The Phoenix War (51 page)

“Aye, sir.”

“I want them raised the instant we exit
alteredspace. Miss Baudin, relay that order to the rest of the
squadron.”

“Yes sir.”

The closer they got, the more eager Sir
Reginald became. It was all he could do to refrain from standing up
and pacing about the bridge. He knew he needed to stay seated in
the command position, strapped in like the rest of the bridge crew,
and give every appearance of calm, collected control.

“Thirty seconds,” said Shaw. He proceeded to
countdown their alteredspace exit. “Twenty-nine, twenty-eight,
twenty-seven…”

“O’Hara,” Sir Reginald spoke over the
countdown. “Anything on our scopes,
anything
at all?”

“Yes sir, there is an orbital platform around
the planet, a half-dozen sentry ships, and a great deal of civilian
traffic.”

“But no sign of the enemy fleet?”

“Not yet, sir. But they could be hiding.”

“Stay vigilant,” he said. Knowing it wasn’t a
matter of
if
the enemy fleet was lying in wait, but rather
when
they planned to emerge and trap Rook Squadron, tricked
into believing it was the vanguard of the queen’s fleet.

“Three. Two.
One
. We have arrived in
the Olympia System and returned to normal space,” reported Shaw.
Stars could be seen out the window, as well as the local sun. From
this distance it looked like a very-bright golf ball. “Current
position, three point two million mc’s from the Olympia star and
one point six million mc’s from the planet.” The blue and white orb
could be seen on the 3d display, it was the only planet in the
system that wasn’t a gas giant and therefore bore no numerical
designation.

The 3d display shifted to show several
starships begin to appear around the ISS Renown, in a tight
formation. After a few seconds, the entire squadron was
visible.

“All ships have arrived in the system,” said
O’Hara. “Still no sign of the enemy fleet.”

“We have to move closer to the planet before
they engage us,” said Sir Reginald, knowing that’s what he would
do, if he had command of enemy force. “We have to take the cheese
before the trap snaps shut. Very well, if they want a mouse,
they’ll have one. General order to all ships, ready all weapons and
set course for the planet, wedge formation.” He knew that, even
though it was very dangerous for his squadron to maneuver into a
trap, it was necessary for the plan.

“Yes sir,” said Baudin as she relayed the
order to the battlegroup.

“Weapons ready, sir!” said Matthews. “Shields
are double-strength forward.”

“The squadron confirms, moving to wedge
formation and beginning attack run on Olympia.”

“Miss Baudin, send word via kataspace to the
Black Swan. Inform the queen that we’ve arrived,” said Sir
Reginald.

She acknowledged and obeyed.

As their ship turned and accelerated, moving
quickly toward the planet, Sir Reginald kept his eyes on the 3d
display. Its image changed to show the planet, which wasn’t yet
close enough to be seen with the naked eye. A tiny set of lights
was in slow orbit, undoubtedly the Olympia Platform.

“Sir, we are being hailed by the orbital
platform. They demand we heave-to and declare our intentions, shall
I reply?”

“Let them eat static,” said Sir Reginald.
“Stay the course.”

“Aye sir.”

“Miss O’Hara, any movement yet?” asked Sir
Reginald. “Are they springing the trap?”

“Not that I can see, sir.”

“What can you see? Tell me what’s going on
out there.”

“The orbital platform has raised its defenses
and is scrambling its force of sentry ships and fighters. They seem
to be organizing into a position within the platform’s shield
radius.”

“Are they any threat to us?” asked Sir
Reginald.

“No, sir. Altogether, including the
platform’s weapons, they have a relative firepower of about four
battleships. Since Olympia is so deep inside the Empire, the planet
has barely any defenses at all.”

“And you don’t see
any
other ships?”
asked Sir Reginald, thinking the enemy was taking a serious chance
by hesitating. Sure, the longer they waited the more effectively
they’d trap Rook Squadron, but they were also running the risk that
Olympia and its orbital structures would take fire.

“No sir, not military ships,” said O’Hara.
“There are a lot of civilian vessels but they have few weapons. The
traffic has been redirected and the majority of civilian ships are
moving to close orbit around the planet. A few are fleeing to the
far side of the system, trying to jump away.”

