by Daniel Gibbs
“What now, sir?” Aibek questioned.
“The COs of the CSV Cicero and CSV Saratoga, RSN Ts’tam, and RSN S’shpos, will be arriving momentarily. The two Saurian COs command the largest ships in the Saurian contingent. The Saratoga is our most combat-ready carrier… eighty percent of her combat spacecraft and pilots survived. As for Colonel Ronald Meier, who commands the Cicero, I haven’t seen him in over a year, and he’s the most senior colonel by grade in the fleet. My thought is if we can forge a good working relationship with these four, it’ll be far easier to get through the next few days.” Unspoken was David’s thought that not only did they need a good working relationship with the four commanding officers, but he had to earn their respect. Which is why I invited Colonel Meier. I already know he respects my abilities.
“I see, sir.”
Further conversation was cut off by the hatch swinging open yet again. Immediately, a young private stuck her head in the door. “Sirs, the VIP party is here.”
David motioned her inside. “Bring them in, Private.”
Two burly, tall Saurian males followed the far shorter woman, at least by comparison, into the conference room. Directly following them was Colonel Meier and another human male in a CDF uniform. David pulled himself up to his full height, and while not coming to attention, put his hands at his side. “Welcome aboard the Lion, gentlemen.”
All of the newcomers braced to attention, led by Meier. Grateful for the show of respect, David smiled. “At ease, gentlemen.” Stepping forward and around the table, he extended his hand to Meier, who was closest. “Colonel, it’s terrific to see you again, and the first time in the flesh.”
Meier took David’s hand and shook it warmly. “It’s been a while since I presented evidence at your hearing. You’ve been busy since then.”
While he was speaking, David’s eyes glanced at Meier’s uniform with the CDF flag patch on his left arm, the American flag under it. His uniform lacked a religious emblem.
The rest of those present laughed as well, as David joined in. “Yes, we have, Colonel. Ye, we have.” He moved down to the next man, a tall, dark-skinned human who also wore the insignia of a colonel. He was nearly as tall as the two Saurian COs and had an impressive array of ribbons on his uniform.
David extended his hand, and the man shook it warmly, but with impressive strength.
“Colonel Cohen, allow me to introduce myself; Colonel Alexander Parks, commanding officer of the CSV Saratoga.”
As Colonel Parks spoke, David took note that he as well carried the American flag on his left arm. Under that, he had the flag of Christianity as well; an emblem of a mostly white background with a blue square that contained a red cross. That makes sense. The Saratoga is an American carrier which the CDF reflagged when the war broke out so many years ago. “Pleasure to meet you, Colonel.”
“Likewise, Colonel. Quite a beautiful ship you have here. Colonel Meier has apprised me of your previous exploits aboard the Yitzchak Rabin on our way up. I must say I never read the full story. Good for you, beating Bastard Barton,” Alexander said, invoking the unofficial name for General Barton throughout the fleet. He’d been forcibly retired after the second battle of Canaan.
David broke into a grin. “Much appreciated, Colonel Parks.”
Moving on to the two Saurians, David extended out his hand to the first Saurian, who stood easily a foot taller than his six-foot-two-inch stature. “Welcome aboard the Lion of Judah.”
The Saurian considered David’s hand for a moment before extending his hand and shaking. “Thank you, Colonel. I greet you in the name of the Saurian Royal Navy, and our divine Prophet. Allow me to formally introduce myself, as you humans would say. I am Void Captain As’slan Thess, commanding the RSN Ts’tam.” Thess gestured to the other Saurian. “This is Void Captain S’stro ke’Ristesh, the commander of the RSN S’shpos. I speak for both of us when I say I hope that you are worthy of the trust Admiral Kartal, God rest his soul, placed in you. What is your plan to defeat the enemy?”
Well, it didn’t take long for them to cut to the chase, David mused in thought. He flashed a quick smile at the Saurians and the human officers. “Please have a seat, and we’ll discuss my thoughts. Private, you’re dismissed,” he said toward the young enlisted soldier who had been tasked to deliver the VIPs to the conference room.
