The Phoenix War (53 page)

“Sir, they seem to be focused on us, fast
closing.”

“Reynolds, tell our battleships to form up on
the starboard flank. We
need
to protect those
transports!”

“Aye, sir.”

“Captain, we’re badly outnumbered and
outgunned,” said Mister Mason. “Our fifty warships against their
seven-hundred? We don’t have a prayer.”

“How long until weapons range?” asked
Raidan.

“About two minutes,” said Frederickson.

“And the queen’s fleet?” asked Raidan.

“The Black Swan is leading the other
battlegroups on an intercept course with the enemy fleet, but
they’ll hit us first,” said Ivanov. “I estimate twenty seconds of
unconstrained hell before our reinforcements reach engagement
range.”

“Good thing this ship is built to withstand a
little hell,” said Raidan grimly.

“Sir, the troop transports are requesting
instructions. Should they continue toward the Yards and commence
boarding operations?”

“Absolutely
not
,” said Raidan. There
was no possible way his battleships, even with the help of the rest
of Kalila’s fleet joining him, could provide cover for the three
hours it would take to board and capture the many platforms of the
Apollo Yards. “The transports are far too exposed, tell them to
turn back.”

“Aye, sir.”

“What about us, should we turn back as well?”
asked Mister Mason.

“Not yet,” said Raidan. “Our job isn’t
finished. Reynolds, hail the Black Swan
now
.”

***

So it was a trap after all
, thought
Kalila.
And a nasty one
. She watched the swarm of ships
appear on the display, seeming to pour out from the stars
themselves with the ferocity of hornets defending their hive.

“Moving to intercept position, the fleet will
achieve weapons lock in ninety seconds,” said the defense chief.
They were racing to defend Hammerfist but it looked like the enemy
would reach them first. The troop transports had turned around and
were fleeing.

“Your Majesty, we are being hailed by
Hammerfist Squadron’s command ship.”

“Patch it through,” she ordered.

“Queen Kalila, we have to change the plan,”
Raidan’s voice crackled over the speakers.

“Why have you sent away the troop
transports?” she asked. “We
need
those Yards.”

“There’s no time to board and capture the
platforms with soldiers. That would take hours, we have
mere
minutes.”

Kalila knew he was right. But she was
desperate to salvage her plan and take control of the Yards. She
turned to Captain Adiger, “tactical appraisal. If we hit their
fleet with full strength, will we buy enough time to take the
Yards.”

“No, Your Majesty,” he said. “Not against
numbers like that.”

“We only have
one
option,” said
Raidan.

Kalila knew what it was before he said it.
But she hesitated to even consider it.

“We have to destroy the Apollo Yards,” said
Raidan. “The platforms, the depots, the containers…
all
of
it. There’s no other way.”

Kalila took a deep breath and thought of the
thousands of people who operated those platforms. Sure many of them
were enemy combatants, but there were civilians too. And probably
not every single person aboard every single platform had thrown in
with the enemy, even though their leaders had.

“It’s either that or we withdraw
immediately,” said Adiger. “If we order a full retreat now, we
should be able to salvage most of the fleet.”

“We can’t let the enemy maintain control of
the Yards,” insisted Raidan. “If we retreat without completing our
mission we may as well surrender. You know as well as I do that
whoever controls the Yards controls The Corridor. Besides, they’re
already formed up for attack. If we retreat now, they’ll move
against one of our core worlds!”

It’s now or never
, Kalila realized.
Someone had to make the call that would either end the war in
defeat or result in devastating loss of life, and as queen she knew
it had to be her. No one else could do it.

“Stay the course,” she said, gritting her
teeth. Hating herself for making this decision but knowing there
was no other way. “Raidan, you and your ships go and destroy those
platforms.” She knew she’d effectively just given them a death
sentence. “We’ll engage the enemy fleet head-on and provide cover
for you as long as we can.”

“Understood. I’ll make sure it gets
done!”

***

“Mister Steward, pardon the interruption but
I have an
urgent
report from the fleet,” said Sergei.

