No Way to Start a War (TCOTU, Book 2) (This Corner of the Universe) (22 page)

Reports
filtered in from CortRon 15 over the next dozen minutes.  All of the ships
except
Tomahawk
had functional tunnel drives.  The news was grim from
Tomahawk’s
acting captain, who regretfully reported that repairs had suffered a setback
and the ship would not be tunnel-capable in the next half hour.  Damage classifications
to the other systems of each ship in the squadron ranged from none, as was the
case with
Bolt
, to moderately heavy for
Curator
.  Mercifully, the
propulsion capability of Heskan’s squadron had been preserved, which he
credited to Vernay’s recommended heading adjustment executed seconds before
entering combat.

With
this knowledge in hand, Heskan responded to Captain Grey’s damage report query. 
He carefully typed out his reply.  CORTRON 15 TUNNEL DRIVE CAPABLE EXCEPT
TOMAHAWK.  SQUADRON PD CAPABILITY NOW SEVERELY LIMITED.  IF PRESSED, RECOMMEND
PORT-SIDE ENGAGEMENT.  ETC FOR RESTORED PD UNKNOWN.  REQUEST INSTRUCTIONS RE
TOMAHAWK.  Heskan sent the message and then began to compose a final message he
would send to his squadron before each ship dove into the solitary confinement
of tunnel space.

The
voice of
Eagle’s
traffic control tower was a beacon in the darkness.  “Angel
Twenty-five, you are cleared to enter the approach.  Ensure auto-taxi is set to
off.”

Ensign
Gables double-clicked her transmit button and steered her Pup to the first
approach milestone.  The last fifteen minutes of the flight had been deathly
silent.  After the three survivors of the two squadrons formed up, there had
been no communication other than Gables’ simple “Let’s go home.”  They had
flown in silence around the Hollaran fleet and robotically followed the
standard procedure for approach to
Eagle
.

The moments
before their second attack run had borne an eerie similarity to the three
survivors’ egress.  Before the score of fighters commenced their final strafing
pass, no words of encouragement had been spoken, no omens of good luck
uttered.  Each of the pilots had retreated to the recess of his own mind in
fatalistic acceptance of death.  Gables was unsure whether being near the back
of the fighter swarm or her Pup’s frenetic evasiveness had contributed more to
her continued existence.  She was certain that her F-3’s pulse laser had scored
a direct hit on the Hollaran destroyer, the first time in all her combat
actions she was completely confident she had delivered laser fire on target.

Her
hands shook fiercely although she felt no fear as she guided her Pup through
the milestones presented on her heads-up display.  Her mind was numb as her Pup
passed through the inner marker.

“Angel
Twenty-five, approach is green, set flight controls to receive, ensure
auto-taxi is off.”

The
pilot acknowledged with a double-click.

Seconds later, the
F-3’s snare-assisted controlled crash brought the fighter to a halt.  Two petty
officers wearing yellow shocksuits watched over the craft as a swarm of green-suited
spacemen rushed to attach an alloy harness that would be used by a taxi-mule to
tow the Pup to
Eagle’s
remaining functional hangar elevator.

*  *  *

The
terse text reply Heskan received from
Eagle
spoke volumes:  ALL SHIPS
WILL DIVE IMMEDIATELY AT TUNNEL POINT.

Heskan
sighed as he searched his console for
Tomahawk’s
personnel information. 
Once found, he cycled through the officers until he found Grant’s portrait. 
Wade
Patrick Grant, Lieutenant, age 27, Navigation Section Commander, BRS Tomahawk
. 
How many more just like him on Tomahawk?
Heskan wondered. 
How many
younger than him?
  With no further reason to put off the unavoidable, he
opened a channel to the destroyer.

After
a few moments, Lieutenant Grant’s relieved face appeared.  “I was a little
worried we’d been forgotten, Commander.”

“Tomahawk
will never be forgotten,” Heskan promised.  He looked Grant squarely in the
eyes.  “Lieutenant, my orders are to—” Heskan stopped. 
No, I won’t take the
cheap way out
.  “Wade, I have to have my squadron dive when we reach the
tunnel point.  The Hollie ships can’t catch us now but their fighters can.”

Grant’s
face remained steady but his voice betrayed him.  “We’re very close, sir.  Our
estimate is almost down to just over an hour.”

