Birthright: Battle for the Confederation- Consequence (22 page)

              Vol nodded.  It was gutsy and dangerous, and he felt assured that she was the right choice for Commander.  If she was willing to risk her own life along with everyone else's, then his crew would follow her wherever she took them.

              Avenger reverted to real space behind the battle and Elco watched as his holo field populated with data.  It was not good.

              "Oh shiefah," he said softly as a Confederation class escort carrier broke apart, wrecked bow eventually colliding with a ruined Starshaker class battleship that coasted through space, dark and silent.

              "Where is the command ship?" he barked at Caho.

              "Looking, Captain," she replied, furiously digging into the data at her station.  "Every once in a while, I get a hit from low in the aft of the main Priman formation.  It's like we see a hint of exhaust when the ship turns a certain way.  It matches the profile of those stealth cruisers we engaged way back when."

              "Helm, lock onto the coordinates Caho is sending you.  Be ready to head in full speed at my command."

              "Not to pressure you, but please hurry before my fleet gets destroyed," Loren urged Velk.

              Velk just grunted as he rummaged around the bulkhead.  He'd removed another two panels, and Loren had an inside look at the workings of a Priman ship.  Really, it was very similar to what Avenger looked like under the skin.  He supposed there were really only so many ways to make a starship run. 

              "I have identified the component's systems," Velk announced without fanfare.  "I will have it disabled in a minute or less."

              "Great; I'll call Avenger and tell them to be ready."  Loren activated the screen again and sent his call out into space, hoping Avenger was around to receive it.

              "Loren," he heard Elco's voice.  "Glad to hear from you again.  We're getting a beating out here; are you ready?"

              "Minute or less, Captain," Loren assured him.  "You want a countdown or should I just go ahead when we can?"

              "Just do it ASAP," was the tense reply, and Elco cut the signal.

              Loren studied the battle on the display and looked at Velk.  "Your new Commander is a little crazy, it seems," he said, pointing to the panel.  Velk leaned back to take it all in.  The screen showed her smaller force about to fly right into Tash's force.

              Velk looked puzzled, then closed his eyes and pursed his lips.  When Loren did something like that, he was trying to not curse or throw tools.  He wondered if the Priman action was similar.

              "Not good?" Loren asked.

              "No," Velk replied.  "No doubt the Representative has locked out external comms so no external party can countermand his orders to the fleet.  He probably assumes there is the chance the Council would issue orders to stop him.  It wouldn't do to have someone show up and tell his captains that he's no longer in charge, would it?  So it seems to me that the Commander is doing the only thing she can; sail her fleet right into his in the hopes of breaking up the formation when all our ships hopefully refuse to fire on each other, because she cannot simply broadcast new orders out for all to hear.  There is the additional factor that once we initiate our beacon ruse, Tash will simply make a communication to the fleet and tell them it's a Confed ploy and to not fire on this ship "

              "Definitely falls into the 'not helpful' category, I'll admit," Loren replied.

              "There is, of course, a solution."

              Loren feared he knew where this conversation was going.

              "If this ship's ability to communicate is destroyed, the blocking signal will be shut down and they will be unable to issue new orders."

              "Yup, that's what I thought you were going to say.  Oh well, let's get it over with and hope your techs do routine escape pod maintenance, because we sure won't be able to stay here once the crew comes looking for us."

              Admiral Bak looked at his plot in disbelief.  He saw his task forces, scattered and under assault.  He saw the main Priman force, then another smaller Priman force arrive and fly right into the larger one.  Bringing up the rear was Avenger, always in the middle of trouble.

              "It's, a trap?" Bak said in confusion.  Who was ambushing who here?  He certainly hoped the new arrivals weren't backups for the main force, because at that point surrender was a better option over getting thousands of men and women killed in a hopeless battle.  He'd rather jump out an airlock himself, but he wouldn't be responsible for the useless deaths of everyone in the Fourteenth, either.

Twelve

              "Commander, what is this?" Captain Sohk asked in disbelief as the incoming force of twenty Priman ships made a suicidal attempt to pass through his own formation, even as it maneuvered and fired on a battered Confed task force.

              Tash knew instantly what it meant.  Someone had been sent to stop him, probably that weak Representative Ravine.  Velk had obviously corrupted her, perhaps the Council itself.  The inhabitants of this galaxy used many analogies about how to achieve a goal; carrot versus stick, honey rather than vinegar, whatever those were.  In any case, the point was the same; they'd tried to do things with some measure of restraint, and it had obviously failed miserably.  Now, even his own people had lost their way and wanted to bargain, to compromise.  There was no need because his people could crush anyone if they truly put their minds to it.  He would show them all that truth soon, beginning with this quest to wipe out the Confederation.  The problem was, he couldn't be sure the message of weakness and corruption hadn't spread to this fleet, to Captain Sohk and her own crew.  They couldn't know the truth or his vision would never be realized.

