by Chris Hechtl
“This is Commodore Yukio Yashido of Third Fleet TF 3.5.1. We stand with the Federation, with Admiral Irons, and with Vice Admiral Champion. Stand down Second Fleet. It's over, Admiral Toronto.”
“Well! I'll be damned,” she murmured.
“It looks like Admiral Sharp Reflexes had the same idea you did, ma'am,” Toby said with a grin.
@
“Well! This is getting a bit more exciting than I had hoped,” Captain Astro said with a shake of his head. “Where are they all coming from?”
“Well, there isn't any woodwork around, but space is deep and dark,” his XO said.
“Sir, we're receiving a whisker laser from Fourth Fleet. A log and authentication codes are being transmitted now,” the communications tech reported.
“Route it to the flag bridge,” a familiar voice ordered over the feed.
“Sir? What do we do?” Captain Astro XXXXIV asked as he turned to the video feed from the flag bridge. “It looks like we're going to have a shooting match with us in the middle.”
“I'll handle it. Have your ship prepared for defense though,” the admiral rumbled.
“Aye aye, sir,” the Neodog replied in a dubious tone of voice. He turned and checked with his TO.
@
“This is Fleet Admiral John Henry Irons, President of the Federation to Bek Naval Command …,” one of the battle cruisers began to transmit.
Admiral Toronto snarled and used the superior power of his command fortress to override the BC transmission before it got out too far. After that he had a decision to make, one he wasn't sure he wanted to make.
He couldn't help but wrestle with his conscience. The big gorilla was not at all happy about being put in the position of sparking a civil war both within Bek and with the outer Federation. He realized he didn't have the stomach for firing on the ships. He didn't want the war and couldn't see himself looking into the eyes of his family when they asked what he did to stop it.
“Sir, what are we going to do? It's Ilmarinen all over again!”
“Incoming transmission from Fortress Four. Commodore Bjornson is on the line, sir, asking for instructions,” his chief of staff said.
Admiral Toronto's eyes cut to his former chief of staff on the screen. “I know. I'm thinking,” he said simply, trying to put the commodore off.
“Sir, our orders are clear,” the commodore said woodenly.
“The hell they are!” the big ape snarled, nostrils flaring. “Our orders are to arrange an accident. I'm not going to do it. Those sailors deserve better than that.”
His staff around him recoiled in shock at his outburst.
“You'll be arrested for treason,” the commodore pointed out. “Childress will have your head.”
“He has no stomach for it,” the chief of staff said, staring at his boss.
“Is it treason to disobey the President of the Federation and Chief of Naval Operations over Admiral Childress?” Admiral Toronto demanded.
“Treason to Bek! Admiral Childress has the republic's best interests at heart!” Commodore Bjornson insisted.
“Right and the people of Bek do not want us to fire. So again, treason to who?” the Neogorilla admiral demanded. He grimaced and shook his head. “If I'd shot anyone for treason, it would have been a long time ago,” Admiral Toronto said, rubbing his brow.
“Sir?” his chief of staff asked. “We need to do something,” he reminded him.
“What do you mean, shot anyone?” Commodore Bjornson demanded.
“Never mind,” the admiral rumbled, aware of the looks he was getting. “We can always board them.” His staff stared at him. He snorted. “We can board them, arrest them, and then keep the ships. It might come to that.”
“But you don't think it will,” the commodore said dubiously.
“Personally?” the admiral studied the captain. “No. It's already being broadcast throughout the fortresses. Our jamming came too late; it's already out there to the inner star system. I think Childress is done. If not right this second, then he's about to be. It should have happened earlier.”
“But you still have your orders,” his chief of staff reminded him firmly.
“Indeed I do. Open the transmission,” the Neogorilla growled, turning to his flag communications officer. “We all have our part to play, and this is mine I suppose.”
@
Lieutenant V'r'n'll listened to the broadcast from the Federation ships. He wasn't certain what to do. Commodore Flitter Left, the Commander of Fortress 2 was sticking to basic protocol. The Veraxin listened to the chatter on the command channel. He could see Commodore Bjornson fuming over Admiral Toronto's indecision.
He turned to see some of the reactions around him in his section. They ranged from jubilant to consternation to wariness. He sunk onto his saddle to listen and do his job. It was all he really could do. What came next gave him a front row seat to history.
@
“Turn that damn recording off! We don't have to listen to it. Besides, it is supposed to go to high command on a secure frequency, not broadcast in the clear like that!” The Neogorilla snarled over the communications channel.
“My, a might testy, isn't he?” Captain Astro XXXXIV asked clearly amused despite the tense situation they were in. Just seeing the weight of metal bearing down on them was not conductive to one's bladder control, let alone bowel control.
“Just a tad,” the admiral said as he settled himself. “Comm, open the channel once more,” he ordered.
The ship's A.I. nodded to him. “Live mike, sir,” he said as the red light above the cameras in front of the admiral came on.
“First off, Admiral Toronto, I'm not a recording,” Fleet Admiral John Henry Irons retorted. The gorilla's eyes widened briefly as his people put the transmission through, then narrowed quickly in speculation and recognition that it truly was over. As the kong started to open his mouth, Admiral Irons rolled on. “I am on the battle cruiser Admiral Butley. I am not a recording or A.I. I am here to put a stop to that farce of a trial and set Bek straight once and for all.”
