The Jovian Sweep (Asteroid Scrabble Book 1)

by Martin Bourne

  “I have to say I am on the verge of rethinking the strategy sir.”

  “How so?”

  Cromarty lifted her left arm, tilting the display of her perscomp towards him. He gave it a casual glance, and then stared hard.

  “That is a great many incoming messages.”

  “Yes sir. And I cleared at least as many on my last work shift.”

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t realise there would be so much work for you.”

  Cromarty smiled. “Less than you have done over the past week sir.”

  “Yes well, perhaps but…that’s different…I mean…” Damnably, he felt his face begin to flush. “What are all these messages about anyway?”

  Cromarty’s face tightened. “They mostly concern your reorganisation of the fleet sir. There is, shall we say, a certain amount of opposition to your plans.”

  ”Opposition?”

  “That is perhaps too strong a word. After all, ‘opposition’ implies disagreement. Maybe even disobedience, negativity or – heavens forbid - not having a ‘can-do’ attitude. What ambitious officer wants to be associated with anything like that? So instead resistance is couched in queries and polite and carefully worded ‘suggestions’. It all amounts to the same thing though. They don’t like what you are doing.”

  “I see,” he said, although in truth he hadn’t the slightest idea what she was talking about. It all seemed very duplicitous.

  “Naturally sir,” she continued, “they all think that their particular concerns are of the highest importance and require instant answers.”

  Courage frowned. “That is clearly impossible.” He looked over the reports. “A lot of these do seem to be genuine technical queries.”

  Cromarty gave a grunt. “Yes sir, they certainly do seem to be just that.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Some of these messages are lengthy reports from individual captains outlining difficulties in implementing their orders, and some are ‘helpful’ suggestions…”

  “Well, it is their right - even their duty - to question orders they think might be wrong.” He hurried on at Cromarty’s look. “I had a brisk discussion with Captain Raime on this issue this morning. I think his points are wrong and he is wasting valuable time, but he does make some logical, well thought out arguments.”

  “I’ve found Captain Raime’s arguments usually are, but he is, as you say sir, wasting time. Time that we simply don’t have. At least he is being above board though. These people on the other hand…” She fanned the list with a negligent flick of a forefinger.

  “I don’t follow.”

  Cromarty looked like she was going to sigh. “Sir, the programs you drew up for deployment? The planning in them was, well, flawless basically.”

  “Thank you very much.”

  “Yes sir. The point is that the plans are so complete and thorough that it is downright impossible for anyone to misunderstand them.”

  “I see.” Actually he didn’t, and he suspected he needed to. “If it was impossible to misunderstand the orders, then how come we are getting all these queries?”

  Cromarty rubbed her chin in mock concentration. “A cynical person might suggest that certain captains are deliberately inciting their subordinates to send detailed technical queries, in order that the system will become so clogged up it becomes impossible to implement the changes.” She smiled. “Tactically, I think you might regard it as ‘buying time’.”

  Courage couldn’t stop himself from gaping. That someone would stoop so low was utterly outrageous. He gathered himself with an effort. “You would have to be very cynical to think that,” he managed at last.

  “Or very realistic.” Cromarty put aside the vidscroll and turned to face him. “Sir, the simple fact is that the prestige of captains, not to mention their pay and promotion prospects, is based principally on their relative importance. If, as a result of your changes, they end up with a smaller or weaker force than what they are currently commanding, they will take it as a personal affront and a threat to their standing.”

  Courage was confused. “But these dispositions maximise the strength of the fleet, minimise the amount of support and maintenance we need, and generally increase our efficiency.”

  “Yes sir. Your changes make a great deal for sense for the fleet as a whole, but they don’t for a majority of the individual ships and officers. As far as some of the captains are concerned, by taking away ‘their’ war drone squadrons you are making them less important. Some of them are even treating the redeployments as a de facto demotion.”

  “The war drones belong to the Virtue Confederation,” said Courage shortly.

  “In terms of absolute ownership, that is true sir. You are correct. But from the point of view of your captains the squadrons and drones they embark are an extension of their own value. Unless you can palpably demonstrate they are getting more than they are giving up, they are certainly going to kick and scream.”

  Courage shook his head. “Tough! What do they think this is – a popularity contest? We are naval officers here, not adolescent school children! They’ll do what they’re told!”

  “Yes sir. If you order them, they will have no choice. However, using your authority to simply override them like that will be highly unpopular.”

  “I can stand being unpopular,” he replied. Then suddenly quietly, “I’ve had plenty of practice at that.”

  Cromarty blinked at the sudden change of tone. “It might also breed resentment sir, of you at first, and then by association all authority. That might weaken the fleet.”

  Courage frowned. “Well, yes that is true. “Courage took another look at the list on Cromarty’s perscomp, and shook his head. “It’s unbelievable. Such things never happened when I was a captain! I can hardly comprehend such a selfish, futile mentality amongst serving officers! Why do we employ these people?”

  Cromarty merely wrinkled her face. “As to that sir, I could not comment, except that such things have always gone on. More immediately, however, there are ways around the difficulty.”

