Riss Series 4: The Riss Accession, page 20
"Yes, you'll hide and hope to sneak up on me like the coward you and those beasts are."
"I'll keep everything lit so you will know where I am at all times. How about I turn the sensors off my missiles? Yes, I'm serious, Admiral Salazan. I'd be the laughing stock of the fleet if I didn't give you some advantage. What do you say? One-on-one. Your brilliant mind against the dumb Riss beast."
"Yes, I will show everyone you are the cowardly beast I claim."
"How many cruisers are you going to need to help save you?"
"None."
"Order them to turn off their weapons so they will know you mean it." I said. Fighting a Heavy was exciting enough without Lights joining the battle.
"Reese, our cruisers are reporting the JPU weapons systems are going off line. I hope by now you have him so mad he can't think straight. Good hunting," Gebauer spoke on a separate channel via the Elpis.
"Leader Reese, Bendis and I are ready and proceeding toward the JPU force."
"The JPU have entered Freeland space with a large task force consisting of three Heavies and fourteen Lights. They declared Freeland in JPU space and are ready to destroy the SAS fleet here if it doesn't leave immediately. I've apparently pissed-off Fleet Admiral Salazan, and we are headed for a one-on-one confrontation with his command ship—a Heavy. I must remain visible because I told him my ugly little ship didn’t need to hide from someone as incompetent as him, and said I'd turn off my missile sensors. I forgot to mention our missiles don't use sensors or to remind him the crew of the Mnemosyne is the... meanest, baddest fighting elite in the galaxy." I cut the connection but could swear I could feel the ship rocking with the noise. I definitely heard Terril and the two security men behind me.
"Damn straight."
* * *
As the hours passed, the Mnemosyne and Salazan's Heavy, the Fearless, slowly closed the twenty light-seconds that separated them initially. Meanwhile, the SAS and JPU cruisers seemed to be forming two semi-circles around us, creating an arena-like area with plenty of free space to maneuver. I clicked on Iglis's call number, and she appeared immediately.
"Commander Iglis, what is the latest information on the JPU Heavies: missiles, recycling time, number of tubes, and skip distance? I forgot to ask him," I said to a pale-faced Iglis who was busy tapping on her desk tablet.
"My God, Reese... Captain... the Fearless has three banks of six tubes and can recycle a bank every sixty seconds. Their maximum missile range is three light-seconds with speeds of thirty-five seconds per light-second. The Fearless’s weight precludes it skipping more than a total of six light-seconds without engine damage. It has extra heavy shielding. It's a heavy Heavy."
"Thank you, Iglis. Let's hope Salazan is really mad at me."
"Right now, I doubt there is anyone in the galaxy who is madder at you," she whispered. I cut the connection.
I had goaded Salazan into a one-on-one contest. The question was whether I had succeeded in pushing him into the kind of blind rage that would have him depending upon the obvious disparity between the Fearless and a Light cruiser, and ignoring the reason I had agreed to such a contest. He would jump at nine light-seconds separation even if he were in my head, but his response after the jump would signal his mood. I stood and walked back to where Terril sat.
"Is this exciting enough, Gunny?"
"If Salazan isn't out-of-control, smashing-everything-in-sight mad, the man is a Si'jin master and Wei's equal."
"And this won't be very exciting."
"Like watching you fight Wei with a blindfold."
"Let's hope then he's at least a little upset. I wouldn't want to disappoint the Ghosts and Scorpions."
I treasured the Bridge of the Mnemosyne with my sisters. They were relaxed as if on a training mission. They had their positions, and I had mine, and we trusted each other to do our best.
Good. He’s mad and relying on overwhelming force to crush us like a bug.
The current missile launch would reach us in a little over one hundred seconds, time for a second launch before it arrived. If Salazan was breathing fire, there should be another eighteen missiles as soon as the tubes were reloaded.
The Bridge personnel faded into ghosts and a few heartbeats later back into people.
"Byer, launch the Ghosts. Our Dragonfly will give you targeting information. Fire and return."
"Ghosts launched." Byer said.
Unlike a normal cruiser, no excitement from the Bridge personnel. They were busy doing their job.
We were so close we couldn't miss, and the defensive laser systems were blind except for the last kilometer, which precluded everything except luck. I watched the clock counting down from sixty seconds—the time to recycle the Fearless missiles—waiting until it reached five seconds remaining.
