The Tactics of Revenge (27 page)

And yet Lee had not asked for this assignment. It had been foisted upon him primarily as the result of nepotism, as a way to insure the absolute secrecy required while assembling the Human shadow fleet. Lee had done the deal, and now his fleet consisted of five-hundred eighty-five ships. Most of these ships were perfectly clean vessels that had been reported as destroyed in battle, and yet having suffered no damage at all. About a third of his fleet consisted of ships that had been damaged but were now repaired and battle ready. It was a sizeable force, nearly double that of the supposed
main
Human fleet of two-hundred ninety-two ships.

Although Lee hated the boredom and lack of action associated with his new status as Fleet Commander, he nonetheless loved the strategy. Soon he could deploy his forces in battle – and he would love to see the look on the face of the Juirean commander when he did. It would be priceless.

Lee maintained a direct link to the tactical screens aboard the main fleet flagship, the one commanded by his uncle, Admiral Nate Allen. Even though his forces were too far out for the contacts to appear on his screens, tapping into his uncle’s monitors gave him a running commentary on what the other Human fleet was encountering.

As it turned out, Admiral Allen’s greatly depleted fleet had entered the Falor-Kapel star system in hot pursuit of the fleeing Juireans. The alien fleet had been whittled down from over eight hundred ships to now around two-hundred-fifty. Although Allen’s force outnumbered them only slightly – at two-hundred ninety-five – the Humans had proven to be more than simply a one-to-one match for the Juireans, even in light of the deception the Humans were carrying out. The Juireans would know they were doomed to defeat when they entered the dead-end region of the system called the Kapelean Corridor. At least that’s what they wanted the Humans to believe.

Allen and his Human fleet had graciously obliged, and followed the Juireans into the Corridor. And then, to nobody’s surprise, nearly three hundred additional Juirean battleships suddenly appeared on the Human tac screens, emerging out of dark status with the activation of their shallow gravity drives.

The Human forces bunched together near the center of what was now a cloud of Juirean ships surrounding them. The ships along the outer Human perimeter were the first to receive fire; they raised their shields and sent answering salvos of their own electric-blue energy toward the enemy. Some ships from both sides suddenly vanished from the screens. The battle was now joined.

Chapter 54

Captain Lee Schwartz and his shadow fleet were located at the edge of the Falor-Kapel system, about a quarter of a light year away. At deep-well speeds he could be at the battle scene in half an hour, and now that the Juireans had revealed themselves and committed to the battle, Lee no longer saw any need for secrecy. He gave the command, and his massive fleet tore up the space around them with hundreds of deep-gravity wells, and sped off to engage the enemy in the Kapelean Corridor.

The orientation of the asteroid belts, as well as the huge gas giants, forced all the combatants to operate within the same narrow confines. This had been the Juirean’s goal all along. It also restricted Lee’s access to the battlefield. He would have to enter from above the plane, just as all the other forces had, not allowing him to out flank the enemy. Once his force joined the fray, the Juireans would more-than-likely retreat from their enveloping positions and regroup toward the back of the Corridor. This would work just as well. Then Lee and Allen could press against the Juireans as a unified force. It was going to be bloodbath.

Lee had not bothered to transfer his flag to one of the larger attack vessels he had at his disposal, but rather chose to stay aboard his twenty-five-man Klin Fleet Vessel – A Series, or KFV-A. He had spent the past seven months with this crew, and the familiarity of having them at his side served to calm his nerves. Yes, Captain Lee Schwartz, USN, was nervous, but not from the anticipation of battle. Instead, he was nervous about command of the fleet, hoping beyond hope that he didn’t screw things up.

As the gas giants grew in this viewport, Lee moved his ship to the apex of the attacking phalanx. His aim was to get in at least a few good licks before having to retreat to a safer position in order to coordinate his forces. This maneuver would undoubtedly bring about the ire of his uncle, but it was a small price to pay for a few more chances at the enemy.

