No Way to Start a War (TCOTU, Book 2) (This Corner of the Universe) (15 page)

The
past seventy-two hours had been busy.  The entirety of Task Group 3.1 orbited
Pan as repairs and resupply efforts continued.  The massive push to replace
Eagle’s
shattered twin starboard maneuvering drives was complete and the carrier would
have full propulsion in a little over six hours.  As initially feared, the
sensor wing was not repairable with the resources on hand and the entire
compartment was sealed off and ignored.  The enormous effort dedicated to
Eagle’s
rehabilitation meant
Kite’s
inoperable shield generator and
Aspis’
destroyed Hawkeye optical platform remained untouched.  Even though
Kite
did have fifteen additional shield generators positioned throughout the hull,
Heskan hated the weak spot his ship would have when they next entered battle.

Kite’s
crew had labored hard on the
repairs they could make themselves.  Their only respite came during their
captain’s promotion ceremony.  Heskan’s line number had finally come up and he
was authorized to pin on lieutenant commander’s rank.  Lieutenant Vernay
arranged a brief ceremony in
Kite’s
shuttle bay and every crewmember not
on duty had happily attended.  The golden oak-leaf insignia came fresh out of a
package Heskan had purchased at Anthe, not from a superior officer.  Though
embarrassed by the attention, Heskan understood the diversion and morale boost
would be good for the crew and he had reluctantly conceded to Vernay’s request.

The casual
atmosphere of the ceremony was a far cry from what Heskan experienced now as he
shifted uncomfortably in his chair inside
Avenger’s
main briefing room. 
As he had feared, Lieutenant Commander Durmont was absent. 
I’m glad I
listened to my instincts and asked Stacy to come along
, he thought as he
glanced at the young lieutenant hastily running through CortRon 15’s status
report for the tenth time.  Watching her tireless diligence, he realized she
had stepped into the role of first officer as competently and ably as she had
as a weapons section commander. 
She had huge shoes to fill, coming after
Mike, but she’s done great and under more difficult circumstances
. 

Heskan
looked around the large room and saw the squadron commanders from the entire task
group present.  Talking amongst themselves, the carrier captains and their CAGs
were discussing the latest round of training sorties the replenished fighter
squadrons had flown.  Off to another side of the table, the leaders of the
supply squadron were talking with the civilian managers of the commercial
repair yard over Pan.  In contrast, at the far end of the briefing table
quietly sat the squadron commander and vice commander of CortRon 8, the escort
squadron charged with the protection of the supply ships.  Heskan started to
rise from his chair to introduce himself to his counterparts when the briefing room
door opened.  The room came to attention as an adjutant said over the crowd,
“Ladies and gentlemen, the commander.”

Rear
Admiral Hayes entered the room at his usual ramrod pace followed by his vice
commander and adjutants.  “As you were,” he said as he reached the head of the
conference table and sat.

“We
are taking the fight to the Hollies in under a week,” he said bluntly.  “Second
Fleet Headquarters agrees with me that now is the time to push our advantage in
this sector.”  There was a muted rumbling of agreement from Captain Ramirez,
Avenger’s
commander.

Hayes
looked toward the fighter group commanders and asked, “Will our pilots be
ready?”

That’s
a trick question
,
Heskan thought. 
There’s really only one right answer to it.

“Yes,
Admiral,” both CAGs responded together.

Hayes
nodded and motioned to one of his adjutants who manipulated the briefing
table’s center screen.  The inlaid screen came to life to show an enhanced view
of the star systems around Sponde.  The star system one dive west by standard
Brevic charts flashed briefly to illuminate Kale, the system positioned in the
middle of the disputed region of space.

Hayes’
rough voice confirmed what Heskan saw.  “We’re taking our ships into Kale.  Our
scout ships say the Hollarans only have pickets stationed in that system.  We
will meet no material resistance.”

As
he spoke, the screen zoomed in, showing the binary star system and its four
tunnel points.  The tunnel point leading to Sponde flashed once and dimmed. 
The two northern tunnel points leading off toward the edge of known space
stayed dark.

“We’ll
transit the star system, eliminating any opposition we encounter, and then dive
to Helike,” Hayes instructed.

The
fourth tunnel point, on the opposite side of the system from the Sponde tunnel
point, flashed before the screen zoomed back out to show the surrounding star
systems again.  Helike was firmly inside Hollaran space.  Just one dive deeper from
Helike laid the Hollaran provincial system of Honos, gatekeeper to one of the
Commonwealth’s most vital core systems.

