For Deason, a summons to the Palace was a terrifying prospect, but when the Queen requested your presence, it held the force of law. Admiral Zhavan felt more sanguine about the meeting. She’d met the Queen many times before, and knew the Monarch to be a decent person who listened. Zhavan concluded the Queen wanted data for a decision.
Deason arrived at the Palace when required, and staff escorted him into the Queen’s office without delay. This is another trait that endeared Taveli to her people, she is always punctual.
When Captain Siffras stood before her, Taveli saw the nervousness. She suggested he sit and ordered a snack with Satha. Satha is a tea the delanot enjoy. An offer of food and drink like this held great symbolism. By making this simple offering, the Queen showed trust and brought the Captain into her family. For the delanot, sharing a meal with someone means a betrayal is no longer a choice.
After they’d eaten, Taveli asked, “Did your crew suffer any casualties during the attack?”
“No, your Majesty. We were lucky, although the ship took severe damage, my team wore vacuum suits. My problems begin now, I must find a bank to loan me money for repairs.”
“I suspect things will improve for you soon, Captain Siffras.”
“I hope so your Majesty. Deason’s Pride is my life. I’d just finished paying for her. Why do Pirates attack innocent people?”
“Why indeed Captain. Tell me, if your ship were spaceworthy, would you undertake a trip to Cambridge? We will compensate you for your time.”
“Yes, your Majesty. I’m a loyal subject and will always do your bidding.”
“Excellent Captain. Thank you for coming, this meeting was most informative. I’ll be in touch.”
Deason left, bemused with the direction the meeting took, unsure why the Monarch invited him there. His next job was to find money to repair his ship.
Admiral Zhavan arrived an hour after Deason Siffras departed. This time, Queen Taveli was all business.
Again, she started with a question, “Admiral, what do you recommend we do about Brondar?”
“We can’t leave this attack unchallenged your Majesty.”
“What do you propose, Admiral?”
“The Scan records from Deason’s Pride show eight Pirate ships at Brondar. I recommend we take six Destroyers and ten Patrol-Boats. That is more than adequate to fight eight Pirate ships. If they leave before we reach Brondar, we’ll have enough capacity to help the survivors.”
“This sounds reasonable, Admiral. Two questions. What is the worst-case scenario? What then?”
“Worst case is no survivors. If none survive, I will pursue the Pirates and kill them.”
“Admiral, while I sympathize with your wish to exact vengeance, the time for that comes later. We will see these Pirates dead, but we have more urgent issues right now. Go to Brondar, no further. Do you understand?”
“Yes, your Majesty.”
“Now, Admiral. What do you think of Captain Siffras?”
“We’ve reviewed the Bridge recordings. His performance is impressive. He’s a good Captain who doesn’t deserve the headaches he has now.”
“Excellent, Admiral, we have a task for him. You should gather your Fleet.”
Admiral Zhavan recognized the dismissal and left Queen Taveli in a thoughtful mood.
Delanot Fleet
After much consideration, Queen Taveli released news of the attack on Brondar to the public. The remaining unrest evaporated within hours. The decision was a calculated risk on Taveli’s part, and it paid off for her. She considered it fortunate that her gamble proved successful.
It is rare for people to make sound decisions based on information from mainstream media. The media often color the news to suit their own agenda. Many rioters believed their leaders about Kislara’s Naval requirements, why shouldn’t they.
The news from Brondar caused these people to question their beliefs. How many lies were they told? What was the agenda their leaders pushed? What have we done? In confusion, they returned to their homes. This allowed the Troopers to go back to their duties on the Navy’s ships.
On the planet, the groups who caused the problems fell into disarray. Their most senior leaders were under arrest, confusing the rank and file. Security forces continued watching a few, but the planet remained quiet.
The Navy in Kislara suffered from its own problems. Before the trouble, the opposition groups had stifled the Navy’s budget. The Government neglected maintenance on Kislara’s Navy ships, and they suffered frequent breakdowns. Many of Kislara’s ships were outdated and obsolete. With the opposition discredited, the Navy moved to rectify the problems. Fixing years of neglect wasn’t possible overnight though.
