Heart of Steel: Book II of the Jonathan Pavel Series (30 page)

“Sir I really don't think...” she started to say.

“What did I say about siring me Reverend. Now come on, it’ll be good for ya.”

She tentatively let go of the ladder and floated into the darkened chamber.

“Now what is it your good book said, oh right let there be light.”

Jonathan flicked a switch and the armoured plating over the domed ceiling above them slowly slid back to reveal the clear hexplate windows looking out to the void beyond. Outside the windows, the other ships in the convoy sat. They were great monoliths against the stars as their nuclear engines flared, the exhaust forming a rainbow of colors. Further beyond, the stars shown too numerous to count. They blazed like candles in the light  reflecting the great clouds of gas which marked galaxies and nebulas.

“Oh..my...” Hightower was almost speechless staring out at it in wonder.

“Now Reverend I’m what you call a religious person of the non denominational variety. I’ve followed the Stellanauta tenets since I was 16, my brother is a Hindu and my parents were both Catholics. I’ve met men and women of every stripe and creed, but I’ve yet to meet one who didn't feel the awe of all creation when they looked out at it. You are doing great work here Reverend don't doubt yourself. Your pews have been full because men this far from the firmness of solid ground need something to hold on to. They want to reassure themselves that they matter in the vast nothingness just beyond the hull. I can't give you the sun or a cooling breeze, but whenever you're feeling claustrophobic come up here and take a look. Just be careful going down, it's a long drop.”

Hightower nodded her gaze still fixed outward, her expression one of awe.

“I’ll leave you to it then Reverend,” Jonathan said heading back to the ladder.

“Jonathan,” she called after him. “Thank you.”

Jonathan smiled, “It's what I am here for. Just keep up the good work.”

As he descended the ladder glancing back, he saw Hightower take hold of the patch on her neck and tear it off letting it float free. Who needed a anti-nausea patch when you had the whole universe unfolding before you. Jonathan resumed his focus on descending down the ladder. It wasn't long before they would be at Xifeng, and Jonathan and his crew would find out what else awaited them. Until then, the Captain's job was to keep honing the crew from a blunt instrument of war into a sleek and deadly weapon. A ship, after all, was only as good as its crew and a crew was only as good as their captain. Jonathan whistled to himself as he headed down the ladder once more. 

Matosa System, In orbit of Xifeng, Solarian Republic

On board
RSNS Triumph,
Flag Ship of the 5th Fleet

November 20th 844 AE

Jonathan's mood was less chipper as he, William Trendale, and Wu Qin
Charon's
CO waited outside
Triumph’s
Combat Information Center. The Colonial war would be a month old in a week, and it was becoming clear that it would have many more anniversaries. The Colonials had not ended their offensive operations. Cylira was now a front line system and Sagus was fully under Colonial occupation. Meanwhile, despite limited success in hunting them down, the Colonial wolf packs had done serious damage to Solaria’s shipping in this region and its infrastructure. Hopper had been madly re-organizing the 5th Fleet, and scuttlebutt was that reinforcements were on their way from the Home Fleet. Until they got here though, the 5th was on its own. Somewhat to Jonathan's annoyance, despite all that was going on, Hopper had found enough time in his busy schedule to summon Jonathan and his colleagues to
Triumph.
They had been waiting for ten minutes outside CIC as the Admiral finished a meeting. Normally, Jonathan wouldn't have minded waiting except that with them was Commodore Dakota Fong, Hopper’s chief of staff. It was against regulations for an officer to be at ease unless given permission, and Commodore Fong did not seem inclined to stand at ease, which left Jonathan and his two colleagues to stew in a uncomfortable silence.

Finally the door opened and a group of Navy, Marine and Army officers trooped out, and Fong nodded his head allowing Jonathan and his companions to enter.

‘My God’ Jonathan thought, ‘he’s gotten old.’ Hopper was alone in the room sitting in one of the chairs looking at the holo table smoking a
fumigin
cigar down to the stump. Technically, there was no smoking aboard ship but rank hath its privileges. His hat and jacket were laying next to him, and he looked as if he had aged twenty years from when Jonathan had seen him last. Looking up to see the three officers Hopper rose, cigar still in his mouth, and put on his jacket neglecting to button it. Instead, he came over and saluted all three officers.

“At ease, gentlemen.”

Gratefully, Jonathan and his two companions relaxed.

