Eagle (Jacob Hull) (28 page)

Yet the
Crown
-class vessels had cleared the way for their more modern—but less heavily armored—brethren. The
Knight
-class cruisers separated into two pairs, each of which slashed by the
Banner
-class dreadnaughts at breathtakingly close range. They fired high-powered plasma lances, ripping through dreadnaught-class armor with sickening ease. Behind them, the few destroyers and frigates Jacob had been able to spare for Isaac’s force pounced on the remaining San Marcos ships, destroying targets with deliberate volleys at point blank range.

Chaos spread in the wake of Isaac’s formation. Both
Banner
-class dreadnaughts tumbled in abject ruin. The plasma lance strikes had gutted one from bow to amidships; enough atmosphere and plasma sprayed from the terrible gash there was no hope of it remaining functional. Its companion had not fared much better, as the small volcano of incandescent thermonuclear fire that marked its punctured main reactor easily proved. Another dozen San Marcos raiders and a double handful of wrecked or crippled Oduran ships had joined the long list of casualties.

Those Oduran wrecks were not alone. A dozen Celostian ships had fallen victim to the savage counterfire of the Odurans, including some of the
Hunter
-class destroyers and the
Crown
-class cruiser
Khan
. Even the surviving ships were pocked with damage, especially the cruisers. Jacob’s eyes narrowed. The Odurans were concentrating their fire now, picking off the greatest threats to their survival. If Isaac tried another pass, Jacob wasn’t sure any of his ships were going to survive it.

When Isaac’s formation banked to come around again, the Oduran task force made another sharp swerve to avoid it. There were only fourteen Oduran cruisers left, and they quickly formed a shell around the flagship—no doubt on the frantic orders of Admiral Yeseti. The remaining San Marcos ships took up positions within the shell, while the Oduran lighter craft formed a vanguard for the formation. The entire group began to turn on a course that would make it hard for Isaac to ever catch them, given his ships’ extremely high momentum.

Jacob grinned. Unfortunately for Admiral Yeseti,
his
formation had not been cursed with such problems. They were nearly coming around for another head-on pass, which he had no doubt Yeseti would like to avoid. He touched a control to contact the bridge. “Captain Martino, I want you to hit as many enemy small craft as possible on our way through this time. We need to bring the number of targets down if we want to prevent them from breaking through our formation.”

“Yes, Sir.”
Captain Martino paused. “Sir, we have a lot of targeting contacts coming from that force. They appear to be concentrating their fire on us again. If we can’t counter them, they may be able to cripple our DE sails after the exchange.”

There was a warning in his tone, and Jacob nodded grimly. “So be it. We’ll deal with it later if we can. Hit their escorts hard, and then come around for another pass after that.”

“As ordered, Sir.” Martino’s misgivings were clear, but Jacob knew he would follow the directions he’d been given. The rest of the formation was less certain. Faced with the prospect of passing through the enemy a second time, the remaining ships in his group were wavering almost as much as the Odurans were. Jacob touched the control that put him in touch with the rest of his direct command.

“
Henry
,
Edward
, I want you to hit the enemy flagship as we pass through the formation. Use torpedoes and missile fire; concentrate railgun fire on direct threats.” Jacob glanced at his remaining escorts and winced. They seemed so few. “Corvette squadrons, sweep through formation and hit the remaining San Marcos ships. Focus on disabling them, if possible. Frigates, target cruisers at best opportunity. Destroyers, I want you to put a hole in their light craft.”

Jacob paused, his eyes going to the enemy task force. Al-shira’s face flashed in his mind. “Remember, we’re fighting for our families and our freedom. For our homes and the ones we love. Don’t let the enemy through.
High Admiral Hull, out.”

The ships settled into their attack runs, and Jacob found his heart hammering harder as the Odurans closed with his formation. If the enemy really was targeting everything on the
Eagle
, it was possible he wasn’t going to survive this run. Even dreadnaughts had limits, and
Eagle
’s ability to use countermeasures appeared to have been crippled by the most recent attack. He closed his eyes and prayed he’d be able to come through the fire, that he’d see Naomi Al-shira once more.

Then the ships of the so-called Grand Alliance launched missiles, and Jacob’s attention snapped back to the tactical projection. The wave of missiles was not as large as
it had been the first time; there were fewer ships capable of launching them, especially among the San Marcos craft. There were still enough to provide an impressive amount of projectiles, however, and the number of flechettes and flares the countermeasures teams were pumping out to meet them was extremely small by comparison.

At the very least, Jacob thought grimly, they were focusing their fire on
Eagle
. The rest of his force had a chance to get through almost untouched, at least until they hit railgun range. He tried to cheer himself with that thought as the first missiles began to reach attack range.

