The Black Guardians: Book 4 in the Black Guard series, page 21
"Well, Kat…" Carland said then hesitated.
"Commander would be better," I said to shocked faces. "I am afraid the combination of my young age, using my nickname, and not attending the school may make you diminish the seriousness of this course. The intent is to show you techniques which could not only save your life but your mates’. So, I want to see your best effort. Having said that, I hope you enjoy this course as much as I did. I loved every minute of it, and I promise if you give me your best, you will be rewarded. All right, the first exercise is simple as there are no rules to remember. Give me five minutes to get a hundred kilometers away, then you follow. When I feel you are attempting to get a target lock on me, the exercise begins. It ends when one of us gets a lock on the other."
"You are going to let us get close enough to begin targeting you?" Carland said, sounding somewhat incredulous. "You think you can shake us when we are in a position to target you?"
"I don't know you, your skill, or your experience, so I have no expectations. This exercise will help me determine that and the training that will be helpful to you."
I left them with a mixture of expressions from grins, smirks, and open mouths as I climbed into the Javelin loaner they assigned to me. Five minutes later, I signaled for Carland to join me and begin the exercise.
I scheduled a standard critique class the day after each exercise, as I had no chance to talk with anyone on exercise day given I was conducting ten.
The next day, Carland was first to raise a hand.
"Yes, Carland?" I asked, noting that Trenton had chosen to attend.
"You were right, Commander Quinn. The others and I were not taking this class seriously and thought it a chance to show you how good we were. Your age is a definite stumbling block for those of us who are years older and have been pilots quite a few years. I thought every one of us could demonstrate how useless an advanced fighter pilot school was for Jax pilots. You are like trying to catch smoke and once you get on our ass, it's like we have you in tow. I'm excited about the course."
“If this course teaches you anything, I hope it's that being good isn't enough. The enemy also has good pilots. You have to give your enemy the benefit of the doubt and assume he is your equal or better. That way, you will take him seriously and do your best to kill him as quickly as you can using every technique you know and learn here."
"Commander," Zofie said after a quick hand raise. "Everyone here thinks you are a very young girl flying a Javelin. I think you are a hundred-year-old witch on a broom casting an illusion of a young girl in a Javelin." That elicited laughs and side comments.
After several hours discussing the exercise and the need to think before acting, Trenton stood. "Like many here, I had mixed emotions about an advanced fighter pilot school, but I am glad I agreed. A war is coming, and saving lives is a very worthwhile endeavor."
It was the last day of the third week of the course, and we were critiquing yesterday's exercises when my Mfi blared an emergency signal and a text: Kat, report to the Bridge immediately. Sitala.
"I think classes are canceled for the day," I said as I ran out the door, heading for the Bridge.
"Kat, we have three triad cruisers in the system," Sitala began without preamble. “Two – the Valhall cruiser, Rottweiler, and the Lariw cruiser, Cobra – are on a vector for Ceetana. The Outpost cruiser, Karambit, is following but staying well back. It is acting like an observer.”
"If I leave in the next half hour, where will I meet the two leading cruisers?" I asked.
"Bishipe," Sitala barked, but it was unnecessary as he had anticipated the request and was already busy on his computer, smiling.
"Four hours from the planet," Bishipe said, a small grin on his bearded face.
"How close is the Karambit following?"
"It is tailing three hours behind the Rottweiler and the Cobra," he said and was already working on what he assumed was my next question.
"If the Karambit turns around and heads for the exit the minute I reach the Rottweiler and the Cobra, can it reach the exit before me?"
"No. You will catch him forty minutes shy of the Wave exit."
"Captain Sitala, if we both go to meet General Custer together…" I paused, watching Sitala.
She smiled. "Your weapons officer isn't going to enjoy that, but my crew will."
We spent the next five minutes with Bishipe working out the timing. I wanted my squadron to hit the Rottweiler and the Cobra less than a minute out of the Sabretooth's missile range, then do a Punch Through and catch the Karambit before it could reverse course and leave Ceetana.
