Admiral's War Part Two (A Spineward Sectors Novel: Book 10)

by Luke Sky Wachter

  Imperial Rear Admiral Arnold Janeski and the men and women of his flag bridge watched and waited for the provincial’s response to his latest provocation—the advanced force of three squadrons the Supreme Admiral had ordered sent in early to scan for hidden surprises.

  Janeski’s brows lifted as every enemy Cruiser on the plot simultaneously lit off their engines, moving out of the vicinity of the Starbase on an intercept course with his three squadrons.

  “It looks like we have successfully poked the bear with a stick, gentlemen and women,” the Admiral said with surprise, “it’s not what I would have done, but we wanted to see what they’d do in response and now we have done.”

  Moments later, the entire area surrounding Wolf-9 fuzzed out, disappearing from the plot before flashing back moments later with time-delayed and last known position warnings tagging everything they’d already observed about the Starbase.

  “The enemy just activated a huge jammer field and it’s occluding our scans, Supreme Admiral,” the Commander at Sensors dutifully reported.

  “I can see that, Commander Stenson,” Janeski said. “Well, well, well,” he murmured as he considered how best to take advantage of this new development.

  “We knew they had obsolete jammer technology and the inclination to use it. We’ve since taken steps to counter their jammers,” Goddard said stoutly, “they won’t be nearly as effective as they were now that we’re forewarned and prepared.”

  “Unfortunately, we won’t be able to turn the tables on them as Commodore Serge succeeded so well in doing to them since we are the ones advancing toward them and not the other way around. As such, I’ll give advance permission and leave the use of the Nervous Nellies to the discretion of our own ship and squadron commanders,” Janeski said slowly.

  “We’ll pass that along, Sir,” said Goddard motioning with his head to the comm. section, “do you have any orders for the screen?

  Janeski hesitated before shaking his head. “Tempting as it is to put a hand in and stir the pot, I think it’ best we leave things to the officers on the ground for now. Obviously if the provincials continue to press forward we’ll have to make a major adjustment to counter and crush them, but I’m determined to recon the Starbase at close range despite the introduction of this jammer field first—at least until and unless they sally out their Battleships as well. Then we’d have to pull back until the main fleet arrived. By the way, who is it in overall command over there right at the moment?” he asked.

  “Vice Admiral Benson is the senior officer on the scene now that the Cruisers have arrived and integrated themselves into the Destroyer screen,” reported Operations.

  “Good. He’s not quite as deft a hand at handling the tender egos and non-centralized slashing attack missions of the Destroyers as I might like, but dealing with a large mass of enemy Cruisers is right in his wheelhouse,” Janeski said decisively. “In the meantime fire up the fighter launchers; I want a mixed force of twenty squadrons, half fighters, half bombers armed and launched for a long ranged strike on the Starbase complex in twenty minutes. The enemy seeks to seize the initiative and take control of the tempo of this battle and I, for one, am disinclined to allow it.” He paused and then added, “Increase the overall speed of the main force by 3% and launch those bombers with fighter coverage. Let’s see if they’re still inclined to make a fight of it, or if they’ll fold and go back to cowering behind those defense turrets until it’s all over but the crying as we close range and pound them to scrap.”

  “Aye-aye, Admiral,” said Operations Officer turning to coordinate with Fighter Operations for the upcoming mission.

  ****************************************************

  “Instruct Gamma Squadron to proceed up the enemy’s flank to pound them down and switch Beta over to cover for them,” LeGodat spoke rapid fire.

  “Two squadrons of enemy Destroyers are approaching the Task Group on the starboard flank, sir!” reported Sensors.

  LeGodat waved him off furiously, still focused on the three squadron advanced force. The Destroyers might still manage to get away if they turned to run but unless he gave them the chance, by say reacting to outside reinforcements from the enemy screen, that Cruiser squadron was theirs.

