A long silence reigned over the channel while Jiang considered her options, finally, she replied, "I'm going to trust you, Wen."
That resolved, Wen kicked into gear and started to fire off orders. "Tian, Prepare to shift on my mark. Mr. Nima, you already have the coordinates. Xinren, hold your fire once we come out of the shift. Tian, do it now."
The Void Dragon vented her xinium core violently in all directions and flickered into existence off the port side of the leftmost Enemy dreadnought in the ambush squadron.
"Xinren, open up but don't get too attached to any one target, the point isn't to destroy them."
Xinren blinked. "Captain? I'm not sure..."
"Just focus on taking targets of opportunity," Wen said, cutting him off. "Engineering, how soon can we shift again?"
"It takes nearly no time at all once we're warmed up, Captain," Tian said over the comm.
"Outstanding, Lieutenant. Mr. Nima, calculate a shift path for their right flank, but hold it until I clear you. Prepare to adjust for Enemy activity. Xinren, you're clear to fire by the way."
The gunnery officer had been uncharacteristically slow to engage. He opened up on the closest Enemy ship. His first round hit solidly but he needed more time to wear down their shields, even at such a favorable angle.
"Xinren, hold your next shot. I want one in the chamber for immediately after our next shift." Xinren's eyes looked reluctant but he knew better than to question now.
The Enemy formation began turning to engage the small frigate nipping at their flank. "That's the signal, Tian, shift again,” Wen commanded.
Just as the Enemy moved to engage them at one location they shifted to another; Nima's eyebrows raised slightly and Wen supposed he’d figured out her plan, though others were a bit slower on the uptake. The Enemy's discipline and coordination began to erode and their formation broke up, each individual ship trying to defend itself from Captain Wen's needling offensive.
Whenever they turned to engage the Void Dragon suddenly it was somewhere else, disappearing and reappearing to menace another ship. No single shot was a threat but they couldn’t afford to ignore her for very long, as sustained fire pushed their shields to the limit. This pattern repeated itself over the course of several minutes, the distraction allowing Jiang’s group to close with them unmolested.
***
The battle looked like complete chaos to the sensors of the Liangshan, even Commodore Jiang herself not fully comprehending Wen's movements, to say nothing of the massive interference caused by the light-noise from all that rapid fire and shifting. Still, somehow, someway, Wen was able to keep the pressure off.
"She's done it. I have no idea how but the Void Dragon is holding them off. It's our turn to relieve them! All ships, fire at will!"
The first shot from the Kongming destroyed one of the Enemy's dreadnoughts, and the canon of the Two Rivers fatally crippled another. Accounting for Wen's movement as well as Jiang's squadron proved entirely too much for the Enemy astrogators, leaving them badly out of position. With danger on every side, they were eliminated one after the other.
The Void Dragon got a kill of her own a moment later when the shields on the rightmost Enemy dreadnought failed. The fatal round pierced the hull and tore a vicious path straight through. The ship exploded in a brief, brilliant, violet bloom that burned out just as quickly. The second salvo from Jiang's dreadnoughts annihilated the rest.
All that remained was the enemy bait squadron, still somewhat far off. They made no move to rush to their comrade’s aid, holding their position over the fifth planet’s moon.
***
Wen surveyed the floating mass of indistinct wreckage with a satisfied look. She braced for the second round.
"Captain, the Liangshan is hailing us," Nima said.
"Very well, put her through."
"I don't know precisely what you did, Captain, but it worked. The whole squadron is in your debt."
Wen would’ve been happy to receive the praise at any other time but the fight wasn’t over. "Commodore, there's still the matter of the bait squadron. Am I clear to engage?"
"Give us a minute to form up, Wen. We'll use our original plan."
"You heard her, everyone! Stay focused, we aren't done yet,” Wen called out.
The Void Dragon fell in with Wolf Five and prepared to shift.
"Energy surge in the vicinity of the Enemy formation," Xinren said.
