Fourth Vector Ch. 23

He didn't expect a comment from Clark on that matter, nor did he get one. It was still a sour note between them, an unspoken event that Clark seemed to want to put far behind them. The fact that Clark was even willing to resume a normal working relationship between the two of them was evidence enough that they could move past it, even if it meant it wasn't as strong as it was before.

Clark would still be his loyal deputy to the end, someone he could always count on.

Unlike Easterbrook, who bit the hand that fed him. Bancroft was still upset about his lackluster meetings with the man, the protégé who had won fame and renown on the other side of the world due to Bancroft's posturing and his pressure to get the best postings for him. Easterbrook was the most junior officer in charge of a task force for this battle, something that hadn't been easy for Bancroft to secure. Yet the man had refused the offer of a place by his side, a bitter sting of rejection that wouldn't go away any time soon.

You better win today, Jack. Victory or death.

*****

A few miles away, Jack stood gazing out from the bridge on theDestiny. It was still dark, too early in the morning to view anything but the fleeting remains of moonlight. On the horizon, the sky turned from deep black to dark purple, evidence of sun's approach. Jack could barely see the lights of Aberdeen, a soft glow of yellowish orange that seemed just out of reach.

"What's our current speed, Cory?" he asked to the engineering division head just next to him.

"Twenty knots," replied Cory before looking over at him. "Keep the current pace or do you want to speed up?"

Jack shook his head. "Keep current until the sun rises. The last thing I'd want is to stumble on any rocks because we're going too fast."

Jack moved to the other side of the bridge, looking out to the east across the bay. Even without the darkness, he doubted if he'd be able to see the ships of Reynolds' task force, so great were the distances in the vast body of water. Reynolds' job was to swing out to the east before cutting hard west, attacking the flank of the Occitanians while Jack took them head-on.

At any given time, Reynolds would break their radio silence to announce that he was in position. Ever since they entered the bay, it had been decided not to chance any transmissions between the various forces and fleets, out of fear that it could be discovered by the Occitanians. Jack already figured that it was likely they knew they were coming, but that didn't mean he wanted them to know the exact date or time.

As the purple horizon brightened to one of brilliant orange, and the first traces of daylight illuminated the rest of the fleet, Jack heard the signal he'd been waiting on.

"TF21, the bird is in play," came the coded radio transmission, a prearranged message from Reynolds that his fleet was in position and ready to engage the Occitanians from his side. Jack grabbed the radio and spoke the given coded reply.

"Roger, happy hunting," he said before putting it down.

In a break with the plan, Reynolds sent through a second message. "Enjoy being bait, Jack."

Jack gritted his teeth and found himself gripping the radio with white knuckles. Despite Reynolds' force also technically being "bait", at least he had two battleships with which to offer significant resistance. Jack had none such firepower, and he knew it was likely he was going to be outgunned from the start, especially until the rest of the fleet began to shoulder some of that burden.

Still, it enraged him to see Reynolds be so blasé about battle. Even if he didn't like Jack personally, there were still a good deal of men and women on his ships to which that comment was a deep sign of disrespect.

Jack could only hope to prove him wrong in the coming day.

Reynolds' radio transmission opened the floodgates. Suddenly, a steady stream of radio commands came flowing through as the commanders began to issues orders and communicate between themselves. Jack let the chatter be filtered out by Stephanie, especially as they emerged from around a large wooded embankment and finally caught their first sight of the city off into the distance.

From this far away, Aberdeen appeared to be no more than a dot on the horizon, but Jack could make out some buildings along the edge of the coast, as well as see several of the naval facilities of the fleet. The giant battleships of the Javan fleet, silent and steady hulks, dotted the docks and appeared to be ready to bring the fight to the enemy. Yet between them was an array of forces that made Jack gasp.

From one horizon to the other, he counted more than fifty ships. Over half of those were capital vessels, great battleships flying the Occitanian blue and white flag and looking like the deadly predators that they were. Between every battleship seemed to be a cruiser, a sort of jagged defense that allowed them to make the most of their ships to cover the entire mouth of the bay. Just ahead of the battleships, on the Aberdeen side, were arrays of destroyers, offering the first line of defense against any Javan battleship who might attempt to sortie.