“I’m
sorry, Wade, but we have to dive when we reach the tunnel point.  We can’t stop
or that Hollie bitch will catch us and if we run past the tunnel point, she’ll
just wait for us there.  Plus, their fighters will eventually run us down.”

“Maybe
we could…” Grant stopped.  After a moment’s pause, he shook his head.  “If we
had only turned to port immediately after our dive in.”  He looked back at
Heskan and asked, “Why did this have to happen?”

Heskan
looked away, his eyes stinging. 
Another dead man on the screen.  
The
silence stretched out between them. 
What can I possibly say?  Nothing. 
Heskan’s
thoughts traveled backwards. 
No, I will say something this time.
  He looked
back at his console screen and spoke gravely to ghosts.  “We don’t get to make
our decisions knowing how they’ll turn out.  Nobody can go back and change them
no matter how hard we wish.  What’s happened here, the choices we’ve made, I’d
change them if I could but I’ve learned you don’t get to walk away from your
past.  The best you can do is walk with it and realize that each of us will encounter
these… critical moments in our life whether we want them to happen or not.  And
then, the only real choice we get is
how
we face the moment.”  Heskan’s
voice choked as he stared past the screen, blinking furiously.  In the ensuing
silence, his eyes drifted away from his console and toward the blurry, troubled
face of his first officer peering back at him.

“Commander,”
Grant’s voice broke Heskan’s trance, “I request permission to detach Tomahawk from
the squadron, sir.”

“It’s
granted, Wade.  Godspeed.”  The channel closed.

Heskan
looked up at the bridge’s main wall screen. 
Tomahawk’s
symbol on the tactical
display began to spin in place.  Settling on her new heading, directly toward
the Hollaran fleet, the destroyer’s vector line shrank as her drives brightened
under full military burn.

“What
is she doing?”  Lieutenant Spencer’s voice was thick with horror.

“Facing
destiny on her own terms.”

Truesworth
adjusted the Hawkeye optics to
Tomahawk
and the battered destroyer
filled nearly the entire wall screen.  Gooseflesh broke out over Heskan as he
watched
Tomahawk’s
dim external lights increase brilliantly to
illuminate the exterior of the ship to levels reserved only for fleet parades. 
Her radiance stretched across her hull to defiantly highlight the forward
batteries and her proud name emblazoned across the bow.

Tomahawk
spanned the distance to
Lombardi’s fleet in less than two minutes.  As she breached the 10
ls
barrier, her heavy turrets strobed death at her antagonists who replied in
kind. 
Tomahawk’s
batteries barked twice before the first charged
particles from the Hollarans reached the destroyer.  From
Kite’s
vantage, Heskan could only see brief, multiple flashes of light around
Tomahawk
before a growing debris field obscured the lone ship.  Thirteen seconds after
Tomahawk
started firing, Heskan saw a flash of light much brighter than the others
accompanied by Lieutenant Truesworth’s subdued call, “ELTI from Tomahawk.” 
Heskan looked away from the optical.  The tactical display revealed the fleet was
thirty-two minutes from diving.

“Jack,”
Heskan asked, “damage report on Tomahawk’s target?”

Truesworth’s
head was down, staring at his console for several seconds before he answered. 
“Maybe a few penetrations on a damaged destroyer.  It’s hard to tell but it
looks negligible.”

Vernay
said softly, “So much sacrificed, and for what?”

What
indeed
, Heskan
thought.  Heskan forced himself to concentrate on the message he planned to
send before they dove.  It mostly prioritized repairs and sent instructions for
each ship to execute immediately as they dove into Kale.  Heskan worried that
part of the Hollaran fleet that had dove to Kale in pursuit of
Avenger
might
be waiting for them at the tunnel point, and he wanted his group to be prepared
for that possibility.  Twenty-eight minutes later, he was satisfied with his
composition and sent his orders to each of his surviving ships along with a
courtesy copy to Captain Grey.  The two officers had spoken briefly earlier to
confer how
Eagle
and her escorts would proceed when they dove into Kale,
but Grey had asked for a copy of his message despite knowing the bulk of its
contents.

The
message sent, Heskan looked back to the tactical situation.  Task Group 3.1 was
60
ls
from the tunnel point and scheduled to begin their dive in five
minutes.  Lombardi’s force was still 1
lm
behind them.  The vector lines
of her force had remained constant during the half-hour pursuit but as the
ships approached the tunnel point, the sole remaining escort frigate in the
group spun one hundred eighty degrees and began to decelerate.

