Ghost Fleet (The Pike Chronicles Book 4) (24 page)

Jon rolled his eyes. “Anyway, look on your tactical screen, Jonas. Our bombers are moving to intercept. They’ll deal with the rest of those ships.”

“Not if there’s any more of that,” said Jonas.

Jon watched as a bomber icon disappeared on his display. Then a second bomber blinked off the screen. They were taking heavy fire. The enemy wasn’t fooled by the fighters and were throwing everything they had at the bombers. A third bomber disappeared.

“A Reiver’s work is never done,” said Jonas, sighing. His face disappeared from Jon’s screen. Jon saw the Reiver’s icon disappear and reappear directly above the bombers and open fire on the enemy ships.

“Shit, that crazy old bastard is trying to draw their fire.”

“It might work,” said Kevin. “The bombers are almost in range.”

Jon tapped his screen and Jonas appeared again. “Ha! You weren’t expecting that, were you Jon Pike?”

“Jonas get the hell out of there.”

“Sir, the Reiver is taking heavy damage. She can’t endure much more of this.”

“Jonas! Jump away.”

Jonas stumbled as his ship was pummeled, and his image flickered in and out.

“Torpedoes away,” said Kevin. “Bombers are jumping back.”

“Jonas, the bombers have launched their torpedoes. Jump away now.”

“I can’t. That last hit took out our jump system.”

“Shit,” said Jon.

“Sleep with one eye open, Jon Pike,” said Jonas, with a ghoulish smile. He stumbled again and his face disappeared from the screen.

Jon looked to the tactical display, but the Reiver’s blue icon was gone. The red icons that were firing on him were now blinking off the screen in rapid succession, as the Scorpion torpedoes made impact. Jon struck his console with his fist. All the Reivers were on that ship. Breeah’s father was on that ship. All of them, gone.

Colonel Bast’s face suddenly appeared on Jon’s screen. “Admiral, the Reiver has sustained heavy damage, but will survive.”

“What are you talking about, Colonel? The Reiver has been destroyed.”

“No, Admiral, I had been monitoring the Reiver’s status, and saw she was in great peril. So I had the Ronin jump in directly above her and jump her away.”

“Then they’re alive?”

“Yes, Admiral, although considering the damage they have sustained, I am sure there will be many casualties.”

Jon breathed out a sigh of relief. He had been so focused on Jonas, he didn’t see the Ronin jump in on his tactical screen. “Thank you, Colonel. That was quick thinking.”

“Your welcome, Admiral. We are still down a warship, however.”

“We’ll have to make do,” said Jon. His tactical display showed the surrounded enemy ships were mostly destroyed. Calledonius’s ships would have no problem mopping up. With the threat on their rear now neutralized, Jon’s ships could turn their attention to the main corporate line. The corporate fleet would now have to deal with Jon outflanking them. Jon tapped his screen and the Chaanisar commanders appeared, as did Konos. “Calledonius can mop up. Let’s focus on the corporate right flank. I want it demolished.”

“Yes, Sir,” came the reply.

Looking back to his tactical display, Jon’s blue moved in to attack the main line. The tide had turned.

The battle wore on for almost a full day. The New Byzantium fleet had suffered heavy losses, and two of Jon’s Heavy Cruisers were so badly damaged that they had to jump away from the battlefield. That left only the Freedom, the Ronin, and Colonel Steeg’s battleship. Their tactics changed accordingly, adopting a strategy that focused on mobility. Since Jon’s jump system had been damaged, his carrier became the anchor, while the Ronin and Steeg’s battleship used their jump systems to confound, the enemy. Bast and Steeg developed a tactic where they would isolate an enemy ship by jumping in on both sides of it, and pound it into submission, targeting the ship’s point defense batteries with their heavy guns, and finishing it off with missiles when its defenses were down.

Konos’s jump squadron adopted a more flexible strategy, and used their jump systems to jump to different sections of the corporate line, launch torpedoes, and jump away. Since few ships could survive direct hits from five Scorpion torpedoes, and most couldn’t handle three, or four hits, the bombers focused more on isolating and eliminating the larger enemy ships. They did this by splitting the remaining nine bombers into two groups, and having an entire group target an individual ship. This was generally enough to destroy the enemy ship, but in the case of a heavier capitol ship, if the ship survived it had been so badly damaged that it didn’t pose much threat.

