Against All Odds

by DePrima, Thomas

  * * *

  When the dozen M-designate ships arrived after two years of travel, the personnel were anxious to celebrate their arrival, but Jenetta insisted their supplies be unloaded before anyone received liberty. The possibility of an attack by outside hostile forces meant that essential business must be completed before pleasure commenced. Although Jenetta had defeated the Milori in battle, the M-designate ships were among the fastest in the SC fleet until the DS ships had gone into production at the Mars' shipyard. With twenty first-line SC warships now in orbit around the planet, personnel on the surface could finally feel secure.

  * * *

  After allowing the crews of the M-designate ships to enjoy two weeks of liberty, Jenetta began a series of daily meetings with the other four admirals and the captains of the vessels. The main topic was naturally how best to repel the invaders and assert their control over the territory now that support was arriving from Region One.

  "Our number one priority is intel," Jenetta said as the daily meeting started. "Although we have our suspicions, we still don't really know who is behind the invasion and attack on Ekoqulith. We've been unable to make contact with planetary officials since we first received the message about the attack from the Milori Viceroy. Now that the first ships have arrived from Stewart, I intend to lead a task force to Coleman to find out exactly what we're facing. The M-designate ships will remain here in defense of the base, while the DS ships accompany the Colorado."

  "All eight DS ships will be leaving Quesann then?" Admiral Mendez asked.

  "Yes, I may need the firepower a lot more than the base does. The twelve ships remaining behind should be adequate for your defense. We have another fifty M-designate ships headed this way, scheduled to arrive within six months. Half were initially headed directly towards the occupied stations, but they've all been rerouted to Quesann. They'll be here long before any Tsgardi task force could arrive. The recently launched quartermaster ships are currently being loaded and will be departing the Earth solar system soon. With their new engines and Dakinium hulls, they're as fast as the new battleships. They should arrive within two months. How's that for unique— a transport as fast as a battleship?"

  "Do you feel it's prudent to lead this task force personally, Admiral?" Admiral Colsey asked. "Perhaps it would be wiser to direct the task force from here."

  Jenetta shook her head slightly before saying, "I have to be out where the action is. The task force can't wait three weeks to get instructions from me once they locate the enemy. Admiral Poole will be arriving aboard one of the Quartermaster ships in two months to take over as base commander of Quesann and Admiral Sprague will fill in for me here until I return."

  "But the task force may find themselves involved in a serious battle," Admiral Mendez said. "We can't afford to lose you unnecessarily."

  "I was named as military governor because of my success in battle, not because of my experience as a bureaucrat. The bridge of a ship is where I can best serve Region Two at this time." Smiling, Jenetta added, "Besides, I want to go. Once we engage this Tsgardi taskforce I may not have an opportunity to get off Quesann for years."

  * * *

  A month later, the task force from Quesann was just twenty-two light years from Coleman, with an E.T.A. of less than a day. Jenetta, in command of the Colorado, had taken the point, with the remainder of the task force just fifteen minutes behind.

  It was just past noon, GST, when the tactical officer said quickly to Jenetta, "Admiral, we've just passed a number of ships headed in the opposite direction."

  "All stop," Jenetta said. Twisting slightly in her bridge chair she added, "Com, notify the task force to stop where they are and hold position."

  "All stop," the helmsman repeated as he touched his console to stop the drive from generating new envelopes. He didn't cancel the existing envelope, but the ship immediately came to a dead stop in space.

  "Aye, Admiral," the chief petty officer on the com said, her fingers already activating the pre-established encryption scheme and readying frequencies for transmission. "Message sent, Admiral," she said after speaking the message. Not being a commissioned officer, she didn't have an implanted CT, but when on duty a tiny pickup chip was affixed to her throat near her larynx. Like a CT, her ID was capable of receiving messages, so the com was keyed to her frequency while she was on duty.

  "Tactical, can you identify the ships?" Jenetta asked.

