“We could always leave them behind, Commander. Say there was a problem and they were all fried in transit,” opined the shuttle pilot.
Spalding’s grip on the pilot tightened. “We’ve got orders, sad as that is to say,” he said regretfully, “otherwise you’re on the right track, lad. The right track without a doubt.”
“Are you sure the little Admiral knows what’s going on over here, Sir?” the shuttle pilot said, wincing from the sudden pain in his shoulder.
Spalding let go tucking his hands back in his tool belt as he rocked back on his metal heels. He sighed. “There’s a reason men like you and me aren’t cut out for command,” commiserated the old Engineer, “don’t worry about the Admiral,” he said laying a finger alongside his nose, “I’ll keep an eye on things.”
“Are you sure…” the Shuttle Pilot trailed off as Terrance Spalding looked at him. “I mean yes, Sir,” the Pilot wiping his expression clear and focusing his eyes forward.
“Don’t worry: if I need a steady hand at the controls when it comes time to get rid of these things I’ll remember your enthusiasm,” said the Commander.
The pilot looked over in alarm. Spalding looked at him questioningly and he smiled sickly.
“Don’t put yourself out,” said the shuttle pilot.
“Oh, it’s no imposition,” Spalding said with certainty and then added.
“Assuming we survive long enough,” he muttered.
“Sir!?” the Pilot looked over with alarm.
“Just get us back home and I’ll take everything from there,” advised the Chief Engineer.
Chapter 41: Cornwallis Decides
“Sir, our Destroyer scouts have returned. They report no change: the enemy fleet jumped in shortly after we left. First their scouts surveyed the last star system and then, when it was clear, they jumped back, presumably to inform their fleet and then the entire fleet showed up,” reported the Imperial Flag Lieutenant.
“Interesting,” said the Senator.
“Reckless,” the grey bearded Commodore demurred, “unless they intend to confront us at four to one odds where they’ll almost certainly be crushed it just doesn’t make sense.”
“What’s your take?” asked Cornwallis, interested in hearing what the Commodore had to say even though he’d already just about made up his mind as to what the locals were up to.
“The Spineward Sectors Fleet are provoking us. They appear determined to bring us to battle. Maybe they are or more likely they hope to catch some of our slower units before they jump, some of our Confederation units take an almost perverse pride in failing to follow orders in a timely manner, and carve off a portion of the Glorious Fleet of Liberation that they figure they actually have a chance of defeating?” suggested the Commodore.
“Not an unworthy suggestion,” Cornwallis said after giving the thought some serious consideration, “however I don’t think you go far enough.”
“In what particular?” asked his Chief of Staff, raising his eyebrows.
“While I don’t dismiss the notion that the Spineward Sectors Fleet is willing to ‘carve off a chunk’ of our Fleet if given the opportunity, I sense something different. Earlier they were hesitant and ran away at the first sign a full-fledged battle might develop.”
“I thought you said you agreed they were attempting to lure us into a battle similar to the Battle of Easy Haven between Spineward Sectors local forces and the Reclamation Fleet?” asked the Commodore.
The Senator lifted a hand. “And I stand by that assertion,” he said calmly, “but I think that time is nearly over. In my estimation they have finally abandoned the notion we’ll come at them in a time and place of their choosing. Otherwise they would not risk following the combined Flotilla/Glorious Fleet so closely they risk being mouse-trapped by our forces should we set a trap and jump back in to their position.”
“So are we?” asked the Commodore.
“What? Mousetrapping them?” asked Cornwallis.
“Yes,” replied the Commodore.
The Senator paused as if to consider it and then shook his head. “There’s too much chance their lighter units could get away, along with their leadership,’’ he said finally.
“That seems highly doubtful. Their leader, this Grand Admiral Montagne, at least according to the latest intelligence dump from our agents in Central right before they captured the place, said he’s their top military commander. The intel indicates that he’s more along the lines of a traditional Battleship Admiral and prefers to make his flagship the largest, most powerful warship in any formation he commands,” said the Commodore.
“The information gathered by our spies is dubious at best. Oh I’ll not deny there are hidden gems in it but I already have a fairly complete profile and background information on this Admiral Montagne. It is more thorough, in depth and reliable,” Cornwallis said dismissively.
“As long as you’re sure,” the Commodore said neutrally.
“Of more concern to me right now are the actions of Front Admiral Willard Featherby. I gave him a fleet and orders to conquer the Central Star System and, if possible, disrupt or destroy their new Regional Government and what did he do? He came back with fewer than half of his Battleships and his losses in lighter warships even greater. Worse, he did nothing near a similar amount of damage to the Spineward Fleet.”
“The Front Admiral, or more properly his staff, put up quite the spirited defense. Pointing out that he did in fact succeed in successfully carrying out every one of your orders, and that he did so as fully as was possible given the situation,” said the Commodore.
