Blockade

by Chris Hechtl

  Piotr sat back as he continued to stare at her. "So, you do have a backbone after all."

  She smiled. "You thought I'd defend Cyrano. I can't. Ultimately, he couldn't hold. Why he couldn't hold is on you. But he couldn't find a way to make what little he had work to his advantage. He tried; his reports reflect that. He ran even before he had to. The only reason he got any of his command out was because he ran." She shrugged. "But he's done as a commanding officer. The best we can do is to pick up the pieces and use what he learned to fight on." She shook her head. "They say that the best training is getting your ass kicked repeatedly so you can learn from your mistakes. I guess you could say we just had some very good training."

  The silence between them stretched for a long moment. Finally her father nodded once. "Retaking the territory and the initiative is going to be hard," he said.

  "That it is. We're going to have to commit resources that we would otherwise like to keep to ourselves. Like Grams said, this is high stakes. We're about to go all in whether we like it or not."

  He nodded once and then turned to Countess Newberry. "I do believe," his voice returned to more normal lines, "you said you are processing the intel dump?"

  "Yes," she said, looking at Malwin and Theo and then back to the emperor. "We're already providing what we can to the fighter community. It looks like the Federation is shifting to a carrier war. It makes sense; their bombers loaded with antimatter torpedoes will make short work of our fortresses and battle line," she stated.

  The emperor grimaced. "I respect truth," he said after a moment. "I don't have to like it though."

  Malwin chuckled bitterly. "I don't think any of us like it your majesty. We are trying to find ways to counter the threat. We've got historians digging through the archives for the historic counters to carrier operations. Updating and training our forces will take some time. We're also looking into a spoiler raid or other operation to throw them off balance."

  The emperor's eyes suddenly gleamed. "That I can definitely get on board with. What did you have in mind?"

  "Well, we obviously can't hit their major yards, but we can send a cruiser force south to see what's going on in New Horizon and beyond. They should be able to sweep up any light enemy forces they run into if we make the force strong enough. We can remain in contact with couriers but it's a long road. What I'd like to do is send at least a division of battle cruisers with them and make a run at B101a1. We know that we can't assault Pyrax directly, that would be a suicide mission, but we might be able to look for targets of opportunity in that area."

  "For instance?"

  "Well, for instance any convoys they are using to support their carrier fleet that came from that direction. Also, we could send the cruiser force up north from B101a1 to hit Kathy's World from behind, maybe even get through it to Protodon. We believe they are using it as a staging ground, hitting that with a solid raiding force could throw off their attack on us for months, possibly a year or more."

  The emperor nodded. "Draw up the plans and let me see them."

  "Yes, sire."

  "Now …"

  -~~~///^\~~~-

  Sabine sat back with a mental sigh as the meeting returned to normal lines and patterns. Catherine had risked a lot with that direct confrontation of her father. It was a sore point, but she had run on her instincts. The direct confrontation had thrown ice water on her father though, making him take a step back and think. That may or may not be a good thing long term.

  She looked at the princess out of the corner of her eye. You play a dangerous game, princess, but if it was an easy game, anyone would play.

  -~~~///^\~~~-

  Elvira found herself kicking herself over feeling bored when she was tasked with finding a way to swat fighters and bombers in droves. She had already looked into it once. The Taurens had hit on the idea of using mass shotgun fire, rail gun spreading clouds of metal into the path of incoming craft to tear them up or at least force them to maneuver away.

  A similar method used missiles with nuclear or antimatter warheads. They would go off tearing the enemy up or forcing them to maneuver away.

  The brass wanted them dead though. That meant they had to force the craft into kill zones and then swat them. How was a problem. She returned to her research.

  The problem had been considered over the centuries prior to the Xeno war of course. Various solutions had been found; some worked better than others. Like any arms race there was the weapon and then a counter to it. Maneuver was the simplest, be where the enemy wasn't. If you saw the enemy moving, force them to alter course to chase you and therefore expend fuel and life support. But to do that they needed a good strong recon bubble out there to detect the incoming craft early enough.

  Interceptors were another traditional method. Raptors had once been a good craft for such things, small and cheap. They were deathtraps against modern craft though. Firing spreads of missiles had nearly the same effect with less waste.

  The scariest method was a nanite cloud. Spread a cloud out, and if it could get through the enemy's shields, it could tear them apart. The problem was it was a hazard to anyone's navigation, not just the enemies. Besides, they didn't have access to nanotech like that so she set it aside.

  She frowned as she checked on the Grav Lance Project and then went back to what she called the Flyswatter Project. Could she combine the two? There had been some mention of using shields or force emitters … she frowned and played with her lip as she pulled the references up.

  Ah, yes. Force emitter bubbles, really mines, could be made. The idea had come from someone who had pitched using force emitters to create gravity wells to defend against missiles, rail guns, or craft. But power was a problem they didn't last long before they ate themselves.

