New Frontiers (Expansion Wars Trilogy, Book 1) (16 page)

Celesta knew that often commanders without much experience tried to hold an entire system and not give an inch of ground to an attacking force, but that was virtually impossible. By the time you get to the outer planets of a typical star system you’re talking about a patrol distance of nearly five billion kilometers, and that’s just along the ecliptic plane. The number of ships it would take just to provide an overlapping sensor grid, and the logistical infrastructure required to support them, would bankrupt both New America and Britannia within half a year, and that was assuming they even had that many ships to begin with.

The more effective strategy was to sprinkle the outer system with listening buoys and randomized patrols while concentrating the bulk of your force in a place you could more easily defend. If you knew where the enemy would likely appear, like Terran system jump points, all the better. What she was seeing in the scaled diagram of the defended system wasn’t exactly proof the enemy commander had a lot of combat experience, but it was an indicator. More importantly, their defensive formations provided important clues as to the capabilities of their ships. If Celesta was defending the DeLonges System with a squadron of the Vruahn fast attack boats she had seen during the war, with their real-time sensors and prodigious speed, she’d just park over the planet she was protecting and dare anyone to come in.

“Assuming the Prowlers don’t come back with contradictory information on our provided intel, the Ninth Squadron will be the first in. Senior Captain Wright will move her three ships into formation here”—a blue chevron indicating the Ninth appeared on the diagram—“and begin a bit of a distraction to allow us time to move in our ships for the opening shot.

“Captain Wright, you’ll be broadcasting a message provided to us by the Ushin declaring that the Darshik are no longer welcome in that system and demanding they withdraw immediately. I want you blaring active sensors so that you not only see any incoming but you provide a point of focus while I sneak in the heavy missile cruisers. You’ll be on your own for a bit, but your
Starwolf
-class ships should be just as fast as anything fielded by the Darshik. Just be aware of their intrasystem jumps and know that you’re free to take whatever actions you deem necessary in order to keep your people and machines safe while performing your mission, up to and including opening fire at any threatening gestures by the enemy.”

Celesta had more than a few questions, but she knew this was just a preliminary overview and the
Icarus
would be getting much more detailed orders afterward that she could go through and then ask questions or lodge complaints. She had confidence that her ships could keep up with the Darshik warships in real-space, it was the aforementioned intrasystem jumps that had her worried. If she had more information on how they navigated them or the requirements needed that would allow her to use the system’s “terrain” to her advantage it would be a big help.

She was now only half-listening as Wilton was giving each major grouping a breakdown of what would be expected of them. Truth be told, she was elated with her squadron’s role in the upcoming offensive. It would only be
Starwolf
-class ships in her formation so there would be no holding back for slower, older ships. She also liked that they were being turned loose as a bit of a wildcard and not given the usual role of escorting the lumbering heavies down the well, a mission that basically made them targets.

Celesta pulled her tile over to her and, with an eye to the rest of the briefing, she began to sketch out how she wanted to array her ships. There were only so many strategies you could employ with three destroyers, but each also carried a complement of ten Jacobson drones that could be used to create a little more confusion. The Jacobsons were the most advanced unmanned spacecraft the
Starwolf
-class destroyer could carry. They could be loaded with mission-specific modules to tailor it to the role it was being asked to perform. While she was messing with different deployment strategies she also pulled up the mission module loadout they carried and began going through that. Depending on how long Admiral Wilton expected them to fly through the system alone kicking up dust there were some interesting things she could do that would likely confuse the hell out of the Darshik commanders. It would at least be something they hadn’t seen from Terran ships before.  

“Director Wolfe?”

“It’s just Jackson.” The answer came back with just a dusting of irritation. “What can I do for you?”

“An unscheduled delivery just made dock,” the orderly said. “There was a data card in it addressed to you with no origin marker.”

Jackson wordlessly held out his hand, not taking his eyes off his terminal monitor. The orderly put the package in his hand and turned to walk back out through the hatch.

“Thank you,” Jackson said politely and set the packet on his desk. He assumed it was from his wife, Jillian Wolfe, formerly Jillian Davis. She was younger than him by a margin that raised some eyebrows, but not enough to make him seem like a lecherous old man. The fact he looked younger than his forty-nine years helped out a bit. She had been the OPS officer on his first command, the
TCS
Blue Jacket,
and then had followed him over to the
Ares
. After serving with distinction as his executive officer once Celesta Wright had been given the
Icarus,
she had resigned her commission when he had retired after the war.

He had begun to suspect that she had a harmless infatuation with him and was thus unprepared to learn just how deep her feelings went. At first he had been afraid that the intensity would wane once they were civilians, but, if anything, losing the distraction of the commander/subordinate dynamic to their relationship had made them equals in every aspect of their life and brought them closer together. In short order after his return to Earth they had started a family and were the proud parents of healthy, beautiful twins, a boy and a girl.

