by Dani Kollin
“Miss Jackson,” barked Trang, “signal the fleet that I have command, but we are to maintain standard formations. Make sure they understand we form on the Strident.”
“Aye, aye, Captain, on the Strident.” She relayed the orders to the comm officer.
Trang took the moment to reconfigure the captain’s acceleration seat to his satisfaction. “Miss Jackson, inform the fleet we are returning to Eros, all weapons hot and full scan. Fleet formation Delta.”
“Aye, aye, Captain, weapons hot, full scan, formation Delta.” Again the orders were relayed. “Captain,” the young comm officer asked, “what’s going on?”
“I think we’ve just been sucker punched, Miss Jackson.” He reviewed the scan data and saw that Liddel had been correct. The fleet had been too large. He couldn’t see the ships hiding among the convoy but knew they were there and, more important, who they must be. They’d set off electromagnetic pulse bombs and glitter mist. The mist, huge clouds of highly reflective material, would screw up just about every laser-dependent weapon or comm device Trang had at his disposal. It wasn’t impenetrable, as the mist would eventually dissipate, but it was disruptive enough in that it could cost him precious time when every second counted. His ships were under way when the first laser communications finally broke through.
“Eight to thirteen … emy shi … supported by unkn … number of small craft. Orbital … atteries, 1 through 6 captured. 7 through 9 unknown.”
Trang ordered the fleet to approach Eros in such a way that it would keep them under the cover of the batteries still in UHF possession. Unfortunately, it meant the fleet would be unable to approach Eros along roughly 25 percent of its surface. But that hadn’t been highest priority at the moment. As the fleet approached Eros, the laser communication system became more reliable. They soon parked in orbit above the secure part of the asteroid.
“Captain,” said Miss Jackson, “we have communications back.” She then activated the holo-tank.
Liddel appeared, looking shaken. “Commodore, it’s gotten hot down here fast.”
“Yes, Commander, it has indeed.”
“How in Damsah’s name did they get a fleet here without our being aware of it?”
“Not important now. You need to get all, and I mean all, Federation personnel off that rock. We’re declaring it an open settlement.”
“But sir,” a distraught-looking Liddel stammered, “we can’t just give it up.”
“Don’t worry, Lieutenant. We’re not giving up. This isn’t where the fight’s going to be. Do as I say. As quickly as you can manage, get our people out of there and to the 071507 docking area. We’ll pick them up there. Also, prepare to activate the self-destructs on orbats 1 through 6.”
Liddel smiled grimly. “And I thought you were just being paranoid when you had us install those.”
“Even a paranoid can have enemies, Mr. Liddel. But hopefully it won’t come to that and we’ll be able to save the—”
Suddenly the board lit up and once again the shrieking sounds of an alarm pierced through the bridge. Trang immediately checked his display and saw what the sensor officer was just about to shout.
“Sir! Orbats 8 and 9 are powering up and turning toward the fleet!”
“All units fire on those batteries,” commanded Trang. “Commander Liddel—”
“Sir,” interrupted the sensor officer, “orbats 10 and 11 are turning—”
“Liddel, self-destruct all batteries, I repeat: all batteries.”
Trang felt his ship shudder as she began firing with all the guns that she could bring to bear. But the holodisplay showed that the recently captured batteries had pointed all their guns toward the Strident. He was confused. The Strident was not the optimal target. She was small and lightly armed. The Pegasus or the Peregrine was by far the more logical target. But before he could figure it out his beloved Strident was gone. She was just too small, hit by too much at too close a range. One of the shots must have smashed through the fusion reaction chamber, causing the Strident to blossom like a brief and tragic star. Her death blast overshadowed the smaller but equally destructive explosions of the doomed orbital batteries. Almost, thought Trang, in a macabre homage to the Strident’s death.
Eros
Christina Sadma was surprised. She’d been led to believe that the Erosians would welcome their liberators with fireworks and parades. Although many people were glad to see her and the Alliance miners she brought along, most were quiet and some were actually angry. She nearly threw the council out the air lock when they asked if she would be as decent an occupier as Trang.
She could see that Trang had done an impressive job of winning over the locals. But that bothered her far less than his unpredictability. He hadn’t attacked her, as she assumed he would, on the other side of Eros. Nor had he ordered his men on the rock to hold. That would have been bloody, but a draw would have been a win and her ships were more numerous and better armed than the old junk he had trolling about in the Erosian orbit. She also knew his ten thousand troops against the one hundred thousand she would have had with the loyal Erosians would have made his defeat a foregone conclusion. Eros had been retaken and Trang’s fleet had been outgunned and outnumbered. By the time the UHF got its federal asses in gear, she’d have figured out a way to refortify the settlement. Game over. Given all that, she was sure Trang would have cut and run, and the truth was she would’ve been more than glad to let him.
