The burden of command, p.24
The Burden of Command, page 24
part #14 of Empire Rising Series
James shook his head vigorously in an attempt to cut off another avenue of concern that could end up eating away at his wife. “His ship is on patrol far from the main planets that have seceded. It’s likely they will not even hear about what is happening until it’s all over.”
Christine’s jaw tightened into an expression that told James she wasn’t entirely convinced. Thankfully, she didn’t press any further. What he had said was true, of course, but it had been months since anything had been heard from Jonathan’s ship. He couldn’t know for sure exactly where it was or what it was up to.
“Neither of you need to worry,” Edward said as he came closer and put his arm around his mother. “It’s Georgia we’re talking about here. If anyone threatens her, it’s they who are going to have to worry. And she’ll have her wing mates with her as well. Griffin squadron is said to be the best in the system. They’ll cut anyone who comes up against them to pieces.”
“Yeah, she will not let you down,” Rachel piped in.
James held out his hand to her and she came closer as well. Gently, James pulled them all into one final hug. “Just look after each other, okay? Georgia and I will be all right.” For several moments, James enjoyed holding his family. It had been three years since he had last left the Sol system without them, and then it had just been for a brief tour of Britannia and several other of the Navy’s main shipbuilding centers. “I’m going to miss you all terribly,” he confessed. Squeezing them all tightly one last time, he let them go. “But the fleet will be departing soon, and so must I. Goodbye,” he said as he leaned down, kissed Rachel on the forehead and then squeezed Edward’s shoulder. Finally, he kissed Christine on the lips. As they moved apart, their eyes stayed locked together. Much passed between them. James gave her a final nod, and then turned and forced himself to leave the living room.
Fox had already disappeared. The chests he had been packing were gone as well. When he stepped out of his quarters, Nicholls was waiting for him. She had a small bag in one hand. James’ eyebrows rose. “You’re coming with us?”
Nicholls nodded. “I’m your Chief of Staff, of course I’m coming. Did you think I wasn’t?”
James hesitated at the note of defiance in her voice. “No, no, I guess I just didn’t think about it. You don’t have any naval experience, that’s all.”
“You will have Rear Admiral Davenport’s command staff for that,” Nicholls replied. “We’re going to be walking into a political powder keg when we get to New France. You’re going to need me and the team I have put together.”
James balked at the mention of a team. He wanted to ask about it. Yet he knew better. Instead, he smiled at the former Senator. “Of course I am. I’m glad you’re coming. At least if things go awry, I’ll have someone else to blame it on.”
Nicholls rolled her eyes. “Come on, we better go or we might miss our shuttle.”
“Lead on,” James said as he gestured for Nicholls to proceed him.
Just a few minutes later and they left the Palace’s main entrance and strode over to the nearest shuttle. As they ascended its access ramp, James saw that it was full of marines. He was pleasantly surprised when he spotted General Johnston. He immediately moved over and took an empty seat beside him. “You have found berths for all your people?” He asked.
“Close enough,” Johnston said. “It’ll be a tight squeeze in some of the ships, but they’ll make do.”
“It can’t be as bad as some of the things they put us through at boot camp,” a familiar voice piped up.
James’ smiled widely when he looked over to find Sophia Johnston sitting further down the shuttle. Then, he frowned when he looked back to Johnston. His friend was beaming with pride. There wasn’t a hint of concern for his daughter on his face.
“Don’t worry about her,” Johnston said as he slapped James on the shoulder. “She is a chip off the old block. If we survived wars with the Chinese, the Indians, the Flex-aor and the Karacknids, Sofia and Georgia can handle a few rebels.”
James felt his cheeks redden. He hadn’t realized his own emotions had been so obvious. “Yes, of course they can,” he said as Johnston’s words brought him a little encouragement.
