The next five Missile Cruisers also died.
We turned back towards the battle site, still in formation, but at a slow speed, the viewer changing to front view again. The Mosquito Launchers fired again. For another six seconds, Jane was again dedicated to targeting, after which, two hundred and forty IR missiles launched after them.
A wall of explosions lit up space again, much closer this time. When we could see through it again, the last two Cruisers were gone as well.
We sped up again, closing on the three hundred and sixty Talons. A wall of anti-fighter missiles launched at us. We replied with two hundred and forty FF missiles. Seconds later, another set were launched, and then another. In theory, this was two FF's per Talon. In practice, it was anyone's guess how many would hit any given ship.
Point Defense opened up on the incoming missiles, but we started taking hits anyway. The brunt of the missiles were aimed at the Guardians, but Custer also took its share of fire.
Talons winked out faster than the eye could keep up with, but the remaining ones were pumping out their own missiles as fast as they could.
Talons and missiles diminished rapidly, as missiles hit targets.
And suddenly, everything stopped. Including us as we reached the edge of a massive debris field. I checked the shields for each ship. None of them were below eighty percent.
"And that’s how you do that," I said generally, before opening ship coms. "All clear. Good guy's one, bad guy's zip. If you want to sleep, now's the time." I closed the coms.
There was general merriment on the Bridge, and coming up from below.
"Send out the salvage droids Jane. Open up the Cargo Bay's on the Guardians, and take any salvageable hulls there. We'll need the debris field moved into a mountain, well away from the jump point."
"Confirmed."
With nothing more to do for now, I limped down to the Medical Bay, and had a doc-droid check me. It gave me another pain shot.
Back in my chair on a now empty Bridge, I pondered why my bruises hurt so much this time. When I’d first been hurt after leaving Outback, I'd not felt this bad, even though I was hurt worse. The second lot of bruises I'd received by tree crashing, hadn't been as bad. What was different?
Hospital.
Oh, yes. The first time I’d spent five days unconscious in hospital, while this time it had been one night. I was hurting more because I should still be there.
Can't be helped. Wars wait for no man.
But man waits for news. I sat there, waiting for what should be coming soon.
Jane and I discussed what should happen the next morning, and the preparations to make for it.
Just after midnight, the email I was waiting for, came in.
There had been another small fleet at the Avalon jump point. Two Cruisers and five squadrons of Talons. The four ships had made short work of them. Avalon was now connected with the rest of the spine once again, having also not been invaded. Slice and O'Neil were on their way to join us now.
I sent orders to Admiral Bentley to bring the station and her fleet here as well.
Next, I opened a vid.
"Marshall, Admirals and General. The Cobol jump point is ours, the system is clear, and back on the communication network. The fleet I expected to face away from the jump point, turned tail and ran before us. The timing aided them enough so they could join the next fleet through at the jump point itself. The combined fleets were handled relatively easily at long ranges. It'll be morning before we can jump into Cobol. Hunter out."
I assembled the email, and sent it off.
Until the jump point was cleared, we couldn’t go any further. Which was just as well, because we were all exhausted. Well I was. I assumed everyone else was as well.
I found Angel curled up in her cat bed, visited the bathroom, changed into t-shirt and boxers, and went to bed.
Fifteen
"GOOD MORNING ATLANTIS!"
I wish Jane wouldn’t do that. I lay there, with tail in my mouth for a moment, before moving a still sleeping puss, and heading for the shower.
"Sitrep," I said, stepping into the water.
"Half hour until the station arrives. George and Eric arrived just after two. Slice and O'Neil arrived at five. No enemy activity. The jump point is clear."
"How many heard your wake up shout?"
"Everyone."
"Good."
I wouldn’t be the only one feeling sleep deprived. Less than six and a half hours wasn’t enough, but it was all I could afford.
We had to take the next step before Midgard did.
Jeeves waved breakfast under my nose as I stepped into the living room, so I detoured to the Dining Room to eat it. I was hungry, for once.
When I arrived on the Bridge, Jane had us formed up ready to go. The eight Pocket Battleships were in a two tiered wall formation, with Custer behind and centered between them. Repulse and the station were just coming up to their backup position, in case anything came through after we jumped. I noticed Apricot One on course to dock with the station.
"Ten minutes to jump," I said into ship coms. "Find a seat, and buckle up."
There was a mad rush onto the Bridge. The noise of buckles drowned out the noise of my own being fastened.
I opened channels to Repulse and Apricot One.
"Admiral and Wing Commander. Mind the fort while we jump into the chicken coop. I'll call you through when it's safe."
They acknowledged, and I closed the channels.
Jane had a countdown timer running on a side screen. I watched it, waiting.
"Jump in ten seconds," I said finally, through ship coms.
The Pocket Battleships jumped, and a few seconds later, we followed.
I immediately knew I'd goofed.
"Jane, open our formation out into a sphere, so we can all shoot."
There was no answer.
Twelve barrages were inbound and very close. All of our Mosquito launchers had answered them.
I pushed Custer down, and to full speed, running. One barrage turned to follow us. John Wayne did the opposite, going up, with two barrages following. O'Neil must have taken control himself, as JW would have been like Jane, unresponsive.
