Inherited War 1: Retribution (38 page)

57

“I want to set this down for the record so everyone knows that I acted alone and planned this mission on my own.  I, Commander Cole McLeod, of my own free will have set us on this course.  If nothing survives the next few days but this recording, than let it be known that I alone am responsible for what is about to take place.  Under my orders and with intelligence altered at my command, I did order our forces into an attack against completely overwhelming enemy forces fully expecting to lose the battle.  I gladly take all the blame and responsibility for my orders and actions.  Furthermore, I apologize to the families of those I know we will lose in this action and hope they will one day understand what I was trying to accomplish by choosing this tactic.  Commander McLeod out.

Cole arrived at the briefing room early.  He still needed to go over the final orders and double check the Intel reports.  “So you are sure none of the originals of this report are still around?”  Cole asked Hal as he scanned the reports in front of him.

“I scrubbed every computer here and on the ships.  The only thing that remains is the one in your hand.  Also
, no one has looked at that file for weeks since it was discarded as a viable target.”  The avatar of Hal responded from the middle of the conference table.  Hal was pacing back and forth along the length of the table.  Cole could almost see the nervous energy radiating off him as he walked.

“Calm down Hal.  If anyone sees you like this
, they may know something is up.  By the way, good job on the file.  Are you finished with all of your preparations?”  Cole was still skimming the file as he talked to Hal.

“Yes
, I have everything ready and reprogrammed.  That was easy part, you have the hard part.”  He was about to continue when the door opened to admit Thalo and Jeth.  They were deeply involved in a discussion that was more telepathy than vocal.  They stopped talking and moved over to stand in front of Cole.

“Can you give us any kind of heads up on the plan boss?  I mean
, so we can help deflect unnecessary questions and comments.”  Thalo asked.

“Pay him no mind he has been going crazy since he found out you had a plan that you weren’t sharing.  The great warrior has much still to learn about patience.”  Jeth said as he settled into his customary spot against the wall.

“What would you know about patience you walking stump.  I’ll have you know, I was best in my class at stalking and scouting.”  Thalo crossed his arms in a huff and stared daggers at Jeth.  “I once took three days to cross an open meadow during my sniper training.  Learn patience my ass.”

“Settle down you two and don’t worry about it
.  There will be no discussion on the mission.  You are just here to receive your orders.”  Cole said as he started to send the OPORDER around the room to the various computers.  “I have this planned down to the T and don’t think anyone can add anything pertinent to the mission so this should be brief.”

“But…”  Thalo started to say and was interrupted by Cole.

“Nope, no discussions allowed.  I would appreciate it if you backed me on this one.”  They exchanged glances before Thalo answered.

“I will
, as long as I see the merit and agree on the course of action you chose.”

Cole thought for a moment before responding.  “I will agree to that.”  He nodded to the nearest display.  “I guess you do deserve a first look at the plan then.”  He winked at Jeth.

Thalo sputtered for a moment.  “You were going to let me look all along weren’t you?
”

Cole broke out into a heartfelt laugh which Jeth joined in on.  “Yea
, but I had to make you work a little for it first.  Seriously I need your support on this one.”  But Thalo was already engrossed in reading the orders and Intel.  Cole gave him a few moments to digest the information.

Thalo had a very puzzled look on his face and he turned to Cole.  “I don’t get it
.  This seems like a pretty prime target.  How come we didn’t hit it the first time and why do you think this will get us any closer to the Esii ship?”

“First
, I thought it was too tough a nut to crack with an untrained force.  Now we are very well trained and tested.  Second, there are some interesting unknowns in this system that merit taking a closer look, and third, it’s a chance to knock down Esii numbers a bit.  Since you seem to have read it, do you have any problems supporting the attack and stopping any objections or changes to my plan?”

Thalo took a few moments and went over the info again but couldn’t dispute the facts of the report and the solid plan that Cole had laid out.  “No, no problems f
rom me and I would think that Commander Fury won’t object either.  It is weird though, I thought I checked every piece of Intel we got from the Nixa and for some reason I don’t remember this place.”  Thalo was literally scratching his head trying to remember seeing anything like this before.

