Alarm of War, Book II: The Other Side of Fear (48 page)

The hologram collapsed.

Everyone in the conference room looked at each other.  "Do we believe him?" Queen Anne asked harshly.  "Our planet is in ruins and he tells us it could have been worse?"

"Your Majesty," Hiram Brill said evenly, "it
could
have been worse.  They could have made the entire planet uninhabitable for centuries to come.  But even if we take him at face value, the real question is whether we push on to attack the Dominion or stay here and try to build up Cornwall's defenses."

Queen Anne looked coldly at Hiram, then relented a bit and turned her gaze to Admiral Douthat and Captain Eder.  "Are our forces strong enough to attack?"

Captain Eder started to shake his head, but Admiral Douthat said, "Yes, Majesty, we can launch an attack within three days."  Eder shot her an incredulous look, but said nothing.

"And how long would it take us to build up a credible line of defense?" Sir Henry asked gruffly.

Admiral Douthat pursed her lips.  "Two to three years if most of our industrial base has survived the strikes against Cornwall.  Five years if the industrial base is badly damaged or destroyed, maybe six."

Sir Henry snorted derisively.  "More like ten."

Queen Anne rose to her feet.  "It seems every time I meet with you, Admiral, we are rolling the dice with the fate of Victoria in the balance.  Let us strive to make this the last time.  Admiral Douthat, you have my permission to launch an attack on Dominion space.  I wish you Gods' speed."

* * * *

Two hours later Admiral Douthat and Captain Eder sat across from Emily Tuttle and Hiram Brill.  Emily waited patiently for Douthat to start.  Hiram looked distracted.  Admiral Douthat looked at them both and scowled.   “You both know that Queen Anne has given us the go-ahead for an attack on the Dominion home world.”  She jerked a thumb at Captain Eder, who sat expressionless beside her.  “For reasons I don’t entirely understand, Captain Eder here has urged me to allow the two of you to review the proposed attack plan.  Have you completed your review?”

Emily and Hiram exchanged a glance and then nodded.  The attack plan had been prepared by a committee of the cruiser and destroyer captains, primarily drawn from the Queen’s Own Guard for the simple reason that it was the most intact of the old battle groups.  The fact that it was the most intact, however, also meant that it had seen the least action and was, relative to the remnants of either the Coldstream Guards or the Black Watch, less experienced and less knowledgeable.

“Well?” Douthat asked, an edge in her voice.

“It is a very solid, traditional Fleet attack plan,” Emily offered.

“Very traditional,” Hiram echoed.

Douthat looked from Hiram to Emily, then turned to Eder, started to say something, but changed her mind and turned back to Emily and Hiram again.  “You don’t like it,” she said flatly.  “Why not?”

“It’s not a bad plan,” Hiram explained, “for a barroom brawl.  Oh, there is a good chance we’ll win, but use that plan and we’ll suffer significant losses.  And then we’ll be sitting ducks – no pun intended – for the Tilleke when they kick the door in.”

“We need to fight one war at a time,” Douthat said coldly.

“Perhaps,” Hiram conceded.  “But while we may fight only one war, we damn well better
plan
for two or the Tillies will clean our clock when they come in.”  He gestured to the tablet.  “This plan will result in a third or more of our ships getting shot to pieces.  We can still beat the Dominion, maybe, but even if we win we will be helpless when the Tillies come in, guns blazing.”

Douthat glanced at Eder.  Eder nodded once.  She sighed.  She had written a good part of that plan, knowing it wasn’t what they needed but not being able to come up with anything better.  Captain Eder had tried to be diplomatic, but it was clear he didn’t like it, either.  Now these two
young
officers…   Well, it was galling, that’s what it was. 

“What do we need?” Douthat asked sourly. 

Emily smiled and leaned forward.  “We want to win without losing too many ships.  We think we can do that if we do three things.” 

She explained what they were. When she finished, Admiral Douthat stared at her.  “How do you propose to achieve those three things?” she asked skeptically.

“We have ideas how to accomplish the first two,” Emily replied.

“And the third?” Douthat probed.

Emily shook her head.  “I don’t have any idea,” she admitted, but then smiled.  “But I think Queen Anne might.”

* * * *

Three days were spent in frantic rearming and repairs.  Missile racks were filled, laser cannon repaired and calibrated, laser turrets replaced, new crews were brought on board from Cornwall and anti-missile defenses restocked.  On the second day, two carriers from Refuge arrived, carrying a total of seventy-five new gunboats.  They did not have crews, but Emily had been scouring the Victorian Navy for suitable pilots, gunners and System Operators and had them in simulators around the clock.

