The Turning Tide (The Federation Reborn Book 5)

by Chris Hechtl

  Chapter 47

  Garth

  A very welcome convoy from Horath began the start of the week. Garth lacked the orbital warehouses that Captain Abernly had thrown together at the Garth jump point in Dead Drop. It was something Berney had suggested, but of course, they had a lot more on their mind to do, like repairs in the inner star system.

  Still, the arrival of a shipment from Horath was a welcome site to all.

  When the three freighters were halfway across the star system, fresh arrivals at the H002 jump point announced themselves with the usual bursts of energy and light. Admiral De Gaulte let Berney announce the new arrivals to the fleet. Morale soared at the fresh reinforcements.

  “We are not forgotten. Though I would have liked to have seen more. Not one capital ship,” Berney said with a shake of his head as he made the rounds around the flag bridge.

  “Better. Not what I was hoping, but more like it,” Sedrick allowed.

  “Yeah, but wanna bet that the enemy has just been reinforced too?” Jeremy asked sourly. Berney turned to him. “Remember, the enemy has faster hyperdrives than we do too.”

  “You would remind me of that,” Berney grumbled. To be fair that was Jeremy's job as staff navigational officer. He had to keep track of such things.

  “All a part of the job, to make sure the boss is aware of such a possibility,” Jeremy replied. Berney nodded grudgingly. “My question is, how much were they updated?”

  “We'll find out from the cruisers in time.”

  “Yeah, if they make it back.”

  “You are just full of nasty thoughts, aren't you?” Berney accused.

  “Again, a part …”

  “ …Of the service. Yeah, I get that. So, you think they'll outrun the cruisers?”

  “Or run them down and take them out.”

  Berney paused and cocked his head as he considered the possibility. “Possible,” he finally admitted.

  “There has to be a limit to their stockpile, right?” Jeremy asked. “I mean, they don't have ships stocked up like the Empire does, right?”

  “No, but they can build them with all the bells and whistles and build them fast,” Berney said.

  “Now who's being a pessimist?”

  “Oh, zip it,” Berney sighed testily.

  ~~~^~~~

  Captain Ozman frowned as she looked into the fighter production as requested. They had plenty of components and subassemblies on the ground. There were enough fighter parts to build three squadron of Raptors.

  The problem was they were on the ground. Final assembly had always been in space since the Raptors were not aerospace craft. Shuttles would regularly move shipments up to orbit where they would be assembled and transshipped to assembly platforms. From there they'd go to final fitting and testing staging platforms and then on to their final assignments on the carriers or forts.

  Now all that was up in the air. At the moment she had a jury-rigged plan in place to assemble fighters and weapon platforms on some of the surviving lunar colonies as well as on one of the carriers. With the carrier's maintenance personnel on hand, they could put them together on their own time. It wasn't ideal, but it was the best they could do.

  Much of the ordinance was less of a problem. Most of it had been completed by ground factories and just shipped up. They'd lost their orbital stockpiles, but they were building up stockpiles on the ground. In fact, that was a problem since she didn't have the space to put them all. She had requested a freighter be left in orbit as a makeshift orbital warehouse but had been denied. The admiral had wanted the ship to remain in motion moving shipments between ports not anchored.

  She understood the logic, but it didn't help her situation any. It also meant she had to find a place for the parts and supplies that the new convoy had brought too.

  Now that the Retribution Fleet was on hand she was expected to come up with answers. She was also expected to pull the usual rabbit out of her hat by finding parts for the ships and other fighters that weren't in production.

  She hoped that the meeting she was going to in the morning on Executioner would help solve some of the problems and not create others.

  ~~~^~~~

  There was a lot of data to sort through. Some of it was mail; some of it was software updates and other things. One thing went unnoticed for several days until a flight mechanic asked his supervisor about the new fighter designs and if Garth was ready to make them.

