Jack Campbell - Leviathan

“We may be inventing a new art form,” Charban replied. “Improvisational battle haiku. I will inform them. Admiral, I’m looking at this situation. Is it as bad as it appears?”

“Yes,” Geary said.

The dark battle cruisers fell increasingly far behind as they dodged repeated attacks by the Dancers, who could outmaneuver even the fastest and most agile dark ships. But after forty-five minutes of provocation, the dark battle cruisers darted directly onto a chase after Geary’s formation, ignoring a slashing Dancer attack that took out more of the dark cruisers and destroyers.

Fifteen minutes after, with the dark battle cruisers behind racing to catch up, the Dancers chasing those dark ships, and four dark ship formations approaching ahead, Geary sent new orders. The dark ships in front of Geary’s force were already beginning to decelerate in anticipation of intercepting his formation in half an hour. “All units in First Fleet, immediate execute, accelerate to point two five light speed.”

“What happens after we blow through them?” Desjani asked.

“We start braking, drop off Mistral as we blow past the government facility, continue braking to ensure the accuracy of our bombardment as we swing past the orbiting support facilities for the dark ships, blow away those facilities, then break into three formations and go after the dark ships.”

“Got it. Need help configuring the formations?”

“I would be grateful for your assistance, Captain.”

Because of the distance still separating the forces, it took the dark ships several minutes to see that Geary’s force was accelerating, limiting their time to counter his move. All they could do was further reduce their own velocity, and the three dark ship formations that had been hidden behind the two stars were already braking at near maximum.

Their carefully planned maneuvers thrown off by Geary’s acceleration, the dark ships were now coming in at rates that would cause them to encounter Geary’s fleet at slightly different times instead of all at once.

“Estimated relative velocity at contact with closest dark battleship formation is point two seven light,” Lieutenant Yuon announced.

“Nobody is going to get many hits at that speed,” Desjani said.

On Geary’s display, the thin, curving lines marking the projected paths of the dark ships were growing in diameter, shading lighter on their outer edges, reflecting growing uncertainty as to exactly where the enemy ships were and exactly what their vectors were, as the relative velocities grew so large that human sensors and tracking systems could not fully compensate for relativistic effects that warped their view of the universe. The closer objects got to the speed of light, the worse the relativistic effects, and the harder it was to see an accurate picture of what was outside of a ship. It was just one of the reasons why warships rarely pushed their velocities above point two light speed, but it was an important reason.

The dark ships would be having the same problem precisely tracking Geary’s warships. It was hard enough hitting something on the fly while shooting past at tens of thousands of kilometers per second. If you didn’t know exactly where that ship was and would be, the problem became an impossible one.

At five minutes before contact, with the different formations only about one light-minute apart, Geary sent new orders. “All units in First Fleet, immediate execute, pivot one six zero degrees port, down zero four degrees, brake velocity to point one light speed. Mistral , maneuver independently as required to close on the government facility.”

The Alliance warships swung their bows far over and slightly down, then lit off their main propulsion, not only slowing their velocity but also altering their path through space. The long curve of the First Fleet’s projected course began shifting to swing just past the government facility, then through the vast field of orbiting docks and warehouses.

Mistral ’s track, though, began diverging as the assault transport started braking much harder than the warships and aimed directly for the government facility. Still nestled within the Alliance formation, Mistral started sliding back and slightly to the side relative to the other ships.

The dark ships had only a couple of minutes to spot Geary’s alterations in course and speed, their task complicated by having to guess what vectors the Alliance warships would steady out on and by the relativistic distortion smearing their views of the other ships.

The dark battleships immediately to the front of Geary’s formation misjudged how much his ships were turning and swung too wide for an encounter as the two forces tore past each other.

Less than a minute later, the dark battle cruisers that had come out from behind one of the stars skidded past just ahead of Geary’s fleet, having guessed wrong about how hard he would brake his ships’ velocity.

One of the two dark battleship formations still forward of Geary almost immediately afterwards raced past behind the Alliance warships.

The second of the dark battleship formations guessed better, skimming the top edge of Geary’s formation. Weapons fired on both sides, but the relative velocities were still too great to get decent fire-control solutions, and nearly every shot missed.

Behind, the first group of dark battle cruisers, still pursuing Geary’s fleet, was closing more rapidly as Geary’s warships slowed down, and behind the dark battle cruisers in turn, the Dancer swarm chased those dark ships.

To port and starboard, above and below, the dark ship formations whose attacks had been frustrated by Geary’s maneuvers were swinging around to set up new intercepts.

“We’ve got some vector divergence on the five heavy cruisers left to those dark battle cruisers behind us,” Desjani noted. “They’ve spotted Mistral ’s movement, and they’re moving to intercept.”

“I was expecting that.” Geary tapped his controls. “Captain Tulev, take your battle cruiser division and maneuver to intercept the dark heavy cruisers behind us that I have designated. Those dark cruisers are aiming for Mistral . I don’t want any of them getting to her.”

“Understood, Admiral.”

Leviathan , Dragon , Steadfast , and Valiant began braking harder, also veering out more, aiming for an intercept on the dark heavy cruisers before they would reach Mistral .

A notice told Geary that Mistral was calling him. He accepted the call, seeing Commander Young’s image appear in a virtual window before him. “Admiral, we’re getting a look at more of the government facility as our angle of approach changes. There’s a covered dock attached to that facility,” Commander Young reported. “Big enough to hold a single battle cruiser or an assault transport, and the doors of the dock are open wide. When the staff on the facility tried to flee, they must have not bothered closing the dock doors behind them. I can get Mistral inside instead of dropping off my shuttles for the first wave of the Marine assault. All of the Marines can hit the facility at once, my shuttles won’t be exposed, and Mistral will be safe inside the dock.”

“Will you be safe?” Geary asked. “That dock is an easy target.”

“Admiral, there are no signs of that facility having been fired on. We’ve got plenty of indications that the dark ships have shot up shipping in this star system, but not a mark on any of the orbiting facilities. If the dark ships have any inhibits left active at all, at the top of their list would be not to fire on the government facility where their human overseers were located. It’s still a gamble, sir,” Young admitted, “but I think it is less risky than trying to play keep-away with the dark ships while also sending in and recovering multiple waves of shuttles and Marines.”