She checked on the arrival time for the Civilization fleet at the first of the five subdued worlds. She also checked on the location and estimated time of arrival of the annihilation fleet and found it two weeks out. If the courier ship could get this navigation system back here for her scientists to analyze and enable them to launch colony pods more precisely at habitable worlds, the Civilization would expand at a rate higher then ever before. If the Civilization started colonizing a number of the closest worlds simultaneously, the furry bipeds would be overwhelmed, for they could not defend everywhere at once. While they were tied up on these first colonized worlds, colony pods could be fired deeper and deeper and continue to overwhelm them, until their peoples were slaves or food.
She called her assistants in and passed several messages to be sent to the senior sentient queen on the fifth world, the courier ship captain, and the civilization fleet commander. She also ordered another annihilation fleet to proceed to the area of the fifth planet, even though it would take weeks to arrive. She had an idea for how to trap the escaped ship and get it back.
Chapter Eight
The door to Candy’s detention room opened and the senior K’Rang officer who had spoken to her before entered with L’Gan.
“Mrs. Blake, I have a question for you. Are you an advocate?”
“I am a graduate of the Winston Churchill School of Law, licensed to practice law on any Galactic Republic world and accredited by the Galactic Republic Department of State to practice law on any world containing a Galactic Republic embassy, consulate, or interest section.”
The senior officer deflated slightly at her answer.
“Mrs. Blake, we have a delicate situation. Elder J’Gon was brought to this facility to face a military tribunal investigating the circumstances leading to the K’Rang defeat at the Battle of G’Durin. The presiding panel is on another world and we are limited in Elder J’Gon’s choice of advocates, as the security forces are very actively seeking to return you and the elder. We offered the elder his choice of military advocates from the three we have here at this facility and, instead, he chose you. Mrs. Blake, you are under no obligation to accept his choice. This is an internal K’Rang matter and your abduction and presence here was a gross and unauthorized exceeding of the commando team leader’s orders.”
Candy said, “I accept. I would be honored to assist in Elder J’Gon’s defense. I need to see his charge sheets and a copy of your military tribunal manual. I will need to meet privately with my client first. My K’Rang may not be up to the challenge during the tribunal. May I have L’Gan as my translator? Let’s go! The sooner we get this over with, the sooner I get home.”
* * * * *
The commander of the 1st Annihilation Fleet surveyed her command. Her flagship was a planetary sterilization ship, half again the size of a K’Rang battlecruiser, the bottom festooned with radiation magnetrons designed to kill any life force on the surface, but leave vegetable matter undamaged. Her opposite surface held batteries of plasma turrets, rail gun mounts, and gimbal-mounted directed energy weapons. Her flagship alone could subdue most worlds. For larger or more inhabited worlds beyond her capability, she had escorts mirroring her armaments and radiation generators, but in lesser quantities. She had three assault landing ships filled with soldiers ready to overwhelm any planet inhabitants holed up below ground where the radiation could not reach. The rest of her fleet consisted of minor escorts and support ships. She had commanded the fleet through six engagements and had successfully established the civilization on six planets.
Her mission was to go in after the colonies had or were about to achieve dominance and kill off enough of the indigenous inhabitants to ensure that the colonies achieved dominance. She could kill all or most of the inhabitants of a planet in thirty orbits, if sun synchronous, while the colonies stayed safe underground. This usually left a few pockets of indigenous inhabitants that were easily subdued by the colonies’ forces. She and her escorts, being dual sided ships, could destroy the local inhabitants, weaken the local defenders through precision fire support, or defend against a counterattack from space. She had never had to perform that last mission, but she constantly drilled her crew and command on fleet-on-fleet engagements, so they would be ready when and if the time came. She anticipated that now that they were colonizing into the space of another spacefaring race, they might encounter such a counterattack.
* * * * *
Candy had her chance to consult with her client in an unmonitored room.
“Your excellency, have you lost your mind?”
J’Gon laughed and spoke to her in Galactic Standard. “Mrs. Blake, this tribunal has no legal standing. I know; I wrote the manual they are citing as their justification. I’ve already informed them they are guilty of treason. The response was an honorable one by the trial judge. I may feel bad about having them executed when all this is finished.”
Candy goggled at J’Gon and said, “My translator and I have read the pertinent parts of the manual for tribunals. It does not seem to grant them jurisdiction over you or anyone not directly under the command of the military unless there is a state of emergency under three categories: Loss of government control; breakdown of social order; and natural or manmade disaster, including war. None of these appear to be empowering at this time.”
“Mrs. Blake, they are going through with this tribunal with or without justification. They are demanding to know how we got into the disastrous war with your race and why we lost. How did you find my charge sheets?”
“I had trouble understanding them. First is the charge of dereliction of duty. Second is compelling surrender when the capability to resist still exists. Third is a charge of reckless endangerment of military equipment. That one is a stretch and one thrown in because they couldn’t think of anything else. Fourth and last is a charge of cowardice in the face of he enemy. I don’t think I have ever heard of the military trying a head of state except in the case of a coup or revolution.”
