Fourth Vector Ch. 23

"TF21 commanders, prepare to execute one hundred and eighty degree turn," radioed Jack. Now that they were close enough to the enemy, it was time to draw them out into the bay, allowing the rest of the Javan fleet the room to form up and pursue. This was the part of the plan that Jack disliked the most—the time when they had to run and truly act as bait for the rest of the fleet to mop them up from behind.

All too soon, theDestiny began to slice to the port side as the rest of the cruisers in the force did the same. The synchronized movement exposed their sides to the enemy, always the most dangerous part of the ship due to all the targets, for several tense minutes as Jack awaited the enemy to take advantage of the offering.

They didn't disappoint. A far too close call landed just short of theDestiny's starboard side, but not before taking out a few sailors who were too close to the railing from the force of the blast. The other cruisers took similar damage, but the most heartening news at that moment came from renewed radio contact from theHorton.

"Jack, can you hear me?" asked Pete, coming through in a garbled message from the damaged cruiser.

"Loud and clear, Pete. You really gave us a scare there," said a relieved Jack, giving off a relieved smile to Abigail. "How's it looking over there?"

"Not so good, Jack. We took a pretty heavy shot against the superstructure directly below the bridge. I have a lot of damage over here and what I think is a broken arm from a steel piece that fell on top of me," answered Pete. "We were just able to reestablish radio communication."

"Can you fire?" asked Jack. "We could surely use the firepower right now."

"I think so. We'll open up with what we have shortly," said Pete.

He wasn't lying, and soon theHorton exploded with fresh ordnance from all her guns, lighting up an Occie cruiser that was the closest to their position. The shots hit just below the stern, disabling the rudder and forcing the cruiser into an uncontrolled turn that soon forced her onto the rocks as she became completely incapacitated.

"Hell of a good shot, Pete!" radioed Jack as theDestiny turned its attention to a destroyer that had slipped past theTiger. The destroyer lined itself up with their starboard side and soon Jack could see the telltale rippling in the water of torpedoes.

"Torpedoes on our starboard side!" he yelled to Cory. "Hard to port, hard to port now, damnit!"

As Cory began to yell orders into the radio, theDestiny gave another hard lurch, completing the turn at a much smaller angle than she was used to. In that moment, Jack watched as the torpedoes came just a hair too close, floating by harmlessly in a space of only mere feet. He let out a sigh of relief and wiped his brow at the close call, and he then turned his attention back to the offending destroyer.

"Kyle, take care of that destroyer," he said calmly. "Show them what happens when they pick the wrong target."

"Aye, Jack, we'll light them up in a moment," said Kyle.

TheDestiny's forward turret opened up a short while later, striking the close destroyer completely amidship and opening up a roaring fireball seconds later. When the smoke finally cleared, Jack could see a huge hole just below the waterline had been opened up, large enough for several men to swim through without touching. The sudden onrush of water was too much for the small destroyer to handle and it soon sunk into the shallow harbor by the bow, being eliminated as a threat.

They'd scarcely secured the victory against the destroyer before another round of ordnance from a nearby enemy battleship came crashing against theDestiny's deck. The blow knocked them all off their feet, and when the smoke finally cleared, Jack could see a gaping hole in their secondary forward turret.

"Kyle, what's the status of that turret? Are we still in action?" he asked the weapons division head.

After some radio chatter down to the weapons room, Kyle soon shook his head. "The turret is disabled, Jack. The rotation mechanism has been knocked out as well as the ordnance hoist. Count this turret out for the rest of the battle!"

"Motherfucker," swore Jack as he pointed his finger at the offending battleship. "Concentrate everything we have left at that battleship. If we have any Sorellan fire canisters left, now's the time to use them!"

"We're all out of Sorellan fire, Jack!"

"Goddamnit," yelled Jack as he watched the turrets explode on the battleship one more time. He braced for impact.

*****

Luke went flying forward as another shot rocked theValiant, sending half of the bridge to the ground and causing sparks to flare up around them.

"Damnit, Bill, open up fire when ready," said Luke to his weapons division officer. "I'm tired of getting our ship shot the fuck up!"