“Of course you wouldn’t remember this place or the information on it.  I have had Hal sorting and
resorting the info you guys brought back from Nixa and he pieced this together from varied bits of random Intel.  This is the first time all of the Intel has been successfully put together in this form.”  Cole sent the fragments that Hal had unearthed to Thalo’s screen.  “All of this put together, paints the picture of the objective you have in front of you.

Thalo scanned the fragments and pieces of Intel reports the Nixa had gathered.  “There is some wild assumptions made from all of this but I can see how you interpreted the Intel.  I will back you on this Cole.”  Cole reached out and shook the Worlder
’s hand.

“Thanks
.  That means a lot to me.”  A few moments later the briefing room filled up with his subordinate chain of command.  Cole stood up and looked around the room.  He kept his face perfectly neutral as he lied to everyone who was there to support and help him.  It went over surprisingly well and everyone seemed to agree with his assessment.  Thalo barely had to speak up to back Cole.  Since there was no discussion held about the plan the meeting was short and sweet.  Commander Fury had his orders and was dismissed to attend to them.  They had their departure time and rendezvous coordinates.  The base was shortly unoccupied and the two ships were steadily making their way out to the jump off point.  The next few days was going to make or break this war and Cole was about to go all in.

58

“The art of war is simple enough.  Find out where your enemy is.  Get him as soon as you can.  Strike him as hard as you can, and keep moving on.”  I think Ulysses S. Grant said that and I am about to put it to the test.

To say that Cole was a little nervous was to say that the universe is big, which to say the least
, is a complete understatement.  There were a million things that could go wrong on this mission and all of them lead to disaster on an epic scale.  Cole had restructured his crew compliment before heading out.  He now controlled most of the ship’s functions allowing him to use more of his personnel on the weapons systems and the drone craft.  This also allowed him to be the only one to see certain readouts and sensor info.  He had partitioned the virtual bridge so one half, the half the rest of the crew could see, displayed the information he wanted them to see.  While the other half, the part only he and Hal could see, displayed what was actually going on. 

Cole accessed the command net and hailed the
Reckoning
.  “Commander you have your orders and timetable, I will see you at the target. 
Retribution
out.”  He received the acknowledgement from the
Reckoning
and started the count down until grav jump. 

Cole disconnected from the ship and looked around the actual bridge.  “I want everyone to activate helmet function before we jump.”  Cole ordered his crew.   Cole activated his own helmet and watched as the rest slowly followed orders with confused looks on their faces.  Usually they relied on their own suit sensors to activate helmets if they lost pressure or were being boarded.  So far neither of those things had happened so they were obviously a little confused with his order.

Cole didn’t bother to explain himself, he just settled into his chair and waited for the jump.  He hated not telling the crew what was about to happen but he thought it was necessary.  Cole watched the countdown in silence.  The timer hit zero.  Both the
Reckoning
and the
Retribution
disappeared into warped space.  Due to the
Reckoning’
s size and the
Retribution’
s edge in speed, Cole should have arrived at minimum one hour ahead of the
Reckoning,
giving them time to scout out the Esii presence in the system.

With Hal’s help Cole had adjusted their course and speed just enough that they should arrive in system a few minutes behind the
Reckoning
.  Standard protocol dictated that if the
Reckoning
received no wave off from the
Retribution
the attack was still a go.  They had set this up in the previous raids to ensure no accidental intercepts of their communications.  The odds of Esii equipment picking up their transmissions were astronomical but they still thought it was better to err on the safe side.

Cole was counting on that fact to draw the
Reckoning
into battle with the Esii.  He needed to engage both ships against overwhelming odds.  It was part of his plan and vital for the rest of the plan to succeed.  Cole felt his body tingle as they traveled through warped time and space.  He hoped this wasn’t going to be his last trip because he was finally getting used to the feeling and started to actually enjoy it.  All too soon it was over and he felt the jolt as the reentered normal space.  He also felt the ship rocking and shaking with what could only be enemy fire.

