Eagle (Jacob Hull) (26 page)

There was a long pause as Leon thought the situation over. Then he nodded. “Yes, Sir. I believe I can.” Leon looked up from the image again, and his expression grew determined. “How many ships will I have?”

“I’m giving you four other cruisers and four squadrons of destroyers. They are all going to be
Crown-
and
Hunter
-class ships.” Jacob held up a hand when Leon’s expression shifted. “Before you ask, I considered giving you a few more light combatants, but you’ll be isolated from the rest of us for a long time. I don’t want ships in a position where they will lack the armor and endurance to handle the fire directed against them, and all of the ships I will send with you—aside from
Galahad
, of course—are ones that have received the refits. They’ll hold up well under fire.”

Leon sat back, his expression still dissatisfied. “I understand your point, but I would like to have a few more escorts, if only to be able to pursue anyone who runs. The last thing we need is for their lighter craft to swing around and take us in the back.”

The objection brought Jacob some pause. “You’re right. I’ll see what else I can shift around.” Then he tapped a few other buttons, highlighting two other locations. “The balance of our forces will be located in different parts of the system, on the other side of the passage. I’m going to locate one group, under Isaac on the
Kay
, here.” The area around another gas giant glowed green. “The rest of us, under my personal command from
Eagle
, will wait here.” One final spot blinked, located near the fourth planet where Leon had been conducting his deception operations.

“An interesting deployment pattern.”
Leon brought his gaze over to study Jacob. “You want at least one of them to be able to meet the Odurans as they cross the Fords, to hit them head on no matter which passage they choose. I assume the other will then move to flank them and support the initial attack?”

Jacob spread his arms wide. “Correct, Captain.” He leaned forward and laid both his forearms on the desk. “Do you think we can manage to hide our forces well enough to take them by surprise?”

“It’s possible. If they come charging in without taking a closer look first, you should have very little problem in keeping most of your forces out of sight.” Leon shrugged. “All the same, no matter how quickly their task force comes into the system, they’re going to anticipate some kind of resistance to be waiting for them. That may mean we’ll have to station some of our ships outside the cover, if only to give the Odurans a picture they would expect. Otherwise they may stop for a moment to make a more thorough scan of the system, which could mean they would locate one of our groups in hiding.”

“And if they find one, Admiral Yeseti might get spooked and keep looking until she’s found them all.” Jacob shook his head. “That wouldn’t be good for us.”

“No, it wouldn’t.” Leon smiled. “Speaking as the commander of the force that would be left most exposed if they do find us, I would prefer to give them something else to look at, something they would not find threatening, but would reassure them nothing else is going on under the surface.”

Jacob nodded slowly, thinking the problem over. Any ships he left out of his formations were going to be exposed and in danger of being hit and overwhelmed in detail. They would also leave his formations weaker, making the entire plan much riskier if the Odurans managed to overwhelm one group or the other. He couldn’t afford to leave too many out in the open, or he risked defeat, but if he left too little, it would tip off the enemy.

Then Jacob hit on a perfect solution, and he smiled. “Well, what do you say if we give your dumbships one last mission? They could be parked right about here.” He pointed to a location far back from both passages, where a task force could intercept one or the other of them with ease. “We put a few corvettes and frigates there to act the part of the actual picket force, and then have those ships run when the Odurans show up.”

“That way they think we were trying to cover New Manassas with a dummy navy—which we were, originally—and we’re running now we’ve failed. It’s a good
deception.” Leon started to grin. “I’m just sad those dumbships can’t get in a good hit of their own. They’ve served us rather well for a bunch of rocks with sails and thrusters strapped on.”

“That they have.” Jacob chuckled. “It is too bad they can’t have a railgun or two. They would probably overheat after the first shot, but it might at least surprise whoever flies by them.”

Leon shrugged. “Actually, I doubt they’d overheat. More of a heat sink to go around with all the rock, you know. The main problems we’ve had are the speed they move at—every single one of them crawls along, and maneuvers are a pain. And of course there’s no chance they could be riftjumped anywhere. That much mass is more than any known jump generator could handle, no matter the size of the Capistan. Still, if you didn’t mind making a warship that had to stay in the system after you were done, they wouldn’t do half bad.”