The only thing that stopped the Occitanian fleet from having one long chain of steel around the entire bay was an island. Prescott Island was a naturally-forming tidal island just a few miles outside of Aberdeen. It wasn't very large, no more than a mile all around, but the Occitanians had looped it into their defense. What was worse, the Javans never had the chance to occupy the battery on Prescott, the only serious fortification on their side that could contest ownership of the bay. Without the battery, the Javan ships had no other support.

It was the kind of defense that made it easy to see why the Javan fleet had been so impotent since the beginning of the conflict. Outnumbered and outgunned, it clung harmlessly to the port, not offering a serious challenge to the true owners of the sea.

Today that would change.

It had to change. And he had a plan to see it through.

"Kyle, prepare ordnance," said Jack briskly, looking back at the weapons division head. "Get the Sorellan fire canisters loaded."

"Right away, Jack!"

Jack looked back at Prescott Island, watching as it split off the Occitanian fleet into two manageable groups. His job was to make sure that neither force could support the other, allowing the Javans to divide and conquer, and he knew just the way to do it.

"Get Prescott Island in your sights, and when I give the command, turn it into a fiery blaze," ordered Jack.

He then turned around to find Leo the Carinthian engineer, waiting patiently for his own orders not far from the door.

"Leo, get the planes up. Every single one and have them pick those fat targets we discussed."

Leo smiled and nodded. "You got it, Jack."

"Stephanie, radio over to Mike and Pete, and let them know to launch their planes too," said Jack.

"I'm on it, Jack!"

As he took a deep breath and looked back to the fleet, Jack let out a long, low sigh. He steadied himself, finding his nerve and casting aside every fear at the possible outcome of the day. Now wasn't the time for it.

Victory or death.

He looked back to find Abigail looking at him.

"Are you okay, Jack?"

He nodded. "It's time."

*****

Just slightly behind theDestiny, theValiant plotted a fast course as it rounded the cape and came within sight of the city. Much like Jack, Luke stood on the bridge and watched the early morning sun illuminate their Occitanian foes. Around him, the bridge was in full operation, and he watched as Bill Norman loaded up their Sorellan fire canisters for the first salvo of the morning.

"Luke, how's that Sorellan ordnance?" asked Jack through the radio.

Luke looked over to Bill for the answer.

"We'll be ready in two minutes, Luke," answered Bill.

"Just about ready to go, Jack. Give us two."

"You remember the plan, right?" said Jack. "Time to make it an inferno for the Occies."

Luke smiled grimly. "I sure do. It'll be a little demonstration for the rest of the fleet about what we managed to pick up in the Vector."

Luke shared a serious look with Kim, who managed to smile politely back to him before going about her task. She showed none of the nervousness of last night, and quiet confidence appeared on her face. Luke had a feeling it was mostly for show, knowing her better than anyone else on the bridge, but he appreciated her self-assurance in the moment.

"Luke, permission to increase speed to twenty-four knots?" asked Anna, getting off the radio with theDestiny. "We're closing in fast with the Occitanians, and the entire task force is speeding up to make the maneuver."

"Permission granted," said Luke.

After Anna gave the order, theValiant soon lurched forward in the water, her bow slicing through the waves just on the heels of the other heavier cruisers. Luke watched as the great turrets on theValiant soon pivoted toward Prescott Island, ready for the opening salvo of the battle.

"Ordnance ready, Luke!" yelled Bill once the Sorellan fire was ready.

"Valiant is ready to fire, Jack," radioed Luke.

That particular order was punctured by the sound of ordnance exploding just to their east. Luke took a few steps in that direction, searching the horizon for any telltale signs of the Admiral Reynolds' force. He could see a hint of smoke near the Occitanian position a few miles in that direction, knowing that hostilities were likely already underway.

"Fire when ready, Luke," said Jack a moment later. Luke watched in that instant as the mightyDestiny opened up with all its guns, followed shortly by a salvo from theStardust directly behind it. The salvo from theStardust landed near the closest Occitanian battleship while none of the shots scored a direct hit.

Jack's salvo however, hit right on target.

