Empire in Crisis (5 page)

“An interesting approach. I’m tempted to order
you to do the kinds of research that such an approach would require, but I
think that would distract you from working on a strategic plan for prosecuting
the war. So let’s get that started. Here is what I want to see. Phase One will
consist of measures that can and should be implemented immediately, including
but not necessarily limited to: redeployment of squadrons, re-assignment of
flag officers at the squadron, task force, fleet and fleet group levels, short
term strategic objectives with guidelines on how to achieve them and some kind
of preliminary timetable. Phase Two will focus on intermediate term objectives.
What are they? How will they be achieved? Intermediate term means not less than
six months’ duration extending as far as fifteen to eighteen. Whatever actions
will require that much time to implement will fall under Phase Two. Phase Three
will be long-term goals, objectives and actions.

“You should not concentrate solely on the Rift
aliens, but I don’t want you to get bogged down with contingency planning for
possible hostile actions by the Empire’s neighbors. I think the worst thing we
could do is be too cautious about shifting assets away from our borders and end
up missing an opportunity to end this Rift War quickly. If you are unsure of
how much redeploying to recommend, come up with more than one deployment plan
but not more than three. If you’re running short of time, then just do two. I
want something fast. It doesn’t have to be pretty or polished, and you don’t
have to come up with detailed deployment schedules for every squadron. That can
come later. Phase One has to be done first. I’ll want to see something, even if
it’s just a first draft of Phase One, within…72 hours.” He saw her eyes widen
at that deadline. “I know I’m pushing hard, but I wouldn’t be doing it if I
didn’t think you can handle this, Commander. Am I wrong?”

“No, My Emperor.”

“Very good. One last comment: don’t ask
yourself what Hiakawa is likely to accept. Let me worry about that. The only
question you need to ask yourself is how do we win this war as quickly and
efficiently as possible.”

“I understand, My Emperor.” Before
DeChastelaine could say anything, she continued speaking. “If I may ask, would
your comment about not being one hundred percent sure about the Guard have
something to do with your predecessor’s death?”

DeChastelaine nodded. “Very perceptive of you,
Commander. My clone-father was poisoned by one of my guards, and he or she is
very likely still on active duty. All guard personnel who had physical access
to the palace during the forty-eight hours prior to my clone-father’s death had
to undergo verifier sessions. All denied any involvement in the plot, and all
passed the test.”

“What about the personnel who administered the
verifier test? Were they vetted too?”

DeChastelaine nodded. “There was only one
individual who administered all the tests. His background was checked
thoroughly, and he underwent the test himself, answering the same recorded
questions while being monitored by the same equipment as everyone else.”

“He has to be a co-conspirator. Let’s suppose
for a moment that he was able to falsify the results of the poisoner’s test. If
he could do that, he could also falsify his own results. We can catch him the
same way. Here’s how we can do that. You announce that those same guard
personnel will be tested under verifier again, and this time the expert will be
tested first. He’ll arrange for the equipment to show that he’s telling the
truth no matter what he says. He’ll be expecting the same questions, but during
the test he’ll be told to admit being involved in the conspiracy as a way of
confirming the equipment’s accuracy. If he’s really innocent, the equipment will
show that he’s lying when he says he was a co-conspirator. If the equipment
indicates that he’s telling the truth, it will confirm beyond a doubt that he
was involved in the murder. Once he’s confronted with his guilt, I’m sure he
can be convinced to tell all he knows if offered the appropriate incentive,
leniency perhaps.”

“My God, you are just full of surprises,
Commander. I think that’s worth a try. Any other ideas?”

“No, My Emperor.”

“Well if you come up with any other
suggestions, I want to hear about them. Unless you have something else you wish
to bring up, I think we’re done for today.”

After Hood left the room, DeChastelaine called
the Guard Captain on duty and ordered her to bring the verifier expert to his
office. Watching the expression on the man’s face when he was told he’d be
tested all over again could turn out to be quite amusing.

Vice-Admiral Ashton was satisfied that the
736th battlecruiser squadron had made a normal exit from the wormhole into the
star system containing Starbase Tango Delta 39. He was about to get up and
leave the Flag Bridge when he heard the electronic voice of the ship’s computer
over the loud speakers.

“Starbase Tango Delta 39 reports being under
attack by thirteen unidentified ships. Unable to establish communications with
305th heavy cruiser squadron.”

“Tactical!” ordered Ashton. The 3D holographic
display settled down to a tactical representation of the TD39 system. The only
icon representing a confirmed contact was the starbase. Without communication
via faster-than-light longitudinal waves, there was no way to be sure where the
heavy cruisers were. The hostile ships weren’t using warp drive and couldn’t be
detected by more conventional means from this range.

Ashton cursed under his breath. If the starbase
was taking hostile fire now, then he had to hurry. “Okay, Leader to squadron!
We’re going to max warp now! All ships to Battle Stations! Stay in formation!
Flagship will assign targets when we drop out of warp! As soon as you have targets,
you may fire! Helm, keep the squadron at maximum warp as long as you can
without overshooting the base. Get us as close to the base as possible.” He
ignored the shocked expression on the Helm Officer’s face on one of his Command
Station’s small screens. Dropping out of warp speed close to a starbase was
possible. Decelerating from maximum warp to a dead stop quickly was also
possible. Doing both at the same time was asking a lot.

