by Chris Hechtl
:::{)(}:::
The arrival of the trio of ships from Bek ended the building anticipation nicely, Commander Lafluer thought. She immediately sent a contact report off to the ansible as her orders had specified. She wasn't surprised when her tachyon receiver picked up a signal from the Admiral Butley within minutes of her transmission.
“You tattled on me,” a familiar voice laughingly accused.
“Welcome back, sir. That I did; in my defense, I had specific orders to do so. A lot of people here and elsewhere are waiting with baited breath to know how it went,” the commander said.
“Understood. I'll clear out your ansible buffer in a moment.”
“That would be appreciated, sir.”
“We will be coming in to dock in three days.”
“Dock, sir?”
“We have a lot of passengers. I'm taking Admiral Butley to Nuevo for a brief state visit. I'm going to offload some or most of the passengers and sic them on you for the moment.”
“Thank you for the warning,” the commander replied dryly.
“Consider it your penance for doing your duty a little too well,” Admiral Irons replied as he signed off.
:::{)(}:::
Chief Bailey looked up in irritation, then flipped his welding helmet up to better see and hear what was going on. He adjusted his hearing to stop filtering out some of the sounds around him. When he caught the chatter from a couple excited techs, he heard buzzwords that made him frown and access the station's news net.
He blinked and then grinned when he saw the news. “So, the conquering hero returns. Good for him,” he murmured.
“Get back to work!” a supervisor snarled, waving to the group as it began to pull everyone in off the job site. “You can gossip like old wives when you're on lunch break! Until then your asses belong to me! Yes, Irons is back, big deal. We've got a job to do and a schedule to keep! Move!”
“Right,” Bailey said, grinning as he flipped his helmet down. His pause had let the weld cool just enough so he could continue.
:::{)(}:::
Admiral Irons shook his head in amusement by the message from the commander. As he was replying to her, he noted Protector had broken into the ansible to send a priority alert cutting off the data download midstream. Once the path was clear, the A.I. uploaded the log and reports of their Bekian adventure.
At the top of the report was a simple statement. Bek was under new management.
It only took a few milliseconds before he got a reply. He grinned at a short missive from Sprite. “This is like trying to squeeze a watermelon through a keyhole. Or so they say,” the A.I. griped. “Good to have you back, Admiral,” she finished.
Admiral Irons nodded and typed out a quick reply. “Good to be back.” He noted that in their absence the ansible transport had arrived. The ship had finished setting up the new core and then had departed for Nuevo per his orders.
He sent Sprite another update through the new ansible and then logged orders to the ansible ship to go ahead to Bek A and B once it returned to the harbor station. He then settled in to do a bit of reading. Based on the gigs of data she'd uploaded, he had plenty of it. He rather regretted the replacement ansible he thought before he got wrapped up in the material.
:::{)(}:::
While the admiral began to process the information he had filtered for him, Protector ordered the ship's communications to open a channel to the station. He let the commander know to expect high ranking company and a lot of it. “They are prickly too, Commander, you may want to roll out the red carpet and the best you've got. They have been cramped up for a long time and are not happy,” he warned.
The A.I. sent a personnel manifest to Echo, the station's dumb A.I., to let him know who to expect and what they would need as far as logistics was concerned.
“Thank you for the warning, Commander,” Commander Lafleur replied. “We'll do that very thing.”
:::{)(}:::
Antigua
Captain Sprite checked the time. It was 6 am local time; based on the recent most schedule she had for each of them, she determined both the secretary and fleet admiral would be awake. She therefore opened a channel to each of them.
“A party line? This had better be important, Sprite; I haven't had my coffee yet,” Moira panted. It took a moment for the A.I. to access the human female's vital signs and vision through a port to allow her to realize the woman was on a treadmill.
“Yes, ma'am. I assure you it is,” she said as the secretary slowed her pace. “Admiral Irons has returned from Bek. He has uploaded his report. Admiral Childress has been relieved as has his entire supporting cast. They are under arrest pending formal court-martial,” the A.I. stated.
“Thank the gods,” Moira murmured.
“Damn good work,” Admiral Sienkov rumbled. “Morning, Moira,” he said absently.
“Morning, Yorgi,” Moira replied before she yodeled. “Whoops!” she said, catching herself before she fell off the treadmill in her exuberance. “Awesome!”
Yorgi chuckled, then sobered. “What's the breakage?”
“There were some firing incidents. Several hundred people were hurt or killed,” Sprite said, sobering both Bekians. “That all happened before the admiral arrived. He arrived just before the civil war broke out into full combat it seems.”
“So, we lucked out there. He disarmed them?”
“Yes.”
“Well, thank the spirits of space for that and Admiral Irons,” Moira said. “He was right to go,” she said, letting go of any last lingering angst over his abrupt move. “Damn,” she murmured as she used a towel to dry some of the sweat off her face.
As Moira got a drink from her sports bottle, Yorgi cleared his throat. “Should we release this to the media?”
“Yes,” Moira said weakly, then coughed. “Sorry. Yeah,” she said, recovering. “Get Liobat and my office involved. The navy Public Affairs Department too I suppose. Keep it simple. More details to follow.”