  “Tell Alpha to keep up the pressure, I don’t care if their shields are getting low I want to pound this enemy Cruiser squadron into scrap metal before they can be relieved!” Commodore LeGodat commanded before stalking around to the other side of the holo-screen and thrusting a finger at a pair of enemy Destroyers moving in close to cover a Cruiser with critically low shields and damage to the hull underneath.

  “Another two squadrons force one Destroyer and one Cruiser are moving into position to threaten our port flank,” reported Tactical.

  LeGodat ignored him as the Gama Squadron commander—who must have finally gotten tired of his nagging—suddenly veered a 25 degree angle toward the enemy squadron and sent his Cruisers thundering in for the kill.

  “Yes!” he clenched his fist as Gamma went in, going broadside to broadside with the enemy Cruisers while the Imperial Destroyers scattered off and away from their larger brethren like a startled flock of birds.

  Moments later, one enemy Cruiser started streaming atmo while a second veered the wrong way for just an instant and took over a dozen hits to its engines from an aggressive Gamma Captain. Badly wounded, that Cruiser suddenly fell out of formation.

  “What’s the status on the rest of the system?” LeGodat snapped, rounding on the Assistant Tactical Officer responsible for keeping up with the larger battle while LeGodat and Task Force Retribution were focused on the immediate enemy around them.

  “The Imperial main force has increased speed and appears to have launched a fighter strike against the Starbase,” the Assistant Tac-Officer reported crisply.

  LeGodat hesitated a second, then nodded sharply and turned back to the plot representing the immediate battle.

  “We’ll have to leave that to the Admiral for now,” he said and then looked over at the Comm. Officer. “Instruct Alpha to join as close to Gamma and the enemy squadron as they can without risking a collision and send Echo Squadron up to cover their position. I want these Imperials en-globed and then crushed.”

  “Echo reports they are taking ranging shots from the enemy reinforcements and will move to comply,” reported the Comm. Officer as yet another enemy Cruiser took engine damage and started to slow.

  “Keep the pressure on,” growled LeGodat, even though he wasn’t actually issuing any orders.

  Suddenly, the enemy Cruiser squadron seemed to waver and three Cruisers accelerated faster than the ships of Task Force Retribution could manage. The bogies pulled out and away from Gamma and Beta, seemingly abandoning their more damaged squadron mates to their fate. The Destroyers also turned and blasted away at their best speed.

  “Don’t bother to chase; I want as many up-the-kilt shots as we can manage. We’ll finish the stragglers,” barked LeGodat.

  “Commodore!” exclaimed the Comm. Officer. “Two of the three enemy Cruisers have signaled their surrender while the third has just started releasing escape pods and indicated its desire to fight to the bitter end.”

  LeGodat froze his mind taking a moment to catch up. “No. It’s a trap,” he said shortly, “they want to delay things so that when we’re pushed back they can be recovered by the rest of their fleet. Or they might want to spread us out since they’re all now suddenly slowing down at different speeds making us easier prey for their fellows.”

  “Sir, are you officially refusing to accept their surrender?” Commander Stravinsky asked formally.

  “Good point; we need to keep things legal. I almost forgot to pay proper attention to the niceties there, Commander,” LeGodat said appreciatively toward the Commander and then turned to the Comm. Officer. “Tell the ones who surrendered that they are to immediately drop their shields, scram their fusion generators, and eject the fusion cores within thirty seconds or their offer will
be considered a false surrender.” “Aye, Sir,” said Comm., turning to relay the message.

  “Commodore, a large force of twenty Cruisers and thirty six Destroyers is going to form as soon as the reinforcements on either side of us meet up with the stragglers running away,” noted Stravinsky, stepping up to his side to look at the plot from beside him.

  “Tell Charlie and Foxtrot that since they’re at the end of the formation they are to take over for Beta and Gamma and finish any of those Cruisers that do not comply with my requirements for accepting their surrender. Then tell Beta and Gamma to rejoin the main formation,” instructed LeGodat before turning back to Stravinsky.

  She met his eyes as he turned to look at her.

