“Your guess is as good as mine. I’d be working on the assumption that they were, because if we assume not and get it wrong, I don’t think the results would be very pleasant.”
“Agreed,” Cunningham replied. “I had a word with some of the fighter pilots, over on the Trident, and they’ve got them running full wing attack formations. They aren’t doing much squadron work, and damn little individual flights.”
“Not that Perfect Formation crap again,” Marshall said. “I don’t care what the computers say, that’s no way to fight a battle. You might be able to get into the optimum attack pattern, but you can bet your life that the enemy won’t just sit back and let you get away with it.”
“Peace, Danny. That’s one thing about fighter tactics I always agreed with you about. Pierce, on the other hand, quite literally wrote the book on the subject, and I understand that all the pilots are being drip-fed it at the moment.”
Marshall struggled to suppress a chuckle, and replied, “I’d love to be sitting in one of the rec-rooms right now while he sends the pilots back to school. I’m guessing the Fleet CAG…”
“Another old friend, a wingman from the war.”
“And not willing to question his buddy’s orders. They really had plenty of time to get all of this assembled, didn’t they.”
“We know we’re facing a battlecruiser, at least. One that took another way to Hades.”
“Obvious enough. I’d have picked another route myself, covered more ground, though I can understand the logic of following a known flight path, at least.” Gesturing around, he said, “That’s something we could be using the scouts for, though. Watching our flanks, warning us if there are any enemy ships about to jump out at us.”
“Maybe we’re missing something,” Cunningham suggested. “Back in the day, our Admiral did get five combat stars.”
“All of them running fighter squadrons and wings. He never sat in the hot seat of a carrier during a battle. This will be a first for him.”
“You’ve never commanded a fleet either,” he said with a smile.
“No, but I at least am willing to acknowledge my ignorance. He still thinks he’s fighting the United Nations. Everything’s changed so much in the last few years.” Shaking his head, Marshall said, “I’m not sure that it’s worth it. Cooper thinks – well, his company commander thinks – that this is all a publicity stunt. Something to rally the troops back home.”
“Then war…”
“Hell, John, for all we know we’re already at war. We’ve got to work on that assumption.”
“Then whatever we think about this, we’ve got to go ahead with it.”
Nodding, Marshall replied, “We could easily be fighting in the opening moves of the Cabal War right now. New fleets assembling back home, ready for battle.” He looked across at the viewscreen and said, “We’re just not ready. Not yet. We ought to be buying time if we’re going to to this, time to get those big brutes into the fight, time to start converting some auxiliary battlecruisers.”
“They’ve already scraped the Mothball Fleet pretty clean,” Cunningham said. “And last I heard, they were trying to convert some of the late-model frigates to hendecaspace drive. I think pocket cruiser was the expression they used.”
“What for? They wouldn’t have the fuel capacity…”
“One jump, as I understand it.”
“That’s one fleet that would be protecting its tanker at all costs,” Marshall said, and the two of them laughed. “They really are stretching it, aren’t they. I’m beginning to think this was all part of the plan.”
“Standard readiness…”
“Is not usually something that the Senate is willing to pay for. Not in peacetime. I know we’re waking up to the Cabal and our new deep space commitments, but this is an order of magnitude more than that.”
“What, then?”
Frowning, Marshall replied, “I don’t know. We’ve got a job to do, I know that much…”
“But we don’t yet know what that job actually is.”
“Something like that.” He looked out of the viewscreen again, then up at the ubiquitous countdown clock, ticking away the seconds until the ship jumped out of the system. Reaching over for a communicator, he flicked it open, and said, “Marshall to Esposito.”
After a brief pause, she replied, “Esposito here. What’s up?”
“How fast could you deploy your whole force, if needed?”
“From here? From this tangle? Fifteen minutes, Captain. To get them into the shuttles, never mind where they were going.”
“I need you to find a way to do it in three.”
“Three minutes!”
“One more thing. Just out of idle interest, how many Alamo hands did you manage to bring with you over here?”
“Everyone but Cooper. Lieutenant-Major Brownworth was surprisingly co-operative.” She paused, then said, “We’ll try to cut the deployment time down, but that’s about the sort of scale we’d be working with on a carrier.”
“Assume you’ll have warning to get to stand-by alert.”
“That might help.” She sighed, and said, “I’ll get my platoon commanders and sergeants woken up. They’re going to love you for this, sir. Esposito out.”
Cunningham looked at him, and said, “How the hell do you expect her to pull that off?”
“I don’t. But she’ll cut the time down somehow. Seven minutes is a lot better than fifteen.” He shook his head, and said, “I don’t know what the hell we have waiting for us at Hades, John, but I don’t want to go in there unprepared. Not this part of the fleet, anyway.”
Standing up, he replied, “On that note, sir, I think I might call a surprise battle stations drill. Keep everyone busy. Want to come and watch?”
