Chapter Forty-Four
Battle of Oriolis VI
Oriolis System
7 September 2999
Cole accessed the comms functions through the helm station and sent a text message to Sasha via her implant: ask Jennings to call for the Aurelian surrender; we haven’t fired our energy mounts yet. After all, even in routine operations, there can only be one person in command of the bridge, and Cole didn’t want to undermine or countermand anything Sasha might say.
“Mazzi, how much have you used the energy mounts?” Sasha asked.
“Not much, ma’am. There’s just been that one strafing run so far that cost them eight destroyers and sixteen frigates…well, except for the frigate that intercepted a torpedo.”
Sasha sighed. “Jennings, signal the battleship; request the surrender of all Aurelian forces in this engagement, and transmit that in the clear on an omnidirectional broadcast.”
Within a few moments, Jennings said, “We have a reply, ma’am…audio only and also transmitted in the clear.”
“Play it,” Sasha said.
The speakers chirped once before a scratchy audio filled with static began. “This is Captain Aleksei Grimshaw. The Aurelian Navy does not surrender!”
Sasha looked at the decking and closed her eyes.
“That damned fool will get a lot of his people killed,” Cole growled. “Why isn’t Admiral Bagley responding?”
“I’m pretty sure we holed the flag bridge on that battleship,” Mazzi replied. “Admiral Bagley may not even be alive.”
“Cole?” Sasha said.
Cole swiveled to face his first officer and saw the hurt and heartache in her eyes, and he knew she’d rather be anywhere other than in command of this battle. He almost sighed. The bridge crew was watching them. Cole smiled.
“Jennings, I think it’s time for another message. Sasha, if you wouldn’t mind stepping outside the video pick-up range?”
Sasha stood and vacated the command chair, moving to the forward starboard corner of the bridge once more.
Cole moved to the command chair and sat. This time, though, he sat up straight, both feet on the decking, and with each arm resting on its respective armrest. He said, “Jennings, tell me when you’re ready.”
“You’re on, Captain.”
Cole waited a few seconds to allow for Jennings’s voice to be cut from the broadcast. Then, he spoke. “My name is Bartholomew James Coleson, and I both own and command this vessel, the Battle-Carrier Haven. Almost every known sentient race is represented in my crew: Kiksaliks, Ghrexels, Igthons, and Humans…just to name a few. We came here to rescue and free members of a mercenary company who were being held as political prisoners, and we do not desire a conflict with the Aurelian Navy. This ship has five shield layers. The fifth and outer-most layer is gone; the fourth layer is at seventy-percent and recharging, and we have yet to utilize the full offensive capabilities of this ship.
“Perhaps, the word ‘surrender’ was a poor choice on my part. I ask you to stand down and allow us to leave this system without further loss of life. There is no glory, no honor, no achievement in assuring the deaths of those you command. Coleson out.”
A few moments later, Jennings said, “The message is ready, Captain.”
“Send it,” Cole said. “No encryption and omnidirectional broadcast.”
Cole stood and returned to the helm. Sasha moved to the command chair.
Cole looked at Sasha, asking, “Do you think that will do any good?”
“It’s hard to tell,” Sasha answered, shrugging, “and even if they want to stand down or surrender, what will that get them if their own government will just kill or imprison them for it later?”
“Commander,” Mazzi said, “one cruiser just fired twelve missiles at us.”
“I thought the cruisers were out of the fight,” Sasha remarked, looking to Mazzi.
“This one isn’t, ma’am…at least not anymore,” Mazzi replied.
“Four torpedoes…fire.”
Four torpedoes spat out of the forward launchers, sailing at appreciable fractions of light-speed toward the cruiser that had fired. As the torpedoes approached their target, they separated to approach the cruiser from multiple vectors. Point-defense batteries lit off, but their targeting was poor, missing every torpedo. The four torpedoes adjusted their aim and velocity to ensure all four reached the target and detonated at the same time, and the cruiser ceased to exist.
