Loyalty to the Cause (TCOTU, Book 4) (This Corner of the Universe) (40 page)

“Attention,
all sections,” a sedate voice called out over the command channel.  “This is Commander
Nguyen.”  Heskan knew Nguyen was the captain of the brig,
Hawk
, and now
the vanguard’s acting commander.  “All ships in the flotilla are to set a
course away from the enemy and strike their lights.  We will reform at Point
Alpha where I will negotiate our surrender and agree to IaCom’s terms of
victory.  All section commanders acknowledge.”

Heskan’s
jaw dropped at the news. 
One pass and that’s it?
he thought
incredulously.  His eyes turned to an astonished Vernay. 
If we surrender,
it will be up to Wallace to honor our contract.  We’ll lose everything.

“Order
acknowledged,” Commander Tannault, now the main section’s commander, confirmed.

Heskan
studied the flotilla status display. 
We can still fight,
he thought. 
Why
are we giving up?
  Images of
Anelace
doggedly clawing toward
Blackheart
flickered through his mind, causing Heskan’s pulse to pound.  The memory of CortRon-15’s
brutal but successful dash past the Hollaran fleet during its escape to the Kale
tunnel point made him grit his teeth.  He pounded his chair arm and looked
around the bridge.  “We’re not giving up,” he resolved.

Heskan
inhaled deeply and then activated the command channel.  “This is Captain Heskan
of the rearguard.  No.”

Seconds
passed before Nguyen’s disbelieving response came back.  “No?  Who the hell do
you think you are—”

Nguyen’s
words were lost as Heskan fired back, “I don’t think, I
know
!  This is
Captain
Heskan and I am now the ranking officer of this fleet.  Any ship captain that
breaks the line without proper authorization will be
shot
after this
battle!”  He was pretty sure he did not have that authority but realized he
needed to make a stand.

“Captain,”
Tannault pleaded, “be reasonable.  We’re too damaged and too disorganized…”

Heskan
ignored the man and ordered, “The van will come to course two-seven-eight, same
plane, immediate execute.  Fleet speed is point two-one-C.  All other sections will
maintain line ahead formation and follow the van.  Expect course and speed
change in three minutes.”  He stared at the tactical plot. 
That will buy us
a little more time. 
Heskan mentally prepared himself for his upcoming speech. 
To his left, he heard Vernay encourage, “Make it a good one, sir.”

“To
all ship commanders, this is the fleet commander, Captain Heskan.  Sade’s treachery
must not be rewarded.  We were waylaid on that first pass and we lost many
people precious to us, but I swear to you that we are not defeated.  We
understand now that this won’t be the bloodless encounter we were all hoping for,
but aren’t your homes and the Seshafian way of life worth a drop of blood?” 
His voice took on a hard edge of emotion.  “And could you really trust your lives
to the man who just murdered his long-time friend in cold blood?  Think about
your family.  Think about surrendering and going home to look into the faces of
the people who counted on you to protect them.  Will you be able to tell them
you gave it all you had?”

Heskan
watched the tactical display as Wallace’s flotilla fully came about.  His ships
were beginning to tack toward the Seshafian fleet once again.  Heskan said
plaintively, “If you quit now, you’ll never forgive yourself.  Give me one pass
and then you can decide if you want to surrender.  We still have a fleet.  Only
one ship is completely out of the fight.  Doesn’t your family, your home,
deserve a second pass?”  Inspiration struck Heskan.  “Would Admiral Cooke have
surrendered Seshafi to Wallace after a single pass?  Don’t we owe him more than
that?  Each of us has a chance to give him a legacy of honor.”

Silence
pervaded the communications channel.  Finally, Commander Nguyen’s impassioned
plea sounded over the bridge speakers, “But, Captain, my section can’t
withstand another pounding from their van.”

Heskan’s
eyes swept over each person on his bridge.  His heart ached as he knew what he
had to do.  Slowly, he nodded to himself.  “It won’t have to, Commander.  All
ship captains, execute immediate one hundred and eighty degree rotation.  Make
your speed point two-five-C, continue line ahead formation.  My section is now
the van.”