“The
Hollies can’t afford to ignore that,” Captain Ramirez noted to the agreement of
all.

Eagle’s
captain cleared her throat.  “Admiral,
Helike will have strong fortress defenses at the Kale tunnel point.  Who will
knock those down for us?”

“HQ has
permission to lend us Task Group One-One, Elly,” Hayes replied.

Oh
wow
, Heskan
thought. 
The General Council is serious if they’re permitting the use of
ships from our Home Fleet.  Just how badly have we been hurt if we need to rely
on the forces that should be protecting our border with the Solarian
Federation?
  The Brevic Navy’s First Fleet, also known as the Home Fleet,
was the firebreak between the republic and the enormous federation they had seceded
from a century ago.  The fleet was also touted as the final reserve to be used
against a Hollaran aggression. 
Are we losing this war?
  Heskan felt his
arms break out in goosebumps as he looked around the room and saw many others
who seemed to be asking themselves the same question.

Hayes
gently knocked on the table to bring the straying eyes back to him.  “They’re
only being used to clear a path around the tunnel point, people,” he assured.  “After
that, they’ve been ordered to dive out of Helike and return to First Fleet’s
area of operations.  It just so happens that with the Type-B tunnels available,
those ships can get to us the fastest and Headquarters agrees with me that we
must act quickly to take advantage of our successful defense of Sponde.”

That
helps
, Heskan
thought as relief washed over him.  The relief was short-lived as he saw Hayes
stare directly at him with an annoyed expression.

“Commander
Heskan, where is your squadron commander?” Hayes asked.

Heskan’s
heart leapt into his throat even though he had been preparing his answer for
the last twenty-four hours.  “Admiral, Commander Durmont is being attended to
by his medical staff.  He desperately wished to attend but also fully prepared
me to act in his stead should he be unable to.”

The
answer was mostly true.  Although Heskan had not yet been able to raise Durmont
since being ordered to attend the current meeting, given the commander’s
appearance on that call, it was almost a sure bet that Durmont’s absence
related to lack of sleep or other post-battle issue.  Further, Durmont had
hinted at his absence in that conversation and, in a sense, prepared Heskan for
the possibility of representing CortRon 15 alone. 

Hayes
growled a dissatisfied acquiescence.  “Extend my wishes for a speedy recovery
to your commander.”  Heskan nodded as Hayes inquired, “Will your escorts be
able to protect us as well as they did here?”

Heskan
could sense no trace of sarcasm in Hayes’ voice.  He knew that in the military
terms of escorts and their casualty rates, CortRon 15’s defense of the carriers
was, indeed, a success.  The loss of three minor units in exchange for the
power projected by the two carriers was a trade that any fleet commander would
gladly accept.  Nonetheless, Heskan felt his stomach tighten as he answered,
“Not unless we get replacements, Admiral.  We’re at fifty percent of our ship
strength.” 
Not the answer you want to hear but the answer you need to hear
.
 
I’m never again going to just “shut up and color” when I have real concerns
about my mission.  Besides, he’s an admiral.  He has to know that half a
squadron can’t protect the carriers.

Hayes
nodded curtly.  “Understood and understandable.”  The admiral looked to CortRon
8’s commander.  “Commander Baker, you will detach three of your ships to reinforce
CortRon Fifteen.”

The
lieutenant commander answered in the affirmative but his body language belied
his acceptance.  Heskan locked eyes with Baker who gave him a look that said
even though he was unhappy to have his squadron broken apart, he understood the
necessity of it.

“What
is our mission in Helike, Admiral?” Captain Elly Grey asked.

Hayes
smiled and offered a generic answer, “We will reduce the military capability of
that star system.”

“By
what means?” Grey pressed.

“I
have authorization to do it by any means possible…” Hayes stopped for a
moment.  “That piece of information will not leave this room.”  Hayes pointedly
looked around the table for added emphasis before resuming.  “We will, of
course, do it conventionally.  Since we won’t have a missile task group
accompanying us in-system, we’ll conduct tactical strikes against Helike’s only
inhabitable planet, Salus.  We’ll use our fighters at a range close enough to
hit the planet but far enough away that the enemy can’t use planet-based
missiles against us.  We’ll also destroy anything in orbit.”

