CHAPTER 16
Jaret walked closely behind Lige as he went down the line of troops standing side by side in body tanks.
Lige stopped in front of one of the suits. “Trooper, please explain to me what you have done to your XV-160.” Lige had to look up to meet the troop's eyes.
“Sir, I recalibrated the suspension settings and used a laser saw to shave two millimeters and the carrying handle off of my body tank.”
Lige paused. “Why, troop?” he shouted up.
“To maximize fluid movement, sir.”
“I find you in violation of UDA military law SD-21, troop, unauthorized variation of equipment. You, trooper, are telling me, your commanding officer, that you know the operation of this body tank better than a military engineer?”
“Yes, sir.”
Lige pushed past the hulking body tank, walked to the back of the hangar bay and grabbed three chocks. He walked back to where he stood. “Show me.” Lige threw the three chocks into the air. Before the chocks were a meter out of Lige's hand the troop was moving. His knees bent deep and he sprung forward, the XV-160 whirred and two blasts fired forward shattering two of the chocks high in the air. The body tank reached the top of its leap arc. The troop tucked the body tank into a tight ball. The body tank hit the floor heavy with the squeak and clatter of blastplast on plasteel. The trooper rolled and in a moment he was on one knee, arms outstretched to catch the last chock. He stood and handed the chock to Lige. Plastic splinters from the other two chocks rained down.
“In accordance with military law I sentence you to seven days in solitary confinement, troop. I now waive your sentence because you have followed the one true military imperative; achieve success any way possible.”
Lige was continuing his inspection when a soldier in a navy jumper ran up from behind. “We have confirmed the location of the AmerIndian Confederacy’s Steel Circle, sir. It is in the periphery. I took officer initiative and began the navcomps working on correspondence codes immediately, sir. Calculations will be done in eight to fourteen hours.”
Lige turned, calmed himself. “What is the source of this information?”
“Rictor, sir. Your AC plant. He was able to send a message when one of the Elders broke the close on the Steel Circle. One ship was sent out and returned to the Steel Circle.”
Lige was still for a moment. “Superb. Walk with me to Command Central.” The officer and Jaret followed Lige. The body tank troop commander rolled out and ordered his men through the grav shield and into the vacuum surrounding Black Mariah for drills.
“Have you brought the strategists together?”
The officer answered, “I have, Admiral. They are all at Central now. Planning has already begun.”
Soon the three entered bustling Central. Lige walked up a short flight of stairs. Central was located at the center of Black Mariah, like most UDA ships’ bridges. Central, circular in shape, spanned twenty meters in diameter. In the center of the room, Lige stood surrounded by strategists and officers facing him. No chair had been set out for Lige, as he preferred to stand. The high fifteen meter outer wall was one seamless screen that showed high-resolution vid from cameras on the ship's exterior.
“Status,” Lige said.
Remigius, Lige's top advisor, stood. He was a thin man with a balding head and his uniform hung on him like cloth on a skeleton. “We have no sightings of lodge ships in the last four days so it is a safe assumption all thirty lodge ships are in attendance at the Steel Circle. From past data we know the AC uses the Steel Circle nearly as much for socializing as for military and political planning so the lodge ships should probably be within four hundred thousand kilometers from the closest planet. They like a view.”
Remigius continued, “We have a few choices. We can set the distance for a firing exit at six hundred thousand kilometers away from the planet. Of course they might be snugged. There are two primary options. Either they are outside the window or they are snugged close.”
Remigius glanced at the wall screen. “That leads me to believe they may be parked in orbit. I assume you wish to go in shallow?” Remigius waited patiently for Lige's answer.
Lige nodded, “Yes, shallow. What is status on the fleet?”
Remigius gestured at Walker, Lige's best correspondence navigator, who brought up figures on the wall screen as Remigius spoke. “Forty-eight of sixty-two ships are ready to fire within our window. We can bring back sixteen more prime ships if you wish to expend the Nagaspheres to fire with us. Of the forty-eight ships ready for firing thirty-one are in fighting condition, fifteen have minimum to heavy damages from the Prelgas campaign. Eight of the sixteen return ships would be in fighting condition, sir.”
