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Strategos (A Great Captain Roberts Tale!!)
Chapter 27 - Around the Maypole (Part Four) Continued[]
"What??..
…The hell??" Bart Inslee scowled at his Quartermaster. "What do you mean we don't have the reserve airframes in storage?"
"I mean, sir, that we have an inventory notation claiming the airframes were repurposed to Tithing operations over Bell-almost six months ago. We have a few engine parts, spare ammunition for the Hammerheads, spare barrel units, plenty of extra armor in pre-formed sheets, what we do NOT have, are actual reserve airframes to put the stuff on."
"I don't remember authorizing that."
"The signature was your cousin Sarah's."
That Bitch!! "And nobody noticed during preparations?"
"No sir, we were too busy shipping extra ammunition and shipboard consumables-"
"What do we have?"
"We can arm the Mark Sevens, and the pair of K-1s can be used as fighter replacements in a pinch…"
"Gawd Dammit!!" Bart struck himself. "Not you, QM, not your mistake." he said. "I'm supposed to check that stuff. I was busy trying to bone up on ship-to-ship tactics instead…okay, so can you fit rocket pods and drop tanks on the Mark VIIs then?"
"Yes Sir…Sir?"
"CAG, get with the QM, I want our assault shuttles armed for point defense tasks, but keep them on standby with the engines on warm idle."
"Sir?"
"Bonaventures come with six Aerospace Fighters, just like we do, and more cargo space, they didn't lose their on-deck fighter capacity. They also can't win a gunfight. What do you think they're going to do in that situation?"
"Carrier ops."
"Bingo. I screwed up, we're at a disadvantage in a carrier fight, I screwed up again, by deploying our fighter wing too soon and lost them in the stern chase, so now we have to improvise, or declare defeat and retreat, because our backup is two days out, charging at Culmia, and if THEY have backup, that backup is probably on the way as well…and ours is on standard JumpShips, which makes them meat for that Bonneville if we don't take it down."
"So we have to force an engagement."
"Yes," Bart asserted. "We can win a gunfight, they can't, they're going to try carrier ops because they can still evade while doing damage, and whoever this Roberts girl really is, she's good-she's better than my father, better than me."
"SIR!!" the statement was almost heresy.
"I'm honest with myself, it's why I didn't end up on her Majesty's bookshelf with Winston." Bart stated. "The enemy commander is better at this than I am, but I wasn't given the option of retreat, which means I wind up on Winston's bookshelf."
"What about Denial tactics?" his CAG asked.
"Denial tactics?"
"If we can't keep it, they can't have it. We are fully loaded."
"NO!" Bart gaped. "No, no…WE need what's on that planet! We'll need it tomorrow TOO."
"Maybe just bluff," the QM said. "They'll have to come to you-"
"A bluff is worthless if you're not willing to actually do it!" Bart argued.
"And what would Her Majesty say?" the QM asked. "If you don't, we lose the planet anyway."
Bart felt the universe compress into a point…and his neck itched.
I'm going to be executed for failure or for succeeding…
"Set course for Johnson Two," he said. "And may god have mercy on all our souls. One gravity."
"One gravity?"
"No reason to hurry, we're not chasing, they have to react to US now," he said miserably. "And load main guns and secondary batteries, rig for surface bombardment."
"Sir?"
"A bluff is no good if you won't carry through," he stated, his expression twisted with inner pain. "So we're going to bombard the settlements if they don't come to stop us."
"You got lucky
…Roberts. You were able to lure them into a small trap." Captain Foster was on Amanda's boat-deck.
"Yes, Sir."
"And now, you know you can not rely on that luck." Foster concluded. "Their exit angle from the gas giant is aimed at the colony."
She closed her eyes. "Shit. He's going to hold the planet hostage."
"It is what I would have done in his shoes. It is what his cousin, who we pinched over Bell would have led off with." Foster explained. "Which is the first error in the plan you forwarded-the only thing worth defending in this system is something he can threaten and force you into the gunfight you cannot, objectively, win."
"The counter?"
"My executive officer is already prepping course to a position for that." David noted. "The enemy commander cannot afford to survive losing- their leader will have his head cut off, and mounted on a bookshelf if he survives not winning, that makes him more dangerous, because you just showed him he is, as a commander, out classed…let's go to CIC."
They headed 'down' and inward to the section housing the Combat Information Center.