Sasha was just about to ask Cole to squeeze them through the gap created by the destruction of the cruiser when Jennings said, “Incoming comms request! It appears to be…a conference call.”
Cole swiveled to look at Sasha and saw her expression of surprise mirrored his own feelings. She almost jumped up from the command chair and stepped out of range of the video pick-up as Cole moved to the command chair.
As soon as Wixil sat at the helm, Cole said, “Put the call through on the forward viewscreen.”
The bridge speakers chirped once as the viewscreen activated to display twenty-six people. They were of varying ages, and both men and women seemed to be represented in equal number.
“This is Cole,” Cole said. “I must say…this is not something I expected.”
“Can you take us with you, Captain?” a woman asked. “None of us signed on to be the iron fist of a brutal regime, and none of us are connected enough to survive if we let you leave this system…whether or not we actually let you leave.”
“Who is ‘us?’” Cole asked.
“We’ve polled our entire ship’s complements. None of us want to serve the Provisional Parliament, but ‘retirement’ or ‘resignation’ is tantamount to suicide these days.”
Cole nodded. “So, what about the other ships here? I’d imagine they’d object to you leaving with us.”
“You’re right, Captain, but everyone’s caught up in figuring out who’s in command now. Admiral Bagley is dead; her flag bridge was destroyed with no survivors. The cruiser that fired missiles at you carried Captain Aleksei Grimshaw. The rest of us are either commanders or lieutenant commanders…and no one wants to step up and take command.”
Cole shook his head. “Talk about a mess.” A text message from Sasha scrolled across his field of view, ‘What about date of rank?’ Cole continued, “I would’ve thought date of rank would come into play. Who’s the most senior?”
“I am, Captain; that’s why I’m the one speaking, but we’re all in a no-win situation over here. If we press the attack, there’s a very good chance we’ll die to no gain and no reason. Sure…if sacrificing our lives is what it would take to save a world or hold off an invasion until help arrives, every one of us would do that; that’s what we’re paid to do. Standing up to a battleship because you came to retrieve people who aren’t even Commonwealth citizens? None of us want to die for that…especially not when you seem to be more concerned for our lives than our own Provisional Parliament and chain of command.”
“You’re putting me in one heck of a position. I need a couple minutes. Please hold,” Cole said.
“I’ve muted our audio and blacked the video,” Jennings said.
“Sasha…thoughts?” Cole asked.
Sasha sighed. “What is the so-called Provisional Parliament doing to these people? I can’t even conceive of the idea that the entire complement of twenty-six starships would ask us to take them, too. It…it’s just unheard of.”
Cole nodded. “Anyone else want to say anything?”
“Cole?” Srexx said over the bridge’s speakers.
“Yeah, buddy?”
“What did you name this ship? And why did you choose that, out of everything you could have named her?”
Cole nodded. “Yeah, buddy. You’re right.”
“Captain,” Mazzi said, “there are life pods launching from the cruisers and battleship. They appear to be settling on a course for various ships near them.”
“Okay, Jennings,” Cole said, “put me back on.”
“
You’re live, Captain.”
Before Cole could speak, the Commander who’d been speaking for the group turned back to her video pick-up and said, “Captain, there’s been a development.”
“Oh?” Cole asked. “Do tell.”
“Several survivors from the battleship and remaining cruisers have asked to add their voices to ours, sir, and those ships remaining who do not want to join us will not fire on us if we leave.”
Cole blinked. “Uh…what? If the situation in the so-called Commonwealth is anywhere close to what I’ve heard—both here today and before—they do realize what will happen to them, right?”
The woman nodded, her expression somber. “They understand, Captain. They realize they should leave, but…they can’t. The Commonwealth is their home; it’s all they’ve known. It’s all we’ve known, too, but what’s happening now isn’t our home. It’s not the Commonwealth we signed up to defend.”
Sasha stepped into the video pick-up without warning and before Cole could say anything. Every face on the viewscreen showed surprise at seeing her.
“Commander, the Commonwealth can get better. I believe that.”
