Merkiaari Wars: 02 - What Price Honour

by Mark E. Cooper

  “Hmmm…” Meyers frowned. “Let’s say the mission is to keep them busy until Fifth Fleet jumps in.”

  “Better,” Burgton said, pleased that Meyers saw things his way. “Such an objective allows me to pick my battles and husband my strength. It allows me to kill the maximum number of Merkiaari with the minimum of loss.”

  “But what of the loss to the natives?” Fernandez said unhappily. “They’re dying by the thousands.”

  “By the millions, Captain, by the millions. It changes nothing. Adding my men to the count benefits no one, least of all the Shan. I can best help them by drawing the enemy’s attention. While they try to respond to my presence, they’re not killing civilians.”

  Meyers nodded. “I agree. How do you plan to proceed?”

  “Securing a landing zone is a priority. I need somewhere large enough to be occupied by Merkiaari, but not so large that it houses multiple fists.”

  “Hmmm. A port?”

  “Precisely. And that brings me to one of those assumptions I mentioned. I need Sutherland placed at my disposal.”

  Fernandez gasped. “Are you out of your mind? Liz will shit a brick when she hears! It’s out of the question.”

  “I cannot proceed with my mission without air support. It would be suicide.”

  Burgton was adamant on that point.

  “And if I order you to go ahead regardless?” Meyers asked quietly.

  Flowers and Faggini tensed at the implied threat.

  Burgton considered his words carefully. “During the Merki War, my men and I were sent into occupied world after occupied world to take out the Merki garrisons. I protested the orders repeatedly, but I was ignored. I was ignored, and my regiment died a little more each time. And for what? Nothing. Those worlds had been lost years earlier. There wasn’t a single Human being left alive to save, yet we went in and died one by one.”

  “It was your duty—” Fernandez began to say.

  “Don’t tell me my duty, Captain! I know my duty better than you. Dying to save a few trillion credits of someone’s money is not it. There wasn’t an iota of military sense in sending us in. The Fleet could have taken out the Merki garrisons with surgical precision from orbit, but of course, the cities would have cost a fortune to replace,” Burgton finished bitterly.

  “What is past is past,” Meyers said. “I will use your men to further the mission, General, and use them up if the situation demands it, but I swear they won’t die for no purpose.”

  “Dead is still dead,” Faggini said.

  Meyers ignored Faggini’s quiet murmur. “I cannot give you Sutherland, General. You’re not Fleet—you’re not even navy for Chrissakes, you’re infantry. As Tomas so inelegantly put it, Captain Alston would shit a brick, but I can detach a squadron of her fighters for your use.”

  “Not good enough,” Burgton said.

  Meyers’ eyes hardened. “It will have to be.”

  Burgton glared back and knew it was going to happen again. He had told his people on the journey that he wouldn’t let them die for nothing, not this time, but here they were having the same kind of conversation he’d had with his superiors back during the Merki War. He could refuse the order. The others would back him, but who would Meyers put in command? He shuddered at the thought of some unenhanced Marine trying to lead his people into battle.

  “Four squadrons,” he said and ignored twin sighs at his back.

  The Admiral’s eyes bugged. “Two, and not a ship more!”

  * * *

  Chapter 22

  Aboard ASN Vigilant, Shan System

  “…we have Merki concentrations in orbit of both planets,” Commander Linden reported from her position at scan. “The defence grid we were told to look for is gone, Skipper. It looks as if the Merkiaari blew it to hell and gone right at the start. I’m picking up debris, but by the dispersal pattern I estimate it’s months old. I have twenty plus Merki guard ships in orbit of Child of Harmony. They’re similar to our light cruisers in configuration. They look fast and lightly armoured, light on missiles, but heavy on beam armourment. We have five… five troop transports in orbit of Harmony—Marauder class. No heavy stuff, repeat no heavies in evidence. The cruisers weapons are at standby, and their drives are cold. I estimate…”

  Lieutenant Commander Pamela Finster, Captain of ASN Vigilant, listened attentively to Linden’s report. Neptune was holding position on her starboard aft quarter. She nodded in satisfaction at the nice tight spacing. She had known her Captain for years, and had even dated him for a while back at the academy. Valentin knew what he was doing. She noted the wreckage of the planetary defence net around the Shan colony world. That was something they had all hoped not to see, but the Admiral had allowed for it. It had been hoped the task force would arrive before the Merkiaari attacked Child of Harmony, but initial indications seemed to show that both planets were under simultaneous assault.