The island named old Javan explorer Barrent Prescott exploded in a hail of fire as all the Sorellan fire canisters lit it up like a wave of fireworks. Everything was coated in the sticky fire—the unused fortifications, the docks, the trees—all of it went up in flame as thick, dark clouds began to form directly above the land.

"Fire now, Bill!" yelled Luke. "Let's add to that blaze!"

TheValiant rocked as its own ordnance was expended, and soon its casings joined the towering inferno on Prescott Island, the thick smoke choking off visibility for the other side of the blockade and narrowing the route that the Occitanians had to either combine or escape.

"Load up another round of those canisters," barked Luke to Bill. "Swing those turrets to shore. We need as narrow of a path as we can get to ensure they have to come out one by one."

"Got it, Luke, two minutes!" replied Bill.

Around them, their first salvos were soon drowned out by the steady chorus of firing from the Occitanian ships. Battleship after battleship soon sent waves of ordnance on Task Force 21, and Luke felt a very real fear soon descend on him as the noise level of battle elevated to untold levels.

*****

"Leo, get those planes in the air before the sky gets too full of smoke for them to be of any use!" yelled Jack into the radio, signaling to Leo on the deck of theDestiny. The engineer waved off his understanding and quickly gestured for them to swing the platform out to sea as the propeller on the plane began to spin.

"Jack, ready to fire another Sorellan shot," said Kyle as a massive salvo from a nearby battleship crashed just yards in front of theDestiny, missing them completely.

"Fire when ready," said Jack before gesturing to the Occitanians. "Then swing those turrets around and let's concentrate on that battleship. We need to answer their shot before we get into trouble!"

TheDestiny rocked with the next explosion, her turrets now facing in the opposite direction as she lit up a small forested area not far from shore. The Sorellan fire did its job, putting the trees and facilities ablaze as well as several docks that pushed out in the water.

The end result of the Sorellan fire was almost frighteningly beautiful. The north end of the channel where Jack was descending was now narrowed significantly, which would cause the Occitanians to bottleneck their forces before they could escape. Jack hoped that bottleneck would not only allow them to pick off one enemy ship at a time, but it would also prevent the Occitanians from using their superior numbers on this side of the harbor to completely overwhelm his force.

"Jack, the first plane is in the air," came another message from Leo. Jack swung over to the other side of the bridge, watching the airplane skim a hundred yards above the water as the pilot struggled to gain altitude. Back on deck, the crane swung the other plane onto the launcher, and Jack soon watched as a similar process happened on theStardust and theHorton.

As he turned his attention back to the enemy, Jack watched as the destroyers on both sides pushed into the gap between the two forces, maneuvering rapidly to not only destroy each other, but to gain the perfect vantage point to take on a capital ship. TheTiger and theWickes were directly in front of theDestiny, and Jack soon watched as an array of torpedoes went off theTiger's starboard flank, racing toward the enemy destroyers.

TheTiger was the first to strike blood, nailing an enemy destroyer and catching her right at the beam. Another flash of fire could be seen, this one not as brilliant as the Sorellan fire, and the enemy destroyer was soon smoking heavily as it developed an immediate list to its port side.

"Got one, Jack!" radioed Vicky from theTiger.

"Good shooting, Vicky!"

All around his task force, ordnance was going off as the ships absorbed the blows from the Occitanian fleet. Jack looked out to the horizon, seeing dark clouds of spent ammunition across the length of the entire bay, knowing that Reynolds' force was now in the thick of things too. What was even more heartening was he could see the Javan battleships on the other side now opening up, attacking the Occitanians from two directions.

"Jack, the planes are making their first run!" said Abigail from his side, pointing out the small specks on the horizon as they navigated the dark clouds and made for the Occitanians. Jack moved his binoculars to watch as the two planes from theDestiny lined up one of the largest Occitanian battleships, the pilot soon dipping the nose to a forty-five degree angle as he dived on it, releasing his ordnance at the last moment.

The battleship exploded right at the stern, joined a moment later by a twin explosion near the superstructure. A fireball blew out from the hulking structure, soon adding to the dark clouds overhead.