“I wanted to personally congratulate you on rendering what OMI has now informed us was the Colonial Navy’s Hunter Force-272 combat ineffective, capturing four vessels including the tender and awarding us a wealth of intelligence on Colonial operations in this sector.”

Hopper puffed on his cigar before continuing,

“All three of you and your ships are going up for citations, and you Pavel these belong to you.”

Hopper extended his hand and Jonathan took what he was holding.

Jonathan's eyes went wide as he looked down at the pair of two closed circle pips of a full Captain of the Solarian Navy.

“Congratulations Captain Pavel. Now, Lt. Captain Qin you're dismissed.
Charon
will be joining Destroyer Squadron 7. Commodore Fong will fill you in on the details. Pavel, Trendale I have another job for you,” Hopper said moving to the holo table.

Qin saluted and briefly shook Jonathan's hand, “It was good working with you Captain congratulations.” 

“Thank you El-Cap, likewise,” Jonathan replied.

As Qin left, Hopper called up a map of a star system.

“This is the Tso system. It’s two jumps away and it's currently in a very untenable situation. Tso is rich in helium-3, but short on habitable worlds, so she hosts a civilian population of about one million, and two Naval outposts. Tso Station is the main base and the smaller is Listening Post-785. In recent days, the system has been hit by raids from the Colonials. With Cylira fallen, the 2nd and 11th Fleet are trying to shore up the border regions, but they are scattered to all hell and gone. The 7th is rushing in reinforcements to us as quick as they can, but they need time to mobilize supply and concentrate. Meanwhile, Colonial wolf packs are running wild and blowing out every com satellite and jump ring they can find. Despite your success and others like it, suppressing these wolf-packs is like playing whack-a-mole. Smash one down and two more pop up. The 2nd and 11th were under strength to begin with, and spread from here to Kelvin the Outbound and beyond. We are throwing scratch wolf pack hunting units together as quick as we can, but casualties and a shortage of yard space is straining our supplies. We need to shorten our lines and holding Tso may not be in the cards. However, that helium-3 is vital to starship fuel, and having such a developed extraction and refining operation this close to the front may prove to be of great strategic value.  Your mission is to take
Fury
and
Cronus
to reconnoiter the system and determine if it can be defended. If your assessment is that it can not, your orders are to deny the enemy the fuel infrastructure and evacuate Tso station.”

“Sir, Tso station has close to 7,500 personnel along with an additional 600 on LP-785. How are we supposed to get those people off if we determine the system isn't defensible?” Will asked before Jonathan could.

“We are sending the
Liberty Prime
with you. She’s a fast troop ship currently unloaded,” Hopper replied.

“If you determine evacuation is necessary, she can take off most of the station’s personnel.”

Jonathan and Will nodded, “Will there be any other ships with us sir?” Jonathan asked.

“Unfortunately gentleman as our resources are stretched thin, there are no more to spare,” Hopper replied.

Hopper took his cigar out of his mouth and ground it out in an ashtray.

“Godspeed gentlemen,” with that he saluted turned and left. 

Jonathan and Will returned the salute and headed back to the shuttle bay.

“Why do we always get the bs missions?” Will said sullenly as they walked.

“Because we’re the lucky ones Will,” Jonathan said.

“I suppose so, congratulations by the way Captain,” Will said.

“Thanks Will,” Jonathan replied.

They discussed their mission a bit more before boarding separate gunships to return to their vessels.

Fury’s
retrofit of its reactor would delay their departure, but not by much. They’d be under way within 24 hours. Jonathan ran his finger over the new rank pins on his collar as the gunship vectored toward
Fury.
Hopper must be counting his lucky stars to have a
Horatio
class light cruiser and an
Olympian
destroyer fall into his lap. If they or rather if Jonathan determined Tso was defensible, he could commit more resources to it. Until then though, he was putting out more fires than he had extinguishers for. Rank had its privileges, but the higher you rose the more your responsibility grew. Jonathan would be lying to himself if he didn't admit that a very small piece of him was scared to death of more responsibility.               

