"I know," he said. "It is still difficult to hear it said."
I sighed again, and nodded to him.
"The combined fleet divides in half, falling back to Seattle, and Hawaii. After that, it depends entirely on where the threat heads. In the meantime, my fleet in Dead Man's Chest heads for Hawaii as fast as they can go, at which time, some American elements can be released to reinforce Seattle, or if need be, San Francisco."
Patton and Jedburgh swapped eye contact.
"It depends then on where the threat goes. If it heads down spine, we block at which ever two systems we can, and let it go. It becomes Earth sector's problem, at least until they lose. The time might give us a chance to build some fixed defenses. I've a few ideas, but not really thought about them yet. If the threat comes up spine, we fall back as slowly as possible, getting as many people out as we can. If it comes to it, we make a stand in Midnight and Bad Wolf. I have a wild idea about the latter, but will need some expert help to develop it."
The nods were back.
"If they come through the Corporate sector, its Earth's problem until it gets to Jamaica, where we meet it with everything we have."
The nods were getting annoying.
"If it comes through Dead Man's Chest, my fleet retreats to Jamaica, the fleet in Victoria head there as fast as they can, and we attempt to block them there, Bermuda, and Hawaii. The fleet in Nexus will attempt to get there as fast as possible, and wherever the fleets meet up, whoever is senior will have to decide where to block, and if it's worth trying to block in more than one place. We won't know, until there is actual data on the threat's capabilities."
"If it's this end of the spine and I'm at the other end, I'll be doing a speed run back here. By the time I reach the combat zones, I'll know enough to decide if I try to push through, or I join Earth sector in blocking their advance that way. No way to tell at this point. But if at all possible, I will try to make it back."
They'd given up nodding and were just staring at me now.
"If they come through Death, I'll meet them in the Pestilence system for long enough to determine capabilities, before retreating into Famine, where the rest of my fleet will be. We'll hit them hard as they down jump, and if possible, retreat. War presents some interesting defense possibilities, if we have the time to develop them. Assuming an orderly retreat is possible, I'll head up spine bolstering whatever local defense there is, but without unduly risking my force. The sectors at the core end of the spine are the weakest in terms of defensive capability, and lack of belief. They won't be ready. I predict the Latin sector will be lost without any real defense deployed, while the African sector will be overrun pretty quickly, but because it has a second spine system, it's likely some people will escape."
"The Japanese will fight, but they specialized in smaller ships. It's impossible to tell what ship class will be the winner, and which the loser. Like the Actor class proved inadequate for the Midgard war, we won't know until it's too late, what kind of ship will be the most effective. The Japs may be able to hold long enough to get their people out, especially as they will have a real warning. The other sectors down there have had enough warning, and seem to be taking things seriously, but like the Japs, they only have limited fleets, and their main task is going to be evacuation for as long as their spine systems remain untaken."
"The sectors around Earth Sector will most likely join forces with Earth's fleet. How effective they will be is anyone's guess. Both German fleets will fight. But by that time, doing anything but rear-guarding the refugees will be pointless. Most likely they will lose a percentage of their fleets before they reach Jamaica, where we will be waiting to take over the rear-guard action. Where I'll be by then is anyone's guess, but I seriously doubt I'll make it that far."
"What do we do from Jamaica on?" asked Price.
"As I said before. Fall back as you see fit, and make a stand before the Australian sector. By then, hopefully, we’ll have come up with a way of stopping the threat cold, and we dig in there, and the human race continues locked into just Australian space."
"And if it's some sort of cosmic event?"
"Then we're all shit out of luck, and it’s a matter of fall back as we can, and hope we can save enough people to keep a viable civilization going somewhere it misses."
By now, my voice was getting hawse. Jeeves put a ginger ale down next to me, and I slurped half of it down in one go.
The eyes did their thing again.
"Jon," started Bigglesworth, "we already discussed all of this, and came to exactly the same conclusions."
"Taking ten times the amount of time though," added Price.
"For now," went on Bigglesworth, "we have a rough plan of action. We need to push for expanding our forces, and we need more information on the threat."
"Hopefully that will be forthcoming when we reach Outback," I said. "But no guarantees. Prophesy might be something simple, or it might contain something useful. Only the Keepers know at the moment."
"One other thing though," said Patton. "How do you see ground troops being used? Do we even bother trying to use them?"
I looked at them, and sighed again.
"Wherever this starts, the first few affected systems are going to get the least amount of warning. We can send in the troops to evacuate as many as possible. But traditionally, forced evac never works very well. On the other hand though, we are going to have populations who haven’t prepared to evacuate, not knowing how to. Troops will likely be needed to co-ordinate getting as many people off planets in time. Or if it's a shooting war, they may need to provide covering fire, so as many as possible can escape."
I thought of that vision where I'd seen my team firing into darkness and going down before it. I shook the image from my head.
"So in the early stages, troops will be needed on the ground, while the fleets hold the jump points open as long as possible. Later on, when we have stations and ships fleeing up or down the spine, troops are likely going to be needed for boarding operations to quell trouble, or for protecting food runs."
