Fourth Vector Ch. 12

"That's them!" said Jack with excitement. "We're that close to them. We could easily coordinate an attack and squeeze theMuthada between us!"

Greg radioed back over to Bucknell. "You can cut that fire out for now. Stand by for further instructions and get the men ready to attack."

The two men hurried back to the main camp between the two entrances to the plateau. In that spot, they found Abigail, who was talking with Vera around an early morning fire. She looked up at them expectantly as soon as she saw them rush over.

"What's gotten into you two this morning?"

Jack turned to point to the western horizon. "See that smoke over there?"

Abigail put her hand against her eyebrows and scanned the nearby sky. "Barely, but yes."

"Those are the missing platoons that should have been here last night. We knew they were held up by theMuthada, quite possibly with reinforcements from another clan but we had no idea how close they were to us."

"Wow, that really is close. Perhaps it won't be so hard for us to link up with them after all," said Abigail.

"No, and here's the plan for that. We need to coordinate with them and plan an attack down on the unsuspectingMuthada from both sides. If we can do this with surprise, we can concentrate our forces without the other clans getting involved. We may even be able to completely eliminate them as a threat as well as link up with the rest of our men," said Jack.

Abigail started to nod. "When do you want to do this attack?"

"As soon as possible," said Jack. "They could be mustering another attack at this very moment, and I don't want to waste the time in between. Plus we have to remember that there may be three more clans coming so if we can take one away from that number, our odds of surviving go up."

"The boys will be ready to fight when you give the order, Jack," said Greg. "I can radio a message over to Bucknell to have them ready for a predetermined attack time."

"Do you think they can be ready in the next hour?"

Greg pursed his lips as he thought about it. "They should be no problem. We've started attacks with less notice, and they should be ready to go after having spent the night surrounded by the enemy."

"Good," said Jack. "Here's what I want you to do. Remember the element of surprise is key so listen close. It's time for us to shift the momentum of this battle!"

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Back near Quiller's Cove, Luke tapped his foot impatiently against the deck of theValiant. His eyes were glued to the western horizon, much like that of his former commander's a thousand miles away. For Luke though, he was searching for the wounded cruiser. And so far, his quarry had gotten away.

It was only that morning when they had stumbled upon the Occitanian cruiser and managed to wound it grievously before it slipped into a fog bank, not uncommon in this part of the world. Counting at least three direct hits, the enemy cruiser had been a smoking mess as it slipped into safety, requiring the entire Javan task force to hold off on the pursuit. Visibility was too low for an engagement, and the worry was that they would be firing blindly without getting a chance to close in on the enemy.

So Luke found himself waiting, something he never did with any patience. Several hours passed until the fog was nearly burned off from the strength of the midday sun. It was only then that they received the go-ahead to continue the pursuit of the Occitanians from the task force commander, Rear Admiral Reynolds.

"They'll have all gotten away by now," growled Luke as the line of ships started to press forward. "They'll be about halfway to the Vector by this time!"

"Patience, Luke," said Kim, always a soothing presence at his side. "At most they've just gotten a little ahead of us. They wouldn't have traveled quickly through that fog."

"I really hope that cruiser is still burning but I can't see anything on the horizon just yet. With our luck, they've probably changed course, and we're going in the wrong direction."

Kim elbowed him in the ribs gently. "Will you try to think better thoughts? There's no need to be so negative right now."

Luke let out a long sigh. "I know, I'm sorry. I just wish we would've finished the job before they could get away."

"Even still, they have to be wounded. And with our current pace, we're bound to overtake them sooner or later," she said. "Perhaps we might still get to battle again today."

Kim's words proved almost prophetic. After the fog lifted and Reynolds set the task force to their top speed, it wasn't much more than an hour and a half later when they caught sight of the first signs of a distressed warship on the horizon. Luke watched closely through his binoculars as one smoky ship came into view, the tail end of the full Occitanian force as they steamed a westward course. The wounded warship was lagging behind, its speed greatly reduced by the earlier battle and a sitting duck for the rest of the Javans as they closed the distance.