Jillian was such a stabilizing force in his life that he wasn’t surprised when she’d simply begun packing when he came home and proposed that they re-enter service as contractors with the Prometheus Project. What did surprise him was that she had no desire to go back to work for him. She used her own connections to secure a position on Arcadia and before they’d even arrived at their new home she was scheduled for orientation at her new job. In a move that surprised Jackson even further, she’d also submitted the paperwork to change her last name from Davis to Wolfe, a practice that, while still common on Earth, was almost non-existent in most of the enclaves. She explained it as a purely business tactic: the name Davis was common and she had no particular attachment to it, but Wolfe opened doors and commanded a modicum of respect just by its association to Jackson’s exploits.

“Hopefully the children are okay,” Jackson said as he popped open the courier package and shook the data card into his hand, frowning as he did. The handwriting wasn’t Jillian’s, but he did recognize whose it was and it wasn’t likely welcome news. He slipped the card into the slot and let his terminal read the contents.

“Hey, Captain.” Pike’s face popped up on the screen. “You can relax, nothing horrible has happened since last we talked. Just flying around aimlessly looking for a secret shipyard … thanks for that, by the way. The reason I conned one of your planetside handlers into doing this for me is that I had a bit of an idea.

“Contained on this data card are all the post-action reports from every interaction we’ve had with the Darshik. There are the obvious conclusions made by our analysts, but the petabytes of raw data from the Prowlers could take years to go through. There’s likely nothing there, but I figured your pet Vruahn AI might be able to chew through it quickly enough to make it useful.

“You didn’t hear it from me, but the Fleet has mobilized the largest taskforce since the last battle of the Phage War and will be hitting the Darshik in two Ushin systems to push them back per the terms of the treaty. Although I shouldn’t, I’ll keep you up to date on what’s happening … it’s just the kind of guy I am. Pike out.”

Jackson rolled his eyes and selected the after-action summary of Celesta’s first encounter in the Xi’an System. His frown deepened as he read what an Agent Uba had reported. It looked like she might have rushed down into the system with a bit too much reckless abandon, even if she had been correct that it had been an AU or ESA ploy. She’d accorded herself well after the initial shock wore off, but he thought she had learned a bit more caution from her time serving under him. He hoped she wasn’t becoming too enamored with her own reputation to the point that she felt untouchable.

After having to grit his teeth and watch the
Ares
be destroyed completely in the Xi’an System, he concentrated on the overview of the Darshik ships and tactics. He was thoroughly unimpressed save for the “lance” they employed that looked to be some sort of directed plasma weapon and those tricky intrasystem “hops.” After going toe-to-toe with the Phage, this enemy looked to be more of an even match for the Terran fleet’s capabilities despite the fact they’d knocked Starfleet back on its heels a bit. The rest of the analysis looked like fairly standard fare and especially dry reading so he skipped it. Instead he pulled out a blank data card and began transferring the raw data from the encounters onto it, redacting any information that he thought might cause a bias.

“Danilo, get in here,” he said into the intercom as his terminal beeped to tell him the process was done.

“Yes?” Danilo asked as he appeared in the hatchway.

“Take this down to the research team dealing with adaptive modeling and tell them I want it run through the Cube at their earliest convenience,” Jackson said, handing him the data card. “Tell them I want it to try and see if a predictive tactical model can be derived with the limited amount of information given.”

“Is this real-world data?”

“Yes, but don’t tell them that,” Jackson said. “I want an unbiased result.”

“I’ll get right on it.” Danilo turned and hustled out of the office.

As his assistant left, Jackson had to remind himself that he was a project administrator now, not a Fleet officer. He would pump the data through his system and give the results back to the person who had requested it … he wouldn’t add his own comments or concerns, nor would he make any recommendations. All of that was someone else’s job now. Despite his own internal admonishments, he couldn’t refocus on what he had been doing before Pike’s packet showed up, and his right leg bounced up and down with a nervous energy as his thoughts kept drifting back to the Fleet gearing up for its first major engagement since he’d retired.

****

If Celesta thought her crew was getting impatient waiting for the rest of the taskforce to show up, it was nothing compared to waiting for the go-order. All the ships had been replenished, orders disseminated, and tactics agreed upon. The only thing left to do was get the operation started. She had just started her watch on the bridge and had barely settled into her chair when Lieutenant Ellison called to her.

“Captain Lee from the
New York
is sending a personal channel request for you, Captain,” her com officer said. “Would you like it at your station, ma’am?”

“Send it to my office.” Celesta stood back up. “Ensign Accari, you have the bridge.”

“I have the bridge, aye,” Accari said distractedly from the OPS station. Celesta backtracked to her office and logged back into her terminal just as the channel request icon lit up.

“Captain Lee,” she nodded when the video resolved. The
New York
was flying six thousand kilometers astern of the
Icarus
so the video quality was flawless with zero lag. “What can I do for you?”

“Captain Wright,” Lee said. “I’ve received unofficial word that Admiral Wilton will be ordering a movement soon. But … that’s not why I wanted to talk to you before we got underway.”

“Oh?” Celesta asked carefully.