The
screen displaying the optical of the Hollaran fleet prominently presented the
severe damage done to the little frigate.  Repeated attacks marred her once graceful
lines with black gashes of laser burns and pockmarks of more serious hits that
spoke volumes about the distress the ship had endured.  As she spun to brake,
her stern came into view revealing a grotesque wound along her many drives.

“She
must not be able to make the dive,” Truesworth deduced as he zoomed the optical
to the stricken ship.  After a few moments of comparative analysis to an
undamaged frigate of that class,
Kite
’s damage analysis team rendered
its verdict.  “Confirmed, it looks like her tunnel drive was damaged,”
Truesworth announced as he forwarded the study to his first officer.

Lieutenant
Vernay quickly sorted through the data.  “Agreed.  That frigate won’t be
leaving Helike any time soon.”  She looked back up to the main tactical plot. 
“That leaves us with Lombardi’s damaged heavy cruiser, two light cruisers, and
a damaged destroyer and escort destroyer.”

“Tunnel
dive in one minute, Captain,” Selvaggio declared.

Six
days
, Heskan
thought. 
Six days in t-space to bind our wounds.  Six days to relive what
happened here.  Six days of waiting to see if we’re ambushed and annihilated when
we enter Kale
.  “Dive in sequence, Navigator.”

Heskan
shifted in his chair before securing the restraints on the shockseat.  He was well-rested,
as was his remaining crew of two hundred thirty-nine sailors.  Five crewmembers
were still recovering in the medical bay from wounds received at Helike.  Ten others
had been wounded but released back to duty. 
Kite’s
forty-seven KIAs
were interred in cold storage until such time when their bodies could be sent
to a Brevic casualty collection point.

Kite
herself had also convalesced. 
Through the tireless efforts of her crew, RSL-8 had been restored along with a
handful of AMS turrets.  Additionally, the Gibson Shield-4 generator had been
creatively jury-rigged back to life.  Despite the repairs,
Kite
still
wore savage wounds along her starboard side where another RSL, two shield
generators and several of her smaller AMS turrets had once been functional.

Heskan
had worked his crew to exhaustion during the first five days in tunnel space. 
He had then called off the “maximum effort repairs” on the final day to give
his crew twelve hours of uninterrupted rest.  In fact, in the message he had
transmitted in Helike, he had ordered his entire CortRon to stand down during the
final half-day. 
Having our squadron well-rested coming out of the tunnel
point is far more valuable than anything we could have done in the last hours
,
Heskan told himself.

Now
comfortable in his chair, he ensured his helmet was properly secured to his
shocksuit before he broke the integrity of the seal by flipping his face shield
up.  Fidgeting with his consoles, he resisted the temptation to remind
Lieutenant Selvaggio of his standing orders coming out of the tunnel point at
Kale. 
They’re simple enough
, he thought. 
If there’s an enemy force
waiting for us at the tunnel point, we form up in square formation in front of
Eagle and protect her at all cost as we sail off to starboard.  If the tunnel
point is clear, we form up behind Eagle and begin transit across the system toward
Sponde and safety.

Kite
was already at battle stations
but Vernay ordered the alarm to sound a second time, thirty seconds before their
dive out of t-space.  Heskan tried to steel himself for the squadron of heavy
front-line combatants he was sure would be waiting for them near the tunnel
point.

“Generating
the tunnel effect now, Captain,” Selvaggio coolly informed.

Heskan
bit down hard and fought against the wave of nausea.  When he could open his
eyes, he scanned the tactical display for the incoming attack.

Nothing.

Instead,
the tactical display showed distant blips almost precisely where
Kite’s
computers
had predicted the Hollaran fleet would be if it had continued its pursuit of
Avenger
. 
Although difficult to make out even with the Hawkeye platform,
Avenger
was 36
lm
away and moving at .21
c
along a nearly perfectly
straight vector between the Helike and Sponde tunnel points.  Also grainy, the Hollaran
pursuit force was staggered, with the light units 8
lm
behind
Avenger
and the heavy ships trailing by 10.5
lm
.  The light units, still pushing
hard at .22
c
, were gradually eating the distance to the carrier, but the
heavy units seemed content to sustain the standard .2
c
pace.

