Federation Reborn 2: Pirate Rage (56 page)

The ansible link couldn't handle the low whistle of surprise the chimp's flexible lips gave off. It just said “whistle.” Irons snorted at that.

“
El Dorado
must have really shaken you up if you are willing to commit to this so quickly,” Phillip observed after a moment.

Admiral Irons frowned, then remembered. The other officers hadn't been briefed on the full implications of
El Dorado
since he had classified it rather highly, so highly he hadn't wanted it to be transmitted over the ansible or left in a log for someone to find. “I'm … hell, we're on an ansible, no one else can overhear.” He frowned at the thought of the Xeno virus tapping the line. He had to shrug it off however, they needed to know. “ONI's re-evaluation of our intel on
El Dorado
put some of the pieces together a few days ago. From what they've got, and the A.I. have all gone over it with a fine tooth comb and agree with their conclusions, is that Horath has found an
Olympus
class battle planetoid.”

There was a long silence over the ansible.

“Get out,” Amadeus said. “You aren't serious, are you?”

The admiral inhaled and then exhaled heavily. “I'm afraid so Amadeus.”

“The intelligence is solid?” Phillip demanded, sounding dubious.

The admiral tapped out an order to have the intel chief report to him at his earliest convenience. “As solid as we can get at this distance. When Captain Montgomery gets here, I'll have him go over it again with you if you'd like. We've already sent dispatches to each of you.” He knew that would stick in Phillip's craw sideways, the idea of using the man he'd fired. That was tough. Monty was a good man; he just took things slower and was more methodical than some would like.

“Monty is good. If his people say it's there, it's there,” Jersey said. “Where is there though? And what do we do about it?”

“That's a toughie; we know they have it, just not where. Apparently one of the purposes of the spy fleet and the pirate fleet was to find derelicts and get them back to Horath for refurbishment. They have been doing that for the past seven centuries; it's how they've built up their fleet so big. We've just only seen the tip of the iceberg at this point; the rest had been mothballed for parts until they got their industry bootstrapped up to handle the repairs.” He grimaced. “From what intel we've got, they found this thing in another sector. We believe Sigma, but we could be wrong about that. I had ONI send you a classified packet to go over. It'll be hand carried to each of you on the next dispatch or convoy. Expect it.”

“Aye aye, sir,” the trio replied in unison.

“They've already been sent out,” Sprite interjected.

“Amadeus, plan on using two of the battle cruiser divisions, at least one carrier, one squadron of destroyers, and some supporting ships for the raiding force. The rest will have to remain behind to protect Protodon and act as your reserve. We'll work out the details later. Go over it with your staff. I'll move forces into Protodon behind you to cover their absence. So will Phil. We'll have to curtail the normal working-up exercises. Do the basics, then have the crews do more while en route.” He grimaced. He hated that because if they ran into a problem it could be costly.

“And the second prong of your attack?” Phillip asked. “Who do you want to command it?”

“I had Renee in mind, but she's tied up in that mess in Epsilon Triangula, which means she's tainted for the moment.”

“
If
she hasn't been too severely injured. She probably
should
be in stasis,” Amadeus said darkly.

“Renee is hard to kill,” Jersey said dryly. “And I doubt what happened has shaken her confidence totally. Getting her back on the horse is a good thing. The sooner the better.”

“Everyone has a number. And when your number is up …,” Amadeus left the thought hanging.

“Hopefully it hasn't come to that,” Admiral Irons stated. “We will punch out anything in Destria orbit with the B100 omega picket. I was planning a raiding force to be launched from Pyrax, a division of battle cruisers with maybe a couple cruisers and couriers to go along for the ride. Follow-up forces would trail behind at their best speed. If we can get more forces to them, all the better. They'll have four jumps to Konohagakure, then double back to B87R. From there they can march north through unoccupied star systems on New Horizon, Hinata, and Finagle, or better yet, head northwest to Garth to support Amadeus. We'll play it by ear.”

