Reconnaissance in Force (Book 6 of The Empire of Bones Saga)

by Terry Mixon

  Flip point two was the portal to the other occupied system. This was bad news and worse timing. It had to be the relief force that the prisoners had hinted at.

  Jared accessed the attached probe telemetry. The distance between the probe and the ships, as well as the passive nature of the intercept, required some interpretation. What was obvious at a glance was that the number of ships was significant. More than he’d brought with him and more than they’d sent to take out Pentagar.

  They might all be destroyers, but he wasn’t about to take that for granted.

  “We have to assume that’s a major fleet,” he told Marcus. “Everything from superdreadnoughts down. If they go to Dresden, that’s going to put Kelsey and the rest in a tight spot. They’ll be in a position to cut off their avenue of escape. We need to expand on those contingencies you were already working on.”

  * * * * *

  Zia watched the telemetry from the probes as they closed with the Rebel Empire ships. The original data wasn’t quite as bad as she’d first assumed, though it wasn’t good. The ships she’d thought were superdreadnoughts were actually large freighters. Two of them.

  The largest warships were three battlecruisers. Of course, they had dozens of cruisers and swarms of destroyers flanking them. This force would take a mauling, but it could hurt Admiral Mertz in a standup fight.

  “The enemy fleet is breaking up,” her operations officer said. “It looks as though they’re diverting ships to the other two flip points, as well as leaving some on station where they are.”

  It looked as though they were splitting into groups of roughly equal size. One was on the way to where they’d be escaping, one was staying on site at flip point two, and the last group was going around to flip point three. The freighters were on their way into the system.

  One thing that was obvious is that they weren’t going to be sneaking out the way they’d come in. No matter what happened now, there was no aborting.

  Even if she could figure out how to do that, they’d be trapped in the system fairly soon. There was a short window during which they could still escape, but it was going to have to be through flip point three.

  Zia brought up the Old Empire flip point maps. None of the links took her back to either the New Terran Empire or Pentagar. They’d have to either sneak into the Rebel Empire or go into unmapped space.

  Or find a weak flip point that might give them new options.

  She considered sending another FTL burst to Invincible, but decided to wait. She’d fill Princess Kelsey in once she called. There’d be time to let the admiral know about the new situation once they actually had a plan to get themselves out of the system.

  Princess Kelsey should have word to them on their target in less than half an hour. She’d just have to wait, because there was no way to com her with the updated news until she executed phase two.

  Zia hoped things went smoothly over there, because any hiccups were likely to cause them all a lot of pain.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Kelsey listened to Olivier carefully as he described the secret areas of the station. She wished she had confirmation that the target was inside, but at this point, she didn’t even know that Vitter was going to get back out again.

  She considered the irony of wanting to tear the woman’s head off for racing in where angels feared to tread. Talbot was going to laugh at her, assuming this all didn’t just go to crap.

  “That just about confirms that we’re in the right place,” she said. “We won’t wait for Vitter.

  “One thing that has changed is that I want the computer cores. All of them. That means we’ll need to swamp them. Stun everyone as quickly as possible. Then we’ll disassemble the large equipment and get it back out.”

  The rally point she’d chosen was on the civilian side of the station, in a small warehouse directly adjacent to the military part of the orbital. It was only a few levels from the secret facility.

  Cain Hopwood had secured it for them, trussing up the workers and safely tucking them into a storage room where they wouldn’t see anything useful. They’d release them once the operation was over.

  They’d cleared the center of the warehouse and set up their secret weapon. Their half of the transport rings stood gleaming, ready to link up with its mate on Audacious. Thiers was the one that didn’t require an attached power supply, obviously.

  She’d released the pinnaces to head out as soon as she’d made the decision to go ahead with the attack. The transport ring came to life right on time and marines poured through in powered armor, their heavy weapons covering everything and everyone. Talbot came through with her armor already in his arms. Carl Owlet was right behind him, also dressed in powered armor.

  “The situation has changed,” he said as she started stripping her uniform off. There’s a Rebel Empire fleet in the system. It split up and sent forces to the other flip points. We’re not going to be able to just slip out the way we came in.”

  “Then we’ll come up with a different plan.”

  “Commodore Anderson already has one, but she wants your approval before she tells the admiral. If we hurry, we can get what we’re after and slip out through flip point three. It doesn’t have any obvious connection back to where we want to go, but it beats being trapped here.”

  Kelsey nodded as she finished sealing everything except her helmet. “Then that’s the plan. Send word back for her to tell Jared that we’ll find our own way home. Once we kick this off, I want her to jam all communications from this station and the freighters. We can’t let the warships know what we’re doing or they’ll come racing in.

  “The other side of the wall in front of us leads into the military section of this station. I’ll send everyone a map. We want to get to the area marked section ‘F.’ Time is of the essence. We get in, steal everything, and then get the hell out.