"Hopefully, we will leave enough for you and your crew to have some target practice and a convincing story afterward.”
"Leave a few soldiers for the Apaches coming behind you on foot," Sitala said, giving a chopping monition to the XO to get the Sabretooth moving. "Good hunting, Kat."
I clicked on Ryan's channel as I heard the hallway speakers blaring: "Battle Stations, all hands. Battle Stations…"
"Ryan, prepare the squadron to launch and open our internal channel. We have multiple cruisers coming to party."
"Everyone is on our general channel," Ryan said a few seconds later. "And each is prepared to launch on your command."
"It's party time," I said in my happy voice. "We have three cruisers from the Outpost triad in Ceetana space. Two are on a vector toward the Sabretooth while the third is hanging back to observe. Captain Sitala is going to follow us out to welcome the leading two triad cruisers. If Commander Bishipe's calculations are correct, we should reach the two cruisers less than a minute before the Sabretooth is in firing range, since we will be accelerating faster than the Sabretooth. We will do our standard Punch Through maneuver as we want to catch the observer before he can run home and report the bad news. To compensate for our speed as we blow past, fire your first missile two seconds before reaching the targets and each subsequent missile one-tenth of a second later," I said and sent the signal for the bay controller to launch us.
"I hate that Punch Through option," Ryan complained while setting up the missile launch.
"I know, but we can't let the Karambit get back to Outpost, and he is three hours behind the leading two," I said, knowing I would have to push the Besras to their maximum safe acceleration. “The good news is he will have to do a flip-over to stop his forward motion before he can accelerate toward the exit. Commander Bishipe estimates the lost time to stop his forward speed, and our better acceleration will be enough to win the race to the exit."
Karambit – Captain Hadt
"Captain Hadt," the XO said, watching the sensor readouts. "The Sabretooth is leaving orbit and on a vector to intercept the Rottweiler and the Cobra.”
"He has no choice, Commander Georgy. He must prepare his ship for battle, and there is no way to run that our two cruisers cannot intercept him. His fate is sealed, as was the Crouching Tiger and the Black Leopard."
"What about those anomalies?" Georgy asked, still not sure they were anomalies. Jax had survived years of raids and had in the end become too powerful to attack without the four systems destroying each other.
"They were just that, anomalies. We saw nothing that suggested otherwise. Luck, good and bad, are always a factor when modern cruisers clash. You will see, Georgy. The loss of the Sabretooth will be a death blow for the Jax."
Besra – Commander Quinn
"Bishipe's calculations are holding true," Ryan said, a sheen of perspiration on his forehead. "We should reach the two cruisers in less than one minute, and the Sabretooth will be in their maximum firing range within two minutes." Ryan paused, eyes glued to his monitor. "Firing in 5…4…3…2…1… Missiles away."
He had no sooner said "away" than we were a kilometer past the two ships and flashes from explosions were appearing throughout both ships. I smiled, thinking Captain Sitala might actually have something to shoot at, although I doubted either would be close to functional. Less than a minute later, the Karambit was flipping over in an attempt to stop its forward momentum.
Karambit – Captain Hadt
"Captain!" Georgy shouted, pointing to the sensors' monitors. "There are explosions on the Rottweiler and the Cobra."
Hadt stood open mouthed, unable to believe what he was seeing. Then the Sabretooth began firing its missiles…but…that was after the explosions. "Georgy, get the Karambit turned around. Outpost is doomed if we cannot leave Ceetana before that demon doppelganger catches us. That wasn't an anomaly or bad luck. That was J-SOC and that bastard Noam.”
Besra – Commander Quinn
"The Karambit is running!" Ryan half shouted. "Well, actually, they are in the process of trying to run. First, they had to stop their forward speed or go thousands of kilometers out of their way to turn around because of their mass and speed. They are choosing to do the former. They will probably red-line the engines to get out of Ceetana space."
"I agree," I said, feeling the pressure to destroy the Karambit before it could reach the Wave exit. "They may not know what, but they now know for certain that the Jax has a weapon that can destroy anything the triad has."
