No Way to Start a War (TCOTU, Book 2) (This Corner of the Universe) (19 page)

*  *  *

When
the light of the Salus attack reached
Kite
, there were no cheers, curses
or cries of protest.  The fusion missiles had been easily identified upon
launch and the twelve enormous fireballs on the surface of Salus, followed by the
inevitable giant mushroom clouds had been foregone conclusions.  Neither Vernay
nor Selvaggio spoke as they both glimpsed at Hell through the portal that had been
cracked open.

Heskan
waited until after the missile strike to contact
Tomahawk
.  The channel
opened and Heskan saw Lieutenant Grant for the first time.  “Lieutenant Grant,
I have a job for Tomahawk,” Heskan said without an overture.  “Eagle will be
rolling fighters off her deck soon and I want you to position Tomahawk so you
can destroy each fighter as it passes by.”

Grant
nodded.  “Understood, sir.  I’ll make sure we leave nothing behind for the
Hollies to look at.  We’ll use our heavy laser batteries to ensure good kills.”

“Good
man.  How are the repairs to your tunnel drive proceeding?”  This was a
pressing concern.  If
Tomahawk
failed to repair her tunnel drive by the
time
Eagle
reached the Kale tunnel point, Heskan could be forced to
leave the ship, and her crew, behind.

Grant
grimaced.  “Slow, sir.  Maybe four more hours.”

Four
hours!
  Heskan
reeled. 
Maybe we should try to evacuate the ship.  But how?  We can’t land
shuttles at the speeds we’re sailing.
  Heskan almost told Grant to focus
every effort on the repairs but stopped himself from stating the obvious. 
“Keep me updated, Lieutenant.  Time is of the essence.  Heskan out.”

We
don’t wage war on civilians… check.  We don’t leave our people behind… check. 
What other truisms will unravel today?

He
watched
Tomahawk
break from formation to a position trailing
Eagle
. 
The fighters had begun the slow recovery process immediately after the fleet rotated
to its new course for the Kale tunnel point. 
Avenger
was 11
lm
ahead but that minor lead looked as if it would make all the difference.  The
heavy carrier was 28
lm
from the tunnel point while the rest of Task Group
3.1 was just under 40
lm
away.  Both Hollaran fleets were also sailing
for the tunnel point; the damaged, first fleet had 33
lm
to close on it while
the surprise fleet had slightly over 39
lm
.  Given the time, distances
and speeds, it looked as if
Avenger
might avoid the noose.  As each
group continued to sail toward one destination, it became apparent the Hollaran
captains had also done the math.  The lighter and faster units of the surprise
force began to pull away from their larger, slower cousins.

“It
looks like they’re trying to get some units to the tunnel point first even if
it means breaking up their formation,” Vernay said.  Breaking the integrity of
a fleet, normally a recipe for disaster, was logical in this instance.

“Unless
she launches her CAP, Avenger isn’t even a match for a single light cruiser,”
Heskan said with concern.  He watched the light units push farther ahead, overextending
their drives to accelerate to .22
c
.  In response,
Avenger
likewise began to tax her propulsion, and the carrier’s twelve drives strained
to improve her speed to .21
c
.

The
contest played out over the next ninety minutes.  Each ship redlined its drives
and pressed the limits of its inertial compensators in the effort to win the
race to the tunnel point.  When Heskan received the call from
Eagle
that
Pup and Avocet recovery operations were complete,
Avenger
was only 10
lm
from the tunnel point.  During that time, she had briefly attempted .22
c
but had quickly settled back to .21
c
.

The
minutes passed slowly as
Avenger
maintained her speed.  The Hollarans
were in three distinct groups.  The fleet with Lombardi’s ship was still cruising
at .2
c
, sailing in hard from
Avenger’s
port side, 14
lm
from the tunnel point.  To starboard, the surprise force was split between the
heavy ships cruising at .2
c
and 21
lm
away, and the faster units
traveling at .22
c
and only 19
lm
from the tunnel point.

All
through the race, Task Group 3.1’s command channel had been a stark contrast to
the silence on
Kite’s
bridge.  A stream of constant encoded messages crossed
between
Avenger
and
Eagle
.  Heskan, as CortRon 15’s commander,
had every right to decode and read them but, after examining the first one, he
had decided the rest would not be relevant to his squadron.  Hurricane Hayes
was at full blow.  His wrath at the fighter pilots’ disobedience was so great
that Heskan was surprised Hayes had not ordered
Avenger
to come about
and rejoin the task group just so he could shoot each pilot himself.  It was
obvious the matter was not closed regarding the “debacle” near Salus.  The
admiral’s persistent ranting disappointed Heskan.  Every ship in the task group
except
Avenger
was risking its crew to avoid leaving Brevic sailors
behind while from the relative safety of
Avenger,
Hayes’ words to
Captain Grey were “heads will roll.”