  That quickly worked its way up the chain of command and then over to the flag offices. Startled, Berney looked into it and then swore when he found the new blueprints. He called in Captain Ozman and others.

  Admiral De Gaulte had Admiral Wong and Admiral Einezberg onboard at the time Captain Ozman came by. When Admiral De Gaulte heard about the topic of the conference, he did some digging on his own. He then pulled the two fighter admirals in on the conversation.

  “How long will it take to get these into production?” Admiral Einezberg asked.

  “It will be a bit of a pain in the ass to iron out the bugs. They sent the blueprints and manufacturing process. We'll have to adapt ours to fit it. I don't know if we have the machinery, let alone the right materials in the right proportions,” Captain Ozman said. “I'm just hearing this now so it's all off the cuff.”

  “So, can you do it?”

  “It's too early to tell. I'd say yes but it is a matter of time. Everything can be done with time and investment. The biggest hurdles are the subcontractor ramp-up and final assembly in space. We lost all the facilities in space and don't have a way to replace them easily. We're trying to adapt some of the lunar colonies but with mixed results.” She grimaced.

  “Ah. There was a famous quote about asking for anything but time,” Admiral Wong stated.

  “I remember it. I'll get my people on it now that I've got these,” Captain Ozman said waving the tablet.

  “How much did they give you?” Admiral Einezberg asked as the captain and others scanned the documents.

  “It looks like we've got the full specs—everything right down to bolts and how to make them and the build sheets for everything. The documentation is first rate. The directions and details on assembly are child level; it's all there.” Captain Ozman stated in wonder. “Still, it's going to take time.” She warned them that retooling some of the plants could put them out of production for weeks, possibly months.

  “I see,” Cyrano said.

  “But we need those fighters,” Admiral Wong stated. “If we could replace even half of the emergency fighters, it would be a major step-up!”

  “I know,” Admiral Einezberg agreed with a grimace. “Just getting the Raptors out of our hair would be a nice thing. I'd love to meet the shit for brains who thought they'd be a good design,” she said with a shake of her head.

  “It'd be nice if they'd sent us some,” Berney said sourly, “instead of expecting us to build our own.”

  “Apparently, they have none to spare,” Admiral De Gaulte stated mildly. All eyes turned to him. He waved a tablet. “Encrypted message from Admiral Cartwright. We can thank Captain Varbossa and Captain Ramichov for the new plans. They rammed through sending them out to us before the home forges could get far in producing them.”

  “Oh, so they are untested?” Admiral Wong asked in a different tone of voice.

  “I didn't say that. They did build prototypes and test them. Obviously, they'll keep testing and refining them. We'll get periodic patches and updates as they ramp up production at home.”

  “I see.”

  “What parts can we pull from the emergency fighter and Raptor production lines? Which are in common?” Cyrano asked, turning to the captain.

  The captain looked surprised and then threw her hands up in the air. “I don't know, Admiral; I haven't seen the new design. I know it is a Cutlass, but how close is it to stock? The last I'd heard it was still in development hell and not getting anywhere. Apparently, the Feds have lit a fire under someone's ass to get it out of there.”

/>   “Which we can be grateful, I think,” Wong said. “Does it have shields?” he frowned as he looked at the specs. A couple finger flicks and some judicious scanning made him shake his head. “Damn, no.”

  “Ouch.”

  “But it's still better than what we've got. So, here is what we're going to do. You are going to start the logistics subcontractors on making the new parts now. We'll run through the production you've got stockpiled and then we'll retool each stage as they run out. By the time they are finished and back up and running, the new parts will be on hand,” Cyrano stated.

  “It will take time, sir. And there'll bound to be problems. Teething issues, fitting, we don't know the specs or quality control. Some parts might be out of our league to produce,” Agnes protested.

  “Find out. But get them started now.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  ~~~^~~~

  Agnes pulled in the engineering team to go over the Cutlass blueprints once they had two days to go over them. She needed a plan to retool the planetary industrial centers, one that could go off as quickly as possible with as little trouble as possible.

