Command Decisions (Book 3 of The Empire of Bones Saga) (11 page)

“Believe me, I looked hard before I came to that conclusion. I wish your commander could say the same. His uncle in the Senate has been there for him, if you know what I mean. If using family to advance your career pisses you off, shouldn’t that bother you?”

Meyer stiffened. “I’ve been with Captain Breckenridge for four years. He is an exemplary officer.”

“He’s arrogant, ill-suited to unorthodox situations, and he nurses a grudge. You’re both still smarting from the ambush Jared sprang on you during the war games. You don’t see his methods as creative. You see them as cheating. Let’s say for the moment that I agreed with you. I’d rather have the universe’s best cheat stacking the deck against the Empire’s enemies than a man who refuses to see the reality of the situation.”

Her frank assessment seemed to take Meyer back. “Well, I’m not certain I share that assessment, but we’re stuck with the cards we’ve been dealt to use your metaphor. I’ll consider what you’ve said. What are your plans going forward into this ambush, if I might ask?”

“The marines are prepping a pinnace. I’ll go with them shortly.”

“Forgive me, Highness, but that’s an exceptionally rash decision. You have no place in combat, even though you seem to have handled every situation thrown at you with exceptional bravery and unnerving competence.”

She allowed herself a smile. “I doubt very seriously that Lieutenant Reese will let me near the fighting this time. I have something of a reputation. Nonetheless, it seems to find me anyway. The question in my mind is, do you have a place on this mission?”

The man straightened. “I’m going wherever you go. It’s my duty to be between you and danger.”

She laughed before she could stop herself. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean that as a reflection on your bravery. The one place you absolutely do not want to be is between me and danger. We need time to fit you into some armor. That means we’ll go down to marine country shortly.”

The tactical overlay she’d been keeping up in the corner of her mind’s eye updated. The two markers for the enemy ships showed more details. One of the stealthed probes had gotten a better reading and sent it on to
Courageous
via tight beam. The escort was a destroyer.

“Good news,” Jared said, obviously looking at the same information. “We’re only facing a destroyer. While dangerous, it isn’t nearly as bad as a cruiser. Zia, send a tight beam to
Spear
with the details. Append whatever data we have about that class of ship to it. What’s our ETA?”

“Less than two hours at this speed, Captain. If we can keep them from spotting us for another hour, we can cut the destroyer off from the flip point. Somewhat longer if we take the slower speed of the task force into account. Also, we’ve received a confirmation signal from the Pentagaran fleet in orbit around Erorsi. They’re ready to move out as soon as you give the word.”

The tactical officer glanced down at her console. “Incoming signal from
Spear
.”

Kelsey rose to her feet. “That’s my cue to depart stage left. Jared, good luck.”

He turned toward her as she headed for the lift. “Stay out of trouble, but be sure to shut them down as soon as possible. Remember, we need that cargo intact.”

“I’ll do my best.”

She led Commander Meyer into the lift and started it down toward marine country.

“You don’t seem worried about the prospect of fighting,” he said after a moment.

Kelsey nodded. “After a while, you either learn to control your fear or you stop fighting. I’m worried, though. Everything has to go just right for us to win. One mistake will let the enemy escape or see the ship we want to capture blown to pieces. Even if we do everything right, people will still die. That’s the hardest part.”

The lift doors opened and she walked down the corridor to marine country. The marines were in the final stages of gearing up. Coulter stood waiting for them.

“Commander, if you’ll come this way, I’ll get you into some combat armor. Highness, we have your armor ready.”

Meyer waved Coulter away. “I want to see this armor first.”

“Aye, sir. This way.”

The marine led them into the armory. Kelsey’s dark grey armor stood ready on its stand. She couldn’t help but compare it to the black armor the woman in the vid had worn. Scratched and scarred as Kelsey’s was, it was pristine compared to the other woman’s. How much hell would she have to go through for them to look the same?