On
the positive side, Heskan noted,
Avenger
was looking safe.  She would
still pass inside the first Hollaran force’s missile envelope but it appeared
the missiles themselves would not have time to reach their target. 
It’s
still tight,
Heskan thought. 
That quick dash at .22c may have bought
them just enough time to escape.  The strain during that sprint must have been
crushing.  Please don’t break down.

Twenty
minutes later, Captain Grey ordered the task group to reduce speed.  As
Selvaggio slowed
Kite
, she uttered, “There’s no chance we’re going to
beat anyone to the tunnel point anyway.”

Vernay
agreed.  “Very true, Diane.  If we slow up to avoid meeting them at the tunnel
point, the Hollies will still have to send some units through to keep the heat
on Avenger and that should increase our own odds if we fight our way through.”

Looks
like those two are on speaking terms again
, Heskan thought. 
Glad the not-so-civil war is
over.

“Captain,”
Truesworth said, “Eagle says her fighters have been rearmed but they’re waiting
to launch.”

Heskan
acknowledged with a nod as Vernay said, “No point in sending them toward
Avenger since we’re too far to help and there’s no reason to focus attention on
us.  It sure would be nice if they all dove out and left us alone.  That’s not
going to happen but a girl can dream.”

Another
twenty-four minutes passed and
Avenger
, now just 96
ls
from the
tunnel point, entered the edge of the first Hollaran fleet’s missile range. 
Heskan drew Lieutenant Truesworth’s attention.  “Jack, insert a missile attack
from the Hollie first fleet against Avenger on the tactical plot.  I know we
won’t have confirmation for another fifteen minutes but let’s assume they’re
not going to hold their fire.”

“How
many waves, Captain?”

“Just
one,” Heskan replied.  “Avenger is alone and she’ll either beat the missiles to
the tunnel point and dive or be overwhelmed by the first wave and die.”

Minutes
passed and Heskan watched the actual light from the encounter on a fourteen-minute
delay.  The Hollaran fleet had launched a single wave of fifty missiles. 
Heskan believed the fleet could have thrown more at
Avenger
in a single salvo
but its commander had probably decided that fifty was more than enough
overkill. 
Then again
, Heskan hoped,
maybe their damaged ships are
worse off than we thought.

All
eyes on the bridge were glued to the optical of
Avenger
. 
Kite’s
vantage
point gave an impressive view of the huge carrier’s stern and the brightly lit
engines pushing her bulk forward.  Even though he knew it was absurd, Heskan
felt his fingers cross as
Avenger
powered her way toward the tunnel
point. 
Keep pushing.

Another
four minutes and
Kite’s
bridge crew exhaled a collective sigh of relief when
Avenger’s
image wavered fleetingly and disappeared into t-space.  “Score
one for the good guys,” Heskan said as his officers began to cheer.  The
missiles shot at
Avenger
streaked harmlessly past the tunnel point
ninety seconds later.  Thirty minutes after that, the first Hollaran force
approached the tunnel point.

“They’re
rotating and decelerating, Captain,” Truesworth said dejectedly.

Damn
.  Heskan had been secretly hoping
along with Vernay that the Hollaran forces would continue their pursuit of
Avenger
.

“Message
from Eagle,” Truesworth said as he entered the required commands to play the
communique.

“Attention,
Three-One, all units will decelerate to relative rest at the ten light-minute
mark from the tunnel point.  Grey out.”

Selvaggio
confirmed that she had received the proper sailing instructions and prepared
the necessary commands for
Kite’s
navigation section as Heskan worked
his own console. 
Time to make a call
.  He punched in comm requests to
Aspis
and
Tomahawk
.  Both officers answered immediately.

“What’s
the status of your tunnel drive, Tomahawk?”

Grant
shook his head.  “We’re about two hours away.  How much time do we have, sir?”

Let’s
see, ten light-minutes at point two-C is fifty minutes.  There’s no way we’ll
be allowed to park here for more than an hour. 
“Not enough, Lieutenant.  I want
you to prepare your ship’s bays to receive shuttles.  We’re going to transfer
your crew over to the rest of the squadron.”

Heskan
saw the look of shock on the lieutenant’s face.  “We’re going to abandon
Tomahawk?  We can get the drive repaired,” he insisted.

“Look,
…Grant.”  Heskan realized he did not even know the man’s first name.  “Start
with your marine contingent first, you’ll miss them the least.  Then transfer
medical personnel.  At that point, give me another update on your repairs and
we’ll go from there.”

