Lieutenant Commander Leonora Hammer took a deep breath. “We’ll need to consider trying to link up with any survivors from New Pacifica SDF,” she said after a moment, “are there any damage estimates on the enemy fleet?”
“That would have been my plan…except that it appears New Pacifica fell only after the Provincial Government, in its infinite wisdom, decided to unilaterally disarm by way of core overloading the fusion generators of their entire fleet before the first shot had even been fired in anger,” I said into the now dead silence on the bridge as I finished scanning the document. “I also have here an attached document from the New Pacifica Administration. In the abstract it says that they were determined to give peace a chance. Well, it seems they did give peace its chance—and now the Administration and entire population of New Pacifica are at the mercy of the Reclamation Fleet.”
“May the space gods preserve them,” Captain Hammer said shaking her head.
“Indeed,” I said silently cursing the leaders of New Pacifica to the depths of Hades and the Abyss. Instead of defending their planet and whittling the enemy down along the way, they’d spiked their guns and done as good as nothing to stop or even slow down the enemy fleet.
I was going to need a new plan. Fast.
In the meantime, it looked like I needed to catch up with the rest of my fleet before I could even think about setting a new course or target.
“Navigation, continue to jump as planned; Communications, fire up the long-range array,” I instructed.
“Aye, Admiral,” my officers acknowledged.
Chapter Four: The Tau Ceti Counter Strike
“The enemy fleet has taken New Pacifica. Considering that their SDF didn’t so much as fire a shot in anger until the Reclamation Fleet hit their orbital defenses, I think it’s safe to say that charging into the system guns blazing to take on an undamaged fleet powerful enough to take their Star System is right out,” I said without preamble, pacing back and forth in front of the screen in the briefing room of the Royal Rage.
“The New Pacifica SDF never actually engaged the enemy fleet, Admiral Montagne,” Hammer pointed out respectfully.
“I know you’re playing devil’s advocate, Captain, but even a group proven to be as spineless as the New Pacifica government wouldn’t have destroyed their own fleet unless they were faced with overwhelmingly superior force,” I retorted, “as such, we have to take this threat seriously.”
“We still don’t have a hard count on enemy numbers, Jason?” Akantha asked.
I stiffened. “Right now all we have are secondhand reports and the sensor logs of a particularly myopic freighter that jumped out of the system shortly before the New Pacifica government, in its infinite wisdom, decided to blow up all its courier vessels alongside its SDF,” I said, drawing back before leaning forward and plastering a pleasant expression across my face.
“I still don’t get that last part, Sir,” said Navigator Brightenbauc. “To get the engineering staff on all those ships to willingly blow up their own vessels…it seems to defy reason. Someone should have balked at the order; it’s just human nature.”
“That’s assuming they were given the choice, Nav,” Senior Lieutenant Wave Grinder, our ship’s new and temporary Chief Engineer said clenching his fists.
“Even so—” started Brightenbauc.
“It appears they used a com-wave propagated computer code that bypassed the human element and put the fusion generators on all government-controlled ships in the system into an uncontrollable cascade failure,” I interrupted.
“The number of lockouts they bypassed was criminal,” Chief Engineer Wave Grinder growled, pumping his fists angrily, “to say nothing of the message it sends their other defense forces.”
“I doubt they considered their defense forces personnel of much value, considering what they did to their own ships,” I said dryly.
“Sweet Murphy,” DuPont muttered loud enough to be heard around the table.
There was a pregnant moment of silence for the lost ships and crews of the New Pacifica fleet.
“Well I sure hope someone has told the New Pacifica ships of the Sector Guard with us that their ships can be remote detonated by com-signal,” Chief Gunner Lesner said sarcastically. “You know, now that the people who had the codes have been conquered and all.”
“Yes, that would seem to be of importance—especially considering the recent object lesson in the disregard that local governments seem to hold toward their own people. We cannot simply assume that because the Guard Commander has access to this mission critical-information that he’ll share it with his New Pacifica ship commanders of his own free will,” I remarked casually.
“I’ll prepare a burst transmission to be sent directly to the New Pacifica contingent on your order, Admiral,” said Lieutenant Steiner.
“The order is given. Send the transmission as soon as it’s compiled and we’re out of this conference room, Ms. Steiner,” I ordered.
“Coming back to the size of the enemy fleet,” Akantha said, looking over at me now that we seemed to be done with that line of thought, “you did say we had some sensor logs?”
I gave my head a shake as another wave of emotion bathed my consciousness in bright, fiery red. It was time to put thoughts of betrayal, the untrustworthiness of key worlds in this Sector, and the general disregard for the very people who put their lives between the helpless citizens of this sector and danger and focus on the present. And presently we had to come up with a solution to deal with this Reclamation Fleet invasion force.
“That’s right, Hold Mistress,” I said forcing courtesy into my voice, “though we’re still hoping another one of the freighters in the New Pacifica system managed to escape with better, more comprehensive sensor logs.”
“Something is better than nothing, is it not?” Akantha said rhetorically, giving me a ‘go on with it’ look and a supportive smile.
