Steele's Demon Star

by Dietmar Wehr

  Sogard’s rising anger dueled with his grudging admiration for his opponent. Trying to catch his squadron in a pincer ambush with missiles coming from opposite sides was a clever tactic if the cruisers could coordinate their attacks correctly. He reviewed several counter moves and picked one.

  “How long until they’re beyond our radar range?” he asked.

  “Approximately eleven minutes, sir.”

  “Fine. Continue tracking until they drop off our screens, then order the squadron to move away from the two stationary cruisers until we’re at the limit of our detection range. Hold that position and begin scanning continuously in all directions. Any questions?”

  “No, sir. Your orders are clear.”

  “Very good.” Sogard leaned back to recheck his thinking. If the two flanking cruisers expected his squadron to be at their current position by the time they curved around to come from behind, they’d be surprised to find his destroyers a lot closer to them and at the same time a lot farther from the stationary cruisers than expected. That would at the very least upset the coordination of missile volleys. Instead of missiles arriving at his squadron from two directions at the same time, the volleys would arrive sequentially first from one side then the other and back again. Being able to shift anti-missile defense focus back and forth would negate much of the advantage of Hara’s flanking maneuver. It also gave him the option of lunging at one pair of cruisers while the other pair was too far away to provide supporting fire. Yes, Admiral Hara, maybe you’ve outsmarted yourself this time. He gave a short laugh before returning his attention to his meal.

  “Sierra One to Five are backing away, Admiral,” said the Tactical Officer.

  “You were right about his reaction, Admiral,” admitted Lavrov.

  Hara nodded. “Yes, he took the bait. Steadfast and Indomitable curved their trajectory just enough to be noticed without being obvious about it. When can we expect Indomitable to come back around to within one light second range?”

  The Helm Officer manipulated his console to make the main display show the cruiser’s projected path as it curved up in a wide circle to come back down behind the two stationary cruisers instead of the RSN destroyers.

  “ETA is three hours forty minutes, Admiral.”

  “And Steadfast?”

  “She’ll go super-luminal on a heading for Caledonia is six hours ten minutes.”

  Lavrov stopped by her chair on his way off the Bridge. “How long do you think Sogard will hold his new position before he smells a rat, Admiral?”

  Hara shrugged. “I don’t know, and it doesn’t matter. By moving away from us, he’s now giving us more time to react if he decides to come at us. And without detecting Indomitable, there’s no way he can be sure that two heavy cruisers won’t show up behind him when he least expects it. Let’s just hope that Admiral DeChastelain can send us the reinforcements we need before Sogard receives his.”

  It was 36 hours later when Hara woke to a call from the Bridge.

  “Hara here.”

  “Sorry to have to wake you, Admiral, but Commodore Sogard’s squadron is accelerating towards us at two hundred fifty Gs. The range is now…five nine five thousand,” said the Tactical Officer

  “Okay, we planned for this. Vanquisher and Daedalus will accelerate away from the oncoming force at maximum acceleration for a zero-zero rendezvous with Indomitable. Notify her to be ready to link up when we reach her. Have you notified Captain Lavrov yet?”

  “Com is doing that now, Admiral.”

  “Good. I’ll be on the Bridge shortly. Hara out.” As she got up to put on her pressure suit in preparation for combat, she pondered the question of whether the Commodore would initiate hostilities now or was this just a probe to see how she’d react? She would not open fire unless Sogard’s squadron crossed the 200,000-kilometer line which they would eventually do if they continued to accelerate towards her ships after linking up with Indomitable. The fact was she would know whether the Commodore intended to cross that line in the sand if his ships reached a point where they were going too fast to be able to stop before crossing that line even if they wanted to. Technically she would be justified in opening fire when his ships reached that point-of-no-return. She wasn’t prepared to make that call just yet.

  She entered the Bridge to find the noise level unnervingly loud. Lavrov must have just beaten her there by a few seconds because he was still getting himself settled and secured in the Command Chair. The TO was in the middle of his report.

  “—now up to four three nine KPS. Range is now five seven eight thousand klicks.”

  Hara checked the sidebar data as she stepped up to her chair. Both groups of ships were accelerating at 250Gs, but because of their head start, Sogard’s destroyers were already moving 144 kilometers per second faster, which meant the range would continue to drop albeit slowly. When Hara’s two cruisers needed to decelerate to rendezvous with Indomitable, the range would start to drop much faster. Rather than stand beside her chair or sit in it, she decided to step up beside Lavrov’s chair. The two of them looked at each other for a couple of seconds.

  “I guess Commodore Sogard concluded that we weren’t going to try to flank him after all,” said Lavrov.

  “And if that’s the case, then he probably realizes we finessed him in order to send for reinforcements ourselves which means his reinforcements won’t get here in time to give him the superior force. Given that assessment, going for a quick kill now while he only sees two cruisers in front of him, actually makes sense. Let’s hope he comes to his senses when his radar picks up Indomitable.” Lavrov nodded but said nothing.

