Fourth Vector Ch. 49

Russ grinned, appearing exceptionally proud of himself. "Which is where I think we see the most opportunity right now, Jack. If the enemy is trying to get reinforcements, he's skirting on the extreme edge of our forces. They may not realize that we can get a radar reading at this distance, which fits with the logic of them thinking we are technologically-inferior. My guess is that Reynolds sent out a message for a call to help and this Occitanian force was the closest one to get the message. They are moving with all possible speed to Reynolds, but trying to keep what they thought was a safe distance between them and us. It gives us an opportunity to go out hunting before we engage with the main body under Reynolds."

Jack studied the map for a moment before meeting Russ' gaze. "You want to take out this force before it can link up with Reynolds and be used against us. I have no objections to that. It's just the kind of plan we need to keep Reynolds off balance."

"If that's the case, then I will immediately give order for the fleet to move in a due westerly position," said Russ. "We should intercept them tomorrow."

"What about the main body though?" asked Jack. "We know they are generally to our southwest but will they be close enough to offer support if we pick off this smaller force?"

"Not unless they suddenly grow wings and fly," replied Russ. "Our last reports are that the fleet is steaming due east, keeping their distance from us. Unless they can find a way to travel at double the speed of the fastest cruisers in twenty-four hours, it should leave us plenty of time to deal with this smaller force."

"And judging by their size, this smaller force won't be capable of much resistance," noted Jack. "Even if they have a few battleships, we should be able to overwhelm them before Reynolds can even respond to their distress call."

"And by doing so, he'll be all the more put out by it, enabling us to gain the upper hand right before we engage with him for this next set-piece battle," said Russ with confidence. "Our window of opportunity is small, but if we move now, we should be able to see this through."

"Then you have my authorization, Russ. Let's go get 'em."

*****

A short distance to the south, Admiral Jasper Strong stepped off the fast Javan frigateXavier and onto theRevenge, the flagship of Admiral Reynolds. The weather was getting increasingly foul, with choppy waves and dreadful winds that kept blowing the surf right into his face.

Jasper was grateful to be stepping off theXavier. The tiny frigate felt every single wave that battered it, making the journey south to meet Reynolds one that was wrought with anxiety. He was only thankful that it made the journey so quickly.

TheMarymount could never have traveled that fast, which was one of the reasons why it, and the rest of the Occitanian force, were left behind.

Jasper was upset about leaving his flagship behind but the order came directly from Admiral Reynolds, and in this day and age, Reynolds was second only to Bancroft.

Making his way aboard theRevenge, Jasper was shown to the personal quarters of Reynolds, finding the room empty. He was told that Reynolds was on the bridge and would join him shortly, and Jasper took the moment to look around the room.

It was surprisingly spartan as far as admiral quarters went. Even Jasper's quaint headquarters on theMarymount was full of more personality and personal effects. In contrast, theRevenge was practically sterile. There was very little in the way of papers on the desk. His nightstand was completely empty as well, not even a small book for night reading present. There was no clothing hanging on the hook or visible from the dresser.

It was like no one lived here at all. From what Jasper knew about Reynolds, it seemed fitting. The man who would sell his soul for a high command didn't seem to have one in the first place.

Jasper had just taken a seat in front of Reynolds' desk when the door opened and the man in question entered.

It had been some time since Jasper last laid eyes on Nick Reynolds but that short time had hardly changed the man. The one word in particular that always stuck out to Jasper that best described Nick was curmudgeonly. Perhaps it was due to the fact that Nick lacked any real feelings or desires beyond the acquisition of power but he always seemed to be more on the grouchy and quick-tempered side than anything else.

Today though, his expressions were anything but ill-tempered. He looked quite pleased with himself as he sat down behind his desk.

"Admiral Strong, thank you for your quick journey to theRevenge," said Reynolds. "I appreciate the speed with which you made the transit. I understand travel in this kind of storm can be unpleasant."

"It wasn't too bad," replied Jasper, choosing not to go into his true feelings about the voyage. "And I'm here now at your request. I understand you wanted to speak with me directly."