I gritted clenched teeth behind a closed-lip smile as I nodded to her. I really hadn’t wanted to share what information we did have for fear of it crippling morale. Thanks for that, Akantha, I thought bitterly. However, in the end they did have a right to know—even if it was only going to make my job harder.
“The freighter scanned something on the order of three to four hundred unique contacts before it jumped. How many of those were warships and of what classification they might have been, we don’t currently know. The ship had already reached the point of no return on its hyper drive during a routine transit and jumped out of the system during the initial stages of the invasion,” I explained calmly.
“Three to four hundred,” Lieutenant Hart grunted as if struck, while Lesner whistled.
“Why can’t we get a more accurate count?” asked Wave Grinder.
“I don’t understand,” Brightenbauc said, looking confused, “the freighter jumped out before it could get a full tally and we heard it had poor sensor coverage. It sounds like we’re lucky to have what we do.”
“Yes, the Admiral said the ship jumped out during the initial stage of the invasion and we’re waiting for better sensor records. But if that’s the case then just how did we find out New Pacifica was conquered without firing a shot?” the Chief Engineer looked over at me apologetically. “Pardon me for saying it, Sir, as I’m sure you relayed the information you received…but something sounds hinky here.”
“Nothing to apologize for, Chief,” I replied, splaying my hands, “the reason we don’t have better information is because we’re using a combination of the freighter logs and reports from a Sector Assembly intelligence source on the planet.”
“Can we get further updates from the source?” asked Wave Grinder.
“Wait a minute,” Brightenbauc protested, “how can we get further reports from New Pacifica if the planet’s been interdicted by the enemy? For that matter, how did we get an intelligence report and no new sensor log from the courier that brought back the information in the first place?”
“That information
is confidential,” I said firmly, “but suffice it to say that the informant had no access to sensor logs when she smuggled the information off world.”
“So it’s a woman,” Hammer nodded at me as if to subtly remind me I was giving away need to know information, in this case the gender of the informant that no one here really needed to know.
“An easy guess since, except for a 1% vintage heritage population in case of a massive apocalyptical tech regression episode, the entire population is female,” I said wryly.
“It doesn’t matter the male/female ratio,” Brightenbauc protested, “how can you get a report off an interdicted planet by courier but not the sensor logs?”
“That’s enough, Navigation,” Captain Hammer said sharply.
“As the captain says,” I agreed firmly, “besides, there are any number of ways. They might have paid a smuggler who didn’t want to get involved any further than he/she or it had it, or they could have bribed one of the enemy support ship officers. Such an officer wouldn’t be likely to provide a potential enemy with scans of their fleet, but a mere text file with vague information seems possible.”
“Probably just linked up using the Com-Stat network,” stated the Chief Engineer.
“Wave Grinder,” snapped Leonora Hammer.
“I thought the Com-Stat network had been destroyed,” said the Navigator.
“You don’t just destroy something like that, at least not entirely,” said the Confederation Officer. “Besides, anyone with eyes can see that we’ve been getting updates between systems faster than can be explained by courier,” Wave Grinder continued. “From there it’s a simple enough extrapolation to realize that if we have a working FTL comm. network, others do as well.”
“I’m warning you, Chief Engineer,” Captain Hammer said in a voice that promised dire retribution.
“No, it’s alright, Captain,” I soothed. Now that the secret was out of the bag, there was no point in continuing the deception, “Yes, we have access to a limited Com-Stat network. No, we are likely not the only ones with such access as we co-opted an existing network that our special forces team had stumbled upon during another operation. And finally, this information is not to be shared with other officers or crew of this fleet, or even amongst yourselves outside of this room on pain of a one way trip to a penal colony if you’re just a braggart—and on pain of death if you turn out to be a spy.”
There was a sudden and abrupt silence within the room.
I randomly picked up a piece of fruit and took a bite out of the randomly selected apple. After chewing and swallowing I gave a long and level look to the assembled officers.
“A lot of people from different organizations have tried to destroy this fleet on more than one occasion. Not only were such actions technically illegal they also succeeded in getting a large number of good people killed. Members of this Fleet even. You’re all here because I trust you to help me stop such actions from happening, not to cause them in the first place. I warn you not to betray that trust,” I said, locking each person down one by one with my eyes.
After the pause had grown uncomfortable, Captain Hammer loudly cleared her throat. “As the Admiral says, the statutes on mutiny and espionage are quite clear, people,” she said.
“Although that wasn’t what I was saying,” I said, speaking clearly and distinctly, “it is true.”
Wave Grinder slowly nodded and others around the table including the new navigator who also gulped also nodded.
“You don’t want your intelligence insulted; I don’t want this fleet’s most vital and important military secrets exposed,” I said grimly and then waved my hand. “Now that we’ve got all of that over and done with and out of the way, since our original plan to reinforce New Pacifica before it fell is out the airlock I am open to suggestions. That said, I am considering a move against New Tau Ceti, as it was the original breach point into our Sector and I can’t think of anything I’d like to do more than smash their supply chain…other than, say, to smash their entire battle fleet and send them running from this Sector like a ship with an unstable fusion core!”
