by Chris Hechtl
“Once we've drained the munitions and tenders, I intend to turn them around and return them to Dead Drop at their best speed. They are to resupply there and meet up with us in B-95a3. This does two things. It strips them of us, yes, so we don't have to deal with their slower speed or protect them.”
“And it will get us the supplies we need all the sooner,” Commodore Eichmann said.
“Exactly,” Admiral De Gaulte stated. “I'm also sending the ships that are too damaged to continue further.”
He saw Commodore Eichmann stiffen ever so slightly. He was well aware that Daring's skipper was fudging the reports. He had no intention of calling him out on it because he knew Red. He also knew Red would do everything in his power to get his ship as squared away the best he could, given the time, material, and circumstances.
“Brawler and Coup de Main will head back at their best speed,” Admiral De Gaulte said. “Before they leave I intend to strip the crew down to a skeleton watch along with all of their ordinance and materials. Then we'll stuff any wounded we can in them.”
“Getting them out of the line of fire? Not on the fleet train though, Admiral?” Admiral Adkin asked.
The admiral shook his head. “The tenders and munitions ship lacks the life support and medical facilities necessary to keep them alive. We can send walking wounded with a corpsman or two that way though.”
“Are the ships remaining in Dead Drop, sir?” Sedrick asked.
“Yes. They will do their best to make good on their repairs with the reactivated yard modules there. They can do the final assessment and send them back to Garth or the home yards if necessary. Something tells me they'll keep them in Dead Drop given the need to protect the star system,” he said.
“What about the fleet train's security, sir? If an enemy ship gets in behind us …,” Catherine grimaced.
“I'm not sending the whole fleet train back, just the empty ships. I'm detailing Battle of Samar and Thresher to ride herd on them. They can make what repairs they can while in transit both ways,” he said. He left unsaid that he'd passed on orders to have either ship swapped out with a healthier ship in Dead Drop if possible.
“We'll keep three couriers, the factory ship, and marine transports with us,” the admiral said. “Though most of the marines have been pressed into DCC parties and to fill in the ranks where needed I understand,” the admiral said, pursing his lips, “including your brother, Commander. He's done a commendable job given his limited training,” the admiral said, nodding to Catherine.
Catherine nodded once.
“Something tells me we're not going to be invading any planets anytime soon,” Commodore Eichmann said dryly.
“No, sir.” Sedrick grimaced as he glanced at the other staff members. When no one said anything, he cleared his throat. “Sir, shouldn't we be getting underway soon? To catch them?”
Admiral De Gaulte snorted. “An animal is most dangerous when injured and cornered. Besides, our engineers have stated we can't.”
“Sir?”
“We can't catch them in hyper. Catching that Prowler was blind luck.”
“Sir, should we be following at all?”
“He's wounded, and we need to run him down,” the admiral said pensively. “Now we have a chance of beating him. We need to keep the pressure on, get in and take out their defenses in Protodon, then hammer anything Irons sends in to support him.”
“That's … bold, sir,” Sedrick replied carefully.
“Yes. So, we're going to be spending a lot of time finding ways to make it work. We collected a lot of data. All of it needs to be copied to the ships leaving. I want the rest gone over by every ship in the fleet. We need to find our weaknesses and address them. We need better ways to hit them.”
“Aye, sir.”
“Transfer our remaining fighters to Nimitz. I want Commander Zakhan sorting them out now.”
“That will strip our ships of fighters, sir,” Catherine warned. “And if we lose Nimitz it would be bad.”
“I know it is a lot of eggs in one basket. We need them molded into a proper carrier force again. Along the way they'll need to find ways to adapt to their shortcomings as well,” the admiral said.
“Aye aye, sir,” Catherine replied, making a note on her tablet.
“Vale, get your ships in order, you have priority of course,” Admiral Adkin nodded. He turned to Commodore Eichmann. “Harold, since Evan is dead and I'm sending Peking, Fu, and Chuck back in stasis pods,” that made both flag officers stiffen in surprise. “You're going to have to command both squadrons. You can organize them into an oversized squadron if you prefer.” Commander Eichmann nodded.
