maneuvering and jump. But if we couldn’t get her to Thaeron’s orbital shipyards, she’d never fight again. Though Fearless ’ jump comp was still out, all her other systems were operational. That meant that one of our two cruisers and three destroyers would be available for the Thaeron campaign. Even Jamro’s Harpy was now battle-ready. Perhaps we wouldn’t have to rely so much on the privateers and boats.
But captains are captains. They’re never satisfied with the condition of their ships; and they’d been hogging the orbital repair docks. I put a quick end to that.
To be honest, though, most of the repairs to the privateers had been completed in the planetside yards. Despite the complaints, there was little remaining to be done to make all the privateers spaceworthy. I was even able to get our one defector yard space for disarming. Frankly, I didn’t want his crew hanging around complaining and inducing others to change their minds. My one fear was that his disarming would be complete before we heard from Thaeron. If the other crews saw him lift off to trade, well…
Actually, that was what happened. Luckily, though, the day before she was scheduled to lift, our scout arrived in the system. All the crews were so busy betting on whether we’d have to fight that the tramp’s departure was almost unnoticed. I didn’t make any effort to keep the scout’s crew from talking on their way in from the jump point. If the crews wanted to gossip badly enough to tolerate communications lags of as much as an hour, they were welcome. I didn’t want the privateer crews thinking I was witholding information.
When she finally arrived in Outback orbit, I sent for her captain and asked for his report.
“The man in charge was an old man, a Captain. He’s the CO of the base on Thaeron.” He grinned. “But don’t underestimate him because of his age,” he added, “His chest is covered with ribbons. This is no armchair officer.”
He shifted in his chair before continuing. “I think he figured me out in about five seconds. Knew what I was doing there, and that you sent me. I told him about Jonas and Van-Lyn bein’ dead and Nemesis and Dauntless destroyed, and gave him a copy of the tape of the Emperor’s visit. After he pumped me for every bit of information I had, he gave me a message for you.”
I was startled. “What kind of message?”
“He said, ‘Tell Kedron that I said to leave us alone for a while. I’ve sent a courier to HQ on Prime for orders. If he’s telling the truth, all he has to do is wait until that courier gets back, and he’ll have nothing else to fear from us. But if he shows up here with a fleet before the courier gets back, we’ll fight!’”
I thought, hard. The elderly Captain seemed a competent leader. Unfortunately, I couldn’t afford to leave him alone. In fact, I couldn’t afford much delay at all, without risking the dissolution of half my fleet. On the other hand, did I really need the privateers?
I raised my eyes to the scout Captain. “All right. Now, tell me everything you saw and heard.”
He stared at me intently. “You're going to attack? After what the Captain said?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. However, before I make the decision, I want to have all the facts. Now, what did you see and hear, and what do you think about it?”
He stared at me for another long moment, then sighed and began. “Well, they towed an old hulk of a battle cruiser out to picket the jump point. It looked like they’d been stripping it for years; I was surprised it held atmosphere. Still had enough weapons to scare me, though.
“After I emerged, they sent a pilot aboard to guide us along the cleared lanes through the mines. Seems they’ve sowed mines over the whole system, thousands of ‘em. If you go there lookin’ for a fight, you’d better worry about them.
“Then there were the fortified moons,” he continued, “Two of ‘em. I didn’t get to see ‘em, of course, but it turned out that our pilot liked to talk. They’re armed with mass drivers, lasers too big to mount on ships, particle beams, and missiles. Not to mention a string of armed satellites. I couldn’t find out how the satellites are armed.
“Finally,” he said grimly, “There was a Destroyer in an orbiting repair dock. Gyrfalcon. I dunno how bad off she was, but workers were swarmin’ on her like ants. I figger the base has some defenses, too, but I didn’t get to see ‘em.” He shrugged again. “I dunno, Admiral, it’s your decision, but I gotta tell you, it won’t be easy. Or cheap.”
I dismissed him, and thought. The scout captain didn’t realize it, but what he’d told me made it essential for me to attack Thaeron. With that much firepower concentrated in the system, I had to go there while I still had all my forces. What if the Captain's courier didn’t make it back? Or if the elderly Captain died? Who would command then, and would he be as reasonable?
Oh, the hulk at the jump point wouldn’t be too much of a problem, and I could use the boats to clear a path through the mines. However, it would take everything that I could muster to deal with fortified moons and armed satellites, especially since they'd have days to get ready for us.
And I was already on borrowed time. As soon as that scout skipper got talking to the privateer captains, I’d begin losing them.
I called Shar. “I want you to send that scout ship back to Haven immediately, to report to Cord. Tell him I want him to boost in an hour, and I’ll have dispatches for him to take. And, Shar,” I continued, “if you can keep him busy until it's time to boost, I’d appreciate it.”
Shar grinned. “Palming aces again, Admiral?” He didn't wait for an answer. “I’ll take care of it.”
I cursed as I signed off. I hated manipulating people. But I needed every ship I could muster — as well as a lot of luck.
I taped a message for Cord, detailing the scout’s report and the actions I was planning to take. I also explained why I was sending the tramp, and asked Cord to keep close tabs on the scout captain until it was over, one way or another.
I rang for my aide. “Give this to the scout ship captain for delivery to Viceroy Cord.”
“Yessir,” he replied. “The scout ship skipper’s with Captain Tan-Li.” I suppressed a grin. Shar had found a way to delay the man’s departure.
I called a Captains’ conference for the next hour, and then got busy drafting orders. I put most of the boats aboard Valkyrie, so they could use her huge cargo doors to get into action quickly. The rest clustered on the destroyers.
Jumping a fleet is a delicate business. Unless the ships jump precisely at the same moment, they may emerge hours, or even days apart, and be cut up piecemeal. We slaved all the ships’ jump comps to Valkyrie’s, and boosted for the jump point. Suli could have used at least one more pair of hands as she tried to juggle all the variables in the jump computations, but she began counting down just as we approached the jump point. We jumped.
The absolute worst part of being a commander is jumping into a battle. You know the battle is coming, but you have to wait days for it to happen. You constantly second-guess yourself, but since comms don’t work in null space, you can’t make any changes to your battle plan. Luckily, I didn’t clearly remember the agony when we attacked Jonas at Haven, but this time I knew it would stay with me forever. If it hadn’t been for Suli, I think I’d have expired from anxiety exhaustion.
Suli devoted herself to distracting me from my doubts and anxiety. It didn’t work completely, but it helped a great deal to watch her try.
An eternity later, I stood on the bridge as Suli counted down. 5.. 4… 3… 2… 1… We emerged.
My first action was to check for my fleet. A quick look at my screens seemed to suggest that we’d all made it together. I breathed a huge sigh of relief. Shar had already depressurized Valkyrie’s holds. Now he opened the cargo doors, and boats began zipping to battle stations. It was almost heartbreaking. What had been a cloud of dots on the screens was now only a pathetically few discrete blips.
Suddenly the comms came alive. “Forlorn Hope to unknown vessels. DO NOT FIRE! I say again, do not fire! We are not hostile! Do not fire!'
I keyed the command channel. “Flag to all ships and boats. Hold fire. I say again, do not fire! Take up battle positions, but stand by. DO NOT FIRE!”
I looked at Shar. “What do you think?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Forlorn Hope? Someone has a sense of humor. That.. thing out there was obviously a decommissioned battle cruiser being salvaged. When the Captain or whoever decided to tow her out here, he needed a name.”
I snorted in exasperation. “Not that, you idiot! Do you think they’re just trying to delay us while they get to
