Battlegroup (StarFight Series Book 2) (17 page)

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Daisy transferred the wasp reply imagery to the front wallscreen, where it covered part of the image of Valhalla. While she loved looking at white-capped mountains, green forests, brown grasslands and the blue seas and oceans of the planet, this new wasp imagery was the first reply they had gotten from the left behind wasp ship. She wondered what Alicia, who sat to the right of her and Richard, would think of it.

“Captain, wasp reply going active on the wallscreen,” she said.

“Very interesting,” Jacob rumbled. Her ceiling holo of him and everyone else on the Bridge showed him leaning forward, looking intent. “Seems they want to orbit above the third world. And they propose a vector track with a large swing away from Valhalla. But no response to our proposal for trade in space.” He paused. “Navigation, talk to me about the proposed vector track.”

“Sir,” called Louise as she touched her control pillar and scanned one of her several holos. “The imagery is actually pretty sophisticated. Planet three lies ahead of Valhalla by about 20 degrees. That’s tens of millions of kilometers. It also lies two-tenths of an AU closer to the local star. The wasp imagery displays all this. But it also proposes a flight track that takes their ship
above
the local planetary ecliptic when their ship gets past the fifth planet’s orbital track. Sooo, they are not only proposing to swing out from Valhalla by a large way, they are increasing that distance by arcing up into the empty space above this system’s ecliptic.” The lean redhead looked back to where Daisy, Richard, Alicia and Jacob sat. “They’ve already begun traveling inward on this new vector track.”

Richard slapped his armrest. “Which means any of our ships can intercept and destroy that ship since it moves at half speed.”

“True,” Jacob sat, his tone musing. “But we can do that anytime until the wasp fleet returns. Tactical, do you see any increased danger to Valhalla from allowing this wasp ship to orbit planet three?”

“Sir, just a shorter transit time for the wasps to get to Valhalla,” Rosemary said, her Irish accent pleasing to Daisy’s ears. The middle-aged woman pointed at the wallscreen imagery. “But planet three lies two AU ahead of Valhalla, which adds to their travel time. Their ship can only make five percent of the speed of light, at best. We could intercept them well before they get close enough to bomb Valhalla.”

“So, a risk, but a modest one.” Jacob looked to the right. “Life Support, the
Lepanto
is next up to undergo repairs. Which will leave us immobile and locked into
Green Hills
base. What’s your estimate of repair time?”

“Sir, two weeks, possibly ten days,” answered Joaquin Garcia from his function post to the right front of the Bridge. The man’s crew-cut black hair looked well-kept. As did the man in general, she thought, before reminding herself she was committed to Jacob.

“Tactical, if we allow the wasp ship to make it to planet three, what are your recommendations for keeping Valhalla safe?”

Rosemary’s red ponytail swung wildly as she looked back. Her milky-white face had gone tense. Her lips were tight, a further sign of concern. “Captain, I would dispatch a destroyer to escort the wasp ship to planet three, beginning when it crosses the sixth planet’s orbital track. That lies five AU out from the star and 4.3 AU out from Valhalla. Then, once the wasp ship arrives in orbit, I suggest the destroyer launch a missile with multiple thermonuke warheads to orbit above the wasp ship. The destroyer captain can choose an orbital speed that will keep the cluster of thermonukes permanently stationed above the wasp ship. That way we can attack either the ship or the planet, or both, if the wasp ship heads for Valhalla. It also serves as a visible warning to the wasp ship to stay in orbit.”

“I like that,” Jacob said firmly. He looked to his right. “Lieutenant Branstead, prepare a cartoon video for our reply that shows what we’ve just discussed. The wasp ship is 50 hours out from Valhalla. I’m sure you can prepare and transmit the video well before they reach the five AU limit.”

“Captain, my people will have the video ready within five hours or less,” Alicia said from her seat next to Richard. “Is that acceptable?”

“Yes,” Jacob said. He looked down to Daisy. “XO, what’s the status of the
Philippine Sea
? I noticed lots of black streaks on her hull from the lightning bolt and laser fire she suffered while launching the Darts.”

