Never leave someone behind, the pledge goes both ways.
He looked over at Merritt who stood with a pained expression.
“Jason, if you try and pick those people up, we all die.” Jason tried to run a quick calculation to think it through. Intrepid could attempt to land, a tricky maneuver on the crater-pocked surface. She had pulled it off once to pick up two companies of marines, and had been scorched by ground fire in the process. It would mean bringing her speed down to zero, and then having to climb back out against gravity. She’d be caught coming off the planet, not only by the fighters but by the capital ships.
Send the Sabres in; they could cram several people into the rear storage hatch. That’d save twenty maybe. Relaunch a landing craft and try to hold the fighters off.
“Damn it to hell!” Jason snapped.
“They knew the risk,” Merritt said quietly, “they knew it when they signed on.”
“And the deal goes both ways,” Jason shouted. “We’re going in after them.”
“Tarawa, do you copy?”
“We’re here, Svetlana, just hang on. We’re scrambling the Sabres in to pick up half your people, a landing craft is being turned around now for the rest.”
There was a pause on the other side.
“Nice try, Tarawa, but I don’t think so.”
“Just hang on, Svetlana.”
“Jason,” and there was a pause for a moment. “Listen Jason, you’re running the show now. A thousand people are counting on you to get them out. We’re finished. Don’t sacrifice yourselves to save us. I know what the score is and so do you. If you hang around now, you’re all going to be lost. Get the hell out now!”
“Shut up, Svetlana. We’re coming in.”
“Colonel Merritt?”
“Here, Svetlana.”
“What’s the firing code?”
Merritt closed his eyes and lowered his head.
“Double Alpha, Fox, Tango, Three,” he said, his voice low, barely audible.
“Double Alpha, Fox, Tango, Three, copy that,” Svetlana said quietly.
Jason looked back at Merritt.
“The matter/antimatter mines were rigged to fire on a one-hour delay so we were well clear,” Merritt whispered. “They can also be fired manually.”
He looked straight into Jason’s eyes.
“I’m sorry son, but she’s right. God help us all, but she’s right.”
Jason turned back to the commlink which was again showing a wavery image.
“Svetlana, don’t. Wait, just wait.”
“Double Alpha, Fox, Tango, Three,” she repeated. “Firing trigger is armed.”
“Svetlana!”
She turned and looked back at the screen.
“Jason, honey. Save your fleet. Maybe some other time, some other life, we’ll see each other again. I’ve always loved you, Jason. I’ll always be with you.”
“Svetlana! No!”
The screen went blank.
He looked up at the forward monitor as dozens of white snaps of light mushroomed across the screen.
He stood in mute horror, watching as the explosions ripped the naval station apart, white hot walls of fire racing outward, mushrooming up into the sky.
The control room was as quiet as a tomb, except for the steady chatter coming in from the other ships, and Doomsday’s squadron, which was positioning to cover the Tarawa from the rear.
Jason suddenly realized that all eyes were upon him.
“Son.”
Jason looked over at Merritt who stood with tears in his eyes.
“Son, you’re the captain now.”
Jason nodded and walked over to the control display, trying to blink back the tears.
“Holo tactical display,” and the image came up and floated before him. The Kilrathi fighters were spreading out and the heavy capital ships were closing as well, two of them maneuvering to block the path to their intended retreat point.
Though long-range scan was not yet back on-line he could surmise that an additional capital ship would be stationed directly at the jump point. With the condition Tarawa was already in, there was no hope of fighting through and at this point, even if they did make it to the jump point, there was no guarantee that the jump engine would work correctly. They were cut off. He had to do something else, and damned quickly.
“Pull up a map of this system,” Jason said quietly, and the image appeared alongside that of the tactical. He studied it intently for several seconds. He traced out a line with a laser pointer and then looked over at the computer nav system which automatically took his course plot and changed it into a heading while compensating for the gravitational effect of the moon, and all the other planets in the system.
“Helm officer, bring us around to a heading of 331.3 by negative one degree to solar axis standard. Engine room, let’s see what you’ve got. Signal our intended path to our escorts and the Sabres. Close down the ram scoops ninety-five percent for full acceleration. Let’s get the hell out of here,” and he felt his voice start to quaver.
He looked over at his staff who looked at him in confusion over his command, which was heading them nowhere near a jump point and then they leaped to work.
Jason looked around the room, feeling the ship start to shudder as she turned and powered up full afterburners.
“Tarawa, what the hell is this heading?” Grierson shouted, coming back on the commlink. “You’re taking us straight into the willywacks and no jump point is in sight!”
“All points are undoubtedly covered by now,” Jason said quietly. “We’re going straight for the gas giant, where they have an orbital base. Most likely all their fighters have been expended.”
“So big deal, we smash a lousy base, then what?”
“We need time for repairs,” Jason announced, “our shield generator’s still out, jump engine is doubtful and all our wiring is shot to hell. We need some time.”
Grierson suddenly smiled.
“OK, Tarawa, we’re with you.”
The rearmed fighters aboard Tarawa sortied back out, forming a protective screen to the rear of the ship as it climbed up and away from the Kilrah system.
“We’ve got a long run,” Jason said quietly and he went over to the deck officer’s chair and settled down.
By the end of the first hour a steady battle was being waged a thousand kilometers astern of the Tarawa as Starlight and Doomsday struggled to keep successive waves of faster enemy fighters and strike craft from closing in to engage their crippled carrier. Another Sabre went down, along with two more fighters and three Ferrets which were going head-to-head with Grikath and Jalkehi fighters, in exchange for a dozen enemy fighters and a single torpedo hit to a Kilrathi destroyer which forced it to drop out of the chase.
By the third hour of the long stern chase Intrepid and Kagimasha were trading long range volleys and launching torpedo spreads against the enemy Ralatha destroyers, one of which seemed to carry an improved engine system that enabled it to afterburner up to a dozen clicks a second faster than Tarawa. With ram scoops almost fully retracted, speeds went up past six thousand clicks a second.
Throughout the chase Jason sat in silence, occasionally issuing a terse command, but saying nothing more. Fighters, short of ammunition and fuel, would break off and sweep back in for refitting and sortie back out. Jason watched the pilots who did not even bother to climb out of their cockpits, and saw their pale, sweat-streaked faces, lined with fatigue.
“Enemy base orbiting the gas giant is now within five hundred thousand kilometers and closing,” his combat information officer announced and he finally stirred.