              "I am forced to admit I don't know, Captain," Tash replied.  "It seems that reinforcements have arrived; I put out the call but received no reply so didn't count on them in my plans.  I will confer with the force commander privately.  Continue on with our campaign here.  Try to avoid firing on the new arrivals, and let's hope they fall into formation quickly or their commander will never be in charge of anything again."

              Captain Sohk nodded and got back to her duties.  Tash, on the other hand, quickly stepped over to a private comm terminal at the back of the bridge and activated the privacy field.  He keyed in a request to speak to the new arrivals and was shortly rewarded with the image of Ravine.

              "Representative," Tash began, putting as much disdain into his voice as possible. 

              "Actually," she replied, "it's Commander now."  She held up a small necklace, and he instantly recognized the totem there.  It belonged to the senior council woman who'd been conducting the assembly when he'd removed Velk and the Confed officer Loren Stone.  There was only one thing it could mean, and Tash exhaled sharply, hearing his own breath leave him in a rattle.  He almost forgot to take in more air, lungs seeming to refuse to cooperate with his involuntary need to breathe.

              "What manner of deceit is this?" he asked angrily.  How had she convinced the Council to become Commander so soon?

              "No deceit, Representative," she assured him calmly, "only a change in our doctrine.  The Council has taken Representative Velk's words to heart.  That, combined with the fact that many of them were not opposed to a more moderate view, has given us reason to re-evaluate.  We will enter talks with the Confederation, Talarans, and anyone else.  We will see if there is another way to live here that won't result in the continued deaths of millions or billions.  It seems you are not aligned with this new doctrine, so I have been elevated to Commander and ordered to relieve you until further notice."

              Tash was livid.  How dare she!  She was a nobody, a new Representative who was years away from being ready to command.  This was his war to win, and he wouldn't have the Council or some neophyte wipe his plan from the board.

              "I do not recognize your authority!" Tash said louder than he should have.  He was losing his temper, he realized, but it was understandable, wasn't it?  They couldn't do this to him!  "This is some sort of trick, a Confed psy-op to cause dissent!  Merge your forces with mine or I will not hesitate to fire through you if need be!"

                 "The fact remains, Representative," she replied.  That was the end of it, Tash thought.  The disrespect she showed him by continuing to call him Representative, when he was in fact Commander!  He cut the connection with a snarl, then realized he needed to compose himself and think up what he was going to tell Captain Sohk when he returned to the captain's side.

              The two Priman forces merging had first caused some manner of panic among Admiral Bak's staff, but when they saw the forces jockeying for position and reduce their rate of fire on the Fourteenth, the planners quickly recovered and tried to make the most of the opportunity.  The three task forces had been entirely defensive, angling all over space trying to not be boxed in by the greater numbers of Priman ships, but the momentary respite gave them a much needed few seconds to breathe.

              Admiral Bak was already scheming away, dragging around elements and plotting out maneuvers on his flag plotting table.  He had one Sabre class carrier and two escort carriers left, with the fleet carrier offering one hundred and fifty fighters, split between Intruders and Talons.  The two escort carriers each carried twenty-four combined between both types of ships, making for another forty-eight to add to the mix.  Almost two hundred fighters, half of them Intruders carrying torpedoes; that had to be good for something.  The problem was planning out a fleet action that would give them a chance to be useful without getting them all cut down in the crossfire between the capital ships.

              He finally had his plan, and finished drawing out the maneuvers just as one of his aides announced that the Priman fleet was reorganizing itself.  Apparently the two forces weren't going to work together, for the initial fleet was turning back towards his own Fourteenth while the smaller group, numbering about twenty vessels, continued to hover around the edges of the large fleet but not participate in their actions.  Someday he'd figure out just what the hell was happening over there, but as of right now if it bought him even a few seconds of time to plan he'd take what he could get.

              With a triumphant stroke of his hand, he tapped the 'sync' button and sent out the orders to all remaining ships of the fleet.  The timer started counting down to commence the maneuver, and all he could do now was hope for the best.

              On the bridge of Avenger, Elco counted his blessings.  Well, there were only two, really.  One was that the Primans hadn't seen his ship yet, and the other was that hopefully Loren and Velk would reveal the location of whoever was in charge of the fleet by making the command ship visible. 

              He saw the main Priman fleet reform and turn back towards the Fourteenth, and he grimaced at what that implied, but a second later he saw the fleet start their own aggressive maneuvers; Admiral Bak was up to something, and suddenly Elco began to feel that most dangerous of emotions: hope. 

              Velk cut loose with something in Priman that Loren didn't understand, but the context was clear enough; he was angry.  Something wasn't going well, apparently.

              Loren just gave the man a look, trying not to pressure him, but he knew every second was probably causing Confed deaths.

              "The system is not controlled from this maintenance, junction, obviously," Velk began.

              "Obviously," Loren said neutrally.

              "I thought I could force a reset from here, but the controls are not responding."

              "How about we just resort to violence?" Loren asked innocently, holding up and shaking the Priman sidearm he'd confiscated from their captors in the conference room.

