by Chris Hechtl
His meeting with her had been under threat of an ultimatum. It was the only way he'd accepted it, and he intended to make it brief. He knew she was bluffing. There was no way she'd pull out her support for him fully. Publicly she could bitch about it, but she was still in his corner. She had no other choice.
“Not so much as a hi, how are you doing, son?” she demanded, eyeing him. He snorted. “Not much for small talk these days, are you?”
“I'm a busy man, Mother. You've been wanting this meeting for a while. Get on with it,” he said snidely.
“I remember my time in the military, son. Even I took some time off now and then to decompress.”
“Is that what this is about?” he demanded.
“No. Well, sort of,” she admitted. “I think we both know this has gone south. You've gone too far, and we need to end it.”
“And what are you proposing?”
“I'm saying you need to retire—resign, retire, whatever. Get out while you can,” she said, eyeing him.
She could see him stiffen and knew he wasn't listening. He shook his head as she sighed internally.
“Hell no. You cut me off, remember? I'm not going to go off and crawl under some rock and listen to people bitch about me. So I made some mistakes. We all do. I'm fixing them.”
“No, you are making them worse.”
“That's right; I never could do good enough in your eyes,” he growled, looking away. He toed the ground, almost like an errant child she thought in exasperation. “I'm staying where I am, Mother. I'm not a quitter. I'm seeing it through.”
“Till what? Until someone comes and relieves you? Or someone kills you?”
“They don't have the balls,” he growled, eyes flashing as he looked at her. “My security is good.”
“No security system is foolproof, son. You've embarrassed a lot of people.”
He suddenly got a lot more cagey and nervous, looking about them.
“No, I didn't set you up. And no, I didn't tell anyone of our meeting,” she said with an outward sigh of exasperation.
“I've got to go. I'm not backing down; I'm not going away. They'll get used to it one way or another. I control the navy.”
“Even if my supporters pull out? We're losing money, son. I'm on the verge of bankruptcy with the yard.”
He blinked and then sucked in a breath. The family had used bankruptcy to threaten the unions or to get out of bad contracts, but they hadn't been through a bankruptcy in decades. Not under his mother's hand. “If it gets that bad, we might fold all together. We're that deep into the red.”
“Ah, so that is what this is really about,” he said sarcastically.
“Of course it's part of it!” she growled, eyeing him darkly. “The bottom line always is!”
“And the contracts aren't flowing, so the coffers are off. The money flow for navy contracts has dried up. You are hurting,” he said in an ugly, gloating voice.
“And? So are you son. Hundreds of thousands of people are out of work. No ships are being built. We've got to get the economy moving again!”
“Ah, so it's all about the economy, not you personally,” he laughed bitterly.
Her nostrils flared as she tried to get a handle on her soaring temper. Damn the impertinent son of … she cut her thoughts off with difficulty. She did find a spark of amusement at that train of thought however. Perhaps he was a chip off the old block, not that up until then she wanted to admit it.
But all his screwups were destroying him. “Look, I know this is in a way a temper tantrum. You wanted the company.”
“You’re damn right I did!” he snarled, eyeing her with a cold hating look. “But I was never good enough for you. I was the CNO, a position you never got, forced to retire the first time, but when I wanted my due, you hung on to control and made me one of your managers. And you loved lording over me,” he snarled. “Making me dance to your tune. Well, who's dancing now, Mother?” he demanded scathingly.
She winced. “You really do need to grow up,” she sighed. His eyes flashed. “But I suppose you never will now,” she said with a shake of her head. “I have to admit, you got my stubborn streak. Perhaps too much of it.”
“So?”
“So, the others are ready to pull out. Some are in the process of doing so. They have to; they have to look after themselves and their bottom line. We're not willing to ride things down in flames like you.”
“I'll fix it. It will take some time, but it will be fixed!”
“Right. You've been in charge for how long? And how well have things gone? Not at all well. In fact, they've gone progressively from bad to worse.”
“It's like I'm cursed. But I'll sort it out,” he growled, shaking himself a little. Water flew around him for a moment.
She cocked her head at that admission. “In a way, I think you are. I know what you did. You took the opportunity of Caroline's disruption and used it. Commendable initially. I honestly didn't think you'd pull off your coup so well!” she said in admiration. Despite his anger, he felt a little glow of satisfaction that he'd wrung that compliment out of her. “And I backed you then. But you thought it would be over with the Federation, and it wasn't. You didn't adapt, didn't follow orders. Now it's coming down around you, and you've got no way out. No way of fixing it.”
“I … can figure it out. I just need more time. Make Horatio go away, deal with things as they are … Irons won't dare do anything. He can't. We're in control here. I've got the navy; he's got what, a couple cruisers?” he shook his head. “He can't get me out without a fight. And he doesn't have the resources to do it. I'm staying put.”
“And the people?”
“They'll get over it. Given enough time they'll forget about that bastard Logan and Irons. I'll … figure it out. Get the money flowing again will make your people happy, right?”