“There is no way we can get the forces to coordinate together like that, Admiral,” Amadeus warned. “Not across that distance with courier drones. The timing …”

“I know. Like I said, we'd play it by ear. If possible we'll have one force jump in, then wait for the other to arrive. They could alert them with a courier. If they don't arrive by a set timetable, they withdraw. Or they go in on their own and the follow-on force comes in as a reserve. Again, we'll play it by ear.”

“Understood,” the Neochimp stated. John wondered how he could get emotion through the voice-only link. The chimp sounded grudging and doubtful from one word.

“Trying to get Horath in one move is gutsy,” Phillip said, “or even in a series of moves like this. It could blow up in our face.”

“War is about risk. We'll try to minimize it, but part of the job, part of the reason we get the shiny officer stars and big rooms is knowing when and where to take those risks. We're not there yet though. One step at a time,” Admiral Irons reminded them.

“Agreed,” Phillip replied.

“Agreed,” Amadeus echoed.

“Jersey, which do you prefer? Putting a force in north or punching east?”

“Well, Major Pendeckle is in Protodon. He's getting a handle on the planet now. The enemy has been reduced to asymmetrical warfare however, so he's had to commit some of his troops to defensive stances in order to cope with that. It's tying a lot of assets down on one planet. More than I'd hoped for quite frankly.”

“Asymmetrical as in terrorism?” Phillip asked.

“Something to that effect,” Jersey replied. “Guerrilla movement definitely. We can't pull his forces out until we've successfully routed them or have troops to move in to replace them. We can't
trust
the locals to do the job.”

“I see,” Admiral Subert replied. Admiral Irons imagined that came out rather darkly.

“I have three other divisions ready for deployment, and one other working up now that Major Valenko has taken up the reigns of one of them,” Jersey stated. “If I had my druthers, I'd hand him my own division and let him go, but it takes time to integrate a command team. He also has a different command style than I do.”

“What I'd like to do, what I'd actually
planned
to do, is sent one division to Hidoshi's World, finish what was started by Lieutenant Lewis, then consolidate the force and move on Destria. Meanwhile I'll send a division up to Protodon to relieve Division 2 so they can rest and refit for the next movement into Nuevo Madrid.”

“You're going to be promoting heavily and moving veterans around to spread the love, right?” Amadeus asked. “That's going to make your chain of command fragile. The relationships won't have time to gel; they will be constantly forging new ones.”

“They are professionals. We'll try to give them what support and time we can, but like Napoleon said …”

“‘Ask me for anything but time’ or was that Wellington?” Admiral Irons replied, nodding to himself. He eyed the avatars of the three men.

“Whoever,” Jersey said, not disagreeing or agreeing with him. “I can get a division moving within a week if I have the shipping … which I won't have if we are sticking to the same schedule.”

“Which we have to since the freighters are in use currently. They'll need time to have their cargo bays converted into troop bays,” Phillip replied. “The Marine transports can move about a brigade at a time, not an entire division. We don't have enough of them in service.”

“Understood,” Admiral Irons stated, sitting back with a slightly deflated sigh. It was like dominoes; if you knocked one over, you'd better be prepared for others to follow. And if you didn't plan it right, it'd fizzle instead of going off without a hitch or worse, blow up in your face. “See what you can do to get that expedited Phillip.”

“I'll do what I can,” Admiral Subert replied.

“For this to work, I'm going to need a logistics train of my own—at least two elements, both in movement with security elements of their own. And Jersey's divisions will too,” Amadeus observed.

“Agreed. I'm doing my best to scrape together what we've got. What happened to that liner?” Admiral Irons asked.

“I believe it's swanning around the star system here,” Phillip said, surprised by the inquiry. He checked with his staff and after a moment returned. “Yes, it's here. The backers have tried making runs to neighboring star systems, but the only one that is marginally profitable is to Agnosta. And that is only with moving troops though. Since we get a massive discount on each ticket since we sold them the ship, they won't do it. So …”

“How'd you work that out?” Amadeus asked with a laugh. He got the laugh across by typing LOL several times.