“Space rot,” said the Senator.
“You said to conquer the star system, he did. That it was only for two days doesn’t fully detract from that. You ordered him to destroy or disrupt the regional government. He captured key members of the Spineward Sectors Grand Assembly and ran the rest of them out of the star system in a scattered mess,” said the Commodore.
“He ran, inspiring the enemy with his losses,” grunted Cornwallis.
“So remove him from higher command,” shrugged the Commodore, “that will do more to show your disappointment with his actions while at the same time acknowledging that he technically fulfilled your orders than anything else I can think of.”
“And considering that if I punish my Confederation subordinates for carrying out their orders to the letter, even if not in spirit, it will do more to hurt morale and inter-fleet coordination than the locals ever could? You’re right though, of course. I was never seriously considering anything more serious than a stern warning and relieving the Front Admiral from higher command,” said the Senator who then portrayed a mirthless smile, “especially considering that doing so is probably all I need for his own superiors back home to crucify him for the number of losses his fleet sustained.”
“I’ll draw up the orders to have him dismissed from his command. Considering he still seems to have the confidence of the majority of his surviving fleet, that should take care of the situation,” said the Senator’s Chief of Staff.
Cornwallis nodded and then paused. “On second thought, reinforce his formation to bring it back up to strength but don’t relieve the Front Admiral, just ensure that the commander of the ships we’re bringing in is superior enough in rank to ensure he or she is the new commander of the combined formation. I might find some use for Admiral Featherby yet,” said the Senator.
“If you say so, Sir. I’ll write it up for you,” shrugged the Commodore.
“Oh, cheer up. Worst case this Featherby has shown a decided talent at one thing,” chuckled the Senator and then at his Chief of Staff’s questioning look he added, “he can run. That’s one formation where if everything goes in the pot and their current leader proves as incompetent as the rest of these Confederation officers, he can take over and run away with skill.”
The Commodore laughed and then quickly covered his mouth with his hand and coughed several times, a smile fighting to be seen around the edg
es of his fist.
“You’re very bad. I hope you realize that, Praetor?” he asked.
“More than you know,” the Senator said with satisfaction, “the Spineward Fleet previously offered us battle in a time and place of their choosing, but we will not walk that road. Now that they are willing to fight us no matter the cost, it is clear that our attacks upon their most powerful, most populated star systems, their Core Worlds, has been successful. They have finally driven them to desperation.”
“All that remains is to drive it home and finish this miserable excuse for a multi-system power once and for all,” said the Senator.
“They won’t know what hit them,” the Commodore said loyally.
“This is the work I was born for. Soon this entire region of space will be brought back into the Empire and if I am right so much more besides that will be accomplished,” said the Senator, refusing to believe the rumors that a Fragment of MAN had been destroyed by the traitor who called himself 'Lynch.' No, it had to be a ploy—it was a ploy, likely backed from a distance by House Bellucci who would pay the price for standing in his way.
As soon as he found the trail leading to the missing Fragment and recovered it, he would be remembered forever for his contributions to the Empire—and he would repay every insult to those efforts tenfold.
It was the dawn of a new day for the Empire of Man, and House Cornwallis' time was at hand. To the winner goes the Triumvir Seat and, eventually, control of the known galaxy.
Now all he had to do was destroy one pesky little Fleet full of outdated Confederation warships and its surprisingly resilient leader. Admiral Jason Montagne had proved to be more than the useless playboy prince he appeared at first glance but in the face of overwhelmingly superior force nothing could survive. Not even the most lucky, unconventional opponent.
“For them it will be like hitting a rock with an egg. It doesn’t matter how many eggs you throw, in the end the rock remains long after all of the eggs in your basket are long gone,” said the Senator, knowing that the Fleet under his command was one mighty rock indeed.
He also had just the system in mind to put the period on the end of the Spineward Sectors Fleet.
“Instruct the combined Fleet to set course of the Black Purgatory Star System. It's only three jumps from our location,” said the Senator.
The gray bearded Commodore immediately reached for his slate, pulling up the information on that star system with a few flicks of his fingers.
He frowned.
“An uninhabited system where its previous occupants, a group of duralloy miners, were all killed with some kind of plague?” he remarked with surprise.
“We won’t be landing on any of their mining facilities, but even if by necessity we were forced to do so due to circumstances the Confederated Empire identified the pathogen that destroyed the mining colony decades ago. It’s just the treatment is involved enough that you’d need access to trained physicians and a class one healing tank or better in order to cure it. Both of which our fleet already has on hand. I’ve already instructed Flotilla Medical to begin producing the necessary medicine in bulk and pre-program the tanks for treatment,” said the Senator. “The important point is every rock, every chunk of ice bigger than your fist has already been identified and extensively catalogued and we have access to the miner’s original files. That combined with our advance forces will allow us to scan the system and verify the information. If everything checks out like it should it will be the perfect crucible in which to destroy the Spineward Sectors Fleet.”