The first Enemy squadron initiated a greenshift of their own, and vanished into the black. They had seen enough.
Damn! They got away! Wen thought bitterly. She was just getting warmed up, too. She sighed and opened a channel to the flagship. “Orders, Commodore?”
“We're not going to wait around for their reinforcements if they're coming. Liangshan to all ships, prepare to power down and shift out. Set a course for the Dark Facility. Jiang out."
Chapter 8
“Well?” he asked pointedly.
“Well what, Song?”
“I told you so, Wu.”
Admiral Song was nursing a drink alongside Mr. Wu of the People’s Central Committee. The latest report on the Void Dragon had just come in and he just had to celebrate.
“That’s childish, even for you.”
“What can I say, Wu? I’m in a youthful mood. You saw what she did out there.”
“You mean the ship or the Captain?”
“Why, both of course! Simply amazing! The Void Dragon was intended for use against an opponent that was already pinned down, we never imagined it could function as the distraction. Seems like Bruzio has greenshift accuracy well in hand as well. Those were some tight jumps Wen made as she nipped at their flanks. She was all over them.
“I knew I picked the right person for this job. She just needed a little time in a command role to show us her true worth.”
“Little time,” Wu said, and finished his drink, setting the glass down just a little to loudly.
I don’t like the sound of that. “You look like you know something I don’t, Wu.”
“That’s one way of putting it.”
“Anything you can share?”
“We don’t have time! You’ve been too focused on what the Void Dragon has been able to do. What about the rest of the fleet?”
“What about them?” he asked, perplexed.
“Look for yourself.” Wu took out his datapad and his fingers were a blur as he furiously typed for a few seconds. “That’s the numbers for last month,” he said heavily and tossed the datapad into Song’s lap.
Song took it in hand and his eyes zeroed in on the bottom line. Oh no.
“No need to go over it line by line, Song. I’ll summarize. It’s the worst butcher’s bill the fleet’s had since Harbin, bloodiest single month in years. Yes, Wen won, but that’s the only place we’ve won. The Enemy is everywhere, and in force. They went from zero activity to numbers we haven’t seen before in the space of a few days. We’ve had to discontinue long range patrols beyond the inner colonies, and that’s not the worst of it.”
“It gets worse?”
“We lost New Tianjin’s dockyards to an Enemy raid. High Command even contemplated sending Jiang’s squadron in and making a fight of it but they ultimately voted it down. It was close, though.
“New Tianjin was our last major production facility constructed before the decentralization program, and with the highest capacity. It’s a good thing we have the Void Dragon class because our dreadnought build rate was just cut by a third. We have no choice but to go all-in.”
“And when does the Void Dragon class go into mass production?”
“Already begun. I told you, Song, we have no time!”
Song sighed. This is a hell of a reality check. Here I was thinking we reached the turning point. “Anything else?” He was almost afraid to ask.
“One more thing, and you’re not going to like it.”
Why does something always have to go wrong right after it goes right? “I don’t suppose
I will. Still, don’t keep me in suspense.”
Wu shifted in his seat and looked Song in the eye. “We need to send the Void Dragon out on a mission, as soon as possible.”
Song was genuinely confused. “Isn’t it already? We’ve had her in the field for months now.”
“This is different. Up to now she’s had a minder and backup close at hand. We need her for something sensitive, alone.”
“I almost hate to ask, but can you tell me?”
“Probably not, but who cares at this point? It’s the Mei.”
“The Mei? What about them? Have the Tiandao come under attack? Does the Marine Corps want something?”
Wu poured himself another drink and sat back. “The latter. It seems an entire expeditionary force has disappeared.”
“Disappeared or disappeared?”
“Heh, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t play coy, Wu. I’m not naive. This isn’t the first time marines have been abandoned planetside after the Enemy chased our ships off. If these numbers are accurate I can imagine there must have been more than one hasty retreat.”
