Heart of Steel: Book II of the Jonathan Pavel Series (21 page)

Walking back to the
Wu’s
shuttle bay, Jonathan and William chatted somewhat.

“So once we get to Kratos what have you heard about its CO?” Jonathan asked.

William waved his hand. “Commodore Dorgihan. The rumor mill has been working overtime on him that’s for sure. I’ve heard he’s a drunk, a philanderer, and a fiend, I’ve also heard he’s a mustang with a chip the size of a mountain on his shoulder toward men of ‘good breeding’.”

“We’ll you’ll want to stay out of sight then,” Jonathan said.

William shook his head. “I doubt it. My family's disgrace is well known despite my brothers efforts to repair the damage.” William looked at Jonathan with a sideways glance.

“Hmmm... and yet you’ve married into one of the most prominently conservative families in the entire Republic,” Jonathan said.

“Yes, to the Liberal black sheep of the herd. I don’t suppose you caught the tabloids?” Will asked.

Jonathan shook his head, “You know I make a point of avoiding garbage journalism. It’s bad for the soul.”

“Oh we’ll, then you will have missed the section in the
New Sun
that is quoting anonymous sources at the Grand Horton that Bethany Trendale, a well known Landed socialite was seen in the company of Hero Naval officer, Jonathan Pavel.”

Jonathan stopped dead in his tracks. “I uh.. look Will I..” Jonathan looked at Will’s sniggering face.

Jonathan must have looked very confused, because Will went from sniggering to full on laughing.

“Ah, I take it you are not angry then?”

“Of course not. God John, how thick do you think I am? She messaged me from the hotel after the Provost dragged you away. She told me not to say anything though because you're so delicate with honor and all that. She thought you’d be quite distraught over sleeping with your friend’s sister,” Will said smiling. “Actually, I was impressed you managed to resist for so long. Oh don't look so surprised Jonathan, if I decked everyman she pounced on I wouldn't have any friends left.”

At that last comment, George, who had valiantly kept a straight face out of loyalty, burst out laughing.

“Oh shut up George. Will, I didn't mean to cross any lines, but come to think of it pounce was the optimum word.”

“Well Bethany is a big believer in making merry for tomorrow and all that,” Will replied.

“Oh wait that tabloid, oh god my mother..” Jonathan said burying his face in his hands.

“She has an alert set up for any of her children’s names in her news feed. How bad was the story?”

“One paragraph of scandalous gossip. I wouldn't think your dear ma would mind you taking up with high class women. She was a lady of high birth I seem to recall,” Will said.

“Yes, and that’s the problem. My mother is..well... she is not fond of the tabloids to say the least. As I seem to recall, her exact words were, ‘Now that you are famous Jonathan, the only time I want to read about you and a woman in the papers is your wedding announcement.’”

“Ouch,” George said, before looking to Will. “I take it you’ve met Ms. Pavel?”

“I have. Lovely woman, very strong willed even considering her illness,” Will said.

“I am going to have a very, very awkward visit next time I am in New Perth,” Jonathan said hanging his head.

“It's a universal constant. You are appointed by the Navy with the Consent of the Senate to command an entire warship, but as soon as you are in the same room as your mother you might as well be five years old again.”

They all laughed at that.

The good humor helped to lift Jonathan's spirits, but a shadow drifted over. His mind went to the dead spacer who had been killed in the docking procedures. Good humor was an antidote to many things, and one was the tension men felt on the eve of war. Though none said it, they all knew there was a good chance they would never see their loved ones or each other again. Jonathan and his XO bid the other officers adieu and boarded their shuttle for the quick flight back to the
Fury.
Jonathan remained silent the whole way, thinking about Bethany and her beautiful eyes. Make merry indeed, for tomorrow we may be dead. Next to Jonathan, George quietly hummed an old children's tune while looking at photos his pregnant wife had sent him.

In his mind, Jonathan put the lyrics to the tune -

“Can you hear the war drums, bum, bum, bum..”