“Personal IFF key being transmitted now,” Protector stated.
Admiral Irons sat back and nodded once as he watched the gorilla's reaction. There was about a light minute between the starships and the fortress shell.
Finally, the gorilla grimaced and then addressed the camera. “Sir, this is highly irregular. I'll take that you are on Admiral Butley on faith for the moment, but …,” One hand tugged on his ear in an unconscious reaction to the unprecedented arrival of the admiral.
“Then get in a shuttle and get your fuzzy ass over here if you don't believe me. I'll have it well seared within an hour. We're going to Command One to settle this once and for all. I've got some people to straighten out and others to fire. Some long overdue.”
The Neogorilla admiral nodded slowly. “Yes, sir.”
“If you don't want to be one of them, you damn well better stay out of my way,” Admiral Irons said. “I'm fed up with this bullshit, and it stops here and now,” he said flatly.
“Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.”
Admiral Irons' eyes turned cold as ice. “Yes, you should be. But the recriminations will start after I deal with certain people.”
@
Admiral Toronto got the report of the stealthed ships moving in to englobe the starships while he was on the shuttle in transit to the battle cruiser flagship. He swore and looked unconsciously to the MPs and Marines he'd brought along with him.
If he'd wanted to do anything adverse with the three starships, their appearance had changed things and shut him down. The personnel on the shuttle were excited about the change. Based on the repeater plot, he was seeing some of his own ships were breaking ranks and discipline to join them. It was all over but the crying he thought in disgust as he threw the tablet down in his lap and closed his eyes.
@
“I'd like to see both of you on my ship as soon as practical
,” Admiral Irons said in a conference call to Vice Admiral Champion and Commodore Yashido. Both flag officers nodded. He could see both of the ladies were very well-disciplined but they couldn't help have a twinkle in their eyes at the sight of him.
He snorted inwardly. “I take it things have been rough?”
“Yes, sir. I'd like to say just short of a full civil war but I'd be wrong,” Admiral Champion replied grimly, her eyes back to normal. “We've had one shooting incident and other problems.”
“Damn. And Horatio?”
“I'm sending you a log now, sir.”
“Good. Give me the high points or low points while I wait on Admiral Toronto.”
“Yes, sir. The trial is still on. Admiral Logan has recovered from the latest assassination attempt and has been very good at picking apart Admiral Childress. He's been one hell of a sore thorn in the Admiralty's side.”
Admiral Irons nodded, outwardly professional, but inward he was filled with elation that they'd made it in time. That meant all of the risks he had taken had been worth it.
“Sir, I hope you don't mind our position. We …,” the commodore stopped herself.
“What Yukio is trying to say is that, unfortunately, we believe that you need the protection,” Admiral Champion stated. “This isn't a way to intimidate you, sir.”
“I gathered as much. I would have come in something better, no disservice to Admiral Butley and company,” Admiral Irons said, turning slightly to pitch his voice to the unseen bridge crew. “But we're all we had available in Pyrax at the time. Rear Admiral V'r'z'll launched the Eastern Front.”
Admiral Champion's eye gleam returned. “She did?”
“Yes, indeed she did. Not without a bit of grumbling about the lack of resources. She's had to make do with the ships we can turn out in Pyrax and Antigua. Mostly from Pyrax I admit. Her mission has also been on the back burner for some time.”
“But it is off and running now, sir?” Commodore Yashido asked.
“Yes. They should be well on their way to B88R by now. I'll know more when I get an update in B-102c of course.”
“Of course.”
“Ah,” Admiral Irons said as he looked off screen. “It seems my guests have arrived. He smiled thinly. The two flag officers returned echoing smiles. “I'll just see to him and then we'll talk some more.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you for coming, sir.”
“We'll talk about that too, at a later date. Irons out.”
Chapter 52
Admiral Childress got word of the three starships arrival when the news flashed across the star system to Command One. He fumed when he heard that they had not been destroyed as planned. But the news that followed that was devastating to him. The news that Fourth Fleet and a task force of Third were there to protect the ships came hard on the heels of the news, shocking him further. When he got word that Admiral Irons himself was in the flagship, he thought he felt his heart skip a beat. He stared, dumbstruck at the commander who had delivered the news to him. “You aren't serious.”
The commander nodded, eyes wide. “Yes, sir, I am. It is really him; it's been confirmed.”
“Him, here,” Omar said as panic started to overtake his mind. He wanted to gibber. He wanted to fire on the ships, but he couldn't. He couldn't exercise control over the long distance.
“Sir, Fourth Fleet and a task force from Third Fleet have come out of stealth near the three warships. They have englobed the ships and are proceeding into the star system. It is hitting the media as we speak,” the commander stated.
Omar stared at the man dumbly as Sherman came in.
The commander looked over to the operational admiral. When Omar didn't react, he went over and handed the admiral the tablet and then quietly told him the news.
“Omar,” Sherman said as he went over to the other admiral. “Omar!” he said sharply. “Snap out of it!”