“It’s more than that, a lot more. Our missing expeditionary force is related to Operation Escalade, the Void Dragon project.”
“Well, I’ve never heard anything about this and it’s my project.”
“You wouldn’t have. It’s from before you took over. Operation Escalade goes all the way back to Harbin.”
***
“We’re receiving the signal from the cynosure beacon, Captain,” Nima said.
Finally. “Very well, take us in Mr. Nima.” Why does it always take hours to get docking clearance? Maybe they’re planning a surprise party and need time to get ready.
Captain Wen was looking forward to a few days of rest and recuperation. They had been in the deep black without interruption for weeks, maybe months, longer than she would like at any rate. For the most part it was day after day of dreary nothing, just going down checklists on a patrol itinerary and scanning one empty system after another for Enemy activity.
That last part had been a tough fight, but they made it through unscathed, and Wen couldn’t envision any scenario where High Command would find fault with her actions this time. No chewing out, no official discipline, this run was a success all around.
Wen reclined slightly in her chair and allowed herself to relax for the first time in she didn’t know how long. There was some idle chatter on the command deck but it seemed distant and indistinct noise to her. Let the rest of them deal with it for a while.
“Flag, this is Void Dragon, standing by for your message.”
Wait, what? “Nima! Did Commodore Jiang just hail us?”
“Just some orders, Captain. I didn’t want to disturb you.”
Just great. “And they are?”
“We’re to stay aboard for now, and Major Zhamisce’s company is to strip down their weapons and pack them up. Looks like they’ve been reassigned.”
“I’ll tell them myself. You have the conn, Mr. Nima. It looks like you can handle the bridge all by yourself,” she said lightly. I hate you.
He smiled. “Of course, Captain.”
The marines had a motor pool amidships. It was where they stored their powered exoskeletons, plus whatever they needed to maintain and modify them, as well as single flight of three low-orbit interceptors. Only one of which was in any state to fly at the moment. The other two had been disassembled for space, and space was at a premium here. Wen nearly hit her head on the way in.
“Officer on deck,” Zhamisce called out, and the Mei marines snapped to attention. As a rule they were short, powerfully built, and more diverse in their representation of old-world ethnicities than the Ren. They were also in various states of undress. No modesty here, Wen thought. They don’t have the luxury.
“At ease, Major. Looks like you’ve been reassigned. I thought I’d come to tell you myself.”
The marines looked excited at that. Wen knew they hated it here.
“Keep it together, troopers, you might like our next set of orders even less. I know from experience,” Zhamisce said.
“I don’t know where you’re headed, Major, Commodore Jiang told me you were to strip down your equipment and pack it up. That’s as good as a transfer.”
“Looks like it. It’s been a pleasure, Captain.” He saluted.
“Likewise, Major.” She returned it.
Wen made for her office after that. She didn’t know how long they’d be stuck aboard but knew better than to ask questions. Perhaps not a surprise party, but I bet they have something out that we aren’t meant to see. Maybe an even better ship. Wen couldn’t help feeling a little jealous at the thought.
She spent another hour absent-mindedly flicking through reports until Nima messaged her over the intercom.
“Captain Wen here.”
“Captain, it looks like they want you, just you, to disembark. There’s a meeting going on and they want you there.”
Well, aren’t I the special one? “Understood, Nima. Watch the ship while I’m gone.”
“Acknowledged.”
Let’s see what this is about. There was an officer on duty at the exit port, a Ren woman Wen recognized as one of the junior officers on Mr. Nima’s astrogation staff. Sharp, looks like command track for this one, she thought.
“Disembarking, Captain?” asked the officer.
Politer tone than Nima at least. Wen decided she liked her. “Just me, Ensign. Everyone else is to remain at their posts till I could get back.
“This is probably one of those boring briefings all senior officers have to attend. My advice: enjoy your rank while you can,” she said conversationally on her way out.
