Federation Reborn 1: Battle Lines (46 page)

He drifted to sleep with a slight smile as he thought about the future ahead.

---<>---<>---

For the first time, the nine destroyers were a full squadron. Well, a full squadron with one orphan tag along for good measure. Ships were divided in squadrons of eight ships normally, though some species preferred other numbers. He liked eight; it was a nice round number. Fighters were normally divided into squadrons of twelve, though again, sometimes there were as few as six in a squadron.

Amadeus pulled the seventeen frigates in and divided them up into two squadrons. He left the thirty-four corvettes divided into two squadrons on each of the two jump points he had to defend: the one leading to B-95a3 and the one to Kathy's World. The thirty-six gunships he divided up similarly, with two squadrons on each jump point and the remaining ships in orbit off duty. He was seriously tempted to send a couple corvettes to Kathy's World to mind his back door.

The forces on the Kathy's World jump point would also act as a ready reserve for him to tap in an emergency. They'd have to cross the star system to get to the other jump point but at least he wouldn't lose them all at once if something nasty came through on the B-95a3 jump point. Besides, with so many ships working on one spot, they had started to crowd themselves. He couldn't have that. He wanted his people to get used to working as a squadron, so he set up tactical exercises for each squadron and then subtly guided them into a competitive spirit. A few hints about early promotion for the squadron commanders that did the best had sealed that deal.

For the moment he had one frigate and two corvettes shuttling fuel, supplies, and missile pods to the jump point defenders. Each ship couldn't haul a lot, but it added up. A third of his missile pods were now on the jump point, he thought; they were well outside the third outer mine ring. They were in clusters too, for easy access and fire control. The small ships could only handle so many even in daisy chain firing sequence and cloned targeting files, but it would have to do. They wouldn't stand the hardships of being in space for more than a few months, but he could rotate them off and have the engineers rebuild them as needed.

Any ship with the proper codes could access them and use them as well as the weapon platforms and drones seeded around the jump point. Even the fighters could provide targeting information to them if necessary. He liked that flexibility.

Jojo had reported that some of the missile pods that had been recently dropped off had been from their first expended batch. Reclaiming the pods had allowed Admiral Irons to refurbish and reload them and then send them back. Now, if he could get missiles or some sort of native missile construction going, he'd be set in that department and even have a possible surplus to play with.

He regretted not keeping a collier as a missile ship though. It would have been nice, but it would have meant modifying the ship, something he knew wouldn't have gone over well with Admiral Irons. Besides, a tissue paper thin freighter had no business mixing it up in a combat environment. He'd figure something else out eventually. Having a small collier running in system would have also been nice. He had put in for a pair of the small ones Pyrax was churning out. Hopefully, they would turn up soon he thought.

For the moment the two senior most officers in each frigate squadron would serve as their commanders. It would do them well for their careers, and if they excelled at it, it would be a point towards accelerated promotion.

Instead of dividing the squadrons up and exercising them against one another, he put them through their virtual paces in virtual exercises. It felt good to blow the rust off, he thought, though he knew they had a long ways to go. He fully intended to start exercising them against the escort carrier's compliment and then with
Halsey
within two weeks.

Jojo had gotten the convoy unloaded and reloaded with recruits and returning personnel in record time. In less than twenty-four hours everyone had been swapped out, and she had sent them back to Antigua with the admiral's blessings.

He planned to run his people ragged; then if they did well on the little test he was setting up for them, he planned to give them a weekend of liberty before the squadrons swapped places with
Halsey
.

Cutlass
was his slowest and most elderly destroyer. She acted more like an escort carrier than a destroyer half the time he thought. The
Arboths
and
Antelopes
he had were great for frontal attacks, but they quickly learned that having all of their missile tubes in the bow was a serious design flaw when they had to fight a defensive engagement. They had
no
counter missiles in the stern or flanks. If he got bounced off the jump point and put on the defense, he would be in trouble. Serious trouble.

That meant he had to find a way to counter or redress the problem. Some trick, some strategy to turn the disadvantage around or at least mitigate it. Strapping missile pods onto the ships was a mixed blessing. The added firepower was nice to have but the additional mass meant they were slower and they occluded some of his sensors and weapons.

He put an email together for John, outlining the problem. He cc'ed a copy to Phil as well. A division of
Nelsons
might come in handy he thought, at least in a defensive engagement. He noted that down as well.

According to the latest report from the yards, Phil was holding back because
Bismark
was no longer around. He'd launched the first three battle cruisers and was halfway through the first squadron of North Hamptons. But he refused to kick any loose.

Antigua on the other hand was keeping half of its forces for Task Force 1 while sending the rest to Amadeus and TF22 and usually the best like
Halsey
. He had to break her in, but she was a welcome addition he thought. If he could score her sister ship or even a cruiser division, he'd be happy for weeks. Okay, maybe days he thought with a slight smile. At least he'd stop bugging them, he thought with a slightly broader smile. For a day or so.

Things were looking up.

Chapter 26

Alarms screamed as
Hecate
jumped into Protodon space. “We made it!” Adel said shaking her head. They were moving a bit too fast and they'd stressed their reactor but they had survived the translation intact.

“What, you had your doubts? That scares me,” Jim said, eying her.

“Ah, shut it. I got us here, didn't I?”

“Yeah, late,” Jim muttered.