Daisy did not have to look at her holo that showed the location of every ship in orbit above Valhalla. This was data she had memorized, along with the repair schedule. “Captain, she is combat capable. While the
Sea
needs replacement of the adaptive optics lenses that were burned out during her recent sortie against the wasp ship, and she took three deep strikes into her armor, her hull is intact and her weapons systems are all operational. She has a few crew on liberty at the orbital station, but she could leave orbit within an hour.”

Jacob grew thoughtful. He leaned his chin on his right hand, a mannerism she had always liked about her friend and lover. His choice earlier to send only the co-existence cartoon video to this wasp ship, while saving the ‘destroy both planets’ video for any arriving wasp fleet, had helped her feel better about the stark choices facing him, her ship and every human in the system. Now, he seemed willing to allow the wasp ship to come in-system so it could see the world that might be a future colony world for the wasps. If, of course, the other wasps would accept the idea. So far, this wasp commander, who had bombed Valhalla, had shown himself willing to make a partial compromise. In fact, it was the first communication from this ship since its allies had left for Kepler 22.

He nodded slowly. “So most of our ships will be available for system defense while the
Lepanto
is undergoing repairs. That leaves only the
St. Mihiel
to come in after us for her cargohold repairs. XO, send an order to Lieutenant Jefferson for her ship to intercept the wasp ship at the fifth planet’s orbital, thereafter to follow and do as Tactical suggested.”

“Captain, yes sir, working on it.”

Daisy turned to her own group of holos. The
Philippine Sea
was holding orbit near the Star Navy base. Further out were the
Chesapeake
and
Tsushima Strait
, both now fully repaired. She tapped on her left armrest, activating one of the control patches on her seat. Giving thanks she was ambidextrous, she tapped in the text order, selected an Alert signal code to get Joy’s personal attention, and then hit the Send dot on the patch.

“Captain, orders sent.”

“Good.” He looked ahead and to the left. “Engines, move us to a link-up with Hangar Two on the base. We need to get those deep holes on our nose, belly and rear fixed as best the base can fix them.”

“Captain, moving on a single thruster,” called Akira M’Bala as the South African woman worked her control pillar.

Daisy wanted to relax. But she couldn’t. Managing all the decks on the
Lepanto
, plus tracking Med Hall reports, along with demands from Life Support for new food supplies for the wasps in the Forest Room and keeping a constant watch on her situational holo for the emergence of new moving neutrino sources, which might be new wasp ships, left her feeling tired and worn down. But her shift had four more hours to go. Jacob had six more hours to go. She gave thanks that Alicia was now back on the Bridge, readily available for advice, support and insight into how hundreds of people related on the
Lepanto
. And the sober, calm presence of Richard gave her a sense of safety she badly needed. Briefly she wished for her old job of just being the pilot of the admiral’s Landing Craft Assault. She loved flying. And being in charge of the Battlestar was harder than reading thermals and down drafts that might jostle her LCA.

Feeling nervous, she again scanned the situational holo. Every ship of the StarFight fleet was there.
Chesapeake
,
Tsushima Strait
and the
Salamis
orbited above the station. Ahead in orbit was the cluster of the cruiser
Hampton Roads
and the frigates
St. Mihiel
and
Aldertag
. Between the Battlestar and the station was the
Philippine Sea
. And the
Lepanto
made eight ships total. Eight fighting ships were all that stood between the 71,000 people on Valhalla and a deadly enemy that had attacked, attacked again and even followed them to Kepler 10 in order to attack once more. Would allowing the wasp ship to orbit above planet three cause the wasps to change? She didn’t know. She just knew that the future was uncertain, more wasp ships could appear at any time and the hoped-for relief fleet from Earth would not arrive for at least another 30 days.

