All Enemies Foreign and Domestic (Kelly Blake series) (24 page)

      The destroyers and cruisers were not so fortunate.
 
Three to four missiles each consumed the destroyers and broke the cruisers up.
 
Missiles slammed into the burning hulks as the burning flagship turned to make a run for the T’Kab home world.

      Rear Admiral Tsao contacted Vice Admiral Conover to arrange for a Scout Force ship to track the flagship back to its home world.
 
Rear Admiral Hasselrode issued the change of mission order to the Vengeful after a conference call.
 
He authorized the Vengeful’s captain to cross-level supplies with any and all Scout Force ships in sector.

      Rear Admiral Tsao ordered two fighters be outfitted with special missiles.
 
He ordered the outgoing strike package to destroy any remaining escorts, but let the flagship run.
 
When the arming of the special missiles was complete, he ordered the two ships to fire the special munitions at the flagship, but no others.

      Angie acknowledged the change in mission and launched the two ships to run down the flagship and fire their missiles.
 
The ships launched while the strike package killed the remaining T’Kab ships, including the lucky frigate.
 
Angie called the strike package, minus the two special ships and the strike package CAP, back to their respective carriers.

      The two F-53s with the special munitions lined up below the flagship, waited for the ship to clear the debris field and launched two deep space homing trackers into the hull of the flagship.
 
The flagship sailed on, blithely unaware that they were leading Fleet to their main base/home.

* * * * *

      Angie sat through the debriefings and then called her squadron commanders in for a quick debrief of her own.
 
She was ecstatic over six frigate/corvette kills and no losses.
 
A plasma ball grazed one ship, but paint was cheap.
 
The commanders said the guns on the T’Kab ships did not track fast enough to lock onto the inbound missiles and their long-range guns were even slower, allowing their ships to fly in, launch and turn out with not a shot being even close for the most part.

      Only seventeen missiles were knocked out by T’Kab weaponry.
 
The rest flew straight and true into the formation, doing major damage wherever they hit.
 
Only the flagship had good luck.
 
They shot down the majority of missiles and the ones that got through did no major damage.
 
The ships appeared to consist of parts of other ships hastily welded and plastisealed against space.
 
It was a wonder they moved at all.

* * * * *

      The queen could not believe her good fortune.
 
She had used the wreckage of her task force to screen her movement from the bipeds and made her escape.
 
She saw on her monitor that two ships had dropped below the wreckage and were on a weapons run toward her ship.
 
Her sensors warned that her ship had been locked onto and two missiles were inbound.

      The missiles approached the target and ran hot and true until right before impact.
 
A proximity sensor notified the warhead to set off a shaped charge, burning a hole into the pressure hull and depositing the electronic components into the hull.
 
The fighters turned back and fired the remainder of their missiles into the boiling flaming destruction that used to be the 2nd Annihilation Task Force.

      Evan Gardner held the Vengeful at just inside sensor range of the flagship and followed it at the leisurely pace of FTL factor 3.7.
 
He sat in the galley with his XO and Chief of the Ship and discussed what would be a long surveillance mission.

      “Chief, keep the people on their toes.
 
Don’t let them slack off just because they’re bored. We can use this to work on ratings tests and towards earning their Scout Force flying bat pin.
 
XO, periodically walk them through a system they probably haven’t looked at in a while.
 
I suggest the special weapons cabling into the dorsal weapons bay as one, the auxiliary control systems for bridge systems for another.
 
Don’t dismantle anything.
 
We might need them at a moments notice.”

      The officers and senior chiefs retired back to the captain’s cabin conference room, where the sensor chief and the quartermaster pointed out likely destinations on the holographic star chart.

      After watching the two argue for their favorites for a few minutes, Captain Gardner raised his hand and said, “So what you two smart guys are telling me is you haven’t got a clue where we are going.
 
Who can tell me if this no longer flaming wreck we are following will even make it home?”

      The Senior Chief Machinist spoke up.
 
“Sir, that battered wreck took six ship killer missiles and is making almost factor four.
 
It may be put together with weapons and parts scavenged off other ships, but its engines are in excellent shape.
 
None of the missile strikes were in critical places.
 
As long as they don’t break something, they’ll make it.”

      Evan steepled his fingers.
 
“Okay, let’s get everyone on patrol watch schedule.
 
Sensors, don’t get tunnel vision.
 
This guy could be calling for help or a tow or for company.
 
Let’s not get surprised.
 
Any questions?
 
Then let’s get to work.”

      Evan watched them disperse to their sections and turned in to gain back some of the sleep he lost in the last 36 hours.
 
He checked his schedule and he was supposed to be sleeping.
 
He turned down the lights and did just that.

Chapter Thirteen

      The three Elders met to decide what to do about the Ground Force traitors, now that the situation with the T’Kab was less precarious.
 
After all, they would need their unified forces to help subdue the T’Kab on the five worlds, and the five former unified force commanders were the best strategic minds in the empire.
 
They couldn’t keep them in jail without a public trial or the military might revolt.
 
J’Kol had killed the revolt when he had Baron T’Kana sign his resignation and retirement papers.

      J’Gon said, “What about the commando team that kidnapped Mrs. Blake and I?
 