He turned back to Admiral Adkin. “That leaves you to not only cover the battle cruisers but also the cruisers as well.”
“You aren't going to frock someone, sir?” Admiral Adkin asked carefully. “Not that I don't mind the added responsibility but …”
“You have enough on your shoulders. Tough. Get used to the load,” the admiral stated. “Catherine, get the orders to my yeoman and processed by the end of shift.”
“Aye aye, sir.”
“Now, I know the various tactical departments are going over what we learned. I also know,” he paused to look at Lieutenant Chekov, “that you aren't finished. But we can do another hot wash now. Have you finished coding patches and scripts from what we've learned?”
“Yes, sir,” the staff tactical officer said. When he paused too long, Sedrick gave him a meaningful look that startled him. “Sorry, sir. Yes, we've gotten the scripts and patches underway. It should help us fight their ECM and decoy tricks. I haven't had the time to run sims though on how effective they will be; the computers are still …”
“Busy, yes I know,” the admiral said. “Continue. The warheads?”
“Weren't as effective as I'd like to have seen. And I strongly suggest we keep the fighters and bombers on the defense; they just weren't as effective as we'd expected against the enemy's defenses,” he said.
The admiral drummed his fingers on the table in the ensuing silence then nodded. “All right. Commander Zakhan won't like it, but that's his problem. We can revisit it later if he has some new tricks. What about our capital ships? Any issues we need to address?”
“Well, I think we need to work on our coordination a bit, sir, especially against that sort of fire power. We were lucky to be frank,” he said.
That earned a snort from Admiral Adkin. “Lucky my ass,” he growled.
“With all due respect, sir,” the lieutenant said, addressing the flag officer directly. “We were indeed lucky. They ran which cut their ability to fight tremendously. Had they not run they would have done considerable more damage to us, potentially taking out half or more of the fleet.”
“You think they would have what, won?” the admiral asked him in disbelief.
The lieutenant spread his hands. “I honestly don't know, sir. If they'd kept running, we wouldn't have gotten into range to fire on them. If they hadn't been charging their hyperdrives, we would have faced more fire power, and they would have had more defensive fire. Had they not gotten to the final stage of translation, they could have continued the engagement, not slacked off just as we went into sprint mode. The results could have been very different indeed, sir,” he said.
“Machine guns at twenty paces,” Jeremy murmured.
“Exactly,” the tactical officer replied, looking at the navigator. “We might have won in the end due to the inclusion of Executioner and Star Mauler, but we wouldn't have had much of a fleet at the end of it,” he warned.
“I'll take such thoughts under advisement,” Admiral De Gaulte rumbled, cutting off protests from the other flag officers.
“One thing does bother me, the numbers,” Sedrick stated. They all turned to look at him. He shook his head. “Think about it. They had how many ships in Captain Post's last reports? Two battle cruisers? Four? I don't remember off the top of my head. My point is they scrounged up a lot more in a sho
rt time period. And I'm betting all from new construction. They are using both shipyards … he shook his head. “Are we seeing their full production? Or is this just the tailings and they are keeping the best at home to guard the yards?”
Catherine frowned intensely as the room quieted and chilled noticeably. From the silence she deduced no one had any answers to those thoughts.
:::{)(}:::
As TF 22 fell back on B-95a3 the excitement of the chase started to infect the Horathians. Once their damage control was underway, Admiral De Gaulte ordered a meeting of all of the captains and flag officers aboard Executioner.
The Fed fleet running sparked trouble in the Horathian ranks as some captains and flag officers pressed to increase the speed to overhaul the fleeing enemy. Admiral De Gaulte realized they were falling back deliberately for strategic reasons. He had to rein in the enthusiasm of his staff and captains, which wasn't easy. “Don't be foolish!” he snarled when the captains began to get too enthusiastic. The compartment quieted.