The woman shook her head. “No, Lady Thyrray, I’m not sure it can. In the status updates we received before you arrived, we learned the Carnelian Bloc has entered the war on the side of the Provisional Parliament, and in response, the Duchy of Musilar has come to the aid of the so-called ‘rebels,’ those supposedly led by your family. You should know, ma’am, that none of us who don’t owe our positions to the Provisional Parliament believe the story they’re spreading about your family. The Thyrrays wouldn’t do what they’re accusing your family of doing.”
Sasha nodded, saying, “Thank you, Commander. That means a lot, and it will mean a lot to my sister when I tell her.”
“So how about it, Captain? What have you decided?” the woman asked, directing her attention back to Cole.
Cole glanced at Sasha for a moment before answering, “I named this ship Haven for a reason, Commander. Form up on us.”
Haven stood down from battle stations to alert status as Cole moved back to the helm and set a course for Tristan’s Gate, ordering a leisurely quarter-lightspeed. What he expected was eight destroyers and eighteen frigates to follow him toward the system periphery; what happened was the remaining twenty-nine frigates drifted toward the rear of the formation while two of the remaining three cruisers shifted as well.
“Captain,” Jennings said, “we’re receiving another comms request.”
Cole smiled. “Put it on.”
Sasha stood as Cole moved to the command seat. Wixil moved to the helm.
The senior Commander appeared on the viewscreen again as the bridge speakers chirped.
“Captain…”
Cole smiled. “Let me guess; there’s been another development.”
“Yes, sir. Perhaps we should’ve told you, but we were broadcasting our side of the conversation across our fleet channels. No offense, sir, but those ships who didn’t want to follow you will follow Lady Thyrray. Two of the cruisers want to come, but they have engine damage and can’t maintain one-quarter-light. They’re working on repairs as we speak, but it will be at least five hours before they’re capable of even two-tenths’ lightspeed.”
Cole smiled, “I suppose I could act all offended and put upon, but I understand. The Thyrrays are your people. What’s their maximum safe speed?”
“One-tenth lightspeed.”
Cole winced. “Ouch. Okay. I’m guessing they would rather not abandon their ships?”
“That’s correct, sir.”
Cole shrugged. “Well, nothing for it, then. Helm, all stop. Once the cruisers catch up to us, proceed on course at one-tenth light.”
“Aye, Captain. Helm answering all stop.”
The commander smiled. “Thank you, sir.”
“You’re welcome. Haven out.”
Once the comms channel closed, Wixil jumped up from the helm as Cole moved to it. Sasha moved back to the command chair, passing Wixil as she returned to her place beside Mazzi.
“You know, Cole,” Sasha said, “you will have to take the big chair sooner or later.”
Cole swiveled to face her. “I’m working my way through the ISA’s suggested courses for their captaincy exams. For right now, though, things are okay. Srexx?”
“Yes, Cole?” Srexx said via the bridge speakers.
“Do you have any suggestions for how we take two cruisers, eight destroyers, and forty-seven frigates with us when we hyper out of here?” Cole asked.
“One moment…” Srexx said. After several minutes of silence, during which Cole eased the engines back up to one-tenth lightspeed, Srexx continued, “If we divert all available power to the hyperdrive, including what we’re using on the defensive shields, my calculations suggest we can extend the ship’s hyperdrive field to encompass our formation. We will not have the power to maintain eighty-percent transit speed, as you prefer.”
“How bad of a compromise are we talking here, Srexx?” Cole asked.
“My calculations suggest a maximum of seventy-percent, but my calculations may not be accurate. To my knowledge, no one has ever attempted this before.”
“Well,” Cole said, “I guess there’s just one way to find out how accurate your numbers are, buddy.”
A little over forty-five hours later, Haven and the small Aurelian task group comprised of two cruisers, eight destroyers, and forty-seven frigates arrived at the system periphery. Cole transmitted the formation data Srexx had devised to all the ships while Srexx worked with Chief Engineer Logan and his people to ensure everything was ready.
