Or they could just go down fighting, and take as many of Ragark’s ships with them as they could.
Tolwyn straightened in his chair. There was really only one choice he could make.
Combat Information Center, FRLS Mjollnir
Deep Space, Baka Kar System
1527 hours (CST)
The door to CIC slid open soundlessly, and Bondarevsky stepped into the dim-lit command center, every step weighed down by fatigue. It had been a long day… and it wasn’t over yet.
Tolwyn looked up as he came in. “Good job out there, Jason. A damned good job. Your people did us proud today.”
“Thank you, sir. I wish we could have done…more.” He knew there was no way the flight wing could have helped Richards and the Xenophon, but that didn’t make it any easier to accept the old spymaster’s death.
Now there was nothing more the flight wing could do, at all. Tolwyn had announced his intention of taking on Ragark’s fleet head-on, and Bondarevsky had been ready to lead his fighters out yet again to the attack. But as Tolwyn pointed out there was still an outside chance they might reach the jump point, and if so they couldn’t very well stop and take on planes before they made good their escape. The only fighters on board capable of jump were the four surviving Vaktoths, hardly enough to challenge the flight wings of four escort carriers.
So Bondarevsky’s pilots would have to ride out the last action aboard Mjollnir, passengers for a change. It was probably just as well, at that. The port side flight deck had been put out of action when a returning bomber had lost control at the last minute on final approach. The damage there wasn’t quite as bad as what they’d found when they’d first surveyed her, but Mjollnir’s launch and retrieval cycle would be severely hampered until they could get a chance to make fresh repairs.
Bondarevsky almost laughed out loud. It was a fine time to be thinking about future repair jobs. If there was anything left to salvage, the Cats would get it.
“Any word on the others, sir?” he asked quietly.
“Durendal went down fighting,” Tolwyn told him. “Collins slipped away, but she’s got a pair of destroyers chasing her. How long she can hold out…that’s anybody’s guess.”
“Then-”
His next comment was cut off by a call from the sensor station. “More disturbances in the jump point, sir. Multiple targets again… My God, sir, they’re ours! Landreich ships!”
Kittani was reading off the information from incoming transponder beacons. “That’s Independence…Magna Carta…Arbroath. The whole carrier fleet! Themistocles…”
“They’re right in the middle of the Cat fleet,” Clancy said in hushed tones. “I hope to God they can get clear.”
“Look at the vectors, Mr. Clancy,” Tolwyn said. “They came through the jump point under power. By the time the Cats react they’ll be at the edge of weapon’s range…”
Bondarevsky met his eyes. “My God, it’s Kruger. It’s got to be Kruger.”
Bridge, FRLS Independence
Jump Point Three, Baka Kar System
1530 hours (CST)
Max Kruger had the command chair, and it felt good. He’d been forced to relieve Galbraith of duty after the politician’s son had tried to resist the order to get under way for Vordran, and it seemed safest to take command himself rather than entrust it to any of Galbraith’s officers. Actually, most of them seemed happy to follow his lead, especially Commander Roth.
They had reached the Vordran belt in time to discover two of Mjollnir’s planes, a Zartoth and a Kofar. Cynthia Hall, the Zartoth pilot, had reported another electronic warfare plane had been destroyed by a Kilrathi patrol, and the Cats had gone through the jump point. Ragark had taken a lead of over an hour, but thanks to the delaying tactics the two pilots had executed so successfully it hadn’t been closer to six hours.
Kruger studied the tactical board and nodded his satisfaction. Their initial velocity hadn’t been all that high. They had only gone about ten percent over the margins specified in most of the safety handbooks. But it had been enough to allow them to pass through the Kilrathi ships stationed around the jump point, despite the disorientation of jumpshock, before the Cats could react and open fire. Kruger hadn’t known what to expect on this side of the hyperrealm, but he’d tried to be prepared for every contingency. It had paid off.
His intercom lit up to reveal Kevin Tolwyn’s face, still bleary-eyed from jumpshock. “Place is lousy with Cats, Mr. President. You want us to launch and see what we can do with ’em?”
Kruger shook his head. “Not at the moment, Captain,” he said. “I think Ragark won’t be sticking around long enough for a battle.”
Flag Bridge, KIS Dubav
Deep Space, Baka Kar System
1534 hours (CST)
“Vraxar!” Ragark cursed. The apes had outmaneuvered him. His revenge would have to be postponed.
The position had been perfect for interdicting the escape of the two surviving Landreich ships, and after hearing reports from Dawx Jhorrad and the commander of the orbital station Ragark had been more determined than ever to obtain vengeance from the hairless freaks who had attacked his stronghold. Vorghath was crippled, unable to maintain shields, his whole front end twisted and gaping wide like the toothless mouth of a worthless old kil. And the station…the launch bays would be out of service for many eight-days, and half the repair facilities were destroyed or badly damaged. In one raid the humans had set back his program by a year or more.
But now he wouldn’t even have the satisfaction of vengeance. Not with the human fleet between him and Baka Kar. If he remained here to maintain the trap, they could attack the capital with impunity, and if one shipload had done as much damage as that captured supercarrier had managed, what could an entire task force do? Dividing his forces to try to maintain the blockade of the jump point while also attempting to save Baka Kar would only expose his fleet to the possibility of defeat in detail.
Or he could pursue the new arrivals, giving up the blockade entirely. And the humans would escape. Once the Kilrathi were committed to the pursuit, it would be easy enough for the apes to win back and jump to Vordran once more.
Anger burned in his stomach, pure, raw hatred. It redoubled as the Communications Officer announced, “The human leader wishes to discuss the tactical situation, Lord Admiral.”
The ape knew the dilemma Ragark faced. There was no point in pursuing the charade any longer.
But Ukar dai Ragark would not forget this day.
EPILOGUE
“Rejoice in the victory of today, but prepare for the conflict of tomorrow, for life is an eternal struggle.”
Starboard Flight Deck, KIS Mjollnir
Orbiting Landreich, Landreich System
1725 hours (TST), 2671.056
The Presidential shuttle San Jacinto lay on the flight deck, side door open and ramp deployed, ready to leave the ship. Bondarevsky watched Kruger standing at the top, and recalled a similar scene the day he had come to Independence to see them off at the very start of the Goliath Project. But there were many differences, too. Mjollnir’s flight deck betrayed its alien origins in the shapes, the structures, the shadows formed by a design and construction no human hand had been involved with, and all the refitting and adaptation in the galaxy would never change that basic nonhuman flavor. The strange shapes of two Strakhas and a Paktahn bomber loomed behind the shuttle, more reminders of Mjollnir’s unique origin.