The next day with all preparations made, the convoy’s twelve ships - four troop transports, three bulk haulers and four escorts - gathered information and proceeded to the Yimir Wormway. It would be 28 days to their destination, and the tension felt aboard ship was palpable. In fourteen days, the ultimatum would expire and then they could very well be at war. Little did they realize, they wouldn't have to wait nearly that long. 

Chapter IX

Torch System, Freeport in

Orbit of Primus IV, Free Worlds League

Solarian Embassy

October 31st 844 AE

All Hallows Eve, Halloween, Deus Morte, the Hungry Ghost Festival. Men had carried various names for this day when they went to the stars. Traq had never cared for October 31st, no matter what it was called. It was an unlucky day. All those holidays supposedly commemorated the day when the veil between the spirit and physical world was at its thinnest, and it was possible for the departed to cross back to the world of the living and linger there. Traq didn't believe in ghosts of course, but he did believe in omens. The Solarian Embassy had a small chapel, which was available for any of its staff to use as they saw fit. It was late local time, closer to dawn then midnight and Traq found himself in the chapel. He had taken the idol Ganesha from its silk padded nook upon the low table, which functioned as a shrine, and lit the incense that now filled the room with its noxious smoke. Finally, he set his offering upon the table.

Silently he prayed, but he wasn't sure what for. He wasn't particularly religious, but when he was nervous and unable to sleep he prayed.

A hand touched his shoulder, and he looked up to see Claudia Min.
“Sorry to bother you ambassador, but we need you in the situation  room.”

“What’s happening Claudia?”

“I..I don't know sir, but it’s bad.”

Traq saw something in her eyes he hadn't seen before. It was fear.

He followed her from the chapel into the sub-basement where a handful of civilian technicians sat next to black and grey uniformed OMI intel officers.

Traq saw why he had been summoned. On the monitor, Freeport news media showed images from across the League. Government Buildings on three worlds surrounded by armed men, tanks on the streets. The headline caught Traq’s attention, ‘Pro-Solarian Coup?’

“What in gods name?” Traq was interrupted by an explosion.

“Major,” one of the intel men cried. “We’ve got armed troops advancing on Parliament, the central broadcasting station, the dockyards, and the central armoury. Others are taking up position to defend those points.”    

“Shit!” Min said.

Traq couldn't have said it better himself.

What he didn't realize was that this was just the beginning of the bad news.

New Helsinki, Novi
Toulouse
Wormway

Solarian Navy
Listening Post Echo-89

October 31st 844 AE

Light years away from Freeport sat Specialist Gavin Xing manning the main console of listening post Echo-89. This was a small space station which held only two dozen men but enough signal and lidar gear to monitor half the system. The listening post was positioned near the Novi Toulouse wormway, and was meant to serve as a trip wire to alert the local Solarian forces if anyone came through the wormway. Ever since the Premier’s ultimatum, both the Solarians and Colonials had suspended transit rights through their wormways, forcing neutral merchantmen to sail around the Confederacy to reach Republic space and vise-versa if they were headed coreward. Xing rubbed his eyes and glanced at his chrono. Twenty minutes till the end of his shift, and then it was back to his quarters for a shower before the weekly semi-legal card game. New Helsinki had been heavily reinforced since the incident. In addition to two Army Brigades now garrisoning the planet and a reinforced OD net, the Navy had finished construction of the orbital elevator hub and turned it into a command and control node for the entire system. A reinforced task force consisting of two Battleships the older
Republic
class
Glory
and the newer
Sinking
class
Levelflats
guarded the system along with their consorts a cruiser squadron, two destroyer squadrons, a wing of star fighter and a wing of bombers based on an orbital battle station. All of this, along with the now expanded and well equipped local forces, made it easy to say  the system had never been so secure.  Xing was already mentally calculating how much money to put up for tonight's game when suddenly his board lit up like a Christmas tree.

“Oh sweet Jesus!” Xing said reacting on muscle memory and training. He started running through the sequence.