  “Update Victorious, Harry,” Finster said.

  “Aye, aye, Skipper,” Lieutenant Coleman said, and worked his controls.

  Tight beam comms at this distance would be slow, but with the ship at battle stations and her stealth field active, any kind of launch was out of the question. A drone’s reactor was too small to power a decent stealth field. The Merkiaari would be sure to see it.

  “Steady on course,” she said and settled herself more comfortably in her seat. This was going to be a long and nerve wracking day.

  * * *

  Aboard ASN Victorious, in the zone, Shan System

  “Sutherland has deployed fighters, Admiral,” Joshua said from his station on the other side of CIC’s main holotank.

  “I see them, Joshua,” Meyers replied watching the battlespace displayed in the holotank. “Sutherland’s wings will provide her with a warning net.”

  “Yes, ma’am, but two destroyers to protect a carrier? I don’t think I could have made that decision.”

  “Give it time, Joshua, give it time. In a few years you’ll be grey haired with worry, just like me. We haven’t the ships to spare to do the job and protect Sutherland as she’s accustomed to. This is the best I can do.”

  Meyers studied her ship deployments again, not happily perhaps, but she did have enough firepower to take care of the Merki ships in orbit—if they didn’t power up and move. It was the Merki troops on the surface that were giving her sleepless nights. She couldn’t see how Burgton had a hope of making a dent in the Merki offensive before Fifth Fleet arrived on station. He was outnumbered hundreds to one—many hundreds to one. There were five Marauders in system, five! That meant there were half a million blood crazed monsters busily killing people she was sworn to save, and Burgton had six hundred and forty vipers to engage them. It was suicide. They both knew it, of course, but there was nothing to be done about it. The Shan needed help, and she was here to supply it.

  Vigilant and Neptune had arrived back just a short time ago from their recon of the system, and were dogging Sutherland’s heels for now. Sutherland was vulnerable with only two destroyers for protection, but Meyers felt the risk was acceptable. When they jumped, Sutherland would be left entirely on her own until the Merki ships were taken care of. Leaving a carrier unprotected was a heinous crime that no admiral in her right mind would perpetrate, but she had no choice and cursed the fact. With luck, it would all be over before the Merkiaari realised how badly a certain admiral had ignored the book and left a carrier to fend for itself.

  God, I hope so.

  “Captain Alston took the news better than I thought she would, ma’am,” Joshua said.

  Meyers grimaced. The news that there were five and not two Marauders in system had been a major shock. Burgton had immediately gone back on their deal, and insisted they talk. This time he demanded all of Sutherland’s fighters be placed at his disposal, and he wouldn’t budge. She didn’t much blame him, and knew she had undermined her own position with that sympathy. She had acquiesced to his demands with one proviso. He could plan his use of air support, a
nd have unlimited use of same, but he must request fighter coverage through his liaison. At her request, Captain Alston assigned Commander Heinemann to Burgton’s staff. As one of only three chiefs of flight deck operations aboard Sutherland, Heinemann was ideally suited for the position. Liz Alston would have to scrape by with the remaining two. Liz had a good crew, they would take up the slack.

  “I have Captain Fernandez for you, Admiral,” Joshua said.

  “Put him on,” she said, and her screen lit to show her flag captain. “Well Tomas, here we are. Is everything ready?”

  “Yes, ma’am, looks perfect for Sierra Two.”

  “I concur.”

  “Orders, ma’am?” Fernandez said.

  “None. You may execute Sierra Two at your discretion.”

  “Aye, aye, ma’am.”