  She was not happy about the delay that retooling and retraining the work force would engineer, but there was no way to get around it. The meeting was about finding ways to minimize the downtime.

  She wasn't a natural engineer, but she sometimes enjoyed working with the group of avionic engineers who made the rounds to the various subcomponent factories making sure everything was up to spec and would fit right. They had a can-do attitude that was refreshing.

  “Someone took a lot of care in this design, ma'am,” David Fin marveled, showing her sections of it. “I'm talking about far more than just the blueprints and assembly instructions. Those are first rate! It's other stuff too. For instance, retooling the wiring harness line is a pain. There are millions of wires and connections. But they used as much off-the-shelf tech as possible. See here?”

  “What am I looking at?” the captain asked, squinting at the wiring diagram.

  “They used the same wire gauge and markings on the wires where possible,” he explained, bringing up a spreadsheet of materials. “Fittings too. All plug and play. Labeling, it's as close to what we're currently working with as possible. I'd say they did this on purpose, but it would be a miracle. But it makes sense for logistics, construction, and maintenance. It certainly eases my headaches.”

  “Don't jinx it. We haven't seen it in production yet,” Agnes warned.

  “That's the thing. Give us a couple days to make the peg boards for the wiring jigs and we'll be able to get started. It is also modular. See here?” he pointed to a section of the harness. “We can do the runs, but we can't make that module.”

  “What is it for?” she asked, steeling herself for something critical.

  “Energy shields. We don't have the shield nodes. Though it looks like someone left the hard points in the structure for them plus as I said, the wiring. All we have to do is drop them in sometime in the future and then make the connections.”

  “If there is a future,” Agnes muttered.

  “Ma'am?”

  “Get on it,” she said as she straightened. “If there are any Cutlass class in service now, tap into the flight mechanics for help if you need them. If they are available that is,” she said with a fresh grimace. He nodded. “What else do you need?”

  “We're already ordering parts. We should have the production going for parts we don't make in-house in a week. For parts we need to modify, a couple days. For stuff we can use off-the-shelf, we can of course keep on trucking. I've got a couple people working on that now.”

  “Outstanding,” Agnes murmured, but her heart wasn't really in the praise. She still didn't know if it would be worth it or not. After losing the yard, it was hard for her to see a good end for her people.

  ~~~^~~~

  The picket at the Dead Drop jump point had been reduced by the threat of attack from the south at the Bf994 jump point. But it hadn't been entirely eliminated. The single Command Fortress that had been under construction on site was still there, still partially complete. Construction had resumed but at a much slower pace as they were still coming to grips with the crippled orbital industry.

  All of the weapon platforms had been pulled off as well as half of her mines. When Admiral De Gaulte had arrived, he'd left a small picket force of cruisers to watch over the jump point. They went to high alert when a ship arrived.

  The alert was canceled when the ship transmitted her IFF. She was an Apollo class corvette carrying news.

  “What the hell is she doing here?” Berney demanded when he got the news.

  “I don't know. Given that she's from Dead Drop, it can't be good,” Myron said quietly. The chief of staff looked over to the staff TAO and then nodded once.

  “Do me a favor. Keep that under your hat until we know for sure,” Berney said as he went over to stand over the comm section and make sure they didn't unleash any fresh scuttlebutt to the rumor mill until the admiral had a chance to read it himself.

  ~~~^~~~

  A day after the Apollo's arrival, the picket at the jump point were startled by a fresh arrival. Three ships cleared their hyper wakes transmitting their IFF. All three cruisers reported in.

  “What the hell's going on here?” Captain Albu muttered. Garth had been chewed up in his absence. He remembered the report of an enemy south of them. Could they have done this? He shook his head.

  “Sir, we're receiving a transmission from the picket. There is a news section. You'll want to read it,” the communications rating stated.