"We'll be ready in about fifteen seconds, Luke!" yelled Bill as another salvo fell just short of their starboard side.

"Luke, we have fires breaking out on the main deck," said Kim, pointing out to the flames that were licking the boards on the forward section of the ship.

"Get a team down there to contain it and move quickly!" he ordered. "We have to get that fire under control before it gets any lower and spreads into the munitions deck."

As Kim started to issue the orders to one of the firefighting teams, Luke looked back out at the Occitanian fleet, now with several ships emerging from the narrow, fire-slicked channel. Their guns were trained on the last two cruisers in the task force—theValiant and theHorton. With theValiant now taking the closest position to the enemy, he didn't expect any respite from their fire any time soon.

The only saving grace in the manner was the wind. The strong gusts of ocean air were blowing northward, moving the heavy dark smoke of the fire toward their ships and helped to obscure them somewhat from view from the enemy.

It wasn't much of a saving grace but it was the only thing they had at that moment. And it was sorely needed as two battleships moved their turrets to lock onto theValiant.

Luckily for them, their gunners were able to land a devastating volley on the forward turret of the first battleship, sending up a small cascade of dark smoke and fire upon the strike. It bought them precious time to get away, and while the gunners reloaded, Luke hoped that they would be able to withstand anything the remaining battleship could throw at them.

He saw the explosion of the guns before he heard them. Not even a split-second later, the entireValiant shook with a dreadful creak as that volley raked their stern right at the waterline.

"Get me a report of the damage and move quickly!" said Luke to Kim as they all struggled to regain their footing. As she issued orders down to the men, he could hear a steady stream of chatter back, quickly becoming apparent that the ship was taking on water.

"Get the pumps going," said Kim into the radio. "We can't afford to start listing right now!"

As she issued instructions to the team, Luke watched with relief as the battleship that had targeted them became the victim of one of the other Javan battleships still in the harbor. It was greatly needed at the moment. With his ship having taken several blows, still being on fire, and now taking water, theValiant needed a respite from the action if she was going to survive this fight.

Just a little longer, he thought.We have to hold out a little longer.

*****

Back on theDestiny, Jack waited for an impact that never hit them, the salvo from the Occitanian battleship falling just short of their stern and missing the ship entirely. He breathed a sigh of relief as the rear turret got off another shot before the ship started to sail away from trouble.

Jack watched from the bridge as the entire task force completed their one hundred and eighty degree turn, their turrets soon swinging to lock on the emerging Occitanian fleet. Out of the four cruisers in his task force, only theDestiny andStardust seemed to be holding up relatively well. TheHorton was still smoking from the shot earlier in the battle, and Jack could clearly see theValiant was on fire and having a tough time at it.

Thankfully, Luke and Pete were still active on the radio chatter, and now that the task force was heading back out to the bay, they just might be able to draw out the rest of the enemy fleet so their forces could smash them from behind. Jack looked out to the east, finally seeing some of Reynolds' ships making the same maneuver as his. His ships looked to be in just the same devastating position as his own, and even from that great distance, Jack could already see the smoke of their fires.

They were far from out of dodge just yet. Just as Jack looked back at his own force, theHorton received the most damaging blow yet, and Jack grimaced as the blow consumed the entire bridge, sending parts of the superstructure crashing down to the main deck.

"Pete, can you hear me? Pete, say something!"

There was nothing but silence from theHorton, and just like the first half of the battle, the ship went quiet. Fires raged across the entire structure, and Jack could see their firefighting teams working over time to extinguish the blaze. It seemed all too futile though. There were too few of them to put out the fire that was taking over the entire ship.

Jack wasn't sure how, but theHorton was still able to respond with another salvo from its rear turret, keeping pace with the rest of them despite its ruined superstructure. The smoke from the two cruisers already added to that which was above them, turning the mid morning brightness into a dark overcast that looked more and more like dusk instead of dawn.

A small miracle in itself was that all three of their destroyers had so far managed to evade any serious damage, and soon theTiger,Maddox, andWickes could be seen steaming hard north, threatening to overtake the cruisers in their attempt to get away.

