Empire Ascendant

by Dietmar Wehr

  “I understand that, Captain, and I’m willing to accept that penalty. Your previous rank of Admiral is hereby re-instated. I want you personally to command the force that goes to the Atlantia capital system. You are to exercise control of all the ships involved in this venture, including those ships sent to other Kingdom systems. And this time, Admiral, if the Empire or the DE pushes back, you’re to force the issue, unless you’re facing unfavorable odds.”

  Hashimoto’s eyes opened wide. “Even at the risk of triggering an all-out war with the Empire or the DE, My Lord?”

  Tanaka leaned forward. “YES! We’re planning a war against the Empire anyway, so why not start a war there, and if it’s Delisani who’s pushing back, I’m willing to call his bluff too. He’s already suffered some losses. With our Type 7 warheads and his weakened condition, we may never get a better combat ratio than right now. So be aggressive, Admiral.”

  “Yes, My Lord.”

  Tanaka turned to look at Isoruko. “You’ve done very well, Captain. I think you’ve earned a new command: a battlecruiser perhaps?” he said as he looked at Hashimoto.

  The Admiral smiled and nodded. “I’m sure I can find a battlecruiser for Captain Isoruko, My Lord.”

  “Very good! Then this meeting is adjourned.”

  Delisani Empire Capital (New Danzig)

  Delisani scowled at his senior military commander. “I don’t want to hear excuses, Admiral. You assured me that thirty-four battlecruisers would be more than enough to take out Atlantia’s fifty-four heavy cruisers. Perhaps your interpretation of what that phrase means is different from mine. My interpretation does not include having to abandon a dozen battlecruisers because they’re too damaged to get back to base, nor does it include having another nine ships out of action for at least six months! And what about the secondary objective of taking control of Avalon’s orbitals after the battle? Did your hand-picked fleet commander forget about that part?”

  “Admiral Koenig decided, in my opinion correctly, that in light of the fact that there were at least ten more heavy cruisers somewhere else at the time of the attack, his remaining undamaged force was not large enough to guarantee control of the Kingdom’s capital planet. If they had rendezvoused somewhere and conducted a massed attack, the outcome would have been in doubt.”

  “Which would not have been the case if you had sent a larger force to begin with! Doesn’t it bother you that you’ve lost, either permanently or temporarily, twenty-one ships and thousands of crewmen with goddamn fuck all to show for it? It bothers me!”

  “I deeply regret the loss of life, My Emperor. I would just remind My Emperor that putting together a larger force would have required another three weeks. If you recall, you did say that you weren’t prepared to wait that long.”

  Delisani started to deny that he had said any such thing, but then remembered that he had. His anger dissipated a little. “That’s true, I did say that. But if you had warned me to expect significant losses, I might have changed my mind and waited. At least I wouldn’t have been shocked by the outcome.” He took a deep breath and felt his heart rate slow back down to normal. “Be that as it may, my concern now is how we make the most of this new situation. Am I correct in thinking that Atlantia now has just ten heavy cruisers to defend it?”

  “That is correct, plus any ships that the Tanaka Shogunate might have sent to assist their military ally.”

  “And how fast can you put together another strike force?”

  “Centurion is now available to act as the strike force flagship. In addition to that battleship, twenty-one battlecruisers can be available within seven days, with another eight battlecruisers five days after that.”

  “Twelve days.” Delisani shook his head. “A lot can happen in twelve days. That’s not including Capital Fleet, correct?”

  “That’s correct, My Emperor. We need to keep Capital Fleet intact and within tactical range of our Capital just in case the TCE tries a Hail Mary strategy.”

  “If we had any intelligence that Brandenburg was preparing something like that, I wouldn’t suggest moving Capital Fleet anywhere else, but we don’t. You said yourself that for that kind of surprise attack to be effective, Delacor would have to move around enough chess pieces that we’d notice. Do you still stand by that assessment?”

  “Well, ah, yes, I do, but I would strongly recommend leaving Capital Fleet here, My Emperor. The risk—”

  “Yes, yes! The risk. How many ships are now in Capital Fleet?”

  “Thirty-six battlecruisers.”

  Delisani smiled. “Excellent. Then here’s what we are going to do. Centurion will join Capital Fleet as the new flagship, and the entire Fleet will head for Avalon to secure that system, and the rest of the Kingdom’s star systems if feasible. The twenty-nine ships that would normally have been sent there will remain on guard in this system until Capital Fleet returns. You are authorized to bring more ships back here if you feel that twenty-nine is not enough. How soon can Capital Fleet be on its way?”

  “Forty-eight hours from now, My Emperor.”

  “No. Twenty-four hours and not a second longer,” said Delisani.

  “Very well, My Emperor. I’ll inform Admiral Koenig to transfer over to—”

  “No! Not Koenig. He clearly doesn’t like taking risks. I want someone else, someone who’s got some balls.”

  “Admiral Dietrich has a reputation for being aggressive…sometimes to the point of recklessness, My Emperor.”