Tso System, In orbit of Whyal, Solarian Republic-Colonial Border Region

On board
RSNS Sound of Fury,

November 28th 844 AE

Jonathan grimaced at the final report from Lieutenant-Commander Xipeng acting CO of Tso Naval station. Whyal, the potato shaped planetoid on which the naval station and Tso’s main helium-3 mining settlements and refineries were located, had been hit twice by Colonial raiders. LP-785 had already been evacuated and Tso was holding on by its fingernails. Despite being able to hold off two Colonial Wolf packs, Xipeng had noted that while the raiders had withdrawn from Whyal’s proximity to the edge of the system after Tso ODB defenses had proved too strong for them to break, they had not targeted any of the helium-3 infrastructure. This indicated the Colonials were likely waiting for reinforcements in an effort to seize the resources.

Jonathan looked over to the holo display of Will and Commander Joan Pence CO of the
Liberty Prime.
They had made a good run from Matosa to Tso.
Prime,
as a troop transport, had thankfully been designed for speed though she was short on carrying capacity.

“What do you think Will?” Jonathan asked.

Will grimaced, “Jonathan I’ll be honest, even if we sent in a full Task Force there's no way we’ll hold this system. The Colonials have recognized how vital it is. They’ll keep committing resources to securing it till one of us runs out of ships and men.  We might beat them back eventually, but it will tie us down for months fighting a naval and ground campaign with no habitable world to secure.”

Jonathan nodded. Habitable worlds were vital in modern warfare. Just being able to station men and supplies on a planet where life support didn't have to be factored into the equation, often meant the difference between defeat and victory.

“I am of the same opinion Captain,” Commander Pence said. She was a grey haired woman and an old space dog, thirty years of active service and ten more in the reserve. She had been given special commission to skipper the
Prime.

“Right then. I’ll get George and Alicia Kern my Marine CO to start coordinating evacuation. Will start figuring out what we have to smash up to render the helium-3 extraction useless.”

“If I may sir,” Will said. “There is the elephant in the room, 250,000 civilians most Solarian citizens live on this rock. A lot of them rely on the helium fields for their livelihood. All of them live near refineries. Getting them to smash it up, is going to be a hard sell.”

“Noted,” Jonathan said. “Let's get the Navy and Marines off world quick as we can. I’ll speak to the Civilian authorities and see what we can do,” Jonathan said.

As it turned out, the Civil Authorities weren't very cooperative.

“Blow up the refineries absolutely not!” Commissioner Pun the fat, sweaty balding elected head of Tso civil government cried at Jonathan over the holo display.

“Mr. Pun as I explained,” Jonathan said.

Pun wasn't interested though. “The boys at Tso held those Colonial bastards off twice, and now you show up and tell us we have to blow up our refineries and accept occupation by those heathens.” 

“Mr. Pun, as I said, we will try to evacuate as many civilians as possible prioritizing woman and children, but..”

“Now see here Captain,” Pun interrupted again.

Jonathan had just about had it.

“No you see here Mr. Pun! It is my professional military opinion that this colony cannot be held. As such, I will remove as many valuable Navy assets as possible and deny the enemy the use of this system’s helium-3 extraction operations. As Whyal hosts 90% of the systems refinery capacity and 35% of its extraction ability, destroying that infrastructure is the best way to accomplish my mission. I would ask that the patriotic citizens of Whyal do their part for the war effort, and to use their innate knowledge of these facilities to render them inoperable to the enemy. If you refuse, I am going to have to neutralize those installations with a missile barrage. Am I clear?”

Pun sputtered obviously unsure how to respond.

“You have one hour to give me your decision Mr. Pun,” Jonathan said severing the link.

“Making friends I see,” George said coming over to Jonathan as he slumped in his chair.

“Always, how's the evacuation going?” Jonathan asked.

George grimaced.

“More good news I see,” Jonathan said sarcastically.

“Well, there's good news and bad.  The good news is that after stripping everything we could from
Prime
and triple bunking, we have enough space to accommodate all 7,000 survivors from Tso and about 2,000 women and children from Whyal’s settlements. We also... um... persuaded the fourteen heavy transports and thirty smaller independent merchants to take off as many civilians as they could carry. We had to offer vouchers to cover the transportation costs, and a few of those pirates are still going to charge ridiculous rates. All told, we should be able to get about 40,000 civilians off world.”

“How are we determining who goes?” Jonathan asked.

“We’ll while you’ve been dealing with Commissioner Pun, I’ve been on the horn with Colonel Joi of the Whyal militia. He’s been working with the staff from Tso to implement Whyal’s emergency protocols. Each citizen has been assigned a priority on the evacuation list,” George said.

