Federation Reborn 1: Battle Lines (52 page)

Each of the medium sized freighters were being packed with missile pods that had been stockpiled. The enemy knew how to adapt though; they were learning. The fact that they knew about the AI attack was also scary. They would need to have something else to help them take on the Horathians soon. The battle lines were being drawn; the two sides were matching up a lot sooner than he had planned for.

Phil didn't like it, but he'd sent
Caroline
and her division mate
Mikhail Kutuzov
off to take the place of the
Kittyhawk's
squadron in B100 omega. The two light cruisers would have to do until another escort carrier force could be sent in to relieve them. Since they were critically needed in Protodon, there was no telling when that would be.

Once the last two LCs were finished,
Puglia
and
Belfast,
the first squadron of light cruisers would be closed and focus would switch to
Enterprise, Defiant,
and the other cruisers already in the medium stages of production behind them. There was no telling when more of the small light cruisers would be built. There were two more squadrons left in mothballs in Pyrax, but the needs of the fleet were evolving rapidly.

Until they had more battle cruisers and capital ships of their own in the frontier, the only weapons they had were the fighters and missile pods. The torpedo strikes had been crippling to the enemy. They would need a lot more
Mitchell
bombers and torpedoes in Protodon he thought.

He was already planning on pulling the crews from the damaged ships and slotting them into new construction. It wasn't as easy as it sounded, but it was the best he could do to get them back into the fight as quickly as possible. The damaged ships would be repaired when they had time.

And he could no long slight the marines. He realized they needed, no deserved, proper hardware and support. Proper assault shuttles and attack craft as well as other hardware, and proper transports to get them where they needed to be, which was why Sindri and the yard was laying the first of three marine transports.

“As many of you know, the pirates attacked Protodon several weeks ago. I am here to report that our forces through strength of will and determination managed to hang onto the star system. They paid a heavy price, but the enemy was routed and has left with his tail between his legs.”

He waited for the cheers to end before he continued. His eyes were heavy with knowledge of what that victory had cost. He hadn't mentioned that Amadeus's forces had won the day either. He knew better.

“Once more the navy has confirmed that the price of freedom is the blood of patriots,” Admiral Irons rumbled in a public address through the ansible network. “Protodon and her people survive—beaten, battered, but defiant. They shall rise once more as we shall rise with them. As Winston Churchill said long ago, ‘We will
not
give in. We will
never
surrender,’” he thundered, clutching at the podium as the reporters in the room fell silent. “Tomorrow's sunrise will be bittersweet with the memories of the fallen. But at least we are here and free to mourn and remember them.”

“Here, here,” Governor Randall murmured.

---<>---<>---

Captain Post snarled as he read the latest damage control report. They were barely making the first octave of Beta and that was due to
Nevada's
damage. It would be weeks, possibly months before his ship would be made whole once more … and that was with a full yard. Nuevo Madrid had only a basic repair facility, which meant he would have to eventually fall back to Garth to get his ship restored.
Nevada
would have to do the same. Her hurts were far worse than his.

Once they were back in B-95a3, he planned to round up the transports and tanker and take them all to Nuevo Madrid. There was no way he could repair the damage he had with his current engineering compliment. His injured also needed attending to. Rear Admiral Frost was known as a dullard and not known for taking risks. He didn't like the idea of being backstopped in the star system. Undoubtedly, the fat man would keep his ships in Nuevo Madrid, ever fearful of the Federation moving in on him.

He was tempted to let
Nevada
move on her own to Garth. If he went to Nuevo Madrid, he could monopolize the repair yard, get his ship sorted out, and then go back in to Protodon before the enemy could fully rearm.
If
Frost let him. Big if there he thought sourly.

The temptation to turn around in B-95a3 and wade back in was strong, but he tempered it with the realization that he would go in without fighters or escorts. It was ripe for disaster. No, he was going to go back but only when he was ready. He'd smash them once and for all.

“We shall not let this insult stand,” he murmured to himself. “We will be back; we shall not be denied our place in history,” he snarled, clenching his fists in the small of his back.

The End

This book went
way
faster than anticipated. Wow. Short,
brutal
, but short. I kept going back, trying to think of ways to add stuff, but I couldn't do much without messing up the pacing of the core story. So, if I forgot a favorite character or didn't put much emphasis on Irons or someone else, sorry. You'll have to wait and see what I come up with for
Pirate's Rage
and
Jethro 4
. :)

I know I goofed by not adding more history of
Trinity
and getting to the answers I promised in
Ghosts from the Past
. Sorry about that. And I didn't go into any more detail here. Some of it is coming … eventually. As I said before, I had to hold some back for the Ragnarok (also known as Gotterdammerung) time period. (I could never spell that before! Grr.)

Oh, for the record, there are parts in this book that are in
Jethro 4
Act I-II. And I had to give away a good chunk of some events in that book too. I had intended to get it out before this one but … well, my rewrite of this book and PR has thrown me all off. It'll be fun untangling J4. I did go light here, keeping it thin since I didn't want to give J4 completely away.