Lee sat in the pilot’s seat of the KFV-A, while the rest of his crew either manned the generators, the weapon systems or the monitoring screens on the bridge. Tim Carlson, his 2G technical advisor, sat at a station to Lee’s right. Tim was intimately familiar with all the systems aboard the ship and would be invaluable in coordinating any damage control efforts, if need be. Lee snorted softly to himself. If he needed damage control, then he would be royally screwed with his uncle. That would mean his ship had been hit, and that was something a command vessel should never allow to happen. Too many others were relying on the decisions coming from the top.

Yet Lee was a renegade. He figured just a few short minutes of battle, and then he would head off to safer ground and his command responsibilities.

Chapter 55

Overlord Kackil Fe Nulon watched as the orange indicated lights of his Juirean fleet enveloped the forces of the now-much smaller Human fleet. The feeling of satisfaction and relief were easily displayed on his calm countenance and large, bright eyes. The strategy had worked, and now not only the Juirean people, but the galaxy as a whole, would know the redemption of Kackil’s name. He was not the one who had been beaten into submission by the Human invaders, but rather he was their executioner.

Senior Guard Hoan Ga Chold stood next to the Overlord’s chair on the bridge of the Class-5 battleship UN-374. For several minutes now the bridge had been relatively quiet as the techs and junior Guards went about their duties with modest efficiency. The battle was progressing very smoothly; there was nothing much for the senior commanders to do now but watch and wait.

Unfortunately for Kackil and Hoan, their peace was about to be shattered.

A tech pressed back from his stationed and turned abruptly toward his supervisor on his right. The supervisor, a Guard-third, leaned over the screen of his technician with a look of wide-eyed panic. He stood and faced Hoan.

“My Lord, there are multiple new contacts approaching from outside the Corridor,” the young Juirean announced.

“Hoan and Kackil both jerked their heads in the direction of the Guard. “On screen!” Hoan yelled.

Immediately the forward tactical screen zoomed out to a larger view of the battlefield. Clearly, the enveloping screen around the Humans within the Corridor could be seen, but now there was a stream of new, undesignated contacts coming out of the top left side of the screen. There were hundreds of them.

“Analysis!” Overlord Kackil yelled as he stood out of chair, staring intently at the screen in front of him.

Moments later a voice rose up from somewhere behind the two senior Juireans. Neither turned to face the speaker, but rather continued stare at the large screen before them. “Signature analysis matches that of the Human forces. Initial count is over four hundred contacts and rising as more come in range.”

Within moments the last of the cluster of contacts had formed on the screen, with the leading edge nearing the top of the Corridor. “New count: five hundred eighty-five individual contacts. Nearing the perimeter at this time.”

Five hundred eighty-five new Human ships! Kackil felt all the blood drain from his head and his vision grow faint. He staggered back against his chair and fought to keep his balance. To his right he heard Hoan barking orders. “Move a counter force to the damper field. Prepare for multiple contacts emerging. Fire when ready.”

“Yes, my Lord,” someone yelled from behind.

Chapter 56

The effect of his force showing up on the screens of the Juireans had indeed changed their strategy. The enveloping screen of Juirean ships surrounding the main Human fleet had begun to break off and move to either side of Admiral Allen’s cluster of forces. Lee was just about there; in another minute he would be within the Corridor—

Suddenly, Lee heard a loud descending whine reverberate throughout the ship, as power levels dropped to near zero. He twisted around to face Tim Carlson. “What the fuck just happen?” he yelled at the frenetic 2G.

“The well has dissolved, and most of our reserve energy has dissipated. We’ve entered some kind of disruption field!”

“Can you get the drive system back up?”

“Not now…wait, the field around us
is
weakening. Let me run some numbers.”

Lee looked down at his positional data screen and saw that the ship’s forward momentum was still quite considerable – and leading them straight for a line of Juirean battlecruisers. The contact signatures of the Juireans flared suddenly and Lee knew they’d just unleashed a barrage of energy bolts toward him and the front lines of his fleet.

“It was a damper field,” Tim called out to the room. “It’s a high-energy field that disrupts any deep-gravity wells that interacts with it. It looks like the Juireans placed a whole series of generators across the entrance to the Corridor as some sort of shield or barrier.”