"Hot damn, we got her!" yelled Jack with excitement in his voice. The enemy battleship was now ablaze at two spots, and Jack knew it would take a significant amount of manpower to bring that under control before they continued to fight.

If another shot didn't take them down first.

Jack soon became aware of another explosion as the planes from theStardust made contact as well, this one on an Occie cruiser that just happened to be the next ship over from the battleship that theDestiny struck. That particular strike crippled the cruiser's forward turrets, rendering their offensive measures all but useless. TheHorton's planes had mixed success, with one plane striking just off the aft of another battleship, barely causing any damage while the sixth pilot missed the mark completely. After dropping all their bombs, the planes soon turned back around, sailing far beyond the rest of the task force as they moved north. There would be no time to load them back on the ships during the battle, and Jack had commanded the pilots to overshoot the force and they would pick them up later.

Their good luck so far was bound to run out, and theDestiny was next rocked by a hit that brought almost the entire bridge to their knees. Jack avoided hitting his face off of a steel lever, only pressing up to his feet a moment later to find out what happened. His mouth gaped open as he saw the gap in the deck on the bow of the ship, heavy smoke pouring from it already.

"Damage report," said Jack over to Stephanie as she regained her feet. "Find out what happened and if our fighting ability is compromised. I need to know as soon as possible."

"Aye, Jack, I will!"

TheDestiny wasn't the only ship to take a shot in that round, and a well-placed salvo exploded against theHorton's superstructure, bringing doubt as to whether any of those on the bridge may have survived.

"Pete, come in. Pete, are you still there?" asked Jack as all radio chatter from theHorton ceased. The radio remained silent as smoke and fire poured from theHorton, and a feeling of fear erupted from his stomach as no further messages from the ship arrived.

As much as he wanted to know what was going on with the ship, Jack couldn't spare the time to find out more about theHorton. TheDestiny was rocked with another salvo that damaged part of her starboard flank, and Jack could see even theStardust took a light volley that sparked a small fire.

The task force wasn't down for the count long. The battleship that theDestiny had been targeting started to emerge from the narrow channel of fire, allowing them all to concentrate fire on it at one time.

"Take that battleship out, Kyle," ordered Jack as he soon radioed the same thing to the other commanders. "I want that thing at the bottom of the bay right now!"

Three ships soon opened fire—theDestiny,Stardust, andValiant—and the Occie battleship took wave after wave of crushing explosion. The coup de grâce was a torpedo launch from theMaddox that hit just above the starboard beam. The shock wave of the explosion could be felt all the way out to theDestiny, and the enemy battleship soon listed heavily to that side before capsizing a mere twenty minutes later.

"Mighty fine work there everyone," radioed Jack to the rest of the commanders. "Especially you, Laura," he said to the commander of theMaddox.

"Thanks, Jack!" radioed back Laura as all three destroyers positioned themselves for new targets. In the meantime, theValiant took out an enemy destroyer that had gotten too close to the rest of the task force while the rest of the Occitanians were struggling to get around the capsized battleship now choking off a good portion of the channel they needed to move through.

On the other side of the Occitanians, Jack watched as the rest of the Javan fleet left their berths, guns firing off in full succession as they aimed at the rear of the Occitanian fleet. Normally, being fired upon from two sides would be enough to make any force panic, but the superior numbers of the enemy fleet still meant they had more than enough guns to take on both threats.

Yet, the plan seemed to be working. Jack watched as the Occitanians used Prescott Island as the determinant between who would steam north to chase after Jack's force and who would go east to target Reynolds' force. The towering inferno on Prescott meant that neither side could support the other, visibility being nonexistent from one side to the other. In doing so, it meant that both Jack and Reynolds' task forces could be the hammer while the rest of the Javan fleet became the anvil to which the Occitanians got pinned against.

It worked beautifully. After the first hour of battle, when the morning sun soon drifted behind heavy clouds that were either incoming rain or caused from the fire, all the Occitanian ships that Jack could see were under heavy fire. Several of them had smoke pouring from them from direct hits, even though a frightening amount of them were still getting off heavy salvos. Another close call on theDestiny forced Jack to start the next phase of their plan.