“Let them,” said Sir Reginald, not interested
in civilian ships. He hadn’t come here to slaughter and plunder.
That had been a pretense. He had no desire to attack Olympia. His
job was to lure the Assembly’s fleet here and then withdraw.
Nothing else.

“What about you, Mister Klaus?” asked Sir
Reginald. “Have you picked up any alteredspace signatures?”

“No sir. The scopes are empty.”

Strange,
thought Sir Reginald.
Strange indeed
.

“The squadron will be in weapons range of the
orbital platform in twenty seconds,” said Matthews. “Shall I order
target lock?”

“We need to show them we’re not playing, but
I don’t want to cause a slaughter,” said Sir Reginald. “Order all
ships to switch targets to the orbital containers.”

“Yes sir.” Baudin relayed the order.

“Targets acquired,” said Matthews. “Container
groups one through twenty-seven. All gunnery crews standing
by.”

“The squadron confirms order, changing
targets,” said Baudin.

Sir Reginald waited a moment, wanting to see
if the enemy fleet would emerge from its hiding place as Rook
Squadron closed-in on their new targets. Nothing seemed to be
happening.
Enough games
, he thought. “General order to all
ships,
fire at will
.”

“Yes sir.”

The main guns lit up. Flashes of energy
brightened the space all around. After a second, the rest of the
squadron joined their fire to that of the Renown. Shredding cargo
containers like bullets through butter. Sir Reginald watched the
fireless explosions of dust and shrapnel on the display.

After a full minute of unhindered
destruction, he ordered a ceasefire.

“All ships confirm, holding fire,” said
Baudin.

“
Report
,” said Sir Reginald.

“Seven-thousand, six-hundred and fifty-six
targets confirmed destroyed,” said O’Hara. “Over eleven percent of
the entirety of Olympia’s orbital cargo.”

That must have gotten their attention
,
thought Sir Reginald. “We’ve poked the hive, now where are all the
bees?”

“Sir, there are no bees,” said O’Hara. No
ships are emerging from any gravity well. The orbital platform
remains on full alert and its garrison of sentry ships is in a
defensive posture. But no other military ships can be seen
anywhere, other than ours.”

Could it be?
Sir Reginald wondered.
Had they been made? Had their enemy seen through their ruse? If so,
had it been his fault? Did he and his squadron fail to appear
threatening enough?

“What about alteredspace?” he asked
desperately. “Mister Klaus, please tell me you’ve got something on
our scopes.”

“Nothing but empty space,” Klaus said
regretfully. “Sir, I don’t believe anyone’s coming.”

Sir Reginald was starting realize that their
operation had been a failure. He tried to think of what to do.

“Sir, what are your orders?”

He didn’t answer at first. Racking his brain
for any way he could salvage the situation. Perhaps if he stopped
pretending to be a threat, and actually did some real damage to
Olympia, then maybe the enemy fleet would race to the scene.

“Sir?”

“Tell all ships to stand down and withdraw
from the system,” he said after a brief pause. He knew deep inside
that he couldn’t make himself attack Olympia. He refused to be the
architect behind the first slaughter of the war. “Notify the Black
Swan that the enemy fleet is not in Olympia. The plan has failed.
Tell the queen I will apologize to her in person.”

***

Kalila was on the bridge of the Black Swan
when they got the bad news.

“The Renown reports no sign of the enemy at
Olympia,” said the comms chief. “Sir Reginald says the plan has
failed, that somehow the enemy fleet has seen through the ruse, and
they could be anywhere.”

Kalila let out a quiet sigh. Wondering,
where the hell are they?
And,
why didn’t the feint
work?
She’d planned every detail meticulously. She’d made sure
to only involve her most trusted subordinates.
How did it go
wrong?

“Tell the Renown and the rest of Rook
Squadron to jump for the Apollo Yards immediately,” said Kalila.
There wasn’t any further use in having twenty-seven of her ships
away from the rest of the fleet.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” said the comms chief. He
relayed the order.

“I trust, you realize it will take them at
least nine hours to reach the Apollo Yards,” said Adiger in a
hushed tone as he stood beside her.