“Please excuse us,” said Caerwyn to his
Minister of Finance. “I’m sure this will only take a second.”

“Of course.”

Caerwyn turned to his Minister of Strategy.
“What is it?” He asked with bated breath. His stomach seemed to
flip over. Had something gone wrong?
The fleet shouldn’t be
sending me word yet
, he thought,
knowing they couldn’t
possibly have launched an attack on Kalila’s core worlds yet.
Unless maybe it’s bad news?

“Report from Fleet Admiral Tiberon, sir,”
said Sergei. “The rebel fleet has been sighted in the Apollo
System!”

“The Apollo System?” asked Caerwyn. “I
thought they were going to Olympia.”

“It seems only a small squadron arrived at
Olympia, the queen’s main force went to the Apollo Yards. It was a
ploy.”

So she’d tried a trick of her own
,
thought Caerwyn.
That little bitch
. “Is our fleet still at
the Apollo Yards?” asked Caerwyn. “If not, send them there right
away!”

“Our fleet is still in the Apollo System,”
said Sergei. “Tiberon reports we have engaged the enemy!”

Excellent
, thought Caerwyn.
Obliterate them all. Wipe the taint of the rebels from the
galaxy and end the damned Akira line once and forever.

“I see,” said Caerwyn, careful not show his
feelings. “Tell Fleet Admiral Tiberon that my every thought is with
him and his brave officers. The entire Empire hopes for his swift
and decisive victory.”

***

“Looks like Platform Gamma is about to go,”
said Mister Mason.

Raidan watched the blinking light disappear.
“That makes twenty of them,” he said. “Switch to next target.”

“Switching targets,” said Lieutenant
Frederickson. “Over forty percent of the Apollo Yards
infrastructure has been destroyed.”

“Status of the fleet?” asked Raidan. He knew
the Aurora had been force to limp away, having been badly damaged
in the initial mayhem as Hammerfist collided with the enemy fleet.
In the first minute of combat one third of his squadron had been
incinerated, including the Liberty Sun. They got some relief once
the queen’s fleet reinforced their position, but now the entire
Apollo System had become a bloodbath of wanton destruction.

“The fleet is trying to regroup, there have
been massive losses on both sides,” said Mister Ivanov. Raidan
looked at the various displays tracking each of their battlegroups
and watched the lights keep blinking out as more and more ships
were thrown into oblivion. Entire squadrons had been wiped out.

This is truly a dark day for the
Empire
, he thought dourly.

“And what about the queen?” asked Raidan.

“The Black Swan is intact, though many of its
support ships have been blown to hell,” said Ivanov. “A lot of our
remaining destroyers are trying to rally around the flagship and
divert some of the fire. She’s got her forces split in two and is
trying to pull them together before the enemy can capitalize on
that, by the look of it, but for now she seems to be holding the
Assembly’s fleet at bay. Can’t say for how much longer,
though.”

“Tell the Black Swan to keep it together for
just a few more minutes,” said Raidan. “We’re almost done
here.”

“Yes sir.” Reynolds relayed the message.

“Proceeding to next target,” said Watson.

“Weapons range in eleven seconds,” said
Frederickson.

“Turn forty-five degrees and give them a
taste of our port side,” said Raidan. “Our forward armor is taking
too much of a beating.”

“Aye sir.”

“Status of the shields?” he asked.

“Thirty-two percent and holding, for now. But
I’ve had to drain almost all of our secondary power,” said
Frederickson.

“Switch to tertiary if you have to. But keep
those shields
up
.”

“Aye, aye.”

“Weapons are locked,
opening
fire
.”

“Tell the rest of Hammerfist to form up on
our flanks. No matter what happens, we are
completing
our
objective. Is that clear?”

“Yes sir.”

The silence was unbearable. The waiting was
worse. It had only been about two minutes since they’d last heard
something, but it seemed like centuries. And Calvin felt ready to
burst, unable to bear the uncertainty.

“What is it?” he asked. “What are they
doing?”

“Impossible to tell for sure,” said Rafael.
“The patrol has matched our speed and heading, it’s almost like
they’re escorting us.”