"The good news is Bishipe was right," Ryan said, grinning. "They can't outrun us and won't make the Wave exit in time."
"Send to Teressa and Chika. The Karambit is yours. Up their tailpipe should work. If not, a side-by-side with four missiles each."
Three hours later, Teressa and Chika were within ten minutes of catching the Karambit, and the cruiser released its fighters.
"Ryan, send Cut engines," I said, thinking that was a clever move on the captain's part. He didn't know what was chasing him but had figured out fighters might be able to somehow see or detect it, and if not, he would lose fighters he wouldn't need in either case.
"Missiles away," Ryan said. "Fighters swarming to that location."
I crossed my fingers. Of course the fighters' radar couldn't see them, and the Besras’ speed would put them kilometers away in seconds…
"The Karambit has exploded!" Ryan shouted.
"Send, Good job. Keep engines off for ten minutes, then return to the Sabretooth," I said, wanting the squadron far away from the fighters before restarting our engines. Fighter missiles were a potential problem for the Besras.
60 – Outpost – What Now
"The Sabretooth has returned to Jax," Mason said into the silence. "The Karambit hasn't, which means we lost three cruisers and don't have a clue how or why. The other two incidents may have been anomalies or bad luck, but losing three cruisers isn't either. That makes it our six to their five and if one Jax cruiser can destroy three of ours… We are fucked."
"Royally fucked," Vega said, looking pale. "The word on Jax is that the Jax Committee had a meeting of all their captains and senior officers and Noam announced Jax is at war with Outpost, Valhall, and Lariw and anyone that supports them."
"We might be able to use that to our advantage to get the alliance members with cruisers to join us in attacking Jax," Joshsa said while idly drumming his fingers on the table and looking far off in thought. "I think Kaycia, Haven, and Safort each have one, and one of Jax's cruisers is a light cruiser."
"That sounds good," Vega said with a snort. “The alliance's nine cruisers to Jax's four and a half, until you analyze the numbers. Kaycia, Haven, and Safort have old cruisers with outdated technology and the reason they liked the idea of an alliance. Next, the Deathstalker may be a light cruiser, but it's new and its technology makes it the equal of any standard one. Not to mention, the numerous occasions where a Jax cruiser has destroyed multiple cruisers with professional crews. I would say we have a tiger by the tail."
"They won't negotiate," Joshsa said. "At least with nothing we would think reasonable. At the very least, they would want our cruisers destroyed and to conduct random inspections of our merchants." He gave a short laugh. "Like we intended to do to the Jax merchants. It's the worst possible scenario. We will have to do something decisive to stop it and return to the status quo."
"It doesn't sound like Jax is in a mood to negotiate anything but our destruction." It was Vega's turn to laugh. "Like, nuke our planets as we intended to do to them."
"If they plan to query the alliance members," Joshsa said, frowning in thought. "The delay may give us an opportunity to create a draw."
61 – Jax Committee – What Now
"Noam, I heard the Sabretooth arrived back on Jax a few hours ago," Geller said as the three took their seats.
"Yes, I had a brief conversation with Captain Sitala. She said they destroyed three of the triad’s cruisers–"
"That leaves the triad with six cruisers and us with five," Lerman interjected, his voice harsh and angry. "I say let's go destroy that bunch of lowlife raiders. With the new Besra, it will be like having a five-to-one advantage."
"I think we all agree, the triad needs to be dismantled, but in a manner that doesn't make Jax look like tyrants seeking vengeance," Geller said and Noam nodded. "I suggest we dissolve the Helix Alliance with cause, taking the time to explain why and give the members an opportunity to find an acceptable alternative."
"What about the triad?" Lerman asked, clearly frustrated.
"We could put a cruiser in whatever system they currently have a cruiser," Noam said. "And notify them attempting to leave would be an act of aggression and met with deadly force."
"Only one?" Lerman asked. "Outpost may have all five in their system."
Noam grinned. "One will be sufficient if it is the Sabretooth and I assign Commander Quinn and give her three squadrons of Besra. She currently has fourteen kills with only a three-Besra squadron."