  “One minute to decel,” said the Helm Officer.

  Hara checked the distance between Indomitable and the destroyers. The range was now low enough that if Indomitable started to scan with her radar, Sogard’s ships would detect it and realize that it was coming from a third ship. She wanted to see how he reacted.

  “Com. Order Indomitable to begin scanning forward with their radar,” said Hara.

  Sogard tried not to let his satisfaction at forcing the cruisers to retreat turn into elation. Admiral Hara was being cautious, yes, but it would be foolish of him to describe her action as cowardly. Her pullback gave her more time to think and react, but her time was limited. Unless something changed, his destroyers would get close enough to fire their lasers. Any chance of overwhelming her two cruisers with missile fire went out the window when she turned his charge into a stern chase. As he discovered during Academy simulations, in stern chases the chaser was always at a disadvantage with regards to missile fire. If both sides fired missiles, the chaser would run into the oncoming missiles while the opposite was true of the party being chased. But if his five destroyers could get within effective laser range, their 20 lasers had a clear numerical advantage over the 12 lasers on Hara’s cruisers.

  “Commodore! We’re being hit by long-range radar from a third source!” said the Tactical Officer.

  “Not from those two cruisers?” asked Sogard sharply.

  “No, sir! It’s definitely another ship further away! The two cruisers have begun decelerating now! They may be trying to link up with that third ship!”

  Sogard was certain that they were, but now the question was how many ships were further away; one or two? If two then the odds would be against him. If one, then the odds would be about even and that was not good either. And if there was only one ship back there, that strongly implied that the fourth cruiser was on its way back to Caledonia to get reinforcements that would arrive sooner than his. He smashed his right fist down on the armrest in anger. Damn that woman and her sneaky tactics! She would undoubtedly wait until she had an overwhelming combat firepower advantage and then use it to chase his squadron out of this system altogether. The King would be furious at him for not being able to hold on to the system and its wormholes, but if he could at least claim to have chased away HRCN heavy cruisers from this wormhole even for a limited time, that might mollify the King en
ough to let the Commodore keep his rank.

  “New orders for the squadron. We’ll decelerate to take up station in front of this wormhole.” Sogard looked at his Helm Officer, who looked back and nodded.

  “Zero-zero intercept with wormhole overwatch position. Yes, sir.”

  “They’re decelerating now, Admiral!” shouted the Tactical Officer. “They must have detected Indomitable’s radar and changed their minds!”

  Lavrov swiveled his chair around to look at Hara. He had a big grin on his face. “He didn’t call your all-in bet. You made the man blink, Admiral.”

  Hara grinned back. “Yes, it does look that way, doesn’t it? My guess is he’ll stop right in front of the wormhole, and I’ll let him stay there until our reinforcements arrive. We’ll hold position when we rendezvous with Indomitable. I have a feeling nothing much is going to happen for the next twenty-one days.”

  Chapter Eight

  Secretary Columbus entered his inner office and let out a shout of triumph. His two Executive Assistants followed him in and clapped their approval. He turned and waved for them to stop.

  “You did it, sir! You got the Council to authorize Phase One and approve Phase Two in principle!” said one of the EAs.

  “Yes,” said Columbus taking a deep breath before continuing. “And best of all, the new transit fee enforcement force will be part of the Department of Economic Affairs! Fleet Admiral Toriega isn’t going to like that one bit! The officers, crews, and ships assigned to the enforcement mission will still technically be part of the Navy but only for administrative purposes. For operational purposes, they’ll be under my authority. That’s going to keep the Fleet Admiral and his cronies from skimming off a piece of the fees for themselves.”

  “And make it available to you and your cronies, sir?” asked one of the EAs in a low voice. The other EA looked at him in shock. Columbus chuckled. Masterson was a cheeky bastard all right, but he was good at his job and knew how to keep his mouth shut.

  “No comment!” he said with enough exaggeration to show that he wasn’t offended by the question. “Now you two get back to your desks! We’ve got a lot to do in a short time to get this operation rolling.” When they had left, and he had the office to himself, he told his implant to call Fleet Admiral Toriega. Columbus wanted to rub the Admiral’s nose in his victory a bit. When the connection was made, he heard the Admiral’s voice.

  “Calling to brag about your successful maneuver, Secretary Columbus?”

  Columbus laughed. “As a matter of fact, I am. You’ll be getting our first official requisition for ships and crews within forty-eight hours. We’ll also need room in your Operations Center until such time as we can build our own. I hope that I can count on your and the Navy’s cooperation in this endeavor, Admiral.”

  The silence coming from the other end dragged on so long that Columbus began to wonder if the Admiral was still on the line.

  “Well, there’s enthusiastic cooperation, and then there’s reluctant cooperation. How badly do you want the former?” Is he hinting at a bribe? Columbus wasn’t sure if that was the case. The Admiral might just be trying to negotiate some kind of exchange of favors. I’ll do this for you now if you do something for me in the future.