  The captain grunted. He scanned the file, aware that Lizzy Borden crew were nervously waiting for him to finish. When he was done, he silently sent it to all department heads. “Now what the hell do we do?” Captain Albu muttered. His ship like the others needed replenishment and repairs. He'd had to watch as one of his ships had been lost in hyperspace with all hands.

  And that wasn't the only loss to be sure. Captain Abernly hadn't made it. His Manta class frigate had been destroyed before they'd left Dead Drop.

  “Sir, something has to be done. If they take Garth too, the road to Horath is wide open,” his XO looked at him in concern. “What do we do?”

  “Damned if I know. We find someone to report to first,” the captain stated. “I do know one thing. If the enemy does get to Garth, we're going to head for the hills. Get the hell out of dodge and get lost somewhere far from them,” he said with a shake of his head. “Suddenly being in the Gather Fleet never looked so good.”

  The XO snorted but nodded soberly.

  ~~~^~~~

  Admiral De Gaulte wasn't the only one to have a bad reaction to the news. No one on the flag staff liked what they were hearing. With Second Fleet in possession of Dead Drop, it meant there were no more local shipyards, nor would it be easy to make repairs in Garth. According to the latest report from Captain Albu, he'd been forced to abandon the star system but had left its infrastructure intact behind him.

  “We can assume that they surrendered,” Admiral De Gaulte said. “Which means Dead Drop is in enemy hands.”

  No one said anything for a long uncomfortable minute, then two. Finally, Myron cleared his throat. “But, sir, the enemy has a single cruiser squadron and a CEV. We can chase them out before their fleet arrives,” he stated.

  “If we can get there in time,” Jeremy murmured. “This isn't good, sir,” he said, looking at the admiral.

  “Tell me about it,” Cyrano demanded sarcastically. “The enemy, for all intense and purposes, is in possession of Dead Drop. They haven't moved in fully though, thank the spirits of space. But we can't let this stand.”

  “Are we going to send in a cruiser squadron to chase them out, sir?” Sedrick asked warily.

  “More like battle cruiser squadron and a carrier,” Myron replied with a shake of his head. “Remember how effective their units are. We'd need both max firepower and numbers to get rid of them.”

  �
��And there is a problem with that. I don't want to break up the fleet and send in penny packets. That would allow him to defeat us in detail. I can't have that,” Admiral De Gaulte stated.

  “Oh,” Sedrick murmured. He slowly nodded.

  “So, what are you going to do, sir?” Berney asked, looking at the admiral.

  “I'm going to sleep on it and let you know in the morning,” Cyrano replied. “But,” he paused as he rose from his chair, “you can call a flag conference. Get the other flag officers onboard.”

  “Aye aye, sir. Admiral Einezberg is near. Can I schedule the conference for late morning or in the afternoon? I don't know how long it will take to get her onboard,” Berney warned.

  “Do it and let me know before bed.”

  “Aye aye, sir.”

  ~~~^~~~

  Admiral De Gaulte let things go for another day before he called a flag conference. “You all know the story. Well, here is what I am planning on doing,” he said and then paused.

  For once words left him. He was on the verge, unsure of how to go about doing it and if it was the right things to do.

  “You want to leave me here with the reinforcements and take the Retribution Fleet back to Dead Drop,” Admiral Einezberg ventured when the silence ran too long.

  Admiral De Gaulte nodded once and then cleared his throat. “Essentially, yes. So, we're going to plan on that. You'll have sufficient forces to hold off the Southern Fleet. Split any more reinforcements we get from home with me. I'll hold Dead Drop and send you what I can. We'll take a copy of those fighter designs and everything we can with us.”

  “Aye aye, sir,” Scott said with a nod to Nioma and the others around the table. “Timetable?”

  “Two days. Three at the outside. Do what you can about replenishment and swapping personnel around now while you've got the chance.”

  “Aye aye, sir. We'll get it done,” Scott said firmly.

  Chapter 48