Star Carrier (Lost Colonies Trilogy Book 3) (30 page)

-53-

When we returned to the command deck, Yamada and I were met with an overload of data.

“There you are Yamada—ah, Captain Sparhawk too,” Durris said. “I need you to look at the projections. I’ve worked out some answers for you.”

I nodded appreciatively. I felt a tiny pang of guilt. I’d been below pawing at Yamada while he’d spent the interval working over difficult ‘what-if’ simulations.

His battle computer had proven itself to be as prolific as usual. He displayed various projected scenarios and outcomes.

“If they rush forward to meet us,” he said, “we’ll encounter them in about four hours. But if they set up their ambush just outside the reach of the Stroj bases, it will take six.”

Shaded areas appeared depicting volumes in space where we could encounter the enemy.

“Yes,” I said, “your numbers look good. But what are the likely outcomes?”

“What, Captain?”

“I’m asking you who will win. How many ships lost on each side?”

“Oh… Well, Captain, we’ll all be destroyed in any of these scenarios. We might damage one of the battleships—but we’ll never reach the carrier.”

I frowned. This was not the data I’d hoped to hear.

“We’ve got four battle cruisers with experienced captains,” I said. “Surely, we can do better than that.”

Durris shook his head. “Our main problem isn’t the battleships, it’s that damned carrier. She’s got better than ten thousand fighters aboard. We’ve been counting them as she destroys each world. She can release up to eight wings with a thousand fighters in each. We’ve never faced firepower like that.”

“Eight thousand…” I said. “What kind of range do they have?”

“Their range is enough to reach us before we’re even in range to hit primary targets. That’s the problem—our being swarmed before we can get to the central ships.”

I nodded. I could feel my heart sink inside my chest as I approached his planning table. His glum-faced team surrounded the group-controlled computer. They tapped at it dismally. These staffers were normally animated, but today, no one spoke above a whisper.

“Have they released any fighters yet?” I asked.

“They’ve already launched the first three wings on an intercept course toward our cruisers. We’ll encounter them in about two hours’ time.”

Three
thousand
fighters? That was more than the Connatic had had in her entire arsenal. No wonder Tranquility Station at Gliese-32 had been overwhelmed.

“Counter proposals?” I asked. “Options?”

“We could turn around and fly out of here,” said a dismal ensign.

“Unacceptable.”

“Well then,” Commander Durris said, giving the ensign a reproachful look, “we need to move to a better location before this fight starts. We have to be within range of the Stroj bases. Without their missiles firing in support and picking off fighters, we’ll have no chance at all.”

I nodded, having already surmised he was going to say exactly that.

“Very well,” I said. “We’ll rise up, out of the Plane of the Ecliptic, and then dodge back down again. We’ll have to do so under heavy acceleration—please tell me we can avoid their fighters by doing so?”

Durris looked thoughtful. “According to the speeds we’ve seen so far, these three wings won’t be able to reach us if we dodge up then down again at high speed. They’re heading in our direction now, having built up significant speed. To turn and maneuver will take them time and fuel. But that really isn’t the problem.”

“Explain.”

“The carrier has five more wings of fighters in my estimation. They’ll only have to release a new wing on an intercept course after they figure out we’re dodging them to address the situation.”

He deftly worked his boards, and clouds more phantom fighters appeared. They moved to meet us before we could get into range of the Stroj missile bases.

“What if we take a longer route?” I asked. “What if we swing around the system and come back to this point from the other side of the Stroj planet?”

He shook his head slowly. “It might work. But then again, this battle might be over with by that time. They’ve seen us moving to join the Stroj. In reaction, they stepped up their timetable to hit the home world now. They have every incentive to strike the Stroj planet while we’re out of reach performing distant maneuvers.”

I couldn’t help but agree with his analysis. “Excellent work as always, XO. But this time, I wish you weren’t so damned thorough. I’d like to think there was still some small possibility that has been overlooked.”

“I’m sorry, Captain, but the situation is grim.”

“For the Stroj,” Rumbold interrupted, “but not necessarily for us. We have to bug out, Captain. We’ll have to face this enemy on better terms later.”

I glanced at him, but I shook my head. “I can’t allow this slaughter of colonists to continue. The variants must be stopped here.”

“What are your orders, Captain?” Durris asked.

“I’ll confer with Okto. Contact her flagship.”

