by D. J. Holmes
“Which is why I need the groundwork for any attack to be well laid. The idea is that the fleet will move quickly, strike hard and then be prepared to pull back to our space if necessary.”
Becket nodded. “Who do you think will command the overall attack when it is launched? That might influence how I should go about my preparations.”
“You’re underestimating yourself again Rear Admiral,” James said. “You are one of our most senior commanders with real combat experience. In addition, you have worked closely with Alliance fleet commanders. They respect you. I imagine that when the time comes, Alliance warships will make up a significant portion of whatever fleet we send to Conclave space. I intend for you to lay the groundwork because you will be in overall command if and when we are in the position to commit more forces there. It may be that your squadron is slowly built up initially. But if we can push back a second attack coming against us here, then we will have more ships to send your way.” Reaching for his datapad, James sent a file to Becket. “Here are my ideas sketched out in a little more detail. I have another hour before my next meeting, we should be able to go over them now. Then you can take command of Viper and Adder and we can discuss things further once you’ve had time to process what I’m asking of you.”
“Certainly, Admiral,” Becket replied as she picked up a datapad and accessed the file.
Before James could draw her attention to the first objective he had in mind, his COM unit beeped. “What is it?” he asked when he saw it was one of his staff officers.
“We just got a priority communication from Empress Christine’s staff. She has requested an emergency meeting of her Inner Council. It scheduled to begin in twenty minutes. We are already prepping your shuttle Admiral,” the Lieutenant informed him.
“Very well,” James replied as he shared a glance with Becket. “We’ll have to do this another time Rear Admiral. I also wanted to schedule a couple of simulated battles with Admiral Shraw. It seems the Gramrians place a lot of emphasis on competing against one another in simulations. It will serve you well to show them just what you are capable of before you head into their territory.”
“I’ll contact Admiral Shraw myself and make the arrangements,” Becket replied. “It sounds like you may be a little busy. I’ll leave and let you get ready to go. We can pick this up again whenever it suits you. I’m eager to see Viper anyway.”
“I’m sure you are,” James chuckled. “It was good to catch up with you Rear Admiral. I am very pleased that you have returned to us. Albeit if only for a little while.”
“I’m eager to serve however you need me to Admiral,” Becket assured him. “You have my utmost faith. If anyone can get us through this war, it will be you.”
“Thank you,” James said as he stood and shook Becket’s hand affectionately. He then washed up and left. He couldn’t help but think of Gupta. He hoped he wasn’t sending Becket to her death as well. With an effort, he forced himself to dismiss such thoughts. He didn’t have time or energy to waste on worrying about things he couldn’t control. His mind turned to Christine. Whatever had made her call the emergency meeting, it had to be serious. For a second James thought that perhaps the Karacknid invasion had already begun, but then he shook his head. The first scouts weren’t expected back for at least another two if not three weeks. It was unlikely they had detected anything yet. Well, I’ll find out soon enough, James thought as he left his office and made his way to Drake’s first shuttle bay. On his way, his new Chief of Staff, Commander Miyagi caught up with him. Miyagi had commanded a Japanese medium cruiser in the battle of Earth. It had been too damaged to repair. Since then he had been awaiting a new command. On recommendation from Vice Admiral Nogamoro, James had taken him on to his staff.
“Do you want me to accompany you to Earth Admiral?” Miyagi asked as he fell in step beside James.
James shook his head. “There’s no need. Have Lieutenant Beckford meet me at the shuttle. There’s probably not much else for her to do right now, she can come along for the ride. I want you to get the rest of the staff officers settled in and inform Captain Fisher that we have to postpone our lunch.”
“Understood Admiral,” Miyagi replied. As he went through a number of different issues with James, James only half listened. He had been looking forward to his lunch with Fisher. Fisher had been a Sub Lieutenant on his first Drake. Their paths had crossed once or twice since then, but it had been a number of years since they had served together. That didn’t mean he had not been following her career. On the contrary, as soon as he had seen the list of potential Flag Captains for Drake, he had jumped at selecting her.
“Lieutenant Beckford,” James said with a nod as he and Miyagi entered the shuttle bay to find his COMs Lieutenant already standing at attention waiting. “At ease Lieutenant, we are going on a flight to Earth, not the cadet parade ground.”
“Yes Admiral, at once Admiral,” Beckford replied sharply. She fell into a more relaxed pose, though her shoulders and arms still looked tense. James wanted to tell her to relax again, but he knew it would do no good. It was the same with all but one of his staff officers. None of them knew him personally and it would take weeks, if not months, for them to settle into how he liked to do things.
“All right Commander,” James said as he turned back to Miyagi, “You’re in charge until I get back. Make sure everyone is settled in then by then. I want to have our first planning session later this afternoon.”
“Aye Admiral,” Miyagi responded as he gave James a salute. James returned it and moved towards the shuttle, signaling for Beckford to follow him with a nod.
*
James wasn’t surprised when he was the last one to arrive for the council meeting, he had the furthest to travel after all. “What was the rush about?” he asked as he took his seat.