She quickly came to attention. “Aye aye, sir!” The young woman turned on her heel and exited out the hatch, closing it behind her.
David gestured to the seats at the table and waited for all those in the room to sit before he sat. “Gentlemen, we’ve got a lot to do here, and not a lot of time to do it in. The first thing we have to set ourselves to is getting our ships and the fleet back into fighting shape.”
Alexander cleared his throat. “With respect, Colonel. My ship is in fighting shape.”
David turned and glanced at him. “That’s good to hear, Colonel Parks. We’ll need to get any spare engineering crew you have assigned elsewhere.”
Alexander’s face twisted, his brow furrowing. “And where should I send them? For how long?”
David smiled and turned to Kenneth. “Mr. Lowe, your job is to determine which ships are fully operational and then assist the command staff of those vessels with sending any spare engineering personnel to other ships that aren’t so fortunate.”
Kenneth’s jaw dropped. “Uh, yes, sir.”
“You want a civilian telling COs and XOs where to move personnel, Colonel?” Alexander asked, his face reddening as he spoke.
“That’s right, Colonel Parks. Mr. Lowe is a full-time program manager. He oversees the continuous improvement projects for the Lion’s integrated systems. I can think of no one in this fleet more qualified to handle issues of cost, schedule, and performance than him. Unless you have another candidate in mind?”
Ronald took the opportunity to interject and try to smooth things over. “I like the idea of sticking a defense contractor on the ship repair problem. Speaking of which, if you have contractors onboard, do you have any government civilians?”
David couldn’t help but roll his eyes. “I don’t allow government bureaucrats on board if I can help it. We had someone from SUPFLEET for a while, but I ran him off. The scariest phrase in the English language is ‘Hi, I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.’”
There were chuckles from all the humans, while the Saurians looked on impassively. Thess spoke in a dry tone. “I don’t understand why humans constantly make fun of their government. If you don’t like how your system of governance works, why not change it?”
David rubbed his chin. “That’s not a bad question, Void Captain. Someone back on Earth once said democracy was the absolute worst form of government ever invented… except for all the others. So I guess we’re just stuck with an imperfect system that mostly works. But back to our problem. Each rally point has a fully functional ship repair tender loaded with spare parts, correct, Major Hanson?”
Hanson nodded and glanced between David and Parks. “Yes, sir. As soon as we have an idea of the fleet-wide needs, we can come up with a list of what we’ve got, what we need, and prioritize from there.”
Kenneth leaned forward. “Sirs, if I may…” he began hesitantly before receiving a nod from David. “I’d like to create a triage list, and if possible, repair the least damaged ships first.”
David raised an eyebrow. “Explain that, Kenneth.”
“Well, sir, the objective is to get as many ships back into the fight as quickly as possible, correct?”
David nodded, wordlessly encouraging the contractor to continue.
“Fixing the least damaged ships and then pooling our engineering resources to tackle the ships left with major damage makes the most sense to me.”
David looked to the rest of those assembled. “Any objections?”
Thess spoke. “I have no objection, Colonel, but what of our ships? We have taken significant damage as well.”
Hanson frowned as he made eye c
ontact with the Saurian. “We haven’t made much progress with interchangeable parts or procedures between Coalition Defense Force and Saurian Royal Navy vessels, sir.”
“Void Captain Thess, would you allow CDF engineers to assist in whatever way they can?” David asked.
“Of course. We would also like to discuss a memorial for the dead.”
By focusing on the logistical tasks and his duties, David had been able to avoid most internal soul-searching about the losses they’d suffered. So far, at least. “Of course, Void Captain. I’d propose we have a joint memorial service that includes your faith and ours. I’m sure you know there are several major religions active in the Terran Coalition. Is that agreeable?”
Thess inclined his head. “Of course. The Prophet taught us to bury our dead within a single day. We lack bodies to bury of our lost warriors, but I would still like to have the memorial within the next day.”