"Confirmed," Jane said finally, acknowledging the order I’d given her years earlier. Well it felt like years, even if it had only been seconds.
The Guardians, which had flown on in a straight line for six dangerous seconds, now moved in different directions, to clear each other's line of fire.
Point Defense fire and Mosquito missiles set off capital ship missiles all around us.
Custer staggered under multiple missile hits, and I threw us around in as wild a turn as I could manage, trying to give the Point Defense more time to take out the remaining missiles. Several more hit.
Seven sets of missile launchers now spat sixty missiles each.
Talon anti-fighter missiles were going in all directions. FF's were spitting from our launchers as well.
Nine sets of capital ship guns aimed at one of the other Missile Cruisers and fired. It exploded seconds later, followed almost immediately after, by seven more, as our missiles struck them.
Four new barrages appeared, aimed at the nearest three Guardians.
Four more sets of missiles targeted the remaining Missile Cruisers.
More Mosquitos launched.
Missiles were exploding seemingly everywhere.
The last four Cruisers exploded, and we were left with mopping up the Talons.
I kept us far enough away to avoid direct fire, but allowing our Point Defense, and IR's, to engage.
It didn’t take long for the last Talon to wink out.
I brought us to a stop over the top of the debris field.
"Sitrep Jane."
"No damage." Minor miracle, I thought. "All ship's shields are below twenty percent. If they'd had a few more Cruisers, we would have taken damage, possibly even lost a few ships."
"Clean up. Put the salvageable hulls somewher
e where the station can pick them up later."
"Confirmed."
I opened a channel to John Wayne.
"Nice flying Commodore."
"You saw that?"
"Sure did. You did the opposite to what I did."
"Sheer desperation I'm afraid. I'm amazed it worked, as that’s the first time I've taken control of a ship myself, in thirty years."
"It worked. That’s all that matters. Drop off all your salvage droids, so we can clean up this mess as fast as possible. Arc formation please, across the line to Cobol. Move out about half an hour. That should give us enough buffer zone to work with."
"Yes sir. Moving now."
The channel closed. Jane was deploying salvage droids.
"All clear," I said into ship coms. "We won't be going anywhere now until the jump point is cleared."
"What happened Jon?" asked Vonda.
I sighed.
"I goofed."
"How so?"
No-one had moved. Everyone was listening intently.
"Wrong formation choice. I assumed they would be laid out in front of us, so went in with a tight formation designed to allow us to fire at once."
"Why was that wrong?" asked BA.
"They weren't in front of us, but staked out on each side. At best, we'd four ships which could fire half their missiles at them, while they could all fire at us."
"None of ours fired though, or did they?" asked Aline.
"No, there was no time for any offensive move. Jane had to fire the Mosquito launchers immediately after the jump to counter the barrages. That’s why she didn’t answer me when I ordered a different formation. For six seconds, all she could do was missile defense, and during that time, we were totally helpless. Only O'Neil and I could do anything except fly straight."
"How did they know?" asked Annabelle.
"I can only assume one of the Talons from yesterday managed to jump back and sound a warning. Knowing we were coming, and the makeup of our fleet, it wasn’t hard to set a trap like this. Only the timing of when we came through was unknown. And the closer we got to seven thirty, the more likely it was immediate. They were probably loaded and sighted in on the jump point for hours, waiting for us."
"Don’t beat yourself up Jon," said Amanda. "We came through it just fine. Besides, you're only human like the rest of us, and mistakes like this happen on the battlefield."
There was a general rumble of assent.
"We live and learn, I guess. For those who didn’t finish breakfast, you may as well go back for seconds."
I sat there while everyone left.
Alison turned at the door, and opened her mouth.
"Yes," I said.
She turned and left.
I started a vid.
"Marshall, Admirals and General. We walked into a trap this morning. At least one Talon must have made it back through the jump point last night. A fleet was staked out on each side of the jump point, catching me flat footed with the wrong formation choice. We prevailed, but all our ships had less than twenty percent shielding left by the end. I'm going to rethink tactics for the next encounter. Knowing we're coming, it's likely they'll have Cobol well and truly staked out. For the moment, we can't move until the jump point is clear enough for Repulse and my station to jump in. I'll let you know before we head to Cobol. Hunter out."
I sent off the email, sent a similar message to Repulse, advising a considerable delay while the jump point was cleaned up, and headed for the spa in my bathroom.
Sixteen
Jane had me out of the spa before the cleanup ended. I had time to shower again, and visit the Medical Bay for another pain killer. The spa was helping, but not enough. What I wasn’t enjoying was being prune wrinkled from the long time spent in hot water.
With Angel on my knee, purring madly as I patted her, I pondered what we were likely to face at Cobol.
If it was me, I'd have left a Talon on the edge of scanner range, with orders to watch what happened, and report the outcome. In which case, they would know we took no significant damage. Scanners couldn’t tell them at that long a range, but eight ships moving a half hour away, would definitely suggest nothing more than minimal damage, if any. In ordering the picket line, I’d inadvertently tipped our hand. They most likely now knew we were much more powerful than we looked. In which case, the response had to be even more powerful.
