Admiral’s War -Part II - A Spineward Sectors Novel: Book 10
by
Luke Sky Wachter
Copyright © 2016 by Joshua Wachter
All rights reserved.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. All resemblance to persons living or dead is coincidental. Respect my electronic rights because the money you save today will be the book I can't afford to write for you tomorrow.
Other Books by Luke Sky Wachter
As of 08-06-2016
SPINEWARD SECTORS NOVEL SERIES
Admiral Who?
Admiral’s Gambit
Admiral’s Tribulation
Admiral’s Trial
Admiral’s Revenge
Admiral’s Spine
Admiral Invincible
Admiral's Challenge
Admiral’s War - Part One
Admiral’s War - Part Two
RISE OF THE WITCH GUARD NOVEL SERIES
The Blooding
The Painting
The Channeling
RISE OF THE WITCH GUARD NOVELLAS
The Boar Knife
Books by my brother, Caleb Wachter
SPINEWARD SECTORS: MIDDLETON’S PRIDE
No Middle Ground
Up The Middle
Against The Middle
McKnight’s Mission (A House Divided)
Middleton’s Prejudice
Lynch’s Legacy
SPHEREWORLD NOVEL SERIES
Joined at the Hilt: Union
SPHEREWORLD NOVELLAS
Between White and Grey
SPINEWARD SECTORS: A TRACTO TALE
The Forge of Men
SEEDS OF HUMANITY: THE COBALT HERESY SERIES
Revelation
Reunion
IMPERIUM CICERNUS SERIES
Ure Infectus
Sic Semper Tyrannis
COLLABORATIVE WORKS BY LUKE SKY WACHTER & CALEB WACHTER
SPINEWARD SECTORS NOVELLAS
Admiral’s Lady: Eyes of Ice, Heart of Fire
Admiral’s Lady: Ashes for Ashes, Blood for Blood
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Table of Contents
Chapter One: Let’s See What She’s Got!
Chapter Two: The Mysterious Man
Chapter Three: Running Home to Wolf-9
Chapter Four: Let the Finger Pointing Ensue!
Chapter Five: A meeting of the minds
Chapter Six: Discord behind closed doors
Chapter Seven: The Oleander Perspective
Chapter Eight: Kong Pao’s Sector 23 Reinforcements
Chapter Nine: Playtime
Chapter Ten: The Imperial Side!
Chapter Eleven: Repairs and concerns
Chapter Twelve: The Delaying Force
Chapter Thirteen: Reporting Home
Chapter Fourteen: Reinforced at Wolf-9
Chapter Fifteen: A Private Meeting
Chapter Sixteen: New Arrivals Admiral
Chapter Seventeen: Oleander Changes Ships!
Chapter Eighteen: The Arms Dealer from Sector 24
Chapter Nineteen: As ready as we can be
Chapter Twenty: Imperials move into position
Chapter Twenty-one: Slashing Attacks
Chapter Twenty-two: Survivors arrive
Chapter Twenty-three: The Third Battle for Easy Haven
Chapter Twenty-four: Stuck in Gambit
Chapter Twenty-five: The Second Battle for Sector 25
Chapter Twenty-six: Head to Head on the outskirts
Chapter Twenty-seven: Paying it back
Chapter Twenty-eight: The Hammer of Man
Chapter Twenty-nine: Falling Back
Chapter Thirty: Moving the Main Force
Chapter Thirty-one: An Imperial Push
Chapter Thirty-two: Testing the Water
Chapter Thirty-three: The Wolf-9 Response
Chapter Thirty-four: The Montagne Initiative
Chapter Thirty-five: Janeski and the Fighter Strike
Chapter Thirty-six: Kling and the Light Relief Force
Chapter Thirty-seven: LeGodat’s Price
Chapter Thirty-eight: Imperial Cruiser Command
Chapter Thirty-nine: Fighters Move In
Chapter Forty: Right up their sterns and fleeing the scene of the crime!