  But a lower power setup might be more effective. They were exploring using her grav lance emitters for counter missiles. Set up an umbrella of force and have it sweep ahead destroying missiles … what if they made a mine? Or a better counter missile? Or hell, even a torpedo? Force emitters disrupted other force emitters if they weren't properly tuned. If she set hers to randomly change frequency and duration, that would disrupt the enemy's emitters. They would therefore have no shields. If they encountered a second wave of force emitters, then they would get torn up …

  Her tongue played over her front teeth to keep herself from biting her lip as she began to write up what she had in mind. Finding out a way to achieve the project might take longer though.

  Chapter 12

  Antigua

  Colton felt ever much a passenger, or worse, cargo as his Shield Team arrived in Antigua. It had taken them approximately eleven weeks to get from Pyrax to the capital star system. Skye had shown him a comparison, if they'd been with the regular convoy, they'd still be passing through B452c bumbling around in the mid beta bands. He could appreciate the speed but hated the sudden exposure that came with it.

  Not that they'd had much of a choice.

  He had to admit; the images Skye had obtained of the star system had been impressive. The video and stills they had seen in Bek as well as in transit didn't give the work going on justice. The system was seething with activity and easily rivaled or surpassed Bek A. There may not be as many ships or stations in some areas, but in other areas Antigua was in a league all on their own.

  Four days after entering the star system, they debarked at a navy way station in the inner star system. From there his team sprang into action, following the plan he'd dreamed up on the way there. Skye had been given time to work on her side of the plan, but he had come to learn he couldn't rely heavily on her skills. Even though she had brushed up on them, the number of A.I. in the computer network forced her to work only on the fringes of the net.

  Still, it was enough for her to get them a meeting place, scout where he had to go based on his orders and a meeting place. He left Mae in charge of the others as he followed his orders to report in.

  -~~~///^\~~~-

  Yorgi nodded to
Colton as the man came into his office. His yeoman was apparently not at his desk, something Colton had no doubt arranged in advance. All of his games were amusing Yorgi thought as he surveyed the other man.

  "Keeping in practice I see," he drawled.

  Colton was in a captain's uniform so he didn't look out of place in the complex. Apparently, he'd spent a few minutes observing the comings and goings of the complex. Where he'd gotten the uniform was a question best to be ignored Yorgi thought, putting the question aside.

  "Welcome aboard, Captain," he said dryly as the two men shook hands. He indicated they should take a seat. Once they were settled in, he offered refreshments as he silently indicated to Geni to secure the room.

  "One of your operatives tried to track you. I am assuming it is your cyberist. She didn't get past the firewalls," Geni stated smugly.

  "An A.I., Admiral?" Colton asked, looking at the holographic avatar on the desk.

  "This is Ensign Geni, my assistant," the admiral stated with a nod to her.

  "Thank you, sir," Geni replied.

  "Long trip?"

  "Not as long as it could have been. Thanks for the courier," Colton stated as he crossed his ankles and sat back. "Nice digs," he said, looking around the room.

  "It's home," Yorgi stated. "I thought you'd try to get into the admin complex," he stated.

  "You knew I was here. I could blend in more easily there, but security is as tight there as it is here. And here I can get out," Colton replied mildly.

  Yorgi looked at him and then snorted. No doubt Colton had at least one evac plan.

  "Well, that won't be necessary, though no doubt it would be interesting to get a critique of our security."

  "I'll write it up," Colton replied with a dutiful nod.

  "Good. Independent eyes and all that. Now, I've got about a half hour to talk to you in my schedule. I wish I had more …"

  "But you are a busy man," Colton replied. "I understand, sir. Not a problem."

  "Okay, here's the deal. I've read your reports, what little you put in them. Now we have to decide what to do with you."

  "I thought you had something in mind?"

  "I do. The first option is to break the team up and give them each their own teams to lead."

  Colton shook his head. He didn't even have to check with the team on that one. "Not an option, sir," he stated flatly.

  Yorgi studied him and then nodded once. "Okay, so, that leaves three options. One, you can stay here and do different missions here. I was considering that for Fitz and Simmons. Mack could have a hand with them, and I suppose Mae and you could work in the ONI shop with some of the others."

  "And Skye?"

  "We … can use her in a variety of places. Looking for the Wraith for one or sifting through interrogations."

  "Okay, what else do you have, sir? I'm not ruling that option out; I just want to know everything that is on the table."

  Yorgi nodded. He knew better than to pull rank on Phil. "Option two is we send you to the war front, and you can work with the ONI assets in the field to root out the Horathians and process information there. I'd considered inserting you into Horath itself but that would be tough."

  Phil grimaced.

  "The third option is sending you to another sector to set up shop. Both Tau and Pi are hurting for ONI. We've been focused on the war front. You'd pretty much be on your own with a vague list of mission objectives, and you'd have to make things up as you go along."

  Phil frowned thoughtfully. "I know Fitz and Simmons would love to get their hands dirty here. But I really like the third option."

  Yorgi blinked. "Can I ask why you don't want the second?"

  "Well, I considered it on the way here. We could probably handle it but the odds of being picked up are extremely high if we did a full bore insert into Horath. The background briefs would take forever. We'd get a lot in transit of course, but we would be going in with just those background briefs, no actual experience about the planet."

  Yorgi nodded.

  "Headed to one of the planets to root out the enemy sounds good, but I think you've got people on that already."

