by Chris Hechtl
Well, no longer. She'd seen stars in her future for a while. Now she just saw fear. Fear of the Federation Juggernaut bearing down on her and Garth.
“Get us out of here. Do a gentle upwards translation as far out as we can. I don't want them knowing we were here.”
“Aye aye, ma’am.”
~~~^~~~
Rear Admiral V'r'z'll stilled her antenna as she studied the empty star system. There really wasn't much to see, just a red dwarf sun and some rocks. Her task force occupied it, but they weren't the most recent traffic to have passed through. Sensors had reported two ion trails leading across the star system to the jump point leading to Garth. That one was several months old. She'd thought they'd caught up with that courier that had been with the cruiser but apparently not.
The most recent one was days old, troubling considering her fleet hadn't seen it. Either they'd been too far out for her sensors to see or they'd jumped before their arrival.
Or, they'd jumped while the star occluded her sensors, she reminded herself.
That meant her stop in the empty star system before making the final jump to Garth had to be brief. There was no telling what the enemy could do if they were given enough time to prepare.
Up until that thought, she'd been almost tempted to wait and set up an ansible to report in. She'd held off because she didn't want to endure another hold order. The last thing she needed was to be this close to battle and be told to sit and wait. She'd take her chances on what was coming. She was confident she had enough firepower to do the job or the legs to run from anything bigger than her.
Not that she expected much. If Admiral White had done his job as she expected, he was in possession of Dead Drop or perhaps even Garth. If he hadn't, well, she'd arrive, kick the pirates out and then cut off the remains of the Retribution Fleet from support. She would set up shop with an ansible, report in at her leisure, and then pin De Gaulte when he tried to run. She was actually looking forward to it. If it worked out even half as well as she'd thought it could, she might be the one to finish his fleet off and get the final credit, not Admiral White.
“Admiral, the staff is assembled at your pleasure,” her yeoman said, cutting in to her heady woolgathering.
“I'm coming,” she said as she swung off the saddle. Her claws scuttled forward to the hatch where Commander Sunil Pizey, her human chief of staff, waited.
“All right people, seats everyone please. Let's get this show on the road. But, before that, we need a recap and then go over the plan one last time. We know that someone is going to get there ahead of us barring any unforeseen issues with their drive,” she said as she took her saddle at the head of the table.
“Here's hoping,” Commander Chi'th, their T'clock quartermaster, grumbled.
“Agreed,” Lieutenant JG Amhelia Lately, the flag lieutenant of the admiral, murmured. Commander Pizey shot them both a quelling look and then turned his attention to the admiral.
“T'rll? What do we know?”
“So far,” Commander T'rll, the Veraxin staff TAO, stated. “Our last intel dump stated that there was nothing bigger than a cruiser in Garth. Defense instillations are around the jump point leading to Dead Drop as well as the planet. There is some heavy industry in the star system and the last report stated that the shipyard is now active. There are dozens of ships there.”
“Which means more targets for us,” the TAO finished.
“Exactly. Every one of them we take out means one less pirate running around menacing shipping later,” the admiral stated. “Our current plan is to have the main carrier force come in behind the screen. The escort carriers will race ahead to the H002 jump point to cut off retreat. I considered dividing our forces to cover the Dead Drop jump point as well but I don't want to dilute either stopping force. If they run to Dead Drop, we'll deal with them later or Admiral White will.” She indicated the holographic avatar of the black Neocat sitting at the opposite end of the table. He flicked his ears and nodded briefly.
“The main battle line consisting of Collective Destiny and Righteous Swarm will march into the star system. If the enemy offers battle, our wings will make short work of them. If they don't, we'll split the carriers to run down any retreating forces while also reducing any resistance that comes at us from the yard or from the planet.”
“You still wish to keep the fleet train at the jump point, ma'am?”
“I do.”
“What about a contingency if one or more cruisers heads their way? Or more than two do so, ma'am?” Commander Pizey asked politely.
“I'll cut orders for them to avoid action. The cruiser and destroyer squadrons will engage any knots of resistance we meet. I expect this to be a very fluid situation.”
“Like rats deserting a sinking ship,” Lieutenant Lately murmured.
“Exactly. Our intelligence states these are Gather Fleet units recently pressed into service with their main battle fleet. That means their ships and crews haven't been upgraded or properly trained to deal with a fleet threat. We'll make short work of any foolish enough to stand and fight.”
“Given that they may have advanced warning of our coming, are we going to have a contingency plan in case we meet resistance at the jump point, ma'am? And what about a GOTH plan in case the Retribution Fleet or another larger force is on station?” Commodore Zachery Binks, the screen commanding officer asked.
“Obviously I plan to assess the situation once we're in the star system itself. We'll make a short jump well outside the established jump zone. But not too far out, we don't know what might be lurking out there,” the admiral stated.
“How badly do we want the retreating ships, ma'am? It will be a race to the H002 jump point. We'll have to get there ahead of any forces that are starting out ahead of us, slow and cut them off.”
“Are you up for the challenge, Commodore?” the admiral asked, indicating first-degree challenge.