Grant
reluctantly bobbed his head as Heskan continued talking.  “Kelly, I want you to
coordinate among the ships in the squadron and use as many shuttles as we can. 
I don’t know how long we’ll be at zero-C so let’s make use of every minute we have.”

“I’m
on it,” Gary said.

The
channel cut, Heskan pulled up the vital statistics for
Tomahawk
.  A
missile destroyer, her crew complement was slightly less than
Kite’s
. 
How
will we get three hundred twenty-one people off that ship in time?

Heskan
saw Vernay point toward the wall screen.  On the optical, the light units of
the surprise Hollaran fleet were diving out of the system.  The remaining heavy
ships from that fleet were still 3
lm
from the tunnel point.

“Will
they dive too?” Vernay asked.

“Considering
Avenger still has fighters, I think they need to.  Besides, no navy likes to
split a fleet between star systems,” Heskan responded.

A hectic
ten minutes followed as shuttles from CortRon 15 frantically ferried passengers
across space.  Heskan notified Captain Grey of
Tomahawk’s
predicament and,
although she had sympathized, she stressed that her primary concern had to rest
with the entire fleet even at the expense of a single ship.  Shuttles raced
into
Tomahawk’s
bay, were filled to capacity and fled.  Heskan began to believe
that, with a little luck, they might pull off the transfer.

“Incoming
message, Captain.  I’m putting it on screen,” Truesworth alerted.

Confused,
Heskan looked up at the wall screen.  “How can Tomahawk be done with the
medical section so quickly?”

“It’s
not from Tomahawk, sir,” Truesworth replied meekly.

With
a predator’s smile, Komandor Isabella Lombardi’s image appeared.

Lombardi’s
malicious grin was unmistakable as she darkly issued her demands.  Her words were
spoken deliberately, filtering her thick New Roma accent.  “Brevic forces: you
will cease your shuttle activity immediately.  Your ships and crew are now
prisoners of war who will be tried as war criminals for your atrocities
committed against Salus.”  Lines etched deeply around the corners of her
upturned mouth hinted at tension even as white teeth flashed.  “On a personal
note, I have to say that it would just be wonderful if your fleet attempted to
fight its way out of the system so I could personally hand out the justice you
richly deserve.”  Her statement ended with an almost melodic laugh as she
gestured gaily toward one of her officers and the communique blinked out.

Lieutenant
Vernay turned toward Heskan.  “Well, at least she enjoys her job.”

“Captain,”
Truesworth interjected, “Lombardi’s fleet has started moving toward us at point
two-C.”

We’ve
got to recall those shuttles
,
Heskan thought as he punched at his console controls.  “Jack, send a message to
Eagle that I’m abandoning our shuttle efforts.”

Grant
and Gary responded immediately to his comm request.  “Kelly, send any shuttle
in space to the nearest ship and have any shuttle in a hangar hold even if it
isn’t part of that ship’s normal complement,” Heskan barked urgently.  “I also need
an estimate of how long it will take to recover our shuttles.  Send that update
to Eagle when you have it.”  He turned his attention to
Tomahawk’s
acting commander.  “Grant, how far along did we get?”

“We
got all of the marine contingent off and about two-thirds of the medical
section.”

“Good. 
Keep working on that tunnel drive.  I suspect we’ll try to keep our distance
from the Hollie fleet but I have a bad feeling about why they were content to
sit at the tunnel point until we forced their hand.”

“Eight
minutes, Commander,” Gary said.  “We need eight more minutes to land our
shuttles.”

Heskan
nodded an acknowledgment as he ended the transmission.

Vernay
overheard and said, “That’s cutting it close.  By the time we saw Lombardi
move, they were already only eight light-minutes from us.”  She ran her index
finger over her console, drawing vector lines on the screen of her chair arm’s
tactical plot.  “They’ll be only six and a half light-minutes from us in another
eight minutes.”

Just
ninety light-seconds from missile launch range
, Heskan groaned inwardly.

Selvaggio
broke his train of thought.  “Captain, the fleet is getting nav orders to turn
away from the Hollies and sail at point two-C in eight minutes.  Eagle is also
launching her fighters.”

Heskan
nodded and breathed a sigh of relief. 
At least Grey is willing to wait. 
Would Hayes have sacrificed those shuttles “for the good of the fleet?”

