(Five)

20 April 2065

The Hue City

Kappa Reticuli

0300

The captain of the Hue and the executive officer of the Twenty-third MEU (McQueen's XO) were on the bridge. They were charged with maintaining the integrity and safety of the four ships comprising McQueen's MEU.

"Train your people and then let them do their jobs." McQueen thought to himself one last time. He would be monitoring the situation from the Command Center one deck below the bridge.

Chan caught up with Colonel McQueen and Lieutenant Damphousse as they were making their way to the Command Center.

"Did you get anything to eat?" McQueen asked as they headed down the passageway. "Get it while you can," he thought. They were all liable to be eating on the run for the next few days.

"Sergeant Marsh took care of me, Colonel."

McQueen smiled to himself. Years ago he had been a sergeant himself, and he, too, had been a good sergeant.

If things had gone badly between Chan and the Cards, McQueen would already know. In any case, it would have been too late now to change anything. But he couldn't help but notice the Wildcards patch on Chan's uniform. It wasn't regulation, but it pleased him. McQueen would not insult Chan by asking him if the team was ready.

The three took their places in the Command Center. There was really no way to carry off a sneak naval attack - not of this magnitude. The Task Force had entered enemy-held territory. A buzzer had gone off somewhere, and by now the Chigs would know the fleet was on its way. Colonel McQueen gazed at the bank of monitors in front of him. He was not focusing on any one view or information set in particular, but rather trying to stay relaxed. Taking it all in. Looking at the biggest picture possible. Being ready.

Before he could begin his part in the assault on Kazbek - on the mine - the Chig battle force on Cerrus had to be contained, and the moon, Kazbek, had to be isolated. The enemy could not be allowed to cross the strait to the moon. Until the Chig forces on Cerrus were contained there would be no ground action on Kazbek. They presented too great a threat.

The lion's share of the battle for Kazbek would not even take place on it.

For the first time in many years McQueen would be forced to wait - to hold himself and his forces in reserve. "At least the Fifty-eighth has had recent practice at that," he thought. He never liked being in the rear with the gear. It had little to do with a hunger for battle: It had everything to do with hating to have to watch and wait.

Without taking his eyes off the monitors, McQueen spoke. "Did you hold your own at the poker table?" he asked, surprising Chan, who had to take a few seconds to change gears before answering.

"Only got in a few hands. But yes, Sir, I was up to the challenge. I won my share."

"Good. We can't have them thinking that they can play fast and loose with the Command Staff, can we?" McQueen gave his adjutant a bland look.

Chan knew him well enough to read the Colonel's humor. He leaned toward McQueen and spoke in a whisper. "They call me Chan the Man' behind my back."

"It's a lot better than being called The Rookie,'" McQueen said with a slight smile, and turned back to the monitors.

Chan gave Phousse a questioning look. She shrugged in reply to his unasked question. She had no idea who 'The Rookie' was either.

"We got company," the ensign watching the lidar called out.

"I see them." McQueen replied.

The Chig fleet was rising to meet the challenge.

********************************************

The main body of Task Force 85 turned its guns on Cerrus, concentrating fire on the three known fortifications designated Solomon, Gilbert, and Maryanne.

The crew on the Hue watched the Saratoga and the Vengeance launch their fighters to begin the blockade of Kazbek.

"Drop the hammers," McQueen's exec ordered from the bridge - anticipating his CO down to the second.

The small fighter group assigned to the Twenty-third MEU launched to fly cover for the troop ships. With any luck they wouldn't have a lot to do. With any luck.

"Damphousse, the strait," McQueen ordered.

"The strait, aye, aye," she responded, and refocused her monitor. She was to keep her eyes on that patch of space between Kazbek and Cerrus. They would need to know how many Chig transports successfully ran the gauntlet. Anything that wasn't killed in the air would have to be met on the ground.

"Chan, I read two - make that three - capital ships." McQueen said, thereby giving Chan his assignment.

"One more reported on the far side, Colonel," Chan said.

********************************************

0445

"Colonel, one of the Chig carriers has broken out and is on the move toward the straits," Marshall called out.

"Confirm. Confirm. Coming around the planet now at eight-o'clock," Vanessa punctuated. "The Nevada, the Princess of Wales, and the Vengeance are moving to engage. Four cruisers are on their way too, Sir."

An hour earlier, when things had looked "so far so good," McQueen had called for coffee to be brought to the Command Center. He now looked down into his cup. There was a distinct tilt' to the level of his coffee. The Hue City was responding to the new threat: She was moving off toward the rear. It was the correct response to the shifting battle situation, but that did not relieve Colonel McQueen's itch of frustration.

"Assessment?" he snapped to Damphousse.

"The carrier is moving with little or no escort. I've never seen the Chigs this uncoordinated, Sir."

McQueen concurred. He watched the monitor on his upper left. " Wait," he thought.

" Wait him out. Let him come. See if he's got something moving in behind him."

The seconds stretched into minutes as he watched the ships maneuver on his screen. Smaller aircraft - bombers and fighters - were now fully engaged, but the big ships had yet to fire a shot.

"No other Chig capital vessels are moving to support," Chan reported. "They've got their hand full.

McQueen sipped his coffee, and then whispered to himself. "Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake."

Unlike the Earth Force supercarriers, the Chig carriers had surprisingly little defensive firepower: They relied far more heavily on their escort.

McQueen concentrated on the image on the monitor. "Wait wait for it." He could see no surprises coming around Cerrus from her port. "Gotcha," he whispered, and set down his cup.

The screens lit up - causing McQueen to look away - as seven ships of the line opened fire on the Chig carrier at once.