After two more hours, the ‘Engage Hyperdrive’ button lit up on the helm console.
“We are as ready as we can be, Cole,” Srexx said via the bridge speakers.
Cole keyed the control, and all fifty-eight ships vanished from Oriolis.
Chapter Forty-Five
System Periphery
Tristan’s Gate System
7 October 2999, 22:54 GST
The hyperdrive shut down, depositing fifty-eight ships at the system periphery of Tristan’s Gate, and Cole breathed a heavy sigh of relief as he both counted the ships and confirmed their location via the helm’s sensor display. Cole realized a captain shouldn’t communicate anything other than a calm confidence, but he’d spent the last twenty-seven days and fifteen hours on tenterhooks just waiting for the hyperdrive to fail or the ship to explode or…well…something. But nothing happened.
Cole swiveled his seat to face Sasha, who sat in the command chair, and failed to keep a slight grin from curling his lips as he said, “Lady Thyrray, if this humble, unworthy soul may offer a thought, the Lady might converse with her people to develop an answer for when the Tristan’s Gate SDF sees our formation and says hi.”
Every pair of eyes on the bridge turned to watch the situation unfold, and as everyone on the bridge—including Cole—awaited Sasha’s response, one could have heard a pin strike the decking at the far end of Deck Three. Sasha maintained the perfect non-expression for several moments, until a mischievous gleam appeared in her eyes. Without speaking a word, Sasha rose to her feet and turned toward the starboard hatch. She took one step but then turned to look over her shoulder to the helm, where Cole sat watching her. Sasha took a moment to stick her tongue out at Cole and, then, left the bridge for her office where she could speak with her people without disturbing anyone.
As the starboard bridge hatch closed, everyone turned to look at Cole. Under the weight of all those eyes, Cole couldn’t keep his mirth contained. He erupted in laughter, and soon, everyone on the bridge joined him.
Two hours later, in what had to be choreographed timing, every Aurelian ship present deactivated the transponders proclaiming them to be ships of the Aurelian Navy. When their transponders came back up, some twenty minutes later, those fifty-seven ships now reported as belonging to Haven Enterprises, ‘ACS’ having been stripped from their names and their regist
ry numbers now being prefaced with ‘HES’ instead of ‘C’ for the cruisers, ‘D’ for the destroyers, or ‘F’ for the frigates.
On the bridge, Cole put the transponder list on the forward viewscreen and leaned back in his seat, his arms crossed over his chest. He wasn’t sure how he felt about the change, but he supposed it was better than having them still operate as ships of the Aurelian Navy.
On the plus side, the cruisers had used the twenty-seven days and change in hyperspace to advance their engine repairs. Those ships were now as repaired as they were going to be without the assistance of a shipyard, and the chief engineers aboard them rated the engines safe for a sustained one-third-c, or one third of light-speed. That would put Cole and his task group (maybe fleet?) arriving at the Gate sometime between twenty-six to thirty-one hours, once they started that way.
Srexx sent a formation file to the helm console for Cole to see, and upon looking it over, Cole nodded in acceptance. Cole arranged the ships in a fleet formation to correspond to the file Srexx sent him and distributed it to the other fifty-seven ships as a ‘travel formation.’ The cruisers soon positioned themselves to port and starboard of Haven in the classic line abreast. Two destroyers assumed position a safe distance off the bow of Haven with two more falling in an equal distance off the stern. One destroyer took up a position on the far port side of the line abreast formed by Haven and the two cruisers and another took up a similar position on the far starboard side. The last two destroyers took up a position above and below Haven, respectively. The frigates formed a rather impressive globe around Haven, the cruisers, and the destroyers.
Sent along with the formation orders, Cole provided a movement plan. Beginning on Cole’s mark, the ships would set their speed at one-tenth-c. Ten minutes later, they’d increase to two-tenths-c, and ten minutes after that, they’d increase to one-third-c. Cole hoped everything went according to plan and that what didn’t was small and manageable.
It Ain't Over... (Cole & Srexx Book 1) Page 35