Reynolds leaned back in his chair. "You know, it's not often that I get to speak with another flag officer of your caliber. I've tried in the past with other officers. McKenzie for one, until he was disgraced. Him and I never got along well. Kuntz was cut from the same cloth and needless to say, Easterbrook and I have always been opposed to each other. It's quite pleasant to have another admiral that I can connect with."

Jasper wasn't sure what to say to that. He wasn't sure if this was Reynolds' way of making small talk or if he legitimately thought they were becoming friends, but how he'd arrived at that conclusion was definitely confusing to Jasper.

In the end, he decided to play it polite and noncommittal.

"As you say, Admiral," replied Jasper. "Being a flag officer can be a lonely business."

Reynolds nodded glumly. "You are right about that. In any event, I should probably tell you why you're here. I take it my summons came as a bit of a surprise?"

"To say the least," replied Jasper honestly. "I thought our plan was to crush Easterbrook between us? However, the course that you have my ships on seems to fly in the face of that plan so I'm most curious about what you're getting at."

Reynolds grinned at him, which looked surprisingly like a smirk. "Forgive me, but secrecy was instrumental in my plan in order for it to work. It required me to give commands to my officers without letting slip the reason why. To that regard, this new plan is already in motion and you, my friend, are a critical piece of that plan."

Jasper didn't know what to say. "Forgive me, but you're losing me. What do you mean it's already in motion?"

Before he answered, Reynolds pulled a map from his desk and placed it in front of Jasper. It was a map of the surrounding area and it featured Jasper's small force, the main body under Reynolds (which had split in two) as well as the Fourthie fleet under Easterbrook in their general positions. Each force was marked by arrows in the general direction it was supposed to go. Jasper wasn't surprised to see his force moving in the southwesterly direction as that was where he left them before transferring to theXavier.

"What you see before you is my latest master plan," said Reynolds, sitting back in his chair and looking quite pleased with himself. "I realized that using your force as the anvil to my hammer wouldn't work out the way I wanted it to. You don't have enough ships to make it work, and if Easterbrook attacked your ships with enough firepower, he would carve a way through your force and escape to the north. I couldn't have that."

"So instead what I decided to do was use your force as bait to bring Easterbrook to me," continued Reynolds, tracing the path of the Occitanian force as it moved southwest. "I dictated that you take the path that you did because the Fourthies couldn't help but be able to notice you moving south. If I know Easterbrook well enough, he'll think to pounce on your force and destroy it before it can unite with me but in the process, the hunter will become the hunted."

At that moment, Reynolds began to tap on the two separate forces of the main Javan fleet, one of which was there to the south, where they were presently, while the other was now to the west, just beyond Jasper's force.

"I've split my forces in two pieces," said Reynolds proudly. "And your force is going to lead Easterbrook into a trap right between them. As soon as I close the jaws around him, he's going to find himself surrounded by the entire Javan fleet firing at him from two sides. There will be no escape for him."

Jasper took several looks at the map and the distances between all the forces. He began to do the math in this head and soon frowned at the implication.

"This can't work," said Jasper quietly. "Our position is too far to the south to catch up to Easterbrook, especially if he moves quickly against my force. You'll never make it in time, and he's liable to have sunk the whole force before you're there."

Reynolds smirked and shook his head. "Jasper, that's the beautiful thing about all of it. This entire time, Easterbrook has been relying on his planes to scout my position. He always knows where I am except when the weather is poor enough that he can't fly. We're flying into a squall this evening. It's the reason why theXavier got batted around like it did. He won't be able to launch planes and that opening is all we need to steam full speed north starting now and going through the night. By tomorrow morning, we'll have closed the distance and he'll be none the wiser."

"How do you know he's even going to go for the bait though?" asked Jasper, feeling his stomach drop. He hated to think of theMarymount as bait, especially with his son aboard.