“And the bad news?” Jonathan asked.

“Evacuation is going alot slower than expected. The Colonials hit the dock yards during the last raid, and that took out about a third of the shuttles and half the mooring posts. So there's a bottleneck in getting people on the transports.”

Jonathan nodded, “Alright, finish evacuating Tso and then re-task our gunships to help get as many civvies off world as possible.”

“Sir,” Tai Heath said from his station. “Message from Colonel Joi. Commissioner Pun has resigned due to ill health, and the Whyal Militia has declared martial law and ordered the immediate destruction of all refinery and extraction equipment in the system. He wants you to authorize a writ to reimburse the owners.”

Jonathan rolled his eyes. Even when war was at their doorstep, people had to keep the solicitors in mind.

“So ordered, you can inform the Colonel as such,” Jonathan replied.

Jonathan slumped a bit in his chair as the crew went about their duties around him. This was one of the more challenging parts of command or leadership in general. You had to set your goals, delegate responsibility and then supervise. Supervising sometimes meant doing nothing. Jonathan understood why it didn't pay to micromanage, but still it made him feel a bit helpless.

“Skipper,” Ben Elman said turning to Jonathan from the tactical console, “Sentry buoy has picked up EM signatures. One Colonial Heavy Cruiser, at least two light cruisers, four to five destroyers or frigates and six to eight  transports inbound ETA seven hours.”

Jonathan sat up, “Thank you Mr. Elman. Please continue to monitor their progress. Mr. Heath inform all the ships. I want civilian ships dusting off in five hours and burning for the nearest wormway. Tell Colonel Joi to start blowing the infrastructure ASAP.”

“Sir,” George said. “Even with a two hour head start, there is no way the civies will get out of harm's way.”

“Oh they’ll get away George because the Colonials will be tied up occupying Whyal, and any forces they can spare for pursuit will be chasing a much more tempting target.”

George looked confused, and then nodded understanding.

“Mr. Heath can you get Colonel Joi on the horn?” Jonathan asked. “I need to ask him a favor.
”
                
               

Chapter XIII

Tso System, Solarian Republic-Colonial Border Region

On board
RSNS Sound of Fury,

November 29th 844 AE

Helium-3 was a vital component in most modern fusion fuels. The Solarian Navy prefered fission for its warships, because despite being expensive and temperamental it meant ships could go decades between refueling. Still fusion engines were standard on most big merchantmen, and helix fuels, which used helium-3 as a component, were widely used on military ground vehicles especially tanks. Its extraction and refinement was an expensive but potentially lucrative process. While helium in its raw form was fairly benign, when being refined into helix it was quite combustible. From orbit, Jonathan watched as the Whyal militia destroyed the refineries on the surface. Without an atmosphere on a body as small as Whyal, the destruction was visible from obit. It was like a series of firecrackers going off, each flash followed by a warm glow as the helix fuel burned up until vacuum extinguished the flames.

Jonathan checked his watch five hours and forty minutes. It was 24:32 local time November the 29th. On his screen, Jonathan watched as the icons of 44 civilian vessels burned like hell for the nearest Picaris wormway. From there, it was three jumps to Yimir and assured safety. Thirty-four thousand people were aboard all Solarian citizens. Behind them, they left almost 220,000 of their loved ones including the 12,000 strong militia who had taken over the defense of Tso station and were about to put up as long of a resistance as possible to buy time for the fleeing vessels to escape. At their side were 500 volunteers from the Navy who had refused evacuation, and had offered their place on
Liberty Prime
to Militiamen families.

“We are all set down here,” Colonel Joi said over the com.

Jonathan nodded, “When the Colonials get close enough, we’ll make a burn for Cetus wormway. It’s further away than Picaris, which the Colonials will know gives them more time to catch us. Hopefully, they’ll pursue us over the main civilian convoy.”

Joi nodded. They’d probably gone over the plan a dozen times but it never hurt to go through it again.

“Just make sure you get away Captain. A lot of my people are going to die today to make sure their loved ones get to safety.”

Jonathan gripped his chair, “I will Colonel. Good Luck.”

“You too sir,” Joi said as the com winked out.

Jonathan forced himself to relax and keep his face impassive. Around him crewmen and officers huddled over their consoles absorbed in their own duties.

