“That’s our cue! Break it off and head for home!” Tolwyn shouted the order as he peeled off, dodging a piece of the wreckage of the Guild ship. Behind him, the lead Kilrathi carrier was trailing atmosphere, a good chunk of her superstructure smashed by repeated hits from the remains of the Bonadventure. A massive repair effort would probably get her back in service in a few months, but she was of no use as a fighting ship for now.
Of course, that left a second carrier and an assortment of cruisers, destroyers, escorts, and fighters, but Tolwyn knew he had a few minutes to regroup before the Kilrathi battle lust took over and they organized their pursuit. And meantime the damage to the carrier would certainly keep a few of the Cat ships occupied.
The Liberators had done all they could. Whether or not it would prove to be enough remained to be seen.
Combat Information Center, FRLS Independence
Deep Space, Hellhole System
0835 hours (CST)
“The battle group has reformed around us, Captain. And the Flight Wing has broken off the action. They’re being pursued.”
Galbraith looked across at Roth, biting his lip. They had watched the pirate carrier’s last act, and knew the Kilrathi had taken serious damage to one of their carriers. But their task force still outnumbered the Independence battle group in fighting ships, and their two carrier wings, though they’d suffered heavily in the fight with the liberators, outnumbered his remaining fighters by a wide enough margin to make them a serious threat.
And Tolwyn didn’t have enough fighters yet to hold them for long. This time, if they decided to attack the battle group, there was nothing left to slow them down.
“Order the battle group to retire to the jump point,” Galbraith said.
“But, Captain…” Roth looked stunned.
“Do it!” he snapped.
At that moment, the ship’s Tactical Officer spoke up. “Disturbance in Jump Point Two,” he said. “Ship coming through from Landreich…now.”
Out in space, a vessel took form as it dropped out of the hyperrealm. Galbraith was almost afraid to check the tactical readouts. The ship’s IFF beacon, hypercasting an exclusive ID signature, registered on the monitor almost immediately.
“That’s Arbroath!” Commander Roth exclaimed, reading the information from her own board.
Arbroath-previously the TCS Saipan, a sister ship of Independence only recent acquired by one of Kruger’s purchasing agents. Galbraith remembered his father’s acid comments about Max Kruger’s latest toy. She had been refitting in Landreich orbit when Independence had left, nearly ready for her space trials but far from prepared to go into combat. What was she doing here?
“Incoming message, sir,” the Communications Officer announced.
The comm screen lit up to reveal the craggy features of Max Kruger. “Independence, what the hell’s going on out here? I came to see what you found at the pirate base, and I’m reading Cat ships on my long-range sensors. What’s the situation?”
“Mr. President,” Galbraith said, leaning forward. “Mr. President, you have to withdraw immediately. Our Flight Wing’s been cut up by Kilrathi fighters, and their task force outnumbers us heavily. I was preparing to withdraw to cover the capitol when you jumped in.”
Kruger looked angry. “Withdraw? What do you mean withdraw? My sensors tell me one of those two carriers is damaged. And their own fighters must have taken some losses by this time.”
“Yes, sir, but not enough-”
“Listen, son, if they’ve taken any kind of losses at all they’re not likely to want to hang around now that we have two undamaged carriers and the prospect of fresh planes coming into the battle. Where’s Camparelli? He’ll understand what we need…”
“He’s dead, sir,” Galbraith said. “He-”
“Then by the power vested in me as Commander-in-chief, blan-blah-blah, I hereby take command of this task force. Have your battle group reverse course and head for those Cats, Captain!”
“But, sir…I know you don’t have a full flight wing on board. You can’t! Not unless you put it aboard in the last couple of days…”
“Nope. Not a one.” Kruger gave him a wolfish smile. “But, of course, the Cats don’t know that. Now give those orders, Captain, or I’ll have you relieved of command!” The screen went dead, leaving Galbraith to stare at the blank monitor.
A feeling of relief swept over him despite the desperate situation they were sailing into. At least Kruger would bear the responsibility for whatever happened, win or lose.
Command Bridge, KIS Hravik
Jump Point Six, Hellhole System
0838 hours (CST)
“Terran reinforcements!” Captain Ghadhark nar Voiles snarled. “Another carrier…same class as the first.”
“Yes, my Lord,” his Executive Officer said.
“Any sign of supporting ships for the new arrival?”
“No, my Lord. But the jump point is at the limit of our current sensor range. More vessels may be coming through, and we simply are not picking up the disturbance they would generate.”
Ghadhark glanced at a monitor that showed the battered Klarran, with one of the destroyers drifting alongside and a swarm of small craft closing in to try to evacuate wounded and put over damage control parties. The admiral had gone off hypercast soon after the ape ship had been destroyed and the rain of fragments had started slamming into Klarran, and it was certain that the flag captain was dead. That left Ghadhark senior officer. The next moves were his to make.
Ahead, the Terran fighters were withdrawing in disorder, pursued by Kilrathi squadrons who still outnumbered them by several eights. But the human battle group was changing vector, and the computer projections now put their course as heading straight toward the task force. The second carrier seemed alone, but it could be just the first of a whole wave of reinforcements…
The apes had already crippled one Kilrathi ship today, and that would drive Ragark into a rage. More losses would only compound the disaster…and could not be laid at the admiral’s door, as the damage to Klarran could.
And by now the apes could have received the information the scoutship had carried and spread it too far for the task force to be sure of stopping it from getting back to their capitol, Landreich. That part of the mission was a total write-off. Not that it would do the apes any good to know that Ragark had a dreadnought in orbit over Baka Kar. There was little enough they could do with that information.
At this point, the best option was to withdraw. Even with the dreadnought, Ragark would still need all the carriers he could muster for the coming campaign. The dreadnought could overpower whole fleets of smaller ape ships, but only carriers could project Imperial force against several different targets at the same time. Ragark might rage at the decision to pull back, but additional losses would be by far the worse. Not just for the Empire, but for Chadhark s throat.
“Order the fighters to return,” he said at last, knowing he had made the right decision. “And instruct the other ships to prepare for the return jump to Vordran.”
Operations Planning Center, FRLS Independence
Near Jump Point Two, Hellhole System
1243 hours (CST)
“I’m afraid we’ve lost close to half our fighters,” Kevin Tolwyn said grimly. “And a lot of the planes that came back are in a bad way. We couldn’t intercept a determined squadron of sparrows and be sure of winning the fight.”
He sat beside Captain Galbraith at the big triangular table, looking across at Max Kruger and the captain of the Arhroath. A handful of other senior officers were present as well to bring Kruger up to date on the day’s fighting.