"Vicky, how's it looking back there?" asked Jack to theTiger's commander.

"All out of torpedoes, Jack," she answered. "Just opening up with the five-inch guns while we still can."

"You might want to focus on that battleship out in front," he warned, getting her attention to the giant behemoth that was steaming hard on their tail. It was easily one of the largest enemy ships in the entire fleet, and Jack had to wonder if their guns were fourteen-inch by the size alone. Any head-on shots from those guns would put just about any ship in his force down, theDestiny included.

While the other battleships seemed to be concerned with combating the rest of the Javan fleet, this one seemed to want to make sure Jack's force didn't get away.

"All commanders of TF21, concentrate fire on that battleship," said Jack, radioing out to the other ships. He didn't expect much from theValiant or theHorton right now, but Mike Cutter of theStardust answered his call.

"Aye, Jack, theStardust will help to bring her down!" yelled Mike.

"We need all the help we can get," said Jack to Abigail as she stood next to him. Together, the two of them watched the battleship's thick guns pivot through the air to line up directly with theDestiny. Jack swallowed heavily at the thought of its crushing crescendo coming down right on their heads.

Luckily for them, theStardust was able to get off a shot before the battleship. Mike's ship opened up with all turrets while soon joined by a weak salvo from theValiant. All that ordnance struck the mark, throwing up heavy smoke on the forward section of the battleship but the damage appeared to be superficial at most.

"That armor is going to be too strong," said Jack. "Only theDestiny's guns are going to be able to penetrate that hull." He turned to Kyle. "Anything you can throw at it right now would be damn good!"

"Let's show 'em what we got," said Kyle. The ship rocked a moment later and the battleship took a direct hit along the superstructure. It was a good shot but the damage just wasn't enough to slow it down.

"A little lower next time. We need to hit near the waterline, but not at the beam where the armor is thickest," said Jack to Kyle.

"Bring those guns down a bit, you're shooting too high!" said Kyle into the radio.

Jack never heard the response from the radio. The battleship finally opened up, but just like them, their ordnance largely overshot theDestiny. By some strange degree of misfortune, the only part that made contact was with part of the warship's masts, sending it careening into the deck.

"That's half our communications right there, Jack!" said Stephanie.

"Get someone out there to fix it where we can, and let's pray they don't take out the other mast," said Jack.

In the intervening time, theStardust was able to send another volley, but like the others, it hardly did any damage. Jack could even have sworn that it bounced harmlessly off the hull, just not strong enough to penetrate it. In the meantime, enemy destroyers were beginning to slip into the gap between them and the battleship, and they began to get into torpedo position.

Jack radioed out to the destroyer commanders. "If anyone has any torpedoes left, can someone take out those fucking destroyers!"

"Aye, Jack, theWickes is going in," said Alex.

"TheTiger will cover theWickes!" confirmed Vicky.

Jack watched as the destroyers began to maneuver back around, moving to intercept about five enemy destroyers that had closed the gap. The movement in the smaller vessels was always faster paced when compared to their larger companions. The destroyers were too fast and could turn even faster and their rapid zigzags between the capital ships was like an orchestra to watch.

Jack was only able to turn his attention back to the battleship for mere seconds before Abigail was tugging on his sleeve. "Jack, that destroyer's torpedoes are going to intercept theTiger!"

He turned his binoculars to where she had pointed and sure enough, he could see the telltale marks where they were moving on course to reach theTiger. They were launched perfectly, and there was just about no time for the destroyer to get out of the way.

"Vicky, turn hard to port! Hard to port, Vicky!" Jack yelled into the radio, watching for several tense seconds as he heard the radio chatter on the destroyer. TheTiger began to turn slowly at first, but it just wasn't quick enough.

He felt himself jump when theTiger exploded, catching no less than three torpedoes at various points around the beam. The tiny destroyer just couldn't withstand that kind of force. As soon as the fireball dissipated, the ship was barely afloat. Debris could be seen littering the nearby surroundings as pieces of the ship burned out of control.

