I decided to take Valkyrie to Outback as soon as I’d talked with the privateer skippers and boat pilots here in the Haven system. I was going to have to convince the privateers on Outback to stick a little longer. Besides, I wanted Shar to coordinate the repair efforts, with strict orders to make sure that he assigned the repair priorities, based solely on the need to get the largest number of ships possible spaceworthy.
I met with the privateer crews and boat pilots in Valkyrie’s wardroom. Before, we’d needed much larger spaces; but now, with only about fifty people to accommodate, the wardroom was adequate.
As soon as I entered the wardroom, chaos erupted, crews demanding to have their armament removed, and boat pilots demanding transport to this world or that one. I simply stood quiet until the uproar died away.
Finally, the roar subsided to a dissatisfied rumble. I held up my hand, and the rumble faded.
“First,” I said, “I’d like to thank you all for coming. I’d also like to thank you for making possible my escape from Cord’s program of parties and dinners!” Chuckles erupted, but it would take more than lame jokes to do what I had to do.
“All right,” I resumed, “I know you’re dissatisfied. You privateer crews want to get back to the important stuff – trading profits.” I paused for another rumble of laughter. “And you boat pilots, I know you want to get back to herding asteroids instead of shooting up dreadnoughts.”
“You’ve all been hearing Cord's speeches. ‘The danger is past’; ‘the rebellion failed’ and so on. Yes, he makes it sound like it’s all over.
“But it’s not over!” I continued. “Those speeches are for the civilians; those who would have been screaming for surrender as soon as a ship appeared in their sky. How much peace can we count on with an entire fortified system in the sector? Thaeron’s yards and docks have the capability to actually build complete warships. Are you willing to have your children go through this all over again in fifteen years, just because we quit too soon?
“I’m asking you to stay with me just a while longer. I sent a scout tramp to Thaeron several weeks ago. I expect him back at any time. When he arrives, we’ll know more. Maybe you will be able to be disarmed and go home. Perhaps Thaeron is just waiting for someone to come and accept her surrender.
“On the other hand, Thaeron’s commander may be feeling secure behind his thousands of drifting mines, and his fortified moons. He may even have at least one warship. I’m told there was a battle cruiser in orbit there that was being cannibalized. I doubt it’s being cannibalized now. He also definitely has one destroyer. Gyrfalcon was damaged in the battle at Lonesome; Jonas sent it to Thaeron for repair. Those repairs are probably complete by now.”
“What we’ve done so far,” I continued, “is the equivalent of beating off a mugger attempting to rob us. But if you did beat off a mugger, would you be content to turn away and leave his armed accomplice in an alley behind you?”
“I hope that you will stay with me for awhile; but I won’t try to force you. Every one of you is a hero already. I will not try to compel heroes to face more and possibly even greater dangers.”
“In a few hours, I will be taking Valkyrie to Outback, to talk with the privateers and boat pilots there. I give you my word that I will direct the yards and docks to begin removing the weaponry of any privateers that ask, as soon as possible. However, you must understand that repairs to our damaged ships are a higher priority, with a battle yet to fight. So, we’ll disarm your ships, but you’ll have to wait until the yard and dock space is available.
“To you boat pilots I say this. There’s not one of you who hasn’t lost a friend in this fight. Some of you have lost many friends. Too many. I look out here and . . . there are so few of you! Barely more than thirty out of more than a hundred and fifty. You are the bravest and best of the best. I and the rest of the rim owe you everything. I hope some of you will stay with me. To the others, I say there is no disgrace in leaving now. On the contrary, every one of you has a medal coming. If you decide to go, go with your heads held high. Go as heroes! I will make sure that passage to your home systems is arranged as quickly as possible.
“Finally,” I continued, “I mentioned that we will be leaving for Outback in a few hours. In the meantime, I will make myself available to any of you to discuss your individual situations.” I straightened. “I want to make certain that you understand how much I appreciate the sacrifices you've made for the rim; and I promise you that both Viceroy Cord and I will do our best to make sure the people of the rim appreciate them, too. For now, I salute you.”