  “That depends on what you want in return, Admiral.”

  “Well, it seems to me that both our departments are going to need more ships and if Phase Two is authorized, as I suspect it will, we’re going to need a lot more ships and not just ships configured for collecting transit fees. If I get your support for more capital ships for the Navy, I’ll support your request for more destroyers.”

  Columbus realized that he’d been holding his breath and exhaled. So, it wasn’t a bribe the Admiral was after; just the usual political maneuvering.

  “That seems like a win/win arrangement for both of us so, I’ll agree to that.” There was another pause that was not as long as the previous one.

  “Fine. For a minute there I wondered if you thought I was going to ask for a bribe.” Toriega laughed, and Columbus joined in a bit nervously.

  “No! Of course not. That thought never crossed my mind, Admiral.”

  “I’m relieved to hear it, Mister Secretary. You’ll have my department’s enthusiastic cooperation. Was there something else you wanted to discuss?”

  “No, Admiral. Nothing else right now but I’m sure we’ll be talking to each other a lot in the coming days, weeks and months. Until next time then.” He heard the click that told him the Admiral had hung up. After making sure that call had been recorded, he leaned back and thought about making sure Economic Affairs and the Navy worked together smoothly. He may not want a bribe, but I certainly deserve a slice of the transit fees pie. I’ll have to find time to interview the commanding officers of the ships Toriega will let us borrow. There has to be some who are willing to play ball for a piece of the action and promotion. I just have to be careful about finding them.

  Toriega laughed after hanging up on Secretary Columbus. Of course, that fool thought he might ask for a bribe! Toriega did not doubt at all that the Secretary himself would be skimming transit fees as soon as he could arrange it. But the joke was on him. Navy officers tended to stick together, even in crime. As Head of the Navy, he would make sure that destroyer captains willing to divert some of the transit fees to private hands diverted them to him and not to Secretary Columbus! And the best part was the fact that there was nothing Columbus could do about it when he found out. He wouldn’t dare complain that Navy officers were too honest. Economic Affairs might be able to tell destroyer captains where to go and how long to stay there but as long as the ability to grant promotions stayed in the Navy’s hands, he, Toriega, would still have the real power. And now he had the Secretary’s promise of support for the major building program his staff were already putting together. Civilians! They were such amateurs when it came to power games.

  Chapter Nine

  Hara’s prediction of a boring three-week wait proved to be accurate. At least it was boring for her. Her officers found it to be stressful because they had to keep a constant and alert watch on Sogard’s destroyers. When she received word from the Bridge that three ships had been detected approaching the inner system from the general direction of Caledonia, the officer making the report sounded relieved that something was happening.

  Hara was certain the three ships were the reinforcements she had asked for even though they arrived a day later than she had expected, and the approach angle was consistent with ships coming from Caledonia. When all three ships changed their trajectory to head directly for Hara’s squadron, she knew they were HRCN ships. Only ships with the long-range detection system could have seen her three cruisers at that distance. She waited until the approaching ships were three light seconds away before sending a brief text message query. The reply came back in less than a minute.

  [Forstchen to Vice-Admiral Hara. The cavalry has arrived in the form of Relentless, Valiant and Steadfast. Relentless has the new detection system and Flag Bridge facilities if you wish to transfer your flag. I also have dispatches for you from the CSO. Captain Steele sends his regards. End of message.]

  Hara couldn’t have been more pleased by the decision to send her another heavy cruiser and a battlecruiser! Her reinforced squadron now totaled five heavy cruisers plus one battlecruiser. The option of transferring to Relentless was tempting too. Having her own Flag Bridge with her own Squadron Tactical Officer opened up possibilities that the current ad hoc arrangement on Vanquisher couldn’t offer. She briefly considered transferring her flag to Relentless before taking action against the RSN squadron but decided she could deal with Sogard’s ships from Vanquisher well enough.

  “Com. Record this message for transmission to Relentless. Hara to Forstchen. Welcome to AG38. My Flag will temporarily remain on Vanquisher until the RSN squadron has been evicted. Transmit your dispatches as soon as Relentless has joined the squadron formation. I’ll hold a video conference with all captains at that time. End
of message.”

  Sogard was relaxing in his quarters while listening to an audiobook when he heard the two-tone signal of an incoming call from the Bridge.

  “Sogard here.”

  “It’s Abernathy, Commodore. Radar is picking up three ships approaching Admiral Hara’s squadron from their rear. Signal strength is still weak, but TacComp has tentatively identified the three ships as two heavy cruisers and one battlecruiser.”

  Sogard closed his eyes and sighed. One of the two heavy cruisers was undoubtedly the one that Hara had managed to sneak back, and if TacComp was correct, then his five destroyers now faced six ships each of which was heavier and more deadly than his. The reinforcements weren’t a surprise, but he still hated the idea of being forced to withdraw before his reinforcements arrived. Unfortunately, he didn’t see any way to avoid that outcome.