At the center of this fleet was the Liberator, the flagship of the Independent Systems Fleet. She led her sister ships in a line echelon formation, surrounded by a dozen corvettes and six destroyers of matching design philosophy. Each had muonic cannon turrets and the destroyers anti-ship missile cells.
At spaces around these vessels, the ships of two dozen inhabited solar systems kept mixed formations of their own. Ships were not grouped by nationality but by capability, their coherence continually honed by steady drills and practice maneuvers.
On the bridge of the Liberator, Admiral James Henry watched quietly as sixteen frigates from half that many worlds went through an attack run maneuver. There was room for improvement, but he couldn't hold back his pride at seeing how well they worked together.
Cera had her seat nearby, watching the helm as always. She was dressed smartly in the same dark blue uniform as his. Her rank insignia of two silver sunbursts marked her as a Lieutenant Commander in the Independent Systems Fleet, just as his circle of five gold stars marked his nominal rank of Admiral, the only one in the organization. Admiral. The CDF doesn't even do those. He chuckled, but only slightly.
"Frigate Group Bravo just finished their run," Cera said. "Looks like they're learnin'." Her grin was prideful. "But they've got New Connaught ships leadin' their way, so of course they are."
Henry chuckled. Before he could speak, the Hestian woman at the sensors station spoke up. "Wormhole forming."
"What've we got?"
After a moment, the young officer relaxed. "Auber-Eisenburg Mark V. IFF code reads her as Venture Star."
"Put her on." Henry returned to his new seat to the side of the CIC, placing him close to Comms and Sensors. A series of holo-displays and the tactical holotank allowed him to exercise fleet command while the Liberator's maneuvers were overseen by her new CO, Captain Trang. He directed his attention to the flat screen display nearer to the wall. Miri's face appeared. "How did it go?" he asked.
"As you'd expect," Miri said. "The Matrinid aren't interested in granting military aid, but they're treating our existing technology as an established fact. We've got an agreement for replacement parts if needed."
"And the Saurians?"
"Isolationist as ever, but last I heard, the supplies were still running. They recognize us as possible allies against the League, so we could expect that at the very least."
Henry sighed. "I'm guessing you ended up having to skirt around Coalition space?"
"Yeah, CBI's onto us as owners of the Venture Star. You should see GNN. Rhodes still protests your fleet's existence almost any time the journalists bring it up. 'A threat to galactic peace,' she calls it, and she acts like you're still in the CDF. The woman's truly blind."
"I figured. All we can do is wait for some sense of sanity to return to the Coalition." Henry grinned. "How are the others?"
"They're doing well. The replacement crew is still adjusting. Piper still wants out of being First Mate, but she's getting used to command. How about on your end?"
"New Cornwall finally signed up. We've got a squadron of their frigates with us now, and we're supposed to get two destroyers." Henry considered his list of existing ships. Most of the fleet was still made up of independent spacers with armed civilian ships, but every week brought more governments signing up for the training. Contingents were rotating in and out, with the training spreading accordingly as lessons were passed on to the rest of their services. "At this rate, we're going to have a proper fleet in a month or two."
"Good. We may need it."
Henry's eyes tightened. "Oh?"
"My contacts in CIS have been giving me information," she said. "I'll send you the reports, but to sum it up, they say there's some unusual activity out at Freedom Station. From what I'm told, certain acquaintances of ours are setting up to investigate."
"Could be nothing. Could be something. Thanks for passing that on. Anything else?"
"No. We'll let you know if we hear anything else."
"Good. Take care of yourselves out there, Miri."
"Be careful, Captain Henry."
"I'll try." He let her have a parting grin. "Godspeed."
"Godspeed." Her image disappeared.
Henry stood back up and walked over to the plotting holo-tank. "Captain Lou?"
Mei-Ling Lou looked up at him with her father Frank's eyes. She looked good in her new uniform and utterly at home as his chief of staff. "Yes, Admiral?"
"Inform the fleet, starting in four hours, we're going to practice joint wormhole use."