J’Gon gathered up his papers, turned to Candy, and said, “Come, let us get this over with. I expect this will be a quick and dirty trial. Don’t let too much of it splash onto you, Mrs. Blake.”
He stopped her as she got to the door and handed her a small pocket-sized book, “Read that. It is a copy of the founding constitution of the K’Rang Empire. It might help you to understand the proceedings a little better.”
* * * * *
Tammy reported to her boss, Rear Admiral Jan Van Lewtens, Commander, Heavy Aviation. He stood up as she saluted and reported in. He returned her salute and gave her a hearty handshake.
“Sit down, Tammy. Let me tell you why I had you come in such a hurry. We have a new foe coming at us. The K’Rang have an insectoid race challenging them for their space. They have been unfortunate enough to lose one of their navigation systems to them. That means the insectoids have the location of all the K’Rang habitable worlds, our worlds, and the Angaerry worlds. If you can believe it, the K’Rang came to us for help. They want us to help them fight off these insectoids. We’ve been told to prepare for raids against the insectoid fleet, but we won’t help them until they return the defense attaché’s wife.”
Tammy’s blood ran cold. “They’ve taken Candy? Who’s taken Candy? When did this happen?”
The admiral replied, “I didn’t know you knew her. I’m sorry for breaking it to you this way.” He backed up behind his desk, picked up a piece of paper, and read from it. “She was kidnapped four days ago, along with one of the Elders. Intel thinks it is a coup by the K’Rang Army. The remaining Elders are tending to the Army and have promised to get her home safe and sound. We don’t move until she is safe – unless we get attacked.
“Tammy, we’re going to do an abbreviated activation and assumption of command ceremony in two days. You’re missing one squadron that’s still forming on Gagarin, but it will be here later this week. You’ll be full up at that point. I want you to train them up on the tactics you used against the K’Ra
ng. Once we go against these insectoids, I anticipate hit and run raids like you used so successfully against the K’Rang.”
He pressed a button on his desk and one of his admin assistants, a smiling, petite brunette, entered.
“This is Yeoman Howard. She’ll drive you around and get you settled in. She’ll be your yeoman after the ceremony, so you can keep her. Watch her, though. She’s a little too smart at times. Go get yourself a place to live and some food. I’ll see you back here tomorrow morning at 0700 for my morning briefing. I’ll introduce you to your counterparts then.”
Tammy shook her hand and Yeoman Howard led her out of the admiral’s office.
“Come on, ma’am, do you want to eat first or get housing?”
“Let’s eat. I missed breakfast this morning.”
Tammy ate and spent the day getting settled in. Unpacking took about fifteen minutes, as she only had her check bags. Her hold baggage and household goods would not arrive for weeks, but she had lived on less. She had Yeoman Howard take her to her soon to be headquarters and she looked around. Even though she hasn’t assumed command, her executive officer, Commander Leroy James, met her at the door and escorted her into her office.
“Ma’am, do you have any specific information needs, because I can have any briefing for you in fifteen minutes or less.”
“No, Commander, I just want to look around a bit and see what I’m in for. Show me around the headquarters and then let’s walk the flight line.”
She spent the remainder of the day meeting her staff, visiting her commanders, and kicking the tires on her ships. For a unit just formed up, it looked in pretty good shape. The last thing she did was claim an A-100, block 4, for her own. She sat in it for a good long while, familiarizing herself with the modifications made since the war ended and lessons-learned had been applied.
After she was done ogling her new ship, she had Yeoman Howard return her to her quarters to change. She asked Howard to go home and change and come back to join her for dinner. She wanted to know what a real insider knew about her new unit. At dinner, she got an earful.
* * * * *
Angie flew on a commercial transport into the main spaceport on Glenn. It was the only way to meet her reporting date. A driver met her at baggage claim, took her bags to the groundcar, and drove her to the base headquarters, where a yeoman requested she change into her duty uniform and take the mini-gate up to the Bolivar. There was a briefing and the admiral wished her to attend.
After she changed into her flight suit, she stepped through the gate and onto the quarterdeck of the GRS Fleet Carrier, Simon Bolivar. Angie felt like she was home again. A marine corporal met her at the gate and asked her to follow him. He led her to flag country and knocked on a door.
Entering, Angie found herself in the tank. This was the giant hologram room she and Kelly had been in years ago, when they were tasked with attempting to capture a K’Rang scout following the Bolivar. Rear Admiral Leng Tsao saw her enter, walked over to greet her, and led her to her seat, introducing her to the other attendees as they walked. The seat back was embroidered with the letters CFW, designating the chair as being for the commander of the Carrier Fighter Wing. As she sat down, the holographic projector came on and she found herself staring into black space.
The admiral stood in the star field. “The Bolivar’s battle group, along with the DeGaulle, Xerxes, Garibaldi, and the Lincoln, will be part of the Battle Fleet. Xerxes will be Vice Admiral Conover’s flagship. Major General Shaw will be his senior Fighter Force commander. This red box will be the Battle Fleet’s area of operations. Our mission will be to ensure that no colony pods make it through the red field.”
