Valor At Vauzlee

by DePrima, Thomas

  "That means that we could be outnumbered possibly fifteen to one," Lieutenant Kerrey said more to himself than to the staff at the table, "—at least initially." Everyone had computed the odds long before he stated them.

  "Don't forget the twelve Peabody light destroyers. They're going to be throwing everything they've got at their Raider attackers. They'll be handicapped in that they'll have to remain in fixed position around the freighter to protect it, but they'll make a considerable difference. If all our ships make it to the battle on time, we'll only be outnumbered about two to one. This is the first time we've ever had an opportunity to engage the Raiders in a real fight. If they show, then I'm willing to allow them the advantage in numbers. We have the advantage in training, skill, and ship construction. Their Uthlaro built warships only have titanium armor. Granted it's especially thick, but it's still just a titanium alloy. Thanks to Commander Carver, the Raiders don't have any GSC tritanium armored battleships to throw against us, but we have these two new battleships to use against them."

  "I don't mean to sound defeatist, sir," Lt. Algolwin, one of three weapons officers who had come aboard with Kanes, said, "but Commander Carver has shown everyone that even a tramp freighter with torpedoes can destroy warships."

  Jenetta started ever so slightly at the use of the descriptive term ‘tramp,' but she maintained a staid expression because she was aware that every pair of eyes in the room had turned in her direction. The Vordoth had been her first command, and as such it occupied a very special place in her heart, even if it was more than fifty years old.

  Lt. Algolwin, unaware of the veiled reaction that his choice of adjectives had evoked, continued with his statement. "Since the Raiders had possession of this ship for a while, they must have studied it for weaknesses and will be attempting to exploit that knowledge during any engagements. Do we at least have construction specs on any of the Raider ships so we can determine their most vulnerable points?"

  "Everything we have is available in the enemy profile database. As I've indicated, we believe that the heaviest concentration of Raider ships come from the Uthlaro. Those mercenary bastards will sell to anyone with sufficient credits, but we also believe that some of the Raider ships are made by the Tsgardi. From what we know, or at least suspect, the Tsgardi ships are the most poorly constructed warships in the quadrant. We can only hope that most of the ships we encounter will be made by them. We've also heard rumors that the Raiders have secured ships from the Aguspod, the Clidepp, and the Kweedee, but we have no solid evidence of that."

  "SCI doesn't put much faith in those rumors," Kanes said. "The Clidepp are totally occupied with the rebels trying to take over their territory, so all of their ship construction is needed for their own civil war. The Aguspod have been fighting the Raiders for at least half as long as we have, so they wouldn't be selling any ships to Raiders, and the Kweedee Aggregate isn't interested in trading with anyone from outside their systems. They barely tolerate diplomatic missions. So if the Raiders have any ships of Clidepp, Aguspod, or Kweedee construction, they're ships that were salvaged after a battle and repaired, or possibly that were sold to the Raiders by deserters. You should concentrate your planning on Uthlaro construction."

  "When can we pass this information on to the noncoms and ratings, sir?" Lieutenant Brewster asked the Captain.

  "As soon as this meeting is over, but— I think that we should keep the enemy numbers to ourselves."

  "Yes sir."

  After a minute of silence, Gavin said, "Are there any more questions?" When no one spoke up, he added, "then you're dismissed."

  The officers filed out of the room in silence, each wrapped up in his or her thoughts. There would be a great many ‘final messages to home' recorded tonight, just in case, even though they couldn't be transmitted yet.

  As the Captain prepared to leave, he said, "Commander Carver, would you join Commander Kanes and me in my briefing room."

  "Aye, Captain."

  * * *

  Chapter Five

  ~ March 24th, 2268 ~

  Upon entering his briefing room, Gavin said to the two officers accompanying him, "Fix yourself a beverage, Commanders, and have a seat." All three officers had a marked preference for different blends of coffee, but the beverage synthesizer was equally adept at preparing everything from ice water to latte to non-alcoholic ale. Jenetta's preference was Colombian, a mild Arabica coffee, served black with one sugar per eight ounces, while Kanes ordered a Robusta. Gavin selected a strong espresso.

  As they settled into the overstuffed ‘oh-gee' chairs around the enormous desk, Gavin said, "Commander Carver, tell me about the strategies you employed against the Raiders in your engagements."

  Jenetta had described her actions repeatedly at the court-martial, and in such detail that her presentation now seemed to have the polish of rehearsal. She spent the next ten minutes describing the way that she had handled the three engagements, beginning with the initial attack on the Vordoth by fighters.

  The Captain interrupted to ask a number of questions as she talked. When she finished, he asked, "How would you handle this upcoming attack?"

  Although she'd spent a not insignificant amount of time thinking about the upcoming engagement since learning of it on the day they left Higgins, Jenetta hadn't really prepared any sort of presentation. She thought for a few seconds before speaking, and tried to organize her thoughts as she took a sip of coffee.