“Damn … Murphy … How could the gods abandon me now …,” Omar mumbled, eyes lost as his shoulders hunched.
“What?”
“Are they going to save their own necks and arrest me? Are you?” Omar finally asked, looking up to Sherman with haunted eyes before he looked down and away.
“No one is making any moves. I think everyone is stunned,” Sherman said, looking around the office and then out to the outer bullpen. People were standing up like prairie dogs as the news percolated through their ranks. “It's over.”
“We …,” the human licked his lips uncertainty. “We … can do something. We … we need to destroy those ships,” Omar said, voice picking up steam. He rose from the chair. “We blow them up; blame the attack on the rebels …”
“No, Omar, it's done. We're done.”
“Damn it … no! We've come too far to just throw in the towel! I won't! You hear me? I'm not done! We're … we can find a way to fix this!”
“Give in. We're done,” Sherman said firmly. He shook his head.
Omar's eyes flashed with madness. “To hell we are! I did nothing wrong!”
Admiral Draken shook his head once more. “Keep dreaming. I'm going to be writing my memoirs and getting a good lawyer. I think I'm going to need it, not that it will do me much good,” he said heavily. “I'm not authorizing any attacks. No more. We're done. You can sit here in your office and sulk or you can go home, run away, it's your choice,” he said as he turned away.
@
JAG was swamped by requests for status on the trial and other trials from the media and concerned citizens. The webmaster tried to update the website, but there were so many hits in such a short time that it took the site down plus all of the mirrors.
That was just one thing going on among many. BUPERS was overwhelmed again by personnel changes. Some of the tainted officers resigned hastily, hoping to get in the good graces of Admiral Irons when he arrived. Others called into the media to fawn and say how they were always behind Admiral Logan but had remained quiet out of duty. The media was going wild with the coverage and didn't pay much attention to them.
@
“Are you serious?” Admiral Amir demanded when he got confirmation. He knew several of their number were past bewilderment and well on their way to strokes, heart attacks, or in his case grappling with how everything had changed in a blink of an eye.
“Yes,” Jules ground out. “It's over.”
“We're screwed,” Admiral Open Eyes grumbled.
“Not yet. They'll bend us over for that first. I can't say we don't have it coming after backing Childress. Man, that was a mistake,” Jules snarled. “I've got my people doing damage control now. I don't know how much will work. With everything else going on,” he shook his head.
“Yeah, I think we all need to do that. And we all need to get as far away from Childress as we can,” Admiral Amir muttered as he closed the channel.
@
“All for naught,” Admiral Rowley whispered over and over as he contemplated the bottom of his half-empty bottle of scotch. He'd backed the wrong horse. His career was over; that was for sure. All of the crap he'd pulled in hopes of kissing Omar's ass and getting another star … he shook his head and closed his eyes in pain. He popped a couple sleeping pills, then a couple more and then took a swig of his scotch.
If he didn't wake in the morning, that was just fine with him.
@
“Well, how about that,” Doctor Bullettine drawled when the news hit the media like a firestorm. His office had been called for a comment. Champagne corks had already flown, despite the trial still not being technically over.
“You knew!” Theresa accused him, eyeing him.
“It was the only scenario I gamed out that had a remote chance of success with the least amount of casualties,” the psychologist replied. “The sheer shock of Irons himself arriving will paralyze Childress's supporters and drive them into retreat. It will embolden and shame the Federation supporters to come out into the open and do what they should have done from the beginning.”
“Ah. Did you get this from our client?”
“I doubt he knew, but he probably had a secret hope it would happen. I think I'm going to enjoy telling him if someone else hasn't,” the doctor said as he grabbed his jacket and slipped it on.
“I'll come with you,” Theresa said. Benny nodded.
@
Captain Rising Tide heard the news and was stunned like just about everyone else. He shook his head when his staff came to him for answers. He didn't have any, and that became apparent quickly.
He knew it was over. He also knew any attempt at a cover-up would only delay the inevitable and add additional charges against him. Still, it didn't hurt to try he thought as he began to slowly issue orders.
@
Horatio and the isolated wing got the news of Admiral Irons' triumphant arrival from the prison doctor. He heard the block cheering, hooting, whistling, and roaring all over the block. He shook his head in bemusement. “It looks like it is over,” Doctor Hsiao said, patting him on the shoulder.
“Not quite, but close. I'm just relieved,” he said quietly.
He found that he was still kept in confinement but treated far better. He was amused when the guard lieutenant brought him takeout from a five-star restaurant. The lieutenant had all of his uniforms pressed and cleaned.
Even Warden Tribeau stopped in to check in on him. Horatio did his best to remain polite, but to be honest with himself, all of the sudden attention and kiss-ass was wearing on him, even if there was a malicious side of him that was glad to see it happen. He wrote a report updating his activities and sent it and his entire log through his back door in the correction's computer network to Admiral Butley. There was no response acknowledging receipt, so he was unsure if it had been received or ignored.
He knew he'd find out later.
The following day Warden Tribeau informed him he was being moved to be confined to quarters. He simply nodded and gathered his things.