              Velk appeared about to say something harsh, then stopped and his eyes darted around, thinking.  "Violence might be the answer," he admitted quietly.  Loren passed him the weapon, and Velk held it right up against the circuit card in the access panel.  He gave one last glance at Loren, then pulled the trigger.  The blast was louder than Loren had expected, causing his ears to ring a bit.  A shower of sparks cascaded out of the panel, accompanied by a brief fountain of them that reminded Loren of a handheld children's sparkler.

              The lights in the compartment flickered, but other than that there was no indication anything had happened. 

              "So," Loren said slowly, "did it work?"

              Velk shuffled past Loren to look at the tactical display they'd been snatching glimpses of.  Nothing appeared different, but Velk turned to Loren with a grim smile.

              "Yes.  Our beacon is disabled.  There is a communications substation a few compartments over where we should be able to disable comms as well."

              Loren didn't need any extra encouragement; he tapped on his salvaged transponder and activated a Confed ship right in the heart of the Priman fleet.

              "IFF active!" Lieutenant Caho called from her station.  "They did it!"

              Elco snapped his head over to the main holo field and looked at the Priman fleet.  There, among the red dots of the enemy vessels, blinked a lone blue signal; it was a Crusader class ship, the CSS
Resilience
.  Elco wasn't entirely relieved, though, because this meant the dangerous part of Avenger's day was just beginning.

              "Helm, take us in."  Elco surveyed the bridge crew, many of whom knew he'd be looking at them at this moment.  "Damage control parties stand by."

              Tash had rejoined Captain Sohk, saying the late arrivals were rerouted without any idea what they were getting into and were thus disorganized.  He wouldn't be counting on their help, and in fact admitted that they might end up hindering the fleet action to some degree.

              "I am, with regret, forced to order you to continue to fire on the Confederation ships regardless of what these new arrivals do," Tash said in as somber a tone as possible.  "I will have their captain executed immediately after this engagement, but their ineptitude cannot cost us this engagement.  Is that understood?"

              Captain Sohk nodded.  It was unusual, to be sure, but in a way understandable.  Besides, Tash was the Commander...

              Suddenly one of his bridge crew called out.  "Captain!"

              Sohk silently admonished the crewmember to exercise a little more self control.  "Yes?" she asked simply.

              "Our ship's beacon has stopped operating.  In addition, according to our tactical schematic, there is a cloaked Confederation Crusader class ship holding station right on our beam.  The computer says he's actually right up against us!"

              Sohk looked to Tash in surprise, but the look on the Commander's face said it all; this was most definitely not part of the plan.

              The three Confederation task forces rejoined, significantly down in combat power but still a fighting unit. 

              Onboard Avenger, Elco watched the maneuvers develop as his ship plunged into the Priman formation.  The Primans, on the other hand, had done him a favor by greatly opening up their spacing due to the two Priman fleets passing through each other.  If he had been standing on the outer hull, the Priman cruisers would have looked no bigger than fighter craft from this distance.  It was a small victory, but sometimes in a fight the tiniest things turned out to be the biggest factors.

              The Confed fleet reformed, a single fleet carrier, two battleships and two escort carriers making up the core, surrounded by a porous screen of the few remaining cruisers, Crusaders, and destroyers.  Suddenly, the carriers disgorged a swarm of fighter craft, almost two hundred strong.  They weaved through the fleet and broke out above them, headed at an angle away from their plane of movement.  The destroyers broke and went with them, a new doctrine Elco had only recently heard about.  The Pulsar class destroyers, relegated for almost a year to rear action because of no real role to be had against the large-vessel Priman fleets, had been rearmed to serve as anti-fighter vessels much like the Priman Reapers.  Each destroyer now sported a total of eight AA/point defense batteries, almost double their original number.  Power was diverted from the main batteries if need be, which reduced their effectiveness against other capital ships, but in their new role as fighter cover it was a rebirth for the vessels.  Add to that the fact that if they caught any Reaper units alone, their main batteries would easily destroy the corvette-sized Priman ships.  It was yet another one of Admiral Bak's unconventional but effective brainstorms.

              "Admiral!" Bak heard one of his staff yell.  "Update on the Priman fleet.  We caught a transient ship signature in a vacant part of the formation and now there's a Confed IFF transponder in their fleet.  It's calling itself
Resilience
."  The staffer had done his work and knew the rest before the Admiral had to ask.  "Records show she was lost and broken up for scrap, but not before a suspicious contact with a claimed Confed vessel on her way to the yards.  We're also now showing Avenger on our long range scans, heading right into the Priman fleet; looks like she's headed towards the other ship."

              Bak's thoughts swirled.  What in the hell was going on?  He was willing to bet this was all part of some plan of Elco's; he and his XO were always a step ahead, and their apparent return at this moment from their mission to get Velk back to his people surely wasn't a coincidence.  Still, what to do?  He hoped Elco was going to let him in on their plan.