Chapter One
It’s a Trap, Captain
September 2113
Task Force 22
Lyrius Star System
RNS Vanguard
Rear Admiral Amy Dobbs looked on in abject horror as the ambush against her reconnaissance force continued to unfold. The handful of frigates and cruisers escorting what their sensors had identified as a convoy of giant freighters heading toward Corusca had morphed into something more dangerous. Nearly a dozen Pharaonis cruisers and destroyers broke formation, advancing away from the freighters they had been using to shield themselves from Republic sensors. With the initial escort having decisively engaged her reconnaissance force, there was little she could do to intervene other than to push the ships of her task force to use all available thrust to shorten the time to contact with the enemy and hope they weren’t too late.
I knew something wasn’t right about this convoy the moment we detected it, she lamented.
Shortly after the alliance fleet had entered the system, they’d detected the main Pharaonis fleet forming near Corusca, one of two habitable moons in orbit of the gas giant Aiolia. It was the only inhabited moon or planet in the system, making its capture by either side a strategic win. Since its takeover, Corusca had become a logistical staging point, allowing the Pharaonis to launch raiding missions into Ry’lian and Tully space. It was only when the alliance moved further into the system toward the enemy fleet that they detected something else—a convoy of freighters moving towards Corusca. That was when Task Force 22—Dobbs’s task force—was ordered to engage and eliminate it.
I should have sent more ships, she thought, second-guessing herself as she studied each update of the battle unfolding just beyond the range of their weapons.
After directing her former XO, Captain Joseph Wright, to lead a reconnaissance force consisting of his ship, the battle cruiser Teddy Roosevelt, a heavy cruiser, a pair of frigates, and a single corvette, she was upset with herself for not sending more cruisers, especially with the appearance of those new destroyers the Pharaonis had recently begun fielding. Now, as her reconnaissance element was decisively engaged, unable to break free from their quarry, it was a race against time to see if her ships would come to the rescue or if she would be left to watch helplessly as they were destroyed, one by one.
Damn this jamming—why the hell are we only learning now of this new capability they seem to have acquired? she questioned, wondering who had dropped the intelligence ball on this one.
From the moment the Pharaonis had sprung their trap, one or more of their newer vessels had succeeded in jamming the targeting sensors of her ships. Normally, this was something the Republic was known for doing to its adversaries, not the other way around. Being on the receiving end was an entirely new experience and one she did not enjoy.
She cursed under her breath, frustrated beyond belief. She watched helplessly as Pharaonis warships continued to pummel the Teddy Roosevelt and the heavy cruiser Oceanus. Seeing the pair of Republic ships firing back at the enemy, impressively scoring hit after hit against the Pharaonis, felt good. But it still irked her that five of her ships were in grave danger of being destroyed, and there was little she could do until her ships could burn through the electronic jamming or get close enough for their targeting sensors to overpower the jamming. For now, all she could do was watch and wait and hope her ships could hold out a little longer.
“Admiral, I think we’re almost through the jamming. I’m starting to get targeting data on those large contacts we identified as freighters. It shouldn’t be long now until we can target the rest of them,” Lieutenant
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