Against All Odds (20 page)

"So in seven or eight months, Admiral Carver will have fifteen additional scout-destroyers ships to add to her task force," Admiral Burke said. "If her assessment of the fighting ability of these little ships is accurate, that should help her immensely."

"Twenty-three ships against a thousand still leaves Admiral Carver ill-prepared to protect her region," Admiral Ahmed said, "but at least she won't lack for supplies and ordnance. We've dispatched the two new quartermaster transports that were recently completed. They'll arrive at Quesann in thirty-five days. Two more transports will be launched in a couple of months, and we can immediately send them off with more ordnance and supplies. Since it will only take four months for the round trip, my four new ships can make three runs every year until Quesann has everything it needs."

"I just wish we could send her a couple of hundred ships today," Admiral Moore said, "but, as she said, older ships not already underway cannot get there in time to help. However, a fleet of ships aligned along the border of Region One will ensure that the Uthlaro stop at the former border if the they get past Admiral Carver. Let's prepare a list of the ships that can be sent."

"Our plan to produce twenty-five new ships each year was established back when we only had to provide patrol coverage for Region One," Admiral Plimley said. "Now that our territory has been enlarged to four times that size, our need for four times as many ships is obvious. We must have more docks. I'm not saying we need anywhere near the thousands Maxxiloth had, but an increase is clearly called for. I propose we make plans to quadruple the number of ship docks at the Mars' yard from one-hundred to four-hundred."

"Quadruple?" Admiral Hubera said.

"Yes, Donald. Quadrupling the yard will give us one-hundred new ships each year. That will be barely enough if we're going to patrol a territory that stretches three-thousand light-years."

"Obviously," Admiral Moore said, "our appropriation from the GAC isn't nearly adequate for our current needs. I'll prepare a presentation for the next committee meeting and see if I can convince
them
of the need."

* * *

"We're unable to make contact with eight of our battle groups, sir," Premier Warlord Qerdesqa's aide said upon returning from a special meeting with the First Director of War Room Communications.

"What? No contact at all?"

"None, sir. Reports from all eight groups are overdue."

"Which groups haven't reported in?"

"The center of the line from Group Three that overran Coleman SCB to Group Ten, who crossed the border almost halfway to the Gondusan border."

"How many ships?"

"One hundred nine warships, including three cruisers and one battleship."

"Which battleship?"

"The Slepeakus, sir."

"The Slepeakus is our newest battleship."

"Yes, sir. It was placed in the center of the groupings so it could respond to any resistance along the line."

"Have there been any reports of contact with Space Command?"

"No, sir. We've received no messages at all following their previous reports that all was normal and that they were proceeding on schedule."

"If our ships had been engaged in battle, they would have reported in before attacking."

"Yes, sir. They should have."

"Can this be attributed to some sort of space anomaly? Something to do with a pattern shift in the dimensional displacement frequencies or something?"

"It's unlikely that eight different battle groups could be affected."

"Then what could be the reason?"

"Uh— uh— I can't imagine anything except Space Command, sir," the aide said.

Premier Warlord Qerdesqa stared at his aide intently. "How could it be Space Command? We know that Carver has very few ships in the former Milori Empire."

"Our operatives on Stewart have told us that sixty-two of Milor's newest and fastest ships, the ones Carver rebuilt after she defeated them, have been transferred to her command."

"It would take annuals for those ships to reach the areas where our battle groups were last reported."

"Carver also received the three new battleships launched last year."

"It'll be annuals before they even reach Stewart. No, it must be something else. I wonder if the Uthlaro are up to something by destroying our ships under the guise of enemy action?"

"They wouldn't intentionally weaken our combat effectiveness before Space Command is driven out. Would they?"

"No, you're probably right; it has to be Carver. Perhaps First Warlord Kalisnacos was right when he warned us about her."

"But our last reports have her on Earth. We received news broadcasts she was touring their military academies about the same time we crossed the border. She can't be involved. She's annuals away from Region Two."

"What else can possibly be responsible for eight missing battle groups?"

"We're at a loss to explain it, sir."

"Was Carver directly involved in the attack on the Milori home world?"

"According to all reports, she commanded one of the ships."

"How did she get back to Earth so quickly?"

"Uh, unknown, sir."

"There's more here than meets the eye."

"How should we proceed?"

"Have every other battle group meet up with the group on their starboard quarter so the strength of each group is doubled. And order them to report
any
sightings of ships, Space Command or otherwise, as soon as they're detected."

"But we won't be able to cover as much territory if the groups combine."

"How much will we cover if we continue to lose ships? Eight groups represent more than a third of our invasion fleet. Have the newly combined groups cover the most important targets each of the two smaller groups would have visited."

"Yes sir."

~ November 14
^th
, 2282 ~

"This group is substantially larger than any we've encountered previously, Admiral," Commander Diana Durland, Captain of the Danube, said, "and it's a considerable distance from where we expected to find a battle group. The strength of the signal from the DeTect scans leaves no doubt it's either a battle group or a convoy. The twenty-five ships are about the size of warships. Should we move in using attack plan Delta-Three and then abort if it's a convoy?"

"No, hold up, Captain," Jenetta said from the Themis conference room she had taken over for an office. "It looks like the Tsgardi have either adjusted to our attacks or combined forces for some other purpose. What targets lie along their current path?"

Commander Durland posed the question to her tactical officer, then turned back to the screen. "Nothing special for a hundred-six light years, then they'll encounter the Louswalma system, Admiral. According to the files, the fourth planet has been an important agricultural producer for the Milori."

