The Gathering Storm (The New Federation Book 4)

by Chris Hechtl

  “Childress is a full admiral however.”

  “Correct. He also has more time in that grade than Yorgi does. When Yorgi left the CNO job in Bek, he was demoted back to his vice admiral rank when he retired. When you reactivated him, it was at that rank.”

  Admiral Irons nodded. Flag ranks were sometimes fluid like that.

  “For this to work, you honestly need a strictly military mission admiral. I can't help you,” she said firmly. Now she had no intention of sticking her head back into Bek. Civil war was a major concern. Her family would do their best to tamp things down, but most likely due to their positions they'd get caught up in the works.

  “Right. But, the only person who outranks Childress is me,” Admiral Irons pointed out, tapping his chest with one index finger.

  Moira nodded. “For the moment. You can change that.”

  Admiral Irons frowned. After a moment, he caught on. His eyes widened. She nodded. “I know, it's a risk to you,” she said.

  “I am not looking at it from a political aspect. I do know that will be a problem with the other admirals …” Admiral Irons frowned. “Selling it to a promotion board would be tough enough for just one raise. Fleet Admiral …” he shook his head. “That takes an act of congress. We don't have one.”

  “He has outranked them before. You can frock him and make it an emergency provision. Temporary,” she suggested slyly.

  “I know,” Admiral Irons said, setting aside her argument for the moment. “Yorgi has also had more time as a flag officer than they have. You realize though Amadeus and Phil have been officers longer than Yorgi has? And yet when they served with me they were commodores.”

  She frowned as she considered that angle. “That … is odd.”

  “Not odd, it's normal. Remember, we serve for long periods of time. A serving officer can be in uniform for two or more centuries.” Her eyes widened at that. In Bek they were forced to retire when they showed signs of aging. Each species had a specific number. Humans were set at a century. “There were a rare few; I don't think more than two or three who were in uniform from the beginning of the Federation right up until the Xeno war.”

  She stared at him, dumbstruck at that concept. He nodded.

  “Damn,” she murmured and then licked her lips. “I would have loved to have met one of them!”

  “I know. Me too.”

  “You didn't?”

  He snorted at her expression. “Hey, it's a big navy. Hundreds of millions of beings in uniform scattered across the galaxy. That's a lot of space to cover. A lot of places to get lost in, explore, fight, you name it.”

  She blinked and then nodded. “Oh.”

  “Yeah.” He looked away for a moment. “We've got some mighty big shoes to fill.”

  “One step at a time, Admiral,” she murmured. He nodded.

  They sat there for a moment, each taking a sip of their drink before she cleared her throat. “So, are you going to do it?”

  “I don't know. I'll definitely send Yorgi; it seems I have no choice. Beyond that …,” he shrugged. “I'll do what I can. The next flag promotion cycle isn't for another year. Calling one might prejudice others against him.”

  “Ah.”

  “Can you send someone from your office to facilitate things? Work with the civilian administration if there are any problems? Help smooth things over?”

  She nodded and smiled as she rose from her seat. “That I can definitely do,” she said as she held her hand out. He took it and shook it.

  :::{)(}:::

  Admiral Irons smiled to Admiral Sienkov as the other flag officer came in to his office. The intelligence officer was in civilian dress, not uncommon for the cabinet member. “Yorgi, good to see you.”

  “You called, I answer, Admiral,” Yorgi quipped as he took the indicated seat. “What's up now?”

  “I talked with Moira. She volunteered you for a trip back home to settle an old score and sort Bek out,” Admiral Irons stated bluntly.

  Yorgi's eyes went wide. “But, I told you I can't go!”

  “I think you can. I'm going to be at your back, you can trust that.” From Yorgi's expression, he knew it wasn't sinking in as intended. “I'm also going to make sure you go with the rank you need to do the job.”

  Yorgi's eyes widened.

  “It took some doing, but I'm going to temporarily frock you to Fleet Admiral.” Yorgi nodded slowly. “You will have to have an A.I. installed. You've delayed it long enough you know,” he said gently.