The Brevic
shuttles dashed madly for the closest harbor and Heskan watched the optical as
the remaining heavy ships of the Hollaran surprise force reached the tunnel
point.  In sequence, they shimmied and disappeared from normal space.  Five
minutes after their dive, CortRon 15’s shuttle recovery was complete and the eight-ship
Brevic fleet rotated away from the Kale tunnel point, and the Hollarans, and
accelerated.  As predicted, a mere 6.5
lm
separated the two combatants
but the closure rate of the Hollaran fleet diminished to zero as
Eagle
and her consorts matched the Hollaran pace.  After several SEW-5s launched, the
fighters were next at the rate of three per minute.  Roughly half of the two
squadrons’ fighters had taken up positions next to
Eagle
, waiting
patiently at two-tenths the speed of light for the squadrons to fully assemble.

“Well,
that was exciting for a minute,” Vernay said as the tension eased inside
Kite’s
bridge.  “If we can just stay ahead of them, our fighters should be able to
whittle them down.”

Lieutenant
Spencer looked up from the weapons station and added, “It will take a few
strikes since we don’t have many fighters but eventually their point defense
capability will erode and we’ll have them.”

Heskan
examined the tactical plot.  Everything his officers said was true. 
Lombardi’s
force might be able to stop the first two hundred forty odd missiles the
fighters can muster with each attack but they’ll eventually let some through
over time. 
The force already had reduced point defense capability with
half of her escort ships taken from her in the initial fighter missile attack. 
Heskan rubbed his eyes. 
That first attack seems like days ago rather than
hours.  A lot has changed since then.

“They
should’a tried to intercept us instead of racin’ to that tunnel point,” Chief
Brown said to no one in particular.  The chief had been unusually quiet since
Kite
had entered Helike.

Heskan
agreed.  “Yup, that was a mistake.  In fact, it just doesn’t make sense.”

Vernay’s
expression grew heavy with concern as the chief pursued his train of thought. 
“It doesn’t.  We, uh… negate that Hollie carrier at Sponde an’ then we come
here an’ reduce Salus, an’ that komandor—”

“Who
clearly despises us,” Vernay added.

Chief
Brown continued, “—that komandor doesn’t attack.  Instead, she just races to
the tunnel point—”

“Blocking
our escape,” Heskan finished.  Silence pervaded the bridge as each sailor was
lost in thought.

Eventually,
Selvaggio spoke.  “Did she think that the surprise force would engage us?”

“I
doubt it, Diane,” Heskan answered.  “I’m sure they coordinated their actions.”

The
bridge again grew still as Heskan studied the system plot. 
Were they
supposed to act as an anvil?  If so, what would be the hammer?  Are there more
Hollie ships out there? 
“Jack, give me a full sweep with the sensors.  I
know it’s a one-in-a-million chance to be looking at the right spot but
something’s wrong.”

Lieutenant
Truesworth entered the necessary commands into his console. 
Kite’s
sensor suite, along with the advanced Hawkeye optical nacelle, was halfway
through its search when he cried out in alarm, “Incoming message from Eagle,
sir.  They say an Avocet has detected Hollie fighters heading our way.”  He fed
coordinates into
Kite’s
sensors and a grainy optical of Hollaran fighter
craft appeared as the tactical plot updated to reveal the wave, 17
lm
in
front of
Kite
and closing.  The count started at seventy-five but
quickly increased as the Avocet’s sensors picked up additional fighters.  The number
continued to climb as the stronger Brevic fleet’s optics worked their way
through the fighter formation.

“Stacy,
sound battle stations,” Heskan said calmly.

“One
hundred and thirty,” Truesworth said, as the count increased.  “No, one hundred
eighty, it looks like it’s settling in now.  One hundred and eighty-eight
fighters, Captain.”

Four
ASMs per fighter for over seven hundred fifty missiles.  In one wave,
Heskan cringed. 
We can’t
stop that many at once.
  His comm panel beeped at him urgently.

Heskan
opened the channel and said simply, “Yes, Captain Grey?”

“I’m
turning the fleet, Commander.  We’re going to blow our way past that psychopathic
komandor and get the hell out of this system.”

While
Heskan dreaded a missile attack followed by a close range engagement with
Lombardi’s fleet, it was clearly the less dangerous of the two alternatives. 
“Understood, ma’am.”

Grey
seemed to steel herself before she resumed.  “We can’t slow down for
stragglers, Garrett.  Fleet speed is going to remain point two-C no matter
what.”  She paused and then said, “That goes for Eagle as well.  If we lose
some propulsion, I don’t want what’s left of CortRon Fifteen to die with us.”

“Ma’am…”

Grey
shook her head insistently.  “Don’t ‘ma’am’ me, Garrett.  The task group will
proceed at point two toward the tunnel point and dive as soon as it can.  Grey
out.”

Before
Heskan could get a word in, the communication channel died.

