Kelly Blake 3: Where the Stars Are Few and Far Between (33 page)

He described a life devoted not just to the Empire, but also to his family. He spoke of how J’Tona would be missed by the larger family of the K’Rang population, who would miss his wise counsel in this time of great peril for the Empire. He lamented that there were so few that could take the place of this colossus of a K’Rang.

G’Tol could feel the crowd pulling toward him, as his rhetoric tugged at their emotions. When he wanted them to cry, they cried. When he wanted them to reflect, they reflected.

When he felt he had full control over them, he started speaking of who would be worthy to replace such a Son of the Empire. He could see the crowd searching in their minds for someone worthy of the task. He led them on, suggesting many of J’Tona’s faction and then showing their failure to meet the high standards set by J’Tona. The crowd readily cast them aside as easily as if they were bones left over after a meal. Finally, after embracing and discarding a dozen members of the F’Dor faction, he despaired. Was there no one who had followed in J’Tona’s footsteps and ascended from the military and had commanded a great Armada?

A single voice cried out from the back of the 115 members of his faction, “J’Kol!” Others picked up the cry in the group, “J’Kol! J’Kol! J’Kol!”

G’Tol attempted to show J’Kol also was not worthy, but the cry continued and gathered in volume. G’Tol, unable to be heard above the shouts, closed his pocket terminal and walked solemnly to his seat. The high priests of the K’Rang church took over the ceremony and interred J’Tona in his vault, in the holiest traditions of the church.

As the crowd dispersed, the head of the F’Dor faction came up to him with tears still streaming down his face, thanking him for helping them avoid what would have been a bloody and divisive conflict over who should replace the late Elder. G’Tol comforted the leader and said that he only meant to highlight what a loss it was to the Empire that J’Tona was taken away from them at such a critical time for the Empire and how so few, including himself, were able to compare to J’Tona.

G’Tol and J’Gon rode back to the Imperial Palace together. J’Gon said, “I must say I underestimated you G’Tol. I ask what plans do you have for me?”

G’Tol replied, “None, my esteemed Elder. I’ve always respected your wise council. I expect you to continue to maintain your positions and speak your mind. You have nothing to fear from me, Senior Elder.”

J’Gon sat back in his seat and felt relief, but maintained his guard, just the same.

* * * * *

J’Kol received a highest priority message, routed through a multitude of surviving FTL relay hubs and emergency hubs lying dormant for years just for this eventuality. It informed him he was relieved of command and his next junior commander should assume command of the armada. It instructed him to take his fastest ship and arrive before the Human fleet, if at all possible. He was to report to the Elders as soon as he arrived, day or night. One officer could accompany him as his military aide.

J’Kol was confused as to the meaning of this message. If he was to be executed for failure, surely that didn’t require travel on a warship to G’Durin at maximum speed to arrive just before the Human fleet. His throat could be slit here much easier and just as effectively. Nevertheless, he would comply with the order.

He called in his deputy, K’Rel, and handed him the message. He read it and asked, “Are you being spared or sacrificed?”

J’Kol replied that he did not know. He called up the specs on the ships in the fleet and determined the Shadow Scout P’Tong was fastest, capable of FTL power 5.8. He ordered it to dock with the flagship. He informed his former deputy that he was taking Shadow Leader G’Motta with him as his aide, although he didn’t understand why a condemned man would need an aide.

* * * * *

Admiral Chang looked at the plot in his holographic projector. It showed his two reinforced combined fleets racing toward G’Durin from lower left and lower right. The Angaerry were speeding from above, all set to rendezvous just outside the capital system within six days. The K’Rang Grand Armada and the K’Rang armada from the Eridanus sector were also racing to get there. They were nine days and eight days away respectively.

The Grand Armada had yet to reorganize. They looked more like a convoy than a combat-ready formation. The 120 ships of the Eridanus sector fleet looked like a combat formation, but were missing key warships that had been nibbled away over the last weeks. Admiral Chang was certain that the K’Rang commander would stop or slow to reorganize and incorporate the Eridanus armada before he attacked. He’d be a fool not to and Admiral Chang didn’t think him a fool. He just had to figure out where the K’Rang commander would stop to reorganize. If Chang could catch him in mid-restructure, he could hurt him enough to put the advantage back in his favor. As it was, the raw combat power numbers were in the K’Rang’s favor, especially in offensive missiles.