Avenger
had traversed nearly halfway
across the binary Kale system and had only 42
lm
more to sail before she
could dive out toward Sponde.  Ahead and to
Kite’s
port
,
the
system’s other two tunnel points were 14
lm
and 16
lm
away from
Kale’s twin stars and led northward, each to uninhabitable fringe systems inside
the disputed zone.  These systems contained tunnel points as well, mostly
unexplored gates continuing coreward.

“Captain,”
a relieved Vernay asked, “should I stand us down from battle stations?”

“Not
yet, Stacy,” Heskan answered.  “Let’s wait ten minutes.  That’s twice as long
as Lombardi would need to dive in behind us; let’s see if she continued pursuit
or stayed in Helike.”

Truesworth
spoke from behind his console.  “If she stayed, that would make things here
considerably less complicated.  We’d just have to stay out of sensor contact of
the Hollies in front of us.  Heck, the only reason we detected them was because
we knew pretty much right where to look for them.”

The
mood on
Kite’s
bridge shifted from the dread of combat to a more optimistic
atmosphere.  Heskan saw Vernay looking hopefully at him from the corner of his
eye. 
There’s no way they’ll miss our tunnel disturbance and there’s no way Lombardi
isn’t coming
, he thought. 
Even if they don’t see us diving in, when Lombardi
dives in she’ll easily find our fleet and send a message to the Hollies in
front of us.  Do I tell them this and dash their hopes? 
Heskan stayed
silent.

It
was apparent Captain Grey had also not wasted the precious days in tunnel space
as
Eagle
savagely strained its drives and, incredibly, achieved .2
c
. 
The group began its long journey across the Kale system at combat speed.  The
Sponde tunnel point was 78
lm
or roughly six and a half hours away.  As
Kite
cruised toward it, Heskan was mildly surprised that Captain Grey had yet to
call him to discuss their options. 
She’s probably waiting to see if
Lombardi followed.

Five
minutes after
Kite
had transitioned to n-space, Truesworth made the call. 
“Damn.  Tunnel point disturbance.  No beacons emitting.  I’m swinging the SnapShot
optical array around but we already know who it is.”  Several seconds later,
Truesworth’s suspicions were confirmed.  Lombardi’s scarred but fearsome heavy
cruiser pivoted slightly with her fleet to aim directly at
Eagle
and
began to accelerate in pursuit.

It’s
silly to be disappointed
,
Heskan chided himself. 
Everyone knew she wouldn’t give up.  It’s just that
we’ve already been through so much and now it’s not even close to being over. 
We’re forced to move forward.  It’s possible the Hollies in front of us will
continue the chase and dive into Sponde and we can just follow in right after
them, but
they might not risk going into Sponde.  Avenger gets away and
they just wait for us near the tunnel point here.

Heskan
considered his group’s options under such a scenario
.  Either we fight our
way past them to dive to Sponde or we use one of the other two tunnel points in
the system.
  Both were off
Kite’s
port side and resided relatively
close to the system’s twin stars. 
Since they’re near each other, we’d have
the option to use either tunnel for a while
.  He imported the tactical plot
onto his chair arm console and then used his finger to scroll the system view toward
the two tunnel points.  The point closer to the Helike tunnel led to a system
called Perdita and was currently 31
lm
from
Kite
.  The other point,
closer to the Sponde tunnel and designated as Maub, was 52
lm
from
Kite
. 
“Diane, where would Perdita and Maub take us?”

Lieutenant
Selvaggio answered immediately, “Perdita has just one other tunnel point that
leads off into unexplored space.  Maub has three other tunnel points, two are
unexplored but the last one is charted.  It leads to the Stetebos system.  It’s
still inside the disputed zone but that star system has a couple tunnel points
that eventually lead to Brevic space.”

“Destination:
Maub?” Vernay questioned.

“Maybe,”
Heskan said.  “It will take us longer to get back to Sponde but it’s a much
better alternative than going back into battle.”

Ten
minutes later, the course of action was decided.  Captain Grey wanted Task
Group 3.1 to maintain course toward Sponde until it was obvious that both
Hollaran forces ahead of
Eagle
were committed to the Sponde tunnel
point.  It was unknown if the Hollarans had explored the Perdita and Maub
tunnel points and knew that deliverance for the light carrier was within
reach.  Grey decided that breaking for Maub while the split Hollaran force
could reach the tunnel point first would be tipping her hand unnecessarily.  She
even told Heskan she might wait until they knew for certain the Hollaran forces
decided not to dive into the Sponde tunnel before making their break for Maub. 
After all, she reasoned, why add roughly a week’s travel time to their journey if
it was uncalled for?

