He Who Dares: Book Three (34 page)

“One minute to exit,” Cooper announced unnecessarily. Everyone could see the ships clock and hear the warning alarm. As nervous as she was, she couldn’t help herself.

“Breathe, Cooper. That’s an order,” Jan murmured softly.

“Y…yes, ma’am,” she answered, and took a deep breath.

Jan reminded herself to breathe as well. She saw Cooper look over her shoulder at the Skipper chatting away with the XO as if nothing exciting was happening.

“How can he look so calm?” She whispered to Jan.

“Who?” She took a quick look. “Oh, you mean Captain Gray, the Avalon superman bent on enslaving all of human space?”

“What? No, he’s not!” Cooper hissed in her captain’s defense, seeing Jan smile. She blushed slightly and grinned in return.

“Oh, he’s as worried as the rest of us, but this isn’t his first fandango, remember.”

*  *  *  *  *  *

“Captain. I have an inbound tachyon burst just north of us,” Lieutenant Discard reported.

“Very good, Lieutenant. Any information of how many yet?” The XO asked.

“No sir, all indications are that it’s a small group, or fleet of ships… wait… I have a second burst, larger than the first.”

“Belay the order to jump out to New Berlin and have all ships come to action stations, if you please, Mr. Regan.”

“Aye, aye, Captain. Action stations it is,” the XO replied. Within moments the battle stations alarm sounded throughout the huge battleship as the order was relayed to the accompanying battle group. One battleship, four heavy cruisers, six light cruisers, and forty destroyers of the Sirrien Navy all turned to face the incoming threat.

“Order the troop transports and supply ships to stand off to a safe distance and await orders, Captain,” Admiral Branson ordered.

“Aye, sir. Comm, send to all transports and supply ships to stand off to a safe distance and wait for orders.”

“Aye, sir. Transmitting.”

“Order the fleet to move into formation Delta Six, Captain Remmes. We’ll take them head on after they exit
n
th
.”

“Yes, sir. From the look of it, Group Alpha, as we’ve designated them, will exit an hour or so before the second group. That should give us plenty of time to finish off this first group and prepare for the second.” Captain Remmes pulled his earlobe in thought as he answered.

“True, but from the plot, it looks as if Group Alpha will exit early. Very unusual,” the admiral mused.

“Yes, I agree. That would put them about five to seven hours out from us.”

“That will at least give us a chance to look at the second group before we need to engage.” Admiral Branson’s eyes flicked between the plot and the ships clock as he spoke.

*  *  *  *  *  *

“Oh shit!” Jan muttered, shaking her head in disbelief. “I have a Sirrien fleet just coming up on my sensors, Skipper.”

“Put it up in the battle tank and let see how it looks,” Pete commanded. The moment everyone on the bridge saw it, they knew they were in deep trouble.

“Lord have mercy on us poor sailors,” Gable muttered seeing the Sirrien battle group.

“Amen to that, Gable. One battleship, four heavy cruisers, six light cruisers, and forty destroyers is not something I expected this far out.” Mike shook his head.

“Talk about being between the rock and the hard place, Skipper.”

“Jan. What do we have to work with out there?” Mike asked, chewing the corner of his lower lip.

“Working,” Jan replied, sweat beading her upper lip.

“I put that fleet about six to seven hours out from us, depending on their attack speed, Skipper.”

“And the one behind us, Pete?”

“No more than three hours at the most.”

“Cooper. Signal the rest of our motley group to hold station while we work out where to go from here.”

“Aye, sir. Sending now.”

Mike felt the impulse to go over and stand behind Jan and look over her shoulder, but he resisted it. It wouldn’t get him the results any faster and would just make her more nervous and suggest that he didn’t trust her to do her job.

“Coffee, Skipper?” Pete asked, seeing Mike jerk his head around and open his mouth to snap something at him. He didn’t, nodding instead.

“You’re right. A cup of coffee all round would do the trick at this moment. Thanks.”

“For what, Skipper?” He smiled.

“For just being here.”

“Oh, so my transfer request to a bomb disposal unit was turned down I take it.”

“Yes, of course it was. However, they are looking for good intelligent people to defuse old nuclear ordnance. I hear they have a wonderful pension plan. Interested?”

“You ordered coffee, XO?” Jenks asked as he came onto the bridge.

“Yes, coffee all round.” Jenks didn’t need an interpreter to work out what the battle tank was telling him as he walked around handing out drinking bulbs.

“Another fine mess you’ve gotten me into, Ollie,” he muttered as he handed Mike his bulb of coffee.”

“Well, I thought I’d keep your life interesting.”

“I have one possible destination, Skipper, but there’s a warning in the Nav index that it’s off limits and not to be used for any reason due to danger.”

“Whatever the danger is, it can’t be worse than what we have here.”

“Any indication of what the danger is, Jan?”

“No, sir. Just not to go there.”

Mike eyed the tank, seeing the Sirrien Battle Group drawing closer. They were still three hours out but already moving into their attack formation.

“Contact astern, Skipper. The other Sirrien battle group has just dropped out of
n
th
space right on schedule.”

“How far out, Jan?”

“Two to three hours, Skipper.”

They could try to run, but with the slower freighters and damaged warships, it wouldn’t be long before the Sirrien destroyer squadron caught them, and then what? Fight to the death? That didn’t have much appeal to Mike, not that they could put up much of a fight against that many ships. Surrender was one option, but what then? Languishing in a Sirrien POW camp had about as much appeal as diving for pearls in a sewer system. On top of that, his orders were not to let the three freighters fall into Sirrien hands. So much for those orders... He’d practically handed them to the Sirriens on a silver platter.