  "We're in an area of space that contains little or nothing of military or commercial value, so the Raiders would hardly expect to find even a lone Space Command vessel here, much less a task force. If our ruse has been successful, their intelligence network will have assured them that no one is going to suddenly drop by to spoil their little soirée. Since no reasonably safe means of attacking ships traveling faster than light has yet been devised, the Raiders will have to stop the convoy as you've suggested. Assuming they'll be lying doggo, without any energy signatures to betray them, the DeTect system aboard the convoy ships will simply record them as naturally occurring celestial matter, and if their position doesn't present a threat to the navigation of the convoy, the DeTect system won't even call their presence to the attention of the convoy's tactical officers. So the Raider ships probably won't move until after the convoy's anti-collision systems have canceled their envelopes. A freighter can't outrun warships, so I don't expect them to make a break for it using their sub-light engines. They'd be better off remaining behind the protection screen offered by the Peabody destroyers.

  "It's reasonable, and even likely, that the Raider force will surround the convoy as your holographic projections show. But since they have the Peabody ships outnumbered by four or more to one, and believe that they have all the time in the world, they might simply demand the surrender of the freighter and destroyers before commencing their attack. They're more interested in preserving the artifacts than anything else, and they'd probably also like to take the destroyers intact to use them in their own operations."

  "Thanks to you," Commander Kanes said, grinning, "they're probably a little short of warships these days, so I'm sure they'd love to pick up twelve light destroyers in excellent condition."

  Jenetta returned the grin and then continued. "Of course, I don't expect the Peabody personnel to simply give up without a fight. That's where the Raider policy of never releasing anyone bites them on their own arse. The Peabody employees know that capture means either death or a life of slavery for every one of them, so I anticipate that they'll immediately unleash a barrage of torpedoes with the intention of fighting to the death. It would be nice if they kept the Raiders talking while we're rushing to assist, but that's not going to happen since they don't know of our presence nearby."

  "Headquarters made that decision to ensure that word of our ambush didn't leak to the Raiders," Kanes said. "The Raiders must have someone in their pocket that's highly placed in the Peabody organization, or they would never have learned of the convoy route. Peabody even
put their own astrogator on the freighter so that the freighter crew wouldn't have access to course information."

  "So," Jenetta continued, "with the expectation that a battle will be raging when we arrive, and that we'll have an element of surprise since the Raiders probably won't be paying much attention to the DeTect system while they're busy dodging torpedoes, not to mention that proximity warning buzzers and imminent threat alarms will be going off continuously on their bridges, it's possible that we can be in the fray before they know we're there.

  "But I totally disagree with the military planners at the War College who believe that the Raiders will send in fighters to attack the convoy. I realize that it's been their modus operandi in every attack to date which we've been able to document, but those attacks were mainly against helpless freighters and passenger liners."

  "But they used fighters in their attack on the Nordakian convoy," Gavin said, "and were able to defeat the destroyer escort. If you hadn't arrived when you did, the convoy would have been lost."

  "Yes sir, but the Nordakian destroyer escort shot down dozens of fighters before being destroyed themselves. I think that the Raiders will have learned from that experience. Fighters are most effective when employed in the low atmosphere of a planet. The missiles that fighters can mount are small, limited in numbers, and not terribly effective against the armor of a warship. Likewise, their energy weapons are lightweight and equally ineffective. Here they'll be facing warships bristling with powerful laser weapons and people who know how to use them. The Vordoth, with no armor, demonstrated how nearly useless fighters are against an armed enemy with qualified gunners.

  "I believe that the Raider warships will remain far enough out to be nearly impossible targets for the Peabody energy weapons, perhaps twenty to twenty-five-thousand kilometers, while they pour torpedoes into the Peabody task force. The Peabody laser gunners will most likely be spending all their time on defense, trying to knock down those torpedoes, and may not even fire at the Raider ships. Of course the Peabody torpedo gunners are going to be firing everything in their arsenal, just as fast as their systems can reload. The extra distance will allow the Raider laser gunners adequate time for targeting incoming torpedoes. At just a thousand kilometers, the Peabody torpedoes would be exploding against the Raider hulls while their laser gunners were still trying to line up on the incoming weapons. Five-thousand kilometers would be the minimum practical distance for proper torpedo defense, but I think that they'll want extra space, as the cruiser opted for when attacking the Nordakian convoy."

  "But at just a thousand kilometers," Kanes said, "the Raiders torpedoes would be striking the Peabody ships before the Peabody laser gunners can target the incoming missiles."

  "The Raiders will believe that they have overwhelming advantage in numbers, and all the time in the world for their attack. Why suffer deadly torpedo strikes just to end the battle sooner. The Peabody ships, by themselves, can't win. The Raiders will opt to protect their fleet as much as possible, and beat the Peabody defense down slowly."

  Gavin had said little since Jenetta began her exposition of the tactical situation facing them. He'd just sat behind his desk, staring at her placidly while nodding his head occasionally. She had just disagreed with a major point of his presentation, and she looked at him now to see if he was angered by her analysis. His face was just as calm and composed as she had ever seen it, and she took his silence as tacit authorization that she should continue.