Chang would use his fighters and attack craft to strike the Grand Armada hard and stand it off from his fleet. It meant a deadly ballet to keep the combined fleets outside his missile engagement range, in accordance with the strategy adopted with the Angaerry. He prepared a tactic of launching his fighters and attack craft then moving the fleet out of range.

He still had to integrate the 15th and 18th Battle Fleets into the two Angaerry fleets, but would leave that to Admirals Thomas and Pappas to work out. He didn’t envy the coordination difficulties of dealing with a non-Galactic Standard speaking race, but Commander Blake had worked with them for weeks and had high regard for their flexibility and courage. Besides, who would turn down 250 additional warships? They each had sufficient translators handy, so things would work out. He looked at his chronometer and realized he had been up for 20 hours. It was past time for him to turn in.

* * * * *

The Orion accompanied the Angaerry. Jotil Lenkva asked him to conduct lectures on carrier operations for his Commanders, which he did via videoconference. A cousin, Jotil Laptee, replaced Jotil Lenkva as his liaison officer. Kelly almost thought he saw a family resemblance. He possessed a disarming laugh and the crew instantly liked him. Jotil Laptee quickly assimilated into the Orion’s crew and helped Kelly with his Angaerry language and culture skills.

Kelly held off asking a question he had meant to ask of Jotil Lenkva, but was afraid of offending Angaerry sensibilities. Finally, he found a place in a conversation to ask it.

“Pardon me, Jotil Laptee, but there is a question I have been meaning to ask. How does one tell the gender of Angaerry? To my unaccustomed eye, your males and females look almost identical.”

Jotil Laptee pondered for a moment, then replied, “To an outsider, it would be very difficult to tell because we are almost identical when clothed. For example, I am male and my cousin, Jotil Lenkva, is female. Of course, we can tell by mannerism and voice what gender we are dealing with, but again, to an outsider it would be quite difficult. Unlike your females’ chest protuberances, long hair, and generally shorter stature, our females’ sexual organs and milk nipples are located inside special flaps on their bodies, as are the males’ sexual organs. I suppose this is a remnant of our eons as ocean creatures, where both male and female needed to be swift and streamlined in order to hunt prey and avoid predators. I hope that answers your questions.”

Kelly thanked him, although he pretty much stopped listening when Jotil Laptee said Jotil Lenkva was a female. He tried to think back if he had said anything untoward or insensitive. He didn’t think he had. He excused himself and went into CIC for an update on the situation and a chance to absorb what he just heard.

* * * * *

Tammy took off a couple of days in Sirius Prime’s capital. It wasn’t that different from other worlds she had been on. She had been asked to go with four other female Lieutenant Commanders. Two were A-120 squadron XOs and two were wing Ops officers. It was girls’ weekend in the big city, or at least it was big by Orion standards. They caught some shows, did some shopping, and got a little drunk. Some of the group hooked up, but that didn’t appeal to Tammy. She hung out with the married ladies, hit some great restaurants, and avoided the meat market bars and clubs.

At the end of her leave, she lined up the simulator for her pilots and ran them through simulations with the hypervelocity missiles. None of them had used them before, and they required a different technique than the anti-ship missiles. She ran them through until she considered them expert, then she ran them against the actual targets from the surveillance pictures firing back at them. The crucial point in the attack run was when they were at launch range and had to hold steady for six seconds to allow the missile gyros to stabilize, then fire. She imagined when the defenses were shooting back that would be the longest six seconds in their lives.

* * * * *

Jotil Lenkva tried to work out the best way to employ the two battle groups she was to receive. She listened well to Kelly’s classes on these units and thought she saw how to use them most effectively. She wanted to talk to Kelly on a private circuit to bounce some ideas off him.