  “We’ll be capturing the other areas as well. This station is like Grant Research Facility. I want their data cores. Let no one stand in your way and don’t dawdle. I don’t want anyone to get the idea they need to scrub the cores.”

  “Copy that,” Talbot said. “Stand away from the wall, everyone.”

  “Non-combat personnel through the ring to Audacious,” Kelsey said. “Take my uniform. No need to leave anything behind. Remember, everyone, we leave no one behind.

  “Carl, we seeded the transmitters you gave us. They’re all over the military section, but not inside the secret facility. Is that going to be a problem? What can we expect from them?”

  The young man set his portable console on a handy table. “They’re designed to detect implant transmissions and jam them. Their range is fairly short and they won’t be able to suppress all the transmissions completely. Not inside the secret areas at all.

  “Your armor has an alternate frequency that the jammers won’t interfere with. You should still be able to communicate effectively inside the orbital.”

  “Excellent,” she said. “You stay here and monitor that end. Once we have the secret areas secure, we’ll call you in to extract the computer cores. Talbot? It’s time to make the donuts.”

  He raised his plasma cannon and trained it on the wall.

  Kelsey’s implants pinged with an urgent message.

  “Hold it!” she said. “Stand by.”

  Once she was sure she’d checked her husband’s impulse to fire, she accepted the link. “I’m kind of busy.”

  “And you’re about to get busier,” Annette Vitter said. “I just got a look at the innermost area of the security zone. The target just changed.

  “While they are making the Raider implants here, the real secret here is that they’re building sentient AIs. The bad news is that the equipment is way too big to go through the transport rings.”

  Kelsey gaped. “You’re certain?”

  The other woman nodded. “I just sat through the longest briefing in recorded history talking about the plans to expand the facility. I’ve know the details in excruciating
detail. By the way, I now know someone even more long-winded and stuffy than Captain Breckenridge.”

  “Impossible,” Kelsey declared. “I can’t believe you bluffed your way into something like that. You got big brass ones, lady.”

  “Everyone likes pastries. I had to leave the security area to com you, but I can get you to where you need to go if you’ll have someone open the hatch.”

  Kelsey thought furiously. This changed everything.

  “I have news of my own. The Rebel Empire sent a fleet here and they’re locking down the system. We have a very short window to escape, and it won’t be back toward Jared. We’ll have to run through flip point three. We need a way to get the equipment out of here.”

  She considered and rejected several hair-brained schemes before she stepped back to reconsider the whole plan. There was another option. It was insane, but it might work.

  “Did that briefing cover the power generation for the secure areas?” Kelsey asked Vitter.

  The other woman nodded. “Two fusion plants in the military side, thankfully not in the secured area. The rest of the station has three plants seeing to their needs.”

  “Send me their locations. I have a history with power plants on Rebel Empire stations.”

  “So I hear. That’s not going to get the manufacturing equipment out of here, though.”

  Kelsey smiled. “I have an idea. You’ll love it. First, we actually need to capture everything. Get as close as you can to the fusion plants and we’ll join you shortly.”

  “Copy that.”

  Once again, the recovery team proved startlingly capable. They managed to sneak people near all three power plants, though not up to the plants themselves.

  “Talbot, it’s time,” she said. “If you’d be so kind as to open the door.”

  He grinned at her, put his helmet back on, and hefted the plasma cannon. Everyone crouched behind something as he took the shot, knowing that it would be incredibly destructive.

  It was certainly that. The reinforced wall simply vanished in a sun-bright flash. The bubble of destruction would’ve been impossible for most people to cross, but they were in powered armor.

  The marines leapt forward and vaulted the gap, landing easily and raced toward their designated targets.

  There seemed to be a never-ending stream of them coming from the ring. She’d brought every marine in the fleet with her for this mission.

  Most people would’ve called this overkill, but she no longer believed in such a thing. All these people would allow her to run over any resistance and quickly capture the critical areas.

  Many of the marines were headed for the fusion plants, but not all. Other teams for the command and control levels. The faster they eliminated any possibly of organized resistance, the better.

  The Rebel Empire didn’t trust their marines, thankfully. That meant the ones on the station had no access to powered armor or heavy weapons. The officers in command no doubt assumed that they’d have plenty of time to make changes if some other circumstance came into play.

  Kelsey intended to use that paranoia ruthlessly against them.

  The marines rolled right over everything in their path. Stunners took out everyone they met. No one was armed on the other side, except for a few guards with flechette pistols. Which were not even remotely effective against her troops.

  The teams in the civilian side were actually progressing more slowly than the teams in the military area. They didn’t want to trample the people running away from them. They’d have enough time, she hoped.

  It took her three minutes to reach the lift leading down to the military fusion plants. She didn’t bother calling the car. It would only slow her down.

  She ripped the lift doors open with her bare hands and looked down the shaft. The car was two levels below. She’d need to move it. She pulled a fusion grenade off her belt, armed it, and tossed it down the shaft.

  “Fire in the hole!”

