Counterstrike (Black Fleet Trilogy, Book 3) (3 page)

“Report.”

“We’ve been told to stand by for a command-level briefing from the
Amsterdam
, sir.” Lieutenant Commander Barrett stood and vacated the command seat as Jackson walked onto the bridge of the
Ares
.

“Any word on what it’s all about, official or otherwise?” Jackson asked as he walked around the bridge to take a quick look at all the stations.

“Negative, sir,” Barrett said. “I reached out to see if anyone knew anything on the back channels, but the rumor mill is shockingly quiet on this one.”

“That fact alone is terrifying beyond all fucking measure,” Master Chief Green said from the hatchway. The salty chief’s massive arms were crossed over his chest and he wore his usual scowl as spacers scurried about to prepare the
Ares
for any potential orders that came down during the briefing.

“I don’t suppose the enlisted intel network was any more successful than Lieutenant Commander Barrett’s friends?”

“Not a peep, Captain,” Chief Green said. “Whatever this is about, the admiral is keeping a tight lid on it. I
might
have heard from an unsubstantiated source that he had the entire legal section aboard the
Amsterdam
working for twenty hours straight on something before ordering the recall.”

“Interesting,” Jackson said, not bothering to ask how the hell the master chief had contacts aboard a warship whose very existence was a highly classified secret until very recently.

“Captain, word from the
Amsterdam
is that Admiral Marcum will address the fleet within the next hour,” Lieutenant Keller said from the com station. “I’m being told to have all hands standing by.”

“Very good, Lieutenant.” Jackson sat in his seat, cringing inwardly at the residual warmth left by Barrett. “Send out the word to all sections: keep working but be ready to get in front of a monitor within a moment’s notice.”

“Aye, sir.”

****

“I will keep this brief as we all have a lot of work to do,” Fleet Admiral Joseph Marcum said to the camera lens sitting in front of his desk. “I am recording and broadcasting this command level briefing from the
TCS
Amsterdam
and it will be distributed to every corner of Terran space via the com drone network.

“As per the charter that the Terran Starfleet and all of CENTCOM operates under, I am exercising my right as Chief of Staff to declare a state of dire emergency and supersede all previous postings, orders, and assignments until said emergency is reduced in threat or eliminated.” He leaned back and slid the paper he’d been reading from aside.

“All of you know what’s been happening on the Frontier and that the Phage have gone on the offensive and destroyed Haven and Jericho Station. It is now obvious that this enemy is not content to harass our borders and intends to hit us, hard, wherever it can. It is also obvious, at least to me, that with our elected leadership in tatters it falls on us to mount any sort of meaningful defense.

“We’ve been given a real chance in the form of an ally with extensive intelligence on the enemy that has allowed us to begin forming a plan that will take the fight to them. Greater details will be forthcoming in later technical briefs and specific orders. For right now, all you need to know is that, in following within the letter of the law, I am temporarily restructuring Starfleet in order to provide our command and control greater agility. In short: all Terran warships are now on detached duty to Seventh Fleet and will operate within those parameters. You heard me correctly. We are
all
Black Fleet now.

“Specific orders are attached to this message, but they all say more or less the same thing. Every CO needs to get his or her ship prepped and steaming for New Sierra at best possible speed. I will forego the motivational speech at the end of this brief because you all have a
lot
of work to do. Marcum out.”

****

“The admiral isn’t fucking around with this one,” Chief Green said, the first one on the bridge of the
Ares
to find his voice.

“Does he really have the authority to do that?” Barrett asked.

“Yes,” Davis said even as she read from the CENTCOM operational charter. “He’s stretched the meaning a bit, but he’s exercising a clause that’s never been used since the restructuring of Starfleet over a century ago.”

“Captain, there’s a private com channel request coming in for you from the
Amsterdam
,” Keller said.

“I more or less expected this, Lieutenant,” Jackson stood up. “Send it to my office.”

“Aye, sir.”

****

“That was quite a surprise, Admiral,” Jackson said once the channel had been established and the encryption routine was stabilized.

“I’m taking a page out of your book, Wolfe,” Marcum growled. “I figured I’d see if taking direct, shocking action will garner me the same sort of luck you’ve enjoyed.”