Unlike the last time I’d spoken with her, she was fully dressed on this occasion. She didn’t look happy to see me.

“What do you want, Sparhawk?” she growled.

“Have you analyzed the situation we’re facing?” I asked her. “We’re considering swinging around the fighters that are coming to intercept us and moving past them to the Stroj missile bases.”

“What? Running away again? Is that all you Earthlings do?”

She was annoyed with me, and I was beginning to become angry with her in return.

“We can’t fight three thousand fighters without supporting fortifications. We’re going to execute this maneuver. If you want to drive right into the fighters without our help, feel free to do so. Here’s hoping you manage to sell your lives dearly.”

I moved to cut off the channel, but she stood up, looming over the deck.

“Wait!” she called. “We will not die alone for you to seize our glory. We’ll retreat and regroup to defend Beta.”

“You’re going back on your word?” I asked. “At the first sign of danger? I hadn’t thought Betas were so easily frightened.”

She glowered at me in hate. “That’s an insult that deserves a violent response.”

“Good. Provide it to the enemy. Follow my lead, and we’ll see how this plays out. Remember, if they keep hitting us while we’re divided, huddling around our home planets, they’ll kill us all in the end.”

I cut the channel before she could say more. Then I sat down, stressed and uncertain.

“What are they doing?” I asked Yamada.

“Okto’s ships are still in formation with us.”

“Fine,” I said. “Rumbold, engage our new course.”

Rumbold shook his head, but he reached for the controls. He set us on the course Durris had worked out for us.

We felt the ship move under our feet. The deck pressed up harder against us, and people staggered to strap themselves in.

“Yamada?”

“They’re all formed up as they were before. We’re pulling away from them. They’re definitely not following, Captain.”

I sat in my chair, my face a mask of stone.

“Captain?” Rumbold said. “Do you want me to ease down a little?”

“No, damn it. Keep accelerating.”

He did so, and we all rode upon
Defiant
’s powerful thrumming engines for two full minutes in near silence.

“Captain!” Yamada said, “Okto is moving.”

“Where’s she going?”

“She’s heading… away from us.”

My heart sank. They were pulling out. All was lost. What could one ship do against thousands?

“Wait,” Durris said, working at his boards and straining against the pull of centrifugal forces to do so. “They’re going down, below the Plane of the Ecliptic. They’re not retreating from the system.”

“Plot their course.”

“They… they should end up at the Stroj missile bases. The same as we will, but they’re taking another route. In fact, all three of their ships are swinging wide, away from one another.”

I smiled, suddenly understanding the situation. “Okto has decided to adopt our tactics,” I said, “but being an Alpha, she couldn’t take orders from me and follow them exactly. She’s doing it in her own way. She’s splitting her formation. Durris?”

“Sir?”

“Have we ever observed the variants breaking up a wing of fighters? Have they ever sent out less than a thousand to do a mission?”

“Not that I’ve seen.”

I nodded, thinking hard. This variation on the plan could be genius. If she could get them to throw a thousand fighters at each battle cruiser—plus the three thousand they’d already released—that would mean there wasn’t going to be much defending the Star Carrier.

Maybe Okto wasn’t such a bad ally after all.

-54-

At first, it looked like Okto’s gambit was going to work. But then the enemy changed tactics. Rather than launching new wings against every one of our battle cruisers, the variant fleet sailed serenely forward on their original course, moving to place themselves between us and the relative safety of the Stroj bases.

As we continued to accelerate, however, the variants seemed to catch on. Our ships were faster than the battleships we were racing against. They weren’t going to get into position before we reached our goal.

“They’re breaking up the fleet, Captain,” Yamada said.

“Yes...” I agreed thoughtfully. “Rumbold slow down our acceleration curve. We have to puzzle this out. Yamada, signal Okto to do the same.”

“Okto has agreed to match us,” Yamada said.

The weight of heavy acceleration left me. I was now under a little more than one G of force. The feeling was a great relief.

“Durris, what’s going on?” I asked, moving to his side at his planning table.

“They’re maneuvering. Give the system a second to confirm and plot their new courses.”

We watched together as the enemy shifted their headings.

“They’re matching each of our battle cruisers with a battleship,” I said in surprise. “But they can’t hope to catch us before we reach the Stroj defensive line. If that’s—”

“That’s not their plan,” Durris said, with a grim note of certainty in his voice.

“Then what can they be thinking?”

