Call to Arms (Black Fleet Trilogy, Book 2) (27 page)

The channel hadn’t even gone fully dark by the time Jackson was out of his seat and sprinting for the bridge.

“Full active scan!
Now
!” he shouted as he flung himself into his seat.

Barrett didn’t hesitate, bringing the
Ares’s
high-power radar array online and scanning local space.

“Contact!” he called out. “
Close
contact! Two unknown ships on an intercept course, forward port side, flying on the ecliptic. Range is just over 1.25 million kilometers.”

“Helm, come to starboard forty-five degrees,” Jackson ordered. “All ahead full.”

“Helm answering starboard turn. Ahead full, aye.”

“Tactical, build me a profile on those two ships,” Jackson said.

“Yes, sir,” Barrett said. “I can tell you they don’t match any class of ship in the registry, and they’re very big. Battleship-size big.”

“A new class of battleship we haven’t heard about?” Davis asked from the OPS station.

“Possibly,” Barrett answered. “Engine output and power levels are both way too high to be anything but. At least if Tanaka’s newly installed sensors are to be believed.”

“What are they doing?” Jackson watched the tactical display begin to populate as the active sensors mapped the system.

“They’ve matched our acceleration and are angling over to maintain a direct intercept course,” Barrett said. “We’ve increased our interval marginally.”

“They’re herding us,” Jackson said. “I’ll bet they hang back until whatever other forces they have in the system have a chance to move out and cut us off. Then they’ll close the gap and start pushing us into them.”

“Incoming com request,” Lieutenant Keller said. “Standard fleet frequency, but it’s using a high-level CIS encryption. I’ll need your approval for this one, sir.”

“Is it from one of those battleships?” Jackson asked as he authorized the decryption with a biometric reading from his terminal.

“Negative, sir,” Keller said. “Signal origin appears to be from near the fourth planet.”

“Put it through.”

“Fancy meeting you here, Captain.” The unmistakable voice of Pike came over the bridge speakers.

“You certainly get around, Pike,” Jackson said. “I hope you’re not a player in this little party.”

“You know me better than that.” Pike laughed. “I caught wind of this little side project and flew in to investigate for my boss. By the way, Marcum has two more
Dreadnought
-class battleships sneaking around to pinch you in.”

“I figured as much,” Jackson said. “Glad to put a name to a face.
Dreadnought
isn’t very subtle, but it’s informative. When we’re not running for our lives, you’ll have to tell me all about how an entire new class of battleship was designed, built, and fielded with nobody knowing about it.”

“It
is
an interesting story,” Pike laughed. “But for now, I think I’ll do a little running of my own. I’m transmitting you a copy of everything I have, and then I’m going dark. One of us should be able to make it out of here. Just so you’re aware, there are six of those new boomers in this system right now, and they’re surprisingly sneaky when they want to be. See you on the other side, Captain.”

“Data stream coming in over the same channel, sir,” Keller said.

“Compile and store it,” Jackson said. “OPS, prepare a com drone. Copy Pike’s information onto it, and then set a destination for Haven, and address it to Senator Wellington. Don’t launch it unless I tell you.”

“Yes, sir.”

“The system just erupted with active radar scans, sir,” Barrett said. “Two long-range tracking stations in a shallow heliocentric orbit just outside the fifth planet and both battleships behind us.”

“Pike and I forced their hand,” Jackson said. “They’re going to try to end this quickly.”

“Captain, the lead ship is demanding we heave to,” Keller said. “We’re to prepare for capture and boarding.”

“Listen up! These people have no desire to fire upon this ship, nor to kill humans,” Jackson said. “But their superiors aren’t willing to let us leave this system. They know that CIS Broadhead transmitted a data package from the planet before it fled, so we’re now the number one priority, and we can’t simply disappear like our spook friend.”

“Shall I arm our weapons, sir?” Barrett asked.

“Point defense only,” Jackson said. “I don’t want to provoke them. Nor do I have any delusions of our single destroyer taking on four new-generation battleships. Are they still pushing us?”

“Maintaining the same interval, sir,” Barrett confirmed.

“And we can still only account for four of them?”