In this fashion Jon’s fleet picked apart the enemy, while Calledonius pressed with his greater numbers. As the day wore on the scales were eventually tipped in New Byzantium’s favor, and the corporate fleet ended up being out numbered. As Calledonius’s advantage grew, his ships steadily surrounded the enemy until their advantage was so great that progress accelerated. Toward the end the corporate ships began to surrender, but Calledonius wouldn’t accept anything other than a surrender by the entire fleet, which for some reason was held back. It was only when the enemy fleet was so badly damaged, and the ships were rapidly being destroyed, that the fleet surrender finally came. Calledonius accepted, and the surviving enemy ships allowed themselves to be boarded.

Cheers broke out on the bridge of the Freedom with the surrender. Kevin reached out a hand, and Jon shook it.

“Congratulations, Admiral,” said Kevin.

“Thanks Kevin. You did great work today,” said Jon with a smile. He turned to his console and opened a comm with the entire fleet. “Congratulations. You should all be proud of yourselves. Each and every one of you fought bravely today, and I am proud to serve with all of you.”

Jon looked around the bridge. Everyone was jubilant, albeit exhausted. “Commander St. Clair, you have the bridge.”

“Yes, Sir.”

Jon headed for his quarters. There were only two people he wanted to celebrate the victory with. Many of the crewmembers he passed in the corridors had smiles on their faces, the widest smiles belonging to the New Byzantium recruits. It felt great to see and feel their emotions.

Arriving at his quarters, the door slid open and he was immediately assaulted by Anki, who lunged through the air at him arms outstretched. Jon’s hands shot out to catch the little girl midflight. He pulled her into a hug as she giggled, wrapping her arms around his neck.

“I heard your announcement,” she said excitedly. “Is it true? Did we win?”

“It’s true,” said Jon, laughing. Breeah stood behind Anki with a warm smile on her face. He paused for a moment, filling his eyes with her beauty. She gave Jon a knowing look. “Come now Anki, loosen your grip. You will end up strangling our Admiral.”

Anki giggled some more, and released her hold of Jon. He lowered her down to the floor, and she took off, running around pointing her fingers, and making “pew, pew” noises, as she fought imaginary enemies.

Breeah stepped up to Jon and he took her into his arms, kissing her softly on the lips. “So it is over?” she said.

“Yes, it is over. The enemy fleet has surrendered. Calledonius can deal with all of that, while we take some r&r.”

“Mmmm, I like the sound of that,” Breeah said with a suggestive glance that made Jon’s knees go weak.

“Pew! Pew!” Anki circled both of them, her fingers shaped as guns pointing at them. “Pew! Pew! You’re aliens and I’ve defeated you.”

The word aliens made Jon grimace.

“What’s wrong?” said Breeah, concern in her voice.

“Earth.”

Breeah frowned. “We can do nothing for them at this moment. Enjoy your victory. Your crew needs rest. We will see Earth soon enough.”

Jon took in a deep breath and gave Breeah a smile. “You’re right.”

“And before we leave for Earth, we will take some time and visit the Seibens. We will celebrate with them while Anki plays and swims in the sea. Understood?”

Jon pulled her in closer. “Understood.”

“Well look, if it isn’t the hero of New Byzantium,” said Seiben, holding the door to his house open for Jon, Kevin, Breeah, and Anki.

“Anki!” shouted Alina from inside the house.

With a nod from her mother, Anki ran into the house to play with Seiben’s daughter.

“Jon, Kevin, Breeah, how are you?” said Darla, Seiben’s wife, walking up to the door.

“Hi Darla,” said Jon.

Hello Darla,” said Kevin.

Darla smiled at the two men, and took Breeah by the hand. “Come, let’s catch up and let these three talk about whatever it is they talk about.” Darla and Breeah walked away laughing.

Jon, Kevin and Seiben watched them go, then Seiben turned to Jon, “Don’t let that hero talk go to your head. You would’ve still been floating in space if I never saved your ass.”

“I know, old man,” said Jon, slapping Seiben on the back.

“Take it easy, you gorilla. You’ll break my back with those big mitts of yours. And I thought I told you to stop with the old man crap.”

“But it suits you,” said Kevin.

“It does suit you, old man,” said Jon.

“I should’ve let you rot in space,” Seiben said with a scowl. “Come one, let’s go outside and have a drink. I’ve got some fresh seafood on the grill that I’ve got to keep an eye on.”

The three men walked into the kitchen, where Seiben handed each of them a bottle of the local ale, then proceeded out onto the back patio.

“Have a seat,” said Seiben, gesturing to a couple of chairs, while he went to a very large grill, loaded down with fresh New Byzantium seafood. While much of it had been brought over from Earth when New Byzantium was first settled, some of the seafood still looked alien to Jon. He knew from previous meals that it was delicious, however.