“I believe my pilots are, ma'am. But as I said, it is going to be a race. If I can start out on the flank closest to the jump point, it will give my forces a little bit of a head start when we move on the objective.”
“But they won't be screening the fleet when we initially jump in, which is when we're most vulnerable. Given that we don't know what we're jumping into and that the enemy may be forewarned of our coming attack, I don't see that as prudent,” Commander T'rll stated. “With all due respect, Commodore,” he added.
“Agreed. You'll just have to make it work, Commodore,” the admiral stated, cutting off any further discussion on that point. “On the point of taking ships. I know it is nice to capture them, not only to salvage but gather intelligence, but I don't want our people taking chances or going lone wolf. I want this quick, clean, and professional, as much as possible. We've simulated this often enough. It's time to put the training into practice. Now, about the numbers …”
~~~^~~~
Commodore Zachery Binks listened to the meeting with half an ear as he checked the status of the screen on his HUD and then his email and text messages. There was one from his yeoman reminding him not to be late for dinner. He wanted to snort but kept himself still for the sake of his appearance.
Things were a whole lot different than the simple times when he had been captain of Centurion and head of a picket force. He'd rocketed up the ranks, and he knew the admiral and some of her staff resented it. Well, that was too bad; he was here. He didn't like to be with them any more than they wanted him there, but they were stuck with the situation and had better make the best of it.
He felt an itch and wanted to thrash his tail and scratch with his back leg. Unfortunately, it wasn't one of those itches you could scratch away. It was one internal, one of those ones that told him something was going to go south in a hard way. It was that puckered feeling, but he couldn't put it into words with the current audience.
Or hell, any audience he reminded himself. Telling your own staff you had a bad feeling about a coming op might impact their thinking and morale. He
didn't mind it if it made them more cautious, but he didn't want to look foolish in the process. Nor did he want to appear to question the admiral's orders or intelligence.
Which he burned to do. Not calling in was not the smart move. But, it's not your call, Zach, he thought in annoyed self-reproval.
It'll work out. From the sound of it, she had all the bases covered. She might be sailing in a bit more confident than you'd like but she knew what she was doing. She kept punching away at you and others who had starship experience. She had a lifetime of simulator and fleet exercise experience in her past to draw on.
We'll see, a corner of his mind thought as he cocked his head and refocused on the conversation at hand.
~~~^~~~
Captain Senior Grade Liota Chavez ran a frustrated hand through her red hair as she checked the status board of Righteous Swarm one more time. She had come to terms with being there on the bridge deck of the fleet carrier, but she still harbored some reservations and a lingering resentment over the admiral's strong-arm methods in forcing her onboard. She wasn't a natural carrier commander despite her recent time on the Admiral Butley.
The rear admiral had leaned on her because she was a fellow Bekian or so the admiral had stated. She had other ideas though she didn't express them anymore. She did have to privately admit she was looking forward to combat, or at least she thought so. Having her combat ticket punched was something she'd thought she'd wanted. Did want, she corrected herself. Combat tickets in one's record were a surefire way of getting future promotions and onward and upward for her meant her first star. Not something to trifle with easily.
If, that is, everything worked out as planned. That was one of the things she was nervous about. She still didn't like the admiral refusing to report in. It felt wrong, like they were going off half-cocked. But, she didn't have any say in the matter. She had been careful to keep her expressed reservations pro forma and light so as not to antagonize her already fragile relationship with the admiral.
At least I don't have to put up with her on my ship she thought with a mental grimace. She smiled politely to her officers as they began to file in the wardroom for dinner. It was just one night among many for some. She wanted to have a formal dinner on the eve of battle, but she wasn't certain if that would jinx them or not. Best to keep things light, Liota, she thought.
She smiled at the doc. Lieutenant Commander Sayed Hasad was an odd duck. She had read his file of course. He'd been a civilian doctor from New Horizon before he had been pressed into slavery by the Horathians. Eventually he had been rescued by Admiral Irons on Bounty. But, instead of joining up then, he'd left with a group of civilians. He had eventually hooked back up with Admiral Irons when his improvised task force had caught up with them, and then in time he'd transitioned into the service. From his record, she had noted he had bounced around from ships to bases. He was quiet, something of a loner. Scuttlebutt said that a few of the girls liked his white hair, muttonchops, and occasional brooding gaze. If he had any preferences though, he kept them firmly to himself. She had to admit his dark eyes were impressive.
“Doctor,” she murmured as he came in the room.
“Captain. Always a pleasure,” he murmured back as he took his seat.
She smiled. She knew he wouldn't be there, preferring to eat in his office or quarters, but she'd made it an order. After all, tonight was something of an occasion even though he didn't know it. She peeked in the small galley, but her yeoman shooed her out. She did get a quick look at the birthday cake and smiled in approval before she took her seat at the head of the table. “Ladies, gentlemen, I tend to stick to some traditions. The occasional dinner with my officers being one of them; it helps us to bond. And well, there are other reasons that we're here, but we'll get to them later,” she said with a wink to her XO. He snorted.
