Barbarians at the Gates

Chapter Forty-Two

Lombardi System, 4097

“Showtime,” Marius said.

He watched as the enemy fleet slowly shook itself down into formation. It was evident from their deployments that they’d intended to reach the other Asimov Point first, allowing them to take up positions on top of the Asimov Point and hammer him when he tried to emerge. But they’d been too late by roughly an hour. Now, they had to make the best of a bad lot and get into an aggressive formation.

The full might of the Grand Fleet was in-system now, but if they were lucky, the enemy would think that the Grand Fleet was weaker that it actually was. Of course, if they didn’t, the enemy might find a way to put together a fleet that could conceivably wreck the Grand Fleet, which would force Marius and his forces to withdraw.

“Keep the ECM running,” he ordered. “Launch additional probes into the enemy ships—no need to use stealth. We want them to see the probes.”

He smiled. Captain Garibaldi was trying to slip closer to the enemy ships, yet the enemy should be watching for anyone gutsy enough to try it. Launching the probes at such an extreme range might convince them that he didn’t have anyone in position close enough to try to count their ships before it was too late.

But they might be careful and know to watch for turbulence anyway. There was no way for him to know.

“Admiral,” Williams said, “shouldn’t we be launching starfighters?”

“No point,” Marius informed him cheerfully. He felt better now that the enemy fleet had finally shown itself. “It will be six hours, at least, before we come into missile range. The pilots will be getting some chow and needed rest before we launch them to do battle against the foe.”

“How powerful is the enemy fleet?” Williams swallowed visibly.

“It’s hard to say at this distance,” Marius admitted. “The first counts weren’t too precise. Of course, they’re screwed.”

Williams stared at him, speechless.

“In this system,” Marius explained, “they have to stop us—and they know they have to stop us. If they fail to do so, we can cross the interstellar void to Harmony and take out Justinian’s capital world and all the industries he’s been building up over the years.”

“Industries that our superiors wish to take intact,” Williams reminded him. “They feel that adding those industrial nodes to the Federation would help make up for shortfalls elsewhere…”

Shortfalls caused by profit-seeking and a lack of basic maintenance, Marius thought coldly.

The problem wasn’t with the workers, although the workers often barely had the education necessary to read a book or operate expensive and valuable equipment. The problem was with the industrialists who owned the industrial nodes instead. They pushed the limits as much as possible, trying to earn as many contracts as they could before the war came to an end. The civil war might have killed millions of people, but it had profited a handful of industrialists immensely.

“We’ll do what we can,” he said tightly. It was a pity there was no way to claim the industrial nodes for the Federation Navy, but that was outside his control. At least the workers would be safe. They’d be needed to run the industrial nodes once they’d been captured. “In the meantime…”

He turned back to the display, stroking his chin in the hopes of conveying an expression of deep thought. It might stop the commissioner from interrupting Marius before he was ready to outline his tactical plan. The Lombardi System had once been a worthless system with one tiny gas giant and four rocky and lifeless worlds orbiting a bright star. The Federation Navy had somehow been convinced—Marius suspected by enormous bribes—to test the latest planet-cracking antimatter bombs on the four useless worlds. The bombs had worked as specified; all four planets had been blown into clouds of asteroids, which had been mined to help supply the sector with the rare ores that were normally only found deep under a planet’s surface.

Every space entertainment vid he’d seen as a young man had featured an implausible asteroid belt that forced starfighter pilots to dodge like maniacs as they raced through the asteroid field at maximum speed. Such asteroid fields were rare in real life, but the remains of the four worlds would make for tricky flying, even for superdreadnaughts. He preferred to remain well away from the asteroids as long as possible. As well as having to deal with the asteroids themselves, there was also the possibility of ambush, as it was very difficult to differentiate a starship from an asteroid when all drives, weapons and sensors were shut down.

Fortunately, it looked as if his fleet was going to encounter the enemy fleet well below the system plane, away from the asteroids, unless the enemy decided to avoid action.

He scowled. The irony was that he could break loose and cross interstellar space to Harmony, but the enemy would follow him at once. If the Grand Fleet lost there, it would be the end of them, and probably would spell the end of the Federation into the bargain. On the other hand, if he smashed the enemy fleet now—especially considering that Admiral Justinian couldn’t be keeping many starships in reserve—the war would be as good as won. And then the Federation could mop up the other warlords and restore peace and harmony to the universe.

“Inform the fleet that I want to slip into Formation Omega-Nine when we approach,” he ordered after a long pause. “We will start by launching starfighter strikes, and then we will follow them up with the new gunboats. We’ll weaken the enemy ships before we close with them.”

“It sounds impressive,” Williams said, “but can we win?”

“War is a democracy, Commissioner,” Marius said, shrugging. “The enemy gets a vote, too.”

“We’re too late,” Caitlin said.

“It looks that way,” Admiral Justinian agreed.

Caitlin was pleased to note that the admiral sounded much more confident now that he’d finally come to grips with the enemy. The Federation Navy had beaten them to Lombardi, which meant that they couldn’t be allowed to leave the system. It wouldn’t be an easy contest, but it would be decisive.