“The food looks great,” said Kevin.

“Another day in paradise, my friend,” said Seiben. “I should’ve listened to Darla a long time ago and relocated here. We eat like this every day. You two should settle down here. It’s beautiful.”

“One day,” said Jon.

“One day?” said Seiben, casting an appraising look at Jon. “Now you listen to me, Admiral Pike. ‘One day’ will never come. There will always be something you need to do first. But I’m here to tell you that this is what you need to do first. Trust me. You’ll be much happier, and so will Breeah and Anki.”

“It does sound great, but it will have to wait.”

“Why? What’s more important than your family’s happiness?”

“Earth,” said Jon.

“Earth? What’s Earth got to do with anything? This is your home now. You said so yourself.”

“I know I did,” said Jon, wondering how much he should tell Seiben. “What the hell, you’ll find out soon enough.”

“Find out what?” said Seiben, looking concerned now.

“We believe Earth has fallen.”

“Fallen? To who?”

“The Juttari Empire.”

“The Juttari Em- aren’t they the same ones from the stories? The ones who conquered Earth centuries ago?”

“That’s right. They’ve returned. And it’s not just Earth they’ve attacked. They’ve hit multiple star systems. We’re talking about the beginning of a galactic war.”

Seiben looked back at Jon with his mouth agape.

“We can’t just sit here while this is happening,” said Jon. “There is no hiding from something like this.”

“Do you think this war will reach the colonies?” said Seiben, looking back inside the house at Darla and his daughters.

“I don’t know, but the Juttari have the jump system this time. Centuries ago the colonies shut down the jump gate and saved themselves. The Juttari no longer need the jump gate to reach you.”

“I see,” said Seiben. He reached for his bottle of ale, taking a long swig from it. He looked past Jon to the ocean, then back to his grill. He used his tongs to flip a few of the crustaceans, and took another long swig from his bottle. “Screw it. I’m not going to worry about something that might happen. We’ve got good friends, good food, and good drink. That’s all that matters.”

“I’ll drink to that,” said Jon.

“So will I,” said Kevin.

The three men clinked their bottles, and each downed their drinks.

“What about the Kemmar?” said Sallas, upset by the news that Jon planned to return to the Sol System.

“I believe you have some time before the Kemmar go on the offensive,” said Jon. “We won’t be gone for very long, anyway. If Earth has fallen, there won’t be much my six ships will be able to do to change things.”

“Two of those ships were given to you by New Byzantium in exchange for your loyalty. Or did you forget that?” Sallas glared at Jon. Jon didn’t expect him to buy his quick trip story, but it was worth a try.

“I did not forget about the ships, or my promise. But I need to know if Earth has been conquered. Most of my crew is from Earth. They have families there. When I made the promise to you, Earth was at peace. Now the Sol System could be the front line of a galactic war. We helped you defeat the corporate fleet. You have some breathing room now. But Earth doesn’t, and I can’t just idly sit here while it burns.”

Sallas exhaled sharply. “I understand, Jon. I really do. But I have a planet to think about.”

“I know, Sir. But believe me when I tell you that this is bigger than New Byzantium, the colonies, or the Kemmar Empire. You were spared the horrors of the last great war. You won’t be spared this time.”

“Because of the jump system?”

“That’s right. You saw those Juttari ships, didn’t you? Before they were liberated, they had sent communications back to the Juttari Empire telling them of the new gate, and of the Kemmar. What do you think will happen when the Juttari come for the Kemmar? How long do you think it will take them to find the colonies? Trust me when I tell you that this directly affects New Byzantium.”

Jon could see that his words were starting to sink in. Sallas had a more thoughtful look about him. “How long until you leave?”

“We won’t be leaving until repairs are completed. Several of our ships suffered extensive damage.”

“What if Earth hasn’t fallen to the Juttari? Part of our agreement is that I offer you political asylum. If you go to Earth, however, I cannot protect you.”

“I know. It’s a chance I have to take, but I’m not going to be foolish about it. We’ll enter the outskirts of the Sol System and run scans from there. If Earth has fallen, I fully expect to find a fleet of Juttari warships in the system. If not, we’ll find Space Force and likely a large Diakan contingent protecting the system. Each scenario has its own dangers. If it is the second, the Juttari have been repelled, and we can return to New Byzantium.”

Sallas nodded. “Very well. I suppose you’re right. This is greater than all of us. Good luck and Godspeed.”