  The other man grimaced and looked away.

  “Along with the A.I., you'll get implant key codes,” that made the other man turn to him once more. “I'll load you up with as much as you can handle. You'll have to pass them on in Pyrax and Bek when you get to them.”

  “Pyrax?” Yorgi asked carefully.

  “There are some keys I can't pass through the ansible. They have to go by chip or trusted courier,” Admiral Irons explained, indicating the other officer. “It was commonly done in the old Federation. I've brought it back.”

  “Ah.”

  “As I'm frocking you to Fleet Admiral, I will guarantee your permanent promotion to full admiral once more.”

  “I'm going to take over from Childress?”

  “Until you can find someone you can trust to do the job. Horatio is too light on rank I understand.” Yorgi nodded. “That means I'm trusting your judgment to find the right person.”

  “What's that line about someone looking for an honest man?” Yorgi asked with a snort.

  “Dig them out of retirement if you have to do so. Whatever it takes.”

  Yorgi nodded thoughtfully. “What about my department?”

  “I'll look after it, so will Phil and you've done a good job training Lake, Fletcher, and Monty for that matter. Phil wants ONI. He's no longer hiding the fact, so he's agitating for a replacement in Pyrax. If I have to, I'll find someone in Pyrax to do the job and bring him here.”

  “Oh.”

  “He also needs an A.I. So do all of the flag officers for that matter,” Admiral Irons mused. “That's going to be a pain in the ass to set up and do. But, it has to be done.”

  “I don't see why,” Yorgi replied mulishly.

  Admiral Irons turned to him. “It's the law. All flag officers are required to have them. I've bent the rules this long, but there comes a time when we've got to adhere to the law. Enough is enough.”

  Yorgi frowned but then gave a choppy nod of grudging acknowledgment.

  “So, you'll do it? You'll have a full team. I'm pulling people out of the Bureau Academy as well as NCIS. Everyone we can send without making too big a hole here.”

  “Oh.”

  “Well?” There was an insistent demand in that simple word, one that couldn't be denied, especially coming from the commander in chief Yorgi realized.

  Really, was going to Bek any different than sending an officer or any other personnel into combat? No one was assured of a long healthy life. Not in the service. He had a duty he noted, one he seemed to be shirking. There was a little bit of shame at his selfishness. After all, Horatio had gone in with his eyes open, right? Then again, the other man didn't have a clue what he'd been getting himself into … or had he?

  Yorgi shook himself. “Yeah, I guess I don't have a choice,” Yorgi said as he stood. He nodded. “I'll get it done, sir,” he said roughly.

  Admiral Irons studied him for a long moment then nodded once. “You'll have personnel from Pyrax as well. Plus, Moira is sending some of her diplomats to help smooth things over. Hopefully, the next ansible will get to you this time.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Okay, raise your right hand,” Admiral Irons said as he stood. Yorgi did so. “Now, repeat after me …”

  Chapter 18

  Antigua

  “You are serious?” Nadine Neuwirth, the secretary of state's human chief of staff, demanded when she heard the news from Airea 3. “Why did the good captain refuse the order?”

  “Because i
t's not an order,” Geoffrey Mahoney, the speechwriter explained patiently.

  “We're the government!” she said, shooting him a quelling look.

  “And we're state. She's navy. She doesn't have to take an order from us unless it is issued from her chain of command. And she's right,” Sebastian Whitman, the policy adviser, explained in exasperation. “Believe me, I know. I just got the lecture.” He pretended to wring his ear out with his pinky finger.

  Nadine frowned and then settled herself. “That bad?” she asked in a different tone of voice.

  “Well, apparently the captain provided our emails for her own defense, along with the rates and messages from the planet. We've been seeing only one side of things. I can tell you the Admiralty wasn't amused.”

  “Admiral Irons? You talked to him yourself?” Nadine asked, taken aback by that.

