by Jay Allan
The silence in the room was his answer…it hung thick in the air. Finally, Holm leaned forward, staring down the table. “Erik and Camille are right. We are on our own, and there’s no point sitting here complaining about resources we don’t have. We’ve got what we’ve got, so let’s get started deciding how to use that and stop wasting time whining about things we can’t change.” He glanced over at Garret. “Problem one…the fleet and the disruption that may occur when the allied contingents receive orders from their governments. Augustus, do you think…”
“I have secretly placed the Alliance naval units on alert.” Garret interrupted before Holm could finish. He knew the Marine general was going to suggest the very thing he’d already done, and he figured it was past time everyone present knew.
He felt guilty for his mistrust of men and women who’d bled alongside his people…who’d shown nothing but loyalty, courage, and a willingness to follow his orders. Thousands of those naval crew had died serving under him…and more than 20,000 were trapped in the X2 system with Admiral Compton and his Alliance personnel. More likely they’re all dead too, he thought grimly. For a while he’d held out the hope that Compton had made it out of there – somehow – but he didn’t really believe it. Even Terrance Compton wasn’t that good.
He wanted to trust those men and women, but that didn’t stop him from taking precautions. He did trust them, after a fashion. It was their governments he doubted. He thought well of most of the commanding officers, but he wasn’t about to trust in their committing treason out of loyalty to him. They were, for the most part, disciplined and dedicated military personnel. If they were ordered to attack the Alliance units, Garret didn’t think they’d like it one bit. But they would follow their orders, most of them at least. And a surprise attack on Alliance Grand Fleet units would be catastrophic.
“I intend to disband Grand Fleet at Sandoval.” Garret took a deep breath. “We probably have allies out there, and I’d damned sure like to keep them with us, but until we’re certain, it’s too big of a security risk.” He paused. “And it’s not just the danger of being attacked. We know we’re going to be outgunned and outmatched wherever we fight. Unpredictability is the only advantage we have – what we do and where we deploy our forces. We could lose that to one spy in the fleet.”
“I think we all agree with your logic, Augustus.” Holm panned around the table after he spoke. Everyone else was nodding silently. “You did what had to be done. There was no other alternative.”
Cain sighed. “I’ll be the one to say it.” He looked up and leaned back in his chair. “We need to approach this coldly, analytically.” How many times, he wondered, have I said something like that? I was a human being once, one with real feelings…what the hell happened to me? “We’re not going to be able to go to the aid of every planet under attack.” He hesitated for a few seconds, before continuing, more for everyone else’s benefit than because he was uncertain. “I suggest we start making a list of those we’re going to aid and the ones we’re going to cut loose.” Cain would have phrased it differently a few years earlier, but he was exhausted, and he had no patience for bullshit. Why not call it what it was? The worlds that weren’t important enough would go to the bottom of the list, just as they had during the Third Frontier War. The people on those colonies would be rated less valuable, less important, because there were fewer of them or they had no super-heavy metals or their system lacked a valuable warp gate nexus. They would live the longest under enemy rule, endure the worst atrocities. Cain had been on the front lines for the liberation of many of those planets, and he had seen firsthand what years of occupation did to people.
“Armstrong has to be at the top of the list.” Holm spoke slowly, deliberately. Normally, he would have put a different slant on Cain’s remarks. He tended to be more optimistic by nature, but he was as disillusioned now as Erik. “It’s a must hold…especially since it looks like we’ve already lost the shipyards at Wolf 359.”
Cain nodded. “Yes, Armstrong has to be our priority.” The planet was a middling-large colony, certainly not the biggest or wealthiest. But it housed the combined headquarters and training facilities of the Alliance military. Armstrong also had the Marine Training Center at Camp Basilone and the Academy…and the thousands of trainees in those facilities were likely to find themselves in the battle lines long before they completed their programs. “The enemy has to go for Armstrong.”