Christine gestured towards Admiral Russell who nodded to her and stood. James felt a momentary flood of relief, if Russell was the one who had called the meeting, then it was unlikely to have anything to do with the Karacknids. But another thought made the hairs on the back of his neck rise. For Russell to have called it, it had to have something to do with intelligence about the formation of the Empire. That was almost worse.
“I’m afraid I have received two very concerning intelligence reports over the last twenty-four hours,” Russell began. “They come to us third hand though, hence why I waited a few hours to see if they could be corroborated. At this stage I’m afraid they cannot, but their content still demands our immediate attention. First, I have received news from two separate sources that the self-proclaimed leader of New Delhi has violently put down a pro-empire rally in New Delhi’s capital. One source suggests up to a thousand protesters were killed, the second is more conservative and puts a number at a couple of hundred. Either way, it is a serious escalation of the situation there.
“Perhaps of greater concern are the intelligence reports I have been receiving from a number of field operatives I have dispersed across the systems that haven’t joined the Empire yet. The final one that allowed us to put together the various reports came in just four hours ago. It confirmed that two Argentinian colonies have sent delegations to New Delhi. We’ve been tracking the leading diplomats on most of the colonies to see what direction they will go in, either for our Empire or staying independent. Most of the colonies that have upcoming referendums are strongly leaning towards joining us. However, I’ve been getting reports over the last three weeks that several diplomats have gone off the radar. I strongly suspect that they are all heading to New Delhi for some kind of conference. We have lost track of diplomats from one other Argentinian colony, two Brazilians, a Canadian and a French colony. There may be others that we have missed, but even if we haven’t, that’s a significant number of worlds.”
“It most certainly is,” Christine agreed. “Do you have any indication of what they may be planning?”
Russell shook his head, “No more than what we have discussed before. There has been some t
alk coming from New Delhi’s Governor about reforming the UN. It may be that the other delegations will just discuss remaining independent but forming some kind of union seems far more likely. I don’t see how they could realistically keep their independence if they remain alone and separated. In financial terms alone, they would become totally dependent on us.”
“This is worrying,” Andréa commented. “It also explains the delay in shipping we’ve been having from New Delhi and a handful of other Indian and Argentinian worlds. Raw materials and other computer components that we need for our shipbuilding projects haven’t arrived over the last three weeks. Given what Russell is saying, I suspect they will never come.”
“That actually make things worse,” Russell said as everyone turned back to him. “If they’re withholding key shipbuilding materials, they may be thinking they need them for themselves. That suggests they’re thinking they could form their own political entity and build their own fleet.”
“We cannot have that,” Koroylov growled. “We cannot have two separate Human fleets. We must combine our forces. It is our only chance against the Karacknids.”
“Agreed,” Christine said just as forcefully. “And we cannot risk a civil war. New Delhi and the others cannot be allowed to build up their own fleet of warships. What are our options? We cannot simply use force to take over these colonies, can we?” As she spoke she looked to James. Everyone knew he had pushed the hardest for putting it in the constitution that every colony must freely choose to join.
“We cannot invade these colonies and conquer them,” James confirmed. “It would go against everything we’ve tried to found this empire on. Besides, even if we wanted to, we do not have the forces to do so. We need all our strength to be concentrated here.”
“What do we do?” Andréa asked. “If all of these worlds pull their support for our shipbuilding, we’ll be set back months. That will delay any potential pre-emptive strike against the Karacknid supply depot. They may have their invasion force ready to go before we can confront them.”
“Things are not as black and white as Admiral Somerville perhaps believes,” Fairfax said carefully as he held James’ gaze. “New Delhi seems to be the central focus of this movement. If we neutralized Governor Culthrapori, all this may fall apart.”
“You are not talking about assassination?” James replied as his heartbeat increased.
Fairfax shook his head quickly. “No, no, nothing so drastic. But we may have legal and moral grounds to remove him from power. If he is preventing the people of New Delhi from holding their own referendum, if he is killing his own people, then for their own good we may have to intervene. Our empire was founded to protect all of Humanity. We’ve all taken vows to that end. It’s written into our Constitution. That means we cannot stand by and allow citizens of New Delhi to be killed. Especially if they are protesting in support of joining us.”
“How accurate are these reports?” James asked as he turned to Russell. “We cannot launch some kind of military operation on a few unconfirmed reports.”
“Culthrapori has New Delhi locked up tight, no freighter crews are allowed access to its data net, nor are they allowed on the surface. Both the reports I received are from assets we have put in some of the freighters that regularly visit the system. They’ve only been able to have brief conversations with some of the orbital dockworkers. That’s where the information has come from.”
“So at best its third hand by the time it gets to your assets,” James concluded.
Russell nodded, “It is,” he conceded, “but two different assets from two different orbital docks picked up the same reports of violence. It’s at least partially credible. In addition, from what we know about Culthrapori, it is not surprising in the least.”
