by R. A. Ender
They had been colleagues and friends ever since Mato had first joined his crew shortly after the battle of the line at Veselyy. During his time as Fleet Commander pro tempore during that conflict, Mato was serving as third ships engineer on one of the New Earth donated Dreadnaughts. During one battle, the Dreadnaught was severely disabled and registered as crippled by the battle computer. Facing off against an enormous Canua fleet, Richard felt as though their weakness was finally going to be exploited and the Canua were going to make a final push to expel the Defense Force fleet when suddenly a Dreadnaught exited hyperspace. It came out of nowhere and took up a position directly behind the Canua fleet, fully armed and powered. Now wedged between a powerful warship and a fleet of ships, the Canua declined to combat further and withdrew. As it turned out, Mato had become the most senior engineer, and in less than an hour had rehabilitated the Dreadnaught and gotten it into battle. Once Richard had discovered that he did everything he could to bring Mato onto his ship as chief engineer.
That was over twenty years ago, and they had become the best of friends since. Still, it was rare that they worked together, as Mato was always down in the bowels of the ship working hard and showing all the officers in training every trick he could think of to ensure the ship they ran would fly. It had been a great couple of months working daily side by side with Mato. Richard really enjoyed his old Gemberlican friend. Mato had managed to ensure fleet preparedness was the best it had ever been. Despite almost two years of nonstop operation during wartime, and almost weekly battles they were now fighting, the report he had received this morning had all his ships at one hundred percent.
The weekly battles were really not battles at all. Richard was running his war strategy as he had laid it out and it was succeeding. He felt no need to change it at all. Since freeing New Earth, they had deliberately avoided any major battle. In fact, they had run away from more than a few opportunities to put a good beating on an IAE war fleet, much to the dislike of some of his commanders.
But the strategy was simple, effective and must be maintained, for deviation meant a potential loss of valuable ships he could not replace. They continued to collect intelligence about the IAE supply lines and incoming fleets. As the supply fleets were regularly running around the Triumvirate worlds and Lochalsh, they had been able to get extremely reliable intelligence about fleet composition, frequency and on occasion schedules. One of the downsides to using Tionaga’s Olympus Jump Gate in the system and using it to supply the other conquered worlds was that every supply fleet exited hyperspace in an area which could be surveilled fairly easily.
That said, every report from Tionaga was a reminder of their early failure. Richard had hoped to keep the IAE from capturing the world, and thereby stretching their supply lines further. However, after their victory at New Earth, they learned that the IAE fleet had conquered Tionagan near space after little struggle.
That had been the most disappointing update to the strategic map and had definitely reminded the entire fleet that despite their enormous success at New Earth, the war was far from won. That point was made clear every time Richard looked at the map.
On the positive side, they had absolute confirmation that the entire Royalist League, its six inhabited planets and many resource and strategic systems remained completely unmolested by the IAE. They had received no threats and had not encountered a single enemy ship in their territory. Longus had speculated that the IAE might attempt to send a fleet from New Desh, at the extreme southwest end of the Old Colony region over to Septimius at the extreme east side of the Royalist League, but that did not happen. Richard also hoped that the presence of his fleet would ensure it didn’t happen. It would be dangerous for the IAE to divide their war fleets at this time especially with that great a distance in between.
More positives were that so far F’lwok and its sister world Kuk’Tak had also remained untouched. Richard had expected an IAE move against those worlds. Abad had sent a personal message to Richard informing him that they had received confirmation that the Northern fleet remained at F’lwok. If Abad knew, it was without question that the IAE did as well, which likely kept them from pursuing that attractive goal. Especially given the IAE history with the F’lwok people, the reconquer of their homeworld would ensure glory for any IAE emperor.
On the other hand, not surprisingly, the two Colukto worlds remained untouched, as did the three Ituas worlds. The Ka’Tak had also relayed that the Lanwouk had not attempted any military action, which meant there was stability along the border zone despite no defense force presence. Despite no IAE attack, the fear of a future invasion had kept these worlds neutral. Long time members of the Confederacy, the Ituas, and the Colukto had yet to send a single ship to assist in the war. They provided no official explanation for their lack of participation, only silence. It was a clear sign of one of the weaknesses of the Confederacy which collectively provided defense and security through the defense force. However, after that, individuals worlds were only responsible for their own system security and defense and under no obligation, even during a war, to provide any support for a foreign war. That is something, Richard thought to himself, that we need to push forward after this war is over.
It was in the Old Colony region where the strategic map caused great depression. The three neutral border worlds of the Triumvirate were essentially no-go zones, and their territory was painted in a bright blue. Though Abad kept his word about furnishing unofficial aid, especially intelligence, they could not move a single ship into any of their space.
The only navy blue and gray area of the map, the official colors of the Confederated Union of Worlds, was New Earth. It was an oasis, on all sides surrounded by deep red coloring, representing territory held by the Imperial Alliance of Empires.