Garret glanced down at his ’pad, confirming what he already knew. “Yet we have no reports of enemy activity in the system.” He looked up, first at Cain then at Holm. “I understand hitting Wolf 359 first, especially with all the damaged ships there to be captured. But why wasn’t Armstrong next?” He paused. “Militarily, it’s a no-brainer.” There was confusion in his tone…and suspicion.
“It’s a trap, a diversion.” Cain’s voice showed no surprise, no anger…just simple acknowledgement. “They’re waiting for us to make a move. They have to know that’s the first place we’ll look to secure. They must be planning something to use that to their advantage. It’s the only thing they can accurately predict.” He looked around the table. “It’s what I’d do. At least I’d try to build a strategy around that knowledge.”
“You think they want to ambush the fleet?” It was Camille Harmon. “Could they have enough force to take on all the Alliance units from Grand Fleet?” She paused. “They have to know our approximate strength.”
“Or maybe they needed their own naval units from Grand Fleet before they could mass enough strength.” General Holm didn’t usually get involved in debates on naval tactics, but they were all blazing new trails now. He knew they would need to work together even more than they had before if they were going to get through this new crisis.
“No.” Augustus Garret silenced the room with one word. “I think Erik is right, but it’s not about them getting enough strength to beat us.” He looked at Harmon then at Holm. “We have the biggest Grand Fleet contingent, so waiting only serves to give us more incremental power than them.” Unless it’s 2 or 3 of the Powers working together, he thought…but if that’s it, we’re screwed anyway.
Garret inhaled deeply, holding his breath for a few seconds before exhaling. “No. It’s not a trap…it’s a diversion.” He turned and looked at Cain. “They want us to deploy the whole fleet to defend Armstrong. That way, they’ll have a free run at the rest of Alliance space. By the time we realize no invasion fleet is coming, they’ll have every other worthwhile colony sewed up tight.”
“So we don’t take the bait.” Harmon’s reply was fast but tentative. She didn’t look convinced, but she’d learned long before not to doubt Garret’s judgment. “We go after them elsewhere…leave Armstrong to itself.”
Garret was silent, thinking about what she said, considering a response, but Cain beat him to it.
“I don’t think so, Camille.” He glanced at her then stared at Garret. “First, we’re not sure we’re right. We might just end up giving Armstrong away for no reason. And even if we’re right, that doesn’t mean the enemy won’t change plans if we leave the planet open. You can never know if your adversary will take the bait and willingly step into a trap. Any tactician worth a damn would have two plans…one if the enemy acts as expected and the other if he doesn’t.”
Garret was looking back at Cain, nodding. “I think you’ve got it right, Erik.” The excitement in his voice was building. Garret was physically and emotionally exhausted, but nothing pumped adrenalin into his bloodstream like the feral reaction he got when he was planning a way to defeat his enemies. “If we move the fleet to Armstrong, they’ll stay away…or maybe launch a small diversionary attack. They’d take our naval strength right out of the campaign without firing a shot.”
He looked down the table for a few seconds then back to Cain. “But if we don’t take the bait, we leave Armstrong lightly defended…then they will hit it. I guarantee they’re watching, observing…waiting to see what we do.” He paused. “Th
ey’d like to take out Armstrong…it’s extremely valuable strategically. But it’s not worth everything…and tying down most of our naval strength is even more of a win for them.”
“So what do we do, sir?” Harmon’s voice was soft, tired. She was a gifted commander, but she knew she wasn’t anything like Garret’s equal. The only naval officer she’d ever known with even a chance to make that kind of claim had been left behind, trapped in the X2 system along with her son and 40,000 of Grand Fleet’s people.
Garret was silent for a long time. He had an answer to Harmon’s question, but he wasn’t happy with it. Not one bit. He panned his eyes around the room, but he settled his gaze on Cain. “Erik, I have a plan, but I’m afraid I will be asking a great deal of you and your people.”
Cain stared right back at the Alliance’s supreme military commander. Everyone else wore a confused expression, but Cain’s eyes bored knowingly into Garret’s. “I understand, sir.”