As quickly as he could
, Cole shook off his post jump jitters and reconnected to the
Retribution’
s virtual bridge.  As soon as he fully bonded with the ship he was inundated with the information of a battle raging in the local space.  Cole was the only person, besides Hal, who knew what to actually expect upon arrival here in this system, but even he was a little shocked.  Local space was jammed with spider fighters and cruisers.  They were everywhere. 

But so was the
Reckoning
and its compliment of drones.  She had deployed all of her drone fighters and was wreaking havoc on the cruisers with her main guns.  Cole put the
Retribution
into a series of tight turns and spirals, trying to avoid the worst of the incoming fire while his crew got orientated on the battle and started returning fire.  None of them had been expecting this and they were not fully prepared.  Cole started to wade through the massive comm traffic until he located the
Reckoning
.

“I repeat
, this is Commander Fury calling anyone on board the
Retribution
! Please come in over!”  Fury’s voice was nearly hysterical.

“Calm down commander
, this is Cole, I read you.”  Cole responded as he cycled through reports and kept the ship twisting and turning away from enemy fire.

“Calm he says, damn it we are total
ly fucked out here.  I count at least ten cruisers with full fighter compliments not to mention whatever the hell that monster is to our front.  Wait a second.”  Fury’s voice trailed off.  “Shit, you did it Cole, that’s the Sun Eater.  How did you know it was here?”

If Cole had been fully in his own body he would have stood up in shock.  “What, say that again Fury?”  Cole shouted at the other Commander.

“That’s her Cole, that’s the ship that destroyed your world.  She just doesn’t have her arms extended.”  Cole looked at the image of the ship in front of him.  He dug into the
Retribution
s memory and brought out an image from the recording of Earth being destroyed.

Fury was right, the Sun Eater was here.  “Damn.”  Cole whispered.  The
Retribution
shuddered and groaned as she took more hits.  Cole refocused his attention on flying the ship.  This was perfect.  If he could pull off the next few minutes his plan would work.

“What the hell happened to you anyway?  Why weren’t you here first?”  Fury asked.

“I don’t know, have to run a diagnostic after this.  Something screwed up though.”  Cole lied through his teeth.  Cole was keeping his eye on both ships damage readouts.  They were weathering the enemy fire pretty well for now but shield strength was falling rapidly.  “We can’t take this kind of fire forever.  Can we get to it?”  Cole didn’t have to say what “it” was.

“No.”  Cole heard Fury sigh.  “There is just too much between us and them
.  How could your assessment have been so wrong on their numbers Cole?  How could the Nixa been so sloppy on their Intel?”  Cole could hear the confusion and rage barely concealed in his voice.

“I don’t know, but we get as many of them as we can while we are here.  We need to get a vector out of this system and back out to a safe jump distance.  We will worry about the rest once we are safe.  I will take full responsibility for this disaster and try to figure out where I went wrong. 
For now keep your people as safe as possible and get turned to an outbound heading, I will move up to help cover you.”

Cole did just that.  He hadn’t been idle during the conversation and since it had take place between two individuals bonded to their respective ships
, the communication had been fast as thought.  Cole changed the
Retribution
s heading and gained on the
Reckoning
as Fury started to turn his ship about.  Cole connected to Hal via a preprogrammed secure channel.

“Okay Hal this may work.  We need to funnel both ships onto this heading.”  Cole showed Hal were he wanted to go.  “Get the repair drones ready and I will tell you when to start shifting targets.”

“I know it’s too late, but I still hate this Cole.” 

“I know buddy but it’s all I
’ve got, do me a favor.  Tell Sky what I did if I don’t make it, she may not like it but I think she will understand.”  Hal went to work getting everything ready for the subterfuge he was about to pull on the
Reckoning
and the crew of the
Retribution
. 

It was
do or die time.  If this worked, he may one day be looked upon as a military genius and if it failed, he would be reviled throughout the galaxy.  The reason he had chosen this system to fight the Esii wasn’t because he thought the super ship was here, as Fury had thought, but because it was so close to Nixa.  So close, in fact, that if either of the ships sustained heavy enough damage or what Hal reported was heavy damage, they could safely retreat there for refuge.  That is what Cole thought would draw out the Sun Eater.  If he could force the Nixa into aiding him with Esii fighters on his tail they just might pull out the Sun Eater to have a go at Nixa herself.