“Yes, sir.”

“What’s bothering you, Captain?” Davis said.

“This strategy would only work if we didn’t know about the two ships ahead of us,” Jackson said. “They have to know we’re now aware of them, so it makes no sense that they’re still pushing us along. We still have an open shot of space to the Columbiana jump point and a head start that they can’t…” Jackson trailed off, staring at the main display as all the known tracks were continuously updated by the computer.

“Sir?”

“Helm! Come about!” Jackson barked. “Reverse course!”

“Coming about!” the helmsman practically yelped.

“Tighter, tighter!” Jackson urged. “As tight as you can manage without a full stop. Put our nose twenty degrees starboard of that lead battleship.”

“Trying, sir,” the helmsman said.

The ship began to shudder and moan as the engines and attitude thrusters fought to harness her momentum into a short, tight turn. The
Ares
was considered a nimble ship, able to turn very tightly—at least by astronomical standards. In reality, the turn would cover nearly two hundred thousand kilometers before they were facing back the way they came.

“Turn complete, sir,” the helmsman said after forty minutes of fighting the ship’s desire to continue straight. “We’re twenty degrees to starboard off the lead ship now off our nose.”

“All ahead flank!” Jackson barked, still agitated. “Everything she’s got!”

“Ahead flank, aye!”

“Tactical, keep an eye for the last two battleships coming in from the outer system,” Jackson said. “They’ll be in the area between us and the Columbiana jump point.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Nav, utilize the active array, and make sure we’re not going to encounter any hazards. We’ll be flying manually for a bit, so call out anything you see.” Jackson jabbed the intercom button on his seat. “Chief Engineer, this is the captain. I’m going to need every bit of speed the
Ares
has. You’re clear to run her up past the limits if necessary.”

“Aye aye, Captain,” Daya’s voice came back. “Disabling safety locks now and priming auxiliary boosters for ignition. Engineering out.”

The
Ares
had now fully reversed her course and was roaring full bore right into the teeth of the once-pursuing battleships. The fact that they had begun braking in the face of such an unexpected move told Jackson they were equal parts surprised and confused, not sure what he was doing nor what they should be doing to counter it.

“How aggressive is the decel of the two ships in front of us?” Jackson asked.

“Relatively mild, Captain,” Barrett answered. “They’re slowing, but only enough to still be able to continue on a direct intercept without overrunning us.”

Jackson looked down at his terminal. The Tsuyo remote override system that used to be on the
Ares
still hadn’t been accessed. This surprised him, since it would have been an easy way for Marcum to fully disable the ship without even wasting the propellant to chase him. He either didn’t know about the system or didn’t have the access codes to the
Ares
. Or he was enjoying playing cat and mouse when he had six battleships, and Jackson was running scared in a destroyer.

“Are the two behind us moving to pursue?” Jackson asked.

“No, sir,” Barrett said. “They’ve broken formation and are accelerating up and away from the engagement.”

“They’re completely confused right now,” Jackson said, “so they’re going to try and blanket the area to deny us access to that jump point. Tactical, keep track of where those two ships end up during the redeployment, and that should give you a rough idea where our two hiders are.”

“Yes, sir.”

“OPS, try to ping our drone,” Jackson said. “I’m sure it’s probably been hit by a surface to orbit weapon, but let’s be sure. If you get a positive response, go ahead and send the destruct codes.”

“Aye, sir.”

After the frenzied bit of activity, the bridge settled into a tense quiet as the
Ares
barreled toward two battleships of indeterminate capability. Whoever was in command of the battlegroup defending the system was apparently content to just block him from what was likely the only cleared jump point, more than happy to allow him to continue down into the system.

Had Jackson been stuck on the idea of leaving the same way he came in, the strategy wouldn’t have been a bad one. The two battleships in front of him could continue to push him down toward the inner system, and even once the
Ares
shot by and was behind them, there was no way to get her turned and accelerating back up out of the well toward the jump point without the four other picket ships easily intercepting them.

“No response from the Jacobson drone,” Ensign Hayashi said after another hour had passed. “I’m transmitting the destruct signal anyway.”