I've been modeling many of the characters in 3D in Daz3D using assets I bought there and at Renderosity. You can see them on my blog until Jory and I get around to setting up the wiki and website. :)

Thanks to Poon, Darion, Jory, Mike, Joshua, and the other betas for keeping me on track.

You can read more on my blog.

In Pyrax:

Rear Admiral Phil Subert: Human male, sleeper from Lemnos. Appointed to command the naval forces and shipyard of Pyrax.

Lieutenant Commander Saul Garretaj: Admiral Subert's chief of staff.

Lieutenant JG Roman Taylor: Doctor, graduate of Johns Hopkins orbital hospital Earth. Sleeper from Lemnos.

Captain SG Horatio Logan: Sleeper, acting commander of Pyrax. Replaced with Admiral Subert. Demoted to G-4 ships. Human male. Father of Captain Shelby Logan.

Governor Sim Saladin: Governor of Pyrax.

In Antigua:

Fleet Admiral and acting President of the Federation John Henry Irons.

Commander Sprite: Admiral Irons AI chief of staff and chief coder/AI.

Protector: Ensign, Semi-smart AI created from the remains of Defender and coding from Commander Sprite. He has taken over the protection of the Admiral as well as many of the chief of staff duties.

Proteus: Hive AI within the admiral's nanites. The AI acts as the admiral's engineering assistant.

Commander Vestri Sindri: Dwarf human male. Chief of the growing Antigua military shipyard complex.

In Agnosta:

Lieutenant Colonel Jersey Forth: Commander of the marines. Promoted to full colonel.

Major Pendeckle: Second highest ranking marine officer. Commander 2nd Brigade. Takes command of 1st Battalion to go to Protodon.

In Protodon:

Captain Gustav: Rescued on
Bounty
. Marine officer killed in a shuttle while attempting a hot drop on Protodon.

Lieutenant Ebensher: Human female marine lieutenant left in charge of surviving forces on Protodon.

Captain JG Trojan Vargess: Captain of EC
Admiral Halsey.

On
Yris'ka'th

LTCMDR Ssri'allth: Naga male. Former captain of
Hecate
.

Ensign Rich Marshall: AI of the destroyer
Yris'ka'th
. Named after a human who brought the ship back during the Xeno war.

Ensign Owen Lovejoy: Chief engineer, male, blue eyes.

Third Class Petty Officer Eddie Batoon: Helm.

Jamal Jenkins: Junior navigator.

Rear Admiral Amadeus White: Neochimp male. Sleeper.

Jig Jojo Pwaulli: Flag lieutenant and acting chief of staff of Admiral White.

Hecate
:
Manta
Class Frigate

First Lieutenant Ssri'allth: Captain. Replaced by Captain Gruber.

Second Lieutenant Rico Riot: XO/chief engineer, male, has experience with small ships.

Ensign Nissan Ham: Navigational officer, female Neochimp, promoted to JIG and transferred to another ship.

Ensign Thr'll: Nav officer. Veraxin replacement of Ham.

Jim: Communications and computer rating.

Adel Shazam: Helm officer and hyperhelm, female petty officer 2nd class.

Captain JG Moira White Wolf: Sleeper female Neowolf marine. Led the rebellion on Kathy's World to take the planet back from the pirates. Elected President of the planet. Promoted to major.

Gunnery Sergeant Jethro McClintock: Marine male Neopanther. Black fur. Member of F platoon. Has an AI embedded in him and his legacy armor named Bast.

Bast: AI of Gunny McClintock and his armor. Neopanther female.

First Lieutenant Chiang: Human male. Marine leader sent to Kathy's World as senior officer on the convoy. Went to Protodon. Remained there after White Wolf returned to Kathy's World.

Captain JG Joshua Lyon: Recon Captain, recently promoted. Cameo. Human male.

Horathians:

Brigade General Baroness Yzma Busche: Female, bull like, stocky, smart. Leads a battalion of suppression troops on the planet. Recently promoted. In competition with Colonel Wizendek and Zin to see who could suppress the most planets in their career. Not into sadism but very strict and ruthless.

Captain Allegra: Male officer, assigned to interdict the spaceport with his platoon.

Earl/Captain Gaston Gumel: Captain of the
Arboth
class destroyer
Jean Bart
. Senior captain of fleet 4 TF2. Male. Iron black hair, hair implants, in his 50s. Had a ponytail, muscular build. Was an avid hunter in his youth. Blue eyes, cleft chin.

Lieutenant Commander Dutch LeFou: XO, male.

Lieutenant Shanty: TACO female. Bitch but minx in bed. Purple mohawk, piercings in her ear and bridge of her nose. Tall, well built. Martial arts. Had spike studded gloves she liked to kiss n call her knuckle dusters.

Kin Yan: Ship's sex slave. Favorite of the Captain.

Captain Brom Bones: Bit of a bully, friend and former classmate of Dutch. Wife Katrina.
Corsair—Cutlass
class.

Captain Queux: Big guy, bully, acid tongue to subordinates. Captain of the
McRae—Antelope
class.

Buccaneer's Breath:
Destroyer, female captain Roberta Esslin,
Nelson
class

Reprisal:
Destroyer ship, famous 1st Squadron Force, 4th Fleet