Fleet ordnance had been working like mad to come up with a counter, but so far no one had been able to snag a round for evaluation since they were armed with a timed detonator if they failed to strike a target, thus blowing up anyhow and confounding the munitions experts.
The drama played out in seconds. Four more torpedoes, all of them the older unguided models, went down to the counter-missile strike; it looked like several more were hit by miniguns and then the silver blips converged in on a single point two, one, got it!'
Space erupted with a brilliant flash as bright as the sun and the carrier was gone, internal munitions stores and fuel detonating in a firecracker string of secondary explosions that ripped the ship apart.
'Scratch one flattop,' Ian shouted, comm channel discipline breaking down as nearly everyone came on yelling and cheering. He rolled his ship over, coming in on a banking turn, careful to avoid the edge of the expanding cloud of debris, making sure his gun cameras were running at high gain. A lot could be learned when the holo tapes were played back and inspected — did the torpedo guidance systems function correctly, exactly where were the impact points, were any structural weaknesses revealed as the enemy ship ruptured . . . even ship contents were important.
Several years back one of his old buddies, Paladin, had jumped a light transport and wasted it while raiding inside enemy lines. An evaluation of the explosion had shown a brief single frame image of several space suits blowing out of the erupting hull. It was still a wonder how the holo evaluation crowd had enhanced, magnified and fiddled with the shot and finally figured that the suits were specifically designed for a high radiation high gravity planet. The Hot Pit, a forward base in the Zarnobian System fit the bill as the only military target in the sector that matched up with the suits. A Marine raider battalion was rushed in, set up an ambush, and nailed a landing raid bagging a regiment of elite Kilrathi Imperial shock troops.
Hunter swept past the edge of the fireball, and then turned back towards Munro, ready to offer backup support for the Marine landing operation. The red blips of the few remaining Kilrathi fighters covering the carrier were winking off the screen as the Rapier squadrons finished them off.
Hunter clicked back on to the main commlink channel, knowing that his exuberant cry, 'scratch one flattop,' the fleet's traditional announcement that a carrier had been killed, had already been received by the combat information control officer and sent up to the other ships in the fleet.
He found the word flattop to be rather interesting, it came from old English when carriers were ships of the seas, but in no way could it ever describe a modem carrier with its bristling array of defenses and landing bays covered over with heavy durasteel armor.
Tradition, how the Navy loves tradition, he thought with a smile.
'All attack squadrons, job well done.'
He stiffened slightly. It was the old man himself, Rear Admiral Sir Geoffrey Tolwyn.
'All strike craft return to base.'
Return to base? Hell, there was still a major brawl going on down with the Marines.
'Repeat, please?' Hunter clicked in.
'That means you, Hunter, just like everyone else. All attack squadrons return to base,' Tolwyn snarled.
'Yes, sir,' he said. There was nothing to be gained by arguing with an admiral. But it was certainly strange that the old man would actually allow a voice transmission on his part. A Kilrathi listening post could pick it up, figure out who he was, and perhaps even trace a fleet movement as a result. Tolwyn knew better and it bothered him.
'What the hell is up, Ian?'
He looked over at Griffin and could only shrug his shoulders. This was definitely not standard operation procedure. They had dumped the only capital ship in the sector, now was the time to go after the few corvettes and really smash up any ground resistance and save some grunt lives.
'Say, Hunter.'
It was Kevin Tolwyn, Geoffrey's nephew.
'Yeah go ahead, Lone Wolf.'
'I just heard the word on Tarawa's commlink to our two squadrons covering the ground assault. They've been ordered to break off engagement and withdraw out of the atmosphere.'
'Yeah, that's the word. You got any inside stuff? What the hell is the old man up to?'
'Damned if I know, sir.'
'Follow orders, then,' Hunter replied and then checked through his channels to make sure that the other squadrons were following orders as well. In the heat of a successful battle like this, it was tough at times to break an action off. There could only be one of two reasons for this, either some major Kilrathi reinforcements had been detected and Tolwyn was pulling in his fighters to rearm, or the other possibility. He pushed that thought aside as absurd.
'Griffin, get us on Concordia navlock.'
'Already on, sir.'
'Let's go back and find out what the hell is going on.'
'Attention!'
The squadron commanders, and section officers called together for the staff meeting leaped out of their seats and came rigidly to attention.
Rear Admiral Geoffrey Tolwyn, strode into the briefing room. He reached the podium, lowered his head for a second and then raised it again to look out at the men and women in the room. He felt a tug at his heart at the sight of them.
'Never, for God sake never, let your people get inside your heart, for your job is to use them, and if need be kill them,' a voice whispered to him. It was his old mentor Banbridge's classic piece of advice.
I guess that's what separates me from him, Geoff thought. With Clara and the boys gone this is my family. It was something he never let show, no matter what. He knew that behind his back he was 'the old man,' which was the gentlest of epithets; usually it was far worse and ofttimes even angry. They never really knew how he felt, especially when he looked into their eyes just before a strike went out, knowing that he was ordering some of them to their deaths. Well, at least that's finished for the moment.
He clicked a comm button which opened the public address channel for the entire ship.
'All hands, all hands, this is Admiral Tolwyn,' his deep baritone voice, clipped with the refined touch of an Oxford education, echoing through the ship.
'I have just received the following communication from C-in-C ConFleet, it reads, 'To Tolwyn, commanding, Task Force 45. Armistice agreement and cease fire has been reached with Kilrathi Empire, to be effective upon reception of this signal. All offensive operations to cease immediately and to withdraw to navigation point detailed below Repeat, all offensive operations to cease at once. Fire only if fired upon. Signed Noragami, commanding, Confederation Navy.''
He hesitated as if wanting to say something and then lowered his head
'That is all,' and clicked off the comm channel.
He looked back up at his officers who stood incredulous. In the corridors outside the conference room distant cheering could be heard.
'I'm only going to say this once,' Tolwyn said quietly. 'I'm proud of all of you for the job you've done. In the seven years I've been in command of Concordia we've taken out eight carriers, a score of capital ships, countless fighters and bombers, and fought in nine major fleet actions. Concordia is not just steel, guns and planes, in fact it is you, it is your flesh and blood and the spirits of all those who've served on her, living and dead.'
He hesitated for a moment.
'When it comes time for her to fight again, I hope and pray that I'll be able to count on you all in our hour of need.'
'Dismissed.'
He started for the door, the room silent.
'Damn, we're going home!' somebody shouted and the room erupted in cheers. Tolwyn stiffened his shoulders and walked out.
He passed down the corridor, ignoring the cheers and the momentary lack of discipline, retreated to his office, closed the door, and for the first time in months poured a good stiff drink of single malt Scotch. Settling back