A gratifyingly large percentage of them jumped to their feet and returned my salute. A large lump had somehow become lodged in my throat, so I just muttered, “Thank you,” and fled out the hatch.
Shar was waiting. “I saw you palm that ace, Admiral!”
“I don’t know what you mean,” I replied with as much dignity as I could muster.
He grinned. “It’ll be weeks or months before all of the repairs are completed on all of the ships. So you’ve left them the choice of staying with you or sitting on their butts on Outback, arguing over who’ll eventually get to go first. ‘You'll have to wait until the yard and dock space is available’,” he mimicked. “When have you ever known a shipyard to be empty? Space will be ‘available’ when you say it is, and you know it!”
I looked around guiltily. “I know. And I feel terrible about it. I, we, owe them better! But, what can I do? I might need their help with Thaeron.”
His grin faded. “I know. What do you think the boat pilots will do?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know, Shar. But I didn’t have the courage to press them hard to serve again. There are so few of them left!”
He nodded soberly. “I understand. And I agree. I’ve never served with braver people — in or out of the Fleet."
Chapter XVI
I’d barely got to my cabin before Toms Tindarr was knocking at the door.
“Ye can count on alla us, Admiral,” he said with a cheery grin. “We’re wi’ ye!”
I shook my head. “Thank you, Toms,” I said in a heartfelt tone. “But I must admit I don’t understand. Your casualties were so high, yet you’re still willing to serve.”
Toms shrugged, and looked slightly uncomfortable. “It’s ye as don’ unnerstand, Admiral. See, rock jock ain’ zackly a respected perfession. Mostly we’re loners ‘n misfits. We generally loses a couple dozen a year, but don’t nob'dy care. ‘Cept Ye! Ye ‘n th’ Viceroy, Ye care!”
He shrugged. “Take Lar Quiston. He were a bum an’ a ne’er-do-well. His fambly threw him out – that’s how he ended up a rock jock. But ye an’ Cord, ye sent a ship’s cap’n allaway t’ Keth’s World t’fetch his whole fambly to Bolt Hole, so’s ye c’d persent ‘em a medal fer ‘im. Now he'll be ‘membered by his fambly as a hero, ‘steada a bum.” He shook his head. “Naw, Admiral, we’ll go ennawheres wi’ ye!”
I could feel warmth creeping up my face. I hurriedly thanked Toms and ushered him out. Sending Jamro to Keth’s World for Lar Quiston’s family had been strictly Cord’s idea. It seemed I owed him another apology.
Ultimately, all but one of the privateer crews elected to stay. I thanked each of the eleven crews, even the one that was opting out.
After some discussion, Cord agreed that I should take the entire force to Outback with me. That way, we could jump straight to Thaeron without time-consuming delays returning to Haven. He also agreed to send our scout tramp on to Outback to report.
The news at Outback was good; at least, as good as I could expect. Relentless was barely capable of maneuvering and jump. But if we couldn’t get her to Thaeron’s orbital shipyards, she’d never fight again. Though Fearless’ jump comp was still out, all her other systems were operational. That meant that one of our two cruisers and three destroyers would be available for the Thaeron campaign. Even Jamro’s Harpy was now battle-ready. Perhaps we wouldn’t have to rely so much on the privateers and boats.
/> But captains are captains. They’re never satisfied with the condition of their ships; and they’d been hogging the orbital repair docks. I put a quick end to that.
To be honest, though, most of the repairs to the privateers had been completed in the planetside yards. Despite the complaints, there was little remaining to be done to make all the privateers spaceworthy. I was even able to get our one defector yard space for disarming. Frankly, I didn’t want his crew hanging around complaining and inducing others to change their minds. My one fear was that his disarming would be complete before we heard from Thaeron. If the other crews saw him lift off to trade, well . . .
Actually, that was what happened. Luckily, though, the day before she was scheduled to lift, our scout arrived in the system. All the crews were so busy betting on whether we’d have to fight that the tramp’s departure was almost unnoticed. I didn’t make any effort to keep the scout’s crew from talking on their way in from the jump point. If the crews wanted to gossip badly enough to tolerate communications lags of as much as an hour, they were welcome. I didn’t want the privateer crews thinking I was witholding information.
