Eagle (Jacob Hull) (29 page)

Left behind, the dreadnaught continued to burn with more secondary explosions occasionally causing further damage to the wreck. Its missile salvo, deprived of remote guidance from the dreadnaught and snarled by the wave of dark energy in the
Kay
’s arrival, self-detonated in useless explosions that came nowhere near Jacob’s flagship. Jacob let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding, and then the communications officer spoke up.

“Sir, another transmission from the
Kay
. This one is going out to all ships.”

“Put it on.” Jacob waited, and then Isaac’s cold tones came over the speakers. There was no trace of victory in his tone, only the lethal
promise  the destruction he’d just wrought was a sign of things to come.

“This is Captain Isaac Bellworth of the Celostian Navy, commander of the
CNS Kay
. You have just witnessed the utter destruction of your task force’s flagship, just as you’ve already seen the destruction of most of your fleet by our forces.

“Let those casualties be your warning. Unless you surrender immediately, every single one of you will die. Your air will run out, your ship will fall to pieces around you, and only the lucky ones will reach escape pods or shuttles in time. Surrender now and accept a peace treaty, or we
will
kill you. Captain Bellworth, out.”

Jacob worked some moisture back into his mouth. Isaac’s thirst for vengeance had obviously not been satisfied, and Jacob was suddenly glad he had let the man retain his command. The communications officer looked up again and tapped his console meaningfully. A text message popped up on Jacob’s console, forwarded by the officer, and he read it slowly.

See? I can do diplomacy too. –Isaac

Fighting a grim smile, Jacob shrugged his feelings aside and turned to the tactical display just in time to see the first ships start to break away from the Oduran fleet. They were mostly smaller craft—nothing larger than a destroyer—but they reversed their
orientation and sped away toward the opposite end of the passage. Broadcasts of surrender started coming in a moment later, as soon as those ships were out of the reach of their former comrades.

Jacob grunted. At the very least, Isaac’s message had gotten through to some of the enemy. “Inform Captain Nivrosky he is to accept their surrenders and begin to offload their crews. I want every single one of them to shut down their DE sails and evacuate their ships.” He turned his attention back to where Admiral Yeseti’s remaining forces were attempting to form up in some sort of battle line. Their numbers were pitifully small compared to what they had been before, but they still had several cruisers. If they chose to fight, it would be a nasty exchange, no matter what advantages Jacob’s battered force enjoyed.

The next hour passed quickly. Aboard Jacob’s ships, the Celostian crews worked hard to repair what battle damage they could. Jacob sent frigates to search for survivors aboard the various wrecks in the system. He ordered them to start with the ships from his own task force first; they were the ones that held his first priority, especially when it was only the pure stubbornness of Yeseti and her ilk that kept them from being able to deploy all of his ships to recover the dead and wounded.

A signal came in from Leon, reporting the Odurans were eagerly laying down their arms on his side of the passage. He received reports from Marine boarding crews as they swept through the ships, and many of them seemed to find the abandoned ships strange as they cleared them. None of the surrendered ships proved treacherous, as Jacob had worried. He smiled at the news; they would now have plenty of Oduran ships to turn to their own use.

While he waited, Jacob began to arrange his forces more steadily for the attack. The
Crown
-class cruisers he placed near the mouth of the passage. Despite the battering they’d already taken, those ships were his most sturdy cruisers, and they would be able to meet any Oduran charge with ease. They also carried the torpedoes Jacob could use to flush the Odurans out of their hiding spot within the passage, so placing them where they could employ those weapons seemed prudent.

The
Knight
-class cruisers he used to anchor his upper and lower flanks where they could sweep past the Odurans as they charged and put their lethal plasma lances to work. As Isaac had already demonstrated, those lances could make short work of virtually anything the Odurans had, and Jacob was sure the enemy wasn’t looking forward to a repeat demonstration.