“Jan, give the course and speed to Cooper. Cooper, transmit those to our companions with instructions to execute in thirty minutes from now, on my mark.”

“Aye, aye, Skipper,” they both answered at once.

“Talk about frying pans and fires, Mike.”

“I’m dammed no matter what choice I make. I’ll just have to live with this one as well.”

“That’s if we live.”

“Never say die and all that nonsense.”

“Right, stiff upper lips, once more into the breach,” Pete shot back.

“How about, it’s not over until the fat lady sings?” was Gables contribution.

“Full speed ahead and damn the torpedoes,” Cooper added with a giggle.”

“Where on earth did you dig up that old chestnut, Cooper?” Mike asked.

“From one of those naval history books about the old US water Navy,” she answered.

“Good one. Anyone else?” Mike asked the bridge at large.

“Wait, I have one,” Corporal Jenkins spoke up, “I’ll be back!” All he got for that was a lot of groans.

“I have Captain Longmire on the comm, Skipper.”

“Put him up on the main viewer.”

“Hi there, Captain Bear.”

“Hi, Chris.”

“So, we fight, run, surrender, or what?”

“We were just discussing that. One school of thought is frying pans and fires, while another is, stiff upper lips, once more into the breach,” Chris Longmire got an odd look on his face, “my personal favorite is, never say die and all that nonsense.”

“Wait, Skipper, you forgot, full speed ahead and damn the torpedoes, and it’s not over until the fat lady sings,” Jan added. A bleak smile pulled at Chris Longmire’s lips, recognizing the gallows humor.

“Weighty philosophies, Captain. My contribution would be, I have not yet begun to fight.”

“Very true. On the other hand, there is the belief in some quarters that it is better to run away and fight another day.”

“And, I take it that was what the message about course and speed was about.”

“It was, and on my mark…” Mike eyed the clock. “Mark!” His small, battered fleet of ships moved towards the main Sirrien battle group at slow ahead and raised their sails. Moments later, a nimbus of “Saint Elmo’s fire” surrounded them before they vanished from normal space.

*  *  *  *  *  *

“Damn it!” Admiral Branson swore. “Find out where they jumped to and follow them.”

“Aye, sir,” Lieutenant Karl Jenner replied.

“I’m glad to see that the other group of ships was ours, Captain.”

“Yes, sir. It would have been nice if we could have captured that odd looking warship.”

“I know. Prince Phillip has issued orders for that ship to be captured intact at all costs.”

“Any indication why?” Admiral Branson eyed the Captain.

“When Prince Phillip gives you an order, it is very unhealthy to ask why,” Captain Remmes got a little red faced. “I meant no disrespect to the prince…”

“Calm yourself, Captain. I have no intention of telling him. But to answer your question. Unofficially, the rumor is that odd-looking ship in the lead was involved in the destruction of one of our major star bases, and the prince would love to have a word with its captain and find out how he did it.”

“I see, and that is the reason we are following him, rather than proceeding with our invasion of the New Berlin star system?”

“True, but there is more than one way to get there, isn’t there, Captain?”

“Of course.”

“Good, ask the commander of that other battle group to join us, just in case there is something else at the other end of that jump besides that small group of ships.”

“Like another fleet?” The Captain asked.

“Or a major naval base. Whatevery it is, I want those ships to at my disposal to counter, or destroy it.” 

An hour later, Vice Admiral Marcus Grinald was in range to voice his complaint. “I must insist you permit me to follow my orders, Admiral.”

“Unless those orders are from someone else beside Prince Phillip himself, Vice Admiral, my order supersede yours.”

“My orders come from the Lord High Admiral himself…”

“And mine are from Prince Phillip himself. Which do you think has precedence, Vice Admiral?” The pointed reminder that he was the Vice Admiral’s superior on its own should have been sufficient for him to follow orders. The fact that the prince himself had issued the admiral’s orders was sufficient reason to obey all on its own. No one in their right mind disobeyed those orders on pain of death.

“Very well, Admiral Branson. I will follow your orders.”

“We will jump the moment you are in formation.”

*  *  *  *  *  *

“How long before exiting, Jan?”

“Twelve hours, Skipper.”

“Good, a short jump for a change, that should give everyone time to stand down, get a good meal and sleep before we arrive. You have the Conn, Number One.”

“Aye, sir. I have the Conn.”

“See you in a few hours, Pete.”

“Don’t use all the water, Skipper.” He smiled as Mike left the bridge.

After a long shower and a good meal, Mike felt a hundred percent better, helped on by two beers. As he was about to head for his bunk, Jenks came in with a package in his hand.

“Skipper, why is this package you brought aboard beeping? Darn thing drove me barmy trying to find out where the beeping was coming from.”

“Huh?” Mike eyed the package the King’s Messenger had delivered to the Embassy. He hadn’t had time to really examine it other than to see the strange message scrolling along the side and read Anne’s quick note. He was at a loss to know what to do with it. He took the package from Jenks and opened it, hearing the beep.

“Haven’t got a clue, Jenks. When did it start?”

“Not sure. I went in to turn down your bunk and I heard it. Guess it was after we jumped.”

“Not much we can do about it, old son. Maybe the message will change and give us a clue. I’m off to bed. Wake me in eight hours and not a minute more.”

The lights went out even before his head hip the pillow, and he was fast asleep within seconds. Jenks went in and pulled the covers up smiling slightly and shaking his head.

“You sleep well, my old son. You need it.” As promised, Jenks woke him up eight hours later with a cup of coffee.

“Hate to tell you this, Skipper, but that bloody thing is beeping even louder now. You think it might be a bomb or something?”