  Delisani laughed. “Deciding what is reckless and what isn’t will not be a problem this time. I want the Avalon system taken and held, regardless of the risks. Is that clear, Admiral.”

  “Clear, My Emperor.”

  “Good! Clearly you have things to do, and so do I. You’re dismissed.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Avalon star system (TCE battleship Valley Forge):

  Terranova, noticing that once again he was pacing back and forth in front of the main display, forced himself stop. He was in the Main Bridge with Captain Christiansen, who was trying hard not to let his irritation show. Terranova couldn’t blame him for being annoyed at having an admiral literally looking over his shoulder but using the Flag Bridge seemed silly since he had decided that Valley Forge would be the only ship on this mission. If he wanted to communicate with Christiansen, doing it in person was more practical than using a video connection between the two Bridges, and Terranova could give maneuvering and—if necessary—firing commands directly to Christiansen’s Bridge personnel, thereby saving what could be crucial seconds. He realized that if he did bypass the regular chain of command and give orders to the Bridge personnel directly, Christiansen would be justifiably pissed off, but as the old military saying went, ‘it’s easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to ask for permission’.

  “Admiral?” Terranova turned to look at Christiansen, who was getting out of his Command Station chair. “You’re welcome to sit here. I’ll be leaving the Bridge to take care of some administrative items.”

  Terranova’s first impulse was to decline the offer, but then thought he would look foolish continuing to pace around the bridge when there was a perfectly good chair available.

  “Thank you, Captain. I’ll take you up on your offer.”

  Christiansen waited until Terranova was settled with the chair adjusted to his body parameters. “Unless you need me here on the Bridge, I plan on spending most of my time elsewhere on the ship, Admiral.”

  Terranova kept his desire to smile in check so as not to embarrass the Captain. Christiansen was essentially surrendering the Bridge to Terranova in order to stay out of his way. It was a very considerate gesture.

  “That’s perfectly fine, Captain. Who will assume the con in your absence?”

  Christiansen pretended to consider other officers as he looked around. “I was actually thinking of give you the con, Admiral.”

  Terranova didn’t even try to hide his surprise. “Me? That’s highly irregular, Captain.”

/>   “But not prohibited by the regs. It would definitely make conning the ship easier, and you certainly have the experience.” Before Terranova could respond, Christiansen stepped away from the Command Station and said, “The Admiral has the con,” in a loud voice. When everyone had acknowledged the change of command with a nod, Christiansen turned and left the Bridge.

  It was less than an hour later when things began to happen. Up to that point, Valley Forge had been coasting at a relatively low velocity, approximately one A.U. out from the planet Atlantia. Gravity wake detection had shown only the kind of slow, single-ship movement that was to be expected of commercial traffic. The one exception had been a ship that was decelerating far faster than civilian freighters, and TacComp had tentatively identified it as one of the few remaining Atlantian heavy cruisers.

  But now, sensors were picking up gravity wave ripples from a large number of ships, and they were coming from the direction of the Shogunate’s nearest base system. The previously-detected Atlantian cruiser was in motion two; heading as fast as possible away from the planet.

  “Minimum of twenty-seven ships, Cap…ah, Admiral. TacComp says there’s a high probability that there are more, but their wakes are overlapping other ships, and we’re unable to differentiate them at this time,” said the tactical officer.

  “Any battleships?” asked Terranova.

  “None detected so far, but we can’t say for certain that there aren’t any, Admiral.”

  “I see. What about their vector?”

  “The preliminary estimate is that they’re heading for Avalon, and if they continue decelerating at the same rate, they’ll be able to drop into orbit when they get there.”

  “Okay. Continue evaluating sensor data and let me know if the ship count changes.”

  “Yes, sir. Should we notify the Captain?”

  “Well, we’re not going to Battle Stations, so the Captain’s presence on the Bridge isn’t necessary, but I have no objection if you wish to let him know that a Shogunate fleet has finally shown up, Lieutenant.”

  “Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.” The officer lowered his voice and spoke into his headset mic.

  “I wonder how long it’ll take Delisani’s fleet to arrive?” said Terranova to no one in particular.

  The answer was 34 hours later. By then, the Shogunate fleet had taken up station in orbit around Avalon, and one ship had left the system heading back to where they had come from. Terranova was certain that it was acting as a courier to report back to Tanaka. It just so happened that he was back on the Bridge and had the con again. Christiansen was in his quarters.

  “Thirty-seven ships, minimum, Admiral. TacComp has high confidence that one of them is a battleship. Their approach vector lines up perfectly with the DE capital system. They have to be Delisani ships, admiral,” said the tactical officer.

  “How very interesting,” murmured Terranova. “Inform Captain Christiansen about our new visitors. He does not have to report to the Bridge unless he wishes to do so,” he said in a louder voice. With Valley Forge positioned more or less off to one side from both approach vectors, it and the Shogunate fleet would detect the newcomers at roughly the same time. He expected them to react just about…now.”

