Cradle of War (A Captain's Crucible Book 3) (24 page)

Jonathan felt so helpless. He wished there was something he could do to participate in the battle. But at the current distance, he was nothing more than an observer.

What if Yale loses?

T
he opposing fighters closed, intercepting one another ten thousand kilometers out from the laser segment. While the two sides exchanged fire in repeated flybys, the laser continued to pick off missiles and mortars, and Avengers themselves.

Some of the Avengers attempted to make a run at the laser, but they were shot down by the enemy fighters.

The second wave of missiles and mortars broke through during that fight. A few of the Avengers diverted from the main fighting to escort the missiles in, and in moments the lead segment had fallen. The Avengers brought down the remaining fighters, and took their places behind the ensuing mortars to escort the next wave toward the second lens segment. 

Some of the enemy fighters had remained behind at that segment, so that the previous battle basically repeated itself. The Avengers thinned the enemy fighter ranks enough for the next wave of missiles and mortars to break through, and then a few Avengers escorted the missiles in toward the lens target.

The battle of attrition continued at the next two segments. By the time the Avengers reached the fourth segment, all the enemy fighters had been destroyed, and the two dart ships moved forward to help repel the Avengers and incoming missile waves; the dart ships didn’t reach the fourth segment soon enough. Only two Avengers remained by the time that segment was taken out, so when the dart ships closed, the remaining Avengers were quickly shot down, along with the few incoming missiles and mortars.

The final segment advanced, as did the pyramid ship. Once the laser segment reached the one hundred thousand kilometer mark from the Slipstream, it would be able to pick off the remaining United Systems corvettes one by one, at its leisure.

Jonathan sent a message to the admiral: “Admiral Yale. You have to take out that final segment at all costs. If you have no missiles or mortars remaining, I would suggest using the slugs from mag-rails as offensive weapons. The Raakarr can only detect them at the last moment. Hem them in by firing spreads in successive waves: the targets will be forced to turn into the next group of slugs as they attempt to avoid the previous wave.”

Before his message reached the admiral, a final volley of mortars launched from Task Group 80.3 and one of the corvettes, the
Giza
, accelerated away from the Slipstream, taking cover behind the mortars. Presumably the task group was out of missiles by then.

The corvette closed with the incoming enemies. The
Giza
was too big to be completely shielded by the mortars, and by the hundred thousand kilometer mark it began to take damage from the remaining laser segment. The corvette rotated so that different sides faced the enemy weapon, but Jonathan knew the ship was basically sacrificing itself.

Jonathan received a reply from the admiral. “I’ve instructed the corvette to launch mag-rail slugs, as per your suggestion. Let’s hope it works.”

With the approach of the
Giza
, the enemy vessels began to randomly alter their courses every few seconds, so that they approached in a three-dimensional zigzag pattern, reducing the chances that they would be caught at unawares by incoming slugs: they were familiar with that tactic from their encounter with Jonathan in the Elder galaxy.

But apparently the
Giza
got lucky, because when it reached the twenty thousand kilometer mark, the laser ship abruptly dived and then broke apart, presumably as incoming slugs struck.

The dart ships cut the corvette in half with their particle beams a moment later.

Jonathan doubted that any lifepods had been launched in time.

The survivors of the enemy fleet came in. No fighters remained on either side. Nor long range kinetic kills. Unless the admiral decided to repurpose some of the missiles and nukes mining the Slipstream entrance, the next battle would be between starships alone.

The
Renaissance
remained faithfully in place by the Slipstream entrance, while the
Ptolemy, Pharos
and
Cleopatra
cowered fifty thousand kilometers behind it.

The two dart ships positioned themselves in front of the pyramid vessel to act as shields. With their particle beams, they eliminated the few mortars that Task Group 80.3 had previously lobbed their way. They continued to randomly vary their courses sightly, but as a single cohesive group.

At the fifteen thousand kilometer mark from the Slipstream, one of the dart ships pulled ahead, taking damage from the
Renaissance’s
heavy lasers. The dart ship fired its particle beam, exploding its opponent. Again Jonathan doubted the corvette had time to launch lifepods.

The lead dart ship plowed right into one of the waiting nukes that mined the entrance. Half of the ship was incinerated and the remainder broke apart. Debris from the vessel continued forward with the same momentum, exploding more missiles and nukes in its path.

With their particle beams, the following two ships detonated the last of the mines and in moments the aliens had escaped through the Slipstream.

Jonathan slumped in defeat.
Well, we tried.

H
E RECEIVED A message a few minutes later.

“I’m ordering the Dragonflies to replace the Gate,” Admiral Yale said. “I want to pursue these bastards. As soon as you arrive, of course.”

Jonathan smiled sarcastically.
Of course. That way you can sit back and avoid getting your hands dirty again.

“Otter tells me the Zarafe have detected United Systems shuttles emerging from behind one of the inner planets,” Barrick confirmed a moment later. “They appear to be dragging a Gate, and will arrive at the same time we do.”

Captain Rodriguez tapped in a moment later. Jonathan accepted the connection.

“What are we going to do?” Rodriguez asked.

“Only thing we can do,” Jonathan said. “Go to 2-Avalon, launch a probe to scope the other side, and then follow the Raakarr.”

“What about the
Ptolemy?
” Rodriguez pressed.