“What if our information is not correct or as up to date as we’d hoped?” asked the Chief of Staff.
“Then we begin moving toward our next potential star system. I have three different fallback options already laid out,” Cornwallis said dismissively.
“For the Empire, Sir,” the Commodore said.
“For the Empire,” agreed the Senator.
Chapter 42: Grand Fleet of the Spine is Moving In
There was a flash and gravity sensors throughout the fleet started to sound the alarm.
Tense minutes passed before it was confirmed that it was a pair of MSP scout ships returning with a report for the Grand Admiral, and not the prelude to an enemy attack.
“Get me the senior of those two Destroyer captains on the line,” I ordered and minutes later Lisa Steiner had them on my screen.
“What have you got to report?” I asked the green-skinned woman on the other end of the coms without preamble.
“Sir! The location of both the Glorious Fleet and Imperial Flotilla is confirmed. They have advanced the bulk of their fleet into the Black Purgatory Star System and appear to be setting up shop. For what purpose we still don’t know, Grand Admiral,” the Captain said excitedly the MSP uniform wrinkled and bowler style helmet riding so far toward the back of her head that it looked like it was about to fall off.
“Confirm that! You’re saying that Cornwallis has moved his Fleet beyond the hyper limit?” I snapped.
“Yes Sir,” she said snapping to attention, “the Glorious Fleet has advanced into Black Purgatory, a system that appears to have been abandoned sometime in the past several years or longer. My Destroyer’s computer system doesn’t have any recent up to date information.”
“You said some of their ships are missing?” I asked.
“There is a gas giant, several moons and two asteroid belts in the way. Ships kept popping in and out of my sensors. I cannot confirm whether or not all of their ships are in the system or if they have a significant number hidden beyond the hyper limit. I only have confirmation on 800 warships and another 150 freighters, couriers, constructor and assorted other civilian ships,” she said.
I pursed my lips as I glared at the screen.
“Sir?” she asked uncertainly.
“Thank you for your report, Captain,” I said, blanking my face before forcing a smile, “please upload your sensor results to the Flagship and stand by for any further questions we might have.
Her face cleared. “The Stiletto is happy to perform any mission we’re assigned, Admiral,” she said with a firm nod.
“Dismissed,” I gave her a salute.
She returned the salute and her holo-image faded as the connection was cut.
“What do you want to do, Admiral?” asked Steiner.
“We’ll send in more scouts,” I said.
“And after we’ve finished scouting?” she asked.
“As long as the Imperials are willing to stand still I’m prepared to meet them,” I replied.
“Eight hundred warships are a lot of ships. They’ll outnumber us more than three to one and they’ll have the tech advantage. Even the Confederation warships will probably be superior to ours, on average,” she warned.
“Don’t worry, I have a plan to even the odds. We’ll just have to make it long enough and maneuver them into position,” I replied calmly.
Her cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk and then she turned away back to her station.
“Prepare a courier to relay an important message. Priority One,” I said, pulling up a pre-prepared file on my data-slate and after encrypting it shot the file over to the communication’s officer on the flag-bridge.
“Message sent, Admiral,” Lisa Steiner reported with a knowing look after the message was sent.
“Good work. Relay to the rest of the fleet. All ships not given orders otherwise are to prepare to link and synchronize their navigation computers with the Royal Rage and prepare their ships for a simultaneous jump into the Black Purgatory Star System,” I instructed.
“Our intention is to take the battle to the enemy. May the space gods jump with us this day,” I said.
Chapter 43: The Battle Begins!
Imperial Navy and sympathetic elements at the beginning of the Battle for Black Purgatory
2nd Naval Reserve Flotilla – Fleet Strength
1 Imperial Command Carrier (1000 fighters): Mighty Punisher
4 Light Carriers (400
Fighters)
18 Battleships
18 Battleships
37 Cruisers
103 Destroyers
8 Minesweepers
Sub-total: 150
Grand Fleet of Liberation
Main Fleet
104 Battleships
198 Cruisers
403 Destroyers
49 Corvettes
Sub-total: 750
Freighters
Couriers
Constructors
Assorted Civilian Starships
Sub-total: 300
Sub-Units:
Task Force 47
Force Commander: Front Admiral Martin Barragan
Vice Commander: Front Admiral Loader
29 Cruisers
58 Destroyers
Sub-total: 87
Picketed Forces along the Overton Expanse
5 Heavy Cruisers
10 Light Cruisers (5 Imperial make)
10 Destroyers (5 Imperial make)
68 Corvettes
Sub-total: 103
Picket Forces at Aegis
8 Battleships
6 Cruisers
4 Destroyers
82 Corvettes
Sub-total: 100 (plus 83 Captured Aegis Hulls currently undergoing repairs)
Admiral's Nemesis Part II Page 45