  "The computer has identified them as all being of Tsgardi design. According to the Milori ship configuration database, all thirteen ships are Vekemacos class destroyers."

  "Helm," Jenetta said, "turn us around and pursue, but hold us four-point-one billion kilometers off their sterns."

  "Aye, Admiral," the helmsman said.

  "Tactical, signal general quarters."

  As the alert began to sound throughout the ship, the tactical officer said, "GQ alert sounded."

  "Com, establish a vid link with each ship in the task force. Put them up on the front screen."

  "Aye, Admiral."

  A few seconds later, vid images of the captain of each ship began to appear on the monitor. As soon as they had received the order to stop, the captain of each ship had moved to his or her command chair on the bridge, if not already seated there. When every ship was represented, Jenetta addressed her officers.

  "We've just passed what appears to be a Tsgardi task force of thirteen ships. We've reversed course and are pursuing just beyond their DeTect sensor range. When we move up, I expect them to stop and confront us. Separate the scout-destroyers and be prepared to move in on my command. Our goal is intel, so we want some of them alive, if possible. Don't risk your ships, but cease firing on any enemy ship that has been put out of action. Helm, take us to five-hundred-thousand kilometers off their stern at Light-450."

  The crews of the scout-destroyers had been living aboard the ships, even though they were docked in the special bay beneath their battleship. Upon receiving the message to halt, they'd prepared to deploy and were already separated from the mother-ship by the time Jenetta began to move in on the Tsgardi task force.

  "Admiral, the enemy ships have stopped and spread out in a 'V' formation," the tactical officer said.

  "All stop," Jenetta said to the helmsman. "Are the ships on the flanks closer to us or away?" she asked the tactical officer.

  "Away, ma'am."

  As the Colorado stopped generating new envelopes, the ship again came to a stop. Since the SC ships had been traveling at Light-9375, the rest of the task force was still some two trillion kilometers beyond the point where the Tsgardi had stopped to turn and face Jenetta's ship.

  "Com, hail the Tsgardi ships," Jenetta said.

  A few moments later, the baboon-like image of a Tsgardi warrior appeared on the front monitor. He was older than most Jenetta had seen, no doubt a senior officer in the Tsgardi military.

  "I'm Admiral Carver of the Galactic Alliance Space Command. You're trespassing in GA space. Please explain your presence here."

  The Tsgardi waited until the translator had finished relaying the entire message before responding. "I'm Admiral Kelacnius of the Tsgardi High Command. It is you who are trespassing. You had no right to claim this space."

  "This territory was part of the Milori Empire and was ceded to the Galactic Alliance as part of the Milori surrender. We have announced our official annexation, as I'm sure you're well aware. You are trespassing. You never had any claim to this part of space and were lucky the Milori tolerated your presence as a neighbor and respected your borders. Now, do you turn around and leave our space voluntarily, or are you going to force me to take action?"

  "Take whatever action you feel capable of," he said contemptuously. "That tiny ship of yours can't stand up to even one of my destroyers. I suggest you return immediately to the territory the Galactic Alliance controlled before the Milori attacked you, or you won't live to see another day. Go now— or stay and die."

  "Exactly my advice to you, Admiral,"
Jenetta said. "Tsgardi warships don't stand a chance against Space Command warships, even the smallest."

  The Tsgardi admiral bristled at the comment. "Enough talk!" the Tsgardi officer shouted. "All ships, move in and silence this young fool permanently!"

  The image on the Colorado's large bridge monitor changed to one of space in front of the ship. Jen gave the com operator the signal to cut the outbound signal.

  "Com, notify all ships we're moving to engage the enemy," Jenetta said. "Invite them to join us. Tactical, deploy an IDS jamming satellite."

  "Aye, Admiral."

  "Tactical, notify all gunners to fire as soon as they have target lock. Helm, attack plan Delta-Three, Sub-Light-Five."

  The plan would have the Colorado engage the enemy ships and pass directly through their front lines, then remain in their midst so the enemy had to be careful when firing lest they destroy their comrades.