  “How?”

  “We just have to convince our captains that the changes are not only good for the fleet, but good for them as well.”

  Courage felt his heart sink. “Oh.”

  “It’s much easier than it sounds sir. Some of them are obvious ‘winners’ in the reorganisation anyway, and there is enough flex in the orders so that many others can be convinced they are getting more than they give up. There are always a few who can be ego-stroked into acceptance, and we can bring some of the more ambitious around by offering them minor promotions. In the end there will only be a few who you just have to browbeat into submission.”

  Courage felt lost, both in the complexity of the analysis and in admiration for Cromarty’s man-management skills.

  “That’s for later on sir,” she continued. “Right now we have to answer these queries. Fortunately, I have created a method that takes advantage of your remarkable organisational talents.” She selected the greater part of the mass of messages with a few practiced flicks of her fingers, and then moved them onto a preset program. There was a couple of seconds of hurried processing. The melange of messages disappeared, leaving only the ponderous reports.

  “What did you do?” asked Courage.

  “Late last night I spent a very fruitful hour setting up a ‘search and replace’ routine on my perscomp. It examines the contents of each query, automatically picks out the relevant section that addresses the issue in your orders, appends it as a reply and then sends it. Job done.”

  “Very impressive. Do you think it’ll work?”

  “Well at least I know the information in the replies will be accurate. At the minimum it will forestall most of them. It will give us a bit more time to answer anything more complex anyway.”

  Courage shook his head. It was all too much for him. “Well, I will leave you to it then.” That sounded very lame. He hurried to cover himself. “Where’s Commander Prince?”
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  “He is dealing with some of the queries about drone squadron allocations right now sir.”

  “I see.”

  “I’m sure he would value your input sir.”

  Courage was sure that he would. And he couldn’t think of any immediate way of saying no. Given time perhaps he could come up with something, but not straight away like this. While he dithered, the Bridge hatch opened and Prince walked in. No chance of getting out of it now.

  “Good morning Commander.”

  “Good morning sir,” said Prince. He brandished his perscomp. “Err, do you have a few minutes.”

  Courage somehow restrained a sigh. “Of course.”

  “There have been a lot of queries regarding the equipment and personnel changes you have asked for sir. Captain Charest of Sapphire has been particularly active in her messaging.”

  Courage suppressed another sigh. “Charest? What’s she bellyaching about?”

  Prince did a double-take. “Err…she is unhappy with losing all of her ‘Classic’ drones and only getting ‘Scythes’ as replacements.”

  “Is she now?” Courage pursed his lips. “Well you can tell her from me that they are not ‘her’ drones. They belong to the Confederation, and as their duly appointed representative, it is up to me to decide where they are deployed. Secondly…”

  “Umm excuse me sir.” Cromarty stepped smoothly into the conversation. “As I intimated earlier, that might all be true, but perhaps it would be better to point out that ‘Scythes’ may be much less capable, but she is getting far more of them.”

  “I’ve argued that already,” interjected Prince, “and I’ve also pointed out the merits of having fewer drone types onboard to operate and maintain, and how that would ease his supply problems. Captain Charest remained unimpressed, and insists on speaking with you personally admiral.”

  “Oh.”

  Cromarty swapped a vidscroll to the top of her pile. “The ‘Classic’ drones in question are scheduled for transfer to Rosette and Tycho sir. There have been no comments about that deployment from the captains of either ship.”

  “Well that is hardly surprising…” began Prince.

  “No,” said Cromarty, cutting him off. “I talked to Rear-Admiral Vanderkolk two days ago to inform him personally of the deployment. I think I might possibly have detected a very faint gleam to his eyes when he found out that two of his Depot Ships were to be brought up to the war drone complement VSB recommended for Nebula class vessels two years ago.”

  “Rear-Admiral Vanderkolk does not share Captain Charest’s objections then,” Courage mused.

  “No sir. Which could be very useful,” said Cromarty.

  “But Captain Charest does have a valid point.” Prince coughed, and continued hurriedly. “Well at least, I felt it could be a valid point anyway.”

  “It’s alright to have valid points Commander,” said Courage casually. “What did Charest say?”

  “She argued that this fleet is not blessed with many modern drone types, sir. ‘Classics’ are one of the few we can field that have a fighting chance against Triangle league third generation types, but they are not likely to see as much action on board a ‘Nebula’ as they are on one of our newer Depot Ships. She therefore argued that deploying them to a ‘Nebula’ was a waste of resources.”

  Courage stood up and began to pace, waving his hands to emphasise his argument. “Charest is right about the ‘Classics’ being our top fighting drones, but she is neglecting some other important considerations, apart from the numbers reason that Commander Cromarty gave.”

  “Sir?”

  “Well, for a start off ‘Classics’ are a lot bigger than ‘Scythes’. They take up a lot more space. Swapping them around reduces the overall mass of Sapphire, and therefore will increase both her acceleration and range.”

  Prince looked thoughtful. “By the same token, sir, won’t that also decrease the acceleration and range of Rosette and Tycho?”