I had to admit I hadn't expected him to launch all eighteen. That was a lot of missiles flying around. Something was bound to find the Mnemosyne even past the Dummies and through the Duster cloud.
As I had hoped, missiles exploding that close to Fearless was almost as good as hits from our missiles.
The ECM was at least able to track the missiles through the Dragonfly, but reaction time was in fractions of a second. The Mnemosyne shook as the two missiles scored direct hits. Battle metal held against one, but the other ripped through the upper level, opening it to space.
"Ghosts reloaded," Byer reported.
"Launch Ghosts," I said.
Normally, being this close to a Heavy its lasers would be ripping the hull to pieces, but as we had learned with the Medusa, the Duster material interfers with the laser beams. They were causing damage, but so far it was relatively minor and intermittent.
"Byer, the Fearless has launched twenty fighters. We have two Dummies out."
"Understood. I wonder how they like Ghosts." He laughed. The slug-fest went on for another four minutes. Fearless launched forty-two missiles during that time, having lost one bank of six early and another after three minutes. Their last launch was only six missiles. Seven miraculously found their way to the Mnemosyne, opening several areas of the ship to space, destroying three missile tubes, two engines, and killing five Riss and ten Ghost and Scorpion personnel. We had lost five fighters, but all Fearless's fighters had been destroyed or damaged beyond operational readiness.
We launched forty missiles during that period, scoring thirty-seven direct hits, and the Ghosts had scored another thirty missile hits, all of which had the Fearless barely operational.
"Fearless, this is the Mnemosyne. We are only minutes away from destroying the Fearless but would rather not kill any more of the brave men and women to satisfy Admiral Salazan's ego. His poor judgment has already cost enough lives, not only here but on Hayjar, although I'm sure he is already blaming you for his stupidity. Cut your power and deliver Salazan to us, and you are free to leave." I waited, hoping. It rose when ten seconds later the normal sixty-second launch did not come. Two minutes after that, Fearless cut her power.
"Colonel Seng, prepare to launch a boarding party."
"Fearless, we are launching a boarding party to collect Admiral Salazan. You are under a flag of truce. A resumption of power will result in your destruction."
"Mnemosyne. This is Captain Afzel speaking. I agree to your terms. Admiral Salazan was killed in the battle. You are free to verify he is dead, although we would like to keep the body."
"Agreed," I said. "Seng, launch the boarding party. Take Doctor Dayton with you."
"Doctor Dayton,"
"Yes, Captain."
"Please accompany the boarding team to verify it is Salazan and his cause of death. I'm forwarding identifying information from his stay on the Mnemosyne to your SID."
"I'm not used to making house calls. I'll have to charge double." She gave a short laugh but looked a bit pale.
* * *
Two hours later, the boarding team had returned. Dayton had verified that it was Salazan, he was dead, and the cause of death was shards embedded in the back of his head.
"Captain Afzel, you are free to leave Freeland; however, you may want to talk with Admiral Stenberg, the officer who arranged for the meeting of the three empires to discuss an Alliance. Salazan refused to join because they would not agree to make him the supreme leader. You and the JPU may want to discuss an Alliance. Unlike Salazan, neither the UFN nor SAS wants to command the other nation’s forces. They are looking only to share technology and develop a united strategy against the Aliens. In any event, good luck."
I rose, deciding to visit each section. I noticed Terril had left, probably to be part of the boarding party. I knew the damage from watching the damage monitor, but I needed to see the people for my sake and theirs. I had been safe in the quiet of the Bridge while others paid for my decisions—right or wrong.
It didn't matter, done was done. I toured the Engineering section, where one engine had been destroyed and two others damaged—and a Riss killed and two injured. I listened while my Riss-sisters gave me a tour of the damage and explained what happened. Next, I visited the two missile banks where two Riss died. Then the environmental and repairs units, which had only minor injuries. The shuttle bay had taken two hits and was open to space—two Riss killed.
"Captain Reese," Byer said, jerking me back to my surroundings. I had wandered into one of the Shark bays.
"Commander Byer, how bad?" I asked, looking around. It was obvious the bay had sustained serious damage but was presently functional.
