Wing Commander #07 False Color by William Forstchen (best books to read in life .txt) 📕

had left, nearly ready for her space trials but far from prepared to go into combat. What was she doing here?

"Incoming message, sir," the Communications Officer announced.

The comm screen lit up to reveal the craggy features of Max Kruger. "Independence, what the hell's going on out here? I came to see what you found at the pirate base, and I'm reading Cat ships on my long-range sensors. What's the situation?"

"Mr. President," Galbraith said, leaning forward. "Mr. President, you have to withdraw immediately. Our Flight Wing's been cut up by Kilrathi fighters, and their task force outnumbers us heavily. I was preparing to withdraw to cover the capitol when you jumped in."

Kruger looked angry. "Withdraw? What do you mean withdraw? My sensors tell me one of those two carriers is damaged. And their own fighters must have taken some losses by this time."

"Yes, sir, but not enough--"

"Listen, son, if they've taken any kind of losses at all they're not likely to want to hang around now that we have two undamaged carriers and the prospect of fresh planes coming into the battle. Where's Camparelli? He'll understand what we need . . ."

"He's dead, sir," Galbraith said. "He—"

"Then by the power vested in me as Commander-in-Chief blab-blah-blah, I hereby take command of this task force. Have your battle group reverse course and head for those Cats, Captain!"

"But, sir . . . I know you don't have a full flight wing on board. You can't! Not unless you put it aboard in the last couple of days . . ."

"Nape. Not a one." Kruger gave him a wolfish smile.

"But, of course, the Cats don't know that. Now give those orders, Captain, or I'll have you relieved of command!" The screen went dead, leaving Galbraith to stare at the blank monitor.

A feeling of relief swept over him despite the desperate situation they were sailing into. At least Kruger would bear the responsibility for whatever happened, win or lose.

Command Bridge, KIS Hravik Jump Point Six, Hellhole System 0838 hours (CST)

"Terran reinforcements!" Captain Ghadhark nar Voiles snarled. "Another carrier . . . same class as the first."

"Yes, my Lord," his Executive Officer said.

"Any sign of supporting ships for the new arrival?"

"No, my Lord. But the jump point is at the limit of our current sensor range. More vessels may be coming through, and we simply are not picking up the disturbance they would generate."

Ghadhark glanced at a monitor that showed the battered Klarran, with one of the destroyers drifting alongside and a swarm of small craft closing in to try to evacuate wounded and put over damage control parties. The admiral had gone off hypercast soon after the ape ship had been destroyed and the rain of fragments had started slamming into Klarran, and it was certain that the flag captain was dead. That left Ghadhark senior officer. The next moves were his to make.

Ahead, the Terran fighters were withdrawing in disorder, pursued by Kilrathi squadrons who still outnumbered them by several eights. But the human battle group was changing vector, and the computer projections now put their course as heading straight toward the task force. The second carrier seemed alone, but it could be just the first of a whole wave of reinforcements . . .

The apes had already crippled one Kilrathi ship today, and that would drive Ragark into a rage. More losses would only compound the disaster . . . and could not be laid at the admiral's door, as the damage to Klarran could.

And by now the apes could have received the information the scoutship had carried and spread it too far for the task force to be sure of stopping it from getting back to their capitol, Landreich. That part of the mission was a total write-off. Not that it would do the apes any good to know that Ragark had a dreadnought in orbit over Baka Kar. There was little enough they could do with that information.

At this point, the best option was to withdraw. Even with the dreadnought, Ragark would still need all the carriers he could muster for the coming campaign. The dreadnought could overpower whole fleets of smaller ape ships, but only carriers could project Imperial force against several different targets at the same time. Ragark might rage at the decision to pull back, but additional losses would be by far the worse. Not just for the Empire, but for Ghadhark's throat.

"Order the fighters to return," he said at last, knowing he had made the right decision. "And instruct the other ships to prepare for the return jump to Vordran."

Operations Planning Center, FRLS Independence Near Jump Point Two, Hellhole System 1243 hours (CST)

"I'm afraid we've lost close to half our fighters," Kevin Tolwyn said grimly. "And a lot of the planes that came back are in a bad way. We couldn't intercept a determined squadron of sparrows and be sure of winning the fight."

He sat beside Captain Galbraith at the big triangular table, looking across at Max Kruger and the captain of the Arbroath. A handful of other senior officers were present as well to bring Kruger up to date on the day's fighting.

"You did a good job, Commander," Kruger said. "It must've been a tough call to make, joining forces with the pirate who was probably the guy who tried to take out your uncle. But you did the right thing. It was the pirate carrier that turned the tide, but they wouldn't have gotten through without your fighters for escort. Congratulations are in order, Captain Tolwyn, for a job well done."

It took Tolwyn a long moment before he realized he'd just been promoted. Kruger's off-hand manner made it seem like something of no great importance. Commander Hiro Watanabe, Independence's Chief Engineer, stirred in his seat nearby. "If you hadn't arrived when you did, Mr. President, I'm afraid things wouldn't have turned out this well."

Kruger glanced at Galbraith with a look Tolwyn couldn't quite place. Anger? Or contempt?