The
Eagle
shuddered. At first it was a gentle rocking as the leading missiles impacted, tearing holes in the armor and the hull beneath. Then more of them began to arrive, an avalanche of fire and missile fragments that rattled the entire ship around Jacob as if it were about to come apart. Alarms screeched on the officers’ consoles around him, and Jacob swore he could hear hull plates buckling as well. It continued for what seemed like forever, and then the deck firmed up, and Jacob could see the situation clearly again.

The entire front half of the ship glowed with damage icons. There were hull breaches in half a dozen places, and five times that number had already been sealed off by damage control systems and repair parties. A secondary explosion sent another shudder through the ship, and Jacob turned his gaze from the display showing the damages to the tactical projection. They had almost reached railgun range, and somehow, the majority of the
Eagle
’s firepower had survived to make contact. He touched a control as they reached that range. “Task force, open fire!”

His ships responded immediately, the railguns on
Eagle
throwing out their own wave of destruction. Both cruisers in Jacob’s formation unleashed torpedoes and missiles, targeting the enemy dreadnaught. Railguns lashed out in every direction, bracketing the enemy units that were furthest forward. He watched his formation close with the enemy, a wave of destruction sweeping out before them.

It was like watching a horde of flies run into a sledgehammer. The Oduran lighter units exploded or wheeled away from the formation, their hulls streaming burning atmosphere and wreckage. Several exploded outright, shattered by the railgun shells that impacted on their hulls. The San Marcos ships were gutted by explosions. At least two of the Oduran cruisers were hit hard enough to fall away from their assigned positions, and the enemy flagship itself shook under the blasts of missile impacts as Jacob’s formation passed through. In their wake they left a shattered Oduran task force, littered with dying hulks and fragmented hulls. There was no second missile barrage, for the enemy was too busy trying to put their force back together.

Then Yeseti made the same choice her other commanders had, that discretion was the better part of valor. Her flagship swerved one final time, along with most of the rest of the ships in her fleet. Those without functional DE sails to run were left behind as the entire remaining force ran for the dark matter passage. Jacob watched them go, feeling something akin to relief. The battle was over. He’d won.

Then, as he watched those forces go, Jacob realized something more. The opposition had been crushed, true, but they couldn’t withdraw. There was no way for them to riftjump out of the system, not with the dark matter barrier in the way. Their ships inside the passage were already trapped, and Leon could easily slaughter any force trying to make their way past him on their way out. This force was one he could destroy any time he wanted to.

Even better, this force was one that had the chief of state of one enemy onboard, and the son of another as well. Jacob smiled and leaned forward. “High Admiral to task force, turn and begin pursuit of the enemy force. We’re going to chase them until they get to the passage. Then I’m going to open a channel to their flagship, if Yeseti still has any communications capability over there.”

As his units acknowledged his orders, Jacob sat back, his eyes locked on the ships of the enemy as they ran. His mind churned with the possibilities, and he gave the projection a hard smile. It had cost him, and everything wasn’t done yet, but there was a light at the end of the tunnel now. All he needed to do was finish things.

Chapter Twenty-Six

The enemy ships had been milling around inside the passage for nearly twenty minutes before Jacob decided to send the message. Once Yeseti entered the passage, she clearly began to realize the hopelessness of her situation. Leon was waiting for her on the opposite side of the passage, his missiles and torpedoes ready to rain down on her forces. Jacob brought the
Eagle
and most of the rest of his ships up on the other side, ready to block her if she moved in their direction.

If they stayed trapped there things would only get worse, since Jacob could reinforce his ships much quicker than she could get reinforcements from her home territory—if she could even manage to get any message to them at all. Of course, that assumed Jacob would allow them to sit there when he could just as easily start sending torpedoes in along the curving twists of the passage, bowling them through the Oduran formation like preprogrammed, guided wrecking balls until the larger ships of her task force were dead. Then he could sweep the passage clean and leave them all destroyed or captured.

While Yeseti's ships milled about inside the passage, fumbling for some kind of order, Jacob considered opening with a few such shots, just to emphasize the strength of his position. It couldn’t hurt, after all, and Yeseti had plenty of ships still to spare—fully two thirds of her cruisers were still operational, and his force was technically outnumbered. His battered crews would likely love to see the Odurans getting some of their own back.

Then Jacob set the idea aside with a sigh. Enough on both sides had died to prove someone else’s point—the goal he had in mind now was to end all of it, so no one else would have to. He stood, putting his hands behind his back and facing the pickup for the command center’s communication console. Then he gestured to the technician running the thing and began.

“This is Jacob Hull, High Admiral of the Celostian Union, to High Admiral Ilyena Yeseti of the Grand Alliance. Your situation is currently hopeless. Your ships and crews are at our mercy. Any attempt to escape or to continue your attack will be met with overwhelming force, and the majority of your ships will not survive.” Jacob paused, letting his expression harden. “You came against us to destroy us, Yeseti, you and your allies. Both the Collective at San Marcos and the Oduran League have accused the Celostian Union on multiple occasions of being aggressive tyrants, of being a rogue state, of seeking the destruction of those people around it. It is interesting for all those accusations, you were caught as you led a force to do just that to
us
—to conquer us, to pull us down, and to make us your servants.