Surely we can execute them.
 
They did great physical harm to the Human military attaché and violated my private home.
 
I say execute the leader that masqueraded as my personal servant and kidnaped Mrs. Blake, at least.”

       G’Tol and J’Kol conferred for a few minutes in low tones that J’Gon could not hear, then G’Tol said, “We’ll let you execute the raid leader.
 
It will serve as a lesson to those not involved and a reminder of the peril of shooting at the king and missing.
 
It’s an old Human saying.
 
What do we do about the five unified force commanders?”

      J’Kol said, “I vote to exonerate the five commanders, retire them, and put them to work here in the Military Headquarters drawing up plans for the movement and application of force against the T’Kab.
 
They are uniquely suited for this work.”

      The two other elders conferred again and agreed.

      J’Kol had one other recommendation.
 
“I want a special award created for service to the Empire by an outsider.
 
I would like the award to feature a large B’Rella.
 
I believe the Humans prize them greatly, although they are worthless here.
 
I would like to present this to Mrs. Blake for her service during our kidnapping and my trial.
 
Her defense was stealthy and airtight.
 
The tribunal had no choice but to acquit me in the face of her almost instantaneous knowledge of our laws and tribunal rules.
 
I fear the outcome would have been much colder for me if she had not been kidnapped along with me.”

      G’Tol and J’Kol laughed and asked if there were more to his kidnapping they were not told, then agreed to the award and the B’Rella.
 

      That concluded their deliberations for the day.
 
Tomorrow they would meet with Duke G’Rof to learn of the steps taken to combat the T’Kab.

* * * * *

      Duke G’Rof had just been briefed by the Human military attaché on the current tracking of the T’Kab annihilation ship by a lone scout ship.
 
He was heartened to hear this.
 
He was not sanguine about the idea of using almost all the combined ground forces of the K’Rang, Humans, and A’Ngarii in cleansing planet after planet.
 
He felt the T’Kab could out reproduce their combined ability to cleanse their queens.
 
For every planet they cleansed, the T’Kab could colonize five more.
 
There had to be another way to get the T’Kab to stop, short of repeated planetary genocide on a galactic scale.
 
Perhaps striking at the core of their civilization could make them see reason or at least respect.
 
If not respect, then fear would do.

      He had read the reports on the captured queen.
 
It intrigued him.
 
How much would this queen know of T’Kab plans or strategy?
 
Could she be made to communicate them to us?
 
Could she be released back to her kind and carry a message?
 
Could we negotiate a line of demarcation?
 
He knew theirs and the T’Kab’s environmental needs were so similar that there was no chance of finding planets for the T’Kab to colonize that met their environmental needs, but not K’Rang.
 
He knew that would not work.
 
He had read a history of the first T’Kab infestation.

      They had tried to negotiate with the T’Kab without a language, but the scientists have a queen and she is communicating with them.
 
Not just basic words, but complex concepts in full sentences.
 
Maybe this was just the tired thinking of an old cat tired of war.

      There was a knock on the door and in slipped his aide, Shadow Leader T’Jana.
 
Her left paw held a bottle of T’Pala and her right held two glasses.
 
She wore a diaphanous gown that hung loosely off one shoulder and hung just to the knee.
 
She crawled up on his desk until she was face to face with him.
 
She nuzzled his muzzle and poured him a modest glass of the T’Pala.
 
Then she sat with her legs on either side of his chair, resting on the chair arms.

      He looked at her obviously indiscrete position and said, “Shadow Leader, don’t you think that it would be scandalous if someone were to walk in on us right now?
 
Whatever that is you’re wearing does not look like your uniform to me.”

      She nuzzled muzzles again and said, “It is almost morning and everyone has been gone for hours.
 
This thing I’m wearing is a nightgown and if you had come to bed at a decent hour you might have had the opportunity to remove it, mate of mine.
 
As it is almost time for you to get up, I suggest you come to our quarters and freshen up, put on a fresh set of clothes, and get some food and stimulants in you so you can make it through today.”

* * * * *

      The queen prepared herself.
 
It was almost time for the morning shift to come on duty.
 
There was a four in five chance that the K’Rang keeper would enter her chambers with food while the outer door was also open.
 
That was when she would make her escape.
 
She did not know where the outer door led, except to a long corridor, but she would chance it.
 
She was tired of the inane questions and of this room.
 
She needed to see an open sky above her again even if she could no longer fly.
 
She was supposed to be ruler of a world – not a kept toy of these bipeds.

      Her ability to plot her escape was aided significantly when they replaced the mirrored wall with a clear one for an exhibition for a large group of the furry and not furry bipedal scientists.
 
She hated it.
 
It was like she was a trained animal on display and, in truth, she was.
 
She started watching her watchers and learning their habits, mistakes, and quirks.
 
It was almost time.
 
She had been ready for days, waiting for the conditions to be right.

      The outer door opened.
 
Here comes the feeder.
 
Her door started to open and she sprang.
 
She ran over the feeder and was through the outer door before anyone could react.
 
She heard alarms go off around her and panicked bipeds screaming and running before her.
 
They had cards with sensors that automatically opened the doors as they approached, and as they ran away from her they provided the path for her escape.