Rumors of Salvation (System States Rebellion Book 3) (10 page)

[Agincourt
will accelerate at maximum to gain altitude in order to acquire second bearing
on hostiles. Helm data follows.]

So
Ground Control wanted his ship to be a new set of eyes in order for the
lasersats to have a precise point at which to aim. No orders to fire yet. From
his Command Station, Hendricks could tell that the Helm Station was receiving
the precise vector that MDC wanted his ship to take.

“Execute
the new Helm instructions when ready,” ordered Hendricks to the Helm Officer.
The young woman gave him a quick glance with an expression that he understood
all too well. She hated having the device in her neck just as much as he did.
Failure to follow orders quickly would be punished. It was a damned shame that
such a young and beautiful face already showed the signs of so much punishment.

Cruiser
Phantom

With
less than two minutes to go before reaching the optimum bombardment altitude,
Murphy’s recon drone gamble paid off. Two of the drones detected a ship that appeared
to be gaining altitude, and quickly too. So far there was no sign of any
lasersats. Murphy was puzzled at first by the ship’s apparent vector. If it was
reacting to their presence, why wasn’t it on an approach vector? Was it
possible that the ship didn’t know about his squadron and was just in a hurry
to get somewhere? One of the small screens at his Command Station lit up with
Commander Molitor’s face.

“Do
you think that ship knows we’re here?” asked Molitor before Murphy could say
anything.

“Don’t
know, but it certainly isn’t maneuvering as if it wants to exchange missile
fire. We’re not in a good position to fire on it because we’re deeper in
Makassar’s gravity well than it is, and we’re heading down while it’s heading
up. Off hand, I’d say our missiles would have a hard time reaching it before it
left the zone. What would you recommend, Rachel?” asked Murphy quickly. He was
conscious of the fact that they were rapidly closing in on their bombardment
point.

Molitor
surprised him with the quickness of her response. “We’re close enough to fire
now if we want. Let’s maintain this altitude and fire from here while we
accelerate laterally. If their lasersats are tracking us, we want as much speed
as possible.” Her suggestion was a good one, but the firm conviction in her
voice that said she knew what she was doing was even more convincing. He
certainly had no idea what to do.

“Fine,
transmit your recommended vector change to all ships. I’ll order the
bombardment now. Weps, reprogram our surface bombardment to adjust for our
current altitude and transmit that to the other ships with orders to fire when
ready.” Switching com channels, Murphy said, "Sorcerer, prepare to execute
vector change upon Tigershark’s signal. Helm, that goes for you too.”

Empire
Cruiser Agincourt

Hendricks
happened to be looking at his Command Station screens when he heard the Helm
Officer’s shout.

“THEY’VE
STARTED FIRING!” A quick glance at the display showed that he was right. The
one optical satellite that was able to see the enemy ships silhouetted against
the planet’s lighter background was now seeing fast moving smaller objects that
had to be missiles. Hendricks hit his armrest with his fist. Agincourt still
wasn’t high enough to get the right angle on its own optical sensors and
therefore couldn’t provide the second bearing that would give the lasersats a
precise point at which to aim. He really wanted his ship to take a bigger role
in this battle, if only to temporarily relieve some of the frustration and
despair at his own predicament. Another text message from Ground Control
started to scroll across the bottom of the main display.

[Agincourt
to reposition for ship-to-ship missile strike. Course correction to follow.
Continue to relay optical sensor data to ground. Engage the enemy at your
discretion.]

“Helm,
you know what to do,” said Hendricks quickly. Her nod was all the
acknowledgement she was prepared to give. He decided to overlook her breech of
proper protocol. Their new projected vector appeared on the main display, and
Hendricks examined it carefully. Now the display also was showing the projected
trajectory of the enemy ships given their new vector, and Hendricks understood
what Ground Control was trying to do. The new enemy vector seemed to indicate
that they had gotten as close to the planet as they were prepared to go, but
that same course change also would have the effect of bringing them closer to
Agincourt than they would have otherwise. His own vector change would now
magnify that impact so that when the enemy ships started to pull away from
Makassar, their ships and his would be on converging paths.

Cruiser
Phantom

“We’ve
lost Bogey1,” said the Weapons Officer in a voice now calm.

“Why?
What happened?” asked Murphy.

“Bogey1
made a radical vector change, and our two recon drones weren’t able to adjust
their own positions fast enough to compensate, Skipper. Here’s our best guess
of Bogey1’s trajectory based on the last data we were able to get.”

Murphy
looked at the new data and nodded. That was a radical course change all right.
There was no doubt now about whether that ship knew about his squadron.

“She’s
coming around to set up a long range missile duel,” said Molitor over the com
channel that was still open. Since all tactical data was being shared between
the three ships, she was seeing what he was seeing, and she must have heard his
Weapons Officer’s explanation as well. “That CO must have a big set of brass
balls to be willing to swap missile barrages while outnumbered three to one.”

