The battle was already over. The sortieing defenders had worked out the rough outlines of what was waiting for them before they’d traveled far enough to enter the multiphasic-jamming bubble around the Coalition Fleet—and promptly novaed the hell out.
Kira pulled her fighter into a position between Deception and Perseus and established laser links to both ships. The enemy may have fled the battlespace but the jamming remained.
“Basketball reporting,” she greeted Perseus. “I need Fleet-Actual.”
“Fleet-Actual here,” Admiral Kim replied immediately, linking into the channel with barely so much as a blip. “Status report, Commodore?”
News of that “promotion” had spread quickly enough.
“Fixed defenses around the settlement cluster are down,” Kira reported. “No losses, but the fighter group is out of torpedoes. As expected. Do we proceed to stage two?”
“The Fleet is advancing; ETA to deployment point fifteen minutes,” Kim told her. “Did you pick up anything in your sweep to suggest against stage two?”
“Negative.”
Stage two was the deployment of the first wave of Redward Army troops. This cluster was earmarked for an entire twenty-thousand-soldier division. Even assault shuttles were vulnerable to defenses that a nova fighter would dance around, which was why the nova group had cleared those defenses out.
“If the corvettes and gunships are out of play for the moment, this may just be over, Admiral,” Kira pointed out. “Permission to send the fighters in to rearm.”
“Granted. We’ll be lowering the multiphasic jamming shortly. Always takes a bit for that message to transfer, and I want to keep an eye open. Allowing our enemy an impossible level of perfect information, the next twenty minutes are when we are at our most vulnerable.
“But per Their Majesties’ instructions, I have to talk to these people.”
“Makes sense to me. I’ll have the flight decks make contact and bring everyone in. We’ll be ready to defend the fleet.”
“Appreciate that, Commodore. This has been all too easy so far.”
“Basketball out.” Kira turned to giving orders to the flight decks and lining up her own return to Deception, but Kim’s final words hung in her.
All too easy.
It could be a trap. Given the presence of Cobra Squadron, Kira was expecting a trap…and yet. They’d brought overwhelming firepower to bear on the Costar Clans there in Arti—and while she expected the Institute to intervene, she also expected them to wait for just the right time.
They weren’t there yet. Kira wasn’t sure what there was going to be, but she was sure they hadn’t reached whatever trigger the Institute was waiting for.
And that when they reached it, they were going to know very, very quickly.
* * *
“Get the torpedoes on everything and get them back out into space,” Kira ordered as her fighter linked to a transfer cart on Deception’s flight deck. “The pilots don’t even need to stretch their legs yet, and the Admiral feels like we’ve got a bull’s-eye painted on us.”
“Even the Hoplites?” Tamboli asked.
“Even the interceptors,” Kira confirmed. She didn’t like having a torpedo on her Hoplite any more than her pilots would, but the mission parameters weren’t dictated by her preferences. “We’ll dump if we only face nova fighters, but the odds are in favor of more gunships and corvettes.”
“Your call, sir, but I’ll remind you that a torpedo is expensive,” Tamboli pointed out.
“I’ll charge Redward for them if we shoot them or drop them,” Kira told the deck officer. “Load us up.”
Tamboli laughed, but they were already directing their people as they switched channels. More starfighters were following Kira’s in, the mix of interceptors and heavy fighters calling for careful spacing on the retrievals.
The Hoplites were much more maneuverable than the Weltraumpanzers, especially in confined quarters like this. The Weltraumpanzers could accelerate just as quickly on a straight line, but they had a small but noticeable delay in changing direction compared to the interceptors.
Everything was flowing according to plan and practice, allowing Kira to turn her attention to the exterior battlespace. The last of the multiphasic jamming was down, and the Coalition Fleet was advancing on the settlement cluster they’d flagged as Arti-One.
She wouldn’t have wanted to be on the wrong side of that advance. Deception might be the only ship in the fleet she’d call modern, but four capital ships and dozens of escorts was still a real fleet by any standard.
A ping in her headware informed her that Admiral Kim was transmitting, and Kira linked into the message. As the Fleet CNG, she needed know what they were telling the locals.
Stage two called for her interceptors to escort the army shuttles in. If Kim said the wrong things, that was going to be a more unpleasant experience. The Clans didn’t have much left to cause trouble with, but no space station was ever entirely without ways to make approaching ships’ lives difficult.
“Costar Clans of the K-D-C-One-Five-R-T System,” Kim greeted her captive audience. “I am Admiral Ylva Kim of the Redward Royal Fleet, leading an allied Coalition force operating under the authority of the Syntactic Cluster Free Trade Zone.
“This system has been the home base for continuing raids and piracy against the trade of the Syntactic Cluster. Your choices and actions have made you enemies of all peaceful worlds in this region.”
Kim was silent for a few seconds to let that sink in.
“But. The SCFTZ recognizes the nature of your settlements. The abandonment and betrayal of your ancestors by the systems and governments of the Cluster. You have my word that the end of your predations will not be the end of your people or your homes.
“As of now, the K-D-C-One-Five-R-T System is a protectorate of the Kingdom of Redward. We will not permit further raids or theft…but my monarchs will also take direct personal responsibility for your well-being.
“If you lay down your arms and surrender now. Units of the Redward Army will be launching within the next few minutes to commence the occupation of key stations and settlements across the system. Major General Mazhar Costantini is now the military governor of this system in their Majesties’ names.
“Our troops are under orders to minimize harm, but they will use whatever force is necessary to secure control of critical systems and facilities. We will not embrace collective responsibility, but resistance will be neutralized.
“Work with us, and the Costar Clans will become something new. A name that you can use with pride in the future. Oppose us, and my monarchs will drag you into the future kicking and screaming.
“The choice is yours.”
It wasn’t the tack Kira would have taken, but it was certainly an approach.
New icons flickered across her headware and physical screens as the fueling umbilicals disconnected and the torpedo slotted into place.
“You’re good to go, Commodore,” Tamboli’s voice said in her ear. “Things should be quiet now, yes?”
“We can hope,” she told them. “It’s down to the Clans now…and whether they believe King Larry’s promises!”