“I don’t have any other plans for this evening,” he replied with a smile, as the two of them left the cabin, heading up for the bridge.
Chapter 12
Tugging on the bottom of her battered flight jacket, Orlova walked along the back streets of Port Lowell, cautiously looking around. This wasn’t the sort of neighborhood where she would have felt comfortable wearing a uniform, or anything that might imply she had money on her credicard. This was the sort of street she had grown up on, no matter that her father had gone to war; she knew how to behave, how to act.
She’d been given an address on the far side of town, a mile away from the transit terminal, and when she finally arrived, it didn’t look to have been worth the walk. The smell of frying meat of unknown origin filled the air, and a man was lying on the sidewalk, snoring away a hangover, his wallet long since departed from his pocket.
Inside, the bar was no better than it looked from outside. Low lighting and old music playing quietly in the background, a couple of dozen patrons slowly drinking their nights away while poking at plates of passable food in front of them. Her father was sitting at the far end of the bar, alone in a cubicle, and nodded as she approached.
“It’s good to see you, Maggie,” he said with a beaming smile. “I took the liberty of ordering for you; the linguine is excellent.”
“I suppose I should ask to see the wine list,” she replied. “If I’d known it was such a classy place I’d have worn my dress uniform. What are you doing here, anyway? Last I heard you were out at Callisto. And why did you forge my leave application?”
“I did it because it was the safest way to proceed. As for what I’m doing here, well, I’m not here. I’m at Callisto. That’s what the records say, at least for the moment, though I suspect that will change in the very near future.”
“You’re AWOL?”
“In a manner of speaking, yes. Listen, and quickly, because I don’t think we’ve got much time. I picked this place because I know the owner, and he is a discreet man, but many of the patrons do not share that sentiment. Likely you were followed here.”
<
br /> “I don’t think so.”
“That only means you were followed by talented men. I was working on the Battleship project, you know that, as case officer. A scandal will break tomorrow, a big one.”
“Sabotage?”
“No,” he said, shaking his head and taking a drink of the foaming beer on the table in front of him. “The President has been sleeping with the Chairman of Astradyne, the principal contractor.”
Her eyes widened, and she said, “That’s...are you saying that the President of the Confederation threw the biggest shipbuilding contract in the history of our nation to his lover’s company?” She shook her head, “Are they out to get you? I know some people who might be able to help.”
“I hope so, my dear, because I fear that I have gone as far as I can down this road. My race is almost run, and I am likely to be arrested in the near future.” He looked around, and said, “Once we have finished our talk, I will attempt to go into hiding. I don’t have the contacts in the Fleet to do any more, but you do.”
“Come with me,” she said. “Back to Staff College. I know that Fleet Captain Tarrant will listen, and I have other friends in the system. We can get a meeting with Senator Harper…”
“The affair began after the contract was signed,” he said. “That isn’t the problem, though it will be the lever the President’s enemies use to dislodge him. I have something here that will explain it far more than I can. Here are the orders that were given to Counter-Admiral Tramiel when he left for Spitfire Station.”
He passed over a datapad, and she started to read, before looking up and saying, “Secure Hydra Station? That’s all?”
“There is an appendix allowing scouting operations in nearby systems.”
She shook her head, and said, “Tramiel’s using that to launch an attack on Hades Station? A scouting operation?”
“The Battleship Ares is ready.”
“What? She’s not supposed to launch for a year.”
“She launched three months ago, top secret, and completed her shakedown drills at Wolf 359. Cronus as well, she's in the middle of her flight preparation right now. Everything’s been rushed beyond belief, unlimited overtime budgets, materials priorities. I was questioning it, and that’s how I started down this road.”
“Papa, what is it you are trying to tell me?”
He leaned forward, taking her hands in his, and said, “Little one, someone is trying to start a war between the Confederation and the Cabal. Someone has decided that peace is not the way to succeed, and that they are going to launch an attack and commit us to a fight. It is, I fear, as simple as that.”
She shook her head again, and said, “I can’t believe that.”
“You’ve been out in deep space, Maggie. Things here are changing. Paranoia has spread throughout the worlds. The people are scared, scared of what is out there waiting for them, and fear is making them want to strike out. A war would be popular right now – and I believe that the Progressives will certainly start one at the next election.”
“Then why not wait?”
“Because of the peace treaty. The current Senate is near the end of its term, but it could still bind us to a non-aggression pact that would not be easy to break. The President knows this, and that there are forces working against him.”
“How do you know what the President thinks?”
He smiled, and said, “I was case officer on the largest shipbuilding contract in Triplanetary history, Maggie. Do you not think I would meet him? We go way back; I served under him for a time during the War. That’s why he gave me the job, he wanted someone whose discretion he could trust.”
“What will happen?”
“They will try to impeach him, and declare war. The Vice-President…”
She nodded, and said, “I’ve met him. I think I can see what you are suggesting.”