“It's a start,” she admitted.
“Fine then. I'll get Jean to do something. Throw you a contract or something. You can play it off as design studies.”
“And how are you going to do that when you have no money either?”
“I'm working on that!” he said.
“And that's not getting anywhere, is it? You underestimated your opponents and what they'd do to thwart you. You barely have enough in the budget to keep the people under you paid. How are you going to get enough to build something?” she shook her head.
“If they want the economy started again, that's how,” he said. “I'll take it up with the government as soon as I've got a proper proposal.”
“Right. Government. You refuse to accept the Republic's civilian government control, and you refuse Irons’ control. That isn't working, son.”
“I'll … figure it out he growled. “We're done here.”
“Son …”
“I said we're done,” he said, stamping off back to his car.
She sighed and watched him go. The air car flared its turbines, kicking up the wind and rain and making her turn away.
Not all of the water on her face came from the rain, but she refused to admit it as she made her way back to her own limo.
@
Admiral Draken shook his head as he finished going over the orders to First and Fourth Fleet once more. He was not happy about having to set up a picket between Bek A and B. He was even less happy about stripping both fleets of their screens. Fourth Fleet, once resupplied, would have to set up between the two components as a nodule reaction force.
Despite Omar's noises about using Fourth Fleet as a potential raiding force, he had no intentions authorizing any such thing. One, he didn't want to ratchet up the problems anymore than they already were. Two, the very idea of fighting their own forces was appalling. No, it was best to let them die on the vine if necessary. Eventually something could be done to tidy them up but not by force. No, not on his watch.
Third, he didn't want to go in and blow stuff up that they'd eventually have to replace. With the treasury damn near dry, that was stupid. And Om
ar's assurances that everything would blow over eventually were wearing thin. His idea to raid and steal the outposts and depots, strip them bear was an interesting one, but again, the idea of a shooting incident was too great a risk.
He plugged the sim in and watched it with cool eyes. He always liked watching a well-executed deployment; it was why he went for ops over the other departments. Pulling in the other departments to make an exercise happen and then see the execution go off as cleanly as possible was one of his loves. One of his few loves he had left and one he didn't get to see and exercise at all due to the parlorless nature of the fleet.
He examined the sim once the thin destroyer line got into position from every angle. The planning team had gamed out various scenarios to test the screen. It remained to be seen if they'd seen every possible outcome or not.
Their line would be a mirror line of the pickets reportedly in Bek B's outer perimeter. All military and civilian traffic between the components had been halted on their end some time ago. All calls to Admiral Sharp Reflexes to stand-down were ignored.
He inhaled and then exhaled a long-suffering sigh. So, it had come to this, he thought as he tapped the approval button and sent the file off into the depths of the computer network and then on to the various officers involved.
@
Vice Admiral Champion smiled and went through the usual boarding routine as she stepped off the gangplank and onto her flagship. “All set?” she asked.
“Yes, ma'am,” her chief of staff said with a relieved smile. Obviously, everything had gone off well, Odette thought as she walked through the ship.
They hadn't announced their intentions to the crew of her flagship or the other ships. She had no intention of doing so. Not now, not until they were well outside of Omar's control.
When she had gotten the orders to set up the picket, it was the last straw for her and many of her officers. It had been the last thing to make her move from wanting to do something to actively planning it. She had put up with a lot and had tried to remain apolitical throughout the problems going on at Command One, but she couldn't sit on the sidelines anymore.
She had half of the original Fourth Fleet; the rest were mothballed or had been sent to the breakers. That was fine; she'd take what she could get. They were supposed to set the screen up while her main body ran a series of working-up and training exercises. Once they were clear of the inner system, she sent encrypted orders to the officers she trusted the most.
Instead of sending her screen out as planned, they went dark. Her fleet was split in half, with some going to Bek B to join the rebels while her most loyal ships were assigned to her to do something else.
She couldn't get back into the inner star system to get to Omar and take him out. But she could do something else, something he and Sherman wouldn't expect. The hardest part wasn't going to be getting into position with the coverage around the perimeter; it would be the watching and waiting once they did.
@
Admiral Childress thought he was going to have a stroke when he got the news. His initial reaction was denial; it simply had to be a mistake. But when it began to sink in with follow-up reports, his denial shifted into an unsettled feeling of bewilderment. He hated the feeling of being out of control, like he was skating on ice without a means to stop himself from the cliff he was wind milling towards at increasing speed. He cleared his throat and tried to articulate his consternation. “How could they do that? Just abandon their posts and turn their coats? Just like that!” Omar snarled over and over.
“We're getting reports of ships stripping fuel and parts from depots along the border,” Sherman reported. He too was in a state of bewilderment. “This is just going from bad to worse.”
“They just walked away. From their friends, their families …” Patty murmured.
“And you! You had no clue this was going to happen?” Omar demanded, turning a glare on the Neochimp.