Durris tapped at his controls while I waited impatiently. Rather than display every thought and scenario that was going on in his head, or in his battle computer’s overtaxed RAM, he often only shared conclusive predictions.

Looking at his work, I frowned. “Is this correct? The star carrier is going its own way?”

“Yes. She’s slow, even slower than the battleships, but she’ll still make it to the Stroj home world before we do.”

“I still don’t get the point of throwing a battleship at each of our battle cruisers now, if they can’t hope to—ah,” I said, catching on at last. “I see. This spline you’ve traced… The big ships are intended to counter us if we decide to take a more direct route.”

Durris looked at me glumly and nodded.

“Why the long face?” I asked. “They can’t reach our ships. Not unless we decide to run right past them.”

“Correct,” he said. “That leads me to the conclusion they expect us to do exactly that.”

I touched the screens, goading them into showing the plans as they were now laid. An hour from now, the star carrier would be within striking range of the Stroj home world. They could launch their fighters which were very fast-moving. They’d beat us to the goal and swarm the planet.

“You think they’re going to throw all their remaining fighter wings directly at the Stroj?”

“Yes. They have five full wings in reserve. That should be enough to attack the Stroj.”

“They think they have enough to destroy the Stroj defensive ships, their bases, and wreck the planet? Without any help from the battleships?”

“They must sir. They don’t make risky plays. Not that I’ve seen.”

“But this is the height of risky plays!” I objected. “They’re leaving the carrier itself undefended.”

“Watch the updates.”

I did, standing with him for several long minutes. The mood on the command deck had turned increasingly tense. No one knew exactly what the enemy was up to. Was this a masterful move, an error, or a subtle trick on the part of the variants? How smart
were
these hybrid creatures?

Finally, something else changed. The fighter wings the enemy had launched toward our cruisers were slowing. They’d been recalled. They were no longer flying out to where they’d planned to reach us. They were going to pull back and defend the carrier.

“Damn,” I said. “They’re not going to fall for our positioning.”

Space battles were often a game of cat and mouse. Two opposing fleets were positioned and counter-positioned in full sight of one another. The posturing didn’t matter until the final moves when any mistake often turned deadly.

“They’re covering all their bases—and beating us to the goal in the process.”

“I can see that,” I said sharply. “How do we counter this?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know that we can counter it. They’ll reach the Stroj planet before we do. The only other option is to race right through the middle of them, but that would be suicide.”

I rubbed at my chin. “Play it out. Show me what that looks like.”

He glanced at me in alarm, but he did as I’d ordered. The ghostly projections of tiny ships cleared then the air began to sparkle again. Colored flecks took shape, and the image sharpened.

There were conflict points now. Flashing yellow spots where vessels met with one another and traded fire. It didn’t take any explanation from Durris to comprehend what the battle computer was predicting. All four of our battle cruisers were projected to be lost.

“Dilate time,” I ordered. “Assume we make our course change at an optimal point.”

“Optimal? That depends on enemy action.”

“When do you think they’ll launch their fighters—the ones held in reserve to strike the planet?”

“Maybe ninety minutes from now.”

“Project the situation if we change course then.”

He tapped doggedly. “There. We’re still all knocked out.”

I frowned at his conclusions and worked with them myself. “Hold on,” I said. “Your software is assuming we’ll fight to the death with the battleships. I have no intention of doing so. We’ll run right past them, taking a few hits, but…”

Durris dutifully worked his boards again. At last, the situation looked brighter.

“Excellent,” I said, smiling.

“Captain… I don’t know. There are an infinite number of variables.”

“Of course there are,” I said, “and when they come up, we’ll change our choices.”

“But at that point we’ll be effectively surrounded by the enemy!”

“Yes, but take a look at this.” I triumphantly tapped the center of the image. There was the
Iron Duke
, burning and destroyed. “I’m willing to take a serious chance to achieve that goal.”

“Yes sir.”

“Lock it in, Rumbold,” I said, knowing he’d been watching remotely. “Lock it into your thoughts and the navigational computer’s programming.”

Stretching and sipping a beverage, I sighed. “I have more difficult work to do.”

“What work is that, Captain?” Rumbold asked.

I glanced at him. “I have to convince Okto to follow our lead. I’m not sure she’s going to like this plan.”

“Huh,” he said, “can’t say that I blame her.”

His attitude bordered on insubordination, but the old-timer and I had a unique working relationship.