  "Message sent, Admiral," the com chief said.

  "Jamming satellite deployed, Admiral," the tactical officer said.

  "Activate the satellite," Jenetta said.

  "All IDS frequencies are jammed," the com chief said. "Normal RFs are open and available for broadcast or reception."

  "Helm, engage."

  At Sub-Light-Five, it took just ten seconds to close the distance between the Colorado and the Tsgardi ships. The Colorado's gunners opened fire as soon as they locked on their targets and filled space with laser fire while the Tsgardi fired with abandon at the Colorado. Passing close to the lead Tsgardi ship, the Colorado commenced a circling path inside the v-shaped formation. As expected, there was a noticeable lack of torpedoes fired at the Colorado, initially. The Tsgardi probably didn't give the tiny SC ship a chance of surviving the initial onslaught of laser fire.

  By the time the Tsgardi realized the small Colorado was continuing to fight on at full strength despite being hit by hundreds, or perhaps thousands of laser pulses, their own task force was reacting to the damage inflicted by the Colorado. Great and small rents in their hulls were allowing the atmosphere in every ship to escape unabated. Huge areas of their ships were depressurizing. The Tsgardi finally switched to firing torpedoes and attempted to compensate for the earlier dearth by firing as quickly as possible with complete disregard for hitting their fellow ships. The Colorado's Phalanx weapon system was forced to commandeer a greater and greater share of the laser arrays as it strove to stop the incoming torpedoes, leaving the Colorado's torpedo gunners to make up the shortfall in offensive weapons fire. The bow's ten tubes, along with the four stern tubes and dual tubes on both the larboard and starboard sides, were belching torpedoes as quickly as they could be loaded.

  The fire coming from the Tsgardi ships had already diminished considerably when the Colorado was jarred by a torpedo detonation.

  Almost before the ship had stopped vibrating, the helmsman was announcing, "Admiral, we've lost the starboard Sub-Light engine."

  "Can you compensate with thrusters?"

  "Not with the type of maneuvers required."

  "Are the stern engines intact?"

  "Aye, Admiral, so far."

  "Tactical, where's the task force?"

  "They'll reach us in— eighteen seconds."

  "Helm, get us out of here. Head towards the task force."

  "Aye, Admiral," the helmsman said as he keyed in the information and engaged the engines.

  Almost immediately the Colorado was speeding away from the fight as they accelerated towards the task force at Sub-Light-100. Seconds later the task force, heading towards the Tsgardi ships at Light-9375, passed them by so quickly they were just a blur on the sensors.

  "Helm, all stop." Via her CT, Jenetta said, "Engineering, I want a damage assessment on the starboard Sub-Light engine immediately. Just the bad news, not a thorough assessment."

  "Aye, Admiral," she heard, "Give us twenty minutes."

  "You have five. There's still a battle being waged back there."

  "Aye, Admiral, we'll have a preliminary report for you in five minutes."

  "Carver out."

  "Engineering out."

  Jenetta sat in her bridge chair staring at an image of space on the large monitor while she waited. To an observer she was icily clam, but inside she was in turmoil. She hated being sidelined while her ships were engaged in battle, but she forced herself to appear calm for the benefit of her crew. In four minutes and forty-eight seconds, she received a message from Lt. Patricia Gorci, her chief engineer.

  "We took a direct hit to the starboard nacelle, Admiral. The torpedo tried to fly up through the exhaust. It's pretty ugly, but it's still out there. If it had been a standard tritanium nacelle, it would have been ripped away, along with a good portion of the hull in that section, but the nacelle contained the force of the blast and the ship's hull is intact."

  "Is the engine usable at all?"

  "Negative. We'll have to break it down to see if anything is salvageable, but our preliminary look using a vid bot indicates it's had it."

  "Thank you, Patricia. Are we all buttoned up again?"

  "Affirmative, Admiral."

  "Okay, we're heading back to the battle site then. Carver out."

  "Engineering out."

