Federation Reborn 2: Pirate Rage (99 page)

“How do you propose he does that? Doesn't he have every ship committed?” Governor Das asked dubiously.

“The jump chain is long,” Governor Weng warned.

“What about all those ships from Bek?” Governor Tweed asked.

“Not going to happen. They are sublight,” Saladin replied. “The ship would have to come from Senka or Antigua.”

“Not Senka,” Weng said. “I don't want our picket drawn down any further than it already has thank you.”

“So …”

“I'll bring it up to him. A signed petition by as many of you as possible would add weight to the argument however,” Governor Randall said.

“Agreed. Next item of business?”

“Well,” Governor Travis drawled, interjecting himself into the conversation. “I was wondering about the tax set up on all of us. And also if we can get that factory ship Prometheus back out here for a return trip? That was downright peachy the first time.”

“We all need such visits,” Governor Weng said wistfully.

“So …”

---<>))))

Captain Mayweather ran her division up to the proscribed sixth octave of Gamma band for the run to Agnosta. She didn't slow down however; she kept them there for the entire flight since the sixth octave was the sweet spot of Gamma band. Fortunately, both ships had a smooth journey without any problems. The ships were running beautifully, which made her move to her plan without second thoughts. They made the journey in excellent time; the four light years took only fifteen days to complete.

Once they were challenged and accepted by the ready duty picket they performed a minimum turnover in the star system. There was so much traffic coming and going to Pyrax that they didn't need to drop anyone off or pick anyone up from the planet. They downloaded updates from the ansible network while in transit and uploaded their latest status. Instead of lollygagging to exchange pleasantries with the picket, they crossed the star system at near max sublight speed in four short days and then jumped onward. This time Renee had her helm and navigational team bring them up to the sixth octave of Delta; the fastest the team was rated to handle. It would shave weeks off their journey if they could sustain it.

“What's the hurry?” her new Veraxin XO asked. “We're ahead of schedule, ma’am.”

“Didn't you hear? There is a party, and we're missing it,” Renee said smiling slightly.

“Yes, ma’am, I know that. But …”

“We're missing the first act, but I damn well am not going to miss the second. We've got a movement to complete. I don't want to guess where to catch them if they've moved on to Dead Drop. Besides, every minute that we spend in B95a3 with them means time we can work-up as a full squadron.”

“Aye, ma’am,” lieutenant Commander L'ckk'clck nodded, studying her with all four eye stalks. It wasn't opening night jitters, at least he hoped not. He knew the new captain, like her ship and crew, had a lot to prove.

Renee however had other concerns. She couldn't shake the feeling that they needed to get to where they were going quickly. She wouldn't be able to shake it until they got there. Only then would she feel relief … and she'd relent and let the engineering crew relax and do a thorough check of the systems.

---<>))))

TF22 jumped into the B-95a3 star system and was immediately challenged by the light cruiser picket. Once they had exchanged passwords and IFFs, the fleet crossed the star system and set themselves up in a concave formation around the jump point with the battle cruisers in a star formation.

“And now we wait,” Commander Garfield said, crossing his arms. Their positioning would allow them to intercept and fire on any ship that came out of the jump point. They would reform the fleet into one of the attack fleets the admiral had planned with the staff before they jumped to Nuevo Madrid.

“Well, not quite. We're going to continue training,” Admiral White said, eying the tactical officer. “What, you thought I'd let us sit on our hands and get rusty?”

“No, sir, apparently not,” the orange Neocat said dryly.

The admiral continued to eye him. “You've been sitting behind the tactical console a bit too much, Commander. I think you need to spend some more time in the gym,” he observed.

Garfield looked down in chagrin at his growing gut. “What this, sir? Too much tuna fish lasagna,” he said.

“Right,” the admiral drawled, shaking his head. He knew that he had to wait for the Prowler to return with its invaluable intelligence. He had no intention of jumping in blind; he had to have it before launching his offensive.

He had three CEVs, eight BCs, and three squadrons of DDs to do the job. For the first time, he had a full squadron of battle cruisers to go into action; he was now confident they would be able to stand off anything the enemy threw his way.
Independence
and
Vigilance
had taken their sweet time getting to him, but he much appreciated their arrival. Once he had the other four BCs en route to him, he planned to set up a second BC squadron, possibly under Trajan's command if he could arrange it.