“That’s agreeable to us. Any objections or comments?” David asked of the room at large.
“I’d like to request we include a chaplain from the secular humanists, Colonel,” Ronald interjected.
“Of course. Now, before my senior officers and I brief the leaders of both our nations and the Supreme Allied Command, Space Force, I want to discuss what happens next. After we repair our ships and bury our dead, we’re taking another crack at Admiral Seville and his butchers.”
Ronald raised an eyebrow. “Have you figured out how to beat those mines, Colonel?”
“Not yet. I’ve got the brightest minds on this ship working on it, and I want every tactical officer in this fleet working that problem with every spare moment they have. Are we clear on that, gentlemen?”
“Yes sir,” Ronald replied crisply, while the others nodded their understanding.
“As long as we can defeat the mines, we still have the means to crush Admiral Seville and the League’s forces on site. CDF Intelligence believes they receive weekly reinforcements, so it’s vital we launch our next attack within the next forty-eight hours. After that, they’ll get another wave of new ships. We neutralized several battlegroups on our way out and took out at least one hundred and eighty ships. We’ll have a significant advantage in a rematch.”
“I would remind you, Colonel, the fleet’s small craft complements took incredible losses. Fifty percent nearly across the board. My carrier is the only one with something approaching a full load of fighters,” Alexander said with an edge to his voice. “It may be prudent to wait for replacement squadrons, at a minimum.”
“I’ll take that under advisement, Colonel. However, I don’t believe we have the time to wait. If we’re taking this station, it’s got to happen now. We’re not leaving here without the Terran Coalition flag flying proudly. Now I’ve got the leaders of our two nations in five minutes. We’ll synch up later today via vidlink. Any saved rounds?”
“None, Colonel,” Alexander responded curtly.
The Saurians shook their heads and began to stand, while Ronald leaned forward and looked down toward David. “Colonel, the opening move might have been a complete cluster, but I want you to know we have faith in your abilities. Can you conjure up one more miracle?”
“I’m not in the miracle business, Colonel,” David said with a small smile breaking onto his face. “Those are a bit above my pay grade. I’ll be praying to the one that makes them happen later. His name is a strong tower, and we’ll take refuge in it.”
“I hope for all our sakes, there’s one more piece of magic left in your bag. I’ll get my tactical officer on the mine problem.”
David stood from his chair, as did everyone else in attendance. “Thank you all for coming. I felt meeting in person was needed in this dire hour. Return to your ships, and I’ll be in touch with the fleet as soon as we’ve briefed the joint chiefs and our respective leaders.”
Watching his guests depart, David’s soul was hanging in the balance between dread and confidence. With the combined brainpower of this fleet, we’ll find a way through the mines… God willing.
14
Three thousand lightyears away, in one of the richly appointed conference rooms inside of Canaan’s main government complex, Justin Spencer walked through the doorway with Chief Minister Obe Sherazi. Spencer had been in office for seven years. He was in his second term, and it was the last he’d be able to serve, as prescribed by the term limits laid out within their constitution. As the two leaders strode into the room, all of those assembled, both civilian and military, stood in respect.
“Please take your seats,” Spencer said in a quiet tone. He took the chair at the head of the table while Obe sat directly at his right hand. Looking across the conference table, he saw General Andrew MacIntosh, Secretary of Defense Colton Dunleavy, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Fernandez. There were also members of the Saurian Royal Navy present, assigned to the Supreme Allied Command. “Ladies and gentlemen… I only have one question. What the heck happened out there?”
Nervous glances coursed throughout the room. Dunleavy leaned forward and looked down at Spencer. “Mr. President, we got caught with our pants down. There was a systemic failure of intelligence. I take full responsibility, sir.”
Spencer cut Dunleavy off in mid-sentence. “Colton, I’m not looking for a scalp. You know me better than that. What I want to know is how bad was it, and how do we recover?”