  “Of course, but only to the same levels as the other two main Depot Ships in the Slow Division, and as the operational plan calls for them to be working together closely, that’s hardly likely to be a disadvantage.” He brightened. “Perhaps we can use that as an argument!”

  Cromarty pursed her lips. “I’m afraid we will have to pander more to her self-interest sir.”

  Courage considered. “What did you say to her,” he asked Prince.

  “I admit it was difficult sir, because I did rather agree with her reasoning, so I said as little as possible.”

  Cromarty smiled. “Well done.”

  “Thank you.”

  Courage stroked his chin. “What about Captain Haddad of Amethyst?”

  Prince flipped through a vidscroll file. “He has registered concern about the transfer of some of his officer’s sir, but nothing more than that...”

  “Hardly surprising,” said Cromarty. “He’s swapping an under strength ‘Epee’ squadron and getting two half squadrons of much better ‘Herald’ drones in return. In fact, I think he has every ‘Herald’ class drone we can muster.”

  “Yes,” said Prince, flipping over the projected disposition list. “He’s got the lot.”

  “Alright,” continued Courage. “What is Captain Haddad like?”

  Cromarty checked her perscomp. “He has a good solid record. No combat commendations. He’s thorough, business-like and professional. He’s also not too far off retirement.”

  “Not someone likely to be overly ambitious then.”

  “Probably not sir.”

  “Who’s senior between him and Charest?”

  Cromarty checked her perscomp again. “Charest is younger, but has completed eight months more service.”

  “Excellent. Alright, Commander Prince, can you arrange a meeting with Captain Charest?”

  Prince pressed at his perscomp, then pulled up short. “Captain Charest has just contacted me to re-request an interview sir.”

  “Even better. Put her onto the main vidscreen here.” Courage leaned over to Cromarty while Prince made the arrangements. “One of the ‘Herald’ class half-squadrons came from Valiant. How is our Captain Raime dealing with exchanging his most capable war drones with a lot of ‘Clipper’ link drones?”

  “Captain Raime is very happy with the exchange,” replied his aide. “I successfully argued that lots of link drones would be very necessary for the fleet flagship.”

  Courage nodded sagely, while loathing the duplicity. It was all kind of true, but only ‘kind of’.

  The vidscreen wavered and Captain Charest’s angry image appeared. She appeared to be far too close to the screen, so that she almost filled it. She was a florid, flowery woman who always seemed to have her fringe matted by beads of sweat. She launched into him immediately.

  “Admiral Courage, I must protest at the orders I have received! These instructions are simply…”

  “Please calm yourself Captain Charest.”

  “But sir, my command is being stripped, stripped I tell you, of its most powerful components! 2348 and 2367 have been with Sapphire for over a year! We have built up an excellent working relationship with both units, and now all that experience is being thrown away! It's madness sir. I feel I must protest the order!”

  Courage struggled to contain himself. “Captain Charest, I appreciate that CM-2348 and CM-2367 are particularly high quality units, but operational considerations override…”

  “And the squadrons allocated in their place are thoroughly unsuitable!”

  Courage blinked. “What do you mean Captain?”

  “I mean sir, that they are merely garrison squadrons!”

  “They are regular Virtue Confederation navy.”

  “They are unkempt, unskilled and insubordinate.”

  “I believe that to be an exaggeration.”

  “They are certainly lacking in experience!”

  “Combat experience perhaps, which they make up for with local knowledge.”

  Charest’s features, if possi
ble, turned an even deeper shade of red. “That is a secondary consideration sir. It is fighting skills that primarily count, sir, not local knowledge."

  Courage bit back the obvious retort that it didn't matter how well units fought if they couldn't get to the right place at the right time to do it. It was time to be conciliatory.

  "I don't think you quite understand Captain Charest. By operation considerations I was not referring directly to the squadrons concerned, but to their command oversight."

  Charest's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"

  Courage tried to ignore the lack of the honorific that was his due.

  "These units are, as you say, short of combat experience. They need to be guided through the difficult times ahead. As such, I have decided to operate the two ‘Gemstone’ class Depot ships close together and semi-independently, with a separate deployment of supply ships. I need someone reliable to take responsibility to control such a disparate sub-command structure, with the rank of Commodore, and I was considering that you would be ideal for the post.”

  Charest blinked. Courage pressed on quickly. “It will be hard work of course, on top of your already heavy responsibilities, but I believe to be the most qualified person for the job.”

  “It is true that I am the senior captain in the Fleet,” Charest said slowly.

  “Indeed, and as Commodore you would be in overall charge of those two squadrons CM-2348 and CM-2367 anyway. You would be instrumental in passing on your experience to their new Depot Ship.”

  Charest blustered on for another ten minutes to avoid looking too foolish, wasting everyone’s time, but even Courage could see she her objections were now coloured by a hot flush of ambition. Finally, she ran out of platitudes and assented, and Courage was able to close the connection and turn wearily to his aides.

  “Commander Prince, I want you to make out a promotion for Captain Charest to the temporary rank of Commodore.”