"Task Force 49, man your battle-stations," came the radio command from Reynolds. "The cruisersHorton,Stardust, andValiant are to focus fire on the crippled cruiser while the destroyerClipper is to sprint forward to deliver a torpedo attack. For the rest of the force, watch out for enemy reprisals."

"This is theValiant here," replied Luke. "Preparing to fire on your orders, sir." Luke then turned to Bill. "When will our forward turrets be ready?"

"I need about twenty more seconds, Luke."

"Time to finish the job that we started," he growled, looking back out to the horizon. Then something curious began to happen. Instead of sacrificing the wounded cruiser, part of the Occitanian force began to turn, especially the two vessels closest to the rear. From his vantage point, it looked like they were going to attempt to fight to protect the straggling warship.

"My god, that's a battleship," said Luke quietly as he gazed upon the largest vessel now turning to face their direction. From just out on the horizon, he could make out the silhouette and the huge barrels of the forward turrets, now swinging around to lock place in the Javans' direction.

Reynolds must have seen it too. "Change of plans.Stardust andHorton, I need you on the Occie battleship. All destroyers are to rush forward and close to torpedo range.Valiant, the crippled cruiser is all yours. Send her to the bottom of the sea."

"Aye, sir," said Luke as he turned to face the rest of his officers. "You heard the man. Let's finish the job!"

TheValiant surged forward as the cruisers in the Javan force started their own movements during the delicate dance that was battle. Luke sent the vessel off in a northwesterly course as he brought all but the ruined turret to bear on the crippled cruiser.

"Guns ready, sir!" yelled out Bill after the long twenty seconds had since passed.

"Are we in range?"

"Yes, sir, and ready to fire!"

"All right, let's give them a volley. Fire now!" ordered Luke. The ship buckled as the weight of the guns sent a devastating salvo to open up the battle. All around them, the Javan ships opened up with their first ordnance as several shots were sent racing toward the three challenging warships. In what could have been beautiful displays had they not been so deadly, Luke watched carefully as the shots descended on the wounded cruiser, one of them making contact and causing a fireball to throw up just short of the superstructure.

"Direct hit! Damn good gunning, Bill!" said Luke with encouragement. "Let's load up again and try it one more time!"

"Luke, it looks like that battleship is about to fire!" said Kim, her eyes watching it closely. He scanned the horizon to see the long barrels pointed toward the rest of the cruisers, thankfully not targeting theValiant.

As soon as he locked eyes on the battleship, it opened up with all turrets, sending a volley that went racing toward the nearest ship, theHorton.

The mighty Javan cruiser took a glancing blow as most of the ordnance missed the mark and pounded the waves right next to it. A small billow of smoke soon went airborne from the cruiser as the destroyers pushed forward to engage each other with torpedoes.

"Luke, we're ready to fire!" said Bill as Luke watched another opening salvo from theStardust race toward the Occie battleship. This shot hit the mark much more closely, and soon the battleship was engulfed in its own fireball.

"Fire, Bill!" yelled Luke.

The ship vibrated as the guns roared to life once more. Luke felt his heart soar as the ordnance seemed to converge at the same point in the sky directly above the enemy cruiser. From there, they came crashing down at once, throwing up the largest fireball of the day.

"Holy shit, look at that hit!" yelled out Luke as the entire cruiser became obscured from view by the strength of the blast.

"That had to have done it! There's no way they're surviving that," said Kim excitedly.

"Change course due north, Anna! Let's see if we can get around that smoke cloud!"

As the battle raged just to the south, theValiant pushed north with its guns still trained on the wounded vessel. The heavy smoke took a long time to clear but as soon as it did, Luke could see the warship was already listing heavily to the starboard side, at least twenty degrees at his best estimate.

"We got 'em! They're going down by the stern!"

To all of their astonishment, the vessel sank at a rate much faster than expected. What remained of the stern was soon completely below the waves as the bow of the ship first lifted out of the water and then promptly turned on its side from the force of its own weight. Even from this distance, Luke could see the small, dark masses of bodies that littered the waves around it, the only survivors as the vessel soon slipped beneath the waves.