She hunched her shoulders, then forced herself to straighten up. She was an admiral; it was best to act like one. “Not one. Obviously, they were smart enough to keep from talking about it with anyone.”
“Obviously,” Omar said scathingly.
“She can't know what is in a person's heart if they don't say what they intend or show some other indication, Omar,” Admiral N'r'm'll said in exasperation. “What do we do? We obviously can't get them back, can we? Can we get them to, I don't know, relieve their chain of command and return to our control? Surly not all of them have gone over to the rebels!”
“No, not all, but enough to do the job,” Admiral Callisto said, unsure if she should laugh or cry. “This just gets better and better. We just finished resupplying them too,” she said.
“Frack,” Helen said in disgust. “She's right.”
“And no one said boo when they were on liberty?” Admiral C'v'll demanded. “I find that hard to believe.”
“Believe it. Obviously, I don't have all the reports in front of me. I'll go over them to see what we missed,” Patty ground out. “I doubt it will be a lot. Obviously, no smoking gun.”
“You think.”
“I think.”
“Could your people be that inept?” Omar demanded.
“Technically, they aren't her people,” Helen pointed out. “They are Admiral Ss'k'ttthhh's people. He just doesn't like to be in meetings.”
All eyes went from Patty to Helen and then to Omar.
“Well, be that as it may, we still need to deal with the situation as it stands,” Admiral N'r'm'll stated, signaling first-degree annoyance. “Damage control?”
“We're going to need to keep a lid on things. Classify it,” Omar said instantly.
“Oh, like that is going to happen. Someone knows something Omar; there is no way we can keep this quiet. Over a million of our people go wandering off on their own without orders?” Sherman shook his head.
“He's right,” Helen said as Omar turned a glare on his second of command. The glower turned to her. “The families involved will start to wonder.”
“Then we deal with it. For now, land on anyone who reports it. I don't give a damn who they are. Shut them up,” Omar growled, turning a look on Patty. “And find out what went wrong and fix it. And damn it, find me a way to get control of those ships once more!”
Jean just shook her head. She glanced over to Admiral Shren and saw his small mouth puckered in a thin sour line. He just shook his head wearily. She turned away and bit her lip and wondered if she should have gone with Odette. If she'd known, she might have been tempted.
@
Admiral Ss'k'ttthhh read the transcript of the meeting and shook his head. Omar was indeed dreaming if he thought they could even hope of keeping something of that magnitude quiet. It amused the hell out of him on the one hand but knowing what Patty would try to do bothered him as well. She was proving inept, more inept than he'd accounted for.
He had managed to squash the few mentions of Fourth Fleet's defection from her eyes, but he'd done it thinking it would protect certain personnel who he might have potential use for later on. Now though …
He sighed. Perhaps he was getting too old for the grand game he thought. Though, it was getting damn fun. Talk about going out with a bang!
@
Despite Admiral Childress and ONI's attempt to stamp the news out, there were too many sailors and families involved to just pretend something of that magnitude didn't happen. The reaction from the personnel in the navy were mixed. The families were bewildered.
Admiral Callisto shook her head in silent unison with Helen Sung the moment the two of them were in the same room together. “Damn it!” she finally said, flopping down in a chair.
“Yeah,” Helen replied.
“That was … unexpected. They got away with it because they got out on maneuvers and managed to leave. And because they were scheduled for maneuvers, they had stocked up first.”
Jean's eyes flashed. “Pity they didn't come after First F
leet when they were in port. They might have …”
“Done what? Fought? Try to fight through to Childress to take him out? You know how that would have gone, right? How many sailors would have died?”
“I know. What gets me is how no one knew it was coming.”
Helen snorted. “Heh. If ONI had, they would have cleaned house. That was damn smart of Odette and her people. She got the fuel she needed and minimum provisions and off she went. She'll most likely stop at the tank farm between the components, drain them dry, and then blow through the screen Draken was in the process of setting up.”
“Yeah. Some might even join them. Hell, I wish they'd taken us with them sometimes,” Jean said.
“Agreed. I bet their families are freaked.”
Jean winced. “Yeah, the social media sites are busy,” she said with a shake of her head.
“I know. So, now that we've gotten that out of our systems,” she flashed a smile. Jean snorted. “ …What do we do about this idea of our glorious leader?”
“You mean fresh contracts? I think it's a laudable idea … if it wasn't to just to build the same old designs we all know are obsolete. And frigates?” Jean shook her head. “Come on, they aren't worth it! We were retiring them!”
“I think he wanted to start small. He did throw a bone by wanting some of the new tech in them. Sort of as a test bed.”
“We did that with Ilmarinen,” Jean replied.
“Still no word there either,” Helen said. “It's been what, three months?”
“Closer to four and yeah, I know what a lot of people are thinking. I've been sneaking some resources to Harmony of Space.” She saw Helen's sour look. “Hey, I'm using my initiative. There is nothing wrong with most of the ship's systems. If I can get her and Second Chance back in space, we can send one or the other on a mission.”
“The brass will love that.”