The only thing they’d done right during the last five years was to develop Fighters. At first, they intended these for inexpensive System Defense, but now they would embark on new ships coming out of Cambridge. Fifty waited for shipment to Cambridge even then, and those promised much-needed foreign trade. Human fighter pilots had trained in Kislara for the past year. In exchange, Cambridge built four Cobra and four Taipan Patrol-Boats for Kislara. The Kislaran crews were training in Cambridge even then.
Kashir Zhavan boarded her flagship to prepare for her mission to Brondar. She had a large staff needing supervision. The state of her Fleet worried the Admiral. Neglect meant readiness was at a low level, far lower than was prudent.
She’d argued with her Government for years without success. Zhavan dealt with these problems in her customary manner, making the best of the available resources. Her staff analyzed the readiness status of every ship in the Fleet. They needed capable ships to defend their homeworld, but breakdowns were unacceptable during the mission to Brondar.
More than one Captain found him or herself on the Carpet in front of the Admiral, explaining the poor condition of their ships. She demoted three and relegated them to shore-based jobs for incompetence. Zhavan appointed new Captains for those ships and ordered the new Captains to ready them for a fight.
The Admiral required several more days to assemble enough ships for the mission to Brondar while making sure Kislara maintained a practical defense. When the task force left for Brondar, the vessels they left behind weren’t ready yet, but the improvement was noticeable with fewer random breakdowns.
Zhavan’s task force made its slow way toward the Jump-Point. The formation was ragged, but the warships stayed with the Freighters. It was the Freighters causing the slow progress, but these held extra supplies of weapons, spares, food and relief supplies for Brondar.
Near the Jump-Point, two of the six Destroyers raced ahead and entered Jump. Those Destroyers should make sure no nasty surprises waited. Brondar was four Jumps from Kislara. This made Deason Siffras’ feat, bringing his crippled Freighter from Brondar to Kislara the more remarkable.
This first Jump had a two-day duration, followed by a five-day transit to the next Jump-Point in the chain. An hour from the first Jump, the Patrol-Boat FNS Katini lost power to her drives. Zhavan wasn’t impressed but didn’t blame Katini’s Captain. The Admiral promoted him to replace the former Captain after the man’s removal for incompetence. FNS Katini was a dock princess, and her crew performed miracles fixing enough problems for her to leave with the task force.
When Zhavan heard, she cursed. They didn’t have time for this. She contacted FNS Katini, “What do you need to get underway again?”
“We have the parts, Admiral. We rushed to prepare for departure and missed this problem. Katini will be underway in three hours. If you continue on, we can catch you later.”
Zhavan considered this for a few moments before nodding. She said, “Very well, repair your ship. You won’t find us in the next System, but you’ll be close. Don’t risk a stranding. I’ll send extra spares over so you can repair any foreseeable failures.”
Before departing Kislara System, Zhavan sent a message to Queen Taveli detailing the problems with her Fleet. The Queen read the message and took immediate action to clean
out the problems in Kislara’s defenses.
Two days later, the task force dropped into the next Star System and started for the next Jump-Point. Six hours later, the Destroyer, FNS Kandira suffered a power blowout. Two of the engineering crew sustained severe injuries, and one died when the surrounding air ionized.
FNS Kandira is a well-maintained ship. The Captain is fastidious. Admiral Zhavan’s paranoia kicked in when she considered the breakdown. Were these failures caused by poor maintenance or deliberate sabotage?
Admiral
Kashir Zhavan called her security specialist, Major Defan Lamat into her Office. When he arrived, she said, “We’ve had breakdowns on two ships in as many days. It may be bad luck, but I’m worried about sabotage, or incompetence. I want an investigation on every ship. Audit the records before talking to the crew. I’ll explain our actions to the Captains.”
“Yes Admiral, I’ll begin now.”
Zhavan nodded and turned to tell her Captains that security would poke around in their records. The investigators downloaded FNS Kandira’s maintenance records to the flagship first, and two investigators transferred to the stricken Destroyer along with a load of spare parts.