“Yes, ma'am,” Sprite replied dutifully.
“Good. I'll read the report during my morning brief. Until then, I need to finish my run,” the secretary said as she got back on the treadmill. I need to work off last night's rubber chicken dinner.”
“Sprite out,” the A.I. said as Admiral Sienkov chuckled and closed his own channel.
:::{)(}:::
Admiral Irons weathered a series of welcome backs from the various officers abroad before they settled in to their discussion.
“This is a little more like it,” Amadeus said during the senior officer conference.
“I know. What is your SITREP? I've read some of the reports. Okay, skimmed them. Sprite complains about trying to fit a watermelon through a keyhole. In my defense, trying to read everything she does get through is like trying to get a drink from a fire hose,” Admiral Irons said wryly.
“We've got someone behind us. A force of unknown size, one report has them at two cruisers but we know they've been reinforced, has been preying on our supply lines in B-97a. That's made me halt the plan to move forward again until I can find a way to deal with it. I'm coordinating with Protodon now.”
“Good,” Admiral Irons replied.
“We dispatched a CEV force with supports to close off B101a1 should they head in that direction,” Yorgi stated.
“I dispatched a force to see what we're up against and to chase them out. It will be at least another two or three weeks before we get an answer back. I also sent a force to B-97b to cut off retreat there”
“Why not go back and settle them once and for all?” Admiral Pashenkov asked from besides Admiral Irons.
“Sorry, who are you?” Amadeus asked politely.
“Sorry, my manners,” Admiral Irons interjected. He made the introductions around the table. “You were saying, Admiral?”
“I don't want to leave the forward progress. I also don't want to try to swat a fly with a sledgehammer. We know it is a pair or more of cruisers at the moment. Chasing
them with an entire fleet plays into the enemy's hands to give them more time. I have sent a CruRon and Destron force to chase them out and Illustrious to B-97b as well to cut off their retreat.”
“But you have to send sufficient forces to do the job, which weakens you further,” Admiral Champion said.
“Exactly,” Amadeus replied. “For the moment. As soon as I get that force back, I'm moving on DD01ns and then Dead Drop.”
“So, Second Fleet's offensive is effectively stalled for the moment,” Admiral Sienkov said. “And we're toddling along with the yards. No problems here. We have put together reinforcements for them, and some are en route now.”
“I appreciate that. We need to get in there before the enemy deploys heavier forces,” Amadeus stated.
“Agreed,” Admiral Subert said.
“No problems on my end,” General Forth stated.
“Nor mine,” General 1010111 stated.
“Good to hear,” Admiral Irons said with a nod.
“I'd like to move on an objective. I sent the prowler to New Horizon,” Admiral V'r'z'll stated.
“It's not back yet?”
“No.”
“You need intel before you move in too deeply. I noted your supply status. Is there any problem there?”
“Not as of yet. New Horizon has a lot of the supplies I need, but I'd rather move on Garth,” the Veraxin admiral stated.
“That would make life interesting for De Gaulte and the empire,” Amadeus stated. “But won't they be expecting you?”
“Yes. That's a problem. I have your data on what is there. It is out-of-date however.”
“Understood.”
“We'll hold off on that,” Admiral Irons said. “I don't want you to get there and be overextended on your logistics.”
“We can at least punch it out and then hold.”
“But you'd have a possible enemy fleet on either side of you. You would have an avenue to retreat down, but no place to refuel along the way,” Admiral Irons stated.
“Point,” Amadeus stated.
“No word from Pi, Tau, or Sigma, Admiral,” Admiral Sienkov interjected when there was a lull.
“So, Bek is back in the fold?” Pasha asked. Admiral Irons glanced at the officers in the conference room with him. He could see Admiral Pashenkov's ears go back slightly. Admiral Champion flicked her fingers but then held still. The T'clock was frozen.
“Yes. We left it in good hands. They should be back on schedule shortly.”
“Good to know,” General Forth stated.
“Now he needs to get his ass back here,” Phil said. He hated having Sienkov in charge.
“I think he's planning on a brief state visit to Nuevo,” Admiral Sienkov stated.
“I am,” Admiral Irons said with a nod to those in the room. “It shouldn't take more than ten weeks.”
“Great,” Admiral Subert replied. He could tell there was a sigh of frustration in it.
“It won't be that bad. I'm leaving some of the personnel here. In fact, some of the ships will go on ahead of us. That way they don't have to travel in company.”
Admiral Champion looked up curiously and cocked her head. She wasn't the only one to do so he noted. “Those who wish to remain on the station can do so.” Slowly she nodded.
“It'll probably be the last vacation they'll get before we get back to Pyrax. Once we are there, I plan to put everyone to work.”
“What about my front?” Admiral V'r'z'll demanded.
“I am assembling a fleet train to resupply you now. It will be leaving in a week. I'm also sending a couple more CEVs for you. Do you require anything else? I'll send the manifest in a moment.”
“Without looking at the manifest I don't know. I'll look it over and get back to you,” the Veraxin admiral replied.
“Fine. I'll speak with all of you again when I return. Irons out,” Admiral Irons said as he cut the channel.
