated laser and torpedo fire while the Primans handed it back. About halfway through the maneuver, the Priman fleet split but instead of breaking to the sides or chasing one element, one force started a loop upwards and another started a loop downwards. The elements completed their maneuver when they'd made a one hundred eighty degree heading change, now pointed back at Delos with the Confed forces slightly ahead of them. Both the Confed and Priman fleets lanced out at each other at their preferred engagement range, laser batteries at their most effective, shields at their optimal distance to dissipate energy, and torpedoes with enough time to maneuver towards a target but close enough to not run out of fuel in the meantime. It was a stalemate formation, neither fleet immediately wanting to close the range where damage piled up quickly and ships died with every pass. It gave both sides room to maneuver and rejoin forces if they wanted to gather back together to attack the enemy en masse. As ships accumulated damage, they rotated positions with other vessels in the formation, creating a swarming mass of ships undulating through space, spitting lasers and torpedoes at each other, small fighters sometimes racing outwards to launch torpedoes or attack enemy counterparts who got too close.
Elco sat in his chair on the bridge, the face of Loren Stone on one of his displays from the XO's position one deck below in C3. There wasn't a lot to do, actually, in a coordinated fleet movement such as this. The Admiral had dictated the maneuvers, so Avenger just needed to maintain her position and fire on the enemy when she could. Occasionally there would be an order to shift positions to relieve another vessel with damage, but until the two forces of ships broke down into smaller elements, Elco simply needed to follow the plan.
"Lieutenant Caho," Elco said as he swiveled his chair to look through the glass partition at the sensor operator behind him, "anything yet?"
Her face scrunched up as she tried to make some sort
of adjustment to her board while talking to the captain. "I have a couple candidates, but nothing like the message traffic during the first engagement. Maybe he learned his lesson and he's keeping comms to a minimum."
Elco grimaced. "Send me a list of the ships you show as possibilities. If nothing else, we'll take them out one by one."
He tabbed over to a comm frequency for Admiral Bak and the Priman Commander. "I have a short list of candidates for Tash's ship, but nothing as definite as last time."
"I concur," said the Commander simply. "It appears he has learned a lesson."
On board Pincer, Tash's mind raced. He watched the icons of ships weave through space and it reminded him of the self-illuminating insects that would come out at dusk on Callidor when he'd commanded his armies from there. The bugs would appear as the sun went down, and at last light, when the sky turned from orange and amber to indigo and then black, they'd band together and soar through the air, swooping around in their search for smaller ground-dwelling insects to feast on. The schooling nature gave them a measure of protection from larger predators, and their bioluminescence helped them stick together as well as startle the winged predators that would feast on them if they could.
They'd dance on the air currents, and Tash would watch. It was something marvelous, especially since free roaming insects were not exactly encouraged on board the rattling old motherships his people had been cooped up in for all those years.
He knew the reality, though. Those little bugs dancing around in his holo field were real ships, filled with real people who were dying. He needed to eliminate the predators and consume the prey. Ravine's ships hovered just out of the field of battle, a blockade against any hopes of escape. If he could eliminate her, though, he could very well absorb the ships in her element. That would most definitely turn his forces back to the role of predator.
"Captain, head for Representative Ravine's ship." He pointed to an icon in the holo field. "It is the Scythe. If we can destroy that ship, I believe we will be able to establish communications with the misguided captains under her command and bring them back into our force where they belong."
Elco saw it the instant Tash's forces started their coordinated turn; they were headed right for the Commander's force, and no doubt at her ship in particular.
"Commander," Elco said slowly over their shared comm frequency.
"I see it, Captain Elco," the Commander arrived him. "This is perhaps for the best. If we can draw Tash out and identify his ship, this is acceptable. I still cannot be positive which ship is his, though."
"I hate to use you as bait," Elco replied, seeing Admiral Bak's face appear on screen now.
"Just be ready when we identify him," the Commander replied.
"Commander," Admiral Bak added, "once we've decided which ship is his, I would suggest a course reversal to bring all of you back towards our forces. Tash's fleet is ahead of us and I hesitate to get too close if your two elements merge, but afterwards we could safely engage without too much risk to your other ships."
"Agreed."
Pincer held position at the center of the formation as they regrouped and headed for Ravine's ships. It meant exposing themselves to more fire than they'd like from the Confed fleet, and Tash had to watch helplessly as a cruiser was shattered by a volley of torpedoes from a Crusader class ship. No matter; soon enough it would all be over.
"Captain, how long?" he asked.
"Twenty seconds to intercept and optimum range," Captain Toron replied. While he had his doubts about several aspects of the last few days, it was apparent that these two Priman forces needed to fight as one if they were to defeat the Confederation. If Representative Ravine was opposed to that, then perhaps she was too far gone to save. His only regret was losing the other worthy souls onboard her ship.
"Fire," commanded Toron.
Fifteen
"Short list just got cropped to one, I think, Captain," Caho announced from behind him.
Elco turned to look at her and she gestured to the big display on the bulkhead above her station. She pointed to a ship in the middle of the attacking Priman formation.
"What's the story?" Elco asked.