Jacob’s mind caught on the idea. Something about the image of a lumbering asteroid bristling with weapons tugged at his imagination, and he puzzled over it for a few moments. Then he shook his head; there would be time enough for such ideas later—if Yeseti and her friends didn’t kill them all first. “Anyway, Captain, help me work out the kinks in this plan. The last thing we need is for Yeseti to catch me off guard and destroy us, so don’t leave anything to chance.”

Jacob wandered through the crowded Engineering spaces on the
Eagle
, listening to the clank of the crew’s tools and the hum of the ship’s machinery. His security team trailed behind him, eyes alert. Though Al-shira hadn’t reported any further direct threats to Jacob’s life, Major Rasband wasn’t taking any chances. Even if the woman was not quite as hands-on as Ashford had been, she had taken her duty very seriously. If someone managed to kill the High Admiral, the security team was not going to be the one who dropped the ball.

The thought amused Jacob when he peeked into an access tunnel. How long had it been since he’d been one of these Engineering crewmembers? Three years, almost four? It seemed a lifetime ago, as if he’d managed to drift into another universe where time moved faster. He wondered if even in his most optimistic moment, when he’d entered the Academy full of dreams and ambition, he’d ever expected himself to ascend this high. Given Catherine’s usual opinion of his actions, his sister had likely only hoped Jacob wouldn’t manage to get himself killed doing something stupid. So far, he’d avoided —a fact that would hopefully remain true for the next few days as well.

“Another visit from the high and mighty? Hell, I might as well start decorating this place, make it a bit more classy.” Lieutenant Commander Turley’s voice was tinged with rough humor, and Jacob turned to face him with a smile. Turley saluted, a gesture Jacob returned, and then he continued with a wry smile on his face. “To what do I owe the pleasure, sir?”

“Nothing much.
Just visiting old friends before the battle starts.” Jacob smiled and looked around. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

Turley chuckled. “Well, I’m sure there are a few card games that might get abruptly cancelled, and you can be sure some stupid bastard who was tempted to start an unofficial boxing match might make a better decision, but that’s just the curse of being a High Admiral. Boredom must be a heavy burden to bear, Sir.”

Jacob laughed. “I don’t know about boredom, but life does seem to be filling up with hardships since I got this job.” He cocked an eyebrow at Turley. “Do you want it? Maybe we could trade.”

With a rather rude snort, Turley spread his arms to indicate the whole Engineering section.
“A nice, soft admiral-type like you working with this bunch? They’d eat you alive in a week. No, Sir, you just keep hobnobbing with the high and mighty and leave the hard work to us. We’ll make sure everything gets done to Admiral Ironsides’ high expectations.”

It was hard not to wince. “So the nickname’s gotten down here too.”

“Gotten here? It might have started here.” Turley laughed, his sides shaking. “No harm in having a reputation—though I’ll be damned if you haven’t gone about earning it the hard way, Sir.” He shook his head. “I think we’ve just barely managed to put everything right that got shaken loose at Kryshaen, and you’re already throwing us in it again. It’s like you flag officers have nothing better to do than to make work for everybody else.”

Jacob nodded in mock solemnity. “Well, it’s a tough job, but somebody’s got to do it. Besides, if I didn’t
we might all be out of work. Then where would we be?”

“On a beach somewhere, I’d bet.” Turley grinned. “Still, I guess this is nice. A regular damned vacation spot.” He gestured to the banks of machinery and access tunnels around them. “What more could a man ask for?”

Jacob chuckled. “I suppose you’re right, Turley.” He looked around with a wistful expression. “You ever ask yourself what you would do if you were done with all of this?”

“Me?” Turley’s expression turned a little thoughtful.
“Now that you mention it, not really. I guess I’ve just assumed there’ll always be another mess to clean up.” He grinned again, this time nudging Jacob with a shoulder. “At least you’ve been good for business there.”

“Happy to help.”
Jacob returned the salutes of a group of ensigns who crossed their path. As those young officers turned down a side corridor, Jacob watched them speaking with each other and felt a hint of nostalgia. “Any real trouble going on in Engineering, Turley? There’s no one giving you a headache, is there?”