Again, the task force set off, leaving another stricken warship to catch up later. Zhavan ordered detailed inspections on the critical equipment for all the remaining ships in her task force.
The investigators worked their way through maintenance records, starting with the broken ships. From the beginning, it was clear the engineering staff had fought hard to keep their ships running. They’d ordered parts that never arrived, or sometimes, broken parts came.
Kashir’s anger mounted with each new revelation. Most Captains sent reports detailing their problems, but someone buried those reports among myriad others. Admiral Zhavan never saw them, or she would’ve acted sooner.
This pointed to corruption on a monumental scale. The Kislaran people paid a lot of credits, receiving little in return. Investigators dug deeper and found more evidence of corruption and collusion, incompetence, and budgetary problems. The Fleet was in worse shape than needed even with the fiscal issues. Admiral Zhavan was thankful beyond a few minor mistakes, none of her Officers were among the guilty.
When they returned, the Admiral intended telling their Queen. Taveli would act, her job was hard enough without the need to protect people from themselves.
FNS Kandira was far behind the task force by then. Before they left the System, FNS Katini arrived from Kislara. Zhavan ordered Katini to stay with the Destroyer until they reached Brondar. This provided security for both ships.
On FNS Kandira, one reactor still ran. This wasn’t enough to supply power to shields or weapons but at least kept lights, air, and essential communications online. The engineering staff isolated the plant room where the blowout occurred and rebuilt it. Other engineering team members worked their way through the ship, inspecting every power coupling. This was their chance to bring FNS Kandira up to scratch, and the Captain made sure they took it.
Two days later, they completed repairs to FNS Kandira. They warmed the primary thrusters and when ready followed the rest of the task force accompanied by FNS Katini. They wouldn’t catch the main task force until they reached Brondar.
Brondar
The balance of the Task-Force arrived at Brondar half a day later than planned because of breakdowns suffered during the voyage. After FNS Kandira’s power failure, every vessel underwent inspections and repairs during the transit. Too many things had gone wrong during this mission. They needed the ships able to fight if Pirates remained at Brondar.
The Task-Force’s forward elements reached Brondar ten days after departing Kislara. Shields activated, and the Techs switched Scans to active on Jump emergence, but the System was as quiet as a grave.
The lead ships moved away from the Jump-Point to give the rest room then waited. Admiral Zhavan ordered the delay to make sure she could bring the most significant force to bear if needed. It wasn’t; the Pirates had departed days before the Kislarans arrived.
One by one the rest, except for Kandira and Katini emerged from Jump. Those ships lagged by a day. By then, this Task-Force had the best-maintained vessels in the Kislaran Fleet.
When they arrived in orbit, Zhavan’s ships found only scattered signs of life on the surface. The Pirates attacked the main settlement and surrounding farms, devastating the colony with orbital bombardment. Observations of the ground showed bodies lying in the open. Admiral Zhavan looked upon the destruction and paled. She ordered Troopers to land and secure the colony, determined to follow them once she arranged everything in orbit.
Soldiers descended upon the settlement’s remains first, gathering the bodies they found and placing them in body bags for later identification. When the Troopers completed this, the ships high above directed them to the few remaining survivors. Of over seven thousand colonists from before the attack, the Pirates had left fewer than one thousand alive.
Troopers brought these back to the settlement and offered whatever help they needed. Most were in shock or lost someone. Five days later Kashir Zhavan descended to Brondar’s surface to inspect the damage and talk to the survivors.
The delanot from Brondar told horrific stories. Every colonist related stories of Pirates dragging screaming people away to the Shuttles, or murdering those who resisted. One young male told a harrowing tale of pursuit. He avoided capture when he ran into the broken country to the north of the settlement and along a crevasse. Halfway in, the walls closed in to a point where he could just squeeze between them. The pursuing Pirates were too large so tried coming at him from the other side.
He was lucky, after passing through the narrow section, he found a small boulder-strewn valley. When he moved behind a boulder near the valley walls, he found a little cave. Again, the entrance was too narrow for the Pirates to enter, so he crawled into the cave shivering in fear.