“We’re
turning with Eagle, Captain,” Selvaggio announced as she began to bring
Kite
back on course to the tunnel point.

With
Kite’s
new heading and speed, the closure rate of the Hollaran fighters
dropped to .1
c
even as the closure rate between Task Group 3.1 and
Lombardi’s ships rose dramatically. 
We’re safe from those fighters now
,
Heskan thought while monitoring
Eagle’s
progress in her fighter launch. 
They needed another five minutes. 
So long as we keep our speed up, those
Hollie fighters won’t catch us before we dive.
 His eyes tracked to
Lombardi’s fleet.  The nine-ship fleet was a rag-tag band of survivors.  The
fleet’s missile defense had been culled to one fully functional escort
destroyer, one damaged escort destroyer and an escort frigate.  Accompanying
them were six battle-line units: Lombardi’s own damaged heavy cruiser, a
damaged light cruiser and destroyer, two fully functional light cruisers and an
undamaged destroyer.

Although
no CortRon commander relished coming under missile attack, Heskan knew the odds
in this engagement favored his fleet. 
They’ll throw between two and three
hundred missiles at us per wave.  We can stop that, plus they don’t have full
magazines because we chased off their supply ships.
  Heskan quickly tapped
the symbol of the Hollaran heavy cruiser on the console by his right hand. 
Immediately, technical data popped up next to the symbol comprising all of the information
from Brevic spy reports and previous engagements with that specific class of ship. 
Abath class heavy cruiser.  One hundred twenty missile launchers, twenty-two
heavy Issic laser batteries and twenty quad GP lasers
.  The Issic heavy
lasers would be a problem.  Heskan quickly opened the technical data for the
light cruisers. 
Forty-five missile launchers, fourteen heavy lasers, ten dual
GPs.
  The destroyers carried thirty missile launchers and eight heavy
lasers.

Vernay,
who had been conducting the same examination, said, “Now I know how those
ketches felt.”

Heskan
closed his eyes as he recalled
Anelace
lithely dancing around the pirate
ketch,
Raptor
, in Skathi.  His ship had stayed inside her mass driver’s
range while skirting the ketch’s shorter ranged lasers to devastating effect.  Finally,
he said, “With the ten light-second range of those heavy lasers, we’ll only be
able to respond with our RSLs.”

“The
fleet has only thirty-five that we can bring to bear in the same direction,”
Spencer despaired.

Chief
Brown responded gruffly, “That’s right, L-T.  We’re outgunned over two to one,
which are a helleva lot better odds than if we didn’t have those RSLs. 
Besides, we aren’t lookin’ to scrap with ‘em, just sail past ‘em.”

“Stacy,”
Heskan asked, “how long of an engagement window are we looking at?”

Vernay
looked down as she calculated.  “My guess is maybe thirty seconds, plus or
minus a few to get past them and out of heavy laser range.”  Vernay paused
again and then looked over toward Heskan.  “You know, sir—”

“Missile
launch detected, sir,” Truesworth exclaimed.  “Numbers coming shortly.”

Time
had gotten away from him. 
Get in the game, Heskan
.  He quickly sorted
through the CortRon’s formation options on his chair arm console.  The CortRon
would have to maneuver to place itself ahead of
Eagle
and he could
change the current diamond formation during that maneuver if desirable.  The
addition of a likely heavy laser engagement made square the more attractive
choice since one side of the square might pass outside of heavy laser range
rather than just one corner of the diamond. 
With dedicated escort frigates,
square makes sense but how will Grey maneuver the fleet?  Surely we aren’t just
going straight through them
.  He chastised himself,
More time lost.  Instead
of leisurely talking with my crew, I should have been coordinating with Captain
Grey. 
Heskan quickly called over to
Eagle
.

“I’m
a little busy, Commander Heskan.”  The tension in Grey’s voice came through his
console’s speakers loud and clear.  “No, Aiston, as soon as they’re all off our
decks I want them to launch their missiles and go in for strafing runs.”

“Sorry
for the interruption, ma’am,” Heskan apologized.  “Which direction will you
veer our fleet to avoid the Hollies?”

Grey
ignored the question as she continued her other discussion.  “I don’t know,
Aiston.  As many as it takes.  Tell them to keep strafing until we’re out of
heavy weapons range.  What did you say, Garrett?”

“Captain,”
Vernay waved at Heskan to get his attention.  Heskan look at Vernay and mouthed,
What?
  He then said into his mic, “Captain Grey, I need to know what
direction you are going to turn to try to avoid the Hollies.  We aren’t going
in dumb, are we?”  He winced as he immediately regretted his word choice.