He fully intended to keep the fleet to training in VR sims while they waited. He'd relented on taking a small fleet train with him. The four tenders were stuffed to the gills with supplies. The three remaining ships were a tanker, a munitions collier, and a repair ship. He'd balked at taking a
Dora
class hospital ship along with him during the planning stages. The ship class just didn't have the speed or legs he required. It was bad enough that the other ships required him to skim off a
Fletcher
class destroyer division out of the forces he was leaving behind in Protodon to ride herd on them. They would wait in hyper for at least forty-eight hours before jumping into Nuevo Madrid space.

He was sorely tempted to leave them behind in B95a3, but he didn't want them to be vulnerable to any escapees that got through his net. Not that he intended to let any get away, but you never knew how Lady Luck's blessings went. She seemed to be unbiased lately.

Besides, he would undoubtedly need them to make good on any repairs before they launched the next phase of the attack. But this would be the last time they traveled with the fleet. After Nuevo Madrid they would make their best speed in their wake, quite possibly some taking a detour to transport wounded personnel to Protodon in the process. They would undoubtedly replenish and then return at their best speed.

“Sir, do you think we're going to get more reinforcements before we jump?” Jojo asked. “I mean … if we do. We still don't even know if the
Prowler
will make it back. If they catch it, we will never know and will be sitting here for a long time.”

"Like it or not, we're launching the expedition on Nuevo Madrid the moment we get that intel and can act on it," the admiral intoned. “I know we all want a full battle cruiser squadron.” He surveyed the group. “But I admit, I don't know if the Prowler will make it back either. And yes, that bothers me. But there are some things we can handle … and others that are out of our hands. This one is out of our hands and I accept it. I know they made a jump that we didn't have data on, in a hostile star system, but that crew is good. So, we'll see.” he smiled briefly. “In the meantime, we have a series of exercises to perform.”

“Aye aye, sir,” Garfield replied, making a show of cracking his knuckles then wriggling his chubby fingers. He flexed his claws a few times then wriggled happily. “Who wants to be the mouse first? I mean op force. I meant to say op force,” he said in a mocking tone.

“I think you just volunteered,” Kelly said, catching their boss's gleam.

The orange and black striped Neocat turned, did a double take, then his ears flattened briefly. “Me and my big mouth,” he muttered as Jojo and the others snickered at him.

Chapter
58

Prowler
UFN-001P jumped back into the B-95a3 star system six weeks after playing cat and mouse with the frustrated Horathian forces in Nuevo Madrid. “We've got another reception committee. This one is friendly,” the A.I. Spooky stated.

“Good to know. Flash our IFF transponder anyway, then set up the download,” the captain ordered.

“Aye aye, sir. IFF acknowledged and accepted. Download request acknowledged. I believe they are eager.”

“Ready and eager,” the captain observed, nodding as he studied the plot. There were eight battle cruisers at the center of the formation of escort carriers and destroyers. He whistled in appreciation. They were ready for war. He envied them. “Good. Send them what we know.”

“Aye, sir.”

“Sir, we're getting a request on ETA to dock with the supply ship in the fleet train. They want us too,” the Veraxin rating said, looking up from his station.

“It's nice to be wanted,” the captain replied dryly. “But they'll have to wait their turn.”

“Aye, sir,” the Veraxin said, wiggle waggling his mandibles.

“Yes, I know we can download and refuel at the same time. Set the course up to dock and get us started there, helm,” the captain said in exasperation. “Everyone's so eager to get moving.”

“Definitely, sir. I'm curious about Dead Drop. I'd like to see Nuevo Madrid get taken down, but since we can't, we might as well go check out the next target and then play pied piper,” Spooky replied.

The captain snorted but didn't reply.

---<>))))

The download didn't bring many surprises to Second Fleet's senior officers. The only surprise was that there were so few ships in the star system at all. UNF-001P had cautioned that there might have been ships under stealth but what they had seen matched the war book files exactly. Oh, there was a freighter as well, but that hardly counted. The other surprise was that all four surviving warships had somehow survived to get to Nuevo Madrid.

Not that they intended for the ships to go any further. This was their last stop, Amadeus thought darkly. “Now we have what we need. We have one dress rehearsal left. Get it right people; there are no second chances,” Admiral White intoned severely. “Showtime in a month for a hostile audience.”

“Definitely hostile, sir,” Jojo replied.

“But we'll have them captivated,” Garfield replied with a Cheshire grin. The others returned the smile.

“Exactly. But let's not screw it up by getting cocky. They can still take a chunk out of our ass if we're not careful,” the admiral warned. They sobered. “We'll go with Alpha 2. So, starting from the top …”

“Aye, sir. Alpha 2 it is,” Garfield replied, punching the orders in. He scanned them briefly just to re-familiarize himself with the plan. “The bridge crews will run exercises while en route. Do you have any special amendments you'd like to add, sir?” the cat turned to the Neochimp. “Before we jump I mean,” he said.