Heskan
was beginning to enjoy his conversations with Captain Grey.  Despite his
profuse apologies, she had not blamed Heskan for the missile hits on
Eagle
in Helike and even commended his squadron for its performance in an encounter outside
the parameters for which escorts were designed.  Furthermore, she was concise,
reasonable and listened to her subordinate officers.  He admired her for boldly
making her opinions known, even when they were unpopular to her superiors.  She
seemed completely unafraid to make the hard decisions that could be career
killers if they turned out to be poor choices.  Heskan had seen far too many
field grade and flag officers who hedged constantly in the fear of making a wrong
move that would dash their dreams of further promotion when unabashed, decisive
action was required.

If
we get out of this, she deserves an admiral’s star
, Heskan thought as he looked at
the tactical situation. 
Avenger
had a little over three more hours to run
before she would reach the Sponde tunnel point.  Both the light and heavy ships
of the pursuit force were dutifully trailing the heavy carrier.  In just under three
hours, these groups would reach the tipping point where Task Group 3.1 would be
closer to the Maub tunnel point than the Hollaran forces. 
After that
, Heskan
reflected,
we just have to make some slight course adjustments to ensure
Lombardi’s fleet is never closer to Maub before we know if the Hollies after
Avenger are going to chase her all the way into Sponde
.

Little
was left to do but wait as the great distances of space asserted themselves in
a match that would play out over the next hours.  Task Group 3.1 continued its trek
across the system with Lombardi’s five-ship fleet a disconcertingly close 1
lm
behind.  Heskan’s escort ships had taken up positions behind
Eagle
in
the event that engaging Lombardi’s fleet became inevitable.  Although outside laser
range for now, the Hollaran komandor was unacceptably close to the light
carrier.  If one of the group’s ships suffered even a partial loss of power and
had to reduce speed to maintain inertial compensators, the Hollaran fleet could
eat the distance between them in under ten minutes.  The result was an
hours-long running battle without actual combat that still required relentless
monitoring and constant readiness.

Three
hours later, the faint image of
Avenger
disappeared entirely.

“Avenger’s
away, Captain,” Truesworth announced happily.  The critical Brevic naval asset was
spared.

“Very
good,” Heskan said.  “How long until we know if the Hollies will follow her?”

“We’ll
know in about twenty-seven minutes if the lighter forces dive.  They’re still
cruising at point two-two-C though, so it looks like they’re intending to
continue their pursuit.  With their speed advantage, they had the range to
Avenger down to six light-minutes.”

“That’s
too close,” Lieutenant Spencer opined.  “Just one more light-minute and they’d
be launching missiles at her.”

Vernay
agreed.  “That’s too tempting… they have to keep pursuing.  They must know we
couldn’t have possibly replaced those fortresses in Sponde so soon and any
mobile forces in the system won’t be sitting on the tunnel point.”  Vernay
stared down at the deck in realization.  “Don’t tell me that Avenger will make
it all the way to Sponde only to be destroyed within sight of safe harbor.”

Twenty-seven
tense minutes later, the crew of
Kite
watched the racing destroyers and
frigates of the Hollaran pursuit force waver and dive from Kale.  Trailing thirty-two
and a half minutes behind, the heavy forces of the group thundered toward the
spot where their brothers had disappeared.

Heskan
watched the Hollaran heavy ships close on the tunnel point.  The dreadful
recognition that
Avenger
could die at the doorstep of her salvation had
grown with the additional apprehension that if
Eagle
followed
Avenger
through the tunnel, it was possible she might follow her big sister to her
doom. 
The Hollies dive into Sponde, they finish closing on Avenger and kill
her, turn back toward the Kale tunnel point to avoid any Sponde forces and then
we dive out and are blasted as they sail by us on their way out.  Could that
happen?

Heskan
opened the system map of Sponde on his console and began to simulate the
nightmare scenario.  He had entered the variables of the situation and was
watching different alternatives play out when Truesworth’s alarmed voice called
out, “Captain, sensors are detecting a disturbance at the Maub tunnel point!”

“Whose
ships?” Heskan said as he jolted upright in his chair.