“Maybe? There’s no way the Rebels can get to her unless they have fast ships.”
Trexler’s eyes shifted around as he considered. “Have you heard Krys’ story?”
“No. Who’s she?”
“It doesn’t matter right now. She was jumped by a Chessori ship that was vectored in with the interstellar communicator. I’ll bet some of these Empire ships have the communicators. Certainly the top commanders have them.” He looked at Waverly thoughtfully. “I’ve been trying to outguess the Rebel commanders, trying to figure out what tricks they have up their sleeves. Taking out the Queen would be a big one.”
“Well, I hadn’t considered that, but I did have another thought. I’m told the Queen is their number one priority.”
“Most likely.”
“You’ve been trying to figure out how to get the Rebels to commit their reserves where and when you want them. What if the Queen moved a little closer in, too far in for a regular ship to jump back out. The Rebels would believe they had her blocked in. If we make sure they see her, wouldn’t they go for her?”
“Gods, Jim! What a thought. It’s perfect! And if she came in far enough, they couldn’t jump on her from hyper. Ship!” he announced into the air.
His communicator started flashing and buzzing again. He picked it up and said, “Stop. Get Chandrajuski on the line.”
It took a full minute. “What, Ray?”
“This is urgent, sir. Get the Queen moving inbound immediately, at maximum normal speed. No fast shipping. Call me back when she’s complied. Hurry, sir.
“Ray, she’s not here. She would have called.”
“Are you in the net?”
“Yes.”
“Tell the AI to delete everything from your view except our ships that have not been assigned targets.”
The wait was not long. “I see what you mean. Why bring her into the system, Ray? I’d rather she left.”
“Remember how Krys was jumped from hyper by a Chessori at Dorwall?”
“I do. I want her out of here.”
“No you don’t, sir. You have a job for her, but get her started inbound. No jumping. Then let’s meet in sick bay. This is too hot to discuss over the net. Trust me, sir.”
Chandrajuski cut the connection. The four of them just looked at each other and listed to Sam Taylor snoring.
Chandrajuski showed up about 20 minutes later with M’Coda and Seeton in trail. “Mike wants an explanation, Ray. He’s not happy about the tight beam connection. We might have exposed them.”
“Good. Are they inbound?”
“Yes, and they have all sensors active in every direction.”
“Great. Jim, this is your plan.”
“No, go ahead.”
“Okay. Admiral, Jim discovered something. He asked the AI to display only those Rebel ships that were not included in wings. He got 45 hits.”
“Is this their secret weapon? I’ve been waiting for something like this to muddle our plan.”
“I don’t think so. Forty-one of them were fairly close to wings. We think they might be calling the shots for the wings.”
Chandrajuski considered Trexler’s words. M’Coda started preening furiously. “We might want to shift our attacks slightly, but we have to make the bumps first.”
“Agreed, Admiral. Identifying the Chessori is certainly a top priority. There were four more ships very far out. It looked to me like they were far enough out to jump instantly.”
“The main commanders?”
“Probably.”
“Juster’s here,” Chandrajuski said softly, displaying his teeth in a grin and knocking his fists together. “And maybe Struthers himself. Oh, my!”
M’Coda spoke up. “We cannot take out the command ships until they have ordered the reinforcements to enter the fight, and those reinforcements must be far enough into the system that they cannot jump back out quickly.”
“There’s one more piece to the timing, gentlemen. Jim not only discovered the Queen’s ship, he has a job for her. If she announced her presence to the Rebels, she would be a magnet for their reinforcements. Struthers, if he’s here, will do anything to take her out. And there’s more. Something that Jim doesn’t know, most likely, is what happened when the Queen announced her presence to the Rebels at Gamma VI. Remember?”
“The squadron was brought to its knees,” Chandrajuski said softly. Both of his hands formed into fists again, and he knocked them together a few times. “Is there anything else?”
“Just one more thing. Reba is captaining one of those slow cruisers. If time permits, I’d like to get her out of the way. She’ll think it’s because she’s a female, and she’ll be mad as a hornet, but that’s not my reason. I want her out of there because she’s a Knight. I don’t want to be wasting Knights out here. I was wondering if, instead of tight beaming the Queen, Reba can just take the message to her.”
“I’ve already dispatched a fighter to pick her up. I, too, do not want Knights captaining my ships.”
“Won’t all of this fast shipping alert the Rebels?”
“We’re using fighters, and their beacons are off. Ray, every ship out here began its life as an Empire ship, so we know how they work. Our ships’ AI’s look for beacons.”
“How do we see Chessori ships?”
“They, too, have beacons. They’re not the same as ours, but they shine clearly to the AI’s.”
“I thought the AI’s read drive signatures.”
“They do, but only after fine tuning their sensors on beacons. They might pick up a drive without a beacon if it’s close to them, but they won’t pick up anything else unless it’s close enough to hit. Fighters have small drives, and it’s unlikely they’ll be picked up. It’s a gamble, but the stakes are not high. The Rebels are far enough into the system now that they cannot escape.”
An angry, red-headed woman stormed into sick bay. “How could you! You sorry… Oh!… What happed to you, Ray?” Her eyes moved left for an instant, then back to the left again. “Jim?” Left again, and, “Stevens?” Left again, and “Walters?” Left again, then back to Trexler. “What’s going on here?”
“It’s a long story, Reba. Can it wait?”
“Uh, yah. Anything serious?”
“No. Have you seen Chandrajuski?”
“Just for a moment. He sent me to you with orders to see him before I leave. What’s up?”
“Ellie’s here.”
“You’re joking.”
“I’m not. She’s way out in the system, and we need you to take a message to her.”
Anger showed for a moment, then she caved in and came to stand beside him. She brushed a hand across his face, pushing a few short hairs back from his forehead. “Are you really okay? All of you?” she asked, turning to take in the Raiders.
“We’re really okay, Reba.”
“There are lots of other messengers.”
“Besides the injured men in this room, three people in the operations center know about the Queen. No one else. Who would you send? The message is critical. It’s a job for a Knight, My Lady.”
“My Lady, hmmph. You won’t get off that easy with me.”
“I know, but you’re here now. It’s too late to back out.”
“What’s the message?”
“Do you have any idea of what’s going on out here?”
“I only know the targets my ship was assigned. It’s frightening, Ray. It’s going to be a hard, bloody battle. The whole thing defies management.”
“I hope the Rebels see it that way. I’m sure that’s what Mike and the Queen see. Among other things, I want you to put their minds at rest, but she has a job to do for us.” He gave her the big picture. It didn’t take long; it really wasn’t that complicated, and she was a quick study.
When he was done, she said, “The fleet should know what you know, Ray. Do you have any idea of the stress levels out there?”
“I do. How would you have me notify them without letting the enemy know? They have the same radios we have.”