“Move us off the jump point. Flank speed, Helm. Comm, get the word out,” the skipper said, all business.

“Consider it done,” Jim replied with a grin.

---<>---<>---

“Sir,
Hecate
is back early. She's transmitting … we're receiving an alert. A massive enemy force is in B-95a3 and presumably on their way here,” a communication's rating stated, turning to look at the captain.

“Red alert,” Captain Vargess intoned, voice dropping into a cool professional commanding voice. “Warm up the FTL com. Alert command. Get me updates on everything we've got. Boot the missile pods and mines.”

“On it,” the rating stated. Other ratings and his tactical officer acknowledged the order as the klaxons went off. Red shined in the captain's eyes. He keyed the ship's internal communications and called his steward.

“Pete, get me my suit and get the suits of everyone else up here pronto,” he said. “I think we're about to get very busy,” he said, looking at the camera feeds on the flight deck. The place seemed to explode with people and robots scrambling for the craft.

---<>---<>---

“What have we got?” the admiral demanded, still not dressed or out of his bunk.

“Hecate
came back screaming bloody murder, sir. Two
Derfflinger
class BCs, four destroyers, four frigates, and a couple of support ships tried to pounce on her. Damn near succeeded.”

“Damn.” The admiral thought furiously for a moment. “Did they say …?”

“They think they were followed, Admiral.”

“Crap. Get word out through the ansible. Alert 1, go to battle stations. I want us moving out to the jump point now. All commands move to the B-95a3 jump point. March to the sounds of the guns, people. And hurry!”

“Aye aye, sir!” Jojo said as Amadeus flipped the covers off of him and moved as quickly as possible to get dressed.

---<>---<>---

“They aren't here yet. I think …,” Jim stopped himself when the computer screamed a warning.

Adel acted without orders to jink the ship up and away from the materializing ships coming in directly ahead of them.

“Skipper!”

“I see it,” Captain Gruber growled. He immediately keyed an inquiry into the tactical computer. The answer back was hardly comforting. It would take a minute for the space around the enemy ships to stabilize so they could be seen. They were moving forward at 100 KPS but now moving on the positive Y axis. His long fingers stilled when the red appeared. He didn't like it.

“Prepare defenses. Fire everything we've got into them as soon as the space stabilizes. Don't wait for my order,” he said, settling himself into his seat.

Jim turned to stare at him.

“You heard me,” the captain growled. “It's all we've got left to do. Our duty,” he murmured softly. The computer tech gulped and then turned back to his station.

---<>---<>---

“We're in Protodon space. The space around the jump point is occupied,” Commander Esenly stated flatly. She put a hand to the implant attached to the side of her head behind her right ear. “Ma'am, ship moving behind us. She's climbing. It's that frigate,” she said.

“Take her out,” Captain Mueller stated.

“All stern batteries engage and destroy the target,” Commander Esenly stated. The stern turrets immediately started to track the frigate. When their lidars started to light up the ship, the tiny frigate's ECM kicked on and turned her into a ball of fuzz. Then the ship started to jink and fire wildly.

At such close range and with a BC's sensors, the ECM did little to prevent the ship's destruction. The gunners targeted the center of the ball of fuzz and fired, volleying grazers and laser fire into her. Their computers might have been more primitive than the Federation forces but they brought the barrels up just enough to anticipate the moving ship. Within ten seconds she had been hammered. A second after that she was battered into wreckage and then destroyed.

“An auspicious beginning,” the commander said smugly as she rubbed her hands gleefully together. The little frigate's counter fire had been easily intercepted by the shields and shrugged off with no damage.

“Good work, guns. Now let's go find us some more targets,” the captain growled.

---<>---<>---

“Hecate
has been destroyed, Captain,” Lieutenant Hamilton said softly.

“I see that, guns,” the captain said. “Meia, the fighter brood?”

“Are out, sir. I'm out in Fighter 001. We're going in.”

“No, hang back. Let the mines and platforms do the brunt of the work first. Prepare for fighter engagement. Helm, move us off to Point Baker.”

“Point Baker. Aye aye, sir.”

“Target the grazer platforms on the big boys. Ignore the small fry.”

“Sir, they won't scratch those ships,” Lieutenant Hamilton warned. They only had twelve grazer platforms and six defense platforms around the outer shell of the jump point.

“Not with their shields up. But we'll fix that. Prime the mines,” the captain murmured.

“Mines, aye, sir.”

---<>---<>---

Admiral Irons got the report of the battle starting up in Protodon and swore viciously.

“Can we do anything, Admiral?”

“Anything we've got will be too little too late. Order the
Kittyhawk
group to move up to Kathy's World now. Alert the picket in Kathy's World.”

“Should we send
Maine
?” Sprite asked.

“No. I don't want them to pass these forces if they blow through Amadeus and come after us. For now they are on their own.”

“Hopefully they can hold,” Protector stated.

“I know,” Admiral Irons murmured. He had his doubts though. He watched the SITREP fearfully. “Get me an ETA on the latest convoy. If they are arriving soon, this could be a disaster or a blessing.”

---<>---<>---

“Minefield dead ahead, Captain,” the sensor rating stated, turning to Captain Post.

“I see it,” the captain replied, tracing a finger over the shoals of mines. They didn't have a lot, but they had placed them in a clever set of arches between him and the inner star system. Other platforms were staged at strategic places around that arch as well but further out.