I needed more fire power.
I chuckled to myself. Then laughed out loud, which stopped when my temple throbbed. A headache wasn’t something I needed right now. My medical monitor adjusted my pain killer meds to reduce it down to a minor ache. I could think fine, but only because the pain was being suppressed, without inhibiting brain function. I wasn’t happy with my system full of medications, but it was that or sleep for the next week. There wasn’t really a choice.
I needed more firepower.
The joke was on me. I had eight Pocket Battleships, seven of which fired lethal salvos of capital ship missiles. It worked fine when we'd surprise on our side. And it worked well without surprise, but not as effectively, on fleets that outnumbered us around two to one. Between missiles and guns, we could take out eight enemy Cruisers quickly. Without surprise, they could fire before they were hit. It still left another four free to fire twice, or even three times depending on the range. If we faced three Midgard fleets at once, which hadn't happened yet, I couldn’t see how we would avoid taking serious damage.
What I needed, was to be able to take out twelve or more at once.
I had no illusions. Every book on warfare I’d read, showed when you were expected, somewhere along the line of march, you ran into a meat grinder. A position so well defended, you took it only through serious casualties. Midgard had run into ours. Now I worried Cobol would be theirs for us.
There was another question too. Should we walk in through the front door as they should expect? Or would it be better to take the Midnight jump point first, and come at them from another direction? Or should we do the really unexpected, take the Azgard jump point now, and stop any reinforcements coming through?
There was also the burning need to find out what had happened in Midnight. Did the defenses there even hold? If not, the Australian sector's need would be for us to go there first.
Toxic option syndrome.
I went looking for Vonda. She was in her office, so I only had to limp a short way. I rapped on the door, and went straight in, sitting at the conference table. She joined me there.
"You look like you've a problem," she said.
"I do. Where do we go from here, and in what strength?"
"What are the options?"
I explained my thinking to her.
"I see your dilemma. We seem to have four conflicting objectives, and not enough forces to do more than two of them at a time. One, we need to stop the flow of ships from Azgard. Two, we need to find out what happened at Cobol, and deal with any build up there. Three, we need to find out what happened in Midnight, especially if we've a bigger problem there than we would like. And four, we need to protect the way back to Avon, in case a Midgard fleet comes here, while we're elsewhere."
"That about covers it. The trouble is, the longer we leave going to Cobol, or blocking the door from Azgard, the more fleets they can gather. The larger the force, the more difficult it becomes to take them. On the other hand, if Midnight held, we should be able to bring that force to Cobol. With luck, my Carrier should be there by now."
"Carrier?"
"A very old Escort Carrier I captured from pirates before I went to Pompeii. Sydney Shipyard had begun upgrading it before the Door closed on Midnight. The last I heard from Bob Derr, he expected to have the main upgrades complete in time to assist in the defense of Midnight, assuming they held a few days first. Most of the work wasn’t going to be done in time, but he did promise speed, shielding and guns. So assuming it was done, and she is there, and not been blown away by a missile barrage, she should be as much of an asset as a Cruiser,
only with more Point Defense."
"What else was going to be there?"
"Three Corvettes, a squadron or so of mixed Privateers, including one of my Excalibur's, and anything else they could get repaired in time to be of use. I sent another squadron of Gladiators, those aren't real good Heavy Privateers, through to Sydney Shipyard, on my way to Avon, so they should have been repaired, and be at Midnight as well. They could also have a lot of Talons there too, assuming they figured out how to support them without a Carrier. But the main thing is not what went there, but what still survives and where."
"Jump point is clear," announced Jane.
"Have Janet tell Admiral Bentley to bring her fleet through, and have the station follow."
"Confirmed."
A screen opened on the wall, showing the jump point.
We kept up the discussion of options while we waited for the rest of our forces to come through.
The first through was a Battleship.
"Isn't that Warspite?" asked Vonda.
It sure looked like her, but she was radically different looking now. I brought up the scanner data.
It was Warspite!
Repulse came through next. Followed by her fleet. A dozen more ships came through after.
"What on Earth are those?" asked Vonda.
I started to laugh. It was a motley collection of differently shaped ships. If Vonda had been an Admiral, she would have recognized them.
"The Sci-Fi sector looks like it's finally convinced some of its system defense forces to join the party. The ones lost in Azgard were its sector fleet. They were conventional ships. These belong to specific planets, and follow the science fiction the planets were colonized around."
I recognized quite a few of the designs from the old science fiction I watched, but I’d never seen any of these ships flying around. They were all Destroyer or Cruiser sized.
One looked like a fish. There was one which looked like a large brown block. Another was all pointy bits. One had a large rear section, with a long thin center section, ending in a round pod like front. There was one looking something like a white swan, and another in the classic UFO shape. The triangle shaped one was distinctive. Several were variations of a disc joined to a smaller oval section by pylons. It was like my childhood viewing had just become real. I recognized them all. Sometime, I'd be wanting to buy a few of those for my own collection.
Make or Break the Hero (The Hunter Legacy Book 4) Page 10