“I see,” Jackson said noncommittally.

“Now here’s where it gets serious,” Marcum went on. “I don’t expect every ship to follow their new order. Most COs were put in place due to political connections within the individual enclaves, and their loyalties likely will remain there. I also don’t expect President McKellar to take this lying down. He still thinks that he’s in control of the Confederacy despite the fact everyone is running down whatever rabbit hole they can find to hide, and he may issue some countermanding order as Commander in Chief.”

“Doesn’t your order supersede his authority for the time being?” Jackson asked.

“Technically,” Marcum shrugged, an odd-looking gesture when combined with the video interference of the encryption. “But we both know I’m working with a legal loophole that was never closed all those years ago. Realistically, the best I can expect is that the ships that survived the Battle of Nuovo Patria may be all that will show up to the rally point.”

“I’m also assuming we can add Colonel Blake’s strike force to that mix,” Jackson said.

“I’m counting on it,” Marcum nodded. “We’re breaking orbit and heading for the jump point now. I’d like the
Ares
to stay and make sure the colonel doesn’t get detained by CN Security.”

“Understood,” Jackson said. “The rest of the Ninth is loitering in the outer system. I’ll send Captain Wright orders and get them moving to New Sierra immediately.”

“Good, good,” Marcum said distractedly as he looked off screen. “This feels like the endgame, Captain. Whatever we do next … we better get it right.”

“Agreed, Admiral,” Jackson said. The channel closed and he typed out his orders to the rest of his squadron while reflecting on what had just happened. He could only shake his head in disbelief. Against all odds, Admiral Marcum
had
restored Jackson’s faith in him.

“I need to see the colonel, please.”

“And you are?” the CN Security trooper sneered.

“Aston Lynch. Personal aide to Senator Augustus Wellington.” Lynch flashed his ID. “Senator Wellington is one of the surviving members of the Confederate Senate and, so far, is most pleased at how the Council of Nations here on Earth has treated his friend and guest. Now please step aside.”

“I’ll need to run this up—”

“I’ve been as accommodating as I can be, given the circumstances,” Lynch said. “Is the colonel a prisoner?”

“No.”

“Has he committed some crime here on Earth you intend to charge him with?”

“No.”

“You do realize there are six
Dreadnought
-class battleships in the Solar System right now, each of their captains sworn to carry out the political will of the Confederate government?” Lynch asked, smiling indulgently.

“You can’t possibly mean to threaten us—”

“Step aside.
Now!
” Lynch barked. The outburst had the desired effect and Lynch was able to shoulder between the two guards and get to the door of Colonel Blake’s quarters. He knocked twice and was ushered in before either guard could try to physically restrain him or call up to their superiors.

“Agent Pike,” Colonel Blake said calmly. “I take it there have been some developments since last we spoke?”

“You could say that,” Pike said. “While I’m sure your slick Vruahn hardware has already decrypted the transmission, it will take CN Security just a bit longer to figure out what’s going on. I’m afraid they might get desperate and do something foolish.”

“You’re referring to the transmission from the TCS
Amsterdam
?” Blake asked.

“You’re going to have to tell me what sort of bug they put in you that is able to evade every scanner we have,” Pike said in disgust. “But yes, Admiral Marcum has essentially declared the civilian authority over the Terran Confederate Armed Forces null and void and is massing the fleet near one of our largest depots. The aftershocks from his creative interpretation of the Charter are likely to send politicians into fits, both on Earth and in the enclaves.”

“So the admiral has decided to act on my initial proposal,” Blake mumbled. “I have to admit that I’m surprised.”

“Surprised doesn’t even begin to cover it,” Pike rolled his eyes. “Either way, we need to get you safely out of here.”

“Couldn’t I have just asked to leave?”

“Can’t chance it,” Pike shook his head. “The Council has already made noises about wanting to lay claim to your ships and I don’t trust any decision that comes out of the full session to be the right one.”

“How are we even getting off the planet if the Fleet is already pulling chocks?” Blake asked. “My ship can’t come within the atmosphere.”

“I’ve got that covered,” Pike said. “Now get your shoes on and fall in behind me. It may be a bit of a fight to get off the compound.”