"He already has," said Reynolds proudly. "The radar reports from your force already show a greater concentration of Fourthies to the immediate east. He's already coming and he'll be in position to attack by tomorrow. By that point in time, he'll be surrounded. We're going to sink the entire force, or at least enough of them that we trap their army here in Java. Once that happens, all the Fourthies will surrender after they see they can't get home. Then there will be nothing stopping us from gaining absolute victory."

Absolute victory. For some reason, those words were meaningless to Jasper. To him, absolute victory meant losing nothing of value in the process.

If Reynolds got his way, his son and the rest of the crew aboard theMarymount would be directly in the middle of the fighting, and their chances of survival would be slim to none.

Jasper had effectively led his son and his crew into a trap that none of them were prepared for.

Unfortunately for him, Reynolds wasn't as daft as he looked. He seemed to pick up on the fact that Jasper wasn't terribly excited about his plan.

"Why do you look like you've seen a ghost, Jasper? I thought you'd be happy to put an end to this war. Don't tell me you're feeling upset about fighting a renegade admiral?"

"It's not just that," said Jasper, being honest. "You're asking me to sacrifice my entire command if your plan works. Everyone that I've commanded in my force will effectively become bait. I've become quite close with my crew. Some of them are even familial connections."

Reynolds made a knowing face as if he suddenly understood. "I see now, Jasper. You're afraid you'll be watching their destruction from afar, is that it? While you're safe on theRevenge?"

Jasper winced. "Well, not exactly--"

Reynolds held up his hand. "You don't have to worry about that. I'm sending you back to theMarymount. I need a calm hand at the controls of the ship and that's you. I know your skill, Jasper. You're one of the best fighting officers that we have. I trust that you will do all that you can to emerge from the fight unscathed."

Jasper wasn't sure how to feel about going back to theMarymount knowing that it was going to be used as bait. A looming sense of dread appeared in the pit of his stomach about being blown to bits by Fourthie ordnance but in a way, there was something calming about it as well.

At least with Jasper in control, he could control his own fate. He wouldn't have to watch it from afar.

If anyone could save theMarymount, it was him.

Reynolds didn't wait long for Jasper to give a response. He pushed up from his chair and walked around to Jasper's chair, putting his hands on Jasper's shoulders.

"Think of the glory that you'll win for ending this war, Jasper. One more fight is all that I ask of you. Can you give me one more battle?"

Jasper swallowed the lump in his throat. He had to give some kind of answer.

"I'll follow the plan," replied Jasper in a raspy voice.

*****

So far, everything was going according to plan.

At least, that was what Michael was thinking as he listened to the excitement outside the palace as he had Victor announce the end of Bancroft's industrial conscription measures. The small crowd that had gathered to hear the proclamation was told that it would concern repealing part of Bancroft's wartime decrees, and they waited eagerly for the announcement, cheering heavily once it was made.

For Michael, it was an important step. There was plenty of anger amongst the common people about being forced to work long hours in the factory just to keep the Javan war machine going and resentment against the imperial government was at an all-time high. With the war the last thing that Michael wanted to focus on (apart from the basic defense against Bancroft), he decided to ease those measures in order to secure the support of the common people.

After Victor was done with the proclamation, he came inside the palace to wet his throat, his voice hoarse after speaking to the crowd. Michael wasted no time in patting him on the shoulder and gesturing outside.

"It sounds like we're very popular men right now," said Michael with a grin. "I haven't heard the people cheer that hard for something since before the war. It almost sounds like Belfort has something to celebrate again."

Victor's reaction was much more muted than he expected. He shrugged instead before downing another sip of water.

"You should have seen all of them out there though, Michael. Nothing more than skeletons. You can tell that they've been feeling the food crunch here in the capital. I see men and women in the prime of their lives and their faces are bone thin and hollow. If you want to see real excitement out of them, we have to do something about the food supply."

Victor was definitely right about the food supply. Another wartime measure that was greatly unpopular, Bancroft had dictated that all food would be held back as much as possible to ensure that the army received enough to feed its men. With the disruption to the east caused by the Tyrolean Army's march through the fertile farmlands of Java, it meant that often what was left over for people was a pittance compared to what it had been a year before.