**************************************************

Kappa Reticlui

0718

The Battle for Kazbek was four hours old. The Earth Force carriers were starting to rotate their fighter squadrons when Chig bombers heavily hit the Earth Force supercarrier, Saskatchewan. She suffered the loss of her Commanding Officer and most of the bridge crew on duty, as well as six of her landing bays and four of her loading bays. She moved to withdraw to the far side of Kazbek, and the Colin Powell was pulled out of the blockade and sent up to the line to replace her. Chig fighters began to swarm around the injured giant as she moved away from the battle.

"Chan, I want the 5-8 all over that - yesterday," McQueen ordered. "MSPF - Maritime Special Purpose Force. This is a special purpose, if ever," he thought.

Chan immediately grabbed the horn to the Wildcards. McQueen turned to Phousse only to find that he was already on the COM simultaneously to the Saratoga, calling for the launch, and to the Saskatchewan, letting them know that extra help was on the way.

**********************************************

As their Hammerheads peeled away from the Saratoga, the Wildcards focused on the battle that was growing around the wounded Saskatchewan. Chig trident fighters - leaving the main battle - were swarming around her. They were flying right by other targets of opportunity and concentrating fire on the "S'katch." It was a disciplined maneuver. The Earth Force carrier was defending herself - launching anything that could fly and fire a weapon. It was real ugly.

The Cards came in at six-o'clock low, jumping a Chig bomber and two tridents from behind. Several Hammers from the S'katch disengaged from the defense, banked high, and flew to the rear to join the Cards. A risky move, but it paid off. The trident fighters were being separated from the main Chig force. With any luck - if the Saskatchewan and her squadrons could continue to hold out - the Chigs would be boxed in.

There is a centuries old military adage: "Plans change as soon as the first shot is fired." The Chig plan to sink the Saskatchewan began to fall apart.

**********************************************

0900

The battle had slowed, and the three remaining Chig capital ships had withdrawn to a low orbit around the planet - well within the sentry satellites. The Chig carriers aimed what guns they had at the Earth fleet - who returned fire at will. Smaller alien aircraft engaged in sporadic dogfights and bombing runs. The bombardment of the planet Cerrus continued, with the Task Force maintaining the heat. Earth Force did not ease off while the Chigs tried to regroup. There was time, however, to assess the damage, to begin repairs, to check in, to reassess, and to communicate with one another.

Vansen reported in, speaking - as she had expected - with Chan. "Marshall, there is something about the Chig fighters. I think I need to" she said.

"Hold," he interrupted, and cut off communications.

" Damn it all," thought Shane. "I thought this was going to work. The first time. The first time I need him and it is all screwed up. 'Hold' he tells me. Hold. Damn it. I thought I was not supposed to be stonewalled." "Damn it," she said, and thumped her side window with her fist.

"Talk to me, Queen of Diamonds." McQueen's voice seemed to fill the cabin of her Hammerhead.

Vansen's response was immediate and Pavlovian. "MSPF 23 reporting, Sir. All secure."

"Chan said you needed to tell me something about their fighters," McQueen said.

Shane was still so absorbed in her anger that it took her a second to respond to him.

"They are making mistakes, Colonel"

"All of them?"

"No, but enough."

"New tactics?" he asked.

"If they are trying something new they suck at it. They were skidding around all over the sky. They didn't seem able to re-coordinate. Or regroup and redirect. I think that we've got - or had - a bunch of Chig nuggets out here."

It made sense. It helped explain the colossal blunder the Chig carrier had made.

"Vansen, head back to the Saratoga. I'll give Commodore Ross your assessment. Queen Six out."

Vansen radioed the rest of the Cards to head back to the barn. She was forced to admit that she had misjudged Chan. He had known that relaying information about the fighters would not be his strong suit. He hadn't made her waste time explaining something that he would only partially understand. He had known that McQueen would want to know about the alien aircraft, and that the Colonel would value her impressions. Chan hadn't wasted any time. The COM channel had been dead only a few seconds before McQueen's voice had rattled her. " This will work," she thought. " This will work."

The Command Center of the Hue City was unexpectedly quiet. Not all of the crewmembers understood the full impact of 'Queen of Diamond's' assessment, but they all knew that it was something significant. The silence was broken by the soft sound of Damphousse punching in the COM code for the Saratoga - the direct channel to Boss Ross. She looked up at Colonel McQueen in expectation. He gave her a nod, and she hit 'send.'

Seconds later McQueen got a response on his head set.

"Go ahead, Queen Six." It was Ross.

"Queen of Diamonds reports trident fighters erratic - uncoordinated."

"I've gotten some scattered reports of the same thing," Ross responded. He had emphasized the word 'scattered.' It wasn't a universal experience.

"Q.O.D. reports that they fly like trainees," McQueen said. There was a moment of silence before Ross came back with a sigh.

"Well, they had to go someplace. Why not here?"

The primary Chig shipyard and training facility had been at Ixion. If the Chigs had thought that the mysteries of Sewell fuel had been unlocked - that Earth force wasn't interested - it made sense to move the training to the Kappa Reticuli. The infrastructure was there. There were alien troops on Cerrus, and it had a Chig-breathable atmosphere.

"And why doesn't it make me happy?" McQueen asked rhetorically.

Ross gave the answer they were both thinking. "It's good news/bad news. Earth Force has the advantage over inexperienced fighters, but What will 'Mama' do when she finds out that someone is messing with her babies?"

McQueen had an uncomfortable thought. He remembered the words of Sun Tzu. "All warfare is based on deception."

"If they thought that we weren't interested in Sewell fuel" McQueen left the thought dangling.

"They know different now," Ross finished the thought. "We had best make hay while the sun shines."

End Chapter Five

AlRai. To Be Continued

M. Wheels