Once Blake slipped on the generic-looking civilian shoes he’d been supplied with, Pike opened the door and swung a vicious elbow directly into the temple of the guard on the right, dropping him where he stood. The CIS agent was turning before the first body hit the ground and smashed the heel of his palm into the other guard’s throat. When the guard dropped to his knees and began clawing at his throat, Pike drove a knee into the man’s face, splattering the door frame with blood. He took a quick look around before relieving the two badly injured guards of their weapons and comlinks.

“It looks like they didn’t bother to call in my arrival,” he said as he thumbed through the menu on one of the comlinks. “This should buy us some more time. Let’s go.”

Colonel Blake’s quarters were in guest billeting, not a secure facility. This worked greatly in Pike’s favor since the only real security presence was the two guards they’d posted ostensibly for the colonel’s protection. He’d disabled all the surveillance systems on his way in, but he couldn’t discount the possibility that there were failsafes somewhere that he’d been unable to detect. He also knew better than to underestimate Earth’s security forces. Despite his familiarity with the area, this was still their home turf.

They made it all the way to the lifts without encountering any further resistance save for a startled woman who yelped at the appearance of two grown men sprinting towards her down a deserted corridor. Once in the lift car, Pike was able to override the security locks and descend all the way down into the subbasement two stories under street level.

“This isn’t going to be the cleanest you’ve ever been, but we need to get out of the compound without being spotted,” Pike said as he pulled the heavy cover off one of the enormous ducts that was lined with power and data cables, just barely large enough for them to walk through slightly hunched over.

“Is all of this really necessary?” Blake asked.

“Honestly? Probably not,” Pike admitted. “But if I’m wrong, would you rather do this or allow Admiral Marcum to move his battleships into orbit and begin making threats in order to secure your release?”

“Got it,” Blake nodded. “Let’s move.”

They quickly moved down the access tunnel and came out into a darkened building that was just on the other side of the compound’s security wall.

“This looks freshly cut.” Blake ran a finger over the shiny stubs of metal that used to be part of a heavy security grate.

“How do you think I got in here?” Pike smiled. “Aston Lynch’s credentials may have given a couple of bored embassy troopers pause, but they wouldn’t have allowed me to move about the compound freely had I walked in through the main gate.” He carefully opened the steel exterior door a crack and listened. He could just make out the sirens wailing near the main gate as the compound initiated lockdown procedures.

“We’re clear,” he said after a moment. “But we don’t have much time before they expand their search. I have a ground car a few streets over. We need to be as far away from the compound as we can get in a short amount of time.”

“I’m ready,” Blake said. “Let’s just make a run for it.”

“It’s as good a plan as any,” Pike shrugged.

****

“Incoming channel request, Captain,” Lieutenant Keller said. “No specific identifier, but it’s routed through a military com satellite.”

“Put it through here,” Jackson said. He had ordered the
Ares
into a descending orbit towards Earth, stabilizing their descent just before reaching the outer holding orbit controlled by the SDF. From there he’d waited patiently for some sign that Pike had been able to get Blake off the surface without sparking off an incident between Earth and the shambles that used to be the mighty Terran Confederacy.

“Captain Wolfe,” an elderly man with a pinched face wheezed once the video had stabilized. “Minister Nelson would like to have a word with you.” Before Jackson could reply the man’s face disappeared and the face of an obviously angry Adavail Nelson replaced it.

“Senior Captain,” she said with a cold glare. “I see you have returned to your ship and look to be making preparations to leave without so much as a notice sent to SDF Orbital Authority. Is there some reason in particular the Fleet is leaving the Solar System just prior to the scheduled full session?”

“My apologies for breaking protocol, Madam Minister,” Jackson said with genuine respect. “I’ve been ordered away by my commanding officer and, in spite of recent occurrences, this is still a Confederate warship and I am still a Fleet officer so I have little choice in the matter.”

“I see,” she said. “I suppose since Admiral Marcum’s ship was the first out of the system there’s no point in asking him what is going on.” Nelson continued, “What is of great concern to us, however, is that Colonel Robert Blake appears to have been abducted. Many of our guards were injured during the operation and I’d like to know if you are harboring a citizen of Earth on your ship. It’s the last one left in the system, after all, and I’m told you’ve been in a decaying orbit dropping back towards the surface.”