“Launch probes towards the enemy ships and prepare for engagement,” the admiral ordered.

Caitlin followed his gaze as he turned to study the main display. The Federation Navy was too far away for them to track properly, even using gravimetric sensors. She wished, suddenly, for the StarCom trick they’d used once in Jefferson, but not even throwing money at the researchers had allowed them to build a smaller and cheaper system. FTL communications, even on a tactical level, remained largely a pipe dream.

The only good news was that the Federation Navy was definitely aiming to engage Justinian’s ships, rather than heading toward Harmony or even charging at the Asimov Point and attempting to secure it. They wouldn’t have to worry about the enemy refusing battle, although the darker part of her mind whispered that was the least of their worries.

On the other hand, the Federation Navy might win the coming battle…and that would be the end. For her, as well as for the fleet.

Caitlin had no illusions about her fate. She’d allowed Admiral Justinian to lead her into treason and, if the Federation won, she’d be on the wrong side of the war—the one that lost. She still believed that Admiral Justinian was right, that the Senate was corrupt and power-hungry. Eventually, the Senate itself would tear the Federation apart—but that hardly mattered. If they lost, she’d never see a universe without the Federation Senate.

“Aye, sir,” she said finally. “Should we prepare a fallback plan?”

“No need,” Admiral Justinian assured her. He sounded remarkably cheerful. “We live or die today.”

Roman felt—again—the absurd urge to whisper as the enemy fleet swept towards Midway. The tracks shown on the main display suggested that Justinian’s fleet would pass far too close to Midway, close enough for Justinian’s ships’ passive sensors to pick up his own ship, if the opposition was lucky. The cloaking device emitted a tiny level of turbulence, after all, and the enemy might well detect their presence. And if that happened, Roman would have to be very lucky and skilful to get his ship away before the enemy blew her into dust.

“One hundred and seventeen superdreadnaughts,” the sensor officer said. His voice was very low, as if he could avoid being overheard. “Seventy carriers of various designs. Two hundred heavy cruisers, including some that seem to be of a new class we haven’t logged before. Four hundred destroyers, and over a thousand gunboats. That’s enough firepower to punch out the defenses of pretty much any star system apart from Earth.”

“Log it and transmit the data back to Magnificent,” Roman ordered. The laser beams they used for communication were impossible to detect unless a starship accidentally crossed the beam’s path, something that was very unlikely. “Are they trying to use ECM to fool us into believing that they’re stronger than they actually are?”

“They have some fuzzy ECM up and running,” the sensor officer said slowly. “The level of drive turbulence matches the ship count, however, which suggests that the count is fairly accurate.”

Roman winced. All drive fields emitted a certain amount of gravimetric distortion, allowing a starship’s class to be determined even outside active sensor range. A superdreadnaught couldn’t pretend to be a destroyer without some fairly radical and expensive drive modifications, but the reverse was an easy task. A destroyer could pretend to be a superdreadnaught and get away with it, provided no one scanned the ship with active sensors. But an active sensor scan would reveal the truth very quickly—and reveal the ship scanning them very quickly as well.

Roman couldn’t risk that, not so close to the enemy fleet.

“Update the transmission with that information,” he ordered. One way or another, Admiral Drake had to have that data. “And then…”

He broke off as the tactical console sounded the alert.

“They just saw us,” the tactical officer reported. “They swept us with targeting sensors and locked on to the hull.”

Roman swallowed a curse. “Helm, swing us around and get us out of here. Tactical, deploy ECM drones to confuse them; set them to maximum power, now!”

Midway’s internal gravity shivered as the starship spun around and accelerated away from the enemy fleet. Unlike a ponderous superdreadnaught, Midway could accelerate at an astonishing rate; nothing larger than a starfighter or a gunboat could hope to catch her if she had a reasonable head start.

The display sounded a second alarm as the enemy CSP rotated and came after the cruiser, but Midway was already well on her way. The starfighters in pursuit posed a very real threat, yet before Roman really started to worry about them, they turned and fell back to their carriers. While he wasn’t sure why they had done that, Roman allowed himself a sigh of relief.

“Signal Admiral Drake,” he ordered. “Transmit the final data we collected, then request orders. We can watch them from this position, or we can rejoin the other ships, whatever he wishes…”

Roman settled back into his chair. It would be hours before they heard from the admiral and, until then, Roman’s duty was clear. They would continue to observe the enemy fleet from a safe distance and keep the admiral updated. The admiral would need all the data Roman’s people could produce.

“Deploy a shell of drones to surround us,” he added, addressing the sensor officer. “If they feel like trying to sneak up on us, I want to detect them before they get too close.”

Commissioner Williams looked dreadfully tired, the malicious part of Marius’s mind noted, even though he’d convinced the commissioner to get some sleep before the battle began. In fact, it looked as if the man hadn’t slept at all, something Marius remembered from his days as a very junior officer. He hadn’t been able to sleep on the eve of a major battle either. The Blue Star War had cured him of that, at least.

“Commissioner,” he said, by way of greeting. “We are approaching the outer edge of the engagement sphere.”