“What
kind of resistance are we expecting in Helike?” Grey queried.  This was her fourth
question of the meeting, which drew an irritated look from
Avenger’s
captain, Ramirez.

“Intelligence
has concluded that the Hollaran navy gambled heavily on its assault on Sponde. 
The forces here had to be comprised of the defense forces protecting the lane
between Sponde and Honos.  We suspect we’ll encounter the remnants of those who
escaped here along with a cobble of hastily assembled light forces designed to
buy them time to mount a proper defense at Honos.”

Hayes’
adjutant zoomed in the conference table screen until it showed the Helike star
system.  Hayes leaned back in his chair as he motioned toward Helike’s two
other tunnel points.  “Although we have no plans to poke farther into Hollie
space, if things go perfectly, Western Forces may send us some low value units to
get a glimpse at Honos.”

This
spurred some eager looks around the room. 
Of course they’re excited
,
Heskan thought. 
To be talking about sending units to Honos… that’s like the
Hollies getting warships to Anthe.  It could change the whole complexion of the
war.  Hollara might even sue for peace if we took Honos and threatened a core
system.

The
table screen flashed once more, replacing the Helike system with an
organizational chart of Task Group 3.1’s forces.  “Let’s get down to brass
tacks,” Hayes said as he moved the agenda forward.

Heskan
sat, restrained, in his command chair on
Kite’s
bridge.  Even though the
ship was at battle stations, he had ordered Selvaggio to announce
Kite’s
imminent dive out of the tunnel taking them from Kale into the Helike star
system.  Trying not to fidget, he adjusted the chair restraints at his
shoulders as he looked at the forward optics displayed on the bridge’s main
wall screen. 
You’d never know we were in tunnel space… it essentially looks
the same as normal space
, he thought.  His eyes shifted to the tactical
display to look over the formation the squadron would arrive in, assuming the
proper dive sequence had been followed.

“One
minute until tunnel effect generation,” Selvaggio calmly broadcast across
Kite’s
ship-wide channel.

A
quick examination of the borrowed ships from Lieutenant Commander Baker’s
squadron was all Heskan needed to feel confident that choosing the standard
square formation for their dive into Helike was the proper decision.  Ironically,
the choice had rested with Heskan and not Durmont, who had all but ceded
authority to his vice commander. 
I barely talked to him the whole time we
were in Kale
, Heskan reflected. 
He’s become almost completely withdrawn
after the engagement in Sponde
.

As
more and more action items had piled up with Durmont’s inactivity, Heskan had
finally taken control of the squadron and made the key decisions unassisted. 
Initially, he had feared a serious rebuke from Durmont for usurping his
authority, but when Heskan’s judgments were met by tepid responses, mostly
through electronic messages, Heskan realized just how serious CortRon 15’s
leadership troubles were.  Rather than leaving the vacuum unfilled, he made the
command decisions while trying to preserve the illusion that Durmont was still
in command but delegating authority to his vice. 
Surely
, Heskan had
thought over the past week,
Durmont will snap out of his combat fatigue and
become the commander the squadron needs.
 
It has to be only a matter of
time before Durmont realizes his self-indulgence must take a back seat to the
needs of the thousands of men and women counting on him.
  Heskan had attempted
a last minute intervention to push Durmont out of his fugue before the tunnel
dive, but he had been unable to get Durmont to respond to his comm requests.

“Thirty
seconds until tunnel effect generation,” Selvaggio announced.

In
hindsight, Heskan realized he should have brought Durmont’s deficiency to the
attention of group leadership.  However, the severity of the problem had not
manifested early on and Heskan was reluctant to sell out his commander if it would
be only a matter of a day or two of indifference.  As time wore on and it
became obvious to Heskan that Durmont had truly “checked out,” Heskan had
already involved himself deeply in the day-to-day decisions as CortRon 15’s
commander.  With his late realization of the depth of Durmont’s state combined
with the looming combat action, he felt it impossible to approach the group
leadership with such an enormous problem. 
What would I say
, Heskan asked
himself
.  “Excuse me, Admiral, but your escort squadron commander is missing
in action but I’m just bringing this up now, a day from our assault?” 
Heskan
shook his head in frustration but refused to give up hope
.  It’s going to be
all right.  The three ships Baker gave us are dedicated escorts and they did well
in the two missile-defense exercises I organized.