“Now, I believe we have a few minutes before the main course is presented. If anyone would like a salad or soup, I suggest you put your order in now while the rest of us chat. I personally plan to make sure I have plenty of room for that heavenly smelling roast chicken that is coming out of the oven.” She made a show of delicately sniffing the air. “Ah, lemon and thyme,” she murmured with a grin as the group chuckled.
~~~^~~~
Lieutenant Commander Silverfish checked on the bridge and then went back to reading the reports in his inbox. Sometimes he wished he was back on Prometheus and enjoying the simplicity of his duties there, rather than his duties as XO of Enterprise 1701. Oh, the ship he didn't mind, nor the captain and his fellow officers. He wasn't too keen about being on TF3.2 CruRon 1's flagship however. It was just a ton of paperwork.
Being an XO meant you ran the day-to-day operations of a starship or base. You forged the weapon, sharpened it, honed it to perfection, the captain wielded it. Being the XO on a flagship meant you were under a microscope. Since the fleet was still bereft of flag officers, the skipper had to act in that capacity as well, so she was busy dealing with those headaches in her own fashion.
Basically, he was serving two jobs, one as the ship's XO and another as the squadron's staff XO. But, that was a problem since he was outranked by some of the ship captains in the squadron. They hadn't made any bones about letting the skipper know that too, so he had been demoted to something along the lines of tactical officer and occasional yeoman.
He rubbed his brow. He didn't mind the staff TO slot; it was fun to come up with something to train the squadron with. He had picked up a few nasty tricks in his kit from Shelby and others on Prometheus and was more than happy to trot one out on occasion.
He also had to oversee the various departments in the ship, make sure the noobs were settling in and there weren't any personal conflicts and make sure the ATO had the training under control. Along with that he had to attend or give the occasional class, not only to further his own education in order to see advancement but to pass on his knowledge to others.
But, along with his job, no jobs plural, he had one other. As XO he had to be ever aware of the skipper and be ready to fill her shoes in an instant in case anything happened to her. That meant being on top of everything at all times, which meant being on top of the tactical situation, mission orders, and the status of each of the ships in the squadron. Not fun.
He flicked his ears as he finished another report, and then groaned when two more popped up at the bottom of his inbox. “Some days it doesn't pay to get out of bed,” he muttered darkly as he tapped the next in line, a status report from Windwalker.
~~~^~~~
Captain Junior Grade Purple Thorn, captain of Defiant, looked around her bridge with an air of quiet confidence. She'd seen a lot on Firefly and other commands. Most of her combat experience had come on Firefly however.
She looked over to a few of her people who had question marks over their heads in her mind. Some were there because they were young and inexperienced yet eager. Others, like Ensign Dana Truepath, were there for other reasons.
She knew the ensign's story, though the young elf didn't brood it about. She was quiet but had proven herself in the watches she had stood. She was also a veteran, the only veteran onboard who'd been in combat as a child and therefore prior to her commission. She was also one of the few who had met Admiral Irons let alone actually serving with him, even if briefly.
What they were going to experience was going to be another baptism of fire as a human would say. So be it. They'd come through it and kick ass along the way.
~~~^~~~
Ensign Dana Truepath felt eyes on her but didn't respond. She still had the itch, the awareness when she was being watched. It had taken time for her to settle down with her PTSD. It had also taken her time to accept the mandatory therapy. And with time the therapy had allowed her to put a lot of her nasty experiences hiding in the ducts of Deinara and fighting with Admiral Irons on Bounty behind her.
Or, well, mostly behind her. There were still ghosts, still the occasional inquisitive idiot who looked up her personnel file and wanted to get
nosey for a good war story about her time with the admiral.
For her part she wanted to put it behind her and focus on the future. She had a lot to make up for, a lot of things to make the pirates pay for. Not that she'd ever admitted it to the therapists or any of her roommates back at the academy.
But it was there, lingering, a hunger to see justice finally done.
She scanned her readings again, going quadrant by quadrant on her board with a professional eye. No yellow or red lights. All readings were in acceptable parameters. She logged the scan and then went back to scanning her latest homework assignment from the XO. She hated paperwork, but the XO liked to throw the occasional curve-ball scenario that made her think about ethics and such. They weren't as much fun as a straight-up tactical problem, but they were better than a thorny engineering diagnostic one or an inventory report.
Besides, it was required, and it helped her pass the time during her shift.
Chapter 12
Antigua
Admiral Irons was well aware that the new Bekians were still integrating into the command chain and getting up to speed. He wanted to give them the slack they needed to get fully onboard, but the recent crises said differently. He hated how they'd had to send out most of their active wall like that.
And then there were the problems elsewhere. He had to admit, he hadn't fully grasped what Nuevo A and B were in for until he received the ansible report of the Nuevo A Army going off to war. Just when he thought things were calming down so he could have a command conference, Murphy put in another appearance, or at least his gremlins did.
“Apparently, it's more serious that I thought,” he murmured. Based on the report the Spacebees on planet were having an impact, but it was too soon to tell if it was a big one or not.