Near the end of the third day, there were two meetings.  One was held in secret.

The first meeting was held in the conference room aboard the battleship H.M.S.
Lionheart,
and the table was crowded with holograms, tablets, empty coffee cups and tired, disgruntled people.  The most senior in rank was Admiral Alyce Douthat, First Sea Lord and Commander of Her Majesty’s Fleet, such as it was. The most junior officer was Ensign Lori Romano, formerly Specialist 4 (Artificial Intelligence Systems).  Romano was the first ensign in the Fleet in three hundred years, a rank re-instated by Admiral Douthat for those Specialists and NCOs elevated to officer rank but who had not graduated from the Academy.

Douthat looked exhausted and worried.  Romano looked exhausted, worried and terrified at being in the same room with the august persons around her.

Admiral Douthat rapped on the table to get everyone’s attention.  “Okay, all of you have the outline of the plan.  It hinges on two things: first, the location of the Dominion battleship
Vengeance;
and second, the operational status of the transporter systems.”  She looked to Captain Eder.

Eder nodded.  “The Ducks have split their forces.  The bulk of their fleet is in high orbit around Timor.  They know we have a back way in, but they don’t know where it is, so they are worried we could attack from anywhere.  The Owls we left behind report that they’ve got a battleship and approximately forty-five other ships positioned around Timor.  There are two or three heavy cruisers near the MOP Works, but the MOP Works is close enough to Timor that they could rapidly reinforce from the planet if it looked like the shipyard was our primary target.

“The Ducks have left a picket line at the Victoria-Dominion wormhole.  That is comprised of five destroyers, several frigates, one cruiser and –” Eder smiled down the table – “they have reinforced it with the battleship
Vengeance.
  As of one hour ago, the
Vengeance
was still there.”

Admiral Douthat turned toward Ensign Romano, who squirmed uncomfortably in her seat.  “Relax, Romano, although you are the junior officer, you are the expert on the Tilleke transporter devices and we all are relying on you.  You know what we’re planning.  Can the transporters do it?  Do we have enough of them?  Are they reliable?”

Romano took two deep breaths to steady herself.  “Yes, Ma’am.   Well, I guess you all know we used the transporters to attack the prison ship
Tartarus.
  They worked flawlessly.  I think it was because we reduced the maximum number of people being transported from forty to thirty so we wouldn’t overload-“

Sitting across from her, Emily cleared her throat and raised her eyebrows.  Romano flushed, then stammered on.  “Yes, well the important thing is that they worked.  So the next thing is the number of platforms.  We’ve been building them and now we have a total of fifteen transporter stealth ships, patterned on the little Tilleke vessels we captured at the beginning of the war.  We also have transporters in half of our ships, two in the
Lionheart,
two in the cruisers and-“

“Ensign,” Douthat interrupted.  “The last time we attacked the
Vengeance,
we were unable to send a second wave of Marines.  Has that problem been fixed?”

“Oh, yes, Ma’am.  Absolutely.”

“Good,” Douthat looked to Emily.

“If I might ask Ensign Romano a quick question?” Emily asked.  Douthat eyed the voluble Ensign for a moment, then nodded reluctantly.

“Ensign Romano, is there something else you wanted to tell us all about the transporter system?” Emily asked.

Romano frowned in puzzlement.

“About the
improvement
you made to the transporter system?” Emily prodded.

“Yes, Ma’am!” Romano said, finally understanding.  “Ah, I couldn’t get over why the transporters would not transport metal or anything explosive, so I kept poking around in the design and finally realized that it was
designed
not to.  It’s not a limitation of the physics; rather it appears that the Emperor did not want his Savak commandoes to have the
ability
to transport with heavier weapons.”  She stopped, smiling broadly.  Admiral Douthat and Captain Eder looked at her blankly.  Emily sighed.

“What Ensign Romano is saying is that she has removed the design limitation from the transporters so that now we can send our soldiers through the transporter with their normal weapons and armor, including energy weapons and battle helmets,” Emily explained.

“Yes, exactly!” Romano exclaimed.

Rafael Eitan leaned forward.  “Admiral, this will give us an enormous advantage when we go in, not only in terms of raw firepower, but command and control as well.  It’s a huge help.”