He waved a hand at the display. The enemy fleet—and his own—was surrounded by a transparent holographic sphere that marked out the moment when both fleets could open fire. One advantage of fighting a civil war—although it wasn’t something he was going to point out to the Senate—was that it was easy to categorize the other side’s forces…although they could obviously do the same. Unless Admiral Justinian’s research programs had borne fruit, there wouldn’t be any real surprises in store. The Federation’s own research programs, which had been given a sudden boost by the war, held out the promise of new hardware, but nothing new had really been developed.

He did have a couple of surprises up his sleeve, yet they were really just improvements on current technology. The Senate’s freeze on technological development had cost the human race dearly.

“Thank you,” Williams said. He sounded tired, as if he were struggling to hold back a yawn. “How long until we launch starfighters?”

“Ten minutes,” Marius informed him. “We don’t want to strain their life support packs too much.”

He settled back to watch the final approach. The enemy ships were turning slightly, presenting their broadsides to the Federation Navy. That wasn’t too surprising—indeed, he’d ordered his own ships to begin a comparable motion—and it suggested that Admiral Justinian was thinking along conventional lines. If Captain Garibaldi’s estimate of their strength was accurate, Admiral Justinian was outnumbered and outgunned. The question was simple: did he understand his weakness? A weakness could be turned into a strength if used properly.

“Record,” he ordered the communications officer. “Admiral Justinian, this is Admiral Drake. You are outnumbered and outgunned. In order to spare the lives of our crews who will die in the coming battle, I wish to offer you a chance to surrender. I am authorized to offer you and your senior staff a chance to go into exile, along with your families, if you surrender now. Your junior crews will receive a full pardon. You have five minutes to respond.”

He looked up at Williams, who nodded. “Transmit the message,” Marius ordered. “Wide-band transmission. I want them all to hear it.”

“Admiral, we’re picking up a message,” the communications officer said. “It’s a wide-band transmission, direct from the enemy fleet.”

“Trace the source,” Admiral Justinian ordered. “Let’s hear it.”

They listened to the message in silence.

“Do you want to surrender?” Caitlin asked, finally. “Your family could live…”

Justinian shook his head. His backers had warned him that the Senate would make many false promises to gain victory. He wasn’t blind to the use of the wide-band transmission either, or what it implied. One of his junior officers would get a free pardon if he stuck a knife between his ribs. And yet, he’d picked all of his subordinates for loyalty. They’d stick with him.

“No,” he said sharply. The enemy ships were just coming into engagement range. “Launch starfighters. All batteries lock weapons on target and prepare to commence firing.”

“I can’t trace the source,” the communications officer reported. “They relayed it from all of their ships, sir.”

Justinian nodded, unsurprised. The Book said to keep the flagship’s identity concealed as long as possible, after all, and it was one piece of wisdom that everyone followed. They’d learned from Admiral Parkinson…

“Starfighters away, sir,” Caitlin reported. “They’re falling into attack patterns now.”

“Good,” Justinian said. He’d win the battle yet. “Order them to press the offensive as hard as they can. No mercy.”

“There was no response, sir,” the communications officer reported.

“I think they’re going for the old boot in the head response,” Marius said and smiled. The display was sparkling with new icons as the enemy starfighters launched from their carriers, turning towards his fleet and preparing to attack. “Launching starfighters is a pretty good way of saying fuck off.”

He looked over at the communications officer. “Record a second message,” he ordered. “This is Admiral Drake, Commanding Officer of the Grand Fleet. Your admiral has rejected a demand for his surrender, even though we offered to guarantee his personal safety and that of his subordinates. I am extending the offer to his entire fleet. Cut your drives and weapons and stand down; we will accept your surrender and treat you as honourable foes under the Articles of War. I say again; surrender now and live…”

“No response,” the communications officer said after a moment.

“Are they insane?” Williams frowned.

“Perhaps they’re loyal, or perhaps they don’t believe us, or perhaps…they’re not in a position to surrender,” Marius countered. “He could have loyal troopers on the bridge of every one of those ships, enforcing his orders.”

“But they’ll die, too,” Williams protested.

“Of course they will,” Marius agreed tiredly. “It doesn’t really need that many idiots to turn a brief confrontation into a raging war. Just ask the admiral who lost the Battle of Spider Bite.”

He snorted at Williams’ expression. Evidently the man hadn’t believed that Admiral Justinian would stand and fight.

“Launch all starfighters,” Marius ordered Admiral Mason, “but hold the CSP in reserve, as planned. It’s time to test out what the new units can do.”

“Aye, sir,” the CAG said through the intercom. Admiral Mason had drilled the starfighter pilots extensively and it showed; they were responding at astonishing speed. “Permission to launch fighter strikes?”

“Granted,” Marius said. “Just make sure that you avoid our engagement envelope.”

He allowed himself a tight smile as the two clouds of starfighters raced away from their respective fleets. In a few moments, no less, he’d know if his gamble had paid off…or if he was about to command the greatest disaster since the Battle of Athens.

His lips twitched. After everything else, there was one important point to recall about that battle: Despite how bad the Battle of Athens had seemed at the time, the Federation Navy had actually won the day.