  The screen darkened.

  * * *

  Aboard Victorious, at jump stations

  “Vigilant and Neptune report ready to jump, sir… all ships report ready, Skipper.”

  Fernandez nodded. Trust a tin can jockey to be first. They were all like that. He watched the chronometer cycle down towards zero. “Weps, I want full safeties on your birds. Lock in your solutions now.”

  “Aye, sir,” Lieutenant Benson said from his place at tactical.

  By locking in a targeting solution now, he was running a considerable risk of losing target lock if the enemy ships powered up and got underway, but he deemed the situation such that a few misses were worth the time saving. If all went well, he would launch two, maybe even three, full broadsides into the Merki ships under computer control before they knew anyone was there. That was the plan in any case.

  “Jump stations manned and ready, Skipper,” Jennings said from the helm. Her voice was steady, but her palms were sweaty on the controls.

  “Execute as planned.”

  “Aye, sir. Twenty seconds.”

  Fernandez slapped his visor closed and panted trying to saturate his blood with oxygen. Friends said it was just superstition on his part, but he found it really did help his jump sickness. Besides, he always did it and would feel uncomfortable not doing it here.

  “Five seconds… four, three, two, one… exe—”

  Victorious jumped, and Fernandez’s world turned inside out. He sagged in his harness straps—his brain seemingly disconnected from his body. It was the worst part about commanding a ship. He had an apparently infinite time to worry about his plans and his crew. He knew it was an illusion, but a second in the jump felt like years, and this was worse than usual.

  He was falling…

  …falling forever….

  …round and around and down…

  A skip jump was unlike any other. It was really two normal jumps strung together. The first one into fold space using power from the mains. The second jump was back to real space using auxiliary power timed and executed via computer control. He worried about the Merkiaari seeing them ahead of time, about them seeing the jump signature. He worried about arriving in the midst of them with no power available to jump back out. He worried about…

  Whirling and spinning…

  ...round and down and around…

  TF19 arrived back into normal space. Less than a second later, her ships erupted in fury as salvo after salvo of missiles roared out under computer control to rend the Merki ships. Thousands of nuclear warheads slammed home, and ships began to die. Two Merki cruisers fell out of orbit burning, yet gamely trying to fire back. They failed as TF19’s second broadside arrived and wiped them out of existence.

  The Merki ships writhed at the centre of an inferno created by thousands of missiles, yet Fernandez didn’t have it all his own way. He had been right to worry about his detection. One Merki ship had detected the jump signature and launched an attack of its own even as it died.

  “Incoming mis—” Commander Hanson began.

  The cap ship missiles stormed into attack range and detonated.

  Dozens of bomb pumped energy beams stabbed at Victorious’ vitals, and atmosphere belched from her torn and bleeding hide. Lieutenant Jennings rolled ship in a lightning fast manoeuvre, but the damage was already done. Breached and broken yet still firing, Victorious staggered out of formation trying to put some distance between herself and her attackers.

  “Concentrate all fire aft,” Fernandez snapped, as his CIC repeaters flared and died. “Get me the Admiral.”

  “I can’t, sir. I think… I think she’s gone.”

  He clenched his jaw. “Send to all ships: I’m assuming command of the task force. Form on me and come to a new heading…”

  * * *

  Aboard ASN Vigilant

  “Victorious is hurt, ma’am,” Commander Linden reported looking up from the plot his station was displaying. “She’s falling out of formation.”

  “Helm,” Captain Finster snapped. “You stick on her arse—keep those bastards off her.”

  “Aye, aye. Coming port to three-one-zero by three-two-five degrees.”

  Hearing his captain’s order to the helm, Ensign Meier re-prioritised his targets without orders and slammed the commit button flat.

  ASN Vigilant roared passed a Merki cruiser that was even now firing on Victorious, and blew it apart with raking fire from every energy mount that could bear on the target.

  Finster howled in triumph as her single destroyer whacked a Merki light cruiser. “Yes!” She glared at the cruiser as it broke apart. “Now do it again.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Meier said happily, but his energy weapons were out of range.