She’s forgetting one thing,
Murphy thought to
himself. “If he can somehow see us while we have trouble tracking him, then those
odds won’t help us much,” said Murphy.

“True,
but there may be another factor at work,” said Molitor after a slight
hesitation. “If that CO has been implanted with the Majestic device, he or she
may not have any choice about whether to engage us or not.”

“Wait
a minute, Majestic is on Hadley, right? That’s on the other side of the system.
Are you saying it can control ship commanders across that distance in real
time?” asked Murphy.

“No,
no, but it could have programmed the device with conditional instructions based
upon possible scenarios.”

“I’ll
keep that in mind, but right now I’m more concerned about whether they can see
us or not. If they can, why aren’t they firing their lasersats, and if they
can’t, why is Bogey1 maneuvering that way?”

“My
guess would be that they can see us, but only from one angle, which wouldn’t
give them precise enough data on range for their lasersats,” said Molitor.

“Okay,
well there’s no point in launching more anti-missile recon drones now, because
Bogey1 is still too far away for effective missile fire. They’re going to want
to get closer before they fire on us. How are we doing with our bombardment,
Weps?”

The
Weapons Officer shook his head. “Same kind of results as Tigershark got in its
first attack, Skipper. Only one target in five is being hit. Ground-based
lasers are successfully defending the others.”

Murphy
cursed under his breath and waited for Molitor’s ‘I told you so’. She had
recommended that they fire on fewer targets with more missiles on each one in order
to overwhelm the ground-based defenses. Murphy had argued that destroying only
a few installations wouldn’t have much impact on the Empire’s ability to keep
expanding its fleet. The end result turned out to be pretty much the same
either way. Even with the two large and one small cruisers, the combined force
still didn’t have enough missile barrage capability to overwhelm and destroy a
significant portion of Makassar’s installations at the same time.
And now we
might have to fight our way out of here,
came the unwelcome thought.

“Looks
like we’re going to have to rethink our whole strategy,” said Molitor in a
neutral voice.

Murphy
wondered if she was saving her ‘I told you so’ for a more private moment. “I
agree. Let’s worry about that after we get our ships out of this killing
ground,” he said. After a short pause, he added, “Rachel, if you were
commanding Bogey1, when would you open fire on us?”

Molitor
nodded. “Good question. Give me a minute to confer with my W.O. and I’ll get
back to you on that, Bret.”

When
the background noise from Tigershark’s Bridge suddenly stopped, Murphy knew
that Molitor had muted her com channel. He hoped she would come back with an
answer soon. As he continued to watch the two icons representing his squadron
and Bogey1 getting closer, he couldn’t help wondering if missiles were already
headed his way.

Empire
Cruiser Agincourt

Hendricks
resumed sitting in his Command Chair after conferring with his Weapons Officer.
The ship had just about brought its upward velocity to zero and would soon be
arcing back down towards the interception point where the enemy ships would be
if they maintained their course and acceleration. Reaching that projected
interception point would take another 55 minutes, but he had no intention of waiting
that long before firing. In fact, Agincourt would commence firing as soon as
the enemy ships’ current position could be confirmed by a second bearing from
another optical satellite. Ground Control had calculated that if those ships
maintained their current vector, they would enter the detection range of
another satellite in roughly eight more minutes.

“They’re
launching missiles again,” said the Helm Officer.

“But
not at Makassar,” said the Weapons Officer after a few seconds hesitation.

Hendricks
nodded with understanding. “That means they’re firing at us or at least where
they think we’ll be. Anybody have any idea how they’re detecting us? It can’t
be optically, can it?” He didn’t really expect an answer and didn’t get one.
Before he could say anything else, the main display pinged for attention and
another text message from Ground Control scrolled across the bottom.

[Second
bearing has been achieved against latest enemy missile barrage. Slower enemy
ships still not visible to second opsat. Lasersats will hold fire until more
precise targeting data available. Analysis of missile trajectories suggests
that missiles are being used in a recon mode; however, you are authorized to
take whatever precautions you deem necessary to defend your command. Data
follows.]

Hendricks
wondered if there was anything about this battle that either side knew for
certain. Were those missiles really in recon mode or were they attack missiles
spreading out in order to maximize the probability that at least some of them would
be able to intercept his ship by the time range dropped to zero? If the opsats
were able to continue to track them from at least two angles, then his ship’s
defense lasers had a good chance of rendering them harmless, but missiles could
accelerate much faster than ships, and it wouldn’t surprise him if the opsats
lost sight of them at some point. He checked the chronometer. It was now less
than three minutes until the second opsat was expected to be able to see the
enemy ships. At that point, Ground Control should have enough data to make it
worthwhile to use their lasersats. He leaned back and rubbed his hands together
in anticipation of that event.