She had her aide call over to the Orion and set up a private videoconference. When the time arrived, she sat alone in her conference room, until Kelly’s face appeared.

He spoke first. “Hello, Jotil Lenkva. What may I do for you?”

Jotil Lenkva paused a second and said, “Kelly Blake, how much risk must I submit these fighter and attack pilots to? Their ships have very little protection against the weapons that a warship can bring to bear. I am fearful that I will task them with a mission beyond their capabilities and many humans will die.”

Kelly understood her concern. “Jotil Lenkva, you just expressed the fear experienced by every commander of fighter units. You can rely on advice given you by Admirals Thomas and Pappas. They will not let you make a bad decision. They will also provide you and your two fleet commanders with liaison officers that are experienced in fighter operations. Besides, pilots are a hardy bunch and can survive situations far beyond what you would expect. I was a fighter pilot before I joined Scout Force.”

Her eyes got wide and she asked, “Were you ever put in a situation you felt you wouldn’t survive?”

Kelly answered, “I had three missile corvettes attempt to attack my carrier and although outnumbered three to one, I won.”

Jotil Lenkva’s eyes went wide and she asked, “Were you considered average or above average?”

Kelly, in all modesty, answered, “At the time, I thought myself well above average, but in retrospect, I was probably only average.”

Jotil Lenkva answered, “I’m sure you were above average, but I feel better about using fighters now. I will follow the advice of my advisors. Thank you, Kelly Blake.”

“You are welcome, Jotil Lenkva.”

The videoconference went blank and Kelly went back to running his ship.

* * * * *

Shadow Force Commander (Baron) G’Rof considered his situation. He was traveling at the maximum speed his formation could achieve, which was the rate of his support ships. He was still in four column formations. He would arrive at G’Durin three days behind the Human fleets. They would undoubtedly have wiped out the lunar defense facilities and be waiting for him in open space outside the capital system.

He called in his operations officer and laid out how he wanted to be organized for combat at the end of their journey. G’Rof expected him to use the slower ships as a base and use the faster ships to move around them and organize the fleet into a battle formation. His plan put the seven drone carriers in the formation center. Missile defense destroyers would form a double layer around them. Two stacked lines of 20 cruisers would lead the fleet. The remaining cruisers would form two lines of ten above and below the drone carriers. Frigates and corvettes would form the outer defensive bubble. Support ships would form up to the rear of the ships they supported. He told his operations officer he wanted a briefing at the end of every watch on progress achieved.

He still had to integrate the armada J’Kol was bringing in from the Eridanus sector. He thought he could bring them in above his formation and provide additional protection for the drone carriers. He wished he still had FTL communications hubs in this sector of space, but the Humans were too good at finding and destroying them, even the dormant emergency hubs.

While he had his operations officer’s attention, he asked him how he would fight the Human fleets that would be waiting for them when they came out of FTL. The operations officer offered his opinion.

“Baron, the Humans know from which direction we are coming. They know what force we have. They will be waiting for us when we drop out of FTL. They will undoubtedly use their carrier fighters and attack craft to attack us out of missile range of their fleet and do as much damage as they can before we can come in missile range.”

“I recommend staying in FTL until after we pass the capital system. Then we drop out of FTL, organize our selves for combat, possibly link up with the Armada and come back at the Humans on our terms. This way, we gain time and avoid fighting the battle the way they want us to.”

“I recommend we drop our scouts out of FTL as we pass by the system, so they can find the enemy for us and give us early warning of their organization for battle. When we have them located, we launch our drones against them, to do maximum damage to their carriers. We must reduce their carriers. That must be our top priority. We should try to get close enough to launch anti-ship missiles at them. If we can kill enough of their carriers, we can be victorious.”

Baron G’Rof liked what this officer told him. He had figured out a plan that had been roaming around in G’Rof’s mind for days, but wouldn’t come out. It was a good plan – it lessened the chance of them coming out of FTL into a Human ambush, by coming out of FTL behind G’Durin, which violated commonly accepted tactics. It required the Humans to reorient on them, giving them precious time to get finally organized for combat. He approved the plan and told the Ops officer to issue the order to the fleet.