Jacob placed the frigates he had left with the
Knight
-class ships, while he used the destroyers, with their heavier armor, with the
Crown
-class cruisers. The corvettes he placed to the left and right, a little further back from the battle line, where they would be shielded from enemy fire but able to sweep in to strike a flank or take the enemy from behind as needed.

Eagle
he reluctantly placed behind the
Crown
-class cruisers. While her firepower would have made her useful, the dreadnaught’s armor had already taken too much damage, and Yeseti had already proved her intention to destroy the ship at all costs. Jacob couldn’t afford to risk such a valuable asset, especially when he enjoyed such an overwhelming advantage, but he could not help but feel a little unhappy he wasn’t sharing the same risks the rest of the fleet was facing. Not the wisest attitude for someone with flag rank, but Jacob had the feeling he would never quite shake it.

The Odurans, for their part, had spent their time trying to rebuild something of a combat formation—not an easy task in the confines of the narrow channel they occupied. Of their eighteen remaining cruisers, eight had been
Brute
-class ships, meant for close range fighting. Those ships Yeseti had placed at the front of her formation, while the ten
Scythe
-class craft were located further back. Her corvettes and frigates were placed at the front, near the
Brute
-class ships, while the destroyers hung back with the rest.

Jacob shook his head at the formation. Yeseti had placed all her ships according to their offensive capabilities rather than how they could best survive the coming attack. Her
formation, cramped and constricted as it was, only meant her
Scythe
-class cruisers had an even smaller chance of returning fire if Jacob started shooting torpedoes through the channel. Not that they had much chance of doing  anyway, but now all they could do was die last as the torpedoes roared through.

The time had nearly run out on the deadline for the surrender of the enemy when the Oduran ships started to move. They were accelerating slowly, but surely, toward the entrance to the passage. Jacob watched them come, and then glanced at the timer that marked the minutes—seconds now—until he had promised to open fire. Then he touched a control to send a signal to the enemy.
“High Admiral Hull to Oduran and San Marcos warships. Surrender now, or we attack.”

There was no response from Yeseti’s ships—in fact, the Oduran craft began to accelerate even faster, as if they wanted to reach attack range before the deadline expired. Jacob wasn’t about to give them the chance, however. His next signal went to the
Crown
-class ships. “All cruisers in formation Beta, ready torpedo salvo. All ships, follow with a missile salvo.” He paused, and his eyes went to the enemy formation, still accelerating, still silent. Jacob let his voice grow cold. “Fire.”

The
Crown
-class ships unleashed their torpedoes in a staggered burst, planned to allow the high-speed projectiles to enter the channel without striking each other. They shot toward the incoming Oduran craft, who began futile attempts to evade or decoy the deadly attack. Flares were shot off, flechettes deployed in response, but the countermeasures were hampered by the Oduran’s cramped formation and inability to maneuver in the passage. Of the nearly thirty torpedoes, only six wandered off target. The remainder sliced straight through the vanguard of the Oduran formation with devastating results.

Six of the eight forward cruisers wheeled away, their hulls ablaze from impacts and secondary detonations. A handful of smaller craft were nearly obliterated by the torpedoes, and the remainder ran headlong into the missiles that had followed from all angles. It was a kaleidoscope of explosions that seemed to engulf the entire first half of
the Oduran formation; those  struggled out of  holocaust of fire were met by railgun salvoes  further shattered their formation.

Even as chaos engulfed the first half of the Oduran ships, Jacob’s eyes went to where the second group was leaving the passage. He gave the tactical a cold smile and touched the control to signal Isaac and the other commanders of the
Knight
-class cruisers. “Formations Delta, Gamma, commence attack runs immediately. Concentrate your fire on their cruisers. Formation Beta, use sailjammers to prevent enemy ships from escaping by riftjumps.”

