by Chris Hechtl
And perhaps that was for the best. Uniforms identified them to the enemy as well as to the population when they wanted to blend in. Civilian dress then was the most appropriate. Weapons and equipment were an issue though. They had gathered some hunting rifles, and a few people had turned over stockpiles of weapons and ammunition they or their neighbors had hoarded. There were even a few radios, though she refused to trust those. Everything electronic was shut down before being moved to a safe house. The batteries were removed, and once in a safe house, they were left for a week. Then one of her naval techs would come by and inspect them. So far, they'd found one radio that had been bugged, proving her caution had been warranted.
General K had given her some reading material on fighting an insurgent war. Most of the material had been about how to fight the war from the other side, but she'd managed to pick up a few insights here and there. She was still in charge of logistics, which was fine for her. She wasn't interested in the operational side unless it was needed to gather more supplies.
Something told her that when the promised enemy ground forces arrived, those same supplies would be needed and in short supply.
-~~~///^\~~~-
Agent N'gumo's eyes narrowed as he watched the sailors. He had been hoping the prostitutes would be able to entice the sailors out of the safe zones, so far no such luck. They seemed either wary or just too smart for such ploys.
He'd love to get a prostitute with STDs in with the sailors. Unfortunately, he had no way of telling if it would work or not.
He resented how life was returning to normal in the safe zones, even better than when his people had been in command, The natives seemed to be coming around to the Federation's charms. He shook his head. What did he expect? They bribed them with food and free medical care. Now some of their engineers were helping to rebuild homes and businesses.
He also didn't like that they were getting smarter about security. Everyone who entered a safe zone got an RF chip and an ID. He'd sent in two spies to get the devices and the IDs. An attempt to get a patsy through with a forged ID and hacked chip had ended up in a dismal failure, the spy had been busted right there at the check point. Apparently, they took security very seriously.
He wasn't sure what had given the kid away. They'd hacked the RF chip with the cover name and image, but it apparently hadn't been enough to fool the Marines at the check point. Could the Fed's vaunted A.I. be involved? Could they have some sort of database of faces and people to scan against? He wasn't sure. That idea made a bit of sense though. He made a note of it to bring up to the general the next time he reported in.
-~~~///^\~~~-
John Smith, aka Smith 4, nodded as he continued working in the field. With only one hand, it was hard, terribly hard and frustrating. He couldn't dig at all for instance. Picking was about all he was good for, that and planting seeds by hand or running the wagon.
Still, it was a living, and it was giving him a credible back story for later. He'd already put in feelers for people who had been bitchy about the Feds in the bars. Given enough time he'd find the right group to insert himself into and then work his way up the ladder until he found a way to infiltrate an enemy resistance cell.
It was definitely a different sort of work than he'd done when he'd been in the proper resistance, sort of skewed everything. It was risky too; he could get killed by his own side. But it was thrilling, and if he played his cards right, he might be able to get the intel they needed to end the Horathian threat on his homeworld once and for all.
-~~~///^\~~~-
Rear Admiral V'r'z'll wasn't happy about her new orders. A courier had arrived with fresh orders for her Fifth Fleet to travel to Finagle to take and hold the star system.
The journey was going to be another long one, though there were reportedly forces there securing the star system. She could at least absorb them while sending back some of her ships to Pyrax or Garth for refit.
It was going to take six jumps to get to Finagle. She was going to pass through New Horizon but had strict orders to leave the picket there alone. She couldn't take them with her or draw much from them.
Worse news was that she couldn't take Stennis along. Her people had finally made great strides in getting the ship back into a fully-operational ship. The POWs had been transferred to a lunar colony. She had a skeleton crew on the ship, and it was finally doing operations off of her carrier decks. But the ship and the crew were to remain behind.
The absolute worse news was Finagle's location. She was going to be at the rump end of a very long supply chain. The fastest way to get ships and supplies to her would be from Garth it seemed. The same for returning damaged ships. Supposedly the Spacebees were going to be expanding the repair dock into a proper repair yard.
They were going to need it. New Horizon had been issued orders to send future prize ships to Garth instead of the long way to Pyrax.
The one bright spot was that she would be allowed to draw anything she wanted from captured ships. She could send them back to New Horizon or Garth with a prize crew or leave them or sun scuttle them. The same for their cargos.
She buzzed in annoyance. Right way, wrong way, navy way apparently.
-~~~///^\~~~-
B-95a3
General Kodiak checked the status of the convoy and then nodded. Having most of his people travel in stasis was turning out to be a mixed blessing. They couldn't train, but they weren't getting into trouble either. And they weren't peeking too early.
He made the most of his time in the star system, getting as many downloads from the ansible before they made the trip to Dead Drop.
-~~~///^\~~~-
Pyrax
Vice Admiral Subert stood at attention in his formal uniform during the change of command ceremony. His insistence on taking on ONI had paid off, John had finally agreed. His Bekian replacement had taken several weeks to get up to speed though. She had come with flag officer implants but had neglected to install an A.I. She'd had to deal with that once the orders had come through that it wasn't optional.