"The good news is the fighters were out when it took the hit, and the bay was almost empty. Two mechanics and a backup pilot were killed. We lost five Ghosts, and four have major damage. But considering we took on a super Heavy and twenty fighters, I say it was a good day."
"Yes, they were magnificent. We would have lost without them."
"After we get over the loss of friends, it will be a day to be proud of," he whispered. I continued down the hallway to the Scorpions area.
"Captain Reese," Colonel Seng greeted me.
"How did you fair?"
"One Scorpion killed helping with repairs and several wounded when our areas took a couple of hits."
"It was almost really exciting," Terril said as she approached. "When we entered Fearless's bay, twenty-five marines with military-grade weapons were waiting. One sneeze, and it would have been chaos. But it went smoothly. They had Salazan laid out ready for inspection. Dayton was allowed to inspect the body without interruption. No one looked sorry he was dead."
"I don't imagine he was well-liked by many people. If a battle went well, it was his genius. If it didn't, like this time, it was someone else's incompetence."
"Probably the one who shot him," Terril said with a laugh.
"Yes, I'll wager he will be buried in space, and his death a tragic accident," Seng said. "Hard for a missile to make that kind of injury."
On the way back to my office, I stopped into the medical unit. Dayton was making the rounds when I found her.
"What's the status, Doctor Dayton?"
"Far better than I'd imagined when I found out we were going to take on a Heavy with our hands tied behind us." She smiled. "But I guess after a Medusa, what's a little old Heavy?"
"Dangerous," I said.
"To answer your original question, everyone in here will recover. I may need a few sessions with a psychologist. I'm not used to examining a body between two scary looking groups of commandos with very big guns."
"I'm sorry about having to send you. But Salazan couldn't leave Freeland alive."
"Seeing as I lived, it was an interesting experience. And it got me out of my office." She laughed. "As everyone says, following you tends to be exciting, and I did volunteer."
* * *
To my surprise, Stenberg and Gebauer were waiting for me when we reached the repair station. I arranged for some snacks and had them escorted to my office. I was pouring a cup of tea when they were ushered in.
"Gentlemen, help yourselves to something to eat or drink. We are just now getting food to everyone. Our dining facility was heavily damaged," I said, taking one of the three padded chairs spread out in front of my desk.
Gebauer was first to speak. "You impressed a lot of people today, Reese. I believe everyone thought you were buying us time and didn't expect you to survive. And it did buy us time. Had he won, we would have been ready. We had time to organize into units with assigned targets and areas of responsibility." He sipped his kaffa. "But you're not that kind of hero, are you?"
Stenberg looked to be getting ready to say something, but I shook my head. "No. Planning to die isn't much of a strategy. Like the Riss, I cherish every life and feel I've failed when one person dies because of my decisions."
"Then why didn't you just wait to see what Salazan would do?" Stenberg asked.
"Because the odds were Salazan would attack, and thousands would have died—humans and Riss."
"I've always mourned the loss of friends and comrades-in-arms, but never felt personally responsible. Maybe you have the right of it, Reese. It's the captain's strategy, not the crew’s. He or she is responsible." He nodded. "You played Salazan perfectly, and it avoided a major battle, possibly even the loss of Freeland. Senior Captain Afzel appears willing to encourage the JPU to consider talks with the Alliance. Staying visible when you could have used your stealth capability and choosing not to destroy the Fearless won him over."
"I think we need to increase the forces on Freeland, now that the JPU know its location and that it's the manufacturing center for the Riss technology."
"And I need to begin organizing task forces and leaders, so we are better organized in the event something like this happens again, or a Medusa or two shows up." Gebauer snorted. "Reese, you need to discuss your strategy against the Fearless. Maybe develop some exercises around it."
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Rethinking positions
The next two months were filled with intense training seminars and exercises. The JPU incident had been a wake-up call. They now knew they hadn't been prepared and would most likely have lost—badly. They began to realize that overwhelming force only worked when you commanded the overwhelming force. When you didn't, you had to fight smart. Gebauer had insisted I give a day-long seminar of our fight with the Fearless. The Mnemosyne had been a clear demonstration of the effectiveness of the new Riss missiles, Ghost and Symath technology, and fighting smart. To the participants’ credit, they were interested and asked probing questions on every aspect of the encounter:
"Why did you choose to wait before you skipped?"
"Why did you choose ten kilometers?"
"Why a Duster after the Demons…?"