"All right," Geller said. "Let's send a cruiser with an invitation for a meeting of the Helix systems, stating the reason. I will use the Deathstalker. Noam, you will get together a force to contain the triad. Lerman, you stay on Jax to monitor the day-to-day business and to approve any contracts. We can deliver them on whatever cruiser is available when Noam gets back and ensures you everything is under control."
The committee worked for the rest of the day on a brief message outlying recent events and proposing a meeting. Geller would be armed with sufficient details should a system want a personal meeting.
This message is to inform the members of the Helix Alliance that Outpost, Valhall, and Lariw have by their recent actions declared war on the Jax by attacking and destroying two Jax cruisers without cause and attempting to destroy a third. To date, the war they have instigated against the Jax has resulted in the destruction of a total of twenty-one cruisers and over five thousand lives. The Jax currently have the situation under control, but decisions are required to determine what the members of the Helix system propose moving forward without Outpost, Valhall, and Lariw.
Jax is proposing a meeting on Jax on day one, the fifth month of the year 3101. Attendance is not required; however, it would appear in every member system's interest to at least understand the issues and to participate in the discussions. There is no requirement for the meeting to reach a decision or solution, just to ensure the participants are informed of the current situation. Each system may send one spaceship, five representatives, and appropriate security for your delegates. Jax is not proposing a solution, but merely attempting to update the Helix member systems on the status of the war and seeking input as to the intentions of the alliance.
62 – Sabretooth – New Assignment
"Attention!” Commander Alion, XO of the Sabretooth, shouted as Admiral Noam entered the conference room where Captain Sitala had assembled her staff: the XO, battalion commander, fighter wing commander, and me.
"Good morning, and congratulations on a very successful engagement. You have proved the Besra's effectiveness in battle while managing to keep the Besra's capabilities a secret. It is safe to say that the Sabretooth was instrumental in defeating the Outpost triad. You kept the Skulls from destroying a third Jax cruiser and reduced Outpost's cruisers by an additional three, which they needed to have any hope of overwhelming the Jax fleet. In recognition, the crew of the Sabretooth will receive the Jax Battle Ribbon. I know you all deserve leave time, but I have a critical assignment for you. The Outpost triad's last five cruisers are presently on Outpost. I'm sending the Sabretooth to contain them until the Helix systems can be updated on the war and reach an appropriate resolution with respect to the Helix Alliance now that Outpost, Valhall, and Lariw are no longer members. Captain Sitala, to assist you in containing the Outpost triad's cruisers, I'm assigning Commander Quinn another two squadrons of Besra."
Sitala grinned. "It would surprise me if she couldn't do it with one."
"Admiral Noam," I said, thinking this might be a good time to mention me teaching an advanced fighter pilot class on the Sabretooth. "Some of the pilots found out I was an instructor at the advanced fighter pilot school and asked if I could teach a class on the Sabretooth while we waited on the Black Guard to finish their assignment. I agreed after obtaining Captain Sitala’s and the commander of the fighter squadron's permission. I didn't think you would mind as you are short on instructors."
"How did that work out?" Noam asked, looking at Commander Trenton.
"I had heard good things about the course and was interested, so I attended several of the exercises and critiques. The exercises and material were excellent, and in the classroom, Commander Quinn is without question knowledgeable, a senior instructor, and in charge."
"How far along did you get?" Noam asked.
"I finished three weeks of exercises and material, sir, and I believe there are at least five who would deserve a with honors certificate."
"I like it, Quinn. This could solve our lack of qualified instructors. I'll authorize the course and for you to award with honors certificates, and to recruit and begin appropriate training until such time they can be transferred to Sky Lake," he said, succeeding in being as obscure as possible about the ramifications of a with honors certificate. He then shook his head. "I will have your records reflect the new medals you have been awarded and don't care about and your war-time promotion to Full Commander now that you are in charge of multiple squadrons. If you can, I would still like to keep the Besra secrets buried in the fighter myth."