When she finally arrived in Outback orbit, I sent for her captain and asked for his report.
“The man in charge was an old man, a Captain. He’s the CO of the base on Thaeron.” He grinned. “But don’t underestimate him because of his age,” he added, “His chest is covered with ribbons. This is no armchair officer.”
He shifted in his chair before continuing. “I think he figured me out in about five seconds. Knew what I was doing there, and that you sent me. I told him about Jonas and Van-Lyn bein’ dead and Nemesis and Dauntless destroyed, and gave him a copy of the tape of the Emperor’s visit. After he pumped me for every bit of information I had, he gave me a message for you.”
I was startled. “What kind of message?”
“He said, ‘Tell Kedron that I said to leave us alone for a while. I’ve sent a courier to HQ on Prime for orders. If he’s telling the truth, all he has to do is wait until that courier gets back, and he’ll have nothing else to fear from us. But if he shows up here with a fleet before the courier gets back, we’ll fight!’”
I thought, hard. The elderly Captain seemed a competent leader. Unfortunately, I couldn’t afford to leave him alone. In fact, I couldn’t afford much delay at all, without risking the dissolution of half my fleet. On the other hand, did I really need the privateers?
I raised my eyes to the scout Captain. “All right. Now, tell me everything you saw and heard.”
He stared at me intently. “You're going to attack? After what the Captain said?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. However, before I make the decision, I want to have all the facts. Now, what did you see and hear, and what do you think about it?”
He stared at me for another long moment, then sighed and began. “Well, they towed an old hulk of a battle cruiser out to picket the jump point. It looked like they’d been stripping it for years; I was surprised it held atmosphere. Still had enough weapons to scare me, though.
“After I emerged, they sent a pilot aboard to guide us along the cleared lanes through the mines. Seems they’ve sowed mines over the whole system, thousands of ‘em. If you go there lookin’ for a fight, you’d better worry about them.
“Then there were the fortified moons,” he continued, “Two of ‘em. I didn’t get to see ‘em, of course, but it turned out that our pilot liked to talk. They’re armed with mass drivers, lasers too big to mount on ships, particle beams, and missiles. Not to mention a string of armed satellites. I couldn’t find out how the satellites are armed.
“Finally,” he said grimly, “There was a Destroyer in an orbiting repair dock. Gyrfalcon. I dunno how bad off she was, but workers were swarmin’ on her like ants. I figger the base has some defenses, too, but I didn’t get to see ‘em.” He shrugged again. “I dunno, Admiral, it’s your decision, but I gotta tell you, it won’t be easy. Or cheap.”
I dismissed him, and thought. The scout captain didn’t realize it, but what he’d told me made it essential for me to attack Thaeron. With that much firepower concentrated in the system, I had to go there while I still had all my forces. What if the Captain's courier didn’t make it back? Or if the elderly Captain died? Who would command then, and would he be as reasonable?
Oh, the hulk at the jump point wouldn’t be too much of a problem, and I could use the boats to clear a path through the mines. However, it would take everything that I could muster to deal with fortified moons and armed satellites, especially since they'd have days to get ready for us.
And I was already on borrowed time. As soon as that scout skipper got talking to the privateer captains, I’d begin losing them.
I called Shar. “I want you to send that scout ship back to Haven immediately, to report to Cord. Tell him I want him to boost in an hour, and I’ll have dispatches for him to take. And, Shar,” I continued, “if you can keep him busy until it's time to boost, I’d appreciate it.”
Shar grinned. “Palming aces again, Admiral?” He didn't wait for an answer. “I’ll take care of it.”
I cursed as I signed off. I hated manipulating people. But I needed every ship I could muster — as well as a lot of luck.
I taped a message for Cord, detailing the scout’s report and the actions I was planning to take. I also explained why I was sending the tramp, and asked Cord to keep close tabs on the scout captain until it was over, one way or another.