“Sir,”
Lieutenant Hall asked meekly, “are you really taking us against a ship of the
line?”

“We
faced worse on our last ‘vette,” Vernay confidently answered for him.

No,
we didn’t,
Heskan
thought pessimistically.
  Blackheart only had two missile ports to bear on
us and we never faced her lasers.  This fourth-rate we’ll go up against,
Courageux, can salvo three missiles and has twin heavy lasers, two dual GP
laser mounts and a quad GP.  That’s eight GP lasers total on their broadside
plus the heavies.  This ship is a much different animal than a pirate-converted
passenger liner.

Hall’s
eyes darted nervously to Vernay.  “Where is your last ‘vette now, ma’am?”

Truesworth
brought the optical over
Courageux
.  Although sailing briskly, she was
not without damage sustained from her first pass.  All the missile launchers
appeared functional but a nasty scar carved through her aft heavy laser
emplacement.  Additionally, her forward dorsal dual GP mount looked smashed.

Six
functional GPs plus a heavy laser,
Heskan estimated. 
Not to mention her—

“Vampires,”
Truesworth warned.

Hall
eyed his console and confirmed, “Sixty light-seconds out and headed this way,
Captain.” 
Elathra
began to paint inverted “v” missile symbols on the
tactical plot.

Heskan
knew the actual missiles were much closer given the time lag waiting for the
light of their launch to reach
Elathra
.  He stared at his fleet and
reflected on his workload before turning toward his first officer with a roguish
grin.  “Commander, you’re ready for this.  I need you to fight the ship while I
plan the fleet’s overall maneuvers.”

Vernay
seemed momentarily stunned by his request but after mentally shaking herself,
sprang into action.  “Diane, I want our starboard broadside for point defense
and then spin us into the forward firing arc during the actual pass.”

Not
waiting for acknowledgment, she turned to her weapons officer.  “Lieutenant
Hall, rig the starboard carronades and GP for immediate point defense; those
missiles are only about thirty light-seconds from us.  You’re helping Thomas with
the starboard GP turret.  I’m assisting the carronades.”  Hall gave her a quick
nod as she continued instruction.  “During our firing run, Mark, you’ve got to
make sure Thomas gets off more GP shots than he did on our first pass.  That
was disgraceful.  I’ll be assuming direct control over the port particle
cannon.”  She quickly set to work at her first officer’s arm console while
speaking encouragingly into her mic.  “Not a single missile gets past us,
boys.”

At
his own chair, Heskan reviewed the tactical situation.  The fleets would pass
near each other within four minutes at a combined closure speed of .25c.  That
suited Heskan fine as he wanted to keep the time spent inside weapons range to
a minimum.  His fleet was now clearly outmatched and extended time inside the
knife-fighting range of GP lasers would only cut his forces to ribbons.  He was
evaluating his next fleet maneuver when Admiral Wallace’s voice came over the
general channel.

“I
rather expected to receive your surrender by now.  Even though I understand
that your chain of command has been decimated, you’ve had more than adequate
time to strike your lights.  Will the commander of the Seshafian forces please
indicate their intent to yield so we can forego additional, unnecessary
destruction?”

Heskan
quickly ordered over the Seshafian fleet command channel, “All ships, maintain
point two-C, stay in line ahead, flagship is Elathra.  Follow the vanguard
section.  Heskan out.”  He closed the channel and instructed, “Diane, Z angle
plus sixteen and tack starboard three degrees.”  His hope was to cross parallel
to the enemy but angled upward to reduce exposure.

Finally,
Heskan worked his comm controls and casually answered Wallace, “This is Captain
Garrett Heskan, Admiral.  I’m commanding the Seshafian fleet now and I haven’t
the foggiest idea why I would surrender when this battle has only begun.”

Forty
seconds later, Heskan heard Wallace’s ill-tempered reply.  “For heaven’s sake,
man, you’ve been beaten.  Be a good gentleman and admit to it.  Do we really
need to reduce our forces to scrap when we both know the inevitable outcome? 
This is not how we fight, privateer.”