Chapter Forty-one: Confusion in the Sensor Department
Chapter Forty-two: Imperial Fighters moving in
Chapter Forty-three: A hit! A definite hit!
Chapter Forty-four: Riding it out
Chapter Forty-five: Fighting for the lives of their comrades
Chapter Forty-six: An Imperial Push: Destroyer Style
Chapter Forty-seven: Moves like a Primarch
Chapter Forty-eight: Moving in for the Kill
Chapter Forty-nine: Jason Swings his squadron of Battleships around Wolf-9
Chapter Fifty: Grinding them down
Chapter Fifty-one: Serge’s Strike
Chapter Fifty-two: Klinging to Hope
Chapter Fifty-three: Led by the nose
Chapter Fifty-four: Caught Out
Chapter Fifty-five: The Imperial Flag Bridge
Chapter Fifty-six: Admiral’s Choices
Chapter Fifty-seven: The Clover Lives!
Chapter Fifty-eight: In the Outer System
Chapter Fifty-nine: Attacking the Starbase
Chapter Sixty: Dark Matter’s Second Ride
Chapter Sixty-one: Droid Conflict: A Weak Link on the Chain of Command
Chapter Sixty-two: MSP to the Rescue?
Chapter Sixty-three: Firing Main Cannon
Chapter Sixty-four: On the Starbase
Chapter Sixty-five: Reaction on the Invictus
Chapter Sixty-six: The Montagne Maneuver!
Chapter Sixty-seven: Without a flank to turn
Chapter Sixty-eight: Forced Duty
Chapter Sixty-nine: Dark Matter: Coming to Grips
Chapter Seventy: The Eye of the Tiger
Chapter Seventy-one: Imperial Reaction
Chapter Seventy-two: The opening
Chapter Seventy-three: Rage on the Flag Bridge
Chapter Seventy-four: On the Gun Deck
Chapter Seventy-five: Desperate times
Chapter Seventy-six: The Tide Turns
Chapter Seventy-seven: Chaos on the Gun Deck
Chapter Seventy-eight: The Imperial Flag unfurled
Chapter Seventy-nine: Lancers on the Invictus Rising
Chapter Eighty: Desperate Times on the Hull
Chapter Eighty-one: Akantha on close approach
Chapter Eighty-two: Imperial Irritation
Chapter Eighty-three: General McMann
Chapter Eighty-four: The Brunt
Chapter Eighty-five: Nottingham’s Plan
Chapter Eighty-six: A Little Elbow Grease
Chapter Eighty-seven: The Boats Arrive
Chapter Eighty-eight: Into the Burrow
Chapter Eighty-nine: The second shot
Chapter Ninety: Wolf-9 Falls?
Chapter Ninety-one: Dark Matter vs. Entropy
Chapter Ninety-two: Imperial Command II
Chapter Ninety-three: Dark Matter
Chapter Ninety-four: Chaos on the move!
Chapter Ninety-five: Just a Shrub in the Office
Chapter Ninety-six: Breaking into the Breakout
Chapter Ninety-seven: The Battle Turns
Chapter Ninety-eight: Pride of the Imperial Hunter
Chapter Ninety-nine: A Late Start
: It’s a Spalding!
Chapter One hundred: Hold! Push!
Chapter One hundred one: Out of Moves?
Chapter One hundred two: Arnold Janeski
Chapter One hundred three: Moving into Firing Position
Chapter One hundred four: Rivals Rage
Chapter One hundred five: Bad news from the Carrier
Chapter One hundred six: She was the very model of dangerously outdated space technology.
Chapter One hundred seven: Fire and Fury on the Command Deck
Chapter One hundred eight: Admiral’s Trouble
Chapter One hundred nine: Gunboats to the rescue…is it enough?