Lieutenant
Commander Baker had looked past having half of his command removed and given Heskan
three very good ships.  The destroyer,
Curator
, was a Guardian class
like Moore’s had been.  The two frigates,
Arrow
and
Bolt
, were
full-fledged FFEs, escort frigates, which provided much better missile defense
aptitude than the previous frigates.  As a result, Heskan had decided this
expanded capability made square formation the ideal configuration for entry
into Helike. 
We won’t know what direction the threats are coming from until
we dive out and with stronger frigates holding the center, the square will let
us orient quickly to respond in any direction.

“Fifteen
seconds.”

Our
formation should be moot
,
Heskan thought. 
Task Group One-One dove out five minutes in front of us and
that should be enough time to clear out any immediate defenses around the
tunnel point.
  The eighteen ships that constituted one-fifth of the Home
Fleet had been an impressive sight when it arrived at Sponde.  The two
dreadnaughts, one battle cruiser and two heavy cruisers alone had greater
firepower than the entirety of the original Task Group 2.2.  When Heskan had
reviewed the myriad of light cruisers and the group’s destroyers and escort
frigates, he realized that the Helike defenders at the Kale tunnel point would
be in for a very bad day.

“Five
seconds.  Here we go,” Selvaggio declared as she sounded
Kite’s
two-toned dive alarm.

Heskan
resisted the urge to send out a final ship-wide message. 
It will just
distract them
, he thought. 
Let them keep their focus
.

If
Heskan had been able to see
Kite’s
wall screen as they dove out of
t-space, he would have witnessed the stars briefly tint blue as their positions
shifted noticeably.  Instead, the nausea washed over him and his crew as their
bodies adjusted back to normal space.  To his left, Heskan could hear one of
his crewmembers gagging briefly from the assault on the senses.

Blinking
furiously to clear his eyes, Heskan scanned the tactical plot.  The three Hollaran
defense fortresses around the tunnel point were shattered wrecks.  The weapons
of two of the mammoth stations had been silenced, but the third was still
stubbornly firing pulse lasers at a heavy cruiser.  The debris fields of at
least five vessels littered the surrounding area as testament to the lethality
of the fortresses and the tenacity of their fight.

As
the tactical view expanded outward, Heskan saw two incoming waves of missiles
approaching the Brevic forces, 20
ls
and 42
ls
from Task Group
1.1.  Heskan’s eyes traced the path of the missile waves back to their origin
and saw a fleet of Hollaran ships 6
lm
from the tunnel point but moving
away at .2
c
. 
Kite’s
computer projected their course would
intercept a group of replenishment ships waiting 15
lm
distant.

“Captain,
those Hollie Dachshund missiles are not a threat to us.  They are firmly
targeted on Task Group One-One,” Truesworth said.

“And
the fortress?” Vernay questioned in a calm voice but with layers of stress
riding underneath it.

“It’s
shifting its fire to Eagle now,” he replied.

Heskan
punched the squadron frequency button that he had hot-keyed to his command
chair console before the dive.  “Escorts will slide their positions to
intervene with the operational fortress.  The formation’s new axis is—” he
consulted the tactical plot briefly, “—point seven-four by zero-eight.”  The command
would place the escorts between the enemy fortress and the carriers.  Heskan
knew the order would take at least a minute to execute and be mostly symbolic,
as none of his ships could prevent the incoming pulse laser fire.  He would be
damned if he would let his carriers come under enemy fire and not react at all.

The escorts
began to reorient themselves as the station’s heavy pulse laser fire beat
mercilessly against
Eagle’s
port shields.  Her shields deflected and
absorbed the intense energy and weak spots on
Eagle’s
protective cocoon
began to glow.  Before the shields could fail completely, however, the combined
fire from both Brevic dreadnaughts finished the job they had begun five minutes
ago.

As
the last turret on the fortress went silent, the closest Hollaran missile wave
arrived.  Task Group 1.1’s escorts had already maneuvered into a defensive
position but Heskan could see one of the squadron’s destroyers had taken heavy
damage.  Intense AMS pulse laser fire and kinetic rounds erupted to lash out at
their targets and in the span of only a few seconds, the Dachshund missile wave
disintegrated until just a handful of missiles streaked past the escorts toward
the Home Fleet capital ships.