He glared about them. “Do any of you know what you are talking about? The federation has been on the defense for a while. They are trying to fall back to prepared positions in Protodon, perhaps even in B-95a3! If we follow recklessly, we'll get torn up just as Nevada and Massachusetts did in Protodon!” he snarled waving a hand.
He was certain now that the two ships were dead. Captain's Post and Mueller wouldn't have let their commands be captured. There had been no way an officer as professional and competent as White had proven himself to be would have allowed Nuevo Madrid and those two BCs to have remained in his rear threatening his route of supply. Most likely they'd gone down fighting; he just wished he knew if they'd scored.
He stood and paced. “Let's look at it from the beginning. They fought in Pyrax as a defensive action. They won.” He arrived at his chair once more, turned and paced back the way he had come. Heads swiveled to watch him. “They had a couple ships, untrained personnel, and little time, yet they took on a prepared opponent twice their size. One overconfident,” he growled, placing his fists on the table and leaning forward to project his authority. “One expecting an easy victory,” he emphasized. Commodore Eichmann twitched. Admiral Adkin frowned but neither man rose to his bait.
“Then they yes, went on the offensive in Antigua with that damn Firefly. That was foolish, utterly foolish, yet they somehow won the day despite the overwhelming odds in Admiral Cartwright's favor.”
That earned a soft murmur from around the table. Rico and Cartwright were known quantities in the fleet, but both had chosen to be in the Gather Fleet over the Battle Fleet. There had been some contempt there but not much. Admiral Rico had distinguished himself in fleet exercises and had been thought to be the shot in the arm the Gather Fleet needed to organize.
“Then we have the Admiral Irons’ attack on Admiral Rico. He was captured in B100 Omega by Bounty, yet managed to turn the tables in a mutiny, and then use his damned keys to not only repair the ship, but also forge a weapon that smashed Admiral Rico's force in B101a1. He used a cyber-attack; yes, yes I know,” the admiral said, acknowledging the point before Catherine could finish opening her mouth to bring it up. “You don't need to remind me. But he did have a hell of a lot of hardware with him. Hardware he made on the spot with again, untrained personnel. Most likely he had contingency plans to get his ass out if need be. But that damn cruiser showed up to help them finish the job.” He shook his head.
“We know he fought some actions, small skirmishes on his way to Antigua. He then somehow dredged up additional sleepers and sent them with new ships from Antigua to take Protodon.”
“Offense, sir.” Sedrick reminded him quietly.
“Yes, and one they won. But then they stood on the defense in order to build a bigger weapon, and Nevada's Division attacked. That battle cruiser division should have taken that star system easily. White hadn't had anything heavier than an escort carrier with him! But they tore Post a new one,” Admiral De Gaulte said.
“Yes, sir. That they did,” Catherine acknowledged. “But they expended most of their munitions in the process. But I see what you are saying; they obviously built up more since they reinforced White so heavily with battle cruisers of his own. You think the defenses have been what, doubled?”
“At least that,” the admiral growled. “At least,” he echoed, stopping at his chair and placing his fists on the table as he leaned forward. “That's based on what we know from Admiral Frost's reports he copied from Nevada and Massachusetts' tactical computers before they went on the offense again. We've got the report from Admiral von Berk's Fourth Fleet. He managed to tear up that cruiser that's been the heart of the federation's efforts, but then he lost most of his fleet getting out of their space. The Feds fought defensive actions in each star system as if they knew he was coming.”
“And we know from what he reported that they did upgrade Protodon's defenses significantly. I think I remember something about orbital fortresses to go along with the extra BCs?” Catherine agreed with a nod. She glanced at the staff spook. Sedrick winced but nodded reluctantly. The courier had dumped the information about Fourth Fleet with the alert that Admiral von Berk had planned to exit the star system and leave most of his survivors behind. Most likely they'd passed his ship somewhere en route … unless the Feds had caught him first.