When they had first started their own intelligence and propaganda campaign by visiting every world and broadcasting their victory at New Earth, they had expected some planets to be under siege but resisting. Especially the Vev’tev, one of the original members of the Confederacy with their advanced organic tool technology, everyone had been confident they would not have fallen.
But arriving at New Rome they found a conquered world hardly even requiring a garrison. The story was much the son New Desh, Prosth, and Gogomac. At Bucyrus and Ne’Kartaz, the Vev’tev worlds, they found IAE garrison fleets in their outer systems with the Vev’tev contained to their inner system space. Finally Tionaga, where their fleet now sat deep in some of the outer resource systems, still had an IAE fleet and was a world under siege.
Tionaga was the current source of resistance. That world was holding out against an orbital siege similar to that the IAE had placed on New Earth. Unfortunately, the Tionagan did not have the planetary defense that New Earth had. Only time, fear of land warfare and Richard’s fleet appeared to be keeping Tionaga from being overrun.
All told, the tour had managed to establish the garrison commitment of the IAE along with encouraging the conquered populace. But the news was not good. None of the worlds had revolted since they had visited, which meant the IAE did not need to deploy additional ships. The garrison forces added up to more than a third of the original IAE war fleet, though they were spread across seven worlds meaning each world had little protection. But, that left a mobile IAE fleet somewhere out there with a strength of easily half the original invasion fleet, assuming of course that the IAE sent all they had and had added nothing more, which surprisingly appeared to be the case. The triumvirate had constantly reported that no new warships were being dispatched. They repeated over and over that the supply lines were being reinforced and the effort required to maintain supplies for the war was preventing the IAE from deploying new capacity.
That meant that the IAE still had a fleet which was ten times the size of Richard’s fleet, with an unknown level of capability due to war and supply issues.
Suddenly, all of Richard’s thoughts were interrupted by the slamming on his desk of a pad. It made Richard jump up in his
chair and the chair slide backward on its wheels. The sound was as though a clap of thunder had exploded right overhead. But that sound was only heard for a second, now all Richard could hear was the loud rhythmic beating of his heart. The thumping was so loud he couldn’t believe it.
Usually very aware of his surroundings, Richard had not even noticed that someone had walked in. The surprise had left him winded and unable to speak, but he looked up to see who had so violently startled him. All he saw was a figure from the back leaving his private study. It took a second, but he finally was able to recognize the uniform and the hair cut as that of Longus. He tried to call out to him and order him back, but his first attempt only created a mumbled whisper.
Taking a deep breath to attempt to regain his calm, he tried again a second time to call to the Admiral and had more success.
“Fleet Admiral Longus!” he yelled out with all his effort. The tone and volume made it pretty clear that he was calling the Admiral back to the private study. Richard got to his feet and straightened his uniform before Longus managed to come back around the corner. Before Longus could speak, Richard saluted the Admiral formally, requiring the Admiral to stand up straight and return the salute. Richard did not follow with his usual comment after a salute allowing the junior officer to relax, but Longus took the luxury anyway.
“I did not tell you to relax, soldier!” Was Richard’s quick rebuke of the Admiral’s luxury. With a great deal of unhappy body language, Longus straightened his posture back to an attentive and respectful pose. Richard took that time to walk around his desk and proceed to walk behind the Admiral
“Fleet Admiral Longus, I think we need to have a conversation.”
“I agree, sir……” Longus started but was cut off mid-sentence.
“I DID NOT GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO SPEAK, SOLDIER!” Richard screamed from a position standing behind Longus. Longus immediately straightened up as much as he could. It was indeed the only time he had ever heard Richard lose his temper, and it made Longus think, I may have pushed to far this time.
“Fleet Admiral Longus. I am sorry that this war is causing you frustrations, but you do not have my permission to inflict them on me. If you need medical attention, speak with your ship's doctors. If you need a friendly ear, speak to a friend if you have any on board your floating dictatorship. If you have a problem with me, we can discuss it in private in a respectful way.”
Pausing for a moment, Richard walked back around to face the Admiral. They were virtually the same height, so Richard looked him square in the eye, and stood in his personal space.
“But, you DO NOT HAVE PERMISSION TO ACT INSUBORDINATELY EVER AGAIN IF YOU WANT TO REMAIN IN COMMAND!” Richard screamed at him directly in his face.
To Longus’ credit, he absorbed the verbal barrage without flinching or stepping backward, as anyone else in his position likely would have.
Richard, calming himself, took a step backward and leaned against his desk. For all his bluster, he really was not angry with Longus. He had accepted the type of officer he was a long time ago. He knew that Longus did not accept Richard as his commanding officer. He knew that he did not believe in his strategic plan. He also knew that Longus would eventually sow seeds of disloyalty and mutiny. But, until today, he had thought he could continue to control the man. Perhaps, he thought to himself, that time has nearly come to an end. The advantages to retaining the Fleet Admiral may soon no longer be outweighed by the negatives.
He turned his thoughts back to Longus, not that his body language or eyes had ever wavered from projecting complete control and dominance.