  Yorgi nodded again.

  "I honestly don't know which option to choose. I know Fitz and Simmons are brilliant, but I don't know how much use they will be here. Another set of eyes and a fresh viewpoint might find something someone else missed but …"

  "But not always."

  "Right. Can I have some time to think about it, sir? Give the team a couple days to stretch their legs and check things out? Maybe a week to get up to speed? None of us have implants either."

  "One of the things we need to get you up to speed on. And we need to do that soon; the next ship headed to Charon is slated for next month. Okay, so, we'll play it this way. I'll get you sorted out on the implant schedule, debriefs, and you can poke your noses around. Catch some classes, get some downtime, soak up the sun, whatever."

  "I think the team is a bit tired of sun, but I wouldn't mind it," Phil replied with a shrug.

  "You are rather pale," Yorgi stated.

  "Yes, sir," Phil replied. He snorted.

  "What?"

  "I was going to say being on a ship for months on end can do that to you," Phil replied.

  "True," Yorgi replied, cracking a small brief smile.

  -~~~///^\~~~-

  It took Colton an hour to get clear of the ONI complex and out of habit, make sure he didn't have a tail. Once he was ready, he sent the signal and met up with the team at the designated meeting point for their quiet discussion.

  Skye and Mack had secured the small cargo bay for the time being. They wouldn't be there too long.

  Colton outlined his meeting and then started in on his pitch to them. "The good news is, we've got a week off to settle in and explore." He waited for the brief cheers to subside.

  "What's the bad news?" Mae asked, crossing her arms in front of her.

  "The bad is we've got to get updated and then we've got mission options."

  "Excuse me, sir, how is that bad?" Simmons asked. "Isn't that a good thing?"

  "Well, it is and it isn't. It means the powers that be don't have a clear role for us. It also means we've got to get updates."

  Fitz and Simmons looked at each other and then over to Mack.

  "Yes, I know each of you have basic ID implants," Phil replied with a wave of his hand. "I get that. But we've got to have the full ONI treatment."

  "Okay," Simmons replied with a nod.

  "We're also probably going to be tapped to train and learn at the same time," Colton explained.

  "Train what, new recruits?"

  "Yes. We've got less than a month here. Admiral Sienkov gave me three options, and I've narrowed it to two. I'm actually for the third option, but I wanted to give you a shot at what you'd like," he said, surveying the group.

  "Two options," Mack said. "What's the first?"

  "The first is we extend the teaching and student jobs and the team stays here or breaks up."

  "You mean we'd go to the Academy? Train as well as play guest lecturer?"

  "And college and other facilities. It would significantly raise our public profile," Colton said, sounding uncomfortable. "We may have some work with the prisoners. We will also need to learn the new tech and procedures, but we will be able to take our time."

  There was a long uncomfortable pause. He knew that Fitz and Simmons were most comfortable in the academic environment and both wanted to start a family. Mae was also more interested in taking a desk job then being in the field with the team.

  "What's the second option?" Mack asked after clearing his throat.

  "Eh? Sorry," Colton waved a hand. "Option two was being inserted on an occupied world to help with ONI and the military's roundup of the pirates or being inserted onto Horath itself. The odds of survival of the last are low."

  "I'll say," Mack snorted as the others showed various facial expressions of surprise and repugnance. "We have little intel on the pl
anet, no way can we get in easy. It's a fortress," he said with a shake of his head.

  "Apparently, ONI has done it before on Dead Drop and Garth. Extract isn't much of an option though, at least not until the cavalry shows up."

  "And we don't know when," Mae stated

  "Correct. We also don't know the missions there. They could be virtual suicide missions. We would have the time in transit to prepare, and we'd have databases to draw off of. Everything they've collected on Horath. But we'd be going in cold."

  "I think we can pass on that one," Fitz stated.

  "I think he already did," Skye stated, looking at Colton.

  "Right. I did just that. So, option three is we go to another sector and set up ONI's shop. We build it from the ground up our way."

  Skye blinked. Mack pursed his lips and then nodded once. Fitz sat still. Simmons looked eager but then turned a worried look on her partner and then Mae and Colton. "Sir? How is that supposed to work?"

  "We'll be given training, a budget, and some gear, plus keys to make gear there. We'll have to train locals as agents. We'll be supplemented by ONI operatives already in the field as well as ONI operatives on the few warships in the sector. But we'd be more or less on our own."

  "Talk about pulling a bloody rabbit out of our hat," Fitz muttered.

  "I don't know the expectations there. There are a lot of factors, transit time, communication lag, but we'd have a lot of toys to play with. And we can call on the navy for support. The same for the other branches."

  "It sounds like you've made up your mind already," Mae said. "So, why ask us at all?"

  "I know where I want to go, but I want everyone to have a shot at it. This is a major life-changing decision for all of us. We don't know when we'll get back here."

  "We knew that the moment we left Bek, sir. We don't know if we'll ever see home again," Simmons replied quietly. The others nodded.

  "I like option three. I like being our own bosses," Skye said slowly. "I mean, we've been pretty much doing things on our own for a while now. Why stop a good thing?"