  "Helm," Jenetta said, "Take us back as quickly as possible, but stay wide of the site until we know what the situation is."

  "Aye, Admiral."

  In seconds, the ship had come to a stop a thousand kilometers from the battle scene. It only took one glance to determine the battle was over and the SC task force had been victorious. The outcome had ever been in question, but Jenetta was relieved to have her expectations proven.

  "Message coming in from Captain Erikson, Admiral," the com operator said. "Now the other captains are hailing us as well."

  "Put them all up on the front monitor," she replied.

  Almost immediately an image of Captain Sandor Erikson of the Themis appeared, followed by images of the other captains.

  "Is everything alright, Admiral," Captain Erikson asked as the eight-way conference setup was complete.

  "We took a torpedo hit to our starboard Sub-Light engine," Jenetta replied, "so I felt it best to get out of the way before you arrived. We couldn't continue to fight without it because it restricted our ability to carry out the necessary maneuvers in sub-light."

  "Was anyone injured?"

  "No, the hull remained sealed, but we'll need some repair time before we can fight again. How about all of you? Any casualties?"

  "We're fine," Captain Erikson said, a sentiment echoed by the captains of the other ships.

  "Good."

  Actually, you didn't leave much for us, Admiral," Captain Sandor Erikson of the battleship Themis said jokingly. "They were all either partially or totally out of commission when we arrived."

  "There were only thirteen of them, Sandor," Jenetta said in the same lighthearted vein. "We'll try to find you a larger group next time." Then, turning serious again, she added, "From the way Admiral Kelacnius spoke, I'm assuming this is a full-scale invasion by the entire Tsgardi military. Our intel is that they have over three hundred ships and, while their ships are inferior to our own, they have a decided numerical superiority, so I don't expect them to turn around and head for the border. We'll have to drive them back or wipe them completely out."

  "This is going to be a turkey shoot," Captain Neil Elder of the battleship Boreas said.

  "Let's not get overconfident, Neil," Jenetta said. "As the damage to the Colorado shows, we still have to be very wary of torpedoes. Now that the shooting is over, let's do the grisly work. Send out your search and rescue parties to see if anyone is left alive aboard those hulks. Don't take any chances. If they don't want to be rescued, leave them, but make sure the ship is permanently disabled and unable to send any messages back to their headquarters after we leave."

  "Aye, Admiral," the ship captains answered before beginning to organize search parties composed of Marines and Engineering personnel. The Marines provided the
force in capturing prisoners and the engineers provided the expertise to rescue trapped Tsgardi from airtight compartments.

  Once the Tsgardi ships were searched and cleared of any enemy warriors found alive, the dead were photographed and had their elbow prints recorded before being stored in empty shipping containers. While the grisly work progressed, engineers were busy uploading the contents of each Tsgardi ship's computer to the Themis' system where Admiral Kanes and a few of his intelligence people waited to begin their work. When the uploads had been completed, engineers began permanently disabling the ship's systems and anchoring the broken hulls together so the ships could be moved to Coleman Space Command Base once the station was again in Space Command hands. For the time being they would be left in space with a warning buoy about the navigational hazard and a warning not to board the ships. The warning probably wouldn't stop scavengers from trying to salvage the ships but, if caught aboard the ships or with scavenged parts in their possession, the charges against them would be compounded because they had chosen to disregard the trespassing warnings from Space Command.

  Admiral Kanes and his people spent days interrogating the Tsgardi prisoners and combing through the computer files. Thousands of written documents and tens of thousands of vid messages had to be viewed, translated, and fit into the picture the intelligence people were trying to construct. The combination of efforts enabled Admiral Kanes to develop a clear understanding of the problem in front of them.

  Aboard the Colorado, Jenetta raised the com screen in her briefing room when informed Admiral Kanes was calling.

  "Hi Keith. How goes the effort?"

  "We're only partway through the documents and vid messages, but I've got a pretty good idea of what we're facing, Jen. The situation is far worse than we expected. Are you available for a face to face?"