“It will not be a military coup, but a constitutional one, but the end result will be the same. A group of military officers – a cabal, if you like – will have decided who should run our Confederation. The election will effectively be irrelevant.”
“Do you have any actual proof of this?”
“I know about the affair, and that it will break tomorrow. I also know that these orders are genuine; the President gave them to me himself. Aside from the two attempts on my life…”
“What happened?”
“Attempted shuttle sabotage and a chance to test my martial arts skills. Worry not. Aside from that, I have no direct evidence, just speculation. But all the pieces are falling in place, Maggie. Cronus is on her shakedown cruise right now, in this system.”
She looked around, and said, “I’ll investigate, as best I can. I know someone I can contact who will be able to help. I trust them.”
“Be careful, Maggie. I don’t know who I can trust any more.” He shook his head, and said, “The man who tried to kill me, I had known for fifteen years. Do what you must.” Standing up, he said, “I hope to see you again, soon. I’m sorry to pass on this burden, but there is nothing more I can do.”
She looked up, and said, “Take care of yourself.”
“Once this is done I’m going home to Jefferson, conflict or no. There will always be a place for you there, and I would recommend considering it.”
“I might take you up on that.”
“Good luck, Maggie.” He rose, and walked out of the room, heading through a door behind the bar as the bartender nodded. She waited for ten minutes, time which seemed to drag like an eternity, then drained the remainder of the drink and walked out of the bar, not looking back.
She stepped out into the street, and was somewhat unsurprised to find a car waiting for her, the passenger seat open. Waiting for her inside, also wearing civilian clothes was Tarrant, who beckoned her to come in.
“You tracked me,” she said, stepping into the car.
“It was an obvious thing to do, and you know it.”
“I was going out for a drink with my father,” she replied.
He smiled, and said, “We both know that there is more to it than that, though I am willing to accept that you might not have known what he intended to tell you. The important thing is what you are going to do about it?”
“Or what you will permit me to do about it.”
He passed over a datapad, and said, “Congratulations, Lieutenant, you just graduated Staff College. We’ll expect you to complete the rest of the course, but…”
She looked at the certificate, then up at him, and said, “This…”
“We’ve done it before on occasion. Maggie, we need you. Badly. You and the rest of Alamo’s crew are our most experienced hands, the people we want to be leading the fight against the Cabal. You and I both know that war is inevitable…”
“Isn’t that for the Senate to decide?”
“This Senate was elected before the people knew the Cabal existed! The universe has changed, and if you look at the poll numbers, there is a majority favoring war. Right now the first battles are being fought. In eleven days a fleet will attack Hades Station.”
“Against orders.”
He paused, then looked out of the window as the car left the dome, sliding through the vehicular airlock, and said, “This is my last tour running the Staff College, Maggie. After this I’m going to take over Fleet Operations with a promotion to Commodore. I want you to be my assistant.” He smiled, then said, “I know that you won’t want to put up with it for long, so I’ll promise you that if the war is still going a year in, I'll see that you get a ship of your own. Maybe even a battlecruiser.”
“I don’t respond well to bribes.”
“Dammit, I’m asking you to do your duty! We both swore an oath, Maggie, an oath to protect the people of the Confederation from enemies internal and external. I take that very seriously, but do you think the lame-duck Senate is? They’r
e more concerned about the next election than the next war.” He shook his head, and said, “Say we sign this treaty. What happens next?”
With a sigh, she replied, “The Cabal will rearm and position themselves, and will likely launch a surprise attack at a time and place of their choosing.” She looked at him, and said, “We can and will work to stop that ever happening.”
“If they have no interest in keeping to a treaty, why should we sign one with them in the first place? To buy time? Time for what?”
“You are talking about…”
“About a corrupt President issuing billions of credits of contracts to his lover. Is that, or is that not, an impeachable offense.”
“Yes.”
“Then what are we arguing about? I want to follow the democratic path, and if it takes me where I think we should be going, then for once it operates in my favor. In all our favor.” He looked at her, and said, “Let it happen, Maggie. Don’t try and stop it. Everything’s in motion now, and I don’t think it could be stopped even if you wanted it to.”
“People tried to kill my father.”
“A mistake, and a bad one, I admit,” he replied. “I’ll give you my word that he will not be harmed; he will be arrested, but once the war begins, offered a choice of returning to service or retiring from the Fleet.”
“And what about me?”
He sighed, and said, “You understand that I cannot allow you to leave the Staff College again, not for the moment. Things can ostensibly continue as they have been; when the declaration of war comes – which we expect within the month – then you will be transferred with me to your next assignment, and all of this can be resolved.”
“I am under house arrest, then.”
Looking at her, he said, “Think of what is to come, Maggie, and tell me that it isn’t worth a little inconvenience. We have a chance to free a subject people, a slave race, dammit, to spread out across light-years of space, and make the Confederation safe for a generation.”
She nodded, and said, “I’ll need time to think about it.”
Battlecruiser Alamo: Take and Hold Page 11