As his flagship, the battlecruiser Thunderer,
went to Battle Stations, everyone on the Flag Bridge quickly donned spacesuits,
including Ashton. He was embarrassed to see that everyone else managed to get
his or her suit on before him. As he finished putting his on, he realized that
his hands were trembling. This was the first time that units under his command
were going into a real battle. Thirteen hostiles sounded like a lot. He had
eight battlecruisers, and there should be another eight heavy cruisers already
in this system. The starbase itself had powerful beam weapon turrets, but it
wasn’t armored and couldn’t move worth a damn.

“TD39 to Thunderer! Are you there, Thunderer?”
The human voice over the loudspeakers seemed to be on the verge of panic.

“Thunderer here, Ashton commanding. What the
hell is happening there?”

“We’re taking fire from thirteen hostiles! Most
of our turrets are gone! Hulls breaches on eight decks! Lots of casualties!
They must have detected your emergence from the wormhole because their fire
slacked off immediately, but it hasn’t stopped. It’s almost as if they’re
toying with us.”

“What about the 305th?” asked Ashton.

“Gone…destroyed or crippled. Those hostiles
seem to be heavily armored. We haven’t detected signs that they took any damage
at all from the heavies or from our turrets. Our tactical systems are damaged,
Ashton. What’s your ETA?”

Ashton looked at the display sidebar. “We’ll
drop out of warp in less than 95 seconds! Did you manage to notify other
starbases of the attack?”

“Affirmative! At least we think our
transmitters were still working long enough to do that. They’ve stopped firing
at us. I think they’re getting into defensive positions for your arrival. They
could have destroyed this base by now if they had wanted to. I think we’re
being used as bait to lure your ships in. Break off now and head for the
wormhole, Ashton, You can’t save us. Do you hear me? Break off!”

Ashton realized that everyone on the Flag
Bridge was now looking at him. His orders were quite explicit. Bring the 736th
to TD39 and protect it from hostile incursions. There were no conditional
orders to withdraw if faced with overwhelming force. He had a feeling deep in
his gut that his squadron was seriously outmatched by these 13 ships that
hadn’t seemed to have taken any damage after facing 8 heavy cruisers. However,
if he ordered the squadron to retreat now, he was certain that he would face
charges of cowardice in the face of the enemy. His family had produced a string
of flag officers for five generations. Bringing that kind of disgrace to the
family name was more horrifying than the thought of his own death.

“Nobody is breaking off!” said Ashton as he
turned to look at his Tactical Officer. “We’ll go with Alpha Five, Hanson.”

“Confirming fire plan is Alpha Five,” said the TO.

Ashton told his body to relax. The ship’s
tactical computer would use the criteria of that firing plan to assign targets
to all of the beam weapon turrets in the squadron. They were going to
concentrate all fire on one enemy ship at a time. As each target was destroyed
or crippled, firing would shift to another target. It was a risky strategy, but
so was dividing their fire against multiple targets simultaneously. There was
nothing left for Ashton or his Flag Bridge personnel to do now. Thunderer’s own
Tactical Officer on the Main Bridge would make sure that Thunderer’s weapons
followed the tactical plan. As far as maneuvering after dropping out of warp
was concerned, any evasive actions that battlecruisers might be able to take
would be useless at this close range. The 736th would come to a halt and would
exchange energy weapon fire at virtual point-blank range with the enemy, and
God help the 736th!

“Prepare for sudden decel!” shouted the Helm
Officer.

Seconds later, the squadron began its crash
deceleration from 4.4 times the speed of light to a few hundred meters per
second velocity. Ashton knew he had only seconds left to make any changes to
the orders. He wished now that he had not told the HO to get in close. If he
hadn’t acted so impulsively, he would have kept the squadron beyond effective
beam weapon range and fired the warp missiles, but everything had happened so
fast, and it was too late to use missiles. If he used those missiles now, the
exploding missile warheads, whose energies were focused into concentrated beams
of searing power, would not only blind his squadron’s targeting sensors at this
close range, but might even cause some damage to his own ships. He silently
cursed his own stupidity for making the wrong tactical decision. But his family
name could survive a charge of incompetence. At least he hadn’t made the
mistake of retreating!

“ZERO WARP IN THREE…TWO…ONE…MARK!” The Helm
Officer had barely finished yelling when Thunderer shuddered. The STO’s shout
that they’d been hit was standard procedure but entirely unnecessary. Nothing
else would have caused the ship to shake that way.

“We’re firing!...Target one hit! We got
venting!” Ashton pounded his chair’s armrest. Venting meant the target had
taken damage. The STO kept yelling. “Switching to second target! We’re firing
again! More venting by God. We got’er! Switch—SHIT! WARLOCK’S BEEN BLOWN APART!
DAUNTLESS HAS TAKEN HEAVY DAMAGE!”