For the rest of the flight, Johnston and Sophia kept him talking. James was thankful for the distraction. Only when the shuttle approached Oblivion, Davenport’s flagship, did their conversation fade away. James barely noticed. He was staring at the massive dreadnought. It was literally bristling with weapons emplacements. Nearly a quarter again bigger than Drake, the dreadnought the Kulreans had built for him near the end of the Karacknid War, James knew Oblivion was even more deadly. Her mark VII and VIII missiles would have torn Drake apart, and with her systems a combination of fully integrated Human, Kulrean, Varanni, and Mindus technology, she had many tricks up her sleeve designed to catch the Karacknids off-guard. “They’re not going to know what has hit them if Teal and the others let her open up on them,” Johnston said, reading James’ thoughts again.
James nodded, yet he couldn’t’ help but think of all the orbital battlestations at New France and the other secessionist colonies. A few armed freighters would certainly be no match for Oblivion. Even though they weren’t quite as modern as the dreadnought, a handful of battlestations would be another matter. Still, James kept his thoughts to himself.
When the shuttle landed in one of Oblivion’s hangar bays, he said his goodbyes as Johnston and Sophia made their way to the marine barracks whilst James headed for the bridge of Rear Admiral Davenport’s flagship. Stepping onto the bridge, he found every officer on their feet holding a salute.
“Welcome aboard Admiral,” Davenport called out. “We are honored by your presence.”
“At ease,” James said as he waved for the officers to return to their command chairs. “And the honor is all mine.”
“Don’t even think about it,” Davenport said as James made his way to the command chair off to one side of the Admiral’s chair. She quickly stepped away from her chair to the one James had headed for. “You’re taking the central one. I’m not going to argue with you.”
James shook his head. No matter how long he served as Emperor, it always seemed to be the same. Whether it was Christine, Nicholls, Johnston, or any of his other close friends. None seemed to have an issue bossing him around. “Very well,” he replied diplomatically. Flashing Davenport a quick smile, he sat down. “But let me make myself clear,” he said loudly to Oblivion’s bridge officers, “Rear Admiral Davenport commands the fleet.”
Davenport chuckled. “Don’t worry Admiral, they know how the chain of command works. The fleet is ready to depart if you are?”
James nodded. “You may give the order.”
Davenport returned his gesture and then swung back around to her command staff. With a word, she sent them into a flurry of activity. Within moments, Oblivion and the other sixty ships in formation around her turned their noses away from the orbits they had been in and fired their impulse engines. Despite his anger at everything that happened over the last several months, despite his loathing at Teal and the other traitors who were risking the Empire’s defenses, and despite the fact that he was leaving most of his family behind, James couldn’t help the small smile that spread across his face. Once again, he was sitting on the bridge of a military warship, leading it out to hunt down his enemies. More than two decades had passed since he had fought the Battle of Gayla. Despite the years, he felt just as at home in his command chair as he had that day. This is where you belong, he realized, surprising even himself. He thought he had become accustomed to life on Earth, serving as Humanity’s Emperor. He had been wrong. He was still an Admiral at heart. With a mixture of joy and curiosity, he watched Oblivion’s bridge officers and the ships in Home Fleet carry out their duties as they slipped away from Earth and towards the Alpha shift gate.
Chapter 21
When they first attacked the American colonies, the Flex-aor were the greatest threat Humanity had yet faced. Yet after their defeat and the appearance of the Karacknids, they quickly faded in the minds of the Empire’s early strategists. The events that would play out over the next several years after their rediscovery would prove the folly of this mistaken assumption.
-Excerpt from Empire Ascendant 3015 AD.
Python, 25th November 2508 AD.