“Of course I realize it,” she snapped, “the
distance between Olympia and the Apollo Yards was a crucial element
of the plan.” She knew that Rook Squadron would not be able to
assist in the battle. The entire point had been for them to keep
the enemy fleet from taking part either by luring them to Olympia.
Now, though, it was anyone’s guess where they were, and what would
happen.

“My apologies, Your Majesty,” said
Adiger.

“For the time being, we’ll have Rook Squadron
move toward the fleet,” said Kalila. “And then, when all of this is
over, we’ll send them new coordinates for rendezvous. With any luck
the enemy fleet is still too far away to intervene and it won’t
make a difference.

“Hopefully,” said Adiger, though he looked
doubtful.

“We will exit alteredspace in just over one
minute,” reported the chief navigator. “Along with the rest of the
fleet.”

“We have to make a decision,” said Adiger.
“Do we continue or abort?”

“We continue,” said Kalila, decisively. They
were mere seconds away from the Apollo System. By now the Apollo
outposts would surely have picked up the massive number of
alteredspace signatures converging on them. If Kalila’s fleet
didn’t attack the Apollo Yards now, they’d never have a better
chance. They’d given away that the Apollo Yards were their target,
Caerwyn and his forces would make certain to defend the Yards with
extreme diligence from now on. “If we’re to have any hope of
surprise attack,” she added. “It has to be now.”

“Yes that is so,” admitted Adiger. “But what
of the enemy fleet? It could be anywhere? It could be closing in on
the Apollo System as we speak.”

“I’m well aware of that, Captain,” said
Kalila. Profoundly wishing she knew the position of the enemy
fleet, which by all accounts was as strong as her own force,
perhaps even stronger. “But if we don’t take the Yards, then this
war is already over anyway. If the enemy controls the Yards, then
our core systems are in danger. And we can’t hope to defend them
while still fielding a force capable of attack.”

Adiger nodded. “Then we must stay the
course.”

“Yes, we must.”

“The Fleet has begun to arrive at the Apollo
System,” said the ops chief.

“The Black Swan will exit alteredspace in
four, three two,
one
. We have arrived,” said the chief
navigator.

The many windows of the vast bridge filled
with stars as well as the lights and shadows of seemingly countless
ships in all directions, with more appearing every second.

“Sixty-percent of the fleet has arrived,”
said the ops chief. “Now sixty-five. Now seventy-three.”

“What do we see?” asked Kalila.

“The Apollo Yards are lit up, I count a few
dozen warships—looks like standard patrols,” said the ops deputy
chief.”

“Any sign of the enemy fleet?” asked
Kalila.

“No, Your Majesty. Not beyond the system’s
normal defense. At least, not as far as I can see.”

“What about en route to the system?”

“I detect no inbound alteredspace
signatures.”

That’s a good sign
, thought
Kalila.

“Your Majesty,” reported the ops chief. “Our
entire fleet has arrived.”

“The command ships for each battlegroup are
requesting orders,” said the comms chief. “All groups report in
formation.”

“Order Hammerfist Squadron to commence attack
on the Apollo Yards right away,” said Kalila. “Remind them they
must be swift.”

“Aye, aye,” the comms chief relayed the
message.

“The rest of the fleet is to move to a
defensive position and protect Hammerfist at all costs.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Well, I looks like we’ve gotten lucky,” she
said, turning to Adiger. “The enemy fleet might well be on its way,
but they won’t get here in time—not if we do this right.”

“The enemy fleet might already be here,” said
Adiger. “There are enough gravity wells in this system to hide
every ship in the galaxy.”

It was true, Kalila knew. She wasn’t an
expert on starship sensors but it was common knowledge that large
sources of gravity had a way of concealing a starship from
detection if it was close enough, and the Apollo System had more
gravity wells than any other system in the Empire—eight stars
rotating around their common center of mass. A virtually infinite
number of hiding places.

I hope you’re wrong
, she thought as
she looked into Adiger’s worried eyes. But a part of her—the part
that had learned to expect the worst—feared he was right. That the
enemy was already here. Just waiting. Even though they shouldn’t
have known her fleet was coming.

“Message to all battlegroups, order them to
exercise extreme caution,” said Kalila. “Warn them there’s a chance
the enemy fleet is already here. Hiding in the gravity wells.”