  “No. I got as far as his chief of staff. Captain Sprite pointed it all out to me as well as the discretionary clauses in her orders.”

  “But, but, doesn't she realize, don't they realize it's good? This is a PR disaster!” Petina Grant, the Neo press secretary complained.

  “And our not getting the captain to do our bidding is cutting us off at the knees,” Nadine murmured as she gamed out the situation quickly. “It will undermine all of our future negotiations since they'll see this as a precedent.”

  “Director Taylor is already howling about it,” Sebastian said with a resigned shake of his head.

  “I've heard,” Moira said dryly as she sailed into the conference room. Her staff started to rise to their feet, but she waved them back down with a hand motion as she took her place at the head of the table. She surveyed the room and then leaned forward, resting her hands on the table top lightly. “Okay, I just checked in. Apparently, Admiral Irons has something planned that Captain Logan doesn't know about.”

  “Oh?”

  'Yes, so, he's just issued orders for her to remain in Airea 3 after she finished the defensive works at the jump points until a courier from here arrives.”

  “He couldn't send them over the ansible?” Nadine asked carefully.

  Moira shrugged. “I have no idea. I just got word as I was trying to arrange a talk with him about the situation. So, our butts are covered. We'll need to make sure the good director plays fair when she negotiates port fees and supplies. The crews are on their own for everything else.”

  “He's getting the defenses at the jump point. Did he really triple the port fees? And did they really run up the costs of supplies?”

  “Yes. Which, when the captain heard about them, she promptly rejected. She's negotiating new fees now.”

  “Good for her. That's highway robbery,” Sebastian stated.

  “Whose side are you on?” Nadine demanded, rounding on him with a glower.

  “In this case, the navy and the tax payers. We shouldn't bow to extortion. She's made her point but both sides are backing down.” He reached with his implants for the latest feed from Airea 3. It took a moment to absorb it. He nodded. “Yeah, that's the general feel for what's going on based on what I'm reading here.”

  “Well, that's a relief. Now we've got damage control,” Petina stated.

  “Agreed,” the secretary replied with a nod. Her team was improving daily. “We also need to get the director to drop the tariffs on imports from certain other members of the Federation. I realize he wants to force local growth, but that isn't the way to do it.”

  “He says he wants to encourage the local economy and job growth,” Nadine pointed out.”

  “Yes, but we did a little digging,” Sebastian said. She turned to him. “Director Taylor has friends in the industries he's trying to protect. His family also owns vested interests in some of the mining consortium.”

  “So, he's trying to direct the money into his own coffers.”

  “Which is what he was trying to pull with the navy. They are in for a long jump to Tau, a year-long jump. They were going to need fresh supplies and time off before they left. He realized that and tried to gouge them. He lost a fortune when Captain Logan refused to make port. Their local market has been the dumping ground for a lot of stock. Apparently, some of it was bought on margin …,” Sebastian paused as a few people around the room winced.

  “So, the good captain has made a life enemy of the director. Nice,” Nadine murmured.

  “Her problem, though she may be aware of it already. He might take it grudgingly, after all, business is business and he got carried away. We might want to feel him out,” Petina murmured thoughtfully. “And I'll need to coordinate with the natives on how to handle this. It can't be seen as a capitulation. We have to save face on all sides.”

  “Agreed. Work up a neutral message. We'll see if we can skate under the radar. If no one notices our presence in the near snafu, all the better,” Moira ordered, turning to her.

  “Don't bet on it,” Nadine muttered darkly as the meeting broke up.

  :::{)(}:::

  Antigua and Airea 3

  “Admiral, there is a call for you from Captain Logan in Airea 3,” Protector informed him.

  “I've been expecting it,” he said with a nod. “Put it through.”

  “Coming through now.”