"What's the plan??"
"Our opponent must burn to a position to conduct orbital bombardment, because that is the way to lure you out-you either have to engage him in a fight he can win, or retreat, and if you retreat, then he has won without firing a shot…but he does not think it is in you to flee, I suspect. So he will position for Orbom, and if it does not look like you are going to play ball. He will do it to force you out. Now, what is going to happen, is that my fighter stars and your fighter wing will be in position to take advantage."
"Advantage?"
"Orbital bombardment requires closer orbits-riding the upper reaches of the ionosphere at minimum, that blinds your long range sensors and causes handling issues-issues his helm will have to compensate for to deliver the goods," Foster was in full on instructor mode. "It means he is going be blind to the flanks, and facings-and forced to hold position-he will not be able to maneuver like that, and he will have a hard time hitting anything BUT the planet with his other weapons. Orbital Bombardment was off the table in the Ares conventions in part because it is extremely imprecise and risky…but it's the only card he can use with his fighters down."
"What about small craft?" she asked. "Armed shuttles…"
"Oh, yeah, he WILL have those out. Which actually makes things simpler for us-he will need to use them as his 'eyes' and that means They will be broadcasting, which makes targeting and killing them significantly easier, especially with capital lasers while the fighter wings close. You need to have your crew in suits, and drop pressure to null bars during the actual engagement.."
"Sir?"
"Atmosphere translates shockwaves and feeds fires, and his guns that can pop our tin cans like..tin cans on a shooting range-it is much, much, easier to fix damage if that atmosphere does not carry fire and shock, and we might last a few minutes longer if he DOES get a good lock in that position."
"That wasn't in the doctrine…" she mused.
"Of course not, it is not in any SLDF training manual, but it is something we learned fighting the Snake Clans during the Reaving war," Foster said grimly, then chuckled.. "It was one of the tricks the Taurians used in the Reunification War that made them such tough bastards to fight…so, we are going in Taurian style, because I bet our man on the other end is using SLDF playbooks. Which call for shirtsleeves environments everywhere, but the shuttle bays and fighter bays."
He illustrated on the holotable where the fighter wings with their small craft support were going to vector in, as well as the course projections for both the Evanescent and Illusive.
"Slingshot over the gas giant's pole?" Amanda asked.
"Three vector angles, the Essex class's weapons bays have the same limited traverse yours do, they're just carrying bigger weapons and more of them. He will be angling for low orbit, which limits his vision and lets us use the moon's own mass and horizon to screen the fighter wings, our positions will make this a 'ferry exchange'-my fighters land on your deck, your fighters on mine…and we're not doing the boarding action, because I have no intention of leaving that Essex class intact. Instead, we will be loading anti-shipping loads for strike wings, the support craft are still going to run ESM and ECM as well as providing supplemental firepower."
"Wagon Wheel." Larry observed from the side.
Foster nodded. "That is correct, Mister Nichols. Wagon wheel strikes in three dimensions instead of two, the objective of the first pass is to blind what sensors he still has, and if possible cripple his main firepower and thrust before we close with the corvettes-THAT part of the plan was sound."
<<"Hello Captain…
…Roberts. As you can see, I'm on course for Johnson Two.">> On the screen, Bart Inslee looked like a man heading for misery and hell. <<"You forced this. You could have retreated, you could have surrendered, you could have given a straight fight, you didn't, and now I have to make you do it.">>
Amanda forced her expression to remain neutral. "You're going to bombard the planet." she said.
<<"You didn't leave me a lot of choice-we can't let you have it intact, and I can't back down.">> he stated.
She straightened, "That's because your 'Basileus' would put your head on her bookshelf, right? That's what this is about, isn't it? Why you're playing this so stupidly, you're afraid for your life."
<<"How did you guess?">>
"One of my colleagues took your cousin Sarah into custody at Bell three weeks ago." Amanda stated, "Meaning whatever secrets you think you need to protect are already ours, I've been counseled not to try this, but Captain Inslee, you have a choice, your crew has a choice, there is another option, you don't have to make me kill you."
<<"I have TWICE YOUR SHIP here!!">> he scoffed.
"I've already led you to destroy your air-wing, Inslee. If you go to bombard those civilians, I'll have to kill you, I'll have to kill your ship, you won't be leaving this star system, and you won't survive."