Dunleavy sucked in a breath. Spencer could see beads of sweat on his forehead. “Sir, we lost nearly twenty percent of our fleet, fifty percent of our small craft, and thirty percent of the Marines. Admiral Kartal’s flagship was destroyed, and he was lost. Mercifully, most of his crew were rescued.” As Dunleavy spoke, there were gasps and stares of disbelief. They had heard it was bad, but none suspected it was this bad. “Colonel David Cohen was placed in command of the fleet by the admiral before he charged the League fleet with his ship and inflicted significant causalities. It’s not all bad, though.”
Spencer snorted. “I’m all for being positive, but you’re going to have to explain that one to me.”
“The fleet had to punch through a strong League force to exfil the battle space. They performed exceptionally well, and the Lion of Judah took down several Alexander class battleships. The remaining ships were able to withdraw in good order, and according to flash traffic we’ve received, are performing repairs at this time. We’ll have Colonel Cohen up on the vidlink here in a few minutes. We had to configure our long-range communication net to kick out all other traffic so we could have a direct call with him due to the extreme range.”
Spencer nodded. “Thank you, Colton.” He turned to the right and looked apologetically at Obe. “Chief Minister, this is not how I expected our after-action briefing to go today.”
Obe shook his head. “Nor I. I mourn for those lost, but more importantly, I share your desire to understand what went wrong. Losing the admiral is a blow to our cause.”
A major in the back of the room punched at the control for the audio-visual equipment. “Sirs, I’ve got Colonel Cohen online now for you.”
“Put him up, Major,” Spencer commanded.
A moment later, the vidlink snapped on, the unsmiling face of David Cohen filling the screen. From Spencer’s perspective, it appeared that the colonel and his staff were in a conference room onboard the Lion. In addition to David, there were several others present, including a civilian that Spencer didn’t recognize. “Colonel, can you hear and see us?”
Through the link, David cracked a smile. “Yes, sir, we can see you. I’ve got a few people here with me, including my XO, Colonel Aibek, chief engineer Major Arthur Hanson, and Kenneth Lowe, who runs our contractor engineering support team.”
“Thank you for joining us, Colonel. We’ve received your reports, but I want to understand from you what exactly happened.”
“Sir, the League has a new type of mine. It's stealthy, undetectable in its inactive state, and we waltzed right into the middle of it. It’s a small miracle that our carriers d
idn’t get caught. Still, we took a lot of losses. However, I believe we still have an opportunity to win.”
Spencer’s eyebrows shot up. “Explain it to me, Colonel.”
“Simple, sir. If we can figure out a way to defeat the mines, we can catch Seville off guard. We’re still calculating how many League ships we took out, but my tactical officer believes we accounted for at least two hundred and fifty enemy ships destroyed or neutralized. That would give us a numerical advantage, not to mention the advantage of having the Leaguers relying on a new weapon that fails at exactly the right time. We could induce panic.”
Spencer glanced between MacIntosh and Dunleavy. “Do you have a new engagement plan?”
“No, sir. We’re working on the mine problem now, in addition to getting our ships repaired. Many of them, including the Lion, suffered serious damage.”
MacIntosh spoke up. “Colonel, what’s the plan for getting the fleet ready to fight? How long will it take?”
David nodded in the direction of Kenneth, who answered, “Sir, we’re making repairs now. Between the military engineers and my personnel, we’ll have everything that can be repaired done in forty-eight hours. It’s an all-hands-on-deck effort.”
“Why the focus on time?” Obe asked.
Dunleavy answered instead. “Because Colonel Cohen has seen the same intelligence reports we have. Seville will assuredly get more reinforcements in the next four days, which will reduce our advantage and make this fight far costlier. If we plan to strike again, we must do it before the next wave of ships arrive.”
“Exactly, Secretary Dunleavy. We’re on the clock,” David interjected.
“Colonel Cohen, you mentioned you don’t have a plan to reengage the League forces. When will you have a plan ready for us to review?” General Okafor, one of the senior general’s on the joint chiefs of staff, asked.