“New Tau Ceti is it?” Chief Gunner Lesner rumbled reflectively.
“We would need a place we know they have to hold if we want to pin them down,” Captain Leonora Hammer said slowly, “assuming we want a fleet battle, this is probably the best plan, barring future intel intercepts that allow us to find them en-route to another location and hit them while their fleet is scattered out in group transits.”
“Assuming we want a battle?” Akantha asked coolly. “Of course we want a battle. I would have expected a woman of your accomplishments would be chomping at the bit to engage the enemy!”
“Of course I want to end this threat to the region,” Captain Hammer said, a hard glint entering her eye as she matched Akantha look for look. “But there is no ‘of course’ when preparing to attack a fleet of more than three hundred warships that outnumber you somewhere in the region of two to one! Throw in that the enemy is more technically advanced and has the largest ship type in known space at its head, and carefully choosing the time and place of such a battle is only common sense!”
Akantha stiffened in her chair her face coloring. “So you are saying what I lack is—” Akantha began hotly.
“Ladies. Ladies,” I interrupted sharply, “let’s not do the enemy’s work for them and turn on one another. The enemy is out there, not in this room.”
“My apologies,” Hammer said neutrally and sat back in her chair.
Akantha scowled but folded her arms across her chest. So long as she fell silent and let the matter drop, I suppose that’s the best I could hope for under the circumstances. I eyed her coldly as some of those troublesome emotions once again rose to the surface. I was far less understanding than I had been in the past-I can only stand by and do nothing while I am attacked so many times before I was ready to call a person to account. Despite the control she had over my fleet’s embedded Lancer force, Akantha had reached her limit.
Maybe the next time we were attacked by assassins in the middle of the night, she could fend for herself. I was tired of throwing myself between her and danger only to have the favor unreturned. Not raising a hand for or against me is different than not warning me of an impending attack in the first place, I thought coldly.
“Let’s try and stay focused on Tau Ceti and the enemy,” I suggested, pulling up a file on my hand held and projecting it onto the main screen.
“Moving against New Tau Ceti will definitely simplify some things while also presenting new issues,” suggested Lieutenant Hart, the flagship’s Tactical Officer.
“Such as?” Akantha asked, obviously failing to read my current state of mind.
“Attacking a fixed target is different from attacking a mobile one. In the case of a stationary target, such as a star system, the defenders have plenty of time to fortify and prepare along the most likely attack routes. Conversely, they never know when or where an enemy attack fleet will transfer into a system. On the other hand, attacking another mobile force almost eliminates entirely the possibility of facing fixed fortifications, but pinning the enemy route and making a successful intercept while on the move is much harder. In short: the fog of war makes it more difficult to find them and maintain an engagement, versus knowing exactly where they are and then assaulting a dug-in enemy,” advised Mr. Hart.
“Little different than attacking an army on the march versus assaulting a fortress then,” Akantha said, shaking her head.
“Generally speaking, what kind of intelligence assets do we have in New Tau Ceti or along the enemies projected route?” Wave Grinder asked.
“That’s moving a little bit beyond the scope of the Engineering Department isn’t it, Senior Lieutenant?” Chief Gunner Lesner asked quellingly.
“Maybe, but it’s still a valid question,” the Chief Engineer protested, “I thought we were here to help advise the commander as he devised fleet strategy?”
“Within the
scope of our training and departments, Lieutenant Wave Grinder,” the Chief Gunner grunted.
“Well ‘Warrant Officer’—” began the Chief Engineer.
“Enough,” I slapped the table to bring the attention back where it needed to be: on me. After getting that attention and holding it, I turned to the Chief Engineer, “I’m not sure what kind of system the Confederation Fleet of a hundred years ago was used to, but even before the Empire formally abandoned this region of space—without so much as a peep we’ve heard from the Confederation Grand Assembly, I might add—the Fleet presence was almost non-existent. If a network of informants or intelligence assets even still exists in the Spine, it’s much more likely to be used and accessed by our enemies than spontaneously start reporting to us. To be blunt, we laid hands on this minimal FTL Network and expanded the MSP to a size beyond that of laughingstock status. Setting up a massive intelligence gathering operation on every world of Sector 25 just wasn’t a big priority until now.”
“I can understand all that, Admiral. But…” he trailed off unhappily, and I started to wonder if I had an armchair Admiral on my hand.
“We do the best we can with what we have to hand,” I said pragmatically, “and thank Saint Murphy and the benevolent space gods that things are going as well as they are.”
Heads nodded around the table from the veteran members of my Fleet, while a few of the newer members—mainly sleepers lost during the border conflicts with the droids and rescued by the MSP in a prisoner transfer—looked at the rest of us in disbelief.
“You think facing a fleet of three to four hundred ships is ‘things going well’?” Brightenbauc asked with disbelief.
“The numbers may be a bit bigger than I’m used to,” DuPont said with a wry shake of his head, “but the situation’s no worse than usual—and we’ve seen a lot worse.”
Admiral's War Part One Page 5