“We pretend she doesn’t exist,” Jonathan said. “And don’t factor her into any of our strategies.”

Jonathan had the admiral confirm his weapon inventories, and as Jonathan suspected, Task Group 80.3 had exhausted all long range missiles in the attack. They still had some mortars and point defense slugs left, however.

You could have fired those to coincide with the arrival of the enemy at the Slipstream,
Admiral Yale,
he thought bitterly. Then again, with the way the remaining ships had been randomly moving, even if the admiral had fired slugs, he likely would have missed.

When the
Talon
,
Artemis
and
Galilei
were roughly half a day to the Slipstream, Barrick called Jonathan to the bridge.

“A heat signature has emerged from 2-Avalon,” Barrick said.

“Only one?” Jonathan asked.

“Only one,” Barrick agreed. “It’s the pyramid ship. Otter says she’s badly damaged: there are dark streaks all over her hull, two new cavities on her leading face, and thermal leaks everywhere on her IR band. He also tells me none of their stilt cannons are intact. They’re defenseless.”

“Looks like they had a run-in with a real United Systems fleet,” Jonathan said.

He tapped in his two captains. “Are you seeing this?”

“We are,” Captain Rodriguez replied over the comm. “Feels good to finally have some backup.”

“Though it took them long enough to get their act together,” Captain Rail complained.

“Relay the information to Admiral Yale,” Jonathan said. “In case he hasn’t figured out the enemy’s particle beams are offline.”

“Looks like they’re already closing with the vessel,” Rodriguez said.

Jonathan glanced at his lagged tactical display. Sure enough, Task Group 80.3 was approaching the defenseless vessel. He noted that the
Ptolemy
was no longer hanging back. With the enemy ship obviously badly damaged, Admiral Yale was suddenly an eager participant in the operation.

“Barrick, I want the
Talon
to order their surrender,” Jonathan told the telepath.

Ten minutes later Barrick had the answer: “Valor says they agree. But he urges caution nonetheless, and advises that we destroy the ship immediately.”

Jonathan pursed his lips. “It does seem a little too easy, given the nature of their mission, and that they’ve always preferred self-destruction to capture in the past.”

On the lagging tactical display, the
Ptolemy
and her escorts continued to approach the ship.

“Dragonfly 1,” Jonathan said. “Send a message to Admiral Yale: Admiral, I advise you to put some distance between yourself and that vessel. We have reason to suspect treachery.”

Admiral Yale’s response came some minutes later: “We’re already changing course.”

Jonathan watched as the
Ptolemy
and her escorts slowly swung wide. But apparently the pyramid ship had pretended to be more damaged than it actually was, because it suddenly altered course and accelerated to its top speed. It was set to overtake the United Systems destroyer in moments.

Again Jonathan felt that overwhelming sense of helplessness. “Their surrender was definitely a ruse. Dragonfly 1, tell the Admiral to get the hell out of there. Emergency speed!” He turned toward Barrick: “I want Valor to order the pyramid ship to change course immediately!”

“Valor has already done so,” Barrick said. “We have yet to receive a reply.” He paused. “It appears the
Ptolemy
is firing at them. We’re detecting a full mortar spread, and the thermal signature of a laser blast.”

He knew the
Ptolemy’s
laser array couldn’t have much power, as it was doubtful it would have been fully charged by then. Mortars and point-defense slugs would be the destroyer’s best hope.

On the display, Jonathan saw the blue dots of mortars appear from the
Ptolemy
a moment later. But they vanished almost instantly.

“Otter tells me the alien ship just fired a particle weapon,” Barrick said. “And destroyed every last mortar. The beam also struck the
Cleopatra
. She’s gone.”

Jonathan shook his head angrily. “I thought you said their particle weapons were inactive!”

“Otter admits that he was wrong,” Barrick replied.

“Damn it,” Jonathan said. “This whole thing is a ruse! We’ve been played. I’m willing to bet the other dart ship is going to emerge from that Slipstream any time now, with guns ablaze.”

“The pyramid ship is continuing toward the
Ptolemy
,” Barrick said. “It’s plowing right into the mortar debris. Like they don’t care about taking damage anymore.”

“What? Why?” If the dart vessel was coming, there would be no need for the pyramid to self-sacrifice.

Unless the dart ship wasn’t coming.

“The
Ptolemy
fired another mortar spread,” Barrick said. 

The attack didn’t even have time to register on Jonathan’s lagged display. Instead, the red dot representing the pyramid ship touched the blue dot of the
Ptolemy
, and both winked out, leaving the
Pharos
as the only member of Task Group 80.3 remaining on the tactical display.

“Dragonfly 1?” Jonathan said urgently. “Tell the admiral to update me on his status.” He turned toward the telepath. “Barrick, what do we know?”

Barrick’s lips were set in a grim line behind the faceplate. “It looks like the pyramid ship self-destructed half a second before impact. The resultant explosion and superheated debris carved out a huge chunk of the
Ptolemy’s
hull. Half of the destroyer has disintegrated.”

Jonathan partially collapsed and had to rest a gloved hand on the bulkhead to steady himself. While the admiral was incompetent, he didn’t deserve such an ignominious end. No one did.

A moment later Dragonfly 1 contacted him: “I have received an answer to the sitrep request you asked me to send to Admiral Yale. It is from Captain Fuller of the
Pharos
.”