Admiral Douthat nodded at Romano.  “Ensign, thank you for your contribution.  You are dismissed to attend to your other duties.”   With a greatly relieved expression, Romano hurried from the room.  Admiral Douthat shook her head.  “I swear I don’t understand half of what she says.  Will those damn transporters really work the way she says they will?”

Emily and Captain Eder both nodded.  “They worked just fine when we took the
Tartarus
,” Eder replied.

“She’s very capable,” Emily said reassuringly.  “She just requires some translation now and then.”

Admiral Douthat stood.  “You know what you have to do.  Brother Jong assures me that twenty-four hours will be sufficient.  As we go forward with this, remember that the Dominion killed twenty-five
million
of our fellow Victorians.  Innocent civilians. You are dismissed. ”

While Admiral Douthat was holding her meeting, Queen Anne and Sir Henry met with Brother Jong.

“You know they’re coming,” she said to Jong.

“Of course, Majesty,” he replied solemnly.

“And Abbot Cornelia?”

Jong bowed his head.  “We have a common foe, Majesty.  I believe the phrase from Old Earth is that ‘we can either stand together or hang alone.’”

Queen Anne sat back in her chair, glancing once at Sir Henry, who nodded minutely.  “Brother Jong, I have placed a destroyer at your disposal.”

“Then, Majesty, with your permission, I shall depart at once.”  He paused briefly, then added, “I regret that Queen Beatrice did not live to see you in this role, Majesty.  She would have been very proud.”  He smiled at her, nodded briefly to Sir Henry and left the room.

When Jong was gone, Sir Henry shifted his seat and looked at the Queen.   “I hope we can trust the little bastard,” he said sourly.

The Queen smiled wearily.  “We can, but it is still a long shot.”  She shrugged.  “We just don’t have enough ships.”

Sir Henry offered her his arm.  “Your Majesty, perhaps we might order some wine, go to the Command Center and watch the war?”

Queen Anne took his arm.  “Tell me, Sir Henry, with lines like that, did you have trouble getting dates as a younger man?”

Chapter 46

The Attack on Dominion Space

Fifty missiles shot through the wormhole, locked on the Dominion destroyers five hundred miles away and streaked towards them.  The three destroyers began to shoot chaff and jamming pods and saturated the space around them with anti-missile lasers and shot, but it was too late.  Ten missiles were destroyed or spoofed, but with a solid lock on their targets, the rest accelerated and struck the destroyers within a moment.  One of the three destroyers managed to turn and limp away trailing air and chunks of its hull, but the other two broke up under the onslaught.

The battle for Dominion space had begun.

Sensor drones had been mixed in with the attack missiles, and after thirty seconds they dutifully turned and raced back through the wormhole to Victorian space.  Emily blinked in delighted surprise when she saw the quick hits on the three destroyers.  Second line troops, she thought, to sit so close to the wormhole like that.  But she would take what she could get, cheap shot or no.  A dead enemy was a dead enemy.

The sensor report also revealed two more destroyers a thousand miles out, along with a handful of frigates.  In the deep background, they could dimly make out the emission signatures of two Dominion cruisers and the battleship
Vengeance.

A moment later the second wave of missiles erupted through the wormhole, this time targeting the half dozen ships at the thousand mile range.  Behind the missiles came the carriers
Rabat
and
Haifa
, which launched their gunboats, turned and dove back into the wormhole to Victoria.  Sixty grogin gunboats formed up in squadrons and spread out, making a wide detour around the Dominion warships at the thousand mile range.  They had bigger game in mind.

The Dominion ships reacted with a fusillade of missiles and laser beams, but the gunboats were small and the emissions and debris from the earlier explosions wrought havoc with the Dominion sensors.  There were no hits on the gunboats, and soon the Dominion destroyers and frigates had more pressing concerns.

The fourth and fifth waves followed immediately.  In the fourth wave the two new carriers from Refuge –
Rishon
and
Ashdod –
slipped through the wormhole and launched more gunboats and, mixed in with them, fifteen Krait-class transporter ships.  The krait ships immediately went to stealth and swung around to follow the gunboats that had gone before.  The new gunboats, all with inexperienced pilots, drew up in sloppy formations and went over the “top” of the Dominion warships at the thousand mile circle.  They were new, bunched too close together and the Dominions could track them with little difficulty.  Missiles reached out and caught some of the gunboats on the periphery.  Emily watched it all through the sensor drones.  Sending the newbies straight over the Dominion destroyers had been a cold-hearted decision on her part.  It sickened her and satisfied her in equal parts. 