Ashton closed his eyes and clenched his teeth
as the results of his mistake were now becoming abundantly clear. The squadron
was getting shot to pieces. He shut out the sound of the STO’s hoarse yelling.
Thunderer
will be hit any second now,
he thought. He couldn’t help but hope that the
next energy blast would hit the flag bridge and put him out of his misery. He
got his wish.

*  *  *  *  *

DeChastelaine was still struggling to shake off
the last remnants of sleep as he stumbled into the conference room and sat down
at the console. He was expecting to see Hiakawa’s image awaiting him, but
instead he saw the face of the Admiral’s Deputy Chief of Space Force Operations.

“Where’s Hiakawa, and why isn’t he available?”
asked DeChastelaine in a clearly annoyed tone.

“I personally spoke with Admiral Hiakawa’s
residential staff and was told by them that the Admiral left strict
instructions not to be disturbed for any reason. After reflecting on the
situation, I decided to take the initiative to inform My Emperor of the news
directly.”

When it was clear that the DCSFO wasn’t going
to say any more, DeChastelaine lost his patience. “All you’ve done so far is
wake me up! You haven’t informed me of anything yet! What the hell has
happened!”

That was not the response the DCSFO was
expecting, and his expression showed it, but he quickly regained his composure
and said, “Tango Delta 39 and the 305th heavy cruiser squadron have been
attacked by at least thirteen alien ships. L-wave contact with the starbase was
lost shortly after that message was received. All attempts to re-establish
communications have been unsuccessful, My Emperor.”

DeChastelaine was surprised at how calmly he
took the bad news. Starbases had redundant communications systems. If TD39
wasn’t transmitting anymore, chances were that it had suffered critical damage
and perhaps even catastrophic damage. The heavy cruiser squadron would have
tried to defend it and was probably destroyed too. Then he remembered about the
battlecruisers.

“What do we know at this point about the
battlecruiser squadron that was assigned to defend TD39?”

“Nothing for certain, My Emperor; however, if
the 736th was on schedule, it would have arrived at that star system within a
few minutes of the transmission of the last message.”

DeChastelaine cursed the fact that he wasn’t as
well versed in the nuances of defensive strategy as the admiral who should be
deciding what to do now but was unavailable because he was doing God knows
what!

“What do you recommend, Admiral?”

“Ah, I don’t know if I should…”

When it was obvious that he wasn’t going to
finish the sentence, DeChastelaine jumped in. “God damn it, Admiral, you’re the
senior ranking officer present, and the Empire’s under assault! Now tell me
what you think our best response should be or resign your post and get me
whoever’s next in the chain of command!”

“Ah, well…if that alien fleet pushes straight
on, they’ll find another starbase six wormholes further back. We should move
the 107th fleet forward to protect that starbase. If we issue the orders
quickly, they may be able to get there in time. I would also recommend that
Rift fleets surrounding TD39 send recon squadrons laterally to determine what
that alien fleet is doing. I’d have to check the data to be able to identify which
fleets and where they are, My Emperor.”

“That’s better, Admiral. Now that I have some
idea of what we should do, I want you to pass on MY orders for the 107th to
move forward as quickly as its individual squadrons can move. Put all the Rift
fleets on alert. Have the fleets around TD39 commence recon operations. Am I
correct that there are no other fleets between the 107th and the Capital
System?”

“That’s correct, My Emperor.”

“In that case, I want Capital Fleet to go on
high alert status. All leaves are cancelled. You tell Capital Fleet
Commander…no, I’ll do that myself. Do you have any other recommendations for
me, Admiral?”

“Ah, not at this time, My Emperor. Admiral
Hiakawa may not like these orders.”

DeChastelaine resisted the temptation to tell the
DCSFO what Haikawa could do with himself. Instead, he took a deep breath and
replied when he had calmed down. “If Admiral Hiakawa has different
recommendations that make more sense, I’ll be glad to amend my orders, but
until I change them, my orders stand regardless of what Hiakawa likes or
doesn’t like. Is that clearly understood, Admiral?”

“Yes, My Emperor.”

“Good, you may break the connection and carry
out my orders now.”

When the DCSFO was gone, DeChastelaine told the
Palace Communications Center to open a channel to Capital Fleet’s flagship. As
expected, the 4-star admiral commanding the fleet was asleep, and it took
almost ten minutes before someone got him awake and in front of a video unit.

“My Emperor! This is most irregular. The chain
of command—“

“I don’t have time for this chain of command
foolishness, Admiral,” said DeChastelaine. “Everyone between me and you is
either asleep or is carrying out my orders. A Rift starbase has been attacked,
and we have to assume from the lack of communications that it’s been destroyed
along with the 736th and 305th squadrons that were tasked with defending it.
I’ve already given orders for the 107th Fleet to move forward to protect the
next starbase in the enemy’s path of advance. Since that path of advance
potentially leads here, I want Capital Fleet on full alert and able to move at
a moment’s notice. All leaves are to be cancelled. How quickly can you get the
Fleet up to that state of readiness, Admiral?”