"Luke, we've got to get back to the main force," said an alarmed Kim before pointing back to the horizon. "TheHorton is ablaze!"

Luke spun around to look at the nearby Javan warships, his gaze instantly settling on theHorton as fire decimated a good portion of the superstructure. The ship was smoking heavily at the damage, and from the looks of the Occitanian battleship, they were getting ready to fire another salvo.

"Anna, turn us back around and center the guns on that battleship," ordered Luke.

TheValiant took a long, curved spin as it reentered the fray from the northwest, its guns now trained on the battleship.

"It doesn't even look like anything has touched that battleship. I can't see any damage on it whatsoever," said Kim. She was right—it looked like none of the earlier salvos from the other Javan cruisers had scored any hits.

"Let's end that right now," said Luke. "Bill, prepare to fire."

"Guns are trained, Luke. We're ready when you are."

"Good, send it now!"

TheValiant's five inch guns sent off another round that caught the battleship largely in the flank. While not heavy enough to cause significant damage, it at least had the effect of distracting their commanders and taking the spotlight off theHorton. A small plume of smoke appeared not far from the superstructure.

"You better hope their gunners are not very good," said Kim with a worried look on her face. "That turret is swinging around to point at us!"

Luke swallowed heavily as he watched it fix in place on theValiant. Before the battleship could get off another shot, theStardust managed to set off a heavy salvo that caught the enemy vessel directly amidship. Luke's eyes went wide at the sight of the battleship's entire hull buckling in the water as a ring of continuous explosions shot off all around the superstructure.

"My god," whispered Luke as he watched the devastation consume the battleship.

"Luke, the guns are ready again," said Bill from his station.

"Fire again, Bill," said Luke quietly.

Their next shot was deadly accurate as several shots landed directly on the deck of the battleship, causing more damage. The large vessel soon went dead in the water, the damage having extended to their engine room and cutting all power to their propulsion. As fires reigned above the water line and the ship came to halt, it became a sitting duck for the Javan forces to rake it with several new volleys from the closest cruisers.

It was a testament to the battleships strength in how many blows it could absorb while still remaining afloat. It took two more salvos from theStardust and one more crippled volley from theHorton before the majority of their crew could be seen abandoning ship. While the hull of the battleship began to sink lower in the water, rampant explosions rocked the decks as the vessel soon went lifeless.

Between them, the engagement between the destroyers had largely ended with predictable results. The single Occitanian destroyer was quickly overwhelmed by the Javan counterparts and sent under to join the cruiser from earlier. By midafternoon, all three enemy ships had slipped under the waves on a journey to their final resting place.

While their sacrifice had bought time for the remaining Occitanian ships to steam westwards, no order for pursuit was given. The Occitanians could now sail at full speed without having to watch out for the crippled cruiser and would prove harder to catch as they fled the scene. What was worse, theHorton was still damaged severely enough to require immediate attention. It was for that reason that Admiral Reynolds gave the order to return to Quiller's Cove.

"Great shooting by every ship. You've all made me proud out there today," said Reynolds over the radio. "We'll talk more back in Quiller's Cove."

As theValiant assisted in the rescue mission to pick up the surviving Occitanian sailors, Luke was able to reflect quietly on the bridge about the battle. Kim appeared behind him, putting a soft caress against his back.

"What's the matter? You're not usually this quiet after a battle."

Luke nodded quietly. "Those ships are heading west now. If we break off the pursuit, they'll be entering Fourth Vector territory within a few days."

"And heading straight for Jack," added Kim.

"Will Jack be ready for them? They won't need us too much at Quiller's Cove now if the Occitanians have moved on. Maybe this is our ticket to get back to our mission."

"We'll have to run it by the commodore and the admiral," said Kim. "But we all saw the direction they're heading. Perhaps it won't be too much for us to break off from this task force."

Luke nodded. "Let's bring it up when we get back to base."

It was late in the evening by the time that Task Force 49 entered the harbor at Quiller's Cove. The sun had already set, and thankfully, the fires had been extinguished on theHorton. Yet it was a charred mess of metal that drifted into the harbor that evening, and it was clear the cruiser would need much work moving forward.