“You want to defend Armstrong on the ground.” Holm was sitting bolt upright in his chair. He was a few seconds behind Cain in his realization, but he was putting it all together as he spoke. “And pull the fleet out to hit the enemy elsewhere. You want to sucker them in…lure them into an attack on Armstrong and fight it out on the ground, while the fleet fights elsewhere.”
Garret was nodding silently. He was still staring at Cain, his eyes a plea for forgiveness. He knew what the ground battle on Armstrong would be without naval support. The Marines were most likely going to be heavily outnumbered without the Janissaries and other allied contingents. They’d be trapped on the planet, fighting an enemy that would probably control local space. It would be a siege. There would be no resupply for them, no reserves…while the enemy would be able to bring in anything they had. He knew what Cain’s people had just been through in the First Imperium War, and he didn’t know how he could bring himself to ask this of them. But that was exactly what he was going to do.
“This entire enemy strategy feels like something developed by a force weaker in naval units than land forces.” He paused. “They could have made a fast thrust for Armstrong, but they didn’t. Why? Because Armstrong has the strongest orbital defenses, and their naval forces were already stretched too thin.” His eyes darted between Holm and Cain. “So what do they do? They figure maybe they can use Armstrong as bait…to keep our fleet occupied for a while so we’re out of their way elsewhere.”
“So we don’t cooperate. But we don’t let them have the planet without a fight either.” Cain’s eyes didn’t move a millimeter while he spoke. “You think you can hunt down and destroy their naval forces piecemeal while we’re fighting on Armstrong. That’s your plan, isn’t it sir?”
Garret nodded slowly. “Yes, Erik. My gut tells me we can match or beat their strength in a series of naval fights…as long as we keep the fleet concentrated into a couple of strong task forces. Then it’s search and destroy…anywhere their naval forces show themselves, we go after them.” He paused again. “I’m afraid your part will be the toughest.” He knew what had to be done, but it was still difficult to say it.
“Don’t worry about it, sir.” Cain even managed a tiny smile. “You should know by now that Marines always do the job.” He was trying to let Garret off the hook a little. The admiral didn’t need more guilt, more pain. There was no one who had served mankind more than Augustus Garret. Cain and his Marines would do what had to be done, and the last thing he wanted was Garret shouldering the guilt for it all. “You give us a ride to Armstrong and don’t worry about anything else. We’ll take care of everything, admiral. It’ll be just like the Line.”
Of course, Cain thought, the Line was no picnic…barely half his people made it off Sandoval, and he’d had a year to prepare and all the industrial capacity of mankind feeding him supplies. This time he’d be lucky to get enough time to dig a few foxholes, and the supply situation would be close to critical from the start. Cain was far from sure his people would make it through this fight, but that was irrelevant. The job had to be done, and he was going to do it. And he made damned sure not to let any of his doubt show.
Garret looked across the table, an odd expression on his face. Cain knew it was gratitude…and thanks. “We’re just speculating anyway.” He finally turned from Cain and looked down the table toward Harmon and Holm. “All of this is subject to change anyway. If any of our…” He paused, a sour look on his face. “…wild guesses…turn out to be wrong, we’ll have to deal with it on the fly.”
“Sir, what about James Teller and his people? And Admiral Davis?” Cain was talking to Garret, but his eyes found Holm’s. “We can’t just abandon them. We know Teller landed on Arcadia. His people could be in the middle of a fight right now. We need to get help to him.” They could all be dead by now too, he thought, but he pushed it aside.
Holm nodded but didn’t say anything. He just glanced over at Garret.
Garret was silent, a pained look crossing his face. “No.” His voice was grim, cold…like a hammer on an anvil. “We can’t abandon them. We’ve left enough of our people behind already.” He took a deep breath, holding it for a few seconds before exhaling loudly. “But I don’t know how we’re going to do it.” He hesitated again, looking first at Holm and then Cain. “It might be a good place to force a naval showdown. If we’re right and they are weak on ships, maybe we can force them to deploy a big chunk of their strength…and destroy it. If we can attrit their fleet strength, we might be able to achieve some level of local space superiority in some of the key systems…and severely cripple their ability to support and reinforce their beachheads. It will be a long time before we can mount invasions of all of the occupied worlds, but meanwhile the isolated garrisons might start dying on the vines.” Another pause, longer this time. “That is, if we get there before they can put all the captured ships into service.” His voice trailed off into a troubled whisper. “Once they do that, it may be us with the weakness in naval strength.”
