(INS Vindicator of Truth, Sedara System)
Lieutenant Knox frowned as he looked at the plot. They had spent the first ten hours after they got the warning from the Tiger, now presumed destroyed in action, spreading as many tarpits as they could, blanketing an arc twenty degrees across and ten degrees above and below the ecliptic with overlapping tarpit traps. That didn’t sound like much, considering a sphere was three hundred and sixty degrees in each plane, but when talking about a fraction of a solar system’s heliopause, it was, frankly, a miracle that they had done so much, so quickly.
The Vindicator of Truth, Yadara, and Binlaster were currently spread out, trying to cover as much ground as possible with their three ships. They couldn’t hope to fight, even grouped together, so, instead, Captain Dotson had decided that the ships would start hit-and-run, harassing maneuvers, trying to goad the enemy into chasing them for as long as possible. It was a bad plan, but it was the best of the bad options they had available to them.
This meant that, at the moment, his Vindicator was at the leading edge of the tarpits, since his ship had the newest sensors, and could more quickly respond to where, exactly, the Ihm decided to show up. Or, more likely, get out of the way if they happened to come in on the most likely track, which was almost directly through their current position. His ship was the lightest and quickest of the three, after all, so his Vindicator had the best chance of getting out of the armada’s way before getting destroyed.
The problem was that the Ihm were overdue. Given the Tiger’s last known position, they should have been here an hour ago. Not that he was eager to rush to his death, since there was no way their three ships could stand against that fleet, but if they weren’t here, then where were they? They had to be up to something.
“Sir, I think we have something!”
Knox looked over to his sensor officer, and nodded. “Report.”
“We’re picking up multiple bowshocks from warp vessels.”
“So, they’re finally coming.”
“Yes, sir, but look at the track!”
Knox looked at the readings, and cursed. The bowshocks were leading directly into Sedara, as expected, but there were groups! One was coming in at fifty degrees above the ecliptic, and the other was coming in at fifty degrees below! The Ihm had maneuvered to avoid their trap!
“Priority message to Yadara!”
(Fleet Command Cluster, IAS Perfection Made Manifest, approaching Sedara)
Warmaster Rhiz Chokiyuss smiled as she watched the plot. The information it showed her was perfect, for it was the product of the Perfected Ihm, like her, who made it be so. Everything was happening precisely according to her perfect design.
The Imperials had not been idle. The sensor readings she was looking at clearly showed that they had seeded a far larger section of the heliopause with their crude tarpits than she had initially thought possible. That was commendable. They saw the doom that was coming for them, and they used the only trick they had available, and performed better than her expectations.
She had expected them to cover maybe a ten-degree arc on each plane. That alone would have been impressive, for so short a window as they had to prepare. But they had doubled her expectations. It was worthy of praise, for it showed that the Perfected Imperium would have worthy foes, to better show their superiority above all.
But she was Perfected, and she did not leave things to chance. She had taken her predictions, and doubled them, before doubling them again, and only then marked the course her armada would take to get around the Imperials’ attempt at a trap. Thus, she showed that her perfected intellect was superior to the humans.
“All ships, prepare to exit warp. Shell formation, corvettes and frigates to the outer edge. The Imperials will be desperate. They may try something brave, but futile.”
(Flag Bridge, INS Traitor’s Bane, Uldat System)
Admiral Landry watched the mission table from her flag bridge with impatience. The crews had been recalled, the last shuttles making their way to their ships. The fleet’s warp drives had already been warmed up, ready for the microjump to the heliopause. Calculations were already running, and constantly updating, for the transition to Sedara. She’d even managed to get some sleep, so she would be fresh for the fight.
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But she was concerned about the news from Sedara. The Ihm were overdue. The lizards might be proud to a fault, and downright overconfident when it came to their military and technological capabilities, but they weren’t idiots. At least, the females weren’t idiots.
The obvious answer was that Tiger had been spotted, and destroyed, by the armada, and they had done… something. But what? She didn’t know which lizard was in charge of this armada, but they must have guessed at Dotson’s plans once they realized that the Tiger had gotten the warning out. Dotson’s plan was the only one that had any chance, after all. It didn’t take a tactical genius to figure it out, once they knew of the limitations of the transition drive.
“Sir, incoming transmission from the Yadara, Priority One-Black!”
Landry’s breath caught for a second, half a second. Priority One transmissions were for invasion scenarios, and this certainly qualified, but the Black modifier? That meant that the system was already overrun.
“On screen! And tell the shuttles to redline the engines! I want to be moving yesterday!”
“Aye, aye, Ma’am!”
As the officer turned to give the reports, the display in front of Landry lit up, showing Captain Dotson on the bridge of the Yadara. There didn’t appear to be any battle damage in view. So, the ship still lived, at least when the message went out, and hadn’t gotten into combat yet.
Dotson’s face was grave, matching the tone of his voice. “Admiral Landry, it is my duty to inform you that, by your projected time of arrival, the Sedara system will be in the hands of the Ihm Armada.