Silently the Neochimp contemplated the intelligence, dump then shook his head. “No,” he said after a moment. “We’ll go as is. We jump in forty-eight hours. We'll send a courier to let Protodon know we're kicking off. They should be back by the time we finish and get back.”

“Not a lot of time there, sir, but I think we can do it,” Kyle said as the chimp's brown eyes turned to him. “Right, Aleck?”

The navigator nodded. “We've got the nav plotted and ready. We've simmed it several times and we're ready. The Alpha 2 formation shouldn't be too much of a hassle to keep together.”

“It's why I decided to go with it on our opening night,” Admiral White said nodding to the Neocat tactical officer. “The floor is yours.”

“Aye, sir.” Garfield nodded as he rose. His fingers danced in the air as he used his implants to link to the wardroom's holo projectors to call up the image of the star system and the enemy ships and facilities in it. “Yes, sir. We short jump in here …”

---<>))))

It took less than an hour to reform the fleet into an attack formation. Once they were ready to depart, a communications laser was sent off to the pickets to let them know they were about to launch the offensive.
Shepard
and her division mate wished them good hunting. Their laser message managed to get back to TF22 just before they started to charge their hyperdrives.

Both ships wanted to go but knew they couldn't. Their duty was in the empty star system, acting as a warning line for Protodon and now the departing fleet. “This sucks. We could be of more use than the tin cans,” captain Song griped.

“Yeah, but they've trained as a squadron. We are a division,” Commander Daisy Leon, Neoborder collie and captain of
Almirante Grau
reminded him patiently.

“So?”

“So, we're
not
going. That part is obvious," Captain Leon replied dryly.

“Still sucks,” Captain Song griped. “I don't know about you, but I'm putting in for a different duty assignment when we are up for a return. No offense, but if it means a different dance partner, so be it. Picket duty is for the birds,” he growled.

“Want some cheese with that wine?” Captain Leon asked with a grin in her voice.

“Oh shut up.”

---<>))))

A short ten hours later
Shepard
and
Almirante Grau
watched as
Prowler
UFN-001P jumped for the B-97a star system. “And we're alone at last,” Captain Song said to Captain Leon. “Again,” he said, this time with a mocking leer in his voice.

“Don't start,” she growled back.

“Just saying.”

“Don't push our luck. I don't want Lady Luck to turn the cheek and let Murphy's gremlins come into play thank you very much.”

“Oh, yeah, that,” the
Shepard
captain said sheepishly.

“Yeah, that. I'll take a boring assignment right now any day. And yeah, at risk of stereotyping myself, even convoy escort.”

The human captain chuckled in reply initially, then seemed to gasp as if a thought struck him. “You're saying you wouldn't want to be with TF22 right now?” he demanded, clearly surprised and taken aback. He tisked at her.

“Oh, zip it. Okay, so I misspoke there.
Maybe
some excitement. On
my
own terms,” she replied.

“Ah.” Captain Song thought about it and then nodded slowly. “Shall we do some more exercises? To keep busy I mean?”

“Why not,” the Neo captain replied with a sigh. “Not much else to do other than count particles in the star system and stare into the void. Usual terms?”

“I think we've passed that bottle of wine back and forth quite a lot,” Captain Song replied with a laugh.

“Who said I'm giving it back to you this time?” the Neo captain asked with a grin in her voice.

His eyes narrowed. “You're on. Double or nothing,” he said, hands on his arm rests. “Let's see if we can pull up one of the scenarios Admiral White used and run one that's appropriate for us,” he said.

She frowned then nodded. “It's better than the old ones we've been using I suppose,” she agreed.

---<>))))

The
Shizouka
division exited hyperspace after transiting their journey in the sixth octave of delta band for their second jump. It had taken a measly sixteen days to get to the empty crossroad star system. Once they transmitted their IFF and mail to the lonely picket the two battle cruisers crossed the star system and jump on to Kathy's World.

“Hi, bye,” Captain Zackery Binks, a black Neocat of the frigate
Centurion
said sarcastically once the two battle cruisers had departed. “It would have been nice if they'd stuck around and played an exercise or two. I thought that was what they were supposed to do?”

“You really want to tangle with those big boys, Skipper?” Lieutenant Patsi Sue Rogers, his new XO demanded. “Talk about David and Goliath!”

“I didn't say we'd go toe-to-toe in real life. In sims we can be anything we want, right?” Captain Binks argued. He was more or less resigned to being stuck on
Centurion
and on picket duty in B-452c for what seemed to be the duration of his career.

