CROSSFIRE - Atlantis DSV - New Cape Quest

commander‟s past, but the fact remained that Carpenter and Ainsley had history – the sort
that only a decade of joint service could truly cement, even if it had been filled with its ups
and downs.
The battlenet feed transmitted to the Repulse from Commonwealth‟s CIC had been a
general direction with nothing in particular standing out as a meaningful order, but this was
what Ainsley had been counting on - he knew how Carpenter thought, and Carpenter in turn
was a man who knew how to read Ainsley‟s frequently unexplained intentions. Repulse and
Monarch had been travelling a course westward towards Kapen Atoll and the Fire Corals.
With the engagement being conducted in an open basin just south of that position, the
simplest course of action would have been to continue on that course to make a rendezvous.
This however had not been the order. Carpenter looked down at the sheet of paper in
his hand once again and re-read the Commonwealth‟s message. Aside from a general
situation report and status detailing the strength of local fighter groups, there had been a
single word: “Jemo.”
And so Carpenter had the Repulse committed to a stretch of water known as Ratak
Ridge – a blind sea wall some fifty five miles long between Kapen Atoll and the tiny island of
Jemo through which no sonar could penetrate, taking them south, and away from the
battlefield leaving not a single trace of a clue for the Macronesian Alliance that they were
even in the area. The entire supposition depended on Commonwealth‟s ability to hold
against a superior force for line longer than Ainsley would have ideally wanted, but
Carpenter knew the man‟s style, and couldn‟t mistake the instruction for anything else.
Admiral Mark Ainsley didn‟t simply want to save the Reverence, he wanted to utterly
crush those who had tried to sink it in the first place, and if that was the way he wanted to
play it, then James Carpenter was not about to argue the point – having languished under
other superiors who seemed content with simply holding the line, and defending what
territories the UEO had left. In his opinion, Ainsley was the sort of officer who could win the
war, and no one seemed interested.
“Admiral, we‟re coming to the end of the ridge. We‟re going to need to dive if we‟re to
stay below it, sir,” said the big, Welsh brogue of Repulse‟s Captain, George Bassett.
“Well then, I‟d say Ainsley‟s been waiting long enough. Break radio silence and send
to Monarch – deploy all fighters and begin intercept. Helm, prepare for incoming change of
course, hard starboard on heading three-one-zero.”
“Aye. Course on three-one-zero. Monarch is answering,” the OOD confirmed, a hand
to his ear as he listened to the orders between the two warships.
Carpenter nodded his approval as he felt the deck shift slightly as the bulk of his
battlecruiser began to sweep around the ridgeline south of Jemo‟s southern-most point. He
gripped the overhead railing above the command pulpit as he stepped up to the tactical
officers. “Open all outer doors. As soon as you have contacts, I want shooting solutions on
all batteries forward.”
“Aye aye. All tubes flooded and outer doors are open.
Carpenter leaned back again as the two cruiser rose from the depths to bring their
bulks in to plain and clear view of the Alliance fleet. The sight was as awesome as it was
intimidating as the two ships – each weighing over fifty thousand tonnes – presented their
full batteries at the flanks of the Macronesian line just three short miles away.
“Contacts, designated masters one through five. Two Saracen class fleet carriers and
four Octavian battlecruisers – range, three point two miles and closing. We have shooting
solutions.”
“How long until guidance lock?”
“Thirty seconds!”
Ainsley closed his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief as the two Battlecruisers
appeared as a blip on the battle plot, barely four miles from Commonwealth‟s port side flank.
The deck rocked under his feet again as a third wave of torpedoes slammed in to the
battlecruiser‟s hull, the damage being limited by the bulkheads that had already been closed
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