  “The Shogunate fleet is breaking out of orbit, Admiral. It’s too early to be certain, but they appear to be heading for the incoming DE fleet.”

  Terranova nodded. That would be the obvious tactical thing to do, although with twenty-seven ships versus thirty-seven, the Shogunate Admiral was showing that either he had a lot of confidence in his ships and crews or Tanaka had ordered him to fight no matter what the odds.

  “How long until they get within missile range?” he asked.

  “Two hundred thirty-one minutes if their combined rates of maneuvering stay constant.”

  “Almost four hours. Time enough to get coffee and something to eat. Lieutenant Montoya, you have the con. Notify me and Captain Christiansen, in that order, if either fleet makes a tactical change or if new ships arrive. I’ll be back before the shooting starts. In the meantime, we continue in stealth mode and observe only. Any questions?”

  “No, sir.”

  Terranova did get a quick bite to eat before returning to his quarters but no coffee. He’d been awake for almost twenty hours now, and while caffeine could help keep him awake for a while longer, he decided he’d rather have a power nap first and then the coffee. He woke after two hours and called the Bridge.

  “Montoya here, Admiral.”

  “Are both sides still doing the same things?”

  “Yes, sir. No change in either maneuvering or trajectory. ETA to missile range is still pointing to eighty-nine minutes from now. The Captain has been informed and says he’ll be on the Bridge by then.”

  “Very good. I’ll be there before then too. Out.”

  By the time he had a hot shower and a leisurely cup of coffee, there were about ten minutes left before the two sides would reach missile range. Terranova arrived back at the Bridge to find that Christiansen had gotten there ahead of him and was sitting in the Command Station chair. He started to get up when he saw Terranova enter, but the admiral waved him back down.

  “You may as well stay put, Captain. I don’t mind standing for a while.”

  “Okay, Admiral, but just say the word when you get tired of standing.”

  Terranova found a spot where he wouldn’t be in the way and folded his arms while he watched the main display. He was surprised to see that the ship count on both sides hadn’t changed. It was still 37 versus 26; almost a 3 to 2 ratio. And one of those 37 is a battleship too. That Shogunate admiral has guts, I’ll give him that. He checked the sidebar data and nodded. The Shogunate force, designated as Sierra1, was accelerating at the same rate that the Delisani force, designated Delta1, was decelerating. That meant that the rate of closure between them stayed the same. It also meant that the Delisani battleship was capable of keeping up with his battlecruiser companions. It was a neat trick that Empire battleships could not match. I’ll bet Delisani battleships have a lot less armor that ours do. They may be as large as our battleships, but in terms of their ability to withstand combat damage, they’re really only super-large battlecruisers. He filed that bit of data away for future analysis.

  “Sierra1 will be in Delta1’s missile range in approximately ninety seconds. Sierra1 will be able to fire one hundred five seconds after that,” said the tactical officer.

  Terranova nodded. His initial evaluation that both sides would get within range of each other at the same time had been wrong. Delta1 still had a higher velocity than did Sierra1. Therefore, its missiles would start with a higher velocity and be able to cover a greater distance before their power supplies were exhausted than the Shogunate missiles would be able to manage. It also meant that the Shogunate fleet would be hit first and more often. That, combined with the bigger Delisani fleet, meant that the Shogunate admiral was even more outmatched than Terranova initially thought. If I was commanding that Shogunate fleet, I’d be trying to withdraw instead of accepting the challenge. The ninety seconds went quickly, and the Delisani admiral didn’t waste a second.

  “Delta1’s fired,” said the tactical officer in a calm voice. “Nine hundred thirty-five, repeat nine three five missiles.” What a difference it makes when they’re shooting at someone else, eh Lieutenant? Terranova suppressed the urge to chuckle at his own thought. He did the math in his head. Just a tad under 36 missiles per ship, assuming they distributed the volley evenly, which is not what I’d do in their place. I’d target half the enemy’s ships with double the missiles per ship. Take out the rest with the second volley. ETA to the target was just under six minutes, which was plenty of time for Sierra1 to fire back.

  “Sierra1 will be able to fire in thirty-four seconds,” said the tactical officer. Terranova actually silently counted down the last ten seconds. Nothing happened. He looked over at the TO, who seemed just as perplexed as he was. Terranova wanted to ask him if he had misread Ta
cComp’s readout but refrained from doing so. It was hard to see how either the tactical computer or the Lieutenant could have made a mistake. It was well known that Shogunate missiles had comparable ranges to everyone else. With known distance and velocities, the calculation of when the Shogunate Admiral could fire was relatively simple. Terranova could almost do it in his head. Since Sierra1 hadn’t fired, it had to be for some reason other than lack of missile range. If that admiral didn’t hurry up and fire, Delta1 would be able to fire a second volley first.

  “Delta1 has fired again!” This time the tactical officer’s voice was not so calm. “Second volley has nine three five missiles!”

  Christiansen turned to look at Terranova. He looked as though he was about to say something when they heard the TO’s voice again.

  “Sierra1 has fired! Four…repeat, just four missiles!”