"It's one of the ships on the list, and now as their elements shifted it was always the most protected. Signals seem to come from that ship a split second before the other handful of control ships. Not a perfect answer on a platter, but I'd say that's easily the best bet on the board."
Elco knew enough to take her at her word, and nodded as he turned to his own display and commed the Commander and Admiral Bak.
"Commander," Elco began, "my sensor tech thinks she's identified Tash's ship." He tapped the offending vessel's icon and attached a tag to it which followed it around in the holo field. "It's hiding in the middle of the formation, it was on our short list to begin with, and it seems like it has a split second lead on issuing commands. It's our best option if we're looking to go headhunting."
"We were leaning towards that vessel as well, Captain," the Commander assured him.
"Leading from the middle," muttered Admiral Bak. "How bold."
"How would you lead as the commander of all your forces?" the Priman asked.
"You can watch," replied Bak. He turned off screen. "Tell Captain Montari I'm coming forward to the bridge. We have a target. Grab-" he paused to look at another display "- Venture and Royal and bring them to us. We're going after that ship as soon as I get there."
"Admiral," Captain Elco called out before Bak could sever the connection.
Bak stopped, momentum trying to carry him forward, but he caught himself and turned back. "Yes, Sirian?"
"Avenger should be there as well."
"Avenger has always been there. You've done your part, Elco. Let some others take the risks for once. You've earned yourself a break."
"But that's exactly it, Admiral. We've been through it all, seen so much; we need to be there when you catch this man and bring the war to a stop. I'd say we've earned that as well."
Bak blew out his breath, shaking head head back and forth. "Fine, but don't get blown up. You've made it too far for that."
"I promise to not get blown up."
Tash's ships sailed right into Ravine's formation. Her ships still hadn't fired on Tash's, but his own vessels shared no such hang-up. They opened fire on her ship as they merged, several of her ships trying to place themselves in the line of fire in the process. They suffered, shields collapsed and hulls opened to space, systems destroyed and crew killed, in what Tash saw as a waste of resources and Ravine as a travesty that her people were attacking each other.
She remembered Admiral Bak's request, and as her ship shuddered from another hull breach, she had to virtually yell her commands to Captain Vol.
"Reverse course one hundred eighty degrees. We're going right back to the Confed fleet. With any luck they can help peel this formation apart and disable or destroy Tash's ship!"
The captain's response to her was drowned out by a deep groan which followed the hollow bang of another hull compromise, this time accompanied by the painful pressure changes of the air rushing out into space. She only hoped this would end before all her people completely finished turning on each other.
"She's doing it," Bak said softly, almost reverently. He stood next to Captain Montari's station on the spacious bridge of Majestic.
"Provided she lives long enough to complete the maneuver," Montari added. "Her ship is virtually destroyed."
Bak could only nod his agreement. She ship was probably just coasting on momentum now, her drives having flickered and winked out a few seconds ago. Main power seemed to be gone as well, and now as Tash's vessels continued to pummel the stricken vessel, the incoming laser blasts all dug deep into the doomed ship's guts, flashes from deep within the vessel lighting up the wreckage inside.
The Priman formation was on a collision course with the Fourteenth Fleet now, and Admiral Bak felt his pulse quicken. He'd been amped up all the while, of course, but again
his pulse quickened at what he knew was coming; he was going to cross the Priman formation's T in one of the oldest maneuvers in naval warfare.
With the enemy headed right for him, he called out to Captain Montari, who executed the preprogrammed shift. The entire Confed fleet made a ninety degree turn to port, showing their starboard sides to the inbound Priman fleet. This allowed the Confed vessels to train the maximum number of batteries on the incoming Priman ships, and in the case of the Starshaker battleships, six torpedo tubes each. The Primans, being pointed right at them, could counter-fire only with their forward facing weapons, which were drastically fewer in number.
The Primans all seemed to see it at the same time, and both parts of their fleet broke contact haphazardly, ships scattering in all directions. Some went up, down, some went full reverse and simply tried to stop, others bumped into each other, such was their concentration on each other that nobody had kept very close watch on the Confed fleet.
As the ships closed on the Fourteenth, Admiral Bak gave the command every officer dreamed of: "Fire!" he said through gritted teeth, fists clenched in anticipation.
Tash saw it; the end of his reign. Laser blasts reached for his ship, stabbing out through the dark and chipping away at his mighty vessel. There were too many laser bolts to absorb, inbound torpedoes from a half dozen ships. His own fleet tried to help, to fire back, shoot down the weapons, even put themselves in between his ship and the Confeds, but it seemed the will of the galaxy would not be denied. It was simply too much.
He looked at the captain, swung his gaze from crewmember to crewmember as the ship was rocked again and again. He heard the explosions in the distance, the sound rising and then falling as bulkheads sealed off damage and were in turn blown open by the next wave of destruction. He even felt the air heating up as the ship began to explode, time seeming to slow down, his perception catching the details of the event; crew stumbling to the ground, electrical overloads and sparks, fire, heat, violent pitching and explosions as the stricken vessel bucked beneath them. It had never occurred to him that the humans might actually win.