“Echo-89 to Fulcrum, Echo-89 to Fulcrum. Massive disruption in wormway, incoming Tangos repeat..” the alarms squealed as the wormway spat out six Colonial destroyers and a Colonial carrier. Seconds after the transition completed the destroyers, who had put their crews at great risk by making them man their stations during transit, began launching missiles, while the carrier began scrambling attack craft.

“Repeat Tangos identified as X-ray 1 through 7. Repeat seven X-rays, six destroyers and one carrier. Carrier is launching strike craft…”

The missiles began to impact targets closest to the wormway. The great ring, which had taken years to build and had kept the corridor between stars stable for decades was blown asunder, as was the nearby temporal weather station.

“Scorched Earth..repeat X-rays have gone..Scorched…” Xing pulled off his headphones as his console went to static and a low whine went through his headset. The jamming drones that the destroyers had launched with their missile salvo came in range cutting of all coms traffic. Xing jumped up as fast as he could and ran as quickly as he could toward the escape pods. He almost made it, the missile was quicker though.

Before Echo-89 was obliterated in a flash of a fusion warhead, the message its crew had broadcast flashed across the New Helsinki system. In an instant, the Solarian command began issuing orders. The Naval task readied for battle, Army units began to take up defensive positions, klaxons wailed across New Helsinki’s cities sending civilians to shelters and calling their military forces to arms. Meanwhile, the fighting Orbital Denial batteries groaned to life, and loaded their massive ship destroying ordnance. Word of the attack flashed through the laser relays across the Republic. The war had started.

Chaucer's Gap, In orbit of Scarva, Solarian Republic

RSNS
Elysium
flagship of the 3rd Fleet

October 31st 844 AE

Minutes after Vice Admiral Chou Meyers, Commander of the 3rd Fleet aboard her flagship the
Sinking
Class Battleship
Elysium
, received word of the attack, news began to filter in from one of Chaucer's own listening posts, which guarded the Chaucer side of the wormway linking the system to the now un-garrisoned Ozawa. The post sent out an alert that it was detecting a massive disruption in the wormway. No sooner had the message been sent, than the wormway flared and let forth a massive burst of radiation. The nearby installations were shielded against such things, but many of their sensors were not. Their visual scopes remained active and were able to record an unusual sight. A massive asteroid more than 100 miles across came through the wormway tearing apart the wormway ring in the process, and destabilizing the wormway.

“Ma’am,” Meyers’s Chief of Staff said, “The Colonials have pushed a big ass rock through the wormway from Ozawa. The resulting radiation storm is blinding what's left of our sensor net. I’ve ordered the wormway pickets to withdraw to join the rest of Task Force 4 in the orbit of Scarva. What are your orders?”

Meyers was torn. On the one hand, the Task Force guarding New Helsinki was reporting what looked to be a full battlefleet, including four battlewagons and a carrier, supported by destroyers, cruisers, and planetary assault ships on an attack course. She had been in the process of sending three of her five Task Force to reinforce New Helsinki and hopefully cut off the enemy's escape. Now, however, the situation had shifted. An asteroid push was not a new tactic. In fact, it had been pioneered at the dawn of interstellar warfare as a useful tactic when assaulting an enemy system. Sending an asteroid through the wormway shielded any ships following it from detection or direct fire. It also caused any blockading force to scramble out of the way, which was why navies rarely kept more than a picket in close proximity to a wormway, that and the ever present threat of temporal storms and gravity fluxes. An asteroid this big could be hiding half the Colonial fleet and Meyers would be none the wiser. Alternatively, it could be concealing squadrons of fast light ships, frigates and such that would disperse to Chaucer’s nine other wormways and start raiding the Solarian interior. It could also have nothing behind it and just be a decoy. Meyers bit her lip till she tasted blood, but finally made a decision.

“Task Force 2 and 3 under Rear Admiral Kittredge are to proceed to New Helsinki as ordered. The rest of the Fleet is going to form up on us, and we're going to intercept that monster. Is it on a collision course with anything?”