This was defeat. This was what it felt like and this is was what it tasted like. It was a new feeling for Jonathan Pavel. His entire career he had never been bested, but now the odds were entirely against him. If he thought for an instant standing and fighting would achieve something beside killing every man and woman under his command, he would. He knew from his own instinct and years of training that this was the only way to salvage something from this fiasco  Intellectually,  Jonathan knew his decisions had been the correct ones. Initiating  the evacuation of Tso Naval Station and Whyal when they first arrived rather than trying to shore up defenses for what would be a futile last stand against an overwhelming force was the right call. There would still be a last stand. Tso was designed as a resupply base and for lack of a better term as a fort. It’s ODB and other defenses including its drone hangars and reinforced defense installations meant that it could withstand siege for weeks, and the Whyal militia would hold out as long as they could.

Silently in his chair Jonathan prayed. He prayed for those who were about to die, and that he could see that their sacrifice was not in vain.

“Sir, the  Colonial force is closing. They’ll be in weapons range in fifteen minutes,” Elman said from his station. “Lidar confirms EM paints two light cruisers, four frigates, and six transports, and oh god sir... that's no heavy cruiser, it's a battle cruiser. According to Jane's, it's a
Brixton
Class. ETO built.”

“Ah fuck,” George said over the com.

Jonathan cursed too under his breath. A heavy cruiser
Fury
and
Cronus
might have been able to stand off together, but a battle cruiser that was one step below a battleship.

“Right then it's time we were gone from this place. Signal
Cronus
and
Liberty Prime.
Tight formation and maximum burn for the Cetus wormway.

Jonathan felt the acceleration as
Fury's
engines lit and she began to pull away from Whyal as fast as she could.

Colonel Albert Joi looked up at the stars through the observation windows of Tso’s main command center. He imagined for a moment he could see the flares as the Navy made its escape. Aboard the transport ship
Liberty Prime,
was his wife Juni who was pregnant with their second child and his daughter Anna.  Be safe my loves he thought, willing with all his might that somehow across the void of space they would feel the love he felt for them.

“Sir,” one of the Navy men who had volunteered to stay behind, a good lad no more than 17, “We’re receiving a transmission from the Colonials. Rear Admiral DuFrane extends his greetings and ask, well basically the blow hard is asking for our surrender.”

Joi pursed his lips and then a smile began to grow. Like all militiamen he was a part time soldier, his day job was as a history professor at the Nu-Cardium University. His rank in the militia was a by-product of his leadership skills and service in the Solarian Army from which he had been honorably discharged at the rank of Major.

“Send this reply and make sure it's verbatim,” he said to the technician doing his best not to laugh aloud.

Aboard the Colonial flagship the
Brixton
class battlecruiser
Fierté du Peuple
a communication technician looked in confusion at the print out in front of him.

To:Rear Admiral DuFrane Colonial Navy

From: Colonel Joi Whyal Militia

NUTS!

End of Message.

The Colonials unwilling to ask for clarification wasted a half hour interpreting the response. Until an ensign who studied the early atomic era as a hobby recognized the historical reference from the reply to the offer to surrender during the siege of Bastogne during the second global war. Understanding the refusal, the Colonial Task Force with the exception of the
Fierté,
who lit her engines and set off in pursuit of the escaping Solarian warships and transport,
moved into position. They were greeted by a fusilade of hypervelocity missiles and depleted uranium slugs. Whyal would not go down without a fight.

Burning as fast as they could away from the battle, Jonathan laughed aloud when Heath informed him of Joi’s message. He then returned his focus to Jane's schematics of the
Brixton
thankful for the moment of levity. The
Brixton’s
specifications made for a depressing read. She was older  built along a similar line of thinking as the
Horatio
class, but an up-gunned, up-armored version. A proper battle cruiser or even a proper heavy cruiser would make short work of her, but anything smaller and it wasn't even close to a fair fight.  Her speed meant she could keep up with Jonathan's small flotilla. Alone
Fury
probably could outrun her, but neither
Cronus
nor
Liberty Prime
could out pace her. At her current rate of speed, she’d catch them in two days and they were four days away from the wormway.  Jonathan bit his thumb as he called up the map of the system again. Their course took them in spitting distance of the frozen world
Uffern. Reading the name Jonathan wondered, not for the first time, which part of Terra the original survey crew of this system had hailed from. At any rate, Uffern was a big planetoid with an asteroid belt maybe they could…