Chapter One hundred ten: Under Threat
Chapter One hundred eleven: On the Command Carrier
Chapter One hundred twelve: The Tide Turns
Chapter One hundred thirteen: The Furious Phoenix
Chapter One hundred fourteen: Heroic Measures
Chapter One hundred fifteen: He was the very model of an old, outdated space engineer
Chapter One hundred sixteen: The Metal Titan
Chapter One hundred eighteen: Hard Decisions
Chapter One hundred nineteen: A simple engineering problem
Chapter One hundred twenty: Is it Victory?
Chapter One hundred twenty-one: Survivors
Chapter One hundred twenty-two: Counting the Cost and Tallying the Gains
Preview Content: Fear God and Dread Naught
Preview Content: Lynch’s Legacy
Chapter One: Let’s See What She’s Got!
“Let’s see what she’s got!” Spalding yelled, slamming his hand on the button.
The sound of Elder Tech Jump engines’ oscillations were like those of a revving internal combustion engine. The thrum filled the bridge of the newly rechristened Lucky Clover, and to say the tension was palpable would fall well short of doing the scene justice.
“Here she goes,” Spalding declared as the vibration continued to build and the hyper field began to form outside the ship.
“Uh…sir,” Brence asked, sweat breaking out on his forehead as the far-from-usual event unfolded around them.
The ship’s revving noises sputtered, resumed even louder than before, sputtered again, and continued to increase in intensity and frequency with each passing second.
“There she is!” the old Engineer chortled, pumping his fist in the air as the hyper field flashed.
“Sweet Murphy!” cried Brence. Modern jump engines simply didn’t make noises or flashes prior to a jump—not unless something was about to explode and everyone was destined to die. It either worked like flipping a light switch or the ship was torn apart. There was no in between.
The revving and sputtering suddenly hit a snag, and the oscillations quickly began to diminish in intensity and frequency.
“No…no!” Spalding shouted with sudden outrage.
Sounding as though the fuel lines had been kinked, the oscillations spluttered lower and slower until they seemingly vanished altogether—and with them, the hyper field flickered like a mouse-eaten piece of Holy Cheese.
“Blast it. She’s drawing too much power…the energy banks can’t keep up! This is at least a two week fix.” Screaming like he’d just been stabbed, Spalding pounded the side of his chair and kicked the metal console on the bridge hard enough to dent metal just as the hyper field vanished completely.
“Uh Sir?” Brence said eyes wide. Standing up, red-faced and breathing hard like a madman it took the Commander a full minute before he regained his rationality.
“Chief Engineer?” Brence prompted again.
“Don’t worry, Brence, she’ll be made right—and in time for the party too. It’s not her design that’s the problem,” Spalding’s voice rasped as he stoutly defended his ship, “it’s got to be the heavy draw from those newfangled Elder tech jump drives. Yep, that’s the problem. But don’t you worry none—old Spalding can compensate for it. I think…” he paused before his jaw clenched, “it’ll take more than a piece of the most advanced technology this ever produced in this galaxy before being left behind by a long-dead race whose technological achievements are currently beyond mere human understanding to stop—”
“Uh…” Brence winced at precisely the same time as Shepherd’s stuttering from Navigation interrupted the two of them.
“T-T-T-T-he scre-en is n-ow sho-wing a one-tw-w-welf-th charge!” he badly stuttered.
“What?!” Spalding cried, jumping out of his seat and running over to the nav-console.
“He-here,” Shepherd pointed at his screen.
Spalding’s eyes rapidly flowed over the AI Program/Elder Tech interface.
“Gravitational constant of the universe…the hyperspace resistance quotient has increased. Increased power storage needed for…?” for a moment he looked dumbfounded before he slamming his hand down on the Nav-plot table. “That that’s impossible!” he shouted, causing several navigation trainees to jump and immediately break away.
“Bad news, sir?” Brence asked, surreptitiously sliding his body between the Chief Engineer and the rest of the crew.
“Ahhh!” the old man cried, grabbing his head.
Brence bent over and his surprise saw that the interface did indeed list all the things the old engineer had just been raving about.