  The blast was impressive in the closed environment, but she didn’t wait for it to fade completely before she jumped into the shaft.

  The car was gone, as was the shaft around it. She plummeted thought the space it had once occupied and hit her grav assist to slow her when she reached the right level.

  The marines following her didn’t have grav assist, so they were using their powered hands to grip the walls as the scurried down like massive spiders.

  Kelsey ripped open the lift doors and flechettes began to ricochet off her armor. Half a dozen guards emptied their weapons at her. She raised her own weapon and stunned them.

  It only took her a minute to find the control room. Oddly, a group of Fleet officers was trying to force the hatch when she arrived. Her stunner put them down.

  The hatch slid open and Vitter grinned at her. “Good timing. I have no idea how to shut these things down.”

  “I have the engineers right behind me.”

  The man and woman in question were awkward in their powered armor, but it had gotten them here alive. She helped get their gauntlets and helmets off so that they could work.

  Commander Mark Kinder, the chief engineer on Persephone, looked over the controls. “This is Rebel Empire standard. Shutting it down now.”

  Alarms began wailing and the lights dimmed.

  The man grinned. “Both plants are offline. We can get them back up when we’re ready, though it’ll take a little time.”

  “Good work.”

  Kelsey pinged the other teams outside the secure area. Two of the civilian plants were offline already, and the third went down as she watched. They’d eliminated the simplest way for anyone to destroy the station.

  She had marines looking for other self-destruct methods, but didn’t expect to find any. Why have them when you could overload a fusion plant and take out everything?

  It was time to execute the final phase. She sent a signal to Owlet to head for the secure area. A team of marines would make certain nothing stood between him and their prize.

  “That means I gotta go,” Vitter said. “Talbot, help me up the lift and back to the transport ring.”

  “We’ll go secure the labs and the military command team,” Kelsey said.

  They’d won the first round, but things could still go horribly wrong. It was time to wrap this up and get the hell out of here.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Brandon stared at Commodore Anderson’s image. “You want me to what?”

  “I need you to jettison both ships and get the station inside the recovery ship’s arms. We’re taking it with us.”

  “That’s what I thought you said.”

  He looked at the scanner readings of the station as he initiated the release procedure to set Persephone and Audacious free.

  “I can’t get it all inside the arms. It’s close, but—”

  “This is why they pay you the big bucks, Captain. Make it work.”

  Brandon rubbed his face. Something was going to have to give. He loaded the orbital’s geometry into his implants, and then he set up the maximum spread he could get on the arms. They had to be around the cargo or the drives wouldn’t be able to shield it from inertia or flip it.

  It almost worked if he twisted the ship around, but the arms didn’t open widely enough. The orbital was almost a quarter larger than Invincible.

  He accessed the specifications for the arms. They were replaceable. That meant they could be removed. Now he needed to figure out how to attach them in the new configuration.

  “I’ll need several teams from engineering to come assist me,” he said. “I need to detach two of the arms. Once we have the station in place, we can reattach them. We’ll need to secure them against acceleration, but they will be able to provide flip capability and inertial dampening.”

  “I’ll have people on the way as soon as we clear the landing bay. How long will it take?”

  “Considering we’ve never done it before, it might take an hour.”

  “Shorten that as much as possib
le. We’re tight on time.”

  He nodded. “I’ll move it along as fast as I can. I can send the specifications along now. The engineering teams can start finding places we can save time while they wait for a ride.”

  “Excellent,” the commodore said. “I’ve got to get the last part of this mission under way. Call me if there are any problems.”

  He closed the com channel and started working on what he could do ahead of time. This was going to be tight.

  * * * * *

  Annette bumped her acceleration up enough to catch up with her squadrons. Every fighter they had was on its way to flip point three. They’d kept their acceleration down so as not to be detected, but they’d be going very fast when they arrived.

  The ships in Dresden orbit should be on the way behind them before they attacked the Rebel Empire forces. Based on the range from the new forces moving at the edges of the system, they might arrive there undetected, too.

  She called Jake Fiennes on the short-range com.

  “What’s the plan, boss lady?” he asked.

  “It’s as simple as it gets. We’re going to arrive at flip point three several hours ahead of Audacious, Persephone, and the recovery ship. The stealthed probes say we have three destroyers and that battle station. I want to take them all off the board on the first pass.”

  He whistled. “That’s a tall order. We can scrub the destroyers, but the battle station is a big one. It’s made to take lots of hits. Why do we need to run the table?”

  “Because we don’t want to let them know where we went for a while. The commodore is arranging a distraction, but a distress signal from out here will really mess us up. The recovery ship is overloaded, and her arms are in a non-standard position, so it’ll be extremely slow. We can’t afford to let them catch up with us.”

  He seemed to consider what she’d said. “We’ll have to allocate almost all our fire to the battle station. We have no idea what the internal layout is. I figure we can wax the destroyers with four fighters each. They won’t have battle screens up.”