The
Knight
-class ships swept down and through the enemy formation, their plasma lances lashing through their remaining ships. Cruisers were seared in half, destroyers wheeled away with their hulls gutted, and the few remaining converted merchantmen were massacred. The Odurans were trying to fight back, but they had no real hope of escaping those attack runs. Here and there a Celostian ship took enough damage to fall out of formation or explode, but the grand majority of the Navy ships survived.

Jacob watched the slaughter, sickened by the ease of it yet knowing how necessary it was. He couldn’t afford for these ships to reach the Union, nor could he let them return to the League. Every single one of them, unless they surrendered, would remain a threat to the peace and safety of his people. Yet none of those cold facts comforted him much as the Odurans and separatists
fell victim to their own foolish pride.

Then the signals officer straightened up.
“Sir! We have a transmission from the enemy. They’re surrendering.”

“All
ships, cease fire! Repeat, cease fire!” Jacob’s fingers curled into claws on his chair’s armrests. The discipline of the Navy crews was the only thing he could hope for to stop the slaughter, and for an instant it seemed as if it wouldn’t be enough.

One by one, the Celostian ships stopped firing, though. To Jacob’s surprise, Isaac’s ships stopped even quicker than most. As the avalanche of fire slackened, the remaining Odurans began to extend their dark energy sails in surrender, decelerating as quickly as their damage and positions allowed. Jacob touched another control, and spoke carefully.
“High Admiral Jacob Hull to Oduran task force. Your surrender is contingent on a sincere offer of truce between the Celostian Union and the Grand Alliance.
All
of the Grand Alliance—the League, Telos, and San Marcos. Do you understand this?”

Yeseti’s voice came back a moment later, defeat plain in her words. The former Celostian admiral sounded numb, as if the sheer enormity of her losses had shocked her beyond words. “I understand, Admiral Hull. The task force will surrender, and an armistice is declared. Formal acknowledgement of the peace treaty will follow, with endorsement by the Collective of San Marcos and the probable endorsement of the Sessors Administration.”

“Good.” Jacob felt relief hit him like a blow. All of the lives that had been sacrificed, all of the pain his people had gone through, had finally led to this moment. The enemy was defeated—not just in a battle or a campaign, but
broken
in a way that meant they would not be able to return. An armistice could easily turn into a lasting peace, and the Union would finally be free of the threats that had been lurking on its Frontier for his entire life. It was a dream he’d hoped for, but had never quite expected to live to see.

Jacob held all of those emotions for a small moment. Then he squared his shoulders. “In light of the current situation, please stand by to evacuate your vessels. I want all of your crew put on escape pods and shuttles, and Marine boarding teams will search your vessels to make sure they are abandoned. Any wounded or trapped personnel will be cared for by them. Do not make any attempts to maneuver, to riftjump out of the system, or to activate your weapons systems. Are you clear on these instructions, Admiral Yeseti?”

For a long moment, the traitor was silent. Jacob could imagine her struggling to fight her own pride, her sense of self-preservation warring against her stubbornness and hatred. When Yeseti spoke, it was obvious that though her cowardice had won, it was not an easy decision for her still. “I understand, High Admiral. Our vessels will begin to be evacuated.”

“Thank you, Admiral Yeseti.
Jacob Hull, out.” Jacob stabbed the button on his console with a finger, glad to be done with the distasteful conversation. He watched the tactical display for a few moments more until the first shuttles began to launch from the Oduran ships, and then he relaxed again. As the evacuations of the surrendered ships continued, he settled back in his command chair, relief hitting him again. This time it was like a physical blow, and he wondered at it. Peace, for the first time in generations. What would the universe be like when it was at peace?

Jacob became suddenly aware the crew of the command center was staring at him again, and he looked around with a smile. “We’re done.” He leaned forward, tapping a control to send the signal to the entire rest of the fleet. “This is High Admiral Jacob Hull, to the ships of the Celostian Navy. We’ve won. The enemy vessels are standing down, and as of now, there is an armistice in effect with the Oduran League and its allies. I thank you for your service and your dedication.
High Admiral Jacob Hull out.”