“Corralling us like a sheep,” said Calvin.
“But where? Do they have a weapons lock?”

“Affirmative,” said Rafael. “No change there.
No sign that they’re planning to fire weapons.”

“They’re still deciding that,” said Calvin
knowingly. He was sure that in the next few seconds their fate
would be decided, and their very lives depended on the Rotham
patrol swallowing the fish story they’d been fed.

“Alex, what do you make of all this?” asked
Calvin. Wanting to get some Rotham insight.

Alex did not reply. He remained hunched over
the navigation and comms systems. Obviously waiting for the Rotham
patrol to send more instructions.

“Alex, I asked you a question.”

“I do not know the answer,” said Alex,
shooting Calvin an annoyed glare. “But I suspect we—” he fell
immediately silent at the sound of the comm system beeping.

“Incoming hail,” whispered Rafael.

This is it
, thought Calvin. He nodded
and Alex answered the call. A staccato voice crackled over the
speakers. As the voice seemed to provide further instructions and
Alex replied, Calvin wished once again that he’d taken the time to
achieve even basic Rotham fluency.

The voice said something else and Rafael’s
eyes widened.

What?
Calvin mouthed the word. But
before Rafael could whisper a reply the call terminated and Alex
spoke.

“They want us to accelerate and move to
coordinates about five-hundred thousand mc’s from the planet,” said
Alex. “When we get there, we’re to jump immediately.”

“That’s it?” asked Calvin incredulously.
“They’re letting us go? Just like that?”

“They told me to not discuss anything I’ve
seen here and to wipe my ship’s logs. They told me that if I
didn’t, it would end poorly for me,” said Alex.

“For you personally?” asked Calvin.

“Yes. They seem to have accepted the cover ID
we gave them,” said Alex. “Word of our predecessor’s disappearance
has not yet reached Rotham intelligence, it seems.” Calvin thought
of the Rotham who’d owned this ship before he did. However they’d
done it, the Roscos had thoroughly made him disappear. And that had
probably saved all their lives. Not that Calvin would feel safe
until they’d put several clicks between them and the remains of the
Alliance.

“Let’s not give them the chance to change
their minds,” said Calvin, heart pumping. “Do as they say, move to
those coordinates and jump. Go as fast as you dare but not too
fast. We have to maintain our cover.”

“Already doing it,” said Alex.”

“We need to get a message out to the queen,”
said Rafael. “We have to warn her.”

Calvin nodded. He knew that as well as any of
them. “Yes we do. But we can’t risk sending a kataspace message
until we’re clear of the system. Otherwise the Rotham patrol will
swoop down on us and, I promise you, they won’t be so generous
about letting us go. Isn’t that right, Alex?”

“It would be unwise to send a kataspace
message before we jump to alteredspace,” said Alex.

“The patrol has broken off,” said Alex.
“They’ve resumed their original patrol pattern.”

Come on, come on
, thought Calvin.
Watching the planet grow out the window. Knowing that every second
spent here delayed getting the message out to Kalila and gave the
Rotham Patrol more time to change their mind about letting them
go.

As the Wanderer swiftly crossed the system,
adjusting to the course the Rotham patrol had given them, Calvin
was able to get a glimpse of the debris out the window as their
ship’s identifier lights bounced off of it. He never got a good
look. But it seemed like there were gleams of metal and blackened,
ruined starship husks that seemed to blend into the blackness all
around. It was haunting to think these ships had been full of
living breathing people only days before. Perhaps only hours
before…

“There is something else you should know,”
said Alex.

“What?” asked Calvin, not sure what to expect
but reasonably sure it would be bad news.

“The Rotham here are definitely working for
the Rahajiim, I’m now one-hundred percent certain of that.”

“How do you know that?” asked Calvin.

“Because they used a Rahajiim code to try to
identify us.”

“I want to know all of that but save it for
now,” said Calvin, realizing they were getting close to their jump
coordinates. “Let’s get the hell out of here first.”

“Almost to position,” said Alex.

Just a little closer
, thought Calvin,
eager to get the message out.
Come on
…

***