Cole was going to use a planet with a sizable population as bait.  Bait for a ship that had already destroyed one world and if he failed would destroy another here shortly.  He was counting on forcing the Nixa to launch forces to defend their own planet and
since the damage reports he would be getting from Hal would be fictional, he would have his two ships to help out as well.  His plan hung on a bunch of unknowns but he was confident it would work.  He had spoken at some length, with Commander Fury back when they had first met, about the size and strength of the Nixa home fleet.  Cole was certain that they could handle the Esii cruisers and fighters while he and the
Reckoning
took a shot at the Sun Eater.

Cole had been forced to scrub the Intel on the system clean and replace it
with fabricated numbers so he could convince the others to go along with the attack.  Now he was about to lie to them again.

He watched as the
Reckoning
and the
Retribution
fell into the positions he wanted.  “Okay Hal do it.”

The picture of the battle slowly started to change.  A new wave of fighters backed by a cruiser moved into position right in front of where the two ships were heading.  “Fury we have to break right and make for an empty area of space.  We can’t try to fight through that screen and make a jump at the same time.”

“I concur, but we aren’t going to get very far on that heading.”  Was his response.

Cole feigned ignorance.  “I am kind of busy here so please tell me what’s in that direction that’s going to slow us down?”

“My home world.  Nixa lies that way and it will yank us out of warp space.” 

“Okay
, we find another way then.  Give me a moment.”  Cole responded.  He switched to his secure channel.  “Do it now, Hal.”

Hal keyed the program he had installed in the repair drones and the very next instant
, a shot hit the
Retribution
alarms and klaxons began blaring throughout the ship.  Cole watched on the crew’s part of the virtual bridge as damage reports started flooding in from various parts of the ship.  The repair drones Hal had programmed were just getting done with the cosmetic damages to the ship’s hull.  Cole wanted his bases covered in case anyone on the
Reckoning
was looking at the
Retribution
, it would look like the ship took a hit right where it would hurt the most.  Just above the gravity collectors.

Cole turned down the alarms and reconnected with the
Reckoning
.  “We may not have a choice now, Fury.”

“What happened?” 
Came his response.

“A hit got through, we are bleeding energy and if we don’t jump soon we are going to lose power.  We have to jump now and make it to Nixa.”  The words hung like a lead weight on Cole.  He may have just doomed a world full of people.  He waited for Fury’s reply.

“Affirmative, our scans confirm your situation.  We will drop back to cover for you.  Make for the exit point and we will be right behind.”  Cole would have been holding his breath if he had been back in his body.

“Copy that
.  We are recalling drones and making for the exit.”  With those words, the rest of Cole’s plans fell into place.  The
Retribution
and the
Reckoning
were continuing to take hits and some minor damage, but the repair drones would have it fixed once they reached Nixa space.  The best the Esii could hope for, if they followed immediately, was to arrive two hours after the two ships.  That would give them plenty of time to enact repairs and contact the Nixa government to request help.  Cole continued to juke and roll to avoid any more hits but his speed was rapidly separating him from the majority of enemy fire and ships.  In a few more seconds both he and the
Reckoning
would be home free for a jump to Nixa.  Cole was happy the plan had worked but still hated himself for having to do it. 

Both ships finally succumbed to the massed Esii fire and took some damage on their rear hulls before they could escape.  In all, Cole lost half of his drones and had some cosmetic damage to his aft.  He also lost some sensor nodes and scaring over ninety percent of his ship.  The
Retribution
looked like it had gone through hell and come out the other side.

The
Reckoning
, probably because it had seemed like more of a threat, had taken considerable more damage.  She had lost a full three quarters of her initial compliment of drones and had suffered some Major hull breaches in the drone storage compartments in her rear.  She had also lost some gun emplacements and counter missile ports.