Everything about
their combat smacks of limiting damage and casualties,
Heskan thought.  He let his voice
turn menacing as he answered.

*  *  *

The
privateer’s response reached Wallace twenty seconds later.

“You’re
going to have to earn it, Admiral.”  The brash ruffian’s voice turned sour.  “I
won’t let you take this system for free and your tactics have hardly been
gentlemanly.  Neither shall mine be.  Your ships are going to be destroyed and
your men are going to die if you want Seshafi.  And I promise that you’re
personally going to receive a most explicit demonstration on how
I’m
willing
to fight.”

Wallace
felt himself stiffen at the barbarian’s taunt.  Hands curled into fists as he
rose from his command chair.  “How dare that man!  How dare he have the gall to
suggest that
he
could instruct
me
in the art of war!”  He turned
to his assistant strategist.  “Damien, inform Courageux that I want nothing
larger than dust left of Elathra after this pass.”

The
man nodded timidly and looked hesitantly down at the holographic tactical
display.  “My lord, we’re risking severe damage to Formidable with a second
pass,” he observed.

Wallace sighed.  “It
can’t be helped, Damien.  The entire main may suffer but the cost to that
privateer’s forces will be far greater.”  Wallace tugged at his service coat’s
sleeves.  “We’ll see who instructs whom,” he muttered angrily.

*  *  *

“Missiles
nearing point defense range.”  Hall’s voice broke slightly as his trepidation resonated
inside Petty Officer Third Class Lee Thomas’ shocksuit helmet.  Nine
light-seconds from
Elathra
, the first salvo of three Javelin-IX missiles
streaked toward the snow at .44
c
.  Behind the trio, another group was
closing from 18
ls
away.  Twenty light-seconds behind that group, a fresh
trinity of missiles burst forth from
Courageux’s
open missile ports
before containment fields snapped over the apertures to commence the forty-five
second reload sequence.

Thomas
fixated on his gunner’s screen with a savage grin.  His dual GP laser mount was
uncannily similar to
Anelace’s
and that threatened to drive him to
distraction. 
The situation is different,
he told himself. 
I was a
wet-behind-the-ears gunner back then.  Now, I’m a war veteran who specializes
in point defense.
  He stared at the missile under his sights.  Originally,
the missile was designated as “Missile #2” on his targeting console.  However,
after Commander Vernay sorted out point defense, he noticed the moniker of all
of the incoming missiles changed to “Vampires.”  His missile, Vampire Bravo,
had been firmly locked by his targeting software for nearly eleven seconds.  As
the missile pierced into his 5
ls
weapons envelope, his turret released
twin streams of charged energy.

The burst
from the laser mount spanned the distance in four seconds and Thomas was
rewarded with a pulse of light on his console indicating the missile’s
negation.  The remaining two missiles, vampires Alpha and Charlie, survived
only slightly longer. 
Elathra’s
starboard carronades possessed a
pathetic 3
ls
range but compensated with a nearly doubled rate of fire.
Both missiles blinked out of existence before closing to within 2
ls
of
Elathra
.

Thomas’ eyes moved up
the screen to his next designated quarry.

*  *  *

Behind
the bridge’s WEPS console, Lieutenant Hall pumped his fist at the successful
defense.  The initial call of incoming missiles sent shivers down his spine, amplified
by the dread of many more, unseen missiles streaking toward him.  The situation
initially paralyzed him with fear.  No brig in the Seshafian Navy had ever
completely defended itself against a missile attack from a ship of the line,
let alone a mere snow.  In fact, in those unmoving seconds, Hall had been
unable to think of even a single instance where a snow placed against a ship of
the line did not immediately surrender.

The
smooth professionalism of
Elathra’s
first officer after being handed the
ship by Captain Heskan was not only reassuring but also surprising.  In recent
history, no Seshafian captain had ever turned over his command to a
subordinate.  The reasoning was simple; if the ship’s captain was
incapacitated, then the ship itself was too damaged to continue the fight.  The
utter confidence Vernay displayed when assuming control made Hall wonder if
such actions were unremarkable in the Hollaran Commonwealth.