Lee could now see the tracks of the energy bolts as they drew ever-closer. “Can you get us going again?”

“Just maneuvering wells, nothing deeper.”

“Then do it, damn it! We have incoming!”

Lee felt control return to his hands, and he pulled the ship over to the right in a tight barrel-roll, just as the first bolts struck his recharging diffusion shields. The maneuver worked, as the bolts struck obliquely, limiting their affect.

And yet on his screen, Lee saw that several of his lead ships were not so lucky. Eight of them disappeared from his screen as their transponders were destroyed, along with the actual ships themselves.

“Get word to the fleet. Use maneuvering wells only,” Lee shouted to Lt. Steven Sexton, his comm officer.

“Captain!” Tim Carlson yelled out, “we’re through the field and deep-wells are now available, yet ineffective at this range.”

“Understood.” Lee knew that deep-gravity wells were only used for extremely fast transits – like arriving at or leaving a battle scene in a hurry. Once in battle, however, shallow wells were used primarily, along with chemical drives for even more close-in dogfights.

“Sexton, relay to the fleet that they will be entering a damping field, but that the effects are only temporary. Have the forward units attempt to clear out the Juirean ships nearest the field. We need to give our ships time to recover after the emerging from the field.”

“Yes, sir!”

Lee pulled his ship to the left this time, leading a squad of five ships toward the Juirean lines. The enemy laid down another series of bolts, but Lee and the other ships were able to weave their way through the ballistic balls of energy without suffering any direct hits. He brought up the targeting laser onto the nearest enemy combatant. It was a huge Class-Five – five hundred meters long, with multiple deck levels which grew shorter the higher they reached toward the bridge. Lee fired, sending eight simultaneously-released bolts toward the massive ship.

His ship skirted the gravity field of the Class-Five even before the bolts arrived. He spun further to the left and pulled away from the Juirean. Just then, five of his eight bolts struck the screens of the Class-Five; the great ship glowed blue for several moments as the diffusion shields fought to absorb the energy. The shields held – but only momentarily. Secondary bolts from the other ships in the squadron impacted the already weakened screens around the Juirean, overloading the dampers and causing the shields to drop.

Lee flipped his ship over and lined back up on the battlecruiser. He released another set of bolts – just as six bolts of their own were sent directly into Lee’s path.

He had very little time to react, as the bolts had been fired to anticipate the movement of Lee’s ship rather than directly at him, like leading a receiver in football. The bolts were going to hit – he couldn’t avoid it.

The first two bolts hit the starboard side of the disk that made up Lee’s KFV. Even though it made no sense for a disk to have sides, the pilot dome at the center of the disk
was
oriented in a specific direction. This did allow for the designation of starboard and port, forward and aft and top and bottom of the disk. And now, the starboard edge of Lee’s ship had just been blown away.

Sealing foam trailed out of the gaping hole, trying its best to close the wound. It wasn’t working. Instead, internal hatchways were beginning to seal automatically, isolating the damage to specific areas. Lee’s heart sank as he knew that any of his crew who were in the damaged area had all died instantly, or were destined to once sealed off from the rest of the ship.

The only consolation he would receive was when the massive Juirean battleship exploded on his screen. It was a small, and infinitely inadequate, consolation.

Lee’s fleet swept through the damper field, now able to recover quickly and without consequence, as the Juirean forces near the entrance to the Corridor had either all been destroyed or retreated toward the rear. His uncle’s forces had now begun to press against the Juireans; Lee’s ships flowed down and around the cluster of Human ships that made up the center bulge of their forces and began to attack the Juireans at their flanks.

Some of the Juireans began to separate from their clusters and attempt to run the asteroid belts. Many disappeared off his screen, in brief flashes of energy. Still others tried to slip around the edges of Lee’s ships, heading for the top of the Corridor and the damping field. Some made it – about as far as the damper field. Once these ships passed through – and emerged on the other side as defenseless drifting shells of metal waiting for their power to be restored – Lee’s ships outside the field simply blew them all to vapor.