"Vicky, come in. Vicky, answer me," said Jack repeatedly into the radio, waiting for some sign that anyone was still alive on that ship. "Any officer on theTiger that can hear me, answer me!"

There came nothing but silence.

The remains of the broken hull slipped under the wave a minute later, and nothing more could be seen at the spot besides the rapidly burning debris and the slick of leaking polonium.

Jack looked back at the rest of the bridge, seeing nothing but disbelief in the eyes of his colleagues. TheTiger had been with them from the very beginning, and now in a matter of seconds, it was gone. There just wasn't time to rescue any surviving crew, but Jack prayed that someone had managed to survive that disaster.

"Okay, I need another salvo on that battleship," said Jack after a heavy gulp, turning to look at the grief-stricken face of Kyle. "Kyle, put your feelings aside. There will be time to grieve later! We need to take out that battleship before we join theTiger!"

Kyle nodded finally and wiped his nose. "Be ready in twenty seconds, Jack."

"Twenty seconds until incoming ordnance, Mike," radioed Jack. "Help me take out this son of a bitch!"

"Firing in five, Jack!"

Five, four, three, two, one.

TheStardust landed another powerful blow against the battleship's superstructure, and Jack could only smile grimly as they no doubt made things very difficult for the battleship's officers to control the ship with that last shot. With how smoke was now pouring from the forward position of the superstructure, he knew it would be a lot harder for them to sight their guns moving forward.

"We're ready, Jack!" said Kyle.

"Give it everything we've got," said Jack with determination.

TheDestiny's next salvo was just the blow they needed. The forward working turret was able to punch a big hole in the battleship at the waterline near the bow where the armor was the weakest. It was a killing blow if left unrepaired for too long. The shot from their rear turret ripped a massive chunk out of their aft turret, rending it all but disabled. Both blows significantly impacted the battleship's fighting ability, and Jack knew a few more good shots would permanently cripple it.

"I need one more shot just like that one, Kyle!" said Jack as he watched theValiant take aim on one of the destroyers that had sunk theTiger.

"Luke, anything you can do to take out those damn destroyers would be great," he radioed to his friend on theValiant.

"Aye, Jack, we'll get it done," radioed Luke.

As theStardust got off another impotent shot, it was finally theDestiny's turn again.

"Punch it, Kyle. Send that bastard to the bottom of the harbor," commanded Jack.

The remaining six guns of theDestiny roared to life and sounded the death knell for the Occitanian battleship. In a feat of expert marksmanship, the hole on the battleship's hull became larger, another chunk having been ripped off. The rest of the superstructure was crippled and fires now burned out of control as the battleship began to visibly sink at the bow. It was taking on water fast, and Jack knew that the crew there would now be most concerned with survival of the ship instead of defeating their enemies.

"Great shooting all around," said Jack to the entire task force. "That battleship won't be above the waves for much longer."

Yet, if Jack thought they were tipping the scales in their direction, he would soon realize there was still a lot more battle left to fight.

*****

"I need a status report, Kim! When are those fires going to be put out?" Luke moved around the bridge to where she was standing as he gestured to the firefighting team putting out a blaze on their main deck.

"Shouldn't be much longer, Luke. It's almost under control," she replied.

"Thank god," he said, moving over to Bill's station. "Bill, we need to take out those destroyers, especially that one that got Vicky. When will the guns be ready?"

"The rear turrets will be ready soon, but we need to turn to port to make use of the forward turrets," said Bill.

"Anna, turn to port quickly," said Luke. "I need every gun we have firing on those destroyers!"

"Aye, Luke, hang on!"

TheValiant began to turn in the water and soon the forward turrets were able to pivot to line up with the marauding enemy destroyers.

"That one," said Luke, gesturing to Bill. "Fire when ready."

The guns on theValiant opened up, sending a careening shot over that hit directly amidship on the enemy warship. It was a direct hit on the destroyer that took down theTiger and the smoldering wreck couldn't have sunk fast enough. Luke looked on with satisfaction, his sense of justice approving at taking down the enemy ship.