“Well, we have no interest in making you serve us. We have no interest in killing you either, though you are all in a position where it would be easy for us. There has been enough war, enough killing, and we never asked for, or wanted, any of it. Our cause has triumphed here, thanks to your own hatred and blind ambitions, but that is not enough for me.”

Jacob looked directly into the pickup, hoping his words would reach whoever was watching him on the other side. He made sure his words carried the seriousness of his message. “We want this to be over now so we can be free to enjoy our rights and liberties in peace. We don’t want to have to worry about Telosian raiders, San Marcos saboteurs, or Oduran invasion forces showing up on our doorstep any more. So I hope you will listen to me very, very carefully, because I will only extend this offer once. If you want to live, if you have
any
desire to survive the next encounter with my forces, you will lay down your arms, surrender, and agree to the terms of a peace treaty that ends the war between us. You may even leave with our blessing if you promise you will never again declare war against us. Otherwise, within the next half hour, I will begin to destroy your forces, and I won’t stop until every single one of you is dead.

“Jacob Hull, out.”

The projection unit shut down, and Jacob let out a long breath. Then he looked around the rest of the command center, not knowing what he expected to see.

His officers stared at him. Some showed surprise; others resentment. Most, however, were filled with sudden hope an excitement, and as Jacob returned to his command chair, they murmured to each other at their stations. One of them spoke up. “Sir, we have an urgent signal from Captain Bellworth on the
Kay
.”

Jacob winced. He could already guess what Isaac wanted to discuss. “Tell him I need to focus on what the Odurans are doing and have him continue to hold formation.”

The officer nodded, clearly unhappy, but Jacob turned back to his fleet. He arranged Isaac’s cruisers further back to give them the chance to hit the enemy in the flank again if they tried to charge. He hoped his friend wouldn’t try to take the initiative on his own and start launching missiles.

He looked back over the damage reports from the rest of his fleet. Unfortunately, there were plenty. Nearly every remaining ship had taken some form of damage, though most had been able to avoid destruction thanks to the extra armor. Those that weren’t so lucky were now being evacuated or had already joined the mass of debris scattered throughout the system. As he looked at those ships, he saw a fleet that had been pushed to the edge. There was no doubt they’d won here, but Jacob knew how close it had been. A catastrophe could have happened if anything more had turned against them.

Eagle
itself was the prime example. The flagship’s bow had been so mangled he doubted it would survive another head-on attack against the Odurans. Very little of its forward armor remained, and damage reports were still pouring in from all over the ship. Captain Martino had already warned him that if they took another missile hit, the entire ship would need to be abandoned. It wasn’t the most promising evaluation a ship commander could give their superior officer, but Jacob knew it was what he needed to hear—and many of the other ‘ironsides’ weren’t much better off. Shipyards throughout the Union were going to be busy after this fight.

“Sir, we have movement.” The officer gestured at the tactical display of the command center, and Jacob looked up from his reports. Yeseti’s last dreadnaught was
leaving behind the rest of their formation and moving carefully to the mouth of the passage nearest Jacob’s forces. All of the remaining Oduran craft had formed up and trailed the flagship, leaving none to act as a rearguard if Leon came roaring through. Jacob’s heart beat faster as Yeseti’s dreadnaught left the passage, moving at a slow, non-threatening pace, while the remainder of her forces stayed sheltered in the dark matter. Yeseti had her dreadnaught’s rad masts extended, a clear bid for parlay, which he hoped boded well.

Jacob stood when the communication officer motioned to him. He nodded, and Admiral Yeseti appeared, flanked by Governor Carmichael and Admiral Sessors. None of them looked especially happy; in fact, Yeseti looked as if she wanted to claw at the bulkheads with her bare hands. Carmichael looked haughty; as if he was using hollow contempt to shield his utter desperation. Sessors, for his part, was openly downcast; obviously the high-born Oduran had little practice at remaining composed in the face of defeat.

Yeseti began without preamble, biting her words off with a vicious snarl. “To High Admiral Jacob Hull, of the Celostian Navy, this is High Admiral and Captain Elite of the Grand Alliance fleet, Ilyena Yeseti.” She paused, and then continued as if the words were being dragged from her voice-box unwillingly. “I am forced by your superior position and armaments to concede defeat. My forces will surrender our arms to you, so long as you can restrain yourselves from mercilessly slaughtering our people. I have little faith in your words, but I hope even you would allow a defeated foe passage back to their own territory.”