“I wasn’t aware there was a ‘hyperspace resistance quotient’ that the hyper techs and navigators had to factor in,” Brence said with surprise.
“There isn’t!” Spalding threw his hands in the air.
“An error in the interface perhaps?” Brence said with increased worry. If they were working with a buggy interface and with untested technology then the odds of survival had just gone down significantly…
“That’s not the problem,” the Commander swore, linking his tablet to the interface before spinning it so that Brence could see, “not even the half!”
The screen said 22.458 days and was even now slowly counting down.
“A self-destruct!” Brence blurted, immediately backing away from the data slate.
“What?” Spalding stared at him, bewildered before slapping the slate on the edge of the nav-plot for emphasis. “No, you bloomin’ idjit! That’s not a self-destruct countdown. That’s how long the hyper engines estimates it’ll take us to charge up for the jump at our current level of power! Gah!” he tossed his slate down on the nav-plot, “22 days! Can you believe it? Why, the war could be lost by then.”
“Uh…just to be clear. The part that bothers you isn’t the fact that the engines are running calculations regarding the gravitational constant of the universe and other factors—such as ‘hyperspace resistance’—none of which are even used with the height of modern technology…but rather the fact it’s going to take 22 days to re-try?” he asked cautiously.
“Why of course! There’s no point in arriving after the war’s already over, my boy,” Spalding bestowed a withering look on the other man. He waved his hands in the air wildly, “Didn’t you see? Eleven more segments to charge and each one a potential landmine…I mean it’s not like we can just install another generator anytime we…like. Well…I suppose we could, but by the time we did most of those 22 days would already be over,” the Commander said, pausing in contemplation before obviously throwing out the idea as a bad game.
“Correct me if I’m wrong, Sir. But why don’t we just feed it more power and cut down those 22 days?” Brence asked perplexed. The solution seemed simple, therefore there must be something complex that he was missing.
“What are you blathering about man? I just told you by the time we installed more generators it’d already be—” Spalding demanded wryly.
“No. I mean why do we need to install more generators on the Clover, Sir? We’re in a great big yard here and there are lots of generators. Why can’t we just hook up the Elder engines to more generators until we get the time down to something more reasonable than three wee
ks?” he asked, honestly stumped. “I mean it’s not like the hyper field is confined to one ship. We could just hook up lines to the engines from inside the field. Or maybe even from outside the field? Would the lines just be severed when it jumped or should we manually cut them in the last minutes before jump? Of course, I’ve never seen jump engines like these before so I could just be way off-base—”
“Brence, you’re a genius!” Spalding declared happily.
“I am?” he asked with surprise, totally expecting that he would have been educated in just how wrong he was right now, not complimented instead.
“O’ course, the power generated by the smaller ships would be a drop in the bucket…and even our bigger ships are limping along on limited fusion generators right now. But I’m sure that if we put our heads together we can figure something out!” he said happily.
“Uh…good,” Brence said, wondering if he’d just shot himself in the foot and feeling compelled to add, “I mean, unless you think maybe we ought to go back over that interface program with a fine-toothed comb first? I don’t know…maybe we should make sure we aren’t about to jump into the middle of a sun or a black hole or overcharge the jump engines and explode?”
“My boy, you cycle back and forth between hot and cold faster than anyone I know,” Spalding rolled his eyes.
“I cycle back and forth faster?” he repeated with outrage.
“It’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Spalding hastened to console him, “there are worse things a man could be saddled with. Why, I was saddled with a heart grown in the same vat as that of a natural born coward, and see how I turned out—”
Right at that moment the stress and uncertainty of the last two days came crashing down hitting the younger engineer all at once. “Bah!” Brence shouted in exasperation.
Chapter Two: The Mysterious Man
It had taken the better part of two weeks of careful planning, followed by two entire days of floating out in the middle of cold space watching his oxygen tanks and power cells dwindle down to nearly nothing. But he had finally done it, and his quarry was now in sight.