Phantom

Murphy
hoped Molitor’s guess about when Bogey1 would start firing at them was
accurate. It couldn’t possibly be any worse than his own guess. The fact was
that he really had no idea when they might fire. That tiny voice in the back of
his mind that was saying he was in over his head when it came to ship combat
tactics was getting louder. His career in the Federation Navy hadn’t been long
enough to discover how good or bad he really was, and his career in the SSU
Navy hadn’t involved commanding a ship at all. The fact that he seemed to be a
good organizer and administrator was small comfort now. He tried to calm his
mind and quiet his fears. After a few seconds, he realized that one thought was
popping up over and over again. Course change. He didn’t understand why that
thought was cropping up now, but perhaps it was worth listening to.

“Helm,
plot a course change for the squadron. Shift our trajectory laterally by two
degrees and execute when the squadron is ready.”

“A
two-degree lateral course change coming up, Skipper,” confirmed the officer.
After a few seconds, he said, “Course change programmed. Executing now—“ Before
he finished his sentence, the main display flickered and alarms started to
sound.

“WE’VE
BEEN HIT!” yelled the Weapons Officer.

Murphy
had already figured that out for himself just by looking at the red status
lights popping up on the display sidebar. Phantom was hurt, but it could have
been worse. The locations of the damage formed a pattern that Murphy
recognized. The ship had been hit a glancing blow. Instead of the laser blasts
hitting dead center and slashing through the most critical part of the ship,
they had hit the ship near the edges. The laser beams had lost a lot of their
energy by being spread over a larger surface area as a result of his
last-minute course change and by the fact that the ship’s neutron armor had absorbed
most of the energy that did hit. Phantom could still maneuver, fight, and most
importantly, jump away when they left Makassar’s hyper-zone. He made sure his
com channels to the other two ships were open.

“Tigershark,
Sorcerer, what’s your status?”

“Minor
damage and casualties, Bret. That course change saved us,” said Molitor in a
strained voice.

“No
damage at all,” said Sorcerer’s CO. “It doesn’t look like they even bothered to
fire at us or else they missed altogether.”

“Good!
Let’s keep making random, small course changes to throw their aim off. My Helm
will co-ordinate with yours,” said Murphy.

“My
thoughts exactly,” said Molitor. “The question is, can we keep them from
hitting us with a kill shot for the next 89 minutes until we can jump away?”

Murphy
didn’t have an answer for her, but an idea emerged from somewhere in his head.
“Rachel, if you were commanding Bogey1, what action could we take that would
worry you the most?”

This
time she didn’t answer right away, and when she did, her voice no longer showed
signs of strain. “If I saw three ships shrug off a laser strike and then change
course to close with my ship as quickly as possible, I’d be worried. Damned
worried as a matter of fact.”

Murphy
had his next question ready. “Are we more likely or less likely to be hit by
another laser blast if we did that?”

“I’d
say less likely. Our present vector is leading us part way around the planet.
There are bound to be lasersats that don’t have line-of-sight on us now but
will if we keep going. On the other hand, if we pull up and head straight up as
it were, we not only stay hidden from some lasersats, we also put more distance
between us and others that can see us. With greater range comes less accuracy.
I like the concept, Bret. I recommend doing exactly that.”

Murphy
made a quick decision. “Okay, both of you will be getting new helm instruction
shortly. Standby.” Murphy unbuckled himself and practically jumped over to the
Helm Station. A quick conference with the H.O. resulted in a radical course
change that was being implemented even before he returned to his chair.

Empire
Cruiser Agincourt

Hendricks
bit off a curse as he read the new text message scrolling across the display.

[Spectral
analysis shows two enemy ships hit without any impact on acceleration. At
present no other lasersats have line of sight targeting. If enemy ships
maintain their current general vector, another opsat will have a target
bearing—]

A
surprisingly loud ping from the main display made Hendricks shift his gaze from
the text message to the tactical image on the display. The three enemy ships
were making another vector change, and this time it was a big one. They were no
longer accelerating on a slightly converging course. Now they were swinging
around. It was exactly the kind of maneuver that they would have to do if they
wanted to close the range to Agincourt as quickly as possible. While not
conclusive proof, it strongly suggested that they had somehow detected his
ship, and three-on-one were not good odds. He felt a shiver of fear go down his
spine. He quickly reviewed the rest of the last text message on one of his
smaller Command Station screens. The last part of that message was now
obsolete; it was the first part that concerned him. There could be several
reasons for x-ray laser hits on a ship not causing any obvious damage, but one
of them was the possibility that the ship had enough neutron armor to
essentially shrug off the hit. If that was the case, then even a direct hit by
a missile-delivered fusion warhead might not seriously damage the target.
Agincourt, on the other hand, had only a relatively thin coating of neutron
armor. It was enough to let him thumb his nose at any chemical explosive
warhead and enough to avoid being vaporized by a low yield nuke, but they were
definitely vulnerable to more powerful warheads. His last orders from Ground
Control authorized him to take whatever precautions he deemed necessary to
protect his command. He made up his mind to wait until it was clear that the
enemy ships were coming after him, and if that turned out to be the case, he
would try to disengage and use that authorization to justify his actions.
Having had that thought, he felt a momentary pressure in his head. The thought
that the implant might not like it if he tried to disengage made his hand
shake.