She'd stalled with two weeks of liberty before giving in to take on a dumb A.I.
During his briefings with Vice Admiral Coral Summer, he'd grudgingly come to like the high elf but also to resent her. On paper and in person she was every centimeter a naval flag officer. But she had a chip on her shoulder. She had obviously known about his history before arriving in Pyrax. She'd been careful not to throw her weight around too much initially.
A judicious look into her own had shown him an able administrator and staff officer. She'd only held command of a tin can over two decades ago. She'd spent the bulk of her career managing stations and bases. She'd never held actual fleet command.
Maybe that was the point. He hadn't exercised fleet command very often himself. He still didn't like her attitude towards the old guard and those not from her precious home star system. He was finding himself siding with the people he'd trained over the Bekians more and more every day.
She was dutifully sworn and then his implant control keys were switched off. He saw them darken and disappear from his HUD. Well, that was that, he thought with a mental shrug.
He turned to the civilians in the group once the ceremony was complete. "Well, I guess I can finally take that vacation I'm overdue for by like six centuries or so," he drawled.
That earned a chuckle from the assembly. He turned back to the high elf. "Good luck, Admiral," he said.
"Thank you, Admiral," she murmured.
"With this lot you are going to need it," he teased, unable to stop himself from getting one last dig in. There was another polite chuckle from the group. After that it was the usual mingling and socializing.
Chapter 11
H001
Cyrano was surprised and grateful to see part of the Stennis convoy make it back. He'd ordered his force to remain in H001 once he'd absorbed the last convoy. He knew he was only delaying his inevitable confrontation, most likely a fatal one, with the emperor, but he was hoping s
omething along the line in the convoys would give him enough punch to maybe get back on the offense.
No such luck.
The crews of the nine ships that had managed to escape Garth a second time were terrified and demoralized. Their leadership had managed to keep them together but they were jumpy. Repeated assurances that they were currently in control of the H001 star system seemed to fall on deaf ears for a short time before they finally accepted what his people were saying.
Many were ready and eager to move on.
It galled him that his people had confirmed an enemy presence in the star system. There was a single ion trail that led off into the outer star system. No doubt a prowler was there, waiting and watching them.
He decided, after consulting with Berney, that they'd leave a small force behind to watch H001. They would set up a loose picket perimeter around H002's jump point. Who knows, they might get lucky and trap the prowler in the star system. He was sorely tempted to send one or more ships into H002 to act as a tripwire. He wasn't sure though if they could outrun the enemy to be of any use as such though, so he held off.
"I've got that final report for you. You aren't going to like it though," Berney stated.
"More bad news? Why am I not surprised," Cyrano said heavily. "What is this about?"
"Stennis," his chief of staff stated. "Based on what we know, the ships we've got now are all that made it out. The rest were either destroyed or surrendered.”
"Damn," Cyrano said softly. He watched the replay. Berney had overlaid the sensor data from each of the ships and compiled it into a single plot. The battle was short and vicious. He was grateful to see the enemy ships take damage and even die, but the cost had been enormous.
"At least they gave as good as they got or as close to it as we can get these days," Berney said bitterly.
"True."
"I think you were right. If they were going to do it, they would have gotten here ahead of us. I'm starting to think we might have caught an inside straight. They are being methodical. Come in, kick us out, then absorb the conquered star system and set up for the next hit. Like a dinosaur," Berney stated.
"Exactly. We can count our blessings they aren't in the mood to use their speed to move fast."
"Yes, sir. I'm wondering if it will help us in the end though. They obviously feel like they can take their time and give us time to react."
"I know. And that's what bothers me about this situation the most."
"Yes, sir."
"We'll set up the picket as planned. Make sure they've got caches. One of the couriers is to remain here at the Horath jump point. Once the enemy is sighted, they are to fall back and alert the courier. She's to jump as soon as they get as much information as they can to her. She's not to dawdle though."
"Aye aye, sir. You think they'll send prowlers first though?"
"That's my thought," Cyrano said. "I doubt our people will get a piece of them. But they can at least send us a warning they are coming."
"Aye aye, sir. I'll cut the orders."
"Good. Once that's done, we'll move out to Horath and face the music."
Berney hesitated but then nodded.
-~~~///^\~~~-
Once the bulk of the Retribution fleet jumped, the prowler took careful note of the pickets and then dropped a series of recon drones to keep tabs on things. She then headed in the general direction of the H002 jump point. She veered well off course though and overshot by at least two AU before the ship dropped her stealth and jumped into hyperspace.
The Horathian picket ships noted the departure nervously but could do nothing about it.
-~~~///^\~~~-
Horath
Elvira nodded as she read the reports. The Forager project had worked out a bit; she'd lucked out with the ship. It was little more than a barge, but with a few days of refit, they'd managed to get life support on her and enough power for her to be put to some use. Her use in the belt was marginal, but any extra industrial capacity was welcome at this point. Besides, she was an additional staging point for the mining tugs and a small spot of good news for the palace to release.