Understanding showed on her face. It would allow the fleet to make multiple jumps quickly, as not every ship would be running their Lawrence drive for each jump. "I'll schedule the exercise."
"Good. We're going to run two a day until further notice."
"Aye, Admiral."
"And schedule another fleet-wide combat maneuver exercise," he added. "We're going to need the practice."
"It'll be done, sir."
"Aye, an' I'll make sure t' give them some right tricky maneuvers t' pull tae," Cera added from the helm. Behind her, Trang nodded with approval.
"I wouldn't expect anything less, Commander McGinty," Henry said. I do miss just calling her Cera, but that won't do now. After all of these years, I'm back in the service after all.
That thought led him to bring up the large-scale starmap on the CIC's stern-facing display. The stars played over his dark skin despite the decent lighting of the CIC while his eyes examined them. He wondered where the trouble would begin, and how it would begin, and just how much the League would be behind it.
No matter. It's been a long and curvy road, but I'm back in the fight, he thought. And whether it happens next week or next year, we're going to finish it. Not just the CDF and the Coalition, but all of us.
He said nothing more, allowing the crew and the ships under his command to continue the drilling that would make them ready for the battle he knew was coming.
And he had trust, he had faith, that they would win.
Also Available from Daniel Gibbs
Echoes of War
Book 1 - Fight the Good Fight
Book 2 - Strong and Courageous
Book 3 - So Fight I
Book 4 - Gates of Hell
Book 5 - Keep the Faith
Book 6 - Run the Gauntlet
Book 7 - Finish the Fight
Breach of Faith
(With Gary T. Stevens)
Book 1 - Breach of Peace
Book 2 - Breach of Faith
Book 3 - Breach of Duty
Book 4 - Breach of Trust
Get Two free & Exclusive David Gibbs Books
FREE BOOK: Read the story of Levi Cohen and his heroic fight at the first battle of Canaan in Echoes of War: Stand Firm.
FREE BOOK: Join Captain James Henry as he tries to survive in the independent worlds after being cashiered out of the Coalition Defense Force. Can a broken man rebuild his life? Find out in A Simple Mission.
Both available FREE, only at
www.danielgibbsauthor.com/standfirm.
Acknowledgments
From Daniel Gibbs -
I want to thank first and foremost, Gary – for dealing with me the last year as we worked through four novels worth of ideas and characters in the Breach of Faith series.
The series has come together more than I’d dreamed possible - and it’s been an honor to work along side Gary and see how he’s grown as an author. Watch his work - it will be impressive in the days and years to come!
As always, there’s a small cast of folks out there that have helped me along the way – especially David VanDyke and his constant support and encouragement. To everyone else – you know who you are; thank you.
Finally, to the men and women of the US Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Army, thank you for your service. It remains the highest privilege of my life to support you.
From Gary T. Stevens -
With the series concluded, I would like to onc
e again give my thanks to Daniel Gibbs for giving me the opportunity to craft these stories in his Echoes of War setting. I hope that I've done him credit as much as I hope I've entertained and inspired the readers, and I plead forgiveness for the fact that I am a very wordy kind of writer. I'd like to think that I've kept the faith, so to speak, with these stories about faith - not just religious faith, but faith in ourselves and in others that we can do the right thing if we but strive to.
My thanks also to Beth Lynne, the editor who catches my continuing disrespect for the poor, misunderstood comma, and G. Michaelis, who gave the initial draft a read and suggested refinements that made the book stronger.
Once more my thanks to friends for their support in the writing of this book and the series as a whole, though it meant delays to other projects. Further thanks to my friend Ben, who provided some feedback on how I should present Tia's intentions as the leader of her people. I can't say I adopted everything suggested 100%, but his influence is there.
My thanks to my brother, who put up with me whenever something about this project caused me to rant about something.
Finally, thanks to Uncle Tim, for urging me over all these years to write books and get them published. This will not be the last one, I assure you, Uncle.
Breach of Trust: Breach of Faith Book Four Page 47