After he eluded his pursuers, they rained KEWs onto the valley. The ground shook, and a few rocks dislodged from the cave ceiling. He stayed there for days, but hunger and thirst drove him from his cave.
Since emerging, the youth had roamed around in constant fear of capture, looking for food and water. When the teen realized the newcomers were Federation Troopers from Kislara, he wept with relief.
Admiral Zhavan walked around the settlement and surrounding areas, inspecting everything. Horror seared the things she saw into her mind. Zhavan returned to the settlement, her reason burned away by rage.
She said, “When we’ve dealt with the immediate problems, I promise to hunt the people who did this and bring them to justice. I will do whatever it takes.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
COMMAND
Cambridge Naval Headquarters
Commodore Sonya Nicholson walked into Cambridge Navy Headquarters for the first time in months. She had a prolonged and painful recovery after the Battle for Cambridge. Even now, Sonya moved with more care than before her injuries. She had less stamina than before the Battle of Cambridge. If Colin hadn’t pushed the upgrades, none of the Cruisers could have survived. Sonya shuddered at the thought. Many of her colleagues were alive because of Colin’s intervention. He was a blunt instrument and made things happen. Colin met Sonya soon after she arrived at her office. The sight Colin presented surprised her. His face looked worn from the responsibilities heaped upon his shoulders.
Sonya asked, “Are you okay, Colin? You don’t look well.”
Colin gave Sonya a forced smile and replied, “I’m okay. I had a few problems, but the doctors are taking care of me now. Anne won’t let me ignore a doctor’s orders.”
“Colin, I know you, Anne needs to keep you on the straight and narrow. Do what she tells you. We need you healthy and sane. Sit back and relax. You’ve done so much for us here in Cambridge, it’s time you allow us to take care of you for a while.”
Colin was uncomfortable with the direction the conversation took, wanting to steer it back along a more comfortable
path.
He said, “Are you up to a trip into orbit? We want to show you FNS Harmon. When we complete her sister ship, Henry wants Simone as her Captain, and you get the Flag billet. Our Destroyers will work with four Patrol-Boats on most occasions. We can configure FNS Harmon and her sister ships as small Carriers too when our Fighters arrive. They need a Flag Officer.”
“We’re amassing a formidable Fleet. I’ve read the reports on your defense of Cambridge. It wasn’t our people or ships that caused a problem, it was the lack of ordnance. If you had twenty percent more Missiles, you might have beaten the Pirate Fleet off without help from the Reserve Fleet.”
“Oh Sonya, believe me, I wished for more Missiles. Nobody thought the Pirates could amass a Fleet that big. They fielded three fleets for the operation, each one bigger than the Federation had experienced. Someone in the Alliance is an excellent leader.”
“We could do worse than kill him. Given the Pirate psychology, they’ll lose cohesion if we take the head honcho out.”
“Where do we find him?”
“Colin, we don’t have accurate intelligence that gives their bases locations. We have indications, but nothing more.”
“This discussion is for later, Sonya. We’ll visit FNS Harmon tomorrow morning. Dimitri wants to see you, he keeps asking when you’re planning to visit.”
FNS Harmon
The Shuttle flew along FNS Harmon’s length as she hung motionless in space near the orbital shipyard. Sonya stared at the Destroyer on the view-screen, in awe of the size. She noted the weapons-emplacements, Sensor-Blisters, and other accouterments of a warship. A bay door opened near the bow the opening lit by a shimmering blue glow. The Shuttle turned, passing through the glowing field to enter the cavernous recovery bay. With the Shuttle inside, the field shut down after massive bay doors slid into place. The Shuttle coasted to a halt, guided by the deck Officer and settled onto a landing cradle. Deckhands swarmed around the Shuttle, attaching it to a tow vehicle which hauled it through the second set of doors into the main hanger. When they stopped, the deckhands wheeled a boarding platform to the side of the main hatch and locked it into position. The Shuttle crew opened the hatch, allowing the smells of oil, metal, plastics, and human sweat to enter the cabin.
Star Strike: Book 3 of the Star Man Series Page 25