The officer’s lips crinkled in a faint smile. “I’ll remember that, Captain.”
There was a platoon of Ren marines waiting for her at the lift. They wore black uniforms with red piping, and they were armed.
Woah there. “Is this an arrest or an honor guard?” Wen asked.
“Neither,” replied the leader. She was tall and stick-thin, but somehow powerful-looking, like some kind of warlike ballerina with close-cropped hair. Her eyes were dark, small, and looked a little cruel to Wen. Wen decided she didn’t like her.
“We’re here to secure your marines’ equipment,” she said.
“I thought we had loading machines for that,” Wen said back.
“Your levity does you no credit, Captain. You’re wanted on Deck Four and I suggest you hurry.”
Just great. “Well then, I won’t keep you. Be careful when you’re carrying all that heavy equipment off my ship. If there are any scratches or dents in the bulkheads I’ll know who to complain to.”
Wen didn’t wait around long enough for them to reply and took the lift up. Why Deck Four? So unlucky, why would we hold a meeting there? What’s wrong with Song’s office?
She knew something was up when every checkpoint just waved her through without a security check, and the place looked more deserted than usual. There were a lot of security checkpoints between the outer docks and Deck Four and she blazed through them until she reached the fortified heart of the Dark Facility.
It looked like something out of a teledrama, the very epitome of a secret base. There were screens all along the walls, each displaying data and images she couldn’t begin to contextualize. Personnel in nondescript Zhongshan suits hovered over work stations, taking no notice of her entrance. Wen had no idea the station even had this many people.
She lingered on the periphery, not wanting to interrupt them. I’m here, now what?
“Wen? Captain Wen! Over here!” called a voice from behind. Wen glanced over her shoulder and saw Admiral Song cutting through the crowd with long strides.
“It’s good to see you, Captain. The meeting has already begun. Let’s get going.”
Song led her up a short flight of stairs and entered a room with a plain-looking door. Wen followed without a word.
Af
ter going through Deck Four’s bustling central terminal the meeting room looked disappointingly ordinary. There was a table and some chairs, with a single telescreen fastened to the wall on the far side, like any other meeting room really.
Wen was glad to find that the room contained only familiar faces. There was Song of course, as well as Professor Bruzio the Mei scientist and inventor of much of the Void Dragon’s tech, who looked five years older than when Wen had last seen her. Has it been so long? She wondered.
Lastly, there was Mr. Wu of the Central Committee, High Command’s overseer of all their actions. His presence can mean nothing good. “Ah, Captain Wen, sit down, please,” he said.
“When will Commodore Jiang be joining us?” she asked, sliding into a chair.
“She won’t be,” Wu said. “She’s been relieved.”
“Relieved!? What for? What’s she done?” Wen was feeling a bit self-righteous since Jiang had been willing to sacrifice the whole squadron so Wen could escape their battle.
“Peace, Captain,” Song said. “It’s nothing like that. She’s being reassigned for the same reason Major Zhamisce and his marines are being reassigned. We have something else for them to do.”
A horrible thought crossed Wen’s mind. “You’re not taking the Void Dragon away from me now that you don’t need a test captain anymore, are you?”
“On the contrary,” Song said. “We’ll be sending you out alone.”
“Along and unsupported? Is that such a good idea?” she asked.
“I’m afraid we don’t have a choice,” Wu said.
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
“I can show you better than I can tell you, Cap,” said Bruzio. She snapped her fingers and the telescreen flickered to life. There were Mei in work clothes, thousands of them, protesting in front of a building with a big-character poster that read:
Strike! Strike! Strike! Where is Task Force Xuanwu? Where is Montjoie?
“Task Force Xuanwu? Montjoie?”
“Task Force Xuanwu is a Marine Expeditionary Force, probably the largest ever assembled. Virtually every Mei family has at least a distant cousin serving with them. They’ve been deployed on a classified mission for years now, but we’ve always been able to maintain contact until recently,” Wu said.
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