“I wanted to apologize, ma’am, for my behavior when you met us at the dock on the Platform.” Lee seemed to squirm in his seat. “Regardless of what scuttlebutt I’d picked up about being replaced, I had no call for such unprofessional behavior. I’ve been an admirer of yours since the Battle of Nuovo Patria.”

“No apologies needed for dirty looks, Captain.” Celesta had to try hard not to smile. “If only that were the worst thing that was hurled my way from other officers. I know you were given the
New York
as a provisionary spot during CENTCOM’s restructuring, but if you’re a captain that’s worth a damn you’ll want a chance to fight for your seat. The
Brooklands
was a major player in the war … I think you’ve earned a right to prove yourself.”

Lee opened his mouth to say something and then just nodded his head. “Thank you, Captain,” he said after a momentary pause. “I just wanted to clear the air before we broke orbit. Thank you.
New York
out.” The channel closed and Celesta leaned back to contemplate the odd exchange.

Captain Lee had been the CO of the
TCS
Brooklands
during the war, a Seventh Fleet heavy missile cruiser. He’d been involved in many battles and had performed his task with a sort of calm efficiency, but when CENTCOM had tried to put him on the bridge of the
Icarus
when her first CO was relieved for cause Captain Wolfe had declared Lee unfit for destroyer duty. Instead, he’d pushed hard to have his XO, Commander Wright, named as the interim CO of the
Icarus
and, in the spirit of expediency, CENTCOM gave ground.

It was only natural that when Lee found himself on the bridge of a battleship that he would harbor resentment when, once again, it looked like Celesta Wright was going to swoop in and take it regardless that it was always meant to be a temporary posting. She didn’t doubt that Lee would do his job to the best of his ability aboard the
New York
. What did worry her was that the lingering doubt of being told he wasn’t cut out to be a destroyer captain due to a lack of boldness or decisiveness might lead him to overcompensate, to make rash decisions that put the mission and his ship at risk.

With a mental shrug she forced the issue from her mind. Her responsibility was to her mission, the
Icarus
, and Ninth Squadron. In that order. She didn’t have the luxury of worrying about what was happening on the bridge of a Fourth Fleet battleship that wasn’t even going to be in her formation once the operation started. Captain Lee was left in place on the ship by Admiral Pitt and she’d have to trust that he knew what he was doing.

“All hands to duty stations, all hands to duty stations,” Ensign Accari’s voice came over the intercom. “Prepare for ship’s movement.” A moment later her office intercom pinged, as did her com link.

“Captain Wright, please report to the bridge.”

“Finally.” Celesta stood and smoothed out her utility top.

They had received their official move order and since the Ninth was to jump in first, and were the fastest ships in the fleet, Celesta was given clearance to climb up to departure altitude first and come onto course for the jump point. She elected to fly the course on her main engines, not wanting to risk the RDS flaking out and not needing it since the other two ships, the
Atlas
and the
Hyperion
, didn’t have the drive refit.

Once the formation had swung around Juwel and reached escape velocity the three destroyers peeled off onto their new course and away from the rest of the taskforce.

“Confirming new course, ma’am,” the chief at Nav said. “We’re where we need to be.”

“Very well.” Celesta stood up. “Helm! All ahead full. OPS, inform Engineering to prepare the warp drive for deployment.”

“Ahead full, aye,” the helmsman said, the deck vibrating as the main engines were run up to full power. They were still weeks away from any actual fighting, but the crew was razor-sharp as the ship was now on her way to meet the enemy. Most were still stinging from the slap they’d received in the Xi’an System and were looking forward to moving on the Darshik with a full battlegroup in tow.

“
Icarus
is at transition velocity, ma’am,” Ensign Accari called out.

“Thank you, Ensign,” Celesta said calmly, but made no call to the helm to throttle the engines back. The
Icarus
was topped off with propellant and having more velocity than needed when initiating a warp transition was never a bad thing. She watched as her ship raced up to .15c before calling for a throttle back.

“Helm, zero thrust,” she ordered. “Utilize engine power as needed to maintain current velocity.”

“Engines answering zero thrust, aye,” the helmsman said. “Steady as she goes, on course for combat jump point Tango.”

“Mr. Accari?” Celesta asked.

“Jump point is twenty-nine hours away at current velocity,” Accari said, correctly guessing which information his captain wanted.

“Commander Barrett, at jump minus ten hours I want the warp drive deployed and a full system test done,” Celesta said to her XO. “Between now and then I want readiness drills by all departments
including
Engineering. Maintain normal watch schedules for now, but I want the nervous energy on this ship put to good use.”

“Aye aye, ma’am,” Barrett said crisply.

“Carry on,” Celesta said, walking off the bridge and pointing to Barrett to let him know he had the watch. Her crew was still the same combat-hardened group they were before they met the Darshik in the Xi’an System, but the incident had stung them as the whole affair could only be called a loss for the Terran team despite the
Icarus
destroying two enemy ships. She intended to make sure they didn’t have a lot of time to reflect on that during the long warp flight, and there was no point in waiting for the time it would take to traverse the Juwel System to start.