"That's something that we can work on," said Michael, thinking the issue over. "There's been so much to do since we got here that it hasn't gotten my full focus yet."

"You'll be a hero to the people if you can find a way to open up the granaries on the north end of the city," said Victor. "They've been out of our reach until we were able to talk over the other three regiments but now that we control the entire capital, it's time that we take over the granaries for the city as well and ease the hunger problem."

Michael knew about the granaries very well. Most of them were controlled by Yanis Butler, an extremely wealthy rural landowner who'd made his fortune in the real estate market. Yanis was one of the very few men that Bancroft actually liked and thus, his holdings only grew as Bancroft continued in power. It was his granaries that used to supply the entire city but now were primarily diverted to the Javan armies.

In order for Michael to switch it back, he'd have to pay a visit to Yanis and make the man come over to his side.

Michael turned to Victor. "Let's summon Yanis to the palace. It's about time he switched his loyalty back to the Javan people."

*****

"That's preposterous. Tell me you're joking."

"Careful, Yanis," warned Victor, standing just to the side of Michael. "It's not a good idea to outright reject a request from your emperor."

For the second time that morning, Yanis started to babble as his anger boiled over. For the most part, Michael just watched the aged industrialist as he reacted to his request. Yanis had been almost exactly how he'd pictured him, even down to his reaction about the simple question of diverting the food supply from the army to the people of Belfort.

"I think that we can come to some kind of arrangement, Yanis," said Michael, keeping his voice firm and calm.

Yanis crossed his arms in front of his chest. He glared at Michael, almost as if to say that he had no time to give to a young man just playing at being emperor.

Fortunately for Michael, he was hardly the first to act that way toward him this week. And he'd gotten quite adept at playing that game.

"You may call yourself what you want but I only recognize Emperor Percival Bancroft as the legitimate sovereign of the Javan Empire," spat Yanis. "The very fact that you desecrate this palace with your presence will be enough to see your heads on pikes when he returns to the city."

"Oh, I don't know about that, Yanis," said Victor, who was now using his pocket knife to cut at his fingernails in a clear warning to the older man. "Bancroft has his hands full in the north, and we've taken complete control of this city from him. Resentment against Bancroft is at an all-time high, so if I was a betting man, I'd say that anyone who fails to please the new emperor will findtheir head on a pike instead."

Michael let out a thin smile as Victor gave out the veiled threat. "Victor here speaks the truth. My government is still young enough that good allies are needed to help it off the ground. Faithful friends will be rewarded beyond their wildest dreams. Those that are determined to be my enemies though will pay the ultimate price. Which side will you be taking, Yanis?"

Yanis looked like he was about ready to keel over. He started to stutter, which was always a good sign at this point in the negotiation.

"You're threatening m-me," accused Yanis. "You can't threaten me! I'm not a man to be trifled with! I have connections, I have friends! This is completely ridiculous!"

"Your connections and friends are meaningless to you now," said Michael, his tone harsh and unyielding. It was at this point in the negotiation that he took away any hint of friendliness only to be replaced by cold, hard power. "The city is starving and youwill help me to feed them or else I will strip you of everything that made you the powerful man you are today. I will leave you destitute with nothing but the shirt on your back if you try to defy me."

All of Yanis' posturing ended at that point. The man actually began to look scared.

"You wouldn't!"

"Try me," said Michael, standing up to emphasize the point. He continued to glare at Yanis until resuming a diplomatic smile and sitting back down. "So do I have your support?"

Yanis sputtered. "You don't understand. I can't help you! Bancroft will have my head! He'll kill me! And even if he doesn't, he'll leave me entirely broke!"

"Well, it seems like you have an easy choice then," said Victor, shrugging his shoulders. "Either way, if you don't serve your country, you're going to end up without a single piece of gold to your name. Now, you can stay loyal to a man that's hundreds of miles away or you can treat with the power here in Belfort. Easy decision if you ask me."