  He had just sent Horatio off to Bek a few days prior. There wouldn't be any word for several weeks. The Tau mission had arrived on schedule in Airea 3 and had finished the defensive works. For the past several days, they had been cooling their heels. He was well aware of the fracas between Director Taylor and Shelby. Shelby had played it pretty well. He knew that Moira wasn't thrilled about the dust up, but she couldn't blame the navy for balking at outright extortion and the crap the people of Airea 3 had been trying to pull. Capitalism was one thing, doing it that blatantly and aggressively was something else entirely. Doing it at the expense of the navy and the tax payer was something he refused to allow too, so he'd backed Shelby's play. It had been something of a final test before she launched into the unknown. He was gratified to see that she not only had a backbone but could handle the situation like she had if push came to shove. She'd need it; he wouldn't be able to back her up in Tau.

  “Phil is going to love this one,” Admiral Irons muttered as he straightened his shoulders. “But, damn it, I should have done this before she left and hang his pissy attitude. Or I should have found someone else with the rank to do the job. Him for instance.”

  “I'll make a note of that so you can point it out to him if he does give you a hard time,” Protector stated. The flag promotional boards had been raging for some time. Politics had reared their ugly heads. Admiral Irons plan to promote Admiral White and Subert had hit all sorts of snags as officers delayed the process.

  “Yeah. Definitely do that. I'll need the ammunition. Are we ready?” he asked as he pulled up the brief speech he had prepared.

  “The line is active, sir. The courier is there. The orders to the commander have been passed on. She has the package.” Sprite informed him.

  “Okay, let's do this,” he said as he rose from his chair.

  “This is the Office of the President. Please hold for the president,” Captain Sprite said as an image of Captain Logan and her bridge formed in front of him. The image was drawn from the system memory of course.

  “Hello, Captain Logan. It is good that we caught you in time,” the admiral said.

  “Attention on deck!” a female voice said. All hands came to attention, turning to face the admiral.

  “You are about to go into the unknown. We've done what we can to prepare you for this mission, but I know what we could send you and what you needed were different things. But, I also know you'll make it work.”

  “Yes, sir. We will,” Shelby replied.

  “Then you are going to love this one,” Admiral Irons said, his image smiling somehow. She looked at him warily. “I'm rectifying my previous oversight.”

  Shelby blinked then her eyes narrowed. “Sir?”

  “Captain Logan, I am hereby frocking you to the rank
of commodore,” the admiral said formally. Shelby and Cynthia as well as the majority of the bridge crew were stunned by that announcement. “I know it was something that should have been done much earlier. I am rectifying that oversight now. You'll need the extra weight to deal with diplomatic trouble. Airea 3 just confirmed it to me.”

  “I don't know what to say, sir …,” Shelby said slowly as she felt data flowing through the communications link to the case Cynthia held and from there to her implants. She opened a port in her firewall, and sure enough fresh keys and changes to her firmware announced itself after a moment, with a pop-up warning.

  “If we do not hear from you in one year from this date, the rank will be officially confirmed,” the admiral said. “Unfortunately, I couldn't send you a flag captain to run Prometheus; I need everyone I've got here.”

  “That's okay, sir; Commander Troll can step up,” Shelby said quietly as she wrestled with the concept of her new rank.

  “Good to hear. I expect good things out of you. The case will unlock for you, Commodore, and you alone. There are chips for you to download. They will self-destruct once you have finished the download. The key updates will require a firmware update. Also, there are implant hardware upgrades you will need to have your doctor apply to you. That will unfortunately require surgery, Commodore,” he said.

  “Understood, sir,” Shelby replied.

  “We are going to be sending a follow-up mission, a squadron of raiders under the code name Gamma. They will be four light cruisers and four heavy cruisers plus a couple tankers and a single support ship. I don't currently have a timetable for when they'll be headed your way. But, you can consider them reinforcements,” the admiral said.

  Shelby nodded. “Thank you, sir. We'll appreciate their help,” she said.

  “I know you will. I'm also giving you authorization to promote in the rank if necessary and to take on additional personnel as well. I realize that was set up in advance, but the chips in the case will make it official,” the admiral said.