<<"You don't get it, I have backup coming! Your little tin-can might have been able to play a long game of tag, but-">>
"But so do I, and i suspect my backup's bigger, and more experienced." Amanda recited. "I have a Nation behind me, Inslee, we have starship production, established industries, and international legitimacy. That means resources we don't have to use armed robbery and impressiveness to fill, not scrabbling with hand-me-downs. You get it? We can just keep coming. There is no scenario where you come out ahead here, Inslee, but some outcomes are less bad than others-if you surrender. You'll be treated in accordance with…" she froze for a moment, like the Basileus! he realized, "Jus Ad Bellum, the laws of war, we have no proof YOU engaged in pirate raiding or slave trading, you can maybe live. Be a Soldier and surrender while you can, don't be a murderer in a futile action, because if you kill those people down there, I can guarantee you this; The Raven Alliance will avenge every victim, and they won't stop."
Amanda Desperately wanted to instill doubt in this man.
<<"You're…you have one too." he almost whispered, <<"You have one and yet…Captain Roberts, we ARE legitimate! I serve the only legitimate Cameron Heir!!.">>
"You're serving that heir in the Outworlds Alliance, Captain Inslee, not the Terran Hegemony." she pointed out, "your 'legitimate heir' has been committing acts of war against a nation that has no declared hostilities with the Terran Hegemony or House Cameron since the Reunification War-that makes you a soldier following illegal orders. Likely because you were never told those orders were illegal."
Amanda tabbed a control on her chair's interface. "This is my letter of marque and reprisal, Captain, I am acting on behalf of an established, recognized government, there is also my letter of commission as an established officer of the law and the court, of a recognized government, you have only the claims of your leader, I have the acknowledgement of a government-one that does not have to shanghai citizens to keep it running and doesn't have to steal technology to keep the lights on. Don't Kill the citizens down there, be the officer you should be!!"
On Bedwyr's monitor in CIC Amanda gave the order to launch the strike package. If he's talking he's not burning civilians.
Foster felt a…
..sting of pride as he monitored the exchange between Roberts, and Inslee. She was keeping the man talking, distracting him from a mission of horror and madness. All in the meanwhile moving forward with the main assault plan.
She hadn't cleared it with him during their meeting, but it made sense that the girl would at least try to negotiate-because negotiation would delay them. Whe'd already shown a gift for delaying tactics and harassment against a significantly more powerful opponent.
"Launch our strike wings." he ordered.
By keeping them focused on her, she was preserving his ship and maybe buying time to knock out, capture, or destroy the Lynnwood before it could engage the civilians on the planet. It wasn't what a Clan trained warrior would do, it was what an Outworlder would do..but it could work, and the worst that could happen, is that her attempt at diplomacy might fail, leaving things to fall back to the conditions of no negotiation and forced confrontation that existed before.
(("Be the Officer you Should be")) she was saying.
Doubt. She was trying to sow doubt in fanatics…but it was keeping them focused on her.
And she sounded so sincere.
"Will it work?" Johnny asked.
"No, but if it did…it would mean some of them are redeemable. I think Roberts is hoping there is some shred of decency on that bridge." Foster said, and looked the younger man in the eyes, "There is none, but she still feels she must try. Do you understand why?"
"Because it's the right thing to do?"
"No, because it is the honorable thing to do. The 'right' thing would be to engage them while they are too deep in the task of burning civilians to death to escape or fight back…but she is offering them the chance for honorable surrender instead of a glorious death, and there is something absolutely moral about doing so, it makes the kill cleaner."
"So…it's wrong, but it's honorable?"
"Wrong on a tactical level, but correct on a moral level. She is preserving resources and trying to avoid unnecessary waste." Foster corrected him, "Unfortunately, I do not think her honorable attempt will be successful, but it speaks well of her character to try."
Bart Inslee…
…thought about his gardens, and then about his home, and his life, and his family before answering her.
"I must not." he said, "You have only one choice, come stop me." and terminated the link.
"Bring us to one hundred percent, I want to be in orbit over Johnson Two and ready to engage the surface in no more than five hours!!"
They don't understand what the cost is, if I surrender, what it will cost everyone I love, or care about, or even know. "and make sure we have point defenses up and ready."
"Yes, Captain." officer replied
They don't understand, it's win or die. If they truly took Sarah's crew, and have those secrets. I can only win or die trying.