When Christina heard that her ambush had worked and Trang’s ship had been destroyed she’d rejoiced. When she found out that the Feds had arranged a quick but efficient evacuation obviating the need for a ground assault, she was elated. However, when she realized that they’d retreated to the suburbs and started digging in she began to worry. Christina watched in dismay as the UHF ships began seeding the suburbs with marines and setting up defensive positions by blasting small caves into the asteroids. She knew that to dig them out would be costly—in both lives and ordnance. But now she had no choice. The Federation would respond, and if she didn’t have the whole settlement—suburbs included—completely locked up when they did, she’d probably be forced to abandon it. All the UHF needed was a beachhead to begin an organized assault. And the miners, she could see, were attempting to give them that.
At least she had Eros, but other than as a morale boost it would be almost useless in the coming fight. Trang had seen to the destruction of the armaments machinery at the same time he’d destroyed the orbats. As she studied the precision with which the marines were digging into the surrounding rocks she had a sudden and horrid thought. Perhaps she hadn’t gotten Trang after all.
Assault bay of the UHFS Pegasus
Day two of the Battle of Eros
“They tried to kill you.”
“I know, Liddel. Quite a compliment.”
Liddel finally cracked a smile. “Not the type I’d like to get, sir. What’s your thinking?”
“Let’s look it at from our perspective. Given the chance, would you specifically target J. D. Black’s ship—even at the loss of three or four of your own?”
“Hell yes, sir!” snapped the commander, then stared at Trang with a toothy grin. “Guess that makes you our Admiral Black, sir.”
“Maybe,” laughed Trang, “but then again, it’s possible they were just going after the only modern ship in our squadron.”
Liddel looked to Trang and nodded.
“Sorry to disappoint, but that’s far more likely, sir.”
“Yes, Commander,” Trang said as he scanned a data sheet, “but the first one fits the notion of my being the center of the universe better.”
Liddel looked up to see his boss staring back at him with a raised eyebrow, lips parted in a wry grin.
The commander acknowledged it with one of his own. “Just for argument’s sake, sir, and I may be in danger of overinflating your ego, but what if the Alliance really does think you’re that good? You think Fleet Command would realize it too?”
“Not s
omething I’d want to risk my dividend on, Lieutenant.”
“Yes, sir.”
Trang eyed a section of the suburbs on the holodisplay. “What’s the situation around the storage yard?” he asked, referring to a large area of the suburban space filled with floating containers of all shapes and sizes. The yard had been a perfect counterbalance to the high storage rents on Eros itself.
“It’s becoming the focal point, sir. They need to push us out of the burbs into the open where they can beat the crap out of us in a fair and honorable manner.”
Trang nodded gravely. “Something I’m loath to permit.”
“Me too, sir. I rather like this underhanded, cheating way. As long as we’ve made every rock between here and the waterworks a possible mine or missile battery, they’ll have to check each one manually. That’s where we’ve managed to poke a few eyes out.”
“Just remember, Commander,” cautioned Trang, “they can repair at Eros, and we can’t. So how many troops does the Alliance have out in the yard at present?”
“Let’s see,” the commander said checking his stats. “With their recent addition of five hundred miners … by my estimate I’d say approximately four thousand, sir.”
“Alright, I’ll take two thousand in to reinforce. Their having to dig us out will hopefully make up for our lack of numbers.”
“Begging the commodore’s pardon, but no, sir.”
Trang put his data pad down and stared intently at the young commander. “‘No, sir,’ what, Commander?”
“No, sir. You cannot take in those reinforcements … sir. It’s too dangerous and you’re needed to direct the rest of the battle.”
Liddel stood firm and, by the looks of it, noticed Trang, he also had the support of quite a few of the other officers around the bridge.
“This battle,” said Trang, “will be over as soon as the Fleet Command can scrape together ten ships.”
“Pardon my language, sir,” answered Liddel, “but fuck Fleet Command. They knew the Alliance had a missing fleet somewhere out there and never bothered to let us know. It might be weeks before they get off their asses and send help. You can’t risk it, sir. I like Captain Umbatu, really. But if you were to buy it in the yard I don’t think he’d be able to hold out for as long as you.”
“You telling me you’d willfully disobey a direct order, Commander?”
“Not at all, sir,” answered Liddel, smiling sheepishly. “I’ll just go deaf at inopportune moments.”
Trang had to begrudgingly admit his ju nior officer’s logic was sound. It was a delicate balancing act they’d been playing in the caves and grottoes of the suburbs. Left to inexperienced hands, the death toll would mount far more quickly than necessary.
“Fine, Commander, you’ll lead the insertion, but you be careful as well.”
Day four
Mrs. Liddel,
It is with great regret I must inform you of your husband’s death. Lawrence was a fine first officer and one of the better men I have ever known. To be perfectly honest when we first met he hated my guts, but was able to look beyond that first impression and see something worthy in me that I still have trouble finding in myself. Your husband knew what he was risking and in the end gave his life for a cause he believed in. If we have any chance to win this battle, shorten this war, and save the lives of others it’s because of the bravery of men like your husband. I know these are cold, useless words to have in place of the man who loved you and your children, but they are all I can give.
Commodore Samuel U. Trang
CoC Eros front
Day nine
“Sir, the storage yard can no longer be held.”