“What about the protesters themselves, were they peaceful?” James pushed.
Russell shrugged. “I have no information on that.”
“But?” James said when he sensed Russell almost wanted to go on.
Russell glanced at Fairfax and then back to James. “But the IID frigate we have stationed in system picked up a smuggler. She had been chased out of the system as she was trying to deliver a shipment of plasma rifles. She said her contact claimed to represent a pro-empire faction on the planet’s surface.”
“So Culthrapori’s forces might have been defending themselves,” James said. He turned to Christine. “I’m not trying to defend Culthrapori. Not in the slightest. I don’t want to see him in charge of New Delhi, or anything else. But we cannot sit here on Earth and claim that our Empire means democracy and freedom for all and then turn around and stage a coup on one of the few colonies that doesn’t look like they are going to join us. Not without a far greater reason than a collection of possibilities.”
Christine took a moment before replying. “I agree. Intervening militarily is a last step. But New Delhi and several Argentinian colonies have rebuffed the diplomatic envoys we have sent to them. It seems they are not interested in listening. Now we know why.” She paused and took a deep breath. “Okay, if they won’t listen to our envoys, maybe they will listen to one of us directly.”
“You can’t be talking about going to New Delhi in person,” Fairfax said, sitting up straighter. “You’re needed here! There is far too much for you to do Empress.”
“I agree entirely,” Christine said as her gaze settled on James. “But my fiancé, perhaps we could spare him. They could hardly turn away a future Emperor.”
James shook his head. “I have far too much to do. I have a military campaign to prepare for. We need to turn back this Karacknid invasion before it can be launched. The raid on the Karacknid supply depot is scheduled to leave tomorrow.”
“And the raid is just that, a raid,” Christine countered. “Hardly a mission that requires our Grand Admiral. And from everything Andréa has said, it will be three more months before we have anything close to the numbers we need for a full-scale attack. With the shift gates we have going all the way to Indian space, you could be there and back in seven weeks. Think about it, if it does come down to needing a military intervention, who are you going to trust to tell you it is necessary? Only you can overcome your reservations. That’s why you need to go. I trust you; we all trust you. If you can get them to see reason, then all the better. But if something more is needed, you’re the best person to be on the ground to make the decision.”
James’ eyes narrowed, “Just what kind of decision are we talking about?”
Christine shook her head. “There’s no way of knowing that for sure whilst we are hundreds of light years away. Perhaps Culthrapori should be arrested if he has killed unarmed protesters. Or perhaps the pro-empire factions need our support. If they represent the will of the people, we could help them without directly intervening. Alternatively, if they are the troublemakers, you may have to discourage them. Either way, we will leave it in your hands.” Christine turned to General Johnston. “I believe Drake is due to receive a compliment of four hundred Marines. Though as I understand it, she was designed to house a full regiment if being used for a planetary assault. Do you have a regiment of marines that could depart with Drake?”
“I’m sure I could scrape something together Empress,” Johnston replied.
“Good,” Christine said as she nodded. “I’d like you to go with them. James could use the support.”
“Hold on a minute,” James complained. “We haven’t decided that I’m the one going yet. I cannot just abandon the planning stage of our defensive strategy strike.”
“In this case, perhaps you can,” Christine countered. “Koroylov heads up the fleet strategic planning department. He and his staff officers are already involved in the process. I also heard today that Admiral Lightfoot has regained consciousness after his surgery. It may take a few weeks yet, but when he’s back on his feet he’ll be keen to get back to work. Between them, Koroylov and Lightfoot can handle things until you return. Besides, Drake is scheduled for a shakedown cruise. She can go
to New Delhi and you can take your staff with you. There’s nothing stopping you from continuing your work during the journey there and back. In any case, I thought you were looking forward to getting some more time in space?” Christine waved towards the rest of her Inner Council, “away from all the politicking that goes on around here.” Christine winked at him.
James bit back a sigh. From the look on Christine’s face, he knew there was no arguing with her. Yes, a bunch of colonies forming their own political union would cause a serious headache for the Empire, especially for Andréa’s efforts to build up their warship numbers as quickly as possible. But there were any number of people that could be sent in his place. Going to New Delhi wasn’t exactly an escape from politics. He was being thrown into the midst of the most difficult political situation facing the fledgling Empire. His thoughts made James screw up his face as he stared at Christine. Though they didn’t make their way to his voice. “Okay,” he found himself saying. As much as he didn’t want to go, he knew arguing the point would accomplish nothing. “Okay, but I’m only going to try and speak to Culthrapori and whatever other diplomats may be there. Then I’m coming straight back. By then we should have enough ships to put a plan of attack into motion. If the Karacknids haven’t already beat us to it,” he couldn’t help but add. He knew he would never forgive Christine if she ended up sending him away whilst the Karacknids attacked. But he couldn’t argue the point now, what little information they had suggested the attack wouldn’t be launched right away. “If it’s that important to you, I’ll go,” he added as he smoldered on the inside.