  "Rather than attacking in force, as the War College planners suggest, I would have us arrive in staggered formation. We should be the first of the GSC ships to arrive. I'd approach the battle zone at an oblique angle so that the DeTect equipment of the Raiders doesn't issue any special alerts about a possible collision, and then circle around just outside the ring of Raider ships, like the Indians did with the wagon trains, picking off as many as possible before they figure out what's going on. The Chiron should follow thirty seconds behind and do as we do. From five-thousand kilometers outside the circling Raiders, our powerful laser weapons will be highly effective against their armor and we'll have enough time to pick off most torpedoes coming our way. An undulating track will help keep the Raiders penned in during the engagement, much as they're doing to the convoy. Any additional arriving ships should fall into line behind the nearest circling ship and open fire on the Raiders immediately."

  "Indians?" Gavin said quizzically.

  "Native Americans, sir," Jenetta said, grinning. "One of my brothers was into twentieth century video dramas called ‘westerns.' They were fictionalized accounts of encounters between Native Americans and cowboys or settlers in the western United States during the nineteenth century."

  "I've heard of them, but how are they applicable here?"

  "The Indians would allegedly attack wagon trains full of settlers, who would then drive their wagons into a large circle and use the cover afforded by the wooden conveyances to fight the Indians, while the Indians circled the wagon train, firing from horseback. I agree with your holographic presentation that the Peabody destroyers will move to protect the freighter by encircling it with their ships."

  "And the Indians were successful?"

  "Not always; usually because they only had bows and arrows while the settlers had lead projectile weapons. But like the Indians, the Raiders should be concentrating all their attention inward, toward the freighter and Peabody destroyers. With so many Raider ships in the area, they probably won't even pay attention to another blip on their sensor screens; at least until we start firing. By the time they realize that they've been outmaneuvered, we can already have targeted several of their most powerful ships, and fired a full spread of torpedoes."

  "I can't say that I ever studied the tactics of cowboys and Indians," Gavin said, the hint of a smile on his face.

  "The closest parallel involving European or Asian armies or navies that I can think of, sir," Jenetta said, "occurred in the Austro-Turkish War of 1683. The Turkish Army was sent by Mohammed IV to take Vienna. A two-hundred-thousand man force, commanded by Grand Vizier Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Pasha, laid siege to the city. Count Ernst Rudiger von Starhemberg, with a defensive force of only ten thousand, managed to keep the Turks from breaching the city's walls for two months. The Turks then attempted to tunnel into the city, but before they could complete their efforts, John III Sobiski of Poland and Charles V, Duke of Lorraine arrived with an army of seventy-thousand men and attacked the perimeter of the Turkish lines, then consisting of one-hundred-thirty-eight thousand soldiers. Fifteen thousand Turks were killed, and the rest, uh— strategically retreated— without orders and in complete disarray. Sobiski and Charles V lost a combined total of four thousand. The battle proved to be the turning point in the three-hundred-year struggle between Central European kingdoms and the Ottoman Empire."

  "So like the Europeans and the Turks, we'll have the attackers caught in a deadly crossfire between the Peabody destroyers and ourselves?" Kanes said rhetorically.

  "Of course a certain amount of damage to the Peabody destroyers became a foregone conclusion once the decision was made to allow the convoy to be the bait in this operation," Jenetta said.

  "It sounds like a good plan, Commander," Gavin said positively. "In fact, I think that I like it better than the plan suggested by the War College. They suggest launching as many fighters as we can man, and then attacking the circling Raider ships with a full frontal assault by all ships. The fighters would follow us in after we clear a path through the outer perimeter of Raider ships and take on the Raider fighters attacking the convoy. But you have an excellent point that there may not be any fighters for them to take on. The War College's suggested divide and conquer strategy would, however, split the Raider ships into groups, and cause great confusion while giving torpedo gunners and laser gunners on both sides of the ships a crack at them. After a few passes, we would be in a position to take on individual ships."

  "That's true, sir, but I can see a number of weaknesses in that
strategy," Jenetta said. "One, slowing and turning around after each pass through the circle of Raiders ships would take us away from the battle at a time when seconds are critical, and therefore be less effective than circling. Two, twice in each pass we would find ourselves between the Raiders and the Peabody ships. If the Peabody ships don't suppress their fire, we might run into their torpedoes. Of course, having them suppress their fire reduces the overall effectiveness of our combined forces. Three, even assuming that the Raiders send in fighters, our Marine fighter pilots would be far more effective remaining aboard to function as gunnery crews since we currently don't have adequate gun crews to man all our weapons. And four, passing through the center of the battle zone would require us to man the guns on both sides of the ship. Even with the fighter pilots remaining aboard to function as gun crews, we'll only have half enough. By circling, every single weapon on the Prometheus and Chiron, that faces the enemy, can be fully manned, while exposing a significantly smaller area of our hull to the Raider energy weapons and torpedoes."

  Gavin nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, there's definite merit in what you say, Commander."

  "And I might also add that although the Raiders will probably be using high-explosive warheads, because they look to salvage the ships of their victims, then repair and use them, I'd consider arming our torpedoes with fusion warheads. As much as I find their use abhorrent, we're going to be severely outnumbered at the engagement. We need to improve our position."