Trang hated to give the order. He knew that thousands of troops had already p.d.’d defending that vast storage wasteland. He’d even been wounded twice there, once defending a bin containing thousands of sex bots. Just as well, he thought, since they’d paid an even higher price taking it.
“Destroy anything that can be of use to the enemy and retreat back to the mansions.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I wonder if their insurance companies cover acts of war,” mused Trang, staring at the expensive real estate they were about to defend.
“Pulling back, sir,” said Lieutenant Jackson, “and fuck the insurance companies. They once screwed me on a floating deductible.”
“Harsh.”
“Universe of woe, Captain, universe of woe.”
“Alert the ships that the Alliance may attempt another sortie,” commanded Trang, “and prepare fallback positions in …”
Day thirteen
Christina Sadma was both furious and impressed. For thirteen days the Feds had been forcing her to fight the worst type of battle. They only had to delay, and that’s exactly what they were doing. Every rock, structure, and scrap of debris had been turned into a defensive position, weapon, or both. She also knew that the battle was lost. Too many days had been spent fighting with no resources expended for fortification. It was only a matter of time until the UHF showed up. And with the Alliance fleet still licking its wounds and rebuilding from the Battle of the Martian Gates, Christina knew there’d be no reinforcements to bail her out or at least buy her some more time. So she’d already started making plans to evacuate as much material and personnel as possible to the surrounding belt. Even if Trang surrendered now, she thought sadly, she wouldn’t be able to fortify the settlement in time to resist the Federation fleet. Why it hadn’t already arrived was beyond her. With what she was getting out of Eros she could fortify the surrounding asteroid field and make it as nasty a place for the UHF as the suburbs had recently become for her. But first she was determined to annihilate Trang and his squadron. She’d come to realize that destroying him might be worth more than anything else she could ever do for the war effort. It would be bloody, but it should work.
Day fourteen
The O’Brian Waterworks
Trang was tired, but he knew it was almost over. The O’Brian compound was the last major fortification the Alliance had to clear before Trang’s fleet would be forced out into the open. He could try to run, but the Alliance had better, faster ships. Not that he hadn’t made his outmoded fleet perform wonders, but that was using the maximum tactical advantage from the area. He knew that advantage was about to shift. Still he had one more chance. It depended on how much he could infuriate Christina Sadma.
Bridge of the AWS Ajax
“Captain, the enemy squadron is concentrated behind the waterworks. It’s believed to be heavily fortified. They’ve had two weeks to build it up. But it’s lightly defended. Far as we can tell they only have five hundred effective marines left.”
“How long to secure?” asked Christina, viewing the area in question.
“We can begin the assault and have the place secured inside of twelve hours, sir.”
“How many projected p.d.’s?”
“Sir, optimistically at least three hundred.”
“And conservatively?”
“More like seventeen hundred.”
Christina grimaced.
“Prepare the fleet for warhead acceleration.”
“Captain, is that truly needed?”
“Commander, we may not have twelve hours. What we do have is enough time to go after Trang and finish off his squadron. From there we keep on going straight into the belt. We’ve evacuated or destroyed everything that’s worth having on Eros.” Christina then sat down in her command chair and fixed a caustic gaze on Trang’s escaping fleet.
“Let’s be bold and be done.”
“You got it, sir,” answered the officer prepping the ship for the hyperacceleration that only the shock waves of an atomic blast could create—a maneuver created by J. D. Black and now a de rigueur tactic used fleetwide. “One atomic kick-in-the-ass blast, coming up.”
Just as they were about to accelerate into battle the Alliance fleet picked up the incoming signals of twenty Federation warships. But, noted Christina, it would be nearly
two hours before they could come to Trang’s rescue and by then it would all be over.
The atomic acceleration worked perfectly. Christina had clear telemetry on the location of Trang’s limping squadron behind the O’Brian Waterworks. She knew her fleet would probably take some hits from the missiles and rail guns that Trang had set up there, but they’d be through it quickly enough. She wanted to end this now. That would be the last thought she had. As the Ajax and the rest of the Alliance fleet rushed past the waterworks the factory and the entire asteroid it was sitting on exploded outward, creating a spectacular 360-degree arc of high-speed projectiles.
Bridge of the UHFS Pegasus
“Commodore, it worked!”
“A little more detail, Commander Jackson.”
“Sir, four ships are shattered, the other five are pushed out of formation, but they’re still coming on strong.”
“Squadron to engage at will. Concentrate on the intact ships. The more we destroy now, the less we have to fight later.”
Both squadrons faced each other and let fly with their rail guns and missiles filling the rapidly shrinking space between them. There was only one pass as the surviving Alliance ships, all four of them, continued past the UHF squadron into the safety of the asteroid belt and beyond. Once it was done Trang immediately ordered rescue operations. There were many who’d been killed quickly by the vacuum of space and the chances were good they could be revived, but if they drifted too far away the chances of finding them effectively fell to zero.
Trang was hoping to find one person in particular and was overjoyed to discover that she was still alive. Her crew had gotten into an escape pod before their ship ruptured. She was in very bad shape, but she’d do. Trang was beginning to realize that if the war was going to be won he’d be needing better help than he’d come to expect from Fleet Command.
