“Four squadrons of superdreadnaughts and thirty-seven smaller craft,” Admiral Porter reported. “Admiral Foster has taken direct command of Home Fleet. He’s powering up now.”
Too slow, Tiberius said. He studied the reports from the massive sensor networks orbiting Earth. The rebels seemed to be taunting the defenders, rather than going in and taking them out… there was a crude overconfidence about their actions that bothered him. Did they really believe that the Imperial Navy would leave them alone?
“Order Home Fleet to go after the bastards,” Lord Bernadotte ordered, tartly. “I want the rebels thrown out of our system.”
Admiral Porter hesitated, listening to someone else through his earpiece. “We cannot hope to intercept them,” he said, finally. “They’ve already had time to recharge their flicker drives, so they can and will just jump out as soon as they see us coming. We cannot get at them until they choose to come into missile range.”
“We can’t leave them there,” Lord Rothschild insisted. “They’re mocking us!”
“And proving that Sol isn’t secure,” Lord Edison added.
Tiberius rolled his eyes. Trust them to think about the political aspects of the situation first. But they were right, he had to admit. Right now, there were countless underground groups watching as the rebels casually violated the Sol System without punishment. Home Fleet might be the most powerful formation left in the Empire, but it was useless if it wasn’t intimidating to the Empire’s enemies. Besides, they didn’t dare bombard Earth into submission. Too much of their workforce and their families lived on the homeworld.
“Admiral Foster intends to dispatch several battlecruiser squadrons to intercept the rebels,” Admiral Porter said. “He also proposes the recall of the squadrons from Terra Nova.”
“But that will leave Terra Nova uncovered,” Lord Bernadotte snapped. “We cannot risk our last Class-III shipyard!”
“But Earth itself is under threat,” Lord Rothschild countered. “If we lose Earth, we lose everything!”
“The rebels aren’t even trying to break down the defences,” Lord Bernadotte insisted. “For all we know, this is a feint. They want us to pull ships from Terra Nova.”
Tiberius winced at the panic swelling through the chamber. They were the rulers of the known universe, lords of thousands of worlds… and they were panicking. And perhaps they were right to panic. Earth had been their citadel, their invulnerable fortress, for so long that they had grown used to thinking of the planet as untouchable. But the rebels, perhaps, thought differently… and they had knocked down dozens of certainties as they made their way towards Earth. Why should Earth’s invulnerability be any different?
He looked over at Admiral Porter’s image. “Admiral,” he said, “what do you think?”
Admiral Porter hesitated, glancing from face to face. Tiberius sighed inwardly as he realised it was useless. Admiral Porter wasn’t a fighter; hell, he’d never even set foot on a starship’s bridge. The advice he would give would be guided by political considerations, not sound military thinking. If Admiral Wachter had been in command, instead, he would have done what the situation demanded, not what the Families Council wanted. But Admiral Wachter was lost to them…
He gritted his teeth as the Admiral hemmed and hawed. Who would have thought that someone could give a long speech that basically boiled down to asking what was politically acceptable? But then, the Families Council had only themselves to blame. If they had chosen competent men instead of sycophants… he pushed the thought aside, bitterly. There was nothing they could do about it now. And, even if they won the war, it was unlikely they could change.
“We take a vote,” Lord Rothschild said. “All those in favour of recalling the Terra Nova squadrons?”
Tiberius hesitated, then voted against. But only three others joined him.
“Admiral, recall the squadrons,” Lord Edison ordered.
Admiral Porter nodded and obeyed.
“They’re sending battlecruisers up after us,” Patrick said, as new icons separated themselves from the looming mass of Home Fleet. “But the superdreadnaughts are remaining where they are.”
“Good choice, for them,” Cordova commented. He looked over at the helmsman. “Pull us back, gently. We don’t want them to get discouraged.”
Patrick blinked in surprise. “You plan to let them chase us for a while?”
“Nothing like a pointless chase to annoy someone,” Cordova said. He smirked, stroking his beard. “Besides, it will make them feel like they’re doing something.”
Patrick had to agree. The battlecruisers were faster than superdreadnaughts, but as long as Cordova was careful they would never be able to come into missile range… and, if they did, Cordova could simply jump out. On the other hand…
“If we outrun them, they’ll know we don’t have any real superdreadnaughts,” he pointed out, slowly. “Unless they think we’ve somehow boosted the normal space drives.”
“They won’t know for sure,” Cordova agreed. His smirk managed to grow wider, somehow. “And if you were on a battlecruiser, would you really want to catch a force of enemy superdreadnaughts?”
He shook his head. “No, they’ll make it look good,” he said. “But they won’t try to catch up with us so hard they actually succeed.”
Tiberius watched as the enemy starships played cat and mouse with the Imperial Navy battlecruisers, wondering just what they were thinking. He knew very little about military strategy, but it seemed odd that several squadrons of superdreadnaughts would try hard to avoid a squadron of much smaller battlecruisers. On the other hand, they might not want to waste missiles on the battlecruisers, he told himself. They weren’t likely to find any replacements for expended missiles in Sol.
“So,” Lord Rothschild demanded. “When will the squadrons from Terra Nova arrive here?”
“Two minutes, assuming they start out at once,” Admiral Porter said. He seemed more confident, now that disaster had failed to materialise. “But it depends on how deeply they were within the gravity shadow of the gas giant.”
Tiberius nodded. The Terra Nova Shipyards, like the Jupiter Shipyards, were buried deep within a gas giant’s gravity shadow. It gave them some protection from a hit and run raid, but it also ensured that the defenders had climb out of the gravity shadow themselves if they wanted to flicker to Earth. And he had to admit, despite himself, that he was worried. The rebels might well want to take out Terra Nova, even if they didn’t go after Earth. After all, most of Earth’s defences were fixed in place…
New green icons appeared on the display. “They have arrived,” Admiral Porter said. “I have ordered them to steer towards the rebels.”
“New contacts,” the sensor officer snapped. “Three squadrons of superdreadnaughts, one definitely identified as being from Terra Nova.”
“I’d hate to think that they might have come from somewhere else,” Cordova said. He grinned at the officer, then smiled at the display. “They didn’t quite get the timing right.”
Patrick had to agree. If the imps had been luckier, they might have jumped right into missile range, repeating the trick Cordova had pulled at Wolf 359. But instead, they were just outside missile range… and closing fast. All things considered, he decided, both sides had been luckier than they deserved.
“Colin will be pleased,” Cordova said. Evidently, he agreed with Patrick’s silent assessment of the situation. “And the enemy will be caught between two fires.”