“Don’t bother, Ensign,” Jackson said. “Tactical, it looks like the two in front of us are under heavy decel again. Can you confirm?”

“Confirmed, sir,” Barrett said. “Measuring a significant negative acceleration corresponding to an increased engine output.”

“Helm, come starboard another fifteen degrees, and pitch down thirty degrees.” Jackson studied the tactical plots. “Be prepared to fire the auxiliary boosters. OPS, you will give the order to fire the boosters when the
Ares
is within five hundred thousand kilometers of the lead ship.”

“Helm answering new course,” the helmsman said. “Engines still at one hundred and fifteen percent of maximum output.”

“Acknowledged,” Jackson said. “If the plasma chambers begin to get too hot, throttle back to within the normal operational range—if Engineering doesn’t beat you to it.”

“Aye, sir.”

“Captain, there’s a priority one-double-alpha com request coming from the fourth planet,” Lieutenant Keller said. “It’s addressed specifically to you.”

“Any idea who it is?” Jackson knew Marcum was on one of the battleships, so he assumed it would be some high-ranking civilian official on the other end of the channel.

“Decryption routines confirm that the address is one reserved for the Commander in Chief.”

“I see,” Jackson said neutrally. “Put it through here.”

A sharp double-beep let him know the channel was live.

“This is Captain Jackson Wolfe of the
TCS
Ares
,” he said respectfully.

“Captain Wolfe, this is President McKellar,” the familiar voice said crisply over the bridge speakers. “I think it’s time we end this little misunderstanding before needlessly putting anyone in harm’s way, don’t you?”

“I would like to do nothing more, Mr. President,” Jackson said. “However, I am not certain that cutting my engines and allowing half a dozen battleships to close in on me is the best way to accomplish that, sir.”

“I understand your confusion, Captain,” McKellar said tightly. “But you have to realize, the fact that I’m speaking to you from the surface means this project was sanctioned by the highest levels of government.”

“I sincerely hope that’s true, sir,” Jackson said.

He had to agree that the President being on the surface did lend credibility to the claim that this was something planned and sanctioned by the Confederate government and CENTCOM. Despite his reputation, Jackson was very much an officer that put his faith in the chain of command, and right now, he was being ordered to stand down by the two highest ranking members of Starfleet—including the Commander in Chief. But something just didn’t feel right, and his gut told him that nobody on his crew would see the light of day again if he allowed the
Ares
to be boarded.

“I respectfully decline, sir. At least until I have some sort of guarantee that my crew will not be incarcerated or otherwise harmed. Is Admiral Pitt available?”

“I do not answer to, nor take requests from, some lowly destroyer captain,” McKellar said, his voice brittle enough to etch starship hull alloy. “
I
am the ultimate military authority any way you look at it, and I have given you a direct order. Do you intend to comply?”

Jackson took his time before answered. His answer would dictate how the ships ahead of him, who were almost certainly monitoring the conversation, would respond. He was yet again taking his career and rolling the dice, but somehow that no longer seemed significant.

“It is with regret that I must inform you that I have no intention of allowing my ship to be boarded… sir,” Jackson said. “We will return to Haven, and I will submit myself to CENTCOM authorities on Jericho Station.”

“You are relieved of duty, Captain,” Marcum’s voice broke in on the channel. “Commander Wright will assume command of the
Ares,
and she will make way for the fourth planet of this system, enter a standard holding orbit, and await further instructions. Is that clear, Commander?”

“Commander Wright is not aboard the
Ares
, sir,” Jackson said.

“There isn’t an order given that you will simply obey without question, is there, Wolfe?” Marcum snarled. “Must be something in your genetic makeup. Lieutenant Davis, you will carry out the same order.”

“I am relieving myself from duty, Admiral Marcum,” Davis said in a clear, strong voice.

Before Jackson could object to Jillian tossing her career down the same drain his was circling, Hayashi motioned frantically and held up five fingers.

Jackson turned to Keller and chopped his hand across his throat to mute their end of the channel. “Tactical?”

“Both battleships ahead of us have ceased braking and are turning in,” Barrett said. “We’re being hit with tracking radars from both ships. They’re getting a firing solution.”