B. Larson - Conquest

This took a few seconds. I squirmed in my command chair, waiting uncomfortably. Visions of an easy surprise victory were fast evaporating. I’d hoped the enemy didn’t understand how dangerous my ships were. The key was my force of ship-storming marines, of course. We’d used similar boarding tactics against four macro cruisers recently, but since none of the enemy had survived, I’d hoped this fleet wouldn’t suspect our intentions.

When the projections solidified I was even more surprised. “Are you kidding me? Why are they flying out there?”

The projected flight path of the enemy fleet didn’t lead toward us. It didn’t lead out toward Venus, either. I’d expected them to follow one of these two routes-either to attack us, or to retreat out of the system. But instead, the enemy was in full flight to the outer system.

“Show me what’s out there,” I said.

“It looks like they are heading for Jupiter,” Captain Miklos said.

I shook my head, eying the path with growing concern. “No. They are heading for the Tyche ring. They are going to head to Alpha Centauri, then maybe Helios. Hell, who knows? They might be planning to knock out the Centaurs once and for all, since they failed against us.”

Captain Miklos brightened considerably. So did the rest of his crew, as the curve of the enemy projected path continued to solidify and possibilities narrowed.

“You’re right, Colonel,” Miklos said. “They are heading for the Oort cloud ring. They are going to run right out of the system. We’ve run them off without a fight.”

“Let’s keep them running,” I said. “Lay in a new course to follow the enemy fleet.”

Captain Miklos looked startled. “Sir, might I suggest-”

“No,” I said.

“But we’ve already achieved our mission. We could return to Earth orbit now, secure in the knowledge they are exiting the system. Perhaps they don’t even know about our secondary minefield out there. Why not let the mines do their work?”

“Fortunately, I’m in command of this expedition,” I said. “Follow them.”

Without further argument, Miklos flew his ship after the Macros. A hundred other vessels glided silently through space after us.

I could tell Miklos was pissed off. I was too, but not at him. I wanted to crush the enemy ships while I had them at a disadvantage. For all I knew, they were moving to meet up with another task force. Together with reinforcements the Macros could easily take out my fleet. They knew that, and so did I. As it was now, the odds didn’t lean very far in my favor.

The worst part of it was not knowing the enemy mindset. Were they running because they were uncertain about their success? Or because we’d become too expensive in terms of materials to defeat? Or did they have some kind of cold trick waiting for me farther out in space? I just didn’t know, and not knowing ate at any commander.

We flew on for hours. Slowly, we were gaining on the enemy. We ran the numbers, and double-checked them. Our smaller ships were faster than their cruisers. We were going to catch them before they could reach the ring and fly through it.

“Maybe we should slow down, sir,” Captain Miklos suggested.

I gave him a disgusted look.

“No, no, sir. I don’t say this out of cowardice. I’m simply suggesting we let the enemy hit the minefield at the Tyche ring at full speed before we get into range to finish off their damaged ships.”

I nodded. “A reasonable suggestion,” I said. “Yes, the more I think about it, the more I like it. Helmsman, ease-off to three-quarters velocity and relay the command to the rest of the fleet. We’ll hang back just a little and hope they don’t know what they’re running into.”

The chase went on for two solid days. When the Macros finally reached the Tyche ring, they did something unexpected. They fired a barrage of missiles.

“Missiles launched!” shouted the weapons officer.

“Count?”

“About twenty, sir. Make that thirty.”

“Scatter the fleet,” I ordered.

“Second barrage sir, pulsed thirty seconds after the first.”

“One mile between ships,” I said. “Globular formation, relay and execute. How long do we have before they hit us?”

“No estimate yet, sir. But at this distance, we’ll have less than half an hour.”

I watched the screens tensely, as did every commander in the fleet. The battle monitors slowly filled with a crowded mass of tiny red contacts. The contacts finally moved a pixel, and I raised my eyebrows in surprise. The two clouds of missiles were not moving toward us.

“They didn’t fire at us?”

“No sir,” the weapons officer replied. “They seem to have fired-at the ring, sir.”

I stared at the screens and frowned. I couldn’t find any fault with the information I was receiving.

“They know about the mines,” Captain Miklos said. His voice sounded dead and distant. I surmised he’d been hoping for an easy end to this.

“Yes,” I agreed, reviewing the data. The enemy was laying down a blast pattern directly in front of their advancing ships. They intended to destroy the mines we had floating in a tight cluster around the Tyche ring. Either that, or they meant to blow up the ring itself.

In either case, I was less than happy.

“Increase our speed,” I ordered. “Push the engines up to one hundred percent, and tighten up our formation again.”

“Is that wise, sir?”

I looked at Miklos. I wanted to ask him what had happened to the bravado I’d witnessed in him the last time I’d been aboard his vessel. Perhaps that was the answer right there. We’d had some close calls last time I’d flown with him. Maybe he’d had time to think about his mortality and realize how close we’d come to destruction on that occasion. Or perhaps, he’d had a few bad moments serving under Crow when they’d chased down and taken out the dreadnaught. Fleet had lost some good crews that day. In any case, he’d become overly-cautious. It was a common enough problem among my new officers.

“We’re going after them, Captain. Give the damned order.”

He did so without further comment. I thought his face was slightly red over his beard. Perhaps he felt a little embarrassed by his hints that we should slow down. If that was the case, I was glad. The first step toward real bravery was to admit you were afraid of the enemy.

God knew this enemy was worthy of our fears.

The first barrage exploded just short of the ring, punching a hole in the minefield we had waiting for them in front of the opening. The second barrage charged through that pall of vapor and vanished. Presumably, those missiles exploded on the far side of the ring to destroy the twin minefield we had placed in the Alpha Centauri system. Macro Command had learned a thing or two about our tactics, and responded accordingly.

I now felt sure this was one of the reasons they’d managed their missile supplies so closely. They knew they needed the missiles to destroy our minefields, if nothing else. It was enough to make me grind my teeth in frustration. These Macro ships weren’t dying. They were slipping away, and I knew that the further they got from Earth the greater the temptation would be to let them go, to allow them to leave us and slip away into the vast dark of space. The problem with that was they could return at any time, with fresh ships and fresh ideas on how to defeat us.

“Colonel,” Captain Miklos said. “If we are going to slow down, or change course, we need to do it now.”

I didn’t look at him. I sighed instead. Things were not going as planned.

“Sir?” Miklos prompted. “Any orders? Or are we just going to blast right through after them?”