"That's about six months distance for a Tsgardi warship," Jenetta said, thinking out loud. "They wouldn't combine groups this far out in preparation for an attack on that system. If this is a battle group, the size has to be related to not being able to contact the battle groups we've destroyed. Well, we were expecting it to happen at some point. Captain, stand by. When I give the word to engage, activate your IDS jamming but wait a full fifteen minutes before moving in so we all arrive about the same time. One ship would be very overmatched by a group this size."

"Aye, Admiral."

Tapping a button on her com console, she said, "Com, establish a vid-link conference with all captains."

In less than ten seconds, the image of every ship's captain was visible on the large monitor on the wall in Jenetta's office.

"The Danube has detected the presence of some twenty-five vessels believed to be Tsgardi warships. It appears they've combined two smaller battle groups into one larger force, probably because so many of their battle groups aren't responding to hails. We're going to jam the IDS bands and then move in. The scout-destroyers will use attack plan Delta-Three and the battleships will use attack plan Echo-One. It's unlikely we can guarantee containment of all ships once they see our strength, so the scout-destroyers will pursue any that try to escape, targeting their temporal field generators to prevent them from escaping in FTL, while jamming any IDS broadcasts. We're not trying to take prisoners here, so just blast them to space dust as soon as you have a shot. They have us outnumbered three to one, so be careful and good luck. Prepare to engage. Everyone ready?" Jenetta saw every captain nod. "Engage."

The ships had stopped in space but not cancelled their double envelopes. The Themis surged ahead as the helmsman activated the Light-9375 setting. Jenetta stood up and walked with Lt. Commander Ashraf to the ship's bridge. The location, course, and speed of the Tsgardi task force had been keyed into the computer and transmitted to every ship during Jenetta's conference call. Disappearing from their former locations in a blur of light, the SC ships appeared just a million kilometers in front of the advancing Tsgardi ships fourteen minutes and twenty-six seconds later.

As the small SC fleet was recorded on the forward scanning systems, the Tsgardi collision avoidance systems immediately halted their advance. They hadn't paid attention to the signal generated when the Danube passed them because of its Light-9375 speed and because it was on the outer fringe of their DeTect range. Gone in a fraction of a second, the Tsgardi tactical officers had all assumed it was an anomaly, but they couldn't mistake the sudden appearance of six SC ships directly in front of them.

The Tsgardi were still trying to contact one another to coordinate their action when the three scout-destroyers from the main force passed though their outer perimeter of ships and began circling inside, laser arrays blazing. The SC battleships moved to circle outside the Tsgardi battle group in a counter clockwise pattern, their laser arrays blazing as well. Torpedoes from both scout-destroyers and battleships began to decimate the Tsgardi ships while the Tsgardi gunners were still running for their battle stations.

When the Danube arrived seconds later, it joined the fray inside the Tsgardi group of ships. Already, a number of Tsgardi vessels had stopped firing, but the larger size of the force meant the battle would rage on longer than previous battles and the Tsgardi ships were able to fire hundreds of torpedoes at the circling SC ships.

It seemed inconceivable, but no Tsgardi ship broke for open space. They stayed in their formation position and continued firing until they couldn't fire any more. No Tsgardi torpedo struck an SC ship, but a couple came close before the ship's Phalanx system destroyed them. Eighteen minutes after the Danube flashed through the Tsgardi outer perimeter, the battle was over and the Tsgardi ships were silent. None would ever again slice through space at greater than light speeds unless they were being towed.

* * *

"Still feel it's a turkey shoot, Captain?" Jenetta asked Captain Neil Elder of the Boreas during a seven-ship conference linkup of the commanding officers following the cleanup efforts.

"Not so much, ma'am. A couple of their torpedoes got just a
little
too close for comfort. I'm glad they only had a three-to-one superiority in numbers."

"I told the Admiralty Board I would feel good about our chances up to five to one, but that I wouldn't like to fight against greater odds. Too much can go wrong when multiple ships are all firing their weapons at you."

"Should we alter our tactics if we come across another group as large as this one, Admiral?" Commander Durland asked.

"Do you have a revised plan to offer?"

"I've read the reports on the tactics you employed against the Milori. The use of WOLaR torpedoes here might enable us to reduce the size of the battle groups before we fully commit to the attack. We could position ourselves in front of their path and fire the torpedoes before we appear on their sensors. They'll actually run into our weapons. The stealth coating on the torpedoes, coupled with their small size, will probably keep them from being identified by their DeTect system. Our weapons specialists can remotely guide the torpedoes to a point in the center of the Tsgardi formation and detonate them."

"That's an interesting proposal, Commander, but when we used the WOLaR against the Milori, we had them in very tight clusters. The Tsgardi are moving in a 'V' formation, but they're spread out quite a bit. The WOLaR torpedoes would be considerably less ineffective."

"Yes, Admiral, but the hull integrity of the Tsgardi ships isn't nearly as great as that of the Milori ships since the Tsgardi use titanium instead of tritanium. It doesn't require nearly as much force to puncture them."

"That's true. Of course, there's the matter of Light-225 speed to consider also. Unless timed to the nanosecond, the WOLaR weapons will be useless. We'll have to slow the Tsgardi to sub-light, or stop them."

"We do have electronic debris field generators on board that will fool their collision avoidance systems into shutting down their light speed engines," Captain Lynda Stager suggested.

"Yes," Commander Durland said. "If we can accurately determine their course and speed, we can set up an ambush the way the Raiders used to stop commercial vessels. We can then guide the torpedoes towards where we expect them to stop. Once they've stopped, the torpedoes will be bearing down on their location.