The new gunboats were bait, intending to serve as a distraction while she positioned her real forces.  While she didn’t want to lose any of her new pilots, she simply couldn’t afford to lose her experienced pilots.  She had strong assets and weak assets; if she had to, she would sacrifice the weak assets to preserve and maximize the strong ones.  It was a terrible calculus, measured in lives, but one that had been used by generals long before Hannibal crossed the Alps.

So why did she feel so guilty?  Or did she feel bad because she did not feel guilty enough?

The Victorian fifth wave included six destroyers.  It could have included two cruisers as well, but Emily held them back.  She wanted to lure in the big fish, not scare them away.  She sweetened the bait by sending in one of the carriers, the
Rabat.  
The
Haifa, Rishon and Ashdod
stayed back in Victorian space, along with the
Meknes.

Intent on shooting the last wave of gunboats, the Dominion destroyers ignored the new wave of Victorian warships a few minutes longer than they should have.  The Victorians opened up with laser fire, scoring hits that finally got the Ducks’ attention.  The Ducks, of course, had no way of knowing that the Victorian laser fire had been powered down and was not at full strength.  The Duck destroyers survived the initial laser barrage and fell back, calling for help from their big brothers.

Loitering at the twenty thousand mile mark, two Dominion cruisers and the oversized battleship
Vengeance
heard the call for help and sped off at full military speed.  The ships had a combined closing speed in excess of thirty thousand miles per hour and the distance shrank rapidly.

Emily watched it all.  Now it was all about position and timing. She needed to threaten the Duck destroyers and frigates enough to bring in the big guys, but she couldn’t get too far from the wormhole entrance or risk being overrun and annihilated. 

What could possibly go wrong?
she thought ruefully.  As if reading her mind, Alex Rudd grinned at her from across the bridge and waggled his eyebrows.

The time ticked down.  “We are within missile range of the battleship,” Chief Gibson warned her.  “The only reason they’re not firing is because they probably don’t have a firm lock on us. It’s possible the Duck destroyers are masking us.” 

“The Duck ships are coming in hard,” Tobias Partridge reported.  “Still accelerating.  The two cruisers are starting to pull away from the battleship, maybe a sixty second separation.  Clear laser range within less than fifteen minutes.”

“Where are the new gunboat squadrons?” Emily asked.  She was staring at the hologram battle display, at the icon for the Dominion battleship
Vengeance.
  That damned ship had chased them clear across Victorian space to the Refuge wormhole and had destroyed well over a dozen Victorian warships.  It had caused the sacrifice of Cookie.  It was silly to hate inanimate objects, but Emily hated that ship.

“Presently in between the two Dominion destroyers and the two cruisers and the battleship,” Chief Gibson said.

“And the first gunboats from
Haifa
and
Rabat?”

Alex Rudd was monitoring the battle display.  “They have all gone quiet, but they should be astride the path
Vengeance
will take to come to the support of the Duck destroyers.”  He looked up, grinning evilly.  “Perfect place for an ambush.”

“And the krait transporter craft?” Emily asked.  They were the key.  She had the stray thought that she had to find a better name for the little transporter ships than ‘krait.’  ‘Krait’ was what the Tilleke called their transporter ships.  She pushed the thought aside, glancing up at the countdown timer Mildred was running. 

“Mildred estimates they are in position,” Chief Gibson told her.

And the Gods help us if they aren’t,
Emily thought.

Two minutes and counting.  Emily’s hand was not trembling, but she had to repress the impulse to sit on it anyway.  Chief Gibson and Toby Partridge were looking intently at their monitors, but Rudd was grinning like a fool.  He really enjoyed this razzle-dazzle stuff.

She opened the command comm to the six Victorian destroyers.  “Fifteen seconds to Phase One!”  She watched the clock, even though she knew Mildred would automatically warn her when the time had elapsed.

“Phase One, execute!”

The six destroyers each fired all of their lasers, then all of their missiles, all targeted on the Dominion destroyers and frigates at the thousand mile range.  Then they reloaded and fired again.  The lasers were at full strength this time and the missiles followed them in.  Two enemy frigates succumbed immediately, blinking off the holo display.  The Duck destroyers had time to return fire, then began to fire chaff and jammers.  They ran for the safety of the Dominion cruisers and battleship coming fast towards them.