Energy from a Kellion Cannon ship’s Nagasphere was abundant but one firing used one Nagasphere, costing approximately ten thousand UDA credits. Intergalactic travel was not for the poor. The UDA kept tight strings on the production, ownership and use of Nagaspheres. However, the AmerIndian Confederacy had become adept at stealing what they needed.
“Bring back all eight of the primes immediately.” One of the comp operators set to work immediately on sending the messages to the eight ships. Intergalactic communication was extremely expensive requiring the same Nagasphere to send one message as to send one ship. After a ship fired its Kellion Cannon it then traveled through the correspondence plane created. Sending communication was the same procedure except a ship fired its Kellion cannon while the ship was stationary and sent a communication signal through the correspondence plane.
Remigius continued, “Assuming all 30 lodge ships are there then all 620 of their outrider ships are there as well. Should be approximately 5,100 AC fighters present. We will match that with 940 UDA prime ships and 12,000 fighters. Battle comps give forecasts as follows. All AC lodge ships will fire nine minutes after detection of our fleet. If our engagement is under two minutes we should destroy 40 to 90 outrider ships only and we will lose no more than five prime ships. The AC outrider ships will be used to hold us back. If engagement is between two and fifteen minutes we will destroy 120 AC outrider ships and one to six lodge ships against losses of 250 to 400 UDA prime ships. If engagement is longer than ten minutes, we will destroy eight to twenty-six lodge ships and 140 to 180 AC outrider ships against losses of 420 to 630 UDA prime ships.”
Lige viewed the wall screens, showing the forecast in stark, hard numbers. It was a frustrating fact for him that AC ships dealt considerably more damage than they received in clashes with the UDA fleet. Lige viewed the UDA losses as acceptable as long as one of the few remaining ships was his own.
“I have prepared a communications relay to notify four other admirals. We can swarm them, sir.” Remigius said matter of faclty.
Lige didn't hesitate, “Absolutely not. The AC has used the incompetence of my peers as an escape route too many times. I will not have another Grelgas IV incident on my hands. Don't waste the Nagaspheres.”
Remigius stammered, “Sir, the entire AC fleet is congregated at one point. It would be irresponsible not to bring in additional forces.”
“You are an intelligent man, Remigius. I believe you understand the meaning of the term 'absolutely not'.”
“We have not been able to determine the location of a Steel Circle in five years, sir. If we could call in Ramey and Lenel's fleets it could be enough to force a surrender, a bloodless victory.”
“Remigius, your ignorance displays for all why you are an advisor and I am a commander. There has never been a bloodless victory, large or small, against the AC because they do not surrender. I alone have killed more tribals than all the other admirals combined because I understand them. I do not under or overestimate them.”
Remigius shook. Everyone in the room stared at the advisor. “I am no fool. You are a strutting peacock and I will not allow your vanity to cost us this victory. As a forward officer, I demand communication with HQ. You can not refuse me.”
There was a hushed silence. “On
ly because you have served me as a superb strategist will I ignore my desire to incarcerate you for blatant insubordination. However, your service with me is through. You may communicate with HQ in person. Rogers, please arrange for our smallest medical prime ship to fire back to HQ with Remigius on board as soon as the correspondence code back to Earth is calculated.”
Remigius shrunk. In a single moment he realized he had made a grave mistake. The ship now being arranged for him would never make it to HQ. He had worked under Lige long enough to know how Lige handled enemies. The ship would be sent to the farthest corner of the universe where he and its crew would no doubt starve to death because the Nagaspheres on board would all be spent.
Remigius' voice shook as he spoke. “I would prefer to send a communiqué.”
The officers on the bridge knew they were looking at a dead man and most dutifully turned to watch the wall screens.
“Roger, escort Remigius out. And, oh, is there anyone else who would like to express their sentiments to HQ?” No one moved or spoke. “And Remigius, thank you. You truly were a superb strategist. I'm sure those skills will serve you well wherever the future finds you.”
Lige's smile appeared sincere and showed no malice. “Craven, I will be doing a walk through of the heavies. We fire as soon as the code is go.”
Lige stepped from the dais and his men whirled into the minutia of preparing the AC's annihilation.
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