Her face twisted in a snarl of hatred. “Yet do not be deceived; it is not the justice of your cause or the rightness of your intentions that has given you this victory. Your fleet possesses superior arms we were not able to match, and your underhanded tactics have given you every advantage. Our cause will continue, our alliance will continue, and our efforts to resist and turn back Celostian aggression will also continue, so long as our nations live. This defeat cannot and will not change that fact.”

As Yeseti continued, and Jacob felt his hands curl into fists. Anger burned at the edges of his focus. “We will give you no promise to end this war—for we will have our vengeance whatever threats you level—and if you hold our lives hostage for that promise, then we will fight you to the last ship. No treaty under such circumstances can be honorably made, and we are willing to die—taking as many of you with us as we can—rather than surrender to such tyranny.”

“High Admiral Yeseti, of the Grand Alliance, out.”

Jacob took a few moments to calm his feelings. The words had been calculated act of defiance, one that would have been broadcast to both fleets in order to harden her crews’ resolve. She’d spurned the offer of peace he’d extended. He unclenched his fingers, and looked over at the tactical display. For a long moment, he studied the ships that hung there in space. His gaze went not just to the craft that were still moving. Dozens of ships lay without power or in pieces throughout the system. Could he allow the battle to be over with that? Was he willing to risk more to force Yeseti’s hand?

The other officers in the command deck were watching Jacob now; everything had gone still. Murmured reports filled the background, but they were distracted instead of the focused and clear conversations Jacob was used to. He looked back at the officers, meeting the eyes of the few who watched him openly, and he saw determination and support in those gazes. They were ready to fight, still, and he realized he was making a terrible choice. They could risk their lives now or in some future day when the war continued.

Then he turned his attention back to the communication board and gestured to the officer. When the light came on, Jacob let his voice come out hard and unyielding. “Jacob Hull to the ships of the Grand Alliance. Our battle will continue.”

Someone let out a curse in the command center, but Jacob did not allow himself to be distracted. “You have heard my terms, and I will not choose to withdraw them. You will not leave this place unless you submit to the conditions I have given you. If this war must continue, then I would rather kill you here, when I have you dead to rights, than take my chances at some later battle. Any vessel or crew willing to submit to my terms—
who would choose to swear for an honest peace rather than continuing this war—may still surrender. Otherwise, you will be destroyed.”

Jacob paused to let the reality of those words to settle in, and then he continued. “I will allow you to return to your forces. You will have one hour to reconsider your refusal of my terms, and then we will resume our attack. I hope your decision will be wiser than your previous poor choices.
Jacob Hull, out.”

When the transmission ended, Jacob turned to gauge the reaction of his officers. He had no chance to do so, however, before the officer at the tactical station shouted. “Sir, we have multiple missile launches from the enemy flagship! They’re targeting us!”

Jacob swore and hurled himself toward his command chair. From that spot he could see a whole constellation of missile contacts branching out from Yeseti’s ship. Every single one of them was curving in toward the
Eagle
, while the opposing dreadnaught started to draw in its radiation masts and pull back. One look told Jacob all he needed to know; there was no hope of avoiding the salvo and only a small chance of surviving it. He braced himself. “All nonessential personnel, report to the escape pods. I repeat, all nonessential personnel—”

He cut off when the tactical officer gasped, and the display suddenly burst with new information. Right where the missiles had started to curve back towards the
Eagle
, a cruiser had suddenly jumped into existence. The
Kay
appeared in a brilliant flare of dark energy that shoved the courses of the missiles out of line; flechettes scattered from the cruiser as if the ship was throwing off sparks. Even as those countermeasures started to take effect, the
Kay
dove toward the enemy dreadnaught. Isaac’s ship made a heart-stopping firing run that took it so close to the enemy some of the automatic defensive turrets started to snap at each other.

Before the dreadnaught’s guns could react, the
Kay
fired a single, brilliant spray of plasma from its lance. The thermonuclear fire speared straight through the heart of the vessel, searing through the armor as if it had been a mere dream. Plasma burst back out of the hole; at least one reactor had been breached. Even as the damage hit home, the railguns of the
Kay
opened up in precise, devastating bursts that ripped apart the radiation masts still struggling to retract, gutting the ship’s ability to rid itself of the waste heat created by its many systems. Then, to top off the damage already done, all four missile bays let loose a concentrated salvo that smashed into the dreadnaught’s bow, each projectile exploding within meters of each other.

That final blow was the last straw. The blasts actually
separated
the front of the dreadnaught from the rest of it, flipping a curved section away into space like a discarded bottlecap. Atmosphere gushed out of the catastrophic opening that wound created, catching fire and creating a secondary blast that rocked the rest of the ruined warship. As the
Kay
struggled to accelerate away, escape craft burst from the dreadnaught. Moments after that, an entire wave of shuttles launched, heading back toward the shelter of the remnants of Yeseti’s task force.