“No one worse than an ensign I remember serving with aboard
Wolfhound
, Sir.” Turley nudged him again and then shrugged. “This crew is a good set of men and women. They’re damn good—I think I’ve only had two or three real discipline problems since our launch, and they’ve been worked out very easily. Things have been going smooth as hell, when I think about it.”

Somehow, Jacob could sense things probably hadn’t been quite so sublime, but he could see the rough sort of pride Turley had in his people. He decided not to push any further—if Turley told him there were no real problems,
then he could trust things were being taken care of. “Good. Tell the crew I’m proud to be serving aboard with them.” Then he paused. “Thank you, Turley. I know you’re busy, so I’ll leave you to your work.”

Turley glanced around the cavernous engineering bay, running his eyes over the various innards of the ship. “Good. You’ve sure as hell made sure I have plenty!” Then the engineer returned his gaze to Jacob. “Give ‘em hell Jacob, and let’s end this whole thing so I can find my beach somewhere.”

Unable to suppress a smile, Jacob offered a mock salute. “As ordered.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

“Sir, we have a contact coming in.”

Jacob looked up from the report he was reading, and felt the bottom drop out of his stomach. As he watched, more dots from sensor contacts appeared. They came in singletons, then in an avalanche of dots filled that the Oduran side of the Fords with light. He forced a smile for the rest of the officers in the room.
“Looks like they’re here.”

He had no need to worry about being spotted, at the very least. All his were securely tucked in behind the cover provided by the system’s planets; the sensor readings were actually being relayed by a set of satellites his task force had left in orbit. The platforms had been intentionally gathered from obsolete
stores, since the more aged they looked, the more irrelevant the enemy would assume them to be. After all, wouldn’t a Navy task force carry much more modern equipment?

Jacob watched the enemy task force pause, their sensors catching sight of the detachment of dumbships and frigates waiting in the decoy position. Then the entire Oduran force swept forward, aiming for one of the passages—by coincidence, the one Jacob was best positioned to intercept.

Though he could almost hear Isaac cursing his luck, Jacob kept his attention focused on the projected course of the enemy fleet. They were going to pass awfully close to where Leon was hiding, a spot he’d labeled Ambush Alpha. That force was even better hidden than his own, to the point where Jacob’s own fleet couldn’t detect the Celostian ships amid the moons of the gas giant. It was hard to tell if the Odurans couldn’t see anything either, or if they were merely setting up to attack Leon’s isolated force.

Shunting his own nerves aside, Jacob leaned forward and touched a control. His signal went out along carefully directed communication networks, arranged so they wouldn’t leak to the incoming forces. “This is High Admiral Hull to all units. Prepare for enemy contact. Estimated time until engagement is two hours. Continue communications and maneuvering discipline. We don’t want to ruin the surprise for Yeseti and her new friends. Hull, out.”

Then there was little left to do but wait while Yeseti and her forces drew closer. Around him, the officers of the command center worked to coordinate the movements of the ships nearby. Jacob had kept two
Crown
-class cruisers to guard the
Eagle
’s flanks, along with two squadrons of destroyers and several flights of frigates and corvettes. The rest he had sent with Isaac, giving the other man eight cruisers to work with, half of which were refitted
Crown
-class ships and the rest
Knight
-class warships. A smaller number of escorts were with Isaac as well, though far fewer than the number with Jacob’s own force. Dividing his ships that way had given each group the ability to move quickly to each other’s aid when the Odurans came, but he still felt uneasy about the fact he was going to face the entire Oduran fleet alone at first.

In the open, the frigates assigned to stay with the dumbships fell back. Two of them riftjumped out of the system a short while later, a clear bid to reach New Manassas
with a message, and possibly to warn the apparently absent Celostian Navy of the threat. The rest of the half-dozen ships remained behind, a laughably small force one of the Oduran dreadnaughts could have swatted aside with hardly a moment’s care. Jacob could almost picture Yeseti laughing at the defiance those frigates showed. A few units in her formation, obviously inspired by enthusiasm to destroy those foolish defenders, momentarily jetted a bit farther forward than they should have been. They drifted back into formation a bit later with obvious reluctance.