Despite being in the thickest parts of the battle, theValiant came away largely unscathed. There was some light damage to the ship's superstructure that could be repaired in time as well as some missing wooden planks for the deck, but it gave a terrific showing for such a small vessel. Luke hadn't expected them to think much of the ship when it sortied out of the base several days ago, but with his experienced crew at his back, they accounted for themselves extremely well during the battle.

It was for that reason that Admiral Reynolds was waiting for him as his feet finally landed on the quay. With his officers behind him, Luke came to salute his commanding officer with his finest parade ground movements.

"You had a mighty fine showing out there, Luke," said Reynolds with a hint of pride. "It was all due to your actions that an enemy battleship and cruiser are now out of action for good."

Luke started to grin. "I had a lot of help, Admiral. I have an experienced crew behind me and some of the best officers that Java can send."

Reynolds chuckled. "That you do. And we think it's time that the Empire and the Admiralty reward such a devoted officer. You're being promoted, Luke."

"Promoted?" he whispered.

"That's right, Commander Ravencross. I've already radioed ahead to get approval, and I'll send over a new stripe for your uniform. We're proud to have you fight with us, Commander."

"I'm honored, sir. Thank you. I'm not sure what to say," said Luke with a stammer. Behind him, Kim beamed with pride at his accomplishment.

"You don't have to say a thing, Luke. I can tell just by your expression what this means to you." Reynolds wasn't wrong. Luke's face was filled with a mixture of pride, glory, and even trace amounts of embarrassment at such a public display of praise.

"Now, come on up with me to see Lucas," said Reynolds. "Do you want to bring a deputy with you?"

"Just my operations division head, Lt. Kim Cross," said Luke. "She's my right hand in all of this."

Reynolds nodded and looked past him to Kim. "Come on with us then, Lieutenant. Let's give our after action report to the commodore!"

The three of them walked quietly along the darkened streets of the Quiller's Cove until reaching the commodore's headquarters. They quickly reached the third floor, drawing an awkward salute from Lt. Settler that made Luke grin to himself. A few moments later, Lucas appeared and immediately saluted Reynolds.

"Welcome back, Admiral Reynolds," said the commodore before turning to Luke. "And I believe a congratulations is in order, Commander Ravencross."

Luke saluted in return. "Thank you, Commodore!"

"I hope the both of you are here to tell me about today's battle," said Lucas. "Somehow I'm betting the radio transmissions and the reports didn't quite do it the same justice as a personal retelling."

Reynolds started to chuckle. "There's not much else to it than that. Thanks to good eyes and steady firing, theValiant was able to locate the tail end of the Occitanian task force and wound it in the process, but not before the bastards slipped into a heavy fog bank. We resumed pursuit once the bank lifted and theValiant finished off her prey while assisting the other cruisers with taking down a battleship. All in all, it was a stunning performance."

"I wish I could have been there," said Lucas with a grin. "It's been a long time since I've heard of a battleship getting taken out by cruisers."

"Most of that was due to theStardust and theHorton, sir," said Luke. "By the way, do we know how bad the damage is on theHorton?"

Reynolds grimaced while rubbing his chin. "She'll require some time in port for repairs but nothing that can't be fixed. The worst part of it was getting the fires under control. We lost numerous sailors due to that hit and the blaze that followed."

"Our men will get her repaired," promised Lucas. "She'll be back out to sea soon."

"We also picked up quite a large number of Occitanians from the sinking of all three of their vessels. The last count was over eight hundred and thirty-two men. Do you have enough room for all of them here at base?" asked Reynolds.

Lucas pursed his lips. "Barely but we'll make due. Supplies are always tight all the way out here but if those men need to miss a meal or two, it won't be the end of the world. At least until we can get them back to the mainland and a proper detention camp."

Reynolds grinned. "Hopefully we'll refill them again soon. I imagine we'll still have many more Occitanian vessels to sink."

"About that, sir," interrupted Luke. "It looked today that after the battle, they were all steaming due west for their course. Being that we are so close to the Vector, isn't it possible that they might continue on to it instead?"