“Fleet Admiral, I am sorry that this war is an inconvenience to you. I am sorry that you are unhappy with the chain of command that has made me your superior officer. I am sorry that my strategy has not offered you sufficient opportunity to cover yourself in glory. I am sorry that your ego has not been sufficiently stroked. But that is not my concern. That is your concern. Keep it to yourself because I am not interested.”
“As long as you wish to remain in command, you will follow my orders and will do so without a hint of insubordination. If you wish to finish this war in glory, as a hero, and as a Fleet Admiral, you will follow my orders and will do so without a hint of insubordination. If you wish to remain free and not locked up in the brig, YOU WILL FOLLOW MY ORDERS and will do so without a hint of insubordination!”
“Are we crystal clear, soldier?” Richard asked.
Longus immediately saluted Richard, and stated without any hint of attitude and loudly, “Yes, sir Fleet Admiral!”
Richard nodded in answer, and followed with a verbal, “at ease.” Richard then took a position leaning on the desk behind him. Longus respectfully finished his salute and spread his legs to assume a formal and respectful at ease posture. He then asked, “Sir, may I speak?”
Richard looked at him a moment to try to read his thoughts or feelings. This was the first time Richard had ever seen Longus truly respectful and formal. He actually presented himself with great class and respect. It’s no wonder, Richard thought, that he managed to get himself promoted. At least to a superior officer, he exudes what it means to be a professional soldier.
“Absolutely, go ahead and speak.”
“Thank you, sir. First, I apologize for my behavior. It is absolutely unacceptable, unprofessional and unquestionably insubordinate. If I were in your place, harsh words would not be the only consequence.”
Richard acknowledged the apology with the dip of his head. Longus continued.
“Second, may I begin our meeting again and present the report which I was delivering to you.”
“Yes, Admiral. Thank you and please take a seat and deliver your report.” With that, Richard pulled out the chair beside him at the desk and stood to walk around the desk and resume his seat behind it.
Longus quickly seated himself and took the pad off of the desktop, rubbing the place where it had hit so loudly and violently moments earlier. Richard’s eye was drawn to the spot, but the desk showed no signs of damage which was at least good news.
Longus touched a few places on the pad and began to speak his report out loud. Richard was actually not listening at all. He knew what the report said, as Robin had sent him a message earlier.
It reported that they had for perhaps the twentieth time, successfully engaged one of the supply fleets at the outside edge of Kukatush space. It was the spot where the IAE fleets exited their hyperspace trajectory, turned to a new heading to take them toward Tionagan near space, and performed another run to jump. Out in the middle of nowhere, it could not be well defended but the supply ships remained in real space for so little time, it was a hard target to hit.
This time, as the IAE had been doing for a few weeks now, their fleet separated. The warships moved to engage and block Richard’s fleet from targeting the supply ships, while they continued their run to jump. As a result, Richard’s fleet turned and left the engagement. All the commanders had strict orders only to target and destroy the supply ships, preferably in a way that destroyed cargo and engines but left the crew unharmed.
Freighters made this tactic easy, as they were usually slower and could not maneuver well. Engines at the rear can be destroyed first, and that does not cause damage to the power plant. Then the cargo section, which is simply a large matter dissembler is destroyed, resulting in all cargo instantly dispersing as energy into the surrounding space. It creates a lot of colors but doesn’t hurt the crew at all, tucked up front in the command center.
If they were engaging supply ships while the warships were defending them would create a lot of risky. The last thing Richard wanted was to risk any of his ships for only the destruction of escort ships. He was also quite concerned that the change in tactic was an attempt to draw his ships into battles on IAE terms, which Richard wanted to avoid at all costs.
But he knew why this tactic frustrated Longus. He also understood that the longer his individual commanders felt that same frustration, the less power h
e would have over their conduct during a fleet engagement. Longus’ violent insubordination just now made Richard worry even more.
If Longus is that willing to flaunt mutinous behavior in front of the crew, despite his apology, Richard thought as Longus continued reading the report aloud. If he’s that free, it maybe because he knows he has a base of support in the commanding officers and that support is likely growing every time I order 100 ships to flee from 10 escort warships.
But, Richard thought, we need to maintain our strategy. Even if we have to let some supply ships go, we are clearly disrupting their supply lines. All the intel points that way, and I’ll be damned to Hades if I’m going to allow us to be drawn into a Cannae-like disaster!
“Sir?” Longus asked and paused afterward to await an answer.
As Richard had not been listening, he gave a nod. “Longus, I received this same report from Robin several hours ago. Did you come here to report something new, or am I to understand that you came here to simply express your displeasure at our strategy?”
Choosing to ignore the rebuke that Richard had said, Longus continued. “No, sir, I did not. I have made it plain in the past that I think forgoing opportunities is not the best means of achieving victory, but it is your call.”
Pausing for a moment to put down the pad, Longus seemed to be carefully choosing his next words.
“Sir…there is displeasure in the field with the strategy. It is important for a commanding officer to be aware of the morale of his troops, and I feel the need, as an outsider from your advisory circle, to make that known so that you may better inform your future decisions.” Longus finished, not failing to offer a little rebuke of his own.