Hoping their bloodthirsty attitude would continue, Jacob watched the Oduran formation close with the passage. As the massive number of enemy ships swung by Ambush Alpha, he found himself holding his breath, hoping Leon’s ships would remain undiscovered. The minutes the Odurans took to pass the planet seemed to last forever; every odd twitch by an enemy craft seemed a hint the trap had been discovered.

Then Yeseti’s forces were past, and Jacob let out a long sigh of relief. He watched with unconcealed satisfaction as the Odurans began to shift their formation in preparation for entering the passage. The three dreadnaughts moved to stay halfway back in the formation, cruisers and destroyers forming a column ahead and behind them. Frigates and corvettes took up positions throughout the cylindrical formation, filling in gaps and creating a screen for their larger fellows. Jacob could see the Odurans’ point defense turrets picking off debris coming too close to their ships, those flashes of plasma bright in the void of space.

The Oduran task force entered the passage at coasting speed. It was a narrow enough crossing the ships at the edges of their formation shut off their DE sails completely. They were likely worried about how a stray clump of dark matter could wreck their sail rigs, or about the chances a stray dark energy current could send them careening into their fellows. Jacob watched the Odurans start to file through the opening. Once the dreadnaughts entered the passage, his attention went to Ambush Alpha. He leaned forward, wondering when Leon would move. It had to be soon, before too much of the enemy made it into the passage, but if he moved while there was still enough of the enemy to crush him, it would be a disaster.

It happened fast. Moments after the dreadnaughts reached a third of the way through the passage, Leon’s five cruisers swung out of their hiding place and accelerated toward the enemy forces. The destroyers assigned to escort his ships spread out along the sides of his formation, creating a wall of firepower the Odurans would soon have to face the hard way.

The effect of Leon’s appearance on the enemy was dramatic to say the least. The ships in the rear of the enemy formation wheeled around in confusion. Some of the ships already traversing the passage tried to turn and help their
comrades as well; at least one pair of cruisers narrowly avoided a collision when one of them cut in front of the other. One of their frigates, a
Hatchet
-class ship, was not so fortunate. It swerved so sharply it left the channel completely. For a moment, the ship was fine. Then its DE sails flared with startling intensity, and the entire DE sail rig ripped completely off the ship in a cascade of secondary explosions.

By the time the snarl of Oduran ships regained formation, Leon had nearly closed to engagement range. Jacob saw about a third of the Oduran force still turning to fight his friend, and he gripped the arms of his command chair more tightly. Then he heard one of his officers speak up. “Sir, we have a communication coming in from the satellite.
Assessed as coming from the
Troll
-class dreadnaught.”

“Put it on.” Jacob waited for a moment, and then he heard the angry tones of Admiral Yeseti come through the speakers. He quietly tagged the dreadnaught as her flagship while he listened.

“This is High Admiral Yeseti of the Grand Alliance task force, to the Celostian raiders in this system. Do not suppose your momentary advantage against our forces will last. Surrender now, or we will destroy you all.”

There was a pause, and then Leon’s reply came on the same channel. “This is Captain Leon Nivrosky of the Celostian Union. This task force only responds to the orders of the High Admiral of the Celostian Union. You are currently violating our territory with clear intent to do harm to the Union; as such, the situation demands we engage you in combat. Those ships that wish to avoid destruction can surrender; those that fail to do so will be held responsible for your aggression.
Nivrosky, out.”

Yeseti did not reply as her rearguard accelerated to meet Leon. The ships of the rearguard were still disorganized; many of them, especially the lighter ships, seemed very reluctant to take positions that would expose them to fire from Leon’s ships. It took a moment for Jacob to recognize why. They had seen the ironsides in Leon’s force. Whatever their intelligence network had managed to gain on his ships’ capabilities, they obviously hadn’t managed to dispel the reputation of the refitted warships among the Union’s foes.

Their time for hesitation was over when Leon’s forces swept in. Missiles and torpedoes shot out from both sides as they reached engagement range, and the Oduran forces flinched when they registered the increased firepower of both the refitted
Hunter-
and
Crown
-class ships. Decoys flashed and antimissile flechettes skipped out to counter the projectiles, but they were not enough. Impacts rocked the ships on either side, and Jacob heard someone groan in horror when the
Charles
took a direct hit from a pair of enemy missiles.