:::{)(}:::
B-102c
There really was no need for everyone to go with him to Nuevo since he planned to only take Admiral Butley. He sent Winterspell and Stormbreaker on ahead with their passengers to brave the rapids while his battle cruiser docked.
For the passengers on his battle cruiser, they were given a choice and two days to make it. He had determined that half of them could go with him to Nuevo if they chose to do so. They would be gone ten weeks. They would again be crowded on the return journey to B-102c since he intended to maximize their resources and pick up additional personnel there, most of them army officers and noncoms.
Or, they could stay on the station. Most of the officers elected to stay on the station in relative comfort to wait it out.
Once they made dock two days later, they began to offload passengers at the harbor station and take on fresh supplies from her greenhouses. Forty of the junior personnel on Admiral Butley were designated as crew to run two of the salvaged ships back to Bek for a proper refit cycle. There was some grumbling, but not enough for Admiral Irons to take official notice of it. They'd have their chance to get to the outer Federation eventually.
He was also aware that some of the passengers were leery about visiting the station initially. Given its recent history, he couldn't blame them. But, they didn't have a choice. He had a schedule to keep, and they needed the room on the battle cruiser.
:::{)(}:::
Admiral Creator of Things was excited over seeing the salvaged ships. Dozens of ships were arranged in neat orderly rows outside the station. A dozen or so more were docked with the station. Four ships made up part of its structure. That was fascinating to see. He'd heard a little about it but hadn't seen it with his own multifaceted eyes.
And now, like a larva, he was going to have the opportunity to explore it. He loved his job.
:::{)(}:::
Admiral Champion kept her face impassive as she stepped off the ship. She didn't like the delay, but she had to admit the admiral had an opportunity to visit Nuevo and there was no telling when he'd be back this way. It was wise to take the time to do so, even if it was inconvenient to her. She decided to spend her time wisely. She had her implants and had spent a lot of time studying the updated tactical and strategic manuals. Perhaps they had simulators on board?
She frowned as a fresh memory came to her. Weren't those same simulators the home of the Wraith? She'd have to find out. Hopefully, the crew had replaced them. If not, she might have to put some time in with Rolling Thunder and any of the other ships in the system.
:::{)(}:::
Commander Lafleur was alerted to the incoming guests and set up the VIP guest quarters for them. When they off-loaded, they were amazed by the sights. She met Vice Admiral Pashenkov and his rather senior delegation in her full-dress uniform.
“Sir,” she said, saluting the vice admiral. She was glad that Protector had alerted her to who was the senior-most officer.
“You have quite the station here Commander,” the Neodog said, looking around and lifting his nose to scent the air.
“Thank you, sir,” she demurred with a slight bow. She was glad they had fumigated recently. The smells from the burnt plastic and welding had permeated the ducts for long enough. “It is a work in progress as you can see. There are rough edges all over the place. But, we're getting there. We've more or less gotten over the damage from that Xeno virus and have moved back onto the established construction schedule. Since some of you have time, I'd love to take you on a tour and receive your input.”
The engineering Admiral Creator of Things accepted the invitation. He wanted to visit the salvaged ships as well.
:::{)(}:::
Admiral Irons allowed a twenty-four hour downtime on the station for the crew to get some long overdue maintenance done and to allow them some liberty time to decompress. He wanted to take the time to visit Bailey but ran out of time.
On their way out, he let Antigua know they were going ahead with the state visit through the ansible. “Hurry up. Don't get lost,” was Sprite's reply.
He snorted. He could just imagine how impatient and testy she was becoming. There was a reason she was swamping him with data. It was her way of expressing her displeasure at being not only left behind but also left in a lurch.
Well, if she had survived this long, she could survive a little while longer he thought as the ship made its way majestically to the jump point to Nuevo.
Chapter 52
B-97b
The light carrier Illustrious and her task force arrived in the B-97b to find it empty. Appearances could be deceiving, so the carrier took no chances and launched a series of recon flights while her destroyer consorts launched recon drones to probe the star system.
Once it was declared secure, they recalled the patrols and settled in a Lagrange point in stealth to wait. “And now we play spider and weave our web. Once it is done, we sit and wait,” Commander Megier, the ship's Neocat captain, said.
“Yes, ma'am. Something tells me waiting will be the hardest part,” Lieutenant Commander Bill Paxton, Illustrious' CAG stated.
“Agreed.”
“It'd be nice if we knew what we were waiting for,” Juggler said from his holo pedestal. “And when.”
“Agreed,” the Neocat replied with an ear flick.
“I've got another one. Where they'll come from. My money is on B-97a. I still think we should have been the beaters, but I can't complain if we're in on the kill,” Lieutenant Commander Reggie Wilcox, the XO stated.
“Do I need to repeat it?” Meg asked as she turned back to the group. There were some smiles and a couple chuckles at that. “Open a pool on when they'll come and where.”
“The captain is suggesting we bet on something?” the CAG asked in a mock serious voice.
She gave him a moderately stern glower for teasing her and then turned an eye on Juggler. The A.I. put on an appearance of innocence, but they knew better. He wasn't the only resident bookie on the ship but he was scrupulously honest.