A red box formed in the star field, encompassing hundreds of cubic light years of space. Murmurs arose from the assembled officers at the size of the box.
“We have analyzed this box and input the worlds from which the bugs could launch their pods and habitable worlds on the K’Rang side of the box. This allowed us to reduce the target area to this size, because if the pods go off into open space or hit uninhabitable worlds, good for them.”
The box had broken down into seven smaller, but irregularly shaped areas, five large ones and two small ones. Not all areas within the boxes were highlighted, giving them a Swiss cheese look.
The admiral continued, “We will have the area marked in green. The Battle Fleet’s scouts will form a screen out ahead of the box on a line shown here. They will destroy any pods that come within their range and report rough speed and bearing on all others.”
A line formed on the display forward of the green area of operation. “Our early warning ships will fly along this line about a half light year out and provide intercept data on incoming pods.
“Our new CFW’s first duty will be to establish a patrol plan so that we destroy all pods coming into our area of operations. CFW, I know you just got here, but any thoughts?”
Angie stood up, expanded the green box, and asked, “Does the plasma destroyer carry the SR-20, or has it received the new SR-30? Are the pods armed?”
The admiral looked at his destroyer captain. “Tom, have you got the SR-30s? Angie, the K’Rang tell us the pods are unarmed.”
“We have two SR-30s,” replied the destroyer captain.
Angie looked at the display again. “We keep four squadrons providing three F-53 four-ship sections on patrol just beyond the forward edge of the box. We arm the A-76s with half and half anti-ship missiles and medium seekers and have them fly CAP. We array the fleet in a rough octagon, providing an additional missile and gun kill zone within the box. We fly two SR-30s with their improved radar and armed with mini-seekers within the formation so we don’t lose any in the clutter of our ships. We keep one F-53 squadron with a four-ship section on launch alert, in case they swarm us or we let one get by. They launch and reinforce the forward screen or tail chase it down, and kill it. That’s my quick and dirty, assuming these things don’t carry weapons.”
“The admiral’s Flag Staff Chief said, “Good seat of the pants plan, Angie. Let’s get our staffs working on this, everyone. The admiral’s plan will be out by 1200 tonight. I want to see your supporting plans in 24 hours.”
The meeting broke up and Angie went off to find her office and get her people working on a plan. So much for pomp and circumstance. Welcome to the Bolivar, Angie, now get to work.
* * * * *
Corporal Solbrig couldn’t have been happier. Twenty minutes ago her company commander, Captain Stanislav Kopinsky, had pulled her out of working on her tank and walked her down to Alpha Six, the commander’s assigned hover tank and called her to attention. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the first sergeant motion to the platoon sergeants to gather their people around. The company clerk read out her promotion orders, followed by the first sergeant and commander pinning sergeant stripes on her epaulets.
Captain Kopinsky and the first sergeant shook her hand and applause rang out from the assembled company. It was finally here. She was a real non-commissioned officer at last, but the commander wasn’t through with her.
“Sergeant Solbrig, about face.”
She turned around, facing the commander’s tank and wondered what was up.
“Sergeant Solbrig, take charge of your tank.”
She stood there, stunned, for a moment. She had her own tank, at last. It was doctrine that a commander was authorized a tank, but he hardly ever rode in it. He normally rode in the armored hover transport with its better communications and computer suite. So the gunner moved up and became the tank commander, aiming and firing the gun from the commander’s position. If the commander chose to ride in the tank, the gunner just moved down into the gunner’s seat. The dual-hatted position was normally given to a deserving sergeant.
Ingrid crawled upslope and into the turret. She adjusted the commander’s seat, fired up the main computer, and ran a diagnostic on every system on board. She got a green light on all systems.
Captain Kopinsky stuck his h
ead in the hatch and motioned her up. She popped up and sat with him on the turret roof.
“Ingrid, you know the drill. You are the tank commander until the tactical situation requires I fight from the tank. Then you drop down to the gunner’s seat. When we deploy, you provide security for the company headquarters and monitor alternate comms channels. You will monitor brigade and division command channels and keep me informed of what’s going on. It will be a little confusing and hectic at first, but you’ll get the hang of it.”
“Thank you, sir, for giving me this opportunity…”
He stopped her and said, “I haven’t given you anything, Sergeant. You earned it. You excelled at every position you’ve held. You were best charger, expert with your personal weapon and the mini-turret automatic gun on the tank. You won the best driver/mechanic competition last year, your first year in the position. You would have won it this year, but for moving over to gunner and shooting a perfect score. No, Sergeant, you earned it. I know I can trust you to keep my tank combat ready at all times. Carry on.”
He hopped off the turret and dropped down off the tank. He and First Sergeant Wilkins walked in the direction of the headquarters. Sergeant First Class Findlay, her former platoon sergeant, came over and clambered up on the turret with a broad smile on his face. “What time should we all be there?”
Confused, she asked, “What are you talking about? Where? Who?”
All Enemies Foreign and Domestic (Kelly Blake series) Page 10