The nods returned.
"Jon," said Walter. "If I didn’t know better, I’d say you'd already experienced this scenario before."
"I have. Computer games often have these kinds of things built into them. And there were a few based on old flat screens, where the similarities are alarming, almost as if hundreds of years ago, they were trying to prepare us for just this happening."
"How did you do in the games?" asked Bigglesworth.
I sighed.
"Had my arse handed to me every time."
It was a sober note to finish on.
Thirty Eight
"Attention to Orders," I bellowed, as I came in last, to our last meal before Nexus.
Everyone was sitting or standing around the table, waiting to start eating, and no-one was prepared for me high-jacking the assembly.
There was a moment of chaos, as people adjusted, followed by nearly everyone coming to attention facing the door. Those who didn’t included all the four star officers, Miriam and Greer, who were joining us; and also John Slice, and Jessie Ball, who weren't military.
"Brigadier General Smith, front and center please."
She startled, but moved to stand before me.
"I'm promoting you to the rank of Lieutenant General. For those unfamiliar with Hunter ranks, it’s two stars. Congratulations."
She shook my hand and saluted. The rest of the room went crazy behind us. I waited until the noise died down.
"General, you will command operational forces, from either a station or ship yet to be decided. From this moment on, Admiral O'Neil, Colonel O'Neill, and Colonel Burnside, will all report directly to you."
I saw nods from the three of them. They basically were already, but this formalized it.
"Thankyou Sir."
She went back to her position at the table, and before getting there, her uniform changed to the new insignia, courtesy of George and a fast pulse. She
looked very happy.
"Majors Peck please."
Amanda led Aleesha forward where they braced before me.
"You are both promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. You will continue as joint Team One leaders, but will also be joint second in command to Colonel O'Neill."
"Thanks Jon," they both said so quietly no-one else could hear, while at the same time saluting me.
I knew they didn’t really want the responsibility, but I also knew they were chuffed at rising to a rank they never thought they could achieve. They made their way back to their seats, and also changed uniform insignia mid-way.
"Lieutenant Commander Murdock please."
George was stunned. He made his way forward like he was sleep walking. But he braced to attention fast enough.
"George, you've been doing the job of a full Commander for quite some time now, and the only real reason for not promoting you before now was time in your existing rank. It's still not enough, but I need people to step up. I'm promoting you to Full Commander."
He saluted, went blank for a moment, and his suit insignia changed to his new ones.
"Your days on Custer are numbered though," I went on. "I'm going to need you on a Cruiser very soon, once an appropriate ship comes out of the Shipyard. Custer has done the job we asked of her, and will continue to do it, but we've outgrown her. So your next command will be a Cruiser equivalent Marine Assault ship. You can keep living on Custer until your new command is ready."
"Thank YOU, SIR!"
George saluted again, spun around, and practically floated back to his seat.
"Lieutenant Commander Bronson please."
Annette practically ran to brace before me.
"I'm also promoting you to Full Commander. You'll also get a Cruiser, but a fighting one, which will act to protect the Assault Cruiser. It will also give you small fleet command of any smaller ships supporting any action. For now, I'm not yet sure which ship it will be, but it will be soon."
Her insignia pulsed in before she'd moved more than a few paces, and she updated her uniform immediately.
Both she and George were still under ranked for the jobs I was assigning them, but I didn’t feel it right giving them Destroyers when what I needed were Cruisers. I’d originally intended a Fleet Captain to run a Cruiser, but I didn't have any. So Commanders would have to do. If they did a good job, I could always promote them again, and in time, probably would.
"Wing Commander Lacey please."
"Oh bollocks!"
The room erupted into laughter. He stayed where he was. I gave him 'the look'. The one which says, get your arse out here immediately. He reluctantly moved to stand in front of me.
"No," he said.
"No? That's No Sir."
"No Sir."
"No sir what?"
"No sir, you are not promoting me into one of those big things. I'm a fighter pilot. Always will be."
The room held its collective breathe.
"Why would I do that?"
"Because you can?"
"True. But rest easy, at least for now."
I turned to Bigglesworth.
"Marshall, how do you rate Wing Commander Lacey?"
"Ranked well below his potential."
"I agree. Wing Commander, you are promoted to Group Captain. Congratulations."
He shook his head, but thanked me and saluted. The room expressed its enthusiasm.
"For now, you can continue to command from Camel. Now we're home, there are two wings of fighters, and someone needs to command them both. In time, the number of wings will grow as well. But Group Captain, you better resign yourself to one day commanding a Carrier."
He mimed shooting himself in the side of the head, but he did so with a grin on his face. He took himself back to his place at the table, but was waylaid by Bigglesworth who first shook his hand, and then hugged him.
"Jessie Ball please."
"What? Me?"
"Yes please."
She hurried her short legs to the front, but stood there casually.
"I'd like to offer you a commission in Hunter Security with the rank of Lieutenant Commander, assigned to detached duty with the AMS. Will you accept?"
She looked over her shoulder at her boss, who was nodding. She looked back to me.