As the second wave of missiles reached the enemy ships, the Victorian destroyers reloaded once more and fired another wave of sixty missiles.  One of the enemy destroyers staggered as it was hit by several missiles, then began to slowly tumble along its long axis.  Another frigate vanished in a fireball, but the remaining enemy frigates and the destroyer seemed unscathed.  The two cruisers and the battleship continued to come in hard and fast.  Now laser beams reached out for the Victorian destroyers and the recon drones reported missile launches.

Time to run, thought Emily.

“Phase Two!  Phase Two!” she ordered.

Immediately the six Victorian destroyers made wide, sweeping turns to reverse their course and thin out the enemy’s incoming fire.  They dumped chaff and fired decoys that exactly mimicked Victorian destroyers, then accelerated to full military power and headed for the wormhole entrance, pursued by dozens of Duck missiles.  One of the destroyers unmasked itself as a new “Hedgehog Class” destroyer and began methodically shooting enemy missiles, but there were a lot of them.

“Phase Three!” Emily said.

Two things happened in quick succession.  First, the
Rishon
and
Ashdod
gunships turned and swooped down on the Dominion cruiser nearest the Victorian destroyers.  Next, the
Rabat
gunships targeted the second cruiser.

All hell broke loose as the Dominion cruisers suddenly realized they were being swarmed by vicious, small attack craft that seemed to be firing an inordinate amount of missiles and lasers.  The two cruiser captains, hard, experienced men not given to panic, broke off their attack on the fleeing Victorians destroyers and activated their close-in anti-missile defenses.  This had little effect on the
Rabat
grogin, who had kept a prudent distance from their target, but the new gunboats attacking the first cruiser suffered badly.  Meanwhile the Dominion battleship
Vengeance
came into close laser range and began blasting the gunboats from the rear.  The attack on the first cruiser began to falter as first one, then five, then two dozen gunboats exploded after being hit by laser or anti-missile fire.  The
Rabat
gunboats, being more widely dispersed, fared somewhat better, but they were caught between two fires and soon they would have to break off.

The two cruisers and battleship were focusing entirely on the gunboats. 
Good
, Emily thought.

“Phase Four!  Now!”

Onboard the carrier
Rabat
, Colonel Tamari of Her Majesty’s Fleet Marines thumbed the comm.  He uttered one word: “Go!”  Fifteen stealthed krait-class transporter ships activated their transporters and beamed four hundred and fifty heavily armed Fleet Marines and Refuge Long Range Reconnaissance troops to designated spots on the enemy battleship.

The
Vengeance
never saw it coming.

* * * *

“Goddammit!”  Rafael Eitan had hoped to materialize on the bridge of the
Vengeance.
    He looked around at the high walls lined with industrial sized shelves, filled with boxes and crates. This sure as hell wasn’t the bridge.  He checked his HUD display and could see a large number of Victorian and Refuge soldiers scattered throughout the ship.  He flipped through the channels – as a commander he could access any unit’s communications – and found that about half the units were already in contact and some were under heavy fire.  He also realized that almost none of the teams had ended up where they were supposed to, a snafu he’d have to take up with Ensign Romano once they managed to take control of this big bitch of a ship.

And it was a
big
ship.  The assault force was scattered over thirty different decks in a ship over a thousand yards long.

Sergeant Maimon walked through the rapidly melting snow to where Rafael stood.  “Looks like the usual cock-up, sir,” he said cheerfully.  He glanced around the storage room.  “What do you think, Captain, should we take inventory or go find some little Ducks to kill?”

Rafael grinned despite himself.  “Let’s go find someone who might give us directions, Sergeant.  How far away can the bridge be?” 

There were thirty Refuge Long Range Reconnaissance troopers, an entire krait’s worth, and they went up both sides of the passageway.  The last five men walked backwards, constantly checking their rear.  Far off they could catch snatches of gunfire and shouting, sometimes followed by screams, sometimes by silence.  Captain Eitan walked in the center of the group – his job was to be more than a rifleman.  As he walked he kept an eye out for any signs that might tell him where he was and at the same time kept checking his heads-up display to see what was going on with the other teams.  There were four companies on the
Vengeance,
three Refuge Long Range Recon and one of Victorian Fleet Marines.  Rafael’s company had three platoons, which were labeled on his HUD. He quickly spoke with each of his three platoon leaders.  One was already in contact and under heavy fire.  He directed the other platoon, which was the closest, to move that way and give support.  He watched his HUD until he saw that the second platoon was moving in the right direction, then turned his attention back to the platoon he was embedded in.