All Enemies Foreign and Domestic (Kelly Blake series) (31 page)

      “The 30th Mobile Corps arrives with its three divisions and follows 5th Mobile Corps and will garrison the second largest city. We keep this up until the T’Kab submit or we are ordered to pull up stakes and go home.”
 

* * * * *

      Ingrid and Brad were having lunch in a diner in town outside the base after obtaining their marriage license.
 
The ceremony would wait until after the operation, but they wanted to do something to help their eventual marriage ceremony along.
 
They spent the rest of the morning looking at email invitations and deciding on the minimal wedding party.
 
Brad had a large family, but Ingrid had only a few aunts, uncles and cousins that may or may not make the trip to the base.

      Brad suggested they move the ceremony to her hometown, but there were too many bad memories there for such a joyous occasion.
 
She would invite her relatives and if they came, they came.
 
She would invite her closest cousins to be bridesmaids and see how many could make it.
 
She had already arranged with her company commander to give her away, a somewhat dated custom, but one she wanted in her ceremony.

      Their meal had just been served when communicators all over the diner went off.
 
No one had to see the message to know what it meant.
 
The diner staff expertly and efficiently packaged their meals to go and threw away the tickets.
 
They rode the bus back onto base and walked single file through the pedestrian gate, where IDs were inspected before they could enter and make their way to their units.
 
Brad and Ingrid found a quiet bench under some trees away from the clamor and bustle, ate their lunches, and said a tender farewell before making their way independently to their respective units.

* * * * *

      Major General Allans walked onto the well deck and the assembled commanders and staff officers all rose to attention, here to get his guidance and intent and to brief their supporting operations plans.
 
He looked out at his battalion and brigade commanders and thought how fortunate he was to have such fine men and women working for him.
 
He couldn’t have assembled a finer group if he had hand picked them.

      He stepped forward, scuffing his soles on the non-skid surface, and told them all to take seats in the folding chairs.
 
He saw the Flag Staff observers standing in the background.
 
He spent the first fifteen minutes talking his guidance, which was fairly well understood.
 
He then provided his intent, “Ladies and gentlemen, we will move to the surface and clear out or detain every T’Kab at the spaceport.
 
We will secure the facility, search and remove any ships there to outside the perimeter under their own power, if possible, using the heavy lift lighters if not.
 
Study the surveillance data for what types of ships there are so you can quickly rig them for lift if you have to.
 
Detain any Human, K’Rang, or Angaerry you come across.

      “I want the first units of 5th Mobile Corps landed and moving to their marshaling areas within six hours of our special ops folks hitting the ground.
 
We need to move with some purpose here, people.
 
Expect me to stoke a fire under your butts if my stopwatch passes a mark.
 

      “Lieutenant Colonel Chen, you have to get down on the ground to clear and secure that spaceport in under an hour.
 
Your 300 Spartans won’t last very long if the T’Kab are better organized than we have allowed for.
 
1st Brigade, secure the city side of the spaceport against any reaction from the city.
 
2nd Brigade, you will guard the north side of the perimeter.
 
3rd Brigade, you guard the west perimeter.
 

      “I want you all in orbit awaiting Chen’s all clear, then burn in fast and direct.
 
Get your units on the ground as quick as you can.
 
This facility is big enough to support landing all three brigades at once – just don’t run into each other.
 
Make sure you have deconflicted your landing zones with each other and the ships’ landing squadrons.

      “Now let’s see how close you got to perfect.
 
Mary, start.”

* * * * *

      Rear Admiral Conover had a similar meeting with his ship and battle fleet commanders in the holographic tank.
 
He walked in the hologram, as he liked to do.

“Ladies and gentlemen, in a few days, depending on planet weather in the bridgehead area, we will do something unique.
 
We are going to capture a world, not a lightly populated planet like G’Durin with less than a billion population, but a real main world with over 12.8 billion inhabitants.

      “We have three main missions:
 
we have to bombard the planet and prepare the battlespace for our ground assault.
 
We have to deliver the 3rd Assault Landing Division to the bridgehead.
 
We have to support and protect the ground forces from any T’Kab counterattack on the ground or in space.
 
All of you have been given your target lists in priority order.
 
I want us to spread out when we do the preparatory fires.
 
It will hit the T’Kab everywhere at once and guard against space defense systems.
 
The T’Kab have not used or shown any space defense weapons, but to paraphrase Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, ‘The absence of evidence does not mean evidence of absence.’
 
Be wary.
 
They might not have pulled them out of the garage while we were looking.”

* * * * *

      Onboard the Fighting Mike, Mary Chen had her three Special Ops companies lay out their gear in preparation for their assault on the spaceport.
 
Her “Spartans” were ready.
 
She went through this drill to put everyone back into the mindset of working together as a team, after they had spent so much time learning their individual missions.
 
It ensured that all were equipped with the same weapons, same ammunition, same grenades in the same vest pockets, and all packs packed the same way.
 
That way, when under fire, ammunition could be passed around, and specialty devices such as grenades and mission-specific munitions could be found easily.