"I accept."
I nodded to George, who went blank long enough to pulse her a Hunter uniform. She activated it, and everyone clapped.
As she returned to her place, I looked at Slice.
"John?"
"What? No! I'm retired for fucks sake!"
"Did I just hear the R word Dick?"
"You did sir," answered Dick, his grin not quite in check.
"And what's my position on the R word?"
"Is that left right out?"
"Correct."
I looked back to Slice.
"I do not want to be a Group Captain. I know they retired me as one, but I'm past it. I've got more responsibility than I can handle now."
"I know. I'm not thinking of Group Captain. You're taking delivery of a Cruiser soon. How about Fleet Captain? You can run the AMS from it as a flagship, and be a special duties command if prophesy shows up. At worst, you end up commanding a small fleet of smaller ships."
"Sci-fi sector could use a Group Captain," said Price unexpectedly.
"You wouldn’t?"
Slice looked shocked. Price grinned at him.
Slice turned to me, and nodded.
"Okay, Fleet Captain on the reserves list. I stay strictly AMS until the shit hits the fan."
"Done."
Thirty Nine
Nascaspider was in Nexus, on the direct line between the Bad Wolf jump point and the Outback jump point. She started coming towards us as soon as we jumped in.
I'd been hoping Eric would make it to Outback Orbital before we did, but I'd seen him leaving Hunter's Haven on the nav map, too late to make it, so knew something had delayed him. It meant I needed to stop to pick him up, which didn’t thrill me.
Docking was routine, and Jane had us moving again the moment the Corvette touched the Flight Deck.
Shortly after, Walter, David, and Eric, all arrived on the Bridge as a group. David led them in with a stern expression on his face, as if he was the one most acquainted with a Bridge, which he definitely wasn’t.
"You're late Jon."
He grinned, and hugged me anyway.
"I hope not," I responded. "By my calculations, we should be just short of Outback orbital when the Door opens."
"What's the new spine record?"
"Nineteen days."
He wolf whistled.
"Nice to see you again Jon," said Walter. "For a while there, I’d thought we might have lost you."
"For a while there, you did. But things worked out. Take a pew Gentlemen."
I turned to Eric.
"Caught up with your boss yet?"
"No. I left the wife scouting out the available Deck Two accommodation, and thought it safer to come straight up here."
We couldn’t help but snigger. Although David looked a little unhappy as well. Jane confirmed it via my PC.
"The wives are getting on really well, and complaining bitterly about travelling husbands."
I kept my face straight.
"Jon," said David, "can you pull up the Outback system on this thing?"
I did so. He pointed to a green dot just inside the jump point.
"That's Bob Derr. Can you pick him up as well?"
"Sure. Why?"
"Keeper request."
He looked troubled now.
"What aren't you telling me?"
"Quite a lot, but I'm sworn to secrecy. In any case, we'll be meeting the main Keeper as soon as the Door opens, so it should all be out in the open soon."
"We hope."
He nodded, not game to say anything more.
The jump into Outback was routine, although the Bridge was full, and then some. We passed the ships on picket duty before jumping, being se
veral heavy fighters, and a pair of Drone Missile Cruisers.
We swallowed the small shuttle on the other side without any problems, but Bob's pilot bounced it a few times trying to land on a rapidly moving deck. It was a somewhat shaken Bob who appeared on the Bridge a short time later.
"Well my boy, thanks for the pickup, but would someone kindly tell me why I needed picking up? Shuttles are my least favourite way of getting around."
All eyes looked at me, and mine looked at David. He went purple, as everyone else looked at him as well.
"Keeper request," he said quietly.
"Why pick me up though?" Bob asked. "I could have met you on the Orbital."
"Um, we're not going to the Orbital," said David, again quietly.
"Where are we going?" asked Dick.
"You'll see," I responded, with a grin.
"Whose shipyard is that?" asked Price suddenly.
One of the side screens had popped up with a view of the Shipyard off in the distance.
"Looks like mine," I said. "The one I, ah, appropriated, from Midgard, at the end of the war. But it seems to have grown a bit."
"That it has, my lad," said Bob. "That it has."
Bob looked like the cat which had just eaten the proverbial canary. I looked at him carefully. He goosed the HUD, and brought up a bigger image of the Shipyard, showing it now had hugely oversized bays on each end, both of which still looked to be under construction. One of the bays had the front end of Enterprise poking out. It also looked like it had an oversized Battleship bay now, as well as the beginnings of a Battleship turret fabricator. Bob had been busy.
"What's it doing in here?" asked Amanda. "Didn’t we leave it attached to Hunter's Haven?"
"True," I replied. "But it made more sense to move it into Outback, away from prying eyes."
The four stars looked puzzled.
"Outback is a blockaded system," I explained. "It used to rely on its isolationist policy and the threat of the gratuitous use of missiles, but once it joined my Duchy, the jump point was blockaded to keep everyone out. As such, it became a perfect place to put my Shipyard, where no-one can see what I'm up to."
Hunter Legacy 9: Hero at the Gates Page 21