  ASN Neptune dove into the fray, and added more destruction to that being heaped upon the Merkiaari before taking station on Victorious’ other side. Together the cruiser and two destroyers turned back to the fight.

  “Message from the flag, Skipper.”

  “Let’s have it,” Finster said.

  “Captain Fernandez is assuming command of the task force, ma’am. He orders all ships to form on him and attack in force. No quarter, ma’am.”

  That meant the Admiral was dead. The no quarter order was standard when fighting Merkiaari. They neither accepted nor gave quarter themselves.

  “Understood. Steady as she goes, helm. Look out for the others coming in.”

  “Aye, aye, Skipper.”

  * * *

  Aboard ASN Victorious

  “Damn and blast it to hell,” Meyers snarled. “What is happening?”

  “We lost power, ma’am,” Joshua said, still messing around with the hatch mechanism.

  “I know that. I meant with the battle.”

  She couldn’t believe it. She was the first admiral to fight Merkiaari in centuries, and she was missing it. The hit Victorious had taken had severed the control runs to CIC—more even than that, it had plunged the entire deck into darkness. That should never have happened. What about emergency power? Where the hell was it?

  “How long to get that open?” she asked impatiently.

  “Not long, Admiral.”

  “You said that twenty minutes ago, Joshua. I swear that if I get out of this alive, BuShips is going to hear about this day. This ship is supposed to be tough.”

  Joshua grinned briefly, and then composed himself before his admiral saw it. “It was a lucky hit, ma’am. It could have happened to anyone.”

  “Oh? Well it happened to me,” she snapped in frustration.

  Joshua remained wisely silent as he worked on overriding the safeties on the hatch. “I think… yes… that’s got it, ma’am,” Joshua said.

  “Halleluiah!” Meyers jumped through the hatch even as it was opening.

  She blinked dazzled eyes, looking around for signs of damage. At least the lights meant this section had power. She found a bunch of gawping crewmen huddled and whispering around a comm station, and went to join them.

  “What’s going on?” Meyers asked, pushing her way through the crowd. “Why aren’t you at your posts?”

  A young ensign gaped at her admiral, but then snapped to attention.
“We’re cut off, Admiral. Captain says to sit tight and wait for damage control to get to us.”

  “You’re in touch with the bridge?”

  “Er… yes, ma’am. Ma’am?”

  Meyers frowned at the comm’s display. “What is it?”

  “Everyone thinks you’re dead, ma’am.”

  She grunted. “I’m not surprised, I very nearly was.” She watched a Merki cruiser break up on the tiny screen. “Is this real time?”

  “Yes, ma’am. Commander Hanson piped a feed down here when he heard we were trapped.”

  “Did he now… good for him! Right, let me at the controls. I have a worried captain to talk to and a battle to win.”

  * * *

  Chapter 23

  Aboard ASN Grafton in geosynchronous orbit

  “Attennnnnn-hut!” Master Sergeant Stone ordered.

  “As you were,” General Burgton said, as he entered the main hold of the troop transport Grafton. It was the only place large enough to seat the entire battalion.

  Everyone sat as the General and his staff made their way to the head of the cavernous room. Captains Penleigh and Hames were grim faced as were the other veterans accompanying the General. They were looking decidedly uneasy, and the tension level throughout the hold soared in anticipation of bad news. Burgton spoke a few words with the Colonel, nodded at what he heard, and turned to face his men. He stood at parade rest and surveyed the rapt faces of First Battalion.

  “I had planned for you all to attend a graduation ceremony back on Snakeholme,” Burgton said. “I’m sorry there wasn’t time for it before embarkation to Grafton, but our mission here dictated a swift departure. Tomorrow you will be making your first combat drops against Merkiaari.” He smiled grimly at the eager faces. “I would give much for another year to prepare you… six months even, but that is not to be. People are dying in their millions as I speak. They need us now, not six months from now. It won’t be easy, but you are vipers. I know you can do the job.”