Oh well, at least he had Patsi around. Her lilting New Texas drawl made the duty a little less boring he thought as the two officers fell to friendly bickering as they passed the time. The human was fascinating, but he still missed young Dani's charm. Hopefully her new assignment was treating her well he thought before his XO's argument drew his attention further into the fray.

---<>))))

The Bek supply mission got off to a slow launch once the media came out in force. A press release wasn't enough to appeal to them so Admiral Irons requested they hold the mission to perform a series of brief interviews before the departed.

That turned into more of a media circus and a bit of a send-off party for Horatio. Once things settled down and the interest shifted to the Bek rear admiral, he took the time to shake hands with Admiral Subert.

“I'm going to miss you,” Admiral Subert admitted.

“Thank you, sir. I'm glad I lived up to your expectations,” Horatio said honestly. He turned when they heard a bark of laughter.

The media was in force, but they were more focused on the Bekian rear admiral for the moment.

“Good call on recommending Valdez for
Argus
. I had been wondering what to do with
that
one,” Admiral Subert said wryly, still eying the Bekian officer.

“He's good, sir. But he hasn't been on a command deck in a while,” Horatio replied in turn, slowly returning to Admiral Subert to give him his undivided attention.

“I know. He's still struggling. Fortunately she's only doing initial working-up exercises. He'll figure it out or we'll find someone else to take the job.”

Horatio nodded. “Yes, sir.” Perhaps it was good that it was out of his hands he thought. He had trouble being impartial. He was fairly certain Admiral Irons had the same set of blinders on.

“Safe sailing, Horatio. I won't tell you smooth sailing; I know it's going to be bumpy. Hang in there,” the admiral said, shaking his hand again as the Bek admiral headed to the boarding ramp with his human female flag lieutenant in tow. The woman nodded, clutching a bag to her chest as she adjusted her glasses with her free hand.

“We will, sir,” Horatio replied, wondering if the woman had gotten a chance to be run past medical. He had his doubts. The two officers exchanged salutes in parting.

Horatio waved as the group broke out into cheers. There were others he knew there in the crowd to see them off. Some were happy to see him go for very different reasons he thought, nodding to the Pyrax government delegation. But they had come to realize he'd been a mild irritant compared to Admiral Subert. He wondered as he entered the boarding ramp how many wished for the good ole days when he'd been in charge? He chuckled as he came into the boarding compartment and toed the line for the usual boarding ceremony.

---<>))))

Once the ships were underway, Horatio and Admiral Zekowitz started to hit it off in a series of working lunches. “Call me, Zek. I hate being called Melvin or Mel,” the rear admiral said once he finished his sandwich. He dusted his hands of crumbs. “We're going to be working a lot together, might as well get that behind us now and move on to more important stuff.”

“Sir?”

“You heard me. We are fellow flag officers. Leave the stuffed shirt protocol nonsense at the door when we're in private, Horatio,” the rear admiral said. Horatio blinked then nodded slowly. “Better. I'm a fellow officer, though I admit I've had a different upbringing.” He spread his hands in supplication. “That can't be helped. But we will get what needs to be done, done. And done right. Right?”

“Yes, sir. That we will,” Horatio vowed. He cocked his head. “I mean, Zek,” he said with a trace of a smile. He admitted it was hard. Hopefully it would get easier with time. He still felt uncomfortable calling Admiral Irons “John.”

“Good. Now,” the admiral kicked back. “Why don't we see what you can do to help me get up to speed. I love tech; it's why I got into engineering. I'm normally hands-on; they dragged me kicking and screaming up the chain of command,” he admitted.

Horatio grinned. “I know another officer who has the same complaint. We need that sort of grit.” He nodded. “Okay. Shall we start with hyperdrives?”

“I know the theory of course. I cut my teeth on R&D after serving a few tours in ship engineering positions. But …,” the rear admiral shrugged. “The details elude me of course. I probably should’ve stayed in Pyrax or gone with Yogi to Antigua to get full flag officer implants. But …,” he sighed. “I know I'm going to be needed in Bek to interpret for you. And I know the people there. I can smooth crap over before it becomes a problem when it comes to ruffled feathers.”

“And you're not an outsider lording over them?” Horatio asked carefully.

The rear admiral nodded. “Exactly,” he said. “You've been picking up on things I take it?”

“I've tried. I've had a hell of a time running things in Pyrax. When you get thrown into that sort of political snake pit you have to learn to fend them off or get torn apart.”