“I've got good people who are fiendishly good at fine print,” Phillip replied dryly. There was a chuckle from the other officers. “Anyway, they didn't like it, so they have been swanning around the star system acting like a casino ship. They haven't made another run in some time.”

“Well, we may need to lease the ship,” Admiral Irons stated.

“Why not use the eminent domain clause and take the ship?” Amadeus asked.

“Because that would send a shock wave through the merchant community. It would also piss a lot of important people off—people who bought the ship or others. They'd cause trouble later. Political trouble,” Admiral Irons replied tartly. “Believe me, I wish I could do that. I'm seriously tempted, but no. We'll play it the right way.”

“They won't agree to sending their ship and crew into a war zone,” Phillip warned. “They'll balk.”

“Then we'll have them make the run to Protodon only for now. If you can get them, say in three days, refurbish, turn them around—offer a free service job each time if it comes to that—do you think we can get them to Agnosta by the end of the month?”

“I think Horatio can juggle a few commitments and get them in and out. But I've got to do some fast negotiating first. I also don't have a budget for this,” Phillip warned.

“I'll have Commander Sprite work with your people on it. If we have to sweeten it or do additional horse trading, so be it.”

“You are thinking another ship?”

“I'm thinking convincing them to make the run from Agnosta to Antigua with the convoys if possible. And if necessary a discount or tax rebate. Something Treasury will pitch a snit about but can eventually live with.”

“Now you're talking about traveling in style. Our people will be spoiled,” Jersey observed.

“Only those who get to ride on the ship.”

“It's not a done deal yet,” Phillip reminded them. “I'll have my chief of staff make the calls when we're finished here. He knows the players since he's been there often enough.”

“Understood. Work on what I've given you now. I'll transmit the plans in a moment. I see we're about to the times-up period anyway.”

“See you in a week?”

“The usual time,” Jersey agreed.

“Agreed. Unless something comes up,” Admiral Irons said, reaching for the cut-off switch. “Good day, gentlemen.”

“Long live the Federation,” Amadeus stated as the conference terminated.

Admiral Irons sat back, looking at the ceiling. Long live the Reborn Federation. Hopefully. He now had to cherish some doubts on that score.

---<>))))

Amadeus scowled as he gamed out what was going to happen. He was going to get the First Division to back his division up. He'd have to have Jojo do some rearranging.
Maine
was senior-most ship to the others but Trajan was his next in line. Hell if he was going to change ships.

Besides, if he was right he didn't have much more time with the man left. He gave it six months tops. John hadn't mentioned it, but it was now obvious who would have to be tapped to handle the eastern raiding force, Trajan of course. He would most likely get Renee in compensation so he could rehabilitate her. He'd take what he could get.

He'd learned after thoroughly examining the perilous state the Federation and the navy had fallen into, that the saying was true, beggars can't be choosers. At least they were sending people with experience. He'd been reluctant to take Captain Samuels on. Now he was ready to roll out the welcome mat and the red carpet. Since
Maine's
division had accrued so much experience, he wouldn't need to train them, just bring them up to speed and then make sure they slotted in with his First Division.

Would he get another pair? Supposedly
Justice's
division was en route. It was too much to hope for that he'd get Harris's division. Someone had to stay behind and mind the farm. Harris would get some experience in capital ships while also passing on what he knew to others in the process. Irons had been rather smart about that. With
Justice's
division though, that would make six. He'd wanted to have a full squadron to go in and stop Nuevo Madrid flat. To have a couple ships squat on the jump point while the rest ran the bastards into the ground. To hammer those
Derfflingers
into splintered wreckage for all the carnage they'd caused in Protodon. He wasn't above exacting a bit of revenge. Now …. was John really ready to pull the trigger so soon? He shook his head. Not as soon as he was hoping he reminded himself. They still needed to block Fourth Fleet from passing through Protodon just in case they got past Phil's blockade in B452c.