Yet the refitted cruiser passed through the blasts with only minimal damage while at least three of the Oduran craft spun away from their line of battle, crippled or killed by the long range fire. Jacob nodded grimly; at the very least, the internal armor was doing its job. He could hope most of those ‘ironsides’ would make it to the end of the battle.

Then he turned his attention to the forces that were nearly to the end of the passage of dark energy. All three dreadnaughts were still there, as were the grand majority of their escorts and cruisers. He touched a control to contact the bridge. “Captain Martino. Take us out. We’re going to hit them as they start to clear the passage.”

“Yes, Sir.”
There was a hint of reluctance in Captain Martino’s voice. It was one thing to face the fire of a half dozen Oduran cruisers; it was quite another to face nearly an entire task force with minimal support.

Jacob touched another control.
“High Admiral Hull to
Eagle
task force. We’re coming out to meet the Odurans.
Kay
task force, meet us as soon as possible to reinforce our battle line.” He paused. “Remember, the freedom of our people and the lives of our fellow crewmen depend on our victory. Hull, out.”

The
Eagle
began to move, and the tension in the room rose as the dreadnaught swung around the planet that had served as its cover for so long. The gigantic flagship was flanked by a pair of destroyer squadrons, while each cruiser formed the core of a flanking element above and below the larger warship. They came around the planet still accelerating, and Jacob smiled as he saw Isaac’s ships starting to move as well.

For once, Jacob wished he could see Yeseti’s expression. The reaction of the ships under her command was vivid enough, however. If they had swerved in surprise before, this time it seemed the entire Oduran force froze in shock. They continued forward, some still drifting along courses that would lead them gently out of formation without reacting at all to Jacob’s forces. Then there was a flurry of activity as the ships made sudden, brutal course corrections to get back into a tighter formation. Yeseti’s ships accelerated, hoping to leave the passage before Jacob’s ships could reach them, though he didn’t know if they were planning on running for New Manassas or simply trying to gain a better position to fight outside the cramped quarters of the passage.

Either way, it looked as if they would succeed. Jacob gritted his teeth. “Lieutenant Donovan, are these projections correct?”

“Yes, Sir.”
The officer looked concerned for a moment. “We should reach the enemy fleet about five minutes after they leave the passage.”

That would be enough time for the Odurans to arrange themselves however they chose. Jacob sighed. He supposed not everything could go perfectly. “When will Isaac’s task force reach us?”

“About twenty five minutes after that, sir.” If the officer had appeared worried, he didn’t now. “Estimates are that we should be able to turn around and engage their forces again by that time.”

Jacob turned back to the tactical display. The Odurans and Collective vessels were already coming into a new formation. Their ranks of cruisers and destroyers swung wide to form the edges of a broad battle line, while corvettes and frigates raced ahead to form a vanguard, and others were swooped lower to form the rearguard. It was a classic formation, one that would have worked against countless foes, and very likely
one  could have massacred anyone charging directly into it. The overlapping fields of fire and overwhelming numbers would have been more than enough to destroy even a dreadnaught.

Unfortunately, they had never encountered something like
Eagle
.

Captain Martino aimed for the very center of the Oduran formation, taking the
Eagle
straight through the enemy dreadnaughts. The Odurans pulled up with both
Banner
-class ships side by side, with the outdated
Troll
-class ship sheltered behind them. Jacob’s eyes narrowed—he’d suspected Yeseti would try to hide her flagship from the brunt of the battle to come, and he doubted the Odurans would let her command from the deck of one of their more advanced ships. He touched a key. “Captain Martino, priority target should be the enemy flagship at the rear. Engage any other targets as needed.”

“Confirmed, High Admiral.”

Then Jacob turned his attention to the other units in his force. “
Henry
,
Edward
, your priorities are any forces attempting to hit us from the flanks. Do not allow the enemy to attack us from the rear.”
Eagle
’s armor was tough, but the last thing Jacob wanted was for his flagship’s DE sails to be gutted. Her armor and firepower would be useless if she was forced to drift helplessly into the masses of dark matter beyond the battle. “All escorts, concentrate fire on the lighter enemy ships, especially the Collective craft. Hit them hard.”