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Jacob walked into his quarters, past the furniture in the relaxation room and turned left through the bedroom’s open archway. On the queen size bed in the middle of the room lay Daisy, asleep, her head resting on her left arm as she slept. The room’s lighting was a low green from a few wall spots that allowed one to see the entrance to the bath and toilet alcove. His metal worktable stuck out from the left side wall. Like every worktable in officer’s quarters on the ship, it closed up against the wall when not in use. The small table partly filled the space between the wall and the bed. Daisy had not closed it up. Instead, after changing into a sheer white negligee, she had gone down the right side of the bed and slipped beneath the purple sheets. Kicking off his soft shoes, Jacob dropped his camo pants, pulled off his shirt, then slowly sat on his side of the bed, facing the worktable’s wall opening. The three shelves in the opening held a few sea shells, his comp pad and an old-fashioned ink pen and small paper tablet. All were gifts from his Mom. Stuck above the shelves were two flat digital pictures he had brought from home.

His Mom’s photo showed her smiling at him from within their kitchen. Her long brown hair was full of curls and she was smiling happily at him. That day she had worn a flowered spring dress of green and yellow, with a white cook’s smock hanging from her neck. She loved to bake fresh bread. He loved to eat it. Next to her image was a flat pic of the old barn in the back of their property. His mom’s gelding horse was standing in front of the barn, his reins tied to a post. The brown and white Appaloosa horse had been the first large animal Jacob had ever seen or spent time with. The gelding had seemed to like him. Next to the gelding was his Mom’s Arabian stallion, Butch, hitched to another pole.

Below the images was the worktable. Sitting on the table was a holo cube. It showed him just as he posed for his father, right after his graduation from the academy. Two admirals, a captain and two Army colonels stood near Jacob. They were friends of his father. Would one of those admirals be leading the relief fleet when it arrived? He shook his head and focused on the green forested mountains that rose in the background of the graduation field. That day had been a Southwest blue sky day, touched with puffy white clouds. The forested mountain image reminded him why he kept the holo cube. Nature had always called to him. It still did, every time he looked at the image of Valhalla’s northern continent that partly filled the wallscreen on the Bridge.

He looked down at his hands as they rested on his bare knees. They weren’t shaking. Had he finally adjusted to being in command? To being responsible for the lives of thousands of people on Valhalla, and the crews on every ship in the fleet? He hoped so. Whoever led the relief fleet from Earth would surely outrank him. The video report carried by the
Ofira’s
captain Arman Mansour would surely surprise and upset Earth Command. Their upset meant whatever ships came to Kepler 10 would be led by a one or two star rear admiral, maybe even a three star vice admiral. After all, this was humanity’s first encounter with an intelligent alien species. That encounter had already claimed too many lives on the frigates
Britain
and
Marianas
when they died, and on the
Chesapeake
,
Tsushima Strait
and the
St. Mihiel
during the last space battle. Those ghosts included the civies who had died during the lightning bombing of Stockholm. He had felt those ghosts hovering behind him, watching him, every time he made a command decision that put people at risk.

Closing his eyes he lay down on his side of the bed, moving slowly so as to not wake Daisy. The pillow supported his head. He did not open his eyes. The bedroom’s ceiling was boring to look at, whether in the dark or when awakening to the automated alarm light. He told himself that in 30 or so days, the burden of commanding the StarFight fleet would be lifted from his shoulders. Someone else would assume overall command. Hopefully the new fleet commander would leave him in command of the
Lepanto
. He had grown to like the ship, like its many decks, like the homemade food cooked by Kenji and his fellow line cooks, and also its wild nature areas in the Forest Room and the Park Room. He had even grown to like being a fleet commander. The other ship captains, new as him to the job, had fought well, had supported him against the machinations of Bannerjee, and seemed ready to join him in defending Valhalla from future wasp attack. Maybe those feelings were why he dreaded the arrival of the relief fleet. It meant the arrival of one more unknown. An unknown that would affect the lives of every human in the Kepler 10 star system. He hoped he could follow regs and do the right thing by accepting a new fleet commander. After all, he and his people had fought and defeated the wasps. No one in the relief fleet knew what he and his people knew. But would that make a difference to some Earth Command admiral pulled from flying a mahogany desk?