The answer was no. The asteroid would continue to fly harmlessly through the system driven by the drive engines strapped to it whose fuel was being robotically mined from the asteroid itself. In five years, if no one did anything it would leave Chaucer's gravity and sail on into interstellar space. It would pass within 3 million miles of Scarva first, but wouldn't hit it. That was a relief. All of humanity still cringed at the memory of what mass drivers, asteroids hurled at planets could do. The most recent memory was of the planet Hera where after such an attack a lush green world had been turned into a radioactive ash pile. The three Solarian Task Force closed on the asteroid at flank speed, their weapons armed and their kinetic barriers up. They didn't have to wait long to see the enemy. From behind the massive body, the Colonial Task Force appeared. Seven battle wagons and two carriers, with the four battleships committed in New Helsinki, this comprised half the Colonial’s entire force. They had bet big on this assault. The forces were evenly matched. The three Solarian Task Force had six battleships and two carriers, one heavy and one light. Including supporting forces, the Solarian fleet came to 78 ships to the Colonials 80. The forces arrayed themselves for battle as they closed to weapons range. The battleships positioned themselves in a wall, three ships long and two high with heavily armored cruisers filling the gaps between them. Around this wall, the destroyers, and in the Colonials case frigates, formed a ‘bubble.’ The carriers positioned themselves at the center of the pack launching their fighters and bombers who stayed within the bubble. Single man fighter craft were a valuable component of space warfare, but they weren't the kings of naval warfare they had been on Old Earth. Mostly because in space there is no horizon for fighters and bombers to hide behind, which gives defensive weapon systems plenty of time to track and destroy an incoming craft. Once missiles start flying and defensive networks become overwhelmed with the explosions and debris, then fighters and bombers could show their worth. Manned craft could penetrate chinks in an enemy’s defense phalanx and unleash decisive attacks. The two forces closed at a rapid pace. Aboard both ships men and woman passed the time the best they could at their battle stations. They prayed, they played ideal games of chance, or they stared off into space. Finally, six hours after the Colonial force had made its first appearance the klaxon sounded and the order went out ‘FIRE”!!! 

Two fully armed battle fleets coming into range of each other was like a collision between mountains of mighty gods. The fury of their barrage was truly awesome to behold. Rail guns fired as fast as they could cycle, plasma cannons let forth streams of molten fire, missiles and torpedos flew, point defense lasers flared, barriers strained under the barrage, and battle steel buckled from impact. As the battle commenced, a second Colonial force appeared from behind the asteroid. This one consisted solely of two squadrons of frigates and six planetary assault ships. The frigates, which all together numbered about  twenty, burned like mad for Chaucer's other wormways, while the planetary assault ships closed on Scarva. Scarva was well fortified against attack and upon seeing the closing threat activated its Orbital Denial Battery and ground defense forces. The ODB batteries firing sounded like thunder as they hurled their massive shells skyward at a fraction of the speed of light. The projectiles flew so fast through Scarva’s thin atmosphere they broke the sound barrier many times over. As the Colonial assault ships closed, hyper velocity missiles from the smaller ground batteries followed close behind the gargantuan shells. As they closed to near orbit, the planetary assault ships dodged the incoming shells and intercepted the missiles. This was what they had been designed for, but no design is perfect. One ship jinked when it should have jucked and was struck dead on by an ODB shell the size of a truck. The shell ripped through the reinforced barrier and tore the planetary assault ship CNS
Legion
in half. The entirety of its 600 man crew and 4,500 Colonial Marines died with their vessel as its reactor melted down and it was consumed by a ball of nuclear fire. The remaining assault ships stayed on course and entered the atmosphere not long after. Planetary assault ships were designed to do something no starship should ever have to do, fly through a planet's atmosphere. Grav repulsors and massive turbo fans helped, but it was an ungainly and unweilding craft and it flew nevertheless. Over the radiation soaked deserts of Scarva, the massive planetary assault ships deployed their landing craft. Each pair of ships had originally been tasked with a different target, but the destruction of the
Legion
had forced them to go to their backup plan. All five remaining ships with their division worth of Colonial Marines converged on Tumbledown Town home to the largest supply depot on the planet, the anchor point of one of Scarva’s three orbital elevators and headquarters of the 12th Army Division.