Almost there, Jake thought to himself. His fingers were typing furiously on his command chair. It had taken weeks for them to get back to Imperial space, even longer than Jake had expected. Several system malfunctions had delayed them far longer than he had hoped. Since leaving the system they had encountered the Flex-aor freighter in, Jake had felt a growing tension building within him. He was certain the Flex-aor were planning some kind of attack. Being discovered must have caused them to move up their timetable. He had to bring a warning back to Earth and the rest of the Empire’s colonies. Soon, he promised himself. Python was approaching the Frigila system. The system was home to an independent colony. According to the information Jake had access to, there were barely more than forty thousand colonists living on the planet. Though their settlement wasn’t much larger than a small city, Jake was hoping there would be some ships in orbit, a freighter or two at least bringing supplies. As long as there was something, he could transmit his findings to them and order them to make straight for New Delhi. With the speed Python had been travelling at, even a freighter would get there faster than his broken command. And if they won’t listen to us, we’ll board their ship and take it ourselves, Jake had already decided. Whatever it took, he was getting his warning out.
“We’re getting a power fluctuation from the shift drive,” Lydia said hastily.
Jake sat up in his command chair. His fingers stopped their tapping. It was a warning he was becoming all too familiar with. “How bad is it?”
“The last fluctuation was six percent. Wait, here’s another one. Nine percent,” Lydia swung around in her command chair. “I suggest we exit shift space now.”
Jake glanced at the holo display and the map of the shift passage Python was travelling through. They were now less than thirty seconds from the end of the shift passage. He was sorely tempted to risk it. What harm could thirty more seconds do? He ground his teeth together. He knew the answer. If Python’s shift drive had a stronger fluctuation, it could burn out some of its nodes or even the drive itself. A distance that would have taken seconds to cover in shift space could end up taking days or weeks for Python to traverse in normal space. He shook his head. They were so close. The timer had already counted down to twenty-five seconds.
“Lieutenant?” Lydia said, requesting an order.
“Do it, take us out,” Jake snapped. Instantly, Lydia tapped a button to shut down Python’s shift drive. A small tremor ran through the ship as it reverted to normal space. “Carry out a full systems check of the shift drive,” Jake ordered. “And begin recharging the capacitor. I want to be able to jump as soon as we can be sure there won’t be any more fluctuations.”
“Aye Lieutenant,” Lydia replied.
Jake ground his teeth some more. With just one reactor working at sixty percent efficiency, what would have taken twenty minutes before the battle with the Flex-aor freighter now took nearly two hours. As if mocking him, the holo display changed to show the Frigila system’s distant star. It was so near, and yet so far. If Jake wanted to transmit his report to the Frigila colony, it would take three weeks to reach them. It had taken the same time for the images the holo display began to show as it zoomed in onto the habitable world to reach Python’s sensors. For a second, Jake was confused by what he saw. Then he frowned. He shook his head. It couldn’t be. Looking down at his own holo display, he began to tap on his command chair. “It’s no mistake,” he said out loud.
“Sorry Lieutenant, what was that?” Lydia asked.
“Look at the electromagnetic profile of the third ship our sensors are detecting. It’s a copy of Python.” Looking up from her console, Lydia narrowed her eyes as she focused on the contact. There were five faint energy readings coming from Frigila itself. Three had been identified as the orbital stations the colonists had built when they had first come to colonize the world six years ago. Python’s computer estimated the other two were freighters. Though their signals were faint, as they appeared to have their reactors largely powered down. In contrast, the only two other contacts in the system were releasing massive amounts of energy. Accelerating into the system from one of its shift passages, they were both headed towards Frigila at an impressive rate. “The drive signature is the same,” Lydia said after several seconds. She turned around to Jake. “How can that be? What is a pirate ship doing racing towards an independent colony?”
“Nothing good,” Jake said. “Nothing good at all.” He felt helpless. Whatever the powered ships were going to do, they had already done it three weeks ago. They could have destroyed the colonist’s orbital stations, captured their freighters, or worse, landed armed parties and carried off slaves. He could hardly believe what he was seeing. The audacity of the pirates. Surely, they feared being hunted down? Jake was already surprised Python hadn’t run into an Imperial patrol already. After carrying out such a brazen attack, the Imperial Navy would throw as many resources into hunting the pirates as was necessary to find and bring them to justice. Yet they don’t care, Jake thought as he continued to watch the two ships close on Frigila.