      She did a quick walkthrough inspection, looking for things out of place or different.
 
Mary had little patience with individuality.
 
She hated superstars, but loved team players.
 
She trained her troops like a football coach.
 
Each had his own position and pattern to run in support of the overall goal.
 
Finding all in order, she dismissed them and returned to her quarters, after stopping off to let Major General Allans know she was ready.

* * * * *

Commander Gibbons, deputy executive officer of the Behemoth, made the rounds, checking his ship.
 
His technique of strolling all the decks and passageways forestalled a lot of problems.
 
He knew every valve, pipe, conduit, and cable raceway by heart.
 
At one point, he looked up to find a new cable running through the main central cable raceway that ran overhead down the middle of the passage carrying the weapons and sensor feeds for the entire ship.
 
The mystery cable was unshielded high capacity fiber, but not authorized in a critical cable raceway.
 
He started tracking down the fiber optic cable and it led to a passenger accommodation housing the loading and offloading crew for 1st Brigade, 20th Armored Division.

      When he walked into the compartment with its row upon row of three-high bunks capable of sleeping over a company of soldiers, he saw ten men standing around a large data tablet sitting on one of the three-high bunks. They all scattered as he walked over.
 
He looked down at the screen and it was obvious what they were up to.
 
Someone had mounted a camera in the women’s shower and they were enjoying the show.

      Gibbons called out, “Who ran an unauthorized cable in the weapons and sensors cable raceway?”

      No one answered so he asked, “Who is the senior man here?”

      A staff sergeant nervously stepped forward and Commander Gibbons motioned for him to meet him outside.

      “I’m holding you responsible for this cable being in this raceway.
 
I want it taken down now.
 
Don’t you realize your unshielded cable could interfere with weapons and sensors?
 
We are going into combat, not a frat party.
 
I don’t want to see any unauthorized cables in my sensor and weapons cable raceway in the morning.
 
You got that, sergeant?”
 

      The sergeant paled and said, “Yes, sir, no unauthorized cable in the raceway.
 
Yes, sir, I understand and we’ll take it down right now.
 
Sorry, sir, it won’t happen again.”

* * * * *

      Gibbons was exhilarated when they finally received orders to embark the division personnel and move through the gate to a ring ship-supported marshaling area near the three systems. They would meet up with the other four Behemoths, blend their support ships, join with the 5th Battle Group and the 1st Assault Landing Division, and capture the planet.
 
He knew this as surely as if it had already been broadcast on the news.

* * * * *

      Tammy sat in her conference room, surrounded by her commanders and staff, conducting a last minute target review.
 
Tammy’s heavy and medium attack craft would attack at dawn over the three identified airfields in the T’Kab capital region and selected other communications and radar sites.
 
Her mission was to destroy or disable T’Kab resources capable of interfering with the rapid landing of the forces taking the bridgehead.

      She had the squadron commanders brief their plans of attack.
 
One heavy attack squadron had the task of neutralizing the western airfield and two ground force facilities.
 
The other heavy attack squadron would do the same to a similar airfield and ground force facilities to the north.
 
The three medium attack squadrons were to focus on communication, radar, and command and control facilities.
 
Tammy even had her ship loaded with guided bombs if someone needed a few extra.

      Satisfied with her squadrons’ briefings, she dismissed them and reviewed her notes, waiting for her conference with Rear Admiral Jan Van Lewtens, Commander, Naval Heavy Aviation.

       
The conference started late due to a glitch at one of the wings, but it got sorted out finally.
 
Admiral Van Lewtens reminded them that this initial attack was to help set the battlespace for initial bridgehead on the planet and for follow-on bridgeheads as the campaign continued.
 
He kept it brief and closed with a reminder that this could be a long campaign, so accomplish the missions, but husband resources in people and ships, and don’t take unnecessary risks unless the gain will be high enough.
 
He told them to get out there, punish the T’Kab, and bring their folks back alive.

      Tammy waited until the admiral signed off and said to her Operations Officer, “Yeah, what the admiral meant was that these ships are all there is because Congress was in such a hurry to spend the peace dividend and feather their own nests that they scrapped the rest.
 
The production line is now making luxury liners for space tourism.”

* * * * *

      The scientists stunned the sentient queen for movement.
 
It was dangerous, but they had no choice.
 
They told her she was to be taken to her civilization’s home world, where she could help communicate between the two civilizations.
 
This had broken her out of her torpor and got much of her strength and vitality back.
 
She was looking forward to being among her own kind again.

      They bound her, loaded her on board a gravity pallet, and moved her on to the shuttle, which took her to a contracted ship normally used for zoo deliveries.
 
They put her in the cleanest and nicest compartment on the ship after releasing her bonds and moving her off the pallet.
 
Two scientists and a Morse code expert traveled with her.

      When the shuttle had undocked and moved away, they powered up and moved to the ring ship in orbit above G’Durin.
 
Upon clearance, they boosted forward and entered the ring to appear in the space marshaling area.
 
Now they were only waiting for the right time to return her to her civilization.