“I can say with certainty that Colonel Blake is not aboard the
Ares
nor did any of my crew have anything to do with his disappearance,” Jackson said.

“How carefully worded,” Nelson deadpanned. “Captain Wolfe … if you know anything about the bizarre events that have taken place in the last few hours I would appreciate you sharing. We accepted the remnants of your tattered government to our planet, your homeworld, without question. We certainly never anticipated this sort of blatant disrespect in response to our hospitality.”

“I am truly sorry, Madam Minister,” Jackson sighed. “I can tell you no more than I already have.”

“Very well, Captain,” Nelson said. The channel closed, and before Jackson could ask if it had been unintentionally dropped he had his answer.

“Captain, two SDF cruisers are coming over the horizon on a direct intercept course,” Barrett said. “No targeting radars yet.”

“They won’t actually bring weapons to bear on us,” Jackson said confidently. “This is a face-saving maneuver by the SDF. They’ll make a big show of chasing us out of the system to avoid looking completely impotent when the full session convenes later.”

“I’m getting a coded burst transmission, unknown source,” Keller said. “Running decryption now.”

“If I was to guess I’d say our elusive CIS spook is calling in to let us know they’re off the surface,” Jackson said. “Nav! Plot a course to the outer system and send it to the helm. Make sure we avoid those cruisers but try not to make it look like we’re running. A Fleet destroyer does not flee from a pair of antique cruisers, after all.”

“Understood, Captain,” Specialist Accari said from the Nav station. “Course plotted and transferred to the helm.”

“Helm, come about onto the new course. All ahead one-third.”

“Ahead one-third, aye.” The helmsman began swinging the nose of the
Ares
onto their new course and advanced the throttles.

“Transmission confirmed, Captain,” Keller said. “Pike and Blake are aboard the
Broadhead
in low-orbit. He’s asking for a bit of a distraction so he can climb out and make his way to the jump point unnoticed.”

“Of course he is,” Jackson muttered before pulling up a chart of the system. “Helm, come starboard forty-two degrees, thirteen degrees inclination.”

“Helm answering new course.”

“Engines ahead flank,” Jackson said. “OPS, inform Engineering that we’ll be running at full power out into the outer system.”

“Ahead flank, aye!”

“This course doubles us back towards those SDF cruisers, sir,” Davis said quietly.

“Yes it does, Lieutenant,” Jackson nodded. “But not so direct a route that they’ll think we’re turning in on them to open fire. We have the advantage of a higher orbit. Even at such a close range those cruisers won’t have the power to come about and climb up out of the well before we’re already by and appearing to be on a direct course for a Martian intercept.”

“I see now.” She looked over her own display. “This is your distraction?”

“Just a bit of theatrics,” Jackson said. “They won’t know why we’ve suddenly slammed into full acceleration away from Earth and towards Mars. There will be a bit of hesitation that should allow Pike to slink off and we’ll have not wasted any propellant as we’ll achieve our transition velocity well before we hit the jump point. It’s a relatively transparent ploy, as the cruiser COs know we won’t actually be attacking them, but for the sake of their own performance they’ll have to respect our move and respond by either slowing or turning in.”

As he’d predicted, the two cruisers began braking to keep the destroyer out in front of them for as long as they could. Both sides knew it was inevitable that the
Ares
would blow by and be out of range in a matter of hours, just as they all knew that nobody was actually going to make an overt threat towards the other. All it did was allow the SDF commanders to report back to the Council that they’d tried to apprehend the
Starwolf
-class destroyer but were simply outmatched.

“Coms, any further word from our CIS asset?”

“Negative, Captain,” Keller said. “No chatter on the open bands that would indicate they’ve been spotted either.”

“Very well,” Jackson said. “Nav, set a course for the Alpha Centauri jump point, maintain acceleration for now. I want to be out of this system ASAP.”

“Aye, sir,” Accari said. “Sending course adjustments to the helm now.”

“Lieutenant Davis, you have the bridge,” Jackson stood up. “You’re clear to prepare the
Ares
for warp transition. Alert me when we’re two hours from our jump point.”

“Aye, sir.”