She began shedding her clothes, to the obvious shock of the Fleet officer. “They’ve seen everything I’ve got,” she said bluntly. “And an Old Empire skinsuit makes the armor a lot more comfortable.” She did turn her back on him at the last, though. He wasn’t a marine and she wanted a little modesty.

The snug suit made slipping into the armor a lot easier. It also had sensors built into it that the armor reacted to. Movement was smoother when she wore it. It also had the requisite fittings for her to pass any wastes on to the armor’s sump.

Kelsey commanded the armor to seal as soon as she slipped inside. The systems came online and did an auto check. All green. Talbot would check her again before they boarded anything. She disconnected the armor from its stand and took two steps forward.

She squatted and then stretched. The range of motion was good and the armor settled around her like a little black dress. Her implants had already overridden her senses and she could see and hear everything around her.

To make a point, she stepped in front of Meyer without turning on the chameleon portion of the helmet. All he would be able to see was a featureless helmet of hardened metal without the slightest hint of humanity.

“Forget what you think you know about me, Commander. I’ve earned my maturity the hard way. Do not underestimate me.”

To his credit, Meyer stood his ground. “I won’t, Highness. And in return I ask you to consider that you don’t know everything about either your half-brother or Captain Breckenridge.”

The corners of her lips quirked upward. He had more steel than she’d expected. “I’ve dropped the half-brother reference. Jared is my brother. I know him a hell of a lot better than your CO. Captain Breckenridge is going to need to prove himself to me, and so are you. Be glad we’re only boarding a freighter. That has to be easier than a stand up firefight. Or crash landing a pinnace.”

She turned the helmet projection on and watched his expression as her face appeared. It wasn’t really her, but the projection on the helmet was very lifelike.

That’s when the overhead alarms began to ring. Jared’s voice rang out through the overheads. “All hands to battle stations. This is not a drill.”

Kelsey brought the ship’s tactical overlay back up. The task force had split up.
Courageous
was on her way toward the enemy flip point. The other five ships were still heading for the two ships in the enemy task force. That wasn’t the plan.

She pinged Jared through the ship’s network.
What’s happening? Why did we change course?

Captain Breckenridge said he has enough ships to run down a destroyer. We’re to play backstop to make sure the enemy doesn’t slip past him and make a run for it.

Is that the best idea?

No. My guess is that he doesn’t trust us not to get involved. Keep prepping for your mission. We might have to board the destroyer if things go south.

She scowled at Meyer. “Your captain changed the plan at the last minute. We’re on the way to the enemy flip point while he tries to take out the destroyer and capture the freighter on his own. If this goes bad, I’m going to be pissed.”

Meyer took a step back. “I’m certain that he had his reasons.”

“They’d better be damned good. Suit up. We might need to launch in a hurry. Coulter, get him ready.”

“Aye, Highness. This way, Commander.”

She was certain that ‘Aye, Highness’ wasn’t the correct response, but she had to admit it made her smile.

Kelsey made her way over to Lieutenant Reese. The officer was huddled with Talbot and the other noncoms. They had ship plans up on one of the screens. It didn’t look like a freighter.

They made room for her without comment. Reese tapped the screen. “I just got word that our potential target has changed. This is the most common type of destroyer in the Old Empire, a Zombie class. Small, fast, but relatively lightly armed.”

She loaded the plans into her implants. “Faster than this ship? Lightly armed in comparison to what? Us? The task force?”

“
Courageous
can take her, if she can catch her. The task force can, too, though their lack of missile range leaves them open for a mauling if they screw up. Captain Mertz says he warned them.” The marine officer shook his head. “They’re making this more complicated than I like, but that’s been our luck lately.”

“Status change,”
Courageous
said through the overhead speakers. “The enemy vessels have changed course back toward the hostile flip point and are accelerating.”

Kelsey looked at the tactical situation through the ship’s passive scanners. They could directly detect the enemy ships at this point. “
Courageous
, can we cut them off from the flip point?”

“Affirmative, if the situation remains static. If the destroyer accelerates, this vessel is not close enough to stop it from fleeing.”