The other ships had faired along the same lines, though two of the freighters she'd selected had been little more than scrap value. They had been stripped of their sublight engines and anything else. She'd tagged them for the breakers.
Even though they had only one remaining sublight engine each, the other freighters had been put to work moving low-order goods and equipment around the solar system. They were also excellent training platforms for midshipmen. The other industrial ship, a small Bladesmith class factory ship, had also been stripped of all of her engines and her reactors, but she had still retained a quarter of her industrial equipment, enough to warrant putting her back into service, also as a barge platform. Work was underway in the yard. They'd also found a Farrier class industrial ship in the process. The ship had been misidentified as a freighter. She was a small handyman type of freighter that had gone around to small independent colonies providing industrial services. Apparently, at some point in her history, her replicators had been taken out, along with her engines, reactor, and hyperdrive. But the ship's hull was sound, and there had been enough there to give them a place to stuff in some life support, grinders, and other equipment and then put her to use in the belt as well. She was hoping that between the two ships they'd be able to supply some additional raw material while also maybe servicing ships that were missing out on routine maintenance now that the yards were saturated. Anything to keep them in space longer.
It was progress, though only a little bit in her estimation. She had wanted to do more but the brass had moved her back to R&D once the ships had returned to space. Her grav lance project had moved into production and there had been problems there. Her fighters and CEVs had faced a series of problems and delays, and she'd had to straighten them out.
She had managed to copy the software they'd used to test the latest fighters and create new simulator packages for BuSchools to use to train the next generation of fighter pilots … or at least get older pilots up to speed on the new hardware. She was a bit confused about why they were pushing it all the way down to the boarding schools, but that wasn't her concern.
Again progress, though not as fulfilling as she'd hoped.
-~~~///^\~~~-
Another convoy was forming up to go to Garth when the Retribution Fleet courier arrived spoiling it. The courier flashed her IFF and then flashed a priority one dispatch. High Command immediately downloaded the news of the fall of Garth.
-~~~///^\~~~-
Malwin scowled as he read the news report. The fact that it wasn't good was putting it mildly. Cyrano hadn't been able to hold; they'd waited too long to send the reinforcements to him. He scrubbed his face. The fallout was going to be … bad—spectacularly bad. He looked at the clock. No doubt the palace had the dispatch by now. If a page was brave enough to wake the emperor, he didn't envy the messenger at all.
If the kid survived, he hoped someone recognized that bravery. He snorted to himself and then got busy. They were going to need a series of proactive moves to get the emperor off their back and find a way to get the Federation to stall the next offense.
The fact that the next offense could be on his doorstep was enough for him to focus his thoughts and call his people in.
-~~~///^\~~~-
Emperor Piotr read the news from the courier. "So. Garth has fallen. Just as I predicted it would. I knew I should have gotten rid of that fool earlier! He's done. Do you hear me? De Gaulte is a dead man," he said turning to the cabinet. No one would meet his eyes and deny him that.
Catherine sat in her chair without looking at anyone. She realized that there was nothing she could do for Cyrano, nothing at all. He had failed, and he'd not only failed once but repeatedly. Her father was ultimately to blame for denying Cyrano the resources he needed to fight but there was no point arguing it. Attempting to intervene would most likely turn her father against her and
tip her hand.
"Your majesty, he's falling back to Horath. H002 and H001 are not defensible. We need the information in those ships and in the minds of the survivors," Countess Newberry surprised her by saying.
The emperor turned to her. "Trust a spook to look for and see information as a win," he said.
"I see any way we can learn from this and do everything we can to prevent a repeat as a good thing, not necessarily a win," the countess replied stiffly.
"We have their logs and what information they could send to us in the courier," Admiral Cartwright stated. It bothered the hell out of him that one of his cousins was on the Stennis convoy. If he was lucky, he got out. If not …
"So much for your lover's vaunted escort carriers," her father said, breaking through Catherine's fudge. She looked up in shock at the open admission to her relationship as well as the use of it as a slap.
"Excuse me?"
"The carriers! They were useless!"
Admiral Rico grimaced but then waved a hand. "Actually your highness," he intervened looking at Catherine and the other officers. "We don't know that. None of the new CEVs were in the Garth engagement. The ones that were there were to be refitted in Garth. We don't know how they fared."
"Ah, my mistake," her father said sarcastically.
Catherine shook herself subtly. "Pity he didn't get the support he needed when he needed it," she said, eyeing her father directly. She noted Coutness Newberry suck in a breath but continued her look. She didn't care at the moment if the confrontation damaged her plan.
He glared right back at her. "So this is my fault now?"
"Yes," she said evenly. More than one person blinked in shock at her coming out with it. "You taught me to own up to my mistakes. There is blame here to go around. But look in the mirror for the lion's share of it. You screwed up in delaying the vital resources to get to Garth. That's on you."
Her father's complexion turned an interesting shade of red. She saw one of his guards shift slightly, but he shook his head.