  “Now let’s see what we can do about keeping the enemy separated, off balance, and on the retreat for as long as possible. Since you noted they’re about to link up, you can help me decide the best way to deal with them. Right now I’m thinking we shift to port and push in toward that group,” he said, pointing to the Cruiser heavy side of the slowly swelling enemy force. “What are your thoughts?”

  Chapter Thirty-three: The Wolf-9 Response

  “What’s the current status on those fighters?” I asked the moment I stepped back on the bridge after a tea-inspired run to the head to relieve an overly full bladder.

  “They’re now ten minutes away from the outer edge of the jammer field and the extreme range of the fixed defenses,” the current shift Tactical Officer reported quickly

  “They’re still coming straight in along the plain of the elliptic?” I demanded tensely.

  “Within a 1-2 degree variance, yes, Sir,” she replied.

  I heaved a relieved sigh.

  “What’s the status of the laser link network?” I turned to the Comm.

  “Signal strength is still high,” nodded the com-tech currently in charge of the section.

  For an instant I silently wished that Lieutenant Steiner was still on duty. But the enemy had decided to attack the system during the middle of the shift, and right now she and most of First Shift was taking a short, but much-needed two hour break to nap and get some food inside them.

  “Alright then, prepare to pass a movement order along to the rest of the Battleships. I don’t want to bring down the whole jammer field, so we’re going to move the entire Battleship force toward that fighter force and then spread out so they can’t get around us. Each ship is to put the edge of the field within extreme range of its point defense systems and then wait for my signal. That signal will be the moment when I cut all the jammers between us and those fighters,” I instructed.

  “I’ll pass along those orders along as soon as you’re ready, sir,” the com-tech said with an eager smile and a tense body that looked like he was ready and straining at the bit to do his part to set everything into motion.

  “Next,” I said, pointing at the comm. operator sitting beside the Tech in charge of the section, “I want you to get with the Starbase and request they hand over fire control over the defense turrets and old orbital guns from Lynch that have been deployed on that side of the Starbase nearest us. We’ll establish point-to-point laser links with those turrets even if they’re still within the jammer field and have them assist us against those fighters.”

  “If we’re just going to utilize just the flagship, there’s a limit on how many of those turrets we can coordinate,” warned the Assistant Tactical officer in charge of the shift.

  “I’m well aware of that, but the amount of bandwidth we can put through the laser link to the Starbase doesn’t allow for sufficient clarity for their targeting computers to handle more than a handful of the turrets right now anyway,” I said with a shrug. “And somehow I’m not quite trusting enough to hand the codes to our defensive network over to the Sector Guard—or any of the half dozen other organizations that make up the 25th Amalgamated.”

  “We could always spread the load out over the other Battleships belonging to the MSP,” she pointed out after a moment.

  I hesitated, my insides clenching up briefly in an almost instinctive desire to keep everything as under my personal control as possible. Then I flipped a hand, “Good point. Let’s go with that.” I turned to com-tech, “Pass the word and later the control codes to Messene’s Shield and the Armor Prince when you get them.”

  I looked over at the Assistant Tactical Officer.

  “Good catch,” I said tersely and then turned back to look at the plot.

  “Will there be anything else, Sir?” asked the Comm. Officer.

  “Yes, make sure to direct the three ships belonging to Praxis— and those four recently retrofitted New Pacifica Battleships that now belong to the Sector Guard—as far away from the Battleship as possible. Somewhere, say, along the outer port side of the anti-fighter formation,” I said seriously.

  “You want them shifted to the outer portion of the formation like you don’t trust them?” the Assistant Tactical Officer looked taken aback as she cocked her head.

  “Exactly,” I said with total certainty, “also, I want the Armor Prince and Messene’s Shield posted to either side of us. Meanwhile have Admiral Dark Matter’s flagship moved into the center of the formation somewhere near us if it hasn’t been already and Dark Matter is to be designated as my temporary replacement if anything happens to myself or the communication arrays of the Rage. I want as many ships as I can trust nearby in case we have to deal with more than just the Imperials and their Reclamation Fleet,” I instructed.