“Right,” the admiral said. “Now, we're assuming since White was in B-95a3 he took out Admiral Frost and his forces in Nuevo Madrid. If he took out both battle cruisers …”
“Or captured them,” Sedrick volunteered. Ugly growls answered that addition. The staff intelligence officer shrugged, refusing to back down. “What? It is a possibility we have to take into account. It follows a clearly established pattern.”
“Somehow I doubt Captain Post or Captain Mueller would surrender tamely. They'd go down fighting. At the least they'd do their duty and see their ships destroyed so they wouldn't fall into enemy hands,” Admiral De Gaulte said thoughtfully. He was actually surprised at the contribution. Sedrick did an adequate job of presenting intelligence, but he wasn't known for innovation or volunteering ideas. During meetings he did his dog and pony show as required then sat back and watched, falling back on his secondary role.
That of watch dog. Cyrano smiled internally. He knew every staff spook was there to also watch over the staff and flag officer for any signs of political instability—to make certain there were no plots against the newly-crowned emperor. And with Catherine on board, he'd received a rather deft but obvious handler.
But one that had a bit more internal fortitude than he'd expected apparently. He'd have to reassess the man later he thought as the conversation continued.
“But I see where you are going, sir. We can no longer count on them in our rear to retreat to an easily defensible position should the need arise. Or send ships there for repairs,” Catherine mused.
“No, we can't. We'll need to scout it to be sure, but my gut is telling me it's gone.”
“We need to follow up, sir. Finish the enemy. He's wounded on the run,” Admiral Adkin said stubbornly.
“We need to hit him before he recovers and rearms or worse, gets reinforcements,” Sedrick said. All eyes turned to the spook again. “I've been going over Nevada's report again. I think one of the station complexes they destroyed was a communication platform.” He pulled up the controls in front of him and a 3D image appeared in the holo table. The captains began to mutter until the admiral cleared his throat and gave a significant look to the spook. The audience settled down and turned their attention to the spook. “Now, if you look,” Sedrick spun the image slowly. “I'd say it's not your normal satellite platform. We've got them; we know what they look like.” He highlighted sections of the platform. “This has a fusion reactor and a lot of stuff we can't identify. I'm betting this is an ansible.”
The other staff members gaped in disbelief.
“Good analysis, Sedrick,” the admiral said. “That explains how they were anticipating Fo
urth Fleet,” he growled.
Catherine blinked then nodded slowly. It did fit. The captains didn't seem to agree with the assessment. As the sound of protests began to climb, the admiral slapped his hand on the table top to get their attention once more. Abruptly the room quieted.
“What, remember who we're dealing with!” he scolded, looking around the compartment. “Irons has proven he's got the full tech package! And damn the man, he's producing far faster than we've expected. I'm tired of underestimating him!”
Commodore Eichmann was the first to parse out the implications. “So they can communicate near real time with systems. So …”
“So it means they can call home and get reinforcements sent to Protodon. They can send a warning, do all sorts of things we won't like in the slightest,” Catherine stated.
“All the more reason to take them out now, sir. We get in with a short jump, bypass their fixed defenses, and then take out White and his mobile forces. Then pound the fixed defenses until they surrender or are taken out. Then set up to take out any reinforcements that come our way,” Admiral Adkin said stubbornly.
“Without any means to make good our losses or damage beyond what the crews can manage and what we can cobble up from the fleet train,” Catherine stated. “We'd have to send wounded ships, crew, and empty ships all the way to Dead Drop. I doubt they can do much there; we all saw the yard modules. They are a ghost town. They don't have the personnel to handle lengthy complex repairs, nor the extra material to plug in, nor the personnel to make up our losses.”
“Which means they'll pass them on to Garth or to home. The same for couriers,” Commodore Eichmann agreed with a nod to the princess. “We only have so many couriers to spare; once we use them, they'll take months to get back to us. They have to rendezvous too, which could be hit or miss if we're pushed back. When they do get back, they'll need to be serviced and refueled, which will draw down on the fleet's limited supplies. Do we fall back as well? I'm not sure the emperor will support that, sir,” he warned, eying Catherine.