Garret sat quietly for a few seconds before continuing, and everyone else tried not to look like they were staring at him. “If Admiral Davis is still alive, we might be able to rescue him with a naval assault. But if the enemy has a significant ground force, how do we aid General Teller?” A planetary withdrawal of a disadvantaged force under fire was an exercise in controlled suicide, and everyone at the table knew it. The only way to save Teller’s people – if they weren’t all dead already – was to land and retake the planet…or at least achieve some level of stalemate. And that required another ground force…one they simply didn’t have.
“Maybe we could divide…”
“Forget it, Erik.” It was Holm who interrupted first, but Garret’s mouth was half open as well. “It’ll be a miracle if you can hold Armstrong with every Marine on this fleet. Split them up and we’ll just have two bloody failures.”
Cain nodded. He knew they were right. But the thought of leaving Teller and his people trapped on Arcadia made him sick to his stomach. “We have to do something.”
Holm sat still, looking down at the table. “You worry about Armstrong, Erik.” There was a firmness growing in his voice. “Leave Teller and Arcadia to me.”
“You have an idea, Elias?” There was a hint of surprise in Garret’s voice. He hadn’t been able to come up with anything himself.
“Yes.” He slapped his hand down on the table. “I’m going to get us another attack force.”
“How?” Cain was confused. He had no idea where the general planned to get more troops, but Elias Holm wasn’t one to make pointless gestures. “Where are you going to find the forces you need?”
“I’m going to get more Marines, Erik.” Holm sounded confident. “Retired Marines. I’m going to bring them back to the colors.”
Cain shook his head. “But, sir, we already called back almost all the retired vets to fight the First Imperium.”
Holm smiled. “You’re talking about veterans from the Third Frontier War, Erik.” He paused, allowing a small laugh t
o escape from his lips. “The guys I’m thinking of are a bit…older.”
Chapter 7
Saw Tooth Gorge
Red Mountains
Northern Territories, Far Concordia
Arcadia – Wolf 359 III
Kara peered around the granite outcropping, looking across the gorge at the enemy positions 2 kilometers distant. The two armies had been staring at each other for almost a week now, each dug in on its side of the canyon. The mortar fire had been heavy for a while, but her people had strong cover, and they were heavily fortified. Casualties had been light. Now the bombardment was significantly weaker, more of an annoyance than a real threat. She figured the enemy was having trouble supplying themselves so far out in the wilderness and decided to stop wasting ammo.
The enemy didn’t seem to be in a hurry to try to force their way across the gorge. They were probably waiting for reserves and supplies. She was pretty sure her people could hold…for a while, at least…though they would run out of food and ammunition before the invaders did.
She didn’t have a reliable read on the enemy force occupying the far side of the gorge, but it was definitely weaker than she expected. She had assembled virtually every surviving member of the armed forces…even the remnants of the Arcadia City police forces. Every Arcadian trained to carry a gun was with her in this rocky refuge, yet it looked like almost three-quarters of the invading force was absent. Where were the others? Thousands of troops were missing. Where were they? That strength should be available to finish off her people, but it was nowhere to be seen. The invaders didn’t need anything like the missing force to completely pacify the rest of the planet. Why chase her army into the wilderness with a fraction of their available numbers?
Ed Calvin came skittering down a rugged path just behind her. He’d been up on one of the jagged summits that soared above the top rim of the canyon. The three small peaks completely commanded the area, and Kara had ordered all of them heavily fortified and garrisoned with her heavy weapons teams. They offered an excellent line of site down to the enemy positions on the opposite side. She could cause quite a ruckus over there whenever she decided to burn some of her precious ammunition.