“Well, we’ll just have to hope that—”

The Fleet task force accelerated sharply. If the enemy had only suspected their presence before, they knew they were there now.

“Dammit,” Kelsey cursed. “What the hell is that man thinking? He’s going to spook them into splitting up. The bastards are going to get away.”

Reese looked grim. “Let’s hope not. If they do, the Pentagarans are in real danger of an invasion. And so are we.”

Chapter Eleven

Jared watched in frustration as the enemy destroyer accelerated away from the freighter. At that speed, it was going to beat them handily to the flip point. Breckenridge had ruined the ambush.

“Maximum acceleration. I want to be in range of the ship before it flips.”

Courageous
leapt to its top speed, but Jared only had to do one check to realize they wouldn’t make it. Even though the battlecruiser had an edge in speed, the destroyer would be able to flip before they came into extreme range.

The Fleet task force had split in two. The faster ships were in pursuit of the destroyer while
Spear
headed for the freighter. That really made no sense. Why send a heavy cruiser to catch a freighter? The Pentagaran ships coming out from Erorsi would be able to catch the lumbering cargo ship before it got to the flip point. Breckenridge shouldn’t have split his forces.

That’s when it hit him. Breckenridge wanted to capture the freighter and its cargo for himself. He’d come up with some excuse or reason to keep it. Or he’d try.

Jared put it out of his mind. Kelsey could deal with the man once the situation was under control. Right now, he needed to figure out how to stop that fleeing ship.

He watched the situation play out for a little while. The task force had drawn substantially ahead of
Courageous
during the stealthy approach on the enemy ships. The destroyer was still going to be far outside their missile envelope, but it looked tantalizingly close to them.

Zia turned toward him. “Sir, something isn’t right. The destroyer should be pulling further ahead. It’s not moving at full speed.”

“Are you sure? Perhaps it’s not really a Zombie class.”

“Our scanners are on active mode and I’m getting a decent reading on it. I think it is a Zombie. One that isn’t using its full potential. Sir, I’m concerned it might be sucking the task force into missile range.”

Jared checked the distances between that ship and the task force. “Give them a warning that thing might be setting up an ambush.”

That’s when the destroyer put on a burst of speed, cutting in toward the task force and firing missiles.

“Missiles fired,” Zia said briskly. “Six missiles on an inbound track for the task force. They’re accelerating at Old Empire speeds. The enemy ship is still closing. It’s fired a second salvo. Now it’s turning for the flip point and putting on maximum acceleration.”

Jared watched the two clusters of missiles close in on the task force with a sense of dread. He’d warned them just how capable those weapons were, but that wouldn’t help. The first group of missiles turned out to have two scanner jammers. They blinded the Fleet vessels, allowing two of the real missiles to get through.

Both struck the light cruiser
Shadow
in titanic explosions. The warship lurched and veered off course, leaving it broadside to the next salvo.

Titan
interposed herself between the danger and her wounded companion, firing her antimissile railguns at the incoming weapons. She stopped two of them. Three missiles struck
Titan
and she exploded with the fury reserved to the gods of failed fusion plants. The remaining missile hit
One Bullet
, sending the destroyer to join
Titan
in the grave.

The enemy destroyer had killed a Fleet light cruiser and destroyer without taking a single bit of damage in return. It hadn’t even come within range for the ships to return fire. Wisely, the remaining two Fleet destroyers began rescue operations, leaving the fleeing enemy to
Courageous
.

“Tell me we’re going to catch that sonofabitch short of the flip point,” Jared snarled.

Zia shook her head. “He still has enough distance to flip before we come into extreme missile range. We’re going to have to make a combat flip and go after him.”

Jared watched the ship make it to the flip point and disappear with impotent rage. “We have no idea what’s on the other side of the flip point. What are our options?”

The tactical officer held up three fingers. “He’ll either being waiting for us to flip, be hauling ass for the next flip point, or dropped to a crawl, hoping to hide until he gets so far away from the flip point that we can’t find him.