While Lydia and McKay worked on Python, Jake had nothing to distract himself with. For more than an hour, he was forced to watch the events of the past unfold. The pirate ships slotted into orbit around Frigila, and then small energy spikes were detected. Jake guessed they were from shuttle engines. Whether the shuttles moved to the orbital stations or to the planet’s surface, Python’s sensors couldn’t tell. Either way, the pirates were clearly intent on taking control of the colony. And that left more questions on Jake’s mind. Why was there an identical ship to Python? One purpose-built warship in pirate hands was an anomaly, two was a pattern. Someone was building them for a purpose. And whoever it was, they were upping their game. Attacking a colony was a step up in their activities.
“I’d love to get my hands on them,” Becca growled from where she stood just beyond the hatch into the bridge. Jake turned around. He hadn’t heard her enter. The look on her face told him she felt as he did. “We’re not going to be able to intervene if they are still there, are we?”
Jake grimaced, then shook his head. “I’m afraid not. We have to get our report back to an Imperial warship to take to Earth. Our news is too important.”
Becca’s hands clenched into fists at her side. “Maybe my marines and I could take the shuttle. We could sneak into orbit and land far from the main city. If the pirates are still there, we could surprise them.”
Jake couldn’t help but smile at the earnestness in the Marine Sergeant’s tone. “If this were any other situation, I would not hesitate in giving you permission,” he replied. “But if the pirate ships are still there, they would likely detect you long before you got to Frigila. And if they did, they’d start to wonder where your shuttle came from. Then they might end up trying to hunt us down. I can’t take the risk.”
“But there are thousands of helpless people out there,” Becca protested, her eyes were almost pleading with Jake.
Jake nodded. “Thousands who will be even more helpless against the Flex-aor if they attack. As bad as pirates are, they won’t nuke the entire colony. At least, I hope they won’t. We need to focus on the bigger threat.”
“If they do hurt anyone down there, I’m going to make sure they pay,” Becca said through gritted teeth as she stared at the holo display.
“And I will join you,” Jake promised her. “Just as soon as we get our news delivered.”
Becca looked back at him. Slowly she nodded. “You’re a man of your word Lieutenant. I’ll hold you to that.”
Jake flashed her another smile. “I expected nothing less.”
“There,” McKay said, breaking into their conversation. “I think we have the shift drive fully functional again.”
James turned to the engineer. “You’re sure?”
McKay nodded. “As sure as we can be. If we get another fluctuation building up, we’ll have to jump out again. Hopefully the shift drive will hold out for the last few seconds to get us into the system. I’d be surprised if it didn’t.”
“The capacitor is just ten minutes away from being fully charged,” Lydia added.
“Very well,” Jake replied. “Good work, both of you. Jump us in as soon as we are ready. Prepare the ship for stealth. If the pirates are still there, I don’t want them detecting us when we do jump in.”
For several more minutes, James watched the representation of the pirate ships as they stayed in orbit around Frigila. Though he knew it likely meant the pirate ships would have left with a store of cargo and possibly even slaves, he was hoping they would be gone. There was no way Python could fight one of them, never mind two. And even if we told them what was going on, what are the chances they would simply let us pass? He asked himself. The pirates would see Python’s damage and jump at the chance to recapture her.
“Jumping in five seconds,” Lydia reported.
Two tremors ran through Python in quick succession. The first signaled her jump into shift space. Twenty-one seconds later and the second told Jake his ship had successfully completed the jump into the Frigila system. Every head turned to the passive sensor display. Jake delayed giving the order to proceed into the system until they knew exactly what was happening. It didn’t take long to find out. Seven energy sources were picked up in orbit around Frigila. The two pirate vessels were still there! Jake shook his head. It didn’t make sense. “Why are they still there?” He found himself asking. “They’ve had three weeks to do whatever they want with the colony.”