  “I see,” she blinked, “we can do that.”

  “Make it happen and pass the order to the rest of the Battleships we need to move out now,” I said seeing the enemy fighters continue to move in ever closer.

  Chapter Thirty-four: The Montagne Initiative

  “Admiral, I’ve got Commodore Kling on the line. He says he has a request,” said the com-tech.

  “Put him through,” I said.

  The Commodore appeared on my screen. “Thank you for taking my call, Sir,” said the commander of my shattered light forces.

  “I’m kind of pressed for time here, Kling,” I said brusquely. “So while I apologize if I haven’t had the time yet to properly thank and compliment you and your men, and ask you to send along my regards and concern over a hard-fought battle out there in the outer regions, I’m currently preparing a reception for the Imperials. What can I do for you?”

  “I know there’s a grand plan in the works here somewhere—something more than just driving off these fighters however important that is, and it is important, I concede that even though I’m not a part of it,” he held up a hand, “and I don’t think I need to be filled in either.”

  “Than what do you want? Please get to the point with alacrity,” I said tersely, my eyes involuntarily straying back to the screen to check up on those fighters before coming back to the Commodore.

  “I don’t need to know the plan to know that the Imperials are stepping up their game in response. The Starbase is under threat of a fighter attack that could cripple our infrastructure—or do even worse than that—while Commodore LeGodat is fine for right now. But any fool can see within minutes he’ll find himself fighting for his life,” said Kling.

  “An accurate assessment,” I agreed, looking at him sharply. Presumably, he was going somewhere important with this.

  “I’ve been talking with the boys and over half of us are ready to head out there for a rematch while the other half would be willing to do so if ordered. I was thinking of heading out there to help LeGodat and taking the opportunity to rain some pain on the Imperials for what they did to us out there,” he gave me a sly look. “And if the movement of forty volunteers—or even as many as sixty or seventy if you give the word and we discount the heavily damaged—causes those fighters a headache or even forces them to divert away from the base, well then that wouldn’t be the worst possible outcome would it?” “You want to take a volunteer force out to help the Commodore?” I said slowly. “I can’t ask that of your men.”<
br />
  “That’s why it’s called ‘volunteering’,” said Kling, “let us do this for you and wipe the sour taste of defeat out of our mouths at the same time.”

  I drummed my fingers on the arm of my chair. “If you can get forty or more volunteers, you can put the rest of your force on close-in defense of the Starbase and head back out there,” I eventually agreed.

  “I can do that so long as you give me control over the rest of the Destroyer force,” Kling said sly.

  “A rank power grab?” I asked, my brow lifting. “Why, Commodore, I didn’t think you had it in you.”

  “I’m prone to be content with what I have when times are easy, but things haven’t exactly been the smoothest sailing lately. A man has to step up when that happens. And, as they say, when the going gets tough the tough get going out of there. Case in point,” he said dryly, pointed toward the screen where the Imperials streaming ever closer.

  “Alright, you were in charge of the majority of our light forces including a large portion of our Destroyers anyway. You’ve got the job. Don’t make a mess of things.”

  “If I do, I won’t be around long enough to notice, Sir,” he shrugged before straightening, “thank you for the opportunity, Admiral, I know you’re busy. Kling out,” he said, cutting the transmission.

  Chapter Thirty-five: Janeski and the Fighter Strike

  “What have we got, Goddard?” Janeski blinked and asked as the other man signaled him surreptitiously.

  “It looks like the locals are making a move, Sir,” the Flag Captain pointed toward the screen where force of small enemy warships where still clearing the jammer.

  “Interesting,” Janeski said.

  “Sir?”

  “They’re flailing, Captain,” explained the Supreme Admiral.

  “Do you want to re-task the bombers groups, Sir?” the Fighter Operations Officer asked.