“We’ll get down to the surface, take out the Syndicate ground forces, then scatter,” Drakon continued. “If you can keep that battleship occupied for a little while, we’ll get dispersed enough that it will have to worry about bombarding every square meter of that planet in order to get us.”
“Yes, sir. We’ll keep it busy for as long as possible. My flotilla will escort the freighters until we are close enough to the planet to be sure you can off-load without Haris’s warships getting to you. We will protect you to the utmost of our ability. For the people!” Marphissa sat rigidly straight and saluted Drakon.
Drakon smiled again, returning the salute. “For the people,” he echoed. “If the worst happens here, don’t get your forces wiped out fighting a hopeless battle. Get back to Midway and help President Iceni. She can hold out, Midway can hold out, even if we lose all the ground forces here. As long as people like you stick by her.”
He ended the transmission, leaving Marphissa gazing at nothing and blinking away tears. Damn. And to think I didn’t trust him. “Kapitan Diaz.”
“Yes, Kommodor?”
“Let’s put our heads together. If there is any way to slow down that battleship with what we’ve got, we need to figure it out. We have to give those ground forces all the time we can.”
“Kommodor…” Diaz didn’t look at her as he spoke again in a barely audible voice. “There’s no possible way. They’re doomed.”
“No,” Marphissa said, surprised by the fierceness in her voice. “We were doomed when Manticore’s propulsion controls were shot out. Have you forgotten already? But we found a way, and they may find a way. We do not quit, we do not give up, we give them everything that we can, so if they do die on that planet, it will not be because we did not do everything that human skill and courage and effort can achieve. Do you hear me?” She had raised her voice so that it rang across the bridge. “Everyone. Do you hear me? We do not give up, we do not falter, while one of our soldiers still lives and fights on the surface of that planet!”
A ragged chorus of agreement and cheers answered her words, Diaz also raising his head and nodding to her firmly. “Comm specialist,” he said, “send a vid of the Kommodor’s last statement to the other units. Your orders, Kommodor?”
What were her orders? Marphissa wondered. It was one thing to make a sweeping statement about giving the effort her all, but another thing to figure out what specific steps to take.
Marphissa focused on the nearest enemies, those on the planet and those in Haris’s two cruisers. “Since we’re going ahead with the assault on the planet, we’ll accompany the freighters for another half hour. At that point, our warships will break away from the freighters earlier than planned and move to engage Haris’s heavy cruiser and light cruiser. We’ll launch the bombardment as scheduled, but from farther out than planned.”
“We’ll get scatter,” Diaz warned. “It’s not just the greater distance from the planet when we launch. We’ll also be dropping the projectiles at a lower angle through the atmosphere. We can’t have pinpoint precision under those circumstances.”
Marphissa scowled, studying the bombardment plan. It did call for aiming at specific portions of the snake headquarters complex, but Diaz was right that the odds of a perfect hit were low when they had to launch under difficult circumstances. Under the Syndicate, no one would have been allowed to worry about rounds that missed the target and struck in the surrounding city, but she did not want to take even one step back onto that road. “There might be an answer. Show me a circular error probable for a bombardment round aimed at the center of the snake complex under the new range and atmospheric entry angle we’ll be using.”
Diaz gestured to his weapons specialist, who worked frantically for a few moments.
A circle appeared on Marphissa’s image of the bombardment targets. A circle centered on the snake headquarters complex and extending about four meters beyond its boundaries into the wide-open area that surrounded the complex. “There’s our answer. It’s not perfect, but it will have to do.”
“Kommodor,” a puzzled Diaz asked, “I’m sorry, but I do not—”
“We aim every round at the center of the complex! Most will hit near there. The rest should scatter randomly within this error circle, meaning they will hit everywhere inside the complex.”
“But we can’t be sure they’ll hit everywhere,” Diaz objected. “It’s statistical and random. One little patch may take a dozen hits, and another nearby area might be untouched.”
“I know that.” Marphissa kept her voice level with effort. “It’s still our best option because aiming for specific points will face the same circular error probable for every shot, only centered wherever that particular projectile was aimed. And any spot that doesn’t take a direct hit but sustains a lot of near misses is still going to take some damage.”
Diaz grimaced, rubbed the back of his neck with one hand, then nodded. “Yes, Kommodor. It is our best option if we want to do as much damage to the complex as possible under the launch conditions we will face.”
“I want to hold back two projectiles on each heavy cruiser and one on each light cruiser. The ground forces might need a few more rounds dropped in their support. Everything else will go into the bombardment. Have your specialists modify it and let me know as soon as the revised plan is ready.”
“Yes, Kommodor.”
Marphissa looked to Haris’s cruisers next. She had been expecting them to finally strike at the freighters just before the ground forces began landing, but that had been before the Syndicate flotilla appeared. It was now clear that the cruisers had been kept on a short leash to avoid scaring off the Midway flotilla before it was too deeply committed to the operation to be able to get the ground forces and freighters out of this star system safely.
If she went after them once the ground forces were down, they would run. She could chase them all over this star system, driving down the fuel reserves on all of her ships, and have no hope of catching them. But if she didn’t go after them… “Do you know what they’re planning on doing?” she asked Diaz, then answered her own question. “They’re going to wait to see if we go after them. If we do, they’ll run and frustrate us while forcing us to use up our fuel cells. If we don’t, they’ll charge through our formation just as the freighters are dropping shuttles, creating an awful mess and potentially taking out a lot of ground forces while they are helpless.”
Diaz looked from her to his display, then made a helpless gesture. “I agree with your assessment, Kommodor. What will you do, then?”
“I’m going to do neither, Kapitan,” Marphissa announced. “I’m not going to chase them all over this star system, and I’m not going to sit here waiting for them.”
“But…”
“We’re going to lunge at them as if beginning an all-out pursuit, then, after they take off to avoid us, brake to stay near the freighters.” Marphissa shook her head. “No. Not all of us. We’re going to need all of our fuel reserves. I’m going to leave the Hunter-Killers positioned above the ground forces’ landing site. They can’t do much there, but they’ll be able to provide some close support, and they’ll be conserving their fuel cells.”
“Then what?” Diaz asked. “After we abort our pursuit of Haris’s cruisers?”
“I expect the freighters to scatter once the last ground forces have left them. At that point, Manticore and Gryphon will shadow Haris’s heavy cruiser, which I expect will try to pick off the scattered freighters one by one. Hawk and Eagle will shadow Haris’s light cruiser. Maybe one of Haris’s ships will make a mistake.”