I rang for my aide. “Give this to the scout ship captain for delivery to Viceroy Cord.”
“Yessir,” he replied. “The scout ship skipper’s with Captain Tan-Li.” I suppressed a grin. Shar had found a way to delay the man’s departure.
I called a Captains’ conference for the next hour, and then got busy drafting orders. I put most of the boats aboard Valkyrie, so they could use her huge cargo doors to get into action quickly. The rest clustered on the destroyers.
Jumping a fleet is a delicate business. Unless the ships jump precisely at the same moment, they may emerge hours, or even days apart, and be cut up piecemeal. We slaved all the ships’ jump comps to Valkyrie’s, and boosted for the jump point. Suli could have used at least one more pair of hands as she tried to juggle all the variables in the jump computations, but she began counting down just as we approached the jump point. We jumped.
The absolute worst part of being a commander is jumping into a battle. You know the battle is coming, but you have to wait days for it to happen. You constantly second-guess yourself, but since comms don’t work in null space, you can’t make any changes to your battle plan. Luckily, I didn’t clearly remember the agony when we attacked Jonas at Haven, but this time I knew it would stay with me forever. If it hadn’t been for Suli, I think I’d have expired from anxiety exhaustion.
Suli devoted herself to distracting me from my doubts and anxiety. It didn’t work completely, but it helped a great deal to watch her try.
An eternity later, I stood on the bridge as Suli counted down. 5 . . . 4 . . . 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . We emerged.
My first action was to check for my fleet. A quick look at my screens seemed to suggest that we’d all made it together. I breathed a huge sigh of relief. Shar had already depressurized Valkyrie’s holds. Now he opened the cargo doors, and boats began zipping to battle stations. It was almost heartbreaking. What had been a cloud of dots on the screens was now only a pathetically few discrete blips.
Suddenly the comms came alive. “Forlorn Hope to unknown vessels. DO NOT FIRE! I say again, do not fire! We are not hostile! Do not fire!"
I keyed the command channel. “Flag to all ships and boats. Hold fire. I say again, do not fire! Take up battle positions, but stand by. DO NOT FIRE!”
I looked at Shar. “What do you think?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Forlorn Hope? Someone has a sense of humor. That . . . thing out there was obviously a decommissioned battle cruiser being salvaged. When the Captain or whoever decided
to tow her out here, he needed a name.”
I snorted in exasperation. “Not that, you idiot! Do you think they’re just trying to delay us while they get to battle stations?”
He shrugged again. “I doubt it. It wouldn’t make much difference in the ultimate outcome, and would just make us angry. I think he’s trying to surrender.”
“Then why doesn’t he just say so?” I muttered, irritated. Just at that moment, the com ceased its pleading not to fire. The voice was replaced by one with much more authority, and the Ensign's face was replaced by that of an elderly man with Captain's bars on his shoulder boards.
“Forlorn Hope to commander, unknown ships. Please respond.” He didn’t repeat himself. He knew I’d hear.
I flicked the switch to intership. He straightened slightly as my image formed on his viewscreen. “You’d be Kedron,” he began. “I’m Captain Chard Danought. It seems patience isn’t one of your virtues.”
I nodded. “I’m Vice Admiral Val Kedron. Are you surrendering?”
He grinned. “No need, now that you’ve held fire. No battle, no surrender!” He waved a hand. “Welcome to Thaeron, Admiral. Feel free to kick the cat and drop ashes on the carpet.”
I chuckled. I liked this man. “Thank you, Captain,” I replied dryly. “Am I to assume from this that you’ve heard from your courier?”
He shook his head. “Nope. Not yet. However, I did come across a couple of interesting prisoners in the brig on the base. Two officers from JAG. Together with that tape your spy left, I knew my duty.” He sobered and his voice went soft. “How many Fleet people did Jonas kill, Admiral? How many ships?”
I shook my head. It wasn’t a pleasant memory. “Nemesis and Dauntless died with virtually all hands,” I reported grimly. “But over three thousand were saved from Relentless, and Raptor surrendered intact.”
The Emperor's Conspiracy Page 24
