Christopher Nuttall - Democracy's Might

Tiberius winced at the panic swelling through the chamber. They were the rulers of the known universe, lords of thousands of worlds… and they were panicking. And perhaps they were right to panic. Earth had been their citadel, their invulnerable fortress, for so long that they had grown used to thinking of the planet as untouchable. But the rebels, perhaps, thought differently… and they had knocked down dozens of certainties as they made their way towards Earth. Why should Earth’s invulnerability be any different?

He looked over at Admiral Porter’s image. “Admiral,” he said, “what do you think?”

Admiral Porter hesitated, glancing from face to face. Tiberius sighed inwardly as he realised it was useless. Admiral Porter wasn’t a fighter; hell, he’d never even set foot on a starship’s bridge. The advice he would give would be guided by political considerations, not sound military thinking. If Admiral Wachter had been in command, instead, he would have done what the situation demanded, not what the Families Council wanted. But Admiral Wachter was lost to them…

He gritted his teeth as the Admiral hemmed and hawed. Who would have thought that someone could give a long speech that basically boiled down to asking what was politically acceptable? But then, the Families Council had only themselves to blame. If they had chosen competent men instead of sycophants… he pushed the thought aside, bitterly. There was nothing they could do about it now . And, even if they won the war, it was unlikely they could change.

“We take a vote,” Lord Rothschild said. “All those in favour of recalling the Terra Nova squadrons?”

Tiberius hesitated, then voted against. But only three others joined him.

“Admiral, recall the squadrons,” Lord Edison ordered.

Admiral Porter nodded and obeyed.

“They’re sending battlecruisers up after us,” Patrick said, as new icons separated themselves from the looming mass of Home Fleet. “But the superdreadnaughts are remaining where they are.”

“Good choice, for them,” Cordova commented. He looked over at the helmsman. “Pull us back, gently. We don’t want them to get discouraged.”

Patrick blinked in surprise. “You plan to let them chase us for a while?”

“Nothing like a pointless chase to annoy someone,” Cordova said. He smirked, stroking his beard. “Besides, it will make them feel like they’re doing something.”

Patrick had to agree. The battlecruisers were faster than superdreadnaughts, but as long as Cordova was careful they would never be able to come into missile range… and, if they did, Cordova could simply jump out. On the other hand…

“If we outrun them, they’ll know we don’t have any real superdreadnaughts,” he pointed out, slowly. “Unless they think we’ve somehow boosted the normal space drives.”

“They won’t know for sure,” Cordova agreed. His smirk managed to grow wider, somehow. “And if you were on a battlecruiser, would you really want to catch a force of enemy superdreadnaughts?”

He shook his head. “No, they’ll make it look good,” he said. “But they won’t try to catch up with us so hard they actually succeed.”

Tiberius watched as the enemy starships played cat and mouse with the Imperial Navy battlecruisers, wondering just what they were thinking. He knew very little about military strategy, but it seemed odd that several squadrons of superdreadnaughts would try hard to avoid a squadron of much smaller battlecruisers. On the other hand, they might not want to waste missiles on the battlecruisers, he told himself. They weren’t likely to find any replacements for expended missiles in Sol.

“So,” Lord Rothschild demanded. “When will the squadrons from Terra Nova arrive here?”

“Two minutes, assuming they start out at once,” Admiral Porter said. He seemed more confident, now that disaster had failed to materialise. “But it depends on how deeply they were within the gravity shadow of the gas giant.”

Tiberius nodded. The Terra Nova Shipyards, like the Jupiter Shipyards, were buried deep within a gas giant’s gravity shadow. It gave them some protection from a hit and run raid, but it also ensured that the defenders had climb out of the gravity shadow themselves if they wanted to flicker to Earth. And he had to admit, despite himself, that he was worried. The rebels might well want to take out Terra Nova, even if they didn’t go after Earth. After all, most of Earth’s defences were fixed in place…

New green icons appeared on the display. “They have arrived,” Admiral Porter said. “I have ordered them to steer towards the rebels.”

“New contacts,” the sensor officer snapped. “Three squadrons of superdreadnaughts, one definitely identified as being from Terra Nova.”

“I’d hate to think that they might have come from somewhere else,” Cordova said. He grinned at the officer, then smiled at the display. “They didn’t quite get the timing right.”

Patrick had to agree. If the imps had been luckier, they might have jumped right into missile range, repeating the trick Cordova had pulled at Wolf 359. But instead, they were just outside missile range… and closing fast. All things considered, he decided, both sides had been luckier than they deserved.

“Colin will be pleased,” Cordova said. Evidently, he agreed with Patrick’s silent assessment of the situation. “And the enemy will be caught between two fires.”

Patrick nodded. The enemy faced the prospect of losing one of the two targets they absolutely had to protect. And if they allowed their ships to be caught out of position…

“Lock missiles on the enemy superdreadnaughts, then fire as soon as they come into range,” Cordova ordered. “Then jump us out. We can’t stand up to a battering match, not now.”

The seconds ticked down to zero as the enemy superdreadnaughts closed in. As soon as they entered missile range, the arsenal ships opened fire, spitting a hail of missiles towards their targets. They’d know they weren’t chasing superdreadnaughts now, Patrick knew; the arsenal ships were quite distinctive. But it no longer mattered. If the rebels were lucky, the imps hadn’t managed to recharge their drives yet….

“Get us out of here,” Cordova ordered. There was no time to wait around and see what happened. “Now!”

Space twisted around them and they were gone.

Tiberius watched, grimly, as the enemy ships flickered out, leaving a wall of missiles roaring towards the superdreadnaughts. Their point defence started to fire at once, sweeping dozens of missiles out of existence, but enough survived to crash headlong into the wall of battle. Three superdreadnaughts were destroyed outright, two more left streaming atmosphere as they staggered out of line. And the rebels, he saw, had jumped clean away. They hadn’t taken a single casualty.

“Damn it,” Lord Bernadotte said. His voice was coldly furious. One of the damaged superdreadnaughts belonged to his family, rather than the Imperial Navy. “I told you we shouldn’t have recalled the ships…”

“A courier boat just jumped into the system,” Admiral Porter snapped. “Terra Nova is under attack!”

Hammer was an unusual arsenal ship. Unlike her peers, she had been designed to launch missiles one by one, without triggering their drives. Hidden behind a sensor mask, she could unload her missiles into space without being detected, even alarmingly close to the Terra Nova shipyards. No one had a clue that she was there.

Captain Kosovo felt his implants itching as he accessed the live feed from the ship’s passive sensors, downloading it directly into his head. Being so close to Earth bothered him, even though cold logic insisted that they were completely undetectable. The Geeks had not existed so long as a collective without knowing when best to take precautions and going so close to the Enemies of Science was not something they cared to do. But there was little choice. One by one, the missiles were pushed out and down towards their target.