Too
far to assist, Heskan watched helplessly as the elusive missiles slipped inside
a Brevic light cruiser’s defenses to pound its port side.  The brilliant
strobes on the optical view indicated multiple hits against the stricken
vessel.  Near the cruiser, a Brevic missile destroyer absorbed several impacts
along the length of its hull, including a severe blow to its stern.  Heskan could
tell both ships had suffered major damage by the amount of debris shed.  The last
missile wave was still forty-five seconds away and Heskan wondered if the best
his squadron could do was watch the events unfold. 
Don’t just sit here like
a spectator, Heskan.  Do something.

“Jack,
start analyzing the Hollie fleet that’s moving away from us.  I want numbers
and ship composition.”

“Yes,
sir.  You have a message, sir.”

Heskan’s
console flashed and he saw the fleet leadership message that had been forwarded
to him via
Bulwark
.  FIGHTER OPERATIONS COMMENCING AT 10:06.  FORMATION
WILL REMAIN STATIONARY.  AVENGER REMAINS FLAGSHIP.

Heskan
quickly forwarded the message to each of his ship captains.  He was tempted to
stand the squadron down from battle stations since all immediate threats to the
task group were neutralized, but he decided to wait until the missile attack
resolved itself.

The
bridge officers watched the tactical plot intensely as the final Hollaran
missile wave broke over the Home Fleet escorts.  Heskan exhaled in relief when
none of the missiles broke past the escorts but cringed when he realized two ships
within the CortRon had suffered hits.  The CortRon flagship had been heavily
damaged; 5
ls
from it, an escort frigate burned furiously.

These
escort ships are death traps.  None of us will survive a long war; it’s only a
matter of time.

“Damn,”
Vernay whispered as she appraised the outcome.  “Over a full squadron of ships. 
Just to break into this system.”  She scowled.

“Yeah,
but the door is open, Stacy, and it looks like they don’t have much left to
stop us,” Heskan replied optimistically.  “We now own the Kale tunnel point and
the only forces that we can detect are running in-system to replenish their
missile magazines.”

Heskan
considered the enemy’s apparent strategy.  The Hollarans had not held their mobile
forces to attack the Brevic fleet while en route to Salus, indicating the
Hollaran command structure believed their ships alone would not be powerful
enough to blunt a system assault.  They had positioned their ships near the
tunnel point to add their missile fire to the tunnel point defenses with the
hopes of stopping the Brevic assault at the dive.  The price for such an action
was to forfeit any surprise attack by those forces in-system, such as the
Brevic ships had done at Sponde.

As
the preliminary information filtered in about the Hollaran fleet, the numbers
bore out Heskan’s line of thought.  “Captain,” Truesworth said, “the enemy has
a heavy cruiser, five light cruisers, four destroyers and two frigates in that
formation.  I’ll get you a breakdown on the individual ships soon.”

Vernay
squinted at the optics of the distant fleet as she said, “Some of those have to
be dedicated escorts.”

“If
not, they won’t enjoy our fighters much,” Spencer noted.

Four
minutes later, pairs of Avocet early warning craft began to launch from
Avenger
. 
Each pair would move to their designated positions 20
lm
from the task
group like the spokes in a wagon wheel and pace the ships to extend the eyes of
the fleet.  After the fifteen pairs had successfully launched, deck crews on
both carriers prepared for the F-3s.

Lieutenant
Vernay shifted in her shockseat.  “Still no maneuvering orders, Diane?”  She
tugged at the shoulders of her shocksuit where it met her seat’s restraints.

“Not
yet, ma’am.  The admiral must be waiting to see how our fighters do,” Selvaggio
theorized.

Heskan
watched the tactical plot quickly become cluttered as more and more fighters
launched.  Fighters in each squadron formed into groups and then came to
relative rest next to their carriers as they waited for the entire wing to assemble. 
Further in-system, the enemy fleet was still 3
lm
from intercepting its resupply
ships.  Heskan understood that the time lag in watching the enemy fleet from such
a distance meant it had already met the replenishment ships but the light of
that rendezvous had not yet reached
Kite
.

Our
carriers have been launching craft for over fifteen minutes.  Did the Hollies
keep running or did they stop and try to refill their missile magazines?
Heskan wondered
.  It makes
sense for them to try to at least partially rearm before they attempt to fend
us off.  Surely they can’t just run for the Honos tunnel point and abandon
Salus.  Not even Hollies are that cold-blooded.