“Accompanying this transmission is all the data we’ve acquired. But the facts are that the Ihm outplayed us. With Tiger’s likely destruction, they must have anticipated our attempt to use tarpits to tie them down in the outer system. We thought that they might try to alter course slightly, and so we cast the widest net we could, but the Ihm changed course more radically than we believed.
“As you can see from the attached data, the Ihm Armada has split into two wings, approaching from well above and below the ecliptic. All available tarpit generators save for the ones installed in our ships have been deployed already, and cannot be moved in time. And our ships will not be able to hold the Ihm back for more than seconds before they destroy us and continue on to the inhabited planets.
“As stated in my earlier report, all civilian ships that are spaceworthy have already left Sedara. On my authority, Falcon Squadron attached itself to the refugee fleet as parasite craft, to provide some cover for the civilians. They are making their way to the Hedal System, and I have alerted authorities there so that they can prepare.
“For those left behind, Imperial Guard forces on the planet are already activating invasion protocols, and the remaining civilians are being moved to the shelters. All those capable of fighting are being armed, to aid in the ground defense. The Guard will fight to hold back the enemy as long as possible. But with orbital supremacy, their situation is bleak.
“As for my ships, I have ordered the engineers aboard Yadara and Binlaster to remove the safety interlocks on our warp drives. At least, that way, we’ll take a couple of the bastards with us before they can blow us out of the sky. I am ordering the Vindicator of Truth to remain in silent running until Eighth Fleet arrives, to provide as much data on what the Ihm are doing as possible.”
Captain Dotson straightened up, going to attention, and his salute was so crisp that it would make a drill instructor weep for joy. “This is Captain Kamden Dotson of the INS Yadara, signing off. Glory to the Empire! Long live the Empress!”
Admiral Landry let her breath out slowly. Despite secure FTL relays, there was still a delay of a few minutes between transmission and reception for military-grade encrypted transmissions. Especially when they were accompanied by large data bursts.
A sense of cold settled over her. She would not waste this gift Captain Dotson had given her. Looking over to the communications officer, she said, “Retransmit Yadara’s final message to the entire Navy. Ensure it reaches the Admiralty and the Empress. Priority One. And send the data stream to all captains in Eighth Fleet.”
She pulled up a map of the Sedara system, including the current position of the planets. She couldn’t just rush in headlong to attack the Armada. Not now that they were going to be already in effective possession of the system. She could bloody the Ihm that way, but she couldn’t beat them. She needed to find a way to even the odds.
“Have the fleet recalculate our transition point. We will be coming out on the far side of the system primary from Sedara. Try and bait the ships away from the planet, so the Guard can have a bit of a break.”
“Aye, Ma’am.”
She took a breath, and then straightened up. “Put me through to Eighth Fleet, copy to the Admiralty.”
“You’re on in three, two, one.”
“Men and Women of the Navy! By now, you have all seen the last report of the Yadara. The Ihm Imperium has invaded our space, without provocation or declaration of war. Our brothers and sisters on the Yadara and Binlaster are preparing to make the ultimate sacrifice to ensure that the enemy bleeds just that little bit more, and give the brave Imperial Guardsmen on Sedara all the time they can to prepare the planet’s defenses. The Vindicator of Truth is doing her grim duty, and providing a testament to their sacrifice, so that we can have even one iota more of tactical data to plan our counterattack.
“I will not lie to you, brave sailors of the Fleet. This is not going to be an easy battle. The enemy outnumber us, and they have already shown that they are intelligent. I will not say they aren’t fools, because only fools would attack the Terran Empire! But we would be fools ourselves if we underestimated our enemy, when they have already shown their capability.
“Your orders are to transition to Sedara, at the coordinates provided. We will attempt to draw out the enemy, pull them away from Sedara. In doing so, we not only give ourselves the best chance of defeating the Ihm Armada in detail, but we also ensure that the Guardsmen can do their duty without worrying about orbital bombardments when they already have Ihm Legionnaires to preoccupy them.
“Remember, all of you, we are the Imperial Navy! The Ihm may outnumber us, but I would not trade one of you brave men and women for a dozen of the overgrown lizards! We will burn the name of Eighth Fleet into their very souls, so that, one thousand years from now, the very mention of our names drives the lizards mad with fear. Fear of our wrath, and the righteous fury of the Empire!
“All ships, all hands, BATTLE STATIONS! For the Glory of the Empire! For the Empress!”
She signaled her aide to cut the transmission. The admiral took one breath, then two. The fervor was good for the crews, but she needed to be cold if she was to command this battle. The enemy may have gotten off a sucker punch, but they weren’t out of the fight yet. She would let her enemy be the one to get emotional, and make mistakes. And when they did, she would have a sucker punch of her own, waiting.
Looking at her display, she saw that the last of the shuttles had just docked. She took another breath. “Signal to all ships. Execute microjump, and transition on my mark. Mark!”